Los Estados Unidos

As most people in the Midwest have been doing this week, I have been scratching my head a bit at the recent protests in California and elsewhere over the pending immigration legislation. We are not as affected as those in the Southwest directly, but indirectly it smarts due to our tax dollars being funneled to the Southwest to pay for increased social services such as more cops, emergency room treatments for those without insurance, and that just scratches the surface.

Here in the Midwest, there have been no protests or rallies that I know of, and, more importantly there have been no protests or rallies in places like Miami with a huge Cuban (legal and illegal) population or in Texas, which has tons of legal and illegal immigrants from Mexico. So why is this?

Before I get to what I think is the answer to the question, a few personal notes to the Mexicans who are taking down the US flag in certain places. SCREW YOU. Enough of this nonsense. You are here for a reason, that is because your country is a corrupt backward borderline third world nation that has virtually unlimited potential but refuses to take the bull by the horns and clean up the ultra corrupt political and business climate. So your solution is to come here and think that this is now Mexico? The recent photos of the demonstrations make people here in the Midwest, well, pissed off to say the least. Our money is being sent down there for your benefit and all we get is a kick to the groin by you taking down our flag. Well, whatever.

Here in Madison we have a very large and growing Mexican community. There is virtually no trouble, and they are welcome here as long as they are productive members of the community. I know many of them personally and they are hard working. I had some interesting discussions with a few of them and they basically regard the demonstrators as the fringe. Like we regard the loony left. Unfortunately, when you have loons taking down flags and making headlines we tend to lump them in with the hard working ones, just like in the Muslim example; when we have Muslims trying to blow up my family with no other Muslims trying to stop them we tend to lump them into one big heap. It is up to the SANE Mexicans to weed these loons out and bring some sanity back to the debate.

I comment frequently over at ChicagoBoyz. A commenter today summed the whole debate up very well in my eyes and I think that the comment reprinted here would be a great way to end the post. This from the commenter "veryretired" from this post:

I think part of the answer to the "Why not Fla." question has to do with the prevailing intellectual and cultural atmosphere in Calif. as opposed to either Texas or Florida. It can't be accidental, or surprizing, that the dominant liberal, multi-cultural social and political climate in Cal. leads to stridently demanding group identity and group victimology on the part of Hispanic immigrants. By any objective standard, Mexico is a corrupt, dysfunctional catastrophe of a society, and has been for a long, long time. (Of course, multi-culti doctrine denies objective standards, but I'm not, and don't) The leagacy of the Spanish imperial period is similar to the French---some wonderful cultural aspects but horrendous political and intellectual bankruptcy. In many ways, the belligerence of the attitudes of so many illegals makes the problem simpler politically. The average American, when shown the extent of the animosity for this country on their part, loses quite a bit of his natural sympathy, and is more amenable to a broad based policy that begins with improved border security. People who shoot themselves in the foot so repeatedly should stay home. We have enough idiots here already.

What's Up With Jill?

When Jill Carroll appeared in a video begging for her life in an outfit that looked like it was fitted to demean her, I was very upset. I posted about it back on January 31.

Does it get any lower than intimidating or demeaning a young woman? Such big men, bullying around a twenty something year old woman, then videotaping her pleading for her life (Geneva Convention anyone?). But now she is free and is relating tales of how well she was treated. We have photos of her circulating again with the headscarves and some photos of her smiling without. I have to admit, when I heard of her release I was very happy but now I am beginning to smell - something not so sweet.

I will give Carroll some time to get herself together on this, as I cannot imagine being held hostage by those thugs was a good thing on her mental health.

But the interviews I have seen with her don't seem to convey any sense of urgency or fear on her part. If I were her, I would have taken the first transport outta there, THEN got my sh*t together a bit, then maybe would have given some interviews. But this ins't happening. She seems to give her captors a pass, relating how well she was treated and how she is happy to be released. There was a distinctly different tone in this video.

So was she brainwashed, threatened or is she just being a willing tool? Time will tell. All I know is that something isn't right here.

The Next UN Farce

It is being reported that Charles Taylor has been captured and sent to a UN guarded compound in Sierra Leone to wait for trial on war crimes charges.

Did you see what happened at the Hague with Slobodan Milosevic? What a joke. I was of course appalled at the actions of Milosevic while he was in the Balkans, but was literally laughing and cheering for him at the Hague. The ICC (International Criminal Court) didn't even get past showing that they had jurisdiction to put Milosevic on trial. He ran that trial into the ground, made the ICC look like a bunch of amateurs and there was actually a distinct possibility that the ICC may have LOST a seemingly non-losable case. Of the hundreds of witnesses called, hardly any (I think two or three) decided to show up because even witnesses against Milosevic almost universally agree that the ICC had no jurisdiction over their affairs. For some good entertainment, try to find some video of Milosevic testifying in the trial. Very funny stuff. I am not a big conspiracy buff, but if there ever were a conspiracy afoot, Milosevic's death at the Hague would certainly qualify - to save the ICC embarrassment.

Interesting that not one person has ever died at Gitmo, the international cause du jour for human rights, but the UN and ICC run jail at the Hague has registered a death right off the bat. But I digress.

Taylor will probably make his upcoming trial look like just as big a farce as Milosevic did, for all of the same reasons. I am not sure if the ICC is involved in Taylor's trial, but if they are, I assume it will take years, millions of dollars and will probably end the same way as Milosevic's - with a dead defendant. There is also the distinct possibility that armed persons may break Taylor out of jail - if you read the link above you will notice that the famed and feared Mongolian army (?!) is guarding Taylor. I give him at least odds of about 30% for a breakout, 50/50 for the trial to actually go to the end and about 10% that Taylor will actually be executed.

Charles Taylor photo credit here.

The Ugliest Bank in Chicago

The "Lincoln Park Savings Bank" of Roscoe Village is on the west side of Damen avenue north of Belmont.

I am not an architect but this is probably the most ghastly building I have ever seen. It is a newly built (the last few years) bank building with this insane metal girder roof with electric blue lighting. The building looks like a bad disco in 1980's Berlin.

I have trouble believing that this type of lighting and building corresponds with any building code on this side of the planet. Perhaps the crack Chicago building inspection team was asleep on the switch the day these plans floated by. 

Could real life imitate art?

I recently saw the excellent movie "Thank you for Smoking". The movie is out in major cities and not yet in wide distribution.

The plot is about a tobacco lobbyist who has moral flexibility and excellent debating / personnel skills as he moves about the country on behalf of the industry. His main friends are the lobbyists for alcohol and guns, and they are all pretty funny.

The movie is very well made and moves along very quickly. One character is a reporter played by Katie Holmes, who, in case you have been living under a rock for a few years, is having Tom Cruise's baby.

Katie Holmes' character brazenly sleeps with the lead tobacco lobbyist in order to find out about his life and get secrets about his family and friends. The gun lobbyist warns him not to fall for her "world class t1ts" but it is damn hard to resist Katie Holmes when she dresses up in your white business shirt and tie with nothing else.

After the movie I got to thinking... maybe Katie's affair with Tom is her way of infiltrating an organization despised by many Americans... in order to get "the real story", just like in the movie? Just a thought...

Gun Control

Seattle has some of the most oppressive gun control laws in the nation and nothing happened to stop this massacre over the weekend. Gun control laws do nothing to stop Chicago gangs from nightly shootings. Xavier Thoughts states the case much better than I ever could in his post today about the Seattle killings:

Kyle Huff was charged with felony criminal mischief in 2000 after shooting a statue with a shotgun at an art exhibit. Kyle Huff was a felon. Possessing a shotgun was illegal for him. It was illegal for him to possess a shotgun. Every weapon found in his car, if possessed by Huff, was illegal. Gun control legislation did not persuade Kyle Huff not to obtain firearms. Gun control legislation did not dissuade Kyle Huff from going on a mad rampage. Only an armed officer of the law arriving on the scene stopped this massacre. Seven people died in Seattle, and more were injured and scarred for life. Anti-gun legislation did nothing to stop it.This massacre was stopped by an armed response. Steve Leonard did not stop this massacre. An officer of the law did not stop this massacre. Only an armed response, by Steve Leonard, a sworn officer of the law stopped this massacre. If one, only one, of these party goers had been sober with a concealed handgun, the mass murderer could have been stopped sooner. Perhaps his would have been the only life lost that night.

The Matador Style of Debate

I watched a few of the Sunday morning news shows and a hot topic was the demonstrations against the new bill going through Congress trying to curb our massive illegal immigration problem. I will be honest with you - I don't know what the bill says, or what the people were protesting against. But I do know a couple of things.

1. We have a HUGE problem on our border
2. Something needs to be done

Pretty easy, eh? All of the other emotional, superficial nonsense that you hear about the subject is bullshit.

So on Fox News yesterday morning the host had on one of the main organizers of the rally - I think in Phoenix (but maybe LA). The host asked the organizer a very direct question and it went something like this:

Mr. So and so, we understand your frustration with the current legislation making its way through the capitol, but what would be YOUR SOLUTION (caps mine) to the problem?

His answer:

We take care of your elderly, handicapped and do jobs nobody else wants, blah blah blah.

Ole! As usual, when pinned down with questions that demand tough answers, you get a deflection and a tug on the heartstrings. Obviously the man had no solution, only talking points to fall back on. No original thoughts, no real answers, just the matador sweeping the red cape away to distract the charging bull.

Instantly I disregarded this man's opinions completely and totally. If someone wants to get into any type of debate with me about anything I always ask very tough questions and I want SOLUTIONS, not OPINIONS. But I suppose when your solution is to just let all of the Mexicans in without any sort of documentation and to allow them to suck all of the TAXPAYERS resources dry (see desparate hospital situations in Arizona and elsewhere) you really don't want to say too much on national TV. Or else you have to don the red cape.

**As an aside, people who don't live in the Southwest are not immune from the pain. As you can see if you read the link, now the feds are sending EVERYBODY'S money down there to help the hospitals offset the staggering losses from treating illegals.

Sundays

Everybody gets to relax on Sundays... 

Can Illinois Politics Be any more of a Spectacle?

In the current epidodes of the Soprano's (don't worry, I won't give anything away if you are waiting for it to come out on DVD) Tony is in the hospital and reporters converge on his family and expose family secrets and embarassments to the world.

Sometimes I feel the same way, what must the world and the nation think while they watch Illinois politics? Some recent "highlights"

- Former Republican (yes it makes me sick) governor George Ryan is on trial and the jury is in deliberations... does it seem reasonable to you that he lived on $77 / year - of course the real trial is about this but no one can mention it directly
- Chicago City Clerk Laski admits he took bribes and pleads guilty
- John Stroger, who is basically incapacitated with a stroke, WINS re-election as County Board president. For non-Illinois people, Cook county is a massive county containing not only all of Chicago but many suburbs so this is not a minor position, and probably one that requires a lot of effort.
- Duckworth, a wounded war veteran, won the Democratic primary to take on the Republicans in the seat that Henry Hyde is vacating BUT SHE DOESN'T LIVE IN THE DISTRICT, which you think might be a bit of a problem normally

The sad thing about Illinois politics is that not only is our past sleazy, we obviously aren't learning a thing. These are all recent incidents, and show no signs of abating.

Normally these guys aren't so cute

They recently opened a PETCO store near my condo in river north. I had a good time milling around the store, and I may get a fresh water aquarium or something like that.

In any case, these rats caught my eye, and they looked pretty cute as they lounged around, well fed, in a big cage.

Normally these rats aren't so cute. Many times I have seen the rats scurrying around the streets in Chicago, although they are way faster than my ability to spot them with a camera. They are usually black / grey and they have a nasty looking pink tail. One time I walked out my back door and was face to face with kind of a cute little grey rat that just took off between the stairs in the middle of the day.

I think the cities must be rat heaven. All of the garbage, the great hiding places, and the relative absence of predators make for a rat dream-land. One thing that is a gross-out is the signs saying that you should curb your dog because rats feed on dog waste. Ewww that is pretty nasty. 

It's Not News!

These "E! News" billboards are popping up all over Chicago. They have Ryan Seacrest (Seacrest out), some pretty and dim sidekick by his side, and then the typical "newsworthy" topics in the upper right.

Who is newsworthy on E!? Well it looks like heroin addict and non videotaped starlet (unlike Paris) Nicole Ritchie. And that is Chris Brown, music / video star in the middle (I think). And the bottle blonde on the right is Jessica Simpson, I guess.

We need a whole program for these three and their ilk? Apologies to Mr. Brown, but the other two are more celebrities than even actors or people of notable talent (although Jessica can shake it, if you don't believe me watch the end of the godawful song "Boots are made for walking").

Really, when you are at the pearly gates or nirvana or whatever your religion has in store for you, every minute spent watching "E!" has to count against you in some cosmic sense as completely, utterly wasted time. 

Today's Deep Thoughts (click for larger)

Chicago is two cities, in one

The Economist recently ran a series of stories on the city of Chicago in their March 16, 2006 issue. If you have access to the Economist, here is the link.

The Economist, rightly, gave the city of Chicago credit. They referred to our opaque, awful politics and our totally broken down school system, but mentioned the many improvements in our business climate and residential developments under Daley's watch (or lack of watch, as it turns out).

This photo is a recent shot of a park under development in the River North area. you can see the Sears Tower to the south, our beautiful "Chicago Style" bridges over the Chicago River, and the cranes representing the new investment and development springing up in the area.

While the Chicago school system is a disaster, the Economist makes too big a deal about it. Chicago draws in professionals and educated people from all over in the Midwest. I can't even count how many top people came from Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, and cities in Illinois such as Decatur or the "Quad Cities".

Not to mitigate the crisis in the Chicago public schools, but it actually doesn't significantly impact the competitiveness of our work force because we are able to draw in skilled professionals from all over the midwest. If you are already used to the cold weather (see our "Midwest" blog posts), then Chicago is for you if you are ambitious and talented. 

Daley's Great Contribution

Mayor Daley in Chicago is under fire from a lot of angles. There are controversies in many of his department, and the city clerk Laski recently pled guilty to corruption charges.

Of all the things he has done for the city, however, the one with the most lasting value will be the demolition of the failed housing projects that mar entire neighborhoods. I snapped this photo on I-290 showing the demolition of some dilapidated, burned out buildings alongside one of our major expressways.

The city of Chicago has undergone a terrific renewal. Much of this renewal is due to the booming economy and the fact that Chicago doesn't put many restraints on developers. Another key element, however, is the destruction of public housing buildings that are a magnet for crime, since urban renewal cannot occur while these buildings are standing in our midst.

You can drive north from US Cellular field and there are now relatively few projects to terrorize urban motorists (you can't just sit there at the light and need to watch what you are doing). Every year Daley makes a bigger and bigger dent in the failed high rises, which frees up the neighborhood to grow and flourish, especially near downtown.

Similiar to my blog posts about the energy industry, basically it is IMPOSSIBLE to build anything, anymore, that involves public funds and can be thwarted by environmentalists or people who can hire lawyers. We can't build new power stations, transmission lines, or highways.

While NIMBY is crippling our ability to repair our infrastructure, it is a help when it comes to "bad" urban renewal ideas such as these sorts of projects. You can rest safely in your bed at night knowing that no mayor has the capability to impose new housing projects on anyone. All the projects we have are crumbling and won't be replaced.

At least our inability to do anything constructive also thwarts our ability to create new, manevolent structures. 

Lou Dobbs Is A Terrible Thing to Waste

Last night I had the unfortunate experience of being placed in a room with CNN on.

I needed to get an oil change on my car and was instructed to wait in the room while it was getting done. 30 minutes of torture. I had brought along Albion's Seed as I never try to waste any time just sitting around.

They had a wide screen TV in there and on it was Lou Dobbs Tonight, on CNN. I think it used to be called Moneyline with Lou Dobbs. The volume was up so high it was impossible to read, so I just sat there and stared at the show.

I remember a few years ago Lou Dobbs used to have a pretty decent show, about the business and finance world. I was totally stunned by what I saw on his current show. He spoke like a high schooler - maybe even a junior high kid.

Every single story had the same ending - IT'S BUSHES FAULT - THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION DID THIS - THE NEVER ENDING WAR ON THE MIDDLE CLASS BY THE BUSHES - NOTHING GOOD HAS HAPPENED IN IRAQ BECAUSE OF THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION - RUMSFELD SHOULD RESIGN - and on and on and on.

I sincerely believe one day Lou Dobbs sat down and decided that his ratings sucked and that he needed to dumb himself down to get more viewers - and stake out some ground in the netherworld that is the looney left. I and the other people in the room were pretty much slackjawed about all of the TOTALLY CRAZY stuff that was coming out of his mouth. And this is in Madison, one of the most liberal places on the planet. If that isn't bad enough, his body language and the general tone were so bitter it was like he just ate a handful of coffee grounds - AND IT WAS BUSHES FAULT!!!

Does anyone really wonder why CNN and the New York Times and all of the rest of the shills of the left have no ratings or subscriptions anymore? When CNN has a guy like Dobbs going out there night after night with his childish rants and the New York Times hires stooges like Paul Krugman to write op-eds, what corner do you thing that they are painting themselves in?

Have the days of logical debate, with facts and interesting dialogue and commentary along with respectful tones passed us by? Possibly.

All I know is that Lou Dobbs needs to go for a long walk and get some fresh air.

I See Myself

As I mentioned a few weeks ago I am reading the marvelous book Albion's Seed by David Hackett Fischer. I am still in the first section, about the Puritans but I am already seeing myself in this book. It has been a very long time since I read anything about the original colonists, as most of my reading has been military history. I am very happy that this is the first book on the subject I have picked up. What a wonderfully well written and thoughtful book.

The theory of the book is that there were four "folkways" that cause the regional differences in the way Americans act and think. The first part of the book is all about the Puritans who settled mostly in the Massachusetts area. Most of the things they did were based around their unbelievably staunch religious beliefs. Many of the things they did and believed in brought back so many memories of my childhood. Until the age of about 14 or so I was raised in a Baptist church environment and went to a Baptist school. Some of the experiences were good, some not so good. But as I have aged, I have looked back on that period of my life and wondered to myself countless times "why did they do that"?

The answer, it seems, is in history. I think to answer my questions about certain rituals or methods of teaching or preaching, it is incumbent on me to do more reading on the topic of what are the origins of the Baptist church. To me, if it can be discerned where the Baptists came from that I or others raised in that environment would understand better why certain things were done, condoned or condemned.

I simplify here, but when I was young and impressionable, the Baptists when teaching me used what I now call the "scared shitless" technique. They aren't alone in this. One of my children is now in Catholic school and they do the same thing, but not to the extent the Baptists used it on myself. For the uninitiated, it consists of every day asking forgiveness of past sins, preaching to the masses that hell is, in fact, a very bad place and that we are all damned there if we are not "saved". Being "saved" meant to accept Jesus as your personal savior and living your life emulating him and his teachings. Not a day went by in that institution where these basic tenets were not smashed into everyone's heads at least a couple of times. I am not bashing the Baptists here, just telling you the way it was. And I don't want to give the impression that in the Baptist school I was at that religion was all that was discussed. I received a top notch education at that school.

Just as an aside, the Baptist sect I was involved with didn't worship Jesus per se. After I was 14 or so I moved over to an Assembly of God school. There, they worship Jesus with a fervor I was not familiar with. To them, Jesus is the end all. To the Baptists when I was growing up, Jesus was more like a revered minister or philosopher - part of the trinity. The Jesus fixation just wasn't as prominent.

Back to the Baptist school. One day all of us kids were shuffled into an auditorium for our weekly (or was it bi-weekly) chapel services. They showed us a film about a person who was burned at the stake for Calvinist beliefs. I honestly can't remember who the person was, but I vividly remember the scene where the person was burned. That memory was dusted off while I was reading Albion's Seed. Why did the Baptists show me that film? Because they were partially, at least, CALVINISTS. There is a big debate, it seems about the origins of the Baptists in America, but there is no doubt that the Puritans were Calvinists.

For those who want the quick and dirty about John Calvin, here is the wiki on him. For those raised in a Baptist church, you will very quickly notice the parallels between the belief system of the Purtians and the Baptists of the modern day. Baptists do have different sects across the country and their own systems vary some, but the basics are strikingly close to Calvinism.

It is also apparent that the Baptists that I was involved in took a smattering of Anabaptism as well. Anabaptists believed that infant baptism was not valid, rather a functioning adult must choose full immersion baptism as a way to cleanse sins and unify with Christ (or god). I also note a smattering of Arminianism tenets in the Baptist doctrine that I was involved in.

Even if the religious aspects don't interest you as much as they do me, Albion's Seed is a great book to read - and an easy book to read. The language used is modern and unassuming. I was also very interested to find out what the Puritans ate and the sports they played. I will keep posting on this book as time allows.

For now, lets just say that I am happy to finally understand many of the things that went on in my childhood.

History holds the answers to many questions.

Quote of the Day

From Shannon over at ChicagoBoyz:

Whenever a Leftist asks, "why did we [the US] support less-than-ideal regime X" I always ask, "Why did we support the megacide Joseph Stalin when he had that little problem with that German fella?"

Search Engine Silliness

The nice thing about having a Site Meter on the blog is that you can see where everybody is coming from - thus you can thank another blogger for linking you or bust someone if they are plagiarizing your work if you think it is worth it.

We get about half of our millions of hits here at Life In The Great Midwest from search engines. The most popular ones are Google, MSN, Yahoo and there are some others. For the life of me I have no idea how these damn search engines work. From the last 20 hits to this blog from search engines, here is what people were looking for - and found something interesting enough to click into this blog (I have left caps and spelling as they were entered):

upper midwest accent
tom morello
MidWest way of life
government "competent workers" management by bullshit
frozen rabbit for sale Chicago area
"cops in Chicago" republican or democrat
Noble Wray
10 seer evaporator 13 seer condenser
"russia today" capitalism
company insured sears name change in spain
jack welch - airing divorce dirty laundry
8MM caliber articles
smith wesson serial numbers K22 five screw
lien wavers iowa
air conditioner tonnage per square foot
S + W 17-3
plantlife in Wyoming
"Illinois Renaissance" stadium
Napalm ceo from the Midwest
"Lex Green" Normal Illinois

I think I like the frozen rabbit the best. No idea - absolutely no idea.

If I Had A Million Dollars

If I had a million dollars - if I had a million dollars
Well, I'd buy you a house - I would buy you a house
And if I had a million dollars - if I had a million dollars
I'd buy you furniture for your house - maybe a nice chesterfield or an ottoman
And if I had a million dollars - if I had a million dollars
Well, I'd buy you a K-Car - a nice Reliant automobile
And if I had a million dollars I'd buy your love...

Lyrics by Bare Naked Ladies

Or if you were most Americans I would just assume that you would absolutely spend every penny of that million dollars on junk. And then there are those that spend dollars, evenwhen they don't have them. Credit card debt is soaring. Debt consolidators are springing up everywhere to help Americans to get a handle on their rising debt. Record numbers of Americans are signing up for interest only mortgages, or mortgages with very little money down. So what gives here? Why is our culture so bent on having "stuff"? Why is the message in rap videos so blatant - the message is "I am successful, I have money, therefore, I have diamonds and cars and bling". Those diamonds and cars and drugs may get you laid today, but tomorrow you are just another MC Hammer or Mike Tyson, begging for handouts.

Don't people understand that there is a future? That it may be nice to actually own substantial things like houses and cars and be rid of debt someday?

This is a tough one. It seems from my viewpoint that Americans, mostly NON upper class are totally obsessed with immediate pleasure. There are plenty of upper class non rational people that buy cars and boats and vacation houses just because they can. But I see and hear of normal middle class people every day of my life making 100% irrational financial decisions based on immediate pleasure. It is almost as sitting down and thinking about purchases is a thing of the past or something that is taboo. An example:

I was considering purchasing a vacation property in the Wisconsin Dells area. You can't really get anything worth a damn for less than $250k. So I did a very simple cost/benefit analysis. My family likes to stay here when we go to the Dells. The place has everything we need, great food, a huge water park, and lots of stuff for kids to do. We go there approximately two or three times a year for a day or two. For the money I would have invested in a vacation property in the Dells, I could stay at one of the largest rooms at the Kalahari 500 TIMES. That is Five Hundred Times. And that isn't even figuring out all of the time I would spend fixing up the place, paying people to mow (or spending MORE time doing it myself), and property taxes. To me this is a no brainer in the most obvious sense. Sure it is expensive to stay at the Kalahari, but if you look at the big picture, which way would I be more ahead? Obviously staying in a large room at the Kalahari.

But others seem to have a basic need to "keep up with the Joneses". If person x has a vacation house why don't I? If person Y has a boat, why shouldn't I? Never mind that those luxury items go unused 90% of the year. Never mind in the long run you are out thousands and thousands of dollars. Americans want to feel good - and now.

Hollywood and popular culture doesn't help. Over and over we see stars (who many people emulate) wasting their money on bling. This is especially pervasive in the rap world. Wouldn't it be refreshing to see a rapper on a talk show speaking of how he is investing his money in the stock market or getting an IRA or other savings plan? Why don't stars ever reach out to youngsters to teach them financial responsibility? It isn't cool, I suppose.

But on we go, consuming luxury items as if they are going out of style. I chuckle a bit to myself when I see people who make much less money than me driving around in cars that cost a lot more than mine (probably the worst investment you can make except diamonds) and imagine how good they feel - to themselves.

I also wonder why poor people own Nintendo's, smoke cigarettes and purchase cell phones, but I suppose that related topic should be saved for another post.

French say "Non" to US Violence... But Exploded if you Touch their benefits

The net of watching the failed European foreign policy to stop the dictators in Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons is that their policy of "all talk, no stick" accomplished nothing. Anyone who is even the dimmest student of history could have told them that this fate was pre-ordained, since appeasement hasn't had a good track record since Munich in 1938.

I would sum up their position as "violence is never an option, negotiations should continue indefinitely, and this will bring everything to a resolution in the end." Any reader of this blog knows that negotiations without the prospect (however remote) of violence won't bring a dictatorship or warlord to heel whether it is Liberia, Bosnia or Sudan.

The interesting item, however, is the CONTRAST to their IMMEDIATE tactic of violence whenever their social benefits are remotely impaired. There are some (very modest, by US standards) proposals circulating in France to strip away some of the cumbersome work rules that make it nearly impossible to fire staff in France during their first 2 years of employment. Changes in these policies would attempt to reduce the sky-high youth unemployment that ranges between 25% - 50%.

While the standard opinion of the French left and in particular their far left students is that the US can never resort to force to protect our country from imminent or potential attack they take to the streets at the slightest provocation because they know that violence is their best tactic to make the government waver from their policy changes.

Unfortunately, it works, and usually the governments in Europe cave in to their demands. Thus, like dictators, their weakness only fuels further violence down the road, and delays the day by which the necessary changes will be made to reduce their unemployment problem.

I honestly don't know how employers in Europe EVER hire anyone young. With the difficulty of firing people in those climates, you are really taking a flyer when you hire someone with no track record on their resume. Since employers everywhere are mostly rational, the result is sky-high youth unemployment and a huge "shadow economy" which brings in illegal workers, who in turn cause resentment and radical politics among a huge youth army of potentially employable national workers.

But that is a tangent in this post. Look up "youth" and "riot" in France and a million entries pop up. But remember their policy - violence is an immediate tool to meet THEIR needs, but for the US, violence is NEVER an option to meet our needs.

Why we listen to these people for even one minute is beyond me...

Switzerland and Today’s Europe

There is a fantastic periodical called “Strategy & Tactics” that I recommend very highly.  The magazine contains interesting articles about various military topics from ancient Rome to the present day.  I realize that their home page is a bit sparse and I don’t even know if you can subscribe online but I sent them a check and have been receiving the issues ever since.

Within the magazine there is a unique section called “FYI”.  This section is described by the magazine as “tight, pithy articles of no more than 2,000 words on interesting, obscure or otherwise little known aspects of military history”.  In the recent issue #234 (I think they release them when they get enough content, not necessarily on a schedule) they had a fascinating article named “Switzerland in World War II”.

For those that aren’t aware – Switzerland stayed neutral through both WW I and WW II despite being adjacent to Germany and having strong pressure brought to bear to join the war effort from both the Allied and Axis sides.  The Swiss generally stayed neutral by having a strong defensive army, forbidding terrain, and an active foreign policy.  The Swiss lives saved by staying neutral were immense although impossible to estimate.

The Swiss mobilized a huge percentage of their population as soldiers in order to present a credible deterrent to Hitler’s Germany.  Up to 20% of their total population (remember, only half were men to begin with and many children or too old to serve) were called up as soldiers.  They also had a unique federal structure where the central government could not surrender “generally”, so the Germans would have to take each of the provinces one by one, fighting to the bitter end.  The horrible fates of the Belgians and the Netherlands made standing and fighting a better plan than surrendering to the Nazis.

In the end, there were several times where the Germans seriously contemplated invading Switzerland, but it never occurred.  The Swiss policy of armed neutrality saved their citizenry from occupation, murder and deportation.

The contrast between the effort that Switzerland put forth for their own defense and that of today’s Europe is staggering.  France today has 170,000 in their military, Germany has 221,000 military personnel, Britain has 114,000 soldiers.  Thus tiny Switzerland, which admittedly faced a dire threat, had twice the soldiers under arms in WW II than the combined states of Germany, France and Britain have today.

When The Rolling Stones Were Great

Ever since I was a kid I have enjoyed reading lists and ratings. What is the “top ten” album, movie, or city? There was something entrancing about the idea of taking all this data and thinking about it in a structured form, making a “call”, and putting it out for the world to see.

Blender is a music magazine that I find very interesting. They cover all ranges of new and old music, and are funny rather than stilted and political like Rolling Stone. In every issue they run a retrospective on an artist, showing all of their albums and ranking them from 5 stars “a classic” down to the (obvious) one star.

In a recent issue they covered the Rolling Stones from their best period – the early sixties through the seventies. Pretty much everyone agrees that 4 of their albums in this time frame were absolute classics:

• Beggar’s Banquet (1968)


• Let It Bleed (1969)


• Sticky Fingers (1971)


• Exile on Main Street (1972)

In parallel, I bought one of the 33 1/3 books, named after the long play album format, that covered “Exile on Main Street”. This book covers the making of the album, its context, and goes through each of the songs on the album, describing how it was created and the “back story” behind it. These books are great and I highly recommend them – I also bought the “OK Computer” book for Radiohead.

The fact that there is a 33 1/3 book for “Exile on Main Street” shows its stature among rock albums. Pretty much all music critics rate “Exile on Main Street” as one of the best rock albums of all time, which is pretty interesting because it is a double album with a bit of filler and rather haphazardly put together. For casual music fans probably the only songs that they’d recognize would be “Happy” and “Tumbling Dice” from the album. There is no “Stairway to Heaven” or “Baba O’Reilly” on this album and I don’t think it sold much more than a million or so copies when it came out (of course the counting of album sales was haphazard back then).

I am not picking on “Exile on Main Street” – just for “Rocks Off” my all-time favorite Rolling Stones song it makes a 5 star album right there. The (admittedly torturously laid out) point of this post is that “Let It Bleed” is at least the equal of “Exile…”

In the Blender album review they gave “Exile on Main Street” and several of the other “classic” era Stones albums 5 stars, but they gave my favorite album of all time “Let It Bleed” FOUR stars.

Let’s walk through why “Let It Bleed” is a classic and one of the albums on the short list of all-time greats. How do I make my point? Easy… just walk through all the great songs on this album and it speaks for itself

• “Gimme Shelter” – a fantastic rock riff and a layered song with an eastern vibe to it. Halfway through a great female lead vocal kicks in on the chorus, upstaging Mick and everyone else. The rumor is that she put down the first take and blew them away, and then demanded a raise on her fee before she’d put down the second chorus. Don’t know if it is true, but a great story, and she is worth whatever they paid her. One of the best female lead vocalist performances in rock, right up there with the “moaning” song “The Great Gig in the Sky” by Pink Floyd off Dark Side of the Moon


• “Monkey Man” – my second favorite Stones song after “Rocks Off”. The guitar riff is classic, the drums are funky, and the vocals are sleazy. One day a friend of mine and I skipped class at U of I and kept calling the local radio station (like one guy) to request “Monkey Man” while we sat around drinking in the rain. He later died of an overdose (a long time after school) and whenever I hear this song I think of him (and how damn stupid he was throwing away his life like that)


• “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” – how many songs start with a chorus and a French horn (?) and then move into the all-time favorite lyrics “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you get what you need”. This is an epic song, and every so often I sit and listen to it end to end undisturbed the way it was meant to be heard


• “Let It Bleed” – the Stones reply to “Let it Be” by the Beatles, with a typical sleazy, drippy vibe, great piano, and dirty lyrics.


• Midnight Rambler – a great song, although blown away by most of the songs on this album. In context, it puts to shame every song put out to the Stones after “Some Girls” with the exception of their momentary good album “Tattoo You”. A hell of a harmonica riff throughout the song


• Country Honk – a re-work of “Honkey Tonk Women” with a country, acoustic vibe. I like it for the honk early on in the album because it brings back memories of sitting around drinking beer and having people look around with a start every time that honk kicks in

I can’t believe that an album with “Gimme Shelter”, “Monkey Man”, “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” and “Let It Bleed” deserves anything but 5 stars. I know that not everything the Rolling Stones did was great, and they sure stink today, but give the men their due – for a while, they were the greatest band ever, and give out the 5 stars where 5 stars is due. If “Let it Bleed” doesn’t make it, then just get rid of 5 stars and go back to the crowded 4 star system.

Prison Break and High School Physics

My wife got me started watching Prison Break last year. I like it because there are innumerable plot twists and turns and a lot of characters to keep track of. Not being one who likes to watch too much TV anymore (besides sports) it is good to have a lot of things for my mind to keep track of, or I get instantly bored. I will just come out and admit it, I sort of liked the show last year until a certain moment, of which we will get to in a bit.

Last night was the continuation of the series. I have come to call it "Prison" as "Prison Break" infers that inmates have actually broken out of prison and none have. Last year the show kept getting sillier and sillier with far fetched plans to break out of jail, inmates left unattended for very long periods of time (by themselves, no less) and other very obvious things. The most unbelievable part about the whole show isn't the conspiracy with the government rubbing out witnesses and such, but the prison break itself! Super far fetched stuff, with the prison guards acting as the usual buffoons and leaving us to root for the mass murderers and others to escape. But as I mentioned before, still a fairly entertaining show. Until my high school physics class reared its ugly head.

Part of the story, as I mentioned, is the prison break itself. One enterprising individual is forming a plan and as the episodes go further and further along, he gets further along with his plan to break out. One problem he faces is getting from the bottom of a very large tall cylinder to the top. His solution is to fill it with water, float to the top and tie a rope on the grate at the top of the cylinder to enter the room above. Mind you this cylinder is approximately 100 feet tall. So he fills it with water and from about a third of the way down the tube from a side access he slides in and splash. Then he swims up and does his thing with the rope. Of course this is total nonsense as the access tube would fill with water FIRST. It was really stupid to see him splash into this wall of water, mysteriously held inside the large cylinder with nothing but studio editing. I bet 10% of the population caught this huge error. It really ruined the show for me, but I still watch. I watched last night and it was fairly boring - not a lot of action, just poor acting and predictable non-drama. But it is still interesting so I may keep watching, but baseball season is just around the corner and then all bets are off.

I still think they should just call it "Prison".

White Sox Season Tickets

It is a bleak day for Illinois, with the Fighting Illini basketball team being bounced out in the second round of the NCAA tournament. A slight feeling of goodwill came from the fact that Self’s Kansas Jayhawks team was bounced out in the first round, for the second year in a row (that bastard left U of I in the lurch and Weber came in to go to the title game with North Carolina last year).




My day was semi-salvaged when my White Sox season tickets for 2006 arrived. If you look at the box you will see something that a Chicago fan has never seen before (or at least not in many, many decades…)

On Crack

You know you are on crack if you are a Somali pirate and take on one of these with your shoulder held weapons:

The USS Cape St. George is a Ticonderoga Class AEGIS guided missle cruiser. It is believed that 1 (one) of these machines could destroy an entire WW2 era battle GROUP. And these Somalian pirates were taking pot shots at it while on patrol? Death wish, to say the least.

Thanks for the Memories

Well, the Illini take an early exit out of this years March Madness. What a bunch of bullshit. I have never seen so many touch fouls in my entire life. It seemed like every time that Washington came down the court we had a foul called on us for something. Gah!??!

But seriously, all the best to Dee Brown and James Augustine, our seniors leaving this year (notice I didn't say graduating, although they may very well be doing just that). They have provided a lot of great hoops for us Illini fans over the last four years.

On the upside, it looks like we have a good crop of talent ready to step in. At least we are competitive in one sport.

Now on to football. For gods sake, let us win a Big Ten game or two this year...

BusinessWeek Blows it Again

Although I try and try not to poke scorn at “soft” targets, sometimes items are so egregious that I need to point them out. BusinessWeek is a business magazine that I basically have to read in order to keep up on the business world in general (along with Forbes, Barron’s, the Wall Street Journal, Fortune, The Economist, etc…) because even if you don’t agree with what they are saying it is important to keep up in order to appear informed.

BusinessWeek, along with Fortune, are the two shoddiest written business magazines I regularly read, and I often have to berate myself for subscribing to them in the first place. This is in contrast to the Wall Street Journal, Barron’s and Forbes, which are generally well-written and on point, and the always informative Economist, which occasionally goes into loopy flights of fantasy (i.e. they recommended Kerry over Bush in the 2004 election).

There is a column called “Media Centric” by Jon Fine which focuses on “Media, Marketing and Advertising in the 21st Century.” There is a little picture of the reporter and you can tell he is trying to be hip from his 3 day growth of beard (a little Arafat if you ask me) and glasses, and askew head shot. In the March 27, 2006 issue his article is titled “Newspaper Guy Bets Big”.

In this article, he focuses on Gary Pruitt, the McClatchy Company chairman who just spent $4.5B on newspapers from Knight Ridder, Inc. The writer is attempting to show just how youthful and invigorating Pruitt is, with the following quote:

“Pruitt is 48 and looks younger, which makes him a teenager compared with typical newspaper bosses. He has the hair, looks, and unruffled demeanor of a class president, but his references to the Rolling Stones and Elvis Costello reveal a desire to score points with the cool kids.”

The Rolling Stones and Elvis Costello for the cool kids? What, the cool kids in the old folks home? The Rolling Stones may fill up stadiums but they haven’t been “cool” since, and I am stretching here, 1978 with “Some Girls” (and this is generous… being “cool” probably ended with Exile on Main Street in 1972). And for Elvis Costello, if he was ever “cool” (and I am being generous here, too) that would be around 1977. Every time I hear about Elvis Costello I think of David Lee Roth’s famous line:

“All rock critics like Elvis Costello because all rock critics look like Elvis Costello."

And on that note, I do sympathize, because the head shot of Jon Fine does look like a rock critic, after all.

But back to the point at hand… 1977 is almost THIRTY years ago. And this is what “cool” looks like to a newspaper executive, to the most hip and “with it” of that (lame) bunch.

Don’t count on the newspaper business to rise from the ashes anytime soon.

Gridlock Around the Clock - Part Two

I would like to second Carl's traffic concerns. Here in Dane County, Madison, Wisconsin, things are so bad that intolerable delays are costing us hundreds of dollars. At 5.15pm, in the middle of the rush, traffic was so bad that I had to slow down from my normal 65mph on the Beltline to a measly 60! Just look at that photo of my speedometer! That cost me a good three to four minutes on my commute home.

Gridlock, Around the Clock - Chicago Traffic

Chicago traffic is simply disastrous. I don’t know how to put it any simpler than that.

I have lived in the “Chicagoland” area for my entire life, except for a brief (unfortunate) stretch in Houston. In all of those years, we have done little or nothing to improve the traffic situation while continuing to “pile on” the incremental cars.

I remember when I was a kid and they opened I-5, or “the lonely nickel” as they called it. The highway has been renamed I-88 and it goes East-West and now is positively packed all the way out near the Iowa border. That and the I-355 extension are about the extent of traffic improvements in the region over the last 40 years.

When they took the time to resurface the Stevenson (I-55) a few years ago, they didn’t expand the # of lanes, they merely replaced the horribly abused pavement with new pavement that was sure to be ground into dust by the endless south suburban commuters.

While no significant improvements were made to our highway infrastructure, the city expanded outward at a rapid pace. By “city”, I of course mean the metropolitan area, since Chicago’s borders and the inner-ring suburbs are fixed. The most obvious evidence of this is the fact that the “six county” map that is sold containing the region has been expanded to a seventh county since Kendall county has exploded in population, along with all the distant suburbs.

Here is a photo of what gridlock looks like. It is one-thirty in the afternoon on a Friday, and I am heading East (towards the city) on I-290.

NOTE THE SPEED ON MY SPEEDOMETER!

Remember, this is one thirty in the afternoon – it isn’t anywhere near rush hour, and this is not related to construction or one-time activity. It is gridlock, around the clock.

Art credit here.

I Will Take a Poached URL, With a Side of Flaming Server

I have firmly believed for quite some time that Michelle Malkin is probably the worst blogger on the internet. In her blog there used to be interesting and well written essays. Since she has gained traffic (one of the highest trafficked blogs on the web) her blog has sunk to basically name calling, screaming and reposts of other essays. But that is what stupid people want - never to be challenged, have their opinions reaffirmed, and not a lot of surprises. That is why you are here and not there - you want to be entertained, educated, and challenged (I hope).

But I still look at Malkin's blog every day. I look at it because I always need to remind myself that there is another world out there, the world of successful, money making blogging - and it ain't pretty. I also look at that blog daily to remind myself of what NOT to do. However today there is an interesting post about another blog. The blog she is writing about is called Betsy's Page. The proprietor of Betsy's Page is named Betsy Newmark. Ms. Newmark has guest blogged over at Malkin's and she is just as crappy a blogger as Malkin is. I have never learned one thing from either of them.

Blogger, owned by Google, is the platform that this blog rides on for FREE. They have had some major issues the last week and it seems that Betsy's Page, which also resides on Blogger, is lost for now. There is a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth in the blogosphere about this, even a full page published on Instapundit appealing for help. It's nice to have friends in high places I guess.

If this blog ever gets lost, I don't think I will be able to get this type of attention from anyone. I am glad I do this for fun and don't take it too seriously - reading some of Betsy's rants on other web pages I get the feeling she is about ready to throw herself off a bridge.

She conveniently omits the fact that Google supplies this service 100% for FREE. I also assume that Ms. Newmark and any of the other blogs hosted on Blogger donate exactly zero of their profits back to Google for maintaining the servers and creating new features for all of us to use like Picasso (a photo generating software program that is used seamlessly with Blogger).

So the long and the short of it, I laugh at this person and don't feel sorry for her. Once in a while things happen. They will get it fixed and all she is out is a few days of traffic.

The best part is that while her blog was down some enterprising person poached her URL and set up "Betsy Page" (note different from Betsy's Page). Now this really cracked me up - the internet at it's finest. The guy was named Sam and the comments over there were pretty damn funny. The page is down as of now as Blogger is now catching up to things - seemingly.

**Update - the poached site is back up as of 12.30pm Friday.

I think this is why so many people hate the big bloggers - they are so full of themselves that they think it is actually a big crisis when their blog goes down for a few days. My advice is for Ms. Newmark and all of her adoring fans is to try out a new recipe, go for a walk or read a book. Everything will be OK. Meanwhile, I hope that all of these people put themselves back into proper perspective and realize that 99.9999% of the population in the US doesn't give a shit about them, their blogs or their fans. I think that is tough for bloggers who have over 1,000 hits per day to understand - that they are still small and that their content mostly sucks. Don't believe me? Spend a day over at Malkin's, or on Besty's page once it is back up and running.

The Best Band I Will Never Patronize

We are all a bit hypocritical at times when it comes to the things we buy. On the one hand, the United States and most people in it are all in favor of womens rights, yet we purchase oil from regimes that set back the cause for womens rights a thousand years. But we have to be practical.

Everyone who has even the slightest inkling of what went on in the last century knows that communism killed more people than any other single ideology, event, or war. But we still buy "boatloads" of goods manufactured by the Peoples Republic of China, a modern day quasi-communist state. Sure, we could set up mills in the United States to produce socks, but after the unions get done with everything, who wants to pay $44 for a pair? So in our every day lives we, in a way, support the communist regime in China by purchasing their goods. It pains me to no end, but that is the hand I was dealt, so that is the hand I have to play. But... if I don't have to, I won't.

There are some items that I simply will not buy because I don't have to and I will not for various reasons. Audio CD's are among them. This band is called Audioslave: (photo credit here)

These guys are one of the best rock bands around. I have followed the lead singers' career (Chris Cornell) since I discovered him back in college when I saw Soundgarden. They are played a lot on the radio (terrestrial and satellite). I even like their slower songs, which are usually verboten for a heavy metal band. I will never give these people one red cent of my hard earned money. The lead guitarist pictured above is Tom Morello. See that pin on his hat? You guessed it, Red Star with Hammer and Sickle inside. The old Communist symbol. Disgusting. Morello has always been known as a far lefty, but to drudge up symbols of the most murderous regime and display them for all to see is simply beyond my comprehension.

How about this?: (Photo credit here)

What the hell is Johnny Weir doing wearing that? That is the old cyrillic abbreviation for the USSR! Communist Russia. Pathetic. As I was watching the olympics with my wife and they broadcast the images of Weir skating around with this jacket on I just instinctively yelled out "that fucker!!" It was like the old kneejerk reflex when you go to the doctor for a physical. It just came out.

Things like this make me extremely upset. It is one thing to pad the pockets of a cruel and oppressive regime (China) because there really isn't any choice (see sock example above). By the way, plenty of middle men in the United States make a sweet buck along the way providing those goods to our market like Walmart, and my business - many of the components I sell are now being made in China.

However, it is quite another thing to advertise regimes on your person that throghout history have been shown to be the most cruel and cold hearted ever on the face of the planet. Examples you say? Sure.

I purchased the Black Book of Communism a year or two ago. I am plodding my way through it because it is 900 pages of the most unbelievable, cruel, sadistic reading you have ever laid your eyes on. I have to take it in small doses because the destruction in the book is of a magnitude you can't really get your mind around unless you read it. And after only 10 or 20 pages you have to set it down and do something else for a while. To give you a little flavor, I will open the book to three random pages and give you a paragraph or two.

From page 60-61: "In Taganrog units from Sivers' army had thrown fifty Junkers and "White" officers, their hands and feet bound, into a blast furnace. In Evpatoria several hundred officers and "bourgeois" were tied up, tortured, and thrown into the sea. Similar acts of violence occurred in most of the cities of the Cirmea occupied by the Bolsheviks, including Sevastopol, Yalta, Alushta, and Simferopol. Similar atrocities are recorded from April and May 1918 in the big Cossack cities then in revolt. The extremely precise files of the Denikin commission record 'corpses with the hands cut off, broken bones, heads ripped off, broken jaws and genitals removed'".

This from Poland in the early fifties, page 382: "This was a period when everyone seemed to be going to prison: members of the Politburo, prewar officials (including the former prime minister), generals, commanders of the AK, bishops, partisans who had fought the Germans and then turned their weapons against the Communists, peasants who refused to join the kolkhozy, miners in a pit where a fire had broken out, young people arrested for breaking the glass on a poster or for writing graffiti on the walls. Any potential opponent of the system was removed from society, and all freedom of action was prohibited. One of the main functions of the system of generalized terror was the diffusion throughout society of a feeling of permanent fear and atomization.

From Cambodia in 1966, page 614: "For the crime of speaking English, I was arrested by the Khmer Rouge and dragged with a rope around my neck, hobbling and swaying, to the Kach Roteh prison, near Battambang. This was only the beginning. I was chained up with the other prisoners in irons that cut into my skin. I still have scars on my ankles. I was tortured repeatedly for months. My only respite came when I passed out."

You can see why I can only take small doses of the book at a time. Three random pages, three literally unbelievable acts of cruelty. The whole book is like this. The whole history of Communism is one purge after another, humans sinking below levels of depravity that I seriously cannot wrap my brain around it at times. And this is what Tom Morella believes in? This is what Johnny Weir espouses to be? A member of the Communist utopia? Those fuckers. The hundreds of millions of people whose lives were crushed by the iron fist of communism are all rolling over in their graves. These people should be ashamed of themselves - and should be assured that they will never see one dime from me as long as I am alive.

A Liberal Education, Part Three

This Sunday the Chicago Tribune had an article about "Un-schooling", which is a variant of "home schooling" but is much less structured. The article was semi-interesting but this paragraph really caught my eye, when a "traditional" teacher was taking these "Un-school" activists to task (her name was Jill Fox, an education professor at the University of Texas at Arlington, per the article):

"It's one thing to allow children to choose to study Amelia Earhart before studying Harriet Tubman, with the clear understanding that both will be studied thoroughly during the school year. It is another thing to allow children to study Muhammad Ali and completely skip over what the state standards or district curriculum requires".

There you have it, in a nutshell, why our debate of a liberal arts education is off the mark. Look at the CORE individuals that this "education professor" has cited as critical for our students to "study thoroughly".

Now remember, any three names could have been selected for this "example". Ms. Fox selected these individuals because any education establishment individual would obviously understand, at a glance, how important it is that the students learn about these individuals.

Of all the people you'd pick, at a glance, these three wouldn't be in the top fifty or one hundred if you were trying to select impactful or important people in history. What about Salk, inventor of the polio vaccine? Or Abraham Lincoln? Or Martin Luther (the original one, who started the reformation)? Or William Shakespeare?

Of course, none of these people qualify, off the bat, because they are white males and it is patently obvious to anyone involved in liberal arts of today (not our idealized liberal arts that we discussed in previous posts) that all white males are irrelevant to the discussion, except perhaps as an example of "what not to do" or in order to recognize the horrors that they have caused to whales, forests, etc...

The liberal arts of today is basically an indoctrination, with a few notable exceptions. The indoctrination is extremely liberal, even socialist. Look at the forced resignation of Summers, the leader of Harvard University. Alan Dershowitz, an extreme liberal (by most standards) even defended Summers. Other blogs have piled on this issue far earlier and better than I would have but it is instructive of the total environment today.

Satellite Radio is Killing Terrestrial Radio

I recently took a flight on United Airlines and noted that they had XM Radio. This put a whole new spin on traveling, because I usually don’t even check what the airline has to offer in terms of music because I just assume that it won't be worth my time. With XM Radio, however, I know that there will be a variety of channels, carefully segmented, and a lot of good music to listen to.

Dan has XM Radio and I have Sirius. I don’t know too much about the differences between the two services, and I know Dan likes XM and I like Sirius. I am confident that either one of them blows away “terrestrial” or free radio.

Once you listen to satellite radio for a little while it is extremely difficult to go back to terrestrial radio. The first thing you notice is the commercials. The commercials are the same, over and over again, and extremely annoying. Now that I have satellite radio, I find them intolerable when I am stuck somewhere with regular radio.

I don’t know the exact ratio but let’s assume that regular radio is 2/3 music and 1/3 talk (DJ) and commercials (there are DJ’s on satellite radio but they usually keep their banter mercifully short, unless you specifically choose to go to a talk station). Thus if you are going to work every day and commuting plus listening to the radio around the house a bit for a couple of hours each day you could easily spend 40 minutes / day listening to commercials and uninteresting banter. Depending on what you do on the weekend, that means you’d be exposed to somewhere between 12 and 15 hours / month of stupid commercials for products you don’t want plus idiotic chat. Assuming that Satellite radio is about $10 / month (if you buy a year at a time), that means you are spending less than $1 / hr to avoid all that crap and just get the music. A pretty good deal, I’d say.

It goes beyond just getting rid of commercials and long winded banter. The music on satellite radio is much better, because it is concentrated in different stations and there is a huge variety of stations (over 100 for each of the services). Want punk rock, heavy metal, hardcore hip hop, bluegrass, new wave, alternative rock, etc… - there is a specific channel for it. In Chicago we have the on air station Q101 which is alternative rock – I listen to “21” (“Alternative Nation”) on Sirius and it is far superior to Q101. New artists come out first on 21 and they do a much better and more interesting job of programming while Q101 seems to be playing the same songs over and over. Q101 recently moved to “shuffle” (more of a response to Jack FM where they play anything) but they don’t really break new songs, they just go further into their back catalog. This makes Q101 marginally less annoying (and still the best thing when you are stuck listening to terrestrial radio) but it is still a far cry from "21".

The signal quality (for me, at least) is also far better for satellite radio than terrestrial radio. There is a new HD radio for over the air which should improve things in the future (once you purchase a new device) but for now satellite radio sounds much clearer. The satellite station comes in crysal clear where I live, and you can buy an extension antenna if your reception is poor (i.e. you live in a basement).

There is a huge analogy to the web and blogs vs. paid content (newspapers) because the commercials support terrestrial radio as it exists today. Without the commercials, they can’t support their enterprise, but once you have a choice of no commercials, it is extremely difficult if not impossible to go back to the radio. Terrestrial radio COULD compete by offering intelligent commentary, great playlists, and a far smaller amount of commercials per hour (spend more, be more creative, and earn less revenue). Instead, terrestrial radio consolidated (pretty much) all the stations in each market into one company so they could cut down on overhead between the stations and sell better to local advertisers, while using the same playlists across the whole country in a pre-programmed fashion. Ever wonder why the crappy stations sound alike in every city? Because they are all out of the same company with the same playlist and formats / formula. Newspapers face the same choice, either come up with unique and interesting content or die, and we will see how it ends up.

Back to satellite radio – another item to ponder is that it is EXPENSIVE to set up a satellite radio network, while it is CHEAP to set up a land-based terrestrial radio station. They have to launch satellites to cover the earth, pay for content and DJ’s, and market their service everywhere. They (probably) subsidize the equipment in order to get the recurring revenue stream. There are two competing services, so they can’t gouge customers and need to keep their fees reasonable, while innovating new services to better the competition.

I am always amazed when something that costs money displaces something that is available for free. People don’t naturally go out, buy new equipment, and sign up for a monthly service fee, especially when there are free alternatives out there for the taking. The free service really has to “screw the pooch” to let things get so bad that a pay service can get funding, find equipment manufacturers, line up talent, launch satellites, and market their services to beat them. At any step along the way the free radio stations could have done something to make the situation that much harder for the satellite stations – they could have reduced the # of commercials, come up with better formats, replaced their DJ’s, market their services, etc…. Instead, they just sat back and allowed the satellite services to grow strong and eat their lunch. Most cars come with XM and / or Sirius pre-installed – why didn’t the radio stations band together to offer the car makers more money to NOT install these radios, or at least compete to make it even more expensive for those satellite competitors to “lock in” all of these future customers? Because the stations aren’t organized that way, and they don’t look out for their collective future, they only want to keep their margins high and ride the business for as long as possible for as little money as possible.

Satellite Radio, continued

Here is a photo of the satellite radio receiver that I purchased – it is the only satellite radio on the market (that I am aware of) that includes a regular FM radio tuner (needed because someone else in my house likes to listen to the Steve Dahl talk radio show in Chicago in the evenings) AND Sirius, along with an auxiliary input (for you to insert your iPod). The receiver looks good in my living room with its wood tone and it is very unobtrusive. I also purchased a "side speaker" so that it comes in stereo (the base unit comes with one speaker like a clock radio) and a matching wood subwoofer that I hide away under the shelf. This system gives surprisingly good sound, is cost effective, and takes up hardly any room in our house. One (minor) gripe is that the remote doesn't let you control sound - for some reason the satellite (Sirius) remotes let you change the channel but NOT control the sound level This is probably because the unit can generally be removed from the player so they have generic units and different player types and the volume is tied into the player. You can mute it, but it would be nice to be able to adjust the volume.

Finally, something else to think of is the fact that satellite radio is a distinct challenge to CD's and recorded music, even downloaded tunes for the iPod. Why is that? It is because people typically buy CD's (or download songs) to have the songs they want because they can't generally find the songs they want on the radio. This is a general statement, but I'd bet that this is a common driver of music purchase. Once you get involved with satellite radio, however, it instantly becomes a strong challenger to the iPod and the CD. If you pick a station, you pretty much know what you are going to get, and it won't be interrupted with commercials. It is easier to just flick on the satellite radio than it is to sit down and think about what you want to listen to and set up a playlist. If you get bored with what you are listening to, just change the channel and something new pops up instantly.

I think that over time you will see satellite radio seriously dent music sales because it is simpler and cheaper than buying even 1 CD / month. Think about that - for the price of one CD / month you get 100 stations of music, much of it brand new, all at your fingertips. Bye bye, terrestrial radio. Another bullet in the already broken-down business model for recorded music sales. Even the iPod is going to see some serious competition once portable satellite players go mainstream, mark my words.

Bird Flu

Since nobody in the major media has seen it fit to educate the public about the coming bird flu, I have decided to do it for them. We even have recommendations by officials to stockpile cans of tuna and powdered milk under the bed. For. Gods. Sake. Don't they realize that we keep stuff under there already? Like guns and old sweaters and missing socks and hairballs? Where would all that tuna fit?

So lets take a look at what is coming and what you can do about it. Per the Center for Disease Control, birds are contracting the H5N1 outbreak at a pretty decent pace. We assume that through migratory patterns across Asia into Alaska that we should see H5N1 here within six months or so. What to do? I think poultry farms should be the most worried about this. The virus can be passed through feces, nasal secretions and saliva. So if a flock of migrating birds did their thing in a pond that was used to water a chicken farm, it could spread to those chickens and they would probably all die if they got the severe form of the virus. The less severe form just lives within the infected bird without much ill effect. Many viruses are living inside you right now with no noticeable effect, fyi.

So as to the affect on humans - the CDC says this:

Human infection with avian influenza viruses:
There are many different subtypes of type A influenza viruses. These subtypes differ because of changes in certain proteins on the surface of the influenza A virus (hemagglutinin [HA] and neuraminidase [NA] proteins). There are 16 known HA subtypes and 9 known NA subtypes of influenza A viruses. Many different combinations of HA and NA proteins are possible. Each combination represents a different subtype. All known subtypes of influenza A viruses can be found in birds.
Usually, avian influenza virus refers to influenza A viruses found chiefly in birds, but infections with these viruses can occur in humans. The risk from avian influenza is generally low to most people, because the viruses do not usually infect humans. However, confirmed cases of human infection from several subtypes of avian influenza infection have been reported since 1997. Most cases of avian influenza infection in humans have resulted from contact with infected poultry (e.g., domesticated chicken, ducks, and turkeys) or surfaces contaminated with secretion/excretions from infected birds. The spread of avian influenza viruses from one ill person to another has been reported very rarely, and transmission has not been observed to continue beyond one person. Human influenza virus usually refers to those subtypes that spread widely among humans. There are only three known A subtypes of influenza viruses (H1N1, H1N2, and H3N2) currently circulating among humans. It is likely that some genetic parts of current human influenza A viruses came from birds originally. Influenza A viruses are constantly changing, and they might adapt over time to infect and spread among humans. During an outbreak of avian influenza among poultry, there is a possible risk to people who have contact with infected birds or surfaces that have been contaminated with secretions or excretions from infected birds. Symptoms of avian influenza in humans have ranged from typical human influenza-like symptoms (e.g., fever, cough, sore throat, and muscle aches) to eye infections, pneumonia, severe respiratory diseases (such as acute respiratory distress), and other severe and life-threatening complications. The symptoms of avian influenza may depend on which virus caused the infection. Studies done in laboratories suggest that some of the prescription medicines approved in the United States for human influenza viruses should work in treating avian influenza infection in humans. However, influenza viruses can become resistant to these drugs, so these medications may not always work. Additional studies are needed to demonstrate the effectiveness of these medicines.

That doesn't look quite like tuna stocking time to me. And then there is this:

Avian Influenza A (H5N1)
Influenza A (H5N1) virus also called H5N1 virus is an influenza A virus subtype that occurs mainly in birds, is highly contagious among birds, and can be deadly to them. H5N1 virus does not usually infect people, but infections with these viruses have occurred in humans. Most of these cases have resulted from people having direct or close contact with H5N1-infected poultry or H5N1-contaminated surfaces.

Sounds like those who were infected lived among the poultry. It is common in Asia and other places that we have already seen H5N1 make the move to humans for poultry to be living among the populace. Could there be a connection there? Is there any coincidence that there have been zero human cases of H5N1 in developed nations?

Do you remember mad cow? How woefully prepared the beef industry was to combat the avalanche of panic and disinformation the media gladly hoisted upon the public to sell commercials on the air and ad space in the paper.

So the apparent solution to me rather than enjoying my wife's world famous tuna casserole every night would be not to associate with infected chickens, geese or any other poultry. I will try to eliminate all of those activities. The only place that could affect me is possibly the county fairs that I visit every summer. But by then this will all be blown over, like the mad cow scare was within a week (see McDonalds chart over the last 5 years and you can tell exactly when we had the mad cow scare - and exactly when I bought) and the media, crap blogs and other wells of knowledge will be busy working on the next non story to sell ads for. I bought a bunch of McDonalds stock when they tanked during the mad cow scare and can't wait for bird flu to hit so I can enrich my portfolio with several hundred shares of Tyson.

As an alternate solution, you can always eat more of these.

March Madness!

I can hardly keep my head on straight! One of my favorite times of year is here and my desk is covered with stats and brackets, brackets, brackets! Time for all freedom loving Americans to shut up and put their money where their mouths are in the most illegal fashion - the office pool (or online if you please).

Can you imagine if college football ever did the right thing and had a tournament like every other organized sport to determine its champion? I would probably take those days off work because I would cease to function as a normal human at the workplace.

Of course two thirds of the staff here at Life in the Great Midwest will be cheering the beloved Illinois Fighting Illini to our second consecutive final four while the other third of the staff will be wallowing in their beer after a quick second round exit by the hated Ohio State Buckeyes.

But wait...now we can all watch our favorite teams LIVE no matter the time or place! CBS Sportsline with the NCAA has created a service that gives you live streaming games on your computer - click here for details. I signed up early and got a VIP pass which gets you in line first into the virtual arena. This will be great mostly for the first and second rounds especially for folks that don't live in the normal coverage area (like me) for their favorite team. Later in the tournament it doesn't matter as much as the games are fewer. But a very cool idea indeed, and the price was definitely right - zero dollars and zero cents. Hey, I pay for unlimited access anyway, why not? This will definitely curtail productivity at work for thousands of Americans but not me - the Illini play on Thursday- night and Saturday.

James Augustine photo credit here.

Intellectuals

Had a brief conversation with an ex-co-worker the other day. We were discussing "Brokeback Mountain," which I've never seen and will never see. He was slightly chiding me about my ability to be "open minded" and then added "this is a movie that only an intellectual could understand."

Intellectual. Hmm. Interesting word.

Of course, I had to go to see what Webster's definition was. Here it is:

"An intellectual is a person who users his or her intellect to study, reflect, speculate on, or ask and and answer questions with regard to a variety of different ideas."

That's Webster's definition. PS Indy's definition is:

"A man or woman who, given the gift from GOD, can espouse on any subject or problem facing mankind, provides a solution for that problem, and, if you don't agree with the solution, chastises you as a life form lower than an amoeba."

I've always wondered what makes a person an intellectual. Was there a college course? A seminar attended? A secret ritual? Nope, its all self-appointed. If I want to call myself an intellectual, well then, "I'm an Intellectual." Nobody's going to check out any transcripts to see if I'm lying.

This reminds me of a book I read several years back by Paul Johnson, a historian, who wrote "Intellectuals." The book details the lives of the so-called intellectuals of the 19th & 20th Centuries: Rousseau, Marx, Tolstoy, Hemingway, Mailer, Sarte, etc.

Johnson, as a historian argues, that these so-called "intellectuals" were the biggest hypocrites that ever lived. Men and women, who, although highly identified for the works that they produced, treated their friends and families outside of those works, with extreme cruelty.

How often in our daily lives do we hear from public intellectuals (actors, politicians, clergy) who have solutions for all of our problems? As with my encounter with a co-worker, it doesn't even have to be a public figure. What do they think of us? Do they at times make us feel "small" or "stupid" if we don't agree or understand what they are telling us? More importantly, what type of lives are they living where they can dictate a solution to "my problem!" This is what Johnson was arguing in his book.

Sometimes you have to look inwards as well. I know I love to read the newspapers every day. I think its our duty to understand what's going on this planet Earth. That as I learn more, I can relate to a specific problem or crisis that we may face currently or in the future. Does this mean that humans that don't engage in these activities are, as I stated earlier, "small" or "stupid?"

There is no crime in reading and trying to understand an issue so that one can talk intelligently about them. There is no crime in thinking about a solution to that issue. There is no crime to improves one's ability to reason. The crime is, I think, is not respecting the audience to whom one is talking about the issue. To me, this is how the "ISM's" rose. Communism, Facism. People who rose to power who had solutions for everything but did not respect the very people to whom they were proposed and did so unchecked.

Be aware of these people.

Where can you find them? Probably down at the movie theater buying tickets for Brokeback Mountain.

Diversion

The blog is usually about relatively serious topics but here is a not so serious topic. Rebecca Romijn(no more Stamos, she is rid of him) is starring in a mid-season replacement series on the WB network (soon to be the CW network consolidating UPN and WB). She plays a TV reporter.

I would definitely tape at least the first episode or at least Tivo it and run through the highlights. Anyone who has seen "Femme Fatale" knows that she has to rank up there as one of the most attractive women on the planet.

St. Patrick's Day in River North

This weekend is the St. Patrick's Day parade. The bars near where I live in River North are a complete zoo. They open early and people spill into the streets wearing green shirts, funny hats, and drinking heavily. These guys brought an Irish flag out in front of the police car - hell, the cops are probably Irish too, anyways.

What would St. Patrick's day be without porta-johns? These things sprout up everywhere to make urination more convenient, and hey, we are in an upscale neighborhood, don't want to just do it out in the street.

A few years ago I went out with a friend of mine with whom I lost touch but he saw 2 girls stumble out of a bar and get into the back of a taxicab and start telling the driver which bar to take them to next. Except that it was a police car... ha ha I don't think they'd be so polite if it was a couple of guys that weren't cute.