Uncle Horn Head

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One Down

House Majority Leader Tom Delay has been indicted.

Next will be Rove (perjury & treason) and then Frist (insider trading.)

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PA Intelligent Design Trial Begins

Yesterday was the first day of the Kitzmiller vs. Dover Area School Board trial in Harrisburg. A group of parents are suing to keep Intelligent Design Creationism from being taught in public schools.

The only witness yesterday was Brown University biology professor Dr. Kenneth R. Miller. Here is a statement he made about Intelligent Design before the trial started:

"Intelligent Design is a new anti-evolution movement that has been presented as an alternative to an older formulation known as "creation science." It argues that an unnamed "designer" must have been responsible for much of the process, although it presents no evidence for the actions of such a designer. Theological explanations may be correct, of course, but they cannot be tested by methods of science and are therefore not science."

Seems pretty straight forward. He minced fewer words in his testimony on Monday:

Today's sole witness was Dr. Kenneth Miller, biology professor from Brown University and the author of Biology, a widely used high school textbook. He called intelligent design "the argument of ignorance."

"Intelligent design is not a testable theory," Dr. Miller said, "and as such is not generally accepted by the scientific community."

In opening arguments, opposing counsel Patrick Gillen referred to the Dover board's decision as "a modest policy change," a point that Dr. Miller addressed.

"The statement of the Dover School Board falsely undermines the theory of evolution," he said. "It does a great disservice to Dover and the students of Dover."

Under cross-examination from the defense, Dr. Miller noted that "no theory in science is absolute truth." Throughout his testimony, he made it clear that there is no reason to single out evolution from all other scientific theories.

"All scientific theories are subject to further testing."

In case you're curious, this is what is read to Dover 9th graders before their biology curriculum:

"The Pennsylvania Academic Standards require students to learn about Darwin's Theory of Evolution and eventually to take a standardized test of which evolution is a part.

"Because Darwin's Theory is a theory, it continues to be tested as new evidence is discovered. The Theory is not a fact. Gaps in the Theory exist for which there is no evidence. A theory is defined as a well-tested explanation that unifies a broad range of observations.

"Intelligent Design is an explanation of the origin of life that differs from Darwin's view. The reference book, Of Pandas and People, is available for students who might be interested in gaining an understanding of what Intelligent Design actually involves.

"With respect to any theory, students are encouraged to keep an open mind. The school leaves the discussion of the Origins of Life to individual students and their families. As a Standards-driven district, class instruction focuses upon preparing students to achieve proficiency on Standards-based assessments."

Two more plaintiff witnesses will testify on Tuesday. Keep up with the proceedings at the PA ACLU blog.

And don't forget about His Noodly Goodness.

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Why Do I Punish Myself?

The answer is two fold.

First, I watched the entire Phillies game last night. Yes, the one that had a two hour forty minute rain delay at the start. The first pitch was at 9:45 and I watched the whole thing, getting to bed around 12:50 this morning.

Second, as a Philadelphia sports fan I keep hoping that one of my teams will be able to turn it around and make the jump to Champions. The Phils lost last night after giving up several unearned runs to the Mets in the 8th. I stay up late in the hopes that they'll show me something to believe in and give themselves momentum. That didn't happen and I fear last night's game spells S-E-A-S-O-N O-V-E-R. They still have a mathematical chance, but they'll need to win four of the last five to have a chance at making the playoffs. I'm not hopeful.

I'm tired & cranky.

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Nittany Lions vs. Golden Gophers

My buddy runs a couple of PSU memoribilia/clothing stores in State College, PA and he emailed today looking for a slogan for the buttons they're making for the PSU-MN game this weekend.

My ideas:

A good gopher is a beaten gopher
A good gopher is a dead gopher
A good gopher is a scored upon gopher
Last time I saw a gopher it was under my axle
Gopher? Isaac had the drinks.
Julie the cruise director was better looking than Gopher
Gopher=meat for stew
Gopher Two! You'll need it.

And the winner:



UPDATE: Someone tell me they got the Love Boat references and I'm not turning into a dottering old man grasping at straws and the chance to see Randolph Mantooth, Scott Baio or Charo on a rerun aboard the Pacific Princess.
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Fun with Freepers aka The Kool-Aid Acid Test

Somehow this guy I knew in college found out about my blog and we've started to correspond via email. He's not a bad person and we've tilted many a pint, but he only seems to care about the politics of Uncle Horns. (What about my good looking kids?) We had this engagement today:

He first sent me this, with the subject "Damn Liberal Mayors"

Forest Hills mayor arrested at Steelers game
Monday, September 26, 2005

AP

The mayor of suburban Forest Hills was arrested outside the Steelers game yesterday.

Raymond J. Heller Jr. was charged with public drunkenness and defiant trespass, authorities said.

Police said Heinz Field security refused to let Heller into the stadium because he was drunk and arrested him when he refused to leave the property.

Heller could not immediately be reached for comment.

He always starts with the "Liberal" thing, so I responded:

It's not as bad as the entire leadership of the GOP...

Bush/Rove - Being investigated for releasing the name of a covert CIA Operative.

House Majority Leader Tom Delay - Still being investigated. The entire staff of his PAC has been indicted for improper use of corporate donations.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist - Being investigated by the SEC for selling all of his HCA stock a week before it lost 25% of it's value. If you believe it was a true blind trust I have some ocean front land in North Dakota to sell you.

That's just the beginning...

This got the ball rolling...

Investigations and accusations will never end in politics on both sides. I don’t buy into all that shit.

Dems attack Bush. (who I voted for)

GOP attacks Clinton (who I voted for)

It’s all bullshit to discredit. It’s all a waste of time and money.

Berger has said he "inadvertently" removed classified documents from the National Archives. ( He’s being investigated.) In his statement, Berger said that "when I was informed by the Archives there were documents missing, I immediately returned everything I had, except for a few documents that apparently I had accidentally discarded."

Hahahahahah!!!!!! Ooops, wonder which documents were accidently discarded? (anything with Billy’s name on it?)

But only GOP has bad leadership?

I didn’t think Clinton was a bad leader because he was getting down in the Oval office. Not a good thing to do, but who cares? He was a player and Hillary is a Bitch so I don’t blame him.

I was so sick of the GOP investigating him. I’m like goddam he was getting his cocked sucked by an intern, wouldn’t you if you had that wife? Can we move on?

PS I’m down with the Mayor getting fucked up at a Steeler game. It Show’s he’s trying to get connected with his Constituents. Its hilarious!!!!

He’s trying to show that he is the people’s Mayor!!!!

PSS I’m not going to enjoy your firestorm reply am I?

At least he admitted voting for Clinton. But I followed up with some rebuttal and then a question

You're right about the politics part and the waste of money (SEE: Ken Starr & Whitewater $100 million in taxpayer cash and nothing of substance.) But the serious investigations going on are unprecedented. I wouldn't be surprised to see Rove do the perp walk and that's not just wishful thinking.

Berger took his medicine and that's that. If there was anything in there about Clinton don't you think we would've heard about before the 9/11 Commission convened? The GOP would do anything to taint his name and thus, Hillary's.

When Clinton was impeached he had a 60% approval rating. Bush won't see that again while he's President, even if he finishes his term.

Would you vote for Bush again, knowing what you know now?

Used fear (9/11) and a uranium claim to get us into war where over 1900 soldiers have died when neither connection was true.
Opposed formation of an independent 9/11 commission (and only testified when he negotiated to appear with Cheney.)
Opposes independent Katrina commission
Hasn't attended the funeral of one soldier, but will manipulate the death of Pat Tillman for political gain.
Uses politics to manipulate everything:
a - Changes scientific reports by the EPA (and other agencies) to meet his agenda. e.g. Air quality in NY after 9/11 (Whitman quit b/c of this.)
b - Appoints cronies for important government positions, "Brownie, you're doing a hell of a job."
c - Passes a prescription drug benefit that won't allow the gov't to negotiate prices with drug companies.
d - No bid contracts to companies closest to the WH. Halliburton's stock price has doubled since the start of the Iraq war
e - Deliberately selects a justice for the supreme court that doesn't have enough background to seriously question his qualifications for the job. He was questioned at length by Senators who couldn't get any answers. You're dreaming if you think he didn't answer those questions when Rove, Card & Bartlett asked him. Good bye Roe and perhaps, Griswold.

Passes tax cuts that he insists benefit the middle class, but that's obviously not true, and proven so.
Alienates us from countries who have been our allies since before 1800. (He's sent Karen Hughes overseas to change this. JOKE!)

Those are just off the top of my head...

Let's face it, Bush was born on third base and thinks he hit a triple.

His final response was right out of the Michelle Malkin playbook. And, yes, he does resort to swearing to get his point across. Beware.

Yes I would vote for him again.

Clinton 60% approval rating????? Uncle Horn Head could have gotten a 60% approval rating in those times. It was a c akewalk without 9/11 and then the recession and the 90s economic boom. (which wasn't because of him) I don't give total credit to presidents for the economy. There are economic cycles and things happen that don't have anything to do with policies. Also Congress has to pass the budget or the tax cuts or increases, so they share in it too.

Congress had the same evidence as Bush when presenting reasons to go to war. If you think Bush just wanted to go to war for the hell of it , your crazy. He did it because he believed he was protecting the US and the world.

If you really think Bush is trying to manipulate Haliburton stock, your smoking crack. I mean come on.

The reason is that Haliburton is getting no-bid contracts is because they are the only company on the planet that can do that type of work. If you bid it out, how fucking long would it take and what if the low bidder couldn't finish the job??? (which happens all the time in construction and industry) What a mess.

Oh no, Hussein wasn't hiding anything he was a good leader. He wasn't doing anything that could possibly threaten the US or other counties.

Yes soldiers have died. War sucks. We've sacrificed so that a country has the potential to be free instead of living under a dictator that killed over 100,000 of his own people.

I personally can't wait till he's executed. They should show it Live.

I'm glad we are killing terrorists in Iraq instead of in the U.S.

Isn't it also great how Syria pulled out of Lebanon recently. Yeah they want to be free too.

Get rid of these hate breeding dictators and their terrorist states we will get rid of the terrorists.

If you think the US policies are causing terrorists then you are cooky.(not saying you do, just saying that in general) Not everyone likes policies of the US but you don't kill innocent civilians because of it.

Alienating Allies?

Russia and France had Saddam Hussein so far up their ass!!!!!!!!!!!! (oh yeah but HE (and THEY) wasn't violating US Sanctions or anything, so why would he hide WMDs or try to make them?.)

That whole mustard gassing of the Kurds, yeah we should just ignore that too.

Talk about no bid contracts. What FRA and RUS were doing was deplorable. Oil for Food what a joke. Of course France and Russia didn't want us to invade, they knew they would be exposed. They were in bed with the bastard. And Bush is pissing off the Eurocrats???? Good.

Fuck them. Bush finally stands up to the evil people in this world and we have to be worried about pissing off German and France???? Thats a joke.

The UN is a joke.

We lost 100,000 men fighting for EUROPE's freedom in WW2. They should be careful who THEY piss off.

I love how the British implemented racial profiling after the London Bombings. Wow their policies changed pretty quick.

Wow. A little Pepto might take care of that, but I'm not sure.

I don't have the energy to respond, but anyone (on either side) who has something to add leave a comment and I'll bump it up if it's left leaning worthwhile.

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I'm Back

A little break from blogging has given me a recharge. After 1,569 posts over 19 months I needed a little down time. But now I'm back, so control your excitement.

Things have been busy for me...

I went to the first three Penn State home games and was psyched to see the lads go 4-0 over the weekend against the Northwestern Purple Wildcats. The Freshmen are showing why they were so highly regarded. Now if we can just take care of the football.

I've been paying very close attention to the Philles march to the Wild Card. I figured entering the weekend they would need to win six of their final nine games to have a chance. They started off well going 2-1 at the Reds over the weekend and with a home series against the Mutts Mets this weekend we can gain further momentum. We're only a game down to the Astros with six left. Stay tuned.

This past week Baby Horns allowed me to have my first Carl Spackler moment and gave us a reason to clean the tub:


We now return to our normal blogging schedule.
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Super Bowl

I liked an idea that was floated on the airwaves of WIP Sports Radio this week and repeated in a article by the Sports Guy today. What if, after the New Orleans Superdome is re-built, the NFL makes it the permanent home of the Super Bowl.

It would provide a massive influx of cash for a city who will need it for decades to come. And it will give the opportunity for millionaires to break curfew and get in trouble on Bourbon Street, which is one of the things I look forward to most when the Big Game is in the Crescent City.

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Bush Needs to Void



This is a picture of George Bush writing a note to Secretary of State Conileeza Rice this week. It was taken by a Reuters photographer at the UN this week.

I'm sure you've seen it as over 15,000 blogs have posted on the subject.

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FEMA Chief Brown Resigns

I wonder if he'll head down to VA to see if he can work with the Chincoteague Ponies...

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VP Cheney Gets His Own Medicine

Dick, It takes one to know one.

(Video: .MOV)

If you watch the video and still don't get it, go here.


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Toilet Training

If Baby Horns (now almost 28 months) is still wearing diapers in a year we may need to get one of these:



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Kanye West Comment Becomes T-Shirt



That didn't take long.

UPDATE: From the same site, I found this:


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Halliburton

I was reading an article at lunch today about Halliburton and their no-bid contract for Iraq and was wondering how profitable the company actually was.

A little Google-fu and voila:

NYSE Individual Share Price - HAL (Halliburton)
3/19/03 (Start of Iraq War) $20.50
9/2/05 (Friday before Labor Day) $62.31

An increase of 204%! If only I had known who was in bed with whom and that they were going to charge the government $45 for a case of soda I might have made a little dirty money.

(And if you ever Google "Halliburton" & "Bed" you'll find what looks like a quaint Inn in Nova Scotia. Not sure if there is a connection, so I'm not endorsing.)

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Inside NOLA

A punch in the stomach.

...We walked to the police command center at Harrah's on Canal Street and were told the same thing, that we were on our own, and no they did not have water to give us. We now numbered several hundred. We held a mass meeting to decide a course of action. We agreed to camp outside the police command post. We would be plainly visible to the media and would constitute a highly visible embarrassment to the City officials. The police told us that we could not stay. Regardless, we began to settle in and set up camp. In short order, the police commander came across the street to address our group. He told us he had a solution: we should walk to the Pontchartrain Expressway and cross the greater New Orleans Bridge where the police had buses lined up to take us out of the City. The crowed cheered and began to move. We called everyone back and explained to the commander that there had been lots of misinformation and wrong information and was he sure that there were buses waiting for us. The commander turned to the crowd and stated emphatically, "I swear to you that the buses are there."

We organized ourselves and the 200 of us set off for the bridge with great excitement and hope. As we marched pasted the convention center, many locals saw our determined and optimistic group and asked where we were headed. We told them about the great news. Families immediately grabbed their few belongings and quickly our numbers doubled and then doubled again. Babies in strollers now joined us, people using crutches, elderly clasping walkers and others people in wheelchairs. We marched the 2-3 miles to the freeway and up the steep incline to the Bridge. It now began to pour down rain, but it did not dampen our enthusiasm.

As we approached the bridge, armed Gretna sheriffs formed a line across the foot of the bridge. Before we were close enough to speak, they began firing their weapons over our heads. This sent the crowd fleeing in various directions. As the crowd scattered and dissipated, a few of us inched forward and managed to engage some of the sheriffs in conversation. We told them of our conversation with the police commander and of the commander's assurances. The sheriffs informed us there were no buses waiting. The commander had lied to us to get us to move.

We questioned why we couldn't cross the bridge anyway, especially as there was little traffic on the 6-lane highway. They responded that the West Bank was not going to become New Orleans and there would be no Superdomes in their City. These were code words for if you are poor and black, you are not crossing the Mississippi River and you were not getting out of New Orleans...

From a listserve posted at DKos. Read the whole thing.

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Andy Warhol Said it...



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I Can't Afford My Gasoline

Animated short. Funny.

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Bush Touring Gulf Coast Today

Apparently he's going to be assuring people that everything is going to be ok. My question is how will Karl Rove assure that everyone the President sees will be sypathetic, if not completely supportive of his boy.

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Heartwarming

It makes me proud to see so many families willing to open their homes to victims of Katrina.

Tip of the Horn to PSoTD for the heads up.

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Need a Flat in London?

For the slender, this might be the perfect place. At it's widest, it measures nine feet.

And it's only $933,000.

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I guess I shouldn't be suprised to see $3.00 per gallon, nor should I be pissed as other States are paying $5.00+ for a gallon, because of the Gulf Coast supply chain problems brought on by Katrina.

One thing I am happy about is the opening of the 24 hour Wawa near Chez Horns.

For the uninitiated Wawa is the name of a town in PA and is also the name of an amazing family run convenience store chain. Reasonable prices, a great deli and iced coffee from a dispenser. Sweet! The 7-11 down the street is in T-R-O-U-B-L-E.
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The Unseen War (EXPLICIT)

The Iraq pictures the Pentagon doesn't want you to see.

**LINK CONTAINS EXPLICIT PICTURES**

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Grissom Has One

Looking for a present for that special someone?

May I suggest a bug.
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McClellan Should Take The Show to Vegas

Today's quote:

"Flood control has been a priority of this administration from day one."

Don't forget to tip the waitstaff!


Sizzle chest.
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