Anjan Ganguly, for the Respondent

Buffalo Turkey for Thanksgiving Dinner

2009-11-26T21:56:00.003-05:00

I've been talking about it for months, and today the dream finally became reality:

The recipe is pretty simple, actually:

The Turkey

I bought a 10 1/2 lb frozen bird and thawed it in the fridge for a few days. Fully thawing the turkey is apparently very, very important.

Then I unwrapped it, washed it, dried it, and injected it with Buffalo chicken-wing sauce (see below).

In my brother Avik's turkey fryer (a large pot over a propane burner) I heated three gallons of a soy/peanut oil blend to 350 degrees.

Then, in the fryer basket, which comes with the turkey-fryer kit, I very carefully lowered the bird into the boiling oil, put the lid on and let it fry for thirty-eight minutes. (I guess the rule is 5 minutes to get the oil back up to temperature, and then 3 minutes per pound.)

We pulled the turkey out of the fryer, put it in a pan and slathered it on all sides, inside and out, with Buffalo sauce.

The Sauce

This is the easiest part. The basic formula is one part butter and one part Frank's Red Hot sauce. I modified it slightly by cutting the butter with canola oil to prevent the sauce from congealing when it cooled. So, I mixed 1 1/2 cups (three sticks) butter, 1 1/2 cups canola oil, and 3 cups Red Hot in a sauce pan over low heat until everything was melted together. I then--and this probably isn't necessary--took my hand blender to it for about thirty seconds to emulsify it. I should note that for my little turkey, this was about twice as much sauce as I needed, even after injecting and basting the bird, and serving the sauce on the side like gravy. There's enough left over to coat a couple dozen wings.

The Blue Cheese Dressing

This is almost as easy as the Buffalo sauce. I picked up a pound of some stank Danish bleu from Larry's Cheese at the Rochester Public Market.

I mixed that with about two cups half-and-half, three cups sour cream, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder. I didn't really measure the salt and spices, but I guess I used about a teaspoon each. My brother Paul crumbled half the cheese into a Tupperware bowl, and we added the half-and-half, the salt and spices, and half the sour cream and blended it with a hand blender to make a smooth base. We then crumbled the rest of the cheese into the bowl and folded in the rest of the sour cream. This made the dressing chunky, and gave it some thickness. Again, this made way too much dressing. A half or third would've been fine.

The Result

AWE-SOME. The turkey itself was perfect: moist, tender, everything you hope for in a Thanksgiving turkey, but so rarely get with birds overdone in the oven. The added benefit of frying is the crispy skin. For those of us who already liked Buffalo wings, the Buffalo turkey was Thanksgiving heaven. The only comment I got on the blue cheese dressing was that it was too pungent. A fair criticism, but pungent is what I was going for. You can certainly get a mild blue cheese for a milder dressing.

An Open Letter to all Coffee Shops

2009-11-05T14:35:00.003-05:00

Dear Coffee Shops and Other Purveyors of Coffee,

I write this letter to encourage, nay demand, that if you charge a dollar or more for a cup of regular coffee--and in reality, the average price is closer to two dollars-- that you serve coffee worthy of the price, and of the ridiculously high profit margin.

By way of introduction, I do not claim to be a coffee expert, or really even an aficionado, but I do drink quite a bit of coffee--two or three "cups" (12 or 16 ounce servings, really) per day--and buy many of those at various local coffee shops. In fact, off the top of my head I count at least ten coffee shops at which I've purchased coffee in the past month or so. I enjoy, maybe even love, a good cup of coffee. A bad cup, however, really puts me in a sour mood. And its not just the briny, muddy taste, or feeling cheated at paying big bucks for a gas-station quality product. It's that it's really not that hard to make a good cup of coffee. I do it at home for about a quarter's worth of ingredients in a garage-sale drip coffeemaker. There's just no excuse that a business that styles itself a coffee shop, and purports to trade in "fine" or "gourmet" coffee, can't seem to get it right.

Even if you've heard this before, a refresher may, for some of you coffee peddlers, be due. There are five things you need to make a good cup of coffee:

(1) Whole beans that were roasted relatively recently, like within the last two weeks. Such beans aren't all that difficult to come by. In my own little city, not particularly known for its coffee, there are no fewer than five local coffee roasters. If you're starting with pre-ground coffee in heat-sealed plastic packages shipped to you from three states away, you're already off to a bad start.

(2) Freshly ground beans. Grind the beans just before you brew the pot of coffee; not at the beginning of the week, or even before opening each morning. It takes all of 10 seconds, but makes a huge difference in taste.

(3) Filtered water. It makes a big difference. You know what your local tap water tastes like. Mine tastes like a swimming pool. Starbucks, to its credit, uses filtered water. If you're not set up with a commercial water filtration system, use a Brita pitcher or the like.

(4) Airpots. Take the coffee off of any heat source as soon as it is done brewing. Do not let it sit on a burner. After just a few minutes it will taste like hot sea water. Put it in an insulated pot.

(5) Even if the coffee is in an insulated pot, dump it every thirty minutes or so. The single greatest sin committed by coffee shops is to brew coffee and then let it sit in an airpot for hours. I've had more than a few baristas say, "I brewed it a couple of hours ago, but it hasn't been on a burner or anything, it's been in an airpot." It doesn't matter where it's been if it's old. I can hardly count the number of times that I've gone for a cup of coffee at 10:30 in the morning, to discover an airpot full of lukewarm dishwater that was brewed at 7:30.

There are other considerations such as cleanliness of equipment, quality of the beans, water temperature, brew time, etc., which I'll put off addressing till another day. But there is one one more thing upon which I must insist. Coffee shop owners: make it your, and your baristas', job to know whether your coffee meets the above five criteria. Let customers know what they're getting: satisfaction is relative to expectation. If customer asks when the coffee was brewed, know the answer and tell the truth. If you do not know the answer, or you know that it is more than a half-hour old, offer to brew a fresh pot. Do not under any circumstances say something like, "yeah, it's pretty fresh, I'm pretty sure he just brewed it" when you are not, in fact, sure of when it was brewed. For my part, I won't be mad that the coffee's not fresh; I will simply order something else, like an Americano. I will never come to your coffee shop again, though, if you tell me it's fresh, I pay a couple of bucks for it, and it tastes like salty mud. (Sorry Spinn.)

There are plenty of places where awful coffee can be had for eighty-nine cents. Coffee shops: please don't charge a buck eighty-nine for it. If you insist on doing so, however, please at least have the courtesy to install a couple of gas pumps and place a bucket of Slim Jims next to the register. Then we'll at least know what we're in for.

Sincerely,

Anjan K. Ganguly
Coffee Drinker

Zero Tolerance Nonsense

2009-10-16T12:20:00.002-04:00

I've been super-lax in blogging duties for, well, months, but I couldn't pass up these stories--two in the same week. I have a soft spot for ridiculous school policies.

All over the news earlier this week was the story of six-year-old Delaware boy who, excited about joining the Cub Scouts, brought his new folding knife-fork-spoon camping tool to school. Under the school district's zero-tolerance policy, the boy was suspended and reassigned to a reform school for 45 days.

Also this week is the story of the seventeen-year-old Troy, NY Eagle Scout and Army National Guard soldier ( he enlisted while still in high school), who was suspended from school for having a two-inch pocket knife in . . .wait for it . . . the trunk of his car, which was parked on school property. Again, zero tolerance run amok.

Utterly ridiculous. Not because schools shouldn't have rules prohibiting potentially dangerous implements in school. (I stop short of calling them "weapons", as the school policies seem to imagine them, because in both cases they were not intended to be, or used as, such.) It seems reasonable enough that, in general, students should not have sharp metal things in school without supervision. The travesty of zero tolerance policies is that the right and responsibility to exercise good judgment is taken away from teachers and building-level administrators. It's as though school boards (and the people who vote their members into office) simply don't trust the people they hire to teach and look after children to use common sense.

Transparent Aluminum? That's the ticket, laddie.

2009-07-29T15:39:00.006-04:00

Humanity may be one step closer to the ability to transport humpback whales through time in order to save the Earth frm an alien probe.

That's right, Oxford University physicists have developed transparent aluminum. From physorg.com:

Oxford scientists have created a transparent form of aluminium by bombarding the metal with the world’s most powerful soft X-ray laser. 'Transparent aluminium' previously only existed in science fiction, featuring in the movie Star Trek IV, but the real material is an exotic new state of matter with implications for planetary science and nuclear fusion.

(HT: Slashdot.org)

Paul Joey, consider your spot blown up.

2009-06-05T14:20:00.003-04:00

You posed the challenge, Paul Joey, so now it's on.

Today is my brother

Paul's

(or Paul Joey to people who knew him back in the day)

24th Birthday.

Find him on facebook, or twitter and wish him a happy birthday. If you see him out tonight, buy him a ginger ale.

Everything else is postmodern chatter

2009-06-04T10:30:00.002-04:00

Quote of the day:

Christianity, and nothing else, is the ultimate foundation of liberty, conscience, human rights, and democracy, the benchmarks of Western civilization. To this day, we have no other options . . . . We continue to nourish ourselves from this source. Everything else is postmodern chatter. ~Jürgen Habermas

I read this in a 2007 article by Phillip Jenkins in Foreign Policy and had since forgetten about it, till it came up twice today in my daily stroll through the blogosphere. (HT: MOJ and Mere Comments.)

Ridonkulous, literally.

2009-05-30T13:14:00.002-04:00

It's funny 'cause it's true.

Twenty-one protesters arrested at Notre Dame yesterday. To what end?

2009-05-16T10:18:00.010-04:00

I've been trying for years to figure out whether protests, such as the one taking place this weekend at Notre Dame, have any effect whatsoever toward achieving the the social/political goals the protesters have in mind, or, if the real effect is on the protesters themselves, not their putative audience.

Busloads of protesters have decended upon South Bend, Indiana to protest abortion and to voice their objection to the University's decision to invite (pro-abortion) President Obama to give the commencement address tomorow and to award him an honorary degree. Yesterday, twenty-one of them were arrested, including conservative activst, and former presidential candidate, Alan Keyes. Keyes has been jailed until Monday, after the President's visit to campus. The protesters have employed some pretty shocking tactics, to wit:

On May 1, anti-abortion activist Randall Terry and another man were arrested on campus while pushing strollers containing dolls covered in fake blood. On May 8, Keyes and 21 others, many of them pushing strollers containing dolls covered in fake blood, were arrested.

Words like "disgusting", "shameful", "foolish", and "adolescent" come to mind. Like I've said before, I agree, I think, with the protesters' position, but I can't get behind this kind of thuggery. Whom do the protesters think they are persuading? Who looks at a baby doll covered in blood and is prompted to re-think his stance on abortion? The more likely, and I think, only reasonable response, is to view the protester with contempt and derision.

My hypothesis is that the true motivation for this kind of nonsense is not, actually, to persuade anyone, but rather pride and guilt on the protesters' part-- it's a raw, obtuse, clumsy, assertion of force, like kicking a dog, that gives the protester a perverse sense of power; and, it satisfies the protester's felt need to do something, however ridiculous and ineffective, about what he perceives to be a terrible injustice. The point is not to achieve anything for society, for the those suffering under the injustice, for God, etc. The point is only to achieve something for the protester himself. It's childish and selfish.

I'm sure that the protesters think they're doing the Lord's work; but the Lord does not work that way.

Chickengate '09

2009-05-09T12:42:00.004-04:00

A couple of weeks ago, local Popeyes chicken-and-biscuits restaurants ran a special offer of eight peices of fried chicken for $4.99. The restaurants ran out of chicken by mid-day, with hilarious results. This clip from the local ABC affiliate WHAM was picked up by Howard Stern, and has been floating around youtube since.

Apparently Kentucky Fried Chicken did not learn from Popeyes' mistake. KFC recently ran an Oprah-endorsed special offering a free grilled chicken meal, but apparently many people have had trouble downloading the coupon, some restaurants have refused to accept the coupon, and many restaurants were overwhelmed with large crowds and long lines. Here are some choice snippets from the CNN.com report.

Hungry consumers could visit Oprah.com, where for the next 24 hours they were supposed to be able to download a coupon for the meal that included two pieces of the company's new grilled chicken menu item, two side orders and a biscuit.

What ensued was a coupon craze that was for some a headache.

[snip]

"I'm a big girl," Shannon Edwards told CNN affiliate WBAL-TV in Baltimore, Maryland, on Thursday after she was turned away from a KFC. "I like to eat. So I'm kind of disappointed I have to go to McDonald's now."
[snip]
Winfrey is "a powerhouse" whose fans cannot be denied, said [a public relations consultant Allen C. Marcus].

"I think they underestimated Oprah," Marcus said. "She's got a lot of influence, and she has earned a following over many years."

[snip]

Winfrey acknowledged some of the issues surrounding the campaign, and called the download of 10.5 million coupons and giveaway of $42 million worth of free food from KFC "quite a hookup."
[snip]
Winfrey said the reaction to the chicken coupon surpassed even her giveaway of cars to audience members a few years ago.

In Defense of Obama at Notre Dame

2009-05-07T15:45:00.005-04:00

I blogged briefly once before about the Obama-at-Notre-Dame controversy, but at that point hadn't formulated a firm opinion. In case anyone was wondering, I've been mulling it over for a few weeks and this is the best I've come up with:

I understand and sympathize with the objections of Catholics and other Christians (among whom I count myself) who care about Notre Dame's Catholic character. I disagree strongly with President Obama on numerous issues, and on those issues I agree with many of those who object to his presence at the University's commencement next week. That said, I do not join in the angry protests leveled against University President Father Jenkins for his invitation to President Obama to speak at this year's commencement and to award him an honorary degree.

I went to Notre Dame, and still hold it in the highest regard, because it is the finest Christian university in the country. No doubt there are many Christian colleges and universities, Protestant and Catholic, which take seriously their religious missions, but as a center of Christian academic life, and as a Christian witness in the intellectual world, Notre Dame is without peer. It has the historical gravitas, intellectual robustness, and the cultural savvy to be unapologetically Christian in an unapologetically secular academy. The greatest gift I received from Notre Dame is the relationships with first-rate professors and classmates who excel in their vocations precisely because of their deep faith, and who are unafraid to engage, as Christians, in public debate. Because of them, I graduated from Notre Dame with the intellectual and moral confidence to, God willing, effectively bear witness to the Truth in public and academic life.

This is why I am so untroubled by the University’s decision to invite and honor the President. Rather than a bellwether of Notre Dame’s slog toward secularism, this event is a testament to the University’s strength and stature as a distinctively Catholic University.

Much of the debate in the blogosphere and elsewhere on the Web seems to miss the point: isn’t the main reason to honor the President just that he is the President—our head-of-nation, the “leader of the free world”; to host him as a guest, speak with him, hear him deliver a message written just for Notre Dame, establish a relationship with him, and yes, to enjoy the public recognition that accompanies such an event. Opponents of the University’s invitation to President Obama argue that Father Jenkins is trading Notre Dame’s commitment to the Truth for prestige in the eyes of the world. No doubt prestige has something to do with it, but is there necessarily a trade-off? I don't see it. I recognize that I don’t know much about the internal politics of Notre Dame, or of American Catholicism, but as an outsider I do not understand or share the assumption that the invitation represents some kind of apostasy.

In this conservative Christian’s humble opinion, honoring President Obama does not indicate that the University is wandering from its Catholic mission. On the contrary, it represents Notre Dame's unique ability to engage society and politics in ways other Christian universities cannot. How many other Christian institutions could host the President and graciously honor him while publically, unflinchingly opposing many of his policies? This is what makes Notre Dame so remarkable and so important to Christianity and to America.

12th Grader Commits Suicide at Canandaigua HS; Had Ammo and Explosives in Locker

2009-05-05T18:17:00.003-04:00

All over the local news today are reports that this morning a Canandaigua Academy senior committed suicide with a sawed-off shotgun in a boys' bathroom at the school. Police found molotov cocktails and 30 rounds of ammunition in the boy's locker.

No note, or other indication of his plans or motive, has been discovered.

God have mercy.

The College "Acceptance" Myth

2009-05-05T14:20:00.010-04:00

I've been stewing about this for months, as I read news reports about the collective college-admissions anxiety among members of this year's biggest-ever (pdf) high-school graduating class, but didn't want to rain on the parades of so many bright-eyed seniors. I decided to pipe up after reading today's NYTimes The Choice blog, which reported on 258 colleges with open seats, after the nationwide May 1st commitment deadline.

Here's the bottom line, kids: most--in fact the overwhelming majority--of colleges and universities do not have highly competitive admissions standards. In other words, it's really not that hard to get admitted to college. Sure, Harvard, Princeton, MIT, Stanford, et. al., have single-digit acceptance rates, but that's not the norm. Take a look at the U.S. News rankings. Among "National Universities", once you look past the top 40 or so, acceptance rates are steadily above 50%, e.g., Pitt.-56%, Boston U.-59%, Case Western-75%, Washington State-76%, Oklahoma-89%, Oregon-87%. And that's not to mention liberal-arts colleges or "master's universities". Or, schools on this list of colleges and universities with the highest acceptance rates--all above 90%.

Point is, high-school students generally know (or should have a teacher or counselor tell them) by 11th grade or so, what kinds of colleges they're likely to get into based upon their grades and SAT/ACT scores. For the vast majority, it's not Yale, Amherst, Georgetown, etc. If you apply to schools whose admissions standards match your credentials, it is very likely that you will be accepted. At most schools, it is a near certainty.

The real game is, of course, not admissions but financial aid. Many colleges offer merit-based scholarships to students whose credentials (primarily class rank or SAT/ACT scores) will help elevate the school's ranking, and will admit but not offer merit-based aid to students without such credentials. Students and parents are catching on. I recently ran into a former student who is graduating this year. I'm sure this kid was admitted to several excellent schools, but opted for a far less prestigious school that offerred him a full ride. Pretty savvy at 18 to give a little prestige in exchange for not being mired in student loan debt for the rest of his life. Wish I had been so savvy at 25 when I went to law school .

Spitzer, the Comeback Kid?

2009-05-04T22:20:00.010-04:00

Today's D&C reports on a recent Marist poll that finds current New York governor David Paterson trailing damn-near-impeached former governor Eliot Spitzer by double digits in a hypothetical head-to-head race for governor.

Between Paterson and Spitzer, 51 percent of voters said they would prefer the former governor who resigned in disgrace in March 2008 after soliciting a prostitute. Thirty-eight percent would want Paterson.

"Voters are so dissatisfied with the governor's performance that a majority - 51 percent - say they would prefer his sex scandal-plagued predecessor, Eliot Spitzer, be in office than he," the Marist poll states.

Keep in mind, that Spitzer had sub-par approval ratings (pdf) before the prostitution scandal broke. Is Spitzer pulling a Bill Clinton here, who posted higher approval ratings well after leaving office than he had while in office, sex scandal and all?

File under: This is what we've come to, America; The end of civilization

The $1000 Prom Night

2009-05-04T10:00:00.001-04:00

From Thursday's NY Times Online.

Apparently the prom-wear business is recession proof:

Families living in parts of the nation that have been hardest hit by the recession are still spending whatever they can to make sure their teenagers make it to prom. That means that gown and formalwear shops from Florida to California are thriving even in areas where customers have been directly affected by the housing collapse and the banking slowdown.

“Yes we are in a recession and we’re in a bad recession,” said Georgette Diaz, owner of Georgette’s in Tampa, Fla. “But they’re going to forgo other things to make sure their daughter goes to prom.”

Even in a state battered by the real estate slowdown, Ms. Diaz said, families are still spending $250 to $300 for gowns. She hung a framed sign on her shop door offering teenagers the opportunity to help earn their gowns by helping out at the store on Saturdays leading up to prom, and a few girls took advantage of the offer. But for the most part, she said, their families are paying for gowns.

While shoppers at Cardita Formalwear in Port St. Lucie may delay their prom purchases, boys are spending even more this year on tuxes, according to the shop’s owner, Clifford Pearl. He said teenage boys were spending $150 to $160 for designer brands, though they typically spent about $120 to $135 last year.

Mr. Pearl said about 80 percent of his teenage customers tell him, “I want to go all out.”

Even in Southern California where many mortgage banking jobs were concentrated, girls are buying gowns “like there’s no tomorrow,” according to Suzanne Aguila, owner of Carraz Gowns in Glendale and Torrance. Ms. Aguila said they are still spending what they did last year, $300 to $500.

Maybe it's that I went to a small Christian high-school where dancing was verboten, maybe it's that I grew up wearing mostly hand-me-downs, or maybe I'm just square, but I've never understood the insane amounts of money parents spend on their high-schoolers' proms. Last I knew, prom tickets were going for $50 to $100-plus each. Then there are the $150-$200 tuxes, $300-plus dresses, limos, flowers, hair, after-parties, hotel rooms, and various other accoutrements.

I remember a high-school friend making her own prom dress, which I thought was just about the coolest thing in the world. (I seem to recall her looking fantastic, too.) For my senior prom (a banquet actually, sans dancing), I wore a suit and tie that I already owned, and bought a pair of black dress shoes for $20 at Payless. I drove my mom's station wagon, and bought my date a dozen roses at Wegmans for about $10. The tickets were $30.

Are we really in the age of the $1000 prom night? Really? I mean really, a thousand-dollar night out in high school? Hell, I can hardly remember my last $100 night out. Please, someone explain this to me.

Putting Baby in a Corner This Prom Season

2009-05-03T14:04:00.006-04:00

Today's D&C reports that local high schools are making an extra effort this prom season, including cancelling dances, to curb lewd dancing among students. The article is too long to quote at length, but here's the gist.

Heated displays of affection. Inappropriate grabbing. Dance partners not dancing face-to-face.

[snip]

And as prom season begins — Brockport, East Irondequoit, Hilton, Pittsford Sutherland and Rush-Henrietta high schools all held dances Saturday — some parents are concerned their children are receiving the wrong messages about sex and relationships from school dances.
[snip]

Earlier this school year, Brighton High School had to cancel a Halloween dance when it couldn't secure enough chaperones, partly because some faculty members felt the students' behavior was too out-of-hand. Since then, the school has adopted a new set of guidelines for student conduct at dances.

The article is, of course, chock full of the D&C's regular unintended hilarity. To wit:

While sexuality has always been a characteristic of teen functions, many school districts today are taking extra steps to regulate dance styles, including enforcing stricter rules and reviewing appropriate conduct with students.

and

"I don't think we can stop kids from developing sexual feelings and urges in early adolescence. That's pretty normal," said [clinical psychologist James] Windell.

But seriously, the article makes at least one good point: that school dances offer young people an opportunity to develop social skills, but that schools typically provide little or no instruction or guidance on what kinds of social interactions are appropriate and beneficial.

While local high schools have taken many steps to control dancing styles, some students say they have only learned one way of dancing.

David DuBois, a senior in Brighton, said he has danced the same way since he attended his first dance as a freshman.

"I see all these other kids doing it," DuBois said. "Me being a little freshman, I'm just going to follow it."

Exactly. Back in my high-school teaching days, I would elicit eye rolls from students and teachers alike by suggesting that the school treat dances as educational activities (what with the school being an educational institution and all), and teach students how to dance--ballroom, slasa, hip-hop, etc. Lacking the knowledge of how to dance, kids simply mimic what they see on MTV, or mimic other kids who are mimicing what they see on MTV. But doesn't the popularity of TV shows like Dancing With the Stars and So You Think You Can Dance indicate that young people might be interested in learning how to do something on the dancefloor other than bump and grind?

Chipotle is coming to Rochester!

2009-05-03T01:49:00.002-04:00

The awesomest fast-food burrito joint in the universe is soon to open a store in Greece. D&C story here. Words fail.

Happy Birthday, Rochester!

2009-04-29T12:29:00.003-04:00

I'm a day late to this, but I would be remiss to let our fair city's septaquintaquinquecentennial pass without note.

Rochester, initally a 100-acre tract purchased by Nathanial Rochester and two other Maryland businessmen, was charterd by the New York Legislature on April 28, 1834. D&C article here.

Too Many Students Taking AP Classes

2009-04-29T10:41:00.002-04:00

File under: That's What I've Been Saying All Along

Today's NYTimes Online reports on a study by the Fordham Foundation that finds that:

The number of high school students who took at least one college-level A.P. course increased by 45 percent, to 1.6 million from 1.1 million, from the school year ended 2004 to that ended 2008.

The number of A.P. exams those students took — with hopes, in part, of gaining exemption from some college class work, depending on how well they scored — increased by 50 percent, to 2.7 million.

The study found that the teachers were generally satisfied with the program’s quality. But when they were asked to explain the growing allure of A.P. classes and tests, 90 percent attributed it largely to “more students who want their college applications to look better.”

Right. Thing is, the primary benefit to a high-school student of taking Advanced Placement classes is to have AP classes on his transcript. If a high-school senior enrolls in a full slate of AP classes his 12th-grade year and can keep up good grades in those courses through January or so, his transcript will look stellar and may help win him admission to a selective college. After that point, however, the utility of AP courses drops off sharply: many colleges do not give credit or advanced standing for high AP exam scores--or they grant credit for some but not all of the AP exams--and most colleges will not rescind an admissions offer if the student's grades in the AP courses slide (so long as they're not "F"s). In any event, students do not need to send their AP Exam scores to college admissions offices anyway. If the short term--and all important-- goal is to get into college (forget, of course, about learning anything), it would make strategic sense for a high-school senior to enroll in lots of AP classes, work hard for a semester, and then tread water until June.

Um, how about the Aztek?

2009-04-28T07:00:00.002-04:00

CNN.com asks the question: What killed Pontiac?

It's a great mystery. Could it have been the:

Grand Prix?

Aztek?

TransSport?

The 2010 G8 Sport Truck?

Oprah?

Mary Ann Glendon Withdraws from ND Commencement & Laetare Medal

2009-04-27T11:51:00.007-04:00

I've been waiting to weigh in on the Obama -at-Notre -Dame controversy because, well, I'm still figuring out what to think about it. Harvard Law super-prof. and former ambassador to the Vatican, Mary Ann Glendon is not. She was slated to receive the University's highest honor, the Laetare Medal, but has declined the award and the invitation to speak at the commencement, citing dissapointment with the University's decision to honor President Obama.

File under: This is kind of a big deal; Aw snap!

Hey kids: it's ok to marry young

2009-04-27T11:13:00.005-04:00

Really. University of Texas (hook 'em) sociology prof Mark Regnerus drops some science in yesterday's WaPo. If you're between 18 and 24, or have children who are, please read the whole thing. Here are some choice snippets.

There's at least one good statistical reason to urge people to wait on the wedding. Getting married at a young age remains the No. 1 predictor of divorce. [But] . . . what is considered "early marriage" by social scientists is commonly misunderstood by the public. . . .The age-divorce link is most prominent among teenagers. . . . Marriages that begin at age 20, 21 or 22 are not nearly so likely to end in divorce as many presume.

Moreover there are gender differences:

most young women are mature enough to handle marriage. According to data from the government's National Survey of Family Growth, women who marry at 18 have a better shot at making a marriage work than men who marry at 21.

And here's the bottom line:

The age at which a person marries never actually causes a divorce. Rather, a young age at marriage can be an indicator of an underlying immaturity and impatience with marital challenges -- the kind that many of us eventually figure out how to avoid or to solve without parting. Unfortunately, well-educated people resist this, convinced that there actually is a recipe for guaranteed marital success that goes something like this: Add a postgraduate education to a college degree, toss in a visible amount of career success and a healthy helping of wealth, let simmer in a pan of sexual variety for several years, allow to cool and settle, then serve. Presto: a marriage with math on its side.

Too bad real life isn't like that. Marriage actually works best as a formative institution, not an institution you enter once you think you're fully formed. We learn marriage, just as we learn language, and to the teachable, some lessons just come easier earlier in life.

Testify!

I don't, of course, think that we should be telling young people to run out right now and get married, but I do think that we as a society need to push the insurgency of adolescence--which seems to have claimed the better part of the 20's--back into the teens, yea even into the high-school years. My hunch is that if we were to imagine marriage as a reasonable option for 20, 21, 22 year olds, rather than a social and educational death sentence to be suspended until close to 30, we would see significant--and positive--social and cultural changes: in secondary and post-secondary education, in STDs, unintended pregnancy, and maybe crime. If you're not persuaded, Regnerus makes a compelling environmental argument, too:

Michigan State ecologists estimate that the extra households created by divorce cost the nation 73 billion kilowatt hours of electricity and more than 600 billion gallons of water in a year. That's a mighty big carbon footprint created in the name of solitude.

See, marriage is green, too! C'mon kids, don't you wanna' save the planet?

High Comedy in the Morning Paper

2009-04-23T10:50:00.006-04:00

File under: Not an April Fool's Joke.

From today's Rochester D&C:

Man charged with DWI while picking up friend accused of DWI

State Police stopped [a motorist] for a traffic violation while she was driving on Interstate 390 . . . early today. She was charged with felony driving while intoxicated and was taken to the State Police barracks.

[The motorist’s friend] arrived at the station about 2:45 a.m. to take [the motorist] to her home, but troopers noted that he smelled like alcohol and intervened . . . .

Troopers said [that the friend] admitted he had been drinking. He also failed field sobriety tests . . . . Following a breathalyzer test, troopers determined he had a blood-alcohol content of .13 percent, over the .08 legal threshold for driving while intoxicated . . ..

[The friend] was subsequently charged with driving while intoxicated, a misdemeanor.

A third motorist, who had not been drinking, later collected the pair from the station . . . .

Yesterday's D&C had a similarly hilarious headline:

Man stopped en route to Grateful Dead concert faces drug charges

[State] troopers stopped [a local man] for driving a vehicle with an expired inspection sticker. . . . at about 4:15 p.m, [and discovered] approximately 12 grams of heroin, 27 grams of cocaine, 98 Suboxone pills and a digital scale in his vehicle.

[The man] was driving to Buffalo yesterday and told police that he had planned to sell the drugs at a Grateful Dead concert. The band performed at the HSBC Arena in Buffalo last night. [Note: the concert was on April 20th.]

Troopers said [the man] is currently on parole for other drug-related charges.

A Little Something for Earth Day

2009-04-22T18:35:00.001-04:00

NY Times Busts the "National Youth Leadership Conference" Scam

2009-04-17T23:01:00.007-04:00

From today's NY Times Online.

The offer that arrived in Emily Wharton’s mailbox looked and sounded more like an Academy Award than a sales pitch. In fancy script, on weighty card stock adorned by a giant gold seal, the letter congratulated Ms. Wharton for the honor of being nominated to attend the National Young Leaders Conference in Washington, D.C. It counted 366 members of the United States Congress on its honorary Congressional board of advisers. It told her that she would represent the state of New York and promised a “lifetime advantage” and “valuable addition” to her résumé. It used words like “elite,” “distinguished,” “select.”

[snip]

The company that organized the conference, a direct-mail powerhouse called the Congressional Youth Leadership Council, runs an alphabet soup of such conferences that it says are attended by 50,000 students a year. It solicits recommendations from teachers and alumni of previous conferences, and it culls names from mailing lists, for which the council paid $263,000 in 2006 alone, according to its last filing with the Internal Revenue Service, before it gave up its nonprofit status.

Let's add to the list of faux high school honors: National Student Leadership Conference, anything from Lead America Youth Leadership Conferences, Who's Who Among American High School Students, various poetry contests, various scholarship scams.

The scams usually work something like this: a student receives a fancy looking letter that says that he or she has been selected, nominated, identified, etc. due to his or her outstanding academic achievement, leadership, or some such. The fact of the matter is that the student has been selected/nominated/identified from a direct mailing list of millions of high-school students with no particular qualities or achievements, except perhaps that their parents might have some disposable income. The letter invites the student to "apply" (read: send your check) for some putatively prestigious program, or to submit a piece of work-- a poem, essay, short story, or the like--to some "national" organization. The letter promises recognition, prestige, a leg-up in college admissions, or membership in some sort of exclusive group.

The fact is anyone who "applies" is accepted. The rub is that the conferences cost thousands of dollars, and publications like Who's Who or The American Library of Poetry make money by printing the student's name or poem in a hardbound book, and then selling the book (for a low, low price of $49.95) to the student, his friends, family, school, etc. Who's Who also sells various levels of recognition: just having your name listed is free, you can list additional accomplishments for a fee, a picture costs even more, and so on.

The bottom line is that these faux recognitions are not prestigious, they're not selective, and college admissions officers roll their eyes when students list them on applications. They are huge money-making operations that prey on American's fetish for cheap prestige. If the only thing you have to do to get it is pay for it, then it's not an honor.

Feel good video of the week

2009-04-17T16:48:00.003-04:00

All over the interwebs this week is Susan Boyle, 47, bringing down the house on Britain's Got Talent. I thought Simon Cowell might actually shed a tear.

Follow the link. (Apparently embedding has been "Disabled by Request".)

CNN reports that Ms. Boyle is "gobsmacked" by all the attention.

Reminds me of the similar story of Paul Potts from last year's Britain's Got Talent.

You are Not a Right-Wing Extremist

2009-04-16T11:12:00.007-04:00

Well, probably not. Exciting as it may be to snark on every last little snafu of my ideological opponents, I'm tired of it after the last decade. So, I'm gonna' call bullsh*t on all the conservative news and talk-radio hubbub about the Department of Homeland Security's recent report to law enforcement agencies (pdf here; HT: Michelle Malkin) titled Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment.

Here's what the report does not say: Americans who oppose this Presidential administration, oppose illegal immigration, support Second Amendment rights, oppose expansion of the federal government, are concerned about American sovereignty, and so on, are right-wing extremists of whom law enforcement agencies should increase surveillance. In fact, it does not suggest that people who hold those views are right-wing extremists at all.

Here's what the report does seem to say: there are right-wing extremist groups who have in the past planned (and may currently be planning) acts of violence against government leaders and institutions, as well as ordinary American citizens. Think Timothy McVeigh, James Kopp, the Montana Freemen. In the current political and economic climate--i.e. job loss, home foreclosures, and a perceived pro-abortion, anti-gun, pro-gay, pro-illegal-immigrant, quasi-socialist, in-bed-with-corrupt-bankers government--those extremist groups may see a rise in recruitment and propensity to commit violence. And, at least a few of the thousands of highly trained combat soldiers returning from war (many of whom, no doubt, oppose much of the administration's policies) might decide to join up with extremist groups, thereby making them even more dangerous. Sounds like a plausible concern to me.

Note that in January DHS released a report on left-wing extremism (pdf here). CNN reports that both reports were initiated during the Bush administration.

Rush Limbaugh, Gelnn Beck, et. al., make lots of money for getting themselves all in a lather every time the President sneezes. What do you or I have to gain?

Some Thoughts on Tax Day

2009-04-15T11:03:00.007-04:00

If I don't pay my taxes, can I be the Deputy Secretary of the Interior?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123187503629378119.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/31/sebelius-admits-errors-pa_n_181535.html

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-02-05-solis-husband-taxes_N.htm

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/03/daschle/

Blago in the Congo

2009-04-15T10:50:00.004-04:00

From today's Chicago Tribune Online.

Impeached former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, recently indicted on Federal corruption charges, has rapidly decended from a legitimiate-newspaper-story corrupt politician, to Access-Hollywood-story Z-list celebrity. Apparently, he is in talks with NBC to appear in an upcoming reality TV show titled, "I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here", which seems to be a Survivor-type show in which celebrities are stuck in a remote jungle and must compete against each other for something or other.

I would like to place a wager right now that Blago ends up with his own talk show and/or reality show in the next couple of years (or, after he is released from federal prison).

Harvard Prof. Develops Weaponized Chocolate

2009-04-10T10:30:00.003-04:00

From today's Chicago Tribune Online.

God help us if the terrorists get their hands on this.

Along with several students, [Harvard engineering professor David] Edwards developed a modified inhaler and settled on using chocolate particles that are 80 to 300 microns—too big to enter the lungs and trigger coughing, he said. The device coats the user's mouth with the taste of chocolate—at less than 1 calorie. Edwards envisions people enjoying Le Whif along with a cup of coffee. But he has a larger vision, as well

. . . of world domination!

Dr. Edwards's plan is to give away the first couple of hits for free, and then "Chocoholics will be able to purchase 24 "whiff" bundles online at the end of the month for about $50, Edwards said. Each "whiff" contains four puffs."

This is priceless:

"We believe really strongly that there's a whole new way of eating—by aerosol," Edwards, 48, said in a phone interview from Paris. "The big picture here is that for thousands of years we've eaten with our hands or, more recently, with chopsticks and forks and things. We're sort of moving on. People have been whiffing [my product] here in Paris for the past few months."

Really? Inhaling our food? That's the next big move in human cultural progress?

Even if inhaled chocolate does not catch on as a popular treat, scientists note that it has great potential for medical and therapeutic uses.

I've sold out.

2009-04-09T14:17:00.003-04:00

You, dear reader, will notice the new advertisements that now appear below each blog post and on the sidebar. This is a little experiment with Google AdSense, which may or may not be permanent, depending on whether or not I make any money. Please, click on the ads and pruchase goods and services from the advertisers.

Harold and Kumar go to White House

2009-04-08T12:15:00.003-04:00

Well, Kumar, at least. From today's cnn.com.

The actor Kal Penn, of the "Harold and Kumar go to White Castle" and "Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay" pot-head comedies, and more recently of the Fox show, "House", has accepted a position as Associate Director of the Office of ~~National Drug Control Policy~~ Public Liaison in the Obama Administration.

Penn is reportedly excited and humbled at this great opportunity for public service, and expects his transition from Hollywood to Washington D.C. to take him on a hilarious romp through Tijuana, the Grand Canyon, Amsterdam, Kabul, and Kennebunkport. And to involve some primo Afghan sh*t.

In related news, President Obama recently signed an executive order exempting all White House staff from pre-employment drug testing.

The Great Fluffy Menace

2009-03-27T16:11:00.005-04:00

From today's Washington Post.

A report from the Centers for Disease Control finds that Americans make almost 87,000 emergency-room visits each year due to falls caused by pets or pet paraphernalia. Something must be done! Won't someone please think of the children!

John McWhorter is So, So Right . . .

2009-03-27T13:54:00.010-04:00

. . . about "diversity" on college campuses, among other things. Here's McWhorter reflecting on the Western Civilization class he teaches at Columbia University:

. . . my year's experience has given no demonstration whatsoever of the benefit of diversity as we are supposed to tacitly understand it: i.e. the presence of black and Latino students alone.

The notion is that brown students are crucial in bringing their insights to class as members of minority groups with certain histories (shorthand for the notion that, say, Koreans and Jews don't count). And to be sure, oppression, injustice, historical legacies and stereotyping have occasionally come up in class. Plato, our first writer, had Socrates' guardians presiding over faceless masses condemned to inherited class levels. Hegel breezily dismissed Africans as backwards.

However, quite regularly, the non-brown students are as quick to bring up the problems with these perspectives as the brown ones. On the Hegel position for instance, the students most vocally offended were the Russian immigrants' son and a Jewish daughter of academic parents.

[snip]

. . . I shudder to imagine objectifying my black students by focusing attention on them when we discussed W.E.B. Du Bois. It's also instructive to imagine asking a middle-class black student precisely what "diversity" she brings to a campus -- as opposed to a Mormon, a lesbian, or someone who raises clams as a hobby.

On some level, anyone knows that there is no "diverse" perspective on irregular verbs, systolic pressure, the Franco-Prussian War, or the vast bulk of what a liberal arts education consists of. However, public discussion of racial preferences is infected with memes such as that it has been "proven" that in some occult way, diversity improves a college education anyway.

[snip]

The whole notion of the "black" perspective in my class falls apart the closer you look. Only one is a "native" black American. One is the child of African parents, and is more "diverse" amidst the class in his Christian faith and double life as a campus athlete (along with the seven-foot white Catholic). Two have a white parent, but of them, one is so light-skinned that you would only know she was black upon her telling you, which refracts her experience as a "black" person considerably. Is this still an interesting "diversity of black experiences"? Perhaps, but what does it have to do with engaging with Thomas Aquinas' proofs of the existence of God?

And meanwhile, certainly the most consistently and usefully "diverse" opinions and observations in the class have come from the Orthodox Jew, who firmly believes that the Old Testament is prophecy from on high, is fluent in Hebrew, and is part of a culture more distinct from mainstream America's than any culture evinced by my brown students.

Brings me back to my English-major college days, where there was incessant talk of the Black, or Latino, or Woman's perspective on some text. A wannabe liberal intellectual, I tried mightily to strike a knowing posture, but was perpetually confused. (Is there a Latino perspective on Thoreau's Walden?) Wondering whether my own perspective was worthy of academic discussion, I once had the naive gall to ask aloud in class, "is there a male, Christian, blue-collar, Indian-Italian-American perspective on this?" The professor looked at me quizzically.

But that's kinda' the point: the whole diversity meme tends toward absurdity when we look at real diversity, i.e., individual qualities, experience, etc. Should the male, Christian, blue-collar, Indian-Italian-American experience get special consideration in college admissions? We are, after all, woefully underrepresented on most campuses. Should we have academic departments devoted our history and culture? It's silly enough to make you run intellectually in the other direction: toward focusing on the universal qualities and experiences that make humans human; toward understanding and evaluating people not in terms of their color, but in terms of their humanness. Wait, someone already said that.

(HT: CrunchyCon)

Love those online quizzes?

2009-03-26T11:10:00.003-04:00

From today's NY Times Online.

Just a reminder that someone, somehow is making money on all of the "free" stuff on the interenet.

Online Age Quiz Is a Window for Drug Makers

By STEPHANIE CLIFFORD

Americans yearn to be young. So it is little wonder that RealAge, which promises to help shave years off your age, has become one of the most popular tests on the Internet.

According to RealAge, more than 27 million people have taken the test, which asks 150 or so questions about lifestyle and family history to assign a “biological age,” how young or old your habits make you. Then, RealAge makes recommendations on how to get “younger,” like taking multivitamins, eating breakfast and flossing your teeth. Nine million of those people have signed up to become RealAge members.

But while RealAge promotes better living through nonmedical solutions, the site makes its money by selling better living through drugs.

Pharmaceutical companies pay RealAge to compile test results of RealAge members and send them marketing messages by e-mail. The drug companies can even use RealAge answers to find people who show symptoms of a disease — and begin sending them messages about it even before the people have received a diagnosis from their doctors.

While few people would fill out a detailed questionnaire about their health and hand it over to a drug company looking for suggestions for new medications, that is essentially what RealAge is doing.

[snip]

RealAge allows drug companies to send e-mail messages based on those test results. It acts as a clearinghouse for drug companies, includingPfizer, Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline, allowing them to use almost any combination of answers from the test to find people to market to, including whether someone is taking antidepressants, how sexually active they are and even if their marriage is happy.

RealAge sends the selected recipients a series of e-mail messages about a condition they might have, usually sponsored by a drug company that sells a medication for that condition. . . . .

"The Way to Hell"

2009-03-25T10:45:00.002-04:00

From today's NY Times Online.

I don't yet have a strong opinion one way or the other on our Government's mind-bogglingly enormous intervention into the economy (primarily large banks). Apparently the EU PM does.

Transatlantic tension over the handling of the global economic crisis intensified on Wednesday when the prime minister of the Czech Republic, which holds the European Union presidency, described the U. S. stimulus measures as the “way to hell.”

Addressing the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek argued that the Obama administration’s fiscal package and financial bailout “will undermine the stability of the global financial market.”

[snip]

While Mr. Obama in recent weeks has pleaded with European partners to stimulate the economy, countries including the Czech Republic that endured decades of Communism are deeply suspicion [sic] of state intervention.

That last part stuck with me. Should we pay close attention to the warnings of leaders whose nations have experienced outright government ownership and control of industry? Seriously, I'm asking.

The "25 Things" Moment

2009-02-05T15:00:00.004-05:00

It's official, the United States of Facebook has been blindsided by the "25 Things" juggernaut. So says Claire Suddath in Time Magazine online. I had noticed in the last few days the scores of my virtual friends, or virtual friends of virtual friends, had posted a "25 Things About Me" note to their Facebook profiles. Apparently, Ms. Suddath reports,

An estimated 5 million of these notes — that's 125 million facts — have appeared on the website within the past week. Assuming it takes someone 10 minutes to come up with their list, this recent bout of viral narcissism has sent roughly 800,000 hours of worktime productivity down the drain.

Five million! That's something. Kudos to whomever got this ball rolling. But I fear that the lost productivity is far greater than the 800k hours Ms. Suddath estimates. I don't know about you, but it took me quite a bit longer than 10 minutes to think up 25 factoids impersonal enough for the social-networking-site medium but still interesting and clever enough to prompt my "friends" to read. I'm not sure if I succeeded.

Obama says he "screwed up" on Daschle, but what about Geithner?

2009-02-04T10:44:00.002-05:00

From today's CNN.com.

Whether you voted for him or not, you've got to respect this:

President Barack Obama on Tuesday admitted he made a mistake in handling the nomination of Tom Daschle as his health and human services secretary, saying Daschle's tax problems sent a message that the politically powerful are treated differently from average people.

[snip]
"I think I screwed up," Obama said in a wide-ranging interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper.
"And I take responsibility for it and we're going to make sure we fix it so it doesn't happen again."
Daschle had apologized Monday for what he said were honest mistakes, calling them an embarrassment. The series of errors included improperly reporting $15,000 in charitable donations, failing to list $80,000 in lobbying income due to what Daschle said was a paperwork error, and not reporting as income a car and driver loaned to him by a friend and business associate. [Bottom line: Daschle didn't pay taxes on hundreds of thousands of dollars in income.]
[snip]
"Ultimately, I campaigned on changing Washington and bottom-up politics," Obama said. "And I don't want to send a message to the American people that there are two sets of standards -- one for powerful people and one for ordinary folks who are working every day and paying their taxes."

Can I get a witness from the congregation! This is good stuff, really. It's refreshing to hear the President admit a mistake. But there's one little problem: newly confirmed Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, another multi-millionaire who failed to pay taxes on hundreds of thousands of dollars of income. Today's NRO breaks it down:

Daschle’s negligence was gross, particularly for a party and an administration that have celebrated prostration before the taxman as a “patriotic duty.” But Daschle’s offenses, galling as they may be, are exceeded by those of Geithner. Indeed, of all the tax transgressions touching Obama’s circle, Geithner’s are the worst.

Not only did Geithner neglect to pay his taxes, he turned a buck by doing so—accepting payments from his employer for the very purpose of offsetting those taxes. When he took the money, he signed a statement promising to pay the taxes and then ignored his obligations—for years. Protected by a statute of limitations, he did not pay his 2001–02 taxes until his nomination made them a public issue.

Not funny this time

2009-02-02T01:36:00.002-05:00

Ok, I might have given SNL a pass on its previous Gov. Paterson send-up, because, well, it was kinda' funny. Not so this week. It was an awful, unfunny skit in the midst of one of the worst SNL episode's I've ever seen. Watch for yourself.

Panera's new coffee

2009-01-30T11:04:00.003-05:00

File under: That's what I've been saying all along.

Apparently Panera has gotten the hint that, despite its excellent fast-food (or, fast-casual as they call it) options, its coffee is sub-par. The Chicago Tribune's "The Stew" Blog reports that Panera has stepped up its coffee game to compete with Starbucks.

Like a lot of people who enjoy eating breakfast at Panera Bread restaurants, I used to tote in my coffee from Starbucks. It baffled me that Panera would pay such close attention to food quality and still produce such a lousy cup of Joe. Those days appear to be over
The fast casual chain has launched its new and improved coffee campaign after working with an expert coffee supplier to revamp its coffee lineup with fine Costa Rican and Colombian beans. They are also filtering all of their coffee water, according to the company. . . .
While Starbuck's proudly says it brews its coffees every 30 minutes, Panera is now posting the brewing times on the front of its urns and changing them every hour.

Decent beans, filtered water, and not sitting on a burner or in an air pot for an hour-plus are absolutely key. Starbucks is not, of course, the gold standard, but, c'mon, it's the best fast-food coffee there is. I'll have to check out Panera's new joe and report back.

Finally, some D&C love for Finney B-Ball

2009-01-29T13:55:00.001-05:00

If you didn't see it, check out what (someone correct me) is the first D&C article of the almost-finished season on the undefeated Finney boys' basketball team.

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss?

2009-01-21T23:19:00.005-05:00

File under: That's what I've been saying all along.

Ok so, apparently everyone has picked up on the remarkable similarities between some of President Obama's inaugural speech rhetoric, and former President Bush's much maligned stances on foreign affairs.

Check out this from the the Daily Show. (HT: Rod Dreher)

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Changefest '09 - Obama's Inaugural Speech

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

It's not, of course, that the two presidents do not have fundamental differences--I think it's clear that they do--rather, it's that both parties seem to subscribe to a certain popularly held paradigm regarding America's role in the world. I don't have the foreign affairs vocabulary to thoroughly understand or discuss this, but Daniel Larison does.

Update: I just came across this WSJ column on Obama and the Neo-cons by the Witherspoon Institute's Gabriel Schoenfeld. Here's the opening:

"Neoconservative" and "neocon" have become terms of abuse, denoting right-wing extremism. But the original neoconservatives began mostly as left-leaning intellectuals who only deserted the Democratic Party after it fell under the influence of the counterculture during the Vietnam War. With Barack Obama about to become president, is there any chance neoconservatives will finally return to the roost?

Execute, er . . .faithfully . . .so help me. . .niner

2009-01-20T16:21:00.005-05:00

I didn't want to blow up anyone's spot on this historic day, but since the NY Times's Adam Liptak already did, I'll chime in, too. Did anyone else catch President Obama's and Chief Justice Roberts's game of verbal hot potato with the Oath of Office? No harm no foul--chalk it up to rookie nerves on both men's parts.

No doubt some nutjob will make a federal case over this.

Update (Wed 1/21): Chief Justice Roberts stopped by the White House today and they did it over.

R.I.P. Fr. Neuhaus

2009-01-09T00:24:00.003-05:00

Perhaps I should not feel as sad as I do about the passing of Richard John Neuhaus, Editor in Chief of First Things, never having had the pleasure of meeting him. First Things has profoundly shaped my understanding of religion, politics, and culture, and Fr. Neuhaus's lucid, witty style has impacted my own writing. He will be sorely missed.

Scores of bloggers who knew Fr. Neuhaus have paid tribute. Here's a snippet from Jody Bottum's brief, eloquent announcement which I read upon my daily morning visit to the First Things "On the Square Blog".

My tears are not for him—for he knew, all his life, that his Redeemer lives, and he has now been gathered by the Lord in whom he trusted.
I weep, rather, for all the rest of us. As a priest, as a writer, as a public leader in so many struggles, and as a friend, no one can take his place. The fabric of life has been torn by his death, and it will not be repaired, for those of us who knew him, until that time when everything is mended and all our tears are wiped away.

Here's a timely thought from Fr. Neuhaus's book, Death on a Friday Afternoon (by way of Rod Dreher, by way of Ramesh Ponnuru).

When I come before the judgment throne, I will plead the promise of God in the shed blood of Jesus Christ. I will not plead any work that I have done, although I will thank God that he has enabled me to do some good. I will plead no merits other than the merits of Christ, knowing that the merits of Mary and the saints are all from him; and for their company, their example, and their prayers throughout my earthly life I will give everlasting thanks. I will not plead that I had faith, for sometimes I was unsure of my faith, and in any event that would be to turn faith into a meritorious work of my own. I will not plead that I held the correct understanding of "justification by faith alone," although I will thank God that he led me to know ever more fully the great truth that much misunderstood formulation was intended to protect. Whatever little growth in holiness I have experienced, whatever strength I have received from the company of the saints, whatever understanding I have attained of God and his ways—these and all other gifts I have received I will bring gratefully to the throne. But in seeking entry to that heavenly kingdom, I will, with Dysmas, look to Christ and Christ alone.
Then I hope to hear him say, "Today you will be with me in paradise," as I hope with all my being—because, although looking to him alone, I am not alone—he will say to all.

Rest in peace, Father Neuhaus.

Props to Finney Basketball

2009-01-06T12:41:00.004-05:00

Let me give some love to my alma mater. The Finney boys' basketball team is 11-0 so far this season, with an average 40-plus point margin of victory. The NY Sportswriters' Association ranks the Falcons third in the state among Class D schools. Over half the Falcons' wins are against larger schools (Greece Odyssey (B2), Leroy (B2), Sodus (B2), Byron-Bergen (C1)). Here's the breakdown from the D&C:

11/29 5 pm	Lima Christian	@ Lima Christian	73 - 37 W
12/01 7:30 pm	Sodus	Home	73 - 35 W
12/05 5 pm	Webster Christian	@ Webster Christian	78 - 35 W
12/08 7:30 pm	Greece Odyssey	@ Greece Odyssey	80 - 50 W
12/09 6 pm	Wheatland Chili	@ Wheatland Chili	90 - 39 W
12/12 5 pm	Lima Christian	Home	89 - 46 W
12/15 4:30 pm	Houghton	@ Houghton	71 - 41 W
12/29 6 pm	Byron-Bergen	@ Byron-Bergen	93 - 47 W
12/30 2 pm	Le Roy	@ Le Roy	76 - 45 W
01/05 7:30 pm	Sodus	@ Sodus	81 - 34 W

Notice, too, that eight of those wins were on the road. (Perhaps a bit of schedule maneuvering by Coach Marchand to give the school time to install the new bleachers.)

Post-holiday detox diet

2008-12-29T01:32:00.005-05:00

I don’t know about you, but a month-plus of holiday parties, big family dinners, and way, way too many sweets, cocktails, and such, leaves my digestive tract feeling like the Mississippi delta after a hurricane. A few years ago I devised an after-holiday diet, which I imagined would dredge my innards of the sediment left from of weeks of holiday feasting.

It turned out that my homemade diet worked wonders. I had increased energy, no acid reflux, and my plumbing kept on schedule better than Amtrak. I’ve dubbed this regime my “semi-annual detox diet” (semi-annual because I do it mid-summer, too). The first time I did it for two weeks. In subsequent attempts, I worked my way up to four. I would highly recommend starting with two weeks, even though you may want to throw in the towel after just a few days.

(Disclaimer: It goes without saying that I am not a medical professional and this is not medical advice. This comes from common sense, haphazard internet research, and personal experience.)

Here are the basics:

I. Try to eat proper portions at each meal, and a proper amount throughout the day. Here's how I figure this out:

(1) I calculate my Basal Metabolic Rate, which is the amount of energy (in calories) one’s body expends simply by being alive. The figure is higher than you might think: mine is around 2500 cals. per day; higher when I account for exercise. BMR calculators are available on various websites. (Here’s one that seems to work pretty well.) One’s BMR depends on age, sex, height, and weight. The calculator to which I’ve linked allows you to adjust for your level of physical activity (e.g. a stonemason likely burns more calories in a day just by virtue of the physical nature of his or her job than does, say, a secretary).

(2) Then, I simply read the nutrition information on food packages. If I’m eating something that doesn’t have the standard nutrition label, I look it up on nutritiondata.com. I add up the calories throughout the day to reach my exercise-adjusted BMR.

This is not a precise science (well, not for me at least). I do my best to consume something close to the number of calories that my body burns each day.

II.         Eat things that are good for you and are friendly to your digestive system. I start with a more-or-less vegan diet (no animal products such as meats, cheese, eggs, milk, butter, etc.). I don’t go nuts finding breads and such with absolutely no animal-derived ingredients, but I don’t eat egg McMuffins or chicken-fried steak either. I know for some people, this is a deal-breaker (even for just a week or two). Bear with me, though, it gets better (or, maybe, worse).  In addition to no animal products, I consume virtually no:

(1)        White (high-starch, low fiber) grain products (i.e. white bread, white pastas, white rice, potatoes, and such)

(2)        Foods with added sugars (e.g. soda, candy, pastries, etc); nor do I add sugar to any food (e.g. no sugar on the grapefruit or cornflakes).  No fruit juices either--they're all sugar. Eat a piece of fresh fruit instead.

(3)     Highly processed foods (e.g. canned vegetables, commercial baked goods, etc.).  This includes any food with “trans fat” (hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oil).
(4)        Fried foods (deep-fried vegetables, French fries, etc.)

(5)        Alcohol (wine, beer, etc.)

(6)   Caffeine (e.g. coffee, soda).  But I do drink green tea, with no added sugar or honey.
(7)        Tobacco products or other drugs. (Of course, please keep taking any medicines prescribed by your doctor.)

There is certainly nothing wrong with many of these things, and I am not suggesting that one ought to permanently give them up. Just for two weeks. And, in any event, I'm not absolutely draconian about the rules.

What, you ask, do I eat?

(1)        Whole-grain or otherwise high-nutrition carbohydrates like whole-wheat bread (the first ingredient should be “whole grain wheat” not “enriched wheat flour”); whole-grain pasta, brown rice, quinoa, sweet potatoes, bran flakes, shredded wheat, oatmeal, etc.

(2)        Fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables.

(3)        Beans and other legumes (lentils, black beans, garbanzo beans, etc.)

(4)        Nuts and nut products including natural, no-sugar-added peanut butter. (Read the label to make sure there’s no partially hydrogenated oil.) In principle, jellies and jams are out under the no-added-sugars rule, but I do cheat with all-fruit jams. But sorry Kobe, Nutella is out because it has lots of added sugar.

(5)        Veggie burgers and tofu.

(6)        Soy milk (I like Silk’s vanilla soymilk, which does have added sugar, but less than regular milk.)

(7)        Dried fruits

(8)   Healthful margarines, like Smart Balance.

(9)        Green, white, and herbal teas.

(10)      Plenty of water. This is important: drink plenty of water. I would aim for eight eight-ounce glasses per day, which is recommended by popular wisdom, but not necessarily by science. (Check out the link above.)
(11) I may add yogurt to my diet this year, as I understand it aids digestion (so long as it has "live and active cultures").
(12)      I also take a daily multivitamin for good measure.

It’s important to get a balance of all of these things, especially the beans, nuts, veggie burgers, tofu, etc., in order to get enough protein and other nutrients.

III. Last, but not least, exercise: I try to get at least a half-hour of some kind of exercise each day, even if it's shoveling snow or taking a walk over my lunch break.

I should emphasize that the purpose of this diet is not weight-loss, and the dietary restrictions are not for the purpose of reducing calories. The main purpose is really to make your body feel better. That said, it makes sense that after weeks of overeating, healthy food in proper portions along with mild exercise might result in weight loss.

I’m not gonna’ lie: the first week is tough. I feel hungry all the time and no coffee makes for some zombie-like mornings. I crave all of the delicious foods from which I am abstaining: nachos, burgers, beer . . . coffee! The second week is usually much easier, in part because my tastes change. I start to truly enjoy black-bean and brown-rice burritos on whole-wheat tortillas (with no cheese or sour cream). I start to look forward to an apple for dessert rather than a slice of pie. I don't desire fatty, sugary food anymore. Instead, I really start to get a hankering for fresh vegetables. In the past, when I've stopped the diet, it takes another couple of weeks to really enjoy unhealthy (albeit delicious) food again. In retrospect, I’m not sure why I ever went off the diet.

I'm going to do this for at least two weeks, tentatively starting next week. Give it a try for two weeks; I promise--no, I guarantee--you will not regret it.

Hooking up is the new dating

2008-12-17T11:00:00.003-05:00

So says NY Times columnist Charles Blow. He defines "hooking up" as "a casual sexual encounter with no expectation of future emotional commitment. . . . a one-night stand with someone you know."

"Under the old model" Blow explains, "you dated a few times and, if you really liked the person, you might consider having sex. Under the new model, you hook up a few times and, if you really like the person, you might consider going on a date."

Mr. Blow cites Sociology professor, and apparent hooking-up expert, Kathleen Bogle on the "pros and cons" of the hook-up culture.

Pros: "hooking up emphasizes group friendships over the one-pair model of dating, and, therefore, removes the negative stigma from those who can’t get a date. As she put it, “It used to be that if you couldn’t get a date, you were a loser.” Now, she said, you just hang out with your friends and hope that something [read: sex] happens."

Casual sex among friends emphasizes group friendships? Huh? And, is "getting a date" (e.g., to the prom) the same as dating someone? Is there a negative stigma attached to not dating? And if so, who is applying it and why does their opinion matter?

"The cons" says Prof. Bogle "center on the issues of gender inequity. Girls get tired of hooking up because they want it to lead to a relationship (the guys don’t), and, as they get older, they start to realize that it’s not a good way to find a spouse. Also, there’s an increased likelihood of sexual assaults because hooking up is often fueled by alcohol."

That's it? Those are the cons? That short string of non-sequiturs represents the best arguments against sexual promiscuity? I'll forgive overlooking the spiritual aspect of sex, but even the most modern, sophisticated person can recognize the profound psychological and emotional connections that sexual intimacy entails—whether or not either party wants or is cognizant of them. What about unplanned pregnancies or sexually transmitted diseases? Gender inequity? Puh-lease.

I must have missed a memo. Am I so square as to think that most people, even, perhaps especially, young people , still are interested in finding someone to love for life—a husband or wife—and that ideally (even if not in practice) that's the person with whom we want to share sexual intimacy? Well, am I?

Don't get me wrong: although I unashamedly believe that sex ought to be reserved for marriage, I understand well enough that that norm is no longer the norm. I guess I assumed that for most people, dating relationships, especially sexually intimate ones, are a form of marriage-lite: semi-committed, monogamous relationships open to the possibility, however distant, of marriage. No one goes into a romantic relationship thinking, "I sure hope this will be over in a few weeks." Do they? Do people really hop in the sack thinking, "Hopefully, my partner is having lots of casual, no-strings-attached sex with lots of other people"? I'm asking, seriously.

Perhaps Mr. Blow is right and the Gossip Girl crowd is larger than I thought, but I hope that our collective moral consciousness can come up with better responses to the hook-up culture than he does.

Review: The Truth About You

2008-12-16T17:38:00.006-05:00

I recently came into a little book-review gig for Thomas Nelson publishers. The first book I received is The Truth About You: Your Secret to Success by the English motivational speaker Marcus Buckingham, which is more of an activity pack than a book. It's a stylishly packaged self-help DVD with a 109-page "interactive" booklet that closely parallels the video, verbatim at many points--more like liner notes than than a "book"--and a pocket-sized "ReMemo" pad for completing the tasks Mr. Buckingham assigns. I'll admit that I'm not well steeped in the personal-improvement genre, although having read weightier, well-researched works like Mihaly Csikszentmihaly's Flow, and Steven Covey's The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People, I intially rolled my eyes at The Truth About You. Its form-over-function packaging, music-video production qualities, and, well, the memo pad for Chrissake! (It made me think of those chintzy executive-style tool kits that Brookstone sells to people who do not use tools.) All of that said, The Truth About You has its strengths (and strengths, after all, is what it's all about).

Firstly, Marcus Buckingham is no self-help hack, he's got a legit resume: a Cambridge M.A., several books published by major publishing houses, Fortune 500 clients, and a State Department committee membership.

Secondly, the book's core argument is novel and refreshing: we all have inherent strengths and weaknesses. We ought to focus primarily on developing our strengths, rather than on attempting to improve upon weaknesses that we will likely never overcome. We are the most happy, engaged, and productive when using our strengths; frustrated and tired when operating in our weaknesses. Sounds simple enough, but this is groundbreaking stuff to someone, like me, who has been taught that well-roundedness is the gold standard.

Thirdly, the interactive, short-form approach is probably perfect for people with less time on their hands than I seem to have. You can watch the entire DVD, which includes a twenty-minute video and several shorter video snippets available only via a computer DVD-ROM player, on your lunch break. (Beware, however, the "Enhanced Content" was not accessible via my Dell's DVD-playing software, I had to run the disk from the DVD drive icon in "my computer".) The booklet can be skimmed in a half-hour. And the exercises take only as long as you let them.

The Truth About You might make a nice little stocking stuffer for high-school or college students, middle management types, or that friend who is always complaining about his job. It'll certainly be better than another desk ornament from Brookstone!

Can they do that on TV? SNL skewers Gov. Paterson.

2008-12-15T10:54:00.005-05:00

Last Saturday's SNL was one of the funniest in a long time. However, this Weekend Update segment featuring Fred Armisen impersonating Gov. Paterson was over the line.

Apparently, Gov. Paterson agrees.

Won't someone please think of the children?!

2008-12-12T12:43:00.006-05:00

I blogged previously about the recession's tragic impact on affluent parents. Now the Newspaper of Record relays the woeful tale of upper-middle-class teenagers reduced to the ranks of common servants.

Jodi Hamilton began her senior year of high school in
Woodcliff Lake, N.J. this fall on the usual prosperous footing. Her parents were providing a weekly allowance of $100 and paying for private Pilates classes, as well as a physics tutor who reported once a week to their 4,000-square-foot home.

But in October, Jodi’s mother lost her lucrative job . . . landing in one . . . that requires more hours for less money. Pilates was dropped, along with takeout sushi dinners,and Jodi’s allowance, which covers lunch during the week, slipped to $60. Instead of having a tutor, Jodi has become a tutor, earning $150 a week through that and baby-sitting.

So heartbreaking. And this may be just the tip of the iceberg.

It is impossible to quantify how many affluent parents have trimmed allowances in recent months — or how many of their offspring, in turn, have sought either formal employment or odd jobs. But interviews with dozens of teenagers, parents, educators and employers suggest that many youngsters from well-to-do families seem to have found a new work ethic as the economic crisis that has pummeled their family stock portfolios and jeopardized their parents’ jobs has also led to less spending money for Saturday night movies or binges at Abercrombie & Fitch.

The effects of this trend are unknown, as Science suggests that rich kids aren't used to working.

“Research shows that the bigger allowance you get from mom and dad,” explained Andrew M. Sum, director of Northeastern [University's] center [for Labor Market Studies], “the less likely you are to work.”

In a related story, between 12 and 50 million children under age 14 currently work in India, earning about 20 cents per hour.

Seven-hundred, fifty, miiiilion dollars, muahahahaha

2008-12-05T10:55:00.004-05:00

Early last month, I noted that the Obama campaign had raised an unprecedented $600m in campaign contributions. The NY Times today reports that new FEC filings by the Obama campaign reveal that it raised a total of $750m -- that's right, three-quarters of a billion dollars -- as of Nov. 24. That's more than was raised by every other candidate combined.

Obama spent $136 million in the final weeks of the campaign, compared to the $26.5 million spent by McCain who, unlike Obama, stood by his pledge to accept and be limited to public financing.

Coming in 2012: The billion dollar campaign.

National Props to Geneseo Basketball

2008-12-04T14:25:00.003-05:00

Scott Morton's diving, last-second, over-the-shoulder bucket beats Oswego and makes ESPN's play of the day.

Black friday spending perhaps not so insane after all

2008-12-02T14:11:00.004-05:00

My glass-is-half-full hypothesis might just be right. Jim Manzi at The American Scene breaks it down:

[Aside from retailers' deep discounts] there are other problems with even taking the top line sales numbers as an indicator of likely good sales growth for the season. First, there are only 27 shopping days in the buying season this year vs. 32 last year, because Thanksgiving is so late. . . . this is a huge difference in that there are about 15% fewer days, so the average day should be a lot higher this year than last to get same aggregate sales for the season. Second, Black Saturday is not as big a shopping day as Black Friday, but it is one of the big days of the season, and it was down vs. last year. Third, e-commerce sales for the four weeks of November through Black Friday actually declined vs. 2007, which is the first time this has ever happened. comScore forecasts flat online sales for 2008 vs. the 2007 season, which would be hard to reconcile with much growth for in-store shopping.
The evidence so far is that this shaping up to be an even worse Christmas shopping season than most informed observers anticipated even a week ago. . . .
On the other hand, according to the guy at the local church where we buy our Christmas trees, he’s selling a lot of trees as people focus on spending time with family. So maybe there’s a silver lining.

Office of the President-Elect?

2008-12-01T00:16:00.005-05:00

I'm a bit late to this, as I have not been watching much news lately. If I had been watching, I would have seen images like this one:

I'm gonna' have to call bulls**t on this whole "Office of the President-Elect" thing. Three things:

(1) Neither I nor anyone else, so far as I can tell, has never heard of such an office. I've been watching presidential elections since Reagan vs. Mondale (yes, I was 6, but still) and have never heard any president-elect refer to "the office" of the president-elect, let alone create a homemade seal.

(2) Obama is not yet the president-elect. He will assume that title when the electoral college elects him on December 15th. I point this out not to detract from his winning the popular election, nor to deny the important work he must do before the 15th, but rather to suggest that he might wait at least until then to create his phony "office."

(3) The president-elect's powers and privileges come from The Presidential Transition Act of 1963. This federal statute makes no mention of an "office" of the president-elect.

Have I missed something? Someone set me straight. Michell Malkin has a much more thorough discussion.

Yet more Black Friday insanity, non-violent this time

2008-11-30T22:10:00.006-05:00

Apparently Black Friday sales were up 3% over last year. This, when unemployment is up, inflation-adjusted real earnings are down, home values are down, health insurance rates are up, food prices are up, the stock market is down, 401k's are down, many people are swimming in credit-card debt, and our entire economy is on the brink of collapse. What gives?

I have a few theories:

(1) Although consumer confidence is low, most people are not feeling the effects of the economic downturn, and are therefore not curbing their spending.

(2) Ironically, people are coping with economic anxiety by shopping, which will in turn cause greater economic anxiety.

(3) Rationality has yielded to bright, warm holiday charm, which will, after the holidays, yield to cold, shivering financial fear.

(4) My glass-is-half-full hypothesis: It might be, after all the holiday sales figures are tabulated that overall spending will be down; i.e., that the Black Friday uptick was a result of people taking advantage of deep Black Friday discounts rather than paying full price for gifts later in the shopping season.

Anyone else have a theory?

More Black Friday insanity

2008-11-28T16:44:00.005-05:00

This just in from the LA Times: two people were killed by gunfire today in an LA-area Toys 'R' Us store.

The violence erupted on Black Friday, the traditional post-Thanksgiving start of the holiday shopping surge, but accounts of what occurred inside the store were fragmentary or second hand and it was not clear whether it involved any shopping frenzy.

Immediately after the shooting, about 20 people rushed into the World Gym across the street from Toys "R'' Us, the gym's assistant manager Glenn Splain told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

[snip]

"Some people got into a fight," said Splain, who spoke with some of the customers. "One of the guys here thought it was over a toy, but it got louder and louder and then there were gunshots." [Emphasis mine.]

Between NY and LA, three are people dead, not in the midst of food riots or political unrest, but among throngs of well-fed suburbanites clamoring to buy colored plastic junk to give their friends and families for what once was a celebration of the birth of the Prince of Peace. This is what we've come to, America.

Black Friday indeed

2008-11-28T11:22:00.007-05:00

This just in: a 34-year old employee at a Long Island Wal-Mart died this morning after shoppers broke down the store's doors, knocked him to the ground and trampled him. A pregnant woman was also taken to the hospital.

N.Y. Times story here.

Update: Newsday has this:

Shoppers who surged into the store were asked to leave by Wal-Mart workers, some of them crying and visibly upset, said one shopper, Kimberly Cribbs, of Far Rockaway.

Though rumors circulated among the shoppers that someone had been badly injured, people ignored the Wal-Mart workers' requests that they stop shopping, move to the front of the store and exit, Cribbs said.

"They kept shopping. It's not right. They're savages," said Cribbs.

She said she entered the store after the worker was already being attended to by emergency personnel. As people waited, then pushed into the store, she said, "It was chaos."

Another shopper said people were screaming and shoving in line before the opening.

[snip]

"This crowd was out of control," [police detective] Fleming said, characterizing the melee as "utter chaos."

Fleming said an estimated 2,000 people had gathered in line around 5 a.m. as the store was preparing to open.

People in the rear of the line began pushing, cascading the people in the front into the doors, which were knocked off their hinges, Fleming said.

Hundreds of shoppers who then streamed in literally stepped on the worker who later died, Fleming said.

[snip]

Four other Wal-Mart shoppers at the Valley Stream store were taken to hospitals Friday morning. A 28-year-old pregnant woman was taken to a hospital for observation, and three other shoppers suffered minor injuries and were taken to hospitals for treatment, and they were expected to be released.

I wish this story were in The Onion, but it's not funny, because it's true.

The recession's first "victims"

2008-11-26T10:45:00.006-05:00

Here's the NY Times with its old gray finger on the pulse of the financial crisis:

To Buy Children’s Gifts, Mothers Do Without

Come Christmas . . . a gregarious little girl from Safety Harbor, Fla., will receive the play kitchen and the Elmo doll she wants. But her mother . . . will go without the designer jeans she covets this season.
For . . . millions of mothers across the nation, this holiday season is turning into a time of sacrifice. Weathering the first severe economic downturn of their adult lives, these women are discovering that a practice they once indulged without thinking about it, shopping a bit for themselves at the holidays, has to give way to their children’s wish lists.

No designer jeans this Christmas?! Have we really come to that, America? Do we really live in a world where a simple peasant woman can't scrape together a couple of hundred measly dollars to buy a pair of Juicy Couture jeans? Won't someone please do something to help this poor family afford both a mountain of toys and expensive clothes? Ok, I'm done.

This is priceless:

“I want her to be able to look back . . . and say, ‘Even though they were tough times, my mom was still able to give me stuff.’ ”

And isn't giving kids stuff what Christmas is really all about? Isn't a parent's highest call to nurture children into young adults who will look back and say, "my folks really did buy me a lot of stuff." Ok, ok, I'm done.

In a related story, almost 16,000 children died worldwide today from hunger-related causes. Ok, now I'm done.

Give more and spend less this Christmas

2008-11-21T11:25:00.005-05:00

Here's a video from Advent Conspiracy, a Christian organization trying to help us rediscover the true meaning of Christmas by encouraging us to give meaningful, relational, inexpensive gifts, and to donate to charity what we would have spent on more expensive gifts. Looks like someone has been reading my Modest Christmas Proposal. I kid: I blogged about this organization last year, and almost forgot about it until a friend posted the video below on Facebook.

Post-Prop-8 attacks on Christian protesters

2008-11-18T16:22:00.005-05:00

A couple of video clips of pro-Gay-rights protesters assaulting what are apparently peacful Christian activists in California. Shocking. (HT: CrucnchyCon and Evangelical Outpost)

If you didn't make it to the end of the first video, the white-haired man doing most of the shouting, who identified himself as a military veteran, apparently stomps on the cross the old woman was holding, after another protester ripped it from her hand and threw it to the ground. The scene depicted in the second video reportedly involved spit, coffee, alcohol, and urine being thrown at the Christian activists.

There's little use, I think, in expounding upon just how disgusting, frightening, and stupid this kind of behavior is. But there are at least a couple of points to be made: to behave with such rage, such vitriol, such violence -- especially toward individual citizens, not police or military officers, or public officials, but regular people -- simply because they express an opinion, or represent beliefs, opposed to your own is the mark not of enilightenment or moral superiority, but of ignorance and savagery. Who again are the intolerant and narrowminded ones?

To Christians: the question of what is legally protected or politically opportune is entirely separate from what one ought, as a follower of Christ, to do. I'm tired of Christians invoking their legal rights in defense of ostenatatious or antagonistic behavior, as though the Constitution trumps Christ's teachings. Waving signs and crosses, and purposely antagonizaing people is not "speaking the truth in love" and it's not scoring you any points with the Almighty. If you want people to know what, and whom, you stand for, then love them. And pray for them, in private.

This is what we've come to, America.

2008-11-17T10:38:00.006-05:00

Now you can order pizza from the comfort of your couch without having to bother with that cumbersome ol' cell phone.

From the Washington Times.

TiVo, Domino's to let subscribers order through TV
Digital video recording company TiVo Inc. said Monday it is teaming up with Domino's Pizza Inc. to allow subscribers to order pizza for delivery or pick-up from their TV sets.

"This is the first time in history that the 'on-demand' generation will be able to fully experience couch commerce by ordering pizza directly through their television set," said Rob Weisberg, vice president of precision and print marketing at Domino's.

Weisberg said TV watchers will see an ad for Domino's and will be able to click "I want it" from their TV remote. In about 30 minutes, the pizza will be at the door, he said.

In what is being dubbed "couch potato 2.0", analysts project that the TiVo/Domino's partnership could spark a revolution in multi-functional, cross-branded services. Anheuser Busch parent company InBev is reportedly in talks with Sony to develop a new line of plasma televisions with built-in beer dispensers.

"It's really a win-win-win" said InBev CEO Carlos Brito. "The television refrigeration system at once cools the beer and the notoriously hot plasma TVs—a problem Sony's engineers have been trying to solve for years. And, for the customer, no more walking all the way to the kitchen for another cold one."

Following this trend, La-z-boy has teamed up with plumbing manufacturer American Standard to create a recliner/commode, and Johnson & Johnson recently announced plans for a new model of its OneTouch Ultra blood glucose monitor that doubles as a universal remote control. "Just think, our customers will be able to check their blood sugar and order Domino's new Oreo Dessert Pizza from the same remote control" said a Johnson & Johnson spokesperson. "It's about making health care accessible, even fun. And it's environmentally friendly, too. Where you used to have two devices, you now have just one. Now that's what I call green living."

Weisberg added "This kind of convergence and synergy is just what our economy needs right now."

A Modest Christmas Proposal

2008-11-14T11:05:00.008-05:00

It seems to me just a touch early to be blogging about Christmas, but the stores have Christmas displays out, Rockefeller Center is erecting its tree today, and my mother mentioned earlier this week that she has already begun shopping. When in Rome, or something.

Here's my proposal to encourage moderation this holiday season, while hopefully offering an opportunity to reflect upon the true meaning of Christmas. It consists of four steps:

(1) Make a holiday gift budget. That is, make a list of everyone for whom you plan to purchase gifts (immediate family, extended family, neighbors, co-workers, etc.) and then assign a dollar amount, or range (e.g. $20, or $50-75) to each person. Keep in mind tax, wrapping, shipping, batteries, etc. Budget for money that you actually have. Do not under any circumstances use credit to purchase the gifts. Tally up the total amount.

(2) Divide that amount into thirds. So, if you plan to spend, say, $300 total on Christmas gifts (an arbitrary figure for ease of calculation; I'm sure some of you will spend far less, and many will spend far more) divide that figure into three $100 "piles".

OK, now everyone sit down and take a deep breath.

(3) Take one third -- one of the three piles -- and put it into your savings account, 529 plan, 401(k), etc. Alternatively, use it to pay down debt. (What better way to start the new year than by being a bit ahead on a credit card or car loan?)

Then give one third to charity. Do this in addition to any donations you regularly make to charity (e.g., weekly tithe, public-radio pledge, etc.). What better way to express the meaning of Christmas than to give a chunk of your Christmas-gift money to those who really need it, like your local food bank, homeless shelter, or the family in your neighborhood or church who has fallen on hard times?

Use the remaining third to buy Christmas gifts. This means that you will have to revise your original budget by either reducing the per-person dollar amount by two-thirds, or removing some people from the list, or both. (I'm sure I've already lost some of you as your eyes roll upward away from the screen, but please read on.)

(4) Finally, let others know that you're doing this. (Send them a link to this blog.) Why? Well, firstly, so that they will join in. Secondly, because it will alter their expectations and make it less stressful for us to give one another fewer and less-expensive gifts.

My hunch is that we spend so much on gifts not because we have lots of extra cash (I certainly don't), or because spending so much will really bless our friends and families with beautiful, meaningful gifts. (What, after all, is so meaningful about a flat-panel television or an X-Box?) We do it because we sense (correctly or not) that it is what is done, what is expected. We imagine that others are lavishing their friends and family members with hundreds or thousands of dollars worth of of gifts. We imagine that our friends and family will give us expensive gifts, and cannot bear the embarrassment of not reciprocating in kind. And, often enough neither party really wants or was expecting the gift. (How many fondue sets, waffle makers, neckties, computer gadgets, etc. have you returned, re-gifted, ebayed, or stuck in the back of a closet? How many of the coolest, latest toys end up broken on the floor of the kids' room, or lost at the bottom of the toy box?)

We all pay lip service to the "true meaning of Christmas", which is not, of course, about the presents. Right? Let's put our money where our mouths are. If what you really want to do is express your love, friendship, and goodwill toward others, then do that. Write a heartfelt note or poem; give them your copy of a book or CD that you find particularly meaningful; bake their favorite pie, in the new pie pan that you know they've been wanting; give them a gift certificate to their favorite restaurant and an IOU to watch the kids; take them to see a movie or concert, where you can share the experience. This year, let's substitute thoughtfulness, time, and creativity for dollars. In doing so, we'll learn why it is truly more blessed to give than to receive.

I'm going to follow my own proposal this year. I hope some of you will join me. Even if you don't, don't be surprised when you find a worn copy of The Hobbit, or an Anjan-original painting under the tree.

McCain Girl's experiment in liberal inclusiveness

2008-11-13T15:22:00.007-05:00

Today's Chicago Tribune has a great story about a Chicago-area eighth-grader's brilliant little experiment in toleration:

Catherine Vogt . . . the daughter of a liberal mom and a conservative dad, wanted to conduct an experiment in political tolerance and diversity of opinion at her school in the liberal suburb of Oak Park.

She noticed that [her classmates] overwhelmingly supported Barack Obama . . . His campaign kept preaching "inclusion," and she decided to see how included she could be.

Just before the election, Ms. Vogt, in cooperation with her history teacher, came to school wearing a t-shirt bearing the phrase "McCain Girl" written in red marker across the chest, and recorded students' and teachers' reactions.

"I was just really curious how they'd react to something that different, because a lot of people at my school wore Obama shirts and they are big Obama supporters," Catherine told us. "I just really wanted to see what their reaction would be."

Immediately, Catherine learned she was stupid for wearing a shirt with Republican John McCain's name. Not merely stupid. Very stupid.

"People were upset. But they started saying things, calling me very stupid, telling me my shirt was stupid and I shouldn't be wearing it," Catherine said.

Then it got worse.

"One person told me to go die. It was a lot of dying. A lot of comments about how I should be killed," Catherine said, of the tolerance in Oak Park.

But students weren't the only ones surprised that she wore a shirt supporting McCain.

"In one class, I had one teacher say she will not judge me for my choice, but that she was surprised that I supported McCain," Catherine said.

It gets even worse. Read the rest of the article. And, don't kid yourself that liberal inclusion/toleration doublespeak is restricted to middle-schoolers. To wit, Scott Eckern, the artistic director of a major California theater was apparently forced from his job this week after activists uncovered his support for Proposition 8 (to amend the state constitution to permit marriages only between a man and a woman). (N.Y. Times article here.)

New Study: College students don't do homework and still get A's

2008-11-11T17:30:00.001-05:00

From yesterday's USA Today.

A recent poll of college undergraduates indicates that a significant proportion of college students are regularly unprepared for class, but still manage to get A's.

"Nearly one in five college seniors and 25% of freshmen say they frequently come to class without completing readings or assignments, a national survey shows. And many of those students say they mostly still get A's."

These findings shouldn't surprise anyone who has taught at or attended a college recently, or spent much time talking with someone who has. My gut sense is that those figures are far lower than they should be, assuming that students will under-report an undesireable quality such as unpreparedness/lazyness.

The study also found that students report spending about 3.5 hours per week preparing for each class, about half what instructors expect from a typical student. Well, that's half of what professors might desire, but probably double what they actually expect.

Ok, ok: there are no doubt many very bright, conscientious, disciplined students who put in the time and effort warranted by college courses. And, there are lots of excellent schools where most students cannot get away with "phoning it in" week after week. That said, the really good students and really good schools are, I fear, becoming a minority in an education culture where actual teaching and learning is giving way bit-by-bit to a ritual of going through the motions of what looks like teaching and learning.

Why go to the library when there's the internet? Why read the book when there's Sparknotes? Why struggle with primary sources when there are textbooks with lots of pictures and bold-face print? Why lecture and discuss when there are videos and powerpoint slides supplied by the textbook publisher? Why actually go to college when you can "earn your degree online in as few as 13 months!"?) And why, after all, do the hard work of mastering a subject and developing powers of critical thought, when the real goal is to get a credential that will supposedly up your earning income and social status?

Stuff White People Like: Pretending to be multi-lingual

2008-11-11T07:30:00.000-05:00

If you haven't heard me say it, Stuff White People Like is one of the funniest, cleverest, all-around brilliant blogs out there. From the latest post: #115: Promising to learn a new language:

Since learning a new language is something that most white people fail it, it should be approached with extreme caution. When you hear that a white person say that they speak your native language, you will probably think it’s a good idea to start talking to them in said language. WRONG! Instead you should say something like “you speak (insert language)?” to which they will reply “a little” in your native tongue. If you just leave it here, the white person will feel fantastic for the rest of the day. If you push it any further and speak quickly, the white person will just look at you with a blank stare. Within a minute you will notice that blank stare has shifted from confusion to contempt. You have shamed them and your chance for friendship is ruined forever.

It's so funny 'cause is so true! Mr. Lander, you are hilarious.

New study: Drivers speed with impunity

2008-11-10T17:30:00.000-05:00

A new study confirms what we already know: everyone speeds without considering safety, but only considering the risk of getting a ticket. From today's N.Y. Times online:

When it comes to speeding, many American motorists don’t worry about safety. They just worry about getting caught.

. . . researchers from Purdue University . . . . found that many drivers are cynical about the safety benefits of driving within speed limits, and many think they can drive safely while speeding as long as they won’t get caught . . .

[snip]

For most drivers, a “safe” speed is typically just beyond the point where they believe they are at risk for getting a ticket.

Notably, getting stopped for speeding didn’t seem to have an effect on whether or not a person speeds again. Both men and women drivers who had been stopped for speeding in the last year were 25 percent more likely to believe that it is safe to drive up to 20 m.p.h. faster than the speed limit, compared to those who hadn’t been ticketed.

For the last couple of years I've been deliberately more cautious about speeding. Specifically, when I set the cruise control, I set it at the speed limit (not at the highest speed I think I can get away with) . When cruise is not on, I try to keep at the speed limit, although I don't always pay close attention. I'm not convinced that there's any great safety benefit to driving the speed limit,versus, say, five or ten mph over, but there is something to slowing down a bit, in life generally. And anyway, the law's the law. Perhaps driving the speed limit is one little way of being faithful in the small things.

California bans school bake sales. Maybe they're on to something.

2008-11-10T12:00:00.002-05:00

From yesterday's N.Y. Times .

The old-fashioned school bake sale, once as American as apple pie, is fast becoming obsolete in California, a result of strict new state nutrition standards for public schools that regulate the types of food that can be sold to students. The guidelines were passed by lawmakers in 2005 and took effect in July 2007. They require that snacks sold during the school day contain no more than 35 percent sugar by weight and derive no more than 35 percent of their calories from fat and no more than 10 percent of their calories from saturated fat.

[snip]

From 500 to 600 school districts nationwide now have policies that limit the amount of fat, trans fats, sodium and sugars in food sold or served at school, with the strictest rules directed at elementary schools . . . The idea is that policy interventions to reduce consumption will do for junk food what smoking bans and taxes did for tobacco.

My first response: Pfff, sounds like California. On second thought, though, this might not be the worst idea in the world. Perhaps an all-out ban is a bit much, but thinking back to my high-school teaching days, I seem to recall that there were bake sales two or three time per week. Students, many of whom would rarely bring a lunch or buy the soggy school lunches, would fill up on brownies, cookies, lemon bars and such. Sometimes the bake sales would include coffee or soda. Caffeine and sugar coarsing through their bloodstreams, students would be hyperactive and inattentive, before becoming near comatose and inattentive. And that's just the short-term effect.

The other good argument against bake sales is that they're highly inefficient, even money-losing, enterprises. Assume a dozen chocolate-chip cookies (from store-bought dough) costs about $4 to make (inlcuding the cost of energy to bake it, but not including the cost of driving to the store to buy the dough). How much can the cookies possibly sell for? Fifty-cents each? Assuming all of the cookies sell (and some are not broken, or eaten on the way to school) net profit is at best $2. That margin shrinks to zero if you have a more costly product. That's a pittance for the time and effort required to go to the store, make the cookies, bring them to school, and man a bake-sale table. Wouldn't it be easier for each cheerleader to just bring in the $4 she would've spent on the cookies, and skip the bake sale entirely?

So, I guess the bottom line is that school bake sales make for poor health education and poor economics education.

Why is the City in the music festival business anyway?

2008-11-09T08:00:00.001-05:00

From Friday's Rochester D&C.

Taxpayers to pick up MusicFest losses

Rochester taxpayers could shell out $120,000 to cover losses of the one-day 2008 MusicFest, under a proposal Mayor Robert Duffy has sent to City Council.

The city already paid Rochester International Jazz Festival LLC $175,000 to produce the MusicFest. However, ticket sales fell well short of projections.

In his request to council, Duffy explained that the budget projected 5,000 festival goers, at $25 per ticket. Instead, the event at PAETEC Park drew 1,100 people, resulting in $28,470 in ticket revenue. The city collected $12,500 from sponsorships and $15,500 from ticket sales net of stadium rental.

Missed Opportunity

2008-11-08T13:00:00.001-05:00

File under: Why didn't I think of that?

Apparently, Nov. 5th editions of major newspapers sold out rapidly, leaving insufficient supply of historic "Obama Wins" newspapers to satisfy the huge demand.

Now, copies of the Nov. 5th N.Y. Times are selling on ebay for $300-plus. Or you can buy a reprint for $14.95 from the N.Y. Times Store. However, when I just now checked the website I received the following error message, "The website is loading slowly due to high activity. Please return later to order if the wait is too long. Don't worry: We have an abundance of Nov. 5 newspapers!"

The paper originally sold for $1.50.

David Brooks on Obama and Real Change

2008-11-08T08:00:00.001-05:00

I didn't vote for Barack Obama, but am cautiously hopeful that he will deliver on his campaign rhetoric of cooperation, unity, and bringing change to Washington. On that note, I share the sentiments of David Brooks in yesterday's N.Y Times:

. . . I’m dreaming of an administration led by Barack Obama . . . which stretches beyond the normal Democratic base. It makes time for moderate voters, suburban voters, rural voters and even people who voted for the other guy.

The administration of my dreams understands where the country is today. Its members know that, as Andrew Kohut of the Pew Research Center put it on “The NewsHour,” “This was an election where the middle asserted itself.” There was “no sign” of a “movement to the left.”

[snip]

They will actually believe in that stuff Obama says about postpartisan politics. That means there won’t just be a few token liberal Republicans in marginal jobs. . . .

The Obama administration of my dreams will insist that Congressional Democrats reinstate bipartisan conference committees. They’ll invite G.O.P. leaders to the White House for real meetings and then re-invite them, even if they give hostile press conferences on the White House driveway.

They’ll do things conservatives disagree with, but they’ll also show that they’re not toadies of the liberal interest groups. They’ll insist on merit pay and preserving No Child Left Behind’s accountability standards, no matter what the teachers’ unions say. They’ll postpone contentious fights on things like card check legislation.

One can dream, at least.

Last night's South Park. Boy, these guys are quick.

2008-11-07T21:37:00.003-05:00

Obama's 11.

The full episode is here: http://www.southparkstudios.com/episodes/207897

Ralph Nader calls Barack Obama "Uncle Tom"

2008-11-05T23:54:00.005-05:00

Yikes! Ralph, what the . . .? No-nonsense, stick-it-to-the-man reformer is one thing, but this . . . whoa. (HT: Avik)

Update: It occurred to me after mentioning this story to a few friends that many people do not know what "Uncle Tom" means. The phrase is a reference to the title character in Harriet Beecher Stowe's 1852 anti-slavery novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin. The term has come to be used as a racial slur that means something like "African American who is too willing to serve white masters and accept his position of inferiority and servitude."

A few thoughts the day after the election

2008-11-05T09:53:00.006-05:00

1. Agree with him or not, like him or not, the election of Barack Obama to the presidency is an immeasurably big deal for our country. May God bless and guide him and our country. Take a moment and reflect.

2. Hopefully conservatives, especially Christian conservatives, will take this opportunity to figure out what our core principles really are. (And they're not enthusiastic, self-righteous support for war, capital punishment, torture, unbridled capitalism, and consumerism.)

3. Barack Obama is one of the smoothest, most powerful and moving orators in politics today (see the snippet from the end of Obama's victory speech below). Republicans: your move.

4. Watch Obama's whole acceptance speech here, or read it here. Take a look at McCain's concession speech in the post below, or read it here. I can only hope that both men mean (and, more importantly, their supporters agree with) what they each said last night.

Best. Concession speech. Ever.

2008-11-05T00:05:00.002-05:00

This is why I like John McCain. God bless him.

A tainted, $600 million victory

2008-11-04T19:04:00.002-05:00

I've been searching for this figure for a couple of weeks, and just heard it on CBS news: Barack Obama's campaign has raised over $600 million, including almost $200 million in the last two months, and $11 million in large donations in the last two weeks. This, after reneging on his pledge to accept (and be limited to) the $85 million in public financing after winning the nomination, a pledge that McCain made good on.

Perhaps all's fair in politics, but if Obama wins the election, it will be due in no small part to a campaign awash in an insane amount of corporate and union cash. One would hope that part of the "change" that Obama stands for is a change in this kind of campaign financing.

Professors don't influence students' political views?

2008-11-04T16:49:00.010-05:00

The N.Y. Times today reports on a new book that argues that college professors have little or no influence on students' political views. Here's a snippet of the article:

Three sets of researchers recently concluded that professors have virtually no impact on the political views and ideology of their students.If there has been a conspiracy among liberal faculty members to influence students, “they’ve done a pretty bad job,” said A. Lee Fritschler, a professor of public policy at George Mason University and an author of the new book “Closed Minds? Politics and Ideology in American Universities” . . .The notion that students are induced to move leftward “is a fantasy,” said Jeremy D. Mayer, another of the book’s authors.

When it comes to shaping a young person’s political views, “it is really hard to change the mind of anyone over 15,” said Mr. Mayer, who did extensive research on faculty and students.“Parents and family are the most important influence,” followed by the news media and peers, he said. “Professors are among the least influential.”

Ok, the last claim makes sense: parents and media are important influences on students' political views. But the claim that 15 year olds -- freshmen and sophomores in high school -- have more-or-less crystallized political views . . . well, have you ever tried to talk to a 15-year-old about politics?

Without reading the book I don't know whom the study sampled or what its methodology looked like, but this barely passes the sniff test. It may be the case that college professors are not overtly proselytizing for a particlar political party or ideology, but they do (hopefully) teach students how to think and what things are worth thinking about. If they are successful in that attempt, students' political views (or at least how they think about issues, and which issues are important to think about) must be affected.

My college professors, who, in a state-university English department in the 90's, were universally left-leaning, did not talk much about politics per se (or, they did talk about politics, because in English departments in the '90s, everything was politics) but they did teach me to think like a postmodernist/deconstructionist/ critical theorist/feminist/cultural constructivist. We talked alot about Foucoult, Chomsky, Marx, Freud, and Derrida. We did not talk about T.S. Eliot (except to note that he was a anti-semitic misogynist and, therefore, not worth reading), Samuel Johnson (except to note that he, like Eliot, was a white male, and thus, not worthy of study), or, say, Tom Wolfe. In one class, we did read a snippet from Coleridge, but only to highlight his silly dead-white-male narrowmindedness.

I was taught to think that there are no absolutes -- about anything. (I was once laughed at/scolded in class for suggesting that there are essential differences between men and women.) I was taught that religion, tradition, law, authority, history, beauty . . . anything that required my assent to something greater than myself, was at best a flimsy, ephemeral, "constructed" thing to be debunked, or at worst a tool of some unnamed power employed for the subjugation of myself and others. To the extent I learned what my teachers taught (and I was a pretty good student), my political views were profoundly shaped.

I grew up in a blue-collar conservative, religious environment. I left college a confused quasi-Marxist liberal. I had learned that all smart people held more or less the same political views and that no thinking person would ever vote Republican. Therefore, I figured, most of the people I looked up to gorwing up must not be all that smart. Certainly not as smart as me and my professors. It was a (liberal) philosophy professor in graduate school who unwittingly prompted my journey away from the dogma of my liberal liberal arts education when he noted that philosophers generally don't take seriously the postmodernist/deconstructionist /critical theorist/feminist/cultural constructivist melange. (Philosophers, he suggested (perhaps self-servingly), are more intellectually careful than English professors.)

My point is that the only way that professors (at least those in the humanities and social sciences) do not affect their students' political views is if their students aren't learning anything. And, if all of a student's professors espouse similar ways of thinking, the student will learn to think the same way. Only the most intellectually robust 21-year old, let alone 15-year old, would be able to resist indoctrination by Ph.D. wielding academics. Maybe that's whom the book studied.

More on third-party voting

2008-11-01T21:02:00.009-04:00

I published my last post also as a facebook note and emailed it to several people. It seems to have touched a nerve. I'm surprised (and appreciative) at the number of responses I've received.

Let me clarify and expand a few points:

1. I am not criticizing either of the current candidates personally. I greatly respect Barack Obama, and do not associate myself with any of the snarky, mean, or downright vitrioloc ad hominem attacks levied against him. That said, I disagree with most of his policy positions. I also respect John McCain--or at least the image of John McCain I once held: experienced, principled, honest, and willing to cooperate. That John McCain seems to have gotten lost a bit during the campaign.

What I am criticizing is the Republican-Democratic monopoly (duopoly?). The two parties define what the issues are, how important or unimportant they are, and what the possible and appropriate responses are. The public is presented with false dichotomies framed by the two parties and the moneyed interests that finance them. (And, don't kid yourself: both parties take lots of money from people who expect something in return).

We tend to view the issues through the lenses provided by the major parties. Worse, we tend to accept wholesale each party's package of issues. For example, I can't find the thread of principle that results in a person supporting militarism, torture, capital punishment, and laissez faire economics, while opposing abortion, big-government, and environmental regulation. Likewise, I don't know why someone who supports abortion, the environment, and entitlement programs, would also necessarily oppose the war, tax-cuts, and school vouchers. What makes both of those people support a trillion-dollar Wall Street bailout?

2. Whether a third-party candidate wins the presidency any time soon, or ever, is beside the point. I am trying to make two points: Firstly, if enough voters -- especially those registered Republican or Democrat -- register their dissatisfaction with the major parties by not voting for them, the major parties will have to pay attention. At the end of the day, politicians need votes. That is one beauty of our political system. Secondly, a robust third party would at least get a "seat at the table." It would get a hand, if even a relatively minor one, in shaping the national political discourse. Isn't it one of our fundamental democratic values that more voices -- or at least the opportunity for more voices -- in the public square are better than fewer? It may well happen, as it has happenned in the past (e.g. the Free-Soil and Bull-Moose parties) that third parties are absorbed into one of the major parties. But (some historian correct me if I am wrong) the major party will necessarily change. Or, it may be the new party that absorbs the old (e.g. the Republican party absorbing a major portion of the dissolved Whig party).

3. If you love your major-party candidate, then by all means vote for him. For my part, I am not 100% on board with either candidate (nor have I been in any presidential election since I started voting).

4. I do not pretend that there is no meaningful difference between the two candidates, or the two parties. McCain and Obama would be very different presidents, with very different policies. That said, five or six states will end up deciding this election. If you live in one of the other 44 or 45 states (or D.C.), where one of the candidates leads by hundreds of thousands or even millions of votes, then your vote for either of the major-party candidates will not affect the outcome. It will also do nothing to effect political change.

5. I hadn't anticipated the those-polls-are-run-by-liberals objection (which I've now heard from several people). To that I simply say: look at the (right-leaning) Rasmussen Reports' predictions and compare them to the (left-leaning) PBS/Newshour predictions. Look at CNN or

RealClearPolitics. All the polls are pointing in the same direction. They could be wrong, as they have been in the past, but it does not appear that there is a left-wing conspiracy to cook the poll numbers.

Cast the only vote that counts

2008-10-31T11:22:00.005-04:00

If you live in a state like mine, where there is virtually no doubt as to which of the two major-party candidates will win the presidential election on Tuesday, I humbly encourage you to join me in casting the only vote that will really count: a vote for a third party. Recent polls show Barak Obama with a 30-plus point lead over John McCain in New York. Obama also has double-digit leads in twelve other states. McCain has double-digit leads in nine states. (See RealClearPolitics's Electoral College Map.)

(For a primer on the electoral college system, click here . Bottom line: each state elects the president. The nation-wide polls have nothing to with who will be elected.)

To the naysayers who think that to vote for a third party is to "throw away your vote", I say two things:

(1) Isn't the real throw-away vote the one for a lesser-of-two-evils candidate who has virtually no chance of winning (or losing)? Wouldn't a vote for a third-party do more toward supporting the candidates and policies that you really believe in, and expressing your dissatisfaction with the two major-party candidates? And,

(2) Even though there is no viable third-party candidate this election, it seems to me that the next several years may bring about a perfect storm of political crises (e.g. economic depression, war, increasingly heated social issues) vehement enough to cause major rifts in the two major parties that could make room for a viable third party. Keep in mind that in the '92 election Ross Perot led both George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton in early polls. And, he won 19% of the popular vote nation-wide -- after dropping out of the election! I wonder if Ron Paul could have pulled off a similar feat had he stayed in the race this year.

A wise man once told me "if you keep doin' what you're doin', you'll keep gettin' what you're gettin'". We've been playing a game of "heads I win, tails you lose" with the Democrats and Republicans. If you want something different, then stop doin' what you've been doin'. Go in the booth on Tuesday and pull the lever for Green, Libertarian, Constitution, Reform, Independent, what have you. If you live in a solidly red or blue state, you, and your preferred major-party candidate, have nothing to lose.

Ironic Photo of the Day

2008-09-19T03:08:00.004-04:00

Went to a cocktail party hosted by the National College of DUI Defense (an association of lawyers who defend clients charged with DUI/DWI). The party was in a ballroom filled with various companies (including my own) hocking their wares. One, DWI.com, was handing out beer coozies and ice-cold bottles of Miller Lite.

Yeah, What Joe Said

2008-09-14T23:19:00.006-04:00

File under: That's what I've been saying all along.

I haven't blogged much about my own political views, at least in part because they're only half-formed. Culture11.com's Joe Carter (of Evangelical Outpost fame) has helped give my views some shape, though. If you want just a little taste of the unease I, and no doubt many other conservative Christians, feel about the Religious Right and the Republican Party, read his "open letter to the Religious Right".

Here are a couple of choice morsels:

". . . I can't imagine that on the Day of Judgment I'll hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant--you have faithfully fought to keep the Ten Commandments in the courthouse." More likely we'll all be asked why we didn't spend more time concerned about our neighbors in Darfur or fighting the global AIDS pandemic. Perhaps we should rethink our priorities and put the first things first. . . .

"We religious conservatives must take a firm stand against the practice of torture. Yes, there is a legitimate debate to be had about what exactly is meant by that term. Let's have that debate. Let's define the term in a way that consistent with our belief in human dignity. And then let's hold every politician in the country to that standard. As John Mark Reynolds notes, "Like slavery, it debases two people and one culture: the tortured loses his soul liberty, the torturer claims to be a god, and the culture condones an ugly and wicked act." Our silence on this issue has become embarrassing; our apologies for such practices has become disgraceful.

Weiss injures knee in ND win over Michigan

2008-09-13T20:18:00.003-04:00

Despite not having played college or pro football, Irish head coach Charlie Weiss suited up at nickel back for today's game against the Michigan Wolverines. After a stellar first quarter that included three tackles, a sack, and an interception, Weiss tore his ACL and MCL late in the second quarter when Irish defensive end John Ryan was blocked into him on a punt return.

Weiss will reportedly be sidelined for the rest of the season. It's unclear at this point how Weiss's injury will affect Notre Dame's chances this year. After a lackluster 2007 season, the Irish need every advantage they can get. Rumor has it that Lou Holtz or Ara Perseghian may come out of retirement to take Weiss's place on the field.

Greater love hath no man

2008-09-13T01:44:00.004-04:00

From Wednesday's Washington Post (HT: CrunchyCon)

I don't have any deep insight to add: the man drowned in raw sewage to save his son. Surely heaven offers a special reward for this kind of love.

When Joseph, 20, who has Down syndrome, fell into a septic tank Monday in his back yard, [his father Thomas] Vander Woude jumped in after him. He saved him. And he died where he spent so much time living: at his son's side.
"That's how he lived," Vander Woude's daughter-in-law and neighbor, Maryan Vander Woude, said yesterday. "He lived sacrificing his life, everything, for his family."
Vander Woude, 66, had gone to Mass at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Gainesville on Monday, just as he did every day, and then worked in the yard with Joseph, the youngest of his seven sons, affectionately known as Josie. Joseph apparently fell through a piece of metal that covered a 2-by-2-foot opening in the septic tank, according to Prince William County police and family members.
Vander Woude rushed to the tank; a workman at the house saw what was happening and told Vander Woude's wife, Mary Ellen, police said. They called 911 about 12 p.m. and tried to help the father and son in the meantime.
At some point, Vander Woude jumped in the tank, submerging himself in sewage so he could push his son up from below and keep his head above the muck, while Joseph's mom and the workman pulled from above.
When rescue workers arrived, they pulled the two out, police said. Vander Woude, who had been in the tank for 15 to 20 minutes, was unconscious. Efforts to revive him were unsuccessful, and he was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said.
.

The kids and their sexting

2008-09-11T22:31:00.004-04:00

It doesn't take a spate of news reports to figure out if you give teenagers cell phones with built-in cameras they will take naughty pictures and send them to one another. Parents and kids beware, though, to the child porn statutes it makes no difference how old the person is who possesses or distributes sexually explicit pictures of minors. One local youngster is learning this the hard way.

I'm on facebook

2008-09-11T22:22:00.002-04:00

I did it. After a lengthy hiatus from the social-networking interwebs, I've joined the facebook nation. Look me up; be my virtual friend. At last count, I have three. Next, maybe MySpace.

Stuart Smalley, Democrat for Senate

2008-09-10T00:13:00.002-04:00

Comedian and former host of Saturday Night Live's Daily Affirmation, Al Franken, has won the Minnesota Democratic senate nomination. (I looked for an old Daily Affirmation SNL clip online, but they've apparently all been pulled down. The trailer for Franken's movie, Stuart Saves His Family, is available on YouTube, but cannot be embedded.)

England's PM Brown Endorses Obama

2008-09-10T00:07:00.002-04:00

From today's Telegraph.

Stumbling over the long-held international norm that heads of state not take sides in other countries' elections, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown recently published a magazine article endorsing Barak Obama for president. All well and good if Obama wins, but I wonder how Brown's gaffe will affect relations with a President McCain?

The Amish are on to something, again.

2008-09-09T03:09:00.003-04:00

From the AP, by way of the Rochester D&C

It seems that our genes help make us fat. About 30 percent of people of Eurpoean ancestry have "common FTO gene variants," which are assoociated with obesity. But, a recent study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine indicates that three to four hours of moderate physical acticity per day can blunt the effect. The researchers studied 704 Old Order Amish adults and found that those with the FTO gene variant were no more likely to be overweight than those without. The common factor seems to be that most Amish adults, who are typically farmers, craftsmen, and homemakers, get about three to four hours per day of moderate exercise.

This story reminded me of another recent Time article, which reported on another study, which found that 30 minutes of daily exercise (which, I've always been under the impression is the gold standard for good health) is typically not enough to result in weight loss. The study found that at least an hour is required to see significant results.

Bottom line: forget Atkins and Zone, forget a half hour on the elliptical machine, if you wanna' lose weight, become a farmer. Are the Amish currently enrolling? But seriously, if someone like yours truly spends eight-plus hours per day at a desk, how will it ever be possible to get even an hour, let alone three or four, of exercise each day?

Russian Prosecutors Seek Ban on "South Park"

2008-09-09T02:05:00.003-04:00

From the Jurist

I'm not for government censorship, and often enough find South Park pretty hilarious, but do the Russians have a point?

The Moscow Prosecutor General's Officemoved Monday to ban the cartoon series South Park, alleging it violates children's rights under international law. The office said it was taking "measures to remove violations and prevent abuse of freedom of mass media" by the Russian TV network which broadcasts South Park and other US shows in Moscow and St. Petersburg. According to the press release, a study commissioned by prosecutors found that "information products of low moral and ethical content have had a devastating impact on children, distorts their values, and poses the risk of panic states and neurotic disorders."

The press release continued:

The broadcast violates the prohibition on abuse of freedom of mass media, in particular, on the distribution of media materials that promote pornography, violence and cruelty. Broadcasting cartoons in the time available for children contradicts the universally recognized principles and norms of international law aimed at protecting the rights and legitimate interests of children, protecting them from information and material harmful to their welfare, health, and moral and spiritual development.

A Good Time to Blog

2008-09-09T01:40:00.002-04:00

One of my favorite college professors used to say that he liked to wake up and start working in the small hours of the morning because that was the only time he could find peace and quiet. Today I got home from work around 6:30, had a snack, watched half of a Simpsons rerun and then decided to take a nap, perhaps not yet having fully recuperated from my weekend bike ride. It's now almost 2 AM. I woke up from my nap about an hour ago. As Homer Simpson would say, "D'oh!" So, my ciradian rythm will be off for the rest of the week. On the bright side, my mind is rested and my little corner of the world is filled with no sounds but the chirps of crickets and the whisper of my laptop fan.

MS Bike Tour Honor Roll

2008-09-07T23:59:00.001-04:00

I want to thank the following folks for generously sponsoring me in the upcoming MS "Pedal to the Park" Bike Tour. You, too, can sponsor me by clicking here. I will appreciate your donation whatever the amount, so much so that not only will I sing your praises to everyone with whom I come in contact, but I will (with your permission) add your name to this Honor Roll, which I will bring to the top of the blog every time someone makes a donation.

John Ambrosi, Rochester, NY---How cool is this guy? A friend of a friend of a friend, I met him last week and mentioned that I was participating in the bike tour. On the spot he offered to sponsor me.

Lenny & Bev Pappano, Fairport, NY---One of the all around kindest, coolest, down-to-earth couples I know.

Carrie Petersen, Rochester, NY---Attorney editor to the stars. Wanna know the proper Bluebook citation for an unpublished opinion of a municipal court in Micronesia? She's the person to go to.

Michael Ross, Rochester, NY---Wedding photographer extraordinaire, and real estate heartthrob, we've been friends for 15-plus years. (That makes me feel kinda' old.)

Penny Dentinger, Rochester, NY---Queen of M&A. Looking to expand your operations and minimize competition? She's your lawyer.

Kristine Frederick, Rochester, NY---No doubt the coolest high-school English teacher in the lower 48. (Now that I'm out of the business, of course. I kid, I kid.)

Kristina Schanz, Rochester, NY---Who knew you could make office furniture look sexy?

Dave and Dorothy Ross, Rochester, NY---The fearless leaders of the Monroe Park Vineyard, half namesake of Team Vineyard-Rain.

Matt Borkowski, Henrietta, NY---I don't think he's ever let me pay for a beer. 'Nuff said.

Amie Alscheff, Rochester, NY---I think we've sorta' gone to church together on and off for about 20 years. And now we sorta' work together. But she's definitely very cool.

Chris Garza, Los Angeles, CA---The tejano Rem Koolhaas. See you back in Austin, someday. Man, do I miss barbecue brisket and Shiner Bock.

Encouragement

2008-08-31T00:59:00.005-04:00

Anyone who still bothers looking at this blog has noticed the paucity of posts these last few months. I'm not sure why I've been so lax--it's not like I'm terribly busy, and I do think about blogging. In fact, I've reverted to spamming my friends with links to interesting news articles (a form of low-tech, as it were, blogging which has the drawbacks of limited reach and of clogging my friends' inboxes with email messages they probably don't really want to read).

That said, I received a bit of encouragement recently that may provide me just enough motivation to return to sharing my thoughts in this forum. I popped in on a favorite law-school professor of mine a couple of weeks ago when I was in South Bend. We chatted for a couple of minutes and when I mentioned that I frequented his blog, Mirror of Justice, he asked me about my blog. "You read my blog?" I asked almost incredulously. "How do you even know about my blog?"

"Y'know, it's just one of those things that gets around" he replied. I did my best to fend off the inevitable starry-eyed stupid grin that took over my face. "My favorite prof., who is kind of a big deal, reads my little ol' blog? . . . I had better start putting some very smart-sounding stuff up there, and quick!"

No doubt he, and you, aren't losing any sleep waiting for my next rambling, but I shall do my best to post a bit more regularly in case you do click on over.

Apparently, AIDS Does Discriminate

2008-06-10T19:01:00.004-04:00

I claim no expertise on AIDS, but I've long had the instinct that the popular memes "everyone should get tested" and "AIDS does not discriminate" are, well, hokum. I once made a nickel bet that heterosexual intercourse accounted for virtually no cases of AIDS in the US. A bit of internet research seemed to support my hypothesis, but I couldn't find any solid data on the topic. Now, according to London's The Independent, a study by the World Health Organization has concluded,

A quarter of a century after the outbreak of Aids . . . that the threat of a global heterosexual pandemic has disappeared.

In the first official admission that the universal prevention strategy promoted by the major Aids organisations may have been misdirected . . .there will be no generalised epidemic of Aids in the heterosexual population outside Africa.

(HT: CrunchyCon)

Onion: McCain Vows To Replace Secret Service With His Own Bare Fists

2008-05-21T09:17:00.000-04:00

McCain Vows To Replace Secret Service With His Own Bare Fists

Bring Back the Geo!

2008-05-21T07:56:00.003-04:00

File under: That's what I've been saying all along.

Remember the Geo Metro, that three-cylinder tuna can on wheels that got like 50 miles to the gallon? Well, CNN.com does. Apparently $4-a-gallon gas has made old Geos hot sellers. As hip as hybrids may be, I'll take a $5000 Geo over a $25,ooo Prius any day.

Sponsor Me, Please

2008-05-15T12:19:00.003-04:00

I feel a tinge of guilt that I've been so long absent from my little nook of the blogosphere and now I return only to make a plea for money. Ok, the tinge has passed: I'm participating in the 2008 MS "Pedal to the Park" Bike Tour to benefit the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

I have assembled a team from two Rochester-area churches---The Monroe Park Vineyard and Abundant Rain Christian Fellowship--- to participate in the bike tour, which will be held on September 6, 2008. We will ride 50 miles from Spencerport, NY to Darien Lake, NY to raise money and awareness for the MS Society.

You can support my team by clicking on the link below.

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Bike/NYRBikeEvents?px=4975993&pg=personal&fr_id=8464

If you would prefer, you may also make a donation by calling 1-800-FIGHT MS.

I'm sure that many of you know or have known someone with MS. It's a terrible, fatal disease and I am honored to play even a small role in fighting it. Please join me in supporting MS research and treatment.

MS Bike Tour

2008-04-19T21:53:00.004-04:00

I would like to organize a team to participate in the 2008 Bike MS: Pedal to the Park bicycle tour on September 6, 2007. The tour begins at the Cosgrove Middle School in Spencerport and ends at Darien Lake amusement park---about 50 miles. (There are options for one-day or two-day rides, i.e. to Darien Lake, or to and from Darien Lake. Since I'm new at this, I think that the one-day trip will be a good start.)

This bike tour, which was formerly the Finger Lakes MS Bike Tour, has been held annually for over a decade. There is food and drink, medical and bike-repair support, a party at the end of the ride, and opportunities for non-riding family members to enjoy the day at the Darien Lake amusement park.

Of course, this will require a bit of training (especially for me), which will be a good way to get in shape over the spring and summer. There is a small registration fee ($35 per person, I think). The bike tour is a fund-raiser for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, so team members will need to solicit donations from friends, family members, co-workers, etc.

Let me know if you are interested. I will plan an organizational meeting in the coming weeks.

I have known several people with Multiple Sclerosis--some currently suffering from it, and some who have died from it. I'm sure many of you have as well. It's a terrible disease, and I would feel honored to make this small contribution to fighting it. I hope you'll join me.

Public Market Rocks

2008-04-19T21:17:00.002-04:00

I went to the Rochester Public Market today. The weather was gorgeous, and the market was packed. Bell peppers were three for a dollar, mangos fifty cents, and a bushel of apples three dollars. A bushel.

Less than a steal, but still a great deal, I also picked up some organic, fair-trade coffee beans from Boulder Coffee Co. for just $8 a pound.

I'm thinking:

2008-04-13T18:02:00.010-04:00

1. That spring has finally arrived in Rochester.

2. About St. John Fisher College opening a law school in downtown Rochester.

3. About how I'm a bona fide author.

4. T.S. Eliot is right: April is the cruelest month.

5. The Pope is coming! The Pope is coming!

6. "Vice President Rice"sounds pretty nice.

7. That I read Blink and so should you.

8. Barack Obama's apology for revealing that he is a smarmy elitist will do him little good.

9. That Google SMS is awesome.

10. About my new crush.

11. That I need a copy of Getting Things Done . It's apparently kind of a big deal.

Blogjam

2008-03-22T20:31:00.004-04:00

I've been swamped for the last couple of months, but things are looking lighter for the next several weeks. It's been so long, and there've been so many blogworthy topics I've missed. I don't even know where to start. I feel like there's a logjam of blogs in my mind.

Exercise, Dante, Hell

2008-02-11T07:33:00.000-05:00

After wallowing at the nadir of inactivity since the holidays, I finally joined a local gym, which had a too-good-pass-up membership rate. That was a week ago. This morning---at twenty to six---I actually went for the first time. Traipsing through the February tundra in the small, dark hours, I was reminded of Dante's visit to the icy ninth circle of hell, the end of his trip through the inferno. And then it all made sense: mid-way through life's journey? Yes! Wandering into the dark wood of error? No doubt! Gluttons, blasphemers, traitors? Check, check, and check. I've been in hell! Having traversed the center of hell where Satan himself is encased in ice (along with the rest of Western New York) I can now move on to . . . . purgatory: the gym. Pray for me. Dante needed divine love to exit purgatory and ascend to heaven.

Maybe the Apostle Peter was on to something when he wrote: "bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." (1 Timothy 4:8)

When are we ever gonna' need to know this stuff?

2008-02-02T12:47:00.000-05:00

(Maran tells me I should start blogging again, so here goes.)

Woolworth's in the U.K. has discontinued its new "Lolita" brand bed for young girls after severe public backlash. Apparently no one in the company's marketing department had heard of the Nabokov novel or either of the movies based upon it (1962 & 1997). Yikes.

(HT: Crunchy Con)