Something's missing...

Take a gander at the new schedule for WBAL radio. Notice something missing?

To use his own logic, I belive this might mark the beginning of the end for Rush, when one of the biggest talk stations in the mid-atlantic drops him in favor of the two local guys.

If I'm their traget market, they made the right call - if I'm in my car from 12-3, I'm listening to Ed Norris and Penn Gilette on WHFS. (I quit listening to Rush when he downplayed US torture in Iraq, but I had long tired of his lack of understanding of basic economics. You can only say, 'well Clinton did worse' for so long.)

Vouchers

An outstanding post at Catallarchy on the anti-voucher argument with respect to education.

Why are vouchers bad for schools, but good for virtually everything else, from food stamps to Social Security?

(For the record, I am against federal vouchers because I am against any federal education spending. It's a local issue. Locally I'm also against them, because I think education is not an appropriate role of the state. I'm willing to accept local community education, but that ain't what we got.)

Training Update

Well, not so much.

Things are just too busy with the new house, old house, and work, so training has taken a back seat, as has any semblance of healthy eating.

For some reason, as soon as it seems one thing is done, 2 others replace it.

Things are starting to quiet down a bit, so I'm hopeful I'll get back to it this week or at the latest May 1. As usual, I'll start out doing some basic conditioning and mobility work. (All of the moving and paining I've been doing helped me realise some serious mobility issues.) The good news: The treadmill is now on the ground floor, so I can use it without shaking the house apart.

The training at first will be two upper and two lower body days, but I don't know that I'll be doing the usual ME/DE work - I may start out just using RE and maybe working up to some heavy stuff if I feel up to it. I'll then add in the DE work, then ME last. I'll include lots of conditioning - now that the weather is nice, I can go run about outside as well as use a treadmill at home and of course the stuff at the gym. I think I might get a bike, too.

Rights you don't have.

Yesterday, the storied 9th Circut in San Francisco ruled that public schools can ban clothing that is 'hurtful'.

As part of the ruling:

Writing for the panel's majority, Judge Stephen Reinhardt affirmed a lower court's decision against an injunction against the school and said schools may bar slogans believed to be hurtful.

Students "who may be injured by verbal assaults on the basis of a core identifying characteristic such as race, religion, or sexual orientation, have a right to be free from such attacks while on school campuses," Reinhardt wrote.

"The demeaning of young gay and lesbian students in a school environment is detrimental not only to their psychological health and well-being, but also to their educational development," Reinhardt added.

This clearly points out two key issues. First, that even a Judge can't understand what a right is. You do not have a right to be free from speech. There is not injury here.

Second, that having the government run a school opens all sorts of problems. The Constitution says the governement can not limit speech - so even though certainly it's a good idea to have a rule prohibiting certain slogans, the government run school can not (or should not) be able to enforce that rule. In a private school, however, there is no problem having such a rule.

Maybe we would be better off if schools were focused on teaching what rights are instead of worrying about what a t shirt says.

Moving, it is teh suck

Well, it is. I don't know how people who relocate regularly do it, other than by simply not having any stuff.

We moved into the new (yet remarkably incomplete) house on Saturday. Big props and a shout out to Johnny and Joe, who helped move the bed, the treadmill, the weights, the boxes, and the TVs (although we all could have done without the result of John's trip to Denny's at 4AM). As of today, we have accomplished virtually nothing we expected. We are still without closets, we haven't completely cleaned, we haven't unpacked, we don't have phone/internet/cable, and I can't move the Benz over because we have furniture that doesn't fit up the stairs stored in the garage.

I guess it's a good thing we haven't listed the old house yet. Still have a couple of things to do there to get it ready. We did meet with an auction guy who pretty much sold us on the idea of auctioing the house off, although we are still a little wary of the possibility of selling the house for $14. We do have two people who are interested in buying as soon as we set a price, so we plan to call them and have them come by on Sunday, then give the auction guy an answer by Monday.

All that said, the new house is awesome. It's a quieter location, although still close to everything. Plenty of room, the kitchen turned out great (and it isn't even done yet). The new furniture we got is fantastic, the view is better than we thought it would be. All in all, it's a little surreal - but this house is why we work so hard, from me going to night school to get my MBA, to her busting her ass 60 hours a week to build her business. Now we just need to keep our perspective and take the time to enjoy the fruits of our labor.

We did ruin into a snag with some furniture that doesn't fit up the stairs; we are either going to hoist it up (we can get both pieces in if we do that), or have a carpenter take the furniture apart, then move it, then put it back together.

All in all, we should be settled in within a month or so - the first party will be on July 4th.

As far as training goes, I've been working so hard on both houses I just haven't had any spare time. I'm going to plan on getting back in the habit starting on Monday the 24th, and shoot for a meet late in the year. Yes, I know that's what I said last year.

No, I don't trust you

Justice Scalia's 'proudest moment"? The one where he decided to not recuse himself when considering a case involving his hunting buddy.

The case involved Cheney's request to keep private the details of closed-door White House strategy sessions that produced the administration's energy policy. The administration fought a lawsuit that contended that industry executives helped shape that policy. The Supreme Court upheld the administration position on a 7 to 2 vote.

Critics alleged that Scalia's impartiality had been compromised as a result of his taking a hunting vacation with Cheney while the court was considering the vice president's appeal. The justice rejected that reasoning.

"For Pete's sake, if you can't trust your Supreme Court justice more than that, get a life," he said.

The arrogance is simply astounding.

Required Reading

Ron Paul on taxes at Lew Rockwell.

If he could only improve his public speaking skills.

Shocked

The Administration might have mislead us about WMDs in Iraq.

Who would have thunk it?

Certainly not me. I mean, they would NEVER lie.

Mmmmmm.... beer.

Since I'm moving all the way from Fells Point to Canton, I have to familarize myself with a new liquor store. I usually go to Broadway Liquors, about 4 blocks from my house (which, coincidentally is about the distance I am comfortable carrying a 1.5L bottle of vodka, a 750ml bottle of bourbon, and a case of beer at the same time.)

Anyway, I stopped in Canton Discount Liquors in the 2900 block of O'Donnell Street, which is about 1.5 blocks North and 4 blocks West of the new house, to pick up some beers.. I've been in before, as I used to live in Tindeco Wharf, which is also just a couple of blocks away. They always have a decent selection, although they are no Harford Beverage Company.

I got a six of Dogfish Head 60 minute IPA... I'd heard good things at eGullet.

Oh. My. Goodness.

Fantastic! Just the right level of crispness, with a hop bite that lingers for a minute after a sip. Had one with pizza for dinner, then another for dessert (OK, two for dessert.)

This might be my new favorite every day drinking beer. I also think a roadtrip to the brewery may be in order.

They didn't cut the lock off my locker!

I went to the gym today! I didn't have time, but I did it anyway.

Just a quick one for the squat/dead: Stepups, prisoner squats, band good mornings, 45 degree hypers, situps, leg raises, and lots and lots of stretching.

Details here.

Quick hit

Just a quick update -

I'm trying to get back into the training habit. Obviously, a spring meet is out. I wanted to get in today, but I spent more time working on the house than expected. Tomorrow is out, I'll be painting all day. so I'm shooting for Monday, and actually getting back to the every other day schedule.

Settlement is on for Tuesday. I have no idea when our current house will be ready to go.