Hinnus_Asinus's blog

Dr. Bill Bondeson wrote an excellent op-ed in the Columbia Tribune regarding the politicizing of MU.  It's definitely a must-read.  If you've never taken one of his classes, you've truly missed being led by one of the great teachers.  I'll also add he's a real hoot as a golfing buddy.  I used to hit the links with him on many occasions when I lived in Columbia, and I can tell you, you'd be amazed at the number of topics one can converse over in the span of 18 holes. 

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I thought I'd go snooping over on the dark side of the Missouri Blogworld to see if the folks at the Springfield News-Leecher have a point about that "put your name on your blog posts or else" stuff.  Here's what I found: 

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(NOTE:  My original post had a mistake in my scholarship.  I was wrong about the historical precedent of university presidents in Missouri becoming elected officials after their presidency.  Many thanks to Grasshopper for pointing this out.  I apologize to the board for my unscholarly error and have amended this post.) 

Well, it's official.  Kenny really does have his hat in the ring for the MU presidency.

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Tocology...know what that is?  Well, it's another word for midwifery.  (Technically, Tocology is the "science of childbirth", but this word tends to be used when describing midwifery, not OB-GYN medical practice.)

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I just sort of noticed this...isn't this interesting...follow my timeline here. March: Todd Graves suddenly resigns as U.S. Attorney in the WESTERN District. March and April: Suddenly EASTERN district attorney Catharine Hanaway makes the news left right and center, appears in print and TV in a whole boatload of busts ranging from porn to gun sales to online betting sites. (just go to news.google.com and type her name in and take a peek.) I have been pretty entertained by these busts when they show up on TV b/c she is getting a LOT of face time. It sort of reminds me of all those FBI busts in the 30's and 40's when other agents did the work and J. Edgar Hoover would make the newsreels and appear he made the collar personally!

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Hmm...I don't get this one...ain't this a tad early for filin'?

From the Columbia Tribune Political blog:

Former state Rep. Bob Behnen, R-Kirksville, turned in paperwork with the Missouri Ethics Commission to run for the 18th District state Senate seat....in 2014.

That's right. Not 2010, when Wes Shoemyer is up for re-election. 2014. Farsighted, that Bob.

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Remember the mythical Chimera from that stale old mythology you had to read in high school? Part goat, part snake, part lion...looked invincible but was not. The pending legislation that will break into MOHELA's funds certainly has the mark of the Chimera. No one likes the package in toto but there is something for everyone to glom onto whether it is MOHELA, stem cell research, or pork-trimming. Hank Waters sums this up nicely in a recent editorial. Meanwhile, the proposed research restrictions send up red flags in the Mizzou community. All this legislation will do is push potentially life-saving research into the private sector and away from the flagship and research public campus of MIssouri. It's hard to be a flagship when you can't have certain crew members.

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The Washington Post reported that the CDC issued its recommendations for emergency preparedness in case of a flu pandemic, complete with an official pandemic website and an 84 page glossy booklet (which you can download on the site link, "Pandemic Influenza Preparedness, Response, and Recovery Guide for Critical Infrastructure and Key Resources.") Hoo boy, this is about as entertaining as ready.gov!

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I was certainly saddened to hear that Molly Ivins is no longer with us. Although she was definitely a Texas gal, through and through, her way of describing things certainly has a parallel in Missouri.

Her ascerbic way of telling it as she saw it had very Trumanesque qualities in that she could spew hot coals and acid and make it downright funny. That way of saying things is slowly dying off in our continually urbanizing culture, but thank God you still see pockets of it in rural Missouri!

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"Hello? Governor's Office? I'd like permission to buy another donkey."

Evidently, Matt Blunt would like to take control of Missouri's farm zoning, county health ordinances regarding feedlot operations, away from citizens and county commissioners and put it in the hands of the state. Blunt recently went on record in support of Sen. Koster's SB 364, erroneously titled "The Missouri Farm and Food Preservation Act." (What a name! It sounds like they're supporting home canning.) This bill would essentially invalidate present county ordinances that affect industrial livestock operations as well as denying citizens the right to complain about "odor trespass" from commericial feedlot operations.

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Over the last few weeks, I've been totally impressed with how Barney Frank has been standing up to House Republicans, Neil Cavuto, Chris Wallace, and Bill O'Reilly. Check out the clips. I realize his House district in MA would not want to let loose of him but I wonder if we can rent Barney for a 15 round bout in Jeff City? I''ve had this fantasy lately about seeing him square off against Jetton and pals...and would predict a KO in the third round. He could do it sooner, but I think he'd want to toy with his opponents a little first before delivering the goods.

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Bushworld's VA answer for teaching VA physicians how to recognize deployment-related stress in our returning troops is a cartoon--and a not very good one at that. You can view the entire "training video" here.

How insulting is this, both to VA physicians and to our returning vets?

1. The idiot talking heads will accuse liberals of being "sad" that he swung.

(H_A's personal thoughts: He's a bad man. I can't get too worked up about it. However, it does bring up my feelings about the death penalty in THEORY vs. PRACTICE. Personally, I don't like executing people whose execution lets them play the martyr card. Timothy McVeigh comes to mind in that aspect. Sometimes, I think there's some merit to NOT executing someone when that is what they desire to fulfill their delusions of martyrdom.)

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If you visit the Grand Canyon National Park this winter, don't put the park employees on the spot by daring to ask how old the thing is. They're not allowed to say.

Meanwhile, the park bookstore has rejected 22 applications for new book additions, and accepted only one...a creationist-based account that says Noah's great flood is the culprit. Yes, my friends, you are supposed to believe that 40 days and nights of rain did it. Well, gee whiz, how many days did the southeast get beaten by Katrina? Shouldn't we at least have an itty-bitty canyon to show for it?

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Need something to do at home this New Year's Eve? Invite your friends over and have them pick their favorite one out of Media Matters' list of the 10 Most Outrageous Comments of 2006 (and a few honorable mentions, too.)

By the way, if you want to get a real eye-opener, the 1983 PBS documentary, "Vietnam, a Television History" is now available on DVD. We've been watching it at our house and it is truly a scary event. You could make a New Year's Eve drinking game every time you hear someone in authority say something where you remove words like "Viet Cong," "Communists,", etc. and replace them with words like "Iraq," and "islamofascists." Or you might take a drink every time you hear a golden oldie like, "Every protest encourages the Viet Cong, prolongs the war, and places our American soldiers in harm's way." But if you do choose to use this set as a drinking game, please let people sleep it off at your house. You'll get your BAC over .08 too quickly for safety.