A favorite pundit of mine

I've read a few articles by James Lewis now on American Thinker and I really like his stuff. It's smart and rather witty. Check out his latest.

One Year of Blogging

Well today is my one year anniversary of writing this blog. I took a short hiatus due to my intense class schedule in the Spring semester but I'm back at it.

USA Today has an article about a school district in Texas that is allowing faculty to carry a concealed weapon. Apparently the district has some schools that are out in the boonies. It would take emergency services a minimum of 30 minutes to respond so the district thought it prudent to allow its faculty to arm itself. With not so distant tragedies still fresh in our minds (Virginia Tech and Columbine) I think this district is making the right choice. I think the safety of our children is of utmost importance as is the safety of those who have the responsibility of educating them. If troublemakers know that the faculty is armed and prepared to deal with a tense situation they may be less inclined to target a school. Which brings up a good point about training. The article also said that faculty carrying concealed weapons would be given further training by the district in areas of crisis intervention and management of hostage situations. I think that would be great training for unarmed faculty as well. Educators know how to manage a classroom but not necessarily a dangerous situation such as a violent student. In fact classroom management is mostly learned on the job which means a new educator would be very unlikely to know how to handle a crisis such as a potential shooting.

More districts need to adopt this policy. Obviously responsibility is the key here in determining who gets to carry and how many get to carry but a concealed carry policy within a school district is a good idea and one that should be propogated. Many schools have in house police officers who carry so why not allow faculty to carry as well provided the laws in that state allow for such a decision.

Leader of the Free World: McCain is ready, is Obama?

I got to this article via BadgerBlogger. It's from TownHall and it's by none other than Fred Thompson. Here are my favorite parts:

While this crisis plays out we should also note that these events give evidence of a larger reality: the next American President is going to face an international landscape that is more difficult and treacherous than we have ever faced.

And yet the Liberals seem to think Obama has the experience necessary to take on this task. I beg to differ.

With hundreds of missiles pointed toward Taiwan, experts say China is developing the capability to take Taiwan before the U. S. has the ability to respond.

But what would that matter since we shouldn't be putting our noses in other country's business. I mean who cares that countries are being invaded.

So let’s recap: international terrorism; powerful nation states on a quest for hegemony, whether close to home or further afield and with a willingness to squelch freedom anytime the opportunity arises; less stable and no less dangerous countries with nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities; an alliance of democratic nations of questionable resolve and a debate at home over our future role in the world with a political party happy to create the impression of diminished resolve with little concern for the long term damage such an impression may cause.

God help us.

Georgian Conflict: Bush sends Rice

After writing that headline I realized that it was in fact a pun! According to Reuters President Bush sent aid to Georgia and yet again spoke out against Russian aggression.

"The United States of America stands with the democratically elected government of Georgia. We insist that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia be respected," Bush told reporters at the White House.

As I said in an earlier post I'm not so sure I can fully support a military action against Russia but I do think Russia has overstepped its boundry. Something needs to be done. I'm also not sure what leverage the US has against Russia. We can't exactly go to war with them. That would be disasterous and extremely improbable. However, I do think we need to show that we will not stand for this type of invasion.

I guess I better start on that bomb shelter. I don't have much time before classes start again.

The Left's Hubris: Egotism as a trademark of recent liberal politicians

I just read an interesting article on the American Thinker by James Lewis. My favorite part...

Just look at the liberal list of Planetary Saviors:

*Jimmy Carter, now living as an international nag, to loud cheers from the sneering snobs of Europe and the UN, Iran and the Arabian deserts;

*Al Gore, driven mad by his Florida loss to George W. Bush, who got so snippified that he sued and sued until the US Supremes slapped him down, then carried his rage around the world until he became the superfatted incarnation of international eco-fury;

*John Kerry, who accused his Vietnam buddies of rape and murder, and then went around for forty years with his Swiftboat Navy hat folded in his briefcase;

*The Clintons with their folie a deux, determined to get four presidential terms, two for him and two for her;

*and finally we have today's popular extravaganza, Senator Barack Obama and his Flying Circus. There was Senator O, taking his self-congratulatory victory lap three months before the US election, in front of 200,000 Citizens of the World in Berlin -- while disdaining the chance to face his Republican opponent in town hall meetings in front of American voters.

What do all those Democrats have in common? They're infected with Savioritis Pestis, a generally harmless disorder which explodes into a global pandemic when it is caught by ambitious pols. For some reasons Republicans never catch this disease, possibly because they would be laughed out of town before the sun goes down. But when Nancy Pelosi was asked the other week why she shut down any House debate on oil drilling, her Frisco airhead answer just came out, "I'm just trying to Save the Planet." Don't bother me with grubby facts, I'm busy being Jesus. And nobody in the mainstream media even snickered.

I also enjoyed the article for his genius use of the mythological god Nemesis. It's a great read. Take a gander.

Russia vs Georgia (What's going to happen to the peanut crops?

I may be a college student but I don't think I fit into the category of a stupid college kid. I do for a fact know that this Georgia isn't our Georgia. But I digress...

I just read Elliot's post about the conflict in Georgia and I have to say I am in agreeance with him. I do not think that what Russia did was right I can't completely separate it from what we did in Iraq. Granted they weren't attacked by terrorists nor are they going into Georgia to put down a tyrannical dictator who is bent on genocide, but aren't they going into Georgia to protect their interests? Georgia is an oil nation. The pipe lines run through their country to the sea and Russia needs to keep the lines open because they are an oil producer and a large one at that. I hate to admit it but I can't really say I think we should go into Georgia to fight. This may be one battle we have to stay out of. And it's not like Bush really has the ability or support to rush to the Georgian's side.

Summer Olympics

I have not seen the opening ceremony myself because I am still at work but I've heard good and bad things about it. I've read a few blogs that beat it up pretty bad but I've also heard from a few female friends of mine who thought it was beautiful. I saw some pictures online and it looked spectacular. I am not really into the Olympics. My beef with it is that it is too long and too boring. I can't stand watching heat after heat after heat of the 100 meter dash. This might sound ironic to those of you who know me well because I will sit and watch the entire Tour de France which is a 21 day race and the shortest day of televised racing is 3 hours long. Not a whole lot happens on the long straight stretches of road but I love to watch anyway. So why can't I get into a whole bunch of people running around in a circle? I don't know, maybe it's the lack of changing scenery. Maybe it's the monotony of watching the same race over and over again with different people. Rarely does anyone fall or smash into someone or something else. (This year's Tour de France crash highlights are a guy smashing into a tree on the first day and a guy hitting an old lady on the road.)

I don't have any ill feelings toward the Chinese people in general just their government. I find it hard to promote or patronize a country that has such disregard for human rights but I definitely admire their history and culture. It's fascinating!

That said I wish the best of luck to all US althletes. I hope we bring home more golds than any other nation but have the decency and honor to respect those who we demolish on our way to gold.

Mukwonago on the front page of the Waukesha Freeman

I think today's issue of the Waukesha Freeman should be renamed the Mukwonago Freeman. We had a lot in the paper today.

ProHealth is building onto the Greenwald Medical Center in Mukwonago. They want to make a 137,000 square foot addition to the center to make it an official hospital. It is located just off of I-43 and Hwy 83. It should be done in 2011. I'm fairly sure I'll be out of school by then and living in another state where the taxes won't kill me but the artist rendering looks pretty good and the hospital will service a growing population out here in the burbs.

The WI DNR is looking to buy the failing Rainbow Springs Golf course for just over $10 million. It will become another unit of the Kettle Moraine State Park System. Rainbow Springs is located in Mukwonago. I'm not so sure what I think about this deal. Why buy it? Do we need more parks? I guess I'd like to know where the money will be coming from to pay for it.

The Town of Mukwonago is still dealing with flooding and flood damage. Apparently they weren't high enough on the list.

And last but not least more Favre stuff. An article by Bryan Burwell claims that the Packers fumbled this deal. I think the only fumble came when the Packers began to play this game with Favre.

Goodbye Brett

I for one am not sad that he is leaving. I love Brett Favre and the Packers but I am tired of the drama and I'm tired of a tired quarter back acting like a B***!

Retire or play and don't use some lame excuse about being pressured. That's how the game works Brett and you know it. The Packers could not wait till the last minute to get an answer from you. They just didn't have that liberty. They needed to make a decision and as someone who has been in football for somethign like 20 years you of all people should know this.

Rick at Shark and Shepherd scared the life out of me when he mentioned we might have to pick up a veteran QB to back up Rogers. What scared me was his mention of what we could end up with...

History in the making: GOP pulls a Jefferson Smith on the House Floor

I find it interesting that TCM just aired the great Jimmy Stewart film "Mr. Smith Goes to Washinton". Coincidence? Yes. TCM sets up its schedule far in advance. How do I know this? Well I'm a little bit of an classic movie buff and I get TCM's newsletter and schedule emailed to me a month in advance. Anyway, it you have not seen the film it is a must watch. It stars Jimmy as Jefferson Smith. He's a smalltown guy who has a passion for boys. He is kind of a scout master of sorts. Anyway the political machine in his home state sees him as the prime candidate for their junior senate position because they believe he will be a pushover. When he gets to Washington he tries to get some land appropriated for his "Boy's Ranch" so the boys will learn to be men, etc. Problem is, the land he wants to use is being put up for a graft. The political machine wants to build a dam where the camp is supposed to go. We now have a David vs Goliath ordeal. Smith vs the Machine. Smith learns that he can fillibuster and he does so. He goes up against congress and talks for something like 24 hours straight until they hear him out. At one point the entire house clears out except for the President of the Senate and Mr. Smith. He continues to talk. He runs out of speech material and so he begins to read historical government documents such as the Delcaration of Independence and the Constitution. He even reads portions of the Bible. The scene in which the entire congress walks out reminded me a lot of our recent turn of events when Speaker Pelosi and the Democratic majority shut down the House instead of voting on the drilling proposal.

Politico had a great article on this debacle as did almost every other news outlet, blog, and talking head. There are web sites dedicated to calling back congress as well as an online petition which as of this minute is up to almost 25,000 "signatures". It has become quite the story although I haven't seen a lot about it in the main-stream media. I have this sneaking suspicion that if this were the Democratic party sitting in the dark there would be a media circus surrounding the event until congress reconveined. And I'm fairly certiain I'm not the only one who believes or thinks this way.

So this is history in the making folks. Don't brush it off. Whatever your political veiws are this is history. It doesn't happen all the time and it's about time congress does something besides go on vacation. Put the people's wishes on the table at the PEOPLE'S House.