The Washington Times reported today (HT: WorldNetDaily) that President Bush doesn't know what he's talking about. They didn't quite say it that way, though (emphasis added).
An Alabama employment agency that sent 70 laborers and construction workers to job sites in that state in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina says the men were sent home after just two weeks on the job by employers who told them "the Mexicans had arrived" and were willing to work for less.
The truth of the matter is not that illegals are here to do work that Americans don't want to do. The truth is that illegals are willing to work for much less than Americans expect to get.
"After Katrina, our company had 70 workers on the job the first day, but the companies decided they didn't need them anymore because the Mexicans had arrived," [Linda Swope, who operates Complete Employment Services Inc. in Mobile, Alabama] said. "I assure you it is not true that Americans don't want to work.
"We had been told that 270 jobs might be available, and we could have filled every one of them with men from this area, most of whom lost their jobs because of the hurricane," she said. "When we told the guys they would not be needed, they actually cried ... and we cried with them. This is a shame."
Mrs. Swope said employment agencies throughout Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi faced similar problems, when thousands of men from Mexico and several Central and South American countries -- many in crowded buses and trucks -- came into the three states after Katrina, looking for employment and willing to work for less money.
Would-be employers in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi, awash in cleanup and reconstruction jobs, faced little in the way of legal problems in hiring the illegal aliens after Katrina because the Department of Homeland Security temporarily suspended the sanctioning of employers who hired workers unable to document their citizenship.
Mr. Bush also had suspended the Davis-Bacon Act, which requires local contractors to pay "prevailing" wages, in the areas hit by Katrina to encourage reconstruction and cleanup.
President Bush, tell me again that illegals are only taking jobs that Americans don't want. I don't think I heard you the first time.
Monday, April 10, 2006
Immigration Protests Continue
WorldNetDaily reported today about the continuing protests over American immigration policy.
This time, the protest organizers got the word out to protesters that they should leave the Mexican flag at home and bring American flags instead. It looks like they figured out that the waving of Mexican flags in the first round of protests was counterproductive.
The article quotes a man who has been in the US illegally for twenty years:
Carlos Carrera, a construction worker from Mexico, held a banner that read: "We are not criminals. Give us a chance for a better life."
It makes me weary. Why are they protesting here in the US? Why aren't there this many people marching in front of Mexican President Vicente Fox demanding that he give his own people a chance for a better life? Why does the world assume it's our job to fix everything for them?
Come on! We can't be the only country that's capable of having a decent economy.
Instead of trying to figure out how (or whether) to assimilate all the illegals in our country, why doesn't our country--from President Bush to all the pontificating Senators and Representatives--work on helping Mexico get their economic act together, so their citizens will want to stay at home?
This time, the protest organizers got the word out to protesters that they should leave the Mexican flag at home and bring American flags instead. It looks like they figured out that the waving of Mexican flags in the first round of protests was counterproductive.
The article quotes a man who has been in the US illegally for twenty years:
Carlos Carrera, a construction worker from Mexico, held a banner that read: "We are not criminals. Give us a chance for a better life."
It makes me weary. Why are they protesting here in the US? Why aren't there this many people marching in front of Mexican President Vicente Fox demanding that he give his own people a chance for a better life? Why does the world assume it's our job to fix everything for them?
Come on! We can't be the only country that's capable of having a decent economy.
Instead of trying to figure out how (or whether) to assimilate all the illegals in our country, why doesn't our country--from President Bush to all the pontificating Senators and Representatives--work on helping Mexico get their economic act together, so their citizens will want to stay at home?
Sunday, April 09, 2006
Palm Sunday
This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. O Lord, save us; O Lord, grant us success. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. From the house of the Lord, we bless you. Psalm 118:24-26
It's Palm Sunday. Let us praise our King and remember Him as we head into Holy Week.
It's Palm Sunday. Let us praise our King and remember Him as we head into Holy Week.
Saturday, April 08, 2006
More Rabbit News
For those of you who became concerned for your gardening safety after I posted the story of the attack rabbit (and you know who you are), be thankful you don't live in Britain.
The Scotsman reported Saturday that there's a monster rabbit rampaging through the vegetable gardens of Felton, Northumberland.
The main clues to the culprit are some oversized pawprints and sightings of a cross between a hare and a rabbit with one ear larger than the other.
Jeff Smith, 63, spotted the black and brown animal two months ago. He said: "This is no ordinary rabbit. We are dealing with a monster. The first time I saw it I thought to myself: 'What the hell is that?' I have seen its prints and they are huge. It is a brute of a thing."
Mr Smith, who has kept an allotment for 25 years, said: "We have two lads here with guns, but it is clever. They never see it. There were big rabbits before pesticides were introduced, but not like this."
Never a group to keep quiet about animals, PETA has chimed in about the monster bunny.
A spokeswoman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said: "It seems ridiculous to demonise this animal for doing what it can to survive."
PETA probably thinks that gophers deserve to live, too. Hmmf!
The Scotsman reported Saturday that there's a monster rabbit rampaging through the vegetable gardens of Felton, Northumberland.
The main clues to the culprit are some oversized pawprints and sightings of a cross between a hare and a rabbit with one ear larger than the other.
Jeff Smith, 63, spotted the black and brown animal two months ago. He said: "This is no ordinary rabbit. We are dealing with a monster. The first time I saw it I thought to myself: 'What the hell is that?' I have seen its prints and they are huge. It is a brute of a thing."
Mr Smith, who has kept an allotment for 25 years, said: "We have two lads here with guns, but it is clever. They never see it. There were big rabbits before pesticides were introduced, but not like this."
Never a group to keep quiet about animals, PETA has chimed in about the monster bunny.
A spokeswoman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said: "It seems ridiculous to demonise this animal for doing what it can to survive."
PETA probably thinks that gophers deserve to live, too. Hmmf!
Friday, April 07, 2006
Build The Fence
Hugh Hewitt said last week, "Build the fence first." And while the immigration protests were continuing, Congress (the Senate, actually) tried to pass a "comprehensive" immigration bill that, in the McCain-Kennedy (ptooey) version, would put illegals on an easy track to citizenship. But the Senate leadership's attempt at getting a "better" bill was stymied, as reported today by My Way News (HT: WorldNetDaily).
So we've got a House bill calling for better border enforcement. And no Senate bill either way (as far as I can tell from ambiguous news reports). And if the Senate had passed a bill, it would have been an amnesty-like bill, heavy on rewarding illegals for their illegal behavior.
What did we elect these people for?
The only silver lining in the immigration cloud is this report from (yes!) National Public Radio (NPR) yesterday (emphasis added).
Before the [14-mile] fence [near San Diego] was built, all that separated that stretch of Mexico from California was a single strand of cable that demarcated the international border.
Back then, Border Patrol agent Jim Henry says he was overwhelmed by the stream of immigrants who crossed into the United States illegally just in that sector.
"It was an area that was out of control," Henry says. "There were over 100,000 aliens crossing through this area a year."
Today, Henry is assistant chief of the Border Patrol's San Diego sector. He says apprehensions here are down 95 percent, from 100,000 a year to 5,000 a year, largely because the single strand of cable marking the border was replaced by double -- and in some places, triple -- fencing.
Fences work. But they can't work if we don't build them.
The article gives equal time to the pro-illegal side.
But Claudio Smith, an attorney and border activist, says the toll has been much higher in human lives. She says the fencing has simply forced immigrants to take more dangerous routes through the mountains and scorching-hot deserts.
It is now harder to cross the border into the United States, and also more expensive. Border crossers say they pay human smugglers, or coyotes, much more than they did a decade ago.
Smith says the fence has actually created a sort of perverse and unintended consequence: It is keeping people in the United States who used to go back to Mexico.
Smith's arguments seem odd to me. Are we supposed to feel sympathetic that people are paying more money to the coyotes, in order to break our laws? I would hope that the higher prices and the more dangerous routes are causing some people to decide to stay in their own countries.
And Smith's last argument, that our fence is keeping illegals here, is as phony as this three-dollar bill I have right here in my hand. In the pre-fence days, when the border was just a cable, it sounds as though illegals went back to Mexico for a while and then crossed the border again into the US. The illegals were here long-term then, and they're here long-term now.
We need the fence along the entire southern border, so we can keep those people legal--by keeping them in their own counry.
So we've got a House bill calling for better border enforcement. And no Senate bill either way (as far as I can tell from ambiguous news reports). And if the Senate had passed a bill, it would have been an amnesty-like bill, heavy on rewarding illegals for their illegal behavior.
What did we elect these people for?
The only silver lining in the immigration cloud is this report from (yes!) National Public Radio (NPR) yesterday (emphasis added).
Before the [14-mile] fence [near San Diego] was built, all that separated that stretch of Mexico from California was a single strand of cable that demarcated the international border.
Back then, Border Patrol agent Jim Henry says he was overwhelmed by the stream of immigrants who crossed into the United States illegally just in that sector.
"It was an area that was out of control," Henry says. "There were over 100,000 aliens crossing through this area a year."
Today, Henry is assistant chief of the Border Patrol's San Diego sector. He says apprehensions here are down 95 percent, from 100,000 a year to 5,000 a year, largely because the single strand of cable marking the border was replaced by double -- and in some places, triple -- fencing.
Fences work. But they can't work if we don't build them.
The article gives equal time to the pro-illegal side.
But Claudio Smith, an attorney and border activist, says the toll has been much higher in human lives. She says the fencing has simply forced immigrants to take more dangerous routes through the mountains and scorching-hot deserts.
It is now harder to cross the border into the United States, and also more expensive. Border crossers say they pay human smugglers, or coyotes, much more than they did a decade ago.
Smith says the fence has actually created a sort of perverse and unintended consequence: It is keeping people in the United States who used to go back to Mexico.
Smith's arguments seem odd to me. Are we supposed to feel sympathetic that people are paying more money to the coyotes, in order to break our laws? I would hope that the higher prices and the more dangerous routes are causing some people to decide to stay in their own countries.
And Smith's last argument, that our fence is keeping illegals here, is as phony as this three-dollar bill I have right here in my hand. In the pre-fence days, when the border was just a cable, it sounds as though illegals went back to Mexico for a while and then crossed the border again into the US. The illegals were here long-term then, and they're here long-term now.
We need the fence along the entire southern border, so we can keep those people legal--by keeping them in their own counry.
Thursday, April 06, 2006
Time Travel
When my son was little, he wanted to invent a time machine when he grew up. He talked about it for a year or two, and then one day I saw that he was sitting on his bed crying. When I asked him what was wrong, he said that he had prayed and asked God to write down how to go back and forth through time and then to drop the piece of paper on my son's lap. But God hadn't done that.
So I had one of those talks with him about how God waits until we're ready before He gives us what we need. And since my son wasn't ready yet to start building a machine, then he didn't need to know about time travel at the age of five or six.
Well, my son is now a Film Studies major in college, having decided to leave time travel to other people. And now a professor at the University of Connecticutt has predicted that time travel is coming sooner than we think. PhysOrg.com News reported Tuesday that Professor Ronald Mallett may be on that road already.
“Einstein showed that mass and energy are the same thing,” said Mallett, who published his first research on time travel in 2000 in Physics Letters. “The time machine we’ve designed uses light in the form of circulating lasers to warp or loop time instead of using massive objects.”
To determine if time loops exist, Mallett is designing a desktop-sized device that will test his time-warping theory. By arranging mirrors, Mallett can make a circulating light beam which should warp surrounding space. Because some subatomic particles have extremely short lifetimes, Mallett hopes that he will observe these particles to exist for a longer time than expected when placed in the vicinity of the circulating light beam. A longer lifetime means that the particles must have flowed through a time loop into the future.
“Say you have a cup of coffee and a spoon,” Mallett explained to PhysOrg.com. “The coffee is empty space, and the spoon is the circulating light beam. When you stir the coffee with the spoon, the coffee – or the empty space – gets twisted. Suppose you drop a sugar cube in the coffee. If empty space were twisting, you’d be able to detect it by observing a subatomic particle moving around in the space.”
And according to Einstein, whenever you do something to space, you also affect time. Twisting space causes time to be twisted, meaning you could theoretically walk through time as you walk through space.
This is so cool, I can't stand it. But it raises questions, because Professor Mallett is in the Parallel Universe camp.
“The Grandfather Paradox [where you go back in time and kill your grandfather] is not an issue,” said Mallett. “In a sense, time travel means that you’re traveling both in time and into other universes. If you go back into the past, you’ll go into another universe. As soon as you arrive at the past, you’re making a choice and there’ll be a split. Our universe will not be affected by what you do in your visit to the past.”
This is where he loses me, because the Parallel Universe theory is the same one Doc Brown described in "Back to the Future." And that movie left some glaring questions, the most important of which was: What happened to the Marty who grew up with the parents that "our" Marty went back to? Did he disappear? Or did he show up later and ask what our Marty was doing there?
I'm not sure I get how there can be an infinite number of SkyePuppys inhabiting parallel universes that are only different because of the possible choices I could have made at different times in my (our?) life. But I suppose that, like God, Professor Mallett will explain it all when we're ready to know.
So I had one of those talks with him about how God waits until we're ready before He gives us what we need. And since my son wasn't ready yet to start building a machine, then he didn't need to know about time travel at the age of five or six.
Well, my son is now a Film Studies major in college, having decided to leave time travel to other people. And now a professor at the University of Connecticutt has predicted that time travel is coming sooner than we think. PhysOrg.com News reported Tuesday that Professor Ronald Mallett may be on that road already.
“Einstein showed that mass and energy are the same thing,” said Mallett, who published his first research on time travel in 2000 in Physics Letters. “The time machine we’ve designed uses light in the form of circulating lasers to warp or loop time instead of using massive objects.”
To determine if time loops exist, Mallett is designing a desktop-sized device that will test his time-warping theory. By arranging mirrors, Mallett can make a circulating light beam which should warp surrounding space. Because some subatomic particles have extremely short lifetimes, Mallett hopes that he will observe these particles to exist for a longer time than expected when placed in the vicinity of the circulating light beam. A longer lifetime means that the particles must have flowed through a time loop into the future.
“Say you have a cup of coffee and a spoon,” Mallett explained to PhysOrg.com. “The coffee is empty space, and the spoon is the circulating light beam. When you stir the coffee with the spoon, the coffee – or the empty space – gets twisted. Suppose you drop a sugar cube in the coffee. If empty space were twisting, you’d be able to detect it by observing a subatomic particle moving around in the space.”
And according to Einstein, whenever you do something to space, you also affect time. Twisting space causes time to be twisted, meaning you could theoretically walk through time as you walk through space.
This is so cool, I can't stand it. But it raises questions, because Professor Mallett is in the Parallel Universe camp.
“The Grandfather Paradox [where you go back in time and kill your grandfather] is not an issue,” said Mallett. “In a sense, time travel means that you’re traveling both in time and into other universes. If you go back into the past, you’ll go into another universe. As soon as you arrive at the past, you’re making a choice and there’ll be a split. Our universe will not be affected by what you do in your visit to the past.”
This is where he loses me, because the Parallel Universe theory is the same one Doc Brown described in "Back to the Future." And that movie left some glaring questions, the most important of which was: What happened to the Marty who grew up with the parents that "our" Marty went back to? Did he disappear? Or did he show up later and ask what our Marty was doing there?
I'm not sure I get how there can be an infinite number of SkyePuppys inhabiting parallel universes that are only different because of the possible choices I could have made at different times in my (our?) life. But I suppose that, like God, Professor Mallett will explain it all when we're ready to know.
Prehistoric Dentistry
While I'm dwelling in the past, it's a good time to bring up the history of dentistry. AP Science Writer, Seth Borenstein, reported yesterday that 9,000 year old signs of dentistry were found in a Pakistan graveyard.
Primitive dentists drilled nearly perfect holes into live but undoubtedly unhappy patients between 5500 B.C. and 7000 B.C., an article in Thursday's journal Nature reports. Researchers carbon-dated at least nine skulls with 11 drill holes found in a Pakistan graveyard.
This was no mere tooth tinkering. The drilled teeth found in the graveyard were hard-to-reach molars. And in at least one instance, the ancient dentist managed to drill a hole in the inside back end of a tooth, boring out toward the front of the mouth.
"The holes were so perfect, so nice," said study co-author David Frayer, an anthropology professor at the University of Kansas. "I showed the pictures to my dentist and he thought they were amazing holes."
Researchers figured that a small bow was used to drive the flint drill tips into patients' teeth. Flint drill heads were found on site. So study lead author Roberto Macchiarelli, an anthropology professor at the University of Poitiers, France, and colleagues simulated the technique and drilled through human (but no longer attached) teeth in less than a minute.
They keep talking about how painful it must have been for the patient, which it would have been, except for the fact that alcohol was one of the earliest inventions known to mankind. It's my guess that plenty of whiskey, wine, or beer lubricated the pain centers of the patient's brain before drilling started.
I can't understand why the researchers didn't think of strong drink as a possible anesthetic. It's been in use since well before dentistry.
Primitive dentists drilled nearly perfect holes into live but undoubtedly unhappy patients between 5500 B.C. and 7000 B.C., an article in Thursday's journal Nature reports. Researchers carbon-dated at least nine skulls with 11 drill holes found in a Pakistan graveyard.
This was no mere tooth tinkering. The drilled teeth found in the graveyard were hard-to-reach molars. And in at least one instance, the ancient dentist managed to drill a hole in the inside back end of a tooth, boring out toward the front of the mouth.
"The holes were so perfect, so nice," said study co-author David Frayer, an anthropology professor at the University of Kansas. "I showed the pictures to my dentist and he thought they were amazing holes."
Researchers figured that a small bow was used to drive the flint drill tips into patients' teeth. Flint drill heads were found on site. So study lead author Roberto Macchiarelli, an anthropology professor at the University of Poitiers, France, and colleagues simulated the technique and drilled through human (but no longer attached) teeth in less than a minute.
They keep talking about how painful it must have been for the patient, which it would have been, except for the fact that alcohol was one of the earliest inventions known to mankind. It's my guess that plenty of whiskey, wine, or beer lubricated the pain centers of the patient's brain before drilling started.
I can't understand why the researchers didn't think of strong drink as a possible anesthetic. It's been in use since well before dentistry.
Fossil Fish Found
Breitbart reported yesterday that scientists found a fossil fish in Canada believed to be a transitional form of fish-to-land evolution. The article strikes me as using very confident words for a speculative type of find (overly confident words and phrases in bold):
Scientists have caught a fossil fish in the act of adapting toward a life on land, a discovery that sheds new light one of the greatest transformations in the history of animals.
Scientists have long known that fish evolved into the first creatures on land with four legs and backbones more than 365 million years ago, but they've had precious little fossil evidence to document how it happened.
"Caught... in the act" makes this fish sound like a criminal. And how about "Scientists have long theorized...?" Evolutionary changes within a species have long been known. But evolutionary changes from one entire species to another, and from one entire class within the phylum to another has not yet been proven. Not even with this new fish fossil.
Experts said the discovery, with its unusually well-preserved and complete skeletons, reveals significant new information about how the water-to-land evolution took place.
Some 375 million years ago, the creature looked like a cross between a fish and a crocodile. It swam in shallow, gently meandering streams in what was then a subtropical climate, researchers say. A meat-eater, it lived mostly in water.
Yet, its front fins had bones that correspond to a shoulder, upper arm, elbow, forearm and a primitive version of a wrist, Shubin said. From the shoulder to the wrist area, "it basically looks like a scale- covered arm," he said.
"Here's a creature that has a fin that can do push-ups," he said. "This is clearly an animal that is able to support itself on the ground," probably both in very shallow water and for brief excursions on dry land. On land, it apparently moved like a seal, he said.
If they only have skeletons, how do they know it looked like a "scale-covered arm?" And how do they know it was a creature in transition and not something that was supposed to be a fish version of a land-water animal, the way crocodiles and seals and penguins are land-water animals, only this fish just died out because Canada stopped being tropical? There are a whole lot of questions still to be answered, but the scientists don't even seem to be asking those questions.
Hugh Hewitt discussed this fish on his radio show last night, and he made a reasonable point: How could scientists believe that we all descended from a Canadian fish?
Scientists have caught a fossil fish in the act of adapting toward a life on land, a discovery that sheds new light one of the greatest transformations in the history of animals.
Scientists have long known that fish evolved into the first creatures on land with four legs and backbones more than 365 million years ago, but they've had precious little fossil evidence to document how it happened.
"Caught... in the act" makes this fish sound like a criminal. And how about "Scientists have long theorized...?" Evolutionary changes within a species have long been known. But evolutionary changes from one entire species to another, and from one entire class within the phylum to another has not yet been proven. Not even with this new fish fossil.
Experts said the discovery, with its unusually well-preserved and complete skeletons, reveals significant new information about how the water-to-land evolution took place.
Some 375 million years ago, the creature looked like a cross between a fish and a crocodile. It swam in shallow, gently meandering streams in what was then a subtropical climate, researchers say. A meat-eater, it lived mostly in water.
Yet, its front fins had bones that correspond to a shoulder, upper arm, elbow, forearm and a primitive version of a wrist, Shubin said. From the shoulder to the wrist area, "it basically looks like a scale- covered arm," he said.
"Here's a creature that has a fin that can do push-ups," he said. "This is clearly an animal that is able to support itself on the ground," probably both in very shallow water and for brief excursions on dry land. On land, it apparently moved like a seal, he said.
If they only have skeletons, how do they know it looked like a "scale-covered arm?" And how do they know it was a creature in transition and not something that was supposed to be a fish version of a land-water animal, the way crocodiles and seals and penguins are land-water animals, only this fish just died out because Canada stopped being tropical? There are a whole lot of questions still to be answered, but the scientists don't even seem to be asking those questions.
Hugh Hewitt discussed this fish on his radio show last night, and he made a reasonable point: How could scientists believe that we all descended from a Canadian fish?
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Animal News
When I was reading the Ananova article about the German laughing man in trouble, I noticed the links on the left, one of which was irresistible. It has Quirky Animal Tales. Here are two:
Piglets in Training
This is from March 14, 2006.
Russian piglets are being trained for competition by personal coaches as a new craze of pig racing spreads across the country.
The training at the Sport Pig Centre in the Moscow region includes honing the piglet's skills in running, swimming, and 'pig-ball competitions'.
It comes ahead of a competition mid-April as part of the international animal show ZooRussia.
And the craze has not been limited just to Russia. Thousands of people came to watch pigs compete at various disciplines at last year's Pig Olympics in Shanghai, China.
Pigs have "disciplines"?
Attack Hare:
This is from February 22, 2006.
A "large and aggressive" hare has reportedly attacked a dogsled team in Norway.
Wenche Offerdal, who was driving the dogsled team, said she'd never seen anything like it.
"It was sitting 10 metres from the trail and I figured it would run off, and even that the dogs would go after it," Offerdal said. "I was wrong."
Instead, the hare came running towards the dogsled team, and jumped right into the middle of the dogs.
"The dogs were completely perplexed. The hare stared at them and they stared back, like they were all frozen."
Suddenly the hare leaped out of the ring, hitting a few of the dogs on their noses with its paws on its way.
Not much of an attack, really. It could have been a daydreaming hare that took a flying leap, looked around, saw the dogs, said "Uh-oh," then got the heck out of there.
But then again, maybe not. My officemate said that when she and her family were on vacation somewhere out in Nature, she heard one of her sons say, "Oh look. A bunny." Right after that, though, she heard alarm in his voice as he said, "Hey-hey-hey-hey-hey. Back off, bunny!" That's when she saw that it was a huge rabbit with rear legs like a small deer and ears the size of antlers. And it was looking at them and approaching them.
So just beware. Don't mess with big bunnies that aren't even afraid of sled dogs.
Piglets in Training
This is from March 14, 2006.
Russian piglets are being trained for competition by personal coaches as a new craze of pig racing spreads across the country.
The training at the Sport Pig Centre in the Moscow region includes honing the piglet's skills in running, swimming, and 'pig-ball competitions'.
It comes ahead of a competition mid-April as part of the international animal show ZooRussia.
And the craze has not been limited just to Russia. Thousands of people came to watch pigs compete at various disciplines at last year's Pig Olympics in Shanghai, China.
Pigs have "disciplines"?
Attack Hare:
This is from February 22, 2006.
A "large and aggressive" hare has reportedly attacked a dogsled team in Norway.
Wenche Offerdal, who was driving the dogsled team, said she'd never seen anything like it.
"It was sitting 10 metres from the trail and I figured it would run off, and even that the dogs would go after it," Offerdal said. "I was wrong."
Instead, the hare came running towards the dogsled team, and jumped right into the middle of the dogs.
"The dogs were completely perplexed. The hare stared at them and they stared back, like they were all frozen."
Suddenly the hare leaped out of the ring, hitting a few of the dogs on their noses with its paws on its way.
Not much of an attack, really. It could have been a daydreaming hare that took a flying leap, looked around, saw the dogs, said "Uh-oh," then got the heck out of there.
But then again, maybe not. My officemate said that when she and her family were on vacation somewhere out in Nature, she heard one of her sons say, "Oh look. A bunny." Right after that, though, she heard alarm in his voice as he said, "Hey-hey-hey-hey-hey. Back off, bunny!" That's when she saw that it was a huge rabbit with rear legs like a small deer and ears the size of antlers. And it was looking at them and approaching them.
So just beware. Don't mess with big bunnies that aren't even afraid of sled dogs.
German Man In Trouble
This is from an undated news article in Ananova News:
A German has been ordered to stop laughing out loud in the woods after joggers complained he was disturbing the peace.
Accountant Joachim Bahrenfeld, 54, from Datteln said he goes to the woods after work and at weekends to have a good belly laugh.
"It's part of living for me, like eating, drinking and breathing. I feel much better when I laugh, it's freeing and healthy," he said.
But he now faces a £4,000 fine or six months jail if he laughs out loud again after a jogger successfully took him to court saying he was disturbing the peace.
The poor man! My guess is that he went out into the woods because his house just wasn't funny enough. Or maybe because he lived in an apartment and didn't want to disturb the neighbors.
But now some jogger has demanded the right to absolute silence in the woods, and a court has complied with that demand. Herr Bahrenfeld must go without his healing laugh after a day spent making double entries and footing numbers and all the other mind-numbing things that go with being an accountant. Soon he'll need medication or worse.
Beware, lest it come to a town near you.
A German has been ordered to stop laughing out loud in the woods after joggers complained he was disturbing the peace.
Accountant Joachim Bahrenfeld, 54, from Datteln said he goes to the woods after work and at weekends to have a good belly laugh.
"It's part of living for me, like eating, drinking and breathing. I feel much better when I laugh, it's freeing and healthy," he said.
But he now faces a £4,000 fine or six months jail if he laughs out loud again after a jogger successfully took him to court saying he was disturbing the peace.
The poor man! My guess is that he went out into the woods because his house just wasn't funny enough. Or maybe because he lived in an apartment and didn't want to disturb the neighbors.
But now some jogger has demanded the right to absolute silence in the woods, and a court has complied with that demand. Herr Bahrenfeld must go without his healing laugh after a day spent making double entries and footing numbers and all the other mind-numbing things that go with being an accountant. Soon he'll need medication or worse.
Beware, lest it come to a town near you.
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Saddam Faces Second Trial
Just in case the current trial doesn't nail him, Saddam can look forward to a second trial, this one for gassing the Kurds. My Way News reported today, "The Iraq tribunal announced new criminal charges against Saddam Hussein and six others Tuesday, accusing them of genocide and crimes against humanity stemming from a 1980s crackdown against Kurds that included the gassing of thousands of civilians."
The charges for the current trial concern the killing of over 140 Shiites north of Baghdad.
Others accused in the Anfal [Kurds] case include Saddam's cousin, Ali Hassan Majid, or "Chemical Ali"; former Defense Minister Sultan Hashim Ahmad; former intelligence chief Saber Abdul Aziz al-Douri; former Republican Guard commander Hussein al-Tirkiti; former Nineveh provincial Gov. Taher Tafwiq al-Ani; and former top military commander Farhan Mutlaq al-Jubouri.
In my deck of "Iraqi Most Wanted Playing Cards," Saddam is the Ace of Spades, Chemical Ali is the King of Spades, and Ahmad is the Eight of Hearts. I couldn't find the other four in the deck.
It's good to see justice proceeding in Iraq. It's good to see Saddam's future and that of his accomplices grow more and more certain. It's good to know Iraq has the death penalty and has not ruled it out for Saddam Hussein.
It's good to go back and listen to that old song that came out years ago and bask in the joy of knowing that the lyrics about Saddam have pretty much been fulfilled, while the lyrics about the country of Iraq haven't.
The charges for the current trial concern the killing of over 140 Shiites north of Baghdad.
Others accused in the Anfal [Kurds] case include Saddam's cousin, Ali Hassan Majid, or "Chemical Ali"; former Defense Minister Sultan Hashim Ahmad; former intelligence chief Saber Abdul Aziz al-Douri; former Republican Guard commander Hussein al-Tirkiti; former Nineveh provincial Gov. Taher Tafwiq al-Ani; and former top military commander Farhan Mutlaq al-Jubouri.
In my deck of "Iraqi Most Wanted Playing Cards," Saddam is the Ace of Spades, Chemical Ali is the King of Spades, and Ahmad is the Eight of Hearts. I couldn't find the other four in the deck.
It's good to see justice proceeding in Iraq. It's good to see Saddam's future and that of his accomplices grow more and more certain. It's good to know Iraq has the death penalty and has not ruled it out for Saddam Hussein.
It's good to go back and listen to that old song that came out years ago and bask in the joy of knowing that the lyrics about Saddam have pretty much been fulfilled, while the lyrics about the country of Iraq haven't.
Immigration Debate Defined
Alan Keyes, in his WorldNetDaily column today, has defined the immigration debate in terms that bring the kind of clarity that's been missing to this point. "Immigration, yes. Colonization, no."
When people come from abroad to make a new home for themselves, and they are committed to the goal of becoming part of our nation – that's immigration. When they come to exploit economic opportunities while proudly flaunting their determination to continue in their allegiance to a foreign flag – that's colonization.
During the Los Angeles march, large numbers of foreigners marched proudly under the flag of a foreign country, to demand the right to live in the United States. They claim that the issue is immigration. But by their own actions, they reveal what is in fact a determined effort to force Americans to accept large foreign colonies in our midst, and to pay handsomely for the privilege of doing so. We have both the right and the moral obligation to say no.
Here's what dictionary.com has to say:
im·mi·grate ( P ) Pronunciation Key (m-grt)v. im·mi·grat·ed, im·mi·grat·ing, im·mi·grates v. intr.
To enter and settle in a country or region to which one is not native.
col·o·nize ( P ) Pronunciation Key (kl-nz)v. col·o·nized, col·o·niz·ing, col·o·niz·es v. tr.
To form or establish a colony or colonies in.
To migrate to and settle in; occupy as a colony.
To resettle or confine (persons) in or as if in a colony.
To subjugate (a population) to or as if to a colonial government.
Keyes is right. The resistence that the "immigration" activists like to call racism is, in fact, an aversion to having our country colonized by people who don't want to become Americans, but who instead demand that we pay them for the honor of their presence.
We, as a nation, open our arms to people from all over the world. I've worked with people from Burma and Singapore, India and Iran, Nigeria and Armenia. And I'm fascinated--as are so many Americans--at the differences in our cultures and backgrounds and yet the sameness in our desires for our families and for the future.
We welcome people who want to immigrate and become American. And we should resist those who want no part of us beyond our cash. Somebody needs to tell Washington that there is a difference.
When people come from abroad to make a new home for themselves, and they are committed to the goal of becoming part of our nation – that's immigration. When they come to exploit economic opportunities while proudly flaunting their determination to continue in their allegiance to a foreign flag – that's colonization.
During the Los Angeles march, large numbers of foreigners marched proudly under the flag of a foreign country, to demand the right to live in the United States. They claim that the issue is immigration. But by their own actions, they reveal what is in fact a determined effort to force Americans to accept large foreign colonies in our midst, and to pay handsomely for the privilege of doing so. We have both the right and the moral obligation to say no.
Here's what dictionary.com has to say:
im·mi·grate ( P ) Pronunciation Key (m-grt)v. im·mi·grat·ed, im·mi·grat·ing, im·mi·grates v. intr.
To enter and settle in a country or region to which one is not native.
col·o·nize ( P ) Pronunciation Key (kl-nz)v. col·o·nized, col·o·niz·ing, col·o·niz·es v. tr.
To form or establish a colony or colonies in.
To migrate to and settle in; occupy as a colony.
To resettle or confine (persons) in or as if in a colony.
To subjugate (a population) to or as if to a colonial government.
Keyes is right. The resistence that the "immigration" activists like to call racism is, in fact, an aversion to having our country colonized by people who don't want to become Americans, but who instead demand that we pay them for the honor of their presence.
We, as a nation, open our arms to people from all over the world. I've worked with people from Burma and Singapore, India and Iran, Nigeria and Armenia. And I'm fascinated--as are so many Americans--at the differences in our cultures and backgrounds and yet the sameness in our desires for our families and for the future.
We welcome people who want to immigrate and become American. And we should resist those who want no part of us beyond our cash. Somebody needs to tell Washington that there is a difference.
Uzbekistan's Growing Instability
I'm on the Missions Committee at my church, and we help support a missionary in Uzbekistan whose status is in peril right now. This missionary helps with orphanages, where most of the children aren't orphans at all but were given away by their parents because of birth defects, some as minor as a Gorbachev-like birthmark.
Today, this person alerted the people on the mission's email distribution of some of the latest news out of Uzbekistan. With Afghanistan in the news lately, because they had a man on trial for his Christian faith, this news is timely.
EurasiaNet reported Sunday about the destabilizing effect Uzbekistan is having on the region, which borders Afghanistan (the article has a map of the region on the right side).
Another RIIA analyst, Yury Federov, says Uzbekistan appears to be a pivotal point for events in the whole region. "Internal developments in Uzbekistan are really worrisome; the ruling regime keeps itself in power through repression, and many people in Uzbekistan believe that repression in the final end cannot save the current regime from the crash, which may lead, in turn, to a general destabilization of the situation in the country and in the neighboring region," he says.
Federov says that in the event of any trouble, the densely populated Ferghana Valley, which runs through Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, could be the "epicenter" of instability.
Fellow RIIA specialist James Nixey agrees that trouble could rapidly spread across the loosely controlled frontiers of the valley. "Where the Ferghana Valley is concerned, the borders are much more porous there, they are not well protected, they are not well guarded, and therefore the movement of extremists is much easier than through official border channels," he says.
As Uzbekistan destabilizes, and as Uzbek refugees spill into neighboring countries, particularly Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, that are ill-equipped to handle them, the instability will spread.
If news reports are to be believed, Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai may face some fallout over his real or perceived efforts to have Abdul Rahman's blasphemy trial dropped on a technicality. The people of Afghanistan are angry, and Karzai is seen by many as a stooge for the US. Couple that with increasing instability on its northern borders, and Afghanistan may be facing a new round of trouble.
Today, this person alerted the people on the mission's email distribution of some of the latest news out of Uzbekistan. With Afghanistan in the news lately, because they had a man on trial for his Christian faith, this news is timely.
EurasiaNet reported Sunday about the destabilizing effect Uzbekistan is having on the region, which borders Afghanistan (the article has a map of the region on the right side).
Another RIIA analyst, Yury Federov, says Uzbekistan appears to be a pivotal point for events in the whole region. "Internal developments in Uzbekistan are really worrisome; the ruling regime keeps itself in power through repression, and many people in Uzbekistan believe that repression in the final end cannot save the current regime from the crash, which may lead, in turn, to a general destabilization of the situation in the country and in the neighboring region," he says.
Federov says that in the event of any trouble, the densely populated Ferghana Valley, which runs through Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, could be the "epicenter" of instability.
Fellow RIIA specialist James Nixey agrees that trouble could rapidly spread across the loosely controlled frontiers of the valley. "Where the Ferghana Valley is concerned, the borders are much more porous there, they are not well protected, they are not well guarded, and therefore the movement of extremists is much easier than through official border channels," he says.
As Uzbekistan destabilizes, and as Uzbek refugees spill into neighboring countries, particularly Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, that are ill-equipped to handle them, the instability will spread.
If news reports are to be believed, Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai may face some fallout over his real or perceived efforts to have Abdul Rahman's blasphemy trial dropped on a technicality. The people of Afghanistan are angry, and Karzai is seen by many as a stooge for the US. Couple that with increasing instability on its northern borders, and Afghanistan may be facing a new round of trouble.
Monday, April 03, 2006
Scientist Allegedly Advocates Eliminating Most of Human Race
This story is from yesterday's WorldNetDaily, It's an unconfirmed story "being told by Forrest Mims III, a member of the Texas Academy of Science, chairman of its environmental science section and editor of the Citizen Scientist."
Mims recounted a speech he witnessed, which was given by Eric R. Pianka, a lizard expert from the University of Texas, apparently before the Texas Academy of Science.
"We're no better than bacteria," Mims quoted Pianka as saying in his condemnation of the human race, which, he claimed, is overpopulating the Earth.
The only way to save the planet for the rest of the species is to reduce the human population to 10 percent of its current number.
"His favorite candidate for eliminating 90 percent of the world's population [according to Mims] is airborne Ebola (Ebola reston), because it is both highly lethal and it kills in days, instead of years. However, Professor Pianka did not mention that Ebola victims die a slow and torturous death as the virus initiates a cascade of biological calamities inside the victim that eventually liquefy the internal organs."
Again, I want to point out that this story is one man's uncorroborated account of a speech he witnessed. If it's true, it confirms the worst about the hard-core environmentalists--that they value other species over mankind, that they don't seem to be moved by human suffering.
Would Pianka allow his preferred Ebola virus to do its lethal work unsupervised? Or, would he expect his fellow scientists and himself to choose the 10% of the population to be vaccinated (if a vaccine exists) and spared the ravages of the disease? People like this (if it's true) are worse than Hitler.
Mims notes five hours later, the Texas Academy of Science presented Pianka with a plaque in recognition of his being named 2006 Distinguished Texas Scientist.
Mims recounted a speech he witnessed, which was given by Eric R. Pianka, a lizard expert from the University of Texas, apparently before the Texas Academy of Science.
"We're no better than bacteria," Mims quoted Pianka as saying in his condemnation of the human race, which, he claimed, is overpopulating the Earth.
The only way to save the planet for the rest of the species is to reduce the human population to 10 percent of its current number.
"His favorite candidate for eliminating 90 percent of the world's population [according to Mims] is airborne Ebola (Ebola reston), because it is both highly lethal and it kills in days, instead of years. However, Professor Pianka did not mention that Ebola victims die a slow and torturous death as the virus initiates a cascade of biological calamities inside the victim that eventually liquefy the internal organs."
Again, I want to point out that this story is one man's uncorroborated account of a speech he witnessed. If it's true, it confirms the worst about the hard-core environmentalists--that they value other species over mankind, that they don't seem to be moved by human suffering.
Would Pianka allow his preferred Ebola virus to do its lethal work unsupervised? Or, would he expect his fellow scientists and himself to choose the 10% of the population to be vaccinated (if a vaccine exists) and spared the ravages of the disease? People like this (if it's true) are worse than Hitler.
Mims notes five hours later, the Texas Academy of Science presented Pianka with a plaque in recognition of his being named 2006 Distinguished Texas Scientist.
Saturday, April 01, 2006
Zimbabwe Deteriorating Rapidly
It's worse than I thought in Zimbabwe. Much worse than the last reports I saw. The London Times reported April 2, 2006, that twenty newborn babies are being thrown away each week in Zimbabwe's capital city of Harare as that nation starves.
The dumping of babies, along with what doctors describe as a “dramatic” increase in malnourished children in city hospitals, is the most shocking illustration of the economic collapse of a country that was once the breadbasket of southern Africa.
Some of the corpses are the result of unwanted pregnancies in a country experiencing a rise in sexual abuse and prostitution. But others are newborns dumped by desperate mothers unable to support another child. Inflation has reached 1,000% and the government’s seizure of 95% of commercial farms has seen food production plummet.
“We’re losing an average of two people a week here [in an old squatter settlement] to starvation,” said Pastor Edwin, showing some abandoned shelters where the inhabitants have died. “Several times I’ve been called to places urgently, only to find they have already died of starvation. I see the signs everywhere — the hands and feet grey like bark.”
Michael Huggins, a spokesman for the WFP in southern Africa, said: “If this was Niger or Ethiopia you would see dead bodies everywhere. For some reason Zimbabwe stays afloat and one of those reasons is remittances.”
An estimated 3.4m Zimbabweans have fled the country, most to South Africa but also to the UK and Botswana. And with £1 now equivalent to more than Z$300,000, the small amounts of hard currency they manage to send back can sustain their families.
World Vision, one of the agencies that distributes WFP food, has taken to defining the needy as those who do not have a relation overseas.
And food isn't the only crisis. Health care in Zimbabwe is in shambles. Because of the under-nutrition, people who get infected with HIV develop full-blown AIDS in a matter of months, instead of the ten years it takes for a healthy person. One hospital the reporter visited has "no gloves or hand-wash solution, no drugs to treat tuberculosis and no antibiotics."
“There’s no saline for drips, because it was used for washing as there was no sterile hand wash. It’s desperate. Quite a number of us are thinking about giving up. Yet when I came here 20 years ago, this health service was one of the best on the continent.”
I can't imagine. Conditions in Zimbabwe are beyond belief--it's the only country in Africa that is shrinking in population. And the president, Robert Mugabe, refuses to ask for food aid from the rest of the world, because that would admit the failure of his land reform program. So he lets his people starve to save his own pride. It won't be long, if he doesn't change, before Mugabe is president of nothing.
The dumping of babies, along with what doctors describe as a “dramatic” increase in malnourished children in city hospitals, is the most shocking illustration of the economic collapse of a country that was once the breadbasket of southern Africa.
Some of the corpses are the result of unwanted pregnancies in a country experiencing a rise in sexual abuse and prostitution. But others are newborns dumped by desperate mothers unable to support another child. Inflation has reached 1,000% and the government’s seizure of 95% of commercial farms has seen food production plummet.
“We’re losing an average of two people a week here [in an old squatter settlement] to starvation,” said Pastor Edwin, showing some abandoned shelters where the inhabitants have died. “Several times I’ve been called to places urgently, only to find they have already died of starvation. I see the signs everywhere — the hands and feet grey like bark.”
Michael Huggins, a spokesman for the WFP in southern Africa, said: “If this was Niger or Ethiopia you would see dead bodies everywhere. For some reason Zimbabwe stays afloat and one of those reasons is remittances.”
An estimated 3.4m Zimbabweans have fled the country, most to South Africa but also to the UK and Botswana. And with £1 now equivalent to more than Z$300,000, the small amounts of hard currency they manage to send back can sustain their families.
World Vision, one of the agencies that distributes WFP food, has taken to defining the needy as those who do not have a relation overseas.
And food isn't the only crisis. Health care in Zimbabwe is in shambles. Because of the under-nutrition, people who get infected with HIV develop full-blown AIDS in a matter of months, instead of the ten years it takes for a healthy person. One hospital the reporter visited has "no gloves or hand-wash solution, no drugs to treat tuberculosis and no antibiotics."
“There’s no saline for drips, because it was used for washing as there was no sterile hand wash. It’s desperate. Quite a number of us are thinking about giving up. Yet when I came here 20 years ago, this health service was one of the best on the continent.”
I can't imagine. Conditions in Zimbabwe are beyond belief--it's the only country in Africa that is shrinking in population. And the president, Robert Mugabe, refuses to ask for food aid from the rest of the world, because that would admit the failure of his land reform program. So he lets his people starve to save his own pride. It won't be long, if he doesn't change, before Mugabe is president of nothing.
Men and Women
I bought the book, The Rules, not too long after my divorce was final nine years ago. I think I had read about it in the newspaper. It's supposed to tell women to follow the rules about men that their grandmothers followed in their day. But when I read the book, I was offended by the picture it painted of both men and women, so I stuck the book on a shelf and forgot about it.
Then after a couple years, this guy and I started dating, and I began falling for him, and I'm certain he was falling for me. But all of a sudden, as if he was afraid to feel too much, he pulled back and not long after that, he said he wanted to be "just friends." I was too stupid and hopeful to understand that's not what he really meant, but after some more pain, I finally figured out that I had been dumped.
About that time, a friend of mine got dumped too, and she and I commiserated and cast aspersions on our respective unworthy men. She brought up The Rules in a positive light and told me that, where The Rules says what women should do, Mars and Venus On A Date explains why.
So I read Mars & Venus and went back and reread The Rules and discovered that I could have known, early on, that my dating relationship would go nowhere: If a man gives a woman a non-romantic gift, it means he doesn't feel "that way" (at least not enough) about her.
My date, who worked at a wholesale plant and flower company, gave me a small clay pot with three tiny cacti in it.
Once I read that Rule, I started to believe. At least in most of it (they talk about it maybe being OK to have sex before marriage, but not until after several months--somehow I don't think my grandmothers would have approved).
I bring this up because I have two young women living under my roof, and I need to help prepare them as much as I can with the time I have remaining with them in close contact.
They're involved in church and Bible studies, and they know the Big Things, like saving themselves for marriage and marrying Christian men. And they know at least one less-Scriptural but still critical point that I drummed into my daughter and I've heard her telling her friends: Never allow a man to stay in his car and honk the horn to get you to come out. If he doesn't think you're worth the trouble of getting out of his car and coming to the door for you, then he's not worthy of you.
In my Romance post, I discussed the importance (and thrill) of taking it slow. But is there anything else I might tell my daughter and her friend, at this late stage, that could help them navigate the hazards of relationships? What would you want your daughter to know about how to tell if he's the right man and if he's treating her right? And are there particular books you recommend? So far, I have the aforementioned books, plus:
Passion and Purity
Quest for Love
Any help?
Then after a couple years, this guy and I started dating, and I began falling for him, and I'm certain he was falling for me. But all of a sudden, as if he was afraid to feel too much, he pulled back and not long after that, he said he wanted to be "just friends." I was too stupid and hopeful to understand that's not what he really meant, but after some more pain, I finally figured out that I had been dumped.
About that time, a friend of mine got dumped too, and she and I commiserated and cast aspersions on our respective unworthy men. She brought up The Rules in a positive light and told me that, where The Rules says what women should do, Mars and Venus On A Date explains why.
So I read Mars & Venus and went back and reread The Rules and discovered that I could have known, early on, that my dating relationship would go nowhere: If a man gives a woman a non-romantic gift, it means he doesn't feel "that way" (at least not enough) about her.
My date, who worked at a wholesale plant and flower company, gave me a small clay pot with three tiny cacti in it.
Once I read that Rule, I started to believe. At least in most of it (they talk about it maybe being OK to have sex before marriage, but not until after several months--somehow I don't think my grandmothers would have approved).
I bring this up because I have two young women living under my roof, and I need to help prepare them as much as I can with the time I have remaining with them in close contact.
They're involved in church and Bible studies, and they know the Big Things, like saving themselves for marriage and marrying Christian men. And they know at least one less-Scriptural but still critical point that I drummed into my daughter and I've heard her telling her friends: Never allow a man to stay in his car and honk the horn to get you to come out. If he doesn't think you're worth the trouble of getting out of his car and coming to the door for you, then he's not worthy of you.
In my Romance post, I discussed the importance (and thrill) of taking it slow. But is there anything else I might tell my daughter and her friend, at this late stage, that could help them navigate the hazards of relationships? What would you want your daughter to know about how to tell if he's the right man and if he's treating her right? And are there particular books you recommend? So far, I have the aforementioned books, plus:
Passion and Purity
Quest for Love
Any help?
Immigration Protests
It's Saturday. It's not a schoolday. How are the immigration protests doing today?
I googled "immigration protest san diego" since that was one of the surprise student protests in the Southern California area during the week. Most of the stories were about Friday's protests and some school closures. It just confirms, though, that students may not feel as passionately about this issue when it means they don't get to skip class.
There was one story about a planned anti-immigration protest to be held in the city of Vista, north of San Diego.
"The primary goal is to continue to bring national awareness to the blatant disregard for the rule of law" by those who hire illegal immigrants, [Jim] Gilchrist said.
Local Latino advocates said that the event smacked of racial profiling and that they would show up Saturday with a demonstration of their own.
The story of the Left: Always accuse your critics of being racist.
There was another story about a large pro-immigration protest in Los Angeles, this one drawing an estimated 100,000 people.
Elger Aloy, 26, of Riverside, a premed student, pushed a stroller with his 8-month-old son at Saturday's Los Angeles march.
"I think it's just inhumane. ... Everybody deserves the right to a better life," Aloy said of the legislation.
Mr. Aloy is right, of course. I deserve the right to a better life. And if I think I'd have a better life if I lived in someone else's fancy mansion, then I have the right to come into that person's house and live there and get my better life. And nobody should come in and tell me I can't stay, because I have my rights. And the people who want to kick me out are just racist.
No, Mr. Aloy, everybody has the right to work hard--within the law--to better his or her life. It's not the responsibility of America to give a better life to everyone who wants it.
I googled "immigration protest san diego" since that was one of the surprise student protests in the Southern California area during the week. Most of the stories were about Friday's protests and some school closures. It just confirms, though, that students may not feel as passionately about this issue when it means they don't get to skip class.
There was one story about a planned anti-immigration protest to be held in the city of Vista, north of San Diego.
"The primary goal is to continue to bring national awareness to the blatant disregard for the rule of law" by those who hire illegal immigrants, [Jim] Gilchrist said.
Local Latino advocates said that the event smacked of racial profiling and that they would show up Saturday with a demonstration of their own.
The story of the Left: Always accuse your critics of being racist.
There was another story about a large pro-immigration protest in Los Angeles, this one drawing an estimated 100,000 people.
Elger Aloy, 26, of Riverside, a premed student, pushed a stroller with his 8-month-old son at Saturday's Los Angeles march.
"I think it's just inhumane. ... Everybody deserves the right to a better life," Aloy said of the legislation.
Mr. Aloy is right, of course. I deserve the right to a better life. And if I think I'd have a better life if I lived in someone else's fancy mansion, then I have the right to come into that person's house and live there and get my better life. And nobody should come in and tell me I can't stay, because I have my rights. And the people who want to kick me out are just racist.
No, Mr. Aloy, everybody has the right to work hard--within the law--to better his or her life. It's not the responsibility of America to give a better life to everyone who wants it.
Friday, March 31, 2006
Munich
Yesterday, Hugh Hewitt interviewed Danni Alon, a member of the 1972 Israeli Olympic team who survived the terrorist attack in Munich. Radioblogger has the transcript of the interview.
The interview was fairly short, as Hugh's interviews go, and Alon was soft-spoken, telling his story of the night the terrorists took the Israeli athletes, and then describing the 33 years since, when he didn't speak about it much.
Although Danni Alon says he is not a political guy, he ended with this, after Hugh thanked him for telling his story (emphasis added):
Thank you. Thank you for you, and I appreciate you Americans, what you're doing all over the world to stop the terror. And please continue doing it.
This from a man who understands terror up close, both from the 1972 Olympics and from life in Israel under the intifada. His words take on more meaning and have more impact.
We must not stop. Not until the terror stops.
The interview was fairly short, as Hugh's interviews go, and Alon was soft-spoken, telling his story of the night the terrorists took the Israeli athletes, and then describing the 33 years since, when he didn't speak about it much.
Although Danni Alon says he is not a political guy, he ended with this, after Hugh thanked him for telling his story (emphasis added):
Thank you. Thank you for you, and I appreciate you Americans, what you're doing all over the world to stop the terror. And please continue doing it.
This from a man who understands terror up close, both from the 1972 Olympics and from life in Israel under the intifada. His words take on more meaning and have more impact.
We must not stop. Not until the terror stops.
Stress
A couple years ago, I think, CortiSlim(TM) was being heavily advertised on the radio ("...something something something stress hormones something something weight loss..."). I thought, "Stress? Yep, that's me." So I bought some to try to lose some weight, but I only managed to remember to take it for about a week. During that week, though, I remarked to one of my co-workers that my handwriting had improved and I didn't seem as tight on the inside as usual. But then I forgot about taking it, and the bottle eventually ended up in the cupboard with the other forgotten supplements, like vegetables or fruits in pill form. Mm-hmm.
At work the past couple months, with Fiscal Year End coming up (today, in fact), we've been under a lot of pressure to do lots of work in as few days as possible, in order to bring as much income as possible into the company so everyone who is eligible can get a bonus. That meant lots of very late nights under high pressure (except for last week, which was inexplicably slow). It wasn't until last weekend that I remembered the CortiSlim(TM) languishing in the cupboard, so I brought it out and have been taking it this week for the stress.
I think it worked.
A few days ago, I was given a high-pressure, high-visibility project that should take a week to process, but it absolutely had to be finished no later than early afternoon today. And my other projects had to be finished today too. And even though things weren't happening quickly enough today, and in spite of the copious amounts of highly caffeinated tea I drank, I didn't feel the same tight sense of panic/dread/doom that I would usually feel under the circumstances. I juggled my projects, anticipated issues with them, and acted to head those problems off before they they could throw a wrench in the whole works. And I got everything done in each thing's nick of time.
And now that Fiscal Year End is over, I can breathe and look ahead to a future that stretches beyond the next deadline. It feels strange. It feels calm. It feels good.
At work the past couple months, with Fiscal Year End coming up (today, in fact), we've been under a lot of pressure to do lots of work in as few days as possible, in order to bring as much income as possible into the company so everyone who is eligible can get a bonus. That meant lots of very late nights under high pressure (except for last week, which was inexplicably slow). It wasn't until last weekend that I remembered the CortiSlim(TM) languishing in the cupboard, so I brought it out and have been taking it this week for the stress.
I think it worked.
A few days ago, I was given a high-pressure, high-visibility project that should take a week to process, but it absolutely had to be finished no later than early afternoon today. And my other projects had to be finished today too. And even though things weren't happening quickly enough today, and in spite of the copious amounts of highly caffeinated tea I drank, I didn't feel the same tight sense of panic/dread/doom that I would usually feel under the circumstances. I juggled my projects, anticipated issues with them, and acted to head those problems off before they they could throw a wrench in the whole works. And I got everything done in each thing's nick of time.
And now that Fiscal Year End is over, I can breathe and look ahead to a future that stretches beyond the next deadline. It feels strange. It feels calm. It feels good.
Blindsided
I drove to work listening to Laura Ingraham talking about illegal immigration. I'm still upset about it since yesterday. But I got to work, found a good spot in the parking garage, and was getting my stuff together when a commercial came on that I've heard a hundred times before, about pre-arranging your funeral with the local funeral home.
This time an image flashed in my mind of the photo of my dad the church used at his memorial service, and I started to cry. Then I sobbed, right there in my parking spot, with a Carls Jr napkin clutched to my face to catch the tears. It's been ten months, and it hasn't hit me this hard in a long time.
My dad didn't like to smile for the camera, so it's hard to find a picture of him laughing. He'd just turn up the corners of his mouth a little, and that was the best you could hope for. We never knew why. It's just how he was. He was like his dad that way.
But, oh, did he enjoy life! The simplest things tickled him to no end, and when something really got to him, he'd fight to keep it to a chuckle, but he'd always lose and the laughter would win, and after a bit he'd have to pull out his hanky and dab at his eyes and say, "Oh my." He was like his mom that way.
And someone at my parents' church found a picture of my dad laughing, and that's the one they had on the screen through much of the memorial service. And that's the one that made me cry the most, because I miss seeing him laugh, and I miss making him laugh.
A couple years ago, after my friend's husband died while we were all on vacation together, she and I started a GriefShare group at our church. One of the things I learned from that, both from the GriefShare materials and from the other women's experiences, was that it's normal to be blindsided by grief just when you think you're doing fine. So I know my tears this morning aren't a sign of anything wrong. They're a sign that everything is OK.
Still, it was a surprise, and the tears keep wanting to come back again every time I think of Daddy laughing. I'm not going to fight them too much, though, because I'd rather remember him, even if it means my face isn't dry.
And down the road, on a day still to come, I'll laugh with my dad again. Forever.
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