Bad Caucus Experience

Having never participated in a caucus, I was looking forward to rockin' out with my caucus out. However, I was sorely disappointed by the nexus of chaos that was the Southwest Sub-Courthouse. Talk about voting irregularities. I haven't had time to fully digest what I experienced, and therefore cannot even attempt to form cogent analysis. So I can only present you with some observations:

An election official named Gene Cates provided what appears to be misinformation leading to potential disenfranchisement of voters. Former city manager Charles Boswell can confirm as the following was spoken directly to his face about five people in front of me. I paraphrase Cates: if voters didn't stay on-site for the actual election of delegates after they signed in, their votes would not count.

This appears to directly contradict the Texas Election Code Section 174.022 (c) which says: If...participants have signed in, any participant who wishes to leave may do so and their sign in WILL count toward the delegate allocation for each candidate.

Not only do Cates' statements appear to be wrong, it would have been logistically impossible for the hundreds, maybe up to a thousand people to wait for the three hours in a heated area. I saw groups of people leave after hearing this message. The workers behind the table were telling each participant the opposite...that they were welcome to stay but did not have to. This was terribly irregular, and it must have been very disappointing for first time voters. Some voters would have to wait in line for at least an hour and in many cases much longer to receive this message. Cates was sending surrogates (other voters) to spread the "your vote wont count unless you hang around for three more hours" message to the incredibly long lines of participants waiting to sign in.

Additionally, the scene completely lacked order. They were running out of sign-in sheets and people were rushing around to make copies. Lines were around the building, and it wasn't until I'd been waiting for about 30 minutes that somebody told us there was a much shorter line for my precinct. There was no signage and such a severe shortage of precinct workers that people were being pulled out of the crowd to work behind the tables checking names and addresses.

Obviously, very disappointing, and I hate the effect that this must have had on the high percentage of voters that have been energized by this amazing election where we will have an African-American or female Democratic nominee.

Turnout Problems?

Voted today. No line. In and out quick. Nobody at the Republican table. Four or five folks at the Dem table. Weather is always the big variable in primaries and last night's snow could have scared people in.

Podcasting Debut

I was a guest contributor to this week's West and Clear Podcast. I haven't listened to it yet, but I'm really hoping Pete edited out some of my more nervous moments where my way with words was, er, compromised at best...stumbling and incoherent at worst.

I really want to thank Pete, Steve-O, and Kevin for letting me check things out from the other side of the microphone.

Is the Old Stuff Always Better?

I was commenting over on West and Clear, who were kind enough to give me a shout out for my 80's Texas Music post, about whether, in Uncle Tupelo terms, I was a Farrarist or a Tweedyist.

But it got me to thinking about a music conversation I'd had with Jim a while back. I seem to have a bit of old-timers disease. I may have posted about this before back in the first iteration, but it's a good question. I always seem to like (enter band name here)'s old shit better than their new shit. The only example of newer stuff that I like might be the Beatles. I like Rubber Soul better than the yeah, yeah, yeah stuff of the early Beatles. But the Beatles were a paradigm buster. Some examples, yeah? Totally off the top of my besotted head, in no order:

Johnny Cash
Willie Nelson
Queen
AC/DC
U2
Son Volt
Wilco
Jayhawks
Rolling Stones
Led Zeppelin
Old 97's
Steve Earle (although some may argue with me here)
Police/Sting - by far
Clash
Robert Earl Keen
Bob Dylan
Jefferson Airplane/Starship- hah!
Elvis by god Presley
Rush
Eric Clapton

This is clearly subjective, but let's hear what you think. I'd like to hear about bands that defy the paradigm as well as theories as to why my theory my exist. Is it me? Or do bands just get rich and lose their creative will?

Terror Attack in Fort Worth - The Manchurian Rodent

Make no mistake, today Fort Worth was attacked by terrorists using a most cunning and evil plan. A martyr-squirrel was directed, possibly through mind control or some other nefarious terror technique, to gain entry into a major power transformer in Southwest Fort Worth. On the premises, the squirrel, imagining the 70 slinky squirrel virgins that awaited him in a better place, carefully positioned himself (making use of his extensive terrorist jungle-gym training) such that power would arc through his squirrel body, thereby taking down the grid for about a half-second, but also making denizens of SW Fort Worth, like me, be confronted with the extreme deprivations of boiling water (or just walking out to the garage to get one of the 6000 bottles of Ozarka we bought at Costco last weekend.)

The major side effect, however, was taking down all the irrestistable eateries frequented by we SW Fort Worthers. The terrorists obviously had their eye on havens of freedom, their admitted enemy, like Lotus Chinese Buffet, where mostly obese diabetics may freely eat just about anything they want in the quantity preferred. Ditto for Golden Corral, another bastion of democracy. Sadly, there will be no Monte Cristo or French Dip sandwiches served at Bennigan's tonight...Long John Silver's and Arby's will remain empty as an example of our underestimation of the terrorist threat. Domino's will not deliver tonight, Mr. bin Laden.

This attack is not without precedent, however. In a training exercise in College Station, TX yearly 18 years ago, al-Qaeda and its evil minions put their to 9th century ideology to bear on Texas A&M university where another martyr-squirrel was used to short out the transformer, thereby cancelling a day of classes. Their diabolical plan resulted in thousands of A&M students drinking themselves silly at numerous watering holes...thereby weakening their resolve to fight radical Islam.

Wake up, people! Start wearing flags on your lapels, for that is the only real way to defeat these depraved caliphatists.

UPDATE: It has just come to the attention of this news gathering organization that Mike Huckabee, in town campaigning for the Texas primary, has gone to the transformer station and requested that he is given the carcass of the martyred squirrel. Huckabee, responding to questions from reporters about the purpose of his visit, said, "I'm a conservative, and as a conservative, I'd hate to let a perfectly good barbecued squirrel go to waste. I picked up some hot dog buns and mustard over at the Kroger's, and we aim to eat some squirrel-dogs tonight."

Poll Results

We have so small a sample size, it makes the margin of error huge. But I think I know a little bit about the demographics that visit the site. I think it's interesting that right now according to my poll, Hillary is more electable than Obama. I say this with some knowledge of national polling which would suggest a different result. But at this time, I'm still just an uninterested statistician.

Also, I'm really interested in how the bigfoot voting turns out. Right now, it's a clean shutout. I'm researching all things bigfoot right now and will comment after the poll is over.

Thoughts While Lying Awake at 4 am

The point at which one goes from awake to asleep is a physiological mystery to me.

Was it Nietzsche or one of those communists that said "Religion is the opiate of the masses." Maybe it was Lenin. Too lazy to google it. I do know that Nietzsche said that a casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith doesn't prove anything. Anyway, please alert Bartlett because Steve by god Buckellew has a new quote: Religion is welfare for the simple mind. That's right. How imperious is that? I thought about just saying: Religion is welfare for the mind. That might have been better, but then I'd have to argue with all the C.S. Lewis folks.

I know it's so often quoted as to be a cliche, but the last line from The Great Gatsby is fabulous. Hope I get it right (f it, I'll google). "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." True that. Fuckin' brilliant line.

I checked a Nietzsche website to validate that it was a Red that said the above about religion vis-a-vis opiates and ran across this quote, "A woman may very well form a friendship with a man, but for this to endure, it must be assisted by a little physical antipathy." This subject came up in our salon (read: barroom) earlier tonight with divergent opinions, of course. What else would you want in your salon?

OK Pepys...and now to bed. (I'm so embarassed by that but I'm compelled to leave it in.)

Alt-Country Reminiscing

Back when I was in too deep in the alt-Country scene, we witnessed a young cocky prick Ryan Adams with Whiskeytown, an amazingly good band that unfortunately was always labeled as an Uncle Tupelo wannabe band, kind of like Slobberbone. Here's a live cut of them doing one of their earliest songs on Austin City Limits:



Compare this with Uncle Tupelo of a similar vintage:



Every time I saw Uncle Tupelo or Son Volt, whenever Jay Farrar would put that maroon Angus Young Gibson SG over his neck, you'd know Chickamauga was coming up, and, in Son Volt's case, the lead guitar could just step on back.

I saw that Wilco was up for a grammy this year. Proof positive that Jeff was Paul all along...as if there was any doubt.

Of course Gram Parsons started the whole thing. Precious little Gram of quality to be found on YouTube.

Gyroscope musing

I've been down with the flu pandemic for the better part of week, and thus have had plenty of time for cold-medicine induced musings on the nature of everything. While most of this resulted in predictable self-absorption, one bright light was my memory of a gyroscope I owned as a child.

While sick I lacked both the cognitive function and the dexterity to research this further, but today I am somewhat hale and hearty and thusly dived into Wikipedia to discover the fascinating world of the gyroscope.

Well, it appears I've overrated several things: 1) my current cognitive ability, 2) the benefits of my engineering degree from Texas by god A&M University, and 3) my memory of the greek alphabet. All you common men and women out there, like me, need to consider the gyroscope as a black box that does good things for us, sort of like electricity. Know that the gyroscopic effect is, in effect, a good thing if you are riding a bike, travelling by ship, or, er, launching ICBMs.

I have vague memories of lower-case omega (w to most of us) meaning angular momentum, but absolutely no intuition or perspicacity whatsoever into what this means. I'm not sure if I ever knew, if I forgot after the test, or if my brain has atrophied so much from my lifestyle choices. I'm absolutely sure I never knew the importance of the gimbal. Selah.

For those of you bold enough to seek new horizons in physics, search no further than here.

More Examples of Sickening Kowtowing by the Bush Administration

And this one has to do with the ludicrous border fence.

Just 69 miles north, Daniel Garza, 76, faces a similar situation with a neighbor who has political connections that reach the White House. In the small town of Granjeno, population 313, Garza points to a field across the street where a segment of the proposed 18-foot high border wall would abruptly end after passing through his brick home and a small, yellow house he gave his son. “All that land over there is owned by the Hunts,” he says, waving a hand toward the horizon. “The wall doesn’t go there.”

In this area everyone knows the Hunts. Dallas billionaire Ray L. Hunt and his relatives are one of the wealthiest oil and gas dynasties in the world. Hunt, a close friend of President George W. Bush, recently donated $35 million to Southern Methodist University to help build Bush’s presidential library. In 2001, Bush made him a member of the Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, where Hunt received a security clearance and access to classified intelligence.

Wouldn't want to piss off the Hunts, would we?

What I dislike about Democrats

In a comment to a previous post, Jim asked me to describe what I didn't like about Democrats. There's plenty of things I dislike about Democrats. I don't like the welfare state, I don't think giving people money encourages them to be productive. And from my experience, the government runs things badly and is terribly behind in terms of automation of menial tasks. I'm not all that against universal healthcare, on economic terms, because the countries we compete with have it and our healthcare cost is built into the price of our products which makes us less competitive. I agree with the Democrats that we should treat our veterans well. I dislike their coupling with Hollywood and the sponsorships that are borne of that relationship. I don't think that's good marketing to middle America...but it surely makes them campaign money.

Most of all, I guess, I'm leaning Democratic because of all the awful, callous, retchingly heinous things I've seen in the last seven years. I like the Democrats because:

they haven't used legalese to put themselves above the constitution
they haven't ok'd torture
they haven't put party cronies in positions of power and failed to do their duty
they haven't issued one-sided contracts to companies they used to run, and milked the taxpayers while reaping exorbitant revenues and providing sub-par services to out soldiers
they haven't lied to go to war
they haven't neglected a legitimate war against our enemies to fight an illegitimate war against our non-enemy
they haven't outed CIA agents out of revenge against truth-tellers
they haven't made political hay and an unprecented monarchical power-play out of a national tragedy
they haven't made a yes-man attorney-general
they haven't sat on their ass while New Orleans was sinking
they haven't been anti-science
they haven't refuse to send condoms to Africa because of the bible and accompanying political implications
they haven't treated veterans like shit
they haven't chosen an ambassodor to the UN that is opposed to the existence of the UN
they haven't been associated with Donald Rumsfeld
they haven't been in bed with the Saudis
they haven't disputed the existence of global warming
they haven't dilly-dallied on the urgency of adopting renewable energy
they haven't outsourced a war to mercenaries who are above any law
they haven't created a prison in Guantanomo which is beyond the law
they haven't blamed only lowly officers in a torture scandal that was approved at the highest levels
they haven't been lax with Russia because they "saw into their soul" or some such.
they haven't fired attorneys that didn't meet their political ends
they haven't threatened war with Iran, when prior intelligence says there is no causus belli
they haven't failed to caputure bin Laden. Everyone needs an enemy to justify their bellicosity.
they haven't suspended habeas corpus
they haven't broken the law by bypassing the FISA court to wiretap without warrants
they haven't ok'd black sites and extraodinary rendition of people that are not charged with a crime and all too often innocent of anything
they haven't been involved with Jack Abramoff
they haven't let oil industry executives, including Ken Lay of Enron, write the people's energy policy
they haven't diagnosed Terri Shiavo from the Senate floor via TV
they haven't been borrow and spenders, thus making the deficit more and more and more....
they haven't stacked the Supreme Court with religious idealogues
they haven't created a Medicare drug program that is anti-competitive
they haven't allowed the VP to create his own intelligence operation to cook the books on Iraq and justify war leading to hundreds of thousands of dead people
they haven't allowed the head of he Bush campaign in Florida to oversee a recount in which he most likely lost
they haven't been responsible for trying to torpedo the 9/11 commission (why?) and then refusing to provide documents
they haven't been responsible for not implemeneting the recommendations of the 9/11 commission
they haven't been the authors of a doctrine of preemptive war
they haven't screwed the reputation of the US worldwide...diplomatically and personally.
they haven't been oblivious to the Israel/Palestinian issue which is at the heart of most Arab/West problems
they haven't been behind any of the egregious signing statements in which the president claims to be above the law
they haven't authored any guidance related to the "unitary executive"
they haven't stretched the military to the point of breaking, including using national guard troops in extended duty overseas
they haven't allowed people such as Karl Rove to keep their security clearance after outing a CIA agent
they haven't nominated a crony like Harriet Myers to the Supreme Court
they haven't staffed HHS positions with religious idealogues
they haven't called for a freakin' Constitutional Amendment disenfranchising gays
they haven't banned photographs of caskets showing the cost of war
they haven't been stewards of the housing bubble
they haven't been involved with Karl Rove and his attempted politization of everything.
they haven't been fans of Paul Wolfowitz
they haven't "lost" all of their email required by both an archive policy and presidential records policy.
they haven't nominated Bernard Kerik for anything
they haven't shot anyone in the face
they haven't rewarded failures like Tenet, Bremer, and Franks
they haven't hired all their lawyers from evangelical shoolx (Monica Goodling et al)
they haven't said that everthing would get better after the fall of Baghdad, the capture of Saddam's sons, the capture of Saddam, the creation of the parliament, the fist vote by the people, the purple finger vote, etc. This Republican Party is all about spin.

US becomes African Dictatorship Watch: Iraq for Sale

Iraq for Sale is a documentary about the shit-fuck way our corrupt government has lined their pockets by killing hundreds of thousands of people. And they don't give a fuck. In Bush's signing statement that I blogged about a few weeks ago, he reserved the right to prevent audits on contractors. Why in the holy-hell would he do that if he's a conservative and cares about keeping costs down? It's so corrupt it is frightening. And idiots like me and you are funding it. Just as an example, Halliburton charges us, the people, $100 for one serviceman's load of laundry. And they don't even get it clean. One guy decided to do his own laundry in the sink to actually clean it and his superiors told him that was verboten...he had to use Halliburton. Where is the competition that the free market provides? It makes me sick.

Halliburton's stock price has quadrupled during the war...and they've provided the shittiest service to our beloved volunteer army. They've also served them with filth-water and sent civilians into battlezones when they knew in advance they would be attacked. Where is the rage?

Updated: The situation is so bad, it makes me more cynical than usual. The nature of the cost-plus contract between Halliburton and the government encourages Halliburton to be inefficient. If a seatbelt in their Hummer breaks down, they burn the vehicle and buy another one. The more they spend, the more profit they make. Which takes us back to service level agreements. Why in the fuckity-fuck wouldn't someone in the government write SLA's into the contract? This just makes me think it was a Cheney deal to make his stock go up. Sickening.

Jon Katz

Jon Katz was born in the city, but one day decided to load up his naivete and head for the country. It's an earnest Green Acres that he describes. Relying on the kindness of strangers, he's managed to turn himself into a some sort of farmer/rancher in upstate New York. He reports in occasionally with a column on Slate. This latest effort is all about his goats. The wife and I went to hear him speak recently while he was on a book tour. He filled Casa Manana, such is his following. His transition and the bulk of his work centers around border collies and their amazing work effort, and I'd recommend starting with this story about Rose. It's a great teaching point about working dogs and their relationship to humans. He also maintains a pretty good blog about life on the farm here.

Mittens!

Mark it down, people. I've had it. As of today, February 17, 2008, I will no longer be wearing those ineffective, clunky garments we call gloves. Put me in the mittens column. They provide a modicum of tactile dexterity while also keeping your fucking hands warm...something that gloves don't do. Selah!

Fascism Roundup

I've been painted as a hysteric on other websites because I took the bait and made a most unfortunate move...playing the Hitler card with respect to our goverment. Without a doubt, we are not headed down that path, as we will have a peaceful tranfer of government next year and there will be no holocaust here. I mentioned Hitler, in my comment, as a cautionary remark because of the gradual manner in which he took power, which reminds me of the Bush administration's gradual power-grab.

Hitler was popularly elected and manipulated the government to concentrate powers in the executive branch, much as Bush has done. He relied on Joseph Goebbels to spread propoganda across Germany, similar to how Bush relied on Cheney to continually link al-Qaeda with Iraq long after the jury was in and decided there was no connection.

My argument, that I've made here many times, is that our government relies on checks and balances, which have been absent in the last eight years allowing the executive branch to call all of the shots. I firmly believe this was based on a callous decision to take advantage of 9/11 to push the neo-conservative agenda.

I mentioned Hitler, obviously, because he's the best known dictator of our age. I could, and possibly should, have referred to what Robert Mugabe has done in Zimbabwe, or Mao, Idi Amin, Suharto, Duvalier, Franco, Mussolini, or Pol Pot.

Smoker

I got a new smoker back in the fall and I've yet to properly deflower the thing. I've got some folks helping me, but, I'm asking you, dear reader, to provide me with some ideas for the smoker. I'm open to everything...from technique to dry rubs. Let me know what you think.

Goodbye to a River

I've been re-reading John Graves' "Goodbye to a River". This is a brilliant tapestry in which Graves weaves tales of the Comancheria with his last trip down the pure Brazos between PK and Whitney. At the time, the BRA figured they'd turn the Brazos into a "string of pearls", meaning a river dammed quite frequently between PK and Whitney. Our naturalistic protagonist puts in at the PK dam in a canoe with a dachsund, some rations, and a shotgun. The output is a dazzling portrait of an otherwise bleak landscape of scrub mesquite, gravel shoals, and an unstoppable river. Graves stops frequently to recount the history of a certain bend in river and how it shaped the future. This is one of the truly great regional books that any Texan concerned with conservation of our natural environment should read. If just to hear the internal angst within Graves' mind over shooting a goose when he is starving.

Crossposting Rants

I've been involved in an interesting discussion over here. Francis took umbrage at Keith Olbermann referring to Bush as a fascist. I agreed with him at first, then I thought about it a bit. Something I didn't mention in my comments was the craven way in which Bush took advantage of a national tragedy, 9/11, to fearmonger and create an environment for more war. We should have been in Afghanistan stronger and not in Iraq at all. This is possibly why I like Obama. The last election was about fear...Bush trying t scare the hell out of people into a second term. He scared his base enough to get elected by two or three percent, then claimed a mandate. What a fool. Maybe I'm a fucking sucker, but I like a campaign that's not based on trying to scare me into a bomb shelter. I think McCain will run on fear and try to repeat what Bush did in 2004...he's got nothing on the economy. Sheesh.

Realization

Shout out to Food and Fort Worth Blog

My friend Francis writes about serious subjects like the gold standard, classical art, and our current political maelstrom, then he drops a serious muffin recipe on you...or how to make the perfect cornbread...then it's on to debates, technology...and then how to make perfect scrambled eggs. Scrambled Eggs is a nice metaphor for his blog. I cheer him for his ability to make that work, while I toil away with my half-drunk political invective. I am truly humbled, because he's as much a political junkie as I am.

I've learned from him and I hope to bring you more stories of leatherback turtles that cross the Pacific for mating.

Excellent Reivers Remembrance

Apparently the Reivers, one of my favorite Austin bands from the eighties played a couple of reunion shows in Austin. Steve-O over at Caravan of Dreams has an excellent write-up of the show and a remembrance of the band here. Included is this great vintage youtube of "In Your Eyes" featuring Kim Longacre's soaring voice:

Breaking Turtle News

A leatherback turtle swam across the Pacific Ocean...from Indonesia to Oregon. The results were presented last month at the sea turtle symposium. Why don't I ever get invited to events like that? It sounds far more interesting than a wedding shower. I need to learn more about the leatherback turtle. Stay tuned.

My Problem with Republicans

I've been chatting today with a Republican friend on issues that would most likely bore readers to tears. Statistics on the effect of tax rates on equity prices and the rigor involved in the analysis. Nuff said. He said, "I blame the Republicans on spending. They are supposed to be about small government. They haven't been."

This made me wonder what they are about. As many of you know, this is something I've devoted quite a bit of time thinking about. So here's my rant/response:

They're [Republicans] about centralization of power...the so called unitary executive that, in an era of neverending war, can claim constitutional authority to ignore the constitution. Who's the best candidate to return traditional separation of powers? Who's the best candidate to bring some independence to the rubber stamp supreme court (instead of installing huntin' buddies?) Who will prize competence over loyalty? Long-term constitutional erosion and centralization of power certainly is in the best interest of no American whatever your point of view.

I was reading the CIA factbook on Kenya the other day trying to smarten up on the turmoil over there. I noticed that the head of the judiciary is appointed by the president. I immediately thought that this was a tremendous conflict of interest, until I realized that, with the complicity of a congress that has valued party loyalty as the greatest virtue, we have the same system. Add to that the head of our justice department has been a lockstep crony, we're practically a freaking sub-Saharan African government.

This is the stuff that riles me up a lot more than tax policy, we don't have any perfect candidates obviously, and I think Hillary's just as likely to continue Bush's trampling of the constitution. So my choices are McCain and Obama. I think McCain will have to pander to the far right and appoint far-right activist culture-warrior judges that will affect the country for 20 or 30 years. Obama will bring back some balance there, hopefully will be checked by congress on more liberal paternalistic tendencies, quit throwing good money at a recalcitrant Iraqi "government", maybe put more effort into Afghanistan, and, hell, maybe there is something to a hopeful vision (people seemed to like Reagan...)

CORRECTION to Texas Primary Delegate Allocation

Proving that the internet is a flawed medium. I was recently made aware of a retraction to the post on delegate allocation in the Texas primary. Correction here. Salient bit:

A total of 126 delegate positions (three-quarters of the base delegation) will be distributed to presidential candidates based on the results of the primary. Forty-two delegate po- sitions (one-quarter of the base delegation) will be distrib- uted based on the number of people attending the party’s conventions. The delegates themselves will be elected at our State Convention June 6-7, 2008, in Austin.

That first post did seem awfully convoluted. I deleted it so as not to misinform any further.

Notes on Super Tuesday

To prove my masochistic bona fides, I watched nine straight hours of Super Tuesday last night on MSNBC. Here's my unusually brief thoughts...

Republicans:

• I was really surprised by the complete repudiation of Mittens as a candidate. Given how Huckabee suprisingly won all the south, it appears that the rednecks just can't swallow Mormonism.
• McCain, for the most part, won a bunch of blue states that the Pachyderms don't have much hope of winning in the general election.
• While McCain is much more tolerable to me than the others, I still worry about judicial appointments and would have trouble pulling that lever for him.

Democrats:

• I agree with the punditocracy that Obama and Clinton pretty much fought to a draw.
• One good thing I saw was that Obama did very well in the deep South among white voters.
• Hillary still owns the Latino vote. Is this a vestige of the ages-old ethnic tension between Latinos and African-Americans? I'd like to see the exit crosstabs on Latinos that would not vote for a black candidate.
• Will the Texas primary matter? It certainly could. Polling numbers here show Hillary has a huge advantage because the aforementioned Latino vote, but Obama has spent no time or advertising here. He has the cash and it would be interesting to see if he could close the gap. Plus, I'd love to go to an Obama rally. Stay tuned for March 4.

Inside a Presidential Signing Statement

With all the other calamities and electoral bluster from the hustings, we haven't heard much about the President's usurpation of signing statements as his own unconstitutional line-item veto. Today, thanks to this article, we can pull back the curtain on a particularly onerous signing statement.

From the White House website:

Today, I have signed into law H.R. 4986, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008. The Act authorizes funding for the defense of the United States and its interests abroad, for military construction, and for national security-related energy programs.


Here's the kicker (bold mine):

Provisions of the Act, including sections 841, 846, 1079, and 1222, purport to impose requirements that could inhibit the President's ability to carry out his constitutional obligations to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, to protect national security, to supervise the executive branch, and to execute his authority as Commander in Chief. The executive branch shall construe such provisions in a manner consistent with the constitutional authority of the President.

Keep in mind, this is signed into law just like the Schoolhouse Rock video showed us when we were kids. Wondering what those sections might be that our Chief Executive is choosing to ignore?

One such provision sets up a commission to probe contracting fraud in Iraq and Afghanistan. Another expands protections for whistleblowers who work for government contractors. A third requires that U.S. intelligence agencies promptly respond to congressional requests for documents. And a fourth bars funding for permanent bases in Iraq and for any action that exercises U.S. control over Iraq’s oil money.

To recap:
1. He can ignore a law that calls for a commission to probe contracting fraud.
2. He can illegally deny protection to whistleblowers who work for government contractors.
3. Contrary to the law, Congressional requests for documents from intelligence agencies can be ignored.
4. He can controvert the law and set up permanent bases in Iraq and he can continue to assert US control over Iraqi oil money.

When I say monarchy, I mean it. Erase Schoolhouse Rock from your memory banks, because government doesn't work that way any more. The sheer gall of this goverment is appalling, certainly impeachable, and potentially treasonous.

Kennedy Endorsement of Obama

From comments to this post...

I agree that TK will not help BO with crossovers at all. This is a big risk on BO's part that he doesn't lose the crossovers that he's been successful with so far by aligning himself with a polarizing liberal. It's obviously an attempt to chew into HRC's hispanic and white blue-collar base.

The strategyI see playing out in the Democratic primaries right now is a battle of personalities. The issue positions between HRC and BO aren't that different until you get down into the weeds, and once this stuff gets into congress it'll change quite a bit from their positions in stump speeches. The galvanic Obama movement now is largely a reaction to the win-at-any-cost approach of the Clintons. Democrats are remembering the primrose path they were carried down in the nineties and are becoming convinced that they'd prefer an alternate path to four more divisive years of potential Clinton scandal and the vitriol that will be induced from the right-wing.

Rush Limbaugh goes to sleep at night with wet dreams of a Billary presidency. Most of the country is beginning to realize that eight years of Bill and Hill might not be all that fun, not to mention a bitter general election that will top the charts for the lowest form of sleaze-mongering.

If you didn't hear the State of the Union, let me congradulate you. But if you'd like to read my condensed live-blogged analysis, check it out below.

Semi-Live Blog of the SOTU

I'm going to attempt a semi-live blog of the State of the Union. It's Tivo'd so I can FF thru clapping. So no timestamps with comments. Warning this is long and boring. Read at your own peril.

• Sergeant at Arms does his bit and Bush starts glad-handing down the aisle.
• Why did Chris Shays (R-Conn) kiss Bush on the cheek?
• Obama is sitting with Teddy. I'm curious how much of a punch Teddy will give Obama. I'm thinking mebbe not so much.
• Shot of the first family. Jenna either is injured or was never taught how to clap like a normal person.
• Pelosi introduces Bush. Everyone hollers. Don't get that.
• He's pleading for compromise and bipartisanship. Little late for that pards.
• He just said he believes the appropriate guide for our country is the "collective wisdom of ordinary citizens." Good line, but I haven't seen much of that in seven years. Haven't we become more oligarchical (sp?) and relied more on the few? I believe we've turned our backs on this collective wisdom and moved closer to monarchy. If I truly believed that, why would he have claimed a mandate in either election with either no majority or a very small one? Both of his elections have been characterized by the alienation of half of the electorate after gulling most of the other half with fear-mongering. Collective wisdom, my ass.
• "Trust in the ability of free people to make wise decisions." This shit infuriates me. I'm five minutes in and ready to turn this bullshitter off. There's about five people in his administration that make all the decisions and to hell with the "free people." None of these decisions have anything to do with "free people making wise decisions" or the "collective wisdom of ordinary citizens." What horseshit.
• Stimulus Plan...borrow and spend...still don't get it. Congress' fault.
• Tax Relief. Also Congress' fault.
• Veto any tax increases. Just keep borrowing.
• Government should balance the budget. No shit sherlock.
• Seven years in, he's ready to take a hardline on spending.
• I like the sound of this. No earmarks can be slipped in through the transom at the last minute. Somehow he's going to only allow earmarks that have had a vote. That sounds like a great idea that should have been done a long time ago. Congressional hypocrites all stand and cheer.
• Mortgage relief, blah, blah.
• Health care, blah, blah.
• Education, blah, blah. Boys and girls with dreams, blah, blah. Reduce dropouts, blah, blah.
• Trade, blah, blah.
• He just said, "embolden the purveyors of false populism in our hemisphere." He said it really slowly, but he got through it. I think what he meant was that if we don't sign a free trade agreement with Columbia, look out for another fucking Hugo Chavez, but I wonder how many of his "ordinary citizens" caught that.
• Euphemism alert: Trade Adjustment Assistance = what the Federal Government will do for you when you get outsourced.
• Energy. Security, prosperity, environment require lessening our dependence on foreign oil. We've made some progress in seven years. No. 1 idea...clean coal. Cop out. He slipped in "renewable power" very quickly before he hit a big applause line with nucular power.
• Now he wants an international agreement to slow, stop, and reverse the effects of what he euphemistically calls "greenhouse gases." Seems like we could have done that about seven years ago if we'd have really tried. Standing O. Cheney claps lacklusterly.
• Says we need to trust our scientists and engineers to go forward and conquer. Now I'm waiting for the stem-cell shoe to drop... Double funding for the "physical sciences" he says as he sashays away from evangelical controversy with this clever code. Go kick some ass all you geologists, we'll get some out of work geneticists to help you.
• Here we go. "Moral boundries." Shoe has dropped. Standing O from all bible-thumpers.
• On to Justice. I just hit pause right after he said, "...trust in the wisdom of our founders." I can't imagine how much what he's about to say is going to piss me off. His AG has a picture of Orwell hanging in his office for chrissakes.
• ...pause again..."empower judges who understand that the constitution means what it says." Or are willing to interpret it with amazing creativity for everything having to do with war powers, justice, habeas corpus, unitary executive, etc. What a hypocrite.
• Now to volunteerism. All about faith-based stuff.
• Katrina and the "Armies of Compassion"??? Some meeting's gonna be held in New Orleans. Hopefully they'll have some breakout meetings in the ninth ward.
• Entitlements, blah, blah. Didn't like my idea, you guys fuckin' fix it then.
• Immigration. He just said that we need to create a lawful way for foreign workers to come here and support our economy. I thought we already had a lawful way? In fact I'm sure of it.
• On to WarTalk. This year's policy: "We trust that people, when given a chance, will choose a future of freedom and peace." I would certainly choose it, but I'm not sure that I trust that everyone else would choose it. Sounds like he's choosing for them. Nothing new here.
• Some stirring moments in the history of liberty in the last seven years: Georgia, Ukraine, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Iraq. I'm not so sure all of those have worked out so well buddy. How about what we've seen in Russia over the last seven years, or Venezuela? I'd agree those are stirring moments in the history of liberty.
• "Deliver justice to our enemies" and Cheney springs up like a gymnast.
• There's Jenna clapping like a four-year old again.
• 3200 Marines headed for Afghanistan. About time.
• Here we go. SurgeTalk. I wonder how often he mentions the political benchmarks for which there has been little progress...the justification for the troop increases. Let's see... He just changed the whole justification for the surge...just like that. He said we gave the troops a new mission: protect Iraqi people, pursue the enemy in strongholds, and deny terrorists sanctuary. Of course, the surge didn't have anything to with political progress. And there's some conflation of "terrorists" and "the enemy" but that's old hat.
• "The surge has achieved results none of us could have imagined just one year ago." One year ago, he said the Iraqi government was going to meet all of these benchmarks or we were going to bail. So, logically, he knew that there would be no political progress in a year? I'm very happy for the improved security of the Iraqi people and I'm gratified that our troops, along with the Anbar folks have enabled security improvements, but let's call a spade a spade. You said by doing x, z would happen. Y happened, which is nice, but it's not z.
• He mentioned Osama almost as if he's part of the intelligence community. If Osama says it, it must be true.
• Troops are coming home. Huge applause. But didn't they have to come home because their tours were up in March and we couldn't extend tours again?
• Just hit the benchmark issue and claims that some progress is being made politically. Pretty much danced over there.
• Quoting more Al Queda leaders as though they're part of our intelligence operation. I'm sure they're telling the truth.
• More standard "we will prevail" saber rattling. Blah, blah.
• Another call for two-state solution in Israel/Palestine.
• More Iran axis of evil type stuff. Said nucular twice. Some tough talk to Iranian mullahs.
• Here comes torture/domestic spying talk. More warrantless wiretapping fear-mongering. More protect AT&T from breaking the law talk.
• Just called Sudan a genocide for the first time.
• Good God this is getting tiresome.
• Now we're going to stop famine by buying our crops from poor countries. Bet that'll go over good in Iowa.
• Hey, spend some real money on AIDS. Like that.
• Another great idea, pay for veterans benefits.
• Sounds like this shit's about over. About time. He said the state of our union's strong. I wish he would say that it's not so hot right now.

Olbermann is reading the freaking riot act right now.

Confused about the Stimulus Package

Unwise borrowing and profligate spending have the been the primary causes of today's economic crisis. But, it seems there is bipartisan, unanimous support for more of the same as the solution to the problem. The economic stimulus package basically is to borrow a bunch of money and give it to people so they can go spend it thereby making the economy better. I don't understand this thinking.



Why not, say, build high-speed rail between here and Austin? Wouldn't this have the same "trickle-up" effect? People get employed, they buy stuff from people who then need to hire more people to make up for the increased demand, and so on. And in the end you have something that's good for the economy, the population, and the environment. And every dollar gets spent, whereas with a handout, some fool may decide to save some of it (not many of those types left.)

Maybe I'll be enlightened by George tonight during what is sure to be the lamest-of-duck speeches. Hopefully more on that later.

SC/Florida Political Roundup

I have to say I'm heartened by the results coming out of South Carolina showing Obama with a very large lead. Last week's troubling win-at-all-cost intercession by Bill Clinton on behalf of his wife was at the very least unbecoming a former president and probably very enlightening to many left-leaning independents. While it appears that part of the victory was due to a large African-American turnout, I still want to believe that independents are gravitating towards the uniting Obama and against the divisive political hatchet-job machine of the Clintons. I shudder to think of a Clinton general election and possibly a presidency. Things were incredibly divisive with Bill, become ten times as divisive with Bush, and I fear would be 100 times worse with Hillary. I feel now, more than ever, that it is time to end the Bush-Clinton dynasty.

That said, the Republican primaries seem to have devolved into the predictable dick-measuring, bible-thumping, fear-mongering and flag-waving that it always does. If given the choice between McCain and Robo-Romney, I'd clearly take McCair despite his warmongering consistency. Throughout the Bush administration he hasn't been afraid to ask for accountability. And frankly, while I don't think the Democrats are proposing this, precipitous withdrawal from Iraq would be a mistake. Going into Iraq was a bicentennial calamity, but what's done is done. It's like sunk cost in economics...you can't think about money already spent when evaluating the path forward. What's done is done. Now what do we do from here?

Thankfully, it appears that the Huck-demon has been exorcised. I hope Ron Paul stays in and throws bombs as long as he can, although his version of libertarianism is anathema to me. I'm also thankful that the megalomaniac Giuliani seems to have been neutered, lest we best Orwell.

By the way, I read somewhere that our new Attorney General had put a portrait of Orwell on his office wall. How long until the election? I'm hoping for the following question in a future debate:

MR. RUSSERT: Would each of you support an AG that hung a portrait of Orwell in his/her office?

As if you couldn't tell...

My "Poem" below occured after the last drop of Chivas began to wreak havoc on my questionable liver...

Poem, maybe.

And don't forget, the men and women that we quote, revere, and dogmatize are still men and women.

When they arrive home in the evenings, they are harried by their spouses about their uncut hair, ill-kempt pants, and shabby shirts.

Listening to the daily gossip, they feign interest or ignorance. They still must take their pills, drink their liquor, ingest their tobacco, and do their business.

And after they've eaten their frozen whatnot and watched their reality slop on the TV, they head off to bed. And sleep is not easy. Sleep is the hardest of all.

They've awakened finally yet fitfully, tossing back deathly dreams, and it's time to face another day. Not dispirited, they go.

PED's in Sports

Performance Enhancing Drugs in Professional Sports. I'm going to hit it theoretically first. I'm sure this argument has been made many times, but our professional athletes are our gladiators, with the exception that our athletes choose to enter the arena. In this case, when I am a spectator and the subjects are basically meat...albeit they've chosen to be meat...what do I care what they've done to their bodies? Let 'em get the glory, money and the girls, they'll burn out quickly. They're adults and they should be able to choose. If they choose to burn fast and brightly, who am I to say that's wrong. We live in a chemical society, but is it really so different than societies of our ancestors? Do you think that if the Romans knew of steroids they wouldn't have pumped it into the veins of their warriors?

But there's the rub. What about the kids who want to be warriors? There's lots of non-moneyed kids that see no future in being anything except a warrior. So what do we do? Invest in high-technology, high-cost, and potentially civil-liberty encroaching testing regimes for all children involved in athletics? Decide that as a culture we will have a chemically-enhanced warrior class? Bitch of a question.

Option 1: Allow the chemically-enhanced warrior class. Freedom of choice. But spend bundles of money on testing the 18 and unders that don't have freedom of choice. The cheaters tend to always outwit the testers...the old proactive vs. reactive argument.

Option 2: Test everyone all the time. Massive cost and massive first amendment issues. Still the cheaters will be ahead of the testers.

Option 3: Do Nothing. Leave it up to the parents and local authorities. Some parents and local authorities will be unscrupulous and not protect the well being of children.

Option 4: You tell me....

Not surprisingly, some people over at Reason Online share some of my opinions. Just read this article. I really wish it delved deeper into testing and underage athletes.

WNC Podcast

I've been consume with podcasts for the past couple of years. Every day at work and at night I'd consume all of the best radio and internet audio possible. Basically, podcasts are Tivo for radio and internet audio. True on-demand listening. I've been in a bit of a lull lately...I'm way behind on "Wait, wait don't tell me" from NPR and "Anything you ever wanted to know" from KERA.

I guess KERA was the closest thing I'd ever listened to that approximated local content. I've been reading the local blogs now for several months and have recommended many of them to you. Especially West and Clear, which brings various FW bloggers together. They're the Led Zeppelin of FW bloggers. Well, since a few of them drop by here every now and again and I'd hate for them to get big heads, maybe they're the Asia of FW bloggers. Anyhow, they do a weekly podcast that I just got caught up with. They cover all FW local issues political, recreational, gustatorial, etc. So, podcast veterans and novices should check 'em out here.

Guys, if you need someone to sit in, I'll buy the beer (and it won't be Lone Star.)

7th & Throck - Park Needed

Anybody know the plans for the former Landmark tower site at between 7th and 8th and Throck and Houston? I drive by there everyday and walk around there a lot. I think this would be a fantastic spot for some central downtown greenspace. Wouldn't it be great if there was a big park with a fountain in the middle? The majestic FW Club building to the West makes me think about great inner-city parks in giant cities abutting great old buildings. As a downtown worker, I think this would be a great boon to the area.

Germania

A girl from Germany has been hanging around my gang lately. She's from Cologne (Koln). There will be more to come later, when she sends me some pics from back home. I've been pretty relentless in questioning her about German psychology in the wake of the holocaust. Apparently and appropriately, the feeling is giant communal grief and regret which has manifested itself in a kind of anti-nationalism. Saying "I am German" is completely verboten. Flag flying doesn't happen. She says it's way too early in the healing process. Actually saying that your German doesn't happen, so large is the the communal grief over the actions made sixty-five years ago. She also told me of copper cobblestones laid at the entrance to houses formerly owned by Jews. They list the names of the disappeared. No German steps on these cobblestones.

Coupla Thangs

Here's a list of the retailers planned for the Museum Place development at 7th and University. For former Austin residents, we should be excited about a Z-Tejas in FW...especially the brunch.

And here's a site for a bunch of jingoistic belt buckles that was up on my wife's laptop. Lucy, you've got some 'splainin to do.

Condensed Book Reviews

Recently, I've finished the last two Cormac McCarthy books. I'm really not one for book reviews, but I'll do my best...or something. I decided to knock out The Road, and No Country for Old Men on advice from a friend.

I'm used to the beautiful Faulkner-esque sentence construction, combined with the blood-and-guts brutality of his border trilogy and Blood Meridian. These latest books deviate quite sharply from his former writings.

They are both well worth reading and I highly recommend them both. I'll say that I can't wait to see No Country the movie because it reads like a screenplay. The Road, however, should be read not seen. This is no pulp fiction thrill ride. I've never read anything remotely like it in my life. No character in the book has a name, or needs it. The best books demand that the reader manufacture the scenes, characters, and interactions. This book demands a lot of the reader, and the reader is better off for it.

OK, enough book reviews. I'm reading some crazy shit right now that my mother-in-law gave me. She and I generally enjoy the same books so I'm sticking with it...

No Title

I haven't had much heart to blog lately. My heart hasn't been in it and my brain has been dormant. The dreary, seemingly endless holiday season sapped all of my vacation days while returning very little in the way of fun. Constant managerial shakeups at my employer. Political ennui stemming from the primary season. The turgid end to the Cowboys season. The bitterly cold weather that I will wake up to in the morning. I don't believe there's an English word to describe my state of mind, but there's probably one in German.

I've spent the first part of the week at an "off-site" meeting with my new boss. When I darkened his door at 7:30 AM the other day, I have to admit I was a little shocked to be greeted by life-size cardboard cutouts of Kirk, Spock, and Picard, among thousands of dollars worth of Trekkie memorabilia. I can't express the internal conflict in going from his holodeck-inspired A/V room, to his immaculately garaged Lamborghini, then out onto the yard where horses, dogs, cats, and every manner of fauna frolick unabated.

It takes far less than this to drive me to drink, but drink seemed the only refuge short of a Kerouac inspired road trip. I needed something predictable...reliable to screw my head back on. Luckily the lunchtime mafia was settled in at the speak-easy at about two (I can't give away names or places). After the four-hour lunch, we spent time at the former Pirates' Cove and the unfortunately-name Mule. My head was screwed, but not yet screwed-on.

Now I can't sleep, or see straight, and am accompanied only by a lifeless cat curled up like a breakfast pastry. What's to say? I have no wisdom to impart to you, dear reader. There's a shitpot of gas wells up in the north country, but that will come as no surprise. Also unsurprising, there's an assload of traffic on local highways that makes me glad I usually am able to reach work on major arterials. The cat just left and Dell is notifying me that if I do not find a power cord, I face impending death. As the clock nears three AM, I must look elsewhere for inspiration. The book beside me promises no solace, and I dare not turn on the TV...I'll go get the power cord.

Need Financial Answers

Finance ain't my thang so I'm delegating. This is directed at our CFO, Jim L (who will be bullish) and anyone else that cares to comment...

Admit it, we're heading into a recession?

Oil-profit laden Arab countries are buying the debt of our banks. How is this good?

We're funding the war in Iraq (and everything else) with Chinese investments. How is this good?

If we keep dropping interest rates like we did five years ago, what's to prevent another bubble? Wont it just create another rush to refinance or grab home equity? Thus kicking up home depot stock for a short time until the check comes do?

Roman Empire reference: how do we pay for all of our wars? While cutting taxes? Guns or butter? I'm starting to be serious about this now. Talk of empire was cheap 7 years ago, but we've really got to re-evaluate the situation. Ron Paul has a point, in my opinion, that we just can't afford our colonial impulses.

Jim, I'm going to need a better answer than "cut the corporate gains tax". I feel we're in desperate times.

Technological Convergence

As I'm slowly getting back to normal after the holidays, I have to admit that I'm facinated by the technological convergence we've seen this season with smartphones, iPhones, wi-fi enabled iPods, and the like. One of these days we'll have true robust convergence of all of these devices with richer content. But, I have to admit, I didn't see this particular feature as part of my dream device:

You know what a bother it is to carry both your MP3 music player and your Taser gun?
Worry no more.
Today at CES, Taser International introduced the Taser MPH -- the first combination hand-held music player and Taser.
The player, which has a 1-GB capacity that can hold about 150 songs, is embedded in a holster that slips on your belt. Feel the need to zap someone and you can unholster the Taser, use the built-in laser pointer to aim, and blam -- a couple of darts carrying 50,000 volts hits your victim.
And you don't have to miss a beat.

What's next? GPS enabled handgun?

2007 Best Of Fort Worth

First of all I would like to give thanks to the Famous Grouse, who has made this possible. Thanks to the folks that contributed. Unfortunately, this is a monarchy.



Song/Album that you dug the most (doesn't have to be released this year): Tin Soldier by the Small Faces. Forty years ago, but I had to go through hell to find it.

Book: The Road - Cormac McArthy. I read a ton of books this year, but none was as moving as this Pulitzer Prize winner.

Accomplishment: I accomplished nothing other than getting the blog back up. My wife has yet to murder me and the cats are all happy.

Prescription Drug: Xanax

Technology: 500 Gig external hard drive.

Shoe Store: That online shoe store that sells the flip-flops I like. The ones with the silly bottlecap openers on the sole. I can't remember the name.

Place to get a haircut: I like Sundance Hairstylists. Joe is missing a few fingers, which I think helps make the hair wash better.

New Purchase: my second iPod, after I left the first one out in the rain.

Pet: Our Poofus is still the best cat.

Reunion: I guess my 20yr, but it was a catastrophe.

Movie: Ratatouille hands down. Although I just finished "No Country for Old Men" (Cormac McArthy again) last night and I'm anxious to see the movie.

TV Show: The Wire is the best show on TV but I don't think it was on this year. I'll go with the Sopranos. I enjoy Dirty Jobs and Mythbusters as well. The Wire started its final season Sunday and I aim to enjoy every minute. Keep your eye on Snoop.

Spanish Language show that you watch but don't understand: El Rojo Vivo or some such. News show at 4pm with the two hottest Latinas you've ever seen.

Thing you've subbed out: Everything lawn related.

Addiction:Malady/Disease/Infection/Sore that won't go away: Got this thing on my elbow...

Day Bar: Shamrock. I can usually be found there at 3pm on Saturdays.

Nightspot: Oui Lounge

Drink: Chivas Rocks

Patio/Al Fresco Dining: This is an area where I think FW needs improvement. I'll cough up an out of the way joint...The Point. It's by Lake Worth, has good bar food and a great view.

Restaurant: Sapristi. While Del Frisco's rarely disappoints, Sapristi offers such a variety of great options that you don't get at a steak place. I've definitely had my most enjoyable meals this year at Sapristi. Sunday Brunch is awesome.

Lunch: My favorite lunch place, The Parthenon, went the way of the dodo. The best place to have lunch in FW is Bella Italia. It'll cost you, and it's best to know someone. It's damn near a private club, and that's the way Chef Carlo wants it.

Dinner: Steak at Del Frisco's. Plain and Simple.

Entree: I'd be remiss if I didn't mention my favorite Mexican food. This year I've become enamored with the Milano de Res at El Asadero. Mexican chicken fried steak that is three kinds of delicious.

Appetizer: Fried Oysters at Del Friscos. I was there the other night and we ordered them as an appetizer. This guy we were with liked them so much he ordered up a humongous plate as an entree.

Burger: Lili's Burger with the gorgonzola dressing is about the best thing I've ate all year.

Soup (the most anticipated category): Caldo de Pollo at El Asadero. If you have a cold or allergies, this will help.

Pool Hall: I think I've played 'em all, and Rusty's has the best tables to lose you money on.

Bar Tables: They all suck. Get the straightest stick you can find and shoot 'em hard...don't let the crooked table f you up.

Note on Pool: If you're really serious about playing pool on a good table with good sticks, email me.

Best Beer: Anywhere, but I like Swithwick's on tap at Shamrock.

OK, I'm done for this year. Let me know if there's something I've omitted.

Polls

I think I'm going to ditch the polls for two reasons:

1) The high-minded resaon...such a low sample size severely weakens any statistical inference.
2) The low traffic makes me look silly.

Judge for yourselves the predominating factor.

Back

Back from holidays. Looking real forward to 2008. Peace be among you....or something.

Immigrants

I believe immigrants should learn English. Most immigrant groups, desiring to be assimilated, have also wished this same thing although it usually takes a generation. But, of course, there are zealots like Sen. Tom Tancredo (R-Co) for which this isn't enough. Tancredo, oblivious to history, says this:

"English is the language of this country, and we should not be ashamed of that. It holds us all together regardless of where we come from, regardless of our backgrounds, our histories. It doesn't matter. We need that thing to hold us together."

Sounds like he would like to sweep cleen any evidence of immigration other than the Mryflower. Sweep clean the Chinese and Irish immigrants that built the railrod. Sweep clean the Africans that, as slaves, reaped our crops. Sweep clean the humongous amount of work Mexican laborers do all over the country.

I think if Tancredo had his way he'd rename all of our cities. If you look at the names of cities, you see how diverse we are:

San Anonio = Tancredo would rename to St. Anthony
Pennsylvania = Penn's Woods
Vermont = Green Mountain

No telling what Tancredo woul do to Indian names like Texas, Illinois, Minnesota, Nevada, and Arizona.

St. Pat's New Steeples

St. Pat's downtown will finally get steeples after 100 years in the waiting...

Religious Right Backlash Against Santa Claus?

I'm wondering why there isn't a backlash against Santa Claus among the religious right. They rail against Halloween as a pagan holiday. While Easter and Christmas are clearly pagan holidays that were conveniently adapted to Christianity (Feasts for the changes of seasons...I think in Roman times it was Saturnalia and Lupercalia but I lack the wherewhithal to look it up right now.)

If he (Santa) sees you when your sleeping, knows when your awake, and knows when you've been bad or good, he's either a member of the NSA or some sort of omniscient god. Since it's probably not the NSA thing, I'm going with the latter.

If it's the latter, then Santa Claus is either the GOD or "a" god. Doesn't this go against the monotheistic claims of Christianity? The religious right certainly takes a more literal reading of the bible, and I don't think there are any claims about gift-giving, mall-habituating, red-coated elders that fly reindeer from here and yon. Clearly then, Santa Claus screws up the whole monotheistic tenet of Christianity. Why haven't I heard Bill O'Reilly or Mike Huckabee decry Santa Claus? Sure it's fine when there's a specter of witchcraft involved, as with Halloween. But, I would contend that getting reindeer to fly is certainly witchcraft.

Yes, I'm being hyperbolic and cynical, but again all I want is consistency. I wonder how many Christian children ask about the relationship between God and Santa, and I am especially curious about the responses given by the evangelicals. It may be easier with Catholics, because there is a trace of paganism intrinsic to the religion...worshipping of saints and whatnot.

It seems the truth is that Santa Claus is all about marketing, just like Valentine's Day. Some merchant in New York City read some stories from Europe and the U.S. and concocted what we now know as Santa Claus.

In 1863, a caricaturist for Harper's Weekly named Thomas Nast began developing his own image of Santa. Nast gave his figure a "flowing set of whiskers" and dressed him "all in fur, from his head to his foot." Nast's 1866 montage entitled "Santa Claus and His Works" established Santa as a maker of toys; an 1869 book of the same name collected new Nast drawings with a poem by George P. Webster that identified the North Pole as Santa's home.

Not noted was that this was in the middle of the American Civil War (which is the only "war" to outlaw slavery...every other nation seemed to figure out slavery was wrong without a war.)

I have no children, except cats who could give a shit about Santa Claus, but how does an avowed monotheist justify Santa Claus? For those that are not literalist Christians, it seems like a fun thing for kids, but for the hardcore Christians, I wonder how they can justify this? Rudolph's nose is clearly deviltry.

S-T Article on Our Friend in Baghdad

I'm certainly no war-mongering neo-con Cheney zealot, but I admire my friend Steve for making a decision to make some sacrifices to be part of the solution in Iraq rather than sit here and complain. Here's an article on him from yesterday's Star-Telegram.

More Polls

As a feller with quite a bit of statistics under his belt, I'm compelled to keep adding polls now that I figgered it out. However, as a feller with quite a bit of statistics under his belt, I realize I got me a serious issue with sample size and the resulting confidence intervals I can use to infer actual preference (along with some pretty serious demographic issues). Fuck all that. I encourage all readers to vote just for the hell of it. It's anonymous and interesting, and I can do some mild inference based on this blog's demo.

Consistency Found!

I'm always prattling on about consistency and hypocrisy. There's finally an organization that I can applaud for "Outstanding Consistency in 2007" award. And the winner is...Blackwater.

Blackwater shot the NY Times' dog after the dog refused to comply with their orders. Outstanding consistency. They treat everyone the same whether Iraqi civilian or canine. I have a feeling they view them both about the same, and both have the same command of the English language. Way to go, Blackwater.

It's five A.M. and I'm obviously idealistic, naive, and delusional

I was speaking with a friend the other day that is a died-in-the-wool advocate of supply-side economics that is knowledgeable enough to correct my misconceptions about the Laffer Curve. He told me that it was necessary that our government reduce the tax rate on corporations lest they would all relocate to Caribbean tax shelters, thus diminishing our revenue.

I haven't really thought about it until just now...a sleepless night, and I'm lying in bed thinking about the relative effect of tax rates on government revenues, what a life a mess can be. Back to the story, he's promised me statistically inviolable evidence that cutting taxes increases revenues, by the way. I hope to share that with you good people. But that's not what's been eating at my craw while I lie awake in bed.

What's eatin' at me is the constant assault on the patriotism of individuals and small groups coming from the likes of Bill O'Reilly and his Fox cohorts. A lack of patriotism for one or two folks while traditional (that's a key word here) American companies dive for the nearest tax shelter or overseas headquarters to avoid paying American taxes to fund the programs that they have lobbied to enact. If patriotism is so damn important to these Fox people, why don't they apply the same standard to the people that really have their hands on the wheel? (Answer: because they know who butters their bread.)

It's no secret that our government is run by corporations that pay huge amounts of money to K-Street firms to write legislation that increases their bottom line or eliminates their liability. But they do this while employing teams of lawyers and accountants to take advantage of every loophole and offshore opportunity to duck paying the taxes that pay for their legislation.

O'Reilly gets his ratings on a kind of traditional populism. He's a classic patriotic flag waving fear monger that is willing to shred the constitution if it means killin' terrorists. He conducts "War on Christmas" campaigns to rally the bigoted elderly Christian majority against the sometimes equally repugnant far left multiculturalists (that he labels Secular Progressives). It's a pretty easy fight considering his major demographic is the seventy plus crowd.

Well I've got a storyline for you Mr. O'Reilly. Stop being a hypocrite and start some true populism. Rage against the machine (that owns you). If O'Reilly were true to his populizm, he should demand that corporations that are profiting from war pay their taxes. Likewise, corporations benefiting from lenient regulations garnered through lobbying should pay their taxes. Corporations based in Nassau should lose their lobbying privileges (in the US, that is. They are welcome to lobby the government of Bermuda for anything they like.)

In conclusion, it's five A.M. and I'm obviously overwhelmed by idealism, naivety, and delusional thinking. I'll return to my normal cynicism sometime tomorrow (today) or the next day (tomorrow).

Speaking of Food...

I darkened the door of Lili's for the first time today at lunch. I've read and heard reports that I was missing out on the best new thing to hit the hospital district. They were doing a land office business so it took us a while to get in, but get in we did. Man, did I throw down on the Lili's Burger. This was a sloppy burger, because of the gorgonzola dressing, bounded by two jalapeno buns (that may have been biscuits.) It was a rare nap-inducing treat. Of the table of four, the CFS was also highly recommended, with the King Ranch Casserole and the Lettuce Wedge/Grilled Chicken garnering only middling reviews. They should have known to go straight for the burger. Soup was good too.

The environment at the joint seems equally suited to hipsters, business types (we saw a lady being interviewed), and your run-of-the-mill Joe...although it'll cost you eight bucks for a burg. High female-male ratio.

I may have illegally parked at Panther City Bikes, so I apologize for any lost sales I may have caused.

On a Lark...Adding Voting to the Page

Just for the hell of it, I decided to try out blog voting. To start out with, I picked the ever-contentious topic of food - namely Italian (or, in some cases, what passes as Italian).

So for the love of everything Stromboli, vote! I just want to see if this sumbitch works.

I guess I could have been more controversial and asked which type of music do you like best...country or western?

Ownership Society

I was reading an article earlier about how Greenspan and Bush were defending themselves against accusations that they enabled the sub-prime crisis because of their Orwellian "Ownership Society".

Then in this article about Iran shutting down Internet Cafes, I realized an entire new level of ownership society. Witness the following quote:

"Our people want their women to be able to go in the streets with respect and want their dignity to be protected," senior Iranian cleric Ahmad Khatami told worshippers in Tehran on Friday. "Our people want the society to be morally clean."

The keyword in the quote above is the first "their". Women are still property over there. I bitch quite a bit about about the erosion of freedom in this country, and I'm shocked that women have only been enfranchised for 87 years, but I really feel sorry for people with no freedom.

Which is reason enough to protect the rights we have. There are plenty of people in America that are willing to shred the constitution to make America "morally clean" in their eyes.

I urge support Chris Dodd's filibuster of the Telecom legislation that pretty much holds them harmless for their illegal collusion with the Bush Administration on wiretapping. I anxiously await what Sens. Clinton and Obama do to support Dodd's actions (I have a feeling I know how Ron Paul would vote).

Speaking of Bush's dint for Orwellian titles, I think the name of the legislation in question is the Protect America Act or some such.

Progress in Iraq?

You can't swing a cat without hitting three or four people trumpeting all of the success we're now experiencing in Iraq and what a great strategy we have in the "surge". I find all of this unsuprisingly short-sighted given that the "surge" was supposed to be about abating violence to foment political reconciliation and progress. No less a surge advocate than Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said this back in September:

"What we do can affect the outcome. But if we don't see progress on two of the three big issues -- oil revenues, de-Baathification, provincial elections -- in the next 90 days, it may not happen. And Iraq could be a failed state."

Last I checked, no political progress along these lines has occurred? Is Sen. Graham (for whom I have some respect for his independent thinking and tough questioning) ready to make a pronouncement? Or do we just keep dragging it along...?

Will on Subprime Crisis

Here's a quote from George Will on the subprime crisis that I find particularly salient:

Perhaps Washington's intervention in the subprime problem reveals the tiny tip of an enormous new entitlement: People who voluntarily run a risk, betting that they will escape unscathed, are entitled to government-organized amelioration when they lose their bets. The costs of this entitlement will include new ambiguities in the concepts of contracts and private property.

I like the analogy of an ARM to a bet, because that's basically what it is.

Scat Lounge Question + Whisky tasting

I have it on pretty good authority that there's no cigar smoking inside the Scat Lounge. Can anyone from the W&C community confirm? I can see both sides, but a few of our readers (and the writer) enjoy a good smoke now and then.

By the way, I attended a very good scotch and cigar tasting at Bar 9 tonight and heard that there will be another one next week on Wednesday about six. Scotch is provided by local distributors and smokes by my good friends at Tobacco Lane downtown (in the Sinclair Building at 5th and Main).

New Oil Maps

I love these new maps that show the relative importance of areas according to criteria. Here's a map that depicts countries by size according to their oil production. Click on the map to take you to where I found this on Andrew Sullivan's site.

Christmas Season - Political Jokesterism

From an email I received:

For my Democrat friends:

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, nonaddictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all.

I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2007, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere . Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wisher. By accepting these greetings, you are accepting the aforementioned terms as stated. This greeting is not subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for herself/himself/others, and is void where prohibited by law and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher.

This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.

For my Republican friends: Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Big Fort Worth Doings

Some interesting new developments here in Cowtown. Check out the opening night review of the Scat Jazz Lounge downtown and a comprehensive list of what's about to happen on W. 7th Street. Both on the West and Clear website which is becoming a really first rate local blog with some great photography accompanying the verbiage.

Churchin' Up

Scary.

Government may have dropped the ball in modern American society, but religion dropped it first, Gov. Mike Huckabee told Southern Baptist pastors Sunday night. "The reason we have so much government is because we have so much broken humanity," he said. "And the reason we have so much broken humanity is because sin reigns in the hearts and lives of human beings instead of the Savior."

Stones in FW 1978

Here's a video I ran across that claims to be from the infamous 1978 Rolling Stones show at the Will Rogers Theatre. My brother Bruce attended that show...can Bruce authenticate this vid?

Question to the Grammarians

No, not a book from the old testament...I have a legitimate question for the grammarians in the audience. My Strunk & White is in a box somewhere, so I'll defer to more professional writers. When ending a sentence with a quotation, what is the proper use of a period or a question mark? Should it be inside the quotes or outside the quotes? Example:

Marie said, "Steve is a crack-dealin' no-good sonofabitch." or
Marie said, "Steve is a crack-dealin' no-good sonofabitch".

I've always operated with the former, but I've run into situations where it's not so clear. Is there a definitive answer?

Gift Ideas

I'm channeling Martha now, so stay with me...

For pet owners that have shedding issues, I highly recommend "The Furminator." This is a serious hair remover that works. If you look at their website, you'll see a Golden Retriever sitting in a mound of hair. I thought it was bullshit, but I bought one and it works. I have not been paid by the Furminator Syndicate, but I believe in their product. They offer them in varying widths, depending on the size of your beast. Since we're overrun with cats, we have the smallest model.

As far as the "Best of 2007," you're getting a sneak peek at the esteemed "Best Pet Hair Removal Device" category.

Blazin Hazen

I don't really know how to describe this. I guess if you are feeling lowdown, check this out and you'll realize that you're not that big of a douche.

If you can hang on long enough, look for the line, "My dancin' will cause the floor to cook."

Austin in Top Ten Drunkest Cities

Let's hear it for Austin (with honorable mention to Lubbock) for making it into the top ten dangerously drunk cities in America. I've certainly been dangerously drunk in Austin, but you can say that about most places I've been.

My Kind of Restaurant Review Site

This post will be of interest to anyone visiting the Nation's Capital anytime soon. To sum up their approach to reviews:

Too often, restaurant reviews focus on the trifling aspects of a meal, such as presentation and ambience, and omit vital facts, like whether the food will cause you to shit yourself.

My View on the Mortgage Bailout

Two words: caveat emptor. If people aren't smart enough to know that an adjustable rate mortgage may "adjust," they should be renting.

Earth Lights

NASA has a great page of images of the earth taken from space. I liked this one the best. Click image for a full-size picture. In the large image, check out the Nile River and see if you can locate the Trans-Siberian Railroad.

Best of 2007 Contributions

It's time we started collecting contributions for the Best and Worst of 2007. I say "contributions" instead of "votes" because this is a monarchy (similar to our presidency) and I'm the decider (plus there ain't that many of us.) I'm open to any categories, but please email me here with your contributions (I'd hate to spoil the surprise for the folks that have been waiting anxiously all year for this moment.) For those of you that care to reminisce, here's my last end of year list from 2005. Here's some category ideas, but, again, I'm open for new ones:

Remember, Best AND Worst:

In memoriam:
Song/Album that you dug the most (doesn't have to be released this year):
Book:
Accomplishment:
Prescription Drug:
Recipe (I'm going all Martha on your ass):
Technology:
Shoe Store:
Clothing Store (Men):
Clothing Store (Women):
Grocery Store:
Place to get a haircut:
Place to get a massage (the societally accepted variety):
New Purchase:
Pet:
Reunion (heh):
Movie:
TV Show:
Infomercial:
Spanish Language show that you watch but don't understand:
Home Improvement Project:
Thing you've subbed out (i.e. lawn mowing, plumbing, etc.):
Game:
Team:
Addiction:
Malady/Disease/Infection:
Sore that won't go away:
Gripe:
Vacation:
Cigar:
Bar - day:
Bar - night:
Nightspot:
Live Music Joint:
Drink:
Regret (kinda goes with drink, eh?):
Hangover Cure:
Patio/Al Fresco Dining:
Restaurant - Lunch:
Restaurant - Dinner:
Entree:
Appetizer:
Soup (the most anticipated category):

I'll also take:
Biggest fuckup:
Most embarassing moment:
Public nudity (could be combined with above):
Crimes that are beyone the statute of limitations:
Feats of cowardice:
Public crying:
Public fighting:
Any trips to jail:

Thanks for your participation!

McDavid Studio

Anybody been the McDavid Studio? I'd be interested in the Brave Combo show on December 21. I haven't seen them since my wedding. Friday night, I believe.

Israel - I'm missing something

JimL mentioned in a reply to a previous post that with respect to Islam I need to "(b)ear in mind, they want ISRAEL dead too." Judging by the caps, it sounds like Israel is another third rail in our political system. I'm very curious about the geopolitical ramifications of Israel. What do I not understand about strategic importance of Israel (compared to say France or China?)

• I think it goes without saying that they are a huge net importer of American goods because we pretty much subsidize their existence, including the arms to occupy the West Bank.
• I don't know what, if any, their strategic exports are? Do they have any natural resources that are important to us?
• How valuable is Israel as a compliant democracy in the midst of tyranny?
• How much influence does AIPAC have in our government?
• Do they have huge investments in our economy compared to China or Japan?
• Is it the presence of the IDF and the Mossad that provide a strategic advantage?
• Is it that if we weren't there to protect Israel, given the large Jewish population of the US, they would be overrun by their neighbors and thus we protect them to prevent another Jewish genocide?
• Why are they not subject to the free market? We fund the IDF. Why can't they pay for their own defense?

(n.b. I'm aware that the British are ultimately behind the creation of Israel and two-facedly granted this land to the Jewish diaspora AND the Palestinians through the Balfour Declaration and other promises during the first half of the last century.)

An Encounter with Christianity

Some background...

As most readers know, I am an atheist. I am not a proselytizing atheist, because I hate being the subject of missionary zeal, and, therefore, do not seek to dish it out. Maybe I'm just a "live and let live" atheist. I'm not afraid to engage in religious discussion, but never do I attempt "conversion."

Now to the story...

I ran into a fellow this evening at the cigar store. I'd shared a smoke with him many times before, but all conversations had been bereft of religious discourse. How we got onto the subject of religion, I do not know. He presented possibly the most compassionate view of Christianity that I've ever encountered. The man spoke of Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit and how they are the agents of love, not hatred. Passionately the man spoke of judgement, especially eternal judgement, and how it was singularly not up to him to decide. That's God's job, he said, and I'm just here to love all people.

I was gobsmacked. Here's a full-bore Southern Christian man preaching against judgement and prejudice. Here's a religious man I can deal with, I thought to myself. He was not bothered by my atheism, but spoke of how he enjoyed my company and sought to treat me as Jesus would have wanted him to treat me.

I guess this was because I was white and straight. As the conversation proceeded, I prompted him on slavery in the bible. "Oh, that's what they did back then, " he said. Slavery in America wasn't stopped until about 150 year ago, I said. "Then the black folks didn't have it that bad, " he retorted. "The Jews were slaves for thousands of years. Blacks in America didn't have it near that bad." Uh, oh. I thought.

And then to gayness. He told me about how the bible explicitly forbade homosexuality and that he, for one, could never have a gay friend. "What happened to not judging and loving all people as Jesus wanted?" I asked. He remarked that it was against God's will. I asked about the condonement of slavery being God's will. That's different. "That's just what was done back then, " he repeated.

This man is, to me, a very nice fellow and, coincidentally, in a business not at all foreign to homosexualism. I've enjoyed his conversation in the past, on more blase subject, and I assume I will in the future. I departed with an "enjoyed talkin' to you about religion without breaking out into a fight" collegial handshake. So goes my latest brush with Christianism.

Consistency, people. That's all I want. I'm an avowed relativist and I'll accept "it depends" as an answer. Please don't tell me that your an absolute literalist and then pick the parts you like.

NIE Stuff

The National Intelligent Estimate on Iran was released yesterday. The NIE represents the combined wisdom (?) of all the U.S. intelligence agencies. It said that Iran had ceased their nucular weapons program like four years ago. Of course, the Bush administration was very aware of this and has been actively sitting on the information while actively rattling sabers about airstrikes on Iran and talking about WWIII.

I'd like to be able to conjure up a cogent syllogism to define why this may have happened but I can't seem to figure it out. Here's all I can figure:

1. It's better for the Republicans to be on a war footing because they feel it helps them politically.
2. Republicans, especially Cheney, hates and distrusts the CIA.
3. There is some precedent for not trusting the CIA, especially as it applies to WMD in the Middle East.
4. Releasing the report could make the Bush administration look silly, given all the saber rattling.

What I don't get is that the administration knew the report would eventually be made public, so why the runup to WWIII which is only likely to stir memories of them charging into Iraq under false pretenses...and all of this in the middle of a presidential election? Has their political acumen been so far reduced by the resignation of Rove? Do they really think that the public will buy the "we don't trust the CIA" rubrik? Why didn't they trumpet this to high-heavens when they found out about it, thereby equating Iran with the likes of Libya as a nation that was cowed into submission by their brilliant invasion of Iraq?

This just doesn't make sense to me.

Am I Biased?

I was hit the other night with a claim that I was biased, despite my claims that I am an independent. I'd love to criticize Democrats, but a pig has to eat and he goes where the food is.

I've been sketching out posts about two notable stories that are out:

1. Karl Rove said the war is the Democrats fault, based on his comments in an interview with Charlie Rose. Bush Chief of Staff Andrew Card completely repudiated this claim. There's also plenty of text and voice that absolutely disputes this claim. I checked right wing blogs and never saw this mentioned.

2. Giuliani charged the taxpayers for his dalliances with his current wife Judith, while he was Mayor and married to Donna Hanover. The evidence seems to be quite conclusive that Giuliani paid cops to cover him while he was diddling sweet Judith. Does America care? I checked right wing blogs and saw this deep down on Drudge's page. Never saw it on the National Review Online.

3. Hillary planted a gay General at the YouTube debate. This is currently addressed, as far as my research shows, on all left wing blogs. Front page top story at talkingpointsmemo.com.

Answer...yeah I'm biased because I hate these fucking idiots that are running my country. And so does everyone else....

Giuliani Troubles

We need to address what the right-wing cares about most...did Giuliani ever get a blowjob from his mistress in Gracie Mansion?

Tivo Alert

O'Reilly to Debate Alf. Tonight! I guess we'll see who the real puppet is.

Teddy Bear Imbroglio

I thought I'd seen everything. There are riots in the streets of Khartoum calling for the head of the fifty-something British teacher who had the temerity to name a Teddy Bear "Mohammed." The fifteen-day jail sentence was just far too lenient.

TEN THOUSAND people, some carrying knives and sticks, have marched on the capital of Sudan calling for the teacher jailed for naming a teddy bear Mohammed to be shot.

To be shot. I've long held that the arrogance of the Bush administration and their hubristic myopia with respect to other cultures has done the United States a great disservice (to put it very, very mildly.) But this, to me, is just too fucked up. Is this eighth-century bloodlust just a manifestation of poverty and hopelessness brought about by repressive theocratic regimes?

I doubt there's a very rich stand-up comedy scene in Sudan. Headline: 12 Killed by Angry Audience at Khartoum's Laugh Factory Open-Mic Night

Gumbel Bumble

For those of you who watched the Cowboys defeat the hated Packers last night, I think there's something we can all agree on: Bryant Gumbel is a shitty play-by-play guy. With four minutes left in the first-quarter, he had already mistakenly referred to the Cowboys as the Packers four times. At the conclusion of the game, he called Tony Romo "Rick Romo." My wife heard him refer to Brett Favre as "Frank." One time when Kevin Burnett came out of the game with an injury, Gumbel first said the injured player was Akin Ayodele, then said it was Bradie James, before finally settling on Burnett.

I'm sure play-by-play is much harder than it looks, but there's plenty of B and C-team guys out there that wouldn't make these fundamental errors that smack of a general lack of preparation.

Plenty more agreed. I googled "Bryant Gumbel play by play Cowboys Packers" and got a ton of results including flubs not mentioned above.