Chicago Boyz

Lex is off to Maine. No blogging for a while. Now, y’all behave yourselves while I’m away.

Interesting article here with national security and freedom of speech implications. I agree with the statement “Why in the world have we been so stupid as a country to have all this information in the public domain?”, but I fail to see the net benefit from squelching this guy’s work, as it does not seem to be prohibitively difficult to reproduce. Even if it took a year of dedicated effort by a group with nefarious intentions, would these assets be adequately protected by then?

I should mention that I saw a truly fabulous set of shows at Fitzgerald’s on July 4th. They have a party on the 4th every year, called the American Music Festival, with a tent with a stage outside, and bands playing all day. It’s worth checking out if you live in the area.

I actually had to work the morning of the 4th, which was unfortunate. But I got home in the mid-afternoon and my wife talked me into going to Fitzgerald’s, with the kids, to see a western swing outfit called the Hot Club of Cowtown. These guys were excellent. Girl fiddle player plays in Bob Wills style, but with a hint maybe of Stefan Grapelli. They did an instrumental version of Faded Love, which is originally a Bob Wills song. They played it so well the crowd fell silent — it brought tears to your eyes. They asked for requests, and I was able to bribe my 8 year old to go up and ask for Bubbles in my Beer, which they played. They also did a nice one called “Silver Dew on the Blue Grass Tonight”.

Cowtown was followed by a zydeco-type outfit called Geno Delafose & French Rockin Boogie. I danced, sort of, with my two oldest daughters (4 and 6) to this stuff. I just sorta flung them around. They dug it. Let me state candidly that it is my considered opinion that zydeco, which really does all sound exactly the same, is nearly useless where the listener is sober. Starting at mildly buzzed and ascending on into the higher realms of inebriation, it becomes a valuable enhancement to the natural inclination to rhythmic bodily movement. So I derived what enjoyment was to be had from Monsieur Delafose and his colleagues.

As an aside, I will note that I drank bourbon and ginger ales throughout this extravaganza. I highly recommend this nutritious and flavorful drink. I suggest you get your friendly barkeep to give it to you in a large glass, in this case a plastic beer mug, with a lot of ginger ale so it is somewhat dilute. This method enhances the drink’s natural thirst-quenching qualities, while not getting you so blotto so fast that you are rendered useless as a caregiver to small children. (Please pass on any memorable experiences you may have with this delectable cocktail. The Summer is young.) (My Mom used to drink these. Maybe three of them a year. She insisted on Old Grand Dad and crushed ice. I had Makers Mark. And ice schmice — just go easy on the ice.)

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Dick Morris bewails the impact of Howard Dean:

In forcing the party left, Dean is picking up where Jesse Jackson left off, creating a gantlet of liberal litmus tests that a nominee must pass to win the nomination – locking him into positions that invite certain defeat in November. No candidate can win a presidential race advocating gay marriage and opposing the military action in Iraq.

In other words, Dean is not only going to cost the Donks 2004, he’s going to do long term damage. “[I]f somebody doesn’t stop Howard Dean, he and his ideas will be permanent plagues on the Democratic Party, forcing nominees to toe a line that so offends traditional values as to make its candidates unelectable.” Morris makes the case that Dean may well defeat Kerry in New Hampshire, or force him so far to the left to win that he is unelectable in the Fall.

Wow, I nearly swoon at the deligthful prospects thus opened up. Let us devoutly hope that Morris is correct.

Michael Barone, being Michael Barone, makes a more measured and scholarly case, but still sees strong potential for Dean to grab it all: “Core Democrats, the 20 to 25 percent of the electorate who hate Bush and ooze contempt for him, are flocking to the banner of former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, who last week had a big lead in the Internet poll run by MoveOn.org.” Barone notes that this “snob factor” will be a big deal in the primaries. If you don’t hate Bush, the core Donk voters won’t vote for you. I like it. Let the Donks clutch their imaginary superiority to their bosoms as they sink to the fathomless bottom of an icy and nightblack sea. Yes. Yes.