Back on the Road = Back on the Blog

It was a nice week at home.  I made time to spend with the wife, the dogs, the poker friends and to just relax.  There will not be much of those for the next 7 weeks or so.

I spent the best part of this past week getting ready for the big road trip that has now arrived.  There are a million and one things to do, and all of them never go smoothly.  This time it was only 5 sets of training that I no longer have permissions for.  When I contact the person who needs to help me clear this up, there is no reply.  It almost always works out, but waiting for that to happens is not my strongest skill.

There was plenty of poker to partake in.  We had a special HORSE tourney at Casa de Falstaff.  I wasn’t able to play in the tourney, but I showed up in time to play a few hours of cash game.  It was mostly short-handed.  I started out strong and then my cards dried up like spit on a sham-wow.  I really couldn’t do a thing for about 2.5 hours but watch my chip stack shrink on the blinds and cheap calls.  I made up some ground during the O8 portion of the night, but I still ended the night down 50.

Friday night was the return of Poker at the Warehouse.  We had a full table with The Knife, Little Nick, Falstaff, Brian the Red (from sunburn this night), T, Nate, and TomTom.  A few good hands early followed by hours of crap made this night feel exactly like the night before.  However, when the cards turned, they really turned in my favor. KK gave me a big pot against Nate just one hand before NLH ended.  I had one or two other good scoops in the O8 rounds and a huge scoop late to seal a profit for the night.  That hand had me flop an open-ended straight draw and a decent low with a board of 348 rainbow with me holding 5h6hA???.  A good bet from me (button) drove out a few of the 5 remaining players leaving me, Nate, and the Knife.  The turn was a beautiful 7 giving me the nuts.  I bet something like 20 and get two calls.  The river was a J (no pair and no 3-suit on the board) and I fired 120 since I still had the nuts.  We had discussed that move earlier in the night so I tried it.  It was about this time that I saw that I didn’t have the nuts.  9ine-Ten now made a higher straight.  If anyone had drawn to a top straight, it would have been Nate or Jim.  Jim called with with what I don’t remember, but not 9T and I scooped that pot. (I feel about 60% sure I messed up something about that hand, but you get the picture).

July 4 was Saturday.  Dr. K and I returned to Mama C’s place for a party/picnic that was excellent.  The evening was quiet with a drink or two and the NASCAR race.  Great finish with K-Y Bush spinning and Tony the Tiger taking the win.  Any race that ends with bush spinning is a good race.

Now it is time to get back to work and a lot of work there is to do.  I’m in DC through Thursday.  Before the the sun rises on Friday I will be on my way to DFW via CLT where I will drive up to OKC and Oki-Vegas.  Poker, drinking, and fun will ensue.  On Sunday I drive down to the Ft. Hood area where I spend the week getting final approval to go back to Baghdad, Iraq where, if successful, I will work from mid-July to mid-August.

The prospect of being away from home for so long makes me nervous and a bit depressed.  I’m happy to serve and hope that I can make a valuable contribution to the troops, but it’s not fun.  It will be hot and dusty.  Living conditions will be cramped.  I’ll have to travel walk or ride for most of my meals and the toilet and showers are more than 100 yards away (really sucks in the middle of the night).  So it’s one day at a time from me.  I’ll do my best to do my job.  I’ll enjoy what there is to enjoy and get back safe and sound when the time comes.  I’ll be keeping this space updated with stories and pictures as I can.

Time to get started.  See ya.

Moops

Or should that be whoops.  This blog has really gotten ignored over the past few weeks.  It’s not like nothing has been going on.  It has.  I just haven’t felt like putting anything blog-worthy on this computer.

So let’s recap the past few weeks.

Work: I had a stretch where I had almost nothing to do.  There are two conditions that make me nervous about work.  One is having more to do than I have time to complete.  The other is not having enough to do.  Actually, those are the only two conditions of my work.  Dr. K (wife) finds a good deal of humor in that situation.  So anyway, I had nothing to do and decided to fix it by advertising that I was available.  Once the offers started coming in it took about 36 hours to fill up my schedule through August.  I’m in the Charlotte airport as I write this waiting on the first leg in my trip to DC for this week.  I also have trips to DC, Texas, and Baghdad on the agenda.  I suppose that Baghdad should be a bigger deal, but I did it last year so I know what it is all about this time around.  Once I get back from the big sandbox, the Dr. and I will be taking a nice vacation.  To where we’ve not decided.  I’d be happy to hear some suggestions.

House: I’ve made a little progress on the house.  I fixed and painted the front steps.  The steps now look great but some of the other trim work needs attention.  It’s a viscous* cycle.  I’m also about ready to start work on our kitchen.  We’ve done a ton of work on all of our downstairs rooms over the past 10 years, all, that is, except the kitchen.  I know what I want to happen and generally the order in which it should happen.  Now I just have to man-up and get started.

Family:  My uncle Richard passed away a few weeks ago.  I was making plans at the time to go up to see him and the other family in the area.  I still made it up to see my aunts and an uncle in the area.  It was one of the best visits I’ve ever had with them.  I didn’t realize it until now, but I’ve never spent one-on-one time with two of the thee.  That seems such a shame now.  Thank goodness it’s correctable.

Pool:  Due to my busy schedule, I had to drop out of the pool league.  I’m going to miss not playing.  Due to the way the league and team works, it is going to be very difficult to get back on that team when my time frees up.  I’m really going to hate that.

Poker:  I’ve played a few hands of poker since my last post.  I think I’ve made up most of my Vegas losses.  The big wins have left me for the time being, but I’m holding my own and having fun.  That’s good enough.

Last night we met at the Casa de Falstaff for the regular madness that we call a home game.  Going back to my traditional coverage of the night I’d like to document some of the discussion topics:

• Well known poker author accused Badblood of being a cheat.
• The people I work with are all bright, happy and funny, present company excepted.
• Falstaff dealt with 2 deaths, a less-than-positive personal diagnosis, and the bankruptcy of a customer at a very bad time.
• Moops (that’s Moors, you idiot).
• Closing the Gaps
• Bangles – super group of the 80s
• Suicidal Leprechauns
• Miley Cyrus thrash rock
• Top Omaha Strategy – Fold without looking and leave early
• Veiled reference to “The Hangover”
• Going to the movies at the Epicenter
• Laying naked in the air conditioning and the need for batteries

I would imagine that post will pick up now that I’m back on the road and looking at a big adventure or two (including Oki-vegas).  Stay tuned.

The Reunion Fist Pump

Saturday night, I attended my 30th year high school reunion.  That line in itself seems almost an impossibility.  It can not have been 30 years since I walked across the stage of the old Charlotte Coliseum to accept the results of 12 years’ work.  We were the 13th class from Independence to graduate. The date was June 13.  And I was the 12th person to get their diploma.  Tim Blume was the 13th that day.  I had known Tim since at least the 2nd grade.  Tim died about 5 years later.

Wow.  You get the idea now that this is going to be a serious post – a real rocky ride.  You’re right.  The last 30 years have seen a lot of ups and downs, so this post will have the same.

I don’t think Tim was the first classmate to pass and I don’t remember the order, but I remember Tim, Linda, David, Gary, Rusty, Bobby, Susan and others when I remember my class.  I also remember Taylor, Frank, John, Ansle, Patty, Andy, Jody and scores of others from my class who are still around.  All of these people shared one of the best times of my life with me.  When I’m old and my mind is gone and I can’t remember where I am, I’ll still remember many of these folks and the times we had.   Those were good time.  I knew it then and I enjoy remembering them now.  So I took it on myself to see that we had a 30th reunion. 

I got the ball rolling by calling and sending some emails to those classmates I could locate.  We formed a committee, turned the majority of the work over to a company that specialized in reunions and waited.  I had the pleasure of hearing from many with clues to the whereabouts of others or questions or friend requests on Facebook.  I enjoyed each one.

So along comes the night of the party.  We had about 80 of us show up.  To say I had a great time is an understatement.  Many of the folks that I wanted to see couldn’t be there, but so many others did.  I tried to chat with as many folks as I could.  I really enjoyed showing off Dr. K to prove once and for all how luck I am.

  I had a terrific conversation with a couple that, to be diplomatic, I parted ways with well before graduation.  Another buddy who I’ve known since I was 5 who couldn’t make the party, changed his mind and showed up anyway.  After about two minutes, we all got past how our looks have changed and it seemed like we were back together after summer break.

There were so many grand moments, but there is one that I shared with no one that will be with me forever.  I was standing to the side of the room with my back against the wall (my normal position for school dances).  In my field of view, the friend who is suffering with cancer is dancing with her childhood friend, the lady who recently lost her hysband is chatting with the lady who’s put her life back together since a plane crash took her husband and son.  Three girls who were inseparable in school are inseparable once again.  Everyone I see is smiling or laughing or dancing.  It all came together in that moment.  If I had done anything, I wanted it to be creating that moment.  I couldn’t help but give a little fist pump and a muffled “Yes!”.   That was what it was all about.  it’s about right now.

I really didn’t know why I took it on myself to start the reunion planning, but I left knowing that it was the right thing to do.  I think Tim smiled, too.

To all of you who have sent your thanks for the evening, you are very welcome.  I think I should be thanking you.  I got way more out of it than I put in.  It will take a while for the smile to wear off.

Vegas Poker May 2009

If I were superstitious, I might find an outside factor to blame on my reversal of fortune, but being superstitious is bad luck, so I won’t go there.  I got really bad cards for the last two and a half days and made a few bad calls along the way, so I could blame myself and the normal variance in poker.

Naaaa.  I think this about sums it up:

This is actual data.  I made a quick chip count every time I hit the button.  I then multiplied the number of entries by 7.8 to get the hand estimate.  You can see where I got felted 4 times in about 4 days and won the very last hand before heading to the airport Monday morning (QQ) holds up.

I also tracked the number AA KK and QQ hands I was dealt.  I saw AA 5 times, KK 7 times, and saw QQ 5 times.  Statistically, I should have seen each about 3.75 times, so no complaints there.  I would have done better had I not seen them at all.

One of the oddest things to happen involved an all-in by a player that was not a full re-raise.  Say Player 1 checks, Player 2 then bets 2 BB, and Player 2 (short stack) calls.  Player 1 then raises to 6 BB.  Player 2 calls and Player 3 goes all in for say 9 BB the first bet.  Player 1 then asks if the betting is now reopened and is told no.  Player 2 is now allowed to go all in for 13 BB.  It happened at the Venetian when I was Player 1.  I still haven’t figured that one out.  I called and split the pot with Player 3 so I’m not unhappy.

Other Interesting tidbits":

• Mandalay Bay has some really odd rules like no chopping and sign-up for comp time is done on a paper card at the desk.
• Excalibur has Strip Poker on Saturday nights.  A stripper actually gyrates on a soap box in the poker room.  She does wear a small bikini.
• Excalibur also has PokerPro automated poker tables.  I’m not a fan.  I spent too much time trying to get my cards to show distracting me from the game.  I guess that would go away with time, but I don’t plan to spend it.
• Binion’s in Downtown Vegas has had a makeover.  The poker room has moved and is very nice.  a new sports bar/restaurant sits in the middle of the casino level.  I enjoyed my dinner there.
• The Center City development looks incredible.  Sorry, I didn’t get a pictures.  You’ll either have to trust me or go see for yourself.
• The min-raise for a utg straddle in a 1-2 NLH game is up to the house.  I asked in several different places and got both $6 and $8 as answers.
• Naked women (or nearly so) walk around in the Shops at the Venetian.  They look more silly than sexy.
• PokerTek, maker of the automated PokerPro tables is based near Charlotte, NC where poker is very illegal.  Go figure.
• Harrah’s proved to be a fine place to stay on the strip.  Location, facilities and price were all good.
• The Venetian was in the process of literally booting up its new player tracking system as I was leaving Monday morning.  It was probably in use by noon.  Players will now be clocked in and out at the table instead of at the desk.

Despite my poor play, it was a good trip and has me looking forward to the next one, probably in October.

Video Joke

My buddy TripJax did a very bad thing this morning without realizing it. He showed me xtra normal, the Text-to-Movie site. Of course I had to make something and once made, it has to be shared on my blog. And once on the blog, it absolutely must be linked on my Facebook page. So here is my first extra normal movie. It is a new take on a old, bad, and slightly off-color joke. I apologize in advance.

Merlefest

Why do I never find time to post these days?  Here's a quick photo post.

Went to Merlefest this past Saturday.  Dr. K and I met up with Mr. and Mrs. Falstaff and other assorted nuts in the Falstaff crew (actually, they were all very nice easy-going people).  Here is a shot of Falstaff in his element:

We met up at the giant sand sculpture.  Here is a small part of it:

Then we went and enjoyed the boogie all day long.  Did I mention that Merlefest was a bluegrass festival.  It was really great boogie.  Our second stop of the day was MandoMania at the Creekside stage.  If you look close, you may see someone you know:

Our next stop was up one big-a$$ hill to a band whose name escapes me, but featured Sam Bush (again).  As they introduce the next song, they bring out a special guest, Emmylou Harris. We knew she would be the headliner later that night, but it was still a nice surprise.  Here she is later on:

For her final number, Emmylou returned the favor from earlier in the day and brought out special guest, Sam Bush.  The last act of the night was, of course, the greatest mandolin player in the world, Mr. Sam Bush.  If you get the idea that Sam was everywhere this day, you'd be more right than wrong.  In addition to the mandolin, Sam also can shred a fiddle and guitar (bass mandolin) with the best of them.  Here is a shot of Sam the fiddle man:

Good friends + Good music = Good times.  Dr. K and I are already looking forward to next year.

Obama and Taxes

"I can make a firm pledge.  Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes."

Barack Obama, Dover, N.H., on Sept. 12, 2008

 

"Listen now.  I will cut taxes—cut taxes—for 95 percent of all working families, because, in an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raise taxes on the middle class."

Barack Obama, Nomination Speech, Denver, CO, August 28, 2008

 

"No one making less than $250,000 under Barack Obama's plan will see one single penny of their tax raised. whether it's their capital gains tax, their income tax, investment tax, any tax."

Joe Biden, Vice Presidential Debate

 

"Now in office, Obama, who stopped smoking but has admitted he slips now and then, signed a law raising the tobacco tax nearly 62 cents on a pack of cigarettes, to $1.01."

Breitbart.com April 1, 2009 (Day 51 of the Obama Administration)http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D979POSG0&show_article=1

OK, so what are G20 Protesters?

Pretty much says it all.

AIG and the President

Man, I keep thinking that I'm going to quit writing about politics.  I do worry that I'm angering more folks than I'm changing minds or informing, but it's what is on my mind, so here I go again.

But first, a little background to make sure everyone is up to speed.  American International Group put together many of the financial instruments that added to the current recession.  I don't think they caused it.  Lending to folks who could not afford the mortgage was the cause.  These financial instruments hid the problem and misstated the  risk associated so that good folks who were invested in these instruments got hurt.  For that, AIG as a company and those responsible inside the company should make those investor whole before they have anything in their lives beyond the necessities.  I don't that that much will get much argument.

What I have a problem with in the case of AIG is when the politicians involved know the truth and say things that ignore that truth for political gain.  The case here is the President and congress.  This week, the President has been out in public proclaiming his dismay at the 'bonuses' that are being paid by AIG after they have been bailed out by the American taxpayer.  Were that the whole story, I'd be right there with him.  In fact, I think that was my first reaction.  But there is more to the story.

Note: The facts following come from an article in the Washington Post (a more liberal paper does not exist).

The 'bonuses' are not really bonuses, but are retention payments, meaning, workers/managers who signed contracts agreed to stay through the year and in return, they would get these payments.  It is nothing more than restructured salary.  This was the conclusion of the Federal Reserve.  The administration agreed with this conclusion.  The payments were so well known that the congress made protection of this type of 'bonus' a part of the bailout bill.  It is the law now.  Here is the amendment as proposed by Sen Chris Dodd (D-Conn) and passed:

"Crack down on bonuses, retention awards and incentive compensation: Bonuses can only be paid in the form of long-term restricted stock, equal to no greater than 1/3 of total annual compensation, and will vest only when taxpayer funds are repaid. There is an exception for contractually obligated bonuses agreed on before Feb. 11, 2009."

So not the President is out playing politics by expressing outrage and vowing to "pursue every legal avenue to block these bonuses."  Many regular folks are also outraged instead of informed and the employees of AIG who had nothing to do with this are under armed guard at work because of the threats caused by the President's grandstanding.  Many employees are not coming to work and some of their work is to unravel the mess made by those responsible.  If that does not get done, the economic situation can get worse for us all.

I would expect my president to stand up for fulfilling obligations, like employers paying employees, and to stand up for the law.   I certainly don't want him spouting off with false surprise because it will play well with the public.  In this case it is endangering the employees of AIG and the economy.

Give me a break indeed.

From Jake Tapper's (ABC News) blog (http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/03/oh-that-joe-no.html)

"At an event at Union Station today where Vice President Joe Biden was heralding the $1.3 billion in investments in rebuilding train stations and passenger rails, a microphone picked up one of the former senator's myriad Senate colleagues addressing him, formally, as "Mr. Vice President."
That met with Vice President Biden's standard reply.
"Gimme a f*&$#ing break," he said, apparently unaware that the microphone was on."

This is news?  It sounds to me like the VP is being friendly and real person.  OK he said "fuck."  Good for him.  Jake, don't try to make news where there is none.  Concentrate on the man's policies and don't harp on this picky crap.  I didn't like it when you did it to GWB and I don't like it now.

Maybe it's just me.

So what is this blog about?

A web buddy of mine named Jimmy May and his blog pointed me to a cool little tool called Wordle.  This Java applet analyzes a site or blog and then arrange the most used words.  Here is the Wordle for Special K's Place:

This is so interesting to me.  I didn't realize that I overuse certain words the way I do.  I probably use 'probably' too much.  I think I use 'think' to much, too.  It is good to see my bud's names showing up prominently.    I don't see Dr. K, and I know she gets a lot of ink.  Curious.  It is still a fun little tool.  Check it out:  www.wordle.net.

Mastodon Revisited

It was almost a week (or two) ago now, but some strong memories remain from the big Mastodon Weekend in G-Vegas, SC.  It all started with a Rev. AlCantHang uprooting himself from the cold of the Philly suburbs and touring the east coast as he moves to Key West.  A plan quickly grew up around the tour stop in Greenville so that it included a procedure (which I will leave for others to describe, or not) and poker game.  Once the date was set, the A-listers of the poker blogging world started making their plans to attend.

Mr. & Mrs. Falstaff and I staged a preliminary event in the Queen City when Al stopped in for the Wednesday night before.  We took him around the uptown area for some dinner and drinks.  The end of the night was a great deal of fun.  Al had put everyone's drinks on his tab.  Knowing Al as a great drinker and humanitarian, he would try to pay for said drinks at departure, so when he went to prepare himself for the road (aka drain the weasel), Falstaff and I quickly had the bartenderess apply our $40 cash to the tab.  When Al returned and asked to settle up, he was presented with a bill for 6 beers, 5 shots and a glass or wine and a total of $16.50.  Un-rattled, Al just shook his head an muttered that he has been drinking in the wrong places.  We did nothing to correct him, but enjoyed it thoroughly.

Hot Brain the Red and I headed to G-Vegas after work on Friday.  We arrived as the early arrivals wandered in fresh from step 2 of the Procedure.  Falstaff stated, "I smell of cigarette smoke and strippers - Rock On!"  Many of the other poker players were enjoying the affects of an afternoon of drinking.  I was thinking that this could work to my advantage.  It did not.

Among the celebrities attending were Iggy the blogfather, Mr. Jones (former professional poker room manager), Badblood (our host), Otis (professional poker scribe), Big Pirate, G-Rob, Doc Chako from Seattle (yep, he really came all that way just for the event), TripJax, Bro O. Tripjax (BOT), Falstaff, Shep, Team Scott Smith, Rocket, and more that escape my memory at the moment.

We started around 7:30 pm dull (as apposed to sharp).  The first two hours saw little movement in my stack.  I was down to about 80 when I caught KK in a NLH hand.  I got all my money in and got 2 callers.  Triple-up!  The timer then went off and it was my turn to change tables.  That stack went mostly down over the next 2+ hours when I finally went busto around midnight.  It was tough to spend that time watching none of my hands catch while BOT seemed to catch every freaking card he needed.  It had me wondering when I would ever have such a night.  It had never happened in five years of poker play so this was just more of the same.

Along with my rebuy, I also picked up some a beer and SoCo 100 to sooth my mangled sprit.  I got to feeling pretty smooth pretty quickly.  The night seemed to change as I retook my seat at the table.  Iggy thanked Frank the Tank for dealing for the entire table.  The rest of the table quickly followed suit.  I drew upon my frustration to unleash a expletive laced tirade about the dealing.  My only intent was the humor of the situation and my wink allowed everyone to enjoy my misforture, me included.  It helped, and how.  I started catching cards immediately.

Shortly  thereafter, I took down a monster pot in PLO8 when I hit my nut-nut card on the river.  In all honesty, I didn't realize that I had NN (the best hand for both the high and low).  I thought I only had the nut low.  That quaded my new stack up to around 400.  Doc C contributed more than a few chips to both my plays with monsters and my plays with air.   We lost a few more players and combined tables for the final table of the night (morning).

Then came the big hand of the night for me.  In a hand of PLO, I picked up AAJX.  It has been too long since that night, so most of the details are lost to time.   There was some minor raising preflop and 4 players went to the flop.  The board was very uncoordinated.  I check and Otis to my left bets 40. I think we get one caller before I call.  The turn was a pretty but perplexing A.  Set o' Aces is a pretty strong hand in hold'em, but not as much in PLO.  I check again and Otis fires out a bet of 100.  The other player folds and I go into the tank.  Otis has had my number for many sessions previous to this.  The board did not have a low yet.  A straight was possible, but not likely.  There was also no flush, so I'm probably ahead, but there was no guarantee.  I called.  The river paired the ten on the board to give me As over 10s for the boat.  I think I bet another 100 and Otis goes all in by betting POT.  I snap called and turned over my boat.  He looks disgusted and mucks his cards.  I drag a monster pot of almost 1k.

Later, Brain told me that he wanted to smack me for showing my hand so quickly.  He would have been right to have done so since Otis should have shown first and we all would have liked to see what caused him to bet so hard.  In any case, my play was probably not correct.  I really don't know what I'm doing in any of the Omaha games, but this was my most profitable hand of poker ever.

I won a few more pots and lost less before the night came to an end around 4 am.  I counted out my chips and even I was astonished to add up 1548 in chips or a profit of 1348.   That beats my previous best poker day by 3 or 4 times.  My night had finally come and it felt better than I imagined.

Brian, Falstaff and I retired to a nearby hotel for the rest of the morning.  Falstaff was staying on for the rest of the weeked, so Brian and I left him there and headed back to the Queen City. It was a great trip and a good weekend.  My repeated thanks go out to Badblood and his family for putting up with us for the night.  I'll have to invest more time in the good times next time.

Microsoft Songsmith gone bad

We have a winner in the category of the most bazaar use of music software.  Songsmith is a program from Microsoft Research.  You sing to the program and it creates accompaniment for what you sing.  Some folks have played some well known recording into the computer to get new music for old lyrics with hilarious results.

I heard this while listening to a podcast in the Charlotte airport.  I cupped my mouth with my hand and my eyes started to water until I could no longer contain myself and had to turn the Ipod off. It will be the funniest thing you hear today.  Real music fans will probably barf.

So without further delay, I bring to you the Police and "Roxanne" accompanied by Microsoft Songsmith:

A Little Economic Reality

No politics in this post, just a few interesting facts:

2006 Federal Budget - $2.7 Trillion

Projected 2010 Budget - $4 Trillion

2006 Statistics

Number of filers earning more than $200,000 - 3.8 million

Taxes paid by filers earning more than $200,000 - $522 billion (62% of all income tax)

Taxes paid by filers earning the top 1% of income - $408 billion (40% of all income tax)

% of Income earned by the top 1 % of earners - 22%

Other interesting facts

In order to fund the 2010 budget projection ($4B), the government would have to take 100% of all taxable income from everyone earning more than $75,000.

President Obama promises not to raise taxes on anyone earning less than $250,000.

President Obama promises to cut the deficit in half by 2012.

(Sources IRS, Wall Street Journal, President Obama)

Bashing Obama?

No.  Actually, I'm not bashing the President.  I don't really know enough about the case or the evidence behind it to have an opinion.  I got accused of bashing because of my post yesterday, but that person missed the point, as did probably most of the Obama supporters who read it.  It was actually bashing them.  Let me explain.

The post was written and posted to Democrats.com. http://www.democrats.com/bad-news-obama-protects-torturers-in-court to be exact.  So if the democrats are against the President on this decision, what does it have to do with other Obama supporters?  Just the fact that this posting is an example of intellectual integrity that has been missing from the opinions of many of the President's supporters.  The Democrats.com site had a problem with the CIA's interviewing skills and GWB's handling of the facts.  When the new President used the same strategy, they still objected.  Good for them.  I disagree, but they are being consistent.

What I would love to know (and never will) is how many Obamers made excuses for the President or reacted with some additional negative feelings to this writer, or maybe just choose not to consider it at all?  It is a very human thing to do, though not smart or honest.

So what was your reaction?  That's rhetorical.  I don't really care to know.  I think in most cases I already do.  That is one that is best if asked of yourself.  My hope is that this exercise might have bleed some arrogance and politics from the Debate (the general debate) and added some healthy skepticism about the motives and methods of those who govern, be they GOP or Dem.  Staking your position on issues is fine if you have some reasoning behind your decision.  Binding you politics to one man is dangerous and frankly un-American.

Read Otis

If you don't read Rapid Eye Reality, you are missing out.  Go read this now: http://www.rapideyereality.com/archives/2009/02/11/she-showed-me-her-no-penis/.  Classic!

Can you guess what website posted this?

On the Binyam Mohamed Case:

"...“Why the heck is President Obama protecting torturers?” <name redacted> writes, “Obama fails his first test on civil liberties and accountability — resoundingly and disgracefully.”

What makes this particularly appalling and inexcusable is that Senate Democrats had long vehemently opposed the use of the “state secrets” privilege in exactly the way that the Bush administration used it in this case, even sponsoring legislation to limits its use and scope.  Yet here is Obama, the very first chance he gets, invoking exactly this doctrine in its most expansive and abusive form to prevent torture victims even from having their day in court, on the ground that national security will be jeopardized."

So who wrote it?  Answer tomorrow or acknowledged in the comments.

In any case, it looks like the "Change Bus" ran off the road in just 22 days.

Impressions of Korea

• This place is very hilly, Even mountainous at times.  The weather has been cold and foggy since I've been here, though I'm told that it could get up to 70 or down to 0.  Sounds a lot like Charlotte.
• This is no third world country.  They've got money and like showing it off.
• it is very hard to believe the Korean War (that's what they call it, too) was 50 years ago.  I see no sign of it in Seoul.  The base where I am working was built by the Japanese while they occupied Korea in the first half of the last century.
• The Koreans really hate the Japanese.  Really.  They are not found of the Chinese either.
• It has been mentioned to me more than once that If the north invades, most of us would not survive 15 minutes.  There are thousands of missiles pointed at Seoul.  It hasn't bothered my sleep yet.
• The people have something of a complex about foreigners.   I can't blame them. They have been occupied for most of their history, something Americans know nothing about.  They seem desperate for unification and independence.
• It would help if the cab drivers spoke more English or if I spoke more Korean.  Apparently neither is about to happen anytime soon.
• This hotel, the Millennium Seoul Hilton, is the best hotel I've ever stayed in, hands down.  The room is outrageously stocked with everything I could need.  There are 8 restaurants on-site.  The staff is attentive, almost to extreme.  Example, the breakfast buffet in the executive lounge (for us diamond members :) ) never seems to run low on anything.  All of the food is topped off before it gets halfway down.  I've yet to sit down before being asked if I wanted coffee.  Absolutely excellent, except for one little thing.
• They don't seem to know what "Do Not Disturb" means all of the time.  Twice I've left the room with the sign on and they've made my room anyway.  it is an error of giving more than great service.  I can overlook it as long as nothing disappears from my room.
• I wish they had more choice in beer.  We are much closer to Australia.  Where is the Fosters?  Cass beer is OK.
• Finally, something that fascinates me even though I have no desire to partake.  Sex seems to be wide open here.  It is illegal, but as un-enforced as speeding in Charlotte.  One of the alleys in the main tourist area of town is known as "Hooker Hill" and you cannot walk past many of those bars without being 'encouraged' to stop in.  You can go to many barber shops, juicy bars (Google that one if interested), massage parlors, and lounges and openly proposition the girls there and I'm told that even if they don't do such things that they won't really take offense.   If only poker were so open here.

That's my impression anyway.

Pictures from Korea

The View from my hotel room which gives a pretty good impression of the weather here.

The wrapper from the cigar that made me barf.  Cuban cigars suck if you ask me.

The standard in stocking a hotel room.  I've never seen anything like it.

 

A bad picture of Itaewon, the tourist shopping district of Seoul.  Sorry, no pictures from the nearby Hooker hill.

Diorama from the Korean War Museum.

 

More from the museum.

I have no idea how they arrived at this.

Neither Korean nor American.  Or is it both?

Old gate.

It has been a very interesting and rewarding trip so far.  Even so, I'm looking forward to sleeping in my own bed.

I got Won out the Yang

I feel like I've got Won coming out the yang right now.  I checked out the only legal poker room in Korea tonight, the Paradise Walker-hill Casino in the Sheraton Grande (you know when they can afford that extra 'e' that you are walking into a high-end joint.

I started with a quick buffet dinner.  I didn't bother to check the price.  It was a buffet in Korea.  There were kids running all over the place and the food wasn't special.  How expensive could it be?  Well, the buffet itself was almost $50 American.  Add on the $7 beer, and I was 1)glad I'm on per diem and 2) that I hadn't paid for a meal all day, otherwise I'd have been quite upset.  I asked and found out that it was the cheapest place to eat other than the casino bar, so really didn't make a difference.

Next it was off to play some poker.  They spread only 1000/2000 no limit poker.  That sounds so cool to have played in a game that big until you do that math.  One American dollar brings over 1300 Korean won, so we were really playing smaller than $1/2. So we were really playing $.72/1.45.  It still played pretty big.  Also, I didn't bring bankroll money and didn't want to convert any more into won than I had to.  I started with 200,000 when the rest of the table bought in for 500,000.

I played as tight as I could, treating it like a tourney with a 4 hour first level.  If I lost those chips I was done.  I got down to about 100,000 and won a few small pots to get back to around 170,000.  The big hand came when the board flopped with three clubs including the A.  The fellow to my right bet me all in and I called with the Kc.  This fellow was in the middle of an even night when he should have been way up.  Earlier, he had been sucked out one when a case 2 hit on the river making his opponent a set of 2s to crack his pair of Kings.  Anyway, the turn was a red card and the river was a beautiful 2c.  I was now up about 120,000 and feeling much better.

It turns out that the guy that I won the chips off of and I have a mutual acquaintance.  He was wearing an Asia Poker Tour jacket and I could tell that he knew how to play well, so I asked if he had played in the APT events, and he said that he did.  I mentioned that I know several people that cover tournaments for a living and he asked if I knew F-Train (he used FT's real name which I now know thanks to Facebook).  That is so cool to step into a poker room half-way across the world to meet someone with only one degree of separation.  (F Train, Ron K says thanks for being his fan).

I ended the night up 100,000, so I'm sitting on about 360,000 Koreas Won which I can't turn back into dollars until Friday at the airport.  I'm sure that won't cost much.  Anyway, it was fun.  Tomorrow it is back to work.  Four more days until I head home.  I'm looking forward to that.