Lincolnite

Freshman Sen. Gwen Howard has proposed an incredible new law. In her words:

"The bill would prevent kids from ever being a part of the child-welfare system," said Howard, who was a state social worker for 35 years.

Well holy cow, how can anybody not support this bill? It's a veritable cure-all! I expect Ms. Howard will soon be proposing laws to:

• Cure cancer
• Halt global warming
• Provide a surplus of nutritious, tasty food for every Nebraska citizen
• End spam, spyware, malware, and popups

This woman is obviously incredible. How come she isn't governor? Obligatory anti-term limits note: This is the kind of irresponsible hyperbole you get from freshman senators. Once term limits are imposed, roughly 1/3 of our senators will be freshmen or sophomores in any given year. Fantastic.

Third District Representative Tom Osborne is trying to secure $8 million in pork to fund a new interchange near the Archway Monument just outside of Kearney. With all the funding needs in Nebraska -- you know, little things like schools, health care, that sort of thing -- aren't you glad to know that your state's representatives are working so hard to get a gaudy tourist trap off life support?

In a blunt, no mercy, editorial from a South Dakotan, SDSU student columnist Roxy Hammond minces no words with Pat: ..... Going home and slacking off is just plain insulting to the staff of McKennan, the people who spent the time reading his newspaper articles, and the people who funded his well-being. Responsibility, it's the name of the game- and it looks like Patrick Deuel has fouled out. Our research staff will follow this breaking story and bring you the latest updates...

My old clan leader from World of Warcraft just sent me this email: .... please let me know what is going on at work. If you are playing on another server let me know so I can decide what to do. I would very much like for you to come play with us even if it's only a few hours a week.... The reference to "work" is an email I sent him about 2 and a half months ago telling him I could no longer play WoW in the evenings (because I was spending 11 hours days at the office making sure the Future of Lincoln event went succesfully). Having chosen the very unromantic "priest" class in WoW I was one of very few toons who had the ability to heal and buff guild mates since everyone playing WoW preferred to play a fighter type. I'm kind of torn right now. I uninstalled WoW weeks ago, and theoretically, I could reinstall to access my lvl 44 priest to help my guild out, particularly as I was the only priest in the guild. I guess it would be the "honorable" thing to do in the MMORPG world. On the other hand, what the hell do I get out of it besides wasting yet more hours for a bunch of no-life-BTK-Killer-in-training-losers I have no real life allegiance to whose most literate phrases are: "I'ma pwn him <3." Right now I don't need a second job. Sorry guild.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens said on Tuesday he would push to apply broadcast decency standards to subscription television and radio services like cable and satellite. "Cable is a much greater violator in the indecency area," the Alaska Republican told the National Association of Broadcasters, which represents most local television affiliates. "I think we have the same power to deal with cable as over-the-air" broadcasters. "There has to be some standard of decency," he said. Stevens told reporters afterward that he would push legislation to apply the standards to cable and satellite radio and television.

I don't necessarily agree with the Democrats calling themselves "progressives" these days. Much of what the Democrats stand for -- which isn't that much, to be honest -- is less progressive than it is supportive of the status quo. Republicans, on the other hand, are more and more frequently earning themselves the right to be called the Regressive Party. Read the whole sordid tale.

Boy, I sure haven't been posting very much lately, have I? Frickin' slacker. I was swamped at work this past week, both 8-to-5 and in the evenings on three different nights. And my weekends are filled with indoor soccer games. This is the last weekend for indoor, but outdoor starts in a couple weeks. Then I'll be even more swamped. Oh well, the money's decent. I have also been silent in part because I have been working on a project that I'm dying to talk about ... but I can't. At least not right now. Hopefully I'll be able to say something about it sometime late during the week of March 7. It is difficult to blog about anything else when this single topic is dominating my attention. I suppose I could comment on the Future of Lincoln event I attended on Thursday. Short background: it was a "deliberative democracy" event in which a group of Lincolnites gathered to discuss various economic development and quality of life issues. The evening also included a panel Q&A featuring several prominent community leaders answering questions from the participants. I didn't see much of the group discussions involving the participants, but I did attend the panel Q&A. It was fascinating to see how frustrated the panel was over the participants' lack of knowledge of things like the Antelope Valley Project. The panel couldn't seem to believe that despite all the community events that have been held, Lincolnites don't know and love every tiny little bit of the Antelope Valley Project. On several occasions panel members stated explicitly or implicitly "If you don't know more about these things, it's your own damn fault. Lincoln has done its best to educate you." Which may be true. Lincoln may have done its best to inform its citizens about these topics. But shouldn't the fact that so many Lincolnites don't have a clue what the Antelope Valley Project (et al.) is all about tell Linc oln's leaders something? Clearly current methods aren't working. One solution is to get frustrated and blame the citizens for their unwillingness to attend umpteen community meetings. That seems to be the preferred solution of Lincoln's civic leaders. A better solution is to evaluate the city's current methods to determine if they are, truly, optimal. I could go on. In fact, I probably should go on, but this topic deserves a post of its own. Besides, it's a beautiful Sunday morning and Daisy wants to play. What kind of person would I be if I disappointed a puppy?

Tell me it ain't true - - my favorite team, the Minnesota Vikings, are trading Randy Moss. Idiots!!!!

Today Kelo v. City of New London goes before the Supreme Court. Reason Magazine has put together an excellent reading list for those of you who need to catch up. Keep an eye on this case, ladies and gents. The implications for the Antelope Valley Project -- and, more immediately, John Q. Hammons' proposed hotel at 17th & R -- are huge. If the SCOTUS finds eminent domain abuse in Kelo... Well, the Antelope Valley Project's uphill struggle could suddenly become even more difficult.

Eat too much, go to jail.

I can't believe we said yes. A couple weeks ago both the Missus and I received an e-mail. It began:

Say, I've got a proposition for you and also a need for your help!!!

Rarely can anything good come from an e-mail that begins like that. I mean, he used three exclamation points. That's scary stuff. For whatever reason -- my current theory is that the Missus and I are both certifiably insane -- we decided to hear the guy out. As a result, the Missus and I are now the two newest members of your new favorite band, Death By Brass, led by Brendon "I taught James Valentine to play the guitar back at Irving Junior High" Sibley. I do autographs for $20 apiece. Actually we are technically just substitutes, in case any of the regular trumpet players can't make a gig. From what we hear that can happen fairly regularly. Last night was our first rehearsal with the band. In fact, it was our first rehearsal of any sort since 2002. It's hard to believe we haven't played our trumpets in that long. Our lips certainly felt the strain. Neither of us has the chops we used to have back in our Cornhusker Marching Band days. And yet we both fared pretty well. Most of the other band members hadn't played since November, so it's not like we were the only ones ending a long hiatus. And it's not like I could ever forget the fingerings for the notes. Some of Death By Brass's music is the same stuff we used to play back in pep band at Southeast -- Can't Turn You Loose, Fire, Girlfriend, Gimme Some Lovin', Jungle Love, Story In Your Eyes. For whatever reason my brain decided to retain those tunes in my memory. I can play many of them (more or less) by heart, e ven though I last played them in 1997. For now I can't sight-read music very well, though. What are those little # thingies again? I have been wanting to get my trumpet back out for quite a while. Playing with Death By Brass is way cooler than accompanying the occasional hymn at church. They perform on Husker game days at The Eagle's Dock Party at 8th & 'Q' in the Haymarket, and at other miscellaneous gigs throughout the year. I'm pretty excited about the whole thing. We are just subs for now, but that's ok. We'll need some time to ease back into the idea of playing loud music in front of large crowds of drunken revelers. I haven't used my stadium-filling "Go Big Red" voice for a while, so I'll have to start rehabilitating that, too. This could be a lot of fun.

As reported by a news channel in Mason City, IA, it appears that Pat's legend continues to grow nationwide: Adam Sodersten MASON CITY, Iowa (KIMT) A man that’s drawing national attention has a tie to a business in our area. Nebraska resident Patrick Deuel recently made headlines after he slimmed his weight from over 1,000 pounds to around 600 pounds. Mason City’s Pat Holt owns a big and tall store. Now, Deuel is buying all of his clothes from Holt. "He found me on the Internet and it's been a real honor serving him. I mean it's great. I feel like I've really accomplished something when I can source things out for those people with those hard to find sizes,” comments Mountain Clothiers owner Pat Holt. For Deuel, that hard to find size was a 10XL available right here in Mason City. Our dedicated research staff will continue to cover this issue and bring you all the news on Pat in Deuel Watch.

From the Austin American-Statesman (BugMeNot):

When Austin High School administrators removed candy from campus vending machines last year, the move was hailed as a step toward fighting obesity. What happened next shows how hard it can be for schools to control what students eat on campus. The candy removal plan, according to students at Austin High, was thwarted by classmates who created an underground candy market, turning the hallways of the high school into Willy-Wonka-meets-Casablanca. Soon after candy was removed from vending machines, enterprising students armed with gym bags full of M&M's, Skittles, Snickers and Twix became roving vendors, serving classmates in need of an in-school sugar fix. Regular-size candy bars like the ones sold in vending machines routinely sold in the halls for $1.50.

Beautiful.

Robber breaks into man's house. Robber assaults man's wife. Man shoots robber. Man goes to jail.

As we reported earlier in Deuel Watch, Pat fulfilled a promise to his wife Edith by taking her out for a short walk on cupid's day. Now, the Omaha Channel has reported that Edith too will have a similar operation to control her own obesity problem: VALENTINE, Neb. -- Patrick Deuel is back home in Valentine, fulfilling the request from his wife to take a walk with her by Valentine's Day. While that may not seem like much to most people, to Deuel, it is an accomplishment. He made good on his promise with a short walk Sunday. Deuel was hospitalized last summer weighing 1,072 pounds. Diet and gastric bypass surgery helped him lose 610 pounds. His goal is to get down to 240 pounds -- a weight he hasn't seen since he was in the sixth grade. His wife, Edith, also struggles with weight and said she too will have the stomach-restricting surgery. She said her husband's doctor said it would be to her advantage to have the surgery to help them both change their eating habits. Our research staff will continue to keep you up to date on the latest Pat Deuel news.

This is a pretty minor example of media bias, but one paragraph in this article caught my eye:

While many parents criticized the badges for violating privacy and possibly endangering children's health, some parents supported the plan. [emphasis added]

Did you notice it? The article's author is obviously against the badges, and he wants you to think he's in the majority. He (she? it?) used the word "many" to describe parents critical of the badges, but "some" to describe the parents in support of the plan. "Many" typically implies a greater number than "some." That wouldn't be a problem, of course, if the author quantified "many" and "some." He doesn't. Not only does the author not give any numbers, he doesn't give the reader any reason to suggest that he has even the slightest idea which side has more supporters. All we know from the article is that Dawn Cantrall is one of the "many," while Mary Brower is one of the "some." Looks like a 50/50 split, to me. Like I said, this is a pretty minor nit to pick. Still, it's enough to get me to add a new category to the blog: Media Watch.