One Man is Above The Law

teh
What can you say about something like this?

WASHINGTON -- President Bush has quietly claimed the authority to disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office, asserting that he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution.

Among the laws Bush said he can ignore are military rules and regulations, affirmative-action provisions, requirements that Congress be told about immigration services problems, ''whistle-blower" protections for nuclear regulatory officials, and safeguards against political interference in federally funded research.

Isn’t this something of a coup, in the literal sense?

I’d say impeach the bastard but what good would it do, Bush would simply ignore the proceedings and declare any guilty verdict null and void.

Update: And, yeah, what Cenk says:

This is an extraordinary power grab. There is no precedent for it, or justification. It is grossly undemocratic. I cannot believe the President of the United States of America says he has the power to ignore laws passed by the people's representatives.

George Bush has crossed the Rubicon. These are not the powers of a president. They are the powers of a dictator.

Rock & Roll Will Never Die...

teh
...just fall out of a tree. This is a weird story.

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards was hospitalized for a mild concussion he suffered while vacationing in Fiji, reportedly after falling out of a palm tree.

I’m sure Keith’s reasons for being in a palm tree are good, it’s just too bad he won’t be able to remember what those reasons were. The boy needs to slow down.

Banner En Espanol

teh
I gotta go along with Jim on this one. Why are some people in hysterics about a Spanish version of the Star-Spangled Banner? I would think it a point of pride to have your national anthem recorded in other languages. Why would anyone feel threatened by that? Oh that’s right, paranoid xenophobic wingnuts, that’s who.

Of course I remember when certain narrow minds were upset when Jimi Hendrix did his famous and beautifully played electric guitar version of the SSB at Woodstock. Ironically, these people were offended by it being played on the electric guitar and, for the most part, they missed the embedded musical political commentary when he recreated the sounds of falling bombs and explosions in the middle of that rendition (a nod to the ongoing Vietnam War).

So get over it people. Stop treating things like anthems and flags as divine and more sacred than what they stand for.

Friday Beer Blogging: Getting All Light On Your Heinie Edition

teh
You probably have noticed by now that Heineken has launched a massive media campaign to promote its new Premium Light beer. “Succumb to Smooth” is their slogan. Which is kinda stupid but whatever, that’s not my main beef. No, my complaint is that Heineken has “succumb” to marketing pressures to compete in the light beer market.

Look, I have nothing against light beer in general but Heineken shouldn’t be light. A Heineken is a Heineken. It’s a whole beer, nothing light about it…until now. THIS is a Heineken:


And I really like this workplace Heineken daydream:


And to round out this Heineken post we have a little beer porn. CAUTION: Graphic depiction of beer intimacy may not be suitable for children.

True beer love.

A Hillary By Any Other Name

teh
How stupid are people? This is just crazy; people change their opinion of Hillary Clinton depending not on political issues but whether or not she is referred to as Hillary Rodham Clinton or just Hillary Clinton.

Most Americans' feelings toward the Democratic senator from New York change depending on which name is used, according to a recent poll conducted by Opinion
Research Corp. for CNN.

Including Hillary Clinton's maiden name increased her approval rating among Republicans polled to 23 percent. "Hillary Clinton" had a 16 percent approval rating among people who identified themselves as Republican.

Among people who said they were independent, "Hillary Rodham Clinton" was favored by 48 percent, compared with 42 percent for "Hillary Clinton."

The name seemed to matter little to Democrats; the inclusion of "Rodham" inspired only a 1 percent decrease in her approval rating, from 77 to 76 percent.

But below the Mason-Dixon Line, "Hillary Clinton" got a favorable rating from 52 percent of all respondents, compared with 45 percent for "Hillary Rodham Clinton."
In the rest of the country, the opposite was true: 43 percent of all people polled gave "Hillary Clinton" a positive rating and 53 percent rated "Hillary Rodham Clinton"
positively.

OK, it seems Democrats are displaying some sanity by recognizing that HC and HRC are in fact THE SAME PERSON. But what the hell is wrong with so many other people?

This all takes me back to good ol’ Sam Can-Man and my suggestion that politicians change there names to things like Honest Strongleader or Likeable Goodman.

Getting Spanked

teh
Ripped from the scripts of Boston Legal? No, this is real, but I really think this is one for Allen Shore:

FRESNO, California (AP) -- Lawyers for a woman spanked in front of co-workers as
part of what her employer said was a team-building exercise asked a jury Wednesday for at least $1.2 million for the humiliation she says she suffered.

Janet Orlando, 53, quit her job at the home security company Alarm One Inc. and sued, alleging discrimination, assault, battery and infliction of emotional distress.

Employees were paddled with rival companies' yard signs as part of a contest that pitted sales teams against each other, according to court documents. The winners poked fun at the losers, throwing pies at them, feeding them baby food, making them wear diapers and swatting their buttocks.

Wow, brilliant team building exercises. I hope someone uses this method as an icebreaker at some future training event I attend.

No Wonder They Lost Two Wars

teh
German travel magazine says Rockford is “trendy city”

You May Think You’ve Read This Before

teh
Do déjà vu experiences diminish with age? And no, I'm not talking about the strip club (although experiences there may dimish with age too).

That question came up while the wife and I were talking last night. She asked if I ever experienced déjà vu. I told her, yes quite often. Then I realized I really hadn’t experienced it much in recent years. I used to feel déjà vu every month or two when I was younger but now I’d say it happens less than once a year. Mrs. TEH thought she's had less déjà vu lately as well.

I was interested to learn that only 70% of people say they ever experienced déjà vu. I haven’t talked to everyone I’ve ever met about it, but everyone I’ve ever talked to about déjà vu has experienced it. But 30% apparently have never had the feeling having previously lived or dreamed about what they are currently experiencing. Too bad for them; it really is one of those weird phenomena that make it fun being alive.

George Who?

teh
As if out of a scene in a Republican Passion Play, Judy Baar Topinka denies George Bush three times in a radio interview yesterday with WMAY’s Jim Leach.

Jim has a post about this on his blog (yes, he’s blogging again after being AWOL from the blogosphere for three weeks).

I particularly like this quote from Topinka when asked for the third time is she thinks the country is moving in the right direction under George Bush:

Well, I don't know all of these things. I mean, I pick up what I pick up on the national level, basically, from what you all write, and what I can accumulate. I'm trying to deal on the state level with what we have to do, which gives me more than enough to handle.... I mean, we have congressmen to handle that angle of it. I'd like to confine as much as I can of my interest here…

Oh my, it is hard to get any good information about what’s happening in Washington. And lordy, what on earth does the goings-on in the nation’s capital have to do with Illinois? It’s not like there are any Illinoisians serving in Iraq or that gas prices are high here or we use any healthcare or education or have highways or mind being spied on.

Of course, endorsing the Bush administration would be foolish here in Illinois where the president’s popularity must be close to single digits by now. So Topinka has to, on the one hand, not appear to be a hypocritical, disloyal opportunist by slamming Bush but, on the other hand, she knows getting behind this administration too strongly would be political suicide.

In 2006 it’s political advantage to hang George Bush around your opponent’s neck. I would expect the Blagojevich people, who aren’t politically shy, to play this up as the campaign progresses. And you know what, to the extent that a Republican governor could assist in the advancement of the Bush agenda, it should give people pause. I think it’s a legitimate campaign issue.

Government Waste

teh
Yes, it’s a waste that this program is ending…

An organization that has provided mentoring and other services for thousands of area students is closing its doors Friday, after losing the federal grant that sustained it.

Communities in Schools of Sangamon County was established in 2000 by Springfield parents and concerned citizens after the 1999 Columbine High School shootings in Littleton, Colo. The goal was to connect students thought to be falling through the cracks with trained mentors who would regularly meet with them, document their progress and encourage them.

CIS also provided job-shadowing, mock-interviewing and drug-prevention
programs. It trained college and high school students to tutor elementary school
students in reading and public speaking. It gave free books to kindergartners
and partnered with other organizations that run Teen Reach sites.

[snip]

Students with CIS mentors typically saw their grades rise and disciplinary citations drop, according to a performance evaluation by the University of Illinois at Springfield.

Well, we have to find the money to keep the Iraq war going and let’s not forget the need for more tax cuts for the rich. Kids struggling in life should just pull themselves up by their own bootstraps, I say. And, hey, if they need some direction in life later, the Bush wars will surely be still going on when they are old enough and they can sign up and let the Army be their mentor. Problem solved.

Seriously though, why was funding cut? Did someone locally drop the ball on a grant request? Did anyone try to get some intervention from local congressmen and our two U.S. Senators? Something like this program should have been held up as a model for other communities not allowed to die for lack of funding.

Tornadoes by the Numbers

teh
The National Weather Service confirms it’s been a busy year for tornadoes in the central part of the state. Here’s some of their stats:

So far in 2006, Central Illinois which includes 35 counties has had 45 tornadoes.
Below are the tornado statistics in 2006.

Tornado Occurrences by day in 2006...

Jan 2 ... 1
Mar 12 ...9
Apr 2 ...24
Apr 14 ...2
Apr 16 ...8
Apr 19 ...1

Total in 2006 through April 20... 45 tornadoes
Total in 2005 through April 20... 2 tornadoes

2006 Tornado Count by Intensity...
F0 ... 18
F1 ... 19
F2 ... 8
F3 ... 0
F4 ... 0
F5 ... 0

2006 Tornado Count by Month
Jan ... 1
Feb ... 0
Mar ... 9
Apr ... 35

2006 Tornado Count by County
Coles ............... 2
Champaign .... 2
Christian ......... 5
Crawford ......... 1
Cumberland ... 1
DeWitt .............. 2
Effingham ....... 1
Jasper ............. 1
Logan .............. 8
Macon ............. 6
McLean ........... 4
Menard ............ 1
Morgan ............ 3
Sangamon ... 11
Scott ................ 2
Shelby ............ 2
Woodford ....... 1

* Record Tornado Count for a year in Central IL is 63 in 2003
* Record Tornado Count for April in Central IL is 35 in 2006.
* The Previous Record Tornado Count in April was 26 in 1998.
* The Average Yearly Tornado Count in Central IL is 16.

Roll Down The Barrel Pt. II

teh
More Barrel Head blogging. The Last Reunion picture is particularly poignant.

The American Way of Life

teh
Atrios points out a reality that is often overlooked:

Aside from the underclass, there are basically two types of people/families in this country - those who live paycheck to paycheck and those who don't. Some who live paycheck to paycheck may live in an expensive home, have nice cars, etc... In other words, they have for whatever reason decided to live right up to the limit of their means, or beyond. Despite living quite well, they can still feel acutely any negative economic shock, even the relatively modest hit of having gas prices go up. They have substantial payments to make every month - cars, utilities, mortgage, credit cards, tuition payments - as well as lifestyle habits which are hard to break.

I would say the great majority of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, even if some paychecks are bigger than others. This is certainly true from my own experience. As my income has risen, so have my expenses. I live in a bigger house than I absolutely need to and I have more luxury items than I used to but basically, yes, I live paycheck to paycheck much as I always have. Although I have more to show for it, all to often, as the song goes, there’s too much month at the end of the money.

Most Accidents Happen at Home

teh
Talk about your bad luck. I bet there’s no way this guy saw what was coming.

ALTA, California (AP) -- It was like a scene from a horror film: A 27-year-old man plummeted into a gaping hole that suddenly opened beneath a house, trapping him beneath foundation rubble and killing him.

Authorities say the home, built in the 1980s, may have been sitting atop a decades-old underground mine. Recent rains could have softened the ground under the home, in an isolated area near Lake Alta.

All of us living in potential mine subsidence areas (which is almost everyone in Springfield) should sleep a little easier now.

Free Market Bureaucracy

teh
What Kevin Drum says:

One of the reasons America spends so much more than any other country on healthcare is because upwards of 30% of our expenditures are for paper shuffling
by insurance companies doing their best to deny treatment whenever possible. By
contrast, administrative costs in countries where there's only one paper shuffler — and it's not trying to make a profit from its shuffling — are closer to 10%.

Battling cancer is bad enough. Why should cancer patients have to battle private insurance companies as well?

This is a point that is very hard to get through to Americans who have been brainwashed to believe anything that isn’t 100% free-market based has to –just HAS TO – be less efficient and more expensive. That, of course, is nonsense but it’s really hard to get past that reflexive reaction when you start talking about a single-payer system of healthcare. Sadly, even getting beyond this misconception leaves one with a whole list of other myths, half-truths and outright lies to overcome.

The Musicians They Are A-Aging

teh
Interesting email today from long-time TEH friend SG about last night’s Bob Dylan concert in St. Louis.

Hey Dave,

Well, Dylan was Dylan. We had decent seats in the upper mezzanine on our right of the stage second row. Dylan played keyboards and harmonica only. His keyboard was set up angled in such a way that we had a great frontal view of him, but we could hardly hear him playing over the band. He sang some songs well, others not so well. He butchered his really well known songs. He forgot lyrics at times and was incomprehensible at other times. But it was good to see him live…

I pulled the following play list of the show from a website following his current tour:

1. Maggie's Farm
   
2. Lonesome Day Blues
   
3. Queen Jane Approximately
   
4. ‘Til I Fell In Love With You
   
5. It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)
   
6. Make You Feel My Love
   
7. Highway 61 Revisited
   
8. Positively 4th Street
   
9. Honest With Me
   
10. Girl Of The North Country
    
11. High Water (For Charley Patton)
    
12. (encore) Like A Rolling Stone
    
13. (encore) All Along The Watchtower

He seemed very unemotional and unconnected with the audience. After Watchtower, he just stood there at the far back of the stage with his band like a statue. Hardly any movement or emotion accepting the standing ovation he was receiving from the crowd. Oh well, at least we can say we saw him live in the same room for 90 minutes.
sg

I can't imagine Dylan without a guitar. He can't (regularly) play guitar anymore because he has arthritis. He's getting older. We all are.

I can't decide if it’s better this way or if musicians should bow out when they start failing, like in professional sports. I remember seeing footage of one of Sinatra's last performances and I just felt sorry for him. He couldn't sing, and if Sinatra can't sing he ain't got nothin'.

This all just serves to reminds me that I was a complete idiot for not seeing Dylan my first semester at SIU Carbondale when he played the Arena in the Fall of 1978. What was I thinking?

Career Blogger

teh
CNN.com has posted a story on new, trendy jobs. And guess what, one of then is “Blog Editor”.

Blog editor: I blog, you blog, we all blog apparently, judging from the proliferation of blogs in the past two years. The success of influential ones like Wonkette.com has companies wanting in on the perceived edginess of the blogosphere.

"Blogging" is not only starting to creep into people's job descriptions, but recruiters are starting to see blog-related job listings.

One on Monster.com seeks a blog editor "to manage and moderate blogs for clients and to write for the company blog on PR and new media topics."

Well, I think I’ll be heading over to Monster.com to put up a work wanted notice.

Blog Editor specializing in beer blogging seeks immediate employment fixing other bloggers dumb posts. Will work from own basement.

Think I can get six figures?

Roll Down The Barrel

teh
I was sort of moved by this picture on the front page SJ-R this morning. No, not by Kevin Davlin with a beer in hand, but by the demolition of what remains of The Barrel Head.

Not so much recently, but I have had a lot of good times in that place. I think I’ve only been in The Barrel Head maybe twice in the last six years but there was I time, particularly when home from college, when I spent many a night in there with friends.

Back in the day, before Davlin took over ownership of the place, it had some rather nutty proprietors that enforced some weird rules.

One night, circa 1983, a bunch of us went in there late, sat down and ordered drinks. One of us, a young man who grew up to be Springfield’s famed photo-blogger Jerome Prophet, decided he was hungry. He was told the kitchen had just closed. Fine, he thought, and went out the door, across the street to Steak’n’Shake and came back with a small bag of food. Well, The Barrel Head management was not amused. They told him he couldn’t eat the food he brought in. The young JP protested, saying he would gladly purchase food from the establishment in which he sat BUT THEY WEREN’T SERVING ANY! I can’t remember who won in the end but it was a great confrontation.

Anyway, it’s sad to see the old place go. I hope the new one is a good place too.

Friday Beer Blogging: George Ryan Edition

teh
Since the former Republican governor may wind up going to a place where the beer mugs don’t shine I thought I’d go for a George Ryan beer them today. Actually, there is no George Ryan beer (yet!) but there is a Ryan Beer and some George beers. For instance, this Polish brewery has, for some reason, a Ryan beer.

Does “ryan” mean something in Polish?

There is also this beer invoking he name of George.

Oh, and there’s this George too.

And finally there’s this article that indicates Gearoge Ryan enjoys a Red Stripe once in a while.

[Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick M.] Collins recalled the case of currency exchange millionaire Harry Klein, who had the Ryans as guests at his Jamaican estate every winter for a decade. Fawell had described for jurors how they had sat around drinking Jamaican Red Stripe beer.

Klein got a lucrative deal from Ryan under which he leased a building to the state. But Collins said the good times came to an abrupt stop when Klein was subpoenaed by a grand jury.

"The party was over, no more Red Stripes around the table," Collins said.

Mmmmmmm, Red Stripe: Better than an orange jumpsuit.

Bye Day

teh
It's a rare Thursday blogging day off.