Happy New Year

Here's hoping the next year is significantly better than the last nine.

This is why I've never smoked

It's also why I rarely sleep.

Travelin'

Hope to update soon. A snow-covered Indiana dominates my life at the moment.

Pope fails to heed message

In a clear message to Pope Benedict XVI yesterday, God sent a woman to stop the Pontiff from performing the annual Christmas Eve mass.

A woman jumped the barriers in St. Peter's Basilica and knocked down Pope Benedict XVI as he walked down the main aisle to begin Christmas Eve Mass on Thursday.

Alas, the Pope elected to ignore God and performed the mass anyway, a clear FU to the all-powerful deity who often speaks through people, hurricanes and tortillas.

After the incident, Benedict, flanked by tense bodyguards, resumed his walk to the basilica's main altar to start the Mass.

When even the Pope won't listen to God, it really makes you think, doesn't it?

Good TV

Probably my favorite new show of the season is NBC's Community. It's funny and I like all the characters. This recent scene worked for me on many levels.

A Touching Tribute to a Small Act of Kindness

“A small town in Luxembourg once destroyed by fierce fighting remembers one of the bright moments in the dark of World War II -- a visit from Saint Nick.

For Dick Brookins, a U.S. soldier standing in for an absent Saint Nicholas, it was to change his life also and help him find some meaning for the war in Europe.”

 

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/12/22/luxembourg.santa/index.html

 

If this story doesn’t make you tear up, I don’t know what would.

I've been vaccinated

Got my flu shot a couple of months ago and my H1N1 vaccination this morning.

Screw you, anti-vaxx morons.

Snow Storm '09

Well, here's the damage as of yesterday afternoon while it was still snowing. Not too shabby.


Carol and Ben have the driveway shoveled out. I love being snowed in so I've never felt compelled to shovel out.

Below is a picture I've been meaning to take and upload for some time; it's the view from our bathroom window. After snowfall, the view has always reminded me of the Ukiyo-e print, "Evening snow at Kanbara" by Ando Hiroshige, which follows.

Phantom Menace Review

You might not think that watching a 7 part, 70 minute review of a ten year old movie is worth your time.

You would be wrong.

Just watch this first part. Bet you watch the rest. It's hilarious. There's a part a couple of minutes into part two that had me howling with laughter.

A well-placed quote is a thing of beauty

I'm not normally a big fan of people making random movie and tv quotes at every opportunity. It's a short-hand way of speaking that's frankly pretty lazy.

Ben, however, can be a master. A few minutes ago he was trying to get me to stay in my bedroom to watch a segment of Jake and Josh Go Hollywood. He slammed the door closed, locked it, and said,

"Go ahead and scream. We're miles away from where anyone can hear you!"

I love that kid.

I'm SO impressed

Wow. We're supposed to get "record" snowfall. Since they say this frequently every year and we end up getting like half an inch, we won't be holding our breath.

Come on, snow. Hit us, you big wuss!

Iron Man 2

Wow does this look cool.

Misnamed

Ode to Joy?
It should be Ode to Die Hard.

Yippee ki yay.

Haiku for the Right

Deep unexplained rage.

Reason has left the building.

At least you could try.

Goodbye, Carol.

Ah, crap.

I work in Washington DC. Now that the City Council has passed a law allowing for gay marriage, which is expected to be signed by the Mayor and approved by Congress, I'll probably be forced to gay marry someone. After all, that is all part of the gay agenda.

And even if I'm not forced to gay marry someone, my marriage has now been completely devalued. Really, there's no more point in even continuing. The fact that two guys can get married means that my marriage is all just meaningless now.

So, it's so long, Carol. We've had a good run. Sorry I won't be around to see the kids grow up. But I'm pretty sure my new husband will keep me too busy to see them often.



And . . . scene.

Universal Beauty

Phil Plait, the Bad Astronomer, has posted his annual collection of Top Ten Best Astronomy Pictures of the Year. They are especially spectacular this year.

#8 has been our wallpaper for the last couple of weeks.

Who the Frak elected Lieberman king of everyone?

Joe Lieberman is a huge douchebag, a hypocrite, a traitor to his supposed ideals, and a selfish vain man who is pushing his will against the will of a majority of Americans by squashing the public option and a potential Medicare buy-in that was supposed to be a compromise substitute for the public option.

Joe Lieberman is only interested in what's good for Joe Lieberman and screw the rest of us.

The Reason for the Season

Interested in the history of Christmas? Check it out here.

Good article. Light on citation but fun to read and chock full of actual history.

It's family-safe so go ahead and click right through the age confirmation if it pops up.

What's Wrong with these (R) Women?

One of the frequent discussion topics on FOX News when talking about Sarah Palin is that liberals are scared of her because she's pro-life, pro-gun and conservative, as if liberals don't believe that women can hold these positions. Jon Stewart recently dealt head-on with this phenomenon and pretty much hit the nail on the head.

I dislike Sarah Palin because she's anti-intellectual and seems incapable of thoughtful, informed analysis.

"I believe that the Jewish settlements should be allowed to be expanded upon, because that population of Israel is, is going to grow. More and more Jewish people will be flocking to Israel in the days and weeks and months ahead." - Sarah Palin to Barbara Walters.

This is the most uninformed, superficial, shallow analysis of the complex issues that dominate the Israeli/Palestinian situation I've ever seen. Of course, it's likely informed by her "end-times" belief that Armageddon is coming and Jews are supposed to migrate to Israel before that happens. Which makes her view on these issues not just stupid, but dangerous if she ever got into power.

Then she said this:

“There’s been a lack of acknowledgment by our president in understanding what it is that the American military provides in terms of, obviously, the safety, the security of our country. I want him to acknowledge the sacrifices that these individual men and women — our sons, our daughters, our moms, our dads, our brothers and sisters — are providing this country to keep us safe. "

This bit of unreality, of course, flies in the face of this and this.

It should be noted that no President has met with remains coming into Dover for 18 years.

To round out her parade of ignorance, she was approached by a Canadian comedian on her book tour and asked if she had any words of encouragement to Canadian conservatives trying to get rid of the socialist health care system up there. Of course, the Canadian health care system is superior to ours by almost every measure.

“Keep the faith and that common-sense conservatism. It needs to be plugged into Canadian policies too. Keep the faith!”
. . .
Well, my answer was too keep the faith. My answer was to keep the faith. Cause that common sense conservatism can be plugged-in there in Canada too. In fact Canada needs to reform its health care system and let the private sector take over some of what the government has absorbed. So thank you, keep the faith."

Could it be any more clear that she's answering a question here without any knowledge whatsoever about Canadian health care? It's just verbal effluence with no substance whatsoever. The fact that her answer is complete BS doesn't seem to bother her.

And it's not just Sarah Palin among the conservative camp. Right-wing star, former Bush press secretary Dana Perino also seems affected by the know-nothing disease.

While calling for the President to declare the Fort Hood shootings a "terrorist attack" she said:

"We did not have a terrorist attack on our country during President Bush's term."

This is, of course, a HUGE relief as I've really been stressing about 9/11. I'm so glad that never happened! Or those anthrax attacks the following year.

I wish I lived in Parino's world.

While I applaud the Republicans for belatedly getting on the "women" bandwagon and featuring a few women candidates, I wish they'd pick some women with actual thoughts, intelligence and knowledge. That would be refreshing.

UH OH!

Tech dudes have just recovered around 22 million e-mails that were "lost" from White House servers during the Bush administration. These e-mails may shed light on the White House's justifications of the invasion of Iraq, torture, the Valerie Plame "outing" and other controversial Bush-era issues.

Watch for former President Bush to suddenly book passage on Branson's SpaceShipTwo in an attempt to flee the planet.

So So Tired

It's now been about four months since I've had a day off (not counting weekends or holidays, of course). I haven't taken any days just to hang out or do something fun. It's pretty much been work, work, work. I am pretty burned out at this point,.

In less than two weeks I'll have the week off after Christmas. Huzzah. Of course, that raises its own stresses as we're visiting family the entire time.

I think maybe I'll take off a couple of days at the end of that just for me.

Anyway, that's why my blogging output has been so sporadic.

Palin Pitches In

Big Quitter Sarah Palin is now an expert on the environment and science! We're saved from all those scientists and their "knowledge"! Read her thoughts on the false "controversy" dubbed "Climategate".

I've always believed that policy should be based on sound science, not politics.
...
But while we recognize the occurrence of these natural, cyclical environmental trends, we can't say with assurance that man's activities cause weather changes.

This is all, of course, highly ironic coming from someone who doesn't understand or believe in evolution. Who believes the Earth is only 6000 years old. And who belongs to a church that believes witches are real and practices exorcisms.

Our representatives in Copenhagen should remember that good environmental policymaking is about weighing real-world costs and benefits -- not pursuing a political agenda.

And of course economics should be the determining factor. Who cares if ocean levels rise to drown coastal cities around the world, billions starve in interminable droughts and the planet is rendered nearly uninhabitable by humans? At least our economy will be in good shape.

It's all about your priorities.

Rachel, watch this for tips

Math is hard again

Oy.

I admit it

I have been hiding the truth for too long. I had hoped that the media scandal would blow over, but it's just too great. I can't avoid it so my only reasonable course of action is to come clean.

I also have been having an affair with Tiger Woods.

There. I said it. I feel much better.

I expect the media circus will descend upon me at this startling, but totally foreseeable and inevitable, revelation. I am ready for it.

As proof, I offer the following.

Overreact Much, Fox News?

I really don't think they understand that two-thirds of the people who live on this planet are NOT Christians.

Participants at Copenhagen's global climate summit will be meeting during the holiday season, but they will not be surrounded by festive Christmas decor, according to Denmark's Foreign Ministry.
...

A sponsor providing fir trees for the conference's Christmas trees learned this the hard way when it was turned away by planners of the international event, the Copenhagen Post reported. Article

Earlier this evening, this article was the top news story at FOX News.

This is news? The participants are supposed to be meeting to discuss climate-related issues. Why is is desirable for them to have Christmas decorations? Really, who gives a crap?

Of course this is just another salvo in Fox's annual "war against the (imaginary) war on Christmas". Those evil UN guys are destroying Christmas.

Can you imagine the uproar if the conference was being held during Ramadan and decorated accordingly? These same people who want to shove Christmas down everyone's throats would go nuts.

Look, I love Christmas. It's a fun time of year, the music is good, and everything is very pretty. But I understand that more people in the world don't celebrate it than do, and they don't want it in their face all the time. Sheesh.

So long, Butterstick

The beloved Panda at the National Zoo in DC, Tai Shan a.k.a "Butterstick", is being sent to China. China owns all the Pandas at the National Zoo and after an extension on the original two-year contract for Tai Shan, who was born at the zoo, his time in America is up.

Many Americans are taking it hard.

"People have different emotions," she said. "Some people think it's best for him to go. And some people are dealing with just hearing the news. It's a shock. We knew the time was going to come. We just didn't know when."

The Chinese, of course, are absolutely delighted and can't wait for his arrival as they consider giant Pandas to be a wonderful symbol of their homeland and absolutely delicious.

Reap what you sow

Attention anti-gay Christians.

Below is the logical conclusion of your bigotry against homosexuals. If many American Christians had their way, this proposed Ugandan law would also be the law in the United States and everywhere.

The Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009 is going through Uganda’s Parliament after receiving its first reading last month.

According to Clause 2 of the Bill, a person who is convicted of gay sex is liable to life imprisonment. But if that person is also HIV positive the penalty — under the heading “aggravated homosexuality” — is death.

The Bill proposes a three-year prison sentence for anyone who is aware of evidence of homosexuality and fails to report it to the police within 24 hours. And it would impose a sentence of up to seven years for anyone who defends the rights of gays and lesbians.

Think carefully. Is this REALLY what you want?

Shame on you, New York

A "progressive" state legislature demonstrates their bigotry as up to 8 Democratic state senators switch their vote for the continued denial of rights to a minority. They are on the wrong side of history and will eventually be ashamed of their vote to deny marriage equality.

Five years ago, no one would have believed that in 2009 five states would allow gay marriage. In a few years, no one will understand why anyone was against it.

This is brilliant:

Something doesn't seem right here

The CBO, or Congressional Budget Office, is a non-partisan group that crunches the numbers for Congress. Their report is pretty clear:

– “As the Senate opened debate Monday on a landmark plan to overhaul the nation’s health-care system, congressional budget analysts said the measure would leave premiums unchanged or slightly lower for the vast majority of Americans, contradicting assertions by the insurance industry that the average family’s coverage would rise by thousands of dollars if the proposal became law.” [WP, 11/30/2009]

– “The Congressional Budget Office said Monday that the Senate health bill could significantly reduce costs for many people who buy health insurance on their own…” [NYT, 11/30/2009]

– “On average, 134 million Americans insured through large employers will see no rise in premiums and may pay 3 percent less than they would if Congress failed to pass a health-care overhaul plan, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said yesterday. Subsidies also will lower costs as much as 59 percent for 18 million people buying their own insurance.” [Bloomberg, 12/1/2009]

So why is FOX News reporting that the CBO says Health Care Reform won't lower premiums?