Polish Sausage...

Via my mom:

So, the customer asked, "In what aisle could I find the Polish sausage?"

The clerk looks at him and says, "Are you Polish?"

The guy (clearly offended) says, "Well, yes I am. But let me ask you something. If I had asked for Italian sausage, would you ask me if I was Italian? Or if I had asked for German Bratwurst, would you ask me if I was German? Or if I asked for a kosher hot dog would you ask me if I was Jewish? Or if I had asked for a Taco, would you ask if I was Mexican?' If I asked for some Irish whiskey, would you ask if I was Irish?"

The clerk says, "Well, no, I probably wouldn't!"

With deep self-righteous indignation, the guy says, "Well then, why did you ask me if I'm Polish because I asked for Polish sausage?"

The clerk replied, "Because you're in Home Depot."

Accountant Nation...

Peggy Noonan's got a good piece up.  An excerpt:

Government not only can change the national character, it can bizarrely channel national energy. And this is another theme in my mailbox, the rebellion against what government increasingly forces us to become: a nation of accountants.

No matter what level of life in which you operate, you are likely overwhelmed by forms, by a blizzard of regulations, rules, new laws. This is not new, it's just always getting worse. Priests are forced to be accountants now, and army officers, and dentists. The single most onerous part of ObamaCare is the tax change whereby spending $600 on goods or services will require a 1099 form. Economists will tell you of the financial cost of this, but I would argue that Paperwork Nation is utterly at odds with the American character.

It's an interesting take, one that I wouldn't have used to describe my own motivations.  And yet, everything she cites resonates strongly with me.

November 2 is our opportunity to clean house.  Use it. 

Morning Walk...

Clear, cold, and humid this morning.  The sky was clear and black, the stars beautiful.  The seasons seem to be just flying by – Orion is now high in the early morning sky, the Pleiades almost straight overhead.  Jupiter is low in the south, Aldebaran high, and Sirius is well above the eastern horizon.  The Big Dipper is starting to show up east of the North Star.  Seems like this “picture” jumped 30° in just the last few days...

Lots of coyotes were audible this morning, at least one band quite close by.  The dogs all ignored them.  Race was focused on his pine cone, as usual; the field spaniels on their important and urgent sniffing.

Daylight saving time ends in a month, which will make the sky picture jump again for me, by 15°.  I hate it when that happens...