I have a bunch of random, sometimes half-baked thoughts rattling around that space between my ears. Rather than taking the time to write a separate entry for each of them, I'm just going to dump my thoughts here in one big, meandering post.

• I have very little sympathy for the Occupy Wall Street crowd.  They may have some valid points here and there — there IS a lot of "corporate greed" scattered around, I guess — but their point kind of gets lost amidst all the public defecation and rapes.  Furthermore, it's pretty ironic that in a protest of corporate greed, you see a lot of personal greed in them demanding more of rich people's money for projects the protestors deem appropriate. That’s some pretty thick irony.
• Speaking of OWS, the media seems to look at them much differently than the Tea Party. It’s an absolute certainty that I missed a TP story or two — I really don’t follow them much. However, I’d bet Mitt’s $10K that if something truly outlandish happened at a TP rally, the press would still be talking about. However, real crimes happen at OWS rallies, and, well, those people aren’t part of the movement, so there’s really nothing to talk about. If you’d like a more visual display of the differences between the two groups, Brandon Dutcher shared a nice graphic. No, no bias in the media at all.
• What are those people thinking blocking the ports? “um…people are making vast amounts of wealth and stuff and uh like…we’re gonna stop that!” You really can’t say anti-capitalist any more clearly than that. As Neil Cavuto points out, it’s more than the uber-evil Goldman Sachs using those ports. Some of us just want our Christmas gifts. And as to those people not crossing the picket lines, they were told not to, I would guess, out of fears for safety, at least in part. There’s a long history of people getting hurt trying to cross picket lines. I would also venture to guess that those same people not crossing the line aren’t getting paid because they didn’t cross the line. I could be wrong, and it might vary from one company to the next, but I’d not be surprised. Way to help out the “99%”.
• Jim Geraghty had a nice response to Obama saying that it may take more than president to fix the economy: “If it’s going to take more than one president, why don’t we get the next one started as quickly as possible?” AMEN. 🙂
• I was asked a few weeks ago who I liked in the GOP primaries. I didn’t have an answer then, and I still don’t. I kind of like Herman Cain, but, real or not, those allegations probably made him unelectable. Newt bothers me a bit, as does Romney, as they both seem far too willing to promote more liberal agendas until the political winds change, then work against them. Bachmann… meh. Perry? I dunno. I like what I’ve seen of his record, I guess. Ron Paul’s foreign policy ideas scare me, though I like some of his fiscal ideas. The other candidates probably aren’t even worth mentioning. I really don’t know who I’ll vote for, but, to steal and paraphrase…someone, the GOP could run Elmer Fudd and I’d vote for him. I’m really not a fan of the anybody-but approach to voting, but…
• Why are Mitt Romney’s or Michelle Bachmann’s religious beliefs important, but President Obama’s are not?
• If the President really is smart, why won’t he release his transcripts? My guess is that they’re probably vacationing in Kenya with Kerry’s medical records.
• It seems like TIME Magazine has just quit trying. This year’s “‘Person’ of the Year” is “The Protestor”. Remember when “You” were the PotY? Why can’t they just pick a real person? “Ugh…I dunno Bob. Who SHOULD we pick? Tell you what: let’s just pick something random and vague and call it a day.” “Sounds good, Jim. Now, who’s got that next suck up piece on the president?”
• I find all this Higgs boson talk pretty fascinating. How they can “see” something that tiny is way beyond me.
• I’d love a more energy-efficient light bulb, but CFLs contain mercury, making a broken bulb pretty major, and LEDs are too expensive to install in large numbers. So until they make one that’s both affordable and non-deadly, incandescents win the day in my house.
• The time perception of children is pretty funny. I got to see Noah’s “15 hour” Christmas program at school this morning.
• Nothing else comes to mind, and it’s time to eat lunch. And get back to work. 🙂

Here’s a rather gruesome story (with pictures) of a spider eating a bird.  The photographer responsible for the picture shot it in his backyard.  If I saw something like this in my backyard, I’d be shooting it alright, but not with a camera.  I’d be shooting something that size with a 12-gauge shot gun!

The title says it all. I go on vacation and trouble follows. A couple of years ago, we go to Eureka Springs. We had a great time, but, apparently, so did the all the bikers. Turns our there was a "blues festival" that weekend, which is a code word for "every loud and scary biker in the area, descend on this city NOW!" It wasn’t pretty.

Most recently, I took the family to Kansas City this past weekend for some fun at museums, petting zoos, and a Chiefs game. As (bad) luck would have it, Barak Obama was in town, holding a rally. I took a picture from the site of the rally, which you can see on the right. See the smoke coming from the chimney. It has to be straight from the pits of You Know Where. Angela didn’t think so, but I’m convinced.

So to Eureka Springs and Kansas City, I apologize. To San Francisco, which we visited last spring, I don’t owe you anything. You did that to yourself. 🙂