Monthly Archives: October 2004

Weight Loss

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I have been off Quick Weight Loss for 7 weeks. I had gained back a total of six pounds, but I took three of those right back off when I noticed. I am okay with three extra right now. It’s three less than I weighed with BFL.

I need to exercise more, but I am finding that difficult right now. Not impossible, just difficult. My tummy isn’t as flat as it was with BFL, so I really need to add in sit-ups. Since I hate the extended exercises which did so much good last time, I don’t want to do anything like them. I am going to need to overcome that attitude problem.

Blogging sites: right wing

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Lost the whole list when my computer shut down because I didn’t move the cursor often enough.

Hopefully I can find some of them again. Well, if I can keep them from showing up on this tab, maybe I can.

Last entered. For my eldest who asked if Hussein really supported terrorism.

Hussein and Terror.

Junk Yard Blog talks about Hanoi and Kerry. My eldest wanted to know why Kerry shouldn’t have been talking to the North Vietnamese at this time. This isn’t the punchiest article I’ve read on this. But it is the one I know where it is now.

A paid for ad in a Washington paper. On what is a Republican?

Amy Ridenour’s National Center blog. I remember writing about it before, but don’t remember what I said. Oh yeah. The article on media bias was telling. And I didn’t want to read it. Does anyone know why Sinclair took it on the chin when the FCC said it was well within its rights? Did Kerry’s threat make them back down? If so, why isn’t someone investigating the threat?

Alarming News is aptly named. But I couldn’t find the source about the Durango college teacher kicking in the shins a student who wore a Republican teeshirt to class.

An article on October 22 in Cranial Cavity gives info on Kerry’s voting record in a different perspective than I have seen anywhere else.

Atlantic Blog has an interesting treatise on Ireland and the role of the Catholic Church in its decline in morals.

American Digest with the satirical blogger head exploding. October remembrance of 9/11 by a New Yorker. Other interesting essays.

Sir Isaac Newton

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My eldest was told he would have to write four papers on Christian scientists. I thought this would be an excellent opportunity for him. Unfortunately, the list was limited to a specific one from the teacher. Even so, people like Newton and Galileo were on the list. I thought it would be interesting and thought provoking for him to study Galileo and how he was forced by the Church to recant his science.

This site talks about Newton and his theological heresies, including his disbelief in the trinity.

Alas, the teacher has changed her mind. Only one paper on biography is required, and he chose someone else.

Perhaps that is good, since I was wanting him to see how the church was NOT a force for learning. I am not sure that pointing that out to him is a good thing.

Of course, I wanted him to do Pasteur too. And Pasteur’s faith, as far as I can find, was not only fairly orthodox, but he held to it strongly until his death.

Broken Computer

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Lost the cord to my computer. Lost as in, it broke. So I was without the computer for days.

Since I got it back, I’ve been reading political blogs and catching up on the news.

There’s been nothing I wanted to say here.

Americans v. Europeans

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Varifrank has an article on what it means to be an American, as opposed to a European. I liked it a lot. Said a bunch of things I’ve never thought of. Some I had-like the monolingual discussion. Articulate and interesting.

One of the things he looks at is the myth “Someday you can grow up to be president” and examines how that impacts our culture.

Academic/literary blogs

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Banana Republican, which, it turns out, is a racial slur, is a great discoursive blog which I am enjoying reading. She’s a republican, so I don’t think she’s too crazy!

Leonard Bast, who I’ve mentioned before, also discusses academic related things.

Gotta hit these sites more. Keeps me from drowning in my own mud.

9/11 Families

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This site is 9/11 Families for a strong America. There is a list on the first page of those who signed in. But at least two other 9/11 family members are listed on the guest book page, because that is where they signed in.

God, please bless them.

Cox and Forkum, September 9th, had a comic that I thought was so true, I wanted to print it out and take it to school for my students. -We’re writing letters to soldiers to send with packages.- It is Uncle Sam with the doctor, looking at an xray. There’s a heart, with the WTC in black inside. “I’m sorry,” the doctor says. “But your heart may NEVER heal.”

Swift Boat Vets

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I admit, I cry at anything patriotic. I cried tonight when Andy Baker came up in his baseball cap, hugged a friend, and turned away from a crowd of over 100 because it was too much.

I also cried when I went to Swift Boat Vets and POWs and watched their two ads. I hope the undecided hear their message and understand what it would mean to elect John Kerry.

Polipundit directs you to Red State for the ads. It also says McCain said the Swift Boat Vets were “dishonest and dishonorable.” Actually, that’s what Kerry says McCain said. McCain said the ADS were “dishonest and dishonorable.” I don’t think he would say that about these.

Soldiers Come Home

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One of my student’s boyfriend was in Iraq. He came home three weeks ago. I excused her absences from class to go to Ft. Hood to welcome him home.

Andy, a man who grew up in my church, is coming back to church tonight after a year in Fallujah and a few weeks at home with his newlywed bride. (I think they’ve now been married 14 months.) The church said we were having a welcome home party at 6. The boys have been feeling ill today, but I think we are going to go now.

I hope they all make it home safely. Even though I know they won’t.

Suffering Derrida

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Having been a grad student in Derrida’s heyday, and not being exceptionally advanced at theory, the responses to Derrida’s death have, I have to confess, tickled my fancy.

The Guardian asked prominent Brits for comments. They’re interesting. Here’s a sample:

“Denis MacShane, minister for Europe

The core of Derrida’s thinking is that every text contains multiple meanings. To read is neither to know nor to understand, but to begin a process of exploration that is essential to comprehend oneself and society. This is, however, the sort of pretentious bullshit language a minister for Europe can only use when speaking French.”

I got to the site above from here which also discusses Derrida in a way that I understand and agree with. Although he is quoting someone else.

School dangers

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First, a terrorist is caught with the Dept of Education files in his pocket and a list of schools in the US.

Now 25 Chechen terrorists are reported to have entered the US in July.

You know them, right? The Muslim extremist group who starved children for three days before setting off bombs and shooting the kids.

[Cue creepy voice]They’re here.

God, please protect our children. The US’s children, particularly, God. But the world’s children too.

Thank you that my kids aren’t in public schools for me to worry about them.

“Stolen Hour”

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Powerline said to go to WTAA’s website and vote on whether they should show “Stolen Honor.” When I went at 9:22 ET, they had changed the question. The question read, “Should John Kerry reply to this show?”

I think, if he has anything worthwhile (i.e., anything that is not a lie), he should reply. But I don’t think he has anything.

This morning I was remembering the question as “Should we give John Kerry an opportunity to reply?” If that’s what they meant, then I say, sure. Give him the same opportunity to reply that he gave the Vietnam Vets to reply. You know, the ones he said were out there killing babies. The ones who were, in fact, actually out there shooting people who were trying to take over their country for Communism. John Kerry didn’t give them any opportunity to reply. I don’t think anyone should “give” John Kerry an opportunity to reply.

Of course, this is the US and we have free speech. But John Kerry has a lot more free speech than those veterans had. He spoke in front of a Senate hearing and garnered national attention either with lies or with a truth he was never held responsible for. And we know from this campaign that the man can’t tell reality from fantasy. So I know which one I think it was.

If John Kerry really saw those things, then he had a responsibility to report them. But he didn’t. I know what the chains of command are. I know people don’t like whistle blowers. (Been there, done that). But John Kerry was responsible for his actions and the actions of those around him by his knowledge. If it really happened, why wasn’t he punished? Why didn’t he turn those guys in in Nam?

Because it didn’t happen. And he came home and lied because, once again, it was a popular cause. John Kerry wouldn’t know reality if it bit him. I’m sure he would think it was a rabid Republican or perhaps a new species of gorilla.

Blogs to read: Conservatives, Soldiers, Other

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Soldiers:

Joe Kane in Baghdad.

A Line in the Sand

Steven Kiel, a new blog.

A list of Iraq/soldier related blogs.

Conservatives:

A Time for Choosing quotes Reagan saying, “There is a price we will not pay.”

Hugh Hewitt sends you to various places, conservative and liberal, with his lists of bloggers.

Tex the Pontificator is from Texas and a bit funny.

A Midland, Texas blog.

No Watermelons Allowed.

Hell in a Handbasket.

Black Five.

Chrenkoff is the one with the “Good News from Iraq” posts.

Spiced Sass is an American and, based on her pictures, I would guess a Texan. I just liked her name and picked her blog from a list. But she has cool stuff posted, including stuff from Iraq that I haven’t read anywhere else.

The Mudville Gazette.

Classical values provides a good, solid, and -dare I say it- nuanced response to MSM reports on Bush.

Outside the Beltway. There’s an excellent presentation on the “problem” of Halliburton and why it’s not a problem.

Wonderful blog on history:

Impearls writes about who built Hadrian’s wall and sex in antiquity. Fun stuff. Right up my esoteric alley. He even commented on “ae” as a letter, which I just talked to my Friday morning class about.– Doesn’t write often though. Sad to say.

Wonderful dead blog on adjuncts:

Invisible adjunct.

Cartoons

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Cartoons for E. Along with excellent commentary. Just the sort of thing he needs to see.

His dad suggests he (dad) go goth, to convince son to stay on the straight and narrow.

Bush, Hitler, and my son

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E came home today asking about a website argument which compared Bush and Hitler on 27 points. I asked him what they were and he didn’t remember. We looked it up when we got home. This site is definitely propagandistic. But a thinking person is going to see through at least 20 of these easily. One or two might be arguable.

So what is the problem? Why don’t people see through this? If it is so obvious to me, why isn’t it to the people who agree and read it? I guess they just hate Bush too much. Or, perhaps, they actually fundamentally disagree with Bush and see no other reasons than the ones in the list for Bush to have made some of the decisions he made.

I think it is absurd to say that Bush seized power without a popular electorate. Yes, he lost the popular vote. But he won the electoral college vote. And that’s how every president ever elected has won. By the electoral college. And it was a democratic-dominated Supreme Court who said, “Quit counting. Bush won.” The RNC didn’t bomb Florida or even threaten them with guns pointed carefully towards the floor.

But I can see where a definite disagreement, a fundamental paradigm shift, would allow one to say that Bush is like Hitler because he didn’t commute every single death row inmate’s execution sentence. I personally think that the death penalty is a good thing. I would hate to be on a jury responsible for recommending it, but I would definitely vote for it if the situation warranted it. But, regardless, it is a governor’s job to uphold the law. They’re flaming Bush for upholding the law. I guess they wanted him to be a SF mayor and hold illegal weddings, despite the law. If you are a government official, it is part of your job to uphold the law. If you aren’t doing that, you should be forced to resign. You can argue against the law and try to get the law changed, but while it exists, you should follow it.

Update: Bush is worse than Hitler? Damian answers.

The Moron’s Almanac goes through Hitler’s history and makes it clear Bush is not Hitler.