Work in Progress

And now, a word from Rick

If you've read the blog for a while, you probably know Rick. 

Rick is a blogger from Virginia and, to put it mildly, we have had our share of disagreements over the years. He and I don't see eye to eye on politics or religion and he is a not even a hockey fan so, you know, on the surface there's not a lot of common ground but I'll let him take it from here:

Good day (or night) to all of you regular (and not so regular) readers of Robert’s Work in Progress.  

Robert and I agree on very few things of a political and/or religious nature yet we’ve agreed tonight to place a friendly wager on the 2012 Presidential race.  Robert is willing to give $250 to the charity of my choice if a Republican beats Obama in November.  I’ve agreed to give the same amount to a charity of Robert’s choice should, God forbid, Obama win, an event likely resulting in the last gift to charity I’ll be able to afford but I’m willing today to take the risk because I’m hoping Americans have learned a thing or two about the man and his policies since 2008. We’ve also agreed to have a post published by the other on our respective blogs should we lose the wager.

With that now out of the way, I’d like to take advantage of Robert’s readership if only to wish you each God’s best this Christmas, a genuine manifestation of His love and presence, and especially His peace to you.

Thanks for the time… and thanks to Robert for this idea. 

Thank you, Rick, for jumping in and agreeing as enthusiastically as you did. I look forward to tracking the polls until election day. (Frankly, I doubt it will be close but time will tell) 

In the meantime, best wishes to everyone for happy & safe Christmas & Hanukkah and let's hope 2012 brings good things.

 

Gay finally faces the music

This is long overdue.

From TalkingPointsMemo.com:

After now-former Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch (R) resigned her leadership post over an “innappropriate relationship,” a Minneapolis gay man — on behalf of the entire gay community — is pouring salt on the wound.

John Medeiros, who curates an LGBT reading series in Minneapolis, wrote an open letter to Koch, saying he is sorry gays and lesbians have destroyed the institution of marriage and contributing to her inevitable relationship with a subordinate staffer.

“These recent events have made it quite clear that our gay and lesbian tacts have gone too far, affecting even the most respectful of our society,” Medeiros wrote in the letter. He continues:

We apologize that our selfish requests to marry those we love has cheapened and degraded traditional marriage so much that we caused you to stray from your own holy union for something more cheap and tawdry.  And we are doubly remorseful in knowing that many will see this as a form of sexual harassment of a subordinate.

Koch stepped down as majority leader last week, and the news of her relationship quickly spread. One of her top staffers, Michael Brodkorb, left the Senate recently, too. There’s no firm evidence that the two events are related, but rumors are swirling.

Read the rest here.

It's about bloody time the Gays step up and accept their rightful blame for what they've done.

our latest addition

Crowd by Hugh MacLeod

I really like it and it is currently hanging in our office living room, as I like to call it.

Everyone is welcome to see it in person though it would be much appreciated if, for obvious reasons, you did not all come at once.

awesomely awesome awesomeness

 

Such awesomeness as you've ever seen. Stick with it, the awesomeness ramps up at the 4:00 mark.

Go Habs.

Thank you, Erin, for finding this gem and sending it to me. (What the hell are the rest of you doing all day?)

Whoa is me

One of my favourite quotes, and I've mentioned it before, is our dear Sovereign's reference to 1992, when she said it was "not a year on which I shall look back with undiluted pleasure."

We are coming up on the 20th anniversary of the speech and I must admit, 2011 would fall into the same category for me. No, my daughter in law did not write a tell-all book about her wandering heir to the throne husband and my castle did not burn down, but the 11th year of a secular bear market has come and gone and we appear to be loading up the troubles for a repeat of it again in 2012.

Landmines appear everywhere and problems and worries and concerns abound and I am not only referring to a defenceman's knee.

On top of that, according to Statistics Canada, I'm on the back nine of my life, having already consumed 56% of my life expectancy.

On the cusp of a new year rolling around, I am calling a STOP to the whinging and complaining; if you can't change your situation, change your attitude because, as we all know, life is not a dress rehearsal: atheists don't get a second chance.

One of my favourite philosophers, summed it up nicely:

Here's hoping 2012 brings us all good things. Lord knows we deserve it.

our darker world

 

One of the lights of the world has gone out. One of its finest minds has been lost.

To coin a phrase, thank God for youtube.

who's Matt David?

 

How could any kid not want a water bottle for Christmas? Especially one autographed by Matt David?

oh and, um, I hate to tell you this but Amy Winehouse? Also, dead

I love Failbook.

ONE-SHOT out of Iraq

ONE-SHOT - 2011 Workshop Iraq from Heber Vega on Vimeo.

Just the kind of pick-me-up I needed for my crappy day.

Thank you, Erin.

dark side of the moon

  

Many places in the world, including most of North America (except the eastern time zone) witnessed a lunar eclipse early this morning. Relatively common, lunar eclipses occur on average every two years but they still rock.

Total solar eclipses are far more rare because the earth is much larger than the moon and thus casts a far larger shadow than its orbiting satellite. As a matter of fact, of the approximate 175 or so moons in our solar systems, ours is the only one that produces total eclipses of the Sun because it is precisely the right size and distance from both the Earth & Sun to totally blot out the Sun when it passes between us.

Clearly, Jesus thought of everything.