New foods at the Minnesota State Fair

As a resident of Minnesota I have come to appreciate the curious culinary cacophony that is the State Fair. Just think of any food and add the words "on a stick" and you get the idea.

Naturally, everyone looks forward each year to the introduction of new temptations to tantalize the taste buds. You can expect the obligatory chocolate-covered this and deep-fried that, but some of the best new foods are old favorites that are given a new twist.

The Shrimp Shack is offering just such a treat: Bacon-Wrapped Grilled Shrimp. And yes, it comes on a stick.

Campbell's Flavored Corndogs offers exactly what the name implies. The flavors you can expect are Jalapeño Cheese, Sweet Corn, and Double Bacon. All deep-fried, of course.

At Goertze's Dairy Kone you will find peanut butter and jelly malts and sundaes.

Among the more daring delectables are Cocoa Cheese Bites from Axel's,

Fried Pickles 'n' Chocolate from Preferred Pickles,

and the Candied Bacon Cannoli from Ole's Cannoli.

Check out all the new foods available at the Minnesota State Fair here.

'Duck Dynasty' guys interviewed on 'LIVE with Kelly and Michael'

Our whole family loves these guys.

How to condition your child to live in a police state

What other reason could there be for including this in a children's book?

The page in question is from the book Olivia Goes to Venice, by Ian Falconer. It currently has many more negative ratings than positive. Here are a few 1-star review excerpts:

Bronzino
Truly appalling that a children's book includes an illustration of TSA-like goons searching a "child" for weapons. Even more appalling is that Olivia "is pleased" by this search. Children should not be raised on fear nor should they be taught to believe illegal search and seizure is normal and proper.

Ranger_Fan73
No redeeming qualities about this book. Skip for your toddler. The getting searched at the airport sent shivers down my spine.

M. L. Browne
Falconer's gone mad. Either that, or totalitarian.

bcc mee
After seeing video footage of a young girl being groped by TSA agents, I am appalled that this book would see fit to include the main character "pleased" at being inspected for weapons. What kind of message is this? We seem to have one generation that is not aware of our civil liberties and now we're raising another generation that will never know the freedoms we once had.

Matt and Andy's Mom
I guess the only way to reach little children with government agendas is to get them before they are old enough to think for themselves, telling them that the proper response is to be pleased.

Government finally admits what everyone already knew: Area 51 exists

George Washington University has obtained recently declassified government documents for its National Security Archive that, for the first time, acknowledge the existence of the infamous Area 51. The documents describe the creation of the top-secret site and the government's spy plane program. No, there isn't any mention of aliens.

The Atlantic Wire has the story.

A visit to Preston, Idaho, hometown of Napoleon Dynamite

More than a hit, Napoleon Dynamite became a phenomenon: Its many memorable lines were quoted incessantly until they became more annoying than funny (an occurrence known as Borat Syndrome).

Nearly a decade after the film hit theaters, visitors still make the trek up to Preston to see Napoleon's house, the high school, the thrift store, Pedro's house, etc. People in town, unsurprisingly, have mixed feelings about that. Preston High principal Jeff Lords told us that some of them feel mocked by Napoleon Dynamite, but some just don't want a bunch of attention on their small town. Lucky for them, Preston isn't really close to much or on the way to anything. The fans who make the trip are the diehards.

No place for freedom of expression at America's rodeos

The rodeo. It doesn't get much more American than that. And when one of the last vestiges of Americana falls victim to political correctness, you know it's all over but the singing. (Excuse me, Fat Lady? You're on in five.)

I'm referring to the incident that occurred at the Missouri State Fair this past Saturday in which a rodeo clown donned a Barack Obama mask and ran around the arena being chased by a bull.


I know. Horrifying, right?

An entire handful of people were offended. Rodeo attendee Perry Beam complained that the atmosphere created by the stunt reminded him of a KKK rally. I'm not sure how many KKK rallies Mr. Beam has been to, but I have a feeling that might be a bit of an exaggeration.

As usual, the whiny knee-jerk reactionists won the day. The clown responsible has been banned for life from the fair and the president of the Missouri Rodeo Cowboy Association has resigned.

In the glory days of the old Soviet Union, people caught poking fun at a beloved politician would have been shipped off to reeducation camps. Thankfully, we are much more civilized. We send them away to sensitivity training seminars, and that is exactly what the Show Me State is now requiring of all rodeo clowns. Nothing demonstrates the nonsense of political correctness like a solution in search of a problem.

Here's how I see it. If you attend a rodeo and find yourself offended by a clown -- and I'm going out on a limb assuming you understand the definition of the word "clown" -- running around in a mask that resembles a sitting government official, then that's a pretty good sign you need to find something else to occupy your Saturday nights. However, if you say that Barack Obama, or any reasonable likeness of him, simply has no place at a family-friendly event, then I would concede you have a point.

In the meantime, quite your whining and try growing up. The world already has enough adult children as it is.

Netflix now allows individual profiles on the same account

Well, it's about time. Netflix now allows users to have up to five individual profiles on the same account.

My wife was getting tired of logging into our account and being inundated with sci-fi suggestions. I think this will help.

When the meaninglessness of a purely naturalistic worldview gets you down, just remember: you've got thumbs!