Friday Night

...was a blast. So much stuff happened that it's tough to remember it all. Mike does a great job of summing up events in this post. The day started off later than expected, since we were supposed to meet for breakfast at my favorite spot "Original Pancake House." But, Bob Hartry needed some extra time to finish a mix to uplink for a keyboard player in Detroit to do some overdubs. When we got to his studio, Bob was finishing the uplinks, so I showed Ryan Webster around the studio and we got to play a Gibson 335 that Bob purchased from Lyle Workman, which purportedly was used on Jellyfish's Spilt Milk, one of my favorite records of all time.

We headed up to Venice Beach to grab lunch at Mercede's Grille, a small restaurant near the beach that is a particular favorite of mine and Bob's. The Citrus Salmon was excellent, as was the margarita. Three of us got some Starbucks coffee (Mike doesn't drink coffee) to shake off the effects of the margaritas. We had a long night ahead of us.

We made our way up to Santa Monica, where the legendary True Tone music is located. It's a small- to medium-size shop full of guitars, basses, amps and pedals. I always tell Cherie that I hate shopping--well, that's a lie. Shopping for guitar gear is fun. I played a $10,000 1964 Fender Stratocaster (which Bob ended up putting on hold) through an old late-50s Fender amp, a Gretsch Jet Firebird, a couple of other obscure (but very cool) guitars, and a black 1978 Gibson Les Paul Custom. The Les Paul sounded great and, after much agonizing, I decided to buy it. It's a great guitar and I'm stoked that I bought it. It's the first big purchase toward replenishing the gear that was stolen from me a few months back.

True Tone was closing, so we walked down Santa Monica Boulevard to meet Glenn Pearce (guitarist extraordinaire, secret agent, and all around good guy) at an English Pub called Ye Old Kings Head. On the way, Bob saw some cool shoes he had to get and, since it was buy one get one half off, I bought some shoes, too. We got them to go in different bags, though.

After a pint with Pearcey and the boys, we headed up to the House of Blues on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood. Unfortunately, my temporary membership card wasn't available at the podium, as promised, so I had to wait behind Tom Green (who was on crutches due to an apparent foot injury) until it got cleared up. In case you're wondering, Tom did not rub his bum against me. Meanwhile, Steve called to say he and his best friend, Chris DeWitt, were coming up. They had been drinking so Steve's daughter (and Ryan's wife) Rissa was going to drive them up. We walk upstairs to the Foundation Room and this '70s cover band, AM/FM, are playing Jet by Wings and nailing it. We got seated for dinner and I had one of the best filet mignons I've ever had, and a great glass of Pinot Noir. Meanwhile, Pearce shows up with two more musician friends, Adam and Brandon, who run into Steve, Rissa and Chris outside and, before we know it, we have a party of 10.

Dinner ends and AM/FM kicks into Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen--a very ballsy move, which they pulled off reasonably well. The HOB was rockin'. Some people were coming in dressed in costume, others came in from the Cypress Hill show downstairs. It was a mix of rockers, partyers, gays, gangsters and regulars. Very fun. One of the artists in the opening act, F.I.L.T.H.E.E. Immigrants, tried to pick up on Rissa, but then found out that she was married to Ryan. So, as a sign of "respect," he pulled out a wad of $100s and started buying them drinks. Then, he invited Steve to come out to the balcony and smoke some weed with a bunch of his gangster friends. Steve abstained.

Most of us found our way to the private "Ganesh" room, where we were having drinks and laughing about who Adam and Brandon looked like (opinions ranged from Michael Clark Duncan to Billy Barty). Then an older guy named Nigel walked in with a couple of pretty girls from Mexico. He claimed to be the designer of most of the HOBs. He told us of his adventures in India getting the statues and showed us the oldest artifacts in the room--200-year-old prayer doors that were attached to the ceiling. Not long afterward came "last call" and that wrapped things up. After a long drive back to Bob's studio in Rancho Palos Verdes and Yorba Linda, I got to bed after 3 a.m.

An extremely long post, I know. But, it was a lot to pack in and I don't think I even got to all of it.

Nobody Walks In L.A.

Today Mike Harrison, Bob Hartry, Glenn Pearce and I are meeting up for lunch at the Mercedes Grill in Venice Beach, then heading over to Santa Monica to check out guitars/amps at True Tone Music. I'm in the market for a replacement of my 1967 FenderJazzmaster, which (among other things) was stolen a couple months ago. I also need to buy a few guitar pedals. We'll probably hang out at 3rd Street Promenade for a bit before taking off to Hollywood. There we will hit more guitar shops and end up at the House of Blues Foundation Room for a night cap and/or dinner. Some '70s cover band is playing upstairs this evening. Very fun!

NBA Season Set To Go

Mike and I went to the final preseason Laker game at the Honda Center (formerly the Arrowhead Pond) last night. It was a fun evening, even though the Lakers only showed up for the first quarter. I'm looking forward to the NBA season. This year the Lakers are expected to do slighly better than last season; however, most of their best players (including Kobe Bryant) are injured. So, more than likely they'll be off to a slow start. Well, there's always the Anaheim Ducks if the Lakers flounder out of the gate.

Oh, and...Go Cardinals!

An interesting read over at The Belmont Club that, among other things, discusses the basis for al-Qaeda's belief in the global battle between Islam and the West, and the potential pitfalls of solutions being advocated by some to terrorism.

Media Mea Culpa Day

It was the day that a host of BBC executives and star presenters admitted what critics have been telling them for years: the BBC is dominated by trendy, Left-leaning liberals who are biased against Christianity and in favour of multiculturalism.

A leaked account of an 'impartiality summit' called by BBC chairman Michael Grade, is certain to lead to a new row about the BBC and its reporting on key issues, especially concerning Muslims and the war on terror.

It reveals that executives would let the Bible be thrown into a dustbin on a TV comedy show, but not the Koran, and that they would broadcast an interview with Osama Bin Laden if given the opportunity. Further, it discloses that the BBC's 'diversity tsar', wants Muslim women newsreaders to be allowed to wear veils when on air.

At the secret meeting in London last month, which was hosted by veteran broadcaster Sue Lawley, BBC executives admitted the corporation is dominated by homosexuals and people from ethnic minorities, deliberately promotes multiculturalism, is anti-American, anti-countryside and more sensitive to the feelings of Muslims than Christians.

One veteran BBC executive said: 'There was widespread acknowledgement that we may have gone too far in the direction of political correctness.

Shocking. All this time I thought the BBC played it straight down the middle.

Seriously, I don't think there is any news organization on the planet that isn't biased in some fashion. That the vast majority of the major news outlets are on the left of the political spectrum is self evident. To be fair, the conservative-leaning Fox News's motto "Fair and Balanced" is also a misnomer (perhaps a more accurate motto would be "Fair and Balancing").

Not only is the BBC a purveyor of leftist bias, but it is also, on a grander scale, an example of what's wrong with socialist policy. The BBC is a monolithic monopoly financed through a "license fee" (i.e. taxation) that is imposed on every TV owner in Britain. It has no real competition and, therefore, nothing to challenge its narrow, strictly-enforced worldview (Auntie knows best). And if you don't pay up for the eight channels of BBC groupthink, "enforcement officers" will pay you a visit (calling Mr. Orwell!).

Americans, on the other hand, have multiple news sources from which to choose. These organizations must compete for viewers/readers in an environment where credibility is currency. Shoddy journalism is punished with declining subscriptions (New York Times, LA Times, etc.) and poor ratings (e.g. MSNBC). By and large, most media organs do a reasonably good job, particularly the ones without a political ax to grind. However, as I've chronicled here, here, here, here and here, too much of the mainstream media allow their political agendas to influence their reporting, headline selection, story "framing", and the stories they choose to report.

The New York Times provides a plethora of examples of politically-biased news reportage. Today, the Times's Public Editor, Byron Calame, admits bias in this mea culpa on the Times's reporting of the SWIFT program.

My July 2 column strongly supported The Times’s decision to publish its June 23 article on a once-secret banking-data surveillance program. After pondering for several months, I have decided I was off base. There were reasons to publish the controversial article, but they were slightly outweighed by two factors to which I gave too little emphasis. While it’s a close call now, as it was then, I don’t think the article should have been published.

Those two factors are really what bring me to this corrective commentary: the apparent legality of the program in the United States, and the absence of any evidence that anyone’s private data had actually been misused. I had mentioned both as being part of “the most substantial argument against running the story,” but that reference was relegated to the bottom of my column. . . .

I haven’t found any evidence in the intervening months that the surveillance program was illegal under United States laws. Although data-protection authorities in Europe have complained that the formerly secret program violated their rules on privacy, there have been no Times reports of legal action being taken. Data-protection rules are often stricter in Europe than in America, and have been a frequent source of friction.

Also, there still haven’t been any abuses of private data linked to the program.

Instapundit: So the New York Times damaged national security by tipping terrorists off to the existence and nature of a legal program that was not being abused. Remember that the next time they declare their own fitness to be trusted with national security decisions.

Calame's excuse for supporting the disclosure of the program:

What kept me from seeing these matters more clearly earlier in what admittedly was a close call? I fear I allowed the vicious criticism of The Times by the Bush administration to trigger my instinctive affinity for the underdog and enduring faith in a free press — two traits that I warned readers about in my first column.

John Hinderaker looked into the "vicious criticism" claim and found scant evidence of such, other than Bush expressing displeasure at the publication when he said,

"...[W]hat we did was fully authorized under the law. And the disclosure of this program is disgraceful. We're at war with a bunch of people who want to hurt the United States of America, and for people to leak that program, and for a newspaper to publish it, does great harm to the United States of America."

Hinderaker: This is what Byron Calame considers "vicious criticism of the Times"? That characterization is, frankly, absurd, especially since Calame now admits that what the administration said was true. If this is really Calame's idea of "vicious criticism," apparently he hasn't been reading his own paper's editorials on President Bush.

Me: The ombudsman of the most influential paper in the nation, which cues many local news outlets around the country, supported the publishing of national security secrets because he felt attacked by the Bush Administration. How pathetically juvenile. The editorial board of the New York Slimes can't supress their reflexive urge to embarass the Bush Administration long enough to consider the damage they are doing to the national security interests of the country. They may get a lot of people killed someday if they keep this up (God forbid).

AUSTIN BAY on North Korea: "The bitter irony of our times is the ability of dictators to threaten neighbors with their own collapse." (h/t Instapundit)

Captain's Quarters has some interesting commentary on the reaction of the Chinese to NoKo's beligerence.

Apparently, Kim Jong-Il's nuclear surprise last week didn't just upset the various democracies in the Pacific. The Australian reported yesterday that Beijing has begun to consider a move that would have outraged the world fifteen years ago, but which might get tacit support now that North Korea has gone nuclear:

THE Chinese are openly debating "regime change" in Pyongyang after last week's nuclear test by their confrontational neighbour.

That's potentially huge news, since China is the key player here. There's no question that any sanctions regime would be rendered totally ineffective if China fails to enforce activity along their border. It is apparent that their kooky friend, Kim Jung Mentally-Il, has finally gone too far and forced their hand. For as much as China wants to avoid a potential refugee crisis, I have a feeling that it is more important to their national interests to remove Japan's incentive to become a nuclear power.

A Blogging Milestone

I haven't posted for awhile because of the dread disease of busy-ness. However, I did want to celebrate the fact that my last post was my 500th since I began blogging in July 2005. Had I known ahead of time, I probably would have posted about something more substantive for my 500th.

In any event, blogging has been fun. It's a place to post my thoughts, discuss political, social and philosophical issues, and just make goofy posts about the trivial points in my life. It's enjoyable for me and, I hope, for those who read (all two of you). Thanks for checking in on my blog from time to time. I hope you find it interesting.

Lost Wages -- Not

The Vegas trip was lots of fun. The house we stayed at was big (nearly 5,000 SF) and really nice. It had a great pool and spa, which we spent lots of time in. The kids absolutely loved it. We spent Saturday afternoon at the Venetian, shopping and eating lunch. The wait for the food was outrageously long, but my salmon plate was phenomenal.

Saturday night I went back to the Venetian to play some poker. I put my name on the waiting list for no-limit Texas Hold 'em. It was very busy, so I had about an hour to kill . While waiting, I noticed a female professional poker player that I'd seen on TV, who was playing at one of the tables. Eventually, I saw a sign announcing a poker tournament that started that evening at 8:30 p.m. (it was about 9:30 p.m., so I missed the entry cut-off). That night they were taping the pilot episode of PPL, Professional Poker League--a new weekly tournament that will be televised from the Venetian. Reportedly, there were 64 of the world's best poker players in attendance that night, who were separated into 8 teams of 8 players each. I saw +/-20 of them (they wore shirts saying PPL) and recognized about half of them, including Daniel Negreanu, Todd Brunson and Scotty Nguyen. It was pretty interesting.

I ended up winning $535 that night, which paid for the weekend. It was a really fun trip.

Vegas Baby, Yeah!

I'm taking the family to Las Vegas (AKA Lost Wages) for the weekend. We're staying at a 5-bedroom house owned by Eddie's company. Eddie, Donna and the kids are going (obviously), as well as Mike and Dara Harrison, and Matt and Katie Pewthers and their infant. I'd like to do some gambling, but doubt that I'll have the chance. I'd LOVE to see LOVE, but expect that it will be sold out. So, it'll be family time, which will be great. Hopefully it's warm when we are there. The place has a pool, which is lots o' fun for the whole family (especially the kids).

It should be a great time!

Fearlessness

Arianna Huffington recently wrote a book entitled On Becoming Fearless, a pop-psychology tome that catalogues an array of stereotypical feminine fears, such as being deserted by men, fear of fat, wrinkles, etc. Huffington is admittedly an accomplished woman, but I think the book's title is a bit much.

If you are interested in seeing a woman displaying real fearlessness, watch this video of Wafa Sultan on Danish television discussing Islam and the cartoon jihad. Now that's courage.

Gagdad Bob discusses the folly of multiculturalism in this post.

They Found His "A", Eh?

Arguably one of the most famous statements in history, spoken by astronaut Neil Armstrong as he jumped from his spacecraft to the moon's surface, was thought to be flubbed...until now. According to Times Online:

“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” they heard him say as he dropped from the ladder of his spacecraft to make the first human footprint on the lunar surface.

But from the moment he said it, and for 37 years since, debate has raged over whether the Nasa astronaut might have fluffed his lines.

Now, after almost four decades, the spaceman has been vindicated. Using high-tech sound analysis techniques, an Australian computer expert has rediscovered the missing “a” in Mr Armstrong’s famous quote.

I'm glad for Armstrong. It must have sucked going through life believing that you misspoke the opening line of one of the most momentous occassions in modern history as 500 million people looked on. As the Times puts it, that's "one giant relief" for him.

Is There Blood On His Hands?

The Sunday Times makes the case against Kofi Annan:

Srebrenica is rarely mentioned nowadays in Annan’s offices on the 38th floor of the UN secretariat building in New York. He steps down in December after a decade as secretary-general. His retirement will be marked by plaudits. But behind the honorifics and the accolades lies a darker story: of incompetence, mismanagement and worse. Annan was the head of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) between March 1993 and December 1996. The Srebrenica massacre of up to 8,000 men and boys and the slaughter of 800,000 people in Rwanda happened on his watch. In Bosnia and Rwanda, UN officials directed peacekeepers to stand back from the killing, their concern apparently to guard the UN’s status as a neutral observer. This was a shock to those who believed the UN was there to help them.

Annan’s term has also been marked by scandal: from the sexual abuse of women and children in the Congo by UN peacekeepers to the greatest financial scam in history, the UN-administered oil-for-food programme. Arguably, a trial of the UN would be more apt than a leaving party.

The charge sheet would include guarding its own interests over those it supposedly protects; endemic opacity and lack of accountability; obstructing investigations, promoting the inept and marginalising the dedicated. Such accusations can be made against many organisations. But the UN is different. It has a moral mission.

It was founded by the allies in 1945 to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war” and “reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights”. Its key documents – the Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the genocide convention – are the most advanced formulation of human rights in history. And they have been flouted by UN member states for decades.

A more specific charge would be that, under the doctrine of command responsibility, the UN is guilty of war crimes. Broadly speaking, it has three principles: that a commander ordered atrocities to be carried out, that he failed to stop them, despite being able to, or failed to punish those responsible. The case rests on the second, that in Rwanda in 1994, in Srebrenica in 1995 and in Darfur since 2003, the UN knew war crimes were occurring or about to occur, but failed to stop them, despite having the means to do so.