Exurban League

We've moved

contactus@exurbanleague.com (Exurban League Contributors) — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:40:00 GMT

www.exurbanleague.com is the new site, and the new RSS feed is http://www.exurbanleague.com/Home/tabid/40/rssid/0/Default.aspx .

Saturday Movie Blogging - The Money Pit

kcreight@gmail.com (Kevin) — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 14:55:00 GMT

If you've ever done any home improvements at all, you'll sympathize with this movie.

Witness to devastation

kcreight@gmail.com (Kevin) — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 20:18:00 GMT

A first-hand account from Haiti from a Food for the Hungry staff member who lives in Port-Au-Prince:

"Life has stopped since 2 days I have no news for the FH Haiti staff except Odines to whom I have talked. Communication is impossible by phone and I am using friend internet provider to send that email. Leonel even we need help I am not sure it is wise to come now with your family.

If FH at global level is willing to provide help, relief and rescue we need is mainly : medical teams and supplies to care for wounded people traumatic specialized surgeon and or orthopedist, and nurses ( amputation will be probably the most required action at the moment help will arrived) psychologic support will be important as well ,food for the population living in the street and sleeping on the drive way on comforter and sheet mattresses , that what I am doing for 2 days with my family .

Dear Colleagues I do not see how nor when we can go back to work ... I personally have almost lost everything as furniture and clothing ,shoes ; however my laptop ( my working life was with me and is still safe ) School year is probably lost, because most schools are destroyed ... I do not know...."

Read the whole thing.

Quote of the Day, 01/14 Edition

kcreight@gmail.com (Kevin) — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 02:04:00 GMT

"The more I read, the more I think the only difference between this and an atomic bomb being dropped is the absence of radiation."

- Allahpundit on the Haiti earthquake

Please visit www.fh.org to help the people of Haiti

Crash Test Yummies

kcreight@gmail.com (Kevin) — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 22:58:00 GMT

Iron Chef America is an entertaining and creative cooking show hosted by The World's Most Geekiest Food Show Personality, and it's a worthy successor to the quirky, entertaining and creative original Iron Chef show.

And it's almost all fakery. But nevermind that, because as I said, it's entertaining and creative to see how the chefs respond to a secret ingredient of, say, pigs feet.

But there's "almost all fakery" and then there's "outright deception".

The produce used on the Food Network's Jan. 3 Iron Chef of America two-hour special White House show was billed as being from the White House garden. But the show did not disclose that "stunt double vegetables" were used and not produce from the First Family's garden.

Viewers were not explicitly told that the vegetables in "Kitchen Stadium" were not the ones they had seen the chefs harvest. Various participants in the show misled viewers with references to "using radishes from the White House garden" and other similar mentions. Except for the honey, no food on the show came from the White House.

Thinking about it, though, this isn't such a bad thing. We wouldn't want all the judges to come down with lead poisoning, would we?

Ok, all except Jeffrey Steingarten. I'll grant you that.

A prayer for Haiti.

inklingcd@yahoo.com (Jon) — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 19:45:00 GMT

It is hard to assess the devastation wrought by Haiti's 7.0-magnitude earthquake, but it appears to have reduced that nation's capital to rubble. Nearly all the hospitals are gone. The Presidential Palace and Parliament are gone. Police stations, hotels, churches... the entire civic infrastructure basically vanished in a matter of minutes.

The Phoenix-based Food for the Hungry already had staff in Port-au-Prince when the quake hit. Exurban League and our readers have supported the organization for a long time.

In addition to your prayers, if at all possible, give 'til it hurts, then keep giving until it starts feeling good again.

Thank you. And God bless Haiti.

Hidden Heroes

kcreight@gmail.com (Kevin) — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 17:30:00 GMT

The Phoenix Police Department's Vice Squad has been doing fantastic work these past few years fighting the very difficult and thankless job of ridding our community of child prostitution and human trafficking, and their success is being rewarded by having their budget cut.

Yeah, that doesn't make sense to me either.

If you've got a moment, why not sent an email to one of the following Phoenix city leaders and let them know you like living in a city that's doing it's best to fight child prostitution.

Mayor Phil Gordon - mayor.gordon@phoenix.gov

Thelda Williams - council.district.1@phoenix.gov

Peggy Neely - council.district.2@phoenix.gov

Bill Gates - council.district.3@phoenix.gov

Tom Simplot - council.district.4@phoenix.gov

Claude Mattox - council.district.5@phoenix.gov

Sal DiCiccio - council.district.6@phoenix.gov

Vice Mayor Michael Nowakowski - council.district.7@phoenix.gov

Michael Johnson - council.district.8@phoenix.gov

Thanks.

ExLg talks, Scott Brown listens.

inklingcd@yahoo.com (Jon) — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 17:00:00 GMT

Republican candidate Scott Brown is surging in his longshot bid to fill the Senate seat once held by Ted Kennedy. When Melissa Clouthier asked me about the race in yesterday's podcast here's what I said:

There's one thing that could be interesting to watch. It has been so thoroughly promoted that this is Ted Kennedy's seat, this is Ted Kennedy's vote – we need to vote for health care because Ted Kennedy would want it.

Well, no, it isn't Ted Kennedy's seat. It's the people of Massachusetts seat. It represents them.

It doesn't represent a legacy, it doesn't represent a family – even if many people in that misguided state love his legacy. Nevertheless, it is not to represent the Kennedy compound, it's to represent the entire state. I just wonder if there is going to be some kind of backlash to that.

Apparently Scott Brown agrees. Here was his "kill" line in last night's debate with Marsha Coakley (and liberal-leaning "moderator" David Gergen):

Adding to his great debate performance yesterday, Brown set a one-day fund-raising goal of $500,000. He raised more than a million.

Systemic Schlock

kcreight@gmail.com (Kevin) — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 15:05:00 GMT

Aside from lobbing some choice bon mot's at America's Toughest Media Hound (tm), we've tried not to wade into local politics because, well, they're not funny and quite frankly, rather petty.

But.

The Lighthouseblog has a rather thought-provoking piece contrasting the actions of Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon with the actions of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors. When one of his staffers was accused of misdemeanor domestic violence, the Mayor quickly put him on administrative leave until the case settles.

In contrast, when one of their number was accused of over 22 felony counts, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors promptly responded by...

... firing the Country Attorney who was pressing the charges.

To quote Scooby Doo, "Urrrh????"

Don Stapley, the Supervisor in question, may indeed be innocent of the charges, and Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas may be barking up the wrong tree, but firing him probably wasn't the best way to resolve the issue.

This sordid mess is just one in a long, long list of troubling issues within Maricopa County. From Sheriff Joe's excesses to a Board of Supervisors who answer only to themselves, the voters of Maricopa County need to take a long, hard look at how our local government is run and what can be done to bring some sanity back to the Valley of the Sun.

Quit when you're behind

kcreight@gmail.com (Kevin) — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 22:23:00 GMT

Who's sorry now, Harry?

In a statement to CNN, Reid said, "I deeply regret using such a poor choice of words." "I sincerely apologize for offending any and all Americans, especially African Americans for my improper comments. "I was a proud and enthusiastic supporter of Barack Obama during the campaign and have worked as hard as I can to advance President Obama's legislative agenda," the senator from Nevada said.

Senator Reid went on to say he should suffer no repercussions and that his remarks are not indicative of how he feels about minorities.

"Look at my staff," he said, "I have a black, a woman, two Jews and a cripple. And we have talent."

I may have made that last quote up.

Radio, Radio...

inklingcd@yahoo.com (Jon) — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 17:00:00 GMT

For the 77th episode of her popular "The Right Doctor" podcast, blogatrix Dr. Melissa Clouthier invited Red State blogger Leon Wolf and yours truly to discuss the issues of the day. Subjects include Massachusetts Senate candidate Scott Brown, Sen. Harry "Cracker" Reid, the Edwards' Family Values, and Sarah Palin and the Tea Party Movement.

Please do listen, won't you?

Saturday Movie Blogging - The Return of the King

kcreight@gmail.com (Kevin) — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 17:50:00 GMT

Ok, admit it. When you heard they were finally turning The Lord of the Rings, either you started humming "Frodo of the Nine Fingers" to yourself, or you thought "Gosh, that's nice, but they'll never do it justice and just who is this Peter Jackson guy anyways and what gives him the right to make this movie?"

Fortunately, you (and I) were wrong. The Lord Of The Rings turned out to be three of the best movies of the last ten years. Sweeping and epic and yet still personal, they are chock-full of what we want from a big Hollywood movie, even if they were made in New Zealand.

This clip satisfies my need for cavalry to be shown as it should be in a war movie as an overwhelming, terrify shock assualt that runs through unorganized infantry like a hot knife through butter. It'll do until my dream of a 1st-rate "Charge of the Light Brigade" movie (with extra bonus appearance of The Thin Red Line) ever makes it to the silver screen.

P.S. If you ever want to defend an undefendable position, give it to the Scots. Or the Canadians.

I've always been an early adopter

kcreight@gmail.com (Kevin) — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 22:02:00 GMT

Via here and here.

Friday Music Blogging - The King

kcreight@gmail.com (Kevin) — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 19:36:00 GMT

In the eternal struggle between Elvis and The Beatles, put me down as being firmly in the pro-Elvis faction.

Right man, right time, right place

kcreight@gmail.com (Kevin) — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 15:51:00 GMT

The mass shooting that DIDN'T happen, all because one man was ready, willing and able to do protect himself and others.

Screen pass

kcreight@gmail.com (Kevin) — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 14:16:00 GMT

An interesting (but utterly logical) wrinkle in the push to use full-body scanners for airport security: They're illegal to use on children in the U.K.

Privacy campaigners claim the images created by the machines are so graphic they amount to "virtual strip-searching" and have called for safeguards to protect the privacy of passengers involved.

Ministers now face having to exempt under 18s from the scans or face the delays of introducing new legislation to ensure airport security staff do not commit offences under child pornography laws.

What this means, then, is that Al Qaeda will wire up a child and send them on to an airplane, just like the Taliban did in Afghanistan.
More technology by itself isn't the way to fight terrorism: I'd rather we backup our tech with better screening procedures and a defense in depth, as a system that relies on a single point of failure will inevitably fail at that point.

Quote of the Day, 01/07 Edition

kcreight@gmail.com (Kevin) — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 01:46:00 GMT

"In the sequel, directed by Paul Verhoeven, the 'Star People' (dressed in leather trench coats and knee-boots, to the dulcet strains of Wagner) return to Pandora, drop tactical nukes from orbit as the ultimate in daisy-cutters, spray the 26th Century's equivalent of Agent Orange on the rest of the planet, and strip mine the place for every picogram of 'Unobtanium' ore they can get. In a fit of pique, Mother Pandora telepathically convinces the giant primary gas-giant to compress itself and ignite, thus wiping out all life on Pandora, including the hated 'Star People.'"

- Kevin Baker reviewing "Avatar"

Vroom and Boom

kcreight@gmail.com (Kevin) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 17:27:00 GMT

Why flash your headlights and honk when somebody's driving too slow, when you can fire a warning shot across their bow?

Bullet Box

kcreight@gmail.com (Kevin) — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 16:13:00 GMT

Buz Mills, NRA board member and owner of the Gunsite, one of (if not THE) finest firearms training facilities in world, is running for Governor of Arizona.

Interesting.

Let's see how this plays out. At best, he'll be the candidate who will tap into the Tea Party discontent and give Terry Goddard some real headaches. At worst, he's a one-issue candidate who'll be gone in the primaries with nothing to show for it other than a lot of money spent. If nothing else, he'll have the pro-Second Amendment vote wrapped up from Day One.

It's going to be an interesting primary season, that's for sure.

In it to win it

kcreight@gmail.com (Kevin) — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 14:57:00 GMT

Despite other candidates in other races dropping like flies, I am still on-track to win the GOP nomination for Arizona's 15th Congressional District.

As soon as we can figure out where it is.