WobLog

Recently, Lisa and I caught a rerun of Scrubs (if you're curious, Season 1, Episode 23: "My Hero") that featured the lawyer at Sacred Heart Hospital, Ted, and his a cappella group of fellow hospital employees ("the Worthless Peons") singing the theme song to Underdog. Although I never see that cartoon classic in reruns, I loved it when I was a kid. As you can hear in the following clip, it has probably the best cartoon theme song, ever:

A bit of background on the singers: Sam Lloyd, the actor who plays Ted, has a real a cappella group, "The Blanks." Bill Lawrence, the creator and producer of Scrubs, was so impressed by the group when they performed at the show's Christmas party, that he found recurring roles for Sam's band mates that allowed the group to be worked into the show.

And finally, here are the lyrics for the song, courtesy of the Blanks:

There is no need to fear
For the Mutt of Might is here
Secret ring he has filled
With a super energy pill
Trouble calls, he's not slow
It's hip, hip, hip and away he goes

When criminals in this world appear
And break the laws that they should fear
And frighten all who see or hear
The cry goes up, both far and near
For Underdog, Underdog
Underdog, Underdog

Speed of lightning, roar of thunder
Fighting all who rob or plunder
Underdog, Underdog, Underdog

When Polly Purebred starts to fall
From buildings twenty stories tall
She knows the hero she can call
His ears prick up when Polly hollers
Underdog, Underdog
Underdog, Underdog

There's no need to fear or quaver
Underdog is here to save her
Underdog, oh, Underdog

And when our woeful monologue
Is how by evil we've been flogged
Then breaking through the clouds and fog
Not plane, nor bird, nor even frog
Comes Underdog, Underdog
Underdog, Underdog

Now unleash the Dog of Wonder
Tearing evil's bonds asunder
Underdog
Oh, what a wonder dog
Now here's the epilogue
Underdog, Underdog

Posted by Don Roberts at 10:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I got back from the gym this morning and was greeted by Sarah and Alex saying "Argh Daddy! Today we be pirates."

Here's what I wrote for International Talk Like a Pirate Day in this space last year and in 2006.

Posted by Don Roberts at 10:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yesterday's San Francisco Chronicle has a story on the increased attention on people with Down Syndrome as a result of Sarah Palin's vice presidential nomination.

I spoke on the phone with the reporter for the piece, and she included a couple quotes from me in the article (she identified me as "Don Peters," a physicist from Pleasanton). Don't know why she couldn't get my name right, but at least the quotes are accurate.

Posted by Don Roberts at 7:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

In the wake of Speaker Pelosi's mangling of Catholic Church teaching, Democrat VP nominee Sen. Joe Biden appeared on NBC's Meet the Press and did the same. Here is Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput's response to Senator Biden's comments:

Public Servants and Moral Reasoning:
A notice to the Catholic community in northern Colorado

Monday, Sept. 8, 2008

To Catholics of the Archdiocese of Denver:

When Catholics serve on the national stage, their actions and words impact the faith of Catholics around the country. As a result, they open themselves to legitimate scrutiny by local Catholics and local bishops on matters of Catholic belief. In 2008, although NBC probably didn't intend it, Meet the Presshas become a national window on the flawed moral reasoning of some Catholic public servants.

On August 24, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, describing herself as an ardent, practicing Catholic, misrepresented the overwhelming body of Catholic teaching against abortion to the show's nationwide audience, while defending her "pro-choice" abortion views. On September 7, Sen. Joseph Biden compounded the problem to the same Meet the Press audience.

Sen. Biden is a man of distinguished public service. That doesn't excuse poor logic or bad facts. Asked when life begins, Sen. Biden said that, "it's a personal and private issue." But in reality, modern biology knows exactly when human life begins: at the moment of conception. Religion has nothing to do with it. People might argue when human "personhood" begins - though that leads public policy in very dangerous directions - but no one can any longer claim that the beginning of life is a matter of religious opinion.

Sen. Biden also confused the nature of pluralism. Real pluralism thrives on healthy, non-violent disagreement; it requires an environment where people of conviction will struggle respectfully but vigorously to advance their beliefs. In his interview, the senator observed that other people with strong religious views disagree with the Catholic approach to abortion. It's certainly true that we need to acknowledge the views of other people and compromise whenever possible - but not at the expense of a developing child's right to life. Abortion is a foundational issue; it is not an issue like housing policy or the price of foreign oil. It always involves the intentional killing of an innocent life, and it is always, grievously wrong. If, as Sen. Biden said, "I'm prepared as a matter of faith [emphasis added] to accept that life begins at the moment of conception," then he is not merely wrong about the science of new life; he also fails to defend the innocent life he already knows is there.

As the senator said in his interview, he has opposed public funding for abortions. To his great credit, he also backed a successful ban on partial-birth abortions. But his strong support for the 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade and the false "right" to abortion it enshrines, can't be excused by any serious Catholic. Support for Roe and the "right to choose" an abortion simply masks what abortion is, and what abortion does. Roe is bad law. As long as it stands, it prevents returning the abortion issue to the states where it belongs, so that the American people can decide its future through fair debate and legislation.

In his Meet the Press interview, Sen. Biden used a morally exhausted argument that American Catholics have been hearing for 40 years: i.e., that Catholics can't "impose" their religiously based views on the rest of the country. But resistance to abortion is a matter of human rights, not religious opinion. And the senator knows very well as a lawmaker that all law involves the imposition of some people's convictions on everyone else. That is the nature of the law. American Catholics have allowed themselves to be bullied into accepting the destruction of more than a million developing unborn children a year. Other people have imposed their "pro-choice" beliefs on American society without any remorse for decades.

If we claim to be Catholic, then American Catholics, including public officials who describe themselves as Catholic, need to act accordingly. We need to put an end to Roeand the industry of permissive abortion it enables. Otherwise all of us - from senators and members of Congress, to Catholic laypeople in the pews - fail not only as believers and disciples, but also as citizens.

+Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap.
Archbishop of Denver

+James D. Conley
Auxiliary Bishop of Denver

Posted by Don Roberts at 10:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)