KenHood.org

Looking for your next perfect pet or hunting dog?

Nellie, the famously perfect Black Lab, continues to bring us much joy. She is just turning one year old, so Happy Birthday Nellie. She is so eager to learn that it is never boring with her around. She is a British Lab, and yes- there is a difference!

If you are looking for the perfect British Labrador, for hunting, competition or as a great pet (Nellie’s full time job), please contact our good friends at Old Oak Retrievers. They specialize in breeding British Lab Field Trial Champions. One of Rick McConico’s British Labs is “grandma” to Nellie. I would highly recommend Old Oak Retrievers for your next Labrador Retriever or Golden Retriever.

Ri Hyon Ok, age 33, was executed for giving away Bibles, and her family was sent to prison. This includes her mom, dad, husband and three kids.  North Korea, like all totalitarian regimes, hates freedom of the press, freedom of religion and freedom of speech.

I struggle with my view on foreign policy. Obviously we jumped in over our heads by invading Iraq. And obviously, oil and other selfish interests played a major part in that decision. But did not Jesus say that anyone in need is our neighbor? So where is the line? When do we draw the line and say to another nation… no more?

I wonder how long we will continue to play games with North Korea (this has been both political parties). Their government is oppressive, brutal and cruel. They threaten their own people. They threaten international peace. They threaten us.

No surprise, the Chinese government thinks that blocking free speech will somehow coverup the murder at Tiananmen Square.

China today began blocking Twitter, Blogger, Tumblr (my new favorite web tool) and a host of other websites that let the peasants talk to each other. This is a preemptive strike against the discussion that will take place on Thursday, the anniversary of the massacre at Tiananmen Square.

This is a poignant reminder of the importance of exercising our right to free speech. Evil (and let’s throw in here- “incompetence”) will prevail if we do not expose it. There has been just a bit too much complaining about “hate speech” in this country for my taste.

There’s a thin line that separates “bad speech” (such as yelling “fire” in a crowded theatre) from “important speech” (such as a letter to the editor complaining that the old movie theatre is a fire trap).

I have written and spoken things in the past complaining about the behaviour of certain public figures, and I have been threatened for doing so. That has made me reluctant to exercise free speech. The brave dissidents in China have reminded me the cost of not exercising our God-given right to exposing the truth. I will be returning to the fight in honor of those who truly pay a great price for speaking out.

Every season I say I’m done… I won’t watch Idol anymore. It is because I think there won’t be another Ruben Studdard, Fantasia, or another Daughtry. OK, so along comes David Cook. But I know there just can’t be another one. I am wrong again.

Adam Lambert *may* just be the next great star on the American music scene. Every performance has been “cut a single now” quality. But Tuesday night’s rendition of Mad World may have been right up there in the top 5 performances of American Idol’s 8 year run. I had as many goose bumps as when Katharine McPhee sang that unforgettable Somewhere Over the Rainbow sitting on the stage.

Here is the FOX American Idol link for Mad World. Edit 12/19/09: FOX killed the link. Here is a link that may be “allowed” for awhile I hope: YouTube Adam Lambert Mad World

And my previous favorite all time performance:

Call me whatever you want, I’m outing myself. I love American Idol. I don’t care if the voting is controlled by a certain gender under the age of 15. I don’t care if it’s a bunch of hype. I remember the 60s (ok I was still in grade school)… wasn’t that the same thing? And we loved it.

Here’s what I love:

• It really is a “rags to riches” anyone can make it story.
• There really *is* great talent discovered. (The list is long, but David Cook is on it).
• It’s wholesome. (And there isn’t much left on TV that is.)
• It’s live baby. I mean, c’mon. I’m tired of staged performances (presidential speeches included). I dig LIVE TV.

Hats Off to the Final 13. Other than a few lackluster performances (there’s an overused phrase), the talent level was as good or better than many other seasons. My favorite performances (though I liked most of them) were:

• Danny Gokey (yep – the dancing was funny but I loved it)
• Michael Sarver (an oil rigger- wow)
• Lil Rounds
• Allison Iraheta (she’s gonna have a career someday)
• Adam Lambert (‘emo boy’)

Best of the night: Adam Lambert. Not even close. I don’t normally enjoy performers like him. But that dude ‘owns’ the stage and was born to be a rock star. Very enjoyable.

Time for dad to brag on his kids. The event that prompts this shameless bragging is an article just published about our 16 year old daughter Amanda in an online magazine.

Thanks to United South Central High School teachers and staff who helped make all this possible. Everyone at United South Central played a part in our kids’ success, but I want to send a very special thanks to Mr. P (retired), Mrs. H and Ms B. You know who you are. 
 

Amanda, 16
FT student at Maranatha Baptist Bible College
Business Major,  Article  Blog

Melissa, 19
FT student at Minnesota State University (MSU)
Music Education Major

Ken Jr, 21 (with our lovely daughter-in-law Caroline)
FT student at University of Minnesota
English Major, Graduating this May  blog

Normally I’m not a fan of the Grammys. It’s usually dominated by poor performances and too much rap (which is excellent poetry but lousy music). But last night’s Grammys 2009 were better than usual, and thanks to TIVO, I was able to skip through the lousy parts.

Kudos to Alison Krauss who is my favorite contemporary musical artist. She continues to mature and find new and exciting ways to display her talents. And what better way than to plumb the depths of the hidden talent of Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant. (Who would have thought that?) Add to that the brilliance of T Bone Burnett and we had an awesome Grammy’s night.

Also loved:

• Stevie Wonder (he can still “bring it”)
• What’s left of the Four Tops singing with Smokey Robinson
• Sugarland’s Jennifer Nettles (and her duet with Adele)

Not so fun:

• Paul McCartney (it hurts to watch the icons when they can’t do it anymore)
• Neil Diamond (again… it hurts to watch the great one in his later years)
• Obama Worship (“he’s one of us… a Grammy winner”)
• A call for the President to create (yet another) Cabinet level position… Secretary of the Arts

All in all… a very enjoybale night of excellent performances.

Senator Robert Menendez (D- NJ), who sits on the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, is commenting in a hearing today I watched on CSPAN. He just blamed the entire lack of accountability for how TARP funds were spent under the first half of the payout on George Bush and Secretary Paulson.

Not one word that maybe he and his cohorts failed to write accountability into the TARP bill. As I predicted earlier:

(9/25/08) This is a no-brainer for a politician. Vote with Bush and if it goes well (which we won’t know for many years), they can take credit. If it goes badly, they can blame Bush and rewrite history- make it all that bad bad man George Bush’s fault.

Told you so. I don’t know about you, but I am sick of politicians from both parties refusing to take any responsibility for mistakes. I’m willing to accept that Sen. Menendez helped pass the best bill he the could, and I’m willing to accept that he is a patriotic American who did what he thought best for the country.

I am not willing to accept excuse making and blame shifting. The good Senator should at least admit that some of the blame for the misspent money lies with Congress, who blindly trusted an Administration that had mislead them before.

After watching several recent press conferences with Obama and Press Secretary Gibbs, it is apparent that the gloves are off. The honeymoon is over. The body language has changed and voices are going to different pitch levels.

So maybe new levels of annoyance with the media will be seen in this administration. Thanks to Northern Muckraker for highlighting the incident with the reporter who had the nerve to approach the President too closely. One might guess that this is a reporter who, at other times, has been allowed within arm’s reach of the President. You see POTUS mingling with the media all the time. I’m sure every reporter withing 100 yards of the President is vetted. So is this a signal that the “good times” with the media is over? We shall see.

The media is hungry. Presidential Press Secretary Robert Gibbs is being eaten alive right now. It’s worse than watching an episode of National Geographic. I will remember this the next time my conservative friends say the media is a lap dog for the Democrats. They may be biased, and they may favor one party over the other, but it was beautiful to watch them do their job today.

The inquisitors at the press conference today just would not leave the “Daschle Issue” alone. They relentlessly kept coming back to it. And Robert Gibbs was frustrated. After all, the nerve of the media to question the President’s commitment to a “change” in Washington. This is all just too funny.