Using or Abusing Science

The political Left has been laying claim to science as the basis for much of their agenda, but I've been doing some reading over the holidays that suggests otherwise. In fact, the science they're so openly promoting is mostly in the realm of "junk science" rather than the actual scientific method.

Darwinian evolution is one example. In an interesting case of projection, there's a zeal that seems almost religious by those most intent on imposing the idea of evolution providing the unquestioned proof that all life evolved from single-celled organisms. The problems remain that there is no clear evidence of any interspecies evolution in an extensive fossil record, and the fundamental question of the origins of all things remains a scientific mystery.

Not that I would make an argument for teaching "Intelligent Design" in schools. Religion doesn't belong in a science classroom. What I would argue, however, is that evolution be taught honestly, including the areas of the theory that are observable as well as those areas that remain questionable and unproven.

The coordinated silence and misinformation on the actual science of abortion is troubling. Abortion has been clearly established as a strong cause of breast cancer among women, but that information has been suppressed by abortion-rights advocates with the willing assistance of media and the government. Demonstrable impact on the mental health of women who have exercised their "choice" is also swept under the rug.

With advanced technologies, we now know much about the development of the fetus in the womb. The fetus can no longer be honestly characterized as just some tissue that can simply be removed before an actual human infant is formed.

An amazing program of propaganda has successfully obfuscated all science on the causes of homosexuality. Most people believe in a "gay gene" that doesn't exist, but has been successfully spread by dishonest, agenda-driven advocacy organizations that set out to "prove" something that doesn't exist.

The simple facts of serious and unbiased studies on the subject universally show that homosexuality is a result of a number of environmental factors. There is no "gay gene". Studies that make the gay advocacy community most angry have found that those who receive proper treatment can actually change their attractions and successfully form strong heterosexual relationships.

Also swept under the rug are the important facts that homosexual behavior includes extremely high risks of a wide range of diseases, above and beyond the most prevalent and well-known HIV/AIDS.

Then there's the overall epidemic of STD's. How many Americans actually know there's an epidemic of STD's? Not many, I imagine. The numbers are staggering. The infection rates for the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) alone are so high that an entire generation may find themselves dealing with the consequences over the next 20-30 years.

What made me angry were the recent commercials touting a treatment for HPV to prevent cervical cancer for women that never once mentioned what HPV is, or how it is contracted. Even when the government tries to act on the public health issue, they can't bring themselves to be honest about what causes the disease.

Finally, of course, there's Global Warming, which has now been renamed Global Climate Change. The political juggernaut led by Al Gore is unstoppable, as serious scientists who dare to refute any part of the religion of Global Climate Change are censured, denied tenure by their universities, and in some cases, fired.

Want a reason to be skeptical about Global Climate Change? Just look at the facts:

Those who lead the movement actually leave a "carbon footprint" hundreds of times bigger than those of use who will suffer under their heavy-handed "solutions".

The "solutions" Al and his friends at the UN are proposing have little or nothing to do with reducing emissions, but a great deal to do with taking money and sovereignty away from Americans and giving it to the rest of the world.

All I ask is honesty. For all of us, a healthy skepticism is not just advisable - it' a requirement. Otherwise, those who would force us all into submission for totalitarianism will use their pseudoscience to fool us into accepting their grab for power over our lives.

Huckeby Saga Draws to a Close

The Barry Huckeby story is ending quietly, with the recent news that he's reached a plea agreement with prosecutors. Basically, he's pled guilty to a lesser charge, something along the lines of mishandling of public funds. The theft charge is being dropped, and his sentencing will be in February.

This isn't particularly surprising, given the facts of the investigation by the State. The findings of the investigation, as I detailed in my previous post (See December 4th), seem to indict the school administration for gross mismanagement as much as it did Huckeby.

So I suspect the school administration want the whole thing to just go away. I sent a letter to the School Board President, Ms. Pia O'Connor, expressing my concerns about the mismanagement and unforgivably poor controls by the Columbus North Athletic Department. She responded in general terms that she is now satisfied that proper controls have been implemented there. Lacking any specifics or independent confirmation, I must admit to being more than a little skeptical.

Either way, the story is coming to an end very quietly. Barry Huckeby will move on with a small blemish on his record, and although he could do a month in jail, I doubt that will happen. Perhaps he'll get a new chance to coach basketball at another high school; that might even work out fine, as long as the new school keeps him far away from any money-handling responsibility.

It remains regrettable that the people who created the environment that led to this mess will escape the scrutiny they deserve.

Merry Christmas

My best wishes to everyone for a Merry Christmas!

Things are winding down quickly, as today I've seen my email and voicemail and telephone messages trickle to a near dead stop. Everyone is in the holiday mode, some taking off early for their Christmas celebration and others spending time in office parties or just goofing off as the week winds down.

Naturally, the whole thing stems from the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ something over 2,000 years ago. Today we have a large and vocal group of atheists who may like having the time off, but rail against the remembrance of the birth of this founder of the Christian faith.

Unfortunately, today we also have a large and growing number of church leaders who seem to be joining the atheists in equivocating or denying the fundamental stories so important to that faith in the divine who became human to teach us humanity and thus save us from darkness.

Ours is a faith of simplicity and poetry on the surface, but to those who choose to study in greater detail, an amazing continuity can be found with the ancient monotheistic God worshipped by Jews, Muslims, and Christians alike.

Back to the simple: Jesus was miraculously conceived by the virgin Mary or he was not. He performed hundreds of miracles during his roughly three and a half decades on earth, or he did not. He gave a number of inspirational sermons to thousands of people, mostly on the themes of loving and caring for each other, or he did not. Finally, and most importantly, he was viciously tortured and killed in a most barbaric practice known as crucifixion, was buried in a garden tomb near Jerusalem, and physically returned to life three days later. After which he was seen and preached to hundreds of people until he was whisked away on a cloud. Or none of that happened.

Nobody's ever observed a virgin birth. Nobody's ever seen a person that was dead and buried for 3 days return to life (unless you count the biblical story of Lazarus in addition to Jesus, of course). Most have never seen a miraculous healing without the use of science, whether sight or hearing or deformity or leprosy. Therefore, many simply refuse to believe any of that actually happened.

Sure, it is very hard to believe all that based simply on someone else's word. But Christians don't believe all this because of some sort of brainwashing or coercion. Most believe because of their own life experiences, in which they found that faith in the story of Jesus Christ with the study and commitment to following his example leads to inner peace and contentment and the belief it will all lead someday to a joyful reunification with Christ and the loved ones who passed on before. Many also believe because of the example of Christ's apostles and members of the early Church. If His story wasn't true, would it not seem logical that at least one of his disciples would have renounced it, rather than suffer abuse, imprisonment, exile, torture, and death? The disciple called John was the only surviving member of Christ's inner circle who was not killed for spreading the story to everyone who would listen.

If the story of Christ is not true, then all those disciples died for nothing. All the Christians that have been jailed and killed for nothing more than their faith over the years, even today in the Middle East, died for nothing. All the priests and religious who voluntarily chose to abandon normal lives for poverty and chastity to help the faith wasted them. Anyone who shows charity and kindness to others and tries to share their faith is wasting their time. Because, if the story of Christ is not true, then there is no reason for people to love each other, be compassionate for the needs of others, or help each other. Because if there is no God, and Jesus was just an ordinary man, then our lives are meaningless. Therefore, if our lives are meaningless, then we should get everything we can while we live so we can at least enjoy ourselves.

Unfortunately, that seems to be exactly where most people are these days.

To those who want to outlaw Christmas and stop people from this annual celebration of the faith, I'd like to offer my humble request: Go ahead and regard us as a bunch of ignorant superstitious fools if you like, but do we not have just as much right to believe as we choose as you have to believe in your own gods? (because as far as I can tell, you're not really an atheist, but worship things like animals and the environment, and ideas like Darwinian evolution and Socialism and the Big Bang.)

Once again, Merry Christmas to All! May your Christmas be everything you hope it will be.

Mounting Evidence of a Broken Government

Things continue to get worse in Washington. Unfortunately, there is no evidence that next year's elections will make any difference.

After wasting most of the past year in endless investigations of the President and continuous attempts to de-fund and undermine the Iraq war, the Democrats have finally gotten something done. It's hard to decide which is more discouraging - the fact they've passed some of their socialist legislation, or the fact that Republicans and the President have helped them do so.

All you folks out there who voted the bums out in 2006, handing control of congress to the Dems: What were you upset about? Sure, many thought the Iraq war was a mess. But most of you were frustrated at the lack of action to stop illegal immigration. Angry about irresponsible pork-barrel spending. Frustrated by the failure of elected representatives to care even minimally about the true needs of their constituents.

So how did that go?

Well, despite all the efforts of the Democrat congress, Iraq's turned around and is winding down on its own. But that's the only good news.

What has our government done about illegal immigration? Nada. In fact, they just slipped into their latest spending bill a significant backtrack on the famous border fence that still isn't being built.

What about pork-barrel spending? Think Dems are more responsible than the GOP? If you thought they would be, the joke's on you! The latest spending bill has as much or more pork in it than the worst of the GOP's bills. It's just that the earmarks in this one are designed to help their newest Democrats bring enough bacon back to their districts to entrench them for next year's re-election. Our's is included: Baron Hill won his seat back from Republican Mike Sodrel, and has been rewarded by millions in special funding for his district awarded by his party to help him keep his seat next year.

Then there's the Energy Bill. What an obscene, patently obvious sop to Democrat special interests that travesty represents! How does mandating 35 miles per gallon from the auto industry help energy or the environment? NOT AT ALL! It simply creates artificial shortages in the market for trucks, vans, and suv's. What gives any government the right to tell anyone what they can drive? This government does so by telling the auto makers what they can sell.

Add to that the Bali conference on "Climate Change". Notice they aren't calling it "Global Warming" anymore, because the science on that isn't as settled as Al Gore would have us believe. Is anything the conference is doing going to improve the climate of earth, give us more clean air or clean water, eliminate droughts and blizzards and hurricanes and tornadoes? There's another big joke being played on the ignorant populace. NOT AT ALL!

What Bali's really all about is globalism, socialism, and taking the USA down a notch or two. These guys want us to give them the right to tax us! That's right, they want to tax American Citizens for our wicked and unfair consumption of much more than our share of the earth's resources, and give the money to, well, them! Just forget about the earth and climate and the environment - the whole thing is a scheme by people in the UN to get rich off taxing Americans for their use of energy.

It's so frustrating, all the more so that there's so little I can do about it. Common sense has been co-opted by special interests, whose main special interest is in getting rich. And in return for making them rich, they offer our politicians the kick-backs they need to keep their misleading campaign ad machines running so they can stay in office and continue serving their wealthy minders.

Want a good energy policy? Lease ANWR to the highest bidder to extract the oil there. Open the continental shelf to exploration. Build nuclear power plants. Encourage an increase in refinery capacity. Stop the madness on ethanol - an inefficient fuel made from food is about the dumbest thing I think we can do. Go ahead and continue development of alternative energy technologies - sponsor contests, give tax incentives, and all that to encourage inventors to find ways to power cars with hydrogen and generate electricity with wind and solar. But stop acting as if those alternatives are already fully viable, because they are far from that!

I want them all gone. Senators Lugar and Bayh need to go. Congressman Hill needs to go. But they need to be replaced with sensible people who cannot be bought, and that's the hard part.

More Football

The Colts and Patriots have wrapped up the top two spots in the playoffs. As of this weekend, nothing can change the fact that the Patriots are seeded first and the Colts second. Which means both teams get to await the winner of the first round of AFC playoff games in the semifinal.

Most expect the "real" Super Bowl this year will be played in Massachusetts in the dead of winter between the Colts and Pats. Yes, the Jags and Chargers have been playing pretty well lately, and the Steelers are always a threat despite their recent stumble. But the Colts and Pats still look like the two best teams in the entire league.

It seems the Colts may have learned a hard lesson two years ago, when they wrapped up the first seed early in their exceptional season. They pulled the starters and let backups get knocked around at the end of the season, which meant the starters didn't play in a real game for about a month.

That showed, with a rusty Colts offense taking a bit too long to get things untracked against the Steelers, who of course went on to win the Super Bowl that year.

This year it could be tempting to sit Peyton and Joseph and Dallas and Reggie. The idea would be to make sure they don't get injured, and keep them fresh and well-rested for the playoffs. Maybe it would be OK to pull them in the fourth quarter of their last two games, but hopefully Tony and the coaching staff learned their lesson. It's important to keep them playing and keep them sharp going into the playoffs.

One could wonder about the Patriots, and whether they will take the opportunity to protect their starters in their last two games, which also are meaningless except for the chance to go undefeated. The reputation of the Patriots would seem to dispel any thoughts of resting starters. They've been known for running up the score on weaker teams throughout the season, leaving Brady and his cast on the field even after building insurmountable leads.

It's playing out as the good guys (Colts) against the bad guys (Patriots) for the Super Bowl. If the Colts are able to get everyone back from injury, it should be a great game. The winner is expected to get the Cowboys or Packers in the Super Bowl. Everyone who's not a Cowboys fan is rooting for Brett Favre to make it back to the big game.

I'm just a fan coming along for the ride.

Christmas Thoughts

Here we live in a time that has unnecessarily complicated Christmas. It has become a stressful holiday for many, who become obsessed with making the right impressions with their gifts to family, friends, and co-workers. Who dread the obligatory family gatherings where they must interact with those family members they have come to detest for some reason or other. Who may or may not make the once-a-year trip to church for Christmas Eve services out of grudging honor of an old tradition.

The idea of Christmas is very simple, and it can be a joyful occasion if simply approached in the right spirit. What I've learned is this:

Christmas is about giving, not getting.

Gifts don't have to be expensive. They're an expression of love, which requires only a bit of thought. They also don't have to be restricted to family and friends; Christmas is a great time to give to anyone needing help.

Maybe instead of dreading the family gathering, how about going with the objective of burying the hatchet and ending the feud? You may never become close with that relative, but you could certainly become civil for a few hours a year.

Christmas is about the children. There's nothing better than watching the sheer joy and excitement of the children as they enjoy every aspect of Christmastime.

So while it may be true that our society has taken the celebration of Christmas far beyond its original intent. Yes, Christ's birth probably didn't occur on December 25th, and the early church probably didn't make a big deal of celebrating it.

But it remains a very special event in the year, and if celebrated in the right spirit, can be a wonderful experience.

Agenda Films

These are the times rife with agendas, and this year has seen the release of a number of agenda-driven films. I find it somewhat encouraging that such films to this point have had rather dismal ratings. It seems that recent anti-war films, such as recent flops as 'Lions for Lambs' and 'Rendition', have flopped because they hold little entertainment value.

What movie-goer wants to go see a film that is preachy, shallow, and possibly even insulting to their intelligence. The message to Hollywood is, "You guys have been beating the drum for over six years now; Bush sucks, war is bad, Iraq war is bad, blah, blah, blah. You don't need to bludgeon us with the same message in your contrived on-screen fiction."

Now there's a release of the 'Golden Compass', a movie made based on the first book in a series called 'His Dark Materials' by crusading atheist author Philip Pullman. The movie has been watered down to obfuscate the most obvious of Mr. Pullman's agenda, but the core purpose of the film is to create demand for the books, which from all accounts depict vicious attacks on Christianity, especially aimed at the Catholic Church. Excerpts I've seen suggest not only an atheistic, but even a Satanic message.

Contrary to popular stereotype, Christians and Catholics aren't petitioning the government to censor the movie or the books. They're simply exercising their rights to shine the light on this movie's agenda, which in turn encourages parents to skip this film, which ironically has been released in the Christmas season.

Fortunately, the reviews I've seen of this agenda film have been pretty tepid. Reviewers who don't seem to care about the agenda or controversy are simply saying it's not a very good movie. Which of course remains consistent with the theory that agenda-driven films appeal to a narrow audience and won't do well commercially. Hopfully the trend holds with this film.

Some Interesting Information on the Huckeby Issue

I've written a couple of posts in the past about the Barry Huckeby case of misappropriation of funds at Columbus North High School. The stories I had access to raised a number of questions, some of which have been answered in the report released by the State Board of Accounts dealing with both the Football issue and a question also raised about accounting for a Golf Outing run by Mr. Huckeby.

My reading of the report seems to clear up several of my questions.

Barry Huckeby is astoundingly inept at recordkeeping.

He's also not very smart. How could he not have known that all his handling of funds would be scrutinized? Whether he is truthful or not in his response to the findings of the Board of Accounts, he shows a puzzling lack of judgement when it comes to minimally responsible recordkeeping. Ironically, he's a math teacher! For a math teacher, he seems incapable of basic addition and subtraction.

The Columbus North Athletic Department is not without culpability here, at least in terms of enforcing policies and procedures for handling of receipts from sporting events. It's unconscionable that the department had not even the most basic of controls in place to account for the ticket sales.

My reading of the report is that Barry's handling of the funds from the golf fundraiser could reasonably be attributed to sloppy recordkeeping. Did he siphon some funds from the golf outing? Since he's the only one with the checking account and can't produce several receipts to back up his claims, there's ultimately no way to prove it one way or the other. There can be no argument that his outrageously poor management alone builds a pretty strong case for his dismissal - at least from any position that involves handling money.

The case is pretty solid against him for the missing $3,436 in football receipts. He admitted pocketing a couple of $50's, and there isn't a reasonable explanation for the difference in receipts from the playoff game against Terre Haute North, which totaled $2,080. Barry's defense is that the whole system at Columbus North was in disarray, with season pass funds mixed with game receipts and moneys deposited into different accounts.

However, the playoff game against Terre Haute North was by IHSAA rules not covered by any season passes. Everyone had to purchase a ticket, either in advance or at the game itself. The receipts from the playoff game simply can be estimated based on the number of tickets collected at the gate. So there are only two explanations for the difference of over $2,000:

1) That's the amount collected prior to the game in ticket pre-sales that didn't get counted for the game, or
2) That's the amount Barry put in his pocket after the game.

To believe that over $2,000 in pre-sales was mishandled by the Athletic Director and the Department Secretary, one would also have to believe that both conspired to either steal the money themselves or destroy Barry for some sinister personal reason. I'm not prepared believe such a theory.

At trial, I'm thinking a good defense attorney can raise enough reasonable doubt in the case to get Barry a Not Guilty verdict or a hung jury. Unless compelling evidence is presented at trial of someone seeing Barry pocket the money or talk about pocketing the money, I think it will be hard to convict him. Reasonable doubt can certainly be raised based on the department's overall lax recordkeeping procedures.

On the other hand, I firmly believe his firing was proper. His extremely poor management and failure to follow even the most basic of controls is inexcusable. Discrepancies under $100 you can chalk up to human error; discrepancies over $3,000 point to something far more serious. Clearly, Barry cannot be trusted with handling money.

That doesn't mean the blame stops with Barry, however. I'd also recommend termination of the CNHS Athletic Director, who is culpable in her failure to implement such basic controls and procedures in the Athletic Department. It would not seem out of line to take a serious look at the culpability of the Principal as well.

With proper controls and oversight in place, the incident clearly would never have happened. And that begs an immediate termination of the Athletic Director and anyone else directly responsible for such obvious mismanagement.

Another Football Post

As a fan, I've got to slip in a bit of football now and then.

At the high school level, it was disappointing to see our local team, the Columbus North Bulldogs, drop a winnable state semifinal. They played exceptional defense and scored two touchdowns in the first half to seem well in control of the game that could qualify them for the state 5A championship in the RCA Dome.

Unfortunately, things unraveled late in the third quarter, when quarterback Mike Hladik threw an interception that led to a quick touchdown by Indianapolis Pike. That touchdown was followed by two more very quick touchdowns by Pike, which found its offense and rattled the North defense with some big plays. A missed extra point on their third touchdown left Pike ahead 20-14.

But North wasn't done yet. They managed a good kickoff return and had a solid drive going, finding themselves well within Pike territory with about 2 minutes remaining in the game. But their quest for a championship ended with two dropped first-down passes in their last four plays.

I could only imagine how difficult that was for the players and coaches, to see the victory within reach and lose because of a couple of dropped passes. Ouch.

In college, it's nice to see Indiana qualified for a Bowl game for the first time in many years. It was a great tribute to Coach Hef, who passed away before the season.

In the NFL, the hated Patriots have shown some chinks in their armor the last couple of weeks. They've begun to look beatable, and for once I sort of hope the Steelers take them down next week.

The Colts have struggled since their own loss to the Patriots, which left them physically and mentally crushed. The Colts lost some key players to injury, and the physically able played liked whipped dogs the following week in San Diego. Even so, they had the Chargers beaten except for a missed chip-shot field goal by Vinatieri. Since then, they've been gradually regaining their injured players and improving. But they're still not the same Colts we saw prior to the Pats game.

It will be fascinating to see what happens in the playoffs, where a rematch between the Colts and Patriots is very likely. The Steelers have a chance to play a role, but there doesn't seem to be any other team in the AFC able to compete with those powerhouse teams.

The sports commentators are sort of comical, as they root for the Cowboys and Packers and openly hope one of those teams can beat the AFC champ. Sorry guys, not going to happen. Whether the Patriots, Colts, or Steelers win through to the Super Bowl, I've got to predict the NFC team will lose again.

All that's left are the college bowls, then the NFL playoffs. After that, I'll have to catch some Indiana basketball to feed my sports addictions until the sports desert of spring and summer arrive.

Irony

The irony of two of the big stories this morning is fascinating. The British teacher who allowed her students to name a teddy bear "Mohammed" was released from jail, and Don Imus returned to the airwaves.

Although there's a big difference between spending a few days in what must have been a hellish jail in Sudan and getting what amounts to a paid vacation, both stories were about punishment for the most egregious sins in today's world; the sin of giving offense.

Both cases were, I believe, unintentional acts that caused a firestorm among the offended. The teacher had no idea she would be jailed and have her very life threatened when her students named a teddy bear after the founder of Islam. Imus thought he was being hip or relevant by making a statement about the women's basketball team that would have passed without notice if uttered by, say, Chris Rock.

It is a strange world where offending someone, even without realizing you were being offensive, is the most unforgivable sin. It's a strange world where people can get away with almost anything, up to and including murder, if they have a good enough rationalization. But get away with giving offense to an aggrieved group? You are forever painted with the scarlet letter, not "A", but "R"(racist) or "B"(bigot).

Be careful what you say, especially in public. The thought police are everywhere.

Missing the Point

The flap over the GOP YouTube debate continues and expands, as many of the video questions chosen by CNN have been found to be Democrat activists. Aside from the obvious dishonesty of the questioners presenting themselves as "undecided voter" or "Log Cabin Republican", CNN and their leftist supporters are missing (or mis-reporting) the point.

That point being it's not that the candidates are afraid of answering "tough" questions. It's about the double standard. It's about the predisposition of the CNN folks who chose the questions that Republicans are redneck war-mongering mean bigoted homophobes. They chose questions in an attempt to "expose" the candidates as such.

Even more to the point is the double standard. If you want to put on these left agenda-driven questioners in the GOP debate, where were the questions from Republican party activists at the Democrat YouTube debate?

Let's talk equivalency.

If it's fair game to bring Dem gay activists on the GOP debate asking their questions, why not have a Republican activist asking the Democrat candidates where they stand on Gay Marriage, and whether businesses and religious organizations should have the right to discriminate based on moral behavior standards?

How about a questioner asking the Dems to explain when exactly abortion crosses the line and becomes infanticide? Or whether they would counsel a young pregnant woman to get an abortion or enter an adoption program?

Maybe a question about whether they would support police raids on private residences to confiscate handguns, a la Washington DC?

Even a similar question as asked by the guy waving the Bible. Where do you Dems stand on religion and morality, and what place (if any) does religion play in American society?

The point is simple, but somehow the media seems to miss it.

What else is new?

Debaters

I caught the entire debate last night. CNN learned at least one lesson on the You-Tube format and cut out the stupid and outrageous stuff from the Democrat version. But apparently they couldn't help themselves in the sense of putting on some rather poor choices I suspect mirror their own attitudes.

They got caught on the gay general who hammered the candidates on "don't ask, don't tell". It turns out he's from Hillary's campaign. They compounded the dishonest presentation by letting the general expound further after the candidates gave what I thought were reasonable responses. Except Romney, who was so afraid of saying the wrong thing that he came off as an insincere buffoon.

The guy with the guns was funny, but I suspect may have been a set-up designed to suggest Republicans are a bunch of stupid rednecks. And the guy waving the Bible was simply insulting. Actually, I thought as many as half of the questions CNN chose were very questionable, possible put-up jobs. It's hard to believe they chose the one with the question about the stars & bars. In general, there were too many non-serious obnoxious questions from obvious enemies of the party.

My personal opinion is that Romney didn't do so well. He seemed insincere and calculating to me.

Rudy was his usual self, promising to do for the country what he did for New York City. Problem is, New York City is hardly a place most Americans (including me) would consider a reasonable model for the rest of the country. For me, New York, Miami, and Los Angeles are as close to being their own separate countries as they can be. I don't especially want the rest of America to look like New York City.

I thought the strongest performances came from McCain and Huckabee. They were earnest and seemed honest and passionate about their beliefs. McCain did a great job of projecting a confidence in his ability to win in Iraq and deal with the threats of terrorism. Huckabee was very personable and affable, and was terrific on the WWJD question.

Ron Paul must have gotten the message, toning it down a bit so he didn't come across quite so crazy. I was finally able to see what makes him attractive to his enthusiastic base of supporters.

I still really want to like Fred, and can't say he did badly. He seemed fairly comfortable and plain-spoken, but still doesn't really show much passion for the race. He's a guy I'd be happy to vote for in the general election, but he doesn't seem to give people a lot of reason to support him enthusiastically in the primary.

Hunter and Tancredo were all but ignored. They could be the greatest candidates in the field, but CNN seemed determined to keep them in the shadows. Tancredo still seems the one-trick pony, all about the immigration issue. Maybe he's served his purpose in highlighting the issue and can go ahead and retire from the race. Hunter seems like a good guy, but we get far to few chances to learn much about him.

I've got to think that the race is not between Rudi and Romney, but maybe between McCain and Huckabee. It will be interesting to find out whether I'm right.

Sports Fans Mistreated

The two examples this season of spiraling greed of sports executives is in the NFL and the Big 10. Both have launched their own cable networks which are mostly unavailable to the public. Indiana University basketball fans can't watch their beloved Hoosiers, who are now on the Big 10 Network. The second biggest game of the NFL season tonight can't be seen by most fans of the Packers and Cowboys, because it's only shown on the NFL Network.

The Big 10 and NFL blame the cable companies, who they say have greedily refused to carry their new networks on their "basic" television packages. The cable companies say it's the Big 10 and NFL who are the greedy ones, demanding something like $.80 per subscriber while they demand the channels be added to the basic package.

Like every other sports fan, I grew up watching the NFL and College basketball on free network television. Advertisers paid the stations for the right to show me their wares during time-outs. Everybody made money, and the leagues built huge fan bases.

But they got greedy. Cable channels, notably ESPN, entered the picture, and suddenly you had to have a cable subscription to watch your favorite teams play sometimes. Fewer and fewer games play on the "free" network channels.

The result I expect is going to be a loss of the fan base that has been the golden goose for the NFL and Big 10 all these years. Having only seen part of 2 Hoosier basketball games so far this season, I find myself starting to lose interest in the team I've followed since I was a kid. Likewise, the NFL will see angry and disaffected fans begin to find other interests.

Anyone that's upset over the money grabs by the NFL and Big 10 should act in this simple way: Stop watching. Don't subscribe. Don't give in to their attempt to grab your wallet and just avoid these new networks. Send the message that you will not play the game, and your support for the teams and leagues is not for sale.

I think the NFL and Big 10 should be forced to back down. But are the fans strong enough?

We'll soon find out.

Why Hate?

Maybe it's just that I've been paying more attention now, or I just didn't recognize it in the past, but it seems that hatred is at an all-time high both in quantity and intensity.

It's hard for me to imagine, because I honestly don't hate anyone. At least using my own definition of hatred, which is despising an individual so thoroughly as to actually wish them ill.

Sure, there are a few people I've met in my life that I've disliked. Mainly because they were absolute jerks. My approach is very simple - I just make sure to stay as far away from them as possible. On one or two occasions the jerks have been co-workers, but even then I seemed able to distance myself from them except for when I was forced to interact. Then I refused to allow anything but brief conversations about the business at hand.

It's very strange to me that so many people seem to nurture a murderous hatred of George W. Bush. How can one hate so viciously someone they've never even met, and only know based on the image conjured of him by the news media?

Among public figures, I have to admit that I expect there's a special place in Hell reserved for one Bill Maher. He's one jerk I hope never to meet in person. But I do pray for him, because aside from being a jerk, I think he's just terribly misguided.

Those who hate the president accuse their conservative counterparts of hating his predecessor no less viscerally. I'd have to disagree - I never heard the most rabid of conservatives openly hope for Bill Clinton's assassination like the Bush haters do. Personally, I thought Clinton should have done the right thing after the Lewinsky mess and resigned. I was profoundly disappointed in what he did and how he demeaned the office, but never hated him.

Some people irritate me. They anger me, disappoint me, exasperate me. But I don't hate them for it. At most, they just make me sad; more for them than for myself.

Instead of hating each other, why can't we just disagree? I think we can disagree with each other strongly and vigorously without coming the the H word. Maybe now and then we can learn a little about each other.

Some of us will never like each other, but that beats hating each other.

Projection

A little psychological term I picked up in college, projection is a defense mechanism whereby someone accuses another of a negative attribute or behavior she actually exhibits.

There seems to be a lot of projection in our modern political dialogue.

Let's examine a few:

Conservatives who support capital punishment are heartless barbarians.

I'm still waiting for an explanation about why the most strident voices against capital punishment are equally as strident in their defense of a "woman's right to choose", even to the point of where a fully-developed human infant's brains are sucked out just before delivery so the mother doesn't have to raise the child. How does it work - "Save the murderers, kill the babies"? How about "Save the environment, abort a fetus".

Conservatives "steal" elections by "disenfranchising" Democrat voters.

I've been trying to figure out what that means, and the closest I can get is this: Laws like the one passed here in Indiana that require voters to produce a valid identification before voting disenfranchise Democrat voters who are filling in for people who have moved away, are dead, or never existed in the first place. Then of course there are the illegal immigrant and convicted felon disenfranchised Democrat voters. Who exactly is "stealing" elections?

Conservatives, especially talk radio, are responsible for the divisiveness and uncivil discourse in American politics today. It's conservatives who have no tolerance for other points of view. Rush Limbaugh is the poster child for this argument.

Tell you what: Listen to Rush Limbaugh just once, then turn on Bill Maher or Keith Olbermann or Chris Matthews. Then tell me who is more uncivil; who exhibits more raw hatred and disgust for the other side? Be honest.

Conservatives hail from the Flat Earth Society.

I guess the charge is that conservatives hate science, apparently because they're religious nutcases. Al Gore recently said that anyone who questions his highly touted "scientific facts" about global warming is no more worthy of media play than someone who believes the earth is flat. Interesting, given the fact that even the climate scientists on Al's side have admitted that he's vastly overblown many of his "facts", and completely made up several others.

Interestingly, the people who claim to put so much faith in science and reason rise up in righteous indignation if anybody in the scientific community releases a study that seems to prove one of their sacred liberal beliefs isn't true. The latest story on stem cells, for example. Darwinian evolution. That men and women are actually different in several measurable ways (*gasp*).

It's so interesting how science is only touted by these folks when it serves their agenda. Oh wait - I thought that was supposed to be the other side that does that!

Moving on to reason, that just may be the biggest joke. Those who profess to use reason and a dispassionate analysis of the factual evidence seem to be most likely to abandon reason for emotion. Those on the far left (Marxists, in case you don't know who the far left are) choose to ignore the abject failures of Marxist society, believing they will simply implement it better than the others.

Bush is spying on Americans.

Aside from the fact that there's no evidence any innocent American has been illegally wiretapped, it's another great example. Anybody remember the FBI Files scandal, euphemistically called "Filegate", from the Clinton era? By the way, it was Hillary that set up the illegal office where FBI files were obtained on all of the Clinton's political enemies to use against them. Plus there was the case of Newt Gingerich's cellphone conversations being tapped by Democrat party operatives and shared with Hillary to use against him.

Strange how everybody but Hillary got prosecuted for that stuff.

There are more, but here's the last one:

Bush has shredded the Constitution.

That's amazing, coming from those who would impose a big-brother socialist society on the rest of us, telling us what we are allowed to drive, eat, smoke, even think. Those who want a Supreme Court that disregards the constitution to implement anything they can't achieve through democratic means. Those who would erase all references to God and repeal the first and second amendments as quickly as possible.

Our word for today, children, is Projection.

Atheist Oppression

Lately I've been hearing and reading about prominent atheists and their crusade against Christianity. Just trying to understand the point of view, I have discovered their true agenda is the destruction of religion.

The basic ideas I'm hearing from them are these:

Christianity is the source of most of the violence today and throughout history.

Christianity is a fable, there is no God, and those who adhere to a Christian faith are akin to ignorant unenlightened closed-minded superstitious fools.

Christianity is about denying people a fulfilling life through silly and arbitrary behavioral rules. Christianity also attempts to refute and deny scientific facts, and tries to keep children ignorant and away from scientific education or discovery.

If Christianity could be eliminated, people would somehow become more enlightened and educated, the world would be a less violent place, and everyone would enjoy true equality.

Let's see if I can address these point-by-point:

Christians are violent? OK, keep pointing to the Crusades and Spanish Inquisition. Reading history, I seem to find much more violence by other than Christians than those two tired old examples. Check out the Inquisition, and despite the fact it was certainly not a bright spot for the Church, it was a very short-lived and isolated event that in fact killed a very small number of people.

Why is it so en vogue to attack Christians as violent, absent any actual examples of violence done in the name of Jesus Christ? Stranger still, the same people on that bandwagon don't seem to have a problem with Islamic terrorism, which is a real and observable phenomenon of our time.

How about atheists? How many people were killed by atheist states in the modern era? By communists in China, VietNam, Cambodia, the Soviet Union, and so on. The treatment of people when atheists take over the government would seem to suggest there's a great deal more to fear from atheists than any Christian.

The idea that Christianity is a fable is strange. There's more evidence of the existence and execution of Jesus than most other historical figures, both in biblical and Roman accounts. It's hard to deny the man existed, even if atheists insist on arguing the point of his resurrection and divinity.

The flat statement that God does not exist is never made from a place of logic, as the atheist spokespersons try to suggest. Just listening to them talk, their rhetoric is full of anger and invective. It suggests to me that they are not approaching their activist agenda out of a desire for reason and logic, but rather out of some terrible anger over some abuse or slight they must have experienced at the hand of someone claiming to be a Christian.

These atheist activists are crusading to destroy the Christian faith because of a deeply held antipathy toward those who espouse the faith. It would seem to me that a dispassionate atheist would have more of a live-and-let-live attitude, or perhaps strongly support science education in schools. They run over the cliff when they extend their agenda to pushing for government denial of the First Amendment.

As for the arbitrary behavioral rules, I'd suggest they are not arbitrary at all. Christians know that the entire moral code set out by the faith is based on how we treat each other. Adultery isn't wrong because it's about sex; it's wrong because by definition the act is one of deceit that harms the adulterer's partner. Prohibitions against extramarital sex in general are based on very real outcomes, nearly all of which are devastating. Disease and pregnancy, for example.

Which leads to abortion. I've come to decide that the rage of atheists against Christianity's stand against abortion has at its heart a human reaction to having an evil act reflected back. If someone who has aborted a child comes to understand that the abortion is tantamount to infanticide can't live with herself. So one psychological response is rage against those who would suggest such an idea. They already know the truth, but like petulant children, scream loudly to drown out those who would state that truth.

The anti-science argument is another matter. I know that there are those in the evangelical community that hope to get something called "intelligent design" included in the curriculum of science classes that teach Darwinian evolution. I haven't read enough about "intelligent design" to know what it is for certain, but it seems to suggest that the questions of origins that aren't adequately described by science just might be found in the idea of a creator.

If there's an area I can agree with atheists, it's that science is science and should be taught as such. That said, I think Darwinian evolution should be taught with an honest airing of its many flaws and gaps. It seems to me that some atheists have an agenda as strong or stronger than those pushing the "intelligent design" idea, presenting Darwin as fact and purposely ignoring its gaps and flaws.

The Left is feeling empowered these days, confident that they will win control of the Federal Government next year. That seems to have led to many voices coming out to trumpet their agenda for the new liberal government. Those goals seem to include a deliberate suppression of Christianity, which has already been evidenced by the House's bill to designate homosexuals as a protected class, equivalent to racial minorities. It happens to be in direct conflict with the rights of religion to hold such behavior as immoral.

But the oppression doesn't stop with religion. Overweight? The new government will force you to exercise and eat better and lose weight, or you might lose your access to healthcare. Smoke? Better quit, or you will be denied access to healthcare. Drive an SUV? Not for long. Even more extreme - the China protocol is favored by many on the left; population control through government enforcement of one child per couple (but of course the couple can be of any gender pair).

Could it possibly be true that the majority of Americans will unwittingly vote for all this government intrusion on their lives? So it seems.

Rights and Wrongs

Apparently the US House passed a bill banning discrimination based on sexual orientation. What a terrible idea.

No, I don't say it's a terrible idea because I think gays should be treated badly. I think it is a terrible idea because it infringes on rights and freedoms of everyone else.

Let me illustrate:

Giving gays the right to sue employers who chose not to hire them or promote them because they perceive a discriminatory bias will lead to harassment lawsuits against companies all over the country. It will become a popular tactic used to damage or bankrupt businesses the radical gay activists don't like.

The law will now force employers to provide all benefits they offer to married couples and children to gay partners. Which means discriminating against all their employees that cannot get benefits for dependent parents, brothers, sisters, or others.

Most importantly, small businesses owned by sincere Christians who believe homosexual behavior is immoral and disordered will be forced to hire open gays and provide them with benefits. It's the same to people of faith as being forced to hire and give special treatment to any person of low morals.

Then there are churches, parochial and Christian schools, Christian bookstores, and related businesses that have at their core a commitment to high moral standards. They'll be insulted by a callous government telling them they cannot make moral judgements in their hiring decisions.

It's no different than passing a law telling business owners they may not discriminate against openly promiscuous applicants. Employees who compromise on some moral issues are more likely to compromise on others. That is as true of a heterosexual man who has been married 4 times and continues with serial affairs in the office as an openly promiscuous gay man.

If the government can force employers to hire this special class, then why not protect other classes? How about overweight people, who are openly discriminated against in our society? Why not short people? Ugly people? Stupid people? I could go on and on ...

Common sense is dead. And morality died with it.

A Sour Mood Previewed

The local elections this week in Indianapolis may have some relevance as a micro-level demonstration of the sour mood among American voters in general.

In a classic "throw the bums out" move, Indianapolis residents kicked out Bart Peterson and voted in a Republican majority to the City Council.

It's an angry city, to be sure. Property tax reassessment made many homeowners in greater Indianapolis exceedingly upset, with some claiming increases up to 200 and even 400 percent. That on top of a hike in their local income tax rate combined to produce an angry mob of voters prepared to force change.

It makes me think that on the national level, maybe change will drive next year's elections more than party affiliation. Could it be that the press is wrong, as they so often are, in predicting a landslide for Democrats next November? Maybe the landslide will be seen more in an anti-incumbent vote regardless of party affiliation.

I think people are sick of the parties, and are simply looking for candidates that give them straight talk and offer real solutions instead of the standard meaningless pablum the incumbents have so carefully cultivated over the years.

Got a Democrat in your district who supported amnesty for illegal immigrants, tax increases, and votes in lockstep with Nancy Pelosi? If challenged by an articulate, reasonably intelligent Republican, he or she might be surprised to find him(her)self unemployed next year.

Got a Republican in your district who participated or didn't visibly oppose the pork when his party owned the congress, aligned with the President on illegal immigration, or favored corporate interests over his constituents? Likewise, a Democrat could unseat even a seemingly entrenched lawmaker.

For President, I'm no longer assuming Hillary's a lock. Obama seems to be gaining on her, and the Republican candidate has yet to emerge.

When I hear someone say they will vote for Hillary, I try to just ask why. The reasons I hear are pretty simplistic: She's a woman (usually the reason given by women), and she's not George Bush. So let's suppose the GOP candidate gets out there head-to-head with Hillary and communicates clearly on common-sense solutions to issues, at the same time exposing Hillary as a poll-driven animal without any real principles (except, perhaps, getting and keeping power for herself). He could win.

Of course, the only candidate who has a chance to win is the one who has the best common-sense solutions to very difficult problems. Oil prices, Iraq and Iran, Terror, Illegal Immigration, Taxes and Spending, Healthcare, Social Security. Lots of incredibly tough problems out there for the next President, who I suspect will have to begin the term with the country in recession.

Is there somebody running who will be best to deal with so many large and difficult problems? I'm not sure there is, but I do think there's a tremendous opportunity from somebody to step up and prove it to the people.

Do I Ask too Much?

Spending a week in Canada was sort of frustrating, since the only news I could see was CNN. But I can't stand it for very long, because inevitably I begin hearing the talking points direct from the DNC and the Clinton campaign.

Lou Dobbs is a notable exception. He's mad at both parties, and continues his quixotic crusade against outsourcing, offshoring, and illegal immigration. Issues where of course he has virtually no support from either political party.

Otherwise, the rest of the talking heads get tiresome as they spin each and every issue as somehow screwed up by George Bush, and only solvable by Queen Hillary and her Democrat comrades. I feel like I'm watching something from the old Soviet Pravda.

I don't care if all the reporters are socialists or communists. All I ask is that they at least make an attempt to tell the complete story and offer the opposing (definition: non-Democratic) point of view now and then.

Let's be honest. Next year's election is about deciding a few very simple principles for America:

Either we will find our healthcare provided by a federal government bureaucracy or the status quo. Nobody's going to fix the problems, so unfortunately those are the only two available options.

Either we will continue to keep terrorism on the run or they will begin bombing our cities. Maybe with nukes.

We'll either find ways to increase oil supplies and bring down prices or the problem will reach crisis proportions. The latter is about an 80% probability, as far as I can tell right now.

Either our taxes will go up a lot or just a little. A lot seems more likely.

We will probably be in recession. The only question is how long will it last, and how painful will it be. The parties will just blame each other. Democrats will pretend like increasing taxes will help. Republicans will propose reducing taxes but will be rebuffed.

The illegal alien problem won't be solved. Even though somewhere north of 70 percent of Americans are outraged about the lack of attention paid to the problem by elected officials. They still won't do anything to solve it, unless you call legalizing all the illegal aliens solving it.

Hillary as president will be controlled by the Chinese, Labor Unions, Trial Lawyers, illegal immigrants, gays, and socialist minorities.

The Republican president will most likely be controlled by big business, the drug companies, the insurance companies.

Nobody will represent us average working folks.

I'm angry. I'm cynical. I'm disappointed. I feel more like voting against every incumbent than electing anybody in particular.

Game Results

Just to update the results from Friday night. Columbus North defeated the third-ranked Center Grove team 23-7. Reports from the game were that the score is much closer than the real game, which it's said could easily have seen North with a score in the 30's.

On paper, this team should not face another major challenge until the Semi-State game. But of course it's never wise to take games for granted in the playoffs. Plus, there are reports that several players got banged up in the Center Grove game, so some may not be available for this Friday's sectional championship game.

Turns out I can't make it to this week's game either - I won't get back from this week's trip until after the game's over, most likely.

It's fun to follow anyway.

Friday Night Football

There's nothing quite like high school football on a Friday night. Tonight in Indiana it's round 2 of the sectional playoffs for the 5 classes. Too bad I won't be able to catch a game in person, but hopefully I'll be able to pull in a game on the radio as I drive this evening.

Of particular interest for me is the hometown Columbus North team visiting Center Grove. Center Grove is ranked third in the state, and North 6th. Each has one loss, each to a different top-10 team. North's loss was at the state's #1 team, Pike, and Center Grove's loss was by a touchdown to the defending state champions, the dominant Warren Central.

It's difficult to handicap this game, because the two teams play in different conferences and have few common opponents. Center Grove would appear to have an edge in tonight's game, if only because the game's being played on their home field.

Columbus North has a big, strong, and dominant offensive line. Their main running back, Alex Turner, has over 1200 yards rushing for the year. Turner has had some injury issues, but his replacement, sophomore running back Austin Streeval, has been nearly as effective for almost 450 yards this season.

Mike Hladik is a tall 6'4 quarterback with a good arm, throwing for a bit under 1,700 yards for 17 touchdowns with only 2 interceptions for the season. He spreads the ball among several receivers, the most productive of which is Brayden Barthlow, with over 600 yards and 7 touchdowns on 34 catches.

The defense is solid, especially against the run. They've shut down the running game of almost every team the Bulldogs have faced all year. The defensive front are big, strong, and quick, and very good at pressuring opposing quarterbacks.

Overall, Columbus North has something like 19 senior starters, all of whom bring experience from last season's final four team. This may be the best team to ever play at Columbus North High School, regardless of whether they can win tonight and advance to the Sectional Final.

The weaknesses of North's team are few but important. Pike was able to win largely by stacking 9 players at the line of scrimmage to stop the run, daring North to use the passing game. It worked for Pike, but did not work for subsequent teams that tried the same strategy. Either the Bulldogs did a good job learning from the Pike loss, or the other teams just didn't have the athletes Pike brought to the strategy. I think perhaps a little of both is true.

Mike Hladik can be impressive with both his accuracy in shorter passes and his strength in long completions down the field. However, he has been known to have trouble with his accuracy in big games. When playing against a strong opponent, Hladik has a tendency to let the adrenaline take over, which results in overthrows of open receivers.

The weakness in the passing game isn't limited to Hladik's nerves, though. An equal or possibly higher percentage of blame can reasonably be assessed his receivers. Hladik's passes are often dropped by the receiving corps, especially in the big games. At the high school level, one of the hardest things to teach receivers is to focus on making the catch first and foremost. The tendency to think about the move to be made on the defender or running in for the touchdown causes a drop in concentration on the catch, thus the frequent drops by North receivers.

The weakness in North's defense has been against the pass. Most teams have not been effective in the passing game against North because of the pressure the front line can put on the quarterback. Sacks are common, as are rushed and deflected passing attempts. But against Pike, North's defensive line were well blocked by the opponent's offensive line and were unable to put their customary pressure on the quarterback. Pike won the game with the pass, and did very little rushing.

North's defensive backfield are tough tacklers and big hitters, but struggle in pass coverage. Whether Center Grove can exploit this or not remains to be seen. Center Grove, from reports I've seen, is mostly a run-oriented offense.

On a rainy friday night near Indianapolis, I think the game will be decided by the big guys up front. If North's run defense remains stout against what's sure to be a strong Center Grove running game, then maybe North's passing game can be the difference.

I'll have to be satisfied with the local newspaper's description of the game, since I won't be able to see it or hear it on the radio. I hope for a Columbus North win, so I can catch their next playoff game (if I can be in town for a change).

It's Bush's Fault of Course

Why am I not surprised.

The California wildfires are slowly dying down or being extinguished. Evacuations seem to have gone as smoothly as can be expected, plenty of shelter and supplies have been made available to those who need them (and taken by many who don't), and things will return to normal soon.

But the partisans can't just leave it at that. The Left, through their willing media outlets, are working feverishly to find angles allowing them to blame George W. Bush.

Among ideas they've been floating:

The fires happened because of drought that happened because of Global Warming which Bush refuses to acknowledge or do anything about.

This is turning into another Katrina. (This one isn't working very well, because it clearly isn't)

Key military resources, personnel and equipment, aren't available to assist because they're in Iraq. (Actually not true, and the National Guard hasn't even been requested, and probably won't be needed.)

Bush is heading to SoCal today, where he will be treated politely but will be a distraction and just get in the way. This according to California's Lt. Governor, who also holds a prominent spot on the global warming and Iraq bandwagon.

Probably the worst thing said on the Right, at least that I've heard anyway, is that the fires are made much worse than they have to be because of the idiocy of California's environmental regulations that won't allow anyone to clear dead wood and brush or do other sensible things to reduce the risk of out-of-control wildfires.

It's been said that some right-wingers have been blaming illegal immigrants for setting the fires. I haven't encountered that. But it seems a far cry to compare a few right-wing bloggers to ABC, NBC, and CBS reporters involved in the left-wing fingerpointing.

If there's one positive that we can all look forward to in next year's presidential election, it's that we can finally escape the pinata the Left has made of George Bush. Unfortunately, if a Republican wins, he will immediately be hoisted by the Left as the new pinata. Then again, if Hillary wins, conservatism will be outlawed.

A poor choice.

Talkin' Football

Watched the Colts and Jaguars last night, and was struck by how the commentators spent more time talking about the New England Patriots than the Colts and Jags.

The hype has been huge around the Patriots, who are not only undefeated, but haven't really been challenged so far this season. They've had a negative issue involving stealing signals from their opponents using videotape. But they fixed a problem from last year with their sub-par receiving corps by signing Randy Moss and Wes Welker. (Randy Moss signing with the Patriots has to be unfair. I wonder if they're cheating on the salary cap a la the 49ers?)

Anyway, I have a few observations:

How many people do they actually need for a Monday night football telecast? Between the studio hosts, the special commentators at the stadium, the actual game announcers, and the two sideline reporterettes, they must have a whole army of people needing face time. It's a wonder we ever got to see the game itself.

They appear to give the Colts respect, but it's obvious that every one of the talking army is drooling over the Patriots. They are fervently hoping that the Patriots stomp the Colts in Indy two weeks from now so they can continue their "best team ever" hype. Some of them even held out hope before the game that the Jags would win, so they could cross the Colts off the list and focus just on their heroic Pats.

I wonder just a bit whether some of these guys might be thrilled more by having something to talk about. Two dominant and undefeated teams on a collision course makes a great storyline for them, I suppose. It's just that they've already scripted their ending to that storyline (Patriots beat Colts and proceed to another Super Bowl victory).

Not only do they seem to be favoring New England, but I also get the sense they really dislike the Colts. The occasional snide comment about Peyton's commercials pops up, along with suggestions that the Patriots just had a "down year" last year. Some seemed disappointed, while certainly surprised, that the Colt defense was able to shut down Jacksonville's running game.

I have no idea how the Colts will fare against the Patriots two weeks from now. I won't even try to predict a victor or even guess at how many points will be scored in the game.

But I will be watching closely to see how the commentator army reacts. If the Pats win, will I be right about them all predicting an undefeated season for New England on the way to a dominating Super Bowl victory? If the Colts win, will it be attributed to a New England injury or bad play call or bad officiating? If the Colts win, will they start talking about whether the Colts can go undefeated?

I think I know the answers, but will be interested to confirm them.

As far as the Colts going undefeated, it won't happen. Not because it can't. But because they will choose not to go undefeated. For proof, just look at the past. The Colts had a legitimate chance to go undefeated for the season a couple years ago. But when they solidified first place in their division and homefield through the playoffs, they took out their key starters and lost two of three.

Now I'm wondering if it's wise to rest your starters that long. I think it can lead to rust, throw off timing, and maybe even get the starters a bit soft and complacent. But we can be sure that the Colts won't take any risks once they have met their goals for the playoffs. And that means they'll play a game or two with backups and most likely lose those games.

The simplest thing commentators can say this year (which they have said), is that we will probably see Indy and New England in the AFC Championship game, and that game will be the de-facto Super Bowl. because whatever team the NFC puts into the Super Bowl will probably have no shot against either of these teams.

Barring injury or disaster for one or both teams, of course.

Motives Move Distrust

The chasm between two political extremes is built fundamentally on distrust. That distrust causes each side to believe the worst in what motivates the other side to hold and protect their beliefs.

The Left fears Christians, strangely even more than they fear radical Islamists. The fear seems to come from a vision of the country ruled by some version of the KKK, which persecutes non-Christians and especially atheists. Which tosses women who have had abortions in prison. Which imposes Christianity on schoolchildren. And somehow - I'm not sure where this one comes from, but it seems to be there - persecutes and openly discriminates against racial minorities.

The right fears a left-wing totalitarian communistic government. Like Communist societies seen in the Soviet Union, China, Cuba, and now Venezuela, free speech is muzzled, religion is outlawed, children are indoctrinated in atheism and sexual deviance in schools. That homes will be taken away and given to the socialist elites, while everyone else is forced to live in government-assigned high-rise housing. Government confiscates all private property and nationalizes all businesses, instituting a national wage that's the same for everyone. Each person is assigned a job by the government, and must apply for government permission if they wish to travel.

Are there people on the right who dream of implementing the Left's nightmare? Maybe, but I've never met one. What about on the Left? I think there may be some.

The truth, I think, is that there's a sort of bell curve on political beliefs. The vast majority of the people are somewhere between slightly left or slightly right of center. As long as that holds, I don't think either side has too much to fear from the other.

That said, I judge the Democrat front-runner, Hillary Clinton, to be much further left of center than most people realize. That concerns me, but I suspect that will be revealed during the inevitable debates between the conventions and the election. On the other hand, the Republican field isn't really that far right of center; in fact, it appears that Giuliani's further left than many people realize.

Interesting that the Republican field sits right around the middle of the bell curve, while the Democrats all fall well to the left. It seems that protestations against the "right wing" are rather baseless, at least when measured against the field of presidential candidates.

On a side note, I'm noticing there seems to be a growing movement among conservatives behind Mike Huckabee. Wouldn't it be interesting if we actually elect a second president in the same era from the tiny town of Hope, Arkansas?

Disturbing News

Sometimes I want to stop watching and reading the news. Like yesterday, for example.

The sum total of disturbing stories get me down. They make me wonder if these items are just isolated cases based on a few insane people, or if they're an indication of how far we have fallen as a society.

The stories from yesterday that I found particularly disturbing:

Pete Stark, a congressman from California. What he said publicly on the floor of the House yesterday may reach an all-time low for partisan rhetoric. What makes it even worse is that so far nobody from his party has disavowed his hateful comments. Speaker Pelosi actually praised him.

Portland Maine deciding to provide birth control pills to middle-school students without parental consent. Girls between 11 and 14 now can get the pill from the school nurse, who will help her hide the fact from her parents. Explain to me how anybody, anywhere, would be OK with that? No wonder our public schools are such a disaster.

Al Quaeda tried to blow up Benazir Bhutto when she finally returned to Pakistan from exile. They missed her, but killed well over 100 innocent people. Most likely, bin Laden himself is in Pakistan, but nobody has the courage to root him and his band of renegade thugs out. The question that should be asked is whether Musharraf really cares whether Bhutto is safe to return to Pakistan?

Not to mention, of course, my frustration with the mainline television networks who manage every story to drive their propagandist agenda. That being to elect Hillary president next year, of course.

Vandals

The high school football site I maintain was vandalized this morning. I discovered it by chance, really, when I just happened to click into the site and find a bogus "Art Department" page where the football website should have been. Turns out they trashed every page, so I reloaded the site.

I'm trying to get in touch with someone at the school to change the passwords and hopefully at least slow down the vandal. Hope they don't come back and wreck it again in the meantime.

Wonder whether it was some kid from an opposing school, or maybe even a student from the same school who likes to hack and vandalize.

Come to think of it, wouldn't it be cool to get the same vandal to trash some really obnoxious sites? Like redirect, say, MoveOn.Org to RushLimbaugh.Com? Sounds like fun.

Not that I'd actually condone such behavior, of course.

Envirinsanity

A new little word I made up to represent the current state of rhetoric, especially as it relates to Global Warming.

Al Gore gets the Nobel Peace Prize for his mostly false and misleading global warming advocacy movie. What does his movie possibly have to do with peace? What does this say about the Nobel prizes in general?

So a huge segment of the population takes it on faith that the planet has a fever. And it's our fault. Not only the general us, as in the earth's human population, but specifically us, as in pampered, energy-hogging Americans.

I'd be willing to make a bet that 10 years from now, serious scientists, if there are any left, will look back on these times of global warming hysteria and laugh at how stupid and naieve we were.

The creatively offensive term for people like me these days is "global warming denier". Notice it evokes "holocaust denier", which of course is a roundabout way of calling anybody who questions the global warming religion or its high priest Al, a Nazi. Real friendly folks out there on the left these days.

Hey, I'm all for practical and responsible conservation. Clean air and water are important to me. I just don't subscribe to the notion that we must turn to a lower living standard and socialist government control to accomplish them.

I could respect the greenies if they were advocating little ways we all can help reduce pollution. If they want to encourage everybody to voluntarily conserve energy wherever they can, no problem. Where they run off the rails is with their advocacy of setting up energy quotas, or "carbon footprints", and essentially levying big taxes on people who use more than their allotted quota. That's government oppression.

Then there are the other popular measures being advocated. They sound good on the surface, but not so good if you do just a bit of research.

Energy Independence: What does that mean, really? That we no longer need to import oil from countries that hate us? OK, so how do we do that? The same people shouting loudest about this topic won't allow any more oil exploration in US territories. We've got plenty of coal, but they won't allow that because it's dirty. Nuclear is a very clean energy option, but they hate nuclear technology out of fear of a Chernobyl event.

So what are they pushing instead? Wind? Not all that terrific an alternative - check it out. Solar? We've been trying that for 40 years, and still can't get it to work. Ethanol? Tell me what makes sense about taking our food and converting it to fuel that isn't really that efficient and doesn't actually reduce pollution all that much.

Don't get me started on the hybrid cars. It seems to be a hugely successful marketing campaign that has tricked a huge segment of the population into paying more for vehicles that do nothing to improve the environment.

I'm struck by the lack of curiosity among most people on this and nearly every other important topic of our age. Why are so many happy to accept whatever they're told by celebrities and a politically orchestrated news media without so much as checking to see if there's another side to the story?

That's the bigger question.

Football

My indulgence is Football. The best part about this time of year is plenty of football. I like it all, from high school to college to the NFL.

The local high school teams are both very good again this year. Columbus North was tripped by Indianapolis Pike a couple weeks back for their only loss so far, and East's only loss is to their crosstown rivals. I enjoy going out to the high school games, not just for the football, but for the overall atmosphere.

Think things have changed over all these decades of high school football games on autumn Friday nights? Not much, as far as I can tell. The parents in the stands rooting for their kid (whether playing football or a band instrument), middle-school kids wandering in packs trying to be "cool" (or whatever word passes for "cool" these days), high schoolers trying to impress each other. I don't see any real difference from xx years ago when I was one of those junior-high kids or a football player on the field. Take my generation and drop them into the Columbus North football stadium and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

I enjoy seeing the senior players, playing as hard as they can to make their last few weeks as an athlete memorable. And the young players, itching for a chance to show what they can do under the lights with the varsity. The marching band, with their intricate marching patterns and enthusiasm for their music. What better chance is there to experience real life and real people getting together for an event they can all share.

It's my favorite pastime to catch the high school team, my favorite college teams (Notre Dame, Indiana, South Carolina, maybe Purdue), and the Colts every weekend as the leaves turn and the weather gets colder.

Censorship

It was only yesterday that I caught up with the current dustup over Rush Limbaugh and "phony soldiers". In a mind-boggling move, Harry Reid put through a resolution condemning a radio talk show host for calling soldiers who are against the Iraq war "phony soldiers".

Since when does congress introduce resolutions to slap down people outside of government for something they said? In this case, Limbaugh is outraged and is shouting from the rooftops that he never said what Reid and the Democrats accuse him of saying. As far as I can tell, he's right - the entire kerfluffle is based on a false story. Notice that not a single Democrat on this particular Limbaugh destroy mission has even attempted to contact him directly to hear his side of the story; they have tried and convicted him without any interest in the facts.

The bigger story here is about censorship. Even if Rush did say that all soldiers who personally oppose the war or are Democrats or have green eyes are "phony soldiers", so what? As I recall, people like Jack Murtha, Dick Durbin, Ted Kennedy, and Harry Reid himself have said far more insulting and damaging things about our troops than that. If the standard is to pass resolutions condemning private citizens for saying mean things to people, then I would suggest resolutions must be passed against most Hollywood activist actors, activist entertainers, Bill Maher, and the entire Air America talk radio host lineup. Nearly all have made far more inflammatory and insulting statements about the troops, the President and Vice President, Condi Rice, Don Rumsfeld, and just about every other Republican in government.

The best that can be said about this event is that it's simply a Democrat political ploy to attempt to create a story that cancels out the "General Betray Us" ad from their puppet masters at MoveOn.org. I hope that's as far as it goes, but fear it might go farther.

Despite their protestations to the contrary, Hillary has already taken credit for establishing the group that "exposed" Rush's seemingly insulting comment about "phony soldiers". The organization, basically a website called Media Matters for America, defines its mission statement as:

Media Matters for America is a Web-based, not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media.

They seem to want to be the left's answer to mediaresearch.org , which is a conservative website dedicated to pointing out liberal bias in the news media.

There are some very important differences between the two groups. While Media Research is about educating people about media bias, Media Matters is an activist group demanding action to shut down what they consider lying conservative propagandists. Media Research does not solicit funds for political action, nor do they exhort their visitors to demand action from legislators. Media Matters is all about such political action.

Most importantly, both groups claim to be independent media research organizations. Media Matters is not; they belong to Hillary Clinton and MoveOn.org.

Think of it this way: An organization dedicated to silencing conservative voices, particularly focused on Talk Radio, which is the primary home for those voices, is financed and given their direction by a candidate for President of the United States. I think that's very dangerous.

People scoff at the discussions of instituting the "Fairness Doctrine" for Talk Radio. When it firzt came up, I did too. But now I'm not so sure. Regardless of what you might think about the bombastic Limbaugh, his right to say whatever he wants to anyone who cares to listen is protected by one of the founding rights and principles of our country - freedom of speech. For the first time in my lifetime, I am actually seeing a serious effort by a political party to silence him.

I don't care which side of the political aisle you align yourself - if the citizens of the country don't stand up and demand politicians stop trying to silence people they don't like, our freedoms will be lost.

Why Do They Self-Destruct?

Ricky wants to come back. Ricky Williams, that is - remember the running back Mike Ditka bet his coaching job to draft for New Orleans? The same guy who got traded to Miami, then decided to take a year off. Then when he came back, his heart wasn't in it and he got booted out of the NFL for drugs.

Now apparently he's a new man. I suppose running out of money can do that to you.

The bigger question with Ricky, as with all sorts of celebrity types, is why? Why do people who seem to have the world at their feet often mess it up?

For Ricky, the message was clear - if we catch you smoking weed again, you're out. The logical response would seem to be to cut all drugs out, because why throw away millions of dollars playing football on some giggle weeds? But Ricky apparently had no logic, and he promptly was caught and kicked out.

I would think that the NFL wants more than just his word that he's cleaned up his act and is ready to be a good boy. If Ricky can prove that he's been clean for the past 12 months or more, maybe that could buy him a chance to try out for an NFL team again. I think the Dolphins can decide first whether it's their team he'll be trying out for.

If I were the NFL commissioner, I'd probably do this: Allow Ricky to return to the league next season beginning with training camp. If he is tested regularly and stays clean all that time, he will be cleared to join the Dolphins, or they can trade or release him as they see fit. Assuming he makes a roster next season, he will be subject to routine drug tests that he must pass to continue playing. One failed drug test equals permanent suspension.

Think he could pull it off? Based on others like him, I sort of doubt it. But wouldn't it make a great story if he could get back in the league, play at his former all-star ability, and become a spokesman for the anti-drug message?

Miracles do happen now and then.

Book Review

The book is Quiet Strength by Tony Dungy.

In our age of cynicism, role models and heroes are hard to find. How refreshing to find a book about a genuine American hero. No, he's not a war hero. He's not even a football hero really; his Super Bowl victory was merely the vehicle that allowed us all to learn about this outstanding man. If he wasn't a football coach, I'm convinced he would be just as successful at something else.

This isn't really a book about football. Sure, football is an integral part of his story and is Tony's chosen profession. But the real story of the book is about life, family, faith, success, and leadership.

Something that naturally draws me to view Tony as a role model is that he's a rare public example of my own core values. He's a strong Christian but is not preachy or pushy about it; he inspires by his personal example. He firmly believes that yelling or berating others is counterproductive. He always treats others with respect, holding firm to the Golden Rule. He understands life's priorities and lives accordingly.

His core principles related to football are applicable to any endeavor. He repeats the manta often to his players, "do what we do". To become a successful football team, you don't need lots of tricks or creativity; you simply need to focus on the small things, doing them over and over until they become second nature. The rest takes care of itself.

Whatever one does in life, that's good advice. Do the small things to the best of your ability, and the big things will take care of themselves.

As a football and Colts fan, I can see the effect of Tony's leadership. The team reflects their leader. They're not chippy or dirty. They don't "trash talk" - in fact, the book mentions that others have remarked about the general lack of profanity through the team. That's not because Tony won't allow profanity - it's because of the fact that Tony won't allow himself to use it, and the team respects him enough to emulate him. They don't get overly excited, and they don't let adversity get them down. They are steady and businesslike and competent. Just like their coach.

The tragic loss of Tony's son to suicide would have ripped most families apart. Tony and his family found a way to deal with their grief that bound them all closer together instead. I can't imagine what incredible faith and strength were required to allow him to survive that tragedy.

I hope every man in the country reads this book. Imagine what could happen if many more men embraced and attempted to live Tony's simple life principles.

Why I Will Never Vote for Hillary

Sure, the fact that my views on almost every issue are diametrically opposed to those Hillary espouses could be enough to justify my principled avoidance of any support for her as a candidate. After all, there's more than enough evidence to prove that Hillary is, at her very core, a Communist. No, I'm not name-calling like the left likes to do when they call Bush a fascist (I'm not sure they even know what fascism is, but that's another topic). I'm stating a simple fact. Just listen to her talk or read something she's written; she can't stop herself from revealing her Marxian belief system by often paraphrasing or even quoting Comrade Karl at every opportunity.

Sealing the deal for me is her own history. I still can't understand why those who support her, even if they agree with her on political policy, can stomach the litany of unethical, immoral, and even illegal behavior behind her dogged pursuit of the most powerful office in the world.

How about a reminder:

Her activism and radicalism as a college student

The Travel Office firings

Vince Foster

Susan McDougal

FBI Files

Whitewater Billing Records

Cattle Futures

Johnny Chung to Norman Hsu and Other Fundraising Scandals

And the above are only the more egregious. I could drill down further into her habitual lying, telling small lies to whoppers simply to endear herself to whatever audience she finds.

No other candidate for President, Democrat or Republican, has such a colorful history of scandal and hint of scandal. Not to mention no other candidate gets the free pass from the media on all this baggage like Hillary continues to enjoy.

I am disappointed that so many people have been fooled or simply don't care, because Hillary's nomination is a fait accompli.

Labor Unions

The UAW strike against GM has raised some interesting issues about the general question of big business and big organized labor. Each side characterizes the other in ways that are both partly right and partly wrong.

The corporate side says that the labor unions will kill their business with their demands for expensive healthcare and pension benefits, plus overly restrictive work rules. They also suggest that the unions exist more for the benefit of corrupt mobster leaders than for the rank and file.

The unions say that if they didn't exist, employers would exploit workers with unsafe working conditions, unfairly low wages, little or no assistance with high healthcare costs and no retirement benefits. They suggest that corporations exist for the sole purpose of maximizing profits, even if their workers are abused to meet that end.

There is truth to be found in the arguments on both sides. Having worked in a union manufacturing company in the 80's, I saw firsthand how damaging it is to productivity for the company to have to deal with the work rules and liberal benefits demanded and given to the unionized employees.

On the other hand, the employers now have a global labor market they are gladly exploiting, with most manufactured goods now coming from China.

I'm neither anti-union nor anti-corporation. I believe that the best governance of these entities is to promote policies that allow neither side to become more powerful than the other.

On the corporate side, I believe that it can be reasonable to enforce rights of labor to organize for the purpose of bargaining with the company for fair pay, benefits and working conditions. I also believe that it would be reasonable to create certain incentives for business to keep their operations in the United States, and protect workers who are laid off so their jobs can be transferred to a cheaper worker.

On the labor side, I believe unions should be required to have wide open books that can be analyzed by their union membership and anyone else to keep corruption down. I believe no worker should be compelled to allow their dues to be spent in sweetheart deals with the Democrat party. I believe union members should be empowered to elect their own leadership.

On the corporate side, I believe the laws regarding freedom of their employees to organize should be upheld and the often extreme and illegal methods often employed to intimidate workers from joining union efforts prosecuted. I think that employers should accept mediation and arbitration where indicated if they need assistance in resolving contract negotiations. I also believe corporations should not be allowed to underfund pensions they committed to in previous union contracts - if they want out of the pension business, they should negotiate the terms with their union employees and convert the pensions into fully funded 401K's.

The impossible dream, of course, is that employers and their unions find a way to work together to share success or failure for the common good of the company and its employees. Wouldn't it be nice if negotiations for pay and benefits focused on a baseline, plus certain bonuses and incentives that reward the workers for helping the company achieve their profitability goals?

Too bad neither side would ever consider such a radical idea.

One Question

Suppose you could ask one question of a well-known or powerful person. And the person receiving the question is obligated to give a truthful and complete answer. Who would you want to ask your question of, and what would it be?

I've thought of a few:

George W Bush: Clearly you have resisted all pressure to close the borders to illegal immigrants. What is the real reason you've so obviously shirked your duties in border enforcement, especially given the current terror threats we face as a country?

Hillary Clinton: Why do you want to be President?

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: Where and when do you plan to detonate your nuclear weapons?

Vladimir Putin: Is your ultimate goal the re-establishment of the old communist Soviet Union?

Michael Moore: You are known for praising totalitarian communist regimes such as Cuba and Venezuela. Given that fact, are you suggesting you would have no problem if the government confiscated all of the proceeds from your latest film, "Sicko", redistributing the money to government bureaucrats who skim as much as they can off the top before giving the rest to poor people for welfare and healthcare?

Al Gore: Do you actually believe everything you're presenting in your movie and your speeches around the country about global warming, or is it just a highly lucrative gig for you and you know most of it is BS?

Any member of the United States Congress: For your next vote on whatever bill is brought to the floor, what is the primary influencer on your vote - what your party tells you to do, what your biggest campaign donors tell you to do, or what's best for the country and/or your district as a whole?

Any Prime Minister or President of a European Country (or Canada): Suppose the United States as a country decided we would no longer be the world police force. Suppose we brought our military home from around the world and changed their mission to simply protect our own borders against foreign attack. Suppose we told the rest of the world, "You're on your own. From now on, no military aid, no disaster relief, no food aid, etc. will be provided from the USA." Would you be comfortable with that decision?

Dan Rather: Are you really that delusional, or are you playing your current games for the benefit of the loonies who think you're out to prove their wild conspiracy theories might be true?

It's About Fairness

In my profession I see the strange traditions and strategies used by companies that are real head-scratchers when I take just a few moments to think about them.

Tips, for example. Companies are allowed to employ food and beverage servers, porters and bellmen, valets, and such with very little requirement they pay them. These employees are expected to make their money from customer tips - otherwise, the employer is just required to at least guarantee them minimum wage.

What about tips is so sacred? Why can't employers simply pay their service workers a decent wage and leave tips the way they should be - a way for a customer to voluntarily reward their server for exceptional service! Instead, we customers are expected to cough up the price of the restaurant meal, plus hand over money to the kid who parks our car and the girl who brings us our food. Because if we don't, nobody else will.

I think it's ridiculous.

Then there's the one that really bugs me. Some may remember that the corporate revolution in the 80's was to "flatten" the organization, cutting out all of the so-called "middle management" positions. Some of that was because some of those middle managers became unnecessary with the advent of powerful and efficient data processing systems.

The other thing that happened was that jobs formerly held by professional people are now held by clerks.

Consider this common scenario:

Company ABC has lost their long-time Manager of Accounts Payable, let's say to early retirement (euphemism for a white-collar layoff aimed at cutting out the high salary of the 30-year professional manager). The company changes the position title from Manager of Accounts Payable to A/P Supervisor. The newly designed position pays maybe 50-60% of the old position, and the company promotes the most reliable Accounts Payable clerk to the new position.

The A/P Supervisor position is still a Salaried Exempt job, which means the clerk now responsible for the department is required to work around 50 hours per week. Of course, the 50 hours can go up to 60 or more during certain times of the year, when the activity gets high or new systems and processes are implemented. The catch is that if you break down the new supervisor's effective hourly pay, it is actually lower than their more experienced direct-reports.

So this clerk, who used to like her job as the lead A/P clerk, now can never seem to get away from the office. Her boss won't let her take all her earned vacation; not by directly denying her requests for vacation time, but by making it crystal clear to her that if she takes all of her vacation, it will be impossible for her to meet her job objectives and will either have no salary increase or possibly be fired. So she gives up 2 weeks of vacation every year, which the employer takes back in their "use it or lose it" vacation policy.

To me, it's morally repugnant. But nobody even knows the definition of morality these days. The government can't fix it with legislation, because such legislation would be micro-management. I only hope that companies rediscover that simply being fair and caring about the welfare and personal needs of their employees can pay off with better and more loyal employees.