The Day the Music Died

We at Leavenworth Street are coming late to an issue already addressed by a number of bloggers, but we think it's one of which all Nebraskans should be aware.

Yes, we’re talking about the musical travesty that is "I Love Nebraska" by Hastings newscaster Ginger ten Bensel.

State Senator Carroll Burling has proposed changing the state song from “Beautiful Nebraska” (which you can hear part of here, in this NPR story about the matter) to this Nashville pop-country bacon fat covered cheese fry of a ballad. Now we’re not saying this is the weightiest matter before the legislature. But it’s probably the easiest to get your head around.

Ms. ten Bensel has even made a music video that you can watch on You Tube here (we would suggest an airsickness bag if you have one handy).

Note Ms. ten Bensel’s frequent flashing of apparent “gang signs”.

Note the prominence of Nebraskans wearing jorts.

Note the hawk that comes flying out of a dog kennel.

Heck, note the near complete lack of, say, Omaha…
Where’s North Omaha?
Where’s South Omaha?
Where are the meat packing plants?
Where is the CWS? Creighton? Barrett's Barleycorn? The Q? Healthy Choice foods?
(But we digress…)

And to help us put it all in perspective is former Nebraskan Thomas Irvin, who has posted his You Tube parody version of ten Bensel’s Hee-Haw diddy.
Tom, you are a true hero.

So while Leavenworth Street may be coming to this discussion late, let it be known throughout the land:

This song sucks ass.

And if it becomes the State Song, Johnny Carson's soul will disown Nebraska.

**Update, 8:30 AM, 2/2707**

Don't worry, saner heads prevailed...

(The state song remains the same - LJS - 2/27/07)

Hagel Gives Four-Day Break

How many more months?

The OWH reports today that:

Sen. Chuck Hagel says an announcement about whether he'll seek the GOP nomination for president in 2008 won't come in the next four days while he's in Nebraska.

(Hagel still won't say whether he's a presidential candidate – OWH – 2/21/07).

So you can all go on about yer business.
Move along!

What does the OWH know?

The kingmakers at the Omaha World Herald just happened to toss out a glowing random feature article about Ag Sec and former Gov Mike Johanns today. (Despite challenges, Johanns enjoys work as agriculture secretary – OWH – 2/20/07.)

And they mention, just haphazardly near the end, that gee, some people have even mentioned that Johanns may be interested in Chuck Hagel’s Senate seat if Hagel doesn’t run for re-election.

With Hagel making up his mind soon, what a fortuitous time to run such an article.

Ain’t that a coincidence?

Unicameral Gone Wild!

We’re fairly certain that we could post on the subject of Antarctic based Bulgarian tofu missiles, and the commenters would bring it all back to the State Senator Danielle Nantkes’s DWI (as they’ve been doing on the Fahey post).

So have at it!

Topics to discuss:

• Should her past drinking and driving record (when she was 19) have mattered in her election?
• Should State Senators be subject to arrest during session?
• No ethics committee in the Legislature?
• Closing the bars on a Tuesday night?
• A 1990 Dodge Spirit?
• $1500 damage to the 1990 Dodge Spirit?
• What’s the Blue Book on that sled?
• Should State Senators make more than $12K a year so they can get out of the 1990 Dodge Spirits?
• Cops said “Nantkes smelled of alcohol, had slurred speech, noticeably impaired balance and bloodshot, watery eyes”. Had she not refused, what do you think she would have blown? A point-one-nine?
• Will the Senator be taking part in the Democrats’ “Drinking Liberally” party? (Dems, please let us know if you think this affected turnout. Any press there?)
• What’s the appropriate punishment for a lawmaker here? Feel free to be creative.
• What should she do to make amends? Be very creative.
• A big deal, or not a big deal?

(See a copy of the Accident Report here...)

Fahey Looking for New Country Club

B-B-B-Buy Bushwood?!

The Omaha Country Club just isn't doing it for Omaha Mayor Mike Fahey.

No the sixty-two year old needs to find an "attractive" new club that will suit his needs for prestige and just the right amount of back-slapping. And Dem Senators Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer have just the place for him. (D.C. chat has Fahey considering Senate bid – OWH – 2/11/07.)

Congressional County Club…er...the U.S. Senate.

Let's let Fahey put it in his own words:

"You'd be a member of the 100 Club…It's one of the highest honors a person could have."

OK, so now that we know what issues Fahey will run on – him being in a swell new club and him being honored by you – let's get down to brass tacks and determine if he'd have a shot at winning the general (and this is all assuming Chuck Hagel doesn't run for re-election):

Fahey vs. Mike Johanns
Fahey gets blown away, potentially with David Hahn-esque numbers.
And it would probably be more likely that Fahey would wait to see whether Johanns would get in before committing.

Fahey vs. Jon Bruning
Some (like apparently Fahey and his manager Paul Johnson) think that Fahey would have a pretty good shot here. The view here on Leavenworth Street is that Bruning would out-hustle him every step of the way, and everywhere west of 150th Street Fahey would look like a rich old Omaha guy who doesn't understand the rest of Nebraska.

Fahey vs. Jeff Fortenberry
Fortenberry would clean his clock, Maxine Moul style. A possible reason for Fort to get in the race (assuming he could beat Bruning).
(Note we're leaving Lee Terry out of this analysis b/c we still think he's more likely to stay in the House, as his cred continues to rise.)

Fahey vs Pete Ricketts
The battle of Fairacres! We'll give Fahey a decent shot in this one – and the reason Nebraska Republicans probably wouldn't give Pete another go right away.

Fahey vs Hal Daub
Most would say give it to Fahey, since he beat Daub in Omaha. But this would still be an old school battle between party elders. Just for the heck of it, we'll give the edge to Daub and let the usual suspect hit the comment line to bitch about it.

Fahey vs Kermit Brashear
The OWH keeps mentioning his name in Senate stories, so they must know something about Brashear's interests. We just don't see a GOP nomination as the least bit likely, even if Kermit brings back his infringing green frog commercials.

Of course the scramble will be on (or off) as soon as Chuck Hagel announces his intentions…

Newsflash! Nelson is Anti-War?

Are we now living in bizarro world where what you've said for the past year means nothing?

For all of 2006 Ben Nelson was FOR the war. He never once said that he wanted the troops to leave immediately, or that it was a bad idea, or that we shouldn’t be there, or any other anti-war statement you want to come up with. You could certainly claim that one of the problems Pete Ricketts had in his campaign against Nelson was that Nelson held so many traditionally Republican positions – including being for the war – that Ricketts couldn’t differentiate himself from the “conservative Democrat”.

So Ben Nelson waits and waits and waits to take a position on the troop addition, then finally comes out against it. Why? He’s never told us why. But he’s not for cutting funding. And he’s not, as near as we can tell, for just leaving Iraq and ending the war, or really any other proposal for getting out.

Now all the Dems are up in arms, beating their chests, claiming that Republicans don’t want to debate the resolutions in the Senate. And Nelson comes out with this little gem:

If not now, do we wait for more troops to die before we oppose the president’s plan?
New York Times – 2/6/07

Or even:

It seems that even when it comes to the lives of our troops, partisanship prevails.”
Lincoln Journal Star – 2/6/07

Uh, well, guess what Senator? You can debate and debate and vote and vote on your swell resolution. But it sure as heck won’t stop anyone from dying. And it won’t stop the President’s battle plan. Oh, and even if your plan DOES pass, YOU still want to keep THE OTHER 140,000 TROOPS THERE!

You’ve said it over and over for the past year.

For/Against Hagel

For those of you jonesing because you haven’t had your Chuck Hagel Presidential fix, here are two articles from the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza in his blog/column, entitled none other than...“The Fix”.

First:
The Case for Chuck Hagel

and then:

The Case Against Chuck Hagel

Feel free to continue the debate in Leavenworth Street’s comment section below, as you will probably find your ideas drowned out in the cacophony of the Post's comment section.

Separated at Birth - Mike Johanns

There are various things we could talk about today.

We could talk about the fact that someone is doing polling in the Third District, asking about preferences between Jon Bruning, Mike Johanns and Pete Ricketts.

We could talk about the fact that Friday was the original deadline Chuck Hagel gave for announcing his intentions for 2008, but has now apparently given himself until March.

We could talk about the fairly good national and local press every member of the Nebraska Congressional delegation is getting these days.

And we could even talk about the crappy new website that the Omaha World Herald is now offering, which eliminates, among other things, all of its columnists, editorials and the Public Pulse, but adds a whole new section called “Games & Gadgets”.

We could talk about all of those things, but instead, we’re just going to offer what we’ve been thinking about for a while -- a Separated at Birth featuring…

Mike Johanns and Mr. Rogers!


Have a weekend.