MN has a new Senator! and other meaningless, to me, blathering

1. The Minnesota Supreme Court has issued its long-awaited judgment in the Senate race, declaring that Democrat Al Franken is the winner. http://www.nytimes.com/?emc=na


2. Someone wrote an e-mail list I'm on "the Medicare system which is already scheduled to go broke in the next 10 years" to which someone replied, "Could you please post links to references on that -- but from folks other than those who *want* it to go broke? http://articles.latimes.com/2009/may/13/nation/na-medicare13


3. Another link that talks about the financial status of Medicare: http://money.cnn.com/2006/05/01/retirement/SStrustees_2006report/index.htm
4. The impact of Michael Jackson's death on those who knew him:
   This was forwarded to an e-mail list I'm on and was not posted to a blog so I decided to post it.
   An essay by David Kobrin about the role Michael Jackson played in his life.
   From 1989 to 1992 I worked at a video store called Videotheque, in Westwoodand later in Beverly Hills. Since the store was one of the original video stores, the clientele included most of the major studios, agencies, and performers. I became the store manager in the Beverly Hills store in late 1990 and it wasn't long before a who's who of movie, music and television personalities came through our doors. It became such a routine that the next famous face entering didn't really phase us that much; they were just customers as far as we were concerned.
   One day I was behind the counter, talking to someone on the phone when a black limousine pulled up in front of our store. A person got out and came inside and immediately stood out because they were wearing a surgical mask across their face. Since this was Beverly Hills and eccentric people were more the rule than the exception, it didn't particularly shock me to see someone like this. As I continued my phone conversation the person came over to the counter and briefly lifted the mask. And at that moment everything changed as far as not being affected by show people walking into the store. The person behind the surgical mask was Michael Jackson. He actually was a regular customer of Videotheque, but usually frequented another store, not ours.
   My phone conversation suddenly wasn't that important and I hung up and went from around the counter to talk to Michael, who was a collector of movies, both old and new. He probably spent about half an hour in the store that day, and the whole time we were talking about movies, his music and other topical things. He would come back at least five more times over a period of about a year and each time we would walk around the store, look at movies for him to purchase, sing a little (we sang the theme song to Spiderman once) and enjoyed our time together.
   He said that going out in public was always such a chore for him and he liked coming to our store because it gave him a chance to put down his guard and just hang out. I remember one time the actor Elliot Gould came in and Michael happened to also be there, and Elliot was saying something like 'wow, Michael Jackson'. Then there was the time Michael called the store and one of my fellow employee's actually said "David, Michael Jackson is on the phone, for you." I don't think we ever think we'll hear something like that in our day-to-day life.
   My lasting impression of Michael, one that seems so clear now that he has passed, is that he was gentle, quiet, curious, and kind. It's a memory I will cherish as the news of his death plays out over the next several days.
   David
   

I haven't posted tour dates for tours that are skipping Iowa lately so here you go. Clutch is touring with Wino and amazingly, they are driving *right through* the state:

September 26 Chicago, IL @ The Metro
September 27 Omaha, NE @ Sokol Auditorium