State of Insanity

Last night, President Obama gave his State of the Union address to our nation.  Tonight, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker gave his State of the State address.  These men might not have much in common...one is a Democrat, the other a Republican.  One is black, the other white.  However, the pair does have a few things in common, and these speeches came with high stakes.

The content of the speeches themselves were similar in a number of ways.  Both men discussed a specific person who had been laid off, but was re-hired at a better job and is now thriving.  Both men discussed energy sources - Obama discussing oil; Walker, mining.  They touted the job creation within their constituency, and how they aided that progress.  They also discussed education - Obama proposed that students must finish high school, or be in school until they turn 18.  Walker proposed reading reform to keep kids in school, as well as an accountability scale for passing and failing schools.

A pleasant kind of Onion

"It smells like roses!" he yelled.  The crowd erupted in cheers.  "They said that's wind you guys up."

Monday evening, UW alumni Joe Garden and Carol Kolb of The Onion came to speak at the Distinguished Lecture Series in what was titled "An Evening with The Onion."

I'm not sure what I was expecting to happen, but it did not disappoint.  Garden and Kolb proceeded to give a presentation worthy of Onion fame.  They began with the history of the paper, which they claimed was established in 1783 by T. Herman Zweibel, a Prussian immigrant and "tuber farmer" who established The Mercantile Onion.