Right Wing Nation

Pro-Gun Progressive guts the Baltimore media. Good article, there. While you’re there, you might want to peruse the site.

Sciatica. Well, probably. All of the symptoms, he says, are classic, except the pain should be shooting down my leg. So he put me on prednisone to reduce the nerve swelling and flexaril and physical therapy. I’m going to see him two weeks from today, and he says there should be improvement. If there isn’t, it isn’t sciatica, and he’s going to give me an MRI.

as only the French can accomplish (hat tip: Tim Blair). Here’s the weird part:

Country and western has become so big in France

Huh?

And here’s the incredibly stupid — and oh, so very Français part:

Country and western has become so big in France that the country’s bureaucrats have decided to bring the craze under state control.

The French administration has moved to create an official country dancing diploma as part of a drive to regulate the fad. Authorised instructors who have been on publicly funded training courses will be put in charge of line dancing lessons and balls.

Line dancing developed, and exists, here just fine without state control, but hey, we’re not French. And thank God for that. More weird:

Jean Chauveau, the chairman of the country section of the French Dance Federation, said … the French shunned the square dancing that is popular among country and western fans in the United States because it involved physical contact. “They don’t want to take anyone by the hand or anything like that,” he said.

Wait. What happened to “the language of love” and all that? The French not wanting to touch? Aren’t they the nation of harcèlement sexuel? And yet more stupid:

French civil servants say line dancing should be submitted to the same rules as sports such as football and rugby … Amateur instructors will have to take 200 hours of training under the new rules. Professionals will get 600 hours

Ooo, la la! Zey weel be ze certeefahd instructeurs! Zee experts!

I’m assuming Texas Roadhouse won’t be opening many new restaurants in France now, or if they do, they’ll have to cover line-dancing training costs for all those employees.

And from one of Blair’s commenters:

Grab votre mistress do zee do.
Surrender to your enemy, here we go.
Swing your partner round and round,
Wave the white flag all around
Munch the cheese now drink that wine
Soon you’ll have a French ol’ time
Hate the Jews and smell real bad
Now you’re doin’ Le Square Dance Fad.

Our HOA (yes, yes, I live in a neighborhood with a HOA). As I’ve said before, they’re pretty sane for a HOA. Pretty conservative neighborhood in Central Pennsylvania. Anyway, there recently was a HOA vote on the covenant. The questions were a bit confusing, and I and one of my neighbors couldn’t figure out why there were three options, but forgetting the second option for each question, the vote was basically this:

With regard to fences, sheds, pools, and landscaping, should HOA members be required to get the okay of the HOA board, or should they be able to build without getting permission (provided construction is within township guidelines)?

You can guess how I voted. Apparently, so did a majority of the HOA. This just in.

The results were consistent across all issues, with a clear relative majority voting to allow individual property owners to have the power to make their own decisions regarding fences, sheds, pools, and landscaping, providing their plans fall within Patton Township guidelines. No approval will be required by the HOA or its members.

How about that?

Sitting on the couch is worse than sitting in the recliner.

More like this, please, and fewer like these.

I have an appointment with my GP today at 2:45.

I switched chairs in the office. It isn’t as bad, but it doesn’t help. Sitting seems to make it worse, and the only thing that seems to relieve it is lying down (but on the couch, not the bed).

I moved to the couch, but really can’t tell if it’s helping. It still hurts like hell. So I’m going to lie down (that does help) for a while, then sit up, and see if it gets worse again.

John Lydon of the Sex Pistols:

England’s a violent place. Too violent for me. That’s why I prefer it here. For a gun-toting nation, Americans are surprisingly passive.

The hip thing has been getting worse, not better, although I figured out this morning that sitting in the chair in my office makes it a lot worse. I get up, and there’s not much pain. I make coffee, go into the office and sit down. I get up a while later to refill the coffee, and there’s a great deal of pain. So I’m going to switch chairs, and see if that helps.

Anything that’s too soft makes it worse. If I sleep in the bed, when I get up it hurts like hell. If I sleep on the couch (firmer), there isn’t much pain. This chair — my recliner — isn’t as bad as my office chair, but I may move to the couch, and see if sitting there helps.

I’ve also figured out that it isn’t muscle pain; it’s too deep. It feels like bone pain. I have no idea how I could have done anything more than pull a muscle (and that’s kind of a mystery anyway), but I’m going to the doctor.