"Pro-Life" PA Dem. Senator Flip-Flops on Abortion Vote...

Hat-tip to the Curt Jester for this one. So-called "pro-life" U.S. Senator Bob Casey Jr. (Democrat) does a major flip-flop on an important abortion vote in the senate last week.

"Democrats who take a strong stand against abortion are few and far between -- especially in the United States Senate. When Bob Casey defeated Rick Santorum for a Pennsylvania seat in the Senate pro-life advocates hoped Casey would vote the same as his predecessor; but, Casey cast his first pro-abortion vote last week.

"Last Thursday, the Senate debate an amendment to a bill sponsored by pro-abortion Sen. Barbara Boxer of California regarding the Mexico City Policy.

"Boxer's amendment overturns the policy that President Reagan first instituted and President Bush revived in 2001 that protects taxpayers from funding groups that perform or promote abortions overseas.

"Pro-life groups strongly opposed the Boxer Amendment, but it was adopted on a 53-41 vote. Just 20 minutes later, pro-life Sen. Sam Brownback offered an amendment to undo the Boxer amendment but senators defeated it by the same margin.

"Casey voted for the Boxer amendment and but also for the Brownback amendment -- taking a seemingly contradicting stand on the abortion funding issue.

"On Monday, as David Freddoso of National Review notes, Casey said on the Senate floor that he had made a mistake -- but not because he voted to fund foreign abortions and abortion advocacy.

He said that, on the pro-life Brownback amendment, 'it was my intention to vote ‘nay.’ Therefore, I ask unanimous consent that I be permitted to change my vote since it will not affect the outcome of that vote.'

It goes on:

" 'If the Boxer Amendment, which Sen. Casey regrettably supported, was enacted,[' said National Right to Life legislative director, Douglas Johnson] 'it would force the removal of family planning funds from private organizations that stick to non-abortive methods, in order to give those funds to organizations that are committed to the promotion of abortion,' Johnson explained."

Pennsylvania voted out Santorum (an excellent senator, to say the least, and a 100%-firm pro-life senator) last November for this joke of an empty-suit politician with popular name-recognition (his dad, Bob Casey Sr., was PA governor).

PA was my home state for 30 years, but I've been a CA resident for the last 13 years... so, I don't have room to brag given that Boxer is my senator. But at least I always knew Boxer's stripes (and I've never voted for her). But, the Casey charade I saw from 3000 miles away. Yet PA still got duped.

Sometimes, you get what you deserve. Perhaps the citizens of the commonwealth of PA will wake-up and smell the coffee. Somehow, though, I doubt it.

Challenge to Scientific Consensus on Global Warming...

And this is just the tip of the iceberg (so-to-speak):

"A new analysis of peer-reviewed literature reveals that more than 500 scientists have published evidence refuting at least one element of current man-made global warming scares. More than 300 of the scientists found evidence that 1) a natural moderate 1,500-year climate cycle has produced more than a dozen global warmings similar to ours since the last Ice Age and/or that 2) our Modern Warming is linked strongly to variations in the sun's irradiance...

"Other researchers found evidence that 3) sea levels are failing to rise importantly; 4) that our storms and droughts are becoming fewer and milder with this warming as they did during previous global warmings; 5) that human deaths will be reduced with warming because cold kills twice as many people as heat; and 6) that corals, trees, birds, mammals, and butterflies are adapting well to the routine reality of changing climate."

Read the whole article.

Where were you when...?

I was sleeping in bed in my California apartment. My alarm clock must have gone off earlier, and I must have hit the snooze button, because I faintly remember thinking that I had a dream about a plane crash of some sort.

I eventually woke up, and went to the bathroom. Then I headed toward my front door, opened it, and picked up the morning newspaper from the welcome mat.

As I re-entered my apartment the phone rang.

It was my sister, Valerie. She was hysterical. She asked me if my TV was on. I told her I had just woken up. I asked her what was wrong. She kept saying, "Just turn on the TV... turn on the TV right now!"

And there it was...

That strange dichotomy of the whole world both in utter chaos yet also standing still is stunned horror...

And all I kept saying was, "We're at war... Oh my God, we're at war."


NEVER FORGET!!!

OBL's 2nd tape, and more info on the Germany/Denmark captures...

Capt. Ed posts some more info about a supposed deadline for the terrorists who were captured in Germany and Denmark last week. Jihad Watch investigates that is could have involved up to 50 people.

Capt. Ed also mentions a second video tape by OBL, referencing 9/11 and one of the terrorists from that day. And Jihad Watch says that OBL is most likely in a remote northern area of Pakistan (Chitral).

Given that German surveillance tapped a phone call in late August from Northern Pakistan to the German terrorists who were caught, and that some of those same terrorists were recently trained in Pakistan, it makes sense that that's the location of OBL.

Osama Bin Hidin' sends us a little video greeting...

Yes, it's true... the demise of OBL has been greatly exaggerated. He decided to stick his head out of some cave and deliver us a message from his heart. His black beard is a sign that he's leading a jihad, otherwise it would be forbidden him to dye his beard. The fact that he mentions the new pro-American Prime Minister Sarkozy of France means that the message was recorded since the May French elections. He also is quoted as saying, "several days ago" Japan marked the 62nd anniversary of the Hiroshima & Nagasaki bombings. That places the time frame of the recording of the video to only four weeks ago.

Great updates and analysis from Jeffrey Imm over at Counter Terrorism, John Hinderaker at PowerLine, Ed Morrissey at Captain's Quarters, Robert Spencer's Sept 7 posts over at Jihad Watch, and Little Green Footballs. You can even read the entire 7-page transcript here (in .pdf format).

I urge everyone to read the transcript, and then read all of the analysis links. They're spot-on. They also point to the utter vapidness of the left-wing's take on the war in Iraq. When OBL practically quotes verbatim all of your key political talking points it's a sure sign that you're on the wrong side of the critical issue of our times.

Now remember... all we have to do is covert to Islam and submit to Shr'ia law, and all will be forgiven. As Capt. Ed puts it:

Isn't that sweet? If we just agree to live as slaves under our new Taliban masters, we can finance our homes at a flat 2.5% fee. Think of how liberating that will be! Well, except for the burqas, the barbers, the end of music, dancing, Judaism, Christianity, voting, the press, the 13th-21st centuries, science...

The Terrorism Timeline...

It's that time again to remind everyone about the extent of the actions and effects of terrorism throughout the world, and especially against the U.S. The following list (which I've posted here twice before) has been updated, but is by no means exhaustive:


Sep 4-5, 2007 --- Eight suspected al-Qaida linked terrorists arrested in Denmark (9/4) and another three arrested in Germany (9/5), foiling plots to attack U.S. and NATO sites in the respective countries.

Jul 21, 2007 --- Report alleges Iraqi smuggling ring works out of Chaparral, NM (can you say, "Secure the borders!"?).

Jul 20, 2007 --- TSA warns of dry-runs at airports. The seizures at airports in San Diego, Milwaukee, Houston and Baltimore included "wires, switches, pipes or tubes, cell phone components and dense clay-like substances, including block cheese."

Jul 5, 2007 --- San Diego airport checked baggage found containing two icepacks covered in duct tape. The icepacks had clay inside them rather than the normal blue gel.

July 2007 --- Michigan: The U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday declared a Dearborn-based charity a front for the terrorist organization Hezbollah, and is an arm of the Iranian Martyrs Foundation, a group with offices in Lebanon and elsewhere that the U.S. government said funds the designated terrorist groups Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad and aids Palestinian suicide bombers and their families..

July 2007 --- Al-Qaeda threatens to escalate attacks in North Africa

July 2007 --- U.S. Muslim convert gets 10 years for Al-Qaeda training, participation in Somali jihad.

July 2007 --- links between British Jihadist investigations and threats against the USA included July 5 report that 45 doctors had used UK jihadist web site to make plans to attack US facilities such as the shipping facilities for USS John F Kennedy in Jacksonville, Florida, July 6 reports that two of the UK car bomb doctors sought work in Philadelphia, and July 4 report that AQ attacks in USA would follow attacks in UK. On July 6, it was reported by AP and the Philadelphia Inquirer that two of the UK car bomb doctors sought work in the United States in Philadelphia.

Jun 30, 2007 --- Jeep Cherokee driven into the glass doors of the main terminal of Glasgow International Airport, and burst into flames. A suspected car bomb failed to detonate, and the driver of the car, Kafeel Ahmed,[6] on fire after allegedly dousing himself himself in fuel, together with a second suspect Bilal Abdulla, accused of being the Jeep's passenger, attacked the police.

Jun 29, 2007 --- Two unexploded car bombs were discovered in London.

Jun 4, 2007 --- Milwaukee, WI: The carry-on baggage of a USPER contained several items resembling IED components, such as a wire coil wrapped around a possible initiator, an electrical switch, batteries, three tubes, and two blocks of cheese.

Jun 3, 2007 --- John F. Kennedy International Airport terror plot. Thwarted homegrown Islamist terrorism plot to destroy the fuel supply system for the airport located in New York City and cause a large amount of causalities by blowing up the connecting pipeline system that runs through densely populated neighborhoods.

May 7, 2007 --- Fort Dix attack plot: Six men inspired by Jihadist videos arrested in the US, in a failed homegrown terrorism plot to kill US soldiers.

Apr 28, 2007 --- Saudi Arabia announced it has arrested one hundred and seventy two people in an Al Queda plot to attack oil facilities, military bases and public figures using civilian aircraft as suicide missiles.

Apr 12, 2007 --- A U.S. federal grand jury indicted Christopher Paul, 43, a U.S. citizen and resident of Columbus, Ohio on charges of joining al-Qaida and conspiring to bomb European tourist resorts and U.S. government facilities and military bases overseas.

Nov 21, 2006 --- “Fly Imams” incident in Minneapolis Airport (U.S. Airways).

Nov 20 2006 --- A suspected terrorist bomb explodes on a train in India (West Bengal).

Nov 8, 2006 --- Houston, TX: A USPER’s checked baggage contained a plastic bag with a 9-volt battery, wires, a block of brown clay-like minerals, and pipes.

Sep 19, 2006 --- Military coup in Thailand by a Muslim General.

Sep 16, 2006 --- Baltimore, MD: The checked baggage of a couple contained a plastic bag with a block of processed cheese taped to another plastic bag holding a cellular phone charger.

Sept 2006 --- Threats to assassinate Pope Benedict XVI.

Sep 12, 2006 --- Failed U.S. embassy attack in Damascus, Syria.

Aug 10, 2006 --- UK to USA flights (arrests made - foiled plot to involve 10 airplanes over Atlantic Ocean)

Jul/Aug '06 --- Hamas & Hezbullah (kidnapping and bombing of Israel)

Jul 31, 2006 --- Koblenz & Dortmund, Germany (two unexploded suitcase bombs on trains found)

Jul 11, 2006 --- Mumbai (Bombay), India (train bombings)

Jun 3, 2006 --- Toronto, Canada (17 arrested - foiled plot to use 3 tons of explosives in Toronto)

Mar 7, 2006 --- Varanasi, India bombing

Oct 1, 2005 --- Bali bombing (two locales)

Jul 7, 2005 --- London bombing (trains/underground)

Jun 2005 --- Operatives discreetly practiced a mock attack while riding the London subway in late June 2005.

Thru-out '05 --- repeated suicide bombings throughout Israel

Thru-out '05 --- Paris riots

Sep 9, 2004 --- Bali bombing (Australian embassy)

Sep 4, 2004 --- Beslan school hostage (Chechen)

Jun 29, 2004 –-- Northwest Flight#327 from Detroit to L.A. The “13 Syrian Musicians” dry-run (confirmed as a dry-run by declassified Feds report in May 2007).

Mar 11, 2004 --- Madrid bombing (trains)

Aug 5, 2003 --- Jakarta bombing (Marriott Hotel)

Oct 26, 2002 --- Moscow theater (Chechen)

Oct 12, 2002 --- Bali bombing (Kuta)

Thru-out '02 --- Daniel Pearl and others kidnapped and beheaded

Dec 13, 2001 --- New Delhi, India (Parliament bombing)

Oct 29, 2001 --- New Delhi, India (bombing)

Sep/Oct, ‘01 --- Anthrax letters in the U.S. Postal delivery (5 dead, 21 illnesses)

Sep 11, 2001 --- WTC/Pentagon/Western PA

Oct 12, 2000 --- USS Cole attack

Dec 31, 1999 --- The failed attempt at major terror attacks on the Millennium (thanks to a sharp Washington State border patrol officer who stopped one of the terrorists trying to drive across the border, and found explosive materials in the trunk of the car.)

1999 --- Second planned attempt to assassinate Pope John Paul II in Manila (the Pope cancelled trip due to illness)

Aug 7, 1998 --- Nairobi (bombing of US Embassies – Kenya and Tanzania)

Jun 25, 1996 --- Saudi Arabia (Kobar Towers bombing)

Jan 1995 --- Planned assassination attempt of Pope John Paul II in Manila (Ramzi Yousef injured himself before the attempt)

In 1995 --- attempted airline bombing plot over Pacific Ocean

In 1994 --- Buenos Aires Jewish Center bombing

Oct 3, 1993 --- Mogadishu, Somalia (Black Hawk Down)

Feb 26, 1993 --- NYC (the first WTC bombing)

Dec 21, 1988 --- PanAm 103 (Lockerbie, Scotland)

In 1985 --- TWA flight 847 hijacking (Athens, Greece)

Oct 7, 1985 --- Achille Lauro (cruise ship killing)

Oct 23, 1983 --- Beirut (US Marines barracks bombed)

May 13, 1981 --- Assassination attempt of Pope John Paul II by Turkish Muslim, Mehmet Ali Ağca (hired by Soviets)

1979-80 --- Iranian hostage crisis (444 days)

Sep 5, 1972 --- Munich (Olympics - Israeli hostages killed)

YES!!!... happy dance-happy dance...

I have successfully avoided jury duty service this week (woo-hoo)!

By just one number - the usually dreaded "group number" - I have avoided even the need to show up at the courthouse. They assigned me to Group 46, and they're only calling in Groups 1-45 for the week.

Now, I'm not against doing my civic duty. It's just that, since I've already served on two separate murder trials - and I'm in my mid-40s (ouch, that stumbled off the tongue a bit hesitantly) - I figure that I've more than fulfilled my lifetime supply of civic dutiness. Unfortunately, "they" don't seem to agree with me on that point. But that doesn't matter, for I am in the clear - at least for the next 12 months.

*woo-hoo*

Links for some Catholic Humor and some Spiritual Common Sense...

Curt Jester has a hilarious post that will only make sense to fellow Catholics.

And First Things has "the secret" to spiritual common sense.

Enjoy!

Lame attempts at being artistic #2...

...DRIFTING...

Round Two of my fledgling attempts at being artistic with a simple digital point-n-click camera.

WEATHERED & WORN
BUT
FIRM & STRONG


These are obvious close-ups of some items just laying around on the coast. They both had some intriguing details.



PI

I came across this little display that was propped up by someone and then just left there. The incoming tide eventually knocked it down.



FOAMY

Cropping is everything. This was the best of only three similar pictures I took that day. I just cropped it with a simple computer program, and "Wah-LAH!"... a perfect poster for framing (yeah, right).

Have you heard the one about...

... the militant environmentalist who drove around with a "What Would Jesus Drive?" bumper sticker on the back of his beat-up VW Beetle?

At a stop light he pulls up behind a huge pickup truck with several tool chests in the flatbed, a lumber rack on top... and a bumper sticker that said:

"Jesus Was A Carpenter"

Hsu Hsu Pseudo fund raising...

Well, well, well... whaddaya know. The Democrats have one of their own Abramoff-type scandals. Not that Jack Abramoff was "bribing" only Republicans (he was an equal-opportunity "lender"), but this Norman Hsu is pretty much a straight-ticket Demos -only kinda guy. And Hillary is on the top of the list.

For the last 15 years, California authorities have been trying to figure out what happened to a businessman named Norman Hsu, who pleaded no contest to grand theft, agreed to serve up to three years in prison and then seemed to vanish.

"He is a fugitive," Ronald Smetana, who handled the case for the state attorney general, said in an interview...

Hsu, it seems, has been hiding in plain sight, at least for the last three years.

Since 2004, one Norman Hsu has been carving out a prominent place of honor among Democratic fundraisers. He has funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions into party coffers, much of it earmarked for presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York...

He earned a place in the Clinton campaign's "HillRaiser" group by pledging to raise more than $100,000 for her presidential bid.

Records show that Hsu helped raise an additional $500,000 from other sources for Clinton and other Democrats...

Laura Ingraham, on her radio program this morning, read off the 4+ page list of Who's-Who whom Norman Hsu has "donated" to or "raised" money for. Let's see how much play this gets in the mainstream media.

(Hat-tip to Michele Malkin and Laura Ingraham)

Pic of Steve Carell during Monday's shoot...

Here's a pic of Steve Carell of the TV show "The Office" during the shoot last Monday. The building with the green awnings is where I work.

Lame attempts at being artistic #1...

FOUNTAIN OF FIRE

Okay.

So, every once in awhile I'll take my Canon PowerShot A530 point-&-shoot digital camera with me somewhere, and I'll attempt to take some artistic pictures. Some come out okay, while others end up blurry, pedestrian, or even downright lame.



LIQUID GOLD 2

Anyway, from time to time I'll post a few of the better ones. This post being the first. Just click on each pic to see a larger image.

You are certainly not required to comment (unless you feel strongly compelled to do so - either in praise or in derision).


FLAMING WATERFALL

The four pics in this post are of a fountain in downtown Ventura, across the street from the San Buenaventura Mission. Someone dumped a bottle of dish soap in it, and the bubbles were all over the place. But it gave a beautiful glow with the lights. I tried various settings on my camera, and these four came out the best.

AMBER CURTAIN 1

This last one is intended to be abstract (at least, that's what I tell myself).

The Office at... well... the office!

Forgot to post about this yesterday.

The NBC hit TV show "The Office" was filming a scene Monday for an up-coming episode... right outside the front door of my place of employment! Location scouts came by a little over a week ago and asked if it was okay to shoot a scene by the building.

Both Steve Carell and Rainn Wilson were here as well as a ton of production crew & equipment. They were here for only about three hours, then they drove off to another location just a few blocks away for shooting a second scene. The cast & crew even had lunch in our secondary foyer. Some of the guys in the office (uh, our office) had the chance to meet some of the cast & crew people. I was too busy working, but I had a great view through the window from my desk as they went through the motions of shooting the scenes.

Pretty cool.

The episode will air on October 4.

All I can tell you is that the scene involves the characters of Michael and Dwight, a car, and a lake.

... of computer problems and Crowded House...

UPDATED to include pictures (below), and one correction.

I started having computer issues last night when my weekly, comprehensive Norton scan got hung up during it's scanning process. I didn't realize it until I went to my computer and noticed that the scan (which normally takes about 50 minutes) was still going for well over two hours, with the file counter going much higher than it should and the file names were nothing but identical little rectangles of pixels. So I force-stopped the scanning process.

The night or so before, I had updated my iTunes program to version 3.2.1.whatever, but after I stopped the file scan I couldn't load iTunes (getting a missing file error). Re-downloaded the entire update, attempted the re-install... same error. Then I tried a System Restore from a point that I thought was before the iTunes update.

Uhh-oh. Took way too long to find (or, rather, not find) a bunch of files, and then finally rebooted to a message that said that it couldn't successfully restore to that point in time. But I did get my computer working again (whew!). I already had most of my files backed up on my flash drive, but I ended up double-checking and adding a few more recent files to the flash stick. There's no way to add the concert videos I took over the past few weeks (files too large), but I still have them on the camera's memory cards. I'll also have to go through all of my old emails to see if there's anything that I want to save (as a precaution). Also need to make a copy of my browser's bookmarks, and my "address book" from my email program.

The main thing, though, is all of my iTunes files. I haven't bought/downloaded anything from the iTunes store, but I have loaded all of my CDs... nearly 3800 songs. The thought of losing all of that importing time and effort is annoying beyond belief. I'm going to try to do another System Restore from an earlier point in time, but I won't attempt that until I finish making copies of whatever extra files I need to save.

Basically, it could mean one of two things: either the iTunes update blew out some of it's necessary files and will leave me without access to it, or my hard drive is soon to die. I've had this computer (an HP Pavilion) since early 2003. The hard drive should last a bit longer than this, but... whaddayah gonna do, right? I don't have the $ to get a new computer, and I'd rather wait until the new year if it's necessary. I might switch to a Mac, but preferably not until after the Leopard (10.5) operating system is out (with Boot Camp), and all of it's spots are in order.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnywayz...... the Crowded House concert on Saturday night was phenomenal! Pete Yorn opened up for them, and he certainly is talented. But he played three songs too many, and the crowd (pun intended) was getting antsy. The Santa Barbara Bowl as a great venue that holds about 4500 people in an outdoor Greek amphitheater-style layout, with a breathtaking view of the hills to the left and the coast on the right. I took a couple pictures of a gorgeous rising moon at twilight just before the band took the stage.

Crowded House played for nearly two hours, playing a great selection of songs from five of their albums, including their hits: Don't Dream It's Over, Something So Strong, World Where You Live, Locked Out, It's Only Natural, and six or seven tunes from their brand-new CD, "Time On Earth". They opened up with a haunting version of Private Universe, and their live rendition of When You Come was great as usual, but maybe just a tad too slow in tempo.

These guys are consummate musicians, and Neil Finn is another of those great troubadours and tunesmiths. They may take their craft seriously, but they certainly don't take themselves seriously - always having fun and joking around, and definitely getting the audience into it from the get-go. This was my fourth time seeing these guys, and they've never disappointed.

Peter Frampton in late-October may be the next concert destination.

"It's just a FANASTY (whoa-oh-oh-oh)... it's not the real thing..."

This has not been a good week (relatively speaking, of course). From dealing with billing issues with a major shipping company (I won't use any names, but their favorite color is brown), who suddenly decided three weeks ago to start "dimensionally weighting" their own boxes on my employer's invoices. What this means is that if a box's dimensions are larger than a certain size then the minimum weight of box will be set to a predetermined value. Makes sense when you're using over-sized plain brown boxes since it takes up so much space. But when you're using the shipper's own boxes, with their company logo plastered all over it, it could be a problem.

For instance, most of what we ship weighs less than three pounds. The shipping company supplies us with "free" boxes for 2-Day and Next Day shipping. But the dimensions of these boxes are such that the three smallest boxes have automatic minimum "weights" of 2, 3, and 4 pounds, respectively. Which causes a problem if you've already billed a customer a set dollar amount for shipping, and then a week later you get your shipping bill with extra "weight" charges. Which means that you end up essentially paying for advertising the shipper's company by using these "free" boxes.

ALL of the major shipping companies do this to some degree or other. Sometimes (like this time) they just decide to do it without telling you, hoping that you won't audit your bill and catch what they're doing.

In other words............. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.


Then I had problems with my satellite dish losing its signal, and tussling with the darned thing for almost an hour before finally getting the signal back. How'd I lose the signal to begin with, you might ask? Apartment complexes don't allow you to "permanently" attach the dish to the building. Now, even though I can count at least a half dozen satellite dishes that are permanently attached to other apartments, even as I look out the window as I type this very post... I, being the nice guy that I am, followed the rules, and have my dish by my front door, on a pole, against the railing, held in place by plastic zip ties.

Problem is, any robust gust of window will sometimes shift it just slightly enough to lose the signal. What else causes it to lose the signal? Why, the neighbors downstairs who have a tendency to slam their Fort Knox-like screen door every 20 minutes, thereby shaking the building like a nice 5.8 earthquake. This pleasant sound is rivaled only by the periodic wailing of one of their children, a colicky little 3-year-old who seems to cry on cue..... oh, every 10 minutes or so. Uh-oh, their she goes right now! See??? *sigh*

Add to this the fact that they seem to like cooking their meals at around 10:30 at night... outside... on the barbecue... exotic, ethnic fragrances wafting its way up to and through my bedroom window, which happens to be only a few yards from whatever may be brewing below.

I'd be more than happy to (in a nice, calm, respectful tone and composure) mention these issues with the nice young couple below me. But it wouldn't do me any good, seeing as they can barely speak a word of English. *sigh - again*

Next? Well, for the last couple days everyone in the office was rushing to get things ready for this major in-house event on Sunday - an all-day seminar to demonstrate our software products to high-level clientèle. I'm designing a 24"x36" poster for this event. I finish it, proof it at least a half a dozen times (I'm the guy who checks our ads and emails for typos and such), and then dash off to Kinko's.

Today, I pick up the poster, along with 20 letter-sized color glossies. I get back to the office. I show it to our sales manager. And...










... wait for it...
















The phrase "Keyboard Fantasies" is spelled... "Keyboard Fanasties". (D'OH!) And, like that, $86 worth of printing just got 86'ed in a matter of 10 seconds flat. So, I go back to the computer to fix the typo, burn the file to disk, and fly off to Kinko's for "Poster Printing - Take 2".

It just has not been my week. I don't know about you, but I'm getting a pizza for dinner. Maybe I'll save a slice for just before bedtime, and I'll ask my neighbors if they wouldn't mind plopping on top of it some of whatever it is they're sure to be cooking tonight.

Tomorrow night? Relaxing to some great music at the Crowded House concert. That'll get me in a better mood.

P.S. Don't be surprised if their are any typos in this post. I'm sure there are.

And I don't care.

'Til next time...

Happy Birthday to Ray Bradbury (87)

Yes, it's Ray Bradbury's 87th birthday today. One of my all-time favorite writers. Back when I was 12 or so my brother, Ray (yes, I have a brother named Ray), gave me his worn paperback copy of The Martian Chronicles. I was immediately rocketed into space by this master of the metaphor. I've read that book countless times, and have since devoured many of his other tomes, including his period-piece detective/suspense thriller, "Death Is A Lonely Business" (another favorite of mine).

I'd highly recommend any (if not all) of the following classic titles:

The Novels:
The Martian Chronicles

Fahrenheit 451

Death Is a Lonely Business


The Short Story Collections:
The Illustrated Man

Bradbury Classic Stories 1 (which includes R is for Rocket and Golden Apples of the Sun)

Bradbury Classic Stories 2 (which includes S is for Space and Medicine For Melancholy)

The Toynbee Convector



On the Process of Writing:
Zen In The Art Of Writing



The Sam Weller Biography:
The Ray Bradbury Chronicles


So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, RAY... from one "crazy" to another!

ArtWalk Summer 2007...

It was that time again. Last Saturday was the second of three ArtWalk events regularly scheduled throughout the year in downtown Ventura. Various shops, restaurants, businesses, galleries and studios open up their doors to the general public to display the latest works by local artists. I spent the better part of three hours that evening walking around with my cup of decaf and checking out some of my choice locations for viewing some great paintings and sculptures.

This time around, though, I didn't come across too much that was new and different. One woman was displaying her watercolors at the StoneWorks Studio's garden. Unfortunately, I forgot to pick up her business card or to jot down her name, but her paintings were vibrant and detailed. The next time I come across her work I'll make sure to write it down and post it here.

Otherwise, I ended up just enjoying the latest works by some of my favorite local artists. So, I just recommend you click on each of the links below for you to peruse. Enjoy!

Norman Kirk

Christine Beirne

Gerardo Segismundo

Ira Meyer

Ricky Maldonado

Linda F. Peterson

David Rivas

David Blackburn

Seco

Lee Hodges

Dan Holmes

Personality Types...

Julie over at Happy Catholic posted her results of this comprehensive personality test.

I remember this test from way back in my college days. It was used as a career test to help you determine what type of jobs/careers would best fit your type. There were two books at the central library in Philly - one for taking the test to determine your code, and the other that listed potential jobs/careers linked with all the possible combination of codes (e.g., ENTJ, ISFP, etc.).

I also remember taking the test at the time, and ended up with a four-letter code that had .................................... ready for this, now ? .............................. NO jobs/careers connected to it! I think it was the only four-letter combo (INFJ) that came up zippo.

Boy, did I feel screwed.

They've since "adjusted" the second book to list careers. The website goes into further detail. Pretty interesting, though. I didn't need to take the test on-line. Oh, I remember my past results vividly.

What were my results? I'm an "INFJ - The Confidant":

"INFJs, making up an estimated 1% of all people, are the most rare type (males even more so). They are introspective, caring, sensitive, gentle and complex people that strive for peace and derive satisfaction from helping others. INFJs are highly intuitive, empathetic and dedicated listeners. These traits tend to act as a "tell me what's wrong" sign on their forehead, hence the nicknames Confidant, Counselor or Empath. INFJs are intensely private and deeply committed to their beliefs."

This link reveals some very interesting things about this type... it's almost dead-on. Here's a link to get to this second website's detailed profile for all 16 types.

WARNING: Ignore the bogus "ennegram" nonsense in that last link. Only the Myers-Briggs stuff is legit.

Time to take a shower again... a meteor shower...

Yes! That's right. This weekend is the annual Perseid Meteor Shower. Best viewing of this annual wonder will be late Sunday night into early Monday morning when the peak period will offer an average of one per minute. Just look up into the Northeast and catch a glimpse of a few falling stars. This year, Mars will also be in the general vicinity - just look Northeast for a bright reddish dot.

Those of you in or near cities might have a more difficult time due to the light pollution. But there is no moon to diminish the viewing ability this year. So, find a nice isolated area (with a clear sky, of course), and catch a few. Go on... take a look! Make a wish! And say a prayer!

The Bangles and The Motels...

Four concert performances in six days! *whew*

So, Thursday night I went back to the Ventura County Fair to check out The Motels with Martha Davis, who opened up for The Bangles.

The Motels only played for about 30 minutes or so, and Martha Davis sounded pretty good, but she has lost a little of her vocal touch. They really didn't get the crowded into it much - which was kind of surprising given that the performance strong. They did do their three big hits: Suddenly Last Summer, Only The Lonely and Take the L (Out of Lover) - all of which were very well done.

After a 20 minute break, on came The Bangles with three of the original four members: the Peterson sisters and Suzanna Hoffs, plus a new female bass player and a guy playing keys. I must say that, for being a 48-year old mother of two, Suzanna Hoffs still looks HOT!

The band played for 90 minutes, and did all of their major hits: Manic Monday, If She Knew What She Wants, In Your Room, their version of Simon & Garfunkel's Hazy Shade Of Winter, Walk Like An Egyptian, and an encore of Eternal Flame (as the evening fireworks started to go off).

These girls were known for their pop/"jangle rock" sound with great vocal harmonies, and last night they proved that they still have the chops both vocally and musically. They certainly had the ladies in the crowd goin' all night. I'm sure the guys in the audience were pleased as well, though possibly more so visually than aurally... I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'. There was this one guy standing beside me who kept yelling at the band, "You're hot!" He was a drunken idiot, but I had to agree with him. ..

So... four performances in six days for a grand total of.... drumroll please........ $41. Not bad... not bad at all, if I do say so myself.

BANGLES TRIVIA: Suzanna Hoffs played the part of one of the band members of Ming Tea (Gillian Shagwell) in the Austin Powers flicks. She is also married to the director of those movies, Jay Roach.

ENVOY Magazine has returned!

Yesterday I came home from work to check my mailbox, and what to my wondering eyes hath appeared... but a brand-new issue of ENVOY Magazine! Patrick Madrid's periodical on Catholic apologetics was a witty yet informative fledgling mag that went dormant for a long period of time. But now it's back, and better than ever. You can either order a 1-year subscription to the mag, or you can order it via the electronic edition for less than half the cost.

And while you're at it, you should also join the ACS and get a year's subscription to Gilbert Magazine (to get your regular fill of all things Chesterton).

Al Stewart with Peter White - in concert

As you all know, I finally started taking guitar lessons back in June (slow going, but I'm getting there). Anyway, I was surfing the web looking for guitar tabs to an obscure Al Stewart tune with a great little guitar lick ("House of Clocks"). I went to his website and he had the info right there, so I printed it out and later that night tried (very poorly, I might add) to play the beginning riff on my semi-hollow electric guitar. Well, anyway… while I was on his website, I decided to click on his "Concerts" button just to see if he happened to be touring. Needless to say, I was shocked to see that he was performing near Woodland Hills on Sunday night (just two days later!!!).

So, I took a drive down yesterday evening to see if they had tickets available, and I lucked out with this incredible opportunity to see Al Stewart teamed up with his long-time recording/writing/playing partner Peter White. The two of them hadn't played together on stage in 14 years, and this was the only chance to see them together as Peter was currently on tour to promote his solo material.

It was an intimate outdoor setting at the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum in Topanga Canyon – a small, Greek-style amphitheatre with only about 400 people in attendance. It was just the two of them playing acoustic guitars while another guy played percussion, harmonica and flute. An incredible, and at times hilarious, 2+ hours of great music and storytelling.

I was stunned to hear him opening the show with none other than "House of Clocks," and I fumbled with my camera to record the performance (the venue was very cool about allowing people to take pix and stuff… the only rules were no eating and no smoking).

He ended up playing not only his known hits – "Year of the Cat" (with a flute solo in place of the sax), "Time Passages", "Carol", "On The Border" – but also some more obscure tunes such as "Katherine of Oregon", "Antarctica", "Merlin's Time", "Paint By Numbers", and "Coldest Winter in Memory". There were a few times when Al would stop playing in the middle of a song because he'd forgotten what to sing next (hah!). With "Paint by Numbers" he stopped at the beginning of the second verse and said, "Uh, does anybody know what comes next?"

A guy in the audience yells out, "She painted me in a corner!" To which Al just stares, dumbfounded and retorts, "That's exactly right!... How do you people know these things?" And with that he picked up right where he left off and finished the song.

Another comical moment was when he suddenly stopped in the middle of "Year of the Cat" and burst out laughing, "This is GREAT! I lose my place on 'Year of the Cat'… of all songs! I'm just watching Peter playing and then I forget what I'm supposed to be doing next."

A little anecdote regarding "On The Border" – Peter had just joined Al's band when he was only 20 years old. Al only knew him as a fantastic piano player, and he said one time that he needed a Spanish guitar player for this new tune of his. Peter said that he could play Spanish guitar, but that he didn't have a guitar to play it on. So Al gave him his own guitar to use – a "cheap piece of crap" that cost only 26 British pounds at the time. And that's the guitar Peter used on the recording!

They played two sets with a 15-minute break in between, plus a 4-song encore. In the middle of both sets they had two brief sit-down Q&A sessions with Al's biographer (the book's available on Amazon.com, as well as re-issues on CD of many of his old albums). Note: They were recording/video taping the event last night, so I'll keep my eyes open for when it becomes available.

After the show I had the chance to meet both of them and to get their autographs on the concert ticket as well as on another Al Stewart DVD which they had on sale at the venue.

Awesome!

Al is one of the great "Troubadours & Tunesmiths" of the last 40 years - an incredible storyteller with his songs. It was such a pleasure to see him in concert with Peter White in such a unique and intimate setting, and to meet them both in person and get their autographs (and I'm not an autograph hound).

REO Speedwagon - a 70s/80s flashback...

Last night I went to the Ventura County Fair where REO Speedwagon performed a rockin' cool 90-minute outdoor concert. They played a few new tunes from their brand new CD, but of course they also performed most of their big hits - Ridin' the Storm Out, Time For Me to Fly, Take It On the Run, Tough Guys, Don't Let Him Go, Keep Pushin', Keep On Lovin' You and Roll With the Changes.

They didn't do one of my favorite tunes of theirs - I Wish You Were There - but it was still a great concert for the money (only $8.00 to get into the fairgrounds)!!!

Tonight Ill be catchin' Al Stewart for an outdoor acoustic & storytelling concert in Topanga Canyon.

Thursday night back at the County Fair to see The Bangles with The Motels.

Then it's Crowded House (one of my all-time favorite bands) on the 26th.

17 States and counting...

I've been able to determine that I have personally visited 17 of the 50 United States, plus the Canadian province of Ontario, so far. I grew up in Philadelphia (PA), so... starting chronologically:

* Pennsylvania (obviously)
* New Jersey (vacations to the Jersey Shores, then later to other areas as well)
* New York (8th grade class trip to the Big Apple - also visited NYC several times in my 20s - plus a ski trip to Bath, NY)
* Delaware (night clubs and places for the band to play gigs in the 80s)
* Maryland (Ocean City, MD... love that town!)

+ Big Gull Lake - aka Clarendon Lake - in Ontario, Canada (a couple summer vacations with family)

* California (vacationed here in '89 - which included visits to San Francisco, the Napa Valley, Los Angeles and San Diego, and again in '93 - in Balboa/Newport Beach, before eventually moving here in '94)

Then there is my cross-country drive in the late summer of '94 in which I followed much of the famous Route 66 to reach my current destination:

* West Virginia (a brief drive-thru the northern sliver)
* Ohio (a ton of rain as I drove across this state)
* Indiana (stayed in Danville for a night)
* Illinois (visited Abraham Lincoln's tomb)
* Missouri (visited the St. Louis arch, Meramec Caverns, and an overnight stay in Joplin)
* Kansas (drove thru a remote 8-mile stretch of Route 66 thru southeastern KS)
* Oklahoma (ate at a diner in Tulsa)
* Texas (the panhandle - treked thru Palo Duro Canyon, and stayed in Amarillo)
* New Mexico (stayed in Albuquerque, visited Santa Fe - briefly - in the pouring rain, visited Bandera Volcano and Ice Caves, the Acoma Pueblo, Canyon Diablo, and Gallup)
* Arizona (stayed in Winslow, visited Meteor Crater - a mile in diameter!, and the Grand Canyon)

... and, of course, my return to California (including an overnight stay in Needles, then thru Death Valley, Barstow, San Bernardino, Pasadena, Los Angeles, Malibu, and Ventura County).

* Alabama (the latest state I visited, staying in Birmingham and Hanceville for a visit of EWTN and Our Lady of the Angels Monastery)

So that's 17 states + Ontario, Canada. I could also add Colorado, Tennessee, North Carolina and Washington D.C...... but that would be cheating because they were just 30 minute change-overs in the Denver, Nashville, Charlotte and D.C. airports. So, they officially don't count... but "technically" they could.

I'm hoping that one day I'll finally be able to visit Italy and the Greek Islands. Maybe also Australia and parts of South America - like Argentina.

So....... how many states (and countries) have you visited?

I'm curious to know.

The Mahony Aftermath...

Last Friday evening I received a phone call from the Archiocese of Los Angeles. I should preface this by stating that in the 13 years since I've lived within its boundaries, I can count the fingers on one hand (with fingers to spare) the number of times I've received any type of phone call from the L.A. Archdiocese.

They were thanking me for last year's donation (now, there are many different types of programs that can be donated to, but the lady didn't specify exactly which program she was thankful for which I had donated), and wanted to know if I would be willing to donate again this year... say... maybe... possibly... $100 or more. I politely told the her that any donations that I give to the church will be done via my local parish (whether it is for my parish specifically, or for the diocese at large), as I have always done.

The next morning, guess what story was headlining the news?

I have a suggestion for Cardinal Mahony as to how he can get that remaining $250 million which the Archdiocese owes for those settlements (from a grand total of $720 million for 553 cases). There is that $189 million monstrosity called the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.

He can remove and save the John Nava tapestries, the beautiful yet unused Spanish retablo, and the stained glass windows which were from the original St. Vibiana Cathedral (which was damaged beyond repair after the '94 Northridge earthquake) and are now placed in the basement mausoleum. Everything else, including the building, can be sold (given the current real estate market) for at least triple its original value. Or, he could even lease it out to several museums (LACMA, MOCA, Getty). Said lease payments over a 10-15 year period could generate enough money to cover the settlement expenses.

Oh... and one more thing. He could do the honorable thing and tender his resignation, effective immediately.

P.S. Of the approx. 10-12 diocese within the U.S. that have been severely affected by this scandal (as to the number of cases, as well as financially), why haven't we heard of any such problems from the San Francisco diocese? Is it really possible that that diocese is scandal-free? Not making any accusations. Just a little food for thought.

UPDATE: Gerald, over at Closed Cafeteria, has an excellent rundown on the details of the entire U.S. scandal. It puts everything into proper perspective.

Ira Meyer - Photography

Last week, on the Fourth of July, I went downtown to the annual Independence Day festivities in my hometown. Main Street was blocked off for entertainment and various types of vendors. And I happened to bump into an old acquaintance of mine, Ira Meyer, whom I hadn't seen in a few years. He's a professional photographer, and he had his booth set up for displaying and selling his photographic prints.

His work is strikingly beautiful, and has even graced the pages of National Geographic (the Ponderosa Pines in the Mist pic). The vast majority of his work is of nature and scenic vistas, but that basic description doesn't do his art justice.

Here's a link to one of his recent prints from his travels to Antarctica. The brilliance of the translucent blue ice is breathtaking. Here's another link to Argentine Patagonia. Or, how about some wildlife. Or, a portraiture from India. I ended up buying one of his Antarctica prints (not shown on his web site) for myself - it's of a shimmering blue iceberg, back lit by the unseen rising sun, against a dark sea and charcoal sky.

I highly recommend purchasing a copy of his coffee table book, "Suddenly the Sun Emerged". It is well worth the modest $19.95.

After the defeat of the amnesty bill...

(UPDATED FOR CORRECTIONS)

The Republican Establishment (especially in the Senate) have no idea how close they came to losing their conservative base. Oh, they may have finally come around after yesterday's vote to kill that joke of an immigration bill. But I really don't think they know how badly they played out this whole thing. If it weren't for the likes of Senators Sessions, DeMint, Cornyn, Vitter, as well as a decent number of conservative House members, there may well have been a mass exodus from the Republican Party by concerned conservative voters.

A bit of background about myself --- up until 1992, I was a registered Democrat. I was a Democrat-in-name-only (DINO) because, unfortunately, living in Philadelphia at the time meant that Republicans have practically no voice or influence. In the main elections, though, I voted for the likes of Reagan and Bush Sr.

My last vote as a registered Democrat was in the '92 Democratic Presidential Primary. I was already keen on the Clinton nightmare that was to come if he became president, so I voted for Jerry Brown as a protest vote (it helped that he also voiced a flat-tax plan). Immediately after that primary I changed my affiliation to the Republican Party.

But, unlike some people in politics, I'm a principles-over-party kind of guy. Others are party-over-principles types. Sorry... I just don't drink that Kool-Aid. If the Republicans in the Senate had allowed that ill-conceived immigration to pass and President Bush signed it, I was seriously thinking of leaving the Republican Party.

No, I was not going to go back to the Democrats (they're even worse). I was going to remain a Republican until I could vote for either Duncan Hunter or Fred Thompson in the presidential primary, and then I was going to switch my affiliation to the Constitution Party. I'm not a fan of their isolationist stance in their party platform, but the vast majority of their positions are the closest to my conservative views on issues. I would, obviously, still vote for any good conservative candidate in the main elections from whatever party they may be affiliated.

Call me what you want, but that's how frustrated I was with the Republican Party. And I would hazard a guess that there are a LOT more conservatives out there who have similar feelings.

There needs to be a committed return to the conservative principles that were the foundation of Reagan in the 80s and the Congressional Republicans of '94:

* Continue lowering taxes (especially for the middle class)
* Serious & streamlined tax reform
* Serious and real reductions in spending (that means spending actually being less than previous years)
* Strong national defense/military
* Effective prosecution of the global war against Islamic terrorists
* Secure the borders (that means building the full fence, new detection & surveillance technologies, and a marked increase in the number of border agents patrolling all points of entry)
* Real immigration reform without amnesty (see previous post for details on this issue)
* Aggressive prosecution of businesses that break the laws (from Enron-types to those that hire illegal immigrants)
* Reduction in the overabundance of regulations
* Free but fair and equitable trade with other countries (including China)
* Open up ANWAR, and the Pacific & Gulf coasts to drilling and build new refineries
* Expanding aggressive, results-based R&D in alternative energy sources
* Serious reduction of our dependence on foreign (especially Middle Eastern) oil
* Continued federal judicial appointments in the mold of Scalia, Thomas, Rehnquist, Alito & Roberts (Federal Appeals Courts as well as U.S. Supreme Court)

and, of course, last but most certainly not least...

* Firmly and consistently Pro-Life and Pro-Family (on issues such as abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, cloning, gay marriage, etc.)

A friend has been ordained a Deacon...

Last weekend, my friend John Barry (from my Wednesday morning men's bible study group) was officially ordained a deacon of the Catholic Church. He and another member of my parish (Fernando Flores) were two of 60 men who went through the mass/ceremony which was held at the Santa Barbara City College football field with Cardinal Mahony presiding.

This high of a number is unprecedented because they normally only ordain about five to eight deacons per year in this region. Five years ago, they decided to try something different for the Santa Barbara region of the archdiocese. They removed two restrictions: 1) they no longer required the wives of the candidates to attend all of the classes over the 4-5 years of study, and 2) they no longer required that all candidates be bilingual. The immediate result was a nearly 10-fold increase in ordinations in this first class under the new rules. In contrast, the L.A.-area region had only seven new deacons this year, operating under the old regulations. Card. Mahony stated that he would like to see the new regs eventually expanded to cover the entire archdiocese.

It was a gorgeous day, beginning with the typical June-gloom overcast weather that eventually gave way to the warm sun, with the Pacific Ocean in the background. Quite a significant number of parishioners and family members attended, as did a good number of the men from my bible study group. Afterwards, we went back to John and his wife's house for a nice, relaxing after-party. Needlessly to say, we are all proud of John and Fernando as it has been a long road of study, prayer, and sacrifice for these men to take on this new responsibility.

Our prayers remain with these two fine and upstanding Catholic men as they begin their walk down this consecrated life of service.

10 Points for the Republican Party...

In the middle of the whole immigration bill fiasco I received an e-mail from the Republican Party requesting that I fill out a questionnaire and add any additional comments. Below are the comments I added to their questionnaire. As the old saying goes: "Ask and ye shall receive."

10 Points for the Republican Party

1) Border security (fence built in full with installation of new surveillance & detection technology at the border, dramatically increased number of border agents & national guardsmen patrolling ALL borders - north, south, Gulf, Atlantic and Pacific coasts),

2) No amnesty under any disguise or play on words. Illegals who are felons should be deported with the assurance that their country of origin will incarcerate them for the full term of their sentence. If not, then we keep them in prison here, but will bill their host countries for the expense. Illegals who don't want to become U.S. citizens, get deported. Those who DO want to become citizens, go back to their home country and "wait in line" just like everybody else.

3) Immediate and aggressive prosecution of businesses that hire illegal immigrants (the Republicans MUST do this in order to prove that they are not in the back pockets of big business!),

4) Drop the "jobs Americans won't do" meme. It's a load of B.S. Illegals are taking jobs away from legal immigrants, and suppressing wages in the process,

5) No new visa types, such as Y- or Z-visas (not necessary). Instead, streamline the current bureaucratic mess that is the current state of legal immigration, and make it more efficient. This includes better and more efficient background checks of both legal and illegal immigrants and visitors when the enter the country, or when (illegals) are caught. This also means ending the so-called "sanctuary" policies of certain cities (such as in Los Angeles) which prevents local police from doing their jobs when they come across/capture and illegal.

6) Make English the official language of the U.S.

7) Energy dependence! This means drilling in ANWAR, as well the Pacific and Gulf coasts, in-place extraction of shale oil in the Montana/Wyoming/Utah areas, further R&D on fusion and fuel cell technologies, building new oil refineries and expanding existing one. Drastically reduce dependence on oil imports from all Middle Eastern countries in the process,

8) Full and unequivocal support for the GWOT (this includes Iran, Syria, as well as Iraq and other countries). Clear, detailed plans for dealing with all "hot spots" around the world,

9) Remain firm, committed and unequivocal on Pro-Life and Pro-Family issues: No to abortion, No to homosexual marriages, No to embryonic stem cell research,

10) CUT THE FRIGGIN' SPENDING!!! Meaning that total spending for the next fiscal year will be LESS than the previous year... by a significant amount. Also, STOP THE PORK/EARMARKS (both Republican as well as Democratic). And continue to REDUCE TAXES, ESPECIALLY FOR THE MIDDLE CLASS.

Bonus Point: REAL FAIR TRADE WITH COUNTRIES SUCH AS CHINA!

Memories of Ocean City, Maryland...

When I visited family and friends back east last month, I took a day to drive down to Ocean City, MD, for a part of the day. It was my first visit to that great little beach town in 15 years. My college buddies and I would spend lots of time down at various places at the Jersey shore (Avalon, Sea Isle City, Stone Harbor, Wildwood). But, in the summer of '86, a few of the guys mentioned this place called Ocean City in Maryland, and we decided to give it a shot. We fell in love with the town so much that we continued to vaca down there every summer up until '92 (in '93 a few of us vaca'ed in California, and in '94 I moved to CA). We'd head down to Ocean City for a weekend or a full week, at least once if not two or three times each summer (even though we'd continue to spend time at the Jersey shores, as well).

We used to stay at either the Tidelands (at 5th & the beach), the Wellington (at 9th & Baltimore), and the Monticello. The Tidelands was, at the time, a dump of a place for $20/night, but we didn't care. Since then, the place has gone "upscale" as the Tidelands Caribbean Hotel & Resort. (Yikes!)

We used to hit quite a few night clubs during those summers... Scandal's near 65th Street (a large, all-wood, barn-like interior with a balcony in the back, and a full-sized stage for live bands to perform)... Samantha's at the back of the 45th Street shopping center (many memories there)... the Playpen near 69th Street by the bay side (they used to go overboard with the fog machine, the music volume bled your ears, and they were notorious for seriously lacking A/C in that place)... Graffitti's on 17th Street... the Paddock at the south end of town for live rock bands... Tiffany's (a preppy little place connected to a hotel or restaurant on 24th Street, I think, that my friend Phil used to like going to)... and of course the Purple Moose Saloon on the boardwalk.

Of them all, Samantha's and Scandal's were the best clubs for hoppin' night life! Let's just say that Labor Day weekend in '88 will live in infamy for me and my friends!!! 'Nough said. Almost all of those clubs have either closed down, changed names, or moved. Samantha's was the first to close in '90. Tiffany's and Graffitti's are gone. Scandal's moved in the old Samantha's location before closing in '05. But the Paddock is still open, and the Purple Moose is still on the boardwalk (and DJ Batman, who used to do the "Best Body on the Beach" contests is STILL there! What is he now... 65?... 70 years old??... geez!).

For munchies.... Soriano's... Thrasher's French Fries (hold the vinegar... yuck)... the Dough Roller for breakfast, pizza on the boardwalk near 5th Street!!! (I forget the name of the place)... Dumser's Dairy (for custard ice cream like Dairy Queen)... Dayton's Chicken for the BEST fried chicken and soft shell crabs, on the boardwalk by the pier at South Division Street... and the Bull On The Beach for awesome bbq roast pork and roast beef sandwiches.

What I loved best about OCMD was that it was clean, it had a little bit of everything for everyone, and you had all sorts of people from all walks of life -- different cultures, backgrounds, ethnicities, incomes, all ages from babies to octogenarians, single people, families -- and everyone had smiles on their faces.

P.S. I forgot to add one more memory of OCMD...... always seeing the beautifully done Christian-themed sand sculptures at the beach by North Division Street. From what I read, the job of doing them has been handed down over the years (Chuck Ritchley Sr. and Randy Hofman are two of the men who've done them in OCMD).

Here's a link to Randy Hofman's website.

Follow-up to yesterday's post...

John Hawkins, over at RWN, summarizes the post mortem of the failed Senate immigration bill. His last "P.S." is very telling:

PS #2: I also asked my source why he thought so many Republicans had been supporting such an incredibly unpopular bill. He gave three reasons:

First off, there was what he referred to as the "Rovian School of thought," which says that passing this bill would capture the Hispanic vote for the GOP for decades to come.

Next up, there's the "Chamber of Commerce" vote. He says these Republicans were heavily influenced by business groups that want cheap labor no matter what the cost is for the rest of the country.

Then there was the last group, the smallest group in his opinion, who were willing to sign onto a terrible bill just so they could say they were part of a big reform that had bipartisan support.

We can be thankful for the strong, conservative leadership of Senators DeMint, Sessions and Coburn for helping to kill this terrible bill.

On Illegal Immigration...

Okay... first things first... on the oft-repeated phrase that illegals are "doing jobs that Americans won’t do":

• I have a relative who put helped put herself through college by cleaning peoples’ houses for five years. in other words... that annoying phrase is a load of B.S.

• Remember the post-Hurricane Katrina construction jobs that many citizens from the northern portion of the country headed down south to fill? But they were turned away because the jobs were filled already by illegal aliens.

• Remember the recent raid on several Swift & Co. Meat Packing plants in six states because of their hiring illegal aliens. Subsequently, they posted job opportunities at $18/hour --- and were overrun with vast numbers of applicants willing to take the jobs that were previously unavailble to them.

• Less than 10% of agriculture (i.e., strawberries, grapes, etc.) requires humans to do the picking. The fast majority of agricultural work is done mechanically.

• Costs will not drastically increase if actual U.S. citizen farm workers did this work vs. illegal farm workers (fuel costs has a much greater affect on overall costs).

• The Juan vs Jose analogy (a legal first generation migrant farm worker vs. an illegal immigrant). Illegal immigrants severely diminish job opportunities for legal immigrants, and also suppress the available wages for legal immigrants when the few jobs do become available.

• Then there is the strain (fiscally as well as administratively) on key social services such as hospital/medical and education systems due to the fact that most illegals do not have health benefits, nor are they paying local/state/federal income taxes (with the exception of sales taxes from their extremely low income level).


What needs to be done?

First, fully enforce the laws that are already on the books!!! This includes:

• Building the full fence on the southern border (double fence with road in between), plus upgrade of technology for remote/underground/infrared detection and surveillance, etc. (for northern as well as southern borders).

• Increase # of border agents & port inspection agents (all borders: north and south, Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf coasts).

• Aggressively investigate, prosecute and fine businesses that are hiring illegals. The worst and repeat offenders should be first in line to be investigated and prosecuted.

NOTE: On that last point --- once the illegal job hiring market dries up it would cause an automatic natural exodus of a large portion of illegals who have no interest in becoming U.S. citizens, and who will head back to their countries of origin on their own.

• Full integration of background check information into a central database.

• Full background checks with reasonable timeframes for said checks (not just within 24 hours). Checks go through all available channels, authorities and agencies: local, state, federal, international.

• City sanctuary policies revoked (e.g., L.A. not allowing it’s police officers to inform the feds when they come across any illegal).


Next?

• Political asylum opportunities on a case-by-case basis.

• Close scrutiny on anyone who may have links, ties or sympathies to any terrorist agenda.

• Any illegal immigrant convicted with a felony is automatically deported at the expense of the receiving country.

• Any remaining illegal immigrant must choose whether to become a U.S. citizen or to return to their country of origin.

Those that choose to become a U.S. citizen must:

a) learn to speak, read and write English

b) go through the standard procedures to become a citizen

c) pay a fine for having come here illegally and not having paid income taxes (this fine is to be paid either as a lump sum or as an automatic deduction from their paychecks until said fine is paid in full).


In addition, the following “trigger” automatically goes into effect:

For every illegal immigrant who is to become legal, there should be a commensurate reduction in new legal immigrants who are allowed to become a U.S. citizen.

For example: Supposing there are 10,000 illegal immigrants from Italy – my own ancestry came from that country. Let’s say that 2000 are felons who get automatically deported. Let’s then say that, of the remaining illegals, 1000 want to return to Italy. This leaves us with 7000 illegals who want to become U.S. citizens. But suppose that the U.S. only allots 3500 legal immigrants from Italy each year. That means that for the next two years NO legal immigrants are allowed into the U.S. from Italy.

If any country takes issue with this procedure, they have the right to choose one of two options: either except this procedure as is, or take back all of the illegal immigrants from their country and have them “get in line” like the rest of the potential legal immigrants who are already waiting in line.

There must be a cut-off date set (in the past, not the future) as to who is allowed to take this opportunity to become a U.S. citizen (e.g., if a person has been in the U.S. prior to Jan 1, 2007). Any illegal immigrant after said date is automatically deported unless political asylum issues are involved.

No new increases in the number of “legal” immigrations per year for each country. In other words, if in 2006 we allow up to 5000 people from a given country to apply for U.S. citizenship, this benchmark cannot be increased until at least two years after the U.S. has fully absorbed any current illegals from said country who officially become legal citizens through the above stated processes.

No new types of visas (e.g., Y and Z visas) are to be created. They are unnecessary. In fact, current procedures, documentation and visa types/applications need to be streamlined and simplified.


IT AIN'T THAT HARD TO DO! It stops businesses that are currently hiring illegals from breaking the law. It opens up jobs for legal citizens to get, and at a just wage. It deports illegals who are hardened criminals. It returns back to their countries of origin other illegals who have no interest in becoming citizens. It allows those who DO want to become citizens to do so in a proper and systematic way, and it requires a natural assimilation into society. It also gives them a better opportunity to grow economically as they will now be paid legal wages and benefits by U.S. businesses. With them getting benefits and paying taxes in these legal jobs, there will be less of a financial strain on medical/hospital and education services in the communities they reside.

UPDATE: To add one more point to all of the above --- in order to get to the root of the problem of illegal immigration, you need to address the fact that certain countries are being run by corrupt regimes and/or failed governments. They are not doing what is necessary to improve the social & economic conditions for their citizens, otherwise there would be no need for such a regular and massive exodus. Pressure must be put on those troublesome countries to correct their problems, diminish their corruption, and implement true democratic reforms. Various types of incentives can be dangled in front of these countries as an enticement so that both sides can benefit from an overall improvement of their respective societies.

Also, here is a link to Sen. Sessions' "20 Loopholes" in the current (and abominably bad & misguided) Senate Immigration Bill that (for the time being, as of tonight's failed cloture vote) has been taken off the table. It's more like a TKO than a pure KO for the bill, and it may rear it's ugly head again in the future.