hurricane-2011: December 2010

2010: A Look Back

A summary of my year in writing and publishing, events, audio, video, and more of life...

1. Writing/Publishing

This year has seen a mixture of submitting, self-publishing, and engaging in exploratory and collaborative projects.

As planned, I released two Deviations volumes this year: Bloodlines in June and TelZodo in December, both as free e-book downloads. Next year I'll release the series conclusion, Second Covenant. If you've been following the series (thank you, readers!), I've got the final installment's blurb and preview here.

I had hoped to start producing audiobooks this year, but that's taking longer than expected. The folks at Podiobooks have given me some great pointers. I've recorded a read-through of Covenant, but the real work comes in the editing, which I hope to devote time to in 2011. I've also gotten some requests to produce paperback versions, so am considering my options there as well. Thanks to everyone who's gotten in touch!

This year also marked the first time I've produced chapbooks: 30 Science Sonnets for April 2010 and Divinations: writing by the throw of the dice. (I've also submitted the sonnets to Open Laboratory, an annual anthology of science blogs. Click here for links to everyone's submissions.) Divinations is an outgrowth of my participation in Folded Word's "24/7" project in August. My website has info on the chapbooks and on my publications in general.

Also for the first time, I entered (and won!) a song-writing contest, sponsored by Woodview Coffee House. Details here.

My novelette "Flotsam" (Asimov's, Oct./Nov. 2009) made the recommended reading list in The Year's Best Science Fiction, 27th Annual Collection. That's the second consecutive year I've made the list.

I've been named to the Broad Universe Motherboard, and am the new chair for the adult contests of the Florida State Poets Association. I also have a guest-editing stint coming up -- stay tuned!

In addition to participating in Post A Story For Haiti, I this year joined Shadow Forest Authors as a book donor. (I also marked my one-year anniversary of being a book donor for Operation E-Book Drop and Books For Soldiers.)

Additional publications in 2010 include:

Fiction and micro-fiction:
"Judgment at Naioth" in She Nailed a Stake Through His Head: Tales of Biblical Terror (Dybbuk Press, October).
"Icarus Redux" in Niteblade, June.
Micro-fiction "Heisenberg's Metamorphosis," "Bittersweet," and "Fierce Harvest" in PicFic, Sept. 6.
Micro-fiction "Empty Nest" in PicFic, May 18.
Micro-fiction in Thaumatrope, Feb. 12.

Poetry:
"Duet Singularity" and "Ciliate Sestina" in Star*Line 33(5/6). "Ciliate Sestina" was named Editor's Choice.
"Far From Free Association" in the open-mic section of Poets for Living Waters, a poetry action in response to the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.
"Evolutionary Variants on a Russian Proverb" in Star*Line 33(4), along with my write-up of the speculative poetry workshop I gave at Ancient City Con IV (and Edward Cox's review of my 30 Science Sonnets).
"Pele's Wandering Fire" in Of Poets And Poetry, June. This poem also received second prize in the Spring Fling contest, Florida State Poets Association.
microcosms on May 17, August 12, and November 22.
"Nor'easter Requiem" in unFold, April 23.
"Total Lunar Eclipse" in Astropoetica, Spring (reprint).
"Butterfly Woman" (text and audio) in Goblin Fruit, Winter.
Thanks also to artist Paul Vincenti, who posted my sonnet "A Meeting of the Arts" to go with his painting "Ballerina."

Interviews:
Print: "Downrange: Elissa Malcohn" appears in the inaugural issue of Valent Range, Summer.
Online: I was interviewed by Trisha Wooldridge (Jul. 31; to benefit the Bay State Equine Rescue); Tracy S. Morris (Sept. 15); and Jane Hunter (Nov. 7).
Podcast: Conversations Live! on March 3; That Sci-Fi Show on Oct. 9 (my segment begins about 20 minutes in).

More Audio
You can hear me reading an excerpt from Appetite in the Broadpod (Episode 2: Women's History) and my poems "Neighbors" and "Eye of the Beholder" in Episode 5: Humor. I reprise "Neighbors" in the Science Fiction Poetry Association Halloween Reading.

More Online Writing
This year I began writing book reviews for Psych Central. Two have been posted so far, for Will I Ever Be Good Enough? Healing the Daughters of Narcissistic Mothers (Karyl McBride, Ph.D.) and The Use of Technology in Mental Health: Applications, Ethics and Practice (Kate Anthony et al.). Two more reviews are currently in submission.

Forthcoming
Fiction:
"Visitations" in Jack-o'-Spec: Tales of Halloween and Fantasy, Raven Electrick Ink.

Poetry:
"Shrine to the Disconnected" in Dreams and Nightmares #90.
"The Last Dragon Slayer" in Mythic Delirium #24.
"Far From the Pleasure Garden" in A Sea of Alone: Poems for Alfred Hitchcock, Dark Scribe Press.

Promo
My events this year were all Florida-based and included the Florida State Poets Association Spring Fling (Hernando), Oasis 23 (Orlando), Ancient City Con IV (Jacksonville), Deep Carnivale (Tampa), Spooky Empire (Orlando), and Necronomicon 29 (St. Petersburg), along with author fairs at the Land O'Lakes Library and the Hudson Regional Library. As in past years, I was a panelist in the three-part NaNoWriMo series at the Citrus County Library, which also held its inaugural author fair this year. Online, I participated in Coyote Con. Click here to get more details about past events and here for more info on what's coming up. Thanks to all the volunteers and staff who made these events possible and to everyone who stopped by my panels, workshops, and tables!

Projects
I've been trying to hammer a gaggle of ideas into shape that include a couple of nonfiction projects. To prepare for one of them, I've begun to transcribe dozens of tapes of conversation. I've transferred the audio from cassette to digital and am using the awesome freeware Express Scribe. I make part of my living from transcribing and have done so for decades, so this kind of activity comes naturally.

2. Visual
Thanks to the Marine Society of Australasia for using my photo of a crab spider (taken in 2005) in their publication The World of Crabs.

Here are links to my Top 10 favorite shots/videos of 2010:

10. Moon Over St. Petersburg (Oct. 25). I spotted this sight as I walked from a parking garage to the Bayside Hilton, where I was attending Necronomicon. I had taken this shot freehand at night, using a 1/40-second exposure at f4.
9. Passionflower (Oct. 5). An unusual and stunning flower native to the Southeastern U.S., seen in my neighborhood.
8. Great Egret 5 (June 10). I snapped this shot just as the egret was taking off from a retention pond about a mile from my home. New construction subsequently placed a fence around the pond, which was dredged and rebuilt. I'll miss taking my camera down to the water's edge.
7. Persephone's Dream (Dec. 28), a photo collage I made using a couple of pomegranate shots.
6. Lycosid With Spiderlings 4 (Nov. 3), taken inside my garage. Female Wolf Spiders (Family Lycosidae) carry their young on their back. Unless you feel as I do about spiders, you won't find this a pretty picture. I was fascinated by the sight -- and enchanted.
5. Mating Dragonflies (Nov. 24). Catching this pair was a case of sheer luck that consisted of looking up at the right moment and having my camera strapped to me. I had just stepped out of Mary's Ranger and into the parking lot at the mall.
4. Male Luna Moth, series 1 (Sept. 9). I had never seen a Luna Moth in person until this day and had been aching to encounter one. This one made its appearance at a strip mall.
3. Southern Black Racer (Aug. 10). This photo just edges out my Luna Moth series for the #3 spot. For years I had wanted to photograph both these creatures. I had seen black racers before, but they'd always been too fast for me, until this shot taken at the same retention pond where I'd photographed the egret.
2. The Pane of Separation (Sept. 13), a could'a-been-close encounter between an anole and a fly, with a window between them. I took this shot at a McDonald's in the same strip mall where I'd seen the luna moth.
1. Solstice Total Lunar Eclipse, December 21, 2010 (video). As I spent the night taking these 89 photos from my driveway, I thought it a propos that my poem "Total Lunar Eclipse" had been reprinted this year (see above). The eclipse of the poem had occurred on July 6, 1982, eight days before my mother's death. I was living in New York at the time, but had come down here and had spent the night watching the eclipse from this same house.

3. Etc.

Various challenges marked 2010, but the hardest emotionally for Mary and me was the death of our 18-year-old cat, Daisy, from kidney failure in April. Daisy joined her buddy Red, who had passed two years earlier at 16.

We raised the roof in March -- and lowered a new one into place, which got rid of our pesky ceiling-spotting problem.

In May, following the BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, I joined others in Citrus County participating in the Matter of Trust Hair for Oil Spills Program. My own hair donation marked the first time I'd had a haircut since the 1970s (I've enjoyed the cut so much I've kept it). In addition to collecting and shipping hair and fur, I traveled to Tampa to participate in a "BoomBQ" to make the hair booms themselves.

In September I added my video to the It Gets Better Project, started by Dan Savage in response to LGBT teen suicides. This year, Mary and I also became involved with our local Gay-Straight Alliance.

This has been a good year for me health-wise. In 2010 I dropped 20+ pounds, with concurrent decreases in my blood glucose and cholesterol. My main tool was keeping a food journal. The most influential change in my diet was eating less cheese. I plan to continue the trend in 2011.

May the New Year bring blessings for all. Stay safe and warm out there.

Elissa Malcohn's Deviations and Other Journeys Promote Your Page Too

Vol. 1, Deviations: Covenant (2nd Ed.), Vol. 2, Deviations: Appetite, Vol. 3, Deviations: Destiny, Vol. 4, Deviations: Bloodlines, Vol. 5, Deviations: TelZodo
Free downloads at the Deviations website, Smashwords, and Manybooks.

Proud participant, Operation E-Book Drop (provides free e-books to personnel serving overseas. Logo from the imagination and graphic artistry of K.A. M'Lady & P.M. Dittman); Books For Soldiers (ships books and more to deployed military members of the U.. armed forces); and Shadow Forest Authors (a fellowship of authors and supporters for charity, with a focus on literacy).
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License.

Pomegranate

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Persephone is the Greek goddess of the underworld, to which she had bound herself by eating pomegranate seeds. She is also symbolic of winter. Read here to learn more about her.

This collage uses Pomegranate 1 to make the spirals and a portion of Pomegranate 3 to make the mosaic. I assembled it using MS Paint, MS Photo Editor, and MS PowerPoint.

Pomegranate 1

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I knocked out the background in this first shot and replaced it with black.

Pomegranate 2

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Pomegranate 3

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The pomegranate's role in many ancient texts is described here.

Meanwhile --

"Ciliate Sestina" and "Duet Singularity" appear in a special science poems section of Star*Line 33(5/6). "Ciliate Sestina" is an Editor's Choice poem, so is posted on the SFPA website here.

TelZodo received five out of five stars from apidi, who writes on Manybooks, "Read this book. Do read this book," and goes on to give an excellent summary and examination of the series thus far.

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Freedom of Movement

You know those Constitutional rights you thought you had? You know, the ones that say escaping a disaster area on foot in an attempt to save your life and the lives of others with you is perfectly legal?

Yeah, Think again.

According to this ruling, if you try to walk out of a disaster area and the police don't wan't you to go through there, they can shoot at you.

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It Can't Just Be About Football

Last night, the New Orleans Saints played the Atlanta Falcons in Monday night football. These are two teams in the playoffs, with legitimate chances to make the Super Bowl this year. They have quarterbacks who are or who have the chance to be legends in their respective cities and the league. Both have highlight reel making defenses, and both feature intriguing styles of play. The teams are divisional and sectional rivals, one with an intense, traditionally passionate fanbase and the other with an intense, passionate fanbase for college football that is switching gears to root for the local NFL franchise.

After last night's game, the Saints and Falcons have played twice, are 1 - 1 against each other for 2010, and post a combined score of 41-41. They have a chance to meet again in the NFC Championship game in several weeks. Rivalries, especially in the pros, don't often see better years than this one. (Especially a rivalry where one team owns a 8-2 regular season record over the other since 2006.)

In short, there is an awful lot of compelling topics surrounding this rivalry. But because the game involves the team from New Orleans, you just know it is going to be about more than the sport.

And of course, this year's "Finishing what Katrina Started" head-slapper comes from Falcons fans.

This is a terrible reflection on the many, many fine Falcons fans I know, who were Dirty Birds long, long, long before Matty Ice & Co started posting back-to-back winning seasons and Super Bowl aspirations. Some of my best memories are of watching the small television in the Burntstone Brewhouse as the Falcons defeated Minnesota and then played in their first Super Bowl; or watching the valiant NFC Championship game effort against Philadelphia from the Gnat's Landing porch on St. Simons Island. But, like all sports teams, some fans take it beyond the ribbing of good natured rivals and into the realm of the very, very personal.

As Cliff so rightly states, Katrina is off limits when trash talking. This is sports, people. Sports. I know it is important. I know it can be emotional. I know it is sometimes used as a metaphor for larger issues.

But "Hating America's Team After Hurricane Katrina" qualifies as Katrina-based smack talk. Expounding that point ("Yes, We're Still the Bad Guys In This Story") also qualifies as Katrina-based smack talk.

You'll notice that both posts have been deleted. Maybe someone at SB Nation figured out this was off-limits troll baiting (and after years of following SB Nation college football sites, I can believe that). Maybe some folks just want to hide their opinions, as if they didn't think New Orleanians had access to the internet. These are the kinds of things that get written or said when you don't think anyone who disagrees with you will read what you wrote or hear what you said.

Saints fans believe "it's OK to tack on the suffering of thousands and the devastation of decades to enhance the luster of your football title, but if someone else derides you for it, claim ownership of the tragedy and whine like hell," Godfrey writes. "This logic is ludicrous and almost insulting, but it's the brush Saints Nation has decided to paint their team with.

"If the Atlanta Falcons somehow capture a world title this season, my first order of business will be to take to the Internet and post a sobbing YouTube monologue that declares, 'I NEVER THOUGHT WE'D BOUNCE BACK FROM GENERAL SHERMAN. TONIGHT THIS CITY ROSE UP. WE'RE HEALED!'

"That's what I've learned from the New Orleans Saints - that any professional sports championship can be made to count even more if you've got a great, largely unrelated local tragedy to position it against."

That is disgusting. It is a shame some folks out there in "real America" are still not over the fact that New Orleans was flooded in a tragedy made worse by an ineffective government. It is a shame the city hasn't fully recovered, even five years later. I guarantee there are more folks in New Orleans unhappy with that fact than folks in in Atlanta.

It is a shame that some folks can't accept that tragedy happens in this country and that you're going to hear about it as long as the graves are still fresh, and the wounds are still visible. (We're still dealing with legislation for the September 11 Rescue Heroes, after all.) As a matter of fact, as far as defining American tragedies are concerned, most Americans haven't really heard word fucking one about New Orleans, Katrina, the Federal Flood and what passes for recovery. Posts like these, if they weren't hastily deleted, are simply evidence of that fact.

And these authors think they can play the "media victim" because occasionally a news organization will investigate some small part of what happened (and still happens) in New Orleans when doing background research for a sports story. When you're reporting on a team from New Orleans, and you talk to people who live in New Orleans, and you travel to New Orleans to watch and write about football games, you may run into a few stories about the storm, the flood and the recovery. They're kind of a big fucking deal down in New Orleans.

But, there is a disgusting cultural undercurrent in this country that likes to blame the victim. There is a ridiculous cultural undercurrent in this country that must draw lines in the sand and list everything in terms of "good guys vs. bad guys," even in sports. I can understand how Atlanta would be sensitive to the "bad guy" brush, after their former franchise quarterback was convicted of morally repugnant felonious behavior and spent time in prison.

It is a shame that it is spoiling a fine rivalry, during the best year of the rivalry.

Update: Of course, Jeffrey wrote about this yesterday.

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Blessings

Created using MS Paint, MS Photo Editor, and MS PowerPoint. Links to photo components in their original contexts: Lily, Great Egret, Luna Moth, and Passionflower.

Elissa Malcohn's Deviations and Other Journeys Promote Your Page Too

The Credibility Gap Continues

I hope, as these next two years begin, that folks remember the insanity offered by the likes of Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, Mitch McConnell, John Kyl, John McCain, John Bolton, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and all the other two-bit destroy-Obama-at-the-expense-of-American-national-security crowd regarding the New START treaty.

They were a veritable nest of Chicken-Littles, predicting a falling sky.

And the Senate responded by passing the legislation 71 to 26.

We should always keep in mind that, when it came to real national security - not the fantasy land stuff that you can talk about on the radio - that crew of hacks put politics before policy.

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'Tis the Season...for Letters to Santa!

There is nothing quite like the wonder in a child's eyes on Christmas morning. To see them rush down the stairs and skid to a stop as they see the presents under the tree for the first time is something truly special. Perhaps the only thing that comes close to matching that magic is reading the letters they write for Santa to read on Christmas Eve. It's their chance to recount all of their achievements and then ask for tons of gifts they will undoubtedly forget about by next Christmas.

But there comes a time when children no longer write letters to Santa. No more cookies left on the kitchen table or cute drawings of Rudolph left by the fire place. This was the case for the Carolina Hurricanes; they were without the wide-eyed innocence that a child brings. Until of course, they selected Jeff Skinner 7th overall in the draft. Suddenly, the halls of the RBC were alive with a child's laughter. Hannah Montana and the Jonas Brothers made appearances on the team iPod. And someone was writing letters to Santa again. God bless us, everyone!

Much like every child given a piece of construction paper and a crayon, Jeff was thrilled to write his letter to Santa. In fact, he's had it done for weeks now and he was kind enough to send us a copy of the super cute (and completely fake) letter so that Canes' fans everywhere would be able to share in his holiday spirit! You may want to click on the pages of the letter for easier reading.

Merry Christmas Caniacs! May your holiday be filled with family, friends, joy and maybe a little hockey. See you in 2011!

The Mess

Combine government over-reliance on contractors, kickbacks from contractors to politicians to ensure said over-reliance, and the fact that few individuals pay attention to what is actually going on in their local governments and how it affects their lives and finances.

What do you get? This.

If you're ever wondering why our national, state and local governments never seem to get much return on investment for our tax dollars they are "investing" in contracted services, there are rather simple reasons.

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The Race Card vs. the Crying Racism Card

Oh, Haley Barbour stepped in the briar patch this week. And because our politics are what they are, who knows if it was planned or if it was a candid assessment of one man's perspective on history? All we can do is examine the resulting sound and fury, and figure out what that says about our culture today.

Just to define the terms, since they are close in definition and closely linked,

Race Card - a false accusation of racism to further political goals, usually used to describe an individual or an organization as racist.

Crying Racism Card - a false accusation that an individual or an organization is the victim of someone else playing the Race Card.

Here is why the distinction is important, politically speaking. That's something we've seen for a while now in our national discourse.

Though Barbour has issued the mandatory and obligatory retraction, and it sounds as genuine as it can, he still got his name in the news cycle and will be talked about on right-wing blogs and talk radio as a victim of hypersensitive left-wingery.

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The Kamikaze Congress

Yes, this last Congress got a lot of stuff done. But at what cost? If your signature accomplishments are all repealed and overturned in the decade after you passed them, did you actually accomplish anything?

This will be the question as the Democratic Party starts waking up to the fact that they have now legislated themselves into Permanent Poltical Minority status. Every stumbling policy acheivement that Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid orchestrated will be dismantled before they even retire from their seats.

How?

Because, looking at the combination numbers of the Census and the November 2 elections, the Democrats are basically finished as a national party for the next decade.

While "what you do while you're in power" is very, very important from a policy perspective, you have to depend on the politics of the situation to protect your accomplishments and further your goals. Pelosi and Reid may have owned the policy, but they let their opponents own the politics.

Years ago, Karl Rove discussed ways he could acheive a permanent Republican majority in Washington. While he looked to have been soundly defeated in 2006 and 2008, he's got to be smiling when he looks over the reapportionment plans.

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Trivial Crimes

Live by the jury, die by the jury. As Americans, for good or ill, we don't just make policy at the ballot box.

Whenever a jury turns loose an alleged murderer, I never blame the jury - I blame the prosecutor. I blame the lack of trust in the criminal justice system and the police. But most of the time the case gets made, even on circumstancial evidence. I'd wager far more juries convict people than turn them loose, even if our popular culture makes it seem the other way around.

Back in the day, juries were compromised, and routinely fixed by the laws of the time. Minorities could not get a fair trial with an all white jury and the prejudice of the day. It was problematic when juries would throw out the facts and decide cases based on prevailing racial attitudes. (#KilledMockingbirds)

But sometimes, a jury's behavior might surprise you. Like the time that jury in Montana refused to even hear a prosecutor's case because of the small amount of marijuana involved in the defendant's arrest.

By not even hearing the case, they didn't hear about the defendant's full criminal history. But he wasn't on trial for his prior deeds, he was on trial for a 1/16 ounce of controlled substance. Hearing the charges, the jury didn't see fit to waste their time on the matter, leaving a stunned prosecutor, defense attorney, and judge even as they voted themselves out of the courtroom en masse.

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A Fine Night for an Eclipse!

The last time a Total Lunar Eclipse occurred on the day of the December Solstice (winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, summer solstice in the Southern Hemisphere) was in 1638.

Of course I pulled an all-nighter! (Grin)

I took the above shot a few minutes before totality. It's one of 89 photos in this video:

Solstice Total Lunar Eclipse, December 21 2010 (Click on the title if the embedded video doesn't show up.)

I took these photos roughly between 1:30 and 5:00 a.m. Eastern time. I used various shutter speeds and aperture sizes, not only to adapt to the changing face of the Moon but also to get detail in parts of the Moon that were both in and out of umbra (shadow). I set my Konica-Minolta DiMAGE Z6 on its maximum 12x optical zoom. Its longest exposure setting is four seconds.

Last night wasn't as bone-chillingly cold as the night Mary and I observed the Geminid meteor shower, but it was still plenty nippy outside. I dressed in thermals under my clothes and added my fleece socks, winter coat, neck gaiter, cowl, cap, and gloves, before grabbing my camera on its tripod and stepping out to the driveway.

The Moon was close to zenith when I began photographing. I had to get down on my knees and train my camera lens straight up, making small adjustments to my tripod every time I took a shot. Mostly due to the Earth's rotation, the Moon appears to move half a degree (which is also its own width as seen from Earth) every two minutes. Each time, I had to take off my gloves to adjust the settings and set the automatic shutter release while craning my neck.

My fingers are no longer cold, but my hips and thighs are still a little stiff. That said, the night was worth every creak!

Mary came outside for part of the eclipse. I went inside for a fresh change of batteries, especially since I couldn't get a decent focus during the darkest part of totality.

Several meteors streaked overhead during the eclipse as well. Around 3:45 a.m. Eastern time, a dazzling one sailed roughly SW to NW, originating in Orion and visible for about three seconds, breaking into two pieces before it burned out.

When I started photographing I heard the occasional laughing call of a bird I couldn't identify, but it quieted down as more and more of the Moon became covered. I heard other birds as the Moon emerged from shadow.

By the time the eclipse neared its end, Venus (the bright dot above the houses) was rising in the east. I took this shot around 5 a.m.

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Proud participant, Operation E-Book Drop (provides free e-books to personnel serving overseas. Logo from the imagination and graphic artistry of K.A. M'Lady & P.M. Dittman); Books For Soldiers (ships books and more to deployed military members of the U.S. armed forces); and Shadow Forest Authors (a fellowship of authors and supporters for charity, with a focus on literacy).
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License.

The Beginnings of a Spine?

Could this be evidence that the Democrats and Really Real Republicans are finally getting tired of the nonsense?

One can only hope.

Here's the As Seen on Reality Television Half-Term Governess Herself, telling us that the Democrats, Republicans and Foreign Service officials who have designed our foreign policy for decades are all ready to sell us down the river to Russia.

She really is Ray Nagin with hair.

Palin/Nagin 2012 - Chocolate Moose Party, Baby!

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Airing Fantasy Hockey Frustrations: Part 4- That Pesky Injury Bug

There aren't many headlines scarier to a fantasy GM than "insert key player name here to miss extended period of time due to injury". In fact, the only thing scarier than seeing that headline pop up in your fantasy notifications is seeing it pop up not once, but three times within one season.

I lost TJ Oshie a while back when he broke an ankle and parked himself on the IR. Now I know what you're saying-why the heck is he still on the team? The answer is very simple really-it's a combination of too much optimism and a little bit of GM incompetence. I'd like to say my delayed reaction is justified because everyone worth having is already on a team, but Osh-Kosh-B-Gosh went down a while ago and odds are I could have grabbed a replacement when it happened. But I didn't and here I stand on December 20th thinking, "oh maybe I should try and replace him since he's doing me absolutely no good." Yeah I know. Lessons learned.

With him injured, I have a whopping TWO centers on my team (one of them being half of the team name and the other being half of the biggest hockey-country music power couple since...well ever) and I'd like to take some pressure of them by adding a third center.

The leading two options at this point are Nik Antropov (yeah who thought he'd EVER be listed as the solution to ANYTHING) or Scott Gomez. Gomez may get the nod here because then I will have matching Montreal Canadiens mighty mites. They are like tiny salt and pepper shakers-so fragile yet oh so collectible. We'll see. Maybe Oshie will miraculously heal over Christmas, but odds are either Antropov or Gomez will be on the team by 2011.

The man, the myth, the Mullet went down next with a sprained ankle. Things were looking good there for about a minute and a half when it was rumored he'd be able to play again before Christmas. Then he ran into an assistant coach during practice and isn't expected back until after the holiday. I'm not kidding. You can't make this kind of stuff up. Apparently a steady diet of Belvedere and Bud Light is not the recipe for strong tendons and ligaments. Who knew.

Finally, as if the RW position hadn't taken a bad enough hit, Ryan Callahan broke his left hand and will be out until February. Well actually, he'll be out of the Sutterly Camtastic lineup longer because I could not even begin to justify keeping him on the roster while injured. Odds are he'll still be floating around the FA market in a few months anyway. No hard feelings buddy. We'll keep your picture up in the locker room.

I couldn't make it through the next few months with only one fully healthy RW so I searched the FA market for a solution. ANY solution. And much to my surpirse, I found the solution to not just my problem, but possibly the solution to the question of whether eternal youth is a myth or a reality. Because ladies and gentlemen, one Mr. Mark Recchi is joining Sutterly Camtastic! :insert celebratory trumpets here: Not only does the Recchin' Ball instantly increase the average age of the team by about a decade, but he also brings a surprisingly effective scoring touch for someone who's 42 years old. Holy cow. They need to study this man's secret.

Sutterly Camtastic seems forever doomed to reside in the bottom half of the league, but hopefully once key players get healthy again, things will turn around. If not, we can always wait for the teams ahead of us (which at this point is all but two) to exceed their "games played" limit. Now that is the plan of a future champion-waiting for another team to run out of a valuable resource and then swooping in to scavenge the remains. Just call us the Atlanta Thrashers.

"Fox Propaganda and Cultural Panic"

Andrew Sullivan takes a look at our Tory President.

The results after two years: universal health insurance, the rescue of Detroit, the avoidance of a Second Great Depression, big gains in private sector growth and productivity, three stimulus packages (if you count QE2), big public investments in transport and green infrastructure, the near-complete isolation of Iran, the very public exposure of Israeli intransigence and extremism, a reset with Russia (plus a new START), big drops in illegal immigration and major gains in enforcement, a South Korea free trade pact, the end of torture, and a debt commission that has put fiscal reform squarely back on the national agenda. Oh, and of yesterday, the signature civil rights achievement of ending the military's ban on openly gay servicemembers.

Let me be clear, I cannot stand the fact that this President refuses to engage the demonstrable insanity being pushed by the right-wing on the national stage. In an attempt to prove how centrist and pragmatic he is, lets them say whatever they want about him, his party and his supporters. On Saturday, I listened to a Rush Limbaugh rebroadcast as he sputtered incoherently about how the "Democratic Party is trying to destroy America" and how Obama isn't in the center, he's moving away from a "straight line to Marxism." If you listened only to Fox News and Clear Channel radio, I can understand why you'd think incredibly badly of the President.

Yet Obama continues trying to work with the other side, despite their obstruction and non-participation, not to mention their often referenced goals to destroy him. The crazy thing is, while there are infuriating political consequences for doing so, he seems to expect them. He makes political chicken salad out of political chicken shit like it was all part of a plan from the beginning.

It is difficult to argue with results.

To be sure, I wasn't in with the left-wing version of Obama. He was never going to end Bush-era surveillance, dismantle the security-state, end the War on Drugs or turn our economy green in a fortnight. He was not going to immediately pull all the troops out of Afganistan and Iraq or put individuals from the former administration on trial for war crimes. He was never going to outlaw the use of oil in everyday America.

I didn't expect him to flap his arms and fly to the moon, either. To me, there is no disappointment that he didn't do those things, because no one could realistically expect him to do so.

But there are plenty of things he said he was going to do, and got done. A lot of them aren't the best solutions in the world (Health Care, the Stimulus, the Tax Deal), especially politically speaking, but you aren't going to get better solutions than these, considering the group of folks in the legislature. Obama was dealt a hand of cards with Pelosi, Reid, McConnell and Boehner. They're all partisans first, but the former do so with no recognition of national political ramifications while said ramifications are the sole focus of the latter. (We saw how that worked out in November.) That this country got any policy out of them whatsoever is an incredible accomplishment. That this Congress continued working with the President into the lame duck session is nearly historic.

Nonetheless, that's a whole lot of CENTER-left policy objectives accomplished in 2 years. You damn sure weren't going to get anywhere close to that with a Bush presidency, a McCain presidency or a Palin presidency. You damn sure weren't going to get those policies out of a hard-core leftist President, either, even if you found one who was electable.

And then there were several things he didn't do that are notable in comparison to the previous 8 years of executive buffoonery - policy that would likely have continued under a McCain/Palin administration, based on their stated behaviors. First and foremost, while he may never prosecute the responsible parties, we have every indication that the torture regime of the Bush administration has ended.

When the Green Revolution began in Iran (where it quietly continues), McCain wanted the United States to "support" the revolutionaries by....saying we support the revolutionaries and that America "stands" behind them. I guess he means about 7,000 miles behind them, because there was f*** all we could have done in a material way. And despite the fact that most folks on the right wing think that American "support" of that nature always and everywhere inspires pro-democracy revolutionaries, that isn't the case in Iran - where the United States has actually participated in overthrowing a democratic revolution which directly contributed to the rise of their current oppressive government. Obama, wisely, just stayed quiet on the issue, and kept engaged in a realpolitik foreign policy with the Islamic Republic. No one has to attack them if they crumble or reform from the inside.

Other examples? Does anyone remember the Orwellian "color code" for the nebulous national threat level? Remember how freely the Bush administration would trot it out to scare the crap out of everyone before elections, travel holidays and expansions of the security state? How many times have we seen that nonsense since Obama took office?

Presented the options, none of these policies would have been touched by a McCain/Palin presidency. Even a McCain/Palin presidency would have been forced to make similarly unpopular decisions regarding bailouts and stimulii. I don't see the McCain/Palin administration taking the genuine risk of economic collapse that would have come by just handing out more tax subsidies as a remedy for what ails our economy.

What does all that mean? It means my biggest complaint about the Obama Presidency remains the political angle - and that is just as much the fault of Pelosi and Reid. Losing that big in November to nothing more than a savvy, irrational and fear-centered marketing campaign is ridiculous for a Democratic Party that has been delivering on campaign promises, extracting ourselves from strategic neoconservative boondoggles abroad, and resurrecting a failed economy. Losing the hundreds of state legislative seats on the eve of a Census reapportionment threatens to create a permanent Democratic minority for the next decade.

We'll find out how we really feel about Obama's policy accomplishments when that unassailable GOTP majority, and their absolute rejection of reality, makes a run at overturning every one of them, and returning us to the utter failure that was the Bush Era.

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Selling the Drama

Y'all remember how, after a disaster, there's always complaints about some unscrupulous relief agency or another using sympathy for the disaster to collect donations for other projects? Doesn't it piss you off?

Y'all also remember how, after the flood in New Orleans, a lot of complaints nationwide were made about New Orleanians wasting all the Billions they'd got for disaster relief? Didn't that piss you off too? (For different reasons, as Americans wondered why it cost so many Billions, and New Orleanians wondered "what Fing Billions are y'all talkin' about?")

Well, put those two rememberances together when you think about how a whole lot of relief tax credits marketed (or stigmatized) as "New Orleans' recovery" ended up going elsewhere. Only 3% of the $7.8 Billion in Louisiana GO Zone tax credits ended up in New Orleans.

Now, I ain't got a problem with the rest of Louisiana taking advantage of tax credits and subsidies for some capital improvements. This state suffers while other states and the Federal government make money off her resources. A lot of other places got hit by the direct or secondary impact of Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma, and a lot of places had to deal with the fallout of the flood in New Orleans.

But 3%? Seriously? I guess that answers the reactionary and infuriating question "why should we spend our tax dollars rebuilding a city below sea level?" with the true answer "you ain't, really."

And I guess this is one of the answers to Dante's questions in an earlier comment thread. The proof that the 'richer you are, the more proportionately you benefit from the system' is in the puddin':

The GO Zone bond program’s limited success in New Orleans is largely a function of market forces, state officials from outside of the city say. Before the national economy tanked and the credit market dried up, banks could make a healthy return on the tax-free bonds. Even then, however, the businesses that qualified for the bonds must meet the bank’s investment standards, something tough for companies attempting a project in high-risk New Orleans.

“If you didn’t have the money you couldn’t qualify to get the money,” State Bond Commission Director Whitman J. Kling said in an interview Wednesday.

Yeah, I added that emphasis. Expect to see that quote a few more times on this website, as one of my main theories on life is that our system is specifically set up to benefit and subsidize the well-off at proportionately greater levels than your average middle class worker. But I digress...

Coupled with the Stafford Act, where local entities - some which were facing more than total losses - had to match certain financial benchmarks to qualify for disaster aid funds, the recovery of New Orleans is still going on in fits and spurts, 5 years after the storm. If you have to have money to qualify for recovery money, that's a tricky system.

At the same time, the multi-billion dollar price tag is being politically marketed as a government waste-of-tax-dollars boondoggle, as "$7.9 Billion was spent on a city-below-sea-level, and look at the fat nothing they've done with that opportunity."

And don't act like that ain't the narrative, we've been hearing it since before Katrina's outflow bands had completely cleared the Florida coast.

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The Patriotic Rich?

Cliff is asking the right questions.

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'Tis the Season...for Pictures with Santa!

If there is one thing we pride ourselves on here at the Siren, it's providing you with in-depth access to your favorite team. You get to see moments that most fans couldn't even dream of. Think that HBO 24/7 special without all of the F-bombs. Think MTV's Cribs without the awkwardly scripted dialogue. Think E! True Hollywood Story without the risk of seeing Ryan Seacrest. I know. You're welcome.

So when Troy Bodie let it slip to one of the Canes' PR guys (who then broadcast it all over Twitter) that the team had gone and gotten their picture taken with Santa at the mall, you had to know that we were ALL over it. A moment like that shouldn't remain hidden away on someone's iPhone. It must be shared with the fans. It's really only fair. So we reached out to a few players for the pictures and one of them (who shall remain nameless for the sake of his safety) sent along the best group photo of all group photos in the history of photography. So allow us to present the 2010-2011 Carolina Hurricanes' Team Photo with Santa!

FYI, you may want to click on the picture for the larger version because that's a LOT of Christmas cheer to soak in.

Clearly the team took the "holiday picture with Santa" thing seriously. According to sources, a group decision was made to wear holiday sweaters to really up the cheese factor. Of course, someone wasn't paying attention and showed up wearing a Hanukkah sweater, but no one was really surprised by that turn of events. Chad showing up wearing a mistletoe headband was also a memorable moment (remember folks, what happens at the mall Santa photo shoot stays at the mall Santa photo shoot). I must say I was terribly impressed with the extra spirit shown by Joe, Tim and Eric; Tim's Christmas tree headband was unlike anything anyone had ever seen before.

Justin, Brandon and Troy really went all out with their coordinated outfits (the candy cane cane was a nice touch in my opinion), but let's be honest here, the real stars of the show were Jiri, Jeff, Patty, Chad, Sammy and Ian. In addition to all being approximately the same size as some of the children waiting in line, they all looked as if they had stepped off the pages of a J.Crew photo spread. From the jauntily popped collars to the strategically distressed jeans to the work boots that were clearly not meant for work, these boys were STYLING. It was almost too much to handle (which is probably why Santa appears to be looking for an escape route). Well done fellas. Well done indeed.

Other highlights of the afternoon included one small child tugging on Sammy's sleeve and asking why he wasn't dressed like the other elves. (Can you tell I've waited all year for Christmas to roll around? So many elf jokes, so little time.) As was expected, Jeff got very impatient while waiting for the team's turn with the big fella so his teammates took turns holding him on their shoulders so he could see Santa.

Each one of the guys got a chance to ask Santa for something special for Christmas. Some requests were normal and mundane, but a few stood out. Of course, Jussi asked to be an All-Star or at least get more votes than Joni. Ian asked for hair gel which surprised his teammates as they were under the impression he had it shipped in by the vat. Justin once again asked that Santa convince the coaches to, and I quote, "let me start a flippin' game for the love of the hockey gods." Tim wished for Chad to take a vow of silence for even just an hour. Eric whispered in Santa's ear a request for Erik to like him best again. Of course, it still remains to be seen, but I do believe someone will be disappointed on Christmas morning.

As a reminder, we'll have a very special letter to Santa and some Hurricanes' Christmas cards coming up soon.

The "Center's" Fault

Usually, I expect to see attacks on "centrism" and "moderation" from the left. They don't like the fact that we can't move society to their utopian vision all at once, and they blame us for keeping it from happening.

The right is usually more subtle (counterintuitively enough), moving the goalposts so that "centrism" and "moderation" have now come to mean "baby-killing, terrorist-sympathising, homosexual-agenda style sharia Kenyan anti-colonialism" or whatever, or by taking a consensus idea like "small businesses are important" or "apple pie is delicious" and saying the left is out to destroy that whatever it is because they hate everything good about America.

But I've rarely seen dedicated attacks on centrism from those aspiring to represent reasonable conservatism. Deconstructing Christopher Hitchens' blistering excoriation of Tea Party ideology, Ross Douhat says:

[D]o you know what else has often led to folly, disaster, violence and human misery? The “moderation” and “centrism” of the Western governing class.

He then lists these items as examples of "moderation and centrism in the Western governing class:"

1. The war in Afganistan.
2. The war in Iraq.
3. Medicare Part D.
4. Health Care Reform.
5. The Euro.
6. The Real Estate bubble.
7. The Bailouts.
8. The TSA & Current American Security State.
9. The Obama Tax Deal.

So, basically, everything currently viewed by a significant group of Americans as unpopular is not a product of American political extremes. I would consider this historical revisionism if it wasn't so baldly laughable.

Let's run down the list, shall we?

1. Al Queda operatives attacked us, and we went after them in Afganistan. As we should have done. The initial strategy, employed for nearly six years of war, was constructed by Donald Rumsfeld, an unabashed and now discredited neoconservative who hardly qualifies as anything approaching centrism or moderation.

2. The Iraq War. A dubious foray into faulty intelligence, preemptive war, misadventure and nation building, this was also the brain-child of neoconservatives like Donald Rumsfeld and VP Dick Cheney. Sold alternately as a vengeance response to the September 11th attacks, an search for WMD's, a strike against an imminent threat or just a chance to spread "freedom" around the globe, Democrats in Washington stupidly voted for this war because they were scared what the GOP would say about them in the media if they didn't.

3. Medicare Part D. An insufficient correction to badly administered programs, this is what happens when you attempt to address a problem without actually fixing said problem because doing so would leave you politically vulnerable to elements on the extremes demagouging the issue. Contrary to popular belief, centrism and moderation are not about punting on the hard choices, though they are often confused for that.

4. Health Care Reform. An insufficient correction to suicidally administered systems, this is what happens when you attempt to actually fix a problem with a centrist or moderate solution and then leave yourself politically vulnerable to elements on the extremes to proceed to demagouge the issue. While you expected more political support (that's why you were using a centrist framework, after all) the virulence of the opposition encouraged you to make significant changes to the already insufficient correction that keep it from actually fixing the problem.

5. The Euro is a very centrist idea. Europe wanted to simplify their economic relationships. The economy changed for the worse (because of economic extremists) and that simplification became a liability.

6. The Real Estate Bubble is what happens when economic extremists looking to maufacture Monopoly money legally inadvertently change the economy for the worse.

7. The Bailouts were required from keeping the American, and world, economy from collapsing due to the trillions of dollars in Monopoly money created by item 6. Another insufficient correction to a problem we shouldn't have had in the first place, the bailouts were a highly unpopular decision that had to be made. While saying "no" would have been chathartic, the risk of worldwide economic collapse was too great. I have no problem with this being labeled "centrist" or "moderate," but I have a problem with it being demagouged on the extremes, especially from the right, who had too big a hand in causing the problem the bailouts were intended to correct.

8. The TSA & Current American Security State. Really? This is only howlingly considered a centrist or moderate creation. For 8 years, this apparatus expanded under a right-wing Republican President, cheerled by right-wing punditry, and supported by media scaring the shit out of an already fearful America. For 8 years, we heard only that opposition to the expansion of this apparatus was akin to liberal support of terrorism and hatred for America.

9. The Obama Tax Deal is more bipartisan than centrist or moderate, but it comes close. While an acceptance of political realities put into place over the last 2 years (its main claim to centrism), it represents a "punt" on the difficult decisions that have to be made (bipartisan).

In total, however, that's 5 - 4 in favor of extremists owning these policies, with extremists directly scuttling the former centrist policies (the Euro, Health Care) and extremists directly creating the need for the latter centrist policy (the Bailouts and Obama Tax Deal). Extremists, on both sides and encouraged by their specific media, are causing too many of our problems.

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Critical Systems Failure

Do you remember Y2K? This is what they were talking about.

Do you want to know how important your local government is to your continued freedom and economic liberty? Let's start with this: "the respect for title, proper documentation, contract law and private property rights are the underlying reason capitalism works in Western nations". That was said in relation to the massive foreclosure fraud being perpetrated across America in respect to our national banking institutions. That seemed to be the greatest threat to property rights last month.

But it relates to local affairs as well, as local authorities are usually the entities charged in keeping track of and ensuring title, proper documentation, contract law and property rights. Basically, local governments, through recordkeeping duties and the courts, keep capitalism working in Western nations.

So what happens when something goes terribly wrong, and all of this is thrown into disarray? We're about to find out, as the American Zombie investigates the massive and critical infrastructure failure in New Orleans.

Read and watch. The abstract? City property records vanish. Gone. Hard copies exist, but there are hundreds of thousands of them. They are not arranged in order (like an "unalphabetized dictionary"), because they were indexed on the computer. This index has also vanished. None of your backups survived. Reliance on computers to organize and record this data has failed, and you are thrown back into the dark ages of record keeping.

Every sort of civic transaction requiring real estate value or title to property grinds to a halt. Meanwhile, the government offices responsible for these records, and their computerized index, have never considered a critical systems failure of this nature a possibility, so they are unsure how to react.

And then...

Well, that's what we're waking up to realize this week in New Orleans, as the great common law consensus system that supports our fragile economy continues shrieking to a halt, and all corners of the community are affected in one way or another.

Stay tuned, indeed.

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When Government Kills Commerce

Two examples from New Orleans.

In one case, we have planned government subsidization of a single private development actually keeping all economic development out of New Orleans East.

In another case, we have the byzantine maze of city permits and contracts stifling a burgeoning and dynamic homegrown industry.

In the first case, city government wants to help direct development to an underserved community. They promise tax breaks and public investment in a private enterprise. A successful deal would bring jobs and businesses to a specific area, but an incredible return on investment will be seen by the primary developers. Those developers will be insulated from market factors by the city and state governments' subsidization. Those developers' competition will have a weaker hand, and are less likely to invest in that area, because they do not have the same insulation from market disadvantages.

(Though I'm sure they qualify for continuation of the Bush tax cuts, as they existentially "create jobs"....)

Knowing the government will be willing to offer more robust insulation the longer the citizens of the area go unserved, the developer is free to postpone and renegotiate deals for the property for as long as they choose. It is only natural to get the most out of a deal as possible, and there is no reason to factor in the needs or desires of others. The developer owns the most valuable property - the property where the government would like development to happen - so they set the terms of the negotiation. Competition will wait on this deal before moving.

In this instance, government behavior stifles competition, freezes out economic development, and subsidizes one private enterprise with tax dollars collected from citizens who may not patronize this private enterprise AND this private enterprise's competitors. That is not the way a free-market behaves.

The second case is how well intentioned government regulation can stifle economic dynamism and the creation of new industries. Part of this is unintended consequences and part of this is a cover charge for access.

Food trucks make sense in New Orleans. You have an all-night city with a lack of all-night eateries, high cost of property, high walkability, a high number of ad hoc neighborhood festivals and events, a high number of spontaneous events, and a local population with intricate palates. Food trucks are the very definition of the "movable feast" that means so much to New Orleanians. They create commerce and jobs and sales tax with a kind of flexibility necessary to maximize return on investment in a economically and geographically risky city with a dynamic event calendar.

They are nothing short of a win-win-win scenario, but city ordinances are set up and enforced to keep this industry from developing. While operators are free to pay the city for the required permits to operate, they recieve hassle on the enforcement end.

Now, I understand the need for health codes and parking ordinances as much as the next guy - I just wonder why the rules aren't clearly stated when you apply for a mobile food vendor permit. I wonder why enforcement personnel are able to ticket and shut down operations at whim, even if permits have been acquired. I wonder how much of this enforcement originates with fixed-location restaurants unhappy with mobile "competition" (even though they are usually not competing for the same clientele). I wonder how a 1972 law can remain on the books keeping food vendors from our two most high-density neighborhoods.

(Full disclosure - I had an unhappy run-in with "carnival season food vendor inspectors" one year. Despite all three appropriate permits -and- despite setting up on the property where the fixed restaurant is located, the place recieved three or four seperate visits by varied and nebulous enforcement personnel and constabulary authorities who obviously wanted to shut the place down. On the final visit, they were able to cite a yet unheard of fourth permit requirement to justify shutting down the sale of food. I leant a hand as my friends who worked at the place moved the operation inside the physical building of the restaurant - a whole 20 feet away.)

In the second instance, government behavior stifles innovation, adds uncertainty and risk to new enterprises, thus slowing economic development, artificially limits commerce and does not get maximum utility out of civic and cultural infrastructure. That is also NOT how a free market behaves.

We hear a lot about how the Federal government limits our nation's economic liberty or is 'usurping power' or whatever. But the point I make, again and again, is that the governments that control most of your life and taxes - and are the ones you can exert the most control over - are the ones much closer to you than the government in Washington, D.C.

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The Onward March of Democratic Socialism

That's what you'd think of the Obama tax deal if you listened to Rush Limbaugh. You know the tax deal? The one that preserves the American subsidy for the richest people while stagnating the most dynamic economy in the world for the last decade? The cornerstone of the failed economic policies of the last Republican President? Yeah, that one. Though Rush says Obama just wants to pass the tax deal to see it fail over the next two years. As if the damn policy had worked for the last 10.

You know, I'd love to concentrate on the many court cases and political hyperbolies that continue to surround the Health Care Bill, but this Obama tax deal, as a piece of legislation, has incurred by far the most fascinating reactions from partisans on either side.

Krauthammer, flustered with this deal as well, calls it Stimulus II, and seemed to rail against it, and chiding GOP support for it because it gave away the store to Obama. Though Rush Limbaugh believes it gives away the store, it isn't as big a stimulus as Krauthammer makes it out to be. (Damn it is difficult to keep up...) Because no one can agree with President Obama on legislation, and still be sufficiently right-wing to qualify for the "conservative" label in America these days.

Of course, I think Krauthammer and Rush are right to be ticked-off: the President got more out of this tax deal than he had any right to expect. The GOTP, after two years of lunatic political marketing, got into office and started behaving as if reality should be a factor in decision-making. That's got to throw some true-believers (like Krauty and El Rushbo) for whom reality is optional, for the ideological loop.

The craziest thing about the whole tax deal? The folks who Rush and Kraut consider Democratic Socialists (or worse) hate the tax deal worse than they do. Independent Senator Bernie Sanders engaged in a pseudo-filibuster, and voted against the bill in the Senate this evening. He was joined by 5 members of the GOP caucus, and 9 Democrats.

I can understand a Democrat not liking extending Bush's failed economic policies. That's got to sting a little, when you have two years to get something done, and fail to do so because your leadership doesn't own a calendar. But when you get your fanny paddled as hard as they did in November, you have to accept a change in the political climate. I think a lot of Democrats are being ridiculous for going against it as hard as they are. It is literally killing their credibility with independents in the center to act this way. Which is actually pretty fascinating, from an objective point of view, because this is an almost perfect example of how the GOTP kicks Democratic ass on narrative and national conversation, without having to do much heavy lifting.

Despite all the vitriol from the extreme right-wing, you'll only hear about how much Democrats hate this bill. It doesn't matter how much I agree with Brook's column there, look at where his focus is.

Cluster liberals in the House and the commentariat are angry. They have no strategy for how Obama could have better played his weak hand — with a coming Republican majority, an expiring tax law and several Democratic senators from red states insisting on extending all the cuts. They just sense the waning of their moment and are howling in protest.

That's how "conservative" marketing works, folks. If all the GOTP think something's bad, the Democrats are intractable liberals who are to blame. If there is a split like this between the GOP and the TP on a policy, then it is the intractable liberals within the Democratic Party who are to blame. Please pay no attention to the reality bending insanity on the right - pay attention instead to our current pragmatic, centrist Democratic President aggreeing publicly with our former pragmatic, centrist Democratic President, and how the "bad" Democrats are acting.

Not one word about how the right-wing and their commentariat are angry, or why. To be sure, there are a few exceptions, but even that downplays the split on the right as "pockets of resistance."

Pockets of resistance to a tax deal with overwhelming bipartisan support.

By doing this, the right pleases its base with some red meat (though just outside the view of Joe Public) and passes its policy legislation, kneecaps what should be a huge victory by the Democratic President (whom they despise) and further promote the "liberal is a dirty word they want to raise your taxes" narrative all at the same time.

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The Invisible City

(Note: I was inspired to write this post after reading Cliff's neighborhood wish list over the weekend. Of course, I forgot to mention that on the first edition of this post. Luckily, Leigh reminded me.)

New Orleans East has 71,000 residents, according to current figures, and only has one* grocery store. The next closest I know about is the Winn-Dixie just west of the Danziger Bridge in Gentilly. (For my Georgia readers, that would be like having to drive from St. Simons Island to Brunswick; or from East Athens to Epps Bridge - every time you wanted to pick up food.)

On the occasions in which I drive through the East, the business corridors on the major thoroughfares look like they're stuck somewhere between 8 Mile and 28 Days Later. Back when I worked for the RSD, we did a lot of training sessions at Sarah T. Reed High School, and the view of the area on the commute was less than flattering. Hearing the news this weekend that 71,000 people live there comes as a jaw-dropping, knock-down shock.

That's nearly the non-student population of Athens, Georgia.

Despite the fact that the area would be the sixth largest city in the state of Louisiana, with a median income higher than the rest of Orleans Parish, commercial investment has been very, very slow. No one seems able, or willing to tell residents why. The "big" investors are all public/private initiatives that have yet to get off the ground, and not many "small" businesses have flocked to the area to get a foothold.

There are a host of reasons why:

From a geographic standpoint, the area is prone to catastrophic flooding during tropical storm events, and anywhere near the coast this close to a disaster the scale of Katrina or a scare the scale of Gustav is going to take that into consideration when looking to invest. This is especially true the smaller the business (and the more at stake). While it isn't OK for a Rouses' or a national retailer to lose a location to catastrophic flooding, they can still usually take the hit; they'll continue making revenue from other, unaffected locations while they wait for the insurance company to settle. They know the insurance company isn't going to dick them around as much, because of the scale of business. This is why McDonald's, IHOP, Waffle House and car dealerships all have locations in New Orleans East - those are low risk locations for those businesses, based on scale alone.

But to a local outfit that may only have 3 or 4 locations, with almost all of their investment prone to flood threat in one way or another, that represents a killing risk. That location represents a huge percentage of their business that cannot be lost. Their small size means insurance companies are more likely to stall payments, and they likely don't have enough other locations to offset the loss. Especially local units in the New Orleans area, where - if New Orleans East floods - likely represents a major situation to all area units. Simply put, the amount of money (reward) they could make by catering to the significant NO East population does not offset the substantial risk they take by opening up a location there.

Next up, businesses have to factor in clientle demographics, and I'm not even talking about skin color. This is all about green. NO East is a drive-first, in-boundary suburb of New Orleans. The majority money-earners are expected to drive into New Orleans for work, while there will be a high number of contractors doing repair work in the area during the day. No tourist or entertainment options exist in the East, so - as with most suburban communities - people are predicted to stay home or to drive somewhere else.

Now, the entertainment/tourist option is a Catch-22 for the East while the same is a multiplier for the rest of the parish and region. Attractions like Magazine Street, Frenchman, the French Quarter, and Lakeview Mall all bleed commerce from the East, while giving little back in the way of return visitors. Also, the sheer number of out-of-town visitors bolster many of these locales while ignoring the East. Of course, this commerce ignores the East because there is not current commerce in the East. There's really very little the East can do to combat that economic reality.

The fact that it is a drive-first option also puts economic constraints on the area. Drive-first commerce begets strips and malls, snarling traffic and constantly changing. Usually, the appeal to put a business in a strip or a mall is the low cost/overhead for doing so, and the high traffic the area is expected to experience. That's why suburban economic development is in constant motion - there aren't a lot of long-term investments in a constantly changing economic structure. Drive-first also requires more monied developers to build the infrastructure with guarantees of government subsidization. This situation also works against the East right now, because what infrastructure improvement projects the city is working on are all going at once, and it is no secret (no matter what politics say) that there are higher priorities than New Orleans East.

When your area's development is effectively at the mercy of developers, city and state governments, and your area is neither a political nor economic prioritiy for the developers or the government, you're going to be waiting on them. Major developers are going to wait until the government subsidizes their major developments, and since they own the title - no one else can develop the areas zoned for major developments. Since the government refuses to declare the property "blight" or assess property values with a penalty for the plot not being in-commerce, the owners can sit and wait on their derelict land until the government money starts to flow into their pockets. Need proof? Look at the negotiation over the hospital - the other major NO East development - how has that been working out for the city and the population?

Add to that the fact that the government's main hospital priority is in Lower Mid-City, coupled with a budget crisis, and you have yourselves a problem. Really, you have yourself a literal raft of problems, all holding back your local economic development.

And this raft of problems rolls in long before the criminal, educational, racial or conspiratorial reasons for lack of economic development - though all of those play a major role in keeping things the way they are, as they keep perceptions and realities that need to change from changing.

* - Earlier, I wrote that NO East didn't have any grocery stores, but Alli says there is one, so I'll trust her on that. That's still ONE grocery store for 71,000 people. The place where I grew up had no less than three grocery stores, for only 12,000 people.

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'Tis the Season...for Christmas Ornaments!

It's no secret that Christmas does strange things to people. It makes them pull tacky sweaters out of the back of their closets, put them on and say "yeah that'll do." It causes them to wear antlers as headbands and actual jingle bells as earrings. People eat fruitcake and drink eggnog; two foods that probably would not exist without the joy of the holiday season. It even causes hockey teams to lip-synch to Mariah Carey, film it and put it on Youtube. It's going to be tough to top that display of Christmas cheer, let's be honest. But leave it to your Carolina Hurricanes to bring a little of their own holiday magic to Raleigh. The boys decided they needed to brighten up their locker room with some signs of the season all while engaging in some good ol' fashioned team bonding. So they cranked up Alvin and the Chipmunks on the iPod, broke out the candy canes and spent their most recent off-day decorating Christmas ornaments. (As a side note, we now likely know why the PP looks the way it does.) I was lucky enough to score an invite to this unique event (probably because I own a ridiculously large amount of craft supplies) and was awed at our team's artistic ability or, in some cases, the lack thereof. So here's a play by play of this wildly entertaining (and completely fake) afternoon of glitter, laughter and Christmas cheer. Enjoy.

Me: Thanks for asking me to be here this afternoon guys! As you can see I've brought lots of craft supplies, blank ornaments in a bunch of different colors and, upon request of the coaching staff, aprons and drop cloths to make sure everyone goes home nice and clean. Oh and safety scissors for Jeff-remember boys, if you're walking around, the scissors better be pointing down. You can put whatever you want on your ornament...as long as it's family friendly. If you have any questions or need any help, let me know! Have fun!

Cole: No Jeff, you need to hold your scissors like this. See? Jeff adjusts his scissors. There ya go little buddy. You got it. Cole pats Jeff on the head.

LaRose: So Tim, what are you going to put on your ornament? What color are you going to pick? Will you use the glitter glue? I love glitter glue. I also really like cookies. Did you have one of those cookies? I've had like 6.... Tim glares, picks up his ornament and moves to the other end of the table. Tim?! Where are you going? Chad shrugs, turns to Joe Corvo and begins talking incessantly.

Me: Joni...careful with the glitter, it comes out really quickly. No Joni...don't do that. You shouldn't...oh no. Joni holds up his ornament covered in globs of glitter and shrugs sheepishly.

Me: Is this the way you want to leave your ornament? Joni? Joni...look at me. No Joni, stop it. Chad! Stop distracting Joni! Joni-focus. Is this how you want to leave your ornament?

Joni: Oh yah.

Me: Ok go hang it on the tree. Joni wanders off, tongue sticking out, seemingly without a purpose.

Jeff raises his hand.

Me: Yes Jeff?

Jeff: Can I have another cookie? I've only had one and I ate all my veggies.

Me: Yes Jeff, go ahead.

Bodie walks up, ornament in hand. I'm done.

Me: What is on the snowman's face?

Bodie: It's his muzzy. Duh.

Me: Ooooookay then. Chad, last warning-stop distracting Joni.

Carter: (whispering to Samsonov) Is Chad always like this?

Samsonov: Yeah he is. The extra sugar doesn't help. Just be thankful you weren't at the Halloween party.

Carter: I heard about that. There was a Youtube video right? What were you again?

Samsonov: I was a Keebler elf.

Carter: Oh like what you're putting on your Christmas ornament.

Samsonov: looks offended No. This is a CHRISTMAS elf. There's a big difference. Keebler elves make cookies in a tree. Christmas elves make toys and help Santa in the North Pole.

Carter: Oh. Awkward silence ensues. Do you like my Christmas lights?

Sutter: Hey Juice, what's on your ornament?

Jokinen: Oh nothing much, just some of my favorite holiday carols.

Sutter: Ummm...Jussi, that's not a Christmas carol.

Jokinen: Maybe not. But it's very cheerful!

Sutter: nods Fershurr. Mine is a candy cane because...

Chad: I know! Because it's scrawny like you! Brandon throws a blank ornament at Chad. Chad throws a Christmas cookie at Brandon, but it hits Tim instead. Tim glares at them all. Chad runs squealing to the other side of the locker room.

Me: facepalm. How do the coaches do this every day?

Ian White's hair walks up to hand in his ornament. I like to keep things simple.

Me: warily eyes Ian's hair just in case something alive pops out I can see that Ian. It looks really nice.

Me: Ok guys, we are running out of time so if you aren't finished with your ornament you need to start wrapping it up. muttering under my breath Plus I have to get out of this looney bin.

Dwyer: Hey Corvs...what's that supposed to be?

Corvo: It's the Grinch. From the Dr. Seuss book. I always related to that character for some reason.

Dwyer eyes Corvo skeptically. Corvo: Not the mean Grinch of course. The one with the heart that's three sizes bigger. He felt things so deeply, with such realism. I can relate to that.

Dwyer scoots away from Corvo and leans towards Harrison. Do you hear Corvs? I think he's lost it! Hey can you pass me the red? I got to finish my bow.

Harrison: Nice wreath man.

Dwyer: It's not as good as your Christmas tree!

Harrison: Thanks. I like Christmas trees. They are so tall and fluffy. Dwyer edges away from table and towards the door.

McBain: I'm done! It's the Christmas McBain Train!!! WOOO WOOOO!!!! Remaining players wooo as well.

Me: And no more cookies for y'all. In fact, I think we're done with all the snacks.

Jingle. Jingle. Jingle. Jingle. Group looks around the room trying to find the source of the noise.

Me: what is that?

Chad: It's my ornament! It's a jingle bell! I love jingle bells. See? It makes noise when you shake it! Chad shakes jingle bell furiously.

Me: Alright, who's driving Chad home? Tim reluctantly raises his hand. Good luck Tim. I like your ornament, by the way. Tim grunts and pulls Chad out of the room.

Cam has since placed his ornament on the tree and is stopping everyone from putting theirs up near it.

Me: Cam, is this your family? Cam nods and blocks Erik Cole's ornament.

Cole: Come on Wardo. You can't cover the entire tree.

Cam: Try me. I'm in the zone. I've got great lateral movement and take away time and space. Ask Tripper. Cole sighs and walks to the other side of the tree.

Tlusty hands me his ornament. Ummm...Jiri....is your ornament...a Christmas...package?

Tlusty: Yup. Jiri walks away. I giggle.

Ruutu looks at Peters' ornament. Wow. Petey, that's impressive. How did you do that?

Peters looks down. Well I've had a lot of free time lately so I took up art lessons. Mo thought it was a good idea since he said I should play when he found a really sharp tie or Tommy Rowe grew hair again, whichever came first. Not really sure that was as encouraging as he meant it to be. Ruutu pats Peters on the shoulder.

Ruutu: It'll be alright Justin. If you feel down, just sing Rudolph!

I walk around the tree and trip on Eric Staal who's sitting on the ground. Eric, what are you doing on the floor?

Staal: I can't get my ornament to hang on the top of the tree.

Me: That's because your "ornament" is your gold medal. It can't be the tree topper.

Staal: Why not?

Me: Because it's not an angel. The angel goes on the top of the tree.

Staal pouts for a minute...or 20 before handing me a different ornament. Can this go near the top at least?

Me: Fine.

Me: Alright that's it! Good job everyo...feels tug on my sleeve. Oh Jeff! We almost forgot your ornament. What did you create?

Cole lifts Jeff up so he can place his angel on the top of the tree. The group stands back in awe. I hurry towards the door to escape.

Stay tuned for a very special letter to Santa, Christmas cards to the 'Canes and that team picture with Santa you've heard so much about.

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