For the purpose of my own entertainment and self-mythologizing, I will now tell my personal history of flip-flop wearing.

The most wonderfully comfortable pair of flip flops I ever owned was actually a $1.99 pair from Walgreens. Back in the summer of 2001, I had bought two pairs from Old Navy and hated them because they were so thin they gave me shin splints. I was in Walgreens and saw that they had a somewhat thick-soled pair of flip flops so I bought them. They turned out to be amazingly comfortable and I stuck with them.

Ex-girlfriend Jackie and I were walking along the promenade in Santa Monica in October of 2001 when I started to take a step. As I lifted my foot, she accidentally stepped on the sole of my flip-flop beneath my foot, and as I continued to raise my foot, I tore the straps right out of the sandal. They were RUINED.

Unfortunately, since we were on the Santa Monica promenade, there was no cheap place to buy flip-flops. I had become quite addicted to having my feet open to the elements, so my only option was to buy some expensive sandals. This was my introduction to Birkenstocks. I bought a pair and eventually grew to like them quite a bit. For the next four years, I would wear only Birkenstocks.

In March of 2005, the city of Lincoln attempted to assemble the property between 17th and 18th streets and P and Q for the purposes of building a new hotel for John Q Hammons. Several business resisted the move, and the issue of whether or not the city would use eminent domain became a hot debate topic. I watched the hours and hours of testimony at the city council meeting, and I specifically recalled the owner of the sandals store on Q Street testifying in favor of using eminent domain to displace one business for another private business’ benefit. Although I had bought my previous replacement pair of Birkenstocks there two years before, at that moment, I declared I would not purchase my next pair from that store.

Sara and I were in San Diego a few weeks later. We were wandering through Nordstrom’s and she tried on a pair of Reef flip-flops. She was immediately in love with them and wouldn’t stop talking about how comfortable they were. Before we left the store, she convinced me to go try on a pair and if I liked them, she would buy them for me because they were just that awesome, so I did. I thought she was just a little crazy to speak so highly of a pair of flip-flops, but as soon as I put them on, I felt it too.

1. If you’re going to criticize Bob Kerrey, Chuck Hagel or Scott Kleeb for being “carpetbaggers” or “non-Nebraskans,” please do Jeff Fortenberry the honor of remembering how he spent most of his life in Louisiana before making a pitstop in Lincoln on his way to Washington.

And while I’m on the topic of Chuck Hagel, if you’re going to criticize Hagel for supposedly ignoring the job he was elected to do while only focusing on higher office, please remember that when you’re supporting Jon Bruning, who seems far more interested in publicly criticizing Chuck Hagel in his quest to become Senator than serving as Attorney General.

2. If you’re going to criticize Hilary Clinton, Barack Obama or Nancy Pelosi for daring to speak out on the war when they have no history in the military, please listen to the veterans who share their feelings rather than dismissing every veteran who you disagree with as a traitor or an attention hound. You either respect military service when assessing an opinion or you don’t. If you’re just using it as an excuse to dismiss someone you can’t compete with on an intellectual level, be prepared to lie in the bed you’ve made.

3. If you’re a Christian who wants to discriminate against gays, you are NOT suffering the same amount of discrimination from those who would call you bigots. You are not prohibited from marrying the one you love. You are not subject to termination at your job just because of who you are. Nobody is advocating that you lose any rights because they disapprove of your bigotry.

I have recently become a little less fond of our new home due to three sightings of garter snakes in the past few days. I am so super afraid of snakes that even though I know garter snakes are harmless and an important part of the ecosystem, I still don’t want them around. I’d be totally fine with them if they hung out and lived here and I never saw them, but I know that’s not going to happen – especially if I’m seeing them so frequently (I’m guessing that means there are hundreds under the porch).

So I was reading up on them, seeing how we could cut down on the garter snake population naturally (as opposed to going on some killing / poisoning spree). And while I was reading about them, I learned this bit of information (from wikipedia):

…sometimes male garter snakes produce both male and female pheromones. During mating season, this fact fools other males into attempting to mate with these “pseudo-females”. It is often these males, with the female pheromone genetic variation, that are among the first to mate. By expressing the male pheromone, they still attract females. But, the expression of the female pheromone leads to fruitless mating attempts by other males.

Look at that. Homosexual behaviors in nature!

Due to a recent cartoon of mine and ensuing letters to the editor, the claims about homosexuality’s existence as an innate trait or a choice have been center stage in the debate about whether or not to grant homosexuals protected class status along with race, color, national origin, religion, disability, sex, or because they have children.

While I personally don’t care if it’s a choice or not, and I’m fully aware that both sides will be able to find a scientist to argue their cause, for some people the idea that it’s a choice means everything to them. Apparently, if it’s a choice, it’s somehow not worthy of protecting.

This is amusing to me because very often, those who would argue against protected class status do so from a religious perspective. It seems this “choice”-based nullification would apply to religion too, wouldn’t it? I don’t know of many people who were born with a religion. Sure, some people’s parents are more heavy-handed about passing down the faith than others, but still, it’s not like there’s a Missouri Synod Lutheran gene.

So homosexuality exists in nature and we already offer protected class status for “lifestyle choices.” Both bases are covered. Why is this still a problem?

According to the liveleak blurb, this is an “…animated sequence portraying a firefight through the eyes of U.S. Army Specialist Colby Buzzell.” Beyond the story, which is pretty compelling, the animation is absolutely stunning. Two-dimensional drawings are combined with brilliant three-dimensional direction utilizing dust and firebursts to make it come to life.

There’s some strong language and violence, but I think all the swearing is bleeped.

Former DN cartoonist Jim Mehsling is in the news and it has nothing to do with football players or police! I saw in Saturday’s Journal Star that Mehsling has a Star Wars animation that’s a finalist in an atomfilms.com competition.

I never knew the guy, as he preceded me by several years at the DN, but I heard a lot about him and I always liked his cartoons when I was a freshman and sophomore, before I even considered getting in on the gig. Here’s his acclaimed animation, and he has several more at atomfilms.com. I just searched for “Mehsling.”

Related links:
his website
his blog

I hope the man upstairs is proud of his bigoted little followers who shot down LB475, which would grant homosexuals protected status from hiring discrimination.

Sure, they’ll make up lies and play naive on the stand, but then talk about how they don’t want to encourage immoral behavior. The committee heard first-hand testimony about being fired for being gay, yet folks like Senator Erdman claim there’s no discrimination against homosexuals.

Senator Fulton used a study from 15 years ago which showed that, nationwide, homosexual households have a higher average income than households of blacks or Mexicans with 3 years of high school education. Nevermind that the study was 15 years old, was nationwide, and had no clarification of the education of homosexuals – using this as evidence against a discrimination ban is saying “If some gay people make a lot of money, that makes it okay to discriminate against others.”

I’m curious – what is the threshold for income that entitles you to be discriminated against?

Then there is all the nonsense about saying “I’m not bigoted, but I’ll compare homosexuality to bestiality, pedophilia, and other crimes. I’ll compare a gay man’s lover to an abused animal. But I totally respect gays.”

Say you aren’t bigots all you want. Actions speak louder than words.

When 106.9 Bob FM switched to Power 106.9, Omaha got its first “big city” radio station.

It’s more than just a hip-hop station – it is very intelligently programmed, and when you listen to the station, you feel like “This was programmed by someone who knows and loves the music and is making decisions accordingly,” rather than “This was programmed by someone who knows what the trade publications are saying this format should be like, so the decisions are made to prevent being the latest casualty in the radio business.”

I don’t really even like hip-hop, but listening to this station reminds me of listening to KRNU or watching the early days of M2. There just seems to be a layer of depth to what goes on the station to where, even if you don’t necessarily like what’s on the surface, there’s a bigger picture happening with each song selection and that comes through in the listening experience.

One of the greatest things on the station is their power lunch – an hour of live-mixed old-school requests. Today’s set included seamless segues from “Informer” by Snow to “Method Man” by Wu-Tang Clan to “Baby I Got Your Money” by Ol Dirty Bastard to a Slick Rick song (can’t remember the name) to “This is How We Do It” by Montell Jordan.

Listen to this station. It blows away all the timid, tentative conservative programming on every other commercial station in the state.

More at Hightowerdownload.com.

Hey you know CBS – that one network that EVERYONE can agree is SUPER LIBERAL because they used to have that Dan Rather guy and they have 60 Minutes?

Well, at CBS, you can get fired as a ‘News consultant’ for speaking out against the surge because that violates their policy on “expressing a public opinion that is coming from an advocacy point of view…You are not allowed to take a public position on an issue.”

But don’t you worry, if you’re publicly supporting the surge, you’re safe.

And the AP reports that Ann Coulter has been cleared of wrongdoing in her voter fraud investigation in Florida, without bothering to mention that the FBI interfered to stop the investigation and that the FBI agent who intervened – thus prompting an internal investigation at the FBI – is Coulter’s ex-boyfriend.

This was probably the best concert I’ve ever been to, and so much better than when I saw him in London in ’97. I just think that’s so cool – seeing Morrissey in Omaha was way better than seeing him in London. I should be on an Omaha commercial. But that show 10 years ago was almost spiteful toward the audience – a very short setlist, and the only Smiths song was the very telling “Paint A Vulgar Picture.” But tonight’s show was about as far from that as possible. Morrissey seemed to be having a blast.

here’s the setlist by my notes:
1. The Queen is Dead
2. First of the Gang to Die
3. The Youngest Was the Most Loved
4. You Have Killed Me
5. Disappointed
6. Panic
7. Let Me Kiss You
8. I Just Want to See the Boy Happy
9. I Will See You in Far Off Places
10. I’ve Changed My Plea to Guilty
11. National Front Disco
12. The Boy with the Thorn in His Side
13. Irish Blood, English Heart
14. All You Need is Me (new song)
15. At Last I Am Born
16. In the Future When All’s Well
17. Ganglord
18. Life is a Pigsty
19. How Soon is Now?
20. Every Day is Like Sunday

encore:
21. Drive-In Saturday (Bowie cover)
22. You’re Gonna Need Someone On Your Side

favorite banter of the night:
He was talking about how one of his heroes was born just down the road. Asking the crowd if they know who he’s talking about, some crowd members guess “Oscar Wilde?”
“Sadly, Oscar Wilde was not born in Lincoln,” Morrissey responds. “His fault, really.”