Blogging Fay (Part 2)

Not much to say. We had lots of rain and wind today, but it's now tapering off. We expect some more rain tonight and Saturday, but here's hoping nothing more.

We're thankful we're not as prone to flooding as the east coast. But then again, we didn't get the same amount of rainfall.

Blogging Fay

I was going to do some real time blogging of Fay just for the hell of it.

But that was when the projected track had it coming through Marion County. That kept changing of course, so it's been kicking ass well south of here. But it's been quiet here. No complaints.

Fay is bringing needed rain to our state, for which we must be thankful. But the wind and tornado chances are not needed.

I hope my friends in southern Florida have not been harmed.

Hurricanes and tropical storms...nature's way of saying "Welcome to Florida, pilgrim."

Dennis Prager: "Why I Am Not a Liberal"

Dennis Prager nails it. As I've stated before, I thought of myself as a liberal many years ago. But something changed. According to Prager:

The following is a list of beliefs that I hold. Nearly every one of them was a liberal position until the late 1960s. Not one of them is now.

Read them all, but here's a few I strongly agree with.

I believe in American exceptionalism, meaning that (a) America has done more than any international organization or institution, and more than any other country, to improve this world; and (b) that American values (specifically, the unique American blending of Enlightenment and Judeo-Christian values) form the finest value system any society has ever devised and lived by.

I believe that the levels of taxation advocated by liberals render those taxes a veiled form of theft. "Give me more than half of your honestly earned money or you will be arrested" is legalized thievery.

I believe that government funding of those who can help themselves (e.g., the able-bodied who collect welfare) or who can be helped by non-governmental institutions (such as private charities, family, and friends) hurts them and hurts society.

I believe that some murderers should be put death; that allowing all murderers to live does not elevate the value of human life, but mocks it, and that keeping all murderers alive trivializes the evil of murder.

I believe that the American military has done more to preserve and foster goodness and liberty on Earth than all the artists and professors in America put together.

I believe that lowering standards to admit minorities mocks the real achievements of members of those minorities.

I believe that the assertions that manmade carbon emissions will lead to a global warming that will in turn bring on worldwide disaster are a function of hysteria, just as was the widespread liberal belief that heterosexual AIDS will ravage America.

I believe that nuclear power, clean coal, and drilling in a tiny and remote frozen part of Alaska and offshore -- along with exploration of other energy alternatives such as wind and solar power -- are immediately necessary.

I believe that while there are racists in America, America is no longer a racist society, and that blaming disproportionate rates of black violence and out-of-wedlock births on white racism is a lie and the greatest single impediment to African-American progress.

I believe that America, which accepts and assimilates foreigners better than any other country in the world, is the least racist, least xenophobic country in the world.

I believe that when it comes to combating the greatest evils on Earth, such as the genocide in Rwanda, the United Nations has either been useless or an obstacle.

I believe that bilingual education does not work, that for the sake of immigrant children and for the sake of the larger society, immersion in the language of the country, meaning English in America, is mandatory.

I believe that English should be declared the national language, and that ballots should not be printed in any language other than English. If one cannot understand English, one is probably not sufficiently knowledgeable to vote intelligently in an English-speaking country.

Helpful hint: Don't tick off your ex

Another fun Ocala story courtesy of the Ocala Star-Banner. Here are the headlines:

Woman guilty of trying to murder ex-husband (Defendant drove car into porch after former spouse sang karaoke duet with other woman)

Anyway, here goes:

OCALA - A Silver Springs woman who deliberately drove her car onto the porch of a mobile home in an attempt to kill her ex-husband was found guilty of attempted second-degree murder Tuesday.
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The 50-year-old rammed her 1998 Nissan C-39 across the porch on Memorial Day 2007 at Silver Springs RV Park, as her ex-husband of 13 years drank beer with a friend.

The friend, Michael Young, sustained several non-life-threatening injuries, while the ex-husband, David G. Rowley, was treated for a sprained ankle.

"I tried to kill him," Debra Rowley told sheriff's Deputy Joshua O'Carroll. When asked why, she replied, "Because I hate him," the deputy testified Tuesday.

David Rowley testified in Circuit Judge David Eddy's courtroom that his ex-wife was "mad and upset" about seeing him sing a karaoke duet with another woman at a party in the park earlier in the day.

"She's always been a little bit jealous," he told the jurors. "She just flipped out when I was singing with the other lady."

Come on guys! I mean, of course we know not to piss off the ex, right?

Some of us don't learn this until it's (almost) too late.

And yes, we're so proud.

Rielle Hunter: the Ocala Connection

Frankly, when scandal or murder happens in America, there is usually a Florida connection.

Well, in the Edwards scandal, Ocala is front and center.

The Ocala Star-Banner headline says it all:

Edwards' mistress raised in Ocala

Well, it ALMOST says it all. You have to read this article, but here's the first 4 paragraphs:

OCALA - Before she was former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards' mistress, before she was Rielle Hunter, before she was the face splashed on national television networks, she was the teenage equestrienne Lisa Druck of Ocala.

In a story already spawning countless tabloid headlines, here's another - Hunter was familiar with controversy long before she slipped into bed with the former presidential candidate.

Hunter's father, James D. Druck, a successful Ocala lawyer representing insurance companies during the 1980s, was implicated in a scam that involved a local man, Tommy "The Sandman" Burns, who electrocuted horses for their owners to collect the insurance money. One of Burns' first victims was the show horse Lisa Druck rode, Henry the Hawk.

Burns said in a 1992 Sports Illustrated interview that James Druck showed him how to electrocute Lisa's horse using a stripped extension cord and a wall socket. Burns said Druck showed him the scam so Druck could collect $150,000 in insurance. Burns' arrest in 1991 drew national attention. Druck died of cancer in the Tampa area in 1992.

Hunter was born Lisa Jo Druck in Fort Lauderdale on March 20, 1964. By the time she was a teenager in the late 1970s, the family had moved to Ocala, where her father started his law practice.

Okay, Ft. Lauderdale gets a mention, but this is our local story.

And we're so proud.

The Florida Masochist...

The Florida Masochist has blogged that he will need a heart valve replaced. Surgery is expected soon.

Please let everyone know how it goes, TFM. And continue to listen to your wife. In everything.

Marital Relations in the Right Household

Tell me, guys. Has this ever happened to you?

For some reason, I can't quite remember why, I decided to have a very profound conversation with Mrs. Right last night. It involved our relationship and women really like that, don't they?

So I said to my wife..."Honey, do you remember a long time ago when I said I would never have sexual relations with another woman?"

She eyed my warily, then said..."Yes, I do. What is it now?"

"Well" says I, "I'm not confessing to anything, you understand, but if I ever did cheat on you, it wouldn't be because I don't love you. I promise you that if that should ever happen, I would not have fallen in love with the other woman. I would love, and do love, only you!"

Now that I had made my case-quite romantically I thought-I reached out to hold her hand and kiss her.

And she slapped me on my right cheek. Hard!

"What the...!!" I sputtered.

Then she slapped me on my left cheek. Harder!

I must confess I teared up a bit, but only shouted out reproachfully, "Sweetie! Why!?"

"Oh, did that hurt?" she asked. "It shouldn't have. After all, I did it out of my deep love for you."

Well, I was going to say something really hurtful that would really show her all I was trying to do was show my deep love for HER. Why couldn't she understand that?

Then I remembered something that I guess I had tried to bury deep within my memory. It was about 10 years ago. Something was in the news. You may remember.

She asked me then, just in passing or so it seemed "How's that new college intern in your office working out?"

I took a couple of seconds to think about it. Gee, why this question and why now? I told her that the intern was working out pretty good, but needed a lot of personal mentoring and that I had to spend a LOT of time with her. That's why I was so late coming home last evening.

Mrs. Right gave me THAT LOOK (you married guys know what I mean, right?) so I quickly said "Now, darling, you know I would never cheat on you. I promise you that I have never had sexual relations with that woman. Not once. Now, can I get on about the business of running the country...I mean, running my office!)

That's when she kicked me. In the Right family jewels, so to speak. Well, let's just say that the whole episode was very painful. In more ways than one.

So, remembering that day, I decided last night to let the whole thing drop. "Honey" says I, "I apologize." Very magnanimous of me, if I do say so myself.

Besides, I still have one testicle left. I'd surely miss it if it was gone.

(Thanks for Micky Kaus for following the Edwards story when no one else did.)