By Douglas V. Gibbs

Today is the last time single-digit dates repeating in month, day, and year will occur in our lifetimes. The next opportunity will be January 1, 2101.

Is there anything magical about today’s date? Is there some mystical event about to happen?

There is no powerful significance of 09/09/09, other than that in many cultures the number 9 is lucky. The number 9 itself, however, is also the final single digit number. It denotes “the end” to some. It represents the beginning of the double digits to others. I guess it is a matter of if your glass is half empty, or half full.

Click to read more ...

By Douglas V. Gibbs

In California we are suffering a water shortage. In the City of Murrieta we are under mandatory conservation rules. The lawns along my street are dead, or dying, because we are not allowed to water our lawns more often than twice a week, and if there is any run-off onto the sidewalk, we get a ticket. You can also get a ticket from watering down your driveway, washing your car, and apparently for hosing down anything.

I have been complying with the rules of the city, and my lawn is dead as a result. My car has not been washed in months, and my driveway is swept. After sweeping the driveway I then collect the material in a dust pan, and then throw it away. Dirt in the gutter also can result in a fine.

Click to read more ...

By Douglas V. Gibbs

We have been promised that the speech to the school children of American today, September 8, 2009, will only be about how kids need to stay in school, and be all that they can be.

The assignments for writing about how they can help the president have been scrubbed.

Obama and gang have done everything they can to convince the angry parents, and those crazy right-wingers, that Uncle Barry’s nice little chat with the children of American inside their classrooms is about as benign as it can get.

So why am I still uneasy about Obama speaking via television link to all of the school kids in America?

“The other presidents did it,” has argued many that support Obama’s actions.

No president ever spoke to all school kids at once, interrupting important class time in all schools across the fruited plains. Maybe past presidents have spoken to a single class, and even to an entire school, but never to all students nationwide.

Click to read more ...

By Douglas V. Gibbs

I don’t know what to say. Creeping incrementalism that began with teaching sex education in the classroom, eliminating prayer from the schools, and the push for the justification of homosexual behavior, I believe are a big part of this insanity.

The United Nations, in a report, recommends that young children as young as five receive mandatory sexual education teaching about masturbation and gender violence - in other words, anti-gay attacks.

The report is 98 pages long, and insists the program is “age appropriate.”

I am speechless. It does not get more disgusting than this. Who are they to decide what our children should be taught?

And they think kids will “understand” these topics?

How early, and disgusting, is their indoctrination of the children going to get?

Click to read more ...

By Douglas V. Gibbs

I love a good roller coaster. My wife and son are not so fond of them, but my daughter is a daredevil like me, and searches out the scariest rides she can find. Part of the fun of a roller coaster is to let go of the bar in front of you and reach for the sky. Releasing the security of a death grip adds a little pizazz to the ride. Makes it a little more fun.

During the biggest dips and loops it is not uncommon to see the riders of a frighteningly fun roller coaster screaming with their hands in the air, and their armpits exposed. At a British amusement park in Chartsey, England, Thorpe Park roller coaster connoisseurs may no longer reach for the sky. The patrons have been banned from putting their arms in the air during roller coaster rides due to concerns about body odor.

The director of Thorpe Park in Chertsey, England, said, “Guests who do not keep their elbows at their sides will be kicked off rides, and repeat offenders will be escorted out of the park.”

Click to read more ...

By Douglas V. Gibbs

Today marks twenty five years of marriage for my wife and I. We will celebrate the event with a picnic on the beach (with our youngest grandson in attendance, more than likely), and a movie in the afternoon after our daughter gets home and can take back the duties of her baby for the evening.

A simple date for a simple couple.

Often, I am asked about our marriage’s longevity. After all, in today’s society, it is rare for a marriage to last very long at all, especially one like ours. We are high school sweethearts, and the marriage between a pair of people too young to fully understand what they are about to embark on rarely lasts longer than their adjustment into the world of adulthood.

Click to read more ...