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Albany, NY -- Aging Rock Stars
This evening, I'll be going to a wedding for old high school friends who have been dating since about the eighth grade. Many of the guests will be high school classmates whom I have not seen in years. Needless to say, I'm not all that excited, but hope to enjoy myself anyway. I've never been to a real wedding before, and I hope to take some photos of this one for my site. Why on earth should evolution be "on the defensive?" There are no "both sides" (Bush) to this argument. I guess it's because evolution's opposition is more or less bulletproof. People have faith have that faith even in the face of new facts. It's what they've been instructed to do. It's wrong, but it's so difficult to solve. It's one of the reasons man invented religion -- once you have people believing "no matter what," you can get people to do anything. Iraq's Kurds are considering dropping their demands for the right to secede from Iraq. I doubt they will give that up, as it's what they want more than anything else, but if they do, it's a tremendous gain for us and the country of Iraq. Speaking of Iraq, did anyone watch last night's season premiere of Real Time with Bill Maher? Bill seems to have changed his tune a bit... as last season drew to a close, he began to say that the Bush administration might be getting it right... democracy was starting to appear in the Middle East. Well, what a difference a summer can make! And from today's LA Times, a piece on aging rock stars going on tour. I'm bummed I wasn't able to see Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers this summer, but couldn't get tickets. There's a guy who's still making good music today; his last album, The Last DJ, may have been his best. and the one before, Echo, was nearly as good. And in not-so-feel-good old rockstar news, the members of Our Lady Peace, who are opening for the Stones in Canada, are upset with the Stones because the Stones won't give them tickets for their families. Tickets are running $200 a piece. And to think we complained ten years ago that Eagles tickets were $67... Labels: Evolution, Iraq, Music
Albany, NY -- Gaza Refusenik
I went this afternoon to the Verizon Wireless store to get myself a new Blackberry. It's too bad that another downside to having a corporate account is that I couldn't get the new Blackberry on the spot; it has to be shipped to me, so I have to wait until Tuesday to have a cell phone again. Oh well, it might be refreshing to not be in contact with the world 24/7. Yeah, right.I received the following e-mail from a reader (and co-worker) this morning:"I just heard your podcast on Gaza, and was appalled by your orthodox friend's comment about not being able to understand until you go to Israel, as if simply visiting Israel or Gaza will automatically change your mind. As it turns out, I am a dual citizen, and served in a paratroop unit stationed at Kfar Darom in Gaza for several months, during the end of the Oslo accords. I found the settlers to be racist, disdainful of our presence, openly threatening to their Palestinian neighbors, and arrogant, and was pleased as peaches to see them being dragged out of Gaza by force this week. Their lavish lifestyle, in contrast to the squalor in which local Palestinian residents lived, was infuriating, particularly because the government support of settlements comes at the expense of Palestinians whose land is constantly appropriated for settlement expansion, and impoverished Israelis in urban ghettos in Tel Aviv and development towns who do not receive such government funds nor attention. The recent Israeli poverty statistics are appalling. In addition, the fact that so many poor Israelis are Arab Jews, and that so many settlers are European Jews, is an oft-overlooked element of this quagmire."As a result of what I witnessed in Gaza, I joined the Israeli refusenik movement upon the collapse of the Oslo accords, refusing to serve in the occupied territories. The next time I go to Gaza will hopefully be on vacation, and never again as a soldier."Labels: Israel
HOME!!!
After a VERY long layover in Atlanta, I'm finally back in Albany. It's been a long time since I've been home, and it's good to be here. I've got an awful lot of TV to catch up on, especially the new season of Boston Legal. ABC's moved it out from the coveted slot behind Desparate Housewives, and I hope it survives. I spent much of the first leg of my flight reading a couple of magazines cover to cover. This week's New Yorker has a great piece on Kinky Friedman's run for Governor of Texas. Among the campaign slogans for the former frontman of Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys is, "KINKY 2006: WHY THE HELL NOT?” The New Yorker also highlights the retirement of televangelist Billy Graham and the ascendence of his son Franklin. The same article details the evolution of the Christian fundamentalist movement in the United States. Speaking of which, I've begun reading the Gospels, having completed Matthew, Mark, and half of Luke. I'm actually enjoying it -- it's much better reading than the Koran. Reading the words of these ancient writers from 50 or so years after Jesus supposedly lived is like following a kindergarteners' game of Telephone. Each has a somewhat different account of the same stories and teachings, and some are clearer in describing certain details than others. The woman sitting next to me on the plane, a Chinese convert to Christianity, struck up a conversation when she noticed the Bible in my hand. She kept trying to suggest that I'd "see the light" someday, but gave up when she realized that I knew more about Christianity than she did. Labels: Christianity, Religion, Travel
Seattle, WA
I've seen the future, and it is Google Earth. This finalized version of what was Google Maps is just incredible. I'm convinced it will save humanity, I'm just not sure how yet, and the best part is that Apple snobs can't use it yet! One of Apple's neatest innovations lately is a search indexer in newer revisions of Mac OSX. It indexes one's hard drive ahead of time so hard drive searches are indexed. Microsoft plans to do the same for Windows Vista, which is to be released in 2006, but Google Desktop has beaten them to it. It searches every document, e-mail, viewed web page, and online conversation for the keywords you enter. Incredible stuff. Bush's approval rating is now at 43%, according to Rasmussen, his lowest to date. Some of this has to be due to Cindy Sheehan's ongoing campaign, which continues to pick up steam and press. A number of Senators visited Alaska yesterday to view man-made climate change with their own eyes. They seem to be convinced, to a man, that we're altering ecosystems. According to my own Senator, Hillary Clinton, ""There are still some holdouts, but they are fighting a losing battle." Is she so sure? They remain in power! The IDF has begun forcible evacuation of Gaza, and appear to be succeeding. This evening, I recorded a Podcast of my feelings about the withdrawal and what it's taught is about the Middle East crisis as a whole. Click here to listen. Walking out of my hotel to revisit Pasta Freska, I overheard several people at the bar discussing the Gaza withdrawal. The Courtyard's bar is a great place, with a wide variety of people who spend a lot of time there. This has much to do with the fantastic bartenders -- Matt and Tiffany -- who truly go the extra mile to make sure that their guests have the best experience possible in Seattle. They also ensured that none of the evenings I was in town were spent inconveniently sober. Labels: Helpful Stuff, Israel, Travel
Seattle, WA
Senator Pat Leahy (D-VT), is blasting Supreme Court nominee John Roberts for his conservative views. I'm not sure why anyone would be surprised that Roberts "was sympathetic to prayer in public schools, dismissive of "comparable worth," referred to the "tragedy of abortion" and took a swipe at the Supreme Court for being too willing to hear multiple appeals from death row inmates." He sounds pretty much exactly like what I'd expect from a Bush nomination. White House spokesman Steve Schmidt said, "The ease with which Sen. Leahy distorts Judge Roberts' record is troubling and may indicate that the Democrats are not yet done trying to make that argument, although it has already been discredited," Schmidt said. It's amazing to me how many times I've heard Republican spokesmen use the phrase "has already been discredited" over the last few months. If they say that over and over, it becomes true to the Fox News watching crew. I was sitting at the hotel bar last night chatting with a conservative Texan from Dallas, and when the conversation got to politics, it was really incredible to me that he was repeatedly using lines of "reason" pushed by conservative talk show hosts and news anchors almost verbatim, even parroting the line about how Cindy Sheehan is not to be listened to because emotion, caused by her son's death in Iraq, is clouding her mind. It's all about the talking points. Speaking of Sheehan, while she protests outside the Crawford ranch, our President is having some Marie Antoinette moments. The second Israeli terrorist attack in the last month occurred today when an Israeli driver in the West Bank settlement of Shiloh opened fire on a group of Arabs, killing three and wounding three more. As always, I had to check the article to see if a certain David Yisroel HaLevi (nee Epstein) was the culprit. Labels: Judaism, Politics, Supreme Court
Seattle, WA
A few news items on this evening's slate: The Gaza withdrawal continues, and things are still fairly tame. However, a closer look on the NYTimes's great withdrawal tracking utility shows that the IDF has so far avoided the projected "trouble spots." What happens when they get there is anybody's guess. Our wonderful editorial team at MyJewishLearning.com, Daniel and Lili, have put together a great site lead this week about the withdrawal. Here's a background piece on Gaza for anyone who finds him or herself lost in the headlines. In additional (kinda scary) Jewish news, Mayor Bloomberg is considering doing something about the ancient Ultra-Orthodox Jewish custom of mezizah be peh. Yes, the article is serious. I didn't realize it before a few months ago, but a few isolated do practice this really repulsive custom where the mohel, the man who conducts circumcisions, sucks the blood from the womb with his mouth. Mayor Bloomberg says, "It is not the government's business to tell people how to practice their religion." Does he not understand that this is an OLD MAN SUCKING A BABY'S PENIS??? This story was broken to me quite a while back by a blatanty anti-Semitic individual, but it checks out and, though rare, is disturbing. Here's why we can't privatize Social Security -- the people who can't afford to risk their small monthly take for a potential higher return. Wireless progress in San Francisco. I'm hoping this effort snowballs and influences other cities. Free or low-cost internet access is good for education, good for productivity, good for the economy, and excellent for overall quality of life. And by the way, there is NO way that the two women at the bar from which I'm blogging are not prostitutes... This post is brought to you by the California Avocado Commission -- Guacamole: Ain't nothin' wrong with that! Labels: Judaism, Travel
Seattle, WA
I drove 60 miles south and back this AM to spend 45 minutes at the Capitol in Olympia (photo, photo, photo). It wasn't nearly as exciting for me as the other three Capitols; most seemed a bit too busy to chat and those who had time didn't have anything interesting to say. I spent most of my time in the governor's outer office reading histories of Washington's governors. One neat fact: The last territorial governor of Washington delayed its statehood for a week because he forgot (!) to sign its Constitution.
From today's Washington Post: Fareed Zakaria, the editor of Newsweek, says that we should be talking with Iran before acting rashly about their nuclear program. That's probably a good idea, because we've seen what the "military option" gets us in the Middle East.
Labels: Iraq, Politics, Travel
Seattle, WA
My day was more or less uneventful; I headed to the University of Washington to set up for a conference, then went back to the hotel and worked with my boss. UW has a neat college town near Lake Union, and I hope to post some photos of it tomorrow. Last night, after I got to the hotel, I went to have dinner and a drink or two at the hotel restaurant. Shortly after I'd ordered my first drink (a rum and coke), I began to chat it up with the bartender, who'd recently relocated from Windham, NY, a ski town slightly south of Albany on I-87.He'd told me of an Italian restaurant nearby that he said was so good, that if they were open on Sunday night he'd take away my beverage and kick me out of the bar (what, with all of the experience I have this week at getting kicked out of places). I ventured the four blocks on foot to Pasta Freska, which was pretty unassuming both inside and out. It was a rare experience -- the waiter comes to the table and asks you what foods you absolutely won't eat. He then brings out whatever the cook's whims dictate. Piano jazz in the background, first on the "menu" tonight was a salad with a light caesar dressing, followed by eggplant parmesan in a spinach bechemel sauce with a hint of pesto served straight from the pan -- maybe the best eggplant I've ever had. I accompanied the first course with a Maradi beer, an Italian brew golden in color, smooth in texture, and just a little sweet. The second beer of the night was a Mac and Jack African Ale -- reddish hue, a little fruity -- not all that distinguishable from Sam Adams Summer Ale, one of my favorites. I'd had it back in Helena and liked it a lot. Next was spaghetti with marinara and feta alongside a piece of chicken roulade stuffed with ricotta and smothered in a delicious dark mushroom sauce. Scallops, halibut, mushrooms, capers and spinach in a tart white wine sauce. I had no idea, but the waiter pointed out that this dish was -- PICATTA!!!! If you don't get the reference, do yourself a favor and consult your local video store and rent Beavis and Butthead Do America, for the love of all that is good! Of course, what Italian night out would be complete without a basket of garlic bread? For dessert, they served a plate with a small piece of fudge cake, a sliver of tiramisu, and a scoop of orange sherbet. Pasta Freska's waiters refer to their dishes as "surprises", and this critic asserts that all of them were pleasant. Of course, to be a real critic, this poseur needs an alimentary vocabulary broader than "delicious." Apparently, the Iraqi constitution is not going to be completed on schedule. This isn't all that surprising... the elections had a pretty high turnout because each of the factions that were surpressed under Saddam showed up in large numbers -- the Shiites because they saw their opportunity for power, and the Kurds because their leaders told them that the election was the first step towards an independent Kurdistan. Of course, the Sunni turnout was very low. The constitution needs to be agreed upon by all parties -- if 2/3 of voters in three of the 12 provinces vote "no," then the constitution is null and void. I'm just not confident that the different groups in Iraq are going to be able to think beyond their own interests, and the events of the last few days seem to support that. The Gaza pullout is underway, and with a few exceptions, appears to be going as planned. I don't trust the Israelis so much, but getting the settlers out of Gaza and a few of the 120 settlements in the West Bank is a good start. Harvard is starting a program to study the origins of life. Many religious types discount evolution because it doesn't sufficiently explain how the first life was formed, but that's not the point of the theory of evolution. I'm happy to see this effort, and it's certainly a reaction to the recent surge in support for the quack-science "theory" of intelligent design. I'd agree with the scientist in the article who says, "My expectation is that we will be able to reduce this to a very simple series of logical events that could have taken place with no divine intervention," but have a feeling that we won't find out the answers in our lifetime. It's no easy task to look back five billion years and find answers. It is, however, inexcusable to attribute something to God because we have no other answer. It's very much equivalent to when Calvin (of Calvin and Hobbes) asks his dad how the vacuum cleaner works, and he replies "Magic." In today's More Cowbell, Sports Guy pleads Johnny Damon's case for some MVP votes. I agree with him completely. Damon's having a fantastic season, and his hair's gotta be worth at least some consideration! Labels: Politics, Restaurants, Sports, Travel
Seattle, WA
So, it's come full circle... I drove 2000 miles to Seattle from Seattle. I was happy to get out of Portland -- I wasn't particularly impressed with the city, and it will be forever stained with my Verizon experience. On the way out of town, I stopped to get in a workout at the local JCC. The facilities were mediocre; more like an urban high school gym than the JCC atmosphere I'm used to in other places.On the way into the JCC, I was approached by a Chabad rabbi from Boston, who expressed to me his wishes for a miracle -- that Israel's scheduled withdrawal tomorrow from Gaza would be prevented by God. What bothers me so much about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is how much of it is a silly religious argument, and as such is blown out of proportion. There are millions of people dying each day around the world from famine, disease, and war, and our attention remains focused on a conflict that, has killed a comparatively small number people over dozens of years, simply because of the religious sentiment involved. If this were rational, the world community would've already said, "Oh, you Israelis already live here -- that's your state; and you Palestinians already live here, so that's your state."This isn't helped at all by the whacked-out evangelical community whipping their constitutency into a frenzy over this. On Christian radio during my trip up I-5 today, I listened to a preacher who was excitedly giving the Bible's take on the Gaza withdrawal. He declared that it would not go through, and that the EU, the "New Roman Empire," would announce a new peace plan that would be ineffectual and that while the world watched the plan fail, all of the "believers" would be whisked into the skies and made immortal as the "End of Days" began.Meanwhile, according to this evangelist, since America lost its divine protection when President Bush announced in 2004 that both sides, and not just Israel, had to agree on the solution, Al-Qaida will shut down all of the communications and electrical infrastructure of the United States and overrun the U.S., which Iran and Russia (which he considers the New Testament nations of "Gog and Magog") invade Israel. He stressed repeatedly, with relish, that the End of Days is at hand.Just like I mentioned a few days ago with the Christian radio hosts' declaration that one woman's desire for world peace instead of Armageddon as "Luciferian Doctrine," this preacher seemed to eagerly anticipate the destruction of the world. About half of this country, including our President, shares this belief system or a variation thereupon... it scares me, it really, really does.A couple of MHz over on the dial, another Christian program interviewed missionaries who have been working in tsunami and civil-war stricken Sri Lanka. I was appalled to hear them proudly discuss how they've been "saving" Buddhists, Hindus, and Muslims. Is there any wonder my right hand is bruised from punching the steering wheel (and my Blackberry) all week?The drive from Portland to Seattle, only 160-odd miles, took almost 5 hours due to awful traffic on I-5 most of the way, with the digital mercury reaching triple digits. Part of the delay was due to this trailer turned over in the middle of the road.An interesting sight on the way -- is the street named after the band, or is the band named after the street? And this picture is just teasing me... I'm going to have to go to Olympia this week to complete a clean sweep of Capitol tours.One thing's for sure... I shouldn't be taking vacations to unwind... they're exhausting!In world news, the cause of this Weekend's bizarre Cypriot plane crash this weekend remains a mystery.Two of my favorite NYTimes opinion columnists chime in in tomorrow morning's paper. Paul Krugman, with a piece on the Bush administration's Social Security deception; and Bob Herbert, with another heart-wrenching article in his series on the human cost of the Iraq war.Labels: Jewish, Judaism, Politics, Religion, Republican Party, Travel
Portland, OR
While on my journey to pick up my prepaid cell phone (more on this in a bit), I headed over to Division St., which is apparently the area of southeastern Portland that Elliott Smith used to haunt. It's in an area that's mostly industrial (photo, photo, photo), and I wasn't inclined to spend much time there. Suddenly, the bleakness of some of his early music seemed to make a lot of sense. It wasn't until after I'd ordered it that I realized the tribute I was making to Elliott by grabbing a shot of Johnny Walker Red Label at the hotel bar this evening. According to sweetadeline.net it's been announced that the upcoming artsy-looking Sony flick Thumbsucker will feature three Elliott songs -- among others, the movie starts Vincent D'Onofrio, Keanu Reeves, and Vince Vaughn. And from the trailer, I have absolutely NO idea what the movie is about. I didn't write any music in Portland, as I'd hoped, so for the heck of it, I'm going to post one more recording I've done of one of his songs. It's an acoustic version of his song "Cupid's Trick", done last year around this time. I always love Frank Rich, who's been on vacation the last couple of weeks. He states in his latest piece that someone needs to tell President Bush that the war in Iraq is over, but I think that Dubya is already aware of that, because he appears ready to move on. We know what "all options are on the table" means when it comes to Iran... it's a matter of time before the Cindy Sheehans of Operation Iranian Democracy are marching in front of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. War sucks, and there may be no song that illustrates its pain and senselessness better than Billy Joel's Goodnight Saigon. It was a night for the old men to shine in the majors tonight. 43-year-old Roger Clemens threw a two-hitter over eight shutout innings, and still drew a no-decision to the Pirates. His ERA stands at 1.32, and yet he's only won 11 games halfway through August -- has a pitcher ever gotten less run support from his team? Roger is a veritable tyke next to Julio Franco, who, at 10 days shy of his 47th birthday, hit his 9th home run of the season. If he hits another homer next week or later, he will become the oldest player to hit a round-tripper in the bigs. He's showing few signs of slowing down -- he's hitting .292 this season, just a few ticks off of his career average. A lot of John Mayer's music doesn't quite do it for me, but I've heard a song of his over and over in passing lately that I can't identify but sounds pretty good. I think it's a new single. Does anyone know anything about this? If so, send me an e-mail. And congrats to him on his Song of the Year Grammy for "Daughters." That song isn't my cup of tea, but check out the song "Clarity" on the same album, Heavier Things. It's an amazing song, and his great website features streaming audio of several songs on that CD, including "Clarity." I went to Best Buy just southeast of Portland today to pick up a Virgin Mobile prepay phone to temporarily replace my Blackberry. I paid $80 for a basic phone and 300 minutes, which should cover me for the next five days. $80 is reasonable enough to me, but as I reviewed the pay plans, it occurred to me that this is just another way in which ironically, the poor pay more than the better-to-do for the same services. For instance, if someone uses 10 minutes each day for a month on a normal plan, he'll pay $40 and still have minute to spare. However, if that same person gets a prepaid phone, he'll pay $75. The materials included with the prepaid phone were pretty misleading -- their example shows what one will pay if he uses 112 minutes in a month, but how many people only average 4 minutes per day on their phones? I easily break 1,000 minutes every month. Virgin Mobile clearly targets lower-income individuals, as well -- nearly all of the images on their packaging and website feature younger and minority individuals. If you need my temporary phone number to reach me this week, send me an e-mail. Labels: Music, Poltics, Sports, Travel
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