Bumper “Snicker”

On a Jeep in the Liberty Bank parking lot. Unfortunately, it’s all too true.         :-(

Sent, via BlackBerry, by AT&T

What a Great Parking Job!!

This gal pulled up at Chase, in Scotts Valley (presumably to use the ATM), just as I was getting back in the ’Burb. Now I will admit that the vehicle on her left was not parked at all well, but the ’Burb (to her right) was right where it belonged (I doublechecked…).

Sent, via BlackBerry, by AT&T

A Breath of Fresh Air

From American Thinker tomorrow morning:

Obama’s Busted Bubble

“…Some bubbles are more transparent than others, some are more open. Some of us are aware of our bubbles, some are not. Those who are aware attempt to compensate when judging events occurring outside the walls. Those who are unaware as a rule tend to take their bubble as identical to the universe at large. They judge the great world solely by what’s within reach. This state of affairs can distort the workings of democracy, on occasion to a serious extent. We are now living through such an occasion. This past election the bubble people elected one of their own, the consummate dweller in dream reality, Barack Obama.…”

Praise Jehovah!!

Finally someone who’s not falling all over himself gushing about the miracle, the new beginning, the wondrousness of it all; gah, it’s enough to make me sick.

Wrack and Ruin

Lo and behold: rollerderby???? can fill the Civic. From the Senile this morning:

“…More than 1,000 people got to see the wreckage, and even more wanted to. A long line of people looking to buy tickets for the sold-out event started forming near the Civic’s box office an hour and a half before its scheduled start.…”

Say what???

Lowest common denominator strikes again…

----------------
Now playing: Herbert Von Karajan, Luciano Pavarotti, Michel Sénéchal & Wiener Philharmoniker - Madama Butterfly: Act I, "E soffitto e pareti"
via FoxyTunes

I Can’t Believe It!!!!

Someone, particularly someone in the biz, actually isn’t worshiping the ground Michael Moore walks on. I’m not sure I can cope.

‘Sicko’: Heavily Doctored
By Kurt Loder

Is Michael Moore’s prescription worse than the disease?

“…Unfortunately, Moore is also a con man of a very brazen sort, and never more so than in this film. His cherry-picked facts, manipulative interviews (with lingering close-ups of distraught people breaking down in tears) and blithe assertions (how does he know 18 million people will die this year because they have no health insurance?) are so stacked that you can feel his whole argument sliding sideways as the picture unspools. The American health-care system is in urgent need of reform, no question. Some 47 million people are uninsured (although many are only temporarily so, being either in-between jobs or young enough not to feel a pressing need to buy health insurance). There are a number of proposals as to what might be done to correct this situation. Moore has no use for any of them, save one.

“As a proud socialist, the director appears to feel that there are few problems in life that can’t be solved by government regulation (that would be the same government that’s already given us the U.S. Postal Service and the Department of Motor Vehicles). In the case of health care, though, Americans have never been keen on socialized medicine. In 1993, when one of Moore’s heroes, Hillary Clinton (he actually blurts out the word “sexy!” in describing her in the movie), tried to create a government-controlled health care system, her failed attempt to do so helped deliver the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives into Republican control for the next dozen years. Moore still looks upon Clinton’s plan as a grand idea, one that Americans, being not very bright, unwisely rejected. (He may be having second thoughts about Hillary herself, though: In the movie he heavily emphasizes the fact that, among politicians, she accepts the second-largest amount of political money from the health care industry.)…”

Let’s see - he’s a “socialist”; he wants more government regulation (isn’t that supposed to be a Republican failing?); he’s got the hots for Hillary Clinton; he’s so enamored of himself and his solutions for the world’s ills he prostitutes himself to, himself? Sure! Jump on his entitlement bandwagon!

Sounds like he’s the one who’s not too bright…

Public Humiliation in the Internet Era

Yes, another offering from Randy Cassingham!

Public Humiliation vs. Real Punishment:

“Well of course I have the photos of the bikini-clad fireman. But first things first — here’s the story:

“Visitors at a park in Mason, Ohio, called police after an apparently drunk man climbed into his pickup truck and started driving around, including near the children’s play area. When an officer arrived, ‘I observed [the suspect] to be wearing a very skimpy woman’s… bikini with two tan water balloons taped to the top to simulate two woman’s breasts and a pair of pink Speedo flip-flop sandals,’…”

This guy shouldn’t let himself be seen in public, sober and no wig, in a Speedo, much less a stuffed bikini. Oi!

Throw the book at him.

It’s Not a Good Idea to Get on the Wrong Side of Brass Players

Updated: 10:06 PM EST
Christmas Festivities Draw Scrutiny
Religion's Role in Public Celebrations Debated

MAPLEWOOD, N.J. (Dec. 7) - Members of the Columbia High School brass ensemble were not allowed to play Christmas carols at their holiday concert this year - not even instrumental versions.

At a school board meeting Monday night, parents and students alike expressed their outrage.

“This is censorship at its most basic level and political correctness to its extreme,” said student Ryan Dahn.

“When you close that door you are supporting ignorance, and I think it’s a very sad thing,” said parent Melanie Amsterdam.

The controversy is by no means an isolated case. The role of religion during the Christmas season is a source of annual angst. But this year, people in “red,” or Republican, America - particularly Christian conservatives - are in an unprecedented uproar.

They are sending letters to public schools in Chicago, where the words “Merry Christmas” have been excised from a popular song; boycotting Macy’s, which has removed “Merry Christmas” signs from its department stores; and protesting the exclusion of a church group from Denver’s annual Parade of Lights.

“What they don’t understand is that by not wanting to offend anyone, they’re excluding a huge group of people, and that is all of those of the Christian faith,” said Doug Newcomb, business administrator of the Faith Bible Chapel in Arvada, Colo.

Attorney Demetrios Stratis, affiliated with the conservative civil liberties group Alliance Defense Fund, is one of 700 Christian lawyers across the country poised to pounce on such cases.

“We just don’t believe that you need to stamp out religion in the public square,” he said.

There are those in Maplewood - and in “blue,” or Democratic, America generally - who say religion should be a private matter.

“Holiday celebrations where Christian music is being sung make people feel different,” said Mark Brownstein, a Maplewood parent. “And because it is such a majority, it makes the minority feel uncomfortable.”

But Eric Chabrow, who is Jewish, says his son, Sam, should be able to play Christmas songs in the high school band. Chabrow is a part of “blue” America and generally supports the separation of church and state.

“I think that people have become a little too dogmatic in their beliefs on either side,” he said. “And I think in this world today, we need to look at that center. I mean, the center in this country is vanishing. And maybe that’s what’s happening here.”

He says there must be solutions that are neither “red” nor “blue” - just common sense.

Solutions may not be forthcoming: Christian lawyers may sue the Maplewood school board, while the school superintendent is vowing not to bend to outside pressure.



12-07-04 21:29 EST

Thanks to Gary, one of my very favorite St Bede tenors, for this one.

"Challenged" Books Lists

:::sigh:::

From the ALA (American Library Association)

The 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990 – 2000

The 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990 – 1999

A Wrinkle in Time? Julie of the Wolves? James and the Giant Peach? Banned, in essence?? Where would my childhood have been (hell, I read them to this day) without these, and books like them?? More amazing than I know what to do with...