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Year: 2006

Is Kinky Awesome?

October 11, 2006 • • 3 Comments

That’s what commenter “Kinky is Awesome” seems to think. In fact, this person posted an entire post from the Kinky is Awesome blog in the comments section of my post about the recent debate. WordPress seemed to think that this was comment spam, but since it was on topic, I figured why the hell not? and let it in. Still, I wonder if other blogs have recieved similar comments from “Kinky is Awesome.”

So, what makes Kinky awesome? Well, let’s think about what “Kinky is Awesome” said.

Is it his desire to militarize the border and declare martial law? I wonder if Kinky knows what martial law is, and if so is he really in favor of turning the justice system in south Texas over to the military? Is this how he’ll get Chris Bell out of the way since Bell is apparently a terrorist?

Perhaps Kinky is awesome because he supported Bush/Cheney in ’04 and still supports Bush’s middle east policies? Admiration and support for incompetents and incompetence aren’t exactly selling points. Is this really the best time to be talking up your candidate’s admiration for Bush anyway?

“Kinky is Awesome” then goes on to suggest that perhaps I might be a bit worried that Kinky “showed liberal tendencies by voting for a tree-hugger like Al Gore.” Despite the fact that several recent posts on this blog indicate that that might be a selling point, “Kinky is Awesome” tells me that I needn’t fear since Kinky never voted between 1994 and 2004. I guess his conservative principles are intact even if he sold out his apathy. Awesome.

And, no, I didn’t think he’s a liberal because he’s a Jew, but having religious views (which really means political-religious views) “well to the right of Perry’s” isn’t very reassuring whether it comes from a Christian, Jew or anyone else.

The pitch here is basically that Kinky is no liberal. I guess the idea is to help him pull off some of Perry’s conservative support considering that he’s probably gotten all he’s going to get from Bell. Kinky strikes me more than anything else as something of a libertarian, which I prefer over Republicans so, yeah, “Kinky is Awesome,” you’re right he’s better than Rick Perry, but I’d prefer more tree-hugger and a bit less martial law on the border.

100 Years

October 10, 2006 • • 3 Comments

Last week, I sat in a focus group for a company that wants to install systems that will use renewable energy in homes. The idea goes beyond solar panels to include wind and geothermal where possible. When the moderator asked us to rank the reasons we might be willing to consider renewable energy everyone chose cost savings first. Only two of us chose environmental protection first.

I like saving money, but I couldn’t help but wonder why more people don’t consider preserving a healthy and liveable world for future generations to be more of a moral issue, and quite frankly, the most important one there is. This is something I’d like to hear one of the so-called ‘values voters’ explain to me. I often read about the issues that drive these people to the polls and it’s rarely conservation.

There are some in the evangelical community (which seems to think it owns values and morals, but never mind) who would like to add environmental protection to the mix of values issues, but the leaders of the movement see it as a wedge issue to divide their base. Do they care about anything other than short term power?

Don’t answer that.

In 100 years, it seems unlikely that anyone other than scholars will care how we structured our families, whether or not we let gay people marry, what schools taught kids about evolution, or even whether or not abortion was legal. I suspect, though, that they will curse us for every methane spewing landfill, toxic waste dump, dead reef, poisoned aquifer, dead forest, overfished sea, desertified landscape, silt-blocked river, lost glacier, styrofoam cup and plastic water bottle that we leave for them to enjoy.

A few days after the focus group, I read Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth and was struck by how often he refers to environmental protection as a moral imperative. I couldn’t agree more, but I wonder how long it will be before we look at politicians and demand to see their environmental ideas before we make the decision about their values. What kind of people ask about candidates’ positions on gay marriage before asking about ocean policy ideas?

Can you have values if you don’t value the well-being of future generations?

Texas Gubernatorial Debate

October 6, 2006 • • 8 Comments

It’s Friday night and my wife is out of town. Naturally, I watched the Texas Gubernatorial Debate. Dork? Mois?

Okay, it wasn’t really a debate, it was more of a “debate,” but I watched it anyway.

Since the four way race between incumbent Republican Rick “Go Texas” Perry, Democrat Chris “Who? Huh?” Bell, Kinky “Why the Hell Not” Friedman and Carole “Grandma” Keeton Strayhorn began I’ve been one of the undecideds. I’m sick of Perry and he needs to go. The question is, who can beat him?

I flirted with Friedman and signed for Strayhorn, though I admit I lost the petition before I could mail it back.

In tonight’s “debate” Perry was polished and sounded good; if I hadn’t been reading the paper for the past six years, I’d have been impressed with him. He was most effective in dealing with Friedman’s recent racist comments and in defending his highway plans. I’d say give the devil his due, but there was no stench of sulphur, so I’ll just say Perry was as slick and polished as I expected him to be.

Friedman was all over the place. Willie Nelson in charge of energy policy? Come on. He’s running against politics and while he’s passionate about changing Texas, he has no idea how to do it. My brother said he doesn’t think we need a comedian as our governor. I agree, but I’d still take him over the clown we have. Comedians are funny. Clowns are scary.

I had high hopes for Strayhorn; however, she came off flat and uninspiring. I’d take her over Perry, but only since I know she really is committed to education. She sounded desperate, which is probably what happens when you’re fourth in the polls.

The best line of the night was from Chris Bell when he referred to the competition as his “three Republican opponents.” Bell was knowledgeable and he seemed to have a strong grasp of the issues. At times, Friedman even helped him out, though probably unintentionally. Bell has solid positions on education and has made transparency and clean government one of his signature issues. He gets points for being one of the first to file ethics complaints against Tom DeLay. He’s smart, witty and competent. Call me convinced.

I believe we are doomed to another four years of Perry (actually, two – he’s being groomed as the GOP VP candidate for ’08, God help us all) unless the Democrats come home to Bell. In all likelihood, they will abandon Strayhorn and Friedman and coalesce around Bell, which is a good thing since he’s the best candidate. If the traditional Democrat vote holds and he can pick up enough of the anti-Perry crowd (like me), he should have a chance.

I guess I’m decided.

Update: Thanks to the following blogs for linking to this post: Capitol Annex, Brains and Eggs, Easter Lemming Liberal News, Off the Kuff, and Houston Democrats.

An Inconvenient Truth

October 5, 2006 • • 3 Comments

Al Gore’s book, An Inconvenient Truth, is a well put together overview of the dangers posed by global climate change. He documents the ways in which human activity has increased air temperatures and altered the chemistry of the Earth’s oceans as well as the political situation that perpetuates a status quo unwilling to acknowledge the consequences of inaction.

It’s hard for me to say how convincing the book is; I was convinced a long time ago so Gore is kind of preaching to the choir here. Among other things, I read Discover and National Geographic regularly, both of which have done a nice job of exploring global climate issues over the years.

What makes the book intriguing – and why I bought it – is the illustrations. It’s one thing to read about disappearing glaciers; it’s quite another to see photographs taken from the same spot (in some cases only thirty years apart) that show gigantic glaciers in one image and then no glacier in the other. The book relies heavily on this kind of visual evidence that tends to be very effective.

Interspersed throughout the book Gore includes autobiographical excursions that describe the personal experiences that have led him to undertake this crusade that he repeatedly states is a moral issue. As remarkable as the subject matter is Gore’s passion for it. It’s stunning that this man was painted as an emotionless robot with whacky ideas especially when you look at his imminently practical and profitable market-based solutions to this growing problem.

Gore’s book (I haven’t seen the movie) presents the causes and consequences of global climate change in easy-to-read and understand non-technical language accompanied by effective and often beautiful illustrations. An Inconvenient Truth would be a solid introduction or overview on the subject for those who, perhaps have not given the issue much thought.

I’m talking, of course, about the people who find nothing odd about days like today when the temperatures reach into the mid-nineties. In October. Nope, nothing to worry about here.

The Lost Book Club: The Brothers Karamazov (at Page 186)

October 4, 2006 • • 4 Comments

With school in session, I find less time to read (what I want) so I haven’t yet finished Fyodor Dostoevsky’s majestic The Brothers Karamazov, which means that I didn’t make my goal since I also still have to read Our Mutual Friend. Still, since Season 3 of Lost begins tonight, I decided to steal a page from the blog of Danigirl and apply her ’10 Pages In’ Book Review concept to The Brothers Karamazov. I’m actually at p186, but it’s a long book.

Dostoevsky’s book is dense, rich and beautiful, full of the kind of compelling characters that keep me engaged in a story that at this point is only now beginning. The book tells the story of the relationship between an old man and his three sons, each of whom represents a different psychological/spiritual type.

The father, Fyodor Pavlovich, is a drunken self-proclaimed buffoon. He delights in making a public ass of himself. He is a lecher, scoundrel and liar who is thoroughly unlikeable, despite the fact that some of the scandalous things he says are truly funny.

Oldest brother, Dmitri is passionate and ruled by emotion. He behavior is much like that of his father, except that Dmitri has a working conscience buried deep inside. He despises his father and seems to love his brothers. Ivan, the middle brother, is a rationalist and intellectual. He is an atheist who wrestles with issues of faith. The youngest brother, Alyosha is the central character in the book. Alyosha is sweet and gentle, a deeply religious and good-hearted soul whose faith guides him in all things. There is also an illegitimate brother – Smerdyakov – who is dark and brooding, but I haven’t learned much about him yet.

Each brother has varying degrees of conflict with each other and with their father, Fyodor. I think – based on the back of the book – that one of them will kill Fyodor. I don’t know for sure, but my money is on Dmitri. (btw- If you’ve read this – don’t ruin it for me in the comments.)

Ok, on to Lost. The Brothers Karamazov appears in the episode “Maternity Leave” when Locke gives the book to Henry Gale while he is being held captive in the hatch. Henry complains that he can’t get through books like that and says he prefers Hemingway. Jack and Locke discuss Hemingway’s feelings of inferiority because of Dostoevsky’s long literary shadow. Later, Henry asks Locke if he resents living in another man’s shadow, by implication: Jack’s. At this point in the series cracks begin to show in the family of survivors as they increasingly come into conflict with one another.

When looking at The Brothers Karamazov, we can also see parallels between the brothers and certain characters on Lost:

  • Dmitri and Sawyer are both passionate and ruled by their emotions especially lust and greed; both use women, and each possesses a deeply buried conscience.
  • Ivan and Jack are both rationalists, both men of science.
  • Alyosha and Locke are both men of faith, both good-hearted.

I admit, not having read the book in its entirety (yet), that there may be deeper parallels. I particularly wonder if Alyosha has a crisis of faith as Locke did when he stopped pushing the button in the hatch. I also see that Kate could as easily be the Dmitri character as Sawyer; likewise Mr. Eko resembles Alyosha in many ways, though not as closely as Locke.

I don’t see a Fyodor character yet except in that Jack, Locke (and Kate if we go that way) have major conflicts with their fathers. Sawyer’s father hasn’t really come into play except his ‘spiritual father’ – the con man who destroyed his family – from whom he took his name and trade. Interestingly this ‘father’ is the man that Sawyer went to Australia to kill. Kate also killed her father.

I’ll try to explore all of this more fully when I finish the book.

For more of my Lost book posts, please visit The Lost Book Club.

Update: I finished it. Finally.

Karl Denson Trio at La Zona Rosa

October 2, 2006 • • Leave a comment

On Saturday, we caught the Karl Denson Trio’s show at La Zona Rosa after an awesome dinner at Ranch 616. It’s a shame we don’t get more jazz shows around here – I guess Austin just ain’t a jazz town – but the ones that do come tend to be fun because the audiences are usually small. Probably why we don’t get many, but I digress. We saw Denson’s Tiny Universe band at ACL a few years back, but this was the first time we had seen his trio.

We arrived early thinking he was going to start at 9:00, but there were only about 30 people in the place so we got to wait and discuss the fact that there are never chairs at shows. While waiting, we enjoyed the opening act: Marvin Gaye’s brilliant What’s Going On? album played twice. Perfect music for people watching, and, well, perfect music for these times.

When Denson finally came on a bit after 10, the crowd was still small, but what was lacking in numbers was made up for in enthusiasm. Denson started off a bit slow, but on the second number he traded his saxophone for a flute and turned up the temperature.

Denson’s trio sound (drums, organ, sax and sometimes flute) falls somewhere between acid jazz and jazz funk. However you split the hairs, though, the music is great – sometimes funky, sometimes searching, always interesting. I enjoyed his flute numbers the most, partially because I’d never heard anyone play a flute with such funky intensity.

Denson’s trio found all the right grooves and pleased the small crowd that grew increasingly energetic over the course of the two hour set.

Weekend Hound Blogging: Joey Lobo

October 1, 2006 • • 4 Comments

Sometimes the wolf eats you, but mostly Joey eats the wolf.

Last week, I came home to find fluff everywhere. It seems that Joey and probably Phoebe (resting in the background after some wolf killin’) had disemboweled the poor thing. Fortunately my mom – conversant in the ancient art of sewing – was able to save him. She noticed that it was not his first surgery.

Yesterday, Joey and Wolf were reunited after a long week of sleepless nights spent wandering around the bedroom wolf huntin’.

Old Photo Friday

September 29, 2006 • • 4 Comments

These are the stairs leading down from Mt Bonnell. I took this picture sometime in the early ’90s when I had access to a darkroom because I did the print as well.

I used to ride my bike up there pretty regularly when I was at UT, and despite many attempts to capture the views of the city or of Lake Austin and the hills, this is the only picture I ever took there that I liked.

I guess that’s how it is with photography: sometimes the best images are the unexpected ones, the subjects that weren’t your main intention but for whatever reason call to be photographed. Sometimes an ordinary set of stairs leading down through the cedar trees says more than a whole city spread out before you.

As much as I love the view from up there, especially at night when the city lights disappear out into the plains, I haven’t been there in years. I should probably do something about that.