Hanna’s Hotties and Notties- Special Football Edition
Oregan Ducks vs. Auburn Tigers
Back when I used to write at my old site, I did a regular post on the week's Hotties and Notties. I haven't written one in a while because I've been doing stuff a little differently, but after last night's big game, I felt compelled. Plus, everything has been so heavy with the tragedy in Arizona, so I'd thought I'd lighten the mood a little. First of all, I'm a Southerner. I love the SEC, and was rooting for Auburn all the way. So congrats War Eagles! But when it comes to who is hot and who is not, it's a game changer.
While all my other Southern friends were trashing Oregan's uniforms in multiple status (stati?) updates on Facebook, I found that the Ducks were the football fashionistas of the NCAA. I've always loved their cutting edge uniforms. They are flashy, cool, unique., sexy. So is their team. And I think the uniforms inspire confidence in the young players. Their uniforms no doubt, contributed to the momentum they carried with them at the beginning of the game.
It's kind of like this, when I buy the latest pair of True Religion Blue Jeans and wear them out, I feel confident, cool, flashy, sexy. I know I look good. And when I feel that way there's nothing I can't do. Much better than when I wear my old comfy Levis. The Levis may be my favorite, but I never wear them out. I lay around the house lazily.... or I paint in them.
Well, Oregan is like the hot new True Religions, and Auburn is like the reliable old Levis. And while the boring, strong Levis may have won the title last night, they certainly weren't hot. So the Hottie award goes to the Ducks where I think those uniforms will get them places for a long time to come. We haven't see the last of the Ducks yet.
Chicago Update 11Jan2011
While waiting for the snow to drop on our heads, let's see what Rahm has been up to in his campaigning:
In contrast to his main rivals in the mayor’s race, Rahm Emanuel has told labor leaders that he favors reducing pension benefits for the city’s existing work force and not just for new hires.
Although Mr. Emanuel has not yet publicly detailed his plan to confront the city’s perennial budget deficits and the severely underfinanced employee pension funds, he told union officials in a private meeting on Dec. 15 that he thought it could be necessary to cut the pensions of all employees, said people who attended the meeting.
....“The sticking issue for all of us is the pension issue,” said a labor activist who attended the meeting with Mr. Emanuel. “I can’t tell my members we are going to support a guy who is going to cut your pensions.”
The labor leader and others who attended the meeting said they did not want to be identified for fear that Mr. Emanuel would retaliate if he were elected.
Nice pension.... wouldn't want to see anything happen to it....
As the RedState Labor Union Report says, Chicago's pension plans are close to being the worst in the country, in terms of solvency.
And while the other candidates are making noises about a two-tier system, so that only new hires would have the lower pensions, I guess Rahm really isn't that stupid and realizes that current pensioners and employees are a far greater problem in fiscal magnitude than theoretical future employees. The pension isn't in deep shit because they've not put money by for people who don't work for the city yet.
So maybe Rahm isn't totally stupid. Sounds like he knows the fiscal score - must have talked with Daley.
I don't think the unions don't realize it's not a matter of not pissing off Rahm. Doesn't matter if they do anything overt. There's not enough money to give everybody goodies, and the unions are too hoggy to fit at what will be a much shrunken trough.
Well, maybe enough money to buy off some union leaders, but that will be it.
Tragedy And Rhetoric
I've been slow to post on this, for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, I just haven't felt like posting much since Thursday. But today, I've been walking around without crutches most of the day (except for stairs), and I took the bandage off without incident. The hydrocodone has helped, although it's contributed to an excess of sleep. Speaking of hydrocodone, I'll be right back.
All better now.
Now, onto the topic at hand. I'm really getting tired of people whining about the political rhetoric, as if we can blame political speech for the horrific tragedy committed by a crazy lunatic in Tucson. I have to admit, one of my first thoughts (after the horror set in) was a fear for how this would affect political discourse; and particularly a fear of the blame that was bound to be attached to the right wing (she is, after all, a Democrat). I was preparing my stock response, "You can't blame what this guy did on political metaphors."
Knowing that he was actually upset with her for not being far left enough, my stock response is still appropriate. We cannot blame the actions of crazy people on the metaphorical turns of phrase expounded by those who may hold some sort of political similarities. We don't get to blame Obama for this guy, we don't to blame Algore for the nutcase at the Discovery Channel, we don't get to blame Limbaugh for Oklahoma City, and we don't get to blame Bill O'Reilly for the guy who shot the abortion doctor.
To do so would require some sort of legal standard to determine a number of things. We'd have to somehow quantify similarity of thought (unless you want to hold a leftwing nutjobs actions against a political antagonist) as well as correlation. Did this guy go crazy after reading Al Gore's book, after listening to Obama's speech, or maybe after reading Paul Krugman's column? I'm not smart enough to be able to think of a legal standard that wouldn't completely destroy free political speech as we know it.
Whether the rhetoric under discussion is something God will hold them accountable for is something different entirely. Personally, I think He will hold us accountable for our slanders, lies, and half-truths. He will hold us accountable for our exaggerations and intentional misquotes.
No matter how inappropriate the post-tragedy rhetoric (name your tragedy, there's been rhetoric to follow), or how vitriolic the pre-tragedy rhetoric, it's just not helpful to blame it for the tragedy.
On Insanity in Arizona
I'll make this short.
In the early 90s, I was attending grad school in AZ. While there I met a truly genius song-writer from CA. He had an unbelievable portfolio of original material. Top-shelf stuff. Although trying desperately not to become once again sucked into the world of music, I could not resist when he asked me to do the session drumming.
He was even better in the studio than I could have imagined. A once in a lifetime singer-songwriter. Completely undiscovered.
We spent 3 weeks in the studio. The sessions were great. Various top-flight musicians made cameos in the studio, such was the buzz.
During the fourth week, things started to get... well.. weird.
I remember vividly driving with C to the studio when suddenly a very odd megalomania presented itself - truly out of nowhere. It was a 45 minute drive. Now, for the record, musicians (especially brilliant ones) can be ... erm ... not quite right in the head. I think they call it quirky. So, I wasn't immediately alarmed with his ramblings.
Within 12 hours between leaving for the studio and the return trip to drop him off that evening, I was alarmed.
Things went from bad to worse in very short order. "Crazy Talk" would be an understatement. "Disturbing Behavior" would also be an understatement. Dear C had, frankly, gone completely nuts in a matter of 2 days.
When it became clear that C needed some serious help in the form of intervention, we called the Authorities. Astonishingly, they informed us that there was nothing they could do to help him. Unless we thought he was a threat to himself and/or others. So, we (some friends) took turns babysitting C. At 6 hour clips to begin with. But 6 hours was untenable... as the madness coming from him over six hours of incessant talking and pacing unnerved to the degree that one could feel oneself being dragged into his dreamscape. He was a performer. He was a man not without charm. So, we cut our shifts to 3 hours per, rotating with much more frequency.
He was, quite literally, not with us. From the flash cards taped across every inch of his apartment to the 12 doos he purchased from wal-mart and placed throughout his joint, to giving his pick-up to a homeless woman, it was plenty proof positive that C needed to be tended to by professionals. But in Arizona, no help could be had.
We tricked him into returning to LA. When he crossed the border into CA, he was picked up as planned by the local police.
So, when people ask the question, "if so many people knew he was nuts, why wasn't he taken into custody?," you'll know. Even a concerted effort was not enough for us to do it. And, believe me, we tried like hell.
If change to legislation is called for, the current law in AZ regarding how and when the authorities can intercede when it comes to madness seems the most logical place to start.
UPDATE x1:
Arizona is also among half of the states whose treatment standard is based on a person’s “need for treatment” and not just on the person’s likelihood of being dangerous to self or others. The following summary can be helpful for a family member trying to get court-ordered treatment for a loved one.
To get either inpatient (hospital) or outpatient (community) care for a loved one, the person must be (1) a danger to self/others; (2) in danger from an inability to provide basic physical needs; or (3) likely to suffer severe and abnormal mental emotional or physical harm without treatment, likely to benefit from treatment, and substantially impaired capacity to make informed decisions regarding treatment.
Let’s Ban Insanity
So I see yet another knee-jerk political reaction to the Arizona shooting: ban the use of crosshair images.
Of course, targets and crosshairs are used as logos for all sorts of things [did you see that "bullseye free shipping" at the top of the first link?], literally and metaphorically. If flag-burning is protected speech, slapping a target on a map also is. Seems pretty simple to me. This is just making political hay.
Now, yes, it's not proven this guy was schizophrenic, but there is some pretty strong evidence, I think. Let's consider a few other crazy killers from history. Should Catcher in the Rye be banned? Should dogs?
Seems kind of crazy to try to fit the world to people who have a disordered view of the world. Wouldn't it be easier to put the disordered minds in padded cells rather than all of us?
I can understand a schizophrenic person's demand for cell towers to be removed as the government is controlling thoughts from them, but what's the excuse of the supposedly sane?
No, we can't ban schizophrenia, but if we should be banning or controlling anything, getting to the "root causes" might be a good start. No reason to shred the Constitution just because a few people's brains have biologically come undone.
SOME MORE BAN CANDIDATES: Drugs [oh wait], nihilism.
OH AND: What about this guy? What should've been banned there? Hmmm. Do you really want to push that, guys?
LET'S NOT FORGET: This guy. Yeah, environmentalism definitely should be banned.
WAIT: These are all men. Men should be banned. But wait - women gave birth to these guys. Maybe we should ban women, too, just to be sure.
How Do You Find Words?
Roxanna Greene the mother of Christina Greene, the little girl who was killed in yesterday's shooting in Arizona, was on FNC this morning. It was a heartbreaking couple of minutes and once someone puts it up on the web, listen if you didn't get to see it first time around.
I was crying and just contemplating the horror of your child being taken from you in such a violent way. Contemplating the complete and total feeling of loss her mother must have felt in knowing that her child died.......without her.
And then I see this piece of complete crap and I just lose it. I'm a HUGE fan of the Constitution and particularly of the First Amendment....but Dear God. I know, if you don't stand up for the rights of everyone you give up your own. In theory I believe that and 99% of the time I even believe it in practice. I loathe and detest hate crime legislation...I think it is completely ridiculous to criminalize thought. But somewhere there's a line .....right? If the Westboro Baptist Church (makes me gag every time I see that word attached to these vile, vicious, hate mongering, vitriolic, self-righteous, ignorant, bile spewing freaks) doesn't at least get right up on the line....who does?
/rant.
Chinese mothers are superior?
I am sure there will be a flurry of responses to this piece written by Amy Chua on why Chinese mothers are better than "Western" ones. In terms of requiring certain achievements from their children. But even more, how they push their kids.
The good part: yes, parents need to push kids. They need to be required to do academic work that they don't like, or whatever activity it is they don't like. They need to learn how to do a =job=, and school is a job when you're young. There's crap you have to put up with.
I made all As past 6th grade, but you better believe a lot of those subjects I got A in I hated. I loathed chemistry. I had to actually work at it, think at it. But you know what? B was not an option. Of course, it wasn't my parents who required these grades. But if I knew there was no excuse for not getting stuff that was just a matter of working at it [as opposed to PE stuff -- I worked at it, but I realized I had limits there.] I rarely had to work hard in math, and even when I did, I enjoyed it. But other subjects - just something I had to put up with.
That said -- no one gives a shit how well you did in school past a certain point. No, not even in academia.
At some point, real life throws "assignments" at you - but they are not as well-defined as school assignments or violin etudes. And just working hard at something does not guarantee success. Unlike school.
So part of the issue is what kind of attitude are you instilling in your children? Work hard, good. Keep at it, sure. Fix one's errors, very good [80% completion of the job I gave you? I will not be happy at all as a boss.]
But they also need to learn problem-solving outside the "back of the book" solutions. They need to learn to deal with people, and sorry, great grades in school ain't going to give you that. For that matter, though, institutional school where you're mixing only with people your own age will also not do that.
So Chinese mothers - like any parents, get a lot of things right. But there are certain achievements being missed that will definitely have an impact on your kids' success in their life beyond school. Perhaps they should throw in some Dale Carnegie in there along with the violin lessons.
crossposted to Meep's livejournal.
via Instapundit: Comment at Althouse:
Then again, as I said above, one wonders why Asians, if they've got things so figured out, need to emigrate to the land of the substandard "Westerner" in order to live prosperously and free.
Others in the thread note that the rich kids actually in China waste plenty of time on video games and other such useless activities.
A Day of Silence and Prayer
Nobody who posts or comments here is bound by this, of course, but I'm requesting that if you have something to say about the shooting of Congresswoman Giffords, Judge Roll, Christina Greene and the rest that you hold off until Monday. Pat has a couple of excellent posts up on the media reactions. You can go over there, if you like, and comment, or check out Darleen's post on some of the stellar asshattery from the left. Plenty over at AoSHQ, too.
That's not to say that I won't have plenty to write about tomorrow, when I'll probably fandango on Joanie Baloney Walsh's face, and anyone so inclined is invited to post then.
I see, too, that a reader from Cedarburg has searched for "Robert Schwoch and Hal gay". WTH is that about? It's not as though they're closeted. If you want to get in touch with them, email me.
Add your intentions, below.
Giffords shooting: some thoughts
3 hours ago I had never heard of Rep. Giffords. Obviously, my first reaction to the shooting horror and sadness that something like that would happen at all, whether she and the other victims lived or died.
Shamefully, my second inclination was to see if she had a D or an R after her name. Not because I would care less if it was someone from the other team, but to brace myself for the predictable political fallout. That's the twitterverse we're living in.
I decided I would refuse to participate in politicizing this in any way. That's a lot easier said than done. I realized in these situations it's a real tightrope for even the best of us to balance defending ourselves from vile, unfair rhetoric and the effort to not feed the monster. Some would just say to ignore the hateful nutjobs, but people do listen to this stuff. If it's not condemned and refuted it becomes the truth to many. An example would be when portraying Sarah Palin, Tina Fey said, "I can see Russia from my house." (Apologies for such a trivial example.) So we don't have a choice but to deal with this stuff.
There are rumors that a child was shot. Some of us will probably think twice about bringing our children to political events. That's a shame.
As I said, I didn't know who Giffords was 3 hours ago, but what I've learned so far is that she seems to be a fine American. The horror of what happened today is compounded by the fact that she was doing exactly what so many Americans of all political stripes long for our elected officials do; go the extra mile to be accessible and accountable to their constituents.
As I write this Giffords has gone from being confirmed dead by the media to having a real chance at recovery. I'm proud and confident to say that the majority of Americans our joined with the victims' loved ones and the state of Arizona in fervent prayer for all the victims of this horrific shooting.
crossposted at KillTruck and Pundit League
Just a Guess…
Judging from the reaction on both Left and Right - I believe we are at the precipice.
This includes my initial reaction. Very telling. And very scary.
I'm thinking a "late teens to early 20s" dude name "Jared Laughner" sounds like a white kid.
Congresswoman's two issues were
1) she was pro-Obamacare
2) she was calling for tough border enforcement
If the kid isn't just looney and without any motive... I mean if he had an axe to grind, then
1) he was really pissed over Obamacare, or
2) he was really pissed over her stance on enforcement of the border
We'll see what political motive, if any, there is. But I wouldn't be surprised if this is the exact opposite of what the Lefties are going to claim it is...
Mexican Gang stuff?
What sucks is that she and many others were killed and/or injured... including a child.
WTF. Really.
UPDATE x2
Here we go:
"However, obviously people are talking about a possible political motive, and one thing people are pointing to is Sarah Palin's "hit list" the list of 20 politicians that she targeted with rifle-sights on a website last year." http://www.businessinsider.com/gabrielle-giffords-was-on-sarah-palins-hit-list-2011-1?sailthru_m=h5b
UPDATE
"Jared Laughner is the 22 year old suspect in custody in Tuscon, AZ. There is a Jared Laughner in Tuscon on Facebook. Profile Pic of Obama."
Follow Dan!
All the Kool Kidz are doing it...
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