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Name: Ed Lilly
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Memorable foods from childhood

There are some things in life that you don't even think about how you know them.  They just are.  As a kid, and budding consumer, I knew about various types of cereals from commercials during Saturday morning cartoons, even if I didn't get to eat some of them.  Quisp, Cookie Crisp, Honeycombs, Sugar Smacks, Froot Loops, Trix, Coco Puffs, Lucky Charms, etc.  Standard sugary cereals for kids in the late 60s and 70s.

Special lunch treats or after school snacks like Twinkies, Ho Ho's, and Ding Dongs were always welcome (I was never much of a Sno Balls fan).

So a few months ago, during a visit with friends, one of our friends made a comment about hearing that Twinkies were no longer made.  This couldn't be possible.  I was sure I had seen them in the store sometime in the not-too-distant past.

But what really surprised us was the follow-up question from our 7 year old daughter, "What's a Twinkie?"  How could we have failed our children so that we allowed her to reach the age of 7 without ever experiencing a Twinkie?

All's still right with the world, as I have seen and purchased Twinkies at the store.  And now that my daughter's had one, she hasn't made any request that we buy more.  That's ok.  Perhaps on rare occasions, one of the kids will ask about getting some of those cream filled cakes that looked like bananas.  And if they are still around, we'll probably have them again.

With summer now approaching, and the first trip by the ice cream truck through the neighborhood over the weekend, I realized that along with failing to expose my children to Twinkies early in life, they have no concept of what a Dilly Bar is.  I thought there was a Dairy Queen not far from our house, but when I drove over to the area to see if I was right, there was no such place.  Perhaps just a faulty memory on my part.

Fortunately, in getting lost last week while running an unrelated errand, I wound up crossing the Trenton Makes the World Takes bridge over the Delaware River into Pennsylvania.  I turned around at the first intersection to head back to Trenton, and in making the turn, spotted a DQ down the street.

I told my lovely wife about what I had found, and pointed out that I would most likely have to go back down there to get a bag of Dilly Bars for the freezer.  For the kids, of course.

She was quick to point out that I better not come home without a bag of Buster Bars as well.

As if I somehow wouldn't also get Buster Bars.  Sometimes I wonder if she even knows me.

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Language and logic on the campaign trail

I heard some of Dennis Prager's radio show yesterday while I was in the car, and loved the "campaign promise" that he made.  Prager was playing clips of Senator Clinton lying [ed. - forgot the strikethrough before, oops] speaking about the pregnant woman / denial of health care story, during which Clinton made some reference to the woman in the story, "havin' some trouble."

Prager picked up on the use of "havin'" in the story, noting that politicians often use little tropes like that in speaking to audiences, trying to get people to identify with them.  As Prager noted, Mrs. Clinton went to Yale law school, and uses the word "having" when she speaks.

Chuckling about such absurdity in speaking, Prager promised that, in the event he ever runs for office, he will use the letter "g" when he speaks.  It's a great observation and a great "promise."

Which brings me to the story on Senator Obama's talk about his patriotism.  Jules Crittenden linked to this story in the Boston Herald, which provides Obama's statement in relevant part:


“I love this country not because it’s perfect, but because we’ve always been able to move it closer to perfection,”

A lot of people have written about how wonderful Obama is as a speaker, and I guess I'll take their word for it.  I think the last speech or address by a politician that I listened to was President Bush's address either immediately after 9/11, or his State of the Union address the following January.

What prompts me to instantly dislike Obama's statement is the false dichotomy that he, and so many politicians, sets up.  I don't love this country because it's perfect either, and I don't think anyone has seriously tried to argue that it is a perfect country.  But this country stands for the right things.  Freedom.  Opportunity.  The notion of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" was not just thrown in on a whim by the Founding Fathers.

That doesn't mean everything that has ever happened here has been perfect, or even right.  But this is still the greatest country, in terms of what it stands for and what it offers to the world's people, in history.

For Senator Obama to talk about silly hypotheticals like "perfection" is ridiculous.  There never has been, nor will there ever be, a perfect country.  Discussion of even moving it closer to perfection is something I would expect from a high school sophomore on the debate team.  This is a great country.  And it bothers me that a presidential candidate who so many praise as a great speaker seems incapable of saying something so obvious and true, and meaning it.


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That's about the pace I expect from soccer

I heard last week that David Beckham scored his first ever goal for the Los Angeles Galaxy.  Which of course made me, as a sports xenophobe, shake my head and wonder why people still try to force soccer onto the American public.  Beckham was signed by the Galaxy in January of last year.  And we're getting news 14 months later that he's finally scored ONE GOAL?

As much as I want my kids to run around outside and be active, I'm kind of glad so far that neither of them has shown the slightest interest in soccer.  Kind of reminds me of the old bumper sticker about the Air Force and schools, though for my tastes, I'd love to slap one on my car that says, "It will be a great day when baseball diamonds are full with kids playing pickup games, and soccer fields are empty."


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"I'd rather be dumber and a champion."

Wise words in that title from ESPN radio host and football analyst Mike Golic in response to George Will's latest column in Newsweek on the new book Your Brain on Cubs:

Yes, rooting for the Cubs is a minority taste because it is an interminable tutorial in delayed gratification, but "there is some evidence that being in the majority (everyone loves a winner) reduces reflective thinking."

"The scientific literature," Grafman says, "suggests that fans of losing teams turn out to be better decision-makers and deal better with divergent thought, as opposed to the unreflective fans of winning teams."


Tags: Cubs   baseball  
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I guess Matt Leinart can always be president of Formula 1 racing

Sports is a pretty fluffy topic on its own.  But when you get sports mixed with sexual scandal, you get fluffy and (arguably) very amusing stuff.  First, St Louis Arizona Cardinals quarterback Matt Leinart's situation:

After seeing Internet photos of Matt Leinart partying last weekend at his Arizona home, Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt said he was "disappointed" in his quarterback.

Among the four photos splashed across Web sites thedirty.com and TMZ.com over the weekend, Leinart was shown assisting a co-ed drinking from a beer bong in one and sharing a hot tub with four women in another. The photos ran on SportsCenter on Tuesday.

"Matt called me Monday morning and we spoke for a while," Whisenhunt said in a statement obtained by the East Valley Tribune. "I reiterated to him the type of behavior that we expect at all times from our players. He understands that as well as the level of scrutiny that he's under because of who he is. It's being handled internally.


Not great publicity for Leinart, the Cardinals, or the NFL.  But hey, at least Leinart didn't have a story like this come out about him (h/t Mark Steyn at NRO's The Corner for the Euro version):

    The son of infamous British wartime fascist leader Oswald Mosley is filmed romping with five hookers at a depraved NAZI-STYLE orgy in a torture dungeon. Mosley— a friend to F1 big names like Bernie Ecclestone and Lewis Hamilton— barks ORDERS in GERMAN as he lashes girls wearing mock DEATH CAMP uniforms and enjoys being whipped until he BLEEDS...

    At one point the wrinkled 67-year-old—who publicly likes to give the impression he has put his father's evil legacy behind him—yells "she needs more of ze punishment!" while brandishing a LEATHER STRAP over a brunette's naked bottom.

    Then the lashes rain down as Mosley counts them out in German: "Eins! Zwei! Drei! Vier! Fünf! Sechs!.."

    Last month the urbane president of the FIA—Formula One's governing body—hit the headlines when he announced a crackdown on racism in the sport after McLaren ace Lewis Hamilton was abused by Spanish spectators.

    But on Friday the only ‘crackdowns' married Mosley was interested in were on bare buttocks...

    The 6ft 2in former barrister once helped his father try to restart his political career in the Sixties with a new fascist Union Movement party. He was even a prospective parliamentary candidate himself.

    But the party that got his vote on Friday was one involving violent perversion in a rigged-up basement torture dungeon.


Certainly sounds a little worse than Leinert's frolics, from a public relations perspective, anyway.  So what's the reaction in the world of Formula 1?  Well, here's the initial response:

Formula One chief executive Bernie Ecclestone told at least one London newspaper that Mosley's job was not in jeopardy.

"I find it difficult to believe. It's his business but it sounds to me like a set-up. Has he in any way damaged F1? No," he told the Daily Mail.

Later Monday, the Times Online reported that sources close to Mosley said he wouldn't resign.


Ecclestone's quote is classic:  I don't believe it.  It's his own private business.  He was set up.  This has nothing to do with F1.

I think the only things he missed were the normally kiss-of-death vote of confidence and a promise of exoneration.


UPDATE - Fixed the spelling of Leinart's name in the title of the post and body so that it's consistent with the story.

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Moises Alou exonerates Steve Bartman?

I guess the opening of the baseball season is not interesting on its own, so we have to somehow dredge up the Cubs 2003 NLCS Game 6 collapse:

Should Steve Bartman be off the hook with Cubs fans? According to Moises Alou, he should be.

Alou, now with the Mets, said he wouldn't have caught the now-infamous pop foul in the 2003 National League Championship Series that hit the heel of Bartman's hand in the eighth inning of Game 6, prolonging an inning in which the Marlins later rallied for the lead. Florida went on to win the series.


Ooooohhhhhkay.  My own memory is a little different on Moises' chances, as the story notes further on:

That stands in stark contrast to Alou's reaction at the time. After the play, he jumped up and down with his arms outstretched.

After the game, he said: "I timed it perfectly, I jumped perfectly. I'm almost 100 percent that I had a clean shot to catch the ball. All of a sudden, there's a hand on my glove."

Who are you gonna believe, Moises or ..... Moises?!
Tags: Cubs   baseball  
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A long, slow decline for IU hoops

As great as it was growing up watching Bob Knight's teams at Indiana, the steady decline from his last really top notch team in the early 90s, which could very well have won a national championship until Alan Henderson suffered a broken leg, to the interim-coach Dan Dakich crew that couldn't get out of the first round of the NCAA tournament has been painful and tortuous.  I hoped that after the shock of Knight's firing and the inevitable collapse of whatever coach followed the legend, the school would be able to find someone with the ability to recruit and coach a solid team that could once again put Indiana basketball back into contention for a national championship.

The mere possibility that anyone in Bloomington might be even thinking about talking to Isiah Thomas about the men's basketball program tells me the Hoosier faithful are only at the beginning of a Cub-like century of mediocrity, futility and frustration.  From SI.com
:


Embattled New York Knicks coach Isiah Thomas sidestepped whether he's interested in talking with Indiana University about its head coaching position.

Thomas, whose Knicks have lost five of six and 13 of 15, has a 53-101 record in two seasons with the Knicks. Though he helped Indiana win the 1981 NCAA championship, Thomas has never coached in college.

He indicated the Hoosiers haven't consulted him.


The Indiana student body needs to figure out a way to wipe out all forms of communication that might be used by anyone in the Indiana athletic department to contact Zeke.  Yesterday.

Tags: IU   Basketball  
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Turning Reagan upside down

So much of politics and government is maddening and disillusioning that, while I make some effort to keep up to date on what's going on in the political world, I don't want to devote too much of my blogging to it.  My displeasure with so much of the political world would make extensive blogging on such a topic no fun for me to write.  That said, there are occasions, topics and themes that I sometimes find interesting and worth trying to ponder.  A short post on Powerline today served as just such a jumping off point relating to a comment my father made last week.  We'll get to that in due time.

First, the title of the Powerline post is:


WE ARE ALL ROCKEFELLER REPUBLICANS NOW

It is essentially a link to a newsletter where John Hinderaker, one of the Powerline bloggers, has contributed a short piece on the legacy of Nelson Rockefeller.  The title of the piece pretty much explains the central point of Hinderaker's article.  Here are a few excerpts and thoughts:

But the highly partisan tone of political discourse today disguises the fact that the two major parties are as close together ideologically as they ever have been in American history.  Far from being endangered, the political center is dominant.

Hinderaker is probably a lot more knowledgeable than I am about where the two political parties are at this point, so I'll take him at his word on this.  But if he is right, then it is a truly depressing reality.  As spelled out further into the article:

The use of American military power abroad and the extent to which the federal government should control its citizens' medical care are probably the most hotly disputed issues.  But these issues do not involve fundamental philosophical differences.  Which is another way of saying that the center, and not any political or philosophical extremes, currently dominates American politics.

Great.  The Republican party is not philosphically opposed to the federal government controlling the citizens' medical care, it's just quibbling over the degree of control.  Still more from the article:

In domestic policy, Rockefeller's most fundamental difference from his conservative rivals was his more expansive view of the role of government and his willingness to spend money and, if necessary, raise taxes. .... The Rockefeller Republicans were generally viewed not as hostile to the Democrats' government programs, but as committed to executing them more efficiently and more effectively than the liberals were willing or able to do.

What was it Newt Gingrich said about Bob Dole being the tax collector for the welfare state?  The more things change....

The final kicker:


Republicans no longer are trying to undo the New Deal, and Democrats no longer dream of a socialist future.  Republicans are resigned to an expanding federal role in domestic affairs, and Democrats look for ways to help American business.

Oof.  Never having been a card carrying member of a political party, if Hinderaker is right on where the Republican party is today, it doesn't look like there is any reason for someone with a small government, conservative mindset to waste any time or money supporting the Republicans.

The topic of this year's presidential race came up while my father and I were sitting in the rental office at the small hotel where we have stayed in Florida for several years now.   While I checked my email using the wireless internet access available in the office, my father and Lissy, the rental agent, discussed the election.  Lissy asked if we were Republicans, mentioning that she is a registered Republican.

Fortunately, I was involved with email, so my father answered that he is also a registered Republican, but that he has not been very happy with many of the things going on with the federal government and Bush administration.  Interestingly, he made reference to Reagan's declaration that he didn't leave the Democratic party, the Democratic party left him.  My father pointed out he feels much the same way about the Republican party.

The more I think about it, the more sense that comment makes.  And in light of Hinderaker's point that the Republican party is committed merely to better management of an ever-expanding federal government, I have to wonder if that may still spell trouble for the Republican nominee in this year's presidential election.  I would think that John McCain's best shot is for national security to be the dominant issue in this election.  Because if it comes down to domestic issues and federal programs, I can see a situation where a lot of conservatives sit on their hands or write in someone else.  I know I'll think long and hard about it.


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Proving PDX Dave's point?

I'm certainly not nearly is disturbed bwhatever clerical error may have occurred in the case of SLA terrorist Kathleen Soliah as I am by the treatment of Nubs the dog.  Good that they caught it.  Good that she's going back in.  Another year in prison for her?  So be it.
Tags: Terrorism  
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If you live near this Marine aviator, give him a hand if it's needed

Having lost our beloved companion of 16 years last fall, a Hoosier mutt of mixed parentage, I am particularly touched by this story of a U.S. Marine and those who helped make it possible for another beautiful dog to find a loving home.  May they have many years of loving companionship.  Here's the story in case you don't click through:

A San Diego-based Marine major was reunited on Saturday with one of his closest war buddies—a 2-year-old dog named Nubs.

Nubs greeted Maj. Brian Dennis at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station when the fighter pilot returned from Iraq.

It was the first time the two were together since Dennis' family and close friends helped raise $3,500 to fly the dog to San Diego about a month ago. Nubs wasn't allowed to stay on base in Iraq.

Dennis, 36, of St. Pete Beach, Fla., had spotted the mongrel dog while on patrol in Anbar province and later nursed the animal back to health after finding him stabbed with a screwdriver.

He named the dog Nubs after learning someone cut the ears off believing it would make the dog more aggressive and alert.
I'll never understand what it would take for someone to be able to do the kinds of things to a dog that are described here.  Thank goodness for this Marine and the efforts of all those who helped him.
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What happens when Cliff Claven posts internet video?

You get this kind of awesome recreation of US military combat history from WWII to the present, using representative food from the combatant parties, that was emailed to me by a buddy from school.  No word on whether the Richard Nixon potato was used in any of the pommes frites.



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Dee-vine Blueberry Pie

My seven year old was doing her homework, somewhat grudgingly, the other night.  One of the weekly tasks she has for spelling homework is to write something like a letter, story or definitions of some of the spelling words in her journal.  She has become a little bored with doing this, and has taken to begging us to let her do something easier, like spelling the words using different colored vowels and consonants.  As much as we try to tell her that we think it would be better to show the teacher she knows what the words mean and how to use them, she keeps trying to get us to approve something that won't make her think.

So this week, getting frustrated with what has become a weekly discussion, I noticed one of her spelling words was "divine."  "Hey," I asked, "do you know what that word means?"

"No.  And I don't care."

"Hmmm.  It actually has a few different meanings...  Hey, there's a story about Grandma Schlosser's blueberry pie in the family cookbook.  You want to read it with me?"

"Yeah!"

I went to the bookshelf full of cookbooks, and found my copy of "the taste of home:  a hoosier heritage."  My cousin is a chef in Oregon, and way back in 1992, just after our great grandmother's 101st birthday, she compiled a book full of family recipes contributed by numerous "good cookers and good eaters" in the family.  It is usually the book I turn to first when I am looking for something fairly simple to make and that will just hit the spot and taste good.

My mother's side of the family have always been good bakers.  There was probably never a family meal that did not involved at least 2 kinds of homemade pie.  And while my Grandma Schlosser's apple pies were legendary and always a favorite, her blueberry pie earned its own place in the family history, which my daughter was thrilled to learn.  As my cousin explains in the book:


We all fondly remember the day when our friends from Georgia, Charles Cobb, Sammy Foster, and John Hutchins, came to Grandma Straub's house to visit.  After the meal, Charles started eating a slice of Grandma Schlosser's blueberry pie, and asked (in his beautiful Southern drawl), "Who made this blueberry pie?  It's DEE-VINE!"  Well, we all cracked up, Grandma blushed, Charles got a second piece of pie, and it's been called "Divine" Blueberry Pie ever since!

"So what does 'divine' mean," I asked?

"It means delicious!"


Thanks, Sigrid, and thanks, Grandma!


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You want me in your pool! YOU NEED ME IN YOUR POOL!!!

Every year I seem to watch less and less college basketball.  I still enjoy it when I see it, for the most part, but in my Abe Simpson-like middle age, it does seem to me that the teams and players "nowadays" are not nearly as fun to watch as the teams of the 70s and 80s.  So as my viewing declines, my NCAA pool picks become more and more detached from the reality of which teams are really more likely to win, and instead just seem to flow randomly onto the page.

So when my beautiful wife's co-workers do their NCAA pool, she sometimes faces a little bit of opposition to having an "outsider" turn in a sheet.  She works with science nerds, who are all pretty normal and nice from the time I've spent with them, and they are for some reason a bit skittish that perhaps a non-science person may be a pool ringer who will take their money.

Their fears are always allayed as soon as they see my picks.  Then they are more than eager to take my entry fee as a generous donation to whoever will actually win.

I think they may have snickered even more than prior years when I turned in my picks this year.  My lovely bride called me in the morning to say I had about 45 minutes to do a sheet and get it to her so she could walk it upstairs.  Ten minutes after her call, my  one and only sheet of completed picks was scanned and fired off via email.

Then I sat back and looked at how it unfolded.  Somehow my Wisconsin over West Virginia championship prediction was enough to convince the employees of big pharma that their money was safe for another year.

Tags: NCAA hoops  
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At least we know he didn't hire a PR agent yet

Ok, you’re one of the most highly recruited football players in the nation.  Which means you pretty much live, eat and breathe football.  You know college football programs.  It’s your next step in your dream of one day playing at the pro level.  Certainly you know all about the big-time programs that are recruiting you heavily, and that are on television constantly.  USC.  Michigan.  Notre Dame.  Florida.

So how do you open your big media event to announce that you have selected the school for which you will be playing football next year?  Hopefully, not like Terrelle Prior did yesterday
:


"If everyone's here," Pryor said to start the news conference, "University of Ohio State." He then unzipped his windbreaker to reveal an Ohio State T-shirt and donned an OSU hat.

Dude.  University of Ohio State?  I usually find the former Buckeye players who are in the NFL really annoying when, as part of the line-up introductions, they insist on the ridiculous formulation “The Ohio State University” as they announce their alma mater.  Occasionally a player has enough common sense to just say “Ohio State.”

But “University of Ohio State”?  He may be a great college quarterback someday.  I have a feeling he’ll definitely be put through the hazing mill by the upperclassmen over this flub.

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Why would someone plant a false story about Tiger Woods buying a house?

I noticed a small story in yesterday's sports news that indicated The New York Post reported Tiger Woods had bought a house in Southampton, New York, for $65 million.  Kind of surprising to me as I believe he is also in the process of relocating from his current home in Florida to a home I think he is having built farther south in Florida.  Why would he want to throw down another load of money on property in Southampton at this point?

Turns out maybe he's not.  The story this morning:


Tiger Woods did not buy a $65 million waterfront compound in Southampton, New York, as the New York Post reported, the real estate broker who handled the sale said today.

Followed after the string of denials, including from Woods' agent, with this:

“We stand by our story,” Col Allan, the Post's editor-in- chief, said in a statement issued by his publicist, Steven Rubenstein.

So is this a case of Woods having bought the property, but he is not "technically" the buyer as it is owned by another entity he owns and/or controls?  Or is there in fact a completely different anonymous buyer as the story this morning seems to indicate?  Maybe it's nothing more than a wild rumor about a big celebrity that got out of hand and wound up in the paper, and now the paper doesn't want to climb down from it for some reason.  But if the paper had it wrong initially, it seems to me they are making it much worse for themselves by sticking by the story.

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