Lincolnite

Did I get warped to Seattle? Or perhaps I traveled back in time to April. In any event, what's with the all day/every day rain? Doesn't Mother Nature know that June rains are supposed to come in the form of evening thunderstorms?

Remember Tommy Lee's infamous visit to the University of Nebraska–Lincoln? The resultant television show is coming out this August on NBC, and a preview is now online.

LJS reported that the state democratic party director posted a party blog entry describing a republican official (of Mexican descent) as a "Tio Tomas" which apparently means "Uncle Tom." Obviously, this is a move with negative political implications for the dems and I imagine Mr. Rubin is quite embarassed this morning. Personally, I also find it to be simply childish and low class (to say the least) to craft insults based solely on a person's ethnicity. It says a lot more about Mr. Rubin's character than it does about the individual he was trying to insult.

When I first received this link in my e-mail, I thought "Meh, it's a dog on a skateboard. So what?" Then I actually watched some of the videos. Wow. Seriously, go watch a couple of the videos. Tyson the Bulldog isn't just a dog on a skateboard. He is a skateboarding bulldog. I am so going to teach Daisy how to skateboard...

The previous post reminded me that I had forgotten to blog about the new posters showing up around D.C.'s commuter trains. It still hasn't been determined if the posters are real, or if they are just a brilliant piece of guerilla art.

Your friendly federal government has a delightful propoganda blog to help you understand the evils of drugs. Right now it's filled with gloating following the Raich decision.

Our dedicated Deuel Watch research staff is pleased to report that Pat recently weighed in at 499 lbs. Deuel's dramatic weight loss over the past year has reportedly left him with 90 pounds of excess skin, which will soon be surgically removed. Way to go Pat!

There's a lot of complaining going on about Nebraska's quarter selection. Not surprisingly, few people are actually offering concrete solutions describing what they would have done. Sure, two or three people actually liked the Standing Bear quarter. But why is selecting some dude nobody has ever heard of better than honoring an entire period of history of which most Nebraskans are very proud? Many of the bitchers say that we should portray Nebraska as it exists today rather than dwelling on the past. Fine. You go right ahead and do that. But tell me: how the hell are you going to fit Omaha, Crawford, and Grand Island, farming, industry, and retail, and natural resources and everything else onto a single quarter? Go ahead, tell me. As for Chief Standing Bear, I'm sure he was a great guy, but he couldn't have been too great because he was never brought up in any of my politically correct history classes. If we are going to choose an Indian, shouldn't we at least choose one that somebody has heard of? The whining from Indian groups is rich.

"I think this would have given an opportunity to make amends for the Manifest Destiny tragedies that befell our people," Judi Morgan gaiashkibos, the director of the Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs, told the paper. She called Heineman's decision "unconscionable" and an "insult to Nebraska's first citizens."

Well holy crap, Ms. gaiashkibos, you're telling me that a friggin' quarter will cure everything? Damn, let's just make quarters for everybody: for blacks (slavery), Jews (Holocaust), Japanese (internment camps), and any other group we can think of. Then everything will be better! And don't give me that "first citizens" baloney. Nebraska wasn't Nebraska back then. "First residents" is slightly more accurate, but even that is hooey. Your ance stors just booted out whoever was here before them, and so on. It's the way humans work. (And recent archaeological and anthropological evidence suggests it has been working that way for much longer than previously thought, especially in the Americas.)

Mark Peniska, the chairman of the Ponca Tribe, questioned whether Heineman was under pressure not to choose a Native person. "If it was just a political move, that would upset me," he said.

I wonder if Mr. Peniska is saying this for comedic effect, or if he really is an idiot. Heineman under pressure not to choose a Native person? That's hilarious! On the contrary, he was under tremendous pressure to do just the opposite. In fact, I was shocked when Standing Bear wasn't chosen. Once SB made the final two, I thought he was an automatic. If he were going to be left out, he should have been left out much earlier in the process to help ease the PC backlash. I happen to think the final quarter design is quite appropriate. It represents how most people just see Nebraska as a place to drive through, and those who choose to stay are just a bit behind modern times.

I don't think any of us need further proof that Douglas Theaters has a government-endorsed monopoly in Lincoln, but if you weren't already convinced, perhaps this story will change your mind. The article is also further evidence supporting the contention that Lincoln is anti-growth, which is especially ironic considering another article in this morning's LJS.

Is it just me, or is something about this story really goofy? Girl kills fetuses: legal. Boy kills fetuses: illegal. It strikes me as bizarre that a boy can go to prison for life for assisting with a concurrent identical act performed by a girl. These are curious times we live in.

Many lefties like to call Bush a moron, citing, among other things, his lackluster grades in school. Now we know that Kerry was no less of a moron during his undergraduate days. Isn't it nice to know that we just elected one of two dummies last year, rather than a dummy over a know-it-all? On second thought, that doesn't sound like anything to be proud of at all.

Lincoln often gets a rap as being anti-growth. Most of Lincoln's leadership would say "That's not true. We are pro-responsible growth." (Each individual, of course, has his own definition of "responsible growth.") Mayor Seng even wrote an editorial the other day in which she defended Lincoln against criticism from an Omaha World-Herald editorial that criticized Lincoln's growth policies. I nearly fell off my chair when I read it. I think it was Mayor Seng's first act that even remotely smelled of leadership. What is interesting to me is how surprised Lincoln's leaders appear to be when confronted with charges of being anti-growth. It is the same kind of surprise that struck so many of them when the big infrastructure bond issue was shot down handily last fall. It is as though many of them cannot imagine that others -- Lincolnites, outsiders, or whomever -- might see the world differently than them. "How can they not see how right we are?" they seem to cry. And yet then the City Council snubs $10 million worth of Wal-Mart development, and Lowe's may be next. How can a community that claims to be pro-development turn away two excellent opportunities like that? "But Mr. Wilson!" you say. "Those situations are much more complicated than you let on." Indeed. That gets to another of Lincoln's major leadership problems. In the Wal-Mart situation we have a case where the City Council said "Hey, this is a great idea!" Then they said "No, the first idea was bad. Idea #2, which pisses on the Comprehensive Plan, is much better." Followed by "Scratch that: both ideas were bad. But we aren't anti-Wal-Mart." The Lowe's case is similar. The City promoted urban sprawl by allowing Wal-Mart and Menards (and, to a lesser extent, Home Depot) to build far beyond Lincoln's developed edge, causing traffic problems in an area where traffic really oughtn't be a problem (yet). They soothed area residents by promising not to allow heavy commercial development along a particular stretch of Highway 2. And now the City wants to say "Ahh, to heck with promises! Let's build!" Well, except for the City Council members who think it is the Council's job to determine when there are "enough" home improvement stores in Lincoln. In those two situations we see why Lincoln's political scene is so screwed up. On the one hand you have the stark impression (if not reality) of an anti-development environment. On the other hand you have instability caused by continuous flip-flopping and the total unwillingness of the City's leaders to not only take a stand, but to stick to it. With all of that going on, is it any wonder that Lincoln is perceived as being anti-growth?

Remember when you were a kid and weekends were restful? Whatever happened to those days? I finished tearing out the patio on Saturday. Then I spent a whole lot of money at Menard's on paver bricks, paver base, sand, and other supplies. Only the paver base made it home, though, and even that took two trips in my dad's Explorer. (Anybody have a pick-up?) In the end I unloaded all 2.5 tons of paver base on my own. Between that and all the broken concrete I moved, I estimate I carried some 7 or 8 tons of materials on Saturday. Now I just need to level out the base for our new patio, pick up the rest of the supplies, and start putting things together. On Sunday I began by reffing a U-17 soccer game, followed by two adult baseball games. Thank goodness there wasn't much controversy because I would have been too tired to do anything about it. So what did you do this weekend?

Just took the Political Compass test and got: Economic Left/Right: -4.00 Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -5.23 This puts me in the Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela camp.

I'm back in town after spending most of this week in beautiful San Diego, California. I'm pleased to see that Mr. T didn't cause too much trouble, aside from a little school-yard humor reflecting Mr. T's own inadequacies. I can't say I'm too surprised. I am not typically a fan of California or of the ocean, but if I were going to live in a large city, I could definitely see myself being quite content in San Diego. It's already a very pleasant city, but the level of new development going on there is pretty impressive. Downtown looks totally different than it did when I was last in SD some seven years ago, and plenty more buildings are either under construction or planned. There's a quasi-urban renaissance going on with impressive investments in both commercial and residential activity in the urban core. I walked several miles each day through Downtown SD. It is easy to walk a lot in such a pedestrian-friendly city. I'm a big fan of good food -- not "fine" food of the sort that Mr. T fancies -- and I ate plenty of it in SD. On Sunday night I ate at Monsoon, supposedly San Diego's best Indian restaurant. My meal was average, but the Missus's was excellent. I don't know a ton about Indian food, but I think Lincoln's The Oven is superior overall. On Monday we ate at Kansas City Barbeque, a.k.a. "the Top Gun bar" because a couple scenes from Top Gun were filmed there. The building is a dive, but the food is actually pretty tasty. I'm a big fan of the sauce and the beans. Good stuff. On Tuesday we opted for Royal Thai Cuisine. I know even less about Thai food than I do about Indian, but both the Missus and I really enjoyed our meals. About the only downside was the bitchy restaurateur. Other than her all the restaurant staff were very friendly and helpful. On Wednesday night we ate at a wood-fired pizza joint where I had a very tasty bbq chicken pizza. It was easily the best bbq chic ken pizza I've ever eaten. Then again, I've not eaten many. I was encouraged to seek out fish tacos, so the Missus and I had some for lunch at The Tin Fish near our hotel. Actually, I had one fish taco and one calamari taco. The fish taco was good, featuring fried fish, cabbage, tomatoes, and some sort of sauce. I also added a little Tabasco for good measure. But the calamari taco was the real star of the show. The calamari rings were excellently seasoned, and they were very tender. I wonder if I can talk Oso Burrito into offering a weekly calamari special... I took a few photographs while I was in San Diego. I'll post them as soon as I find a USB cable to get them off the camera.