Hampden-Sydney Now Master Of Its Own Destiny...

... for the 2009 ODAC football championship.

Well, almost. Current standings have the Tigers standing alone at the top of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference, with only a single conference game to play. With Randolph-Macon College's 20-13 loss today to 1-6 Guilford (the Tigers were idle), R-MC has two conference games remaining, with the first at 6-2 Bridgewater next week. H-SC also has two games remaining, with a non-conference game against Salisbury next week.

H-SC and R-MC meet in Ashland for The Game on 14 November

This could play out a number of ways. If the Yellowjackets lose next week, it's game over, and The Game only matters for bragging rights. Even if R-MC were to beat the Tigers, H-SC will have only a single conference loss, and having already beaten Bridgewater in Week 5 of the season 19-0, will win any tie-breaker --- even if Bridgewater prevails over Catholic in the final week of its season --- over anyone within reach of the ODAC championship.

On the other hand, if 5-3 R-MC prevails over 6-2 Bridgewater, the The Game will, for all intents and purposes, be the ODAC championship game.

Sooo, I find myself rooting for Bridgewater next week, and bwana and I will be of one mind.

A Notable Day

Sadly, I sit here on the edge of Los Angeles, satisfying professional responsibilities, on the anniversary of my marriage to the lovely and gracious Mrs. Young, which occurred twenty years ago this afternoon at a tiny little Lutheran church in College Park, Georgia.

It is a measure of her quality as a spouse and helpmate that she has not expressed a great deal of upset over this turn of events, while also noting that she still misses me (with every shot so far?) when I go out of town.

In any case, while I rarely note or comment upon personal milestones here, I exercise a point of personal privilege to say "Happy Anniversary, dearest, and thanks for twenty great years, two beautiful sons, and boundless love and understanding!"

Now, let the snarky comments spring forth!

Welcome to BarryCare!

Well, it's nearly November, and already we're enjoying a preview of the joys of life under government-run health care, which will, if passed, be known as ObamaCare. Giving due regard for the current occupant of the Oval Office, it should be known as BarryCare.

Witness the current swine flu (H1N1) outbreak. Now, never mind that every day of every year, an average of 10,000 people get it, and nearly 100 die of it ... oh, wait a minute, that's the regular seasonal flu.

In any case, the swine flu has been much in the news lately, and it's not really necessary to relate the basic facts here.

What we do know is that the government saw this coming months ago (report dated 29 April 2009), announced a major program of vaccination, and yet, fully into the flu season --- particularly in those Petri dishes known as the government schools --- vaccine supplies are severely limited, and apparently not available at all to first-line health providers like family doctors. I'm in Los Angeles, and listen with fascination to radio reports advising people who are not in government-identified "high-risk groups" --- mainly people between 25 and 64 without compromised immune systems --- to stay away from clinics dispensing the vaccine.

Note: Currently, the demand for H1N1 vaccine is outweighing local and national supply. That’s why some Public Health vaccine clinics may reach capacity earlier than expected and need to close earlier than the posted hours. If you are not in an H1N1 Priority Group, please wait to get vaccinated until vaccine supplies increase. More H1N1 vaccine will be available in the next several days and weeks at some chain pharmacies, private health care providers, and community clinics.

So sayeth the LA County Department of Public Health.

The reason for the shortages? Well, there are plenty offered, but it clearly was known two months ago that the flu season would arrive before the vaccine. Even today, five days after President Barry declared a "national emergency" over the flu, the vaccine is mainly unavailable.

It even appears, over the last two weeks, that the Young boys have contracted it (both are doing fine, thanks, though Patrick was required to don a mask before entering the doctor's office), without ever having had a chance to obtain a vaccination!

Which raises the question: Given that the Federal government has well and thoroughly screwed this up this rather mild (at least, in a fairly healthy population), WHY are we still considering a virtual government takeover of our health care system?!?!

The answer is, of course, obvious to anyone who understands the far Lefties currently in charge of our government: the effort is not about improving American health care; it is about enabling government control over the health care system.

If these people were serious about getting more people covered, they would discard coverage mandates (requiring, for instance, people past their child-bearing years to buy plans covering pregnancy), allow insurance companies to charge higher premiums to those previously uninsured (thus creating incentives for coverage in the young and healthy), remove barriers to interstate purchase of insurance, and --- perhaps most importantly --- discard government-run health care altogether (except for the military) and simply turn over to citizens, including the elderly, money to purchase their own insurance.

Don't hold your breath. This most recent example of government incompetence to the contrary notwithstanding.

Hampden-Sydney Looks Unbeatable for ODAC Championship...

and a playoff bid.

It does my heart good to note the success of the alma mater, Hampden-Sydney College, in football this season. With eight victories, and no losses, the team finally broke into the d3football.com Top 25 this week (No. 25). It has appeared in the American Football Coaches' Association Top 25 poll for the last two weeks, currently standing at No. 20.

The team has shown a lot of character in achieving these milestone. In Week 2, a game attended by the Youngs, the Tigers were down by two touchdowns at half-time, against Gettysburg (I found myself rooting against the Lutherans), but rallied to win by a field goal in overtime (with an amazing two field goal blocks by a single special teams player). This week, the Tigers were down by a touchdown at half-time against Catholic at Homecoming (Head Coach Marty Favret's alma mater --- '84 --- his twenty-fifth reunion year), but won the game by 21-7.

Rival Randolph-Macon, however, is 5-2, and 3-0 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC), whose winner receives an automatic bid to the Division III playoffs. R-MC's season is conference-heavy, with three conference games in the last three weeks of the season: Guilford; Bridgewater; and Hampden-Sydney, in The Game, the oldest rivalry in the South in college football, on 14 November. H-SC, however, has a bye week, and plays no more conference games, with only a game against non-conference Salisbury on 7 November.

If R-MC prevails over Guilford and Bridgewater, or even loses a game, it shapes up to be a conference title game when the Tigers meet the Yellowjackets on 14 November.

For Division III devotees and alums, it shapes up to be a great November weekend to be in Ashland.

Which is something this proud Tiger alum never thought he'd say.

Imagine The Hue And Cry...

if this had happened at a co-educational institution? Or at an institution which was not historically Black? Say Wabash College? Or the finest remaining all-male institution, Hampden-Sydney College?

Of course, the Morehouse College administration is exactly right. They are to be applauded.

Big Government Values v. Boy Scout Values

As I've probably noted previously, I'm an Eagle Scout. My namesake uncle was our family's first Eagle Scout; my oldest nephew is also an Eagle Scout. My grandfather lived long enough to see three generations of his progeny earn and wear the Eagle Scout badge (and pinned it on two of us). After a couple of decades away from active participation in Scouting, I'm presently the Troop Committee Chairman for my older son's Boy Scout Troop, and Pack Committee Chairman for my younger son's Cub Scout Pack.

So it's with a little more than passing interest that I've followed the stories of six-year-old Zachary Christie, a Delaware Cub Scout, who made the mistake of taking a camping tool to school to eat his school lunch (I am unsure whether it was his combo camping pocketknife, or his "Little Vittles" kit, available at every Scout Store, one of which I look down upon from my office window). Zachary was seen with this item --- he wasn't wielding it as a weapon --- and as a result, was sentenced to 45 days in a reeducation camp ... er, "reform school."

Then there's seventeen-year-old Eagle Scout and high school senior Matthew Whalen, godson of fellow Prince William blogger Riley at Virginia Virtucon. He is such a miscreant that he has already completed Army basic training, hoping to go to West Point. He keeps a sleeping bag, bottle of water, and an MRE in his car, just in case he breaks down. He also keeps a pocket knife in his car. School officials in Matthew's school decided to act upon an anonymous report to shake him down, and he produced the small knife he keeps in his glove box when asked (mistake, Matthew; should've made 'em get a search warrant). Matthew earned himself a five-day suspension, pending a hearing. Told he could submit a letter from the Army or the Boy Scouts saying he had to carry the knife, his Scoutmaster sent in a letter saying it was typical Boy Scout camping equipment. For this temerity, he got another fifteen-day suspension.

Now, when I was a Boy Scout, I carried my Boy Scout pocketknife --- or some other small penknife --- to school in my pocket virtually every day from the time I joined the Boy Scouts in fifth grade, until I graduated in 1982. In fact, one of the small knives that I carried was a beautifully engraved penknife that was a gift from my school choir director, a teacher!!!! I frequently used it, too: many times, to aid teachers in need of my small tool.

The Boy Scout motto is "Be Prepared." And our government schools that are making war on these Scouts for doing so.

It's little surprise. After all, the prepared have little need for big government. Which is, of course, the point.

My Nobel Application

So the Nobel Committee has awarded President Barry the Nobel Peace Prize, apparently because of his stated goal of a world without nuclear weapons.

With this award, President Barry joins other notable prior recipients as Aristide Briand (1925; part-originator of the Locarno Pact and Briand-Kellogg Pact," which outlawed war (we all know how that one worked out)); Frank B. Kellogg (1928; part-originator of the Briand-Kellogg Pact"), and Yasser Arafat (1994; terrorist).

So, the award is certainly consistent with other damn-fool "noble" goals lacking any possibility of success for which the Nobel Committee has previously made the award. Or even not so much.

Apparently, the only thing you need to do is express pretty thoughts and seek unachievable goals. Actually accomplishing something, a la Theodore Roosevelt (1905; arbitrating peace between Japan and Russia), Mother Theresa (1979; cared for the destitute and diseased in India)? No longer necessary. On the other hand, since Al Gore won (2007; the myth of human-caused climate change), it's been readily apparent that all that is required to win a Nobel Peace Prize is to express pathologically-foolish pretty thoughts with utterly no chance of being achieved. Actually having achieved ... well, anything ... in you life? Not necessary. President Barry proves that.

Therefore, I hereby tender my application for a Nobel Peace Prize. I'd like to see a world without rape.

That has about as much chance of being achieved as a world without nuclear weapons.

The Nobel Committee has just rendered itself a bad joke.

UPDATE: Doug Mataconis is similarly befuddled.

UPDATE II: Even terminal Obamoron Lowell is surprised and believes that President Barry owes George W. Bush a thank-you note.

Who Woulda Thunk It?

Turns out the International Olympic Committee is racist!?!??

At least, by Jimmy Carter's standards.

Actually, this is entirely predictable. Chicago vs. Rio de Janeiro: which would you choose?