Kid Rock-Genius; Skynyrd-Unforgetable; Zevon-Otherwordly

Is the above a provocative statement?  Perhaps.

But first, check out his latest effort:

And tell me the artist who could seemlessly sample and insert the primary riff from both “Werewolves of London” and “Sweet Home Alabama” into a single song.

Go on…I’ll wait.

Yep, not a lot.

Why does this song get my attention?

These songs it samples bookended my high school years.  I can remember riding my bike to football practice listening to Sweet Home Alabama in the fall of 1974,  and catching “Werewolves of London” in 1978 as I headed off to college.

Of course, they were both taken from us too soon.  Skynyrd went down in a plane crash, but not before they gave us the classic Street Survivors. 

We lost Warren to cancer in the fall of 2003, but not before he saw the birth of his grandchild and giving us this last performance on Letterman on October 30, 2002.

God bless them all…and thank you Kid!

OH, and as Warren said to Letterman, “Enjoy every sandwich”!

Randy Pausch has Died

Randy Pausch, the Carnigie Mellon professor whom I wrote about in the wake of his “Last Lecture” in the face of terminal pancreatic cancer, has died.

Here is a clip of his lecture, which was part of a series of lectures given by Carnigie Mellon professors to discuss the lessons they have learned in their life journey.

Just prior to his speech, the series title was changed from “Last Lecture” to “Journies”.

The Pausch response: “”I thought, damn, I finally nailed the venue and they renamed it,”

Vaya con Dios

Let’s Vote Now…

I had the pleasure this weekend of seeing both the Obama and McCain advertisements, and after considering a few things, I have come to the conclusion we should just go on and vote now. Both sides have pretty much laid out who and what they are, and I don’t know how much good is to be had by waiting until November.

What occured to me:

First, Wesley Clark is wrong on John McCain. Clark claims McCain’s service per se does not qualify him to be president. I think Mr. Clark has spent too much time in antispetic HQ ordering bombing raids and has lost his perspective. It is not that McCain was a POW for 6 years, it is how he behaved. He was the guy that kept the POW’sgoing, who fought not to break, who schemed to escape, and who refused an early release. That speaks of character and toughness, something never out of place in the oval office.

John McCain is a finished product with a record to judge. 20+years in Congress, a record that can be throughly vetted for good or bad. For campaing financing and the various bipartisan votes, you can always toss in the Keating 5. One way or the other, you know what you are getting. His message is not always eloquent, and he carries the burden of the Bush Administration on his back…but he is experienced-and that is the crux of his appeal.

Barack Obama is an unfinished product with a bright shiny message and no real record. Let’s face it, if his civic involvement prior to politics is the yardstick by which potential presidents are to be judged, I doubt he is in the first rank. Obama calls for cooperation and looking to better America by Americans working together. It is a message that resonates in these highly partisan and strident times.

However, he has not forged a record in the US Senate upon which he can be judged-unless he is to be judged on his dearth of a record. Obama has voted “present” 130 times, and has not taken the lead on a single bipartisan effort that endangered his position in the Democratic caucus. He has proven himself to be highly opportunistic-he was in favor of public financing…until it became politically advantageous to not do it. Obamadefended his minister of 20 years…until it became politically advantageous to denounce him. I wonder if he would have taken that early release from the Hanoi Hilton.  But he is not supportive of the Bush record, he has a wonderful message, and he would be the first minority president of a country with a terrible  history littered of racism…and that is the crux of his appeal.

As you might imagine, my preference is for the experienced hand…bright shiny new toys have a way of tarnishing in ways you never imagined. But that is not the real thing on my mind.

This campaign has been going on for an eternity. The records of each candidate have been compared on the web and airwaves for months. There is serious work needed to be done, and the political life of the country is too heavily focused on the “gettin’ it” part of politics than the “doin’ it” part.

We need to get back to business. Let’s just go on and vote.

Yes, I know we cannot do that…but I just wish we could.

The Raw/Drift Perspective-Who Wins?

Yesterday I read Marc Fisher’s opinion column “Raw Fischer” that Virginia transportation problems should be blamed on the GOP for not blindly following the Democrats in raising taxes.

But the boys at Bearing Drift suggest in their podcast that since the House of Delegates passed a GOP sponsored plan that did not raise taxes, and said plan was shot down by the Democratic Senate, that the Democrats will be blamed.

It will be interesting to see who really ends up winning in all this.

Meanwhile, TheGov tosses in his plan to seemingly tax everything but gasoline and has it tossed back at him by both houses. I guess that while we cannot yet identify the winners, we can start to identify the losers.

Real Reason Kaine May be VP…

In 1920, after the GOP had nominated the Harding-Coolidge ticket, a half drunk new england politico was heard ranting that he would give odds that Harding would not survive his term. When cautioned against this outburst, the inebriated one said,”You don’t understand, Calvin Coolidge is the most lucky SOB in the world!”…and, between getting into office during the 20’s economic expansion, avoiding the taint of the Teapot Dome scandals, and then leaving office prior to the Great Depression…the guy apparently knew what he was talking about.

There are numerous posts up at Democratic blogs about the possibility of Tim Kaine getting the VP-nod, with some of the better posts at RK.

Having some time last week to contemplate politics in the clear forests of Augusta County, and despite my contention that Kaine brings no unique substance to the ticket, I have come to the conclusion that there is a real reason Kaine may snag the VP nod…

…because politically he is one of the luckiest SOB’s in the world. And, as any good poker player knows, when the cards are falling your way you have to press your luck.

Consider the following:

a) Kaine ran for the 2001 LTGov nod as the Mayor of Richmond…but at the time this was not a popularly elected position-it was elected by the City council from amongst its members. Nothing wrong with that, but it means Kaine was fortunate enough to be able to run for statewide office from an elected position where he represented (if my math is correct) less than 25,000 people-far fewer than a member of the House of Delegates or State Senate, or the elected at large mayor of smaller cities like Manassas. Remember, there is a difference between the population of the City of Richmond and the population of the Richmond SMSA.

b) He wins that primary with less than 40% of the vote…not a stunning show of strength.

c) Meanwhile, strange things are going on the GOP side in 2001. Highly conservative and somewhat aging Delegate Jay Katzen, denied the LtG slot in 1997, steals a march on Randy Forbes and attends every fish fry, shad bake, bean dinner, and GOP function for three years. Forbes is running behind Katzen, but as the GOP starts to realize that Forbes would be a much stronger general election candidate Fourth District Democratic Congressman Norm Sissiky dies. Forbes jumps into the special election and wins the seat, leaving Katzen as the all but official LtGov nominee.

d) In the general, despte having a very weak opponent, a strong pull at the top of the ticket, the Gilmore administration economic issues, etc., going his way…Kaine wins with just over 50% of the vote.

e) Kaine bides his time as LtGov, staying out of the spotlight. In 2005, he sits back and allows Jerry Kilgore, accent and all, to self destruct with his Hitler advertisement…but until then the LtGov of a very popular governor had not pulled into the solid lead-as one would expect.

f) As Governor, well, not much to report, but his early endorsement of Barack Obama thrusts his name into the VP conversation.

Tim Kaine does not come to the table with claims of having a successful governorship, nor can he claim that his presence on the ticket will carry Virginia. History is full of national candidates who did not carry their home states. As noted by Lowell Feld, Kaine is perceived to have a bunch of soft and/or assumed strengths…which apparently includes that he is neither Dan Quayle nor Dick Cheney. There is this assumption that his elevation to VP would start a GOP bloodbath in Virginia for the top spot in 2009 that would benefit the democrats.

Normally, I would not put much faith in a the nomination of a candidate whose strengths are all assumptions and perceptions. His weaknesses and deficits are clear. But Kaine has one very real thing going in his favor, and that just cannot be disputed…

…politically he is one of the luckiest SOB’s in the world, and that kind of luck seems to find the hole card at the dangdest times.

Back from Goshen…

I have returned from the Goshen Scout reservation with WMD #1.  And, although we caught far more rain early in the week than I though possible, a good grimy, dirty time was had by all.

The food was good, fun was had at all the learning centers, and WMD#1 now knows what can happen if you get to close to the water while fishing.  By the same token, he also knows how to make apple cobbler and how to fashion a sword from wood and rope.

So, on balance, a good week…of course, I now have to catch up with political developments of the last week or so…

The highlight?  Well, there is nothing quite like having the center of a thunder storm pass right over top your campsite while sleeping in a old style army tent.

Off to Goshen…

Tomorrow AM WMD #1 and I head off for a week at the Goshen Scout reservation down in SWAC country.  I will not have internet connectivity until I return home next weekend.

SO…I will not be able to approve any comments made to this blog until I return.

I make this statement now for the benefit of the Phil Rodanakis types out there.  The unique Mr. Phil replied to a post while I was out of town and without connectivity, and then three days later again posted (but not in the same string) all sort of not so veiled legal threats.

SO-be forewarned…from tomorrow early AM until the following weekend I will not only not be posting, but will be unable to approve comments posted this blog.

Until then!

B

Is Tim Craig Flacking for Dick Saslaw?

In today’s Virginia notebook WaPo writer Tim Craig looks at the special legislative session in Richmond, and lets us all know who he is supporting.

After looking at all the various options, Craig writes:

With gas prices already more than $4 a gallon, House Minority Leader Ward L. Armstrong (D-Bath) has come out against Saslaw’s plan to raise the gas tax by 6 cents over six years, which would cost the average family less than $50 a year.

Now what caught my eye is the casual way Mr. Craig slips advocacy into his article…and in doing so shows why Mr. Saslaw’s bill is doomed and perhaps deserves to fail…and why one would be justified in thinking Mr. Craig has a night job as a PR expert for Senator Saslaw.

The WaPo has long been accused of allowing reporters to slip opinion and advocacy into their articles. Clearly that is what is going on here. Mr. Craig does not offer any independent information to validate his claim, only statement parroting Mr. Saslaw…it’s the parroting part that alerts you that this is advocacy.

More important is Mr. Craig acting as if this increase happens in a vacuum. Families are already having to cut away activities, and now Mr. Saslaw potentially wants them to cut away more so his gas tax can take wing and fly. He sees it as a way to solve one problem, and apparently has no concern what other problem(s) he may be creating.

I don’t know which is a more sorry sight…that of the Majority Leader of the Virginia Senate slashing without concern at the wallets of Virginian’s already stretched tight, or that of a member of the Fourth Estate deciding it was not important to maintain their objectivity.

Either way, it’s a pity.

Flack On, Mr. Craig, Flack On!