Don Henley Harrah's Rincon San Diego, September 25

My birthday's coming up and my wife scored some tickets. So, we'll be heading out on Sunday for Don Henley live, Open Sky Theater at Harrah's Rincon. Recall, my wife and I saw The Eagles April 25, 2010. At the clip is "Dirty Laundry," from the same tour:

And see "Don Henley extends solo trek of western U.S."

The Public Has Rejected the Left's Radical Agenda

From Victor Davis Hanson, at National Review, "Obama Becomes the Fall Guy":

From January 2009 through 2010, Obama advanced the liberal dream with a passion not seen since the New Deal days of Franklin Roosevelt. He bulldozed all opposition and rammed through most of what he wanted with the help of a Democratic Congress: Obamacare, record borrowing, record spending, and hundreds of hard-left presidential appointees and judges.

Far from being namby-pamby, Obama has gone after opponents like no president since Richard Nixon. He urged Hispanics to “punish our enemies.” He called his political opponents “hostage takers.” The affluent were lumped together with the super-rich and derided as “millionaires and billionaires,” “corporate-jet owners,” and “fat cat” bankers. His supporters in unions and the Congressional Black Caucus freely blasted the Tea Party with slurs — with the unspoken assurance that the president’s constant calls for civility certainly did not apply to them.

Critics may lampoon Obama’s use of a teleprompter, but he still uses it to good effect in his near-daily speeches. Obama is a far better megaphone for left-wing policies than was the lackluster Jimmy Carter, the pompous Al Gore, or the condescending John Kerry. He easily outshines the wooden Harry Reid and the polarizing Nancy Pelosi. Compared with Obama and his smoothness, an often gaffe-prone Vice President Joe Biden can seem a liability. Obama is as charismatic as “I feel your pain” Bill Clinton — as we saw in 2008, when Obama destroyed the primary challenge of Hillary Clinton.

So the Left cannot really complain that Obama either betrayed the cause or proved particularly inept in advancing it. Instead, what Obama’s supporters are mad about is that the public is boiling over chronic 9 percent unemployment, a comatose housing market, escalating food and fuel prices, near-nonexistent economic growth, a gyrating stock market, record deficits, $16 trillion in aggregate debt, and a historic credit downgrading. And voters are not just mad, but are blaming these hard times on the liberal Obama agenda of more regulations, more federal spending, more borrowing, more talk of taxes, and more “stimulus” programs.

A mostly moderate-to-conservative public has concluded that it does not like the new liberal agenda. After three years, it believes that the big government/big borrowing medicine made the inherited illness far worse. Voters may or may not like Obama, but they surely do not like what he is still trying to do.

In response, the Left needs a sacrificial lamb. So it has nonsensically turned with a fury on Obama as if he were culpable for pushing through the Left’s own agenda. If Democrats do not blame the public’s anger on their once-beloved messenger, then they are left only with their message itself. And that is something they simply cannot accept.

Explaining the Enduring Pop Culture Fascination with Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston and Angelina Jolie

Well, since I've been writing about celebrity marriages, I'll admit this is something I've given some thought.

At Married Man Sex Life, "Why Brad Pitt is With Angelina Jolie and Not Jennifer Aniston":

Jennifer Aniston comes off as a "good girl" and possibly in need of fresh sheets on the bed to be able to come to orgasm. Well okay, maybe that's a bit much, I was saving that line for a Martha Stewart joke and got tired of waiting. Anyway... Angelina Jolie comes off as a fair bit slutty and into having sex. When she was married to Billy Bob Thornton she used to have a vial of his blood in a necklace - I think once bodily fluids become jewelry for a chick, anal is actively ruled in. Plus the tattoos are a fairly good sign of brazen sexuality too. Jennifer Aniston did get that whole cult following of women getting their hair cut in "The Rachel", but guys didn't give a toss about it. Angelina Jolie was Lara Croft for crying out loud, so guys care about that seeing polygon count was involved.

There's a lot more at the link, and that's an explicit analysis, but Angelina's no doubt got the rougher edges.

Image: "Angelina Jolie Quashes Rumors of a Secret Wedding and Admits to Fears About Writing and Directing Her First Feature Film."

HAT TIP: Kathy Shaidle.

Obama's $1.5 Trillion Election Ploy

Check the editorial at IBD.

Obama's hoping to make the Republicans look obstructionist. And Professor Caroline Heldman's down with that. Indeed, she's even sold on the (voodoo) economics of it all, saying she's convinced the administration's jobs act will --- wait for it! --- actually create 1.9 million jobs.

Right.

SoCal Grocery Stores Reach Deal with United Food and Commercial Workers

At LAT, "Ralphs, Vons, Albertsons, union reach labor deal, avert strike."

Apparently, both sides realized a strike would be devastating, as this earlier LAT report indicated, "In the event of a walkout, the chains' competition would be the big winners":

Today, Ralphs, Vons and Albertsons have fewer stores in Southern California, and fewer employees. Albertsons has closed 67 locations since the 2003-04 strike and worker lockout. Ralphs has closed 48 stores, and Vons and Pavilions are down 47.

The competition is filling the gap. Unified Grocers, which represents at least 526 stores owned by independent chains, controls 12.1% of the grocery market in Southern California and Las Vegas, according to research by the Shelby Report, a grocery industry publication.

Trader Joe's, with 106 stores, has 5.4% of the market. Smart & Final, Tesco's Fresh & Easy and Whole Foods combined control another 5.4%, according to the report.

Although these companies all target different consumers, they have one thing in common: They are, for the most part, non-union shops. And like the airline and auto industries, the three big unionized retailers all have legacy health, pension and payroll costs that put them at an economic disadvantage.

Smaller chains can also tailor individual stores to the tastes of the neighborhood.

For independent grocer Jax Markets in Anaheim, that means packaging meat in smaller containers and wooing customers with personalized service. The four-store chain caters to predominantly Latino shoppers. A number of its customers don't have cars, so the grocer offers a free shuttle service for anyone who lives within a five-mile radius of a store and is willing to spend a minimum of $30 in their trip to the grocery store.

"When the gas prices were going up, I wondered, 'Is it really worth it?' But it is," said W. Bill MacAloney, chief executive of Jax Markets. "People are shopping around, and that gives us an opportunity. So we need to do what we can to help our customers."

Serving ethnic shoppers can go beyond carrying brands they like. A number of economic factors persuaded Vons to close one of its locations in a working-class Latino neighborhood of Long Beach. Superior Grocers snapped up the outlet in 2003, before the strike, and transformed it into a mid-size store with bargain-priced produce and fast-moving register lines.

On a recent Monday afternoon, a mostly Latino crowd jammed the produce section, plucking up bags of mangoes the size of softballs for 99 cents each. Customers reached for fresh tortillas made in the store, freshly baked French rolls and loaves of Mexican sweet bread. Flat-panel TVs played Spanish-language news clips. On the overhead speakers, daily specials rang out in English and Spanish.

Four miles to the southeast, in the upscale Belmont Shore neighborhood, Vons operates one of its smaller specialty stores, known as the Market by Vons. Sparkling clean and quiet as a library, the store features a bounty of wine and a limited produce selection. Mangoes there cost $1 more than at Superior Grocers and were half the size.

"I love this Vons, but I don't shop here all the time," said Patty Barnett, 38, an artist who lives in downtown Long Beach. "I shop where there are sales."

Boy, You're Gonna Carry That Weight...

I"m always good for another Beatles clip, via American Digest: "Something Wonderful: The Beatles in 5 Minutes and 3 Songs."

Kathia Maria Davis, Laguna Niguel Hockey Mom, Accused of Sex With Son's Teammates

Some of the boys were as young as fourteen. The investigation arose initially out of suspicion that Ms. Davis threw parties serving alcohol for the boys. One of the victims told his mom, who, strangely, contacted the woman's ex-husband. Seems to me you'd go straight to the police. Either way, this is sickening.

At Los Angeles Times, "Hockey mom accused of having sex with son's underage teammates."