Ham and taxes.

Oh Friday. A Friday in Lent during which I put ham on my husband’s breakfast bagel before realizing it was Friday.

Doh. pjHusband said it reminded him of another wife giving forbidden foodstuffs.

Grr.

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Naptime blogging ahead if I’m lucky. Plus, more Canadian fanmail in the queue! Check the google feed for good coffee reading.

Tooooooooo much housework on the docket (I use the term loosely, to include in this case digging through the remaining boxes in the garage from last summer’s move to find tax junk. Fun stuff, indeed.)

Speaking of taxes, isn’t it handy to be a BFF of the President? That way you don’t catch too much grief when it turns out your ginormous company doesn’t pay any taxes at all. And gets money back, to boot! Jonah Goldberg calls the endless loopholes “nonsense.” I have another word for it.

I’m with the Lonely Conservative: I prefer not to buy GE products.

Now back to my handful of boxes in the chilly garage. Do they multiply in the night?

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Nothing says family viewing like casual teen sex and drugs, no?

Alternate title:  Why we won’t be getting cable anytime soon.

Much to my husband’s dismay, of course, but we’re quite happy with our Roku (via a sale tip from Instapundit) and “free” tv (and no, we didn’t get the government coupon, either).

Why my disdain for most television? It started long before I had a kid.  When I met my hubby, a decade ago, he marvelled that I didn’t have a tv.  I did have one.  Tucked away upstairs for occassional use.  But it wasn’t in my living room for a reason: primarily so that friends would come visit, not sit like vegetables in front of my magic moving picture box.  So I already know I’m a little strange.

But this makes me want to go dump our tvs on the curb, cable or no.  Protect your families.  Via Newsbusters:

MTV has bumped up the smut and sleaze level on television with its new show “Skins” – a take off on a successful BBC series. The scripted show’s attempt to portray the real lives of high school students showcases casual sex among minors without consequences, a 16 year-old child purchasing four ounces of marijuana, an adult woman stripping for an underage peeping tom, parental verbal abuse, an overdose on narcotics, and sexual assault of a minor – all in the series premiere.

Titled “Tony,” the episode’s plot revolves around a group of illegal drug-using, pill-popping, casual sex touting group of friends attempting to get virgin friend Stanley’s “cherry popped.” “Stan’s gotta get laid before he turns 17 or he’s not my friend anymore,” said the main character, Tony.

Good God.  I’m not sure what bothers me more–that it’s porn-lite, or that folks let their kids watch it:

In a press release, MTV’s boasted about the premiere’s ratings, and its success among the 12-34 demographic, despite its TV-MA rating. On January 18, “Skins” drew the “network’s largest P12-34 audience for a series launch…and drew the most P12-34 viewers for a show launch in the network’s history.  MTV’s newest scripted series drew 3.26 million total viewers and 2.7 million viewers in its core demo,” read the release.

Nothing says “family viewing” like casual sex, sexual assault of a minor and drug use, no? 

I used to have a difficult time biting my tongue on visits to a relative, because the kids watched endless television. In the prevailing mindset of said post-graduate and professional degree suburbanite home, it was ok because it was Disney. 

Have you ever seen Disney programming at night?

My favorite was “The Suite Life with Zach and Cody,” in which two adolescent twits ruled the roost. The show portrayed every adult as a bumbling idiot.  The kids were always right, and it was always at the expense of one of those idiots. I would shoot my husband looks from across the room while we sat and watched the two young kids soak up every word.

Is it any surprise that they have great difficulty treating adults with respect?  Especially after being told, “No”?  After all, no one ever tells Zach and Cody, “No.”

My husband originally argued that “teenagers” watched shows like “The Suite Life” and “High School Musical.” 

Um, not even close. The screaming fans of HSM average 8, if that, and after a steady diet of Disney growing up, kids flick over to “Desperate Housewives” before they’re 13. 

I guess “Skins” provides a new alternative.

H/T: Allahpundit, who ponders whether the show violates child porn statutes or MTV set up the kiddie porn accusations to drum up publicity.  If it’s the former, how disturbing.  If it’s the latter, how disturbing.

UPDATE: I should have known The Other McCain would be on the case.  Heh:

Some youngsters might find it hard to believe that, in the misty dawn of primitive cable programming, MTV stood for “Music Television,” and they played videos by popular bands and singers. That was before they decided that teen sex was where the big money is

He brings up “The Suite Life” with an example for Disney to catch up on the teen-sex genre.  Stacy, Disney gets the young ones prepped and ready for future debasement.

UPDATE 2: linked as a Featured Blog by Pundette! Thanks!

UPDATE 3: McCainalanche!  Thanks, Sir.

Is it just me?

Or is there a problem here?

There are many instances of the partisan dynamic working in one direction here. That is, conservatives and Republicans who had no problem with strong-arm security measures back in the Bush 43 days but are upset now. Charles Krauthammer is the classic example: forthrightly defending torture as, in limited circumstances, a necessary tool against terrorism, yet now outraged about “touching my junk” as a symbol of the intrusive state.

Charles Krauthammer defends torture to keep us safe.  Touching of Junk keeps us safe.  Therefore, Charles Krauthammer is a moron for not defending the touching of junk.

I would’ve thought Atlantic staff writers would be above logical fallacies, but I guess working as a speechwriter for Carter would reduce one to thinking in such patterns, no?

Chuck Norris wouldn’t have to spend all morning on the phone with his old HOA

Because Chuck Norris would have been smart enough never to buy a home with an additional layer of bureaucratic baloney by which you’d be forced to abide even when you no longer own the home.  

Via Hot Air, behold the septuagenarian:

Related: Chuck Norris would kick the collective @#$ of this HOA’s board, no?

Naptime blogging of news ahead if I’m lucky.  Unless, of course, Chuck Norris comes to my aid. (Do you think he’d finish cleaning my house, too?  He’d snap–and dust bunnies fornicating in the shadows would jump into the trash.  Sigh.  A girl can dream.)