Misc. Ramblings

Surf's Up, Don'tcha Know? People surf the waves all over the world. From the home of surfing in Hawai'i, to California, Australia, and Florida. But who would have thought of Sheboygan, Wisconsin? Yes, even in far off, and very chilly Wisconsin, the Aloha Spirit has spread the word of surfing. See the story here. Hang loose, brah.

On a Completely Different Note, Let's talk about hypocrisy. Yes, politicians are low hanging fruit when it comes to talking about hypocritical behavior, but that's because they are so richly deserving. For example, the Republicans are complaining about the Democrats blocking the confirmation of four potential life long federal judges. One must remember that this is the very same Republican Congress that blocked 60 of President Clinton's nominations. On the other hand, Democrats have so far confirmed 168 of President Bush's nominations. So how is it that Republicans have any right to complain?

For a local example, property owners are up in arms about a proposed city ordinance that would increase the size of parking spaces by three inches (~7.6cm). That's right, three more inches to shoe-horn those massive SUVs who insist it is their right to park in "compact" sized stalls (these are the very same folks who claim to be disabled and therefore have a right to park in disabled only stalls). Oh the horror! Oh the humanity! Think of the huge cost to the property owners to re-stripe the spaces (required only when they would otherwise do re-striping anyway)!

How soon we forget that these very same property owners, with the aid of compliant local politicians, pushed through an amendment to the then current ordinance to downsize the spaces so the owners could increase the numbers of spaces in a given area. How soon we forget that they didn't complain one bit about the millions of dollars they spent to immediately re-stripe those stalls.

All I can say is get out of your chairs. Go to your windows. Open the window. Stick your head out and shout: "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore." Oh wait, that's been done before. Well then, remember these people and don't vote for them next year.

Aloha!