Matt Yglesias, who I saw a few times at Netroots Nation, writes that high speed rail could and should be the industry that saves the American economy. At this moment, I couldn't agree more. I'm on my way back from Pittsburgh on Amtrak. I've been on the train for 9 1/2 hours (with a couple of brief pitstops). This ride should not take that long -- it's only a 6-7 hour drive. Long-distance train travel will never be in high demand when it takes longer to take the train than to drive.
Having said that, for me at least, it's been a much more pleasant experience than flying and I'm happy I took the train.
I'm sitting right now in a great panel discussion on the disaster which has the state of California hurtling towards a cliff with apparently no brakes.
I find it really rather silly that I'm starstruck by bloggers than 99.9% of the general population have never read.
I met Markos Moulitsas himself (actually a bit of a jerk, as brilliant as he is and as thankful as I am for what he's given this important movement), and have been around Matt Yglesias, Spencer Ackerman, Digby, John Amato, D-Day and lots of others. Very, very exciting.
D-Day's leading the panel; he really is my favorite blogger who posts daily (the title of my favorite blogger overall goes to the unfortunately irregular Phil Nugent), and he's one of the foremost experts in the blogosphere on California and its politics.
It's really horrifying to hear such knowledgeable people in such despair about California's situation. They've all more or less moved on from thinking that California can be saved, and onto what lessons the rest of the country can learn from Calfornia's failure. I'm no expert on the situation, but for the latest, greatest commentary on the topic, visit Calitics.
I'm at the 2009 Netroots Nation conference (formerly Yearly Kos) this weekend, a conference of (mostly) liberal bloggers and politicans. Today's the last day, and I haven't written anything yet (Blogger's been kind of bloggered), but it really is great to be at a conference where it's not considered rude to sit in a session while on a laptop.
I've seen some great things while I've been here in Pittsburgh, including Bill Clinton speaking:
I think the highlight of the convention so far for me was getting the chance to meet Don Siegelman, the former governor of Alabama who was railroaded all the way to federal prison by Karl Rove, and spent a year there. Though he's no liberal Dem, the netroots have coalesced around his cause due to the level of serious injustice involved. He's an incredibly nice guy. I spoke to him for a few minutes at last night's J Street party and also just listened to him in a panel discussion on the DOJ going awry.
Got caught in one of Florida's famous 15 minute downpours, so I headed into Andrew's, which appears to be the bar where all of the people from the state house hang out.
Neat menu:
Governor Crist's Sandwich Board
Lots going on in my mind that I want to write about, but I'm off to check out the Capitol. I'll be writing more from St. Petersburg later.
Heading down to Florida for a bit over a week. I'll probably post a bit while on the road, and let everyone who still checks out this site know what I've been up to. Maybe some photos, too!
I interrupt this long lull in posting to say that I am once again totally pissed off at the airline industry... I'm stuck in Dulles Airport on my way to Los Angeles. I have SIX meetings tomorrow. I find out in 15 minutes if I can get to LA today at all.
Ari's getting married in two months, and he and I did a bachelor tour this weekend... We saw Stone Temple Pilots at two festivals, the first on Saturday night in downtown Kansas City and the second on the outskirts of St. Louis. The shows were great, and we had a good time. STP is clearly back in form and enjoying themselves after nearly six years apart.
Scott Weiland was clearly going for a Jack-Nicholson-as-the-Joker look...
They played the same setlist twice:
Big Empty
Wicked Garden
Big Bang Baby
Vasoline
Lady Picture Show
Lounge Fly
Crackerman
Sour Girl
Creep
Plush
Interstate Love Song
Coma
Down
Sin
Some jam I didn't recognize that sounded like a James Brown tune
Sex Type Thing
Trippin' on a Hole in a Paper Heart
Dead & Bloated
Good setlist, but no real surprises. Greatest hits, basically.
Was filling up my tank today before heading to the airport in Phoenix, and this woman in her 30s came up to me asking for gas money...
She didn't seem poor or anything -- she was driving a kempt mid-90s Saturn.
I gave her five bucks.
Are we going to be seeing more of this sort of thing as gas prices go up? I noticed in L.A. that diesel, for instance, is well over five dollars a gallon everywhere.
Just a quick post before hopping a plane from Charlotte to Phoenix -- I'm going to be in a lot of places over the next 10 days or so -- Phoenix, Tucson, LA, DC, NYC, Kansas City, and St. Louis.
For the third time since last Wednesday, I'm on Amtrak to NYC (got a last-minute invite to the annual Hillel gala and I've been told the food's going to be great!). I've really gained an appreciation for public transit in the last year or so. It's still a shame we don't have a high-speed rail between Albany and NYC; a European/Asian-style train would do the trip in an hour as opposed to two and a half. Unfortunately, Americans don't have much of a taste for trains and buses, and it really shows in our lack of such infrastructure.
Speaking of Amtrak, the Herrick St. bridge in Rensselaer (the one that goes up to the train station) has been closed for a couple of weeks now. What does it say about the quality of the construction that they're doing bridge work only five years after the bridge opened?
UPDATE (10:34 AM): The train gets more and more attractive in light of stories like this:
American Airlines said Wednesday it will start charging $15 for the first checked bag, cut domestic flights and lay off workers as it grapples with record-high fuel prices. The nation's largest carrier said the fee for the first checked bag starts June 15 and that it would raise other fees for services ranging from reservation help to oversized bags.
American plans to cut domestic flight capacity by 11 percent to 12 percent in the fourth quarter. American had previously expected fourth-quarter capacity to fall 4.6 percent from the same period in 2007.
Great show in Virginia! It was downpouring torrentially all night, and people were turned away from the show because the roads were so bad, but we made it in. Good setlist -- they played the entire new album.
Here's a clip I shot (my first YouTube!) of them performing Jigsaw Falling Into Place (someone posted a full version here:
I'm in NYC today, home tonight, NYC again Monday, NYC again next Thursday, and then I head out West on Memorial Day. (Whew!)
I haven't had a lot of time to post this week. I was in Baltimore and DC for a lot of it and was exhausted when I got home.
One thing to report, though. Most weeks, I don't walk down the street and run into the Pope. This, however, was one of the weeks where I did. I got to see the Popemobile and everything!
I don't even think I mentioned it here, but I've been sick in bed with mono for most of the last month... but I'm back in commission now and on my way to NYC for the week.
Mono sucked, by the way, and it's good to feel healthy again. I think I may start blogging a bit more now. We'll see...
And yes, I'm following the primaries, and yes, I'm still supporting Edwards. His second-place showing in Iowa was pretty impressive, given that the media doesn't want to pay attention to him at all. I also think that Obama is just too conciliatory and fluffy... who the hell wants to make nice with the Republicans after what they've done the last 30 years? Not me.
Regardless, don't count any of the top 3 Dems out yet. Not at all.
So, my flight was just delayed for the second time... my 11:58 AM MT departure became a 2:00 PM one; but that's OK, because my 8:35 PM ET one is now 11:45.
My rule of thumb used to be that if a drive would take less than 5 hours, I'd drive rather than fly. Lately, it's been 7-8 hours. Now, I'm pretty sure that when I go to the UJC GA in November in Nashville, I'm driving the 14 hours...
The situation keeps getting worse, and it can't get better until we modernize our flight traffic control equipment. But that isn't happening. We can spend trillions on war but can't spend enough to make the trains or planes run on time, to say nothing of sustaining our bridges and highways.
It's time to nationalize mass transit in this country. It really couldn't get any worse, and it's not like it's been particularly profitable.
I'm strange enough that I don't mind driving 12 hours a clip if I have to to get somewhere, but most people aren't. Someone who works for me just told me after a particularly horrid cross-country flight that she will never fly again, even if it means she doesn't get to see much of the world. I'm sure she's not alone. If people were to travel 25% less often, that would have to have a huge dampening effect on the economy. Keeping all forms of transit working quickly, efficiently, safely, and comfortably has to be a high priority for the federal government. It really hasn't been since what, the 1950s? It helps people, and it helps business.
As I type this, my flight was just delayed another 15 minutes...
I'm paused at a Starbucks prior to my visit to the Wyoming State Capitol. I haven't seen much of Wyoming, as Cheyenne is only a few miles from the Colorado border, but boy was it a nice drive.
Cheyenne's kind of a cute town, but stuck in a time warp -- a lot of a little houses from the 1950s. It really reminds me of Helena, which I visited on this date two years ago!
As of today, it's been two years since I started this site. On August 8th, 2005, I was in Spokane, WA on the course of a long trip around the Pacific Northwest; On August 8th, 2006, I was in Durham, NC right after a tour of the Deep South; and today, I find myself in Boulder, CO at the end of a long drive from Albany. Tomorrow, I'm planning to check out Cheyenne, Wyoming. I've been a lot of places, and it's been a lot of fun cataloguing it for all of you who are reading the site.
There's more in store, I'm sure. I still have fourteen states left:
Alaska
Hawaii
Kentucky
Minnesota
North Dakota
South Dakota
Iowa
Nebraska
Texas
New Mexico
Louisiana
Oklahoma
Nevada
Utah
and many more places to see in all the ones I've already been to -- including lots more state Capitols (it's a terrible hobby, I know, but it's all mine).
While I was in Chicago, I headed down to Hyde Park to visit a couple of Albany friends that I hadn't seen in years. We're certainly older than we were in grade school (well, maybe not me):
K-hole and I drove through Kansas on I-70 on our way to Boulder today. Now, I-70 is one of the best drives I've encountered in the country; it's long and straight and you can do 90-100 with little fear of getting stopped. Unless...
As we reached about the halfway point in Kansas's 420-odd miles, we saw a police car, having pulled over a car. K-hole asked me, "Wow... what does it take to get pulled over in this state?" Passing by, we noticed that the car had a large rainbow flag on its antenna... I guess that's what it takes in the land of Brownback...
True story!
Anyway, I did get to check out the Capitol in Topeka. Uneventful, but I'll post my photos later.
I'm back on the road again, driving from Albany to Boulder (didn't I do this drive in reverse last year?) with K-Hole.
I figured I'd do the last post about my Ottawa trip before writing anything about this one.
The view from my hotel window gave me a good shot of the flag on top of Parliament:
My last night in town, I stumbled upon a light show being held on the lawn of Parliament... quite different from the states -- could you imagine thousands of random people gathered on the lawn of the White House with basically no security?
I missed my softball game this afternoon because I spent over two hours at the Quebec-New York border... absurd.
After I crossed, I checked my GPS to see if there were any other border crossings in the area. I found a Roxham Road in Champlain that looked promising, but no dice:
I had another nice stay in Canada. The healthcare was divine!
OK, fine, I didn't get any healthcare... but Ottawa is a nice, clean, safe city with lots of things to do.
If you recall, I was here in late 2005 and blogged a lot about it then. So, I wasn't going post any photos this time. However, I took a lot of them and they came out well, so I'll put them up in the next couple of days.
In the meantime, take a look at the albums from two years ago:
Flint, Michigan, is one of Michael Moore's favorite subjects. It's a city where 80,000 auto workers used to live, but today there are fewer than 8,000. It's one of the most depressed (and depressing) places in the country, and that was apparent as I drove through.
There were plenty of empty lots to be seen:
But what's the one place that had customers? Wal-Mart.
I'll be taking off for home this morning, but wanted to get in two more photo albums before I leave.
The Michigan State Capitol in Lansing
Michigan's Capitol had more examples of leaving out interesting facts in order to avoid controversy.
For instance, look at this entry on the Saginaw Treaty:
"utmost good faith shall always be observed towards Indians; their land and property shall never be taken from them without their consent." It doesn't tell us why the Saginaws gave up 6,000,000 acres, though it presumably was at gunpoint. I'm pretty sure they weren't happy to give it up.
How about the entry on Gerald Ford? It mentions that he succeeded Nixon after Nixon resigned, but it doesn't mention why Nixon resigned, or that Ford made one of the most questionable political moves of all time in pardoning Nixon. It would make for some interesting and engaging conversation on a school tour, but it's off-limits!
Whew... the drive from Lansing to Ottawa took a lot longer than I'd expected. I stopped in London (which seems like a pretty cool city) at around 8 PM, and then plugged Ottawa into my GPS. 400 miles... Oops! I'd figured on 3-4 hours, and totally forgot that Toronto was in between. Oh well, I made it eventually, with some help from Red Bull.
So, to finally get a little bit of the Harrisburg leg of my trip posted (man, that was already back on Tuesday), I'll start by saying that James Loewen, of Lies Across America fame, has deeply affected the way I think about historical and government sites. Dr. Loewen feels that accounts at historical locations should contain, well, history, and not just schmaltz.
Well, as I was taking some (awful) shots of the floor at the State House of Representatives, I listened to a tour guide dish out schmaltz about the House. All she discussed was the art and architecture within. I didn't learn a thing about who debates there or what they debate, but I did learn that the large chandeliers are the weight of elephants, the small ones weigh as much as hippopotami, and that the girders are all made in gin-u-wine Pennsylvania steel.
Hippopotami hanging from the ceiling
At the end of her talk, she asked the standard, "Does anyone have any questions?" and of course, no one did. She didn't give them anything to ask about, and most people aren't trained to care anyway.
The drive from Lansing to Ottawa (561 miles) felt like the longest of my life... I'm happy to have made it here.
I stopped for dinner on the way in London, ON... seemed like a neat city, but I was only there for 45 minutes. Probably worth another trip sometime; it's a city of about 400,000 -- roughly the size of Cleveland and Miami, and it looked like all the bars were packed.
I have more to say about Canadian cities, but I'm wiped. Maybe in the morning.
I've realized that around Detroit, except for Franklin, the area where the wealthy (read: "Jews") live, 95% of the cars you see on the road, especially on I-75, are American. In Franklin, there are lots of foreign cars (and, ugh, McMansions)... in fact, the guy whom I met with there has two Lexuses (Lexi?).
Speaking of Lexus, I recently replaced my old one. This one has the Lexus navigation system built into the dash (though I'll miss Marqueaux, my old Garmin Nuvi). The system sucks... not only is it wildly inaccurate at times, but it has this absurd safety system that will not allow you to plug in or change a destination while the car is in motion. I figured there must be a way to turn it off, so I Googled "Lexus navigation override." One of the sites that came up is the aptly named LexusIsNotMyMother.com.
There is apparently no way to turn the function off in the newest models (there was until 2006), but the proprietor of LexusIsNotMyMother.com is on the case:
Lexus' change in the car's operation lowers the bar for consumer rights:
1. Sometimes it is more dangerous to pull over and stop to use the system.
2. Lexus is treating operation of the car like software (even if you buy it, you don't actually own it, you only have a license to use it the way Lexus tells you to use it).
3. Lexus made a material change in vehicle operation and potential owners were not notified of that change before buying their cars.
It is time, my comrades. Our plan for taking over the American government has nearly achieved fruition. Through the deviousness of our voting for people who are not ultraconservatives, our plans to hold dozens upon dozens of Republicans accountable for illegal acts that they themselves initiated, executed and profited from, and our mind rays that cause otherwise upstanding conservative legislators to seek the buggery of children, we have nearly won the day.
We shall not be defeated. Once the revolution comes, the American right will be crushed under the mighty weight of our agenda. We shall confuse them all by being nice to children and the elderly; we shall sap their resolve by allowing black people to vote unhindered. We shall confound them via our insistence that illegal actions even by rich people should be prosecuted. They will be wounded by our commitment towards health care for all, then we will double the injury by treating their wounds using the very same programs. Their lungs will burn from the oppressively clean air: their green, lush yards will be choked with our expanding forests. Freed from the toxic scourge of DDT, Bald Eagles will return to the countryside and crap on their cars. We will call it Freedom Crap, and it will contain fish bones of Justice and unidentifiable, jelly-like chunks of Liberty.
Soon our vast nationwide array of rooftop solar panels will be complete. These fools -- even now, they do not comprehend that government incentive programs have enabled us to build an interconnected grid capable of harnessing the power of the very sun itself! When our infrastructure has been completed, we shall move to phase two of our devious plan: at the designated moment, every one of us shall switch our solar panels on and off really fast, and that will make the lights in their house blink on and off and really piss them off when they are attempting to watch documentaries about Hitler on the History Channel.
Already, we are infiltrating the minds of their children. They have not realized the iPod conspiracy -- a fiendish device pumping subliminal messages of tolerance and equality into the ears of their impressionable youth. Using our technology, we shall create the foundations of a generation that knows not to be total dicks towards people of other ethnic groups and religions. Their children are listening to music by an unending stream of gay, bisexual, and even Canadian artists: now, they are ours. They will go dancing, and eat dolphin-safe tuna. They will install energy efficient light bulbs, and live next to brown people. They will feel a twinge of sadness about buying clothing made by enslaved and brutally mistreated children, even if Republican congressmen take time out from their industry-sponsored golf trips to say that it's all OK.
Our campaign to wipe out lead based paint has almost entirely succeeded. Without the knowledge of their parents, nearly an entire generation has been raised without eating paint that turns them stupid. Who is to say what wonders might unfold before them? Will theirs be the first generation to truly understand compound interest?
Anyone that knows the first thing about the Interstate system would assume that I-99 would be somewhere like the northeastern tip of Maine. That isn't the case, though... it runs from Bedford, PA to Bellefonte, PA, running through Altoona and State College (where Penn State's main campus is) along the way.
For those who do not know, Bud Shuster wanted to have an Interstate to service Altoona, PA. Not only did he demand it not be called I-980, but he wrote into law that it would called a number that he thought was kind of nifty. Do I have to rant about how I-99 should be east of I-97; it's west of I-81 for that matter. As if it's not enough that he got to use a valuable two digit number to serve the oh-so-busy Wingate-Altoona corridor, as if it's not enough that he got the bloody thing named after him, he also got to choose the number.
Elmer Greinert "Bud" Shuster (born January 23, 1932) is an American politician who represented Pennsylvania in the United States House of Representatives as a Republican from 1972 to 2001. He is best known for his advocacy of transportation projects that critics deride as "pork barrel" spending.
In Congress, Shuster was one of the opponents of the automobile airbag and ran for the position of Minority Whip in 1981, losing to Trent Lott. Shuster chaired the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure from 1995 to 2001.
During his time as chairman numerous transportation projects were funded, including Interstate 99, the only Interstate highway to have its route number (a violation of the usual Interstate numbering standard) written into law. The route was later named the "Bud Shuster Highway" by Governor Robert Casey. When the transportation authorization bill known by its initials as "BESTEA" was under consideration, his fellow members joked the letters stood for the "Bud E. Shuster Transportation for All Eternity Act" for its many "pork barrel" projects.
In 1996, Shuster was the focus of an ethics investigation by the Congressional Accountability Project stemming from the complex relationship between Representative Shuster and former Shuster aide turned lobbyist Ann Eppard, and Rep. Shuster's interventions with federal agencies on behalf of a business partner of his sons.
Republicans... they mess everything up.
(This post has been brought to you by the Jason is Boring Foundation)
So, I was playing in my softball league today, and I could not believe the umpire...
He was twelve feet tall, if he was an inch! With eyes glowing yellow, and fangs! He tore apart our shortstop by his ribs, pulled out his heart, and ate it -- like one eats an apple! Poor Ira...
Well, not really, but he blew the last call of the game, which is just as bad, no?
We're now 0-6 as a team, and we're not nearly as good as our record would indicate. Oh well, there's always next week.
Anyway, I'm leaving tomorrow afternoon on one of my driving trips. I'll be heading through Binghamton to see Ari, who will be moving to St. Louis to start a new job this week. I'll eventually end up in Cincinnati, but I'll be checking out the State Houses in Columbus and Harrisburg along the way. I'm not quite sure where the trip will take me, but I'll be writing and posting pictures, of course.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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...
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.
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!
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?
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.
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.
I'm still sitting in my hotel room hoping to sort out my phone situation. Verizon kept advising me to come into the store in Albany (like I'm going to fly back 3000 miles) to take care of this, and so I sent my sister in to take care of it. Unfortunately, they still can't have me anything any earlier than Tuesday, and couldn't even guarantee that. My sister's being extremely helpful and offered to FedEx me my grandmother's cell phone for me to use for the week. Unfortunately, FedEx told me that to have it by tomorrow, I'd have to pay over three hundred dollars, so that's out. A reader suggested to me that I get a prepaid phone, so I'm about to go out and do this. I can't believe that this has consumed 5 hours of the last day of my vacation and counting.
While spending the last few hours sitting in my hotel room, I learned St. Ide's Heaven, the Elliott Smith song I mentioned yesterday, on the guitar. I recorded it in CoolEdit and packaged it into a Podcast. I'm not a particularly good singer, but I'm better than this recording would indicate -- it's done in my "I don't really know the lyrics and am reading them off of a webpage" voice. It was also recorded on my new Washburn Rover travel guitar, which is taking some getting used to but so much better than a Backpacker. Take a listen.
I'm really happy to keep opening my homepage to Yahoo! News and finding a new story about Cindy Sheehan's protest. This is real news... it's not Tom Cruise, it's not a runaway bride, it's not the latest OJ interview. Cindy Sheehan is not just an average protester, and she must be heard.
Sort of -- while I don't endorse my own behavior, in my defense, I have to plead extenuating circumstances. First, I'd been driving for nine hours on about four hours' sleep and was also ("awso" for AMU) operating on an empty stomach. Second, for the last several years, my cell phone has been my security blanket. I rarely turn it off, and if anything ever goes wrong, there's always someone I can call to make it right. Third, this is just sort of a nightmare scenario... traveling thousands of miles away from home with work responsibilities that need be handled over that phone during the next few days, and I'm pretty helpless to do anything about that at this point. And finally, it makes for a pretty funny story, you have to admit...
So I ate dinner at Red Robin across the street from the hotel last night... it's become one of my new favorite places -- there's one across the street from the hotel where I stay in Gaithersburg, MD, and two have just opened up in the Albany area. For those of you who don't know Red Robin, think of it as a TGIFriday's with food you'd actually want to eat.
Last point: Red Robin has gotten so much better since I've found that I can get them to custom-make me a salad. Their normal side salad is made with iceberg lettuce, which I've come to abhor. I mean, fiber is one of the most important nutrients in veggies, and it's sort of hard to come by elsewhere. Have you ever looked at the US RDA for fiber and then compared it to how much fiber is actually in most foods? You practically have to eat a cardboard box daily to meet the standards. Well, iceberg lettuce doesn't have any fiber (or much else), so eating a salad that has it as a base is almost like you're eating that salad for nothing. I realized once that Red Robin's caesar salad was really good because it's got romaine lettuce, which is very healthy, so I asked them if they could use the romaine from the caesar in the regular side salad. Happily, the answer was yes, and I order such a salad every time I go to RR. And, I can't say enough lately about oil and vinegar... so nutritious, and so yummy. So, without further ado, I present you a perfect salad!
An update on the phone situation: I'm sitting here wasting my vacation in my hotel room, like I have for the past two hours, waiting for a call back from the Verizon Wireless store. I called them two hours ago, explained the situation, and they told me that they'd call me back within an hour. After 90 minutes had passed, I called them back and was told that they're just too busy to deal with me and that I should call back on Monday. I explained to the woman that that just wasn't an option, and she put me on hold. In between hold music, a message explained to me that at Verizon Wireless, "your problem is our problem." Apparently, that's total BS. I have one of the bigger problems of my life, and I'm once again waiting for a call back that just isn't coming.
My first attempt at blogging, I originally aimed for this 1,500 mile driving trip to give me a better comprehension of how different "red" states are from the normal environs of a Blue Stater from New York. After all, I thought, if nearly half of the country doesn't believe in evolution, and I'm not sure if I know anyone personally who strictly believes in creationism, there must be parts of the country where the entire population holds a strong disdain for Darwin. I set out to find some of those areas, but my conclusions were a bit different than I'd expected.
Some lessons relevant to the journey:
1. On the scale of conservatism, the Northwestern "red states" are more libertarian than neoconserative, and the denizens do not tend to wear their politics on their sleeves
2. Northwestern conservatives, many of them hunters and fishermen, are pretty pro-environment
3. Even the most conservative of states have liberal strongholds
4. If you want the inside scoop on a city, speak to its bartenders
5. People working in state government will happily take the time to chat with you in August when the legislature is not in session
6. Coeur d'Alene, ID is just spectacular -- who knew?
7. It's pronounced "Byoot." Get your head out of the gutter.
8. Wi-Fi is popping up everywhere!
9. Uh... Paul Anka rocks?
10. I can enjoy myself anywhere, as long as I have my hands on a burger, or a beer, or calamari, or a huckleberry shake, or a... well, you get the ideaI drove in from Seattle (which is out of the realm of this context), and began blogging in Moses Lake, WA, on the "red" side of Washington State.
I had one last night in Red America last night, and it was interesting. I made a Podcast of my story, but I'll only send it to you if you're a guy -- a bit too rough for the ladies. If you're interested, send me an e-mail. Downtown Boise turned out to be surprisingly nice (photo, photo), and there were several places open close to midnight on a Thursday night.
I took a wrong turn last night through a historical district of Boise called Warm Springs. The houses were beautiful (photo, photo) and I saw an apparently well-known glowing crucifix on a mountaintop.
The things I do for work... my mugshot and signature went out in an e-letter sent to 20,000 people yesterday. That'll get us more than a few unsub requests!
I'm heading out this morning back to the Blue States. Once I get to Oregon, I'll officially have visited every single state on both coasts. I'm still bummed that I didn't get to Salt Lake City, but I guess if I want to see Mormons, I can just visit Boston, or perhaps, soon enough, in the White House!
My first stop in Oregon is a small town called Hermiston, very close to Walla Walla, WA. Why am I planning to stop there? You'll see. I'm hoping to have a pretty darn good post up in 5-6 hours. And don't try calling me; my poor Blackberry has bitten the dust (is anyone surprised?).
Whew, this heat'll kill ya... I went out in the mighty Sebring today into the heart of downtown Boise. Neat town. College and political town, like Albany. Something I havn't really touched on over the last few days is that each city I've visited over the last couple of days is surrounded by mountains, and Boise is no exception.
Top down, I went seeking the mythical Sonic Burger. If you don't know Sonic, that's 'cause you're well, not cool. Sonic is a place that has excellent burgers and a really creative menu. For whatever reason, they advertise in the Northeast despite the fact that there aren't any Sonics there. It's such a cruel tease -- the commercials are totally droolworthy. I was lucky enough to get a chance to try Sonic for the first time last winter in Jacksonville (eatin' a Frito Pie back when I was sportin' the Jewfro), and have wanted more since, every friggin' time I watch ESPN's Best Hour on TV (Around the Horn/PTI).
I didn't ask for directions to Sonic, because 1. I never ask for directions, and 2. there are a zillion of them around here, so I figured I'd find one easily. Well, I didn't. I drove and drove, and ended up in Eagle, a rather nice suburb of Boise (photo, photo, photo). Eagle is more or less what I figure a Colorado town to look like -- nice houses, gated communities, horses, and lots of mountains! On my way, I heard a couple of songs that I love -- Toad the Wet Sprocket's "Something's Always Wrong" and Pearl Jam's "Glorified G" -- though someone should really introduce a bill making it illegal for DJs to declare that a song that was released when I was 14 is "so old!" Oh, and capital punishment for this jerk.
Having overshot Sonic, I headed back in search of it again. This gave me a bit more time to switch back to Christian radio... I had to make a stop at Wal-mart (where else?) because I just had to pick up a notebook to write down what I heard... Two women were discussing false Christian teachings and began telling discussing several... two of the ones I heard sounded sort of weird -- a guy who said that anybody can be a "Christ," not just, as they said, "Jesus of Nazareth." Another was a guy who says that the second coming of Jesus lives in a Western city and goes by the name "Matea," and has a collection of followers. A little strange to me, and the women were acting like the fact that people even think these things is utterly detestable (they weren't freaked out that these people say they talk to God, just that it wasn't the "real" God -- to me, anyone who says he/she talks to God is a kook in my book). They were convinced that these false prophecies are taking hold among the "professionals" and "intellectuals" all over the country.
The third "false prophet" was a woman by the name of Barbara Marx, who has received a congressional honor for her attempts to start a Department of Peace (doesn't that already exist?) and who has been cited but no less of a theological luminary than Walter Cronkite. Anyway, her teaching is that Armageddon can be bypassed if world peace can be brought out all over the world. That sounds nice, right? Not to these women... according to them, this philosophy is "Luciferian Doctrine" -- the "type of thing that Satan wants us to believe." Well, now I'm beginning to understand why we're in this aimless war, led by our Prophet-in-Chief, and why an American hero like Cindy Sheehan is doing what she's doing to stop it. By the way, I think her story is catching on. Unfortunately, this administration's "highest stage of Nixonism" may keep her actions from having an effect.
Another thing from Christian radio... those people certainly do NOT like Gnostics. Which is ironic, since they finished them off, massacre-style, like 1600 years ago. Dr. McGee, the radiovangelist was talking about how "arrogant" they were... isn't that kind of like the Turks talking about the "conceit" of the Armenians or us, as Americans, talking trash about the Indians?
Shortly after leaving Wal-Mart, I stumbled upon the elusive Sonic. It was everything I'd been waiting for ('cept they didn't have Sonic Water :( ). No mind, I can make that myself at home. I ordered a Fire Island Burger and a Foot-long Coney (hot dog with cheese and spicy baked beans). So good!
After Sonic, I visited the Idaho State Capitol (photo, photo, photo, photo). That's two Capitols in two days! I think I'm going to alter my plan and hit Salem tomorrow, to make it three in three... Anyway, I got to go through the Capitol here at a much more leisurely pace than the Montana one. I spent time talking to the assistants to Governor Kempthorne (R) and to his Lt. Governor. They were happy to show me around, though, just like in every other state I've visited so far, had some pretty negative things to say about a certain female Senator from my home state. And I got to take this rather frightening photo.
I didn't get to meet the real governor, because he was out getting ready for his daughter's wedding, which is this weekend in Boise.
Final thought before I go out for dinner and a few drinks among the good people of Idaho... is there any friggin' way to avoid that AWFUL Coldplay song on the radio?
Man, am I exhausted. I haven't seen much of Boise yet, other than the couple of miles of downtown I drove through last night... I did the entire 3 1/2 hour drive from Idaho falls without stopping, thanks to the sweet rock your socks off sounds of Tenacious D (this is not the greatest blog in the world... this is just a tribute). This was my first and probably only stint of night driving on this trip, and the sunset on I-86 was really nice (photo, photo). Words don't do it justice, and neither does my photography. And, for the record, though my digital has done a great job of handling light, it can't take pictures of the stars at 85 MPH for shit!
Near Pocatello, ID, I drove past a Shoshone Indian reservation... it made me pretty sad to witness its surroundings, which were overwhelmingly industrial. Seriously, has any group in the world gotten screwed worse than the Native Americans? We killed, what, 98% of them, and give them a few hundred square miles of Southern Idaho? As Rob Corddry said recently on The Daily Show, "casino" is an old Indian word meaning, "Well, I guess this makes up for everything!"
I listened for an hour last night to a radio preacher named Jim Towle, who gave a surprisingly balanced sermon (for an evangelical) on the Israeli/Palestinian situation -- for example, he called for everyone to pray for the Jews who were being forced out of their homes, but also for the understanding that the same thing has happened to many Palestinians. The next part of his speech was about the healing power of God. He read off a laundry list of lessons that his listeners "could distribute on the street corners of Los Angeles" (he broadcasts from Van Nuys). The gist of it was that God always wants to heal people, but if he doesn't, it's either their own fault for not having enough faith, or because we just don't understand that God may have a reason for not healing (he said that God may not heal your broken finger because healing that finger may cause you to exact vengeance on others). The thing with religion is that because it's not dependent on logic, there's always an out. I just can't have that mindset, nor can I ever really understand it. It's kind of fun to try, though.
Last item before I turn on the light, hit the shower and venture into downtown Boise. Here's a great little editorial from the Fort Wayne (IN) Sentinel about whose fault it is the troops are dying in Iraq.
Rappin' at you from Bubba's BBQ on US 20/26 in Idaho Falls (WELCOME TO IDAHO!)... I'm a bit disappointed as I review the last post; it's just not as good as it could have been. I'd written something much better, and managed to delete it as I was trying to FTP it over the pretty flimsy Wi-Fi connection, and had to recreate it quickly from memory and upload it as the battery on my laptop ran close to zero.
The drive down I-15 (photo, photo) from Butte demonstrated to me the NOTHING that Montana and Idaho's roads are known for. I-15 and I-90 are very different roads, to be sure. It wasn't convertible weather -- pretty cold and rainy (dropped to the mid-50s), though in Dell, MT, it resulted in a really vivid rainbow. As you proceed through Idaho, you begin to notice a progression in the plant life to more and more cactuslike -- must be pretty dry around here (photo).
This town is pretty Southern, and lies 40 miles north of the intersection of I-15 (which I've been on for well over 200 miles) and I-86's western side (not to be confused with the under construction eastern half, still mostly currently known as NY 17) and near the Great Tetons, so I guess it's pretty close to Wyoming. Lotta country music 'round here. I'm imagining this is a pretty Republican town -- nice NRA poster up in the entry of Bubba's!
Blogging is really a lifestyle -- I'm at a counter at a truck stop just outside of Butte eating a Summer Special: burger, fries, and and a Montana specialty -- a huckleberry shake! The waitress here is married to a guy from Salisbury, MD, which I remember as the place I stopped for KFC east of the Cheseapeake on US 50 on my way to Ocean City, MD last month.
Butte was described to me by the "Missoulans" as a literal cesspool, and they're not far from the truth (photo, photo). One of the great things about the interstate system in the West is a series of "business loops" (photo) around the cities, which take you from one exit to another, through all of the city's commercial areas. I've been on several over the last few days, believe me.
I guess Butte isn't horrible, it reminds me of the poorer NY cities like Gloversville. In every downtrodden town, there are many ways used to take advantage of the impoverished populace. Butte is littered with pawn shops and "post-dated check" loan houses. One of Montana's bits of local color is the omnipresence of casinos (don't think Las Vegas, you'll be disappointed)... In the Butte area alone, there were three "Lil's Casinos" (photo, photo), and many others.
I can't believe that though I had to drop five bucks for it, I have an internet connection here. Progress is slow, but it's happening (more on this on Friday).
I have a terrible six-hour+ drive ahead of me to Boise... at least I gain an hour back when I cross time zones... Adios!
