Happy New Year

I would like to thank each one of my loyal (and anyone else just dropping by) readers for keeping me going.

I appreciate the time you spend reading what I have to say. Because of work and other personal committments, sometimes I rant a lot and other times not so much (like recently).

Either way, I want to also wish each of you out there in the great world wide web blog community and very happy and very healthy 2008.

Here is my annual picture of the kids from Thanksgiving (Jacob, Owen and Mollie)

Happy New Year from the Herz Family!!!

Moods

MOODS OF A WOMAN
An angel of truth and a dream of fiction,
A woman is a bundle of contradiction.
She's afraid of a wasp, will scream at a mouse,
But will tackle her boyfriend alone in the house.
Sour as vinegar, sweet as a rose,
She'll kiss you one minute, then turn up her nose.
She'll win you in rags, enchant you in silk,
She'll be stronger than brandy, milder than milk.
At times she'll be vengeful, merry and sad,
She'll hate you like poison, and love you like mad.

MOODS OF A MAN
Horny.
Hungry.

(Thanks Maurice)

Yes Virginia, We do live in a skeptical age

Even though my family and I do not celebrate Christmas, there is something pure and innocent that goes along with this editorial which usually runs in most newspapers around this time year. It was something that I sought out every year as a kid, even though being Jewish I knew Santa did not exist. There is an youthful innocence in the letter, and the New York Sun did a great job of helping capture the spirit of the season and helping to promote youthful indulgence, imaginiation and play. Some things that I have pontificated in this space that are seriously lacking in today. I hope my kids hold on to those ideals that make childhood fun and fancy-free for as long as they possibly can. It is difficult to channel the exuberance, when commercials and older kids on the bus and other daily rituals pull children into tweendom sooner and earlier than ever.

For Today, read this and smile and the whimsical idea of days gone by. Enjoy the holiday and day off. Spend time with your family. Hug those you love and care about. In another week, we will be back to work and the joyous holiday season will be far in our rear view mirrors and we will be turning the corner on MLK day and the corresponding sales at Target, WalMart and Kohls. Smile and Enjoy. Happy Holiday to all.

From http://www.newseum.org/yesvirginia/

Eight-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon wrote a letter to the editor of New York's Sun, and the quick response was printed as an unsigned editorial Sept. 21, 1897. The work of veteran newsman Francis Pharcellus Church has since become history's most reprinted newspaper editorial, appearing in part or whole in dozens of languages in books, movies, and other editorials, and on posters and stamps.

"DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old. "Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. "Papa says, 'If you see it in THE SUN it's so.' "Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?
"VIRGINIA O'HANLON."
115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET.

"VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding. No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

Baseball in the offseason, fun stuff

Ah Where to Begin.

The Mitchell Report - not sure the real impact here. Not anyone on this list is terribly surprising to me. Do I believe Andy Pettite and Brian Roberts when they say they only did it a few times. I guess. Do I beleive Roger Clemens, that he never did them? Not really. This report only seems to be tip of iceberg of players that have actually used steroids in the past. I do fail bad, since it seems that any player mentioned in this report is going to be guilty by association and will never be able to be innocent in the eyes of the media again. That is a shame.

It seems that the Mitchell Report represents a small segment of the whole steroid issue. And it seemingly was willing to target the NY ball clubs (a former Yankee trainer, and a former Met batboy) and leak that information in order to embarass the Yankees. How shocking is that considering George Mitchell is a part owner of the Red Sox. And it is also a bit shocking that no current member of the Red Sox (Mo Vaughn and former Boston hero Roger Clemens) were even mentioned. Certainly no conflict of interest there. Also odd how Paul Byrd's name was linked right before he start in the playoffs, against which team? Did you guess the Red Sox? You are correct.

Curt Schilling needs to learn to keep his fucking mouth shut. Does anyone really care what this looney bird actually says? Does anyone really expect Roger Clemens to voluntary give up his 7 Cy Young awards? Is MLB going to find a 10 year old urine sample from Clemens, or a string of hair from the same period? Does anyone know if Schilling finished second one of those years to Clemens? Would he get his ridicolous $1M bonus if he wins a past Cy Young, ala the silver medalist in the womans 2004 100m sprint?

Nobody should trust anything Bill Parcells says or does? He is the biggest whore on the face of the Earth. He completely dicked the Atlanta Falcons, when he left them at the alter after a hand shake agreement with management, less than two weeks after the Falcons were jilted by coach Bobby Petrino, who bolted Atlanta to head back the college ranks. When Parcells phone rang and Miami Dolphin owner Wayne Huizenga calls with an offer for more money, Parcells bolts Atlanta for Miami. Clearly the man is not worth his word. He might be a football genius and will certainly only stay in Miami for 2-3 years and leave the team in better shape than it is today (I could probably do that as well for the Dolphins), but man I certainly do not trust him any further than I could throw him. Then again, can someone remind me how many playoff wins he has in the past few years? Oh yeah ZERO!!

Be it G-d's Will

This is from Doonesbury on Dec 18, for those of you that cant read the fine print here it is:



President GWB: Huckabee thinks his momentum in Iowa is G-d's will
Advisor: Yes Sir, He's forgotten how mysterious the Lord can be

Advisor: Look what happened after G-d inspired you to invade Iraq. Almost all of the country's one million christians were driven underground or killed.

Advisor: In your case, doing G-d's bidding brought about the complete collapse of christianity in a place where it had thrived for 2,000 years.

GWB: Right, But did G-d's numbers tank? Nooo, just mine!
Advisor: Exactly. Huckabee's playing with fire here

Constitutional Oversight

I keep thinking we should include something in the Constitution in case the people elect a fucking moron!!!
(thanks Mom for sending this along)

Impeach Cheney

Sorry folks, I have been real busy recently, trying to save Toquam Magnet Elementary School and doing that crazy thing called work but Jen Clark put me onto this and wanted to bring it to your attention:

Rep. Robert Wexler, a member of the House Judiciary Committee, is trying to move forward with impeachment hearings against Dick Cheney. He co-wrote an op-ed with two other members of the judiciary committee which was turned down for publication by all the major news outlets (how creepy is that?). Therefore, he's turning to us.

At www.wexlerwantshearings.com, he has set up a petition and is asking for 50,000 signatures. Please tell your readers about the petition so that we can blow that number away. I put up a post about it if you want more links. There's also a story about it at Raw Story, which is where I found out that they submitted the op-ed and were denied.

If it is true that the Main Stream Media refused to publish this op-ed, and there is no outrage then we are truly becoming lemmings, being led to the cliff. At someones suggestion I am currently reading Thomas Friedman's "The World is Flat: A brief History of the 21st Century" and I am so frightened for our future right now it is almost depressing.

When you combine the fact that the Stamford Board of Education would consider closing one of their most successful schools, for no apparent reason, and combine that with the fact that the educational system in this country is not ready to change to meet the needs of the 21st century kind of makes me wonder how my kids and millions of their peers will be able to compete in the global market in 20-30 years.

Which leads me back to my original point, let's impeach Cheney.