Our internet connection is still down. Our wireless company did work on their towers on Saturday. All that did was increase the frustration by almost working as opposed to there not even being a glimmer of connectivity. We are simply too far away from the tower, or there are too many trees in the way. That is all there is to it.

The weather has been beautiful lately. The daytime temps have been in the 50's and sunny. Debbie was downstate visiting her mother, so Nestina and I spent the entire day wandering around the property, digging a small pond, and setting a couple rocks that will eventually form a retaining wall. I am reserving all my Saturdays from here until snow flies next winter for such pursuits (yea, right).

Sunday was church in the AM and the afternoon spent on small projects. The church had a group come in for the evening service that we used before. Nestina worked the phones and got a fair-sized group of teens to come. The problem was that the group had gone through a transition of sorts with the result being a dramatic shift in musical style and ability. I guess the nicest thing I can say is that neither change was positive. In any case, we hung out afterwards with the teens, ate pizza and junk food, and played soccer in the gym until after 9pm. The rest was home, then bed. Even though it felt good to work hard Saturday, then play hard on Sunday, I am pretty sore today.

Pope John Paul II (Karol Wojtyla) died on Saturday. Others have commented far more eloquently than I ever could. This is one Protestant that will be praying for the Roman Catholic leadership and laity. Whatever I may think of his theology, he was far closer to God than I can ever hope to be.

Jerry Pournelle says it best:

The Republic is safe. Martha Stewart is still on probation and has served prison time for telling investigators she did not do an act that turned out not to be criminal if she had done it. Sandy Berger will pay a fine for removal of national security documents and for destroying some of them; and will not be charged with lying to federal officers when he said he hadn't done it, then said it was inadvertent. We will not be safer for jailing Sandy Berger.

And from Jerry's mailbag:

Subject: Political Correctness rules our schools

In Oregon, McKay High School principal Cynthia Richardson has banned a picture of graduate Bill Riecke from an exhibit showcasing past McKay graduates. Cpl. Riecke, USMC, is serving in Iraq, and the picture was taken there. Ms. Richardson prohibited the photo because Cpl. Riecke is armed. She offered to post the picture if the weapon was digitally removed with Photoshop.

Full story here: http://www.katu.com/stories/76079.html

Beth Macknik

I wish that were an April Fool's Day joke, but alas...

Clearly what the schools need is more money and higher salaries for principals. That will fix everything.

Subject: Dark days indeed

http://space.com/news/050331_hubble_deorbit_plan.html

NASA Review: Hubble Headed For Deorbit-Option Only

"A major review last week of servicing the Hubble Space Telescope has led NASA officials to a 'deorbit only' position."

There was a time some at NASA dreamed of walking not just on the moon, not just on Mars, but on other worlds circling other stars. We now can't even fix a telescope orbiting our planet and don't even have the will to try. Spend all the money on ISS and Shuttle. Damn all the rest. Didn't they learn anything by turning the most powerful machine ever built into a lawn ornament just to get a poor excuse for a spaceship? This hurts.

My promise to any politician reading this (as if they care): I will never vote for another politician that squanders my money on NASA.

Braxton S. Cook

NASA has done some good. But mostly that was long ago.

And as if we needed it, one more reason to hate what NASA has become since the Apollo days.

Another indication just how far out of synch with reality the average adult is with reality. This should not come as a surprise to anyone paying the least attention to our kids.

And another Vox Day column hits the mark. I don't agree that what was done in Florida was clearly legal, but it is certainly within the bounds of what could be legal, given current political reality.

And a reminder from Vox Day about priorities. It is truely amazing that the western world is so fabulously wealthy that we can afford to pay people unimaginable sums of money to play games for our collective amusement. But at the end of the day, they are still just games.

That's it for today.