Smell That? It's Jasmine!

Tunisia, Algeria, Yemen and now Egypt... is anyone else sensing a pattern here?

(Keep an eye on Lebanon as well. Seems like Lebanon is always one bad bottle of tequila away from total catastrophe, but I hope they can draw back from the brink this time.)

Something Truly Radical

Found this column in the DM Register. I certainly think I agree with most of these ideas and at the very least, they are worthy of vigorous debate...

Flavor Flav's Chicken Anyone?

Rapper Flavor Flav [FLAVOR FLAAAAAV!] is launching a chain of fried chicken restaurants in Iowa with a eye towards apparently dethroning the almighty KFC. The first store is opening in Clinton,Iowa.

Why it's opening in Clinton, I don't know- and what connection the large watch wearing reality star has to Iowa is beyond me, but I'm with Kyle Munson on this one- the concept of Flavor Flav opening a fried chicken restaurant is just so... so.... I don't know. I'm not sure if there's a word for it- maybe 'intriguing' that it may just be worth a trip up to Clinton to see what this place actually tastes like.

Big Night Out #1

Kids, behold the newest feature here on The Cigar- Big Night Out! Lately, it's occurred to the Missus and myself that we're young, we're fun and we don't get out nearly as much as we should- so we added to our list of New Year's Resolutions and decided to get out there and see what Iowa City has to offer in terms of food, fun and nightlife that we haven't tried before...

El Banditos
327 E Market Street
Iowa City,IA 52245
http://elbanditosiowacity.com/

What We Ate:
Hibiscus Margarita
Scorpions
1 Barbacoa Taco
1 Shrimp Mango Taco
Bananas In Rum Sauce

Tom's Thoughts: This might just be the best Mexican food I have ever tasted. (I like Mexican food, but I find the problem with a lot of is that it maybe delicious, but it tends to come in insane portion sizes and sit on your stomach like a lead bowling ball) We'd been in here before some months back, but it had been too late to get any food other that chips, salsa and whatever alcoholic drinks we wanted at the time, so it was a pleasure to get back in here and actually get some food. I ordered a barbacoa taco and some Scorpions- a delicious concotion of spicy Chipotle cream cheese, jalapenos and a shrimp all in a wonton wrapper served on a bed of fresh guacamole. They had a nice kick as they went down and with the fresh guacamole as a condiment it made for a nice collision of flavors. But to me, the real star of the show was the barbacoa taco- I had ordered a lamb taco, hoping to see what that was like (El Banditos makes a point of trying to buy local to use in their food- and it was Pavelka's Lamb from out near Solon) but they were out of lamb- happily the barbacoa was a delicious alternative. Spicy, but not uncomfortably so, the entire thing tasted fresh and healthy and between the well seasoned meat the pico-style salsa I had with it, it was one delicious taco.

There was only one, tiny disappointment to mar the delicious experience and that was the Hibiscus margarita. i was intrigued by the concept and like a good margarita it was cold, wet and went down very nicely- but it was way, way too tart! Maybe that was just me, I don't know, but if I had a choice, I probably wouldn't order it again.

That aside, this is an excellent addition to the Northside Neighborhood's growing pantheon of good bars, coffee joints and restaurants and if you're a fan of Mexican food, you have to eat here- plain and simple. The food is fresh, the portion sizes and the prices aren't insane and between the fresh made chips and salsa and desserts like bananas in rum sauce (I wasn't allowed to sample the wife's Shrimp Mango Taco, but she grudgingly let me have maybe two, two and half bites of the bananas in rum sauce- and oh what bites!)- I gotta ask: what are you waiting for?


The Red Poppy
345 E College Street
Iowa City,IA 52245
http://www.redpoppyiowa.com/homepage.html

What We Smoked (and Drank):
Guava-Mango-Banana
Organic Tangerine Ginger Herbal Tea

Tom's Thoughts: Where has this place been all my life? Tucked away into the bottom level of that apartment complex on College Street just east of the Public Library, The Red Poppy is Iowa City's hookah bar. There's no booze to be had here, though you can bring your own wine- though they do charge you a nominal corking fee of $5- only plenty of tea, hookah smoke and a completely mellow atmosphere that's a great way to spend a couple of hours with friends if you're looking for a place to relax, talk and while away the evening.

I had never smoked a hookah before, so I was interested to try having heard about this place for years now but never actually finding the time nor the inclination (for whatever dumbass reason) to go. After some consultation, we decided to try a tropical trio of guava, mango and banana and our choice tasted delicious- the guava was definately predominant, but there were strong hints of banana as well. If there was mango hidden away in there, it was subtle and hard to taste, but overall the hookah experience was a pleasant one and the tea was a fine addition, even if we did let it seep too long and make it a little too strong.

Overall, the conversation was good, the hookah tasty, the tea delicious, the overall atmosphere was delightfully relaxing and the chill, mellow music they played only helped that out. If you don't want to venture into the crowded bars downtown and are looking for a nice chillaxing evening with friends, bring your wine, grab a hookah and relax for an evening- it's well worth the visit.

First Tunisia, then Algeria...

...and now Yemen? This might just be getting interesting. I'm not saying there's going to be a Cold War, 1989 style popular uprising across the region, but Strongmen and Presidents-For-Life have got to be looking over their shoulders a bit nervously at this point. Tunisia sets an interesting precedent throughout the region because, at least for now, it doesn't appear that it was a religiously-inspired uprising like Iran in 1979 but more a popular explosion of anger against a leader that had failed to deliver on anything at all. Suddenly, it might just be that guiding their respective nation with a stronghand might not be enough. Jobs and economic prosperity might have to be delivered as well...

Or it could be that these are just copy-cat spurts of anger that will peter out after awhile. Either way, it has the potential to be damned interesting.

Meth Muffins Anyone?

Two brothers were busted in Arkansas along Interstate 40 about four days ago now- police discovered about 4 pounds of marijuana cookies, $200K worth of weed and some muffins- that later tested positive for meth.

This is kind of scary, to me. First of all, meth is massively scary stuff to begin with- and with drug enforcement getting wise to a lot of labs quicker these days, meth dealers are turning to techniques like the 'one pot method' (explained to us in great detail by the Department's Drug Task Force guy- does anyone else thinking brew meth in a two liter soda bottle sounds like a fatally stupid idea?) and now apparently baked goods.

Second of all, given the fact that they put things like ammonia and God only knows what else in meth I have to ask the obvious question: what does that do the muffin? I mean, I get that they reduce meth to a powder form which I would imagine would be pretty easy to mix into a batter or something like that- but what does it taste like? I can't imagine it'd taste all that good even with the benefits of muffin mix...

Roast Bear Anyone?

There's a bar owner in Minnesota that's roasting a 180 pound black bear today to show his support for the Packers. Which sounds a lot cooler than it actually is because:

a. The average black bear is between 200-600 pounds. So this bear was either young or had an eating disorder.

b. Bar owner's cousin shot it in like September and then froze it.

c. He can't actually serve any of the meat to his customers because it's unprocessed and that's a State Health Department No-No.

So what seemed like a pretty cool publicity stunt is actually pretty lame. And kind of makes me want to cheer for Da Bears today so that maybe the bear will get the last laugh. (You know, despite being shot, frozen and then roasted and put on display for people to take pictures with but not actually eat.)

A Note To My Reader(s)…

Yes, I know that the endless maneuvering for the Republican Nomination in 2012 is getting underway…

…but I'm not going to right one word about it until someone officially throw their hat in the ring. (This will require a great deal of self-control on my part, but I'm going to stay strong!)

The Last Can of Soda

Moments ago, I drained the last drops from my last can of soda. Part of moving in to 2011 was to actually follow through on some New Year's Resolutions for once in my life and that included working out (definitely doing that) and getting healthier (might still be working on that a little.) So apart from starting regular exercise, I had to look at my diet as well and I decided something had to go- and soda moved to the top of the list.

Soda has been a stalwart friend to me for years now- the benign drug of choice for college students crashing deadlines on midterms and final papers- but lately, whether it was getting up earlier and earlier in the morning I found myself drinking more and more of the stuff, which inevitably added a pound or two here and there. I'm not saying I'll never drink soda ever again- there are still the dregs of some two liters around the house to be dealt with, but I'm going to do my best not actually go out of my way to buy it.

It may be a drop in the proverbial bucket, but I think I'll have more success limiting my caffeine and soda intake than I will my carb intake. I bless my mother and her bread-making skills often- because she does make amazing bread, but she made me a boy that loves his carbs from Day 1- and that will never, ever go away I think. I tried the South Beach Diet with everyone (this was when the wifey and I were living with the parents before we got our own place) and I just couldn't do it. After a week, I was so tired of pieces of turkey shoved into bits of lettuce. I wanted substance. I wanted taste. I didn't want bland green nothingness. (Though as an aside: salad with sunflower seeds, baco bits and lots of dressing and crutons is actually pretty tasty. I might become a salad eater for the first time ever if they continue to taste that good.)

So while I'm not even going to bother swinging at the windmill that is my carb intake, I just thought I'd note the passing of my soda addiction…

Ahhhh… one last drop.

First Tunisia...

...then Algeria? BBC has it that several people were injured in a pro-democracy protest in Algiers today. Now isn't that interesting? It's too soon to tell, but certainly the spontaenous nature of what happened in Tunisia and the fact that it was driven from the ground up by the people themselves and not imposed and played with from the outside (that we know of) has got to have a lot of Middle Eastern Leaders very, very nervous right now. If a 'President-For-Life' who had ruled essentially unopposed for nearly a quarter of a century can be taken down in little more than a month, then who knows what could happen?

I wouldn't start taking too many bets on this spreading like wildfire just yet though. But there will be ripple effects that could have interesting implications certainly in Algeria, especially if they're on the march and definately in Egypt, which I believe is heading towards Presidential elections sometime soon.

The Epic Fail of the PTC

Heads are still exploding over the new version of 'Skins' on MTV- all the new found infamy of course is only going to guarantee that any teenager with access to MTV will be sitting down and watching the next episode, but the sermonizing from the Parents Television Council continues and first Taco Bell and now GM have pulled ads from the show and the New York Times has mused about whether or not it might violate federal child pornography laws, which is the equivalent to pouring gasoline all over something, throwing a lit match at it and inviting every single teenager in the United States to come watch.

But what really bugged me was discovering the outright hyopcrisy of the Parents Television Council. The thought occured to me yesterday: if they were fulminating against 'Skins' so loudly, calling it 'the most dangerous show on television' then surely they'd sent fire and brimstone MTV's way for 'Jersey Shore' and '16 and Pregnant' and 'Teen Mom'? Surely the outright glamorization of teen pregnancy is far more dangerous that depicitions of teens drinking, smoking, doing drugs and having sex- all things which a lot of teenager in this country do anyway?

It was therefore, something of a shock to find out that the PTC didn't have the unholy trifecta of MTV listed at all. Yup, they went 0-3 on what I consider to be some of the worst shows on television today. If you want to get into the semantics of what constitutes 'the most dangerous show on television' then I really do think the unholy duo of '16 and Pregnant' and 'Teen Mom' take the top prize. Sure, proponents of the show can argue that it's showing the reality of teen pregnancy in America today, but I can argue back, because it's not, it's taking young women who made poor choices and turning a lot of them into reality television stars with magazine covers, tabloid noteriety and telling a lot of teens out there that if you get pregnant, you too might end up on MTV.

And 'Skins' is the most dangerous show on television? The PTC may not like it all that much, but teenagers in America do drink. They do smoke. They do drugs and they have sex. And I'm pretty sure it's not carefully covered, chaste, missionary position style sex. I'm pretty sure it's full on hormonal madness, nudity and body parts flapping everywhere kind of sex. All of which 'Skins' depicts in, what I'm forced to acknowledge is probably a pretty uncomfortable way for a lot of parents out there. But that doesn't mean it's not honest about it- and what surprised me most about certainly the British version of the show was that the issues teens struggle with, whether it's bf-gf foolishness, drugs, depression, eating disorders, sexual identity, the death of a parent, homelessness, pregnancy all of these issues are dealt with in a brutally honest way, that I think is designed to provoke such strong reactions, espcially from parents. However, the funny thing is that a lot of the struggles these characters faced, I could identify with- growing up isn't easy and it isn't pretty and 'Skins' deserves some plaudits for refusing to pull any of it's punches.

Is it racy? Absolutely. Is it for mature audiences only? Yep. But it doesn't pimp out the glories of teen pregnancy in prime time- all of which makes the apparent silence of the PTC on the issue of shows like 'Teen Mom' just a massive, epic fail on their part.

[Let me say this again: MTV's version is just not that good. I'll watch the second episode, but the first one was deeply disappointing. They essentially cloned the British show, changed locations and gave everyone an American accent. In other words, they took 'Skins' and moved it to Canada.]

So About That 'Civility' Thing...

My morning started on a high note when I logged onto HuffPost and found that Keith Olbermann and MSNBC were 'parting ways.' I can do many things, but cartwheels aren't one of them- however given the chance, I might just attempt one to celebrate this awesome bit of news. Work isn't done yet, though- keep that in mind. I know Conservatives are popping champagne and celebrating this morning, but the fact remains that Mr. Olbermann wasn't the only bloviating gasbag that was a cancer on our body politic. There's Hannity, Beck, Limbaugh, Matthews, Maddow, O'Reilly, Tucker Carlson and whole host of other people that make their living off of outright contamination of civil discourse in this country.

So while Olbermann's departure is, I think, a victory for civility in this country, keep in mind that we've got a long, long way to go.

UPDATED: The plot thickens. Looks like with the Comcast/NBC merger given the go ahead (way to toe the line against the corporate media, Mr. President. Thanks for letting the outlets of free speech in this country be controlled by fewer and fewer people!) the new bosses wanted lefty MSNBC to take a more 'balanced' turn. In other words, Comcast bosses donated heavily to Republicans and they wanted Olbermann out. And the fact that he wanted more money just made that easy for them. A big victory for the corporate media, which I'm not happy about- even if Olbermann was a gasbag.

The Mother Of All Repeals

If you hadn't heard, House Republicans successfully repealed the Obama Administration's Health Care Bill- but what's getting less play is that they've also begun the long process of replacing said bill with something they would believe to be better.

The cynic in me says it will be a very looooooooooooooooong process indeed and I'll believe they're going to replace it when I actually see a bill- which underlines my problem with the whole 'repeal and replace' notion the Republicans were frothing about during the elections to begin with. What are they going to replace it with? I want specifics! I'd like to see charts and I'm talking like national town hall meeting, Ross Perot type charts showing every single American in plain, simple and easy to understand terms just what the GOP's magic replacement health care bill is going to do for them that Obama's wouldn't.

[The cynic in me interrupts to say: Bwahahahahahahahahaha! Good luck with that!]

Health care is tough for me. There's a lot I don't know and what I do know is pretty vague. I do know that something has to be done. I do know that I'd prefer less government bureaucracy (I've seen the NHS in Britain and it may be free, but Americans simply will not pay the taxes to fund a government run single payer system. It's a liberal wet dream that will never happen- and just because it's 'free' doesn't necessarily mean it's good. People should remember that before holding hands and singing The Internationale.) I know that the partisan, non-transparent entirely crappy way the Democrats passed their Health Care Bill pissed me off royally- and the backdoor deals with the phamaceutical industry and the tons of goodies for special interests were downright rage-inducing topped off by the fact that no one read the damn bill to begin with damn near made me stroke out right then and there. 'It's a start' was the somewhat snide chorus I heard from my staunchly Democratic friends, and yes, well maybe it was a start- but this is people's health we're talking about here. We're talking about a huge sector of the economy that holds actual real lives in it's hands every single day. Yes, the festering turd of a special interest packed bill passed by the Democrats was indeed a start.

My point was and remains: it wasn't a very good one.

(And with something as important as this, getting it right the first time should be what matters the most.)

My 2 Suns...

Wouldn't this be cool?

What To Do With Higher Education?

Apparently, college is a waste of time. Who knew? A newly released study shows that college student make little to no gains in learning over the course of their first two years in college and spend more time socializing that actually studying. People are shaking their heads and claiming to be shocked, shocked I say at such news, but this guy isn't and I'm with him. We don't really have an educational system, per say in many respects- it's more like a social experience with large dollops of knowledge served up to kids like mashed potatos in the school cafeteria. The opportunity is there to learn, if you want to, but the main focus is on the 'experience' whatever that particularly fluffy concept means to you.

For some people, the experience will remain the most important thing- and some of those people will have the cash to bankroll their experience, but for a lot of people, the emphasis on experience over education will do them a disservice that they will literally spend the rest of their adult lives paying for. Something's gotta change if we want to preserve high quality university education for the future and more to the point, make it accessible for all.

Some thoughts:

1. Reduce Administrative Bloat- I know I'm not the first to say this, so it's not very original, but people are catching on: witness the proposed tuition cap that's being proposed in Des Moines right now to keep State Universities from passing on their cuts to students. Nice nod towards the student, but it needs to be followed up with a house cleaning of excessive bureaucracy at the top. Make our Universities about students first, administrators last.

2. Price By Degree: To me, the logical step to take is to tie the price of a degree into the type of earnings of a student can be reasonably expected to get by gaining said degree. Doctors, Lawyers, Engineering, anyone in the hard sciences that tend to have less fluffy standards than the humanities have to go through weedout courses and get put through the ringer to get their degrees. Obviously, they'll earn more over a lifetime, so they can afford to pay more. Conversely, because if you really want to study and get a major in Early Japanese Haiku, we shouldn't shit all over your dream, a poetry major would be, I assume, likely to earn a lot less. The length of time a degree takes could also vary as well- who says a BA in Poetry has to take 4 years? This means costs of education would no longer be based around arbitrary prices set by Universities, it would be priced around a student's future earnings and their likely ability to repay their educational debt- which would be more equitable for students, especially since student loans cannot be discharged through bankruptcy.

3. Make College Matter: If I had to do it over again, I wouldn't change much, but I would change this: my gen ed courses would have been taken at a community college and THEN I would have transferred to the U to get my degree. It would have been cheaper- but I think we can go one step further and take a leaf out of MIT's brilliant opencourseware initiative and do this: design a pool of statewide general education prerequistes that are completely free AND online completely with all the usual bells and whistles you can handle- and here's the kicker: demand excellence in return. Dangle the college experience in front of the kids for free, but make 'em work for it. If they can't get past the free gen eds, then how are they could go get into college and survive? Designed the right way, this could be an open portal to weeding out kids that simply don't belong in a college.

4. Tenure: You might have to wait awhile on this but ending bullshit tenure rules would be nice- however, I'd wait until that notion catches fire with other states before seriously pursuing it. If we end tenure too soon, then the best and brightest will bypass our universities and go elsewhere. We'd lose a competetive edge. Making profs teach more and have dodgy sabbaticals less (if they can fund it themselves, they should) and generally get faculty back in the classroom.

5. What Is Learning? A tired old chestnut I know, but it's a debate we need to have. The old classical notions of rote learning, book learning and tiresome old crap about the 'life of the mind' need to be re-examined. No doubt, we place more emphasis on socialization in our educational system than we should- but how to turn that into something useful? More project and portfolios and less papers and midterms? Group learning and collaboration? I read an interesting article a few weeks back about education reform efforts elsewhere in the country and in some places, the traditional teacher training program has been replaced by a '2 year residency' model, where trainee teachers get classroom experience while simultaneously pursuing coursework sounds incredibly sensible, in a way. Point is: there should be vigorous debate on how to educate students better while simultaneously harnassing that drive for social interaction that seems to be endemic in our education system today. At the very least, there should be a debate on how to teach the children better. And there's not and that should change.

6. Grad School: Should be fiendishly challenging and difficult. Even as colleges should be less universal than they are now, grad school should be damn hard... (witness further musings about the pointlessness of PHDs for further evidence.)

There. Six things I would do to maybe make higher education a little better and stave off the inevitable backlash that's sure to occur when universities start eating up more and more of already strained state budgets and become almost impossible to afford for more and more people. Some of these ideas are probably a little soft and maybe not even all that feasible (well they're probably all totally unfeasible- getting a reactionary institution like education to actually change is well nigh on impossible) but they're the best nuggets of thought I could manage to come up with.

UK Skins vs. USA Skins

Thanks to the handy-dandy power of the Interweb, I checked out the first episode of MTV's Version of Skins. My verdict:

Massive, Epic Fail.

First of all, it's essentially a beat for beat clone of the British pilot episode.

Secondly, it does nothing to establish the fact that it's in America. Teenagers aren't the same everywhere and there will be important cultural differences which should have been highlighted from Day 1. They weren't- you essentially changed all the British accents to American ones and changed not one other thing. It's like they moved the show to Canada, pretty much.

I'm not impressed. Stick to the original, kids- there's more quality and more nudity to boot.

The Social Network

I think once, every decade or so, Hollywood gets bored and finds a movie that they feel they can market as a movie that 'defines a generation.' It's irritating, because how do you really define a generation? It's a pretty vague, abstract concept to begin with, but to anoint an entire movie as the cinematic definition of a generation? It immediately makes me suspicious...

The sad part then about the all the hype that surrounds 'The Social Network' is the fact that, unfortunately, grudgingly, I'm forced to admit that maybe Hollywood wasn't spinning it's usual bullshit when it anointed this movie the definition of a generation, because really and truly, it may well be. That's a sad reflection of my generation, but there you go: apparently we're all self-obssessed, bitter, losers trying to take comfort in our shallow meaningless existences by drowning ourselves in as much superficiality as we can handle.

That seems to be the basic premise of 'The Social Network.' Socially awkward, self-obssessed nerd Mark Zuckerburg (played with excellent prickery by Jesse Eisenburg) breaks up with his girlfriend (Rooney Mara) and then goes on a nerd-like rampage to prove how awesome he is by first building Facemash.com which crashes the Harvard University network and then, having attracted the attention of the more popular, richer and equally ambitious Winkelvoss Twins, who want to create their website (a weird dating/Facebook combo called HarvardConnection.com) he instead runs with his own idea along with his best friend Eduardo (played by Andrew Garfield) an entirely different website called: 'TheFacebook' which eventually morphs into the Facebook we all know, love and waste hours of time on.

There's a large element of 'Revenge of the Nerds' that runs through this movie, because Zuckerburg, decidedly not getting close to the Harvard in-crowd, essentially makes his own in-crowd and goes viral thereby gaining the satisfaction of proving himself better than pretty much everyone. But underneath that, yeah, I have to admit that there is a sad commentary on the state of our generation: high school became more about social dynamics and the social experience than education. Colleges pimp themselves out to kids around the country based on the fantastic experience they can have if they go to that particular college- with a degree at the end of it as a sort of cherry on the top. So much of my generation has been defined by social networks, so in reality, Facebook was probably less revolutionary and more inevitable, given our hunger for all things wired and superficial. Facebook is almost the ultimate nexus of both notions.

So does the movie live up to the hype? None of the acting performances especially blew me away- I mean, how hard is it to be a giant asshole? But the music is fantastic: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross hit it out of the park, turning in a score that's subtle, understated and compliments the movie rather than overwhelms it. All love to Daft Punk and TRON:Legacy but they just got pushed into second place in my book.

If I do have some issues with this movie, it's mainly because I really don't want it to be true. I don't want my generation to be a bunch of shallow, self-obsessed, wired losers trying to find meaning in whatever superficiality we can find. Unfortunately- and this was probably the most depressing part of the movie, I don't think I can say that. We are all as shallow as we think we are.

Pink Slips Already

This got the old stomach a-churnin' today- but it looks like the Governor is targeting employees that were hired to cover positions left vacant due to the early retirement program the state instituted.

Either way, it's beyond the pale unless Branstad leads by example! When he cuts his own salary, I'll by that he's seriously about leadership.

But I'll believe he'll cut his own salary when pigs fly.

Good News, Everybody!

Iowa City is hosting the 2012 Olympic Wrestling and Weightlifting Trials at our very own Carver Hawkeye Arena! Awesome!! Can't say I know much about wrestling, but I know how seriously it's taken not just here in Iowa City but in the state as a whole and this is a big get for the hardcore fans of the sport out there...

Looks like I've got a year or so to learn something about wrestling.

Sargent Shriver 1915-2011

Sargent Shriver, founder of the Peace Corps, Vice Presidential Candidate and many other things has died.

Make It Never, Then

Supporters of a proposed rail link between Iowa City and Chicago are saying 'its now or never' on getting the job done- and unlike his counterparts in Wisconsin and Ohio, so far Terry Branstad hasn't really jumped into the fray on either side of the debate about it, as far as Ic an see. So let me jump in:

Never. Don't do it, don't spend gobs of money on this festering turd of an idea. This isn't efficient transportation, it's painfully slow and if it doesn't include a stop within easy walking distance of O'Hare it's not just a festering turd, it's a rancid festering turd! Now, I know what people say: we can upgrade infrastructure and make it faster over time. No, I say to that, that's complete horseshit and everybody knows it. If you're going to do this job right, do it right the first time. With top speeds of like 80 mph (I've seen lower estimates than that) this is no way, shape or form a high speed anything- and it won't make money, won't be efficient and will just suck the life out of budgets everywhere.

If you're going to do it, do it right: top speeds of 200 mph and tracks specifically dedicated for high speed rail service- and I mean real high speed, not like your Grandma's car when she's got an itchy callous on the big toe of her driving foot.

Now or never? Make it never, then.

Missing The Point

Republicans in Des Moines are gunning to cut $10 million to the State Regents Universities and go after faculty sabbaticals as an added sweetner. Once again, Republicans take aim, load up and completely and utterly miss the point.

First of all, the sabbaticals: I don't think the savings are going to be quite what the Republicans hope they're going to be. A lot of Professors get grants to cover their costs and I think on the Medical side of the River, Profs have to pay their own way if they want the sabbatical. So it's not the paid vacation people make it out to be- there is real research going on and real contributions being made. (And if faculty can pay their way, why bother freezing them at all?)

Second of all: what they want to cut isn't the problem- in fact, cuts, as usual, avoid the real problems confronting higher education. Prices are going higher and higher with every passing year and there's a glut of degrees out there which is devaluing the overall worth of a Bachelor's Degree. Some of my questions: why aren't all GenEd courses at State Universities free AND fully online? why charge the same for a humanities degree than a hard science degree? and what about our higher education system is good at preparing graduates for the spectacularly shitty job market they're going to face upon graduation?

All of these questions AND more are far, far more relevant to any debates about higher education than the tiresome old answer Republicans have of just cutting everything they consider to be liberal, frivolous and a waste of money. Yet naturally, if any of these Republicans have kids who want to go to college, they might just change their tune when they see what criminal levels of debt are being passed onto future generations courtesy of universities. A college degree should not be a 'debt sentence' for young people. That too should be a stated goal of reforming higher education...

If Republicans are serious about cuts, that's fine- but cut at the top where the real money is spent before you start slicing and dicing down at the bottom where it might actually matter. And instead of grabbing the rusty old budget machete and chopping away, how about a thoughtful debate on how to make college more affordable and sustainable over the long run for all Iowans? That might actually be good public policy- and wouldn't that be a refreshing change of pace?

Baby Doc Is Back...

Just what Haiti needs. (Actually, their former dictator in custody probably is what Haiti needs. You know, apart from roads, plumbing, electricity, houses and somewhere to put all the rubble from last year's earthquake.)

What Tiger Momma Missed

Like everyone and their mother, NY Times Columnist David Brooks has weighed in on Amy Chua's thoughts on Hardass Chinese Parenting vs. Soft And Cuddly Western Parenting and while he makes good points, he also exposes an underlying problem that is endemic in Western parenting: the tyranny of low expectations.

I do think that culturally, we do expect far too little from kids these days. My parents demanded good grades from me in high school and expected me to deliver- they even dangled a Sega Genesis in front of me as bait, but I didn't deliver- I didn't give a shit about high school because there was this nagging feeling at the back of my head that large portions of what I was learning were a complete and utter waste of time. High School- and herein lies the biggest problem confronting our education system today has become a largely social experience. Brooks lauds the importance of learning group dynamics and basics of social interactions that are important throughout anyone's life and says that, more than anything is what Amy Chua missed. Yet in a twisted contradiction, the very lack of social interactions that Brooks knocks Chua for only serves to make her point for her.

When high school becomes more about social interaction than education, we're missing something here. That's not to say that Brooks is wrong, because learning group dynamics and social interactions is important to the development of any young person and those skills have value for a person's life, but the balance between the necessary social growth and the actual education we recieve in high school has swung wildly out of joint. We seem to expect less and less from kids and from our schools because we don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. We put too much stock in self-esteem and it seems like- and herein lies the danger of broad cultural generalizations, namely that there are plenty of exceptions out there to what I'm saying, that we don't want to push Little Johnny or Little Janey because we're afraid of inhibiting their pursuit of self-identity and happiness.

Personally, I think self-esteem is overrated. I didn't have a single ounce of it imposed on me and had to go through two bouts of depression before I realized that I'm actually a pretty amazing guy- yet I can't say that with full egotistical certainty either. People may think I'm pretty cool, but that's still kind of news to me, you know? I turned out just fine for all the right things that white people do with their kids: give them rules structure, expectations and a good dollop of love. Would I have benefitted from some more parental prodding here and there? Yes, I think I would have- but as I'm not a meth head or in jail, I think we can call me a job well done at this point. I can function in society quite nicely.

I'm the product of a pretty good formula: rules, structure, expectations and a good dollop of love. I'm not saying it's a universal remedy, but a little mroe of any of the ingredients listed couldn't hurt. But what it really comes down to is education and it's here we find ourselves in a most unusual situation: Brooks is right. Social dynamics and learning how to work through them is an important part of growing up that Chua apparently jettisons. But Chua is equally as correct: all that froufy sleepovers in the world won't matter a damn if your kid isn't getting a solid, world-class education.

Say It Ain't So, Regis...

Regis Philbin is set to retire. Now if only we could get Kathie Lee to join him...

Everything I've Ever Known About Punctuation Is Wrong

Apparently everything I have ever known about punctuation is flat out wrong. Or so says this lengthy article from Slate.com. It sort of reminds me of that traumatic incident in high school, where, having written extra credit papers about famous mathematicians as a class we were shocked to be docked points for using contractions. Since when, we asked is it a crime to use contractions in a paper? Always,came the answer of our math teacher. Shocked and dismayed we all didn't believe her for a moment and ran crying to our English teacher only to be told the exact same thing.

As a result, I don't think I've used contractions in any formal writing that I've done since. So it is a big surprise to find out that two spaces after a period is, in fact, grammatically incorrect. Though in retrospect, this shouldn't surprise me all that much. Being on the school paper in high school, one of the oddities of journalistic writing that we were taught was that there was only one space after a period instead of two- I just assumed that it was one of the weird exceptions for journalistic writing and kept happily adding two spaces after my periods for everything else I wrote. Reading this article gave me a more coherent and in fact, sensible explanation as to why one period is better than two.

First, there's the matter of the typewriter: with the rise of the personal computer, two careful spaces after every period made less and less sense until now, when it makes no sense at all. The vagaries of the typography of the typewriter, the article explains necessitated an extra space after periods to keep letters from running together- that, I guess, is no longer necessary.

Secondly, there's the matter of aesthetics: apparently typographers go crazy over extra spaces. It's like one of their trade secrets that they can nerd out about- (leaving aside the fact that there are tyopgraphers out there. That sort of surprises me. I think typographer and I think 'Guttenburg Printing Press' type of thing. Albrecht Durer and company...) But does it look better with one space as a posed to two? I don't know- you tell me. I've been trying my best to keep it at one space, since it's now the correct thing to do, and I think I've been fairly successful, but it's hard to break a habit that you've been used to for years now.

So grammarians of the world, unite! We have nothing to lose save our extra spaces!

Change The Debate

In fact, we need to change everything- but really and truly, we need to have a sober, responsible and more importantly sane discussion on the role of government in this country and the amount of money that we spend on it. I shy away from Conservatism in this country because so much of mainstream Conservative thinking has an inherent amount of hypocrisy in it: you can't preach small government yet insist the government mandate social behavior or legislate social issues. Consistency in your principles counts for something in my book and it makes me crazy when I hear self-righteous sermons on the virtues of small government and how wasteful government actually is while simultaneously supporting laws that control a woman's reproductive system or tell people who they can and cannot marry. If you're for less government, be for less government- but that means you have to stand by that across the board.

I'm coming around to the notion that the last truly principled Conservative in this country was probably Barry Goldwater.

In the meantime, people have lost their minds: government all of it is illegal and should be abolished. Nothing, nothing at all- get rid of all of it, people say- which to me, confuses the debate we should actually be having. Centralized bureaucracy in Washington D.C. is the real enemy here. Republicans may fulminate about too much government and too much regulation, but the fact of the matter is that police, teachers, nurses, border patrol agents don't necessarily make bank and do hard work that needs doing out here in the boonies. The faceless bureaucrats in D.C. are where the waste is truly generated, in my book.

Break it up a little bit! Do we need a Department of Agriculture in Washington D.C. where they do little to no farming? In the age of modern communications technology is it necessary to have the Department of the Interior on the coast, nowhere near the Interior? Break up the bureaucrat factory! The biggest problem of all is that we have a lot of waste to cut off the government and a lot of it is clustered near the top- can we trust those at the top to cut from the top down? I don't think so…

And here's where my change of thinking comes in: a long talk with one of our Lieutenants here at work- a big union guy, even though he's Merit Exempt now and thus can't be in the union anymore made me reconsider my somewhat harsh judgment of the role of public sector unions. To be sure, there's a lot to criticize still, and I stand by my critique: but someone, somewhere has to hold the political class accountable for the cuts they make. Someone, somewhere has to point out that the streets need to be safe, the schools need teachers and the hospitals need nurses, but do the people at the top have salaries they can justify? With some serious institutional reforms, I think public sector unions could be a valuable tool to mobilize people who matter in this debate and give them a voice.

Of course, no one actually wants to change anything, anywhere if they don't have to.

The Most Dangerous Show On Television

Is 'Skins' the most dangerous show on television? That depends on your point of view- importing the risque, gritty British hit television show to American shores was a gutsy move to make, even if the newly debuted American version is consigned to that forbidden time slot of after 10 PM on MTV: British imports or attempted Americanized remakes have a history of being horribly bad and failing pretty much most of the time, so I'm betting that, after the initial interest dies down and after people realize that they can view the far more gritty and harsh British version on Netflix Instant, the American version of 'Skins' will flounder like a wounded beast for awhile before being quietly taken out behind the woodshed and cancelled.

But you have to admire the moxie on MTV. Granted, I have no idea what happened to MTV or why it even bothers to call itself MTV anymore, as very little of what you see on MTV actually involves, you know, music videos, but it's nice to know they've still got some steel in their backbone. 'Skins' even if it is a watered down, Americanized version of the show, will be enough to make heads explode on parents from coast to coast- as this show might truly be every parents' worst nightmare. Sex, drugs, rock n'roll, eating disorders, love, relationships, identity, the whole mess of figuring out who you are that seems to consume your teenage years is portrayed with flat out brutality that comes uncomfortably close to reality in many cases.

The Missus and I are working our way slowly through the British version of the show via Netflix right now and I have to say I love the fact that 'Skins'- at least the British version is absolutely unafraid to take risks. In the second season of the show, the introduce an obssessed stalker type for one of the male characters and in the space of about thirty seconds flat, she manages to become one the most creepy and frightening characters I've ever seen on television, while the kids get set to stage a performance of their original high school musical, named- are you ready for this? 'Osama: The Musical' and what's it about, you ask? Well, the kiddies of whatever school in Bristol they're supposed to be attending are acting in an original high school musical about the September 11th Attacks.

I literally couldn't quite believe what I was seeing on my television screen. Had any American show had the balls to do something even remotely resembling this anytime in the past decade, someone, somewhere would have freaked out. The musical itself wasn't necessarily in bad taste, in fact it was more like a typical high school musical: bad production, lame musical numbers, the whole nine yards- and even the content of the musical itself wasn't necessarily all that offensive. I guess what stunned me about it was the fact that it took 9/11 down to the level of a high school musical- it didn't seem right to me, it seemed to almost trivialize it- but then again, I think that was precisely the reaction the shows creators were intended to provoke.

But we've strayed a bit from our original question: Is it the 'most dangerous show on television?' No. I'd say that honor belongs to the teen pregnancy glamorizing twins of '16 and Pregnant' and 'Teen Mom'- but 'Skins' will worry parents- it will freak some of them right out, no doubt, but while it might not hold back in it's portrayal of some of the excesses of teenagers, I wouldn't say it encourages them, per say. Teenagers might well identify with some of the struggles they see in 'Skins' and I think that's OK. But I'd still say bypass whatever weak tea the American version offers, head for your Netflix and go straight to the original. It doesn't disappoint.

Worldbeat

There's a lot going on out in the World, not all of it able to sustain the well-thought out drivel that I usually type in these blogposts, so here's a general round-up:

Tunisian Turmoil: protests are gathering momentum and protestors have made it clear they want President Ben Ali to stand down now and not in 2014 as he promised last night. The President has governed Tunisia since 1987 in what appears to be one of those 'oh, I'll stand down after two terms, but hey, let's change the rules so I can run for three and then four and maybe even a fifth term- you know what? I'll just keep an eye on things until I die, does that sound good?' type of situations. Protests started four weeks ago when an unemployed college graduate was prevented from making some money by selling vegetable by police because he didn't have a permit and set himself on fire in response. (UPDATED: Protestors have succeed. President is stepping down.)

The Deuce Advances: John Paul II is to be beatified in May by Pope Benedict XVI, making him officially 'Blessed' and moving him one step closer to Sainthood.

Collapse: The Lebanese Government did, as parties struggle to figure out how to respond to the International tribunal investigating the assassination of former PM Rafik Hariri....

Soggy Down Under: Not a good year for the Aussies thus far- England keeps the Ashes (yeah, still don't understand cricket by the way, but reportedly a big deal) and Queensland is swamped by insanely massive and devastating floods. Brisbane is just starting the clean-up effort now. (And check this astonishing YouTube footage from the town of Toowoomba- a couple of days back, they had about six inches of rain in half an hour and it created like a mini-tsunami that ran through the town.)

Wegher To Sooners

Yup. [Insert Any Crude Commentary About Rumors That Have Been Flying Around Iowa City For Nigh On A Year Now, Here.]

The Great Zodiac Panic of 2011

It was when I was watching 'Craig Ferguson' last night that I learned of this amazingly trivial yet important thing (as one does, when watching Craig)- the Zodiac is apparently changing and adding a sign, which has thrown everything in the world of astrology into a state of total and utter chaos. Before 'Craig Ferguson' last night, I was comfortable in the knowledge that I was a Virgo. And although I don't plan my day around the stars, I usually read my horoscope and find out what they have in store for me and then promptly forget about it. Other weird thing too, though: Virgo, from all accounts, fits me best- in as much as any zodiac sign can conform to one's personality.

Imagine my horror then, to learn that I was now in fact... a Leo.

In the grand scheme of things, I really don't give a damn about astrology, but this irritated me- in fact, I'll go ahead and admit it: this kind of upset me. I mean, I don't care that the Ancient Babylonians were crap at star gazing and the wobble of the Earth's rotation has shifted the stars around- you don't just mess up somebody's morning paper like this!

Well, as it turns out, people may have freaked out a little too soon. Turns out, there's more than one zodiac in the world- and the 'new dates' of these 'new signs' correspond with this zodiac- which is eastern in nature, used mainly in India, while western astrologers follow the seemingly conventional zodiac we all know and love. In other words: nothing has apparently changed for anyone at all. Western astrology uses a zodiac that conforms to seasons and was codified by Ptolmey sometime in the 2nd Century- the sidereal zodiac actually conforms to the movement of the stars. Granted, that might make it a more 'astrologically in tune' zodiac than the western, tropical zodiac- but then again, I'm not an astrologer, so i don't know.

Either way: I'm apparently still a Virgo. That makes me happy.

Chinese Moms

Certain corners of the Interwebs are abuzz over this piece (entitled 'Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior')- and predictably, some people aren't all that pleased with it.

Kids, read and discuss amongst yourselves. I can't say I have any complaints about my white, British parents- they had rules, they had structure and I'm not a felon or a murderer or in jail. That's a pretty good benchmark of success of parenting in my book- though not being a parent yet, it's hard to say what exactly my perspective will be when mini-Tomalis do come along. Maybe all parents want their kids to be awesome and amazing and the Chinese ones are just more hardcore about it, because of well, cultural differences and Confucian filial piety and all that crap.

I'm not sure I buy that- and I don't think you can reduce Chinese parenting- or anyone's parenting to a litany of stereotypes. Structure, rules, love and expectations are, I think the best a parent can do. That's whether they're white, black, hispanic or Asian.

But like I said: read and discuss.

Time To Grow Up (A Forlorn Hope)

Can we please all take a moment this week to grow up? As a nation, I mean- I know there are pockets of maturity and sanity out there in America, there have to be- but enough is enough. What happened in Arizona was a tragedy and the act of a deranged lunatic- yet the smoke had barely cleared before there was a mad dash, media stampede to proclaim (circumspectly of course) that the entire thing was the fault of Sarah Palin and the Tea Party. This, in turn sparked a similar stampede on the part of the Conservative blogosphere to find every shred of evidence, every remark ever made by anyone of the Liberal persuasion that smacks of the violent, vitriolic rhetoric that Left is so busy denouncing under every Republican rock and stone.

It's a feeding frenzy and quite frankly, it's disgusting. I suppose it's inevitable: the media need their ratings and violence sells. It's a side-effect of the profit driven corporate media and, as I've already noted it's utterly disgusting and it's far too easy to wrap myself in cynicism about the future of our nation when I turn on the news and see it everywhere I look.

People are dead, including a nine year old girl. A Congresswoman had a bullet literally go through her brain and all anyone can seem to do is talk about whose fault it is. It's wrong. It's just wrong.

My thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims and I'm praying that Congresswoman Giffords makes a speedy recovery, but in the meantime, at least for one week, I'm out. No politics, no news, I'm staying out of the political kiddy-pool for the week. I don't want to get sucked into playing politics with dead Americans and I have very little time for those that do.

All I can hope for is that somehow, someway, as a nation, we can all grow up a little and exercise some maturity. It was the act of a deranged lunatic. And people died. If there ever was a time to lay off and calm down and rise above the partisan bullshit, it would be now. But America, we reap what we sow. And this is what we get for letting our governing be done by the extreme ends of the political spectrum- the media vultures circle and both sides try to score political points off the backs of dead Americans.

Can't we all just grow up? Or is that too much to hope for...

General Vang Pao 1929-2011

Prominent Hmong leader General Vang Pao has died- and his body will be brought to Minnesota for a public viewing for the Hmong community there.

Always a controversial figure with allegations of gun-running and drug smuggling stalking him these past few years, General Vang Pao nonetheless remained a respected leader of his community until his death a few days ago. I wish I knew more about the Hmong- and given the amount of time I spent in Minnesota, it's kind of sad I didn't- but the fact that the United States government was so willing and able to allow so many to come to the United States after being loyal allies to the United States during the Vietnam War always struck me as an incredibly decent thing for our government to do.

Iowa 89, Ohio State 76

...as a late Christmas present, the Missus scored us tickets to the Iowa women's basketball game today as they took on Ohio State and man oh man was it a damn good game- and a damn good Iowa victory resulted before an announced crowd of 9,865.

They really wanted this one, you could tell- after losing by 2 to the Buckeye at Columbus last season and seeing victory slip away with a two point loss in the Big Ten Title Game, you got the sensation that they had been waiting for this one for quite some time- and they delivered. They've got a tough test against Sparty next, but if they keep playing like this, well then I think it's safe to say that the Iowa Women have shaken off their New Year's Hangover and have their groove back.

Congresswoman Shot

...breaking news today that Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona was shot and killed today at an event in Tucson.

UPDATED: Well, she's not dead. It'd be fascinating to learn just exactly how she managed to survive a gunshot wound to the head, but for now, she has survived. And it's depressing and beyond disgusting how sick this country truly is sometimes. People are dead and what's happening? An out and out pissing match is breaking out between right and left about whether or not the shooter, a reportedly very disturbed young man was Conservative or Liberal.

People need to grow up, is what I think. People are dead and it's time to get some perspective- if ever there was a time to tell the extremes of both ends of the political spectrum to 'shove it' it would be today. We all need to come together as Americans and find real life solutions to the problems we face. It's time for action, not rhetoric.

Still Not Buying It

Whoa. When i said I was waiting for a decent pitch for the glories of unionism, I didn't actually expect anyone to take me up on it. But lo, The Quiet Man is always willing to champion the causes of those who have no voice and I have to give kudos who call me on some of my bullshit.

But despite the best efforts of The Quiet Man, I remain unconvinced. His argument, like most argument proposed by the Left in this country is firmly rooted in sustaining the perceived gains of the past- gains that, as I pointed out in my original post I can more than appreciate, but gains that are today completely and utterly unsustainable in the world we live in today- and no, I'm not talking just about pensions.

First and foremost: I'm talking about the United States. We face a unique situation, that's somewhat shared by our brothers and sisters in Western Europe, but essentially we are at a crossroads for the modern Liberal, Western welfare state. It cannot continue in its present form and so far, no one on the Left seems interested in reformulating liberalism for the 21st Century. What does a welfare state look like with the demographic crunch we face? Where do the responsibilities of government end? What are it's duties and how far can they extend- and more to the point, how much money are we as taxpayers willing to put into them? When I gripe about unions, some of it yes, is off the mark. But a lot of it isn't- there's an ideological weakness to the left that is hurting the causes that The Quiet Man wants to promote. Things like community solidarity and strength in numbers for workers across this country are hurt because the Left insists on trying to preserve an unsustainable past.

Consider the collapse of Detroit: before GM was bailed out by the government and water was pouring in over the sides of the company- also victim to it's own short-sightedness and an unsustainable past, it was the head of UAW Ron Gettelfinger who was standing in front of the cameras promising to fight for every single thing in that contract of his- company be damned! And I couldn't help but wonder at the time: if GM goes under, what happens to all those jobs he's claiming to fight for? What happens to the workers then? Hardly what I would call a sterling defense of the workers. That's not to say that sacrifice should be placed solely on the workers- but the workers and company exist in a symbiotic relationship- if one falls, the other does as well.

Sanitary working conditions? The 40 hour work week? Are these things that need to be preserved in this day and age? Are they really under threat? You could argue that illegal immigrants need union protections because undoubtedly those workers at the margins of society are probably subject to the most abuses of these basic rights- but for the vast majority of Americans, these basic things are expected- nay demanded as part and parcel of the society we live in. Like Social Security, which was bitterly denounced at the time of its passage as a road to the death of America and socialist servitude (some things never change with Republicans apparently), the basic rights of the workers have come to be expected and have been given- they are societally accepted at this point and any allegation that given a chance, corporations would put us all back into the 19th Century labor market is one that I would have to snicker at. Corporations, for all their many sins, aren't stupid. Some, like Wal-Mart could and should treat their workers better. (The Fast Food industry it should be noted has a much worse record than that of Wal-Mart yet is curiously untouched from liberal sermonizing, because, I assume, that progressives in America like a good hamburger as much as Conservatives do.) Like I said: the welfare of the workers, the basics, a clean bathroom, decent wage and 40 hour work week have become accepted by this country. Any attempts to roll back these rights would go nowhere fast- even as some uber-Libertarians dream of ending Social Security someday, most, if not all would quietly admit that the genie is out of the bottle and not going back in any time soon.

As for community solidarity? Well, it doesn't exist anymore, I'm afraid. And that's the sad part about contemporary America. Political Scientist Robert Putnam wrote extensively on this subject in his book 'Bowling Alone' (on The Cigar's reading list) and again, I really am convinced that the reactionary tendencies of the Left and yes, the Labor movement as well contribute to this. Unions protect jobs by seniority, which means that younger workers such as myself are on the short end of the stick any way you break it down- they protect a system of pensions and entitlement designed to benefit those older workers, but benefits and pensions that, as I have said are completely unsustainable in the long term. Until younger workers are offered tangible proof about what possible benefit they could get out of slaving and sweating in a unionized work place where the sweat of their work is going to fund the retirement of their elders- with no one being left to fund their retirement, the community solidarity and strength in numbers The Quiet Man envisions will never materialize. Again, this is the biggest ideological failure of the Left: it is more deeply rooted in preserving the unsustainable past that even some Conservative ideology is.

As for Terry Branstad, well, yes, he could snap his fingers and extinguish my job, which is why I get irritated when the Union picks battles it cannot possibly win. Mitch Daniels, Republican Governor of Indiana and probable presidential candidate in 2012 was faced with the same demographic challenges that Our Glorious New Governor is now (note my sarcasm please, I'm no fan of his) and when the union would not even begin to meet him halfway, he decertified them. Within something like six months, the majority of people in the union had stopped paying their dues. Sure, decertification is a nuclear option and perhaps needlessly controversial, but let's not be fooled: if Terry wants my job, he can take it- and no amount of posturing or striking by the union will change that.

Is the public sector worthy of the same benefits that private sector unions deliver? Traditionally the argument goes that public sector employees get better pensions and benefits than their private sector counterparts because we'll earn less over the course of our employment. Whether that holds true still, I don't know- but it's worth noting that public sector jobs exists in a realm where the state holds a monopoly on the market, therefore there is no meaningful competition to provide incentive to hold down costs of operations. Public sector unions can demand more and more because the state has no way of pointing to an alternative. It's a problem unique to the public sector and one I'll have to do more research on.

Are we, as The Quiet Man has suggested in our many conversations together headed towards a corporate sponsored, everything's private type of a world? I don't believe that- I think the problem (and this is a problem for the right, not the left) is that we have misplaced our anger at government. It's not the police officer or the firefighter that's the problem- it's the satraps of centralized bureaucracy that raise costs, it's the anti-democratic nature of that bureaucracy that makes government inefficient and makes it cost so much money. We can and should demand that government do better, but make no mistake about it: any Republican who tells you that government should be gotten rid of entirely needs to be asked some hard questions: does he mean police? Fire? What about the border patrol agents that keep all the illegals that Republicans are so concerned about out of America? Get rid of them, too?

Start asking questions about the exorbitant staffs Congressmen keep- and their salaries and the UnderSecretary of Do Nothing Affairs that gets paid six figures to pretty much pick his nose all day and then, well then I think you'll find that's when the members of the political class- of both parties starting squirming. I want fiscal sanity- but I want it to start at the top where waste is most evident before dribbling down to me. Unions make themselves useful scapegoats to prevent this debate- and it's also why I won't believe Terry Branstad's sermons on fiscal responsibility until he takes a pay cut. Say half his salary.

So in the end, I'm still not convinced. Yes my rant may be egoistic, but far too many people preach about this topic without taking the time to seriously consider how it might affect them. Being covered by a union contract, I wanted to inject some personal thought into the discussion- and I'm betting my frustrations with the Left shone through as a result. But unions have provided me the basic job benefits that I now have and I thank them for it. But they still exist to protect unsustainable retirement benefits and contracts that benefit the older workers and the older generation. You could argue that they have a moral right to demand what they, after all, have earned.

But if they have that right to demand what they have earned I have a right to demand what, if anything will be left for me? What about the fruits of the labors of my generation? Why are we trapped by unions (and corporations) into virtual penury designed to pay for canasta and shuffleboard for the Baby Boomers?

I remain, therefore, unconvinced.

(As a post-script: I'm with The Quiet Man 100% on the necessity of a strong labor movement to fight for worker's rights in the developing world especially. My main focus was on public sector unions in the United States and I didn't make that clear enough- but there are battles that we take for granted in this country that are still being fought out there in the world to protect workers from the worst depravities of global capitalism. What UNOCAL did at Bhopal for instance is an injustice that should have been correctly loudly by workers across the globe- that it wasn't and that people still suffer to this day because of what one corporation did is outrageous. Hence my belief that even as over regulation is bad for the economy, unrestrained capitalism must be opposed- loudly and proudly. We are a nation of checks and balances and that principle too should be judiciously applied to the economy, if not for the protection of the workers then just because it makes the most sense.)

Bachmann '12?

Please God, NO. I will take Sarah Palin over Michelle Bachmann. I will take Barry Goldwater over Michelle Bachmann. I will strike a deal with a voodoo necromancer and bring back Wendell Wilke to run! Al Smith! Someone! Anyone! Bernie, from 'Weekend At Bernie's!'

And if this woman somehow manages to get the GOP nomination, I will crawl over hot lava, broken glass and rusted nails to vote for Barack Obama again. 4 more years of detached, wonkish incompetence would be preferable to any time at all in a Bachmann administration.

Meet The New Boss...

...same as the Old Boss. Only male. And more orange. The 112th Congress was gaveled into session today and I'm not hopeful, put it that way. Already Republicans are backing off their pledge to slash $100 billion from the budget and I'd be surprised if they managed to get ObamaCare repealed (nor am I crazy about that notion, so if that doesn't work out, I'll be OK with it.) I think by the end of this year, the writing will be on the wall for the Republican Party. The cuts that the Tea Party wants will not have materialized and I think certain people (say, for instance, Sarah Palin) know that- I think a third party challenge to the Republicans will be almost a certainty by year's end.

I have been wrong from time to time, but I've said it before and I'll say it again: change is impossible from inside the system. This is going to be year the Tea Party learns that harsh lesson. When you take that fact and combine it with a generational refusal on the part of Boomers to take responsibility for anything, we won't see anything close to the cuts we need in our lifetime.

Color me orange. Or unimpressed rather... now it's up to the GOP to prove me wrong.

Gerry Rafferty 1947-2011

...has died. I remember 'Baker Street' because of that saxophone and (although I didn't know he was the man behind Stealer's Wheel) I remember 'Stuck In The Middle' from many hours at karaoke at Bandana in Mankato and of course, 'Reservoir Dogs.'

Albums2010 #33: Tantric

I don't know what to say about this album. It didn't strike me as horrible music- because it wasn't but neither did it grab my attention all that much either. Tantric, to me, sounded an awful lot like Days Of The New (see #28)- and surprise, surprise there's a reason for that: these guys got fired from Days Of The New and started their own band. But the lack of originality in their sound was a little disappointing, dare I say, even derivative. Ghosts of bands like Alice In Chains, Days Of The New and even touches of Lifehouse, Nickelback and the usual collection of grunge forefathers all seem to echo in your ear like a bad case of tittinus.

I like grunge music. I really do- it's what I grew up with, right at that wonderful point between elementary school and junior high where you start paying attention to the radio. The early 90s dance crazy was fading out and there was that blissful moment between that and the rise of bubblegum pop that made music actually worth listening to. I was a huge fan of Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots and although I didn't listen to a lot of Nine Inch Nails, 'Closer' was a favorite of mine probably because the lyrics were so raw and dirty it appealed to my juvenile mind.

But if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, in the cutthroat world of the music business having too many acts crowding into the market can't be a good thing either if it produces a glut of competition. And that to me, is the real problem I have with Tantric. Not that's its bad music, per say, because it's not. Not that I hated listening to this album, because I didn't, but because at the end of the day, you could exchange this with any number of post-grunge and grunge acts and it would sound pretty much exactly the same.

Call me crazy- maybe I'm picky, but if I want to appreciate and listen to a complete album, I'm looking for something a little less derivative than this. Did I like it? Sure. Did I enjoy it? Yes. But at the end of the album, I still kind of shrugged my shoulders and said 'meh.'

Overall: And I know this is a painfully short review- this album was not bad. But it wasn't amazing either... I'd say save yourself some cash and buy a plaid shirt and an Alice In Chains album. You'll probably get more out of it.

January By The Numbers

A New Year brings new resolutions and of course, the old chestnut to 'get in shape' is amongst them. Only this year I actually want to put my foot down and get some effort into getting the job done. One hour and an awesome workout later, I've taken the first step, but it's a long road ahead. Basically, in 2006 when I was leaving Iowa City for the sunny confines of Mankato and graduate school, I didn't have a car. I walked everywhere I could and living near the Fieldhouse, I realized that I was getting home from class around 4 and basically not doing anything for a good three to four hours or so, so I started walking up there and running a mile everyday. Before Mankato (where love, graduate school and the $5 cup night at the local watering hole plus my first car distracted me) I was hovering around the 190 mark. I'd like to get back there this year. So...

The Bad News: 250.2 pounds.

The Good News: Got my membership at Campus Rec and Wellness today.

Favorite Thing: I have no idea what it was called, but it's like a stair-stepper/elliptical/Nordic Track type of dealie. I managed to run a miserable three laps and power walk two more, which left me wheezing and somewhat pessimistic about my future. I found this beauty and a good 20 minutes of sweat ensued. I love it!

January's Track: Fela Kuti's 'Zombie.' A little obscure and 'Eye Of The Tiger' it sure ain't- but it's a monstrous, bad-ass funk jam that lasts 12 glorious minutes and gave me a kick-ass second wind as I was power walking a mile on the treadmill. I kicked it up a notch and blasted through the last of it!

The Predatory Generation

Should public sector employees be allowed to unionize? Tentatively, I'd have to say 'no' to that. It's easy for me sitting here in my comfortable little job with it's decent pay and good benefits to forget about the battles of the last century fought on my behalf by the labor movement. Things like a minimum wage, paid vacation, the 40 hour work week, benefits of any variety- all of them in some small way can probably be traced back to the work that the unions did in the early part of the 20^th Century.

Only, what are they doing for me now? Maybe that's a typically selfish 'me me me' thing to say- and certainly my generation gets accused of being selfish and narcissistic on a semi-regular basis by the Baby Boomers (takes one to know one apparently)- but it's not an irrelevant question. What have you done for me lately? The answer is… well, not much. I show up on time, do my job to the best of my ability and it's not because I'm in a union. In my experience unions reward sloth over vigor, quantity over quality and insist on riding their white horses quixotically in defense of retirement pledges that are fiscally unsustainable in the long term yet are insisted upon by the older generation.

Yeah. And the Baby Boomers call my generation selfish… I don't know what's going to happen in the future- I don't know what the country's going to look like in ten years, but I do know that the good life of shuffleboard and canasta won't begin at 65 for the Boomers. The sooner they accept that, the better.

And that there is our biggest problem, kids: economic stability and fiscal security of this country be damned! The Boomers want their cushy retirement and they're going screw my generation six ways to Sunday to get it and then leave us with the bill. That's the challenge we're going to face and what to do about it- because really and truly, nothing is going to work perfectly. We can't AMEX our way into a progressive utopia (see: California, New York, Illinois) and unrestrained capitalism and ineffective regulation is what got us into this mess in the first place (see: nearly a decade of criminal negligence on the part of both parties in D.C. that gave away the farm to every grasping scum-sucking special interest group you could think of.)

What the actual solution to the myriad of problems facing us, I don't know- but when it comes to public sector unions, I voted with my feet, so to speak and I'll continue to do so. I won't piss away my money on an organization dedicated to ensuring the retirement of older workers at the expense of my own prosperity and my own retirement…

(I'm always up for a good discussion on things too, kids. If someone wants to make a pitch about the glories of unionism to me, I'll listen. Just know that it would have to be one hell of a pitch.)