Nobrainer’s Think Tank

• Since Clemson does not play UVA in football this year (unless UVA can meet the Tigers in the new ACC championship game), I have a great interest in gathering a group to go see the Tigers in College Park, MD.
• There is also a good chance that I’ll try to make it to the Henry Rollins spoken word show in Alexandria on 15 October.
• Although I am now watching ‘Gods and Generals’, I was earlier listening to songs by Shooter Jennings, son of the late country music icon Waylon Jennings. Although I have had several of Shooter’s songs for a while, I was still not sure what I thought of them. As my feelings toward the music warmed up, I searched for his website. It was pleasantly surprising to see that he will be in Charlottesville on September 15th. Y’all better watch out. I’m almost starting to like this town.
• Although I have watched ‘Gods and Generals’ and ‘Gettysburg’ several times each, I have found them to be much more appreciable after having started to read ‘A History of the Southern Confederacy’.
• Speaking of confederacies, ‘A Confederacy of Dunces’ is a good read. Although if you don’t read much, I’d recommend ‘Catch 22′ first.
• My birthday is still several months off, but I’m building my wish list, so that you know what to buy for me.

That is all.

I’ve managed to severely screw up some things on the blog. So there is very little chance right now that you will be able to make any comments.

Sucks for you, huh?

• Unfortunately, Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, continues to disapprove of China’s efforts to revalue it’s currency. As such, he and Chuck Schumer, the senior Democrat from New York, still insist on imposing a 27.5% tariff on Chinese goods. I have no idea what Schumer’s motive is. On the other hand, Graham just looks like a protectionist idiot. Many people in SC need to realize that they have been behind the technology curve since before 1860. That technological lacking didn’t help much in the losing effort of the Civil War. It hasn’t helped much in the 140 years since. And it sure as shit isn’t helping now. (previous post)
• Also, Dr. Michael Mann of the University of Virginia, the creator of the famed “hockey stick” graph which “demonstrates” global warming has finally relented to pressure to make his work transparent. Is his research right or wrong? I don’t know. I don’t know, in most part, because he published work in such a way that repeating (and thereby more thoroughly understanding) and the ability to duplicate his work was severely impaired.

  Here’s what I know. Despite my “cow college” education, I was very clearly taught to write about results in a way which makes them repeatable. Furthermore, I have lately been very upset by researchers in the University of California system who published a process that is so vague that I wonder how they got a bachelors degree. What’s more, after repeated attempts to gain information from the corresponding authors, I heard jack shit. Apparently, a lot of people have a lot to learn about academics. (previous post)

From CNN

The statement said the IRA had authorised a representative to work with the Independent International Commission of Decommissioning (IIDC) to complete the process of putting weapons beyond use.

Who the hell approved that name? And are they yet out of commission?

Hippies everywhere! They want to save the world but all they do is smoke pot and smell bad.” Or at least that’s what I was thinking through most of last night.

A little bit after 7, I had just cracked open an icy cold PBR when my neighbor dropped by, asking if I wanted to go the downtown Mall. When you answer a knock at your door holding a PBR, your answer to the going out question is without doubt in the affirmative. It turns out that Charlottesville has a pavilion that has just been completely upgraded and last night was the first show. Being the first show it was free. But damn, the band on staged rocked the place. Seriously though, the crowd consisted of about a thousand hippies and me. Surprisingly, I noticed no illegal narcotics, nor a general unpleasant aroma. The upcoming shows include Loretta Lynn, Dwight Yoakam, Bruce Hornsby, Violent Femmes, & the Spin Doctors. Maybe Charlottesville ain’t so bad.

So. Who was playing last night? It was Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe. I’ve never heard of them before, but they certainly got my attention. They are a 6 piece band — keyboards, drums, bass (6 string), guitar, a guy who plays some trumpet and cornet (and who appeared to be surfing the internet at times), and the lead singer who also plays the sax and flute… and they include cowbells. They played for at least 2 hours, and even though I’m not a big fan of live music, I was drawn into the experience. In checking out their website, I really dig their tour schedule. They look like they’ll play any time, anywhere as long as you give them a stage and the possibility of an audience. After Charlottesville last night, they head to Nashville, to Asheville, back to Viginia, to New York, to Missouri, to Wisconsin to Minnesota to Indiana to North Carolina to South Carolina to Florida. In all they’re scheduled for 15 shows from today through August 14th. Awesome. I’ve done some crazy road trips in my life, but nothing to compare to these guys… and I can’t even play an instrument.

Well I gotta get to campus. Later.

The current administration is moving away from the common “war on terror” descriptor. Recently “Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and the country’s top military officer have spoken of ‘a global struggle against violent extremism.’”

More from the Internation Herald Tribune (via Drudge)

General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the National Press Club on Monday that he had “objected to the use of the term ‘war on terrorism’ before, because if you call it a war, then you think of people in uniform as being the solution.”

He said the threat instead should be defined as violent extremism, with the recognition that “terror is the method they use.”

Although the military is heavily engaged in the mission now, he said, future efforts require “all instruments of our national power, all instruments of the international communities’ national power.” The solution is “more diplomatic, more economic, more political than it is military,” he concluded.

Will the administration move forward with this same kind of thinking and finally abandon the “war on drugs.” It is far less a military action that than the “struggle against violent extremism.” And hopefully this idea will take root with the left. It is also time for pols to rethink the “war against poverty.”