Big Daddy's Top Ten List for 2005

This is the time of the year when everybody does a top ten list, so I will do one too. Remember, this is the world according to Big Daddy.

10. Aftermath of the tsunami. Yeah, I know it actually occured 12/26/04, but the aftermath lasted well into 2005. When mother nature kills more people than atomic bombs, it brings man's arrogance into focus, because the power of the natural world is beyond our imagination.

9. Saddam on trial. He gassed his own people. He started wars. He thumbed his nose at the world. He hid in the spider hole. Now, he will get his, and from the Iraqi people.

8. Bengals make the playoffs. For the first time in 15 years, Bengals fans can cheer their team in the playoffs. At home, even!

7. 25th High School Reunion. Because I made it. And I don't get out much!

6. My oldest daughter learns to drive. Most tangible evidence yet that I'm getting old.

5. Elections in Afghanistan and Iraq. Despite the naysayers, the military was able to help these countries pull it off. If we are going to stop terrorists, one of the things we'll need to do is make their homelands better places, so maybe they won't want to die so badly.

4. Earthquake in Pakistan. Fifty thousand dead? Think of it, thats an entire small city, just gone. Never mind a million left homeless.

3. Hurricanes. Wilma, Rita, and the big monster Katrina. Biloxi devasted. Gulfport devasted. New Orleans, spared the worst, only to flood when the levee broke.

2. The passing of Pope John Paul. Arguably the most beloved and important figure of the last half of the twentieth century, and the only pope many people ever knew. His leadership and influence will be felt for many many years.

1. Renal cell carcinoma. When you get something like this, other things don't seem quite so important. So far, God has blessed me with a complete recovery. Being faced with your own mortality makes one feel an extra sense of gratitude for every day God gives us.

He's Got Big Shoes to Fill

It's easy to spend a lot of time complaining about whats bad in the world, but hard to do something about it. As we enjoy this Christmas, remember this man in our prayers to help him be a spiritual leader in the world.

Been so busy

Been so busy this week, haven't had a lot of time to post. Check out Powerline's posting on the NSA spying non-controversy. A sad day for Tony Dungy with his son's death. Say a prayer.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus!

And last night, he was visiting Cincinnati! It been such a long wait, it's time to celebrate!

Will today be the day?

Is today finally, after 15 years, going to be the day the Bengals clinch a berth in the playoffs? A win at struggling Detroit will do it. Many other important things are going on, I'm travelling to my sisters for a big family Christmas get-together, I've lost 32 pounds on the diet in the last month, but Bengals fanatics, long suffering as we are, can't wait for the playoff reward for the new-found success in Cincinnati. So the so-called important stuff will have to wait one more day. Who Dey!

Patriot Act Almost Done; NSA spying

Today comes the defeat in the Senate of the Patriot Act, attacked by some as giving the government too much power (as if it didn't have enough already.) I think making use of the same tools we've used against the mafia for years makes sense to use against terror cells already in the US, but oversight is a real problem. My friend Matt has expressed his concern about the government abusing its power against the citizenry, and I think he probably would not be in favor of the Patriot Act. My libertarian leanings make me lukewarm at best towards this, but I do believe the government has an obligation to try and find these guys using the smartest means we can muster. Also today, word of NSA spying on domestic terror suspects without warrants was leaked (by the CIA, who else) to the NY Times. I think they will run with this like the Abu Ghraib thing, until we are sick of hearing about it. I'd like to know how a leak of this sort is not worse than the Valerie Plame so-called covert agent outing.

You go girl!

This 77 year old lady speaks with more common sense than a whole bucketful of ACLU lawyers and so-called mainsteam media types. Follow this link and download the file to see her, in her own words. Anyone who really supports our troops overseas will get this.

Bye Bye Tookie

So Arnold has denied clemency for Tookie Williams. It's real hard to bring myself to feel sorry for this cold-blooded killer, even though I'm opposed to the death penalty. Don't take that to mean I'm somehow soft on criminals; I all for putting guys like this on a chain gang in a Northern Alaska gulag. I just don't think we accomplish much by bringing ourselves down to the level of the killer. Instead, I will try to do the Christian thing and pray for his soul and the souls of the people he slaughtered. If I can bring myself to do it.

Jeckyl & Hyde Brownies Show Up and Play Tough

Cleveland and Charlie Frye showed up today and gave the Bengals all they wanted. If this was any year from 1991-2004, Cincy would've figured a way to bungle the game. Even though Carson and Chad didn't play their best, the team managed to hold it together and eek out a win. I think Cleveland is going in the right direction, as they have shown flashes of brilliance occasionally this year. The problem has been that they will come back and lay an egg the next week.

How about "Lost" -- anybody like that show? I like the character development.

Welcome! Open Comments

Thanks for visiting. Feel free to comment or let me in on some juicy secrets.

Did you hear?

Say, did you hear about this? Wouldn't be suprised if you didn't. How about this? All I hear everyday is the never-ending complaining about the evil bushies, the "illegal" war and the "mounting" casualties. For some good perspective, consider this.
Evil is real.
It must be opposed.
Go see the movie, its so superior to anything else out right now it makes you wonder why some of the moviemakers even try. They cannot hope to compete with the intellectual firepower of C. S. Lewis.

Update: A great review of the movie here.

Looks like good news on the SCOTUS case on the Solomon Amendment

Still recovering from possibly the most boring game ever on Monday Night Football, but today comes some good news from the Supreme Court, as the justices appeared to back up Congress, who tried to prevent federally-funded universities (practically all of them) from banning military recruiters. More proof that the elitists running these schools don't know anything about the military and don't care. Frankly, most of them hate all things military and look down their noses at those dumb red-staters that make up the greatest fighting force the world has ever known.

Bengals, Steelers Part Duex

Big Big game for Bengals faithful. Win today an its up two games with four remaining. Playoff anticipation is growing, I needn't remind you how long its been since that happened!

November comes to a close

Guaranteed not to be in any of the mainstream big newspapers was this little tidbit about five deaths from the use of mifepristone, also known as RU-486. Why, that pill was supposed to be safe, people aren't harmed by early chemical abortions, are they? Well, yeah, they are, this has been known for many years. It's just that that inconvenient little truth didn't match the bill of goods we were being sold on this little way to have an abortion. You can find a story about it in the Washington Times but don't bother looking anywhere else for it.
The big news outlets also wanted to paint a gloomy picture of sales following Thanksgiving, never mind that the actual numbers were strong. If you can make the economy appear to be bad, you can then blame Bush for it. If the numbers are actually good, all you have to do is cherry-pick some stat to make it appear not so. So when sales at the mall aren't up as much as hoped for, use that instead of the big increase in sales for stores like Best Buy and Target.
Well, how can you defeat evil Republicans if you report news thats actually good?

Light blogging week

With the holiday weekend, I haven't had much time to post. I won't even start about shopping on Friday morning 5:30 AM. Lets just say it's insane!

Giants Change Slowly, But They Do Change

It may be the home of the Atlanta Rhythm Section, but it's a sad day in Doraville, along with many other towns that will be losing GM plants. With the announcement in the last day of huge layoffs at GM, the writing is on the wall for the dominant American auto manufacturer, and a way of life my grandparents and parents knew, but we and our children will not. We created a nation where ordinary workers could know a life better than any working-class man ever had, but the invisible hand would not be denied in the long run, because the cost of labor would eventually increase to the point that the company would eventually be unable to compete. While GM workers are still very productive, the workforce was increasingly burdened with the "legacy costs" of providing health care to retirees promised years ago. So much so that $1500.00 of every car GM sells goes just to this cost. When I was a child half the new cars sold in the US were GM cars, but now it less than a quarter. Displaced union workers have excoriated corporations that took advantage of cheap labor overseas, as if they themselves had a divine right to those jobs. They don't, nobody does. The corporation exists only to make a profit for its owners, period. End of story. If a worker gets a full career there, great. If not, just move on. For many years, this same cycle has gone on, and one by one, the dinosaurs have fallen. So now we are finally reaching the biggest of dinosaurs. The writing is on the wall.

Bucks win, Bengals lose

Ohio State can go 1-10, but if they beat Michigan it's a good year. This year they went better than that, but the come from behind win on Saturday was one they'll be talking about for years.
The Bengals gave the Colts all they wanted, but 37 isn't enough to beat Peyton and the boys. Baltimore did Cincy a favor by knocking off Pittsburg, so they stay in front of the AFC North. Denver, San Diego, and Seattle all showed they are teams to be reckoned with.

Tired of the MSM crap about Iraq

If you are, like me, tired of the same old garbage being repeated about our military day in and day out, you gotta get out of the MSM! Check out this. Now these guys should inspire you, putting some real perspective to the daily body count on CBS, which is only reported in a way to hurt the prosecution of the war.

Bengals - Colts Let it Snow!

We've seen how well Indy does in the snow at Foxboro. We just might have some snow for Peyton and the boys this week. Big Sunday national audience game at PBS (that's Paul Brown Stadium for the uninitiated) with the top CBS crew doing the game. You can go to the game in person if you've got 400-600 bucks for a scalper, just make sure you don't buy a counterfeit ticket.

I'm done with 'em.

No more time, no more MONEY! NO more to my worthless friends that I helped to elect. Eleven years after the House became Republican majority, five years into the Bush presidency, even the Senate is (supposedly) Republican. And it is the Republicans blocking permanent tax cuts. It is the Republicans blocking ANWR drilling. It is the Republicans spending money like there is no tomorrow. Republicrats and Democans in Washington, they are set. They do not have to worry about social security because they don't pay into it and they get basically full pay when they retire, compliments of you and I the taxpayer. There is no difference to me, I'm the one getting screwed regardless.
This country is in serious trouble. Look at the trouble in Europe. Forty years from now, that will be us.
The Constitution Party or the Libertarians will be happy to take my political contributions. No more for Lugar, no more for the RNC, definately no more for any RINOs.
David Frum had it right. Dead Right..