9-11

Today is 9-11. September 11th 2009, 8 years after the attack. Pat Tillman called 9-11 the Pearl Harbor of his generation and immediately signed up, walking away from a lucrative football career. Thank you Pat. Thank you for taking this cowardly attack on the USA so seriously. You gave all so that we may be free.

Not everyone has the courage, or the ability to join the Army and become a Ranger to defend this country. But we can do things to help defend this country. The Bush administration tried to tell us that illegal drug sales were funding terrorism. And to some small case that may in fact be true. But the real cash pipeline to terrorism is Oil. Bin Laden's father made billions running a construction company that built oil infrastructure in Saudi Arabia. Osama took his share of the company profits and funded Al Caida. And he proceeded to export terrorism all over the world. He was in the Sudan, in Afghanistan, in Somalia setting up training camps. All because we have pumped mega-bucks into Saudi Arabia.

Remember during the Carter administration when OPEC placed an oil embargo upon us and we were waiting in line for hours to get gas... when we could find it? Don't you think that was the perfect time to come up with a national energy policy what would have weaned us from Arab crude oil? And when Congress started to talk about alternate forms of energy and the people started having 1 day boycotts of gas OPEC lowered the price of oil. And then we continued to make huge, inefficient vehicles. Shortly after that the SUV was invented and later the Hummer came on the scene. (In my opinion the Hummer is such an affront that the drivers should be pulled from behind the wheel and shot in the street.)

Today do we see a national energy policy? When we bailed out GM and Chrysler did we force them to start producing more efficient vehicles? This is not the Army, for Christ sakes, where they have CRS syndrome. (Can't Remember Shit.) We have to learn from our mistakes and formulate an energy policy. We don't need a green revolution, we need efficient vehicles and alternate forms of energy. Simple technological solutions to our current problems and not some green dream that will generate millions of jobs some time in the hazy future. He have the skills and abilities today to stop buying oil from OPEC. We owe that effort to the brave soldiers like Pat Tillman who put their lives on the line for this county.

And if we don't do it, the terrorists win.

Yeah-Yeah-Yeah

9/9/9 The Beatles (inc. Pat. Pend. all rights reserved, don't fuck with us boy) released their recordings, yet again. Summer reruns take on a new meaning. Apparently we have gone from the Summer of Love to the Summer of Ennui.

Hooo boy! How do they have the nerve to pull this off? A digital re-mastering of all their work, plus recording studio comments and a video game. Isn't Sir Paul already worth over a billion dollars?

If they really wanted to do something new (hey, wasn't that the name of a Beatles album in the 60's?) they would go on a reunion tour. I know what you're thinking, the Grantman finally ate the brown acid and has flipped out. No, this will work and I'll tell you how.

A couple years ago my friend Mark and I were walking on Decatur Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans when we were ambushed by an undercover Hari Krishna dude. And this guy was fairly entertaining in his stick so we bought (via donation to the cause) a couple of souvenir hats of Jazzfest 2007 from him. So now that we were properly softened up and in a buying mood he played his ace.

Hari Krishna Dude: So who was your favorite Beatle?
Grantman: I liked John as a kid but now find that Paul is my favorite.
Hari Krishna Dude: Don't you think that George was the best of the group?
Grantman: George? What, are you new? I always thought of George as the most replaceable Beatle. Imagine how cool that group would have been with Eric Clapton instead of George.

At this point the Hari Krishna Dude's plan of steering us towards his brand of Hinduism via the beliefs of George Harrison are toast. Dejectedly, he turns on his heels, steps off the curb and is hit by a bus. (I made up the bus part).

But it got me to thinking. Why not a reunion of the Beatles with Clapton sitting in for Harrison and Julian Lennon sitting in for John? Julian looks like John and has similar vocal qualities. His album Volatte was as good as anything John did. So there it is. A reunion tour with Julian, Paul, Eric and Ringo. Hmmm. Ringo. You know he wasn't the original drummer, Pete Best was. And let's just be honest here. Ringo is a prick. You don't believe it? Take a look at this You-Tube clip of him telling his fans to stop sending fan mail because he is too busy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpd24yVy5C4

OK, new plan. A Beatles reunion tour with Julian, Paul, Eric and Pete. This would totally work.

And Paul had better stay on his best behavior. Nobody is irreplaceable. As Charles de Gaulle once said, "the cemeteries are full of indispensible men."

Yeah-Yeah-Yeah.

Go Niners!

When I was leaving Santa Cruz CA to move to the Midwest a friend of mine asked me "You're still going to root for the Niners aren't ya?" Not, "hey buddy we will miss you around here", or "will you be coming back for a visit?"

It was a quintessential guy moment in a bar. And I really didn't watch football out in the tall corn for a couple of seasons. I was busy exploring the beautiful fall forests with a recurve bow in my hand looking for the elusive wild turkey.

Lately I've considered taking up football watching again. And as I thought about it I figured I had better pick a local team so I had a chance of seeing them on TV without buying one of those $10,000 sports packages from the cable company. The closest areas with an NFL franchise are Kansas City (the Chiefs), St. Louis (the Rams), and Minnesota (the Vikings). I never much liked the Chiefs and I still think the Rams should have stayed in LA so I'm looking at the Vikes. I discussed this with my bartender (bartenders are licensed dispensers of sage advice) and she said, get this, "I could never root for the Vikings because of Bret Farve."

WTF?

"What's wrong with Farve?" I asked. "Oh my sister thinks he is dreamy", (they still say dreamy in the heartland) "and I can't root for a team with Farve because she adores him."

Now I'm liking the Vikes. The purple jerseys, the horns, they have a great up-and-coming RB out of Iowa named Albert Young (Albert, go figure that for a name for an African American), plus they located in the next state up. I could actually drive up for a game. But the signs are against me. Try as I may to blend in with the locals fate has fingered me as a Niners fan. This little vignette illustrates the point well: My wife and I were driving along Dodge street in Omaha one day when I saw a bar called the 49er. I turned to her and said "Is that cool or what? The have a bar named after the 49ers!" Her terse reply was "This is 49th street, genius." I still see things in terms of being a 49er fan. Besides, the Niners won their first 3 exhibition games (take that Dallas!). It looks like my fate is sealed.

Now a bit of historical confession is in order here. I used to be a Raiders fan. Remember when they won the Superbowl from a wildcard slot and President Reagan called to congratulate them for being the first team to do so? The very next year the Raiders showed their true colors and moved to LA, turning their backs on the Bay Area. After that the Niners caught fire and started to win Superbowls. The words "Montana to Rice" are etched into the minds of Niner fans forever.

The jury is still out. Perhaps I'll try to follow both the Niners and the Vikes. The turkey's will certainly appreciate that.

After note: There is a guy running around Omaha with a Detroit Lions jersey on with the number 16 and the name 'Owen' on the back. (Think back to last year's season for the Lions.)