A Pope Wears Many Hats

LOL! Just came across this little site, called “Petrus”. It’s all in Italian, and I am no linguist, but the pictures are wonderful. Enjoy!

A Look At Federalism

“Before anything else, folks in Washington ought to be asking first and foremost, “Should government be doing this? And if so, then at what level of government?” But they don’t.
Fred Thompson

As I watch the Presidential campaign begin to pick up steam, I learn more about what, if anything, the candidates stand for. It’s pretty obvious if one has been paying attention these last few years, that something is changing in Washington, and it isn’t good.

Even as recently as the Nineties, both sides of the aisle could be more or less counted upon to vote in ways that would be best for all the states. It didn’t happen all the time, and the multiplication of regulations obviously guaranteed that all of us stood a fair chance of becoming a Federal offender at some point, but it happened often enough so that states could still enjoy a certain amount of State sovereignty.

That is no longer the case. A disturbing trend can be seen in the rhetoric of the Democrat candidates, followed by similar noises in Washington. The whole plan appears to be “Vote for me. I will give you everything, do everything for you, and turn you into a good little citizen. Just give me THIS right, give up THAT right, and turn that money over to me, for your own good.” The more we elect Democrats of the sort described above, the more problems we create for ourselves, because once they are elected, they never seem to go away. They are there forever.

Instead of being like the “gentlemen farmers” who rode to Washington at their own expense, stayed in the steamy, uncomfortable city for the duration of their terms, took no pay, and returned quickly to their homes, farms, and families as soon as those terms were up, more recent legislators began voting themselves salaries, perceiving their stays in Washington as careers, using any means possible to be returned term after term. The idea of Federalism began to take its first hits, the first ratbites began to appear on the edges of the Constitution.

For reasons of perceived “power,” the Democrats began loading their tickets with incompetent but popular candidates for the simple reason of swelling their numbers and clinging to the “power” they wished to retain. Any idea of good government, Constitutional compliance, and “good of the country” was quickly discarded. This was never meant to be the way the country was governed. The correct, Constitutional interpretation is called “Federalism,” and Fred Thompson describes it very well in this video speech.

As the government in Washington has made inroads on the sovereignty of the states in terms of authority and control, the Democrats have moved in quickly to consolidate the power they gain with every sleazebag they put into office. Jefferson, McKinney, Frank, Reid, Kennedy, all have one goal–to turn the United states into another failed experiment in Utopian Socialism, and to be in position when the Democrats have all the power and the states become beholden to them for money and projects, and the voters lose their voice once and for all. To them, centralized government is the ideal.

A centralized government was the one thing the Founders wanted no part of. It was why they had fled the monarchy of England in the first place. The Constitution was very painstakingly put together to prevent the same kind of centralization. This is why each state has its own Constitution: So that it may, in the absence of the Federal Government, (which is as it should be) govern and provide for its citizens as a virtually independent entity, without Federal interference. The Federal government was set up to do a few things, called “enumerated powers,” and not a one of those powers was education, health, taxes, or welfare. It was not set up to tax, no matter what the Democrats insist is the case.

Even though it doesn’t look like it today, there is still a good opportunity to restore Federalism. If we become discerning observers, able to parse and perceive when candidates speak, we can be the kind of educated voter needed to turn the situation around before the Constitution becomes a cat-box liner.

The Write Stuff

I have always loved Dean R. Koontz’s stories, and now I know why.

I have written four novels that will probably never be published. Like Koontz, I threw away my outlines early in the process, and learned how to write as if I was taking dictation while watching a movie play out in my mind. This allowed for a lot of deeper meaning in my stories than I could ever have contrived had I tried to force something while sticking to an outline or story plan. Lo, and behold! I discovered in this interview with Koontz that he writes the same way. For me, who will never amount to much as a writer, it’s a good feeling to know that I was doing it right, even though none of it will ever see print and paper. It’s enough to have the satisfaction of knowing that far from being an aberration, the method (if that’s what one calls it) leads to deeply satisfying stories that touch places in our hearts that we never knew existed.

So now, I have even more reason to love Koontz’s work, and think I’ll go dig up the “Odd Thomas” stories. God knows I need a break from sitting in front of this screen day in and day out…

Weather Or Not

Talking about the weather is one of those things that people either love or hate. In Alaska, it’s a legitimate pastime. At any one time, we have so much varied weather here that it can be snowing heavily in Anchorage and be crystal clear here in Wasilla, only forty or fifty miles away. Alaska is so big that the satellite photos are on the same scale for this one state that they are for all the rest of the contiguous forty-eight states.

A lot of Alaskans even watch the aviation weather program that is meant for pilots and scholars. It is comprehensive NOAA-type reporting: Thirty minutes of charts, “MIFR’s,” “VFR’s,” isobars, weak lows, strong highs, jet stream wind direction and speed, and any number of other esoteric factoids that make most observant viewers armchair meteorologists. For instance, we have three thermometers, and all of them read differently. We average the readings out to give us one general reading, but also note humidity, barometric readings, moon phases, etc., and various and sundry other minutiae of weather-watching.

It’s a good hobby for Alaskas, who really, really hate to get stranded in the winter wilderness with nothing but bug dope and granola bars in the trunk. Old-timers never leave home without survival gear of some kind, up to and including shovels, gasoline, a tool kit, flashlights and flares, food, extra blankets and boots, and even a large-caliber firearm for the dispatching of the moose who like to take their share of the road out of the middle.

Long-time Alaskans take talking about the weather very seriously, to the point that most people Outside think we are obssessive and have little else to talk about. That can be an easy assumption to make, if one lives in a place with help only minutes away and traffic that’s heavy enough to send someone by their stalled vehicles almost immediately. Alaskans know that stalling between Anchorage and Valdez, for instance, can mean many hours of sub-zero temperatures, no humans within a hundred miles, and non-existent traffic. As an aside, I remember trips to Glennallen from Valdez in which we passed one car in the entire 100-mile trip.

So, next time an Alaskan buttonholes you and starts to expound on the upper-level disturbances and the occluded fronts in the near future, listen to him. He’s trying to tell you it’s going to snow a lot and get really cold and you need to take your boots and a parka.

Yay!

According to the Weather Underground site (link at right, top of page), we have turned the corner. The sun rises today at 10:17 a.m. and sets at 3:38 p.m., a gain of 1 minute and 8 seconds. It sounds pretty puny, and it is. Later in the season, the gain will be something like 6 minutes a day, and perhaps even more.

It was beautiful yesterday. It snowed Christmas Eve, and again, lightly, on Christmas Day, and the temperatures were moderate, around 15 above. A perfect day. The kids got me one of those nifty “relaxation fountains.” I’m still deliberating on where to set it up for maximum effect. The way my life goes, I should have one in every room in the house.

The little people made out like bandits, of course, and not once did they realize that the big, noisy, expensively battery-operated super-mega-mighty whizbangs they thought they couldn’t live without weren’t under the tree. They got enough other stuff to frustrate, stimulate, and entertain them, from little 20-question games to magnetic poetry and maze books, and numerous Lego sets with TINY pieces. It’s about time these two learned to follow instructions!

We feasted on rare rib roast with a rosemary rub, sourdough/pear/apple dressing on the side, and Yellow Tail Sparkling wine. Come to think of it, even though there was pumpkin pie, coconut cake, and walnut pie, nobody even THOUGHT of dessert. LOL!

Guess I’ll have to go back out there to get the rest of my dinner.

I hope you all had a wonderful day. God bless you!

Merry Christmas To You All

For a child is born to us, a son is given us;
upon his shoulder dominion rests.
They name him Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero,
Father-Forever, Prince of Peace.
His dominion is vast
and forever peaceful,
from David’s throne, and over his kingdom,
which he confirms and sustains
by judgment and justice,
both now and forever.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this!

Isaiah 9:6

My Christmas Card

The Reason For The Season

Now, my little gift for you. I took these photos off and on through the month of December this year.

Sunrise, 12/21/07, 10:20 AM (above) I took this this morning, since the solistice is either today or tomorrow. It is cloudy, so it’s somewhat darker than a sunny sunrise would be. This is looking straight South. The sun won’t get much higher; but will move behind the trees on the right until about 3:30 pm.

Sugar Trees, 12/15/07 1:30 pm. The birches and poplars on the hill behind the house are coated in fresh snow which froze in place before the wind could blow it off.

Noon Glare 12/15/07 The sun is the bright spot on the right, obviously. Low and subdued, not enough to brighten the neighbor’s driveway, even.

Sunset. The sun is shining through the smoke from the neighbors’ chimney. Very pretty. 3:30 or so in the afternoon.

Merry Christmas to each and every one of you! May you be blessed, and may your Christmas be filled with Holy Joy.

(Pretend this blog is mistletoe, hold it over your heads, and give yourselves a big smooch from me.)

Man-Made Global Warming

Although we haven’t heard the last of human-caused global warming, Pat Sajak has some pithy questions to ask the Gorbalists who insist we have much to fear from ourselves regarding the climate.

The subject of man-made global warming is almost impossible to discuss without a descent into virulent name-calling (especially on the Internet, where anonymity breeds a special kind of vicious reaction to almost any social or political question), but I’ll try anyway. I consider myself to be relatively well-read on the matter, and I’ve still come down on the skeptical side, because there are aspects of the issue that don’t make a lot of sense to me. Though I confess to have written none-to-reverentially on the subject, I want to try to put all that aside and ask ten serious questions to which I have been unable to find definitive answers:

1. What is the perfect temperature?

If we are to embark on a lifestyle-altering quest to lower the temperature (or at least minimize its rise), what is our goal? I don’t ask this flippantly. Can we demonstrate that one setting on the global thermostat is preferable over another? If so, what is it, and how do we get there? And, once there, how do we maintain it? Will we ever have to “heat things up” again if it drops below that point?

2. Just what is the average temperature of the earth?

At any one time there are temperature extremes all over the planet. How do we come up with an average, and how do those variations fit in with our desire to slow global warming?

3. What factors have led to global warming in the past, and how do we know they aren’t the causes of the current warming trend?

Again, I don’t ask this in a judgmental way. There is no argument that warming cycles (or cooling, for that matter) have been a part of earth’s history. Why are we so sure this one is different?

4. Why is there such a strong effort to stifle discussion and dissent?

I’m always troubled by arguments that begin, “Everybody agrees…” or “Everyone knows…” In fact, there is a good deal of dissent in the scientific world about the theory of man-made global warming. A large (and growing) segment of those who study such things are questioning some of the basic premises of the theory. Why should there be anything wrong with that? Again, this is a big deal, and we should have the best information and opinion from the best minds.

5. Why are there such dramatically different warnings about the effects of man-made global warming?

Predictions of 20-foot rises in ocean levels have given way to talk of a few inches over time. In many cases, those predictions are less than the rises of the past few centuries. Whatever the case, why the scare tactics?

Go to his link for the rest of the article. Enjoy!

Verbosities

Years ago, in Junior High, some of us discovered a new fad: Verbosities. We would take a common epigram, and express it in the biggest, most obscure “fancy” words we could think up. This served two purposes: it enlarged our already impressive vocabularies, and it taught us the value of referring to our resources. It goes without saying that the targets of our Verbosities were left scratching their heads. The first one I can remember hearing was, “He is a master of oratorical sonorosities which are too pleonastic to be expeditiously assimilated.” I think they were trying to tell me that he was not to be believed. Or, maybe he was just a practitioner of Verbosities.

“You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink,” became, “One can lead a domesticated equine quadruped to the well-known standard of specific gravity, but said creature cannot be induced to imbibe thereof.”

Or, “Don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched” got morphed into, “Do not attempt to calculate the quantity of juvenile gallinaceous poultry before the incubation process is accomplished.”

We even sang at least one: “Ohhhh, indicate the direction to my habitual abode/ I’m fatigued and desire to retire/ I quaffed a stimulation ’bout an hour ago/ And it went right to my cer-e-bellum/ Wherever I may ambulate, on land or sea or foam/ you can always hear me humming this melodious sequence of musical notations arranged in a pleasant and memory-specific method and set to a coherent meter/Indicate the direction of my habitual domicile.”

So, I invite you all to express your inner eighth-grader by composing your own Verbosities. Just write down your favorite old saying, then think of big, fancy words to say it. But, they have to mean the same thing. No fair substituting words that don’t mean the same as the originals. (And, believe me, SOME of us know the difference!) Then, try it out on an unsuspecting bystander. If they respond with the Michael J. Pollard expression of intellectual stimulation (“Bonnie and Clyde,” remember?) you will have accomplished your goal. If they give it right back to you, bigger and better, you have found a master of the genre. You will discover yourself to be a veritable rectangular insert of linearly-arranged cellulose fibers attempting to position oneself into a receptacle of an orbital, curvilinear configuration not intended for such employment.” But, you’ll be gaining a swell vocabulary.

Or words to that effect.

TWO Years Ago On The Sourdough…

Two years ago on this blog, I was concerned about some interesting things. Read on…