Lincolnite

Four high school students from Phoenix, all illegal, beat a corporate-funded MIT team in an engineering competition? Yeah, right. Only in a cheesy Disney movie. Or not. (I also came across a brief follow-up article.

C-Span, the only TV channel that matters anymore for news, again replayed the Senate Foreign Relations Cmte meeting of last week this morning. I caught parts of it last week but had an opportunity to watch the whole thing today, including Dodd, Biden and Kerry go ballistic over John Bolton. A synopsis of all the Bolton allegations from an anti-Bolton perspective can be found here and here. To recap, Bolton has alleged problems about exagerating WMD claims, overstepping bureaucratic lines to get people fired who disagreed with him, patterns of "serial abuse" (most recent allegation here), and overall credibility problems - debate over his ideology notwithstanding. Republican Senator Voinovich made a lot of headlines for voicing his initial opposition to Bolton during the meeting, which would deadlock the nomination 9-9. Since then Voinovich has been been the focus of a lot of hate mail recently, for example see Malkin's latest take on it. Where will Nebraska's favorite politician weigh in on the nomination? During the meeting, the Chuckster said that he wanted to move the nomination out of committee but that he wasn't necessarily going to vote for Bolton on the senate floor and that the allegations "demanded" further review. In fact, the Chuckster is being targeted by liberal groups to vote against Bolton and has yet again opted to depart from the party line and voice concern over Bolton. In anycase, you can send the Chuckster's constituent office an email if you support, or oppose, the appointment of this crazy man as UN Ambassador.

*sigh* Even the good are eventually overcome by evil. The latest victim: Google. Their crime: Google is trying to shut down Froogles because the name is similar to Google's service, Froogle. Too bad Froogles was first -- by two years. Google is starting to look more and more like Wal-Mart.

This is easily one of the most entertaining (and bizzaro) stories I've read in quite some time.

The new USDA food pyramid is now here! However, instead of a one size fits all pyramid, the feds have gotten “internet-savvy” and allow you (member of the unwashed masses) to enter your age, gender, and activity level online at their new website to obtain your own personalized pyramid. Some of the information on the website is useful, but after repeated attempts to get my personal pyramid, the site timed-out. Apparently so many people are trying to get their personal pyramids that its overwhelming the system or something like that. Its a pyramid overload!!! Anyway, why the hell didn’t they ask you to enter your weight as well?

I read an article over lunch that generated some questions for me. In the article, the Pope's brother said:

"I am very concerned. I would have thought [Benedict XVI's] advanced age and his health which is not very stable would have been reason enough for the cardinals to pick someone else," said a visibly moved in an interview on German television after the election of his 78-year-old brother. "But the cardinals made their decision and that is the will of God," said Ratzinger, himself a prelate.

It was the last line that got me. How does Mr. Ratzinger know the will of God? In his mind, his brother being selected Pope is the will of God by definition. The Pope is the Pope because, ultimately, God chose him. That's all well and good -- well, except for the fact that it's all incredibly tautological -- but what does that say for the notion of free will? I'm not familiar with the ins and outs of Catholic doctrine, so maybe somebody can explain to me the Catholic church's position on free will. Mr. Ratzinger is saying that God enacted His will through the actions of the cardinals. That, to me, seems antithetical to the notion of free will. More generically, are free will and God's will compatible? Is it possible for free will to exist in a universe in which God can superimpose His will on humanity? In one sense the notion of God's will is comforting. It implies a God active in our daily lives. It means He is watching (or looming) over us, ensuring that life goes according to His (hopefully benevolent) plan. And it means we are all living out God's purpose. On the other hand, if God's will supercedes human free will ... well, that's a little freaky. It implies a world in which humans are little more than God's playthings. Am I really writing this stuff on my own, or rather am I writing exactly what God is commanding me to write? Any thoughts, anyone?

Today is 4/20. I stopped by Mr. T's office this morning; he's already "hard at work" with a towel stuffed under his door.

Bets are now on: $5 that the French people will get their heads out of their asses and realize that the upcoming constitution vote will be passed. - notice that was in US dollars and not euros 😉

Joe Dailey is moving on. As glad as I am to know that he won't be running the Husker offense this fall, I'm still disappointed to see him go. Dailey is a fine athlete and he could have made great contributions to the team. But not at quarterback. I don't blame the guy one bit. Dropping from top dog to runt-of-the-litter isn't easy, and it's especially hard for somebody who has already taken as much abuse (deserved and undeserved) as Dailey has. Best of luck to you, Joe.

A while back I posted several blog entries about an eminent domain battle in Lakewood, Ohio. (I'm too lazy to go find the entries right now.) Anyway, I missed this news from last month: the property owners couldn't convince the city to buzz off, so they went to the voters. And nearly 2/3 of the voters said 'Up yours, Lakewood! We value our fellow citizens' property rights!" Something to remember here in Lincoln.

Today the Lincoln Journal Star published the first of a 3-part series on Pat Deuel. Our Deuel Watch research staff has sifted through the article to bring you the juicy highlights: "He sits on a love seat supported by cement blocks...." "...some of his favorite foods: Pizza Hut, McDonald's, Lays and Chef Boyardee; Blue Bunny, Milky Way and Little Debbie...." "...so bloated with fluid his wife avoids touching him, fearing his skin might tear under the pressure. He can move only one arm and partially rotate his head." "In fact, the bulge is a panniculus, a sheet of stretched skin and fat that would form a mound of a belly if not for gravity." "A yellow pallor tints his loose, almost shapeless face. Semi-circles the color of partially healed bruises hang under his eyes." "The rechargeable vacuum draws drainage from three wound sites on his torso." "Finally he snatches a tiny wastebasket off the floor and retches. 'Sorry about that. Normally I can tolerate burritos, but not today,' he says." "Drivers and passengers stare. They laugh and point. Some speed around the block for another look."

A nightmare come true?

Important vote coming up in France!

There's no way to know for sure if ... dogs are in fact thinking their way around life's problems, but if not then one thing is certain: They're extremely good at fooling people into thinking they are.

Read the whole thing.