Monday, November 27, 2006

Is the end of the Bill Cowher era coming?

The Pittsburgh Steelers are in the tank at 4-7, after the drubbing yesterday by the Baltimore Ravens, 27-0.

Everybody knows that Bill Cowher purchased a home in North Carolina and has been conspicuous in not having renewed his contract with two years left on it, as had been customary.

Now, NC State (Cowher's alma mater) has fired their head coach. Does the Wolfpack know something we don't? Will they trade one former NC State linebacker (Amato) for another on the sidelines? Let the speculation begin...

Ken Whisenhunt passed up head coaching opportunities last year - did he know something we didn't? If I had to make a prediction right now, Cowher is gone and will be the new head coach at NC State.

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Hey, animal rights whackos!

One must wonder what the animal rights whacko crowd will do with these pictures of in utero dogs, dolphins, and elephants.

Seeing as how most animal rights extremists are also tried-and-true liberals all the way around, what they won't become is pro-life, at least not with respect to our own species.

God's miracles on display! Thanks to Matt Drudge for the link.

The Views of the Episcopal High Priestess (a.k.a. Presiding Bishop)

Matt Kennedy+ over at Stand Firm has posted a great roundup called "The Presiding Bishop's Top Five" that runs down how Katherine Jefferts-Schori's "theology" can hardly be called Christian.

I pray for the Church, and for Godly leaders like Father Matt. On this, the day before Thanksgiving, I am giving thanks to God for the strong orthodoxy of Bishops Duncan and Scriven of Pittsburgh, our parish's Rector Fr. Paul Cooper, our Priest Associate Fr. Terry Johnson, our Deacon and leader of our church plant in Slippery Rock Dn. Ethan Magness, and all of the other clergy standing strong for Christianity. May God be with you all!

Saturday, November 11, 2006

Tech tip: HP StorageWorks MSA controller

Memo to server/storage admins:

Before going ahead and planning an update of controller cache, check real hard - physical view if possible - and find out if you've got a single 256-MB module installed (today's default) or dual 128s.

Yes, I just got personally bit by this. Anybody know of a soft way to find out? I know the ACU doesn't say...if you know of a way of determining the individual module config other than inspection, please leave it in the comments.

----------------------------------------
Mobile blogged from my Palm Treo 700w
Powered by Windows Mobile 5.0

Friday, November 10, 2006

Melhman out at the RNC

Reports are that Ken Melhman will be out as Republican National Committee President when his two years are up in January. No big surprise after Tuesday.

Another possible landing ground for Rick Santorum, methinks...

----------------------------------------
Mobile blogged from my Palm Treo 700w
Powered by Windows Mobile 5.0

Thursday, November 09, 2006

Senator Allen Concedes

Senator Allen has conceded the Virginia Senate race to Jim Webb, per Fox News.

He's taking the high road, to quote:

"It is with deep respect for the people of Virginia and to bind factions together for a positive purpose that I do not wish to cause more rancor by protracted litigation which would, in my judgment, not alter the results."

There is no doubt in my mind that if this race was the opposite result, with Webb trailing by a ~7,200 vote margin, we'd be hearing the following from the Democrats:
  • "stolen election"
  • "disenfranchisement"
  • "lawsuit"
  • "recount"
  • "Diebold conspiracy"
  • Et al.
Here's the difference - Republicans trust our elctoral processes, because they trust the people. Democrat power brokers don't trust the people, believe that they're entitled to power, and believe in oligarchy.

VMworld 2006: Los Angeles

I've been at VMware, Inc's technical conference VMworld 2006 since mid-Monday in LA, and by and large it's been a great event. Server virtualization is something I push; it's the only way to fully utilize computer hardware in most application situations that the companies I deal with are in.

Had a great hands-on session yesterday on the Consolidated Backup feature of Virtual Infrastructure 3 - can't wait to start demonstrating that to folks!

My complaints with the event are mainly logistical:
  1. The conference party last night at Universal Studios started off as a debacle. The lines for food were very long, and it didn't seem like enough eats had been laid on early enough in the event.
  2. A better job of people traffic management could have been done within the convention center. There were a lot of big crowds in small spaces trying to get into session rooms.
  3. The food at the center wasn't on par with what I've gotten at other events by other companies, but was passable.
  4. The variety of session-break snacks wasn't great, and the coffee cups don't have lids!
All in all, glad I came. I also found out that I have to update my VMware Certified Professional credential to VI3 by December 31...guess I'll be busy with that.

Is Gates right for SecDef?

Paul Mirengoff over at Power Line brings up an interesting point in this posting about one good reason to be hesitant about Robert Gates becoming the Secretary of Defense: he's a member of the Iraq Study Group, a.k.a. the "Baker Commission". This group is expected to recommend a potentially disasterous course of action in Iraq, e.g. inviting Syria and Iran - two of the biggest state sponors of terrorists - to actively participate in reconstructing a peaceful Iraq.

I will be following Mr. Gates' confirmation hearings and public statements with great interest.

I hope he remembers:

1) There should be only two acceptable outcomes when the United States goes to war:
  • Unconditional surrender of our enemies
  • Total destruction and annihilation of our enemies
2) Peace only follows victory; one side has to win

3) Syria and Iran should be next on the chopping block for reforming the Middle East, not invited to the table with us.

We'll see...

Yet another difference between Republicans and Democrats

Sister Toldjah, as she so often does, hits the nail right on the head.

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

The Senate is gone too.

Al-AP is reporting that Webb has defeated Senator Allen, based on early canvassing. The GOP will only have 49 seats in the new Senate.

Why, oh why, is Joe Lieberman sticking with the party that gave him the shaft? One hopes we could talk some sense into him...
----------------------------------------
Mobile blogged from my Palm Treo 700w
Powered by Windows Mobile 5.0

On a happier note...

I'm in sunny Los Angeles attending VMware Inc.'s VMworld 2006 Conference. I'll post a summary of the conference later. Preceeding the conference, the family was out here for a little vacation. Among other things, we visited the Disneyland Resort. Since I'm still in the dumps about yesterday's events, here are some pictures! They cheer me up, and hopefully will do the same for you!

Neil with his Mickey Ears on Main Street USA:

Penny got to meet Ariel at a lunch with the Disney Princesses:
And gave Cinderella a big hug:
Neil liked the lunch too, but wouldn't keep his crown on:
It wasn't all Disney though - Sunday, we were at the beach around Malibu:

All in all, a great time with the family!

What could be the first of many...

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has resigned. President Bush has nominated former CIA director Robert Gates, currently President of Texas A&M University, as his replacement. Gates' bio from the university is here.

I'd personally have preferred that the job go to Rick Santorum, soon to be former PA Senator, as I'm a fan of his, but perhaps there's something better in his future, if there's another high-level departure - not that I'm rooting for that job to become available...

Gates though, is a good choice.

Current Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert has also announced that he will not seek the House Minority Leader position in January. Can't say I'm upset about that. Too bad though that J.C. Watts is no longer a member of Congress. (An aside: could Fox News have put a more unflattering head shot of Hastert in that article???)

"Communism only killed 100 million people. Let's give it another chance!"

No, I'm not talking about our country (yet), but Nicaragua. Thanks to the Protest Warriors for the tagline.

An unmitigated disaster

Actually, several of them.

Republicans, who don't run completely and unabashedly as conservatives, lose. Democrats who conceal their liberalism/socialism/communism under so-called "moderation", win.

I don't think I'll have the chance to tune into Rush tomorrow, but here's hoping he brings back the "America, held hostage" lead-in.

Get ready for the following:

1) Taxes will go up.

2) Every Congressional commitee will be launching partisan investigations. Get ready for the Clinton-payback impeachement.

3) The next Supreme Court justice nominee will be some supposed moderate conservative who will turn into the next David Souter.

Better get that veto pen ready, Mr. President.

I feel sick. This is President Bush's disaster - I'm disgusted he hasn't used the bully pulpit of the Presidency to drive conservative issues better. I'm dismayed at the seeming inabillity of the President - and for that matter just about every Republican - to act like the majority. The other side acts like the majority when they're not, and our side just sits around and takes it.

Don't go blaming the biased media, although that is certainly a contributor. Blame the following:

1) Not pursuing the war in Iraq and the war on terror with greater force and tenacity. When we go to war, we need to make clear by actions as well as words that there are only two possible outcomes for our enemies: unconditional surrender or total annihilation.

2) Not cutting taxes more.

3) Not doing something - make that anything - effective (enforcing existing laws would be a start!) about illegal immigration. Also, not dropping the BS lines about "undocumented" immigrants (criminals should be called as such) and putting forward any proposal for immigration reform that could be tied to "amnesty" in any form.

4) Allowing spending to grow out of control and doing nothing to restrain - or better still, eliminate, abolish, expunge, remove, obliterate, etc. - bloated federal social programs that are complete and total failures. (In 1975, the "poverty" rate was 12.3%. In 2005, the rate was 12.6%. 0.3% is hardly worth the trillions that have been spent. I say "poverty" because what passes for impoverishment in the United States is above the standard of living everywhere in the world except Western Europe, Anglophile nations, Japan, and probably South Korea.)

We need to keep fighting. We need to keep educating. We need to elect Republicans who will stick to their guns and govern like the conservatives we expect them to be when we vote for them!

The only solace I can give here is from, of course, Churchill:

"You cannot tell from appearances how things will go. Sometimes imagination makes things out far worse than they are; yet without imagination not much can be done. Those people who are imaginative see many more dangers than perhaps exist; certainly many more than will happen; but then they must also pray to be given that extra courage to carry this far-reaching imagination. But for everyone, surely, what we have gone through in this period...this is the lesson: never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never-in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy."

Read the whole speech here.

Finally, while I do not think there is any reason whatsoever that he should step aside other than PR, it's probably time to shelve Rumsfeld. I'm with Kathyrn Jean Lopez over at NRO's blog "The Corner": Santorum for SecDef!