Broncos Are Solid; Gators Fall

The average voter really begins to focus on the fall elections following Labor Day. So the media today is beginning to lock onto polling results; however, I've already told you who will win the fall elections and the Super Bowl. So I focused today on the first AP college football poll following the opening weekend.

As Tara and I expected, our beloved Gators fell four spots after a less-than-inspiring offensive performance. The nation's favorite Cinderella team, the Boise State Broncos, picked up a few first place votes.

Male readers: this will make you sad

If you think you still fit into the same size pants you wore in high school, your pants probably aren't the size you wore in high school. Esquire confirms "vanity sizing" in men's pants.

Women-in-the-know have been aware of this for years! Marilyn Monroe wore a size 16 back in the 1950s, and would be a 6 or an 8 today.

I suspect men's pant inseams are still running true to size, because who needs to lie about the length of their pants?

Congrats To 2011 Super Bowl Champs: The Green Bay Packers

You now don't need to watch any football this fall/winter: the folks who created "Madden 11" have simulated the season. The Green Bay Packers win the Super Bowl, led by MVP Quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

I will buy the game just to make Tim Tebow execute a jump pass for a Broncos TD over the Raiders.

Bonnie Blue Butler, R.I.P.

Cammie King Conlon, the woman who played the daughter of Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara in "Gone With The Wind," died this week at the age of 76.

The most amazing part of this article: just last Sunday, Conlon took a call from Olivia de Haviland.

That's right: "Melanie Hamilton Wilkes" is 94 years old.

Limited Government Advocates Set For Historic Gains

Notice I didn't say "Republicans." I'll explain in a moment.

The Democratic Party will suffer a historic defeat this fall because only 20% of people in this nation are liberal. We get a distorted view of the power of liberals through the media and Hollywood because much of the creative class is (and will remain) liberal.

But a majority of voters didn't turn left in the last series of elections, they punished Republicans for not doing the things that voters expect them to do: cut taxes, limit spending, promote individual responsibility and liberty. The country remains center-right.

Due to the failure of Republicans being Republicans, a new activist has arisen--a person who promotes a specific ideology--not a party. These activists are using GOP primaries to punish establishment Republicans who failed to promote limited government. They'll vote Republican this fall, but continue to punish any candidate that does not live up to their expectations.

As to the effort at judicial recall--no one should fool themselves into thinking that judges don't have an ideology. But don't take my word for it: Shane Vander Hart found this quote from Thomas Jefferson:

To consider the Judges of the Superior Court as the ultimate Arbiters of Constitutional questions would be a dangerous doctrine which would place us under the despotism of oligarchy. They have with others, the same passion of party, for power, and for the privileges of their corps – and their power is more dangerous as they are in office for life, and not responsible, as the other functionaries are, to the Elective control. The Constitution has elected no single Tribunal. I know no safe depository of the ultimate powers of society but the people themselves,

Let's read that again: the ultimate powers of society rest with the people themselves. They give up some of that power to the government--but the government ALWAYS is accountable to the will of the people. That's why politics is the art of persuasion--not imposition. And whether you vote to retain a certain judge or not, the outcome does not threaten our Representative Republic. All branches of government are accountable to the power--who hold ALL the power and lend a limited amount of it to government.

Parasitic human infants...Froggies, Turtles...and, of course, the Squirrels.

The "manifesto" of the hostage-taking gunman, James Lee, who shut down the Discovery Channel headquarters yesterday is here. The standoff ended with Lee's death and the safe release of Discovery Channel staff.

I think he overestimated the power of the Discovery Channel for large-scale societal change. But I can't overstate my love of (a) Mike Rowe's voice and (b) Mythbusters.

Origins and destinations

I am, in my rare spare time, an amateur genealogist. I have spent countless hours over the past 16 years wandering through cemeteries with crayons and butcher paper to make tombstone rubbings, poring over old books and microfilms, digging through census records, and corresponding with distant cousins in places as far away as Almora and Pithoragarh, India. So I was not going to miss NBC's series, "Who Do You Think You Are?" Profiling various celebrities as they explore tiny branches of their family trees, the show is predictable and repetitive, but still fascinating. As Jeff and I watched the other day, I commented that the show lacked emotional depth for everyone EXCEPT for the profiled celebrity. Yet I understand that wholly personal emotional feeling, when a word in a census ("seamstress") fills in a blank and makes you feel connected to a person whose name you once didn't even know, but whose DNA you carry.

And it was with sadness that I read this afternoon about the death of Farwell T. Brown, the 99-year-old keeper of our town's history. Brown was the founder of the Ames Historical Society and was named the city's official historian in 1986. His photographic archive, searchable by location and name, is a gem for any genealogist with interest in the Ames, Iowa, area.

If you (like me) have immigrant ancestors and want to spend a bit of time this holiday weekend digging into their paths to the United States, you might check out Ancestry.com's "free access weekend" for all of their online immigration records (from now through September 6). Have fun!

Another oil rig fire in the Gulf of Mexico

An apparent oil rig explosion (and possible workers in need of rescue...update...they are apparently safe, having been plucked from the water). And a hurricane in the Atlantic. It feels pretty safe and quiet here in post-flood Iowa at the moment.