|
|
|
|
Stuff
 |
|---|
 |
|---|
| Do Stuff |
|
Some things to do
This is a list of things to do that are either fun, or quick and easy that will really help me out. Most of them are both. Enjoy!
|
| Submit Stuff |
|
Get personal
This site is here for you, and this section is full of free-form ideas. Feel free to participate by letting me know what's going on in your world. I'll be more than happy to tell fellow fans about public service announcements, gripes, birthdays, prayer requests--pretty much anything interesting enough to read about or important enough to pray about. Simply forward items to me here via the Contact feature.
|
| Stuff to pray about |
|
Dead/injured in NSW winery explosion
Please pray for the families of the two individuals killed in an explosion at Drayton's Winery on Oakey Creek Road at Pokolbin in Hunter Valley, NSW. Let's also pray for the full recovery of a third person hospitalized with burns in the same explosion and resulting fire.
Bengladesh cyclone victims
Let's all pray for the people in Bengladesh suffering from the effects of the cyclone that hit their country recently. As if the pain of the loss of thousands of lives wasn't enough, the living now face the threat of hunger and disease.
Washington Skydivers
Please pray for the families of the nine skydivers and their pilot who went down in a plane crash in Washington state. Also, they haven't located all the bodies yet; so, a miracle would be nice about now.
Polish ambassador to Iraq
Prayers are needed for General Edward Pietrzyk who was badly burned in an attack by insurgents near the Polish Embassy in Karada, eastern Baghdad. May he have a speedy recovery.
Shooting victims at Virginia Tech
Please pray for the wounded, fellow students and the families of the scores of dead, victims of a shooting at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia.
A prayer for our troops
Most of what I post here are prayer requests, reminders of some of our fellow human beings who are in particular need and who would welcome some divine intervention. This, however, is an actual prayer for our troops, and I'm going to post it, because I think it's a particularly good one. You may have already received the prayer in an email forward. In my case, I got it from my friend Jeff Small. Thanks, Jeff. Here is the prayer:
"Lord, hold our troops in your loving hands. Protect them as they
protect us. Bless them and their families for the selfless acts they
perform for us in our time of need. I ask this in the name of Jesus, our Lord and Savior.. Amen."
Hoosier held in Iraq
Please keep Jeff Ake, the LaPorte, Indiana man held by Iraqi insurgents in your prayers. May he soon be back home in Indiana with his family.
Merrik "Superman" Medrano
Merrik, you will always be my hero!
Merrik Medrano is the preschool boy being treated at Texas Children's Hospital for cancerous brain tumors. Merrik is a tough little guy who's been holding his own and using his indomitable spirit to convince his parents that they can make it through this, because he's definitely gonna. I hear the biggest problem they're having is getting this guy to slow down a bit; so, he doesn't keep busting his head back open and ruining all that great work the doctors at Children's Hospital are doing.
If you want to help, this is how to do it:
|
Stuff |
|
Australian of the Year goes country
Just in time for the Australia Day weekend, Aussies have a new Australian of the Year, and he's been keepin' it country all his life. Country music singer/songwriter Lee Kernaghan was named Australian of the Year 2008 by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. Lee's contribution to awareness of the spirit of the bush and problems faced by farmers has made him a hero to rural Australia, Aussies in general and country music lovers all over the world. Congratulations, Lee.
Congratulations also to Young Australian of the Year, MotoGP Champion of the World, Casey Stoner.
Happy birthday...
We haven't done birthdays in a while on the page here, and it's tempting to attribute that to it looking so much like all birthdays actually fall on January or February. I know that's not exactly true, but it almost seems that way. In January, there are the holiday biggies of the New Year itself and Martin Luther King, but also my nephew Ryan Mehling, my favorite dancer--Evansville's Kelsey Miller, my brother Dan, my cousin Rose Sutton and my former classate and Holland, Indiana resident the lovely Lena Buse Giles.
Then in February most people's two favorite presidents, Abraham Lincoln and George Washington have birthdays that straddle the President's Day holiday. In addition, however, both my parents have birthdays in February, Karen Bueltel Kern whom I grew up with back home in St. Henry Indiana, AND the Grammy awards turn 50 years old in February. I know I've left some out; so, stay tuned for more. With so many people I know and love having birthdays, it's no wonder Valentines is situated smack dab in the middle of Febrary also. Happy birthday to each and every one of you.
Merry Christmas!
Howdy! It's that time of year again, and most if not all of us have gotten here faster than we could have imagined possible. Anything and everything that plays any part at all in our earthly existance is now tired--especially our feet and our credit cards--but then again, maybe that's part of preparing for this wonderful holiday. People lament how commercial it's all become, but maybe that's the point of the pre-Christmas shopping season. Like Fat Tuesday before Ash Wednesday and the rest of Lent, it gives us a chance to get earthly things like shopping out of our systems so that we can concentrate a precious day or two on what is truly important. Nothing is as good at pointing out the dark side of something than doing it until you drop.
In the end, it all boils down to a birthday; so, let's follow what's become a yearly ritual here on the site and say, "Happy birthday, Jesus!" I don't see those words a whole lot of places other than here this time of year, and that's surprising to me. I know it's become more politically correct these days to say "Seasons greetings" or "Happy holidays" or some other such watered down religiously inert phrase, but you guys know that's not me. If you think about it, it really doesn't make much sense anyway. I mean, I already said "Happy Hanukkah" to my Jewish associates some time ago. Saying "Happy holiday" to them now rather than asking them how their Hannukkah went doesn't seem all that much better than just including them in my Christmas greeting.
Then again, the more I learn about what people actually do as opposed to what political correctness says they should do, the more I'm convinced that "Merry Christmas" might be more welcome this time of year than most people might think. The truth is, this traditional Christian holiday has a huge secular component (gifts, Santa Claus and all that) that people are more likely than not to observe no matter what their religion. Actually, most of my friends refuse to miss any reason to party no matter its base. : )
Last but not least (you already know what I'm going to say here : ) let's not forget our troops in the field and those of us who can't afford the presents and feast that most of the rest of us are tired of shopping for. Remember the spirit of giving should extend to providing for those less fortunate than ourselves and that our troops are an important reason we can celebrate this holiday without persecution. Thanks to each and every one of you for supporting me and my music in 2007. All my best for the New Year 2008.
Thanksgiving
Those of you who know me or have at least read my Thanksgiving messages over the years know how much I like this particular holiday. There's just something about setting a day aside just to give thanks for what we have been blessed with that is particularly pleasing to me. It just feels like one of those things we've been wise enough or lucky enough to get right. Well, okay, there are a few of us who could stand to lose a pound or two, and I'm certainly not going to be the one to cast the first stone here. Probably none of us needs to once again try to eat our own weight in turkey. Still, it feels good to sit down at a table with family and friends and enjoy the bounty. It's probably the one time during the year that we are particularly well aware of where that bounty comes from, and yeah, it feels right to take a moment before the forks fly to just say "Thanks!"
I know I say this every year also, but please remember those of us who won't be fortunate enough to feast this holiday. Remember to give generously to the food banks in your community; so, your neighbors will have at least something to eat. I've been reading in the paper that food is particularly scarce on those shelves this time around. Because of the real estate crunch, more of us need and fewer of us are able to help out; so, if you can, please do.
While you're giving thanks, remember our troops in the field in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. They may be having turkey this year, but it surely won't be at the dining room table. God bless them and keep them safe. The war is getting even more personal than usual these days for me, as one of my best friends, Jim Poullaides, is in Iraq right now, and baby brother Leo is headed back that way soon.
Last but not least, thank you guys who have stood by me the last few years and believed in my music. I like to call you my 3 F's--family, friends and fans. I never could have done this without you, and you'll be in my prayers when I sit down at my table this Thanksgiving Day. Thank you.
Senator Obama: Pin on the pin
You say it's a substitute for true patriotism, and that is why you have decided not to grace a lapel of your finely tailored coat with a pin displaying our flag. For veterans like me who have put our lives on the line for our country and for many other citizens also, the Stars and Stripes isn't a substitute for patriotism, it's rather a symbol of this great country we love. As such, it tells the world and reminds us here at home that we are Americans, free to honor such a significant symbol in this special way. Rather than being a subtitute for it, it is both the symbol and the country it stands for that inspire the true patriotism we feel. During World War II, citizens of Nazi-occupied Norway wore paper clips to show their patriotism; we pin on the pin.
You say that you've noticed people wearing the pin but not acting very patriotic. I don't mean to question your verasity, but I personally don't see how that's possible. Recently I attended a luncheon sponsored by the Marine Corps Association. Bob Gates was the guest of honor for the evening, but before he spoke, we all stood for the presentation of the colors (our American flag) by a uniformed color guard as a military band paid the appropriate musical honors. You've never seen so many former Marines who never flinched in battle standing now misty-eyed and trembling before nothing more than that symbol, our American flag. If anybody acted unpatriotically that evening, it was not at that moment. For those other times in our lives when we don't have the benefit of a full color guard and uncased colors, we pin on the pin.
You say you started wearing the pin right after 9/11. I hope it won't come as a shock to you to learn that many of us have been wearing a flag pin on our lapels way before 9/11, although right after 9/11 wouldn't have been a bad time to wear one. Shortly after 9/11 works as well. As a matter of fact, many of us believe there is never a wrong time. If you need a fashion statement, here it is: Before you slip on your jacket for the day or right after or shortly after, pin on the pin.
You say that you're going to testify to your partriotism by trying to tell the American people what you believe will make this country great. We believe this country with all her shortcomings IS great, that we have demonstrated our patriotism through our service to her and by our every day since then and that we have feelings about her that choke us up to the point where mere words cannot help us express them. All these are precisely the reasons why we pin on the pin.
You say you're concerned with what's in our hearts? We're trying to make our hearts easy for you to find. That's why we pin the pin where we pin it.
You say you're a lot like Lincoln, and as a Hoosier who grew up quite close to Lincoln's boyhood home in southern Indiana, I appreciate that. I would also like to remind you of some useful advice given to then presidential candidate Lincoln by 11-year-old Grace Bedell that he start wearing whiskers. Just as that little girl gave Lincoln the gift of her perception back then, this simple country singer and former Marine comes to you today with some similarly good advice: This one's not just "a piece of silly affection" either. Our flag is an important symbol of this great Nation. Senator Obama, pin on the pin.
Semper Fi,
Den Hollinden
DenHollinden.com
Fire at Southridge High School!
Video still from WFIE TV channel 14, Evansville, IN broadcast
A fire was discovered Presidents Day morning at Southridge High School, the school I graduated from in Huntingburg, Indiana. The fire was set on purpose and started in a pile of books and paper in the library, or what we used to call the LRC, or Learning Resource Center. The arsonist hasn't been identified, and Huntingburg police continue to investigate. The only damage from the fire was the reading material itself, a chair, carpet in the area and some ceiling tiles and light fixtures. The local maintenance crew at the high school called 911 when they saw smoke and then located the fire and put it out using fire extinguishers. When the fire department arrived, they helped with some hot spots and cleared the area of smoke.
Local newspapers originally announced that school would begin on schedule Tuesday morning after the holiday, but the decision was later made to keep all Southwest Dubois County schools closed while they work on cleaning up the affected area. The reason for the additional delay was that the cleanup turned into a bigger job than they'd thought. The people doing the actual work are a specialized cleaning company from Vincennes. Cleaning smoke residue from computers, for example, took a lot more work than school officials had originally anticipated.
Anybody with any information about the arson is asked to contact Huntingburg Police at 683-4111.
The latest I've heard on the case (thanks to Jayme from MySpace) is that the alleged arsonists are a group of 3 guys and a girl, but that the authorities haven't released any names yet. By the way, I've promised to keep posting news on the Southridge fire here for anybody who may not have access to local media, and also asked that anybody who hears anything new let me know; so, I can keep the information here up to date.
UPDATE: Arrests made Huntingburg police announced they made a pair of arrests in the Southridge arson case. They arrested a 16-year-old boy Tuesday and a 15-year-old girl Wednesday--both of them Southridge students. Police now believe there was nobody else involved. The pair is being held at the Southwest Juvenile Center in Knox County and were charged with felony counts of arson, burglary, criminal mischief and trespassing.
Bands 411 shows signs of life
Bands411.com, an important keeper of the Den Hollinden music news archive as well as being listmaster for the Den Hollinden music newsletter is finally showing some signs of life after being down since shortly after "Do You Take This Woman" was released to the Internet. The Web site recently began displaying the notice: Bands411 is temporarily offline while we make improvements to our service. Please stay tuned for more information.
The service was sorely missed over the holidays, as I was able to send out only a very limited distribution holiday (Christmas and New Year) message. I apologize to all who were affected by the brownout. I had almost given up hope that Bands411 would ever return. Now it's looking more and more like the service will be back before too much longer. It's not the kind of thing that's important enough to pray about, but I would appreciate it if you'd keep your fingers crossed.
I just wanted to update you here and pretty much bring this whole ugly Bands 411 chapter to an end. A few months ago, I finally got tired of waiting for something to happen at Bands and went out to find a replacement. (If I was tired, I'm sure you guys had gotten tired of waiting way before that.) Who I found was Nimbit who provide all the old provider did and much more. they are a for pay service, but I believe it's worth it to get the job done the way it needs to be. I've gotten all the old list imported into the new system, and I'm currently working on editing your names. Bands 411 used one field for first and last name combined, while the new system has separate first and last name fields. Once I'm finished, we'll have the newsletter capability back, and you'll hear from me about as often as you did before all the problems started. By the way, if you haven't signed up for the email newsletter yet, please be sure to do that soon. You can join by typing your email address into the little form at the top of each page of the site here. Thanks for being patient!
Den on MySpace
If you have a MySpace account, have been meaning to sign up for one, or are just curious about what a new Den Hollinden site might look like, I have some important news for you. You can now find my music on MySpace. Feel free to take a look, listen to the music, add it to your MySpace profile, add the site to your Favorites, or add me to your Friends. Just click on one of the colorful Dens to begin!
Bricks at "Old 124"!
I've been meaning to update this section, and it looks like today is the day! A while ago, I mentioned Top Dog City had placed a minimum on the number of bricks we need each month to stay in business. While I'm thankful for each and every brick you do, that minimum no longer applies. The people who maintain the buildings got so many complaints about their new policy that they were forced to reverse it. We're now back to the old system where it's okay to be small.
All that said, I wanted to let you know about a recent cool happening you may not be aware of. To tell the truth, I didn't realize it myself until nephew Matt emailed me with the news. Our "Old 124" building has recently added on a second story; so, if you've visited the building recently and couldn't find the brick you added or saw the few new story bricks and wondered what happened to the rest of them, that's what happened. If all this sounds like fun, and you'd like to participate, here is how to add your brick:
It's no hill for a high stepper like you. The comment I hear most from people doing one for the first time is that they're surprised at how quick and easy it really is. It's also free. You can add a brick here:
http://www.topdogcity.com/denhollinden_request.htm
and see the new ones you've added here:
http://www.topdogcity.com/denhollinden2.htm
You can add one brick per email address, and it would also help if you could tell your friends about this; so, they can do them also. I've included the actual URLs for creating and viewing bricks here to make it easy to copy this article and paste it into an email.
Don't go to Aruba
With the weather getting a little cooler in a lot of places, you might be tempted to hop on a plane and visit somewhere warmer. Bob Riley, the governor of Alabama, is asking us not to make that warmer place Aruba. He sees not going there as the only way we can put some pressure on the government there to work harder on making some progress in figuring out what happened to Natalee Holloway.
New song: "Do You Take This Woman"
I have a new song out on the SoundClick site. I wanted to let those of you who didn't know know and also publish a link to it for those of you who did hear about it and are having trouble finding it. ...so, whether you came here to listen, just surfed in or are otherwise just curious, click on the pretty bride to go to the song!
DenHollinden.com makes Dutch list of top sites
Web site CountryandWestern2 in the Netherlands has chosen DenHollinden.com as one of their "Top 100" country and western -related sites on the Web.
On behalf of DenHollinden.com, I'd like to offer our new Dutch friends a warm and heart-felt Dank u well!
Den Hollinden music in Australia
I'd like to personally welcome radio station 88.9 WYNFM, Melbourne, Australia to the list of the world's stations playing my music. The station added my tribute to our veterans, "Old 124," to their playlist today. Thanks also to their DJ, Tony Slingsby for spinning it and last but not least, my brother Indiana National Guardsman Leo Hollinden and American Legion Post 124 in Ferdinand, Indiana for helping inspire it.
Since that initial report, the same station has also been spinning "The Basketball Song." Thank you Australia--both for supporting our efforts against terror in the Middle East and for helping to tell the world about my music!
Bob Zangas
I got some very bad news tonight, and no, it's not hot off the press. I found out that Bob Zangas, one of the finest Marine Corps officers I've ever known and a member of my Marine Corps Reserve unit during my stay in Southwest Asia during Desert Storm was one of the first members of the U.S. Occupation Authority to be killed in Iraq. This happened about a year ago, but I'm just finding out about it, and it just made the war in Iraq light years more personal for me. God bless Bob's wife Brenda, their three kids and everybody fighting for freedom. Here are a couple three good links:
Last but not least, I'd like to thank Carolyn tonight for being so nice to me. I tried to call Bob's wife Brenda at an old number to give her my condolences, but the number had since changed. Carolyn was very good about the imposition. Thanks again.
January/February birthdays
I need to know about any birthdays you may know about; so, I can post them here on DenHollinden.com. As you've probably learned by now, I won't reveal any birth-years (even if you do tell me) but all I really need is the date. As always, you can tell me right here in the Web page via the Contact feature.
|
|
Stuff happens |
|
Happy birthday to me!
It's not really my birthday. In fact, rumors of my birthday have been greatly exaggerated. It's actually way too cold outside to even think about celebrating my birthday. I'm a June baby, accustomed to a nice hot day with loads of sunshine. Well, okay, I guess you get the idea. Why then have I been getting so many birthday greetings on my MySpace page lately? Again, I don't want to sound ungrateful. I love my fans, and I sincerely appreciate anybody who takes time out of her own busy existence to connect for a moment with mine. Still, it doesn't seem fair for me to accept such greetings under false pretenses; so, I thought I'd at least publish a polite rebuttal here. Actually, what I plan on doing is simply saving all of them until June 5th when they'll be not only just as welcome but timely as well. Okay, here's what actually happened:
The thing that kicks off a birthday false alarm on a MySpace page is that band pages don't have a birthday field. If you think about it, that makes sense, because bands normally have more than one person in them; so, a birthday really doesn't mean anything unless the group is a pair of twins. There is a bug in the MySpace programming that nevertheless reports the field as the bands "birthday." For most of us with a music page, that's going to default to January 1st, the first date of the year. For me, that date is actually closer to January 13th, my MySpace page's birthday, since I created it on that date two years ago. My page is now in its terrible twos. Again, thanks for all the greetings. You guys are the best!
How high can the Myanmar Junta count?
After 9/11, Alan Jackson wrote "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)", a song that helped heal our wounds after that tragedy and was immediately taken to task in the liberal press over the line:
I watch CNN but I'm not sure I can tell you the difference in Iraq and Iran
I am sure Alan didn't lose too much sleep over that; so, I'm guessing I shouldn't worry too much about my own ignorance after having read stories the past few weeks about protests in Myanmar and then catching a bit of a President Bush speech in which he mentioned the plight of pro-democracy protestors in Burma. My unenlightened reaction was, "Oh, there are protests going on there too?" I didn't realize my mistake until I read a newspaper letter to the editor in which the writer was chastising the press for referring to the country by the name Myanmar used by the ruling junta rather than by its traditional name Burma. In this case, however, I'll use Myanmar, because I am talking specifically about the bloodthirsty SOBs running the country and NOT about the good Burmese.
There was a long period during the peaceful origins of the protest (originally over the junta's raising of fuel prices) when the world was just watching and waiting. The junta has a history of violently cracking down on protests; so, there was a feeling in the air that it was just a matter of time before the current situation turned similarly ugly. The basic protest by the Burmese grew both more instense and more peaceful as Budhist monks took up the front lines. What was feared finally happened as the junta's military might was unleashed on the protestors. They were beaten, arrested, carried away in the night, and the soldiers opened fire with automatic weapons fired into the crowds. The news reports that day--originated by the junta--said that a total of nine people had been killed.
Well, okay. I may not have realized that Myanmar and Burma both refer to the same place, but I was a US Marine once upon a time, and I do know that even an army of soldiers who aren't a very good shot who fire automatic weapons into a large crowd of people end up killing more than nine people. More than three times that number were killed in Blacksburg by a single shooter using handguns alone. To make matters worse, I was hearing the same number for the count of dead on the second day of violence. It reminded me of pre-schoolers who use the same numbers to answer the "How many?" question over and over, because that's the highest number they've learned so far. Things look particularly suspicious when the very next number after one-digit 9 has two digits. Anyway, it's a bad situation, and I feel extremely bad for the Burmese people. How many times do you have to kill nine people before we can label it genocide and go do something about it?
Have you forgotten...your drawers?
A few years ago, when Darryl Worley recorded his patriotic single, "Have You Forgotten", I became an instant fan. My buddy Alfredo's wife Cim mentioned to me that the video for the song was available online; so, I rushed off to the Web to find it. I reasoned Darryl's Web site was a reasonable place to start looking; so, I added a .com to his name, and waited for something appropriate to load. Much to my surprise, what loaded was highly inappropriate. It was a porn site. I couldn't believe my eyes! Well, okay, a bit more research told me Darryl and I didn't quite agree on the proper spelling of his name, and once I'd corrected that, I finally got to where I had originally intended to go. At the time, I was wondering what Darryl thought of what must have been the surprise destination of countless others of his fans. After all, I do a lot of writing, and I figure my spelling is at least as good as the next guy's. Judging by the type of music Darryl does, I couldn't help but imagine him blushing to think he might be helping send at least some folks to a whole browser full of naked people.
Well, guess what. It looks like Darryl Worley might not be quite the blushing country boy we thought he was. At very least, if he is blushing--even just a little bit, some little where--those of you who read Playgirl magazine are going to know about it, because Darryl's going to be inside the July 2007 issue. I still find it a little hard to believe, but I guess Darryl is old enough to know what he's doing. I just can't help thinking about how Keith Urban kinda wished he hadn't posed for that same magazine after the fact. Personally, I think I'll keep my pants on. It's not that I'm too much of a prude. I do have a lot of young fans who might not understand what posing nude has to do with my music. Come to think of it, a lot of my older fans would probably wonder the same thing, and I don't think I could come up with a good answer.
In the meantime, I'd just like to send out a personal message to my buddy Alfredo: Al, start checking the grocery bags when Cim comes home from Randalls starting somewhere around the end of June. She just might have somethin' extra in there besides the Baileys.
41¢ to mail a letter
On May 14th, the new postal rate for mailing a domestic letter goes up to 41 cents. I suppose I really shouldn't complain, because I'd been wondering since shortly after Christmas when things were going to change again. It just didn't seem possible for me to be able to use the same denomination stamps for both my Christmas cards and my valentines. Yes, it's only a couple cents each time, but it does make you wonder where it's all headed. I was discussing this earlier with a friend of mine, and he commented (with a fair amount of disgust),
"Why don't they just raise it to a dollar and be done with it?" You know they'd like to.
Verizon wastes daylight
By now, most if not all of you who care what time it is are familiar with the recent change in the start and end dates for daylight savings time (DST.) The federal government scheduled the change back in August of 2005 in an effort to save some energy. Back when the change was announced, there were some light-hearted doom and gloom predictions of possible problems with computerized things that relied to some extent on the current time. Although the change presented the prospect of some real problems for equipment that had taken the old start and end dates as written in stone, the possible ill-effects were still far enough away that most people weren't overly concerned. The fears that did exist were mostly fueled by the idea that this new situation was uneasily similar to the not so long past Y2K problem.
That was then. Soon the new, sooner start date was days away, and those who cared had to decide what if anything they would do to prepare. Pretty much everybody has a computerized something or other somewhere in the house, if not an actual computer. These days, it's hard even to record a traditional country song without a computer or two or three. The first step for most folks was to look for advice on what to do and what might happen if they didn't.
I found mostly good news. Microsoft had fixed the problem in most of their operating systems with a service pack back in November of 2006, but you had to have downloaded and installed it in order for it to do its job. If you weren't up to date or were running an outdated operating sytem, you were pretty much stuck--as in you'd have to manually move your computer's clock up an hour on March 11th and then probably back down an hour later when the old start of DST moved your computer's clock to two hours ahead of standard time. Some solutions found me. Palm, for example, emailed me a link to their fix for my Treo smart cellphone. When all was said and done, I felt pretty confident that I was going to be able to weather this thing without a hiccup.
Then came the morning of the change. I had actually fallen asleep and awaken again shortly after the DST change should have occurred. As expected, the clock in my Windows XP laptop had sprung an hour ahead of the grandfather clock in the living room that I manually update once a week when I wind it. What immediately caught my attention was my Treo cellphone. It should have had the same time as the computer, but curiously agreed with the grandfather clock instead. I was concerned it had somehow lost track of Verizon network time, either because it was misconfigured or because it had lost signal. I checked and found both an intact setting to read time from the network as well as plenty of bars of signal. Perplexed, I dialed Verizon's time number: (703) 844-4444. Interestingly, it too agreed with the grandfather clock. After all my work to ensure a smooth transition to the new daylight savings time, the huge Verizon network seemed to have totally ignored the issue. They were still reporting the old time. I called the number several other times throughout the day and finally noticed it corrected at around 10:00 PM.
The Lieberman effect
Senator Joe Lieberman's recent defeat in the Democratic Party primary election by Ned Lamont in Connecticut continues the trend toward an ever more liberal Democratic Party at the expense of Party moderates. Granted this was just a state primary, and the Democrats have every right to define themselves in any way they see fit, but there are bigger things at stake here.
Our American two-party system is designed to provide a real choice between viable candidates fielded by those parties. It is supposed to be possible to "vote for the man" (or woman) regardless of the party affiliation of the candidate or the voter. But what happens when an entire party goes so far off the deep end that it is completely purged of electable candidate possibilities? When no voter with a reasonable combination of brains and conscience can vote for them?
It's puzzling to me why any political organization could allow itself to move so far in that direction--particularly when doing so is such a good example of such bad politics.
When you burn our flag
I have to admit, it hurt to see the picture in the paper this week of Pakistani protestors burning the American flag. I began to wonder what new and heinous thing we'd done to upset these people who are supposed to be some of our stanchest allies in the war against terror. When I read the article that went with the picture, I was surprised to find that there was no new incident. It was just a continuation of the protests against those Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.
Now I was even more confused and (if you'll pardon my freedom) more than a little bit pissed. Call me culturally insensitive, but I would really like to know why tens of thousands of these dumbasses riot every day and feel the need to burn my flag. I'm guessing these people know what an American flag looks like, if for no other reason than that they've probably burned them on other occasions when they did think they had a legitimate beef with my country. I suppose it's possible they didn't know what a Danish flag looks like. (A show of hands here: How many of you could pick a Danish flag out of say 4 or 5 other flags--like maybe the other Skandinavian countries?) A really good explanation might be the import restrictions a lot of these people have placed on Danish products coming into their countries. Then again, aren't all flags made in Korea?
I even read something about a week ago where a protestor was explaining that they blame America for the cartoons, because we're somehow in charge of Europe. I did notice a gradual shift in protesting agaist Denmark (where the cartoons were originally published) to Austria (current holder of the European Union's hot potato presidency to finally us. If we do control the entire non-Muslim world, I wish they'd explained that to the French and Germans before we went into Iraq.
More than that though, I'd just like the world to know that a picture of our flag burning was published in our newspapers. Americans all over this great country were pissed--mostly silently pissed--but pissed nonetheless. Tens of thousands of us didn't take to the streets. We didn't wave whatever book we consider holy over our heads while we burned embassies or someone in effigy. We took note, but we were mostly silent. All too often, we get branded as "ugly Americans." We get accused of taking over the world every time we fight to protect our rights or defend ourselves on a battlefield. Few give us credit for our restraint. The truth is, we don't want the world. The truth is, we fought a war of independence to break free of Europe.
When you burn our flag, learn from our restraint, but don't assume we have no reaction. We know our enemies as well as our friends, taking special note of those who pose as friends while acting as enemies. Most of all, don't assume we're attacking without reason some later date when it's time to even the score. When you burn our flag, remember what you have done, because we won't forget.
Legislating fact
Every time I turn around there's another story in the paper about some school board somewhere voting for or against this or that concerning the theory of evolution. The latest story takes place in Ohio. The Board of Education there voted to take out teaching that encourages students to look for evidence for and against evolution. In my view, that was a silly thing to do. Students should be encouraged to think objectively about theories and not just accept them as fact.
The basic problem is we've been made gun shy of anything that might be construed or a critic can misconstrue as supporting creationism. These critics have decided they can use the court system and school board votes like this one to strong arm the laws of science into supporting their own evil purposes.
The surprising thing to me is that so few people have raised their voices in the name of science to counter this trend. A theory is not a fact. It's just somebody's bright idea about how something might have happened. True science welcomes skepticism. That willingness to question established theories is what leads our scientists to make new discoveries and is the most important concept to pass on to students. Back when I still watched TV, there was a great show where Jimmy Stewart played a teacher. At the beginning of the show, he would always announce to his class, "I don't care if you answer my questions. What I care about is that you question my answers." Ohio, are you listening?
Muslims in need of good PR
Let's try to make some sense out of this cartoon story, since it doesn't seem to have a whole lot on its own: Somebody in Denmark drew a cartoon of Mohammed with a bomb for a turban, and some Muslims (no a LOT of Muslims) got upset about it and decided to protest. I'm guessing at least part of the Dane's message was that Muslims--at least the Islamic terrorists causing trouble all over the world--can be violent. Personally, I haven't seen the cartoons. What I have seen are all the pictures in the paper of Muslims waving their Korans over their heads while buildings burn in the background. THAT makes Islam look violent to me. THAT is also the reason I think Muslims need to fire whoever it is who's doing their PR and find a better way to get their message of non-violence across.
The deeper you dig the crazier this story gets. The reason Muslims are angry is that they have rules against creating an image of Mohammed. The reason for the rule is to fight idolatry. Now what exactly is idolatry? Dictionary.com defines it as 1. Worship of idols. 2. Blind or excessive devotion to something. ...so, Islam is trying to guard against people getting too crazy about Mohammed when they really should be focusing their attention on God. Well, guess what. Those pictures of Muslims waving the Koran while buildings burn in the background because somebody drew a cartoon of Mohammed look to me a whole lot like...exactly, blind or excessive devotion.
Now you can read the press and shake your head as well as I can, but let me share one more detail before I'm finished with this one. By the way, I wish the protestors were close to being finished with this also, but by all accounts they seem to just be getting started. Anyway, if what protestors are doing sounds crazy, wait until you hear what they're saying: Even though the cartoons first appeard in a Danish newspaper, Israel is being accused of launching the conspiracy. Why? Well, to protest the big win of Hamas in Palestine. Never mind that the elections were a week or two ago and the cartoons went to press way back in September of last year. Why should time, geography and truth be allowed to get in the way of a good story? If Muslims want to convince the world they're a good, peace-loving people, they're going to have to do a lot better than this. All we're seeing in our newspapers and TV sets now are an angry people capable of untold degrees of violence and at best, way too much time on their hands.
Cindy Sheehan completes her trip to the dark side
Things were none too good to start with. Cindy Sheehan, the biological mother of a soldier killed in Iraq, was cast as a neo-hippy, stalking our President and prompting the press to say ad nauseum that she had "galvanized" the peace movement. Her life since then has been a string of hippy-style publicity stunts in which she gets herself arrested for illegal 60's style sit-ins. Seeminly bored of a diet of just such mundane events, Ms Sheehan has begun a more intense career as a global leftist a la Hanoi Jane.
One might expect this new globe trotting leftist to work relentlessly against America's conservatives. That, however, doesn't seem to be the case. While continuing her stalking of President Bush and misdemeanour-class brushes with the law designed to ensure press coverage, the strategic move she is considering is to challenge Dianne Feinstein for her Senate seat. Feinstein is a Democrat. In the mind of Cindy Sheehan, not being liberal enough seems to be a yet bigger sin than being too conservative.
Trouble with state songs
I realize a lot of people don't quite get the concept of state songs. They figure we've got bigger fish to fry, and no matter what you think about a particular related issue, it's just not worth worrying about. I'll admit I've always had a warm place in my heart for Paul Dresser's "On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away." Apart from being a beautiful song, it's just always seemed one of those things that makes Indiana what it is. I'm guessing my Texas friends feel much the same way about the Texas State Song, "Texas, Our Texas." Then again, we've both been lucky to have songs that can stand the wear and tear of political correctness.
Virginia is one of the states that hasn't been so lucky. "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny" had been the state song since 1940 but got the axe a few years ago because it was deemed racially unacceptable--even though it was written by an Afro-American. The powers that be haven't been able to agree on a new song, and now "Shenandoah" has been designated the interim state song.
The state song I've always thought could use a little work is the Kentucky state song, "My Old Kentucky Home" by Stephen C. Foster. Yes, it is a beautiful song, but it contains the line "The people are gay." As is often the case with problematic state songs, the interpretation of certain phrases changes over time. For example, I don't think we'll ever see road signs stating proudly, "Welcome to Kentucky--the people are gay." While I was researching this article, I found out something interesting. That line that I've always thought might be a good idea to change has already been changed once. The original read: "The darkies are all gay." Now I'm thinking it might be safer just to stick to instrumentals!
Hamas win not all bad
People all over the world, with the possible exception of Palestine, seem to view the landslide victory of Hamas in Palestine as a tragedy. I agree that a majority head count of Palestine's peace lovers would have been a good thing, but sometimes the best we can hope for is that the enemies of peace will show their hands. For years I have been hearing how the Palestinians are basically good people who are made to suffer for the misguided actions of the few, militants like Hamas who carry out senseless suicide attacks against Israeli civilians. If only, the myth went, the silent majority in Palestine could speak and tell the world how they really feel. Well, guess what. Recent elections gave those very people the right to speak with their votes at the polls, and they overwhelmingly chose those Hamas murderers as their democratically elected leaders.
Now that rag tag band of terrorists forms the legitimately elected government of Palestine. They can no longer hide behind the people of Palestine and use their sub-legitimacy to cover up their terror. They must lead the people who have elected them. If they continue their terrorist attacks, and they have promised not to change their stance against Israel, they will provide the clearest example of state-sponsored terrorism the world has ever seen.
If Hamas doesn't change their ways, it'll be interesting to see how the world responds. Events like 9/11 have left the world with little tolerance for terrorism--particularly the state sponsored kind. Even wimpy France has stated recently they would consider using nuclear weapons against a country guilty of state-sponsored terrorism. It seems to me that a reasonable people would learn to behave to prove to the world they are ready to earn the right to be considered a sovereign country. At very least, it would seem that any kind of homeland would be preferable to a radioactive wasteland. Hamas, your cards are on the table, and the world is watching.
Kanye Who?
I don't quite know what to make of Kanye West posing as Jesus on the cover of Rolling Stone. Personally, I thought it was idiotic enough for him to say on national television that President Bush doesn't like black people, but fellow rapper 50 Cent did a good job of putting him in his place for saying that. Making fun of Jesus is something altogether different. If there was such a thing as Kanye toothpaste, we could stop using it in disgust, and someone somewhere along the line would get the idea that we are not amused. As it is, I've never bought a Kanye CD; so, refusing to buy another one probably isn't going to get anyone's attention. Maybe we can just deny this person what he seems to crave most--attention. Just forget him, who he is, and what he did. Forgive yes, but mostly just forget.
A Million Little Pieces
is a best-selling book by James Frey on how he overcame addiction to drugs and alcohol that was promoted on the Oprah Winfrey Show. There is an interesting controversy brewing since The Smoking Gun Web site accused the author of making up a lot of the details presented in the book as a factual memoir. The really strange thing about all this is that here we have a man trying to defend his bad reputation against accusations that he maybe wasn't quite as bad as he said he was. Just seems like such a 180-degree turn from someone trying to defend a good reputation against attacks by mud-slingers!
I've read a lot of the background information, and it's all pretty interesting. If you'd like to check it out, here are some links:
My prediction is that when it's all said and done, more will be said than done. This will all end up as yet another proof of the adage that there really is no such thing as bad publicity. A few people will feel betrayed, return the book or at very least vow never to read another book by this author. Many more will go out and buy the book just to see what all the fuss was about.
UPDATE: Oprah Winfrey seems to have awaken and realized this thing is bigger than she originally thought. Read her new response here.
Don't mess with *...well, you know
The actual phrase is a trademark of the Texas Department of Transportation, and yes, they do enforce it. By the way, they have some nice tee shirts printed with this unmentionable phrase. If you're interested, follow the link at the end of this story and check 'em out.
I want to salute that Texas grandma who foiled the perverted plans of an intruder who broke into her house by shooting him while 911 was on the phone. Let that be a lesson to those who might consider our senior citizens easy prey. They might have fire power and they're sure not afraid to use it!
* Just in case you're totally confused with the title of this item, please visit TxDOT for more information on their campaign to spruce up Texas highways.
|
| Win Stuff |
|
Win an Epiphone guitar
Here are the details. Oh, go ahead and try to win it. I know somebody who'll be happy to take it off your hands if you win it and don't want it. Yes, the original contest is over, but there are plenty new ones. Epiphone is always giving away something!
|
Go back up to the top
|
|
Copyright © 2000-2008, DenHollinden.com, DENCOUNTRY.com. All rights reserved.
|
