File this under "I saw this one coming" - The crocadile hunter died today.



He got stung by a stingray.

Lets face it - I admired his kind of naive boyish quality about wild animals, but his antics were reckless and sooner or later he was going to be killed as a result of them. The only question I have left in my mind is, why hadn't this happened sooner?

Seriously, anyone that ever watched this guy around a snake had to know that he was going to die early. If anything, I'm surprised that it was a relatively benign animal that ended up killing him.

2/3 of the year down, another 1/3 to go! Cheers.



When I get time I'm going to construct a journal entry about the recent movie that highlights a ficticious Bush assassination with the supposed intention of striking a debate about US foreign policy. Its shit like this that makes it impossible for me or any other rational person to vote Democrat simply so that we don't vote for the same people that liberals idiots like this Canadian colossal jewel of ignorance and stupidity do.

If you hate the BPD, you should check out this one. Kind of funny.

Gabriel is playing 2nd now.

Growing up every kid has a set of influences that guide him one way or another along the way. One of mine is a man that most people have never heard of, but if you claim to know anything about jazz and you do NOT know who he is, then you've now been officially certified as a know-nothing when it comes to jazz.

If you ever played trumpet you know who Maynard Ferguson is. Yesterday he passed away at the age of 78. This guy was an absolute legend in the music industry. He was known as one of the first to be a so-called "screech" trumpeter - the kind of guy who could do the impossible on the instrument and play high notes on the horn so stratospheric that hearing it would make the little hairs on your neck stand straight up. Jay and I grew up being musicians, and our father was a trumpeter as well... the most important thing our father ever did for us was intruce us to a wide range of legendary music practically from every genre imaginable. Part of our extensive musical education was one of his own personal heros - Maynard. As kids we'd get together with some of our musically inclined horn playing friends and we'd listen to a few albums and be absolutely amazed. How was playing like this even physically possible? Listening to his music inspired us to excel and push ourselves to be the best musicians we could be - even if we couldn't squeak out a double C.

Later on in his life he did some amazing things and continued to record - even up to last month when he and his band finished what will now be his last album. He went to India and set up a music school, and traveled there every year to teach and expose yet another generation to his amazing humility and musical genius. As a man, he gave a lot of himself and constantly pulled in college-age talent from the absolute top music schools in the nation to tour with him around the world. Besides the music, he had a very positive demeanor and had an amazing way of telling a story. Anybody would do well to learn from a person like that, and I have to thank my father for introducing me to a musician who inspired and influenced me as much as he did.

3 generations of American jazz musicians idolized this man and are profoundly sad today. In my own way this is my elegy to him. Goodbye Maynard - rest well and God bless you.

Greetings from Columbus, MS. Its 85 and humid at 10:31pm CST. The emotional weather is content with a few sprinkles of paranoia (speeding on the highway again) with a 60% chance of a stormy mood tomorrow afternoon (5 hour drive after work).

Its rare that I'm amused by the junk mail in my inbox. Who doesn't hate the random bullshit that some unsavory types want to send?

Lets see...

Someone with the e-mail address swshafer@maxwell.syr.edu sent me a Washington Post article. I don't know who you are, but thanks! I still remain the only (e:strip)per who has been linked from the Post's site.

Someone named "Wet Wendy" sent me something about wanting to "HookUp 4Sexx" (sic)

Apparently JetBlue is my "ticket to the Buffalo Bills" this season. Not that I wasn't sitting in the club section last Friday or anything.

Someone wants to send me a $100 soda gift card. WTF - If my teeth are ever going to rot out of my mouth I'd prefer it to be later rather than sooner.

Ken Mehlman, RNC Chair, loves to send out mass mails about once a week.

The Wet Wendy thing made me laugh anyway.

Since you referenced my post I figure I should post and possibly give you some answers.

Why are some Republicans supporting Lieberman? In order to understand this its important to know a little bit about the political climate in CT, although any national money coming from Republicans is a separate issue, which I'll highlight on. The R candidate in CT is not a viable candidate, and the Republicans in CT do not want him to run. He has been asked to resign his candidacy but he refuses. The truth is, liberal Republicans and conservative Democrats aren't much different, which is why in the northeast Lieberman is an alluring candidate as an Independant in comparison to Schlesinger. On the topic of the national party in relation to Lieberman, the national R's would support Lieberman minimally if at all, as outside of the Iraq war he has a liberal voting record, which frankly many lefties are refusing to acknowledge because of their blind rage over what the government is doing with the war and Lieberman's support of it. The only pleasure any Republicans are taking out of this is that Lamont is seen as a candidate propped by liberal 527 organizations and any kind of a defeat of a candidate like that is good news in their eyes. Plus, its important to note that if Lieberman was NOT an independant candidate this time around he wouldn't be getting any support from Republicans whatsoever. The fact that Lieberman is technically an "independant" frees Republicans from any so-called "voters guilt" over voting for or supporting Lieberman.

As for your comments about the 2-party system - in general I agree that the 2-party system isn't the best one out there. Stifling choices is a detriment to democracy. However, having multiple parties to choose from ends up completely making a mess of government. Take a look at Europe - Germany in particular, because this just happened recently there. When a party in most European nations do not get 51% of the vote in general elections, coalition governments have to be worked out... which is a worse situation than what we have currently because nothing EVER gets done in governments that are constantly politically gridlocked. Without a clear and established majority, you have chaos in government at worst and status quo at best. This is why, although our system isn't perfect, its still better than what you see elsewhere.

About the "60%" poll that liberals have been talking about quite a bit recently - its important to be precise about the language of the poll to determine what was really said. Here is a breakdown of the results - What the poll determined was that 60% of the polled participants "oppose the Iraq war" and a majority support at least a limited withdrawal of some troops from Iraq by the end of the year. What this *doesn't* mean is that all Americans want all our troops out of Iraq right this minute, although 26% of those polled suggested that. If you look at the numbers, it can be said simultaneously that a majority want at minimum some troop withdrawal, if not all troops withdrawn (61%), and also that a majority want troop levels to change only minimally, if not at all (69%). If isn't the textbook example of a mixed message, than what is? Regardless, Lamont is a far left wacko because he supports policies that are generally unpopular with the American people - complete troop pullout, nationalized health care, anti Wal-Mart, pro-abortion - he is a walking, talking laundry list of issues that are supported by far-left radicals.

I completely and utterly reject the idea that Joe Lieiberman is a candidate that doesn't speak for the voters of CT, for a variety of obvious reasons. To suggest that he is doing this because of ego, or acting like a spolied brat, etc. is demagogery, pure and simple.

1) You cannot say that Lamont is a candidate that has broad Democratic approval in CT, since he really only won HALF of the votes in the Democratic primary... and that was even after our friends in the liberal grassroots stuffed the Democratic voter base by 20,000 votes since May. Joe Lieberman won roughly half of the votes in the primary in a margin similar to the Presidentiall election in '04. According to liberals, GWB does not have a mandate to govern the way he chooses because 48% of Americans disagree with him. If you libs want to say this, than you cannot say that Lamont has a mandate either because 48% of Democratic voters in CT disagreed. Liberals are treating Connecticut Democratic voters in '06 like they treated Republican voters nationally in '04. How much more insane can we possibly get?

2) The plurality of voters in CT are actually registered Independants. In the lastest poll, 53% of likely voters said that Lieberman deserves to be re-elected and half doubt Lamont's ability to do the job - So what does this mean? It means that Lieberman, and presumably his politics, are being supported broadly by Democrats, Independants and Republicans - more importantly, his Democratic losses are being more than offset by his support amongst Independants and Republicans. This is proof that a majority of Connecticut voters still support Joe Lieberman despite his party affiliation. It defies logic to suggest that with support like that he shouldn't run.

Its beyond question. Joe Lieberman has broad support in Connecticut amongst its voters. He is not an unpopular candidate in CT when he has half of the Democratic support and a large majority of the support of everyone else. Its foolish to state that Lamont's victory in the primary was a testament to democracy but Lieberman winning a general election degrades democracy. Primaries are important only to the extent that a politician is chosen to represent a single political party, and that if you don't pick the right candidate you will not win regardless of who is running your campaign. It doesn't necessarily say anything about who most of the voters in their particular jurisdiction support - this is extremely important and if more liberals understood that concept (and the point about the virtual split between Demos in CT between Lamont and Lieberman) then a lot of this complaining would cease.

Last point - enough with the complaints about "not being heard" or "being excluded" in government. Believe me, PLENTY of liberal representation in Congress is making your points for you nobody is more loud and outspoken then the liberal Democrats out there. Just because you are not getting what you want doesn't mean that you aren't being heard. Liberals will get their way when they win majorities and are able to set the leglislative agenda. If you cannot win a majority when you are running for office, or trying to introduce a bill, then you simply are not going to have it your way. Interestingly enough, previous to 1994 when Democrats ran the show in Congress for 50 years I never heard of Democrats complaining about the lack of political parity. My advice to Democrats is similar to yours - get out there, speak out, get your votes together and win. Convince other people that you are right. Get more seats in Congress, win the Presidency, then you will be able to get what you want.

It looks like the previous poll was correct (although the previous one covered all registered voters and the current one covered "likely" voters) - Lieberman still leads in the polls 49% to 38% as an independant, with the Republican challenger sporting a solid 4% (ha). -

So much for all the contrived feel-good, nation-changing rhetoric the Democrats were soaked in only a week ago. This one is a loser for the DNC - if I were a registered Democrat I would concentrate elsewhere. If the Democrats are looking to pick up seats in the Senate there are easier and better places to spend the campaign funds.

Its interesting to me that it was characterized as "democracy in action" during the primary - do you suppose that the liberals that were gloating this last week are saying it now, and will say it again in November? Democracy must only work when you win. Of course, nobody actually won anything , but whatever - Democrats ate one of their own and are pushing further to the left. A continued trend since 1972. Liberals registering 20,000 new Democratic voters in CT in order to skew the traditional Democratic voter base apparently isn't going to have the desired effect its engineers thought it might.

(e:Zobar) -

Whoever did the iPod versions of the 2006 Artvoice menus - thanks! That is a simple but great idea. I slapped those bad boys on my G5 30GB black bundle of joy yesterday, and now wherever I am, if I need some restaurant advice on the fly... there I am!

Thanks again, to whoever set that up. I hope to see that feature stick around in the future. Look at me, thanking Artvoice! Ha. You guys aren't so bad after all. Just keep getting Niman his meds and we'll be okay.

- Josh

One thing that you wouldn't realize if you werent me and lucky (or unlucky depending on the mood) enough to travel all over the country every week is the absolute wealth of latino people in rural areas. Its obviously no coincidence that these pockets of latino population are near manufacturing jobs, but the best part of this is being able to sample the absolutely authentic Mexican joints that sprout up in these rural areas. I like to take parts of my trips home with me, whether it be a t-shirt, or a picture... or a recipe.

I've been known to bust out and cook for friends on occasion and have even inspired friends to dash out on their own and make a recipe - my boy Jerry makes a killer, killer chili for example. I don't know why I haven't really been inspired lately, but I stumbled upon a quesadilla recipe that I'm going to convert into soft tacos, teamed up with a smoky guacamole made with chipotle peppers in adobo.

Cooking for me is about the same things that playing a musical instrument is about - its about the creativity, of finishing something you start and not just enjoying the final product but attempting to excel at it.

Anyhow, about the food. I need *the* definitive produce section in Buffalo. The Co-Op's produce, hate to say it, is abysmal. I've actually been to some of the fruit processors that they supply from, and I know for a fact that they shelve fruit at the Co-Op that the producers themselves would not consider prime fruit by any stretch. So, that leaves me with Weg, the Farmer's Market and Guercio's. Where do I buy my produce here? Weg is particularly strong and I am aware of their extremely tight produce standards but Guercio's based on reputation alone seems to be an excellent choice.

Its a great day, isn't it?