2010

The Ugly Table (#15 & #16)

CAMPERS

A camper is a person(s) who hangs out at your table for hours after they have paid.

On a slow night, no one cares. On a busy night I would love to meter these people like a taxi.

“Wanna sit and block my section for three hours? Your tip just tripled.”

But when our lobby is packed, you are not just screwing my sales potential, you are pissing off my next customer who has to wait while you tell your friends about how little Johnny said ‘poo-poo’ today or how your boss is an a-hole.

Nobody cares, including your friends who are too chickenshit to just put on their coats and leave.

Go home. Go to a bar. Go to a coffeehouse. Go somewhere.

But, please, leave my section. NOW!!!!!!!

S. L. Ehrisman (c) 12/15/10

PRE-CAMPERS

“We will have some joiners in a few minutes.”

10 minutes later, fidgeting with their phone device

“Oh, they just texted, they will be here shortly.”

20 minutes later

“Could you bring more bread?”

40 minutes later

“Not sure what is going on? They said they would be here, must have gotten stuck in traffic.”

50 minutes later

“We are ready to order.”

Who are you?

S. L. Ehrisman (c) 12/15/10

Ironic Johnny gets his earmark hypocrisy handed to him (H/T – Helga)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NNoG_eRNuo[/youtube]

I literally bang my freaking head against the wall when people ask me from other states, “What’s up with John Thune?”. He is one of the most hypocritical politicians from our state. He, at times, even makes Janklow look like Santa Claus. At least Janklow isn’t a hypocrite, just a gigantic asshole.

This video is actually better  by Rachel (starts at about 4:20)

Here’s a little transcript on NPR;

REPORTER: So why not ask that they (earmarks) be removed…?

SEN. THUNE:  Well, I — we’re going to — we’re going to try and vote this thing down.  I mean, I don’t know how you — how you get them out now other than amending the bill.  You know, the bill’s infront of us.

‘Uh, well, thanks, uh, for handing me my ass, uh, I hope, like, South Dakotans don’t see this and catch me talking out of both sides of ‘my ass’, something friends and close family members call ‘my face.’

(screenshot from MSNBC)

I love how John Thune blames the Democrats for ‘HIS’ earmarks;

The bill includes 28 earmarks from Thune at a cost of about $38.5 million, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan watchdog group.

Thune spokesman Kyle Downey said the senator has not withdrawn his earmarks, which were inserted in the spending bill months ago, because “he didn’t think the Democrats would have the audacity to bring up an omnibus after being rejected by voters this past November. However, the senator plans to vote against the omnibus and will vote to strip out all earmarks if given the chance.”

So you put earmarks in because you didn’t think the bill would pass anyway? John, you say some pretty stupid things, but I think that one tops it. Any bill has a chance of passing, so why put them in there to begin with? What a hypocrite. For someone who claims to be a Christian, you sure lie alot.

Imagine that, now that the election is over the Dems are found not guilty

I saw this as a political football from the beginning. Funny how no one found a (Extreme Right Wing Conservative) Republican Attorney General, who was running for office, was playing politics with the food for votes fiasco;

“I think this was a clearly partisan charge from the beginning. The Republicans know you can make a charge five or six weeks before election day and the investigation is going to take several months. They can make a charge, make it seem like fact regardless of the fact that no laws were broken. They pretend that it was and use that allegation to scare voters.”

Nesselhuf said there is history of these kinds of “bogus charges,” and it probably will be seen again in elections.

While I don’t agree with the food exchange, I doubt a donut, a hot dog or a bowl of chili is going to convince people to vote for a certain candidate. In fact that assumption is freaking absurd and as Michael Jackson would say, “Ignorant.”

Lucas Lentsch, executive director of the state Republican Party, said he expects the Legislature to weigh in when next year’s session begins.

“Vote-buying or food-for-votes will more than likely be a policy discussion of the 2011 South Dakota state Legislature,” Lentsch said Tuesday. “I fully anticipated that there would be an investigation of some sort, the attorney general and U.S. attorney have rendered their decisions, I just expect it to continue to evolve and be a policy discussion.”

It seems Lucas just can’t let it go. While I agree there should be some legislative intervention, Lucas seems to think there should be an investigation. I guess it wasn’t good enough that his party beat the living daylights out of the Dems, he seems hellbent on punishing them even more. Bring it on, your party was participating in the practice also, and that is why the charges were probably dropped.

“My goal is to make sure that the integrity of our elections is not jeopardized by any activities of different groups or individuals for that matter,” Gant said. “We’re going to look at the language, we’re going to look at reports from the attorney general and the U.S. attorney and I want to do everything I can to provide the legislature with information on how we can best ensure that we have fair and legal elections.”

This coming from a guy who created a fake issue during the election about the Feds taking over state elections. This was clearly about sticking it to the Dems right before an election. Maybe there should be laws enacted that prevent political parties from creating controversies about the opposite party right before an election. I’m sure that would make Kermit Staggers very happy.

The SF City Council is salivating over raising taxes and spending our money

In Item #’s 3 and 8 in last night’s council meeting the council proves again they like raising taxes on citizens for special interests.

In Item #3 they approved an ordinance to fund the zoo with entertainment tax revenue, while this can be looked at again and readjusted in the future, it bothers me a little that now the zoo will also be receiving those funds. According to who you listen to, the zoo receives around 36% of their funding from the city, while this has gone down under the new director I’m afraid if we start funding the zoo in this manner, they will be receiving more money instead of less in the future;

Elizabeth Whealy, zoo president and CEO, said she was pleased with the council’s decision. “We just need to make sure we have a reliable and stable funding source for the zoo,” she said.

This is the problem with special interests in our community, instead trying to move away from city subsidies, they only want more, and our city council goes along with it, like it’s no big deal (Anderson, Entennmen and Litz voted against it). I have said all along that the zoo should strive to be independent from the city and strive to cut city funding to a minimal amount. They have proved themselves it is possible, where do you think the other 64% comes from?

They also seem to get all giddy inside when it comes to raising our taxes;

SIOUX FALLS, SD – One of the biggest questions surrounding a new events center is how the city is going to pay for it.  One idea that got shot down this past legislative session is resurfacing. But just like last time, it could be a tough sell.

Monday night, the city council will vote on a resolution establishing its legislative priorities for the 2011 session.

That includes asking state lawmakers to pass a bill that would give municipalities the option of adding a local tax in order to raise money for a specified purpose.

It got shot down for a reason, it is a bad idea to raise a regressive tax to subsidize entertainment. I’m sure this will be dead in the water again in Pierre. Let’s hope so!