Night is Here.

Oh, I see so very clearly now.
Close at hand, I'm better for the smile you give,
and while I live...

I will follow you, will you follow me?
All the days and nights that we know will be.
I will stay with you; will you stay with me?
Just one single tear in each passing year there will be.

We could have a carryover option* too, if it's an especially good year...


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

ADDED: * For the unexpended tear(s).

5...4... 3 2 1! Welcome to the G-Force.

Twelve men on the defense; we take no nonsense.
Feel the power from the stands: every woman, child and man.
Tap in to the G-force, and use your outside voice!
Whether sun, rain or snow, we're gonna scream and let 'em know...

If 2011 was the year for doubling down,
2012 will be the year we up the ante.

It will be interesting to watch the not-yet-retiring Boomer generation continue to attack the Millennials as "the generation that expects a trophy just for showing up", when really? Who is it exactly that expects to "age onto" the generational social entitlements (that they didn't have a hand in winning) simply for being born to sacrificial parents, at the right time on the continuum?

We'll continue to watch the Democrats with an aging plan (entitlements for the poor, and many others, as we all become part of "one governmental family, caring for all, non-privately" ) battle those who understand why the gaps are widening between the two Americas: if you willingly invest in your own, and practice discipline above and beyond, rewards will come. If you need to be cajoled all the way, to get your work done on time, eat your vegetables, spend time with your children, and put your own first, it will be harder to compete with those who have invested resources, over generations, in their own. Honestly.

We can't erase away motivation, values, character and flexibility. Or success. If you go out and get it, you deserve more than he who stayed home, protesting that it wasn't equally handed out to him.

This coming year, more and more, we'll see the definitions begin to flesh out, and the distinctions in how we're going to get to that more equitable place. We all agree, as Americans, where we need to go -- or not.

It's identifying who has the better strategic plans, which work to get us there in reality -- not just in theory but in time-tested practice -- that matters now. And I'm talking well past just winning an election; "getting the part" / "making the team".

Enjoy the night, and the extended weekend. We've got a lot of work ahead in the coming years. Upping the ante ... remember, you heard it here first! Happy 2012.

Erik Wemple Slams Stephen Glass to the Mat.

And wouldn't we all like to, really? Reward wrongdoers, cheaters, and those who think they're smarter than the rest of us for finding an unethical ... shortcut, and you get a society where the poor little rich boys never have to grow up, it seems.

I'm merciful, don't get me wrong, and believe in contrition and forgiveness, but Stephen Glass will do fine as a well-paid paralegal, without the big-league temptations dangling in front of him where he can do more damage to the societal trust fabric* on which so much depends...

Character Counts, if we've any hope collectively of lifting society from the juvenile trashheap of our collective culture, that so many have been willing to contribute to over time, but not clean up properly themselves after the messes they make.

Nothing wrong with proving yourself an honest paralegal, afterall. And acceptance of fundamental change takes time...




-------------------
* More important to America in a long-lasting way than any government-funded "safety net", if you ask my humble opinion.

"Get me to the ceremony on time..."

Ah, here's one to warm the cockles of your heart:

"That's what volunteer firefighters do: they help people,” said (Chippewa Fire District Deputy Chief Ron) Wolf.
...
He says the unexpected road trip was well worth it.

"It's a big deal to become an American Citizen and so I did what I had to to help them," says Wolf.

An accident on the roads, no injuries but delays, and an everyday American "hero" steps in to make things right...

Imagine what those children will remember of the first day they were officially Americans.

Speaking of Freedom...

Just like something inside always lifts when a bird takes wing, an oppressed breaks free, or a "little guy" takes a step up and beyond those that would be content to hold him back...

So too we cheered here at the news Christiane Amanpour no longer has to cripple herself rubbing elbows with what passes for America's current political class.

Let George Stephanopoulous -- fresh from the morning-tv fluff -- handle that trick. Her skills were surely being wasted there.

That’s why yesterday’s news — that Amanpour is leaving “This Week” for assignments at both ABC and CNN — liberates both her and her fans. In a statement on the move, Amanpour tried to cast her experience as a panel mediator as something transcendent:

It’s been an incredible experience to have had a ringside seat to democracy in action at ‘This Week.’ It’s been an incredible honor to anchor such a prestigious program and I thank all of you who have helped me on that journey.

You can almost hear the strain required to spit out those words, not a single one of which I believe. For Amanpour, an “incredible experience” is to shuffle around in the royal palaces of dictators and feeding back the results of her reporting on camera. For Amanpour, an “incredible experience” is hovering in a Baghdad courtroom to witness the proceedings against Saddam Hussein. Here’s what she reported to a CNN anchor after that moment. Feel the energy!

AMANPOUR: Well, I’ve just raced back from the courtroom to this convention center, where we’re going to get the video distributed. So let me tell you about what we just saw. We saw first of all Saddam Hussein coming from an armored bus — explosive-proof, we were told — a tan-colored bus, very heavily armored.

He was handcuffed; he had a chain around his waist. He was flanked by two Iraqi guards, and there were other guards standing on the stairs as he was coming down from the bus into the courthouse area. He walked in; he was not shackled by the feet.

For Amanpour, an “incredible experience” is to chat on the phone with Yasser Arafat while his compound is getting bombarded, and then getting hung up on by same.

It’s said that Amanpour didn’t really want to join the Washington crowd that feeds “This Week.” It’s said that her insistence on staying in New York was a reflection of such anguish. It’s said that she couldn’t manage to boost the ratings of “This Week.”

Great, great and great. All of that means this star player may move back to her position. Like the time Michael Jordan retired from baseball.

ADDED: That's a very nice description -- MJ too "failed" with the Sox, remember? -- by the WaPo's Eric Wemple.

Happy Bill-of -Rights Day.

Shame on the President for pulling this on this day of days.
Many of us have observed, long ago, that he's a go-along-to-get-along coward. That having "his word" is not much good.*

Some are still catching on, and perhaps, in these days of ever-declining standards, they will try to tell us he's the best we've got...

Don't you believe them. Again.

Most broadly, the bill continues the work President George W. Bush started. Mr. Bush and his supporters exploited the nation’s fear and insecurity after the Sept. 11 attacks (and Democrats’ insecurity about national security) to ram through several unnecessary bills, including the Patriot Act and a dangerous expansion of the government’s ability to spy on Americans’ international communications without judicial supervision. Now, Mr. Obama and the Democrats in Congress have proven that they’re equally willing to curtail civil liberties, and, in the process, further damage America’s global reputation as a defender of human rights.

Simply put, if he can't find political backbone at this late stage, when he's simply got nothing left to lose, then he does not have the character needed to lead the nation at this point in time.

You're Fired. Next...

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

*Flipp-flopp... flop-flop-flip.
Hip to the, hip to the, hop hop hip!

We Interrupt this Previously Scheduled Sabbatical...

to bring tidings of great joy. Last week, I visited my hometown to celebrate Christmas with my family. Got to see my parents, brother and sisters, brother-in-law and nieces and nephew.
Only one missing was the other brother from NYC.

Today, I got to see him too ... and he looks great! Sharp guy --referring to his bantering with Jeanne Moos -- not to mention the personal style.

Sabbatical.

Now that we've reached the Advent season, I think it's time to pull back on the hobby blogging ... We're truly in a winter wonderland up here now, owing to the approximately 6 inches of the fluffy white stuff that's fallen this past weekend, and in the overnights.

13 degrees at 7:36 according to the bank thermometer when I was pulling out of the neighborhood this morning. G-d bless the kiddies waiting for the bus in the soft morning light; there is something indeed magical about the twinkling snow, the boys (mostly) standing atop the snow piles at the curb, the rosy cheeks and increased appetites...

Happy holidays, if you celebrate, and stay sane and sober, even if you don't. We'll catch you back here sometime in the coming year, then.

Madonna to Play at Super Bowl Half Time.

She can string together a medley of past hits, parade around in some skimpy get ups, and make us remember the 80s, before shocking slut schtick went commonplace.

It's about the game,
not the entertainment escape.

But you can't have anybody feeling left out, hence the added enhancements.

Blow on (Black) Leadership: Hazing and Following.

NYT columnist Charles Blow is still processing that band hazing death at FMU. He's thinking back to his younger days ... back when he thought in order to be a campus leader, in order to follow what all the "best and brightest" black men did... he had to haze and be hazed.

"Every body was doing it, dontchaknow!" "Never thought twice about it myself -- I was busy growing my leadership skills..." "Nigga-wha? It's NOT the evil white man beating us down... we choose to lead others by doing this to .. ourselves?"

He's on to something here. Some ephipany of true independence, some unshackling of what it means to be a man, and perhaps, to have have others voluntarily follow... The first rule is: you can't whip them all into following, Charles.

Almost every one of them belongs to one of the black greek letter orgs, and they all hazed, brutally (I include myself among those)

Gravitational pull of the best and brightest into these groups was strong. Ppl who didn't join were labeled GDIs: God Damned Individuals

I never thought twice about it. If you were a campus leader, you pledged. You wanted to, and everyone expected you to.

And here's the third rail of the blk greek letter org brutal beating convo: is it an echo of a past in which others brutalized blks

It has to be the only form of cultural brutality that I know of that is widely-known/widely-accepted in modern blk culture/social circles.

I know these groups are still hazing to this day, even though their national chapters have banned it. Everyone knows, but turns a blind eye...

Speaking as a lifelong G.D.I. (G-d Damned Independent), I'm glad to see when men -- especially black men -- like Blow finally grow up and admit that their "leadership" skills indeed, were lacking when they resorted to private violence for bonding.

Even bigger props for owning up that it's other blacks who propagate the violent cultural whippings and paddlings these days (one pledge mentions being burned) and not the working white man laying on the blows to bring such self-appointed black "leaders" down...

"The Pugilist at Rest" *

We've been keeping busy enough here. (Typos are even up; better luck next week.) "Deer Kill Off 20 Percent in County"** ... that's our headline follow up for the stats on last week's hunt. Up here, compared to the southern part of the state, numbers were down.

Blame weather, but several unsuccessful hunters have told me now -- they saw more bears than deer, and in those areas where there was bear scat, very few deer. They take care of the fawn's early, and I suppose it's like how you rarely see squirrels/especially rabbits in the backyard when you have a dog...

This week, newswise, promises to be even busier. Blame the change in weather (temps have dropped into the teens, and we've a dusting of snow on the ground now), the moon cycle (?), the "settling into hibernation but still out now" activities... but that Sheriff's dispatch log reading today was quite interesting, indeed.

A working weekend here perhaps, pushing the stories out before next week's evening meetings. So not so much at rest, I guess.

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

*Decent stories, excellent title and author background story from a few years back...

** No, not "Man Bites Dog" though I can see how initially you might read it that way...

ADDED: Here's more of my paid work. Not every story goes online though, or earns me the byline. Still, 74 in the past 6 months isn't shabby output.

Charles Bond Asks...

World AIDS Day & it's hard to find a mention on major news sites. Did we stop caring when it became more blk & brn?

No, (funny how your mind immediately went there though!)

Once the disease became treatable, and not a death sentence; once it became clear that there are simple ways to minimize one's risks, even for the target high-risk population groups, it thankfully became a less immediate overall concern. The luxury of being ... "safe" and all.

That's a good thing, right?

Btw, I wonder if Mr. Bond parades around in a pink ribbon during "their" month for breast cancer (blk & brn women-- and men -- suffer that too, no?) the same way he needs to see special mention on a very special day for a very special group of persons suffering from a very preventable and very very special disease.

Personally, I like my news stories to "hit" when they're timely and actually, you know, make news for something new to report. Designating one "very special day" to trot out your news stories seems a step back, you ask me...


To me, Dec. 1 isn't World AIDS day.
It's a relative's birthday -- and thus, indeed making it a very special day for good reason! Happy birthday, if you're later reading this! Love you much.

ADDED:

Charles M. Blow:
This is one issue where Obama has shown tremendous leadership.

Oh dear G-d: must we politicize everything?

Can We Build It? Yes We Can!

Bob the Builder's at work in Haiti, it seems.

“Haitians don’t want a gift,” Mr. Martelly said. “They want work.”

Funny. That slogan worked so well for President Obama too, but then amounted to nothing really.

I hope for Haiti, but I won't hold my breath...

The Port Au-Prince Marriott Hotel will give elite vacationers some place to hole up in -- presumably one of those all-exclusive hotels where you never have to leave the grounds to spend a dime -- like those that dot Jamaican beaches too. Where plenty of relocated Haitians try to sell their products on the beach (like fresh-squeezed juice -- not dope; you're stereotyping if you immediately went there).

Of course, it takes a bit of adventure to trust in the simple blessings of the locals. To trustfully drink the juice, leave the hotel grounds, or stay in a simpler, locally owned "native" hotel.

Something tells me, like elsewhere, the financial benefits post-building won't necessarily trickle down to the local economies, even if some lucky Haitians are hired as hotel staff, or provide goods served inside. Pretty much, that money will be channelled back to Marriott -- that's what the all-inclusive is all-about (that, and the much trumpeted "safety" factor...)

To make a difference, private businesses, too, will have to hire and empower Haitians — not just as low-wage workers but as managers, and at all levels in between.

C'mon. Clearly, the top management positions will go to someone -- probably white -- already within Mariott who wants to transfer to someplace warmer and already knows Mariott policy by the book.

Much Ado Over Nothing.

Linda Greenhouse, bless her liberal heart, tries her hardest to make the case that students who are American citizens need not prove their parents are legal residents of the state of Florida in order to receive in-state resident tuition discounts.

Problem is, Linda:
plenty of students who are American citizens are required to produce such proof, or else pay the significantly higher, non-resident rate. (At Wisconsin, there's an appeals board made up of faculty that you can plead your case to, if you are lacking such proof and want a special dispensation. I suspect other state schools with such residency requirements operate much the same way.)

If a student can't prove their parent/s -- assuming they are still dependent*, a very special caveat, key to much of it here -- hold/s legal residency in the state, no in-state tuition breaks for you.

So... is it really such unfair discrimination if the reason the student can't prove their parents are legal residents is that ... they are residents, but not here legally? I say not.

A commenter sums it up simply:

Hard Choices, Connecticut:
I don't agree with this policy; however, in order to receive in-state tuition rates, one must be able to prove that one is a resident of that particular state. Since most people applying to college are minors, their state of legal residency is based upon their parent's state of legal residency. Since these students' parents are here illegally, they cannot establish that they are legal residents of Florida. But there should be some other way for these kids to establish that they themselves are legal residents of Florida, such as having attended a Florida high school for at least the last two years, or if they are older than nineteen, having a Florida-issued drivers license or ID and proof that they themselves have resided, voted, and filed taxes in Florida for over one year. Unfortunately, Ms. Greenhouse doesn't mention this issue, which is the gist of the matter.

If we start picking winners and losers based on pity, we lose overall, just as if we start rewarding the offspring of those who make poor social choices (think of all those parents who indeed are NOT well-to-do, but who don't qualify for all the government entitlement plans, but are being asked not only to take care of their own, but also to help pick up the tab for those unable to afford that primary parental duty.

That is why the new Democrat strategy is so dangerous -- the elites want to help, but instead of doing it privately, they pick the pitied (some say, the permanent underclass) and via government programs, divvy up the costs to be split amongst all.

You can't keep rewarding the elites in this unbalanced system, taking care of the reproducing permanent poor (via likely government handouts should the system's employment/salary imbalances remain until enough Boomers are out of the market opening up what meager job options will remain), and passing the costs -- borne "equally" natch, and mandatorily too -- onto those barely getting by on what little they make on their own, often one, salary.

In short, if the policy treated all the American citizen, but non-legal-resident offspring students fairly and waive the requirements showing legal proof, that's consistent. But to single out those citizen-students who were blessed enough to have parents who decided it was not in their best interests make the whole arrangement legal for the discount without extending that ... empathy to others, that's not consistent.

Greenhouse is respinning the facts to try and prove some discrimination here, in what is simply a sad situation that impacts plenty of Florida youngsters, unfortunately.

Perhaps a private charitable organization, funded by concerned empathetic people like Greenhouse, could help the non-resident offspring (particularly the non-papered immigrant offspring) afford their non-resident tuition rates. And then they could discriminate too: picking and choosing for whatever reason which students to privately help, and which to turn reject help.

As it is, I think Florida has this one exactly right. "If you can't prove your parents are lawful residents of the state, sorry but you don't qualify for the in-state residence discount."

Perhaps those affected could do what plenty of students not qualifying for resident tuition in other states do: become independent financially. ie/ get any kind of legal/on-the-books paying job that they clearly qualify for with their documents, (in FLA especially: think CNA, boys and girls !) establish your own residence, and after time, apply -- on your own -- for the in-state resident tuition. No parental papers.

Sure, it might take longer. A little inconvenient perhaps, a little slower timeline for graduation than those who have ualifying parents who can prove residency.

Best of all, the costs are not borne by others, who might even be paying out-of-state tuition someplace else ... for their own.

And, with those learning experiences under their belts, imagine how much better students and parents, in years to come, those do-able strivers will prove to be for their own. Dare to Dream... but understand that dreams are powered by hard work and self-reliance, not pity or asking for special favors not available to other similarly situated American citizens either.



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

EXCELLENT COMMENT:

Calvert Cliffs
A good lawyer is taught never to ignore the strong parts of the opponent's argument. Greenhouse makes a strong case, and I agree with her conclusion. But it would be stronger if she could somehow explain why assigning the official place of residence of the parents to their dependent children is wrong. It's perfectly possible for an American-born citizen to reside somewhere other than Florida, and if so, their American citizenship doesn't earn them in-state tuition in Florida.

Of course that can look like sophistry when the children do in fact live within the state, but legal distinctions often look like sophistry. Greenhouse weakens her argument by ignoring that point, which is the central point upon which the policy is based. She ought to deal with it.

ADDED: Here's a take on a similar topic: George Will on race-based preferences in school admissions, and what actually happens when those unfair rules are tossed?

Does the "pity" and lowering of standards for some really help the students, or is it just some liberal program to make the elites feel better, that they are "helping" their ... lessers, without actually leveling the playing field, or remaking the system they clearly are beneficiaries in? .

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

* For many now, isn't there an incentive to stay "dependent" until age 26, at least. Not that I worry, but what will happen if the economy is still down, with less and less affordable employer healthcare options offered for the minimal treater, as these "dependent" children eventually age off their parents' plans, btw?

Granted there is likely little overlap in those cases and the situations Greenhouse is discussing, as the unpapered p rents are less likely to have private qu lifying insurance

Tommy's In.

The 70-year-old former Wisconsin governor officially throws his hat into the ring for the seat being vacated by the (non-openly gay) Sen. Herb Kohl. Given his (Thompson's) popularity here, and the rise of conservative sentiment, I think he's got a good shot at it.

Right now, Tammy Baldwin, the (openly gay*) Madison representative to the House, appears to be his primary competition, and statewise, I'm not too sure how well her liberalism will sell throughout the state.

Backlash catching up, and all...

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

* In a college town like Madison, that surely helped her establish herself -- identity politics and all -- because she really hasn't done much all these years to distinguish herself in Washington, they say.

Plus, please don't think I'm "outing" Kohl. It's common knowledge, he has nothing to fear now if voter learn that simple fact, and I abhor identity politics myself, I do think it's a shame he's had to hide it all these years. So what? If you did a good job for us Herb Kohl, and generally, you did -- it really doesn't matter.

I wonder, and wish that, Baldwin thinks this way too.

Wordsmithing.

The nice thing about being naturally attracted to wordplay, and having an extensive enough vocabulary -- in reading and use, if not in verbal conversation -- is that you eventually develop an intimate familiarity with words, many of them.

Then, when you come across a misspelling, or a mispronunciation, while bothersome, you can often place the proper word in context, if you're so inclined, and extend the benefit of doubt to the writer, or the speaker.

For example, if someone mistypes they're for their, or a similar mistake, you might think: slow down. quick typing. proofread and edit before printing.

But if the same writer continues making that mistake, or a continued misspelling (like me with "marriage" say), you generally can assume they're unsure exactly how to spell it correctly, by habit.

Which is a very long way of bringing us around to this post. Read it -- the shrill criticism, the stinging laughter "Yu SOOOO Stupet!" in the comments, and tell me if you think the writer was familiar with the (actual) word "unadulterated" before she wrote the post.

I'm guessing ... not. If, like me, you were familiar with that one, wouldn't you just assume a misspeaking and place the proper word there in context? I think ya would... No harm, no foul, simply read -- or converse -- on. Heavens know, you wouldn't waste time actually GOOGLING for the meaning of the mispronunciation, or misspelling, would you?*

but, if one was unfamiliar with the word being grasped at (and if pronounced properly, clearly it was the correct word in context), then your laughter might be more pronounced thinking your verbal sparring partner was simply making up words out of the blue...

I think somebody ought to consider buying their stay-at-home loved ones a big-boy dictionary this Christmas, expanding that vocabulary and all. I mean, if you're going to have a mixed-class marriage, and you're taking a former "commoner" into educated circles, it might help if he, and you too for guidance purposes, were able to understand what others are talking about, even if they sometimes misspeak and misspell.

Nothing personal. Just sayin'...

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

*(and if you found something ... harsh there, in your Internet search, would you tie that mispronunciation or misspelling with the clearly wrong word? Only if it was blogs sweepstakes month, I think, where you're trying to attract new eyeballs and cajole them to hit your Internet site, to compensate your "writing" and supplement your income and need for more Christmas gifts. Go on, click that link and help 'em out. A good dictionary, afterall -- hard copy, not online -- ought to be found in every home where the non-wordy are striving for better... Especially if they have media ambitions as a ... second/replacement career.)