College Virtual Choir Delivers Beautiful Ensemble Performance

From the performing arts department at my college. 

Wonderful.

Visiting Temecula

We all headed out to Temecula yesterday, to pick up my oldest son who was spending Friday and Saturday visiting with dear friends. We had dinner last night at Red Robin's, at the Promenade Mall in town there.

That's my 22 ounce Sam Adams next to my wife's iced tea:

Here's yours truly enjoying the ambiance:

This is Luke, 7-months-old, the newest member of their family:

This is my youngest son, now 11-years-old, holding Luke:

After dinner my oldest son, now 17-years-old, went cruising around the mall with our friends' daughter. We found them across the way from the Edwards 15 theater:

We enjoyed spending time with little Luke, especially. He's a sweet boy and is now rolling over very well and just starting to crawl. I tweeted about babies earlier. The more time one spends with children the more visceral one's opposition to abortion becomes.

Who Wins the Gold Medal for Huggiest, Touchiest Sport?

Well, Misty May-Treanor practically did a sex romp on top of Kerry Walsh after they won their third gold medal, but I guess that dynamic duo has a lot of competition.

At the Wall Street Journal, "Group Hug: Which Olympic Sport Wins Gold for Touchiest? Fist Bumps, Bro Hugs and Chest Bumps Proliferate; 'We've Got Each Other's Backs'":

Beach volleyball isn't as huggy as its larger indoor cousin. In their recent match against Italy, Olympic champions Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings racked up one high five, 16 low fives, six double-high and double-low fives, and five bum taps, for a total of 28 touches in the first 25 plays, an average of 1.12.

Read the whole thing.

Misty May-Treanor: 2012 Olympics Were 'So Much More About the Friendship, the Togetherness, the Journey...'

One of the great stories of the London Olympics, from USA Today, "May-Treanor, Walsh win third gold in style":

For so long, they've dominated this sport. They've been partners for 11 years, winning three consecutive world championships at one point, and now three consecutive Olympic gold medals to end it all. Of the five gold medals awarded since beach volleyball became an Olympic sport in 1996, May-Treanor and Walsh have won three of them.

The two had been emotional on this court the night before after they clinched a spot in the final. They said this medal means more than the previous two.

"The first two medals, I think it was more volleyball," May-Treanor said. "The friendship we had was there, but it was all 'volleyball, volleyball.' This was so much more about the friendship, the togetherness, the journey. Volleyball was just a small part of it." That's because they're different women then they were four years ago

in Beijing, and certainly different than they were eight years ago in Athens.

RTWT.

Also, at the New York Times, "All-American Ending for Beach Volleyball Team."

Legal Insurrection in the O.C.

Last Tuesday, William Jacobson published a picture of the windmills off Interstate 10 near Palm Springs: "Open – A Tape from California." It turns out William and his wife flew into Orange County Airport and rented a car to head out to Rancho Mirage for a legal conference. I contacted William and we met up for some coffee last night near his hotel near the airport.

He posted an update on their travels last night: "Open – Live from The OC."

It was great meeting William and his wife. We hit it off and had lots to talk about, but there wasn't enough time. I'll look forward to seeing them again, either in New York or perhaps next time they make it to California. It's a bummer the county's so big sometimes, although that's one of the great things about blogging: I've met more wonderful people over these last few years. It's been something to really cherish.

Head on over to see what's going on at the blog. He's just as big a blogging junkie as I am!

Pamela Geller Rule 5 Blogging?

Actually, no.

I hadn't even thought about it, but both Robert Stacy McCain and Opus #6 thought Pamela good Rule 5 material, and tastefully so (here and here).

As Opus writes:

Pamela Geller is amazing. She is a gladiator on the world scene, fighting for freedom, justice and the American Way. Undeterred by jihadi death threats, she very kindly paused from signing her new book, the Post-American Presidency, to pose with me for a Blackberry picture.

That's sweet.

I'm thrilled I was able to meet Pamela and have my picture taken with her as well.

Pamela's book is here: The Post-American Presidency: The Obama Administration's War on America.

One is the Loneliest Number

From Carolyn Tackett, "Help a Friend."

And previously, "The Recession Hits Stogie at Saberpoint." Stogie's blog is here.

James B. Webb All-Talk (Non) Political Analyst Pwned: Word Bro ... Atheist Megalomaniac EPIC FAIL on Intellectual Substance

OPEN LETTER TO JAMES B. WEBB: WORD TO THE WISE, EXTENDED VERSION (SO BE WISE)

James (OR WHATEVER YOUR REAL NON-COWARD NAME IS), FWIW (a reponse to your sterile big talk):

You told me not to comment on your blog some time ago, and I have observed your rules. But when Repsac3 stalks and taunts American Power with genuine racist insults, when he refuses to observe my rules and common decency, you're down with that ... of course you're into racist photoshopping and cyberstalking, so NST, yo!

Frankly, son, you're nothing but a child to me, with an overdriven playground gotcha mentality. Fact is, every single time I've argued substantive points you've ignored them and moved on predictably to insults and snarks: On the budget deficit you blamed Bush and FAILED. On my post on faith, morality and fighting Satan, you dissed it without a single mention of the issues ... FAIL. On Sean Trende's RCP analysis on the November congressional elections? Ignored it again ... FAIL.
And you recently wrote at my blog:

"I'm not suggesting that the left isn't responsible for many acts of hate and violence in the world. I'm just pointing out the stupidity of the myopic worldview that one side of the ideological aisle is so much better/worse than the other and regardless of which side says it (and I hear it from both on a constant basis) they always sound like uninformed children when they do."

Actually, the contemporary left's entrenched ideological culture of violence is unmatched on the conservative right. And I responded to you with a link to Jamie Glazov's, United in Hate: The Left's Romance with Tyranny and Terror. Glazov's book is deeply argued and written from personal experience of tyranny and terror. His parents were Soviet dissidents. Their lives were put on the line for speaking out against the Communist Party in 1968, when Jamie's father signed the famous "Letter of Twelve" human rights manifesto. The forward to the book was written by R. James Woolsey, who was President Clinton's Director of Central Intelligence from 1993 to 1995. United in Hate received critical reviews from both sides of the spectrum, and retired United States Air Force Lieutenant General Thomas McInery called the book "a must-read if America is to survive the global war against Radical Islam." In short, this is serious stuff, worth engagement.
And what was your response to the citation for United in Hate? Totally predictable:

That's exactly what I mean when I talk about uninformed children, Don. Thank you as always for illustrating my point.

Breathtaking juvenile anti-intellectualism topped with a staggering heaping of brain-addled stupidity.
But that's to be expected from someone who's not right in the mind, oddly consumed by some kind of big man syndrome (when in fact nothing seems to warrant such a psychology, which thus raises appropriate and characteristic questions of megalomania).
And let's not forget your online perversions and stalking. When called out on these you own them with insecure phony laughter and some backslapping with your braindead followers in the comments at Brainrage.

So, JBW, let's be real, okay. Honestly, you're but a lost child to me. I'm a Ph.D. professor with 15 years experience teaching. I'm a father of two who's been married for 16 years. I've traveled widely and have nearly lost my life. But credentials, wisdom, life failings, and experience mean nothing to you, BECAUSE YOU KNOW IT ALL ALREADY.
Anyway, I understand the sources of your disrespect (hey, four years of college and you've got knowledge), but it's obvious to anyone who's been around the block a couple of times that you're all talk and little action. And the fact that James B. Webb is not your real names adds a hilarious touch to any mention by you of the word coward. So, here's a bet. You will not come out and identify yourself, and you will not meet me for a beer where you express a little humility and respect for someone who ought to be, frankly, your intellectual mentor. I'm in the O.C. Name the bar, on a weekend evening, and we'll meet.
So, what do you say big boy? You have my e-mail. Send me your name, phone number, and a location, and we'll meet like men ... instead of playing meaningless tit-for-tat on blogs that few people actually read.
Donald
BONUS DEDICATION: "No Values", from Black Flag's 1980 EP, Jealous Again:

I don't care what you think
I don't care what you say
I've got nothing to give you
Why don't you just go away

I've got no values
Nothing to say
I've got no values
Might as well blow you away

You're just a hole in the corner
Always loaded to the hilt
I could try some satisfaction
I could destroy everything you build

I've got no values
Nothing to say
I've got no values
Might as well blow you away

Don't you try classification
When you know it won't work
What if I try some annihilation
Throw your face in the dirt

I've got no values
Nothing to say
I've got no values
Might as well blow you away

Don't you try pretendin'
Telling me it's all right
I might start destroyin'
Everything in my sight!
No values
No values
No values

Right Wing Nation, Resting

I only knew him as "C.B." in our e-mail communications, but he ran an interesting blog and we exchanged some thoughts on teaching and assessment. I have been informed that C.B., a.k.a. "Right Wing Prof" at Right Wing Nation, has passed away. I don't know enough to say anymore, although C.B had retired from Right Wing Nation and was posting at blog called Central Pennylvania Orthodox. This passage is from the last entry there, entitled "Glorious Nativity":

I’m sorry I haven’t posted. I’m daunted by the task, and can’t give you as much as I’d like, for all of the expected reasons: Increased pain and shortness of breath, weakness and shakiness (?). Forgive typos ....

Christmas Day began very bad, Christmas here, and all. Christopher arrived in his Santa cap when Sharon, Brook, and Stacy, three nurses aides, were here and I was recovering from a particularly excrutiation pain spam.

Sharon was crying as she took my hand and said this was going to be the best Christmas ever because I was surrounded by people who loved me. That’s when I started crying, when I realized the truth of what she said, and we had a room of ten wet eyes.

Everything was uphill after that ....

I treasure the (good) people I meet through blogging and social networking. Though I can't be with everyone in person, I'm with folks in my heart.

Please say a prayer for C.B.'s family, and hold tight and enjoy togetherness with your loved ones today and always.