POWIP Piece of Work In Progress

Princesses! Princesses Everywhere!

You know what? Screw pensions, the French bitching that they can't take state pensions til the grand old age of 62, and Greek hairdressers killing people in the streets of Athens because they can't take hardship retirement at 50.

Now is the time that we celebrate official insignia!

And now is the time we celebrate my favorite royals, Margarethe and Henrik of Denmark!

Thanks to TLo's coverage of the latest royal wedding, who are used to covering the type of queens who show up for RuPaul's Drag Race.

Other TLo coverage: Ladies' Day at Ascot, their posts on my new fave show, Glee, and what the hell, Dita von Teese.

Go to the TLo link for Dita. I just want more Margarethe. Here's Mad Hattery on the Grand Old Dame, and I gotta get her glasses. Some Swedish video of the wedding reception, cutting off before Henrik and Margarethe bust a move

Meep

Meep is a member of the Irish Catholic mafia, having a suspiciously high number of green-eyed, red-haired friends. While she doesn’t have red hair herself [except when she goes into the sun (rare for any vampire)], she does have green eyes. She’s a raving Papist and is a life actuary on the side [i.e., she counts dead people]. An amateur pain-in-the-ass [willing to go pro!], she likes covering retirement, mortality, math, and education issues.

Close Encounter

Great. Now Bigfoot thinks we're retarded.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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GAO: Fed Agencies Gave ACORN-Related Groups $40 Million from 2005-09

CNS News:

“Nine agencies—HUD, DHS, DOJ, EAC, NeighorWorks, CPB, EPA, Treasury, and NEA—have identified approximately $37.5 million in direct federal grants and at least $2.9 million in subawards (i.e. grants and contracts awarded by federal grantees) to ACORN or potentially related organizations, primarily for housing-related purposes during fiscal years 2005 through 2009,” says the report [pdf].

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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Liz Stephans’ Blog

Liz's blog at the new B-Cast site is likely to see more activity than Scott's, as he's been hired by Glenn Beck's Mercury outfit to contribute to the shows. At any rate, the last couple of posts show that she's got a good blog voice and can pull material together well, so do visit.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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New Outbreak of Blogospheric Anti-Catholicism

It's too bad, because I'd just added Before It's News to my RSS reader, when I came across this post.

'This is a shocking account of how the ignorance of the catholic church created the conditions that lead up to the black death, one of the deadliest pandemics in human history, by simply associating the common house cat with satan. The black death is estimated to have killed 30% to 60% of Europe's population, reducing the world's population from about 450 million to between 350 and 375 million around 1400. The question have to be asked: Was this intentional? We know that "witches" were persecuted by various religious groups, and "witches" have strong association with cats.

So was this a conspiracy by the catholic church to kill about 100 million people or was it simply because of ignorance, idiotic superstition and a screwed up theology? Whatever the case might be, the fruits of this backward organization is rotten to the core.'

Did the Medieval/Early Renaissance Catholic Church actually preach that cats were somehow Satanic? I can't recall ever coming across such historical information. It may be that the idea emerged in some places out of folk culture, but Chaucer, for one, wrote about cats without animus, and the manifestations of the Black Plague were apparently just as deadly in the Middle Eastern Ottoman territories as they were in Europe. Moreover, in the original article, the author cites the Great Plague of London, 1665-1666, when England had been a Protestant state, except for a few years, for a century and a half.

If you review the data about "witches," to which the author wishes to connect the purported cat slaughter, you'll find that there was much less execution in Catholic territories than in Protestant ones. Finally, the original article suggests that the Black Plague was "created" by the Catholic Church, in much the same way, I suppose, that the AIDS virus was created in US bio-weapons labs in order to extirpate black people. The Before It's News post takes that idea and runs with it, though in order to believe it, one would have to believe that Catholic religious authorities were aware of the connection between rats and the disease many centuries before it was discovered by natural historians, and further, that they desired the deaths of millions for purposes that remain obscure.

In short, these people are insane . . . with hatred, and, frankly, superstition. At any rate, it's better to have a cat infestation than to take extermination into your own hands in this manner.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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Adrienne Curry, and a Note for Bob Schwoch

My Father's Day gift to all you hetero guy readers is this compilation of Adrienne Curry's Facebook photos.

On the flip side, though, this is about my gay friend, Bob Schwoch.

I've mentioned him before. We've literally known each other since nursery school. He and his partner, Hal, have been together for 25 years.

When he was in college, he volunteered as a Big Brother, and stays in touch with his father-abandoned little buddy, who's now grown and has a family of his own. Over the past year, while Brendan's been at Marquette, he's also been in loco parentis, along with my bros. He's Aidan's godfather, too.

So, happy Father's Day to Bob, because fathering is something one must do, in order to be.

And, as always, visit William Teach's Sunday Sorta Blogless Pin-Up.

Special shout-out to Mike Hendrix on his first Father's Day, too.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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Happy Fathers Day from POWIP [UPDATE by Dan]

My wife and I have not yet been blessed with children, but, you know, we keep working at it !  Kinda gives a whole new meaning to, "A Labor of Love", eh?  But seriously, it is a labor of love to be a good parent, and while not always bliss filled ecstasy, I can't imagine a more gratifying and satisfying feeling than navigating the trecherous narrows of their childhood and teenage years and seeing them become the unique adults they were created to be.

I'm no trust-funder, and my parents were working class folks who never went to college.  They were both readers, and to an extent had a version of the ol', "Abe Lincoln education", but were never "professionals" in the modern sense of the word.  On the day I recieved my bachelors degree in aerospace engineering I don't know who was happier, myself or my father.  My entire young life he stressed the merits of being "an educated person" to my brothers and I, and to see one of us achieve a goal he had aspired to, but never able to pursue himself, was an emotional and special moment in both our lives.  As corny as it may sounds, that satisfaction was a priceless gift I could give him, worth more than all the sum total of hours I worked to put myself through school.  It goes without saying that he deserved it.  His bearing, demeanor, care, example, vision, and imagination all came together synergistically with who I am.  He helped, and enabled, me to become the gentleman I am today.

Fathers in the household are important.  Despite those who'd wish to dismiss that as an old fashioned ideal, the statistics say otherwise.  Children raised in households with both parents fare much better than those in single parent family situations; and it's not about the earning power of two compared to one.  Fathers matter...

So here's to my own father, whose name I share; I salute you, sir, for making me who I am.  And, to all the fathers here at POWIP, among the contributors and the readers, I also wish you a hale and hearty fathers day.  Enjoy whatever pursuit serves your pleasure today.  But also, take a moment when surrounded in the bosom of your loving family, and count your blessings; specifically, your lovely wives and beautiful children.

Life is fleeting, the years can pass in the blink of an eye.  Remember, that the good old days are really today !  Savor them, live in them, and may God bless and keep you all.

UPDATE:

Thanks, Bob. I feel fortunate to be the father of three great kids, and the husband of a wonderful wife. Enoch has five monsterlings . . . and an equally wonderful wife, and Fishman has his three and likewise. We're lucky, lucky guys.

Most of all, today, though, I want to thank my Dad (whom I can't reach by phone) for being all that. He never did anything without putting heart and soul into it. And though Mom's not all there anymore, she kept him sane by being happy and fun, and keeping his OCD/perseveration in check.

Countless times, he bore all five of us up the stairs at bedtime on his broad shoulders, and when we were bigger, he carried us with his wisdom and kindness. Love ya, Dad.

For those whose dads weren't around, I wish we could have cloned him.

Rocketman

Joran van der Sloot Should Have Listened to His Mom

It's possible that I'm reading way too much into this, but I'm a little appalled by van der Sloot's mother's comments about her son:

"If only he had listened to his mother. Then, this would have never happened," his mother said.

Well, lady, you enabled him for all those years, and now you've decided you've got to save yourself. Whatever. I seem to recall that even Jeffrey Dahmer's parents took some responsibility for and interest in him right up till when he was murdered in jail. You suck.

I'm guessing that the guy is schizoaffective, but his parents shielded him from consequences in such a way that he was free to murder two young women. If the parents had accepted their responsibilities, at least one young woman would be alive today.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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Saturday Night Stuff

There goes the dead people vote.

I guess she'd be fun to party with.

Paleolithic cave paintings discovered in Romania.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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