Kaki King

Wow.

So What

It's Monday. Ugh, don't wanna go to work. Ghghh.

O.K., maybe a little music will help. Here's Lil Bastard, one of the best Jazz combos you've never heard of, doing a tune by Miles Davis entitled "So What." Mmmmm. Ah, I feel better already. Maybe work won't be such an evil, soul-devouring experience after all. Carpe Diem.

For A Dancer

Keep a fire burning in your eye
Pay attention to the open sky
You never know what will be coming down
I don't remember losing track of you
You were always dancing in and out of view
I must have thought you'd always be around
Always keeping things real by playing the clown
Now you're nowhere to be found

I don't know what happens when people die
Cant seem to grasp it as hard as I try
Its like a song I can hear playing right in my ear
That I can't sing
I can't help listening
And I can't help feeling stupid standing round
Crying as they ease you down
cause I know that you'd rather we were dancing
Dancing our sorrow away
(right on dancing)
No matter what fate chooses to play
(theres nothing you can do about it anyway)

Just do the steps that you've been shown
By everyone you've ever known
Until the dance becomes your very own
No matter how close to yours
Another's steps have grown
In the end there is one dance you'll do alone

"For A Dancer", by Jackson Browne

Science 1, Superstition 0

National Center for Science Education:

Antievolution bills dead in Florida

When the Florida legislature ended its session on May 2, 2008, legislative attempts to open the door to creationism died in the House of Representatives. Senate Bill 2692, as originally introduced, purported to protect the right of teachers to "objectively present scientific information relevant to the full range of scientific views regarding biological and chemical evolution." The bill resembled a string of similar bills in Alabama as well as a model bill that the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture, the institutional home of "intelligent design" creationism, recently began to promote, and was widely viewed as a backlash against the treatment of evolution in Florida's new state science standards.

As NCSE reported, SB 2692's originally identical House counterpart, HB 1483, was substantially altered, requiring public schools to provide "[a] thorough presentation and critical analysis of the scientific theory of evolution." The phrase "critical analysis" is commonly used by "intelligent design" advocates in their campaign to undermine the teaching of evolution. The sponsor of SB 2692, Senator Ronda Storms (R-District 10), then sought to smooth the bill's passage by revising it to match HB 1483, but was unsuccessful. On receiving SB 2692 from the Senate, the House substituted the text of HB 1483 and returned it to the Senate, which then restored the text of the bill and sent it back to the House, where it died. HB 1483 was already tabled, and is now dead, too.

I don't care if a voodoo doctor is a college-educated jerk wearing a three piece suit (Hello, Mr. Stein), because once he starts babbling about "intelligent design", he has negated whatever fragile opportunity he had to be taken seriously. Science, not superstition, is the only means we have to fix the problems that are facing every single passenger on Spaceship Earth, and we've already wasted too much time.

Susan's Endorsement

No, I didn't post yesterday. Yeah, I was bad.

Still, I have an excuse (isn't there always?). After being at my hateful job for over five years (sounds of painful vomiting fill the room), I finally got an honest-to-God, real weekend. Before, it was either no weekends at all (Tuesday-Wednesday) or the table scraps of a weekend (Sunday-Monday), so my Beloved and I decided to celebrate this unexpected good fortune by seeing a Susan Werner concert last night (Yahoo! Be still my beating heart). When we returned, sitting in front of a keyboard trying to construct coherent sentences didn't seem like the smart thing to do. Stumbling drunkenly but happily into bed was a better idea.

As always, Susan was superb. So imagine my delight and surprise when, in the middle of the concert, a sly political endorsement was made (Susan called it "half a song"). No. it wasn't for McCain, Silly.

The Shadow Knows

I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.

Tomorrow,
I'll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody'll dare
Say to me,
"Eat in the kitchen,"
Then.

Besides,
They'll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed--

I, too, am America.

"I, Too, Sing America", by Langston Hughes

Wright ain't said nothing that a typical pissed-off black man hasn't already said in a barber shop. There are two Americas in this country, and if the white people on one side don't want to listen to what black people on the other side are saying, nothing will change.

The Operation Was A Success, But The Airline Died

Northwest CEO to get $22.1 Million after merger

Northwest Airlines CEO Doug Steenland would get an exit payout worth an estimated $21.1 million should he leave following a merger with Delta Air Lines, according to a regulatory filing Tuesday. Delta and Northwest announced a merger deal on April 14 that, if approved by the Justice Department, would see Delta CEO Richard Anderson lead the combined company. Steenland would leave management and become a board member. His exit package includes $3.3 million in severance, $4.5 million in accrued pension, and $8 million in restricted stock that would vest upon his departure. Steenland's 2007 compensation totaled $8.4 million after adjusting for a decline in the value of restricted stock granted early in the year.

In the bizarro world of today's financial market, nothing succeeds like failure. You're doing a heckuva job, Doughie!