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tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75745202015-09-16T18:15:35.216-04:00Restless ManiaChampionship Belt-Holders of Irreverent and Offensive CommentarySenor Chttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7574520.post-1159410955891693302006-09-27T22:19:00.001-04:002006-09-27T22:38:06.540-04:00Pick Your PoisonThink about it. After November 7th, the country will be left in one of two scenarios. A continuation of the GOP status quo, where Congress serves as a rubber stamp (in most cases) for C-plus Augustus and some of his more heinous policies. Or the return of the jack Asses, and their thirst for political retribution for the past 5 or so years of being uninvited to the party.

A government that doesn't believe in fiscal solvency, with a blatant disregard for the environment and by extension the welfare of future generations of Americans, not to mention Americans in the average income brackets. Or a government that will be too embroiled in a "scandal of the day" mentality to notice that the Middle East is only one push of the button away from the coming of the twelfth Imam.

An administration that spends their entire time blaming the mistakes of an incompetent group of yes men on a so-called opposition party so inept at opposing. Or a newly crowned limousine liberal Speaker of the House only slightly more coherent than the current President, and even more painful to watch on C-SPAN.

We're so fucked.Senor Chttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7574520.post-1154313590794610862006-07-30T22:22:00.000-04:002006-07-30T22:39:50.886-04:00It's Just a Shirt, Man?My barber wore a red shirt emblazoned with a solitary star and the hammer and sickle, the symbol of Soviet imperialism. I was annoyed but not moved to rage, so I was going to let it go until he started chatting with me while cutting my hair.

[Please note this is a paraphrase of the dialogue. The actual exchange was a little choppier and used some saltier language]

After a few basic pleasantries I lightheartedly asked, "So you kick it Stalin style, eh?"

He found this amusing and answered, "Nah, it's a cool shirt. So I bought it."

"A cool shirt emblazoned with the symbol of a murderous ideology," I replied.

"Well, I don't believe in Communism. It's just a shirt."

"Well, yeah, now it is since it's been defeated and all, it's just it's a symbol that stands for the Soviet empire which killed millions of its own people and enslaved millions of others."

"Yeah, I think older people get more worked up about it. I wore it once and this older guy gave me this crazy look, like he wanted to kill me. maybe I should be more careful about wearing it in the future."

"Yeah, I will give you that stylistically the design looks cool. But of course its history is a bloody one and its easy for us to forget that with the end of the Cold War and all."

There were a few other exchanges, but it struck me as interesting.

This guy is my age, maybe slightly older (he and I both graduated in 2001 from UMd.-- he has a degree in history)

His point about the shirt "looking cool" has some merit. Like I told him, divorced from the context of the dark annals of Soviet history, the hammer and sickle look kind of cool on a T-shirt. Ditto with Che Guevara T-shirts.

I can see how apolitical people, even those supposedly well-versed in history can wear such a T-shirt with no concern for the implicit agreement with the political ideology represented.

I'm sure this dude would not wear a shirt emblazoned with a swastika. He knows damn well the murderous history and ideology of Nazism and would not want to glorify it, and rightly so.

So why is it that although we have some inkling of Soviet atrocities we as a generation think Red-friendly T-shirts are cool? And beyond that, is it really a big idea?

Does the evolution of Soviet Communism from a global threat to peace and security to a cool T-shirt design in some way pile on to the fundamental weakness of communism which doomed the Iron Curtain to eventually fall with a resounding crash 15 years ago?

I'm inclined to think the latter, although I must confess it does disturb me that we are not as aware as we should be of the sordid history of Soviet imperialism and how it poured salt in the wounds of a world scarred with the scourge of Nazi, Italian, and Japanese fascism.Prince of firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7574520.post-1153789952801428642006-07-24T20:42:00.000-04:002006-07-24T21:20:17.900-04:00Let's Play (Your Liberty in) Jeopardy!Answer: un-American patriotic idolatry.

Question: What is exemplified by Congress passing and the President signing a bill trashing the obligations of millions of freely-entered-upon business contracts, all in the name of patriotism?

Correct! How much did the politicians wager. You answered: Only the principle of limited , restrained government which embodies the American Republic for which the flag stands.

What the flappin flag are you talking about, Prince?

Why, only this moronic bill:

... legislation signed into law Monday by President Bush, would prohibit neighborhood and town groups from outlawing the American flag. The law is called the Freedom to Display the American Flag Act. It says you can fly the American flag even if your neighborhood says flags in general aren't allowed.

The law will protect Old Glory, but all other decorative flags will still be subject to local regulations.

So let's get this straight: somehow Congress and President Bush read into the Constitution the power to forbid non-governmental community or homeowner organizations from making regulations as to the time, place, and manner of American flag displays in private homes.

Keep in mind these homeowners AGREED to certain covenants and conditions for living in said neighborhood, including the flag restrictions!

How exactly does this work?

I see no place in the Constitution for the federal goernment to trash the sanctity of contracts to make such rules, and I sure as hell don't see warrant in the feds preventing community organizations from making these rules.

Look, I'm no fan of communities like the one in this story out of Apex, N.C. making such regulations binding upon community residents. But that said, it's a local issue, MAYBE even a state issue in terms of legislative or judicial remedy.

Getting the Congress of the United States to pass a law aimed at bringing the heavy hand of Washington to bear on this matter makes sense only if you believe some cockamamie notion like "this is an issue 'affecting' interstate commerce."

As with the misguided attempts to change the Constitution to ban flag desecration, we have here is patriotic grandstanding in an election year yielding legislation that can appeal to the most fervent of patriotic hearts, but should unsettles the deeper reflection the patriotic intellect.

At least with the flag burning controversy, had the proposed Amendment passed out of Congress, it would have faced strong scrutiny in the states and a high threshold (37 states' ratification), before becoming enshrined in the Constitution.

This instance of purported flag protection is a naked power grab by Congress and the President and a lost opportunity to educate the American people as to the nature of true patriotism: standing up for the principle of limited government.Prince of email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7574520.post-1153445450399852232006-07-20T21:30:00.000-04:002006-07-20T22:09:08.196-04:00Bush's First Veto: Centrist Policy Arrived at from Conservative PrinciplesPresident Bush's first veto was long overdue. I'd have rather seen his first veto to have been the infamous Farm Bill or the Campaign Finance Reform Act. Nonetheless, Bush's policy direction on stem cell research is perfectly conservative in numerous disciplines within the conservative movement, and his veto should be welcomed by the various streams of conservatism.

1) It is socially conservative, predicated on the sanctity of human life and the unwillingness of the conservative movement to support the financing by tax dollars of morally repugnant research including the destruction of human life, as the President put it, "for spare parts."
2) It is constitutionally/federalistically conservative in that it aims squarely at the federal level. States are free to pursue completely policies. No attempt has or will be made by the President to coerce or blackmail the states on embryonic stem cell policy via federal highway funds or other federal monies.
3) It is economically conservative, advancing and promoting the free market over public entanglement in commerce. Bush's veto doesn't hinder private researchers from conducting stem cell research and that it sends the signal to investors that government will not finance and underwrite any and all research that the private sector can otherwise fund. Liberal critics will warn that funding will dry up without federal involvement, but I very seriously doubt this will be the case. With state, international, and private liberal and corporate financial backing, significant experimentation in embryonic stem cell research can and will continue.

Whether you agree or disagree with the morality of embryonic stem cell research, it's a no-brainer that removing government from interfering in private scientific ventures is crucial to the advancement of science.

At the same time, the federal government setting certain bioethical standards for federal involvement in research can be helpful in guiding the commerical scientific community towards pursuing science under an ethical rubric, comporting voluntarily to moral restraints agreed upon by the body politic.

In the end run, Bush's veto ends up being a moderate, sensible approach to policy that stems from moral, constitutional, and economic conservatism.Prince of email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7574520.post-1151697398819387572006-06-30T15:49:00.000-04:002006-06-30T15:56:38.953-04:00House PartyBruce Reed gets it very right when it comes to Congressional dysfunction. Some in the more creative segment of the rightwing have long demonized the Senate (and it's damnable Moderate/RINO tendencies) and called for term limits there. I think Reed's piece lets us know we need to start thinking about that with the House, maybe more importantly for the House, given its recent shenanigans and the Supreme Court's celebration of those in one of its earthshattering rulings.

In the House, DeLay launched an unprecedented and successful effort to redraw congressional districts year after year to maximize partisan advantage. If DeLay had gone on to the Senate, he no doubt would have tried to rewrite state boundaries every few years to achieve the highest possible number of red states.

The Supreme Court's refusal this week to overturn the DeLay gerrymander in Texas suggests that another firewall has fallen. From now on, both parties will feel compelled to take the same politics that has brought down the House to every state capital in America. Instead of doing the job people elected them to do, state legislators will spend all their time fighting over how to write safe congressional districts so that members of Congress don't have to do the job people elect them to do.

Redistricting was at the root of DeLay's downfall, and may well be at the root of Washington's as well. In recent years, redistricting has made districts more polarized, homogenous, and friendly to entrenched incumbents. Competitive districts in which incumbents actually have to earn re-election are becoming an endangered species.

Reed's piece is smart because it takes the basic political science conceptions of the House (more partisan, more shrill, more polarized) and marries it to our problem of everlasting incumbency. He also, wisely, discusses Tanner (D-TN)'s efforts to end gerrymandering with Congressional legislation even though the effort went down in flames. Several other reforms are discussed, like making the House seats all at-large and sending them home and having the House run in an e-government fashion with many, many more representatives. No matter what your chosen experiment is, Reed paints a good picture of how broken the House is and how we need to get out the power tools if we hope of making it any better in the future.Baron firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7574520.post-1151688949433757952006-06-30T13:16:00.000-04:002006-06-30T13:59:47.190-04:00The Incredible Idiocy of "Panda Sluggers"Do I trust China? Of course not. Do I think they could be dangerous? Yes. Do I think they are that dangerous right now? Not really (except to Taiwan). However, the most irritating thing about China is its ability to keep a certain amount of nutty ideologue, the China hawk, in business. Whenever I go on one of my tirades about how absurd it is that there are weapons systems for everything from new submarines to new fighter planes when we are in budget deficits and fighting an urban war that those things have about zero practical use in, some interlocutor will often start spinning China hawk bullshit. They will begin to say we need to have such absurd weapons in order to counter future threats from China. As we STILL have the number one Air Force and Navy in the world and China is still decades and decades behind, I've always found that sort of argument a bit laughable. Why not make the same argument about the future air power of Venezuala? Or Cuba? Sure they're a little more behind, but what's a few decades here and there? Well these China hawks get a better takedown than I could imagine, and a spiffy new moniker, "Panda Sluggers" (because these people tend to call those who don't want a war with China "Panda Huggers") right here, especially current DoD golden boy and slugger-supreme, Michael Pillsbury.

 Pillsbury dwells on the far-hawkish end. Where others view China's intentions as complicated, Pillsbury says that Beijing views the United States as an "inevitable foe." ("He makes simple what is not simple," says Mark Pratt, a former State Department official who has known Pillsbury for over 30 years.) Where others debate the merits of hedging, Pillsbury feels that things haven't gone far enough. "The U.S. can do much more to hedge in the next few years if the Chinese do not end their excessive military secrecy and begin to reassure their neighbors," he recently told The Wall Street Journal. And where nearly everyone agrees that China is far behind the United States in military capacity, Pillsbury has been among the first, and the few, to argue that Beijing is preparing for an asymmetric military conflict with the United States in which it would draw on secret "assassin's mace" weapons. The term "assassin's mace," more commonly translated as "trump card" (shashoujian) is, according to Pillsbury, integral to a Chinese notion of "inferior defeats superior." (The Pentagon's most recent annual report to Congress on China's military from May 2006 includes the term, mentioning Chinese efforts to exploit "perceived vulnerabilities of potential opponents--so-called Assassin's Mace [sha shou jian] programs.") An "assassin's mace" might take the form of a computer application, for instance, that would take over an enemy information system, rendering a foe the victim of his own dependence on technology. In Pillsbury's telling, China intends to leapfrog ahead in battle readiness by using assassin's-mace weapons to find breaches in U.S. armor. Moreover, he implies, they could be ready at any time.

The article goes on to portray the shoddy methods of Pillsbury and his shriller-by-the-minute proclamation of impending war, and basically expose him for the grandstander he is. More commentary from Drum and Yglesias, but I think Yglesias is especially onto something. The reason Pillsbury and his ilk have any credibility can be found in the support this line of argument gives to a booming industry in Cold War-style weapons systems that have already become useless for the most part, and will continue to do so. The fact that there is no counter-lobby basically guarantees their continued existence as well, even though their arguments make little sense and have almost no backup besides paranoid speculation.Baron firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7574520.post-1151589222110868792006-06-29T09:51:00.000-04:002006-06-29T09:53:42.183-04:00UPDATE! The Times Flap / Kellergate / Latest Blog HysteriaLileks weighs in, with an NYT preview!

Feb. 14, 2007: Times Editor Keller approves the publication of the Pentagon's plans for a Feb 15th strike on Iran, asserting that "there has been far too little debate about whether the sustained assault by cruise missiles and stealth bombers will provide a cover for the infiltration of several SpecOps teams from the Iraqi and Afghan bases, or whether these groups, code named 'Red Six' and 'Blue Fourteen' respectively, might suffer friendly fire. One error in timing, such as the barrage scheduled for the 3 AM on night of the 24th, could expose our troops to great harm. If this leads to a debate about whether the Tomahawk missile can be sent slightly off course by a concentrated microwave burst, as classified documents seem to suggest, it's a debate we need to have."

Oct. 31, 2007: Rumors in the Times newsroom indicate that Editor Keller has become a believer in the "Hidden Editor" sect of journalism. This sect believes that if newspapers create enough chaos in the world, the hidden, or Twelfth, editor will appear. This will institute a reign of peace, justice, rising circulation rates, an eternal lock on the classifieds market, and a general agreement that Walter Duranty was correct: Ukrainians really did starve themselves to death out of patriotic fervor.
Baron firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7574520.post-1151516461221003772006-06-28T13:29:00.000-04:002006-06-28T13:41:48.460-04:00Tarkin Explains It AllAs in Grand Moff Tarkin. When I first started reading blogs, I noticed a lot of them read like great op-ed pages. Some of the greatest ones almost touched academic journal heights in their sophistication. But there was something better. There was the ability of links to site sources, unclogging all the infinite foot- or end- notes that mess up reading a piece of scholarship, and their was the ability to exercise more levitas by drawing crazy analogies and then getting absolutely serious about them. A great example would be this perfectly reasonable explanation of Hegemonic Stability Theory just thrown together by the typically inventive Matt Yglesias. How does he do it? WITH STAR WARS DIALOGUE, OF COURSE! Yglesias starts his piece out with this classic exchange:

 Tarkin: The Imperial Senate will no longer be of any concern to us. I have just received word that the Emperor has dissolved the council permanently. The last remnants of the Old Republic have been swept away.

Tagge: But that's impossible. How will the Emperor maintain control without the bureaucracy?

Tarkin: The regional governors now have direct control over their territories. Fear will keep the local systems in line. Fear of this battle station.

Yglesias then explicates:

What Tarkin's talking about here is a leading power -- the Empire -- trying to do away with the former constitutional order ("the last remnants of the Old Republic") in order to create a hegemonic one (Palpatine Unbound, as it were). Tagge is skeptical that this will work -- the political processes may be cumbersome, but they're actually necessary to maintain the system's stability. It would actually be even more cumbersome for the center to be constantly trying to impose its will on everyone without the assistance of the bureacracy. Tarkin's counterproposal is that the development of the Death Star has changed the situation -- use it once on Alderaan to make an example of them, and in the future fear will keep the local systems in line.

And I think it's fairly clear that something of this sort was motivating the Bush administration in 2002-2003. The key decisionmakers took the view that technological developments (the "revolution in military affairs") had radically enhanced America's ability to overthrow foreign governments. Rather than simply keep this power in our back pocket for use when circumstances clearly warranted it (as in Afghanistan) there was a palpable desire to make an example out of Iraq to send a message.

The one thing Yglesias doesn't do, after he labels the Bush Administration as the Death Star, is to accurately explain how his own analogy both describes Hegemonic Stability Theory and its weakness. Namely that if the Hegemon is too powerful it starts to be perceived as a threat and those below it begin to unite against it and antagonism builds up. A "rebel alliance" forms and the unipolar monopoly of power the Hegemon possesses slowly (or quickly) deteriorates. Is that what is happening in the Middle East? I think sometimes it's hard to argue otherwise. But Yglesias is right. Star Wars may be a better explainer of IR theory than anyone could've imagined.Baron firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7574520.post-1151437271660427012006-06-27T14:57:00.000-04:002006-06-27T15:41:12.343-04:00The Times Flap / Kellergate / Latest Blog HysteriaI've been following the debacle related to the NYT reporting on the financial records spying program and subsequent fallout, and I have to say I really agree with the right-wing half of the blogosphere on this one. Insta has a lot of informative links here, and then later here. I proceed on the following assumptions, which to me seem so far to be relatively indisputable:

1) The program was legal in nature as the government already has and always has had a lot of authority to search bank records and in that sense nothing like the NSA/FISA debacle.

2) The program was very effective in identifying the assets of terrorist groups and helping to freeze them.

3) There is not really any other effective way for this to be done.

4) It was pretty much widely assumed something like this was going on anyway.

The only one that works in the NYT favor in this dump of classified information is number 4. 1-3 indicate that this was probably a good program for national security purposes and was not doing anything wrong, thus disclosing its nature when it was classified is at best irresponsible and arrogant and at worse akin to notifying the enemy of secret Pentagon weapons or plans. I don't think there should be some sort of Congressional denunciation of the newspaper. That's completely hyperbolic. Nor do I think the NYT committed some sort of treason or act of espionage. This was intentional, but I doubt that the Times really thought about how this would effect the behavior of terrorists or damage the government's ability to go after their finances. They're less criminal than they are incredibly stupid.

That said, I think the NYT deserves the flaying its getting and every word of this criticism, and I do think their should be inquiries to punish the leaker. The NYT is continuously basking in non-existent First Amendment "privileges" - their term - that it seems to think enable the media to do everything it wants to compromise classified information. That's an irresponsible attitude and shows a lack of concern for national security and, when you get down to it, the public interest as it should be defined (instead of how the Times defines it). If you believe the NYT argument, their basically should be no such thing as classified information that is protected. And that is a ridiculous notion. Sure the Bush Administration has abused secrecy by classifying just about everything, and sure we have a severe problem because whistleblowers in the intelligence industry have nowhere to go, but those should be cause for reform and political accountability. They are not cause to play "gotcha" tactics by exposing secrets for its own sake in a sort of phony, gutless move of civil disobedience.

We do need reform. The Bush Administration is abusing transparency. We need some form of whistleblower protection for people in intelligence. What we don't need is the Times playing games with some of our effective and legal weapons on terrorism for either institutional gain of its own or political games.Baron firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7574520.post-1151434467031666352006-06-27T14:48:00.000-04:002006-06-27T14:56:56.796-04:00Hamas Does a BackflipHamas and Fatah are very close to passing some kind of agreement that Israel maybe kinda has the right to exist. And, from the looks of it, it appears we actually have one historical example of sanctions actually sort of kinda accomplishing something.

The agreement, resulting from weeks of negotiations, could lead to an easing of the international economic sanctions against the Palestinian government, which Hamas has managed since the end of March. Abbas, who heads the rival Fatah party, and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas were expected to outline the details here Wednesday.

Awad said the makeup of the next government has not been settled and could take weeks to work out, although it is unlikely that a Hamas official will lead it. He said it would likely be composed of Palestinian leaders unaffiliated with either of the major political movements.

Since Hamas won January parliamentary elections, most foreign donors have frozen aid to the Palestinian Authority, which relies on the funding for nearly half of its $2 billion annual budget. Israel has stopped the monthly transfer of $55 million in tax revenues it collects for the Palestinian government -- sanctions that have left most of the authority's more than 150,000 employees without pay for four months.

Though I wouldn't get all triumphalist yet. The agreement isn't a done deal and El Wapo makes it plenty clear that the military wing of Hamas may thumb its nose at this. Then again, is division within Hamas over an issue like this really such a bad thing? In the end, if Hamas is going to get Palestinians anything but a state of perpetual war and violence, it's going to have to at least agree to a two-state solution. After ages, Israel seems plenty willing to negotiate along those lines, but drawing the line at Israel's destruction is insane utopianism that will only bring disaster. There is a situation right now where the mainstream of both sides is wandering toward a workable two-state solution, and if Hamas moves closer to that it gives everyone some chance of it actually happening.Baron firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7574520.post-1151432064363266452006-06-27T14:09:00.000-04:002006-06-27T14:14:24.440-04:00Net Neutrality Summed UpThe Net Neutrality debate is a really hard one. No one really knows what is going to happen, especially since it's looking bad for its proponents right now. But, even worse, most people have no understanding of the debate at all. Explaining ISPs and content and how they interact takes a high level of knowledge about the structure of the internet that most people probably are not aware of. Loaded language of "toll booths" get thrown around, as well as panaceas of "hands off the internet!" Just what the hell is going on, and what are the implications? Well, I've found one really great synopsis that explains it all quite clearly.Baron firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7574520.post-1151426795128298312006-06-27T12:44:00.000-04:002006-06-27T12:52:42.840-04:00Another Conversation That Made My Head HurtI might make this a regular feature. Who knows. The name was changed to protect the guilty. She was complaining I said something because she thought that's what I thought she wanted to hear not because it reflected my actual sentiments.

Sally: Say that you tell me, "Sally, you never ask me about my day". And then I start asking about your day. Do you really want to ask me about my day or are you doing it cause I asked you to ask?

me: that's a good question but you are assuming that it's either solely one or the other<o:p></o:p>

Sally: no, just thinking it could be either way.<o:p></o:p>

you know<o:p></o:p>

me: by the way I always ask you about your day<o:p></o:p>

Sally: I know you do<o:p></o:p>

that was an example<o:p></o:p>

me: ok<o:p></o:p>

Sally: sometimes it's annoying though<o:p></o:p>

me: asking you every day<o:p></o:p>

Sally: cause maybe it's very typical of you to do so<o:p></o:p>

me: how your day is<o:p></o:p> is annoying<o:p></o:p>

Sally: maybe you can say something different, and mix things up once in a while.<o:p></o:p> Not so generic<o:p></o:p>

me: oh geez<o:p></o:p>

Sally: like "morning"<o:p></o:p>

me: I give up

Prince of email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7574520.post-1151338213587978822006-06-26T12:05:00.000-04:002006-06-26T12:10:14.426-04:00Mind-MeldWith all the infighting in the Democratic Party between DLCers and Kossack Progressives, it's funny how quickly Yglesias and Kilgore gel on this bloggingheads edition. Anyone who wants to see an intelligent discussion on the current situation in the Democratic party, what needs fixing, and some likely brilliant prognosticating, check it out. Topics addressed include why Conservatism is a terrible governing philosophy (inherently), the idiotic and quixotic attempts to take down Lieberman and the likely pyrrhic victory that might result, and also the future of Mark Warner. It's 45 minutes of pure genius. If Democrats talked this way on cable news it wouldn't even be fair.Baron email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7574520.post-1151330420662106152006-06-26T09:49:00.000-04:002006-06-26T10:00:20.860-04:00Bush Loves Him Some KeloC-Plus Augustus signed an executive order on "takings" related to Federal agencies, perhaps designed to set an internal policy against Kelo and thus appease his still flagging credibility with many conservatives, but Ilya Somin over at Volokh Conspiracy thinks there's more than meets the eye. The order says this:

It is the policy of the United States to protect the rights of Americans to their private property, including by limiting the taking of private property by the Federal Government to situations in which the taking is for public use, with just compensation, and for the purpose of benefiting the general public and not merely for the purpose of advancing the economic interest of private parties to be given ownership or use of the property taken.

Seems a strident enough stand on Kelo. But is it really? Somin gets to the heart of the matter.

Read carefully, the order does not in fact bar condemnations that transfer property to other private parties for economic development. Instead, it permits them to continue so long as they are "for the purpose of benefiting the general public and not merely for the purpose of advancing the economic interest of private parties to be given ownership or use of the property taken."

Unfortunately, this language validates virtually any economic development condemnation that the feds might want to pursue. Officials can (and do) always claim that the goal of a taking is to benefit "the general public" and not "merely" the new owners. This is not a new pattern, but one that bedeviled takings litigation long before Kelo. Indeed, the New London authorities made such claims in Kelo itself and they were accepted by all nine Supreme Court justices, including the four dissenters, as well as by the Connecticut Supreme Court (including its three dissenters). This despite considerable evidence that the takings were instigated by the Pfizer Corporation, which at the time hoped to benefit from them. Not all the evidence of Pfizer's role was available at the time of the trial, but enough was submitted to demonstrate that Pfizer played a crucial role (e.g. - the head of a firm that helped prepare New London's development plan testifed that Pfizer was the "10,000 pound gorilla" behind the takings). Nonetheless, the courts accepted New London's claims that its officials acted in good faith, since they could have been intending to benefit the public as well as Pfizer.

Aha! What we probably have here is an executive order reinforcing Kelo. The whole problem with takings and economic development since day one has been one of definition. Everyone claims their project is "benefiting the general public." Pre-Kelo, the issue of the takings and whether it was allowed was one of quantifying what this "benefit" was supposed to be. Construction of a school? Affordable housing? A road? The ever-slippery "job creation?" Fighting that phantom menace "blight?" Kelo answered that question by stating all they had to do was prove that it would generate more tax revenue, which makes it just an issue of handing the property over to someone who can make more money there. Bush's Executive Order, for all its aspirational language about private property, does nothing to change this definition. And, since the definition set in Kelo is the problem in the first place, it solves nothing and does nothing. I think Somin is largely right too when he states the backlash isn't quite what people predicted, which is a shame because this is a serious issue in terms of both private property rights and social justice in urban America newest wave of economic redevelopment.Baron email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7574520.post-1150486010080453062006-06-16T15:24:00.000-04:002006-06-16T15:26:50.153-04:00Lieberman Must LoseI've defended Lieberman a lot. Probably more than I've been comfortable with. But he just lost me. If this is the best he can muster against Lamont, then he truly does deserve to be sacked in the primary. The fact that he has a decent record to run on despite the pro-war stances he's been taking flack for should be enough to run on. At least enough not to resort to bullshit like this. Thumbs down, and off with his head.Baron email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7574520.post-1150400757440976882006-06-15T15:36:00.000-04:002006-06-15T15:45:57.570-04:00Vietnam TalkMatt Yglesias makes a good point about Iraq vs. Vietnam, and especially the recent meme going around on the left that conservatives are actually the ones more obsessive about how Iraq is like Vietnam.

If I may make a bold observation, I feel like the American right's thinking on national security policy is being deeply distorted by an obsessive overreaction to the Vietnam War. See, for example, Cliff May's theory that "We lost in Vietnam because we didn't have the will and the skills to prevail" and that now we will "either develop the will – and the military and intelligence skills — to defeat the enemy we now face on the battlefield in Iraq, or we retreat not just from Iraq but from anyplace our enemies don't want us." This is really a bizarre reading of history.

In the first instance, as a read of what happened in Vietnam it involves dropping all context and making it seem as if there was something unusual about an economically and militarily superior outside power finding itself unable to subdue a reasonably popular nationalist movement. In point of fact, what we got was an entirely typical result. That sort of thing happens all the time from England in America and Ireland, to France in Algeria, to Portugal in Angola, etc., etc., etc. The track record of success in such endeavors is extremely poor and the winning examples tend to involve the application of extreme brutality -- viz. the United States in the Indian Wars (and, I assume, Australia against the Aborigines), Saddam Hussein against the Kurds, the Sudanese government's current efforts in Darfur, etc. One imagines that something similar -- slow-and-steady extermination of the Sunni Arab population unless and until they entirely submit to Shiite/Kurdish domination -- would "work" in Iraq or that we could have killed the entire population of Vietnam had we been so inclined.

But we lack the "will" to employ such measures for the perfectly good reason that it would be sick and immoral, the gains totally out of proportion to the devastation thereby caused. In circumstances when victory was regarded as absolutely crucial -- the Second World War, for example -- the United States was not especially hesitant to deploy large-scale killing of civilians as a tactic but, thankfully, we haven't yet reached the point where anyone's explicitly advocating that for Iraq.

He continues to discuss how a lot of it involve neo-domino theory as well. While I don't necessarily agree with Yglesias' conclusions and positions on the War, his premises and analyses are always illuminating and move way beyond typical liberal claptrap. And I do think he's onto something, at least in terms of perception. I think a lot of people who want to remain in Iraq until the job is done (myself included) too easily fall back on arguments that parallel those made about Vietnam, communism, and the domino theory. And I think a lot of certain "stay the course" lingo doesn't help in that respect and doesn't build a case at all. Yglesias is also probably right, that a lot of the people who line up as pro-war still are of this opinion that we could've somehow brutalized Vietnam into submission had we the "will." That's completely fallacious thinking, and Yglesias has some other good historical examples there to explain why. And it WILL continue to be fallcious thinking in this situation. To think that we can just wait the insurgency out or somehow kill them all is an impossible feat. The goal has to be different, and that goal is helping to stand up and support an Iraqi government that can do that independently and on their own. More importantly that has to be a government supported by the people of Iraq that Sunnis will accept.

We still don't have that. Some breakthroughs have happened recently but it could arguably be too little too late. Fighting the insurgency, even killing Zarqawi and his Lieutenants, mostly just buys time. But time is NOT on our side in this capacity unless the political objectives in Iraq are achieved, which is still and will always be a tenuous proposition.Baron email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7574520.post-1150332007316898842006-06-14T20:38:00.000-04:002006-06-14T21:02:14.816-04:00Beinart: Part 1I have started reading The Good Fight by Peter Beinart, and have found that it has me thinking a lot and I haven't even finished the first chapter. Since reviewers usually wait until they finish the book to write something, I can't really write a review of the book. Instead, I am going to write as I read it and explore the ideas the author presents. I think this will be a welcome difference to what appears to be a cat fight over the book at Slate.

Beinart starts by describing the Democratic party during the mid-term elections of Truman's Presidency. At that time, there was a conflict within the party similar to what we are seeing now. There are certainly plenty of differences between that time and now, but Beinart does a good job of linking the moderate philosophy of that time to current events.

The basic tenants of Truman's policies during his campaign for re-election focus on economic development, containment, and a realistic approach to competition over developing countries. Truman, and the Americans for Democratic Action (ADA), believed that the poor and hungry would not be strong defenders of democracy. Beinart claims that Truman actually felt this (ie The Marshall Plan) was more important than the containment / military aspects of his foreign policy. The more I think about it, the more I think this is one issue that all liberals should be able to agree with. Nothing is better at producing insurgents or suicide bombers than poverty and joblessness. If someone like The Beard, or Macie, or Lizzie – basically any of my more liberal friends, can agree with me on this, I think we could make it our starting point for policy unity. From there, we can debate the next aspects of foreign policy while understanding we agree on the most important part.

Truman also believed in containing communism, instead of either direct engagement or isolationism. I think this policy is a little harder to project onto our current situation. I guess this would mean that we leave totalitarian governments in place, while preventing their spread to other governments. My gut tells me that Beinart will use this to explain why we shouldn't have invaded Iraq. I can see that argument – containment might have been better in Iraq. The problem now though is that if we truly believe in containment, we have to stay in Iraq until it is stable. Any reasonable assessment of the situation leads to the conclusion that our premature departure will cause a regional war and a training ground for future terrorist attacks. In effect, we will not be able to contain extremism if we leave Iraq too soon.

The key to containment though is the belief that in the long run, democracy has the stamina to outlast oppressive governments. Stamina is never easy; the public is easily riled to war, but rarely wants to stay until it is over. But if we are to win this fight, it is completely necessary. This is why I agree with Bush's "stay the course" even if I wish it included regular assessments and changes to strategy.

Where Beinart is most critical is towards what Schlesinger called "doughface-ism". Here is his quote:

"They opposed Communism, but would not endorse practical steps to combat it, so as not to implicate themselves in a morally imperfect action. In the 'doughface fantasy,' Schlesinger wrote, 'one can denounce a decision without accepting the consequences of the alternative.' It is a fantasy to which liberals fall prey to this day."

From some of Beinart's comments, I gather that the last sentence is specifically talking about people like Chomsky and Michael Moore who opposed the war in Afghanistan. But I would go so far as to also include those who want an immediate withdrawal of American troops in Iraq. No matter who he is indicting, all liberals would do well to consider the consequences of their proposals to be more important than their own moral self-righteousness.

This issue goes deeper though than mere name-calling. Each of us needs to think about what we are willing to accept to move towards our long-term goal of a world full of democratic governments. Truman seemed to accept less-than perfect regimes in developing countries so long as they weren't Communist. In a more recent example, the Bush administration tolerated a violent government in Sudan because it was cooperating in the GWOT. We can also look at recent news in Mogadishu where the CIA was supporting war lords in Somalia against Muslim extremists.

 I don't really have an answer on this question, mostly because it depends on the situation. If we look at some of the governments we tolerated / supported during the Cold War, there are a number of which that were just as bad as a Communist government would have been. We do need to decide though how imperfect of a partner we are willing to accept to prevent the spread of Muslim extremism. This decision today is more confounded by our dependence on foreign oil. The fact is that a country like Saudi Arabia should be our worst enemy in the GWOT, but because of their oil reserves, we consider them a strong ally.

I guess if I had to conclude, I would emphasize Truman's focus on economic development. But I also have to stress that in the end, our decision and policies need to show an understanding of reality and the consequences of our decisions.

Stay tuned for more on this book, because so much of it is relevant to what we are dealing with email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7574520.post-1150220948631289922006-06-13T13:24:00.000-04:002006-06-13T13:49:15.183-04:00Another Flip-FlopperI came across this NY Times article on Ned Lamont while scanning some of eduwonk's posts. Both eduwonk and I find this very troubling about Lamont:

Mr. Lamont said that his frequent meetings with voters had altered his views on some issues. Initially, he said, he considered some job losses caused by free-trade agreements to be a necessary "transition cost" for succeeding in a world economy. But after meeting manufacturing workers who had been laid off, he said he realized that "we're going to have to be respectful of our workers when it comes to negotiating a trade agreement."

He said he had regarded President Bush's No Child Left Behind education policy as having some positive elements, such as "having a benchmark and seeing how schools perform." But after talking with teachers, parents and students, he said that he has decided that "fundamentally, the bill is irrelevant."
Although it isn't always fair to attack politicians for changing their position, it can be a sign of political weakness. Maybe Lamont realized that, although his previous positions were intelligent and thoughtful, he would have to cave in to irrational interest groups if he was going to out-flank Lieberman on the left. Either that, or Lamont hadn't really given NCLB serious consideration until he decided to run for office. If that is the case, I wonder what a public school teacher was thinking about if not education policy.

Either way, it seems that the hard-core liberals that support him only care that he is against the Iraq War (also an illogical position), and don't mind that he changes his positions at the request of interest firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7574520.post-1150143416691716122006-06-12T15:20:00.000-04:002006-06-12T16:18:13.223-04:00Return of Chap!Chap Petersen, former VA Delegate and one of my great political crushes, has kept himself alive and active via his new blog. He endorse Jim Webb for Senate awhile ago, but here he recounts why in detail:

I met him on a gray December afternoon at his office which overlooks Arlington Cemetery. I told him that I had run a statewide primary and learned a lot from it. We talked about the Democratic Party, what it represented historically and where it was headed. We also talked about Virginia's unique history. He struck me as being a straight-shooter. A non-politician. I liked that and I liked him. He was something different.

Over the next few weeks, a strange thing happened. A small band of Virginia bloggers (largely but not exclusively Democratic) began to float Webb's name and bio around the blogosphere. It was if someone had lit a match by an oil drum. Because the demand was there for a different kind of Democrat to take down George Allen.

In February, I got a call from Jim Webb. I'm going forward, he said. I hope I can count on your support. Since then, it's been a whirlwind four months. Straw polls, fundraisers and community festivals. I've seen the campaign struggle in some areas and succeed beyond belief in others. But the bottom-line message has been the same: Jim Webb has what it takes to beat George Allen and represent Virginia in the U.S. Senate. And no one else can realistically claim that.

Last Thursday, I cast an absentee ballot for Jim Webb. (For you statistic gurus, I was #14 in Fairfax City). This turnout will be very small. Every vote will count. Therefore, if you are a Democrat, independent or Republican looking for awesome new leadership, please vote Tuesday for Jim Webb.

So, listen to Chap! If you want George Allen's Presidential ambitions shattered, and you actually live in Virginia, Webb on Tuesday is the best shot. However, if you're a big fan of Allen, make sure you get to the polls on Tuesday and vote for Harris. Because Allen will crush him. Considering Harris is, you know, a big-time Telecom lobbyist. And that's about all. And please, don't hold the fact that Kerry endorsed Webb against him.Baron firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7574520.post-1150138897546332462006-06-12T14:41:00.000-04:002006-06-12T16:29:13.920-04:00America-Hater!Right-wingers, knives out! Look at this obviously America-bashing editorial written in a FOREIGN NEWSPAPER! (gasp) Especially this blasphemous passage:

Today, brandishing ideologies that appeal to domestic political audiences and intimidate everyone else, American and British leaders sound like Leonid Brezhnev. A current Afghan joke asks the difference between Americans and Russians, and the bitter answer is: "The Americans are better paid."

By the standards of Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, our neoconservatives are not conservative, they are neosoviet. In the process, George Bush and Tony Blair are losing the so-called war on terror. Their policies backfire and play into the hands of Osama Bin Laden.

So where can we find this treasonous lefty? Try looking under a list of Reagan's former speechwriters. It's becoming more apparent that Bush's people stand for and conduct themselves pretty much in stark opposition to everything Reagan's people stood for. They stand for, in the words of Derbyshire, "evangelico-romanticism," which topples the pragmatic conservatism of the Reaganites in uncountable and inexplicable ways. (H/t: Sullivan! and Sullivan!, and there is a 100% chance he will cover this sort of thing in that book he's been working on forever.)Baron email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7574520.post-1150131436508511302006-06-12T12:38:00.000-04:002006-06-12T12:57:16.586-04:00Pay to PlayCampaign Finance reform was something I applauded for a long time before my Great Reawakening, then McCain-Feingold and similar state laws came and I started to realize what the implementation of it meant. What started as an innocent notion to rid politics of big money influence could only be done by means of putting so many regulations on political activities and organizations (which inevitably had to run on. . .you guessed it. . .money). In the end, while not outright government censorship, it became obvious to me that the constructed complex had hampered free speech and freedom of association in some very terrible ways and, adding insult to injury, had not achieved the promised goals of getting big money out. All it did was mute people and constrain them in webs of regulation while forcing the money to take more circuitous paths.

This nightmare of FEC compliance and its deleterious effect on political speech and activity has risen a great deal of skepticism over campaign finance reform. There is, however, one area I think campaign finance reform can have a big and positive impact without harming free speech much. And New Jersey's "Pay to Play" (quick registration required) laws are a great example of that.

 The newspaper's review found the rules have had a wide-ranging impact:

All donations to the Democratic State Committee, a political action committee controlled by the governor, dropped 78 percent from its recent peak in 2001 through 2005, and contractor donations to the PAC plunged 86 percent in the same period. In 2004, one-third of the money the DSC raised came from contractors; last year, it was 6 percent.

Contractor contributions to the "big six" fundraising committees -- the two state party committees and four legislative leadership PACs -- fell from $5.4 million in 2001 to $1.8 million last year.

Late last year Schoor DePalma, a Manalapan engineering firm that donated more than $2.8million to both parties since 1990, ceased all donations.

G-Tech, which runs the lottery system and has been a steady donor to both parties since 1997, stopped all donations in 2004.

Tech, which runs the lottery system and has been a steady donor to both parties since 1997, stopped all donations in 2004.

Parsons Transportation Group, a poster child for pay-to-play criticism in the 1990s when it gave heavily to the Republican Party and got a $500 million state auto emissions testing contract, gave $25,000 to the Democratic State Committee in 2003 and 2004 but nothing since.

The historic reforms were meant to discourage donations to gubernatorial candidates and the ruling governor's party, because the state's chief executive awards contracts. Businesses with government contracts of more than $17,500 are forbidden to make donations larger than $300 to gubernatorial candidates and party committees.

Many may be immediately be ready to call "foul" on this, but I would also immediately point out the fact that contractors are, in effect, de facto members of government bureaucracy. I know all too well and could cite numerous examples (if it wouldn't get me into legal trouble to do so) of how government contractors can use political contributions to secure endless direct payouts of money to their own pockets. This is why, for all of the DoD's attempts, it cannot rid itself of weapons systems it does not want when the contractors who build them line the pockets of the relevant Congressmen. Whereas some may say it's perfectly all right for this sort of "quid pro quo" to happen, I think it's only a hop, skip, and jump to direct bribery.

If someone wants government contracts, they should abstain from political donations and from attempting to guide taxpayer dollars to their own pockets. In the cases that they do attempt to it's not so much free speech as practicing corruption. And, even if it isn't, it's tantamount to allowing individual government programs to give their own funding to Congressmen in contributions (in order to secure even greater funding). They are all, after all, financed out of the same pot, both government contractors and government bureacrats are paid by the taxpayers. So why treat one differently than the other? If these contractors feel so passionately about their free speech and politics, they are always free to practice it independent of their various firms and as a private citizen. These laws are a great example of how campaign finance reform can have a positive effect without damaging political rights much, and how democracies and governments may need similar rules if corruption is to be anything less than rampant.Baron email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7574520.post-1150130201430477922006-06-12T12:35:00.000-04:002006-06-12T12:36:41.506-04:00BlowbackI tried to respond to Ann Coulter's latest, like so many, but Henry Rollins does everyone better.Baron firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7574520.post-1150078554184521812006-06-11T22:03:00.000-04:002006-06-11T23:30:32.116-04:00You've Got to RecognizeI can't tell you how excited recent developments in Palestine are making me. Although there is no guarentee that this will take them down a road to lasting peace, the fact that the two main groups are having a public dialogue is amazing. I'll let the NY Times sum up the current situation.

Hamas, which now runs the Palestinian Authority, has accused Mr. Abbas of trying to undermine its authority with the referendum. The vote would decide whether to support a Palestinian state within the pre-1967 boundaries, presumably existing alongside Israel — whose right to exist Hamas has refused to recognize.

Because of Abbas' threat to call a referendum, Hamas is forced to either agree to recognize Israel, watch the referendum show support for recognizing Israel, or try to block it. Apparently they have chosen the latter, although none of those options will show strength.

None of this public debate would have happened in the past because both Hamas and Arafat were great at preventing dialogue. Now, Hamas has to either accept the views of the public that elected it, or risk losing support. I don't know what will happen (my hope is that either through the referendum or Hamas accepting the inevitable, Palestine will accept Israel), but just the fact that this debate is happening is email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7574520.post-1149789866009600282006-06-08T13:36:00.000-04:002006-06-08T14:04:49.866-04:00GastarbeiterJohn Tierney's opinion column ($) from the other day uses our own history to explain why we need to increase legal immigration programs, like guest workers or replicating an old program called braceros, if we are going to have any chance of eliminating illegal immigration. Tough enforcement can be one side of the solution, but it will not work alone.

In the 1950's, federal agents were initially overwhelmed by waves of Mexican farmworkers illegally crossing the border. The number of immigrants apprehended surpassed half a million in 1951 and was approaching 900,000 in 1953, a level roughly comparable to the situation now.

Back then there were fewer than 2,000 federal agents patrolling the borders, less than a fifth the size of today's force. But within two years, the flow of illegal immigrants declined so drastically that the immigration service declared in its 1955 annual report, "The border has been secured."

And it stayed that way the rest of the decade. The number of immigrants caught kept dropping until it reached 45,000 in 1959 — a decline of 95 percent in just six years.

[Edit]

What stopped the farmworkers from sneaking across? It wasn't simply the get-tough measures that Republicans are calling for today. Although federal agents did intensify their efforts, conducting sweeps of farms and ranches, immigration officials realized that stricter enforcement wasn't enough.

Along with the crackdown, officials encouraged farmers and ranchers to legally hire Mexican temporary workers called braceros. As new rules made it easier to hire braceros, the number of these legal workers doubled to more than 400,000 at the same time illegal immigration was plummeting.
Tierney goes on to describe how immigration problems increased again once the braceros program was abandoned by Congress.

One thing that I want to highlight in the column is that the program was successful when new rules made it easy for employers to hire legal workers. From what I have heard in the press, the current guest worker program we have here is too slow to respond to the needs of employers. We also shouldn't make the mistake of thinking that we can have a successful program today with only 400,000 legal workers. Any guest worker program will need to be much email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7574520.post-1149787131157762812006-06-08T13:15:00.000-04:002006-06-08T13:21:02.066-04:00Mmm... Masking AgentsFor me, it is always a constant struggle between remaining optimistic while trying not be too naive. The latest example of this is in baseball. I want to be excited about the efforts of Major League Baseball to actually get rid of steroids. At the same time, I realize that there are still plenty of ways around the tests. First of all, MLB doesn't even look for human growth hormone. Beyond that though, I read an article (which I haven't been able to find) that talked about how easy it still is to get around baseball's anti-doping rules using masking agents.

It is because of this that I can't get too excited about Jason Giambi's comeback or Albert Pujols' homerun outburst. While every sports writer is praising these athletes for remaining clean, I have to agree with Jeff Pearlman and wonder if they really are. I think I will always be skeptical of remarkable performances in baseball from now on. It is amazing to me though that sports writers aren't. In fact, many of these writers are the same ones that were outraged when they found out how extensive performance enhancing drug use was in baseball, and now act like they are convinced that the sport is clean. I guess the easiest way to be righteous is to start by being firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
How to test, clean, & redesign the original BMW dipstick guide tube (CCV vent clogs!)
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Originally Posted by
If the vapors condensed in the CCV tried to drain into the oil pan but couldn't drain because they were blocked ... wouldn't they just back up into the CCV?
Would the pressure burst the CCV drain hose?
Would the liquid finally back up higher and higher (filling the CCV?) or would it drip out?
Q1: Where does the liquid oil go if the CCV concentric drain is totally blocked?
Q2: How often do we need to clean the CCV concentric drain?
Q3: How does the dipstick guide tube work anyway (for example, why the hole)?
I believe the answer is yes, the oil would eventualy back up and clog the CCV resulting in total CCV failure. I don't think it would burst as it is not under pressure. I believe what then happens is that the liquid oil then goes into the intake manifold, via the connecting line and return pipes, where it is burned during combustion. That is when you see the black exhaust smoke and higher than normal oil consumption.
I don't think driving it is a near term problem because this problem existed before you decided to pull the dipstick tube. Hence, it has probably been clogged for awhile. Have you been experiencing smokey exhaust or higher than normal oil consumption? Is there mayo in your vent hose? That would tell you things are backing up. If not, I am sure it is OK for driving as is. But the problem needs to be addressed at some point.
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text:
Hurricane Cake
Recipe by Steve_G
I won a recipe contest judged by Jamie Shannon, of Commanders Palace, New Orleans, LA, with this one. Be sure to serve it up in small slices, it's rich!. It also freezes very well and can be sliced with a sharp knife while still frozen.
Top Review by Lorac
The most delicious chocolate desert I have ever eaten! Intense chocolate and coffee flavors, with a chocolate crumb base surrounded by a chewy chocolate, nut and coconut side crust. The recipe title does not do justice to this chocolate lovers dream! I made 1/2 the recipe and used just the chocolate graham crackers. The only thing I would do different would be to substitute pasturized egg yolks. Thank you Steve for this treasure!
See Discussion:2 Reviews
Ingredients Nutrition
Bottom Crust
- 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
- 1 cup chocolate graham cracker crumbs
- 4 tablespoons butter (measure cold, then melt)
Side Crust
- 1 cup chocolate or 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
- 1 ounce semi-sweet chocolate chips (mini)
- 1⁄4 cup coconut flakes, sweetened
- 1⁄2 cup pecan pieces
- 1⁄2 cup walnut pieces
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1⁄3 cup Karo syrup, dark
- 6 tablespoons butter (measure cold, then melt)
- 2 tablespoons caramel sauce
- 24 ounces semisweet baking chocolate
- 12 tablespoons cream cheese, softened
- 16 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 1⁄2 cup confectioners' sugar
- 9 egg yolks
- 1⁄4 cup confectioners' sugar
- 5 tablespoons instant coffee (in 1/2 c. of boiling water)
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1⁄4 cup confectioners' sugar
- 1⁄2 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Directions See How It's Made
- Prepare 10-inch springform pan by lining bottom with wax paper; set aside.
- Preheat oven to 325°F.
- Crush crackers into FINE crumbs (5 or 6 sheets should yield about 1 cup).
- Combine crackers and butter until completely mixed, press into bottom of pan.
- Bake at 325°F for 10 minutes, allow to cool on wire rack.
- After bottom crust has cooled, line sides of pan with wax paper, set aside.
- Crush crackers into FINE crumbs.
- Mix nuts, crush in a zip-lock bag with a rolling pin until coarse.
- Combine nuts, chocolate, coconut and cracker crumbs; mix until well combined.
- To the nut mixture add melted butter, mix, add honey, caramel and Karo, mix until well combined.
- Press mixture onto sides of prepared pan, cover and refrigerate.
- Melt Chocolate.
- Prepare coffee, allow to cool.
- Whip cream cheese, butter and 1/2 cup of the sugar on medium speed till light and fluffy (5 to 10 minutes in a stand mixer).
- Beat egg yolk and 1/4 cup of sugar until thick and pale yellow (10 mins on high).
- Combine cream cheese/butter mixture, coffee and egg mixture, beat for 10 mins on medium.
- Add chocolate, continue to beat on med-lo speed for 5 mins or until well mixed.
- In an ice cold, clean, metal bowl beat cream on high until frothy.
- Add cream of tartar and 1/4 cup of sugar, and vanilla, beat until soft peaks form.
- Lighten chocolate mixture with 1/4 of the whipped cream then fold remaining whip cream into chocolate mixture.
- Pour into crust, cover and refrigerate overnight.
- Serve with whipped cream and caramel sauce.


text:
CINCINNATI (AP) -- Ohio's attorney general says a man has been charged in southwest Ohio with stealing from at least nine storm victims in Ohio and Kentucky by taking their money to repair storm damage and not doing the work.
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine says a grand jury in Cincinnati on Thursday indicted 39-year-old Joshua Salyers on 10 felony counts. The charges include engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, theft and theft from an elderly or disabled adult.
A warrant has been issued for the Butler County man's arrest. His phone number was not immediately available.
Investigators say Salyers ran a storm damage restoration company and allegedly took more than $43,000 from homeowners in Hamilton, Butler and Stark counties in Ohio and in Campbell County in northern Kentucky.


text:
How to Buy
Solutions Overview
This script is Copyright (C) 2005-2011 Tenable Network Security, Inc.
Synopsis :
The remote Windows host contains an application that is affected by a
file integrity flaw.
Description :
According to its version number, the DC++ client installed on the
remote host is affected by a vulnerability that may let a remote user
append data to files anywhere on the drive on which DC++ is
See also :
Solution :
Upgrade to DC++ 0.674 or later.
Risk factor :
Medium / CVSS Base Score : 5.0
CVSS Temporal Score : 3.7
Public Exploit Available : false
Family: Peer-To-Peer File Sharing
Nessus Plugin ID: 18012 (dcplusplus_download_drive_file_appends.nasl)
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I read about a group called Brite Music which has made products since the 80s. Their Safety Kids progam (digital version) is on sale right now for only $17.95. So far, I've done the first group with my kids (4, 6, 8)--and they've all really liked it. Four year old finally learned her phone number too...thanks to the song. I think it was started by a Mormon woman, but I haven't really noticed any religious references. It's secular as far as I can tell. I'm not sure about the other sections yet--as I haven't used them, but $17.95 got me all three, when the first one was $15.95. It's a special which I think goes until September.
Safety Rules that are taught include going with a buddy, knowing your telephone number, asking a grandma or lady with children for help, not being afraid to say no, etc. It's a little dated as there's nothing about digital safety/etc., but honestly--from what I've seen, these basics still apply. Still good for PreK-2nd or 3rd grade... maybe older.
They also have a character set called Standing Tall. You can buy individual character traits--honesty, work, cleanliness, service, self-esteem, gratitutude, obediance, happiness, etc. Or buy a complete digital set for $140.00. I think it's secular as well as far as I can tell. I've heard good things about the Work unit and the honesty unit... but I haven't downloaded them yet. I think it's good for PreK to maybe 2nd or 3rd grade.
Mom to DS(8), DS(6), DD(4), and DS(1). "Kids do as well as they can."
I totally had all of the Safety Kids songs memorized when I was really little. "Sometimes you just gotta yell and scream. Sometimes it's the only thing to do!..." One of my BFFs is incorporating the Standing Tall songs and accompanying virtues in her homeschool routine, and I think I'm going to as well. I haven't listened to them in a looooong time, but I don't remember there being anything religious about them. Then again, I'm LDS myself so I might not have noticed anything like that when I was younger, YKWIM? Anyway, thanks for reminding me to get on my Brite music ordering spree! Ha!
Ali Mama to Ezra (12/29/05) and Willa (09/19/2008) and Louisa (5/29/2011)
lava mama--I downloaded the obedience one today--and my kids totally liked it. Nothing religious either. I'm not sure how we're supposed to use them--I'm assuming one/month as there are 12 values. Did your family use them in your FHE routine or was it a separate thing? I know they used to have sales reps but don't anymore. In a way they wish they still did, so I could get tips on using them. :)
They have two or three monthly download kits where you can get the Safety Kids and Standin' Tall on a 6 month installment plan. Another plan incorporates some of their other stuff as well. As I got such a great deal on Safety Kids, I'm just planning on buying one character trait per month.
Mom to DS(8), DS(6), DD(4), and DS(1). "Kids do as well as they can."
We didn't really incorporate them into anything when I was younger. My mom basically just let us listen to whatever we wanted during the day, so we listened to those a lot. The FHEs we had growing up were more like, "Let's listen to 'Heart of Rock 'n Roll' and dance like crazy!" --not much structure to them at all. My friend is doing one Standing Tall value per month, using the song to help teach the value and then pulling from other sources/experiences to reaffirm throughout the month. If it were me, I'd just download all of the songs and listen to them whenever the mood struck. But that's just me and my inability to hold onto a set schedule for more than a few days. :D My kids love listening to music like this so they would ask for more songs anyway.
Ali Mama to Ezra (12/29/05) and Willa (09/19/2008) and Louisa (5/29/2011)
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Tokyo (AFP) May 12, 2011
Japan's stricken Fukushima nuclear plant has been hit by new setbacks, its operator said Thursday, including a water leak from a reactor vessel and another spill of contaminated water into the ocean.
The government ordered the cull of thousands of cattle and other livestock roaming the 20-kilometre (20-mile) evacuation zone around the nuclear plant, which was abandoned when the disaster started two months ago.
Japan apologised to its neighbours about the toxic leak into the Pacific as food safety concerns widened, with Greenpeace reporting above-limit radiation in seaweed and a region south of Tokyo issuing a similar warning about tea.
The update from Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) came as emergency crews battle to bring the tsunami-hit and radiation-leaking atomic plant into stable "cold shutdown" some time between October and January.
The giant ocean wave triggered by the massive magnitude-9.0 seabed quake on March 11 knocked out the plant's water cooling systems, leading fuel rods inside several reactors to partially melt and sparking explosions.
Workers have since doused reactors and fuel rod pools with water to stop them from overheating and releasing far greater amounts of radiation.
TEPCO on Thursday said new measurements taken after workers in protective suits fixed gauges in the badly-hit reactor one building had indicated that the water pumped into the pressure vessel had quickly leaked out.
The water level had fallen below the bottom end of the four-metre (12 foot) long nuclear fuel rods, leaving them fully exposed to the air.
However, the vessel's relatively low outside temperature of 100-120 degrees Celsius (212-248 degrees Fahrenheit) indicated that the rods had now dropped to the bottom of the vessel and were submerged under water, TEPCO said.
Environmental group Greenpeace said the news showed that at least some earlier water level readings had been entirely wrong and that "the situation is clearly far more serious than previously reported".
"As the fuel rods were fully exposed and subsequently melted, it is highly likely that the core's integrity is compromised and that there is a larger amount of melted fuel at the bottom of the reactor pressure vessel," said Jan Beranek, the group's international nuclear campaign leader.
TEPCO has been injecting around seven tons of water an hour into the reactor one pressure vessel and plans to flood the wider containment vessel around it.
The dousing operations -- in which tens of thousands of tons of water have been injected with fire trucks, concrete boom pumps and other systems -- have created massive amounts of highly contaminated runoff water.
After earlier ocean spills, TEPCO said runoff had again leaked into the sea from a concrete pit near reactor three, one of the plant's six units.
Samples of seawater taken near the plant contained caesium-134 at a concentration 18,000 times the permitted level, the utility said, adding that the spill had been stopped by filling the pit with concrete.
Top government spokesman Yukio Edano called the leak "deplorable" and apologised to the fishing industry and to neighbouring countries.
Greenpeace, which has sent its Rainbow Warrior flagship to take samples of marine life and water off the plant, called on the government to undertake comprehensive radiation testing of seaweed along the Fukushima coast.
Initial tests of 22 seaweed samples collected at distances up to 65 kilometres (40 miles) out to sea from the plant "registered significantly high levels of radioactive contamination," the group said.
Ten seaweed samples showed levels of over 10,000 becquerels per kilogramme, the group said. It did not specify whether the contamination was from iodine-131 or caesium-137 -- the official safety limits for which are 2,000 and 500 becquerels per kilogramme respectively.
Meanwhile, Kanagawa prefecture southwest of Tokyo said it was recalling its tea after measuring about 570 becquerels of caesium per kilogramme in leaves grown in Minamiashigara city -- compared to the legal limit of 500.
"We have not specified the source of the radiation," said Kangawa agriculture official Hideto Funahashi, "but we cannot imagine any other source than the nuclear power plant."
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Picture of a Beautifully Restored 1946 Indian Chief Motorcycle Not rated yet
2001 Indian Chief Centennial LE for Sale Not rated yet
1948 Indian Chief Picture Not rated yet
Next time you have your motorcycle all cleaned up, take a minute to snap some photos before you ride it and get bugs all over the headlight. Then come back to Strike Lightning Used Motorcycles for Sale, Reviews, Pictures and Classified Ads and help me fill the gallery with pics of good looking vintage Indians.
Any details that you can provide would be nice but if you are at a bar and see one in the parking lot and see a beauty parked, take the picture and the bikers that visit here will sort out the details. I don't sweat the small stuff when it means missing out on Indian Chief motorcycle pictures.
If you are the owner of the bike, I'd like it if you tell us about the restoration or the custom motorcycle paint job. The shop that painted, restored or customized the motorcycle would probably appreciate it if you give them a plug. If they did a fabulous job, let us know. If they left rough spots in the clear and you had to do it over, you can bitch about that if you'd like.
While you're here, you might want to check out the free motorcycle classified section to see pictures of Indian motorcycles for Sale. We have had some ads for custom Indian Chief Motorcycles listed that are something to see.
Another thing that would help is if you would get your friends with blogs or biker websites to link to our site and your Indian motorcycle pictures so that your friends will know about your page, visit and leave all kinds of flattering remarks.
All it takes to upload your Indian motorcycle picturesto the gallery is tell us what year and model it is (if you know) and if you want to give us more details, that would be great.
So that you will be notified when bikers leave compliments on your Indian motorcycle pictures, you should leave your contact email in the space provided where it says that you want to know when there are comments on your photos after you upload the pics.
Plus, will want to subscribe to our feed so that you'll know when we add new pictures and stuff because you never know what you might in our classified ads or picture gallery.


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Still the best productivity suite on the market, but also flawed, and not for everyone.
Microsoft has so much going on this year, it's difficult to conceive how it could also deliver a new version of its office suite. Office is a vast behemoth. Each of its many applications are stuffed full of features, developed after years of constant upgrades; adding anything of note must be a near-impossible task.
Yet three years on from its last release, and 24 years on from its 1989 birth, Ballmer and Co. have managed to give it a new lease of life. Part of this makeover is enforced: three years ago, the tablet market didn't exist as it does today; we were still using laptops and desktop PCs, and touchscreens were for masochists and vertical markets.
A major part of Office 2013 is incorporating support for fingers and thumbs, and the brigade of tablets, sliders, hybrids and touchscreen laptops that is now beginning to swamp the market. Every app in the Microsoft Office stable now allows users to scroll, zoom and pan using gestures, and every one benefits from ribbon-hiding capabilities and touch mode, enlarging icons in the interface, and creating space between icons to make them easier to tap.
With broadband continuing to increase in speed and availability, and falling in cost, Office 2013 also attempts to bring the cloud into its all-encompassing embrace. And we aren't talking just about integration with Microsoft's cloud storage service SkyDrive here, although there are many new features on that front. For the first time, Microsoft itself is offering its suite as a service for which you pay a yearly subscription, in addition to the traditional boxed copies.
There's also a slew of new features, user interface tweaks and, inevitably, a handful of new frustrations; we've been testing the suite to find out what they are and how they work.
Is Office 2013 a triumph? Should you stick with what you have or consider upgrading? You'll find our answer to those questions on the following pages.
Source: Copyright © PC & Tech Authority, nextmedia Pty Ltd
Copyright © Alphr, Dennis Publishing
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Microsoft's Office 365 now earns more than on-prem Office
Review: LibreOffice 5
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SAP SCM (Supply Chain) - Lead Business Analyst
- Recruiter
- Career Brokers
- Location
- Salary
- 95000.00 - 105000.00 USD Annual
- Posted
- 20 Jan 2013
- Closes
- 21 Jan 2013
- Sector
- Technology
- Hours
- Permanent
Full-time hire. Zero travel. SAP SCM - Lead Analyst. $95 - 105K + bonus + relo to Michigan. Our client is a, multi-billion dollar, global, Mfg company and they are one of the largest SAP shops in the Midwest.
Relocation requirements: Your will move to Michigan, right up against Lake Michigan (I hope your family likes snow!).
Minimum Technical requirements:
8+ years IT
4+ years SAP SCM (Supply Chain Management) with one or more of the following: DP, SNP, PP/DS, or GATP
Experience configuring/coding in the SAP SCM landscape with knowledge in the MM and SD modules of ECC6
Provide leadership and technical expertise on the global business process and integration application design in order to create differentiating solutions to support the SAP Supply Chain Planning processes (Forecasting, Master Planning, Inventory Planning and Deployment Planning)
Work day to day with the business on how to implement the strategies that can drive SAP Supply Chain Excellence.
Designing SAP solutions that can truly drive business value in Forecasting, Master Planning, Inventory Planning and Deployment Planning
Working with Enterprise Architecture to roadmap where they are with their technology and where they need to go in order to stay ahead of the business strategic roadmap in the SAP SCM space.
Work with Project Managers to outline the tasks and deliverables required to drive out the full set of application requirements for the SAP SCM solution delivery.
Provide functional supervision over contractors and supervise (dotted line) technical staff


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Banuelos to undergo elbow surgery
Top Yankees pitching prospect made just six starts in 2012
By John Parker / MLB.com | October 2, 2012 8:40 AM ET
Banuelos, who began the 2012 season as MLB.com's No. 13 prospect, made just six appearances with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre while dealing with what was termed a "bone bruise" in his elbow. His last outing came on May 18, although he was not officially shut down until Aug. 6. The 21-year-old left-hander went 0-2 with a 4.50 ERA in 24 innings.
Recovery time for ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction surgery is roughly a year for pitchers.
Signed by the Yankees as a 17-year-old in 2008, Banuelos rose rapidly through the club's system, reaching Triple-A in late 2011 at age 20. He was an Eastern League Midseason All-Star that season and finished the year at 6-7 with a 3.75 ERA in 129 2/3 innings split between Double-A Trenton and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
It's been a difficult season for young Yankees hurlers. Apart from Banuelos, Michael Pineda missed the entire campaign after suffering an anterior labral tear in his right shoulder. Dellin Betances, another heralded right-hander, posted a 6.44 ERA and led the Minor Leagues with 99 walks in 131 1/3 innings.
On Sept. 19, the Yankees relieved longtime vice president of player personnel Billy Connors of his duties. The 70-year-old served three stints with the club as its pitching coach and had most recently worked with rehabbing pitchers at the team's Tampa compound.
John Parker is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues or its clubs.View More


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Upcoming Budget
Dear Mayor:
Next week, on February 26, we will get our first look at Governor Corzine's budget proposal for the State's next Fiscal Year. Based on his commitment to 'freeze' overall State spending, the Governor has warned us that discretionary spending will need to be slashed by at least $2 BILLION.
Since all Municipal Property Tax Relief funding has been regarded, in the past, as discretionary, despite statutory requirements to the contrary; and since that funding has often been 'frozen,' even when OVERALL State spending has increased; absent assurances to the contrary, we need to fear cuts in Municipal Property Tax Relief funding in the upcoming budget and in all future years.
Governor Corzine has acknowledged that flat funding of municipal property tax relief programs in an inflationary environment is, in fact, reduced funding. He said just that in 2006 Budget Address and in his Speech opening the Legislature's Special Session for Property Tax Reform, later that year. Yet this budget proposal could mark the seventh straight year, in which the New Jersey Legislature adopts an Appropriations Act that under-funds key municipal property tax relief programs (CMPTRA and Energy Taxes). State statutes require annual inflationary adjustments in those programs. For five years, funding remained flat. Then last year, this municipal property tax relief funding finally increased – by 2%. By adopting these budgets, our local property taxpayers have been denied about $300 million of relief, over the past six years. That money went to fund other State priorities - priorities other than property tax relief.
No one level of government can be reasonably blamed for the entirety of our current property tax crisis. There is more than enough blame to share. But officials at every level of government in New Jersey need to focus on doing all that they can to deliver meaningful and consistent property tax relief and reform to our long-suffering fellow citizens. And a failure to fully fund municipal property tax relief at, at least, the statutorily specified levels will indicate that officials at the State level have clearly lost that focus.
Very truly yours,
William G. Dressel, Jr.
Executive Director


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Ester & Erik Chrome Candle Holder, Shiny.
- Price: £7.95 - In stock
Availability: In Stock
Ester & Erik have created this simple metal candle holder, with a smooth simple round design base and 2.5 cm risen piece to hold the candle. Crafted from one piece of solid brass this minimal candle holder is a perfect way to either showcase a single candle or have a cluster to make a statement. They are also useful if you wish to have them in the centre of a floral or festive arrangment and will not take too much space up. This is the shiny chrome finish for all you lovers of silver and fits our Ester & Erik hand dipped tapered candles perfectly. Also avilable in Brushed Brass or Shiny Brass. Understated,modern elegance, pure Danish design.
Ester & Erik Chrome Candle Holder, Shiny.
Care: Wipe with a damp cloth.
Danish design,made from one solid piece of brass.


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By Laura Smith-Spark - CNN
It's Christmas, but not as you know it: a new book released this week by Pope Benedict XVI looks at the early life of Jesus -- and debunks several myths about how the Nativity unfolded.
In "Jesus of Nazareth -- The Infancy Narratives," the pope says the Christian calendar is actually based on a blunder by a sixth century monk, who Benedict says was several years off in his calculation of Jesus' birth date.
According to the pope's research, there is also no evidence in the Gospels that the cattle and other animals traditionally pictured gathered around the manger were actually present.
Alessandro Speciale, Vatican correspondent for the Religion News Service, told CNN the pope was not so much aiming to debunk myths as trying to show that the Jesus depicted in the Gospels is a real historical figure, who walked on earth and talked to people like anyone else.
The pope also looks at scholarly studies of the Bible, some of which have indicated for decades that the traditionally accepted birth date for Jesus is wrong, Speciale said.
See other things The Pope is challenging;


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LIVINGSTON -- Cadets from the Livingston High School JROTC attended the Gulf Coast Military Skills Meet at LaPorte High School Saturday to take part in competition with high school Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps units from across the state. The "Big Cat Battalion" competed in color guard, a physical fitness test, ranger swim, inner tube relay, an academic challenge, orienteering and tug-of-war. At the end of the day, the Big Cats had earned two trophies. They secured a second place trophy for the female color guard and a second place trophy in tug-of-war. Additionally, two cadets earned top individual honors in orienteering. Amber Litchfield earned first place for advanced orienteering and Alissa Hudson placed first for intermediate orienteering. The 31 cadets were supported by the JROTC Booster Club, who provided lunch and refreshments throughout the day. The next event for the Big Cat Battalion will be a bake sale on Jan. 18 at Walmart beginning at 8 a.m.
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lingerie bowl
Lingerie Football League Debuts in Canada, Needs Female Tim Tebow
The league billing itself as "true fantasy football" finally brought the real life wet dream to Canada as open tryouts were held for the British Columbia Angels on Friday, March 23rd.
How Did We Forget All About the Lingerie Bowl?!? [PICTURES]
In all the craziness of Super Bowl, hot cheerleaders and buttless dresses, we somehow failed to notice that the Lingerie Football League had its championship game over the weekend...
Top 10 Oldiez 96.1 Stories of 2011
As 2011 comes to an end, we here at Oldiez 96.1 thought we would share the most read stories on our website in the past year. Let the memories begin...


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Consumer Reports
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Runon MD1
Runon MD1
Location: Rancho Santa Fe, CA
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 494
Mein Auto: 335i Sedan
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Consumer Reports
One other thing, Kantuckid...I was not aware that you knew me well enough to decide whether I am or am not a "car person," or whatever. The fact of the matter is that I consider myself to be one, though, given our long relationship based upon one posting, you somehow feel qualified to assess that part of me. Rest assured that I will give your opinion the weight it deserves, though you of course have the right to your analysis of my persona, hobbies, etc., inasmuch as you are no doubt highly trained in such.
It occurs to me that right is right, regardless of what is involved, its cost and/or where it may have been manufactured. You see, KK, there is excellence in terms of customer service (think Nordstrom, Zappos, etc.), and then there is everything else, as in an attitude of, "It's good enough," or, "We have your money, so you can just go pound sand."
To me, however, "good enough" never, ever is...but that's just my opinion, and as you have declared me to be a non-car person, my view on a given matter can be summarily disregarded.
But just think about what my feelings would now be if BMW had said, in effect, "We can see that you've purchased 4 new BMWs within the past 4 years and have them serviced at our dealers (I told them so when I called BMW NA and politely and calmly addressed the problem), so that as an exception, we are sending you a voucher for the iPod connector (or a credit toward parts or service in that amount). We hope that you will continue to enjoy your BMWs, and we look forward to a long-term mutually beneficial relationship."
So...the equation is, as you put it, a part that would have cost BMW $10 as opposed to an action leading to a disgruntled client, who has held up his part of the bargain by being brand loyal.
Which makes more sense from a business standpoint? I have now written a post that will convey my disappointment to thousands, and if just one single reader decides to go with Mercedes or Audi or Lexus (don't be inane by talking about Lexus vs. BMW...you get my point), that will cost BMW thousands in profit, as opposed to a cost of $10.
Do the proverbial "math."
So...given the above, do you really think that my issue is my being "too, invested (and, by the way, it's "too" not "to" and it's "you're" not "your") in an iPod connector"?
However, in the spirit of bonhomie (you can look it up), I hope your holiday was a good one.
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Amy Winehouse Wants to Party With R-Pattz; Celebrity Death Pool Ramps Up the Odds-Making Machine
Be forewarned, Robert Pattinson; you're about to receive an invitation that it would be best to think twice (and maybe thrice) about before accepting.
OK! Magazine reports that singer/oft-hospitalized drug enthusiast Amy Winehouse is planning a Twilight-themed New Year's Eve party—and she'd like nothing so much as to have R-Pattz as the guest of honor.
Reports a source,
"She's planning on having a huge blood and guts vampire party on New Year's Eve at her house…Amy thinks Robert is cool and loves the sexuality around vampires."
Uh, yeah. We can completely understand why Wine-O would be a Twilight fan, and would want to ring in the new year with a vamp-themed soiree. After all, she's pretty much teetering on undead status as it is, and the Twilight merchandising bonanza has even yielded some nifty party favors that Amy might appreciate.
But, his love of an occasional drink aside, we suspect that R-Pattz might be a little too delicate for that action. If Pattinson thought he had his hands full with the Volturi, we can only imagine how he'd fare trying to keep up with the Winehouse Party Express.
Let us know in the comments section: Do you think Pattinson and Wine-O would make good party pals?


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Release Date: 2010 |
Please get this, Hans. It's better than anything on Top 40 Radio right now. It has meaning, it has wonderful vocals, etc.
ok random once I get internet again at home
Album Rating: 3.5Fucking great album
Album Rating: 3.5new one is not nearly as good as this tbh
Digging: Hikrahe - Fear of the Drum and the Red Robe Son
Been meaning to get this after my buddy showed it to me, sounds tight
Album Rating: 3.5it is very good
Bands: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z


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As one would expect from the man who made Young People's Concerts famous, Leonard Bernstein's vintage 1960 treatment of this classic kids' piece is magically engaging. Lenny narrates it himself, and draws a radiant performance from the Philharmonic. --Ted Libbey