Richey Rich

As we knew when Reagan first preached it way back when: trickle down doesn't work, giving the rich massive tax breakddddddddddddddddddd

Guilty Pleasure versus So Glad You are Gone

Having teenagers in the house means you watch a few different shows - may be not all of the way through - but at least a big.

Guilty Pleasures:

Glee, Secret Life of the American Teenager, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit


Glad You are Gone or Looking forward to When you are Gone or Will be Gone:

Huge, 16 and Pregnant, Sister Wives, 19 and Counting, anything involving Sarah Palin or Kate Gosselin


Secret TV theory:

TLC is run by Mormons. Not only do they routinely go out of their way to promote massive families, they also promote polygamy. Next years TLC big hits will be the Glenn Beck reality show and a reality show based on a family that goes from millionaires to living in poverty by shoveling their money into the "Church of" Scientology.


If only I were a freak enough to have my own TLC series.

Bush Memoirs

OK - I'm tempted to read a copy of the Decision Points - but only if I can borrow it.

Bush was a stunningly bad President and his totally willingness to do what he wanted to regardless of the outcome helped put us where we are today with the deficit, the economy, and in Afghanistan.

Will he opt out of accepting responsibility by using the "it was a hard decision and did what I thought best" approach to not accepting responsibility OR will he own up to it?

Bush is like the drunk uncle that always ruins the party - it is a wreck by you can't help but want to see what he is going to do.

Sweet moves

Watch this trick play ... and be glad you weren't playing defense ... so you don't have to watch over and over again for years to come.




(Link found on the MichiganZone website)

10 weeks of dental work comes to an end

Over two months ago I went for a routine cleaning. That lead to a series of fillings, some gratuitous and some justified. One back tooth had decay under a filling, which lead to first a filling and then the need for a crown. The initial filling traumatized the root. A root canal was completed . . . and the crown placed. Total cost about $3,000.

Dentists are clearly better than tax collectors, but they always seem to involve both pain and cost.

I'd rather have my teeth go as long as possible, don't get me wrong, but it is what it is.

Veteran's Day Ups and Downs

I started the day getting a root canal on tooth number 15. Way in the back.

At about lunch time, I got a call that my aunt passed away today. Her death was apparenlty pretty quick, either a heart attack or a stroke. My aunt had pulled the rope for assistance in her home and by the time they arrived, she was already dead. She was a kind soul who made an amazing grape pie. We spent summers and Christmas's with her family. I recently drove my Father to see her and blogged about the drive from Oxford to NC. My aunt was cared for by her daughter and seemed very thankful for where she was.

It leaves my Father as the last remaining surviving member from his generation on my father's side. There is a living aunt, wife of my Mother's brother, on the other side. It was something to see them together. Each knew it was quite possible it would be the last time they would see other and, even though it was a short visit, it clearly involved some introspection on both of their parts.

Life should be treasured.

A lesson worth remembering on Veteran's day. A time to be thankful for my Aunt's 88 years and for not to forget the many people that lost their lives or gave part of their lives for this country.

This evening I picked up a copy of the Community Sporting News in Chapel Hill. An old friend of mine writes a column on the back. It so happened that he was talking about our old soccer team, the "Head Beers" and how it was some of the best times of his life. I was honored to see my name mentioned, even though I was just happy to be tagging along. The "Big Guy" as we called him was sort of a genius. At that time he was a single father driving around in a beat up Toyota mini van running Rainbow Soccer. Later he would get a law degree and work with the District Attorney. Given a different set of circumstances he might have been a CEO and taken on Donald Trump.

Happy memories I did not expect to find on a sober day.

Finally some victories

Watched the first half of the Michigan-Illinois game. In case you didn't know, Michigan's defense is truly stunningly bad. There defense is occasionally really good. It was a classic shoot out today: Michigan 67 - Illinois 65.

UNC beat Florida State 37-35 to win tight ACC game. A nice victory for UNC after a tough start of the season.

After that I slipped over to watch East Chapel Hill High beat Chapel Hill 2-1 for the NC State Championship. My daughter was pulled up from JV to sit on the bench, so, as a result she gets a medal for being on the team (though because she didn't play wouldn't qualify for a letter - though she got one as a Freshman in Lacosse). She was ambivalent about the honor and that strikes me about right. The game, however, was pretty exciting. East Chapel Hill has won the title the last 3 years in row and will lose another set of key seniors.