Light holiday reading on Midwestern Culture

Russ Feingold is the subject of a recent bio, Feingold: A New Democratic Party.

Here's what Salon writer Edward McClelland had to say while covering Russ's bio and throwing in plenty of provocation:

The upper Midwest -- specifically Wisconsin and its sister state, Minnesota -- has long seen itself as the conscience of America. Both states have a tradition of clean government and social reform, imported by German and Scandinavian immigrants. And both elect senators who, depending on your point of view, are either champions of progress or annoying liberal pains in the ass. Minnesota gave us Hubert Humphrey, Eugene McCarthy and Paul Wellstone. Wisconsin produced Gaylord Nelson, the founder of Earth Day, and Robert M. La Follette, one of the leading figures of the early 20th century progressive movement. La Follette steamed into Washington with a platform he called the Wisconsin Idea. Its planks included direct election of senators, state control of railroads, workmen's compensation, primary elections and a graduated income tax. Those were long-haired ideas in 1906, but thanks to Wisconsin, we now take them for granted.

La Follette was resented by his colleagues for "calling the roll" -- reading embarrassing votes to a senator's constituents -- and for casting one of six votes against World War I. Yet in 1957, the Senate named this virtuous crusader one of the five greatest solons in its history. La Follette is also Feingold's idol, we learn in Feingold: A New Democratic Party," a scrupulously admiring but shallow biography. Author Sanford D. Horwitt spent five years following Feingold to North Woods town meetings and interviewing family members, teachers, debate coaches and political allies. Horwitt, who grew up in Milwaukee, began this project as a Feingold booster, and can't seem to comprehend why anyone would dislike or disagree with the senator. Feingold's controversial style must have made him some enemies, but you won't find them interviewed here.

Particularly in the chapters on Feingold's boyhood in Janesville, Horwitt makes young Rusty sound like another Wisconsin character from the 1950s -- Richie Cunningham of "Happy Days." Rusty loved his mother's lemon meringue pie, and H-O-R-S-E in the driveway with his brother. In high school, where he was this "skinny dude everybody liked," he cruised the strip in Camaros and Chevelles, stopping for late-night burgers at the Oasis.

Talk about a game of narrative h-o-r-s-e... perhaps meant to look more like b-u-l-l.

Lots more to ponder, including a standoff between Russ and La Clinton - perfect for a sunny holiday weekend: a bit of history (find out about Sens. La Follette and Proxmire, Wisconsin/American giants) and a bit of gossip (' "You're not living in the real world," she shouted').

A lot of the fun is in detecting Ed's subtle sneer at Midwestern oddities, like bowling and Middleton; he shorts the history in Wisconsin of the death penalty, and then there's his borderline racist extrapolation of Wis politics, beginning: "Wisconsin loves a maverick, too. That helps explain why it sent La Follette and McCarthy to the Senate. (The other reason: Germans. They're fans of clean government, but they also fear Russians.)"

I think it's possible that this hagiography is timed to gin up groundswell for a McCain-Feingold ticket. Ed think's it was in hopes of a renewed Feingold campaign, but Russ hasn't waivered since shutting that down in 2006. McCain's short list for veeps only came out recently; this book was out in February.

There are some great lines, like this one: "What's more, the Senate can always use a pain in the ass. Thanks to Wisconsin, it usually gets one. "

Enjoy!

Cool Science

A comment on this Llama post on Obama's Kyoto Proclamation led me to research the incandescent light bulb, which led me Wiki's extended entry on the Light-emitting diode, which led to "Development of a new water sterilization device with a 365 nm UV-LED", which led me to "What is Germicidal Ultraviolet (UV-C) and How Does it Work?"

'turn the big oil pipeline wheel labeled "US" to the OFF position'

Todd has a great post up about blog responses to Magical Dr. Kagan's OPEC dragon-slaying.

My favorite part is this excerpted post:

You find a OPEC Nation guilty of Price Gouging. You impound 500 million dollars from their US bank holdings and take away their Domino's Pizza franchise. The guilty OPEC Nation will immediately:

1. shamefully admit the error of its ways, tap a keg of oily goodness at a UN frat party and donate 50 million to Nancy Pelosi's latest wind power research project.

2. accept that it has a problem, enter the Barbara Bush Oil Abuse Clinic to avoid further prosecution and in the process 'hook up' with Lindsay Lohan.

3. turn the big oil pipeline wheel labeled "US" to the OFF position, sell all its oil to China, and start manufacturing extra long extension cords for hybrid cars.

I'm still holding out for a Li LoPEC pairing. Party like it's 1999!

There's this excerpt, too:

Not one word on the mechanics of oil depletion. Or the Export Land model. Or the fact that OPEC is f*!@king based on the Texas Railroad Commission - which still exists. Or about how Congress has defunded a variety of alternative fuels research. Or about growth in demand from countries such as China and India.

Pandering of the lowest sort. Self-destructive, delusional lawmakers, guiding the Republic into a storm with no preparations.

I need a drink.

Todd's generous - there's much, much more. Check it.

'state authorities and a lower court judge abused their authority by illegally seizing up to 468 children from their homes'

So... pretty much what I was saying:

"Appeals Court Rules Against Texas in Polygamy Case ."

HOUSTON — A Texas appeals court ruled Thursday that state authorities and a lower court judge abused their authority by illegally seizing up to 468 children from their homes at a polygamist ranch in West Texas last month.

The rebuke threw the largest custody case in American history into turmoil, with some lawyers saying the children could soon be reunited with their families. Many of the mothers have been criss-crossing Texas visiting their children in foster homes.

According to the court, the state did not establish proper grounds to remove the children from their families, who belong to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or F.L.D.S. The F.L.D.S. broke off from the mainstream Mormon church after it had disavowed polygamy in 1890.

They went in on the basis of a phone tip that could not be verified, and is believed to be a hoax.

Bad call, boys and girls.

Notable point by the appeals court:

...the record “does not reflect any reasonable effort on the part of the department to ascertain if some measure short of removal and/or separation would have eliminated the risk.”

There was clearly little interest in considering these people as anything other than criminals who should be pounced on and incarcerated.

Rhetorical question

Why, oh why is the price higher along the left coast and lakes? And why so low in the vast, empty, fly-over countries?

It can't be taxes, 'cept maybe in California... Analysts are wonder what might stop prices from rising [further], indeed.

Won't our Saudi pals help us out? "A friend in need is a friend indeed."

I think the Mideast has decided that it's helped us out enough, now it's time to get to the real business of supply and demand. We're lucky we're not paying $10 a gallon (before taxes), all things considered.

The once and future bomber

The Chicago Trib has some photos from Ted Kazcynski's family album, with commentary. Fascinating.

Cable was out all Wednesday - what'd I miss?

Got some spare time burning a hole in your pocket? Behold, the Mother. of. all. Debates.

Pretty rough when the guy with terminal cancer is more uplifting than you

Former veep AlGore strikes again.

His rapt audience of Carnegie grads, he tells them, might be great. Then again, they might not.

Gore on Sunday told graduates of Carnegie Mellon University they could become part of the next "hero generation" in American history by solving environmental problems.

Randy Rausch, a Carnegie prof of Last Lecture fame, kept it simple.

What matters, he said, is that he can look back and say, "pretty much any time I got a chance to do something cool, I tried to grab for it, and that's where my solace comes from."

Apparently Gore demonstrated Godwin's Law, if you go by Fox's headline. Given his remarks about the "special generation" of Americans ... that defeated fascism during World War II," I wouldn't categorize it that way.

Oh yeah - Gore was there to pick up an honorary doctorate.

'Don't fail me again, Admiral'*

Righteous! Patrick's crew tips the news that Yost will be ousted today and the MJS grudgingly reports it!

Favorite part from the MJS article is a tie between:

I don't know if a 20-24 record, five straight losses and a last-place standing before Memorial Day is enough to get Yost punted. I would think Braun's comments would be more damning, and possibly the straw that broke the camel's back.

and

Somebody named the "Badger Blogger," who I am told does mainly political postings (I must admit I'm not familiar with the site) posted a blog late Sunday night claiming manager Ned Yost will be relieved of his duties on the team's off day in Pittsburgh today.

'Posted a blog'??? 'I'm not familiar with this site'??? Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! Loser.

This will be one unhappy sports writer if Badger Blogger's Bruce Redenz is right. Is there a word for 'disdain of bloggers by faux bloggers'?

*Maybe we should just make it a Star Wars-themed day. I'm also thinking of an Army-themed bumpersticker for GMC: We get more schadenfreud posted before 8am than most bloggers do all day.

The Empire Strikes Back was on last night. It's my favorite Star Wars episode.

Maybe I've seen it a few too many times - I'm beginning to understand Chewbacca.

Science with Spanish geeks!

Liquids like water always flow downhill, and conform to their containers, right?

Not if they're a non-Newtonian liquid:



There are lots of other weird things it can do, like come to life and point at you, flow up hill (called Fano Flow), and climb up a moving object (the Weissenberg Effect).

Let the Clinton-bashing begin by the VLWC

Sean notes Memeorandum noting the John Aravosis note that the Clintons are self-serving.

Best part? Has to be the title: "Go away you horrible human being."

Man, you can not make this stuff up.

Ghost bees?

As I've chronicled here, bees are indeed on the decline.


So now we have ghost bees? I don't think these are technically bees - they look and act a little waspish to me:

When Ghost Bees’ Sari and Romy Lightman began busking, passersby didn’t exactly find the twins’ act uplifting. Imagine songs about gaping wounds and complicated childbirths sung in otherworldly harmonies, and you might get some idea of why people at the Halifax Farmers’ Market were more aghast than enthralled.

“We definitely did freak people out,” says Sari, reached in Toronto in the midst of a cross-Canada tour. “It was not intentional! We wanted to please people. But we were still experimenting with sounds. We were eventually asked to leave.”

It's like I keep saying - bees generally aren't that agressive unless you're going after their hive. Also, the girl bees, if you must call them that, are not genetic replicas; drones are.


Read the rest - there's more, much more...

Best quotes evah

"The post-Gingrich Republicans who invented 'big government conservatism' have much to answer for."

Jerry Pournelle (via Insty)

The Iron Law of Bureaucracy is inexorable, indeed. It's what I've been saying for a very long time.

Update: "I do not think that word means what they think it means."

Now things'll start happining, just you watch and see: "Bin Laden urges Muslims to liberate Palestine."

/sarcasm