90-something and sunny

a) Cabo Wabo
Were one to believe www.weather.com, it sure looks hot and sunny in Cabo San Lucas next week. He he.

b) 96 years ago
Great story here on how the stock market shut down 96 years ago, July 30 1914, because of World War 1 ramping up and... well, just read it, couple a paragraphs.

CWS blog - Wall Street Shuts Down

c) Where are all the war protesters?
Where are all the war protesters?
Wha happen?

You know, you know... the war protesters. The guys screaming about liars and war criminals and civilian casualties and get out of here and there and gitmo and blah blah blah.

Well, I did me some googling... alas, with little success:

• Can't find Cindy Sheehan... why isn't she camped outside Obama's south side castle that he bought from bud Tony Rezko?
• Where's the good guys over at Code Pink. Oh yeah. They're in Arizona saving illegal immigrants from showing that they're not here legally.
• Where's the media? I mean President Obama's hand-picked general ripped him a new one about being an incompetent boob, and nothing.
• What about Gitmo? Still open, right? Wasn't Gitmo why these terrorist guys and Islamic countries really didn't like us? Oh. I guess not.
• Where's my Frontline "documentary" with all the dark photos and scary music on how terrible the war effort has been and what a boob and liar Obama is?
• Where's the dem Congress screaming about Gitmo and liars and funding and...
  

QOTD

"Obama clearly didn't know anything about him [McChrystal], who he was. Here's the guy who's going to run his fucking war, but he didn't seem very engaged."
- Gen McChrystal aide on the General meeting President Obama, story

Yup. That's right. The war protests were just political blather.
Blather.
Not real.
Not real "I'm a peacenik", "Save the world", "Bring the troops home", blah blah.
No. Just the lowest level of partisan blather... hate W, vote dem, leftie crap.

Well, we just lost more guys in Afghanistan than ever (story) without a peep from my leftie brothers and sisters. Not about our casualties. Not about the war effort. Not Obama. Not anything. Not a peep.
Peep.
yow, bill

A Crystal Clear Choice

Minneapolis art shot, por vu...

"Old Mill in MN"

a) Our Choice
Spot on article in today's WSJ: Taxes: A Defining Issue

QOTD

"If the Obama presidency didn't exist, we would have to invent it.

At a time when the American people need to make some decisions about the nation's purpose, along comes Barack Obama to make the choices crystal clear."
- WSJ editorial honcho, source

"Taxes define a worldview."
Ding!

Simply, we will have the Obama plan of higher taxes, slower economic growth, and increasing level of government in our every day lives.
Or, we'll have the standard, boring American way of lower taxes, growth through hard work and ownership, and personal responsibility.

Henninger is right: President Obama has made this choice "crystal clear".

We'll see how this plays out in November, but I agree with Bruce Berkowitz, investor dude, and his QOTD below.

QOTD2

"It has never been a good idea to bet against the United States and its people."
- Bruce Berkowitz, investment manager of the Fairholme Fund (FAIRX)

Finally, no conspiracy theories here, but the Obama administration has to love the all the buzz-buzz-buzz over the immigration law in Arizona. Whereas, Bill Clinton's mantra was "It's the economy, stupid"... President Obama's job over the next 3+ months will be to make the issue anything but the economy. Race. Immigration. Environment. Anything.

b) Fruits and Vegetables
We're supposed to get, what, 83 servings of fruits and vegetables every day.
Dop.

Well, I have my multi-vitamin. Excellent.
And now, I'm trying new a new deal: V8 V-Fusion
It's supposed to be one serving of fruit and one serving of veggies in a single 8 oz. glass. And it's supposed to taste like fruit punch. And no added salt or sugar... shit, I'm almost organic over here. Oh my!

Anyway, I tried it... the strawberry banana... and it's good.
My brain rebelled at first at the thought of consuming veggies so directly (he he), but I got over it. And in case you're wondering... 120 calories.
Huzzah!

I'll bet this bikini surfer eats her veggies. He he!
healthy schmealthy... yow, bill

Despicable, black sheep, and my 3rd pol

a) Despicable Me
Movie: "Despicable Me"
Review: 4 bill-stars (out of 5)... great!

Cartoon movies have been on a roll,man... Fantastic Mr. Fox, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Kung Fu Panda... pretty much, lots of good stuff outside of the walls of Pixar.

"Despicable Me" is worthy: fun, funny, adult jokes tossed in, really positive, and even has politically incorrect jokes about orphans... always a treat in a children's movie. And yes, I'm as tired of the superhero/villian theme as you are, but Despicable is a better/different/lighter take on it.

I liked it. My dang kid liked it. Done.

QOTD

"Assemble the minions!"
- Gru, "Despicable Me"

b) Fave logo
Oh, how about a restaurant review!

Restaurant: Black Sheep Pizza in Minneapolis, MN
Review: 5 bill-stars (out of 5)... YOW!
Website: www.blacksheeppizza.com



Ty and I went here on our vacation.
Great pizza. Great atmosphere. Great service (hot hot waitress!).
And my fave logo of all time. He he!

The only ding... they didn't have large t-shirts, so Ty got one (with aforementioned logo prominently displayed), but I didn't.
Dang. Ripoff!

c) And then there were 3
So, I had 2 pols: Jersey gov Chris Christie and DC schools chief Michelle Rhee.
I guess I can add Paul Ryan to the mix. Ryan is a Congressman from Wisconsin (I think).
Here's why... his website: www.americanroadmap.org

I read some of this and it looks good and simple as mud:

• Health care: medical savings accounts, portability of health insurance across state lines, detach health insurance and employment
  
• Social security: make solvent primarily by making a private option available to 1/3 of money put in, and raising the retirement age in the future
  
• Medicare: make solvent by subsidizing seniors in purchasing private, certified health insurance plans
• Tax code: simplified with reduced deductions, no AMT, no capital gains
  

That's all good, baby.
Own your own stuff.
Learn it. Love it. Live it.

And indeed... what a refreshing contrast to President Obama's efforts in things like ObamaCare. Ryan's proposals are clear, concise and honest.

It's also refreshing to see President Obama and his minions (he he) flailing at everything and anything that moves: we're all racists and it's W's fault and corporate America is bad and rich people are blah blah blah.

President Obama is the very definition of a vanilla politician.
november please... yow, bill

NBA Today

a) Michael to LeBron
A little message from NBA yesterday to NBA Today...

QOTD

"In all honesty, I was trying to beat those guys."
- Michael Jordan, on the prospect of NBA-teaming up with Bird and Magic, source

I sure like (and miss) Michael's killer instinct/attitude. Sigh.
I guess Kobe is the most like Michael these days, but still.

I'm not sure if LeBron, and his ilk, are why the NBA sucks so hard. I'm probably not being fair though. Nothing on the NBA horizon will rival the Michael/Bulls of the 1990's experience... the whole magilla: titles, best player ever, 70-win season, rock star status with Pippen, Rodman, etc.

Sigh.

b) Estate Tax
Some things are easy... like the estate tax.
Three rules:

1. Make the transfer of assets after death a taxable event, treated either as income or (better) a capital gain.
2. As now, spouses are exempt.
3. Sort of as now, the first N million $ are exempt.
   

There's no reason not to tax death like a capital gain. If I give you, or sell you something else, it's a taxable event.
Likewise, there's no reason to have a special high death tax rate to tax the bejesus out of heirs (like 55% or more) either.

These mopes are saying about the same thing: Death Tax is Income Tax
peace... yow, bill

PS - To the right... Michael and his gal pal, some hot Cuban 30. At least she's not 20-something, I'll give him that.

PPS - "gal pal"... he he.

Baseball trip follow-up

"MN flower"

Some follow-up on the last (long) post... some potpourri:

a) Ty's First Ballgame
A little research... google... google. Ah, there it is!

Ty's first game ever was Fri Sep 15, 2000 - Atlanta @ Arizona. So, he was about 18 months old. Here's the boxscore:

www.baseball-almanac.com/box-scores/boxscore.php?boxid=200009150ARI.

Gol dang... the internet giveth! Ty was about 18 months old. It was 110+ degrees that day in September in Phoenix. I remember that. I don't remember the Big Unit/Glavine matchup though, I must admit.

BTW, two incredible baseball sites:

• www.baseball-reference.com is great for player career stats and such.
  
• And www.baseball-almanac.com has boxscores for every game ever played (well, almost) and it's amazing for everything else as well!

b) We Didn't Do This
Sometimes it's what you don't do that makes a vacation great.

• Ty and I drove right by the popular convenience stores in Iowa called Kum & Go. He he.
  
• And I enjoyed the billboard in Missouri advertising $99 dentures made that day. But we passed on that one as well.

One other thing we didn't do was sue the City Museum in St. Louis. I commented that it seemed amazing (and a throwback) that a place like City Museum exists... where kids are just flopping and flying around like crazy with little/no supervision.

Well, I guess they do get their share of legal activity. Here's a fun Facebook rant that City Museum posted on people suing them:

www.facebook.com/notes/city-museum-st-louis-mo/what-we-deal-with/109233909108225

Just to be clear... I heart City Museum and I heart their setup... I just don't know how they get away with it in these crappy litigious times.

c) Mint Condition Postscript
Two interesting ancillary tidbits from the book "Mint Condition":

1. Baseball card money powered the baseball players union into prominence in the 70's and 80's. Back in the day, ballplayers got piddly dough for doing the baseball card thing. Marvin Miller changed this, and he also got a cut of the action for the union. This was their major funding source in striking and fighting the owners for free agency, etc. Interesting.
   
2. Ken Griffey Jr's rookie card was sort of the launching point for Upper Deck. The thing I learned was that he attempted suicide (sort of) at age 17. The story is weird though... here's the Seattle Times story: community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19920315&slug=1481176
   

Also, baseball card sales today are at 25% of their peak sales in the early 90's. Ouch!

Ah, the potpourri
peace... yow, bill

Baseball trip 2010

a) Two Pols
I only know of two pols that make the grade. I heart Chris Christie, Jersey gov, and Michelle Rhee, head of the Washington DC schools. Mz. Rhee made the WSJ today because she (gasp!) fired 241 crappy teachers.

Teachers Lose Jobs Over Test Scores

When someone tells you that you can't test or evaluate teachers or students, watch their lips... cause they're fibbing.

There's a fundamental difference between Michelle Rhee and President Obama... she walks the walk. Her kids attend public school in Washington DC.

QOTD

"My hope is that many of them improve, but at the same time, we need to make sure the bar is high. I've got two children in the system, and I don't want a 'minimally effective teacher' and I don't think anyone else does, either."
- Michelle Rhee, on firing poor teachers in her Washington DC school district

b) Baseball Trip 2010
This year's baseball trip was a driver: Min, KC, and Stl.
Excellent!
My flickr photo set tells some of the story.

Bill & Ty Baseball Trip 2010 Photo Set

Some stats:

1. 8 days
2. 6 states: IL, WI, MN, IO, MO, and Kansas for 10 minutes... a little navigation problem getting to KC. He he.
3. 1,450+ miles
4. 3 ballgames: Sock @ Min, Tor @ KC, Phi @ Stl
5. Lots of exploring, frisbee, museums, and fun!

We had a GREAT time. Duh.
It's a wonderful life.
baseball trip... yow, bill

c) Mint Condition
Book: "Mint Condition" by Dave Jamieson
Review: 4 bill-stars (out of 5)... great fun!

Needless to say, Mint Condition is written for the geekiest of the geeks... male baseball card collectors. Well, I'm certainly not copping to my baseball card addiction in a public forum like this; I kind of enjoy dating and contact with the opposite gender. But Mint Condition is a wonderful journey through the rise and fall of collecting baseball cards.

QOTD2

"The promo girls were wearing skimpy umpire-themed outfits, with snug black-and-white tops, and head-turning shorts. I would expect to see these bubbly coeds handing out Coors Light key chains at the local sports bar, but I was more than a little surprised to run into them at a baseball card show. They doled out free packs of sports cards to a procession of forty- and fifty-something men who blushed and fumbled for words. The scene was hard to watch."
- baseball cards aren't much for kids any more, "Mint Condition" page 240

Yes, baseball cards are deader than a door nail with kids today.

1. Football has replaced baseball as the national sport,
   
2. Video games and computers dominate the time and energy of young boys, and
   
3. The baseball card companies have priced their cards for adult collectors, not kids
   

An interesting side story in Mint Condition was the exercise of free markets and capitalism that has been in place for more than 100 years of baseball cards. The creativity and imagination and energy that went into so many of these products to make them better, different, popular was an inspiration.
don kessinger 1966 rookie card... yow, bill

Baseball for 11 year-olds

QOTD

"I don't like the Cubs.
And I'm not going to pat anybody with a Cubs uniform on the back."
- Joey Votto, on playing with Marlon Byrd in the All-Star game (source)

a) The Plat Cub
Ty plays for the Naperville Platinum Cub in the Naperville Little League. The league has 50 teams of 10-12 yos, and the Plat Cub made it all the way to the Final Four (woot!) before being bounced last night (dop).

Our guys were 16-7 during the regular season... good enough for 4th place in the Continental League. Here's our playoff run:

Game 1: Cub 8, United A's 6
We led the A's (15-8) 6-1 going into the 6th (and final) inning. Well, we coughed up 5 run and entered the bottom of the 6th in a 6-6 tie. Our bopper Will remedied the situation with a 2 run walk-off dinger. Woot!

Game 2: Cub 13, Republic Cub 8
The other Cub won their division and were 20-3 for the regular season. But they were without their top player. We ran out to an early lead and held on for the W.

Game 3: Cub 21, United Red 1
Dop. The Red (18-5) scored first. And we reeled off 21 unanswered after that. The Red had a mongo-esque pitcher who was unavailable because he pitched in their previous game. Still.

Game 4: Cub 4, American Cub 7
We were down 2-1 after the 1st inning and were playing catch-up the whole game. It was a good effort by our guys, but the ball didn't bounce our way. Example: Ty hit a liner up the middle that their pitcher snagged and threw to 1B for a double play. Dop.

Pretty much out of the blue, a guy introduced himself to me at the game yesterday and said he liked how positive our team was. Then, he whips out a baseball card from his front pocket, and says, "Let me give you this." Here, it's a baseball card of this guy's son... he's a college kid named who just got drafted by the Washington Nats.

So, I am now officially a Colin Bates fan!
Excellent.

• UNC page: tarheelblue.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/bates_colin00.html
• Drafted by the Nats: dcprosportsreport.com/2010/07/14/2010-nats-draftee-stats-update/

"Bates is worthy of a 4 start rank. * * * *"
Good luck to Colin Bates!!!

Now, Ty ain't no superstar (cough). But he has really improved with practice and hitting lessons and his pushups each morning and night. And he loves playing.

The experience has incredibly positive, due in most part to his coach. Coach Dan does a wonderful job of blending winning and excellence with a ton of positivity. Huzzah to that... huzzah to Coach Dan!

And huzzah to Ty!
Next year, Ty will be one of the "veteran" 12 yos... all big and burly. We shall see.

b) Tuition rhymes with inflation
Ah, a picture is a thousand words... college tuition inflation:

Source: HSOTM blog

Now, what could cause this kind of dramatic inflation.
Oh yeah... feds flooding the system with grants and cheap loans and blah blah blah.
Funny

c) Misc
Couple-a quickies...

Senate corruption
Now, why in the world would the US Congress pass those crazy rules and regulations that allowed all this subprime lending and stuff that led to the housing bubble?

Oh, that's right... the mortgage companies were giving them sweetheart mortgage deals as part of their "VIP" program:

Senate VIP Loans Mount

Steve Wynn Interview
Vegas mogul Steve Wynn sounds off on why the American economy continues to struggle.

Steve Wynn Interview

Wynn puts his money where his mouth is... in Macau. He he. An environment where costs and taxes and regulations and fed spending are unknown is not an environment where businesses will invest and grow. Earth to President Obama. Come in.

Fed Spending
Speaking of Steve Wynn and the feds screwing the pooch...

Source: Bespoke Investment Group blog

Phew.
That was a long one.
He he.
min, kc, stl... yow, bill

Yankee Win!

George Steinbrenner bought the Yankee for $8.7M in 1973. If you believe the $1.6B guess on the value of the Yankee now, then that's a almost a 200x return on his dough.

QOTD

"Winning is the most important thing in my life, after breathing.
Breathing first, winning next."
- George Steinbrenner, source

Steinbrenner died today, so I guess "Winning" is now priority #1 for George. He he.

And indeed... perhaps, Steinbrenner won his last "game" as a Yankee. By legislative quirk more than anything else, the estate tax in 2010, and only in 2010, is 0%. Nada. So, Steinbrenner wins and his family gets to keep control of the team without losing anything to the feds (source).

Nice game, Steinbrenner.
he he... yow, bill

School Choice. In Sweden?!?!

They have a voucher system for school choice in Sweden of all places.
This is a good article... an interview with the Swede in charge from March 2010:

School Choice in Sweden

QOTD

"The school voucher program was designed to create a market—with competition, entrepreneurship, and innovation—based on the Swedish and Scandinavian tradition of social justice and equality: All families should be able to choose between public and private schools regardless of their economic status or wealth. This equal opportunity philosophy, taken into its full potential, created an education market!"
- The Swedish guy in charge of their school choice program

So, even crappy socialist Sweden has tiny, local schools... big for-profit school chains... parochial schools... and public schools, still. All competing for your Swedish education dollars.

And the impact on public schools in Sweden. They have improved. They had to.

Aw cmon. Even the dullest of imaginations can conjure up impact of giving parents $10K vouchers to spend on the school of their choice. Creativity. Entrepreneurship. Competition. Achievement.

QOTD2

"The one and overall lesson is that competition is a key factor in raising educational standards in the future."
-Sven

I am biased. But here in the US, its seems to me that a pol candidate running on a platform of school choice would be awfully attractive in this environment: choice, lower costs, better results, power into the hands of parents, rather than nabobs and pols.
I know. I know. What the hell do I know anyway.

Wrap: "Sweden’s school voucher program shows that competition truly works!"
huzzah... yow, bill

PS - This isn't worthy of normal post space... only postscript-worthy:

1. Dumb - LeBron leaves Cleveland (home) to be 2nd banana in Miami.
2. Dumber - The Cav owner has a temper tantrum in the fashion of a teenage schoolgirl.
3. Dumbest - Jesse Jackson says that the Cav are treating LeBron like a "runaway slave"... dolt.
   

Better Heaps

a) A Better Heap
Hey Bill,

This is stuff that makes me wish I was still torturing, I mean, teaching college coders.
An ACM guy humbly submits a better heap:

You're Doing It Wrong

Memory management has dominated performance in pretty much any big program that I've written. So, the trick here is to minimize page faults by changing the ordering in your heap from breadth-first to (sort of) depth-first. Here's a small example of what he's talking about:
How fun!

b) World Cup Answer
I heart the Freakonomics blog: freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com

Today they ask the probing question:

What Will You Remember From the 2010 World Cup

Answer: Nuttin.

OK, that's not true.
I'll remember my Algeria soccer jersey/chick magnet.
Hot 40-somethings like soccer, or at least the jerseys.
Who knew?
nerdy mcnerd... yow, bill

Funny Headlines

a) Headlines
Two "funny" (funny weird and funny haha) headlines in the WSJ this morning:

First, on the Netherlands losing in the World Cup finale:

Are the Dutch Destined to Lose?
When it comes to the flood of sporting defeats; there's no finger in the dike

I'm guessing some alcohol was involved in that one. And...

The ClimateGate Whitewash Continues

I haven't included links to either story. Who cares about the World Cup. And if aren't questioning the whole global warming establishment yet, then I don't know what to tell you.

b) Sweden Lessons
Steve Forbes spent a lot of time on this... the misconception we in America have about the European/socialist model. It's had a devastating effect on growth in Europe. Sweden is one good example:

Lessons from the Swedish Welfare State

Go:

• 50 years ago, Sweden spent 30% of GDP on government... now it spends 60%
  
• In 1970, Sweden was #4 in per capita GDP... by 1993 it fell to 17th

We can black-and-white this one, if we like. And we do.
The choice in America is clear. Grow and compete with China and the emerging markets in the world. Or recede into European malaise.

The article mentions that Sweden is undergoing some reform. Interestingly, they tout Sweden's nationwide school voucher program. Very interesting. I'm on that... in future posts. It'll go well with the results of a "google bikini swedish". He he!

c) The Sock
Shout out to the first place Chicago White Sox... Ozzie and the boys:

• Sox are the winning-est team in MLB over the last month
• Sox have won 8 games in a row and are 9-1 in July
• Sox are 25-5 in their last 30 games
• Carlos Quentin in the last month has 11 dinger, 28 rbi, and 63 tb
• Gavin Floyd (#34, my fave Sock) is 3-0, with a 1.22 era and 0.79 whip over the last month
  
• In this time, Sox have climbed from 9 games under .500 to 11 games over
• The Sox have gone from 9 games behind to first place with a 1/2 game lead over Detroit
  

Now, the Sox streak pretty much started with inter-league play and includes 6 games against KC, but it's still impressive. Let's hope they can keep it up. I heart Ozzie.

As for the Cub. Next!
peace... yow, bill

Education Post

"Seattle Doctor"

a) Education... wait for it... Crisis!
Last year, Education Sec Arnie Duncan got $100 BILLION for education.
We should feel privileged and lucky that this year's CRISIS is only projected to cost us $23 BILLION.

Congress needs to act now on school money

Well. Wait a minute. Wha happen to last year's $100 BILLION?

Creating a Crisis: The Squandered $100 Billion Education Stimulus

Arnie. Fucking go away.

b) Teach For America
Teach For America (TFA) is a program that recruits Ivy League college grads to teach in low-performing, typically low-income, schools for a couple years. The kids get better, elite teachers for a couple years. The Ivy Leaguers get a fun life experience.

Here's the story:

What They're Doing After Harvard

All this is good. Two interesting side-dealies though:

1. Now, TFA is mostly privately funded, but they do get some money ($21M) from the feds. This amount is now in questions with budget cuts. Fine. Hey TFA, find a private source for this missing $21M or cut back.
2. TFA has trouble finding school districts that will take their shiny Ivy Leaguers. Why? You guessed it... the teacher's union doesn't want a bunch of shiny, motivated young people teaching in "their" schools.
   

QOTD

"Oddly, the other obstacle is finding districts that will take the teachers. Why wouldn't any superintendent trip over himself to hire young people with these qualifications? The answer lies in the opposition to TFA by teachers unions and education schools."
- TFA is the Teach For America program, source

The unions can't have great non-union teachers in these schools. The education schools can't have great young teachers that didn't get certified or their MS in Education. They CAN'T!

Bloated fed and state and local government budgets feed the unions. Cut them, and maybe we will see real reform like school choice. You tell entrepreneurs that you'll pay $10K/kid to do elementary education... in these technological times... and you'll have a stampede rushing to serve that market!

And innovate!
school choice... yow, bill

Hot Czech Pols

a) Anno LeBron
Dammit. Screw the article... hilarious headline for LeBron, the day after.

QOTD

"Cleveland Fans React With Usual Grace and Tact"
-Article headline for LeBron, the day after

b) Hot Czech Pols
In the most productive and positive political announcement the free world has seen since... um... ever... a bunch of hot chick pols in the Czech Republic have put out a "racy" calendar:

Czechmates: These Political Figures Star in Their Own Racy Calendar

QOTD

"Czechs are open-minded."
- Hot czech pol

Huzzah to that!

c) And back to the bad news
This is kind of bogus, but it's a glossy slide show of current economic problems:

24 Depressing Pieces Of Evidence That Difficult Economic Times Lie Ahead

Of more tangible note, here's a NY Times article on Illinois' budget woes. I don't subscribe to the NY Times, so I can only read the first half, but it's still worth it:

Illinois Stops Paying Its Bills, but Can’t Stop Digging Hole

QOTD

[based on] "the magnitude and persistent nature of the state’s fiscal problems and passage of a budget for fiscal (FY) 2011 that does not address either the annual operating deficit or accumulated liabilities."
- Fitch Ratings, on why they cut the rating of IL general obligation debt, source

Is this time different?
That dang question again. He he.
peace out... yow, bill

narcissistic, cowardly, shameful, shocking, heartless, callous

a) Holy Crap.
LeBron to Miami.
Dan Gilbert, owner of the Cav, responds:

Open Letter to Fans from Cavaliers Majority Owner Dan Gilbert

Incredible.
How's that for burning bridges:

• "he deserted this evening"
• "narcissistic, self-promotional build-up"
• "the ownership team and the rest of the hard-working, loyal, and driven staff over here at your hometown Cavaliers have not betrayed you nor NEVER will betray you."
• "You simply don't deserve this kind of cowardly betrayal."
• "shameful display of selfishness and betrayal"
• "shocking act of disloyalty"
• "this heartless and callous action"

Holy crap.
Hey, I'll bet a dollar that NBA link disappears soon, so I copy-pasted Gilbert's text below.

b) Holy Crap #2.
Well... welcome aboard, Donald Berwick. Donny.
President Obama did a little off-session appointment of Berwick to run Medicare and Medicaid.
And here's the QOTD, from this flower of humanity.

QOTD

"Any healthcare funding plan that is just, equitable, civilized, and humane must, must redistribute wealth from the richer among us to the poorer and the less fortunate. Excellent healthcare is by definition redistributional."
- Donald Berwick, 2008 in London, video

The video is worth watching, BTW.
My little QOTD doesn't do the Harvard Professor's smugness (Berwick, not Obama) justice.

For President Obama, health care is, by definition, redistribution of wealth.
I know.
Duh.

I sure hope we reject this un-American mindset in November.
Holy crap.
I sure hope so.
And F LeBron AND Miami. Go Bull!
he he... yow, bill

PS - Here's my Copy-Paste of Dan Gilbert's LeBron-torching letter to Cav fans.

Open Letter to Fans from Cavaliers Majority Owner Dan Gilbert

Dear Cleveland, All Of Northeast Ohio and Cleveland Cavaliers Supporters Wherever You May Be Tonight;

As you now know, our former hero, who grew up in the very region that he deserted this evening, is no longer a Cleveland Cavalier.

This was announced with a several day, narcissistic, self-promotional build-up culminating with a national TV special of his "decision" unlike anything ever "witnessed" in the history of sports and probably the history of entertainment.

Clearly, this is bitterly disappointing to all of us.

The good news is that the ownership team and the rest of the hard-working, loyal, and driven staff over here at your hometown Cavaliers have not betrayed you nor NEVER will betray you.

There is so much more to tell you about the events of the recent past and our more than exciting future. Over the next several days and weeks, we will be communicating much of that to you.

You simply don't deserve this kind of cowardly betrayal. You have given so much and deserve so much more. In the meantime, I want to make one statement to you tonight:

"I PERSONALLY GUARANTEE THAT THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS WILL WIN AN NBA CHAMPIONSHIP BEFORE THE SELF-TITLED FORMER ‘KING’ WINS ONE"

You can take it to the bank.

If you thought we were motivated before tonight to bring the hardware to Cleveland, I can tell you that this shameful display of selfishness and betrayal by one of our very own has shifted our "motivation" to previously unknown and previously never experienced levels.

Some people think they should go to heaven but NOT have to die to get there.

Sorry, but that's simply not how it works.

This shocking act of disloyalty from our home grown "chosen one" sends the exact opposite lesson of what we would want our children to learn. And "who" we would want them to grow-up to become.

But the good news is that this heartless and callous action can only serve as the antidote to the so-called "curse" on Cleveland, Ohio.

The self-declared former "King" will be taking the "curse" with him down south. And until he does "right" by Cleveland and Ohio, James (and the town where he plays) will unfortunately own this dreaded spell and bad karma.

Just watch.

Sleep well, Cleveland.

Tomorrow is a new and much brighter day....

I PROMISE you that our energy, focus, capital, knowledge and experience will be directed at one thing and one thing only:

DELIVERING YOU the championship you have long deserved and is long overdue....



Dan Gilbert Majority Owner Cleveland Cavaliers

Small post

a) The LeBron Trade
Here's (for fun) a snapshot of LeBron trading at www.intrade.com a few hours before he announces.
Miami is the fave @ 65%.
The Bull are only at 6%.
I pick that LeBron will stay in Cleveland... that's at 24%, and falling.

I'm with Carlos Boozer on the whole LeBron deal.

QOTD1

"I'm going to text him again this morning. If we get him, we could rival one of the best teams of all time and be able to put together championship after championship. If we don't get him, we'll compete against him and we'll bring it to him."
- Carlos Boozer, the newest, most expensive, Bull on LeBron, source

b) Tenure
Nice, tidy article on something that's obvious.
Why in the world would elementary or high school teachers get tenure?!?

A Call to End Teacher Tenure

As President Obama barrels toward a more European/socialist style of existence... another anecdotal quote from across the pond.

QOTD2

"... over the last four decades, only 18 teachers in the entire U.K. have been fired for incompetence"
- Freakonomics blog, source

peace out... yow, bill

Raise my taxes

Ahhh...

"End of the evening"

a) Yet Another Example
Yet another example... this is what it going on. This is it. The problem.
The teacher's union in Milwaukee chooses layoffs (and complaining about it), rather than move an inch on salary and benefits.

A Case Study in Teacher Bailouts

The teacher's union is a pariah. A perfect example of the problem... of what needs to be fixed.

QOTD

"The average pay for a Milwaukee school teacher is $56,000... the cost of health and pension benefits now exceeds $40,000 a year per teacher—bringing total compensation to $100,500."
- WSJ article

You don't have to ask me if $100K for a school teacher is overpaid. Just look at the salaries of teachers in private and parochial schools. It's got to be around half that. And a little supply-demand... that lower salary at non-public schools is after you pull a few million public teachers out of the supply pool.

A crazy, elderly man (OK, my father) gave me the ages-old argument: the feds will never cut anything, so we have to raise taxes. Couple months ago, the Illinois teacher's union sent a bunch of knuckleheads to Springfield screaming, "Raise my taxes!"... which directly translates to "Raise everyone else's taxes and give us the money!"

Nope.
Raise my taxes. NOT!
I understand his point. But this time can be (must be?) different.
We shall see.

b) Welcome abroad
"Welcome. A broad".... get it? He he. Oh, brother.

Anyway, I'm a big gay marriage guy.
Why should we heteros have all the stuff that sucks?
Just kidding. He he.
So, Melissa Ethridge, and gay people everywhere... welcome aboard!

Melissa Ethridge's Divorce

I love this on every level:

• Look how hot Ethridge's ex is! It's the classic: frumpy, successful, old man with tons of dough, snarfs a hot, young bippy... lesbian style. He he.
• Now they're splitting up and her ex (Tammy) is claiming that she gave up her promising acting career (cough): "I gave up my managers, agents, contacts, all that good stuff, because i stepped directly into potty training a small boy, and carrying around a small girl on my hip." LOL!
• And guess what... Tammy needs some $$$: "The other week i had to borrow money from a friend".
• And poor, downtrodden Tammy was "blindsided" by the whole deal.
  

Oh dammit. My sides.
lol... yow, bill

PS - Ty and I are definitely hitting this in St. Louis. Maybe we'll get a free beer or something.

www.kriegerssportsgrill.com

Concert Weekend

There are two concerts I'd like to see in Chicago this weekend. How many will the old-timer actually get out and see? I guess we'll both have to check back next week, eh.

a) Concert #1, Lubriphonic
Lubriphonic is playing something called the "Boulevard Bash" at Logan Square in Chicago.

Boulevard Bash

This one is Saturday night at 6:00 pm.
I'd love to take Ty to see a real horn section.

b) Concert #2, Rachel Barton
Rachel Barton is playing violin Sunday night from 7-10 at Millenium Park. Here's the link:

Rachel Barton Pine, Great Performer of Illinois Award Recipient in Concert

One cool thing about this show is its variety:

1. Open with some crazy baroque violin in her trio, Trio Settecento
   
2. Then, a little classical with Tchaikovsky and the CSO
3. Wrap playing "electric viper" with her death metal band Earthen Grave

Earthen Grave features such stylistic song titles as "Dismal Times",
"Relentless (Pentagram), and "Burning a Sinner". He he.

Rachel Barton is great... and she's workin' it:

• Nice site too: www.rachelbartonpine.com
• And a flickr page: www.flickr.com/photos/rachelbartonpine... make sure you click on the "Rachel with rock stars" set because she's in there with Slash and Jimmy Page and... Yow!
  
• Cool magazine article about her mixing classical and heavy metal music: www.decibelmagazine.com/Content.aspx?ncid=347870

peace out... yow, bill

Saggy, shapeless men

a) Solitary Man review

QOTD

"As you can tell from my husband, I've got a thing for saggy, shapeless men."
- cartoon Catherine Zeta-Jones on Family Guy

Movie: "Solitary Man"
Review: 2 bill-stars (out of 5)... not good.

Well, in "Solitary Man", we are treated to saggy, shapeless 65 yo Michael Douglas (top) jumping on top of 20 yo Imogen Poots (bottom). "Imogen Poots". WTF?!?

I'll give it to Michael Douglas though. He was convincing and did a good acting job here. The rest of the cast was pretty awful, except Danny DeVito. I'll give young Ms. Poots a bit of a pass... pretty difficult to act as though you're sexually excited by Michael Douglas. Ay carumba.

I do give "Solitary Man" some credit. It was a little bit different, if not good. The main character has seemingly no redeeming qualities, isn't very interesting, and is universally unlikeable. And it's not like he finds some big redemption in the end. That's a pretty big tamale to be hanging out there to movie audiences. I guess I admire the courage to spend a bunch of (somebody else's) $$$ to make a movie that you know people won't like.

That said.
Pass.

b) Greed is good?
Before Solitary Man, I was treated to a preview of "Wall Street 2"... it's a sequel to "Wall Street"... ya know, Michael Douglas, the 80's, "greed is good", blah blah blah.

The director of Wall Street and its sequel is Oliver Stone. Stone is a big Hollywood leftie. In Oliver Stone's world, greed is such a huge problem in capitalist, free societies, that I'm left to assume that "Wall Street 2" will be an important artistic statement by Ollie.

Cough.

What a fraud.
Which I don't mind... but dress it up a little Ollie, OK.
Pretend you have an ounce of credibility.

I'll take a preemptive pass on Wall Street 2, eh.
greed is good... yow, bill

PS - BTW, has any TV show ever fallen farther than "Family Guy"?

• It was really bright, funny, and great for 3 years. I own the flippin DVD set.
  
• Fox canceled it.
• People complained.
  
• Fox brought it back.
• And now it's like the most angry, unfunny show on TV

I'm not sure wha happen, but I think there's something a little wrong with the Family Guy guy.

Happiness and baseball

a) Happiness Model

QOTD

“Happiness is really just about four things: perceived control, perceived progress, connectedness (number and depth of your relationships), and vision/meaning (being part of something bigger than yourself).”
- Tony Hsieh, founder of Zappos (source)

That's a nice simple happiness model... the big 4:

1. control,
   
2. progress,
   
3. connection, and
   
4. meaning

Not bad.

Or, you can be cranky and whiny (and excellent) like Soundgarden.

QOTD2

Whatsoever I've feared
Has come to life
Whatsoever I've fought off
Became my life
Just when everyday
Seemed to greet me with a smile
Sunspots have faded
And now I'm doing time
Cause I fell on
Black days
- Soundgarden, “Fell on Black Days”

b) K-Rod Happiness
I heart K-Rod.

QOTD

"The freakin’ worst performance I ever had in my entire life.
I should be ashamed of myself.
So embarrassing."
-K-Rod, after blowing a save this weekend (source)

Take it easy there, K-Rod. Mariano blew a save this weekend too. He he.

My 3 closers in fantasy baseball this year are: K-Rod, Mariano, and Papelbon... so, I have a vested interest. I ponied up for the quality in pitching this year. Alas, I'm currently in 6th place in our 12 team league... it's been a trying season. But it's early, baby. And the Naperville Watchmen are within striking distance. He he.

BTW, some interesting K-Rod career numbers (Baseball-reference source):

• 561 IP in 518 games pitched
• 712 K
  
• 263 saves, including a record 62 saves in 2008

That's how you get a contract to play ball for $12M a season.

Here's a fun video with some cool graphic on why Mariano Rivera's cutter is so effective:

How Mariano Rivera Dominates

So, I better not diss Papelbon... the stare.

Fantasy baseball is the best... and 2nd best isn't even in the picture.
su-wing batt-ah.... yow, bill

PS - Funny. You google "Mariano" and you get this little Japanese girl in a bikini. OK.

Happy 4th!

QOTD

"Talk is cheap.
Show me the code."
- Linus the Linux guy, t-shirt

a) Book Review
Book: "Oxygen" by Carol Cassella
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... OK
Website: www.carolcassella.com

This book is about a girl anesthesiologist going through a malpractice suit. The author is a also a girl anesthesiologist. The book was worth reading, but the pace was uneven, and I wasn't that into her writing style. A lot of the malpractice/hospital/lawyer stuff seemed kind of TV drama-ish as well.

b) Largest Tax Increase
In 2011, President Obama and the dem Congress will allow the W tax cuts to expire. I heard this being described on the radio yesterday as "the largest tax increase" in history. This may be true in absolute dollar terms, but not, more importantly, as a percentage of GDP.

The big thing though: President Obama and the dems should own any downturns in the economy from here out. The prospect of a tax increase in this economy is, well, ridiculous.

President Obama continues full-speed down his preferred path: spend more money. This is typical: Obama awards $2B for solar power, hails new jobs. So, $2B from the feds to a couple companies in Colorado to create 1,500 jobs. Shit, even I can do that math... $2B / 1,500 jobs = > $1M/job. And this kind of thing seems to be the rule rather than the exception with programs like the stimulus money that we've spent.

Well, we're going to see how inept the repubs are in 4 months. At this point, President Obama is a caricature of a tax & spend, soft on crime, weak on defense liberal/leftie politician. The result: slow/no growth, high unemployment, higher taxes, bungled oil spill, weak foreign policy, etc. If repubs can't rout the dems in this environment, then when?!?

Soccer's greatest contribution to the world... hot fans:

Source: soccerfan.hedir.com/2008/12/25/beautiful-soccer-fans/

BTW, I got my Algeria jersey in the mail. It's sublime. He he.
happy 4th... yow, bill

Summerfest and Santana and Lubriphonic

QOTD

"If you lock your girlfriend in the trunk of your car and let her our 2 hours later; she'll be really angry with you. If you do that with your dog, he'll lick your face and love you when you let him out. That's unconditional love."
- Santana, sharing a little concert philosophy (swear to Kalu, I'm not making this shit up)

a) Santana
Concert: Santana @ Summerfest 2010
Review: 5 bill-stars (out of 5)... OUTSTANDING!
Website: www.santana.com

I really only know Santana from the radio and had low expectations for this show.
Ah, sweet expectations... Santana blew the fucking doors off.

We stood and danced and swayed for nearly the whole two hours.
Santana's standards were great: Oye Como Va, Black Magic Woman, and the other one. That newer Rob Thomas bogus single was good too. My fave all night was his cover of Cream's "Sunshine of Your Love" that just ripped your face off. Incredible!

One other thing struck me... Santana oozed confidence. Positive confidence. His young singers were almost always in front of him. He had great rapport with his grandson-aged bass player, and seemed completely at ease. His oldies were the 3 percussion players, who were the foundation for everything that went on. Santana didn't have to be the focus every second, but when he moved, everyone followed... both on-stage and off. It was impressive to see that quiet, assumptive power.

And what a great show.

b) Steve Winwood
Concert: Steve Winwood @ Summerfest 2010
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... OK
Website: www.stevewinwood.com

Now, this is what I expected.
Steve Winwood was OK, low energy.

Winwood and Santana are both 60-something... so wha happen?

Well, Winwood tours with a bunch of other 60-somethings (presumably drinking buddies... or Parcheesi buddies at this point), whereas Santana surrounded himself with uber-talented and energetic 20-somethings. You also definitely get the sense that Winwood sort of tolerates his "classics" (he butchered "Higher Love" with a bogus faux reggae arrangement), whereas Santana loves to play his stuff... and he loves to play to the crowd. Santana had a real positive vibe... Steve Winwood, not so much.

c) Summerfest
Summerfest is 5 bill-stars to me. Duh. www.summerfest.com

Summerfest is:

• A zillion fun stages of (surprisingly good) live bands playing all in one long row,
• Crappy food,
• Some brews, and
  
• People watching
  

Milwaukee isn't Chicago Light; it's Chicago Nice or Chicago Laid Back. Summerfest reflects this.
It's a wonderful experience to just stroll and listen and watch and chillax the day away. And indeed, we did from about 4 till midnight and had a great time.

Around midnight, we caught our (convenient) shuttle back to the hotel... and jumped off the bus a few blocks early to hoist a nightcap at a little Irish bar on the way home. He he!

d) Lubriphonic
Concert: Lubriphonic
Review: 5 bill-stars (out of 5)... HORN SECTION!!!
Website: www.lubriphonic.com

Lubriphonic was our top find while strolling through Summerfest. Great blues/R&B band that features two special elements:

1. The front man (guitar and lead vocals) was excellent
2. The horn section KILLED!

My addled memory cannot summon a better sax solo than the one we heard at the Lube show. Dammit! (That's him to the right, Garrick Patten) The guys are incredibly talented and had the positive mojo going, full volume. And when your horn section is good and tight and jamming... then, you got it.

I see Lube coming to Chicago next weekend... maybe I'll take the boy down there to see some real horns playing. What's better than live music.
cha... yow, bill