Shepherd's Pie, Web Edition™

Huzzah, no more need for Hello

2005-09-17T14:48:00.000-04:00

At long last Blogger allows directly loading images from the posting prompt rather than requiring the use of Hello or Flickr or other photo blogging software. I always thought it was kinda dumb that I had to use those. Now I'm pleased as punch, and so is Andy Griffith, right Andy?

2005-09-13T18:45:00.000-04:00

A picture I dug up going through old 3.5 floppies. Yup, this is from freshman year spring break with Campus Crusade for Christ.

Lifesong by Casting Crowns

2005-09-06T23:38:00.000-04:00

Lifesong, the sophomore studio album by Casting Crowns, which broke out onto the national Christian music scene in 2003 with their self-titled debut, is a marked improvement in style and content from two years prior, which while catchy and enjoyable (at least three or four tracks thereof), seemed to lack a governing theme which tied the prophetic or teaching message of each individual song together. This album overcomes its predecessor's shortcomings both thematically and musically, though I leave the musical elements towards more gifted ears than I, my concerns being more thematic and theological than musical.

Critics might say the topical variation of the tracks on Lifesong are a rehash of the same themes in the debut album (church hypocrisy, church apathy, doubt and timidity affecting the faith walk of the believer), but Lifesong sandwiches them between the title track and the concluding track, "And Now My Lifesong Sings," which together comprise an opening and closing prayer that the Christian walk be a daily "lifesong" which worships God not merely in word but in deed. The organizing principle of Lifesong then is one of conforming in thought, word, and deed to the example of Christ and hence being a better witness of Christ's love for the world in the world, while avoiding the pitfalls of spiritual pride and hypocrisy.

The thematic choice is greatly strengthened by the choice to put "Prodigal," a song of remorse and repentance by a backslidden Christian, preceding the closing track. The message: your "lifesong" will only truly sing acceptable praise to God after you come to the Father in humility, repenting of your sins and shortcomings, and receiving His grace.

The only significant departure from the theme is "While You Were Sleeping," which is written more as a warning to the unsaved than to the Church, but moves on the hearts of the believer by reminding him/her of the slumber of a lost and dying world which sleepily ignores and thereby rejects its Savior. I found it a catchy and memorable song, and one which certainly doesn't comprise a complete theological argument in itself, but is a great springboard for a Sunday sermon or two, and quite possibly a coffeehouse chat with an unsaved friend about Christ's mission on earth, death, resurrection, and coming return.

So what does the non-Christian listener get from Lifesong? An honest and well-executed musical exposition of problems and shortcomings by sin-stained believers whose only hope is continual trust in and adherence to Jesus Christ. Casting Crowns are not averse to tackling sins within the church, but the tone is one which urges conformity to the compassion and example of Christ for the sake of ministry to a sin-stained, lost, and dying world. As a prophetic message to the Church, and as a witness to the outside world of Christians acknowledging and confronting contemporary sins and shortcomings by Christians which have run counter to the witness of Christ's earthly mission, Lifesong sings beautifully.

My stint as a game show host

2005-08-29T01:11:00.000-04:00

So yesterday I went to a little get together hosted by my friend Jeneen and her husband Ted, at their townhouse on Fort Meade. They aren't military, by the way, but they got a sweet deal whereby they rent the place, and it's pretty sweet and works out well for them and their two kids. But anyway, so I went there, and it was cool, I saw some peeps from high school I hadn't seen in a while, and they looked pretty good. Most of them, however, have become enshackled mercilessly to the bonds of matrimony. Okay, apparently, they seem happy with it, and I'm happy for them, and many of them have kids, and their kids are adorable.

But I'm single and kid-free and such, so my services were quite handy for a little game Jeneen had the couples play, sort of a parlor-room version of the Newlywed Game. I got to be the host.
That was pretty cool, even though I had to keep the questions G-rated due to the lil tykes, that and I wasn't in much of a mood to shock my friends with how crusty and salty I've become with age.

So it was good, but it did make me feel a bit old and a bit young at the same time. Old because here are people my age who have been married, some for less than a year or two, others for about three or four years now. And some of them have had two kids, and virtually all of them own a house, except for Jeneen and her hubby.

The house part made me feel a little young and irresponsible. I lived for three years in a shitty house in College Park burning $ on rent I could have maybe saved living with the rents to maybe a down payment on some shitty house I could have owned and rented rooms out to gullible college kids who would pay me beaucoup bucks. But I didn't.

Yet I felt a bit old considering I've yet to find a woman crazy enough to tolerate me, cool enough to get me, or sane enough for me to trust bearing my children and picking up my dirty laundry from the floor on a day-to-day basis. Dang it, I'm 26 and I'm a dude and I'm starting to feel like I'm missing something in my life by not having an angel to kiss good morning and love like the devil when I get back home .

I also didn't feel like I had any good anectdotes with which to regale them. Maybe if I dug deep enough I would have a few, but not really. And these guys are pretty apolitical so hearing how I single-handedly ripped Howard Dean a new one one afternoon (okay, it wasn't Dean, but for the sake of the storyline let's go there) wouldn't really excite them. Well, it would excite Sheena but only because she's a crazy loon-ball liberal, whom I love dearly as a friend regardless of her desire to destroy our fair country. Ohhhhh snap, Sheena.

Alright, I'm rambling and giving the entire world looking for Shepherd's Pie recipes insight into my life. I'm out.

What's with the ™ you ask?

2005-08-19T17:25:00.000-04:00

Yes, it's gimmicky and stupid. And no, I haven't trademarked this blog's name with the USPTO. But I think it adds a certain je ne sais quoi, don't you?

Coffee Chick's Party; Harvey Birdman

2005-08-19T13:59:00.000-04:00

So the Coffee House Chick and I have no residual awkwardness from her informing me she has a boyfriend. She invited me to a party at her house. I went. It was okay. The beer was good and cold, and some of the conversation was sparkling. But most times at parties, well, I'm just not in my natural element. It's a rare occasion where I pour out the sparkling conversation like a Roman fountain. Oh well.

And completely unrelated: I forgot just how funny Harvey Birdman, Attorney-at-Law can be. I watched an episode last night. Was delightfully funny.

There, hopefully that should satisfy you all with a view of my personal life. For my political insights and social commentary, go to Restless Mania, although soon we are switching over to TypePad and will be located here.

update on the coffee shop chick

2005-07-15T00:34:00.000-04:00

So yeah, she has a boyfriend. But she's still as cute and chipper and friendly as ever. No awkwardness. Good times.

Now that's my kinda woman.

2005-07-05T09:03:00.000-04:00

It's high time I stop dating liberal chicks. The next girl I take out better be able to wear this T-shirt with pride (which reads: Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms should be a convenience store, not a government agency).

Blogging here sparodically

2005-06-30T10:15:00.000-04:00

I've been blogging her very seldom of late, but more prolifically on my team blog, Restless Mania. I've lately been on a tear about the Kelo ruling last week in the Supreme Court. Speaking of, you should read this editorial by libertarian free-market economist Walter E. Williams of George Mason University. [Hat tip: the MRC's Free Market Project]

I encourage all my readers to go there for my political wit and wisdom.

I'm unofficially converting this blog, to the extent I blog here, about my personal life, with maybe some political stuff here and there.

But at the moment, my personal life ain't too exciting. I will report this though:

I asked a cute barista at my favorite coffeehouse out in a unique, gimmicky way. Well, maybe gimmicky is too negative a connotation. Basically, I dropped a note in the tip jar asking her to use a code word next time I'm there and she's working if she's interested. We'll see what happens. I'm popping by there tonight. Not sure if she's working tonight. Oh well. I'll keep you updated.

Great Caesar's Ghost!

2005-06-15T09:36:00.000-04:00

Lane Smith dead at age 69. He played Perry White on Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.

Requiescat in pace.

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Lane Smith, a longtime character actor who played a small-town district attorney who crossed words with Joe Pesci in "My Cousin Vinny," died Monday. He was 69.

Smith, who also played Richard Nixon in the TV movie "The Final Days" and Daily Planet editor Perry White in "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman," died at his home in Los Angeles, according to his wife, Debbie Benedict Smith.

Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Smith appeared in numerous films and television shows. Most recently, he appeared in the 2000 movie "The Legend of Bagger Vance," starring Will Smith and Matt Damon.

Lane Smith also appeared in the original stage production of "Glengarry Glen Ross" and the revival of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."

Film credits include "The Distinguished Gentleman," "Son in Law," "The Mighty Ducks" and "The Hi-Lo Country."

Besides his wife, Smith is survived by his son Robbie, 18, and a brother and sister. He also has a 19-year-old stepson.

Congratulations, Sarah

2005-06-14T09:29:00.000-04:00

Congratulations to my sister on her high school graduation. It was held at the Prince George's County ShowPlace Arena in Upper Marlboro. I did remark to my brother that "just because our high school's mascot is the Mustang doesn't mean we have to have graduation ceremonies in a place where horses poop." Okay, I had better jokes during the course of the night but I forget them.

The ceremony, though long, was not as unbearable as I thought it would be. Maybe that's because the acoustics sucked and I could barely hear the boiler plate "dreams, goals, you are the future, yada yada" type speeches you hear at graduations.

The best speech, surprisingly, was from a politician, and a politician I'm sorta wary of as a "rising star" among the Democrats in Maryland: State Senator John Giannetti (D-21st District). Actually, I kinda like the guy but that's because I've met him and he was pretty warm and engaging. But then most pols are I suppose, by their trade. I could see him running for Lt. Governor in 2006 though, possibly, but that would depend on the gubernatorial candidate picking him.

Anyway, the ceremony was okay, though I'm still annoyed it was on a Monday at 7:30, giving me no time to get dinner before going there straight from work. The Monday evening scheduling probably also exacerbated traffic to and from the event since a Saturday graduation would have allowed for more carpooling.

That high school orchestra also did an okay job from what I heard. They played an apt musical selection before the principal spoke: "The Imperial March" from Star Wars. Actually, I think a more suitable and stirring anthem for the occasion would have been another work by composer John Williams, "The Mission Theme," which you hear a shortened version of anytime you tune into the opening or closing credits of the NBC Nightly News.

Anyway, congratulations Sarah and the rest of the Meade Senior High School class of 2005.

Non-profit political hacks like me get no respect

2005-06-08T10:34:00.000-04:00

I think there's a certain culture of the political non-profit that outsiders just can't understand sometimes. Maybe this is a minority view, maybe not, since most of my friends and acquaintances know how the political game is played and, at least I think, ultimately respect all the workers in the trenches of the political debate who work hard, are underpaid, love what they do, and aren't exactly working for the most altruistic of enterprises.

Here's a bit of a recent exchange with a friend of mine who generally finds the political rigmarole*, both liberal and conservative, exasperating. Name changed to protect the innocent.

Friend: What you do seems cold and snooty.
Friend: that's all I am saying.
terpfan79: that's your opinion and I respect that
terpfan79: I don't ask you to cut a check to support us
terpfan79: but some people do
terpfan79: and other people give money to our liberal counterparts
Friend: and maybe you go to church to compensate fo ra ll teh little evil things you do at [the place where I work]
terpfan79: lol
terpfan79: you know me all too well
terpfan79: mwa ha ha hah ha
terpfan79: ;-)
Friend: I think so...
terpfan79: yeah
Friend: you know
Prince of Perksia: we're having roast baby for lunch, then we're going to steal an elderly person's social security check to pay for dessert

* rig·ma·role P Pronunciation Key (rgm-rl) also rig·a·ma·role (--m-rl)
n.

Confused, rambling, or incoherent discourse; nonsense.
A complicated, petty set of procedures.

Chipotle!

2005-05-26T09:39:00.000-04:00

On Thursdays, the Washington Post runs special sections by subscription area for the county or city in which you reside. Mine is Anne Arundel County. In each of these sections they show a map of the respective county with listings for new construction projects, new shops, etc., that are in the works.

Today I find out a Chipotle is starting construction at Arundel Mills, which is only a mile and a half from my place. Suhweet. Run and hide, Baja Fresh of Arundel Mills! There's a new sheriff in town.

A very special guest blogger today...

2005-05-21T17:06:00.000-04:00

... my nephew Jonathan. Take it away, Jonathan:

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Carpooling with a Green Party voter

2005-05-16T01:03:00.000-04:00

So I started carpooling with a liberal friend of mine whose previous job was at a spice company close to her residence. She now works in the same building I do and not less than one week into work, she hates the "stress" of the commute. So she suggested carpooling each morning but taking the car to Greenbelt Metro and metrorailing in to the King Street station and then hoofing the rest of the way to work.

Anyway, I crunched the numbers on my end and found that I'd suffer a setback of $143.50/month and a daily inconvenience of a 55-minute-longer daily commute.

I won't labor to lay out my entire methodology here, but I'll explain to her tomorrow that her relief of "stress" from the commute is not worth a net loss $144 to me. I'll also show her that by my calculations her Metrorail method would set me back approximately $0.12 for every additional minute of Metro commuting hell I'd have to suffer.

In conclusion, Metro is no panacea to commuting woes in the DC area, especially if you live considerably outside the termini for the Metrorail lines.

###

If the UK is full of voters like this...

2005-05-02T17:12:00.000-04:00

...how ever can you take their reserve of geopolitical will seriously:

HATFIELD, England (AP) - Melanie Johnson swept into British Parliament in 1997 on a wave of enthusiasm for Tony Blair's Labour Party. With many Britons now souring on the prime minister, this may be the election one of his most loyal lieutenants loses her job. Blair's campaign to retain his commanding House of Commons majority will be decided Thursday in hard-fought races across the country, and Johnson's is one of the tightest.

Her close ties to the prime minister, a big asset when he was the popular face of change, have become a burden in a year when many voters are weary of his leadership and angry over what they see as his dishonesty, particularly on Iraq.

It's a battle for the votes of people like Kay Young, 43, who says she likes both the Conservative and Labour candidates but hasn't decided which way to vote. "I really don't want Tony Blair in," she said. "I disagree with his dictatorship. I disagree with Iraq."

Hmm, so basically, she's torn between the democratic choice between a an MP from a "dictator's" party and a party of feckless Thatcher shadows.

And I thought Democratic Florida voters were the pinnacle of political ignorance.

Posting on this blog

2005-04-28T11:02:00.000-04:00

Lately I've been posting more to other blogs and less to this one. To my faithful readers, I urge patience and also to check out and Restless Mania and Our Dwelling Place, my other two blogs.

This may eventually become a more personal blog, and hence be posted less frequently and less remarkably. It's not like I'm romancing some hot young thing right now or what not, for example, so I've nothing juicy to blog about as regards my personal life.

However, if you are a female reader, between the ages of say 22 and 27, and you have an obsession for yours truly, eh, maybe we can talk.

Okay, kidding. Sorta.

2005-04-18T00:53:00.000-04:00

A whole new level of weird

So I've experienced a lot of emotions in my life, and I can tell you---and perhaps you have been there before---that one of the weirdest ones is finding out an ex-girlfriend is now engaged. It's especially odd when your following relationships haven't panned out too much and you're still unattached.

Now, this girl and I haven't spoken on the phone since we broke up that way in July 2002. We occasionally chatted over AIM but aren't on terms really. I mean, I have nothing against her but I think she wasn't comfortable or interested in friendship post-breakup.

We were too different, perhaps, and there were warning signs I see more clearly now in hindsight. I liked her family, though, and I hope they're still doing fine. I guess it's just the nature of the breakup and what not I'm still not over. I'm over her per se. I won't lie and say there aren't times memories of being with her come to mind---she was my first serious girlfriend---but I think it's more thinking about how quickly life changes and moves.

Oh well, that said, to Mike and Michelle (not their real names), I wish you all the best for the future, and God's grace and blessing upon your union.

###

2005-04-14T10:58:00.000-04:00

Senator Trent Lott is Wolverine

You heard it here folks. A discussion with a Hill staffer below with the exclusive:

PrinceofPerksia (POP): bias
POP: bias
POP: page A1, washpost
POP: lott puts little bump behind him
POP: such a biased biased
POP: writeup
Capitol Hill staffer: hey mang, it's your party who madeh im step down
Capitol Hill staffer: we didn't have control over that
POP: no no
POP: it's not that
POP: it's the descriptive language
POP: clawing his way back to power
POP: puhleeze
POP: sleazy post scribe
POP: booo
Capitol Hill staffer: friend he does have claws, i saw him at the welfare markup committee meeting
POP: heh heh
POP: are they made of adamantium?
POP: you're saying
POP: my God, you are
POP: Sen. Lott is Wolverine?!
Capitol Hill staffer: they are fully-retractable adamantium-plated claws
POP: nice
Capitol Hill staffer: it hurts every time

2005-04-12T12:55:00.000-04:00

US Catholic Priesthood getting older, more educated, more foreign

An interesting press release by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. Wondering how much play this will get in the MSM, particularly cable outlets, considering the state of the Catholic Church is heavily covered in the news due to the papal funeral and upcoming conclave. I doubt there will be much coverage unless and until it is pressed into a template which calls for the end of mandatory priestly celibacy and/or women priests.

U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops: Increase in Median Age, Foreign-Born, Education among Newly Ordained Priests

To: National Desk, Religion Reporter

Contact: Sr. Mary Ann Walsh of United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 202-541-3200 (office); or 301-587-4762 (after hours)

WASHINGTON, April 12, /U.S. Newswire/ -- The ordination class of 2005 continues to reflect a trend toward older, better educated men with a substantial percentage born in foreign countries, according to a survey report by sociologist Dean Hoge, PhD.

Hoge, who heads the Life Cycle Institute of The Catholic University of America, wrote the report after considering trends in ordination classes since 1998 and comparing them with data on the men being ordained in 2005.

"The average age at ordination rose from 34.8 to 37.0," Hoge said.

"The level of education prior to entering the seminary rose," Hoge added. "Whereas in 1998, 30 percent had less than a B.A. or B.S. degree, in the 2005 sample only 28 percent had less than a B.A. or B.S. degree. Correspondingly, the percentage who had received a master's degree or a professional degree beyond the B.A. rose from 13 to 32. This is a notable change in only seven years." Among those being ordained are Augustus Puleo, who was a university professor before entering the seminary.

"The percentage born outside the U.S. rose from 24 to 27 percent. The four principal countries of birth today are Vietnam, Mexico, Philippines and Poland," Hoge said. The ordinands include Piotr Gnoinski, of the Archdiocese of Chicago, who was born in Poland; Thienan Tran, of the Diocese of Syracuse, who was born in Vietnam; Rommel Tolentino, of the Diocese of Lake Charles, Louisiana, who was born in the Philippines; and Juan Antonio Romo Romo, of the Society of the Divine Word, who was born in Mexico.

Hoge based his "Report on Survey of 2005 Priestly Ordination" on results of a survey conducted by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' vocations office. By the March 31 survey deadline there were 286 responses, 251 from diocesan ordinands and 35 from ordinands in religious congregations. Not all dioceses and religious orders responded.

Half of the diocesan ordinands are under age 35, including James Carter, 26, of the Diocese of Knoxville, Tennessee, a student at the Pontifical North American College and one of three men being ordained for the diocese this year. Four percent are over 60, including 70-year-old Joseph Lang, a widowed father of three.

Asian or Pacific Islanders make up 12 percent of all the ordinands, a percentage substantially higher than the estimated two to three percent of the Asians or Pacific Islanders in the total U.S. Catholic population. They include Benjamin Nguyen of the Diocese of Wichita, Kansas, who attended the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio.

The percentage of Hispanic/Latino seminarians dropped to 10 percent this year. Last year it was 12 percent. The figure is significantly lower than the 25-30 percent of Catholics estimated to be Hispanic/Latino.

Only one percent of the Class of 2005 is African American. African Americans constitute three to four percent of the Catholic Church in the United States.

For 2005, the Archdiocese of Chicago and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis have the largest number of ordinands with 16 and 15 men, respectively.

Catholic education is suggested to be a significant factor in cultivating vocations.

"The levels of Catholic schooling among the ordinands does not differ from that in the total U.S. Catholic population. For example, in a 1993 Gallup survey, 54 percent of Catholics 54 or younger reported that they had attended Catholic elementary school. Among the ordinands, 53 percent reported having attended Catholic elementary school," Hoge said.

"But the ordinands show higher rates of attending Catholic high school than the general U.S. population: 40 percent compared to only 26 percent in the general U.S. population," Hoge said.

"In the cohort of 35 to 54 years old in the general population, only 10 percent attended a Catholic college, compared to 45 percent of the ordinands of 2005", Hoge said.

They include Jesuit Mark Carr, who graduated from Jesuit-run Marquette University, and Jesuit Casey Beaumier, an alumnus of Jesuit-run St. Louis University. Both men are members of the Wisconsin Jesuit Province.

Six percent of the ordinands are converts to the Catholic faith. The range of age at conversion is from 11 to 35.

"On the average, the ordinands converted to Catholicism at 22.2 years of age," Hoge said. Alonzo Garcia, who will be ordained for the Diocese of Tucson, Arizona, converted when he was 12. Tyson Wood, from the Archdiocese of Baltimore, served as a Lutheran pastor for six years before joining the Catholic Church. He said he found his call to priesthood while serving in the military.

Many of the ordinands took part in diocesan and parish vocation programs. Thirty-nine percent attended "Come and See" diocesan programs, (a time to visit a seminary or monastery in order to learn more) and 20 percent attended parish vocation programs. A solid number were involved in their parishes, with 59 percent involved as Eucharistic ministers, 76 percent as altar servers, and 68 percent as lectors. Fifty-three percent attended religious retreats. In addition, 27 percent had participated in World Youth Day, including Jesuit Casey Beaumier and Angel Perez- Lopez of the Archdiocese of Denver.

Only 217 ordinands mentioned full-time employment before entering the seminary. Of them, 14 percent worked in education, including Jesuit Mark Carr. Fourteen percent worked in labor and farming, including John Paul Gardner, a farmer from the Bismarck diocese. Seven percent worked in banking, including Kevin Sandberg of the Congregation of the Holy Cross, who worked in financial services/securities.

Five percent cited work in the military, including Michael Morris of the Diocese of St. Petersburg, Florida, who was a U.S. Air Force intelligence officer and Middle East analyst. He was encouraged to enter the priesthood by a military chaplain and expects to return to the Air Force as a chaplain in 2008.

Four percent worked in nursing, including Thomas Quinn; and two percent in law, including Mark Kramer, SJ.

Bishop Blase Cupich, chairman of the USCCB Vocations Committee, noted the wide-ranging background of the Class of 2005. "It is heartening to know that these men are coming from all walks of life and the ranks of the priesthood are being filled by candidates from such diverse backgrounds," Bishop Cupich said. "These men will enrich the Church. They offer great promise."

2005-04-05T11:56:00.000-04:00

EJ Dionne is right

Something you won't hear me say often, but his column today is dead on regarding how the legacy of Pope John Paul II should not be analyzed in the media in secular political lingo:

At a 1986 Mass, the Pope declared that "Easter in the church means the passage to Eternal Life that comes from God and is life in God. No promised land on this earth can assure such a liberty, such a life."

Those of us still on "this earth," often struggling for the faith that so animated John Paul, will inevitably debate the meaning of his legacy in the secular terms that so dominate our times. We should try to remember that these were not the terms on which he lived his life.

Now if only Dionne would take those words to heart and stop trying to use my tax dollars to make Paradise on earth. But oh well.

###

2005-03-27T15:13:00.000-05:00

Do I look that old, or was the doctor just dead on his feet?

So last night my sister fell from a pine tree from about 10 feet and landed on her back. She was taken by ambulance to the hospital, neck braced and on a backboard and all that stuff to ensure she was stabilized. At the ER, she was examined and they determined there was no damage to her spinal column, but her sternum had a fracture.

Anyway, at one point I'm back in the curtain area with her and my parents are in the waiting room. The ER doc comes in and asks me, "are you her father?" "No," I answered, "I'm her brother."

Now, my sister is 17, I'm 26. Do I look like I could be in my mid to late 30's or something?

Maybe the doctor was just exhausted after a long double shift or something.

2005-03-16T23:58:00.000-05:00

Fake scandal over fake news

The Washington Post is positively outraged that the Bush Administration puts out "fake news" video press releases which supposedly dupe mostly red state local TV news directors into being unwilling accomplices of the Bush message machine.

So now not only is Bush somehow responsible for Jeff Gannon's supposedly irreparable damage to the honor and integrity of the White House press corps, he's responsible for lazy reporters, editors, and news directors failing to do their job.

Ladies and gents, everyone in the media knows that political news releases, to say the least, are to be taken with a pinch, if not a shaker of salt. No reporter in his/her right mind runs a news release verbatim, unless, perhaps, it is completely devoid of editorial commentary and strictly sticks to independently verifiable facts. And in any case, a dereliction of this duty is in no way the fault of the author of the press release, but rather the reporters and editors who failed to properly report it as an opinion from a source with an agenda, not objective fact.

That the Post and other media outlets with a liberal editorial bent get their panties in a wad illustrates a frustration not with so much with the ethics of the Bush Administration but rather with their success in communicating their message above and beyond their once-authoritative screening.

The editors should reserve their scorn NOT for government PR flaks doing their job---spinning for the government---but rather for the local news honchos who are supposed to be skeptical and wary of everything that crosses the transom, and not just only that which proceeds from the bowels of the Bush administration.

###

PS: If and when I get the inspiration and occasion, I think I'll compare news articles in the Post with the text of news releases by liberal orgs to print reporters to see just how much of the loaded language therein gets parroted in publication.

2005-03-15T15:53:00.001-05:00

Why is it every time I got to McDonald's...

... or Burger King or Chik-Fil-A and I order chicken nuggets, and they ask what sauce I want with them, and I say "honey," they ask me, "honey mustard?"

No no no no no no no no NO!

Honey. Just plain honey. If i wanted honey mustard, I'd have said "honey mustard." I want just, plain, HONEY!

###

2005-03-15T15:53:00.000-05:00