Tuesday, November 30, 2004

IU Basketball

I may get in the paper again tomorrow, with a comment about the Indiana basketball team. I said they would be better than last year, but not as good as next year. Here's the thing about the team: we are just now getting to the point where the last pieces of fallout from the Knight firing are manifesting. The seniors from this year - and make no mistake, it's a bad senior class - are the group that would have been recruited primarily after the firing, but before Coach Davis was given the job permanently. I don't think Adolph Rupp could have done much of a recruiting job under those circumstances. I'm hearing quite a bit of rumbling about how this might be Davis' last year, but I don't buy it. With the two Auburn transfers that will play next year, with a couple of good recruits, with maybe a couple of starting forwards taller than 6'3", I think the program might be able to get back on its feet.

Now, the Davis philosophy towards recruiting is a lot different than Knight's. We've moved from the real recruiting of student-athletes to going after the NBA talent that all the Kentuckys and Arizonas like to have. I really miss watching a smart kid with not much athleticism, like Jarrod Odle, going up against some bozo with no interest in anything but the NBA draft, like Joel Przybilla, and taking him to school. We won't see any more of that.

Well, we must move with the times. Indiana, our Indiana, Indiana, we're all for you!

Saturday, November 13, 2004

Letter to the Editor

I love it - after telling I-69 opponents not to vote for Libertarians, the newspaper - and I assume Kurt Van der Dussen again; I wish they would admit it! - now claims that every single opponent of the highway must have voted for them. Here's what I wrote to the editor in response:

After a long battle, it seems fairly clear that the issue of I-69 has resulted in a victory for big business interests over consumers, and the highway will be built. Those who continue to fight on must surely console themselves with the adage that the only cause worth fighting for is a lost one.

But the Herald-Times' position on this issue has moved beyond "supportive" to "obsessive" and maybe even as far as "flaky." Almost the only mention of the highway in the last month has been on the editorial page, first by telling highway opponents not to vote for a tiny third party, and later, bizarrely, by claiming that the tiny third party's tiny vote totals must have represented all the opponents. For my part, I suspect that many voters found the arguments in the first editorial compelling, although judging from the second the H-T must not have thought so.

Still, those who are against the highway can do nothing less than thank the Herald-Times for keeping the issue in the public eye. No cause is ever truly lost until it is no longer talked about.


There is a 200-word limit; this is about 190 words. I worked for a while trying to get in some points about the Libertarians, and how the number of people who were even aware of Gividen's anti-highway position was probably pretty small, but I decided to keep on message for this one. (I can write one letter per month, maybe next time!)


Friday, November 05, 2004

Oooh, new cell phones today

When our contract with Cingular ended we decided we wanted to switch; the reception isn't that great at our house with them and we really hope Verizon has some closer towers. We're upgrading our phones from ancient huge things, so pretty much anything we got would have been a big improvement; that's why I chose the free phone and the wife got the $20 model. She's spent all day entering numbers. I haven't played with mine yet, but I intend to upgrade when I get a chance. I want a WiFi phone. Working for a VOIP company I don't see much point in bothering to use anybody else's bandwidth if I don't have to, though. I'm thinking that if I can get a phone that is WiFi compliant, I can probably get it to run it off my home network. There aren't any available in the US as far as I can tell, but here's some possibilities, if they ever make it to market.

Tuesday, November 02, 2004

Election liveblog

9:40 PM, Indiana time. Polls here have been closed for nearly three hours, but the minute they closed Indiana was announced for President Bush, unsurprisingly. It's been known for weeks.

The most interesting thing I've heard so far was a report on CNN that the Kerry folks were very optimistic about Ohio. There certainly hasn't been any formal report - none of the networks would dare - but this informal report is the most exciting news I've heard so far. Current score is Bush 171, Kerry 112. Dan Rather says the "Election is humming along like Ray Charles." Hmm.

9:56. They've announced that Mitch Daniels has won out over Joe Kernan for governor. I don't know how much difference that will make, really. I'm willing to give Mitch his chance. I voted for Kenn Gividen, of course.

10:00. Switching over to Jim Lehrer's Newshour. I'm sorely tempted to switch off the TV; I think more information will be available on the radio. For some reason I went and looked at the radio station websites for results, without success, before going back to my favorite, www.heraldtimes.com, which had all the information.

10:40. Bush takes Missouri. He's now up 193-112. We're still waiting on the exciting states, though. No new news on Ohio, Pennsylvania, or Florida, and Michigan and Wisconsin are still in play as well.

Looks like a shift on the Monroe County Council. The three Democrats are up, and if they win the Dems will take control of the Council back. I have no real idea what that will mean for the county :)

10:55. www.cnn.com lists Pennsylvania going to Kerry. As I type this, Jim Lehrer also announces that, but the AP hasn't announced it yet. As I watch the election, I automatically add 55 votes to Kerry's score to represent California; if you do that Bush is still ahead 193-188. Yow, how long will I hold out tonight?

11:10. CNN now adds California officially to the Kerry side, and Idaho and Arizona for Bush. Bush 203-188. The Newshour analyst thinks Florida will go to Bush; if so it's very simple; whoever wins Ohio will win the election.

11:15. CBS shows the count as Bush 219-199. The "Bloody Ninth" is showing 49% each for Baron Hill and Mike Sodrel. I didn't realize that district was so much in play. I wonder if Baron Hill is regretting not answering the survey I blogged about before?

11:28. Hmm, CNN's "Crossfire" guys aren't too happy with Florida. Tucker Carlson: "I think we should give Florida to Puerto Rico." Paul Begala: "How on God's Earth do we not have absentee ballots counted in Florida?" (You would think that with all CNN's correspondents, they would be able to update their blog more often.) Newshour now shows Bush, 203-188.

11:42. ABC is willing to call Florida for Bush now. They were beat to it by several minutes by Instapundit. PBS announces Bush by four percentage points in Ohio, with 65% of the vote counted, and apparently people are STILL trying to vote in Ohio. VodkaPundit is practically calling the election over.

12:17. Cuyahoga County in Ohio seems like it could put Kerry over the top all by itself. PBS now reports Kerry taking or ahead in Minnesota, New Hampshire, and Michigan. CBS, the most daring of the networks, shows Bush ahead 246-207. Barack Obama is giving his victory speech now; I bet he'll be a good senator.

OK, that's all I can do. Off to bed...but I'll have the radio on for a while!

Monday, November 01, 2004

Vote Green Libertarian

I got quoted in the paper last week for suggesting that I would vote for Kenn Gividen (L) for governor of Indiana, "to make my preferences known". Not a brilliant quote, but I had a 50-word limit. An editorial appeared in the paper a day or two later, saying that, "The sight of "green-minded" I-69 opponents urging us to vote for Kenn Gividen because he opposes the highway makes some people stare in amazement." I've been wondering since then if this was a direct response to my comment. I've had a few letters printed in the paper concerning my opposition to the highway, and while the paper's editorials are officially not signed - does anyone find it odd that letters to the editor are required to be signed, but letters by the editor are anonymous? - I can guess that the comment was from Kurt Van der Dussen from the insulting tone and the condescension. Kurt has been writing pro-highway stories for as long as I can remember, and I'm sure he writes most of the pro-highway editorials as well. Of course, on my part there's no inconsistency; I've steadily voted Libertarian starting with Andre Marrou for president in 1992, and when I wrote my comment I hadn't even considered the happy coincidence that Mr. Gividen was the only candidate against the highway, so thanks to the anonymous editorial writer for pointing that out, and strengthening my commitment nicely. Vote Green, vote Libertarian. Vote for anyone who has principles you agree with and has the ability to get the job done. Vote.