Archive for May, 2010

From an aberdeennews.com story….

David Leone, 55, publisher of the American News, died Thursday in California after a five-month battle with brain cancer.
Leone came to Aberdeen in 2007 from California, where he was publisher of the Imperial Valley Press in El Centro.
The Imperial Valley Press and the American News are owned by Schurz Communications Inc. Leone had been at the Imperial Valley Press since 2000.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
See Friday’s American News for a complete story

Its about damn time. Super Bowl XLVIII will be played in an outdoor stadium in a cold weather city. Not only a cold weather city but probably one of the greatest cities on earth.
The Meadowlands will be the site for Super Bowl XLVIII and I couldn’t be
Football is meant to be played in the outdoors when the weather is below zero and there is three feet of snow on the ground. I applaud the NFL owners for reaching this decision and maybe we can move forward with Pittsburgh, Denver, Cincinnati, and Cleveland just to name a few…

Enjoy the game how God meant it for…

I am going to announce who I am endorsing tomorrow in the South Dakota Congressional Race and the South Dakota Gubernatorial Race. I assume Adam will be right at that same time. Although we should all know who he is for. I would fall out of my chair if he said something different

and Obama is not listening….

Check out the newest daily tracking poll

I haven’t been incredibly excited to write about much that has been going on recently. We all know the oil spill is horrifying and will have huge consequences. The little girl worried about her mother’s lack of papers was at once cute and sad, but that will be reported on too much and exploited. Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE) has never used an ATM card, which is sort of funny, but it isn’t all that interesting. Senate candidate Rand Paul (Ron Paul’s son) said something he probably shouldn’t have (that could be interpreted as private businesses should be able to discriminate) but it probably won’t affect his campaign and he doesn’t support overturning the Civil Rights Act, saying he supports 9/10 of it.

There’s some news in a nutshell, and I feel confident our readers already were aware of each of these stories (which is why I didn’t put a link for each). Though I often write about things everyone is aware of, I normally have something to say or am curious what others think. But this just hasn’t been true for a few days. Though I haven’t been inspired to write by much news, I feel I need to post something, so here are some thoughts.

• First of all, I just want to thank everyone who has participated in the blog over the years (you too, Dr).  I’ve bee thinking about this recently, and I believe we’ve all been participating in the exercise of examining issues from all angles.  We may not always agree or change each others’ minds, but I feel confident we all learn simply based on the conversations we have.  Hopefully this has also fostered more understanding for those with which we disagree.
• David Ortiz is back.  Look out, American League, here come the Red Sox.
• The Celtics are a team possessed.  They look like they’ve shed several years over the last two series.  Look out, Lakers.
• My puppy hates when I write because it involves ignoring her.  Indiana Jones Feser cries for a large part of my writing time.  Hopefully you appreciate these posts more knowing the pain they bring my canine friend.
• Dr and I need to get some primary coverage going, so look for that.
• I should also probably post about the Euro diving.  (Maybe I had more to write about than I thought.  It’s always just a matter of looking harder.)
• Better Off Ted, one of the most amazing shows most people never watched, has officially been canceled.  Do yourself a favor and purchase the first season on DVD and the second when it comes out.
• Has anyone seen Robin Hood, is it worth the 2.5 hours?
• If you want to hear one of the best albums of 2010, I recommend The Wild Hunt by the Tallest Man on Earth.
• If you have any requests for me to write about, feel free to ask.

Just to make this post seem a little meatier, here is a song from The Wild Hunt:

And here is video of Rand Paul on Maddow:

I don’t think he ever actually answers the question, but you can see what he’s driving at. I will say if he wants to address this issue on an academic level, I believe he is mistaken. Saying businesses cannot discriminate is not related to individuals’ First Amendment rights. He may have noticed that the First Amendment is running strong decades after the bill was passed. Stopping a restaurant from denying entrance to black people is not going to infringe on anyone’s right to speech. His argument would rest upon the idea that discrimination equals speech. Discrimination is activity, not speech. You can still have a white power parade, but you cannot commit acts against blacks. But I do appreciate that he wants an intelligent discussion on the issue.

Enjoy the ramblings.

Adam Feser

CBO ups health care cost projections

Happy Belated Debt Day everyone. As of yesterday, every federal dollar we spend will be borrowed

This is totally shocking and scary that this could happen in schools.

Here is a video of the incident

This is the best “Back in Black” segment I have seen in a long time.

Enjoy angry Lewis.

Adam Feser

Recently, I was on a cruise to the Caribbean and two years ago I was on a different cruise to the other side of the Caribbean. I visited countries like St. Marteen, Honduras, Haiti, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Belize, and Grand Cayman. At all times, we were told by the cruise lines (Carnival and Royal Caribbean) that we should always carry identification with us, whether that would be copies of our passport, the original passport, and our drivers license. Recently 3 colleagues went to the Ukraine on a business trip and they were told by IRX(the company sending them overseas) to have their passports in hand at all times. Why? Because at any time we could be asked for it and if we didn’t have it we would be sent packing.

Why should this be different in this country. If you are here illegally, you are breaking the law. Send you packing sir. If you want to be part of this country, learn our language and take the test (I know its not that simple). How much does it cost the American Taxpayer each year to have an illegal in this country b/c of things we pay for(unpaid medical care, ect).

It has caused huge unrest across the country from a warning from the state department on travels to Mexico to Major League Baseball threatening to pull the 2012 All-Star game from Phoenix if this law stays in affect.

This is what I tell the law-makers of Arizona: “Way to go and do not back down”

As for what the rest of the country things, take a look here and see what Business Week has in an article. You might be surprised what the poll they cited had to say….

I have not read Laura Bush’s book, but I think I will have to.  I guess I have never spent a lot of time contemplating the policy preferences of Laura Bush, but perhaps I should. She apparently disagrees with her husband about both gay marriage and reproductive rights. I have to imagine this makes for some interesting segments in the book.

(Another fact I had not paid much attention to: Laura is apparently more of an intellectual than George, interested in things like literature.)

Laura Bush recently went on Larry King to discuss the book, and she point-blank said she was for equal rights for gay couples and thought abortion should be legal. The video is here.

Most of the time I don’t much care for books from those leaving office (whether they be Clinton or Bush), but this could be worth a read.

Enjoy pondering how that relationship worked when he backed the gay marriage ban amendment.

Adam Feser