cutting taxes – a big idea boiled down nicely

Friend Lance just emailed me about why he thinks cutting taxes is the right thing to do. In it was this sentence:

“Cutting taxes on the rich is transferring employment to the poor instead of transferring taxes to the Government!”

I’d never heard it said that way, but it really simplifies the whole thing quite nicely.

Just thought I’d pass it on.

a little favre post-mortem

I’ve been out of Wisconsin and in Seattle now for the past year. And if Seattle is any barometer, I think it’s safe to say that if you’re not from or living in Wisconsin, it’s difficult to judge just how strong the feelings toward BrINT (as many posters on the Milwaukee Journal forums refer to him) are.

To try and sum it up, Green Bay is a small town, and unlike other NFL cities, the public really does get to know and see the players around town, in the grocery stores, etc. They feel a closeness to the players that is greater than any other NFL city.

And they supported Favre through drug addiction, his father’s death, the decimation of his home during Katrina, his wife’s breast cancer. And in return, he arguably cost the franchise a season, while he went to the Jets to cost them one, too. All because he knew for two years the ultimate goal was to get to the Vikings – the most hated team in any sport to Packers fans.

But now he is a Viking, and while the networks may be sad, Packers fans are profoundly happy.

And to all those Packers fans, I give you to videos, shared with me by Developer Jim, which will bring a smile to your faces as you watch these videos again and again and again (they still haven’t gotten old to me).

This is Minnesota’s radio station that covers the Vikings. The complete disgust by the announcers is music to my ears…

And this is a woman’s home video of her husband’s reactions during the game (you’ll recognize them, Packers fans, because they’ll look remarkably similar to your reactions after the 2007 NFC Championship game). Profanity alert, if you’re at work…

I’m not sure what’s more gratifying, that Vikings fans are beside themselves, or that Brett cost himself a shot at the Super Bowl. To me, they’re both equally delicious.

Oh well, while Vikings fans watch the Favre retirement decision unfold (and hamstring their team as they try to prepare for free agency and the draft) I guess I’ll go back to enjoying watching the next 10 years of Aaron Rodgers career.

a useful way to discuss politics

It’s not too difficult to find someone – especially a politician – talking about how we have to “work together” or “get along.”

It never really goes beyond that. Whether you’re watching on television or engaging in your own conversations, it’s all too easy to get into an unwinable debate with someone about politics. But it occurs to be it’s because we’re not really discussing politics.

All too often, those politics conversations are really conversations about people. For the past eight years, conservatives found themselves in the unenviable position of having to make sense of and defend the Bush presidency (why do you think his approval ratings were so low… that was because of what conservatives thought of him, not because of what liberals thought of him).

Now, many liberals are finding themselves having to justify their vote for Obama (not as bad for them as it was for conservatives, but that’s another post).

But what do we really know about Bush or Obama? Who among us really knows what they were thinking? What were their intentions? What was their true master plan? No one. So we’re left guessing. We’re left divided by people we don’t even know.

Let’s try this: Instead of discussing something Obama or Bush did or said, let’s approach issues another way. Next time you are discussing politics with a friend or colleague, start with identifying the problem.

After you’ve identified the problem you have to agree that it is a problem. Once you’ve agreed on that, start discussing what YOU would do to solve it. Forget what politician did or said what. Simply lay out YOUR plan. I’ve been doing this lately, and I’m amazed how much easier it is to agree with people now than it used to be.

What you really end up uncovering is how misleading many of our politicians can be (or how incompetent).

This is how movements can start. Once you’ve identified problems and agree on solutions, now you can work to identify people who can execute on it and get them elected.

Worst case scenario, you get an understanding on the different perspectives on human behavior. And that’ll be useful as you continue to evolve your own worldview.

2010: the year order is restored in the universe

The Democrats no longer have a super majority in the Senate.

Corporations can join unions and non-profits in trying to win over the public to vote for their favorite candidates/causes.

Sam Raimi and Tobey McGuire are off of Spider-man.

Brett Favre threw a stupid interception to cost the Vikings a trip to the Super Bowl.

And it’s not even February, yet.

2010 is shaping up to be a great year, indeed.

who feels the worst? how about arlen specter

Lost in the Scott Brown election is Arlen Specter.

Talk about feeling like an idiot. Man, did he back the wrong horse.

Senator Specter of Pennsylvania, you may recall, switched from the Republican Party to the Democrat Party in the spring of 2009. By doing so, he became the pivotal 60th vote that gave the Democrats a supermajority. He was the hero. I’m sure he was given many perks from the Democrats for making the switch.

I’m guessing he thought he was making the right decision, not only for his political future, but for his re-election chances. He incorrectly read that the Republicans were finished. He bought into the media hype.

Now, he’s the man Republicans want to finish off first. He betrayed Pennsylvania Republicans by giving Democrats the all-important 60th vote, and he betrayed national Republicans, as well, by destroying any chance of slowing down the Obama plan.

And Democrats are on the way out. The public seems pretty disgusted with them, and Specter will get trounced in Pennsylvania.

Arlen Specter backed the wrong horse, and has got to be feeling pretty stupid right now. He single-handedly gave up his Senate seat, and now there’s nothing to do but wait for his eventual defeat.

Nice work, Arlen. You were important for nearly 10 months.

trying to get back in the swing

If you’ve ever tried to maintain a blog, you might have had the same experience as I.

That is, when I stop for awhile, I have a hard time getting back into it. And when I do try and get back into it, I find the quality of my posts suffer greatly.

I’m afraid that’s what’s happening right now. My apologies as I attempt to get this back up to snuff.

the power of gogol bordello

I’m sure I’ve written more than I need to about Gogol Bordello on this site. But we just went and saw the independent documentary, Gogol Bordello Non-Stop. (See the trailer…)

And my wife made an otherwise innocuous observation that I think rings very true.

On the recommendation of Developer Jim, I went to my first concert festival event – Lollapolooza in Chicago. While I don’t think I’d want to go to another concert festival like that, something very significant happened that day.

Having received an email from friend Rick telling me “run, don’t walk to see Gogol Bordello,” I walked over to the South stage to catch the band. I’ve chronicled here how absolutely amazing they are live, so I won’t get into that. Plus, what really happened was not that I saw a great show. It was my introduction into the Eugene Hutz philosophy on life.

It crystalized for me what had been a loose philosophy of my own – try everything and be up for anything.

Shortly after that show in August, things really started to take off in my life. My job with NewTunes was slowly and painfully crashing. People around me started to reveal themselves for what they really were. My wife was getting progressively unhappy at work.

I think pre-Gogol Bordello, there might have been more willingness to take it – especially for my wife. But she embraced the lyrics and the band. I saw them again in October, and then we flew to New York and saw them in their natural environment.

When 2009 began, we began to think the unthinkable – moving from Madison and heading back West. And in April, I got a job with RealNetworks, sold our house in one day, gave away a bunch of our belongings and packed our house in two weeks. By mid-May, we were in Seattle.

It’s hard to say what might have been, but had it not been for Gogol Bordello calling attention to the Gypsy, no borders lifestyle, who knows whether or not we would have made the trip.

Obviously there were other factors, but Gogol Bordello will always occupy a very special place for me. And while I love music, few bands or musicians can claim this influence on my life.

If you haven’t already, give them a chance. I hope they can do something special to you, too.

time to make the donuts, my ass

Rember this?

Those were the days, huh? Well… no more.

I live in Seattle now. There’s no bakeries. No donuts. No cakes. Nothing. This city is devoid of any such luxury. Or so I thought. Until I ran across Aurora Donuts. They’re a renamed Dunkin’ Donuts attached to a Baskin Robbins 31 Flavors (who owns Dunkin’ Donuts).

I was so excited, I got there at 6:30 today to get the best selection and bring donuts to my co-workers. However, apparently “time to make the donuts” is a thing of the past. They were closed, and the sign said they didn’t open until 9am.

Who ever heard of a donut shop that’s not open by 6am (if not open 24 hours).

So I drove by a Krispy Kreme on my way to work, but I just couldn’t stop there. Adhering to some undefined principle, I just couldn’t settle. Not this time.

All there is for donuts in this city are Top Pot, which are way to thick and gross, or Krispy Kreme, which is what it is. There’s no good bakeries and the grocery store donuts are crap. It’s such a shame.

But I finally figured out why. I was at the grocery store sampling the butter creme frosting, and I asked them why it sucks everywhere I go. The woman said it was because they all had to change their recipe because King County outlawed trans fat.

Once again, some dissatisfied busy-body who thinks we can’t look after ourselves has decided they have to tell us what’s best for us. And in the process, deprived me of any chance at happiness.

Oh well, at least we’ll be back in Wisconsin over New Year’s, so I’m going to Lane’s Bakery in Madison and ordering a huge butter creme cake and 10 donuts. MMM.

Suck it, King County.

the racism of the oughts

I, for one, am appalled at all of the racism I saw between 2000 and 2008 from all of the minorities who ever said anything critical of President Bush.

There’s no way anyone of them ever had a legitimate beef with any of his policies. It had to have been because he was white and they hated white presidents.

ramona falls with brent knopf

One of my co-workers, who used to run marketing for a few different record labels, recently took me to see Ramona Falls at the Crocodile Cafe in Seattle.

I was pretty psyched for the offer for a few reasons. I hadn’t really had an opportunity to catch much live music, yet, since I’d moved to Seattle. Also, the Crocodile Cafe is one of those well-known venues that I’d always wanted to get to.

In fact, my friend Eric had used my mini-disc recorder to capture Robyn Hitchcock solo a few years back and the sound was phenomenal.

The only problem was that I hadn’t heard of Ramona Falls, so he lent me the disc.

Ramona Falls is the solo project of Brent Knopf, who’s best known for his work with Menomena, a band out of Portland.

It only took one listen to see this record didn’t sound much like anything else I’d heard of late. I was intrigued, and excited to see the show.

If you have a chance to see them, it’s an absolute must. And I certainly recommend  picking up the album – Intuit.

While listening to them, I was thinking about how people in Madison seem to think that they have some great music scene comparable to Austin. But I’ve never seen a show like this in Madison… OR Milwaukee, for that matter. Not from a local band.

Wisconsin seemed to serve up that same driving guitar punk-ish sound. Otherwise, it was a lot of semi-serious alternative bands with the requisite guitar, bass and over-enthusiastic drummer.

Ramona Falls has a real sound all to itself. The instrumentation is very layered, and the mix is such that you can hear all of it. It’s at once sparse, but full and powerful. Brent uses a semi-distortion on his vocals at just the right moments.

Check out this live clip of my current favorite song by them – “I Say Fever.” It’s very dynamic – both creepy and powerful. And if you can, pick up the disc. You’ll be glad you did.

And here’s “Bellyfulla,” my second favorite song on the album…