Fatass whiners

What a bunch of babies. Big, fat babies:

In late April, Troutman learned an unfortunate side effect of his healthy weight gain: After entering the Michigan Avenue Gap store, he was told that they no longer carried his size, XXL.

"I'm not sure what I felt at that moment, but part of it was embarrassment," Troutman wrote on his blog, My View from the Jeep. "Regardless of the words the associate used, all I heard was, 'We're not serving your kind anymore.' "

The horror. It's like Jim Crow all over again.

The Gap was Troutman's favorite retail spot, and shopping there provided him with relief from the stresses of working as human resource manager at a Chicago not-for-profit. Now, he says, the local store on his block is a reminder of where he is not welcome anymore. "At my size, I don't have many options for shopping, and this was just one more limitation," he said. "The Gap is making it harder for a group of people who already have difficulty shopping to purchase their product."

Paul McAleer is a Chicago Web designer and developer who created and writes for My Big Fat Blog, which aims to report on "fat awareness and fat rights." He said the Gap's decision to pull the XXL from stores is part of a retail trend to make the bricks-and-mortar store less plus-size friendly. "To me it says that fat people, both men and women, do not fit within the Gap's brand image," McAleer said. Last year Old Navy, a youth-oriented brand of clothing owned by Gap Inc., pulled women's XXL from its stores, making it available only online.

What I'm about to write is not because I hate fat people and make fun of them (though they can be funny sometimes). It's because I'm 6'9" and can't find clothes everywhere I want to shop either:

All right, fatty, here's the deal. Stop being such a whiner. First, you are fat because you eat too much and don't exercise enough. If it's really just due to muscle gain, no one has to subsidize your roided up body. To complain about not finding clothes because of your lifestyle is ridiculous. That's like if you chopped off your arm on purpose and started complaining because stores don't carry one-armed shirts.

Second, why is Gap a bad guy? They are trying to be more efficient in their inventory. You can still buy your clothes online. Besides, since you are a guy you should appreciate not having to go to a store. It sucks poop, and only gays and metrosexuals enjoy shopping for clothes. Online shopping is SO much easier and better. Trust me, I do it all the time.

Third, this isn't Russia (to turn a phrase; I know they have a market economy now). We have a free market. If there are so many fashionable fatties out there who want to shop, open a store for them where you design the clothes. You should be fabulously rich benefitting from all of the fat discrimination out there.

Wait, what's that you say? You wouldn't get rich from it? Well no kidding. I guess there's not that much demand for it. Now do you see why Gap is not carrying that stuff any more?

Why should a store be required to carry everything they have in your size? Where does it end? Can I get some size 15 shoes, or 38 inch inseam pants, or XLXT shirts too? How about Shawn Bradley? How about Yokozuna? Hey, they've got rights and shouldn't be inconvenienced either, correct?

Yeah, dude, everybody today is a victim. Everybody has to bitch about something. Why don't you stop complaining and either fix the problem (by opening your own stores) or deal with it? You do that by finding out where you can find clothes that fit. It was quite a disappointment when I was a 6' 6" junior in high school and I figured out I had to buy all of my pants and shoes (and most of my shirts) from a catalog for the rest of my life, but I GOT OVER IT. Life goes on. With the internet, it's easy to find all kinds of big and tall stores.

Rachel Lucas watches some HGTV

And she hates everyone on it.

Her bigger message is that she finds the women on these shows so stupid, irrational, spoiled, and emasculating that she wonders how any man who watched that channel would want to ever marry.

I've never seen the channel, but I will agree that there is a larger than desired proportion of women who are just as she describes.

Not being married and having no prospects doesn't sound so bad after all...

UPDATE: Dr. Melissa Clouthier has more. Her conclusion?

What will reverse this frustrating tide? I don’t know. Men may revolt and give up women and encourage legalized prostitution like some of the commenters recommended. Men may just consign themselves to lead single and happy (well, happier than being with a shrewish woman) lives. Or, as Rachel suggests, men might go gay. But I have to say, that last choice might be jumping out of the frying pan and into the fryer.

Wisconsin is in a tizzy

We've all heard about how that selfish jerk Brett Favre (who would soon become local hero Brett Favre if he comes to the Bears) wants to come back and play after announcing his retirement. Packer fans are pretty worked up one way or the other about the whole thing.

Yesterday a bunch of them held a rally outside Lambeau Field in support of Favre. Yes, they are dorks who couldn't even stay home and watch CC Sabathia pitch for the Brewers. Instead, they tailgated at their protest:

The crowd of more than 100 chanted "We want Brett," and carried signs reading, "Favre for President" or "Favre Forever." Many in the parking lot wore No. 4 jerseys, tossed footballs and grilled.

I think they really just want to get away from their wives with an excuse to spend their summer Sundays drinking beer and eating sausage:

The rally in Green Bay, Wis., was the brainchild of brothers Adam and Erick Rolfson, who on Friday tried to think of a way to keep Favre in Green Bay. Another rally is planned for Monday night in suburban Milwaukee and every Sunday thereafter at Lambeau Field until Favre is back.

This is mildly horrifying

A bunch of girls at some high school, none older than 16, made a pact to get pregnant. People are trying to figure out why they would do so. Um, part of it may be the school's culture towards high school mothers:

The high school has done perhaps too good a job of embracing young mothers. Sex-ed classes end freshman year at Gloucester, where teen parents are encouraged to take their children to a free on-site day-care center. Strollers mingle seamlessly in school hallways among cheerleaders and junior ROTC. "We're proud to help the mothers stay in school," says Sue Todd, CEO of Pathways for Children, which runs the day-care center.

Sure makes having a kid in high school seem not so bad, huh? I mean, except for all of the other kids that have to deal with strollers in the hallway.

Fascism and jaywalking

Not fascism as ignoramouses use it (meaning anything bad), but in the strict definition of it (which this book and blog are about).

Anyway, I found this interesting about the west coast. Perhaps the Seattlites, or Coffeeheads as I imagine them to be called, who read this blog could comment on their experiences. I'd also like to read what folks who have spent significant time living on the west coast in other places think.

Does Hollywood have amnesia?

The Incredible Hulk is coming out June 13. That would be fine, except that I could swear we just had a different, crappy Hulk movie just a few years ago.

Lo and behold! In fairness, it was all the way back in 2003. Life was simpler then. After all, the White Sox and Red Sox had the second and third longest streaks of championship futility in baseball, respectively.

This one isn't a sequel:

The film was originally meant to continue from Hulk (2003) but Edward Norton rewrote the script to make it similar to "The Incredible Hulk" (1978) and Bruce Jones's (run in the the comic books, thus severing all ties to its predecessor and retelling Bruce's origin through flashbacks. Therefore the two films are not within the same continuity.

So Edward Norton, who has done nothing good since Rounders and Fight Club (and I didn't like Fight Club), has enough stroke to pull off a re-write?

We will find out once and for all how stupid the American public is.

Houston as the next great American city

I wouldn't have guessed at first glance, but Joel Kotkin makes a good case for Houston as the next big city in the US. It's mainly driven by the entrepeneurial spirit of the city's residents, like a perpetual boomtown.

Kotkin also challenges those who say that the best cities are those that are "liveable" and have lots of cultural crap, which I always like.

People are dumb

Since I spend most of my life around people who are rational and intelligent (or at least more so than most), I can sometimes forget just how stupid and rude much of the populace is.

Some girl who works for a pizza place answering the phones is reminded every day, however, and gives some suggestions to those people. The rest of us get to read it and be appalled.

Here's number 2, for example, and look how she immediately knows that people like me are not going to believe how dumb some people are (before she says I would do it too):

2. KNOW YOUR ADDRESS! Don't giggle, you overpaid salaried- MBA reading this during your lunch-hour. YOU are the IDIOT that calls and says "We just moved. It's by the store on the corner." Really? Thank goodness there is only one store on a corner in all of Washington State. For a moment, I thought I might actually have to look on a map to see where you live or verifiy the northeastern part of this town or the west side of the next city. Oh, and when I politely mention that I need an exact address, don't huff and act like I'M the one making things difficult. Find a piece of mail. Look on your lease or morgage papers. Go outside. You DO have an address, contrary to the nameless customer who insisted "they" took his address away (but he's got other problems).

People are stupid and afraid

You may think the title of this post is referring to some large societal issue. Well, it's not.

I was on a late, crowded Blue Line train today, and when we got to Clark and Lake (in other words, the first big stop where 1/3 of the train gets off) some joker says, in complete earnest, "Getting off."

My first reaction to such idiocy is usually to reply, "We all are." That's only when I am near them, however, and in this case my back was turned so I couldn't see who it was. Well, gee, Einstein, is this your first time on the train? The whole freaking train gets off! You won't have any problems doing so. That's the STUPID.

As for the afraid, it's mind-melding what a bunch of pansies everyone has become. After I heard that moron say he needed to get off, I joking said to everyone around me, "Yeah, aren't we all?" Some guy next to me looked like I just challenged a suicide bomber to blow up his vest on the train. There is a certain amount of stupidity that I just can't let pass (such as in instances like this), but everyone else was probably going to clear out to let this goof get off first because they are afraid of everything. Can't we all laugh at this dolt rather than condescendingly pretend he's normal? Maybe it will shame him into pulling his head out of his ass and noticing things around him. That's the AFRAID.

American civics quiz

This is apparently some quiz given to college kids. When I was in school there is no way I would have done well. I just took it and missed 5 questions.

Jonah Goldberg missed 3, but in fairness he should do better than me given that he has a new 500-page book about political philosophy coming out later this year. Meanwhile, I am chained to a desk all day pounding out normal costs and killing my brain with booze and TV at night. So graded on a curve, I may have done better than him.

Miss SC Teen USA - the aftermath

If you haven't seen this poor girl trying to answer this pageant question, check it out. I couldn't finish it. Really.

First, this question is actually not that easy to answer compared to the usual pageant questions. A good answer would have to delve into our culture and educational system, but without ripping on either. I don't think if I could do it spontaneously.

Second, not being a good extemporaneous speaker does not mean someone is stupid. There are lots of good BS'ers who aren't that bright. On the converse, there are plenty of smart people who get nervous doing it.

Third, she doesn't seem too broken up about it. Good for her. She's showing a lot of maturity.

Finally, let's face it, she's a hot chick. I think she'll turn out just fine.

This is repulsive

It's hard to know where to begin with the problems in the "reporting" in this article. I'll try, though. It starts nicely enough:

For 11-year-old Nathan Dombrowski, the weed-eaten ballfield in his Morgan Park neighborhood was a second home.

So after the well-liked, speedy second baseman for the Merrionette Park Red Sox died in a freak accident last month, his parents accepted a state lawmaker's offer to try to overhaul the field and name it in Nate's honor.

Little Liam Bonner's story is tragically similar. The 4-year-old from West Morgan Park loved to ride his training-wheel bike to a playground a block from his house.

So when Liam died from a form of brain cancer last month after a struggle that included surgery on his 3rd birthday, his parents sought to refurbish the Kennedy Park playground near 113th and Western and name it after him.

Nice, right? Hey, let's hold a fundraiser or find a few wealthy backers or something for the project, but that's not quite what everyone involved had in mind:

State Rep. Kevin Joyce (D-Chicago) spearheaded both endeavors, earmarking money for them in the state budget and setting up matching dollars from the Chicago Park District.

But the projects have been put on hold by Gov. Blagojevich -- a casualty of the governor's decision last week to veto hundreds of community initiatives from the budget, projects he characterized as non-essential "pork."

"From a budget perspective, I can see cuts have to be made. But what's insulting is to call it pork," said Amy Bonner, Liam's mother. "To me that insinuates something that's a wasteful program or money that wasn't spent wisely."

Unless a spending project is for themselves, people always think it's pork. Of course, the governor isn't exactly against taking taxpayer money from downstate and blowing it on a baseball field in Chicago:

Blagojevich spokeswoman Abby Ottenhoff said the governor isn't opposed to financing park projects in Joyce's district. But she said the money should come from a multibillion-dollar construction program the governor wants -- not from the state's day-to-day operating budget.

"Hundreds of similar projects that were already promised to communities around the state . . . were completely left out of the budget lawmakers passed," Ottenhoff said. "New local projects like these should be part of a statewide capital budget that focuses on construction and infrastructure needs, not in the operating budget.

However, I'll give him some credit for trying to stop this type of earmarking. The final paragraph will really jerk a tear:

Both the Dombrowskis and the Bonners, Joyce said, are "attempting to honor their child's memory, and this governor is trying to take that away by calling it pork. This is completely unacceptable to me."

...unless you're a cold-hearted SOB like me, I guess.

Again, how is the governor stopping them from honoring their child's memory? He's not even preventing them from fixing up the park and naming it after him. He's not going to have the National Guard at the entrance to the field pointing rifles at volunteers who just want to mow the lawn and pick up garbage. This kind of entitlement philosophy makes me sick. The state should not be in the business of someone using their dead kid to force taxpayers from other parts of Illinois to fix a park for the rest of the neighborhood.

Dave McKinney and Chris Fusco, the reporters who wrote this story, should be ashamed of themselves for writing an opinion piece and disguising it as a straight news story. It's this kind of thing that's the reason people are continually turning away from the mainstream media's product.

Hey Kos, lower those expectations

According to a poll by Democracy Corps:

Americans believe by a majority of 57% to 29% that government makes it harder for people to get ahead in life. The same poll found that 83% of people believe that, if the government had more money, it would probably waste it, the highest level of anti-government sentiment in a decade. America is not entering into a new era of liberal activism.

Daily Kos (the biggest political blog, and a very liberal one) is a big believer in a coming Democratic majority. This majority will happen, he basically says, by Democrats getting back to their liberal roots.

The 2008 elections are going to be VERY interesting, both for Congress and President, for three reasons:

1. President Bush isn't running for anything, and won't even be around come January 21, 2009.
2. Voters will have had a chance to see Democrats in action in this last Congress.
3. If Hillary is the Democratic nominee, we will have a nice little test of how long the electorate's collective memory is. Does America want 4 more years of the Clintons in the White House? I have my guesses, but I don't know.

I'll post on the state of the Democratic Presidential race in the next week.

(Hat tip to the Indispensible Jim Geraghty.)

Aw, cripes!

Anchorwoman was cancelled. Considering there are no other new shows right now, I'm actually pretty surprised it didn't catch on.

I guess this explains why Kelin hates them so much...

So, in SEC country it's well-known that Gators wear jean shorts?

Kudos to With Leather for giving me this video.

Americans' reading habits

I suspect that the number of people who don't read books is higher, but that people are afraid to
tell pollsters the truth. I think Bob Ryan is the older, Southern version of me, though:

More women than men read every major category of books except for history and biography. Industry experts said that confirms their observation that men tend to prefer nonfiction.

"Fiction just doesn't interest me," said Bob Ryan, 41, who works for a construction company in Guntersville, Ala. "If I'm going to get a story, I'll get a movie."

UPDATE: Jonah Goldberg covers the political angle of this better than I ever could, naturally.