Kari is feeling better

In a recent post, I had mentioned that Kari was feeling ill. Turns out she developed "walking pneumonia." She finally went to the doctor and is feeling much better now, but she was in bed for more than a week.

New Book

I just finished the book, "Ghost Wars," by Steve Coll. This is the book that just won the Pulitzer for non-fiction. It was fantastic. If you were wondering about the United States relationship with Afghanistan/Pakistan and Saudi Arabia from 1979 to September 10, 2001, this is the book. There wasn't alot that I didn't know the main story of, but it fills in lots of background data.

2005 Dodgers

Since it has been some time since I have been to a Dodger's game (probably 16 years) due to a geographic problem, I was pleased to see the Dodgers on ESPN last night. And what a great game it was. Although I didn't recognize many of the players, it was nice to see some offensive and even defensive production.

The Dodgers started Jeff Weaver, whom I recently discovered played little league around the same time I did in the same area (Simi Valley). He sported his usual scowl and did give up a dinger to the Reds' pitcher Eric Milton, but otherwise pitched a good game. The only comment I would make is that can't he give up grounders instead of all those fly balls? Some of them haven't landed yet.

Portland in May

Well, it is back to normal for our weather here in Portland. At 7:00 p.m. this evening, it is about 48 degrees and it has been raining all day. That certainly doesn't help Kari's flu/cold or whatever it is that she has. Fortunately, I have been thusfar immune to the sickness. She seems to be getting slightly better, although I am sure she doesn't feel like it.

Pope Benedict XVI

Now that we have a new pope, it is time for everyone to stop treating the Catholic Church like it is a democracy.

The Catholic Church follows a very fine line: life and charity. It is not time to start breaking these important traditions. Not now, not ever. If American Catholics have a problem with the tradition of the Church, they can always fall out, convert or become excommunicated.

New NY Times Columnist

This morning, the New York Times newest opinion columnist, John Thierney, wrote about a recent book detailing New York's drop in crime over the past decade. You may recall that Mayor Rudolph Giuliani ran a campaign to "clean up the city." He kicked porn vendors and "Squeegie Men" off the street, particularly Times Square. Due to hiring additional cops and being tougher on crime than his predecessors (David Dinkens, Mario Cuomo, etc.), crime dropped, or so thought many public policy analysts.

Fortunately, however, the real reason comes out, as Mr. Thierney reluctantly seems to agree. Abortion. Yes, because abortion became legal in the early 1970's, less would-be criminals existed because of abortions, and therefore, the crime rate dropped. Because, obviously, these aborted children would have been unloved, spent their entire youths in foster-homes, taking drugs and committing crimes.

Whew, am I glad we solved that! And New Yorkers want to know why people don't like them? Thomas Frank, what's the matter with New York?

New Name

I decided to turn down the flaming rhetoric and make this more of a site describing my daily life. So the blog's name is now Vandyblog.

I won't change my passions, but I will try to speak more about my ordinary life.