Paul Newman 1925 - 2008

Thank you Paul for how you have blessed the lives of so many people. So many have been helped by your actions and your seemingly infinite capacity to love others creatively that they are far too many to name.

It has been said what we do in this life will echo in eternity. Well then, the heavens will ring for a very long time the actions of Paul Newman.

Thank you, and may God welcome you to all His Glory. Be seeing you.



This is one of my favorite moments from one of my favorite movies:


I can eat 50 egg...

A Cute One From the McCain Campaign

They sure are fast over there...

What Caused Our Economic Crisis?

You MUST watch this video.

The First Debate

First off, I must say that I LOVE this format of debate. The moderator asks a question, they each have two minutes to answer it; then they get five minutes for freeform exchange. Excellent format.

The best moment was when McCain said, "so let me get this straight -- we sit down with ahmadinejad and he says, let's wipe Israel off the map, and we say, no you won't." that was pretty funny.

Or words to that effect. That as the "moment" of the debate. Otherwise, it was a pretty even debate. I must say it again: I LOVE this format.

I would say McCain won marginally on both points and style. Obama said, "me too" way too much, and he made too many faces.

That being said, Obama got through it fine, without any damage from McCain. In that he is ahead in the polls, that's bad for McCain.

What Obama failed to do was he did not come off as self assured as he ordinarily does, and I don't think he did anything that will sway the swing voter his way. McCain may have done marginally better with that, by showing his understanding and experience with foreign policy, and calling for a spending freeze on all government other than defense, entitlements, and veterans.

Also McCain ended better. Bottom line, no clear winner, which is good for Obama.

A Nerd's take on the Bailout Debate

Jim PInkerton is a dude I have always enjoyed. He's a smart, nerdy wordsmith who can always be counted on to bring us a cool take on things. His take on the bailout debate is no different:

In Washington, it’s a showdown between the representatives of Wall Street and the representatives of Main Street. But have you noticed that the old partisan alliances are reversed? It’s the Democrats who are now the Wall Street Party. And Republicans—with the conspicuous exception of President Bush—are now the Main Street Party.

Consider: President Bush proposed the $700 billion plan; after days of hiding behind the Secretary of Goldman Sachs, Henry Paulson, Bush finally emerged from the sidelines Wednesday night to tout the plan in prime time. Just this morning, he spoke again in favor of his plan, while again taking no questions from pesky reporters.

But the Congressional Democrats, who mostly despise Bush, are also mostly for the Bush plan. Sure, they made some cosmetic changes in the bailout proposal, but they have never wavered in their basic endorsement.

So who’s against the plan? It’s Congressional Republicans who are getting in the way. They are the heroes of the hour. Although outnumbered, these brave Capitol Hill GOPers have stopped official Washington in its tracks.

He goes on to show the irony:

For their part, the Democrats are emerging as the new party of the rich, the party of Wall Street, the party that champions financiers at the expense of producers. For years now, the most affluent precincts in the country—mostly on the two coasts—have been solidly Democratic. And in 2008, the polls show that upper-income voters mostly support Barack Obama. And Obama, of course, guided by the likes of Robert Rubin, has been quietly supportive of the deal. Indeed, Obama personally epitomizes the Democrats’ new political arrangement: He was raised mostly poor, then worked mostly with the poor, but now he is rich and works mostly with the rich—his campaign is a well-financed corporation. Yet he has maintained his popularity with the poor. For their part, the Republicans now represent the majority of middle-income voters—Main Street. But the Democrats, with their political pincer movement, from the rich above and the poor below, have the clear electoral advantage in 2008.

Seems the whole world is turning upside down, he wraps it up in truly epic nerd style:

So only Congressional Republicans—the single most implacable figure being Sen. Richard Shelby, the Rock of Alabama—are taking a firm stance against this monstrosity. They even seem to have brought along John McCain, who has taken various positions on the bailout over the last few weeks. But bravo for the Congressional Republicans. After years of embarrassments and scandals, the Capitol Hill GOP has rediscovered principle and honor. And so rediscovered the glory of genuinely representing the people, against the powerful.

I am reminded of Aragorn’s Battle Speech at the Black Gate in the third of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. The King tells his outnumbered troops:

I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day.

An hour of wolves and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down, but it is not this day!

This day we fight!!

By all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West!!!

And so, in the Tolkien story, the Men of the West are triumphant. But today, in the real world, could the Republican Men and Women of Capitol Hill yet prevail? The Washington, D.C. conventional wisdom, as of Friday, is that the Bush Administration/Democratic/Wall Street juggernaut will eventually bring the Congressional GOP to heel. If so, that would be the final victory of Wall Street over Main Street.

But maybe not. Maybe the people will win this epic struggle.

Too funny. I wonder...perhaps this, that is, Democrats being the new party of corporate welfare, and Republicans the new defenders of the little guy, is what Obama means when he speaks of "change."

Ding Dong, the D*ck is D...Disbarred

This should show people that no matter how bad the news gets, there's always a sign that there is a God in this wide wonderful world. Self-proclaimed protector of children and enemy of gamers everywhere, Jack Thompson, has been disbarred for life. Now, normally I would not celebrate from anyone's misfortune, but this was one nasty man, and a threat to all our liberty -- especially the freedom of gamers exercising their first amendment right to kill, maim and slaughter whatever they feel like in a virtual setting.

This monster of a human being, who tried to make links between video games and murder, in his dark side attempt to destroy the good times of others, claiming to be a Christian, he forgot about Jesus' message of love and reconciliation, and sought out to destroy those who did not fit into his tiny little mind.

He went after Howard Stern, he went after other radio humorists. He went after rap music, but mostly, he went after violent video games -- and for that, to use his own style of reasoning, the Lord saw fit to bring him low.

Atheists around the word take note -- if you didn't believe before, this is evidence that demands a verdict.

It's detailed here, at destructoid.com:

It's been a long time coming, but silver-haired game hater Jack Thompson has been permanently disbarred. That's right folks, in thirty days time, the man who once so proudly flaunted his lawyer credentials in peoples' faces will soon have to go from being "Jack Thompson, Attorney" to just plain ol' John Bruce Thompson, Nobody.

The Court approves the corrected referee's report and John Bruce Thompson is permanently disbarred, effective thirty days from the date of this order so that respondent can close out his practice and protect the interests of existing clients. If respondent notifies the Court in writing that he is no longer practicing and does not need the thirty days to protect existing clients, this Court will enter an order making the permanent disbarment effective immediately. Respondent shall accept no new business from the date this order is filed.

Judgment is entered for The Florida Bar, 651 East Jefferson Street, Tallahassee, Florida 32399-2300, for recovery of costs from John Bruce Thompson in the amount of $43,675.35, for which sum let execution issue.

Not final until time expires to file motion for rehearing, and if filed, determined. The filing of a motion for rehearing shall not alter the effective date of this permanent disbarment. Consistent with this Court's sanction order, no motion for rehearing will be considered unless signed by a member in good standing of The Florida Bar other than respondent.

Jack Thompson will no longer be able to practice law thanks to a string of misconduct allegations that included lying, making a nuisance of himself to professionals, and generally being both ignorant and disrespectful of his peers. Jack Thompson behaved with nothing but contempt and immaturity in his own disbarment trial, so it's hardly surprising that this has happened. He had only himself to blame.

I doubt Thompson's crusade against videogames ends here. But until FOX hands him another paycheck to pretend to be an expert, hit the jump for an exclusive official response to the disbarment from Jack himself.

[Thanks, Radio Guy]

We contacted Jack Thompson asking if we might have an official statement on his disbarment. He answered our request swiftly, but concisely. His statement simply reads:

"Sure. Go to Hell."

I really can't understand why he's not still a lawyer.

Let this be a lesson to those fellow believers in the Almighty -- he wants us to be proclaiming liberty, not destroying it; spreading His Good News, not bad news; He wants us slaying real dragons, not virtual ones; and he wants us to sow the good sweet fruits of love and reconciliation, not the bitter ones of hatred and division.

Mr. Thompson, I hope and pray you repent, face the Lord in all His glory, and realize you have done his Word wrong when you set out to tyrannize the mind of man. Turn and repent, so that you may live a long and happy life on a new, better, more free path.

For it is written: It is for freedom that Christ set us free! Stand fast, and let not yourself be strangled again under a yoke of bondage!

And don't screw with others either, dude. Rly.

Ditching Letterman for Couric?

I mean she's cute and all that, but really. I'd hang with Letterman any day. Either way it was a dumb move on McCain's part to cancel Letterman because you had to go down to Washington to help get the bill passed -- but then decide you have time enough to do an interview with Katie.

Major dumb move, Senator.

Just like FDR...

and when the stock market crashed. The President got on TV and reassured the people. At some point I'll find the video and post it here. Just had to make the wisecrack.

The Debate is Shifting...MY Way

day after day, more and more people are realizing, or coming out and saying, that it was NOT deregulation and lack of oversight that led to our current financial crisis, but rather the usual liberal social engineering.

Stan Liebowitz chimes in:

HOW did America wind up in its worst financial crisis in decades? Sen. Barack Obama explained it this way last week: "When sub-prime-mortgage lending took a reckless and unsustainable turn, a patchwork of regulators systematically and deliberately eliminated the regulations protecting the American people."

That's exactly backward. Mortgage lending took that "reckless and unsustainable turn" because of regulation - regulation driven by liberals and progressives, not free-market "deregulators."

Pushed hard by politicians and community activists, the regulators systematically and deliberately altered financially sound lending practices.

Someone else gets it. It's big government once again; it's allowing government to pick and choose the way the economy should go, based upon some program of the way things ought to be. Once again, instead of leaving people free to make choices, the control freaks need to take control. This leads to a worse situation than the one they try to correct.

It wasn't GREED, it was POWER. McCain and Obama have both been wrong on this -- both are busy attacking Wall Street for something Washington promoted and made happen. Will they learn? Only time will tell. At least we can see more and more economists out there are explaining what really happened, and why.

hat tip to Rachel Lucas for finding this :)

Wow, You Mean They Might Do the RIGHT Thing?

At least that's what Breitbart.com is saying:

WASHINGTON (AP) - Democrats have decided to allow a quarter-century ban on drilling for oil off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts to expire next week, conceding defeat in a months-long battle with the White House and Republicans set off by $4 a gallon gasoline prices this summer.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey, D-Wis., told reporters Tuesday that a provision continuing the moratorium will be dropped this year from a stopgap spending bill to keep the government running after Congress recesses for the election.

Republicans have made lifting the ban a key campaign issue after gasoline prices spiked this summer and public opinion turned in favor of more drilling. President Bush lifted an executive ban on offshore drilling in July.

Republicans showing some stones? Democrats capitulating on their desire to wreck the economy, blame it on Bush, connect Bush to McCain, and elect Obama? Hallelujah!

Well, not exactly. The fact is, this is the least popular congress in its history, and they know how the people feel. They knew that by going against the will of the people here, it is THEY who would lose out. Polls are already showing that Obama might not be the Messiah they were hoping for -- he'll still probably win, but may not have the coat-tails that a realignment often has with it.

Regardless, this is some good news, finally in a news cycle that has been nothing but bad news. Oil Companies: let's get this party started!