Behemoth Droppings

It’s true, it’s true…Tubby is leaving Kentucky!! This news has brightened my day. It’s not that I don’t like Tubby as a person, it’s just I think he was taking Kentucky basketball the wrong way. Of course, he might be able to get a Mr. Kentucky to come up there and play (if you don’t get that…don’t ask)!! While I would love to see Billy Donavon come to UK, or even get Rick Pitino back…I just don’t think either will happen. But one can hope, right? We just need a coach who can get top-notch players to come to Kentucky, and also coach. If your interested, here’s the article:

First off, I have to say good job to NKU. In the division II tournament, the guys made it to the Sweet 16 by defeating Findlay, who had not lost at home in 59 games (if your wondering, that WAS the longest current streak before NKU broke it)! Unfortunately they lost to Grand Valley State in the Sweet 16, but it was still a good run!

Now, on to Division I. You may notice a few shockers when looking through my bracket. The biggest is that I have Kentucky losing in the first round. As much as it kills me to do that, I really don’t think they will beat Villanova. I always try to pick a few upsets, although they usually destroy my brackets. This year one of my big upset picks is Oral Roberts…James, that ones for you. Let the madness begin!!

Click for Full Size Bracket

A friend of mine sent me an email that has going around the internet. I’m sure some of you have already seen it. It’s an editorial written for a German periodical called Die Welt by a man named Mathias Dopfner (he is CEO of a company called Axel Springer). I originally thought that it was fake, as is most stuff that you get through emails, but it turns out that it is true. Here is the listing for it on snopes.com stating that it is true. Also, here is the actual publication. The version below is snope’s translation of the original German publication. I especially agree with the part where he states that Bush’s “place in history will need to be evaluated a number of years down the road”. Before anyone gets upset with me, I am not calling Europeans cowards.

A few days ago, Henryk M. Broder wrote in the Welt am Sonntag, “Europe — thy name is appeasement.” It’s a phrase you can’t get out of your head because it’s so painfully true.

Appeasement cost millions of Jews and Gentiles their lives as England and France, allies at the time, negotiated and hesitated far too long before realizing that Hitler had to be fought, not bound to agreements. Appeasement stabilized the Communist Soviet Union and the former East Germany, those parts of Eastern Europe where inhuman, suppressive governments were glorified as the ideological alternative. Appeasement crippled Europe when genocide ran rampant in Kosovo, and we debated and debated and were still debating when the Americans finally came in and did our work for us. Rather than protecting the only democracy in the Middle East, European appeasement, camouflaged behind the fuzzy word “equidistance,” relativizes the fundamentalist Palestinian suicide bombings in Israel. Appeasement generates a mentality that allows Europe to condone the 300,000 victims of Saddam’s torture and murder machinery in Iraq and condemn the actions of George Bush in the self-righteousness of the peace movement. And in the end it is also appeasement at its most grotesque when Germany reacts to the escalating violence of Islamic fundamentalists in Holland and elsewhere by proposing a national Muslim holiday.

What else has to happen before the European public and its political leadership realize that there is a form of crusade underway, an especially perfidious one of systematic attacks by fanatic Muslims targeting civilians, directed against our free, open Western societies. This is a conflict that will likely last longer than any of the great military conflicts of the last century, waged by an adversary who cannot be tamed by tolerance and accommodation but is instead spurred on by such gestures, mistaking them as signs of weakness.

Two recent American presidents had the courage needed for staunch anti-appeasement: Reagan and Bush. Ronald Reagan ended the Cold War, and Bush — supported only by the persuasive Social Democrat politician Tony Blair — recognized the danger in the Islamic war against democracy. His place in history will need to be evaluated a number of years down the road.

In the meantime, Europe snuggles into its multicultural niche instead of defending the values of a liberal society with charismatic certitude and acting as a positive center of power in a delicate balance between the true global powers, America and China. We instead present ourselves as the world champions of tolerance against the intolerants, which even Otto Schily [Germany's former Federal Minister of the Interior] justifiably criticizes. And why, actually? Because we’re so moral? I fear it’s more because we’re so materialistic.

For his policies, Bush risks the devaluation of the dollar, huge amounts of added national debt, and a massive and lasting strain on the American economy — because everything is at stake.

Yet while America’s so allegedly materialistic robber baron capitalists know their priorities, we timidly defend the benefice of our social affluence. Just stay out of it; it could get expensive. We’d rather discuss our 35-hour workweek or our dental coverage or listen to televangelists preach about the need to “Reach out to murderers.” These days, it sometimes seems that Europe is like a little old lady who cups her shaking hands around her last pieces of jewelry as a thief breaks in right next door. Europe, thy name is Cowardice.

I found this on Stumble Upon. Stumble Upon is a plugin for Firefox and IE that allows you to randomly find websites of a certain criteria. Say, for instance, you want to look at websites that pertain to baseball, comedy, or videos…you just click the stumble button and it takes you to a random site which you can rate and your friends can view. Many of you received an invitation from me for this. I think it’s a pretty cool little program/plugin.

Anyway…on to what I was talking about. I stumbled upon the “Ultimate Rejection Letter”. If you have ever applied for a job and received that “Dear John” letter, I’m sure you’ll appreciate this. The letter can be found at http://www.chaosmatrix.org/library/humor/reject.html:

Herbert A. Millington
Chair – Search Committee
412A Clarkson Hall, Whitson University
College Hill, MA 34109

Dear Professor Millington,

Thank you for your letter of March 16. After careful consideration, I
regret to inform you that I am unable to accept your refusal to offer me
an assistant professor position in your department.

This year I have been particularly fortunate in receiving an unusually
large number of rejection letters. With such a varied and promising field
of candidates, it is impossible for me to accept all refusals.

Despite Whitson’s outstanding qualifications and previous experience in
rejecting applicants, I find that your rejection does not meet my needs at
this time. Therefore, I will assume the position of assistant professor
in your department this August. I look forward to seeing you then.

Best of luck in rejecting future applicants.

Sincerely,
Chris L. Jensen