Am I the only one getting tired of listening to the Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW) crowd as they attempt to downplay the significance of Climategate’s leaked e-mails?  They tell us over and over that these e-mails have an alternative interpretation, that this is a move on the part of special interests to impede change, that the researchers involved in passing these e-mails around are merely the victims of a heinous crime.  Enough with the nonsense, people!  %*)#.  Wake up, man!

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Tags: environment & nature, science by Mike McGowan
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Lincoln University has dropped its required fitness class for obese students that was the subject of much discussion and derision, including from me and our Joseph Anderson.

Tags: Pitney patrol by Scott Stein
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The London Evening Standard reports that the Oxford University Press plans to republish all of Evelyn Waugh’s works, including his great novels, travel books, diary, biographies and his letters.

I discovered Waugh when I was in the Navy in my early 20′s and stationed in Scotland in the mid-1970s. As I planned to major in journalism when I left the Navy, I purchased a Penguin paperback of his satire of journalism, Scoop. I thought it was a great satirical novel, and I’ve reread it again and again over the years.

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Tags: books & writing by Paul Davis
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We’ve been dealing with health care reform for the better part of a year now, and progress today is still as iffy as it was before the “Summer of Angry Town Halls”.  The Senate is debating amendments and provisions, jockeying for votes, and trying to keep together the fragile coalition which allowed for debate on the Senate floor to occur.  The average American, having long ago made up their mind, is probably becoming tired of the same speeches, the same talking points, and the intolerable actions of Congress people on both sides of the aisle.

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Tags: damned lies, health & medical, politics & government by Mike McGowan
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“If you think that you are, ‘too big to fail’… “ You have got another think coming!!! is what I optimistically edited in for our President, even before he could stutter out the balance of his thought. Oh, what a transport can occur in a moment! Loyal, or even repeat readers know that the President’s oratory drives a swelling in my chest and a welling in my eyes, as it does for all true Americans. [Read more →]

Tags: money, politics & government by Ken Watson
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Barack Obama,

First of all, congratulations! You’re the president. I hope someone congratulates you about that every day.

Next, I’ve noticed that lately a lot of people are saying some pretty heavy things about your first year — stuff about how you haven’t accomplished much, something about dithering, etc. You’re probably thinking, “What have they ever done?” Also, “Give me a break, guys!” I know, right?

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Tags: Kelly Conaboy saves the world, politics & government by Kelly Conaboy
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It’s all coming apart at the seams in the UK, according to a new study released by the Fabian Society and Webb Memorial Trust.  The study shows that the UK is about to fall off into depths of poverty unseen in over a century.

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Tags: money, politics & government by Mike McGowan
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The Chairman of the Federal Reserve is taking another turn in the Congressional ‘Hot Seat of Phony Moral Outrage’ today.  This is the same Hot Seat which has occupied others, such as the CEOs of the Big Three, and Roger Clemens.  Like those others, he shouldn’t have been there.

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Tags: money, politics & government by Mike McGowan
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I apologize for my absence these past couple of weeks. I vow here and now to be present and accounted for every Thursday, from this day forth. No more random, unexplained disappearances. I’ve experienced too many of those this week, and so in my own small way I’ve decided to show up. Every Thursday, as previously promised, I will be here. I will show up.

I want so badly to be able to bitch and moan about some mindless act of parenting that makes me mental and irate in order to garner laughter and prove my innate ability to turn everything into a joke. But I am struggling in a way that is unfamiliar to me. [Read more →]

Tags: family & parenting, going parental by Jaclyn Roth
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Maurice Clemmons allegedly murdered four police officers at a coffee shop. He just walked in and shot them where they sat. Clemmons was shot and killed by police a couple of days later.

Mike Huckabee, when he was governor of Arkansas, signed a clemency order for Clemmons’ sentence, which made him eligible for parole. Had he not done that, one imagines that Clemmons would have had a tougher time killing those four police officers, since he was serving a 108-year sentence. [Read more →]

Tags: on the law, politics & government by Scott Stein
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A friend sent me the link to an interesting piece from the German magazine Der Spiegel – not exactly a publication of the vast right-wing conspiracy, as my friend pointed out — that criticized Obama’s speech at West Point.

Obama has been criticized from both the left and the right for the speech, and the West Point cadets looked a bit underwhelmed at his less than rallying call-to-arms.

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Tags: politics & government, terror & war by Paul Davis
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Notoriously heedless of his own safety and well-being, President Obama plunged into the Global Struggle Against Man-Caused Disasters by appearing before an array of thousands of young, savage fighters from, as reported by respected frontline journalist Chris Matthews, the enemy camp. The rest of us know this institution as the US army service academy located at West Point, NY. [Read more →]

Tags: terror & war, trusted media & news by Ken Watson
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Waiting until next Monday’s Bad sports, good sports column to write about Tiger Woods seems like a missed opportunity. Despite the fact that I am not someone who enjoys gossip, I feel like something needs to be said.  [Read more →]

Tags: sports by Alan Spoll
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Tiger Woods fender bender
success sucks Extra.
Who knew except all of US?
 

Image by Winter Smiley

Tags: sports by Clark DeLeon
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This weekend Tiger Woods had a car crash that was definitely embarrassing and definitely not serious (he was the only one hurt, and those injuries were minor enough he got out of the hospital within hours). Frankly, it’s no one’s business. By refusing to discuss it, however, Woods has ensured it is everyone‘s business and will remain so indefinitely. For better or worse, the best way for a celebrity to handle a problem is to acknowledge it as quickly as possible. Look no further than the New York Yankees for proof. [Read more →]

Tags: sports by Sean Cunningham
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November 7, 2009
I dream a salesman in a men’s store informs me that I am dressing incorrectly and if I only bought the right suit I would look sensational. He hands me a suit to try on and it does not look as if it would fit me. I squeeze into it, however, and while it feels funny I look in the mirror and I am fabulous. I comb out my scraggly hair as well and it turns out to be shoulder length and silky. I look wonderful and feel positive about myself.

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Tags: Fred's dreams by Fred Siegel
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Many unprogressives stubbornly insist that the health care reform legislation making its way through Congress will do little or nothing to provide coverage for the estimated 46 million people in America without health insurance. But these deniers and haters have simply failed to recognize the mechanism that will surely provide coverage for all; that is, the provision that will mandate, under penalty of law, that all individuals purchase insurance. [Read more →]

Tags: health & medical, politics & government by Colin Cohen
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When Clareece “Precious” Jones (Gabourey Sidibe) realizes that her life may finally improve, she gives most of the credit to her teacher, Ms. Rain (Paula Patton). Precious recognizes that the teacher helping her once had problems of her own. In one of the film’s many voiceovers, Precious reflects on this and says, “I think that maybe some of them was in tunnels. And in that tunnel, the only light they had, was inside of them. And then long after they escape that tunnel, they still be shining for everybody else.” Beautifully directed by Lee Daniels and wonderfully acted by newcomers, pop stars and a comedienne, Precious  is a film about how small kindnesses can create a force powerful enough to combat unspeakable cruelty and suffering.  Although the film is gritty and uncompromising, there are moments of surprising beauty and humor, and Precious looks very different from most of the standard Hollywood offerings.  [Read more →]

Tags: Gail sees a movie, movies by Gail D. Rosen
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Here in the rural South, I’m often asked “Why are you a libertarian?” or “What makes you a libertarian?” when I mention to others what political persuasion I hold.  Living in a State that went McCain by seven points, I am often surrounded by Republicans who seem to think that libertarians are just another face in the “Big Tent”, like we’re their slightly dopey little brother, and that given time, we’ll eventually mature into full blown GOPer’s.  But I think they are mistaken when they make that assumption.  In my opinion, there are very serious discrepancies between a true libertarian and a Republican Party statist!

Over the course of the next few posts, I’m going to try to hit the highlights and explain exactly what kind of libertarian I am.

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Tags: on the law, politics & government, religion & philosophy by Mike McGowan
2 Comments »

I feel more than a little sympathy for President Barack Obama when it comes to the criticism he has received over ‘the bow’ and what it represents to a new generation of virtual, international Miss Manners out there. [Read more →]

Tags: race & culture, travel & foreign lands by Jeff McDonald
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I don’t know if the year 2010 marks the beginning of a new decade or the end of the current one. In the scheme of things, it probably makes little difference. What’s another 365 days to a decade, really? Time magazine has already called it quits on this decade, naming it the “decade from hell”. Harsh words for a poor old decade. Upon further reflection, though, I think Time magazine may be on to something. Whether it was as bad as the decades that housed the Great Depression or World Wars, I wouldn’t know. But overall, it has been a pretty crappy few years. [Read more →]

Tags: trusted media & news by Nancy DeGregorio
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I have long been interested in Che Guevara, although I am hardly an admirer, and I’ve read scores of books about him, including his Bolivia war diary and his other works.

So as a student of history, as well as film, I forced myself to sit through the two long films about Che Guevara last week on the IFC cable channel.

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Tags: movies by Paul Davis
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I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised by this as humans are capable of doing/believing just about anything. But even so, I was a little caught off guard by this sad tale from Cornwall, one of the most beautiful parts of the British Isles, where the locals even have their own language. I will say no more; just click on the link and immerse yourself in the joys and sorrows of the poor soul who can only get his jollies via frolicking in a mound of rancid manure.

Mr. Truscott was a child once, innocent, dreaming of an exciting adulthood… I suspect that this was not what he had in mind.

H/t: Rod Liddle

Tags: animals, trusted media & news by Daniel Kalder
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As a follow-up to my previous post, I wanted to add a few thoughts about creeping nannyism.

Privacy experts are concerned that new smart grid technology, meant to give consumers greater control over their energy usage, might be used to reveal more about your life than you’d intend.  Turns out that, even if individual electronic devices don’t have communications capabilities, their unique load patterns can be picked up on usage reports.  Refrigerators, toasters, gaming consoles, etc, all generate unique patterns that can be detected on meters.  It would be possible for the curious to know when you’re home, how long you use a hair dryer in the morning, and whether you should spend less time on the xBox.  And, if your devices have roaming capabilities (electric vehicles, for example), more patterns can be created and detected. [Read more →]

Tags: Pitney patrol, politics & government by Joseph Anderson
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I think this is the first time I’ve reviewed a cookbook here, but Michael Symon’s Live to Cook: Recipes and Techniques to Rock Your Kitchen is kind of special.  I grew up in Ohio and I was a frequent guest at Lola long before I ever saw its owner on TV Food Network.  That face, that laugh…and that food! As often as we could afford it, we had a table or a seat at the bar and some of the very best food in town.

Lola Bistro is now Lolita and there’s a new Lola downtown.  We don’t hear that laugh as often anymore when we come by for dinner, but we do hear it on Iron Chef America.  And it’s still the best food in town.  Even better, I’ve now got the recipes for some of my favorite dishes and Symon’s advice on how to be a better cook. [Read more →]

Tags: books & writing, Lisa Reads by Lisa Hura
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Recently, my wife and I attended a Philadelphia Orchestra concert that featured, as the concluding work, the Danish composer Carl Nielsen’s fifth symphony, which is perhaps best-known — even notorious — for its first movement duel between snare drum and orchestra (a note in the score instructs the drummer to improvise “as if at all costs to stop the progress of the orchestra”).

At its premiere in 1922, the symphony was pretty well-received by both critics and the public. But a couple of years later, when performed in Stockholm, about a quarter of the audience is said to have fled the hall. Those who remained in their seats were none too pleased, either. My wife, more than 80 years later, felt their pain. [Read more →]

Tags: music, that's what he said, by Frank Wilson by Frank Wilson
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