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Showing posts from January 29, 2006
The "root cause" lobby is always telling me that poverty and US foreign policy are to blame for terrorism. Herewith, is just a smidgen of proof that maybe, just maybe there are other reasons too: http://news.yahoo.com/photo/060203/ids_photos_wl/r3443127481.jpg/print;_ylt=AmADtrTLezMGo47tO9P9cLeaK8MA;_ylu=X3oDMTA3bXNtMmJ2BHNlYwNzc3M- http://news.yahoo.com/photo/060203/481/llp11802031632/print;_ylt=AskMrRqwhTgYtBlvEw_uVPLlWMcF;_ylu=X3oDMTA3bXNtMmJ2BHNlYwNzc3M- http://news.yahoo.com/photo/060203/photos_ts_afp/0602031517137vvux78o_photo0/print;_ylt=AtLbArgi7pYhRNZLtQFTjoQFO7gF;_ylu=X3oDMTA3bXNtMmJ2BHNlYwNzc3M- http://news.yahoo.com/photos/ss/events/wl/020106danishcartoons/im:/060203/ids_photos_wl/r234335378.jpg;_ylt=AjEKvSgUCliLqy3a8bDvezZgWscF;_ylu=X3oDMTA3dmhrOGVvBHNlYwNzc20 Just so we're clear; any mention of Mohammed or Islam that is not frought with slavering devotion is worthy of having your head chopped off? Good to know. There's that old Shakespeare line that &q
http://www.loyolagreyhound.com/media/paper665/news/2006/01/31/Opinion/Policy.On.Terrorist.Negotiations.Does.More.Harm.Than.Good-1544665.shtml?norewrite&sourcedomain=www.loyolagreyhound.com I dispair. This is from my alma mater and the thinking deployed here is troubling at best: Policy on terrorist negotiations does more harm than good By: Jay Bartlett Issue date: 1/31/06 Section: Opinion Article Tools:Email This ArticlePrint This Article Page 1 of 1 Last week, Osama bin Laden released an audiotape in which he, in between his usual threats and admonishments, offered a truce. While the thought of coming to an agreement with such a deranged man may seem wholly preposterous, the notion should not be dismissed without the slightest bit of thought. [i]Yes, actually, it should. When your enemy is calling for a truce, it means he's losing, badly. You pile on until he surrenders. The Germans tried putting out the "truce" feelers in the last days of the war but we ignored
monoblogue has a great quote from Shadegg about the Dept. of Education; “I personally believe there is no place in the federal government for a Department of Education. It is not in the Constitution. There is no mention anywhere in the Constitution that the federal government has any role in education. I believe that the federal government doesn’t have a role in education. I have several members of my family, including my wife, who are teachers, who are not at all happy with the so-called No Child Left Behind bill, which I think has gone far astray from what it was even intended to do. And I would like to hope that at some point we could get the federal government out of the business of education altogether, and acknowledge that this is policy that should be decided at the state level.” —Rep. John Shadegg EXCELLENT! If only we had a hundred more like him. IMNHO the only cabinet posts that should exist are: Defense, State, Justice, Attourney General and Treasury. All others need not
In politics, each party has it's own third rails. That is, topics which they may not touch for fear of destroying support from their own (and often strongest) supporters. In my estimation they are as follows: Democrats: Taxes National Security Republicans: Any issue involving gay people Government bloat Everbody: Pork Immigration Abortion Democrats cannot talk about taxes because every proposal ends with an increase in taxes. They decry the Republican tax cuts and use the common refrain of the need to "invest" in various programs. There is groundswell in the blogosphere for supporting a reduction in pork spending. Many people are calling for the elimination of earmarks all together while other believe we should simply add transparency as the old saying goes; "sunlight is the best disinfectant." Given that members of Congress use earmarks to get themselves re-elected it's inevitable that they will not be able to restrain themselves in spending. The bes
NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Really, this sucks and I'm going to miss the show.
This has to be the most pretentious post I've ever read. It's like an explosion at a Postmodernism factory. Some excerpts: "Are the processes of reading and writing indeed analogous psycho-socially?" "What of the Epicurean philosophy, that postulated that every group invents its own language, specifically to deal with its own experiences?"
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Damn, that's creepy! You Are Likely a Second Born At your darkest moments, you feel inadequate. At work and school. you do best when you're evaluating. When you love someone, you offer them constructive criticism. In friendship, you tend to give a lot of feedback - positive and negative. Your ideal careers are: accounting, banking, art, carpentry, decorating, teaching, and writing novels. You will leave your mark on the world with art and creative projects. The Birth Order Predictor
Sgt. Michael Burghardt is our latest nominee for "American Pipehitter". Don't piss this guy off when he's been drinking.
Trainblogging: We’re stopped dead just before the Newark station. I suspect there has been some sort of warp in the space/time continuum which has opened a portal to Ceti Alpha Six. Either that, or there’s a train in front of us at the station. Update: According to the tinny voice of Oz, there is a problem with the station and they can only open on door at the station and it’s at the very front of the train. This causes the inevitable parade from back to front of Newark passengers who need to detrain. We sat for a few minutes with overlapping conductors telling us what was going on and then finally, we were moving.
Connor had his first parent/teacher conference and the teacher said he was very bright and a very well behaved child. My wife decided that a reward was in order so we would buy him a toy. Why he needs another toy is beyond me. Our house is already overrun with toys. It looks like an explosion at a toy distributor. After ages of deliberation in the toy store, he settled on a craptacular toy. It was a knight’s castle with requisite dragons and such. It was craptacular because we bought another of this companies toys that was said to be a fire station. The box on that toy, expounded the versitility of it’s product. It can be assembled in various forms that allow for maximum fun! This was, of course, blatant lies. The product is like a pale imitation of Lego. It does not hold well, it is not sturdy and it is NOT versitile. The assembly points are very particular. Support and connecting pieces are only addressed to one side. That is, you cannot connect them to the left side o
So I’m trainblogging again. Not what I want to be doing. We had a rough weekend. Colin was all off schedule. He was up at about 4:30 on Saturday, and 2:30 on Sunday. My I got up with him both times. That’s only b/c he chose me. He’s very particular about who gets the morning shift. My in-laws were merciful enough to take the boys on Sunday which meant I got back to sleep around 7:00 and slept until 2:30. At one point, I was upstairs sleeping and Colin came in to wake me up to play. I was completely out. Stone dead, drooling on the pillow out. I was having a dream about being in the backyard and gardening. In my dream I was being stung by bees. I woke to find Colin grabbing my pectoral muscle w/ sharp fingernails which felt very much like bees. Wonderful thing the brain. My wife came in corraled him downstairs and packed the kids into the car. Bilssful, tomblike silence followed. Silence of any kinds is a rare and precious thing at my house. When I finally woke at arou
I love LOST. It's my favorite tv show and one of the few that I make a point not to miss when it first airs. (Everything else is TiVo'd so I watch it when I want.) However, they have made four glaring errors regarding Christianity generally and Catholicism specifically. 1. Mr. Eko's brother signs ordination papers. 2. Mr. Eko recites the 23rd Psalm incorrectly 3. Mr. Eko says that when John baptized Jesus, he took the appearance of the dove as a sign that he had "washed away all this man's sins". 4. Mr. Eko and Charlie both say that baptism is what gets you into heaven. Why are these wrong and is it really a big deal? I'll answer for each point. 1. Not a big deal but more likely artistic license taken. Why is it wrong? Only a Bishop or Cardinal may ordain a priest. We can clearly see from his mode of dress that Mr. Eko's brother is neither Bishop nor Cardinal. Bishops always wear a pectoral cross and do not typically wear an alb but rather
Paul Boutin notes that Google's blocking of verboten sites only works if you can spell. As someone most eloquently put it, "the internet percieves censorship as damage and routes around it." Well said.