The Opinionator

2009-05-28T23:36:36Z

Right On Target...

"I wish the Democrats would put half as much energy into fighting terrorists as they do in fighting Dick Cheney." - Dana Perino

Even Obama Cannot Ruin This...On the beach in Ocean City, MD

President Obama At Notre Dame, The Aftermath

The one thing that comes to mind in the wake of President Obama speaking at Notre Dame's commencement at receiving an honorary degree is this: If Catholics will not defend the central tenets of their faith, they cannot ask us to do so on their behalf. Either they believe abortion is wrong and are serious about it or they are not. So says the fallen Catholic.

Hot Air has more on this and the disappointing follow up by the Vatican. This student protesters at Notre Dame showed more courage than the Pope. So much for conviction.

The Netbook Is A Great Tool For Adventurers

There has been much written about the boom created by Netbooks and why people are using them. This is mainly because they are small, light, have a keyboard you can type on and are inexpensive. They also accomplish most of the basic computer functions that most of us really need a computer for; web surfing, blogging and email. However, one place that I have noticed the Netbook phenomenon taking off is in the adventure space. With the coming of warm weather, bike tourers are starting off on their journeys. Many of them keep online journals at places like Crazyguyonabike or blogs. A common thread is the use of the Netbook. When you are carrying everything on a bicycle, small size and light weight is vital. And here the small size and light weight of the Netbook shines. With the on-board WiFi, it is also fairly easy to find a place to connect whether it is a library, campground or home of a host. The low price means that if something happens to the Netbook, it is much less traumatic than if it were a $1,300 Mac Book.

In the past few days, I have read at least six cycling journals and all of them post using a Netbook. One can easily imagine that this will also be the case with hikers, vacationers and other travelers that want to keep in touch with the outside world and post to blogs and journals.

Do you use a Netbook? How? Cross-posted at Giving You The Business.

The Perfect Person For The Job?

This Reuters story is titled, "Obama revelling in U.S. power unseen in decades". It goes on to detail the ways in President Obama has been able to exercise power in his first 100-something days on the job: complete control of both houses of Congress, the federal bailout and the opportunity to appoint a new justice to the Supreme Court. Imagine my relief knowing that we have handed the most power in recent memory to the least experienced and unqualified person to hold the office in that time. It is going to be a long four years and will take a long time for us to clean up the mess afterwards.