Well, clam digging actually. Time to put that shellfish license to use and have myself a good old fashioned clam bake tonight!
Gotta head on out to catch low tides. The Puget Sound is having the lowest tides in 19 years right now. If I'm lucky, I'll catch a few crabs to go with the clams. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm.... crab..........
So check out the sidebar, and I'll see you all tomorrow.
Saturday, June 05, 2004
Friday, June 04, 2004
The Professionals
Right-Thinking from the Left Coast was one of the first blogs I ever read. Maybe the first. I don't visit there much these days, though, which is unfortunate because Lee mixes link and commentarey nicely. Here he is critiqueing the UN in Congo.
Tenet gone
By now, if you haven't heard that George Tenet has resigned, you need to get out more.
There are people coming up with some insane theories about the whole deal. I'm inclined to agree with Instapundit: The man has been working a loooooooong time, and he's quitting before he dies of a stress-induced heart attack. Spend some time with the kids, play with the dog, and for the first time in a long time not have to worry about going to the office in the morning.
That being said, I think he should have been fazed out a long time ago. I'm not in the George Tenet fanclub. However, I understand Bush's reason for keeping him on. All in all I predict that the reason for Tenet leaving will be the exact reason he gave at the press conference, but both the Left and Right side of the Blogosphere will go apeshit and try to come up with any and all other explinations for it.
Let the conspiracy theories begin!
There are people coming up with some insane theories about the whole deal. I'm inclined to agree with Instapundit: The man has been working a loooooooong time, and he's quitting before he dies of a stress-induced heart attack. Spend some time with the kids, play with the dog, and for the first time in a long time not have to worry about going to the office in the morning.
That being said, I think he should have been fazed out a long time ago. I'm not in the George Tenet fanclub. However, I understand Bush's reason for keeping him on. All in all I predict that the reason for Tenet leaving will be the exact reason he gave at the press conference, but both the Left and Right side of the Blogosphere will go apeshit and try to come up with any and all other explinations for it.
Let the conspiracy theories begin!
Two Lists
The Capitalist Lion (in Noo Yawk Ciddy) has put up a list of things that every man should do at least once. Upon reading said list, Kim du Toit had to come up with his own. Me, I'm in the middle of the two of them. I can't completly agree with Mr. Lion, because part of his list is "Visit New York City, admit all other cities suck by comparison." Excuse me? I've been to NYC, thankyouverymuch. And I didn't like it. I prefer Boston over NYC any day of the week. I know that some people love it, and it's just SO BIG and it's the CITY THAT NEVER SLEEPS but I found it to be dirty, messy, smelly, rude, obnoxious, and rather cold in demeanor. Granted it's not on my "worst cities" list, but sometimes I think that all New Yorkers have a meglomania complex.
And Kim's list? First he states that he hates motorcycles. That automatically knocks him down a few pegs in my book. He also states that he doesn't like Tough Chicks, which made the Raging Girlfrind break things outside the house for about half an hour. So he's started out on the wrong foot already. However, he does get a lot of things right -
2. Teach a kid to shoot. (did it)
3. Cook a meal out in the open (and I don't mean a backyard BBQ). (did that too)
Kim takes a dive on this one, though:
6. Visit at least eight countries outside your own continent, none of which speak your home language.
Sorry Kim, but I haven't even visited all fifty STATES yet, and you want me to take off for a different continent? Ummmmmmm.... no. I've traveled outside the country before and I've been in places where I couldn't speak the language or read the signs, but right now I have better things to do with my money. Traveling the states is one of them. I want to take I-90 from Seattle to Boston, then head down to Florida, head West to California, and then back up through Seattle to the Canadian border, where I catch the Yukon Highway and head straight up to Alaska. I want to make sure that I visit the states I haven't seen yet. Maine, Vermont, Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Alaska. Oh, and Kim? I'm gonna do it all on MOTORCYCLE!
Once I've done that, then I can worry about traveling to Europe and Asia.
Kim swerves back into respectability after that brief lapse, though.
15. Watch at least one real virtuoso play a musical instrument -- in any kind of music. (I've seen Eric Clapton, Itzhak Perlman, and Stephane Grappelli perform, and watched both Solti and Barenboim conduct the Chicago Symphony. Pretty humbling.) (Lionel Hampton, Jazzfest, 1993. unreal is about the only way to describe it.)
16. Perform on stage (music, theater, whatever), to a large (500+) audience. (check, both acting and in a band.)
17. Play at least one musical instrument competently. (drums, although I used to be able to count piano with it. I sing, does that count?)
18. Make love to a woman at least ten years older than you are. (I was 24, she was 39. And she was hot as a firecracker.)
19. Tell a government bureaucrat to fuck off. (Normally preceeded by "You want HOW MUCH in taxes?)
20. And finally: tell a true story to your grandchildren. Don't have any. Probably won't have any, much to the relief of most people who know me. The last thing they want is little Raging Dave's running around.
So go check the lists out, and tell me what you think. What would you change? What would you keep? Should I make my own list? Maybe compile it from suggestions gleaned from the commnets?
And Kim's list? First he states that he hates motorcycles. That automatically knocks him down a few pegs in my book. He also states that he doesn't like Tough Chicks, which made the Raging Girlfrind break things outside the house for about half an hour. So he's started out on the wrong foot already. However, he does get a lot of things right -
2. Teach a kid to shoot. (did it)
3. Cook a meal out in the open (and I don't mean a backyard BBQ). (did that too)
Kim takes a dive on this one, though:
6. Visit at least eight countries outside your own continent, none of which speak your home language.
Sorry Kim, but I haven't even visited all fifty STATES yet, and you want me to take off for a different continent? Ummmmmmm.... no. I've traveled outside the country before and I've been in places where I couldn't speak the language or read the signs, but right now I have better things to do with my money. Traveling the states is one of them. I want to take I-90 from Seattle to Boston, then head down to Florida, head West to California, and then back up through Seattle to the Canadian border, where I catch the Yukon Highway and head straight up to Alaska. I want to make sure that I visit the states I haven't seen yet. Maine, Vermont, Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Alaska. Oh, and Kim? I'm gonna do it all on MOTORCYCLE!
Once I've done that, then I can worry about traveling to Europe and Asia.
Kim swerves back into respectability after that brief lapse, though.
15. Watch at least one real virtuoso play a musical instrument -- in any kind of music. (I've seen Eric Clapton, Itzhak Perlman, and Stephane Grappelli perform, and watched both Solti and Barenboim conduct the Chicago Symphony. Pretty humbling.) (Lionel Hampton, Jazzfest, 1993. unreal is about the only way to describe it.)
16. Perform on stage (music, theater, whatever), to a large (500+) audience. (check, both acting and in a band.)
17. Play at least one musical instrument competently. (drums, although I used to be able to count piano with it. I sing, does that count?)
18. Make love to a woman at least ten years older than you are. (I was 24, she was 39. And she was hot as a firecracker.)
19. Tell a government bureaucrat to fuck off. (Normally preceeded by "You want HOW MUCH in taxes?)
20. And finally: tell a true story to your grandchildren. Don't have any. Probably won't have any, much to the relief of most people who know me. The last thing they want is little Raging Dave's running around.
So go check the lists out, and tell me what you think. What would you change? What would you keep? Should I make my own list? Maybe compile it from suggestions gleaned from the commnets?
Linky Love
Intriguing stuff found at Instapundit today.
For instance:
Andrew Sullivan comments on an article in Salon from a Bay Area writer reporting anonymously from the Middle East. This writer calls the terrorists who hijacked the Achille Lauro "commandos". Oy!
In this piece from NRO, Deroy Murdock notes "Baathist Fingerprints" on the events commonly referred to as "9/11".
Lastly, this very fine read describes how the Left in Europe now supports the Right in the Middle East and notes how the European media won't talk about it.
Good stuff, all.
For instance:
Andrew Sullivan comments on an article in Salon from a Bay Area writer reporting anonymously from the Middle East. This writer calls the terrorists who hijacked the Achille Lauro "commandos". Oy!
In this piece from NRO, Deroy Murdock notes "Baathist Fingerprints" on the events commonly referred to as "9/11".
Lastly, this very fine read describes how the Left in Europe now supports the Right in the Middle East and notes how the European media won't talk about it.
Good stuff, all.
Joke
A man walks into doctor's office.
"What seems to be the problem?" asks the doc.
"It's... um...well... I have five penises," the man answers.
"Blimey!" says the doctor, "How do your trousers fit???"
And the man replies: "Like a glove."
"What seems to be the problem?" asks the doc.
"It's... um...well... I have five penises," the man answers.
"Blimey!" says the doctor, "How do your trousers fit???"
And the man replies: "Like a glove."
Thursday, June 03, 2004
This just in!
Editor slips, allows truth to be printed in University of Washington newspaper!
Here's a teaser:
When I first saw Moore's documentary Bowling for Columbine, I applauded the themes with great enthusiasm -- especially the dissection of National Rifle Association (NRA) President Charlton Heston. I can't stand Heston, guns or the NRA.
Nonetheless, some of Moore's most blatantly unethical fouls come against Heston.
That, my friends, is someone who thinks differently than I do, believes differently than I do, but refuses to use blatant lies and bullshit to debate with. I'm sure that despite our differing views, the writer of this piece and I could sit down and have a pleasant debate on the issues of the day. How the hell he ever got printed in the UW fishwrap is beyond me.
Thanks to Mollbot for the heads-up.
Here's a teaser:
When I first saw Moore's documentary Bowling for Columbine, I applauded the themes with great enthusiasm -- especially the dissection of National Rifle Association (NRA) President Charlton Heston. I can't stand Heston, guns or the NRA.
Nonetheless, some of Moore's most blatantly unethical fouls come against Heston.
That, my friends, is someone who thinks differently than I do, believes differently than I do, but refuses to use blatant lies and bullshit to debate with. I'm sure that despite our differing views, the writer of this piece and I could sit down and have a pleasant debate on the issues of the day. How the hell he ever got printed in the UW fishwrap is beyond me.
Thanks to Mollbot for the heads-up.
Take a peek
Deb stopped by in our Comments sections. Turns out that she has some neat stuff over at her place. There's this piece about John Kerry giving some Vietnam vet the finger. Allegedly. Then there's this little nugget about "post-traumatic slave syndrome". A black man beats his two year old [presumably] black son to death and blames it on the stress of being in an enslaved race.
Put your left elbow on your desk. Make a fist with your left hand. Rest the left side of your face atop your left fist. Then think about that.
A black man beats his two year old [presumably] black son to death and blames it on the stress on being in an enslaved race.
Outer limits, people.
True blue.
Oh, and Deb? I am going to copy your Pledge idea.
Put your left elbow on your desk. Make a fist with your left hand. Rest the left side of your face atop your left fist. Then think about that.
A black man beats his two year old [presumably] black son to death and blames it on the stress on being in an enslaved race.
Outer limits, people.
True blue.
Oh, and Deb? I am going to copy your Pledge idea.
Anyone out there remember the name "Howell Raines"? Howell Raines used to be the executive editor of The New York Times. Yes, that's the American "Newspaper of Record". Is Howell Raines Conservative or Liberal? To answer this question, let's look at this column that he wrote recently in "The Guardian", one of the UK's numerous Left Wing, America-hating news sources.
Kerry represents the liberal, charitable wing of the Privilege party and George W represents the conservative, greedy wing of the Privilege party...
Two and a quarter centuries into its history as a nation, America has the most unfair tax system ever and the greatest gap ever between rich and poor. Even a real populist, however, would have trouble taking on these issues frontally. As Al From of the Democratic Leadership Council noted, Americans aren't antagonistic toward the rules that protect the rich because they think that in the great crap-shoot of economic life in America, they might wind up rich themselves...
Using that promise as disinformation, he must now figure out a creative way to become a redistributionist Democrat. As a corporation-bashing populist, I'd like to think he could do that by promising to make every person's retirement as secure as Cheney's investment in Halliburton. But that won't sell with the sun-belt suburbanites. Not being a trained economist like, say, Arthur Laffer, I can't figure out the exact legerdemain that Kerry ought to endorse. But greed will make folks vote for Democrats if it's properly packaged, just as it now makes them vote Republican,
Howell's column fits in perfectly with the other Leftist babble on "The Guardian", which hosts op ed pieces from people like Fidel Castro. Yes, that's right. Fidel Castro. If you think I'm exaggerating, click here.
This obviously bitter, angry Left Wing Bush hater was an editor at America's most prominent newspaper. One of the many that Liberals just can't admit is Left of center, no matter how obvious it is. If "The New York Times" came printed on red paper with a hammer and sickle stamped on it, then Liberals would still insist that it was a perfectly unbiased paper. Watching Liberals deny the the existence of a Liberal news media reminds me of the scene in Monty Python's "The Holy Grail", where the knight fighting King Arther gets all of his limbs hacked off, but he still insists that he hasn't lost the fight.
Kerry represents the liberal, charitable wing of the Privilege party and George W represents the conservative, greedy wing of the Privilege party...
Two and a quarter centuries into its history as a nation, America has the most unfair tax system ever and the greatest gap ever between rich and poor. Even a real populist, however, would have trouble taking on these issues frontally. As Al From of the Democratic Leadership Council noted, Americans aren't antagonistic toward the rules that protect the rich because they think that in the great crap-shoot of economic life in America, they might wind up rich themselves...
Using that promise as disinformation, he must now figure out a creative way to become a redistributionist Democrat. As a corporation-bashing populist, I'd like to think he could do that by promising to make every person's retirement as secure as Cheney's investment in Halliburton. But that won't sell with the sun-belt suburbanites. Not being a trained economist like, say, Arthur Laffer, I can't figure out the exact legerdemain that Kerry ought to endorse. But greed will make folks vote for Democrats if it's properly packaged, just as it now makes them vote Republican,
Howell's column fits in perfectly with the other Leftist babble on "The Guardian", which hosts op ed pieces from people like Fidel Castro. Yes, that's right. Fidel Castro. If you think I'm exaggerating, click here.
This obviously bitter, angry Left Wing Bush hater was an editor at America's most prominent newspaper. One of the many that Liberals just can't admit is Left of center, no matter how obvious it is. If "The New York Times" came printed on red paper with a hammer and sickle stamped on it, then Liberals would still insist that it was a perfectly unbiased paper. Watching Liberals deny the the existence of a Liberal news media reminds me of the scene in Monty Python's "The Holy Grail", where the knight fighting King Arther gets all of his limbs hacked off, but he still insists that he hasn't lost the fight.
Wednesday, June 02, 2004
Automaton Nation
On the surface this seems silly, but is it really?
Perhaps.
But this is where we are. It seems that if you think you own a physically-tangible "bricks and mortar" business, you're mistaken. You simply rent the space from the government. You cater to whomever they say, you hire whomever they say, you pay whatever they say, and, if you are a bar, you sell only what they permit. It's like the pot is done melting and now we're being poured into molds.
Identical molds.
It makes me want to start a new blog: Automaton Nation :about Americans having their autonomy shaved off, like pieces of Ash on robotic lathes at the Louisville Slugger factory.
Automaton Nation.
It's a good name for a blog, don'tcha think? Anyone want in? Group blog.
'Ladies Night' Discount Axed in N.J. Bars
The state's top civil rights official has ruled that taverns cannot offer discounts to women on "ladies nights," agreeing with a man who claimed such gender-based promotions discriminated against men.Evidence of an uberlitigious society?
David R. Gillespie said it was not fair for women to get into the Coastline nightclub for free and receive discounted drinks while men paid a $5 cover charge and full price for drinks.
In his ruling Tuesday, J. Frank Vespa-Papaleo, director of the state Division on Civil Rights, rejected arguments by the nightclub that ladies nights were a legitimate promotion. Commercial interests do not override the "important social policy objective of eradicating discrimination," he ruled.
Perhaps.
But this is where we are. It seems that if you think you own a physically-tangible "bricks and mortar" business, you're mistaken. You simply rent the space from the government. You cater to whomever they say, you hire whomever they say, you pay whatever they say, and, if you are a bar, you sell only what they permit. It's like the pot is done melting and now we're being poured into molds.
Identical molds.
It makes me want to start a new blog: Automaton Nation :about Americans having their autonomy shaved off, like pieces of Ash on robotic lathes at the Louisville Slugger factory.
Automaton Nation.
It's a good name for a blog, don'tcha think? Anyone want in? Group blog.
'Ladies Night' Discount Axed in N.J. Bars
Bush's D-Day speech.
It's been written, by USS Clueless. I just wish that Bush would use it, instead of whatever else he's got.
Boy, do I wish he would use that speech!
[[[ UPDATE FROM TIM ]]]
The President spoke at the Air Force Academy today.
Excerpts:
Text of the Speech
Boy, do I wish he would use that speech!
[[[ UPDATE FROM TIM ]]]
The President spoke at the Air Force Academy today.
Excerpts:
"Our goal, the goal of this generation, is the same" as it was in World War II, Bush said. "We will secure our nation and defend the peace through the forward march of freedom."He may be correct, he may be wrong, but what he said is what I believe.
.
.
.
"Just as events in Europe determined the outcome of the Cold War," he said, "events in the Middle East will set the course of our current struggle."
"If that region is abandoned to dictators and terrorists, it will be a constant source of violence and alarm, exporting killers of increasing destructive power to attack America and other free nations," Bush said. "If that region grows in democracy and prosperity and hope, the terrorist movement will lose its sponsors, lose its recruits and lose the festering grievances that keep terrorists in business."
.
.
.
"Some who call themselves realists question whether the spread of democracy in the Middle East should be any concern of ours. But the realists in this case have lost contact with a fundamental reality: America has always been less secure when freedom is in retreat; America is always more secure when freedom is on the march."
Text of the Speech
Blunt Speech
Forget "nuance". Nuance is saying what you don't really mean. Nuance is another word for bullshit, only since the Congresscritters don't like to admit that they spew bullshit, they use the word "nuanced". John Fonda Kerry is full of "nuance".
Marek Edelman is not.
Edelman: Now, now. Who started killing people? Americans didn't invade a wonderful democratic Iraq. There was a dictatorship there, torture, terror.
Interviewer: But there are people who say it's not our business.
Edelman: And whose business is it? Every war with fascism is our business. In 1939 there were also many people who said that the war in Poland was not their war, and what happened? Great nations fell because politicians listened to those who were saying that it's not worth dying for Gdansk [Danzig]. If only we'd intervened militarily after Hitler re-entered Rhineland we probably would not have had the war and the Holocaust.
Interviewer: Many people do understand that, but they don't understand why the Americans have to go to the other side of the world and fight over Iraq now.
Edelman: And why did they go to Europe then? Who defeated Hitler and saved Europe from fascism? The French? No, the Americans did. We thanked them then because they saved us. Today we criticise them because they're saving somebody else.
Interviewer: Returning to the question about having Polish soldier on the ground in Iraq. Many Poles don't want them there.
Edelman: If they don't want them there, let's just keep waiting and then let's see from which direction the rockets and the bombs will come from - will we in the end be lorded over by Saddam's viceroys or Bin Laden's, just as we were once lorded over by Hitler's viceroys.
Interviewer: Do you really believe in such a scenario?
Edelman: It's possible. If we will keep closing our eyes to evil, then that evil will defeat us tomorrow. Unfortunately there's more hatred in men than love. Those who murder understand only force and nothing else. And the only force that is able to stand against them is the American democracy. All emphasis is mine.
That, my friends, is blunt speech. I think the world needs more of it.
Found at the Geek's Place.
Marek Edelman is not.
Edelman: Now, now. Who started killing people? Americans didn't invade a wonderful democratic Iraq. There was a dictatorship there, torture, terror.
Interviewer: But there are people who say it's not our business.
Edelman: And whose business is it? Every war with fascism is our business. In 1939 there were also many people who said that the war in Poland was not their war, and what happened? Great nations fell because politicians listened to those who were saying that it's not worth dying for Gdansk [Danzig]. If only we'd intervened militarily after Hitler re-entered Rhineland we probably would not have had the war and the Holocaust.
Interviewer: Many people do understand that, but they don't understand why the Americans have to go to the other side of the world and fight over Iraq now.
Edelman: And why did they go to Europe then? Who defeated Hitler and saved Europe from fascism? The French? No, the Americans did. We thanked them then because they saved us. Today we criticise them because they're saving somebody else.
Interviewer: Returning to the question about having Polish soldier on the ground in Iraq. Many Poles don't want them there.
Edelman: If they don't want them there, let's just keep waiting and then let's see from which direction the rockets and the bombs will come from - will we in the end be lorded over by Saddam's viceroys or Bin Laden's, just as we were once lorded over by Hitler's viceroys.
Interviewer: Do you really believe in such a scenario?
Edelman: It's possible. If we will keep closing our eyes to evil, then that evil will defeat us tomorrow. Unfortunately there's more hatred in men than love. Those who murder understand only force and nothing else. And the only force that is able to stand against them is the American democracy. All emphasis is mine.
That, my friends, is blunt speech. I think the world needs more of it.
Found at the Geek's Place.
Oil Prices High? It's Bush's Fault!
OPEC votes to pump more? Well now that's proof that The House of Saud is really in Crawford, Texas.
Smoke on the Water
John Stuart Mill:
Jim has more to say at Smoke on the Water
War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling, which thinks that nothing is worth war, is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.I think that's a slice of what Jason Kallini was talking about when he said that while he is unable to fight overseas, he can fight here to make this Nation better for men who are able, and willing, to stand up.
Jim has more to say at Smoke on the Water
Kerry on the Bunker Buster
This Kerry fella is even more milquetoast than I had imagined.
Kerry said Tuesday, "As president, I will stop this administration's program to develop a whole new generation of bunker-busting nuclear bombs. This is a weapon we don't need. And it undermines our credibility in persuading other nations. What kind of message does it send when we're asking other countries not to develop nuclear weapons, but developing new ones ourselves?"The Kerry Spot on National Review Online
The Media and GI Joe: How the press gets the military wrong -- and why it matters
Reason Magazine has an interesting piece about how inept today's media are in comprehending today's military. To wit:
Reason: The Media and GI Joe
Back in October, when U.S. Army Rangers first started to fight on the ground in Afghanistan, Washington Post reporter Greg Schneider drew the job of explaining the role of those elite infantrymen to the paper’s readers. Drawing on Army manuals, he set out to explain just what it is that sets Ranger battalions apart from their infantry cousins. "Rangers are more heavily armed than most light infantry units," he wrote on October 20. "Their automatic weapons units carry M240G machine guns that can fire up to 1,000 rounds a minute at a range of 1,000 yards. Some Rangers also carry grenade launchers." Rangers also "train with live fire -- actual bullets -- and under all conditions, including night and bad weather." Finally, the Rangers "travel light, usually in rifle companies of about 200 men each." With this kind of information, it’s hard not to be impressed: soldiers who train with actual bullets! And travel light, albeit in groups of 200.Seems like a general theme in today's media - of all stripes - get it in, even if you don't get it right.
There’s a very particular tone-deafness at work here. U.S. infantry units of every type tend to be grouped in rifle companies of 200, for example -- and armed in part with machine guns and grenade launchers, and likely to train at night and in bad weather. Imagine one of the Post’s science writers telling you that human beings are unique among animals because they alone have lungs and a spine. The very thing that distinguishes the Rangers, if you’re inclined to be picky, is not that they are more heavily armed than other infantrymen, but rather that they are often less heavily armed; they are a raiding force, organized not for firepower but for speed and agility.
Reason: The Media and GI Joe
Gucci Radicals
Ever wonder how much it would cost to get an American Leftist to address your audience of choice about the horrors of America? FrontPage Magazine has the goods.
Tuesday, June 01, 2004
Come on, fellerz! Get your chi up!
Ahhh, the human spirit. It is indomitable.
Taipei Times
Practicing diao gung, he says, is something you don't do cold, it's a several step process. Typically, students start a work-out session by first taking part in a normal chi gung routine. After an hour or so, on this occasion, the class divided and the diao gung'ers passed through a curtain into a special kind of weight room in the back. Iron plates weighing from 1kg to 20kg were scattered over the padded floor as were the devices used for stacking and hoisting those weights. Vertical rods stick up out of these weight hangers at the end of which is a hook for catching a loop in a blue silk ribbon. The ribbon, which is about 15cm wide before it is folded and rolled into a fastening rope, is looped in a lark's head knot around the base of both penis and scrotum, near the point where they join the abdomen.Without question.
"You have to get your chi up first," said Wang Hsin-kun, an air conditioner installer dressed in a sort of light blue satin kilt and glancing down towards his privates.
Taipei Times
We're just bloodthirsty, aren't we?
I mean, every good liberal knows that us gun nuts are nothing more than right-wing bloodthirsty psycos, right?
Yeah, right.
Found at the Geek's Place.
Yeah, right.
Found at the Geek's Place.
We honor those who served and died.
Go to any right-leaning blog, and ten to one odds says you'll see at least one Memorial Day post. A lot of blogs suspended their normal rants over this weekend, choosing instead to honor the dead who ensured our freedoms.
Go to a left-leaning blog? Indifference.
After all, they distain the people who give them the freedoms they take for granted. Why should they care about a bunch of "dead white males"?
Just pathetic.
Go to a left-leaning blog? Indifference.
After all, they distain the people who give them the freedoms they take for granted. Why should they care about a bunch of "dead white males"?
Just pathetic.
Items in the News
One: Republicans might finally do something about the TSA, a.k.a. Mineta's Goons.
The anti-terrorism agency that Congress rushed into existence just weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks to protect America's planes, trains and trucks is shrinking, and could all but fade away.
That would be because it hasn't done a damn thing other than add yet another layer of bullshit to flight times.
The Transportation Security Administration, which hired some 65,000 employees and has spent more than $10 billion over 3 1/2 years, has been beset by complaints about its performance, leaving it vulnerable to congressional Republicans who want to reduce the size of government.
After the terrorist attacks, "people were panicked to put in place a massive bureaucracy," said House Aviation Subcommittee Chairman John Mica.
The Florida Republican says the time has come to rethink TSA and cut it back.
We can only hope. The TSA has been a cock-up from the word "go". Massive reforms are needed NOW, and barring massive reforms, cutting the entire agency would be the next step. But this huge boondoggle, filled with PC bullshit and overpaid, underskilled people is a farce. This is some of the best news I've read all day.
And then I saw this and my blood pressure jumped right back up.
The FBI and Justice Department are taking some heat for warning of possible summer terror attacks, with some Bush administration officials and lawmakers saying the intelligence may be overblown.
These officials and members of Congress with access to the same intelligence reports said the Wednesday announcement by Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller was overblown and caused unnecessary public worry.
Bush can't win for loosing! If he doesn't release information, he "hasn't done enough!". If he releases the information, he's "crying wolf!". I wish these people would make up their damn minds and then shut the fuck up!
We have six Islamonazis in this country, with two Party delegations coming up this summer, followed by a Presidential election this fall, and people think that the Bush administration should have kept this information to itself? Or should have treated it less agressivly? Bullshit! It seems like every day there's more proof that the Democrats and many Republicans really don't have a clue, and they don't have a plan to deal with terrorism in this day and age. They just want someone else to deal with it and hush up about it!
Grrrrrrrrrrrrr..................
The anti-terrorism agency that Congress rushed into existence just weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks to protect America's planes, trains and trucks is shrinking, and could all but fade away.
That would be because it hasn't done a damn thing other than add yet another layer of bullshit to flight times.
The Transportation Security Administration, which hired some 65,000 employees and has spent more than $10 billion over 3 1/2 years, has been beset by complaints about its performance, leaving it vulnerable to congressional Republicans who want to reduce the size of government.
After the terrorist attacks, "people were panicked to put in place a massive bureaucracy," said House Aviation Subcommittee Chairman John Mica.
The Florida Republican says the time has come to rethink TSA and cut it back.
We can only hope. The TSA has been a cock-up from the word "go". Massive reforms are needed NOW, and barring massive reforms, cutting the entire agency would be the next step. But this huge boondoggle, filled with PC bullshit and overpaid, underskilled people is a farce. This is some of the best news I've read all day.
And then I saw this and my blood pressure jumped right back up.
The FBI and Justice Department are taking some heat for warning of possible summer terror attacks, with some Bush administration officials and lawmakers saying the intelligence may be overblown.
These officials and members of Congress with access to the same intelligence reports said the Wednesday announcement by Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller was overblown and caused unnecessary public worry.
Bush can't win for loosing! If he doesn't release information, he "hasn't done enough!". If he releases the information, he's "crying wolf!". I wish these people would make up their damn minds and then shut the fuck up!
We have six Islamonazis in this country, with two Party delegations coming up this summer, followed by a Presidential election this fall, and people think that the Bush administration should have kept this information to itself? Or should have treated it less agressivly? Bullshit! It seems like every day there's more proof that the Democrats and many Republicans really don't have a clue, and they don't have a plan to deal with terrorism in this day and age. They just want someone else to deal with it and hush up about it!
Grrrrrrrrrrrrr..................
And while we are quoting...
...here are some good rib ticklers about Ole Cut 'n Run.
Sample:
Sample:
John Kerry speaks French fluently. Democrats are saying he's one in a million. A war hero who speaks French, isn't it more like one in a trillion?Oy!
- Jay Leno
Supporting The Troops
Winds of Change has been around for what seems like a long time now. It is one of the first blogs I ever visited. Anyway, in the spirit of doing what you can even if you lack what is required to serve in our military, Winds of Change has listed a plethora of places where you can express support.
Rolling Thunder in DC
Good grief.
This was found, along with a few humorous pics, at Instapundit.
Nowak remembers returning from Vietnam in 1973 aboard an aircraft carrier loaded with thousands of sailors in their dress whites. "As we passed under the Golden Gate Bridge, there were people waiting for us. And they threw garbage on us," Nowak recalled. "That was about the time Kerry was throwing his [ribbons] away. It's kind of hard to forget either of them."Focus Swings to Vietnam, With a Roar
This was found, along with a few humorous pics, at Instapundit.
Pizza man saved by gun, but fired for packin' heat
A pizza deliveryman won't face charges for fatally shooting a would-be robber several times when he was approached in a high-crime area, but his employer, Pizza Hut, has fired him for violating a company policy against carrying firearms.WorldNetDaily
It's about time
I have been wishing for a long time that there would be an in-kind answer to Michael Moore. Now there is. View the trailer for "Michael Moore Hates America" here.
Unfortunately, this film will be fighting uphill, and I doubt that it will see much commercial success. The guy making it won't have talk show hosts falling head-over-heels for him and giving him the free publicity that Michael Moore gets.
Unfortunately, this film will be fighting uphill, and I doubt that it will see much commercial success. The guy making it won't have talk show hosts falling head-over-heels for him and giving him the free publicity that Michael Moore gets.
Monday, May 31, 2004
My Shame
I was reading a post from Puggs on Random Nuclear Strikes when I came across these words:
A reminder for me, like most veterans I was spared the trials of close combat. So these words bring sharply into focus an emotion I’ve felt since the day the towers fell. I didn’t do enough. I should have done more, I should have been able to enlist again, able to engage the enemy. I’m shamed that I can’t do these things, shamed that others are going while I simply watch. But a man who walks with a cane is not an asset. I’m sorry, for failing to join the fight, sorry, and ashamed.
Dear g-d, that nails it on the head.
On this day, as we remember those who died in service to their country, there's a thought that keeps hammering away at me. I can't get rid of it, I can't quiet it down, and the Lord knows I've tried.
My father served in the Marine Corps during the Viet Nam war. My grandfather served in the Navy in WWII. When I joined the Army, I knew there was a chance I would get sent somewhere, I knew the risks, and I was fine with them. Five years later, I was tired of my unit's bullshit in Ft. Riley, tired of the political games of the Clinton Administration, and the civilian life called. My one chance at a deployment was yanked because I was a witness in a court martial proceeding, and the Army didn't want to pay for me to go to Bosnia just to fly back for a few days. I ETSed in October of 2000. In five years as a MP, I had never fired a shot, and never been shot at. I considered myself lucky.
Less than one year later, all hell broke loose.
And I watched. I watched as my friends from my old unit got called up. I watched as people marched with their idiotic banners and signs, and I marched against them. But above all, I felt shame. I spoke a good long while with my father, agonizing about the whole issue. My dad tried to reassure me, "You stood your time on the wall. The fact that there weren't any shots fired during your watch is not your fault". But it still wasn't enough. Puggs nails it on the head -
I didn’t do enough. I should have done more, I should have been able to enlist again, able to engage the enemy. I’m shamed that I can’t do these things, shamed that others are going while I simply watch.
I finally had enough. I was done crying for friends who were in harms way. I went to the local recruiter and had a good long chat with him. I finished the paperwork two months ago. I went to MEPS last month. You want to know humiliation? The Shark Attack in basic was nothing. Getting yelled at was nothing. True humilation, in my eyes, is having some doctor stick a finger in your nutsack while telling you to turn your head and cough. Gimme ten Drill Seargents yelling at me any day, I can handle that. But that probing finger just squigged me out.
At the end of MEPS, I was told my eyesight wasn't up to par. Fine, yeah, same thing as the first time around, I'll get a waiver. Sent the paperwork up, figuring that by this time I'd be speaking with the MEPS 1SG and picking out the time and date of inprocessing.
Instead? Eyesight waiver denied.
Fuck! Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuckity fuckfuckfuck! Damn my eyes, my damned eyes. My eyesight kept me out of my Father's beloved Corps. And my eyesight looks like it'll keep me out of the Army this time around. The Navy and the Air Force don't want a used grunt, and the Coast Guard doesn't have any active duty slots open until some time next century. I have one last glimmer of hope left, but failing that my military career is over. Done. Finite. Kaput.
And I don't think that many people can understand the dispair I feel in that. The shame. It's like a coastal undertow that keeps dragging me back every time I see a man in uniform on the news. I should have done more. I need to be there. I should be there. It's my fucking duty to be there. I can't sit on my ass while other people are there, I should be in their place or marching with them. Men with families and wives should be able to be with them, because I SHOULD BE THERE, not them. Little kids shouldn't have to grow up without a father, the father should be at home while I'm over there in his place.
Fuck fuck fuck.
And the worst part is the wondering. What if I had stayed in? What if I had never left? Where would I be, what would I be doing, who would I be if I hadn't changed my life's path? I can honestly say I wouldn't give up an single ounce of what I gained as a civilian. I have one of the best women in the world as my fiance. I have ten acres of land in Northern Idaho that's waiting to have a house built on it. I have a motorcycle that has let me experience joys unknown to all who travel on four wheels only. I have a great dog. I have unbelievably good friends. I've got a decent job. But there is that pounding beat, a throbbing in my head, the staccato voice that never stops. I should have done more. I should be there. I should have done more. I should be there.
I tried to obey that voice. And my eyes, the bane of my life, the one factor that has held me back in more things than I can imagine, have finally kicked my feet out from under me. If I could rip them out of my head and replace them, I would. If I could have surgery on them, I would. Unfortunately, I discovered that A) Lasik or Radial Karectonomy is an instant precription for Glaucoma in my case, and B) the Army doesn't accept anyone who's had that surgery anyways. Unless the Hand of God comes down and heals them, they aren't going to get any better. In fact, they'll probably get worse. Fuck fuck fuck!
But as I said, I have that one glimmer of hope left. My recruiter and I are working on it, and we'll see how it turns out. I hope to g-d they let me back in, because that voice is still there, right now, pounding away inside my skull. You should have done more. You should be there. You should have done more.
I wonder if that little voice will follow me to my grave. It will be the inscription on my tombstone.
"I should have done more. I should be there."
One last thing - any troll comments on this post will get deleted. I'm not in the mood to play games.
A reminder for me, like most veterans I was spared the trials of close combat. So these words bring sharply into focus an emotion I’ve felt since the day the towers fell. I didn’t do enough. I should have done more, I should have been able to enlist again, able to engage the enemy. I’m shamed that I can’t do these things, shamed that others are going while I simply watch. But a man who walks with a cane is not an asset. I’m sorry, for failing to join the fight, sorry, and ashamed.
Dear g-d, that nails it on the head.
On this day, as we remember those who died in service to their country, there's a thought that keeps hammering away at me. I can't get rid of it, I can't quiet it down, and the Lord knows I've tried.
My father served in the Marine Corps during the Viet Nam war. My grandfather served in the Navy in WWII. When I joined the Army, I knew there was a chance I would get sent somewhere, I knew the risks, and I was fine with them. Five years later, I was tired of my unit's bullshit in Ft. Riley, tired of the political games of the Clinton Administration, and the civilian life called. My one chance at a deployment was yanked because I was a witness in a court martial proceeding, and the Army didn't want to pay for me to go to Bosnia just to fly back for a few days. I ETSed in October of 2000. In five years as a MP, I had never fired a shot, and never been shot at. I considered myself lucky.
Less than one year later, all hell broke loose.
And I watched. I watched as my friends from my old unit got called up. I watched as people marched with their idiotic banners and signs, and I marched against them. But above all, I felt shame. I spoke a good long while with my father, agonizing about the whole issue. My dad tried to reassure me, "You stood your time on the wall. The fact that there weren't any shots fired during your watch is not your fault". But it still wasn't enough. Puggs nails it on the head -
I didn’t do enough. I should have done more, I should have been able to enlist again, able to engage the enemy. I’m shamed that I can’t do these things, shamed that others are going while I simply watch.
I finally had enough. I was done crying for friends who were in harms way. I went to the local recruiter and had a good long chat with him. I finished the paperwork two months ago. I went to MEPS last month. You want to know humiliation? The Shark Attack in basic was nothing. Getting yelled at was nothing. True humilation, in my eyes, is having some doctor stick a finger in your nutsack while telling you to turn your head and cough. Gimme ten Drill Seargents yelling at me any day, I can handle that. But that probing finger just squigged me out.
At the end of MEPS, I was told my eyesight wasn't up to par. Fine, yeah, same thing as the first time around, I'll get a waiver. Sent the paperwork up, figuring that by this time I'd be speaking with the MEPS 1SG and picking out the time and date of inprocessing.
Instead? Eyesight waiver denied.
Fuck! Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuckity fuckfuckfuck! Damn my eyes, my damned eyes. My eyesight kept me out of my Father's beloved Corps. And my eyesight looks like it'll keep me out of the Army this time around. The Navy and the Air Force don't want a used grunt, and the Coast Guard doesn't have any active duty slots open until some time next century. I have one last glimmer of hope left, but failing that my military career is over. Done. Finite. Kaput.
And I don't think that many people can understand the dispair I feel in that. The shame. It's like a coastal undertow that keeps dragging me back every time I see a man in uniform on the news. I should have done more. I need to be there. I should be there. It's my fucking duty to be there. I can't sit on my ass while other people are there, I should be in their place or marching with them. Men with families and wives should be able to be with them, because I SHOULD BE THERE, not them. Little kids shouldn't have to grow up without a father, the father should be at home while I'm over there in his place.
Fuck fuck fuck.
And the worst part is the wondering. What if I had stayed in? What if I had never left? Where would I be, what would I be doing, who would I be if I hadn't changed my life's path? I can honestly say I wouldn't give up an single ounce of what I gained as a civilian. I have one of the best women in the world as my fiance. I have ten acres of land in Northern Idaho that's waiting to have a house built on it. I have a motorcycle that has let me experience joys unknown to all who travel on four wheels only. I have a great dog. I have unbelievably good friends. I've got a decent job. But there is that pounding beat, a throbbing in my head, the staccato voice that never stops. I should have done more. I should be there. I should have done more. I should be there.
I tried to obey that voice. And my eyes, the bane of my life, the one factor that has held me back in more things than I can imagine, have finally kicked my feet out from under me. If I could rip them out of my head and replace them, I would. If I could have surgery on them, I would. Unfortunately, I discovered that A) Lasik or Radial Karectonomy is an instant precription for Glaucoma in my case, and B) the Army doesn't accept anyone who's had that surgery anyways. Unless the Hand of God comes down and heals them, they aren't going to get any better. In fact, they'll probably get worse. Fuck fuck fuck!
But as I said, I have that one glimmer of hope left. My recruiter and I are working on it, and we'll see how it turns out. I hope to g-d they let me back in, because that voice is still there, right now, pounding away inside my skull. You should have done more. You should be there. You should have done more.
I wonder if that little voice will follow me to my grave. It will be the inscription on my tombstone.
"I should have done more. I should be there."
One last thing - any troll comments on this post will get deleted. I'm not in the mood to play games.
Patton
Cap'n Jim has the entire speech given by George Patton before D-Day. It's worth reading, twice. If you've ever seen the movie Patton, keep in mind that the speech George C. Scott gave was highly censored, due to the delicate American sensibilities at the time.
Our soldiers don't have time for those sensibilities.
So read the whole thing. I found one paragraph that stood out in this day and age - a part of his speech that we should be applying to the current war.
When a man is lying in a shell hole, if he just stays there all day, a German will get to him eventually. The hell with that idea. The hell with taking it. My men don't dig foxholes. I don't want them to. Foxholes only slow up an offensive. Keep moving. And don't give the enemy time to dig one either. We'll win this war, but we'll win it only by fighting and by showing the Germans that we've got more guts than they have; or ever will have. We're not going to just shoot the sons-of-bitches, we're going to rip out their living Goddamned guts and use them to grease the treads of our tanks. We're going to murder those lousy Hun cock suckers by the bushel-fucking-basket.
War is a bloody, killing business. You've got to spill their blood, or they will spill yours. Rip them up the belly. Shoot them in the guts. When shells are hitting all around you and you wipe the dirt off your face and realize that instead of dirt it's the blood and guts of what once was your best friend beside you, you'll know what to do!
I don't want to get any messages saying, 'I am holding my position.' We are not holding a Goddamned thing. Let the Germans do that. We are advancing constantly and we are not interested in holding onto anything, except the enemy's balls. We are going to twist his balls and kick the living shit out of him all of the time. Our basic plan of operation is to advance and to keep on advancing regardless of whether we have to go over, under, or through the enemy. We are going to go through him like crap through a goose; like shit through a tin horn!
Patton was a soldier's general.
Our soldiers don't have time for those sensibilities.
So read the whole thing. I found one paragraph that stood out in this day and age - a part of his speech that we should be applying to the current war.
When a man is lying in a shell hole, if he just stays there all day, a German will get to him eventually. The hell with that idea. The hell with taking it. My men don't dig foxholes. I don't want them to. Foxholes only slow up an offensive. Keep moving. And don't give the enemy time to dig one either. We'll win this war, but we'll win it only by fighting and by showing the Germans that we've got more guts than they have; or ever will have. We're not going to just shoot the sons-of-bitches, we're going to rip out their living Goddamned guts and use them to grease the treads of our tanks. We're going to murder those lousy Hun cock suckers by the bushel-fucking-basket.
War is a bloody, killing business. You've got to spill their blood, or they will spill yours. Rip them up the belly. Shoot them in the guts. When shells are hitting all around you and you wipe the dirt off your face and realize that instead of dirt it's the blood and guts of what once was your best friend beside you, you'll know what to do!
I don't want to get any messages saying, 'I am holding my position.' We are not holding a Goddamned thing. Let the Germans do that. We are advancing constantly and we are not interested in holding onto anything, except the enemy's balls. We are going to twist his balls and kick the living shit out of him all of the time. Our basic plan of operation is to advance and to keep on advancing regardless of whether we have to go over, under, or through the enemy. We are going to go through him like crap through a goose; like shit through a tin horn!
Patton was a soldier's general.
Sunday, May 30, 2004
It fits.
You know, I've been trying to find a way to describe my girlfriend for some time. She defies just about any kind of adjective you could apply to her. Girly? Nope, not unless the situation needs it. Weak is not a word you want to apply to that woman; she has to my knowledge bent tubular steel with her leg, twice. It was an accident once. Her passenger door on her car is still bent out at the bottom from where it trapped her leg. She was bruised for a while, but nothing broke. Hell, nothing even bent! The same can't be said for her car door.
So she's not damn near much of anything that could easily be described. Until now. She's a Tough Chick.
A Tough Chick has the annoying yet endearing quality of being able to grab any of your hats, no matter what type, put it on herself, and instantly look way cooler than you ever did in it. She can pull off all sorts of ordinary or unusual clothing combinations with style and panache. She makes anything look good. If she wears jeans and a baby-tee, she's cute. If she wears leather jeans and a ripped-up cowboy shirt tied across her midriff, she's hot as hell. If she wears a strapless evening gown with a corsage, she's unexpectedly dazzling and radiant. You will sometimes feel like a hapless schlub next to her.
A Tough Chick takes no shit, from you or anybody else. On the other hand, she will never give you any (undeserved) shit either. Tough Chicks are not in the shit business.
A Tough Chick would do Angelina Jolie in a hot second, and doesn't care if even her mother knows it.
A Tough Chick may or may not have tattoos, but she likes yours.
A Tough Chick doesn't like little yappy-ass rat-dogs.
That's just part of it. I read down the list and found myself nodding my head, going "Yep, yep, yep, oh hell yeah, yep, that's her to a "t", yep, yep, yes!"
So she's not damn near much of anything that could easily be described. Until now. She's a Tough Chick.
A Tough Chick has the annoying yet endearing quality of being able to grab any of your hats, no matter what type, put it on herself, and instantly look way cooler than you ever did in it. She can pull off all sorts of ordinary or unusual clothing combinations with style and panache. She makes anything look good. If she wears jeans and a baby-tee, she's cute. If she wears leather jeans and a ripped-up cowboy shirt tied across her midriff, she's hot as hell. If she wears a strapless evening gown with a corsage, she's unexpectedly dazzling and radiant. You will sometimes feel like a hapless schlub next to her.
A Tough Chick takes no shit, from you or anybody else. On the other hand, she will never give you any (undeserved) shit either. Tough Chicks are not in the shit business.
A Tough Chick would do Angelina Jolie in a hot second, and doesn't care if even her mother knows it.
A Tough Chick may or may not have tattoos, but she likes yours.
A Tough Chick doesn't like little yappy-ass rat-dogs.
That's just part of it. I read down the list and found myself nodding my head, going "Yep, yep, yep, oh hell yeah, yep, that's her to a "t", yep, yep, yes!"
Coalition Casualties
As I persue my Favorites I often come upon this one, and use the search feature to narrow the long list of names by age or State or service.
Seventy soldiers under the age of twenty have died in Iraq. Sobering (insofar as anyone can look at war in a giddy fashion).
Lunaville
Seventy soldiers under the age of twenty have died in Iraq. Sobering (insofar as anyone can look at war in a giddy fashion).
Lunaville
Bill Cosby in the Hot Seat
I haven't seen much coverage of this in popular media. Maybe they don't want to spout too many stereotypes about black folk, even if the stereotypes are being a black man who isn't stereotypical:
Cosby Remarks on Blacks Draw Fire, Support
There is a fear, Tillard said, "that people who are racist ... will seize upon that and try to castigate the African-American community. The conservatives and liberals are far too quick to seize upon a statement and say to the rest of us, 'See, see, it's not us, it's you.' What they have not wanted to acknowledge is that there are still legacies of slavery."I guess that's not uncommon. Some people on the right won't criticize President Bush because it arms the Left, and ditto Liberals and their smarmy politicos.
Cosby Remarks on Blacks Draw Fire, Support
Famous fools
Slattery has a neat collection of quotes from the Left. I wish there were more but the ones there are swell.