Veteran's Day.

Today, when we pause to formally honor those who have served this country and fought to make us free, let me point out a few of the veterans in my life:

My brother-in-law, currently in the army and a veteran of three deployments to Iraq;

My uncle, who served in the Marines;

My uncle(in-law), who recently returned from duty in Iraq with the Indiana National Guard; he also served several years in the Army in South Korea and Somalia;

My grandfather(maternal), who fought in Korea from 1952-4;

My grandfather(paternal), who served in the Army in Germany; his brothers fought in WW2, one with Patton, the other as a tail-gunner in a B-17;

My wife's grandfather, who served in the Navy during WW2.

To these men, and many others, I owe a debt of gratitude that can never fully be repaid. Therefore, I offer to them my humble thanks.

Persecution in India.

Amidst all the news reports of the election, war, and the economy, one subject that always flies beneath the MSM radar is the persecution of Christians around the world. Lately, it has been particularly bad in India.

World Net Daily is reporting that another vicious round of attacks is expected after the murder of a Hindu activist by Communists.

Pray for these believers, who risk so much for the Truth, that they will be strong and steadfast. Let their faith be a beacon for those who don't believe, and may God deliver them.

Link to image source.

44.

Congratulations to the winner of the 2008 presidential election, Barack Obama. I vehemently disagreed with his positions and do not think he was the best choice, but the people have chosen and that's that. It's an historic occassion.

I will say, to his credit, throughout the election, Obama did look more presidential. It was the one thing that struck me during the debates, as I railed at the TV against his answers to the questions, he did answer them with poise and composure. I think that, and weariness of GOP governance, contributed to his victory.

Link to image source.

Truckin.'

It's a little corny, but oh so good...

(oh, and mild content warning)

And Going, and Going, and Going...

The space shuttle is starting to look like the Energizer Bunny:

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA's staff will study whether the space
shuttle program could continue operating past its scheduled retirement in 2010,
according to an internal e-mail sent this week.

The e-mail obtained by The
Orlando Sentinel describes NASA Administrator Michael Griffin's order for a
study to determine if the shuttle could fly until 2015, when NASA's
next-generation space platform is expected to be completed.

That next-generation platform is called Constellation, consisting of a rocket/space capsule system that hearkens back to the Apollo days.

NASA had planned to mothball the Shuttle in 2010, upon completion of the International Space Station, and I'm not surprised that they may extend operations beyond that date. The Orion spacecraft is not scheduled to be ready until 2014, and in light of recent world events, buying Russian spacecraft to fill the gap is problematic at best.

The main concern is money. I've no worries about the shuttle being up to the task; after all, it was intended to operate for just ten years when it was first launched in 1981. With hundreds of flights over 27 years, even with the tragic Challenger and Columbia incidents, the shuttle has an amazing reliability and safety record. If NASA can get the money to fly it, the shuttle will do the job.

However, the reason it has taken NASA so long to develop a replacement for the shuttle stems from a lack of a definitive mission after the conclusion of the Apollo and Spacelab programs, and a lack of definitive mission now. NASA (or the President) needs to define the vision and mission of the U.S.'s manned spaceflight program. Is it going to be active science (exploration), or passive science (orbital research and observation)? It will be extremely expensive and difficult to do both, so I think the direction needs to be clearly stated. It seems that for the last 30 years we've drifted one way, and now are starting to drift another.

As Time Goes By.

Wow, it's been a long time since I posted on the blog. My apologies to those readers who still check back, hoping for content.

I haven't abandoned the blog, but I do have a confession: I'm not the most persevering person in the world, and I tend to get really passionate and excited about something for a while, then through obsessive over-saturation, I get bored and move on to something else. That is what has happened here, to some extent.

In addition, I started taking this blog in directions I didn't really intend for it to go. The political posts far outweigh the other content, and this was not meant to be a strictly political blog. I began to feel that if I covered current news and politics, there was no way I would have the time, desire or means to do it justice, therefore I should stop for a while. In addition, the excruciatingly long election cycle has been getting me down. I really can't stomach writing posts about what the candidates do or say every day for the next six months; I'll leave that to more capable minds.

What I would like to do is take this blog back to it's early days, with short thoughts about history, life, faith, and some of my own experiences. I'm not ready to resume just yet, as I really don't have any thoughts to share at this point, I'll be back later, and at a slower pace.

The Ex-Colts are at it Again.

Apparently the Tennessee Titans believe that to beat the Colts, they have to become the Colts. Not in some figurative zen-like way either. The past couple of years the Titans have picked up several players from the Colts, evidently in the hopes that they will enjoy some of what has made the boys in blue so successful.

It doesn't work that way, however, and a player that fits in well with one team may not perform so great with another team, particularly against his old team. Jason David is a case in point. Though he played well for the Colts, and is not doing too badly at New Orleans, he was brutally used and abused by Peyton Manning when the teams met this past season.

Tennessee has a talented quarterback, who has caused the Colts some problems. They should build around him, rather than try and clone the Colts by bits.

Update: Oops! I originally said David was playing for Tennessee when he actually plays for New Orleans. Nick Harper is the former Colts' cornerback at Tennessee. Nevertheless, I think the example is still valid.