A bit of...shall we say...black humor.
HT: Doug Ross
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Fish In A Barrel: Brad Sherman (D-CA) Claims To Know Nothing About The Black Panther Voter Intimidation Case
This is just too much fun. A senior, trusted member of the House Majority, smiling condescendingly at his poor constituents, claiming to know nothing about a major legal issue in the news, and the DOJ's decision to give the thugs a walk:
It's easy to conclude he's lying. But, really, he may not be lying.
He simply may be that stupid and out of touch.
The voters in the audience certainly are not...
It's easy to conclude he's lying. But, really, he may not be lying.
He simply may be that stupid and out of touch.
The voters in the audience certainly are not...
The Gulf Coast Mayors Get To Tell Their Story: Oil Spill Commission Testimony
Just completed, the mayors from the small towns along the coast tell their story. Both Democrats and Republicans, they tell of the frustrations of dealing with the oil spill damage, an inept federal government, a clueless BP, hordes of outside contractors descending upon their towns (with no ties to the community, and no accountability). They remained remarkably calm, but it is easy to see how strained they are by the experience.
They ran for office to administrate small-town life--roads, sewers, police,parking, etc. None of them signed up for man-made disaster duty--hurricanes they handle, but this is another order of magnitude.
This isn't about politics. It's about life. The people who successfully navigate this particular vale of tears, in both the public and private arenas, will have much to offer the culture in the future.
The link is here. On lunch break at this hour, testimony resumes this afternoon.
Blessedly, the commission itself is under much scrutiny, as its composition appears to be a left-wing environmental 'hit-squad', an extension of 'The Chicago Way'. The Senate appears to have closed the checkbook on their demands for more money. Slowly, the reality of Obama's war upon the Gulf Coast is sinking in, and the push-back may finally be underway.
This from the Washington Post:
Several blog entries written by commission members before their appointments called for banning or delaying offshore-drilling proposals. Their comments have drawn criticism from the oil industry and some local officials worried about economic hardships caused by shutdowns.
As president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, Frances G. Beinecke supported the Obama administration's moratorium on drilling in deep waters after the explosion and on May 27 blamed BP, inadequate government oversight and "America's addiction to oil" for the disaster. Beinecke halted her blog after joining the commission.
That type of commentary left industry analysts, including Robin West, leery. West, chairman of PFC Energy, said "people in the industry are quite prepared to get to the bottom of facts on what happened" and restore confidence in offshore operations. But, he said, "will the commission be objective and informed about a highly complex industry?"
Again, smell for the moral hazard. Who has a stake in success? who has a stake in failure, creating the opportunity for litigation, harvesting of wealth, and growth of the governmental vampire-squid?
Testing on the new cap begins today. Admiral Allen giving a briefing now. Everyone keep a good thought. If the engineering is well-done, the flow of oil may finally be greatly reduced.
If memory serves, this installation was not expected until the end of the month. If it works, this is hopeful news. Let's see if the federal government will allow it to succeed.
Keep a good thought.
They ran for office to administrate small-town life--roads, sewers, police,parking, etc. None of them signed up for man-made disaster duty--hurricanes they handle, but this is another order of magnitude.
This isn't about politics. It's about life. The people who successfully navigate this particular vale of tears, in both the public and private arenas, will have much to offer the culture in the future.
The link is here. On lunch break at this hour, testimony resumes this afternoon.
Blessedly, the commission itself is under much scrutiny, as its composition appears to be a left-wing environmental 'hit-squad', an extension of 'The Chicago Way'. The Senate appears to have closed the checkbook on their demands for more money. Slowly, the reality of Obama's war upon the Gulf Coast is sinking in, and the push-back may finally be underway.
This from the Washington Post:
Several blog entries written by commission members before their appointments called for banning or delaying offshore-drilling proposals. Their comments have drawn criticism from the oil industry and some local officials worried about economic hardships caused by shutdowns.
As president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, Frances G. Beinecke supported the Obama administration's moratorium on drilling in deep waters after the explosion and on May 27 blamed BP, inadequate government oversight and "America's addiction to oil" for the disaster. Beinecke halted her blog after joining the commission.
That type of commentary left industry analysts, including Robin West, leery. West, chairman of PFC Energy, said "people in the industry are quite prepared to get to the bottom of facts on what happened" and restore confidence in offshore operations. But, he said, "will the commission be objective and informed about a highly complex industry?"
Again, smell for the moral hazard. Who has a stake in success? who has a stake in failure, creating the opportunity for litigation, harvesting of wealth, and growth of the governmental vampire-squid?
Testing on the new cap begins today. Admiral Allen giving a briefing now. Everyone keep a good thought. If the engineering is well-done, the flow of oil may finally be greatly reduced.
If memory serves, this installation was not expected until the end of the month. If it works, this is hopeful news. Let's see if the federal government will allow it to succeed.
Keep a good thought.
Stuffing NASA's Bolden Down The Memory Hole: Robert Gibbs Says He Didn't Actually Say What He Said...
Robert Gibbs (aka ObamaBob) is our new Ron Nessen, the beleaguered press secretary for Richard Nixon. The poor man's job was to go out every day, and explain why today's lie was the truth, and that we should ignore yesterday's lie.
So, today Gibbs assures us that Bolden didn't actually say what he was clearly quoted as saying to Al Jazeera, and in other places as well. You know, the bit about The One telling him his first priority is to make Muslims feel good about themselves.
The laughter still hasn't subsided, so Gibbs has to 'splain it to us, that we should just forget what clearly happened, and stuff it down the Memory Hole.
Really, ya'll. He thinks we'll buy it, too!
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Monday that NASA Administrator Charles Bolden must have misspoken when he told Al Jazeera last month that one of his top priorities is to reach out to Muslim countries.
"That was not his task and that's not the task of NASA," Gibbs said.
Bolden, though, said last month in the interview that it was President Obama who gave him that task. He made a similar claim in February.
The White House also backed up Bolden last week when his remarks first stirred controversy. A White House spokesman last Tuesday said Obama wants NASA to engage with the world's best scientists and that to meet that challenge, NASA must "partner with countries around the world like Russia and Japan, as well as collaboration with Israel and with many Muslim-majority countries."
NASA last week walked back Bolden's claim that Muslim outreach was the "perhaps foremost" plank of his mission, saying that Bolden was merely talking about his "outreach" responsibilities and that space exploration is still NASA's No. 1 job.
But Gibbs on Monday appeared to deny that Bolden was asked to focus on Muslim outreach at all.
Riiiiiight...
So, today Gibbs assures us that Bolden didn't actually say what he was clearly quoted as saying to Al Jazeera, and in other places as well. You know, the bit about The One telling him his first priority is to make Muslims feel good about themselves.
The laughter still hasn't subsided, so Gibbs has to 'splain it to us, that we should just forget what clearly happened, and stuff it down the Memory Hole.
Really, ya'll. He thinks we'll buy it, too!
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Monday that NASA Administrator Charles Bolden must have misspoken when he told Al Jazeera last month that one of his top priorities is to reach out to Muslim countries.
"That was not his task and that's not the task of NASA," Gibbs said.
Bolden, though, said last month in the interview that it was President Obama who gave him that task. He made a similar claim in February.
The White House also backed up Bolden last week when his remarks first stirred controversy. A White House spokesman last Tuesday said Obama wants NASA to engage with the world's best scientists and that to meet that challenge, NASA must "partner with countries around the world like Russia and Japan, as well as collaboration with Israel and with many Muslim-majority countries."
NASA last week walked back Bolden's claim that Muslim outreach was the "perhaps foremost" plank of his mission, saying that Bolden was merely talking about his "outreach" responsibilities and that space exploration is still NASA's No. 1 job.
But Gibbs on Monday appeared to deny that Bolden was asked to focus on Muslim outreach at all.
Riiiiiight...
BP Lowers The Cap Over The Well, Testing To Begin
Fingers crossed, one and all.
From the BP website:
Release date: 12 July 2010
The three ram capping stack was installed on the Deep Water Horizon LMRP at 7 p.m. CDT. The stack completes the installation of the new sealing cap.
Following installation of the capping stack and in line with the procedure approved by the National Incident Commander and Unified Area Command, the well integrity test will begin July 13 on the MC252 well. For the duration of the test, which will be a minimum of 6 hours and could extend up to 48 hours, the three ram capping stack will be closed and all sub-sea containment systems (namely, the Q4000 and Helix Producer) will be temporarily suspended, effectively shutting in the well. It is expected, although cannot be assured, that no oil will be released to the ocean for the duration of the test. This will not however be an indication that flow from the wellbore has been permanently stopped.
Information gathered during the test will be reviewed with the relevant government agencies including the federal science team to determine the way forward. Options include reinstatement of containment as well as extending the test duration beyond 48 hours.
The sealing cap system never before has been deployed at these depths or under these conditions, and its efficiency and ability to contain the oil and gas cannot be assured.
Because the depths are so great, and well pressure is so high, a series of valves will be closed one at a time, to test the device's ability to capture the flow of the oil and gas. It may succeed totally, or partially, or not at all.
So, it remains to be seen if the Feds will allow the cap to work at, say 90% efficiency, or will insist on either 100% capture or a return to unimpeded pollution of the Gulf. Let us pray some reasonable heads prevail, and that ideologues don't snatch failure from the jaws of success.
Video supplied by ABC News:
From the BP website:
Release date: 12 July 2010
The three ram capping stack was installed on the Deep Water Horizon LMRP at 7 p.m. CDT. The stack completes the installation of the new sealing cap.
Following installation of the capping stack and in line with the procedure approved by the National Incident Commander and Unified Area Command, the well integrity test will begin July 13 on the MC252 well. For the duration of the test, which will be a minimum of 6 hours and could extend up to 48 hours, the three ram capping stack will be closed and all sub-sea containment systems (namely, the Q4000 and Helix Producer) will be temporarily suspended, effectively shutting in the well. It is expected, although cannot be assured, that no oil will be released to the ocean for the duration of the test. This will not however be an indication that flow from the wellbore has been permanently stopped.
Information gathered during the test will be reviewed with the relevant government agencies including the federal science team to determine the way forward. Options include reinstatement of containment as well as extending the test duration beyond 48 hours.
The sealing cap system never before has been deployed at these depths or under these conditions, and its efficiency and ability to contain the oil and gas cannot be assured.
Because the depths are so great, and well pressure is so high, a series of valves will be closed one at a time, to test the device's ability to capture the flow of the oil and gas. It may succeed totally, or partially, or not at all.
So, it remains to be seen if the Feds will allow the cap to work at, say 90% efficiency, or will insist on either 100% capture or a return to unimpeded pollution of the Gulf. Let us pray some reasonable heads prevail, and that ideologues don't snatch failure from the jaws of success.
Video supplied by ABC News:
Words From 1981: Reagan's First Inagural Address
OS has promised himself to not just sit and whine, and expect to be taken seriously. He really believes we have solutions to our present challenges, if we will embrace basic wisdom, and choose leaders who possess that wisdom.
So many now in early adulthood have no memory of Ronald Reagan. Their childhoods were spent in the shadow of the sleazy Clintons and inept Bushes, in a culture in love with money and itself. They don't understand, they can't. Just like OS can't understand life under FDR. He wasn't there.
OS does remember Reagan. After the parade of LBJ's grandiosity, Nixon's paranoia, Ford's good-hearted but doomed stewardship, and Carter's ineptitude, the country was in very bad shape. OS was trying to get a career underway in the throes of a gross recession. Times were hard. Hope was a bit in short supply. He had voted for Reagan, feeling his stomach clutch with fear as he pulled the lever.
Reagan understood, and spoke the needed words at the crucial time. Short, clear, unequivocal, wise, optimistic, visionary, and true; all guaranteed to make him the target of the vitriol of the Left.
Just a few phrases--do they not ring true today? Do you understand why so many search for another Reagan? Does the outpouring of admiration and throngs of crowds at his death now make more sense, after years of Clintons, Bushes, and now Obama?
The business of our nation goes forward.
These United States are confronted with an economic affliction of great proportions. We suffer from the longest and one of the worst sustained inflations in our national history. It distorts our economic decisions, penalizes thrift, and crushes the struggling young and the fixed-income elderly alike. It threatens to shatter the lives of millions of our people. Idle industries have cast workers into unemployment, human misery and personal indignity.
Those who do work are denied a fair return for their labor by a tax system which penalizes successful achievement and keeps us from maintaining full productivity. But great as our tax burden is, it has not kept pace with public spending. For decades we have piled deficit upon deficit, mortgaging our future and our children’s future for the temporary convenience of the present. To continue this long trend is to guarantee tremendous social, cultural, political, and economic upheavals.
You and I, as individuals, can, by borrowing, live beyond our means, but for only a limited period of time. Why then should we think that collectively, as a nation, we are not bound by that same limitation?
We must act today in order to preserve tomorrow. And let there be no misunderstanding -- we’re going to begin to act beginning today. The economic ills we suffer have come upon us over several decades. They will not go away in days, weeks, or months, but they will go away. They will go away because we as Americans have the capacity now, as we have had in the past, to do whatever needs to be done to preserve this last and greatest bastion of freedom.
In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. From time to time we’ve been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. But if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else?
And, later:
We are a nation that has a government -- not the other way around. And this makes us special among the nations of the earth. Our Government has no power except that granted it by the people. It is time to check and reverse the growth of government which shows signs of having grown beyond the consent of the governed.
It is my intention to curb the size and influence of the Federal establishment and to demand recognition of the distinction between the powers granted to the Federal Government and those reserved to the states or to the people.
All of us -- all of us need to be reminded that the Federal Government did not create the states; the states created the Federal Government.
So, here we are again, with the lessons of Reagan forgotten, wondering why we arrived at this mess.
OS hopes some young moms and dads, born too late to remember The Gipper, will take the time to learn of him, and tell their children.
So many now in early adulthood have no memory of Ronald Reagan. Their childhoods were spent in the shadow of the sleazy Clintons and inept Bushes, in a culture in love with money and itself. They don't understand, they can't. Just like OS can't understand life under FDR. He wasn't there.
OS does remember Reagan. After the parade of LBJ's grandiosity, Nixon's paranoia, Ford's good-hearted but doomed stewardship, and Carter's ineptitude, the country was in very bad shape. OS was trying to get a career underway in the throes of a gross recession. Times were hard. Hope was a bit in short supply. He had voted for Reagan, feeling his stomach clutch with fear as he pulled the lever.
Reagan understood, and spoke the needed words at the crucial time. Short, clear, unequivocal, wise, optimistic, visionary, and true; all guaranteed to make him the target of the vitriol of the Left.
Just a few phrases--do they not ring true today? Do you understand why so many search for another Reagan? Does the outpouring of admiration and throngs of crowds at his death now make more sense, after years of Clintons, Bushes, and now Obama?
The business of our nation goes forward.
These United States are confronted with an economic affliction of great proportions. We suffer from the longest and one of the worst sustained inflations in our national history. It distorts our economic decisions, penalizes thrift, and crushes the struggling young and the fixed-income elderly alike. It threatens to shatter the lives of millions of our people. Idle industries have cast workers into unemployment, human misery and personal indignity.
Those who do work are denied a fair return for their labor by a tax system which penalizes successful achievement and keeps us from maintaining full productivity. But great as our tax burden is, it has not kept pace with public spending. For decades we have piled deficit upon deficit, mortgaging our future and our children’s future for the temporary convenience of the present. To continue this long trend is to guarantee tremendous social, cultural, political, and economic upheavals.
You and I, as individuals, can, by borrowing, live beyond our means, but for only a limited period of time. Why then should we think that collectively, as a nation, we are not bound by that same limitation?
We must act today in order to preserve tomorrow. And let there be no misunderstanding -- we’re going to begin to act beginning today. The economic ills we suffer have come upon us over several decades. They will not go away in days, weeks, or months, but they will go away. They will go away because we as Americans have the capacity now, as we have had in the past, to do whatever needs to be done to preserve this last and greatest bastion of freedom.
In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. From time to time we’ve been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. But if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else?
And, later:
We are a nation that has a government -- not the other way around. And this makes us special among the nations of the earth. Our Government has no power except that granted it by the people. It is time to check and reverse the growth of government which shows signs of having grown beyond the consent of the governed.
It is my intention to curb the size and influence of the Federal establishment and to demand recognition of the distinction between the powers granted to the Federal Government and those reserved to the states or to the people.
All of us -- all of us need to be reminded that the Federal Government did not create the states; the states created the Federal Government.
So, here we are again, with the lessons of Reagan forgotten, wondering why we arrived at this mess.
OS hopes some young moms and dads, born too late to remember The Gipper, will take the time to learn of him, and tell their children.
Ineptitude. Incompetence. Inattention: The Obama Administration vs. The Oil Spill
Anybody notice that the Gulf oil spill seems to have taken back burner in the media and at the White House?
The Heritage Foundation noticed, and sent its own team to report on progress, or lack thereof.
They met a universal response of disgust with the behaviour of the federal government, beginning with the ban on oil exploration, twice struck down by the courts, and reimposed again today. The rigs are picking up and moving away, perhaps never to return. An entire industry knee-capped, businesses ruined, careers lost.
In other words, just what Obama intends. Never let a crisis go to waste, ya'll.
In the meantime, the New Orleans Times-Picayune just released a photo showing the new cap installed by BP, now beginning testing.
Did BP and its contractors create this mess? Yep. And, they are working to fix it. For all their many failings, amply discussed already, they have a huge stake in successfully capping the well, cleaning up the mess, and restoring credibility with the Gulf Coast. The existence of the firm is on the line, and potential criminal liability for many executives, if they fail.
Has the federal government worsened the damage? Definitely. And they are working to spread the pain far and wide. They have a stake in failure, as it creates chaos, and the opportunity to expand power. They need the crisis, and thus exacerbate it.
When all else fails, check for moral hazard. Insurance agents do. So should we.
In the meantime, a chart of the oil spill based on yesterday's overflights, provided by BP.
The Heritage Foundation noticed, and sent its own team to report on progress, or lack thereof.
They met a universal response of disgust with the behaviour of the federal government, beginning with the ban on oil exploration, twice struck down by the courts, and reimposed again today. The rigs are picking up and moving away, perhaps never to return. An entire industry knee-capped, businesses ruined, careers lost.
In other words, just what Obama intends. Never let a crisis go to waste, ya'll.
In the meantime, the New Orleans Times-Picayune just released a photo showing the new cap installed by BP, now beginning testing.
Did BP and its contractors create this mess? Yep. And, they are working to fix it. For all their many failings, amply discussed already, they have a huge stake in successfully capping the well, cleaning up the mess, and restoring credibility with the Gulf Coast. The existence of the firm is on the line, and potential criminal liability for many executives, if they fail.
Has the federal government worsened the damage? Definitely. And they are working to spread the pain far and wide. They have a stake in failure, as it creates chaos, and the opportunity to expand power. They need the crisis, and thus exacerbate it.
When all else fails, check for moral hazard. Insurance agents do. So should we.
In the meantime, a chart of the oil spill based on yesterday's overflights, provided by BP.
Monday, July 12, 2010
To My 'Extra Daughter', On Her Wedding Day
Who-cooda-node, suspected, foretold
What a decade would do to transform you.
It makes me feel old, respected, and bold
to speak frankly while marriage is new.
Ten years is a third of your earthly tenure,
It takes nerve to stay single til thirty;
While siblings and friends are all settled in, you're
postponing the time to be flirty.
(talk about forced rhyme!)
The day did arrive, that magical day
When diploma and cheers did reward you.
The goal was achieved, none stood in the way
of the walk down the aisle, 'xept a groom!
(arrgh! that one hurt!)
Ambitious girl, you conquered your world,
With pluck and high spirits you 'showed it'
With heart undemurred, you declared undeterred:
'Mr. Right's out there, I just know it!'
And so, today, I had the great pleasure
To see you sail down center aisle;
A moment in time, forever to treasure:
Your dress, your veil, your smile.
And, he is 'Mr. Right', in spite of my rants
'bout 'Old Whats-Hiz-Name, I seem to forget'.
So ignore my poor grumbles, get on with the dance
Of love, 'cuz you ain't seen nothin' yet.
*******
And, on a more sober note:
I'm so incredibly proud of you, and of Mrs. OS as well. I was dubious of your prospects, and Mrs. OS just hung in with you, taking you from where you were to where she thought you could be--and you're still on that journey. It's been amazing to watch you make fifteen years of progress in ten, get an education, build a business, and not succumb to almost overwhelming social pressure to give up and settle for less.
I have to sound the obligatory cautionary note. It's my job:
Failure is a possibility. That's why love and marriage are risky. I arrived home tonight, and amongst my emails is one from a friend in another corner of the world, detailing the dark and absurd journey through his divorce. Quite a contrast from yesterday's celebrations. Having once participated in the failure of a marriage, I hope you never even come within a mile of that tragedy. But, failure is a possibility. Life is weird and unpredictable.
So, continue to show the pluck, courage, good cheer and kind heart that led you to yesterday. If 'Old Whats-Hiz-Name' does likewise, and I think he will, you're in for some happy times.
Enjoy the honeymoon. See you in two weeks.
OS
What a decade would do to transform you.
It makes me feel old, respected, and bold
to speak frankly while marriage is new.
Ten years is a third of your earthly tenure,
It takes nerve to stay single til thirty;
While siblings and friends are all settled in, you're
postponing the time to be flirty.
(talk about forced rhyme!)
The day did arrive, that magical day
When diploma and cheers did reward you.
The goal was achieved, none stood in the way
of the walk down the aisle, 'xept a groom!
(arrgh! that one hurt!)
Ambitious girl, you conquered your world,
With pluck and high spirits you 'showed it'
With heart undemurred, you declared undeterred:
'Mr. Right's out there, I just know it!'
And so, today, I had the great pleasure
To see you sail down center aisle;
A moment in time, forever to treasure:
Your dress, your veil, your smile.
And, he is 'Mr. Right', in spite of my rants
'bout 'Old Whats-Hiz-Name, I seem to forget'.
So ignore my poor grumbles, get on with the dance
Of love, 'cuz you ain't seen nothin' yet.
*******
And, on a more sober note:
I'm so incredibly proud of you, and of Mrs. OS as well. I was dubious of your prospects, and Mrs. OS just hung in with you, taking you from where you were to where she thought you could be--and you're still on that journey. It's been amazing to watch you make fifteen years of progress in ten, get an education, build a business, and not succumb to almost overwhelming social pressure to give up and settle for less.
I have to sound the obligatory cautionary note. It's my job:
Failure is a possibility. That's why love and marriage are risky. I arrived home tonight, and amongst my emails is one from a friend in another corner of the world, detailing the dark and absurd journey through his divorce. Quite a contrast from yesterday's celebrations. Having once participated in the failure of a marriage, I hope you never even come within a mile of that tragedy. But, failure is a possibility. Life is weird and unpredictable.
So, continue to show the pluck, courage, good cheer and kind heart that led you to yesterday. If 'Old Whats-Hiz-Name' does likewise, and I think he will, you're in for some happy times.
Enjoy the honeymoon. See you in two weeks.
OS
Home Again, Sunday Evening: Road Trip To Indianapolis
As always, so very glad to be home, in the OldSouth ComfyChair, the dogs happily dozing at our feet, a summer thunderstorm blowing through as so often happens this time of the year in the South.
Indianapolis is not unfamiliar to OS, at least goodly parts of it. This trip was for a wedding of a dear friend (more about that in another post).
Downtown was impressive, not a doubt about it. Goods and services, hotels, shopping, restaurants, excellent. And, there seemed to be a lively amount of activity, considering these are hot midsummer days. Downtown hotel was lovely (the staff was equally lovely) but irritatingly insisted on the 'nickel-and-dime-the-guest' approach, $32 per night to park, charging for internet service in rooms, over-priced restaurants, eye-wateringly over-priced bar. The bar remained a ghost town for the duration of our stay. OS broke down and treated himself to a congratulatory Jack Daniels on the rocks after the wedding, but only one, since that one set him back more than he is willing to admit in print. Puhleeze!
A few blocks from downtown was impressive as well, differently. A number of blocks with most of the businesses boarded up. Apartments with plenty of vacancies, and 'for sale' signs blooming in the front yards of the houses. A few houses boarded up as well. It's as if someone let the air out of once-great neighborhoods. Most of the structures are solid, brick-and-mortar pre-1930 creations, built to last, but no one seems to have an idea of what to do with them, or is willing to incur any risk in that location. A few blocks further out, conditions improve again. Hard to pinpoint why this seems to have happened, just that there is a swath of the city that just seems to have rolled over and died. OS suspects that the culture of drug use and the chaos and despair it creates has much to do with this. Again, it's that 'culture thang'...the economic malaise is symptomatic of the cultural unwinding.
The trip home also had its contrasts. A visit to the outlet mall in Edinburgh, IN was surprising. Shoppers were out in force, and they were buying, not aggressively as in years past, but they were spending money on deeply-discounted brand-name merch.
Coldwater Creek's store was brimming with inventory, all 40% off, and a further discount at the register because Mrs. OS is a regular online customer. It was almost embarrassing to carry off that much stuff for that small a cash outlay. Other stores with banners of up to 70% off, etc. Every store space was occupied, however. A few miles down the road, at the next outlet mall, it looked like half the space was empty. OS has no explanation...
Late lunch in Jeffersonville, across the river from Louisville. A little 1890's town that went through serious decline, and now seems on the way back up on an aggressive trajectory. Physically, about the same distance from Louisville as the ruined parts of Indy, and much the same architectural styles. Yet, it seems to thrive. No smell of despair here, clean streets, occupied retail, etc., a sense of itself. That culture thang....
There are real signs of life out there, along with evidence of doldrums. It will be a long crawl back for this part of the country, even if everything goes right for the next five years or so. The good news is that Midwesterners are a hardy, industrious breed, and tend to be pragmatic.
Indianapolis is not unfamiliar to OS, at least goodly parts of it. This trip was for a wedding of a dear friend (more about that in another post).
Downtown was impressive, not a doubt about it. Goods and services, hotels, shopping, restaurants, excellent. And, there seemed to be a lively amount of activity, considering these are hot midsummer days. Downtown hotel was lovely (the staff was equally lovely) but irritatingly insisted on the 'nickel-and-dime-the-guest' approach, $32 per night to park, charging for internet service in rooms, over-priced restaurants, eye-wateringly over-priced bar. The bar remained a ghost town for the duration of our stay. OS broke down and treated himself to a congratulatory Jack Daniels on the rocks after the wedding, but only one, since that one set him back more than he is willing to admit in print. Puhleeze!
A few blocks from downtown was impressive as well, differently. A number of blocks with most of the businesses boarded up. Apartments with plenty of vacancies, and 'for sale' signs blooming in the front yards of the houses. A few houses boarded up as well. It's as if someone let the air out of once-great neighborhoods. Most of the structures are solid, brick-and-mortar pre-1930 creations, built to last, but no one seems to have an idea of what to do with them, or is willing to incur any risk in that location. A few blocks further out, conditions improve again. Hard to pinpoint why this seems to have happened, just that there is a swath of the city that just seems to have rolled over and died. OS suspects that the culture of drug use and the chaos and despair it creates has much to do with this. Again, it's that 'culture thang'...the economic malaise is symptomatic of the cultural unwinding.
The trip home also had its contrasts. A visit to the outlet mall in Edinburgh, IN was surprising. Shoppers were out in force, and they were buying, not aggressively as in years past, but they were spending money on deeply-discounted brand-name merch.
Coldwater Creek's store was brimming with inventory, all 40% off, and a further discount at the register because Mrs. OS is a regular online customer. It was almost embarrassing to carry off that much stuff for that small a cash outlay. Other stores with banners of up to 70% off, etc. Every store space was occupied, however. A few miles down the road, at the next outlet mall, it looked like half the space was empty. OS has no explanation...
Late lunch in Jeffersonville, across the river from Louisville. A little 1890's town that went through serious decline, and now seems on the way back up on an aggressive trajectory. Physically, about the same distance from Louisville as the ruined parts of Indy, and much the same architectural styles. Yet, it seems to thrive. No smell of despair here, clean streets, occupied retail, etc., a sense of itself. That culture thang....
There are real signs of life out there, along with evidence of doldrums. It will be a long crawl back for this part of the country, even if everything goes right for the next five years or so. The good news is that Midwesterners are a hardy, industrious breed, and tend to be pragmatic.
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