FOR STARTERS, YOUR CORRESPONDENT JUST HAS TO WONDER IF SUCH SPECIMENS OF THE GREATER CONSERVATIVE PROPAGANDA MASHEEN as pander to the same crowd who shops Wally World, for the most part--poor, undereducated, vulnerable and easily-influenced--as make so much about the presumed loss of American machismo to the emerging acceptance of homosexuals and homosexuality are probably closet admirers of one Dr. John R. Brinkley of goat-gland implant notoriety back in the 1920's and 1930's.

Especially because of Doc Brinkley's supposed belief in Toggenburg goat-gland implants being what those afflicted with Lost Manhood--so long as they had $750 cash, payable in advance--needed to once again become Manly Men. That, and the likes of radio stations KFKB (when he had his clinic in Milford, Kansas) and XER (later becoming XERA) in Ciudad Acuna, Mexico (opposite Del Rio, Texas, where Doc moved his surgery after Kansas officials revoked his medical licence for Quackery and Addiction to Liquor) to promote his treatments.

Come to think of it: How do we know Rush Limbaugh isn't really a "closet john" (as in having occasional trysts with prostitutes, yet trying all the more to avoid attracting unwelcome suspicions)?

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ZAHAL--THE HEBREW ACRONYM FOR THE ISRAELI DEFENCE FORCES--HAVE ISSUED AN EDICT banning all its active-duty and reserve members from having a presence on the online social-networking site Facebook, citing potential risks for revealing sensitive information as may benefit the enemy; rumour hath it that Lebanese- and Palestinian-based militants have monitored social-network pages of Zahal members for fresh terrorist-attack targets as seem to be an almost-constant occurence across Israel.

But then again, Your Correspondent understands where white-supremacist and racist elements have their own social-networking presence online, bound by a dangerously warped and violent agenda as includes what amounts to obligatory hagiographic idolisation of Nazi Germany and apartheid South Africa alongside appeals to "defending the purity and integrity of our One Master Race," among other "causes."

IMHO, the only race as matters is the human race. "It's a small world, after all...."

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AND SPEAKING OF SOCIAL NETWORKING ONLINE, Your Correspondent is still looking into the launch of a site in this vein as would be of interest to:

• residents of the Wisconsin Dells/Lake Delton district, especially such with a direct involvement in the tourism industry there;
• current and past employees of touristic-related businesses in the Waterpark Capital; and
• longtime devotees of the Dells region long before it became the Waterpark Capital.

Those interested can enquire here by e-mail. I hope to get things ready in time for the traditional Memorial Day Long Weekend start of season.

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ANOTHER REASON WHY WALLY WORLD IS UNDESERVING OF YOUR PATRONAGE: Flagler Productions, a Kansas City-based video production company long under contract to Wally World to produce corporate videos--or so they thought--has released an archive of Wally World's Most Embarrassing Moments spanning nearly 30 years.

Embarrassing Moments as include scenes of high-level executives of a company officially built on the defence of working-class family values wearing drag and otherwise acting in a campy manner that would make the Carry On series look like The 700 Club by comparison.

Not to mention one Embarrassing Moment showing employees joking to themselves and otherwise performing Tasteless Routines about exploding plastic gas cans, uncovered in research for a lawsuit involving the sale of defective gas cans as led to severe burns on a 12-year-old boy.

As CNBC covered the release:

No wonder you can't trust Wally World for your shopping needs without feeling twinges of guilt or angst.

YOUR CORRESPONDENT HAD JUST NOW ATTEMPTED TO ADD THIS WEBLOG TO THE "BIG BANG WORLD RECORD" TAG, but for some reason or another, the list wound up cut off and incomplete.

I suppose it must be because of certain technical limitations on BlogDrive's part on blog length; hence, my abandoning the attempt.

But then again, it's rainy and windy outside here in the Minnwissippi as I speak.

Other than that--your support of this blog would be appreciated.

And my apologies for having to abandon "Big Bang" in the end.

DURING CHINA'S INFAMOUS "CULTURAL REVOLUTION" (1966-1976), untold millions of teenagers and young adults were forcibly removed from the cities and sent wholesale to rural areas to "learn from the peasants!" (to use an official slogan of the period as would end with Mao Zedong's death in the fall of 1976)--in other words, "revolutionary instruction" with little or no practical purpose replacing "decadent bougeoise" classroom instruction.

Could the Pseudoreligiopolitical Right have similar designs on forcibly resettling "poor white trash" deemed "chronic and habitual welfare cases" from major cities into rural areas, excusing the whole as being "social betterment" and "moral reeducation" towards Industry, Self-Reliance, Personal Responsibility, Thrift and a Wholesome and Simple Home Life?

THOSE OPPOSED TO ADULT-RELATED BUSINESSES ON MORAL GROUNDS, IN PARTICULAR THE PSEUDORELIGIOPOLITICAL RIGHT, will always love to cite among their objections the likelihood that property values will be seriously "compromised" to the point of their dilution if allowed to ply their wares untrammeled.

Hence, their desire to restrict adult businesses to "industrial"--as in lower-income, usually working-class--districts of the community, as if seeking to further keep the Lower Classes "in their place" all the more.

The which is insight enough for the following recent "WaiWai" item per the Mainichi Daily News from out Tokyo way, never mind where the credibility and veracity thereof cannot be guaranteed:

In what could be a bit of a turn for the books, operators of adult businesses in Tokyo's Kabukicho district may soon be moaning about a new hotel "spoiling" the neighborhood, judging by Shukan Shincho (3/27).

Though it's common for love hotel operators in particular to face fierce resistance from local residents whenever they build anew somewhere, the shoe is now on the other foot as a respectable establishment sets up in the center of what remains a netherworld.

On March 23, the Best Western Shinjuku Astina Hotel Tokyo opened in Kabukicho, giving the famous U.S. Best Western hotel chain its first establishment in Tokyo, though it does already have hotels in Kochi and Nagasaki.

"(Best Western) has a history extending over 60 years, but compared to companies like The Peninsula or Conrad, awareness of the brand in Japan is not strong," an economic beat journalist tells Shukan Shincho. "It's not a luxury hotel, but by no means is it lower grade, either. It's a chain firmly in the middle range."

Nonetheless, the foreign-funded hotel aims to serve as an oasis in the busy heart of the capital city. With most of its 206 rooms costing in the vicinity of ¥25,000 a night, the hotel is expected to provide an air of sophistication to a Kabukicho still being targeted by a clean-up campaign. Expectations are certainly high among some Kabukicho proprietors.

"Some people complained that the sudden appearance of such a tall building has ruined their TV reception. But times have been tough recently in Kabukicho and we're hoping the hotel will give us a bit of a spark," a Kabukicho restaurateur tells Shukan Shincho.

Insiders from the adult businesses that have built up the entertainment industry aren't quite as upbeat.

"The hotel is surrounded by cabaret clubs, nightclubs and karaoke joints. Right behind it is the Golden Gai and the love hotel district lies right before your eyes," a Kabukicho adult business source says. "I'm sure the refined lobby and its cafes will be used for all sorts of meetings or places to have interviews for nightclub hostessing jobs. But I wonder whether the call girls will be able to use it..."

Best Western officials, however, send an ominous warning to those involved in Kabukicho's flesh trade.

"We weren't aiming for Kabukicho in particular, but the redevelopment of the eastern part of Shinjuku, in a broader sense, met our needs. We would like to see businessmen and women use our hotel," a hotel spokesman tells Shukan Shincho. "We have consulted with the Shinjuku Municipal Government about adult businesses and we'll work together to keep them under control."

FORECAST FOR THE MINNWISSIPPI AS I WRITE THIS: Chilly, windy, rainy and raw. And remaining so much of the day.

Need I elaborate further?

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see more crazy cat pics

IN YOUR CORRESPONDENT'S CASE, THERE COULD BE LIKELY POSSIBILITIES GALORE in relation to the day's news.

One such I could think of is the State of Oklahoma; thanks to the recent tasteless and uncalled for remarks of State Representative Sally Kern, it appears as if Elohim may be showing His Displeasure upon The Sooner State with all manner of recent tornadic attacks thereon, especially so along the Turner Turnpike as connects Tulsa and Oklahoma City--the two main centres of commerce and power.

Not to mention wondering how Gusty (Oklahoma's State Cartoon) is reacting to the news, hiding in that legendary Fraidy Hole of his.

(For those among you who may be likely to complain that I may be offending Bible-Believing Christians with these remarks, I am simply playing the same game that the so-called "Westboro Baptist Church" has been playing all along with their protests @ military funerals contending that G-d is showing His Divine Judgement Upon America for Tolerating Homosexuality in form of troop deaths in the ur-RAHOWA Against Terrorism.)

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MOVING TO SAID UR-RAHOWA FOR A MOMENT, BOYS AND GIRLS, maybe it's time to ask whether the real intentions of The Terrible-Tempered Mr. Bang of Indecision 2008 vis-a-vis a "100-year" American presence in Iraq amounts to nothing short of colonialism.

The White Man's Burden reborn, essentially exploiting Iraq for cheap oil and cheap labour--not to mention a cheap way to get rid of stateside "troublemakers" and "welfare basket cases," as the British were fond of using their colonial holdings for during the Victorian and Edwardian eras in particular.

Canada especially, with some being referred to Australia, New Zealand or South Africa.

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WHILE ON THE MATTER OF CHEAP OIL, with the NYMEX futures price for light sweet crude briefly hitting a new record of $121/bbl. yesterday for May delivery ... you have to wonder what precludes His Fraudulency's Great Within from using the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to increase oil supplies ahead of the summer travel season and keep gas prices cheaper (especially considering estimates suggesting that gas prices could approach $3.50 to $4/gallon by summer).

Especially considering where OPEC's policy @ the moment is to keep production as low as possible and "stabilise" market prices, never mind an American presidential election and serious socioeconomic dislocation imminent.

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NO WONDER OUR COMPLACENT AIR-MINDEDNESS AS A "MORALLY SUPERIOR" SOCIETY IS AS OVERZEALOUSLY HARD-WIRED as it is, and then some:

For the third day running this week, American Airlines, thanks to FAA Diktat involving safety inspection and modification of wiring systems on their jet fleet, has had to cancel wholesale numbers of its domestic flights--one in every three, by one estimate.

And has had to pacify afflicted passengers wholesale with compensation extending to accomodations, transportation via alternate channels and even meals--no doubt leaving you and me wondering, let alone American's regular passengers, how much this will cost American in the end.

And what means they will have to take to recoup the losses--as in fare surcharges over and above those already in effect to cover the increasing cost of jet fuel, airport security procedures and local departure taxes.

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AND STAYING WITH AIR TRAVEL FOR THE MOMENT, European cut-price carrier Ryanair has been referred to Britain's Office of Fair Trading (OFT) by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for a pattern of misleading, deceptive and denigerating advertising as had the ASA dealing with no less than seven Ryanair ads in just the last two years, upholding complaints in all such.

Such specimens of Ryanair advertising as left the ASA with no choice but to refer to OFT were those which:

• advertised fares of as low as £10 single, yet failing to disclose mandatory taxes, fees and charges over and above advertised fares;
• exaggerated the availability of cheap fares;
• claimed that its services between London and Brussels were faster and cheaper (hence, value for money) cf. using Eurostar high-speed rail services via Le Chunnel;
• downplaying the environmental impact of air travel;
• advertising "hottest back to school fares" by using a Page Three has-been in schoolgirl-stylee clothes, thus raising questions of sexualisation; and
• unfairly denigrating an online ticketing service by claiming passengers using same were "being ripped off."

(In a matter not handled by the ASA, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and wife Carla Bruni won damages against Ryanair for using a photo of the pair in advertising without permission.)

Inevitably, Ryanair is upset @ the action; as the BBC put it:

The low-cost carrier said that the authority's rulings against it had been "unfair, biased and untrue".

The ASA had "demonstrated a repeated lack of independence, impartiality and fairness", Ryanair added.

And it described the latest ruling - that it had made exaggerated claims about the availability of flights at advertised prices that did not include taxes and charges - as "the last straw".

"It's one of a number of advertisements where the ASA has demonstrated unfair procedures and bias and a clear anti-Ryanair agenda," said the carrier's spokesman Peter Sherrard.

"In this case, the complainant couldn't remember and couldn't provide any evidence of the flights he was trying to book.

"Most sensible organisations or adjudicators at that stage would simply have dropped the complaint and let it lie."

Something of a lesson that the Zealots and True Believers in industry-based "self-regulation" being the last and only hope free-market capitalism has for being Great White Father to the Lower Classes especially may want to think about. Or will they?!

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NOW TELL ME THIS ISN'T TAKING RELIGIOUS ZEALOTRY AND TRUE BELIEF TO A NEW AND PATHETIC LOW:

Investigators with the Texas Rangers and Texas child-welfare agencies handling the FLDS compound raid have found where a room in the temple therefor contained a bed as was used for sexual trysts set up by church elders among its followers tricked into "celestial marriages" for religio-racial purposes.

And yet the FLDS is complaining of "Religious Persecution!" all along....