Tom Faranda's Folly

Pelosi: Obamacare "Can be bipartisan, even though the votes might not be bipartisan."

Interviewed by Candy Crowley of CNN -

Global Warming Update: Al Gore NY Times op ed today

UPDATE:  Great response (by law prof Ann Althouse) of Gore's NYT op ed yesterday

He surfaces.

We Can't Wish Away Climate Change

It would be an enormous relief if the recent attacks on the science of global warming actually indicated that we do not face an unimaginable calamity requiring large-scale, preventive measures to protect human civilization as we know it.

******

I, for one, genuinely wish that the climate crisis were an illusion. But unfortunately, the reality of the danger we are courting has not been changed ...

It is true that the climate panel published a flawed overestimate of the melting rate of debris-covered glaciers in the Himalayas, and used information about the Netherlands provided to it by the government, which was later found to be partly inaccurate. In addition, e-mail messages stolen from the University of East Anglia in Britain showed that scientists besieged by an onslaught of hostile, make-work demands from climate skeptics may not have adequately followed the requirements of the British freedom of information law.

But the scientific enterprise will never be completely free of mistakes.

I wish we could wish away Mr. Gore.

Didn't he state a few months ago, that the temperature of the earth was millions of degrees when you descend a few thousnad feet beneath the surface?

Here's the point - one BILLION people in the world live on one dollar a day. And we're supposed to drop everything get concerned about some hypothetical, unproven sea level rise of one or two feet over the next century?

New Kenya border crossing sign

Ha! I love it!

Is there a Catholic argument in favor of waterboarding?

Well I don't think so. But here's an explanation from someone who does.

Defender of Waterboarding Hears from Critics  

“There’s a standard of torture in civil law,” he said, “which is severe mental pain and suffering. I also have a common-sense definition, which is, ‘If you’re willing to try it, it’s not torture.’ ”

Thousands of American soldiers have been willing to undergo waterboarding as part of their resistance training, Mr. Thiessen notes; therefore, it stands to reason that it is not torture.

The excerpt above is, in my opinion, the best argument he put up. Hit the link for the whole short feature.

I don't know if waterboarding fits the classic definition of torture. But I don't think we should be carrying it out.

My brother Phil (real estate guru) get quoted on MSN Moneycentral

One of the major financial websites. The discussion is "Home Sellers Finally Get Real"

He channels Elizabeth Kubler-Ross  from "On Death and Dying."

"Look at it like the stages of grief," says J. Philip Faranda, the broker-owner of J. Phillip Real Estate in Westchester County, N.Y. "In 2006 and 2007, it was denial; in 2008 and 2009, it was mourning; in 2010, it's acceptance."

Speaker Pelosi talks with CNN reporter Candy Crowley about healthcare

Whew. From Mike Allen's Politico blog

Speaker Pelosi talks to Candy Crowley in an interview taped yesterday in her suite at the Capitol, for airing on “State of the Union” tomorrow:

CROWLEY: We looked at our polling numbers, just from yesterday, we had almost three-quarters of Americans who said they need to drop this bill, just stop talking about health care and move on to something else. Or, they need to start new. So, don’t the Republicans have a point?

PELOSI: The point is that we have a responsibility here. And the Republicans have had a field day going out there and misrepresenting what is in the bill. But that is what they do.

CROWLEY: So, it has been method –

PELOSI: But that is what they do.

CROWLEY: You think people don’t understand the bill?

PELOSI: No, I don’t think—there isn’t a bill. When we have a bill, which we will in a matter of days, then that is the bill that we can sell. Our bill, the House and the Senate bill, had major differences which we are hoping now to reconcile. And then when we have a bill—you—as I say, you can bake the pie, you can sell the pie, but you have to have a pie to sell. And when we do we will take it out there. I feel very confident about what is in there, because if you are—if you are concerned about having access to health care, as most Americans are around their kitchen tables, then they will have access to health care.

Babbling arrogance. Three quarters of the country disagrees (In a CNN poll! Not Hannity, not FOX news ...), but they're going to shove it down everyone's throat anyway.

The Olympic downhill skier workout

Whew. it's not just gravity getting down the mountain.

Ted Ligety  is 25 years old and won a gold medal at the 2006 Olympics. But he hasn't medalled in Vancouver. Just this January Ligety won the world championship in the giant slalom.

Those back extensions with the barbell and two big discs - YIKES

Speaker Pelosi's deception on abortion

Egregious, at the end of the "Health Summit" on Thursday.

Go here for the 15 second video, as well as an explanation At the "Health Summit" Today: Nancy Pelosi lies about abortion and taxpayer funding

and then there is this off The Corner at National Review -

Pelosi's Misdirection

Speaker Pelosi has her own idiosyncratic dictionary, one in which federal agencies can pay for abortion on demand without spending “public funds” or “taxpayer funds” for abortion. In ordinary English, however, this is deceptive claptrap. ...

... indeed, the Senate produced a final bill that is the most pro-abortion single piece of legislation to reach the floor of either house of Congress since Roe v. Wade. It would result in direct federal funding of abortion through Community Health Centers, tax subsidies for private plans that cover abortion (including some federally administered plans), and pro-abortion federal administrative mandates, among other problems. The Ben Nelson language in the Senate bill is unacceptable, but most of the problems are entirely outside the scope of the Nelson language.

If journalists want to really understand the degree to which abortion policy issues bear on the prospects for this legislation in the House, they need to abandon their misconception that the two bills differ on abortion only on one narrow issue that they can summarize in one sentence.

— Douglas Johnson is legislative director of the National Right to Life Committee.

Alex Rodriquez on the Yankees, Johnny Damon, and Derek Jeter

A-Rod is sorry to see Damon leave for the Tigers.

A-Rod reached out to Damon

Earlier this week, Damon officially signed a one-year, $8 million contract with the Tigers, months after rejecting a two-year, $14 million offer to return to New York. At his introductory news conference, Damon reiterated that the Yankees had always been his first choice.

For Rodriguez, the feeling was mutual.

"I was crossing my fingers hoping that he would come back," Rodriguez said. "Johnny's a great player. He was an integral part of our world championship team, and we're going to miss him dearly. He's also a great human being, and he's always out there doing a lot of charity work."

Damon kind of dissed his new team, didn't he?

Friday winter wonderland, part 2

UPDATE: One million people without power in the northeast

I posted this earlier today - Friday winter wonderland - pictures Brigid took out the windows of our house. And I mentioned she was off on a walk to the Black Cow coffee house.

The Cow, like 60% of the rest of Croton, was closed on account of having no power. I'm posting this at 9:30 in the evening and power is still out in much of Croton, with an expectation that it won't be back on until at least tomorrow.The outage is not just in the business district; streets a couple of blocks from us also have no power. The village has set up an emergency shelter at the Harmon firehouse.

Anyway, here are pix by Brigid on her walk-around in the area. Those white specks in the pictures - yup those are snowflakes!

Farandaville

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is Dunkin donuts - donuts delivered but they're closed with no power! Check out the image of the photographer in the glass.

 

Here's the Croton Diner -

Ahhh, looks grim with the empty parking lot. Very strange.

 

 

Brigid took a whole slew of pictures of these guys, and I'll put up a separate posting about them

Back up the road

 

and looking back -

and back to the house - the view from inside the garage

it takes about 45 minutes to do a post like this ... but it sure beats watching television!

Friday winter wonderland

UPDATE #2 Here's Friday winter wonderland part 2

UPDATE: Just got robocall from Village of Croton - 60% of village is without power! They've set up an emergency facility at one of the firehouses.

Right. It's noontime and I am working out of my house. It's been raining, sleeting, snowing, for over 30 hours. Judy Anderson lives on a hill a couple of miles away, and she told me they've gotten two feet of snow. Some streets near us have had no power for hours. Last evening we lost power three times momentarily.

Brigid has gone for a walk over to the Black Cow coffee house (about a ten minute walk normally), and I'm sure she's going to take a load of pictures.  

Here are some pictures she took out of the windows of our house.

Tim's upstairs window

Out the back

Kitchen

 and out the front

 

  

and the backyard again

12:30 and Brigid just got back. Will have to put up winter wonderland II  as another post.

The NY Times condenses the 6 hour "Healthcare Summit" into a four minute video

 Not a bad job at all.

http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/25/video-the-health-care-session-in-4-minutes/

From SLATE: winners and losers of the Health Summit

GOP 1, Obama 1, Democrats 0

Obama and Republicans seemed reasonable. That's bad news for Democrats.

The complexity demonstrated today helps Republicans because they're arguing that Congress should address the issue incrementally. There are policy arguments against this approach, which Sen. Ron Wyden says actually "does less and costs more." Yet that case wasn't convincingly made today. Obama and Democrats have been making the case for comprehensive coverage for months, and they haven't convinced anyone. In fact, people like the legislation less. Nothing today changed that dynamic.

And Slate, of course, is a liberal publication.  

Why there were few fitness clubs or gyms in the 1950's

Weren't needed.

From my humor consultant Ellen.

The NY Times starts it's campaign against NY Governor David Paterson's re-election

UPDATE: And it looks like they've succeeded. Paterson pulls plug on election bid

The NYT doesn't want Paterson to run, since he's generally unpopular in the state, so a Republican may actually beat him. The Times would love for Paterson to announce he's not running for another term, so Andrew Cuomo could run.

Paterson's unpopularity is based on the fact that he has to make the difficult fiscal decisions that Mario Cuomo and then Pataki ducked over a period of several decades. I actually think he's done a decent job.

Anyway the Times sliming begins with this long and tedious article. Rumors ahve been around for weeks that the Times was getting ready to attack Paterson.

Question of Influence in Abuse Case of Paterson Aide

“We never pressured her, at least what I was advised; we never pressured her not to press charges,” said Mr. Corbitt, whom the governor appointed. “We just gave her options.”

The President: "I'm looking forward to listening"

That's what Mr. Obama shouted to reporters as he headed into the big "Health Summit" meeting earlier today.

Here's the breakdown of Listening vs. talking :

21 Democrats spoke, for a combined time of 114 minutes.

17 Republican spoke for a total of 110 minutes. 

The President spoke for 119 minutes.

So much for listening. He must have taken lessons from Chris Matthews. As facilitator of the "Summit", he'd have served himself, his party, and more importantly the country, much better if he had talked less, and let the Congresspeople and Senators present their positions.

Here's part of an email response I wrote to a friend of mine, who mentioned that the President didn't use a teleprompter:

he certainly didn't. And it showed. Any time he has to think on his feet, he has troubles. His summation at the end (i saw the first part of it in the gym - he spoke after Nancy Pelosi lied about the senate plan not funding abortion) was rambling and all over the place.

 

He said he would sum up in about ten minutes, but was still going strong after 15 minutes, when I got off the ellyptical.

 

I never thought I'd wish for Bill Clinton. He must grind his teeth every time he watches Obama.

I heard bits and pieces of the summit during the day - thought some of it was good.

Yeah, some of it was good. And some wasn't - like the congresswoman talking about her constituent who had to use her deceased sister's dentures because she couldn't afford any herself. 

I'm going to enjoy listening to Don Imus and his guests dissect the "summit" in the morning.

Grace Slick: Somebody to Love

Of Jefferson Airplane fame. I posted about her three years ago Jefferson Airplane's Grace Slick - who knew? when she was written up in the Washington Post.

Guess I liked her music - here's an update as she hits 70. 

Twisted Tales: Grace Slick Exemplifies 1960s Hedonism -- Going on Six Decades

Now 70, with white hair pulled back in a ponytail, she is sober and is expressing her creativity through painting. She's as outspoken as ever, often repeating her belief that rockers older than 50 don't belong onstage. She recently told CNN why some of her paintings still reference 'Alice in Wonderland,' which, of course, inspired 'White Rabbit.'

The Smothers Brothers show in 1967 -

Wall Street Journal on today's "healthcare summit"

This is yesterday's editorial. They are not impressed

ObamaCare at Ramming Speed

"The President's Proposal," as the 11-page White House document is headlined, is in one sense a notable achievement: It manages to take the worst of both the House and Senate bills and combine them into something more destructive. It includes more taxes, more subsidies and even less cost control than the Senate bill. And it purports to fix the special-interest favors in the Senate bill not by eliminating them—but by expanding them to everyone.

The bill's one new inspiration is a powerful federal board that would regulate premiums in the individual insurance market. In all 50 states, insurers are already required to justify premium increases to insurance commissioners, who generally have the power to give a regulatory go-ahead, or not. But their primary concern is actuarial soundness and capital standards, making sure that companies have enough cash to pay claims. 

The White House wants to create another layer of review that will be able to reject any rate increase that is "unreasonable or unjustified." Any insurer deemed guilty of such an infraction by this new bureaucracy "must lower premiums, provide rebates, or take other actions to make premiums affordable." In other words, de facto price controls. 

Is there a danger to taking aspirin every day as a preventative for heart disease?

Here's the case against a mini-aspirin as part of a preventative regimen -

The Danger of Daily Aspirin

For years, many middle-aged people have taken the drug in hopes of reducing the chance of a heart attack or stroke. Americans bought more than 44 million packages of low-dose aspirin marketed for heart protection in the year ended September, up about 12% from 2005, according to research firm IMS Health.

Now, medical experts say some people who are taking aspirin on a regular basis should think about stopping. Public-health officials are scaling back official recommendations for the painkiller to target a narrower group of patients who are at risk of a heart attack or stroke. The concern is that aspirin's side effects, which can include bleeding ulcers, might outweigh the potential benefits when taken by many healthy or older people.

Democrats in 2005 denounce the "arrogance of power" of the 51 vote "nuclear option"

Of course, it depends on whose ox is gored. It was the "tyranny of the majority" according to Senator Dodd in May, 2005. But now it's OK for healthcare reform!?

Here are Schumer, Biden, Clinton, Feinstein, Baucus, Dodd ...

BUT, now Senator Harry Reid Says Republicans should "stop crying" about reconciliation

Charles Cook of non-partisan "Cook Political Report" on the 2010 elections

Bad news for Dems. An interview with the National Journal

Cook: Health Care Is Obama's Iraq

Cook: I sort of reject the notion that there is a communications problem with President Obama. I think it's just fundamental, total miscalculations from the very, very beginning. ...

This was a case where I think the White House people could see, look at the president, the White House and congressional Democrats as sort of checking the box on stimulus, but found that kind of boring, and moved on to health care and cap-and-trade. And the thing is, Democrats piled all this cotton candy and pork and junk and pet projects into it, so it discredited the stimulus package in the minds of a lot of voters and at the same time, it wasn't big enough. .... And so we start off with the original sin of a very imperfect and inadequate economic stimulus package and then moving off the economy almost entirely going into cap-and-trade and health care.

And then when unemployment numbers started proving to be much, much tougher and it started becoming more clear that the stimulus package hadn't worked properly, they just kept plowing ahead on health care. And this isn't a communications problem. This is a reality problem. And I think they just made some grave miscalculations and as it became more clear that they had screwed up, they just kept doubling down their bet.

And so I think, no, this is one of the biggest miscalculations that we've seen in modern political history.

NJ: What do Democrats have to do to correct this?

Cook: I've spent the last couple of days talking to some of the brightest Democrats in the party that are not in the White House. And it's very hard to come up with a scenario where Democrats don't lose the House. It's very hard. Are the seats there right this second? No. But we're on a trajectory on the House turning over....

Now, Cook knows vastly more about this stuff then I do, and he points out that it is nine months until the election, but -

There are nine months, certainly things could happen, but the odds of unemployment being below 9 percent are minimal by the time of this election. We're probably going to have a year of basically, more or less, 10 percent unemployment, which hasn't happened since the Great Depression.

Nevertheless - my opinion - the Republicans can easily blow it with overconfidence and hubris.

 

Like dolphins? This is cool!

Be patient - it gets more and more interesting.

Johnny Damon ends up a Detroit Tiger

Too bad. It would have been nice if Damon was back as a Yankee, but they just couldn't come to terms over the money. I'd move to Detroit for a one year, $8 million ...

Yanks Begin life after A.D. - after Damon

TAMPA, Fla. -- While Johnny Damon was trying on his Tigers jersey for the first time some 30 miles away, life continued as usual for the Yankees, having long since come to terms with their left fielder's departure.

Global Warming Update: Senator calls for Justice Department criminal probe of "Climategate"

Senator Inhofe: "Every assertion that he (Gore) made in his science fiction movie has been disproven..."

And he wants to call Gore back for Senate hearings to explain his "science fiction."

Obama healthcare initiative yesterday goes beyond the Senate plan in paying for abortions with tax money.

Terrible. A disgrace. This alone is a reason to vote against these people.

Obama healthcare initiative will further expand tax funded abortion beyond the Senate plan

Biden gets it right on nuclear weapons

I saw hardly anything about this in any news commentaries - this is from the Washington Times this past Saturday. 

Biden seeks end to all U.S. Nukes 

"Our agenda is based on a clear-eyed assessment of our national interest," Mr. Biden said. "We have long relied on nuclear weapons to deter potential adversaries. Now, as our technology improves, we are developing non-nuclear ways to accomplish that same objective."

Non-nuclear weapons development includes the administration's plan for an "adaptive" missile-defense shield and conventional warheads "with worldwide reach," he said.

"With these modern capabilities, even with deep nuclear reductions, we will remain undeniably strong," Mr. Biden said.

Well, that's good - although similar sentiments have been voiced by all past administrations.

I would go further. Nuclear weapons are prima facie immoral. We should unilaterally destroy ours. If the old idea of deterrence ever made sense, it doesn't any more. Our former enemies are so interlinked with us socially and economically, that it is not in their self-interest to attack us with nuclear weapons. And deterrence has no effect on terrorists.

That's our big concern - terrorists getting hold of portable weapons of mass destruction, whether nuclear or biological. If a suitcase nuclear bomb went off in downtown Washington DC, or a biological weapon was put in the Los Angeles water system, what would we do? Nuke the whole Middle East?

"Ban the Bomb." "Bread not Bombs." Etc, etc. Ohh, and think of the money we'd save!

Four minutes from the CPAC conservative convention

This is pretty good - Newt Gingrich

Never a bad time to post about the Yankees; spring training for catchers and pitchers has started

Posada! you gotta love the guy ... The Yanks evidently have three good catcher prospects in their farm system.

Posada mentoring young Yanks catchers | yankees.com: News

"Cervelli is awesome, I love Romine, I love Montero," Posada said. "For me, it's easy, because these kids want to be taught. They listen. They follow you. Montero is like, 'What are we going to do today?' They're going to follow me around, and hopefully we can work together. Whatever I have to teach, I'll probably do a little bit of it."

Brigid helps out with two Haiti fundraisers

Back on January 14th I mentioned that Brigid and I had been in Haiti in 1980. Since then we've followed the usually bad news of poverty and violent politics coming out of Haiti.

Brigid set up a small exhibit of stuff we'd picked up in Haiti twice in January; once at our Church, Holy Name of Mary, the day of the special collection. And then a week later at the Black Cow coffeehouse in Croton, as they did a fundraiser.

Here's HNM

And the Black Cow -

 

I love this picture - I think I identify with the guy looking out at you, in blue.

 

There he is -

The Black Cow pictures were taken before the fundraiser, which was very successful - as was the HNM collection.  
 
 
 

Are the professional classes (lawyers, doctors, etc) about to get crunched?

Walter Russell Mead writes really interesting and insightful stuff on the website The American Interest

I expect I'll be posting links to more of his stuff. Here he discusses

The Twilight of the Guilds?

  The news isn’t good for the upper middle class.  If you are, or you plan to be, a lawyer, a tenured university professor, a manager, an architect, a civil servant or a doctor, be afraid.  Be very, very afraid.

The bell is tolling for you.

One of this morning’s ominous stories comes from Bloomberg.com: “Making Partner Less Likely” trumpets the headline, “As Big Law Firms Face Cash Crunch.”  The other comes from our old friend The New York Times, and it’s a report on a study that reports rising public dissatisfaction with the price and quality of college education in the United States.

Both stories are straws in the wind pointing to the possibility that the biggest bubble in the US economy may be coming to an end.  The biggest bubble of them all isn’t the real estate bubble; it’s not the dotcom bubble that took two thirds of the value off the NASDAQ when it burst at the start of the last decade.  The biggest bubble in the United States is the upper-middle class professional bubble; for the last generation the incomes of Americans with professional degrees continued to rise, sharply in many cases, even as incomes for blue collar workers steadily fell.  While investment bankers left us all coughing in their dust, doctors, lawyers, university professors and other professionals got generally richer while the rest of the country faced stagnant or even falling living standards.

Hit the link above for the whole essay.

No Six Nations rugby this week, BUT Queensland vs. New South Wales in Super 14

Lots of action between two Australian sides -

Author of a book on the bombing of Hiroshima admits he was duped

I will refrain on commenting on the immorality of dropping a nuclear bomb on civilians, while suggesting this is an interesting piece about an author being misleed. 

Mr. Fuoco, who died in 2008 at age 84 and lived in Westbury, N.Y., never flew on the bombing run, and he never substituted for James R. Corliss, the plane’s regular flight engineer, Mr. Corliss’s family says. They, along with angry ranks of scientists, historians and veterans, are denouncing the book and calling Mr. Fuoco an impostor.

A new book about the atomic destruction of Hiroshima has won critical acclaim with its heartbreaking portrayals of the bomb’s survivors and is set to be made into a movie by James Cameron.

“The Last Train from Hiroshima,” published in January by Henry Holt, also claims to reveal a secret accident with the atom bomb that killed one American and irradiated others and greatly reduced the weapon’s destructive power.

There is just one problem. That section of the book and other technical details of the mission are based on the recollections of Joseph Fuoco, who is described as a last-minute substitute on one of the two observation planes that escorted the Enola Gay.

Evan Bayh's NYT Op ed "Why I'm Leaving the Senate"

Wow. What a hackneyed, cliche-riddled essay.

"BASEBALL may be our national pastime ..."

"Challenges of historic import threaten America’s future."

"There are many causes for the dysfunction ..."

"Many good people serve in Congress."

Here's a profound(?) suggestion -

"Let’s start with a simple proposal: why not have a monthly lunch of all 100 senators?"

His big proposal is: let's lower the number of senators who can end a filibuster from 60 to 55.

Unspoken: He want's to run for President in 2016. As I waded through the op ed (it was a struggle to finish it) I felt embarrassed for Bayh. Also unspoken. His party totally controlled the Congress and White House for a year and got very little done. He doesn't want to be in line for an election debacle this November.

BUT that's just my opinion - here's the whole essay:

"Why I'm Leaving the Senate"

FURTHER THOUGHT: At least he didn't blame Bush

Afghanistan Surge: the marines go in, #2

More on the campaign in Marja. Posted this a few days ago from the NYT Afghanistan Surge: the maranes go in

This from the Washington Post yesterday; fine coverage -

Marines who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan call the Marja operation more intense than anything else they've encountered, save for the battles in Fallujah.

"Boondoogle": an amusing political ad

Easy to figure out from which party

Zogby Poll: What institutions do people trust?

This is pretty interesting -

There were some significant differences in confidence levels based on political affiliation and ideology. For the federal government, 67% of Democrats have a lot or some confidence, but only 15% of Republicans. For corporations, 63% of Republicans have a lot or some confidence, but only 19% of Democrats. They also differ sharply on whether they have a lot or some confidence in organized religion: 76% for Republicans and 38% for Democrats, and the news media: 33% for Democrats and 11% for Republicans.

Among all people responding, 83% of people had a "lot" or"some" confidence in small business. Next came local bank (73%).

Some other results - organized religion (53%), the federal government (41%). The bottom three for confidence were wall street and labor unions (both at 31%) and in last place, the news media (21%).

Hit the link for the complete list of where 13 institutions rank in this poll.

"Miss me Yet?", the billboard

You've probably seen this already - it's located in Wyoming, Minnesota.

BUT - did you know Miss me Yet merchandise is a big hit? 

Or go here - Cafepress Cafepress "Miss Me Yet?"

 

Democrats have one thing going for them: Republican incompetence and overconfidence

As Dick Cheney spikes the ball before getting into the end zone. 

"I think 2010 is going to be a phenomenal year for the conservative cause," Cheney said to raucous applause from the conservative audience. "And I think that Barack Obama is a one-term president."

Six Nations rugby: England vs. Italy

Played in Rome. Evidently not a great game -

According to uber Liberal-Democrat columnist E.J Dionne Jr, the Democrats are actually ruling as moderates

E.J. presents little in the way of facts, just makes unbacked statements, like this one -

The Obama administration argues that both the stimulus and the health bill are better than people think. That's entirely true, and this is actually an indictment -- it means that on the two big issues of the moment, Republicans and conservatives are winning an argument they should be losing.

Years ago, Newt Gingrich said the best thing that oculd happen to the Republicans would be for Democrats to take E.J. Dionne's advice.  

What I'm doing for Lent

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, so we're into the 40 day penitential season.

One thing I'm "giving up" (more or less) is the classic, chocolate. YIKES! I probably won't totally give it up, but I certainly won't buy any. But if someone wants to give me some ...

I always try to do some serious reading during Lent. Not just spiritual/religious stuff, but definitely serious stuff.

Yesterday I started Fr. Thomas Keating's book, Open mind, Open Heart. Keating is a Cistercian monk, who along with the late Fr. Basil Pennington is known for promoting the Centering Prayer technique and movement.

 
The first chapter (they are short chapters; the book is about 150 pages long) was excellent. I'll do a chapter a day, and finish it in two weeks.

Concurrently, I'm reading (another) book on options trading, primarily on the sell side. After I finish it, I'll probably read one of the history books I've got sitting, waiting for me. 

Lastly, during Holy Week, I'll re-read one of scripture scholar the late Fr. Raymond Brown's books on the Passion.

When is it OK to teach religion in schools?

When it's Buddhism, of course.

"The actress' (Goldie) Hawn Foundation already teaches kids Buddhist techniques in schools across America"

... now she wants to take the initiative across the Atlantic, and use the teachings to help British children build social and emotional stability - and curb violent outbursts in the classroom and playground.

Six Nations rugby: Ireland vs. France

Played in Paris.

"Never get on the wrong side of a billionaire"

Democrat Mort Zuckerman is not happy with the man he voted for, for President.

Wall Street Journal editorial: The Failure of Liberal Governance

A bulls-eye editorial.

Mr. Obama was a new face promising new hope, but his ideas are as old as the average Congressional Chairman.

The political retirement of Evan Bayh, at age 54, is being portrayed by various sages as a result of too much partisanship, or the Senate's dysfunction, or even the systemic breakdown of American governance. Most of this is rationalization. The real story, of which Mr. Bayh's frustration is merely the latest sign, is the failure once again of liberal governance.

For the fourth time since the 1960s, American voters in 2008 gave Democrats overwhelming control of both Congress and the White House. Republicans haven't had such large majorities since the 1920s. Yet once again, Democratic leaders have tried to govern the country from the left, only to find that their policies have hit a wall of practical and popular resistance.

Democrats failed in the latter half of the 1960s, as the twin burdens of the Great Society and Vietnam ended the Kennedy boom and split their party. They failed again after Watergate, as Congress dragged Jimmy Carter to the left and liberals had no answer for stagflation. They failed a third time in the first two Bill Clinton years, as tax increases and HillaryCare led to the Gingrich Congress before Mr. Clinton salvaged his Presidency by tacking to the center.

A fourth crackup is already well underway and is even more remarkable considering how Democrats were set up for success. Inheriting a recession amid GOP failures, Democrats had the chance to restore economic confidence and fix the financial system with modest reforms that would let them take credit for the inevitable recovery. Yet only 13 months later, Democrats are down in the polls, their agenda is stymied by Democratic opposition, and their House and Senate majorities are in peril as moderates like Mr. Bayh flee the scene of this political accident.

Democrats have responded by blaming "obstructionist" Republicans, who lack the votes to block anything by themselves; or a failure to communicate the right message, though President Obama is a master communicator; or even Madison's framework of checks and balances, though this system has worked better than all others for some 225 years.

******

Can Mr. Obama still make a mid-course correction, a la Bill Clinton after 1994? Of course he can. What we don't know is whether he has the political instincts and nerve to do so.

Girls and sports, the positive benefits

Good posting on the NY Times health section.

As Girls Become Women, Sports Pay Dividends

Now, separate studies from two economists offer some answers, providing the strongest evidence yet that team sports can result in lifelong improvements to educational, work and health prospects. At a time when the first lady, Michelle Obama, has begun a nationwide campaign to improve schoolchildren’s health, the lessons from Title IX show that school-based fitness efforts can have lasting effects.

Today: One year anniversary of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, AKA, the Stimulus

Are you feeling stimulated?

Go here to see what retiring Democrat Senator Evan Bayh thinks of the stimulus.

And this is from the Heritage Foundation website -

When President Obama signed the now $862 billion deficit-spending bill into law, the unemployment rate stood at 7.6% and the U.S. economy employed 133.5 million people. At the time President Obama promised the American people that, thanks to his stimulus, unemployment would never go higher than 8.2% and the U.S. economy would support 138.6 million jobs by December 2010.

At the one year mark unemployment is now 9.7%, after rising above 10%, and the U.S. economy has lost 4 million jobs leaving the White House 9 million jobs short of the 138.6 million they promised to deliver by December of this year. By any objective measure President Obama’s $862 billion stimulus must be judged as a complete failure. Undeterred by these facts, the White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) published a report on the economic effects of the Administration’s economic stimulus plan claiming that there are 2 million more jobs in the economy than there otherwise would have been had the President’s stimulus not become law. But as Heritage Policy Analyst Karen Campbell has documented, the CEA report relies on completely arbitrary benchmark projections that fail even basic standards of economic analysis.

What an eminently predictable mess.

The retiring Democratic Senator Evan Bayh on the stimulus plan

This is Damning. So why did he vote for the now one year old stimulus?

"if I could create one job in the private sector by helping to grow a business, that would be one more than Congress has created in the last six months."

From yesterday, President's Day, more bald eagle pictures coming

As I mentioned here a couple of days ago Eaglefest in Croton bald eagle sightings are quite common along the Hudson River off Croton, and in the Croton Point Bay.

So while out yesterday morning - we thought we were going for a walk and instead Brigid and I ended up watching eagles!  

Here's a sample - more to follow -

The Pope explains it all in 95 seconds

Love, hope, charity. Human reality in a nutshell