Libertarian Librarian

Wow, This is Really Gonna Happen

2008-08-07T10:55:00.005-05:00

I will soon have a published book. Tremendously cool feeling. My history of the Town/Village of Caledonia is set to leave the publisher on Aug. 22. It weighs in at a fairly substantial 380 pages. It does have quite a lot of photos and other illustrations, but still a lot of writing and editing. I am quite pleased with the end result. Here's the cover:

Woot! Double woot!!

45 Pound Alarm Clock

2008-07-17T21:13:00.003-05:00

Say hello to the newest member of the Libertarian Librarian family:

This is Colter. He's only 5 months old and already weighs nearly 50 pounds. Yikes! He's a Newfoundland/Labrador mix. Best Dog Evah!

Got him from the local pound. Came housebroken, trains super fast, good with kids, likes to play but isn't too rambunctious (well, sometimes, but for a 5 month old puppy he's pretty low key).

He makes an excellent alarm clock. It his really, really hard to sleep through a big, happy, 45 pound puppy jumping on you and trying to lick your face. Maybe not the best way to wake up, but not the worst by a long shot.

Lots of new, lots of news. But more of that later. Right now my alarm clock wants to play fetch

A Great Way to Waste Some Time

2008-05-13T14:05:00.002-05:00

ted.com has some of the coolest, most interesting, flat out fascinating webcasts I've ever seen. Get a bunch of smart, talented people together and see what happens. What a great concept! This guy's 37 minute juggling/learning/space/art/motion/rhythm segment is mind-blowing.

Actually, most of the stuff on the ted site probably can't be considered a waste of time-- it's too informative and useful! But it is a great way to spend some time.

Condescend Much?

2008-05-12T13:27:00.003-05:00

Most reviewers are a bit pretentious, full of the believe that they are somehow better able to evaluate the worth of something than the common man. If such were not the case, they probably wouldn't be reviewers.

But this guy. Woof. This little gem, regarding Titanic, pretty well sum up Sean Nelson and his views:

If you are one of those unfortunate young people bamboozled by the stock characters, the corny melodrama and the desperate romantic window dressing of this disaster (of an) epic, don't worry: You're not alone. You just have terrible taste.

You're either with him, or you're a moron. Ugh.

The Neverending Project

2008-05-02T20:43:00.001-05:00

I look back at me, twelve years ago, and wonder how I marvel at all I have learned since that time. About lots of things, of course, most important amongst them, how to be a good husband and father. But also in how to DO things. Around the house and yard, I mean.

In the first apartment I rented out in California, at the age of about 26, the toilet that backed up one night and I had no idea what to do about it. Seriously-- I didn't even know that the there was a turn off valve for the toilet in the bathroom. I was pretty much clueless.

Enter the fixer-upper. When I got the job at UW-Parkside, we had just enough to buy a house at the bottom end of the housing market. Just enough. So, we wound up with a house that needed: walls ripped out, floors ripped out, other walls built, floors replaced. The bathroom was a disaster. Seriously, in retrospect I'm not sure how we lived with it for the first month we were there.

We gutted it. Found an old mouse nest in one wall-- one of the most vile smells I've ever encountered, disintegrated rat mixed with really old mouse urine and poop.

Over the last eight years I have learned how to do all of the following: Plumbing (sweating pipes, installing waste lines, replacing the rusted out crap water lines we had with all new copper lines, installing hose bibs, you name it), electrical (a challenge, since we have concrete block exterior walls and no basement), flooring (I can tile like a pro, baybee!), cabinetry, painting, siding, installing doors, removing doors, caulking, sealing, adding walls, finishing walls, trim work, planting trees, adding a garden, adding a firepit, and probably many other things I've totally forgotten we have done with the place.

I have tools now-- power drill, circular saw, jigsaw, sawzall, ratchet set, table saw, miter box, many screwdrivers, chisels, wrenches and various other hand tools. I spend a decent chunk of my time at Menards and Home Depot.

But after eight years, I'd like it to feel done, one of these days. Which it almost certainly won't. So, every now and then I have to go back and look at how awful the layout and construction, or lack thereof, was on the house when we bought it. And think about how much better it is now-- probably nearly unrecognizable to the previous owners.

Also worth about 50% than what we paid for it, even in today's soft housing market. And the kids are getting old enough to help me a little and to learn some tips and tricks. Which is very cool.

So,

Where's my saw?

Best Studio Ever

2008-04-30T21:10:00.005-05:00

Ok, back in this post I mentioned writing about all of the things I list, so this one is counting towards spending time with my family.

I believe that Pixar Animation is the best studio ever.

Take a look at their films: Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars and Ratatouille.

Crikey! The worst one in the bunch is probably A Bug's Life and that was a very good film. Lightyears ahead of Ants, which came out at the same time, and superior to almost all the other animated movies since-- with the exception of the other Pixar films. Toy Story is a classic that redefined the genre. All of them have a depth of script and character that is quite remarkable, yet all of them capture a simple truth of life-- or, perhaps more appropriately, recapture a simple and cherished truth of childhood.

Has there ever been any child, anywhere, at any time, that hasn't imagined their toys talking? Coming to life when all the people are gone? Or tried to picture themselves as a bug-- imagined what all those little critters were so busily doing all the time? Monster in the closet? Check. Okay, so maybe it was under the bed or outside the window, but we have all been terrified by something in our bedroom... and we've all wondered how it got there in the first place.

Finding Nemo-- see A Bug's Life, only with fish and with a story so well done that we don't just suspend our disbelief, we lose it altogether. The Incredibles? No brainer. We've all wanted to be superheroes at some time or other-- yet it isn't just another superhero cartoon. It digs much deeper, without losing its whimsy. Cars? People have been wondering about cars having their own personalities since the first days of the combustion engine. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Herbie, My Mother the Car, Christine and on and on. Cars just takes it that one step further-- what if it was just cars?-- and wraps it up with a sincere reminiscence of the days of Route 66 as the mother road. And a tip of the hat to NASCAR, to boot.

And now, Ratatouille. I had my doubts about this one. It didn't seem to fit-- nobody really imagines life as a rat, and most movies or books about rats aren't terribly flattering to the rodents. But they pulled it off. With grace and charm and wit and some truly fantastic and bizarre ideas that somehow are still believable, they pulled it off. It is a marvelous film. Not their best, but then their best is THE best.

Two other thing that Pixar does very well: they manage to make things that are generally only of interest to small groups-- cooking, fish, NASCAR, comic books-- and make them fun and interesting and engaging for everyone. And they manage to remember the past fondly without descending into the maudlin or morose.

So, what does all this have to do with my family? Well, I've seen every single Pixar film with my kids, and most of them with my wife and kids. Which is perhaps Pixar's greatest achievement of all-- their films are great (not okay, not pretty good-- great) for both children and adults.

Which totally rocks, because even as my kids get older, they'll still want to see Pixar movies with me. Well, maybe not when they are between 12 and 18, but pretty much all the rest of the time. The movies are that good and the memories they leave are that special.

Cat Herding 101

2008-04-30T09:08:00.002-05:00

One of the hardest parts of coaching 5-7 year-olds is finding a frame of reference they can understand. Whilst trying to teach them to throw I have discovered that the phrase "snap your wrist at the end" means absolutely nothing to them. "Snap your wrist? I can't even snap my fingers yet and he wants me to snap my wrist?"

"Throw off your left leg."

"Which leg is my left one, coach? Oh, okay. How do I throw off of it, coach?"

There's a lot of demonstrating, less verbiage.

It's actually a really useful lesson in rethinking how I express myself to others. I'm a very linguistic/verbal person-- I trust in my rhetoric and my wit to get me through things. But that doesn't always work-- not everyone is a linguistic/verbal learner.

It's also been quite an experience in grabbing, and maintaining, attention. 7 year-olds aren't too bad, they've been in school for a year or two, so they are a bit used to listening to an authoritative adult voice, but the 5 year-olds. Whoof.

Flip side, they remind me not to take things too seriously. Last week I was trying to explain the proper way to field a ball and one of the kids kept staring up into the sky. I couldn't figure out why.

So, I looked up. And right there above my head were these pure white contrails against this brilliant blue sky. It was lovely. So, the whole team took ten or fifteen seconds to look up and absorb the wonder of it all, and then we got back to learning how to get our gloves down to block the ball, rather than trying to trap the ball like a bug.

And the thrill that I get when they GET it, whether it is throwing, catching, hitting or something else altogether is one of the most rewarding things I've experienced in my life. Just watching them put it all together and come out the other side with a big smile on their face is absolutely fabulous.

It is also excellent practice in not losing your patience.

I recommend it most highly.

Caledonia: Journey to a Village

2008-04-29T16:57:00.002-05:00

That is the title of my forthcoming book on the history of the area in which I currently live. Not great, but not awful. Not my first choice, but not my last either-- it'll do, pig, it'll do. MOVIE REFERENCE!

Seems I might be a bit loopy tonight. Lucky you guys (guy? gal? Bueller? Bueller? MOVIE REFERENCE!)

Focus. Focus. Clearly a bit rusty here. Okay, so, a book about Caledonia, from 1835 to the present. Should be around 375 pages, altogether, with roughly a third of that being pictures, maps and other non-written bits. Fun? Yes, but also very time consuming and right now, at the moment of final crunching, rather tedious. I love the broad strokes-- it's the finishing touches that drive me nuts. Takes just as long, but it d/n feel like you're getting much accomplished relative to the time invested.

But the finishing touches are important. Otherwise the project/item/creation looks... unfinished. Not so good. So, a wrasslin' with the syntax, grammar and punctuation I will go. Do go. Have gone. Errr... yeah.

I think it turned out really, really well. I have to say I am proud of the work I did on it. And having an actual, bound book with my name on it will be most awesomely excellent.

Hopefully by this July or August.

Sweet!

Totally!

MOVIE REFERENCE!

Whoa, This Thing Is Still Here?

2008-04-29T16:45:00.002-05:00

Figured it would be gone by now, so little regard have I shown it.

Sorry for the long no posting-- so much time, so little to do. Or something like that.

Not that you care (You? Probably just me at this point of inactivity-- yikes, I'm posting to myself! The voices, the voices!), but I have been buried under, in no particular order: Getting the book finished, spending time with my wife and kids, coaching soccer and baseball with 5-7 year-olds, remodeling the house, applying for new jobs, learning how to be a better manager, playing online poker and old-school Nintendo games, watching a few TV shows, wondering what it would take to get Hillary to just go away, gardening/landscaping/spring cleaning and all the miscellaneous detritus of life in the 21st century.

Quite a list that-- I do believe I will do a post on each and every one of those topics.

Well, at least most of them.

No really. Just you watch.

E,S,L: Sports Edition

2008-03-28T09:53:00.003-05:00

I should've been a sports journalist. Seriously. I know I write better than most of the guys I read at espn.com or sportsline.com. Frankly in most cases it would be difficult to write worse. Possible, but I would have to really work to write that badly.

Mostly I let it roll off my back-- I like what I do and I like that what I do helps people-- but every now and then something truly egregious pops up and I do a literary double-take. Such a moment occurred this morning when I read the following:

Losing one front-line veteran arm was enough, but make it two and then add No. 1 starter Erik Bedard to a live underdog in Seattle.

This gem of a "sentence" is supposed to have something to do with the California Angels' pitching staff. Anybody got the faintest idea what it is supposed to mean? There is of course the fact that this is a fragment, not an actual sentence, but that is pretty common these days. No, I am more concerned with the content in this case.

The first part is comprehensible-- the Angels lost two veteran pitchers to causes mentioned in the previous paragraph. The referencing is weak-- it was not immediately obvious to me that the veteran pitchers mentioned were the ones mentioned in the previous paragraph-- but it isn't too difficult to decipher the phrasing. But what does "...then add No.1 starter Erik Bedard to a live underdog in Seattle" mean? Did we genetically splice a pitcher and a beagle? And why is this bizarre creation living in Seattle when we're talking about a team in southern California?

Mr. Bedard is never mentioned again.

Ah well-- at least we aren't using text messaging abbreviations in newspaper and online content.

Yet.

Can I Get an Amen

2008-03-19T13:25:00.003-05:00

Bit of a kerfuffle over Barack Obama's pastor and that pastor's commentary in some of his sermons. You might have heard about it.

I've been busy so I had not had time to watch Obama's speech on the topic until today. I've read a few others who have embraced it as one of the best and most profound speeches on race and racism in America ever, but I only just found time to watch it. Or if you prefer, read it.

Wow.

Seriously-- wow.

I like John McCain and I actually agree with his policies more than I do with Obama's, but after sixteen years of Clinton and Bush and the politics of vilification and obfuscation and triangulation I think maybe our country needs Obama's vision and eloquence and faith and, yes, hope more than we need anything else.

There are tons of good bits in the speech, but this one in particular resonated with me:

In the end, then, what is called for is nothing more, and nothing less, than what all the world’s great religions demand – that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. Let us be our brother’s keeper, Scripture tells us. Let us be our sister’s keeper. Let us find that common stake we all have in one another, and let our politics reflect that spirit as well. For we have a choice in this country. We can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism. We can tackle race only as spectacle – as we did in the OJ trial – or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of Katrina - or as fodder for the nightly news. We can play Reverend Wright’s sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words. We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she’s playing the race card, or we can speculate on whether white men will all flock to John McCain in the general election regardless of his policies. We can do that. But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, we’ll be talking about some other distraction. And then another one. And then another one. And nothing will change. That is one option. Or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, “Not this time.”Wow.

Amen, brother.

Wish I'd Said That

2008-03-13T15:33:00.002-05:00

Great post over at Andrew Sullivan. I wish I had said what AS excerpts or what AS adds at the end of the quote. But I didn't. So all I can do is link. I will add that, in the absence of ultimate fixes, it is vital to continually examine your current positions, beliefs and ways of doing things since what worked/made sense last year or ten years ago may be completely irrelevant or inappropriate today.

In Praise of Dexter

2008-03-11T19:30:00.003-05:00

A show about a serial killer with a moral code, if not an actual moral compass, and a job as a crime scene investigator-- blood specialist. Sounds crazy? It is a bit, but the wickedly sharp writing and tremendous acting by everyone in this Showtime turned CBS drama make it one of the best shows on television right now.

Dexter is only a vigilante serial killer-- he only kills people he knows really deserve to be killed. Snuff filmmakers, repeat drunk drivers who are not remorseful, "angel of death" nurses and the like. His foster father-- a cop-- trained him how to act normal even though he lacks most of the emotional and social responses of the rest of society. Now Dexter blends... and kills. But only those who deserve it.

Additionally, there is a mystery involving a different serial killer who knows Dexter's secret but is willing to keep it, for now, because they are playing a strange game of killer Clue. Plus, the regular drama of a good cop show (Dexter works in the squad room with the detectives and sergeants) and a fascinating love interest with Dexter's girlfriend. She was repeatedly raped by her ex-husband and consequently has little to no interest in the physical side of the boyfriend/girlfriend relationship. Perfect for Dexter who d/n really get the emotional/sexual things the way the rest of us do. Except that recently Rita is showing signs of getting past her past trauma enough to find Dexter attractive... could be trouble. And this is only four episodes into the show.

I'm not sure how realistic, psychology-wise, the actual concept is-- sociopathic serial killer keeps his urges under control except to kill bad people and manages to blend in-- but it is certainly a lot of fun to watch. And the show is well enough written and acted to suspend any disbelief over the central theme of the material.

It's wickedly good stuff. Hopefully they can maintain the tension, mystery and excellence.

Watch it, I think you'll like it.

Can't Unring THAT Bell

2008-03-11T15:22:00.001-05:00

This is just disturbing. Yikes.

More Reasons to Avoid Another President Clinton

2008-03-10T13:39:00.002-05:00

Despite huge financial, organizational and name recognition advantages in March of 2007, Hillary Clinton's campaign has managed to mismanage its way to being the long shot to get the Democratic nomination. What does that say about her ability to lead the country? As Andrew Sullivan notes in his continuing efforts to illuminate all the reasons to avoid Hillary Clinton as president, a Clinton White House is likely to be "a bunch of extremely unpleasant people being extremely unpleasant to each other."

Exhibit B: Barack Obama has chosen/developed the phrase "Yes We Can" as his catchphrase/slogan/battle cry. It proved very effective, so very soon after the Clinton campaign realized that it was gaining traction, they introduced Hillary's catchphrase/slogan/battle cry (after realizing that "Ready on Day One" was not gaining traction). Their choice? "Yes She Can". Now, questions of plagiarism and timing aside, which slogan is more inclusive? More expressive of a president that will listen to the people? Shows more understanding that the crisis that America is experiencing cannot be solved by one individual but requires the country as a whole to step back and figure out how to do things better?

Exhibit C: Rush Limbaugh, and other Right-Wing Airbags, is urging his listeners to vote for Hillary in the primaries. In part because he suspects-- rightly I believe-- that the Clintons are so enamored with power and their "right" to the nomination that they will do whatever they deem necessary to get said nomination, including ripping the Democratic party apart. In part because he suspects-- and again, rightly I believe-- that she will be much easier to defeat in the fall than will Obama.

Exhibit D: Obama puts many 2004 Red States in play. He will win the same big Blue States that Clinton will win (New York, Massachusetts, California, Illinois), but he will also put places like Missouri, Alabama, the Carolinas, and others into play. In part because of his broader appeal, and in part because of the polarizing effect of Clinton.

Yes WE Can.

Thoughts on the Primaries

2008-03-06T14:59:00.003-06:00

Mama H. asks for my thoughts, so how can I refuse?

I am happy McCain won. He has plenty of warts and I was very disappointed in his deal brokering with Bush that helped overturn centuries of U.S. opposition to torture. But I think he is far superior to any other Republican candidate-- including Ron Paul, who originally captured my imagination and then turned out to be nearly as loony as the pundits claimed. He actually does have foreign policy experience, unlikely Hillary, and he is the smallest government candidate outside of Paul. He is also not a raving Christianist moonbat like Mike Huckabee. So he's got that going for him. Which is nice.

I am thrilled that Obama is ahead. I just wish that the Clintons would go away and sulk in a corner somewhere. But that is not likely to happen-- they are too close to returning to power to abandon ship now, even when it would be beneficial for their party and probably for the country. I am hopeful that Barack will be able to withstand their negativity, mudslinging and machinations. To do so, I think all of the points listed here by Andrew Sullivan are valid and important.

Obama has run an amazing campaign and despite Clinton's "big" victories on Tuesday, he lost very little ground to her. It is very much his race to lose-- or Clinton's to steal. I suppose that last is what most concerns me. Once again, Sullivan probably sums it up better than I can:

The secrecy and paranoia also remind one of the Clintons' history, especially Senator Clinton's. From Whitewater through the long nightmare of cattle-futures through legal documents mysteriously "discovered" long after they were sought, to the secret healthcare task force that helped kill healthcare reform for over a decade, the Clintons are now following their long pattern. They hide stuff they need to hide and stuff they don't need to hide. What we are learning is that these people have not changed. And their sense of personal privilege, their boundless paranoia, and their constant lies about themselves must be front and center in this campaign. Do we want to go back there again? After Bush and Cheney, do we really want another couple of co-presidents in love with total secrecy and above-the-law personal privilege?

Why do the Clintons believe that they are somehow above the normal rules of other politicians? And why does the press allow them to get away with this? Why aren't there demands for them to fully disclose their financial details now? No excuses. No delays. Now.

For me, Hillary Clinton encapsulates nearly everything that is wrong about politics. More interested in power than the people. Secretive. Almost compulsively negative. Privileged. Willing to play the victim card. Feeling entitled. Blech. Double blech.

I will be very happy if Obama wins because, for the first time in my life, I will get to choose who I vote for to be the next president not as the lesser of two evils but as the greater of two goods.

That would be cool.

I Am Sad

2008-03-04T18:48:00.003-06:00

After 16 years at the helm of my beloved Green Bay Packers, Brett Favre is retiring from football.

Sigh.

I knew this day was coming, and coming in the near future, but after last year I-- as well as nearly everyone else who cared even remotely about the topic-- thought that Brett would be back to make one more run at the Super Bowl. It just seemed like all the pieces were there-- good offensive line, emerging stable of talented receivers, a go-to running back, a very good to excellent defense that meant that the offense didn't have to score 30+ every game, a young, energetic and talented coaching staff.

It's as good a situation as imaginable for an aging Hall of Famer whose skills are still top notch and who wants to buff his legacy a little more and maybe get another ring.

So, naturally, Favre calls it quits.

Double sigh.

In many ways I really don't get it. He came back last year despite the team's struggles the two previous seasons (4-12 in '05 and 8-8 in '06) and there were a LOT more question marks in the last off-season than in this one. So why now?

But in some ways I do get it. Favre says that being "mentally tired" is a big factor in his decision and I can totally understand that. The NFL is a young man's sport and, by professional sports standards, Favre is old. Younger than me by about six months, but still old by the standards of his profession. And he looked old and tired on that miserable, -30 wind chill game against the Giants back in January.

Can't say that I blame him-- I went outside during half-time of that game just to see what it felt like and it was unbelievably horrendous. And I was outside for about five minutes. Favre was outside for 3+ hours and was getting hit by some massive, fast-moving gentlemen for much of that time. I imagine the turf at Lambeau felt like concrete.

So, that part I get. Much as I wish he would stick around for a year or two more, I understand the rationale. And though his last pass in the NFL will now be a game-ending interception, going out after the amazying 13-3 season the Pack put up last year is pretty darn close to the story book ending that John Elway had a decade ago. He went out on top-- and there is something to be said for that.

And thus begins the Aaron Rodgers era. I do not envy that young man-- trying to follow a legend cannot be an easy thing. But I've liked what I saw of Rodgers last year (which, admittedly wasn't much since Favre misses so few plays). If he can stay healthy I think he can be a good QB. Probably not a Hall of Famer or even a Pro-bowler, but at least average and maybe better than... if he can stay healthy.

We'll see.

In the meantime I must echo a sentiment that is being expressed all over Cheeseland today:

Thanks Brett. You occasionally drove us crazy, but you were always fun to watch, you played the game with the enthusiasm and almost child-like giddiness that is so often lacking these days, and you helped restore glory and tradition to Titletown, USA.

It's been a fantastic sixteen years. You'll be missed.

Obama Rolls Through Virginia

2008-02-12T19:04:00.000-06:00

At least according to Matt Yglesias. Assuming the whopping 2-1 disparity holds up across the entire vote, I will be curious to see how the Clintons can spin the loss as anything other than huge. For some ideas on that count, do read the comments below Matt's post. They are really funny.

My personal favorite:

According to the linked exit poll, Clinton won among lapsed Catholics.

Everyone knows the Democrats can't win key swing states in the general election without the lapsed Catholic vote.

Therefore, the superdelegates should make Clinton the nominee.

Hee hee. Go Barack!

Meanwhile McCain is struggling to put away that pesky Mike Huckabee. The fact that Mike Huckabee can get anyone smarter than a toaster to vote for him is mind-boggling to me. And I mean no offense to toasters. Some of them, like this one, are quite bright-- for toasters.

Man, this is fun stuff.

Shorter Clinton Campaign Spin

2008-02-12T11:26:00.000-06:00

Really, only Texas and Ohio count. All those other states-- not so much.

Who Didn't See This Coming?

2008-02-08T13:47:00.000-06:00

Turns out Bio-fuels on a large scale actually cause more greenhouse gas emissions. What a shock. Yes-- that was sarcasm. Bio-fuels, in particular ethanol but also various grasses and seaweeds as well, have been put forth as a fuel alternative to oil and gas for decades. Turn them into alcohol and then burn the alcohol in modified combustion engines or mix it with regular gasoline. The conclusion has always been that the amount of oil and gas consumed transforming the bio-source into combustible energy was at or close to the zero-sum range. That is to say, to make a gallon of ethanol required the consumption-- through direct (ie, running equipment to make the ethanol) and indirect (ie., running the machines necessary to build the ethanol plant) causes-- of close to a gallon of gasoline.

On top of that, there were always concerns with side-effects like the incompatibility of ethanol with small engines (borne out by the fact that most outboards, snow blower, lawn mower and other small engines run poorly on ethanol and wear out faster, requiring people to buy more of them and more frequently) and the possible inflation of food prices as corn and other crops are converted to fuel production (borne out by the rapidly inflating costs of beef, soda and other products that rely on corn or corn byproducts like corn syrup). Plus, you get worse gas mileage with ethanol, meaning you use more of it to go the same distance as with gasoline. Now throw in the fact that more forests are being converted to crop production to keep up with the bio-fuel demand and the fact that sub-prime land is being converted to crop production to keep up with demand and you get more erosion, more runoff, more animal displacement and probably a variety of other ills.

Ethanol is a bad answer to a real and very difficult problem. But I've known that since high school when it was a big topic for several of the debate topics we had back then. How come it took billions of dollars and oodles of wasted time, energy and resources for so many people to realize it? It's a boondoggle of gianormous proportions that benefits nobody but the ethanol industry and, to a small degree, corn farmers.

Now, on a small scale bio-fuels can work. No doubt everyone has read the "I run my car on old French Fry grease" stories. And perhaps there is a breakthrough in the processing that can make them feasible on a large scale. But right now, it's a boondoggle and if the government wants to help, it should be facilitating research into how to improve the process rather than forcing motorists to use a crappy fuel in their cars and small engines for no discernible purpose other than to line the pockets of those in the ethanol business.

And So It Begins

2008-02-07T14:49:00.001-06:00

I heard an advertisement on the radio this morning on my way into work and-- I'm not kidding-- at first I thought it was for Larry Clinton. It featured three "normal" people in southeastern Wisconsin talking about how Larry Clinton was really qualified for the job. What job? School Board? That's about the only thing up for grabs around here. Then I listened closer-- DUH!--Hillary Clinton running for this little office known as POTUS.

It just never occurred to me that there would be presidential primary ads in Wisconsin. Our primary is so late in the process that there has never been an election where my primary vote mattered. Given the thumping Romney took on Tuesday, my primary vote almost certainly won't matter on the Republican side as John McCain has it sewed up pretty tightly.

But on the Democrat side....

Well, that my friends is an animal of an entirely different color. Sort of a mauveish, tealish, gingham sort of color. Quite odd. But interesting. Yes, very interesting.

At present Larry Clinton (Yes, I probably will continue to refer to Hill as Larry for the rest of this post and likely all future posts) has an edge of Barack Obama because of her Super Delegates. Now, these folks can leap buildings in a single bound and melt steel with their eyes, so you can see how having 193 of these people to Obama's 106 is an advantage. But in the plain old, ordinary non-bending railroad ties into pretzel delegates, Obama is ahead 635 to 630. And the next several primaries/caucuses on the Democrat side are Nebraska, Washington, Maine, D.C., Maryland and Virginia. All of which favor Obama. A virtual dead heat right now. It would be hard for the two candidates to be any closer at this point in the race.

Which brings us to Tuesday, Feb. 19-- the day of Wisconsin's primary vote. We're in play. We will be bombarded by advertisements and visits like nobody's business between Feb. 12 and Feb. 19. Part of me can't wait. Part of me is dreading every minute of tedious advertising I will have to slog through while driving to and from work and watching tv after work.

But it is fun to matter, even if it only happens every thirty years or so.

Who am I voting for? Well, let's see: Barack and Larry have very similar policy initiatives and though the experience issue is central to Larry's campaign, it's hard to see how she has a whole lot more than Barack. She's been a senator longer, but otherwise she's been... umm... First Lady? This is solid experience for running the country? As for Barack, well I think this post over at Andrew Sullivan's place pretty well sums it up for me.

And their character and demeanor and oratorical skills could hardly be more starkly in opposition. Larry is tied to the scandals and muck-raking of her husband. She hesitates not at all to play the gender/feminism card. Her rhetoric is boring, pedestrian and still inevitably tied to berating George Bush and condemning the past. She has the charm of an iguana and the compassion and empathy of a rock.

Barack has Reznock, but compare him to all of the questionable Clinton donors and I think I'll take the young man from Illinois, thanks. As to demeanor, well there is really no contest is there? It's not a man v. woman thing or an age thing-- it's simply that Obama has more presence than Clinton. He commands attention, she demands it. An important distinction, at least to me.

And the rhetoric and oratory? Ye gods, what a mismatch. I watched the Tuesday night speeches to the assembled faithful and the contrast was not just startling, it was alarming. Larry has no panache, no passion, no themes, no... nothing. She's got nothing. Tired, boring, rote and rooted in the past pretty well sums her speech up:

Then listen to Obama's speech (part 1 on the left, part 2 on the right:

There are a few missteps that keep it from being truly great, but it is still a fantastic bit of oratory. He has the cadence, the delivery and the words to captivate an audience and the message behind the show is just dead on balls accurate (It's an industry term). He is a natural. "We are the change we have been waiting for" (The 7:46 minute mark of the part 2). I had goosebumps-- for a "thanks for campaigning for me" speech!

Now I admit I don't like Larry much, nor do I like her husband. I think they are political opportunists of the worst kind-- on a level with Karl Rove and the smart portion of the mean portion of the Republican party. But even if I believed her, and I most definitely don't, I see nothing in her skill set that makes me think she'll be able to accomplish most of what she envisions. And I don't think she'll win in the fall-- she's too polarizing. There are too many people that actively dislike her and all that she and her husband embody. I think McCain trounces her-- I know I'll vote for John in a heartbeat over Larry.

But Barack... well, that's a different story. It's close and things may well change between now and November-- but right now I'd vote for Obama over McCain.

He's got the mojo, man. Don't fight the mo.

Yes we can.

Also Spooky

2008-01-30T09:29:00.000-06:00

Though in a completely different realm. This past Saturday Milwaukee's two I-A men's college basketball teams, Marquette and UW-Milwaukee, both played at home. Their home arenas are across the street from each other-- Marquette at the Bradley Center and UWM at the U.S. Cellular Arena (the Bradley Center is on the far left, the U.S. Cellular Arena just to the right with the white roof, behind the red brick building). Both games tipped off a few minutes after 7 pm Central time and the two games ended within a minute of each other.

All coincidental enough. But here's the really spooky thing. Both Milwaukee teams won. Both scored 79 points. And both of their opponents scored 71.

Zoinks. What are the odds of both games ending 79-71? Across the street from each other at nearly the exact same time?

And since I am mentioning my alma mater UWM Panthers-- what a season they are having! Shortly before the start of the season Coach Rob Jeter kicked his leading scorer from the year before off the team for violating team rules and being a disruptive force on the team. They won three of their first four games against total cupcakes, but once they hit better opposition they lost six in a row to fall to 3-7.

At which point Jeter kicked Torre Johnson off the team for violating team rules and being a disruptive force on the team. At the time Johnson was the team's leading scorer this year-- averaging over 17 points a game. Which left me with the belief that, since this season was already in the tank, Jeter was cleaning house of all the bad apples with the vision of better chemistry and respect for the rules in seasons to come.

Funny thing though, since kicking Johnson off the team the Panthers have gone on a tear, winning nine of their last ten and moving into third place in their conference. Quite amazing. A testament to Jeter's coaching and the importance of team chemistry.

Congrats Rob Jeter.

Spooky

2008-01-28T15:46:00.000-06:00

I am not sure what this little You-Tube gem means, nor how or why someone thought to make it, but it is both awesome and spooky:

And in other political news, Obama is now edging ahead of Clinton in Colorado. Plus, Ted Kennedy has endorsed Obama.

Maybe the Hillary camp should have Bill go back out and wave his finger at the cameras some more.

Oops. Wrong video. ;->

Bush Gets One Right

2008-01-28T15:23:00.001-06:00

I will get some oxygen ready for BP if he happens by in the near future, but I think even he would agree that this Executive Order is a good thing for the country. Earmarks are a scourge to our economy and our country as a whole, greatly facilitating Congress' ability to kowtow to the lobbyists without ever having to acknowledge their complicity to the actual voters.

Granted, Bush should've done this years ago-- back when his party was running things in Congress and blowhard hogmeisters like Ted Stevens were ramming through ever piece of pork they could dream up-- but better late than never. And yet another argument for divided government.

Get Back

2008-01-28T14:43:00.000-06:00

That was the song that was number 1 on the Billboard charts on my birthday. Not too shabby-- hard to top The Beatles. On the day of my wedding, however, I am stuck with the Macarena. Blech. I do not recognize the two songs that were #1 when my children were born: "Too Close" by Next and "Doesn't Really Matter" by Janet. Apparently single-name artists were big when my kids were born.

Curious what was number 1 when you were born? Go here. Kinda fun.

One, One Awesome Web Site!

2008-01-24T08:55:00.000-06:00

Ah, hah hah!

If you like counting with Sesame Street's Count, then this site is for you. Just click on the picture of the Count off the front page and, voila!, 58! Fifty-eight wonderful clips of the Count... counting!

Ah, hah hah!

My Socks RAWK!

2008-01-14T08:54:00.001-06:00

Seriously, I believe they may have mystical powers. Why, you ask? What, you won't take my word for it? Huh, skeptics.

Ok, ok. Here's why, and every word is true:

Between 3:30 and 6:30 this past Saturday afternoon, Wisconsin shut down. Well, not entirely-- the bars were probably pretty rocking. But a huge portion of the state was undoubtedly glued to the TV as the Packers vs. Seahawks playoff game kicked off. At 13-3 during the regular season, the Packers were a heavy favorite. I am planted on my couch, wearing my Packer jersey and Packer hat.

First series, Packers' ball. Pass, completion to running back Ryan Grant, fumble... Seahawks' ball at the 1 yard line. Next play, Shaun Alexander scores a touchdown. 7-0 Seattle. urk.

Second series, Packers' ball. Grant runs for 8 yards. Nice. Next play, Grant runs for 6 yards. Nice... oh wait. Grant fumbled again. Seahawks' ball at midfield. urk. Several plays later Matt Hasselbeck throws a touchdown. 14-0 Seattle. double urk. 72,000+ fans at Lambeau Field are stunned.

At this point I take stock. Don Hutson jersey. Check. NFC North Champions hat. Check. Special game day tie-dyed socks. Ch... URK! I'm just wearing regular sweat socks, not the green/gold/barf colored socks my children made for me at the start of the season. I had worn them for all 13 of the Packers' wins, but had forgotten to wear them (truth!) for two of the three losses. Clearly, they are magical socks, imbued with mystical powers.

AND I WASN'T WEARING THEM!

Run upstairs, rabidly dig through a pile of clean clothes that have yet to be put away. Yes! There's the brownish, puicish color of the socks where the green, yellow and red (why red? I dunno, my 7-year-old son thought it would be cool) dyes all smudged together. Run downstairs, rip off my other socks and jam on the tie-dyes.

Next Packers drive: Six plays, crisp, efficient, TOUCHDOWN! 14-7, Seahawks. My socks are good.

Next Seahawks drive: Three and out. Punt. Pack takes over, and Ryan Grant cracks off several big runs. Nine plays later Ryan Grant is powering into the end zone from one yard out. TOUCHDOWN! 14-14 and now Lambeau Field is LOUD! I knew my socks were good, but wow, what a turn around.

Next Seahawks possession. On 2nd and 19, Hassellbeck hits his tight end, Marcus Pollard, in the flat. As Pollard starts to turn to run upfield, safety Atari (man I loved the Atari 2600 as a kid) Bigby drills him and the ball pops loose. Packers ball on the Seahawks' 18 yard line! Three plays later Brett Favre is lofting a gorgeous little fade pass into the end zone where it is snagged by Greg Jennings. 21-14 Packers and I have to restrain my urge to kiss my own socks.

And so it would go. After the disastrous first 4 minutes in which Green Bay turned the ball over twice and dug themselves a big 14-0 hole, they played nearly flawless football. And not to put too fine a point on it, but it all started with ME CHANGING MY SOCKS!!!!

My socks rawk.

It's good to be a Packers fan today. Very, very good. And what a great story Ryan Grant is-- a complete unknown (he was the 3rd string back for the NY Giants when he was traded to the Packers before the start of the season) he exploded onto the scene halfway through the year when the Packers' other two running backs got hurt. Since that time he is second in the NFL in rushing yards behind only 1st ballot hall-of-famer Ladanian Tomlinson. He set the Packers' all-time playoff yardage record on Saturday, rolling to 201 yards. He's a smart kid-- two degrees from Notre Dame-- and did not let the two early fumbles get him down. Instead, he set out to make amends.

And boyhowdy, did he ever.

What a magical season this has been for the Packers and their fans. Picked by most experts to finish 9-7 or worse (I figured they were 9-7 or maybe 10-6 if they got lucky) and behind the Bears and Vikings (and in some cases, dead last) in the NFC North they have instead gone 13-3 and won the division. The youngest team in the league (and that's with 38-year-old Favre at the QB position), they have gelled as a team in all phases of the game. Unselfishly and coherently.

Case in point-- Greg Jennings, a mere second year player, has become Favre's go to receiver at the goal line, replacing longtime favorite receiver and pro-bowler, Donald Driver. On some teams (think Dallas and Terrell Owens) the supplanted receiver would have pouted and whined about the decrease in his stats (which correlates to $ come contract time). Driver simply smiled and continued to catch first down passes to get the Packers to the red zone, happy for his teammate and satisfied with helping the team win.

Hopefully, the Packers keep rolling for two more games, but even if they were to lose next Sunday (and if there's a hotter NFC team than GB, it's their opponent this week, the New York Giants) this has been a tremendously fun season. Favre has looked as good as he ever has, the defense has progressed from good, to great, to dominant and Grant has added the running dimension to the team that was the one missing ingredient early in the season. Oh, and special teams. I would be remiss not to mention how great the special teams units have been this year.
During the perennial playoff visits and Super Bowl appearances in the 1990s, the return and kicking games of the Packers was always very good to excellent. Since that time it has ranged from adequate to awful. Until this year. This year I don't hold my breathe when we kick the ball back to the other team-- our punt and coverage units have been outstanding. Mason Crosby has been money as a field goal kicker, and his kick offs to the 5 yard line or deeper have been a refreshing change of pace, helping to pin the opposition deep. Well done, boys.

And finally, a big tip of the hat to Mr. Mike McCarthy. What a job he has done as the coach of the Packers. Reined in Favre and got him back to playing QB like he did during the MVP years of the '90s. Got the youngest team in the league playing together and playing well against all expectations. Has his team prepared and ready to go, week in and week out.

Well done! Now, on to the NFC Championship game!

I Agree With Josh Marshall

2008-01-02T10:09:00.000-06:00

Doesn't happen very often, but Josh's outrage on his Talking Points Memo blog about the exclusion of Ron Paul from the New Hampshire debate is spot on and I agree with him completely. Fox News long ago lost any credibility in terms of "fair and balanced" but there simply is no justification for excluding Paul but including Fred Thompson... other than that Thompson says stuff that Fox News agrees with and Ron Paul completely opposes much of the Fox News/Bush Administration's policy and spin.

Speaking of Fred Thompson, I saw most of Die Hard 2 the other night and he was fairly believable as the well-meaning but fairly incompetent head of the airport under siege by terrorists. I can definitely see him in the role of well-meaning but fairly incompetent President of the United States. Except I'm a little tired of that show-- seven years of reruns is enough, I think. Given Thompson's polling numbers, I guess most of America is tired of that show, too.

Speaking of the Die Hard movies, I have yet to see the latest, but I do think Bruce Willis is probably under-rated as an actor. Die Hard 2 wasn't a particularly good movie-- a pale imitation of the very good first Die Hard film-- but Willis was still great as John McClain (which is eerily close to John McCain, no?). Ditto, the 5th Element.

But I digress. Excluding the candidate running 5th-- at 7% support-- but including the candidate running 6th-- at 2% support-- is completely indefensible. Hopefully the other networks and/or news media will call Fox News on it. I also love Real Clear Politics breathless inclusion of this line: "and - don't look now - Fred Thompson appears to have doubled his support in the Granite State." Yeah, from 1% to 2%. Going from virtually no support to almost no support really isn't all that impressive. Oddly-- or perhaps not given the disdain shown towards Ron Paul by so many in the media, old and new-- Ron Paul's jump of 2% (twice that of Thompson's bump) from 5% to 7% support is not mentioned at all.

Sadly, however, it now seems that Ron Paul is starting to triangulate/pander or that he is more of the nutjob that so many want to portray him as. The campaign ad is disturbing and discouraging on many levels. All that money that the Paul campaign raised from folks looking for something new, refreshing and not business-as-usual and that was the best they could come up with? Sigh. But regardless, with 7% support and a decent sized campaign war chest, Ron Paul should, without a doubt, be in the New Hampshire Republican debate.

Well, at least McCain is bouncing back into contention and the shine of the Rudy candidacy seems to be wearing off. Huckabee still has traction, which is mind-boggling, but I could be satisfied with McCain vs. Obama this fall. That would be the best match-up the country has had in over a decade. I think either of those two gentlemen would make a good president.

Dennis Miller: Schillin' for da Man

2007-12-21T10:45:00.000-06:00

So disappointed in Mr. Miller these days. Not because he's become conservative/Republican in his political views but because he seems a pale, sad shadow of his former self. There was a time when he was one of the sharpest satirists in the world, not to mention uproariously funny. Some of his rants were absolutely priceless.

But now... well, I listened to his radio show a few nights ago and it was just pathetic. Not in the least bit funny and the attempts at humor that were made consisted mostly of reflecting on how uncharismatic Hillary Clinton is and how Ron Paul was a "baying at the moon" lunatic. Color me unimpressed. Especially since there was a time when Miller would have embraced Paul as a guy that was holding the other candidates feet to the fire on subjects they would prefer to ignore or gloss over. Instead, he sounded like he was on the payroll of the Giuliani campaign.

And then there were the commercials. Honest to goodness, during one commercial break four out of five of the advertisements were Dennis Miller hawking something. I don't begrudge Mr. Miller the ability to capitalize on his celebrity, but it was like listening to the dude that sells those laundry balls on late-night TV. Blech.

Final nail in the coffin were the callers-- ye gods, they sounded just like the same chowderheads that call the Rush Limbaugh show. "Honor to talk to you, Dennis"... "Keep telling it like it is, Dennis"... "Would you have my child, Dennis?" Ok, maybe not that last one, but you get the idea. It was one big long ego stroke and not in the least bit insightful, provocative or even interesting.

Very sad.

Nice Beaver!

2007-12-18T16:55:00.000-06:00

UW-Whitewater's running back Justin Beaver was recently awarded the 2007 Gagliardi Trophy, an award named for decorated St. John's (Minn.) coach John Gagliardi, given each season to the top player in NCAA Division III football. Several days after receiving the honor, Beaver helped his UW-Whitewater Warhawks defeat Mt. Union in the Division III Championship game, rushing for 249 yards and a touchdown.

Nice way to end your college football career, Mr. Beaver!

Congratulations to the Warhawks on their National Championship!

The Division III championship is called the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl, by the way. Though the name does not exactly roll of the tongue, Amos Alonzo Stagg is certainly a man worthy of tribute in the field of athletics. He was a pioneer in both football and basketball and is in the college Hall of Fame for both sports.

Happy Turkey Day!

2007-11-21T08:59:00.000-06:00

Everyone be thankful for all of your many blessings. Here's a special Turkey Day present from me to you:

Oddly enough, I saw this entire episode about three nights ago. I hadn't seen WKRP in Cincinnati in at least twenty years and the Turkey Drop was the first one I catch. Beautiful. Brilliant. Hilarious. The show holds up pretty well, though the late '70s and early '80s clothing and hair is amusing. And the DJs are still spinning 45s-- actual vinyl. Only about 30 years ago and the state of the art was vinyl.

Reflect and appreciate all that you have. Eat lots of food. Watch football.

Life is good.

The Hate Meme

2007-11-20T18:32:00.000-06:00

I made a somewhat... pointed? provocative?... I dunno the right word, but I commented on BP's blog the other day about the evil of hatred, in particular the rising visceral hatred of much of the Left towards George W. Bush. It wasn't innocent-- I knew that BP and most of his readers hated Bush and I knew most of their reasons-- and I admit I was curious to see the response.

Well, here it is.

I think BP has rather vividly made my point for me-- hatred is bad, end of story. Because if you hate something, there can be no forgiveness, no redemption, no acknowledgment that the hated entity has any redeeming values or is capable of anything good.

"And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love."

You don't have to be a Christian to appreciate the beauty and truth of Paul's writings in Corinthians. And if the greatest is love, the worst must be it's opposite, hate. Just as the warmth and joy and peace of love spreads from those who share it, so to does the anger, bitterness and inner turmoil of hate spread from those who embrace it.

Hate stresses the body-- it makes stomachs churn and muscles tighten up in the fight/flee response. It raises blood pressures and makes us more susceptible to taking paranoid feelings and perspectives as legitimate.

Hate clouds judgment, leading BP to lump such things as "I hate Bush because he has diluted and distorted the Constitution to benefit a single Political Party", which is a legitimately bad thing that Bush has done, with such things as "I hate Bush because he says 'nuculer'", which is rather petty and irrelevant.

Hate spreads. Anger, bitterness, short-tempers, snippy responses, over-reactions, paranoia, assuming the worst. All symptoms of hatred and all very contagious. The old saying is "All it takes is a few bad apples to spoil the whole barrel," right? Well, think about the various "bad apples" that you've known in your life and then think about how much of that negative energy comes from hating-- hating their job, hating their life, hating people that aren't like them, hating people that disagreed with them and hating themselves. And think about how coercive and insidious all that negative hateful energy was on you and others.

Pretty soon reasonable, intelligent and generally affable folks like BP are so caught up in their hatred of George Bush that their ill-will for the man starts to bleed into anything and everything he is connected to-- most or all Republicans become evil, the media becomes "Teh Mighty Wurlitzer of Right Wing Media", and things that anyone who supports or likes Bush says or does can are automatically assumed to be wrong, misguided or "canards".

Now, I don't believe that all of BP's vehemence at the Right is a product of hatred of George Bush-- clearly there's plenty of hatred of Anne Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, Newt Gingrich and a variety of others. Nor do I mean to imply that folks on the Right hate any less and I do believe that much of the hate that Bush inspires is a direct result of his embrace of Karl Rove's dirty tricks, negative attacks and policies to marginalize the middle.

I also don't mean to pick on BP, who I still find to be an intelligent, rational and generally affable fellow, but I think the vehemence of his response to my rather mild rejoinder to be wary of casting stones while living in a glass house is a pretty vivid illustration of why I think hatred is bad. It blows things out of proportion. WAAAAYYY out of proportion oftentimes.

Getting back to an earlier point-- hate precludes redemption and forgiveness. Case in point:

In short, Nick, the "Hate comes from both sides" is useless here until someone from the Right repudiates and excommunicates Newt, Limbaugh, Coulter, and Pat Robertson from our public discourse. In reality, the premiers of the Republican Party have been using 'Civility' to distort and disrupt any objections from their counterparts while using terms of disparagement and denigration to turn Democrats into Demons for the last twenty five years.

In other words, the other guy is worse AND he started it so I am justified in my own hatreds, biases and disdain of the opinions of those that disagree with me. I ain't changing 'til he does. Which is, quite frankly, pretty lame.

"An eye for an eye, and soon the whole world is blind." --Gandhi

There is a disturbing culture of fear, bias and hatred in our country these days. Much of it is due to George Bush, his appointees and his advisers and I understand why many hate him and his policies. But hating doesn't help-- it only feeds the beast.

Hating never helps.

Herein ends the sermon.

Never Misunderestimate the Backlash

2007-11-16T13:05:00.000-06:00

People often seem to take a twisted pleasure in taking an overstated position and completely embracing a similarly overstated opposition to that position. I suppose it's part of human nature to want to "one up" the other guy. Or something.

Anyway, case in point is the global warming issue. Some of the proponents of radical change are SUPER HUGELY SERIOUSLY AND MOST DEFINITELY CERTAIN THAT WE MUST CHANGE NOW OR BE IN BIG BIG BIG TROUBLE MISTER! Regardless of the economic, societal and political consequences of those radical changes. A rational response to this might be to try and weigh the consequences of climate change vs. the consequences of preventing/fixing climate change.

Alternatively you can ridicule those who disagree with you and advocate the use of cars with bad gas mileage, leaving your lights on for no purpose and generally being a complete A-hole simply because you can be. Which is basically cutting off your nose to spite your face.

In other words stupid. And the growing concern I have over the polarization of politics, culture, the media, education and just about everything else. The spectrum of positions and ideas on a particular issue seems to be disappearing in far too many cases, replaced by knee-jerk reactions and extreme intractability.

Doubt global warming if you want and question the extreme measures advocated by some global warming alarmists (I certainly do), but don't do things that promote global warming just to be a jerk. What harm is there to turning off unneeded lights? What downside is there to using packaging that is more environmentally friendly? Why not keep your thermostat set a little warmer in the summer and a little cooler in the winter? Why not provide incentives to industry to be more fuel efficient and less polluting?

Honestly, the middle-ground isn't such a bad place. Compromise is not a dirty word, nor does it mean those that broker it have no conviction or backbone.

Extreme measures nearly inevitably bring about extreme reactions. And quite frankly extremism may be the most dangerous thing in the world right now-- because it seems to be clouding the judgments of nearly everyone.

Must Reading

2007-11-14T10:59:00.000-06:00

Tuesday Morning Quarterback is my favorite online column-- by a wide margin. Gregg Easterbrook not only provides some fascinating analysis of football related topics-- like his contention that football teams punt way too much and would do better if they went for it on 4th down more often-- he also tosses in a variety of science tidbits, cheerleaders, and an occasional deflating of pompous politicians and celebrity types (The entry just below The Football Gods Were Torn). All with a wicked sense of humor and a clear perspective on just what is, and isn't, important in this crazy world we live in.

Check him out even if you don't like football. If you do like football then don't miss him. Every Tuesday on espn.com's Page 2.

The Genius of Parker and Stone

2007-11-13T19:55:00.000-06:00

South Park is a fabulous show. It mixes deep irony, parody, bathroom humor, scathing criticisms, cultural phenomenons, religion, politics, and just about everything else into a concoction that is nearly always brilliant, often hilarious, frequently poignant and always thought provoking. Matt Stone and Trey Parker are this generations Shakespeare.

Hyperbole? Maybe a little, but honestly the claim is not that over the top. Shakespeare pushed the entertainment envelope of his time-- South Park most certainly does that. Old Bill offered up scathing criticisms of his times and of the world's prominent figures. South Park: check and check. Deep at their core, Shakespeare's works resonant with basic human desires, beliefs and motivations. South Park does this as well.

Differences? Sure-- Bill paid attention to meter and verse creating lyrical language the likes of which has never been equaled. Parker and Stone... don't. They do use animation to great effect, something which Shakespeare certainly did not do since the concept was inconceivable in his day and age. But... in some ways animation allows Stone and Parker to explore subjects in as beautiful a fashion as Shakespeare's poetry. The recent Imaginationland trilogy, for example, really was a captivating and profound way to look at the effects of terrorism and fear on our psyches. And what other format but animation could allow a show to actually go inside of our imaginations?

Now, some might say that calling Stone and Parker this generation's Shakespeare simply illustrates how crass and rude our society is compared to Renaissance England and there is some truth to that view. On the other hand, we are lightyears beyond Shakespeare's time when it comes to equality, quality of living, individual freedom, science, technology and on and on. Shakespeare reflected back his times and also highlighted the shortcomings and absurdities of those times. Parker and Stone do precisely the same thing.

Of course, not all of Parker and Stone's creations are brilliant and thought-provoking and deeply irreverent and full of richly developed irony and scathing cultural and political commentary. But an awful lot of them are. And the exact same thing can be said of Shakespeare's body of work-- it isn't all Macbeth and Hamlet and a Midsummer Night's Dream.

Or maybe I'm off my nut. But I do know that South Park is the best thing on television by a far sight and that they've managed to maintain that level of excellence for 11 years now.

The Ron Paul Freedom Express Gains Steam

2007-11-13T15:49:00.000-06:00

Ron Paul is bringing together an unlikely coalition of Libertarians, non-fundamentalist Conservatives, anti-war Republicans, strict Constitutionalists, and-- as Mojo informed me-- a few nutbags like Mel Gibson's dad. And, amazingly enough, it is working.

Will it matter next November? I dunno. Probably not-- but in an age of discontent when news, rumor and opinion travel faster than they ever have before... who knows? Maybe.

I do know that Ron Paul is speaking for an awful lot of people who feel like nobody in the Republican or Democratic establishment knows, nor cares, what they believe in and wish for their country. To some degree, I think Paul's success is a reflection of the Democrats "Anybody but Bush" strategy-- people are looking at Bush and agreeing that they do not wish to continue the status quo, but they are also looking at the proposed alternatives and thinking, "Yeah, but not them either."

Don't underestimate the power of positivity-- politics has been all about the negatives for many years, but the last time somebody captured the other side it went pretty well for him.

Is it morning again in America?

8-1!

2007-11-13T15:34:00.001-06:00

My beloved Green Bay Packers are 8-1. I am happy.

I also apologize for the misgivings and second-guessings I tossed out two years ago regarding the hiring of Mike McCarthy to be the Packers' head coach. The dude is money and he does not appear to be at all ready to rest on his laurels. Which is music to my ears.

While the Pack is by no means on a level with the Patriots or Colts-- those two are head, shoulders and probably waists above the rest of the league-- I do think they are in the top 5 teams in the league. Not too shabby for the youngest team in the NFL with a 2nd year head coach and only one real name player on the squad.

Go Pack, Go!

Manny Ramirez: A Turd For All Seasons

2007-10-18T15:04:00.000-05:00

Game four of the American League Championship Series pitted the host Cleveland Indians against the Boston Red Sox with the Indians holding a two games to one advantage. Top of the 6th inning and Kevin Youkilis leads off with a home run! The next batter, David Ortiz, hits a home run! The Indians make a pitching switch and during the delay the on air commentators noted that no team had ever hit back to back to back home runs in the ALCS.

Next batter-- Manny Ramirez. He works the count to 3 and 2 and then smacks a ball DEEP into right center field. As the ball leaves his bat he pauses, drops the bat, and holds his hands up in celebration. Slowly, and very dramatically, he begins to saunter-- perhaps swagger would be a better description-- down the first base line and it is not until he has almost reached first base that he breaks into a slow jog. Still pumping his fists and wearing an F You grin for all the Indians' fans.

All of which would be annoying and egotistical and self-aggrandizing if Ramirez had just won the game. But at least you could sort of understand his celebration. The puzzling thing about Ramirez' reaction, however, was that his home run made the score 7-3... in favor of the INDIANS! All Manny's long ball did was to cut a late inning deficit in a crucial playoff game from five runs to four runs. The Red Sox failed to score from that point on and are now in a 3-1 hole in the seven game series heading into tonight's game.

It was truly the most shockingly blatant Me Me Me ME ME! first moment I have ever seen by an athlete. Which is saying something in today's world of overhyped, pampered and completely self-centered professional athletes. Honestly, Ramirez grandstanded almost as much as Barry Bonds when Bonds' broke the all-time home run record.

Yo! Manny! You super-sized turd of a man. The goal is to WIN you brain dead donkey, not celebrate individual achievements that have no effect on the final outcome of the game.

The very next day Manny pops off about how losing to the Indians won't "be the end of the world." While true in a cosmic sense, I have to say that this is not the attitude I'd want to see from the players if I were a Red Sox fan (which I am not, nor will I ever be). Actually, I'd have to say that this is exactly the OPPOSITE of the attitude I'd like to see from members of my team.

Simple math in my opinion: Individual Glory + Team Result Indifference = Complete Turd

The Death of Journalism

2007-10-12T13:11:00.000-05:00

I agree with many pundits that "old" media is dying out. But I guess I disagree with them on some of the whys and wherefores. It's not so much the format-- I still prefer sitting down with a newspaper while eating breakfast to reading online versions at home or work-- as it is the content. Journalism used to be about being as objective as possible-- reporting the news and letting the viewer process the information as he or she saw fit. And there was a clear and well-defined demarcation between news and everything else.

Over time all journalism has gotten far less objective and the line between news (reality) and everything else (entertainment) has gotten progressively blurred until today it is often non-existent. The trend is most noticeable on TV-- local news anchors "report" on what's happening in upcoming shows on their networks. The trials and tribulations of Paris Hilton and Britney Spears receive greater coverage than what Congress and the President are, or often aren't, accomplishing. And "casual asides" between the various people on the news set become common place-- instant editorializing. Fox News is the most obvious example of the trend, and they have helped push objectivity nearly completely out of the realm of TV journalism, but they are a relative newcomer a trend that has been accelerating for decades.

The trend is less obvious in the print media, but it is definitely there as well. Thus does the online version of the Minneapolis Star Tribune have a lovely "Builder's Showcase" border around its front page. And my local paper's lead story is that Tony Romo's father has cancer. Tony Romo is a local boy-- born and raised in Burlington, Wisconsin here in Racine County-- and one of the hottest commodities in the NFL as the star quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys. So I understand that people are interested in Tony and his father... but the lead story?

And in my university's school paper a recent front-page article detailed the drastic changes made to the Compassionate Care for Rape Victims Bill by Wisconsin's State Assembly. Which is fine-- it's an important issue for college students-- but the article doesn't even attempt to be objective. Words like "unfortunately" and "gutted" are scattered liberally throughout the piece and while the viewpoints of supporters of the legislation are included, there isn't a single reference to the viewpoints of those who supported the "gutting" of the bill. If this had been an editorial, then well and good-- editorials are all about opinions and espousing a particular side of an issue. But the front page is not the place to take sides-- it is a place to provide information and to frame the opposing viewpoints on a given issue. While I agree with the viewpoint of the reporter on the topic, I was appalled that it was so transparently obvious on a front page article.

Finally, there is the overall coarsening of our culture. This is not journalisms fault. Rather, I think journalism is increasingly reflecting a culture where there are no boundaries, where the individual is paramount and where everything is not only acceptable but also to be celebrated.
TV and films glamorize violence and shameless individualism. Reality TV blurs the line between fiction and real life. Everyone not only wants their 15 minutes of fame but feels entitled to it-- so that when it does not transpire in short order they feel a need to take things into their own hands.

Oh for the days of Walter Cronkite.

Jeez I'm turning into an old fart.

Fun with Hate

2007-10-09T18:36:00.000-05:00

Alright, maybe fun isn't the right word. But I did find this map of "active hate groups" to be quite interesting. A little disturbing to think there are that many KKK and neo-Nazi groups out there, but interesting nonetheless.

Things that struck me as odd about the results: Madison, the most liberal city in Wisconsin and probably one of the most liberal in the country has a KKK, neo-Nazi and white nationalist group in or near the city. Montana has an active neo-Confederate group. Montana? What are those southern boys doing way in tarnation up thataways?

Georgia, unsurprisingly, has a lot of neo-Confederate, KKK and neo-Nazi groups, but they also have a large number of black separatists. There are actually more black separatist groups (10) than KKK groups (8). And what's up with New Jersey? They have neo-Nazi and racist skinhead groups coming out of their ears! Just as an aside, however, isn't the phrase "racist skinhead" kinda redundant? I mean are there any non-racist skinhead groups? I'm sure there are non-skinhead racist groups, but I don't think there are any skinheads that aren't also racists.

Tennessee wins a... well, not gold star... puice star? for having the most active KKK groups (14), though Texas (13) and Ohio (12) are in the running (Ohio?). California easily has the most racist skinhead groups (17), though Pennsylvania's bunch of nutbag skinhead supremacists seems to be the most organized-- they have nine such organizations... all called the Keystone State Skinheads. It's a like a franchise.

As noted earlier, Georgia has a large number of Black Separatist groups-- the most of any state with 10-- and while there are a lot of Illinois Nazis (10) that number is only a close second to New Jersey's 11. There is no comparison when it comes to neo-Confederate. South Carolina has a staggering 29 branches of the "Stars and Bars" revering League of the South. Florida comes in a distant second with 16 League of the South franchises. Mississippi shows that the south still has it when it comes to white bigotry and intolerance, holding the most White Supremacist groups (11) of any state.

The hate of the Christian Identity group seems to lack focus-- Arkansas currently owns the title of most hate-filled Christian groups, but with only a grand total of four such organizations. And finally, California rules the roost when it comes to General Hate groups, hosting a whopping 20 such organizations to New York's distance second place of only seven.

So there you go-- betcha did not realize that intolerance, hatred and violence could be so much fun kiddies! And just so you don't think this sort of thing is limited to the U.S., please be aware that there is a lot of international competition to be the most hateful and intolerant. By international standards, we are sadly lacking. Based on this round-up, it seems that Iran is the clear front runner. What a surprise.

The Last Gasp of Summer

2007-10-09T11:20:00.001-05:00

This past weekend it was in the mid to upper 80s. And humid. It was glorious-- the seven year olds on the soccer team I coach were panting during the game. Great fun. A small token to carry us through the long, cold, snowy months ahead.

Fall is my favorite season in Wisconsin. The glorious display of color that the maples and other trees put on in October is one of the things I most missed while living in California. Fall, like Spring, is capricious-- we had a high of about 58 just a week before the 80s rolled in-- but unlike Spring things don't get all wet, sloppy and grimy in the Fall because there isn't any snow to melt and make life soggy. And the crisp days when there is just a hint of winter coming but the sun still feels warm on your face make it fun to just... be. Just soak it all in.

Fall is also a time to reflect as the year winds down. So-- here is my report on My Summer Vacation.

I spent quite a bit of time with the family this summer, which is excellent. We went to Door County twice, I coached my son's baseball team and practiced with both kids on baseball, soccer and capturing fireflies. We went to Noah's Ark water park and also camping-- a rather soggy affair, but still fun. My wife and I went on a long weekend getaway while the kids banged around with the grandparents.

I saw two concerts-- a modest amount by many standards, but an absolute plethora of music by my norms. One concert every three years was probably about my average before 2007. Rush was good, not great, but Roger Waters was absolutely superb. Probably the best concert I have seen, though Peter Gabriel, Paul Simon and Eric Clapton were all in the running. Yes, I am turning into an old fart-- but this old fart can still rock! Waters was also during Summerfest, so I returned to the Big Gig for the first time in... well, over a decade.

Though they eventually blew it, it was great fun following the Brewers during the summer and a refreshing change of pace to actual care what happens in August and September baseball games. I should also note that I will sorely miss Bob Uecker when he finally retires as the Brewers radio announcer. He is quite simply the best announcer in baseball right now, and probably the best active sports announcer period. During the stretch run of the season I listened to a few Cubs games and the two donkeys they have calling the Chicago games were HORRIBLE. So bad I could only listen to them in short doses-- maybe two innings at a time, max.

We installed one of the blue vinyl pools in our backyard-- more work than I expected since the entirety of my yard slopes and I had to dig out a flat spot for the thing. Though not as deep as I would like-- only 3 foot-- the kids loved it and it is big enough that Jenn and I could jump in with them from time to time as well. The raspberry bushes I planted two years ago finally seemed to really take hold this year and the three little twigs I started with are now a pretty good little hedge of raspberry stalks that should bear quite a few berries next year.

On the negative side-- my grandma died, which was sad but not unexpected. She lived a good life and once you get to 90 (she died at 95) its pretty much a crap shoot. We almost burned our garage down, but thanks to a good samaritan and the prompt response of our fire department the damage was minimal. The MESS left behind was another matter. Soot gets on everything and is extremely difficult to get rid of. Jenn and I had to laugh the other night when a fire inspector was at a fire scene in a pristine white outfit. She looked around, determined the source and cause of the fire and walked out without getting a single smudge of soot on her lovely outfit. Laughable. Plus side, the insurance settlement was very good and Jenn was able to buy a Harley-- one of her longtime desires. So now I'm married to a biker chick-- which works for me. And I didn't get golfing as much as I wanted-- only four times all summer. But that's pretty minor.

Overall, I'd have to say that my 39th summer on this little ole planet of ours was a pretty good one. Still went by way too quickly. That's something that hasn't changed that much since childhood-- the lazy days of summer seem to slip through your fingers far too easily.

But now Fall is here and I'm okay with that. Fall is a good time of the year and soon pumpkins will be appearing on doorstops all around town.

Breathe in that air, my friends. It is the sweet smell of life.

Sheboygan's Shame

2007-10-08T12:54:00.000-05:00

Sheboygan is a nice Wisconsin city on the shores of Lake Michigan. About an hour north of Milwaukee, it is large enough to have most of the amenities of modern life without having completely lost the essence of small-town Wisconsin. A very nice place to visit, and more than likely a nice place to settle down and raise a family.

But man do they have a dreadful judge on the bench up there. Two recent sentences from Sheboygan judge James Bolgert make you wonder what concept of justice this gentlemen believes in. He seems to value the lives and rights of the convicted (key point-- in both cases the defendant had already been convicted of the crime) over those of the innocent victims.

In the first case heard before Bolgert, a man and his brother made a woman's life complete hell for nearly a year. She feared for both her own and her son's life. Over the course of ten months she received over 50 threatening letters that got progressively more graphic and violent in their nature. The letters would include details of her daily activities-- the two men, brothers David and Thomas Goetsch, were watching her and knew her routines. They threatened to burn down the homes of her clients-- the woman was a real estate agent-- and subscribed her to pornographic magazines. Several of the letters threatened to kill her by a particular date.

Both men admitted to their crimes-- the only question was how long of a sentence they would receive. The maximum for David-- the chief donkey in the equation and "brains" behind the stalking-- was 12 years. David's brother Thomas , who merely helped and is apparently somewhat mentally slow, could have received an unspecified term that would have been shorter than 12 years.

This poor woman's life was turned into a living nightmare for ten months. She feared for her own life and her son's. Her business suffered-- would you want a realtor who was being stalked by two nutjobs threatening to burn down houses? She feared to open her windows and couldn't sleep at night. She was subjected to this for no reason at all.

The DA in the case was asking for the max of 12 years for David and the victim was at the sentencing to make her plea to have the two men put away for a long time. 12 years was probably unlikely since Goetsch pleaded for a second chance and appeared remorseful, but a sentence of at least 6-8 years seems a nobrainer, don't you think?

Judge Bolgert gave the accomplice, Thomas, probation and David, the chief stalker, 18 months. Minus time served. Hardly more of his life than he stole from this poor woman, not even factoring in the longterm effects his terrorism of her will undoubtedly cause her and her son. Pathetic and disgusting. Abhorrent. Despicable. Unbelievable.

But perhaps better than the result of another recent trial in Sheboygan overseen by Bolgert. In the second case a 28 year old man-- an illegal alien to boot-- pleaded no contest to repeated sexual contact with a 15 year old girl. A young girl who is now pregnant with the man's child. For that crime, Gregorio Dedios could have received up to 25 years in prison. For reasons unknown, the DA in this case recommended only 18 months of imprisonment for Dedios. For reasons completely unfathomable, Judge Bolgert thought that was too much and gave him only 8 months-- and then knocked time served off of the sentence meaning he will serve only an additional three months.

3 months. For repeated sexual assault on a 15 year old girl.

Ye gods, what a disgrace Judge Bolgert is to the concept of justice. I have to believe that a few tears were leaking out from beneath Lady Justice's blindfold after these two sentences.

Time For Change

2007-09-28T14:40:00.000-05:00

I have reservations about Mr. Obama, but of the Dem front-runners he is easily my favorite. The most basic reason-- something different and we need different right now.

Hillary is... well, not new. Clinton name, Clinton ability to parse things, Clinton tendency to say whatever is expedient at the time to the point where you don't really take anything she says at face value. Been there done that, and Hillary has none of Bill's personal charisma or ability to find consensus amongst divergent viewpoints.

Edwards is new, but then again he isn't. Retread from last campaign and I just can't shake the facts that a) He basically made his fortune as an ambulance chasing lawyer and b) He seems like an intellectual lightweight.

Obama is new, truly and unquestionably. Which may be his biggest question mark-- does he have the experience needed to run the country? Personally, I'm comfortable that he does and with that outsiderness comes a welcome alternative perspective from both Washington insiders and from the intellectual incuriosity of the Bush administration. This post sums it up pretty well for me.

On the Republican side... sigh. I don't like any of the front runners. Rudy is a tyrannical dictator and micro-manager. Pass. McCain I still like, but his soul has been irreversible tainted by his efforts to kowtow to the religious right-- plus I'm not even sure he's a front runner any more. Romney? Probably the best of the big 4, but I am less than enthused. Seems to have the Clinton's tendency to say one thing to one constituency and something quite different to the next. Fred Thompson? Ugh. I never liked his "aw shucks" down-hominess on TV and I definitely don't want it for my president. Just not buying what he's selling, I guess.

Ron Paul is unquestionably the best Republican candidate and, quite frankly, the best Democratic one as well. He has actual strength in his convictions, he believes in the Constitution, he wants the government out of everything they have no business being in, he's fiscally rock solid and he's actually a nice guy. My only reservation is his isolationist foreign relations stance, but even that might not be so bad at this point in history.

Ron Paul all the way!

Fade to Black

2007-09-27T09:28:00.000-05:00

I'm afraid my beloved and long suffering Milwaukee Brewers are done. They trail the hated, evil, slimy, over-paid, over-hyped Chicago Cubs by 2 games with only four games to go. Not impossible, but pretty darn unlikely. Tres sad because the Brewers are a very good young team and they should've coasted to the division title and their first playoff appearance in 25 years.

Sadly, I have to blame their manager, Ned Yost. I say sadly because I like Ned Yost and I think he is a very good clubhouse manager. He has kept a young team focused and even-keeled through the roller coaster ride that is the ridiculously long baseball season. No small feat. But as good as he is with that aspect of his job he is a lousy to downright awful game day manager-- which has led to at least a dozen losses this year. And in the grand scheme of things, the Brewers need a manager that is good at both aspects of the job. If they had one, they would be the team with a two or three game lead rather than a two game deficit.

I've reserved judgment on Yost because I do think he's good at much of his job-- but last night was the clincher. He has to go. Here's the set up: Brewers trail the Cardinals 3-2 entering the 8th inning and the Cubs have already lost to Florida. If the Brewers can win the game, they will only be 1 game down with four to go and all the momentum will be on their side heading into the final four games of the season. If they win the game, their chances of catching or passing the Cubs by year end are probably 50/50 or better. But they are down by a run and it is absolutely CRITICAL that the deficit not get any deeper. The Brewers have one of the more prolific offenses in baseball and they have hit more home runs than any other team in baseball. A 1-run deficit isn't good, but it isn't awful either.

So. Cardinals coming up in the 8th. Huge opportunity to close the gap with the Cubs to 1 game and put all kinds of pressure on those same Cubs entering the final weekend of the season. But the Brewers have to keep their game with the Cardinals at only 1 run down. Have to. The 157 games previous to last nights are merely a prelude to get you to the point of being able to win this game, number 158. This is the season-- do or die. Ray King starts the 8th for the Brewers and gets a routine fly ball. Yost then pulls King-- a left-handed pitcher-- for Scott McClung, right-handed, to pitch to the Cardinals best hitter, Albert Pujols. McClung hits him. Oi.

Ned Yost calls on Derrick Turnbow. I groan as I'm watching this unfold on the TV. Derrick Turnbow has two settings as a pitcher-- "Lights out" and "God awful". There is virtually no middle ground. Turnbow is either virtually unhittable or a guy that couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. He is also a guy with a fragile psyche who gets rattled easily and he usually does not pitch well when he comes in during the middle of an inning with runners already on base.

Yost KNOWS all of this. Last year, as the Brewers' closer, Turnbow cost the team four wins on a nine-game road trip that turned a fairly good season into another sub-.500 season. This year, Turnbow has blown 2, 3 and even 4 run leads in the 8th inning. Yost KNOWS this.

But Turnbow can be lights out. He can be unhittable. So, okay give him a chance but give him a VERY quick hook if he doesn't have good control. Turnbow strikes out the first guy he faces. Nice. Ok. Two outs. Next batter, single to center. Urgh. But okay, it wasn't a bad pitch, the guy just got a little lucky with a little bloop. One out. Just one out to go. Next batter. Walk.

Bases now loaded. Two outs. Turnbow is clearly rattled. Your season is on the line-- THIS IS IT. Give up any runs here and you have effectively wasted all of the effort the team has put in since April. Pull Turnbow now! I think I actually yelled that at the tv. Bring in Cordero (our closer who is almost perfect at home) and get this one out!

I did scream that at the tv.

Yost leaves Turnbow in. The only thing that prevented me from throwing the tv remote at the tv was that I can't afford a new tv. I honestly couldn't believe it. Just couldn't believe it. Your entire season is on the line and you leave in a guy that is clearly rattled and who you KNOW is mentally fragile.

Ball 1

Ball 2

Ball 3

YOU HAVE TO PULL TURNBOW! He has CLEARLY lost it. Bring in somebody from the stands for goodness sake-- they have a better chance of getting an out than Turnbow at this point.

Ball 4.

On four straight pitches Turnbow walks in a run and now it's 4-2. The home crowd is dead silent. Stunned, I imagine. I know I was. Just sitting on the couch shaking my head over and over again as Yost FINALLY pulls Turnbow and brings in Brian Shouse. Still no Cordero in the biggest game of the year.

Shouse then gives up a ground-rule double to the next hitter and the game is effectively over as the Cards go up 6-2. They tack on one more but it doesn't matter. Brewers are done. Stick a fork in 'em.

Un-f'ing-believable. I know Yost wanted to keep Cordero in reserve for when we got the lead but this is IT. The Brewers absolutely HAVE to get that third out in the 8th to give your team a shot to win it. You have to. Bring in Cordero and cross your fingers that your offense can get you some runs in the 8th or 9th.

Absolutely unacceptable. Maybe if this was a one-time thing and Yost decided to role the dice, maybe you give him a pass. But. This is just the latest example of Yost's poor game management, particularly with his pitchers. I'm not kidding when I say that Yost's decisions have probably cost us a dozen games this year. Here's the most obvious example: In a close game a few weeks ago Yost lets the starting pitcher, Dave Bush, hit in the bottom of the 6th inning. The only reason to do that is if Bush is going to pitch in the top of the 7th. If you're going to make a pitching change in the 7th you bring up a pinch hitter for Bush in the 6th. Because pitchers aren't usually very good hitters. Bush strikes out. The inning ends two outs later... and Yost sends out Scott Linebrink to pitch.

?!?

For a pitcher, Dave Bush is adequate as a hitter. But compared to any of the guys on the bench that Yost could have had hit for Bush, he's a lightweight. The move made no sense. Not a lick. It was completely bassackward.

So, much as I like Yost, I think he has to go. Stupid little mistakes add up over the course of the year-- and Yost's stupid little mistakes are going to cost us a playoff berth.

Sigh. At least my beloved Green Bay Packers are 3-0.

Hello? Anyone There?

2007-09-24T19:34:00.001-05:00

This thing on? Hello? (tap tap)

Hey, good to see you everyone! (Crickets chirping quietly)

Okay, yeah it's been a while. My bad. Furiously hammering away at the historical treatise on Caledonia Township, Racine County, Wisconsin over the last two months plus try to drink the last, sweet dregs of summer before it gets chilly up nort here, eH?

Anyway. Book is 99.934% done (now I just have to niggle out all the publishing stuff with the Caledonia Historical Society) and the first month of school is almost over (usually a hectic time).

So. So. So.

I'm back BAYBEE! Packers, politics, punditry, calls for reason, unbridled scathing eviscerations! All back.

Pity no one is here to hear them. Well... time to drum up some readers.

Irony Perfected

2007-08-01T22:17:00.000-05:00

During the course of his amazing and inspirational life, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stood for many things. Freedom, justice, peace, hope, love and truth are only a few of the things he stood for and, in many ways, embodied. If I had to pick just one word to sum up MLK and what he sought to teach others, I think that I would have to go with equality. I doubt too many people would really strongly disagree with that. After all, King's "I have a dream" speech contained both of the following lines: "I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal,'" and "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

It's that second line that brings me to the point of this post. I cannot be certain, but I do strongly believe-- based on King's speeches and writing-- that he would be appalled by the controversy brewing over who is to carve his likeness for a monument in Washington, D.C.

Seems someone went out and picked a Chinaman to be the lead sculpture. Heck, Lei Yixin is not only NOT black, he ain't even an American. And that just ain't right, ya hear? I mean, we all know that when King said he wanted his chillun judged by the content of their character not the color of their skin he really meant that he wanted them judged by the content of their character but given jobs based on the color of their skin. King is an American, dang nab it, and there ain't no way we should be letting no chianees feller do the sculpting of a true American hero who placed his race and his country above all else.

Right? Well, Gilbert Young-- a totally clueless fellow who would totally miss the tongue-in-cheek satire of the preceding paragraph-- believes precisely that. He thinks it's a "slap in the face" to have any but an African-American be lead sculptor. And, failing that, at least a good old American. For a dip into the deep end of the crazy pool, go to Young's website kingisours.com and check out his diatribe on the front page.

Just the name of the website "kingisours" pretty well sums up the irony, don't you think? Dr. King's whole life was spent trying to get others to recognize the character and abilities of people IRREGARDLESS of the color of their skin or the country of their origin. Yet Gilbert Young believes that Kins is only the black man's hero, and that only an African American should be allowed to make a tribute to King's ideals of equality. That King should be portrayed as "WE saw him". 'We' being other African Americans involved in the Civil Rights movement of the '60s.

Now, if the reason Lei was selected was strictly to get cash from the Chinese government or for some other political reason, then I think there is a legitimate gripe to his being selected. But the fact that he's Chinese and not Black should be completely irrelevant to the discussion-- that was the whole point of King's teachings.

Content of people's character, not their skin color.

Seems pretty straight forward. How are people like Gilbert not seeing the irony?

I Know What I Like

2007-07-28T19:32:00.000-05:00

and I Like What I Know...

Only one of the songs that was really cool to see live-- from 1976. It was on VH1 Classic Concert, and it was Tony, Phil, Mike and Steve during their Trick of the Tail tour. Phil had a full beard and mustache and a full-head of hair. I literally did not recognize him at first. Mike had long straight hair down to about the middle of his back and no facial hair at all. Tony, interestingly enough, looked almost no different. A bit younger.

They did the Carpet Crawl, most of TotT, I Know What I Like and Supper's Ready. I'm sure there was more, but that's all that made it onto VH1. The live version of Entangled was extremely effective, and I had never before heard that song live. Haunting. Tony Banks playing the... lute? The harmonies between Phil, Mike and Tony were really quite lovely.

Not a lot of staging. No real light show or any sort of display. But still really, really cool.

Harry Potter and the Really Good Book

2007-07-25T14:04:00.000-05:00

Finished Potter #7. Fabulous. Just phenomenally good. No spoiler alerts-- this post will not contain any revelations about the book.

I went into the Deathly Hallows with high hopes, but also serious trepidation. Perhaps my view had been colored by the lackluster Order of the Phoenix movie, or perhaps because I had been disappointed with other epic sagas, but for whatever reason I just didn't think Rowling would be able to satisfactorily wrap everything up and without making the final book seem rushed and superficial.

Needn't have worried.

The story moves nearly effortlessly along, seamlessly sewing up loose ends as it goes and the ending was very satisfying. Most amazingly, Rowling actually works new stuff into the plot. I was nearly constantly delighted by the book, by the unexpected twists and turns in the plot, by the continued character development and by the way Rowling worked past bits into the current book.

My only real disappointment was that it had to end. Which is the conundrum of any good book, much less a really great book like this one-- you want to see how it all turns out, you want to experience it all, and yet you don't want it to end because there will never be another first time. The joy of reading a truly great novel is one of my most favorite ways to spend time, yet when it is finished, I sometimes wish I could forget it all so I could read it again without knowing what I now know.

I still don't fully understand why the Potter books are the phenomenon that they are, but I do have some thoughts on the matter. One of the reasons I think the series has done so well is that it has gotten better as it has gone along-- with the exception of #2, every book has been better than the previous book. No easy task, since many a promising start has bogged down in boring exposition and lackluster plot lines-- see Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series or Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series for excellent examples of this.

Secondly, they are continually inventive-- every book adds something to the previous ones, and also often provides further clarification or detailing of things that happened in the earlier stories. Even in book 7, Rowling is still adding new things--the Deathly Hallows-- and fleshing out things that are only mentioned in passing in previous books.

Thirdly, each one has a distinct and satisfying end point. The 'each book is a year in Hogwarts' structure of the series is brilliant. Even though life does not usually provide us with such easily digested beginning and end points, people like their stories to have them. This is another flaw that many-- indeed most-- epic stories suffer from. They are not self-contained.

Fourthly, Rowling uses the somewhat unusually literary device of having nearly everything in the books happen from Harry's viewpoint. There are exceptions, but not many of them. As a writer, I'm sure this was a real crimp in Rowling's ability to give the reader the knowledge needed at any given point-- surely it would have been easier to write much of the story if it could have been told from Ron's viewpoint, or Hermione's, or Dumbledore's or... well, you get the idea. As a reader, however, it really, really, really gets us to identify with Harry and his struggles, joys, triumphs and losses. It is greatly to J.K. Rowling's credit that she is skillful enough to make her narrative understandable without needing to go outside of Harry's head very often. It also means that, should you wish to, Rowling can now go back and tell, for instance, Luna Lovegood's story without having some of it being a mere rehash of the Potter storyline. Nice.

Fifthly, Rowling was able to make the grand saga accessible and enjoyable for both children, young adults and adults. No small feat. While the later books are definitely heavier and darker, the foundation for young adults and children is laid in the earlier books, which are shorter, more whimsical and more charming. The progression to the heavier material is progressive and seamless. Which ties into...

Sixthly, the books really do reflect Harry's journey from early adolescence to adulthood. The early books are more childlike, but as Harry's troubles and trials grow, so do he, Ron, Hermoine, Ginny, Fred, George and all the rest of the Hogwarts' students. Perhaps the only aspect of going through your teenage years that isn't reflected well in the Harry Potter stories is adolescent hormones and concurrent sexual development. This topic Rowlings touches on very lightly, but I don't think this distracts from the works much, if at all, because Harry is so beset with other issues that it really isn't hard to believe that sex and the various matters related to it would be way down the priority list for him.

Seventhly, Rowling is a truly gifted story teller. I've heard others claim that the Potter stories aren't that great, that there are better things out there, but I don't agree. I'm a pretty widely read person, and I think both the story, and the telling of it, are top notch-- as good as anything I've read in many years. Perhaps as good as anything I've read, period.

Finally, I think Harry Potter came along at just the right time. For whatever reason, the first book resonated with its readers, and each subsequent book has done likewise-- perhaps in some fashion, Rowling has been able to capture the essence of her times and distill them into the story of the Boy Who Lived. Or maybe it was blind luck.

Regardless, the whole is a fine saga indeed, and the concluding chapter of the saga is a masterpiece.

Harry Potter and the Extended Trailer

2007-07-16T14:16:00.001-05:00

That's how one critic described the latest Potter film, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I went to see the film with my kids yesterday afternoon, and it's not an inexact description. When you try and cram an 800+ page book into a 2 1/4 hour movie, it is likely an impossibility to make it feel anything but superficial and rushed. By way of comparison, Peter Jackson took nearly 10 hours to film the three Lord of the Rings adaptations, and still didn't cover everything. The three LotR books together are only about 300 pages longer than Order of the Phoenix.

Still, the movie wasn't bad-- it was, in fact, okay. Fairly entertaining, with a pretty good treatment of the really major points of the book-- as opposed to the fairly major, but not quite critical bits that are ignored or barely touched upon by the film. I probably would even have given the film a good rating if not for two factors: 1) The movie focus too much on Harry himself to the detriment of all other characters and, more significantly, 2) Michael Gambon as Albus Dumbledore is simply dreadful.

Spoiler alert-- if you haven't seen the movie or read the books, what follows may reveal bits that will lessen your enjoyment when you do see/read them. Probably not, but you never know.

The first complaint may also be unavoidable-- Harry is, after all, at the center of everything that happens since the books are written almost exclusively from his viewpoint. But this movie, more than any of the others, seems to focus so tightly on Harry that everything else seems superfluous. There is no mention of the Hermoine/Ron relationship outside of a few passing remarks and a scene or two where Ron gets defensive/jealous. The 5th year OWLs are barely touched upon, and when they do get coverage they are altered from the book for no discernable purpose. The troubles of Mr. and Mrs. Weasley are brushed over, and Kreacher plays no real role in the movie at all, other than to allow the CGI people to have some fun.

But, the source material was so vast, there were bound to be many, many, many, many things that got left out, and all of the really important bits (though not necessarily the most interesting or entertaining) center around Harry. So, though disappointed by the Harry-centricness of the movie, I understand it and can live with it.

What I don't get is why Michael Gambon is still portraying Albus Dumbledore. Gambon may be a fine actor, I have no real basis for judgment outside of the Potter films, but he is a lousy Dumbledore. In the books, Dumbledore is a calm, clever fellow who never loses his cool and has an easy, reassuring and humorous manner in dealing with people. He is nearly unflappable, and he has a certain sense of strength about him-- a presence, if you will.

Richard Harris, who played Dumbledore in the first two movies before his death in October of 2002, was PERFECT in the role. He radiated a quiet aura of reassurance, compassion, confidence and power. As the greatest wizard of several generations should. Harris also beautifully captured Dumbledore's quirky, almost childlike, sense of humor and wonder without ever losing the sense that he could reduce you to dust in a heartbeat if he wanted to.

Gambon has none of those qualities. Instead, he seems agitated, cranky, suspicious and uncertain most of the time. He is, quite frankly, the anti-Dumbledore. Trying to step into Harris' HUGE shoes would have been daunting for any actor I have no doubt, but you don't do the exact opposite of what Harris did just to be different. Not with an iconic role like Dumbledore. In the books, Dumbledore is described as the "only one he [Voldemort] ever feared" and with Harris you could see why. With Gambon, I think-- why would Voldemort be afraid of this guy? He can't even stand up to Delores Umbridge.

That scene, when Dumbledore "confronts" Umbridge outside Hogwarts, was the thing that sealed it for me. Gambon's Dumbledore sounds forlorn and pathetic, like Umbridge really does have the upper hand on him. He snaps at the surrounding students and looks small and defeated as he stalks off screen. All completely and totally WRONG in relation to the book or how Dumbledore acts in every other situation. It's like Gambon has never even read the books and neither has the director.

All of which is very odd, because other than Gambon the casting for the Potter films has been absolutely outstanding. All of the main and supporting roles are dead on ball accurate (it's an industry term) except for Gambon. How did they manage to get everything else so right and this crucial bit so terribly, terribly wrong? And why don't they fix it?

It is very disappointing to me that the people in charge of the Potter films have stuck with Gambon for the last three films in the series because he is really, really bad in that role. Which is a terrible sign for the next film-- and probably for the final one as well-- as Dumbledore plays a very large part in the 6th installment of the series.

Perhaps they will see their mistake and make a change before #6, but it seems pretty unlikely given that they've stuck with Gambon for three installments now.

One final quibble-- the treatment of the fight in the Department of Mysteries was disappointing. We only see two rooms-- the prophecy room and the arch room-- and the actual running (literally) dogfight between Dumbledore's Army and the Death Eaters suffers greatly because of this. I was so looking forward to the room with the fish tank full of brains, too.

Overall, I give HPatOotP an "Eh, not bad, see it if you are a fan, don't bother if you're not" rating.

Go Ron Go!

2007-07-11T14:41:00.000-05:00

I am on board the Ron Paul express to the White House. The man is decent, honest, forthright, funny, charismatic and self-depreciating. He is the perfect antidote to the last sixteen years of Clinton and Bush-- none of Clinton's posturing and preening and careful parsing and slick double speak, none of Bush's idiocy, cronyism, contempt for the Constitution and complete disconnection from reality.

For the last several years I've looked for a non-politician candidate I could get behind because all of the politicians were turds of one sort or another. But the concept, while appealing, was completely impractical since a non-politician has no chance of winning, and even if they did they would be massively hamstringed in a political arena familiar to all the other players.

Then along comes Ron Paul, a little known congressman from Texas who is running as a Republican simply because he knows no one will pay attention to him as a libertarian. But he isn't a Christianist Republican, ala Romney, nor an autocratic disciplinarian, ala Giuliani. He is proponent of small government, individual freedom, fiscal prudence, and transparency in government. Above all else, he appears to still have principles. Read about him here, and then tell me he isn't an appealing option to all the other turds the Republicans and Democrats are trotting out.

He was on The Daily Show a week or two ago and he was so refreshingly honest and earnest I couldn't help but smile. He didn't get all of Jon Stewart's gibes, but he never got defensive or condescending. Above all else, I think this phrase from his website resonates with me deep down to my core:

Congressman Paul’s consistent voting record prompted one of his congressional colleagues to say, “Ron Paul personifies the Founding Fathers’ ideal of the citizen-statesman. He makes it clear that his principles will never be compromised, and they never are.”

A citizen-statesman in the mold of our Founding Fathers. Yeah, I can get behind that.

And the truly astonishing thing? He's not going away anytime soon-- he actually has a shot of winning the nomination (not much of a shot, but probably a better shot than McCain does these days). He's raising money far better than expected, and he has a terrific grass-roots support network.

For the first time in my life, I am going to donate to a presidential candidate and volunteer to help his campaign. America needs Ron Paul right now.

Summer is Here

2007-07-05T14:45:00.000-05:00

It's July, it's hot and I have now visited both a small, church festival and Summerfest. All of which certifies that summer has arrived in Wisconsin. I actually prefer spring and fall-- not so blasted humid-- but summer is awfully nice, nonetheless. The days are long, and you can recapture a bit of the freedom of being a child by playing with your kids outside in the gloaming hours of a Midwestern twilight. Feel the sand in your toes, or the soft texture of the grass under your feet. Bask in the warm embrace of the sun and watch as your shadow stretches longer and longer.

The church festival was a small affair, by Wisconsin standards, held by the Xavarian Fathers on their missionary grounds in Oak Creek. Beautiful setting, gorgeous day, ice-cold beer. Hard to go wrong, though the fairly awful singers that were on the festival's only stage during the day were a small blemish. They were some sort of Von Trapp family singers-- an old dude on a guitar, his wife (who looked far too young for him), their five daughters ranging in age from about 17 to 9 and one poor, sad sack son, around 8. Truthfully, they weren't horrible, but I kept thinking-- when do these guys get any time to be away from each other? Anyway, the food was good, the kids enjoyed spending money on goofy carnival games and it was a terribly Wisconsin way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Summerfest was the anti-church festival. Huge, jam-packed with people, a multitude of stages, and everything non-Von Trappish all on one large festival ground. Great fun, though, in a very different way. Jenn and I were sans kids, so that allows more freedom and is a nice change of pace. We enjoyed Think Floyd-- who were musically dead-on balls accurate (it's an industry term) but vocally mediocre-- and bumped into some people from our bowling league there. They were wasted. What were the odds. Summerfest is over-priced (especially compared to the small church festival), but for a once or twice a summer visit it isn't that over-priced. Less than a Brewer game, for example. Happy beer buzzage ensued, and I think I got a pretty good contact high from all the wicked weed being smoked in my general vicinity.

Which brings me to the Roger Waters' concert. Manifique! He opened with a DOBA version of In The Flesh, which opens with the lines: So ya, thought ya, might like to... go to the show. Nice! The sound was fabulous, the band was fabulous, and Roger was in good form-- I was a little concerned that he might be a bit worn down since the Summerfest show was towards the end of the tour, but he seemed full of energy. Visually, the show was excellent-- the Marcus Amphitheater is a great venue, especially when packed to the gills with an appreciative audience-- and the acoustics were superb. The woman he had to do the wailing on the Dark Side of the Moon sequences was awesome, as was the sax player. They even played two tracks off of The Final Cut-- the title track and Fletcher Memorial Home. That album is underrated, imho. Quite a bit of The Wall, Pigs from Animals (complete with inflated pig, scrawled with anti-war, anti-Bush slogans, carried amongst the audience by production crew members) and, of course, all of Dark Side of the Moon.

Well worth the money. Most excellent show. I have to say, quite a bit better than the Gilmour headed Pink Floyd tour I saw back in the late 1980's. Of course, that was a stadium show and I was nowhere close to the stage, but still-- the guitar work of Dave Kilminster and Snowy White was better than Gilmour's rendition of his own riffs. Those guys were spot on. And the mix of songs Roger had the band doing was nearly flawless, right up to concluding with Comfortably Numb in the encore.

Sweet.

A 40,000 Ton Tourist Attraction

2007-06-29T19:12:00.000-05:00

An accidental tourist attraction. The Pasha Bulker, a huge coal hauling ship, was beached near New Castle, Australia earlier this month. Sitting in roughly two-feet of water, the monster ship has resisted all efforts to return it to the sea. Tim Blair has a round up of posts on the marooned vessel, and some of the pictures on other blogs are really quite spectacular.

There is also a live feed available here.

Things We Got Wrong...

2007-06-29T12:16:00.000-05:00

in the theater of the War on Terror that is the debacle in Iraq. There are many, but one of the biggest things, imho, was Donald Rumsfeld who was completely unwilling to commit sufficient troops to the conflict and resistant to listening to most of the commanders in Iraq. Part of that blame lies with the president, as he should have fired Rumsfeld much earlier and instead gave him a medal. Loyalty trumped competence.

But I think another huge problem was the complete bungling of the media. President Bush's inability to look anything but stilted and uncomfortable in front of the cameras compounded his near total incapacity to effectively explain his vision and plan. The media needs to take some, likely much, blame on its own shoulders here as well. They revelled at times in the misery of some Iraqi's after the U.S. liberation, they rarely if ever talked to actual U.S. soldiers, and they covered Abu Ghraib extensively while showing very little of the improvements in living that followed the fall of Saddam.

Here's an interesting bit from a U.S. War College instructor and expert on terrorism and counter-terrorism:

Because terrorists know that killings and kidnappings will capture the media's attention, Buse said, most high-level plans about how to deal with a terrorist situation include discussions about what to do with the media.

"The key terrain on the battleground is the TV screen," he [Buse] said. "I would never want the press not to print something, but they need to be careful."

The most interesting bit about those comments? They were written in a newspaper article in 1986. Perhaps the easy times of the '90's caused us to forget, but we knew better what we needed to do against a terrorist enemy in 1986 than it seems we do in the 21st century. How odd, considering many of Bush's closest advisors cut their teeth during Reagan's presidency in the 1980's.

How soon we forget.

I'll end this post with another nugget from the 1986 interview with Colonel Buse:

He [Buse] said the United States has three ways to deal with international terrorism.

The U.S. can infiltrate organizations-- which is nearly impossbile he said-- and pre-empt the strikes, stop the acts as they happen, or retaliate.

Without some sort of response, which can also include political and economic sanctions, the attacks will continue, he said.

"But (with retaliation) you have to accept the deaths of some innocent people, the destruction of non-governmental property, possible loss of your allies' support and risk future reprisals by terrorists," he said.

Vacation Blogging

2007-06-28T10:11:00.000-05:00

Actually, my vacation was last week, but it's taken me until Thursday to catch up. So, here are a couple of pics from our time up in beautiful Door County, Wisconsin:

The picture on the left is from some fireworks I shot off over Lake Michigan on one of our evenings up there. They turned out pretty nice-- scared the ever loving crap (possibly literally) out of the seagulls and geese that hang out near the shore. The one on the right are my two kiddies-- yikes they are growing up too fast-- wading ashore. Though Lake Michigan is quite deep, there is a shelf that goes out quite a ways before a rapid dropoff, so you can wade out 100 feet or more with the water only coming up to your waist or thereabouts.

One last pic-- my wife fulfills a longtime dream of hers with the arrival of this beauty:

She has named this lovely Harley Davidson Sportster, Sally. I have been assured that there is even a possibility of my being able to ride Sally at some unspecified point in the future.

Maybe.

It is a really sweet bike, and now I can say I'm married to a biker chick, so that's very cool.

Approaching the Half Way Poll

2007-06-25T11:42:00.001-05:00

Of the ridiculously long baseball season. 162 games is patently absurd. But I digress. After 75 games (roughly 45% of the season), my Milwaukee Brewers are 11 games over .500 at 43-32. They also have a 7 1/2 game lead over the 2nd place Cubs, despite having less than half the payroll of the Really Not At All Loveable Losers. They are playing really well at home (27-13) and decent on the road (16-19), and the coolest thing of all is that the players that are propelling them this year-- Prince Fielder, JJ Hardy, Corey Hart, Rickie Weeks and Billy Hall are all young, talented, and under contract for the next few years. The pitching staff is very deep, and Ben Sheets is finally showing signs of being the dominant ace he's shown flashes of in the past 5 years.

Some minor concerns are the struggles of prize free agent pitcher Jeff Suppan, who has not pitched well in his last half dozen or so starts, and the continuing injury problems of Hardy and Weeks. But over all, the future looks very, very bright and the present looks pretty darn appealing as well. Particularly since the Brewers' division is the worst in baseball. Granted, they don't have as cool a name as the UC-Irvine Anteaters, but the Brewers are still pretty good. Much better than boring old mascots like the Cardinals, Reds, Tigers, or the like.

We're All Anteaters Now

2007-06-20T11:57:00.000-05:00

UC-Irvine has the coolest mascot in the world, the Anteaters. A small, public school in Orange County, UCI has no baseball tradition, no rich alumni, no public notoriety. They are currently playing in the College World Series, a stage normally reserved for the Arizona State's, Miami's and Texas's of the college world. They have already accomplished something no other team in CWS history has managed-- winning two extra inning games in two consecutive days.

Now the upstart Eaters must beat the Oregon State Beavers today, and again tomorrow, to make it to the championships of the CWS. Having played Saturday, Monday (14 innings) and yesterday (10 innings), I don't know what UCI has left for pitchers, but I know I'll be pulling for them today at 5 pm CT.

BTW, should you wish to make an Anteater of your own while watching the game on ESPN, you can. Hold your index and little finger up (anteater ears) while sticking your two middle fingers straight out (anteater nose) and putting your thumb between the undersides of the two middle fingers (rest of anteater head). Kinda like doing the rock n' roll "devil" sign except with the middle fingers extended instead of curled.

Go Eaters!

People With Lots of Time

2007-06-13T14:07:00.000-05:00

And a fair amount of creativity can come up with some really funny bits. A colleague of mine passed along this gem, and I now forward it on to you my readers. All four of you. Give it a look-- but be careful watching it at work as you very well may wind up laughing out loud.

A Few Reviews

2007-06-07T10:45:00.000-05:00

Batman Begins (yes, I'm waaaayyyy behind) is a fabulous movie. Superbly written, brilliantly acted, and a feast for the eyes. The Tim Burton re-imagining of the Dark Knight (with the outstanding casting of Jack Nicholson as the Joker) was excellent, in a comic book sense, and a lot of fun, but this.... This is as close as you could ever get to believing Batman could actually exist in our world.

Christian Bale is spot on as Bruce Wayne, Michael Caine was an inspired choice as Alfred, Liam Neeson surprisingly good as the mysterious stranger who starts Bruce Wayne on his path to becoming Batman, and Cillian Murphy makes for a very creepy Scarecrow. Morgan Freeman, Rutger Hauer and Gary Oldman are all very good in supporting roles. The only weak spot in the cast is Katie Holmes as an incorruptible DA, but her performance is weak only relative to the excellence of the rest of the cast.

The plot is rock solid, tying together all of the various and disparate Batman bits seemingly effortlessly--no small accomplishment. There is almost no cheesiness in the plot or the script-- also no small accomplishment-- but there are moments of wry humor that ring true precisely because they aren't contrived or standard issue action movie wisecracks. And finally, the music is superb. As fresh as Danny Elfman's driving percussion lines were in the Burton film, they seem old and tired now-- not so the haunting woodwind heavy score of Batman Begins. It does not beat you over the head, and it mixes East and West with great facility. Highly recommended!

Not so the Odd Couple, now being resurrected at The Fireside Theater in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin. Actually, I haven't seen it, so take this with a large grain of salt, but the advertisements for it are sooooo lame that I'm pretty sure the production is awful. Seriously, though, if the bits they have in the radio ads are the funniest parts... well, there may need to be a suicide watch for the audience because every single line we hear is contrived, dated, and-- most tellingly-- painfully unfunny. The ad also has "testimonials" in it from people who purportedly loved the show. I can't tell for sure-- since it's radio-- but I suspect that the Fireside people put a gun to the heads of the poor saps, because I have rarely heard laughter and commentary sound so completely forced.

Mixed review for Orson Scott Card's Shadow series of novels. These four books are a sequel of sorts to Card's classic Ender's Game novel. They detail the efforts of Ender's brother, Peter, to unite the world as well as showing us what happens to the children that were in battle school with Ender during the war between humanity and the alien Hive Queens. Overall, the four books are entertaining and worth a read if you are a science fiction or OSC fan. Be prepared, however, for a bit of preachiness while you are reading because OSC has his soap box out and he isn't afraid to pontificate.

In particular, Card is surprisingly heavy handed in his use of plot devices to drive home his belief that: 1) Even embryos are people and deserving of protection, 2) Pre-emptive war/violence is sometimes necessary, and 3) Gay marriage is an abomination and gay people should be happy being either single or married to a member of the opposite sex and pretending that they are heterosexual. Of those three, I mostly agree with him on #2, but not so much with #1, and I find his position on #3 completely indefensible.

For the most part, however, Card remembers the old writing dictum "show, don't tell" and his pet topics detract minimally from the overall flow and depth of the novels. And his vision for how unity on earth will finally be achieved is fascinating, as is his treatment of possible futures for China, India, Islam, and the world in general. The books are good, but not great, and there will be lecturing from time to time.

Last review, and something which I've been meaning to comment on for quite a while now but keep forgetting about-- are the "I'm a Mac... and I'm a PC" ads not the most brilliant advertisements to come out in a long time? They are consistently fresh, inventive, funny AND they actually tell you the strengths of the product. I love the one where the PC is inflated like the Blueberry Girl in Willy Wonka and can barely walk around. This one is pretty good, too. Ah heck, they are all good.

It's Good to be Rich

2007-06-07T08:55:00.000-05:00

Apparently if you're rich, you only have to serve 10% of your prison sentence. Or perhaps you have to be rich, famous, and a complete skank like Paris Hilton. Any way you slice it, it's a crock of... well, unsavory substances. IF it is true. Some questions about the veracity of the TMZ report remain, starting with the fact that it is sourced by TMZ.com.

Regardless of whether it is true or not, this "prison diary" of Paris' time in jail is hilarious. Sample:
Day 18: This "Jesus Christ" was an amazing guy. It's so sad he died so young.

Ouch!

2007-06-04T16:06:00.000-05:00

Dennis the Peasant absolutely eviscerates Amanda Marcotte in a recent post. Brilliant, amusing and very thorough. It does make you wonder what it's like wandering through life with the general mindset that men are vile dogs with only a very limited capacity for reason and thought. Doesn't seem like it can be much fun, does it?

Doyle's Tax Folly

2007-06-04T15:10:00.001-05:00

He claims his budget, which assesses a 2.5% tax on gas companies, is a win-win for the state and its residents. Nearly everyone else (except the Journal Sentinal, the paper BP accuses of drifting waaayyy far right, and even they have their doubts) is confident it is a lose-lose, and maybe even unconstitutional. Who do I believe? Well, given the title of this post I don't think it is too hard to figure out-- I've seen too much Jim Doyle preening about non-existent tax freezes and "balanced" budgets that merely push the pain off for a few years to have any faith in the man's "vision".

But, at least he's being open about his efforts to tax us. Unlike the Dems in the U.S. Congress. I had hopes for a few months there that the new Congress would actually follow through on their promises of fiscal sanity. Oh, and it's Wisconsin's own David Obey leading the charge for obfuscation (what a great word).

I'm so proud.

Warning: May Include Themes

2007-06-01T14:54:00.000-05:00

I was looking at some videos here at the library today, trying to find some material for weekend viewing if it rains a lot. Which it appears likely to do given the huge green, yellow and red blobs currently moving across Iowa and northern Illinois. Quite a few of the available titles were intriguing, but not half as interesting as the Rating label explanations. G, PG, PG-13, R, and NC-17 are straight-forward enough, but the "explanations" for the given ratings are just bizarre.

I settled on Batman Begins, which I've heard very good things about, which is rated PG-13. The given reasons? "Intense Action Violence, Disturbing Images and Some Thematic Elements." Why all of the words is capitalized is beyond me, but let us set that aside as a minor irritant. "Intense Action Violence." As opposed to... "Placid Action Violence"? And what exactly is "Action Violence"? Can you be violent without action? I guess there can be action without violence, though the former seems most often to be connected to the latter, but I really don't think there can be any other type of violence than action violence.

Moving on. "Disturbing Images". More understandable, and less redundant, than "Intense Action Violence" but really what does it tell us? Disturbing how? To whom? Would any of these count? Not really all that helpful, but at least you got the gist of what they were attempting to warn you about.

Not so much with "Some Thematic Elements". Huh? Don't all movies have thematic elements? If there were no thematic elements, all you would have is a bunch of random scenes strung together for 90 minutes. You know, like a Jerry Bruckheimer movie-- rimshot! Seriously, is the warning that there are only SOME thematic elements as opposed to an entire movie filled with a coherent, well-established and developed theme? Somehow I don't think that is what the MPAA had in mind when they appended that particular phrase to their rating.

Parents strongly cautioned because of "Some Thematic Elements". That means nothing. Zip, zero, nada. This movie, for example, contains "Some Thematic Elements" but I doubt they'd earn the movie a PG-13. Though you could argue that parents should not allow their children to watch it under any circumstances.

Heck, the stupid rating explanations aren't even consistent. Here's the explanation for the R rating of Saw-- the violent, sadistic, horror flick that has inspired so many recent violent, sadistic, horror flicks: "Rated R for strong grisly violence and language." No weak grisly violence here. Here's the explanation for Saw II's R rating: "Rated R for grisly violence and gore, terror, language and drug content." So, the grisly violence is no longer strong, but there is gore and terror? But... ummm... I'm pretty sure there was a fair amount of gore and terror in the original, too. Ok, ok, how about Saw III? "Rated R for strong grisly violence and gore, sequences of terror and torture, nudity and language." Ah... so, the grisly violence has once more been working out, the gore has returned from #2 (pity there was no actual gore in #1), and now there are sequences of terror AND torture. Guess all those poor saps that bit it in the first two movies from sawing their leg off, dying of blood loss in the razor wire maze, having a bear trap snap shut on their head, being burned to death in a furnace, slowing drowning under huge quantities of pig intestines, freezing to death, etc., etc. weren't actually tortured.

Phah. Phah I say. Rate if you must, but let's stop with the preposterous "explanations".

Fun With the Internet

2007-05-31T18:08:00.000-05:00

Go do some Google Image searches for your favorite song titles. Some of the results are quite amusing. Here are a few of my favorites:

Pink Floyd Comfortably Numb

Tom Petty Room at the Top

The Kinks Celluloid Heroes

Genesis Tonight, Tonight, Tonight

U2 Trip Through Your Wires

Yeah, okay, I was a little bored today.

All the Birds Come Home to Roost

2007-05-30T08:55:00.000-05:00

Or since I'm talking about the Milwaukee McGee's, perhaps it should be All the Turds Come Home to Roost. Regardless, Michael McGee, Sr. recently lost his racist, hate filled radio show after ripping on the mother of conservative Milwaukee talk radio host, Charlie Sykes-- oh, and the mother of Sykes had just died when McGee decided to rip into her and Charlie.

Yesterday, a months long state and federal investigation of Milwaukee Alderman Michael McGee, Jr. resulted in his arrest for bribery, extortion, and various other crimes that remain sealed. From the details in the criminal complaint, it appears that the feds have McGee Jr. on tape shaking down multiple business owners in his district for bribes in return for his support for licensing and other issues. It's possible that McGee Jr. will wiggle his way out of this one the way he wiggled out of his arrest for resisting an officer, his arrest for threatening to kill the woman pregnant with his child, and various allegations of perjury and violating a restraining order. But I doubt it-- with the Feds on board, and McGee on tape discussing dollar amounts it's going to be awfully hard to argue he was set up, or that it was a mistake.

Bonus ironic tidbit: It also appears that part of the money McGee received for shaking business owners down went directly to the lawyer he hired to help him defend himself against recall attempts by members of his district. The reason they were attempting to recall McGee? Because he was a corrupt, power-hungry politician who seemed to bring nothing but bad publicity to his district.

Karma-- don't mess with it. It might take a while, but it catches up with you eventually.

Oil Addicition and OSC

2007-05-24T15:55:00.000-05:00

An interesting and thought-provoking piece by Orson Scott Card over at ornery.org. I don't agree with all of it-- I think he's over-stating the undesirability of large lots and areas without sidewalks for one thing-- but I heartily agree with the general gist of the essay. There's a a reason that coal and natural gas and oil are called non-renewable energy sources. We can't make any more of any of them-- when they're gone, they are gone. And we better start planning for the day they will be gone, or at least in much shorter supply, before the inevitable shortfall sends the world spiraling into a catastrophic economic collapse.

Here's the key passage for me:

We can continue to live richly, by ceasing to consider huge houses, endless driving, and big box stores a desirable thing in our lives.

Absolutely. I like land, and I use our large yard extensively for family and social activities, but the sizes of new houses these days is just perposterous. And when I lived in L.A. and my 15 minute commute took 45 minutes to an hour, it just about drove me nuts. Big box stores don't bug me that much-- I enjoy Menards and Home Depot quite a bit, for example-- but I do think that the constant plunking them down in remote regions is annoying.

I want my kids to have all I had and more-- worldwide energy depletion is going to make that really, really difficult. Especially with China and India increasingly embracing the culture of the automobile.

Also for the record, while I remain skeptical of exactly how big a difference humans make in the global warming trend, I do not believe it to be a scam like OSC. Which, for me, makes wheening us off of a car culture all the more desirable.

Lest We Forget

2007-05-23T15:37:00.000-05:00

Since I found it there, I will link to this video through Andrew Sullivan's blog site. Go there and watch the video. And as you celebrate Memorial Day this weekend, remember all the brave men and women who have your back.

Lubbock Loses Its Collective Mind

2007-05-23T14:31:00.000-05:00

Making a shop clerk at a local lingerie shop register as a sex offender is just about the stupidest thing I have ever heard of. If the community wants to get all prissy and Victorian about this stuff, fine, pass ordinances outlawing lingerie stores, but to make a store clerk register as a sex offender-- impacting the rest of her life-- is just stupid and wrong.

Random Bits

2007-05-23T10:07:00.000-05:00

Some common misconceptions about fuel mileage as the price of gasoline continues to rise.

There is a service today for Frank Fabiono, Jr., a Kenosha County Sheriff's Deputy killed last week during a routine traffic stop. Trouble was that the person he stopped was high on cocaine, drunk out of his mind, and an illegal alien to boot. Oh, and he has a criminal record extending across three states and had just bought a gun from a gang member.

Governor Doyle forgets his 2002 pledge to decrease the size of state government, not increase property taxes, and he continues to play shell games with various funds and fee increases. A bigger donkey in the governor's mansion is hard for me to imagine. And does he honestly believe that if the state of Wisconsin taxes "big oil" that said "big oil" won't find a way to pass that on to the consumers? I submit that as wily and shrewd as Jim Doyle is, there's not a chance of that-- so he is merely posturing and pandering. Not that anyone is surprised by that, I'm sure, he is a politician after all.

The 3rd and final (yeah right) film in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise comes out this weekend-- just in time for my birthday!-- and I am curious to see it. #2 wasn't as fresh or intriguing as #1, but it was pretty good, and Johnny Depp is a fun actor to watch, even if he tends to be a bit of dope in real life. I do have trouble suspending my disbelief that ANYBODY would be willing to go through half of what Orlando Bloom's and Keira Knightley's characters go through for Jack Sparrow, but that's a minor complaint in the rollocking good fun.

Finally, as we leave the 1/4 pole of the perposterously long major league baseball season in the rearview mirror, my Milwaukee Brewers are still firmly in first place in the National League Central. Yes, they've cooled off a bit from the blistering pace of early May, but they are still playing really good baseball, and in the ridiculously long MLB regular season there are going to be several ups and downs for every team. The reason I believe they are a legitimate playoff caliber team is that their pitching is by far the best it has been since the early '90's, and they are playing together-- as a team. Chemistry is important in all sports, but I think baseball is second only to football in terms of the importance of team chemistry.

When Cultures Collide

2007-05-16T21:30:00.000-05:00

When my kids were a bit younger, they enjoyed the Veggietales videos. If you are unfamiliar with the Veggietales franchise, they are animated tales based on various Bible stories with "walking", talking vegetables playing all the roles. The stories are fun variations on themes like sharing, greed, envy, bullying, lying amongst others, and though they are definitely Christian-based, and say so openly, they are not "beat you over the head with Bible" stories.

In a word, they are FUN. Every video has various original songs woven into them, some of which are VERY catchy, and Larry the Cucumber and Bob the Tomato make an excellent vegetable Abbott & Costello team. And they teach wholesome, character-building lessons-- whether you buy into the Christian angle or no.

Imagine my surprise then when I took my daughter to Chuck E. Cheeses for her birthday (my god, she's 9. 9! How is that possible already?) and they had Veggietale videos on their numerous monitors! Now I don't hate on Chuck E.-- it is a fine place for kids 10 and under to go, provided their parents don't mind dropping a decent chunk of change for some mediocre pizza and a lot of overpriced games. I would've loved it if we had had them when I was a kid. But it is the epitome of excess, commercialism, modernism and, to a degree, nihilistic self-centered pleasure seeking. Not unwholesome, but certainly not... grounded and humble and selfless.

Not the sort of place I'd ever expect to see Veggietales.

So, my question is: Has Veggietales sold out by placing their videos in a place that is at best tangentially affiliated with their stated mission of trying to promote positive images in popular culture and corporate integrity?

I kind of think they have. Granted, their animated characters are no doubt reaching a huge audience at the many Chuck E.'s scattered across the country, but I'm hard pressed to believe that their message is being heard in an environment chock full of zombie blasting games, air hockey, games of chance not so very much different from roulette or craps, blatant commercialism and, yes, greed. Especially since most of the time, the giant rat's house is so loud you can't even hear the messages the Veggietale bits are trying to impart.

I'm glad the Big Idea people are still making Veggietales and other similar media products, but I am disappointed at what I can only characterize as a sellout.

Trying to be Positive

2007-05-11T11:12:00.000-05:00

My wife bugs me from time to time to be more "half-full" and not so much "half-empty", as in the proverbial glass of water. And she's got a point-- I do tend to slide into cynicism and snark fairly easily. Perhaps not as much as friendly neighborhood liberal blogger, BP, but still... she's got a point. So does friendly neighborhood Madison blogger, Mama H., who recently suggested that I am becoming a "turdaholic".

Um... yikes.

But still, it's difficult when the Wisconsin Dept. of Transportation seems determined to drive me over the edge. Just saw this story talking about an intersection that I use many times a week. It is a choke point for any trips my family or I take to the west of where we live. So, annoying enough to discover that it will be closed for the entirity of the summer, the peak period for trips to soccer and baseball diamonds, playgrounds, the Zoo, and on and on. But they are going to put in a ROUNDABOUT! Oh... my... God... what drugs are these doofie on?

The article talks about how safe the roundabout is and then talks about the success they've had on residential streets. Of course, the intersection in question is for a major state highway and a major county road, somewhat different, one might suspect, from a residential street in a subdivision. The article also talks about how roundabouts make the decision-making process easier.... Really? I've been through a few of the roundabouts cited in the article, and I have to say they were quite likely the most confusing traffic situation I have ever come across, with the possible exception of the Michigan Left Turn.

Remember the really dreadful European Vacation movie? One of the only really funny bits in the film was when the Griswald's get trapped in the roundabout in England, simply going round and round because they can't get out. Oi.

The intersection as it is currently configured allows travelers on Highway 38 to continue north and south at 45 mph, with separate lanes and stops required to turn onto, or off of, Highway K. With the roundabout, traffic on 38 will have to slow to a crawl to enter the roundabout. I hope I'm wrong, but this seems like an absolutely dreadful idea.

And the superintendant of my school district is strongly defending paying over $1 million to a consulting firm while schools in the district have to cut programs and staff AND the district is again asking for a referendum for more money. Read a few of the comments to get a sense of the level of frustration in Racine generated by Tom Hicks and the RUSD. I'm right there with them.

So... yeah. Positive. Okay. Right. The Brewers are RAWKING! The most unturdlike team in Major League Baseball right now. Which is just awesome. A tough road swing through N.Y. and Philly should be a good test of just how good this team is at the moment. But they are fun to watch, and they have some really nice juju flowing.

Mike McGee, Sr. did get yanked off the airwaves, so that was good. 'Course his son took over for him, but it's a start.

Ok, ok, what else. It's Friday. That's good. A major drug ring in Milwaukee was broken this week. Nice. My son's baseball team had it's first practice-- I mention this since I'm coacing it this year. Fifteen 6 and 7-year-olds. At times I did feel like I was herding cats, but overall I think it went pretty well.

Spring is here, and summer is coming. Had a beer on the deck and ate a delicious steak that I grilled with my lovely wife last night, so that was excellent.

Half-full, half-full. Right. Got it. Just better not be the completely full beer I opened only a minute ago. 'Cause then there's going to be trouble.

If Only

2007-05-09T14:47:00.000-05:00

this report weren't from The Onion. But, sadly, it is, and in a few weeks Barry Bonds will pass Hank Aaron for the all-time homerun record. Barry Bonds is a cheater and a turd, and it is a shame that he will hold the record. I watched a few highlights of games yesterday after enjoying my Brewers winning yet again-- still the best record in baseball-- and Barry Bonds' character was summed up nicely by the "bonus" coverage of his at bats.

In the first "bonus" coverage, Barry hits a sharp grounder to second base, easily snagged by the defense. The second baseman throws to first base, and Barry is just barely visible in the picture because he is WALKING down the first base line. On a groundball to an infielder, Barry can't even be bothered to jog, much less run hard, down the line. The donkey cares not a whit about his team, nor baseball, nor anything but himself and his glory-- even if the second baseman had bobbled the ball, tripped over his own feet getting up, and then slipped onto his butt, he still would have had time to throw out Bonds.

Later, "bonus" coverage showed Bonds ripping a ball to right center field for a homerun. Bonds disdainfully drops his bat, raises his arms in the air, and does a slow jog around the bases, clearly soaking in the adulation of the misguided San Franciso fans.

Classy guy.

Belated NFL Draft Thoughts

2007-05-08T17:33:00.000-05:00

Though there are tons of opinions out there regarding the recent NFL Draft, my favorite evaluatioin goes to Tuesday Morning Quarterback, Gregg Easterbrook, now of ESPN.com Page 2. Great stuff-- insightful and funny, with some cheesecake thrown in as well. His breakdown of the Mel Kiper "phenomenon" towards the end of the piece is really cool. One of my favorite lines:Denver traded up from the 21st to 17th positions to get Jarvis Moss. Cincinnati was drafting at 18th, and perhaps the Broncos feared that because there were clouds over Moss' reputation, he was sure to be the Bengals' choice.

He might be on to something there.

I was underwhelmed by the Packers' draft, but we'll see-- which is generally all you can say about the draft until three or four years down the line, by which time you've forgotten all about it. The one thing I REALLY don't get is why Ted Thompson declined Cleveland's fevered pleas (they really wanted Brady Quinn) to trade their second round pick (and a 3rd--5th?-- as well, I think) AND their first round pick in '08 for the Packers' 1st round pick.

Cleveland's 2nd round pick was a high one, so the Packers move back about 20 spots to get an extra 1st next year (likely at least a top 15, and possibly a top 10 or top 5). Plus an extra pick later in this year's draft. Thompson's explanation for not making the trade? He's never been able to "wrap my head around the concept of trading future picks". He can't figure how to value future picks relative to current picks-- he can't fit them into his beloved board.

Um... yeah. Ted? You're the GM of a professional sports team. You might want to investigate this whole "trade for future picks" thing. It's something that TMQ notes Bill Belichick and the Patriots do pretty well-- and they seem to be doing alright now that they've "wrapped their heads around it."

Good grief.

Tree, Falling Apple... ah heck... Turd

2007-05-04T18:54:00.000-05:00

I've ripped on Michael McGee, Jr. on this blog from time to time. It should be noted that McGee, Jr. got his hateful and bullying nature the way many people get their character--or lack of it-- straight from his father. Michael McGee, Sr. hosts a morning radio program on WNOV-860 AM in Milwaukee, and he regularly says things that make Don Imus' comments seem like cotton candy and puppy dogs. The N-word is common place (but ok, apparently, since McGee is black). He openly states that he prays for people to die. He calls people who disagree with him every name in the book, and then makes up some new insults for them.

And then there's this rant from Wednesday's program. Wherein he cheers the recent death of Kay Sykes, mother of Charlie Sykes-- who is a conservative morning talk-show host on WTMJ-620 AM in Milwaukee. Wherein McGee says he thinks Kay Sykes had it comin' for raising such a fool. Wherein he states that his gut feeling is that Charlie killed his mother because he got tired of waiting for her money.

He isn't joking. Listen to the audio and you can tell he means every single word.

Mike McGee, Jr. is a turd, but that's not very surprising since he was raised by one.

ESL: Sports Edition

2007-05-04T11:48:00.000-05:00

So, I'm used to the Wisconsin sports teams getting a bit of short shrift from the national press-- the Wisconsin football and basketball teams have had to prove themselves for years before they get anywhere near the respect that other "established" schools get. Before Brett Favre was a legend, back when the Packers were perennial doormats, it took several years of playoff appearances before the Pack got anywhere close to the attention that Dallas or San Francisco got.

This isn't unique to us-- New England suffered through the same thing in the early Bill Belichick days, and most "mid-major" schools still get short shrift in college athletics, despite all of their successes in recent years. It's the nature of the beast-- large markets get covered more thoroughly since there is a larger customer base there, and teams with a reputation for winning get to live off that reputation for many years, even if they aren't winning like they used to.

I have therefore been unsurprised that the Milwaukee Brewers have been a little bit... underreported, despite having the best record in Major League Baseball. Oh there's the occassional "special report" on how well they are doing, but in the day to day link listings on sites like espn.com and sportsline.com, the first links are nearly always to the Red Sox game, the Yankees game, the Mets game, the Braves game and possibly an Indians, Twins, White Sox or Dodgers game.

Watchagonnado? The Yankees are the Yankees, and despite sucking out loud this year, they are still the Yankees. I get that. But. When the Brewers FINALLY do make the link list, why does it have to be for something bad? And particuarly, why does it have to be for something bad THAT DIDN'T EVEN HAPPEN?!?

That was today's link at sportsline.com (no longer there, thankfully, though now there are TWO links to the Yankees' game, and none for the Brewers). Bad enough that we get linked for a game we lost, but the sportsline people couldn't even get their facts straight! The link should read "Bucs keep Brewers from going 10 games over .500", something which the Brewcrew hasn't accomplished in 15 years. The Pirates most definitely did NOT keep the Brewers under .500, as they still have the best record in the National League at 18-10. Little bit of a difference between being UNDER .500 and not being 10 games OVER .500, don'tchathink?

Bugrit, millenium hand and shrimp. I'm tired of being the Rodney Dangerfield of sports.

Go Brewers!

Joe Torre's Massive Head

2007-04-30T14:54:00.000-05:00

No, I don't mean his ego-- compared to his boss, George Steinbrenner, Joe Torre barely has an ego. No, I mean the Yankee Skipper's actual noggin'. Check this picture out:

Torre is behind Steinbrenner and Yankee general manager Brian Cashman, yet his head is significantly larger than either of the other two. Granted, part of that is Torre's substantial double-chin, and another part of it is the optical illusion created by the Yankee's hat on his dome. But still.

Yikes.

That's a big head. No ifs, ands or buts. Cashman's looks almost doll-sized by comparison. And weaselish. Or maybe a ferret. Some sort of rodent, at any rate.

In other baseball news, my Milwaukee Brewers (and I know they are mine, because Bob Uecker tells me so during every radio broadcast) continue to play really good baseball. The Brewers are 15-8, with a 3.5 game lead in the NL Central. Offensively, they have the 5th best batting average in the NL, 6th best RBI total, 3rd most HRs, and the 6th least amount of strike outs (a category which, regrettably, the Brewers have owned for most of the 21st century). The pitching staff's ERA is only middle of the pack (8th out of 16), but it is inflated by a few really bad outings-- the staff has actually pitched better than its ERA in 90% of the games. And only once out of 23 games has the starting pitcher not gone at least five innings. Milwaukee has issued the second fewest number of walks in the NL, and has struck out the third most, and perhaps most significantly, it is 13-0 when leading after seven innings. With Derrick Turnbow and Francisco Cordero, the Brewers are going to win nearly every game they are leading after seven innings. That's huge.

I'm trying to temper my enthusiasm with the thought that the ridiculously long MLB season is only about 1/6th of the way through, but honestly, this team is a playoff contender. Injuries could keep them out of the playoffs, or their inability to "rent" a player post-All Star break might keep them out of the playoffs, but I think they have an excellent shot to win their division (the weakest in baseball so far) or to take the NL wild card slot.

Which is so cool. It's been a LONGGGGG time.

And since I mentioned Bob Uecker, I should mention that I hope he lives forever-- or at least until I stop listening to Brewers games on the radio. Uecker and his on-air partner Jim Powell are fabulous. I listened to part of a recent Cubs/Brewers game on the Cubs' radio station, and the on-air guys just stunk. Plus, Ueck is a class act and, from everything I hear and read, a genuinely nice guy. At any rate-- Huzzah!

Sports Tidbits

2007-04-25T08:52:00.000-05:00

About two weeks ago I wrote the following on this here blog: "Once Bill Hall remembers how to hit, they are going to be a very good team." Two days after I wrote that, Hall hit his first ever grand slam, and since that game he is batting .342 with three home runs and nine RBI. The Brewers are 7-2 over that same span. I'm a genius! I also have to say that there are few sweeter sights to a Brewers fan that has suffered through decades of futility than this:

I am especially a fan of the Brewers' road record-- 6-3! Last year, the Brewers were abysmal on the road, so to show some spark away from Miller Field is a very encouraging sign indeed.

The Brewers' rotation is solid, solid, solid. They may not have that one stand out guy, though Sheets could be that guy if he ever gets consistent, but from 1 through 5, their starting pitchers will rarely lose a game early, and will nearly always go five to seven innings. And with Derrick Turnbow and Francisco Cordero, if the Brewers are ahead after seven, they are going to win nearly all of those games. Sweet. The offense is young, but learning to win, and barring injury, they also will be good all year long.

I think I can honestly say I have never been this jazzed about the Brewers in my life-- even the year they went to the World Series, because I was all of 13 in 1982, and didn't really care about baseball.

In football news, the NFL draft is this weekend, and it is mind boggling to me how big a... spectacle it has become. The Pack needs a running back, tight end, D-lineman, and could use another WR and O-Lineman to replace the aging Chad Clifton. Most "experts" have the Pack taking California running back Marshawn Lynch with their pick at #16 in the first round. I'd be okay with that. I haven't seen Lynch run, but everything I read indicates that he'd be a good fit in Green Bay, and the pairing of him with Morency makes for a pretty good 1-2 punch at RB. A few "pundits" have us taking a WR in the first, which I sincerely hope we don't do-- WRs are a crap shoot, and good ones can be found much later in the draft.

Heard a rumor on the 10 o'clock news that KC is shopping Larry Johnson, and targeted Green Bay as a possible suitor. I have no idea what the Chiefs want in return for LJ, but THAT would be a sweet, sweet guy to have in the backfield with Favre.

Not looking forward to USC wide receiver Steve Smith being drafted. Having two guys with the exact same name, playing the exact same position (Steve Smith is also a wide receiver for the Carolina Panthers) is going to be a nightmare in Fantasy Football terms.

It looks like Marquette guard Dominic James is going to enter the NBA draft. That's too bad-- both for Marquette and for James. The kid has talent, but he still needs to learn to shoot under control and to be more of a point guard and less of a shooting guard. One more year at Marquette could do that for him and also get the school into the sweet sixteen or beyond.

Guess that's it for now, except to note that my son's soccer team is 1-0-1 so far this spring. Their first game was an 11-11 tie, while the second was a 16-5 blow out. Honestly, if professional soccer was as exciting as six-year-old soccer, I'd watch a lot more soccer. Jacob scored four goals in the first game (including the first of the year), and three in the second. Go Guppies!

Yeah, What He Said

2007-04-24T17:20:00.000-05:00

Andrew Sullivan links to a great interview with Jon Rauch, and I recommend reading the whole thing. The part Sullivan highlights, however, deals with Rauch's political identity-- or lack thereof-- and I really identify with Rauch's response. It sums up my own take on politics and political parties quite nicely.

Favorite bit:

Rauch: I don't tell my vote, my specific vote, but over time, my votes have been pretty much esoteric, like my writing. I feel very much emotionally like part of the marginalized middle. That isn't to say that all my views are wishy-washy and that I'm halfway between Republicans and Democrats, but I do feel myself to be one of these independent voters who is kind of left behind by a political system biased in favor of people who fit into neat boxes and have extreme views. And I vote like an independent.

The marginalized middle. Yup, that's me.

ESL: Internet Scam Edition

2007-04-23T08:50:00.000-05:00

So, I got another "Please excuse me, but even though I've never met you I'll send you $5 million if you just help me out-- oh, and I need you savings account info" email. No surprise, I'm sure most of us get at least two of those a week. But this one was... different. I think they have a room full of chimpanzees, randomly banging away on keyboards, figuring one of them will write an email close to what they want. Thusly:

I am Mr Gilbert Mercier On the occasion of the WEEDING of my son, I would l ike to reserve your establishment for the periode from May 05th till May 10Th.

I would thus like that you make(do) me a valuable proposition for the rent this day. I clarify you that this rent is foreseen 04 persons all in all,This known as I wish knowledge if you Accept remote payments by credit card.

Errr... right. Sorry to hear about your son being weeded, Mr. Mercier, but I'm not sure how reserving my establishment in early May will ease your pain. The email reminds me of my few small attempts at Babelfish poems.

Do you think they ran their standard "please help a rich Belizian merchant" letter through the Babelfish translator and back again and THEN sent it out?

The Satire Experts

2007-04-20T13:04:00.000-05:00

It's gotta be The Onion. Been doing it for years and they still do it as well or better than anyone else. The Daily Show claims to be the most reliable source for made-up news, and they are pretty good, but for my money, nobody comes close to The Onion. This piece, about a documentary on liberal, upper-middle-class existence, is just flat out brilliant. Favorite bit:

This American Life host and producer Ira Glass began work on the project in 1995 in Chicago, where he found himself inspired by and catering to an audience of professionals who dine out frequently and have a hard time getting angry. Glass and his team of producers, writers, and interns set about the exhausting task of gathering all available information on a range of subjects from minor skirmishes with the law to the rewards of occasionally talking to poor people. The raw data was then analyzed, deconstructed, reconstructed, re-deconstructed, organized under a broad philosophical title, and interspliced with musical interludes by rock duo They Might Be Giants.

On a related topic, I saw Sean Penn on The Colbert Report last night, and he is undeniably NOT a satire expert. Tim Robbins, though I disagree with him on many issues, I respect, because A) he's intelligent and has clearly thought through his beliefs, and 2) he's funny and able to poke fun of himself. Penn has neither of those attributes. Came across as a self-aggrandizing turd, from my perspective.

But maybe that's just me.

The Onion also does sports. Say it ain't so, Mel!

Green is the new Red, White and Blue

2007-04-16T15:32:00.000-05:00

So states, Thomas Friedman, and blast if he isn't awfully convincing. I've never been a fan of Kyoto, but danged if he doesn't make me reconsider.

Read the essay. It's long, but it's worth it-- and the whole thing is fascinating. Pragmatic, anaylitical, visionary, hopeful, reaslistic, informative... and on and on. It's superb.

We must wean ourselves from oil and coal. There's a reason they are called non-renewable energy sources.

Boy I wish Arnie could be President.

Now I Have to See 300

2007-04-13T15:20:00.000-05:00

So I can better appreciate the South Park parody of the movie in this week's episode. Even without seeing the movie I was able to figure out much of the parody based on what I've read about 300, but I'm betting it would be better with the actual movie as a reference point. Regardless, the episode is hilarious, as nearly all of the recent South Park's have been-- not just funny, but hilarious. And wickedly sharp, too.

Andrew Sullivan sums up much of my sentiment regarding this week's episode, and South Park in general, AND Don Imus, in this post. He makes some very good points.

Tidbits and Oddities

2007-04-12T19:03:00.000-05:00

Nothing coherent to this post except for its total lack of coherency-- which works for me.

Thanks to near blizzard conditions in Cleveland, the Indians are wrapping up a mid-week series of games today-- at Miller Park in Milwaukee. Shades of Major League, where the actual baseball game footage was shot at Milwaukee County Stadium, though the film was about a fictional Cleveland Indians team. Bernie Brewer was gracious enough to allow Slider, the Indians' bizarre mascot-type... thing... to slide down Bernie's slide when the Indians hit a home run. And, of course, the sausages race after the sixth inning. So far this year the Italian has been dominating, though I don't know the results from the Cleveland games.

Given the snow in Cleveland, and for that matter, the snow here in Wisconsin yesterday, I have to question the sanity, or at least the intelligence, of Minnesotans who are willing to pay for a baseball stadium, but won't pay extra for a roof. Eh, what's a foot of snow and sub-zero temperatures to Minnesotans, eh? After all their football team plays outside, right?

Sticking with baseball for the nonce, the Brewers swept a rare header-and-a-half against the Florida Marlins yesterday. Their Tuesday night game was called after ten innings when the third rain delay of the game showed no signs of letting up. On Wednesday night, they played the 11th, 12th, and 13th innings, at which point the Brewers finally won, 3-2. After a brief break, they played the regularly scheduled game, which the Brewers won, 5-2. I am encouraged by the Brewers play, as their pitching so far has been excellent, and they seem to be getting their offense into gear. Once Bill Hall remembers how to hit, they are going to be a very good team. Wow, I haven't said that about the Brewers since the early '90s.

Sports related, sortof, but not baseball is this story of a man who drove a zamboni drunk-- which is apparently not illegal. Moral of the story, it's ok to drive four-ton machinery with a bellyfull of Sambuca and valium as long as it can't carry passengers and isn't usable on a highway.

Totally un-sports related tidbit. If you ever want a truly mind-bending experience, watch The Sopranos on HBO-Lat. Seeing Tony and the other big, burly Italian goombahs speaking with Spanish overdubs is... really, really bizarre.

Final tidbit: Amazingly, Michele Malkin is actually right about something. I don't get to write that very often. Not so amazingly, the quote at the end of her post illustrates quite clearly that Snoop Dog is not only an idiot, he's a misogynistic, bigoted, belligerent idiot.

BP Must Be Sad

2007-04-12T10:13:00.000-05:00

The man who created Billy Pilgrim, the adopted name of everyone's favorite Way Left Music Fan over at Empire of the Senseless, has died. Yes, Kurt Vonnegut shuffled off this mortal coil yesterday at the age of 84. As with so many others, his works were revolutionary to me when I first read them in college. And they hold up pretty well, though the second time through they seem just a little preachy-- especially the later books. Unlike BP, I found Timequake tedious to the point where I didn't finish it. But his themes and subjects were universal, and his writing was lyrical and mind-freeing at its best.

RIP

ESL: Acronym Edition

2007-04-12T08:17:00.000-05:00

Abbreviations and acronyms, particularly acronyms, are great-- to a point. They allow us to take cumbersome names and make them both more concise and much easier to remember. KFC, ESP, NCAA, AAA, and NATO are all examples of successful acronyms. Some have become so successful they are now words in their own right-- laser, radar and sonar all started out as acronyms. But at some point, acronyms can become meaningless. When they get too long, or contain too many consonants, it becomes alpahbet soup, gibberish, annoying even.

Enter my school's homosexual acceptance group. Six years ago, when I first started at UW-Parkside, their acronym was LBGT-- Lesbian, Bi-sexual, Gay and Transgender. Somewhat unwieldy (no vowels), but not too bad. A year or two ago they added a pair of Q's to the end-- LBGTQQ-- for "Queer" and "Questioning". Oi. But wait! On my way home the other day I noticed a Cancer benefit being sponsored by LBGTQQIS. Great benefit-- horrible acronym! Though you'd score HUGE points in Scrabble-- if you could find two Q's.

Before we go any further, let me reiterate my support for gay rights. I was appalled when Wisconsin wrote discrimination into our Constitution last fall by prohibiting gay marriage, and my sister is gay. I have no issues with homosexuals, and I'm pleased that Parkside's homosexual acceptance group is both active and vocal. But come on.

LBGTQQIS?

In case you're curious, the I (finally, a vowel!) is for Intersex, while the final S is for Same-gender-loving. No, I'm not making that up.

At some point, doesn't this kind of parsing becoming counter-productive? Seriously. The NAACP doesn't feel the need to delineate every single "color" of people they include in their association. They aren't the NAAAHLAMNCNASP (National Association of African-American, Hispanic, Latino, Asian, Multi-racial, Non-Caucasian, Native American, Slavic People), because 1) that would be silly and B) the whole POINT of the NAACP is to bring people together, not emphasize their differences.

And finally, why does the LBGTQQIS make some of these distinctions? Heck, what exactly ARE the distinctions being drawn here? LBGT I get, but how is "Queer" distinct from them? And isn't Queer a perjorative, not as bad as the N-word, but in the same ballpark? Regardless, isn't it an all-encompassing term for homosexuals, regardless of their gender or preferences? Questioning is pretty clear, but what in the world is Intersex? As opposed to Outersex? I seriously have no idea what is meant by the term. Which leaves Same-gender-loving. Clear enough, but I fail to see how this is any different than all of the categories covered by other parts of the acronym. Doesn't L, G, and the first Q pretty well cover Same-gender-loving?

Time to prune the acronym, methinks.

Turd Day in Wisconsin

2007-04-03T14:24:00.000-05:00

So many turds, so little time. We've got turds both literal and figurative, so let's, er... dive on in, shall we?

Been raining steadily for the last fourteen months here in Wisconsin (ok, ok, how about two weeks) with only occassional respites of sunshine, so water levels are high, the ground is saturated, and the turds are floating out into the lake. The exact volume of turdishness is at this time undetermined, but since there is more rain in the forecast for later today and tomorrow, the algae are likely to be happy. The fishies not so much. Oh, and not just Lake Michigan-- some of the other waterways in the Milwaukee area, too. Thank you MMSD.

Moving on to the figurative turds. Well, it's election day, so we all get to vote for the turd of our choice. What fun. Of course, not all of them are turds, but it is getting harder and harder to distinguish the fecal matter from the non these days. For example, there is this-- always nice to see a candidate for the Wisconsin Supreme Court, the embodiment of anti-turdishness, willing to mislead and obscure the voters for political gain.

But really, that's pretty minor. Much, much bigger turds out there-- and they aren't even politicians! Well, okay, Harry Reid is a politician, and he's definitely a turd for threatening to cut funding for our troops if Bush vetoes the Democrats' current deadline laden funding bill. Much as I disagree with the P and VP on their handling of the war, cutting off funding for our troops is not an acceptable way of dealing with the mess in Iraq.

Right! Non-politician turds. Okay, well there's Brian Duchow and the judges that won't allow the tape of Duchow threatening to "beat the hell" out of a child with Downs Syndrome to be admissible in court. Those are some high grade turds there, my friends.

There's Milwaukee turd extraordinaire, Michael McGee, Jr., who is facing a recall election today. McGee is a bully, and a whiner, and a abuser of his status as an African-American politician for his own personal gain. Here's hoping he goes down in flames.

Oops. That was a politician again. Geez, it's awful easy to find political turds.

Okay, okay. Well, James Wolcott was, I'm pretty sure, the first person I called a turd in this blog, so I should mention him. Seems he has a spiffy new blog "home" at Vanity Fair. And he is berating officious, sneering, East Coast pundits for their mischaracterization of Fred Thompson as "gruff" and like a teamster, citing their "ardent longing of Beltway types for topdog masculine authenticity." Pot. Kettle. Black. Irony.

And what early April turd listing would be complete without mentioning my local school district? Yes, once again, for the fifth straight year-- they are consistent, you have to give them that-- the RUSD is almost certainly going to ask residents to give them more money. And once again they will hold a special election for this referendum to keep turn out down and improve the chances that it will pass. Never mind that holding a special vote on a day with nothing else going on costs tax payers an extra $30,000 or thereabouts. Completely shamelessly, some of the members of the School Board are once again maintaining that the referendum would not raise taxes since it's just a continuation of the increase approved last year. And the year before that. And the year before that.

Okay, now I have to go wash my hands.

Play Ball!

2007-04-02T15:35:00.000-05:00

Remarkably, national baseball "pundits" are picking the Brewers to be good this year. Not just ok, but actually good-- contend for the division title good. Granted, pundits know only slightly more than your average lichen-covered rock, but it's still refreshing to see. 'Course, now the Brew Crew has to go out and actually live up to, or exceed, expectations, but there is excitement over the Brewers that hasn't been experienced here since the mid-eighties.

Opening strong is always a good thing, too, and Ben Sheets just finished off one of the most exquisite opening day pitching performances I've ever "watched" (it was online, so I couldn't actually see it, but still). A two-hit gem, as Milwaukee rolled over the Los Angeles Dodgers, 7-1. Generally, it takes a little while for the pitching and defense to get in a groove, so early season games tend to be dominated by hitting-- not the case for Sheets, who gave up just a 2nd inning home run and a ninth inning double while striking out three and walking none. Absolutely brilliant performance.

Long, long season. But a great start for the home team!

162-0!

MM: Significant Lack of Madness

2007-03-28T14:25:00.000-05:00

This has to be the dullest NCAA Tournament ever. Some of the games have been fantastic, no doubt, but the near total absence of upsets has made the whole thing seem a bit... humdrum. The Final Four are two 1 seeds and two 2 seeds. The final 8 was no better, four #1s, three #2s and a #3. Even the Sweet Sixteen saw only two teams seeded higher than a 5, and no teams seeded higher than 7.

No Cinderella's this year-- Cinderella got shotdown early and often. Lot of pumpkins, no glass slippers.

Which is too bad. Part of the charm and appeal of the Big Dance-- part of the Madness of this two and a half week tourney in March-- is when midnight doesn't strike until the Elite Eight or even the Final Four. I'll watch the Final Four because all three games promise to be good ones, but I don't really care who wins.

Immigration: Food for Thought

2007-03-27T19:29:00.000-05:00

I tend to believe that the anti-immigration position that begins with "They're here illegally-- what part of illegal don't you/they get?" and ends with "They're here illegally, no amnesty, send them all home" is deeply in opposition to all America has always stood for. That does not mean that we should ignore the problem, nor that our immigration system does not need a MAJOR overhaul to limit, prevent would be nice but probably impossible, the huge flood of illegal immigration we are currently experiencing. But an important aspect of America's history has been, and always should be, that this is the land of opportunity, the land where you can start over, the land where hard work and dedication will get you ahead.

And I ran across the following quote tonight, and I felt a need to share, because the author phrases it all quite eloquently and concisely:

But the subject of deepest concern to him [Dr. Franz Huebschmann, one of Milwaukee's representatives at the Wisconsin constitutional convention in 1846] was to secure a constitutional provision enfranchising the immigrants without compelling them first to complete the process of naturalization. The argument Heubschmann employed was the social argument. He wanted to do away with distinction of rights between Americans and foreigners, in order thereby to remove barriers to their social cooperation. To this end he also urged provision for adequate public schools. 'Political equality and good schools,' he said, 'will make the people of Wisconsin an enlightened and happy people. They will make them one people.'

Of course, this isn't enough in and of itself-- there is a need for the new immigrants, and particularly their children, to become Americanized. We are, after all, the great melting pot, not the great bunch of little enclaves that don't really agree with or trust anybody else and want to remain separate from the rest. Which is good, since the latter phrase is way too long. So, American society does its best to eliminate ethnic, racial, and gender-based barriers, and the newly arrived immigrants, do their best to adapt to their new home. Thusly:

In fact, unusual success in any field opened wide the door of social opportunity to the family of the successful immigrant. His children would be sure to attend the American high school or college; they could, if they chose to do so, intermarry with American families, and fraternize on equal terms with Americans of the older lineage in church, in lodge, and in the home. Success, in short, wiped out invidous distinctions. It might leave to the foreign-born the full enjoyment of his peculiar racial tradition, its literature and its art. But these would be superadded to his appreciation and enjoyment of things American and his association with persons to whom such things were all in all.

It's an odd thing, but in our efforts to be inclusive and diverse-- to accept and even embrace other cultures-- Americans are losing their own culture. Our melting pot culture, wherein the cultural and ethnic quirks of all of our immigrants gradually seep into American society as part of the whole, rather than as distinct and readily identifiable as other, is being replaced with something that strikes me disturbingly as something along the lines of "separate but equal."

Separate but equal was a grand failure once before. Why should we think it will be anything but a grand failure this go 'round?

Oh, and for the record, both of those quotes are from a fascinating little book about the history of southeastern Wisconsin called _Four Wisconsin Counties: Prairie and Forest_ by Joseph Schafer. Also for the record, that book was published in 1927.

Loony Lefties: Local Edition

2007-03-22T14:36:00.000-05:00

So, this past Monday night, 21 "peace" activists vandalized an Army recruiting station on the eastside of Milwaukee. According to the police, the "peace" activists broke windows, threw smoke bombs into the building, and smeared human feces on the property.

Nice.

Thank goodness the peace activists support the troops-- imagine the damage they would do if they didn't!

Loony Lefties: German Edition

2007-03-22T14:08:00.000-05:00

So, an animal rights activists in Germany want a baby polar bear raised by humans killed for it's own good. You've likely heard the story on the wires or online. It's craziness like this that makes animal rights groups a laughing stock and harms the efforts of rational, intelligent folks to advocate for real animal rights.

Bear in mind (Hah!) that the problem isn't that the cub is suffering, but, quite to the contrary, that it is being treated too well. It won't grow up to be a "real bear" according to "animal rights" activists. Pardon my French, but so freakin' what? So, it won't have to survive in -35 degree celsius temperatures. So, it won't have live most of its live alone, ranging through some of the harshest terrain on the planet. So, it won't have to kill all those cute seals that polar bears need to live on. Why is that a problem?

Will the bear feel bad about it all? Will it be pining away in it's safe enclosure wishing it was out hunting like all the real bears do? Will it waste away to nothing because it can't help feeling singled out and exploited by its human masters?

It's a bear. It was going to die if it hadn't been rescued. You can debate the ethics of going out into the wild and capturing animals for zoos-- do humans have the right to take an animal out of its natural environment just to have a showcase for other humans? Personally, I think the benefits are worth the problems incurred, but I can at least understand the thinking of those that say it's wrong. But this bear was born in a zoo and was going to die if nobody helped it. We did not remove it from it's natural habitat, nor did we prevent it from growing up "normal."

On top of all of the idiocy of claiming that letting it die would be better-- more "right"-- than saving it at the cost of its "bearness", add in that the Germans are using the bear to promote efforts to curb global warming. Which, according to animal rights activists, is the single biggest threat to polar bears in the world right now!

To sum up: A cute, fluffy polar bear cub was rescued from certain death at a zoo by some of the staff there. The bear was never going to live a "normal" polar bear life, and now, instead of being dead, it is enjoying a nice life of food, shelter and ample play time. Said bear has also become something of a celebrity, and the zoo is using that celebrity to promote efforts to curb global warming, thus hopefully helping all of the cub's polar bear relatives who may be impacted quite negatively by further global warming.

And animal rights activists think all of that is wrong and we should kill the cub now... for it's own good.

What a world, what a world.

Thank God For the Thin Mints

2007-03-20T13:59:00.000-05:00

They salvaged March Madness for me over the weekend. First Marquette lies down and plays dead on Thursday, then the Badgers nearly lose to a 15 seed on Friday before being the highest seeded team to lose thus far. Blech. The Badgers were never the same after losing Brian Butch-- a lot of their offense relied on feeding the ball inside, then having Butch hit the cutting Alando Tucker or passing back out to an open Kam Taylor. Without Butch, they became mostly a jump shooting team, and when their shots stopped falling and the other teams started falling, they were in trouble.

Sigh. It is a shame-- at their peak, back in January and February, the Badgers really were the best team in the country. They were a legitimate Final Four team a month ago. Sadly on Sunday, they were only pretty good, and lost to a UNLV team that is also pretty good, and was making its shots.

TV Recommendation: The Riches

2007-03-20T13:13:00.000-05:00

I don't watch a lot of TV, but I have to say that FX is putting on some mighty fine shows these days. Dirt is quite entertaining and it's nice to see Courtney Cox in a show with a little grit to it. Rescue Me, The Shield, Nip/Tuck-- all very fine programs, though I've only caught a show here and there of them.

But this particular recommendation is for FX's newest show, The Riches. This is the episode guide description to the pilot: Wayne Malloy (Eddie Izzard), partriarch to a family of Irish Travellers in rural Louisiana, takes his wife Dahlia (Minnie Driver) and their kids on the running after stealing money from the extended family bank. Seduced by the idea of a bigger life for themselves, and armed with the keys to a deadman's new house in a posh suburban development, they assume the identity of a "normal family"... setting in motion their dream to steal the American Dream.

Personally, I would describe it as the Beverly Hillbillies on steroids. Or perhaps, the Beverly Hillbillies meets The Grifters. There's the fish-out-of-water awkwardness and humor of this family of lower class travellers (gypsies) trying to fit into a rich, suburban world, but instead of the simple naivety of Jed and Granny, you have whip smart scoundrals willing to lie, cheat and steal to get through the day. The entire cast is brilliant, with Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver creating two of the best characters on TV in a long time, and the writing is razor sharp.

There have only been two episodes so far, but this is a show I will make a point of seeing and look forward to each installment. The only other show that I am that keen on right now is South Park. If you get a chance, check it out.

Trouble for YouTube?

2007-03-16T13:00:00.000-05:00

YouTube is wildly popular, and has revolutionized media sharing and how people think about, and access, video. But a goodly number of clips on the website are copyrighted, and like all sharing services that include copyrighted material-- Napster anybody?-- sooner or later they will feel the wrath of those being copyright infringed upon. In Napster's case, it was the record companies and a number of prominent artists. For Youtube, it's Viacom.

Perhaps Viacom's lawsuit is merely a negotiating tactic. But then again, maybe not. Either way, it will be interesting, and very, very precedent setting, to see how this sorts itself out.

MM: YES!

2007-03-15T21:01:00.000-05:00

Duke crashes and burns in the first round! Woot! Most excellent. They didn't deserve to be a 6 seed, and now they are gone. VCU played with all the confidence down the stretch, while Duke missed free throws and open shots to put the game away. I entered seven brackets altogether, and I picked Duke to LOSE in all seven. SWEET!

I am a happy camper, even though hometown Marquette looked pretty dreadful in losing to Michigan State.

MM: My Picks

2007-03-14T20:32:00.000-05:00

Not all of them-- which would be a considerable amount, since I have now filled out and submitted six different brackets. I honestly believe that if you wanted to, and were willing to put in a bit of effort, you could enter 100 different free NCAA tournament pools. But even though each of the six is a tad bit different, each of them has a number of similarities. So, here's a synopsis:

I have Georgetown winning it all twice, and Florida, Ohio State, UCLA and Wisconsin winning it all once (the Wisconsin pick being a total homer selection-- I don't think they have the horses to win it all without Brian Butch). I really like Georgetown, and I think their bracket is comparatively easy-- North Carolina is good, but not a #1, and Washington State is a weak #3. Ohio State I like just because their bracket is even easier, but I think they are too young to win six straight high pressure games against top level competition.

I picked against Duke in every single one of my brackets. They don't deserve to be a 6 seed, and the basketball gods know it-- Duke will lose on something fluky, a bad call, a missed free throw by their best free throw shooter, to a good VCU team.

I think the 12 v. 5 upset special goes down the drain this year. The only 12 that's any good is Old Dominion, so take them if you must pick a 12, but the other three 12s are meat. My final four of choice is Florida, UCLA, Georgetown and Ohio State. My alternate in each bracket is Wisconsin, Kansas, Texas and Louisville.

My upset specials in the first round are: Winthrop over Notre Dame, Gonzaga over Indiana, Albany over Virginia and George Washington over Vanderbilt. I like Winthrop and GW because neither Notre Dame or Vandy plays well away from home. I like the Zags because they play great as the underdog, the Hoosiers also don't play that great away from home, and the game is in Sacremento. And I like Albany because they're pretty good and because Virginia is from the greatly over-hyped ACC. VCU over Duke, too, of course, but I already mentioned that.

Tomorrow will rock. I have Thin Mints and milk for the weekend.

God I love this time of the year.

MM: Worst Brackets Ever

2007-03-12T08:27:00.000-05:00

Or at least that I can remember. Truly the selection and seeding was dreadful this year, with the ACC apparently having bought off the selection committe, while the Big East pissed them off something fierce. I know there are always questionable calls, and I know that seeding the tournament is one of the trickiest bits of sports logistics out there, but Arkansas in and Syracuse out? Please. But I get ahead of myself. Let us begin at the top and work our way down.

#1 Seeds: Ohio State, Kansas, Florida and North Carolina.
OSU, UK and UF are no brainers. I don't have a problem with them at all. But North Carolina? North Carolina beat one top 10 team all year, Ohio State with an injured Greg Odom at home, and has three pretty decent road wins: Tennessee, Duke and Boston College. They are the class of the ACC, and deserve a #2 seed, but Georgetown and UCLA are both more deserving.

But North Carolina isn't a horrible #1 seed. I can live with it. BUT, how does the team that leaked into their #1 seed get to play their first and second round games 30 miles away from their campus?!?! Those two games are home games for North Carolina, and that is a HUGE edge. How does that work?

#2 Seeds: Georgetown, UCLA, Wisconsin, and Memphis.
I have no real issues with the #2s. Except that NC should be one of them.

#3 Seeds: Oregon, Washington State, Texas A&M and Pittsburgh
I also have no real issue with these, either.

#4 Seeds: Texas, Virginia, Maryland, and Southern Illinois
Two ACC teams? What do the ACC Athletic Directors have on the selection committee? Maryland has precisely one good road win, at Duke, and they beat North Carolina by 2 at home. They lost to Miami (12-19) in the first round of the ACC tourney. Virginia's resume is equally as bad. They have one good road win, at Maryland, they didn't beat North Carolina, and they ended the year losing to Wake Forest (15-16) and N.C. State (18-15). And these are two of the top 16 teams in the country?

#5 Seeds: Butler, Virginia Tech, Tennessee, USC
These are ok, except that Virginia Tech is a 6 or 7 seed, tops. No way they are one of the 20 best teams in the country. What did the ACC do to get this kind of preferential treatment?

#6 Seeds: Notre Dame, Duke, Vanderbilt, Louisville.
ND and Louisville should both be 4 or 5 seeds. Louisville could make a case for being a 3. Vanderbilt is about right. Duke should be about a 10. Seeding them even with Notre Dame and Louisville is an absolute travesty. Ridiculous. Both teams are ranked higher Duke. Both teams went deeper in their conference tourney than Duke did. Duke finished the year losing three straight (so much for recent events counting for more in the selection committee's seedings). Duke has NO good road wins. They were a mediocre 8-8 in the ACC. Louisville does get to play in Lexington for the first two rounds, so perhaps that's why they were seeded 6, but I'm not sure that's a fair trade off. And I know there's no way Duke is a 6.

#7 Seeds: Nevada, Boston College, UNLV, Indiana
More ACC favoritism. BC beat almost nobody this year, and their best road win is a one point victory over Florida State. The other three I'm ok with, though Nevada got a bit screwed. They deserved a 5, or at least a 6.

#8 Seeds: BYU, Kentucky, Arizona, and Marquette
Did the Big East send a bunch of peanut-based candies to the selection committe member with nut allergies? Good lord the selection committee seems to hate the Big East. Marquette finished with wins two wins over Pittsburgh, a win vs. Louisville (at Louisville), and AT Duke. They have a better record, and resume, than at least six teams seeded ahead of them. For this they get an 8 seed, and the opportunity to play North Carolina, IN North Carolina, if they beat Michigan State in the first round. The Warriors... er... Golden Eagles got screwed. Kentucky and Arizona deserved 9s or 10s, but they're Kentucky and Arizona, so they get an extra seed or two.

#9 Seeds: Xavier, Villanova, Purdue, and Michigan State
Purdue is too high, but otherwise I'm ok with these. The Big 10 definitely panders better than the Big East, but they got nothing on the ACC when it comes to selection committee favoritism.

#10 Seeds: Gonzaga, Georgia Tech, Texas Tech, Creighton
I'm not sure any of these teams should've made the tourney, though the Zags did beat North Carolina and Texas way back at the start of the year, which might be enough. But in light of teams like Drexel and Syracuse getting bumped from the field, how are Georgia Tech and Texas Tech in? Actually, Creighton deserves to be here, maybe even higher.

#11 Seeds: VCU, Winthrop, George Washington, and Stanford
I'm good with all of these, actually. Starting to get into the automatic bid categories now, so there should be less controversy.

#12 Seeds: Illinois, Old Dominion, Arkansas, Long Beach State
Two of the worst selections ever. Neither Illinois or, the weaker division of the SEC. No team with a losing record in conference play should be in the field unless they win their conference tournament. They beat NOBODY this year. Nobody. Worst at-large pick I can remember. Illinois is a little better, but not a lot. They at least went 9-7 in conference. But they also beat absolutely nobody.

#13-#16 Seeds: There guys are all play-ins via conference tourneys. We'll call 'em good.

Left Out Screw Jobs: Syracuse, Drexel, Missouri State and Air Force.
Syracuse beat Georgetown, Marquette and Villanova. They were 10-6 in the Big East, a better record than Villanova, who is in the tournament. Syracuse is far more deserving than either Arkansas or Illinois. Drexel won AT Villanova and AT Syracuse and finished 23-8. Missouri State beat Wisconsin and finished 12-6 in the tough Missouri Valley Conference. Air Force beat Texas Tech, UNLV and Stanford (all in the tourney) but finished weak, losing their last four games. They were still more deserving than Arkansas or Illinois, though. All four of these teams were far more deserving.

For more pithy analysis, go here. Or wait for my next post.

March Madness: The Madness Begins

2007-03-12T08:20:00.000-05:00

One of the best times of the year, sportswise, is here. Many of my subsequent posts will now be March Madness (MM) centric. If you have no interest in college basketball (Heretic!), or in filling out brackets for office pools (Heathen!), then you can always go here, and vote for things like duct tape vs. super glue. And feel free to ignore my MM: posts for the next two weeks. 'Cause I love this time of the year. Sweet!

Best Governor Money Can Buy?

2007-03-08T15:04:00.000-06:00

Before the '06 election, Wisconsin Govern Jim Doyle's administration was under investigation for possible improprieties relating to a travel agency. Seems Adelman Travel received a large state travel contract very shortly after the company made a generous donation to the Doyle campaign. The governor also received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the state's Native American tribes both before and after he signed gambling compacts with those tribes amounting to billions of dollars in revenue. And there's a new UWM housing complex going up on the east side of Milwaukee which seems to have been steered, somewhat ham-fistedly, to a contractor that has donated large sums to, you guessed it, Jim Doyle's re-election campaign.

Color me unsurprised then, to discover that another huge donor to the Doyle administration is under investigation for receiving special consideration from state agencies. This time it's Dennis Troha, who owns a trucking company in Kenosha, and who received rather a lot of assistance from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, headed by Frank Busalacchi a longtime Doyle supporter and appointee. Seems the Wisconsin DoT sent a couple of its lawyers to Pennsylvania to help Troha's trucking company on a tax case there. Wonder why they did that?

Oh, and of course, there's this. Seems Troha may also have funneled a bit more money than he was actually legally allowed. Why would he do that? The answer is, as you might have guessed, money. Enough to make the hundreds of thousands he sent Jim Doyle's way look like a pittance.

How many similar situations does there have to be before it becomes a pattern? Fool me once shame on you; fool me twice shame on me. Right?

Well, what about the third, fourth, and fifth time?

Phew!

2007-03-08T14:10:00.000-06:00

Well, between Blogger outages and the upcoming presence of the Board of Regents here on campus, I have had virtually no time to even think about blogging, much less actually doing so-- the entire campus has been a flurry of cleaning, prepping and primping for the last week. Which isn't a bad thing-- I think a little extra housekeeping and review every ten years or so is probably all to the good, though it did put everyone on edge.

But today the Regents arrived and what will be, will be. Hopefully it goes well, but my small part in it is over, so I can relax a bit now.

Lucky you! More insightful observations and pithy commentary!

Hey! It's My Third Year!

2007-03-08T08:19:00.000-06:00

Just noticed that I passed my second anniversary at the end of last month. Forgot all about it. So, this is the beginning of my third year of posting on this lonely little outpost in the blogosphere. Woot!

Figured it would last a couple of months.

Life is what happens to you while you are making other plans.