Battling Defeat

Well, I'm back from the Windy City. Pitchfork was great. I'll have pictures of me enjoying Powerhouse Sound, Grizzly Bear and Battles up soon. I ate well. Zealous and Michael are fantastic. I will also post these pictures and reviews of these restaurants soon. I'll get this all ready for your enjoyment soon.

The USA Today starts off with the military requesting vehicles made to withstand the increasingly deadly improvised explosive devices in Iraq years ago, but Robert Gates and his predecessors at the Pentagon decided there were more important considerations to make in Iraq. The mounting evidence to the contrary finally forced Gates to change his mind. The Department of Defense and its protocol are the only type of oversight that makes the NFL's policy on concussions look humane.

Pakistan's longstanding truce is in jeopardy, and the government may have lost the tenuous agreement they had with tribal leaders. Al Qaeda is establishing control in Pakistan, and a U.S. plan to quash the problem with a torrent of money is being met with great skepticism. The problems in Pakistan may stream across the border and create greater problems for our troops fighting the "war on terror" in Afghanistan. It isn't like things have been going well since we packed up and sent half of the troops' support to fight unprepared in Iraq.

U.N. inspectors have confirmed that North Korea has shut down a controversial nuclear reactor. Kim Jong-il still reserves the right to antagonize and annoy anybody who will stand around and listen to his ramblings.

The Democrats are running away from the Clinton years much like every Presidential candidate is running from the current Bush administration. Candidates are advocating an economic policy that supports the people more than big business. Since I am a person and not a big business, I support it. When I get in an upper tier tax bracket, I reserve the right to reconsider.

The Los Angeles chapter of NAMBLA (a.k.a. the Catholic archdiocese) is coming under more fire after their record $660 million dollar settlement to victims of priest-driven molestation. The Cardinal was slated to testify in the law suit brought against the Los Angeles archdiocese, but he quashed that chance by reaching the costly settlement. I wonder how the churchgoers feel about financially supporting a religious order's taste in young boys and irresponsible sex.

The threat of crushing royalty rates were stopped at the last minute with the future of independent internet radio hanging in the balance. Keep track of this issue before internet radio starts to sound like stale commercial radio. Your grandmother's playlist looks a lot like the Clear Channel playlist.

Finally, the Boo Birds finally got their due when Philadelphia lost their 10,000 baseball game, becoming the first team to reach that dubious distinction. Much like a Philly fans in the postseason, I'm sure that ownership celebrated by drinking themselves into oblivion.