Lexicon augmentation - sagacious

sagacious-
1 keen in sense, perception
2 a: of keen and farsighted penetration and judgment : discerning
b: caused by or indicating acute discernment
Synonym - shrewd

from Merriam-Webster

A new greeting

The yellow bus/blue bus exchange between Can and I has developed into something of a greeting. The other day I came home from work and Can was sitting on the potty. He couldn't see me come in the door, but when he heard the door open he yelled out from his place on the porcelain throne, "DADDY YELLOW BUS." I of course responded in kind with a hearty, "NO, DADDY BLUE BUS." Then yesterday morning after he woke up, his mommy was carrying him from his bed. Through bleary eyes, he spied me said, somewhat less enthusiastically, "daddy yellow bus." I kissed him on the head and said, "good morning," to which he responded "daddy pokey face."

Lexicon augmentation - folderol

folderol -
1 : a useless ornament or accessory : trifle
2 : nonsense

from Merriam-Webster

Adams-"Our electioneering racers have started for the prize"

"Our electioneering racers have started for the prize. Such a whipping and spurring and huzzaing! Oh what rare sport it will be! Through thick and thin, through mire and dirt, through bogs and fens and sloughs, dashing and splashing and crying out, the devil take the hindmost."
"How long will it be possible that honor, truth or virtue should be respected among a people who are engaged in such a quick and perpetual succession of such profligate collisions and conflicts?"
John Adams, early 1800's, an excerpt from a letter to Benjamin Rush quoted in "John Adams" by David McCullough

As applicable today as ever. I'm sure most candidates for public office today do not respect honor, truth or virtue in their comments about their opponents.

Lexicon augmentation - vizard

vizard -
1 : a mask for disguise or protection
2 : disguise, guise

from Merriam-Webster

Adams-"Is the present state of the national republic enough?"

"Is the present state of the national republic enough? Is virtue the principle of our government? Is honor? Or is ambition and avarice, adulation, baseness, covetousness, the thrist for riches, indifference concerning the means of rising and enriching, the contempt of principle, the spirit of party and of faction the motive and principle that governs?"
John Adams, February 6, 1805, an excerpt from a letter to Benjamin Rush quoted in "John Adams" by David McCullough

These questions are as applicable today as they were when John Adams asked them in 1805. I have to admit that I often allow the "spirit of party" to influence my own thinking in regards to our nation's government, although, I try to maintain my views based on virtue as a guiding principle. I like to believe that President Bush feels the same way, but I do not have the same view of most of members of the Congress.

Pictures with Santa

Our 2006 Christmas tree

Our beautiful 2006 Christmas tree (don't tell anyone it is the same fake tree as last year).

Lileks makes the Hitler/Ahmadinejad comparison more clear

Its not a completely novel thought, but Lileks states it well.

"It’s interesting: if the Holocaust “conference” decides that the Holocaust didn’t happen, well, then the justification for Israel is specious and founded on lies, and the mullahs are justified in redressing a mistake. I have the awful feeling that terms, conditions and justifications are being set right before our eyes, and the putative leaders seem unwilling to acknowledge what most canny observers infer.

It’ll all make horrible sense. In retrospect."

Why do so many people choose not to see the world situation for what it is? a certain scripture comes to mind.

"And others will he pacify, and lull them away into carnal security, that they will say: All is well..."

Which is right next to this one,

"For behold, at that day shall he rage in the hearts of the children of men, and stir them up to anger against that which is good."

Which explains the left's hatred of many things.

"Holy crap!"

Peter Boyle died last night. That's too bad. My wife and I love to watch "Everybody Loves Raymond," and one my favorite things is how Frank would always say, "Holy crap!"

Aah, return of the bus color exchange

It was nice to return home last night and find Can feeling better and full of his usual cheer.

This morning he and my wife were leaving to take a friend to the airport, so I decided to be preemptive. I asked if he was going to go ride the blue bus. He responded with a well-conditioned, "NO, YELLOW BUS."

"Ooh, pwetty lights"

I put up the Christmas lights on Saturday. We've had a bit of a cold snap (well, cold for NC) and I worried that I had waited too long, but the weather was nice to me. This is the first year I have put lights on the second story, and can I tell you, I don't know how roofers do it. I was scared to death sitting up on that roof. I've been up on a one story house and didn't mind that at all, but I was more than a little nervous on Saturday. I thought for sure that the ladder was going to tip over when I was getting off of it, or that I was going to slide right off the shingles. The scary part is that I have to go back up to take them down in a couple of weeks. This can't be worth it. The things we do for our kids. "And for my next trick, I'm going to lie down in the middle of the road and see how many cars I can get to swerve around me." Well, OK. Its not all for the kids. There is something manly about facing down death by gravity to string up all those wires with lots of little glass-encased electrocution and fire hazards. And hearing Can's reaction made it all worthwhile. "Ooh, pwetty lights."

Poor sick Can

Poor Can is not feeling well today. His coughing kept him, and his Mom, up for much of the night. This morning he looked pretty miserable as he sat in the corner of the couch with his blankie. He didn't want to play his computer game or watch TV. I couldn't even goad him into arguing with me about whether the bus I ride to work is yellow or blue. He has only ever seen the yellow school bus that his brothers ride and I can't seem to convince him that my bus is blue (actually white with blue stripes, but lets not make this complicated). This has turned into a daily farewell exchange, where I put my coat on and he asks, "Daddy yellow bus?" I respond, "No, daddy blue bus!" and he comes back with an emphatic, "NO, DADDY YELLOW BUS!!" I'm sure it doesn't translate well into blog format, but it is amazingly cute to see in person. Alas, this morning the poor boy couldn't even muster up the strength to complain about my pokey-bearded kiss much less argue about the color of mass transit in Chapel Hill.

We've already lost the war

The New York Times has concluded that we are not only losing the war in Iraq, but have lost it.

Articles like this, along with the wonderful Iraq Study Group report and the results of the recent election, are having an effect on the situation in the middle east already. From a recent article in Time:

"Some Iranian leaders and officials, including President Ahmadinejad, also believe that Iran now has the opportunity to deal with Washington from a position of strength, for the first time since the 1979 revolution."

If we have lost the war in Iraq then Iran thinks it has won. Not exactly the results we want to see. Obviously this is only a perceived position of strength, but its not the kind of perception that will help us in Iraq and in the greater war against Islamo-facism. Thank you to the NYT, the fabulous Baker boys and the ever loved Dems. True friends of the U.S.

The wonderful Iraq Study Group report, along with the results of the recent election, are having an effect on the situation in the middle east already. From a recent article in Time:

"Some Iranian leaders and officials, including President Ahmadinejad, also believe that Iran now has the opportunity to deal with Washington from a position of strength, for the first time since the 1979 revolution."

Not exactly the results we want to see. Obviously this is only a perceived position of strength, but its not the kind of perception that will help us in Iraq and in the greater war against Islamo-facism. Thank you fabulous Baker boys and the ever loved Dems.

President Bush makes decisions based on principles

I transcribed this from an interview between President Bush and Foxnews' Brit Hume (actually taken from excerpts that Hugh Hewitt played of the interview).

Bush: I also remind them Brit that, uh, that Laura and I are sustained by the prayers of millions of people. Now that’s hard for some to, you know I guess, cue on.

Hume: You sense it?

Bush: Absolutely, and…

Hume: I know they tell you that when you see them out on the... [garbled]

Bush: I feel it!

Hume: You feel it?

Bush: Yeah.

Hume: How, how much in the terms of your daily…

Bush: I feel as if the load is not heavy, I guess is the best way to describe it. Somebody said to me, “prove it.” I said, “you can’t prove it.” All I can tell you is I feel it. And, um, it’s a remarkable country when millions pray for me and Laura. Therefore, I am able to say to people that this is a joyful experience, not a painful experience. And, yeah it’s tough. But that’s O.K. It’s tough times, and there’s a lot of big issues.

The interview continued with the following.

Hume: What role does your faith play in your good spirits, in the face of all these difficulties.

Bush: I, I, um, I think it, I think that, uh, I think that I know that my relationship with an almighty provides comfort. And strength during difficult times. Just like it provides comfort and strength at difficult times for others, as well. And um, so prayer matters to me, and the prayers of others matter a lot in my life, and um, so to those who worry about me I say, “don’t worry about me.” You know, we’re doing fine.

Hume: One last…

Bush: Yes it’s tough, and it’s tough because there are a group of murderers out there that are, you know. You know, think about this. Think about a world in which a young democracy is trying to get started and people kill innocent life to prevent it from happening. To me that says, we better deal with these folks now before they become even more emboldened, in which to strike out against the greatest defender of freedom on the face of the earth and that’s the United States, which they would like to try to do. And our job is to stop them from doing it, and at the same time lay the foundation for peace. I’m also strengthened by history, by my view of history. I realize there’s a lot of folks who have written off presidencies early in the presidency or before the presidency is over. And when in fact the long reach of history takes over, and people take a look back, they realize that the decisions made ended up making sense. And um, you know, I am, I want, I want people to understand this, when it’s all said and done, I will have made decisions on principles and I’m not changing my principles. And therefore, when I get back to Texas, after the presidency in two years, I’ll be able to look in the mirror and be proud of what I see.

Hume: Mr. President, thank you very much.

I appreciated his comments about how he can feel the strength from people praying for him. This made me feel as though I need to include the President and our government leaders in my prayers more often.

I especially like his statement that he makes decisions based on his principles. What a breath of fresh air in Washington. Someone actually trying to do what they feel is right, and not what they think will help their poll numbers or get them more power. He could be just saying what he thinks people want to hear, but I felt like he was speaking sincerly.

Comments on Casino Royale

The old married man's club (OMMC) convened a meeting last night to see the new James Bond film, Casino Royale. Very exciting movie. Lots of good action. The new bond is a definite improvement over recent actors. He isn't afraid to get banged up a bit or get his tux dirty. Rob came out calling it the BEST OMMC movie yet. It had a lot of what we go for (explosions, fighting, action, nice cars) but two things were conspicuously absent. While there were a couple of nice cars, Bond barely drove them. You had a total of about 10 seconds worth of Bond-esque driving before he totaled his MI6 provided car. The second thing that was missing was very attractive Bond-women. The two that he was attached to in the movie were really quite mediocre. I realized it is difficult to find a truly attractive english woman, but I'm sure they could have done better for Vesper. Overall though, I would say it was an excellent evening with the OMMC.
P.S. Not much in the way of tech-geek toys either.

I need to read this Victor Davis Hanson article later

Hugh Hewitt discussed this Victor Davis Hanson article. It sounded like something I should read later.

"Two quite antithetical views of the war on terror — and indeed, the entire American role in the Middle East — are now crystallizing."

VDH discusses these two views.

Manmade global warming: A case of selective data reporting

Its easy to prove that there is global warming and it is the results of human activity if you only report the data that supports your theory. The following is an excerpt from testimony by David Deming, an associate professor at the University of Oklahoma and an adjunct scholar with the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA), to a hearing of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

"Mr. Chairman, members of the Committee, and distinguished guests, thank you for inviting me to testify today. I am a geologist and geophysicist. I have a bachelor's degree in geology from Indiana University, and a Ph.D in geophysics from the University of Utah. My field of specialization in geophysics is temperature and heat flow. In recent years, I have turned my studies to the history and philosophy of science. In 1995, I published a short paper in the academic journal Science. In that study, I reviewed how borehole temperature data recorded a warming of about one degree Celsius in North America over the last 100 to 150 years. The week the article appeared, I was contacted by a reporter for National Public Radio. He offered to interview me, but only if I would state that the warming was due to human activity. When I refused to do so, he hung up on me.

I had another interesting experience around the time my paper in Science was published. I received an astonishing email from a major researcher in the area of climate change. He said, "We have to get rid of the Medieval Warm Period."

The Medieval Warm Period (MWP) was a time of unusually warm weather that began around 1000 AD and persisted until a cold period known as the "Little Ice Age" took hold in the 14th century. Warmer climate brought a remarkable flowering of prosperity, knowledge, and art to Europe during the High Middle Ages.

The existence of the MWP had been recognized in the scientific literature for decades. But now it was a major embarrassment to those maintaining that the 20th century warming was truly anomalous. It had to be "gotten rid of."

In 1769, Joseph Priestley warned that scientists overly attached to a favorite hypothesis would not hesitate to "warp the whole course of nature." In 1999, Michael Mann and his colleagues published a reconstruction of past temperature in which the MWP simply vanished. This unique estimate became known as the "hockey stick," because of the shape of the temperature graph.

Normally in science, when you have a novel result that appears to overturn previous work, you have to demonstrate why the earlier work was wrong. But the work of Mann and his colleagues was initially accepted uncritically, even though it contradicted the results of more than 100 previous studies. Other researchers have since reaffirmed that the Medieval Warm Period was both warm and global in its extent.

There is an overwhelming bias today in the media regarding the issue of global warming. In the past two years, this bias has bloomed into an irrational hysteria. Every natural disaster that occurs is now linked with global warming, no matter how tenuous or impossible the connection. As a result, the public has become vastly misinformed on this and other environmental issues.

Earth's climate system is complex and poorly understood. But we do know that throughout human history, warmer temperatures have been associated with more stable climates and increased human health and prosperity. Colder temperatures have been correlated with climatic instability, famine, and increased human mortality.

The amount of climatic warming that has taken place in the past 150 years is poorly constrained, and its cause--human or natural--is unknown. There is no sound scientific basis for predicting future climate change with any degree of certainty. If the climate does warm, it is likely to be beneficial to humanity rather than harmful. In my opinion, it would be foolish to establish national energy policy on the basis of misinformation and irrational hysteria."

Good metaphor for the left's ranting about Bush

I thought the following quote from a Hugh Hewitt blog was rather humorous and to the point.

The Kossacks’ unrelenting hatred for all things Bush reminds me of an old joke:

A guy walks into a psychiatrist’s office and the shrink begins showing him some Rorschach pictures. The first is of a squiggly blob – the guy says it looks like two people making love. The next is a series of geometric shapes – the guy says it looks like two people making love. The last is a series of straight and squiggly lines – the guy says it looks like two people making love.

The psychiatrist says, “I think I’ve diagnosed your problem. You’re obsessed with sex!”

The guy responds, “Me? You’re the guy making all the dirty pictures!”

The term Kossack refers to a blogger at the Daily Kos