In case you were wondering, Johnny Costa was the musical director and pianist for Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. I told Twyla a while ago that it sounded like Bill Evans primarily because Bill Evans is the only jazz pianist I know. She told me I was crazy. It’s been bugging me for a while so I finally looked it up. She was right of course but it turns out Mr. Costa was an accomplished and well regarded jazz pianist in his own right. All the music for the show was done live by Mr. Costa’s in-studio jazz trio.

Also learned today that Mister Rogers’ middle name was McFeely.

So, there you go, that should fill your useless knowledge quota for today.

We do not support government bailouts of private institutions.
- 2008 GOP Platform

Should be fun to watch the 2008 GOP kick W out of the clubhouse.

Things I noticed in the first five minutes of this speech:
1. Obama is pushing for a more transparent government
2. No mention of ethanol when referring to alternative energy strategy
3. Broadband was first on the list of infrastructure improvements
4. Hinted at ending large-farm subsidies in favor of support for the small guys

Things I noticed in the last two minutes:
1. Wisconsin was the launchpad for the modern progressive movement (huh?)

I slept through the rest of the speech but don’t blame it on Obama… I had a bit too much wine at dinner. Okay… the middle of the speech was a bit muddy.

I’ve been reading quite a bit about the financial crisis in the US lately. My initial reaction to the bail-out talks was echoed in a reddit post that I can’t find anymore: Why not bail-out the regular folks by giving them money to cover their defaulted mortgages and watch the results trickle up to the banks? Granted, probably a naive idea. But the author of this letter to Senator Obama has another alternative along the same lines: Ensure the FDIC is adequately funded to cover consumers then let the banks fail and rebuild the industry through bankruptcy courts and future legislation. Seems a much better plan than rushing to throw 700 billion at Wall Street with little to no oversight.

I love reading Roger Ebert’s reviews. Even for movies I have no interest in, his columns are just incredibly fun to read. That’s why I really, really hope this is either a joke I don’t understand yet or a hacker’s prank.

A few stunning pictures of Hurricane Ike.

Here are some pictures from Lolo’s visit last month. As you can see Peter was very happy have her here. And you can see more of Lolo’s picture’s here, here, here, and here.

Much more to come.

Also, I’m testing out a new video hosting site since Google Video seems to have been abandoned by Google in favor of YouTube. Viddler’s website is fairly easy to use and their terms of service are agreeable. If you can’t see this let me know… I’m still trying to work out the kinks.

I guess my sister’s latest post and the resulting comments got me thinking enough to get back to this blog.

So, being the middle sibling, I won’t mediate between her and my brother but maybe I’ll stir things up. In my opinion, we’re missing the most important issue/s with the Palin nomination.

Because of the nature of the office of the vice president, we should evaluate each VP nominee as if they were at the top of the ticket. And to that point, if executive experience is the test of a nominee’s readiness, then only Palin is ready and the other bums should pack it up and go home. I don’t buy into the executive experience argument in this case.

David Frum made a great observation* about W’s reactionary presidency in comparison to a proactive governance approach. Do we want a president who makes decisions only when a decision has to be made or do we want someone to come to office with specific domestic and foreign policy ideas and then herd Congress and leverage foreign relationships to get things done? For me, the latter.

The problem with Palin, then, is that no one knows where she stands on anything other than social policy. Don’t get me wrong, social issues are important but, with the state of our economy and our international standing, those debates are a distraction, a way to get people on both sides to generate noise. Of course, she’ll co-opt the Republican platform but she should be able to articulate why. Why does she believe the GOP’s positions on immigration, economic and tax policy, torture and preempitive strike are the correct policies for the US? Why does she believe the UN|NATO|OPEC|NAFTA|etc are good or bad institutions and how will she use them to further American interests.

And I really believe she should be able to discuss these issues now… not after going through a crash course with McCain’s campaign after the nomination. We have less than two months to understand what she brings to the office. For McCain, Obama, and Biden we can look at their voting record, the issues they have championed, their voluminous speeches to the public, their writings on foreign and domestic policy, their letters to editors, etc. But that information isn’t yet available for public consumption for Palin. So, we’re left talking about her family and her executive experience.

I wish she would give us something else to talk about.

[* - Yeah, that's right... I actually linked to something on the NRO's site!]

Lot’s of new pictures to share. First, a bunch from our Thanksgiving holiday with Twyla’s family. Biggie (aka Juanita), Taleebah, Kayla, Akil, and Dr. Rodriguez visited for a few weeks. Before you view the pics, though, you should know that Akil took most of these. He’s an incredible photographer as evidenced by these pics as well as the portfolio on his website. You’ll find a bunch of the same pics on his blog. Thanks, Akil.

(Note: If you click on any of the slide shows while they’re playing it should take you to the full-sized gallery.)

Nicci came to visit in early December. I had to work more than I expected while she was here but Peter had a blast with her around. The pictures of the beach, the cliffs, and the koalas are from our weekend trip to Apollo Bay via the Great Ocean Road. Good food, windy roads, beautiful weather and views… but we’ll never forget the flies! Read Nicci’s post about the trip, especially Chapter 5!

I was a little skeptical about catching a glimpse of wild koalas on the way home but Nicci had a plan. Heading back home on the Great Ocean Road, we had to double back to find an unmarked turn-off onto a dirt road heading into the forest. She spotted the first Koala not 200 yards later. Peter slept through it but the rest of us had fun spotting them loafing in the trees for the next twenty minutes. When we stopped to get a few pictures, the red parrots made themselves at home on the car.

[Update 13-Jan-2008: Wow! Just found Nicci's pictures from the trip. Her new camera is incredible!]

And finally a couple of shots from the rest of December including Christmas.

Happy New Year!

“Vote for me or Walker Texas Ranger will kick your ass!”