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LAST NIGHT, WITH THE TRAIN DELAYED BY OVER AN HOUR OR SO because of connexions in Chicago from a New York train being delayed by same hitting a pedestrian somewhere in Indiana, Your Correspondent returned from his annual trip to the Waterpark Capital of the World.

Otherwise known as Wisconsin Dells, for the uneducate.

This, I will admit, is perhaps my way of marking my return to the world of blogging, which will have to be in somewhat tenuous steps for the time being; it may be a little while more before I return to full-on daily blogging schedules. So bear with me.

In any event, there can be no mistaking the fact that the Dells can only get to be rather interesting, even if Lake Delton suddenly drained dry in a flood's opening a new spillway on 9 June ... followed exactly one month to the day later (Ripley, take note) by a mysterious fire in the summer-worker housing @ the Tommy Bartlett complex, whose flagship show has been modified to reflect the fact of Lake Delton's now having no water for the time being. (Fortunately, though, Your Correspondent was able to see the modified edition, and was not disappointed with the end result. Even if one of the chestnuts called in to compensate for the loss of the waterski portion, Dieter "You like it, I'll do it again!" Tasso, acknowledged where his age was making his act a little more difficult to pull off.

(Especially that of balancing several cups and saucers, and a teapot as the crown, on his head.)

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AS IT TURNED OUT, THE EVENING I ATTENDED THIS MODIFIED PERFORMANCE OF "THE SHOW" saw a rather potent thunderstorm pass through, with attendant loss of electric power while @ the Tommy Bartlett Exploratory as forced standby lighting to be resorted to during the outage. (The 4:30 performance had to be cancelled in consequence of the said storm, only the tenth time since covered grandstands went up in 1966 that a performance had to be cancelled.)

And while on the storm front, Friday morning saw a rather potent one kick up as I started walking down to Noah's Ark during a lull in a thunderstorm as prevailed much of that morning; luckily, though, I found shelter in a convenience store @ the Lower Dells junction just as the skies grew all the darker. And it took around an hour or so to wait before getting a taxicab to go to Mr. Pancake, where I usually have brekkie before going to Noah's. Luckily, though, the storm broke and my day @ Noah's went off without a hitch.

(But could you call the smaller-than-average crowds as made waits for the likes of Black Anaconda, Kowabunga or StingRay shorter than average a serious hitch, let alone the Big Kahuna wavepool being a little easier to navigate?)

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STILL, THOUGH, HIGH-SPF SUNBLOCK MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE in a place like Wisconsin Dells, even considering where summers there can get to be hot and muggy; in my own case, I prefer the likes of Hawaiian Tropic O-Zone Sport (SPF 60+) on the body, while the face got Banana Boat Faces, Etc. (SPF 40)--this particular fondness for high-SPF sunblock on my part being explained by past episodes on my part of really awful sunburns as led to peeling of the skin, particularly on the back.

The which surfah types like referring to as "delamination."

Not to mention a super-absorbent towel of the kind you can find @ outdoor supply shops instead of the so-last-Wednesday traditional beach towel as can get smelly and difficult to handle after awhile.

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RECOMMENDATIONS MATTER, AND THEN SOME, DEPARTMENT, SHOOBIE-TRAP DIVISION: Riverview Park and Waterworld broke in a new mascot character this season, going by the name of Duncan Dragon--blue throughout, can't quite swim but enjoys a nice splasharound every now and then.

Had a chance to meet up with him during his walkabout on Monday, when I called there. And after calling it a day, Duncan, through his handler, suggested Famous Dave's for dinner. And what a dinner it was: A Two-Meat Combi (I chose beef brisket and rib tips, not to mention sides of baked beans and wedge fries), corn on the cob, a corn muffin, what seems like gallons of sweet tea--and, for dessert, a hot fudge Kahlua brownie.

Sat next to a couple who managed to drive all the way from Winnipeg, Manitoba (CDN) to vacation in the Waterpark Capital--come to think of it, found plenty of shoobies from Friendly Manitoba there, as well as from the likes of Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Florida, Colorado and even Washington state. And plenty of summer workers from Eastern Europe, Bulgaria being especially well represented; Pakistan and Turkey saw their share as well.

I even ran into a visitor from South Africa.

No wonder the Dells are getting quite the global reputation ... and come to think of it, could you just imagine a Wisconsin Dells T-shirt appearing on that (in)famous Brussels statue of the Peeing Boy?

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ANYWAY, AS I SAID @ THE BEGINNING, MY RETURN TO BLOGGING WILL LIKELY BE TENATIVE AND SPORADIC FOR THE TIME BEING; I just need the time to readjust before going back to daily form. 

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FOR THE SAKE OF MAKING THE ONLINE SHOPPING COMPONENT A LITTLE EASIER TO MANAGE AMONG YOU VISITORS, Your Correspondent has decided to do a little tweaking around of the online-shopping component; the better to emphasise only such as have attracted the most in clickouts.

As well as Amazon.com, Amazon.ca and Amazon.co.uk (now including a "top five" selection and search capabilities to help in your buying therefrom).

I trust such will be found welcome among you who want to get online shopping done.

We now return you to your previous blog hiatus....

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WELL, PROBABLY SOONER THAN THAT, COME TO THINK OF IT: Your Correspondent, with this posting, is now on his traditional summer hiatus from blogging, the better to allow him to prepare for his annual visit to Wisconsin Dells as allows him to recharge his creative batteries, so to speak.

Even bloggers need a break now and then to maintain optimum mental performance and creativity, and Your Correspondent is no exception.

In any case, I hope you can all continue to keep The Exaggerator a regular habit, even if my absence from the Greater Blogosphere is for about a month or so.

Keep sharing the posts from the past.

Keep recommending this site to your friends.

And keep shopping online--hopefully, with a few serious purchases ensuing for once; I could use the income in form of sales commissions on your purchases.

Until my return, as they'd say in Bloemfontein, "Dankie vir jou ondersteun."

PERHAPS THE LOWEST OF IDEAS TO COME DOWN THE PIKE AS AN "ELECTION ISSUE" IN INDECISION 2008 is that which certain weird and unwholesome types are pushing about "racial identity" being in the same league as "national identity."

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TALK ABOUT YOUR POST HOC, ERGO PROPTER HOC IN ACTION, AND THEN SOME: ConWebBlog has this following exugenesis of a favourite specimen of conservative illogic in the face of common sense itself in the wake of misplaced policies of His Fraudulency's Great Within:

Terry Jeffrey really, really hates public transportation.

in his June 12 column, the CNSNews.com editor claims that "Recent evidence that automobile use is declining in America and that some Americans are making significant--and in some cases not readily reversible--changes in their lives because of escalating gas prices should be worrisome signs for those who love liberty."  One of those changes is a move to "socialized transportation"--better known to the rest of us as public transportation.

Jeffrey does grudgingly admit that "roads generally are constructed by government, albeit with funds extracted from the earnings and gasoline purchases of drivers"--though he doesn't admit that such a scheme is arguably socialist too--then goes on to complain that "In a socialist transportation system, the government takes the taxpayers' money and purchases vehicles--often buses or trains--for itself or a government-funded agency. Where and when these vehicles go is determined by the government."

Jeffrey went on to express shock that one change people have made in reaction to record-high gas prices is that "8 percent have taken public transportation"; he responds that "Hopefully, the 8 percent who have taken to socialized transportation represents a trend that can be reversed."

The hilarious thing about Jeffrey's column is that his place of employement, aka the Media Research Center headquarters, is located within walking distance of a stop on one of the better public transportation systems in the world (the Washington Metro), as well as a stop for Amtrak and a regional passenger railroad. Further, several bus lines run within a few blocks of MRC HQ.

Somehow, we suspect that Jeffrey doesn't take the Metro to work (and we're almost certain he doesn't take the bus). But we also suspect that a number of MRC employees do. Does the MRC provide free parking? And are there enough parking spaces at MRC world headquarters for all of them?

Seems like Jeffrey and the MRC should be putting their money where his mouth is.

Which is enough to ask just how much of the Greater Conservative Agenda is rooted in, or otherwise replete with, euphemisms as ought more correctly be considered dysphemisms and code words concealing true intent--which, in the aforementioned example, would be "wise use."

Not to mention showing a reckless and utter disregard for the likely consequences of "wise use" policies which, in Reality, encourage waste and inefficency--in the aforementioned instance, the consequences of increased and increasing motor traffic translating into longer traffic tailbacks, longer commute times and, in the end, general deferred maintenance.

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IT WAS ABOUT TIME THAT MNDOT "FLIPPED THE BIRD" @ GOVERNOR PAWENTY AND HIS DROOGS WITH THE CLUB FOR GROWTH AND LIKE-MINDED SPECIMENS OF FALSE OR FLAWED SOCIOECONOMIC POLICY: MnDOT (as in the Minnesota Department of Transportation) has announced that it will "fast-track" no less than 11 bridge construction projects over the next 10 years in the wake of an ongoing scandal over flawed structural integrity aggravated by years of deferred maintenance in the (presumed) name of "protecting the good taxpayers" and "keeping taxes down" just to create jobs--supposedly unskilled, labour-intensive, low-paying such in the Luddite vein, the theory being one of reducing unemployment to a theoretical nil rate within free-market capitalist models and paradigms.

Said "middle-finger salute," so to speak, being made possible by the Legislative veto override of gas tax increases to finance the whole effort back in the spring--a necessary evil which the Club For Growth's best droog among the 50 state governors fails to recognise as such, let alone offer viable alternatives as avoid recourse to taxes (as if suggesting that the Lower Classes should just needlessly waste their new-found wealth from tax cuts on shopping expeditions @ Wally World bordering on the wasteful and frivolous, and with reckless disregard for utility and practicality combined with value for money).

Anyway, back to the topic @ hand:

Of the 11 bridges due for accelerated replacement thusly, six alone span the Mississippi River (notably such in St. Cloud, St. Paul, Hastings, Red Wing, Winona and Dresbach); two span the Red River of the North; and one is the International Bridge connecting Baudette with Rainy River, Ontario (CDN).

(Interesting historical sidelight: The Hastings bridge to be thus replaced, vintage 1951, was constructed to replace the legendary Spiral Bridge, vintage 1894, to wit:

(As for the "why and wherefore" of the spiral ramp design, Hastings civic leaders wanted to keep the country trade in Beautiful Downtown Hastings, but @ the same time didn't want to see a major stampede caused by runaway horses arriving on a more conventional ramp.

(Its own fate was sealed after World War II, following a reduction in the weight limit to five tons which led to a rather notorious incident as had a school bus, passengers and all, ticketed for being overweight ... to be followed for a time by students having to leave the bus before it crossed the span, and walk across same, reboarding @ the opposite end.)

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AS IRAQ DETERIORATES ALL THE FURTHER INTO CHAOS AND DISORDER AGGRAVATED BY THE AMERICAN COLONIAL PRESENCE THEREIN, Iraq's President will be flying over to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester for a medical checkup.

No wonder The Terrible-Tempered Mr. Bang is still as hard-wired as he is about maintaining an American Colonial Presence in Iraq for @ least 100 years (cf. the 48 years' American colonial presence in the Philippines until their being granted independence in 1946 ... let alone Hitler's Grand Delusion of a Thousand-Year Reich for Nazi Germany as fell 988 years short).

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A NEW PILL FOR THE HOMOPHOBIC COMMUNITY, ESPECIALLY SO THAT INVOKING HIS NAME: Swedish researchers have come out with a new study which found, based on brain scans, that the brains of gay men and straight women were, all things considered, practically identical in terms of general dimensions.

In contrast, the brains of straight men and lesbians had a larger right pole.

You can read the details in the current number of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences--until the "family values" crowd manages to censor the article by claiming "pseudoscience" or some such patsy as makes no logical sense in the face of facts.

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FURTHER COMMITTED TO THE SERVICE OF THE PUBLIC, ESPECIALLY SO HEADING INTO SUMMER HIATUS, Your Correspondent calls your attention to a new and informative widget on the side of the page as should be of benefit heading into Indecision 2008.

PolitiFact.com, a service of the St. Petersburg Times and CQ Politics, has introduced what may be the most effective way to gauge the veracity or insincerity of various claims made throughout the campaign: None other than The Truth-O-Meter, which analyses claims made by the candidates themselves ... the political parties ... outside political movements and campaigns ... even bloggers and chain e-mails, and renders a verdict based on careful and impartial research in one of six categories: True, Mostly True, Half True, Barely True, False and (for the most incredibly bizarre specimens) Pants On Fire.

Which you'll no doubt want to consult from time to time, especially when you come across some class of scuttlebutt online and you need to judge its authenticity and credibility.

And in case any of you bloggers out there are wondering if you can add this widget to your own weblog, just click here and follow the simple directions. It automatically updates as new claims are analysed and published.

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AND BEFORE I FORGET, THE WEATHER DETAILS AS I WRITE: Rather pleasant and sunny, come to think of it, here in the Minnwissippi region with a touch of cooling breeze.

TT4N....   

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SOME OF YOU REGULAR READERS MAY RECALL MY PREVIOUS ITEM DISCUSSING A RUNNING GAG OF STAN FREBERG'S on his 1957 summer-replacement series over CBS Radio as referred to any and all foreigners as "Swiss" so as not to offend anybody, or so the thinking went--and imagining its possibilities as a way to deflate xenophobic egos here in a "morally superior" United States when it comes to immigration and racial issues.

(And speaking of The Stan Freberg Show, all 15 episodes' worth can be heard online thanks to The Old-Time Radio Network @ OTR.net, in case you're interested.

(IMHO, perhaps the best examples of the gag were in episode 11, where, in the opening routine, Our Host referred to his having "Swiss flu" as explained his feeling a bit poorly ... and in a parody of the Western dramas then popular on TV entitled "Bang Gunleigh, U.S. Marshall Fields," where a Mexican-sounding character named Pedro, as "materialises at the end of every episode" without any running story line, explains where he's Swiss when asked if he's Mexican.)

In any case, Your Correspondent has to wonder if this makes such targets of the gag honorary residents of "the Fifth Switzerland," as the Swiss themselves are fond of referring to Swiss Abroad; i.e., the Swiss diaspora, as opposed to to the traditional geolinguistic divisions of Switzerland based on the four official languages thereof (French, German, Italian and Romanch).

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A FEW WORDS ABOUT THE TITLE, AND THE INSPIRATION THEREFOR: Back in 1977, shortly after Bubble-Yum bubble gum hit store shelves, schoolyard rumours surfaced in several cities across the Northeast as claimed that Bubble-Yum contained spider's eggs.

Prompting the makers thereof to take out full-page adverts in several gazettas in the region as were headlined "Someone's been telling your kids very bad lies about a very good gum," to discredit the rumours.

Your Correspondent was thinking about this @ length to come up with a title to this item, and was inspired by that campaign to come up with (by way of FreeTranslation.com) the Spanish for "Someone's been telling you some really bad lies about a really influential organization."

The organization in question being the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), subject of the following recent item from the Hatewatch blog of the Southern Poverty Law Centre:

In a recent posting to National Review Online, long-time columnist John Derbyshire attacked the nation's largest Latino civil rights organization, the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), for the last two words in its name, which Derbyshire translated as "The Race." With that, Derbyshire joined thousands of other Americans who use the organization's name to claim--entirely without foundation—that NCLR is a race-based, supremacist organization.

Said Derbyshire: "The idea, as I had it explained to me, is that by blending the European race with the Mesoamerican, Mexico has brought forth a new race, the mestizo or bronze race, which is claimed to be superior to both the contributing races, I suppose by dint of hybrid vigor. This bronze über-race is 'La Raza.'"

Next time, Derbyshire—who has described himself as a "racist," albeit a "mild and tolerant" one—might want to consult a dictionary, or perhaps a linguist, before he goes public with his proposed translations of the Spanish language. If he had, he'd have learned that "La Raza," in the context of the organization's name, doesn't mean "The Race" at all. In fact, the term is much more commonly translated as "the people" or "the community" and it is intended to be inclusive, encompassing the blending of European, African, and indigenous peoples in the Americas.

Derbyshire might even have paid a visit to NCLR's website, which includes a nuanced explanation of the term: "While it is true that one meaning [of] 'raza' in Spanish is indeed 'race,' in Spanish, as in English and any other language, words can and do have multiple meanings. Translating our name as 'the race' is not only inaccurate, it is factually incorrect. 'Hispanic' is an ethnicity, not a race. As anyone who has ever met a Dominican American, Mexican American, or Spanish American can attest, Hispanics can be and are members of any and all races."

The NCLR site continues: "The term 'La Raza' has its origins in early 20th century Latin American literature and translates into English most closely as 'the people,' or, according to some scholars, 'the Hispanic people of the New World.' The term was coined by Mexican scholar José Vasconcelos to reflect the fact that the people of Latin America are a mixture of many of the world's races, cultures, and religions. Mistranslating 'La Raza' to mean 'the race' implies that it is a term meant to exclude others. In fact, the full term coined by Vasconcelos, 'La Raza Cósmica,' meaning the 'cosmic people,' was developed to reflect not purity but the mixture inherent in the Hispanic people. This is an inclusive concept, meaning that Hispanics share with all other peoples of the world a common heritage and destiny."

Had he bothered to check it out—rather than simply grasping for an argument to support his angry nativism—Derbyshire also would have found that the NCLR site clearly condemns ethnic separatist organizations. The group even has repeatedly disavowed certain founding documents of the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicanos de Aztlan (MEChA), a fellow Latino rights organization that is not a racist separatist group but did, more than 40 years ago, publish what NCLR characterizes as "inappropriate rhetoric." NCLR publicly condemns Voz de Aztlan, a virulently anti-Semitic outfit that has long been listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

But none of this prevented Derbyshire from characterizing NCLR as a hotbed of racism, with "published material [that] shouts an ethic of racial triumphalism." He argues that NCLR publications belong on the library shelf next to materials from bona fide hate groups like the neo-Nazi Aryan Nations. In employing this kind of propaganda—almost identical to what groups like the Klan falsely claim about organizations such as the multiracial NAACP — Derbyshire sounds similar to many on the radical right. For example, the hate group American Patrol, whose leader Glenn Spencer has spoken at several white supremacist events, regularly refers to the NCLR as the "Race Mob" or the "Tan Klan." His close friend and fellow racist Barbara Coe--who is a member of the Council of Conservative Citizens, a group that has described blacks as "a retrograde species of humanity"--characterizes NCLR similarly.

It's not much of a surprise that Derbyshire has taken up against NCLR, given his attachment to organizations like the anti-immigrant hate website VDARE, named after Virginia Dare, said to be the first white child born in the New World (see, for example, here, here and here for 2008 posts). In 2005, Derbyshire took up for the rabid British xenophobe Enoch Powell, who warned in his infamous 1968 "Rivers of Blood" speech that mass immigration would destroy the United Kingdom. Derbyshire also has called those who support multiculturalism "pod people, whose nervous systems have been taken over by alien intelligences."

In his latest diatribe, Derbyshire rages at the acceptance by the mainstream press and many corporate sponsors of NCLR. "How," he fumes, "do they get away with it?"

That question might well be directed to Derbyshire, a British native who became a naturalized American citizen in 2002—after having illegally overstayed his own visa here by nearly five years.

"Think about it."