We’re rapidly closing in on the end of what’s been one of the worst years in recent memory.
Horrific wildfires in California. More than 100,000 killed in a cyclone in Burma. The cataclysmic upheaval of the housing, banking and credit industries. Continued violence in Iraq and Afghanistan. Deadly train collision kills 25 in Los Angeles. A bitter presidential election season, the repercussions of which will be felt for years to come. Deadly terror attacks stretching from the West Bank to Mumbai and many cities in-between.
And then there was the loss of leaders of science and industry, entertainment and politics, people who touched our lives. Edmund Hillary. Heath Ledger. William F. Buckley. Arthur C. Clarke. Gary Gygax. Charlton Heston. Yves Saint Laurent. Bo Diddley. George Carlin. Randy Pausch. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Bernie Mac. Isaac Hayes. Paul Newman. Bettie Page. Mark Felt.
2008 is not exactly a year to cherish and look back upon fondly.
Forty years ago today our parents and grandparents were staring down the same dreary prospects at Christmas. The Tet Offensive began in January. American forces were surrounded and taken under siege by North Vietnamese troops at the Khe Sanh combat base. The war claims President Lyndon Johnson as a casaulty, who declares his intent not to run for re-election, which in turn led to Richard Nixon winning the presidency in November. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis April. Two months later Bobby Kennedy was killed by an assassin in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. 200,000 Warsaw Pact troops invaded Czechoslovakia. The infamous “Heidi game” aired on NBC.
And yet in 1968 there was one notable moment that closed out the year.
It was the moment, forty years ago Wednesday, that astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders circled the Moon in Apollo 8, the first men from the Earth to travel to another planetary body and back. They orbited the Moon 10 times over a 20 hour period and during a live broadcast the three men read from the first 10 verses of the Book of Genesis.
It was that moment that likely saved 1968.
We could really use another moment like that to save 2008.
Welcome to The Free Life - Helping you stress less, live better and enjoy life.
With the cost of just about everything going through the roof, it’s nice to know you can still get things for free. Yes, for free.
Starting today, I’ll be posting daily tips on what you can get for FREE in and around Spokane. You’ll find resources on free entertainment for the family to free professional and health services, even how to get your hands on free stuff. Every now and then, I’ll post some deals that might require you to pay a little bit of cash but aren’t worth keeping to myself.
Got ideas or know of some hidden gems? E-mail me at taniad@kxly.com
Vacation Planning - Kids Fly Free
Nov 2008 /PRNewswire — Alaska Airlines Vacations launched its newest “Kids Fly Free to The Disneyland(R) Resort” program, on family travel to Southern California during 2009.
The promotion offers free airfare for children ages 2 to 11 who accompany an adult on an Alaska Airlines Southern California Vacation package. In addition, adults who purchase a three-day or longer Disneyland Resort(R) Park Hopper(R) Bonus Ticket valid from Jan. 7 through April 30, 2009, pay the children’s admission price to experience the magic of Disneyland(R) Park and Disney’s California Adventure(R) Park.
The offer is valid to six Southern California airports: Burbank, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Ontario, Orange County and San Diego. Vacations must be booked before March 18, 2009, and are valid for travel Jan. 7 through June 17, 2009.
The California Supreme Court has agreed to hear three legal challenges to a new ban on gay marriage. Proposition 8 passed this month with 52 percent of the vote. All three cases claim the ban abridges the civil rights of a vulnerable minority group. The plaintiffs in each case argue that voters alone do not have the authority to enact such a significant constitutional change.
It will be interesting to see what the often ultra liberal justices will do with these cases, as the state’s constitution is very clear about the power of California voters to amend their state’s constitution by initiative.
Article 18 Section 3 of the California State Constitution states the following: “The electors may amend the Constitution by initiative.” Section 4 states just as simply that: “A proposed amendment or revision shall be submitted to the electors and if approved by a majority of votes thereon takes effect the day after the election unless the measure provides otherwise.”
There’s no language that suggests that there are constitutional limitations on the nature of amendments the voters may approve.
The claim that Proposition 8 abridges the civil rights of same sex couples who want to marry has no basis in the either the California, or the U.S. Constitution. I am curious therefore how the appellants in these cases will demonstrate a basis for a civil right of persons of the same sex to marry. Indeed, it seems that they are hoping that the justices will create law, rather than interpret it. It appears that they want the justices to add language to the state’s constitution…something they have absolutely no authority or power to do.
As boldly extra-constitutional as some state supreme courts have dared to be of late, there at least have been some remotely arguable grounds along with their creative interpretation. In California, there appears no legal foundation to overturn Proposition 8.
If the Supreme Court does…it will have to perform an unprecedented magic trick.
On November 18, 1978 more than 900 people drank a lethal concoction in the middle of a South American jungle. The mass suicide has always been a disturbing episode for me to ponder. How could one man, cult leader Jim Jones, have such influence over these followers? The “People’s Temple” was founded by Indianapolis preacher James Warren Jones, who had no formal theological training. A combination of religious and radical socialist philosophies formed the basis of his teaching. Jim Jones had a kind of attractiveness that many followers could not resist.
The I.R.S. started investigating his organization. The news media intensely followed the story. Jones became somewhat paranoid. In 1977 he convinced his congregation to follow him to an isolated tract of land that the People’s Temple had purchased in Guyana. The encampment was called Jonestown. Soon relatives of cult members demanded that the U.S. government rescue what they believed to be brainwashed victims living in concentration camp-like conditions under Jones’s power.
To investigate their concerns, California Congressman Leo Ryan, accompanied by several journalists, arrived at Jonestown to interview its inhabitants. He reported that his life was threatened by a Temple member during the first day of his visit. Ryan cut short his visit and decided to return to the U.S. with some Jonestown residents who wanted to leave. As they boarded their plane, a group of Jones’s guards opened fire on them, killing Ryan and four others. Some members of Ryan’s party escaped. Jones knew they would report the murders. This would make it impossible for the commune to continue functioning. Jones decided his followers must make the ultimate sacrifice.
912 followers were given a lethal purple drink, a mix of cyanide, sedatives, and tranquilizers. Jones didn’t drink the deadly nectar. Instead he fatally shot himself in the head.
It seems an improbable story, a bizarre tale, almost unbelievable but true. How intelligent people fall for such a scheme remains mysteriously unexplained. What’s more … it could happen again.
University of Kentucky President Lee Todd will personally apologize to the family of Barack Obama after an effigy of the candidate was found hanging from a tree on campus. Todd says he is personally offended and deeply embarrassed by the incident while Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear says it was not political speech, but “simply hate.”
A faculty member spotted the effigy with a noose around its neck, hanging from a high tree branch Thursday morning. He described it as life-sized with a Barack Obama Halloween mask, a suit jacket and sweat pants. The Secret Service is investigating, but not commenting on the situation, but a spokesman says the agency is very proactive about addressing these matters.
Meanwhile the Secret Service has visited a California home where a mannequin of Sarah Palin hangs from a noose. So far no one is apologizing for this effigy. West Hollywood Mayor Jeffrey Prang has urged resident Chad Morrisette to remove the mannequins, and Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich is calling for an investigation into whether the effigy constitutes a hate crime, but the Secret Service says this incident seems to be a harmless, though unusual, Halloween display. It is not treating it as a threat.
So why the different treatments?
One reason is that so-called “hate crimes” do not involve gender. Did you know that? Because Sarah Palin is a white woman, notwithstanding that she is a candidate for the Vice Presidency of the United States, this kind of ugliness will go largely unpunished. Yet the effigy of Barack Obama is afforded a higher level of seriousness, both by the law, and by the Secret Service.
The disparity points out both the absurdity of the social engineering concept known as “hate crime”, and also illustrates a double standard when it comes to the impact of equal acts of stupidity and tastelessness when one incident involves a woman, and another involves race.
No one can justify either of these nasty displays under any rationale, but it makes you wonder about the obvious oddities in our treatment of same or similar offensive conduct.
This just in … an e-mail just came in from the Western Division of The Home Depot in Orange, California which, in a nutshell, says that the company has decided not to build a new store on the South Hill.
Here’s the statement from Home Depot on their decision:
“We reevaluated this deal and found it no longer works for us. We made this decision based on a number of factors. As you know, deals like this are always changing, our plans change, the business landscape changes; no one factor is to blame.
As announced earlier this year, we have reduced our store openings as we focus on investments in our existing stores and operations. By continuing our investment in our existing stores, we will be in a very strong position once the current business climate recovers. We continue to look for new opportunities to bring our business to different areas of Spokane. Our stores in Spokane, Spokane Valley and Liberty Lake will continue to serve the community.”
The second day of my summer vacation, I woke up, then I went to Disney’s California Adventure, to go on some rides. Then I went on California Screamin’.
(NOTE: The video clip above was shot with a hand-held Flip Video camera from the left-hand front seat of the rollercoaster.)
A couple weeks back the missus and I went with some friends south to California to spend a few days at Disneyland and California Adventure. It was a big trip for Kerry since she hasn’t been to Disneyland ever and it was big for me since the last time I was in the park - 1992 - there was a huge parking lot where California Adventure is now. So there have been a few changes since I was there last.
One of the highlights was on our last day at the park. We got there right as the park opened at 10 a.m. and got in line for California Screamin’. Actually that’s not true. There was no line. It was a Wednesday morning in mid-September so everyone was at home and school is in session so we were able to ride the coaster three times in less than half an hour.
In the immortal words of Peter Griffin … It was freaking sweet.
