New Blog

A week or so ago Blogger wiped out this blog. When I attempted to access the blog I got an error message saying it had been removed. I wrote their help desk and got no response until today. This evening I got an email saying:

Hello,

Your blog has been reviewed, verified, and cleared for regular use so that it will no longer appear as potential spam. If you sign out of Blogger and sign back in again, you should be able to post as normal. Thanks for your patience, and we apologize for any inconvenience this has caused.

Sincerely,
The Blogger Team

In the meantime, since I am not as patient as they gave me credit for being, I started a new blog - Keane Observations. To avoid confusion I will no longer be posting at this blog.

William F. Buckley Jr., RIP

William F. Buckley father of the modern conservative movement died today at 82 years of age. He will be sorely missed. He was as much an educator as he was a political commentator. I greatly enjoyed his columns for several reasons. Primarily, I became a fan because he was able to take common sense conservative viewpoints and make them understandable even to those with an Ivy League education. I like to think I'm fairly well read. However, for years it seemed that every one of Buckley's columns had me reaching for a dictionary. Whatever my vocabulary was, without much exaggeration, I can give Buckley credit for doubling it.

National Review, the magazine he founded over 50 years ago, will live on as his legacy. More importantly, the millions of people he influenced will carry on his philosophy.

There have been many tributes to Buckley on his passing. National Review Online has links to many of them.

Here are a few links to read to get to know Buckley a little better.

In a column titled "A Remarkable Man" Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT) recalls his forty years of friendship with Buckley.

Ann Coulter reminds us of Buckley's rougher moments in "William F. Buckley: R.I.P., Enfant Terrible."

The obituary from the London Telegraph is worth reading in its entirety, but I have to share this paragraph for those of you who don't bother clicking the links:

His spirit began to show at the age of eight, when he wrote King George V a sharp note reminding him of the debts Britain owed the United States for the First World War.

Navy beats Notre Dame

No, seriously, this IS newsworthy. Congratulations to the Midshipmen of the United States Naval Academy on ending a 44 year losing streak to Notre Dame. I saw a lot of changes over my 25 years in the Navy. However, there was always one constant you could depend on - Navy losing to Notre Dame every November. Being a good Irish Catholic boy I've rooted for the Fighting Irish (except when playing Ohio State) all my life, but I've grown tired of hearing how Navy hasn't beat them since Roger Staubach was the Navy quarterback. So, I'm glad the Navy was able to end that streak at 43 losses. Notre Dame has to really regret rushing to give Charlie Weiss a ten year contract after having moderate success during his first season at the helm. Charlie is sitting on a very hot seat about now. Why'd they fire Tyrone Willingham, again? Willingham beat Navy each year during his tenure. Heck, even during the dark days of the Gerry Faust era Notre Dame never lost to Navy.

Nobel Peace prize for starting a new religion

Congratulations to former Vice President Al Gore who was declared the 2007 winner of the Nobel Peace prize for his efforts in founding and advancing the new religion of Global Warming Hysteria.

I'd say this silly award lowers the prestige of the Nobel prize, but after their choices over the recent past it would be difficult to go much lower.

Texas Student Booted From School for Wearing John Edwards T-Shirt

There are a couple problems with this article "Texas Student Booted From School for Wearing John Edwards T-Shirt." First, the headline does not match the facts. The student was booted from school for wearing a political shirt period. Whether the child was supporting Edwards, Clinton, Giuliani or a conservative candidate was not the problem the issue was any shirt with a political theme is prohibited as potentially disruptive to the learning environment. The next problem is the article is it quotes the kid's dad demonstrating a lack of reading comprehension.

“It’s a First Amendment constitutional right that people have fought and died for and I don’t know why he should give it up just because Waxahachie thinks it would be okay or neat for him to do so,” Paul Palmer said.

Sorry, Mr. Palmer, but the First Amendment does not say what you imagine it does. For future reference, here is what it does say:

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Huh, what do you know, nothing in the Constitution prohibiting schools from having dress codes.

Lastly, the article says the parents are considering a lawsuit, demonstrating that Ambulance Chasing John is definitely the candidate for them. I wonder if they are even aware of the irony.

Is the group rate the best rate?

Common sense would lead one to believe that a group rate for insurance or other financial products would be better than going it alone. Turns out that isn't necessarily the case. The Star Ledger has an article on this subject today.

When financial planner Andrew Tignanelli's clients first came to him saying they were planning to buy financial products from AARP, he said he was thrilled. He assumed the products the group sold to its members, whether TVs or financial products such as insurance or mutual funds, would be the best and least expensive.

"But then when they showed me what they were getting and the price, I told them that I thought they could do better elsewhere," the Baltimore-based adviser said. "People assume that AARP is their advocate and doing the best for them. That isn't always the case." Tignanelli has since done a market comparison of AARP products and those offered elsewhere, and he found the senior advocacy group's offerings were often more costly. That's because the nonprofit group in fact has a profit motive, he said. About $400 million of the group's $1 billion annual budget comes from royalties and "service provider relationship management fees" earned on products AARP sells, according to the organization's 2006 financial statement.

It is counter-intuitive, but seems to be true. Before anyone assumes I'm dumping on AARP just because they are a left wing organization, I'll go on record with my opinion that this is probably the case with most large organizations. I've received insurance offers from various veterans organizations and when I checked the rates they were higher than I was able to find elsewhere. These organizations may officially be non-profit, but over time their management teams have realized how to line their own pockets. Bottom line: Don't assume anyone is looking out for your best interest except yourself. Do comparison shopping and find the best product for your needs.

Browns NOT in last place!

Just thought I'd mention that the Browns are NOT in last place while I still can. After the first game debacle against the Steelers I didn't think I'd be saying anything positive about the Browns this year. However, I've started to see some signs of improvement particularly on offense. The biggest change from the first game to now is the line is giving the quarterback some protection. Success begins and ends with the line. Doesn't matter how talented the quarterback is if he is slammed into the ground repeatedly. Defensively they are still not getting enough pressure on the opposing quarterback. The game against the Patriots on Sunday should give us a better understanding of how far they are from contending.

Rest in Peace Dr. George Rieveschl

Who is George Rieveschl? Turns out that Rieveschl who died yesterday at age 91 was the inventor of Benadryl, the first prescription antihistamine. Sadly, I'll admit I hadn't heard of him before reading in this mornings newspaper of his passing. I assumed Benadryl like most drugs these days was the result of a collaborative effort. Well, Benadryl is an exception as it was created by a local boy while working at the School of Medicine at his alma mater the University of Cincinnati. People who suffer from allergies owe a debt of gratitude to this man they have probably never heard of before. Future generations may owe him a different debt as one of his last acts was giving a million dollars to the UC School of Medicine for research.

Hugo Chavez is right!!!

Why the three exclamation points in the title. When you're talking about someone who is wrong as often as the Venezuelan president is, then it's very newsworthy when he gets something right. Remember, this is the character that has been claiming for a few years now that he KNOWS the United States is planning to invade his country any day now. Anyways, what did he get right, you ask? He came out against an expensive form of child abuse.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez railed against a new trend in his beauty-conscious country -- giving girls breast implants for their 15th birthday. "Now some people think, 'My daughter's turning 15, let's give her breast enlargements.' That's horrible. It's the ultimate degeneration," Chavez said on his weekly television show, which lasted a record eight hours.

I like a nice looking woman as much as the next guy, but it is ridiculous to go under the knife just to make your breasts larger. When it comes to children it is tantamount to child abuse to allow this surgery.

However, since Chavez is a socialist dictator he included a harangue against western consumerism.

Chavez's answer? He has told his supporters to give away any extra goods they do not need, urging them to leave items such as fans or refrigerators in town squares.

What? I hope something was lost in the translation and he isn't really telling people to leave their refrigerators in the town square.