REASONABLE PRUDENCE

Santa

2009-12-24T22:42:00.002-06:00

We have been following Santa tonight on the NORAD tracker. Currently, he is in Hartford, CT, with Providence, RI his next stop. Ella is beside herself with excitement. She has insisted on sleeping with the shades open so that she can see him if he flies by her side of the house and she happens to be awake.

Somebody hire me

2009-12-18T09:48:00.003-06:00

Seriously, I could be a nationally syndicated columnist if this is all it takes.

Column title: "Violence based on hate has to stop"

Now that is going out on a limb. I wonder how he feels about violence based on love? I guess we will have to wait another day for that column.

Also, take note of the disclaimer at the end of the column: "The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Ruben Navarrette Jr." In other words, if you are pro-violence based on hate, please don't hold Mr. Navarrette's controversial opinion against CNN.com.

Apples to apples

2009-12-15T14:24:00.004-06:00

Let's see:

Jewish man plies child with alcohol at man's home. Check.
Man sodomizes child. Check.
Only people with "an anti-Semitic and anti-fag thing" will think that he doesn't deserve to live out the rest of his years in a mansion in France? No check.

Link.

A prominent Twin Cities lawyer who was in line to become president of the Minnesota State Bar Association was charged Monday with plying a teenage boy with alcohol at his home and then raping him.

The crime is reprehensible whether you are famous person who make movies or an average joe who just goes to movies.

Back on track

2009-12-14T22:12:00.001-06:00

After a dismal performance last week against the Cardinals, the Vikes got back on track with a convincing win over a team that came in with a 9-3 record. Highlights here.

This is getting old

2009-12-07T19:52:00.002-06:00

Today we attended the funeral for another former colleague taken before his time. Mid-50s and on top of the world until 3 months ago, when cancer took over. I have never been to so many funerals in one year. And only one was for someone over 60, and he was only 62. I'm really getting sick of it.

Tiger

2009-12-07T18:00:00.009-06:00

Setting aside the asshole factor, I never in my wildest dreams could have imagined that Tiger would be so arrogant and reckless. If the rumors are true that he basically picked a different woman out of the crowd every time he went out "hunting," and that he had ongoing encounters with several of them, his fall from grace will reach historic proportions. He is Exhibit A for the axiom "the bigger they are, the harder they fall." But the real question is, why did it take so long for him to be exposed? It certainly sounds like this was an open secret, which is a concept from a bygone era. How did he keep a lid on it for this long?

SNL finds some humor in this personal disaster for a guy that I previously considered too smart to engage in such self-destructive behavior. Never in his life has he experienced anything but unending praise and hero worship. Now it is ridicule 24/7, and he has become the butt of every comedians' jokes. It has to be killing him.

10-1

2009-11-30T11:03:00.002-06:00

The Vikes are making it look easy. Highlights here.

More crazy

2009-11-23T12:38:00.002-06:00

Can't Glenn Beck just go away? To me, he makes as much sense as the average homeless guy who walks down the street muttering about the end of the world. But I guess that although I find his schtick annoying, what I find downright scary is the fact that, based on the ratings for his TV show, it obviously resonates with a not inconsequential number of people who don't reside in hospitals for the mentally ill. God help us.

9-1

2009-11-22T17:42:00.003-06:00

Highlights here. I don't know how this is going to turn out, but I do know at least two things. First, the team is playing incrementally better every week. That should concern the rest of the NFC playoff teams. Second, what Favre is doing at 40 is beyond incredible. Today's game may be the best game that I have ever seen from a Vikings QB. He was 22 for 25. That set a completion percentage record for the team. And the three incompletions were two dropped passes, and an intentional throwaway. Oh, and 4 TD passes. The Force appears to be with him right now.

Tom Petters

2009-11-19T19:39:00.004-06:00

Petters may not be national news, despite his multi-billion dollar Ponzi scheme. In the era of Madoff, that seems to be small potatoes. But to hear him claim that his underlings pulled it all off (billions!) without him having any knowledge because he was distracted while grieving over the death of his son is insulting to our collective intelligence and a disgrace. I don't know how a man like him can look in the mirror.

Problem for Obama

2009-11-16T14:18:00.007-06:00

It seems clear to me that Obama is not being served well by his protocol advisors. See here. More importantly, Obama has inflicted upon himself a problem that is likely to hurt him in the 2012 election.

I guarantee that these photos will be prominently re-displayed by the 2012 GOP presidential candidate. I can already see the GOP ads that will be along the lines of the "there is a bear in the woods" ad that Reagan ran so effectively, with these photos and an ominous narrative: "The choice is between a man who begs the rest of the world to like us [Obama], and a man/woman [TBA] who will not bow to anyone."

These are serious unforced errors. Elections should not be influenced by such trivial matters, but they often are. And if Obama's people don't realize now that this is a problem that they will have to deal with during their next campaign, they are stupid.

8-1

2009-11-16T12:40:00.004-06:00

Another victory; 27-10. The point difference should have been much higher, but the spread was dead on accurate. Highlights here.

I'm starting to believe that this team might have a destiny. Yet, every season during my lifetime has, ultimately, ended in disappointment.

My earliest memory is (5 years old) crying after the Vikes, 13 point favorites, lost Super Bowl IV to the Chiefs. After that, there were three more Super Bowl losses, and multiple NFC conference championship losses that gradually caused a part of my soul to turn bitter.

So here is to hoping--as much for my 82 year old father who has been a die-hard Vikings fan since they were created almost 40 years ago as for me--that this is "the year."

Whale of an explosion

2009-11-12T19:47:00.002-06:00

This is hilarious. This was clearly a guy's idea. "I know, let's blow it up."

Juggling

2009-11-12T15:37:00.002-06:00

This is pretty amazing.

3D Sidewalk Chalk Drawings

2009-11-12T11:35:00.004-06:00

This stuff is unbelieveably cool. Google the title of this post and you will find a lot more mind-blowing stuff.

Generosity

2009-11-11T14:52:00.002-06:00

One of our local football players was making mischief during the bye week.

But one Minnesota Viking did something different last week. He spent a day with egghead intellectuals at a health-care symposium, then gave away $2 million the next day to improve health care in impoverished communities.

And Williams is not alone among the Vikings. AP gives a lot back too.

I'm proud to root for these guys.

Veterans Day

2009-11-11T09:10:00.003-06:00

Here is the video of Obama's speech at Fort Hood yesterday. It will be remembered in the same category as Reagan's wonderful speech after the Challenger disaster.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

It is a game

2009-11-09T18:11:00.004-06:00

I expect professional athletes who get paid millions of dollars to show up for every game, if at all realistically possible. But there is a line between suck-it-up and outright stupidity. So, along that line, my view is that that anyone who criticizes Ryan Clark for not playing tonight should go out and stand on a railroad track and play chicken with the train. Make a bet in advance so that you can say that you did it for the money.

Link.

DENVER -- The Pittsburgh Steelers do not plan to play safety Ryan Clark on Monday night in Denver because of concern over Clark's health, an NFL source said Sunday.
Clark has a rare blood condition that nearly caused him to die after his last game played in Denver in 2007. Clark was hospitalized in Denver when complications from sickle-cell trait prevented oxygen from flowing into his spleen. He later needed operations to remove his spleen and gall bladder, and the 205-pound Clark lost more than 30 pounds before he finally began feeling better more than two months later.
Clark received medical clearance to play Monday night, however, the source said the Steelers decided it wasn't worth the risk. . .

How this was ever a close call is beyond me.

November 9, 1989

2009-11-09T10:23:00.008-06:00

This is the 20th anniversary of one of the top few most historic days in my lifetime. It causes me to think of my younger days, and a man who greatly influenced the course of world events.

During the first semester of my freshman year in college, ABC aired the made for TV movie, The Day After. I remember having nightmares after watching it and having it really sink in for the first time that the entire country could be virtually destroyed within 30 minutes if a leader in the Soviet Union got an itchy trigger finger. That movie, as much anything, started my course of study in international relations and national security issues.

Two years later, after taking every available course at St. Olaf in those areas, I transferred to The George Washington University so that I could major in international affairs. I wanted to know everything I could about the political systems and military capabilities of the Soviet Union and its satellite countries in Eastern Europe. While I was in Washington, I was also lucky enough to procure an internship at the State Department in the Bureau of Politico-Military Affairs. There, I got a behind the scenes look at how foreign affairs regarding military issues operate at levels that don't make the newspapers. It was absolutely fascinating.

During my college years, Reagan was president. Although he was caricatured by his opponents, particularly in Western Europe, as a war-mongering cowboy (not unlike another president 20 years later), I was absolutely convinced that he was pursuing policies that offered the best chance to protect the country from the potential catastrophe of war. And, in fact, his steadfastness in the face of the protests over the deployment of Pershing missiles and cruise missiles in West Germany led directly to the INF Treaty, the first treaty ever to actually result in the reduction of the number of nuclear weapons rather than just limitations on increases in the number of nuclear weapons.

But Reagan's greatest contribution to West Germany was a speech that was heard around the world. It didn't start the snowball, but it definitely gave it a huge boost.

Which leads back to this day in history. It would not have happened, at least as quickly and and peacefully as it did, but for Ronald Reagan. And for that, the Gipper deserves an honorable mention on this day.

Fort Hood

2009-11-06T14:42:00.008-06:00

If this NPR story is true (audio below), it seems to me to be less plausible, rather than more plausible, that Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan (the shooter) had actual connections to (as opposed to a shared philosophy with) al-Qaeda. If this story is true, Hasan was desperately trying to bring attention to himself and his murderous and extremist beliefs and his colleagues and superiors were not listening. If this story is true, the fallout is going to be massive.

The difference between how men and women think

2009-11-03T22:09:00.001-06:00

In 10 minutes. Very funny. But only because it is so insightful.

Benedict Arnold returns home

2009-11-02T10:08:00.006-06:00

The traitor returned to Lambeau. And he lit up the Packers with 4 touchdown passes.

I'm sure that today he is thinking that life is pretty sweet. Highlights here.

Sleepless in Wayzata

2009-10-30T23:53:00.021-05:00

I had a gut wrenching, isolated talk with a 10 year old boy tonight at our Halloween party. This boy has endured unspeakable tragedy recently. His Dad, my age, just died; no warning. My words to the distraught boy, which I deemed well selected at the time, seem empty in retrospect. The only thing that I could think of, in general substance conveyed over several minutes, was that "as unfair as this is, you have got to keep going on living your life one day at a time, while always honoring his memory." After an hour in bed trying to figure out how I might have selected my words differently, and still coming up empty, I gave up and got up seeking a way to distract my thoughts. So far, it isn't working.

What do you say to a 10 year old who just lost a parent?

Another edition of "Not from the Onion"

2009-10-29T23:10:00.003-05:00

I saw this story headline on an airport TV screen today and I had to look it up when I got home (3 hours late) to find out whether CNN was actually serious.

Mate debate: Is monogamy realistic?
. . . . In the age of hookups, friends with benefits and online dating, and as human life expectancy grows, is it still reasonable to expect people to pair up and stay monogamous until death do them part?

"It's realistic that some people can mate for life in the same sense that some people can play the Beethoven violin concerto or other people can ice-skate beautifully or learn a new language," said psychiatrist Judith Eve Lipton.

You have to be exceptionally gifted to maintain a monogamous relationship?

More Polanski

2009-10-28T20:14:00.008-05:00

One of my few readers has figured out what will enrage me. Hat-tip: DG.

I believe that there is such a thing as a victimless crime. But Polanski's crime does not fit into that category.

Gore Vidal.

In September, director Roman Polanski was arrested in Switzerland for leaving the U.S. in 1978 before being sentenced to prison for raping a 13-year-old girl at Jack Nicholson’s house in Hollywood. During the time of the original incident, you were working in the industry, and you and Polanski had a common friend in theater critic and producer Kenneth Tynan. So what’s your take on Polanski, this many years later?

I really don’t give a fuck. Look, am I going to sit and weep every time a young hooker feels as though she’s been taken advantage of? . . .
What do you mean?
The media can’t get anything straight. Plus, there’s usually an anti-Semitic and anti-fag thing going on with the press – lots of crazy things. The idea that this girl was in her communion dress, a little angel all in white, being raped by this awful Jew, Polacko – that’s what people were calling him – well, the story is totally different now from what it was then.

A "respected" author suggesting that the 13 year old girl had it coming? And I am anti-Semitic and homophobic for disapproving of an adult male sodomizing a 13 year girl?

I'm not a tough guy, but if any guy said that in front of me and I thought he was serious, I'm not sure that I could resist the urge to punch him. If we aren't committed to protecting children, we are worthless as a society. Gore Vidal is a disgrace of a human being.