“Ultranationalist” politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky apparently likes what he sees: “Everyone who sees the film will understand that Russians and Ukrainians are one people — and that the enemy is from the West.”

Meanwhile, “The premiere inspired viewers in Krasnodar to shave their heads into Cossack haircuts, and early this month Russian Fashion Week devoted an afternoon to a collection called Cossacks in the City.”

Everybody now!
April 1 is Gogol’s 200th birthday
now we drink Cosmos when we’re thirstay

1. God is not present in Nebraska, nor expected there anytime soon.
2. God does not have a house in Nebraska.
3. God has never done anything in Nebraska.
4. No one in Nebraska is authorized to speak or act in God’s name, and all of the people who claim to do so are violating State rules of Civil Procedure.
and
5. God does not read any Nebraska newspapers.

{previously}

* I know this isn’t used corectly in this context, I just like the sound of it

¹ the mother of all caveats, I suspect.

tonz-o-gunz

Jonathan Segura, in support of his novel Occupational Hazards, blogs about Omaha at Powell’s, including a nod to the “miraculously” alive Dave Sink at The Antiquarium (which last I head was going out of business… guess not, just a new location)

Ernie Chambers, no longer in the legislature, is looking for his day in court versus God, seeking an injunction against the violent acts of tornadoes & earthquakes: “If there is a ruling against the existence of God, it will be by the court and not by me.”

It’s been about 20 years since I’ve been to an Omaha City Council meeting, and in that time nothing has changed about the council chambers — the paneled décor, the dirty upholstered chairs, the institutional florescent lighting. The place even smells the same, a mixture of dust, mildewed paper, Brylcreem, toilet bowl deodorant and bureaucracy.

Photo: Frederic Larson (SF Chronicle)

Bridge manager Kary Witt said cameras are trained on the span, but that authorities at first didn’t realize what the protesters were doing because they wore “ordinary” clothing and pushed a baby stroller.

http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/2008/03/20/white-people-in-the-news-march-20th-2008/

Council Bluffs, IA (population 58,268) is a town on a roll. It has a good, diversified manufacturing base and is quickly expanding an already strong retail base. In the past five years it has built/landed a new 60,000 sf convention center, 6,000 seat arena, a Bass Pro and many other retailers. I was there for their annual Chamber of Commerce meeting where the theme was Ignite Potential. And from what I saw there is plenty of potential to ignite.

Even though my impression prior to my visit was that Council Bluffs was an old river town, the actual old downtown sits about 3 miles east of the Missouri River due to flooding concerns in the 1800s. The town quickly developed as a major railroad center with three lines meeting in Council Bluffs. General Dodge (his old mansion is now a museum) started the first transcontinental railroad from here. Other interesting sites for me were the Squirrel Cage Jail² which rotated around a central core so that one jailer could take care of 36 inmates and the Loess Hills, wind-blown glacial soils that are only found in western Iowa and China.

Last year Council Bluffs was chosen by Google for one of their server farm locations, creating 200+ high tech jobs in the town. Cheap power, abundant water (for cooling), central location and quality work force were key criteria for the company. Subsequent to making their first announcement, Google purchased an additional 950 acres south of town, indicating to me that there could be major expansion plans for Council Bluffs.

I love touring towns that are on a roll like Council Bluffs

¹ Across the river from my native Omaha
² I remember a Perez kids field trip one summer to visit the Squirrel Cage Jail.