Fish in trouble and unhealthy for consumption

Environmental Defense Fund Seafood Selector

Just thought I'd pass along some important information regarding your selection of fish next time you eat or buy fish. I know that fish populations have been stressed for quite some time but it's worse than I imagined. The populations of everyone's favorite sushi fish, the bluefin tuna, are in serious trouble. I think my biggest surprise was the high levels of PCB's in farm-raised salmon.

It's worth a look. Check your local chemical levels as I'm sure that these numbers differ from region to region.

Update: I found all the previous info while showing my daughter the Monterey Bay Aquarium webcams, which I highly recommend. Shortly after publishing the post, I came across this great diary on Daily Kos from bob zimway regarding the pitfalls of fish farming. I highly recommend taking a few minutes to read this post.

Pride

I'm not one to get overly emotional or patriotic but my love and devotion to my country equals that of anyone displaying 10 flags on their car. However, I am honestly humbled, awed, and swollen with pride today as I cast my vote for Barack Obama. After I finished, I sat down to wait for my wife to cast her ballot and I almost came to tears watching my fellow citizens complete their civic duty. I also learned that my neighbors shared my candidate, which made me feel much better as I live in an homogenous section of Atlanta mostly populated by persons of European descent (Although Decatur is pretty liberal by Georgia standards). I've never been this emotional in any prior election.

I've pondered the signifiance of this election on many occasions but last week the full impact hit me like a ton of bricks. I didn't move from my couch as I stared off into space feeling like a tiny yet powerful speck in this whole process. I'm only a single person in a nation of hundreds of millions but I can get Obama one step closer and that we, as a nation, are on the brink of electing an African-American as the leader of the free world. This is something that I can recall to my grandchildren as I tell the story of Obama's fight to gain the White House.

Moreover, Obama is a superior game-changing candidate regardless of the color of his skin. He's a rare combination of intelligence, charimsa, open-mindedness, and political skill. I see many of Bill Clinton's finest attributes in Barack Obama. I also feel he could be at least as successful achievement-wise and I'm confident he'll keep his pants zipped.

It's a great day!

Today's the day we finally get to vote!!!!

Yayyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's been a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGG year.

But no matter who you choose or where you live, today is a celebration of one of our great American events: the Presidential Election. Make sure you place your vote as to who should lead our country over the next four years. Of course, if you voted already then you celebrated early (Kind of like opening your Christmas presents on Christmas Eve rather than Christmas Day).

I would tell you that I'm live vote-blogging at my Sagamore Hills Elementary School poling place but, in all honesty and humility to me as an author, that's just not good theater. I expect the experience to resemble peeling paint in terms of the play-by-play. Plus, I don't expect too many irregularities from my particular district.

If I'm involved in or am witness to any curiosities or interesting voting anecdotes, I'll be sure to pass them along to you, my eager readers, so that you may use them as ice-breakers at cocktail parties or pickup lines at your favorite partisan watering hole.

God Bless America!

Update: Nothing to report from my polling place as of 11:30 AM EST. Standard stuff. I was in line for less than 15 minutes and actually spent more time talking with my neighbors than voting.

52" Plasma TVs rock

As I type this post, I'm watching college football on my Samsung 52" plasma screen TV. It's gorgeous. My house feels like a sports bar without the potato skins which, if anyone has a good recipe, I'd be happy to serve. And we have a seemingly unlimited supply of beer to boot if you're interested. For whatever reason, people bring alcohol to my house and most of it remains undrunk. And don't even look at the Johnny Walker Blue in my liquor cabinet. It almost feels like my annual overstock for Mardi Gras.

Anyway, I digress. There's an obvious difference in the plasma TV image quality in general but the improvement over regular or LCD screens may be most apparent while viewing a sporting event. Seriously. The Matrix looks great but can't compare with ESPN HD baseball.

If you have the means, I highly recommend it. Ooooo.

I must admit, as long as I have access to my TV, beer, bathroom, and free parking, I may never physically attend a sporting event again (Sorry Dillberto, I know you have Saints season tickets). And I don't even have to worry about my guests smoking in the john.

Cheers to technology. I'll never leave the house.

Would Bush be a better president than McCain?

As I watch the trainwreck that is McCain 2008 (See here and here as a primer), I can't help but think that the Republican intelligensia knew their business when Bush torpedoed McCain's 2000 campaign with the help of the GOP elite. I know the influence of the Bush family was tantamount but was there a larger concern for Republicans? Certainly, some of the issues raised during the South Carolina primary in which McCain's fate was determined were completely fabricated and over-the-top. Other issues at that time including McCain's sanity and temper appear to be gaining traction as McCain enters the homestretch.

Simply put, McCain has too many character flaws, independent of ideology, to be a reliable presidential candidate. We can start by questioning his judgement with the choice of Sarah Palin as VP. Or, we can discuss McCain inciting his conservative base during campaign rallies. On other fronts, McCain's submerged rage for Obama was clearly on display during the most recent presidential debate. And he's also been testy while gambling in Puerto Rico. Not to mention his chronic addiction to pathological lying and he's passive aggressive. There's more but I need to get to the point.

McCain couldn't be trusted to carry out the GOP gameplan as his maverickness could turn against the party at any given moment. Moreover, McCain's temper and judgement proved a liability while stabilizing the top of the ticket. And it's a problem today; he's trying carry out Rove's patented blueprint for White House victory but the displeasure on his face is obvious. Simply put, Bush has a better poker face.

I honestly thought McCain was a slam-dunk for the White House in 2000. Admittedly, my opinion was formed prior to the South Carolina primary, which preceeded the general election by some nine months. But many Democrats, including myself, were seriously considering voting for McCain over Gore as we were coming off of an exhausting eight years with Clinton. We may not have pulled the lever on election day but the idea was on the table.

The GOP saw otherwise as he didn't significantly stir the Republican base. I found it odd because there would have been significant cross-over Democrats as well as independents that would have given him an advantage. Most voters that register with a specific party generally stick to party lines so most, if not all, Republicans would have fallen in line to cleanse themselves of Clinton. Instead, Republican rolled the dice as evangelicals and core Republicans became the key to victory while McCain was derailed in favor of Bush. Watching McCain become unglued as Obama takes control of the election, I can't help but shake the notion that there was more to Bush's escalation in 2000 than simply being a Bush. McCain's behavior is unbecoming and unsettling for someone who might become the leader of the free world and it's always been there. And the GOP has known it for years.

I have no smoking guns or secret emails to prove my point. It's a hunch. Let's discuss.

Must-see movie

Bill Maher's new movie "Religulous" doesn't open in theaters until October 3. In case you are unfamiliar with his work, Bill has given us such cultural gems as Real Time with Bill Maher and Politically Incorrect. "Religulous" chronicles Bill traveling the world in search of religious hypocrisy, which really isn't too hard to find but provides great material in the hands of the right person, and the advanced reports on "Religulous" suggest it will be very entertaining. The film is directed by Larry Charles, the gentleman who gave us "Borat", so you immediately get a sense of what's coming.

Some moments I eagerly anticipate as taken from the LA Times article:

• In Holland, Maher is in the midst of questioning a somber Muslim cleric when he's interrupted by the cleric's cellphone, whose ring tone is Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir."
• You know irreverence is the order of the day when Maher, reacting to a smooth-talking black preacher's boast that he got a great deal on his $2,000 suits, drolly observes, "I find it interesting that you're a Christian, you used to be a Muslim but you buy all your clothes like a Jew."

Should be worth a large popcorn and a box of Junior Mints.

Olympics or Super Bowl halftime? You be the judge.

I know I'm being a bit of an uncultured louse but do the Olympic Games opening ceremonies ever remind you of an overstaged Super Bowl halftime show? There's just enough kitsch to make me hurry to the fridge to get another beer because the second half is about to begin.

Update: Alright, I'm a louse. I made my observations from several photos and extrapolating to many past ceremonies. I actually got to watch the ceremonies last night (Hours after I made my orginial post) and I was wrong. Last night's performance was quite stunning and didn't remind me too, too much of the Super Bowl. The jury is still out for other opening ceremonies.

Sad

(Photo courtesy of CNNSI.com)

What else can one say regarding the Brett Favre debacle? Watching the whole thing unfold on a national stage, I was reminded of the Buffalo Springfield song "For What It's Worth". Great song that's not entirely pertinent to this situation (It was written as an anti-Vietnam song) but one line stands out in particular: "Nobody's right if everybody's wrong". Really Brett, could you have a little larger ego and play an even more pathetic drama queen? And Ted Thompson/Mike McCarthy, would it have killed you to treat the face of the franchise with a little more respect?

The big losers in this whole saga are the Packers fans themselves. No matter who's side you're on, the PR beating the organization took will take some time to salve. And Favre ended up in a less than ideal situation with the Jets with little hope of another Super Bowl run. If both sides could have compromised somehow, the Packers might have had another run at the Super Bowl this year, considering most everyone returned to a team that was whiskers away from playing the Patriots. I realize we'll be fine and we'll reap the rewards of the next two seasons down the line, but how many chances do you get at the Super Bowl? I just can't help but be reminded of Joe Montana playing his final years as a Kansas City Chief (Something I unfortunately witnessed firsthand).

And really, for me as a lifelong Packers fan, I'm most saddened by seeing Favre wearing a uniform other than the green and gold. None of this had to happen.

Good luck Brett.

Hangin' with Tigger

While I was watching the British Open this past weekend, I realized that I didn't recap my amazing day at the Augusta National Golf Club, April 8, 2008. Grateful to the powers that be, I was somehow able to score tickets for the Tuesday Masters practice round. I have no idea how I got them (It was my first time applying for tickets) but hey, I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

With little to no sleep after all the excitement of my Jayhawks winning the national title, my buddy Sidis and I packed in the car before the sun rose to make the hour-and-a-half trek up I-20 from Atlanta to Augusta. The drive was made easier by the buzz that only a national title can give.

Part of the beauty of the practice rounds is that they allow patrons to bring cameras onto the grounds. Carrying our cameras and feeling very papparazzi-ish, one of our first celebrity sightings was of the man himself, Tiger Woods. Can this man leave his house without being the center of attention? Several hundred people surrounded the practice green, trapping him like a caged animal and there was not a sound to be heard. "Shhhhhh! You might hear him breathe". And "Oh, I think he looked at me. Did you see him look at me? He didn't look at you, he looked at me". I really thought the collective awe on display by the gallery was actually a little bit creepy. Yes, they were quiet to allow him his concentration but something was going on that didn't happen with any other golfer. It was almost like "Oh my gosh he's real".

Anyway, there were other golfers on the course, even if many spectators refused to recognize their existence. Here's a picture of Phil Mickelson making his club selection as he prepares to hit his tee shot at 12.

Looking back at all the photos, I found this one particularly intriguing. It's a shot of Gary Player imparting some wisdom to the eventual champion Trevor Immelman, while others in their group finished their practice putts on the 15th green.

Here's Fred Couples giving some love to the Big Event. Right back at you Freddie. Love your work.

When it was all said and done, perhaps the greatest 24 hours of my sports life. Wow.

Jumping the Shark

Greg Norman is nearly halfway through the final round of the British Open so we won't know the final outcome as of the time of this post. But I'd like to thank him for a glorious run (And march down memory lane) at this year's Open. Particularly since the delay in Tiger Woods' pursuit of Jack Nicklaus has made this an unusual tournament. He's really struggled today (4-over through seven holes and one shot behind Harrington) and things aren't looking good. With these conditions, anything can happen and he could still turn it around or witness a Harrington slippage (Oh how ironic that would be).



I've seen some comments about his snake-bitten luck coming to roost yet again but I think that's being a bit harsh. Yes, he's had some well-documented collapses and miracle shots go against him but, this time around, he's 53 years old and probably showing his age. Four rounds of golf against men half his age under immense pressure and extreme weather conditions is a lot for which to ask. There's a reason no one else has won a golf major past the age of 50.

Cut him some slack and raise a glass of his Pinot Noir to toast a fantastic tournament no matter the outcome. BTW, a belated congratulations are in order to Mr. Norman for the addition of Chris Evert to the trophy case. Well done sir.

Roger Waters

In an effort to catalog some of my favorite moments from attending concerts, I began my series with a brief recap of the Boss's Atlanta performance several months ago. The Roger Waters Atlanta show on May 22, 2007 also provided a great moment. For a little taste, here's Roger Waters playing Brain Damage during his nightly performance of Dark Side of the Moon.

On this night (As well as most every night on this tour), Waters performed Sheep from Pink Floyd's 1977 release Animals. As a note of caution, while Waters was certainly inspired by George Orwell's Animal Farm, this album is not a substitute for the Cliff Notes if you're still struggling with 10th grade English. Of Pink Floyd's great seventies albums, Animals may be the most underrated and one of their finest. I was able to avoid seeing set lists from previous stops so the inclusion of Sheep was a complete surprise. Sheep is my favorite song on the album and one of my favorite songs ever released by Pink Floyd. I absolutely loved hearing that bass line louder than ever. During the song, Waters floated an inflatable pig over the crowd with various messages and personal opinions written on the animal. Even though he's been pulled this stunt since the Animals tour, the pig had no effect on my pleasure of hearing the song performed live. As a trivia note, Waters (And Pink Floyd) often lets the pig fly free during shows in open air theaters, not only to prove that pigs can fly but to jeopardize the safety of unsuspecting passenger jets flying in the immediate vicinity. A giant inflatable pig soaring over factories actually serves as the album cover.

Roger also played my other favorite Pink Floyd, Shine on You Crazy Diamond, Waters' tribute to his friend and Pink Floyd founding member Syd Barrett. While I've seen Pink Floyd (Sans Waters) perform this song live, it was the very touching visual tribute to Syd Barrett that made this song so memorable. Upon viewing the images of decades old photographs, it was quite clear that Roger missed his dear old friend, who had passed away two years before the show after decades in seclusion. A very beautiful but sad song.

Some other notes from the show. When the band played Time, the sound of the clock pendulum was played by Waters deadening the strings on his bass. I'd always thought the sound was recorded from an actual clock. Quite interesting.

Also, I attended the show with Strange Calm, a good friend who worships the Floyd more than I ever dreamed possible. As we discussed the highs of the show while waiting for MARTA, we discovered our only low: We were cheated by the separation of Waters from Pink Floyd. By the time we achieved concert-attending age, Waters had already left the band. Each of us had only seen Floyd but it became quite clear from the Waters performance that a united Pink Floyd show would be mesmerizing. While the egos of Waters and David Gilmour led to the ultimate demise of Pink Floyd, each performer brings unique features to the band that were missing in their separation: Waters lyrics and concept development and Gilmour's music. They relied on each other to strengthen their respective weaknesses and produce an incredible combined talent. If only we were old enough to have witnessed this greatness.

What happened to Arthur?

First off, congratulations all around for the Jayhawks selected in the first two rounds of the NBA Draft last evening. As it turns out, the five that were selected set a new record for one school. Of course, this means that of all the key players in our championship run, only Sherron Collins will remain to help defend our national title, assuming he doesn't have some legal trouble. And yes, Collins has a Wikipedia entry.

One theme I kept reading regarding last night's draft was the league-readiness of these men. Kudos to Bill Self for giving them the best possible chance at success at their new jobs.

Here's their draft positions:
Number 13: Brandon Rush
Number 27: Darrell Arthur
Number 34: Mario Chalmers
Number 52: Darnell Jackson
Number 56: Sasha Kaun

You could also include JR Giddens at Number 30, a Roy Williams-recruited prospect who played at KU for two years under Bill Self before transferring to New Mexico after some legal troubles in Lawrence. For the record, since Giddens didn't finish his career at KU I won't include him either but I'm happy to see his life headed in the right direction.

The big surprise for me was the fall of Arthur to 27. ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Bilas, one of the more objective voices of the sport, had Arthur in his Top 10 the day before the draft. Apparently, several NBA teams became aware of an Arthur kidney problem and backed off a bit. It seems that some miscommunication has occurred between the player and the NBA as test results show he's fine but those results were never communicated to the NBA teams. All in all, my feeling is that his agent dropped the ball on this one. To make matters worse for him, he was traded three times after he was drafted, finally landing with the Memphis Grizzlies.

As I write this post, Arthur is still a Grizzly although it's only 2 pm EST. There's plenty of time for another trade.

The Boss Rocks Atlanta

I recently had the good fortune of seeing Bruce Springsteen and the E Street band once again (April 25, Philips Arena, Atlanta). Reflecting on the show, I double-dog-dare anyone to find a better set of encores regardless of artist. An absolutely fantastic show (Including one of my all-time favorites "Blinded by the Light") that culminated with what I consider one of my favorite moments in my concert-attending career: Rosalita.

To begin with, "Rosie" is one of the great rock n' roll songs of all-time, a barreling, thunderous tale of the courtship of a woman with parents uncertain as whether young Bruce is appropriate for their daughter. A seven-plus-minute song with tons of sax and guitar that's easy to sing along to; it's just plain fun. Anyway, The Event freaked when the opening notes were strum after which I lept from my seat and proceeded to do that silly white man's dance (I later found out that he dedicated it to New Orleans - Which just made my appreciation that much greater). My wife thought I was the biggest goofball in the arena until I pointed out the other 17,000 people looking just as stupid. At least I had company.

Why was this such a fantastic moment for me? Well, Bruce has not played Rosie live in decades and I had seen from the published setlists leading up to the show that he had sporadically included it in his encores. I had my fingers crossed but didn't tell anyone since I didn't want to jinx anything. Thus, seeing Bruce play Rosie might be the biggest score of a Springsteen concert and, considering he's one of my favorite artists ever, the moment was somewhat transcendent.

Thanks Bruce.

Do you have any similar concert moments?

Setlist (Courtesy of Backstreets.com):
Reason to Believe
Out in the Street
Radio Nowhere
No Surrender
Blinded By the Light
Your Own Worst Enemy
Trapped
Murder Incorporated
Prove It All Night
She's the One
Livin' in the Future
The Promised Land
Bobby Jean
Point Blank
Devil's Arcade
The Rising
Last to Die
Long Walk Home
Badlands

Encores:
Thunder Road
Born to Run
Rosalita
Tenth Avenue Freeze-out
American Land

Exxon gets to keep more money

The Supreme Court has decided to reduce Exxon's liability stemming from the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska's Prince William Sound. The original $5 billion punitive damage decision has previously been slashed in half.

Exxon estimates they have already spent $3.4 billion in total expenses. That argument is disingenuous since the number includes previous settlements with Seattle seafood Companies as well as labor and supply monies spent to clean up the mess. So where does that leave the good citizens of Alaska who relied on the Sound for their livelihood?

"Nearly 33,000 Alaskans are in line to share in the award, about $15,000 a person. They would have collected $75,000 each under the $2.5 billion judgment".

$15,000 per person? That's all the hard-working fishermen, who worked independently of the oil industry in Alaska, are entitled? The original settlement would have provided $151,000 per person, representing a ten-fold reduction.

Absurd.

President McDrill-No-Enviro-WhoAmISpeakingTo?

After trumping the benefits of offshore drilling, which were in stark contrast to Obama, McCain admitted Monday that the greatest benefit of drilling would be psychological and the ramifications at the pump will be minimal (Scroll down a bit to find that specific reference).

Straight from the horse's mouth:

“Even though it may take some years, the fact that we are exploiting those reserves would have psychological impact that I think is beneficial."

McCain's statements in support of offshore drilling and sudden admission of minimal benefits were made in the presence of oil executives and environmentalist CA-Gov Arnold Schwarzenegger, respectively. Conveniently, McCain has also stated that the final decision to drill off our coasts would rest in the hands of the states themselves and a lift in the federal moratorium would not be a federal mandate. It's the best of both worlds for McCain as land-locked voters are open to drilling while many Florida and California residents don't seem to want any part of that plan. To make things even more confusing, McCain is now proposing a greener government as well as offering a $300 million dollar prize for a new auto battery.

Does McCain want to drill or not? Does he have a yet-to-be-made-public comprehensive plan to integrate various energy technologies or is he just fishing? Maybe the only way we'll know what stance McCain takes on any given day is to identify the audience to which he is speaking. Or maybe flip-flopping is essential to being a Maverick as he can be labeled as unpredictable.

All joking aside, I'm not alone in my expectation that McCain will think and act like Bush if he were elected to office and all of this flip-flopping is nothing more than lip service to catch up in the polls. If McCain has done one thing consistently since announcing his run for presidency, he's voted with Bush on nearly every single bill that has come through the Senate. In many instances, he's overturned his own stances to in an effort to garner the support of core Republicans. And that leaves us with one question that will be the most accurate predictor of McCain's decision-making abilities in the White House: What would W do?

Year of the Jayhawk

As an alum of the University of Kansas, I'm not sure that we'll ever see a better year for the Jayhawks.

First off, our football team came out of nowhere to rack up an 12-1 record including a BCS bowl title. In the preseason analysis, most pundits had predicted the Hawks to finish in the middle of the pack in the terrible Big 12 North. Although their schedule was admittedly easier than some of the other top teams (Not you Ohio State), KU showed their mettle against a solid Virginia Tech team in the Orange Bowl, demonstrating that they were in fact better than most were giving them credit.

Things then got crazy with our basketball team. We had a terrific regular season but at KU, expectations are exceedingly high and success is most often measured by our post-season results. After a narrow escape against Davidson, which by all accounts we probably should have lost, the Hawks advanced to the first Final Four to showcase all four number one seeds. Any team surviving this Final Four would earn the title. Karma came back to roost as the Hawks throttled the heavily-favored North Carolina Tarheels, led by our former coach Roy Williams and player of the year Tyler Hansborough, to advance to the title game against the Memphis Tigers. Beating Carolina was simply one of the best nights ever for a KU fan. As if things couldn't get any better, the Hawks staged the greatest comeback in championship history through a combination of Memphis mistakes and terrific play, culminating with Mario Chalmer's shot heard round the world. With the Memphis foul trouble and all momentum in our favor, the overtime was nearly a forgone conclusion as we won our first national title in 20 years.

To cap off everything, this past week saw the crowning of a new NBA champion, the Boston Celtics. One of our all-time best and favorite Jayhawks, Paul Pierce, had been languishing in Boston for years and he was quite close to leaving the venerable this past off-season. In an effort to keep their star from departing Beantown, the Celts brought in Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, two of the NBA's finest at their respective positions. Not only did Pierce bring his A-game for the Finals against the Lakers, he ended up being voted the Series MVP.

Celebrate Jayhawk fans! This past year has been a long time coming!

Rock Chalk!

LSU departs the College World Series in Grand Fashion

The dream ride for LSU's baseball team came to a sudden and dramatic conclusion last evening at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha. I'll spare you the gory video, which I'm sure is already on YouTube. Basically, LSU gave up a game-winning grand slam with two outs in the top of the ninth to lose 7-3.

Major kudos to Coach Mainieri as the Tigers exceeded all expectations with a tremendous run through a good SEC. It certainly appears that the program is headed back in the right direction as the hand-picked previous coach Smoke Laval was unable to continue the success of legendary Skip Bertman. While last night's game is certainly disappointing, the future looks quite bright in Baton Rouge.

Congrats to the Tigers on a terrific season.

Laboratory observed evolution

One major problem of proving evolution has been the ability to demonstrate inheritable genetic adaptations in a carefully controlled experimental environment. Since evolutionary traits often take thousands of generations to fulminate in a population, bacteria are a natural candidate for such experiments as many bacteria have dividing times of less than 30 minutes.

With that in mind, I'd like to introduce you to the citrate-metabolizing bacterium Escherichia coli. All you have to do is grow the bacteria for 44,000 passages. Importanty, Dr. Lenski's group grew out an earlier culture of the citrate-positive bacteria to confirm that this was an inheritable genetic alteration and not the cause of some random mutation occuring late in the experiments. Thus, we now have our first laboratory evidence of evolutionary patterns at work in bacteria in which proper controls were employed to test the hypothesis.

Taking into account their previous publications, this paper represents a significant step in Nobel Prize winning research. We'll see where the next few papers take them as I anticipate they'll further nail down these observations and cement these data as acceptable proof of the theory of evolution.

And where does this leave the creationists, er, intelligent design advocates? Well, in a pretty bad spot to be quite honest. I guess they're best chance of legitimate scientific credibility rests in their ability to show that evolution was the result of intelligent design. But even that argument is tenuous since this paper also shows that evolution does not always lead to the best possible outcome, an argument that would seem to be at odds with creationism.

What does FISA mean for November?

In case you hadn't heard, the House Democrats have reached a "compromise" with House Republicans over Telecom amnesty in renewing wireless surveillance.

The Democrats currently hold a majority of seats as well as an extremely unpopular president with which to battle. Bascially, they have all the leverage they need to overturn this illegal operation. On paper, the Dems should capture and retain House seats in droves this fall.

So why the cave-in? There are various explanations floating about and I'm not sure really which one, if any, I believe, so I'll leave that question to the pundits. I'd rather focus on the implications for the general election in November. The wave of success seen by the Democrats in the 2006 mid-term elections was due in large part to voters' frustration with out-of-control corruption and incompetence in the Republican-led legislative chambers. Thus, weren't the outcomes of those elections supposed to prevent this compromise? As the House of Representatives are up for re-election, will we see House Democrats challenged as they didn't deliver on their promises? Or will they get re-elected thanks to the awful Republican name brand, suggesting that a spineless Democrat is still better than a Bush-backing Republican.

I don't know what to make out of this mess.

On the bright side, Obama's camp is reviewing the proposed legislation and will comment on it in the very near future. Let's hope he shows more backbone than the House Democrats.

It's still early so we'll have to see how FISA and other issues play roles this election season.

Update: H/T to BonzoDogBand for his excellent post at DailyKos regarding the strange circumstances surrounding this vote. Legal scholar Jonathan Turley told Keith Olbermann on Countdown last evening that the compromise centered on Democrats being complicit for prior authorizations. Do we need a complete turnover of representatives who can fight for our constitutional rights without worrying about legal issues?

Update II: Here's the roll call:

Republican 188 yeas, 1 nay, 10 no votes.
Democratic 105 yeas, 128 nays, 3 no votes.

Notice a pattern? Not much compromising on the Republican side of the aisle.

Update III: Obama has approved the bill, in part. Read the whole thing here.

Bummer

One of my favorite artists of all time, Tom Waits, will be performing at the venerable Fox Theatre here in Atlanta July 5. This legendary theatre is considered one of the great venues in all of America, having hosted the likes of REM, the Pixies, and the Rolling Stones during it's long run. Seeing a great performer at the Fox is considered quite an experience.

Well, as it turns out, the only Fox show I've attended since my arrival here in Atlanta two years ago has been Dora the Marketing Machine: Pirates of Penzance. My daughter had a great time but that wasn't the indoctrination I had in mind. A Tom Waits performance fits that criteria nicely, however, I'll be out of town in the hot, sweaty Hill country of Texas that weekend and will be unable to attend. Boooooooo! Damn family reunions. And so my quest to see a high caliber Fox show continues.

As a tribute to Tom's Atlanta visit, here's a video of Tom performing "The Piano Has Been Drinking" on the old Fernwood Tonight show hosted by Martin Mull. The video includes a sit down interview following his performance and, as expected, Tom does not adhere to standard TV interview etiquette. Great TV and should be a great night at the Fox.

Maybe next time.

Return of the Big Event - Welcome Back

Welcome all after an extended hiatus.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVS3WNt7yRU

Some of you may have witnessed my hijacking of Oyster's comments in lieu of a suitable avenue for my thoughts and ideas. As it turns out, I'm an idiot and forgot the email address and password I used to create my last blogsite (Big Event Jr). But I have a lot to say these days so I figured the time was right for a return.

I promise to keep this more up to date.

Radiohead to play my backyard

In a rare and unexpected concert appearance (Even by Radiohead standards), Thom Yorke has confirmed that Radiohead will perform in my backyard. Nice house-warming gift wouldn't you say? He's promised a fullset complete with stage production. I'll lose the grass as I cannot re-sod in our current drought but it's a small price to pay.

I've requested he play OK Computer (More praise) in it's entirety but I might be overstepping my bounds. We're in the final stage of negotiations.

Apparently, the esteemed Mr. Yorke has quite the grapevine as he caught wind of my loud complaints regarding the single Atlanta show this past month (Of which I could not attend). To his credit, he didn't take my comments personally but rather he extended an olive branch and took pity on my sorry ass. I accepted. As they say, the squeaky wheel gets the oil and all I have to do is provide BBQ.

Everyone's invited but it's pot luck so please bring a dish.