Glass Ceiling Down In Brazil

Well, it took another round of voting and an extra month to do it, but Dilma Rousseff has won Brazil's presidential election, becoming the First Female President of Brazil- and, although I'm not sure how they do the power rankings for this sort of thing, I'm willing to bet that Brazil outweighs Germany, so Rousseff can probably safely claim the title of 'World's Most Powerful Woman' now... but I could be wrong on that.

Congratulations! Hopefully America gets there soon...

NaNoWriMo

Kids, I just wanted to let you know that for the next month or so, I'll be dipping my toes into the wonderful pool that is NaNoWriMo and as a result, posting will be light. I'd like to actually complete something that might actually be called a 'novel' at some point in my life and I think this will be a fun, interesting experiment to help me along towards that goal. I will, of course, be posting some thoughts (and the FInal Scores) from Election 2010 and probably working an album review or two in there along the way, so I won't be going completely dark, but never fear...

The Cigar will be back at full force come December 1st.

Thought

The struggle for political self-definition is a long and complicated one. I took a class on political behavior once and was treated to the somewhat depressing news that by and large, we vote the way our parents do. Hence, if your parents are loyal Democrats, odd are you too will end up as a Dem and if your parents are tried and true Republicans, you'll probably end up in the warm embrace of Red State America as well.

I suppose that means that we never escape the sins of our fathers (and mothers). We can never fully move beyond their mistakes and grow politically as a country. If we're all doomed to vote the way our parents do, then what does that mean? And more to the point, if my mother was a staunch Liberal and my father is a die-hard Republican who used to have long, flowing locks, a beard and protest at CND rallies in Britain in the 80s, what the hell does that make me?

It's a question I've struggled with for some time now. I'm independent through and through, I vote whenever and wherever I can and to be frank, I have no party that represents me or speaks for what I believe and that's starting to irk me. This country is insanely large and has 300 million people and you're telling me that 2 parties are all we can come up with? Give me a break.

Maybe, maybe I'd hope onboard a major party- but they are both governing from the extreme ends of their respective sides of the political spectrum and I just can't stomach that.

I can't be a Conservative. This blind hatred of government ignores the fact that we are the government and we get the government we deserve. I'm not against government, I'm against entrenched bureaucracy, I'm in favor of state's rights and honestly believe we could do with a little less government. But that doesn't mean I want to throw out the baby, the bathwater and the whole damn bath all in one go. I see pragmatic benefits to government, provided we can clean it up a little bit.

We need an intellectual Hercules a politician worthy of myth to clean out the Aegean Stables of the muck and inefficiency... but that's another story.

So how to define myself? The quest continues, but I think this might be fairly close to the mark...

Final Predictions

I was going to expound some thoughts on what I think should happen after the election in terms of righting the stumbling course the country seems to find itself on these days, but I honestly don't think I could fit it all into one. Education reform? Health care? The size of government? Maybe, if I do some reading and some research I can say something intelligent on all of these topics, but not all in one post, so I'm going to move on and just go straight to my final predictions for election night. I'll revisit this post after Election Day to see how I did, but in the meantime, let's run down the scorecard.

IA-Governor: Branstad (R) will win this one easily, but by nowhere near the margin suggested. If Culver pulls the upset, it'll be titanic.

IA-Senate: Grassley (R) Another obvious choice. Conlin has proven to be disappointing as a candidate.

IA-2nd District: Miller-Meeks (R) haven't seen recent polling on this and Loebsack went hard negative in such a ridiculous way that it made him look weak, so you have to think that whatever numbers they're reading, they're not good ones. I'm thinking Iowa sends its first woman to Congress in a upset special.

IA-3rd District: Zaun (R) Boswell goes down on this one. Braley and Loebsack could join him very easily, but Boswell is fer sure going down out of the three.

IA-1st District: Braley (D) I'm probably wrong on this one- but I think the Dems either keep 1st or 3rd District and probably not both- and I'm sorry, but I just don't like Ben Lange and his ads all that much.

IC-21 Ordinance: I think the Townies come up big in this one and save the 21 only ordinance- the much bally-hooed early voting numbers seem to have faded from media attention and I'm thinking Iowa City doesn't shoot itself in the foot on this one.

Judicial Retention: One, maybe two of these judges are probably going to go down- I'd be surprised if all three do- but either way none of us should be happy if any of them get taken out. The short sightedness of people in politicizing our judiciary really pisses me off sometime. After all, if Conservatives can oust a judge for a decision they don't like, how are they going to react when liberals start ousting judges for decisions that Conservatives love and liberals hate? This sets a bad precedent which has the potential to cut both ways.

MN-Governor: Dayton (D) Horner's support is sagging a bit, but if Republicans don't think Emmer has a serious chance, they might swing in a big way to Horner. If they don't, then Dayton has this in the bag. Boo.

MN-1st District: Walz (D) I'm sticking with Walz. I think if this District does somehow flip back to GOP status, Rochester will prove key. If the GOP can pull a win in Roch, it could be curtains for Walz.

CA-Governor: Brown (D) I don't see Whitman and Fiorina pulling a twofer off, I really don't. I think Brown edges Whitman- he's been trending upwards in the polls I'm seeing, but conversely, Whitman has tons of money to spend.

CA-Senate: Fiorina (R) Carly takes down Boxer... she's got money to spend and so far, there hasn't been an scandal like Whitman's 'I fired my illegal housekeeper' thing yet that I've found. Voters are pissed and someone's gotta pay. Why not Boxer?

CA-Prop 19: YES Hmmmm... I've been pondering this one and think that maybe a GOP wave could push pot over the top. Existing pot growers in Northern Cali are against this because it's going to cut into their business. Libertarian minded Conservatives could see a sensible revenue stream for exploitation- but then again, I haven't been following the press coverage on this, so I don't know.

WA-Senate: Di Rossi (R) Meh, who do I know in Washington State? Not many peeps, but Patty Murray is vulnerable and I think if the GOP rumbles out east and in the Midwest it'll drive up GOP votes out west and could put him over the top. But Washington is pretty reliably blue, so I think this would be an upset.

CO-Governor: Tancredo (I) Scary as this sounds, it looks like the Republican candidate Maes is tanking hard and Hickenlooper could get nipped at the end in this one. MAJOR upset special!

CO-Senate: Buck (R) Primarily because his last name is Buck. I really could care less about this race.

PA-Senate: Toomey (R) I don't know which would be the bigger upset- Toomey holding on for the win or Sestak nipping him at the finish line. I'm going to go with the wider trends favoring the GOP nationwide and stick with Toomey on this one.

FL-Senate: Rubio (R) The darling of the Tea Party emerges from this three-way mess.

SC-Governor: Haley (R) The first of the Mama Grizzlies takes the state house.

AK-Senate: Murkowski (I) Joe Miller is crazy and the good people of Alaska just aren't that crazy. Sorry.

DE-Senate: Coons (D) The good people of Delaware aren't witches.

NV-Senate: Angle (R) Another darling of the Tea Party takes down Harry Reid in the biggest win of the night.

CT-Senate: Blumenthal (D) I really hope I'm wrong on this one somehow, because I caught some of this debate on C-SPAN and Linda MacMahon looked far more impressive than Richard Blumenthal. But I don't think she gets the win...

KY-Senate: Paul (R) Two Pauls in Congress? We can't go wrong, even though Father Paul seems a little saner than the son.

WI-Senate: Johnson (R) Wisconsin goes RED! Feingold goes down...

House: Republican... it's not a question of if, but by how much. Do I think we're looking at apocalyptic level of gains for Republicans? I think that depends on how right the voting trends and the numbers floating around there are. If the polls are off, then they could be masking a massive GOP wave or overestimating it.

Senate: 50-50 Tie I'm thinking outside the box on this one and think this is a real possibility- the Republicans would have to essentially run the table to get a solid working majority and Washington, Cali, Delaware and CT could all go Democrat to preserve their tenuous hold on the Senate.

...and we'll see just how wrong I was on all this after the dust settles on November 3rd!

The DADT Waltz of Shame

The waltz of idiocy around 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' continues... Defense Secretary Robert Gates has issued a new mandate saying that only five senior officials can decide whether to discharge someone for being gay or not. (The Fabulous Five are all civilians...)

The President needs to act like the Commander in Chief, issue an executive order and end this idiocy once and for all. I have a feeling it's coming down one way or the other- and yes, yes, yes, the military raises good points about such a fundamental change to their social structure during wartime, but it took Harry Truman to whip out his pen and paper and sign an executive order to racially integrate the armed services- did we really think it would take anything less to do the same for gays and lesbians? Personally, in times of war, if people want to put on the uniform and serve, who gives a damn who they screw as long as they're off duty when they do it.

The President has said that DADT will end on his watch... why his administration is busy defending the policy as it works its way through the courts is beyond me. If you're against something, be against it. If you want to end the policy, end it. Don't be wish-washy about things, for cryin' out loud...

Just Another Media Outlet

NPR fired longtime commentator Juan Williams a couple of days ago for the following statement:

"Look, Bill, I'm not a bigot. You know the kind of books I've written about the civil rights movement in this country. But when I get on the plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous."

It should be noted that for awhile now, Mr. Williams has also been appear on Fox News as a commentator/analyst and perhaps that gave his NPR bosses a bad case of heartburn, because they fired him.

Naturally, all hell has broken loose because of this and it's happy days for Mr. Williams, because he landed a new, shiny contract to the tune of $2 million from Fox News and made his bosses at NPR look like fools, because they went and said that 'his feelings were between him and his psychiatrist.' Of course, now that she said that, she apologized... but the fact remains that Mr. Williams expressed an opinion (a pretty damn weird one, to be sure- I mean, what are you going to do- not fly anywhere due to the risk of having Muslims on your plane?) and the CEO of NPR implied that he was kind of nutso for it.

Wonderful. Excellent timing on the part of NPR as it comes in the middle of the fall fund drive- but it also marks a fundamental change for them. I've listened to NPR for years and for years I've known that they've had a gentle, liberal bias and I've more or less made piece with that. As an organization, they tended to stay away from the mud-slinging and pissing matches that consumed the rest of the media today, but this little incident changed all that- now, NPR is just another media outlet, joining in the pissing matches and mud-sligning that all the rest do and it's a damn shame, quite frankly. I expected better from them and although I've never given to public radio, primarily because I don't have that much money laying around, it was always something I thought I'd be willing to do someday, if only for the sole reason that it would help get their annoying pledge drives over with faster.

But no more. I won't be shellacking out my money to fund just another media outlet- a high quality one to be sure, but now just another one of the media boys in their sandbox. Very, very disappointing, NPR. Very disappointing. (And of course now, Mr. Williams can write columns like this. Well done, NPR. Well done.)

The core of this controversy, however, exposes a blatant double standard when it comes to religion that exists in media today. If you, as a public figure, criticize/hate on/piss all over Christianity, well the Conservative Media will be out for your blood. If you criticize/hate on/piss all over Islam, well it's the Liberal Media that will be passing the tar and feathers. How about this: let's acknowledge that every religion has it's nutjobs and acknowledge that every religion should adapt to modern society (and not the other way around) and leave it at that. Some sanity would be nice, but I'm thinking that in America today, it's probably too much to ask for...

Snip, Snip, Snip...

There's a great quote by PJ O'Rourke:

"Every government is a parliament of whores. The trouble is, in a democracy, the whores are us."

With all this kerfuffle and apparent deep hatred of everything governmental related sweeping the land, it's a point worth making. We get the government we deserve- and to paraphrase H.L. Mencken we usually get it good and hard. But the problem we face today, as the 21st Century dawns is not necessarily the 'death of the west' that right-wing doom and gloomers so often opine about. Instead, we face a stark choice and a major problem: the 20th Century Welfare state is running out of steam. In fact, now that we're a decade into the 21st Century, it's starting to looking increasingly anachronistic, but what's a nation to do?

France is still in the grip of strikes and protests over plans to raise the retirement age to 62instead of 60. Britain has announced it's cutting 500,000 public sector jobs and over here in America? Well, something probably will get cut. Cynically, I would say it'll be a couple of years down the road when the government has no other options left and people take the streets and are PISSED off about, but I live in hope. The problem becomes defining this debate: the public sector, the private sector- conservatives would have us believe that the private sector deserves our love and support while public sector workers get fat off of the teat of taxpayer kindness.

Problem is, there are a lot of public sector jobs out there that we actually sort of need. I think we can all get behind firefighters, nurses and if you'll excuse my obvious conflict of interest, cops... someone's gotta put out fires, keep the streets safe and heal people. Teachers too. People gotta learn. (The problems with education in this country are a whole 'nother problem- but can we all agree, kids need to go to school and therefore need teachers?) Point is, there need to be some reforms- but conversely, in a lot of these jobs, there's not the potential to make millions like there is in the private sector, so benefits do matter more.

So how do we define this debate? It's not necessarily government that's a bad thing, it's rather wasteful government and the proliferation of bureaucracy. We should figure out what we need and what our priorities are and figure out a way to find that and nothing more. Maybe I'm crazy and that's an impossible task to take on, but before we start slashing government willy-nilly, we have to stop and think for a moment about the consequences: what do we really want our government to do for us? If it's as little as possible, that's fine, but there's also gotta be a bare minimum of priorities for the government to take on.

What do we want from our government as we enter the 21st Century and how do we pay for it? That's the real question we've got to answer, but one that neither party seems to be interested in answering. Republicans scream for smaller government, Democrats scream to save the one we've got, no one asks the tough questions- so stay tuned, because protests in our streets when they start cutting because they have to not because it's the fiscally prudent thing to do might not be so pretty...

The Big Trifecta Part III: Proposition 19

California, California, California... you're flat broke, in a complete mess and represent a shining example of where the rest of the country will end up if we don't radically change our way of doing business anytime soon- but this year you have a rare and wonderful chance to make yourselves politically relevant again as well as providing yourselves a potential way out of the mess you know find yourselves in.

So, I'm begging you California. Please, please, please! Vote YES on Proposition 19 and Legalize IT already!

Will it be a cure all? No, but there are some real benefits to actually breaking down prohibition. First, you can tax the shit out of it. States, cities, counties, the Feds- everyone can have a tax bonanza on this thing and if you're feeling queasy about it, well then take some of that revenue and put back into fighting drugs or crime or something. Taxation equals money and if pot becomes legal in the Golden State, a lot of people will happily pay to smoke weed and the result could be revenue.

Secondly, will it lead to massive amounts of pot smoking and is it a gateway drug for the kids? Kids, I don't believe in this gateway drug crap. At least not for the large majority of people- I think if you have a history of addiction in your family or an especially addictive personality, then maybe. But ultimately, it's about a choice. Thousands of people drink beer every weekend all across America- some of them drink a LOT of beer all across America, but this doesn't turn them into raging alcoholics. The logic seems faulty to me- but maybe that's just me. After all, I'm not an expert on addiction by any stretch of the imagination. But one thing I am convinced about is that if pot were legal, it'd be easier to keep out of the hands of kids.

I worked security at a high school for nearly two years and became convinced that pot was easier to get that booze for most kids. Booze is behind a counter and takes a modicum of creativity. Pot, you just had to know the right people- and any kid who really wanted to get baked could walk into school on a Monday and probably have the deed accomplished by Friday. Putting pot in a carton behind a counter would make it harder for kids to get.

There are national security implications to consider as well. Mexican cartels are what they are right now- and are ripping apart most of Northern Mexico right now because we smoke so much pot. Make it legal and it cuts into their bottom line in a major way and has the real potential to be a stabilizing force in that country. Again, will it or won't it? I don't know- but here's another thought: 2012 is two years away. Pass Proposition 19 and see how legalization goes. If it makes bank for California and doesn't turn the place into a narco-trafficante paradise, then why not spread it around the country? Personally, with the soil quality dear old Iowa has, well then think about the quality of pot we could grow.

But the biggest reason of all: $40,867,677,426 is the amount of money we've spent on the War on Drugs as of like ten seconds ago. And we still have a drug problem. Doing what we've been doing for four decades now obviously isn't working. It's past time, way, way past time we tried something else.

So California, I'm asking: vote for Proposition 19. Let's change this debate once and for all...

The Big Trifecta Part II: Keep The Justices

I'm voting FOR judicial retention, kids and you should too and here's why:

Well there's this (watch the commercial at the end.) And then there's this over here.

If you need more reasons to vote for judicial retention, then I can't really help you. But I'm willing to drop a little context on the situation: gay marriage was legalized in Iowa and now a conservative group is campaigning to oust the three justices on the ballot for judicial retention this year because of that decision. That's the whole thing in a nutshell.

When taking a stance on any given issue, I need to hear logical, sane and sensible arguments for and against any given issue. When it comes to gay marriage, I understand that for many people this is intrinsically tied up with issues of faith and belief in God. I get that- that's not how I practice my faith, but I'm willing to acknowledge that everyone approaches faith differently. Hate and discrimination have no place in my Church and I'm tired of social conservatives trying to enshrine homophobia in the Constitution of this state, varying others and the United States constitution by hiding it behind a Bible.

Discrimination is discrimination. Hate is hate. And neither can be justified through faith.

Gay marriage is supposed to lead to the collapse of the American family. Hasn't happened yet. Gay marriage will lead to bestiality, incest, polygamy and a whole host of other social ills. Hasn't happened yet. I'm tired of people divorcing themselves from anything remotely resembling reality on this issue. If you're married and you genuinely try to raise any kids you have to do the right thing, then your family will be strong. With a divorce rate of 50%, Americans need to worry more about their marriages than other people's and their families instead of other peoples.

Legally speaking, the Equal Protection Clause is pretty clear as well:

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

So we can't make laws that abridge the rights of citizens of the United States and we're also equal in the eyes of the law. There are probably oodles of legal nuances that be argued here, but again, I have to go with what I know-- and it seems pretty cut and dried to me.

And finally, I don't want the independence of our judiciary compromised by politics. I'm not saying its perfect, because Lord knows there are judges who will push an agenda for the left or the right if they can, but there are also judges that know how to read the Constitution and do it well. In this case, it's my stated opinion that they did just fine. And part of living in the democracy that we do means that sometimes, we get offended. But the Constitution is not a popularity contest- and at the end of the day 'what is right is not always popular and what is popular is not always right.'

So when you get in the voting booth and vote (which, kiddos, you should ALL do- don't make me come find you and talk to you!) make sure you TURN OVER YOUR BALLOT and vote YES on all three justices on November 2nd!

The Big Trifecta Part I: 21 Only

Pro-19: http://www.iowacitysafety.com/
Pro-21: http://www.21makessense.org/

21 Only: I'm voting NO to 19 on November 2nd- but with some reservations attached. We've had the 21 only ordinance in place for a few months now- with students and without students over the summer break and the change in the downtown atmosphere is palpable. Have any bars closed? Nope. Has there been a mass exodus of activity and business from downtown? Nope. All the prophecies of doom and gloom seem not to have come true, which is what makes the Pro-19 crowd's arguments so damn laughable. Basically, having scanned the website and trying not to laugh as I did so, what it seems to come down to is this: first, bars will keep kids safer than house parties will- oh and if you keep 21 only then mass chaos and destruction will descend on the neighborhoods, with the northside neighborhood facing... EXTINCTION!

I honestly don't know whether to laugh or cry at that argument. Bars keep students safer than house parties do? So far it's not evident to me and the numbers are supporting the other side of the argument far better than anything the Pro-19 crowd has yet offered. Calls for Intoxicated Pedestrians are down 56%, calls for Sexual Assaults are down 75%, calls for loud parties (and the chaos that will undoubtedly destroy our neighborhoods) are down 3% on the year. Everything is down, nothing is up- and this wasn't an ordinance that was put in place yesterday. We've had time both with and without students to look at the effect it's had on the community and it hasn't been the economic disaster that people thought it would be. Students have ravaged the neighborhoods or burned down half the town.

I get why bar owners are against it- but I don't appreciate sanctimonious sermons about 'how much they care about the kids.' Oh please. I'm willing to accept that statistics gets stretched in the course of any political campaign, but outright dishonesty just pisses me off. Let's be real here: bar owners give a damn about their bottom line and not much else- and that's fine, they have businesses to run after all. But kind, caring mother and father figures? Give me a break.

So I'm voting No to 19 but with some reservations: we need to do something about the vitality and diversity of business downtown. When I was growing up here, what made downtown Iowa City so much fun was it's mix of general retail, small locally owned business and restaurants and bars. The general retail fled to Coralville and whether accidentally or by design, somewhere someone thought bringing a big city swank feel to downtown Iowa City would be a swell idea and we've had a decade of stunted development as a result. When you upscale your downtown, you price out locally owned small business. If I want to start a small business in Iowa City, downtown is the last place I'm going to go. If I want to buy little Johnny a pair of new jeans for school, downtown is the last place I'm going to go. Those two basic conditions have to be addressed if downtown is to flourish. Tax breaks, TIF districts, whatever it takes to bring businesses back to downtown and more importantly, bring the community back downtown I'm in favor of, but we need more inspired leadership than what we've had on the City Council for quite sometime to pull this off.

(As an addendum: as a result of changing the business environment in a way described above, hopefully we could get a little variety back downtown. A movie theater, a roller rink, the Art Museum, something... and let's make developing South of Burlington and the Northside Market neighborhood more or a priority too... with more options, people- not just students should have more things to do. And anything that keeps downtown lively and interesting has to be a good thing.)

Albums2010 #29: And Out Come The Wolves

How can I express the amount of my love for this band? Rancid, pure and simple rocks my face off, not because they come from that glorious period of California post-punk that gave us bands like Green Day and Social Distortion (and as a sort of semi-distant pair of cousins, Sublime and No Doubt) but because Rancid seems to be permanently stuck in upbeat mood and you can't help but rock out and generally be happy when you listen to them. They just kick ass, plain and simple.

And Out Come The Wolves proves to be a fantastic example of their bombastic, high energy style- with some of my all time favorite songs all crammed into one, glorious package. I can't remember when I first heard of Rancid, but I'm not ashamed to say that it was probably on a random episode of 'Gilmore Girls' when the ska-driven beats of 'Time Bomb' filled the screen- and soon 'Ruby Soho' and 'Roots Radicals' made their way into my iTunes and it just got better and better.

So where does this fit into my overall love of all things punk, post-punk, ska and the like? Well, it rates pretty highly as a matter of fact. If Green Day was the post-punk band that broke through into the commercial mainstream, then Rancid feels like the band that stayed in the trenches and continued to fight the good fight. Not to hate on Green Day too much, god love 'em, but they got a little commercial. Rancid doesn't feel like that- it feels raw and powerful, a power that Green Day had, softened and found again over the course of their career. To me, the very ethos of punk is a sort of driving 'fuck you' type of attitude that should permeate the music. Rancid has that in spades, which is a rare feat. Punk came out of rage at the decay of the late 70s that was all around in the UK, but Rancid brings in other things. It's not all about the rage and the music reflects it.

Sounds like a complete load o'bollocks to me, but it's the best way I have of putting it in my own words- an always important thing to do. In the great pantheon of musical history, Rancid joins The Offspring and Green Day as the trifecta that revived interest in punk at the start of the 90s. How to place them? I'm not entirely sure- no doubt, it took me a long while to discover them, but that didn't mean they weren't part of the musical zeitgeist long before that. A kick-ass band, that much is for certain and this album is fine demonstration of a damn good band at the top of its game.

Overall: One of the best musical discoveries I have ever made, Rancid (as I've said) rocks my face off. Blisteringly fast with influences of ska and reggae and punk blending together in a unique, high-energy sound, Rancid deserves a place of honor in punk's pantheon- and is well worth a listen if like bands that just plain rock.

Somewhere, Goldy Is Crying...

Looks like the University of Minnesota will be in the hunt for a new football coach after yet another dismal loss- this time to Purdue, leaving the Golden Gophers with a shiny new stadium that still has the new stadium smell on it and a 1-6 record thus far in the college football season. Word is that whomever is coaching the Gophers next season it won't be Tim Brewster.

I don't know why I've developed this mild soft spot for the Rodents of the North, but I have. I think it was a by-product of my years in the Medium White North and apparently all the maroon and gold rubbed off on me just a tiny bit. But there's also a real desire to see everyone in the Big 10 play up to their potential. I'm not for creating roadblocks for Iowa, of course- but Minnesota deserves to be more relevant than it is... I guess that's just some slightly misguided intra-conference solidarity on my part (Michigan and Ohio State are excepted from this warm fuzzy feeling of course) but I really hope they take their time and get it right if they do end up replacing Brewster...

Title In 3 Years

...says Liverpool's new boss. I know a lot of Premier League fans hate the idea of their teams being owned by American sports magnates that wouldn't know proper football if it came up and slapped them upside the head, but I think the sale of Liverpool to John W Henry and Tom Werner (current owners of the Red Sox) might prove to be a blessing in disguise.

Why? Well, they own the Red Sox, which means they have a certain amount of respect for history and tradition- they have to, otherwise they would have been ridden out of town on a rail years ago. No new Fenways, no obscenely priced stadiums- they know what they like and they managed to break the Curse of the Bambino- no mean feat and win the Red Sox a World Title. All in all, not a bad job.

Now Liverpool is in free fall this season (I'm sorry, but losing to Blackpool. Blackpool? Are you KIDDING me?) and panic set in, resulting in a quick sale to Henry and Werner. But first thing the new owners do? They tour the place and make it clear to everyone that they're not cleaning house. They're here for the long term and they want to win titles. Sensible things to say in your first days on the job, to be sure-

All they have to do now is deliver a title.

Interesting...

Dying to know what's hip and cool in Kazakhstan these days? (Go on, you can admit it!) Then check out this fascinating article... over here.

Aussie Saint!

Australia got its first Saint today, as the Pope canonized Mary MacKillop today along with five others in a mass celebrated in St. Peter's Square. MacKillop was a tireless fighter for needed children and clashed with senior clergy to such a point that she was actually excommunicated for a brief time (for her part in, funnily enough, exposing a sex-abusing priest at the time) before being welcomed back into the Church. She helped found the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart and died in 1911.

Congrats to the Aussies for this! Someone will speak the lingo up in heaven for all y'all now- and I'm willing to extend a mild kudos to the Vatican for canonizing a woman who took on the hierarchy and helped to expose a sex abusing priest. I'm cautiously pleased by the symbolism of this, even though symbolism is all it may well be. It's not a home run by any stretch of the imagination and it doesn't even begin to address the lack of accountability on the part of the hierarchy to address the issue of sexual abuse in the Church, but I'm willing to acknowledge a baby step when I see one and flash a couple of thumbs up for it. A good woman who was willing to risk excommunication to speak the truth to power became a Saint today-- and the more Saints we have who are willing to speak truth to the heart of the Church, the better off the Church is going to be.

Albums2010 #28: Days Of The New

Kudos to The Quiet Man for adding to this list of Albums2010. He described it to me as 'folk grunge' and that description pretty much nails it on the head. I had never heard of Days of the New before sitting down and listening to this CD, but I'm glad I did- and I'm glad I had the patience to sit through and listen to the whole thing, because it was totally worth it.

But: initially, I was dubious about this CD. At first, there didn't seem to be a whole lot that set Days Of The New apart from other grunge music from the period. I honestly listened to the first track and wondered if The Quiet Man had mis-labelled his disc and given me an Alice in Chains album instead- but the more I listened the album, the more the apt descriptor of 'folk grunge' came to the fore. By the back half of the album, the acoustic skills of lead guitarist/vocalist Trevor Meeks become evident and it becomes a thing to listen to. The delicacy of his guitar skills becomes obvious and it's then (by about track #9 or so) that the album really takes off.

I feel like I'm meandering a little bit, but its kind of hard for me to really dig into a band that I just discovered. Does that make sense? Other albums from bands you've heard of, you can get all enthusiastic about- new bands, you don't really have a lot to go on other than what you've just heard. Don't get me wrong: Days Of The New did, in fact, blow my mind. It required me to exercise some patience at first, but in the end, it proved to be a remarkably pleasant surprise. DOTN took the traditional mainstream rock sound of the early 90s (namely grunge) and did something interesting and innovative with it.

An artistic aside: every Days Of The New Album features a twisted old tree on the cover-- and in case you're wondering, Trevor Meeks dishes as to why:

I’ve seen this picture on the wall of a tree, that many people have seen, but no one has seen it like I have, and I have this relationship with the tree, and it’s gotten me through years, and I got this vision. The tree is my emblem; I have a tree belt.

It is my superhero. It was a painting on the wall that a lot of people had already seen. I had a moment and a vision. Tears were in my eyes. I went into the picture, and I found myself sitting in the picture. Part of Asperger’s is associating sound with vision, so I see what I hear. That’s how I write. That’s how I continue to write my records.

Every album also was associated with a particular color- this one, as you can see is yellow- but I really like this aspect of the band. Music can be artistic in and of itself, but taking the music and adding a truly artistic aspect to me makes it just a little more fascinating to learn about and listen too.

Overall: Patience will win you great rewards in the end- stick with this album and you'll hear something amazing, innovative and worth listening too. Days Of The New might be a little obscure for most people, but the hidden gems are often the ones most worth digging up.

Bookshot #16: The Yom Kippur War

The history of the modern Middle East is complicated enough to begin with- but when you throw in this rich, detailed examination of one of the most complex and curious wars ever fought between Israel and its Arab neighbors, the word 'complicated' doesn't even begin to do it justice- and one thing is for certain- Abraham Rabinovich, US Army Veteran and journalist in both the United States and Israel has managed to produce what may well be the definitive account of a very complicated war.

So what happened? Well, in a sense, the Yom Kippur War (or October War, as it's known in the Arab world) was made almost inevitable by Israel's stunning triumph in the Six Day War of 1967. (Quick history lesson: June 1967, Israel launches a pre-emptive surprise attack on pretty much all of its neighbors, destroys the mighty Egyptian Air Force ON THE GROUND and gets The West Bank, Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip and Golan Heights as a result. A total military disaster for Egypt, Syria, Jordan and company. For all the geography involved, kids, check this out here.)

Any-hoo, after 1967 Israel had no reason whatsoever to negotiate with the Arab world. It had won, it had gotten a lot of territory and frankly, the Arabs had nothing to offer Israel that would entice them back to the negotiating table. New Egyptian President Anwar Sadat came up with an answer: deciding that getting all of the Sinai Peninsula back by force was a pipe dream, he figured that if he struck hard and fast enough to push Israel back from the Suez Canal, he could win a limited enclave and keep fighting long enough for the US and USSR to intervene to force a cease fire. Negotiations would follow for the rest of Egypt's land.

And in the end, that's pretty much what happened. Egypt got together with Syria and planned a devastating two front attack that contained a number of truly innovative and brilliant military tactics. To blunt the power of the Israeli Air Force (IAF), Egypt would advance under an umbrella of surface to air missiles, which proved effective. To counter Israel's tactical doctrine of 'armor shock' (massed tank charges and the like) Egyptian infantry was armed with Sagger anti-tank missiles and RPGs which were so effective that many people (prematurely as it turned out) proclaimed 'the death of the tank'. I wish I could say I saw similar levels of innovation on the part of the Syrians, but there wasn't really a lot of indications that there were.

The intelligence failure on the part of the Israelis was both stunning in the fact that every major organ of their military intelligence AMAN stubbornly clung to the strategic notion that their Arab neighbors simply lacked the backbone to launch a strike at Israel. This belief continued to permeate the Israeli government almost right up to the start of the war- providing a stunning example of the dangers of group think, given the number of naysayers in the run up to the war that were ignored. (Interestingly enough, it wasn't technically a surprise attack- Israeli intelligence confirmed that the attack was coming through a source (The Source) in the Egyptian government the night before- but too late to fully mobilize their military forces.)

In the end, Israel was caught with its pants down and quickly became embroiled in a struggle for its own survival. Egypt and Syria threw everything they could into this war (interesting factoids: 10,000 artillery shells fell on Israeli lines on the Egyptian front in the first minute of the opening barrage. On the Syrian front, Syria sent 1,460 tanks at Israel's 177 and 115 artillery batteries against Israel's 11.) Overwhelming odds don't really accurately describe what Israel was facing. The situation on the Egyptian front was bad enough, but Syria came very, very close to breaking through Israeli lines in the Golan and was, in fact, at one point, faced with an open road down into Northern Israel, but didn't (bizarrely enough) take it.

Overall: a surprise attack, an epic struggle for Israel's survival and it all ended with Israeli armies on the roads to Damascus and Cairo respectively- but more importantly still, what happened in 1973 lead to the Camp David Accords of 1979 and eventually the Oslo Accords of 1993. Abraham Rabinovich has managed to produce what should be the definitive account of this most complex of wars for some time to come.

For United States Senate...

Democrats: http://roxanneforiowa.com/
Republicans: http://www.grassleyforsenate.com/
Libertarians: http://www.heiderscheit2010.com/


Kids, I'm endorsing no one at all. I perused, I read, I researched, I tried, tried tried my level best to be inspired by someone, anyone when it comes to this race for United States Senator, but I just can't do it. I can't give you a ringing endorsement for any one candidate, because there just isn't anyone candidate worth endorsing. I can tell you whom I'm NOT going to vote for, but my reasons for not voting for someone aren't good enough to serve as a basis for an endorsement for someone else.

And herein lies the problem with this race. There's an awful lot to vote against, but not a whole heckuva lot to vote for. Incumbent Senator Charles Grassley? Um, yeah, I stopped buying into his schtick somewhere around about the 5th Grade and it remains incredible to me that the guy can essentially run the same campaign ads every six years and still get re-elected. He wears denim and works on a farm? Check. He mows his own lawn? Check. He's an 'aw-shucks, down home country boy'? Check, check, check. Every six years, regular as clockwork and it works like a charm- he's 20 points ahead of Democrat Roxann Conlin according the last polls I've seen, which admittedly have been a few weeks ago now and 20 points ahead is actually something of a tight race for the Good Senator.

Every six years, the same old song and dance from Grassley and I'm not buying. I haven't been buying it since I was old enough to realize that the guy has been in Washington D.C. longer than I've been alive. Seriously now, let's sit down and take that notion in together kids: he's been in Washington D.C. longer than I've been ALIVE. That's way too damn long and I don't care if you're Mother Theresa- that much time in the swamp will scum you up. I think you can go either way on the idea of term limits. Some would argue that elections ARE term limits and leave it up to the voter to decide, but at the same time, when it too long too long? If we don't allow Presidents to reign at the whim of the voters, why should Senators be any different? So I tend to vote against both Grassley and Harkin with vim, vigor and on a regular basis primarily because they've been where they are for far too long. Fresh blood and new ideas are required and they have neither.

Which bring us to Libertarian Candidate John Heiderscheit- he promises to serve 2 terms and no more and take no monetary contributions from any source over $100. He also promises to have one assistant in Washington and one in Iowa as a posed to the travelling entourage of 60 or so that is apparently the norm, but beyond these very principled and downright interesting promises, there's not a lot of substance to his website at least. Maybe the beauty of his candidacy is in the simplicity of what he wants to do... either way, color me unimpressed.

The last candidate in this uninspiring trifecta is Democrat Roxann Conlin. It almost seems like fate that Conlin should be running for something the same year that Terry Branstad is attempting his political comeback- after all, she lost to him way back in the mists of time when he first won the Governorship, so why not try for Senate? Problem is- and this is my problem with a lot of what passes for the American left: there's nothing new. The New Deal was made in the 1930s and we can no longer sustain the ideas and the structure of the welfare state that set up over the long term. How is pouring more money into education going to raise standards? We've been doing that for years now and nothing seems to happen. How can we afford social security, medicare or medicaid with the demographic crunch of the baby boom generation? All of these are massively important questions and any good Democrat should be laying out a New Deal for the 21st Century, not trying to breathe life into the dessicated remnants of what's left of FDR's dream. But no Democrats I've seen seem to be interested in doing that...

So, who am I going to vote for? I really don't know. I think this one is going to be one that I decide right then and there in the voting booth and the only thing I know is that I'm not going to vote Grassley and Conlin and Heiderscheit aren't that inspiring either. I'm giving serious consideration to "Bart Simpson" and maybe "The School Sucks" for this one. Hell, I might indulge in a bit of egomania and vote for myself. For this one, kids, you're on your own... sorry.

Bookshot #15: The Girls Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest

How can you possibly top two books that emerged as literary blockbusters and are well on their way to becoming cinematic blockbusters all over the world? I really don't know, but somehow, having set the bar ridiculously high, Stieg Larsson manages to clear it with plenty of room to spare with the last volume of the Millennium Trilogy, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest. Picking up right where Volume 2 left off, we see Lisbeth Salander in a tight spot. She's been shot in the head, somehow survived and is pretty much confined to a hospital bed, trying to get better and survive the massive amounts of injuries she sustained at the end of the last book. Unfortunately, the whole getting better thing is kind of a double edged sword, because once she is better, the police are waiting to charge her with murder and the enemies that have been stalking her in various forms for nearly two books now are circling, looking for an opportunity to get her confined to a loony-bin once and for all.

In short, our heroine is in a tough spot. But, she's got friends helping her out too: Kalle Blomkvist is back on the case, his dogged journalistic instincts digging up the truth to help out his friend. Erika Berger, Blomkvist's lover/editor in chief leaves for what she thinks is a fantastic opportunity only to end up right back where she started from and happier for it. Blomkvist's sister Annika comes aboard as Lisbeth's attorney and she in turn is assisted by the usual suspects from the prior 2 books, who all stand by Lisbeth and help her out as best they can. They in turn are opposed by the shadowy forces of Sweden's Security Police or SAPO, who are trying to make Lisbeth go away more or less permanently. Not to spoil too much, but the forces of good do eventually prevail over the forces of evil and bring the trilogy to a touching end. Actually, that probably gave away a lot- but if you didn't see a happy ending and an ass-kicking for the bad guys at the end of this thing, well then, I don't know what to tell you.

But Larsson closes out his trilogy in fine style, as per usual. The characters grow, change and get put through the wringer- though Erika Berger's little detour to the journalistic big time followed by her quick retreat back to Millennium seems a little pointless when all is said and done, but I guess it serves a purpose of sort. Our heroine, Salander is more introspective than usual- not that she's portrayed as a fountain of sunny optimism, but being stuck in a hospital and left to her own devices, the reader is allowed more access into the inner workings of Salander than usual- which is nice. Kalle Blomkvist is his usual crusading self and everyone, every character seems to be bringing their A-game to the overall narrative.

What do I like most about this book? Well, I think it's the denouement more than anything else. Very subtely, the protagonists get their ducks in a row and the reader doesn't see it happening- so courtroom drama, police drama- everything collides as the good guys pretty much unload on the bad guys all at once. Again, sorry about the general strangeness of the phrasing, but I don't want to give too much away- only to say that when the bad guys get kicked, they get kicked baaaaaaad and it's a beautiful thing. After all the reader learns about Salander and what's she been through, the thorough, just revenge taken by the protagonists almost makes you want to stand up and cheer- even though she is kind of amoral and not the most sympathetic of heroines.

Overall: a brilliant ending to a brilliant trilogy- the sad part is that Larsson died before more stories could be written- though the news media is apparently confirming the existence of another manuscript that was close to complete at the time of the author's death. Whether we will ever get to read it, I have no idea- and as the author's brother had indicated that the manuscript may be the fourth numerically, but it's actually the fifth chronologically, that should open up whole new realms of confusion and adventure for the reader. These books became phenomena for a reason and they are well worth reading- all three of them.

A Modest Proposal...

I write this with a certain amount of trepidation. I don't want to seem insensitive and I certainly don't want to lessen the incredible grief and destruction that cancer of any type- including breast cancer, causes on families around this country.

That said: seriously now? Isn't enough, enough? Yogurt lids I could deal with. Little pink ribbons and pink t-shirts. Fine by me. But, America, I submit to you that we have gone too far. Way too far with breast cancer awareness. There's a fine line between raising awareness and becoming creepily obsessive about a disease and guess what kids? That line- it's about several hundred miles behind us at this point. You can get pink vacuums. You can get pink underwear. You can get pink Frito Lays and Sun Chips. Mike's Hard Lemonade is doing a special Breast Cancer Awareness Pink Lemonade- so you can get sloshed for breast cancer apparently. Panera has its pink ribbon bagel (shaped like the ribbon and thankfully, not pink. I think if it had been it would have sent me right over the effin' falls.)

So, to summate: you can now buy enough clothing to wear pink every single day this month. There's enough pink accented food out there that you can eat 'pink' food- every single day this month. You can even buy Mike's Hard Pink Lemonade (though I didn't actually see any in Hy-Vee today) so you can sit down on a Sunday afternoon and take in an NFL game where all the players have pink wristbands and pink ballcaps.

In short, gang, it's way past time to stop the madness and take a good hard look at our new obsession with the color pink- all in the name of raising awareness for breast cancer. Because, speaking as a heterosexual male above the age of 12, there was a chance that I was going to forget about breasts sometime soon. This year alone, the American Cancer Society is estimating that there will be 1,529,560 new cases of cancer in this country with 569,490 estimated deaths. Out of those numbers, breast cancer comes in number 3 behind lung and prostate cancer- so, again, not to sound insensitive about it, but they're estimating nearly 207,000 women will die of breast cancer this year alone. I have a feeling we're going to notice that. I have a feeling people are going to remember. I have a feeling that we're going to be aware.

So, my modest proposal? Before any of you rush out to join the pink encrusted consumer driven madness, all in the name of raising awareness for breast cancer, take a moment to visit this website: Think Before You Pink and do some research. That pink vaccuum you've had your eye on? It might be funding a corporate profit margin far more than finding a cure for breast cancer.

This month: think before you pink.

'Zombie'

In the spirit of Halloween and courtesy of an article in 'The Little Village' I did some digging today and found myself a new artist to dig, namely Afrobeat Pioneer Fela Kuti. The Little Village described this track as 'the mother of all monstrous funk jams' and they pretty much hit the nail right on the head. This is a seriously cool track- yeah, it clocks in at 12 minutes (above version is only 10 minutes or so) but it pretty much is a pounding piece of funk glory for all 12 minutes. (Interestingly enough, the song was actually an attack on the Nigerian Military Regime at the time. The titular zombies being the soldiers who did the oppressing of the people at the time. The Military Regime did not like Mr. Kuti all that much- and when they raided his compound and killed his mother, he sent the coffin to the head of the military regime at the time. The people loved his music and the political message of it made him an enemy of Nigeria's military regimes.)

Anyway, seriously cool track- just so everyone can get in the Halloween mood.

Insane Clown Posse...

...have been Evangelical Christians THIS WHOLE TIME! Jokes on you, suckaz! (Though for Evangelical Christians, they sure use the 'f' word a lot in the article. And such charming lyrics...)

Individuals vs. Community: The TN House Fire

This story is sweeping the media right now and people all across the left end of the political spectrum are making snide comments about the reality of what 'libertarian' America would be like, so if you haven't heard the 4-1-1 here it is: in this particular rural area of TN, the county operates their Fire Department on a subscription fee. Pay $75 a year and you get all the benefits of the Fire Department. This couple, for whatever reason, didn't. So when their house caught on fire, the fire department pretty much sat around and watched it burn, because they hadn't paid the fee.

All of this (and a few other things) have gotten me thinking: just how far does my libertarianism stretch? Well, before you ask, kids- not this far. I think we can all agree that we've got a right to expect basic services (fire and police, for instance) from the government without some bureaucratic rule or fee getting in the way. Personally, if I was a firefighter, my job would be to put out fires. Screw the fee and grab the hose, is what I would have done- firefighter or not.

But all of this has gotten me thinking: in a country where the extreme ends of the political spectrum set the tone of political discourse, do we really want to live in a country of either extreme hippy dippy left or crazy wingnut right? I don't think so. The truth and the best solution (as it always does) probably lies somewhere in the middle. The truth is that our community ties aren't what they used to be (see Robert Putnam's Bowling Alone- one of the many, many books I HAVE to read) and without them, what's the glue that holds us together as Americans? What does it mean to be American when the far right preaches a nation of rational self-interest where unrestrained corporatist capitalism is king? Do conceptions of a nation-state even matter when we get to that point?

I have no problem with paying taxes for government services. Things like education, police, fire and yes, to a degree (somehow, in someway) health care should all be provided for by the government. BUT: the real problem facing America today isn't too much or too little government, it's deciding how much we want the government to do and how we're going to pay for it. The entitlement state we have, from Social Security, Medicare right on down through to education and public pensions was designed in the 30s and is entirely and utterly unsustainable in the long term. When we cut through the media noise, I think most Americans want something from our government. The battle we should be fighting is over what and how to fund what we want in a way that's going to last. But that's not the battle we're fighting now.

How far does individual responsibility extend? When do the right of a 'group' impinge on the rights of an individual and vice versa? I certainly don't know where to draw that line and while I'm no fan of collectivism and don't really think the government should wipe my ass, I think unrestrained libertarianiam is just a cover for a corporate free-for-all which would offer no protections for the rights of the individual any more than a runaway nanny state would. Call me crazy, but I think I want power to and for the people. Not the rich people, not the corporations, unions or government. Just people.

I just have to figure out how to do that.

Some Good News For Chile

The 33 miners trapped underground for weeks now will be reached within 24 hours and should start getting pulled to the surface sometime next week, which if memory serves is well ahead of the expected schedule. (When they found these guys, they were making like they were going to be down there until Christmas, so this is good news for them.)

They were showing the weird little tube thinger that's going to rescue them on CNN and holy mother balls does it look unpleasant. Basically a people tube, that's literally standing room only it sucks you up one at a time through the rock. Can you imagine if that thing breaks? Ick. I don't consider myself all that claustrophobic, but being stuck in a jumbo sized toilet roll in the middle of a bunch of rock would not be fun.

UPDATE: They've broken through...

Congrats to Liu Xiaobo...

The Nobel Committee done gone got it right this year, going two for two (at least with the prizes I pay attention to, Peace and Literature) by giving the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize to Chinese Dissident Liu Xiaobo. The People's Republic of China (still commies, by the way) is PISSED OFF tonight. And if you get the steel panties of the People's Republic of China in a bunch, then kids you've done something right.

Congratulations to Liu Xiaobo and hopefully this new prize brings some needed attention to the struggle for human rights and political reform in China.

(Since the news broke, Liu's wife has apparently been forced out of her home by the authorities. Dick move, China. Dick move.)

For Minnesota's First Congressional District...

Tim Walz!

DFL: http://www.timwalz.org/
GOP: http://www.demmerforcongress.com/Home.aspx
Independence Party: http://www.stevenwilson.org/index2.php

Well, if I'm going to endorse for the Governor of my former state, then I might as well go the whole nine yards and endorse for my former Congressional district as well. Being a political science major, it was a trip and a treat to figure out just what made the politics of Minnesota tick- although it's debateable whether I managed that in three years in the Medium White North, I'm just the kind of person who when I find myself in a different place, feels a weird sense of civic responsibility to step up and learn about just who the heck is representing me.

That fact that for my first three weeks in Mankato, I was without roommate and television both also helped with that. Sheer on the inside of my apartment more or less forced me to explore the town and bits of the state around me and learn about just where I was. (I learned a lot.) When I arrived in the First District, it was on the cusp of a major change, which was evidenced by the excitement that was building up around then first time Congressional Candidate Tim Walz. Strangely enough, I ended up landing a job as a security guard at the high school he taught and coached at and the level of enthusiasm amongst the students, the sheer excitement and engagement that seemed the vibrate through the halls of that high school was something to see. That, more than anything convinced me to vote for him in 2006. If someone could inspire and engage young people that much, then they had to be worth listening to and voting for- and Tim Walz seemed to embody the independent spirit of the district that I was just getting to know.

Fast forward to 2008 and I landed myself a small internship with Congressman Walz's relection campaign. If he (or anyone with the campaign) happens to read this, I'd like to take the opportunity to apologize for being the world's WORST INTERN. Between taking my comprehensive exams (always terrifying for a grad student) and getting married I think I managed to eke out a pathetic 15 hours down at the campaign office that semester. Not exactly a lot of mileage for what was an amazing opportunity, but again, Congressman Walz impressed me with his dedication and his independent streak, which seemed to fit in well with the mindset of the district as a whole- again, I had no problems voting for him a second time.

And now, here we are. And I'm more than happy to endorse him for a third term in Congress. Despite the general cynicism that pervades public discourse when it comes to politicians- of which I myself am admittedly guilty in being part and party too from time to time, there are some genuinely dedicated public servants out there. Here in Iowa, former Congressman Jim Leach was one of them- whose independence and willing to buck his party line demonstrated that he knew where the real priorities were. Tim Walz is another: he embodies the best of independent leadership for Southern Minnesota, a dedicated public servant who (I get the sense anyway) seems to be more interested in doing what's right and effective, rather than what's popular. Whether as a Sophomore Democrat, he's got the clout to start bucking the party line with greater strength is an open question, but I think he's demonstrated thoughtful, dedicated, independent leadership these past four years and I'd urge the people of Southern Minnesota to elect Tim Walz to Congress again, because the more people like Walz we have in Congress, the better off we're all going to be.

(I know, I know: hardly a policy driven endorsement, but if you want some policy nuggets, let me throw these out there: He opposed the auto bailout, he's fought for pay-as-you-go rules for spending, supports the President's spending freeze but wants to go further and get a BiPartisan Debt Commission so that the National Debt can be tackled in a sensible way. He wants online accountability for earmarks, more domestic oil production, so we can use the royalty payments and savings from that to invest in green technology. You can't say he's Churchill, but you can say he's sensible. And sensible is good.)

Mario Vargas Llosa...

...wins the Nobel Prize for Literature. I give this prize a healthy and hearty two thumbs up! In fact, it's so good of a choice, it almost, but no quite redeems the Nobel Committee for last year's turd of a peace prize which went to our beloved leader for doing not much of anything at all, from what I can tell. Anyway, some thought on Mario Vargas Llosa and how awesome he is over here...

My thoughts: this guy is one helluva writer. Not your typical magic realist, like Garcia Marquez and company, the books of his that I've read have had a deep connection to the history of Latin America itself. 'The Feast of the Goat' was an AMAZING book about the rise and fall of the Trujillo Regime in the Dominican Republic. 'The War Of The End Of The World' is his version of the story of the Canudos Uprising in Brazil (which just moved up my list of books to read, now that I'm all done with the Stieg Larsson trilogy.) I highly, highly recommend this author to anyone who is a serious lover of books. Well deserved!

(As a disclosure: I have a serious thing for the Latin American writers- Garcia Marquez, Amado, Saramago, Vargas Llosa, Borges... can't top 'em. Some of the best literature out there.)

Terry Is A Comin'

...after public salaries and, by extension the public employees unions. He wants to re-work the pay scale and is talking pay cuts and making people pay for insurance.

Awesomeness. Don't get me wrong, I love my job to death and want to keep it the way it is, but I'm also not silly enough to immolate myself with demands that may not be tenable in the long term. I used to make diddly-poo hocking a morally and ethically questionably for-profit college to various people at a call center in Coralville. This job and its salary is a huge step up and I'm grateful...

Re-working the pay scale? OK, that I'll take. Paying for insurance? As long as it's not a lot, I'm open to the suggestion. A pay cut? I'd rather not.

Besides, when Mr. Branstad tells us what HIS pay cut is going to be, then I'll listen. When the pain is shared equally between the governed and the governors, then we can talk. If it isn't going to be then Branstad can go spit, quite frankly.

My question for Mr. Branstad: what your pay cut going to be? (So glad I'm not voting for this guy...)

Keep 'Em

Time for Bob Vander Plaats to go away- KEEP THE JUSTICES!

Man V Food Des Moines!

Heck YES! Love this SHOW, will totally watch it and hit up every restaurant I can they feature in Des Moines! (Kudos to this show: introduced me to Twin Cities culinary delite, the Juicy Lucy... excellent stuff.)

Oh, Facism...

I don't have doubts about global warming, I just generally think we should take care of the one planet we have right now. As manned space flight appears to be dead on arrival once the shuttle retires, I think we're stuck with this one, so let's take care of it, shall we.

This neo-fascist bullshit doesn't help any. And it illustrates the main difference between the extreme left and the extreme right in this country: if you disagree with the extreme right, well you're un-American, shit you might not even BE American. But you have the right to disagree all you want with the extreme left, provided of course you agree with everything they say to begin with.

If you don't, well then... BOOM, I guess.

Cracked, But Not Yet Shattered

Looks like Brazil's presidential election will be going to a Second Round at the end of the month. Worker's Party Candidate Dilma Rousseff fell just 3 points short of getting the 50% majority she would have needed to avoid a run off. PDSB Candidate Jose Serra trailed with 33% and it looks like Green Party Candidate Mariana Silva's impressive 19% is probably what shaved that 3% away from Rousseff.

The glass ceiling is cracked- looks like one more good blow will shatter it, but we'll see how the numbers shape up over the next couple of weeks.