what is it good for?

I heard a news report earlier today stating that the war in Iraq has cost our country in excess of $1.2 trillion per year. The very next story was about the government raising costs of fees for immigrants to go through the naturalization process. When questioned about how the poor who want to come to our country are going to raise more than $1000, the panelist responded "Well, the fact is that we have to find some way to cover the costs associated with the process - more than $30 million per year." Say! I've got an idea! What if we consult with Edwin Starr?

airplane vs zero hour

One of the funniest movies ever has to be Airplane. I had no idea that it was a scene-for-scene remake of an old movie called Zero Hour. Much of the dialog came directly from the old film. Here's some examples:

sanborn? blues? fat black singers with incredible pipes? check!

This is a great performance of Stormy Monday from Sanborn's old TV show Night Music. For those of you keeping score at home, that's Dianne Reeves & David Peaston singing.

wow! more zack kim!

sanborn plays bacharach

Here's a groovy 70s-licious little thang from Sanborn playing with Burt Bacharach and orchestra. If you're a music aficionado, you'll love the unique retro vibe.

shift happens

This is a little long, but some really interesting stats here. Of course, I have no idea what their sources are, so I'm not totally sold. If nothing else, the animation is pretty slick.

blog under construction

I've been wanting to switch to the new version of Blogger, but I've been stalling. I finally began the process tonight.

I've added several new features, but as you can see - it's still in the plain brown wrapper.

Check back in a while to dig my full-blown joint yo!

randumb awesomeness

Another one of my son's great funny videos. This one is along the lines of the "Stick Figures on Crack" vids sweeping the web...

two-guitar version of the simpsons theme song

This is insane! AWESEOME!

i like turtles zombie t-shirt website

I was moved by Jonathan and his brave shout-out to turtles on the local news. So move, I bought a website. Check it out here. You've seen the video clip, now get the T-Shirt!

I'm selling t-shirts for any who are interested. Of course, they don't exist yet. I'm going to wait until a few dozen people to order before printing.

So if you have about $18 bucks burning a hole in yer pocket, remember - it will go to a good cause... getting me rich!

pope announces that i am not really a Christian

Well, crap! Just when I thought denominationalism was a thing of the past and the break of the reformation might give way to open minds on both sides, CNN reports that the pope is clarifying the stance of the catholic church that it is the only full, true Church of Christ.

In a related story, he also said his dad was stronger than mine and that he had an ice cream cone and I didn't (because I'm on foodstamps ;).

Anyone want to take bets on how long it will take the protestants to fire back? It's a real shame how much energy and focus we believers waste on bickering and posing. It reminds me of James and John and their mom trying to work the angles to get them as close to the top of the ladder as possible.

militant or student? it's all in your perspective

I woke up this morning to a CNN story about 50 people dead as a mosque in Pakistan was being stormed. There's been a standoff here for at least a week or two, so you knew it was coming.

What struck me was that CNN classified these people as "militants". I assume they wouldn't call themselves that, so I went to the BBC to get a slightly more objective view. But there too, these people were "militants".

I went to Al Jazeera's english site to get a different (if not very dependable) point of view. Here, they were called "Armed students and eight soldiers".

This distinction is important. It's hard to sympathize with the position of a "militant". We don't refer to our nation's founders as "militants", but they were basically in the same boat. They were protesting the occupation of their lands by a foreign power.

That being said, there are obvious differences in the two camps. I don't think early Americans hid in churches and surrounded themselves with children to prevent retaliation. They also understood that any answer needed to include political as well as military advances. Plus, I don't think Washington ever snuck out of a battle dressed in women's clothes ;)

It strikes me that we live in an age where there are basically only extreme views presented: Where news agencies are either unable or unwilling to be objective. You have your right-wing groups (Fox) and your left-wing ones (NBC). And it's not just our news agencies. BBC, Al Jazeera - they all have their leanings.

I think that's why everywhere in the world, division seems to run so deep. Red states vs blue states. Crossfire. It sure is good for news ratings! But I think it's bad for everyone else.

jo jo para presidente

This is a GREAT little clip my son Matt put together in Flash. It stars my adopted son Josiah (aka Jo Jo) when he was about 6 months old.



Check out all of Matt's videos here.

brian regan stupid in school

This is a great comedy bit dubbed over some Japanese cartoon...

andy mckee = incredible guitar player

Drifing


Rylynn


Africa (by Toto)


For My Father

the best interview ever!

I hate dumb questions from interviewers. It's refreshing to see this little guy working his OWN agenda!