NOT MUCH BLOGGING THIS WEEK

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.

COHEN'S GOT ME STEAMED!

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 shame, a pity. A "shonda for the goyim" means to do something shameful, publicly witnessed by non-Jews, thus bringing shame upon Jews in general (because, the theory goes, we are all held accountable for the worst deeds of the worst of us.)

I wrote:

I'm using the word a former employer used when she wanted to convey her belief that a Jew had done something that he, as an educated man, knew better than to do. It was worse than personal shame, it shamed the group that the person doing it was, in any way connected to them..

Shame on you. In Auschwitz, the inmates were blameless. They committed no crime. The crime was committed against them.

In Guantanamo, the inmates did commit a crime. They were enemy combatants, fighting without uniforms (which violates the Geneva standards), who were captured by Americans. They were not executed by beheading or hanging, both of which offenses have, before and since, been done to Americans, whether soldiers or not (remember Daniel Pearl, a fellow journalist?). They were taken to facilities where they had medical attention, fresh clothing, decent living quarters (better than the American troops, in many instances), and better treatment than they would have given any prisoner they captured.

The food has been of excellent quality and quantity. For crying out loud, they have access to the very religious texts that they quote as a reason to kill ALL the "infidels".

All the above?

NOT like Auschwitz!

I initially posted this, but forgot to add a reference to Captain's Quarters, where I first read of the column. Sorry, Captain Ed.

KEEP AN EYE ON THE CANARY

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 their country, such analogies were caricatured.

When the call for a “Right of Return” was making the rounds, few cared to listen that over a half-million forgotten Jews had been cleansed from Syria, Iraq, and Egypt, and lost billions in property.

When the U.N. and the EU talked about “refugee camps,” none asked why for a half-century the Arab world could not build decent housing for its victimized brethren, or why 1 million Arabs voted in Israel, but not one freely in any Arab country.

It occurred to me that Israel functions, as the Jewish people have for millenia, as the canary in the mine.

Center for a Livable Future

Before venturing into deep mines, miners in the 19th century lowered canaries into the mineshafts to determine whether potentially lethal gases (e.g., carbon monoxide and methane) had accumulated. Characterized as odorless, tasteless, and colorless, the build-up of such gases was often undetected. If the canaries died, the miners took this as a signal not to descend into the mine until the shaft was ventilated.

Canaries served as an early warning signal - they would, due to their size and fragile biology, expire before the gases had built up to a point where they would be lethal to the men.

Jews are our canary. Anytime there is a political situation that endangers humanity, Jews are always the first victims. Due to the anti-Semitic biases of the Left, these early indicators have been ignored; the danger has been said to only apply to the Jews.

Today, the danger Islamic fanatics pose to all of us is evident. We have chosen to ignore the canary, and to blame it for inconveniently dying. Stupid canary.

COOL GOOGLE MAKEOVER

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.

RUNNING FROM THE PO-LICE

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, ignore warnings to "HALT!"

Nor should they be.

Too often, people actively work against their own survival, let alone the survival of their ethnic/racial group.

• They run from cops
  
• They try robbery on small shopowners, not known to be Bhuddists or Quakers, and, therefore, possibly armed
  
• They engage in unprotected sexual activities with relative strangers, or people they know to have addiction problems
  
• They ignore signs that their children have taken up gang affiliations

The above are just some of the things that hinder their economic and personal survival.

Lord knows, it's not easy to raise a family in a world that's hostile to their interests. It takes long-term effort. But if you can do no else, at least teach your kids not to act in ways that increase their potential of "death by cop".

RELIEF IS HERE!

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.

UNDERSTANDING CHILDREN

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's not us that needs to show we understand - it's the kid that needs to learn to understand the world beyond their own self. And how their actions affect it.

In other words, the kid needs to grow up beyond absorption with self and his/her own pain. They need to learn about empathy for others, responsibility, and taking the long view.

IT'S ALL IN THE PLACEMENT

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

FOCUSING ON THE RIGHT THINGS

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 time for dinner; what are you doing up there in your room?" "Ben, why were you up so late last night? Your light was still on at eleven." "Chad, what are you working on now?" "Kristen, you seem preoccupied; what’s on your mind?" Their answers: "Mom, I’m trying to figure out why the Russian people would have allowed themselves to be ruled over by such cruel tyrants and by such a perverse ideology." "Dad, I can’t figure out why Kurtz has no self-control, no regard for life, why he is a hollow man." "Oh, nothing really, Mom. I’m writing a paper on these rules and these principles of morality C. S. Lewis calls The Tao. I think he means a combination of conscience and tradition, but I haven’t started my paper yet, so I’m not sure." "You wouldn’t believe what we’re learning about in biology: these emergent diseases that can wipe out entire populations because people have not yet developed an immunity. That’s scary." These various responses add up, if I am not mistaken, to one general answer that tells us what our hard-working students have been doing with their books day in and day out, night in and night out, for these years. They have been trying to understand the nature of man and the nature of the universe. They have been building cathedrals of the mind and spirit: cathedrals not to serve as mere monuments and museums, relics, if you will, like most of the cathedrals now in Europe, but cathedrals in which to live and work and worship, cathedrals in which they have learned how to know and to serve the good and the beautiful and the true.

It's an absolutely engaging address. If I were in a school, I would want to read it during freshman orientation. That's the group that needs to hear the message.

Life is about the daily things, yes. But, more importantly, what gives a life VALUE is the fact that it's about more than daily things. It's about the message underlying the words, it's about the reason we sacrafice for those we love (and that includes the love a soldier has for his fellow soldiers), it's why we hang in there during heart-sickeningly difficult times with spouse or children.

A UNION FOR UNDEMOCRATIC ACTION

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 organizations canvassing voters. Possibly 20% of the registered will find their polling place in 80 degree August heat.

What?

Our democracy-loving union is hoping that FEWER voters come out, because those nasty people won't cough up the cash? It's hard to believe that they were willing to put their democracy-scuttling plans in print, but they did.

Of course, they didn't expect anyone that was NOT a Cleveland teacher would find out about their plan. Worse, put it on the web.

Here it is, folks. I'm hoping that everyone that reads it will alert the Cleveland city voters to the undemocratic scheme, and raise some h-e-double-hockey-sticks.

WHO'S YOUR DADDY? OR MOMMY?

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. Time and again, someone with a spine steps in, applies a hammerlock, and gets the kid to act right.

The Armed Services sometimes do that. They don't (and can't) reform hardened criminals. But good kids who've taken a wrong turn, they can sometimes get back on the path. They don't do it with "understanding" and "reasoning with them". they do it with rules, discipline, and consequences that are dependable.

These "can't say no" parents ought to try that method. It works.

DEFINITELY NOT PC

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

PSAs & RETIREMENT

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.

WHEN IS FOREIGN AID HELPFUL?

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 future, aid be used like student assistance is today - a heavier emphasis on merit-based aid, less on need-based aid. If a country is to receive money, they have to either have a MAJOR strategic advantage, or be willing to make substantial concessions to democratic processes.

GREAT HEADINGS

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!
* Sankofi – The Loony Ebonic Treat
* Hooked on Ebonics
* Ebonics Be The Way

It's a serious subject - the essence of it is, how to best teach a very large group of students who are not succeeding academically. Some, and I am NOT one of them, would insist that these students are not able to learn. I disagree - the overwhelming majority are perfectly normal in their ability. I agree that one of the things holding students back is their use of non-standard English. I just don't agree that Ebonics is the answer (see previous post).

APPALONICS

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 language. These students should be taught like other students who speak a foreign language.'

Texeira urged people not be quick to judge the new program as socially exclusive. She said people need to be open to the program.

"Everybody has prejudices, but we must all learn to control that behavior,' Texeira said. She said a child's self confidence is tied to his or her cultural identity.

You know what this is about, don't you? MONEY. Any district that has non-English-speaking students gets more money to educate those students.

Well, I hate to inform you, but using a dialect doesn't mean your language is different enough to be considered "foreign". Hillbillies have been using their unique dialect for generations, but they haven't declared it "Appalonics". Maybe they should. That might stop people from other regions who speak English-as-she-should-be-spoken (like New York, New Jersey, or Texas) from ridiculing their speech.



I was just watching (again) October Sky this weekend. It reminded me of my dad, who was a science fiction fan in the 30's and 40's. But, he wasn't fortunate enough to have an influence like the enthusiastic teacher Miss Riley (Laura Dern of the film). Homer Hickham, the rocket scientist whose life is the basis of the book, didn't need the excuse of Appalonics to succeed. Neither do the San Bernadino students need Ebonics.

GateGate

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.

I'M A LARGE MAMMAL

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!

YOU HAVE TO DRIVE A STAKE THROUGH HIS HEART

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 with less-than-respectful greetings for some time? They generally panic when they see him coming, and raise their fingers in an improvised cross (for such determined secularists, it can be a challenge to remember how the symbol looks - rumors abound that they've used a crescent, a circle that symbolizes Gaia, and, once, a pentagram).

But, such avoidance doesn't deter the Nashville City Paper from touting the "home-town boy" (for you urban types, that's whitefolk talk for "homie").

At the same time, Gore’s tremendous popularity is still intact and he would not be the divisive candidate that Sen. Hilary Clinton would be.

In the 2000 race, Gore didn’t carry his home state of Tennessee, a critical factor in his presidential loss. He wouldn’t make the same mistake twice.

Mistake? Mistake?

Honeychile, when a US Senator can't even carry his own state, that's what we call more than a mistake.

That's a guaran-double-teed LOSER.

18 BUSH SCANDALS THAT TURNED OUT TO BE PHONEY

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.

EVIL

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.

FINALLY, A WOMEN'S SPORT GETS A MAJOR AUDIENCE!

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!

BUILDING A NATION

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.

INTERESTING OMISSION

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?

¿COMPRENDE?

UPDATE - I realized, after I posted, that I failed to include the upside-down question mark at the beginning of the Title.

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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). Even though I live in the country for years, I not only don't speak Spanish, I also raise children who don't speak Spanish. When those children go to school, they are put in special classes for non-Spanish speakers. Not at my expense, of course.

All school work must be translated for my children. They don't perform well on the final tests to graduate, due to their limited Spanish skills. I immediately call a press conference to announce that my children's failure is the fault of everybody else - the schools, the government, the test, and society in general.

I have difficulty getting a job, due to my limited language ability. Naturally, it's the fault of anti-gringo haters.

What am I saying! Of course, no country would let that happen!

BLACKWELL for Governor : Photo Gallery

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.

OK, JODY. THIS IS FOR YOU!

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

Mission accomplished!

GRAPHIC AID TO UNDERSTANDING

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!

A SURPRISING ANSWER

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.

FROM THE HORSE'S MOUTH

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 own civilian population. The arrests and murders began within the first month in which he held effective power in Germany.

Nonetheless, many in the United States refused to believe that his aim was in fact what he had written it was.

What would you think about a person so blind to reality that, when a mugger shoved a gun in their face, and said, "If you don't give me all your money, I'll blow your head off," replied, "Oh, I'm sure that's just your exaggerated way of expressing yourself." You'd think they were a lunatic, wouldn't you?

When the Islamofascists start ranting about declaring war on the infidel, take them seriously. If you still can't believe that their words contain a warning about the danger, check out Dhimmi Watch.

Lesson for the day - when someone threatens you, believe them. It's possible they're bluffing, but, if they're not - it could kill you.

WHAT IS WITH THE ROVE CONTROVERSY?

Update:

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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.

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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 is a recording, I'm not aware of it.
  
• Rove isn't saying much. He's too savvy about politics to just hunker down and pray it passes over.
  
  So, I have to conclude that Rove is playing possum deliberately. He has a plan in mind, probably to surface with his story at an opportune time. And the best indication that my conclusion may be correct is Hillary's behavior. At Kerry's press conference, she let him do the talking. That's not like her - she likes the spotlight. So, what does Hillary know, or suspect, that makes bland silence the better course?

Think about what Democrat focus on this story does. It distracts them from the upcoming Supreme Court nominations. I sense a last-minute blitzkrieg coming on.

THE PUB THEORY

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.

REPARATIONS

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 report card.

Apparently, not knowing your company's personal history is no excuse:

Wachovia Corp. was accused by a Chicago alderman of lying last month when it submitted its statement in January stating it had no knowledge of any involvement with slavery. The Charlotte, N.C.-based company later apologized and indicated that it would create an education fund or contribute money toward black history education.

All the fuss makes sense, because white people have always shown their intense desire to give money to Black people. I keep hearing the talk at get-togethers "Man, I really want to give my hard-earned cash to Black people. But how? I wish someone would show me the way. I'd rather put my money to good use like that, than send my kid to a good school or pay the doctor bills." They just need the NAACP to show them the right way to do it. Right?

SUMMER DOLDRUMS

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-deleting.

In short, I love what I do. So, I'm unlikely to quit.

You're stuck with me.

THINK OF ENGLAND AS AN OASIS OF CIVILIZATION?

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 confront and arrest "drunken yobs" [I believe that would be called "martial law" over here].

There's more, go read the full post.

NEW LINK FOR BLACKWELL

I've bookmarked the official Ken Blackwell for Governor site.

I'll have to wait until I return to update the template links.

ROVE= DARTH VADER?

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". However, if she said anything else, it wasn't in that report. I suspect that she chose the non-verbal agreement, as she could later say, if the whole thing turned out to be as overblown as I think it is, "I said nothing."



Rather like Sgt. Schultz - "I know NOTHING - NOTHING."

DOES THIS REALLY SURPRISE ANYONE WHO KNOWS ME?

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 with next."

God replies, "What??? You've got an engineer? That's a mistake -- he should never have gotten down there; send him up here."

Satan says, "No way. I like having an engineer on the staff, and I'm keeping him."

God says, "Send him back up here or I'll sue."

Satan laughs uproariously and answers, "Yeah, right. And just where are YOU going to get a lawyer?"

HELLO? 911? I'D LIKE TO REPORT A ROBBERY.

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 all fairness, she did have a more exacting role than John, as he didn't dance in 3-inch heels.



But, judging from the reaction to the judge's voting, as well as the posts I've read on the Web, John & Charlotte need to make that call to the police.

LIMITING ILLEGAL "RIGHTS"

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. You see, according to National Review (Dec. 8, 2003 - John J. Miller - sorry, I couldn't access the online archive for that article):

Under the current rules of apportionment, the 435 House seats are divvied up on the basis of the total number of people living in each state--not just citizens, but also noncitizens and even illegal aliens. It's hard to believe: People whose very presence in the United States is against the law are granted formal representation in Washington.

It's in the interest of local governments to encourage illegal immigration through such measures as declaring a city a "sanctuary city" - explicitly going on record as not enforcing immigration laws, and, even forbidding local government from reporting immigration violations. Their representation is raised, and, if some of the illegals vote, hey, even better.

I'm against that kind of gaming the system.

IT'S ALWAYS DARKEST JUST BEFORE THE DAWN

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 reaching a point where it is absolutely non-functional, begins to re-build. It starts to work, better than ever.

But first, you have pain. Many people wimp out when the pain hits a peak. They never persevere long enough to experience the positive side of getting into shape.

Our body politic is like that. We're eventually going to feel better, function better, BE better. But it's going to hurt like a @#$%^&*(-er before the process gets to that point.

I'm with N.O. Pundit. Kim, we've all loved your work. You inspired many to pick up the keyboard and rip, including myself. I can understand that, having carried the load for such a long time, you feel totally drained.

Take a short break. Have fun off-line. Enjoy the real world for a while.

We'll be waiting for you to return. Which I think you will. Because power is addictive. And that's what bloggers have become.

Empowered.

AFRICAN DEBTS

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.

TEEN PREGNANCIES

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.

MANY, MANY THINGS HAPPENING TODAY

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.

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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.

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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 those who impose their fanaticism and extremism on all of us.

"We shall prevail and they shall not."

Might I add that England is NOT Spain? I just can't see them folding in abject submission when threatened. In a pinch, the "yobs" of Britain will kick the terrorists' backsides. All the peace education of recent times hasn't tamed their spirit - for heaven's sake, they'll commit major violence over a soccer game. Imagine what they could do with a good excuse for a fight.

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London Mayor Ken Livingstone said:

"I want to say one thing: This was not a terrorist attack against the mighty or the powerful, it is not aimed at presidents or prime ministers, it was aimed at ordinary working-class Londoners," Livingstone told reporters.

"That isn't an ideology, it isn't even a perverted faith, it's mass murder," Livingstone said. "We know what the objective is. They seek to divide London."

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I'll be modifying my sidebar to display the British flag for a time.



You might want to do the same. I know I took heart at the sight of the US flag after 9/11, especially when seen on foreign soil (or blogs).

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On a personal note, a blogger I've been acquainted with for a while has experienced a personal tragedy. Her husband died suddenly last week. Her blog is at An American Housewife. Her contributions to the blogworld will be missed.

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From The Sundries Shack, Jimmie Bise, Jr. dissects a statement from Tom Hayden (is he still around? Guess without a rich wife, revolution is hard) on the London attacks. Big surprise - England and the US should use the bombings as a prompt for reflecting on what WE'RE doing wrong. Tom is big on urging people to take personal action against the big, bad, EVIL ruling classes:

In fact, screw democracy altogether. Like Hayden says, if you don’t like what the government is doing, just step around it and take matters into your own hands. If your government won’t surrender to the terrorists, go right ahead and do it yourself.

I thank God that the world doesn’t work the way Tom Hayden thinks it does. I’m too old to learn Arabic, my knees are way too bad to pray to Mecca five times a day, and I look horrible in a beard.

I've got a lot more to say, but I need, as the British say, to go to the loo.

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

Posted by Picasa

AFRICAN AID AND LIVE8

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.

WHICH ONE ARE YOU?

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 Smith, beat the Steelers... just like a noisy jaybird."

My question is, what bird would be the content and happy person? Maybe him?



EASTERN MEADOW LARK

TEMPLATE CHANGES

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 a replacement for Taft. If we work together, we can use the combined power of our online presence to elect a governor who can lead Ohio in the right direction.

It's late on the Fourth, I'm finally cooled off and relaxed, and on the TV is the ABC special featuring Nick What's-his-name and his ditzy wife, Jessica. I'm not a fan, so I'll change the channel.

Oh, Lord, I just looked at the TV, and saw a sight I never want to see again - Jessica just shook her backside at the audience. They seemed to like it. I didn't.

Where the he(( is the clicker?

KEEP AN EYE ON THIS MAN

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 governor, then head over to A Face Made 4 Radio, A Voice Made 4 the Internet, and look at the Ohio Blogroll to see what you can do. At least, consider adding a link to the site. When I finish this post, I'm going to modify my sidebar to add a link.

WHY ARE HOLLYWOOD "BLOCKBUSTERS" FLOPPING?

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, and their brethren to survive against a modern world, knowing, all the time, that they would disappear into a watery grave (notice how the Japanese never had a body disposal problem? The outsize monsters obligingly use proper recycling techniques, and let the ocean take care of the remains.)

Later, as a young woman, I saw The Graduate, Alice's Restaurant, Romeo & Juliet, Funny Girl, and other popular films. I don't believe I ever saw "daring" or experimental movies - it was strictly top releases for me.

I haven't changed in my tastes - I've only lighted briefly on the Sundance Channel, on my way to another show. But Hollywood used to put out a product that I found worth the money. It is beginning to do so again.

Recently, I've seen The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and last weekend, Batman Begins.

Why have the successes overwhelmed the many recent box-office failures? What's the difference between Return of the King, and Kingdom of Heaven?

Well, for starters, try morality.

Not what morality means to the elite - a prissy, self-righteous avoidance of FUN. Not holding grimly to a Bible, and standing aloof from sex, sensual pleasure, and just enjoying the world.

No, I mean a conscious choice to defend the weak, take a stand, and risk safety and fortune to defy evil. That's the message of the Tolkien trilogy. Such a stance is not safe, not easy, and requires personal sacrifice and diligence. It can be undertaken even by the weak and foolish, if they choose. This point of view is that moral courage is not merely for the physically strong, nor the brave. He may succeed, whose voice is shaking with fear, and whose body fails. The honor is in trying.

That's why I love Batman Begins. It takes a moral stance. Batman is a highly flawed character. He is deeply fearful of bats. He puts barriers between himself and those who would love him. He makes an agreement with the League of Shadows to work with them. He trains to become a killing machine.

Then his morality kicks in.



He cannot bring himself to act as an executioner for the League. He is brought up against a piece of his fundamental morality, and he takes a stand.

He pays a large price for his refusal to go along. He is once again set adrift, alone. But, this time, he is no longer lost. He has reclaimed his self, by reaching inside and defining his morality.

He still has personal issues. He doesn't yet have his focus on his mission.

But, by reclaiming his morality, he has set himself on firm ground. He is no longer a lost wanderer.

YOU 'DA MAN!

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.

THE DAY BEFORE INDEPENDENCE DAY

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 home (hope the AFT doesn't supoena me on that violation).

They were forgotten for some time, until late one day, after the 3 gentlemen had indulged in WAY too much fermented barley, and decided to complete the day's celebration (my husband's 40th birthday) with, literally, a BANG!

The first one they lit, they had stuck in the ground. It sparked and fizzed, but stubbornly stayed there, limiting the effect. They retired to consume more beer lemonade, then returned with a plan, which they put into effect immediately.

I'd been watching these shenanagans, and was wary. I quietly filled a bucket with water, and made the kids stay at a distance.

They took their time setting up the scenario. They placed an old-fashioned glass Coke bottle on the ground, and stuck a Roman candle in it, stick end inside, and wick left to dangle in the air. They admired their ingenuity for some time, and loudly anticipated the lovely sight that we would get to behold in just a few minutes.

They lit the fuse, and eagerly awaited the soaring cylinder's launch.

Unfortunately, the force knocked the bottle over, and the candle shot around the driveway, like a fire hose accidentally released. It rolled UNDER the upstairs tenant's car, which was sitting in the driveway.

They frantically ran after it, and risked serious injury getting it out from under. God really must look after fools and drunks (they were both), as no one was hurt.

I was no help at all, as I wet my pants laughing at them.

I'll be working most of this weekend. Funds are short this month, and my sacrifice is needed. If I have the chance, I'll be watching some topical movies (some of these were found via FilmForce:

• Independence Day - the classic
  
• 1776 - seldom shown anymore, but very entertaining
  
• The Patriot - what can I say? I love Mel Gibson.
  
• Johnny Tremain - the Disney version is good
  
• Sweet Liberty - yes, I know it's Alan Alda, but it is funny, and about historical fact vs. fiction.

I did some checking - apparently, few successful films about the American Revolution have been made. Most were overly respectful of the subject, to the extent that they were boring. Too many err the other way, diligently searching for flaws in the Founders' character, and relentlessly working to interpret their struggles in the worst possible light. Balance, apparently, is rare.



Have a wonderful Fourth, and please remember to take the time to send a message of support to the troops serving far from home.

BEYOND DUMB

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 heady thrill of being THE ABSOLUTE LAST WORD. That situation does not promote Uriah-like musings).

Remember, you have a special place in American life, as well. You are a member of the Congress of the United States, democratically elected by the people you represent to stand up for their rights. You stand in the footsteps of our founders, who stood up to established interests, and refused many compromises that would led to diminishment of their claimed rights. If the Court had attempted to change the Constitution, they would have stormed the Court. And seized the power in the name of the people.

Not wimp out to "God-like" appointed officials.

DISENFRANCHISEMENT VS. NOT PARTICIPATING

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 the "Reader's Digest" version of the speech. That would be the shortened essence of the speech. They were content with, instead, a few "sound-bytes" - and not necessarily the most important points that were addressed, but the most "news-worthy".

That concerns me. As more and more information is available, less attention is paid to selecting the most essential. Mind candy trumps a nutritious mind-meal. I would venture to say that the average person can tell you all the details of the Runaway Bride, the Missing Tourist, or the lastest American Idol winner.

Very few could discuss a single point made in Bush's speech, whether taking the pro or con side.

Villainous Company posts about this aspect of modern life. Too many people are removing themselves from participation in democracy, then complaining about their disenfranchisement.

This seems to be a recurring theme amongst our liberal brethren: people declining to participate in the political process and then blaming Bush. I remain unsure how Mr. Bush was supposed to ensure the Sunnis went to the polls on election day in Iraq. Perhaps The Shrub should have gone around madly bashing on the doors of the Sunni populace, Jimmy-Carter-style, to get out the vote?

During the 2008 election, some blacks thought the lines at the polls were "too long" and went home. Later, the DNC claimed they were 'disenfranchised'. Tell that to the Iraqis who braved gunfire and IEDs to get to the polls.

OH, COME ON!

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 makes my stomach hurt.

OK, RTG, how do I explain the game?

It's slower than most professional sports. It's more about strategy and bluff. It's a little like life, more slow-mo than TV's frenetic pace. It's about being in the sun, enjoying the day with friends (you really can't enjoy the game alone), and just BEING.

If you would like to understand the game, try starting with watching one of the many baseball movies around - The Natural, The Bad News Bears, or the sacred Major League. Get a list from Google, and rent one. You could do worse than check out Bull Durham, which gives some idea about how to watch ball (in addition to some hot action in the sack).

Check out some amateur games - most cities have a league, or try Little League games. Ask questions. People love to talk about the game. Pay attention, not just to the technical answers, but to the look on their face when they talk about it. Ask them about their childhood experiences with baseball. You'll get some fascinating stories, and many of the men will talk about their father for the first time in years. Some of them will tear up. It's what Field of Dreams was really about.

Don't just give up on baseball. It truly is the American game. Anyone can play. We all get a chance at bat. One mistake doesn't ruin the season, nor even the game (usually). Not everything you do works, sometimes you strike out. Sometimes you're beaten by a better-prepared team. You can't do it all alone (unless you're Bugs Bunny).

There are some great lessons in the game.

Don't give up on the sport.

COOL NEW BLOGGING FUN!

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.

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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), we decide that our efforts aren't worth anything.

I'm not saying that we're all excellent artists, but, why can't we, when grown, enjoy the experience of creating something, without letting our inner critic spoil our fun? As bloggers, we accept the learning process that writing entails, and don't expect every post to rival Shakespeare.

I've been enjoying Trevor's Blog. He posts not just his thoughts, but also his hand-drawn pictures. They're really simple line drawings, sometimes relatively realistic, sometimes cartoony, but really cool. He's been inspiring me to return to something I loved doing as a kid - drawing. I stopped when I hit upper elementary school. There were a few kids that were very good, and, when I compared my efforts, I gave it up. I decided that I had no talent, and it was a waste of time.

Which it may very well be, in one sense. But, the fact is, I LIKED drawing. It was relaxing. It allowed me to freely express myself, and tended to free up my thinking.

So, I'm going to take a leap, and MAKE something.

Check back in a week or two. And, again later, because I have a feeling that I'm going to be making some further changes over the next year.

I'm going to let myself look even more foolish in public than I usually do. And, in the process, have some fun.