Friedman: "...Stay extra-vigilant at home"

I can't say that I'm a Thomas Friedman fan, but I at least have respect for him, which is more than I can say for most New York Times columnists. Friedman's latest column recommends that we "..stay the course in Iraq, but stay extra-vigilant at home." Good advice. While I don't agree with Friedman's path to it, I do agree with his ultimate conclusion. I'm personally of the opinion that there is enough going on in the Middle East right now to keep the Jihadists' hands full, but I won't discount his opinion that they may try a hail mary here in the U.S. Events of the last three years just leave me hopeful that we are in a great position to intercept that hail mary, even though our 'secondary' (the FBI and CIA) appears to be as strong as the Packers' secondary.

Sore muscles

As I get a little older, I find that I can still do most of the things I could do at 21, but they take more effort. With that extra effort comes extra soreness. Monday night I pretended to be Ozzie Smith for an hour and a half. On Tuesday I hurt places I didn't even know I had; I think I even pulled my Hyundai.

"Hot" baseball "chicks"

I'm a big baseball guy, and I enjoy the history of the game. One part of that history which I enjoy reading about but which I do not know enough is the All American Girls Profesional Baseball League from the World War II era. OnMilwaukee.com has a nice little article on one of the teams from that league, the Milwaukee Chicks. Here are some interesting stats: In 1944, Josephine Kabeck tossed 366 innings and Vickie Panos stole 141 bases-in 115 games.

Jib, the Little League coach

I've been extended the offer of being an assistant Little League coach. If the coach can live with some of my schedule limitations, I'm excited to help. I'm also terrified of coaching 12 nine and ten year olds. I'm not terrified of the kids, but of the parents.

TheJournal Sentinel: If one of your taxes is high, all of 'em should be

What kind of logic do the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editors employ? Today, they stump for raising the beer tax. First, they employ the "every other state does, so should we" logic. I don't know about my readers, but my parents taught me that logic stinks with the question, "if everyone else jumped off a bridge, would you?" Second, they go through a couple of Wisconsin taxes that are high-the gas tax, the cigarette tax. Under their line of thought, our beer tax should be high, too. I'm beginning to think the Journal Sentinel editors write these editorials while they are high.

I'm going to cut to the chase here. Just because our beer tax is low does not mean it needs to be higher. This state is already a tax hell. And I've been to plenty of other states, and I don't think the quality of our lives is any better because of those high taxes. This is about more than just a low tax on beer. This is about the over all tax burden in this state. The responsible action for the state is to find a way to spend funds more efficiently. Simply raising taxes does not do that. I'll tell you why many state lawmakers are walking away from this issue-it is in fact the same reason that I hope the tax's supporters keep pushing it: There is a high level of dissatisfaction with the tax level in this state, and this is just an emotional enough tax to spark a tax revolt. Lawmakers don't want to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs, so they stay as far away from the beer tax as possible. The beer tax is a line in the sand they don't want to draw because Wisconsin voters might actually cross it.

(cross posted at the Badger Blog Alliance)

Spears pregnant (for real)

UGH. Does this mean Mr. Brtiney Spears is going to run off with Hilary Duff in about 3 months?

Illinois to change name to Lincoln?

It would under this proposal. Of course, I've proposed Wisconsin change its name to Leinie's Red, Leinie's Honey Weiss, Klements, and Secret Stadium Sauce, and none of those have flown, either.

Caution! Scare quotes on Yahoo News!

Are you a headline writer, and do you disagree with a scientifically sound study on the safety of cloned meat and milk? Use your scary quotes! With two simple marks, you can change the meaning of the headline!

Delilah Cat stands athwart cat hunting and yells, "stop!"

Delilah Cat is opposed to cat hunting. She's a house cat, so she's pretty safe, but most of her opposition is based off of this:

Minnesota defines a wild, or feral, cat as one with no collar that does not show friendly behavior, said Kevin Kyle with that state's Department of Natural Resources.

Delilah reminds me that she is a natural snob, and she shows friendly behavior to no one but the lovely Mrs. Jib and I. She also reminds me that she can shed her collar faster than a 35 year old Jersey girl can shed her clothes at a Bon Jovi concert.

I, on the other hand, became a supporter of cat hunting after Delilah felt the need to share her thoughts with me via incessant meowing at 4 am today.

3 suspected of planning attacks on NY financial targets

Hmm. And here I thought the raising of the terror level last year was just an evil Bush plot to literally scare up votes (tongue firmly in cheek).

Johnny Lechner

Johnny Lechner is all the rage right now. He even has the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel doing his campaigning for UWW student body president for him. I'm told by a friend that he's a nice guy, and that he's been with half the UWW female student bodies over the years. Maybe that's why he wants to be president. Personally, I'm thinking less and less of him every day this story lives on. But if he can get the Journal Sentinel to brazenly do his campaigning for him, maybe he's smarter than I thought.

Nah. It's the Journal Sentinel, for crying out loud.

Wisconsin Conservation Congress

I was within Bo Jackson throwing distance of Dane County's Conservation Congress tonight. I really, really wanted to stop in and see the bird lovers and cat lovers go at it, just out of morbid curiosity. Instead I helped the Miller Brewing Company gain market share. I guess it just wasn't all that important to me in the end.

ELCA to possibly allow gay clergy in relationships

I grew up in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. When you get a group of LCMS and Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) folks together, you'll often get disagreements over which church is more strict (LCMS, trust me). One thing everyone will agree on is that the Evangelical Lutheran Church in American is by far the most liberal group of Lutherans. And they are proving it. The Bishops of the ELCA are considering allowing homosexuals in committed relationships to enter the priesthood. I have one problem with this, and one problem with this only. If homosexuality is a sin, then Pastors in committed homosexual relationships are pretty unrepentent sinners. I do not expect the leader of the flock to be perfect, but I do expect them to be more reflective on their sins than their flock. How else will they lead? The ELCA dispenses with such spiritual questions and instead bends to popular will, and that is disappointing to someone who finds himself in the ELCA today.

Are...you...kidding...me?

The UW-Whitewater student who is afraid to enter the real world is going to be on Letterman tonight. I'm told by someone who knew him once upon a time that he's a really nice guy, but give me a break. Letterman?

Thank you Stoicguy

I don't understand BlogShares. I tried to (sort of), and then I just quit checking on my BlogShares status. Today I saw traffic come in from my BlogShares profile. Somebody bought shares of Jiblog! So Stoicguy, I thank you, and I'll do my best to earn you a nice ROI.

Leery of this story so far

Occasionally there are stories that light the blogosphere on fire which I do not cover very much. Sometimes it is because I have low interest in the story, or I just do not feel informed enough to contribute to the commentary pool. There are other times, though, that I don't cover a story because something just doesn't feel right about it. The Mae Magouirk story is one of them. I like World Net Daily, but I read it with a heavy dose of skepticism. They've been one of the lead dogs on this story, and I'm not convinced of the story's veracity yet. So, as I said before, read the stories, and be aware that this may be going on. I'm leery of it, though.

Update
Here's a newspaper report on this issue.

Saturday night at Jib's house

What, you say, does a Midwestern, gas guzzlin', beer chuggin', one woman lovin', son of a bitch conservative do on a Saturday? He enjoys the High Life.

(Speaking of Miller, the Journal Sentinel has a good article on them today)

The level of intellect at Jib's House

We're so damn smart around the Jib household, even the cat reads the Business section. After, that is, she finishes reading Get Fuzzy.

The perfect couple?

Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles have finally wed. This begs the question, in the Royal Family's disfunctional way, are they the perfect couple? After all, Charles and Diana had the perfect day for the perfect couple. As it turned out, they were the imperfect couple. Charles and Camilla had the imperfect day for the imperfect couple. Does that mean they are bound for perfection? Charles certainly married above his pay grade the first time around. Perhaps marrying to his looks this time will create an (ugly) love story for the ages. Sometimes its better if a toad kisses a toad instead of a princess.

Google me, Google you, Google-di-doo

Heh. I'm not sure if there is a correlation here or if it is just coincidence, but when I talk about Google, my Google searches seem to go up. When I ignore Google, my Google search hits drop. I have not seen a related trend in my Yahoo search hits. I'm beginning to wonder if there is some sort of vanity factor in Google's algorithms.

Search engines are are strange, when you're a stranger

Odd. On Easter I commented on the fact that Google didn't love me, but Yahoo did. Almost immediately after that, most of my search traffic started coming from Google, and Yahoo became non-existant. Now the Google stream of traffic is drying to a trickle, and Yahoo traffic is coming back. I'm never going to understand how those search engines work.

Another nourishment denial case

This one is in Georgia. I do not know enough about it yet to add my commentary; instead, go here and here to read about it and make up your own mind.

Powerball as social experiment

The 29 state Powerball Lottery is changing its rules in order to create larger jackpots. The rule change is minor-55 balls will be in the drawing instead of 53. I'd like to see them try something else, and just for one jackpot-require that winners choose the numbers in the order they are drawn. This would create an incredibly large jackpot that would take a long time to find a winner. I'd like to see the societal reaction to this stratospheric jackpot.

GOP Bloggers interviews Ken Mehlman

GOP Bloggers, of which this blog is a member, has an interview today with RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman. Head over and check it out. See what a Republican insider has to say about the blogosphere, among other topics.

Day off

My tank was on empty, so I've taken a day off. It also gives me a chance to spend some time with Mrs. Jib, who is off today, too. For all of you stuck at work today, I'm thinking of you while I sit here sunning on the deck.

Thankful I'm not on this blogwagon

There was a low level buzz around the blogosphere that the "Schiavo Memo" was another forgery a la Rathergate. It wasn't. And I'm glad that I didn't feel the need to jump on that blogwagon. It was a sloppy memo that deserved the scrutiny it received, but it wasn't of the level of the Rather memo.

Call me Jib Steyn

I've mentioned on this site in the past that I was a big Mike Royko guy as a youngster. I always had a ton of respect for his ability to pump out 5 quality columns a week for the Chicago Sun and then the Trib. Since Royko's death, my new quanity/quality award goes to Mark Steyn. The amount of columns that guy does is phenomenal. About three or four months into my blog life, I hit a wall. I wasn't used to writing so much, and my tank would just run dry after so many posts. With practice, it became easier to average 5 plus posts a day. Now, with me acting as K.Lo over at the Badger Blog Alliance, I'm going to have to turn it up another notch. And I'm actually looking forward to giving it a shot. I'm just hoping that my post quality doesn't suffer.

Hunt: Bonds in Hall, McGwire out

Michael Hunt gives us a hint as to how his ballot for the Hall of Fame will be filled out when Mark McGwire (stats) and Barry Bonds (stats) are eligible for the Hall of Fame. To make it short, Hunt will be voting for Bonds and not for McGwire.

Why?

These two have to be bound together as one and the same by Hall of Fame voters. Hunt's logic is that McGwire was entire career was a product of steroids, but Bonds' was a future HOF'er early in his career and only jumped on the steroids band wagon late in his career. My first question for Hunt is what proof do you have for this assertion? Bonds was clearly a thicker man in 1993 when he broke 40 home runs for the first time, 7 years into his career. Not as thick as today, but much thicker than the scrawny kid that broke into the majors in 1986. Meanwhile, McGwire, who also came up as scrawny kid, hit 49 in his very first season. Hunt has no proof that Bonds' steroid use began very late in his career, and I think a study of Bonds body would indicate that he started much earlier. On top of that, late in a career is the most crucial time to be on steroids. Normally, a body starts to slow down after 35. Bonds didn't. In fact, he accelerated. He has hit over well over 260 home runs since his 35th birthday, and that's more than any other 5 year period of his career.

I suspect a little subconscious reverse racism in the pro-Barry anti-McGwire trend of late, but I have no proof, so I'll leave it at that, a suspicion. If not reverse racism, them maybe a misguided sense of 'make good' for the way the country treated Hank Aaron as he chased down Ruth. But irregardless of that, these guys have had pretty parallel careers, minus the MVPs. If you vote for one, you've got to vote for the other. If you vote against one, vote against them both.

Ms. Wheel Chair Wisconsin

Okay, I didn't think I was going to weigh in on this issue, but I'm starting to feel the need to defend Janeal Lee, the Wisconsin Ms. Wheel Chair stripped of her title because a newspaper photographed her standing. My mother has a thankfully mild case of a usually severe form of Muscular Dystrophy. She has her good days, but usually extend periods of moderate physical exertion are quite difficult on her. Trust me, they are much more difficult on her than they are on an overweight, out of shape person. Extending that to Ms. Lee, I'm sure that she can stand for limited amounts of time, but the exertion required to do so is extremely tiring for her, requiring the use of the wheel chair most of the time. I know that is the case for my grandmother, who also has MD. She has a scooter which she even uses to get around her apartment. She can stand and she can walk, she just cannot do it for very long. The Ms. Wheel Chair competition used a technicality to bear down on Ms. Lee. There is very little she could do about the photo that appeared in the Appleton Post-Crescent. It appears that the Ms. Wheel Chair competition is either discriminating against women who are not 100% confined to a wheel chair or it is a slave to both pity for those who are disabled and also to political correctness. I'm proud of Ms. Lee's sister Sharon Spring and Wisconsin runner up Michelle Kearny for supporting Ms. Lee and pulling out of the competition. They did the right thing.

Jonah Goldberg, Bill Clinton, and the Pope

That title sounds like the beginning of a bad joke. Anyway, over at The Corner, Jonah Goldberg comments on Bill Clinton, a member of President Bush's delegation to the Pope's funeral, saying that the Pope had a mixed legacy and cracking a joke, asking if it was a bit snippy of Clinton. I think that it is actually a classic example of Clinton's spinelessness. The guy has the worst need to be liked by everyone of any person I've ever known of. He'll say anything to anyone. Yes, a classy member of President Bush's delegation to the Pope's funeral would either say nice things about the man the funeral is for or nothing at all. No one has ever accused Bill Clinton of class, though.

Please click on the ads!!!

Heh. Half of all visitors to this site probably read that title and left the site. Another 25% probably rolled their eyes and skipped this post. The remaining 25% of you who are reading this are thinking, "what are you talking about, you crazy coot? You don't have ads on this site."

I don't, but others do. And I've begun to learn what I think is an important lesson, and that is that it doesn't take very much effort to support your favorite bloggers by clicking on the ads at their site. Also, you never know what you might find at the sponsor sites. For instance, I know that John Hawkins at Right Wing News was recently downsized and is now going to try to make blogging a full time gig. I like his site and respect the hard work that he puts into it, so I clicked an ad to support him. As it turns out, through that ad I found the Replay Radio Internet Radio Recorder, and I am probably going to purchase it. I cannot get my favorite radio station in my office, and internet radio is heavily frowned upon. I'll now be able to record the likes of Charlie Sykes, Jeff Wagner, Rush Limbaugh, Laura Ingraham, and Sean Hannity, and then listen to them at my leisure. It took almost zero effort on my part, I found a solution to a problem that I have, and I supported a blogger I enjoy. So I am asking all of you to click on the ads of your favorite bloggers. They'll appreciate it, and you may too. And the best part is, I don't have to feel guilty because I don't have any ads myself.

Creepy-Pope born and buried on days of solar eclipses

I've seen a lot of things popping up about the Prophecies of St. Malachy. I've been skeptical to say the least, but this is creepy. Supposedly, the prophesy for Pope John Paul II was "of the solar eclipse" or "from the toil of the sun". Pope John Paul II was born on May 18, 1920, the date of a solar eclipse in the southern hemisphere. He is going to be laid to rest this Friday, the date of another solar eclipse.

Haloscan added

After a couple of requests, I've switched the comments here and at the Badger Blog Alliance over to Haloscan. Hopefully this will make both sites more user friendly.

I voted today. Have you?

Voting today was a pleasant experience, and it was over and done with in less time than it takes to order a Big Mac. I walked down to my local polling place and right up to the desk-no lines! I got my ballot, voted for the underdog, Gregg Underheim, in the State Superintendent of Schools race, voiced my opinion in several referendums and a few uncontested local and state races, and I was done. And it is a beautiful day to get out of the office or the house for a little while.

Do yourself a favor. Get outside and enjoy the weather before it rains and cools off. Maybe get an ice cream cone. Along the way, stop and vote. In these races with light turnout, your voice is all the louder, and the process is so simple and quick that you aren't out any more than 5 minutes of your day.

And of course, vote Underheim.

US to make it tougher for Americans to cross border into US

You know, this post's title just screams "Scrappleface," but this isn't a satirical post. According to this story, by 2008 we will have tightened our borders by requiring Americans to show a passport to get back into the country from Canada or Mexico. I'm fine with that, but the story doesn't say much about whether we will be stemming the tide of illegal immigrants who are crossing into this country without any identification. Unless the Bush administration starts to crack down on illegal immigration, I'm tempted to oppose this passport initiative out of principle.

Delay stirring up hatred against judges?

I know that this story is a little stale, but bear with me. Last week, in regards to all of the judges in the Terri Schiavo case, Tom Delay said the following:

The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior.

Ann Althouse takes the issue up here, and at the end of the post, she says this:

And for a public figure even to hint at violence as a solution is completely unacceptable.

I was out of the news loop last week when Delay said this, but I did read about it briefly. I personally did not take it as a threat of violence as Althouse does. I took it to mean that the judges will have to answer for their actions before their creator on judgement day. Perhaps this is naive of me, and maybe the Hammer was making a more earthly threat than I had thought. If anyone has a link to the full context of Delay's quote, I'd certainly like to see it.

Who is to blame for the crucifixion of Christ?

It always bothers me when I see polls like this, or actually anytime that I see people trying to blame Jews for the crucifixion of Christ. It was the sin of men that led to the crucifixion of Christ. That means you and I are just as culpable as a Jew 2000 years ago. People should know this, and they should know that forgiveness of our sins and everlasting life are gifts to us through that crucifixion, as horrible as it was.

On drunken driving, Democrats

With state Senator Decker's recent arrest for drunken driving, it would be pretty easy for conservative me to paint state Democrats with a broad brush, considering the spurt of Democrats arrested for the offense. I'm not going to do that though, and I hope other state Republicans avoid having too much fun with this as well. When ethics issues are involved, the individual is fair game to those ethics charges. However, terrible personal decisions are things that afflict individuals of both parties. Eventually there will be a string of state Republicans that make stupid decisions. If you dish it, be prepared to take it when that time comes. I'm choosing not to dish it on this one. Given the unhinged nature of the Democratic wing of the Democratic party, though, something tells me I'll still have to take it. But that's no excuse to dip to their levels.

Tribes witholding payment a solid business decision

I'm sure I'm going to catch some heat for this one, but when tribes like the Potowatomi withold their gaming payments from the state, it is a sound business decision on their part. Of course, to see this you have to strip away all of the ancillary issues that enflame people on this topic and look at the gambling compacts between the state and tribes as business contracts. The state allows certain forms of gaming in the state, and in turn the tribes pay a portion of their revenues to the state. The problem right now is that over the years, the legislature and the Governor have horked up their end of the compacts something terrible. The legislature made the huge mistake of conceding compact negotiations to the Governor. In turn, Governor Doyle overstepped his bounds by negotiating an expansion of gambling with the tribes for higher payments. Right now, the tribes are in limbo. They are not getting what they were supposed to be getting from the state. Therefore, they have every right to withold payments. It doesn't really pay to get upset with the tribes. Instead look toward the mess the state has created. That's where the anger needs to be directed.

I think that this is politically smart as well, but that is a topic that is a bit more emotional, and I choose not to get into that in this post. Perhaps another day.

Tax gas, but leave my beer the hell alone

The Journal Sentinel is running with a story that is sympathetic to State Representative Terese Berceau's "user fee" on beer, saying we should "put that glass down long enough to listen to her arguments." I'll tell you something. With taxes as high as they are in this state, reasonably priced beer is one of the reasonably priced joys we have left. One could say Madison and its taxes have driven some of us to Milwaukee's Best. If Berceau wants to increase the beer tax, that's fine by me. Then cut government spending by 10% and return it to us, the tax payers. I'm fine with bringing our beer tax in line with other states as long as our tax burden is brought into line, too, and I'm sure we'd all be happy to spend our money on healthier endeavors. Until then, leave our beer the hell alone. If she doesn't, she's going to have a lot of ornery Wisconsinites to deal with.

Update
Heh, my first trackback. Thanks, Sandi.

Blogger's block

Wow. I had a half dozen post ideas rolling around in my head before the whole yard work thing. Now all I can think of is, "Why do I always see and hear Will Ferrell hitting a cowbell when I listen to 'Don't Fear the Reaper?'"

Spring yard work

I'm back home and my work schedule has lightened up for the time being, so I'll be giving the blogs a little TLC. But that's not what this post is about. This post is about something else I'll be giving a little TLC, that I never thought I would look forward to-spring yard work. The combination of spring fever and owning my own little piece of property has created an as yet unquenchable desire to get filthy doing yard work in the sun. This evening at work I started two projects. First, my water pipe coming out of the house broke over the winter, so I purchased all of the materials necessary to fix it, and began the task. I also broke out the leaf blower to pick and mulch some of the dead leaves that blew in late in the fall.

My joy at doing such boring, mundane tasks has led me to one conclusion: I'm well on my way to becoming a boring old coot. In a couple of months, I'll be mowing lawn in shorts that are just a little too tight and black socks that are hiked up to my knees. And sandles. By fall I'll be weeding my garden in jeans with 6 inches of plumber crack hanging out. By next spring, I'll be jacked about doing spring lawn work again-in polyester pants that come up past my belly button, all the while cussing those damn neighbor kids.

*Shudder*

I'm going to go do a kegstand now and run through the neighborhood naked. If you see a drunk 29 year old streaker sprint past your house, please avert your eyes.

Torano cigars

Regular readers know that I enjoy a quality cigar on occasion. My brand of choice is Carlos Torano. I enjoy all of their lines, but I am now also just plain impressed with their company. I signed up as a Torano Insider, which just puts me on their email list. There was no charge to do so. On top of that, I received two free cigars from them in the mail this week.

Bold faced politics

I will start this post with a disclosure: I am no fan of US Representative David Obey. I grew up in household that received Obey's congressional newsletter, and I disliked his politics from the get go. So, given that, I was intrigued by this filler piece in the Appleton Post-Crescent entitled "Obey wants to broaden discussion of end of life issues." With a little careful reading, one gets a feel for Obey the politician.

Let's start first with this, found at the very end of the article:

But Obey said end-of-life issues have been politicized by House Republican leaders so that thoughtful consideration won’t occur.

“The problem is that we are not going to get that kind of debate because this issue has been almost sacrilegiously polarized and politicized,” he said.

Fair enough. That's a pretty standard Democratic talking point. Now, let's go to the top of the article, where Obey is quoted as saying the following:

“We need a healthy non-ideological discussion of all of the questions surrounding this issue,” Obey, D-Wausau, said Friday. “And I would welcome a debate that broadens the question and takes into account the fact that the largest moral question we face in health care is the fact that 40-million-plus people have no health insurance.”

Whoa, hold up Congressman. The Republicans are politicizing this? And you aren't by wanting to tie this to socialized health care? Feel free to lie to me, just don't smirk while you do it.

Well, based on the first quote above, at least we know that Obey believes that this is a legitimate federal issue. Right?

The Wausau congressman, who had returned to Wisconsin on March 21 to conduct community forums on Social Security, said he urged colleagues not to vote on the bill because he considered it an intrusion.

“When I am at death’s door or heaven’s gate or however you put it, I want those decisions to be made by me and my family and not my friendly local politician,” he said.

Dave Obey, a politician's politician, fluent from both the left and right sides of his mouth. In this article, he tells you that he was opposed to Congress intruding into Terri Schaivo's case. But it should intrude on your end of life decision. Additionally, he lets us know that Republicans should be blamed for politicizing all of this. But he's willing to tack the most political issue of all onto it-socialized health.

Ah, the memories of living in Obey's district just come flooding back.

Finally, the Jib has come back to Wisconsin

I'm back home, and I couldn't be more pleased. Minneapolis and New York are fine places to visit, but they aren't home. While I could see the Minneapolis area being home for me at some point, New York gave me an all new respect for Chicago and Milwaukee. What a dump. The New York you see on TV isn't the real New York. The streets are absolutely filthy. As I left my house on Friday, a neighbor chatted me up. He said that he used to drive truck in New York, so I should do him a favor. If I saw one clean street, I should photograph it for him. Needless to say, I don't have a photo for him.

New York has its charms. Namely, it is the biggest, richest, baddest city in America. I found that impressive for all of about 2 minutes. As large cities go, I found it to be largely a pain in the ass beyond that. Before I dozed off on Saturday night, I read this article from last weekend's Sunday Washington Post, which is highly complimentary of Milwaukee. I began to think on the topic of big cities. While New York is where the country's power brokers congregate, the city itself is a dump. Milwaukee is not exactly one of the country's power centers, but the city is slowly but surely seeing a resurgence. With good leadership, always an iffy proposition in Milwaukee, the city really could quiety become a little gem of the upper Midwest. And that's the bottom line, because Jiblog said so.

(For those of you with a passing knowledge of wrestling will notice that I ripped off a couple of WWE taglines in honor of tonight's Wrestlemania, which I am not watching.)

Ben Sheets as Wisconsin baseball's Favre

As any Packer fan will attest, Brett Favre is the patron of professional football in this state. There is a reverance for Favre that is only topped by Lombardi. Wisconsin baseball fans, I present to you your Brett Favre: Ben Sheets. As evidence, I give you this Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article.

The Pope, part 2

As I've already mentioned, as a Lutheran I cannot understand how Catholics are reacting to the passing of Pope John Paul II. All I can say that this man was truly a giant of history. I'm sure that this is particularly difficult on Polish Catholics, as this man was nearly a patron saint for them. My prayers right now are for all Catholics, and particlarly Polish Catholics, as the Church chooses its new leader. As for the the Pope, I have a certain joy in my heart for him; after all, this is a man who has now entered God's Kingdom.

The Pope

My prayers are with the Pope. He truely is an incredible man who will go down as one of history's and the church's great leaders. As a Lutheran, I know that I don't understand what Catholics feel right now so I'm not going to comment much on this. All I can say is that I pray that God allow his death to be as peaceful and painless for him as possible, and that while this is a sorrowful time for men, it is soon to be a joyful time for Pope John Paul II.

The Big Apple

I flew into New York today for a weekend of work north of the city. The plan was to pretty much avoid the city itself, skirting it on interstates on my way to my destination, checking out Yankee Stadium along the way. That changed after a wrong turn. I ended up driving across lower Manhattan, which was somewhat cool considering that I'd never been in the city before. All in all, while it was cool, I was not overly impressed. I hear New Yorkers professing their love for the city on TV constantly, but I'll take my Chicago anyday. The one cool thing I saw that Chicago can't top was a street that looked like a canyon, lined with skyscrapers. If you are from New York, you can probably tell me what street it is; unfortunately, I can't remember because I was doing my best to avoid cabs and to not run over bicyclists. I know that I was on 23rd Street headed west, and the view was to the north. It was in the rough vicinity of Fifth Avenue.

Now, as for my weather jinx. It is still alive, but I think that it only applies on the coasts. They are talking about 3-5 inces of rain in the next 36 hours. At least I shouldn't have to be concerned about mudslides this time.

Waukesha acquiring lake water via crazy straw

Heh.

April Fools, Wisconsin!

Your gas tax just went up a penny, just like it went up a penny last year on April 1, and the year before that, and the year before that, and the year before that...

Today would be a good day to contact your representatives and let them know that you are opposed to this automatic annual tax increase. We need current state representatives to go on the record with their own position on all tax increases.

Berger pleading guilty

Stealing classified documents is only a misdemeanor? Hell, no wonder Sandy Berger couldn't keep his hands out of his pants.

Ice Rocket

There is a new (at least new to me) search engine out there call Ice Rocket. I hadn't heard of it until Sandi from Vista on Current Events mentioned it in the comments section earlier this week. I meant to try it out right away, but work intervened. Well, this afternoon I received an email from Blake Rhodes at Ice Rocket, letting me know that this site is represented in Ice Rocket's blog search. It was a personal email, not a form email, so I made it a priority to check it. At first blush, I like it, particularly the blog search function. I haven't had time to dig real deep into it, so all I'm going to do right now is pass the word and let all of you come to your own conclusions.

As an aside, on Sunday I commented on the fact that Yahoo seemed to do a better job finding this site than Google. Then I received a small flurry of Google searches, and I joked that the Google servers must be self aware and out to prove me wrong. I'm not jocular about that statement anymore. I'm pretty much positive the Google machines have become self aware. This week has seen a healthy increase in the number of people coming here via Google.

Terri Schiavo, 1963-2005

Here, freed from pain, secure from misery, lies
A child, the darling of her parents' eyes:
A gentler Lamb ne'er sported on the plain,
A fairer flower will never bloom again:
Few were the days allotted to her breath;
Now let her sleep in peace her night of death.

by Thomas Gray (1716-1771) (with slight edit)

May God bring solace to the Schindler family, and also be with the Schiavos and the Greers.

A couple of tardy thank yous

I've been on the road for almost the entire day, so this will be a short post. I'll be back to posting tomorrow, though.

I have a couple of thank yous to give out. The first is to Owen at Boots & Sabers. I have a lot of respect for what you're doing over at Boots & Sabers, especially your tendency to break news. I'm rather honored that you make Jiblog a regular read, and thanks for the mention and the addition to the blogroll.

The second is to SI's Josh Elliott. A few weeks ago, I wrote this post in which I disagreed with Elliott's analysis of the Packers' near term future. Today he left a comment on the post which left me taken aback by his graciousness. Josh, thanks for stopping by and reading the post, and I think that your graciousness just made me a new fan of yours, even if I disagree with your Packer analysis. :-)

Terri Schiavo

She is still alive after 13 days without food or water. This is one strong and resilient woman. One might even say she has a pretty strong will to live.

Lovers leaving their initials

In his Tuesday Quick Hits, Kevin at Lakeshore Laments points out a story from the OpinionJournal Political Diary. It seems Ronald Reagan and Nancy Davis left their initials in a slab of concrete at a home that they shared 50 years ago. The real estate consultant who found it donated it to the Reagan Presidential library.

That story brought back a memory for me. In my hometown there is a large park. Deep in that park is an old bridge that locals call the Rumbly Bidge. It has been closed to traffic for as long as I can remember, but for years young couples have been carving their initials into the paint on the railings. There are thousands of initials on this bridge. When I was in college, I had what I thought was a great idea: To photograph these initials, track down down the people who carved them, and convey their stories in a book. Alas, I never followed through (lack of time, funds, etc.), but my and Mrs. Jib's initials are on that bridge. I even proposed to her in front of them.

Now, if I can just defy the odds and became President...

There ain't no pleasin' me

Some of you will remember how much I whined about the weather when I was in California for the mudslide season. Well, I'm going to wine about the tranquil weather here in Minnesota now.

Ya see, somewhere around my 16th birthday, I became a bit of junky for severe weather. I'm not total weather geek about it, but I do get out my cameras and try to get in a good spot to view it. I've had lightening strike the road near my car while I was driving. I once was waiting to pick up the lovely Mrs. Jib from work, lightning striking trees all around, when I noticed a wall cloud with rotation uncomfortably nearby (another sign I'm not a weather geek-I got scared and ran inside her place of employment for cover). In other words, I'm a damn idiot.

How does that relate to the tranquil weather here in Minnesota? Well, I head back to Wisconsin tomorrow. I probably won't get home until well after midnight. What are they forecasting for Southern Wisconsin tomorrow afternoon, before I get back? Thunderstorms, possibly severe.

I'm a weather flip flopper.

I'm a great big sucker

This morning I was early for an appointment, so I parked in a Target parking lot near my appointment and read the paper while I waited. About five minutes before I had to get going, there was a knock on my window. I rolled it down to a nervous woman in her late 20's-early 30's. She told me that she had driven her husband to work and left her wallet at home, and her truck was on empty. She asked if I could help her with gas money (there was a gas station across the street), and if I could, she'd mail me the money back. So I did, and I gave her my business card. After that, she thanked me, saying that she was originally from Canada, and amazed at how nice Americans really were.

I told the lovely Mrs. Jib. If she could have slapped my head over the phone, she would have.

Time will tell. I'll let you know next week whether I was a nice guy who helped out another person in a jam, or if I'm just a dup. I'm leaning toward dup.

In a similar vein, I'm a sucker for a left of center site that blogrolls this well to the right of center web site. Tonight, I'm a sucker for The Vast Dairy State Conspiracy. It is now on my blogroll.

Bravo Jesse Jackson

This is the first time this headline has ever appeared at Jiblog. I'm willing to set aside the past and just say that Jesse, you are on the right side of this issue.

Naked man killed in Kenosha after endangering child

HT The American Mind. This story is messed up and disturbing. Unlike Shawn, I fully support the use of deadly force. The guy put a knife to one of the childrens' necks tried to break another's neck. Would it have been best if the stun gun had been used? Probably, but these things happen so quickly that it is difficult to fault an officer in that position. Deadly force is justified in this scenario.

Very quick hits

-I saw 5 continuous minutes of American Idol tonight (a first, btw). Carrie Underwood sang Martina McBride's "Independence Day," and she nailed it. I'm now a Carrie Underwood fan.
-From the "too much time behind the wheel" department: Why do we hear about cancers of all parts of the body, except the heart? Nobody ever dies from a case of heart cancer.

Hannity & Colmes

Heh. They had on a couple of Michael Schiavo supporters tonight. One wore a communist revolution t-shirt. They were a couple of marks for Hannity, no doubt about it. And I like Hannity.

RIP Johnny Cochrane

"If the glove doesn't fit, you must acquit." Say what you will about the man, he did his job. Johnny Cochrane, RIP.

JIblog travel update

Sorry for not posting yesterday. After a 6 hour drive and a late afternoon meeting, I was pretty whipped. The weather is great here in Minneapolis, but I'll be driving into rain later today as I head west into a storm system, so consider my jinx partially broken.

I am about to head out to start a full day of appointments, but I'll be staying in a pretty small town tonight. If I'm not exhausted, I hope to be posting this evening. Until then, check out the blogs in the side bar. A lot of them had some great stuff over the past 24 hours.

Mr. Peanut

I just saw a Mr. Peanut commercial. I've been noticing for a few years that Mr. Peanut is getting a little bit more flamboyant. I'm patiently awaiting the day that Planters allows this FDR wannabe to finally come out of the closet. Rumor is that he's been carrying on a torrid affair with Mr. Potato Head, who is currently pre-op.

Oh yeah, and you don't need to shed a tear for Mrs. Potato Head. She left Mr. Potato Head a few years ago for Larry the Cucumber from Veggie Tales.

(Good night all. I know, I'm getting goofy-weird with this post. Blame it on the silliness that sometimes accompanies sleepiness. Ugh, and I can only imagine the search hits I'm going to get now.)

Jiblog on the road

I'll be blogging from the road this week. The first stop will be Minnesota, the land of 10,000 lakes. After a brief pit stop at home, it will then be on to the Big Apple. There will be new posts this week, but they may be of a more sporadic nature.

And by the way, the weather looks good so far. Hopefully that bad weather jinx of mine will be broken and all of you won't have to dread me coming to your town in the future.

Give Michael Schiavo this...

...after much stubborness, he finally allowed Terri to be given communion.

Great Season, Bucky

It was a heck of a year and a heck of game. Thanks for a great season, Bucky.

Google and blogs, politics

This'll be a two part post, so bear with me.

First, Captain's Quarters comments on the drop that his large blog has seen in search results on Google. My impression of Google is that it is not nearly as blog friendly as Yahoo is. I speak from a limited point of view, namely my own site stats, but Yahoo searches find Jiblog much, much more often than Google-unless the search is a dirty search. Then Google finds Jiblog, even though the words in the search term aren't found together on this site. I find this trend a little strange given that Google owns Blogger. Logic would say that Yahoo shouldn't be as blog friendly, and Google should be very blog friendly.

Second, there has been some talk around the blogosphere about Google's corporate politics showing through. This has generally revolved around who Google does and does not allow as a source in Google News, but it also shows itself in the fact that Google has chosen not to recognize Easter today with one of their stylized logos at the top of their search page, but they did choose to recognize World Water Day earlier this week. Google has every right to recognize whatever special day they choose, but I have one word of advice for them. As a business, they have a mass market. When you have a mass market, don't wear your corporate politics on your sleave. Only companies with niche markets can get away with that without losing customers. I'm sure Google feels invincible right now, but I've already started to turn away from Google a bit and back to Yahoo. It is possible that many others are as well.

Update
Well there have been a couple of interesting developments on point one. First, Captain's Quarters had been yanked from Google's listings because a sponsor of his site was link farming (See here for more if you host ads). As for Jiblog, there have been a flurry of Google search hits since I originally posted this. Which leads me to only one possible conclusion-Google's machines are self aware and out to make me look like a fool. :-).

Bird flu in North Korea

This is scary. The way North Korea doles out internal information, there could be 20,000 dead of the bird flu and we wouldn't know it until the flu was a pandemic.

Demonizing the Iraqi police/national guard the next media fad?

I saw this little story in the New York Times about Iraqi police opening fire on protestors, and I had a flashback to when every error by US troops, and even some non-errors, led to the media demonizing the troops. This story is more or less a dispatch of all that is going on in Iraq right now; The Times leads with the shooting and headlines the story with "Iraqi Guards Fire on a Groop of Protesting Workers," even though that is only two paragraphs of the entire story. Additionally, they offer no facts on the circumstances of the shooting. Given that these workers had come "to collect their wages and ammunition," it is entirely possible that they opened fire at the Iraqi Guards first. A headline scanner would never know that. All they are left with is the perception that Iraqi guards did something bad, and we don't really know that, given the few details in the story.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter, everyone. I hope you are all enjoying your Easter. As for me, I'm enjoying my day in a somewhat unconventional way. Since traveling to visit family was not in our cards this year, I am sitting outside on my deck, watching the Badger game, having a beverage, and doing a little blogging. And maybe getting a little tan.

UPDATE!
Wisconsin is tied with NC! And I'm smoking a cigar. Probably prematurely.

Time to sell real estate?

Probably not for the majority of the country. But as a general rule, when investing you want to buy low and sell high. Simple concept, right? Ah, but how do you know the difference between what is high, and what is low? Well, if you own investment property in red hot regions of the US like California, Florida, the Northeast, etc, read this article. I think it may be time to get the hell out, because you may be at that high point. There are too many investors holding properties (and a lot of debt) that they're going to want to turn in the next five years in these regions. Tag team that with slowly rising interest rates that may cap demand, and there is a strong likelihood that sellers will out number buyers in a few years.

Remember the families of 9/11 victims in your prayers this Easter

We are 3 1/2 years removed from 9/11, and for many of us the pain of that day has numbed significantly. For those who lost a loved one, Easter can bring back a flood of memories and a fresh feeling of loss. I know that the family and friends of Kewaskum's Andrea Haberman are thinking of her this Easter, because this website has seen a number of visits from searches on her name. As you enjoy time with your loved ones tomorrow, say a little prayer for Andrea's loved ones, and for all of the victims' families.

A very basic primer on Underhiem-Burmaster

There is an AP story by JR Ross (shout out to a former softball teammate) in several Wisconsin papers today that is a very basic primer on the State Superintendit race between Gregg Underheim and Elizabeth Burmaster. Read it. Then go to Underheim's site, which is linked to in the sidebar. Make an informed decision, and vote April 5th.

A peak at Ojibwe (Chippewa) burial tradition

The La Crosse Tribune has a small article today on the traditional Ojibwe burial that several of the Red Lake shooting victims will receive. It is an interesting read, if only to learn about a tradition that is not common in modern America.

*61

In what is becoming a Friday night tradition, I'm cracking open a brand new DVD and falling asleep on the couch so I can wake to the lovely Mrs. Jib coming home from work in the morning. Tonight's movie is *61, which is one of my favorite baseball movies. There is a little extra excitement for me in watching *61 tonight because next Friday I'll be flying into New York for a weekend business trip. On my way to my destination, I'll be driving past Yankee Stadium. I have no love for the Yankees, but it is tough to not get excited if you get to see one of the most history laden stadiums in baseball history.

As for *61, I've always been a heavy Maris sympathizer, going back to my pre-teen, baseball card collecting years. The movie is a wee bit more painful to watch now given the emotional role Mark McGwire plays in it. Especially considering that I was a McGwire fan, too.

There is some talk going around about whether McGwire and Bonds deserve Hall of Fame enshrinement. I believe the latest polls had people in favor of it for Bonds, and not in favor of it for McGwire. Right now, I support enshrinement for both, although I reserve the right to change my mind. Both were Hall of Fame caliber players without the steroids; McGwire hit 49 homers as a skinny little rookie, and Bonds was an elite player as a skinny little outfielder. In fact, I'd be willing to say that McGwire's career numbers were stunted due to steroid related injuries, and that he cut his career short because he saw the steroid writing on the wall and wanted to avoid the spotlight of a chase of Hank Aaron. After this week's news from Bonds, we may see him hang it up before he gets to 755 in order to avoid the glare as well.

Their numbers will forever be tainted, and I think that is punishment enough given that steroids were technically legal in baseball. This entire controversy is baseball's fault (players and owners) for not having the backbone to outlaw the damn things and test for them. Baseball has to live with the tarnish. And that includes having these guys in their Hall of Fame.

"Large Aircraft Down"

Don't get excited or worried, this is *not* about a current plane crash. Instead, it is the headline of an article about Jim Oliver, who was the editor of the Somerset Daily American in Somerset, PA. Oliver is retired and now lives in Eau Claire. The Leader Telegram looks the Somerset Daily American during a year under his leadership that saw the fourth hijacked plane on 9/11 crash in the local area, and a mine flood trap 9 miners in Somerset county. It is a light but good read.

Congrats UWM and UW

Congratualtions to UW Milwaukee for a fine season that helped put the university on the national map. To the Badgers, congrats on your victory over NC State, and good luck vanquishing that other team from North Carolina.

Bush and Rice announce aid to Krygyzstan

President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice today announced an aid package highlighted by 3 vowels. Bush said that the American people needed reach out a helping hand to the freedom loving Krygyztanis.

"We are seeing freedom bloom across the world this year, and the American people stand by all freedom loving people. This includes those who live in Krug...Krik...Krukzis..."

"Krygyzstan, Mr. President."

"...Yeah, what she said. Anyway, in our initial aid package, we are sending an a, an i, and an e to Kri-well, what the Secretay of State said."

Opposition groups immediately decried the aid package, saying the message was sponsored by a, e, and i, which are actually subsidiaries of Haliburton. They demanded that Bush send two of the more independent u's and respect the sometime vowel y more.

(Just a little silly satire)

Social Darwinists! Join us on April 2 for a hunt of the least fit!

Your local chapter of the Social Darwinists would like to invite you to an open hunt on the least fit of society on Saturday, April 2!

This is the first edition of what will hopefully be an annual event. The rules are simple. Survival of the fittest is nature's way. On April 2, we Social Darwinists, who are society's smartest and fitest, will help streamline the human race by thining the herd of the weakest humans, furthing human kind. Don't like guns? Don't worry, you don't need one! Once you get your hunting permit, you will be free to encourage women to hate the little humans in their wombs for what the 'fetuses' have done to their lives. You can also fill your tag by getting medical treatment withheld from those incapcitated persons who never legally made their end of life desires known.

There are regulations on this hunt. You cannot harm any individual who is or may become a voter who supports social darwinism. Well, actually, that's the only regulation. If they can't speak for themselves, they're fair game.

Check your zone when registering for your permit. In some zones we are holding an "earn the infirm" hunt. To fill your tag for the one of society's weakest and most vulnerable, you must first bag a voter who believes that all life has dignity and that it should be given every chance and any benefit of the doubt. These individuals are weak and need to be thinned out as well.

(The above is rather mean spirited satire. Sorry, but I'm disappointed in our society right now. It had to come out. Please note that I did not choose to make this a partisan piece. I don't think this is a partisan issue.)

Three good Schiavo pieces

With the debate of the past week over Terri Schiavo, I've open to the possibility that I've been unfair. So I've read more and more on the topic from a variety of sources. I've not really changed my mind on my position. But I don't want to force my opinion on you, my much appreciated readers. Instead, I offer you three links that I think are pretty good. The three pieces appeared in the New York Times, the Boston Globe, and USA Today. I will leave it with this: Unlike National Review's John Derbyshire, Michael Schiavo is never welcome to my house for a beer. Especially after I read the end of the New York Times piece.

We've reached the point where not much else can be done for Terri. This story will quickly fade into the background. I dare say it won't even produce much in the way of precedence for future cases. It won't lead to a schism of the Republican party. If anything, it will subtly affect the sides of the continuing pro-life v. pro-ending life debate, a debate which is not really right vs. left except in the case of abortion. If you want to make a diference going forward, you have to work to make sure that your state's end of life laws are just and that they side with life when there is legal doubt.

May God bless Terri and her family. May he also be with Michael and his.

SARS is back in the news

And this time it may be airborne. With SARS, ebola, and the bird flu in the news, pray for your local hypochondriacs.

Are the Brewers a third place team?

They are according to Fox Sports. As for me, I'm not positive we are going that great of a drop off from Houston, but it certainly stokes my fire for the upcoming season when I see a major sports outlet say, "The Brewers could take a step forward this season."

Gov. Bush and forcibly taking custody of Schiavo

A growing stream of voices are asking Florida Governor Jeb Bush to take custody of Terri Schiavo forcibly with either law enforcement or National Guardsmen. This piece in National Review even advocates it as his duty if he believes "Terri's Law" to be constitutional. Those who are asking this of Bush are asking him to commit political suicide for something that probably won't even save Terri's life.

 

If Gov. Bush were to move in and take custody of Terri Schiavo by force, he would almost certainly face impeachment. After that, he'd also likely be removed from power. Why? Because public sentiment in Florida would bolster the Florida legislature's attempts at impeachment and removal. Too many people do not know this case very well. At the first site of National Guardsmen or police officials swooping in and taking Terri, many people would start yelling about Bush abusing his power. Even people marginally sympathetic to Terri's plight would have this opinion. Bush's efforts would save Terri's life long enough for him to be removed as Governor of Florida. After that, she'll be right back in the position she is now-in a managed care facility, dehydrating and starving to death-because the next Governor of Florida probably wouldn't stick his or her neck out on the chopping block.

 

I want to see Terri Schiavo's life spared as much as anyone. Don't ask Jeb Bush to make a sacrifice that ultimately won't change Terri's fate, though.

Florida Governor Bush and forcibly taking custody of Schiavo

A growing stream of voices are asking Florida Governor Jeb Bush to take custody of Terri Schiavo forcibly with either law enforcement or National Guardsmen. This piece in National Review even advocates it as his duty if he believes "Terri's Law" to be constitutional. Those who are asking this of Bush are asking him to commit political suicide for something that probably won't even save Terri's life.

If Gov. Bush were to move in and take custody of Terri Schiavo by force, he would almost certainly face impeachment. After that, he'd also likely be removed from power. Why? Because public sentiment in Florida would bolster the Florida legislature's attempts at impeachment and removal. Too many people do not know this case very well. At the first site of National Guardsmen or police officials swooping in and taking Terri, many people would start yelling about Bush abusing his power. Even people marginally sympathetic to Terri's plight would have this opinion. Bush's efforts would save Terri's life long enough for him to be removed as Governor of Florida. After that, she'll be right back in the position she is now-in a managed care facility, dehydrating and starving to death-because the next Governor of Florida probably wouldn't stick his or her neck out on the chopping block.

I want to see Terri Schiavo's life spared as much as anyone. Don't ask Jeb Bush to make a sacrifice that ultimately won't change Terri's fate, though.

Proposed FEC regulation of the internet

I have not yet read the FEC's 45 page draft of new rules regulating speech on the internet, so fo the time being I am going to defer my analysis and refer you to Redstate. If their analysis is corrected (I will be reading and making deciding on that later today), then McCain-Feingold is moving from "slippery slope" status to ice covered and hazardous moutain side status. The FEC's determination is that any internet communication that reaches more than 500 people is public communication which should be regulated. If that standard were applied to the real world, you best hide your soap box and microphone away, because speaking to 501 people in the wrong way (as determined by the FEC) would get you in trouble.

Ashland Daily Press covers Underheim

Wisconsin readers, it is high time to start thinking about the spring elections. As you can see in the sidebar, this humble blog supports Gregg Underheim's candidacy for State Superintendent. The state of Wisconsin is currently the plaything of the teachers' union, and that isn't a good thing for our kids. In fact, it really only is a good thing for beaucracy and inefficient spending of your property taxes. The Daily Press way up in Ashland, Wisconsin, takes a look at the Underheim candidacy. Go there and learn a little about Underheim. Then, if you like his ideas, make sure you vote on April 5th. Remember, if you have kids, this race is important to you. If you don't have kids, but you don't like high property taxes or high rent either (yes, you renters subsudize your landlord's property taxes), this is also an important race for you.

Searches for Jenna, Barbara, Maxim

Since I'm getting a lot of searches today for Jenna, Barbara, Maxim, I'll give you all a link to what you are looking for.

Federalism & Schiavo

I am a person who identifies myself as a Federalist. I also supported Congress’s decision to bump the Schiavo case to Federal jurisdiction. If you care to call me a hypocrite, that’s fine by me. I’d rather be called a hypocrite for supporting something that I believe in than be someone who is using Federalism as a shield to deflect criticism of the fact that their real motivation in this case is that they feel Terri should be dead. After much reading, I am convinced that there are a number of people on the right who are using this tactic, people who in certain other cases would also abandon Federalism if the case fit with their political beliefs. I’m disappointed in them, and my respect for a few of them is greatly diminished.

If you are a true, ardent, in all cases Federalist, you may disregard this. But there are very few “in all cases” Federalists out there.

Update
I've decided to soften this (without prompting, I might add). It is possible to have Federalist objections here. My problem is that far too many people on the right really are hiding behind that when it is clear that their main motivation is that they agree with the decision to pull Schiavo's tube.

The next step

<>Of late, the focus for many of us has been on saving the life of Terri Schiavo. That should continue as long as necessary. We need to start taking a peek at the next step, though. Much anger has been directed at the courts (or at Congress if you are on a certain ‘dehydration’ side of this). The courts can only get away with what the laws allow them to. Many blogs have recommended that their readers look into living wills. While I second that, I think it is just as important for everyone to start looking at their state’s end of life laws. The way to prevent this from happening to another Terri is to work to tighten your state’s end of life laws. There are a lot of ill defined terms out there-like what is life support and what is life sustaining-so talk with your state representatives about better defining them. Also talk with your state representatives about making sure that mandatory second opinions are built into prognoses of persistent vegitative states. Most importantly, make sure that law in your state requires documentation when it comes to the admissibility of an incapacitated patient’s wishes for their own care. As the Schiavo case shows, a witness to an off handed, undocumented comment is pretty thin gruel. Always make sure that your state’s laws give life the benefit of doubt.

I’m not a lawyer, so my recommendations for what to look for are somewhat vague. I welcome input from those who are better versed in law than I. We can all help make a difference for future Terri’s by taking a look at and changing (if necessary) our own state’s laws on end of life issues. Unfortunately, it doesn’t do much for Terri right now.

Ebola back, sort of

Ebola is back. Or at least an ebola like virus.

PETA's obsession with the running of the bulls

PETA this year is trying to replace the running of the bulls with "the running of the nudes." The running of the bulls has long been a sore spot for PETA. I'm not sure why. The bull fights I kinda get. The running of the bulls is the animal world's chance to thin humans of their dimmest and dullest. Ya think they'd cheer it. Hell, I do. It improves the human gentic pool. But then again, maybe that's why they hate it so.

Global Dimming

Back when I was an underclassman at UWW, I had a physical geopgraphy course with Dr. David Travis. It was one of the most fascinating courses I've ever had, mostly because Dr. Travis would get off topic and start talking about some of the things he was interested in, notably meteorology and climatology. I'm pretty sure that the passage of time has caused me to mangle the details of some of his theories in my head, so instead I'm going to direct you to one that he didn't discuss with us, but in his own words: global dimming.

Well spoken words on Schiavo frustration

Over the past couple of days, I've mumbled a few times about my frustrations with people across the political spectrum with regards to Terri Schiavo. I've chosen not to get into the who's and why's of it. If you're curious, JunkYardBlog pretty much nails it (HT The American Mind). I've seen sides I dislike of many people I otherwise like and respect, and that only adds to the frustration.

Discouragement

Sigh. Blogging is light today because I'm a bit spent. The Terri Schiavo case has been at the forefront of my mind, and the last 24 hours have been discouraging to say the least. I have plenty of grievances with both certain Conservatives and Liberals, but I just don't think that now is the time for airing them. Maybe someday, maybe never, but now accomplishes nothing for Terri Schiavo.

Many lawyer run blogs have been discouraging to read so far this week. If you'd like a small breath of fresh air from a lawyerly blog, head over to The Hedgehog Blog. The Schiavo entries are limited, but it has been one of a few small highlights around the web for me today.

A quiet, simple thought

Conservatives and Liberals alike have said over the past few days that they would not want to live as Terri does, and therefore she should be allowed to die. Perhaps on another day I will address that. Today I find it too repulsive to write about responsibly. Instead, I say this. If I have one fear it is this: That I find myself in Terri Schiavo's shoes, and inside that shell of a body is a lucid brain that fully understands that others have given up on me, and that there is nothing I can do but come to terms with an end that I can see and feel, without anyone to confide in as that day comes but God.

The Journal Sentinel editorial board: A study in incoherent thought

The Journal Sentinel editorial board today takes a look at the problem of felons voting in elections. They have three solutions. Better lists, more poll workers (at least they're consistent), and to scuttle voter ID.

I ask you, of the three, which one of those things is not like the others?

That's right, scuttling voter ID. I'm not really sure why they felt they needed to bring voter ID into this editorial. Their argument is this: Felons voted, and that is bad. With better inelligible voter lists and more poll workers, we can end this problem. Oh yeah, and since these people voted under their real names, voter ID's wouldn't have stopped it, so we should just scrap the idea of voter ID's.

That would be like airport security at General Mitchell International Airport saying, "Well, we really need to protect against plastic explosives being smuggled on board airplanes. So we need bomb sniffing dogs and explosives detecting machinery. But since metal detectors won't solve out plastic explosives problem, let's just scrap 'em."

The Journal Sentinel editorial board finds itself in a poor position on election safeguards. They want a partially effective system that only protects against some sources of voter fraud, but not all. Their system of safeguards shuts the door on felons voting, but it leaves it wide open to those who may wish to misidentify either themselves or where they live in order to vote multiple times. To bring the analogy back up, they want elections that are like airports without metal detectors-secure against one or two things, but as a whole, utterly unsecure.

Progessive v. Liberal

I've talked about this before, but I still haven't found a satisfactory answer. It is also turning into a massive pet peeve of mine. When the hell did liberal Democrats become "Progressives?" The Progressive label seems to have sprung up out of nowhere in the last 6 to 8 months. It irritates the living hell out of me, especially when those on the right side of the political spectrum use the term. Democrats have been out-marketing the Republicans for over 75 years now. The "progressive" label is just another example of it. Most Americans remember nothing of the real Progressive Era, so the term progressive becomes a positive word to replace liberal, which has taken on a very negative connotation.

Simple words have a powerful place in politics, and most people don't even realize it. There is nothing progressive about that which was liberal just 12 months ago, and the use of 'progressive' helps liberals mask that fact. In fact, it helps them re-brand the Democratic party as a party of vibrance and forward motion, when in fact it is the opposite. Republicans, please stop using that word!

The Democrats should campaign in 2006 with this slogan: The Democratic Party! Brand new Progressive packaging! Same old crummy ideas!