Don't Panic, It's Just An Election

When did we get so angry as a nation? Seems like the breakdown in our political life has reached such a low point that people are predicting doom, gloom, death and destruction if President Obama is re-elected and I want to know why. It's just a Presidential election. Presidents come, Presidents go and by and large the country survives. For crying out loud, I got enough of this from the Left when Bush The Younger was doin' his thing for eight years. Does the Right really need to follow suit?

Muslim conspiracies, socialist gulags and the inevitable 'he's coming for our guns' it's all so tiresome and frankly, it's exhausting. And now that the Republican Convention is going on in Tampa, we're getting the chorus lines of 'I hope Hurricane Isaac hits Tampa and drowns the bastards' from the nutters on the Left.

Really? Really? We're hoping a Hurricane wipes out the Republican Convention? Have we sunk that low? (Just to update: the Hurricane missed Tampa and hit Louisiana. What does that mean? Does the Almighty have poor aim? Or, Heaven Forbid is he endorsing Mittens for President? I'm sure the Twitterati will come up with something nicely offensive.)

Facebook is even worse. It's getting to the point where I rarely update my statuses if at all because anything you say that's remotely political collapses into a stupid argument far too quickly. People on my friend list are either wildly left or ragingly right and there's really no room for compromise in the middle. This tendency is worrying and makes me wish I had paid more attention in my political behavior class as an undergrad.

And the hell of it is, there's no obvious solution. I can preach all I want about the failures of the two party system (many) and how it's produced an entrenched political class that's grabbing whatever it can while the rest of us scrape along as best we can (true on a bi-partisan level) and I can exhort y'all (all twelve of you reading this, hahahahaha!) to take to the barricades and start the revolution and demand something better out of this amazing country we live in but people won't.

Maybe that's OK. But we've got problems aplenty and if we can't calm down and have a rational, thoughtful discussion about 'em, we're probably screwed.

(P.S. I've been trying to avoid this for years now but as a poli-sci nerd, I just can't anymore. I'm going to have to read 'Bowling Alone' by Robert Putnam- and you should too.)

UPDATED: See what I mean? I may not agree with Mittens or his policies and I'm certainly not going to vote for him but when people are this unhinged, you start to wonder what's gone wrong at the Fair, you know? And this rage is to be found on both sides of the aisle, so it's not a partisan thing with me. It's just exhausting how negative everything is getting.

Cheer up, people. It's only an election. The Republic will endure.

Parking

It's the best kept secret in Iowa City right now that they're planning to take the Old Capitol Ramp and the Dubuque Street Ramp to 24 hour parking. It appears the City is trying to keep this on the down low because I expect when they do officially announce it, people are going to be pissed.

I give up. Is this a massive inconvenience to me on a personal level? Yes. So while I was seriously toying with the idea of storming the barricades and launching petitions and giving the City Council a piece of my mind, I'm not going to.

Parking in downtown Iowa City is never going to be easy. We just don't have the acres of room that Coralville does and we don't have the luxury of building parking for everybody. I get that. But we shouldn't be going out of our way to make it harder either. All the economic planning and fancy development goals in the world can't make up for the fact that when push comes to shove, people go for convenience. If Iowa City wants to make a visit to the proctologist more appealing than trying to find parking downtown, then people will go to Coralville, where it's free.

I want to support my community. I want to spend my money in my community. And while I question the wisdom of trying to bring every new, hip, upscale retail chain downtown I'm getting sick and tired of the policies of (yes, I'm going to get all lefty on you kids, brace yourselves) gentrification that have changed downtown over the past decade, decade and a half. The community is being pushed out of it's own downtown in favor of some cracked vision of steel and glass yuppie towers for the one percenters who want a slice of the big city in downtown.

I give up...

Stop With the Stupid Pills Already

Missouri Congressman Todd Akin, currently running against Senator McCaskill in good old Missouri was asked about his staunch opposition to abortion including no exception for rape victims and said the following:

“It seems to me, from what I understand from doctors, that’s really rare,” Mr. Akin said of pregnancies from rape. “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. But let’s assume that maybe that didn’t work or something: I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be of the rapist, and not attacking the child.”

Predictably and deservedly a huge heaping of WTF (no, let's call it what it is 'what the fuck') landed on his head and a slow but steady crescendo of GOPers called for him to quit.

He didn't.

Iowa's own nutty Congressman (seems every state gets at least one) Steve King weighed in with the following gem:

King said he hasn't heard of instances in which young victims of statutory rape or incest become pregnant.
"Well I just haven't heard of that being a circumstance that's been brought to me in any personal way, and I'd be open to discussion about that subject matter," King said.

I'd like new politicians. I'd like to get old school Roman on everybody's behind and do political service like some kind of hellish draft or jury duty- make it be a civic duty that nobody wants. Like going to the dentist. Anything has to be better if the best we can do are these two jackasses.

Yes they are jackasses by the way. Rape is rape. Period, end of discussion. Anyone who wants to argue about the magical rape fighting properties of the female uterus will find me entirely unsympathetic and oh by the way, is an enormous jackass.

These two idiots have me seriously wanting to send like a ten spot to their opponents for the first time ever. If it wasn't for the orgy of junk mail I would probably get for doing so I might have actually done so already. I don't have a lot of money to give but if the measley 10 bucks I scrape up can help get rid of idiots like these, it might actually be worth it.

(P.S. Stupid pills this week seem to be bipartisan and not confined to America either.)

The Other War, 150 Years Ago

In the midst of all the commemorations of the 150th Anniversary of the Civil War, there's another anniversary going on just north of Iowa in the Medium White North that's worth mentioning and that's the 150th Anniversary of the Dakota War of 1862. By late 1862 after years of late or unfair annuity payments not to mention treaty violations by the Federal Government, hardship and hunger amongst the Dakota of Minnesota were rife and tensions eventually broke out into full scale warfare that eventually lead to the defeat and expulsion of the Dakota from Minnesota. (It also lead to the largest mass execution in US History when 38 Dakota were hanged at Mankato on a site now occupied by the Blue Earth County Library.)

Today, in a ceremony near Pipestone, Minnesota, the Dakota were welcomed home.

I remember I was on my own for a couple of weeks after I moved to Mankato in August of 2006 and I did some poking around to see just what this Mankato place was all about. I was astonished and somewhat ashamed to find out that there had been a full blown war in a state right next door to my own that I had known absolutely nothing about. 4th Grade Social Studies was consumed with learning about the history of Iowa, so I remember Marquette and Joliet, the Sauk and the Fox and Zebulon Pike and the rest but this was a chapter of American history that I was ignorant of.

And that seemed silly to me as Minnesota was right next door.

The Star Tribune has done a fantastic six part series on the Dakota War, the start of which can be found here. Read it if you get the chance, kids. It's always nice to learn something about the country you're living in now and again.

7: Go To A Twins Game

Minnesota 9, Detroit 3

A Bold Prediction (Because It's August and I Feel Like It)

A random and interesting thought keeps running through my brain. With the selection of Paul Ryan as Mittens' running mate, everyone seems happy that 'this election will be about something' and 'big issues' and 'strong contrasts' and 'two distinct visions for the country.' But here's my thought: what if the country sees the two visions on offer and wants neither of them?

It's pretty obvious to everyone by now that our political system is run by extremes. The extreme right versus the extreme left and moderates get primaried or just quit, frustrated at the hyper-partisanism and lack of common sense that seems to be par for the course these days in Washington. Father Cigar, being Republican seems to be convinced that a preference cascade is building and Mittens is destined to become President Mittens in an election landslide similar to 1980. He might be right.

But I also think Paul Ryan's frankly extreme plans for entitlements might go too far for a lot of the country and that could come into play as well. Conservatives have to be willing to share the pain, so far they don't seem to be all that willing picking on entitlements and PBS as their budget cutting targets. (Seriously, how much is cutting PBS going to save us? Like nothing. Let's end Pentagon waste and cut their bureaucracy in half. That will save us money.)

I'm going to be bold, because you can be bold in August and make a prediction. I reserve the right to revise this prediction on November 1st. Here it is:

President Obama gets re-elected (very, very narrowly) while the Republicans retain the House and take the Senate.

(I myself have yet to discover a compelling reason to vote for either Mittens or the President. Gary Johnson all the way!)

So It's Romney and Ryan...

Paul Ryan has been selected as Mitt Romney's running mate for the 2012 election. As I'm not going to be voting for either Mittens or Ryan it's hard for me to summon up a whole lot of excitement about it. I'm convinced- and forgive me for dropping into wonk-speak- of the following: there's an entrenched system of business-political-media/cultural interests that don't give a damn about the balance sheet of the nation. (And benefits both political parties.) They don't care that we've got a 19th Century government in a slowly emerging 21st Century post-industrial economy. They've got a good thing going with the status quo that allows them to accumulate money and power and neither four years of Mittens and Ryan or for more years of President Obama are going to change that. And until we do change that, nothing done gonna change, children- we need politicians who are willing not just to challenge the status quo but break it completely.

That said, from a political science point of view, I think this is a good pick for Mittens. Agree or disagree with Ryan (I would lean towards disagree) he's serious about right the fiscal ship and reforming entitlements for the 21st Century. The onus is now on the President to produce his plan for doing the same thing- reforming entitlements and getting us back to fiscal sanity can no longer wait.

If Mittens wanted to define his candidacy and draw a strong contrast with the President, this pick does it. Whether it's to his benefit or not remains to be seen.

The Townie Bar Challenge: 2Dogs Pub

I'd been to 2Dogs a couple of times- once after it just opened (newly changed over from Rick's- what it used to be) and then the Missus, her Bestie and I stuffed our faces with cheese fries and beer while we watched Iowa lose to Iowa State in triple overtime last year. (A situation I'm hoping is rectified in the other direction this year- but we'll see!)

Needless to say it'd been awhile. But I was still as pleasantly surprised as I was right after the opening. The space is nice and open, the floor (apparently Rick's had carpets- 2Dogs wisely went with laminate flooring) is nice and clean. The initial space is booth/seating and then the bar space is further back along with an air hockey table and a gloriously large picture of Iowa's victory over Northwestern last year. (Another blessedly sweet event. I still smile thinking about those Wildcats The Quiet Man and I tolerated at Harpist's wedding a couple of years back. 'We beat you 5 out of 6 years- we put that in our Christmas letter...'- it was such a joy to beat them last year.) All in all, it's a pleasant drinking/eating environment with plenty of televisions with sporting entertainment with those that are looking for it.

Beer-wise, the Missus just went to lunch their with one of her friends and recommended the Schlafy Unfiltered Wheat which was awesome. Refreshing, slightly fruity and smooth it was the perfect summer beer. Beer number 2 was a Tallgrass 8 Bit Pale Ale- as Pale Ales go, it was good. Not too hoppy and equally as refreshing.

Food-wise, 2Dogs seems to takes a page out of Short's Burger and Shine- probably home to the best burgers of the downtown scene if not the best burgers in Iowa City (the Quiet Man and I will be stopping at George's on Market St. at some point to put their claim to the test and decide once and for all where the best burgers of Iowa City actually are.) 2Dogs is more laid back- they've got a nice variety of appetizers, ranging from the usual nachos, cheese fries, hot wings, etc and the burgers range from the simple (the Pub Burger- cheese, pickle and a fried egg) to the more exotic (my own Cement Boots- salami, ham, canadian bacon topped with goat cheese)- there might just a burger for every particular appetite on their menu which is nice and they manage to keep their creativity firmly earthbound (unlike Des Moines' Zombie Burger, whose offerings tend to range from the delicious to delightfully insane.)

Music wise, 2Dogs seemed to range back and forth between country and the Barenaked Ladies/Blues Traveller type of stuff which was OK- and I managed to scratch BMX off the list of Olympic events I haven't seen and The Quiet Man and I wrapped things up with the first quarter of Team USA versus Australia in the Men's Olympic Basketball quarterfinals.

Overall: (Since it's been sometime since the last TBC, just a reminder, we grade straight letters, A-F and there are no pluses and minus!)

My Grade: B
2Dogs might be one of the hidden gems of the Eastside. Tucked away into the First Avenue mini mall and away from the more traditional townie feel of it's Eastside counterpart Shakespeare's just up the road, it's easy to overlook it in the shuffle. That'd be a mistake- the beer selection is impressive, the atmosphere clean and contemporary and the food good- and not overpriced. While it didn't knock my socks off, it's a nice little place and one that I want to make a point of visiting a little more often- support your local bars, people!)

The Chick-Fil-A Imbroglio

To be honest, I can probably count on one hand the number of times I've eaten a Chick-Fil-A. OK, maybe two hands because there was one in the Food Court of the Centennial Student Union at Minnesota State Mankato, but it's not often. It's just not my go-to culinary spot because there's not exactly tons of 'em lining the streets of Iowa or Minnesota. Their chicken is decent enough, their nuggets probably more real than anything McDonald's or the other fast food chains churn out and despite the waffle fries and the weirdness (at least to me, it may be perfectly normal to everyone else) of putting pickles on their chicken sandwiches and the mild irritation of them being closed on Sunday (because on those rare occasions I'm at the Coral Ridge Mall, I usually find myself thinking 'hey, a chicken sandwich sounds good' only to find Chick-Fil-A closed. Because it's Sunday) I'm pretty indifferent to the chain as a whole.

So it wasn't that much of a galloping shock to find out that Chick-Fil-A's President wasn't a huge fan of gay marriage. (I mean, go to a Chick-Fil-A and they've pretty much got it spelled out in BIG, BOLD letters that this a God-fearing, Jesus loving company that's closed on Sundays. Did people really think they'd be down with gay marriage?) What I do want to do though is find the idiot journalist that broke this apparent story and slap them. Hard.

I'd really like to be liberal sometimes. By and large, I'm down with the notion of the government staying the hell out of everybody's pants and/or bedrooms. I think we need to reform Social Security, not privatize it and actually preserve a social safety net of some kind for the 21st Century. I believe taxes are inevitable and we need a tax system that makes everybody pay something.

But damn, do liberals in this country make it hard sometimes.

This Chick-Fil-A foolishness is the type of thing that turns elections. And that's what's making me crazy about the whole damn thing. Remember 2004 when San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom started issuing marriage licenses in defiance of state law? President Bush hadn't said a damn thing about it before then. Newsom gave him an opening, he ran with it and at a 2:00 PM on Election Day when I was pulling into the First Avenue Hy-Vee Parking lot it was granola eating, hippie loving, latte sipping, liberal as you can get NPR that announced that early exit polling showed that 'moral values/social issues' were what people were voting on. At that point, I knew Kerry was toast. And I was right.

The classic liberal mistake with the Chick-Fil-A imbroglio isn't objecting to Chick-Fil-A's position. That's a perfectly reasonable objection to make. It's the suggestions that Chick-Fil-A should be banned or prevented from setting up shop in your town because of it's President's shitty opinion. I hate to say it but penalizing people for having opinions is just one stop on the happy little road to gold stars, pink triangles and all of us marching in very straight lines. It's fascism, wrapped up in the neat little happy bow of 'tolerance' and 'political correctness.'

And that's why people are jamming into Chick-Fil-A. Do I think they all hate gay people? No. (Some of the more odious ones, might, I suppose.) But gay marriage isn't going to be suddenly accepted and not controversial because the elitist liberals of America say so. A lot of people disagree with it. (I don't- I'm all for it.) And when the President of Chick-Fil-A gets vilified for having the same opinion, they feel like they're being vilified too. At the end of the day, nobody should be vilified for having an opinion. Even a shitty one. (And in those voting booths this November, people aren't going to be just thinking about the big issues. They're going to be thinking about gas prices, food prices and remembering when the snotty media elites vilified them for having an opinion. And then they're going to vote for Romney.)

Chick-Fil-A isn't refusing to serve gays and lesbians. They're shareholders or franchise owners may not even agree with the position of their President. The guy who runs the joint has a shitty opinion. If you don't agree with it, don't eat there. That's the glorious thing about capitalism. If enough people stayed away to affect their bottom line, they might well be forced to reconsider their position or go out of business all together. And that's how you win that argument.

P.S. This sort of idiocy isn't just a liberal problem either. Behold Representative Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania that apparently compared free birth control to 9/11 and Pearl Harbor. America, when the 50% of you that are just beyond caring about politics decide to care, look me up and we'll have a Revolution to replace the idiots on both sides of the aisle. All of them.