Right As Usual

MANY diseases are worse than AIDS. AIDS is actually not that easy to catch. In some ways, MRSA is rather similar. You have to have direct contact with the infected person. Those who are most likely to catch it have compromised immune systems.

I have a feeling that we've just scratched the surface of this fear. Today, at my school, students were talking about a student with MRSA. The student in on the mend. However, many of the students were on the verge of hysteria.

The Senators may be slow learners, but they can count the votes.

It turns out that many popular beliefs about illegals are incorrect. They generally aren't just passing through, on their way to returning to the home country. They're sinking roots, and will be hard to remove. The longer we let them stay, the harder it will be.

From such small beginnings, come major consequences. Even today, the uncontrolled illegal immigrants may be incubating a viral catastrophe for future generations. This isn't unfairly picking on illegals; it's just pointing out that many of the illegals come from countries with periodic epidemic outbreaks.

You know how, you're just reading along, dipping into one post after another, as you catch up on the blogs on a Saturday morning, when suddenly you hit a post that makes you say "WOW!" - it stops you cold. This is definitely a 'WOW!" post. Gerard Van der Leun writes American Digest . He doesn't post as frequently as, say, an Instapundit. But, when he does post, it's generally worth it. In this post , he's writing about a town I know, Asheville, NC. It's like a lot of the new Southern towns, earnestly trying to be "Southern", that is, down-home, but not in a hick way, but very up-scale and ironic, 'ya know. It's a town that works very hard to price things so the OLD South won't want to come to town - they'll go where THEIR kind do, the Wal-Mart and Hardee's. Dressing like a farmer is good, actually having to smell the real thing is - well, NOT.

I found the post below when I was searching for information about the status THIS week on the Dream Act. I didn't notice the date - thought it was recent. My bad. I agree with Camarota - Rosa, and others like her, need to accept reality. She received an education, absolutely free, that will allow her to take the next step. Rather than complaining about what the CITIZENS of this country won't give her, she should be grateful about what she has been given. And go home - to Mexico.

This looks like one I will get. At least it's not Santa or Frosty.

Boy, am I glad I'm not living on the West Coast. And I'm glad that my son is no longer in San Diego. I understand that the city is devastated.

I've been grading avoiding work, and I started watching the show "Private Practice". One of the storylines is that of a middle school student (in a plaid uniform, peter pan collar) who is having consensual sex. It's obvious that someone in the production company wanted to make a point that there's nothing wrong with allowing children TOO YOUNG TO CONSENT TO SEX to receive confidential medical services - without parental knowledge. Never mind that a student of that age cannot make that decision. Never mind that the overwhelming majority of 14 and under girls that are sexually active are being exploited by a much older man (21+). God forbid that they should not be able to conceal evidence of the crime from their parents. Can you tell I'm against this? And that I object to television that uses the media to propagandize?

There is no joy in Cleveland. Is it too early to start saying "Wait until next year"?

We're only a few hours away from what I've waited for, for so long. I should be grading, but I'm psyching myself up.

Yeah, I've got Tribe Fever. And the Cure is tonight!

I've long suspected that the rise in Hepatitis C was associated with tattoos. Yet another reason I'm against them.

It's the bottom of the 2nd, the score is tied (1-1), and there's 2 outs. Casey Blake is at bat, and has 2 strikes on him. Beckett, the Boston pitcher, looks good. Darn! Gutierrez got stranded on 1st when Blake struck out.

I'm in a frenzy of indecision tonight; should I continue watching the Cleveland Indians game: Or watch Dancing With the Stars? The Tribe, definitely. Or, as we say in Cleveland, WAHOO!

On bRight & Early, I found a link to a new scheme of Hillary's. She wants to jump-start every American's retirement with a 401(k) and a seed of $1000. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton proposed tax cuts of up to $1,000 a year on Tuesday to encourage millions of working-age families to open personal 401(k) retirement accounts. The New York senator said the program would be paid for through higher estate taxes. Yeah. That would be taxes on us Ants - the ones with the ability to defer current pleasures for future rewards. So much for our future rewards - we'll be paying for all those Grasshoppers even after our deaths.

This is a great year. It could be better - I could be in a front row seat, watching the game. But, I have Dish, I'm getting the game on our new flat-screen, and - well, life is good. So far, the Tribe looks pretty good. They're ahead, no major errors. But, it's only the bottom of the 2nd inning. I'm hoping that Carmona can pull it off.

Captain's Quarter's flatly stated that Thompson wiped the floor with his detractors - in a nice, folksy sort of way. The first debate with Fred Thompson was expected to reveal whether the lanky actor had what it takes to make a national run for the office. Instead, it revealed Chris Matthews as a hack of the first order, one who tried his best to torpedo Thompson -- and failed utterly. He got so desparate that he demanded to know whether Thompson knew who the Canadian Prime Minister was -- and he did. Matthews grew so frustrated that he openly critiqued one of Thompson's answer for being too detailed, which prompted a scolding from Thompson. That was the game behind the debate, and Thompson stomped Matthews into a laughingstock. In the rest of the debate, Thompson showed that he was comfortable and prepared, even for the silly attacks from other candidates. Mitt Romney went into a long, telegraphed, and obviously gag-written punch about how the debates resemble "Law ...

I'm supposed to be grading, and I DO have a stack of tests in my lap. But my heart is on watching the Indians-Yankees game. I wasn't able to watch the previous game; I was traveling that day, and couldn't even get it on the radio. At that moment, I regretted not getting satellite radio. I heard the details from my sports fanatic brother-in-law. Apparently, some Canadian soldiers buzzed around the pitcher, rattling him, and being a part of causing the Yankees to lose. No, not THESE Canadian soldiers. THESE ones. It was a funny moment, and a strange one. The bugs usually start their swarming around June. It's very unusual for them to be seen in October. But that was then, this is now.

I'd naively assumed that Muslims would follow the same guidelines as Catholics - women who are pregnant or nursing are exempt from fasting, automatically. I never thought about the issue. However, this article seems to be suggesting that women are not following that advice. Fasting, for Catholics, means 2 smaller meals and 1 normal-sized meal. It's only for 1 day a week, and then only during Lent. Ramadan, on the other hand, is a month-long fast. Muslims are not to eat during the day, at all. That's a lot of deprivation for pregnant or nursing moms. Well, since it's optional for moms, why make a fuss? Because of this: Update: I found the following article on Voxant. It seems that even in the relatively urban and relaxed Dubai, rules are rules - EVEN for NON-MUSLIMS.

The Dream Act was de-coupled from the military appropriations bill, so I think we can safely say that, for now, it's dead. It's one of the many causes the Dems are pushing that haven't a prayer of standing on its own. The only hope it had for passing was to piggyback on another bill. I have mixed feelings about the following story. Certainly, students should consider schools to be a "safe place", but, come on, these students don't have a right to an education at taxpayers' expense. The parents are here illegally. Presumably, the kids are also illegal. So, why should they feel safe at school? Or anywhere else in the US?

As usual, Mark Steyn explains why Human Rights has become so - well - NUANCED. It used to be so easy - if the bad guys didn't behave themselves around civilized (i.e., non-threatening) people, well, then, John Wayne (or his real-life equivalent) would ride into town and smack them around until they DID behave themselves. At least in public. No concerns about how the bully was feeling. Or what his/her psychological issues might be. Just behave properly, durnit, or get slapped upside the head. The other day National Review’s Jay Nordlinger was musing about our habit of referring to some benighted part of the world’s “humanitarian needs”, and wondered when we’d stopped using the term “human needs”, which is, after all, what food, water and shelter are. And his readers wrote in to state the obvious: That “humanitarian” prioritizes not the distant Third World victim but the generous western donor — the “humanitarian” relief effort, the “humanitarian” organizations, the NGOs, the we...