Forgotten by time

Cynthia Dennis in a special to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel wrote about the country I lived in for 21 years, Papua New Guinea in the Travel section of last Sunday’s paper.

It was a mostly accurate account, at least I found no major errors. I’ll have to post a linked edition sometime.

The only flaw was that it downplayed the security risks in going there. But it was a travel piece, after all.

Reading the article took me back to those years and the group of people whose language I learned and who became the brothers and sisters they are.

Yeah, I got a little “home” sick.

Filed under: Travel , Papua New Guinea, Travel

Happy Thanksgiving

It’s good for your health. No not all the food. Thanksgiving.

No, it’s not that extra serving of stuffing. It’s the expression of gratitude — the simple act of thanking God, thanking others or just counting your blessings. Saying thanks, it turns out, isn’t just pious or polite. It’s good for you.

I’m thankful for parents who raised me right, for a wonderful wife, four great kids and three grandkids.

Things have been hard at times and I haven’t always done the right thing, but I wouldn’t change anything.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all.

Filed under: After hours , health, Thanksgiving

Own a genuine New Testament coin

Human Events says I can.

This “Widow’s Mite” coin is a genuine bronze coin issued by King Alexander Jannaeus, the Great Grand Nephew of Judah Macabee and the Jewish leader of the Holy Land from 103-76 B.C. It is this type of coin that circulated in the Holy Land during Jesus’ life.

Are there really this many of these kinds of coins still around?

Filed under: After hours , coinage, New Testament, widow's mite

Youth vote: Democratic movement, or fad?

At Stateline.org, Louis Jacobsen’s “Out There” column has this

In a normal election year, the two precincts serving the bulk of students at California University of Pennsylvania attract a total of about 400 voters, according to election watchers here. But on Election Day 2008, that number more than quadrupled to a combined total of more than 1,700. And in those precincts, Obama crushed Republican nominee John McCain by margins of between 2 to1 and 3 to1.

[snip]

Obama managed to sweep the 18-to-29 vote in some of the most deeply Republican states in the union. They include not just North Dakota but also Alabama (50 percent), Kansas (51), Kentucky (51), Mississippi (56), South Carolina (55), Tennessee (55) and Texas (54).

Should the GOP be worried? Sure. But note,

Overall, the trendlines for young voters do not look good for the GOP. As political journalist Ron Brownstein has noted, 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry carried 54 percent of voters younger than 30. In the 2006 midterms, 60 percent voted Democratic in House races. This year, Obama trounced McCain among voters under 30 by a 2-to-1 margin.

As some contacted by Jacobson admitted, the GOP needs to be concerned that their message is not getting across (or, perhaps, getting lost in the static?) But is this insurmountable? No. He noted these things:

1. Many Republican candidates in red states did well on Election Day. We have no further to look than Wisconsin’s Paul Ryan, whose district went for Obama.

2. State Democratic parties are not always able to take advantage of the opportunities presented to them.

3. Are Democrats winning future loyalists to the party as a whole, or are young newcomers mostly attracted to the new president?

Time will tell.

Filed under: 2008, Elections, presidential , Barack Obama, Republican Party, youth vote

White House Transition

MSNBC.com gives us an easy way to keep track of Obama’s cabinet selections with pictures so we know what they look like.

Filed under: Barack Obama , Barack Obama, Cabinet

Rebuilding the GOP – Wisconsin

Cindy Kilkenny at Fairly Conservative continues her series on Rebuilding the GOP. She looks at what the Wisconsin GOP has to do to return to power.

Other posts in the series:

1) What went wrong?

2) Where to look next.

2a) Discerning the candidates.

Filed under: Republican, Wisconsin , Republican Party strategy, Wisconsin Republican Party

No Bailout For Detroit!

Grumps opines at The Happy Circumstance.

Filed under: Humorous , Humorous

24: Redemption Live Blog

Blogs.4Bauer

had a live blog of last night’s 24:Redemption. I always read the live blog even if I’ve seen the episode of 24 (and I think I’ve seen them all) because it’s so fun.

I’m looking forward to January and season 7.

Filed under: Television , 24, cable television

I’m #2

BlogNetNews.com’s “Wisconsin Influence Ranking” has me ranked at #2 this week. We all know who’s #1 and why.

For the uninitiated, BNN’s Influence ranking is a complicated formula based on page views, links, how much money you’ve contributed to BNN, and how often you had gas in the past week.

Who knows? It’s a secret. For all I know they may pull names out of a hat.

Ok, here’s the official explanation,

BlogNetNews’ Blogosphere Influence Rating combines a variety of data sets to determine which blogs are most powerfully influencing the direction of the Wisconsin political blogosphere. The exact method BNN uses to calculate influence scores must remain proprietary in order to prevent attempts to game the system. BNN’s methodology takes into account the fact that all Internet data is profoundly limited in its reliability by using multiple data sets that, when combined, reveal a fair picture of activity in the blogosphere.

Do I care what they use? No.

Because I’m ranked #2!

For a week anyway.

No doubt it was because so many people had kind things to say about me recently. Thanks.

Or maybe it was because the #1 guy linked to me.

Filed under: Blogging , Blog Net News, Blogging, Wisconsin blogs

Waukesha Carnival – 1,000th post edition

Yes, this is my 1,000th post–on WordPress. Combine that with 278 on Tripod and 1,000 or so on Google (I don’t know how many since I have no access to it).

Enough nostalgia. Let’s get on with the posts.

In posts dealing with national issues, we have The Asian Badger, a pilot who flies many places, shares his thoughts on the FAA lowering the security of David Ben Gurion Airport.

Dad29 informs of another possible indicator of the economy’s “health”–something called The Baltic Dry.

Huckleberry Dumbell spent some time at the library looking at the Waukesha Freeman archives reading about the Great Depression. He shares his findings with us at Spring City Chronicle.

Alexander at A Little off Main gives his scenario of how a war between Israel and Iran takes place.

Turning local, Scott Berg gives a report on the Brookfield Common Council meeting of Nov. 18 at 359 Degrees.

Waukesha mayor Larry Nelson shares another Mayor’s Memo with us.

Jeff at Five Points Blog notes his lack of posting lately and “Sweeps the streets of Waukesha.”

Leaf riots in Waukesha. James Wigderson reports at Wigderson Library & Pub with not one but two posts.

Over at Conservatively Speaking, Wisconsin state senator Mary Lazich (aide Kevin Fischer?) posts on Wisconsin and the New Economy.

In miscellaneous posts, Josh at Blog Waukesha reviews some of the Digital conversion boxes on the market.

MommaBlogger at Homemaker’s Guide to the Galaxy lists blogs she reads. Let’s see. Nope. Not on the list.

At Practically Speakng, Kyle Prast looks at class sizes then and now.

Scott Feldstein says don’t look at the calendar. It’s winter.

That completes this week’s post. If you have a post you would like to nominate, whether yours or someone else’s, just put a link in the comment of this post.

Filed under: Blog carnivals, Blogs - Wisconsin, Waukesha Carnival, Waukesha blogs , Blog carnivals, Brookfield Common Council, city services, class sizes, Education, FAA, Federal Aviation Administration, Iran, Israel, television digital conversion, The Baltic Dry, The Great Depression, Waukesha Carnival, Waukesha mayor Larry Nelson, winter, Wisconsin blogs, Wisconsin economy