Tom Faranda's Folly

Tim football: Stepinac at home against Monsignor Farrell

As Stepinac tries to get to 9-0. Msgr Farrell, from Staten Island, is 6-2 although their schedule looks to have been a bit easier then Stepinac.

Rugby: Reminder, All Blacks vs. USA & here's an All Black gym session

On NBC starting at 3:30 Saturday, from sold-out Soldier Field in Chicago

INteresting session, including a weighted plank ...

 

Croton United on Public Service - local politics

A little background - Croton United is a non-partisan local gorup trying to straighten out the local Croton Village governing situation. They are running three people for the three Trustee seats that are currently held by the current regime incumbents.

Croton United

All four trustees and the Mayor of Croton are Democrats. Two of the Croton United candidates are Democrat and one is an independent.

I am not involved with Croton United but totally support them and will be voting for their three candidates.

The day to day operations of Croton are run by a full-time Village Manager. The elected officials - as is common in most small towns, are not at all full-timers, although like many voluntary jobs or almost voluntray positions (Croton mayor and trustees recieve small compensation - a few thousand dollars) they put in a fair bit of time. Think, head of the Little League, person organizing meals for shut-ins, the PTA.

Here's a full Croton United recent PR - all totally true. And pathetic.

CROTON UNITED ON PUBLIC SERVICE AND BENEFITS

“Mayor Wiegman replied that they (Village Board members) are eligible for the retirement plan, but no pension retirement benefits or health care benefits.  Village Manager Zambrano added that the Board is not entitled to benefits because they are part time; they can opt to pay into it, but would have to pay the full costs.” (Minutes of Village Board meeting of April 11, 2011)                   

We totally agree with the Mayor and Mr. Zambrano. For 116 years, members of the Croton Village Board have served on a part-time basis with no compensation or benefits other than a modest stipend, and Croton has done just fine. Holding public office has been considered a public service to the community and Board members have willingly given of their time without consideration of additional compensation.

Unfortunately, all of that changed earlier this year when Mayor Leo Wiegman declared himself a full time employee of the village and demanded taxpayer-paid health insurance for himself and his family at a cost of over $22,000 per year. (For  an analysis questioning the self- reported hours included on the timesheets which the Mayor submitted to justify his status as full-time, go to  https://www.facebook.com/notes/croton-united/trustees-gallelli-slippen-candidate-pugh-say-we-feel-it-is-not-for-any-of-us-to-/357497134407324)

No other part-time village employee would be permitted – on his or her own – to work full-time hours (more than 30 hours a week) and thus obligate the village to provide him or her with benefits. This sets a dangerous and potentially costly precedent. 

Croton currently employs a Village Manager, an Assistant Village Manager, a Village Clerk, a Deputy Village Clerk, a Village Treasurer, an Assistant Village Treasurer, a Village Engineer and numerous other competent employees who are handsomely paid to carry out the people’s business. There is simply no need for a full-time mayor or full-time trustees, nor can we afford the cost of the benefits they will claim. In fact, the village has seen no direct benefit from changing the mayor’s status to full-time.

We pledge that, if elected to be Trustees, we will not seek, nor will we accept, any taxpayer-paid benefits from the village. More importantly, we will legally define positions on the Village Board as part-time and without taxpayer-paid benefits. We will accomplish this through a resolution, amendment of the Village Code, or whatever other action is appropriate.

We believe in public service and giving back to the community, not using our offices for personal financial gain. We will return to the tradition followed by our predecessors for over a century. While there are some situations where change is beneficial, there are others where tradition better serves the people. This is clearly one of them.

For more info re Croton United, go to http://www.crotonunited.org/

 

 

I'm going to try my hand at making these cookies

Why? Becaue it appears that any idiot can do it!

 

It does seem that the Amelia Earhart's disappearance mystery has been solved

UPDATE: Excellent four and a half minute interview off CNN below.

Amelia Earhart, the famous woman flyer of the twenties and thirties.

Actually a piece of rivetted metal found 23 years ago seems to prove something ...

New research strongly suggests that a piece of aluminum aircraft debris recovered in 1991 from Nikumaroro, an uninhabited atoll in the southwestern Pacific republic of Kiribati, does belong to Earhart’s twin-engined Lockheed Electra.

Tim football: Stepinac goes to 8-0; two cool short vids.

Despite starting the game with an interception, a fumble in the end zone giving Chaminade a touchdown, and then fumbling and losing the ensuing kick off, Stepinac beat Chaminade by 40-13, at Chaminade.

We know Stepinac Jr. Kobe Miranda pretty well - we frequently drive him home from practice since he lives in Ossining. Here he is scoring the last touchdown of the game. I'd decided to focus in on him for this play and got this video. Pure luck; no idea he'd be getting the ball - #16 - and turning a six yard pass into a 26 yard TD.

Go Kobe go!

Meanwhile. poor ol' Tim is hardly on the field on offense (he is on for almost all the special team plays). Stepinac rarely uses a fullback or tight end; they ran all their plays from a spread, except goalline short yardage situations. And their use of a fullback or tight end in the spread has become less and less as the season has gone on.

Here's Tim at tight end for the one offensive play he's on for - goalline TD - as the running back Dan Nigron actually runs in behind #40, Tim.

 

Great: "The most epic safety video" ever (Think Middle Earth!) and it's making

The Air New Zealand flight safety video was posted on youtube on October 22nd (eight days ago) and has already been watched 9 and a half million times, as of the evening of the 29th. A great advert for Air New Zealand and the country. 

Here it is - certainly not your usual flight safety vid! Can you spot Peter Jackson and Elijah Wood?

And just posted - how it was made and the people involved.

Of course, I LOVE The Lord of the Rings theme.

In 44 seconds, what it costs Apple to make the $500 iPad Air 2

Seems reasonable. The camera is only $17.50?

 

Rugby: New Zealand to play USA in Chicago on Saturday

At Soldier Field in Chicago and the game is sold out - 61,000. I will be watching Tim play football, but will tape the game which is on NBC starting at 3:30, EST.

Here's a little look at the All Blacks, with an excellent short explanation at the end of the difference between backs and forwards.

 

The (Rev.) Al Sharpton diet and exercise routine

Down from 305 to 130. Nice going Al -

 

Jesuit magazine video: Why is the Pope talking about the Devil?

America Magazine, the Jesuit publication, posted this video. Basic Catholicism really. But not too popular today.

 

Pictures from the Queens, NY hatchet attack on the police

From a few days ago. Evidently a terrorist wannabe. The photographer had asked the four policeman for a group photo. The photographer ran, and then came back to document what happened.

Seconds after Williams’ lens captured a revealing image of camaraderie on the beat, a madman armed with a hatchet charged the cops. Williams said he ducked away as hatchet chops cut into the arm of Officer Joseph Meeker, 24, and fractured the skull of Officer Kenneth Healey, 25. The other two cops then fired 19 shots, killing the attacker and striking a female bystander in the back.

 

Pope Francis: Outspoken defense of marriage

Back when he was Cardinal in Argentina he referred to gay marriage as "A machination of the Evil One." Tough talk.

'What is being proposed is not marriage' – Pope calls for defense of family

“The family is being hit, the family is being struck and the family is being bastardized,” the Pope told those in attendance at the Oct. 25 audience.

He warned against the common view in society that “you can call everything family, right?”

“What is being proposed is not marriage, it's an association. But it's not marriage! It's necessary to say these things very clearly and we have to say it!” Pope Francis stressed.

He lamented that there are so many “new forms” of unions which are “totally destructive and limiting the greatness of the love of marriage.”

Noting that there are many who cohabitate, or are separated or divorced, he explained that the “key” to helping is a pastoral care of “close combat” that assists and patiently accompanies the couple.

Pope Francis offered his words in a question-and-answer format during his audience with members of the Schoenstatt movement, held in celebration of the 100th anniversary of its founding in Germany.

Roughly 7,500 members of the international Marian and apostolic organization, both lay and clerics from dozens of nations around the world, were present in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall for the audience.

In his answers to questions regarding marriage, Pope Francis explained that contemporary society has “devalued” the sacrament by turning it into a social rite, removing the most essential element, which is union with God.

“So many families are divided, so many marriages broken, (there is) such relativism in the concept of the Sacrament of Marriage,” he said, noting that from a sociological and Christian point of view “there is a crisis in the family because it's beat up from all sides and left very wounded!”

"Evolution of iPad in 90 seconds"

Neat! And I don't own one. Only person in the house with an iPad is Tim.

Yay! Chocolate "found to reverse age-related memory loss"

More proof there is a God.

And it's in theWashington Post so we know it's true.

The findings suggest that the compound increases connectivity and, subsequently, blood flow in a region of the brain critical to memory, the researchers said.

Pregnant women and exercise (specifically marathons)

Pretty good and detailed feature in yesterday's NY Times.

Women - as everyone knows - are tougher then men.

For Pregnant Marathoners, Two Endurance Tests

When Paula Radcliffe won the New York City Marathon in 2007, nine months after giving birth to a daughter, Isla, Radcliffe was considered an anomaly. Her intense training through her pregnancy, which included twice-a-day sessions and grueling hill workouts, was scrutinized and criticized.

Seven years later, maintaining a top running career and a family has become relatively common. About a third of the women in the professional field of 31 for the New York City Marathon next Sunday have children.

“I watched Paula win New York, basically leading from the starting gun to the finish tape, and afterward she picked up her baby,” said Kara Goucher, a top American marathoner. “I realized I can do both. And I want to do both.”

Goucher, 36, finished third in the 2008 New York City Marathon, and this year she will run the New York race for the first time with her 4-year-old son, Colt, cheering her on.

******

Clara Horowitz Peterson, a former top runner at Duke, focused on starting a family in her mid-20s, aiming for a racing peak afterward. Now 30, she is pregnant with her fourth child.

“I think if I’d chosen to train at altitude and log 120-mile weeks, I could have made it to the Olympics,” said Peterson, who typically runs 80 to 90 miles a week when not pregnant. “But that comes with sacrifices; you put your career first, and before you know it, you’re 28, maybe confronting fertility issues. I always felt like having children was more important to me than a running career.”

Still, Peterson ran right up until the births of her first three children. She qualified for the 2012 United States Olympic marathon trials just four months after delivering her second child, and she logged a 2-hour-35-minute time at the race four months later.

“I trained hard through that pregnancy,” Peterson said. “You can tell when you’re pushing it. You get twingy, or feel tendons pulling, so I backed off when that happened.”

 

Ex-CBS reporter Sharyl Attkisson on media bias.

21 years with CBS, in many roles, including substitute night time news anchor. But mainly, an investigative rpeorter who won five Emmy's.

She was sick of having her stories critical of the adminstration quashed. Her book is out on November 4th.

“Stonewalled: My Fight for Truth Against the Forces of Obstruction, Intimidation, and Harassment in Obama’s Washington” (Harper)

Hit the link above for a really good look at the book.

Calling herself “politically agnostic,” Attkisson, a five-time Emmy winner, says she simply follows the story, and the money, wherever it leads her.

In nearly 20 years at CBS News, she has done many stories attacking Republicans and corporate America, and she points out that TV news, being reluctant to offend its advertisers, has become more and more skittish about, for instance, stories questioning pharmaceutical companies or car manufacturers.

Working on a piece that raised questions about the American Red Cross disaster response, she says a boss told her, “We must do nothing to upset our corporate partners . . . until the stock splits.” (Parent company Viacom and CBS split in 2006).

******

One of her bosses had a rule that conservative analysts must always be labeled conservatives, but liberal analysts were simply “analysts.” “And if a conservative analyst’s opinion really rubbed the supervisor the wrong way,” says Attkisson, “she might rewrite the script to label him a ‘right-wing’ analyst.”

In mid-October 2012, with the presidential election coming up, Attkisson says CBS suddenly lost interest in airing her reporting on the Benghazi attacks. “The light switch turns off,” she writes. “Most of my Benghazi stories from that point on would be reported not on television, but on the Web.”

Two expressions that became especially popular with CBS News brass, she says, were “incremental” and “piling on.” These are code for “excuses for stories they really don’t want, even as we observe that developments on stories they like are aired in the tiniest of increments.”

Hey, kids, we found two more Americans who say they like their ObamaCare! Let’s do a lengthy segment.

 

Fairfield U. rugby opening round playoff total rout.

YIKES. Score is in the picture below. I only saw from 41-3 onwards late in the first half.

They finished their league season at 7-0, so first seed in the Southern Division of the Met Union Division 2 collegiates. They played Siena, the fourth seed in the Northern Division. Nice crowd of people at the game.

Fairfield is VERY fit and fast! Siena couldn't keep up with them. Fairfield doesn't have a big (wide body) tight five so it will be interesting to see how they progress.

Next game is the semi-finals, at Fairfield next Sunday, November 2nd.

The President of the University was there, and seemed to be enjoying himself.

Yes, you're reading that score right.

 

Ebola scare in my old stompin' grounds - Mandeville, Jamaica

Whew! Good thing I got out in 1979. Although i did visit in 2005.

Is Jamaica ready for Ebola? I wouldn't bet on it. Also in this video, is ISIS radicalizing Jamaicans? Plus, your standard gun battles. And Farrakhan speaks rubbish.

 The Gleaner is the largest newspaper in Jamaica.

Pope Francis on Love and Spirit - all in one minute!

Cute commercial: "Paper is not dead"

You should be able to figure out what this is an advert for - even I did.

 

Interesting piece on Colorado politics

The ‘Colorado Model’ Goes Thud. Republicans are poised to make big gains in the state Democrats thought would be a national model for liberal governance.

Here's an excerpt - more if you hit the link.

Nothing has buoyed the progressive left more in recent years than a self-satisfied belief in that blueprint, Exhibit A in their promise of a new Democratic majority. The party poured money into the Centennial State, building an activist infrastructure honed to outspend and attack Republican candidates. These messages were aimed at what was described as an ascendant coalition of liberal whites moving to the state, and minorities—who would join to keep Colorado blue for decades.

It seemed to be working. Democrats, beginning in 2004, would ultimately take from Republicans the state legislature, the governorship, both U.S. Senate seats, key House districts and a variety of statewide offices. The media pronounced a new Democratic dominance of the Mountain West, and the left promised exportation of its model far and wide.

Or not. If Colorado is serving as a model for anything these days, it’s the risks of Democratic overreach. Sen. Mark Udall has trailed GOP Rep. Cory Gardner in every poll since September. Gov. John Hickenlooper is trailing Republican Bob Beauprez in poll averages. Republicans are poised to take back the state Senate. Democrats recently pulled funding from the only Colorado U.S. House seat they had targeted, that of GOP Rep. Mike Coffman.

The party’s biggest mistake was thinking its recent electoral victories—based largely on a superior campaign game—translated into a mandate for liberal governance. Colorado long has been, and remains, a pragmatic state. It’s a place that for decades gave Republicans the state legislature and Democrats the governor’s mansion. It loves its political independents, folks like former Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, who it elected in 1992 as a Democrat and re-elected in 1998 by an even bigger margin as a Republican.

Tim football: Today's game against Chaminade, another big road game

Chaminade, out on Long Island. Historically, one of the best of the Catholic HS football programs - champions two years ago - but not as strong this year.

We'll see, as Stepinac tries to go 8-0.

Fr. Barron on the recent preliminary Synod on the Family

Putting things in sensible perspective. "The very early stage of the sausage-making process"

 

Kimmel: they're at work on family-friendly sequel to "Fury"

Fury is a movie I won't be watching , but this is mildly amusing.

 

Hilary Clinton opines that it's not businesses that create jobs

Another Democratic Party genius headed for the White House?

 

Tim football: highlights from Stepinac 38-21 win over St. Anthony's

The first time Stepinac has defeated St. Anthony's of Long Island since 1983. St. Anthony's has an enrollment of about 2,500 (got that from a St. Anthony's alumnus who now has a son there), so assuming half the students are boys, their enrollment of boys is almost twice that of Stepinac.

Anyway, msgvarsity has  the whole game on their website.

Stepinac 38, St. Anthony's 21

If the whole game is a bit much, then here's five and half minutes of highlights (put together by Stepinac, so no bad plays by the Crusaders)

Highlights, Stepinac 38, St Anthony's 21

And lastly, I managed to catch video of #40 Tim on a kickoff, and he makes the tackle. His second special teams tackle of the day.

More military waste: $12 billion for three super-destroyers that may not float

Crazy. And they'd have difficulty defending themselves against a missile attack (at the end of this article).

One those doubts includes a potential Achilles’ heel –the ship’s bizarre stealthy hull—which is the most obvious new feature of the new destroyer. The hull looks like it is upside down.

An England newspaper's look at the President's (un)popularity

The Telegram (UK).

 

Catholic Family Synod final document + Pope Francis final address to the Synod.

Here is the final document - this gathering is really only a precursor to the Synod in October, next year.

Message of the Synod Assembly on the Pastoral Challenges to the Family in the Context of Evangelization.

And here is Pope Francis - I put an excerpt below the link, but it only takes about eight minutes to read the whole thing, which anyone whose interested should do -

May the Lord Accompany Us and Guide Us in this Journey

... A journey where the stronger feel compelled to help the less strong, where the more experienced are led to serve others, even through confrontations. And since it is a journey of human beings, with the consolations there were also moments of desolation, of tensions and temptations, of which a few possibilities could be mentioned:

- One, a temptation to hostile inflexibility, that is, wanting to close oneself within the written word, (the letter) and not allowing oneself to be surprised by God, by the God of surprises, (the spirit); within the law, within the certitude of what we know and not of what we still need to learn and to achieve. From the time of Christ, it is the temptation of the zealous, of the scrupulous, of the solicitous and of the so-called – today – “traditionalists” and also of the intellectuals.

- The temptation to a destructive tendency to goodness [it. buonismo], that in the name of a deceptive mercy binds the wounds without first curing them and treating them; that treats the symptoms and not the causes and the roots. It is the temptation of the “do-gooders,” of the fearful, and also of the so-called “progressives and liberals.”

- The temptation to transform stones into bread to break the long, heavy, and painful fast (cf. Lk 4:1-4); and also to transform the bread into a stone and cast it against the sinners, the weak, and the sick (cf Jn 8:7), that is, to transform it into unbearable burdens (Lk 11:46).

- The temptation to come down off the Cross, to please the people, and not stay there, in order to fulfil the will of the Father; to bow down to a worldly spirit instead of purifying it and bending it to the Spirit of God.

- The temptation to neglect the “depositum fidei” [the deposit of faith], not thinking of themselves as guardians but as owners or masters [of it]; or, on the other hand, the temptation to neglect reality, making use of meticulous language and a language of smoothing to say so many things and to say nothing! They call them “byzantinisms,” I think, these things…

Dear brothers and sisters, the temptations must not frighten or disconcert us, or even discourage us, because no disciple is greater than his master; so if Jesus Himself was tempted – and even called Beelzebul (cf. Mt 12:24) – His disciples should not expect better treatment.

Personally I would be very worried and saddened if it were not for these temptations and these animated discussions; this movement of the spirits, as St Ignatius called it (Spiritual Exercises, 6), if all were in a state of agreement, or silent in a false and quietist peace. Instead, I have seen and I have heard – with joy and appreciation – speeches and interventions full of faith, of pastoral and doctrinal zeal, of wisdom, of frankness and of courage: and of parresia. And I have felt that what was set before our eyes was the good of the Church, of families, and the “supreme law,” the “good of souls” (cf. Can. 1752). And this always – we have said it here, in the Hall – without ever putting into question the fundamental truths of the Sacrament of marriage: the indissolubility, the unity, the faithfulness, the fruitfulness, that openness to life (cf. Cann. 1055, 1056; and Gaudium et spes, 48).

And this is the Church, the vineyard of the Lord, the fertile Mother and the caring Teacher, who is not afraid to roll up her sleeves to pour oil and wine on people’s wound; who doesn’t see humanity as a house of glass to judge or categorize people. This is the Church, One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic and composed of sinners, needful of God’s mercy. This is the Church, the true bride of Christ, who seeks to be faithful to her spouse and to her doctrine. It is the Church that is not afraid to eat and drink with prostitutes and publicans. The Church that has the doors wide open to receive the needy, the penitent, and not only the just or those who believe they are perfect! The Church that is not ashamed of the fallen brother and pretends not to see him, but on the contrary feels involved and almost obliged to lift him up and to encourage him to take up the journey again and accompany him toward a definitive encounter with her Spouse, in the heavenly Jerusalem.

Great stuff from the Holy Father!

Paid 700K advance, Andrew Cuomo's memoir has sold 945 copies

HA! Good for you Andrew! Foolin' the powers that be again!

Andrew Cuomo's book is a dud. The memoir, released last week, has sold 945 hardcover copies in its first week of sales, Amy Chozick of the New York Times reports.

A previous article in the New York Times reported that Cuomo had received an over $700,000 advance for the title.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is set to earn more than $700,000 for a memoir that will be published this summer, according to a new ethics filing.

 

The NY Times fantasy world

In their editorial today, they casitgate Democratic candidates for "... keeping their distance from Mr. Obama and some of his best policies."

But they do say "The panicky Democratic flight away from President Obama — and from some of the party’s most important positions — is not a surprise."

And then play the race card. "Mr. Obama remains highly unpopular among white voters, particularly in Southern states..." It's always those evil white folks, spoiling everything.

The Democratic Panic

... By not standing firmly for their own policies, Democrats send a message to voters that the unending Republican criticism of the president is legitimate. There is much that is going right in this country, and there is still time for Democrats to say so.

Yes, they should run on that!

 

Feast of John Paul II today

I didn't know there's an "Official Vatican Prayer to Saint John Paul II" but here it is -

Oh, Saint John Paul, from the window of heaven, grant us your blessing! Bless the church that you loved and served and guided, courageously leading it along the paths of the world in order to bring Jesus to everyone and everyone to Jesus. 

 

Bless the young, who were your great passion.

 Help them dream again, 

help them look up high again to find the light 

that illuminates the paths of life here on earth.

 

May you bless families, bless each family! You warned of Satan's assault against this precious and indispensable divine spark that God lit on earth. Saint John Paul, with your prayer, may you protect the family 

and every life that blossoms from the family.

 

Pray for the whole world, which is still marked by tensions, wars and injustice. You tackled war by invoking dialogue and planting the seeds of love: 

pray for us so that we may be tireless sowers of peace.

 

Oh Saint John Paul, from heaven's window, 

where we see you next to Mary, 

send God's blessing down upon us all. Amen.

 

 

 

Catholic Just War Theory and the ISIS threat

Very good explanation of the Just War Doctrine and the current terrible situation - it comes down to  judgement ...

 

Colorado Citizens United: "Rocky Mountain Heist"

Picked up on this in the gym last night. Pretty pathetic - "Fundamentally transforming..."

 

AP poll: Women likely now voters prefer Republicans

I guess the Democrats "War on Women" rhetoric has been recognized for what it is.

The economy remains the top issue for likely voters — 91 percent call it "extremely" or "very" important. And the GOP has increased its advantage as the party more trusted to handle the issue to a margin of 39 percent to 31 percent.

In the new poll, the two parties are about even among women, 44 percent prefer the Republicans, 42 percent the Democrats.

 

Tina Brown, soon to be deported?

Tina Brown the very liberal and very  well-known journalist (Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, The Daily Beast)  telling the truth about Obama and the War on Women.

 

Remember Don Pardo?

Don Pardo the iconic announcer who just died in August at age 94.

Sent to me by my brother Jim - some of this is quite amusing -

 

Pope Francis beatifies Paul VI

Inscribed in the book of Saints.

I posted about this Saturday  Pope Paul VI beatification tomorrow; the miracle + 3 minute interesting video  including a description of the miracle that led to his beatification.

 

Every President's favorite drink: The complete Record

Love it - from the NY Post.

In his new book, “Mint Juleps with Teddy Roosevelt: The Complete History of Presidential Drinking” (Regnery), journalist Mark Will-Weber tells the history of presidency through booze.

Here are ten -

George Washington
Washington sold whiskey (made near Mount Vernon), but he probably rarely, if ever, drank it. The formula was about 60% rye, 3% corn and a very meager amount of malted barley. As for his favorite drink — he loved dark porter (laced with molasses) that was made in Philadelphia.

Franklin Pierce

Pierce drank a lot of everything and died of cirrhosis of the liver at age 65. When Democrats failed to support him for re-election in 1856, he allegedly said: “What can an ex-president of the United States do except get drunk?”

Grover Cleveland - a man after my own heart - obviously very smart; I'd vote for him in a heartbeat!

Grover Cleveland
Grover mostly drank beer, and lots of it. He and a fellow politician once took a vow to hold themselves to four beers a day. When they found this too arduous a task, they simply switched to larger beer steins.

William McKinley
A drink popular during his election campaign was called McKinley’s Delight:
3 oz. rye whiskey (shoot for at least 100 proof)
1 oz. sweet vermouth
2 dashes of cherry brandy
1 dash absinthe

Teddy Roosevelt
Teddy liked Mint Juleps and used them to entice his cabinet to come play tennis with him at the White House. He used fresh mint from the White House garden:
10 to 12 fresh mint leaves “muddled” with a splash of water and a sugar cube
2 or 3 oz. of rye whiskey
¼ oz. of brandy
Sprig or two of fresh mint as a garnish

Franklin D. Roosevelt
FDR is most associated with cocktails. He enjoyed mixing gin-based martinis (and occasionally whiskey-based Manhattans). His favorite thing to sip while sailing was the Bermuda Rum Swizzle:
2 oz. dark rum
1 oz. lime juice
1 oz. orange juice
1 generous dash of Falernum (a sweet syrup)

Harry Truman
Truman loved bourbon and quite often knocked down a shot of it in the morning; part of his routine that also involved a brisk walk and a rubdown. He also liked a very strong Old Fashioned and would complain if his staff made it too weak.

Ahhh, Tricky Dick, tricky to the end ...

Richard Nixon
Nixon would drink expensive bottles of Chateau Lafite Rothschild (costing hundreds of dollars); at the same time, he instructed his staff to serve mediocre red wine to his guests — with towels wrapped around the bottle’s label so they did not know what they were getting. Tricky Dick indeed!

George W. Bush
Bush “retired” from drinking years before he became president.

Barack Obama
The current president likes beer. The Executive Mansion also features White House Honey Ale (with honey from the White House hives) for special guests.

 The link has the rest of the list.

Tim, cousin June and Joe

June was in NY for several days - I need to post more pitures! -  and here she is tiwh the boys.

That's June in the middle ...

 

Romney (of all people) gets off a pretty funny joke at Obama's expense

Of course making fun of the President right now is really picking the low-hanging fruit.

 

WSJ: "A Year of Living on the Brink"

Dan Henninger's column from the past Thursday. Excellent, as he usually is.

Liberia, ISIS, Ukraine, Hong Kong, a hospital fighting Ebola infections in Dallas, the year’s stock-market gains obliterated, and I almost forgot—just last week Secretary of State John Kerry warned that climate change could end life as we know it.

Then this week the clouds parted and the year’s best news arrived: Led by Europe’s sinking economies, global economic growth is falling, taking stocks and bonds with it, and the world’s central bankers say they have run out of ideas on doing anything about it.

How this is good news requires explanation.

The short answer: They are finally accepting that governments and central banks cannot micro-manage with previously failed, Depression era strategies.

Here's the penultimate paragraph, but the whole article - a 6 minute read - is worthwhile.

The key element in reviving the West isn’t economics, though that matters. It is political courage. Each example of high-growth success required a political leader willing to stand against finance ministries and a financial media that will ride demonstrably failed models off another cliff.

Pope Paul VI beatification tomorrow; the miracle + 3 minute interesting video

Video from "Rome Reports". Beatification tomorrow, October 19th.

Here is the miracle that has led to the beatification - it occurred in 2001, in California.

and the vid:

Rugby: Australia v. New Zealand

Great game, played in Brisbane. Last southern hemisphere international of the year. They have been taking these videos down very quickly - hopefully this will stay up for a few days.

 Here's the link also. http://youtu.be/ol_JfzsO2EA

Tim football: Stepinac goes to 7-0, defeats St. Anthony's - first time since 1983!

UPDATE: Here's the LOHUD article. "It was a head-spinning parade of athletes."

Played at St. Anthony's the scoreboard says it all. More to follow, including links to highlights.

 

NY Times: Life & death choices - the Himalayan hiking disaster

A freak storm. So far, 27 deaths - and counting.

KATMANDU, Nepal — Freezing, exhausted and blinded by snow, Yakov Megreli, an Israeli medical student, had a few minutes to make a choice. He could spend the night shivering in a flimsy wooden tea stall with a few others, as snowdrifts crept up the walls outside and began to fall in through cracks. Or he could press forward into the blizzard with a large group of trekkers headed toward town...

He and around a dozen other hikers — mostly young Israelis and Germans — spent the night lying on top of one another, trying to fight off hypothermia by sharing body heat and talking about anything they could think of to keep from falling asleep. But they were a small group. The rest of their group, 40 to 50 young people, decided to go to the nearest town, Muktinath, he said in an interview from a hospital in Katmandu. “And we don’t know what happened to them.”

Every Peyton Manning touchdown pass (506) in 30 seconds

I was curious how NBC would manage this, but I guess they did.

 

CNN asks question: "What does Ebola Czar know about Ebola?"

"He was responsible for implementing the Recovery Act." That's a good recommendation? So a political hack; Why do we need a Czar, how about the people responsible for infectious disease control just doing there job?

 

Cardinal Pell (Australia) on the Catholic Family Synod & "secular agenda".

This was actually a kind of pre-meeting for the full scale Bishops Synod on the Family in October, 2015.

The document he is talking about is here - mid-synod relatio - I read it - it takes a little over 20 minutes to read. I found it pretty benign; someone who wanted to politicize it or promote a certain aganda could certainly pull out lines to support whatever their position might be.

The Catholic league (Bill Donohue) commented on it here - CONFUSION OVER SYNOD REPORT MOUNTS

Cardinal Pell: