Road trippin through Arkansas

Posted on June 12, 2008 by travellinbaen

I had to go out of town for a few days and drove through the southern Mississippi Delta and eastern Arkansas in route to Little Rock.  Little Rock seems like a really cool town–definitely nicer than any city in Mississippi. And I am led to believe there are beautiful rivers and nice mountains in north and northwest Arkansas.  But the part I saw….not too impressive.  Except that a state so poor and rural actually produced a President.

A few other observations…even in the most tucked away corners of this great land, the underground railroad that is the Mexican restaurant industry thrives.  I almost can’t believe I used to enjoy On the Border and Cuco’s–and apparantly no one else can either.  Those chains are disappearing in favor of the Hispanic owned and definitely operated restaurants with the identical menus and constantly changing staffs.  And I, for one, love them.

Vault Zero cola is a damned good diet drink.

When it comes to work night, out of town road trip beers, I’ve lost a step or two.  But I can still DH on occasion, so I’m not retiring yet.

I don’t know much about ethanol, good or bad.  What I do know is I’ve never seen so much (any?) corn being produced in the Delta.  From eyeballing the acreage along Highways 49, 14, 1, 61, and 82, corn fields are right up there with cotton this year.  Same story across the river in Arkansas.  I hope those farmers make a buck or two off this new corn demand.  God knows they suffered enough while the economy was good for the rest of us.

If you have crossed the Highway 82 Mississippi River Bridge in the last year, did you think about the Minnesota bridge collapse?  How about a Coney Island wooden roller coaster?  I’m telling you, I did.  The wooden railings, the narrow lanes, and the beautiful new bridge going up to the south….that bridge has got to be a candidate for the next infrastructure disaster.

How is it that a Mississippi native can only have been to or through neighboring Arkansas five or six times in 37 (and a half) years of life?  I wonder if people in AL, LA, TN, and AR ever think that about us?

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Easiest, Most Overpaid Job in the World

Posted on June 8, 2008 by travellinbaen

Quote of the Day     “The easiest job in the world is the drummer in a country band.”   –Supercynic

http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Music/06/07/alabama.drummer.ap/index.html

I linked this on the page for posterity and in case what is above doesn’t work right.  The article really says it all.  A classic supercynic cliche gains traction.

 

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Multi-tasking, or How to Make Issue Worlds Collide

Posted on June 6, 2008 by travellinbaen

Advice for Obama, continued….

Groceries and prison overcrowding:  they go together like peas and a box of chocolates.  Stay with me.  People hate high cereal prices and they hate crime.  Bonus hatred for illegal immigrants.  We are going to set up a program to provide cheap labor in the form of non-violent inmates, largely meth-heads and Worldcom executives.  On a volunteer basis, these prisoners will be rewarded with time off their sentences in exchange for providing labor to jobs not many Americans really desire–on farms and in chicken processing plants here in Mississippi for the most part.  Right now, these jobs are largely targeted by illegal immigrants.  Convicts will receive a nominal salary in addition to their time off, which will be taxed at the normal rate, then deducted further to contribute to their food and shelter at county lockup, and the remainder placed in an account for them to access when they serve their time.  Food prices will drop or remain more stable as a result of lower overhead, prison expenses will be curtailed, and the job market for illegal immigrants will shrink.  Everybody wins, am I right?

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Travellinbaen’s Political Consulting Service

Posted on June 6, 2008 by travellinbaen

Quote of the Day:       “It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better.  The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”   –Teddy Roosevelt

 

Due to the overwhelming response I received from my “Advice for Obama” post, I thought I’d follow it up with a few more suggestions. I’m breaking each suggestion into a separate post.  I may see what I can do to help McCain out in a few days, but only after I cleanse the site with some non-political wit and wisdom.

The energy issue is foremost in people’s minds right now, particularly the cost of gasoline.  I think some initiatives should be hatched to not only address the problem, but to set an example.  Here’s one: Starting on inauguration day, and sooner if the responsible bureaucrats want to enhance their resumes, the Federal Government will make the move to an all hybrid civilian fleet.  Put GM and Ford on notice right now.  They need to ramp up production of fuel efficient vehicles.  No more SUV’s for self styled VIP’s. And foreign automakers, with bias toward the ones manufacturing in the U.S., will be competitors for the government’s business.  This will apply all the way to the top.  You set the example personally when you are on the ground.  I know you will be called a hypocrite when you campaign around the country on airplanes, but just address it straightforward.  Yes, you’re consuming a lot of fuel, but you are cutting back where you can, and that’s all you ask of the Federal Government and the public.  And don’t stop there.  Here’s an old trick that has worked before.  In next year’s highway bill, give the states two years to take the same action. If they resist, they start losing highway money.  Any legislator who drove through Louisiana in the late 1980’s will get to work in a hurry to get his state in compliance.

 

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Free Advice for Obama

Posted on June 4, 2008 by travellinbaen

Quote of the Day:     “A lot of people like that re-form. Maybe we should get us some.”  —Junior to Pappy O’Daniel, O’ Brother Where Art Thou

It’s an historic moment in time for Barack Obama, and really for the United States as a whole.  The guy deserves a few days off to savor the accomplishment of securing the Democratic nomination for President.  But McCain already challenged him to ten–ten?–town hall style debates, so, as long as your campaign is working on a response to that, you might as well consider a few of Travellinbaen’s suggestions.

There are a lot of people like me out there who are so disgusted with the mess the Republicans have made over the last eight years that they will literally vote for a yellow dog before they consider McCain.  But the collective memory of most of the populace is about two weeks.  So I don’t think you can count on this “no four more years of Bush” tagline to carry the day without some other lines of attack.  There is also another small problem.  You are a different race than the vast majority of the voting public.  And the sound of your name brings up some pretty nasty images in people’s minds when they hear it.  And you had a wingnut for a pastor.  There will be a lot of people, in a lot of states, that will vote against you for those reasons alone. Yes, yes, you have inspired thousands of new voters.  But they’ve been inspired for quite awhile now, and they need to stay inspired for about five more months.  Or take a break, get bored with you for a bit, then get re-inspired in time for the October-November push.  That’s where Travellinbaen’s free advice comes in.

Change for the sake of change is good.  Even better would be framing some issues that we haven’t heard about before as important in this campaign.  Your opponents are really good at this.  They have come up with gay marriage bans, anti-abortion judges (anyone ever wonder why between the Reagan, Bush, Bush, Bush presidencies–20 out of 28 years, none of their appointees have ever actually banned abortion–sorry, a post for another day), flag burning, war hero tarring, ol Ronnie even made an issue out of the sun rising.  And they’ll come up with something for you.  But you can beat them at their own game.  You can raise real issues, that people can get behind, and a couple of these can even make those race voters decide whether they fear American black people more or various foreign nationalities.  So, without further ado, try these out for size, and don’t hesitate to contact Travellinbaen if you need anything else:

  1.  Solar Energy–Under your administration, every new government building will include solar panels. A program will be established to place them on every existing Federal building over the next ten years. Enormous tax incentives and matching grants will be in place for the States to install solar panels as well, particularly on schools.  A Federal law will be passed to force the energy companies in all states to buy back any excess power produced and put on the grid. This is where schools come in.  They’ll be making surplus power in the summer and on holidays.  And here is the beauty of it: manufacturing of the panels  will greatly accelerate, producing construction, industrial, and installation/maintenance jobs everywhere.  The price of panels will come down with the increased supply and homeowners can then afford to stick them on their roof.  With all our new, plentiful, clean electric power, the move to electric cars can accellerate and we won’t have to buy all that oil from those damned A-rabs (you just won some redneck votes, and re-inspired the hippies and kids).
  2. Offshore wind power–All the same justifications, but now you’ve got the surfers and sportfisherman.  Just make sure the blades are too high up to get entangled with lures or grapnels.
  3. A health care surtax on all goods manufactured overseas by companies based in America or with at least 50% of their sales in America.  It’s health premiums more than anything killing our auto industry, much of our other manufacturing industry, and causing the loss and lack of job creation in small business.  That money goes in to a trust fund to supplement anything else we can come up with to provide universal health care for kids.  I personally believe in universal health care, period, but this would be a good start.  People could see that it works at least as good as the current insurance run system.  And American business would save some bucks, only needing to insure one or two people instead of, say four.  Who are we sticking it to here?  Yep, the Chinese, and I think a few more people could get on board with that.
  4. Judges.  Once again, we’re taking a stale old issue, and freshening it up.  Pick two guys, one primarily a plaintiff’s lawyer, and one defense lawyer.  They cannot be from major firms.  It should be two regular Travellinbaen’s.  As a matter of fact, I’d seriously consider the job if offered.  Let us find out who the fair judges are and you put them on the bench.  It’s not hard to do, but there is no public source for getting this information.  No committee can learn the truth.  Why?  Lawyers only speak of these things in hushed voices and to close confidants.  Travellinbaen and some honest defense lawyer, (my friend Adam would do it pretty cheap I think) could get you reliable info on this. We desperately need more intellectually honest Judges in this country, but the idea is becoming passe.  How many votes will this get you?  Well, not many, but its the right thing to do.  And if you do that on enough issues, you’ll bring around a few of the people Reverend Wright has scared the hell out of.
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Class Reunion

Posted on June 3, 2008 by travellinbaen

Quotes of the Day:   “Ah, how good it feels!  The hand of an old friend.” –Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

                                    ” Friendship is unnecesary, like philosopy, like art….It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival.”–C.S. Lewis

I’ll be attending the Pascagoula High School Class of 1988 reunion this summer.  I don’t really want to, and I don’t know why.  I think about and I miss my old friends often.  I had a great experience in High School.  I sure don’t have anything better to do that weekend.  

Maybe its because it all seems so superficial and contrived to “reunite” with several hundred people, or even the hundred plus that will show up, over drinks in three hours.  Maybe there is a subconscious desire to think of these people as they were at 17, rather than 37, as a means of continuing to self delude myself that we are not so far removed from that time.  I think more than anything its the sense of futility.  We will promise to do better at staying in touch, but we won’t.  I’ll see these old, trusted friends, and I’ll want to know them again.  

I have often thought about the nature of friendships begun in adulthood versus those of one’s childhood. They are no less important, one than the other.  We had much greater latitude in choice of the friends we made after graduation; consequently we have more in common with our newer friends as far as current interests, ideas, and difficulties.  But the friends of our youth, thrust together by school and sports, know us in a way that is unique.  They know us in a way that is in part more true, since they saw us before we learned to conceal our emotions and suppress our instincts.  And they know that part of us where the awkwardness goes to hide after college.  And they know how lucky we were to survive some reckless years.

I guess I really am looking forward to seeing everyone.  I just hope its as much fun as it ought to be.  And I hope we’ll all vow to keep in touch.

 

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Scott McClellan, the DNC, and John Adams

Posted on June 2, 2008 by travellinbaen

It’s been big news over the last week or so that former Bush mouthpiece Scott McClellan wrote a book including passages about the Administration’s propaganda and falsehood campaign with respect to creating support for the Iraq war, and other important news stories during his tenure.  Predictably, lefties pointed to this, err, revelation? as conclusive evidence that the Bush/Rove/Cheney Iraq war was, err, inadvisable.  It’s sort of like pointing to NFL Films putting out a NY Giants’ “Year in Review” DVD as conclusive evidence the Giants won the Super Bowl.  

And the neo-cons, predictably, went on the attack, calling the, errr “new allegations”? simply sour grapes from a disgruntled former employee.  I assume Scott couldn’t find another job after having “Bush White House” on his resume and was steamed about that.

So, predictably, the coverage of this has centered around the cable news tabloids asking two very loud people to expound on the new proof and the complete lack of credibility of the person providing said proof.  

Here’s the freakin question I want to ask:  Why didn’t you announce your resignation and the reasons therefore at the time you discovered the wrongdoing?  That’s when blowing the whistle would mean something.  That’s when it might have encouraged others to take the courageous stand.  

Which brings me to the Democratic National Rules Committee.  I understand that you can’t piss off Florida and Michigan.  The slightest margin of error in those states could leave us in the position of a sold out McCain steering the ship and the real possibility the old bastard could go Captain Bligh on us (google Thad Cochran  McCain cold chill).  But here’s the thing.  The Rule of Law has to be above these considerations. The last eight years have seen a major decline in the Rule of Law, one that I believe poses a greater threat to our society than many of the things that capture our imagination.  The committee said at one time the states would not count; now, in light of the close race between Obama and Clinton, that seems like a poor decision.  But you cannot change the rules midstream.  They should have been ignored altogether. To have acted otherwise is to diminish and endanger the effect of future party rulings.   I personally think the candidates could have and should have reached a compromise on these states that would have given their innocent voters a voice, but inexplicably, they could not.  

I see this issue come up almost weekly, and I cannot recall a political figure taking a courageous stand on anything in years.  Which brings me to John Adams.  First a disclaimer–the sum of my knowledge on the man comes from viewing the HBO mini-series and following up with a bit of research-i-pedia.  But Adams was depicted as egocentric and vain to an extreme degree.  He seemed to have an unhealthy fear of being under-appreciated.  He surely was consumed by creating his legacy.  But faced with the overwhelming pressure of his party and the public to enter into war against France to retaliate for their interference with American shipping and subsequent insults at Court, he opposed them all.  He sent diplomats to smooth things out.  He knew the war would be un-winnable.  And he knew to prevent the war, he would lose his office and his prestige.  I wonder if he knew it would be the end of his Federalist party?  But he did the right thing, achieved an honorable negotiated solution (days after the election) and probably kept the country in existence by his actions and inactions.

Of course he did sign the Alien and Sedition Acts.  I wonder if Rove and Cheney see the glass half full or half empty with this guy?

QUOTE OF THE DAY    “The proposition that the people are the best keepers of their own liberty is not true.  They are the worst conceivable, they are no keepers at all; they can neither judge, act, think, or will, as a political body.” — John Adams

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Sittinathomebaen

Posted on May 31, 2008 by travellinbaen

Quote of the Day: Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness   –Mark Twain

It’s Saturday.  I actually went outside and cleaned up a bit on the patio and in the yard.  Sadly, only one with the most  careful and perceptive eye could actually detect any evidence of my efforts.  What I really want to do on a Saturday is be somewhere else.  That, along with my rare psychological disorder–obsessive list making–combine to inspire today’s post.

5 Places I’ve Never Been, But Plan to Soon (N. America)

  1. Whistler and Vancouver, British Columbia
  2. Maine in the Summer
  3. The Pacific Coast Highway, San Francisco to Cannon Beach, OR
  4. Yosemite National Park
  5. The Utah National Parks
5 Places I’ve Never Been, But Hope to Some Day (World)
  1. Tahiti or at least somewhere in the neighborhood
  2. The Andes/Machu Pichu
  3. The Alps
  4. Spain
  5. Costa Rica
5 Places I Want to Go Back, ASAP
  1. Maui, the rainy side
  2. Glacier National Park, MT
  3. Pacific Coast Highway, San Francisco to Oregon
  4. Florida Keys, between Key Largo and Key West
  5. Horn Island, MS
I can’t believe its been so long on all but one that I don’t have digital pictures.  Here’s a cool one from Hawaii though:
Red sand beach, near Hana, HA
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A song I heard today

Posted on May 30, 2008 by travellinbaen

I am the farthest thing from “edgy” in any constellation of the universe of American pop culture.  I do listen to Channel 12, Cross-Country on XM, and though I have lobbied virtually everyone I have met for the last three years to buy XM and tune in to my personal channel, I’ve so far found no one who’s taken my advice.  I know that there is a following for the bands featured on the channel though, and I’ve even begun to see some of them show up around Jackson, and Mississippi in general. For people like me, satellite radio must survive and thrive. I can never go back to Clear Channel Classic Rock.  But for XM, I’d be ignorant of Robert Earl Keen and Cross Canadian Ragweed, and Shooter Jennings, and I’d assume Todd Snider never made it past the southeast college circuit I first heard him on 15 years ago.  

But I heard a song today that I’ve heard a few times before, and I figured I better invest the 99 cents to get it on the Ipod.  “Alpha Male and the Canine Mystery Blood” by Tommy Womack.  If you know the song, you’ll maybe understand why the disclaimer regarding my trendiness quotient in the above paragraph.  But nobody I know has ever heard of it…..so I’ve got that going for me, which is nice.   (Blank stare)  Anyhow, number one, it’s the coolest song title I can think of.  Number two, the title refers to a band, presumably fictional, but real or fictional, the coolest band name I’ve ever heard.  And three, it’s a pretty damn good song, and captures a lot of what it means to be a thirty something year old white boy susceptible to daily surprising reminders that “Time flies like an arrow; Fruit flies like a banana.”  (Late Friday quote of the day—Groucho Marx.)   *Note for my long time audience–this song is a prime example of why some might say the easiest job in the world is to be a country music drummer; and for Ashley, I don’t think it would be so good for dancing.*

ed. note, since this post got back on the front page, I thought I’d add a “you tube” video. The sound and video are awful, but here it is:

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A good day

Posted on May 29, 2008 by travellinbaen

I’ve been wanting to do this for awhile, but for some reason, today seemed like the day to start.  The number one reason for my procrastination has been a conviction that I will let this blog sit in the garage, unused and gathering dust, like a bicycle bought in early spring.  But today was a good day, and it seemed like a good time to see if this is as fun as it looks.  Well, let’s see how it goes.

Quote of the day:  

“Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value–zero.”  

–Voltaire

I came in to a bit of money today.  Not so much that its life changing, or even life sustaining, but enough to really make you want to high five the bank teller when you show her the check.  And enough to smugly consider, as you walk away with your receipt, how she has no chance to go out with you some time, but that she can freely discuss my flush condition (and dashing (rakish?) good looks?) with her co-workers when I exit.

Inevitably though, the high cannot last.  In its place will come the crash.  The one that happens after you realize, “it could’ve been even more” with a little luck, or a shrewder maneuver.  Then you wonder, how long before this happens again?  Will it ever?  And after you complete the checklist of where it will all go, you realize, dang, it really wasn’t all that much in the grand scheme of things.  Still, a pretty sweet day.

So I’m off to a running start.  Money addressed, religion and politics next I suppose.

 

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