To those of you who read this fledgling blog...

THE REASON FOR THE SEASON...



WISHING EVERYONE A WARM, SAFE, PEACEFUL, LOVING AND BLESSED CHRISTMAS!!!

Mars Attack!

A newly discovered hunk of space rock has a 1-in-75 chance of slamming into the Red Planet on Jan. 30, scientists said Thursday.

"These odds are extremely unusual. We frequently work with really long odds when we track ... threatening asteroids," said Steve Chesley, an astronomer with the Near Earth Object Program at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

This should be interesting to watch... from afar, of course.

Good News...

... Dad comes home from the hospital tomorrow morning. He's recovering well, and is able to stomach real food now. Needless to say, he's happy to get outta there. He'll be staying with one of my brothers for the short-term as he'll need to take it easy at first. He'll also have a physical therapist and nurses visiting three times a week (lucky guy) until he's strong enough to be on his own again. He'll also have to visit his cardiologist to go over, monitor and check out the old ticker. But, overall, he's in much better spirits. As one of his granddaughters said to him today while visiting him at the hospital, "You look like grandpop again!"

Kasparov Pulls Out... and Putin is Man of the Year???

Garry Kasparov has pulled out of his fledgling run for president of Russia. [hat-tip to First Things]:

Former world chess champ and thorn in Vladimir Putin’s side Gary Kasparov has called it quits: He will not continue his bid for the Russian presidency as the “Other Russia” candidate.
Kasparov has been a none-too-subtle critic of what he considers a thugocracy in the original Russia. But it seems that opposition to opposition has made a viable candidacy untenable, to the point where Kasparov couldn’t even rent meeting space.

Meanwhile, Time Magazine selects Putin as the "Man of the Year"???

Odd... very odd.

Ridin’ that emotional roller coaster...

So... Dad's back on the up-swing again. I'm sure this is wreaking havoc on him, physically, emotionally and psychologically. I know it's certainly doing a number on me and my siblings.

Here's the upshot: He wasn't able to keep food down, and they had to put the NG tube back in. It's still unclear whether or not he also went into another congestive heart failure during this episode. The doctors ran a bunch of tests and found........ nothing - no blockages, no additional adhesions, nothing. They believe that they moved him too quickly onto solid foods, and his stomach wasn't ready to handle it so soon after the surgery.

As of this morning, they removed the NG tube and he's to start on pure liquids only (water first, then apple juice/grape juice, clear broth, etc.). If that goes well, then they move him up the proverbial food chain to apple sauce and similar soft foods - all with the intention of gradually working him up to solid food.

I talked with him today, and he's tired but in good spirits. He's glad the tube is out. Depending on how he's able to handle the slow upgrade of various forms of nourishment, the doctors hope to have him leaving the hospital before Christmas (maybe even before next weekend). But that's putting the proverbial cart before the horse. As you can see, this whole thing is very proverbial.

Thanks again for the continued prayers and well wishes.

More prayers needed...

Just got off the phone with my sister-in-law a few hours ago. Dad took a turn for the worst last night into this morning.

I simply ask for continued prayers during this difficult time.

Dad update...

Thanks to those of you who have offered prayers and sent well wishes regarding my Dad. After a rough ten days he has made significant improvements. He had to go into emergency surgery to relieve an intestinal obstruction. They were about to remove a part of his intestines, but once they opened him up they realized that it was only abdominal adhesions that formed over the years from previous surgery scars.

He was in ICU for quite awhile as he not only had to recover from the surgery, but he also had congestive heart failure due to excessive fluid buildup in the lungs. It was touch-&-go there for awhile, but things slowly improved. He was eventually taken off the respirator and the intubation. A few days ago he was moved out of ICU, and is now in telemetry. And just this morning they were finally able to remove the NG tube, and he was able to eat real food (such as it is: Jello, soup, etc...) for the first time. With the last of the tubes out it makes it much easier for him to talk, so I'm hoping to be able to talk with him over the phone tomorrow morning.

So, thanks again for all of your thoughts and prayers. It has been greatly appreciated.

Veep Spot Speculation...

Katheryn Jean Lopez over at NRO starts her recent column with this intriguing sentence:

I don’t know who the Republican nominee for president of the United States will turn out to be in a few months, but whoever he is, his vice-presidential pick should be Bill Bennett.

The whole column says what I've been thinking for quite some time. I'd actually prefer if he was on the top of the Republican ticket, but I'll taken him in the #2 slot if the eventual nominee is Thompson or Hunter.

Sorry, Mitt, but I'm not impressed...

So, Romney felt the need to talk about his faith. Jimmy Akin ain't impressed. Neither are most other people (except for the typical Romney shills).

I'm not impressed either. Aside from the issues that Jimmy points out, my additional concerns include the fact that Romney (to me) comes off as a Slick Willy redux with a non-conservative track record as governor of a liberal northeastern state.

Sorry, Mitt.

I'm not thrilled with ANY of the presidential candidates from EITHER party.

But, for the time being, I'm sticking with either Duncan Hunter or Fred Thompson as the most favorable to me of a sorry lot.

Dad update...

I've been in constant contact with my siblings back east. Dad's surgery went much better than expected. Turns out that the blockage was due to... (gee, flashback to 1996)... abdominal adhesions. The surgeons were able to fix the problem WITHOUT having to remove any intestines. He came out of surgery and recovery okay, and is currently in ICU. He was intubated and was on a breathing machine for a couple days, and has subsequently been taken off of those devices.

He's not out of the woods yet. He has fluid in the lungs (though it has gotten better since before the surgery), and the doctors want to make sure this doesn't turn into pneumonia.

Thank you all for the prayers and well-wishes. They have not gone unheard by God, and they have been much appreciated by me and my family!

~Trub

GKC on EWTN...

Hat-tip to the ACS... (who hat-tips to Mark Shea) that a tele-play production of G.K. Chesterton's play "The Surprise" will air on EWTN on Thursday, Dec 20, at 5:00 AM (ET). The official premiere will be on Friday, Dec 21 at 10:00 PM (ET) [7:00 PM (PT)].

Another airing will be on Christmas Eve @ 1:00 PM (ET) [10:00 AM (PT)].

Enjoy!

More on Kasparov, Putin and the Russian elections...

From yesterday:

The former world chess champion is awaiting his opponent's next move.

Garry Kasparov, released from jail after serving a five-day sentence for leading a protest against Vladimir Putin, acknowledged Friday he holds the weaker position in his confrontation with the Russian president.

But Kasparov predicted the upcoming election season, which begins with Sunday's parliamentary vote, will force the secretive Putin to reveal his strategy in the nail-biting political game gripping the country as Putin's time in the Kremlin runs out.

As the campaign for the March 2 presidential vote gathers pace, Kasparov said, the Kremlin's beleaguered, fractious opponents can regroup for a new push aimed at "dismantling Putin's regime."

He hopes their ranks will be strengthened following Sunday's vote, which will also push dissenting voices further to the margins.

More news today:

Russians voted Sunday in a parliamentary election where the only question was whether President Vladimir Putin's party would win a strong majority of seats or a crushing share.

The election follows months of increasingly acidic rhetoric aimed against the West and efforts, by law and by truncheon, to stifle opponents.

A huge win for Putin's United Russia party could pave the way for him to stay at the country's helm once his presidential term expires in the spring. The party casts the election as essentially a referendum on Putin's nearly eight years in office.... Putin is constitutionally prohibited from running for a third consecutive term as president in March. But he clearly wants to keep his hand on Russia's levers of power, and has raised the prospect of becoming prime minister; many supporters have suggested his becoming a "national leader," though what duties and powers that would entail are unclear.

It continues:

Opposition parties, meanwhile, claim authorities have confiscated campaign materials and that the managers of halls have refused to rent them out for opposition meetings. Police have violently broken up opposition rallies — most recently in Moscow and St. Petersburg last weekend — and national television gives the parties hardly any coverage.

In contrast, Putin's speeches to supporters have been broadcast in full and repeated throughout evening newscasts.

"The fact is, they're not just rigging the vote. They're raping the democratic system," said chess champion and opposition leader Garry Kasparov on Sunday.

Kasparov, who was jailed for five days after the Moscow protest, spoiled his ballot by writing on it "Other Russia," the name of his opposition umbrella group.

Sunday's vote "meets none of the criteria of a free, fair and democratic election. In effect, it is not even an election," Andrei Illarionov, a former adviser to Putin, wrote in a commentary for the Cato Institute think tank.

...tick-tick-tick...

Surgery...

As I type this my Dad is about to undergo emergency surgery to remove a part of his intestines to bypass the blockage. Given his condition, age and medical history, it's high risk but absolutely necessary.

A humble request for more prayers for my Dad.

Thank you.

Requesting prayers for my Dad, who's in the hospital...

Just got word from my sister last night that Dad (who lives back east, as does the rest of my family) is in the hospital. At first they thought it might be a bad case of the flu or stomach/intestinal virus. Word this morning is that there is some sort of blockage. No further details as of yet. He's on the edge of 82, is not in the best of health (given his past medical history), and has been heartbroken ever since Mom passed away five and a half years ago.

As I drove into work this morning it hit me that - in a very, very surreal way - several significant factors in my life right now have combined in such a way as to make me relive 1996 all over again. It's as though the months of September through December of eleven years ago are re-imprinting themselves onto my current life. The timeframe, the situations, the minutia of details, and all the emotions connected to everything. Just so, so very surreal.

I simply ask for some prayers for my Dad's health.

I also humbly ask for prayers for myself. I've come a long way in these last dozen years. I've grown and matured as a man and as a child of God. It seems, though, that God wants me to grow and learn some more - at least in one particular aspect of my life. To take an emotional risk. To go further down a certain path of opportunity and to see it through, whether it's only meant to be for the short-term or whether it's meant to be longer lasting. And to challenge others to do the same.

My apologies for being cryptic. I just re-read that last paragraph. Although it sounds like I'm talking about my relationship with my Dad, I'm not. That relationship is stronger than it's ever been. So has our faith in God and Jesus Christ. Oddly, though, in recent years we've shared a similar struggle. Both of us have been dealing with a void in our lives. He having lost his soulmate of 50+ years. And I... well... given that I'm still single, that void has been there since day one for me.

God puts you on a path, and you walk it. And maybe some of the choices you made weren't the best. Maybe some decisions were right because the time, the person, or the situation wasn't right. Or maybe you only went so far and then stopped and changed course out of fear. But sometimes, though, God allows you a do-over. Some of the details have changed, some of the specifics are altered. But enough similarities are there to jog your memory. And you're flashed back to a time when you gave up to easily. You've grown since then. So now God says to you, "Okay, what are you going to do this time?"

What do you do?

You risk your heart.

Even if you don't get someone elses heart in return.

You risk your heart.

Because one day that someone will be found.

You risk your heart.

Because that is what Christ did, and does, for all of us... for all eternity.

Because, eventually, God does keep his promises.

On His time, not ours.

But we still have to do our part.

Kasparov arrested again...

I've told you here, here and here, to keep an eye on Russia & Putin. Garry Kasparov has been arrested again during a protest demonstration.

Russian riot police detained another key opposition figure among 200 demonstrators in Saint Petersburg Sunday, a day after a court jailed opposition leader Garry Kasparov for a similar protest against President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

The disturbances, exactly a week ahead of December 2 parliamentary elections, came 24 hours after police dispersed a similar march of around 2,000 people in the Russian capital Moscow and arrested Kasparov.

A court late Saturday sentenced the former world chess champion to five days in jail and his lawyer told AFP Sunday he was being held at Moscow police headquarters.

Have a Safe & Blessed Thanksgiving!

That is all.

:-D

Have a Safe & Blessed Thanksgiving!

That is all.

:-D

Yep... it's time to take a shower again...

It's time to take a shower again... a Leonid Shower!

Yep! This weekend is the time for the annual Leonid Meteor Shower. Hopefully, there will be clear skies for optimal viewing, wherever you are. Best time to observe 'em will be Saturday night into Sunday morning.

So, yet again... make a wish upon a "falling star" (just remember to dress warmly).

Che, Chavez and Iran... oh, my!!!

Hat-tip to Belmont Club:

The children of Che Guevara, the revolutionary pin-up, had been invited to Tehran University to commemorate the 40th anniversary of their father’s death and celebrate the growing solidarity between “the left and revolutionary Islam” at a conference partly paid for by Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president.

Read the whole thing here.

Weather Channel Founder Comes Out Against Global Warming...

Hat-tip to Newsbusters, RWN, and Redstate:

John Coleman, the founder of The Weather Channel and Joe D’Aleo Director of Meteorology for it's first 6 years on the air and Professor of Meteorology have come out against all the hoopla.

It's definitely worth a full reading:

It is the greatest scam in history. I am amazed, appalled and highly offended by it. Global Warming; It is a SCAM. Some dastardly scientists with environmental and political motives manipulated long term scientific data to create an illusion of rapid global warming. Other scientists of the same environmental whacko type jumped into the circle to support and broaden the “research” to further enhance the totally slanted, bogus global warming claims. Their friends in government steered huge research grants their way to keep the movement going. Soon they claimed to be a consensus.

Environmental extremists, notable politicians among them, then teamed up with movie, media and other liberal, environmentalist journalists to create this wild “scientific” scenario of the civilization threatening environmental consequences from Global Warming unless we adhere to their radical agenda. Now their ridiculous manipulated science has been accepted as fact and become a cornerstone issue for CNN, CBS, NBC, the Democratic Political Party, the Governor of California, school teachers and, in many cases, well informed but very gullible environmentally conscientious citizens.

The entire text can be found here