Prediction ‘06: The Blogosphere

I think we’ll begin to see a stabilization of the blogosphere in ‘06. Folks who were in it for the fad will begin to fade out. Others, who have been great bloggers, will simply decide to do something else. The blogs that remain at this time next year are the ones that will last. These bloggers are in it for the long haul. With a history of going on four years, Liberty Just in Case will be one of those blogs.

Year in Review… Those We Lost

JANUARY:

Shirley Chisholm, 80. First black woman elected to Congress; first black person to seek a major party’s presidential nomination. Jan. 1.

Will Eisner, 87. Artist who revolutionized comic books (“The Spirit”), helped pioneer the graphic novel. Jan. 3.

Rosemary Kennedy, 86. Mentally handicapped sister of President Kennedy; inspiration for the Special Olympics. Jan. 7.

Walter B. Wriston, 85. Citicorp chairman; oversaw development of ATMs, growth of credit card lending. Jan. 19. (So he’s who I blame for all my portable debt.)

Johnny Carson, 79. Quick-witted “Tonight Show” host who became a national institution. Jan. 23.(Comedy ledgend� launched several comics careers including Jay Leno, and Jerry Seinfeld.)

Philip Johnson, 98. Architect who promoted the “glass box” skyscraper, then smashed the mold with daring postmodernist designs. Jan. 25.

Nick McDonald, 76. Officer who subdued Lee Harvey Oswald after Kennedy assassination. Jan. 27.

FEBRUARY:

Stephen Gregg Sr., 90. Won Medal of Honor for helping rescue seven wounded comrades in World War II. Feb. 4.

Robert Kearns, 77. Inventor of intermittent windshield wipers; won big judgments against automakers. Feb. 9. (Saving us from that irritating squeaky sound� god bless this man.)

Samuel W. Alderson, 90. Invented crash test dummies. Feb. 11.

Uli Derickson, 60. Flight attendant who helped save passengers during the 1985 TWA hijacking. Feb. 18. Cancer. (True bravery)

S. Ernest Vandiver, 86. Georgia governor; won office as segregationist but presided over peaceful desegregation. Feb. 21.

Jef Raskin, 61. Conceived Apple’s Macintosh computer. Feb. 26.

MARCH:

Hans Bethe, 98. Won Nobel for figuring out how stars generate energy. March 6.

George O’Brien Jr., 78. Won Medal of Honor for gallantry in Korea combat. March 11.

John DeLorean, 80. Automotive innovator. March 19.

Johnnie L. Cochran Jr., 67. Became legal superstar during O.J. Simpson trial; “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit.” March 29.

Fred Korematsu, 86. Challenged World War II internment of Japanese-Americans. March 30.

APRIL:

Pope John Paul II, 84. Helped topple communism in Europe and left a deeply conservative stamp on the church he led for 26 years. April 2. (The very reason I saw hope in Catholicism�he will be missed.)

Kalman Ferenczfalvi, 84. Hungarian credited with saving 2,000 Jews during Holocaust. April 8.

Archbishop Iakovos, 93. Transformed Greek Orthodox Church in the Americas, championing religious unity, human rights. April 10.

Maurice Hilleman, 85. Microbiologist; helped save millions of lives with vaccines for chickenpox and other maladies. April 11. (So he’s who I blame for all those shots in basic training)

Robert Granville, 89. FBI agent, headed team that arrested Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. April 12.

MAY:

Kenneth B. Clark, 90. Psychologist who influenced Supreme Court decision banning school segregation. May 1

Jose Lopez, 94. Awarded Medal of Honor for killing more than 100 Germans in skirmish in World War II. May 16.

Thurl Ravenscroft, 91. Voice of Tony the Tiger. May 22. (“They’re grrrrreeeat!”)

JUNE:

Kenneth Taylor, 88. Founded Christian publishing house that created The Living Bible. June 10.

Percy Arrowsmith, 105. He and wife Florence, 100, held world record for longest marriage, 80 years. June 15.

Jack Kilby, 81. Nobel laureate whose 1958 invention of the integrated circuit opened the way for microchips, the brains of computers, electronic gadgets. June 20. (You wouldn’t be reading this today without him.)

Retired Gen. Louis H. Wilson, 85. Medal of Honor winner; Marine Corps commandant. June 21.

John Walton, 58. Billionaire Wal-Mart heir; philanthropist. June 27. Plane crash.

JULY:

Luther Vandross, 54. Grammy winner with lush voice on such hits as “Here and Now,” the bittersweet “Dance With My Father.” July 1. Stroke.

James Stockdale, 81. Ross Perot’s 1992 running mate; retired vice admiral who received Medal of Honor after enduring 7 1/2 years in a North Vietnamese prison. July 5.

Frances Langford, 92. Actress-singer who captivated soldiers on USO tours during World War II. July 11.

Retired Gen. William Westmoreland, 91. Commanded American troops in Vietnam. July 18.

James Doohan, 85. As “Star Trek” chief engineer, he responded to the command “Beam me up, Scotty.” July 20. (I’m giving her all she’s got Cap’n)

Jack Stephens, 81. Arkansas financier, philanthropist; firm underwrote Wal-Mart’s IPO. July 23.

AUGUST:

Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd, 84. He sought to modernize his kingdom while balancing change against orthodox Islam. Aug. 1.

Peter Jennings, 67. Longtime ABC News anchor, part of a triumvirate that dominated network news for two decades. Aug. 7.

Ted “Double Duty” Radcliffe, 103. Negro Leagues star given nickname by Damon Runyon. Aug. 11.

Mo Mowlam, 55. British politician; helped forge Northern Ireland peace accord. Aug. 19.

Robert A. Moog, 71. His synthesizers revolutionized music in the 1960s. Aug. 21. (Without his music� many of us would not be here today. � Think about it.)

Hendrikje van Andel-Schipper, age 115 years, 2 months and 1 day. Dutchwoman listed as world’s oldest person. Aug. 30. (She had a full life)

SEPTEMBER:

Bob Denver, 70. Bumbling namesake of “Gilligan’s Island” who delighted generations of TV fans. Sept. 2.

Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, 80. In 33 years on the high court, he oversaw the high court’s conservative shift and presided over President Clinton’s impeachment trial. Sept. 3.

Jack Real, 90. Aviation pioneer who helped develop the Apache helicopter. Sept. 6. (Still the most dominant attack helicopter in the world.)

Robert Wise, 91. Won four Oscars as producer and director of “West Side Story,” “The Sound of Music.” Sept. 14.

Gordon Gould, 85. He coined the word “laser,” won legal battle to secure patent rights. Sept. 16. (“LASER”�)

Don Adams, 82. The fumbling secret agent Maxwell Smart in TV’s Bond spoof “Get Smart.” Sept. 25.

OCTOBER:

Nipsey Russell, 80. Witty actor-comedian who was a staple of TV game shows; Tin Man in “The Wiz.” Oct. 2. (My first comedy record�well I stole it from my mother, but you get the idea)

Vivian Malone Jones, 63. One of two blacks whose enrollment at the University of Alabama led to George Wallace’s infamous “stand in the schoolhouse door.” Oct. 13.

Elmer “Len” Dresslar Jr., 80. The booming voice of the Jolly Green Giant. Oct. 16.

Alexander Yakovlev, 81. He helped spearhead former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev’s political reforms. Oct. 18.

Rosa Parks, 92. Her refusal to give up her bus seat to a white man sparked the modern civil rights movement. Oct. 24. (An uncommonly brave woman�She proved that one person can make a difference.)

Richard Smalley, 62. Nobel winner who helped discover unusual molecules called buckyballs; championed nanotechnology. Oct. 28. (Pioneer for our future)

Al Lopez, 97. Hall of Fame catcher; managed pennant-winning teams in 1954 (Indians) and 1959 (White Sox). Oct. 30.

NOVEMBER:

Robert Eugene Bush, 79. Received Medal of Honor while in his teens for bravery at Okinawa. Nov. 8.

Peter F. Drucker, 95. His books stressing innovation, entrepreneurship deeply influenced world of business. Nov. 11.

Vine Deloria Jr., 72. Author, advocate of Indian rights (“Custer Died for Your Sins”). Nov. 13.

Alfred Anderson, 109. British World War I veteran; last survivor to have witnessed the spontaneous “Christmas Truce” of 1914. Nov. 21.

Dr. Thomas Royle Dawber, 92. Directed Framingham Heart Study that transformed the understanding of heart disease. Nov. 23.

DECEMBER:

Frederick Ashworth, 93. Weaponeer aboard the B-29 that dropped atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945. Dec. 3.

Richard Pryor, 65. Actor-comedian whose profanely personal insights into race relations made him one of Hollywood’s biggest stars. Dec. 10. (My first exposure to “Blue” comedy)

William Proxmire, 90: Wisconsin senator who made his mark in Congress by taking on government waste with his mocking “Golden Fleece” awards. Dec. 15.

Jack Anderson, 83: Pulitzer Prize-winning muckraking columnist who struck fear into the hearts of corrupt or secretive politicians. Dec. 17.

Please Comment

The some of the following are works in progress that are part of a series of short stories that will eventually be called the Zaphriel Chronicles.

Constructive Comments are welcome.
________________________________

Criticizing President Bush

Camp Katrina has a get short snippet about a recent debate…

At a recent debate on treatment of terrorists at the University of Cincinnati law school, the military panelists shook their heads and said the same: “A lot of what you are describing is no different than what recruits go through in basic training”-(source)

It’s a good short read with some great insight.

Stepping Up.

More good investigations into things we actually need investigated.

The Justice Department has opened an investigation into the leak of classified information about President Bush’s secret domestic spying program, Justice officials said Friday. The officials, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the probe, said the inquiry will focus on disclosures to The New York Times about warrantless surveillance conducted by the National Security Agency since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

A actual crime has actually been committed here, not by the president, and we need to find out by whom.

What a waste…

of our money.

Things like this are the very reason I want a smaller more accountable federal government. Big, bureaucratic governments do this type of thing.

Nevada tanning salon gets 9/11 loan

A Texas golf course, a Nevada tanning salon and an Illinois candy shop were among small businesses that may have improperly received U.S. subsidized loans intended for firms hurt by the September 11 attacks, an internal government watchdog has found.

The Small Business Administration’s inspector general said in a report made public on Wednesday that in 85 percent of the sample of loans it reviewed, a company’s eligibility to receive the money through the program could not be verified.

A leading Senate Republican called for further investigation, but the Small Business Administration said the program was properly implemented. – (source)

Now this IS the type of stuff that need to be investigated, a pure and simple waste of our money, contrary to both the spirit and the wording of the law.

The Holiday Bowl: OU vs The Ducks

A disappointing 7-4 season lands The Sooners in this bowl no one has heard of. After last year’s thrashing at the hands of a professional football team called the Trojans, its taken this long for OU to recover. Let’s hope we have Duck soup for our Holiday dinner.

The Stem Cell Hoax

This story has been bubbling along out there throughout the Christmas break.

Intriguing though the mystery may be, the frustration of patients who pinned their hopes on a stem cell cure must be unbearable. A 12-year-old boy suffering from spinal paralysis who offered his cells to Hwang’s team is said to have asked his father Kim Je-eon, “Will I never be able to stand up again?” Our country has 100,000 diabetic children and 130,000 spinal paralysis patients. It was they and their families who spread azaleas in front of Prof. Hwang’s laboratory when it seemed he was the victim of a slanderous campaign, pleading with him to come back and continue the work that had galvanized their hopes. The government, which poured more than W65 billion (US$65 million) into the project and touted Hwang�s research as if a cure for incurable diseases was just around the corner, owes these patients at least an explanation.

I find eerie echoes here to a former vice-presidential candidate saying that had President Bush “allowed” stem cell research on the unborn, Christopher Reeves would be alive today. Wonder if Mr. Edwards is keeping up with this story?

A Dissent From Darwinism

There’s a mini-debate raging below this post. I am a firm adherent to the theory of Intelligent Design. Evolution, the theory that has been taught to all of us since the middle of the last century, has some huge flaws. Yet it has become the dominant orthodoxy of our time.

Whenever I hear or read the phrase, “everyone knows this is true,” I tend to question whatever “this” may be. Evolution is one such “this” that deserves questioning. In the link are some of the questioners, and you won’t find a “preacher” among them.

“We are skeptical of the claims for the ability of random mutation and natural selection to account for the complexity of life. Careful examination of the evidence for Darwinian theory should be encouraged.”

When was the last time you saw this statement anywhere? I’m betting you haven’t. Have you ever wondered why? It certainly isn’t because the credentials of the men and women making the statement don’t hold up, is it?

Predictions: The GWOT

Here’s a prediction for ya.

We will see enough stability in Iraq that we will be able to draw down our troop levels. The anti-war sect will still not be happy with it however as it will not occur fast enough.

More locations of actual stockpiles of WMD’s will be discovered(yes I said MORE).
In Iraq.
In Syria.

Iran will accidentally, on purpose, make a giant leap forward in their “Civil Nuclear Power” capability. The U.N. will sanction them. We won’t intervene until 2007.

Iran will continue to attempt to undermine and destabilize Iraq’s newly elected government.

We will find or kill Osama Bin Laden with little to no effect on the over-all GWOT.

Afghanistan will stabilize and also require a drawdown, Pakistan however may implode under it’s own pressure.

The President will continue to be blamed, (with increasing ferocity(1) as the 2006 elections approach) for every small problem or perceived misstep, regardless of the progress in the GWOT.

Note: (1) This post has been changed by the writer, I mistakenly used the word veracity instead of ferocity… That will teach me to read my own work before I post it.