Right As Usual

I'm in Salt Lake City with the Physics teachers, at a workshop for Physics workshop leaders. (Pictures will follow shortly) I'm having a blast learning about new topics, methods, and content. If I can get Picasa to send pictures, I will. Otherwise, I may be a little out of touch for the next few days. In past years, I find that I get up at the crack of dawn, work hard all day, and am really too tired to focus much on the news at night. So, there may be few posts for a few days. I'll catch up when I return.

Today I used a Yiddish word I've never used before: Shonda I used it as the subject line of an email to Richard Cohen, who wrote in the Washington Post: I need to be very careful here, to say precisely what I mean and leave nothing to chance. I have just seen the play "Primo," which is performed by a single actor, Antony Sher, with material taken from Primo Levi's incomparable "If This Is a Man," the book that made the obscure Italian chemist an international literary sensation. It is an account of his time spent in Auschwitz. I could not help but think of Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo. I know, I know. One must never compare anything to the Holocaust. One must never invoke Nazism except in reference to the Nazis. One must isolate that era as a way of honoring the victims, keeping it pristine and removed from all other human experience because it was so uniquely awful. What does shonda ( Yiddish Dictionary spelling - shondah) mean? Shondah: (rhymes with Honda) a ...

I was reading the always-insightful Victor Davis Hanson in the National Review: First the terrorists of the Middle East went after the Israelis. From 1967 we witnessed 40 years of bombers, child murdering, airline hijacking, suicide murdering, and gratuitous shooting. We in the West usually cried crocodile tears, and then came up with all sorts of reasons to allow such Middle Eastern killers a pass. Yasser Arafat, replete with holster and rants at the U.N., had become a “moderate” and was thus free to steal millions of his good-behavior money. If Hamas got European cash, it would become reasonable, ostracize its “military wing,” and cease its lynching and vigilantism. When some tried to explain that Wars 1-3 (1947, 1956, 1967) had nothing to do with the West Bank, such bothersome details fell on deaf ears. When it was pointed out that Germans were not blowing up Poles to get back lost parts of East Prussia nor were Tibetans sending suicide bombers into Chinese cities to recover thei...

I found this makeover on Logogle . You can make your own. How cool is that? I'm going to move the new Google icon to my taskbar. That way, I can search on my "own" site.

I found this post via Righty in a lefty state :It wasn’t profiling. It wasn’t racism. It wasn’t panic or an overreaction. It wasn’t even a mistake. It was f***ing Darwin, come to collect his due. Warning: If you are offended by the f-bomb, don't click the link. I'm angered about the incident, but not because the police responded as they did. I'm furious that the Brazilian, perhaps believing all the popular entertainment that glorifies breaking into a fast getaway when confronted by cops, chose to follow his ill-advised instincts. Too many young men (and sometimes women) take a look at the police, decide "Hey, I'm speedier than that old man (or woman)" and decide to make a run for it. Bad idea - yes, you're probably a little faster than the cop, but you're definitely slower than a bullet. And, in a post-bombing London, they aren't inclined to take a chance, when seeing a fleeing person, heavily garbed in cold-weather clothes in a heat wave, igno...

I've been complaining about the weather for the last several weeks. Cleveland in summer is seldom unpleasantly hot for more than a week or so at a time, and the high temperature seldom exceeds 90 degrees. Not this last month. July temps have been between 80 to the high 90s, wihtout a break. Finally, last night, the thunderstorms rolled in. Boy, did they ever. I've been working in a retail electronics store this summer. Last night, in just the space of time between getting out of their car, and running inside, customers were often soaked straight through. I felt the difference immediately. This am, I opened the front door, and, for the first time in a month, cooled off the house by letting in the fresh air. Gee, it's good to be in Cleveland.

This is a follow-up to a previous post. I was writing about how the Armed Services sometimes are able to reform kids on the wrong path: They don't do it with "understanding" and "reasoning with them". they do it with rules, discipline, and consequences that are dependable. You see, the big trouble with "understanding" is that it assumes that, if only we communicate that understanding, the kid will then respond by stopping the behavior that caused the problem. Wrong. While, of course, it's important to demonstrate that we don't consider the emotions that are powering the mega-dumb decisions that kid is making to be outside of our frame of reference, it's not US that needs to show understanding. We, after all, have been young. And hormonally-driven. And overly trusting of others. So, many of us have made mistakes. But we have an advantage that the kid doesn't - age and the perspective that comes with distance from the events. It'...

Found at Happy Catholic: They have a new bumper sticker out. It says RUN, HILLARY, RUN. Democrats put it on their back bumpers. Republicans put it on their front bumpers. Lee Strong

I ran across this graduation addresss on The Ashbrook Institute's site. Many of us have heard the parable of the workers on the cathedral; the first worker is breaking breaking bricks, the second is making a living, but the third is building a cathedral. In reference to school: I wonder how our students would describe the work they did at Ridgeview. For they did have to work, you know. We do not give degrees lightly at this school. How would they describe the many, many hours they spent at home, reading and writing and preparing for the following day’s lessons? An ordinary sort of student might say, "I am doing homework." A better sort of student, perhaps even the "honor roll student" we read so much about on bumper stickers, might say, "I am trying to make good grades." But our students, perhaps not at first, but certainly by now, might have rather different answers to the questions parents ask to keep up with their children. "Josh, it’s tim...

It's hard to believe that the same union that wept crocodile tears over the possible of missing a single precious vote in November, 2004, is so dedicated to scheming to keep Cleveland citizens from voting. According to their own special election issue of The Critique, the union acknowledges that: Over 60% of Cleveland voters went to the polls and they defeated the November school levy decisively. Decisively. That's their word. Knowing that, you might think that they would believe that "the people have spoken", accept the verdict, and look for other ways to deal with the money crisis in the schools. You might think that, if you didn't know the CTU that well. Instead, they worked with BBB to get another levy vote on the August ballot, knowing that Most of those voters will not show up on August 2. There is only one issue on the ballot, and no presidential candidates bombarding every voter with TV ads, or automated phone calls or paid workers from well-funded orga...

I found the above cartoon on Curmudgeonly & Skeptical , a site that is crude, rude, and unbelievably funny. It does touch on an important issue: Who's responsible for raising your children? The answer I want to hear is - the parents. If a parent can't manage to grow the spine to say "no" to a kid, they should be informed, in no uncertain terms, that if they can't keep their kid in line, society will step in if the kid's behavior gets so out of line that it affects everybody else. That means, if your kid only bugs you, tough luck. If he hurts someone else, or seriously damages property, we'll give you ONE chance to straighten him/her up. Then we'll step in and remove the punk from your influence. You see, it's seldom the kid that's the problem. The talk shows have brought in "tough love" experts who take the unruly, obnoxious brats, and return the good kids that always were there, just hidden by the incredibly bad parenting. T...

A Mom and Her Blog has the ultimate threat from the Taliban.

I'm going to have to read Marginal Revolution more regularly - this is the 2nd time today I've referenced a post. On Social Security and PSAs: Personal accounts won't prevent Social Security's impending bankruptcy. Personal accounts are great for other reasons: they will encourage savings, provide a more comfortable retirement, give people a nest egg they can own and increase personal responsibility. But the accounts won't solve the insolvency problem. Bush should stop talking about these two issues -- insolvency and personal accounts -- as though they are connected. He needs to concentrate on one or the other to start. Tyler Cowen makes some strong arguments for encouraging saving for retirement, without entering the minefield of PSAs.

Marginal Revolution has a link to an article in the New Yorker that argues that foreign aid is NOT always wasted, and, when properly targeted, may be a useful component of our foreign policy. From Marginal Revolution : ...it’s a myth that aid is doomed to failure. Foreign aid funded the campaign to eradicate smallpox, and in the sixties it brought the Green Revolution in agriculture to countries like India and Pakistan, lifting living standards and life expectancies for hundreds of millions of people. As for the Asian nations that Africa is being told to emulate, they may have pulled themselves up by their bootstraps, but at least they were provided with boots. Read the original article before making up your mind. I'm guessing that aid recipients without at least some degree of a democratic process may be poor candidates for aid - in the absence of citizen input, the aid may be used more often to enrich the receiver than develop the country. My suggestion is that, in the futur...

After reading about the Ebonics story, I checked out a trackback on the AFM4R,AVM4tI , my new abbreviation for the site (which is really great, just too long to type today). I found Independent Sources, who also had the non-PC list: the BEST 23 Ebonics titles in the blogosphere. * Too Many Children Who Can’t Read? Let’s Make it Worse! * Reason to Homeschool #56465115 * We be teachin’ Ebonics * Maybe the Name of this Stupid Program Sounds Better in Ebonics * Idiot with a PhD * Sheeit! * Ebonics Be Back In Bidness * Poor Speech Skills are now a Civil Right * Say What? * Notorious B.I.G. * Yo, Yo, Yo, Only in California * Much Learning Hath Made Them Mad * I be Getting All Learneded * Ebonics in the Hizzle for the Rizzle * This Ain’t No Jive: Ebonics Be Back * Ebonics Be Back * Calling Bill Cosby * Ebonics is Back, Bitches! * Stupid is as Stupid Does * San Bernardino Calif. – We like our kids dumb! * San...

UPDATE: Check out the Day by Day cartoon . Uncannily, it's an echo of what I was just thinking - that by encouraging use of a language that is not spoken by the majority of the country, advocates of Ebonics may be inadvertantly preparing Black children for careers as Codetalkers. A Face Made 4 Radio, A Voice Made 4 the Internet picks up the story from the San Bernadino Sun News on Ebonics. Mary Texeira, a sociology professor at Cal State San Bernardino, commended the San Bernardino Board of Education for approving the policy in June. Texeira suggested that including Ebonics in the program would be beneficial for students. Ebonics, a dialect of American English that is spoken by many blacks throughout the country, was recognized as a separate language in 1996 by the Oakland school board. "Ebonics is a different language, it's not slang as many believe,' Texeira said. "For many of these students Ebonics is their language, and it should be considered a foreign la...

In the spirit of the -gate meme, I have to confess I am privy to a genuinely serious situation. GateGate. My granddaughter has learned to open the "child-proof" gate that keeps her out of the kitchen. She has been prevented from going there, due to her untrustworthiness with just about anything she gets her hands on. If a mess can be made, she'll make it. Naturally, my daughter is doing her best to find out the culprit who showed her how to open the gate. I maintain that, even if the person is "outed", it might have been an inadvertant error. She disagrees. She is certain that it was a deliberate effort to undermine her authority, which amounted to a attempted coup. More details as they are uncovered.

Unbelievably, I came home today to find that I've been promoted to Large Mammal in the TTLB Ecosystem. Now, I've got to say that I'm hanging on by a thread - I'm next to the last blog in that category. So, don't be surprised if the next update takes me back down to Marauding Marsupial. If you want to help me avoid that awful fate, please put a link to me in your blog, and bump me up a few places. Yeah, I'm wheedling shamelessly for links!

My kids like Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. Due to the fact that I don't care to watch TV in the late afternoon, they have control of the remote. I usually set up my computer, and blog and blurk to my heart's content, enjoying their presence in the room, while barely noting the noise. Occasionally, I raise my eyes to see a wooden stake plunged into some demonic being, followed by the explosive extinction of the horrifying un-dead. Perhaps that's the reason that I started looking for long pieces of wood this afternoon. One of the un-dead is starting to make his presence known after a long slumber in the crypt. Gore’s new cable channel has kept him on the move. The channel will be geared towards young people and will debut in August. But Gore’s name is already out there for the presidential election in 2008. Enough time has elapsed since the Florida presidential election fight of 2000 for Democrats to put it behind them. Need I mention that Gore has been greeted by Democrats ...

While looking over The Bad Hair Blog this afternoon, I found a reference to BOGUS BUSH SCANDALS . Curious, I followed the link, and found a LONG list of published liberal anti-Bush scandals that hit the headlines - NONE of which were true. The list is long, it's linked fully; I had not realized just how many untruths were floating out there. Yet, most of them were solidly accepted by MSM and the average reader. Just one of them: (13) "TURKEYGATE" - that supposedly plastic turkey Bush held up on his surprise visit to Iraq - THAT TURNED OUT TO BE REAL! This attempt at smearing Bush proved that the Left - and the MSM they still dominate - will stoop to any depth, tell any lie, deny any truth in order to hurt Bush - even if it helps the enemy. They are shameless.

I found this quote on The Cafeteria Is Closed: The problem is that many liberals cannot conceive of evil outside of not recycling. Too many tepid Christians of the modern era cannot fathom what evil looks like. They are unable to categorize anything as evil; this leads to tremendous discomfort with the actions such as the London bombings. If there is no evil, then, somehow, the bombings must be justified. Logic is tortured beyond all recognition in the effort to keep evil from being correctly identified. They cannot express righteous indignation at the action. That would require they take a moral position; that would be unacceptable in their non-judgmental world.

Isn't it wonderful that men have embraced this sport? I mean, men used to say that women's sports weren't worth watching, but now - Well, it's obvious why beach volleyball attracts the male audience, isn't it? It's the thrill of seeing women compete!

I was reading Captain's Quarters . Today, he writes about how, in a civil war (are any wars really "civil"?) between the Sunnis and the Shiites, the less numerous Sunnis will be annihalated. The real question is, will the Sunnis move beyond tribal loyalties to become part of the new nation? Nationhood is not as simple as writing a constitution and electing leaders. It requires than the inhabitants of that country put aside their local loyalties to place their status as national citizens as their highest loyalty. And that's not an easy decision. Our own nation stumbled through the process. The nations that succeeded in building a nation did so because they made a decision to place the larger group above their own interests. I really don't know whether it will happen in Iraq. I'd like them to try.

The Anchoress is quoted by the Chicago Tribune, but SELECTIVELY - ommitting any reference that might reflect negatively on the Clinton years. Doncha just love a sanitized press?

UPDATE - I realized, after I posted, that I failed to include the upside-down question mark at the beginning of the Title. I found this on A Face Made 4 Radio, A Voice Made 4 the Internet The Ohio House of Representatives is reviewing draft legislation that would require almost all state and local agencies to conduct their business and publish records in English only. No more driver's license exams in Spanish, for example. Of course, Jose Feliciano, a local Hispanic leader, is against it. He feels personally targeted - targeted as a Hispanic," he said. The Puerto Rican-born Feliciano, a partner at the Baker & Hostetler law firm, said most Latinos feel compelled to learn English so they can find work and help their families. They will resent the government pushing them to do so, he said. Resent away, I say. Picture this: I move to Mexico. Once there, I insist in speaking in English to everybody, and on having all written materials I encounter translated (at their expense)....

BLACKWELL for Governor : Photo Gallery Ken apparently has some web people on his staff already - he has a site that is easy to navigate, and even has a Blog This button that pulled in the Title, Link and content above with a single move. Make a point of putting his blog on the Blogroll or bookmarks.

Jody at Steal the Bandwagon wants everybody to link to her and tell them she's moved. Mission accomplished!

I found the NOdometer graphic (new on sidebar) on the Heritage Foundation website . It continually updates what Social Security will cost us, if we don't take steps to deal with it NOW. I saw a reference to it on Wizbang , where WILLisms.com's post shows the NOdometer, as well as some graphs, and a cogent explanation of KidSave accounts, which may make the transition from Social Security dependence easier. The original link to Wizbang was on Viking Pundit . Convoluted, yes? But I didn't want to leave anyone out of the reference loop. Now, off to send trackbacks. I work SO HARD! And on a Saturday, no less!

I found this test on Power Line . I'm a sucker for them, so I tried it and found out that I'm: Gandalf A wandering spirit caring for a multitude of just concerns, you are an instrumental power in many of the causes around you. And so am I, very dangerous: more dangerous than anything you will ever meet, unless you are brought alive before the seat of the Dark Lord.

I was reading the always-absorbing MaxedOutMama , who writes about failure to believe someone's own words: It is amazing to me how many people who have theoretically, at least, received a good and well-rounded education understand nothing at all about the rise of Nazi ideology or what Nazi ideology actually was. The same types of people who did not see the truth then are making the same mistake now in their attitudes toward Islamic terrorism. My fourth-grade teacher stopped in class one day (we were going over a lesson about European history of the 1930's) and told us that a lot of good people had made a terrible mistake because they had failed to read Mein Kampf or failed to believe that Hitler believed what he wrote in Mein Kampf. This failure to believe Hitler's own words allowed the leaders of the day to adopt a policy of appeasement toward Hitler as he seized nations, exercised terror against his political opponents, and committed mass murder against portions of his ow...

Update: I've fixed a messed-up link position that led to somewhat tangled syntax. Check out the comments - Saintknowitall has information about Plame's agent status. You know, I've been following the whole Rove controversy since it started, and I've concluded a few things: Most people who are not pro-Bush lean to the idea that Rove committed a crime and should go. But, their opinion is on soft ground, and could quickly change if they were presented with facts contrary to it, in a form they could understand. Too many of them believe that Plame is an AGENT, not a home office analyst. Was she ever an agent? Don't know. But, if she was, she hasn't been for at least 5 years. And, that's the definition of an agent, by the Agency. Check out the source document for yourself. The wording that's been released, so far, of what Rove said to Cooper seems to be short of "outing". Cooper's email is his recollection of what Rove said. If there i...

I've been reading Pat Sajak's columns . Yes, THAT Pat Sajak. Honest. He's not just a game show host. The one that caught my eye is the one in which he discusses likely winners of Presidential races. He acsribes to the PUB Theory - Pat's Unified Beer Theory. Looking back over the past 25 years, the person elected President was the candidate with whom most Americans would rather have a beer. But PUB is not about drinking; it’s about attitude. Which candidate would really engage you in a conversation? Who could sit down in your kitchen and really talk with you without the aid of speechwriters and advisors? If you look at possible runners for the next Presidential election, could you possibly imagine Hillary being the one to hoist a few brewskis with? And enjoying it? I didn't think so. If Pat's theory holds beer water, Hillary hasn't a chance. Go, read the rest of the post. Check out the archives, too. Sajak is really good.

I might as well get into trouble for my thoughts on the subject. Reparations, that is. I'm against them. I think the efforts focusing on reparations are intended to distract minorities from the fact that virtually all of the "leaders" are VERY comfortably off financially, NOT living in "the hood", and not putting their kids in the public schools they want others to use. In other words, I'm with you, bro', but not actually WITH you. Rather than actually deal with the problems of ordinary Black people, the elite want to FEEL like revolutionaries. Yippee-Ki-Yay! has a post about the NAACP's targeting businesses to give - well, not actually GIVE, since that implies they had a choice in the matter. It's more like a mugging. The NAACP will target private companies as part of its economic agenda, seeking reparations from corporations with historical ties to slavery and boycotting companies that refuse to participate in its annual business diversity ...

I've been noticing more spotty updating on blogs lately. That's likely due to: summer vacations too much work weather has actually lured some of us away from the keyboard family committments lack of anything to say general malaise Several blogs have announced shutdowns or sabbaticals in the last month. I think, in part, that's due to needing some down time, but ignoring it. Guys, for most of us, this is a volunteer, unpaid (or badly paid) activity. When the work of maintaining a blog against spam, hackers, trolls, and the like becomes too time-consuming, many of us look at the situation, and bail. I can't honestly blame them. I'm lucky. Although I sometimes go over-the-top, and irritate someone into responding, generally I receive polite comments. Most simply point out errors of fact or ill-reasoned opinion. I get just enough feedback that I feel "special" and loved, without getting bogged down into an endless cycle of troll-banning and comment-dele...

I love blogs! By selecting a variety of viewpoints (male, female, old, young, conservative, moderate, libertarian, and geographically all over), I can find out so much that is not covered in my bland and liberal daily local paper . Over at Alpha Patriot , I found some fascinating nuggets about England: Indeed, by the year 2000, CBS News was reporting that America was safer than the UK as British citizens are more likely to be burglarized, almost twice as likely to be robbed, and two-and-a-half times more likely to be assaulted than their American counterparts. By 2001 the British government was planning ways to eliminate jury trials and double jeopardy protection. By 2004, supposedly in reaction to terrorist threats, the British government proposed incarcerating people based on "pre-emptive" charges, before a crime is even committed [and people worry about our little Patriot Act over here]. In 2005, the British government began deploying the army to city streets in order to ...

I've bookmarked the official Ken Blackwell for Governor site. I'll have to wait until I return to update the template links.

I watched CNN while I was at lunch. (It's the only channel on at work). Many of the commentators were quite critical of Rove, but not as critical as Kerry was in what he called An Open Letter to President Bush: Decency—and the interests of the American people--demand an end to Karl Rove’s days in the White House. You have the choice to either make good on your promise to hold accountable those who shared the identity of a secret soldier in the war on terror – or prove that promise hollow. I call on you to keep your promise to the American people and fire Karl Rove. Isn't that precious? JFK, you do understand that Rove is a POLITICAL advisor, don't you? That's one of the few positions that might reasonably be considered to be off limits to political pressures from the opposition, I think. I watched Kerry on CNN give his usual ponderous pronouncements, with Hillary at his side, vigorously nodding. She was asked if she was nodding, and she said, "I'm nodding...

The test I took below was found on Backcountry Conservative . What does this mean? Your nerdiness is: Supreme Nerd. Apply for a professorship at MIT now!!!. They also have jokes there. A sample: Science - Engineer In Hell An engineer dies and reports to the pearly gates. St. Peter checks his dossier and says, "Ah, you're an engineer -- you're in the wrong place." So, the engineer reports to the gates of hell and is let in. Pretty soon, the engineer gets dissatisfied with the level of comfort in hell, and starts designing and building improvements. After awhile, they've got air conditioning and flush toilets and escalators, and the engineer is a pretty popular guy. One day, God calls Satan up on the telephone and says with a sneer, "So, how's it going down there in hell?" Satan replies, "Hey, things are going great. We've got air conditioning and flush toilets and escalators, and there's no telling what this engineer is going to come up...

I got so wrapped up in the London bombings, that I forgot to post on a topic I got REALLY involved in - the Dancing With the Stars competition. Reading Ales Rares post on the subject reminded me. If you didn't watch it, be sure to catch it in re-runs. It was great fun, and that rare show the whole family could watch without embarassment. The couple to watch was John Hurley and his partner, Charlotte Jorgensen (pictured above in competition). Charlotte worked with both Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez on the film "Shall We Dance?" I have no personal animus against the official winners - pictured below. Frankly, Eric was right when he wrote: I admire how Kelly's improved over the weeks, but she's still not a very good dancer. She wore bare-essentials (pun intended) outfits and showed off her body rather than good dancing. The outfits were the most spectacular part of Kelly's performance, but they still didn't compensate for less-than-stellar dancing. In...

I found information about the bill to limit birthright citizenship to children of citizens or permanent, legal residents . You can get updates on any bill by going to this site , and entering the bill's # (in this case, 698), or entering keywords to search on. Interestingly, it does NOT give automatic citizenship to a child born of an American who is not married to the mother. A common law marriage doesn't count. That's a major change. What's happening with this bill? Latest Major Action: 3/2/2005 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security, and Claims. You might want to use the link to the House of Representatives on the Blogroll to pass on your opinion about the bill. Why is this such an important issue at this time? Because, according to The Corner at National Review , nearly 10 percent of all births in the United States today are to illegal aliens So? Well, it directly affects our governmental processes. ...

WOW! In response to Kim du Toit's announcement that he's done, N.O. Pundit (he's on the Blogroll) sums up the current situation: I am going to yell now: IT IS NOT THAT WE ARE ENTERING THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF THE UNITED STATES AS WE KNOW IT; RATHER, IT IS THAT WE ARE ENTERING THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF THE NANNY/VICTIM/SOCIALIST/ COMMUNIST/COLLECTIVIST STATE. All because of the New Media. We are regaining consciousness after 70-odd years of New Deal/Great Society/Identity Politics/Victimhood/Legacy Media crap. You know, when you decide to get into shape, you actually feel a lot better than you will in a few days. Because after you start working out, you hurt like a #$%^&*(. EVERYTHING hurts. It hurts to blink. It hurts to even THINK about moving. Many quit at that time. Because they can't stand the pain. That's a mistake. You have to hang in there, and work past the pain. In the end, you look better. You feel better. Your body actually, after reachi...

My son and I were talking about the problem of African debts. Apparently, much of the money was stolen from by the ruling classes of those countries. He came up with a solution, and, quirky as it is, I'm liking it more and more. Offer it to those seeking early release - the US will pay for your passage to the country that owes us for the last round of aid. We'll supply all the information, it's up to you to figure out how to squeeze it out of the crooks. Many of these guys are experienced in debt collection - they don't take post-dated checks or excuses. Once they turn in a pre-set amount, they can either take their freedom and leave, or stick around, and take 1/2 of what they collect. This solution relieves the overcrowding in prisons, gets the money back, and gives the ex-prisoner a fresh start. Win-win.

Jane Galt, at Asymmetrical Information , has an interesting post on the recent decline in teen pregnancies (you also need to read the comments - a lot of speculation on the reasons). Based on working as a high school teacher during those years, I would venture to guess that the change in support for teens via welfare was a MAJOR contribution to the drop. Most of the girls spent time discussing what support they would be entitled to (OK, I'm nosy, I eavesdropped), and most decided that the risk wasn't worth it. I went from at least 8-10 9th graders pregnant (out of less than 150 students, only 1/2 of them female - you do the math) to 1-3 preggos a year.

I was stuck at work today, and only had access to CNN. They seemed to be covering the London bombings fairly well, if overly focused on the man-in-the-street aspects of the situation. As of late this afternoon, I had only heard speculation about the possible terrorist causes of the tragedy. My supposition about the attacks is that they were planned, long ago, and have been in place for the main Western contenders for the Olympics - Paris, London, and New York. They were triggered by the announcement of winning the bid. From Fox News, a picture, taken by camera phone, of the subway evacuation. Expect the popularity of camera phones to drive more on-the-scene pictures of news stories. Tony Blair showed a bit of that Churchillian spirit: "The perpetrators of today's attacks are intent on destroying human life. The terrorists will not succeed. Today's bombings will not weaken in any way our resolve to uphold the most deeply held principles of our societies and to defeat tho...

I've made a graphic to display my frustration, without being overly vulgar. Posted by Picasa

I've been thinking about famine aid lately, and debt reduction. If the original problem in the 80's was a failure of the farm crop, due to weather & war, and the food aid that poured into the country caused the farmers to go broke, due to the competition, then, why didn't we follow a different strategy? Why did we give the aid to the government? Which caused the farmers to lose out? Why didn't we give the food to the farmers, to sell? Then, they could have stayed in business, and the people wouldn't have paid any more for the food, and the government wouldn't have used the food as a weapon in their fight against the rebels. I realize that I'm not an economist, but could someone explain to me why that wouldn't work? I'm not planning on donating to the African relief effort, unless I can understand why our donations won't, again, cause more trouble than not.

BLUEBIRD or BLUEJAY Over at Dappled Things , Fr. Jim Tucker has been pondering the reason why people are unhappy. As a working priest, he's often confronted with people dissatified with one or more aspects of their lives. He's found a possible explanation: Doctor Tom More, the psychiatrist main character in Walker Percy's Thanatos Syndrome, says that nearly everyone he knows -- sick, sane, and in between -- falls into one of two categories: the bluebirds or the jaybirds. The Bluebird of Happiness The bluebirds are people who spend their lives searching for an elusive bluebird of happiness: dreaming of the memories of past joy, awaiting the right person who will fill the gaps in their hearts, convinced that there is something better than what they are living at the moment. They want to be something. Jaybirds want to do something and to beat someone else out in the doing of it: "to do this or that, take this or that, beat So-and-so out of a promotion, seduce Miss Smit...

OK, I think I've got a temporary fix on the template that I can live with for a few weeks, until I get around to designing a more permanent solution. I thought the design of the background was too busy, and, altogether, it looked far too fussy. It all started when I got a strange display - the text of the posts was pushed WAY down on the page, after the sidebar. Although I finally (with many people's help) figured out what was happening, I still decided to make some changes to the look of the blog. The tiny ceramic figure at the top of the page is one that I received as a child from my grandmother. I estimate that it's around 50 years old. Don't know whether it's worth anything to anyone else, but it has a priceless value to me. My grandmother died at 97; I miss her still. Please, if you are from Ohio, consider checking out the link just under the title. It links to the UNOFFICIAL Ken Blackwell for Governor site. It's not too early to start thinking about...

I was catching up on posts in the National Review , and found a reference to a local attorney and law professor Peter Kirsanow is now serving on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. He was appointed by President Bush, against opposition so strong that in December 2001, the Commission’s Chairperson told the White House that it would take federal marshals to seat Mr. Kirsanow. The majority on the Commission fought his appointment all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. I honestly don't remember much about the fuss - personal issues took precedence at the time. On the Center for Individual Freedom's web site , Mr. Kirsanow is interviewed about voter disenfranchisement. Expect that topic to continue to be hot for many years to come, particularly in the Ohio area. Ken Blackwell , Ohio's popular Secretary of State, endured a lot of pressure during the 2004 election. He's currently running for the governorship. Check out Blackwell - if you think he'd make a good governo...

I was checking out Moonbat Central , and found this reference: Hollywood is floundering. The major film studios won’t admit it yet, but Hollywood filmmakers’ lemming-like attraction to anti-Western and anti-American themes is driving Tinseltown to bankruptcy. US audiences today simply refuse to spend their money to see enemy propaganda. Why is that? I've long loved movies. From my childhood Saturdays (and sometimes Sundays) in the local theater, through my teens with girl-buddies or dates, I remember the thrill of sitting in a dark place, totally wrapped up in a story that came at me out of the darkness. The sheer size of the screen pushed the experience right through my skin, propelled by the enveloping sound waves. For those brief hours, I was enraptured and encased in the sensory massage, and emerged, later, a little disoriented. I didn't spend my time watching classics - well, unless you count Japanese horror and Disney cartoons as such. I cheered for Rodin, Godzilla,...

While waiting for an English muffin to toast, I blogged around and found this at AlphaPatriot : From the pen of WaTi editor Wesley Pruden: There's no mystery about why the U.S. Supreme Court threw the Ten Commandments out of the courthouse. You can't engrave "thou shalt not steal" or even "thou shalt not commit adultery" and certainly not "thou shalt not lie" on the walls inside a building full of lawyers, judges and politicians without creating a hostile work environment.

I'm just finishing a breathing treatment (last week, my asthma flared up), and heard a familiar sound - distant fireworks (very small). Most of the local cities have public fireworks, but there are always a few individuals who set off the small ones in their own yard. Fireworks in Yankee country (most of us don't think of ourselves as that; Southerners disagree) are generally a tame and placid thing. Mostly set off in established venues, occasionally indulged in by teenagers. I'm not fond of either type; too much noise, and the side effect of smoke irritates my breathing. I stay away from the formal settings, and close the windows against the rest. One of the funnier incidents of my life was watching my husband and his brothers make fools of themselves with Roman candles one summer. It happened like this: My husband's sister was living in Alabama at the time. Like any good transplant, she adapted to local custom, and brought some Roman candles back to PA on a trip ...

The blogosphere is buzzing about Rep. Nancy Pelosi's recent comment on the Kelo decision: If Congress wants to change it, it will require legislation of a level of a constitutional amendment. So this is almost as if God has spoken. Aside from the convoluted reasoning behind that statement (the Supreme Court used the Constitution for toilet paper, but the Congress has to pass an amendment to get back the original? What stops the Court from doing it again? When the Congress says "This time, I really, really, really mean it!"), this comment indicates that the congresswoman is truly ignorant. And idolatrous. What's that? From the Catholic Encyclopedia: The specific note of idolatry is its direct opposition to the primary object of Divine worship; it bestows on a creature the reverence due to God alone. Nance, get a clue. The Justices seem to be reasonable people, if, at times, a little full of themselves. (And who could blame them? They have, in American life, the h...

I've heard a lot recently about how the President has failed to connect with the people, bring his case for Iraq to the people, or justify his policies. I heard his speech this last week. It wasn't, in some ways, a great speech. Without the feedback of applause (which, apparently, he chose to suppress - the troops were told to NOT applaud, to avoid the appearance of a pep rally), Bush 43 was not his personal best. He seems to get a lot out of live audiences. The speech seemed, without the feedback, to be delivered in a somewhat hurried manner. He really didn't seem very relaxed - he's a guy that likes the give-and-take of live audiences, and he looked a little stiff (more like a typical Gore speech of old). I was amazed at how few people I interacted with who had seen the speech, even a major portion of it. Most everyone just heard the filtered highlights from the news. It's not that these people are even getting what, in the old days, would have been called t...

I really don't know quite where to start. Right Thinking Girl , a blog I normally love, is blogging about baseball. Indians vs. Orioles baseball, no less. And she doesn't understand the game. REALLY doesn't understand the game. In a way I simply can't get. I'm from Cleveland. In my youth, I inhaled the sacred expectations of every true Clevelander - that we would win the pennant. Year after year, I watched the Tribe play, suffering along with the rest of the city. It's that character-building experience that has made us so tough. I played sandlot ball with my brother and his friends. They didn't take it easy on me because I was a girl. I fully expected to join the Indians team once I was an adult. It broke my heart (no exaggeration) when my brother explained to me that no girl had ever played professional ball, nor ever would. I accepted my fate (Gloria Steinem would spit on me), and found other interests. So, reading this post about the game I love ...

On Steal the Bandwagon , I found a cool new tool for bloggers. It seems that when you install the LastHalo button on the sidebar, you can display the last commenters, and the first few words of their posts. Not life-altering, but cute and fun. I'm going to install my own button. Have fun looking for your name when you comment. I've been playing around with the template lately. One of the things I want to do is get a graphic & title that I can use for the top of my blog. I'm obviously not very artistic, so it may take some time to create. I've been trying to make it using digital tools, but, today I realized that I might do better using real-life resources, and scanning them in high-resolution. I'm going to be playing around this weekend, including taking some pictures of the local sights, and doing some experimenting with colored pencils, markers, and the like. As a kid, like most of us, I liked to draw. But, as we get older (not necessarily more mature)...