Angel Time!

Anne Rice has a new book that peaked my interest: Angel Time

This got me wondering about named Angels. Using the bible as a source I was struck by the name scarcity. Five of these beings are named, two of which are fallen.

Gabriel: One of the best-known angels is a messenger of God. He appears in the Book of Daniel and in Luke’s Gospel. Gabriel appeared twice to the prophet Daniel. One of those appearances was to explain the meaning of a vision that he had experienced. (Dan. 8: 16) The second visit was to explain a prophecy that God had revealed to Daniel that he did not understand. (Dan. 9:21)

Gabriel had the privilege of announcing the future births of John the Baptist and Jesus. In Luke’s Gospel, the angel appeared to Zechariah to announce the coming birth of John the Baptist to his wife Elizabeth. (Luke 1: 5-19) Gabriel said this about himself: “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, who sent me to speak to you and tell you this good news.” (Luke 1: 19) The pregnancy was a miracle because Elizabeth bad been unable to bear children up to this point.

It was Gabriel who appeared to Mary. (Luke 1: 26-38) This is the revelation of another miracle, a virgin birth. The angel tells Mary that she has been blessed among women to mother the “Son of God”. He also informs her that her relative Elizabeth is also pregnant. “For there is nothing that God cannot do.” (Luke 1: 37)

Michael: The archangel. Jude describes him as “the chief angel”. (Jude 9) Jude was teaching that even Michael does not condemn the Devil, but leaves that to God. Revelation describes a war in Heaven with Michael leading his angels in a battle victory against Satan. The Devil is thrown out of Heaven and sent to earth. (Rev. 12: 7-9)

Michael is described in the Book of Daniel as “Israel’s guardian angel”. (Dan 10: 21) A prophecy regarding Michael’s role in the end times struggle against evil is revealed to Daniel. (Dan.12: 1)

Raphael: The angel Raphael is revealed in the Book of Tobit. God dispatches Raphael from Heaven to answer the prayers of two Jewish supplicants exiled in Ninevah. Through the work of this angel a blind Tobit is made to see and a young woman is given relief from an evil spirit that keeps killing her husbands. The happy ending is supplied when Tobit’s son marries the young woman. They live happily ever after and Raphael returns to Heaven after revealing his true identity and refusing the earthly rewards offered by Tobit.

Apollyon: Is the “angel in charge of the abyss”. (Rev. 9: 11) his name means “The Destroyer”. He has a Hebrew name also: Abaddon. This is not a good angel.

Satan: An angel but, a fallen one. Revelation 12: 9 describes his fall from Heaven. Paul tells us in 1 Timothy 3:6 that Satan was condemned because of pride. Satan appears before God as the accuser and meets with The Lord in the first chapter of Job. Satan’s job is to make trouble for us but his days are numbered as we see in Revelation.

There are hundreds of instances of unnamed angels appearing and working for God as messengers and warriors. Angels visited Lot in Sodom to warn him and protect him. (Genesis: 19) Angels protect God’s people, too. (Psalm 91: 11) Angels are created beings, (Psalm 148: 2-5) don’t marry, (Luke 20:34-36) and are created holy (Genesis 1: 31; Jude 6).

2012 revealed!

This one is for Shoo.

The 'Stimulus' Picture Crumbled (Brent Bozell)

On December 22, the networks calmly, briefly, and quietly acknowledged the news that the government revised its economic-growth number for the third quarter downward, from 3.5 percent to a less impressive 2.2 percent. As 2009 comes to a close, the media elite are showing enormous patience with the pace of a recovery, without any troublesome talk of whether Barack Obama’s dramatic expansion of government is helping or hurting the economy.

Back in 2004, when unemployment was 5.4 percent instead of the present-day 10 percent, these same networks were comparing George W. Bush to Herbert Hoover. The government announced 250,000 new jobs were created, but the anchormen talked incessantly about how Bush was losing unemployed voters in Ohio. The Business and Media Institute found 77 percent of reports on economic indicators on ABC, CBS, CNN, and NBC (as well as The New York Times and The Washington Post) were negative that summer.

The economy can no longer be blamed on Bush. Obama has shaped it with his fiscal policies. He owns it. So when wil his allies in the press ever acknowledge that the "jobs program" is a fiasco, and that Team Obama failed to match its own hyperbole on what the "stimulus" would accomplish?

Words mean something. Before he was even in office in January, Obama’s economic advisers Christina Romer and Jared Bernstein issued a report on the economic situation. If nothing was done, they claimed, the unemployment rate would keep rising, reaching 9 per cent in early 2010. But if the nation embarked on a fiscal stimulus of $787 billion, the unemployment rate was predicted to stay under 8 percent.

So the Congress passed this massive spending plan, but instead, unemployment rose above the danger zone that these Obama advisers predicted if the spending plan did not pass. But you didn’t see Katie Couric, Charlie Gibson, and Brian Williams pointing accusatory fingers at the White House economists for their utterly incorrect projections. It’s as if they have their fingers crossed – hoping, hoping things somehow improve.

Worse yet, in December the president announced his support for a second "stimulus," sneakily taking $150 billion in unused TARP funds for preserving the banks and pouring it down a liberal "recovery" rathole. When at first you make a fiasco, try, try again?

When will the media acknowledge what they ought to be able to deduce from the ossified economies of Western Europe, never mind the pulverized economies of Eastern Europe? Yes, government can save government jobs – as Obama’s "stimulus" was broadly spent in preserving positions for schoolteachers, public librarians, and employees at community health clinics – but it can’t create and maintain private-sector jobs, or force the private sector to create and maintain jobs.

Christina Romer, who became the chair of Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, estimated that increased government spending would add $1.57 to GDP for every $1 spent, while $1 of tax cuts would add only 99 cents. But a vigilant media would have noticed what economist Greg Mankiw did: that Romer wrote a paper with her husband David in 2007 that found that each dollar of tax cuts has historically raised GDP by about $3 — three times Romer’s new estimate.

Harvard economists Alberto Alesina and Silvia Ardagna recently conducted a comprehensive analysis for the National Bureau of Economic Research. They looked at large changes in fiscal policy in 21 nations in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. They identified 91 episodes since 1970 in which policy moved to stimulate the economy. They then compared the interventions that succeeded with robust growth, and those that failed to deliver.

The results were crystal clear. Successful stimulus depended almost entirely on cuts in business and income taxes. Failed stimulus occurs mostly with a strategy of increases in government spending.

Is it really rocket science to suggest businesses will not go on a hiring binge when the liberal agenda in Washington – on health care, "cap and trade," and other tax-spend-and-regulate plans – creates so much heartburn about whether businesses can make a profit? The word "profit" is almost an obscenity in the hallways of Team Obama. It’s suggested that the times are too hard for business to seek profits now – which guarantees more months of stagnant employment ahead.

Through it all, the media seem willing to extend to the administration the benefit of every doubt and the blanket assumption that every socialist premise is almost drowning in compassion – even as the hard times continue.

Ronald Reagan’s economic recovery program generated the greatest peacetime expansion in history. That is fact. To this day, the "news" media report it as a failure. Obama’s economic program thus far has been a disaster. That is fact. To this day, the "news" media "report" it as a "recovery." George Orwell would be proud.

Original posting: L. Brent Bozell III is the President of the Media Research Center.

Delusional Support

There is a website out there that is dedicated to pointing out the "Obama Messiah" delusion. As a world leader he appears, faltering, unsure, inept, and insulated from 'We the People' who he is supposed to represent. How is it that people can ascribe such awe and wonder?

"No one saw him coming, and Christians believe God comes at us from strange angles and places we don't expect, like Jesus being born in a manger."
--Lawrence Carter

"Many even see in Obama a messiah-like figure, a great soul, and some affectionately call him Mahatma Obama."
-- Dinesh Sharma

"We just like to say his name. We are considering taking it as a mantra."
-- Chicago] Sun-Times

"A Lightworker -- An Attuned Being with Powerful Luminosity and High-Vibration Integrity who will actually help usher in a New Way of Being"
-- Mark Morford

"What Barack Obama has accomplished is the single most extraordinary event that has occurred in the 232 years of the nation’s political history"
-- Jesse Jackson, Jr.

"This was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal."
-- Barack Obama

"Does it not feel as if some special hand is guiding Obama on his journey, I mean, as he has said, the utter improbability of it all?"
-- Daily Kos

"He communicates God-like energy..."
-- Steve Davis (Charleston, SC)

"Not just an ordinary human being but indeed an Advanced Soul"
-- Commentator @ Chicago Sun Times

"I'll do whatever he says to do. I'll collect paper cups off the ground to make his pathway clear."
-- Halle Berry

"A quantum leap in American consciousness"
-- Deepak Chopra

"He is not operating on the same plane as ordinary politicians. . . . the agent of transformation in an age of revolution, as a figure uniquely qualified to open the door to the 21st century."
-- Gary Hart

"Barack Obama is our collective representation of our purest hopes, our highest visions and our deepest knowings . . . He's our product out of the all-knowing quantum field of intelligence."
-- Eve Konstantine

"This is bigger than Kennedy. . . . This is the New Testament." "I felt this thrill going up my leg. I mean, I don't have that too often. No, seriously. It's a dramatic event."
-- Chris Matthews

"[Obama is ] creative imagination which coupled with brilliance equals wisdom . . . [He is] the man for this time."
-- Toni Morrison

"Obama's finest speeches do not excite. They do not inform. They don't even really inspire. They elevate. . . . He is not the Word made flesh, but the triumph of word over flesh . . . Obama is, at his best, able to call us back to our highest selves."
-- Ezra Klein

"Obama has the capacity to summon heroic forces from the spiritual depths of ordinary citizens and to unleash therefrom a symphonic chorus of unique creative acts whose common purpose is to tame the soul and alleviate the great challenges facing mankind."
-- Gerald Campbell

"We're here to evolve to a higher plane . . . he is an evolved leader . . . [he] has an ear for eloquence and a Tongue dipped in the Unvarnished Truth."
-- Oprah Winfrey

“I would characterize the Senate race as being a race where Obama was, let’s say, blessed and highly favored. That’s not routine. There’s something else going on. I think that Obama, his election to the Senate, was divinely ordered. . . . I know that that was God’s plan."
-- Bill Rush

Moses, suposes...

First of all, there are fundamentalist who believe absolutely in the Biblical account of the Exodus as direct revelation from God to Moses. In the more scientific and historical schools of study, even without the above literalism, the Biblical account is sufficient as the basis for both a legal system and faith system.

Could one remain a faithful servant of God and also accept the possibility that Moses, as described in the Torah, may be as much legend as historical - perhaps more legendary. It's hard not to consider this as a theoretical possibility if only because of the existence of very responsible and academically sound schools of Biblical studies (Harvard), that suggest that the books of the Bible from the time of Genesis through the time of King David were redacted by David's court historian.

"Evidence" is a complicated term. I don't know of any scientific proof of Moses. However, if the "Habiru" mentioned in some historical records are in fact the Hebrews, the children of Israel, then there is some historical evidence.

If the Hebrews lived in Goshen or thereabouts, they would have been using Egyptian materials, equipment, etc., thus it would be difficult to prove a different people lived in Egypt. Furthermore, if there were evidence, I would expect a reluctance on the part of the Egyptians to offer opportunities for Jews to look for evidence of their existence in Egypt and their successful exodus.

Thanks to Rabbi Dov.

Freedom Demolition

At one point in time I was talking to a friend about firearm purchases. His contention was anyone who owned a firearm was a danger to society. Recently I was reading about certain TV sets being banned in California. The phrase "Why would anyone buy something like that?" popped into my mind. That question, in one context, is perfectly reasonable. In another context, one dealing with banning or regulation, is the elimination of freedoms.

Are there certain things a person should not be able to buy? Sure, weapons grade plutonium, for instance. The line that gets drawn is a slippery slope fraught with peril.

One of the channels on the TV played Demolition man, and it had a bit more social commentary then I had given credit. Given the current administrations perchance for regulation and neologisms.

Napolitano preferred the euphemism Man-Made disaster in place of Terrorist Attack. Iin the film: homicide is referred to as a "non-sanctioned life termination" and as "Murder Death Kill" or "MDK". The loosening of decency standards depicted is more of a conservative bent then liberal. A violation of the Verbal Morality Statute, is punishable by police reprimand or a fine. In liberal fashion though, the fine is automatically deducted from a citizen's finances.

Then the government control of media in that the favorite songs of the time are old 20th-century commercial jingles (kid oriented ones) and many words have gained redundant, childish repetitions: to be happy is to experience "joy-joy" feelings. Which bodes of the nanny state.

Then comes the crux. It is explained that anything "not good for you" is deemed "bad" and therefore illegal, including alcohol, caffeine, contact sports, non-educational toys, meat, spicy and unhealthy food, table salt and tobacco (sound familier?). Firearms can only be seen in museums (Gun Control!). Physical contact was recognized as causing the spread of disease and is now seen as unusual (This is enforced in Elementary school). Even high-fives have been replaced with energetic waving. Procreation is carried out in a laboratory (Heavily regulated no doubt); abortion is illegal, but so is unlicensed pregnancy. I can see Nancy Pelosi salivating at the prospect!

I ponder why it is those elected to 'represent us' sometimes feel the need to "protect us from ourselves?"

All about my nifty gaming keyboard!

Chuck Norris Facts.

When the Boogeyman goes to sleep every night, he checks his closet for Chuck Norris.

Chuck Norris doesn't read books. He stares them down until he gets the information he wants.

There is no theory of evolution. Just a list of creatures Chuck Norris has allowed to live.

Outer space exists because it's afraid to be on the same planet with Chuck Norris.

Chuck Norris does not sleep. He waits.

Chuck Norris is currently suing NBC, claiming Law and Order are trademarked names for his left and right legs.

Chuck Norris is the reason why Waldo is hiding.

Chuck Norris counted to infinity - twice.

There is no chin behind Chuck Norris’ beard. There is only another fist.

When Chuck Norris does a pushup, he isn’t lifting himself up, he’s pushing the Earth down.

Chuck Norris is so fast, he can run around the world and punch himself in the back of the head.

Chuck Norris’ hand is the only hand that can beat a Royal Flush.

Chuck Norris can lead a horse to water AND make it drink.

Chuck Norris doesn’t wear a watch, HE decides what time it is.

Chuck Norris can slam a revolving door.

Chuck Norris does not get frostbite. Chuck Norris bites frost

Remember the Soviet Union? They decided to quit after watching a DeltaForce marathon on Satellite TV.

Contrary to popular belief, America is not a democracy, it is a Chucktatorship.

That Christmas Spirit

Once upon a time, I recall, the holidays were just so much problem and hassle. Go here, get this, go there get that, did I get this for that? Should I get that for this? Is this "that"? This, this, this, that, that, that, the other thing.

Then comes those nattering nabobs of negativism. Those poisonous people who can persuasively call you to their way of thinking. "Commercialism!", "Consumarism", "Hypocritcalism"! Soon you can find yourself joining in the chorus of humbug.

Tis the season to be Jolly. There is so much more to focus on, you can forget that. It requires an inner flame to see this time for what you know to be true.

Peace on earth, requires inner peace. Goodwill towards mankind requires effort at an individual level, starting at home. You can just bleat out the phrase, meaning is paramount to be human.

Whenever the wrongheaded view of the season rears its ugly head, it is easily vanquished these days. Tina, my much wiser then I, wife is the keeper of Christmas flame. Her joy is infectious. Which is why I love her.

Merry Christmas Honey!

All the Ninja Raiders (wow video)

revisitation

In the quieter moments, my gray matter regurgitates some odd memory. Sometimes it is an old toy or an adventure. There are times it is a friend or a slice of time and space. Every so often it is a situation I wish I could have redone, and said something smarter or more appropriate.

Underlining most of the past situations, is a sense that by a small change a would have fixed that moment.

I am given to understand that it is a man thing to want to fix things. To solve problems and to seek some kind of full functioning nirvana.

*facepalm* Common sense was shot off in the war...

Tempt and Condemn!

Golly, who could ever have predicted that if you throw men and women into a combat zone and put them under prolonged high stress, they would start having sex in their spare time? Or that it would lead to pregnancy? Clearly the answer is to punish women. But not men. Clearly, the answer will soon be to put the blame where it really belongs: on the baby. And the punishment will be, just as clearly, death. Especially, if that one child policy idea really takes off.

It's tough for social engineers trying to create a better world. People *so* won't conform to ideology and keep acting like people. Clearly the solution is to punish the guinea pigs for failure to get with the program and for their ingratitude to the geniuses who are doing all this social engineering while remaining so unappreciated.

Thanks to Marc Shea

The GUILD sells out! (pretty funny)

MSM Mythbusting (10 of 10) ClimateGate: It isn’t news if we ignore it.

Media myth: Global warming science is ‘solid,’ despite scandalous e-mails suggesting alarmists might have been ‘manipulating’ data and preventing skeptics from being published.

In 2009, the news media ignored plenty of worthy stories, but none as big as the global warming scandal that broke just before Thanksgiving on Nov. 20. That was when word got around thanks to the Internet, Fox News and talk radio that leaked e-mails suggested unethical and possibly illegal behavior on the part of climate scientists.

ClimateGate began after someone (hacker or whistleblower) attacked servers of University of East Anglia's Climate Research Unit (CRU) and made thousands of e-mails and documents public. Those e-mails appear to show a conspiracy to falsify temperature data, a willingness to destroy information rather than release it under Freedom of Information (FOI) law and the intimidation of publications willing to publish skeptical articles.

Here are just two of the most disturbing messages:

From Phil Jones, CRU director, to climatologist Michael Mann and two others:

“I’ve just completed Mike’s Nature trick of adding in the real temps to each series for the last 20 years (ie from 1981 onwards) amd [Sic] from 1961 for Keith’s to hide the decline.”

Jones to Mann Feb. 2, 2005:

“The two MMs have been after the CRU station data for years. If they ever hear there is a Freedom of Information Act now in the UK, I think I’ll delete the file rather than send to anyone. Does your similar act in the US force you to respond to enquiries within 20 days? – our does ! The UK works on precedents, so the first request will test it. We also have a data protection act, which I will hide behind.”

The publication of those messages has led to the temporary resignation of Jones and an investigation of Mann by Penn State University, yet ABC, CBS and NBC morning shows refused to cover the ClimateGate scandal for 13 days. It wasn’t until Dec. 4-6 that the network news programs finally mentioned the controversy. A mere four stories mentioned ClimateGate, Tiger Woods’ car accident, infidelity and apology were covered more than 15 times as often (62 stories).

Most egregious was the omission of ClimateGate during the Nov. 25 evening broadcasts, the night that all three networks reported that President Obama would be attending the climate conference in Copenhagen, Denmark and would push for a pact to reduce carbon emissions.

Global warming science had been portrayed as incontrovertible by the news media which used a “peer-reviewed” stamp of approval to UN IPCC reports warning about climate change. But other leaked e-mails suggest that the very scientists criticizing skeptics for not being published in peer reviewed publications were attempting to game the system by intimidating publications willing to publish skeptical work.

My capacity of fitness bemusement

My little work route. Items of note it is around 1.65 miles two times a day (I come home for lunch). I live on a hill and have a hill between me and work. So I go from an elevation of 607 feet down to 472 above sea level. Back up again then down one way. Yes, I walk uphill both coming and going, and sometimes in the snow (very rare).

I will walk sometimes, I will run sometimes. Most days it is a mix depending upon whim. Earlier this week I had mentally noted a starting and ending running point. Then my mind wandered and I realized I had run quite a distance past were I was going to stop. This is a very odd sensation for me. Not being compelled to stop by various breathing, aches, pains whatever.

Which, gave my ever reflective brain a good deal to ponder. My kids hate running, jogging, walking distances etc. My wife has bad knees, and even without such probably would not be a runner. I am finding that the more I build up endurance the more I appreciate running.

Walking just seems so slow.

While it is difficult to say I enjoy running. There is one kind of running that I am quite chuffed about. Running uphill. Oddly enough, I find the hills between me and either the office or home to be a fun ascent. So much so I find myself almost sprinting.

So why running uphill? Could it be that it was the slower portion of the walk, and now it is the quicker? Not sure but it does give me a thrill.

Not having a feeling like your lungs are going to burst forth from your mouth is a definite bonus. There was a time, not to long ago that walking briskly up the hill would have me breathing quite heavy for a good chunk of the walk.

The back of my mind has a desire to run a marathon. That was something laughable not so long ago.

Thoughts about a 2000 year old thought.

The Myth of the Brilliant Amateur Outsider is customarily rejected by our culture when it comes to the sciences:

and eagerly and credulously believed by our culture when it comes to philosophy and theology. So, as a general rule, we don't just drop everything and say, "Wow! Centuries of science are overturned by some guy with a website who claims to have proven geocentrism, or young earth creationism!"

But the world swarms with people who seriously believe that the Catholic Church has never given any thought at all to questions like "How could Mary be sinless in light of Romans 3:23?" or "Trinitarianism is strange and mysterious. Why believe it?" or "But the Eucharist tastes just like bread and wine. How could anybody think it is the Body and Blood of Christ?" The fetching naive innocence of those who imagine they have dared to ask the Hard Questions The Church is Afraid to Face is charming

Thanks to Mark P. Shea

MSM Mythbusting (9 of 10) Media Dismiss, Disparage and Attack Tax Day Revolution

Media myth: Tea Parties aren’t made up of grassroots protestors; they’re just ‘Astroturf.’

2009 was the year many ordinary Americans said “Enough, is enough” when it came to government bailouts and spending. CNBC’s Rick Santelli called for a tea party in a rant Feb. 19.

Thousands responded, rallying at hundreds of events around the country to protest on April 15 (and on a few later dates). But leading up to that day the networks were nearly silent, with only three passing mentions of the tea parties.

CNN didn’t cover the tea parties ahead of time, waiting until April 15 to report them at all. But CNN’s Susan Roesgen became the story that day after showing contempt for Chicago protesters.

Roesgen rudely interrupted one of the protestors and slammed the event for being “anti-government,” “anti-CNN,” and “not really family viewing.”

After arguing with one man at the protest, Roesgen said, “you get the general tenor of this,” tea party. “Anti-government, anti-CNN since this is highly promoted by the right-wing conservative network Fox and since I can’t really hear much more and I think this is not really family viewing. Toss it back to you Kyra,” Roesgen concluded.

MSNBC took a different tack than the networks’ silence – using the crude sexual term “teabagging” or “teabaggers” to label and mock protesters. On April 9, host Rachel Maddow and guest Ana Marie Cox, and Air America radio contributor, used the word “teabag” at least 51 times in a 13-minutes segment.

But it wasn’t the only word used to attack tea party attendees. MSNBC also condemned the events as “Astroturf,” or fake-grassroots. Liberal columnist Paul Krugman made the same claim in a New York Times column.

Krugman tied the tea party events directly to the GOP in his April 13 column “Tea Parties Forever.” In that column, he questioned the motivation and sincerity of protestors saying, “it turns out that the tea parties don’t represent a spontaneous outpouring of public sentiment. They’re AstroTurf (fake grass roots) events, manufactured by the usual suspects.”

MSNBC explained the turnout of protests by calling them “Astroturf” and claiming that they had been orchestrated by Fox News.

Video Link

BNL the Elf's Lament

Elf's Lament - Barenaked Ladie...

The Kinks for Christmas time!

Father Christmas - The Kinks

The choosing of the gifts.

Personally I have never understood the point of grabbing something generic to give as a gift, yet I have succumbed time and time again. In the course of my gift giving over the years I have given the bizarre and the sublime.

There is a great emotional rush when you get the right gift for the right person. It would be nice if that was much easier to select. Some kind of oracle of gifts that has a high degree of accuracy.

I have been told that I am difficult to buy gifts for, because there is a lack of things that I want. Does that puts me in the "pass-him-a-fruitcake" position? The best gifts are something someone can use. The worst gifts are something you end up getting back as a later gift.

At one point in my married life I foolishly chastised my, much wiser, wife because she had created a list of things she would have a use for, if given as gifts. Now I am left begging a list and constantly self reminded of what an ass I am for not seeing the simple beauty of said list.

I oft ponder the why's that are the ways of menfolk.

MSM Mythbusting (8 of 10) Media Swallow Obama Claim that Health Care will be ‘Deficit Neutral’

Media myth: The networks spent most of the year cheering for government-run health care solutions, all while ignoring the trillion-dollar price tag.

President Obama insisted that any health care reform bill that passes must be deficit-neutral. That’s what he told ABC’s Jake Tapper on Nov. 9.

“I have actually said that it is important for us to make sure this thing is deficit neutral without tricks. I said I wouldn’t sign a bill that didn’t meet that criteria,” Obama said.

Just 3 days earlier, Obama officially endorsed H.R. 3962, the House health care bill which the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says will NOT be deficit neutral. As Reason.com reported on Nov. 20, CBO said that if you count both that bill and a separate provision to fix Medicare reimbursement rates the budget deficit would rise by $89 billion between 2010 and 2019.

“The agency estimates that the two bills together would increase the budget deficit in 2019 by $23 billion relative to current law, an increment that would grow in subsequent years,” Reason explained.

In some cases, network reporters uncritically repeated Obama’s claims about the impact of health care reform on the deficit like ABC’s Chris Cuomo did Dec. 7. Cuomo told “Good Morning America” viewers, “The President made a rare visit to Capitol Hill Sunday to rally senators, saying the health care reform bill would reduce the deficit more than anything Congress has done since the Clinton years.” Cuomo then went on to other news.

NBC’s David Gregory mentioned concerns about the health care reform package’s “impact” on the deficit during the “Today” show Dec. 6, but without mentioning any cost estimate whatsoever.

For much of the year the networks ignored the “exorbitant” cost of health care reform proposals – citing estimates of $1 trillion or more in only 9 percent of stories between Inauguration Day and Obama’s primetime town hall meeting on health care (June 24, 2009). Despite the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) estimate that one Senate proposal would cost $1.6 trillion.

Gaming dynamics

Imagine writing a comprehensive list of directions that encompass your day. Now write a corresponding list of Sights and Sounds. Next a description of reactions that will cover the bulk of your day.

This is an overwhelming task. The possible outcomes make it an impossible task (or at the least highly improbable). There is a significant chance your write-up will have major errors. Even if you dramatically limit the scope.

The above thought experiment is a fairly simplistic analogy of what the Computer Programmers at Blizzard have done in creating World of Warcraft (WoW), which is the most popular online game.

Every so often they change the content in what is known as a "patch." This is a re-writing of the code that is then carefully inserted into the game. Some Patches go smoother then others. There has never been a catastrophic patch that I know. They have a good testing procedure.

I have written some code and have a good understanding for how complex it can become in a short period of time. A program like WoW is overwhelming when you start considering its nature.

Still, when there is some small glitch in a patch, there are people who go out of there minds. They rant the "poor quality" and the "incompetence" of the programmers. I know it is human nature to want something to complain about, but these folks take it one step beyond.

I guess this is a rant for acceptance and civility. Accept that being outside of a process means you have a limited understanding of the same.

MSM Mythbusting (7 of 10) Same Unemployment Rate: ‘Good News’ for Obama, ‘All’ Bad for Reagan

Media myth: There are plenty of ‘glimmers of hope’ in 2009, despite unemployment rising to highs not seen since 1982.

This year the network news media provided a stunning example of the way they selectively report economic data depending on which political party is in office. Under Obama, the networks consistently found “hopeful” signs about the economy despite nearly 10 percent unemployment.

A look back at the last time unemployment was so high, in 1982 under President Ronald Reagan, and the networks were not so generous. In fact, reporters in 1982 focused on places where “desperation had turned to hopelessness.”

The unemployment rate reached 9.4 percent under Reagan and under Obama (twice), but received completely different treatment from the networks – and in one case from the same reporter.

Charles Gibson illustrated how dramatically different the network coverage of Reagan and Obama really were.

Gibson, who was a Capitol Hill correspondent for ABC in 1982, told viewers May 7, 1982, “[T]here really isn’t any good news in the statistics. All the numbers are bad.” He then quoted two Democratic attacks on Reagan including Rep. Henry S. Reuss, D-Wis., who charged that Reagan’s “policies aren’t just mistaken, they’re wicked.”

But as an ABC anchor in 2009, Gibson was full of hope. He introduced that night’s story saying “sometimes a bad jobs report can look good.”

“345,000 Americans lost their jobs in May, a big number to be sure. Traumatic if you are one of the 345,000. But the number was smaller than economists had predicted, and that’s good news,” Gibson said before admitting that the unemployment rate of 9.4 percent was “pretty bad.” Neither Gibson, nor reporter Betsy Stark mentioned President Obama at all that night.

On Aug. 7, 2009, Gibson suggested “the economy may be finally turning the corner.”

BMI found that network reports were 13 times more negative in their treatment of Reagan than Obama. In fact, 91 percent of stories (20 out of 22) mentioning Reagan’s administration portrayed it negatively – while only 7 percent (1 out of 15) of Obama administration mentions were negative. Obama was mentioned positively 87 percent of the time (13 out of 15). There was not a single positive mention of the Reagan White House.

Video Link

It's the most wonderful time...

We have been having yearly open house Christmas Parties for quite some time. It is quite the undertaking and takes a good week or more of preparation. We clean, sort and organize. Get small things done. Eliminate other tasks. Tempers get short and finally the day arrives and we all play host and have a good time.

As fate would have it, I needed to do some emergency plumbing in freezing weather this time around. This ended up tweaking my back, which made the rest of the chores problematic.

The guests are always the most interesting part. As people drop in we throw about introductions and things become a whirlwind. Donna and Jim were able to coordinate bringing my Mom and Pop up from Central Point. I always make sure we have the good coffee on tap for them. My neighbor who was also my High School choir teacher and his lovely wife made an appearance. With many neighbors and friends.

We stuck with some usual party fare, Potato chips and onion dip, Veggie's and Ranch. Tina made her Stollen and some German cookies that were amazingly good! We found some Jalapeño jelly and served that over cream cheese as a cracker spread. Spinach dip and Cranberry salsa rounded out the offerings. We have lots left over, making me think we over purchased.

Ice Core Data .vs. The Hockey Stick!

1. Alley, R.B. 2000. The Younger Dryas cold interval as viewd from central Greenland. Quaternary Science Reviews 19:213-226

2. http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/metadata/noaa-icecore-2475.html

3. Vostok Ice Core Data: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/metadata/noaa-icecore-2453.html

4. And special thanks to WattsUpWithThat, http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/12/09/hockey-stick-observed-in-noaa-ice-core-data/

MSM Mythbusting (6 of 10) Media Praise Clunker Program: ‘Too Successful’

Media myth: A government program that burns through its 14-week budget in one week will stimulate the economy.

The networks loved “stimulus” in 2009 and the government’s clunker of an idea to give away free money to car buyers was no exception.

ABC, CBS and NBC heaped praise on the Cash for Clunkers rebate program that offered vouchers of up to $4,500 to new car buyers if their trade-ins qualified for the program and they bought the government-approved fuel-efficient vehicles.

That list of approved vehicles included the 2009 Hummer H3T, according to Edmunds.com.

Despite the poor budgeting of the program and massive bureaucracy surrounding each purchase the networks insisted that it was a “victim of its own success.” CBS “Evening News” anchor Katie Couric teased on Aug. 3, “[S]ales reports out today show the Cash for Clunkers program gave U.S. automakers a much-needed jumpstart.”

Jim Cramer called the potential $2 billion extension for the program, “money well-spent,” on NBC’s “Today.” The experts brought on by the networks also favored the program. Proponents outnumbered critics nearly three times as often, in the 37 network stories between July 4 and Aug. 3.

Though the program was touted as “great for the auto industry” and the environment, the Washington Post concluded that the program was not “necessarily a boon to the environment.”

Jeremy Anwyl, CEO of Edmunds.com (a car buying Web site), said “it’s not clear that cash for clunkers actually increased sales.” Later analysis from Edmunds found that the government didn’t get much bang for the taxpayer buck either – shelling out $24,000 per car once you subtract cars that would have been sold without the program.

On Dec. 8, President Obama announced plans for a similar rebate program for home weatherization, nicknamed “cash for caulkers” the same day he proposed spending $50 billion more on stimulus for infrastructure projects.

MSM Mythbusting (5 of 10) Newsweek and Others Race to Proclaim Recession Over

Media myth: The recession is already over and we’re on the road to economic recovery thanks to the stimulus package.

You know the news media has gone too far when even President Obama is surprised by their glowing economic reports.

That’s exactly what happened in July when Newsweek magazine released its Aug. 3 issue declaring “The Recession is Over!*” with the subhead “Good luck surviving the recovery.”

Obama called it “a little startling,” but took credit for stopping “the free-fall.” Newsweek was the first to declare the recession over, but ABC and CBS were also asking economic experts the same question.

On “Good Morning America,” July 28 two guests, Liz Ann Sonders of Charles Schwab and Mike Santoli of Barron’s, supported the claim that the recession is in fact over.

Sonders told Diane Sawyer, “I do think it is real, I think that we have enough cumulative signs now that we’ve come through the worst. And not only are things just less bad, we’re actually starting to see some pockets of improvement.” Sawyer accepted Sonders’ and Santoli’s opinions without rebuttal.

Other experts, including left-wing economist Dean Baker thought the claims were premature. Baker wrote on Politico’s Arena that “only economists and Washington pundits are going to be blathering about a recovery.”

“The rest of the country is going to see an unemployment rate that crosses 10 percent this summer and likely crosses 11.0 percent early next year. They are also going to see a foreclosure rate that runs at a 2 million annual rate through the rest of 2009 and 2010. To anyone other than the tiny group of wonks that monitor economic data closely, the fact that GDP might be growing slowly doesn't mean a damn thing,” Baker wrote. “The rest of the country cares about whether they have a job and whether they can hold onto their home. So the GOP just has to sit back and make fun of any ‘elitist’ Democratic politician who is stupid enough to boast about an economic recovery.”

MSM Mythbusting (4 of 10) Media Ignore Violation of Obama’s Middle Class Tax Pledge

Media myth: Despite spending. President has stuck by his pledge to slash taxes for middle-income families.

If you’re a member of the middle class you probably have no trouble remembering that Obama promised he wouldn’t raise your taxes. After all, he made a “firm pledge” on the campaign trail not to hike taxes on any family “making less than $250,000 a year.”

But by endorsing the House health care reform bill, Obama sought to violate that promise. The bill contains several provisions which would increase taxes on such families.

According to conservative tax policy group Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), the House bill (H.R. 3962) is “loaded with tax hikes on families making less than $250,000 per year,” including the individual mandate excise tax, employer mandate payroll tax, and tax increases on health savings accounts. On its Web site, ATR explained 6 specific provisions that would result in higher taxes for the middle class.

The Associated Press thought that was a story, reporting it on Nov. 2 and explaining that the individual insurance mandate would “impose new taxes on people who don’t buy qualified health insurance, including those making less than $250,000 a year.”

Yet not a single network report between Nov. 6 and 9 called Obama out for breaking his pledge to the middle class. In fact, out of 38 health care stories or briefs on the three networks only 29 percent (11 stories) even mentioned taxes related to the health care bill.

Apologies

It would appear I have a stalker on my blog. I delete the offensive posts as soon as I see the notification e-mail.

I apologize to anyone who see's these comments prior to my deletion.

Some sad sub-human individuals have way too much free time on their hands.

MSM Mythbusting (3 of 10)

Stimulus is the answer.

Media myth: $787 billion stimulus needed to fix the economy.

Stimulus wasn't just supposed to create jobs. It was the jolt of cash the economy needed to get going - at least, that was the broken-record claim from the liberal news media. From auto bailouts, to the stimulus package, to cash for clunkers, to calls by some for a second stimulus; journalists had trouble finding a downside to the government's massive spending spree financed by taxpayers' dollars and debt.

Two broadcast networks - ABC and NBC - showed particularly strong support for the president by relying on pro-stimulus voices by a more-than 2-to-1 ratio (139 to 56). As reporter Scott Cohn told the NBC "Nightly News" audience about a struggling Indiana community. "Economic stimulus isn't just a political debate around here. It could be a matter of survival."

Never mind the cost to the great-grandchildren of current taxpayers, the networks didn't even bother to ask how Obama and Congress would pay for the roughly $800 billion package.

Reporters like ABC's Dan Harris turned to experts like Mark Zandi in stimulus reports. Zandi declared "we have no choice," and then backed them up saying, "Most economists agree, we have no choice."

The news media also perpetuated the myth that the $787 billion package would be spent on infrastructure. CBS's Chip Reid said on Jan. 12, "The total size of the plan is about $750 to $800 billion - roughly $300 billion is for tax cuts for businesses and individuals. The rest will be spent on everything from roads and bridges to renewable energy to create three to 4 million jobs. Republicans are raising red flags about the amount of spending."

But in reality, little more than 3 percent of the funds would be allocated to road and bridge construction.

Months later, the media were still giving Obama credit for the stimulus program. Michelle Gielan of CBS "Morning News" said on Oct. 16, "there is new evidence this morning that President Obama's stimulus program is working. Federal contractors say it helped to create - to create or save 30,000 jobs, mainly in construction."

Why men shouldn't write advice columns??!!

MSM Mythbusting (2 of 10) Media Ignore Failure of Stimulus Package to Stop Job Loss.

Media myth: Obama administration claimed spending would keep unemployment from rising about 8 percent, but as losses climbed news outlets spun the numbers.

"For every day we wait or point fingers or drag our feet, more Americans will lose their jobs," Obama said on Jan. 8 at a speech in Fairfax, Va. At that time the unemployment rate was 7.2 percent.-

Obama also claimed that the country would face double-digit unemployment without the stimulus package while the Congressional Budget Office forecast was slightly lower: 9 percent unemployment by 2010.

To boost support for his stimulus, Obama's economic team released a report that estimated unemployment wouldn't rise above 8 percent with a stimulus package, according to Associated Press. Even without a stimulus, Obama's team echoed the CBO claim that the economy would shed 3-4 million more jobs, reaching 9 percent unemployment by 2010.

By April 2009, the claim was null and void as unemployment soared to 8.9 percent (it would later climb as high as 10.2 percent). But rather than report those failed jobs numbers the media found the "silver lining."

On June 1, The Washington Post spun the projected loss of a half million jobs, saying, "Economists forecast that employers will have shed another 530,000 jobs and that the jobless rate will rise to 9.2 percent [in May], from 8.9 percent. Although those numbers are steep, they would provide ammunition for the glimmers-of-hope crowd."

Similarly, when April data was released the first week of May, The New York Times, Washington Post, CBS "Early Show," and NBC "Today Show" found the good news in the bad - the exact opposite of how they treated economic news under Bush.

None of those reports mentioned that Obama's stimulus package was supposed to prevent unemployment from rising so high.

Many in the media also accepted the administration's claim that the stimulus would "create or save" 3 million new jobs - the phrase "create or save" became an easy out as unemployment skyrocketed to 10.2 percent in October. A convenient line for the White House since it cannot be proven or disproved.

Yet, journalists reported the claims uncritically, like Charles Gibson did on May 11 and 13, saying the stimulus would "save or create one-and-a-half million jobs this year."

But as James Sherk explained for the Heritage Foundation, "it is impossible to hold the President accountable to these promises because there is no way of measuring ‘jobs saved'."

Household Emergency Plumbing.

I got a hurried call just before lunch. Trevor, who has finished finals, was distressed by the accumulation of water on the floor of the kitchen. This prompted me to sally forth with all due haste.

In our kitchen is a water heater. It sits politely in the corner, happily heating the water for the household. My best guesstimate says it has been doing this since the early 1970's. Today a hole manifested allowing a stream of hot water to spray. My pop supervised my installation of a cut off valve after the meter on our homes water main. The weather has been freezing cold. So the handy cover would not come free without persuasion. Trevor was busy as a beaver creating a barrier of rags against the tide. I grabbed some tools, opened the cover and shut off the water.

Next was mopping up and moving appliances. Then the fun part, removing the water heater and restoring water flow. As far as hot water goes, there was not an issue. This heater is the old heater. Under the house is a gas water heater. I was just to lazy to deal with the old heater and the aftermath involved.

I puzzle boxed the front cover and lid and found a relief valve. I had Trevor grab a garden hose, then the other hose that was not frozen solid. I started draining the tank and removed the connections. Sometime around this point I hit a patch of ice in the patio and went down hard. I fall pretty well and was back up and cursing in no time at all.

It was taking forever to drain and I was having a tough time figuring out why. I walked the line looking for kinks only to find there was a rotating sprinkler still attached to the other end. Trevor remove the sprinkler at my gentle suggestion that most of the neighborhood heard.

All of my life I have had access to pipes and plumbing knowledge. My Pop is the plumber having a knowledge set that is second to none. So I know my way around the craft. With the tank empty it was time to brute force the heater outside. A quick clean-up and then under the house to remove the wiring and to bypass the heater so I can turn on the water.

The holes in the floor indicated this Water Heater was the second one installed. The panel showed 1972 as the date of manufacture. When it was installed the plumber did it the easy way. bendable copper that was Tee'd and nippled into the existing lines. He did put in a cut off valve. So half the job was easy. Turn the valve and remove that pipe. Upstairs Trevor cut the copper and we removed that pipe. I secured the electrical and went to work on the second pipe. It was really stuck on there and through an impressive display of contortion and upper body strength I got the pipe free. Using the end of the pipe as a guide, I drove to the hardware store for the appropriate plug.

The plug went into place and I cinched it down good and snug. Trevor turned on the house water as I watched. The valve was fine, the plug leaked! As I carefully looked for the source of the dripping water. It became apparent that the first of three tee's was the culprit. It resisted my attempts to tighten.

The drips continued and I contemplated how bad could it possibly be if I left it like this. From the back of my mind my Pops voice told me to do it right. With a sigh I removed the plug then the various tee's finally back it off to the final. The plug went in and it tested out fine!

Back in the kitchen we finished cleaning and I slid one of the more modular cabinets to fill the void. It fit okay. Not sure about the over all look. Maybe the kitchen re-do is going to be sooner then later.

Did I mention its cold?

Rare Event type cold! Long time residence are remarking this is like 1972!

This is the observation window at the Winchester Dam Fish ladder. That is ice (for the So Cal folks).

MSM Mythbusting (1 of 10) CBS, NY Times Support Ecuadorian Shakedown of U.S. oil company.

Media myth: Chevron is responsible for abandoned oil wells across Ecuador.

A South American country is trying to squeeze $27 billion out of Chevron for environmental cleanup from discarded oil wells - all with the help of the U.S. news media.

CBS "60 Minutes" and The New York Times took the side of "eco-radicals" at the Amazon Defense Coalition who have filed suit against Chevron, even though the government of Ecuador signed off on the company's cleanup actions more than 10 years ago.

It all began when Texaco Petroleum drilled for oil in Ecuador decades ago as the smaller part of a consortium with the state-run PetroEcuador. Oil is a messy business and when TexPet was ready to leave the country, it worked out a cleanup deal. TexPet spent $40 million cleaning up 40 percent of the sites - equal to its share of the consortium. It did a thorough job with the clean-up and the government of Ecuador signed a paper absolving TexPet of all obligations.

Since Chevron now owns Texaco, the environmental litigators have come after the company claiming that the oil wells have polluted the ground water and made people sick.

Scott Pelley's May 3 CBS report included six anti-Chevron voices versus just one spokeswoman for the company. It also ignored the corruption of the Ecuadorian courts. Pelley also used deceptive video footage - showing not the TexPet sites in question, but the government-run oil pits PetroEcuador is responsible for.

That's in part because PetroEcuador has a horrendous environmental record with more than 1,000 oil spills since 2000. In 2006, BusinessWeek said the company had "suffered an oil spill every two days this year."

The Times also stirred up hostility toward Chevron on May 15 saying, "Texaco's roughnecks are long gone, but black gunk from the pits seeps to the topsoil here and in dozens of other spots in Ecuador's northeastern jungle. These days the only Chevron employees who visit the former oil fields, in a region where resentment against the company runs high, do so escorted by bodyguards toting guns."

Thanks Newsbusters.

Wil Wheaton

Maybe you recall the character of Gordie in Stand by me, or Wesley Crusher from Star Trek TNG. In so much as I hate saying "I'm a fan" of anything or anyone. I sheepishly admit to enjoying this transitional personality.

He is one of the early adopters of the internet and his blog and books are highly entertaining. He plays D & D often posting about his games, voice work on many video games and cartoons.

Lately he made a couple of appearances on two of my favorite shows. The Big Bang Theory and The Guild.

In reading his blog I came across this tid-bit that really shows his humor:

Speaking of things that are fun and tremendously amusing, here's a Twitter exchange that made me laugh quite a bit:

theelkmechanic: I love living in the future. Sitting in Charlotte airport using my machine in Troy to update 4 servers in Phoenix. Beat that, @wilw

wilw: @theelkmechanic I drove the Starship Enterprise. [::dramatic pause::] Your move.

theelkmechanic: @wilw [::tips King Over::]

I'm not going to lie to you, Marge, that made me gigglesnort, and I was relieved that @theelkmechanic took my joke in the spirit it was intended.

Brisk, cold, arctic, frigid, gelid, glacial, icy, polar bleak, cutting, raw chilly, parky crisp, frosty, nipping, nippy, snappy

Walking to work in 11 degree's is actually fun for me. I enjoy the cold and the crunchy grass, steamy billowing exhale. When I am at work, I would like it to be able to take my winter gear off.

Facilities at the Library are proving to be worthless.

Yesterday it was in the 40's. in the tech room. The heater guys came over and told us it was fixed. There was NO warm air coming from the vents, which you figure would be proof it was working.

They opened up the door and the heat from the back room and hallway slowly got the temperature up. This morning again it is in the 40's. Again they come over and, again they tell us it is working.

It's not. So I am wearing thermals, dual socks and four layers and still get chills.

I like walking in the cold. Not sitting and trying to work in the cold.

More Climate shenanigans.

First off here is an announcement from Copenhagen, claiming that 2000 to 2009 is the warmest decade on record.

Now for the fun part, here is the information they sent out which "supports" this dire justification.

And here is the Raw Data.

The MSM didn't vet the data that was released from the UK Government Department of Climate and Weather Change. Or they would have found that the US csv data dump from 1851 to 2009 is erroneous in its compilation.

The January column for each year shows "period information" instead of "temperature records" and the latitude transposed as well. It appears that they incorrectly shifted the column headers when compling the dump.

Thanks to Newsbusters.

No Divorce for you!

I caught this AP release: Movement under way in California to ban divorce

It is a stunt centered around the audacity of those "unenlightened" of us who feel marriage is something that should be preserved. My first reaction was a small chuckle and a pang of appreciation for the cleverness of the protest. Then I started pondering the implications of such a ban.

Personally, it would be a non-issue. I have a Till-Death arrangement. However it would change the current statistic for divorce rates in America. First marriage divorce is 41%, second marriage 60%, third marriage 73%. It would certainly make marriage less likely overall, which may be a good thing given the current climate. The courts and lawyer time would be freed up from divorce proceedings.

Would it be a good thing, bad thing or just swap various good and bad? Personally I think that getting married is much too easy. The concept that getting married is proof of love and devotion makes anyone who has been married for a significant length of time burst with laughter.

Trust me when I say that marriage requires much more then feelings of love to have any degree of success. Among my many ideas that would make the world even more perfect is the legally required pre-nuptial agreement. A pre-marriage divorce settlement that would really open the eyes of those not ready to be fiscally intertwined. Hardly romantic...

Royksopp - What else is there

Of Animals.

Defining hypocrisy when it comes to animals can be quite confusing.

First off I am a Vegetarian, for a number of reasons. My personal view is it is a choice and not one that should be forced upon anyone, nor do I think it is superior, other then certain health related aspects when compared to other dietary choices. I do enjoy knowing the positive oblique benefits from my choice. That being said...

A dog being killed (ala Michael Vick). Is ville and horrible. Unless your in Japan where this is legal entertainment. Butchering a horse, is lauded. Yet both Horse and Dog are protein sources in many countries. Pigs are pets and food simultaneously, we do not seem to care about pigs in the same way we do Dogs. Dolphins are highly intelligent and Food in Japan and used to be included in Tuna cans.

So where is the line drawn?

If you travel around the world you find culture's go from eating anything that moves to worshiping animals as sacred. Clearly this is a huge grey area morally and ethically.

In meat production in the USA has difference in Factory Farming to Hunting in the wild. I know hunters who will not buy meat in the store they only eat elk or venison. There is a claim that it is superior and more healthful. One hunter was telling me this over a bucket of Kentucky fried.

How important is animal suffering? This day and age do people really want to know where the food comes from (hint, it does not JUST come from the supermarket). Or is it enough that it is a short trip away? Is there a hypocrisy of ignorance?

Let us take the case of the Vegan Peta member, who is protesting any harm coming to any animal. First off if they own anything made of Leather, you have a case of hypocrisy. Set that notion aside for a moment and say they are consistent in protest message and lifestyle. Let us further say they are a spokes person and equate meat consumption with rape.

That is a pretty hard line harsh line.

Natalie Portman is the person I described above. Her hypocrisy? Supporting Roman Polanski.

Feast of St. Nicklaus (Connor style)

Tina and I have adopted many of Tina's German traditions for Christmas. One of the funnest is putting your boots out on the night of Dec 5th, and getting goodies the next morning. Somehow the few years I have put a boot out, I got nothing. I guess St. Nick was afeared of the goodies acquirement of certain smells?

So amidst thecooking and baking of this particular Saturday, after Connor's Saturday night bath, with his preparing for bed, he brought his boot out. There was a bit of confusion on his part, but he has done this in the past. So when the remembrance hit he suddenly decided to write a note.

"Get the paper and pencil!" he was quite excited and insistant. Curious as to were this was heading I gathered the requested items and handed it over.

Connor began to write in ernest; "Dear Santa Claus. Would you put the candy on the boot. Connor"

Next, I was instructed to get a bottle and a rubber band. The note was then rolled up and put in the bottle with the rubber band holding it in a small scroll. Then Connor put the message bottle outside prominently on the plant stand, this will obviously attract the attention of St. Nick, whom now properly instructed, can leave the goodies in the correct location. Thereby relieving any confusion. This particular method of message delivery is a new twist on an old Police song. Or possibly a Sponge Bob episode (thank goodness he did not insist on firing it from a Cannon)

Oh, Nick left a note thanking Connor.

The next morning Ma in her kerchief and I in my cap were rustled out of bed to the delighted squeals. Prior to looking in the boots, we did have to pause and look out the window, this is very important. Please, do NOT forget to look out the window with your kids today...

CRU courting Big Oil

One of the tactics used by the Man Made Global Warming faithful, is(was) the assertion that climatologists opposing the doctrine had to be funded by Big Oil.

Looks like CRU was after said money in some of the whistle blower hacked e-mails.

To quote Watts up with that

One of the favorite put-downs from people who think they have the moral high ground in the climate debate is to accuse skeptics with this phrase: “You are nothing but a shill for Big Oil”

BBC showing Global Warming Fudge Factor.

Have a Blessed Advent!

Enjoy this posting from The Curt Jester! (Warning, Pro-Catholic Zone)

I really admire those who buy a Christmas Tree just before Christmas and keep it up to the Feast of the Epiphany. Those who will not listen to any Christmas carols during Advent. Those that will say have a Blessed Advent instead of Merry Christmas during the season of Advent.

But I am weak, weak I tell you. This weekend I put up my Advent Tree. Yes that is what I am calling it and just because the exact same tree will also mysteriously become my Christmas Tree I am sticking to this story. It's an Advent Tree so don't annoy me about not being fully traditional and it will not come down till after Christmatide.

Though the Nativity set will not have the Baby Jesus in it till Christmas - there are some lines I won't cross. Plus I do wish people a Blessed Advent even with the strange looks. Though more and more Protestants are starting to see the purpose of liturgical seasons of Advent and Lent.

Plus so far I have avoided firing up my Christmas playlist in iTunes. Though I almost succumb to temptation and singing along with actual Carols played in stores. With the Christmas wars upon us once again and so many stores going out of their way to avoid the C word you have to wonder why they think Christmas Music won't offend people? Where are the Kwanzaa sing-a-alongs, Solstice Songs, and bows to atheism like John Lennon's "Imagine"? Plus here in Florida shouldn't we be upset by secular songs like White Christmas and other geographically oppressive songs talking about colder climes? After all a multi-cultural society teaches you that all other cultures but those anointed by secular elites are to be neither seen or heard. We have a culture with so much tolerance that atheist and others spend all their time banning nativities and other mentions of Christmas. Well I might have an Advent Tree, but I sure as hell don't have no "Holiday Tree."

High Infidelity

I read someplace that one in every four marriages is impacted by infidelity. If you haven't experienced the searing pain of unfaithfulness, odds are you know someone who has. The affects of infidelity are devastating and have destroyed many families.

The intrusion of the Tiger Woods story across the various media. In case you have missed it. The most famous golfer of his generation was in a car accident. He was unconscious. He was in serious condition. He was treated for facial lacerations and released. He hurt his face in the accident. He hurt his face before the accident. His wife hurt his face. He's having an affair. They're just friends. There are more of them. (and so on).

Then the thought occurred. If the roles were reversed and it was Tiger's wife who had the accident and then refused to talk to police, if Woods had gone berzerk over the possibility of another man, if he had scratched her face and then wielded a golf club as a weapon as she tried to escape, I guarantee the question on everyone's lips would be, "Is Tiger Woods a wife beater?"

When someone does snap, the American double standard kicks in and dictates how we react based on the gender of the parties involved. We have zero tolerance for men who assault women but make excuses for women perpetrators.

Sexism is alive and well!

A man can never hit a woman, but a woman hitting a man is not big deal, especially if he was "asking for it" by having a girlfriend on the side? But what does this say to female victims of domestic violence? That sometimes there's a good reason to batter? That sometimes the victim is asking for it? That the violence wouldn't have happened if only the victim hadn't made the abuser so mad? These are the excuses that have been used by batterers of every generation. They don't suddenly become legitimate reasons when the abuser is female.

As a society shouldn't we treat assault by a woman against a man (or a woman against a woman, or a man against a man) exactly the same way as violence by a man against a woman. For that matter, we wouldn't make a distinction between domestic violence and the same acts perpetrated against strangers on the street.

From Jimmy Akin.

It is now clear that, as I've held all along (in private conversations if not on the blog), the man-made global warming claim is based on junk science.

Key researchers have now been exposed as having massaged data to get the desired result, destroyed original data, rigged the peer-review process to keep contrary studies from being published--and then turned around an tried to discredit the studies on the ground that they weren't published in peer-reviewed journals--used junk code to analyze data--which even years of trying by a programmer couldn't fix--and flat out broken the law regarding Freedom Of Information requests.

And it's not just this one group of rogue scientists in England and America. The same thing has popped up in other countries.

Unless the next nine decades are very unusual, this is the scientific scandal of the 21st century. This is what Piltdown Man was to the 20th--only vastly worse since unlike Piltdown Man the warm-mongers have embarked upon useless enterprises on a global scale that, if fully implemented, would drastically constrict the world economy and thus (like a government takeover of medical care) kill vast numbers of people due to the effects of economic underdevelopment both in the third world and in the so-called developed countries.

We can only hope that this proves to be a learning experience--for science, for the public, and for the political class--and that the devastations the warm-mongers want to foist on the human population will go by the wayside.

I know there are some who are calling for the hacker(s) or whistle-blower(s) who exposed the data to be prosecuted, but whoever did this is one of the great heroes of science. They should be awarded a Nobel Prize (if nothing else, the peace price for all the lives that stand to be saved). The Roman Senate should vote them a full triumph (not just triumphal ornaments). And they should be given a lifetime supply of carbon.

Climatic Research Unit e-mail hacking incident

Climate change: this is the worst scientific scandal of our generation

Climategate and Scientific Conduct

Climategate: it's all unravelling now

Scientific Peer-Review is a Lightweight Process

Scientists Are Not Software Engineers

No One Peer-Reviews Scientific Software

Climategate Computer Codes Are the Real Story

Huffington Post Suffers ClimateGate Panic Attack