Announcing my candidacy for POTUS.

Y'all'll have to write my name, cricket, in on the ballot. And after the election change the Constitution so Canadians can serve, but doggone it, I think I got a shot.

I got some policy ideas in mind but if you have any questions or suggestion post 'em here.

It was -23° C this morning when I awoke.

I had been promised a temperature of -16° C or 257 K.

When this happens I can almost feel the actual physical shift of the tectonic plates in my brain. It drops to one knee and tumbles momentarily until I spread my brain's outstretched arms and fingers to stop it. It lies supine breathing heavily but once more normally, yet ever closer to Hollywood, California and further away from our loving Father.

"Pete" Seeger, what are you all about?

There is a new song out, that seems, lately, to be taking this
country by storm. It was apparently written by one Mr. Peter
"Pete" Seeger. I believe it is cause for some concern.

If I had a hammer
I'd hammer in the morning
...which is just fine.

I'd hammer in the evening.
Assuming, you'd had a break in the afternoon, this would also
be acceptable.

All over this land.
Fine, but pay your own airfare. There are too many people wanting
to hammer all over this land on my dime.

I'd hammer out danger.
This is laudable. If you encounter danger anywhere it is wise to
hammer it out; here, I presume that to hammer something out means
to destroy it. Certainly a hammer, in esse, maintains a certain
element of destructive power. However and yet, it is all too easy
to assume—incorrectly—that danger is so very rife "all over this
land". Any little problem begins to appear as the proverbial nail.

I'd hammer out a warning.
Now I'm starting to worry a little more. Just who exactly are
you warning?  What is the content of your warning? Is this a
threat?

I'd hammer out love between my brothers and my sisters.
This makes no sense at all. Is "love between [your] brothers and
sisters" something to be destroyed with a hammer just as danger
was? Is this the threat contained in your warning above? Is it
time to look seriously at intensive treatment by mental health
professionals for Mr Seeger?

All over this land.
Overall, I think thanks are in order that Mr. Seeger doesn't
have a hammer. I would advise keeping all bells and songs out
of the hands of this menace as well.

Who's with me?

UPDATE: Jan 23, 2008
I've been informed that Mr. Seeger has been loudly proclaiming
his procurement of not only a hammer but a bell and a song as
well:

Well I've got a hammer
And I've got a bell
And I've got a song to sing.

It clearly is time to reconstitute HUAC...

all over this land

Vignettes of Family Life (No 1 in a series )

Last week, my wife cooked me a beautiful steak, bloody and and cool in the middle, just the way I love it.

"Well done!" I said, and she struck me in the mandible with closèd fist.

Death Penalty

Empirical arguments aside, I don't understand the argument that I should theoretically be against the death penalty because the possibility of an innocent man being executed by the state exists. If there is no death penalty, the same innocent man might be imprisoned which is a terrible thing. You can never give him the lost years of his life back, even if you do later discover his innocence. Why is this not an argument that I should be opposed to imprisonment for criminals?

I think the innocent man argument against the death penalty arises from the entirely secular notion that the worst thing is death. It is not. Christ showed us just how an innocent man can die, conquering death in the process--making it sweet and benign. Who doesn't believe that our Lord heaps abundant blessings on the executed innocent, as on the imprisoned innocent?

Far worse, on a cosmic scale, than an innocent man being executed by the state is an unrepentant guilty man being executed by the state. In fact, that might actually be a valid argument against the death penalty.