Thanks to a tip from someone at Tex-Guns, we have video of Rick Perry responding to the Austin gun show controversy.
(Tex-Guns is the official purveyor of fine weapons to Whipped Cream Difficulties. Remember, the right to buy weapons is the right to be free.)
“Politicians in Trouble!” Sounds like a great B-movie, doesn’t it?
Anyway, the NYT goes in search of the $177 bagel. Even in NYC, that’s hard to find.
The most expensive bagel at Norma’s, the restaurant at Le Parker Meridien Hotel on West 56th Street, has three layers, five ounces of smoked salmon and three kinds of caviar, for $23.
(The motivating factor for this story is the indictment of Larry Seabrook for money laundering, extortion, and fraud.
Mr. Seabrook, a Bronx Democrat and former assemblyman and former state senator, bought a bagel sandwich and diet soda for $7 one day and submitted a doctored receipt that inflated the cost to $177, according to the indictment.
So maybe the NYT needs to be looking for the $170 bagel, since I can easily see $7 for a diet soda in NYC. Especially with taxes.)
My apologies, folks. Due to some personal issues, I wasn’t able to supply the high quality content you’ve…<chuckle>…come to…<giggle>…expect…<convulsive laughter>.
Sorry, I’m better now.
Anyway, this has been noted elsewhere, but I did want to comment on the passing of Charlie Wilson.
I had a lot of time last night to watch CNN, and they kept referring to the film
I’ve read and recommend the book; the overwhelming impression that I was left with is that I’d really like to sit down with Charlie Wilson and have a few beers with him. Yes, he liked the booze, and the broads, and maybe the Bolivian marching powder. But he also did what he was supposed to for his district, he was liked by his people, and he made more of a contribution to bringing down the Soviet Union than any congressperson I can think of.
Brennan’s of Houston reopens February 16th.
This has been a public service announcement.
Gregory Powell was denied parole for the 11th time a few weeks ago.
That name doesn’t ring a bell, does it?
In 1963, Powell and his buddy Jimmy Lee Smith kidnapped LAPD Officers Ian Campbell and Karl Hettinger, and murdered Officer Campbell. Officer Hettinger died in 1994. Smith died a few years ago.
Sound a little more familiar now? Maybe you’ve read Joseph Wambaugh’s The Onion Field
At some point in the not-too-distant future, I want to write a longer post about Wambaugh’s book and what it means to me. I’ll say for now that, at the time I read it, I was deeply moved; I still think that it is Wambaugh’s best work of non-fiction to date.
There’s a section of the book that takes place after Officer Campbell’s murder that I want to call out here. The background is that, after the murder, LAPD issued a new set of policies; among other things, cops were told never to surrender their weapons under any circumstances. Wambaugh tells us (in the third person) how he reacted to these policies. Then he cuts away to another roll call in Central Division, where
a twenty-five year policeman who preferred the one-man beat, a virtuosic beat cop, one of those who fades into police myth and legend, who rules his beat, and is frequently the very best or very worst police work has to offer
stands up and says one word:
(Language after the jump.)
I’m putting this into a post by itself because the original has scrolled off the front page.
I mentioned earlier that someone should do a full length biography of the late General Robin Olds; John Darrell Sherwood was kind enough to comment on that post and observe that Gen. Olds’ memoirs will be published in April of this year.
This is great news; I’ve pre-ordered a copy.
(And I’d like to add, for the record, that the rest of Sherwood’s Fast Movers is just as good as the first chapter. I’ll be looking for more of Sherwood’s books.)
Why, look! The NYT has swept in to take notice of the Cactus Cafe controversy!
Reference to “Live Music Capital”?
AUSTIN, Tex. — The closing of storied music sites, often accompanied by protest, fund-raising and other exercises in futility, has become a recurring spectacle in this growing city, where the official stationery carries the legend “Live Music Capital of the World.”
Check.
Reference to the Californication of Austin?
People tend to blame the latest influx of Californians, reliably traced to the latest technology boom associated with the University of Texas. The dropout who started Dell Computer in his dorm room did not personally tear down the Liberty Lunch club, but the general implication abides.
Check. (And the people who tore down Liberty Lunch were the Austin City Council.)
Reference to the Armadillo World Headquarters?
Any respectable accounting of lost and lamented music sites opens with the Armadillo World Headquarters, the onetime armory that hosted concerts by The Clash, Willie Nelson and the Vans — Halen and Morrison — in the 1970s. Since the Armadillo closed in 1980, the Austin metropolitan area has grown to a projected population this year of 1.7 million, from about 846,000, gaining plenty of new clubs while losing such beloved haunts as the Black Cat Lounge, the Electric Lounge, The Back Room, Steamboat and (temporarily) the Hole in the Wall.
Check. And bingo!
I’ve registered for Texas Linux Fest on April 10th; look for me there.
Megan Abbot, a mystery writer I’ve heard a lot of good things about (but sadly, haven’t read yet; can anyone recommend a good starting point?) interviews Robert Crais, a mystery writer I have an enormous regard for, in the LAT.
Lawrence asks if Mike Dunleavy stepping down as coach, but remaining as GM for the Clippers, falls under the sportsfirings.com bailiwick. Beats me.
That does remind me of something I’ve been neglecting. Nets watch: currently 4-44, for a 0.083 percentage. That projects to 6.086 wins over the 82 game season.
Randy Gross, co-owner of the County Line restaurants.
(Hattip: Mom. Oddly, I’m not finding anything about this in the Statesman.)
Edited to add: Statesman coverage, which doesn’t add anything new.
Today’s example is also taken from Clear and Present Danger.
Jack Ryan is visiting his dying mentor, Admiral Greer, in the hospital for the last time.
“But what about—”
“Politics? All that shit?” Greer almost laughed. “Jack, you know, when you lay here like this, you know what you think about? You think about all the things you’d like another chance at, all the mistakes, all the people you might have treated better, and you thank God that it wasn’t worse. Jack, you will never regret honesty, even if it hurts people. When they made you a Marine lieutenant you swore an oath before God. I understand why we do that now. It’s a help, not a threat. It’s something to remind you how important words are. Ideas are important. Principles are important. Words are important. Your word is the most important of all. Your word is who you are.”
That quote’s heavy-handed enough that I think the lesson is obvious. But I find the simplicity of those last few words deeply moving.
Ideas are important. Principles are important. Words are important. Your word is the most important of all. Your word is who you are.
I think American business would be vastly improved if everyone, before they took on any sort of leadership position, was required to swear an oath before God. Maybe something like this:
The Columbus Blue Jackets (that’s the NHL, for all you non-hockey fans out there) fired coach Ken Hitchcock.
The NYT got around to running an obit for Lt. Colonel Archer. Their obit is interesting:
Mr. Archer ultimately maintained that he shot down five German planes — two on separate days in July 1944 in addition to the three in October 1944 — but said he had not been properly credited with one of those downings in July. Shooting down five planes would have brought him official designation as an ace, making him the only one among the Tuskegee Airmen.
In a 2008 review of wartime military records, Daniel L. Haulman of the Air Force Historical Research Agency found that Mr. Archer, while officially credited with four downings, was among the three leading Tuskegee pilots in shooting down enemy planes. His total was matched by Capt. Joseph D. Elsberry and Capt. Edward L. Toppins.
As you may recall, this directly contradicts the WP obit, which states he was credited with five victories by the Air Force.
Edited to add: The WP published a correction to their obit on February 2nd, which agrees with the NYT obit. However, the WP correction is not noted in the original article; I thought this was against WP policy.
From the “Thank you, Captain Obvious” department: Scotland has a drinking problem. The NYT sees Buckfast Tonic Wine as a symbol.
The drink is 15 percent alcohol by volume, a bit stronger than most wines. Also, each 750 milliliter bottle contains as much caffeine as eight cans of Coke.
From the “Art, damn it! Art!” department: I think I appreciate a good bit of art as much as the next guy, but this Giacometti bronze just seems to me to be really ugly. Maybe the photos are bad.
The “Hello Kitty” chainsaw. I want. (And Hello Kitty Hell gets added to the blogroll. Thanks to my great and good friend Commvault Bryan.)
James Arthur Ray, the Arizona sweat lodge guy, has been charged with three counts of manslaughter.
Did you know that Men at Work’s “Down Under” sampled a children’s tune called “Kookaburra Sits In The Old Gum Tree”? Have you even heard “Kookaburra Sits In The Old Gum Tree”?
Edited to add: I’m sure this will be blogged elsewhere, but it is too good to pass up. Sun CEO resigns. By Twitter. In haiku. (Hattip: Lawrence.)
Edited to add 2: Also from the “Thank you, Captain Obvious” department is this actual headline from the LAT home page: “Stew is better without jimsonweed hallucinogen“. (Link goes to actual article which has a different headline.)