A Million Here, A Million There
If you think we know how to waste taxpayer money in the Free State, take a look at James Lileks' feature on Minneapolis' new light rail system:

the operating budget requires an $11K subsidy per passenger per year

Be sure to check out the hilarious public "art" decorating the light rail stations.

Marc

Barbarians Inside The Gates

Children and barbarians have clear ideas of justice due to them, but no idea at all of justice due from them.

-Murray Leinster, Med Ship

How long until our society ceases to function, brought down like the Roman Empire by barbarians within? These little monsters even have some of the the same names: Diarmaid and Brianna, Liam and Caitlin.

I ask this question after working three Summer Reading Program events in the past week: When did people stop beating their children... and why?

Oh, the beatings I took when I was a kid - belts, hairbrushs, shoes, the switch - and I was a good kid! Now I don't quote the Bible very often, but this is some good stuff:

The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.

- Proverbs 29:15

Man, they don't call them proverbs for nothing:

Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction will drive it far from him.

- Proverbs 22:15

That last one really cuts to the heart of the problem with these kids. Their parents think that they can be reasoned with - that if you ask Cody nicely to stop screaming he will listen. Kids respond to one thing - fear. And a few beatings are just the thing to put the fear in him.

Be sure to tune in for my upcoming posts "Things Cost More Than They Used To" and "You Call That Music?"

Marc

Playing through pain ( A hero is born)
So I got a phone call the other day from one of the jerks. First thing said is, 'I fractured my wrist.' At first, I thought how like this particluar jerk, to go and hurt himself playing a pickup basketball game among, horrible (at best) basketball chumps. Then, it set in, I kind of took hold of the information, he broke his wrist and kept playing. He made a beautifal arcing three point shot at the end of the day with his guide wrist broken. And then it hit me, we have a new hero, a player with pain. A man who stepped above and beyond the physical, to achieve something. What that something is, I'm not sure, hell we weren't even keeping score. But, this still matters, people were dropping like flies, at the end of the playing there were only five bodies left standing, all three Jerks, thank you very much, Nathan (the batchelor, soon to be no longer) and John Bearr (the only player with skillz, this past Saturday). So who is this jerk, this newfound hero to all lazy occaisionally active weekend warriors. Well it was...that's right, Tbor

So here is a tribute to Tbor and all those other players, of all the sports, who have played through pain.

The first on my list is much like Tbor, a guy who if looking at him you wouldn't think much of, a guy who weighs maybe 130lbs soaking wet, yes a cyclist. Don't ever tell me these guys are wimps, this one broke his collarbone on stage one of the TdF last year, fought through the pain, rode some two thousand miles with a snapped bone and even won a stage, and finished fourth overall. Tyler Hamilton. That's right, he rides a bike, and could help to create a little bit of history this year, two Americans on the podium of the Tour, which, by the way, starts on Saturday.



















And we all remember Kellen Winslow Sr., not the whiny bitch of a son of his. But the old Charger, the good old Chargers, with Mountain Man Dan Fouts, the Kellen Winslow who played so hard and so long that he had to be helped off the field by his teamates.

And we all know what kind of shape Butkus' knees were in by the end of his career, yet, he still was one scary bitch.


So here is to to Tony and all the others out there, who, yes, play through the pain.


My only fear is the Tony won't be able to two-fist the beer like before. I mean, look at all those great atheletes in history, once that fatal injury occurs, they're never quite the same again. Could this spell the end of the group alcoholism, a newfound sobriety, no, I hope not. Remember, play through the pain.

Draper

Wardrobe By Botany 5000
Where in the hell did Saddam get that jacket? Shouldn't this swine be in an orange jumpsuit? I don't like it.

Marc

You Can't Say That On Television
The Federal Election Commission is considering banning ads for Fahrenheit 9/11 after July 30th:

In a draft advisory opinion placed on the FEC's agenda for today's meeting, the agency's general counsel states that political documentary filmmakers may not air television or radio ads referring to federal candidates within 30 days of a primary election or 60 days of a general election.

The opinion is generated under the new McCain-Feingold campaign-finance law, which prohibits corporate-funded ads that identify a federal candidate before a primary or general election.

This is so insane, I am actually hoping they do it. If anyone thought there was a reason for McCain-Feingold besides restricting political speech for the purpose of protecting incumbents (of both parties), maybe this disgusting episode will make them see the light.

At least one FEC commissioner (Bush appointee Michael Toner) thinks the ban would be a bad idea:

I think there's evidence that when Congress created the press exemption they intended for it to cover media in all its forms," said Toner. "If a documentary produced by an independent company would be subject to restriction or, equally important, if efforts to promote the documentary would be subject to restriction, I think that is very problematic.

Marc

Old Hickory On Sprawl
From P.J. O'Rourke's All the Trouble in the World:

What good man would prefer a country covered with forests and ranged by a few thousand savages to our extensive Republic, studded with cities, towns, and prosperous farms, embellished with all the improvements which art can devise or industry execute?

Marc

Ars Gratia Artis


What is the meaning of this?

Marc

Trained Meat Men Needed
You still looking for a new job, chief?

Marc

Klingons For Kerry
I saw this combination of stickers on a parked car this morning:



Which prompted the question: which US presidents do the Star Trek captains most resemble?

Kirk is clearly JFK - two forceful leaders who aren't afraid to roll the dice in a tough situtation, be it Cuban Missile Crisis or Kobayashi Maru. Picard strikes me as a Wilson type - a righteous egghead who thinks he can reason his way out of any situtation, but sometimes resorts to force in frustration.

I haven't seen enough of either DS9 or Voyager to form an opinion on those captains. From the few episodes of Enterprise I've seen, Captain Archer is pretty badass - the last one I caught had him tossing a alien into an airlock to get information out of him. Andrew Jackson, maybe?

Marc

Validation
Pictures of my LEGO cicada are making the email rounds with the LCV crowd. A friend of Liz's boss had this reaction:

Cicadas rock. Legos rock. Lego cicadas rock hard. A nerd who makes lego cicadas rocks you, as the kids say, like a hurricane!

Marc rocks.

Marc

Colin Blow
Holy God, am I tired of seeing Colin Powell on the Sunday talk shows. Powell made a clean sweep today, at least on the shows I watch: Fox News Sunday, This Week Without David Brinkley, and Meet The Press.

I understand why the Bush administration wants to put Powell out there, but why do the shows keep putting him on? Is this really what people want to see - is Colin Powell ratings catnip?

Marc

Thank You, Mr. President
I've been thinking a lot about President Reagan since I heard the news of his death on Saturday. Unlike Ken Shepherd, I have strong memories of Reagan's time in office. The two that really stand out are his speech after the Challenger disaster and the bombing of Libya (which taught me, among other things, that the French are not our friends). I'm not ashamed to say that I teared up a little listening to the old Reagan clips on the radio.

The other thing that has been on my mind is Reagan's place in history. The media, which was always confounded by Reagan's popularity, is doing its best to portray him as the "amiable dunce" - the guy who told some good jokes and gave some good speeches but didn't really know what he was doing. I'm not terribly worried about that, because the leftist intelligentsia isn't nearly as influential as it thinks it is, and people have already formed their (mostly positive) opinions of President Reagan's legacy.

What I was thinking about was how Reagan will show up in our children's history textbooks. Personally, I think Reagan is maybe the third most important president of the 20th century (edging out Truman). First comes Wilson, who turned America into a player on the world stage and set the precedent for later and larger government intervention in the economy. Next is FDR, for obvious reasons, and then Reagan.

But in textbook terms, I think that list will be winnowed down to FDR and Reagan for thematic reasons - first half of the century vs. second half, NY Democrat versus California Republican, FDR began the struggle against totalitarianism and Reagan won it, etc.

Anyway, even though my political views have changed since my youth, I still think Ronald Reagan was a great president and a good man - maybe one of the best men to ever hold the office. I'm sure I'm not the only person my age who will always measure presidents by how they stack up against the Gipper. Thank you again, Mr. President.

Marc

Addendum: Crass political comment to cut through the treacle... How bad do the current presidential candidates look next to 24 hours a day of Ronald Reagan's Greatest Hits? At least Kerry has the option of waiting it out in Boston - poor Bush has to go out there and speak! Ah, well.

And how many times do you think we will hear the phrase "win one for the Gipper" at the GOP convention? It's already working on me, against all rational impulses...

Another Goddamned LEGO Post
I promise, this is it for a while... presenting my LEGO cicada:

Marc

Paramus In The Springtime
So this Tuesday, myself, Remy, and my lovely bride made the trip up to New Jersey to visit the LEGO Store there. We were only planning on going to the Paramus store, but wound up hitting the Nyack, NY location as well, since it was so close. And I know you're interested in what I got there, right?

Well the deal is, these stores have Pick-A-Brick, which means you fill up a cup (about the size of a Big Gulp) with LEGO for $12.95. I bought three cups into which I stuffed 1129 pieces for an average of 3.44 cents per piece. Not too shabby! I also picked up a grab bag of 755 Clikits pieces for $6.95 - 0.92 cents per piece!

We received a rather chilly reception at the Paramus store. The manager followed us around suspiciously, and told me I couldn't take pictures in the store. This is kind of odd for a place where grown men stuffing LEGO bricks into a cup is normal behavior.

The Nyack store was much more pleasant. I spotted some stray gray 1x2 bricks in a container and asked if there were any more. A LEGO employee looked in the back and emerged with a huge box of the bricks for Remy and I to fill our cups with. It turns out that one of the Nyack employees was an AFOL (Adult Fan Of LEGO). So, just for being fellow LEGO nerds, we received these neato LEGO Stanley Cups free.

So, to sum up: I spent my off day driving 400 miles to spend $50 on toys. And you just read about it!



Marc

Presidential Uniform Update: If You Want To Live LIke A Republican, Dress Like A Democrat
John Kerry channels Harry S. Truman:

The only thing missing is the hat!

Marc