So The Boy and I are over at Rick’s house to watch that game they played in Corvallis, OR on Saturday. Once the game reached the point where were thinking… (I don’t want to talk about it)

The Boy and Rick’s Boy #3 started playing around on YouTube. They found some stuff that 6th grade boys find hilarious. You know, the kind of stuff that makes your head hurt?

But… I must admit… I’m so embarassed!

To see more… YouTube.com/Fred

OMG they are SO FUNNY!

Does that make me wierd?
My kids thinks it makes me wierd!

I’m not sure where I found this blog. But if you are a regular follower of this blog, you know that I am totally enamored with NASA. If you ask me, and since you are here you have… the TOP 5 items that SHOULD be fully funded by the US Government are…

1. Education
2. NASA
3. Medical Research (Cancer, AIDS, Stem Cells, etc.)
4. Roads & Bridges
5. Alternative Energy Research

If you think about it… they all are based on Education. With the money we’re shoveling overseas, not just in Iraq, but to other countries that REALLY don’t like us, we could build and fund some SPECTACULAR temples of knowledge. Don’t you think?

I digress. In case you haven’t noticed, Endeavour is up at the Space Station right now doing some AWESOME work. (Tangent alert) There is a cable channel I would pay for… non-stop coverage of stuff going on at the Space Station. I mean, Hell, that back flip the Shuttle has to do when they dock is worth the price of cable!

Go check out NASA Image of the Day.

I know its Thanksgiving Eve, but I ran across this on Jesus Needs New PR and I had to share it.

Imagine traveling over the river and through the woods to Grandmothers house, only to walk into what is normally a scene right out of Norman Rockwell to see an instrument of execution glowing in the corner. One might wonder if Grandma has gone off her meds again.

That’s right! for only $81.85 you can have your very own PRE-LIT electric chair! No… lethal injection syringe! No… thanks to the American Family Association (sounds like a dubious organization to me) you can have your VERY own (did I mention, it comes PRE-LIT) 5 ft. Christmas Cross!

The wife gave a snort of derision when I suggested we forgo the trappings of the season to celebrate Festivus!

I can go to festivuspoles.com and for only $31 (a bargain) I can have a SIX foot aluminum pole! Of course I would choose to order the Festivus Book. But my favorite part is the Airing of Grievances!

If you want to know the history of Festivus - The Holiday for the Rest of Us, there’s a video!

Celebrating Festivus in 2008 seems like the only sane thing to do. I wonder if I should email the AFA and tell them where they can stick their Xmas Cross? I’d even pay them $100 if they would film it!

The hatemongers of the Westboro Baptist Church were in Silverton, Oregon today. The best part, they were met with the ENTIRE town, in counter protest.

Earlier this month the good people of the town just outside Salem elected a transgendered mayor. In true Oregonian fashion, this wasn’t Stu Rassmussen’s first term, he served as mayor of Silverton for two-two year terms in 1988 and 1990. Folks in town are pretty ok with him. The only thing that has changed about the local cinema owner is the impressive set of breasts he has acquired over the last two years. There is a great story in the LA Times. A more local version on OregonLive.

ol’ Fred and his pinheaded sign-carriers call Mayor Rassmussen a ‘pervert’, as a matter of fact, they call most everyone a pervert. I always thought a pervert was someone who had a maniacal preoccupation with sex…

Wouldn’t that mean that ol’ Fred is a pervert?

I got this in an email from a friend, not sure where it came from, or who wrote it. It is founded in the judgmental right-wing hate that I used to think was funny… thought I’d share.

‘We the sensible people of the United States, in an attempt to help everyone get along, restore some semblance of justice, avoid more riots, keep our nation safe, promote positive behavior, and secure the blessings of debt-free liberty to ourselves and our great-great-great-grandchildren, hereby try one more time to ordain and establish some common sense guidelines for the terminally whiny, guilt ridden, delusional, and other bed-wetters. **I know the writers think they are talking about Democrats, but I think the door swings both ways on who this describes.

We hold these truths to be self evident: that a whole lot of people are confused by the Bill of Rights and are so dim they require a Bill of NON-Rights.’ **The only people who are confused are those who think ‘rights’ only apply to them.

ARTICLE I: You do not have the right to a new car, big screen TV, or any other form of wealth. More power to you if you can legally acquire them, but no one is guaranteeing anything. **Then why are those who work hard to afford the finer things in life demonized, instead of those who are into hock up to their eyeballs down at the payday loan place or the rent-a-center?

ARTICLE II: You do not have the right to never be offended. This country is based on freedom, and that means freedom for everyone — not just you! You may leave the room, turn the channel, express a different opinion, etc.; but the world is full of idiots, and probably always will be. **When you’re pointing at others; three fingers are pointing RIGHT back atcha!

ARTICLE III : You do not have the right to be free from harm. If you stick a screwdriver in your eye, learn to be more careful; do not expect the tool manufacturer to make you and all your relatives independently wealthy. **too bad the President who ran on reforming spurious lawsuits in 2000 got distracted.

ARTICLE IV: You do not have the right to free food and housing. Americans are the most charitable people to be found, and will gladly help anyone in need, but we are quickly growing weary of subsidizing generation after generation of professional couch potatoes who achieve nothing more than the creation of another generation of professional couch potatoes. **I don’t know why this idea persists. President Clinton signed draconian welfare reform in 1998 that some are still trying to recover from. There are some who NEED to be on some form of public assistance for various reasons. Having a lifetime cap on benefits is capricious.

ARTICLE V: You do not have the right to free health care. That would be nice, but from the looks of public housing, we’re just not interested in public health care. **Free? Really? How much does dignity cost? People are dying all over this country; and the weather is getting colder. Illness isn’t cheap, they way I see it, we are killing off our blue collar workers by not caring for them. This is just another form of class warfare that persists. There is an old saying, “a Republican is a Democrat who got rich and a Democrat is a Republican who has lost his job”. Thanks to the elitist policies of the current administration, there are a whole lot of X-republicans out here.

ARTICLE VI: You do not have the right to physically harm other people. If you kidnap, rape, intentionally maim, or kill someone, don’t be surprised if the rest of us want to see you fry in the electric chair. **Don’t ask us to educate you, put food on your table or take care of your Mama’s cancer treatments… but we’ll put you in the finest prison system in the world and THERE we’ll pay for your education, healthcare, and give you a warm safe place to sleep. UNTIL, we the people KILL you!

ARTICLE VII: You do not have the right to the possessions of others. If you rob, cheat, or coerce away the goods or services of other citizens, don’t be surprised if the rest of us get together and lock you away in a place where you still won’t have the right to a big screen color TV or a life of leisure. **See comments on Article VI.

ARTICLE VIII: You do not have the right to a job. All of us sure want you to have a job, and will gladly help you along in hard times, but we expect you to take advantage of the opportunities of education and vocational training laid before you to make yourself useful. **In crumbling school buildings, with sub-standard materials. Which are in such condition because we are spending more money on incarceration than on education.

ARTICLE IX: You do not have the right to happiness. Being an American means that you have the right to PURSUE happiness, which by the way, is a lot easier if you are unencumbered by an over abundance of idiotic laws created by those of you who were confused by the Bill of Rights. ** I was agreeing with this one at first.

ARTICLE X: This is an English speaking country. We don’t care where you are from, English is our language. Learn it or go back to wherever you came from! **I don’t understand where our culture changed. A generation ago immigrants wanted to be Americans, now you can request state documents from the State of Oregon in 30-some odd languages. I respect wanting to retain your culture, its hard to immigrate. But I don’t expect everything to be printed in English for me when I go to Mexico, France, Russia or Canada. (for the record, I DO care where you come from. I believe America is stronger because of the amazing cultures we get to experience in most of our larger cities on any given weekend. Some of the best times I’ve had in my life have been while I was experiencing another culture in Seattle, Portland and San Francisco.)

ARTICLE XI: You do not have the right to change our country’s history or heritage. This country was founded on the belief in one true God. (WRONG!) And yet, you are given the freedom to believe in any religion, any faith, or no faith at all; with no fear of persecution (as long as it follows the funda-mental-ist creed - so long as you ‘appear’ to be a christianist, you’re ok with us). The phrase IN GOD WE TRUST is part of our heritage and history (since 1957), and if you are uncomfortable with it, TOUGH! **Bullshit! Since this is Thanksgiving time; you must know the pilgrims were a crackpot religious sect who didn’t like the ‘permissive’ Anglican Church… so they left… rather, they were chased away. They came here to foist their Puritanical (ever wonder where that phrase came from?) ways on a whole new continent.

Good News!

The Oregon State Beavers have moved up to No. 17 in this week’s Associated Press and USA Today Polls, the program’s highest ranking since debuting at No. 10 in the initial release of the 2001 season. The Beavers have now appeared in the top-25 for three consecutive weeks, the longest since a three-week stay in 2001

I was sharing a little story with The Boy last weekend at the Cal game about the state of the Beavers back when I went to school there in the late-80’s/early-90’s. The most glaring change? Winning Seasons. The 1989 season was the 28th CONSECUTIVE losing season. So I’m one of those Beaver fans that is still enjoying the wins. I was trying to explain to him just how small the old Parker Stadium was. The Valley Center is the roof you see on the left side of the picture. That wasn’t there. The LARGE part of the stadium that takes up most of that picture… wasn’t there. In fact, do you see the little sliver of bleachers in front of the Valley Center? That was the type of bleachers that covered that side of the “staduim”. This fact was corroborated by a couple Beavers of my vintage. The Boy was skeptical, all he has known are Beaver teams that produce winning records, teams that go to a bowl game every year. He was absolutely flabbergasted when we told him we didn’t need tickets. There were always PLENTY of seats. The Huskies and the Trojans were the only games which were a little more difficult to get into.

Number 17 AND the distinct aroma of roses wafting around Corvallis. I can deal with that!

BAD News!

The Beavers and No. 19 Ducks kickoff at 4:07 p.m. PST from a sold out Reser Stadium. The game is being televised nationally by the Versus Network. This is the first time that both teams have been nationally ranked at the time of the Civil War since 2000, when OSU was No. 8 and UO was No. 5.

I wonder how much it cost Uncle Phil to get them back into the Top 20?

This is where the BAD news comes in

• Gametime: 4:07pm — I don’t get off work until around 5pm. But that I can work with (being the boss-lite), but I can’t do a damn thing about…
• Televised nationally by the Versus Network — Since we didn’t really want to pay $75/month for a bunch of idiotic channels, which I won’t list here, I lost the Versus Network. Which could be lumped into the idiotic category about 360 days of the year.

Sigh!

The folks who run the Grad Program at Walla Walla Univeristy had the BRILLIANCE to put a mini-vacation toward the end of Fall Term. 100% of the 1st year MSW students think this is a GREAT idea. The consensus is, we will use these 13-days to catch up on ALL our assignments AS WELL AS take a big bite out of our end-of-term papers.

The common dream of the respondents is, “the demon of procrastination would just keep going”.

Alas, he/she doesn’t work that way.

I’m approximately 1/2 way through my mini-vacation… SIGH!