Posts Tagged ‘history’

I was just thinking…

Posted: January 26, 2009 by datechguy in baseball, catholic, opinion/news, personal, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , , ,

Going over the press’ feeding frenzy over the Pope’s decision some things struck me:

If Williamson had been an Iman the press coverage of him would either be non-existent or be considered a hate crime in Canada, Sweden and Holland. It would be really nice if just once the antisemitism in Islam got a tiny bit of attention.

Have you noticed that on any given week you can find a story that starts with “Pope’s decision/action on” and ends with “criticized”. You can bank on this with the media. In fact You can see the same thing with “Israel decision/action on” “criticized” the same way with the same media. All the “beautiful” people seem to hate both. Then again the pope is unlikely to cut off anyone’s head, nor is Israel. (This comes under my “indirect proofs” theory concerning God and Catholicism).

Other than Charles Johnson I haven’t seen anyone mention the truther/Kennedy conspiracy stuff in reports. These are things that the media doesn’t want to touch for some reason.

And speaking of this stuff have you ever noticed that people never seem to believe in only one conspiracy? On occasion they might be short one but they never believe in only one. Sort of like a Lays commercial.

You know just once in one of those dramas where the lone cop is cautioned by their higher ups about being wrong or the doctor who defies all convention over an odd diagnosis or the investigator who is so convinced that that guy is innocent if they were actually wrong once on the screen itself and then have them deal with that over and over during the rest of the season.

Everyone knows that they are wrong sometimes, but they never know it at the actual time they are wrong.

There is no darker time then the time between the last game of the World Series and the begining of spring training.

Once you reach a particular age a rather large percentage of your social calendar is spent at funerals.

And you know you are getting old when your regular doctor is younger than you. Once that happens its very rare that it changes.

Speaking of Chips once Cape Cod Chips came out suddenly everybody had kettle cooked chips for sale, that’s how you know your product is good.

How do you know times are bad? The wonder bread thrift store. The guy who runs it tells me his business is up 40%.

How many of studies that we hear about on the news actually pan out? Someone should do a study on it.

100 years from now people will still be laughing at the three stooges.

There is nothing that brings inner peace more than sitting in a room with your spouse, even if you aren’t doing or watching the same thing. I don’t know how widows or widower’s handle it.

Do you remember what you did with your time 20 years ago when you didn’t have a PC or internet to play with? It’s almost like that time didn’t happen isn’t it?

I still have high hopes that I will be able to make it to 50 without a cell phone, if I can make it to 60 without one it would be even cooler.

And finally I noticed this on election day. If you spend 8 hours watchhing traffic you will be shocked at how many accidents don’t happen.

Now THAT’S an ad

Posted: January 21, 2009 by datechguy in catholic
Tags: , ,

This is one of the best pro life ad’s I’ve ever seen:

It’s just the type of ad that would appeal particularly to the young black population that accounts for an inordinate amount of abortions. Margaret Sanger would be rolling in her grave. Good!

Ann Althouse liveblogging

Posted: January 20, 2009 by datechguy in opinion/news
Tags: , ,

Ann Althouse is liveblogging the inaugural. Two entries stand out to me:

8:28: In the comments, Palladian is contrasting the media coverage of this inauguration and the last one. Sample comment: “Enjoy the lefties farting red, white and blue flowers while it lasts. As soon as the the correct candidate loses again, the flags will furl and the bile will flow once again in this Dark Empire.”

8:21: An experiment with biological/chemical weapon goes gruesomely awry for al Qaeda. Yes, laugh all you want and speculate about whether this will make al Qaeda fans think maybe God’s not on their side, but this is a glimpse of what they mean to do to us. George Bush did whatever he did to protect us from those devils, and some people fail to appreciate it when nothing happens. To make this properly part of this inauguration live-blog, do I need to add some message to Obama? I think the message is too obvious to need stating.

I remember Glenn Reynolds saying that the best part of the Democrats taking power is they will suddenly be willing to support the war on terror. Lets hope he is right.

President Bush rank. Obama?

Posted: January 20, 2009 by datechguy in opinion/news
Tags:

With all the hysterical and un-serious nonsense as to where president Bush ranks.  Here is a more sober ranking of my own.  Two things concerning i:

This is a ranking as president not as an American otherwise both Adams, Hoover and Jefferson would rank much higher.

I reserve the right to change my mind upon reflection as we are farther away and judgement can be made in a more sober manor.

I rank him easily better than

Carter, Nixon, Hoover, Harding, Wilson,  B. Harrison, Garfield, Grant, Buchanan, WH. Harrison, Van Buren, JQ Adams.

The first Harrison and Garfield can’t get a fair shake but you can’t beat something with nothing.  I think Wilson is the most overrated president in history with Jefferson close behind.  As time goes by the disaster that was Jimmy Carter becomes more and more apparent.

I rank him slightly better than

Clinton,GHW Bush, Ford, Johnson, Taft, Andrew Johnson, Pierce, Fillmore, Taylor.

Ford and Johnson might rank better Ford due to being the right man at the right time rather than as a great president, If it wasn’t for the civil rights Johnson would sink here.  Clinton was my toughest call; his failures helped setup the challenges of the W Bush presidency but he often doesn’t get credit for actual successes.  He is the only person on this list that has the potential to both rise and fall.

I rank him comperable to

Kennedy, Ike, Coolidge, Hays, Jackson, Tyler, Jefferson, John Adams

I give Adams and Taylor points here for dealing with unique situations both could and maybe should go lower.  Other than the Louisiana Purchase and the Barbary wars I didn’t care much for the Jefferson presidency but Louisiana was so huge in the history of the country that it raises him.  Kennedy might be too high but the space goal and preventing Nuclear War over Cuba are both huge.  This is an odd place since as president Bush’s place in history changes these men will move up or down based on it.

I rank him inferior to

Reagan, Truman, FDR, McKinley, Monroe, Madison

Madison might be too high here, and Reagan and Truman might both be too low, The new deal was functionally poor but psychologically important but even if it wasn’t so WW II nearly bumps him to the top section.

I rank him not in the same league as

TR, Cleveland, Lincoln, Polk, Washington

Polk and Cleveland were great presidents who have been forgotten.  I suggest studying them both since they both deserve to be known better.  People who object to them being so high don’t know them.

President Elect Obama has the potential to end up anywhere on his list.  The trick is not to under rate him due to unreal expectations or overrate him due to his unique place in history.  Lets hope he earns high ratings due to high performance.  As of today it will come down to the economy and the war on terror but who knows what tomorrow will bring?  If he is really bad then he has the potential to help propel GWB much higher on the list.

It will be fun to find out.

If you need a solid number as of today for President Bush we’ll say 14th or 15th but any spot from 12-20 wouldn’t phase me.  This number will remain fluid for at least a decade.

Older Entries
Newer Entries