It is a slow day at work today. I am getting ready for a meeting this afternoon but other than that there isn’t a whole lot going on right now so I thought I’d blog on couple of things I miss. (for an similar post from earlier click here).
I miss Oingo Boingo. They were my favorite band for a very long time. Danny Elfman and the boys were the greatest. I still listen to their CDs quite often but I really miss seeing them live. Here’s a link to a site that attempts to keep up on what Danny Elfman has been up to.
I also miss Chris Carter, one of my best friends ever. I was a moron after I moved from Utah and I didn’t keep in touch with him. I was so stupid I even forgot to send him an invitation to my wedding. He probably hates me now…I don’t blame him…but I do miss him.
I miss mountains. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t miss them enough to leave the garden paradise I live in now, but I do miss them. I’m excited for our trip to Utah this weekend…it will be fun to see the Mountains again…especially from the Morgan side.
Well…enough blogging for now. Maybe I’ll go try to get a hold of Chris and see if we can get together sometime while I’m in Utah this weekend. Updates later.
I’ve always been interested in Russia. I studied a lot of Russian history and politics in college. Reading this interesting article at NRO on what is going on now politically and economically in Russia really made me miss Dr. LaRae Larkin’s classes at Weber State.
Happenings in the Russian Federation could definitely affect us here in the U.S.. If Russia were to fail as an alternate oil supply to the middle east we could be in for some economic trouble. Unfortunately I don’t know how to contact my friend Taber Johnson who knows all when it comes to the former Soviet Union and its current issues. I would love to hear what he thinks about what is going on there.
Here is my first ever blog entry (I used to have a blog running over at blogspot). For some reason I thought I had only been doing this since October of last year. But when I took at a look at the old site today I realized that I’ve been at this for over a year! That is awesome! I know this is a little late but here are some of my goals for this site in the year ahead:
1. I think I want to do a better job keeping track of what has been going on in my life on this site. No one really reads it anyway (at least no one who will make fun of me for putting the mundane happenings of my life here) so I figure I can include some stuff that won’t be too compromising and that may hold the interest of close friends or family who happen to visit. (wow…that was a long sentence)
2. I want to be less bitter. I was reading some of the old entries…people who read this who don’t know me would probably think I’m an unhappy person. Thats not true. I am just really interested in government and public policy and there is lots to be ticked off about in regard to those topics.
3. I will do more to encourage people to post comments. Lately the comments on this page are the main way I have kept in contact with some people. I don’t know exactly how to encourage this but if anyone has any good ideas please let me know them by clicking on the comments link below!
Well…Hopefully I can keep this page going for several more years and improve on it.
I’ve never liked wearing ties. They are stupid. Why would someone wear a completely useless piece of clothing that is so uncomfortable. Here is one more reason not to wear a tie!
Here is a great commentary by Sonia Arrison that sums up what is going on now with the RIAA and file swappers. I’ve said before that I think it is important for artists to be reimbursed for their work. When you trade copyrighted materials online you are stealing. That said I really think the RIAA is out of control with its latest round of legal action and it needs to be put down.
The Church finally has full control of the property it purchased. I think the whole effort to revoke the easement that allowed the LDS church to dictate what is said on its property was in bad faith and was just rotten. I’m glad its finally over.
The Saudis are our enemy. Here is a topic that the Democrats are just now hitting the president on that they should be using more. The administration had a portion of the recently released congressional investigation of September 11th classified to prevent foreign relation problems. They don’t say who the country is that might have a problem but there is little doubt that the country that can be proven to have aided Al Queda in the past is Saudi Arabia. They have never been our friends and they should be called on this. Here is an interesting item from the Reuters story linked above:
A Saudi official last week dismissed any implications in the report of a Riyadh role in the Sept. 11 attacks as motivated by political aspirations of Democrats in the next election.
If the Democrats are smart they’ll find this actual quote and include it in all of their campaign literature. The more they can tie the Republicans to the Saudis the more they can work toward dispelling the belief that only Republicans can put together a credible foreign policy.
(They’ll also have to work on coming up with a credible foreign policy of their own that differs significantly from George McGovern’s in the 60’s.)
Bill Clinton on the current big argument in Washington:
We should be pulling for America on this. We should be pulling for the people of Iraq. We can have honest disagreements about where we go from here, and we have space now to discuss that in what I hope will be a nonpartisan and open way. But this State of the Union deal they decided to use the British intelligence. The president said it was British intelligence. Then they said on balance they shouldn’t have done it. You know, everybody makes mistakes when they are president. I mean, you can’t make as many calls as you have to make without messing up once in awhile. The thing we ought to be focused on is what is the right thing to do now. That’s what I think.
That was Bill Clinton on Larry King Live last night discussing the uranium from Niger non-issue. He also made statements on that show that settled the questions of whether or not weapons of mass destruction in Iraq were a worry for the president and a valid justification for an invasion of Iraq. The answer is yes on both counts. Here’s a transcript of the interview.
I don’t think there is much that Diane Feinstein and I would agree on. I agree with this Op-Ed she wrote in today’s Washington Post.
Vouchers aren’t the perfect solution to the education problems we face…but they are a good policially practical solution. I think tax credits for families that send their kids to private schools are a better idea. I think that abolishing public education and letting people pay for or provide an education for their own kids is the best possible idea.
Jonah Goldberg mentioned on the Corner that he is looking for a new SUV or Station Wagon…not a minivan:
THE MINIVAN [Jonah Goldberg]
Yes, yes, yes. They are wonderful, safe, economical cars. They have ample legroom, many drink holders and safety belts. I even here that many of then come with a special compartment in the dash for storing the family jewels — which must be removed before purchase.
Jonah has obviously never seen my minivan. It ROCKS!!! (the family jewels compartment is right below the controls for the DVD player)
Sorry about the big picture above…I hope it didn’t take to long to load on your computers. Maybe it is time for you to go out and get a broadband internet connection! Anyway…this is a picture of one of my favorite places on earth. It is way up in the mountains above Cache County, UT. We used to climb up to the top of these falls where the water first comes out of the ground and drink it. The water is “SO” cold and it tastes better than any water I’ve ever had. The big bonus was that we didn’t get giardia. That made us happy.
(Thanks Cody for sending this. There are some things about Utah that I really miss)
My mom mentioned in a comment on my blog today that I should read this. I did read it but I knew half way through that I didn’t have to finish it. I live it. Every day. I love it.
Corryn was a handful tonight. After we said prayer and it was time for her to go to bed I knew it was going to be difficult. She has hit the phase where she doesn’t want to go to bed (really she does want to go to bed…but she doesn’t…you have to know a 2 year old to get this). She was sitting on my lap and giving her mom and me kisses when I told her to hop into bed for a story. To my surprise she did it immediately! I told her a story about Henry the Octopus and the Underwater Big Band then asked her to do daddy a favor. I asked her to stay in bed and try to fall asleep. She did it. Exactly. Like. I. Asked. I couldn’t believe it. Sometimes I think she likes to mess with us…just to remind us that we really don’t know what is going on.
Just about everyone who reads this site regularly should know that I’m a big fan of Glenn Reynolds (Instapundit). He is on vacation now and Randy Barnett is handling his duties at his MSNBC blog. Mr. Barnett is giving a free lesson on what the Second Amendment to the Constitution means. I highly recommend his posts from the past couple days to everyone! Especially today’s post when he talks about the actions taken by the passengers of Flight 93 on September 11th.
(In case anyone is wondering where I stand on the 2nd Amendment…I think the NRA is a bunch of panty waisted girly men…we need people who can really be trusted to advocate for our right to bare arms. I should be able to drive an M1A1 Abrams to the grocery store and shoot fireworks out of my new howitzer in the back yard of my house on the 4th of July!!! Now…if I could just convince my wife that she should let me have a BB gun.)
I’m thinking of renaming the site. I am pretty sure I’m going to go with the title of this post for the name of my page. I’ll probably keep the URL the same so I don’t lose links but I never did like the name of my site.
Of course…it is almost 1:30 AM this could be a terrible idea. Hopefully when I wake up and read this I’ll have enough energy to know if this was a good idea…or if it was something really lame I came up with when I was delerious with exaustion.
