The U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed a resolution yesterday honoring Tommy Makem and declaring him “one of the greatest Irish-Americans of the 20th century.” The resolution was co-sponsored by, among others, John Larson of my parents’ district, John Larson — pandering to the Hartford Irish :) — and Joe Courtney, also of Connecticut.

As regular readers will recall, I posted a ton of stuff about Makem when he passed away back in August. You can read of all of it here, in reverse chronological order. If you only want to read one post, make it this one: “Tommy Makem, 1932-2007 … and what he means to me.”

Anyway, after the jump, the full text of H. Res. 768 honoring Makem.

P.S. As you’ll notice if you read the resolution, it is now an officially recognized fact, according to the U.S. House of Representatives, that when Tommy Makem split up with the Clancy Brothers, he “left the band amicably.” Heh. Not so sure about that, but hey, if the House says it, it must be true! ;)

P.P.S. I meant to post these back in August, but never got around to it: two videos from New Hampshire news media covering Makem’s funeral.

UPDATE: Video clips from the House discussion on the resolution can be found here and here.

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Stephen Bainbridge makes the case against Mike Huckabee. (Hat tip: InstaPundit.)

If Huckabee wins the nomination — and he’s now not only leading in Iowa, but surging nationwide — then, well, remember all that stuff I said about Giuliani winning? Yeah, pretty much the opposite of that.

UPDATE: Another reason to be anti-Huckabee: he is opposed to the Law of Conservation of Energy. Luckily, I don’t think any president or Congress, nor even liberal activist judges, can invalidate that law…

(Hat tip, again: InstaPundit, who quotes a commenter on the linked post saying, “In this election we obey the laws of thermodynamics!”)

Seen on Main Street, Knoxville. Alas, Megan Fox is nowhere to be found.

Apparently the construction company that’s building the new ND Law School and the Law School administration have had, shall we say, a failure in communication.  Yesterday was the last day of classes in the Law School, and today and tomorrow are study days, with finals beginning on Friday and continuing through next Friday.  The construction workers have also decided to follow that same schedule–for jackhammering.  Beginning Friday and continuing through next week, they will be jackhammering right next to the Law School.

Oh, and it gets worse.  Due to the jackhammering, rooms 120 and 121 will be unusable, since apparently they will be shaking as if there were a 7.0 during the work.  For those of you unfamiliar with the law school, 120 and 121 are the two largest lecture halls where many, if not most, students sit for their exams.  So where will they be taking their exams instead?  In the Main and East Reading Rooms of the Library.  I’m not even going to begin to talk about the many reasons this is an absolutely ridiculous and insane idea.  Nevermind the fact that this also displaces anyone wishing to study on the main floor of the Library.  After all, who would want to study during finals?

UPDATE:  An email was sent out from Dean O’Hara to all students explaining the insane room juggling that will be happening during finals.  According  to the email, the law school has arranged for students to use other rooms on campus during exams:

Third, during each exam, we have arranged for the use of what we are calling “back-up rooms” elsewhere on campus.  After eliminating the use of Rooms 115, 120, and 121 for exams, we fully expect the remainder of the exam rooms in the Law School to be suitable for use during exam week.  We have nonetheless arranged back-up rooms for each day of exams….We intend the back-up rooms to be available for students who conclude that the normal background noise from construction is intolerably disruptive.  Such students will still pick-up their exams in the assigned room at the Law School, but will have the option of moving to the back-up room at the beginning of their exams or moving there during an exam should they decide that they need to do so….The back-up rooms will be at different locations on campus depending on the date and times of the exams in question, but will generally be located either in the Jordan Hall of Science or the Mendoza College of Business.

I wonder why the law school couldn’t simply arrange for all exams to be taken in other buildings.  I imagine the "normal background noise from construction" is going to be at a higher-than-normal level with jackhammering occurring.  It’s going to be pretty disruptive to students if they are unable to concentrate and then have to pack up all their things and move to another building in the middle of the exam.  I’m not even sure how that would work with the new Electronic Bluebook software that’s now being used by those typing their exams on their laptops.

Julie Moffitt, of SoCal VoCals/Total Eclipse of the Heart fame (previous post here), still needs your help! It’s crunch time in the FameCast Singer-Songwriter Finals, and Julie’s in the running for the $10,000 prize… but she needs votes. Lots of votes! The polls close at noon EST tomorrow, so now’s the time to vote for Julie!

(You must be registered to vote. Registration is free. One vote is allowed per account per day.)

Here, by the way, is what Rolling Stone reviewer Gary Graff had to say about Julie’s performances on the linked page:

The smartest thing you do here is give us a real
sense of range with two very different songs played, no less, on two different
instruments. It’s great to hear a piano song, and "Bound to Fail" is an
exceptional song — even though there are things you can, and should, do to it
when it’s recorded, like speeding it up a bit, particularly in the bridge. But
it’s a song that will definitely benefit from a full band arrangement, and your
vocal here is well nuanced, mixing pathos and playfulness. "Oh Hell" is a lot of
fun and lets you sing in a completely different way — and show some
instrumental chops, too, since it’s hard to do those barre chords on a 12-string
acoustic. You are ready for prime time, so let’s hope others cotton on to that
real soon.

Also, she has a new puppy. Which means she needs that $10,000 for dog food. So get out the vote already! :)

Heh.

That reminds me, I saw a UCLA Bruins football calendar selling for $0.49 at a Knoxville store yesterday. Seemed like a pretty fair price to me. I was sorely tempted to buy it and send it to Mike Tran, with the price tag still attached. ;)

Is this the first InstaPundit lolcat?

(Well, okay, technically there’s no cat involved, but he’s using the syntax, anyway. Though really, the phrase in question originated with Ann Althouse, and is a reference to this embarrassment to the Hillary Clinton campaign.)

Olga strengthens — over land. Didn’t see that one coming.

Assuming the baby isn’t more than five days early, this Christmas will be the first — and last — Christmas that Becky and I spend together simply as a couple, just the two of us. And regardless of when the baby arrives, it’ll be the first time we haven’t had someone else’s Christmas tree (usually her parents’ in Arizona) to gather ’round and open presents. So, after briefly perusing the pathetic selection of sad-looking artificial trees at Wal-Mart, I decided that we need a proper tree — a real tree — for this very special holiday season. Hence:

For me, this Christmas season has at times felt subsumed within, and overshadowed by, the much more all-encompassing, life-changing “we’re about to have a baby” season. But now that the apartment is filled with the scent of pine needles, it finally feels like Christmas. :)

By the way, the shadowy figure at the bottom of the picture is Toby. The cats are, of course, very curious about the fragrant plant in our living room. Heh.

Decorations and lights will follow, obviously, and I’ll have prettier pictures to post when that happens. But I’m glad to have the tree up, even if it is all naked.

Interesting follow up to the news that Ty Willingham will have at least one more year as Washington’s coach.  Athletic director Todd Turner, the man who brought him in and one of his most vocal supporters has resigned.  Some are pointing to his support of Willingham, which seems strange considering the recent decisions to keep him on and the continued support of UW President Mark Emmert for the coach.  Others point to his difficulty in raising funds for Husky Stadium renovations and fallout over remarks made last year when holding up Northwest rival Oregon as an example for the Huskies to follow. 

A nationwide search for a new AD will be conducted and in the interim UW Vice President for external affairs, , will act as athletic director.

Meanwhile in the Pac-10, reports are that Washington State is going to hire Eastern Washington coach Bob Wulff as their next head coach.  Wulff is a WSU alum, where he played from 1985-1989 under current Arizona State coach Dennis Erickson.  Wulff has coached at the 1-AA EWU since 2000 and has been named three times as the Big Sky conference Coach of the year since then.  His Eagles lost to Appalachian State in the 1-AA Quarterfinals earlier this month.

Subtropical Storm Olga is making landfall in the Dominican Republic, and will soon fall apart over the mountains there. Alan Sullivan is unimpressed: “This indignity is a fitting close to the 2007 season. Olga did not properly earn a name.” Regardless, major flash flooding is possible.

The annual Geminid meteor shower, known for producing fireballs and Earthgrazers, peaks Thursday night and Friday morning. (Hat tip: Jen Featherston.)

Earthgrazers (meteors that first appear near the horizon and fly across almost the entire sky) are most likely to appear (moving ENE to WSW) during or shortly after twilight Thursday evening. More “regular” meteors will become visible as the sky gets darker, particularly once the moon sets around 8:00 PM. Peak conditions begin after 10:00 PM local time and stretch into the wee hours of Friday morning, during which time you can expect to see between 60 and 120 meteors per hour in ideal dark-sky conditions.

Subtropical Storm Olga has formed.

UPDATE: Alan Sullivan writes: “At this time the radar display shows violent, twisting thunderstorms, but no distinct core. Olga’s inner circulation seems to consist of multiple, orbiting swirls. Central pressure is dropping, however, and if a more distinct core forms, modest intensification could occur. Upper winds remain adverse for the development of a full-blown hurricane.”

The first full advisory is here. Discussion here.

As Brendan noted earlier, Baby Loy is now a "full term" baby.  In recognition of this milestone, I am taking this opportunity to post everyone’s predictions in the Irish Trojan Baby Pool.

It’s interesting to note–only one person (me!) actually picked the baby’s due date!  To quote Brendan (in an e-mail to me):

You’re the only person who predicted the baby will be born on her actual due date?  LOL! 

I wanted to point out that, yes, I am the only one to pick 12/31.  You’ll also note that I picked 11:59pm–a nod to the fact that Brendan and Becky get a tax break for all of 2007 even if Baby Loy comes a minute before the year ends.  I’d probably have picked this date and time even if Becky was due on 12/25 or 1/5 :-P

And just a reminder: we’re not playing The Price Is Right–whoever is closest to the actual birth time will be declared the winner.  So, if the baby is born at noon on 12/31 or midnight on 1/1, I still win the pool by virtue of the fact that I’m closest to the right answer. 

You can see the actual guesses after the jump.  Some people have the baby being born as early as next week, and others say it won’t happen until the middle of January.  Again, to quote Brendan:

someone needs to familiarize Alasdair, Wobbly and Sandy with the concept that most doctors will not let a woman go more than a week past due before inducing labor…

There, Brendan, it’s done.  Congrats again to the two of you, and we, the entrants in your pool, wish you both (and Baby Loy) all the best of luck in the future.

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Rumors on the Internets are that he’s been offered the job. That’d certainly be interesting.

P.S. The Daily Breeze also reports that Chow is a top candidate. And late last month, Conquest Chronicles quoted ESPN’s Bruce Feldman as reporting that, according to a source, "Chow really wants the job." We shall see.