Rated:PG-13

Friday & Saturday (1:45, 4:30, 7:15, 9:55)

Sunday (1:45, 4:30, 7:15)

Monday Through Thursday (4:30 & 7:15)

Theater: Orca

Rated: PG

Friday & Saturday (1:15, 4:15, 7:15, 10:15)

Sunday (1:15, 4:15, 7:15)

Monday Through Thursday (4:15 & 7:15)

Theater: Kambe

Rated: PG-13

Friday & Saturday (1:45, 4:45, 7:45, 10:00)

Sunday (1:45, 4:45, 7:45)

Monday through Thursday (4:45 & 7:45)

Theater: Kambe

North Star Conference Hockey @ SSC         

The North Star Conference hockey championships open play on Friday at the Soldotna Sports Center under revised, consolidated format.

Soldotna High School (8-2) and Palmer High School (6-3-1), as the 1st and 2nd seeds, receive first-round byes in the single-elimination tournament.

Saturday  Pairings:

Homer vs Palmer       9:15 a.m. @ SSC

Wasilla vs Soldotna High     11:15 a.m. @ SSC  

ESPN  1140AM and www.radiokenai.com

The NSC championship game is scheduled for Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. at the Soldotna Sports Center on ESPN  1140AM and www.radiokenai.com

First Round Pairings: Friday

Kenai 2 – Wasilla 5

The Kardinals fell to Wasilla 5-2.  Wasilla will play SoHi at 11:15 a.m. on Saturday.  

Homer 3 – Colony 0

The Homer Mariner team recorded the tournament’s first upset with a 3-0 win over the #3 seed Colony Knights.  Homer advances to play Palmer on Saturday at 9:15 a.m.   

Basketball Schedule: Tournaments & Conference Games

Lady Lynx Tournament: Kenai Girls

The Kardinals play Saturday at 12:30 p.m.  Listen to the Kenai girls on KSRM 920 AM

Kenai 52 – South 33

Kenai 24 – North Pole 31

Kenai 46 – Nome 48

Barrow Tournament: Kenai Boys

Kenai plays Saturday vs ACS at 2:30 p.m.  Listen to the Kardinals on KSRM 920AM 

Friday: Kardinals vs Sitka  TBA -   at the Barrow Whaler Invitational.

Thursday: Kardinals 47 -   Barrow 82  at the Barrow Whaler Invitational.  

Seward Seahawk Tournament: Skyview Girls and Boys

Saturday Schedule: Skyview G vs Valdez     10:00 a.m.    Skyview Boys vs Valdez  11:45 a.m.   Listen to Panther basketball on KKIS 96.5 FM   

Friday: Skyview G 23 -  Seward 64       Skyview Boys 60 -  Seward  51

Thursday: Skyview G 20 -Homer 44      Skyview Boys 35 - Homer 41        

SoHi @ Kodiak     5:30 & 7:00 p.m.    Friday & Saturday, February 3rd-3th

SoHi G 44 -Kodiak 40      SoHi Boys 70 - Kodiak 47     

The Stars play Kodiak Saturday at 5:30 and 7:00, girls play first.

Listen to SoHi basketball on KSRM 920AM

Cook Inlet Academy @ Nenana Tournament   TBA       Thursday -Saturday, February 2nd-4th

ASAA 4A State Wrestling Tournament

The ASAA 4A State Wrestling Tournament opens two days of competition on Friday, February 3rd at Bartlett High School.  Wrestlers from throughout the state’s  large schools will compete for state titles.

State qualifiers from Kenai and Soldotna High School:

KCHS: Ellery Steffenson, Hope Steffenson, Devon Carter, Matt Aho, Brad Smithwick, Aaron Troxell-Tom, Tyler Brown

SoHi: Austin Tennis, Kade Foust, Troy Strieff, Jared Chavez,

It’s been said over and over by now,  texting has tremendously  impacted the English language, creating a new generation who purposely misspell words, use incorrect phrases or syntax, and are ignoring the proper lexicon of the Queen’s English. However, even more devastatingly, texting has tremendously changed interpersonal communication.

There is a generation that now would rather communicate via text message rather than to sit down and have a traditional voice to voice conversation. Now, it can be argued that it’s simply easier to send someone a text message, especially when multi-tasking in a situation where you cannot have a full phone conversation.

Now many others are will try claim that text messaging actually will save you time. Really? Is it that much quicker to “shoot someone a quick text” when compared to the traditional phone call? Well…the other day I took matters into my own hands…..scratch that into, my own thumbs.

I sent a text message to my wife to see what time she will get off from work and it took that conversation a total of 1:20 to complete. When I used my phone…..as a phone and called to ask the same question, and got the same answer, it took a grand total of 22 seconds.

Another benefit of calling over texting is you can get your intended message out correctly….the first time. When texting on most phones, there is the autocorrect feature, you know….that little thing that turns your misspellings into real words…in theory. But in most cases, the autocorrect will change one word to something else changing the context of the message. So, the recipient will ether be mislead, or will need more correcting messages to get the original message across.

This tech-based laziness is nothing more than a slower way to communicate, but is also leading to less and less interactions with other people, and could lead to a generation where no one communicates face to face leading all communication to text based interaction ether on a phone of computer. That day may be in the future, but the new push for texting is currently creating more and more headaches to do one the simplest thing in human nature, communicate with one another. . …..

Think about it! AMR 2/1/12

Rated: R

Wednesday (4:20, 7:00, 9:40)

Thursday (1:45, 4:20, 7:00, 9:40)

Theater: Orca

Rated: PG-13

Friday & Saturday (1:30, 4:30, 7:30, 10:30)

Sunday (1:30, 4:30, 10:30)

Monday Through Thursday (4:30 & 10:30)

Theater: Kambe

Dinner includes steak, potato, salad and dessert.

Tickets are $15 per person.  Call 283-3070 for more information.

Have you ever wondered why carrying concealed just make good sense?  A Major Caudill, a retired United States Marine puts it this way:

Human beings only have two ways to deal with one another:  reason and force.  If you want me to do something for you, you have the choice of either convincing me via argument, or force me to do your bidding under threat of force.   Every human interaction falls into one of those two catagories, without exception.  Reason or force…. that’s it!

In a truly moral and civilized society, people exclusively interact through persuasion.  Force has no place as a valid method of social interaction, and the only thing that removes force from the menu is the personal firearm, as paradoxical as it may seem to some.

When I carry a gun, you cannot deal with me by force.  You have to use reason and try to persuade me, because I have a way to negate your threat or employment of force.

The gun is the only personal weapon that puts a 100-pound woman on equal footing with a 220 pound mugger, a 75-year old retiree on equal footing with a 19-year old gang banger, and a single guy on and equal footing with a carload of drunk guys with baseball bats.  The gun removes the disparity in physical strength, size or numbers between potential attacker and a defender.

There are plenty of people who consider the gun as the source of bad force equations. These people who think we’d be more civilized if all guns were removed from society.  But, a firearm makes it easier for an armed mugger to do his job.  That, of course, is only true if the mugger’s potential victims are mostly disarmed either by choice or by legislative fiat – it has no validity when most a mugger’s potential marks are armed.  People who argue for banning of arms ask for automatic rule by the young, the strong and the many, and that’s the exact opposite of a civilized society.  A mugger, even an armed one, can only make a successful living in a society where the state has granted him a force monopoly.

Then there’s the argument that the gun makes confrontations lethal that otherwise would only result in injury.  This argument is fallacious in several ways.  Without guns involved, confrontations are won by the physically superior party inflicting overwhelming injury on the loser.

People who think that fists, bats, sticks, or stones don’t constitute lethal force, watch too much TV, where people take beatings and come out of it with a bloody lip at worst.  The fact that the gun makes lethal force easier, works solely in favor of the weaker defender, not the stonger attacker. If both are armed, the field is level.

The gun is the only weapon that’s as lethal in the hands of an octogenarian as it is in the hands of a weight lifter.  It simply would not work as well as a force equalizer if it wasn’t both lethal and easily employable.

When I carry a gun, I don’t do so because I am looking for a fight, but because I am looking to be left alone. The gun at my side means that I cannot be force, only persuaded.  I don’t carry it because I’m afraid, but because it enables me to be unafraid.  It doesn’t limit the actions of those who would interact with me through reason, only removes force from the equation…And that’s why carrying a gun is a civilized act!!

The greatest civilization is one where all citizens are equally armed and can only be persuaded, never forced! Remember, freedom is not free.

Think About It!     JCD    01-25-2012

The U.S. Postal Service is in dire straits.  It appears that Americans are just not using the USPS much anymore, and that is just a sign of the times. We have our email available on every office and home computer which gives us same day or at least two day conversation on most any topic, from business billings, product orders or just a friendly chat. Plus our email is also available now on all or Blackberries, Ipods, and many other hand held devices accessible from almost every location anytime of day.

The Postal Service said the other day that it will shut down almost half of its processing centers and largely eliminate next-day delivery for first class mail.  That’s on top of another 1-cent postage stamp hike that goes into effect this month.

It’s all part of an effort to cut $20 billion, yes that is billion with a b, in annual costs, staunch the flood of red ink and avoid bankruptcy.  Still, it is hard to see how charging more for worse service is a credible plan for success, and even if it were, the postal service has been down this road many times in the past. The entire show is no doubt to get congressional attention and promote efforts to divert more taxpayer funds to save a dying institution.

On the one hand, the USPS is weighed down by unions that control 85% of its workforce, impeding reasonable efficiency improvements as unions have been doing in private industry for decades. Example:  In paying postal workers to do literally nothing, thanks to labor agreements that require the service to keep workers on the payroll even when mail volume is low or machinery breaks down.

At the same time, lawmakers often scuttle USPS cost-saving plans that might affect their districts. After congressmen screamed, for example, the USPS cut the list of post offices it planned to close from 3,200 to a mere 162. The postmaster general had it right last week when he said “the USPS is in dire straits because we are expected to operate like a business but don’t have the flexibility to do so.”

But the solution isn’t to mindlessly cut costs or trot out more piecemeal reforms like the one working its way through the Senate, which will only prolong the agony.  Instead, we should follow the lead of many other countries and privatize the Postal Service. 

A Cato Institute report finds the consistent result of privatization of mail service abroad has been improved productivity and lower costs, without decline in quality.  “Selling anything less than privatization as a solution to the Post Service’s problems would constitute mail fraud.”

It’s too bad that our two liberal thinking Senators don’t agree.

Think About It!     JCD   01-18-12