Maybe you have already noticed, but a project of mine for a little while has been to create a place on the web where people can read some results from Mebane’s monthly council meetings. I will be seeking to read the council minutes every month and pull out some issues to pressent. The issues I will pull out will be those that effect the most people in Mebane, and those with which there is controversy amoung the board members. I will also be pulling out issues which might be useful for Mebanites to be aware of, even if they do not fall into the above two catagories. My purpose in doing this is for Mebanites to follow the political workings of Mebane without having to slog through some of the more uninteresting details. Please check out my work for the month of December here and let me know what you think. Any suggestions or corrections will be welcomed. Also please let me know what I can do to make these pages more useful to you.

Some things that I would like to add in the future: Opinions section on local issues, and local news such as Eastern HS game scores or store openings. Thanks for checking it all out!

http://www.pfm.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=BreakPoint_Commentaries1&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&CONTENTID=17891

Well its official, the Red Sox have a new center fielder, Coco Crisp from Cleveland. This is very exciting because Crisp is a young player with a lot of potential. Basically the Red Sox passed on a player that was past his prime and very costly, for a player that is young and just reaching his prime, and will not be eligible for free agency for another 4 years. Here are excerps from Peter Gammons most recent analysis of the new revamped 2006 Red Sox team.

This will be a far, far different Red Sox team than in 2005; only 11 players remain from their Opening Day roster. Crisp will be in center instead of Damon; Mike Lowell in place of Bill Mueller at third, Kevin Youkilis and J.T. Snow in place of Kevin Millar and John Olerud at first; Alex Gonzalez likely in place of Edgar Renteria at shortstop; Mark Loretta with Alex Cora and Tony Graffanino at second; Josh Beckett in the rotation; and Rudy Seanez, Julian Tavarez, David Riske and possibly Jonathan Papelbon and Lenny DiNardo to reconstruct what was the worst bullpen in the American League.

There isn’t anyone who doesn’t understand that how far the 2006 Red Sox go likely depends on the health — physical and mental — of Curt Schilling, Beckett, Keith Foulke, Lowell and Ramirez.

But this is a team whose great 2003-2005 run was over. It was an aging, slowing team that in September dropped to fifth in the AL in runs and sixth in OPS after leading in both for five months. If management held the 2004 world champions together, they might have been lapped by the young, talented Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 2007.

Now they have added Beckett, Crisp and Youkilis, all at the age (26) when they should be heading toward their career peaks. For years, Epstein has preached that the Red Sox had to start focusing on players on their way up, before they peak. This offseason has been that beginning.

There is strong sentiment to put Papelbon, who will be 25, in the rotation, but where last year they got only 11 starts from Schilling and had to use 10 starters on the year, Terry Francona now has Schilling, Beckett, Wells, Matt Clement, Tim Wakefield, Bronson Arroyo and Papelbon. As some of the veterans fade, by 2007 they could well have Beckett, Papelbon and 22-year-old Jon Lester in the rotation. By signing the relievers, they give time for their prized young arms like Craig Hansen, Edgar Martinez and Manny Delcarmen to develop, and have DiNardo (expected to be in the pen), Abe Alvarez and Cla Meredith for inventory.

They had to give up two top prospects and two more great arms for Beckett, but they still will have shortstops Dustin Pedroia and Jed Lowrie and outfielders Brandon Moss, David Murphy and Jacoby Ellsbury in Triple-A Pawtucket by midseason.

The Red Sox and Indians know that the Yankees and White Sox begin spring training as the heavy favorites in their respective divisions. But this was in many ways a transition trade for both teams. The Red Sox needed to start getting ascending players, gradually introduce younger farm system products into the mix and take a step back from the institutional obsession with the Yankees.

Spring training is in 31 days… go sox!

Four governers have made a trip to Iraq to encourage the troops and see how things are over there. Here is a report. Last year Senator Joe Lieberman made a similar trip to Iraq and upon returning had to admit progress and became a strong democratic voice for the war. To the shock of liberals everywhere Lieberman’s support for the war has not hurt his popularity. When will the left wing of the democratic party realize that not only do they not have the mainstream support, but they are losing even their left wing support on matters such as homeland security.

Maybe an even better question is when will the left wing stop tayloring their positions to the polls and take a stand for what is right, despite its popularity. Even liberals have to admit that though they might disagree with conservative policies, they admire the fact that conservative politicians are willing to stand by what they believe is right even when their position is unpopular.

Perhaps the reason that the far left wing of the democratic party is scared to stand up for what they believe in is that what they believe in is so out of touch with anything your average citizen would accept that they know if they stand up for it they will be tossed. When the average citizen realizes that this is the reason people like Hillary and Kerry straddle fences and refuse to take a stand for what they believe, they will toss them anyway.

The NY Times published this article on the NSA wiretapping. What is amazing is that 90% of the article is straight reporting of the president and atorney generals arguments for the NSA wiretapping. Of course they have to throw in the obligatory democrat commentary:

Leading Democrats said on Monday that they found the White House’s latest line of defense to be unpersuasive, with Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Senate Democratic leader, saying Mr. Bush’s speech reflected a refusal to “come clean” with the public. “I am eager for the Bush administration to level with the American people and participate fully and openly in upcoming Congressional hearings,” scheduled for Feb. 6 in the Senate, Mr. Reid said. “We can be strong and operate under the rule of law.”

Apparently the fact that the wiretapping is legal, constitutional, there has been a precident set for it in the past, and it is extremely necessary for the protection of the American people is not good enough for Reid. What more can he want? UN approval? Consistency with Singapores constitution? Legality according to Venezuelan law? Very simply, Harry Reid hates the president and he is demonstrating that he is willing put the American people in harms way in order to hurt him politically.

The new movie “End of the spear” is the story of Jim Elliot and his ministry to the Mincayani tribe in South America. All I have read about it are secular reviews and they were all bad. One review of the movie told the story and then the reviewer added his own little commentary at the end that he is upset that Elliot would interfere with the tribe, and that their violance could have been attributed to other things like white people interfering. Typical multiculteralism. So my question is has anyone heard anything good or bad about it, and would anyone be interested in going to see it? Thanks!

Its all over the pleace that Osama Bin Laden came out with a new video the other day. Here is the full text of that video. There are several things that I have thought about since reading the news.

First of all there is a similarity between what Osama said and what the liberal democrats are constantly spewing. Osama’s outlook on the war is almost identical, the way he sites “escalations” and mounting death tolls. He covered almost every liberal talking point, and used a few lines that I’ll wager will be added to the liberal talking points after this. Basically what this speach does it is sends the message, Osama Bin Laden is a liberal democrat. The only big difference between him and the rest of his political party is that Osama had the alternative strategy for the war that none of the liberal democrats have yet offered.

Second its obvious that Osama and his henchmen are paying very close attention to everything that the democrats and the media says and their words are hurting our efforts in Iraq. Not only did Bin Laden’s words echo everything that democrats are saying, but several times he refers to the polls, and at one point he refers to the American media as an ally:

The news of our brother mujahideen (holy warriors) is different from what the Pentagon publishes. They (the news of mujahideen) and what the media report is the truth of what is happening on the ground. And what deepens the doubt over the White House’s information is the fact that it targets the media reporting the truth from the ground.

Basically the media is publishing the same news as the mujahideen. Osama is basically saying that the American media has been performing the role of terrorist propogandists. We tend to think of this as them simply expressing an alternate political view, but this is so much more serious then that. This is the real world. People are dying because of their words. They are fueling the terrorist efforts to kill Americans. This is serious stuff and the American media needs to realize it shut themselves down.

Third no one offers a truce unless they are losing. Look at the context of him publishing that video. The US just dropped a bomb on his henchmen in Pakistan. Osama realizes that the US have infiltrated his lines of communication, and he has got to be paranoid right now, watching the skies for the drone that has him in its crosshairs. Little by little anyone working for Bin Laden is being taken out, and his scheming has been disrupted. As far as the war in Iraq, Bin Laden told Iraqis to boycott the elections, and yet 75% showed up at the polls to vote. There is no way in the world he is winning the war there.

Fourth, CNN and some of the other midia outlets initially refused to print the whole video, not because they suddenly became pius and didn’t want to air terrorist propoganda (they have been doing that without Bin Ladens help since day one) but because they realized that this tape made obvious the three points above. Osama did more to help president Bush and the war effort with that tape then I’m sure he intended.

I can’t understand why Osama would make such a move at this time. Currently in the US two big issues are before congress. The first is the NSA wiretapping. The second is renewal of the Patriot Act. There has not been a terrorist attack in the US since 9/11 and people have forgotten, and don’t see the urgency for either of the measures above. Well Osama tape has reminded everyone, both of these measures are absolutely critical. I think before the tape some people would be upset at the thought of the government tapping phones. After the tape they realize wow, whatever you need to do to prevent the attack that Osama threatened. That tape might just prove critical in clearing the Presidents name regarding the wiretapping and passing the Patriot Act. Bravo!

Someday this won’t be news!

Here is a very well written article about Ray Nigens recent comments, and the current state of New Orleans under his “leadership.” Here is a quote:

The sage adage reminds us, “It is better to be thought of as a fool, than to open your mouth, and remove all doubt.” New Orleans Mayor, Ray Nagin, who, when caught with his pants down during Hurricane Katrina because of his lack of preparation, abandoned the city for higher ground, leaving many of New Orleans poor, and most of them as black as Nagin, to fend for themselves or drown, while hundreds of buses that could have evacuated them remained idle and flooded. This was the very same foul-mouthed, inarticulate, hysterical so-called leader, Mayor Ray Nagin, who cursed so much about President Bush and the federal government that during a live TV interview, the only thing we think we are sure he said is “BEEEEEEEEEEEEP.” Ray was trying to shift the blame, but as the city’s first line of defense, he couldn’t hack it when the heat got turned up. He blinked. He dropped the ball, and many people died because of his inaction. Now, we hear Nagin making comments about God being mad at New Orleans, as demonstrated with Hurricane Katrina. (So, that is what that red phone in Nagin’s office was for!) Nagin also promises to rebuild New Orleans as a “chocolate city,” with a black majority. Ray, please, don’t hold back, speak your mind.

Also concerning Hillary’s comments the other day, here is a typical piece of coverage on it. And here is something on the media coverage her comment garnered. Quote:

You might have imagined Today’s graphic for this morning’s segment would have read along the lines “Hillary Feeling the Heat”. Imagine again. In fact it read “Off and Running? Hillary Attacks GOP.”

I love that even libs resent her.

NewsBusters.org seems to have some good stuff. I’m thinking of adding it to my daily reading.

This article really stunned me at first, then it slowly began to dawn on me…

Ok google just came out with a new video search and it looks like they did a superb job, as usual. Very quick and easy to click around on, and they have a lot of good stuff on there.

One thing I was able to find is something I saw back 3 or 4 years ago, and was trying to find recently but couldn’t. Its a japanese video of two guys playing ping pong and its done with primative special effects. The ping pong ball is actually a long stick with a white tip that someone in the background is moving back and forth, and the camera angle never changes, even though it appears to several times.

You can check out more weird and funny videos here.