Sunday, January 28, 2007
You are a pirate!
****
I love it.
I hope it sticks in your head.
If you've already seen it, see it again!
Two minutes of pure joy.
Monday, January 22, 2007
Super Colts!
****
Indianapolis Colts 38, New England Patriots 34
Now that Peyton Manning and the Colts have kicked the Patriots monkey off their backs, it's time for the Colts to step up and win Super Bowl 41.*
A national championship for the city would be sweet. The Pacers came close once. This is our second - and best so far - shot at the brass ring.
The world won't end with a Colts loss. I don't get too high after a win or too low after a loss. This is just a game, after all. The Colts franchise is based in the city; it is not the city. As the people of Baltimore learned more than 20 years ago the championships and records belong to Jim Irsay and the Colts franchise, not the city that supports them and if the Colts were to relocate to Los Angeles next year, the trophies and records would go with them.
That said, a Super Bowl championship will once and for all sever the ties to Baltimore. The franchise's glory days are now, not 30+ years ago.
It's a great ride so far. Go Colts!
*I'm sick of the pretentious Roman numerals. Enough already. It's football, dangit.
Indianapolis Colts 38, New England Patriots 34
Now that Peyton Manning and the Colts have kicked the Patriots monkey off their backs, it's time for the Colts to step up and win Super Bowl 41.*
A national championship for the city would be sweet. The Pacers came close once. This is our second - and best so far - shot at the brass ring.
The world won't end with a Colts loss. I don't get too high after a win or too low after a loss. This is just a game, after all. The Colts franchise is based in the city; it is not the city. As the people of Baltimore learned more than 20 years ago the championships and records belong to Jim Irsay and the Colts franchise, not the city that supports them and if the Colts were to relocate to Los Angeles next year, the trophies and records would go with them.
That said, a Super Bowl championship will once and for all sever the ties to Baltimore. The franchise's glory days are now, not 30+ years ago.
It's a great ride so far. Go Colts!
*I'm sick of the pretentious Roman numerals. Enough already. It's football, dangit.
Labels: Colts
Friday, January 19, 2007
Illegals again...
****
One of my grandparents was a naturalized citizen (from the Ukraine) and my wife is Hispanic. Her grandparents were also naturalized. I know why immigrants come and I do not object to their presence so long as they are here legally and they behave themselves. If and when they become naturalized citizens, I will welcome them and their children as such.
True charity would dictate that we insist the Mexican and other Central American governments do something about the sorry states of affairs in their own country and desist from depending on the US to do what they should be doing for their own citizens.
The politician who proposes the following is going to get strong consideration for my vote:
1. Build the fence. An open border policy is simply insane. It's no more rational than leaving your door unlocked.
2. Amend the laws on citzenship to exclude children born of non-naturalized citizens.
3. Offer guest visas to those already here. AFTER A REASONABLE TIME, deport those we find who do not have one. Deport those who should not be here (criminals, etc) immediately.
4. Offer permanent visas to those who qualify.
5. Let those who wish to become citizens do so when they have met the criteria.
Charity does not demand that we let everyone in who wants in. The Church does not give the Eucharist to every Tom, Pablo and Ivan that walks in the door. They are supposed to be one of us, and while we can and do welcome them, there is a process they have to go through to qualify as "one of us."
You know - RCIA, baptism, confirmation and all that legalistic stuff? Even a cradle Catholic has to be reconciled to the Church before he can receive.
And while we're at it:
"Anchor baby" is a perfectly good term.
A "racist" is not someone who disagrees with you no matter what your relative skin colors.
There is a difference between "legal" and "illegal" immigration.
"Discrimination" is perfectly reasonable - it's why you choose Chips Ahoy over Famous Amos - and is not synonymous with "racism."
Your imperfect interpretation of Church social teaching is not a bludgeon to be used in an argument over points of law and policy; I am no less Catholic because I may disagree with you. Whatever else the Bishop of Wherever has to say on faith and morals, his position on what he thinks America should do to secure her borders is irrelevant unless he is also a citizen and can vote.
Illegal immigrants are here. We need to treat them as human beings and take care of them as well as we are able and deport them as fast as is humanely practical if they do not deserve to be here.
I'm not asking for a lily-white America. I am demanding that our immigration policy at least be coherent.
One of my grandparents was a naturalized citizen (from the Ukraine) and my wife is Hispanic. Her grandparents were also naturalized. I know why immigrants come and I do not object to their presence so long as they are here legally and they behave themselves. If and when they become naturalized citizens, I will welcome them and their children as such.
True charity would dictate that we insist the Mexican and other Central American governments do something about the sorry states of affairs in their own country and desist from depending on the US to do what they should be doing for their own citizens.
The politician who proposes the following is going to get strong consideration for my vote:
1. Build the fence. An open border policy is simply insane. It's no more rational than leaving your door unlocked.
2. Amend the laws on citzenship to exclude children born of non-naturalized citizens.
3. Offer guest visas to those already here. AFTER A REASONABLE TIME, deport those we find who do not have one. Deport those who should not be here (criminals, etc) immediately.
4. Offer permanent visas to those who qualify.
5. Let those who wish to become citizens do so when they have met the criteria.
Charity does not demand that we let everyone in who wants in. The Church does not give the Eucharist to every Tom, Pablo and Ivan that walks in the door. They are supposed to be one of us, and while we can and do welcome them, there is a process they have to go through to qualify as "one of us."
You know - RCIA, baptism, confirmation and all that legalistic stuff? Even a cradle Catholic has to be reconciled to the Church before he can receive.
And while we're at it:
"Anchor baby" is a perfectly good term.
A "racist" is not someone who disagrees with you no matter what your relative skin colors.
There is a difference between "legal" and "illegal" immigration.
"Discrimination" is perfectly reasonable - it's why you choose Chips Ahoy over Famous Amos - and is not synonymous with "racism."
Your imperfect interpretation of Church social teaching is not a bludgeon to be used in an argument over points of law and policy; I am no less Catholic because I may disagree with you. Whatever else the Bishop of Wherever has to say on faith and morals, his position on what he thinks America should do to secure her borders is irrelevant unless he is also a citizen and can vote.
Illegal immigrants are here. We need to treat them as human beings and take care of them as well as we are able and deport them as fast as is humanely practical if they do not deserve to be here.
I'm not asking for a lily-white America. I am demanding that our immigration policy at least be coherent.
Labels: immigration
Predicting the weather
****
Cathy Young of the Boston Globe from Reason.com writes:
Her conclusion?
There is a ways to go in the science; we have even further to go in deciding the best way to attack the problem - if indeed it can be solved by humans. I know the solutions I've seen so far have been less than satisfactory and the idea that I think shows the most promise is the one that is most ignored - for reasons of politics.
(That would the Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate. Google it, or hit me with an e-mail address in the comments and I'll send you a .pdf file of the ABARE report. Hey, Dubya can't get everything wrong.)
Surely we can quit villifying the skeptics and instead address their concerns rationally. Many of their concerns are based on the political agenda of true believers as much as - or more than - the science itself. Contrary evidence as to causation is simply being shouted down and labeling the opposition seems to be a substitute for rational argument. We surely don't need to brand skeptics or those who hold competing theories as heretics and shun them...
Dr. Heidi Cullen, Climate Expert at the Weather Channel seems to think otherwise.
We've made huge policy blunders in the past based on scientific "consensus" that turned out to be just flat wrong. How many are dead of malaria who didn't have to die?
Cathy Young of the Boston Globe from Reason.com writes:
Mark Kleiman, a professor of public policy studies at UCLA and a self-identified liberal, noted this recently on his blog...."To those who dislike a social system based on high and growing consumption and the economic activity that supports high and growing consumption and maintains high and growing demand, to those who think that the market needs more regulation by the state, to those who think that international institutions ought to be strengthened . . . global warming is a Gaia-send" -- since it justifies drastic worldwide public action to curb production and consumption. While Kleiman sympathizes with environmentalists, he notes that "their eagerness to believe the worst" -- for instance, in Al Gore's documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth" -- "is just as evident as the right wing's denialism."
... those on the left who embrace environmentalism as their substitute religion don't want to hear about scientific and technological solutions to climate change -- from nuclear power to geoengineering, the artificial manipulation of the global environment -- that do not include stepping up regulation and curbing consumption.
Her conclusion?
Most journalists and pundits have limited knowledge of science...(and) an ideological crusade can be as strong an inducement to bend the truth as the profit motive.
There is a ways to go in the science; we have even further to go in deciding the best way to attack the problem - if indeed it can be solved by humans. I know the solutions I've seen so far have been less than satisfactory and the idea that I think shows the most promise is the one that is most ignored - for reasons of politics.
(That would the Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate. Google it, or hit me with an e-mail address in the comments and I'll send you a .pdf file of the ABARE report. Hey, Dubya can't get everything wrong.)
Surely we can quit villifying the skeptics and instead address their concerns rationally. Many of their concerns are based on the political agenda of true believers as much as - or more than - the science itself. Contrary evidence as to causation is simply being shouted down and labeling the opposition seems to be a substitute for rational argument. We surely don't need to brand skeptics or those who hold competing theories as heretics and shun them...
Dr. Heidi Cullen, Climate Expert at the Weather Channel seems to think otherwise.
If a meteorologist can't speak to the fundamental science of climate change, then maybe the AMS shouldn't give them a Seal of Approval. Clearly, the AMS doesn't agree that global warming can be blamed on cyclical weather patterns. It's like allowing a meteorologist to go on-air and say that hurricanes rotate clockwise and tsunamis are caused by the weather. It's not a political statement...it's just an incorrect statement.
We've made huge policy blunders in the past based on scientific "consensus" that turned out to be just flat wrong. How many are dead of malaria who didn't have to die?
Labels: global warming
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
It's your birthday(s!)
My twins, Karl and Krystyn, are 25 today.
My daughter-in-law, Karl's wife, Anastasia, is 22.
My niece, Kendall, turn 17 yesterday.
Happy Birthday!
I turned 48 Saturday.
Apparently, Spring is a busy time of year.
My daughter-in-law, Karl's wife, Anastasia, is 22.
My niece, Kendall, turn 17 yesterday.
Happy Birthday!
I turned 48 Saturday.
Apparently, Spring is a busy time of year.
Saturday, January 13, 2007
It's my birthday.
Woo hoo.
Posted this one retroactively. Apparently I cared even less then than I do now.
Posted this one retroactively. Apparently I cared even less then than I do now.
Labels: woo-hoo
Friday, January 12, 2007
Two Moonbats and ESPNU
****
Is it my imagination or does it look like he's already paid a visit to the embalmer?
After committing political hara kiri with his latest book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, I'm thinking it may be appropriate. Based on Carter's activities the past few years, I'm also thinking the fewer ex-presidents making a public nuisance of themselves the better.
****
On a totally unrelated note, whilst I was playing on the internet yestereve, my dear wife was channel surfing and somehow got stuck on a rerun of a Jane Fonda lecture from May of '06 on her book My Life So Far which aired on the UCTV channel that Dish Network - damn them! - seems to think I need in my basic satellite package instead of something useful, like ESPNU* - damn Disney!
After listening to Fonda rattle on about everything from life with a capitalist ("Why can't they all be like Ted") to right-wingers (They say mean and totally untrue things about her, I guess) I was then blessed to have to listen to her take on Christian theology and feminism. I heard lots of words like "sisterhood" and stunning insights like "Jesus was a feminist" (and revolutionary!)
I'm going to find a transcript for the program, mostly because I need commentary material, and also because I won't be able to listen to the moonbat again because after contemplating Jesus as a metrosexual Che Guevara I jammed the scissors into my ears to make it stop.**
___________________
* Disney can KMA. If every sporting event in America was going to be televised on ESPNU, I wouldn't pay for the upgrade. They need to put billiards and poker tournaments on the "U" and see who would pay for it and get back to actual sports programming on their flagship station. I'm about to jettison the whole package. Between ESPN, 2 and NEWS and the two alternate channels I'm already "blessed" with I barely watch more than a half hour of content a night anyway, and that's to read the ticker.
** Not really. I did ask the ol' lady why I had to be subjected to that crap*** and not only didn't she turn the channel, she didn't even turn it down. I asked her why she watched it, and I never did get a good reason, but she voted for Bush and is more Catholic than the Pope, so go figure.
*** I will have my revenge. I'm stopping at the vid store to buy another copy of Kelly's Heroes. She HATES that movie. Always with those negative waves...I'm thinking The Mike Curb Congregation at 100 db is fitting revenge.
UPDATE: (later that same day...) I fired off an e-mail to UCTV requesting a transcript. Apparently, they are going to re-air the program at 4:30 am on my birthday - not likely - and again at some unGodly hour - 1:00am - on Sunday. Check your local listings.
Is it my imagination or does it look like he's already paid a visit to the embalmer?
After committing political hara kiri with his latest book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, I'm thinking it may be appropriate. Based on Carter's activities the past few years, I'm also thinking the fewer ex-presidents making a public nuisance of themselves the better.
****
On a totally unrelated note, whilst I was playing on the internet yestereve, my dear wife was channel surfing and somehow got stuck on a rerun of a Jane Fonda lecture from May of '06 on her book My Life So Far which aired on the UCTV channel that Dish Network - damn them! - seems to think I need in my basic satellite package instead of something useful, like ESPNU* - damn Disney!
After listening to Fonda rattle on about everything from life with a capitalist ("Why can't they all be like Ted") to right-wingers (They say mean and totally untrue things about her, I guess) I was then blessed to have to listen to her take on Christian theology and feminism. I heard lots of words like "sisterhood" and stunning insights like "Jesus was a feminist" (and revolutionary!)
I'm going to find a transcript for the program, mostly because I need commentary material, and also because I won't be able to listen to the moonbat again because after contemplating Jesus as a metrosexual Che Guevara I jammed the scissors into my ears to make it stop.**
___________________
* Disney can KMA. If every sporting event in America was going to be televised on ESPNU, I wouldn't pay for the upgrade. They need to put billiards and poker tournaments on the "U" and see who would pay for it and get back to actual sports programming on their flagship station. I'm about to jettison the whole package. Between ESPN, 2 and NEWS and the two alternate channels I'm already "blessed" with I barely watch more than a half hour of content a night anyway, and that's to read the ticker.
** Not really. I did ask the ol' lady why I had to be subjected to that crap*** and not only didn't she turn the channel, she didn't even turn it down. I asked her why she watched it, and I never did get a good reason, but she voted for Bush and is more Catholic than the Pope, so go figure.
*** I will have my revenge. I'm stopping at the vid store to buy another copy of Kelly's Heroes. She HATES that movie. Always with those negative waves...I'm thinking The Mike Curb Congregation at 100 db is fitting revenge.
UPDATE: (later that same day...) I fired off an e-mail to UCTV requesting a transcript. Apparently, they are going to re-air the program at 4:30 am on my birthday - not likely - and again at some unGodly hour - 1:00am - on Sunday. Check your local listings.
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Indiana 85, Purdue 58
****
IU has now won 12 of the last 14.
Hoosiers!
From the Lafayette Journal and Courier:
It's much more fun to post the story from Purdue's home paper. The despair is almost palpable.
IU has now won 12 of the last 14.
From the Lafayette Journal and Courier:
"Purdue missed 13 of its first 16 field goal attempts, scored only seven points in the first 13:21 and watched the Hoosiers play H-O-R-S-E from 3-point range.
The end result was an emphatic 85-58 Indiana victory in front of 17,287 fans. It is Purdue's 27th consecutive loss on an opponent's court, including 19 in a row in Big Ten Conference action." - Jeff washburn
It's much more fun to post the story from Purdue's home paper. The despair is almost palpable.
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Kennedy Grandstanding Again. Announces Anti Surge Legislation
****
If there is a US politician I detest more than Ted Kennedy, I don't know who it would be.
Today, therefore, I am introducing legislation to reclaim the rightful role of Congress and the people’s right to a full voice in the President’s plan to send more troops to Iraq. Congressman Ed Markey of Massachusetts will introduce similar legislation in the House of Representatives. Our bill will say that no additional troops can be sent and no additional dollars can be spent on such an escalation, unless and until Congress approves the President’s plan.
I wonder how this bloated gasbag* thinks micro-managing the WOT from Congress is a good idea?
Commentary from Jules Crittenden.
Aren't these Dems the same bunch who were berating Rumsfeld because he didn't provide enough troops to the ground commanders? There's just no pleasing some people!
(originally posted at CAF by yours truly, with an additional comment or two thrown in for fun. And a picture! Worth a thousand words, no?)
*Bloated gasbag:
____________
If there is a US politician I detest more than Ted Kennedy, I don't know who it would be.
Today, therefore, I am introducing legislation to reclaim the rightful role of Congress and the people’s right to a full voice in the President’s plan to send more troops to Iraq. Congressman Ed Markey of Massachusetts will introduce similar legislation in the House of Representatives. Our bill will say that no additional troops can be sent and no additional dollars can be spent on such an escalation, unless and until Congress approves the President’s plan.
I wonder how this bloated gasbag* thinks micro-managing the WOT from Congress is a good idea?
Commentary from Jules Crittenden.
As a reporter and now an editor in Massachusetts for more than 20 years, I've had periodic dealings with Kennedy and his staff. The low regard in which I hold him has only plummeted with his antics and bizarre statements in the course of the Iraq war. Now, he wants to provoke a constitutional crisis, on top of a disastrous and massively deadly abandonment of Iraq.
U.S. Rep Martin Meehan, D-Mass., has his own resolution. I knew Marty 16 years ago in Lowell, long before he was a congressman. He was a political animal, but I liked him, found him principled, and as this war progressed, respected his earnest and measured positions even when I didn't agree with them. That respect is at an end with his cheap, copycat ploy, a House resolution calling on the president of the United States, in time of war, to ask the permission of Congress before he deploys any more troops into battle.
Aren't these Dems the same bunch who were berating Rumsfeld because he didn't provide enough troops to the ground commanders? There's just no pleasing some people!
(originally posted at CAF by yours truly, with an additional comment or two thrown in for fun. And a picture! Worth a thousand words, no?)
*Bloated gasbag:
____________
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
The more things change...
****
As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began.
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;
And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will bum,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return.
- Rudyard Kipling, from The Gods of the Copybook Headings
As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began.
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;
And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will bum,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return.
- Rudyard Kipling, from The Gods of the Copybook Headings
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
My Grandmother died yesterday.
****
.JPG)
She was 90.
In the 35 years since my Grandfather died, she's lived in Florida or Nebraska or Nevada, or I've lived out of state or I've been busy with my own brood. She'd been in a nursing home the last couple of weeks because she needed more care than my Aunt - heroic woman! - could give her and I missed her over Christmas. Come this past weekend and I had intended to go to the nursing home to see her. I had to work Saturday, and I had Grandkid #1 after church and all day yesterday and #2 yesterday afernoon, so the visit never happened.
We always think there'll be another time. Sometimes there isn't.
I felt bad when I heard the news, of course. But it bothers me a little that I didn't feel worse. There isn't the hole I should feel for someone who was a part of my life for 48 years. She'd been sick for some time, and I suppose I've known for a while now that she was going to die. Maybe that's why it hasn't really hit me yet.
I love you, Mimi. I always felt a little silly as a grown man calling you by the name I gave you as a toddler. Now I won't ever be able to feel embarassed about that again. I wish I could have felt embarassed at least once more.
I pray that God grant you eternal rest and may you be with Him in Heaven today!
Jane McPhail Frew Rigdon (Mimi) 1916-2007
Rest in Peace
UPDATE: 1/5/2007 The funeral was today. It's hit me finally. As I watched her great-great grandchildren play in the back of Lawrence United Methodist Church's hall, I can't help but feel that she lives on.
God be with ye, Mimi.
.JPG)
She was 90.
In the 35 years since my Grandfather died, she's lived in Florida or Nebraska or Nevada, or I've lived out of state or I've been busy with my own brood. She'd been in a nursing home the last couple of weeks because she needed more care than my Aunt - heroic woman! - could give her and I missed her over Christmas. Come this past weekend and I had intended to go to the nursing home to see her. I had to work Saturday, and I had Grandkid #1 after church and all day yesterday and #2 yesterday afernoon, so the visit never happened.
We always think there'll be another time. Sometimes there isn't.
I felt bad when I heard the news, of course. But it bothers me a little that I didn't feel worse. There isn't the hole I should feel for someone who was a part of my life for 48 years. She'd been sick for some time, and I suppose I've known for a while now that she was going to die. Maybe that's why it hasn't really hit me yet.
I love you, Mimi. I always felt a little silly as a grown man calling you by the name I gave you as a toddler. Now I won't ever be able to feel embarassed about that again. I wish I could have felt embarassed at least once more.
I pray that God grant you eternal rest and may you be with Him in Heaven today!
Jane McPhail Frew Rigdon (Mimi) 1916-2007
Rest in Peace
UPDATE: 1/5/2007 The funeral was today. It's hit me finally. As I watched her great-great grandchildren play in the back of Lawrence United Methodist Church's hall, I can't help but feel that she lives on.
God be with ye, Mimi.
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