The Last Ephor

1. Open up the music player on your computer. 2. Set it to play your entire music collection. 3. Hit the "shuffle" command. 4. Tell us the title of the next ten songs that show up (with their musicians), no matter how embarrassing. That's right, no skipping that Carpenters tune that will totally destroy your hip credibility. It's time for total musical honesty. 5. Write it up in your blog or journal and link back to at least a couple of the other sites where you saw this. 6. If you get the same artist twice, you may skip the second (or third, or etc.) occurances. You don't have to, but since randomness could mean you end up with a list of ten song with five artists, you can if you'd like. Shout - Tears for Fears Worlds Apart - Bruce Springsteen Aliens Exist - Blink 182 Glory Days - Bruce Springsteen The River - Garth Brooks We're In Your Corner - Cornershop L'Incontro - Andrea Bocelli Revival - Me Phi Me Man of Constant Sorrow (instrumental) - Norman B

You scored as Upper middle Class . Your determination have soared you this high, yet not high enough to enjoy the luxuries of the upper class. Your most valued posession is your country club membership which is kept framed in the office. Upper middle Class 83% Luxurious Upper Class 63% Middle Class 54% alternative 42% Lower Class 25% What Social Status are you? created with QuizFarm.com No surprises here....

You are a Dubliner. What's your Inner European? brought to you by Quizilla They're always after me lucky charms....

Ok, I've changed the name name of the Blog from "First State Pundit" to "Pencader Days." The latter is far more accurate. I'm not really much of a pundit and this is more about my day to day than, say, energy production .

Andrew, Andrew, Andrew Our openly gay closeted liberal must have received a deluge of email from both sides on this one. One side appears to say: "What did you expect? The whole of the Catholic church is filled with anti-gay bigots." The other half says: "Idiot! Of COURSE he's a traditionalist" You'll find me firmly in the latter camp. Let's review, shall we? "THE CHURCH NEVER CHANGES? The response of some non-Catholics to those of us who are appalled by the selection of the new Pope goes something like this: What did you expect? The Church never changes. Having a new Pope who adheres to doctrine is not a big deal. Expecting big changes in a church whose main selling point is eternal verities is stupid. All these non-Catholics like their Catholic church authoritarian, unchanging, eternal. All I can say is: what would they have said about, say, John XXIII or even John Paul II? In the last forty years or so, the Church has officially revoked i

Andrew gets the vapors again. I don't mean to pick on him but the breathlessness he's been showing over so many things over the last year is disconcerting. He announced the war was "lost" after the Abu Ghraib scandal. He reversed himself on that one this week. Now that we have a new pope that is not to his liking; no celebration of gay relationships, no abortion allowed, no birth control allowed (i.e. Catholic) he's off again. All is lost and he's considering leaving the Church. I don't understand this. He was a reasonable man and a logical thinker on so many things until Bush began re-election efforts in earnest. I think he really came unmoored when the whole gay marriage thing was boiling over in California and Massechuesetts. The heartland responded by amending the state constitution to specifically forbid them in their states. 18 of them and counting. This collided with Andy's view of federalism and civil rights. Despite claiming this wa

Why progressive Westerners never understood John Paul II BRAVO!! BRAVO!! Why is Mark Steyn not on television? He's quick and brilliant. He could run rings around anybody on any of the mainstream or even cable networks. Will someone PLEASE give this man a show? He'd be at the top of my TiVo list. When oh when will we see pay per view for all television? Then we'd see some stars shine.

My Way News : "Habemus papam!" Huzzah! The Curse is broken. I have not mentioned the curse for fear of having it happening again this year. It seems that every year I have to wait for some sort of catastrophe to happen on my birthday. Yes, it's today. When I was 21 for example, the president of my college died on my birthday. He was the longest serving president of a 4 year college at the time. He was an icon at the school as he largely built the school from scratch into what it is today. So you can imagine the impact his death had. Did I mention it was also a Monday? So; it was Monday, the president had died and I was 21. Needless to say I didn't have a big blowout for my 21st. The Columbine Massacre was scheduled for my birthday but for one reason or another, it actually took place on the 20th. I (barely) dodged that one. This year it looks like The Almighty has decided that my curse, like Boston's is over. I am much obliged. He

We're Rich, You're Not. End of Story. Trying once again to put to rest the myth of the affluent socialist. I've been pounding on this one for ages to no avail. Leftists I know all but plug their ears and sing when I start on this one. The idea that the state furnishes all sorts of benefits that, in sum, surpass what your average American enjoys simply beggars believe to anyone who's done any sort of reading or had some sort of first hand experience. The article speaks for itself and I have little to add aside from my own tangental contact with socialized medicine. Most of what I know is second hand, not first. My brother broke his ankle in Budapest in the early 90's which was quite humorous (for me, not him). Combine that with other brother trying to get medical care in Prague in the mid 90's. I'll have to post more on that later.

Hyperbole alert! There are two clauses in the sentence below, try and find the one that is pure crap. Mystery Flight - Newsweek World News - MSNBC.com : "While the Bush administration has made the case that this is a war without rules, Europeans still tend to see counterterrorism as a law-enforcement problem. " If you said the first one, you win a prize. Did I miss a briefing somewhere? NO RULES!? Isikoff has a tendency to be bombastic but this is too much. What the adminstration has said is that this war is unlike any other. That it is NOT a law enforcement problem. We've seen what a law-enforcement approach gives us. Witness the Khobar Towers , Kenyan and Tanzanian embassy bombings and the USS Cole . That was enough for me. I'd rather have people like this , and this , and this , looking for these guys. Law enforcement has their role and this war won't be won without them.