Sunday, July 31, 2005

MTV's The 70's House

Oh my God! This show has instantly become my guilty pleasure. I caught it by accident surfing this morning. I miss the 70's. And the hostess Dawn? She's got a Dana Delaney thing going on.

Saturday, July 30, 2005

Questionable content?

My entry for 100 Words or Les Nessman was denied because of questionable content. I will post my original entry below, and then the changes I made to make it "safer". It was still denied. Perhaps someone could tell me what is so questionable about the entry? The prompt was the word "chef".

Damn. "Bonding night". That meant no poker or baseball for me. Instead I'd have to watch something she would enjoy also. At least it meant I'd get some sex out of it. We started flipping through the channels, but couldn't agree on anything. Finally we came to the Food channel. "Let's try this," she said. The commercial ended, and Iron Chef America began. OK, I could deal with this, at least it was competitive. "Tonight on Iron Chef the secret ingredient is...... eyeballs!" She ran from the room retching. Thanks Fear Factor, for ruining TV and my love life.

I removed the word "Damn" from the front of the post, and replaced "sex" with "bedroom action" and it was still rejected.

UPDATE:
OK. It turns out "poker" is the hang up. I put "damn" back up front, took out "bedroom" and changed "poker or" to "Friday Night" and the story posted.

100 Words or Les Nessman

Oops. My entry for yesterday was late. I was so damn tired after my second day back at work that I feel asleep when I got home. Then some friends called and nagged me to go out for a night of dancing and drink. So I didn't submit my entry until this morning. I think it was one of my better ones also...I can easily see it extended into a short story or novella. Who are the clan, and why are they exiled from Earth?

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

My Female Robot......

Those darn Japanese. look at what they have invented now. How long do you think it's going to be until someone crosses this with a real doll? Civilization is doomed! There are going to be generations of boys who will never leave the house again.

I know I'm not the only one who thought of the credit card commercial when they were reading this article....

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Alanis Morissette

I was never a big fan of Alanis. I found Jagged Little Pill to be strident and her personality turned me off also. Well I'm watching VH1 right now and I'm amazed. Either she has grown up in the past ten years, or I have changed. She has a new look that I find very attractive, and a much mellower personality apparently. She has done a new acoustic version of Jagged Little Pill that I much prefer. I'm still not likely to go out and buy it. This newer version proves that she does have a very good voice, and is one of the few singers who doesn't need all the machines to sound pleasant. Kudos, I have to give credit where credit is due.

The Final Frontier pt. 2

I just watched the live launch of shuttle Discovery. Great Launch. The new camera mounted on the fuel tank gave some great shots. Good luck and may your God be with you.

Visas? We Doan Need No Stinkin Visas!

If an American citizen legally moves to Mexico, they are not allowed to own any land. It is literally against the law. However if a Mexican illegally comes to the US, we'll give them a loan to buy a house. Any and all banks engaged in this practice must be punished economically. American citizens must pull their money out of these banks, switch their loans to a new bank, and otherwise refuse to do any business with these banks.

Monday, July 25, 2005

The Final Frontier

An official from NASA has just come on TV and announced that the shuttles will be retired in 2010. Now there is nothing wrong with that in and of itself. The shuttles were an expensive and dangerous compromise, trying to be a jack of all trades, and not expert at anything. However, there has to be a follow on of some sort, and I haven't heard of any. There have been persistent rumors of an Air Force operated space plane called the Aurora. This plane supposedly flies into space and lands like a plane. Given the fact that the SR-71 technically flew into space, and the success of a private space plane this year, I find it entirely plausible that the military has a manned vehicle capable of flying into space. If not, they must develop one. The U.S. has no traditional rockets capable of flying men into space, and I don't believe the French Arianne is capable of manned flight either. This would leave manned flight capabilities in the hands of the Russians with their Proton rockets, and the Chinese who are currently developing a rocket based manned space flight capability. For reasons of national security, national presitige and economic reasons, we cannot allow this to happen. We must explore and exploit space, it is our future. If we can operate and maintain a scientific outpost in Antartic, we can do the same on the Moon. If our government does drop the ball, then it is vital that NASA and the government get out of the way, and allow private interests to begin to travel into space and begin to develop an infrastructure.

100 Words or Les Nessman Pt. 2

So far I've managed to submit a story for each prompt. (one was an essay and not fiction, but then I've submitted two for some of them) Some of the prompts have been brutal. Some of my entries have been total crap. One or two of them have been pretty good I think. I know I'm one of a very few besides the featured authors to submit an entry each day.

Friday, July 22, 2005

Strike of the Left Wing Moonbats Pt. 2

Anita Hill has slid from beneath whatever rock she was hiding under in order to put her two cents in on Judge Roberts' nomination. Guess what, she's opposed to it. There is talk that when Chief Justice Rehnquist retires, President Bush will nominate Justice Thomas to replace him. I certainly hope so. I would love to see Prof. Hill and the Democrats try to resurrect the accusations she made when Justice Thomas was first nominated to the Supreme Court. I dare you (and the Democrats) to compare the allegations (and the Democratic reaction to them) made against Justice Thomas in 1991 to the allegations (and the Democratic reaction to them) made against President Clinton in 1994. The allegations made against President Clinton were much more credible than the ones against Justice Thomas. The allegations against President Clinton had contemporanous confirmation, came from multiple women, and were much more serious than those against Justice Thomas. Not one allegation against Justice Thomas was proven true, and President Clinton was forced to admit to not only having adulterous sex in the Oval office with an intern (much more serious legally than sexually harassment) , he had to admit to lying it about it under oath. However the feminists and leftists reacted completely differently. Plus, Paula Jones was willing to go to court to prove her allegations, and Prof. Hill attempted to anonymously smear Justice Thomas. So bring it on Anita, I'd love for you to lead the fight against President Bush's nominees.

Thursday, July 21, 2005

Blog Roll

I'm too stupid to figure out how to do this the right way (on the side) but here is a list of blogs I read every day: The Corner Day by Day Michelle Malkin Hog on Ice Gut Rumbles Right Wing News Captain's Corner Roger L. Simon a small victory RedsugarMuse Kirbside Musings (my brother's blog) The Immigration Blog 100 Words or Les Nessman

Strike of the Left Wing Moonbats

Greenpeace has produced a new ad that apparently is for use in the UK. In the ad PM Tony Blair is a prostitute that is picked up by Pres. Bush, taken to a motel, and performs oral sex on the president. At the "climax" of the ad, PM Blair is covered with oil.

Way to go. This certainly raises the level of discourse.

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Mr. Kirby (My current screensaver)

This is one of my toons in City of Heroes. It's my screensaver. This is supposed to represent me. (it's pretty close facially)

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Different Worlds

I just had a conversation with a hard core Democrat. Now, I am by no means a hard core Republican. In fact if there was a viable alternate, I wouldn't be one. I am a classical liberal (way different from a modern liberal) I am more of a Federalist, or a Whig. I am however adamantly opposed to the modern Democratic party and what they stand for. What amazes me is how the right and the left live in totally different worlds. There is no objective truth any longer. (partly because of the left's insistence that objective truth does not exist) When you can no longer agree on the facts, rational discourse can no longer occur.

I am becoming increasingly fearful about the future of our republic.

Supreme Court nomination

Let the games begin!

Pres. Bush has nominated John Roberts.

At first glance this looks like a great pick. But I predict this one is going to get ugly, almost as ugly as the Bork and Thomas hearings.

Now if only Justices Stevens and Ginsburg would retire, we could have some real fun.

Betty Nguyen

I have been on a very weird sleep cycle lately. One of the unexpected benifits of this was my introduction to Betty Nguyen. She is by the far the best thing CNN has going for it right now. I actually watch CNN when she is the anchor. Of course, that is usually at 3:00 A.M. my time.

Monday, July 18, 2005

Kill me Now Pt 2 (The return of Ebonics?)

This is unbelievable. When will we learn? Here are some comments I left on a blog talking about this issue.

1) I am a graduate of Cal State San Bernardino (CSUSB) and I got my teaching credential from CSUSB. This type of thinking is typical of the Sociology and Education professors there. I was once forced to pay for and attend an Anti Defamation League conference on multiculturalism in order to pass an Education class there. I currently live in San Bernardino, and will certainly remember this program when the School board elections come around again.
2) I teach 7th Grade Social Studies in a neighboring school district. The curriculum for 7th grade Social studies is comparative cultures. I have had parents complain that I do not teach Black History. When I inform them that I do not teach U.S. History, but do teach about West Africa as part of my curriculum, they are unsatisfied. Because I do not tolerate misbehavior, and fail students for not doing their homework, I am constantly accused of being racist. (Despite the fact that my two closest friends, both fellow teachers, are Black men married to White women) I dread the day my district tries to force me to teach a similar curriculum as the one in San Bernardino.


Look, we all can agree that there is a problem with the success of Black students in school. But it is my experience that this is a function of low expectations (from parents primarily), chronic misbehavior and a lack of effort. All of this stems from poor or lack of parenting. My Black students who have caring involved parents do very well in school. This year I had three Black students get straight As. One of them currently has a 4.0 GPA for both 6th and 7th grade. One of the things these three students had in common were caring, concerned and involved parents.

I stand by my previous assertion: 90% of the problems in Education can be traced back to parents.




Sunday, July 17, 2005

Kill me now

KY body massage and personal lubricant!!!! We are now advertising KY jelly on TV? I'm not talking about cable, this was CBS. The mere fact that KY has an advertising budget big enough to buy commercial time on broadcast TV is staggering. I am way too old.

Dominance

We have two superb athletes dominating their respective sports today, both serving as symbols of America's greatness.

We have Lance Armstrong dominating the Tour de France for the seventh time in a row. No one else in the history of bicycling has dominated this premier event so well for so long. When you reflect that it comes after his diagnosis with testicular cancer that spread to his brain and lungs, it just becomes all the more special. Lance symbolizes the grit and pluck of America, the unwillingness to give up, the comeback against seemingly insurmountable odds.

We also have Tiger Woods. The multi-racial (but predominantly black) golfer dominating a sport that has always been a rich, white man's sport. He is a symbol of the fact that in America it is what you do, not who you are that is important. He also is a symbol of the melting pot (I hate the salad bowl analogy) of America.

Best of all, the two of them are doing what they do in Europe today, Lance in France and Tiger in the United Kingdom. They are among the best advertisements we have for America.

Thursday, July 14, 2005

Bastille Day

Today is Bastille Day, the day the French celebrate their revolution.

I think it is very telling that Americans celebrate their revolution on the day they declared their independence by writing a letter to their former King. The French celebrate their independence on the day they set a bunch of prisoners lose from a prison.

Border Issues

I firmly believe that illegal immigration is the biggest problem facing our country today, bigger even than terrorism because of it's long term implications and threats. I am with O'Reilly on this one, the National Guard should be stationed on the border. Our local police should be arresting and deporting illegal aliens.

Now comes word that Mexico refuses to make improvements to border security unless we make concessions on illegal immigration. OK, you want to play hardball? Let's seal the border and start the deportations.

Many people make the claim that the only way to deal with illegal immigration is to help Mexico improve their economy. Mexico is not interested in improving their economy, and won't do so. Mexico is run by an elite ruling class that controls all of the political and economic power. This elite class is made up of wealthy families that have always controlled Mexico. They are doing fine in the current economic system and have no interest in creating rivals. They don't have to worry about revolution, because they send their poor across the border to the US. Plus they get the added bonus of the billions of dollars sent back to Mexico to help prop up the economy. If we ever want to change Mexico, we have to send the poor back, and let them suffer until they get pissed off enough to get rid of their ruling elite.

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Gahrie?

My name is Gary Kirby, but I have chosen the nom-de-plume of Gahrie. Some people have asked me why.

Three years ago I did a google search on my name and the first reference to me was on the first page. There were several other Gary Kirby's out there.

Earlier this year I did a second google search. I looked through 60 pages and there was not one reference to me. Bummer. When I do a google search of my nom-de-plume, all the references are to me, except for one hit in Korean. (I presume, that one might be about me also)

Now I was under the impression that the name Gary Kirby was not all that common. The only other one I knew was my father. I was wrong. There are tons of Gary Kirbys out there, including an Irish Rugby player, a university student government president, a writer and a chemical engineer. I believe I'm not even the only Gary Kirby who is a teacher.

Gahrie is my last plea for individualism.

Friday, July 08, 2005

Supreme Court

Well now there are rumors that Chief Justice Rehnquist will retire today or early next week. This will create perhaps two more confirmations. (one for his role as Chief Justice and one for his spot on the Court) I strongly support Justice Thomas as the next Chief Justice.

What is more exciting is the rumors that Justice Stevens is talking about retiring. I find this hard to believe. There is no way he wants to let Pres. Bush replace him. However, he is 85 years old.

Imagine the horror of the left if Justice Stevens does retire and Justice Ginsburg dies (she has cancer) during Pres. Bush's term.

Some of the left wing wackos like Sen. Kennedy and the NOW gang might actually stroke out!

Bad luck charm

Well my streak of being a bad luck charm continued last night. The last ten Major League baseball games I have attended has seen the team I was rooting for lose. It's getting so bad, the Dodgers are considering paying me not to attend their games.

I went to an Angels game last night. The Angels are leading their division, had their 11 game winner ace pitching, at home where they have one of the best home game records in baseball; against the bottom dwelling Mariners, with a pitcher who has an ERA of 5.44 and an awful road record.

So of course the Angels lose 10-2.

I will say this though, the money spent renovating Anaheim stadium was well spent. The ballpark was clean, the staff pleasant and helpful, and the field was beautiful. Access on and off the freeway was relatively smooth. There were screens everywhere, and lots of activities to make it fun and exciting for families. I was very impressed.

The last time I had been to an Angels game it was still a dual baseball/football stadium. The expererience compared badly to a Dodger game. After last night, I have to say the Dodgers have serious competition for best ballpark in SoCal now. I still don't think they should tear down Dodger stadium and build a new park, but they can't sit back and rest on their laurels anymore.

Bombings in London

Like all right thinking people I heartily condemn the bombings. If there is a hell, there is a place waiting for those who did this.

Unfortunately, these attacks are nothing new for London. They've been dealing with terrorist bombs from the IRA for decades. Things will be back to normal by Monday.

The terrorists miscalculated here, the UK is nothing like cowardly Spain.

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Google Earth

Google has released a cool new application called Google Earth. It's a free download, and really fun. (Especially if your mouse has a wheel on it...the zoom function is unreal!) The amount of definition you can get is eerie. And if this is what is available for free, just imagine what the government can do. They probably can read your newspaper over your shoulder from orbit.

Doonesbury

Does anybody think this strip is funny anymore? My politics have always been approximately 180 degrees from Trudeau, but I used to read his strips because they were at least funny. But they aren't funny anymore. Trudeau has fallen into the same rabbit hole that Al Franken did. They have become strident, politicized and hysterical. They simply can't believe that their guys keep losing, and the frustration just fuels their hate. What I find hard to believe is that some smart liberal, or hell even moderate, Democrat hasn't gone up to Trudeau, Franken and Moore and told them to just shut the hell up, they aren't helping anybody. Does anybody believe that any of those three are attracting new converts and winning votes for the Democrats? And by the way, where is the conservative strip to balance out Doonesbury on the comics page? Day by Day by Chris Muir would be a good start.

Monday, July 04, 2005

Happy 4th of July

Happy Fourth of July!! And for all of those leftists out there who like to say that the Declaration of Independence has no meaning, and is just dicta, take note of the fact that we celebrate our Nation's birthday as the signing of the Declaration, not the ratification of the Constitution.

The Declaration stakes our claim to Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. Three notes. 1) Life comes first, because without the Right to life, no other Rights matter. One day, we will wake up and realize the horror of what abortion on demand is. Science has thrown the evidence of the crime in our faces. The unborn child is a human life, and becomes a human life far earlier than most people are willing to acknowledge. 2) It says the pursuit of happiness, not happiness. There is no right to be happy. 3) Also note the change from Locke's Life, Liberty and Property. This is no mistake. The change was made on purpose, to keep from giving the institution of slavery any legitimization, or provide slave owners with any argument to support the institution. In fact Jefferson's original version of the Declaration cites the impostiion of slavery in the colonies as one of the reasons for independence.

Sunday, July 03, 2005

Tour de France

The Tour started yesterday, and Lance was his normal dominating self. He has already announced that this will be his last. Here's hoping he gets his 7 in a row.

Friday, July 01, 2005

This is just sad

This is disgusting and sad, not cute. In fact, it's a form of child abuse. Somebody has poisoned their child to hate the president of the United States. It's simple brainwashing, there is no way that a 12 year old could come to those conclusions on their own. But it is not unique. I teach 7th grade Social Studies and have to endure similar reactions once or twice a year when one of my students asks me who I voted for, or if I support the president. I work in a lower socio-economic community (in fact we have a large population of illegals and children of illegals) and almost all of the students groan and complain when they hear I am a Republican. When I challenge them to come up with a rational and logical reason to dislike or disapprove of President Bush they are unable to do so. All they know is that popular culture and most (but not all) of their parents dslike him.

I would not allow my niece or nephew to talk about the president this way in front of me, even President Clinton.

July 6, 2005
After reading some more of this author's entries on the Huffington Post site, it appears this might be satirical. All I can say, is I hope so.

Finally!

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor has announced she is retiring!!! Finally!! She was one of the many Republican disappointments on the Supreme Court.

By all accounts she was a great person, and a superb lawyer. However as a Justice, she sucked. She was inconsistent to say the least. She had the unfortunate habit of believing that she knew what the Constitution said better than the men who actually wrote the document. I won't be sorry to see her go.

Republicans have had awful luck in appointing Supreme Court Justices. ( See Souter and Kennedy on the current Court.) So many of them get on the Court and turn into liberal activists. Pres. Bush needs to name a true Conservative and originalist in the tradition of Scalia and Thomas. If the Democrats kill the nomination, he needs to keep naming them until one gets on. I personally oppose Alberto Gonzales. If he wasn't so old, I would re-nominate Judge Bork myself.

Man, this could be an ugly summer, especially if Justice Rehnquist also steps down, and Justice Stevens in 85, he could die or retire at any time. (although I'm sure Stevens is going to try and last until the next election to try and give a Democrat a chance to replace him.) If Rehnquist steps down, he'll add two confirmation fights, one to replace him as Chief Justice ( I predict Justice Thomas) and one to replace him on the Court.