Dawn Of The Dead-- A Review

To celebrate the spirit of Halloween last night, the Missus and I got together with Cousin Viking and his GF and watched the zombie classic 'Dawn of the Dead.' There was some talk of maybe switching over to the other choice on offer for the evening 'Wolfman' but we stuck with what we had and I'm glad we did.

'Dawn Of The Dead' is George Romero's loose sequel to 1968's 'Night of The Living Dead' and it's what you'd expect: the tag line for the movie proclaims that 'When's There's No More Room In Hell the Dead will walk the Earth' and Romero drops us smack dab into the midst of chaos, with a civilization coming apart as it's being overrun by zombies.

The story begins at the WGON Television station in Philadelphia, where Stephen and his girlfriend Francine decided to escape using the station's traffic helicopter. They're joined by two members of a police SWAT team Roger and Peter and flee the rapidly collapsing city. Getting out into the country, they find fuel and continue on their journey before finding a shopping mall, where they manage to carve out of a life for themselves with every material good at their disposal.

Eventually they realize that the mall has essentially become their prison- Peter eventually gets bitten by a zombie and turns, being shot by Roger. Francine gets pregnant and tries to persuade Stephen that they should leave, but Stephen doesn't want to- though he relents enough to teach Francine how to fly the helicopter in case he is killed on incapacitated. Soon, a motorcycle gang turns up, looking to pillage the mall. They attempt to do so but pay a heavy price for it, as the zombies in the mall get some lunch, but soon enough Stephen gets bitten and zombified and soon the last redoubt of the survivors is about to be overrun. Roger initially tells Francine to leave without him, but changes his mind and successfully runs a gauntlet of zombies to the helicopter as they fly off into an uncertain future.

Overall, I think I was spoiled by '28 Days Later.' Those zombies were fast and damn scary- these zombies? Slow. Really sloooooooooooow. The old school ones! And sure enough, the movie itself starts off strong but sags in the middle- where the quartet is building it's happy little life in the duct work of the shopping mall- but it picks up nicely towards the end of the movie. It's not all horror either, which I liked: when they set down at the airstrip to get more fuel, Stephen's lack of shooting skills are comedic in the extreme. As is his elaborate, wild attempt to smack a zombie in the head with a hammer.

There's also a biting social commentary running throughout the movie against consumerism- especially obvious given the bulk of the action in the movie takes place in a shopping mall, full of zombies mindlessly shuffling around, because they were drawn back to the place that 'was so important in their lives.'

The special effects are very 1978. The zombies are nice and hungry-- you can see why this helped to invent the idea of the zombie horror flick.

Overall- *** out of ****: this movie sagged in the middle. A lot. But other than that, it was good, gory and apocalyptic fun. A true classic.

The City Council Endorsements

Election Day is next Tuesday, people. I know it's the big one just yet- but there's still things to vote for- in Iowa City, there's the City Council race and up the road a bit in Marion, there's a crucial by-election for control of the state senate in District 18. No time for apathy, people. Get to work!

So, without further ado, here are The Cigar's Endorsements for City Council- and a plug for District 18:

Raj Patel: This one was a tough one for me. After news broke that Patel had withdrawn as a student at the UofI, I initially thought about shifting my support to either Mitchell or Payne, but decided against it. Patel seems genuinely interested in help to make Iowa City a more vibrant community and, more to the point, even if he's no longer officially a student, he's young- which is a perspective that's sorely needed on the City Council.

No offense to Payne: but she's too much of an 'insider' for my liking. She works for Mid-American and has served on the City Planning and Zoning Commision? No thanks... Deeth's Blog takes issue with the fact that she's a Republican, but to me, that doesn't matter- despite Johnson County's best efforts, there are Republicans here. I'm just looking for someone that brings a fresh perspective to the Council. Payne doesn't.

As for Mitchell: hmmmm... this was a tough one. I don't think I would get into the urban chicken thing, but it's a good issue to raise, especially in Iowa. The more I read of 'The Omnivore's Dilemma' by Michael Pollan the more taken aback I am about the damage being done to our agricultural system by monoculture and corporate ag. Mitchell should keep bangin' his drum- and hopefully Iowa City can get into the urban farming thing and although it's kind of froufy to say, this is an issue where conciousness definately needs to be raised. (There's the big ass field south of City High along 4th Avenue. No idea what's it's for. Why not start an urban village/farm there?)


Matt Hayek: Well, this is kind of a pickle. I just said I declined to support Michelle Payne because she seems like too much of an 'insider' to me, but here I am supporting Matt Hayek, the incumbent of incumbents. I'm a bundle of contradictions- what can I say?

But there's something so competent about Hayek that you just can't help but like. The guy's a lawyer and could be in a big city, living in a suburban McMansion somewhere pulling in the big bucks and living high off the hog. And I'm sure he's pretty well off, but I like the fact that's committed to the community and has planted firm roots here in the community. I'm not normally big on incumbents- especially on the Iowa City City Council, but in Hayek's case, competence wins me over. He hasn't pissed me off, so he gets my vote.

I know there are a lot of people out there who take issue with the whole 21-only thing, but that I was willing to support, not because I was against bars but because I thought we needed better bars and breaking up the bar-condo cartel was the only way the City would be forced to actually think about doing something with downtown. Plus, the drinking age is 21.


If you live in Senate District 18, vote Liz Mathis! If you live in Marion, Robbins or any of the other towns out there. GO VOTE. I want divided Government in Des Moines... and despite Republican protestations to the contrary, we all know what this race is about. The National Organization for Marriage does not come wading into a State Senate race without reason. I want Senators focused on jobs, jobs and jobs. Nothing more, nothing less- I don't want a whisper of a hint of social issues creeping back into the picture. I don't trust Republicans to stick to that. So vote Mathis. (Democrats: this is IMPORTANT. Forgive my crude bluntness, but don't fuck this up.)

The State of Jefferson?

The Great Guru Instapundit posted a link to this fascinating article about growing rural discontent in far Northern California- which reminded me about this.

I wonder if they'll get another push together for independence...

This Is The Story Of the HurriCain...

The national media is all abuzz over the supposedly explosive allegations that 2 women are accusing Presidential Candidate Herman Cain of sexual harrassment. Politico broke the story here and instead of reading the rantings on the left and the right about it, I decided to go read it myself.

I'm not impressed:

First, sexual harassment is bad. To a certain degree, this is probably inevitable- more so for Republicans, even more so for Republicans that can't be put into the nice, 'fat, racist, hick' box that the media usually likes. If these allegations are true, then it's fair game. If they were found to be untrue, Cain needs to say that and move on.

Second, criticism of Politico is fair game. This story is way too short on specifics and extremely vague. I mean, are we taking actual physical contact? Inappropriate jokes? A weird reference to boobs? What? There are degrees of sexual harassment that are very relevant to the story that just aren't there. And if they were that serious, how come this is the first we heard of it? Did they have to dig that much?

Third, I'm not totally sold on Cain- but he is a genuine outsider. Ron Paul might be the other one in the Republican race. So part of me (the cynical part of me) doesn't find this surprising. The Establishment is under threat so they are doing their best to kneecap the genuine outsider in the race- who, if he gets the nomination has a serious shot at winning the whole ball of wax.

But we'll see how this shakes out. One thing is for sure, Politico looks like it was grasping for something, anything to throw at Cain which does not make them look good. If they've got something genuine to report then this does not help their cause.

The Scorecard #4

Pros: Well, ditching McNabb in favor of Christian Ponder seems to be a tentative step in the right direction. Minnesota managed to beat Carolina yesterday... whether they get a stadium deal done is another matter entirely, but it was a rare ray of sunshine in a gloomy football weekend.

High School: First round of the playoffs was last Wednesday- City High beat Kennedy at home 48-26, Iowa City West stomped Dubuque Wahlert 66-32 and Iowa City Regina beat Davis County-Bloomfield 59-3. Second round is tonight, with City High taking on Cedar Falls at the UNI Dome and West taking on North Scott out in Davenport. Regina gets West Liberty at home.

College: Well, can't avoid the big turd in the room forever. Iowa lost to Minnesota for the second straight year in a row by 1 point. 1 miserable point, 22-21. That rankled me some- that, my friends, chaps the old behind just a wee bit, but when Jerry Kill announced his confidence that his team could win at least one Big Ten game after getting pasted by Nebraska last weekend, I thought: 'Yeah, that game is probably going to be against Iowa.'

I wished it wasn't so, but I just had a little tickle at the back of the old oxipetal about it. We've had issues on the road this year- and we needed the win badly. The rest of the season contains 3 ranked teams, 2 at home, one away and a trip to Purdue- who is not that bad this year. After drowning my sorrows in jello shots up in Austin,MN this weekend, I abandoned my cynicism and am now willing to predict that we'll go 1-3 down the stretch. 2-2 if we're very lucky. (We could also go 0-4 very, very easily.)

I'm not going to join the internet lynch mob just yet, but I will say that I think Iowa fans have been spoiled by success. A trip to the Orange Bowl and what was it, 3 straight Bowl wins? 4? What goes up, my friends, eventually must come down and we're coming off a nice cycle these past couple of years and now we're down and they've got to figure out how to get off the mat again. We knew this year would be dicey. Our defense was gutted- but Vandenburg's got a good arm, we've got a deep corps of recievers and a damn good running back with Coker. Offensively, we've got a good foundation. Defensively, we need help. A blurb in the P-C caught my eye: Coach Ferentz is looking at bringing on some JUCO players to shore up the D. Good, solid move on his part- but we're also reaching the point where there needs to be a shake-up. It's the biggest test of Coach Ferentz's tenure so far: when the formula that brought you so much success stops working quite so well, how do you adjust to that? Can you?

The answer to that question, I expect will define Iowa's football program for the next 2-3 seasons.

While I was ready to begin a countdown to basketball season, I've come down off the ledge. As disappointing as this was, I find some solace in the fact that we FINALLY beat Northwestern- that's still very satisfying. A win against Minnesota would have been the icing on the cake, but you can't have everything... and you know what? Kinnick is still Kinnick- I still bleed black and gold and so do a lot of other people out there. So, Go Hawks! Beat Michigan! Let's git up off the mat and get ready to chomp on some Wolverines!

UPDATED: Iowa City West is through with a convincing win over North Scott 38-7. Regina stomped West Liberty 55-13 (and faces also unbeaten Mediapolis in the next round. Should be interesting.) Last I saw, City High was down 14-0 to Cedar Falls at the half. Dig deep, Little Hawks! Let's GO! Sounds like Linn Mar and CR Washington had the marquee thriller of the night, with Wash sneaking by Linn Mar 28-26.

UPDATED AGAIN: City High lost to Cedar Falls, 21-7

My Comment

The Great Guru Instapundit posted a link this morning to an article calling for an end to the Income Based Repayment Option for repaying student loans... this is what it said.

And this is what I said in response... I don't normally comment on things. Comments seem to be reserved for, well, crazy people. And I just don't want to deal- I mean why feed the beast? But I couldn't let this go- so behold:

As a recent college grad, trying my best to pay my student loans (and working hard to do so):

Points 1,2 and 4 I agree with 100%.

Point 3: I use IBR and believe me, I only WISH it made me think I didn't have pay all this back.

Point 5: If the idea is more useless federal desk jockeys in Washington D.C., I agree it is social engineering and therefore bad. I was lucky enough to land a job as a 911 Dispatcher which is technically a public service job- but one that I think we can agree, people need. (Along with nurses, firefighters, etc.) You should draw a distinction between bloated wasteful public service jobs (of which there are many) and public service jobs that provide tangible benefits to the community. I chose the latter- though I'll acknowledge there are probably plenty of people that want the former.

Point 6: How? Every college grad with student loans is going to do what they can to make payments easier on themselves. State U or Ivy U- the bigger injustice is the generational theft being visited upon my generation and explains about the push for easy student loan payoffs: the sooner we pay down our debts, the more money we have to pay for the Boomers retirement.

Moral of the Story: the sooner my generation pays off college, the more cash we have to pay into Social Security for the Baby Boomers... plus, since we're not getting Social Security when we retire, a little helping of some table scraps from the government is the least they can probably do. After all, if I have to pay for their retirement, they can help me make easier payments for college.

Oh snap...

Student Loans Suck

They really do- there's something fundamentally unfair about the fact that you can't discharge them through bankruptcy. There's private lendors out there who are maybe one or two steps away from being outright loan sharks. And, of course, there's the massive amount of them that people graduate with- on average around $23,000- the total student loan liability for the country is set to top $1 trillion, if it hasn't already.

That said, nobody makes you go to college. And nobody makes you take out student loans either... I think a large part of the anger that's swirling around out there centers around the fact that the generation that's currently getting the fuzzy end of this economic lollipop was spoon fed the bullshit ideas of chasing your dreams and 'everybody should go to college' and 'if you go to college, you can get a good job' and so a lot of people spurned perfectly decent state schools to go out of state to a massive expensive private college or other state school because they wanted to 'see something different.' Costs didn't matter because, after all, they were going to college and they were going to get a good job... loans would be a cinch.

Yeah, not so much anymore... while I think outright student loan forgiveness is probably about as likely as getting my own pet unicorn at this point- and I'd happily take both, I do feel that it's my obligation to work hard and pay these damn things off. No one put a gun to my head. No one made me take out loans. Yes, you can argue that maybe I and other young people weren't really made aware of the full consequences and scope of student loans, but all the knowlege is out there. We could have figured it out. We just chose not to.

It could be easier though- the President has offered a new plan for some relief. Capping yearly payments at 10% of your yearly income and lowering total repayment time to 20 years as well as making it easier to consolidate- and lowering interest rates. (You'd actually pay more over the long term if you throw in interest under this plan. Real relief would be stopping all interest period.) That's nice enough, I suppose- but all this chatter ignores the real problem:

How do we make college cheaper? Y'all know the score on this one- so sing it with me:
1. Cut administrative positions by 50%- use the savings to lower tuition.

2. Increase faculty teaching loads. They're not getting paid to figure out the preferred sexual position of the South American Fruit Fly.

3. Keep classes running year round- BYU-Idaho, I believe (See DIY U by Anya Kamanetz) admits students on a fall-spring, spring-summer, summer-fall basis year round.

4. Make Undergraduate Degrees 3 years instead of 4. (Universities are starting to twig to this already. I think Ball State has some 3 year BA programs, as does, I want to say Creighton.)

For the consumer, it's real simple: do the homework, apply for scholarships (I didn't, silly me), work your ass off and get done as soon as you possibly can. If you can knock off your bullshit gen eds at a community college on the cheap, totally do that (I didn't, silly me.)

There's hope out there for graduates and people just getting into college now... but let's not get bogged down in a debate over student loans without going to the source- the out of control costs of higher education itself.

Miss Cleo Says (9-9-9 Edition)

Newt Gingrich is predicting that the race for the Republican nomination will, at some point come down to a fight between himself and Mitt Romney...

A month ago, I would have laughed at that. But now... now, I'm not quite so sure. With Christie and Palin taking a pass, the Tea Party, anti-Establishment types needed a place to go, so they turned to Herman Cain, who has gone sky-high in a big way. Whether it's his credentials as a genuine outsider in the race and the elegant simplicity of his 9-9-9 tax plan or his Freudian slip away from Republican orthodoxy on abortion, Cain is looking better and better to a lot of people.

But can he close the deal? He's an interesting guy, no question- but his lack of foreign policy experience is going to be an issue at some point- not to mention his lack of experience at political office. I'm not going to say either point is a dealbreaker for people, but he's gotta work to close the deal and he's got the skills to do just that, I think.

Stress the 'think' part. The fact of the matter is that right now, the majority of Republican voters don't want Romney. But they haven't found their anti-Romney- yet. Electability is going to be more and more of an issue as this goes on. Romney, from his coiffed hair down to his polished loafers looks electable as all giddy-up. But dig a little deeper and you find all kinds of dubious policy positions that Republicans aren't too wild about and things that will be portrayed as flip-flops by Obama and Company. In other words, he's a Kerry Redux waiting to happen.

Perry might have been the anti-Romney, but he's blowing all of his chances, he's a horrible debater and now he's bringing the damn birth certificate back into the mix. That may get some Republicans moist, but I think the average voter has moved the eff on by now. Perry is doneso. He's got the cash to hang around and be annoying, but he's done... he had a shot and blew it.

Huntsman, Bachmann, Santorum and though it pains me to say it Gary Johnson are also out of the running...

All of which means that if it's not Romney, then it's up to Cain to close the deal... and if Cain can't close the deal, to my mind Gingrich and Ron Paul are lurking. Gingrich has a lot of baggage- but he knows how to articulate big ideas- and you can't say he's not intelligent. Paul... Paul would be an interesting choice. There would certainly be a clear choice between Paul and Obama- it's whether anyone would go for it that's the real question.

This could be (and probably is) pure bullshit on my part: it could still be Romney. But if Cain can't close the deal- Gingrich and Paul are lurking.

Football Armageddon: Death To The BCS Edition!

West Virginia is going to the Big 12-- which I think, geographical oddities aside, will be a good move for them. There are also rumors that Notre Dame (apparently scared of both rejection and hardcore power football in the Big 10) might be discreetly preparing itself a landing spot in the ACC- just in case...

But the sexy paragraph that made me perk up a little was buried deep:

A source has told ESPN.com's Andy Katz that the conference commissioners of the Big East, Mountain West and Conference USA are expected to meet in New York. According to multiple reports, the three leagues are considering forming a single football league of 28 to 32 teams.

The Mountain West has been talking a super-league with C-USA for awhile now with a potential 16 team playoff for the championship...you throw in what's left of the Big East and suddenly that gets interesting. The Big East loses its AQ status and the BCS might turn to the Mountain West to replace them, but the Mountain West might genuinely say, 'no thank you' and stick with the playoff. Soaking up the revenue and creating an alternative national championship that viewers want.

The BCS, I think, can't survive that. Which is good, because it'll force changes to the Bowl System. First: less Bowl games. The proliferation has gotten completely out of hand.

Second: raise the requirements to 7 wins- I say this with trepidation, as the Hawkeyes have yet to notch win number 6, much less 7- but to me, Bowls are supposed to be showcases for some of the best teams in college football. How good is a team with only 6 wins- really and truly? There's a way to bring order to the chaos, raise the game to new levels of excellence and preserve the history and tradition of the game while embracing a playoff to decide just who gets all the marbles at the end of the season.

But once again, things are getting interesting...

UPDATED: But hold the phone... mayhap West Virginia is not going anywhere? It seems that crafty Commish Chuck Neinas is dangling the possibility that Notre Dame might move its non-football sports to the Big 12 in front of Mizzou to keep them onboard.

This is why I'm lovin' on this lunacy. The amount of conspiracy theories and rumors flying around out there get better and better as time goes on...

Oh, and the MWC-USA-EAST SuperLeague got a bit of clarification yesterday: apparently they WOULD keep their AQ Status in the BCS... they'd just have a playoff to decide who gets the top spot. Which is fine- but I still think once you let the playoff genie out of the bottle, it won't go back in.

The Label Thing

...yeah, I couldn't even stick with it for a month. They might show up here and there, they might not- it might depend on my general mood, but either way, consider the Great Label Experiment officially closed.

Ah, An Agenda...

It's breaking on CNN right now that police have surrounded Occupy Oakland and are probably preparing to evict people from it. Depending on where you wander when you're on cyberspace, I've seen reports claiming that Occupy Oakland has a rat problem, is massively unhygenic, has security problems and I've also seen plenty of reports denouncing those reports as right wing bunk. Truth, as always remains elusive in these matters and I tend to swing back between 'if they don't have a permit, arrest 'em' and 'talking is better than tear gas'- who knows what the right answer is?

While Oakland prepares for (possible) eviction, Occupy Iowa City has produced a statement of principles (full declaration here, courtesy of the Daily Iowan.) While I'm glad that they've talked and decided to produce an agenda of some kind, I think it misses some opportunities that could really build long term momentum for their movement.

First of all: all politics is local. If you want people to give a shit, you've got to speak to issues that affect them. This document does not do that except in the usual abstract ways. All the debate around the 21 only ordinance got annoying after awhile because people assumed that city and state officials could just wave a magic wand and change the drinking age. Inordinate amounts of people were bitching to the wrong people about the issue- all the ordinance wanted to do was enforce the existing law. If people want to change the drinking age (something I would support) they gotta talk to different people. (State officials probably could change the law, but the Feds back in the day threatened to pull highwway funding to states that didn't toe the line- and that blackmail worked. But government is the solution, not the problem, right kids?)

Second of all: the Tea Party gets this, so far Occupy does not- occupation needs to be followed up by organization. You're the 99%- awesome. That means there's more of you than them. Take over the Democratic Party and push the issues that matter. (Of course, that'll involve grunt work, hard work, victories, defeats, showing up to meetings, passing out flyers- all the unsexy, sweaty work of 'revolution' that's a lot less glamorous than a drum circle.) Granted, the Tea Party's takeover of the Republican Party has made for some uncomfortable gridlock and probably contributed to our credit downgrade, but give them credit: they were pissed because the government is pissing away money and once they got people in Congress they affected the debate. (You may not agree with how they affected the debate, but we can all agree that they did so...)

Third of all, the Declaration itself: points 1 and 2 are OK by me. No problems there...

Point 3: is interesting, because if you read the UN Declaration of Human Rights there's an interesting split between 'eastern' and 'western' conceptions of human rights, with the west focusing more on political rights and the east on economic rights. In principle, I can agree with this.

Point 4: if unions fall under the umberella of 'community' then I'm down with point 4 as well.

Point 5: Tell me more... what does 'the ecological implications of their actions' mean. Do we all have to drive Priuses?

Point 6: health care, food and clean water... all good things I can get behind. We might disagree on how to get their for health care, but I'm hip to the idea.

Point 7: Argh... pacifism? Really? I'm not a warmonger by any stretch of the imagination, but no wars at all? What if another Hitler type shows up? What then? (Just War Theory- read and discuss)

Point 8: Ummmmm... while I'm all for international cooperation and against colonization and imperialism, this is a bit vague.

Point 9: Nope. I say no to socialism, communism, capitalism and corporatism.

Point 10: Oooooh... I like this. 'Affordable' public eduction- not 'free' but 'affordable.' Kudos... two thumbs up and I can get behind this as well.

On balance... I'm solidly down with 6 of these points, solidly against 2 of them and could use a little more info on two more. Not too bad, Occupy Iowa City. (Whether you'll get to keep building willy-nilly all over College Green Park remains to be seen...)

The Trouble With Food

In a word, this. That's the problem with living in America, I think- people come up with something that's fundamentally unhealthy and yet looks so damn intriguing and delicious you find yourself thinking... 'I wonder what that tastes like.' Of course, in the case of the Ramen Sandwich, the opposite is true- who does that?

Please...

Stop talking.

This goes double for you.

Required Reading #3

Who Are You And What Are You Doing Here? Some thoughts on Higher Education from Mark Edmundson courtesy of the Oxford American.

Rhode Island: Athens of America? I may not agree with Professor Mead on everything, but you can't tell me he's not a fantastic, intelligent, thoughtful commentator- and out there in the Interwebs, there's precious few of those.

Golden Seconds Michael Yon's open letter to President Obama and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta about the failure of Medevacs in Afghanistan-- powerful stuff and it's worth noting that if you really want to know what's going on over there, Yon's been embedded and reporting right from the source for years.

'You've Got To Find What You Love' Text of Steve Jobs 2005 Commencement Speech at Standford University- if you're looking for inspiration, he does a pretty good job of delivering it.

You Say You Want A Revolution Interesting words from Andrew Sullivan in Newsweek- I still don't quite agree with it though. I do think, underneath all the extremist bullshit in both the Tea Party and the Occupy Movement, you'll find a core of sensible, hardcore independents that are just pissed off and want it to stop- those are my people.

Tell Me More, OWS...

See, now why can't Democrats push something like this? I don't understand- I'd never heard of this until today and the more I read about it, the more I think it's a damn good idea. Tax financial transactions on Wall Street.

I've still got any number of issues with the OWS Crowd:

First, camping out in a park is still not a radical act of revolution. Sorry. Especially when your supposed ideological purity gets undermined by the site of some very nice tents (at least in Iowa City- are those Columbia Tents? I think they might be...) and cell phones, iPhones, iPads and other hallmarks of liberal-hipster middle class privilege.

Second, I'm not wild about this. F**k the Boomers and their stupid a** hippy nostalgia! You want socialism? Move to Europe- I'm sure the Greeks can tell you all about how swell it is. The biggest problem we have to wrestle with- and it's not just us, it's everbody is that capitalism as we know it today plainly doesn't work- it's morphed into a weird nexus of government and business making our country more corporatist than democratic- but unfortunately, the wreckage of the Cold War more than proves that state led economic central planning and hard Socialism/Communism doesn't work- and given Europe's parlous financial state right now, I'd argue that soft socialism ain't that great either. So what does work? I don't know- but we need to break out of the 2-Party-Coporatist-Box and start developing new ideologies (and new parties) for the 21st Century.

Third, I'm not part of the mass of progressive sheeple. It makes me crazy when situations like this come up and people (usually liberals) say things like 'well, at least they're doing something' or 'you lack the awareness to understand this properly.' If what you're doing isn't accomplishing anything, then it's not helping anything much. This is the problem with 'power to the people' leaderless movements- everybody wants 20 things from 20 different people and no one has one overarching goal. I keep hearing about the supposed success of OWS, but is it? How do we know? What are the benchmarks we can measure it by? Should there be any? If 10% of the people get what they want is that enough? What about the crazy guy that wants a unicorn in every garage in America- doesn't he matter? I can understand why people don't want agendas- but it weighs down the efficacy of what you're trying to do.

Which is what makes this Robin Hood Tax idea so interesting to me- while some Republicans will argue that any tax is a bad tax, you can't say you're taxing small business when you're going after financial transactions of Wall Street Titans like Goldman Sachs. Any revenue stream is a good revenue stream after all.

Fourth (and finally), I will be the first to send canned goods/money/my time, whatever to a truly anti-Establishment movement- which OWS is definately not. You can't say that President Obama is the solution to the problem when is part of the problem. And don't give me any shit about 'the lesser of two evils.' No- all of 'em are evil, all of 'em are bad and I want 'em all tossed out.

But: I am intrigued... tell me more, OWS. Tell me more.

The Scorecard #3

High School: City High went to Linn Mar and lost! Regina put up a ridiculous 70 points against Louisa-Muscatine and West High, I believe was beaten by CR Washington. The big news out of high school ball though was that moving to District football for 4A schools seems to be advancing- what that will ultimately mean for City High isn't yet clear. In the Mississippi Valley Conference only Dubuque Wahlert and CR Xavier would fall back into 3A and as, geographically speaking, City High is close to Cedar Rapids, I imagine we'd be playing a lot of the same schools. (I mentioned this to The Quiet Man awhile back, being uncertain as to how District play actually works, but I think it'd be pretty wild if IC Regina took on IC West and IC City. I'm honestly not sure either public high school would prevail- but it would be good football.)

College: WE BEAT NORTHWESTERN! FINALLY! If we can follow this up with better play against Indiana and Minnesota (let's get the Pig back home where he belongs, Hawks) I will be extremely content- because we'll also be bowl eligible with two tough tests against Michigan and Michigan State at home. Denard Robinson could cause us problems (as could Marquis Grey at Minnesota) and Sparty's defense is stout, but I like our chances at beating one of the Michigans- I would be really surprised if we dropped two in a row at home. But we can worry about that later, in the meantime, WE BEAT NORTHWESTERN! FINALLY!

Bonus College: Wisconsin continued being ridiculous and the Sports Commentariat still isn't giving them the respect they deserve. Yes, the SEC is a good conference, but let's not fool ourselves: outside Alabama and LSU the supposed level of excellence drops off quickly. It annoys me intensely.

Illinois might be turning into a pumpkin after their loss to Ohio State. I mean, if there was a year to light up Ohio State, it was this one and the Illini weren't up to the task. Oh and Oklahoma State beat Texas... hell yes!

Pro: The Vikings lost. Blech.

Bonus Rugby: The Final is set- New Zealand versus France! I've been liking the All Blacks the more I see of them and I like them in the final... we'll see!

Bookshot #32: The Balkans

This is one of those subjects that has long fascinated me but I've never actually had the time to sit down and find out much about it. Happily, Misha Glenny paints as close to an all-encompassing picture as one could hope for in his voluminous history of The Balkans, which covers the period from 1804 to 1999.

This troubled region has long been seen as backwards and troublesome in traditional Western narratives, ranging from Bismark's prediction that the war would begin over 'some damned foolish thing in the Balkans' to the general perception that the region is always a half-step outside of modernity- a perception that Glenny turns on its head with his well-defended thesis that Western Europe bears much of the blame when it comes to the history of warfare that has rocked the region over the course of the past century.

Glenny's narrative opens in the early 19th Century, which saw the acceleration of the long decline of the Ottoman Empire and the emergence, slowly but surely of national movements all across the region- Serbia being amongst the first to break away, followed quickly by Greece and then Bulgaria- and then the rest. As the Ottoman Empire grew weaker, the European powers grew progressively more predatory. feeding off the Ottoman economy and saddling the sclerotic empire with more and more debts it could not afford. It took about a century to do it, but eventually, the Ottomans were essentially chased out of Europe, confined to the small chunk of land west of Istanbul that Turkey holds today.

In it's wake, the Ottoman Empire left a new region for the great powers to squabble over. Austria-Hungry pushed deep into what is now Bosnia, Croatia and Slovenia- Russia tied itself to Serbia and soon the other Great Powers were jockeying for influence as well, creating a system of alliances so complex and so rigid that when Gavarilo Princip shot Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914, the explosion that followed afterward seemed almost inevitable.

Through the tumultuos period of the First and Second Balkan War, which laid the groundwork for the bloody nationalisms which racked the region after the end of the Cold War through the equally chaotic interwar period of the various dictatorships that emerged and into the horrors and bloodshed of the Second World War and the long hard Cold War, the Balkans have been victims of the power politics of the era time and time again and the series of wars and ethnic strife that has resulted has been the collateral damage of great power meddling that encouraged nationalism and pitted one country against the other to further their own ends. That's Glenny's thesis from page 1 and the next six hundred pages or so present more than enough evidence to back that up and then some.

Thesis aside, the sheer amount of knowledge that Glenny backs into his book is impressive, to say the least. I know a lot more about pretty much every country in the region now. I did think Macedonia and Slovenia got short shrift- especially in his description of the events leading up to the disintegration of Yugoslavia. And Glenny completely glosses over the events of 1989 in Bulgaria, Albania and Romania at the expense of the rapidly disintegrating Yugoslavia. But then again, Glenny is faced with the extremely hard task of bringing the distinct cultures and histories of these countries together into one overarching volume- so it's probably inevitable some things got missed, but Glenny does an extraordinary job pulling it off. It's no surprise that he's written another book, The Fall of Yugoslavia. That has now 'fallen' onto my Amazon.com Wish List.

Overall: It's kind of a long, hard slog, but it's oh so worth it- you want to get your knowledge on about the Balkans? Want to understand why we were bombing Kosovo way back when? This is the book for you!

Build It Already

I wish Minnesota would get its act together. Yes, I know that there's a budget mess up in the Medium White North and yes, I know people object in this age of Tea Partiers and Occupiers to using public money for such things, but make no mistake, Governor Dayton is right on target with this issue: if you don't give the Vikings a new stadium, they're going to L.A.

And then, after a couple of years of feeling the economic hit the loss of a sports franchise has on your local economy, you'll beg the NFL to give you a team back. And they probably will- only it'll cost more.

So, to me- you spend the cash and be done with it. Because if you don't spend it now, you'll pay through the nose to get an NFL franchise back later...

Arrest 'Em

No really, arrest 'em. And maybe the Vatican can start defrocking some of these evil, evil people for once instead of sitting idly by while its Church burns. You want to know why I don't go to Church regularly anymore? Stories like this.

Football Armageddon (Extended Pause Edition)

The re-alignment merry-go-round seems to be on an extended pause as the Big 12 waits to see what Missouri is going to do and the Big East, in turn waits to see what the Big 12 is going to do. Whatever results- whether it's another raid on the Big East for 2 more teams by the Big 12 (a foolish and strange move, in my opinion) or a massive expansion of the Big East and a more geographically oriented one by the Big 12, everything seems to be in a holding pattern.

Personally, I'm a big fan of geographic footprints. It makes more sense to me-- TCU going to the Big East, however briefly, was just plain odd to me- and I'm not sure I'm liking this notion of a Big East that could stretch from Boise, Idaho all the way to Storrs, Connecticutt- and apparently both Boise State and the Big East need some convincing that they could work together. So what then should the Big East do? They're looking to get to 12 football schools-- currently they've got:

Louisville
Cincy
West Virginia
Rutgers
UCONN
USF

They've been rumored to have their eyes on the service acadamies and both Navy and Air Force have expressed interest (though I think the latter might be a better fit for the Big 12)- but I think a raid into Conference USA could pay dividends as well:

ECU (also very interested)
UCF (logical choice- rival for USF)
SMU (also wants to get back to the big time)
Houston (natural rival to SMU and gets the Big East back into Texas)
Boise State (WANTS to move BADLY)
Air Force (rounds out a more 'western' division to the Big East)

If the ACC gets greedy again and grabs UCONN and Rutgers in a year or two, then Temple seems to be primed to move up and Villanova might be a little further along and ready for the big time- failing that, there's Navy and even maybe Notre Dame to consider.

If I were the Big East, I'd move now and move fast and secure commitments from Louisville and WVU about staying onside- which could help preclude a raid by the Big 12 and force them to look west to BYU and Utah State.

As always, we'll see what unfolds in the next few weeks. Not that I have a huge affinity with Big East football, really- it's just, you know, interesting...

UPDATED: I posted this a day too early! Turns out the Mountain West and C-USA are taking steps- forming a gargantuan 22 team super-conference with the possibility of a playoff format leading to a championship game. Color me crazy, but that's exciting to me...

The Big East is on the move as well- and it looks like ECU has been left out in the cold, as all-sports invitations have been sent to UCF, Houston, SMU and football only invites for Boise State and Air Force.

This Is Creative

You intrigue me, Cedar Rapids... I applaud thinking outside the box and give this a cautious two thumbs up.

Everybody Wangchuk Tonight

Sorry. I couldn't resist...

Grading Cain

Everybody's talking about Republican Candidate Herman Cain these days- after Christie and Palin took a pass, he suddenly is getting a lot of love from the anti-Establishment types in the Republican Party and if he hasn't hit the big time yet, in terms of money and stature, he's about too. But here's the thing: I haven't actually read up on this guy, so I thought I'd be a responsible citizen, check out his website and see what's what... I know he's had to walk back a couple of early missteps and he's pretty out of step from where I am on social issues, but I figured, what the heck. A little civic edumacation never hurt nobody, right?

National Security: very light on foreign policy specifics. Is in favor of a strong military, defending America and doing right by our veterans. Hmmmmm... tell me more.

Spending: Well, he's a Republican, so he wants to cut back obviously. He says that 'everything should be on the table' but does he mean it? If he's willing to take on the Sacred Budgetary Cows of both the Right and the Left, I'd be impressed. I'll believe it when I see it.

Immigration: Republicans have got to change their tune on this- and how many illegal immigrants are dangerous? I'd like to see numbers on that please. As a legal immigrant, I'd like to see the path to citizenship for EVERYBODY made a little easier, a little quicker and a little cheaper. That and a strong guest worker program that rewards compliance with residency after a certain period could go a long way to disincentivizing illegal immigration. Again, sounds good, short on specifics.

Energy: A little better here. He's against ethanol subsidies, which is ballsy for any candidate, but it's essentially 'drill baby drill' in another form. A more focused answer would call for dropping all subsidies and tax breaks to all energy companies and letting the market take care of the rest. I guess my question would be: do the Brazilians subsidize gasahol? Because if they don't- then what the hell are we waiting for?

Economy: Meeeeeh. And then we get to this- while it's true, the Federal Government shouldn't be subsidizing industry, gutting regulations means nothing unless you cut all ties between business and government- end corporate welfare, tax breaks, subsidies, the whole damn lot. No more crony capitalism! That ain't never gonna happen- and the one person who's said anything about crony capitalism, well, she ain't running. Pity.

Health Care: vague, vague, vague... while I tend to agree, the Feds shouldn't be doing this, I'd be open to the states doing it a lot more. How is RomneyCare working is Massachusetts?

Entitlements: Very, very disappointing here. Raise the retirement age! Means test entitlements! Partial privitization would be my preferance over total privitization- it hasn't gone all that well when other countries have tried it.

Regulation: predictably, he's against it- but again, until someone tackles the corrupt ties between business and government- ties that, (don't get smug, Democrats) benefit both parties, then you can gut all the regulations you want. Still won't help.

Education: Charter schools yes, vouchers no. While something has to be done to loosen up education and encourage innovation- I'd agree, fixing the schools we've got should also be on the list and it's not.

Faith and Family: In God We Trust. OK. Tell me something I don't know... :-)

9-9-9: is apparently just the first step. A 9% business, 9% income and 9% national sales tax would eventually transition to just a national sales tax. I need to read more about The FairTax, but I've always thought it sounded good- at least in concept.

Overall: Hmmmmmm... he seems to be consistently on the verge of impressing me, but not quite getting there. A lot of what he says sort of makes sense, but he needs to expound on it a little more. While he might be leading in some polls, I don't think he's quite made the leap to the big time yet. He needs to start talking specifics if he wants to really impress me and so far, he hasn't. An interesting candidate though, I'll give him that- and as someone who really and truly has never been a politician, he intrigues me. I'd like to hear more...

Innovation U

I think Higher Education is going to be fun- at least for the next ten years or so. Budgets are strained, tuition is far outpacing inflation, more and more people can't afford to go to college and have trouble paying for it if they do- at some point, something's gotta give. At a certain point, higher ed is going to have to take a serious look at how it does things and make changes- otherwise, state budgetary concerns are going to do it for them.

Take Florida for instance- newly minted Republican Governor Rick Scott is on the warpath, gunning for Liberal Arts programs- which has the folks over at Mother Jones a bit peeved. But he's got a point, I'm forced to admit. How does a degree in Women's Studies get anyone a job in this economy? Or a degree in Religious Studies? Or Political Science for that matter? Seems like for a vast majority of Liberal Arts majors, teaching seem to be the only way to go- or taking a random left turn into something completely unrelated to your degree. Like Dispatching.

So what's a Liberal Arts program to do? Well, for a start, I'd say a metaphorical destruction of how they do business is in order. State budgets are going to be more and more strained in the coming years- and things like basketweaving, poetry and art are going to be called into question more and more- especially for Public Universities. Is that right? In a perfect world, no it's not. Politicians- and let's face it, although they make policy, they're crap at it- should not get to decide what gets funded and what doesn't. Personally, I think demand should drive that, plain and simple. If people want to study it and want to pay for it, there it should be.

But hand in hand with that, you've got to make a committment to innovating new, more cost-effective ways to get your 'product' to people. Online education needs to be embraced by higher ed as a whole, so they can really knuckle under and figure out how to make it work! Exhibit B, from the Golden State, surprise surprise, shows exactly what not to do in the changing times we live in.

I'm becoming less and less sympathetic to the idea that people are entitled to jobs if they haven't earned them- doubly so for pensions. While I can appreciate people wanting to hold on to their jobs, you can't escape the writing on the wall at the end of the day. A lot of public sector jobs are going to go the way of the dodo in the coming years. As a public sector employee myself, I'm keenly aware of this and my brain is constantly churning up notions and ideas about what I could possibly do next with my life- so far nothing has stuck, but I want to be on the hunt for those answers now, as a posed to 10 years down the road, when people start peeking in my little window and wondering if I'm really necessary to make the proverbial trains run on time. My answer would be 'of course I am' but then that too is part of the problem: my answer is everybody's answer.

Pensions are where I've got the real axe to grind. While the Boomer Commentariat of the Left and the Right likes to denigrate my generation as a bunch of lazy freeloaders (some of us undoubtedly are, but then, what can I say: we learned by example!) the Boomers are robbing us blind and leaving us with nothing- and why? Because they think they've got a by-God right to retire at the age of 65 with a full pension. And some people undoubtedly do and should get to retire at 65 with a full pension. They've earned it. But Our Glorious Leader in Des Moines is working fulltime yet still drawing a pension from his previous time in Office. That shit ain't right. A story from Illinois caught my eye: 2 Union Leaders have somehow managed to arrange to get 438K and 500K in pensions respectively. One worked in the Water Management Department for 44K a year the other worked for the City for 15K a year and was getting this pension despite not working at his job for 25 years now. That's beyond just plain wrong- it's psychotic.

And it's why a lot of very comfortable people are going to be hurting unless someone puts the house in order. Until higher ed and the public sector learn to do less with more, we're going to stay in trouble. Which means that innovation should be the watchword of any educational institution. We need Innovation U- and we need it now.

#OccupyTheDean'sOffice

The #Occupation continues in Iowa City and elsewhere- (down in Des Moines, they're not fooling around. State Troopers apparently don't have the patience for this kind of thing) but Republicans are starting to tee up on the protestors, which to me, is a mistake- especially for Herman Cain. Calling these protestors 'jealous' Americans who want to 'play the victim card'? Uncool. It might be nice red meat for some of the more disapproving sectors of the Republican base, but Herman Cain- Mr. Cain, you're on the verge of having a serious breakthrough. Don't compromise your chances by engaging in partisan mudslinging- especially don't demonize people who have serious grievances that need to be addressed by someone. Plus points for partisan primary Parcheesi, minus a helluva lot more for lack of leadership. Not very Presidential, Mr. Cain.

What these protestors want is a still evolving discussion, I think- but an emerging trend seems to be the Millenial Generation's realization that they've been sold a bill of goods. A college degree was, for my generation, a good investment in your future. You went to high school, went to college, got a house, got a job- the 'good life' would follow. It was our happy-go-lucky version of the American dream. In these economic times, a lot of grads are realizing they're graduating with degrees that are useless with a ton of debt and dismal job prospects. All of this is compounded by the fact that student loan debt cannot be discharged through bankruptcy. While there are payment options and consolidation options aplenty, student loan debt is rapidly becoming a trap with no escape for a lot of people.

Plus, if student loan debt and college costs are the issue for a lot of people, then Occupying Wall Street isn't the answer. Occupying the Dean's Office is. Exploding college costs can be laid solely at the feet of colleges and Universities themselves! And it's worth noting that the one protest I can remember having a palpable effect on University policy when I was in college was when Students Against Sweatshops staged a good old fashioned sit-in at the President's Office here on campus. (Look what apparel they sell now!) Really and truly, it's time for college students to start biting the hands that feed them. Old fashioned campus takeovers are called for- and more to the point, if you really want to get people's attention, don't just camp out in a park. (Which is why this endorsement is somewhat troubling to me- the AAUP is part of the problem, especially when it comes to college costs.) Start staging sit-ins! Actually occupy something important! If 5,000 Tea Partiers and 5,000 Occupiers walked into Congress and sat down and refused to leave? That would get somebody's attention...

Play The Cards Your Dealt

I'm getting a little tired of Conservative fear mongering about the Arab Spring. Yes, it's messy, it's disturbing, it's violent and it's deadly. All of which I would prefer not to happen. In a perfect world, this would have been done peacefully and through democratic means, but as we all know, the Middle East is far from a perfect world.

I hate to risk the wrath of being labelled part of the 'Blame America' coalition, but a lot of this mess can be laid at the feet of Cold War foreign policy. As I've noted before in the past, we're paying the price for a morally questionable foreign policy that lasted decades. While the Soviet Union stood for communism and tyranny everywhere, we stood for democracy and freedom in the United States and Western Europe and backed some very dubious characters everywhere else.

Whether that was the price we paid for making the world safe for communism is a whole other debate, but the fact is that we got locked into support for a lot of these regimes and have been far from willing to seriously pressure them to reform themselves- especially Egypt. While the Obama Administration's response to a lot of these uprisings seemed to be hesitant a lot of the time, this is the hand we dealt ourselves by not pressuring Mubarak for real, serious reform.

You play the cards you're dealt, no matter how you slice it. And while I think the entire region will probably be messy for some time to come, there are reasons to hope in Tunisia and Libya and the military is enough of an entrenched institution in Egypt, it's hoped that pro-democracy people get this under control quickly, because if free elections turn into violence I have no doubt that the military will just not leave power.

Whether we want to wish this on ourselves (with an 'American Fall' as Van Jones is preaching) is another question entirely-- more on that next.

The Politics of My Prostate

Kids, in recent weeks I've been trying to get my health care on and learn a little more about just how crazy things really are here in the good old US of A. I'll admit, I've got some deep seated philosophical reservations about the idea of the government messing in health care, but I don't have much insight into the health care side of the equation- which is why some of the discussions the Missus and I have been having (she's in nursing school now and taking a class called Nursing and Society where they're learning about this stuff) have been so insightful.

Now the Great Guru Instapundit and the New York Times have thrown this article into the mix and it's got some interesting thoughts churning around in my head. Basically, the US Preventative Services Task Force is reccomending against regular testing for prostate cancer, citing medical evidence that the test isn't all that effective and can lead to potentially unecessary surgeries that do more harm than good overall. There's evidence out there that suggests otherwise as well, all of which presages a possible controvery over the reccomendation. When faced with a similar reccomendation against regular mammograms for women in their 40s from the same panel, the government was faced with a similar controversy and after outcry from women's groups and other pressure groups backed off following what the same panel deemed to be a medically necessary decision.

All of which raises an interesting question about government run healthcare- especially in the United States today. How do you ensure that a government run system is making medically sound choices and policy? Is it possible to insulate government policy makers from lobbying and special interests enough for them to do this? And if not, then how do we all feel about turning every aspect of our health care into an entirely new lobbying industry to feed the Washington D.C. insanity? Because looking at this article, it seems to say that potentially every aspect and everything the government could choose to cover or not to cover would be subjected to pressure from industry and other lobbying groups. How does that not end badly for any number of people? (Not least of which are the taxpayers who would undoubtedly pay it all.)

Like education, there are no easy answers for health care...

The Scorecard #2

College: All good things must come to an end and so it was that Iowa lost to Penn State 13-3 yesterday at Happy Valley. At a certain point, it was probably inevitable, though it's been surprising that it hasn't happened a lot sooner than it did- but despite an anemic, confused offense, Penn State's defense was as good as advertised and kept Vandenburg, Coker and the rest of Iowa's offense from getting into anything resembling a rhythm.

But here's the kicker: Iowa's defense, despite giving up 400 yards in offense to Penn State, actually looked good for the first time this season. We held Penn State to 2 field goals and a touchdown and given the fact that the offense couldn't move the ball at all, our defense was on the field a lot. I'd cautiously consider this a good step forward for our defense. Offensively, however, we ran into problems. They started with no-huddle, dropped out of no-huddle- brought it back sporadically here and there throughout the game and go nothing to show for it. The lack of success running the ball was also notable.

So deep breath everybody, all is not lost. Offensively, we've still got work to do. We can rock no-huddle if Vandenburg gets into a good groove, but I'm starting to think we need to throw different run plays at people to see if we can loosen up the run game a little more as well. Defensively, although we lost, we kept Penn State out of the end zone twice and held them to the fewest points this season. I'd consider that a big step forward. We got pressure on their QBs better, kept them contained better and tackled better. Plus traditionally, Iowa always struggles coming off a bye week.

Bonus College: Iowa State has turned into a pumpkin, losing to Texas and now to Baylor. Brutal games remain ahead for the Cyclones.

Nebraska looked like it was headed for a shocking 0-2 start against a lackluster Ohio State, but came alive and beat the Buckeyes at home for their first Big Ten win. Well done, Huskers.

Florida State lost to Wake Forest, which seems slightly ridiculous to me. Houston remains undefeated as does Boise State and I'm becoming increasingly excited about the season ending Bedlam between Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. The Sooners put up 55 against Texas yesterday but the Cowboys? They put up 70. Granted they were playing Kansas, but still- that is shaping up to an awesome game.

Bonus Rugby: I've kept half an eye on the ongoing Rugby World Cup and now we're down to the final four. Wales is taking on France in one semi final and it's the clash of the titans as the All Black of New Zealand take on the Wallabies of Australia in the other semi. I haven't seen the Welsh or France in action yet, but New Zealand looks like the team to beat to me and my limited rugby knowledge.

Pro: The Vikings managed to win today! 'Nuff said.

It's Baaaaaack...

The whole 'Mormonism is a cult thing' has resurfaced with a vengeance, as a major backer of Perry launched the first broadside against Romney, calling Mormonism a cult, that's not Christian.

Personally, I could care less. The more that Perry and Romney bicker, the more space opens up for Cain and Paul to take advantage and as they're the only two in the race (other than Gary Johnson) whom I would consider to be anywhere close to 'radical' or 'different' that's what I consider a good thing.

Where The Wild Things Aren't...

Maurice Sendak gives new meaning to the concept of a grumpy old man.

Cupcakes

You remember that 'racist' bake sale out at Berkley awhile back? It made national news because the College Republicans out there were offering cupcakes at a discounted price for women and various minority groups. For some reason, people got PISSED. I didn't really understand that- after all, the College Republicans undoubtedly had a finite number of cupcakes and if you're a minority (or a female minority- even better!) then you could probably buy out the whole bake sale and in essence, shut it down.

Problem solved, right? Nope- Berkley being Berkley, they freaked.

The protest was against affirmative action admissions policies-- but students at Fordham decided to hold their own bake sale factoring ALL admissions criteria into how they priced their cupcakes- including family income, legacy status and athletic ability. The results were interesting and Fordham gets a win by staging a more accurate bakesale than Berkley did. Hopefully a lot of interesting discussions can result from this...

Labels

You might have noticed I'm using them now- basically, I've never used them before, so I'm going to give it a try for a month and see how I feel about it.

Joy In The Medium White North

The Minnesota Lynx completed a 3 game sweep of the Atlanta Dream to win the WNBA Title for the first time ever last night- the first pro team of any kind to bring a trophy home to the Medium White North since the Twinkies did it 20 years back.

I can honestly say that I've never seen a WNBA game- and I'd personally prefer a little more parity in the women's college game, but I think this is a genuine reason to smile for peeps up in the Medium White North after what has been a truly dismal year for the teams up there. The Vikings are 0-4. The Twins had a lot of promise, collapsed early and weren't able to put themselves back together again. The Timberwolves... well, enough said.

So Congrats to the Lynx! Hope this gets them a little more respect on the street up there- after all, they've won a title. The Vikings have yet to do that.

Are They High?

Look, I'm not a huge druggie or anything, but can't we just agree that the Drug War is stupid, costs way too much money and feeds into coffers of both government and the private prison industry in some states? Yeaaaaah... first, Congress is at it again- a bill is being proposed that would enforce our effed up drug policy worldwide. As someone in the article explained it:

"Under this bill, if a young couple plans a wedding in Amsterdam, and as part of the wedding, they plan to buy the bridal party some marijuana, they would be subject to prosecution," said Bill Piper, director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance, which advocates for reforming the country's drug laws. "The strange thing is that the purchase of and smoking the marijuana while you're there wouldn't be illegal. But this law would make planning the wedding from the U.S. a federal crime."

Uncool, Congress... totally uncool. If, as a free citizen of the United States of America choose to travel to a country with more sane drug laws and avail myself of some grade A Cheeba, it's none of your damn business.

It's time for States to get all 10th Amendment about this shit. State budgets are just as strained as the Federal Budget and legalizing weed and taxing the crap out of it would not only kickstart a whole new industry, but it would keep it out of the hands of our children and bring in a shitload of revenue for states and the federal government. Probably more than the Homeland Security/Prison Industrial currently puts into the pockets of our corrupt Establishment.

Second, the President has changed things up on the medical pot community in California again- the Federales are launching a crackdown and pot advocates are pissed off- as well they should be. I hope someone in the White House is taking notes, because this is the exact problem the President is having with the economy. Pot dispensary owners felt OK about things because the Feds said they were going to layoff- but now they've done a bait and switch and are going after them. Sudden and random shifts in policy/regulations for no good reason at all act as a deterrant to people want to get into that line of work-- and it also explains why businesses large and small across the nation have a ton of profits yet aren't hiring anyone. They don't want the Feds to run a bait and switch on them.

The President should back off this- fast. He should be consistent with his policies and in fact, start moving money away from weed and towards more harmful drugs like crack, meth and heroin.

So, to review:

War On Drgs = bad.

Why? It's a titanic waste of money, kids smoke pot anyway and we're 14 trillion dollars in debt. We gots to make some dinero.

The bait and switch on the medical pot industry in California underlines a huge problem we've got nationwide- nobody wants to hire because they don't want to get doinked in the butt by regulations that the current administration hasn't thought of yet. People don't want to get screwed over- until this administration can persuade them that they won't get the fuzzy end of the lollipop, nobody is gonna hire.

I don't understand how people don't get it- are they high or something?

Good Crowd For the Campout

Well, I was cautiously impressed by the #OccupyIowaCity crowd. When the Missus and I drove by on our way to a very nice dinner at Atlas around 6 or so, College Green Park looked more like the 1% instead of the 99%. When we drove back home around 7:30 or so, they actually seemed to be taking up some space.

Good for them! (The cynic in me still thinks that once enough drunk students piss on or egg their tents and once the weather stops being so ridiculously nice we'll see this dwindle and then die.)

Perspective

After a nice workout and some deep thought, I'm a little more at peace with the world. Kids, I want you to follow me through this line of thinking.

Until the Elites (whether of the Left, Right, Republican, Democrat, Media, Business, Cultural, Political- all of them) are neutered and put back into their proper place, gridlock and malaise will continue. Therefore, any attack on the elites in my book, is a good thing.

The Internet (and Steve Jobs played a vital role in this) is pushing power outwards and downwards and into the hands of individuals like you and I at an ever expanding rate. Centralization of power impedes progress, therefore any centralization of power, in my book is a bad thing.

The Tea Party (such as it is) has made it's name attacking the sacred cows of the Elite Left. (Bloated public pensions, ineffective public education systems, unsustainable entitlement commitments teacher's unions and their effect on education, neo-Socialists attempts to turn us into Europe.)

OccupyWallStreet seems (after a rough start, they seem to be focusing down a bit) to be going after the sacred cows of the Elite Right- (corporate welfare, crony capitalism, legalized corruption in Congress that waters down effective regulation of corrupt corporations.)

So in other words, Elites of all varieties are being attacked from both sides. I can get behind this and give it a big old two thumbs up.

I still think there's more work to be done. We're in a fundamental moment of transformation and we need a new politics and a new ideology (or ideologies) for the 20th Century. I have little patience for decades old socialist talking points being constantly repackaged and passed off as something 'radical'. I have even less patience for a party that says that government is depraved and must be destroyed yet curiously insists that government stick around to enforce a moral obligation to dictate what a woman can do to her own body, whom a person can marry and whether they can engage in moral, ethical family planning by easy access to whatever means of contraception they choose to employ. Such hypocrisy makes me sick.

The true transformation of this country can only begin when we break down the barriers that the Elites impose on us and those that we impose on ourselves. When we truly realize that America deserves better than what our elites have to offer us, then we will be truly free.

I say all this as a registered, proud, fiercely Independent voter. You better believe I'm going to remain that way.

#OccupyIowaCity

Oh Good Lord.

I suppose it was inevitable, given that you know, it's Iowa City- but why? Why? Why? It's like the silly Peace Camp all over again- and after enough drunk students had pissed on their tents (I actually know someone who copped to that, btw) and enough people had egged their tents, they pulled up stakes quick enough.

It's just amazing to me how many of these protestors seem to be wearing brand name clothes. And probably are going to college because of the jobs that Mommy and Daddy have and you know, in the few videos I've seen, a lot of them seem to be equipped with iPhones, iPods and all the sexy trappings of technology that they purchased with their evil, capitalist dollars. And when commentators on the P-C website go on about the evils of globalisation and how workers are devalued, I gotta ask: where do you work? Wal-Mart? McDonald's? Another shitty minimum wage job? I'm betting not. (Oh and the majority of these protestors look pretty white to me. Privileged and white. Hardly the downtrodden masses here.)

So I guess I am the 1%. I'm not s self-righteously, hypocritical progressive whining about how unfair life is and how we shouldn't have to pay for anything.

Oh and I don't own an iPhone.

UPDATED: Another good question- why aren't they occupying K-Street? Or Congress for that matter...

Palin is...

out! (So is Christie, but I never really thought he was in to begin with.) Next debate is the 11th. We'll see how that shakes things up.

UPDATED: Slate.com would like to thank Palin for being arrogant. Apparently being a shameless self-promoter is a breakthrough of some kind for American women. (I expect it probably is, but even more interesting to me is that she represents a new kind of feminism that hasn't been fully appreciated yet. Traditionally, feminism seems to take the tack that women should go out and gain power and equality in the patriarchal system. Palin shows up and says 'I gots the power and if you think I'm not equal to a man, grab a shotgun and we'll see who can kill a moose first.' She demanded what she already knew she had, in other words. It's subtle, but it's there.)

American Thinker (seems pretty right-wing, so no surprise here) has all kinds of praise for her decision not to run and the reasons she gave not to run. The whole 'no 3rd Party' and 'beat Obama at all costs' attitude pissed me off a little bit. After all, why not a 3rd Party? Last time Republicans were in charge of everything, we had a President that- well, you know- and a Congress that pretty much let him do what he wanted. (Which really makes me angry, even now. What's the point of checks and balances if you don't actually, check and balance. Grrrrr...) To me, ending 'business as usual' is what this is all about. The President is no picnic, to be sure, but if he's going to be replaced with just another Republicrat who talks a lot and does nothing at all that doesn't do anything beneficial for anyone.

Steve Jobs, 1955-2011

Former Apple CEO Steve Jobs has died after a long battle with cancer. I can't say I'm particularly plugged into the technical aspects of what he accomplished, but as a lifelong Mac and Apple user, I have to acknowledge that his genius, his innovation and his aesthetic and design sense helped impact my life. Not in a particularly profound way, but just because my computer is pretty awesome.

He will be missed.

UPDATED: Here's the text of his 2005 Commencement Speech at Stanford. Worth reading, I think.

Occupy Wall Street: A Manifesto

Oh goody... they've got a list of demands! Let's take them one at a time-

Demand one: Restoration of the living wage. This demand can only be met by ending "Freetrade" by re-imposing trade tariffs on all imported goods entering the American market to level the playing field for domestic family farming and domestic manufacturing as most nations that are dumping cheap products onto the American market have radical wage and environmental regulation advantages. Another policy that must be instituted is raise the minimum wage to twenty dollars an hr.

Well, I guess my question is: did we ever have a living wage to begin with? I think it'd be nice to have the minimum wage keep pace with inflation at the very least, so raising that, I'd be OK with. As for the tiresome free trade versus protectionism thing, well, I can honestly say I come down on the side of free trade. Presumably, cows from California (happy ones, the pot smokers!) imported to Iowa or Wisconsin would undercut existing cow market prices here. Does that mean we start intra-state protectionism? I'm confused. And leveling the play field for domestic family farming? What are farm subsidies for? (I'd be in favor of ending subsidies for corporate farmers and corporations in general- if you don't need the cash, you shouldn't getting them.) The bigger issue is though, how many people actually want to farm? When the bespectacled hipsters who started this mess come see what cornfields actually look like, then we can talk. Unless of course, our glorious collective leadership is going to send us all down to the farm, just as Mao or Che did. Wonderful.

Demand two: Institute a universal single payer healthcare system. To do this all private insurers must be banned from the healthcare market as their only effect on the health of patients is to take money away from doctors, nurses and hospitals preventing them from doing their jobs and hand that money to wall st. investors.

Ummmm... then why aren't doctors, nurses and hospitals piss poor? Apparently insurance companies are taking the money and giving it to Wall Street. I've seen a little bit of the NHS in the United Kingdom and it didn't impress me. Free does not equal good- the quality of care would go down in a big way, waiting lists for the simplest outpatient procedures would go up and it would necessitate the creation of a massive government bureaucracy to pay for it all. It wouldn't give us more Doctors, Nurses or a better quality of care. Just a shitload of paper-pushers- that we'd have to pay for somehow. Pass.

No doubt, we need to do something about health care and I support government backed health insurance (or tax credits or vouchers or something) for people that actually need the help. If you don't need the help, you should be paying your own way. (Tort reform and breaking the insurance monopolies would help with this in a big way. Why are we not asking to break the insurance monopolies? Hmmm... I'd like to know.)

Demand three: Guaranteed living wage income regardless of employment.

Fuck that. If I wanted to live in France, I'd move to France. If you want money, you can damn well find a job doing something and earn it. No freeloading.

Demand four: Free college education.

Hahahahahahahahahaha! I don't even know where to start with this one. What are these people smoking!? What we should be asking for here is a reduction in bloated higher education administrative positions nationwide with the savings passed onto students in the form of tuition cuts. We should be demanding an end to all private college student loans nationwide and a greater emphasis on job shadowing, internships and technical education so that instead of making idiotic, naive demands, these people could graduate and get jobs. Oh and P.S. Iowa students, if you start preaching at me about how you are the 99% and show up at the shiny new rec center on campus that has jacked up student fees (you only think it's free, kiddies) then guess what- you're helping making college more expensive. Practice what you preach, y'all.

Demand five: Begin a fast track process to bring the fossil fuel economy to an end while at the same bringing the alternative energy economy up to energy demand.

I can't totally argue against this, but solar, wind- all the alternatives aren't there yet. Fuel cell technology is coming- slowly. How about more investment in that? But I'm sorry kids, oil companies make too much money and all the baby boomers have their retirements invested in oil companies to bring fossil fuels down soon. Not gonna happen.

Demand six: One trillion dollars in infrastructure (Water, Sewer, Rail, Roads and Bridges and Electrical Grid) spending now.

What are we schilling for the Obama Campaign now? Did you lift this from their talking points? Not very anti-establishment, OWS. I'm disappointed- and besides, aren't we doing this with the Obama Administration's shovel ready jobs already?

Demand seven: One trillion dollars in ecological restoration planting forests, reestablishing wetlands and the natural flow of river systems and decommissioning of all of America's nuclear power plants.

Ah, so the Sierra Club is writing your talking points. Awesome. Selling out to special interest groups, OWS? Uncool. I'm down with planting trees and re-establishing wetlands, but hydroelectric dams and nuclear power plants aren't coal power plants, so I think they can stay until we find something better. In the wake of Fukushima, I'm less pro-nuclear than I have been, but do we want nuke plants that might blow up or coal plants that are pumping tons of carbon into our atmosphere every single day? We can't have both- and I'm inclined to think that hydro and nuke power are the perfect stopgaps to help us transition away from fossil fuels. Someone needs to invent fusion power. Do y'all want to get on that?

Demand eight: Racial and gender equal rights amendment.

Didn't we try the ERA already? What about the 14th Amendment? How about demanding enforcement of the rights we already have as Americans? Lord knows the Establishment likes to ignore those whenever and wherever they can.

Demand nine: Open borders migration. anyone can travel anywhere to work and live.

Can't we do this already? Or do you mean internationally? I think a guest worker program is a must- we had the bracero program back in the day. Maybe we should look into that.

Demand ten: Bring American elections up to international standards of a paper ballot precinct counted and recounted in front of an independent and party observers system.

Jesus. That's it? No abolishing the electoral college? No term limits for Congress? No end to gerrymandering and independent redistricting nationwide? No cut in Congressional pay and benefits? Somehow, you've got a national platform and you had the opportunity to call for something truly radical and you failed, OWS. Epic, epic, epic FAIL.

Demand eleven: Immediate across the board debt forgiveness for all. Debt forgiveness of sovereign debt, commercial loans, home mortgages, home equity loans, credit card debt, student loans and personal loans now! All debt must be stricken from the "Books." World Bank Loans to all Nations, Bank to Bank Debt and all Bonds and Margin Call Debt in the stock market including all Derivatives or Credit Default Swaps, all 65 trillion dollars of them must also be stricken from the "Books." And I don't mean debt that is in default, I mean all debt on the entire planet period.

Oh wow. OWS, I'd like to know who your dealer is, because I really need to get my hands on some of the sweet, sweet mary jane you must be smoking. I don't believe in something for nothing- the public service debt forgiveness options asks for 10 years of on-time payments and public service before they give you any forgiveness. And I'm OK with that, but I believe in paying off what I accrue and working for what I earn. You ask for a handout if you want too- but leave me out of it.

Demand twelve: Outlaw all credit reporting agencies.

I'm OK with this. Go right ahead.

Demand thirteen: Allow all workers to sign a ballot at any time during a union organizing campaign or at any time that represents their yeah or nay to having a union represent them in collective bargaining or to form a union.

Schills for Obama, Schills for the Sierra Club and now schills for the Unions? Pass, pass, pass... whether you agree with unions or not, the decision should be taken free of any chance of intimidation on the part of either side in the discussion. Secret ballot elections are a must. And as it seems in Wisconsin, once automatic deduction of union dues was ended, nobody wanted to pay, I'm not sure unions have the support they think they have.

On balance, I find this disappointing. There's nothing remotely resembling an attack on the establishment- and a lot of comments point out that our corrupt government is the problem, Wall Street is just the symptom and I'm inclined to agree with that. This was an opportunity to do something truly radical and they ducked it.

There's some criticism from the right over here, including the following snarky quote that pissed me right off:

The second theme is entitlement. Other people should pay for my health care. Other people should pay for my college education. I shouldn’t have to pay back my credit card balance. In short, gimme. How millennial.

How millennial? Not so much, I'm afraid- I don't want other people paying for shit. I want to be left alone, because the writer's generation has fucked so much of this country up already. I want to carve out a life for myself and the Missus, work damn hard for whatever we can get and stay the hell away from the mess that's being made out there. It was the older generation that insisted on universal home ownership and universal education. It was the older generation that stood by as the value of the high school diploma was reduced to little more than a piece of paper. It was the older generation that stood by while college costs shot through the roof and Wall Street grabbed more and more and the government grew more and more corrupt and the gap between government and the governed grew ever wider.

Millenial? Hell no. My generation isn't entitled- we're just pissed off, because we know we're not going to get shit and we're going to have to make sure the older generation gets theirs as a price. We'd like something-- but we're not going to get it.

Double-Dipping...

...should be 100% totally illegal! If public servants retire, then they get a pension. If they come back part time, quarter time, full time, whatever time- if they start working, then no more pension. Or better still, if they draw a public pension, they can no longer get jobs in the public sector.

(Pssssst... Governor Branstad, this means you!)

The Guru Speaks

Kids, I've decided I need to broaden my blogging horizons a bit-- but the Great Guru Instapundit just links to so much cool, interesting stuff I can't resist passing it along to the 12 of you who actually keep track of my little old blog!

But I'll work on that a bit-- in the meantime, The Guru has spoken on...

changing the Constitution. (An idea that should get more play, given the times we live in. Plus, his proposed amendmants aren't that bad.)

And an interesting initiative by DARPA on interstellar travel. Be nice if I could actually see someone walk on the moon or Mars. Or wherever. Just sayin'

Northside Fire? Not A Problem...

Station 4 is set to go online Monday. It looks like a really nice building- and I know the Fire Department people really like the drive through for the trucks- no backing up and tying up traffic anymore.

Pretty much, once they get that First Avenue Rail Overpass done, then Station 3 won't get tied up by trains anymore and it should all be shiny...

The Problem With Bye-Weeks

People get bored. And then they get into trouble...

Welcome, Nebraska...

At long last, Nebraska made it's Big 10 Debut and promptly ran into the buzzsaw that is the Wisconsin Badgers. They got pounded and hard in a 48-17 loss up at Madison.

Probably not the debut they were hoping for, but I think they'll bounce back- they've got Ohio State at home next week, so I'll be rooting for the Huskers to get back on track against a delightfully depleted Ohio State team. (Sparty made my shitlist for a minute or two yesterday as they were seconds away from handing Ohio State it's first shutout since 1993 (I was 10) and their first shutout at home since 1982 (I wasn't even born) and incredibly, let them score with 10 seconds left in the game. I was really looking forward to seeing some salt rubbed into the Buckeyes wounds. But Sparty still won, so I forgave them. Sort of.)

Wisconsin though, looked beyond insanely good. If they're not in the National Title conversation, they damn well should be. Their O-Line is bigger than the Green Bay Packers for cryin' out loud and Russell Wilson is a picture of experience at QB who can run and throw and pretty much do everything he wants to. (Again, if his Heisman Stock isn't rising, it damn well should be.) Kirk 'I'm A Huge Schill For the Buckeyes' Herbstreit managed to annoy me last night by saying that Wisconsin is going to need some help to play for the Crystal Football while pissing all over their non-conference schedule and the lack of ranked opponents down the stretch.

I'll acknowledge Herbie's point about cupcake non-conference games. Everbody does it- but down the stretch? Wisky is going to have on the road to East Lansing and Columbus (a tough ticket, I don't care what year it is) and then play a hot Illinois team in Champaign (who might be looking to kick the Badgers in the groin...) and then assuming they win all that and run the table you've got potentially Nebraska or Michigan lurking in the Big 10 title game. (Or Iowa, I suppose- we'd probably be ranked if we ran the table and won the Division.) So there's a tough road schedule plus 1-2 more ranked conference opponents waiting. That's a pretty good resume to me.

People need to stop sucking on the teat of the SEC. 'Bama is a damn good team, but they play Arkansas, Florida and LSU in terms of ranked teams. That's it. (Penn State was ranked when they played them, but shouldn't have been.) Stanford has Andrew Luck and they play Oregon. That's not a resume. Boise State played Georgia and beat them- TCU lost to SMU so will probably drop off the polls so that's one ranked team and a weak conference. Not a resume. Oklahoma State has Texas, Baylor and Oklahoma down the stretch-- they have an argument to make. Oklahoma went on the road to FSU and beat them, they've got Texas, A and M, Baylor and Oklahoma State waiting. They've got an argument to make. LSU, of all the teams ranked ahead of Wisconsin has probably the best, in terms of schedule. They played Oregon, a then ranked Mississippi State, West Virginia and get Florida, 'Bama and Arkansas down the stretch. Now that's a damn good resume.

What annoys me is that Wisconsin is portrayed as a good team, but not a contendor for the National Title and this with a ton and a half of football left to be played and no BCS rankings as of yet. We could be looking at Stanford, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, LSU, 'Bama, Boise State and Wisconsin all with good arguments for their inclusion in the National Title game. There's more than one conference out there, ESPN... just so you know.

OK, So Maybe I Was Wrong...

While I tend to believe that the class warfare rhetoric of the Left tends to obscure the bad behavior of our entire establishment, both left and right- when I read this article, it did piss me off.

Basically, there's a growing trend of what are called deficiency judgements being levelled against foreclosed homeowners who just lost their house- basically, if it doesn't sell for enough, the bank will come after you to make up the difference.

How is that right? I mean, I know people have a fiscal responsibility to make sure they pay their mortgage on time and all that jazz, but what about the banks? Surely if they're going to give people a chunk of change that big, they've got an obligation to make damn sure people have the ability to pay that back. Some of these mortgages should not have been given to people in the first place- and the fault of that lies directly with the banking industry. And it's curious to me that in the middle of all this mess, there have been absolutely no consequences of any kind for the banks getting people into this mess.

And there should be- defeciency judgments should be 100% illegal. Plain and simple- this puts the onus on the bank to work with homeowners to preserve/refinance the mortgage and keep people paying their mortgages and it also means that there are actual real life consequences for banks making/lending dubious mortgages: they take a financial hit.

To me, if you take someone's house for whatever reason- that should be the end of it. These deficiency judgments are just fundamentally wrong and more than a bit cruel.

So, while I wish, wish, wish that people would read between the lines a little more and start seeing the Establishment for the cross-party bunch of theives that it is, I'd say go right ahead- Occupy Wall Street. Banks should have consequences as well- and so far, they seem to be getting by scott free.

But what else is new?