Sacrifice, sacrifice, everywhere, none that the eye can see

  I must confess I'm not a big fan of tea partiers getting in the faces of the loonies who currently encamped in the state houses around the country, shouting arguments and then complaining when the loonies shove them.
  It's distasteful. I'm not even sure I think tea partiers should try to outnumber the protesters, as the unions are having "their day" now and obviously have the big bucks to bus the professionally aggrieved in to plant their stinky rear ends near the veterans' memorials in these revered buildings.
  What purpose does it serve to retaliate? In truth, most tea partiers work for a living and can't afford to take off days to trot to Columbus to face them down. It's not like these people are really going to win the battles, considering how badly they've been behaving. It can't sit well with the electorate.
  It's understandable to try to get out in front of the cameras so both sides are shown, but tea partiers have never had to really do that and still win, considering there's no money or Koch behind the movement. 
  But you have to ask. 
  What is it with the hoity toity of this country?
  As generous a nation as we are, citizens get whacked in the head, nagged about moving more, eating less, doing with less. Talk radio is INUNDATED with sappy admonitions to volunteer, adopt, feel guilty for using lead paint 50 years ago, volunteer, engage your community, be energy efficient, play basketball with your kid, volunteer, prevent hunger, prevent foreclosure, volunteer, *think before you speak,* volunteer, volunteer, volunteer...
  We're called upon to sacrifice, yet who up at the top of the food chain is sacrificing? Who is even following their own advice?
  Today Drudge had an article about the 2200 calorie meal the White House served to the nation's governors. The White House has partied repeatedly in the face of turmoil around the world, including the slaughter in Libya, the death of leaders, the Gulf oil crisis and more. Twenty parties just during the holidays alone.
  Then, while the peons are admonished to ride bikes, we learn that the Obamas fly a personal trainer in from Chicago to DC two to four times a week.
  Apparently there are no good trainers in DC.
  And a pizza guy. The Daily Mail.

When you're the president of the United States, only the best pizza will do - even if that means flying a chef  860 miles. 

Chris Sommers, 33, jetted into Washington from St Louis, Missouri, on Thursday with a suitcase of dough, cheese and pans to to prepare food for the Obamas and their staff.

He had apparently been handpicked after the President had tasted his pizzas on the campaign  

  Cuz there are no good pizzas in DC.
  There's more, we know. Flying separately jets to Hawaii. Separate jets to New England. Flying to Spain with an entourage at great government expense.
  But we have long memories.
  Victor David Hanson has another excellent piece, comparing his experiences as farmer and professor. A great divide, he describes. NRO:

My purpose in relating the divide is not to suggest that the brutality of farming bears much resemblance to the private-sector office or that a university professorship is at all comparable to the much more arduous duties of an inner-city middle- or high-school teacher. But all that said, I think that we forget how fortunate teachers are in the 21st century, in terms of compensation, hours spent at work, and the general absence of physical danger, at least in comparison to the lineman, the garbage collector, or the interstate trucker. I have met hundreds of teachers who have had only one steady job: teaching. I have seldom met a land-leveler, company field man, or tractor mechanic who had not worked at a half-dozen jobs over his career — and rarely by choice.

  One would hope that both sides- the state government and the unions- could come together to decide what is best for teachers and children.
  Indeed, one has to ask why any bill has to run 700 pages to get to the point, as SB 5 does. OTOH, many of the ideas could be adopted that would prevent the states from going broke, while still honoring some of the ideals upon which the original contracts were written.
  At this rate, nobody's going to win.
 Ah, well.
 In the absence of sanity, perhaps we can sit back and watch the Charlie Sheen debacle unfold.