Friends of ours were hurt this week. They had opened their home to a friend of their son who was a bit troubled. I don't know all the details but the boy took a baseball bat to our friends, breaking bones and severly bruising them along with most of the interior of the house. Reports are that the police made their arrest. The friends came out of surgery and are recuperating. The community responded by cleaning up the house and setting things right.

Now, this is the kind of thing that just does not happen to a successful doctor and teacher in suburbia. They are good, spiritual people who were sharing a bit of lovingkindness and generosity. Cynical people would say "Yeah, look what they got for their efforts." The airy fairy would make this mean something in the big void of belief.

I say, damn, I need to pay attention.

Pay attention to those who are helping others and offer my assistance as well.
Pay attention to those who aren't communicating that they are hurting.

Mostly, pay less attention to the minutia and more to the things that make a difference.

Bush Sure Does Like Brownies

Brownies are named for former FEMA Director Michael "Brownie" Brown. They are defined by their lack of experience but breadth of tenure with Bush, his friends, favorite lobbyists and other cronies.

Our first award receipient is Julie L. Myers , the Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The bureau has 15,000 employees and a budget of $4 billion. But Brownie Myers has no experience managing a large government agency and has not worked with immigration issues. Before her coronation she was the special assistant for personnel to Mr. Bush. But she was also nominated to be Brownie Myers as one of the youngest (36) and most inexperienced (0) officials to ever head an agency. Most likely her personal connections account for the appointment. See, she is the niece of General Richard Myers, who was recently the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and she just wed Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff’s chief of staff, John F. Wood.

Never mind Congress issued a statutory requirement that appointees have at least 5 years of relevant experience in management and law enforcement. Sen. George V. Voinovich (R-Ohio) went so far as to tell Myers that her résumé indicates she is not qualified for the job.

Baylor University
Cornell Law School
Clerked for C. Arlen Beam US Court of Appeals, Eight Circuit
Associate at Mayer, Brown & Platt
Federal Prosecutor in Brooklyn - 2 years
Associate for Kenneth Star - 1.3 years
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Money Laundering and Financial Crimes at the Treasury Department.
Chief of Staff for the Criminal Division at the Department of Justice
Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement - 1 year
(170 employees - $25 mil budget)
Personnel Assistant to President

And they call me a job hopper....

Are you being served?

I was going to post a little info on a search engine I have been using called Clusty. They create clusters of search results so that everything is in neat categories. But beyond that, they seem to find bunches of results Google doesn't have. But then I wanted to make the headline for this something related to the number of pages Google indexes. Remember when they used to show that number? It was kinda like McDonald's telling us 10, then 20, then 90 Billion hamburgers served. It was something to watch and note. I did a quick search for Google and McDonalds on Google to see if I could get an up date to number.

Nada, nilda, zilch .

But I did find out that SKYPE is carrying on the tradition. As of this moment - 236,322,557 downloads.

iPoo

For the guy or gal who got an iPod for the holidays and has just about every possible accessory..... a toilet paper dispenser iPod docking station.

2 Guitars + 2 Cellos + 1 Violin = A Real Good Time

Alejandro Escovedo played the World Cafe Live in Philly this weekend. It was sold out. I saw his quintet opening for Los Lobos and have fallen for his unique blend of styles. His group has a violin, 2 cellos and 2 guitars. Check out his latest album - Room of Songs.

A Citron, A Sukkah and You

Saw a wonderful movie this weekend called Ushpizin. A modern (orthodox - nope make that hassidic) look at love and faith. It has been winning some awards and lots of great reviews. Find it in a city near you.

Truthiness is Word of the Year

I liked Bill Clinton's stint as President. I think he did a lot for our country, channeling our energies effectively. I think he worked hard for good compromise with Congress. I believe he worked hard to make us respectful in the world community. Don't get me wrong, the man had many faults and vices and was not always straight with us. But when he uttered the immortal line "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Ms Lewinsky", it was a statement that was then replayed and analyzed over and over again in the following months. His actions and statements led to his impeachment by the House. They alleged that the President had provided perjurious, false and misleading testimony to the grand jury regarding the Paula Jones case and his relationship with Monica Lewinsky and that he had obstructed justice through an effort to delay, impede, cover up and conceal the existence of evidence related to the Jones case.

Now I am not a fan of George Bush (he said restraining his fury). I struggle to understand what good he had done for our country. I see him channeling government work to cronies and corporate sponsors. And his use of energy, Big Energy actually, or its use of him, is shameful. I do not see him working on compromises with anyone but himself. And he has done more to lose respect for America than any other individual has done in our history. So I see many faults and many vices. And I believe he has not been straight with us. What I really can't stand is the pass he is being given for the following statement he made in April 2004:

"there are such things as roving wiretaps. Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires -- a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so. It's important for our fellow citizens to understand, when you think Patriot Act, constitutional guarantees are in place when it comes to doing what is necessary to protect our homeland, because we value the Constitution. "

And now we find that President Bush signed a secret order 30 times since 2002 to enable the NSA to wiretap domestic sources. Some say this is an illegal act since if he needs a domestic wiretap he can go to the courts with the authority of the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act. The court is called Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Court.

So which lie, for they both are just that, do you believe caused more harm? A President perjuring himself in a sexual harrasement case or a President acting unconstitionally (is that a word?) by not allowing due process? And if it the latter, doesn't he deserve to be brought up on impeachment charges?

Juicy
Growing up, I hated Penn State. Everyone I knew went there and everyone who didn't still rooted for them in my hometown. They also were a football powerhouse. It didn't help that I had siblings who went to Pitt when the Panthers could actually be a decent rival.

So I should not have enjoyed last night's Orange Bowl win against Florida State.

But let's take a look. Honorable, retro coaches who genuinely respect & like each other and their players (but not the ankle biting press). A comeback at the end of the first half that culminated in perhaps the greatest catch for a touchdown there has ever been. A freshman kicker who misses two field goals and doesn't get lectured or hugged but tapped on the helmet by a wise coach then kicks a clutch extra point and a game winning field goal in the third overtime period. A supposed washed up running back who ran the game of his life. An All-American linebacker defying gravity, stretched out flying through the sky, unfortunately injuring his knee but staying in the stadium instead of the locker room so he could see what was happens.

And I could go on.

So give it up for JoePA, the Nittany Lions and even the Seminoles for keeping us up way past all our bedtimes for good reason.

Where's Brian Dunkleman When You Need Him?
Was it just me or do others think Dick Clark should not have made an appearance on his Rockin' New Year's Eve Show ? I respect the man, he has done some amazing things in his lifetime, and I do not mean to denigrate those who have had a stroke. It must be horrible and it was amazing to hear the progress he has made.

But I am sad if his ego got the better of him.

I was just getting a little excited for the ball to drop, even with the Ryan Seacrist as host, when he appeared and it put a damper on the whole affair. Do we need something politically correct at that moment? Do we need to be reminded of something like that when we are about to scream our heads off and kiss the one we love (and what was up with the kissing and groping on screen by Dick and his lovely wife Kari) in enthusiastic celebration.

It would be better to remember him as he was...