Thursday, July 15, 2010

Interesting business model

Recklessly run the country toward socialist oblivion causing conservatives to drink more, chain smoke while plotting our vast right wing conspiracy, and buy guns to bury in the backyard, all to fund the mounting federal debt. Problem is if we got that nervous.....well. Read about it here.

Do it right now

Visit my colleague at the Digital Hairshirt. Abandoning commentary for the summer months Stephanie Richer has taken to posting photos from her amazing collection. Go. Now. Be amazed. And tell her the Dirty Copper sent you.

One of his Brides

When referring to women religious we Catholics often refer to them as Brides of Christ. Our tradition teaches that these dedicated women forgo marriage and submit themselves totally to Jesus. This clip, which I found at the most excellent Orbis Catholicus Secondus, is of Miss Mary Anne Marks speaking at her Harvard commencement. What is amazing is that this brilliant, articulate woman delivers her speech in Latin in a manner that led me to imagine myself standing in ancient Rome listening to a cultured woman give an address. Even more amazing is that despite having the capability to successfully pursue any professional path, she is entering the convent. Even though you may only understand a word or two take a minute to enjoy her speech and appreciate how she chose God above everything else.

Maybe it wasn't John Wilkes Boothe after all

I am simply in love with the latest Geico commercials.  It is nice when advertisers don't assume that we are all stupid.


They said after Abe's death she was never the same again. Maybe it all started a few days earlier than anyone realized.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Looks like we will have to buy a few more sets of Rosetta Stone


TRENTON — Police in New Jersey must explain the state's implied consent law to motorists in a language that they understand, the state Supreme Court ruled on Monday.
In a 4-3 decision, the court overturned a conviction for refusing to take an alcohol breath test because the man, who spoke only Spanish, did not understand the consequences.
The court found that a Plainfield police officer failed to inform German Marquez, who is from El Salvador, in Spanish that he would automatically lose his driver's license for seven months if he refused the test.

Funny, they had no problem reading the phone book to find a lawyer to represent them.  You can read the rest of the story about another fine job by the Supreme Court of the People's Republic of New Jersey here.

And I thought that it was idiots that carried the day

The six-month election recount that turned former "Saturday Night Live" comedian Al Franken into a U.S. senator may have been decided by convicted felons who voted illegally in Minnesota's Twin Cities.  Go figure.  The rest here.

Friday, July 9, 2010

Bigotry and cowardice at the University of Illinois

Anyone who thinks that the Obama administration's attempts at changing the social fabric of this nation is an exercise in tolerance needs to think again.  


URBANA, Ill. -- The University of Illinois has fired an adjunct professor who taught courses on Catholicism after a student accused the instructor of engaging in hate speech by saying he agrees with the church's teaching that homosexual sex is immoral.  The professor, Ken Howell of Champaign, has taught at the university for nine years. He says his firing violates his academic freedom.  


So much for the first amendment.  Now for the interesting twist.


The student had a friend register the complaint and has remained anonymous.  Very simple, just denounce your enemy to the secret police.  Any of this sound a bit familiar?  The rest here.

Monday, July 5, 2010

It's OK.....we left the window cracked

In order to satisfy my family's insatiable need for bulk paper goods I was off for another trip to the local wholesale store the other day when I spied the scene portrayed here.  Initially I was kind of annoyed that they parked Pops out in the parking lot while they went about their business.  Then I realized that my Dad would have opted for the wait in the car approach and in his endless pursuit of thrift would have insisted that we shut off the vehicle to "save gas" while he baked in a lawn chair on the hot asphalt.

Clear the deck for action

As I baked in the ninety degree sun last week while staining the deck I quietly cursed myself for my poor planning and inability to remember the consequences of not completing chores in a more timely manner.  Not the most plesant of experiences.  Now that the thermometer is supposed to peak at around 102 today I take some solace in the fact that some other poor dumb bastard will be suffering just a bit more than I was last week.  Then again, he won't be spending the next two days of vacation writing his research paper. 

By the way.  Cabot stain.....not too shabby.

Chair Sleep

For any of you out there that work a second job or who have worked the night shift you know the value of a quick nap. While my wife would swear that I could sleep on a picket fence my frequent location for a convenient nap is any chair in proximity to a television. The following excerpt was sent to me by my large and gentle Irish friend who sharing in my frustration of being awakened to go to bed has stumbled upon some answers to this dilemma.

Why is it that women universally hate to see a man sleep in a chair?

I first noticed this phenomenon on summer vacation with my grandparents. Gramp worked third shift in a bearing factory so he was coming home just about the time we were waking up. After having breakfast together, (and checking his lunch box to see what might have been left over there - usually a choice piece of fruit or candy bar) he would go settle in his comfortable chair in the living room.

He had an hour or so before going to his second job trimming hedges and mowing greens at a nearby golf course. I learned quickly that he now just wanted to be left alone, so I did. Within minutes he would be sound asleep but this peaceful repose did not last for every time he dropped off, regular as clockwork, my grandmother would come in, wake him up, and tell him that if he was so tired, he should go to bed and get some "real sleep."

Every morning, he would answer that by the time he got undressed and cleaned up for bed, it would be time to get up again. He always added that he was already getting some "real sleep" until she woke him up. Some mornings she would just whisk off at that point, other times it would escalate into a row, but every morning she would come back and duplicate the process as soon as he dropped off again.


The rest is here.