Hampton Roads Publishing Company Blog

You may remember my post about Scott Adams and how he cured an “incurable” condition by determination and visualization.

Here is his characteristically wry and penetrating take on the aftermath of his original post, which was sent me by a friend.

Almost 60 Minutes Material
I had no idea how much reaction I would get from my post about regaining my voice. (It’s still 95% good.) I normally get about 25,000 hits a day on this blog. After the voice story posted, I got about 180,000 hits for each of the next two days.

I am more touched than a congressional page. And your own stories of “best days” made me weep. It’s clear that we don’t spend enough time with our happy thoughts.

Read the rest of this entry »

I can’t remember now where I got this. Someone sent it to me, I think (which also means that I can’t properly credit the source). I found it fascinating.

Their Political Tombstone

By ALLEN BARRA
Published: October 26, 2006
South Orange, N.J.

EXACTLY 125 years ago today, about 2:40 p.m., three lawmen - Marshal Virgil Earp and his brothers Wyatt and Morgan - and their friend Doc Holliday walked down Fremont Street, today Highway 80, in the silver-mining boom town of Tombstone, Ariz., and into a lot behind the O.K. Corral to confront four “cow-boys” (as cattle thieves were then called), the brothers Ike Clanton and Billy Clanton and Tom McLaury and Frank McLaury.
What happened next made newspapers across the country. The New York Times account, except for the misspelling of a few names, mostly got it right: “The marshal ordered them to give up their weapons, when a fight was begun, about 30 shots being rapidly fired. Both of the McLowery boys were killed; Bill Clandon was mortally wounded and died soon after.”

The street fight in Tombstone would eventually become known as the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Though the shooting lasted for perhaps 30 seconds, and the gunfight was far from the bloodiest of hundreds in cow towns and mining camps on the frontier, it occupies a prime place in American mythology.

Read the rest of this entry »

This was published by Joan Chittister before today’s elections.

What checks and balances?

From Where I Stand by Joan Chittister, OSB

I remember where I was the day Congress approved the decision of the president to invade Iraq. In fact, I wrote about it in this column. I was in Ireland where I had been watching the British Parliament debate the issue on public television for days.

Read the rest of this entry »

Michael Ventura’s column points out a few salient facts about the coming electlons.

LETTERS AT 3AM –
BE HEARD OR BE HERDED

Austin Chronicle - October 27, 2006

How’s this for insanity? The NSA can tap my phone without a warrant, but “the Energy Department is ending required polygraph tests for thousands of workers at its nuclear weapons facilities [and]… will also no longer periodically administer polygraph tests in areas of high security.” [The New York Times, October 5, p.23] Just as insane: our chemical plants are still unprotected. [The New York Times, September 25, p.24] Not to worry, Rumsfeld just convinced the Prime Minister of Montenegro — population 650,000, about the same as Baltimore — to lend units of its 2,500-man army to “help America’s military operations… with peace-keeping or special operations forces.” [The New York Times, September 27, p.6]

Read the rest of this entry »

This was sent by a friend. From SFGate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here:http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/10/25/EDG6PKE0BH1.DTL

(SF Chronicle)

Enron’s enablers go unpunished
Robert Scheer, Creators Syndicate, Inc.

NO, I’M NOT THRILLED about Jeffrey Skilling getting 24 years in prison for
his role in the Enron scandal. While he and fellow Enron head-honcho
Kenneth Lay were clearly guilty as charged, the handling of this case by
the Bush Justice Department is a functional coverup of the Bush family’s
role in enabling these crimes.

The thousands of Enron employees who lost their jobs, as well as $2
billion in pension money and $60 billion in share value, deserve better.

Read the rest of this entry »

Friends, a friend pointed me to Scott Adams’ blog, so one blog propagates another. But this is important! It shows what can be done. I often say that the “rules” we think bind us are always “other things being equal” – there isn’t any reason for us not to stack the deck. Adams did, and you can too.

http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2006/10/good_news_day.html

Good News Day
As regular readers of my blog know, I lost my voice about 18 months ago. Permanently. It’s something exotic called Spasmodic Dysphonia. Essentially a part of the brain that controls speech just shuts down in some people, usually after you strain your voice during a bout with allergies (in my case) or some other sort of normal laryngitis. It happens to people in my age bracket.

Read the rest of this entry »

This from Stephan Schwartz’s ever interesting roundup sent out in his daily Schwartzreport. (Comments in brackets below are Stephan’s.)

Keep America Beautiful’s Great American Cleanup Reduces Blight on Communities

Environmental News Network

[This is a wonderful story of citizen achievement. Keep America Beautiful, Inc., established in 1953, is the nation’s largest volunteer-based community action and education organization. This national nonprofit forms public-private partnerships and programs that engage individuals to take greater responsibility for improving their community environments. The Great American CleanupTM is the organization’s signature program that mobilizes millions of volunteers to improve their communities through hands-on participation. For more information, visit www.kab.org.

Thanks to Sam Crespi]

STAMFORD, CT. - After four months of tabulating data from all 50 states, the results are in. Thanks to the efforts of 2.2 million volunteers across America, more than 37 million plastic bottles and more than 2.5 million scrap tires were diverted from the waste stream during Keep America Beautiful’s Great American CleanupTM, the nation’s largest community improvement program which takes place annually from March 1 through May 31.

Read the rest of this entry »

Little joke from a friend, to make your day. Don’t know whose joke it is originally.

Nine Months Later

Jack decided to go skiing with his buddy, Bob.

They loaded up Jack’s mini van and headed north. After driving for a few hours, they got caught in a terrible blizzard. They pulled into a nearby farm and asked the attractive lady who answered the door if they could spend the night.

Read the rest of this entry »

Sure, it’s only a scorecard. Sure, it’s only one measure, and any one measure is likely to have its bias. But this year’s report card from Reporters Without Frontiers (Reporters Sans Frontieres) a French organization monitoring worldwide freedom of the press, dropped the US to 53rd in the world. Nor is this mere America-bashing. Ratings are based on response to questionnairs from journalists within each country.

“The United States (53rd) has fallen nine places since last year, after being in 17th position in the first year of the Index, in 2002.”

You want to see what company that puts us in? The list is behind the story, which is from RSF’s website.

Read the rest of this entry »

I have to admit, I didn’t know who Pat Tillman was. Not watching TV and not following sports has its isolating effects. But when a friend sent this, I ahd to pay attention.

PAT TILLMAN’S BROTHER BLASTS IRAQ WAR
Associated Press
October 21, 2006

http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/frontpage/30126.php

PHOENIX - The brother of an NFL player who was killed in Afghanistan after
quitting the team to join the U.S. Army Rangers has spoken out.
Kevin Tillman, a former Army Ranger who served in Iraq and Afghanistan with
his older brother, Pat Tillman, has remained silent since his brother’s
death in 2004. But this week, he wrote a scathing indictment of the war in
Iraq, the Bush administration and American apathy (see below).

Read the rest of this entry »