Monday, November 29, 2004

Homespun Symposium III

The third installment of the Homespun Symposium comes from Bill at Bill's Big Bloviating Blog. As always, please email marvin at marvinhutchens dot com with a link to your response.

The question:

What, in your mind, represents the single greatest long-term threat to the United States of America, and what should be done about it?

Enjoy.

Homespun Symposium Responses

A Physicist's Perspective
Bunker Mulligan
Bill's Big Bloviating Blog
Ogre's Politics and Views
Mud and Phud
The Commons at Paulie World
Little Red Blog
The Terriorists
The Redhunter
Never Sway
Mad Poets Anonymous
Considerettes
In Search of Utopia
Mark Rauterkus & Running Mates
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Sunday, November 28, 2004

Best Of Homespun Bloggers November 28th, 2004

Considerettes

Roll out the (pork) barrel

While there's plenty of pork being doled out on both sides of the aisle, I'm especially disheartened to see that the victories handed to Republicans are being so ill-spent (pun intended) on this sort of business-as-usual waste.

Musing

Plus ca change…

...plus c’est la meme chose

This article really needs no comment. Well maybe just one comment.

“The sky is falling!!!! … the sky is falling!!!!!” We better do
something drastic and FAST!

Bill's Big Bloviating Blog

Gilligan's Island Theme Song (revised)

Since it’s readily apparent that TedTV plans on destroying one of the fonder innocent memories of my childhood, I thought I’d offer some alternative lyrics for Ted to use on the show… based solely on what I’ve seen in the trailers. Somehow, I doubt he’ll use them.

Hum along if you like… I’m sure you know the tune…

Yelling at the Windshield

More catching up

Have we learned nothing from watching hatred and emotion drag down the Democrats? Folks, this is what Presidents do. It's like the way Senators say "my distinguished colleague from across the aisle" despite the fact that they'd have the guy fed to the wolverines if they could. It's called simple graciousness and people who admire the President, as opposed to simply seeing him as a tool through which their ideological agenda will be pursued, should emulate his graciousness.

MuD&PHuD

Happy Thanksgiving

George Washington's Thanksgiving Proclamation, 1789:

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor -- and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me "to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness."


The Wizz Checks In From Baghdad

Excerpt:

"My unit is settled in and getting on with our mission, which is to prepare the City of Baghdad to be turned back over to the Iraqi’s after the election and return to a less hostile environment."

A Physicist's Perspective

Mentioning God violates the establishment clause?

A recent news story indicates that a Christian teacher in a public school has been prohibited from even reading historical documents which mention God or the Bible, including excerpts from the declaration of independence, George Washington's journal, and others. I briefly discuss misconceptions about the purpose of the establishment clause -- it was to prevent the government from establishing a state religion, not to prevent it from mentioning God.

Bunker Muligan

There are far too many restaurants these days which don't have enough seating. It pains me and causes me a great deal of mental anguish any time I go out for a meal and must wait until some inconsiderate slob decides he's through sitting at the table impressing his party with words of wisdom. The time has come for action, but I'm not sure which route to take to eliminate this danger to mental health.
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Monday, November 22, 2004

Homespun Symposium II

This weeks Symposium question comes from David A. of In Search of Utopia. Please email a link to your responses to marvin at marvinhutchens dot com.

The question:

Is the division in America important to you? What will be necessary to heal it? What part do you see Bloggers playing in that discussion and how will you personally contribute to it?

Enjoy.

Homespun Symposium Responses

Mud and Phud
Ogre's Politics and Views
Little Red Blog
A Physicist's Perspective
The Commons (Paulie)
Mad Poets Anonymous
Bunker Mulligan
Mark A. Kilmer's Political Annotation
Considerettes
In Search of Utopia
The Hopeful Cynic
The Unmentionables
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Sunday, November 21, 2004

2 3 New Bloggers

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Best Of Homespun Bloggers November 21st, 2004

Daniel W. Casey’s Blog

From the Office of the Director III

Sometimes, in a reorganization, you have to focus on your key missions and competencies. Other projects, though interesting, might have to be put aside for the greater good . . .

Bill's Big Bloviating Blog

Chaos at the Symphony!

... about half way through the Mendelssohn piece, one of the violins poked their bow thingy into the oboist’s eyes. The oboe player jumped over the music stand and shoved the violinist right out of her chair. The conductor tried to break the two of them up, but one of the trombone players was married to the violinist and came to her defense, punching the oboist in the nose (probably not making the oboe sound any better)!....

MuD&PHuD

Oh Man

I actually caught part of Rush the other day while he was offering his counseling services to any Democrats that might be suffering from post-election depression. The official psychobabble for the 'condition' is Post Election Selection Trauma or (you guessed it) PEST. Well, now some people in Florida have gotten their panties in a bunch over Rush's insensitivity. The article makes numerous references to Republicans taunting, gloating and being general meanies.

The Redhunter

The Video

No matter what the facts, there are those who will treat this as Abu Graib II. They will use this to bash the United States military and by extension all of our efforts in Iraq. You don't need me to relate their predictably hateful attacks. As usual, they ignore or downplay the horrendous abuses of the terrorist insurgency, yet any perceived mistake on our part, or the part of a single soldier, and we are condemned without mercy.

The Terriorists

Pity the Poor Piscis

PETA pushes penitence for piscatory persecusion.

Yeah, you read that right. The wackos are tryin' to tell us fish have feelings. I've lived with fish--well, they lived in their tank and I lived everywhere else, but you know what I'm gettin' at. All they did was swim and eat and poop. And make google eyes at us from the other side of the glass like some cartoon looney.

Now PETA would have us think of them as our brothers and sisters--provided you can figure out how to tell which is which.

The Unmentionables

Local Politics and the Electoral College

Homespun Bloggers are discussing the topic of whether the Electoral College is still necessary, should be changed or, perhaps, abolished all together. Enough people seem to think so the Pew Institute is doing a study on the question. (No link available--just information from someone involved.)

Paulie World

The Show!

We got to the show and dropped off our car with the valet.

There was a green carpet set up instead of a red carpet. It was the Environmental Media Association Awards, after all. Right when we got there, we saw Dana Delaney (of China Beach fame), looking splendid in a red backless dress get out of her car (Toyota Prius was the car de jeur.) She was closely followed by one of the major awardees, Daryl Hannah, also in red. Daryl is tall, as I found out later when we spoke. (How's that for foreshadowing?)

A Physicist's Perspective

Mexican border security and nuclear weapons

As part of my ongoing series on border security, I discuss news articles which suggested that Al Qaeda might be trying to smuggle nuclear weaposn, or nuclear materials, into the U.S. across the Mexican border. The concerns are probably largely unfounded, as at this point it's unlikely they have nuclear weapons. Nevertheless, they highlight the need for increased border security.
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Monday, November 15, 2004

Homespun Symposium

The first of our weekly Homespun Symposium questions is as follows:

Is it time for the U.S. to end the Electoral College? If so, in favor of what alternative system? If not, why is it still relevant and beneficial to the nation?

This weeks question is from Tom, of Mud and Phud, and next weeks guest query will be from David A., of In Search of Utopia. Post your response on your blog, email me at marvin at marvinhutchens dot com, and I’ll link back to your response here. We’ll continue to add links until Wednesday evening.

Homespun Symposium Responses

Considerettes
Redhunter
Mud and Phud
Bunker Mulligan
Mark Rauterkus and Running Mates
The Commons at Paulie World
Signaleer
Chris Berg
Hopeful Cynic
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Sunday, November 14, 2004

2 3 4 5 6 New Bloggers

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Best Of Homespun Bloggers November 14th, 2004

Considerettes

Eulogizing a terrorist

Yasser Arafat's dead. This will be heralded as good news by most peace-loving folks, except of course those same Palestinians that cheered the 9/11 attacks.

Let us look now at the praise he's getting from people, and imagine that they were talking about a terrorist who hasn't been working for quite as long; Osama bin Laden.

Pattishub

Bury Arafat Already

This is a day of celebration. In Fallujah our troops are stacking up terrorist pigs like cord wood and Arafat does us the courtesy of dying on his own. Good riddance!

Musing

Court decision protects 2nd Amendment

"On June 10, all five justices of the Rhode Island Supreme Court recognized that the right to keep and bear arms is a right held by individuals."

Seems the only right thing to do. It is!

Yelling at the Windshield

Arafat is dead.

It is oh-so easy to tut-tut about the grinding poverty in PLO-controlled areas, and assign the blame for that state of affairs to Israel (employing the increasingly popular anti-semitism of the left) and to imagined U.S. imperialism. It is much harder to face the truth that Arafat grew fat and corrupt on the well-intentioned flood of funding meant to ameliorate his people's suffering.

Keep the Electoral College

Now that another presidential election is over, it's that time again for the perennial debate over the Electoral College. Less than a week since Kerry conceded to Bush, there are posts and articles debating the issue.

The Terriorists

Small Crunchy Bites

Well, now that the election's over and the losers are being properly medicated, I can get back to lookin' for more silliness among you humans.

A Physicist's Perspective

Illegal immigration amnesty

President Bush is suggesting a temporary worker card to allow workers to come here from Mexico. I think this is a fairly good suggestion generally, as it might help stem the tide of people coming here illegally, especially if it's coupled with tighter border security. However, he has coupled the proposal with an amnesty of sorts. Illegal aliens already here could apply for temporary worker cards. I talk about how I think this is a bad idea, and give a suggestion for a way in which it might work better.

MuD&PHuD

Black Box In Your Car

That's right folks. Big Brother may soon be riding shotgun:

Privacy experts warn that once cars are outfitted for the most limited data recording, the government will find a way to argue it’s for drivers’ "own good" to collect more. They point to a push in recent years to install GPS in all cars so that emergency officials can easily find incapacitated accident victims.
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Thursday, November 11, 2004

Audio Blogging

Just so everyone is on the same page about the potential audio blogging. Doug (of Considerettes fame) has offered to host it. To contribute an audio segment, he suggests that we keep it to a couple of minutes whether it be a monologue or some sort of audio fisking (depending on your own desire and technical knowhow).

As for the technical issues, all you need is Windows and a microphone (mac users in the know could leave technical directions in the comments). You can find the recording program by the following: Start Menu --> Programs --> Accessories --> Entertainment --> Sound Recorder. Then just plug in a the mic, hit the record button and wail away. From what I gather the output could get large, and so the best thing to do might be to convert it to an .mp3. That can apparently be done with a free program found here. If there are any questions I would suggest directing them to Doug at "frodo at thepaytons dot org".

If you're interested definitely let him know so we can get this thing rolling.
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Wednesday, November 10, 2004

2 3 5 New Bloggers

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Monday, November 08, 2004

Homespun Weekly Topic

Marvin (of Little Red Blog fame) has agreed to take on the momentous task of compiling links for the Topic of the Week. Here's the deal. On Sunday the topic will be selected and posted sometime after the Best Of (i.e., late Sunday or early Monday). Anyone interested can then post on that topic at his/her blog and email Marvin the link...and, of course, link to the Topic of the Week post at Homespun. Marvin will periodically post the links he has received. Links will be accepted until 5pm on Thursday.

Topic selection will go in order according to the Homespun Blogroll on the sidebar of this blog. Everyone will get a chance, albeit sometime in 2006 for some (sorry =)). I hope that everyone will take part and get some serious blog-slingin' going on.

Also, be watching for developments as we work out the details for some potential audio blogging, kindly (and thus far potentially) mediated by Doug at Considerettes.
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Sunday, November 07, 2004

Best Of Homespun Bloggers November 7th, 2004

Homespun Members, don't forget to check out the Improving Homespun post below.

MuD&PHuD

No Joy In Mudville...

...for the not-so-mighty Kerry has struck out.

This year we've seen one Curse broken, and another kept intact. Not since 1918 had Boston won the World Series...and not since JFK had a Senator been elected President.

Musings

An interesting international take on the Bush re-election

The CS Monitor has an interesting article dealing with Bushÿs re-election. I find it interesting for two reasons. First, the article presents an international viewpoint that is not immediately and viscerally opposed to the US, Bush and any American activity. There are numerous quotes peppering the article with an international realization that Bush is here to stay for another four years. At the same time, the international take on that reality is one of cautious optimism, rather than the standard terminally pessimistic rhetoric we see coming from across the pond. The second interesting aspect of the article is that it concentrates almost wholly on the the desire of people around the world to see economic freedoms reinforced by Bush and his administration.

The Southern Conservative

Michael Moore's Strange Concession

Michael Moore spent autumn on his “Slacker Uprising” tour, crossing America campus-by-campus, working hard to get out the youth vote. He charged young people with the responsibility of changing their world! He called on 18 to 20 year olds to stand together during this time of crisis! He communicated his vision to the young with authority, strength, and boundless enthusiasm. Then, come election day, the young people of America resolutely arose from their sofas, turned off their Playstations, and with clear heads and thankful hearts, took a nap.

Liberal Utopia

Why Democrats Hate Americans A Fiskalogue

Miserably failing to pack along any mirrors, Dhimm al-Qrats once again saddle up that one-trick jackass of theirs named Blameothers.

The Unmentionables

Moral Values

They still don't get it, do they? The Big Losers are attempting to spin the seeming aberration of an overwhelming Republican victory (with heavy conservative overtones) on the opposition to gays and abortion. They have no frame of reference to understand the "sudden" importance of moral values in this election. They mistakenly believe they had successfully driven "morality" from the public arena.

They are wrong. Morality might have dozed for a while during the 90's, but our eyes are wide open now.

The Terriorists

Schrodinger's (Demo) Cat

AHM and me have been readin' a lot about some new buzz words flyin' around leftie circles. They're workin' overtime to figure out why they lost--which they can't--so they've decided to become the "reality-based community."

Now we canines really know about reality. We live in a minute-by-minute reality--if you can't see it, hear it, smell it, lick it, chew it, eat it, paw it, scratch it, poke your nose into it, or lift your leg against it, it ain't real.

Tim's Webpage

A Memo to Cable News Outlets

Stop saying 'too close to call' when you really mean, 'we don't have enough information.'

Yelling at the Windshield

So we're all just stupid, huh?

Is it SO difficult to understand, and reasonably speak to (without angry invective) this place where I abide?

A Physicist's Perspective

Democrats understanding (or not) their opponents

In the aftermat of the election, Democrats are having varying degrees of success at understanding why they lost the Presidential election, and what they can do to help be attractive to voters closer to the right side of the spectrum. I discuss a positive example, as well as a negative one, and how the issue may come down, in part, to the definition of tolerance that the Democrats are using.

Redhunter

But Should We Care?

Over on the other side of the pond, the Guardian has a roundup of what they see as world opinion as regards the election in particular and our role in a post 9/11 world in particular. Are they ever bitter over there.

Paulie World

What I Have Learned From Exit Polls

Paulie World Contributor Capt. Trevett lists the best of the web, based on his study of exit polls.

Weapon of Mass Distraction

Winds of Evil Reviewed

My wife's debut novel, Winds of Evil, has its first public review, and it sounds like the reviewer thinks it's pretty good: "With the first book in her new trilogy, Sharon Gilbert bursts out of the gate with a talent for making you feel good, scared, on the edge of your seat, and dying for more. Winds of Evil introduces us to the characters, plot, and sub-plots of a spiritual thriller that will surely endure."
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Improving Homespun

As our members are aware, I would like suggestions as to how to improve Homespun Bloggers. Although we continue to grow and the weekly Best Of is great, I think that we might be able to find a few simple things to add that would make Homespun Bloggers all that much better.

Mike has suggested that we select a topic for the week and encourage anyone interested to blog it. We can then figure out a way to publicize those posts here at Homespun for everyone's perusal. The two most obvious ways to accomplish this would be to either collect all the links (a la Best Of) or to have people leave their own links in the Comments section. If anyone is interested in doing the manual label of the former, let me know. If not, then perhaps the latter would be best. If anyone out there has a more tech-savvy solution, I'm all eyes.

If any of you have other suggestions feel free to email me or leave them in the Comments to this post.

I continue to immensely enjoy being a part of Homespun Bloggers. Keep up the great work and, as always, Happy Blogging.
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Monday, November 01, 2004

2 New Bloggers

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