Faster than a speeding bullet.

US withdraws Mideast resolution at UN

By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press Writer

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- In an about face, the United States on Friday withdrew a U.N. resolution endorsing this week's agreement by Israeli and Palestinian leaders to try to reach a Mideast peace settlement by the end of 2008, apparently after Israel objected.

U.S. Deputy Ambassador Alejandro Wolff informed the Security Council that the United States was pulling the resolution from consideration less than 24 hours after U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad introduced it.

Khalilzad had said he needed to consult with the Israelis and Palestinians on the text of the resolution to ensure that it was what they wanted following the decisions by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert at the Mideast peace conference in Annapolis, Md.

Wolff said the U.S. had held intensive consultations in the past few days "and the upshot was that there were some unease with the idea" of a resolution.

Diplomats said Israel, a close U.S. ally, did not want a resolution, which would bring the Security Council into the fledgling negotiations with the Palestinians.

He's not selling any alibis.

As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes
and ask him, Do you want to... make a deal?

~Thursday morning radio lyrics.
------------------

I heard there was a debate last night, but thankfully I was talking about Christmastime, Advent, and the future...

This Don Wright cartoon on the Annapolis "Peace Conference" made me laugh. "Minutiae Accomplished", indeed. Spot on. Encore! :-)

All Along the Watchtower

Guess Who Would Be 65 Today:
Jimi Hendrix. Now there's a thought.

Gleaned from NPR's "Democracy Now" (car radio, tuned to jazz station), immediately followed by Noam Chomsky on "The Apartheid Paradigm in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict."

That context takes the curiosity out of the Jimi Hendrix factoid and makes it fusty.

Hat tip:amba on November 27, 2007 at 07:25 PM

This year, no YouTube Christmas videos from days of olde.
This year, Christmas lyrics of Days gone bye:

You put one foot in front of the other
and soon you’ll be walking cross the floor...

Put one foot in front of the other
And soon you’ll be walking out the door...

You'll never get where you’re going,
if you will never get up on your feet.

C'mon, there’s a good tail wind blowing...

a fast-walking man is hard to beat.

If you want to change your direction...
if your time of life is at hand

Well don’t be the rule,
be the exception,
a good way to start,
is to Stand.

You put..
one foot...
in front of the other...

and soon ...
you’ll... be wal-kin cross the floor...

Put one foot in front of the other

and soon you’ll be walking out the door

If I want to change the reflection,
I see in the mirror each morn'?
You mean that it's just my election,
to vote for a chance to be reborn?
-----------------------
Wow, deep :-)
And here I remembered just the attractive, snappy tempo.

Take a little time, sometimes...

I've been thinking:
Honestly, do you believe Bill Clinton would have ended up in the White House had he not chosen Hillary Rodham as his life partner?

Seems to me he had enough early political ambition...
and that All American likeabilty is something present in boyhood...
(see the JFK Boys State picture for a nice visual of both),

But knowing the personalities and partnerships I've had occasion to witness in my somewhat-getting-about 39 years, I'd say no.

Something about what he got: a partner with conservative Midwestern upbringing, no doubt Protestant ethic and sensibilities, the family unit which in someways changes all men if they become fathers (yep, even philandering ones)...

I won't speculate on where Mr. Clinton would be working today, had he not chosen the seemingly disciplined Hillary. But I do think unless he had ended up with a similarly intelligent independent woman with that kind of grounding/challenging to keep him on course careerwise, he might just be a bit rounder now not have achieved as much outside the partnership.

Those comparing that pairing to say, George and Laura Bush (say, what was her maiden name anyways, since we're gearing up for the trivia game season?) are missing something, not capable of distinguishing between marraiges/personalities/partnerships/backgrounding, etc., I think.

Not saying I'm right, but knowing that Midwest/Southern combination, plus with two seemingly matched intellects, one more fun/life of the party type and one maybe more individually driven... it just seems like there's balance, which probably let them survive times of trouble.

Then I started wondering ... would FDR have been elected without Eleanor alongside him? What kind of woman would she be set in today's times. Another complementary life partnership that seems to have worked politically, independence amidst arrangements.

Public blog...

Participation permitted, thread grows, then turns ugly with personal insults. Insults not deleted, but responses to insults are. Hmmmmm.....

Ironically, the topic: Should women expect special protections and physical scrutiny in verbal debates, or is it best to focus on the issue at hand?

Stalking? Good lord, get a grip. AND STOP SHOUTING -- it's 5am in my email!

You should figure out whether I'm allowed to participate in these threads or not.

You keep my comments up for half an afternoon, letting me grow participate and grow the thread.

Then you get all censorious again, presumably because you don't like how your commenters take the discussion off track with the personal insults.

No, this is not stalking. This is participating in a thread with your explicit permission in letting the discussion grow all afternoon, then deleting ME when your commenters start flinging personal insults.

Tell you what: take down all the insulting references that the fabulous boys like Pallladian created and directed at me.

Otherwise, damn right I have a right to respond in defending myself here. If you're going to non-monitor and allow their slurs in, why should they get special protections in who can log in and respond to their insults? Sorry, I won't tolerate that, on any public blog.

Especially in a straightforward post like this, I'm amazed that you don't see that.

I only responded with harsh words to those who addressed me in that manner first. Clean up your whole stable before you go making accusations by those who would defend themselves verbally.

Now shape it up! And stop encouraging them by pulling my responses, please.

If you've got comments up about me, I'll be back here to respond to those insults as this thread continues. I've also got copies and am alerted to negative comments about myself via email. Handy service.

------------------
you are well aware that I delete all your comments, no matter what you write and I've been doing this for a long time.

Bull.

You allowed me to participate in the issue at hand on the thread for half a Sunday afternoon. Discussion proceeded nicely, you left subsequent comments, and did not delete mine when you were on thread.

Only later in the day, when others started the namecalling and personal insinuations, and I responded back in kind, were my comments deleted.

Again you let me participate in responding, and your important issue once again got off track, as is typical with all of your posts because of certain commenters, not me.

I think the threesome comment with the Barber brothers brought any worthy discussion to a screeching halt, and then it was trading insult-for-insult after that...

Look, if you don't want people to respond to words and images directed to them by name, maybe you need to either teach people in here some manners (not me; I don't start these things, merely respond when my name is brought up), or better yet, invest in a selective screening program whereby you can make up your mind whether people are allowed into discussions that grow your thread, or whether they are not.

There's technology where you can do this by IP address. I thought, looking at the box below, you had already invested in this. If so, why didn't you just ban my IP address in the first place, and not let me in to grow the thread, then kick me out when the Uglies started getting personal.

How many comments are directed toward me? You don't think your Sybill attitude toward selective deletions contributes to this?

I know this is your funny controversy way of getting the comments numbers up, and keeping people logged into your blog. Congrats, obviously it works.

Again, if you let me in for a good part of the discussion, if there are posts here addressed to me with insults up, and your blog is open for public comments, tell me again why I should remain quiet and not respond to what's going on in your comments section? 5:50 AM

-------------------------
Mary is banned. All her comments are deleted.

Really, you should be a bit more consistent with your "firmly established policy for months"

Because clearly, it wasn't in effect for the good part of today.

5:51 AM

--------------------------

Law professor: heal thyself!

This just in...

... Turns out Hillary Clinton is a woman!

So instead of discussing policies or how to get our country back on the right track, instead we'll all be spending the next year in a big ole gender discussion! American style! With all the Boomer angst and male/female dissonance that entails: hey did somebody say she's a lady presidential candy-date? Well gawrsh if that don't beat all! What kinda makeup you suppose the lady candidate uses? What'd she wear last night? This is news?

Keep it up, folks, is all I can say.

If you can't discuss issues and think that chattering on about the Clinton sex is all important, well we've been down that road already. Not that you'd remember, though.

Meanwhile, Israel continues building settlements on contested lands, and hey did you folks hear that the majority of Homeland Security grants have been awarded to Jewish-American agencies? Imagine that.

In this second year of the program's allocations, DHS awarded a total of $24 million to nonprofit organizations to bolster their security infrastructures against terrorist attack. Of the 308 recipients, 251 are Jewish organizations, awarded a total of $19.6 million. Each of the southeast Florida Jewish Federations: Broward, Miami and Palm Beach, as well as South Palm Beach, received $100,000

I don't think the American people are as stupid as those who can't get over the notion that a woman is running for president. Nevermind Margaret Thatcher, Mary Robinson for God's sake. So much for America being a sexually progressive leader -- we're still stuck on wondering about all those lady-products our presidential candidate might use? Brands, anyone?

Nevermind those policy discussions. Immigration, housing, water, costs of building empires abroad and policing everybody else's actions. We got more important things to talk over here -- we got ourselves a LADY presidential candidate -- didja hear? It's all the talk...

Next thing ya know, they'll be having girls play hockey. Sweating in their makeup and all... Can you imagine??
-------------------------

*Yeah, it's jest.

Amazing the claws coming out now on so many Boomer women jealous of Hillary's career and marriage. Oh come on now, maybe if some of you had just made better choices -- you know, spent more time on your careers and less time watching t.v.

I bet Hillary didn't watch all that much boob tube in her down time. And she had the good sense to stick it out in her marriage too. Loyalty matters in trying times.

We usually get what we choose. Not always what we bargain for, but then there's always Mitt Romney for that. And I really think some would rather have a Mitt representing them than to have a woman best them as Commander in Chief. Something about some women not being able to work well with others, whether it be secretarial staff or colleagues of merit. Something about that Queen Bee mentality some of those Boomer girls were raised with, before performance and merit counted.

Thank god for Title IX. You play the game a little now, you walk away knowing fairly where you stand. Males and females. No special treatment, no excuses. Now let's all grow up Boomer-folk, and:

Bring on the policy discussions...
It will only strenghten Sen. Obama, who hasn't much experience at all since this is still his first term outside the Illinois Senate. How could he be ready now? Best to let him lead in smaller arenas first...

Rudy Guiliani? All puff. America is not New Yawk. We're not so afraid out here, as your people there are conditioned to be. Bring on the debates. This guy will hang himself since he's all about ambition and big talk, and getting the job done is somebody else's problem. Seriously, I'd vote Richard M. Daley -- Chicago's mayor, the City that Works -- before I'd vote for that empty shell. We don't need an America's Daddy, we need brains not bluster.

I blame the Boomers. They didn't have to achieve or get the job done. They advanced, a good lot of them, merely by being one better than the next guy. Kind of like generational grading on a curve, and a generous curve it was in happy times. Excuse some of us for pointing out, America: you've got competition now. Time to grow up. Boys and girls.

What do you know...

it had to be snowing...

Faith, family, and friends...

With those last two intersecting and blurring the categorical lines.

When my father left his country by ship, he came here relying on those three to legally enter and prosper in America. As the eldest son, he said goodbye to his mother and father on the farm, perhaps knowing then he'd never see them again. It was a gamble sure, but a good one: my father is rather risk averse today, yet truly an independent man. Faith of our Fathers.

We Gather Together
We gather together to ask the Lord's blessing;
He chastens and hastens his will to make known;
The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing,
Sing praises to his name: He forgets not his own.

Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,
Ordaining, maintaining his kingdom divine;
So from the beginning the fight we were winning;
Thou, Lord, wast at our side, All glory be thine!

We all do extol thee, thou leader triumphant,
And pray that thou still our defender wilt be.
Let thy congregation escape tribulation;
Thy name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free!
Amen.

--Traditional Thanksgiving Hymn
(A translation by Theodore Baker: 1851-1934)

Do we have to get a cow?

"Because we will."

Minnesota is cracking down on the nouveau breed of "microfarmers":

Mecredy is caught up in a slow-motion state crackdown on people with small acreages who claim to be farming but aren't -- or who do so little of it that the tax break plainly wasn't meant for them. And that could be a lot of folks. The biggest Minnesota news to emerge from the most recent U.S. Census of agriculture was a sudden explosion in the number of microfarms -- usually 50 or fewer acres. With what one expert calls "non-farm farms" proliferating, county tax assessors have been striking back.

"There has been an abuse of the 'ag' class for a long period of time," said Scott County Auditor Cindy Geis.

In just five years, the numbers of Minnesota microfarms have spiked by 4,500 at a time when the number of farms in most size categories is shrinking.

The surge was especially notable in fast-growing metro-fringe counties such as Sherburne and Chisago, which saw substantial portions of land converted into microfarms.

"In this county and in others across the metro, we're seeing some pretty substantial executive homes worth half a million dollars to well over a million that are sitting on 10 acres, with two of them tilled, and a horse in a pen -- and they're going, 'Now we're a farmer,'" Geis said.

"When they get the letter, they call us and say, 'Do we have to get a cow? Because we will.' It's amazing."

Technically, the new clampdown has arisen because some counties haven't been strictly enforcing the state law that says you need to have 10 contiguous acres farmed to get the tax break -- and must deduct the farmstead from the total.

While few disagree that some abuse is taking place, many microfarmers are outraged on two grounds:

• In an era of farmers markets and chef-driven restaurants priding themselves on small, local and often organic providers, they say, a person can do meaningful farming on small plots of land.

For instance, a handful of acres supports entire immigrant families and others with supplemental income.

• Even where the "ag" claim is dicier, they say, it's unfair for the government to pull a sudden switcheroo.

"When we moved out here, our Realtor told us we needed to have 10 acres to be 'ag,'" said Russ Balamut of Zimmerman, who admits his farming claim isn't as strong as some. "All of a sudden it's 'Poof!' They're pulling the rug out. They are devaluing my property."
...
The problem in designing a law, she's quick to agree, is that it's not always clear what is ag and what isn't. Few hobby farmers make a living from it, but few "real" farmers rely on it entirely, either.

Of the state's nearly 81,000 properties whose owners consider them farms, the most recent federal farm census found that owners of 51,000 say that farming is their primary occupation and that just 11,000 earn all their income from farming.

For more than half -- 42,342 -- the farm accounts for less than a quarter of their income.

Saturday night save.

We went to the Wisconsin-North Dakota hockey game Saturday night. The Sioux won 3-1, and it was a sloppy game overall. Still early in the season, and the Badgers had won 4-o the night before. Tired legs, lots of penalties, not much in terms of passing or either team much setting something up. We sat up high, and I was hoping to see more of that -- the game unfolding with the entire sheet before you. That will come.

The play of the game -- he got almost a minute or two of ovation -- was goalie Connelly's second-period save, sweeping the puck from the goal line with no inches to spare. From behind his back, and putting his whole body into it, including an acrobatic landing. Amazing.

Mal was a goalie: says that play in the net was the best he's seen. If you can find a replay, treat your eyes to a thing of beauty.

Dan Wetzel on Charlie Weis.

"Let me just say people better enjoy (beating us) now, have their fun now," he cryptically warns.

Before that one gets written off as more Big Charlie braggadocio, understand two things about the maturation of Charlie Weis, college football coach.

First, by now, he must realize the college game is about, as the old adage goes, "the Jimmys and Joes, not the X's and O's."

Second, he's in the process of rounding up a stunning array of Jimmys and Joes who absolutely defy the current state of his program.

Somehow in perhaps Notre Dame's worst season, the Irish have the nation's No. 1 recruiting class.
...
For the casual observer, four- and five-star recruits are how great teams are built. Not all of them pan out, of course, and lower-rated players often develop, but generally, the more higher-rated players you get, the better your chances and depth.

The Irish have 17 such prospects committed thus far. In comparison, Florida's top-rated class last year featured 20 four- and five-star recruits.

Of course, Florida was coming off a national championship. Notre Dame could still wind up 1-11. That's why this is so stunning.

Back in 2004 and 2005, the last year of Tyrone Willingham and the first class of Weis, Notre Dame signed just two such prime recruits each year. Those are the program's seniors and juniors, which doesn't excuse the 1-8 record, but is worth noting.

It's a long way until national signing day in February, and until then, these commitments aren't binding. But it says something when four-star defensive end Ethan Johnson of Portland, Ore. reasserts his commitment to ND, a team having its worst season, over in-state program Oregon, which is having arguably its best.

Weis has lined up No. 1 players from six states, including Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana and Minnesota, which means he is taking it right to the Big Ten.

Lots of rival fans hate the way Weis talks, the way he carries himself, the way he runs his program. But 18-year-old football stars apparently eat it up. Weis' last two classes were ranked in the top 10 nationally.

So maybe his latest bravado isn't as ridiculous as his original pomposity. Back then he was fresh off the staff of Bill Belichick, who likes to mock college offenses as little more than off-tackle runs and fly patterns. At some level, Belichick's correct.

In the NFL, where the talent is relatively even, innovation is imperative. Thus the game is far more complex. That's probably why Weis figured this would be easy. He thought he knew more football than these college guys.

But in college, talent wins out. Oklahoma won for decades running the exact same wishbone offense – not because it confused anyone, but mostly because its linemen were bigger and tailbacks faster.

Weis has yet to show he is a better coach than his peers. But now, perhaps, his true talent is coming through. Not in schemes or sideline decisions, but in recruiting.

Which is why, in the midst of some of the darkest days in Notre Dame history, just when you'd most like to roll your eyes and laugh at "One Win Charlie" warning everyone that revenge is coming, you have to wonder if he might actually know what he's talking about this time.

Doesn't having better players count as a schematic advantage?

Rise up this morning...

Smile at the rising sun...



Three little birds...

Don't Stop...

Thinkin' About Tomorrow...

It'll soon be here
better than before...

Yesterday's gone.
Yesterday's gone.

Lookover your shoulder;
see that it's true:
I never meant any harm to you.

All I want is to see you smile
If it takes just a little while.

Nevermind the bile.
Keep pluggin on in your same old style...

We been working so hard...

We've been working so hard...

Cmon baby, cmon baby, Let's Dance!

Like the rolling thunder chases the wind...

I can feel it.

BAGHDAD - Five American soldiers were killed in two separate roadside bomb attacks, the U.S. military said Tuesday, after Iraqi soldiers discovered 22 bodies in a mass grave northwest of the capital.

The soldiers died Monday, said Rear Adm. Gregory Smith, director of the Multi-National Force-Iraq's communications division.

"We lost five soldiers yesterday in two unfortunate incidents, both involving IEDs," Smith told reporters in Baghdad's heavily-guarded Green Zone.

--------------------------
Taking care of their informers.

JERUSALEM - Israeli police posed as a TV news crew to trap a one-time Palestinian informer, provoking an outcry from critics who said the sting threatened to put the lives of newspeople at risk.

Police said the target of the operation was Nadim Injaz, a Palestinian man who had been wanted for making unspecified threats.

Last year, Injaz burst into the British Embassy in Tel Aviv, claimed to have a gun, demanded political asylum and threatened suicide. Although the weapon turned out to be plastic, Injaz was convicted on charges related to the embassy storming and spent several months in prison before being released a few weeks ago.

Since his release, Injaz has made "a number of threats," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said, without elaborating.

Repeat.
Micky Rosenfeld.
Heh.

At the time of the embassy storming, police acknowledged that Injaz was once an informer. Israeli media said Injaz was upset that Israel did not do more to protect and support him. Injaz, who is originally from the West Bank, was living in Israel at the time of his arrest.
...
Channel 2 executive director Avi Weiss sent a letter of protest to Police Commissioner David Cohen, the Haaretz newspaper reported on its Web site.

"Impersonation is liable to create the mistaken impression that the news organization is involved in some way in an investigation or other police operations, and thereby compromise its status as an objective and independent news outlet," Haaretz cited Weiss as writing.

The flow of information could also be hindered if sources are afraid to relay information to newspeople for fear of arrest, Weiss added in the letter. Weiss was not immediately available for comment.

Gadi Sukenik, a former Channel 2 anchor, said reporters' lives could be endangered if sources were to doubt a reporter's integrity as a result of the police impersonation.

"Whoever decided (on this operation) was a fool," Sukenik told Israel Radio. Such a tactic, he added, "should absolutely be beyond the pale."

Police said they contacted Channel 2, and the reporter they impersonated, to tell them about the operation — after the fact. "Police told them they posed as a reporter to apprehend the suspect and that it was crucial to do so for the case," Rosenfeld said.

The Foreign Press Association, which represents Israel-based staff of overseas media, condemned the subterfuge, saying it endangered reporters' freedom to carry out their duties and their personal security.

"Journalists depend on being judged as objective observers, and any move that threatens this crucial status, directly challenges our safety and ability to work," it said in a statement. "We urge the Israeli Police not to repeat this regrettable incident."

Again.

Returning home from work, again the flags ring the funeral home down the street. Would it be that every day we remember the country is at war, and the prices being paid by somebody else's kin:

Sometime this afternoon between 3:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. Sgt. Joshua Brennan will return to the Madison area with a heroes welcome. Sgt. Brennan was recently killed in action while serving in Afghanistan. Josh's Dad Mike is a Madison police officer, and Josh's dream was to become a Madison police officer after completing his tour of duty. Josh's obituary can be found in this morning's Wisconsin State Journal. The family would like the public to see how a hero is honored. The Madison police honor guard, and a contigent of other officers will help escort Sgt. Brennan's body from Chicago to the Gunderson Funeral Home

He died fighting:

A highly decorated soldier, Brennan did not die immediately in the ambush. He was shot in the chest, but was still alive when Taliban fighters tried to drag him away, Brennan said. A medic who stood up to throw hand grenades at the Taliban and prevent them from taking Brennan was also killed.
...
Josh Brennan expected to finish his military service Sept. 23, his father said, but his term was extended another year under the government 's stop-loss policy to retain troops.

Brennan was at first upset at the continuation of his duties, his father said. He offered to write letters on behalf of his son to politicians to battle the order and contacted Sen. Herb Kohl 's office. But Josh Brennan told his father he 'd rather fight another year than watch from abroad while his friends and fellow soldiers faced injury and death.

Meanwhile, back in Israel:

RIMONIM PRISON, Israel (Reuters) - Twelve years to the day he assassinated Yitzhak Rabin, the late Israeli prime minister's killer held a ritual circumcision for his new son on Sunday as supporters and protesters scuffled outside his prison.

Yigal Amir, who shot Rabin at a peace rally in Tel Aviv on November 4, 1995, became a father last Sunday.
...
Several dozen protesters scuffled with right-wing supporters of Amir outside Rimonim Prison in central Israel before his wife, Larissa, arrived with the couple's baby and relatives. Amir's younger brother waved the victory sign.

Amir has said he shot Rabin to stop him from handing parts of the biblical "Land of Israel," to the Palestinians in peace negotiations.

Tens of thousands of Israelis attended an annual memorial for Rabin on Saturday in the square where he was killed. His daughter, Dalia Rabin, said the court's decision to allow the circumcision to go ahead behind prison walls was "disgusting."

Amir, a polarizing symbol for hard-line nationalist supporters and for liberals who revile him, was allowed to marry three years ago and permitted conjugal visits after winning a series of court battles. His wife is a Russian immigrant who has four children from a previous marriage.

Talk about being tough on crime. Conjugal visits for an assassin?? And almost a quarter of extremist Israelis think this man should get out in 20 years? The "G-d gave it to us" argument?

Until America mans up and addresses the Israeli-Palestinian problem, I think little will come of our efforts to invade Iraq and perhaps bomb Iran to make the world safe for Israel. Why should she be allowed nuclear weapons, yet her enemies not? Smells like an artificial imbalance to me...

God Bless those serving, and those killed in action. God help those who won't help themselves by taking the efforts necessary to put down their extremists and compromise sooner rather than later. Security comes from within, and one day, there won't be enough men like Sgt. Brennan to do the dirty work for others.

Rabin understood that. Peres does too. These younger generations? Not so much... They're still drunk on military might, thinking technology overcomes all. That you can kill your way to victory. Only when the Israelis and Palestinians are exhausted of all the needless bloodshed will any compromising be done. I think the Pali's are there; the Israelis? Not so much...

Don't mind the stares...

we've paid for these chairs.
~Pere Ubu again.

What can I say? I like the rhymes.

It was a beautiful weekend, peak of the colors for the mature maples and oaks. A little laundry, a little zoo, inside and out, much to do. Reminds me of this book, ostensibly a children's picture book, but with an adult bite.

Well, have a happy Monday yourself, reader.

Welcome to Mars! It's open all hours...

Ice Cream Truck.
Here it comes. Here it comes.
Here it comes again.
Here it comes, the ice cream truck.
People flyin out the doors, runnin up the street.
They really love their music.
Man, it's just my luck.
Baby! Baby! Baby! Come here quick.
The melody's about to make me sick.
Baby! Baby! Baby! Shut that door.
I don't think I can stand anymore.

There's too much music in the land.
You hear it everywhere.
Everybody's in a band - can't get enough of it.
Brother Jimmy,
Cousin Ray,
Mom and Dad on bass and drums -
someone here's just gotta quit.
Baby! Baby! Baby! Come here quick.
The melody's about to make me sick.
Baby! Baby! Baby! Shut that door.
I don't think I can stand anymore.

It's not the sugar.
It's not the sticky sludge.
People wanna eat that stuff I don't hold a grudge.
It's that music - there's too much of it.
I wish someone had the guts to quit.

Writers: Cutler-Jones-Krauss-Maimone-Ravenstine-Thomas.
Lyrics by David Thomas.

Oh c'mon. No points for creativity?

Sounds like somebody's son lost in the Halloween costume contest:

But that was only the half of it. There were kids I saw in costume this Halloween, and what I saw was even scarier than the empty streets.

I'm talking about the girls dressed like whores, literally, and the boys dressed like gynecologists (I kid you not), about parents who think it is either funny or clever to help their kids dress "up" as pot doctors and even "orgasm donors." (I promised to protect my sources on this one, but believe me; I couldn't make this up.) Sex sickos aren't funny, and sadly, they aren't pretend either. If it's OK to dress up as one, does that mean it's OK to grow up to be one? If you can dress like a pot doc, does that mean you can go to one?

I don't always know what my kids are wearing before they leave the house, but I try. I certainly don't make costumes for them that I'd be embarrassed to read about in my local paper. In one classroom of 14-year-olds that I heard about, it was one of the mothers who took credit for making the lab coats for the sex fiends and the pot doc. Dr. Frankenstein would have been fine. An "orgasm donor" is not fine.

I've been teaching a religion class CCD for an hour, one night a week. My thinking was, if the kids have to be there -- pretty much parental designation at that age, no? -- why not volunteer to teach them something? If not me, who? So each week, I see about 9 or 10 of them -- nice kids, funny. H.S. freshmen, from two local schools. They've got the eyes open to the hypocrisies and failures of the world, that's for sure. And that sometimes plays out as wicked humor, mean as heck but in the good-hearted young way, not so much in the bitter out-to-hurt- others, jealous ways of those continually grasping and gathering, yet still falling short because of emptiness, lack of contentment. You know what I mean.

The adult world has invaded their youth, why deny that? And these kids, these newfound consciousnesses, if you will, are fresher and more sensitive to the poor example lots of America is currently setting.

So let them have their fun, I say. No more costume help from the parents, and no judgements from above either. Let them have their play and pretend, their laughter at the dour and humorless world they'll inherit when we're done making the world so safe via the War on Drugs, the War on Islam, the War on Sex, or whatever current crusade.

Stories like these make me wonder about trade-offs. You know what? Kids still do trick-o-treat like those days of olde. I'm not naming places but check out the exoburbs and rural small towns in America's upper heartland. They still have autumn bonfires too. I know a kid, second-grader, went as Davy Crockett this year. How All-American is that? Course, he lives in a place where it's still ok to bring a toy gun replica to school. Guns still have a peaceful purpose. And the kids do still travel outside in packs; it seems the places where the adults have crammed themselves in tightly are the places where there's so much predator worry. Isn't that interesting -- huddling for security... or not?

Generally, we get what we choose -- even though it's not always what we bargain for. And probably we need to lighten up a bit, knowing that just because you don't see it, doesn't mean it's not out there.

Leave the kids out of it, I say -- their time for choosing will come soon enough. In our class, we're still talking about carrying over what we learn on Sunday to what makes the world go round Monday through Friday. Not just ideals, but practices. They'll be ready, and I suspect they'll be laughing with us and at us all along the way.

Because in a complex world of sperm donors -- where some kids grow up to learn of half-siblings sharing their DNA but not their families-- you're going to have some bright light say he'd rather just be an "orgasm donor". Good luck, pal! And if you've got a land with pharmaceutical companies advertising pills for every patient complaint under the sun, well then you've got to admit the future pot docs; it's only natural.

Halloween is about playing with the complexities, laughing at the absurdities to understand what daily life has become. And some are blessed with the simplicity of just figuring out how much to freeze, what to do with the rest of the leftovers, and how you clean a coon-skin cap. Come join us.

Oh deer.

By Doug Smith, Star Tribune

The antlers of the two trophy bucks -- a big 10-pointer and a bigger 14-pointer -- were locked in a death grip after a battle that already had claimed the life of the smaller whitetail. When bucks battle for dominance -- and breeding rights for does each fall -- the fights can be deadly.

When conservation officer Greg Oldakowski arrived in the woods north of Wadena on Sunday, the live deer was dragging his dead sparring partner out of a small wetland.

The smaller deer likely weighed about 180 pounds and appeared to have been dead a couple of days, Oldakowski said Tuesday. The 14-pointer probably weighed more than 200 pounds, and was still very much alive despite its ordeal.

"He was all full of fire yet," Oldakowski said. "There was no way I was going to get close to him. He was thrashing and throwing that 10-pointer around like a rag doll."

So Oldakowski, 38, an expert marksman, pulled out his .40 caliber pistol.

Not to put the big buck out of its misery -- to try to free it by shooting the tines off the dead deer.

The landowner who discovered the pair and called Oldakowski asked him not to hit the live deer's antlers. After all, the regular deer season opens Saturday.

"I said I'll see what I can do," Oldakowski said.

From about 15 feet, he waited for the deer to stop thrashing, then fired, blasting one tine off the dead deer.

The live buck's response?

"He went kind of crazy," Oldakowski said. "The rack got a little bit loose then; before it was so tight it wouldn't even rattle."

So he aimed for another tine, shot twice, and missed. He prepared to shoot again.

"I was just squeezing the trigger when he moved and I just about shot him," he said. "He thrashed around some more, then I got another clear shot," and fired, breaking off a second tine. "He cracked her loose and away he went."

It was one of the biggest deer he's ever seen. "He was going to die had something not been done. It was certainly worth the try. It was really nice to see him go."

Oldakowski, who has been a conservation officer for six years, was the right officer for the job. He's a member of the DNR's conservation officer pistol team, which, for the fifth consecutive year, won an annual multi-state competition earlier this fall.

"If I didn't have confidence in my handgun skills, I wouldn't have tried it," he said.