My Favorite Places #8 - Sunset Speedway

What a great logo for a local company.  I apologize as I failed to note where I found this picture.

You know, racing is not really my thing.  But it sure was my dad's- growing up, the air in our house was filled with the smell of cheap cigarettes, and the sound was filled with the incessant roar of cars going around and around in circles.  Good stuff.  Nowadays, the closest I get to viewing racing is flipping through a Dukes of Hazzard rerun or watching Cars with my two-year old daughter.  It's just not my thing and never will be.

But all that said, I have a lot of fond memories of going to the late Sunset Speedway in the northwest corner of Omaha near114th and State Street.  What was there to not like?  My dad usually bought us a soda or two- a luxury in those days- we sat close enough to where dirt would hit us in the face, there were fast cars that made a ton of noise, drivers with names like Sugar Bear, and once a year they held a bike race where us kids got to ride around the same track that the race cars did.  Epic.  In hindsight, I also get a kick out of the "non-alcoholic" section in the stands.  Sunset Speedway had it's very own Bible belt.  Can't say that my dad ever had a desire to sit there....

Illegal Immigration and the Law

It seems one of the major political issues facing this country that is also an issue at the state and city level is that of illegal immigration. Fremont in particular has put the issue in the forefront locally with their illegal immigration ordinance, “which bans hiring or renting property to illegal immigrants.” In the Omaha World-Herald on Sunday, State Senator Charlie Janssen wrote an editorial on illegal immigration and made a couple of points that I take issue with and would like to address. I won’t get into all the pros and cons of this issue, it suffices to say I do not believe illegal immigration is a particularly pernicious activity that merits the attention folks like Janssen want to give to it.

First I want to address this sentence by Janssen, “Ignoring some laws and enforcing others creates disrespect for all of our laws. This should not be the guiding principle for any legislation.” I want to welcome Janssen to the real world. All laws are not and should not be enforced equally. Let me give you an example. If you find a one hundred dollar bill on the ground you are legally obligated to report that as income on your tax return. However, any attempt to enforce this law would be a waste of government resources. Does this create “disrespect” for all of our laws? Of course not, if somebody breaks this law they are not more or less likely to break any other laws, to claim otherwise would be ridiculous. Now I know that seems like such a minor crime so I’ll give you another example. I’ll guarantee you cannot go to a sports bar without bumping into someone with a couple of bucks on the game. Yet when was the last time a gambling ring was busted? Some crimes are just not worth the time and resources to fight compared to others. We want our police officers fighting real crime, like murder and rape, rather than crimes like gambling or smoking pot or illegal immigration that generally do not have a direct impact on anybody else.

Speaking of smoking pot, that brings me to the next passage in Janssen’s editorial that I take issue with. He says that when our immigration laws lead to families being broken up, that is “an unfortunate circumstance, but it is also a necessary one.” I have a friend in law enforcement who was fortunately born with a little common sense and empathy for others. Occasionally while enforcing the traffic laws he’ll come across a couple of young kids with some marijuana and related paraphernalia. Rather than throw the book at these kids, he frequently will have them dump out the marijuana and throw the paraphernalia away. Why does he do this? He does this because he recognizes that kids do dumb things and he doesn’t want them to wind up with a record because he understands that that can ruin these kids’ lives. If they have a record they may not be able to get into college or get a scholarship. Is it really in the best interest of society if every kid who ever tries a little dope has their lives ruined? The same goes for illegal immigration. Let’s show some compassion and empathy in situations where families are involved. I understand they broke the law and put themselves in that situation, but that doesn’t mean we have to bring the hammer down in every instance. A little empathy would go a long way in this world we actually live in that Janssen chooses to ignore. I’ll end on that note but I have an idea for another post that might open some eyes about how we view illegal immigrants so stay tuned.

Red Sky Festival Rumors

Are you ready to be....underwhelmed?  The rumor I've heard from a "credible industry source" (heh) is that the big names for the Red Sky Festival will be none other than Journey, Kid Rock, Sheryl Crow (who will be in Omaha in May already, but is touring with Kid Rock this summer), and someone I forget- although someone else added Jason Aldean and 311 to that list on the discussion board that I first posted that at, and since I don't know Jason Aldean I would've forgotten that one.  311 is a a no-brainer as well.  So take it for what it's worth.  I was hesitant to run this, but no harm in reporting a rumor I guess. 

So, if true, there goes my hopes for a Pearl Jam, Chili Peppers, Rage Against the Machine, Beatles, 2Pac, and Notorious B.I.G. headlining festival....

Favorite Places In Omaha #9

Going up there were 363, going down there's 17.  Weird.

If my top 10 list consisted of places that I actually like to go to and visit, then Hummel Park would not be on the list.  Although I love the woodsy scenery and being up in the hills, the place just kind of creeps me out.

But I love the idea of Hummel Park.  The idea that there is some place in Omaha that is haunted or possessed by some kind of evil spirit is just kind of a cool thought- as long as you're not caught there after dark I guess.  Besides Ray, Egon, Peter, and Winston, who doesn't like ghosts?

Maybe take him with you next time you visit?

Now I personally doubt that Hummel is really haunted or some kind of inherently evil place of course- it's your own fault if you can't count those stairs the same way each time, and the reason it seems to be a great place to dump bodies is because it's reclusive.  And the trees don't hang down because so many Black people were hung from them by racist mobs, but because they're on a slanted hillside (don't get me wrong, Omaha certainly had it's share of lynchings, sadly, but none of them were likely at Hummel).  As far as an albino colony, it's a fun story but come on.  I am a little disappointed that we don't have any Sasquatch sightings or Chupacabra rumors- or maybe I'm not looking hard enough.  But some stories say it's located on an old Native American burial ground, so it's got that going for it.  Which is nice.

Devil's Slide is another notable feature of the park.  Supposedly a bunch of suicides have taken place there, but I can't find any real evidence of it (those tend to be kind of hush-hush anyway, and often difficult to find much information about).  The Slide is probably the closest we can get to mountain climbing in Omaha (unless you count Dick's Sporting Goods at Westroads) and you'll usually see a few idiots clambering up it when you drive by (yep, I've done it).

World-Herald Food Critic

I've been so busy that I didn't even notice until now, but apparently World-Herald food critic Nichole Aksamit was either let go or quit the paper.  The rumor I heard- for what it's worth, as this is very much just a rumor- is that it was over her attempts at writing a negative review about new restaurant The Brick House.  Now I'm not saying this just because she was formerly my neighbor, but what a terrible decision by the newspaper.  Honestly, I thought she could be a bit nitpicky from time to time, but I'm generally more easy-going than most folks when it comes to food.  She was by far the best food critic the World-Herald has had in my lifetime and always had interesting things to write about.  Just one more reason that print is dead- you can get fired/forced out for actually doing your job and critiquing a restaurant.

On a related note, for those unsatisfied with the recent World-Herald coverage, here's a link to a new guy in town doing things with that newfangled online media.  

Current Issues: CIR Reform

I feel like I should cover the current issue making the rounds in the Omaha World-Herald (OWH) related to the Commission of Industrial Relations (CIR) and whether it should be revamped, reconfigured, have its binding authority taken away, or simply put out to pasture. This isn’t an issue I feel I know much about so I’ve been hesitant to write up a post on it, (I didn’t even know the CIR existed until recently) but because it’s become such a major issue lately, with myriad articles appearing in the OWH, I feel like I should offer my opinion on the subject.

First, for those of you like me who are just recently learning about the CIR, the CIR was created in 1947 and is a commission of 5 individuals appointed by the governor, which solves salary disputes between public sector employees and the government bodies those employees work for. In order to solve these disputes, the CIR “uses a formula based on what a group of comparable jurisdictions pays public sector workers to do the same job.” Something to note from that description is that the formula considers only comparable public sector salaries and not private sector salaries, though I’ll tackle that issue further down.

The first thing I want to tackle is the fact that the CIR currently does not consider benefits when comparing compensation of public sector employees. This is the type of thing that frustrates me to no end. How can it be that after all this time benefits were not being considered? This is absolutely inexcusable. A pox on all the former governors and legislators who allowed this policy to continue for so long (don’t worry, my poxes never work anyway). My understanding is that benefits make up something like 30% of total compensation, so to not take that into consideration is absurd. Let’s put it this way, would you take a job without considering the benefits package being offered? Neither would I. Governments across the country are in trouble because a blind eye has been cast on public sector benefits and unfortunately Nebraska has not been exempt from this mistake. I only hope that given a failed attempt to eliminate the CIR completely we don’t end up without any reform so this policy lives on.

With that out of the way let’s move on to this policy of not including private sector compensation in the formula used to determine fair compensation by the CIR. In a Midlands Voices editorial the writer, Chip Maxwell, makes a good point when he notes that in “the private sector, managers and owners playing with their own money have more incentive to bargain hard than do managers and politicians in the public sector playing with other people’s money.” Public sector compensation seems to be getting out of control due to this very fact. Government officials don’t always have the proper incentive to limit compensation to a reasonable level in order to keep costs down, because the profit motive is not there like it is in the private sector.

Now here’s where I disagree with Chip Maxwell. Chip and many others are becoming hell bent on eliminating the CIR completely. I can’t help but wonder if the CIR could function adequately if total compensation and private sector compensation were considered in the formula used to determine adequate compensation in disputes. Critics of the CIR seem to think we should do away with the CIR and put salary determination in the hands of elected officials who can be held accountable if salary costs balloon. My fear is that in the fight to eliminate the CIR and collective bargaining (these would have to go hand in hand) there may be a risk that no reform gets passed. The unions have an awful lot of power, and are already digging in their heels. I believe that with the proper reform the CIR would no longer be able to award exorbitant salaries, so any exorbitant salaries obtained by public employees would have to come from elected officials. It appears to me the results are the same whether you get rid of the CIR completely or simply limit its ability to grant excessive salaries, but I have a feeling the latter battle is more likely won than a drawn out war to eliminate the CIR and collective bargaining entirely. Now whether I trust our elected officials to monitor compensation and keep it within acceptable, market-bearing levels is another issue entirely.

Follow-Up on Nebraska Wind Energy

The first post I did here some three or so weeks ago, back in the good ole days, was on wind energy in Nebraska.  The Reader has written a nice piece covering the issue, so as a follow-up to my brilliant post I wanted to turn our massive readership's eyes (Hi mom!) to that piece.

According to this article by Andrew Norman:

"Nebraska leads in potential wind power capacity, (emphasis mine) but has just nine more wind turbines than it has members on its Husker football roster. And the state is a long way from joining the country’s big 10 in renewable energy production." 

The research I did shows us as being 4th or 6th, so I'd like to know where they came up with "leading" in potential wind power capacity- sounds pretty cool if true.  It's also kind of sad to hear that adding 94 turbines "doubled our capacity."  On the other hand, that means this is a huge growth industry- it can only go up from here!  And those 94 turbines can power 45,000 Nebraskans, which is not an insignificant amount of people.

Anyway, it is a very informative read despite the cheesy Husker metaphors, so check it out.

Can I Recycle My Soapbox When I'm Done?

photography by - e http://www.erineppenbaugh.tumblr.com

Like most people, I have a lot of pet peeves.  I hate watching the smoker in the car in front of me throw their cigarette out the window.   I lose my mind when a police officer drives by me 20 miles over the speed limit with no lights or sirens on.  And I am so thankful that I will not have to see the Huskers lose yet another game to Texas.  But when I see someone's trash at the curb, overflowing with garbage bags and other junk, and no recycling bin- well, then you have officially sent me over the edge.  And not just for the reasons you might think.

I think most people would consider recycling a liberal, tree hugging, koombya issue for hippies to worry about.  And certainly those types will gravitate towards recycling and doing what they can to reduce, reuse, and recycle trash items.  But thanks to the city of Omaha's recycling program- and similar programs nationwide I'm sure- even if you don't care one bit about what is going on with the earth, don't care about things like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, and believe our energy policy should be "drill, baby, drill," then I'm here to tell you that recycling is most assuredly a conservative issue as much as it is a liberal issue.

Buyer's Remorse

Yesterday's front cover of the World-Herald had a somewhat interesting article- in the wake of the awful shooting of a vice principal at Millard South by a student, the Millard School District hired a company called Crisis Management Inc. to advise them on making their schools safer.

In the wake of a tragedy, it's only natural to look for answers and solutions.  But honestly, this is what Crisis Management Inc. came up with?  Their recommendations:

-adopt a “closed campus” policy that would bar high school students from leaving their campuses at lunchtime.
- A ban on student cellphones.
- Requiring students to wear mandatory identification cards and to use backpacks or bookbags that are clear or made of a mesh product so the contents are visible.
-Baggy clothing also should be restricted, the consultant said, because weapons can easily be concealed under such clothing.

I won't debate the merits of each policy, because of one simple fact- not one of these policies would have prevented the tragedy from happening.  I just don't have patience for irrelevant supposed solutions.  For example, a few weeks ago we took our daughter to the Shrine Circus, where they made a big show of searching purses- but announced loud and clear that they were not searching diaper bags.  If you've ever seen the size of some of these diaper bags, you probably realize that you could sneak in a B-52 Bomber in one of these things.

Consultants Paid to Confirm the Existence of Gravity

Millard Public Schools hired a consultant to give them suggestions on safety they seemingly could have gotten from a cheap pamphlet or mail-order book. I would love to know how much Crisis Management Inc. got paid for this mostly impractical and sometimes completely ridiculous advice. They suggested things like a ban on cell phones and baggy clothes, and a requirement of see-through backpacks and identification cards that must be worn by all students. Anybody could have come up with that advice and I think most of us could find holes in all of it. I think this firm’s sole reason for existing is the opportunity to prey on the irrational fears of parents, teachers and administrators. I call them irrational fears because the truth is school shootings are exceedingly rare. It was estimated by Dewey Cornell of the University of Virginia that the average school can expect an on-campus homicide once every 12,000 years. So the steps being taken by Millard Public Schools is analogous to someone hiring a CPA for tax advice in case he ever wins the lottery. Sure you could do it in order to be prepared, but it will almost certainly prove to be a waste of time and money. Obviously when these school shootings do happen they are tragic and incomprehensible, but what is nearly as incomprehensible to me is the ridiculous overreaction by people who should know better.

My Two Cents: Cops Conspire to Plant Evidence

A quick comment on the case of the two cops conspiring to plant evidence, which Michael Kelly did a fine job in today’s paper addressing. I won’t bother to recap the details; you can find those in Kelly’s story. I just wanted to provide my two cents on this story because our civil rights and specifically the right of due process are something I hold dear. There is a lot about our government you can find fault with but there is not much worse a government can due than deny the individual his or her right to life and liberty, and violating the concept of due process can lead to just that.

Look, for all we know the potential victim of this evidence planting is a drug dealer, so it’s easy to write this off as just a couple of cops trying to go the extra mile to catch a criminal. But let’s remember the case of David Kofoed, who assumed the victims of his crime were innocent as well. Police are fallible just like the rest of us. This is why we have the concept of due process because the government is supposed to maintain a presumption of innocence for all its citizens. If you relax that presumption of innocence, the result will be that innocent people will wind up in jail; that is the undeniable reality. I’d rather have a few more criminals go free (for a little longer, anyway) if it means fewer innocent people winding up in jail. I couldn’t imagine being one of those innocent persons sitting in jail right now, and neither could you (I’m assuming our readership is small enough that the odds of an innocent person reading this from jail are minute). It must be a special kind of hell to live that.

I’m glad Police Chief Alex Hayes is taking this seriously, though I could think of worse punishment for Kara Hindman than being placed on 11 month paid leave and Frank Platt getting to retire with a pension, as this behavior cannot be allowed to continue within our police departments. I want to echo Michael Kelly that Officer Steve Kult should be commended for exposing this behavior when he did. If you have read anything about police abuse you know that the blue code of silence is an unfortunate reality in many police departments across the country. Let us hope this case was a rare lapse in judgment by an otherwise upstanding local police force.

My 10 Favorite Places in Omaha

For no particular reason, I thought it would be fun to run down my ten favorite places in Omaha over a few weeks or so.  Hopefully by the time I'm done, you'll check out a place you've never been to before, or chime in with your own thoughts on the places mentioned- and those ignored.  Before we get started, I laid down a couple of ground rules for myself to follow, and they're pretty easy- they can't directly involve shopping or eating/drinking- so that means the Old Market (for example) is out even though I enjoy that area.  They also have to be located in the actual Omaha Metro area- so Fontenelle Forest is out as well.  My reasons for loving these places has less to do with tangibles, and is all about those lovely intangibles.  Without further adieu, today we will start with number ten:

As a big baseball fan, I've surprised even myself by putting Rosenblatt so low on the list.  Maybe it's because I see more pros then cons to the new stadium, or maybe I just grew tired of the love-in that lasted through seemingly 50 last events at Rosenblatt.  I can't say for sure, but going through my ten places, I'm comfortable with Rosenblatt right here.

For every good experience I've had at Rosenblatt, it seems like I've had at least one bad one to match it.  Since we've heard endless talk about how great the places was (and it was), let's go negative for a little bit.  Let's see-

Questions of Ethics in Omaha

Two recent stories in the Omaha area are notable for the questionable ethics displayed by the actors involved. The first one made national news and featured the Oracle of Omaha Warren Buffett and the man formerly presumed to be his successor at Berkshire Hathaway, David Sokol. As you probably heard, Sokol purchased approximately $10 million in shares of Lubrizol only months before Berkshire Hathaway purchased the company at a premium, thus making Sokol a tidy $3 million profit. Although the legality of this financial maneuvering by Sokol is in question, I do feel the ethical implications are clear. Sokol manipulated the system in order to enrich himself, a system in which he is in a unique position to do so that the rest of us could only dream of.

We would all love to have the influence a Sokol has so that we can invest in something that makes us a 30% gain in a matter of months, but most of us do not. I believe that as much as we can reasonably allow, the stock market should be a place where those with a thousand dollars to invest have the same shot of making a 30% gain as the guy with a million dollars. I don’t have a problem with someone like Buffett who has made billions mostly by buying undervalued stocks and holding them until they return to a reasonable valuation, because anybody could have bought American Express or Coca-Cola when he did and made the same percentage gain because everyone was privy to the same information he had (note: this writer was not alive when Buffett made a fortune buying American Express.) However, when someone uses his considerable influence to make guaranteed gains in the stock market that could not have been replicated by those of us without that influence, then I take issue with it. At that point the stock market becomes not a place for us all to invest our hard earned money but just another vehicle for the rich to get richer.

The second story to make headlines is the hiring of MUD director Mark Doyle for the newly created job of senior vice president and chief customer officer at MUD by new CEO Doug Clark. The issue is that Mark Doyle as a director recently voted in favor of hiring Clark as CEO so there is the appearance of a quid pro quo arrangement where Doyle voted to hire Clark and now Clark is returning the favor by hiring Doyle.

I have to agree with director Tim Cavanaugh, the sole director to vote against the hiring of Doyle, who stated in regards to this situation that “I just don’t think it sends the right message.” A scenario like this certainly does not inspire confidence that the board of directors is putting the interests of the public first as is their fiduciary duty. The whole reason for a board of directors is that the board is supposed to protect the interests of the stakeholders. The board hires a CEO to run the company and is supposed to make sure that CEO is running the company to its satisfaction and thus the satisfaction of the stakeholders. If the CEO does a good job, the directors will we rewarded by retaining their positions on the board and the stakeholders will be rewarded with the positive results of that CEO’s actions. That is how it is supposed to work. If a CEO can hire directors to high paying jobs then the directors’ motivations may shift from protecting the interests of the public to pleasing the CEO in the hopes of someday being hired by the CEO for one of those high paying jobs. In this situation you wonder if the board is really putting the interests of the public (all ratepayers are considered owners or stakeholders of MUD) first and foremost or if the directors are simply using their power on the board to potentially enrich themselves.

All that being said the board may have made the best possible hire and the company could prove to be the better for it. (I recommend Robert Nelson’s take here for further enlightenment on this situation) I’ve not yet reached the point of channeling an 18^th century Frenchman and calling for these directors to be put to the guillotine (figuratively, of course) but after its recent actions the board is certainly walking a tightrope from here on out. Another decision of questionable motivation or display of insufficient leadership and the board may leave us know choice but to call for heads to roll. Ultimately one of my primary motivations for this blog is to do what little I can to hold those in positions of power here in Omaha and Nebraska accountable for their actions. Fortunately in this case, unlike the situation with Sokol, we have the ability to register our dissatisfaction with our votes if it comes to that, as we are given the opportunity to vote for the board of directors of MUD so we can hold them accountable.

Checking For a Pulse- Episode I

I stopped reading the funny papers four or five years ago.  I'm the type of guy that still likes to read his newspaper everyday and soak a lot of it in during my lunch, but when it got down to the comics page, I was ready to be done with the newspaper.  I just wasn't into it anymore.

I mean, really, who needs the Comics page when you have the Public Pulse?  For the most part, the letters are pretty reasonable, with people making either perfectly fine arguments or statements, or towing the line for their political party of choice with talking points from either the previous day's Rush Limbaugh or I suppose Keith Olbermann show.  Fine, no problem.  But I'd say that just about every other day, you get one from someone who is off their rocker, making unbelievable cause-and-effect connections.  Typically, these involve gay marriage.  Gay marriage will lead to more abortions, gay marriage will lead to the Huskers losing to Texas, dogs and cats will be living together, gay marriage this and gay marriage that, and won't somebody think about the children?  Somebody?  

On that note, here is the first edition of "Checking For a Pulse," a look at any letter in the Omaha World-Herald's "Public Pulse" section that catches my eye.  And today we have a doozy, from one Georgia Ebel of Omaha.  My plan is to simply excerpt these things, but this one has to be taken in it's entirety.

Some seeds bring destruction
Spring is here, and the Earth is burgeoning with fresh beauty. Soon, shade trees in our emerald city will be blossoming and scattering their multitude of seeds.
Some of these seeds will be quite annoying and even destructive. Take, for example, a seed that sprouts too close to a structure. In time, if left to grow, it could crack and even destroy that structure.
Horticulture is not my theme here. The seeds I am concerned about are the lies that have been growing and menacing the very structure of our social order.
What are these lies? Beliefs that unnatural sexual unions should be called “marriage” and that explicit sex education taught to younger and younger children will prevent disease and poverty and lead to greater liberty.
These lies should not be promulgated by laws written by the local, state or federal governments. Far from strengthening the civilized, peaceful society we desire, chaos is the unwanted standard that ensues.
Georgia Ebel, Omaha

Poetic, isn't it?  To summarize, gay marriage will lead to chaos in our society.  Remember when the eastern half of Iowa sunk into the Mississippi River, and the western half fell into the Missouri?  Yeah, me neither, but all kinds of chaos ensued.  Or life went on, nobody was hurt, and only some zealots pretended that their life could never be the same.  The focus and passion this issue inspires from certain segments of the community is something I will never understand.


Being against gay marriage is one of those things that I just don't get.  There's no point in rehashing the arguments for it- either you get it or you don't, and me saying that it doesn't harm anyone in anyway is probably not going to convince you.  I'm not even going to touch the sex education issue that was lumped in with gay marriage, but I do live in a county that has one of the highest rates of STD infection in the country, so that's something we can all be proud of.  And I'm not going to lie, I had to look up 'promulgated' to make sure it meant what I thought it meant.  Surprisingly, it's not a sexual term- I thought Ms. Ebel was getting a little freaky on us.

More Violence Breaks Out

What is going on this city?  Two more deaths today.  Enough is enough.

Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em ... If You Can Still Afford To

In the second of two opinion pieces to appear in the Omaha World-Herald in support of LB 436, former Congressman John Cavanaugh offers his support for the bill that would increase taxes on a pack of cigarettes by $1.35. His argument in favor of this tax increase essentially amounts to acknowledgement that the state needs money to pay for the nearly $1 billion deficit it is facing so why not target an unpopular minority to scrounge up some funds and hey, we might even “save lives” in the process. He points out that 73 percent of Nebraska voters surveyed support this tax increase. I noticed in another article in the OWH that 19 percent of Nebraskans smoke, so essentially you have one larger and therefore more powerful group of people trying to stick some other guys with the bill. Don’t you just love democracy? When one group of people can use force to pilfer the funds from a weaker group in any other context we would call it theft. What is even worse about this state of affairs is that this is essentially modern day Robin Hood in reverse, taking from the poor (smokers tend to be underprivileged) and giving it to the relatively rich.

Concerning the financial toll this tax increase would take on smokers, I want to put in perspective the fact Cavanaugh points out that Nebraska currently ranks 38^th in tobacco taxes per pack. According to data by the Bureau of Business and Economic Research of the University of New Mexico, Nebraska is the 37^th lowest state in average wages (as of 2009). So not only does this tax target the poor it will hit them good and hard, as this tax would push Nebraska up to the 16^th highest cigarette tax in the country even though Nebraskans make less money than the citizens of most other states. Seems to me 38^th is right about where we should be if you base any merit on that standard.

Elsewhere in his article, Cavanaugh can’t help but make a “would somebody please think of the children” argument stating that some kids would be prevented from smoking if this tax increase is passed and also mentions that some adults would quit smoking as well. While I don’t doubt it would encourage some folks to quit and others not to pick up the habit in the first place, I always take a principled stance against this kind of social engineering. It is not the duty of some to compel others to live their lives the way they see fit. So I do not care that the majority of people in Nebraska support this tax increase. Fortunately we created things like constitutions in order to save people from the tyranny of the majority. In this case constitutional government will do just that, as Governor Dave Heineman has stated that he would veto any tax increases including a tax increase on cigarettes. Looks like all of the opinion pieces in the world aren’t going to do any good in trying to pass this legislation.

Wildlife in the Omaha Metro

This picture was allegedly taken in West Omaha and was forwarded throughout 
e-mail years ago (2006 I believe).  Even if it's not Omaha, the pictures are pretty damn cool.

The other day I was getting on Highway 75 on my way out of Bellevue when I saw what at first appeared to be a dog in the middle of an out-of-season corn field.  I slowed down and then realized that I wasn't looking at a dog, but a coyote.  Or I think so anyway- I've looked online and I'd say I'm 97% sure it was a Coyote, 2% sure it was a Fox, and say 1% sure it was a Chupacabra.  It's not everyday that you see a Coyote- in fact, it was the first one I've seen- so I thought that was pretty cool.

I've always had kind of a fascination with "backyard widlife."  Maybe it goes back to seeing a deer run through my neighbor's yard in the middle of Benson when I was just a kid-  I don't know.  But I got to thinking that it would be kind of "fun" to list any and all wildlife I've seen in the greater Omaha Metro area (this gets my coyote in the backdoor since I consider Bellevue part of the Omaha Metro, as most would I think).  I'm going to avoid any birds that primarily travel through the air for this list.  I would doubt that this list would differ form most Omahans, but here we go:

1.  Squirrels- of course.  2.  House Mice.  3.  Possums  4.  Rats (just one living one)  5.  Raccoons (including one that lived in front of my most recent home in Benson that had little use of his back legs so he got around by walking on his front legs)  6.  Turkeys (becoming more and more prevalent)  7.  Skunk (numerous dead ones, including in the middle of Benson, but a live one at  the Kelly softball complex).  8.  Moles  9.  Deer  10.  Foxes  11.  Rabbits (of course)  12.  Woodchucks  13. Bats  14.  Garter Snakes  15.  Bull Snakes 

Anyone have anything to add to the list?  Can't say I've seen the elusive mountain lion around here, or even a bobcat.  If you click "Read More", I've attached three other photos that made the rounds of that mountain lion.  It was not a good night to let your Dachsund out back....

(Update:  These photos came out of Wyoming, not Nebraska.  Still, they are pretty cool.)