Home Improvement Follies

This one falls squarely into the category of "Oh Crap!" Seems that we had someone over working on the roof. Ya gotta love how builders do crappy jobs knowing that by the time you figure out that the nail holes in the roof they've left leak they'll be long gone. So we had nail holes that over the centuries have started to leak. Lovely. So the fix-it guy put a pan into the attic in case it rained, but didn't remove it. So, your's truly wandered into the roof to retrieve said kitchen pan...

Yup - you really do fall through quickly if your foot slips off the beam. Imagine my foot dangling through and you get the picture as it was all of a sudden like. If it didn't hurt so bad it would have been funny...well, it was funny all the same.

Pope's dresses

"Dahhhling, your drag is divine, but your purse is on fire!"

Habeas Schmabeas

They won a Peabody award for it in 2006. I didn't hear it back then; I listened to it this morning and it made me mad all over again. Here's from their site:

The right of habeas corpus has been a part of our country's legal tradition longer than we've actually been a country. It means that our government has to explain why it's holding a person in custody. But now, the War on Terror has nixed many of the rules we used to think of as fundamental. At Guantanamo Bay, our government initially claimed that prisoners should not be covered by habeas—or even by the Geneva Conventions—because they're the most fearsome enemies we have. But is that true? Is it a camp full of terrorists, or a camp full of our mistakes?

When I first heard that we were aggregating "prisoners" at Guantanamo Bay I was very nervous about it. As a Bush supporter I, at the time, supported his aggressive counter measures toward those who were waging an unconventional war against us. But over time I started to wonder just what we would emerge as once this was all "done" - if it ever was done. What would our nation look like?

There is an America that we all think is, then there is what our leaders and politicians are molding it into. There is what Evangelicals want to mold it into with their "wedge strategy" and for some the goal is to transform this into a theocracy. Um, that's not worked well in the past as I recall. We have been a nation of laws and of personal rights. We believe that it is better for a guilty man to walk free than to have an innocent man imprisoned. But I'm wondering if that's changing by our apathetic attitude toward Guantanamo. Is our need for security allowing our government to exchange security for human rights? I certainly hope not. I certainly hope that we will use our important voting power to ensure that the America that we want -- that we teach our children that it is -- continues: An America that values human rights and personal freedom over security.

Personally, this may be one of the first elections that I do not vote Republican. (Though, anyone but Hillary...)

Shooting at VT

The shooting at Virginia Tech is horrifying and an example of the worst in humanity. Researchers and analysts will dissect every aspect of the event, and families and students will for years to come have to live with a reality that most of us never experience.

Already people who are against guns and pressing for greater gun control are making bold statements in an attempt to capitalize on the fear and horror of this situation. The Australian prime minister reaches across the ocean to toss in his two cents worth from a country that has totally banned guns.

I have only one question for him and all those who are for greater gun control: If we had not been so successful in eradicating guns from our society, do we think that there might have been someone equipped and prepared to stop this madman before he killed 33 people? As it stood, there was simply no one who could stop this person since we are essentially unarmed and unprotected.

For years those of us who are against strict gun control have been saying that when it is criminal to own guns only criminals will own guns. This is a prime example. When a society is unarmed they are unable to protect themselves from the person who is armed and who totally disregards societies norms and laws. It is illegal to kill someone in cold-blooded murder. This guy didn't care. Society finds this behavior unacceptable. This guy didn't care.

If someone had had a gun that day, they could possibly have stopped this gunman. However, that person would well have faced legal consequences for having broken the law and carried a gun onto campus.

People say, "I'd rather be arrested than killed." While that makes a lot of sense, we all wind up playing the odds. We abide by society's laws and norms and take the chance that something like this doesn't happen. For those at Virginia Tech the odds were against them. They were unarmed, and the worst that could happen did.

Update: Tom Plate would not agree with my position. Ted Nugent would. I agree with him too.

Ten Commandments Weekend at 3ABN

I'm always tempted to call 3ABN "3 A Bad Network". I'll resist.

But if you're a fan, be sure to tune in May 5,6 for the 10 Commandments weekend (link broken). I'd need to check, but it's probably the weekend after the All Grace Weekend? Maybe not.

I'm a bit disconnected from the facts but still tied into the Adventist grapevine. I never liked the network and even more dislike the goings on with Danny Shelton. (Linda Shelton has a nice website by the way. And personally, I believe her.) I think the who situation is despicable and gives much evidence to the bankruptcy of that religion. Geez: why can't we just all get along :)

"Planet Earth" and Global Warming

I'm very excited about the new Discovery Channel series entitled Planet Earth (page is very "heavy".) It promises to bring images from unreachable parts of the Earth (for most of us) right into our living rooms. What kills me, however, is the spot that they just showed on Friday's Oprah. It was a segment on the polar bears filled with global warming statements both in the video and from Oprah.

I'll be very disappointed if they turn the show into a political platform, especially for bad science. If you watched the video from the previous posting, or have done your own research and seen the evidence of weather patterns over the past several 100,000 years: truly we've had an impact on our environment, but it pales compared to the impact the Sun has had on this planet.

Ice core samples taken from Antarctica and from the NGRIP & GISP2 in Greenland have provided many insights into the weather trends, especially since the last ice age.

Personally I hope that the show simply shows the reality we live among rather than be used as a soapbox. On the other hand, I'll be sitting front and center - and controlling the remote to be sure :)

Global Warming?

While I believe that we Americans are silly in our dependence on foreign oil, and that we are way too dependent upon our individual automobiles for our daily commutes, I also find the current "debate" about "global warming" much too sensational and biased.

Here are a couple of balancing statements shedding some light to the other side.

Update: Meh - both the videos have been removed.
BBC Video, NYTimes