Free Republic

Texas Gov. Rick Perry plans to host a private dinner followed by fireworks near Austin on Saturday to honor the Aga Khan, a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad celebrating his 50th year as the spiritual leader of a Muslim sect. Earlier in the day, the leaders are expected to be on hand as the University of Texas signs an agreement with Aga Khan University, which has campuses in Pakistan and other countries, fostering student and teacher exchanges between the institutions.

I was surprised that CBS seemed to have such a difficult time handling the rain during the game. It seemed to me that their 50 yd line primary camera was most affected, with water drops on the lens during much of the game, as well as a foggy picture for whatever reason. Other cameras had the same problems. Did they not know it was going to rain, or even that there was a chance of rain? Don't they have covers for the lenses of those high dollar cameras, or at least they could have had an intern (or maybe Katie...

Based on Sinclair's brave decision not to air Nightline tonight (see http://www.sbgi.net) I decided to call our Austin ABC affiliate, KVUE. I spoke with the program director, and asked him not to air Nightline tonight. He said they have made the decision to do so, but we need to keep up the pressure. Please go to KVUE's website and vote against this (by the way... I have my browser set to load a new page every visit to a website, so when I close and re-open my browser I can vote in the poll multiple times). He actually said that...

Anybody using Voom yet? I have a 61" Toshiba Cinema Series HD but don't have it hooked up to any HDTV service. Currently using DirectTV, with their basic Tivo. To get HDTV Tivo is ~$1000 for the Tivo alone, plus HDTV service from DirectTV (new 3-way satellite dish, etc), so that's not worth it to me. But I'd like to get HDTV. We mostly watch sports and some family movies. Questions: -I assume I can use DirecTV and Voom side by side, I have 2 HDTV inputs (one is used by my DVD player currently). Anybody doing this? -I note...

If you've not heard of the Bible code books/studies it is some interesting stuff. It's far more important to base one's faith on the Scriptures as written in plain text, IMO. Take it or leave it, click on the link above. I thought it worthwhile to read through once.

OK Freepers, I can't believe it, but my oldest of three sons is a Sophomore in High School. He's attending a private prep school here in Austin. It's time for us to generate a list of colleges to survey. When pressed (slightly) he told me this evening that if he had to choose tomorrow he would major in History, Psychology, or Business. I'd guess he'll graduate in the second quartile of his tough school (no genius, but respectable), will score 1200-1250 on SAT, and has been reasonably active in outside activities/volunteer work. Let's assume total costs of $20K - $25K/year ...

Russian warplanes threatened patrolling U.S. Navy P-3 aircraft over the Pacific Ocean last week as the American planes monitored a military exercise in the region, the WASHINGTON TIMES is planning to report on Tuesday... MORE.. At one point during the aerial harassment, a MiG-31 interceptor pilot flew his jet within 50 feet of a P-3 maritime patrol and reconnaissance plane. One alarming sign of the Russian intercept was a radio message sent by one MiG-31 pilot to his base stating his fire-control radar had 'locked on' to the U.S. surveillance plane, U.S. intelligence tell Gertz at the TIMES... A radar ...

Headline on Drudge, no link yet: EXCLUSIVE: INDEPENDENT COUNSEL WARNS WHITE HOUSE... DEVELOPING... From Austin, TX, where I'm planning on being at a BIG celebration Tuesday night!