Federal Government Seeks Expanded Authority to Set Salaries of All Employees of Companies Receiving Federal Aid

Terror Suspects May be Released in US Cities and Funded

Mandatory Volunteerism

President, Treasury Secretary & Federal Reserve Seek Expanded Powers to Seize and Control Institutions

Limiting the Deductibility of Charitable Contributions

Rescinding the Conscience Clause

does satan exist?

does satan exist part 2

Note To Self: stop whining

This is March Madness.

As of the time of this posting, Ohio State has the points lead at the NCAA wrestling championship tournament in St Louis. In the last round they overtook both Iowa State and Iowa. The Buckeyes currently lead second place Iowa, who were thought to be a sure thing in grasping their 22nd national title. The Hawkeyes were ranked #1 coming into the tournament and the Buckeyes were ranked 6th despite finishing 2nd last year (yes, behind Iowa). Again, coach Tom Ryan (a former Hawkeye himself) and the Buckeyes received far too little respect in the polls. But heading into the semi-finals, they have four wrestlers left in competition. And the Hawkeyes have only two. This could be big for wrestling at Ohio State and in the state of Ohio generally. Championships make for good recruiting. Good recruiting makes for more championships. 

Of course the Hawkeyes aren't out of it and if anyone knows how to win under pressure it's Iowa. Even so, if the Buckeyes finish in the top three this year, it proves last year was no fluke. And it means the Buckeyes have just put the Hawkeyes on notice. And nothing in this world (athletically speaking) would make me happier than a long, embittered Ohio State- Iowa wrestling rivalry. But that's getting ahead of ourselves. 

Stay tuned for more results!

YES. Now THATS what I'm talking about!

Check it out, people. It's 2009 and your flying car is finally here. (It's 25 years late, but it's finally here). The next question is how are we going to mount one of those new laser guns on it? And where can I get a shiny, silver jogging suit with a V stripe?



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Finally! Now when can I expect to get my rocket pack to go with it?

Military Laser Hits Battlefield Strength
By Noah Shachtman March 18, 2009 | 11:12:00 AMCategories: Lasers And Ray Guns

Huge news for real-life ray guns: Electric lasers have hit battlefield strength for the first time -- paving the way for energy weapons to go to war.
In recent test-blasts, Pentagon-researchers at Northrop Grumman managed to get its 105 kilowatts of power out of their laser -- past the "100kW threshold [that] has been viewed traditionally as a proof of principle for 'weapons grade' power levels for high-energy lasers," Northrop's vice president of directed energy systems, Dan Wildt, said in a statement.
That much power won't get you a Star Wars-style blaster. But it should be more than enough to zap the mortars and rockets that insurgents have used to pound American bases in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The battlefield-strength breakthrough is just one part in a larger military push to finally make laser weapons a reality, after decades of unfulfilled promises. The Army recently gave Boeing a $36 million contract to build a laser-equipped truck. Raytheon is set to start test-firing a mortar-zapper of its own. Darpa is funding a 150 kilowatt laser project that is meant to be fitted onto "tactical aircraft."

I Am New

I don't know who Kutiman is, but he mixes you tube.  And it's incredible.  What you hear is what you see.  Here's an example:

this is amazing.

I feel like Steve Martin in the Jerk when he noticed his name in thephone book.

Phoebe In Wonderland

In January of 2008 I was able to attend the Sundance Film Festival in Utah with a few friends. While we were there I saw a film called "Phoebe in Wonderland".  I've been waiting and waiting and now it's finally being release in "select" theaters.   Phoebe in Wonderland is not a great film.  It's not going to win any awards at the Oscars, nor should it (aside from the award for best actress which should go to Fanning- she is amazing in this film- and only 8 at the time it was made).  The story is reasonably interesting.  Some of the acting is quite good.  But overall the execution of the film is only ok.  

That notwithstanding, I found the film deeply moving and painfully beautiful for reasons I only partly understand.  Some of those reasons are probably quite subjective to my personal experiences as a child and a father. I recommend it to all of you.  Maybe some of you will connect with it.  Maybe you won't.  

An Open Letter to Larry Mullen, Jr

Dear Larry, 

In the photo on the cover of the latest Rolling Stone magazine, I noticed something unusual about Bono's face.  It appears as though he is either wearing eye makeup or someone punched him in the face.  

Michael Stipe already has the "aging rock star front man wearing eye make up" category pretty well covered and it seems to me that we really don't need more than one of those guys. 

Anyway, I know there are lots of people who would like to punch Bono in the face, so maybe that's what happened.  I don't know, but if somebody could fill us in concerning what's going on with that general region of Bono's head, we'd appreciate it.  

And if it turns out that Bono is wearing eye makeup, maybe you could just go ahead and punch him in the face. Thanks so much.  

Rampage vs. My Wife

Quinton "Rampage" Jackson is one bad, bad, hombre.  He's actually here in town this week for his upcoming fight against Keith "The Dean of Mean" Jardine, so if you have children or small pets, you should probably keep them inside until at least Monday morning.  Now, Jardine is no slouch and is capable of beating the very best of opponents on any given day- as he has shown in the past. But Saturday night in Columbus, Ohio will he be able to deliver the goods against Jackson?  If I were a gambler, I'd put my money on Jackson.  But it would still be a gamble.  

Rampage and Jardine are both just lucky they aren't slated to meet my wife in the cage anytime soon.  While she's an amateur with no actual fights on her record, I have no doubt that she would cake walk through both fighters.  Simultaneously probably.  

Let me offer my analysis of said match-up.  Rampage and the Dean each bring an obvious abundance of experience, skill and physical power to the conflict.  But aside from decades of training in the arts of hand to hand combat, hundreds of hours of preparation with the sport's most accomplished camps, and the 70-80 pound weight advantage , what chance would they really stand?  Slim to none.  

We've got four kids.  Out oldest is home schooled and has an attention span of about four seconds, the next has a chronic auto immune disease for which he takes multiple medications including steroids and thus experiences the related emotional swings, our two year old princess is a destroyer of worlds who just happens to have the flu this week and then there is our one month old daughter who is currently engaged in the following regiment- eat, poop, scream, eat, poop, scream, eat, poop, scream, brief nap, repeat until insane.  And my wife endures this training pattern without a break, seven days a week.  Now you tell me, what is Rampage going to do to equal that kind of abuse?  What's he going to do?  Seriously, what?  Punch her in the face?  Kick her in the stomach? Ooooh!  That's so scary.  Puh-leeze.  She's been kicked before. For nine months straight.  Four times.  That's 36 months of being kicked.  FROM THE INSIDE! Do you understand what I'm talking about here?  

Whatever he does, he's not going to make her teach him the multiplication tables while bouncing a screaming infant on one hip and breaking up an altercation over a barbie doll between a four year old with roid rage and a two year old with pig-tails, a fever and a mean-streak like a chupacabra.  Whatever submissions he attempts, it's never going to equal the will breaking, life sapping routine of trouncing up the stairs eighteen times a night to wipe snot from the nose of a crying toddler, delivering twelve glasses of water to three different children who were SUPPOSE to be asleep hours ago, enduring seven to eight unbroken years of changing diapers, wiping bottoms, and wrestling each child to the ground in order to get them to EAT SOMETHING- (which is something I once thought the natural inborn survival instinct compelled all living creatures to do- I was wrong).  This one just eats macaroni.  This one, yogurt.  This one whatever you're NOT cooking for dinner and this one, quite literally only wants to suck the LIFE ENERGY straight out of your flesh like the most darling little pink vampire you've ever seen.  

Seriously.  What would Jardine or Rampage bring to the cage that my wife wouldn't  laugh at?  And she would laugh.  But not at the fight.  She'd be laughing into the telephone nestled between her neck and her shoulder, deep in conversation with some long-distance friend- all the while only barely aware of the large muscular man who's blacking-out in a head-lock death grip under her right arm.  And bouncing a baby on her hip with the left.