It’s an honor just to be nominated. I’d like to thank my dog…

I’ve been so busy lately that I forgot to tell you about Lady M’s latest honor: she’s been nominated for a Grammy!

No, not for her singing, silly! For reading: just like Big Guy!

And I think she’s a shoo-in for this year’s Best Spoken Word Album award for the audio edition of her book American Grown: The Story of the White House Kitchen Garden and Gardens Across America. Lady M was as gracious as usual in issuing her acknowledgment of the nomination:

"This nomination is such an honor not just for me, but for everybody who contributed to the garden and the audio book, from the National Park Service employees to our White House chefs to our beekeeper,"

Which was very nice of her since:

Senior Policy Advisor for Healthy Food Initiatives Sam Kass, Executive Chef Cris Comerford, Executive Pastry Chef Bill Yosses, beekeeper Charlie Brandts, and Supervisory Horticulturalist Jim Adams have all devoted themselves to the Kitchen Garden, and wrote sections of American Grown.  The 1,500-square-foot garden is maintained by National Park Service staff.

The only one she forgot to thank was Little Bo

- who logged a lot of hours working the garden plot with Lady M

And even once saved Little Mo when he got caught performing an illegal harvest:

Yes, butt for Little Bo, Little Mo might have been a goner that day:

Don’t worry, Little Mo recovered from his injuries and will be back on the job soon.

The Molsterman shall return

Anyway, this nomination marks yet another chapter in MO and BO’s ongoing competitions. You may recall that Big Guy already won 2 Grammy’s for his reading efforts in the same category - Best Spoken Word Album - for his books Dreams From My Father and The Audacity of Hope.  He likewise had people assisting him with his books; butt due to the pressures of having to appear to be a man in full, he didn’t acknowledge any of them.

I’m sure Queen Elizabeth is still enjoying Big Guy’s audio books, which he thoughtfully included on the iPod he gave her filled with his other historic speeches. I know we never get tired of listening to them around here, they’re always good for a laugh. Little Bo plays this part over and over again:

And people wonder why he has issues with anger management and needs to see his therapist once a week – Little Bo, I mean.

Anyway, before you scamper off to bake Christmas cookies:

I thought you might enjoy watching Little Bo’s Big White tour of the Holiday trees. I know; you saw it last week, butt it’s Christmas in Washington! We always do the same thing over and over again! And at least this ramble is cute.

    

    

 

Well, just watch the whole thing. No better way to start a weekend than with an adorable dog stalking his doppelganger.

Linked By: Larwyn’s Linx on Doug Ross@Journal, and BlogsLucianneLoves, and NOBO2012 on Free Republic, Thanks!

The Lunatics Are In Your “House”

No budget, no debt reduction, no way to avoid the “fiscal cliff” that Congress created by not doing their job the last time around. Butt we have reached concurrence in both houses of Congress to remove the offensive word “lunatic” from federal law. Fortunately, they did NOT ban the use of the term “idiot” thereby leaving us with a useful and descriptive term to describe our legislators and their legislative efforts.

So it is in their honor that I dedicate this week’s sing-along:

Brain Damage: Pink Floyd

 

The lunatic is on the grass

The lunatic is on the grass

 

Remembering games and daisy chains and laughs

 

Got to keep the loonies on the path

The lunatic is in the hall

The lunatics are in my hall

The paper holds their folded faces to the floor
And every day the paper boy brings more

And if the dam breaks open many years too soon
And if there is no room upon the hill

And if your head explodes with dark forebodings too
I'll see you on the dark side of the moon

The lunatic is in my head
The lunatic is in my head

You raise the blade, you make the change

You re-arrange me 'till I'm sane

You lock the door

And throw away the key

There's someone in my head but it's not me.

And if the cloud bursts, thunder in your ear
You shout and no one seems to hear

And if the band you're in starts playing different tunes
I'll see you on the dark side of the moon

"I can't think of anything to say except...
I think it's marvellous! HaHaHa!"

 

 

Nurse Ratched will see you now…

Linked By: Donna Turney on facebook, and Adrienne’s Corner, and  BlogsLucianneLoves, and NOBO2012 on Free Republic, Thanks!

Makin’ Bacon: Detroit Style

You probably saw Detroit Councilwoman JoAnn Watson yesterday on Dominoe’s linky.

Here’s an updated-for-entertainment-value version of JoAnn’s dissertation on quid pro quo politics:

"After the election of Jimmy Carter, the honorable Coleman Alexander Young, he went to Washington, D.C. He came home with some bacon," said Watson. "That's what you do."

I thought you might enjoy a little history lesson, and see some of the “bacon” that the honorable and legendary Detroit Mayor Coleman A. Young brought home from then President Jimmy Carter’s stash.

Let’s just remember who owns whom here Jimmy-boy

The primo bacon prize was surely the Detroit People Mover:

A train bound for nowhere

A brief history: The Detroit People Mover (DPM) was the brainchild of a Congressional  agency created in 1966, the Urban Mass Transportation Administration (UMTA).  It was originally conceived as a demonstration project for the nascent agency seeking permanent funding - that part worked, the UMTA is now the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). The demonstration project went on to become the one way rail system running in a perpetual 2.9 mile loop around the increasingly vacant city center of Detroit (reports to the contrary are greatly exaggerated).

Here’s what the UMTA project had in mind with it’s demonstration project:

“The intent of that program was to determine how well a fully automated transit
system might contribute to the revitalization of central business
districts of major older cities such as Detroit, and whether such an
automated technology could provide effective circulation/distribution
service at a cost lower than conventional bus systems.”

Allow me to answer the part about revitalizing the central business district:

Not so much, more like the end of the line.

And regarding the part about “provid(ing) effective circulation/distribution service at a cost lower than conventional bus systems,” well, the system has required city and state subsidies to the tune of $12 million a year since it’s inception – not bad for a system that runs just under 3 miles. The cost per passenger mile hit $4.26 in 2009 vs.$.82 per mile for the Detroit Bus System, which covers the same routes.

Ridership was originally projected at 67,700 per day. (Hee. Are there even that many people living in Detroit any more?)

City blocks where there used to be apartments and townhomes.

In 2010, the daily average ridership on the DPM was 6,071: off by a factor of 10 - which isn’t bad for government work. Or government math.

It might have helped if the DPM ran anywhere near the destinations in the Detroit Cultural Center which houses the Detroit Institute of Arts, Science Center, Symphony, Detroit Public Library, Wayne State University and – at the time – the world headquarters of General Motors. Butt I guess that makes sense, why would you want to have a mass transit system running by the headquarters of the world’s largest automobile manufacturer?

Cadillac Place in Detroit’s New Center: GM World Headquarters, 1926 – 2001

And yes, the People Mover might have picked up a few more riders had it actually managed to make the central business district “more vibrant” (it didn’t).

Fortunately the Detroit Red Wings’ Joe Lewis arena is situated along the DPM path. Also fortunate that the other Detroit teams, the Lions and the Tigers decided to build new (state and city subsidized) stadiums along the People Mover route:

Because if you factor out the ridership of sports fans who like to park in Greektown to grab some marinated octopus and pastitsio at their favorite restaurant -

before riding to the arena of their choice, People Mover ridership would slip to a tiny fraction of the 6000 daily tally. You could say that the Federal Government essentially funded the most expensive dinner shuttle service ever created for Detroit’s sports fans. I’m sure the team owners (the Fords and the Ilitches)  appreciate it, butt the city of Detroit would have been better off by just building more parking decks in Greektown.

The People Mover had to shut down for nearly a year after its track was damaged by the implosion of the iconic Hudson Department Store building in 1998 (to make way for the building of the Detroit Lions new Ford Field). Unclear if anyone, other than Red Wing fans, even noticed.

It’s tempting to say something about this being a fitting metaphor for the fate of Detroit, butt I won’t

 

In other news: BO’s chief tax expert and resident rodent, Timmy the Tax Man,

Somewhere there’s a tail that goes with that rat nose and those rodent teeth

reported yesterday that both he and Big Guy are fully prepared to go off the “fiscal cliff” if the Republicans refuse to accept their terms for increasing the greedy rich’s fair share. And I understand that Big Guy himself will be in Detroit on Monday to push his “tax the rich” proposal. Maybe he’ll bring a little bacon with him, butt even if he doesn’t his pitch should play well to the people in this Great American City on the verge of bankruptcy. After all, there haven’t been any “rich” people living in Detroit since Ronald Reagan was president, so they don’t really have any “skin in the game.”

That doesn’t mean that Detroiters don’t remain perpetually optimistic:

After all, they elected Big Guy, so they’re expecting to get a little of the skin that others have in the game. You know; a little of that quid pro quo fatback.

Detroit voters made a contribution, and now they want your commitment.

Question: Are donuts and bacon anything like bread and circuses? Discuss.

Linked By: Larwyn’s Linx on Doug Ross@Journal, and BlogsLucianneLoves, and NOBO2012 on Free Republic, Thanks!