These are the musings of a diverse dude. We'll discuss sports, politics, family, music, hunting, fishing, and of course, all things that hold the interest of yellow dogs and those that patrol with them.
In the StarTribune this week, there was an expose on the establishment of not one, but two rival Latino gangs to the suburban town. It used to be a town had made it when it got a new Dairy Queen or maybe a new Target store. Now you're a nobody unless you have a division of the Latin Kings selling drugs to your children. You'd think this would inspire panic in the citizenry, but you'd be wrong. According to school leaders, this is no big deal:
Chaska School Board Member Diane Koban says parents are struggling to understand the extent of the problem. She, for one, believes there's some "overreaction" when it comes to gang symbols and colors. "It's extraordinary to say just because a kid has gang stuff in his room that he's a gang member. Isn't there such a thing as freedom of speech?"
So, peaceful citizens of not-so-peaceful-anymore Chaska, if little Johnny starts flashing signals, wearing colors, and addressing you by "homes," take pride that he's just expressing his sacred First Amendment rights, and sleep easy. If you can...
Our business continues to suffer greatly in this recession, and we continue to fall further and further behind our extremely conservative 2009 budget. We currently have an $8MM profit gap that we need to try and fill, and this is on top of the massive cuts that we've already made over the past year.
The impacts of this on my company, my team, and me personally, will be significant.
As a senior leader of our company, this weighs very heavy on me. We've done all of the easy things. There are no longer any easy paths forward. I know that a definition of great leadership is the ability to create victories out of situations when they are at their most dire, and I feel like I am failing at the time when I need to be at my most clear, confident, and decisive.
I thought about this constantly as I was mowing my lawn yesterday - mulling over the situation again and again in my head. I found a really nice distraction in the emerging dandelions that were popping up. The reason I have them is because the lawn service we employed still had not been out to work on our yard yet.
The more I thought about the state of my lawn, the more it infuriated me. Given the recession, I have to believe that something like a lawn service is one of the first things to get kicked to the curb when the family budget get tight. They should have ample bandwidth to take care of my lawn. It is May 1, for cryin' in the beer. What are they waiting for?
I was now getting whipped up into a froth. In my current situation, I'm desperate for some sales right now! How dare they!
At the apex of my rage, and as if on cue, a competitive lawn service happened to drive into my neighborhood. In my furor I immediately flagged them down, and my inquiry about their interest in some incremental business was met with a shocked and smiling "YES!"
15 minutes later my lawn had been serviced, a contract for $300 of lawn service had been inked, a phone call had been placed severing the relationship with the old service, and the dandelions were on their way to the great green lawn in the sky.
If only all of my problems could be solved so expeditiously.
The bottom line is that the Federal Government does what it wants, regardless of the impact on its citizenry. Federal officials knew that this stunt would cause panic in New York, and they decided to move forward anyway. They also chose to keep it secret. For me details, check here http://wcbstv.com/topstories/air.force.one.2.996457.html
This isn’t one small decision made by a rouge administrator. This was a machine of layer upon layer of government doing what is most expedient for itself, consequences be damned. Literally hundreds of people had to be involved, and nobody really cared to speak up in the interest of the people.
And this is the group that we want to have in charge of delivery of our health care.
I spent the weekend with my buddy Dave (he's the one at the base of the tree, trying to look like a bush) trying to fill his turkey permit, so we headed up to Glenwood and took our chances on landing a big bird. While we heard birds on the property on Saturday, we failed to bring them close and never even got a look at one.
Sunday had out hopes high, as we worked out a plan to get closer to the birds. Unfortunately, it appears that the turkeys moved off the property completely during the previous day.
While our bird hunting was unsuccessful, we were quite adapt at picking up wood ticks. Dave set the Saturday record at about 15, whereas I was strong on Sunday. Even the yellow dog got into the act, despite her use of tick medication.
Here's a photo of just one of Minnesota's finest...
There is not much better than a dog on point, especially when that dog happens to be a yellow dog. Here's the yellow dog doing what she was born to do - pointing a bird at the base of that small tree. You can't see the bird (neither could the dog), but her awesome nose let us all know to get ready, because something was definitely there.
Pointing labs are not common. While there are breeders out there that try to breed for the trait, there are no guarantees that a lab will point. Likewise, even if that trait exists, some breeders see pointing in Labradors as something that eats away at their aggressiveness, and attempt to train it out of them.
Personally, I love a pointing lab. It affords the hunter the opportunity to get in the best position possible before the dog goes in for the flush. Likewise, there is something really fun about knowing that there is a bird just yards in front of the dog's nose.
I'm very lucky that both of my dogs were incredible pointers, and also incredible hunters. The fun I've had in the field via their work is immeasurable.
We close with the remnants of the last act of defiance of a flushed rooster. If you look at the yellow dog's coat in this photo, you'll see that, indeed, a flushing bird pooped on her before being shot and retrieved. While ultimately not an effective tactic, you have to admire the attitude of that bird.
This election has been an embarrassment for the state of Minnesota. At best, this election has been botched. At worst, fraud has been committed. Neither scenarios are good.
Al Franken is another in a long line of elected officials that make Minnesota a laughingstock of the rest of the country (Rod Grams, Mark Dayton, Jesse Ventura, Keith Ellison). He is a vitriolic, partisan hack. The only thing he brought to the table in this election (other than massive amounts on non-Minnesota campaign contributions) was a deep seeded and fanatical hatred of George W Bush. If there was ever a theme of the 2008 election, it was about abject hatred of Bush, and in Minnesota, nobody hated Bush more than Franken.
No, the 2008 election was not about who would do a better job. It was not about who's election was paid for via outside influences. It was not about qualifications. It was not about leadership. It was not about being penalized for being a tax cheat. It was about hate - pure, seething, undiluted hate - and that's all it was about.
In the height of the election, hate worked. Now, six months later, with the economy in free fall, some in Minnesota are waking up hung over from their hate stupor. It turns out it is not all about hate, and that who we elect to represent us can have massive consequences on day-to-day living. Our investments, our tax bills, and our jobs have all been massively impacted in the past year, and it is a direct result in the choices we've made in our leadership. Nobody is immune from this impact. All are suffering.
So Coleman continues to fight, much to this dismay of the Democrats. Howls of "sore loser" invoke ghosts of Bush/Gore and the Florida recount. And in the mean time, Minnesota remains in desperate need of having reasoned representation in Washington. Now, more than ever.
But all we're going to get is all we've been promised - leadership by hate. Franken has nothing more to offer beyond that.
How ironic that a comedian can turn our entire state into a political joke for the rest of the country.
But, hey, he's not our only embarrassment. For more Minnesota shame, check this out.
It is rare that I'll download a full album from a given artist off of iTunes. It just doesn't make sense to do so - the full body of work is rarely worth it, and I usually end up just picking off the tracks that appeal to my tastes.
However, in the past month I've downloaded four full albums from four different artists. Here's a quick review of each:
U2, No Line on the Horizon - A fantastic work by my generation's version of the Stones. Their sound has matured, and the only real dog on this entire album is the track that was released as their single, Get On Your Boots (a pretty crappy song)
Tragically Hip, We Are the Same - I absolutely love this band, and have seen them at three incredible live shows throughout their career (best one was in the front row, by myself, at the Minnesota Zoo). Wildly popular in Canada, how they never made it in the States is beyond me.
Silversun Pickups, Swoon - The Pickups are a good band, but their previous work was spotty. I'd been waiting for this new release for a couple of weeks since my Sirius satellite radio stations had been playing a single ahead of the main release that sounded very good. When the album finally hit iTunes, I started selecting which songs I would download and could not find one to exclude. Keep an eye on this band - they're going to be big.
While not everybody's cup of tea, these are four very worthwhile albums.
Keep on rockin' in the free world, my brothers and sisters.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
I have no idea if this is real or not. It is being touted as being "leaked" by the Humane Society of the United States. It may be a really good voice impersonator. It could be real. While the sentiments espoused by the speaker against dog fighting are something upon which all can agree, the Humane Society of the United States is not your local animal shelter. They have absolutely nothing to do with your local animal shelter. This is a radical animal rights organization that has brilliantly wrapped itself in a very universally appealing brand. I have personally fought these people in my job and I have personally fought these people at our state capitol. They are a well-funded and well-organized anti-hunting organization.
These hypocrites fail to recognize that it is sportsmen, through their license fees, conservation groups, and the aggregate effect of land stewards everywhere have literally saved millions of acres of habitat, which has resulted in the saving of countless numbers of individual numbers of animals, let alone entire species. They also fail to recognize that the world has changed, and without the responsible harvest of some species, their unchecked population growth would doom them to disease and horrific deaths. Don't believe me? Ever driven in the woods during the whitetail rut? How about that flock of Canada geese (a species nearly endangered in the 1960's and 70's and a conservation success story) that brought a jet to land in the Hudson? With no true predators anymore, those two species already wreak havoc to themselves and to us despite being hunted. But that doesn't fit within the HSUS' world view, where the only animals they know are either their pets or a Disney character. And it sure doesn't make for a reasoned sound bite.
Which takes us back to Limbaugh. I've personally listened to Rush on and off since the first Gulf War. He's bombastic, a blowhard, biting, and brilliant, all at different times. His was a lone voice for more than a decade, and he still posts numbers that are the envy of broadcasting. But if this sound bite truly is him, he's taken a side with an organization that is firmly against some things that I hold dear. As stated earlier, I've personally fought these people at their upper echelons. Theirs is an inherently wrong organization. If this is indeed Limbaugh, then I'm forced to join my liberal brethren in becoming yet another unhinged Rush hater.
I assume that there's still room on that bus...
EDIT
This is confirmed as real. HSUS has the release on their site. I'd link to it, but there is no way I'm giving them the satisfaction. Google it if you need the confirmation.
