A Worthy Cause

Over at Gone Mild, Dan is trying to save The Mango Room from extinction. The Mango Room is a local restaurant that has been threatened by the construction and delays surrounding the Power and Light District. It's hard to get people to come in to your place when there is heavy equipment and a port-a-potty parked outside apparently.

Dan then lays out this challenge:

I challenge each of you - starting now and continuing through the month of August, to seek out Kansas City restaurants whenever you eat out. Find a Winstead's instead of a Burger King. Blow a bucket of money at Plaza III instead of at Morton's. Come back and comment on your experiences and recommendations (and disappointments, too). If commenters participate, I'll bump this to the top of the page for the duration. If you are a fellow blogger, post something on your site about your favorite local places, and encourage your readers to share their thoughts on your blog. Let's see if we can save the Mango Room and the other gems that make Kansas City different from Indianapolis or Milwaukee or Akron.

Well, I know it seems awfully brave, but I accept the challenge to eat at some of the city's best restaurants. I'll do it for the people.

Here are some of the great restaurants I already love:

Hien Vuong at the River Market -- Showered with praise in this post.

Big Momma's in Raytown -- They serve sandwiches on giant dinner rolls. If I need to explain why that is good, you may not want to take my recommendations. They also have possibly the best cinnamon rolls I have ever tasted.

Le Fou Frog -- Everything is fantastic. I always end up trying something I never thought I might even consider. Plus, they have the best custom Roasterie blend in town.

The Mango Room -- Macaroni and Cheese. Go for that if for nothing else.

Cupini's in Westport -- They just expanded their menu, and they have some great Italian salads. I go to the one on 43rd street near State Line, but I understand there are also locations downtown, in Liberty, and in Lee's Summit.

Korma Sutra in Westport -- Chicken Moqolai is creamy, spicy, and delicious. Good options for vegetarians. (If you are a vegetarian also try Udipi at 81st and Metcalf.)

Pierpont's in Union Station -- This one isn't exactly a small family run shop, but it's still local. There is not a prettier restaurant in town. And they make the finest Old Fashioned on earth.

Shirley's in Grandview -- Classic American breakfast. They make their own jelly.

Lucia's Taqueria in Independence -- The taco's are double-shelled and covered in what appears to be Parmesan cheese. Whatever it is, it's hard to beat.

Bo Ling's in the Board of Trade building-- Go on weekends for the Dim Sum. It's good and fun.

Harry's Country Club at the River Market -- Actually it is pretty inexpensive, but the bar tab usually ups things. I challenge anyone to find a better grilled cheese.

The Classic Cup at the Plaza -- I've only been for Sunday brunch. They do everything from a carbonara to dutch pancakes filled with fruit. It is all very good.

Blue Koi on 39th -- Try the spicy chili pepper wontons.

Any of Kansas City's fine barbecue establishments -- If the restaurant looks a little scuzzy, you are in the right place. It's hard to get bad barbecue here.

Evening Question

As I ready myself for slumber there is a question that continues to perplex.

Would Mike Vick support the electrocution of quaterbacks who can't complete 60% of their passes?

The Beat Goes On

Not much to say about these anymore. This time it is former Surgeon General Richard Carmona talking about the politicization of his office. You wish it would seem a little more surprising.

I also saw a clip of Carmona with Wolf Blitzer on the Daily Show. In that clip, Carmona said he wasn't allowed to support the Special Olympics because the Kennedy's were involved too heavily. It's hard to imagine another situation where that would even be conceivable. Not hard to believe with these guys though.

Not That You Didn't Already Know This

... but here are the details. Best part:

One of the first visitors, on Feb. 14, was James J. Rouse, then vice president of Exxon Mobil and a major donor to the Bush inauguration; a week later, longtime Bush supporter Kenneth L. Lay, then head of Enron Corp., came by for the first of two meetings. On March 5, some of the country's biggest electric utilities, including Duke Energy and Constellation Energy Group, had an audience with the task force staff.

British Petroleum representatives dropped by on March 22, one of about 20 oil and drilling companies to get meetings. The National Mining Association, the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America and the American Petroleum Institute were among three dozen trade associations that met with Cheney's staff, the document shows.

The Cheney team met with environmental groups once. That was after 40 meetings with energy interests had produced the initial draft of the task force.

Sometimes the Numbers Do Tell the Whole Story

Have an argument with any die hard conservative that somehow hasn't yet turned on the president, and you will assuredly at some point hear a rebuttal something along the lines of "Well, when Bill Clinton was in office he did the exact same thing."

In some cases they are right. While that doesn't constitute much of an argument for whether the current president is right or wrong, it does put their opponent in a more awkward position. But often they are flat out wrong. The latest example comes in these numbers from Harper's Index:

Number of Bush White House officials who are authorized to discuss pending criminal cases with the Justice Department: 711

Number of Clinton officials who were: 4

Percentage of federal inspectors general appointed by Bush and Clinton, respectively, who had prior audit experience: 36, 66

Percentage who held some political position prior to their appointment: 45, 22

And two more numbers that don't have a Clinton parallel but are appalling nonetheless:

Number of Bush appointees who regulate industries they used to represent as lobbyists: 85

Number of the five directors of a No Child Left Behind reading program who had financial ties to the curricula the developed: 4

Contempt

I admit I am a little conflicted about all of the investigation in the capitol. It's not that I don't think it is warranted, but I'm just not sure how much good it is doing or whether it will ever amount to anything. I'd hate to think all of this goes on and the ultimate outcome is that the Democrats just wasted time they could have used to put important issues before the American public.

But then I see an account like the one today of Sara Taylor testifying before a Senate committee. If you read something like this account and can't be angered by the blatant contempt for our laws and institutions, then you should probably read it again. Here is a pretty good representation of the whole story.

Taylor's slippery definition of what comes under the Fielding doctrine and what doesn't is a migraine waiting to happen. Seemingly, love songs to the wonders of the ex-interim U.S. attorney from Arkansas, Tim Griffin, are not
privileged (he was an "exceptionally well-qualified candidate"), but the origins of the plan to fire U.S. attorneys are off limits. Complaints about the ousted U.S. attorney from New Mexico, David Iglesias, are not privileged, but the number of calls she received from people in political positions with complaints is privileged. Then it isn't. Composition of the White House Judicial Selection Committee? Privileged. Her opinion that there was "absolutely no wrongdoing done by anybody in the White House"? Not privileged.

Contempt of Congress? How about contempt for everyone?

It's The Peter Principle, Not Me

It can't be good when the only two implications of your argument are

a) that you're a liar.

or

b) that you are much too incompetent to have your job.

Either way, how can your boss conclude that you are doing a great job?

He can have no shame whatsoever, that's how.

All-Star Game

I almost forgot to mention the All-Star game.

Neither of the two Missouri players saw the field. Awesome.

The Willie Mays thing at the beginning was really nice. Interesting to watch a guy who is as deservedly reviled as Barry Bonds deal with someone he has a true fondness for. Just a reminder that everyone has a decent side.

Watching the game you felt like the American League was clearly the better team. The fact that the National League had such a good chance to take it reminds one of small things that decide baseball games. Actually it reminds me why basketball is really the only one of the major three sports where the best team usually has better than 80% odds of winning thier respective title. Too many weird things can happen in one football game or a seven game baseball series.

Great Lyrics

I went to see Cracker at the Crossroads last Friday. That afforded my friend Dan the opportunity to share one of his favorite lyrics. It is from the Cracker song "Get Off This":

"... no one knew your name and you were pompous."

It is a great lyric and it got me to thinking about other great lyrics. There are a bunch out there. Here are two of my favorites from albums this year.

The White Stripes - Icky Thump - "Little Cream Soda"

"Now my mind is filled with rubber tires and forest fires and whether I'm a liar and lots of other situations where I don't know what to do, at which time God screams to me "There's nothing left for me to tell you.""

The National - Boxer - "Start A War"

"You were always weird, but I never had to hold you by the edges like I do now."

Apparently Not a Joke

It would be funnier if it wasn't true. This is the headline at the top of the Washington Post homepage right now:

Bush Plans To Stress Next Phase In Iraq War

Makes sense, I thought. A report is supposedly due out soon saying the Iraqis aren't meeting any of their goals, the Democrats seem to be finally mounting some courage, and Republicans seem to even be coming to their senses. So what changes exactly have all of these considerations prompted in our president's plans?

The first paragraph of the story:

President Bush, facing a growing Republican revolt against his Iraq policy, has rejected calls to change course but will launch a campaign emphasizing his intent to draw down U.S. forces next year and move toward a more limited mission if security conditions improve, senior officials said yesterday.

We won't actually do anything different than we have been doing, but we will remind everyone that if all of the things that have continued not to happen do in fact happen, then we will do what he said we would do all along.

Breathtaking.

Give Him Points for Creativity

Jon Tester is trying out a new rationale for ending the Iraq war:

Ticking off the three main reasons he believes we went to Iraq -- to search for weapons of mass destruction, to get rid of Saddam Hussein and to give the Iraqis a chances at free and fair elections -- the freshman from Big Sky country sees blue skies and rates the operation a success.

"Our work in Iraq is done... It's time for American troops to stop refereeing a centuries-old civil war and come home after a job well done," he said. It's not hard to see how that rosy view of things can be seductive to Democrats looking for a way to end the war while at the same time not appearing chicken or defeatist.

I'm not sure how the other Democrats could swing around to this argument without looking plainly ridiculous. Of course, plain ridiculousness hasn't really been stopping anything else in Washington recently. Maybe it would work after all.

Run For Your Lives, It's National Healthcare!

One thing that has always struck me about the right's talking heads is there ability to take some ancillary, mostly insignificant piece of information and turn that into a justification for any position they have ever taken.

The latest is the equation of socialized medicine and terrorism. I heard this point on a local talk radio show earlier this week and foolishly assumed that it was just the local yokel going to lengths that would embarrass even the most craven national pundit. I should have known that it was just the party line.

Fox News is, of course, leading the way:

...Indeed, Bowyer added, "[I]f one of your guys is a jihadist, if one of your doctors is spending all the time online reading Osama bin Laden fatwas, someone's going to notice that. But the National Health Service is more like the post office, you know there's a lot of anonymity, it's easy to hide in the bureaucracy."

To which FNC personality Cavuto responded, "The fact that we may be looking to go this way in the United States, you're saying one of the potential consequences -- without judging national health care one way or the other -- is that this could happen. We have to be at least aware of the distinct possibility that in such a system, we would have to recruit outside doctors, and where we're getting the most of them these days seems to be from the Muslim world."

The headline at the bottom of the screen throughout the whole exchange is "National Healthcare: Breeding Ground For Terror?" A good summary of the whole thing is at the Washington Monthly blog.

Are there examples of this patent silliness on the left?

Mr. Obvious?

A friend sent me this news analysis from the AP. It hardly qualifies as analysis since it pretty much just states the obvious.

The hypocrisy is unpardonable. President Bush's decision to commute the sentence of a convicted liar brought out the worst in both parties and politics.

On the hand, the number of people who would (and do) argue otherwise suggests maybe it isn't so obvious at all.

Duds

Considering my firm belief that KC has a sports curse, I should have known better than to entrust my 4th of July expereince to our beleagured teams.

A summary of the day:

Wizards lose 1-0 to D.C. United. They have taken over 40 shots in their last two games and come out of it with one goal. Eddie Johnson can't get back soon enough.

Royals lose 4-0 to Seattle. A night after scoring 17 runs, the Royals never threaten until the 9th. Alex Gordon ends the threat with a double-play ball.

Royals fireworks extravaganza fizzles. Apparently, no one covered anything during the rain earlier in the evening. It was a a perfect encapsulation of the day and the recent history of Kansas City sports.

(Kudos to the Royals for making ticket stubs to the game rain checks for any future game. They can't fix the 4th for the kids, but at least they didn't just shrug their shoulders.)

A Poem About D.C.

I don't think this blog has enough creative writing on it.

They Built It On a Swamp You Know

Marble, limestone, 84 shades of grass,
Much further from the Capitol to the memorials than you might think.
Watch the Segway herd.
Those modern Roman chariots carrying visor-clad gladiators,
They will take you down.
I'm having my doubts about this guy offering French prostitutes.
No beret, no baguette.
No, I don't think he is French.
Another man holds a sign protesting Prince Charles.
You protest where you can I guess.
From what I have read Washington wasn't a big prick.
Why did they memorialize him that way?
Lincoln's hat is displayed next to Kermit the Frog.
Come on, put the hat on the frog.

More Than Meets The Eye

Or so it seems.

As a child of the 80's I have no choice but to go watch Transformers when it comes out this week. This was going to happen against my better judgement since Michael "Pearl Harbor" Bay was directing. But miracle of miracles, it seems to be getting decent marks thus far. Maybe Bay has some how recaptured the magic of The Rock.

And they got the original voice for Optimus Prime. You almost can't ask more than that.

Apostasy and Fresh Asparagus

I love living in the city. My wife and I walk lots of places. When we do drive we get places within a few minutes. We meet interesting people we'd never find elsewhere. I like the fact that every street corner doesn't look the same and that you don't have to walk across 60 acres of parking lot to get from one store to another. I feel good about the fact that I'm not burning a bunch of gasoline.

This weekend I was reminded how inferior the city can be in small ways. I was way down south at 135th street for breakfast yesterday morning. We decided that since we were already down there, we might as well go grocery shopping. At the risk of being hyperbolic, it was magical. The store was clean, the parking lot was clean, it was cheaper, I could maneuver through the aisles, the produce was at least 3 times better, and (most importantly) they actually had everything in stock. Anyone who has ever been to the Sunfresh in Westport, either of the Brookside stores, or God forbid, an Apple Market can tell you that none of them fit this description in whole (or largely even in part).

So despite my general worry about the environment, my aversion to urban sprawl, and who knows what other suddenly dispensable beliefs, I will be going back to the nether-regions for my groceries. I can't help it. I guess I'd rather be a hypocrite with completely checked off grocery list and a decent bag of apples.

NBA Draft

1. The Trailblazers did some great work on draft night, but you have to think there is at least some risk that Steve Francis could pull the whole thing down in flames.

2. Seattle took serious advantage of Boston. If Durant and Green become Jordan and Pippen, then Danny Ainge moves ahead of the guy (Rod Thorn I think) who selected Bowie over Jordan.

3. It's amazing to watch a draft, here all the talk, and still know that no more than 1/3 of these guys will be good pros.

4. The Warriors got two guys who fit Nellie's style perfectly. That style may never win a championship, but it's certainly fun to watch.

5. If the Suns end up not giving Amare Stoudemire away to get KG, they should send the Hawks a thank you note. I love KG, but you just don't trade away a 1st team All-NBA player who is under 25. For anyone, ever.

A Bit More About D.C.

Our capitol is a great town. It's beautiful, the people are friendly, and you can get from one place to another easily. I wish Kansas City was big and dense enough for a rail system to really work. Maybe it's because I am around them so little, but every time I get an opportunity to use a subway I love it.

Good food in D.C. as well. I ate lunch three days straight in Chinatown. I don't really understand the inverse relationship between food quality and restaurant cleanliness, but I'm happy to take advantage of it.

The same cannot be said for my experience at the French Embassy. I stayed near Embassy Row, so I was used to walking down the street near all these beautiful old houses that had been converted into embassies. Really stunning classical buildings. So I was very excited when I found out I was going to a reception at the French Embassy. The French have money and usually pretty good taste, so they probably have one the best embassies of all right? Wrong. The had some post-modern marble and concrete structure tucked in north of Georgetown. It felt like the kind of place you might go if you were in a movie about the sterility of the future. I was sure that a cyborg waiter would chastise me for impure thoughts at any moment.

The rest of the city was still great. It's amazing how difficult it is to be cynical standing in front of the Declaration of Independence. It's also amazing how quickly you can snap back to form when you step outside and see CNN running on a TV monitor.

My Trip to the Nation's Capitol

I returned late last night from a four day trip to D.C. I did not see Dick Cheney, but I only looked at the Capitol and the executive offices. I found out while I was there that he isn't actually a part of either.

And while the Dark Lord was no doubt trying to amass even more power, all I saw was a couple of Congressmen trying to give theirs back. Mrs. AA and I got House passes from the polite but eerily somber folks at Emmanuel Cleaver's office. After traversing the 28 or so security checkpoints and divesting ourselves of mostly everything we were carrying we arrived in the House Chamber.

What we found was the Speaker Pro Tem in charge and two Congressmen orating from the floor. There were also a couple of women carrying papers from one desk to another and then transferring them yet again. In the back of the room, three pages conducted a possibly high stakes game of rock, paper, scissors. Another page was napping across the way. The Congressional Reporter typed quickly but surprisingly calmly.

The two orators were taking the end of the Congressional week to remind the Speaker Pro Tem, the paper shufflers, the three non-comatose pages, the reporter, we upper-level gawkers, and anyone with a lot of time and CSPAN exactly what the founding fathers really meant when they put pen to paper over 200 years ago. Congressman Rob Bishop of Utah and Congressman Scott Garrett of New Jersey explained that Congress has (since the damn dirty New Deal went into place) greatly usurped authorities not granted to it by the Constitution. There are presumably many such usurpations, but the Congressmen were primarily (i.e. only) concerned with spending.

To make the case they invoked Constitutional heavyweights Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, Rush Limbaugh, and George Burns. In fact, George Burns provided the tag line for the speech with his "Say goodnight Gracie" punchline. Congressman Bishop used the punchline to illustrate several points, not the least of which was how unhip his students were because they don't know George Burns.

Davy Crockett and some farmer were also integral in the speech. The farmer apparently schooled Congressman Crockett on the Constitution, prompting Crockett persuade Congress not to help a military widower. Representative Bishop guessed that you could call Crockett a conservative. I guess that he's right, and I also guess you could call Baghdad a really big Alamo.

This really wasn't a Constitution speech. It was an anti-pork-barrel speech. You might assume a real reminder of the limits of Congressional power granted by the Constitution would touch on several more issues than local spending. On the other hand, you might also assume that a guy reminding everyone about the evils of pork might not have these headlines on his Congressional homepage:

Bishop Secures Millions for Utah Defense Projects

Bishop Announces $2.5 Million Grant for Ogden Airport

Bishop Bill for Park City Open Space Passes House

You might also guess that the other guy in the speech wouldn't be boasting about "securing funding" to help old people and only old people. But you obviously aren't a Congressman. If you were (and if you are please help out here) you would be able to decipher this statement:

"If we truly understand what it means to establish justice, we have to understand the Framers hope to curb the excesses of the State governments, just the way patriots today have to curb the excesses of our national government. So Federalism means we forget the concept of establishing justice."

I guess I need to watch more CSPAN.

(I got off track here. More about DC later.)

We Are Not Pleased

Americans are not feeling good about the way things are going.

We like the military, small businesses, and the police. Everything else sucks.

Not only that, but it all sucks worse than it did last year.

Apparently, not everyone has been reading The Secret.

We Love Murder, We Just Don't Want to Pay For It

From Crooks and Liars:

Following up on John’s item from yesterday on Bush’s stem-cell veto, I found Tony Snow’s defense of the White House policy rather alarming.

“The President also has never declared it against the law to engage in embryonic stem cell research — he simply thinks it involves, as do many other people, the taking of a human life.”

See? Bush hasn’t banned murder, he’s just blocked some funding for taxpayer-subsidized murder. Privately-funded murder is still fine, and entirely consistent with the president’s values and commitment to a culture of life. Snow added:

“To the extent that there is embryonic stem cell research, it’s being done not because Bill Clinton made it possible, but because George W. Bush made it possible.”

Yes, moments after describing the research as “taking of a human life,” Snow bragged about Bush’s support for the research.

Is a little coherence too much to ask?

I actually feel a little sorry for Tony Snow. Can you imagine having to stand up there and defend things that you know make no sense whatsoever? I bet he misses the old FOX days when he got to ask the questions.

Goatees

This is Bradley Schlozman. In case you don't know who he is, here is a small summation out of the Washington Post:

Schlozman ordered supervisors to tell the women that they had performance problems or that the office was overstaffed. But one lawyer, Conor Dugan, told colleagues that the recent Bush appointee had confided that his real motive was to "make room for some good Americans" in that high-impact office, according to four lawyers who said they heard the account from Dugan.

Not only is Schlozman a political hack and a goofus who can't help but boast about stuff he should keep quiet, but he is also a poster child for the goatee.

There are goateed men out there of impeccable nature, but why do goatees seem so highly correlated with B-squad weaselry?

Icky Thump

Have you ever heard a dueling banjo number only instead of banjos the duel is between an electric guitar and a mariachi trumpeter? Well, listen to the new White Stripes album Icky Thump and you will. Rhapsody reviewer Nick Dedina describes as follows:

""Conquest" casts images of Iron Butterfly disrupting the patrons at a Mexican restaurant."

You'll also hear bagpipes, silliness, and the rockinest set of songs the Stripes have put out since 2002.

The album may not be everybody, but it is for me.

Why Not?

Joe Posnanski asks some reasonable questions:

The Royals and just about every Royals fan knew before the game started that Elarton was going to pitch approximately the way he pitched. So the question is: Why are the Royals starting Scott Elarton in a game?

More to the point: Why do the Royals even use five starters? Why don’t they break away from the pack and return to the four-man rotation?

One reason would be that it seems we lose an inordinate amount of pitchers to injury already, and we don't want the same to happen to the 2 1/2 decent starters we have now. On the other hand, it's not like we're just on the cusp of 1st place either.

Why not experiment a little?

Staying Power

Best Albums lists are difficult. Do I simply pick my favorites? Ones that I think have some objective qualities? Does influence matter? Studio Albums only? All-time or right now? You get the idea.

So I like to find other ways to categorize good stuff. One that came to mind this weekend was CD's that never leave my case. I decided that a CD would have to be at least 5 years old to qualify for the list. So the list is...

CD's That Have Been in My Carrying Case for At Least 5 Years Consecutively and Remain There Today (in no parituclar order)

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Greatest Hits
Pearl Jam Vitalogy
Weezer (Blue Album)
Radiohead OK Computer
Dallas Jones The Morelock Sessions
Digable Planets Reachin...
The White Stripes De Stijl
Charlie Parker Ken Burns Jazz
Wilco Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
The Clash London Calling
Bob Dylan Blonde on Blonde

Two CD's old enough to qualify, but that I did not get until later are Spoon's Kill the Moonlight and the first disc from The Rolling Stones' 40 Licks.

There are several other discs that have come to the world since 2003 and seem destined to make this list. If the blog is still around in a year's time, I'll update.

KSHB

Last night on the local NBC affiliate there was a story about a guy who was arrested for assault or murder or something. I missed what happened exactly because I was marveling at the fact that although the news anchor was telling me that his name was something Walker, the caption above his mug shot read Bluto Blutarsky.

Oops.

Player Rater Update

After a 6-3 homestand, the Royals are looking better. The improvement is most pronounced in the previously referred to Player Ratings on ESPN.com.

In fact in one week we're down to one guy who isn't in the top 30 at his position.

Here is how it plays out:

C John Buck 5th
1B No Score
2B Esteban German 22nd
3B Alex Gordon 24th
SS Tony Pena 28th
LF Emil Brown 24th
CF David DeJesus 7th
RF Mark Teahen 12th
DH Mike Sweeney 10th (AL Only)

Apparently, scoring 17 runs twice in a few games moves you up in the world.

Good Americans

There is quite a bit of knuckleheadedness being reported today.

Schlozman:

"Bradley J. Schlozman is systematically attempting to purge all Civil Rights appellate attorneys hired under Democratic administrations," the lawyer wrote, saying that he appeared to be "targeting minority women lawyers" in the section and was replacing them with "white, invariably Christian men." The lawyer also alleged that "Schlozman told one recently hired attorney that it was his intention to drive these attorneys out of the Appellate Section so that he could replace them with 'good Americans.'"

Gonzalez:

Goodling's account attracted attention partly because Gonzales had told Congress that he could not remember numerous details about the prosecutors' dismissals because he had purposely avoided discussing the issue with other potential "fact witnesses."

Snow:

He (Jon Stewart) rolled video of Snow from March 15, saying: “It’s pretty clear that these things are based on performance and not on sort of attempts to do political retaliation, if you will.”

Stewart then rolled video from Wednesday's briefing, at which a reporter asked Snow: "At the beginning of this story, the President, you, Dan Bartlett, others said on camera that politics was not involved, this was performance-based, but --"

Snow's reply: "No, that is something -- we have never said that."

TV

I try not to watch a lot of TV. Fortunately, television producers seem intent on making that task much easier. Scrolling through a nightly lineup of what's on is an affirmation that life is short and you need to get out and enjoy it.

Somewhat relatedly:

Are there scarier people on the planet than those little girl beauty contestants?

What if their parents are ineligible?

How does Mr. Peanut keep his monacle on while he plays all those sports?

How is it possible that I don't know anyone who has appeared on a reality show?

Why do I have such a sense of pride about that?

When did undershirts go out of style?

Do weathermen spend all day working on new tricks for the weather computer?

Why don't they ever do the same trick twice?

Why is it that the county courthouse and the airport look exactly the same live at 5 am?

If crab fisherman is the most dangerous job, what number is camerman filming crab fishermen?

Did you know that American Gladiators episodes are on ESPN classic?

How did Charlie Rose keep a straight face talking to Tom Delay?

Why can I see only like 1/8 of Royals games on TV?

Why do I care?

Why is manipulation of a spouse through bribery of a child such an attractive advertising plot line?

Did ABC draw the names for who would announce the NBA finals out of a hat?

Do you kind of miss Bob Costas and Marv Albert a little bit?

Is there a special news wire for local broadcasts that focuses on house fires around the country?

Is it possible that television not only adds pounds but also makes people looking for love seem more desperate?

Isn't talking to you grandchild about your impending cholesterol test kind of opening a can of worms?

Very Disappointing

As I mentioned before, I was mostly excited about this NBA finals because I wanted the NBA to make a good impression on the people I know that bag on it all the time. I thought Lebron might get them to tune in and show them something spectacular.

I can now only hope that no one saw even a minute of this series and based any kind of NBA opinion on it. This series was "press covering O'Donnell vs. Trump" ugly.

I've seen several people suggest that this once for all makes the case that the playoffs shouldn't be East vs. West because that can so often result in the best series coming before the finals. I don't know. Baseball and football deal with this same situation, and it never seems to be a problem. That could very well be because it is harder to recognize the utter domination of one team over another in baseball, and it's all over in one game in football.

Anyway, the idea of changing the playoff setup somewhat messes with my sense of history. On the other hand, I would like to see a more exciting playoffs for once. Bill Simmons has a restructuring idea that I could get behind. I particularly like the bottom of the standings play-in.

75-72

Those of us rooting for the against the Pistons because we believed a Detroit-San Antonio finals would be boring should probably consider this series a lesson learned.

Yes, style of play matters. But grossly mismatched opponents are what really create unwatchable games.

There's Not Good...

And then there is this. ESPN has a new player ratings tool that was developed with the consultation of the Elias Sports Bureau and MIT. You still have to be careful what conclusions you draw from it - unless the conclusion is that the Royals are terrible because they have bad players.

According to the inaugural set of rankings (which by their nature will change daily) David DeJesus is the 9th best center fielder in the league. He is the only position player better than at least half of his counterparts.

John Buck is the 17th best catcher and Mark Teahen is the 21st ranked right fielder. After that it gets ugly. Here are the rest of the Royals starting position players and their rank.

1B Shealy 46th
2B Grudzielanek 37th
SS Pena 33rd
3B Gordon 39th
LF Brown 41st

If you didn't already catch the significance, the list above signifies that 2 major league teams have a better backup shortstop than our starter, 6 major league teams have a better backup second basemen than our starter, 8 major league teams have a better backup third basemen than our starter, 10 major league teams have a better backup left fielder than our starter, and an unbelievable 15 teams (half the league) have a better backup third baseman than our starter.

Our DH and team captain did not even merit a score (though to be fair, only 10 DH's did).

Things were a little better in regards to starting pitching. Gil Meche was 25th. Brian Bannister was 51st. Jorge De La Rosa was 91st. If you figure every 30 players as a spot in the rotation then we have a pitcher at least close to fitting into each slot. Granted they are all towards the bottom of their slots, but had this statistic been taken last year I doubt we would have had a single pitcher in the top 60.

Not quite as encouraging in regards to relief pitching. The lone Royal on the list is Joel Peralta. He is 56th of the 75 ranked relievers. We didn't really need proof that the bullpen was suspect though.

One caveat to all of this is that record is taken into account. This means Royals players start out in the statistical hole. On the other hand the Texas Rangers are the only team behind the Royals in the standings and the best possible lineup they can put on the field (including the DH) registers a score of 111.8. The Royals come up just a bit short of that - they score a 49.3.

Creation Museum

I'm sure you've heard about it by now. Here are a couple of my favorite pertinent quotes:

From a blogger who chronicled his attendance of the museum (and took lots of pictures):

The wise white paleontologist doesn’t need that whole “carbon-dating” bullshit, for he only needs the Bible to tell him how old these fossils are. Meanwhile, the Asian paleontologist uses all that so-called “logic”, “reason” and “scientific method” to come to the ridiculous conclusion that these fossils are from many millions of years ago. Whatever, Confucius! Put down those science books and pick up the Bible, that’s all you need to get to the truth!

From the May 31st issue of The Economist:

The debate about the origins of everything is presented even-handedly. Some people trust God, accept that the universe is 6,000 years old and will go to heaven. Others trust human reason, think the Big Bang happened 14 billion years ago and, having abandoned God, are quite likely to start browsing the Internet for pornography or commit genocide.

Bloggers snark all the time, but when you draw this level of sarcasm from The Economist you are really accomplishing something.

*Be sure to check out the signs in the blog post. My favorite is the one at the top.

A Fitting End

Honestly, I was looking forward to the end of the Sopranos. Watching each episode this season had become a chore. I had to do it, because I wanted to find out what happened. So week after week I watched to see the crescendo leading to the finale. The crescendo never came. So why should I be surprised that the payoff was more of the same? I shouldn't.

But unlike an apparent majority of the TV public, I loved it. Tony is now in limbo for eternity. Did he get killed? Did he live to a ripe old age as the head of the family? Did he get indicted? We'll never know. But we do know that for however long it takes to get to whatever final outcome, Tony will always be watching the door.

Thou Shalt Leave Me Out of it

If God was still on Old Testament style speaking terms with us, I imagine he might say something like this.

It appears that the Democrats are now getting in on the act too. A Democratic forum featured the candidates waxing poetic about their faith. Supposedly, this is partly to woo the evangelical left.

An evangelical left is almost as scary as the evangelical right. I'll probably agree with more of the issues they care about, but I don't want them to take my issues. I would prefer we try and solve problems. They will no doubt prefer to set up articles of faith and judge politicians on their uncompromising verbal adherence to those articles.

Why is "It's my personal faith and I don't need to discuss it with the country," not an acceptable answer? I mean I know why, but I'm asking in the more philosophical sense.

God May Not Want the Credit

In yet another reminder of why I'm not a Republican, the GOP debate last night featured the question, "Do you believe in the story of creation as it is described in the Bible?"

Governor Mike Huckabee started out with a good answer saying "I can't believe that question would even be asked of someone running for president..." Unfortunately, he then decided to attempt an answer that was a clear tightrope act for someone who doesn't want to be deemed unfaithful or a lunatic. The irony is, of course, that he sounded like both.

Then McCain tried to force out some paean to creationist views that made him look like he was passing a stone.

Then Sam Brownback chimed in, and remarkably sounded like the most reasonable guy in the room.

If you wanted to make a really convincing argument against evolution, the idea that this topic continues to come up might be a good place to start.

We Report, You Figure Out Who We're Talking About

Fox news ran a story about indicted House member William Jefferson, but accidentally showed a clip of fellow Congressman and African-American John Conyers the entire time.

Unlike a lot of stuff Fox does, I think this truly was an accident. But the fact that they made the mistake probably says about as much about them as if they had done it on purpose.

Wizards

It has been a miserable sports scene in Kansas City for, well I suppose for more than 10 years. I've documented our city's lameness when it comes to competition in the big sports.

But we do have a winner in town. I know to those who don't give a damn about soccer it doesn't matter, but the Wizards are in first place in their conference right now. They went to the title game in 2004, and they won it all in 2000. That is better than the other two teams whose last combined playoff victory was in 1993.

And the games are exciting. In fact, a 2004 playoff game with San Jose may be the most exciting sporting event I've ever been at in person.

Unfortunately, goal scorer extraordinaire Eddie Johnson is off to play for the naitonal team for at least a month. The Wizards will have to make up for his scoring, and could use the kind of support the got last weekend (a little over 13,000 in attendance). Or even better.

I say this despite my extreme disappointment in the club for upping ticket prices more than 50% for the David Beckham game. Sure they will probably still draw the largest crowd of the season that night, and they need the revenue. But how about slashing ticket prices and trying to double the record attendance. With some proper marketing it's possible (unless the Wizards are convinced that they are already near the saturation point of anyone who would ever come to a soccer game). It seems to me like those are the kinds of stunts the league has to pull to ever have a shot at widening their audience.

Anyway for those who want to go see a game regardless of whether Beck's is playing or not, there are 9 home games before that one. Get out and see one of them. Or go watch the Royals and try not to throw up a little in your mouth.

Polls

So now it seems Hillary and Obama are tied for the lead in one Democratic primary poll. Pretty remarkable considering she had a 17 point lead last time out and a 12 point lead last week in another poll. Even if the 17 point poll and the even poll are at the edge of their margins of error, that is still a huge swing.

So what gives? USA Today's story makes the leap that Obama's messages are "starting to stick." Andrew Sullivan says that Obama clearly has more cross-over appeal. They both might be right, but then they might not. Polls have been strangely unreliable over the last handful of years, and (this is admittedly anecdotal) and large swings seem more prevalent.

It sure seems like there are some external validity issues within these polls. True random sampling seems like the most likely culprit. Admittedly, I don't know exactly how these tests are conducted, but someone with more time than me should look into this.

On the other hand, the widespread opinion is that Hillary has been winning the debates. Ask John Kerry what winning debates did for his electability.

Oh, Now I Remember

This morning I was reminded why I kind of hope liberal talk radio never takes off.

I listened to conservative talk radio.

Whoa!

Some people like the NBA (I'm one of them). More people don't. But no matter your position, do yourself a favor and find someone who DVR'd last night's basketball game.

I have been a Lebron skeptic since all the high school hoopla. My rationale was that those "can't miss" guys seem to never pan out. Well apparently, this one has. Unbelievable.

The Party of Hollyweird

Great scorecard of actors turned politicians in today's Washington Post.

For the record Hollywood has produced:

7 Republicans
2 Democrats
1 Independent

I guess it's a love/hate relationship the right has with showbiz.

In a related story, NPR had a guy on the radio yesterday who was so excited about Fred Thompson that he jumped the usual Reagan comparison and declared that Thompson could be the next Washington or Lincoln. Really.

Watch the Claws Babe

I know this is actually a sad deal, but the headline still brought out the juvenile in me.

"World's only human-bred panda in wild dies"

That was a brave man they got to do that.

Work Hard and Get Ahead...Right?

Kevin Drum has a great post about the breakdown of the American Dream. It seems that over the last 25 years that productivity and income have become untethered.

This is bad news because it is one signal that America's famous mobility may no longer be all that we like to imagine. In fact, it seems that the American dream has been supplanted by the Danish dream, the Canadian dream, the French dream, and others.



These charts come from a report on economic mobility from a collaboration of the Brookings Institution,the American Enterprise Institute, the Heritage Foundation, and the Urban Institute. I suggest you read the whole thing. There is some valuable stuff about relative versus absolute mobility. There are also some more ominous charts that suggest both mobility types are shrinking.

Shocking

Stop me if you've heard this one before.

A Bush Administration official was caught trying to employ career civil service employees as political operatives on the taxpayers' dime. This time it was at the General Services Administration.

I know you must be shocked.

Is a Bluehole like a Blackhole?

On May 23rd the Royals had just completed an 8-2 stretch, mostly on the road, that had them back within 10 games of .500. Their run differential stood at -39.

In the following five games, they went 0-5 with a run differential of -34. I'm not sure if it is the worst five game performance in team history, but it has to be close.

Tony believes the team might be cursed. I'm open to all possibilities at this point.

Words Don't Do It Justice

I really wanted to come up with a caption for this photo, but nothing I can conjure makes it funnier than it already is.

John Q. Public, Wisenheimer

Reading around the Internet today, I found out that "the public" is getting favorable reviews these days.

The left believes the public is wise because 63% say they support troop withdrawal timetables.

Meanwhile, the right believes the public is wise because 69% say that illegal immigrants should “be prosecuted and deported for being in the U.S. illegally.”

Though neither side says so explicitly, the clear implication is that we need to treat public opinion with the proper reverence. Strangely, and despite the fact that both opinions come from the same CBS/NYTimes poll, neither side mentions public's fulmination on the positions opposite their own.

Perhaps they just didn't read the whole thing. Here is a sampling of the public wisdom they missed.

1. George Bush is doing a terrible job at everything.
2. Congress is only doing a little bit better.
3. The economy is fairly good, but it's four times more likely that it is getting worse than getting better.
4. A Democrat will be our next president.
5. If it is Hillary Clinton, a lot of people won't be happy about it.
6. It will be Hillary Clinton.
7. Rudy Giuliani shares the values of the Republican party, but he definitely isn't a conservative.
8. Democrats are much more favorable than Republicans.
9. This is probably because they are more likely to make the right decision about every issue reviewed.
10. Abortion should remain legal , but we can talk about stricter guidelines.
11. Despite the opinion that illegal immigrants should be prosecuted and deported, they should also be given a chance to apply for legal status (more about this later).
12. Immigrants contribute to the country far more than they cause problems.
13. Nevertheless, immigrants will make society worse.
14. A federal database of all U.S. workers is a bad idea, but just barely.
15. Guest-worker programs are a good idea.
16. Illegal immigrants need to wait their turn, but should be allowed to apply for citizenship.
17. Illegal immigrants are much more likely to take jobs Americans don't want than they are to take jobs from American citizens.
18. Still, they also overwhelmingly weaken the economy.
19. Immigration might be increasing the threat of terrorism, but it probably isn't.
20. The government should be more worried about health care than immigration.
21. Iraq is going very badly.

All of this is from a group who is overall undecided about Dick Cheney.

Incidentally this wasn't really an equal opportunity error. The NRO post was especially egregious in its implication of public endorsement. Yes, 69% of participants did say that "illegal immigrants should be prosecuted and deported for being in the U.S. illegally." But when given a choice of immigrants being "given a chance to keep their jobs and eventually apply for legal status," or being "deported back to their native country," they chose the chance for legal status 62% to 33%.

The TPM Cafe spot earns a much smaller demerit. There was nothing in the poll that directly refuted their selected stat. I would argue that they aren't completely off the hook, however. Just reading the list of public opinions in the list above tells you all you need to know about the capriciousness of the public (or about the importance of question content.) It just doesn't seem safe to use public opinion as a buttress for any argument.

Headlines

Headlines are important. Not only do they draw attention to the story, but they also serve as the briefest of summaries for those who choose to skim.

So it is rather important that headlines at least somewhat represent the content of their associated articles. That is why I have a problem with this headline for an AP story on Yahoo:

"Home sales soar by record amount"

The first part of the article following this headline goes thusly:

WASHINGTON - The beleaguered housing industry is sending mixed signals, with sales of new homes surging in April by the biggest amount in 14 years while prices endured a record plunge.

Analysts said the price drop could provide evidence of builders' desperation. They are looking to reduce a glut of unsold homes in the face of the worst slump in sales in more than a decade.

The Commerce Department reported Thursday that sales of new single-family homes jumped by 16.2 percent in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 981,000 units.

That was the biggest one-month sales gain since a 16.4 percent surge in April 1993. Even with the increase, however, sales are 10.6 percent below the level of a year ago.

The median price of a new home — the midway point between the costliest and cheapest — fell to $229,100, a record 11.1 percent below the March level. The price was 10.9 percent below the level of a year ago, the biggest year-over-year price decline since 1970.

Analysts said the drop in prices probably reflected efforts by builders to cut prices more aggressively to sell homes.

They cautioned against reading too much 16.2 percent jump in sales, the first increase after three consecutive months of sales declines. Analysts noted that this series is subject to wide revisions and that much of the strength came from a big increase in the South, which they said could be partially weather-related.

If you were to only the read the headline, do you think you would come to the same conclusion as you would if you read even just the first paragraph of the story?

Didn't Take Long

I mentioned a while back that 2006 was a terrible year for music (and movies), and that I was looking forward to 2007 because it showed a lot of promise.

And now, less than 6 months into the year, I am already ready to declare 2007 better than 2006. Here are a few things you should check out,

1. Kings of Leon Because of the Times
2. The National Boxer
3. Peter Bjorn and John Writer's Block
4. Andrew Bird Armchair Apocrypha
5. Modest Mouse We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
6. The Fratellis Costello Music
7. Wilco Sky Blue Sky
8. Arcade Fire Neon Bible

Still coming are albums from The White Stripes, Spoon, and Interpol. And Smashing Pumpkins is back together and has a great song out that makes me remember the good ol' days. And there will probably be more PB&Js putting out stuff I never anticipated. The biggest problem so far is finding time to listen to all of it. Hail 2007.

Kevin Durant of the Kansas City Supersonics

An insteresting intersection between the national and local sports scenes yesterday. First, the Star reported that the Seattle Supersonics owner was in town and showing interest in the Sprint Center as a home for the Supes.

A few hours later the Supersonics beat the odds to receive the second pick in the NBA draft, virtually assuring them former Texas Longhorn Kevin Durant.

The idea that the Sonics might come to KC was far-fetched already. Owner Clay Bennett is from Oklahoma City, a city that has shown great support for the New Orleans Hornets as they played parts of two seasons there. If the team was going to leave Seattle, OKC has to be option #1.

Now you have to wonder if the team will leave Seattle at all. Getting a highly marketable player that creates a big buzz around the team is probably the only way Seattle could hope to reinvigorate interest to the point they can keep the team. And, miracle of miracles, it happened.

So now KC has to be considered the 3rd choice (at best) to land the team. Fortunately for us we have the recent playoff successes of the Chiefs and Royals to console us. Oh wait, nevermind.

Ashcroft Asks a Good Question

"Why are we creating problems?"

That is the question that came out of this context:

"He was personally offended about the way they went about it," said one former aide who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. "He said something to Rumsfeld like, 'You guys gave more process to [Oklahoma City bomber] Tim McVeigh than you are doing in this case, and you knew he did it.' He understood we had to hold these guys and that it could still be done with some sense of process and American fairness. He kept asking, 'Why are we creating problems?' "

My answer would be simple contempt for the laws of the United States, and a complete lack of respect for the principles the country was founded upon. Are there better answers?

Tough Gig

Being an NBA coach is apparently one of the most thankless jobs for which you can be paid millions of dollars. Jeff Van Gundy was fired by the Rockets yesterday. The firing took place after a season in which the Rockets went 52-30 and played 7 playoff games against the Utah Jazz before losing to the now Western Conference finalists. Seems tough to me, but it's pretty much the status quo considering only 2 of the 30 NBA teams have a head coach who has been around for at least 5 years.

So how do you keep from getting fired? Well, unless you're Jerry Sloan you win a championship. Every coach from the last 15 NBA champions is either still on the job or left their gig on their terms.

The problem is that expecting your coach to win an NBA championship to keep his job is a pretty ridiculous standard. In fact, if your coach doesn't have Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon, Shaquille O'Neal, or Tim Duncan then he has very slim odds indeed. Only Larry Brown (in 2004 with the Pistons) has won an NBA championship in the last 15 years without one of those guys.

On the plus side, Jordan and Olajuwon are long gone and Shaq looks almost finished. So the question is who will be there to take up the mantle of most dominant player as Duncan ages? If you're an NBA coach who wants to keep your job, you better find him.

(Added note: From '80 to '90 things weren't much different. Magic Johnson and Larry Bird played on 8 of the 11 champions. The Pistons won two and the 76er's with Moses Malone won the other.)

The Hammer's Finest Moments

Tom Delay went on Colbert last night for reasons I may never understand. Perhaps he believed he could win over kids by displaying his charm and wit.

"To the victory gets things done," was maybe the best example of his eloquence. (Incidentally, I believe he was trying to come up with "to the victor go the spoils." But his way is just as clear, no?)

His finest moment of the evening, however, was when he recollected his finest moments in Congress. He had a list of three or four things, and the final one was...wait for it...intervening in the Teri Schiavo case.

He also argued that the people who accused him of money laundering were liars on the order holocaust deniers.

An immediate reaction to this sort of thing can be relief that such a man is no longer a Congressional leader, but then you come to the sobering reality that he somehow became a Congressional leader in the first place. I think those are thoughts libertarians are made of.

Surprised?

I am surprised at the ease with which I am surprised. Some things are just par for the course, and yet I stand, mouth agape, unable to believe that which is in front of my face.

The latest example is with the Bush Nominee to head the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The nominee is Michael Baroody, a senior lobbyist for the National Association of Manufacturers otherwise known as the people the CPSC is supposed to monitor.

It seems that Baroody received a severance package worth $150,000 for leaving his job to work for the government. According to the NYT story,

Experts in executive compensation said it was unusual for someone to be paid under a severance agreement for voluntarily leaving to take a top position at another organization.

You don't say. Fortunately the Bush Administration has determined everything is above board.

A spokeswoman for the White House, Emily Lawrimore, said the administration was satisfied that Mr. Baroody “has taken the steps necessary to avoid any conflict of interest in the event he is confirmed.”

Well that's good enough for me. But some people aren't as trusting as I am. Among the doubting Thomi are "consumer groups but also by trial lawyers, firefighters and pediatricians."

Mr. Baroody “not only represented the interests of the nation’s manufacturing firms — often in direct opposition to the interest of consumers — but led efforts to weaken the C.P.S.C. and opposed numerous initiatives to protect children and the public from unsafe products,” said Dr. Jay E. Berkelhamer, the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, in a letter opposing the nomination.

What a surprise.

Bad Guys

On a fool's errand, I have been trying really hard to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. Actions can still be awful and thought processes can be completely flawed. But I am trying to form my opinions at least from the baseline that the intention was good.

But these guys are really making it hard. Former Deputy Attorney General James Comey spoke publicly for the first time about being pressured to reauthorize the warrantless wiretapping program. The Deputy Attorney General had refused, so Alberto Gonzalez and Andy Card went to John Ashcroft's hospital room and tried to get him to reauthorize. Ashcroft didn't do it (in what must be one of the very few times I can say "Way to go Ashcroft"), and Gonzalez and Card left.

So how can I assume a benign intention here? The intent on going to Ashcroft was to circumvent the lawful authority (Comey held acting powers) and possibly to take advantage of a sick man.

I suppose some would argue there was a greater intention to protect the American public using domestic spying. But it has been made common knowledge that the FISA court would not hamper the wiretapping scheme. The administration was allowed to wiretap and request authorization after the fact. That leaves naked contempt for any regulation of the executive branch as the only possible motive, and I just can't seem to square that with anything resembling a good intention.

(Update: This Washington Post editorial adds a few more details - and makes the picture even more disturbing.)

You Don't Say

Apparently, Chiefs' coach Herm Edwards "likes what he sees of defensive linemen at rookie minicamp." You're kidding. In May?

Can anyone produce and example of "team X disappointed in draft picks leading into camp" story? I didn't think so.

What could this possibly mean?

It appears that consumer spending is finally taking a hit. But not for all retailers. I wonder why those guys at the bottom of the chart are doing so well?

From the LA Times via Kevin Drum.

Smoke People, Not Cigarettes

If you listen to conservative talk radio as I occasionally do, you will no doubt hear about the stuff that enrages the right. You know some guy wants to keep school teachers from praying with students, or some lady wants to ban kids from playing with dynamite. Needless to say, I often find myself unable to tap the mental reserves it would take for me to process the outrage.

But for reasons I haven't completely articulated to myself yet, I am on board with calling this new movie development stupid.

Apparently, there is a group out there trying to get movies with smoking an 'R' rating. Read the article, because I just oversimplified things (and that is what I hate about a lot of "rightwing outrage").

I like to make the argument that the ratings' focus on nudity over violence is sutpendously stupid. Well, add smoking to nudity as movie content that I don't find as potentially damaging as disembowelment, decapitation, or any of the other forms of casual violence abundant in films with less than an R rating.

Rickey

When I was 5 years old I got a Rickey Henderson baseball glove. From that moment forward, Rickey was my favorite baseball player.

In case, you aren't familiar with him, Rickey is probably the greatest lead off hitter of all time and is an undisputed first-ballot Hall of Famer. He has also produced some the most hilarious stories in baseball history.

He's virtually retired now but only from baseball, not from being hilarious.

My two main questions are:

If he works for the Mets, why is he sitting in the stands?

Rickey is a farmer?

(Note that Rickey is always referred to as Rickey as that is how Rickey would refer to Rickey.)

Big Weekend Part 3

Vietnamese style sweet and sour chicken is back at Hien Vuong!

The summer specials menu has returned, and after a one year hiatus so has one of the finest meals on earth.

Big Weekend Part 2

Last night we attended the Kings of Leon show at Harrah's. I've got to admit, the venue was better than I thought it would be. It still lacks some of the scuzzyness that marks most great music joints though.

The show was nice. Surprisingly, the band played few tracks from the album they just released. It would have been nice to hear a few more songs I haven't heard them play before. On the other hand, playing a bunch of songs everyone in the crowd knows and loves isn't the worst way to conduct a concert. The music was tight and the band had good energy.

The opening band was Snowden. They were fantastic. They made it through that awkward stage in every opening act when the band is putting a lot of energy into the show and the audience is responding with a deafening wall of skepticism. I believe it was the end of the third song when the audience gave in and cheered wildly. The band owned the crowd for the rest of their set.

My only criticism of Snowden is their band name. Snowden is ok, but they could really shine as General Dreedle and the Major Majors.

Big Weekend Part 1

It was a big weekend in the AA household.

Mrs. AA graduated with her MA in art history. She worked many hard hours to get there, and she deserves the kind of recognition that only a blog with a readership of 10 can offer.

Good job babe.

Now I Get It

I have recently been having trouble understanding why conservatives were so hot for Fred Thompson. The GOP debate last night cleared it all up. If I thought one of those guys would be my presidential candidate, I'd be all over Fred too. Actually any cast member of Law and Order would do, or maybe a cast member from Survivor, or a Deal or No Deal contestant or well anybody probably.

I know I'm biased, but last night seemed like a disaster. The thing that stood out the most was that apparently the candidates have told Jesus to hop in the back seat because they are going to let Reagan drive for awhile. I can think of several analogies to describe the way the candidates handled Reagan, but all of them are little bit disgusting and I don't know how they would get him out of his coffin in the first place.

Best moments of the night included:

Mitt Romney unable to come up with anything he doesn't like about America. Very believable.

Mitt's "and he will die," line about Osama bin Laden. Possibly a little over the top after declaring days earlier that it wasn't worth "moving heaven and earth" to get bin Laden.

Rudy Giuliani trying to dodge bullets on the abortion question, and ending up looking like Swiss cheese.

Ron Paul explaining why Republican primary voters should not vote him (At least that is what it sounded like to me).

Anything out of the mouth of Tommy Thompson. Hard to believe the obviously creative Mr. and Mrs. Thompson could have a son who appears to be a robot.

Seriously, if this is as good as they get Republicans have reason to be worried.

Enemies

On NPR this morning:

Earlier this week several Washington think-tanks got together to hold a kind of summit on bipartisanship. The Brookings Institution, American Enterprise Institute, and the University of Pennsylvania gathered scholars to dissect this thorny problem.

Thomas Mann of Brookings said the result depends on basic respect and civility.

"You have to be able to accept the legitimacy of the motives of those with whom you disagree, and you have to be willing to engage seriously in their arguments," Mann said, adding that there's little of that on Capitol Hill.

How did we get to the point where we fundamentally believe the other side of the debate is deceitful, corrupt, immoral, even evil? I've got a hypothesis, which is of course partisan.

Over at Gone Mild, Dan had a great post about how the cronyism of the Bush Administration is unlike the cronyism of past presidencies both left and right. I agree with him, and I think the attitudes that prompt that kind of behavior also create the environment for animosity. Dan points out that winning isn't simply means to an end (that end being running the government the way you believe is best) for these Republicans. Winning is the end. The whole point is to crush the other side. Of course to do that with no remorse, you must believe that your opponent is the very apotheosis of all that you abhor.

The other side is the enemy, and you do not engage the enemy in any way except for a fight. That is why we have such ridiculous situations as Republican Congressional staffers forming their own softball league rather than play with Democrats.

And I think it has spilled over to both sides now. I remember a time when I would have been as likely to vote for a Republican as a Democrat. I wanted to hear what each had to say, and I took them at their word. I was still more likely to agree with the Democrat's stance, but if the Republican made a good case I was listening. Today, that has changed. A Republican now starts out in a deep hole, and must work very hard to convince me he/she isn't just a party stooge. And I'm sure a die hard Republican feels the same way about Democrats.

So how do we get from here to somewhere productive?

A Day of Analogies

I had a weird day. I woke up and decided I needed to start my day with a doughnut. I went to the doughnut shop, but they didn't have any doughnuts. They explained to me that they no longer believed that frying was ideologically sound. They said doughnuts were good, but they believed that if a doughnut really wanted to exist it would. Frying was a process that gave dough a crutch, and kept it from becoming a doughnut on its own.

I shook off my disappointment and headed to my doctor's office. I have had knee trouble, and I was suppose to be getting a final check-up before some reconstructive surgery. Much to my surprise, my doctor explained to me that he could not perform surgery because it went against his beliefs. As I wondered why he hadn't disclosed this fact to me before, he explained that surgery was an inefficient way to heal the body. If the body needed to be healed, an invisible hand would come in and help facilitate the recovery.

I wasn't sure how to respond to my doctor's revelation, so I headed off to work. I have been working on next year's budget, and I needed to get some clarification from the CFO. I went to the CFO's office and explained my situation. Without so much as a whiff of irony, the CFO explained that budgeting no longer fit within his philosophy of accounting. He explained that budgeting was a command and control version of business wherein the accounting office had to police individual departments who would use their money much more efficiently if left to their own devices. He showed me an elaborate graph in which money is spent much more efficiently with no controls on how or why. I must admit, it seemed a little confusing.

I went back to the office with my mind spinning. The doughnut shop doesn't believe in frying, the doctor doesn't believe in surgery, and the CFO doesn't believe in budgeting. It was all a little much, so I elected to get on the web and read something of interest. It just so happened that the first article I came to was about the leader of our government. It seems he is someone called a "conservative," and anyone of this political persuasion believes that government isn't helpful but harmful to our country.

Suddenly it all made sense. I mean, if you can't use your president as an example...

Alternate Reality

A lot has been said about the right-wing spin machine and its ability to create an alternate reality. This week has brought that point home one more time. The entire episode with the Attorney General has been astounding to witness. Only now, many of the Republicans who have kept one foot firmly planted in regular reality have started to turn on the ones who are fully immersed in the alternate reality.

Which is how you get this:

Several other Republicans made plain their unhappiness.

Specter told Gonzales his description of events was "significantly if not totally at variance with the facts."

"Why is your story changing?" Charles Grassley (news, bio, voting record) of Iowa asked at one point, citing differences between an earlier explanation and the hearing testimony.

Lindsey Graham (news, bio, voting record) of South Carolina, after hearing the attorney general's account of the case, said, "Most of this is a stretch," and added it seemed to him that some of those dismissed "just had personality conflicts with people in your office or the White House and (officials) just made up reasons to fire them."

Sen. Jeff Sessions (news, bio, voting record) of Alabama expressed concern with Gonzales' memory at the hearing. In an interview later, he went further. "I think it's going to be difficult for him to be an effective leader," he said.

"At this point, I think (Gonzales) should be given a chance to think it through and talk to the president about what his future should be."

And at the same time this:

At the White House on Friday, Perino lavished praise on Gonzales. "He has done a fantastic job at the Department of Justice. He is our No. 1 crime fighter. He has done so much to help keep this country safe from terrorists."

The real question is how many people it requires to maintain an alternate reality. If it gets down to like 5 people telling each other that it is defintely the other 300 million people in the nation who are wrong, then I would think it might be tough to hang in there. If, on the other hand, you could still turn on the radio and hear that you are 100% right, then you might just have the courage to soldier on.

Fortunately for the president, there are still hacks like the morning talk radio host here in KC who are willing to stick it out. Despite Republican Senator after Republican Senator reaming the Attorney General and despite apparently being familiar enough with English to comprehend the questions and answers during testimony, the 710 stooge argued that it was patently ridiculous that the AG was being put in this situation. He actually claimed that it looked increasingly like the AG had done nothing wrong. It also... no wait... go back and read the last sentence again.

If you don't understand why I don't even need to continue, please teach me a little about your universe.

Simple Things Can Improve Your View of the World

There has been a lot of bad stuff going on lately. Of course, it almost isn't possible to say that without making a major understatement. If you get sucked in to the world of news reports and commentary it can cause you to hold a pretty dim view of the world.

Fortunately, there are almost always events in our own lives that let us see humanity in a more personal way and restores our faith in each other. Tuesday was such a night for me. My wife and I were the fortunate recipients of an invite from some friends to have dinner with them and a guest from India. The Indian woman had come all the way around the world to learn something about her profession, her luggage had been lost, and she must have been feeling the time change. Yet, she was excited to cook for a group of people she had known for a couple of days and share her culture with us. She taught us about Indian cooking. She taught us a bit about meditation. She was even willing to take seriously questions I had that must have seemed completely naive and stupid.

More importantly she proved, as most people I meet do, that there are far more examples of great humanity than awful humanity. They are everywhere, and there are great numbers of them. It can be easy to forget that when we hear about all the problems in the world. But I'm glad there are so many opportunities to be reminded.

Mad as Hell About Anything and Everything

That seems to be the unofficial motto of right-wing radio. Possibly because I have some sort of vendetta against myself, I fairly regularly scan what is getting people riled on 710 or 980. I have become quite used to hearing how upset people are about how we coddle criminals, about how no one is patriotic enough, about how they got onions on their hamburgers when they specifically asked not to, etc. But last night on my way home, and again this morning, I heard hosts taking it to the next level.

Last night on 980 the argument had turned to the drinking age. How that became the topic I have no idea. Nevertheless one host was staking out the position that the U.S. has a ridiculously low drinking age compared to the rest of the world, and that it was all caused by the federal government (naturally). He was hitting the point pretty hard when he took himself down a road he knew he needed to get off. He was talking about how kids go out and drink in unsafe situations, and that the only alternative would be to let kids drink at home.

I think a small alarm then went off in his head warning him that he had just indirectly endorsed parents allowing their kids to drink to a crowd of people who would rather enlist their children in a stoning than allow them near alcohol. So the deft and cunning orator turned on a dime and said "Of course most parents don't do that. Some moronic ones do." He said it, of course, in that indignant and blustery way that such people talk about everything that outrages them.

I think I can paraphrase his argument. I am outraged that the government would presume to set a law about the drinking age that results in kids drinking in unsafe environments. I am also outraged by "moronic" parents who challenge the laws of our government by providing a controlled environment in which kids can drink. If I am to take both arguments as his true beliefs, I must conclude that being incredulous is far more important than any rational argument.

And this morning there was more. On 710 the subject had turned to ethanol. The radio host had a guest on who was describing why ethanol production won't affect the prices of other consumer goods. It is probably worth mentioning that the guest happened to be the head of an ethanol production plant, but that is beside the point. The point is that the host managed to attack the ever-insidious they for both being concerned about our oil dependence and for worrying about the effects of consumer prices for the American people.

Granted, both of his complaints are stupid. But what is amazing is the ability to have them simultaneously and attribute them to the same vague villain. The host clearly cared for nothing other than the "gotcha" effect of two seemingly disparate concerns.

I'm outraged.

Wisdom of the Masses

Is there such a thing? Today's Top Ten Searches on Yahoo! makes a pretty strong argument against:

Today's Top Searches
Larry Birkhead
Manchester United
Johnny Cash
Tasmanian Devil
Darfur
Rutgers...
28 Weeks Later
Drew Barrymore
Friday Night Lights
Prom Hairstyles

Not in my wildest dreams could I begin to imagine how this list becomes reality.

Vonnegut 1922-2007

Still one of the the most powerful comments on war I have ever read:

The formation flew over a German city that was in flames.
The bombers opened their bomb bay doors, exerted a
miraculous magnetism which shrunk the fires, gathered them
into cylindrical steel containers and lifted the containers
into the bellies of the planes. The containers were stored
neatly in racks. When the bombers got back to their base,
the steel cylinders were shipped to factories where
operating night and day, dismantling the cylinders,
separating the dangerous contents...so they would never
hurt anybody again. (Vonnegut 64)

The More Things Change...

I've been a consistent critic of "Christian Rock" since growing up in an environment rife with it in '90's Southwest Missouri. My problem has always been that since it is about religion first and the music second, the music is almost by default second-rate. I wouldn't want to go to church and listen to a professional musician do the sermon (although a funeral presided over by Keith Richards would be fun), so why would I want to go to a show and listen to a minister try to play rock music.

Perhaps the problem is that so many churches deem all other rock music to be evil, and consequently these young bands haven't heard enough good music from which to build. Or maybe the bands just can't shake the guilty thoughts that their own music might be riding the line, and they may be playing their way to hell.

At any rate, this weekend I read an essay by George Bernard Shaw called "Solemnity and Triviality." The entire essay is best summed up by this quote:

My sole object in submitting to the unspeakable boredom of listening to St. Paul on Saturday afternoon was to gain an opening for an assault on the waste of our artistic resources -- slender enough, in all conscience, even with the strictest economy -- caused in England every year by the performance and publication of sham religious works called oratorios. In so far as these are not dull imitations of Handel, they are unstaged operettas on scriptural themes, written in a style in which solemnity and triviality are blended in the the right proportions for boring an atheist out of his senses or shocking a sincerely religious person into utter repudiation of any possible union between art and religion.

Perhaps it is depressing that 117 years later things are pretty much the same. I would prefer to consider it as a comfort, however. People aren't better and they aren't worse. They are just people, and that takes a lot of the mystery out of it.

Great Moments in Sunday Morning TV

Meet the Press had Pat Leahy and Orrin Hatch on this morning debating the prosecutor replacements and whether or not the Attorney General should resign. It followed the usual Meet the Press storyline. Russert asks leading questions, guests answer whatever they want, and opposing sides get blustery before declaring that the opponent is their lifelong soul mate.

But this morning had a great moment. Hatch had spent considerable time arguing that the president and his staff should be able to replace the prosecutors at their discretion. Then Russert pointed out that in 2005 (I think) Bush had tried to replace the prosecutor in Utah, and Orrin Hatch had raised hell about it.

Hatch explained. The difference was that the prosecutor in Utah was going to be replaced because he was a Clinton appointment, but what the administration didn't know was that Clinton had worked with Hatch to place that prosecutor. I think it is worth repeating that Clinton had worked with Hatch to place the prosecutor. Something about that statement seems unfamiliar in today's landscape.

Why I Wouldn't Want to be Muslim

I am currently reading a very interesting book called A History of the World in Six Glasses by Tom Standage (and recommended by a man that knows both how to read and how to drink). As the title suggests, the book tells the history of the world through the lens of the important drinks during world history. The six that made the cut (in order of appearance) were beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and cola.

I have learned a great many things in the book including the distinct possibility that one of my favorite Irish drinking songs may, in fact, actually be a pirate shanty (long story). I've also learned the importance of alcohol to the creation of civilization, the spread of the Roman Empire, and the subjugation of the American Indians.

Today, however, I made it through the liquor sections and into coffee. In this chapter I learned that Muslims have long been hardcore about everything. As told in the book, Muslim leaders on several occasions banned coffee by equating it to alcohol. The bans never held, primarily because alcohol and coffee have almost completely opposite effects on the consumer. Still, the bans usually lasted for a short time and included beatings of vendors and customers. It seems the point was simply to ban something that anyone at anytime could take any pleasure in.

I know what you're going to say. Christianity also has a long history of trying to ban anything people might construe as fun. Well, I agree. Growing up in a small town where some of the churches were still worked up over dancing tends to make one aware of such things. But that doesn't change my perception that Muslims (despite losing the coffee issue) have been infinitely more successful at ruining a good time.

Oversold

I can certainly understand why people claimed that this final four would be one of the great ones. Two top seeds and two second seeds would suggest that the competition would be great. Yet the games this year have been no better (and possibly worse) than any of the last several years.

Maybe it is the perpetual hype from the commentators whose job it is to sell us the game. Maybe it is our yearly hope to see something better than we've ever seen before. Whatever the cause, a night spent watching Ohio State beat Georgetown and Florida beat UCLA was a night of feeling like you could have done something more interesting with your time.

I can live with games that don't contain last second drama (although that does help). As a huge fan of the game of basketball, all I ask is that the games are well-played by both teams. Neither of these games were that. Maybe Monday night will turn things around for this Final Four. I hope so, but I'm not taking anyone's word for it.