Music Friday: "Jimmy & Bob & Jack"

Enjoy a Backyard Tire Fire song from its new album out later this month.

Click HERE and have a good weekend.

A Good Read: "Imagine There's No Oil"

Harpers Magazine Online has an interesting article up on its website for free. I used this article in my Cornerstone class entitled "Values, Culture, and the Environment" when I was teaching in St. Louis, and students enjoyed reading it even though it sobered them up from their iPods and reality TV. The was originally in the August '06 issue, and the author explores "peak oil," a concept we all should be familiar with.

If you have the time and inclination, check it out by clicking HERE.

Memo to the Cubs

To: Cubs Management

From: Various Cubs Fans

Date: 7-28-08

Subject: Bullpen Relief

Because your closer with a history of injury trouble is on the DL and your next-in-line closer is either a fellow who has been overworked or is a rookie who has a solid fastball but so-so other stuff, you need to make a move for someone to shore up your bullpen.

Be it Fuentes, Street, or another worthy reliever, make a move soon. 

Hell, do it now. 

Political Litmus Test

In (dis)honor of the investigation about how employees were routinely hindered from advancing or how prospective employees were not hired at the Justice Department because of their answers to politically-motivated questions (for an article, click HERE), heck, let's do our own political litmus test.

Questions:

1) What term would you select to indicate your political affiliation?

a) Democrat

b) Republican

c) Liberal

d) Libertarian

e) Progressive

f) Old School Conservative

g) Independent who usually votes Republican

h) Independent who usually votes Democrat

i) Anarchist

j) Green Party

k) Likes the Green Party but votes Democrat since it's a viable option

l) Neo-Conservative

m) Free-Market Fundamentalist

n) New Deal Democrat

o) I vote the way my parents taught me to

2) Yes or No, should there be a strict separation of church and state?

3) Yes, or No, should we get out of Iraq ASAP, but logistically with a sixteen-month timetable?

4) Yes or No or Maybe, US trade policies should protect American industries ?

5) Are you "pro-choice" or "anti-abortion"?

6) Yes or no, do you agree with the Supreme Court's decision to overturn the D.C. handgun ban?

7) Yes or No, do you believe that gun ownership in our time connects with the need for "a well regulated militia" as stipulated in the second amendment?

8) Yes or No, did President Clinton deserve to be impeached?

9) Yes or No, does President Bush deserve to be impeached?

10) Yes or No, should political candidates wear flag lapel pins at all cost?

Mr. Microphone Haircut

As I was running tonight, one of the many thoughts rumbling through my head is how I seriously need a haircut.

As Corey described my 'do once at a party, I have a "Mr. Microphone haircut."

In honor of that funny comment, I offer you a classic ad from Ronco.

Click HERE for the one of the best lines in a TV commercial ever, "Hey, good lookin', we'll be back to pick you up later!"

Music Friday: "Wink"

If you click the link HERE, you get to enjoy Blue Mountain playing one of their more popular "alt-country" songs, "Wink."

They're playing at Proud Larry's, a great place for drinks and dining in Oxford, Mississippi (Did you happen to stumble there when you went for the Mizzou game last year, Kenson?). 

Blue Mountain is now back together, and they have a new album out in mid-August.

4/11

Thomas Friedman has a great column on how oil addiction and lack of direction from our fearless leaders.

For the column, click HERE.

SEC Transfers

As is the nature of the FCS (Football Championship Subdivision, it's no longer called I-AA college football), who transfers to your school from a DI power can make an immediate impact since DI players transferring to FCS schools don't have to sit out a year.

As can be read HERE, The Ohio Valley Conference (OVC), which EIU is in, has three different transfers who are predicted to carry their teams to good seasons. Head coaches and sports information directors have done their pre-season "order of finish" poll for the OVC this year, and here are top four: 

1) Jacksonville State, 2) Eastern Kentucky, 3) Eastern Illinois, and 4) Tennessee State.

Jax State now has the former LSU QB phenom Ryan Perrilloux, Tenn State has South Carolina transfer Antonio Heffner at QB, and EIU has Chevon Walker, a RB who transferred from Florida after selling bowl game tickets or something like that.

EIU, however, probably has the best all-around talent on both sides of the ball in the league. 

It should be an interesting fall in the OVC. 

Harnessing the Saharan Sun

This article in the Guardian (click HERE) provides a great plan for EU countries to harness the power of the sun.

Pretty hot stuff.

"Bad Days for Newsrooms--and Democracy"

Linked HERE is an interesting column from TruthDig.com that offers a bleak look at what is happening to journalists and newspapers across the country.

Although I obviously enjoy blogs (heck, I "own" one), the much ballyhooed "new media" does have serious limitations. One problem I and others see is that the number of journalists (people who have actually have degrees in the subject) doing investigative journalism has been declining for decades because of the mass corporatization of the news media (six major conglomerates own over 90% of the news media outlets). 

The new media--blogs, internet filtering sites--is still beholden to the traditional media though because they are simply parasitic. They rely on reports from newspapers and magazines that have editorial staffs, travel funds, and enough time for in-depth reporting from time to time.

Although I disagree with the author's assumption that we had a news media that was non-ideological (the papers from the early Republic to the 1940s were quite and sometimes overtly biased, especially the 18th and 19th centuries), I would contend that back then there were more diverse sources of information out there. Nowadays, unfortunately, if you turn on CNN, NBC Nightly News, Fox News, MSNBC, and others on any given day, you're going to get pretty much the same stories with slightly different spins on them. We have speed and convenience down, but depth is a serious problem.

What's being lost due to media consolidation is that the conglomerates are using vertical integration of news outlets to cut costs and offer little diversity. The cheap news is the infotainment crap (Angelina and Brad's babies, some white girl lost in Aruba or wherever) that is constantly getting shoved down our throats. 

In some respects, perhaps supply creates demand in regard to the "news." If people are constantly being shown what people call "soft news" or "fluff," they come to expect that type of junk as the "news."

I for one want investigative reporting from professionals who have studied the craft of journalism. The "fourth estate" needs to get stronger, vibrant, and much more vigilant, as Bill Moyers' argues in "Is the Fourth Estate a Fifth Column?" (linked HERE) 

Sure, we all can have our blogs, but our little audiences of a dozen or so people isn't moving the national conversation forward about our democracy and how our country can get stronger. A vigilant fourth estate helps with that.

I hope that you still read my humble little blog though.

McCain's VP?

It sounds as though McCain might name his VP candidate quite soon (Click HERE for a recent article). So who do you think it'll be?

Romney

Crist

Pawlenty

Jindal

Portman

Thune 

Ridge

I predict Crist.

Music Friday: "Patience"

This Music Friday is a semi-shout-out to my freshman year roommate.

Back in August of 1989, he brought his "boombox" and a bevy of cassettes. But, if I recall correctly and I think I do, he had four cassettes in heavy rotation: The Greatest Hits of The Steve Miller Band, an album I don't remember, The Traveling Willburys, and Guns-n-Roses' Lies.

To this day when I hear the song linked HERE, my reaction is a combo of unease and exasperation because he played those four albums so often, especially "Patience."

I'm sure you'll enjoy the music video more than I do.

Is McCain a Political Don Rickles?

Is his humor emblematic of someone who has a dismissive view of women and someone who is out of touch with a diverse America?

While I'm not a big fan of political correctness because I've had it shoved down my throat for years, some of his jokes make me wince for sure. Wow.

Click HERE for a link to an article by Politico.com, you hockey pucks.

Question: How Do You Tell When a Bowden is Lying?....

Answer: His mouth is moving.

Tommy Bowden, head coach of Clemson (pronounced "Clempsin" in the South), has started the poor-mouthing early for his squad's neutral site game vs. Alabama. Click HERE for his comments.

With a stellar QB, two outstanding running backs, a solid set of WRs, and a strong secondary, Bowden cites his question marks at the o-line and linebackers.

Since Alabama's front seven is young, untested, and lacks significant depth, I see a tough task ahead of the defense when the Crimson Tide meets the Tigers for the first game of the season in the Georgia Dome. 

Regardless, and in honor of my hankering for college football to start, I bought this wonderfully cheesy shirt (see below) that references the crazy power of the Alabama tailgating subculture, a subculture that Warren St. John artfully describes in his bestseller Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer (LINK to that book's site).

"Reloading..."

Linked HERE is an interesting op-ed from The Chicago Tribune.

The author provides a personal yet political look at the Supreme Court overturning the D.C. handgun law along with the political shenanigans in the Windy City. 

While I agree with a lot of what he says, I also think there need to be somewhat stricter regulations on gun ownership, especially the loopholes that people use to buy arms at gun shows.

What I'm struck by is the question of how exactly do we create a more family-focused culture? Mr. Box articulates that we need stronger parental structures in our country, so how do we go about doing that? Do we return to stay-at-home moms and dads? Have we fallen into what one Harvard economist has called the "two-income" trap? 

The op-ed, strangely enough, reminds me about what one of my favorite writers Wendell Berry has said about the environmental crisis we have before us: it's a "crisis of character."