Front page Archive Why Arlen? Arlen is the TV home of "King of the Hill." It's a small conservative town that is threatened with ruination on a regular basis by twig boys, enviro wackos, diversity nuts, "PC" police and other ivory tower liberals. I like to think of Arlen as a metaphor for this here great nation of ours.

Wednesday, May 31, 2006 Posted 5:55 PM by Hank WE'RE MOVING For the forseeable future I will be blogging with the fellas over at http://www.federalreview.com/ Please bookmark the site. Monday, May 22, 2006 Posted 8:52 AM by Hank NY, SPITZER, ADD INSULT TO INJURY GENEVA, NY--The State of New York is threatening to take a local business owner to court after its own alleged negligence closed her business. The Finger Lakes Times reports that New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer "sent 'a final notice' to concessionaire Darlene DiFederico of Geneva, notifying her that she needed to settle a $2,058.28 debt or a lawsuit would be initiated against her." According to the paper, DiFrederico ran the concession stand at Cayuga Lake State Park. The stand was forced to close, the paper reports, after the state shut down its "sprayground" attraction at the site. The sprayground was closed last year, the Times noted, "after about 40 people complained of a gastrointestinal illness. In subsequent weeks, reports of the outbreak grew to more than 3,869 people in 35 counties — with 612 cases confirmed. The state Health Department determined the illness was cryptosporidiosis, caused by a microscopic parasite." “I closed because there was no business down there,” DiFederico said, adding she ultimately lost $12,000 following the sprayground’s closing Aug. 16. “Everybody bailed out. It was like we had the plague.” Several lawsuits and claims have been filed against the state, alleging that the state's negligence caused the outbreak. After the outbreak, the state Health Department decided to rewrite regulations governing water quality at all sprayparks. Spitzer's office said last week it hopes that it and DiFederico "can resolve the dispute before it gets to court." New York State is often viewed as unfriendly to business. Despite this lawsuit, Spitzer, a candidate for governor this year, has claimed he will turn that unfriendly climate around. Sunday, May 21, 2006 Posted 7:40 AM by Hank AMERICANS: HEALTHIER THAN YOU THINK? An article in today's New York Times sheds doubt on the theory that Americans are less healthy than their European counterparts. According to the article, Americans may simply be perceived as sicker because our medical system does more tests, and is quicker to label a patient as "sick": The question of which country is healthier...turns out to be a perfect illustration of an issue that has plagued American medicine: the more health problems you look for, the more you find. And Americans, medical researchers say, are avid about looking. The article goes on to note: Some people call it disease-mongering, says Dr. Lisa Schwartz of Dartmouth Medical School. She once calculated that if everyone had the recommended tests for blood cholesterol, blood sugar, body mass index and diabetes, 75 percent of adults in the United States would be labeled as diseased. And new diseases arise by the minute, she says In other words, it may be that the United States is actually more diligent about diagnosis, treatment and reporting illness. This, in turn, skews the statistics to make our nation look less healthy than it is. Though unspoken in the article (it is the Times, after all), this also sheds doubt on the theory that socialized medicine in Europe keeps their citizens healthier. If anything, it's possible that they are missing diseases that American medicine catches and treats. Its something worth looking into. Saturday, May 20, 2006 Posted 9:23 AM by Hank ITHACA'S GAS PRICE GOUGE ITHACA, NY--Despite a state law allowing them to do so, Ithaca area politicians have said they have no intention of cutting the local sales tax on gasoline. Speaking to the Ithaca Journal, Tim Joseph (D-Ithaca), Chair of the Tompkins County Legislature, said that area officials were “not interested” in following the state’s lead in capping the sales tax, despite skyrocketing prices, claiming “the proposal offers miniscule relief.” Joseph's comments came despite studies that show taxes, including local taxes, up to one third of the cost of gas. Many experts consider the gas tax a “regressive” tax, meaning it disproportionately affects the poor and middle class. Joseph did not offer any proposals for cutting the local cost of gas. He did, however, volunteer his belief that “oil companies continue to drive up the cost of gasoline.” The average price for gasoline in Ithaca is currently over $3.02 per gallon, approximately ten cents a gallon higher than the national average. Sunday, May 07, 2006 Posted 6:43 PM by Hank WAS PLAME OUTED BY HUSBAND? A blogger at American Thinker speculates that former Ambassador Joseph Wilson himself might have been the one who "outed" his wife, Valerie Plame. In my opinion, that's a long shot. However, given how willing Wilson is to trade on his wife's alleged "covert" status even to this day, it's not completely impossible. Monday, May 01, 2006 Posted 9:14 PM by Hank COMING SOON: JAMES BOND VS RACHEL CORRIE? Reuters reports that "[i]n the opening scene of 'Casino Royale,' the 21st installment of the popular movie franchise, Bond will pursue his latest enemy in a four-wheel W190 bulldozer supplied by Fiat, the Italian industrial group." This proves that the Bond movies are fiction. In real life, if you run over a terrorist with a bulldozer, their family sues the manufacturer. Thursday, April 20, 2006 Posted 6:58 AM by Hank ITHACA PROFESSOR BLASTS AMERICAN FLAG ITHACA, NY—A professor at Ithaca College is attacking that school’s use of the American flag on its athletic uniforms. Writing in the Ithacan, Stephen D. Mosher, a Professor in the Department of Sports Management and Media, claims the use of the flag on sports uniforms violates athletes’ right to free speech: Many non-citizen athletes are expected to wear the national flag of the country where they play, yet cannot participate in its democracy. Most importantly, the process attaching the flag to uniforms during the buildup to the first Iraq War, in 1990, was almost always done without the participation of the players who wear the uniforms, thus denying them their free speech rights. The professor also mocked the people who choose to wear the flag: It is laughable to hear this action is an expression of patriotism when it is so closely associated with supporting war. This is not the first time employees at Ithaca College have attacked the flag and what it represents. In 2001, shortly after September 11, a faculty member reported being accused of “jingoism” by other employees for “simply flying the American flag.” Home