Packers Out With a Bang!

The Packers to to their homes for the post-season but do so with a win over the Bears.

I think the Packers were on an uptick and this makes me feel better about the new coach. Let the Favre retirement speculation begin!

Packers Out!

The Packers are officially, mathematically, and utterly out of this years championship playoffs. Of course, we knew it was going to be a reach.

When the Packers start to find ways to win instead of lose then we will once again believe they are genuine playoff contendors.

I was hoping it would happen, but of course did not expect it or did I feel they deserved a chance.

A Cell Phone Video

The cell phone video of Saddam's execution. Not high quality, but you get the idea of what is happening.

He's Gone He's Gone

Nothing left to do but smile, smile, smile.

Actually, no. Saddam Hussein finally met the end he dealt out to many impersonally and personally.

While I rarely celebrate such an event or think it a good thing I certainly do not mourn Saddam's death. In these circumstances I wish Saddam would have chose different paths. Oh well. No time to dwell, we must now deal with those who would replace him.

The ironic thing is one reporter describing her visits to Iraq mentioned how Sunni Sheiks were proposing we restore Saddam Hussein and go after the Iranians. Seems I have heard that line about Nazis & going after the Bolsheviks.

No News Yet

Still, my guess is Saddam Hussein was hung before midnight Friday Baghdad time (3:00ish pm CST).

May God have more pity on Saddam than Saddam had on his victims.

Writing this on my cellphone from a fastfood joint off of HWY 151.

Duh!

Peg says

The state's outgoing attorney general said Wisconsin's new ban on gay marriage doesn't mean employers have to stop providing benefits to same-sex couples.

The six-page opinion released on Wednesday was one of Peg Lautenschlager's last official acts.

Voters in November approved a statewide constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

The city of Madison asked Lautenschlager to clarify whether the amendment had any bearing on its ability to offer benefits to domestic partners.

Lautenschlager wrote that the amendment's language shows "that neither the Legislature nor the people intended to invalidate domestic partnerships when they adopted this provision."[emphasis added]

Source: WISC-TV.com Duh! The amendment was meant to restrict how government defines marriage and not contracts between an employee and an employer. I am currently working for a company that provides benefits to domestic partners and it seems to a couple (hetero-unmarried) I know are working through getting this set up with one of their employers.

The Ads & Negative Campaigning

One thing many people look forward to is the end of an election season. Not because they dream of seeing their candidates being sworn into office, but because it means the end of the advertising.

One constant complaint we hear is how campaigning is getting nastier & nastier every year. I think much of that is natural and due to the fact that everything seems to be more extreme this year than last year. Fact is time takes the edge off of everything (even hoppy hoppy beer).

I think though there is something to the complaint and this is it: It is not that campaigning is nastier, it is that is much easier for campaigns to get their messages into your head; this goes for both the positive communications as well as the negative communications.

In the Philippines relatively few people have land based phones but cell phones are very widespread. Why? Its easier & cheaper to provide phone service with a E&M signal than to wire up every house in a region. True here as well.

It is much easier for campaigns to place an ad on the TV show or radio show you watch than for you to read the ad in the newspaper or to come out to a debate or speech. In the past before radio & TV, candidates had no choice but to use print or direct contact to reach out to voters.

Now, how many of us are going to keep the TV or radio off? We do not do it so therefore we are just going to get hammered by the ads during campaign season.

Hindi! Nein! Nyet! La! No! Siguro?

Rep. Sheldon Wasserman (D-Milwaukee) is proposing DNA sampling of those charged with a felony.

Of course:

If the person is not convicted of the felony, they can request that their DNA sample be expunged from the database, unless the sample is required by law to be maintained in connection with an unrelated conviction or charge.

Source: WisPolitics.com Press Release

I do not trust the government to handle this data properly. Yeah yeah it can be expunged from the record after a person is (if they are) aquitted (I do not buy it). What happens if the person is aquitted of the originally charged crime, but then charges are pinned on them from another crime?

Yeah, I would like to get criminals off of the street, but who can doubt a person in the situation I describe above is not going to find a way to claim their rights were violated?

One question. Let us say Person X is arrested for murder. In the course of the trial DNA is collected and used by either the prosecution or the defense. In the event of acquital on the murder charge what happens with the DNA sample?

Gift Card Taxation

Rep. Fred Kessler a Dem out of Milwakee is proposing expired gift card money be turned over to the state. HT: Jo Egelhoff at Fox Politics.

Well, that would be one way to encourage merchants to set up their gift card systems to not expire the dollars. Still, wouldn't it be better to just legislate if merchants in state want to sell gift cards then they had better not expire them?

Mt. Kilamanjaro

Just spotted on WisPolitics.comWisPolitics.com Steve Wieckert is going to scale Mt. Kilimanjaro. I know Steve and I know Mt. Kilimanjaro. There is a lot less of Steve than Marcus even back when Marcus attempted to peak Mt. Kilimanjaro.

Steve's trip is not that big of deal. Yes, people die on their way to the top but it isn't the death of getting caught in an unexpected storm or falling into a crevasse. The number is a handful per year and is more a result of congenital predispositions towards certain very severe forms of altitude sickness.

I did not peak. I made it to about 15,000 feet or so to the last camp. I read one should eat and if not hungry force themselves to eat. I was hungry and I fed myself like I was hungry. Well about an hour or two before we were to set out for the final push I woke up and blew chunks (and I had a big long hairy beard at this time). The rest of my team came to wake me for the final push and I told them to come back on the way down.

My buddy told me the last couple of hours was three steps, stop try to catch breath, three steps, ad naseum. My buddy made it.

From there it was one more night on the mountain and then the rest of the way down. We turned in our gear and caught a bus back to a certain town. Found a place to stay, got some food and crashed. The next morning I creaked into a tub for a hot bath (or lukewarm and mind you hot water was not available all day).

I enjoyed walking around drinking Castle Beers & eating lobster on Zanzibar much better.

RIP: Gerald Ford

Gerald Ford passed away over the night. May he rest in peace.

Gerald Ford is the first president I was really aware of while growing up.

Merry Christmas

I want to wish everyone (even if you do not celebrate or recognize Christmas) a Merry Christmas.

Yes, posting here has been slow of late. I am hoping it will pick up after the holiday season is over.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to all!

Ugh!

Unfortunately this is based on a story reported just on Drudge's front page:

RIPPER IS BONDAGE BEAST: Detectives hunting the Ipswich Ripper... [emphasis added]

The Drudge Report.Yawn! Uhh, ripper has been used before.

So, what shall we call this guy? Well, drop the ripper cliché; how about the Bondage Beast? How Vic Violent? How about James Bondage (note to pr0n0 producers if you haven't made that one yet I claim dibs on the title, write me & I'll sell you the rights to the title, however I am sure they have beat me to it. Note it does appear there is a "musician" using that title). How about the Ipswich Disemboweler?

Hang-a Marcus, shoot-a Marcus, but please no ripper clichés!

Same goes for GATE with respect to American political scandals.

John Kerry's Inner Frenchman Peaks Out.

HT: Little Green Footballs.

He also plans to visit Syria for talks with President Bashar Assad and travel to Lebanon, Israel and the West Bank.

Syria has influence with Iraqi Sunnis, and some leaders of the Sunni-led insurgency are believed to be living there. Kerry has criticized the Bush administration for refusing to engage with Syria and Iran, as was recommended by the bipartisan Iraq Study Group.

Kerry acknowledged that Syria's influence with Sunni insurgents is limited "but it can create mischief as it has been." He said discussions with Syria were important because of Damascus' involvement in a range of regional issues, including Lebanon and the Palestinian areas.

Source: Yahoo News via Al-Pazeera (The AP) – Kerry: Iraq visit helped focus his views

Boy what is this with all the eye problems the Democrat senatorial caucus is having? Don't they have a vision plan in their senatorial medical insurance plans? They can't be going to Syria because they think their talk will solve the problems in the Middle East, no can't be, can it?

Just a little advice to Bashar Assad. The senators you are talking with do not have the final say when it comes to foreign policy.

Spotted an Interesting Website.

Was reading some other state based blogs and noticed some comments leading to this site: Can Kagen in 2008. Wow, that didn't take long!

Outrageous!

U San. Fangled: Statement on the FCC Fining the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth
12/13/2006

Contact: zag Lowe (202) 224-8657

"Even this substantial fine means little when the apparently illegal activity took place more than two years ago and the election that the group sought to influence is long since decided. The FCC may be hoping to influence an ongoing court case brought to try to get the agency to issue regulations to rein in the 527s consistent with current law, rather than deal with the issue on a case by case basis. The FEC should issue such regulations. If it doesn't then Congress or the courts will have to force the FEC to act. Federal election law requires groups engaging in the kind of electioneering that the Swift Boat group carried out to register as federal political committees and comply with limits on the contributions they can receive."

Source: Feingold Press Release via WisPolitics.com
The above press release can be summed up in one sentence: How dare citizens attempt to influence an election! That's for us in the government!

This is exactly what public financing of campaigns will lead to.

KV 331: Piano Sonata #11 in A.

The third movement of said sonata (yeah, Mozart, KV is the Kochel catalog) is played here by a guitarist. Interesting. There is quite a comment war going on about the quality of the performance. Still, you get the idea and know the piece.


However, I recently obtained a recording of Alfred Brendel playing the KV 331 (and others) on the instrument the pieces were composed for: the piano. I have not scoured the Brendel site for any sort of recording but YouTube comes through again and someone has posted a film of the whole KV 331. I highly recommend the Brendel version, I have been listening to this piece incessantly now since I bought the CD.

I see It Coming.

Michelle Malkin notes Tim Johnson's reported stroke and offers her prayers & well wishes. She then relays some musings about the consequences of the stroke upon the senate. These musings come from another blog described as a left wing blog by the title of the Raw Story.

Anyway, I see it now. In a couple of weeks some leftoidal blogger will accuse of Michelle of Machiavellian musings in a time when she was just reporting on other blogs.

Its a shame the second thing leaping to the minds is political ramifications in the Senate.

Tim Johnson (D-South Dakota)

The prayers of myself and The Empress go out to you and your family. Blogger Beer readers please join yours along with ours.

Eye Problems Senator Nelson?

Senator Ben Nelson (D-FL) went to visit with Bashar Assad the dictator of Syria.

What's a matter Senator Nelson, problems with your eyes? Certainly you don't think you have any power to conduct foreign policy, or do you? Certainly you don't think you can accomplish anything?

Quickies.

Lack of Posting
Its Christmas and as you all know I am essentially living out of a hotel.

Spying on Princess Di and on Political Opponents
Isn't it just like that Bush! Wait a minute, that was the Clinton administration. Not only are there accusations of illegal wiretapping of non-Citizens (nothing in the Constitution about that) but also of wiretapping of citizens (One of Princess Di's suitors was a Republican activisit). Recall there was something about the FBI files of many of President Clinton's domestic opponents being in Clintonista hands. Of course, this will all be dismissed and ignored by those who complain about President Bush's administration listen in on the conversations of those who make war on us.

Unless of course we want to make Princess Di out to be the same as Osama Bin Laden but I don't even think the left can do that to defend President Clinton.

Update 12/15/2006 7:36 pm
Byron York in his article on the above warned the story was based on reporting by British newspapers. Turns out a reading of the actual report contains no charges of US Government spying on Princess Diana & her suitors.

Still, never forget about the FBI file collection the Clintonistas gathered on its Republican's opponents.

Mel Gibson Movies
What is it he has against the lingua franca of the US? He thinks making the film more foreign-like will win over those who hate him? Make your movies in English and laugh at them on your way to your savings & loan.

This story about another McCainiac proposal has me wondering.
I think details of the bill are being left out, but leave it to ham-handed legislators to make life complicated. This webmaster is but a small herring in a school of millions... And some wonder why the mom & pop shops of the world are being run out of business? It isn't the rise of Wal-Mart; the rise of Wal-Mart is but a symptom, laws like the McCainiac's are the cause.

Ahmednuttyjihad says Israel to end!
Yawn, another trite cliche from Ahmednuttyjihad. I wonder if it were to happen, for instance, a nuclear device in Tel Aviv. Of course, it would be a Zionist & Neo Con plot.

Gwyneth Schmyneth

Gwyneth Paltrow says she doesn't like Americans and Brits carry on much more intelligent conversations than Americans do.

Big hairy hangnail. Yet another glitterati saying they prefer Europe than America. If we had a $1.00 for every time American glitterati said that we'ld be loaded, right?

Gwyneth is now backpeddling. Yawn.

Our Guests Are Gone.

On Thursday evening guests arrived. Our niece and her husband from Chicago, and a nephew from Manila arrived. They left earlier today.

It was a busy weekend. We went to Green Bay, visited my brother's home, toured Lambeau Field (stood in the south tunnel on the field), visited a friend, and then drove to Oshkosh to see their festival of lights. Oh yeah, we visited a friend who was working in the American Legion on college and found other friends there as well.

Saturday, went to a party in Manitowoc and then to Park Central. Yesterday, we attended mass in Holy Hill and then went to Manitowoc again to visit my parents. Yeah, many miles were driven.

Our company just left and the house is much larger (even though it is small to start with) and lonelier. Oh well. Next weekend we will go to Chicago to visit them and see our Nephew from Manila off as he is off to visit friends and family in New York and then off to Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Even though it is sad the visit is over, it was very nice to have such friends & family over during the holiday season.