My Favorite? The Dowdy Kitchen Man

Sad State

Has there ever been a more contentious President? What he means when he says, "I didn't explain it clear enough," is really, "Why won't you rubes get it,".

There have been about 378 articles and op-ed pieces refuting almost every claim he made last night. Some of the weren't even conservatives. And I've never seen a President attack the other branches with such passion and lack of decorum. Judge Alito should have just yelled out, "You lie!"

It's possible he's just that ignorant. Wasn't he a Constitutional lawyer? Did he major in it so he knew how to subvert it? He doesn't seem to know the difference between it and the Declaration of Independence.

All I can think when I hear him talk is "Douche Bag". Sorry I know that's contentious.

Here are a fact check links to the State of the Union address. Most are conservative. The liberal opposition to the President is coming from people who don't think he's going far enough and I don't have time to look at that stuff.

"Haven't We Heard This Before" - Fred Barnes on Weekly Standard.com
"What Did The State Of The Union Say About Barack Obama?" - Toby Harden on The Telegraph.co.uk
"Obama's Sorry State Of The Union Speech" - Kevin McCullough on Foxnews.com
"White House Defends Obama's Court Ruling Criticism" - Reuters

Lucky Dog

Apple's New iPad

This is from the old television show Mad TV. It's kind of tasteless.

AC/DC's Ironman 2 Soundtrack

Don't get me wrong, you know how I feel about AC/DC, but come on. 15 songs and not one of them new? At least that God awful Stephen King movie with Emilio Esteves, Maximum Overdrive had a few original songs.

It's Pronounced Genghis

Lisa and I went to the Denver Museum of Natural History with her sister and Mom last week. They are hosting an exhibition on Genghis Khan. I always find that kind of stuff interesting and this was no exception. I would like to now share some information I picked up during my visit. The big one I remember (and am not sure I believe) is the fact that a Mongol warrior actually fired his bows while all four feet of his galloping horse's hooves were off the ground for a more accurate shot.

Also, his name may be pronounced Chinggis but please don't call him that. Nothing is quite as annoying as hearing a museum full of people that just learned how to pronounce something carry on like he or she is the only one to have known this rare bit of information. It's perfectly correct to call him Genghis also.

Legend holds that Genghis's black horse survives in Mongolia today.

Today's Mongolia has all the amenities of any modern country. It's main population center, Ulaanbaatar even has cyber cafes (their idea of progress, not mine).

I picked up a lot of interesting information. Genghis developed a code of laws (the Yassa) that seemed to be pretty progressive. I say seem because only parts of the code remain and the details seem to vary depending on who you talk to. the exhibit gave examples that indicated Genghis Kahn promoted religious freedom, while the one on Wikipedia shows something different.

I also learned that the Denver Museum of Natural History is full of parents that do not believe in disciplining their monstrous offspring.

Mostly I learned the Khan was one together cat.

My Old Man Advice To A Teenage Girl On Relationships

"If all guys approached their relationships with the same passion that they have for video games, every woman would be happy."

The above quote is from my niece, posted on Facebook. It bugged me so much I posted a snide little comment on it until I came to my senses and took it down. When I make jokes about my immaturity they aren't to be self-deprecating, it really is a character flaw.

The comment really did bother me for several different reasons though, so I thought that since I have my own little public forum I would jot a few down.

What bothered me first is the stereotyping. It's like a man saying, "If my wife spent as much time giving me attention as she spends my money on clothes I'd be a happy man.". Terrible Men are from Venus, women are from Mars simplification. Next would be the self-centered message it sends. If it were a grown woman saying that I'd tell her to get over herself or play video games with her boyfriend, maybe take an interest in his interests too. Something that may make future relationships easier is realizing early that there are two people in the relationship and one of them is the man. Of course it's a teenage girl so she really doesn't need to grow up. Which brings me to the next point. If you're a teenage girl what are you worrying about "passion" in a relationship for in the first place. You're in high school. Teenage boys should be more concerned about video games, music and tuners than trying to make a relationship work. They'll get plenty of that shit later. Your passion should be focused on establishing your own life and identity independent of everyone else before your worried about nurturing a relationship. I know probably all of two or three people that married his or her high school sweetheart and are actually still together and happy. If I thought she would listen and not be tired of hearing her preachy Uncle dispense holier-than-thou advice, I would tell her to enjoy what she has and prepare for better things. And learn to like video games, Devil May Cry 5 looks like it kicks ass.

Oh, I'm working on that maturity problem too.

Best Week Ever

Well, since Obama took office anyway. It's been a good week for (I don't want to say Conservatives) it's been a good week for those of us that prefer to run our own lives and make up our own minds. There was the Supreme Court ruling Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, No. 08-205. Hopefully you're familiar with the details. For some reason I can't understand the common liberal sees this as judicial activism. I can understand the leadership of Liberalism being up in arms but shouldn't celebrities and the average joe consider free speech for everyone a good thing? On Twitter Rainn Wilson tweeted this message.

The S.C. essentially re-wrote the const. making corps have same rits as 'citizens'. Just admit u like jud. activism that supports yr beliefs

Rainn, whom I love by the way, didn't seem to think this out very well. Either that or he's ignoring the fact that had this law been applied equally to everyone, the world wouldn't have been treated to a couple of the great masterpiece documentaries from Michael Moore, not really such a bad thing. Every radio and television station, every movie production company is a corporation. Is it a stretch then to go from the government that Citizen's United can't run ads for their anti-Hilary DVD to saying MSNBC can't report negatively on the President (like that would happen anyway). Rainn and Erwin Chemerinski and several other people hold that belief that the Supreme Court was doing a little legislation from the bench. They argue that the Supreme Court over-ruled a 20 year law and somehow that is wrong. Should the laws permitting slavery have been allowed to stand because they had already been written? What a ridiculous argument.

The big fear seems to be that special interests will be able to spend huge amounts on election time ads. This seems too be a bad thing because the assumption is the American voter is too ignorant to figure things out by his or herself. I would point to the Tea Parties and Massachusetts election as proof to the contrary. As a matter of fact, I think it's been the rule and Obama becoming President was the exception. Here's a good quote from Thomas Jefferson:

"It is to me a new and consolatory proof that wherever the people are well-informed they can be trusted with their own government; that whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied on to set them to rights."

Well, that's my take on it anyway. Here is John Samples and Ilya Shapiro's take on it from the Cato Institute's website. And here is the PDF opinion from the court itself. I don't know the ends and out of all of this and what it might mean but I can't help but feel it's a good thing. If there is one negative in this whole thing it's that the court was split 5-4. That's kind of scary.

The True (Albeit Small) Wonder Of The Internet

The great thing about the web (aside from how fast I can spread a rumor) is the fact that I can sit in Colorado Springs, Colorado while listening to WLVQ QFM 96, the home of Ohio's best rock. Not that I suffer from home-sickness but it's very comforting listening to the best AOR radio station of my youth. Of course back then it was the home of Ohio's best rock without the classic part. And they don't seem to play as much Van Halen as one might hope for.

Boston Tea Party

Who knew an election half way across the country could make me so happy?

Thank you Massachusetts and Scott Brown

That Boston Tea Party thing is from the news outlets, it's not mine by the way.

Let's Get Harry

The thing that strikes me whenever I read a news article about the comment Harry Reid made about Obama is what people are missing. Sure Harry apologized to Obama but Harry was complimenting him. Reid should really be apologizing to all the dark skinned, Negro dialect speaking rest of the country he considers not good enough to run for President.

I also think Rob Blageovich just apologized because he saw all the attention Reid was getting and wanted in on it. I almost think he said it and then turned right around and apologized.

Is This Wrong?

I sometimes sing songs to my dog and insert her name in the lyrics. For some reason I don't feel right singing "Giving Moon a bone" even though that is in fact what I'm doing. Just doesn't seem right.

Evan Zane Glass

My sister-in-law gave birth to the newest family member Evan Zane Glass. Born January 7th, 2010. Weight 8lbs. 11oz. We're all very happy.

Christmas Part II

Where was I? Oh yeah. We got into Zanesville while there was a light snow falling. We checked into the Baymont Inn. We stayed there for our honeymoon when it was the Amerihost or something like that. It was decent but the hall reeked of chlorine or bleach from the laundry room.

There was a lot to do. We visited Mom and Dad, went to a Zanesville HS basketball team and had dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant. The basketball game was a little stressful, we were sitting in the reserved section and catching some dirty looks. The next night was better as we got to watch the niece play for West Muskingum. Well, kind of play, the coach put her in twice for about five minutes a shot.

Christmas Eve was great, we kept the gifts cheap this year but splurged on a camera for Dad and rockers for Mom. Christmas day was equally fun. I unleashed a 1/24th scale Dodge Challenger on the nephew. I think he was a little overwhelmed by all the gifts but this baby was pretty solid metal so I'm sure he'll be enjoying it for years to come. Right after dinner and visiting at Bryce and LeeAnn's and all the gift's had been exchanged we decided to drive for awhile. We made it to Terra Haute, Indiana and stopped for the night. The only restaurant opened was a Chinese place in a strip mall. While eating we saw the news about the underwear bomber.

The next day we hit Missouri. Snow was in the forecast and we were headed right toward it. We lucked out and dipped below Kansas City to pick up the niece and nephew and missed the bulk of the white stuff. The rest of the trip was pretty boring and uneventful. We had a good time with the kids but were looking forward to getting out of the truck. We were practically living in it for two weeks and to be honest it was starting to reek.

So that was it. I'm sure I missed some highlights like visiting with Jim and Lisa spending most of her time in the pool. It was great to be home and see everyone I love. I wish I had been able to get around and see more people but that will have to wait until next visit I guess.