Open Thread

Between work, my mother's injury, and preparing for vacation, I haven't had much time for writing blog posts. Now that my kids are grown I thought I would have more time for myself.

Surprise, surprise Sergeant Carter. It ain't happening.

Anyway, because my duties have taken me out of the realm of five-star blogging for a season, I thought I'd do something I rarely do and throw up an open thread.

Stretched

That about says it.

I have been stretched way too thin to produce a cogent post the last couple of days. Hopefully I can get one together this evening. Until then, use this as an open thread.

Thanks for reading.

Holiday Break

Like most men, I was out Christmas shopping last night and tonight will probably be no different. So as you may guess, the blog will suffer neglect and rejection for a short time.

Check back for a message on Christmas Eve and a special music post.

Thanks for reading.

Some Housekeeping

I have been using Blogrolling.Com for my blogroll, mainly because I found it to be an easy way to manage my blogroll. But as I type this, it is down and it cannot be seen.

Now that Blogger has a simple way to blogroll my favorite sites, I plan to punt Blogrolling.Com and put up my own. So, in the coming few days, I will be re-modeling the PYY blogroll and may miss some of my readers' blogs initially. But rest assured, I will get them all back up soon.

I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause my readers.

Changes

Here I sit all befuddled and confused. I attempted to upgrade my blog and it would seem I have been successful. But, it would appear that I have lost my blogrolls in the process. (Oh joy.) But do not worry, stew, or fret. I will be spending some time in the near future putting up a new one. If you were on that one, you will be on the new one.

Meanwhile, any suggestions on how I can retrieve the old information would be appreciated. But in the interim, it is my fear that some of you will tell me it's lost forever. So whatever the truth would be, I can take it. Let me know, if you know.

Thanks for reading.

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

Many people want to tell us how bad many have it in America. But as Americans, we often take some things for granted. How well we eat, compared to many others in the world, is one of those things.

If you want to see a visual comparison of the differences, take a trip over to the Hill Chronicles and take a look at what I am saying.

1500

This post is my 1500th post.

I did the blogaversary thing the 1st year, but the 2nd, I didn't. PYY will be three in January and I probably won't make a big deal of that, either.

More than anything, I just want to thank all that have made PYY a stop in your blog-hopping, all that give this place a serious read. And I sincerely hope that if nothing else, I have given you something to reflect on, here and there, along the way.

I owe a special thanks to those that contribute with their comments. Many lurk and never say a word about anything, ever. And that's okay, I value their readership, just the same. But those that regularly or semi-regularly comment always seem to add something extra, something more enlightening, to the mix.

Whether it is assenting or dissenting opinions, all are welcome to comment and I hope that those that lurk will someday do so. All I have ever asked is we show respect for the other person in our dissent and we have had very few instances of ugliness here.

No one has ever been officially banned from here. I think that is a testament, within itself.

So, if you lurk and wish to comment, you have my word that I run a tight ship here, in that department. But if not, thanks for looking in and I hope you will continue to do so.



Again, thank you all, very much.

Announcement

This Friday November 2, 3:30PM Eastern, I am slated to be one of the guests on the Blog Talk Radio show, The Gathering Storm. The show begins at 3:00PM with a guest, Karradine, who wrote a song called "I Wanna Go Home--A Soldier's Lament". My interview will follow.

This is a live show. They do take calls. So, if you have a question, I am sure they'll put you on. If not, give it a listen. (If you cannot listen live, they have replays at the click of a mouse.)

To listen to the show when it airs, just click on the button below.






Note: This post will stay on top until Friday. Scroll down for the latest posts.



Well, I made it. Remember, if you didn't get to hear the show, just click on the Blog Talk Radio button and click on the Nov. 2 show button.

Here are links to the two articles I referenced:

A Short History Of WWIII by Sal Rosken. Have doubts about the war being waged against the United States? Read this.

Frustrations Of an American Muslim after visiting a Muslim country by Dr. Shahid Athar.

My sincere thanks to all that listened (probably a total of three or four).

Announcement

During my flurry of activity Friday, I planned to get the weekly Another Blast From The Past post together in the evening hours, before I retired. But unfortunately, the power went out for some yet unknown reason. So, I went to bed. The power came back on later, but it was too late and with a long day ahead of me the next day, it didn't get done.

Yesterday, I was gone all day. And today, I will be gone. So, I have decided to postpone this weekend's feature to Wednesday, at which time I will do a Halloween theme.

My apologies go out to those that come here on the weekends, expecting to see this post.

As always, my sincere thanks for reading PYY.

A Dog's Life

By now most of us know about the flap with Ellen DeGeneres and the now famous dog, she gave away, because of the dog's inability to adapt to cats in the home. Due to some fine-print wording in the addoption agreement, the agency that provided Ellen the dog for adoption seized the dog from the good home, Ellen had found it. But Ellen made a tearful plea to the owners of Mutts And Moms, a non-profit agency run by the owners of Paws Boutique Store of Pasadena (Vanessa Chekroun and Marina Batkis), to return the dog to the family.

So far, they haven't. They even have gone as far as to claim that Ellen is bullying them.

Well, now there's an outcry. It seems there are threats coming in to the owners that are responsible for this "far from compassionate" act. And while I do not condone this at all, it's not surprising that this has generated a lot of outrage.

I know that Ellen signed the agreement and it is well within their rights to enforce it. But there's more to this than some agreement, if you ask me.

At the very least, these two women are so rigid and unbending, they have lost sight of what they claim their objectives are, in running this agency. At the very most, they are mean-spirited and have ice running through their veins. And their value systems are very much called into question, solely by the actions they have taken in this matter.

I am sure a deal could be worked out that would be beneficial to all parties here, yet, the people that are in the best position to form some agreement are not budging.

But make no mistake here, threatening these ladies is not the best way to get to a fair resolution here. The best way to resolve this seems to lies within the hands of those that are customers of the Paws Boutique Store. I do not call for boycotts, as a general rule. but in this case, I am calling on all customers of Paws Boutique Store to take their business elsewhere, until the dog is returned to the family.

If it means the loss of their livelihood, so be it. That's the power of the dollar, that's the true power of the American people. That's why I love capitalism, it gives us choices and not ultimatums.

More Recommended Reading

This is a brutal stretch for me, no time to blog like I'd like. So here are some more recommendations for you all to read, some of which may outrage you a bit:


Here is is more government intrusion on family life, read what's happening in Portland.


As if credibility was not already an issue with Air America, one host has now been fronted out in his attempt to create a controversy out of an accident. Read about it here.


Some people may be coming to their senses in this Turkish genocide flap, so reports the IHT.


Also from the IHT, comes a stern warning from China, as well as, one from Russia. I guess this is warn the U.S. Week, overseas.


Flocon has an post up, in English. I guess we have two different sets of criteria for what paranoia is. But do give it a read and leave him a comment, if you wish.

Recommended Reading

The Logic Lifeline on the Turkey situation.

Fore Left on Yousef's supposed Christian conversion.

Social Sense on the topic of nobility.

Recommended Reading

I am in the midst of one of those infamous busy stretches that frequently come in my life. I started a post for today, but alas, I could not get it finished in time for publishing. So, here are a few things for you to read and ponder, whilst I am mining salt and trying to keep the cash flow coming.



The latest VDH piece can be found here. As always, he doesn't mince words and has his way with them.

Here is an odd twist to the Democrats and their anti-war base. This goes to show you cannot make promises you may mot be able to keep.

Mustang has a new post that echoes my sentiments on the subject of this time wasting Congress. For the latest waste of taxpayer dollars, see what he has to say.

Historically, the incompetent turn into the irrelevant. For the latest irrelevance from he who was incompetent, you can check out the latest statements my Jimmy Carter.

Some will hail this as a foreign policy victory, others will characterize it as a defeat. But Sarkozy knows where he stands and this article will tell you where that is.



Happy Reading

Road Trip

I will be out of town on a private family matter and too busy to attend to the blog for a few days. Nothing is wrong, it's a happy occasion, all is well. It's all good. And so forth and so on.

I hope to be back Friday evening at a decent time. But details that are way out of my control will dictate this, not me.

So until then:

Hope all of you have a great rest of the week.

The Political Compass Test

There are those that have made comments here and elsewhere, doubting my claim to be an independent centrist. Not that I care what anyone thinks, mind you, but I have taken an online test that pinpoints my score, based on that particular test's results. Here is the graph where my pinpoint is located.





You can take the test for yourself here. It's not scientific, but almost every test that I have taken similar to this, shows me near the area where this model shows me to be.

Too many people think that to be independent you must reject all things from both parties. That thinking is known as black and white thinking. With no vision of the gray areas, they look at one party as all good and another as all bad, with no in between. This is termed "splitting" in the psychiatric world and is a common trait found in what is known as, borderline personality disorder.

Being a centrist is more complex than the little box they try to put one in. I wrote a piece a couple of years ago that explains a centrist in better detail. To those that don't get it, I recommend reading it.

Family Emergency

Mrs. Sunsett was hospitalized last evening. Needless to say, blogging is not a priority right now. So, to all of my regular readers, I hope this will be resolved soon and I will be back online as soon as possible. Check back soon.

Thanks for reading.


UPDATE (25 Aug 07):

Mrs. Sunsett has been discharged from the hospital and is currently resting comfortably at home. She is not 100%, but certainly feeling better than she was feeling.The most serious of potential causes of this unexpected illness have been ruled out for now. But, it may take awhile before she gets back to her old self.

Many thanks for the kind words, thoughts, and prayers, through the comments and through the e-mail. Mrs. Sunsett also sends her thanks, as well.

(As you may have surmised, the weekly Another Blast From The Past feature will not appear this week. I know some of you look forward to it, but I just don't have the energy to put one up. Hope you understand.)

Explanation Of Absence

My apologies to all that have come to make PYY a daily stop in their blog-surfing. But a lot is going on right now, way too much to concentrate on putting out posts with a reasonable level of quality. Rest assured, it is nothing too negative (that is, unless you consider an overwhelming amount of multi-tasking as being negative).

So, hopefully things will wind down real soon and I can get back into form, quickly. Meanwhile, feel free to treat this as an open thread and discuss whatever you want.

My thanks to all of you, for your patience and your readership.

New Post At PPTG

Don't faint, but I have a new post up at PPTG (rather quickly after the last). It has to do with the recent Papal stink. Again, if you are so inclined, take a look at it and feel free to comment.

Think Gas Is Outrageous? Get A Load Of This.

A famous line generally attributed to PT Barnum is certainly applicable, in this story.

It goes: "There's a sucker born every minute...and two to take 'em."

This is amazing when you think about it. When we see a product that is so ridiculously over-priced as some of these are, you have to consider that there must be a market for it. Even more so is the fact that somebody has actually paid what they are asking.

I guess some people want to be the first on their block to do anything, these days.

Intrusion Inc.?

An Indianapolis hospital group has decided that it's in the best interests of their employees to charge those that make certain conscious decisions on their lifestyles. Granted, this is not the government we're talking about here. But still, we are talking about an entity that is using punishment for non-compliance to a collectively agreed on, uniform standard.

There is no argument against living a healthy lifestyle, at least not one I can think of. Yet, it concerns me greatly when freedom to choose it stripped away from the individual. Sure, the employees can go elsewhere and find work, if they choose. But, my argument is based on a company's right to regulate individual personal choices of those that for it. What if more and more companies choose to discriminate in the fashion? Will people run out of places to work?

Don't get me wrong here. Companies have the perfect right to insist that employees not smoke on their property. And that right should be respected. If they have a food service vendor on the premises, they have the right to insist that healthy fare be served. But to tell a worker what he/she can or cannot do, on their own time, is intrusive interference with that person's constitutional right to make their own decisions concerning their own lives (even if they choose stupid decisions).

I would like to see the ACLU take a look at this, but I realize that they have more important things on their agenda right now, like trying to find ways to strip the government's ability to efficiently fight terrorism.