New Year

Well It just turned 2005 in New York. Three more hours to go here. I'm getting so damned old, I have to watch the ball drop in New York, because I might not make it to midnight out here. Pathetic. In my prime I'd have been half way through a bottle of Cuervo and flirting with the best looking girl at the party right now. (well at least I thought I was flirting)

I hope everyone has a great 2005. 2004 was an interesting year, and you know what the Chinese and Klingons say about interesting times. (you don't? Where the hell have you been?) Let's hope 2005 is much more boring. (apart from me winning the lottery)

Now I'm going to go turn up the heater, grab a book, and a bottle of fancy apple juice.

Mazel Tov Y'all.

Do terrorists read?

One of my first thoughts after the 9/11 attacks was about how they resembled the actions in one of Tom Clancy's books. In one of his books an airliner was used as a weapon. In the book, the plane was crashed into the capitol building, but it was close enough to be weird. In the same book, two of his characters use lasers to blind pilots causing planes to crash. Now comes this: Might terrorists use laser beams on pilots? I wonder what Tom thinks about this? I know I would be slighty freaked out, and pissed as hell.

South Park

I'm watching it again. I can't help myself. The show is simply too damn funny. It does upset me that my students (7th grade) watch the show however. I really wish parents did a better job looking out for their kids. This show is totally unsuitable for kids. Hell, I'm nearly 40 and I feel guilty for watching it.

Fantasy Football Pt.2

I made the finals in my ESPN league...That means at least $75! WooHoo! Now to figure out what teams/players are even going to care about next week's games......

War on Poverty

40 years and $7 trillion later, we are still fighting Pres. Johnson's war on poverty. What do we have to show for this? Not much. We have more unwed mothers, more broken families, broken inner cities, and a growing sense of entitlement. Looks like we lost that war, but aren't smart enough to give up. (link)

There has always been poor people. There will always be poor people. It is a function of humanity and human societies. Someone will always be lazy. Someone will always make poor decisions. Someone will always be addicted to drugs. Someone will always be at the bottom of the economic system.

However, compare the standard of living of our poor to worldwide and historic norms. Our poor live longer, eat better and have more wealth than 99% of all the people who have ever lived.

We've tried the welfare state...it doesn't work.

Man booked in death of fetus

How can this be? Haven't we been told by the left that the fetus is not a human being? The fetus involved was only 18 weeks old (link) That's 4 & 1/2 months. Again we are faced with a hypocrisy. The mother involved could have chosen to kill her fetus without repercussions, but since a father did it, he is charged with murder. We now have a system in which the legal status of a fetus ( human being, or unwanted clump of cells) is entirely dependent on the personal preferences of the mother. If this fetus was a human, and thus it's death a homicide, then all fetus are human and should be granted the same protection, regardless of whether their mother is killing them, or someone else is.

Tsunami

Horrible news out of Asia today. But what I'm not hearing from the talking heads is that could happen here, on the West Coast of the USA also. We have a shallow continental plate offshore also, and our shoreline is at least as heavily populated as the shoreline in Sri Lanka and Indonesia. A 9.0 off the coast of California, Oregon or Washington could also kill thousands. I believe they have actually done some planning for such a disaster in Washington, like marking evacuation routes to higher ground. We also had a near miss by an asteroid this week. It wasn't a world killer, but if it had hit a major city, it would have killed millions. Disaster is always just around the corner. I think it's time for me to check my disaster supplies.

Holiday football

Well I've made the finals in my most important Fantasy Football league, the ESPN one. (the one with money involved) This after I attempted to draft Boston and Boldin in that league, both out with injuries for at least three months. My first round draft pick was Priest Holmes, who was having a subpar year and eventually was knocked out for the year with an injury. Now I have to begin worrying about my NCAA Bowl game pool, I've got money on that also. (at least until next Saturday when the ESPN league begins its finals.)

Christmas shopping

It's 9:51 P.M. on Decemember 22. I have yet to do ANY of my Christmas shopping. Anybody think I've left it too late? How about some ideas? I've got:

Mom & Dad
Brother & Sister-in-Law
Nephew (18 months) & Niece (6 years old)
Grandmother

Arizona Prop. 200 Pt.2

Well.

It seems some people have seen the light.

Judge Bury has lifted his restraining order and Gov. Napolitano has ordered State workers to enforce it.

MALDEF has promised to take the fight to the U.S. Federal Court of Appeals. It could be worse...they could be arguing in front of the 9th Circuit Court.

Arizona's Prop. 200

OK the people of Arizona get fed up, and decide to stop rewarding people who break the law. They pass an initiative that says that people have to show proof of citizenship in order to vote and valid identification in order to receive State benefits. Sounds like common sense right?

Well MALDEF decided that this was unfair to illegal immigrants and filed a lawsuit to overturn the well of the people of Arizona. That's bad enough, but you kind of expect that from an organization like MALDEF.

What's worse, is that they found a judge that agreed with them and granted an injunction. Judge Bury who filed the injunction was appointed by President Bush. We now have a judge that apparently feels that people have the right to break our laws, violate our sovereignty, and then demand the right to vote in our elections and raid our public treasuries. And he was appointed by a Republican.

What the hell is wrong with us?

All we have to do to see how wrong this type of behavior is , is look at Mexico. Look at how Mexico treats it's LEGAL immigrants, let alone illegal ones. Legal immigrants in Mexico aren't even allowed to buy land, let alone vote in their elections or receive public monies. Look at how Mexico controls their sourthen border. They would never tolerate the open border to the South of their country that they seem to feel entitled to to the North of their country.

Illegal immigrants are illegal and must be deported, and not supported. Illegal immigration is destroying our way of life and our quality of life in the Southwest, and we need to address that now, before it's too late.

By the way, I support legal immigration regardless of where they are from.

The Internet

I spend literally hours each day on the internet. I read e-mail, I belong to dozens of list servers, I read dozens of blogs, I shop, I research and I play games online. I cannot conceive of life today without the internet. It's hard to remember what my life was like before the internet.

And yet the World Wide Web (the WWW in most URLS) was only invented 15 years ago in 1989. Most of us didn't start using the internet until the mid to late 90's.

Talk about world changing events. And it's only just begun.

Dark Mondays

Here in SoCal there has been a call for people to not buy gasoline on Mondays by Latino activists to promote their agenda in general, and the right of illegal aliens to get driver's licenses in particular. Unbelievable.

We should be rounding them up and deporting them, and these people are arguing that instead we should be granting them all the privileges of citizenship.

I'm with John and Ken of KFI 640 AM. In a counter-protest, they are encouraging people to buy gas on Mondays instead to show their support for our national soverignty and the rule of law. Hell, I'll drive around aimlessly on Sundays now if I have to so I can fill up on Mondays.

South Park

OK. I'm watching South Park and I feel unclean.

Christmas, Satan, abortion & large-eyed, Disney-like forest animals.

Anyone else remember when The Simpsons was considered unfit for television?

Gotta go..the commercial is over.....

I'm back...Santa with a pump-action, stockless shotgun...........

You know sometimes I can't believe how much of a sick bastard I am....and I just watch the stuff......

Fantasy Football

I played in three Fantasy Football leagues this year...and I've made the playoffs in all three. Yea me.

Now I want to win my NCAA Bowl pool.

Christmas in SoCal

It's December 18. It's 68 degrees and sunny. It's a little windy, but that's common for the area. Given how much I hate the cold, days like this remind me why I put up with all the crap living in SoCal produces.

California Drivers

Ok..if there are six cars in a row immediately behind you, and a half mile of empty road in front of you.....Either speed up or get the hell out of the way!!!!

West Wing

OK...it's my guilty pleasure. It's nauseatingly liberal, stars Martin Sheen and was originally written by a Clintonista (Aaron Sorkin), but I can't help myself. I'm just too much of a political junky not to watch it. I do miss Sam Seaborn (Rob Lowe) and Ainsley Hayes (Emily Proctor).

What would be really cool though is if they had a Republican win the election and do the show for four years from the stand point of a Republican administration. Not that that will ever happen.

But when you get past all the PC, liberal crap...it is a pretty decent TV show.

Abortion / Peterson Case

OK...Peterson just got convicted of murder, and sentenced to death, for killing his unborn child Connor. However, if Laci had walked into an abortion clinic that same day and had Connor killed she would be guilty of no crime, and the death wouldn't even be considered a homicide.

Am I the only one who sees a problem here?

By the way I believe that Peterson should have been found guilty, although I believe the death penalty was innappropriate given the lack of direct evidence in the case.

Time Travel / Alternate History

This is one of my favorite sub genres of literature. It has two main strands: the Historical strand such as Yenne's A Damned Fine War (Patton lives, the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. go to war in 1945) and the Science Fiction strand such as Turtledove's World War series (aliens with 20th century tech invade during WW II)

There are also a few fantasy works in this area, Turtledove has a series in this area.

(by the way Turtledove is by far the largest producer of alternate history. He has at least three different alternate universes, one historical The Great War Series, one fantasy and the Sci Fi World War series. He also wrote the book The Guns of the South which really ignited the recent popularity of alternate history books.)

Most of the offerings in these areas are superb. S.M. Stirling's Nantucket series is very highly recommended, as is pretty much everything by Turtledove. Flint's 1632 universe is very well done. The research is extensive and much attention is given to historical detail.

Forstchen's Lost Regiment series isn't really alternate history, and has some pretty gruesome and graphic violence, but was a "can't put down" series for me.

H. Beam Piper's Lord Kalvan is a great read. (so is his Fuzzy Sapiens stuff)

I'm leaving tons out, but here is a great reference site to dive into alternate history: Uchronia

California Drivers

OK. For the last time. Slower traffic moves to the right! You frickin' morons!!!! AAARGGHHHH........

You can drive faster than 40 miles an hour in the rain!!!!

You are driving in a straight line, with no intersections or stop signs on the freeway...How hard is it to drive at a steady rate of speed?

Man...I really hate California drivers some times.........

Heisman Trophy

Yeah! Matt Leinart won! That's SC's sixth, which ties them with Ohio State with six, and one behind Notre Dame which has seven. It's also two in three years, because Carson Palmer won in 2002. Matt is only a junior, so he has a chance to repeat next year (which would make him only the second person to do that [Archie Griffin did it for Ohio State in 74 & 75]) , and Reggie Bush who finished fourth in the voting this year is only a sophomore, so SC has a real chance to win three in a row!

SC is about to win their second National Championship in a row, and with both Bush and Leinart (and a team full of sophomores and juniors) coming back, a chance to win three in a row next year. What a great time to be a Trojan!

Immigration

OK someone explain this one slowly, because I certainly don't get it.

First, the 9th Circuit Court rules that if someone is declared a terrorist by their government, comes to the United States illegally, and applies for asylum they are by definition a political refugee and entitled to asylum. Even for the 9th Circuit Court, that font of liberal madness, this is bad.

Then, to make it worse, when the House Intelligence bill tries to fix this, but the Senate doesn't they go to conference and the compromise that is reported out doesn't fix it. What the hell are people thinking?

Day By Day

If you like comic strips with a political edge, but Doonesbury makes you want to gag, have I got the site for you. Check out Day By Day, it makes me laugh almost every day. Day By Day

Abortion

In his column today Thomas Sowell (link) says:

"A couple of readers in Michigan ask: Since death is defined by the
cessation of brain waves, why shouldn't life be defined by the beginning of
brain waves?"

I first made this argument in a paper I wrote for a political science course in college in the late 1980's, and no one has yet come up with a good argument based on science, law or morality against this standard. I also argued that the old standard for death, the lack of a heartbeat would work also, i.e. life begins when the heart first beats, but no one liked that either. However again no one could come up with a rational argument based on science, law or morality against it. (except the brainwave standard)

This sounds like such an obvious standard, it is puzzling that it has not been adopted by the courts, or pro-choice lobby. Until you realize that a baby's heart begins to beat, and brainwaves begin, in the first trimester.

S.M. Stirling

I'm currently reading Stirling's Dies The Fire. I have just gotten started really, but it is obvious from some not so subtle clues that this book answers the question of what happened to the rest of the world when the island of Nantucket went back in time. ( In Stirling's alternate history trilology ) Apparently the event has rendered all electrical technology useless, and also prevents high energy chemical reactions, since modern gunpowder doesn't work anymore either. Looks like a field day for the SCA types. It's very readable so far.

Dead pool

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Perks

Tomorrow I'm getting one of the perk's of being a teacher. I'm going to Palm Springs for two days for an AVID conference. Oh the horror. I'm going to get paid to spend two days in a luxury hotel, paid for by the government, in the best resort in Southern California. I shall endure it for the children.