Easter . . .

. . . a long way from home.

But first, Easter trivia - and mathematics. In western Christianity, Easter falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Vernal Equinox.

It came early this year - on March 23. In fact, it only missed the earliest possible date by one day. March 23, the earliest possible Easter, happened in 1818 and won't repeat until 2285 . The latest possible Easter fell on April 25, 1943, and won't repeat until 2038. A late Easter - April 24 - will occur in 2011.

If you want to witness all the earliest and latest dates, hang around. The Easter cycle repeats every 5,700,000 years.

All that notwithstanding, since 2002, Mrs. Bulldog and I have been somewhere between 1,100 and 1,400 miles from our immediate families (children and grandchildren.) We see them all on the occasional vacation or holiday, but not as often as we would like.

In order to keep things semi-normal - which is about as good as you can reasonably expect with this crew, :o) we always trot out the Royal Doulton china and the Waterford crystal and have a formal holiday dinner. Today, it was sugar-cured ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, grandma's green salad (only the family understands this) and chocolate cake.

Later, there will be Kolache . . . yay - one of the many joys of marrying a Bohunk girl. For those who don't know, that's a bread made with sweet dough, filled like a jelly-roll with a sugary mixture of ground poppy seeds and raisins.

Oh, and before anyone gets insulted by "Bohunk," it's how my Slovak father-in-law referred to himself and his friends. If it was good enough for Andy, it's good enough for me.

Unrest in Tibet . . .

. . . how can you not be on the side of the little guy in the blue hat?

Freaky Friday . . .

. . . or, just another day in American politics.

Item the first:
A few words from that font of wisdom, AKA Harvard-educated Barack Obama (about his granny):

She is a typical white person, who, if she sees somebody on the street that she doesn't know, well there's a reaction that's in our experiences that won't go away and can sometimes come out in the wrong way.

Now, having matriculated from a nice, but decidedly non-ivy league college, I'm not sure what a "typical white person" is, but I'm guessing it's not someone who is likely to hand a ladder down to Mr. Obama to help him out of the hole he's digging with the help of Jeremiah Wright. Notwithstanding the fact that Chris Matthews got all damp in the panties over Obama's speech, I don't think that approach is particularly productive. Throwing your granny under the bus for political gain is slightly south of genteel.

Item the second:
A few words from that paragon of veracity, Mrs. Hillary Clinton:

"I have been a critic of NAFTA from the very beginning."

Hillary, sweetie, you just released your records - under duress, I might add - and it seems you're not being completely truthful. Honestly, "I did not have sex with that treaty" doesn't work for you either.

Item the third:
Released records now indicate that Hillary was home in the Whitehouse when the "stain" appeared on the blue dress. I am quite qualified in the ins and outs of statistics (pun intended), but the permutations and combinations of those three in the same house at the same time are too horrible to comprehend. I believe the current venacular is "ewwwwww!"

Pay for performance . . .

. . . is the U. S. Gummint's new mantra. March 2nd, the Department of Defense instituted a new system to set objectives, measure performance and tie raises/bonuses to that performance. Apparently, it's Rumsfeld's legacy - and true to the governmental fettish for complicates systems, the performance evaluation form is fifteen pages long. Yep, fifteen pages. Estimates of the cost of implementation are somewhat north of $200,000,000. Whatever . . .

Heather Mills . . .

. . . has a big check in the mail.

I am an engineer by education and trade, and I also have a major in math - which leads to this little analysis:

Given:

- Four years of marriage, or 208 weeks,
- For a man of Sir Paul's age, say twice per week (wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say no more)
- A payout of $33,000,000

Then $33,000,000 / (208 x 2) = $79,326.92 per . . . well . . . you know.

Oh, calm down people! It's a joke. I'm not making ANY comment about Ms. Mills. I rather like her, and think the check should have been larger.

Obama's minister . . .

. . . of hate, that is. Some of his so-called sermons are rife with racisim and pure hateful speech.

"Not God bless America . . . God damn America" for "killing innocent people"

That 9/11 was a case of "America's chickens coming home to roost."

"AIDS was designed to kill black people."

I never was an Obama fan, primarily because of his socialist policies. Now, I'm more concerned than ever. He has been running on a platform of change, understanding and judgement. Now, his judgement has been called to question.

He has recently disavowed Wright's bile, but it's too little, too late, and smacks of CYA. Obama has been a member of this church for 17 years. Wright is his spiritual advisor. He sought Wright's counsel and advice when deciding when to run for president. Wright married the Obamas and baptised their child. His excuse is that he missed the sermons on those days?

Even Juan Williams, NPR's generally liberal democrat pundit, wondered whether or not Obama joined that particular church to strengthen his "street creds" enough to be electable in Chicago - whether he was trying to prove that "he was black enough". (Williams' words, not mine.)

This is not a race issue. It's not a religion issue. It's a judgement issue, and Obama has come up wanting.

If you believe this is a non-issue, think on what would be in the press if John McCain had spent the last 17 years in a white supremacist church.

National pride . . .

. . . or not?

"I think in this day and age of a global world, I would find it very hard to swear allegiance to one country," said Clarissa Williams, vice president of the National Assn. of Head Teachers, who said she was not certain her students would want to take the pledge." I honestly feel we are citizens of the world, not just one country," she said.

Maybe it's just me, but I find that statement kind of sad. No one should be forced to take a pledge, but shouldn't one have a bit of allegiance buried somewhere inside? I guess Guy Fawkes' Day doesn't do it for her.

I'm glad we have Independence Day . . .