Bus Fumes

“‘I’ve played ACL more times than anyone, I think,’ Willie Nelson told us on his tour bus, which sure smelled good.”

— Rolling Stone : The 10 Best Shows at Austin City Limits 2006

“Willie Nelson and four others were issued misdemeanor citations for possession of narcotic mushrooms and marijuana after a traffic stop Monday morning on a Louisiana highway, state police said. … ‘When the door was opened and the trooper began to speak to the driver, he smelled the strong odor of marijuana,’ the news release said.”

— CNN.com.

But maybe they weren’t smoking it. Maybe it’s just part of the Willie Nelson Biodiesel.

Which got NewMexiKen thinking. According to data from the Drug Enforcement Administration, 98% of all the marijuana plants seized by law enforcement in the U.S. are wild hemp, not cultivated cannabis. That’s a lot of bio-mass. Let’s be creative here. Suppose we used the confiscated plants to power mass transit. Then we’d have free fuel, plus ridership would increase dramatically on those “smelly” buses.

Ko’oe Esther

“Her American Indian name is P’oe Tswa, or Blue Water, but many knew her as Ko’oe Esther, or Aunt Esther.

“She spent much of her childhood living with her grandparents and traveling back and forth in a covered wagon to visit her parents.

Esther Martinez“She was a major conservator of the Tewa language, teaching her native language from 1974 to 1989 at schools in Ohkay Owingeh, formerly known as San Juan Pueblo.

“She also helped translate the New Testament of the Bible into Tewa and compiled Tewa dictionaries for pueblos that have distinct dialects of the language…”

Last week she “was honored along with 11 other folk and traditional artists for being named a 2006 National Heritage Fellow, the nation’s highest honor for such artists, the NEA said in a news release. The fellowship includes a one-time award of $20,000.”

Saturday night, as Esther Martinez was nearing home on the return from the awards ceremony in Washington, an apparently intoxicated driver crossed the center line and collided with the Dodge Dakota in which she was riding with her daughters.

She died at the scene. She was 94.

Above quotations and information from story in The New Mexican.

Six Things to Think About

1. According to a report in Automotive News, Ford and General Motors discussed a merger in July.

2. The price of gasoline has gone down 50 cents in a month. How much lower can it go before the election? (Thanks to mjh’s blog for focusing my thought on this one.)

3. Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez‘s favorite books include “Les Misérables” by Victor Hugo and “Don Quixote” by Cervantes. Also “Dude, Where’s My Country?” by Michael Moore.

4. Charles P. Pierce thinks the president is on the edge:

This all came back to me because, quite frankly, I think the president of the United States is getting ready to slug somebody. And, based on several recent on-camera performances, all of them readily available to anyone who wants to watch, you wouldn’t have to say anything about his momma, his wife, his kids, his dogs, or the fundamental legitimacy of his pedigree to get him to throw down on your ass like the genuine Earnie (The Acorn) Shavers. It appears that all that would be necessary is for you push a question about his policies beyond the limits of whatever talking-points he has on the subject.

… There are presidents who can rise above it, and presidents who can’t, but none of them ever looked like they were ready to toss hands because people questioned their right to torture. It’s become truly startling how close we seem to be coming to the “Because I said so, that’s why” moment.

5. John Yoo understands American history a little differently than I learned it.

But the founders intended that wrongheaded or obsolete legislation and judicial decisions would be checked by presidential action, just as executive overreaching is to be checked by the courts and Congress.

6. Path to 9/11 writer Cyrus Nowrasteh is even more delusional.

I felt duty-bound from the outset to focus on a single goal–to represent our recent pre-9/11 history as the evidence revealed it to be. The American people deserve to know that history: They have paid for it in blood.

… Fact-checkers and lawyers scrutinized every detail, every line, every scene. There were hundreds of pages of annotations. We were informed by multiple advisers and interviews with people involved in the events–and books, including in a most important way the 9/11 Commission Report.

Five Paragraphs about the Latest Blogosphere Brouhaha

When I heard that a prominent conservative blogger had gone after a young feminist blogger because she had dared to have breasts in the vicinity of former President Clinton in the course of a meeting between Clinton and liberal bloggers (“she wears a tight knit top that draws attention to her breasts and stands right in front of him and positions herself to make her breasts as obvious as possible”), I thought, “well, what do you expect from these Dorito-flecked guys typing in their mothers’ basements—they literally have nothing better to do.”

But when I learned that the blogger in question was not a Dorito-flecked guy typing in his mother’s basement but a tenured law professor, I thought, “wow, that’s remarkably pathetic. That might be one of the most pathetic things I’ve ever seen on the Internets.”

And when I saw that the tenured law professor was a woman who was chastising the young liberal blogger in the name of feminism, while writing, “Jessica should have worn a beret. Blue dress would have been good too” and “Jessica looks like Paula Jones,” I thought, “good lord, that’s more disingenuous and gratuitously vile than I can say. I’m so sorry this professor was asked by the Chronicle of Higher Education to participate in the same forum on academic blogging in which I appeared back in July.”

And then when I discovered that the tenured law professor was replying to people who’d pointed out that there was nothing exceptional about Jessica’s clothing or the photo in which she appeared by telling them to face reality, and replying to Jessica directly (who’d pointed out that the professor was attacking her for her appearance) by telling her not to flatter herself, I thought, “heaven help us, that’s positively delusional.”

And then when I got word that the tenured law professor had upped the ante by insisting that the young feminist’s blog was “one of those blogs that are all about using breasts for extra attention,” I thought, “good grief, wait until the poor clueless dear hears about the talented young feminist writers who work at Bust magazine. She’s liable to blow a gasket, she is.”

Continue reading from Le Blog Bérubé.

Two for the Road

Avital and Jen are crossing America from the east — they’re already in Dallas. They’d like your suggestions.

“We’re headed west, with no real agenda except finding the joys of the open road. Tell us where to find the fun, the food, the face of America. Post your suggestions by clicking the comment link below.”

Some of their commentary so far:

“Tulsans could easily qualify as our nation’s friendliest people.”

“The iconic Gateway Arch came into view much sooner than we thought it would, and it was our first stop. We marveled at it from the bottom, took about 50 pictures of it and knocked on its side. I’d always imagined that it would feel hollow and light, so I was surprised at how dense and hard it felt.”

“Corn fields flanked the highway until we reached Monona Lake just outside the city; the stately Capitol reflected upon it made for a postcard-worthy scene.”

Loving One’s Job

Ever had a job like Mark Twain once did, where no amount of money would be enough? From Roughing It, 1872.

I will remark, in passing, that I only remained in the milling business one week. I told my employer I could not stay longer without an advance in my wages; that I liked quartz milling, indeed was infatuated with it; that I had never before grown so tenderly attached to an occupation in so short a time; that nothing, it seemed to me, gave such scope to intellectual activity as feeding a battery and screening tailings, and nothing so stimulated the moral attributes as retorting bullion and washing blankets — still, I felt constrained to ask an increase of salary.

He said he was paying me ten dollars a week, and thought it a good round sum. How much did I want?

I said about four hundred thousand dollars a month, and board, was about all I could reasonably ask, considering the hard times.

I was ordered off the premises! And yet, when I look back to those days and call to mind the exceeding hardness of the labor I performed in that mill, I only regret that I did not ask him seven hundred thousand.

A Perfect Game

1. The Redskins lost 27-10 to the Cowboys.

2. Terrell Owens of the Cowboys had negative yardage — three catches for 19 yards and two penalties for negative 20. (This before breaking a finger, which is unfortunate, but at least it will reduce the noise for two-to-four weeks.)

King of Pain

A forceful and meaningful column from Paul Krugman. You should read it all but it ends with this:

The fact is that for all his talk of being a “war president,” Mr. Bush has been conspicuously unwilling to ask Americans to make sacrifices on behalf of the cause — even when, in the days after 9/11, the nation longed to be called to a higher purpose. His admirers looked at him and thought they saw Winston Churchill. But instead of offering us blood, toil, tears and sweat, he told us to go shopping and promised tax cuts.

Only now, five years after 9/11, has Mr. Bush finally found some things he wants us to sacrifice. And those things turn out to be our principles and our self-respect.

Redecorating

NewMexiKen is thinking it’s time once again to change how these pages look.

You know how it is when you want to redecorate, right? You ask everyone’s opinion. Truth told, you don’t really want their opinion, what you really want is validation for your own opinion.

That may or not be true of me here (probably is true) but at least I’m going to let you have a say up front BEFORE I make the changes.

Below is a list of “themes.” Except for “NewMexiKen,” which is the name of the theme I’ve been using, the themes in the list are generic. That means that some of them won’t even have the title NewMexiKen show up on the pages. Many will use their own art. None has The Sweeties!

Some will look fine, others confused. Still, they give you some idea of possibilities. And the posts you see will be NewMexiKen’s own.

Once you chose a theme, it will stay with you each visit via a cookie until you chose another theme (or I delete your choice as part of this process).

Remember its just a test, so don’t worry about the messy or missing stuff.

Let me know what I should think. Have fun.

[Update: Theme Switcher removed.]

Update September 18: The Sweeties will be part of NewMexiKen in any redesign. They just aren’t part of the generic sampler.

This Is So Cool

The temperature, that’s what’s so cool. It was 45º this morning at Casa NewMexiKen. Almost turned the fireplace on.

Near 40º expected tonight.

That said, the days are absolutely stunning as it finally begins to dry out — at least until what’s left of tropical storm Lane throws some moisture our way later in the week. Highs near 80º, nary a cloud in sight.

Fore!

Peaking Too Soon

Two articles from The New York Times about artists who made it early.

First, If Mozart Had Had Better Health Care; it begins:

Poor Mozart, who died at 35, must have inherited at least the potential for longevity from his parental gene pool.

His father, Leopold Mozart, died at 67, a ripe old age in an era when rampant illnesses claimed the majority of European children in infancy. Sadly, Mozart’s indomitable mother, Anna Maria, died at 58 while in Paris, having contracted viral infections and a severe fever during an arduous trip with her rambunctious, opportunity-seeking 22-year-old son. Mozart’s sister, Nannerl, who had also been a musical prodigy, died in 1829 in Salzburg at the impressive age of 78, having well outlived her husband, an officious Austrian prefect and two-time widower with five children, who resented their stepmother.

Mozart’s death in 1791 was probably caused by streptococcal infection, renal failure, terminal bronchial pneumonia and a matrix of other illnesses, some dating from his childhood, when the Mozart family spent years touring Europe to show off the boy genius and, to a lesser extent, his sister.

Imagine how different music history would have been had Mozart lived to Nannerl’s age.

Then, Some Good News Arrives at Last for a Bad News Bear; the article begins:

In the original “Bad News Bears,” the actor Jackie Earle Haley made a memorable entrance riding a motorbike across a Little League baseball diamond, disrupting the opening day ceremonies. Personifying Bicentennial-era rebel cool, Mr. Haley achieved stardom at the age of 15.

As with so many young actors, though, it has been a long and difficult road ever since for Mr. Haley.

Constitution Day

On September 17, 1787, the delegates to the Constitutional Convention met for the last time to sign the document and send it to the states for ratification.

We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this constitution for the United States of America.

I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry

Hiram Williams was born on this date 83 years ago. We know him as Hank.

Hank Williams’s legend has long overtaken the rather frail and painfully introverted man who spawned it. Almost singlehandedly, Williams set the agenda for contemporary country songcraft, but his appeal rests as much in the myth that even now surrounds his short life. His is the standard by which success is measured in country music on every level, even self-destruction.

— Country Music Hall of Fame

And the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, where Williams is also and inductee, says:

The words and music of Hank Williams echo across the decades with a timelessness that transcends genre. He brought country music into the modern era, and his influence spilled over into the folk and rock arenas as well. Artists ranging from Gram Parsons and John Fogerty (who recorded an entire album of Williams’ songs after leaving Creedence Clearwater Revival) to the Georgia Satellites and Uncle Tupelo have adapted elements of Williams’ persona, especially the aura of emotional forthrightness and bruised idealism communicated in his songs. Some of Williams’ more upbeat country and blues-flavored numbers, on the other hand, anticipated the playful abandon of rockabilly.

Hank Williams died in the back seat of his Cadillac. He was found and declared dead on New Year’s Day 1953. He was 29.

The Deadliest Day in American History

“Of all the days on all the fields where American soldiers have fought, the most terrible by almost any measure was September 17, 1862. The battle waged on that date, close by Antietam Creek at Sharpsburg in western Maryland, took a human toll never exceeded on any other single day in the nation’s history. So intense and sustained was the violence, a man recalled, that for a moment in his mind’s eye the very landscape around him turned red.”

Stephen W. Sears
Landscape Turned Red: The Battle of Antietam

The New York Times coverage from 1862 is online.

America’s bloodiest day:

Killed: Union 2,000 Confederate 1,550 Total Killed: 3,650
Wounded: Union 9,550 Confederate 7,750 Total Wounded: 17,300
Missing/Captured: Union 750 Confederate 1,020 Total Missing: 1,770
Total: Union 12,400 Confederate 10,320 Total Casualties: 22,720

As a rule of thumb, about 20% of the wounded died of their wounds and 30% of the missing had been killed (in the days before dog-tags to identify the dead). Accordingly, an estimate of the total dead from the one-day battle: 7,640.

Source: National Park Service

Reality TV

It seems to NewMexiKen that this kind of thing is about what we have come to expect from tabloid news and the general coarsening of American pop culture. But C.W. Nevius thinks Nancy Grace has reached “a new depth of sleaze.”

Nancy Grace was in vintage form on her national talk show on CNN’s Headline News. Her guest was a soft-spoken 21-year-old mother named Melinda Duckett. Police in Florida suspect Duckett had something to do with the disappearance of her 2-year-old son, Trenton, on Aug. 27.

But Grace wasn’t satisfied with suspicion. She wanted to solve the case right there in front of a coast-to-coast television audience.

“Why are you not telling us where you were?” Grace demanded, pounding the table. “Miss Duckett, you are not telling us for a reason. What is the reason?”

As the woman stumbled over her words, trying to come up with answers, a small yellow text box appeared at the bottom of the screen: “SINCE SHOW TAPING,” it read, “BODY OF MELINDA DUCKETT FOUND AT GRANDPARENTS’ HOME.”

That’s right. Grace was interviewing a dead woman. Just hours before the taped interview aired last Friday, Duckett committed suicide at her grandparents’ house.

Given the circumstances, Grace’s grandstanding, badgering interview was bad enough. But the idea that her producers at CNN elected to go ahead and run the interview, even though they knew Duckett had killed herself, has veterans of television news shaking their heads.

Nevius has more.

In the Tetons, Claws for Concern

Tetons

A good article in The Washington Post, with a great photo slideshow. It begins:

There’s wildlife you don’t mind surprising in northwest Wyoming — like the family of elk my daughter and I stumbled upon on our otherwise deserted trail early one morning in Yellowstone National Park; we detoured, wide-eyed, around them.

Then there’s the other kind, and it’s this that has me worried as I eye the scat — hiker-speak for animal droppings — along our steep, 10-mile round-trip trudge to Surprise and Ampitheater lakes, some 9,700 feet above sea level.

When Laura and I decided to go hiking this summer in Grand Teton National Park, just south of Yellowstone, the iconic mountain landscape was only part of the lure. We also hoped to see large wild animals. When people talk here of moose jams and buffalo jams, they’re not referring to spreads for your breakfast toast but traffic bottlenecks caused by drivers stopping to ogle wildlife. Still, some creatures you’d be thrilled to see from the roadside you’d just as soon not startle on a mountain path.

Ursus arctos horribilis tops that list for me.

Follow the link, if only for the slideshow.

Here’s Leno

  • Actually when the baby was born Britney requested that the cord stay attached to make it easier to carry.
  • A 79 year old woman in Chicago was arrested for robbing a bank. She’s being extradited to Florida so she can be tried as a juvenile.