My next stop was good ol' FJM. They had a lot of fun while I was away, particularly with Jon Heyman. (It's a fun piñata to smack at, especially since Skip Bayless isn't writing for Page 2 any more.)
This post was the one that got my eye, though. (Warning - like many FJM posts, there's a language alert.) Scott Brosius for the Hall of Fame? Because he had a few good postseason games?
Let's just contrast this case with another fellow who had a few great postseason games - a guy name of James Lamar Rhodes.
Back in '54, Rhodes' New York (baseball) Giants were facing down the vaunted Cleveland Indians - winners of 111 games, whose top three starters were Bob Feller-Bob Lemon-Early Wynn (each of them are in the Hall of Fame). Rhodes was a pinch-hitting specialist who'd hit .341 that year, slugging nearly .700 in his limited at-bats. His Series line against the great Indians: 3 games, 4-6, 2 hr-7 bi. His 3-run homer won Game One, far more famous for Willie Mays' over-the-shoulder catch of Vic Wertz' 500-foot fly ball.
He didn't last long after that - Dusty Rhodes (as he is better-known) was never able to amass even 250 at-bats in a single season, and was out of baseball by the age of 32. In that respect, Brosius had far the better career. And even so, his "most similar players" are guys like Mike Pagliarulo and Ed Sprague. This is not a career that admits one into the Hall of Fame, even if a few of his brightest moments may warrant mentioning.
I'm beginning to appreciate the Sports Guy's view that Cooperstown is just as valuable as a museum than as a Hall of Fame, and the whole of the story ought to be told, good and bad. I am not in favor of Mark McGwire's candidacy, for example, primarily because the guy was essentially Dave Kingman until the andro, an oft-injured power hitter good for .230, 35 dingers, and 120 whiffs per year. But the SG has a point - if you put him in, put all of that right on the plaque and let the visitors decide whether he was a cheater or a lovable Bunyan.
Thursday, January 04, 2007
Laissez les mal temps roulez
Via the Swilling:
"At least," because there was a sixth murder, a woman "whose body showed trauma but whose death had not been classified." So, why do I say murder in her case?
Those who come by their deaths naturally are not stashed in rugs and dumped out for the neighbors to find.
This whole "under control" thing doesn't even stand up to basic math. The article states that 161 people were murdered in the city in 2006 - a total of 53 in the final three months. Lessee... that's a rate of 212 per annum, which means that the rate shot up in the final quarter. What is your conclusion?
A - new initiatives have brought the problem under control in recent months.
B - new initiatives have done diddly-spit.
If you said B, you are better at math than Superintendant Walter Riley, who went with A on Monday, and then left police spokesman Bambi Hall to give the numbers from October to December the very next day.
Granted that fourteen hours is a small sample size for the New Year. You may prefer the numbers from full years instead: a murder rate that topped the nation's cities in 2002 and 2003; from a total of 159 homicides in 1999, to 265 in 2004. Only 210 in 2005, most likely because Katrina emptied the place out to end the year and brought a lot of attention to those remaining, making it more difficult to slay one's neighbors. Still - more in 2006 with half of a city they had seven years previous?
It starts from the top, kids:
No doubt he's handing out free chocolate milk to symbolize his deeply-held principles.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Days after the police chief said he believed his department was bringing murders under control in New Orleans, the city logged at least five killings in 14 hours.
"At least," because there was a sixth murder, a woman "whose body showed trauma but whose death had not been classified." So, why do I say murder in her case?
The unclassified death was that of a woman whose body was found wrapped in a rug in the Lower Ninth Ward. [emphasis mine - nf]
Those who come by their deaths naturally are not stashed in rugs and dumped out for the neighbors to find.
This whole "under control" thing doesn't even stand up to basic math. The article states that 161 people were murdered in the city in 2006 - a total of 53 in the final three months. Lessee... that's a rate of 212 per annum, which means that the rate shot up in the final quarter. What is your conclusion?
A - new initiatives have brought the problem under control in recent months.
B - new initiatives have done diddly-spit.
If you said B, you are better at math than Superintendant Walter Riley, who went with A on Monday, and then left police spokesman Bambi Hall to give the numbers from October to December the very next day.
Granted that fourteen hours is a small sample size for the New Year. You may prefer the numbers from full years instead: a murder rate that topped the nation's cities in 2002 and 2003; from a total of 159 homicides in 1999, to 265 in 2004. Only 210 in 2005, most likely because Katrina emptied the place out to end the year and brought a lot of attention to those remaining, making it more difficult to slay one's neighbors. Still - more in 2006 with half of a city they had seven years previous?
It starts from the top, kids:
No doubt he's handing out free chocolate milk to symbolize his deeply-held principles.
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
Cook Cars, Not Pigs!
You have GOT to be kidding me.
Lemme get my little brain round this... if someone actually went about dragging Jews and Muslims into this building by force for a little appetizer, they could be arrested (and rightly so)*. BUT, they don't do that. People are free to walk away and eat elsewhere. Even if they're not Muslim or Jewish.
It would be nice if that attitude included fighting actual incidents of anti-Semitism, such as synagogue vandalism, assault, and the stray "sh***y little country" comment. Then again, when the mayor of Paris essentially tells the police to be a law unto themselves and disobey the courts, it's probably not surprising that the citizens themselves fail to act lawfully.
* could be, but in France, probably not actually arrested.
** w/t to It Comes In Pints - who kindly quoted me alongside the King of the FFO Threads. Shucks, folks, I'm speechless...
A French court ruled Tuesday that an organization with far-right links can continue offering pork soup to the homeless, rejecting police complaints that the food distribution was racist.
Police banned the soup kitchen last month, arguing that the handouts discriminated against Jews and Muslims who do not eat pork on religious grounds.
Lemme get my little brain round this... if someone actually went about dragging Jews and Muslims into this building by force for a little appetizer, they could be arrested (and rightly so)*. BUT, they don't do that. People are free to walk away and eat elsewhere. Even if they're not Muslim or Jewish.
The mayor of Paris condemned the ruling and urged the police to appeal the ruling.
"Faced by this initiative which stinks of xenophobia, I want once again to express city hall's desire to fight all forms of discrimination, racism and anti-Semitism," mayor Bertrand Delanoe said in a statement.
It would be nice if that attitude included fighting actual incidents of anti-Semitism, such as synagogue vandalism, assault, and the stray "sh***y little country" comment. Then again, when the mayor of Paris essentially tells the police to be a law unto themselves and disobey the courts, it's probably not surprising that the citizens themselves fail to act lawfully.
* could be, but in France, probably not actually arrested.
** w/t to It Comes In Pints - who kindly quoted me alongside the King of the FFO Threads. Shucks, folks, I'm speechless...
Melting! Melllltinnnng!
Not surprising, either. If you don't post for a while, your readers begin to melt away.
Well, I'm back. Later today I can tell you of adventures from Points South of Here. For right now, I'm just glad to be in the regular swing of things. I even enjoy work. Truth be told, I've always liked my job, but this is more of a visceral digging into it. I'm relishing work. (And a great turkey pot pie, at least for the next 45 minutes.)
The first adventure I had in Points South is discovering that Points South have terrible internet connections. My mom's computer is two steps above a lit cinder block in the technological chain. As a result I really have some catching up to do with all y'all. Hope your Christmas was merry (white, where applicable) and your New Year happy!
Well, I'm back. Later today I can tell you of adventures from Points South of Here. For right now, I'm just glad to be in the regular swing of things. I even enjoy work. Truth be told, I've always liked my job, but this is more of a visceral digging into it. I'm relishing work. (And a great turkey pot pie, at least for the next 45 minutes.)
The first adventure I had in Points South is discovering that Points South have terrible internet connections. My mom's computer is two steps above a lit cinder block in the technological chain. As a result I really have some catching up to do with all y'all. Hope your Christmas was merry (white, where applicable) and your New Year happy!
Friday, December 29, 2006
Dirty Dealings in Durham
Innocent is such a strong word. The Duke lacrosse team was already under double-secret probation for Animal House activities like underage drinking before the incident. While there are no James Hogans, Isaac Arhins, Walter Grays or Tim Bonners amongst these chuckleheads it is becoming more evident that the accused are not guilty of the crimes in which they are charged. And at the moment it is not against the law to be a chucklehead.
This column is a pretty good summary of how we got here. The most recent news is that the North Carolina Bar Association is filing ethics charges against DA Nilfong and it is apparent that after all charges are dropped and he gets sued by the chuckleheads Mr. Nilfong will be amongst the unemployed.
The case is now unraveling so rapidly as to be ridiculed on "Saturday Night Live." Mr. Nifong is on his way to being disbarred, unless North Carolina's legal establishment wants to be held up to national scorn. He faces lawsuits and at least a remote risk of federal criminal investigation. As for Durham's black leaders, and many in the media, and much of Duke's faculty, history will mark them down as enablers of abusive, dishonest law enforcement tactics. They will share responsibility for the continued use of such tactics, mainly against black people, after the Duke lacrosse players' innocence has become manifest to all serious people and the spotlight has moved on.
Saturday, December 23, 2006
We are all moving to Florida
New Jersey is projected to lose a seat in Congress in the next (2010) census because of population loss:
While some of the people leaving New Jersey are undoubtedly Baby Boomers aging into retirement, Hughes said New Jersey is no different from other states in this regard. A more likely culprit is the area's high cost of living, and its impact on the job market, he said.
"In the 1990s, we had the comfortable notion that we had a unique labor force, and the new Information Age jobs were willing to pay the high cost of staying here," he said. "But what we've seen so far in this decade is that the information economy jobs are stagnating in the Northeast but growing at higher rates in the Sun Belt."
New Jersey is not alone in facing this problem and its effect in Washington. If the population pattern holds, New York will lose two House seats and Pennsylvania will lose one and possibly another.
Sure, the weather's great down here, but there's another reason. "High cost of staying here" actually means "getting the meshuggah taxed out of you". That is why all these pro athletes live down here. Two things that Rush Limbaugh, Tiger Woods and I have in common is that we live in Florida and pay no state income tax.
While some of the people leaving New Jersey are undoubtedly Baby Boomers aging into retirement, Hughes said New Jersey is no different from other states in this regard. A more likely culprit is the area's high cost of living, and its impact on the job market, he said.
"In the 1990s, we had the comfortable notion that we had a unique labor force, and the new Information Age jobs were willing to pay the high cost of staying here," he said. "But what we've seen so far in this decade is that the information economy jobs are stagnating in the Northeast but growing at higher rates in the Sun Belt."
New Jersey is not alone in facing this problem and its effect in Washington. If the population pattern holds, New York will lose two House seats and Pennsylvania will lose one and possibly another.
Sure, the weather's great down here, but there's another reason. "High cost of staying here" actually means "getting the meshuggah taxed out of you". That is why all these pro athletes live down here. Two things that Rush Limbaugh, Tiger Woods and I have in common is that we live in Florida and pay no state income tax.
Friday, December 22, 2006
Dispatch from the cave
Yeah, even caves have wifi now. But other than comments I haven't been out much - here or real life. I needed a little retreat before the grand Christmas Expidition. (This year's World Tour has four stops from the 24th through New Year's Eve. I may have t-shirts done up.)
So, it's only fitting that I missed the results of the Weblog Awards when they came out. I did, however, manage to vote in them, and it's my pleasure to point out a few of the worthy winners here:
And seriously - DIG THIS RESEARCH.
So, it's only fitting that I missed the results of the Weblog Awards when they came out. I did, however, manage to vote in them, and it's my pleasure to point out a few of the worthy winners here:
- Individual Blog - James Lileks, "The Bleat" - the man is Pantheon, I tell you.
- Military Blog - Blackfive. Well-earned.
- Law Blog - The Volokh Conspiracy
- Latino/Caribbean/South American - Babalu - way to go, Val!
- #1751-2500 (in the TTLB ranks) - Parkway Rest Stop - Jim is a veteran of the Carnival of Jersey Bloggers; it's good times to see him hit big.
- #5001-6750 - File it Under - Hoodlumman and company can now truly boast of having bested 1749 other blogs to win their category.
And seriously - DIG THIS RESEARCH.
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Dar al Islam, Dar al Harb
Rod Dreher, an editorial page writer for the Dallas Morning News, confessing in his blog that he is resisting coming to the conclusion that America must separate itself from Islam to survive. And Muslim activists aren't helping:
I can attest that no one in the Tampa Bay media has die Kuglen to challenge Muslim activists in this way.
What I keep seeing from these meetings is an attempt -- a sincere attempt -- to mau-mau the media into ignoring disturbing things going on in the American Muslim community. By all means we should cover the good stuff. The group the other day kept making the point, "You focus on the few bad things, and ignore all the good things." But charitable works don't somehow make it okay to include hate literature against Christians and Jews in your mosque, and certainly don't make it un-newsworthy. Being kind to others doesn't obviate concerns over what kind of fanatical jihad literature you're teaching to your teenagers. I do believe that most of the American media are unwilling to give this kind of thing the scrutiny it deserves. I'm pleased that my editorial board does not give them a free pass, and is not willing to turn a blind eye to this sort of thing -- even though it does cast into doubt the idea that Islam can be assimilated into American life.
I can attest that no one in the Tampa Bay media has die Kuglen to challenge Muslim activists in this way.
Monday, December 18, 2006
There is hope for me
Because my brain cells may come back:
LONDON (Reuters) - Excessive drinking can damage brain cells but the brain can repair some of the harm, a team of international researchers said on Monday.
But they warned alcoholics should get sober as quickly as possible because the longer they continue to drink heavily, the less likely their brains will be able to regenerate.
Emily made me
After all, it is Musical Monday - so these comments spurred me on to finish a little something something I'd been cooking up.
Wash away my troubles
Wash away my pain
Going to the movie hall
Wash away my money
Wash away my brain
At a film by Shyamalan
Awooooh, yeah
Hey hey hey hey hey
Everything is spooky
Everything is strange
In a film by Shyamalan
All the acting's sluggish
All the writing's lame
In a film by Shyamalan
Awooooh, yeah
(Ain't that a spooky sound)
Awooooh, yeah
(Must be something profound)
Transparent plot twists in a film by Shyamalan
Ham-handed edits in a film by Shyamalan
I can tell a ghost
By the color on the screen
In a film by Shyamalan
I can see the twist
By the end of the third scene
In a film by Shyamalan
Awooooh, yeah
Hey hey hey hey hey
Why do they greenlight all these films by Shyamalan?
Aliens, ghosts, and crooks in the films of Shyamalan
Everything's skin-deep in a film by Shyamalan
Hope I don't fall asleep at the film by Shyamalan
Awooooh, yeah
Hey hey hey hey hey...
Wash away my troubles
Wash away my pain
Going to the movie hall
Wash away my money
Wash away my brain
At a film by Shyamalan
Awooooh, yeah
Hey hey hey hey hey
Everything is spooky
Everything is strange
In a film by Shyamalan
All the acting's sluggish
All the writing's lame
In a film by Shyamalan
Awooooh, yeah
(Ain't that a spooky sound)
Awooooh, yeah
(Must be something profound)
Transparent plot twists in a film by Shyamalan
Ham-handed edits in a film by Shyamalan
I can tell a ghost
By the color on the screen
In a film by Shyamalan
I can see the twist
By the end of the third scene
In a film by Shyamalan
Awooooh, yeah
Hey hey hey hey hey
Why do they greenlight all these films by Shyamalan?
Aliens, ghosts, and crooks in the films of Shyamalan
Everything's skin-deep in a film by Shyamalan
Hope I don't fall asleep at the film by Shyamalan
Awooooh, yeah
Hey hey hey hey hey...
Holiday tag
The Boy Named Sous has passed it along, and I'm in the holiday spirit, so off I go.
1. Egg nog or hot chocolate?
I can only nog at Chirstmastime. Hot chocolate is a more common treat, but around the holidays I stir it with a peppermint stick or a candy cane.
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
"Santa" went on all-night wrapping binges in our family; when the eldest elf (your truly) passed the point where he knew what was up, he pitched in.
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
Colored lights on the tree. I don't remember putting up lights on the house all that often; we used to have the old-style humongous bulbs that could survive a smack with a hammer. It got to the point where we couldn't replace them when they burned out so the house went without. However, one thing I will insist on in Casa Nightfly is uniform outdoor lighting - it looks so ghetto when one bush is white, one is multi, and each awning is done in a different solid color, only one of which blinks.
4. Do you hang mistletoe?
Now that I have a reason.
5. When do you put your decorations up?
Mom's side of the family tends to toss them up early December, as did we; my Dad's side will wait. Ladybug's family is somewhere in between. The common thread is that it's a family event, and everyone decks the halls together. We made up for the lack of outdoor lighting by festooning everything inside - garland along the hallway, a large card display, tree front and center in the living room.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
We go for the seven fish feast on Dad's side, which makes it hard to pick. I always enjoy Mom's lasagna, too, and of course we had it every Christmas.
7. Favorite holiday memory as a child:
Going downtown and seeing all the various shops getting ready for Christmas. Few if any were a destination for holiday shopping - the Minuteman Press, the bank, a small C-Town, the bakery, a pizzeria - but all got into the spirit, and of course some of the buildings had apartments above with lights twinkling from their windows.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
Gradually, I guess. I don't remember any classmates blurting. My brother and sister are much younger than I, so after I got the memo I had to conspire with our parents to keep the dream alive for them. In both my family and Ladybug's there is still the occasional gift from Santa left under the tree.
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
Actually, Dad's side of the family opens them all shortly after midnight. Mom's side (the way we usually did it growing up) waits until the day, as does my fiancee. As a result, we get to go north to my cousins, open a small batch there, and then come home for more in the morning.
10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?
Same as Brian, actually - lights, garland, ornaments. We have some traditional bulbs and things that have been around since before I was born, and a nativity set that possibly predates my Mom. These things are very old, all made in Italy, and not easily replaced now. Then there's stuff that we kids made that go onto the tree.
11. Snow! Love it or dread it?
Love it. Here in Jersey it usually doesn't happen until mid-to-late January; we almost never actually have snow on the day.
12. Do you ice skate?
Shame of shames - Goalie Boy has actually never tried to ice skate. I fall down a lot on roller blades and have been a little gun-shy about stepping up in class, though my friends all say it's actually easier than roller skating. Someday I plan to spend the money on a season in Hockey North America's beginner level, where they teach you what you're doing before turning you loose.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
I don't remember the gifts so much as the Christmas back on Long Island where the heat failed. We had a kerosene heater for the living room and a small electric space heater for the bathroom. Everyone pretty much took turns opening stuff in the loo and then coming out for hugs and thank-yous. It was a lot of fun.
14. What's the most important thing about the holidays for you?
The whole package adds up for me - seeing my family is best, especially those in Florida, but I enjoy the fun of hunting down that perfect gift for my loved ones, the weather as it starts to turn, the decorations... I'm a Christmas junkie.
15. What is your favorite holiday dessert?
Mom's homemade cream puffs, the moreso because she went about fifteen years without making them. (I'm still working on a delivery system to the panhandle, btw...)
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
The long drive down to Florida to see my family - it's a new thing, but quite fun, especially trading greetings with all the folks I meet on the way. A little holiday adventure never hurts.
17. What tops your tree?
A star.
18. Which do you prefer, giving or receiving?
Giving. I love seeing people's faces light up when they really like their gift. When I was little I confess it was the other way around, and it wasn't until I had a kid brother that I started to see things the right way round.
19. What is your favorite Christmas song?
We Three Kings, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, and the original instrumental Sleigh Ride.
20. Candy canes:
As mentioned above, great for stirring cocoa. In fact, answering the question above made me run off to put it into practice. Mmmmm.... minty cocoa.....
21. Favorite Christmas movie?
Miracle on 34th Street.
22. What do you leave for Santa?
I think the first hint to whom I was actually leaving things was leaving coffee exactly the way Dad liked it, along with cookies with a lot of icing (which my folks knew that I wouldn't eat).
So - I'm supposed to also tag some other folk to answer. It's not my usual practice - but again, it's the holidays, and it's all about sharing! Sheila, Tracey, and the Barking Spider - you're on.
1. Egg nog or hot chocolate?
I can only nog at Chirstmastime. Hot chocolate is a more common treat, but around the holidays I stir it with a peppermint stick or a candy cane.
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
"Santa" went on all-night wrapping binges in our family; when the eldest elf (your truly) passed the point where he knew what was up, he pitched in.
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
Colored lights on the tree. I don't remember putting up lights on the house all that often; we used to have the old-style humongous bulbs that could survive a smack with a hammer. It got to the point where we couldn't replace them when they burned out so the house went without. However, one thing I will insist on in Casa Nightfly is uniform outdoor lighting - it looks so ghetto when one bush is white, one is multi, and each awning is done in a different solid color, only one of which blinks.
4. Do you hang mistletoe?
Now that I have a reason.
5. When do you put your decorations up?
Mom's side of the family tends to toss them up early December, as did we; my Dad's side will wait. Ladybug's family is somewhere in between. The common thread is that it's a family event, and everyone decks the halls together. We made up for the lack of outdoor lighting by festooning everything inside - garland along the hallway, a large card display, tree front and center in the living room.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
We go for the seven fish feast on Dad's side, which makes it hard to pick. I always enjoy Mom's lasagna, too, and of course we had it every Christmas.
7. Favorite holiday memory as a child:
Going downtown and seeing all the various shops getting ready for Christmas. Few if any were a destination for holiday shopping - the Minuteman Press, the bank, a small C-Town, the bakery, a pizzeria - but all got into the spirit, and of course some of the buildings had apartments above with lights twinkling from their windows.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
Gradually, I guess. I don't remember any classmates blurting. My brother and sister are much younger than I, so after I got the memo I had to conspire with our parents to keep the dream alive for them. In both my family and Ladybug's there is still the occasional gift from Santa left under the tree.
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
Actually, Dad's side of the family opens them all shortly after midnight. Mom's side (the way we usually did it growing up) waits until the day, as does my fiancee. As a result, we get to go north to my cousins, open a small batch there, and then come home for more in the morning.
10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?
Same as Brian, actually - lights, garland, ornaments. We have some traditional bulbs and things that have been around since before I was born, and a nativity set that possibly predates my Mom. These things are very old, all made in Italy, and not easily replaced now. Then there's stuff that we kids made that go onto the tree.
11. Snow! Love it or dread it?
Love it. Here in Jersey it usually doesn't happen until mid-to-late January; we almost never actually have snow on the day.
12. Do you ice skate?
Shame of shames - Goalie Boy has actually never tried to ice skate. I fall down a lot on roller blades and have been a little gun-shy about stepping up in class, though my friends all say it's actually easier than roller skating. Someday I plan to spend the money on a season in Hockey North America's beginner level, where they teach you what you're doing before turning you loose.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
I don't remember the gifts so much as the Christmas back on Long Island where the heat failed. We had a kerosene heater for the living room and a small electric space heater for the bathroom. Everyone pretty much took turns opening stuff in the loo and then coming out for hugs and thank-yous. It was a lot of fun.
14. What's the most important thing about the holidays for you?
The whole package adds up for me - seeing my family is best, especially those in Florida, but I enjoy the fun of hunting down that perfect gift for my loved ones, the weather as it starts to turn, the decorations... I'm a Christmas junkie.
15. What is your favorite holiday dessert?
Mom's homemade cream puffs, the moreso because she went about fifteen years without making them. (I'm still working on a delivery system to the panhandle, btw...)
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
The long drive down to Florida to see my family - it's a new thing, but quite fun, especially trading greetings with all the folks I meet on the way. A little holiday adventure never hurts.
17. What tops your tree?
A star.
18. Which do you prefer, giving or receiving?
Giving. I love seeing people's faces light up when they really like their gift. When I was little I confess it was the other way around, and it wasn't until I had a kid brother that I started to see things the right way round.
19. What is your favorite Christmas song?
We Three Kings, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, and the original instrumental Sleigh Ride.
20. Candy canes:
As mentioned above, great for stirring cocoa. In fact, answering the question above made me run off to put it into practice. Mmmmm.... minty cocoa.....
21. Favorite Christmas movie?
Miracle on 34th Street.
22. What do you leave for Santa?
I think the first hint to whom I was actually leaving things was leaving coffee exactly the way Dad liked it, along with cookies with a lot of icing (which my folks knew that I wouldn't eat).
So - I'm supposed to also tag some other folk to answer. It's not my usual practice - but again, it's the holidays, and it's all about sharing! Sheila, Tracey, and the Barking Spider - you're on.
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Kerry On, Wayward Son
This post is second hearsay, from Matt at Blackfive via NRO's The Corner.
This reminds me of Hillary's trip to Iraq, from her photo with a G.I. (who is giving the "duress" sign) to the naming of her helicopter "Broomstick One".
Be advised, this is not a news story but a blogpost. After your read it you will know why I couldn't resist.
Friday, December 15, 2006
Jon Carey in Irak [Kathryn Jean Lopez]
Via Matt at Blackfive :
RE: Reception of John Kerry by troops in Iraq.Usually, the way it works is that (1) either a combat commander plays host for the visiting politician or (2) they find a bunch of troops from Massachusetts and make them hang out with Kerry at the Palace (Hillary does that). One of my Army buddies, a lieutenant colonel in MNF HQ, said this about the meeting planning the glorious return of John Kerry to Iraq:
Hey, I just came from a meeting where they were trying to get some commander, any commander, in the Green Zone, to host Jawn Carri.
Swear to God, the CG is saying, "You can't tell me you ALL have things going on at that time! Come on!"
So, it appears that JF'nK will be coming to the Palace at the Embassy Annex and sitting around sucking up coffee at the Green Bean while we all try to ignore him.
Me, I'm gonna get a picture with him.When he says commanders, he's talking about Colonels. I deleted his next sentence. It's not for folks of gentle persuasions. Let's just say he's not going to wash his hands before meeting the Senator.
This reminds me of Hillary's trip to Iraq, from her photo with a G.I. (who is giving the "duress" sign) to the naming of her helicopter "Broomstick One".
Be advised, this is not a news story but a blogpost. After your read it you will know why I couldn't resist.
Friday, December 15, 2006
Jon Carey in Irak [Kathryn Jean Lopez]
Via Matt at Blackfive :
RE: Reception of John Kerry by troops in Iraq.Usually, the way it works is that (1) either a combat commander plays host for the visiting politician or (2) they find a bunch of troops from Massachusetts and make them hang out with Kerry at the Palace (Hillary does that). One of my Army buddies, a lieutenant colonel in MNF HQ, said this about the meeting planning the glorious return of John Kerry to Iraq:
Hey, I just came from a meeting where they were trying to get some commander, any commander, in the Green Zone, to host Jawn Carri.
Swear to God, the CG is saying, "You can't tell me you ALL have things going on at that time! Come on!"
So, it appears that JF'nK will be coming to the Palace at the Embassy Annex and sitting around sucking up coffee at the Green Bean while we all try to ignore him.
Me, I'm gonna get a picture with him.When he says commanders, he's talking about Colonels. I deleted his next sentence. It's not for folks of gentle persuasions. Let's just say he's not going to wash his hands before meeting the Senator.
Richard Cory
WHENEVER Richard Cory went down town,
We people on the pavement looked at him:
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
Clean favored, and imperially slim.
And he was always quietly arrayed,
And he was always human when he talked;
But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
"Good-morning," and he glittered when he walked.
And he was rich—yes, richer than a king,
And admirably schooled in every grace:
In fine, we thought that he was everything
To make us wish that we were in his place.
So on we worked, and waited for the light,
And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet through his head.
-Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869-1935)
Student Commits Suicide at Pennsylvania School:
ERDENHEIM, Pa. (AP) -- After pledging to improve his falling grades, Shane Halligan ate breakfast with his family, went off to school, and took his own life.
The 11th-grader was an Eagle scout and volunteer firefighter who planned a career in the military. But the poor grades he brought home on his report card Monday led his parents to warn him to focus on school.
"The picture that's emerging is he was despondent over (the fact) his grades are down, his parents are taking appropriate steps to limit extracurricular activities to get the grades up, and he saw the things that he felt were important in his life being taken from him," Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce L. Castor said.
We people on the pavement looked at him:
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
Clean favored, and imperially slim.
And he was always quietly arrayed,
And he was always human when he talked;
But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
"Good-morning," and he glittered when he walked.
And he was rich—yes, richer than a king,
And admirably schooled in every grace:
In fine, we thought that he was everything
To make us wish that we were in his place.
So on we worked, and waited for the light,
And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet through his head.
-Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869-1935)
Student Commits Suicide at Pennsylvania School:
ERDENHEIM, Pa. (AP) -- After pledging to improve his falling grades, Shane Halligan ate breakfast with his family, went off to school, and took his own life.
The 11th-grader was an Eagle scout and volunteer firefighter who planned a career in the military. But the poor grades he brought home on his report card Monday led his parents to warn him to focus on school.
"The picture that's emerging is he was despondent over (the fact) his grades are down, his parents are taking appropriate steps to limit extracurricular activities to get the grades up, and he saw the things that he felt were important in his life being taken from him," Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce L. Castor said.
Friday, December 15, 2006
We'll try to do this once a week
The following is a project I’ve decided on to keep my brain sharp and to give me a fun sideline whenever I tire of wrestling with the Mother Of Unfinishable Stories. It’s simple – I have a hockey simulator that duplicates the experience of a general manager. It’s mega-detailed, with literally scores of minor leagues, all the way down to high school level. You don’t actually play the games like in the NHL series, and you don’t even have to coach the team in games. You just worry about running the front office, with all that it implies. It’s up to you to put together the team and pay it. You wield an army of scouts and handle the draft based on their recommendations; negotiate the contracts; you can even reprimand or fine players for mouthing off to the press or dogging it during games. You can complain to the league office about the referee of your last game, if you want to (though they may fine you). Put it this way – you don’t have to know the NHL collective bargaining agreement to play, but it helps.
Anyway, it took three fake years, but my club (the Florida Panthers) won the last Stanley Cup. As often happens in real life, the faux Panthers have given total access to a humble beat writer (heheheheh) to tell the story of how a simulated sports franchise handles a season as the defending champion.. So here I go – it will be in serial form, so I won’t be going back to revise or edit large sections as I would if it were a “book.” What you get is what you get, as I simulate it day to day. Of course, any “predicting” that occurs about player movement and such is likely to be strangely accurate, but since I don’t have actual players and staff to interview, I have to make up for it somehow.
And, just so everyone’s clear – unless we're talking about a future draftee, anyone appearing in a North American pro league is represented by name in this game, from mortal-lock Hall of Famers to that sixth-round pick last year who had two games in the ECHL. This includes staff and coaches. Even the trainers of the Florida Panthers are accurately identified. Obviously any “quoting” of such will be fictional; the events will be “accurate” in that they actually happened in the simulator. Nobody sue me, OK?
Chapter One is below. Enjoy!
Anyway, it took three fake years, but my club (the Florida Panthers) won the last Stanley Cup. As often happens in real life, the faux Panthers have given total access to a humble beat writer (heheheheh) to tell the story of how a simulated sports franchise handles a season as the defending champion.. So here I go – it will be in serial form, so I won’t be going back to revise or edit large sections as I would if it were a “book.” What you get is what you get, as I simulate it day to day. Of course, any “predicting” that occurs about player movement and such is likely to be strangely accurate, but since I don’t have actual players and staff to interview, I have to make up for it somehow.
And, just so everyone’s clear – unless we're talking about a future draftee, anyone appearing in a North American pro league is represented by name in this game, from mortal-lock Hall of Famers to that sixth-round pick last year who had two games in the ECHL. This includes staff and coaches. Even the trainers of the Florida Panthers are accurately identified. Obviously any “quoting” of such will be fictional; the events will be “accurate” in that they actually happened in the simulator. Nobody sue me, OK?
Chapter One is below. Enjoy!
Chapter 01
Silver chalice: $48.67
Thirty-five pound base: market price, updated every 13 years
Professional sports franchise: $43,375,500
Custom engraving: priceless.
There’s a trick to running a sports franchise, part science and part alchemy; which is as much as to say, you’re always a genius until you aren’t anymore. Currently, the Florida Panthers are run by a genius named Mike Beginner. [OK – really. That’s the name I used for the game. Again – don’t sue me. –NF]
He started in life as a goaltender on Long Island, dreaming of a chance to represent his hometown team in the National Hockey League. It didn’t work out quite as he’d hoped. Playing hockey on roller skates doesn’t translate well, and he couldn’t earn a scholarship to a Division I school, and couldn’t afford the tuition to attend one and then walk on.
Plan B has worked out quite well so far; but on this day, the “genius” feels rather at a loss. He is sitting at a makeshift desk in the chilly bowl of Philadelphia’s Wachovia Center, three weeks after the Florida Panthers claimed their first-ever Stanley Cup. With him are the assistant General Manager, David Thomas, and the head coach, Jacques Martin. On the other end of Beginner’s cel phone is his head scout, Darwin Bennett. Surrounding them are myriads of chiming phones and faxes, the glow of laptop computers, and the personnel of the other 29 NHL teams debating their picks in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft.
The Panther’s next draft choice will be the 41st overall. Thomas and Bennett are leaning towards defenseman Gabriel O’Connor, a player they’ve favored for several weeks as the team’s scouting picked up steam; Martin, finally freed to consider the future after nearly ten months of day-to-day preparations, is more of a fan of winger Kellan Tochkin.
Beginner’s choice is Maickol DeLuca, a rough-and-tumble winger unearthed by scout Mike Yandle on a swing through Europe; recommended as a strong two-way forward much in the mold of current Panthers stalwart Nathan Horton. Beginner is trying to solve a problem that won’t happen for five years – Horton, Anthony Stewart, Kenndal McArdle, and Michael Frolík will be their top four wingers, as long as he can figure out a way to pay everyone. He’s looking for someone who will be willing to do the unglamorous third-line work, a player with the necessary speed and love of physical play to mark the opponent’s best scorers, not worrying about their own goal-scoring numbers. Given that he’ll be on the hook for at least $12 million per year for the other four, he won’t be able to simply sign a proven free-agent for the job. It has to happen from within the organization. The four players already mentioned were all first-round Panthers selections over the past decade, as were center Stephen Weiss and defenseman Jay Bouwmeester.
There is little time remaining for the debate. Seven minutes ago, the New York Islanders took centerman Alexander Lechenne with their own pick, putting the Ottawa Senators on the clock. They took barely any time of their own before making their own selection: with the tenth pick of the second round (40th overall), forward Aiden Harris of the Barrie Colts. Beginner shrugs to himself. If O’Connor had come off the board he could have pushed DeLuca a little more strongly. Two years prior, he had done so for defenseman Ryan Wilson, now a highly promising player, but it’s not something he does often. “I have to trust the people I’m working with,” he confides later that day. “If not, they can’t trust me and they won’t be able to do their jobs.” Besides, he also recalls the 2005 draft, when then-GM Mike Keenan bowed to his own assistants and chose McArdle. He’d not been a fan of the choice at the time, but was impressed by Keenan’s willingness to be persuaded, a quality that few in the press would credit given the popular image of Keenan as a martinet and taskmaster in his previous NHL jobs.
Current-GM Beginner kept it in mind even as McArdle shuffled back and forth to the AHL affiliate in Rochester for the next two seasons; even as he posted a horrible five points in forty-two games in 2007-08 and suffered a beating in the local press. Beginner thought about it when no fewer than five teams inquired to his availability in trades over the years. He decided to be persuaded as well by Rochester’s head coach, Randy Cunneyworth, an NHLer himself and one of McArdle’s warmest advocates in the organization. He turned down four of the deals and convinced the fifth team, Edmonton, to accept instead another former first-rounder, Rostislav Olesz, who had been so badly dismayed by the retirement of center Joe Nieuwendyk in 2006.
McArdle eventually repaid the patience by posting 26 goals and 24 assists in 54 games during the recently-concluded season, and adding 23 more points in the Stanley Cup run. Even as Horton’s development into a top-flight player meant that Todd Bertuzzi could be traded, so McArdle’s progress marks current starter Paul Kariya as a valuable bargaining piece. It’s long odds that his five million per year salary will fall to the Panthers once the new season starts on October 5th, against the same Flyers whose home arena plays host to the current crisis.
Finally, with time winding down, Thomas asks, “What do you think?”
“I think that whatever we don’t already have on the blueline, we can get when we deal Paul,” Beginner replies carefully. “We already have Wurzer. We won’t be able to take DeLuca later, but there are still good defenders we can have at sixty.”
“We can’t afford Paul,” Thomas replies. “Obviously we can’t afford a player of equal value coming back. And we don’t really have leverage because everyone knows it. We can’t play him until the deadline and wait for someone to really knock us dead with an offer.”
Bennett, who expected O’Connor to be gone in the first round, agrees. Mario Wurzer, the Panthers’ first round pick (30th overall), was also expected to be a higher choice, but the first round had been dominated by forwards, starting with the consensus #1, center John Tavares of Belleville, a teammate of Florida’s own Bryan Cameron (2nd round, 2007). Beginner, in fact, had already filled out a card with the name of centerman Leo Riddell of the Guelph Storm, and then sat amazed as the seven teams before them had also all gone with forwards – not only leaving them the talented puck-moving defenseman from Austira, but Riddell as well. The Panthers simply handed in a new card with Wurzer on it to end the first round, and then handed in Riddell’s card to begin the second, as they held Toronto’s pick as well as their own.
But now comes the troublesome 41st pick, originally Vancouver’s, which wound up in their hands via the Detroit Red Wings in exchange for Branislav Mezei. These were the tough choices. “Anyone can write Jay Bouwmeester’s name on a card,” Beginner had remarked a week prior. “The only hard part is hoping that you don’t hear your guy’s name before it’s your turn.”
As a last check, Beginner called Yandle, who clinched it. “If O’Connor’s still there, I’d wait on DeLuca. Besides, there’s also Gilodi.” That was Samuel Gilodi, a 6-foot-6 defense prospect and teammate of DeLuca’s that Yandle had recommended as a sleeper. Rated only 175th in the draft, Gilodi figured to be there even if DeLuca was not.
“If we get Gilodi, I don’t see what we do with him, Wurzer, and O’Connor,” Beginner says. But in the end, he yields and Gabriel O’Connor of Halifax becomes the latest draftee of the defending champion Florida Panthers.
Three picks later, the shrewd Lou Lamoriello takes DeLuca for the New Jersey Devils, and at #57, the Red Wings startle everyone by grabbing up Gilodi. Perhaps they hope that Mezei, himself 6’ 5”, can help mentor the youngster, but in any case, the diamond in the rough has been dug up right under the Panthers’ noses. Sometimes, you clench your teeth and your guy’s name comes out in spite of it all. But Jacques Martin at least gets a consolation prize. With the final pick of the second round (60th overall), Beginner takes Tochkin.
Thirty-five pound base: market price, updated every 13 years
Professional sports franchise: $43,375,500
Custom engraving: priceless.
There’s a trick to running a sports franchise, part science and part alchemy; which is as much as to say, you’re always a genius until you aren’t anymore. Currently, the Florida Panthers are run by a genius named Mike Beginner. [OK – really. That’s the name I used for the game. Again – don’t sue me. –NF]
He started in life as a goaltender on Long Island, dreaming of a chance to represent his hometown team in the National Hockey League. It didn’t work out quite as he’d hoped. Playing hockey on roller skates doesn’t translate well, and he couldn’t earn a scholarship to a Division I school, and couldn’t afford the tuition to attend one and then walk on.
Plan B has worked out quite well so far; but on this day, the “genius” feels rather at a loss. He is sitting at a makeshift desk in the chilly bowl of Philadelphia’s Wachovia Center, three weeks after the Florida Panthers claimed their first-ever Stanley Cup. With him are the assistant General Manager, David Thomas, and the head coach, Jacques Martin. On the other end of Beginner’s cel phone is his head scout, Darwin Bennett. Surrounding them are myriads of chiming phones and faxes, the glow of laptop computers, and the personnel of the other 29 NHL teams debating their picks in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft.
The Panther’s next draft choice will be the 41st overall. Thomas and Bennett are leaning towards defenseman Gabriel O’Connor, a player they’ve favored for several weeks as the team’s scouting picked up steam; Martin, finally freed to consider the future after nearly ten months of day-to-day preparations, is more of a fan of winger Kellan Tochkin.
Beginner’s choice is Maickol DeLuca, a rough-and-tumble winger unearthed by scout Mike Yandle on a swing through Europe; recommended as a strong two-way forward much in the mold of current Panthers stalwart Nathan Horton. Beginner is trying to solve a problem that won’t happen for five years – Horton, Anthony Stewart, Kenndal McArdle, and Michael Frolík will be their top four wingers, as long as he can figure out a way to pay everyone. He’s looking for someone who will be willing to do the unglamorous third-line work, a player with the necessary speed and love of physical play to mark the opponent’s best scorers, not worrying about their own goal-scoring numbers. Given that he’ll be on the hook for at least $12 million per year for the other four, he won’t be able to simply sign a proven free-agent for the job. It has to happen from within the organization. The four players already mentioned were all first-round Panthers selections over the past decade, as were center Stephen Weiss and defenseman Jay Bouwmeester.
There is little time remaining for the debate. Seven minutes ago, the New York Islanders took centerman Alexander Lechenne with their own pick, putting the Ottawa Senators on the clock. They took barely any time of their own before making their own selection: with the tenth pick of the second round (40th overall), forward Aiden Harris of the Barrie Colts. Beginner shrugs to himself. If O’Connor had come off the board he could have pushed DeLuca a little more strongly. Two years prior, he had done so for defenseman Ryan Wilson, now a highly promising player, but it’s not something he does often. “I have to trust the people I’m working with,” he confides later that day. “If not, they can’t trust me and they won’t be able to do their jobs.” Besides, he also recalls the 2005 draft, when then-GM Mike Keenan bowed to his own assistants and chose McArdle. He’d not been a fan of the choice at the time, but was impressed by Keenan’s willingness to be persuaded, a quality that few in the press would credit given the popular image of Keenan as a martinet and taskmaster in his previous NHL jobs.
Current-GM Beginner kept it in mind even as McArdle shuffled back and forth to the AHL affiliate in Rochester for the next two seasons; even as he posted a horrible five points in forty-two games in 2007-08 and suffered a beating in the local press. Beginner thought about it when no fewer than five teams inquired to his availability in trades over the years. He decided to be persuaded as well by Rochester’s head coach, Randy Cunneyworth, an NHLer himself and one of McArdle’s warmest advocates in the organization. He turned down four of the deals and convinced the fifth team, Edmonton, to accept instead another former first-rounder, Rostislav Olesz, who had been so badly dismayed by the retirement of center Joe Nieuwendyk in 2006.
McArdle eventually repaid the patience by posting 26 goals and 24 assists in 54 games during the recently-concluded season, and adding 23 more points in the Stanley Cup run. Even as Horton’s development into a top-flight player meant that Todd Bertuzzi could be traded, so McArdle’s progress marks current starter Paul Kariya as a valuable bargaining piece. It’s long odds that his five million per year salary will fall to the Panthers once the new season starts on October 5th, against the same Flyers whose home arena plays host to the current crisis.
Finally, with time winding down, Thomas asks, “What do you think?”
“I think that whatever we don’t already have on the blueline, we can get when we deal Paul,” Beginner replies carefully. “We already have Wurzer. We won’t be able to take DeLuca later, but there are still good defenders we can have at sixty.”
“We can’t afford Paul,” Thomas replies. “Obviously we can’t afford a player of equal value coming back. And we don’t really have leverage because everyone knows it. We can’t play him until the deadline and wait for someone to really knock us dead with an offer.”
Bennett, who expected O’Connor to be gone in the first round, agrees. Mario Wurzer, the Panthers’ first round pick (30th overall), was also expected to be a higher choice, but the first round had been dominated by forwards, starting with the consensus #1, center John Tavares of Belleville, a teammate of Florida’s own Bryan Cameron (2nd round, 2007). Beginner, in fact, had already filled out a card with the name of centerman Leo Riddell of the Guelph Storm, and then sat amazed as the seven teams before them had also all gone with forwards – not only leaving them the talented puck-moving defenseman from Austira, but Riddell as well. The Panthers simply handed in a new card with Wurzer on it to end the first round, and then handed in Riddell’s card to begin the second, as they held Toronto’s pick as well as their own.
But now comes the troublesome 41st pick, originally Vancouver’s, which wound up in their hands via the Detroit Red Wings in exchange for Branislav Mezei. These were the tough choices. “Anyone can write Jay Bouwmeester’s name on a card,” Beginner had remarked a week prior. “The only hard part is hoping that you don’t hear your guy’s name before it’s your turn.”
As a last check, Beginner called Yandle, who clinched it. “If O’Connor’s still there, I’d wait on DeLuca. Besides, there’s also Gilodi.” That was Samuel Gilodi, a 6-foot-6 defense prospect and teammate of DeLuca’s that Yandle had recommended as a sleeper. Rated only 175th in the draft, Gilodi figured to be there even if DeLuca was not.
“If we get Gilodi, I don’t see what we do with him, Wurzer, and O’Connor,” Beginner says. But in the end, he yields and Gabriel O’Connor of Halifax becomes the latest draftee of the defending champion Florida Panthers.
Three picks later, the shrewd Lou Lamoriello takes DeLuca for the New Jersey Devils, and at #57, the Red Wings startle everyone by grabbing up Gilodi. Perhaps they hope that Mezei, himself 6’ 5”, can help mentor the youngster, but in any case, the diamond in the rough has been dug up right under the Panthers’ noses. Sometimes, you clench your teeth and your guy’s name comes out in spite of it all. But Jacques Martin at least gets a consolation prize. With the final pick of the second round (60th overall), Beginner takes Tochkin.
Thursday, December 14, 2006
At Least Mel Was Drunk....
... but Jew-hating Jimmah is stone cold sober:
Incredibly, given his media presence, Carter thinks that he is being silenced by shadowy forces. He makes this bizarre claim: “My most troubling experience has been the rejection of my offers to speak, for free, about the book on university campuses with high Jewish enrollment.” Does Carter keep track of which schools have lots of Jews? And who does he think is keeping him from speaking at them?
You've got to read the whole thing.
Incredibly, given his media presence, Carter thinks that he is being silenced by shadowy forces. He makes this bizarre claim: “My most troubling experience has been the rejection of my offers to speak, for free, about the book on university campuses with high Jewish enrollment.” Does Carter keep track of which schools have lots of Jews? And who does he think is keeping him from speaking at them?
You've got to read the whole thing.
Ted Haggard, call your office!
Another one bites the dust:
In a tearful videotaped message Sunday to his congregation, the senior pastor of a thriving evangelical megachurch in south metro Denver confessed to sexual relations with other men and announced he had voluntarily resigned his pulpit.
A month ago, the Rev. Paul Barnes of Grace Chapel in Doug las County preached to his 2,100-member congregation about integrity and grace in the aftermath of the Ted Haggard drugs-and-gay-sex scandal.
Now, the 54-year-old Barnes joins Haggard as a fallen evangelical minister who preached that homosexuality was a sin but grappled with a hidden life.
"I have struggled with homosexuality since I was a 5-year-old boy," Barnes said in the 32- minute video, which church leaders permitted The Denver Post to view. "... I can't tell you the number of nights I have cried myself to sleep, begging God to take this away."
I am surprised that the Fly has not noted this story and the Haggard tale to those who say that it is celibacy that is the cause of gay Catholic priests.
Long ago, I promised the Fly I would post on the evangelical perspective of the confession of sin. Actually, it will be the evangelical-wino perspective of James 5:16
Main point: Pray for your pastors, be they Catholic or Protestant. It's bad enough that my pastors have to put up with my Pferdkaese, but all pastors doing it right are high-value targets of The Evil One.
In a tearful videotaped message Sunday to his congregation, the senior pastor of a thriving evangelical megachurch in south metro Denver confessed to sexual relations with other men and announced he had voluntarily resigned his pulpit.
A month ago, the Rev. Paul Barnes of Grace Chapel in Doug las County preached to his 2,100-member congregation about integrity and grace in the aftermath of the Ted Haggard drugs-and-gay-sex scandal.
Now, the 54-year-old Barnes joins Haggard as a fallen evangelical minister who preached that homosexuality was a sin but grappled with a hidden life.
"I have struggled with homosexuality since I was a 5-year-old boy," Barnes said in the 32- minute video, which church leaders permitted The Denver Post to view. "... I can't tell you the number of nights I have cried myself to sleep, begging God to take this away."
I am surprised that the Fly has not noted this story and the Haggard tale to those who say that it is celibacy that is the cause of gay Catholic priests.
Long ago, I promised the Fly I would post on the evangelical perspective of the confession of sin. Actually, it will be the evangelical-wino perspective of James 5:16
Main point: Pray for your pastors, be they Catholic or Protestant. It's bad enough that my pastors have to put up with my Pferdkaese, but all pastors doing it right are high-value targets of The Evil One.
Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD)...
..is seriously ill.
I am uncomfortable considering the political ramifications. The GOP getting back the majority via Sen. Johnson becoming ill is like winning the World Series on a bad call by the ump. The GOP didn't earn it.
The idea scenario is for Sen Johnson to recover fully and to lose his seat to the GOP the next time he's up for re-election in 2008.
I am uncomfortable considering the political ramifications. The GOP getting back the majority via Sen. Johnson becoming ill is like winning the World Series on a bad call by the ump. The GOP didn't earn it.
The idea scenario is for Sen Johnson to recover fully and to lose his seat to the GOP the next time he's up for re-election in 2008.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Tinkering to follow
Busy busy on real-life related activities currently... I may post substance tonight, or maybe just the usual froth, I haven't decided. One thing's for sure, my sidebar is haggis right now. It wants reorganizing. For example, the Invincible Super-Blog, while fun, isn't a "Friend" blog but a Heavy Hitter ("known" bloggers); and sooner or later, I have to go back and start categorizing everything, since the "search Blogger" function is, to put it politely, a three-layer turd cake.
Jeff, is there anything you'd like to see (or stop seeing) while I'm at it?
Jeff, is there anything you'd like to see (or stop seeing) while I'm at it?
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Of Thee I Sing
There are two Christmas holidays. The Santa and reindeer and tree one, and the shepherds and manger and birth of the Babe. (There is a tree as well, about thirty years later.)
One of the things I enjoy about the Christmas season is getting an opportunity to sing the music of the latter Christmas (c'mon, the REAL Christmas). This week I had two opportunities to sing Christmas carols (with a third to follow).
I am thankful that God allows me do this. He allows me to sing in the church music team even though I can barely read music and can only sing harmony to country music.
I know that positionally I am His child all the time, but the moments that I am singing songs about Him, for Him and to Him are the rare times that I am not a total screw-up.
One of the things I enjoy about the Christmas season is getting an opportunity to sing the music of the latter Christmas (c'mon, the REAL Christmas). This week I had two opportunities to sing Christmas carols (with a third to follow).
I am thankful that God allows me do this. He allows me to sing in the church music team even though I can barely read music and can only sing harmony to country music.
I know that positionally I am His child all the time, but the moments that I am singing songs about Him, for Him and to Him are the rare times that I am not a total screw-up.
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