What Makes an Opinion Important?

In the comments to my brief piece about the Heller decision ("Probably the Correct Ruling on Guns"), Missouri's finest Libertarian candidate (which I mean as a sincere compliment, though I acknowledge it may be viewed as damned faint praise) agrees with the astonishing statement that "It is not hyperbole to describe today’s decision in Heller as the most significant opinion of this century, and likely, of the last two generations."

Really?! An opinion that stands for the wishy-washy common-sense virtually status-quo proposition that the feds can regulate but not ban individual ownership of guns is the most significant opinion of the last two generations?

Perhaps so. Perhaps there really was a national consensus gathering in favor of banning all handguns, and confiscating deer rifles. Alternatively, perhaps in light of the Heller opinion's recognition that I have a right to own a gun, all restrictions on arms will be legislatively repealed, and soon our neighbor's Fourth of July celebration will feature SAMs and tank rides.

While it would be fun to engage in paragraphs of mockery of the hyperbole which knows not what it is, the question then arises, what IS the most significant opinion of the last two generations? Roe v. Wade? Bush v. Gore (certainly, in terms of tragic and unforeseen though not unforeseeable results)? Lawrence v Texas?

Here's a list of important Supreme Court cases since 1989, if you care to limit yourself to one generation . . .

Probably the Correct Ruling on Guns

Given my prior criticism of the Second Amendment ("18th Century Wisdom in the 21st Century") it would be reasonable to assume I'm aghast at the Supreme Court's decision striking down a handgun ban and a requirement for trigger locks. While I haven't read through all the opinions in detail yet, though, I think it was probably a reasonable interpretation of the Second Amendment. I've never denied that the Second Amendment exists, nor do I believe in simply ignoring the Amendments that are inconvenient (see, for example, DUI checkpoints).

Now that the field has been somewhat defined by the Supreme Court, the battle can begin in earnest in our legislatures to define what regulations we, as a society, think are appropriate. Banning is out of the question. Rendering the guns unavailable for self-defense is off the table. But even Scalia acknowledges some restrictions are okay.

Before yesterday's decision, the extremists on both sides were in a black and white world. Some thought that total banning was constitutional, some thought that any restrictions at all was unconstitutional. We're all in a gray world, now, and much work remains to be done.

Welcome Veterans for Kander!

In looking over the hit counts for this blog recently, I noticed a lot coming from a site called VetVoice.com. Upon further research, I learned that VetVoice is a blog run by VoteVets.org, which is an organization supporting candidates they feel will support veterans.

Impressively, they have identified Jason Kander as one of their "emerging leaders" - a group of twelve state and local candidates who served in Iraq or Afghanistan and who are seeking to serve in elected office. It's a great tribute to Jason's service to our country to see him on that list.

The hits to Gone Mild, however, came from a post in the VetVoice blog about the nastiness which has shown up in the comments attacking Jason for his service. In "Afghanistan Vet Running for Office Smeared for His Service", the author quoted some of the baseless attacks and responded to them.

Fortunately, early in the comments section of the post, the author clarified that the attacks were not done by Gone Mild, but by commenters. Even so, I wanted to put a post up welcoming the veterans who are visiting this site, and thanking them for their service. I apologize for the swift-boat-style anonymous attacks you'll find on this site, but I know you fought for the freedom of people to speak freely.

To Bruce or Not to Bruce?

It's official that Bruce Springsteen is coming to my hometown on August 24. Despite years of fandom, despite 1978-82 in New York state (a long but doable car-ride from New Jersey), despite seeing variants on his theme, such as Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes - I've never seen Springsteen live.

Unfortunately, I'm going to be otherwise occupied when the tickets go on sale. That means if I want to see the show looking up instead of looking down, I'm probably going to have to come up with several hundred dollars. This site has tickets I'd really like already on sale for a little under $500 each . . . Parking, dinner, a beer or two at the show - let's round it off at a grand. Or, if that offends you, and you think nosebleed seats should suffice, let's round if off to $400.

What's a person of moderate means to do?

For a fraction of the cost, I could buy an iPod and download every Springsteen song available on iTunes, and still have money available to catch dozens of up-and-coming shows at smaller venues. I could max out campaign contributions to some worthy local candidates. I could change lives with donations to some of my favorite charities. I could investigate that concept called "retirement savings" that I've heard some people mentioning.

Do you blow a grand on a single show? What if he has an off night? What if the people in front of me are tall? Can one show really be worth that kind of money? Would I walk out of the Sprint Center thinking "Great show, but . . ."?

I don't know. Maybe. Springsteen shows are legendary. Seeing a great artist live is a totally different experience than listening to the music itself. What is the proper price of a lasting memory? How much would you pay to see your "best concert ever"?

Corporate Contributions for McCain?

Corporations are banned from making campaign contributions (though they are free to form PACs, where all career-wise climbers toss their dollars in with their country-club bosses). It's becoming increasingly obvious, though, that the oil companies are NOT going to sit on the sidelines this election season. In an election that features change from Obama or a third term of record profits from "McSame", they are going "all-in" for McCain.

They've come up with an ingenious mechanism to translate some of those obscene profits into support for McCain, without technically violating the law against contributing directly. It's absolutely Rovian in its underhanded simplicity.

McCain has taken the moral low ground by flip-flopping on open drilling. Any honest and informed person knows that off-shore drilling will take a decade or more to produce even a trickle of gasoline, and provides absolutely no relief for high prices at the pump for the foreseeable future. Immediately, though, it will foul our coastal ecosystems, and expose more of our fisheries and natural beauty to the risk of another Exxon Valdez.

But birds gotta fly, and oil companies gotta drill. And McCain is the key to offshore oil drilling.

So, rather than making campaign contributions to McCain, they have worked out a little sleight of hand. McCain has sold his maverick soul to the oil companies, and now all the oil companies have to do is run dozens upon dozens of "issue advertisements" misleading Americans into believing that offshore drilling will lower gas prices.

An extra dollop of pay-off comes from the fact that there's no similar group of obscenely profitable companies who are positioned to respond. The charming bed and breakfast overlooking the ocean cannot afford prime time "issue advertisements" to compete with the oil companies. The hardworking fishermen don't have the time to go talk to the hotshots on Madison Avenue. Environmentalists cannot hope to raise money with the cruel efficiency of the oil industry siphoning unwilling donations out of my own wallet whenever I fill my tank.

The oil companies are going to use a portion of their record-setting profits to try to buy the election for McCain. They have profited wildly during Bush's presidency, and McCain represents more of the same.

Whenever you see their advertisements urging us to throw away our environmental heritage for a false quick bandaid, recognize what they are trying to do. They're skirting the laws and trying to fool us into supporting another term of record profits.

Blogger (and Commenter and Lurker) Meet-up

This evening a couple dozen bloggers and friends will be getting their drink on at the Flying Saucer, slamming TIF-subsidized beers and dressing like proper white people. Commenters and readers are most definitely welcome to join in the fun, so long as they dress the way that the Cordish Company thinks they should.

In the spirit of lazy blogging, I'll just cut and paste My Spyderweb's version of the notice:

This is it! Put the word out!!!
Flying Saucer
13th & Walnut
Kansas City, Mo

Monday 6/23, 5pm, because Monday is pint night and all drafts cost $2.75.

The KC Power & Light district parking is within the same building complex and is only $2 with validation...or lately you have to pay $2 to a dude right when you go into the garage. The lot across the street is a flat $5 if you park there after 5PM.

Stop Attacking Volunteers

One of the more freakish sideshows brought on by the controversy involving Gloria Squitiro has been the tendency to attack her volunteer status, and, by extension, the standing of volunteers working for the good of our city. Councilman Ed "Ought to Know Better" Ford has sought an unworkable ordinance threatening volunteers with personal liability for discrimination claims, and a google search for "volunteer" and "Squitiro" opens a treasure trove of muddled thinking and short-sighted over-reaction.

Regardless of the feelings about the Mayor's wife and the (unproven, unanswered) allegations made against, her, the attacks on volunteer roles in City Hall are threatening to rob the City of its ability to function.

In seeking to impose personal liability on all volunteers, Ed Ford would eliminate any chance of getting intelligent people to serve as volunteers anywhere in the City. Would you risk your house for the honor of serving on the City Market Advisory Committee, if you knew an upset person might sue over a decision made by the group? Would you volunteer to serve as a referee for Night Hoops if you realized your "charging" call might force you into bankruptcy? Who would be foolish enough to serve on the Downtown Minority Development Corporation?

The city relies on volunteers in countless roles. The willingness of people to help their community is something to celebrate. Even when one person in a volunteer role is alleged to have performed improperly, wise governance requires that we focus on the behavior, and not the volunteer status of the actor.

Why Change When Things Are Going So Badly?

Here in Kansas City, I suppose we prefer our change in small doses. The Jackson County election board chose yesterday to adopt a new district map "that created the least disturbance from the current boundaries, while evening up populations without shaking up the racial demographics."

The reason given for rejecting the Unity map, which would have seized an opportunity to strike a blow to the heart of our segregationist past and "Us vs. Them" present? "The panel thought Option 3 presented too disruptive of a change to be considered for a single election."

Two responses -

Is this the same election commission that "shuffled the deck" during the 2007 primaries, and provided voters with false information about where to vote? It seems to me that was a pretty disruptive change to pull - why so pusillanimous now?

Second, and more positively - this is the sort of reaction that we need to anticipate. There is a deep, deep bias in favor of the status quo, even when it isn't working and change is clearly required. There will be an opportunity to redistrict again in 2012. I'm in for the long haul - when are the commissioners' term limits up?

Uneven Exchange

Yesterday, I got onto an elevator with a man in a wheel chair. Because my building includes an office providing services to veterans, and because he was wearing a military t-shirt, I asked him if he was a veteran. He was, and I thanked him for serving.

His was an old-fashioned wheel-chair without a motor, and it took him a second to get off the elevator when we reached the ground level. I held the door for him, and he gave me a hearty "thank you".

I told him he was welcome, but that I didn't think we were quite "even" yet.

Too Young to Get Married?

26 years ago today, I was 22 years old and willing to (politely) ignore the advice offered by my parents that perhaps it would be best to wait until after I completed law school to get married.

That may be the one and only time I ignored my parents' advice and had things work out for the best.

It's been a like a long drive on mountain roads - lots of unexpected turns, a few scary moments, and astounding vistas. It's even wilder when you have two drivers, but we've been fortunate to mostly agree on the directions. And I count myself incredibly lucky that she's been the one who agreed to start the journey with me 26 years ago today.

And, by the way, hell yes we were too young to get married! Look at us! We were children!

Growing Bitter

The world is suffering through a hop shortage of staggering magnitude. The causes are varied - market forces caused a reduction in acreage devoted to hop vines, hail damage and drought destroyed much of the European crop, and a warehouse fire burnt a large portion of the North American crop. As a result, those of us who homebrew are scrounging to find hops to put into our beer.

Coincidentally, I started growing hops last year, just to see how they would grow. The pictures in this post are from my backyard, where four hop plants are helping me do my little part to bring bitterness to this world.

The portion of the hop plant used in the brewing process is the cone. After the plant reaches maturity, the cones are stripped from the plant and dehydrated. Soemtimes, they are processed further into pellets or even extracts. I generally prefer to use the cones, or flowers as they are sometimes called. I normally buy them by the ounce in vacuum packed bags from the local homebrew shop, Bacchus and Barleycorn. They used to be about $1.25 an ounce - they now run $3.50 an ounce. Depending on the type of hop and type of beer, a batch might require anywhere from 5 to 10 ounces.

Hops serve three purposes in beer - they add bitterness, flavor or aroma, depending on when they are added during the boiling process used in brewing. If they are added at the beginning of the boil (typically 60 or 90 minutes), they will add very little flavor or aroma, but they will add bitterness to the beer, to balance the sweetness of the malt. Try Roadtrip Brewing Sinister Rabbit Ale brewed by the local Flying Monkey Brewery if you want to experience hop bitterness without much hop flavor or aroma.

If hops are added between 30 to 10 minutes before the end of the boil, they will add a hop flavor to the beer - pop open a Boulevard Pale Ale for a nice hop flavor, nuanced with grapefruity notes. Finally, hops added right near the end of the boil, or even after the beer has fermented (a process called dry-hopping) add that great hop aroma that makes hopheads swoon. Pop open an Anchor Steam Ale to catch a whiff of that wonderful hop perfume.

There are dozens of varieties of hops. Some are very, very bitter, while others carry very little bitterness at all. Some have a citrus odor, some smell peppery, and some are even noted as smelling like "cat-piss". Some styles almost demand certain varieties - a Pilsner ought to have Saaz hops, and Northern Brewer hops are expected in California Common beer. But, as a homebrewer more focused on making beers that I like, I feel free to mix and match, unless I'm trying to match a particular style.

The hops in the picture are Sterling hops, an American hybrid resembling Saaz hops, but easier to grow. It is a versatile hop, and I look forward to producing some wonderful Oktoberfest and Belgians with it. Stay tuned.

(PS: If you want to see hop vines, and are too bashful to email and come over for a brew day, there are some vines just outside the backdoor at the 75th Street Brewery.)

UAW: "Jason Kander is a man of honesty and integrity . . ."

It's not at all surprising that the UAW of Missouri has endorsed Jason Kander in his run for the 44th district - Jason is the kind of leader our district and our party needs in Jefferson City.

Noodle Shop Closes

Sad news for local foodies - the Noodle Shop at 59th and Holmes has closed its doors. It was a small shop, with great service, and kind of a blogger favorite. The food was both comforting, as only noodles in broth can be, and also exotic, with strange pickles and even vegetal hedgehogs.

The only way to prevent even more losses is to remember that you cast your votes with every dollar you spend. Are you voting for chain food, or are you voting for local flavor? Good intentions and rare visits don't cut it.

John S. Zinsser, Jr. Reaches the End of His Term of Years on Earth, and Passes Away

Verbosity prevails.

Lacking Kander

Under the cover of dark on Tuesday night, anti-Kander activists lurked through my neighborhood and stole Kander yard signs from each of 6 houses on my block. It was the first time in all my years of managing the famed "Yard of Power" that anybody has sunk so low as to steal a yard sign from my lawn.

Meanwhile, Jason continues to run a great campaign and is even having a little fun with it.

Leadership Shows Its Stripes

Why should we stick with segregated electoral districts for the Kansas City Metropolitan School District? Are we prepared to abandon our traditional electoral maps, with their separate "communities" representing traditional power bases?

Airick Leonard West was elected to the KCMSD Board because he is a change agent. He looks at things from a fresh perspective, and, when the need arose to redraw the electoral boundaries for the KCMSD, he saw an opportunity to strike a blow to the heart of our segregationist past and "Us vs. Them" present.

Look at the map posted here - this is what change looks like. Each of the districts stretches from State Line to the eastern boundary of the District - like a stripe across the KCMSD. Each of the districts shows a commonality of interests in making sure our children get the best education possible in the KCMSD. This map changes how we will elect our leadership and how we could view our participation in the district. (It won't, however, alter boundaries for neighborhood schools or create zones for busing - it is solely aimed at elections for school board membership.)

If you think its time for Kansas City to try a new way of creating community, there are a few ways of helping bring this to fruition:
- send an email to both kceb@kceb.org and cspears@kcmsd.net or call the Election Board at 816.842.4820;
- contact individual election commissioners and school board members you know;
- forward this or a similar email to concerned Kansas Citians you know;
- attend the meeting where election commissions will vote on this issue: June 19th (www.kceb.org for further info).

We elected Airick Leonard West to make some changes. Now let's support the change we sought.

Why I Blog

Because skateboarding is not an option . . .


http://view.break.com/516659 - Watch more free videos

Why, Rascal Flats? Why, Valero?

One of the greatest summer songs of all times is Tom Cochrane's "Life is a Highway" (buy it and the rest of this great album here), a jangly, upbeat rock song that begs for a convertible and a warm day to blast it out of car speakers.

Why did Rascal Flats feel the need to ruin this song with their awful, nasal twang that sounds like the back-up singers from Hee-Haw harmonizing with Larry the Cable Guy? Why did Valero feel the need to put the bastardized country version in their over-played commercials?

99 Bottles of Beer on the Blog - Schneider & Brooklyner Hopfen Weisse

Serious American beer drinkers have a justifiable lack of enthusiasm for wheat beers. American wheat beers tend to be lightly hopped, bland, and often a little sweet. They function as an "entry level" craft beer - a step up from Bud-Miller-Coors, but still very approachable. On a hot summer day, they can be refreshing, especially with a wedge of lemon.

One bottle of Schneider & Brooklyner Hopfen Weisse changes all that.

The result of a collaboration between the brewmasters from Schneider Weissbier Brewery and The Brooklyn Brewery, this beer marries the snappy hop tendencies of American brewers with the traditional yeasty banana and clove esters of the great Bavarian brewers.

Bavarian wheat beers are an entirely different beast from American-style wheat beers. The special yeast used in brewing them creates flavors of banana, cloves and citrus, without adding any of those actual ingredients. The result is a refreshing, effervescent, generally light beer. A Bavarian wheat beer is cloudy and has a fluffy, white head.

Schneider & Brooklyner Hopfen Weisse brings all that, and more. The flavors explode on your tongue - you get the full dose of banana and clove flavor, and the citrus flavor is enhanced by a completely non-Bavarian dose of post-fermentation hops. Where Bavarian wheat beer is generally light in alcohol, this one packs an 8.2 percent wallop.

This beer is a treat - I wouldn't want to drink it very often, and it probably is not a great introduction to the Bavarian wheat beer style, since it's so hoppy and big. But if you want to get jolted out of your Boulevard Wheat complacency, hunt up a bottle of Schneider & Brooklyner Hopfen Weisse and go to town on it. After that, expand your understanding of what wheat can accomplish in beer by picking up a Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse, or maybe a König Ludwig Weiss.

It's summer - time for the hefeweizens to brighten the picnic tables pub tables of beer drinkers.

Amy Coffman Disdains the "Senseless World of Blogging"

Candidate for 44th District Missouri State Representative Amy Coffman visited this blog last week to set the record straight on a side issue (she agreed with every fact I had set forth) for the campaign. To preface her remarks, though, she explained that "the time has come for me to personally to address the banter to nonsense that, in my opinion discredits Democrats, the democratic process, and purports the senseless world of blogging and the damage I believe it does to campaigning."

Huh? Or, rather, how typical.

Shrugging off the hostility bristling in her comment, I served up a nice big softball and invited Ms. Coffman to tell me and my readers "What is the most significant policy difference between you and Jason Kander, and why is your position the correct one?" This weekend, in a tremendously kind and classy note, Ms. Coffman politely declined the opportunity to answer (as is her right, by all means).

Think about that.

Why would a candidate refuse an opportunity to deliver her most substantive message to thousands of politically-interested readers, many of whom will be voting in her race?

I will go ahead and speculate that the reason has to do with a desire to avoid "the senseless world of blogging and the damage I believe it does to campaigning".

Personally, I think it takes a lot of chutzpah for a lobbyist to accuse you, me and everyone else involved in the world of blogging of discrediting "Democrats, [and] the democratic process." But, I suppose it makes some sense from the perspective of the lobbying community. The uncontrolled and unpaid-for voice of public opinion is a theoretical threat to those whose business is conducted quietly by people who are paid to go to Jefferson City and make things happen. A blog post by some uncredentialed yahoo in his or her living room could undo a deal painstakingly constructed over countless lunches and dinners in the booths of Jefferson City's finest restaurants.

Perhaps, though, the discomfort with blogging comes from a concern that it coarsens the level of debate. As one who sometimes gets frustrated by the anonymice who spew unsupported venom in the comments sections, I understand the concern. On the other hand, I don't think I've ever seen an anonymous comment unload the profanity I saw directed at me by one of Ms. Coffman's most ardent supporters in person a couple weeks ago. Anybody who has been around political types knows that the gossip, trash-talk and cruelty dished out at a cocktail party could make blog commenters blush.

What's remarkable, though, is that the distrust and hostility toward blogs and those that read them has led a local candidate to refuse such a great opportunity, and to write so negatively about those of us who participate in the "senseless world of blogging". Some of us vote, and many of us host yard signs. Why would she accuse us all of discrediting the democratic process, when we're only trying to participate?

Amy Coffman was offered an opportunity to present her message to thousands of potential voters, but she refused. More disturbingly, she has voiced concern that those of us who read and write blogs are "discrediting the democratic process", but she refused the opportunity to elevate the level of debate by setting forth "the most significant policy difference between you and Jason Kander, and why is your position the correct one?"

I agree with Ms. Coffman that there is nastiness in the blogosphere, just as there is in the world of political insiders. I'm proud that I offered her an opportunity to rise above the nastiness, and saddened that she refused that opportunity, and that she voices such disdain for the rest of us.

Fill In Your Own inappropriate Humor

As I've mentioned here before, I have been trying to teach myself fly-fishing. Google Reader somehow picked up on my latest obsession and recommended that I check out "Mid-Current" - a source of fly fishing news (the internet has everything).

That source directed me yesterday to a recent New York Times article on women's fly-fishing vests - complete with a slideshow. I report with crushing disappointment that it is entirely SFW.

They Pay For this Kind of "Analysis"?

Steve Kraske and Dave Helling needed to team up to produce the ludicrous "analysis" that the Kansas City Star recently published, posted and presumably paid for. In it, they claim that the "hard part" for the Democrats may be piecing the party back together after the primary season.

I wish I had been there to see the article get written. Was it written over the course of a tequila shot drinking contest, with the winner getting to eat the worm and the loser being made to list his name first? That would be kind of funny to watch.

Or did they write it while grilling wieners in an enclosed space, not realizing that the carbon monoxide was slowing their brain activity to a snail's pace? I would have rescued them.

Regardless of the circumstances, it takes a special kind of opacity to worry about the Democrats on the day that Obama clinched the nomination. After a primary season that saw record numbers of democrats, including millions of new voters, come to the polls to vote for their favored brand of CHANGE, the Democratic party has never been stronger.

From the beginning, the overwhelming majority of democrats have voiced the opinion that either Obama or Clinton would be great, regardless of which one they were supporting. While an occasional few have fallen to the intoxication of partisanship, they are not representative of a trend, or even of their more sober sides. Give them a week or two to calm down, and they will be fine. (Mr. Martin, were you really fearing a heart attack while watching a rules committee? That's not normal, and a specialist of some sort should be consulted.)

Because expressions of anger between the Clinton and Obama sides were apparently so hard to find, these two journalists were forced to resort to quotations of anger toward - journalists! They quote Mike Sanders:

“I firmly believe that Hillary Clinton was held (by the media) to a different standard than every other presidential candidate who ran in this cycle,” said Jackson County Executive Mike Sanders. “Not just Barack Obama, not just John McCain, but every other candidate.”

Helling and Kraske are weakly attempting to portray Sanders' dissatisfaction with how badly journalists did their job as some kind of dissatisfaction with his fellow Democrats. I suggest that they ask Mr. Sanders if he will be voting for Senator Obama in a match against McCain, and I promise that the answer will be a strong "yes".

The fact of the matter is that the dissension among the Democrats is nothing compared to that among the Republicans. Of course, in the heat of the moment, a few petulant Clinton supporters are going to overstate their disappointment in seeing their candidate fall short, but nobody who supports Hillary's progressive agenda and Democratic values is going to fail to see those same qualities in Barack Obama.

Within a couple weeks, Obama will be riding high atop a surge of enthusiastic Democrats eager to bring change to our country. I hope Kraske and Helling invite me to observe whatever collaboration they dream up then. It appears they may need adult supervision.

(I enjoy making fun of Kraske and Helling, because I'm frankly jealous they get paid decent money to produce such mediocre foolish verbiage a couple times a week, while I produce high-quality foolish verbiage almost every day, for free. I know, deep in my heart, that the only thing separating me from the professional pundits is a j-school degree and a willingness to really dive down deep into the murky depths of obtuseness and emerge with pearls like the article discussed here.)

The 5th Birthday Party for Gone Mild

I've finally figured out the elaborate, secretive plans by the local politicos to observe Gone Mild's 5th year.

Tonight, the CCP is holding its general membership meeting at Screenland to finally make its real endorsements. At least that's the cover story.

In fact, what I think is going to happen is that, rather than going through lengthy balloting, etc., the membership will simply accept the fine work of the CCP selection committees. Those committees were composed of neutral CCP members who conducted rigorous screenings of the candidates, and they came up with the following list of recommended endorsements:

Treasurer: Clint Zweifel
44th State House: Jason Kander
Sheriff: John Bullard

Add on to those wise, informed choices the races that had been left to the Executive Committee (Nixon for Governor, Sam Page for Lieutenant Governor, Jeff Harris for AG and Jim Kanatzer for Prosecutor), and the voting ought to be completed in 3 minutes. Just in time for someone to bring in a huge birthday cake for Gone Mild, and time for someone to sing a breathy version of "Happy Birthday", just like Marilyn Monroe did for JFK. I'm not sure who will do the singing, but I hope it's not Bough . . .

5 Years of Blogging

Today marks my 5th year of maintaining Gone Mild. Numerically, it amounts to more than 1200 posts, more than a million unique visits, a bunch of new friends, a couple lost ones, and countless hours that could have been spent doing other things.

5 years is old for a blog, but I think those who attempt to analogize blog chronology to "dog years" or some other mammalian aging process are mistaken. I would compare it to the aging of a tree. A lot of them get planted, but not very many flourish beyond the seedling stage. Most blogs shut down after a couple months, when the writer has satisfied his or her itch to write a few things off his or her chest, and sees that maintaining an online diary and building an audience takes time and effort.

A blog that gets past the seedling stage can go on forever, if it chooses. The only real requirement for blog longevity is writer stubbornness. The only real threat to individual blog survival is writer distraction or mortality.

Of course, the real threat to blogging as a whole is some climatic change - a dutch elm disease, if you want to carry the tree analogy further. Perhaps some new technology or application, like Twitter only bigger and better, will come along and replace blogging as a medium, or maybe some politician will decide the internets need to be more regulated.

So, until blogging is destroyed, I die or I find something better to do, please keep reading and commenting.

Kander Shows Leadership on Campaign Finance Reform

Campaign Finance Reform lies at the heart of good government. It is also, unfortunately, one of the most difficult areas for even the best-hearted legislators to accomplish meaningful change. Money is kind of like toothpaste in a tube - if you press down on it in one spot, it rises in another.

Jason Kander understands the issue well.

He knows that even where campaign limits are in place (as they are through the primaries in Missouri), they can be easily circumvented through third party committees (look at Koster's scheme to fatten his coffers with Republican donations). Jason has pledged not to resort to such tactics, and has called on his opponents to do the same. "I will not take contributions above the $325 limit from committees or use third party committees to criticize my opponents. I hope that my opponents will also follow the letter and spirit of the law," Kander said in a press release.

As alert insiders know, this is not one of those meaningless gestures that typify campaign reform discussions. Jason received some very large donations early in the campaign, and he returned them. I'm confident he could get them again, and funnel them through committees just like Koster did.

By refusing to play such games and calling on his opponents to do the same, Jason Kander is demonstrating the same kind of leadership by example that will make him a powerhouse for the 44th District in Jefferson City.

As soon as I receive word that Amy Coffman and Mary Spence join in the pledge, I will happily post their press releases.

Taking Jobs Americans Won't Do

A high school valedictorian is getting deported to Armenia, because his family fled to the US when he was two years old.

Apparently, the salutatorian didn't want the top job.

Best Wings Ever?

I love great wings, and I want to make them at home.

My wife comes from the Buffalo area, so our standards for buffalo wings are pretty high. We've had great wings that make lips tingle and terrible wings with insipid goo spread over them. But we've had some seriously wonderful wings - the best in Kansas City come from the Peanut, where they serve up massive, crispy, peppery hot wings that make the perfect accompaniment for a pitcher of good beer.

Tonight, I finally made great wings.

There are a few hallmarks of great wings. They're hot, but edible. They're crisp, but not burnt. And they're cooked through but not dry - so the meat comes easily off the bone.

Those are the universal requirements - and, when we cook at home, we have a few more constraints. First, we're not frying - we don't have a ventilating hood, and I hate to waste that much oil. Second, I don't have access to the mutant huge wings they serve at the Peanut. Finally, we're trying to eat a little healthier, so anything that can cut down on the fat is appreciated.

Here's what I did. I got a few pounds of wings, already cut into segments, and lacking the meatless point of the wing. I brought a pot of aggressively-salted water to a boil, and dumped in the wings. When the pot started boiling again, I turned off the heat, covered it, and let it sit for around 10 or 15 minutes. In the meantime, I started up the propane grill (I know, charcoal is cooler, but I've come to love the convenience and reliability of the gas . . .).

After draining the wings and shaking them as dry as possible, I spread them out and sprinkled them with a Louisianna blackening spice mixture. To imitate the Peanut more closely, I would have stuck with salt and pepper, but my daughter's time at Tulane has enlivened our cajun appreciation, so that's how we rolled tonight.

Letting the wings absorb the spice a little, I started on the sauce. The base was Frank's Red Hot sauce - probably a cup and a half. I tossed in some white vinegar, and then added some horse radish and a couple cloves of pressed garlic. A hearty squeeze of Sriracha sauce added extra and different heat. A hint of Worcestershire sauce makes everything (other than breakfast cereal) better, and a touch of honey mellowed the heat and added a little depth. I heated it all up together in a small saucepan.

After the sauce was bubbling away, I put the spiced wings on the grill, over medium-low heat. The lack of flare-ups demonstrated that much of the fat had been boiled out of the wings, and I was able to grill them slowly to a golden crisp texture.

After removing them from the grill, I doused them with the sauce and served them with celery sticks and bleu cheese dressing.

And they were spectacular.

No, they weren't up there with the Peanut - fried, massive, peppery wings of eagle/chicken hybrids. But they were the best I can do, and they were the best ever served in this household.

And they were much better than anything you could find at Hooters.

An Alternative Space . . .

Over at this posting, the comments had evolved into a wide-ranging examination of whatever crept into the minds of a few anonymous commenters. A few who purport to be Amy Coffman supporters had gone pretty far astray discussing a car she drives, and, finally, Amy Coffman herself visited to address some of the nonsense.

She wrote a rational and calm comment, never disagreeing with any facts that I laid out. I responded with a couple clarifying questions, and decided to keep the comments there free of further commentary so that her dialog could progress without being buried or distracted. She indicated she wanted a higher level of debate on blogs, so I asked her a giant, substantive softball of a question, and I (and a bunch of pro-Amy, pro-Jason, neutral and one pro-Spence person who have emailed me) are eager to see the dialog progress.

Apparently, though, my attempt to create a space for a respectful dialog has upset some who prefer to make anonymous allegations. So, here is a space for whatever comments you wanted to post under that thread, where I will continue to delete comments that aren't Amy's. She deserves a space of her own, and I'm willing to foster intelligent debate. Apparently, there are those who feel I'm required to host their nasty ranting, too, so here's the space for that. Enjoy yourselves . . .