Sand Gnats & Superman

I knew already that I was bringing my dad to Grayson to see some below-average, single A ball on Saturday. What I did not know is that it will be a double-header starting at 5:00. How do you top that? With fireworks after the second game. You have to join us.

God bless Savannah.

Post Script: I couldn't end on such a positive note, so I'd like to add something about Superman Returns. Maybe if you're lucky I'll write a full review after everyone has seen it so that I can fully explain what was so wrong with a choice they made. But even worse is a scene that I saw in the trailer that never hit me until after I saw the movie. Perry White says, "Does he still stand for truth, justice...all that stuff?" I love that America (or just Hollywood) is so fargone and cynical and drama-queen liberal that they can't have him say, "The American Way."

That IS Superman. He's an American icon. He's supposed to be the ultimate do-gooder boy scout. There's even a little in-joke in that same scene where Perry wants the reporters to find out about his "lifestyle." All this media crap about Superman being gay is such a great example of what is wrong with the media/Hollywood mindset of our country these days. To take such a pure symbol of what is right and to just soil it with pathetic, snarky, dark-rimmed glasses, yankee smarminess is pathetic and disgusting.

Here is a link with the screenwriters addressing this issue. I really hate them and what they did to Superman.

I'm giving up whiskey for a while.....

Stephen asked me to post a recap of what happened to me this Saturday night, so I will. A friend of mine had an engagement party in Augusta. Open bar, black dudes serving everybody in tuxedos, pretty nice. I decide that I'm too good to drink beer since they're serving Crown for free. Mistake. The party went fine, as I actually remember leaving. Afterwards, everyone decides to go to the new Irish pub that just opened up around the corner. Keep in mind that one of my cousins owns the joint, so they treat us pretty well. As some on the board know about me, when I get enough of the whiskey in me, my body decides when it's sleepy time, and it doesn't matter where or what I'm doing. So at some point, I venture into the bathroom and lock myself in there. The bathroom is a single, one toilent, sink, pretty cozy. It's now nap time. Fast forward to about 4:30 in the morning when I awoke from my slumber. I walk out to find the lights out, doors locked, everyone gone. You would think I coud just walk out of there, but that is not the case. The doors are dead-bolted. I start to panic. I look at my phone, and of course I had about 30 missed calls as people were looking for me, but nobody thought to look in the bathroom. I make myself a coke, and start looking through drawers for a key. All I find is the cash drawer which is totally unlocked. Not good. Luckily I decide that it wouldn't be a good idea to touch the money that's staring me in the face. Finally, I get in touch with my brother Dennis. He is about to call my dad, which would not have been cool. I venture my way to the back and find a door I can unlock. Freedom. I close the door behind me and haul ass back to my aunt's where I was supposed to be staying. I'm sure the cops were called in when they opened for business on Sunday as the back door was unlocked, and I left all the lights on. Whiskey is a wicked mistress that I cannot tame.

Las Vegas, City of Sin

I just found a red eye flight to Las Vegas out of Atlanta for late Wednesday night, July 19th for $250, after taxes and fees. The returning flight is the following Sunday night. You can't beat that. I'll be meeting up with Tim and Pat the following day.

If anyone is interesting in going, come on. I bought my ticket on hotwire.com. The hotwire people told me this special will run for about a week. Also, Tim and Pat have already set up the hotel room.

What do you say hum babe?

I can't wait to finally see Celine Dion... in concert!

NEW YORK'S ARROGANCE

I'm just going to copy and paste what Boortz said about this because I agree with him completely:

By now I'm sure you have heard that there is no small amount of angst over plans by the Homeland Security Secretariat to reduce by some amount the flow of anti-terrorism funds into New York City in favor of some other locations in the country. Now ... bear this in mind: New York City will still get more anti-terrorism funds than any other state or local government entity in the nation. It's just that for those in New York City, it's not enough.

There are people in Europe who think that once they've hopped on a plane, flown across the ocean, and spent three days in New York City, they've seen America. Sadly, there are quite a few people in New York who would agree with them. To them America disappears when you travel more than 30 miles from Times Square.

Charles Schumer .. heard of him? He's New York's senior senator. He is spitting fire over the diversion of some anti-terrorism funds to POTNY ... Places Other Than New York. When he discovered that some of those funds would be channeled to Georgia he had this little gem of a quote:

"Other states that have very little problems got an increase, Georgia got a 40 percent increase. Somehow this administration thinks that Georgia peanut farmers are more at risk than the Empire State Building. Something is dramatically wrong."

So ... there you go. Georgia is all about peanut farmers. Yankee arrogance and stupidity rears its head yet again. So, not that he'll ever hear it, I have a little message for Senator Schumer:

Senator. First of all, the money is allocated to the City of Atlanta, not to the State of Georgia. Last time I checked there were no peanut farmers in Atlanta, though you will find peanuts at Atlanta Braves Baseball games. The Braves, senator. Perhaps you've heard of them. Your Mets have finished the last 14 seasons sniffing the Braves' hind quarters. We also have an airport in Atlanta, Senator Schumer. Perhaps you've heard of Hartsfield International Airport? Do we need to remind you that the terrorist attacks of 9/11 were launched from busy airports? Well, ours is the busiest. Hartsfield is busier than LaGuardia and busier than Kennedy. Prettier too, with friendlier people. In fact, Hartsfield is busier than any other airport anywhere in the world. This ain't peanuts, senator. Airports need to be watched and protected, and the largest in the world could very well need more attention than it's getting right now. Something else, Senator Schumer. You do know that terrorists might use biological weapons, don't you? Ever heard of the CDC? The Centers for Disease Control? The CDC is here in Atlanta. You'll find it right in the middle of a peanut field just two miles east of downtown. Just where do you think much of the important research in bio-terrorism is being handled? That's right, the CDC. I don't know if the CDC does any work on peanut allergies. Perhaps you could have one of your staffers check on that. Get back to us on that one, will you? Oh, and by the way ... we have tall buildings in Atlanta too, senator. And they're not peanut storage facilities. They house the offices of many of the nation's Fortune 500 companies. Some of them are even tall enough to have elevators. I'm not in the apology game, Senator Schumer, so I'm not asking for one from you. I did just want to point out that you did an exemplary job of showing your ass with that statement about Georgia and peanut farmers. Thanks for fortifying the image that so many Americans have of people from New York.

Take that Howard Dean! You no good, son of a...

Report: Hundreds of WMDs Found in Iraq
Thursday, June 22, 2006

Fox News

WASHINGTON — The United States has found 500 chemical weapons in Iraq since 2003, and more weapons of mass destruction are likely to be uncovered, two Republican lawmakers said Wednesday.

The Wealth of Nations

Manhattan ("New Amsterdam" at the time) circa 1660

Another excellent site I recommend everyone add to their favorites is Tech Central Station, an online business and political journal run by conservative libertarians like myself. Today's main article, written by this Turkish guy, explores whether Islam and capitalism can ever coexist (outside of the exceptions of Dubai and Turkey). I tend to disagree with the author's contention that Islam was originally an undoubtedly peaceful religion, but I think the article does a good job of pointing out how a necessary ingredient for economic prosperity is a culture that is favorable to investment, wealth creation, hard work, free markets, and thus capitalism as a whole.

For historical proof, look no further than the Netherlands in the 1600s and England in the 1700s. Neither of these tiny countries had much in natural resources or royal riches like France or Spain, but they were quickly swept by a Protestant ethos and Calvinist theology which preached hard work, individual accomplishment, profit-making, property rights, and economic freedom (by allowing usury). This stood in stark contrast to the lazy, bloated, socialist, bureaucratic, inefficient, centrally planned Catholic countries. As a result, England and Holland (and America) boomed, blooming into dynamic, mobile, and prosperous societies, and leaving Spain and France in the stone age. This is because the English and the Dutch provided legal/economic environments and frameworks favorable to wealth creation and economic freedom, as they continue to do so today.

My point is certainly not to bash Catholicism, as it has clearly reformed itself and now welcomes free-enterprise (look at Ireland and Eastern Europe). It is instead to show, unlike some who dismiss these things as valueless because they are intangible, that culture and religion clearly play a role in the legal and economic institutions that determine the wealth and poverty of nations.

God, I'm a huge nerd.

A Special Day for a Special Boy

I'm trying to remember any time after elementary school that I've had a birthday party. I cannot recall such an occasion. I've always felt weird about organizing a gathering with the sole purpose of celebrating the wonder that is me. But other people do it, so why not? I'll be in Athens on the 21st, so I don't expect anything on my actual date of birth.

But since I'll be in the 912 the weekend of June 30th-July 4th, can we set aside at least an afternoon, preferably that Saturday, where everybody is together in one place to drink and pretend that my 23rd birthday means anything? I want to drink non-non-alcoholic beer on the beach. I won't even expect anyone to pay for it. And maybe we could even extend the festivities into the evening hours. Don't question my imbibing abilities of late - with the aid of 200mg caffeine pills, I can drink like I'm 20-years-old. So spread the word.

P.S. This post was really tough to write, knowing that there was no way to make it sound straight.

Can They Play Football?

According to the latest edition of BC eNews, Benedictine has been awarded a grant of over $400,000 to cultivate Latino diversity within the school. The grant will provide financial aid for Latino families as well as fund a full time position for a Latino counselor.

With 104 years of academic and athletic success, and a mission to educate students from diverse cultural, socio-economic and educational backgrounds, Benedictine Military School now has the financial backing of The Goizueta Foundation to deepen diversity specifically in the Hispanic/Latino community. Benedictine Military School grants more need based tuition assistance to its families than any other private or Catholic school in the region however, there remains continued financial need, in the community. Aided by The Foundation, whose own goal is “assisting organizations that empower individuals and families through educational opportunities to improve the quality of their lives” Benedictine is now able to offer tuition assistance in the form of a fund specifically targeted to Hispanic/Latino students. President of Benedictine Military School and a graduate of BC’s Class of 1960, Dennis Rooks states, “I welcome the opportunity to open our doors to more Hispanic youth. We have a proud tradition of helping deserving students to become BC Cadets and The
Goizueta Foundation will help us do even more.”

Along with the scholarship fund, a portion of the grant has been set aside to fund a new position in the Benedictine Guidance Department. The position will be a Director for Academic and Cultural Diversity, a Spanish speaking individual who has specialized training in support of the needs of minority students. Benedictine Military School Principal, Kelly Burke states “Whether a student brings unique cultural attributes or has a learning style that differs from the norm, they can be very successful at Benedictine Military School with the proper support and guidance. The Director of Academic and Cultural Diversity will take the lead with our faculty in providing that support to our students and their families.”

The Goizueta Foundation has also established and endowed The Goizueta Foundation Scholars Fund with a $186,000 gift. The endowment will provide need based scholarship assistance annually for Benedictine students. Preference will be given to Hispanic/Latino students whose families currently reside in the United States. “Our mission calls us to educate a diverse male population”,
said Greg Markiton, a member of the Benedictine Class of 1992 and Director of Development. “The Hispanic population is the fastest growing minority population in southeast Georgia. These families tend to be mostly Catholic and very family focused, two values that line up with the mission of Benedictine Military School making these families a perfect fit for our school.”

The Goizueta Foundation was established in 1992 by Roberto C. Goizueta, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Coca-Cola Company until his death in October 1997, to provide financial assistance to educational and charitable institutions. The Foundation supports educational programs that promote sustainable change and have a long –term impact in the community.

My Heart Hates Me

Thank you, Ryan for introducing me to the Krispy Kreme doughnut burger.

Get it brotha!

"So, let's all get together and welcome to the stand with a great big hand, Mr. Soul... Mr. Sam Cooke!"

Check it out.

Opinion

I believe yall are some of the smartest people I know, so I want to ask a question to those who would dare to respond:

What is your opinion on the proposed amendment to the constitution to ban gay marriage?

Have we forgotten?

Today is D-Day. 62 years ago, America led the effort to retake the world from evil. Remember the soldiers who plunged unselfishly into stormy seas, ran straight onto a hail of bullets, and scaled cliffs hundreds of feet tall, all in the name of spreading freedom.

Remember also the media's non-coverage of this great day, and the disdain that the far left has for our soldiers sacrificing their lives for the protection of the unthankful left's right to hold that disdain.

Inflation's Worst Nightmare

Make no mistake, we here at BMBS (ok, maybe just me) ultimately support a return to a private currency system (AKA, the gold standard). I'd much rather let the market do its job in determining the natural price of borrowing instead of putting blind faith in a government-run central bank subject to the whims of bureaucrats and politicians who are ever-thirsty to print more dollars to finance worthless projects and win elections. As history illustrates, the feds are almost always behind the curve when it comes to manipulating interest rates anyway. Government-induced inflation is the worst of all economic evils, and can lead to the mass destruction of wealth. Under a gold standard, inflation would probably hover around 0%.

But the good news is that since the late 1970s, the Federal Reserve has been dominated by free-market conservatives, who have given us a standard that is nearly "good as gold." The new fed chief, Ben Bernanke, is no exception. Steeped in Austrian-school economic fundamentals like his two predecessors, he understands that the primary purpose of a central bank is to fight inflation at all costs by keeping the money supply sound. It is not, on the other hand, to manipulate the supply of money just so we can have "full employment" like the Keynsian liberals did in the 60s and 70s.

Bernanke has vowed to continue Greenspan's money-tightening campaign that began 2 years ago until inflation is whipped. In the short term, this is currently bad news for stocks (the Dow has dropped nearly 700 points in the past month or so as investors fear the coming rise in borrowing costs), because Bernanke is proving he's even willing to throw the country into a temporary recession if necessary. But in the long term this is great news, because it means investors will continue to place faith in a currency that remains stable, and in a country that continues to be one of the best places in the world to do business.

Good work, Ben.