Dead Guy

Banned by ObamaCare!!

2009-08-12T11:24:00.002-05:00

Since the government will eventually be the sole provider of health insurance under ObamaCare, they’ll have an obligation to reduce costs by penalizing people for increasing their risk and to ban certain things that can damage an individual’s health. This is a list of the things I think will get banned:

Tobacco – cancer, emphysema, heart disease. All forms of tobacco will get banned, but nicotine gum sales will go through the roof.
Alcohol – drunk driving, unwanted pregnancies, liver failure, etc. Since ObamaCare will destroy private research and leave it all to the government, I'm sure they can clearly show through government sponsored studies that the costs of abuse and overuse greatly outweigh the benefits of moderate consumption. But, at least we can piss off France!
Sky-diving – too risky. You might go splat, but even worse, there are an awful lot of sky-divers that get into car accidents after a day of jumping. I've even heard one say that the most dangerous part of sky-diving is the drive home.
Scuba-diving – too risky. You might get the bends or bitten by a shark of swallowed by a whale or run out of air. Only highly trained and licensed (and unionized) divers will be allowed down for work purposes.
Climbing – too risky. Sometimes people fall or get rope burns or hurt themselves some other way. They also require a lot of rescuing when the weather sneaks up on them.
Hiking – too risky. Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Plus all the people that get lost and require rescue. Helicopter rescues are expensive.
High school sports – too many injuries that have a long term effect on young people, requiring chronic care later in life. This will have a huge impact on collegiate and professional sports too, since the skill levels will be so low that they won’t be fun to watch.
Various professional sports – all the ones that cause too many injuries to people that are on the public plan. Bowling is a good example...and curling (broom elbow is a killer). The big sports like football, basketball, baseball and hockey should still be okay, since the athletes will be part of the elite that can pay for private insurance...unless #7 comes to pass and they all really suck from never having played before - like when the NBA finds really tall guys from foreign countries that just stand around in the way. We could have whole teams of them in every sport...or nothing but South Americans and Japanese playing baseball and Canadians playing hockey.
Unhealthy foods – there could be all kinds of things banned for this one – beef, sugar, fat, etc. We’ll all be eating an artificial gruel completely balanced with everything a body needs to stay fit and trim and healthy and balanced. It will look like tapioca pudding but taste like chicken - everything tastes like chicken. We'll also be allowed to only drink bottled water the government provides and Ensure. There will be no reason to wean a baby from the bottle and the change from rice cereal to the gruel will go very smoothly.
Obesity – everyone will have to achieve an optimum body fat percentage and the government will offer boot camps to help people get in shape and stay that way. You'll be taxed if you are overweight or simply thrown in fat prisons where you get bread and water and vitamins until you lose enough weight. Your home will be searched for whatever contraban you are hiding that is making you fat. There will also be strict limit on the amount of gruel, water and Ensure that the government hands out.
Pregnancies – the government will use this as a starting point for practicing eugenics. If older women or sick women can’t have babies due to the mother’s risk being too great and the associated expense, it is a short step to aborting fetuses with defects that would cost a lot to treat and possibly be chronic. A lot of research will focus on finding genetic defects and predicting disease susceptibility of fetuses. You might even be forbidden to breed or be sterilized if the risk of defect is too high that your child will develop a chronic condition like diabetes.
Living in certain areas – forest fire zones, flood plains, earthquake zones, volcano zones. I once saw a map of habitable zones, buffer zones and nature zones that the nutty environmentalists want to protect forests and animals and wetlands and whatnot – that will come to pass and we'll all be crammed into high-rises so everyone can fit. If you can't build out, we'll have to build up.
Medicine - the first thing doctors will do is ensure that you are living a healthy lifestyle. The only way to do that is to put cameras in your home, office and vehicles so they can keep tabs on how much gruel you eat and how much exercise you do. They will adjust your intake and exercise regimen first, after an appropriate period of studying you. If that doesn't work, then they will consider giving you medications. I'm not kidding - persistent ear infections - you obviously don't bath properly. Skin rash - you aren't using approved environmentally safe hypoallergenic laundry and personal hygene products. Tooth decay - you just aren't brushing properly, so we'll give you those tablets that turn your teeth red anywhere they aren't perfect. The first treatment option will always be the cheapest option. The cheapest option will always be lifestyle change.

These are just the obvious things that would be up for a ban. I could go on and on and on and on. What else will be banned? Put your suggestions in the comments.

Come on everybody - wake up! This isn't just Obama or the Democrats. It is the entire US Government trying to do this. The government has been broken and passing unconstitutional laws since FDR - and probably even before that!

Ask yourself this one simple question, by what right does the government assert its authority over you and when did you agree to be governed by these idiots?

Radley's on to something

2008-11-18T14:09:00.002-05:00

President Elect Obama stated in an interview that he would investigate the Bush administration for war crimes, but not turn dumb or bad policy into a crime for political theater. Obviously, that isn't a direct quote, but that is the gyst of what he said. Radley Balko, The Agitator, thinks that is a good idea, but I think Obama can go one better.

I would like to see President Obama investigate the entire Bush administration for all crimes. If he finds criminal activity, he should prosecute vigorously. But, if it really is just bad or dumb policy, he should just as vigorously defend President Bush's right to have that policy.

He'll have a very hard time doing that, considering the strength of the Democratic party's far left. I think Obama has the chance to be a great president if he can keep the nutroots in line and he keeps to the left socially and to the right fiscally.

Good luck dude. You're gonna need it.

I'm Back

2008-11-18T13:12:00.002-05:00

No one reads this, so no one cares. But, I am back to blogging. I was very, very, very busy with work and personal issues. Too many clients, dying brother that lived, adopted nephew and now my wife is leaving for a year for work!

But, I plan to start posting again, for as long as it lasts. I figure that if I keep trying, eventually it will stick and I'll post more often.

Right now, I'm going to clean up links and the page and such.

School Shootings

2007-04-17T12:31:00.000-05:00

Every law passed by any level of government is enforced by a gun. If you break the law, you are arrested. If you resist, the law enforcement agent will use an escalating level of force all the way up to shooting you in the head. We citizens need the same level of power against the goverment so that they clearly understand that hearding us down a socialistic or communistic path will result in an armed revolt. Otherwise, politicians will start passing laws that turn this country into a third world dictatorship or a ripe target for a strong government with a large military.

William Arkin is an idiot.

2007-02-01T14:56:00.000-05:00

Via Charles, I found two of the most idiotic, hate-filled, leftist, whiney articles I've ever seen. They were written by William Arkin from WAPO.

Below, I’ve directly contradicted Arkin's article on many key points and demonstrated why he is an idiot and why people dislike him.

Mr. Arkin, don’t take it personally. I’m sure you are swell guy. But even nice people that are highly educated can be idiots. Mostly, it appears you lack the ability to think critically. You tow a liberal party line without truly understanding the platitudes and weak ad-hominem attacks you throw out so easily.

I'm all for everyone expressing their opinion, even those who wear the uniform of the United States Army. (“even those…” That quote is pretty arrogant –you are graciously allowing these lesser beings to express opinions. Either you are an idiot with a journalism job or you are just an idiot.)

These soldiers should be grateful that the American public, which by all polls overwhelmingly disapproves of the Iraq war and the President's handling of it, do still offer their support to them, and their respect. (Wow, this is incredibly arrogant. The troops should be grateful that we support them? So, not only do they endure hardships, risk their lives, leave their families and jobs and often come home limbless or in a body bag, now they have to be grateful to US? QED, but I’ll continue, just to clarify your idiocy.)

Through every Abu Ghraib and Haditha, through every rape and murder, the American public has indulged those in uniform, accepting that the incidents were the product of bad apples or even of some administration or command order. (Again, wow. This is such an idiotic statement that I almost feel sorry for you. So, the American public simply accepted that there were some bad apples. You state that as if there is some doubt. Also, how, exactly, are we “indulging” the soldiers? I seem to recall some pretty stiff punishments being handed out for all of these incidents.)

Sure, it is the junior enlisted men who go to jail. But even at anti-war protests, the focus is firmly on the White House and the policy. We don't see very many "baby killer" epithets being thrown around these days, no one in uniform is being spit upon. (Well, this is just a bald-faced lie. The troops are being spit at and there are “baby killer” epithets being thrown at them. You can see this for yourself at the Code Pink demonstrations outside Walter Reed Army Medical Center or the many funerals disrupted by that crazy religious group. Apparently, you didn’t do any level of research to back up these claims. Again, you’re an idiot.)

So, we pay the soldiers a decent wage (False. Look at the pay tables and calculate poverty levels – many soldiers live below the poverty line and many even get food stamps. Lack of research makes you an idiot.), take care of their families (False. Soldiers get a little extra pay for each dependent, but not enough to actually support that person. I’d hardly call this taking care of them. They also get nothing in the way of special privilege or additional support while their spouse/parent is deployed.), provide them with housing and medical care and vast social support systems (False. Please, give me an example of a “vast social support system” that we provide military members or their families.) and ship obscene amenities into the war zone for them (What? A little proof would be good. You’re a big web poster guy, so give me a link or two), we support them in every possible way (The “we” would include you, so please, tell me exactly what you have done to support the troops. I send care packages twice per month via Soldier’s Angels.), and their attitude is that we should in addition roll over and play dead, defer to the military and the generals and let them fight their war, and give up our rights and responsibilities to speak up because they are above society? (Again, QED. How did you come up with this inference based upon the soldiers you quoted? The general theme of every statement above is that FEEL like they aren’t being supported because some citizens don’t support what they are doing. Only an idiot would miscomprehend those statements in this way.)

I can imagine some post-9/11 moment, when the American people say enough already with the wars against terrorism and those in the national security establishment feel these same frustrations. In my little parable, those in leadership positions shake their heads that the people don't get it, that they don't understand that the threat from terrorism, while difficult to defeat, demands commitment and sacrifice and is very real because it is so shadowy, that the very survival of the United States is at stake. Those Hoovers and Nixons will use these kids in uniform as their soldiers. If it weren't about the United States, I'd say the story would end with a military coup where those in the know, and those with fire in their bellies, would save the nation from the people. (This is the strangest fantasy that I’ve ever read. Even the “Hoovers and Nixons” reference is off-base. What about Kennedy – the man who got us into Vietnam? What about Johnson – the man who escalated Vietnam? Nixon may have been a crook, but he’s actually the person that got us OUT of Vietnam. But, I can’t expect a proven idiot to understand history.)

But it is the United States, and the recent NBC report is just an ugly reminder of the price we pay for a mercenary - oops sorry, volunteer - force that thinks it is doing the dirty work. (“Mercenary – noun – a professional soldier hired to serve in a foreign army, any hireling.” Actually, since you are just an idiot hireling (hireling – noun – a person who works only for pay, especially in a menial or boring job, with little or no concern for the value of the work – you certainly fit that definition – you can’t be expected to understand the definition of “mercenary.”)

The notion of dirty work is that, like laundry, it is something that has to be done but no one else wants to do it. But Iraq is not dirty work: it is not some necessary endeavor; the people just don't believe that anymore. (Ahh, here’s the problem, no one “believes.” Yes, you shouldn’t give people that are smarter than you any real facts, just provide them with platitudes and opinions so you can get them to “believe” rather than know. Only an idiot would do that, since the American public is smarter than you give them credit for.)

(This entire article gives the impression of a man who was somehow wronged by the military and is bitter about it. It takes the most restrained comments of a few soldiers and extrapolates it to the entire military and disingenuously tears them apart over it. The concept of the article itself is idiotic. America shouldn’t ponder what we owe the soldiers. It is quite obvious. They risk their lives for us every single day. They are willing to put their lives on the line and you want us to ponder what it is we owe them. QED – you, sir, are an idiot.)

(I think today’s article as a whole proves that you are an idiot. You wrote a hate-filled, anti-military article and now you are surprised to get a vitriolic response. Only an idiot wouldn’t have seen that coming. QED)

(But, I still want to address a few points in the article.)

Well, one thing's abundantly clear about who will actually defend our rights to say what we believe: It isn't the hundreds who have written me saying they are soldiers or veterans or war supporters or real Americans -- who also advise me to move to another country, to get f@##d, or to die a painful, violent death. (Wrong. They might not defend your right to say what you believe, but I’m confident they’ll defend mine. Since I am part of the “our” that you mention, this statement is a lie. Only and idiot would write a lie this obvious. I’m also confident that many people that wrote you a nasty-gram would still defend your right of free speech.)

Contrary to the typically inaccurate and overstated assertion in dozens of blogs, hundreds of comments, and thousands of e-mails I've received, I've never written that soldiers should "shut up," quit whining, be spit upon, or that they have no right to an opinion. (More idiocy. You are trying to take a literal view of the non-literal but accurate framing of the idiotic arguments you made in the previous column. “Shut-up and quit whining” is a fair interpretation of the article. Your failure to understand that demonstrates your idiocy.)

I said I was bothered by the notion that "the troops" were somehow becoming hallowed beings above society, that they had an attitude that only they had the means - or the right - to judge the worthiness of the Iraq endeavor. (Apparently, you have no ability to gauge a fair interpretation of the article. While this indeed is a fair characterization of the text, it is not an adequate characterization of the tone. The tone was clearly, “shut-up and quit whining.”)

I was dead wrong in using the word mercenary to describe the American soldier today.

These men and women are not fighting for money with little regard for the nation. The situation might be much worse than that: Evidently, far too many in uniform believe that they are the one true nation. They hide behind the constitution and the flag and then spew an anti-Democrat, anti-liberal, anti-journalism, anti-dissent, and anti-citizen message that reflects a certain contempt for the American people. (“Far too many” is a very inexact term. How many is that? Give me a number, please. A more appropriate phrase would have been something like “I got 55 e-mails, which for me is far too many.” Inexactitude is a hallmark sign of idiocy. QED)

I never said we shouldn't support the troops. I just lamented that "we support them in every possible way, and their attitude is that we should in addition roll over and play dead, defer to the military and the generals and let them fight their war, and give up our rights and responsibilities to speak up because they are above society?" (Again, this is a fair interpretation of the text, but not the tone. You did say “America needs to ponder what it is we really owe those in uniform.” That strongly implies that we should either reduce or eliminate the support. Accusing you of advocating not supporting the troops is a fair interpretation. Not understanding the implications of what you write is yet another hallmark sign of idiocy – QED.)

I can't respond to everyone individually - keep the cards and letters coming though, I do read them - but I'll try to tease out of the comments some themes that confirm in my mind the difficult state that this impossible war has put us. (This serves as an example of why the negative interpretations of your writing are fair. The reader is expected to understand the implied meaning of “the difficult state” but not take implications from other inexact and nebulous statements. Again, inexactitude is akin to idiocy – QED.)

But these are not the only people who have a valid opinion, and there is great danger for the nation - as Bush-Cheney and company have already demonstrated - when people arrogate to themselves the sole determinant to make a judgment about national security. (There is great danger for the nation when people arrogate to themselves the sole determinant to make a judgment about national security. This is an amazingly idiotic argument. President Bush and Vice President Cheney were fairly elected and are responsible for national security. No one is arrogating responsibility for national security, we asked them to do it. I can easily presume that either you don’t understand the meaning of “arrogate” or you don’t understand federal elections. Either presumption demonstrates your idiocy – QED.)

Given that I spent so much of my time in this column every week railing about Washington myself, the dismissal is hilarious. But there is such contempt for civil society in these words and I wonder where it comes from? (This wonderment in the face of obvious evidence is also a hallmark sign of idiocy. There is no contempt for civil society, there is contempt for you. Also, you don’t spend your time railing against Washington. You are generally complimentary towards liberal people and ideals and usually rail against republican people and ideals.)

But this unanimity of thought and this absolute allegiance to a hierarchy of ideas is and should be foreign in the civilian world. (It seems that once again, you are out of your depth and into idiocy. The concepts you identify could be adequately used to describe large corporations or political parties or even sports teams. The concept is not foreign; your understanding of it is foreign – which points to idiocy.)

I hesitate to describe the military "attitude" about the world, or to even apply some negative connotation to the assertion that the military, from the Pentagon on down to the lowest platoon assumes a singular worldview.

Bush and company, and the Abizaid's, Casey's, and Petraeus's have had years to make their case to the American people that the threat is so great and the mission so noble that the sacrifice is worth it. They clearly have failed to make their case and that is why the majority of Americans no longer support the war. (For the life of me, I don’t understand how this point relates back to people being angry at you for advocating a decrease in the level of support given to the troops. This simply demonstrates how bewildered you are by the very idea that someone wouldn’t like you and/or your writing. Frankly, your writing leaves much to be desired – mostly because you are an idiot.)

The notion then that we should defer to the military to fight when and how and where they want is absurd. As the debate about the Iraq war demonstrates, war-making is a shared endeavor and the arrogant and intolerant few who think they are above the people seem to be those who are wearing the uniform. (This statement demonstrates your ignorance and idiocy and is a strong indicator of why people just don’t like you. You are not sharing in any endeavor with regard to the war. You are sniping from the sidelines. You aren’t clearly stating the arguments on both sides, providing thoughtful analysis and reaching fact based conclusions. You are stating that despite all that they do for us, the troops should be grateful that we support them. THAT is the absurd notion, you are an absurd writer and you are a complete idiot – QED.)

Tim Robbins - ChickenDove

2007-01-30T08:00:00.000-05:00

I was flipping through the channels last night and caught a few minutes of O'Reilly. Tim Robbins was talking with a reporter and didn't like the question he was being asked. He decided to turn the tables and told the reporter that he looked like he was at about the right age to volunteer to go to Iraq - the classic ChickenHawk argument. I've been called a ChickenHawk.

Well, Tim, you're a man of means and obviously have the resources to move to Iraq and live there after the troops leave - or any Middle Eastern, Islamic country you'd like. Why don't you do that? Why don't you live in a country with Sharia type laws?

Tim, unless you are willing to tell Susan Sarandon to shut up, quit working, wear a burka and deal with it while you take on a few more wives, you're just a ChickenDove. You're happy to condemn others to a life of poverty and restricted freedom, but not willing to live that way yourself.

Tim Robbins is a ChickenDove.

While I’m at it, Jane Fonda is a ChickenSocialist. With all the money she has, she could support a small country by herself. Give your money - all of your money - to the poor. Give them all the things that socialism promises and prove to me and the world that you are right. Take as many of the poorest people you can find and divide everything you have equally among them. Unless you are willing to do that, your opinion on Socialism isn’t valid.

Jane Fonda is a ChickenSocialist.

I think I'm beginning to like the ChickenHawk argument - since I'm not willing to go to Iraq and fight myself, my opinion on the war isn't valid. I agree - only people that are fighting the war should be allowed to have an opinion about the war. Turn over all the decision making to the military and keep everyone else out of it. If anyone wants to contribute to the discussion, they have to join the military.

Let the Hooligans Handle It

2007-01-08T08:08:00.000-05:00

Here's a thought, soccer hooligans are nuts. They love to play, watch and fight about soccer. But, in all of those Muslim countries that have adopted a very strict strain of Islam, they ban soccer - Afghanistan under the Taliban, Mogadishu under the Islamic Courts, etc.

If we tell the hooligans that the Muslims will take away thier soccer (which is true), they'll probably react, ah, negatively.

Let the soccer wars begin!!!

What Happened to Etiquette?

2007-01-02T09:09:00.000-05:00

This morning, on ABC, Barbara Walters was being interviewed about Betty Ford. She was talking about Mrs. Ford’s issues with drugs and alcohol and how she overcame them. Barbara talked about an interview where Mrs. Ford was obviously under the influence, slurring words and saying strange things. She said that because of that, the editors showed very, very little of the interview. Immediately before or after, I can’t recall the sequence, they did an extended story on etiquette.

It got me to wonder, what happened to that type of etiquette in the news? If Mrs. Ford fell off the wagon and was seen in a drug and alcohol induced stupor, it would be front page news. It shows just how far the media has sunk and how much idiocy passes for news and opinion.

"[Saddam] does not speak against 'hatred' because he believes these words, but because [we] do."

2006-12-28T10:16:00.000-05:00

That is the most eloquent thing I’ve heard in a long time, especially in light of the context of today’s world. From commenter Pogo at Althouse.

I think you could make all sorts of substitutions for names and subjects and be just as accurate and eloquent:

Ahmadinejad does not speak against terrorism because he believes these words, but because we do.

Politicians do not speak against (or for) [insert any subject here] because they believe these words, but because we do. HA! This one kills me.

Go ahead, play along – even though nobody will actually read this and leave a comment, the world is still invited.

Orbitz Sucks!

2006-12-22T11:12:00.000-05:00

Orbitz Sucks!

I purchase five plane tickets from Orbitz on June 6 and realized three days later that I needed a sixth ticket. When I tried to find a matching itinerary using Orbitz, I couldn’t. I decided to buy the sixth ticket on a different day and let my wife use that ticket and then change my wife’s ticket to the sixth person’s name. I had just purchased the sixth ticket and realized that I put the wrong name on the ticket. I couldn’t find a way to fix the name on-line, so I called Orbitz to see if they could help me. A recording let me know that I couldn't change the names on the tickets at all. At this point, I was really in need of some help, so I called the Orbitz customer service center.

I explained my problem to the "customer service representative" and she told me that I couldn’t change the name. I asked her if I could cancel the tickets and immediately re-book them under the correct name. She looked up my account and again asked me what kind of change I wanted to make to the ticket. I told her that I was trying to get the names straightened out and she told me again that I couldn’t change the name on a ticket. It was at this point that I realized she wasn’t very friendly and wasn’t going to help me. I asked her to cancel the ticket I had just booked, figuring I would find another way to straighten this out.

She put me on hold for several minutes while she called the carrier (Air Canada) to check restrictions. She then told me that the ticket was non-refundable, but that I could get a credit for most of the price of the ticket. I told her that I wanted to cancel the ticket and use the credit now, so I could book the correct ticket. Then, she got rude and told me to listen to her. She then said the exact same thing, I could get a credit for most of the ticket and there were fees for the carrier and Orbitz for cancelling the ticket. Again, I said that I wanted to cancel the ticket and use the credit. Then, she told me again that I couldn’t change the name on a ticket. I told her I didn’t want to do that, I wanted to cancel the ticket and use the credit. Then, she finally told me that I wasn’t allowed to do that either. The credit had to be used at the same airline for the same passenger. I repeated what she said, because it didn’t make sense – I could cancel the ticket, with penalties, but get a credit, but I had to use that credit at the same airline for the exact same passenger and nothing was transferable to anyone else, even me, the person that paid for it. At that point, I told her I didn't want to do anything and that I would call the carrier myself because she wasn’t being very helpful. She then got very rude and started to talk over me, so I hung up the phone.

I went back on the Orbitz site to book the correct ticket, thinking that I would try to use the credit for my wife on a future trip. I had difficulty logging on because that woman was still accessing my account. When I finally did logon, I found that I was able to cancel the ticket, without penalty, because I had just made the purchase. The representative never mentioned this to me. Instead, she tried to charge me fees, not allow me to get any money back for the ticket and give me a credit with restrictions that didn’t make sense.

My next step was to call Air Canada directly to see about getting another flight, since Orbitz had me annoyed at that point. I got a very friendly customer service representative that took care of me and added a sixth ticket with the exact itinerary as the first five I booked. He was based in Florida, was pleasant, helpful and took care of all my needs quickly.

I was stunned by the difference in attitude, the level of service and the overall friendliness of the customer service representatives. I was able to directly compare two customer service representatives within minutes of each other – one outsourced, one not. The difference was stark.

I decided to complain to Orbitz. The Orbitz web form didn’t allow enough space to enter my full story, so I just left a message there asking how to file a complaint. I got an e-mail from someone named Olive at OrbitzTLC saying to send the complaint to her. I typed up a long e-mail, explaining in-depth the issues and demanding that disciplinary action be taken against the representative. No one ever responded to the e-mail.

Orbitz had always been my first stop for airline tickets because they always had the cheapest prices. But, in one debacle, I nearly lost all of the savings from all previous purchases. I'll now be using the AMEX travel service. They kiss my butt up one side and down the other. It isn’t that I want that, though it is nice. What I want is access to relatively cheap tickets through a company that will help me solve any problems I have. I’ll pay a little more to make sure they get it right, rather than risk getting screwed. I am confident that AMEX will do that, as they have never failed me before.

Orbitz has lost some good money by ignoring me. Since then, I've traveled to Canada again, Florida twice, Missouri, California and Mexico three times. They missed out on fees for 8 flights. In 2007, I expect to book about 15 flights just for myself, plus others for my wife, mother and children. I also told all of my colleagues and they quit using Orbitz. I convinced one of my clients to write a policy that forbids the use of Orbitz.

Orbitz is losing a ton of money, all because of poor customer service (see here, here and lots of stories here). I hope that anyone reading this will avoid Orbitz as well. Purchasing plane tickets isn’t that common of a thing for most people. It can be a little scary, logging on to all of the various sites to compare prices. Trust me - pay the extra 20 bucks at Expedia or Travelocity. If something goes wrong, they’ll fix it and you won’t be screwed out of the entire cost of the reservation.

The Donald's Pimp Hand is Strong

2006-12-21T09:24:00.000-05:00

SLAM!!!

What more can I say? I've never really liked Rosie. The first I remember seeing her is as the host of some comedy club show. I thought she was quite annoying.

I will say that she plays good characters in movies. I'm not sure how much acting she is doing, since most of them are really just Rosie. But, credit where credit is due. Other than that, I'm not too interested in what she does.

Trumps big prediction about the falling ratings for "The View" is interesting. He's usually spot on about those things, so it will be interesting to see the outcome.

The new front

2006-12-13T09:52:00.000-05:00

CAIR is calling for Muslims traveling for the hajj to report incidents of discrimination. They've even set up a hot-line to call. They win this battle no matter what, but I'm going to choose the method of defeat.

If the hot-line is used and many complaints are received, they will say something like "see, I told you we were being discriminated against." If LGF gets involved and the commenters and readers flood the line with crap, they'll say something like, "the discrimination is pervasive and bigots are harassing us.”

I like the bigot angle, so I for one will be calling the line as often as I possibly can to both run up the 800 bill in an effort to shut down the phone line or to tie up the line to limit the number of baseless complaints. If they are going to call me a bigot, so be it. I'd prefer that to the airlines lowering security in an effort to appease them. It is better to be a bigot than to be dead.

My personal feelings are that no Muslim can complain about being profiled or harassed if they are not speaking out loudly and clearly against militant Islam. They can speak by changing mosques away from radical preachers, supporting the victims of 9/11 and other attacks by making organized and high-profile donations to charity and by writing letters to the editors of local papers or starting blogs.

It is far past the time that the "good" Muslims take a stand against the "bad" Muslims.

The Rangel Bunny

2006-12-12T15:02:00.000-05:00

The Wall Street Journal is up to part five of "Responding to Rangel." It is like the energizer bunny - it just keeps going and going. I'm sure they could run the column on a daily basis and still not run out of things to print.

I'm thinking that the continuing presence of Rangel proves that the military is at least smarter than those people in his district - since they keep electing him.

Here is my reply.

Dear Charlie,

I say dear Charlie because you don't deserve the respect of a formal greeting.

I joined the military before I even graduated from high school. I didn’t want to go to college. I wanted to be in the military, I wanted to get out of my small town, I wanted to see the world, I wanted to fight for my country. I spent six years in the military and met my wife.

While I was in the military, everyone told me to get an education – meaning the officers that I worked with – the officers that needed advanced degrees to get commissioned. I earned most of my two bachelor’s degrees while I was active duty – a large part of that due to credit received from in-service courses and training.

I’ve worked hard and moved my way up in my field and now I’m a high priced computer consultant. My wife retired from active duty as an officer and is now at the top of the GS pay scale. I put one daughter through college and am working on the second. I wouldn’t call myself rich, but I’m certainly extremely comfortable.

I have the money and investments set aside to pay cash for all of her needs while she is in college. But, that daughter surprised me and joined the Army ROTC program. It appears that she’ll get a full scholarship for the rest of her education. She doesn’t need it, she wants it. She wants to serve her country. When she finishes with the military, she wants to be in Federal law enforcement so she can help fight the war on terror. She has a twin sister that is still deciding what she wants to do with her life. She’s making the same statements I made at her age – get out, see the world, serve her country.

Gee, Charlie, that’s two generations that joined the military for the purpose of serving their country – even if it involves fighting in a war. I’d say that you are the one that is not too bright. You’re the politician and we all know that politicians aren’t very bright. If they were, they would earn a living in a real job, rather than raping us taxpayers, taking bribes and having everything taken care of for them.

Yes, Charlie, you are the idiot in this mix – not my wife, daughters and me.

Mommy, Kofi was mean to me.

2006-12-12T10:57:00.000-05:00

Well, Kofi Annan retired, gave a speech and wrote an editorial. The whole thing would be funny if it weren't for the fact that the world suffered so much due to his weak leadership, corruption and indifference to everything except his perception of US hegemony. In his last days, he was more content to bash the US and President Bush so he could endear himself in Europe.

His tenure will be judged by history to be the most incompetent and corrupt leadership the UN has ever seen - and that isn't an easy task to accomplish.

Now, the UN can either recover with a strong leader or die with another Kofi. I predict that the next leader will be in the mold of Kofi and that the US will withdraw funding. Other countries will follow suit and the world will fall into chaos - all because Kofi was a sucker and started the fall of the greatest debate society the world has ever seen.

Gee, I never would have guessed.

2006-12-08T18:44:00.000-05:00

Here is the other side of the story. And, this reporter gets it.

Basically, the Muslim woman decided to pray in front of a bunch of lockers and blocked the other persons stuff. When the woman asked her to move, she ignored her and continued with her prayers.

I'd say this was a complete set-up.

Why was this woman exercising during prayer time anyway? Why did she pray in front of the lockers when there were other patrons there? Did she pick this person's locker, knowing she would be blocking access to it - in other words, did she pick a fight?

This is all very fishy. But, the bright spot is that some in the media are calling BS.

End of the World

2006-12-07T17:45:00.000-05:00

Iran's Supreme Leader seems to be dying.

Ayatollah ali Khamenei has kept Ahmadinejad in line since his "election." Politically, the Ayatollah is more moderate than Ahmadinejad and the two have struggled over the president's public remarks.

If the Ayatollah dies, Ahmadinejad will have no throttle to slow him down. He'll begin to keep his promises - the ones he made in all the letters he wrote. Most people don't realize the significance of those letters. They were warnings to us that basically said convert to Islam or die. He'll attack us and/or provoke us into a war within the next three years. That war won't be country against country, it will culminate in the clash of civilizations that we've feared - Islam against Infidel.

I think I’ll be an Infidel – even though I like the other sides uniforms better.

Holy Cow - a comment!

2006-12-05T15:35:00.000-05:00

Sorry, Noah, I'm not used to getting comments.

If you want to switch from Financial IT to something along the lines of national service, you'll have a pretty tough go of it. Your best bet is to try to join a company that has government contracts and hope that it satisfies your itch. But, if you want to get a decent security clearance, I'll let you in on a little secret - cleaning companies.

There are a ton of cleaning companies that work for the FBI, CIA, Pentagon, etc. Each person doing the cleaning has to have some level of clearance - some have very high clearances. Those companies are usually willing to hire an IT guy at a low salary in exchange for getting you the clearance. Once you have the clearance, jobs are plentiful. The higher the clearance, the better the job. Beware, though, sometimes clearances can take a very, very long time to finalize. You could be a janitor for six months to a year or more, depending on the clearance level.

There are two other avenues I can think of - Foreign Service and straight GS work. Take the foreign service test, since they are always looking for good IT guys. You can also apply for a straight government position and keep applying until you land one. Those are often hard to get, since there is a bit of a good old boy network happening, but eventually you can land one.

Good Luck!

Another Battle

2006-12-05T15:26:00.000-05:00

This is another battle. I'm betting that this was somehow staged and that we'll find out this woman is associated with CAIR or some other group.

I'm sure that Muslims that are praying in public get harassed by bigots. Just as I'm sure that it happens to Jews, Christians, Hindus, etc. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that some bigot did harass this woman.

But, I'm confident that the whining and complaining are staged purely for publicity.

I'd also like to know the other side of the story.

Bolton Resigns from UN.

2006-12-04T10:13:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure I care about this. Bolton hasn't been nearly as divisive as his critics suggested. He also hasn't been nearly as effective at pushing reform at the UN as his defenders have suggested. It seems to me that he's had a rather average stint as Ambassador to the UN.

He did manage to accomplish a few things, according to White House Deputy Press Secretary Dana Perino. Perino said that among Bolton's accomplishments, he assembled coalitions addressing North Korea's nuclear activity, Iran's uranium enrichment and reprocessing work and the violence in Darfur. She said he also made reform at the United Nations a top issue.

I guess all of that could be considered as accomplishments, but it seems like all he did was talk and engage. He didn't really shake the place up, although he had plenty of time to do so.

My personal view is that the UN is a relatively worthless debate society that doesn't have the guts or the political will to do anything useful. With a genocide in Darfur and an inability to agree on combating terrorism, they aren't of much use.

Because I view the UN as a relatively worthless organization, I can't really get excited one way or the other about John Bolton resigning. Good luck Ambassador, I hope you don't take to sniping as other former cabinet officials have.

Buy Australian

2006-12-01T06:41:00.000-05:00

Please, buy Australian. The Aussies deserve all the support, in every form, that we can give them.

Why do they deserve it? Because in the entire history of the two nations, any time that the United States has gone to war, the Australians have been at our side - EVERY time.

We've had political differences with Australia over the years. They don't like our nuclear powered ships to port there, they protest some of our policies and the relations with this or that president have been up or down. Often, they seriously disagree with the war or engagement we are entering. But, no matter what, the people of Australia have been at our sides when we needed it. They ALWAYS have our backs.

If you can't invest there or travel there or spend money there in other ways, just buy a bottle of Australian wine to give as a gift over Christmas or New Years. The bonus is that Australian wine is actually excellent wine. I host a series of work and social parties over the holidays each year and that is all that I serve.

My response to Ahmadinejad

2006-11-30T07:05:00.000-05:00

Dr. Mahmoud,

Please take me off of your mailing list. I do not wish to receive further solicitations from your organization. I would also like to point out that all of my phone numbers are registered with the national "Do Not Call" listing. You are not authorized to use or share my personal information.

Thank you.

Chris Farley
Dead Guy

Look at me, I'm a real blogger.

2006-11-28T17:03:00.000-05:00

My main area of expertise in life is VistA. That is the Veteran Health Administration's computerized patient record. I am also expert in the many VistA off-shoots such as CHCS, CHCS II, RPMS and VOE. I am also very, very well versed in higher education administration (not teaching) but my experience base is slightly dated. I can talk on these two subjects - healthcare IT and higher education - for hours on end with anyone interested. But, since it is my day job, I find it boring to do so. I want to blog about things that interest me outside of work. I am, afterall, a hobbiest blogger.

You will see posts related to both healthcare IT and higher education when something particularly interesting is happening. However, there are a few areas with regard to blogging that interest me much more.

9/11 was a truly defining moment in my life - I heard the explosion and watched the Pentagon burn. So Islamic terrorism is very interesting. Charles Johnson is right up my alley, but I don't go much beyond that.

I've been a Radley Balko fan for a very long time. I'm especially interested in his views on no-knock police raids simply because I find it an egregious assault on personal liberty. I'm also interested in his overall take on the drug war - specifically the prosecution of pain doctors. You see, I have EDS and my primary issue, besides dislocating things, is pain.

Like every other person on the planet, I read Instapundit and The Drudge Report on a daily basis.

Because I am not an expert in the areas that interest me for blogging, I will cheat. I want to give credit where credit is due. The Agitator, Little Green Footballs, Instapundit, Powerline and Captain's Quarters are the inspiration for my blog - in that order. I've tried and failed to be a blogger on several occasions. This time, I plan to stick to it.

I'm going to follow a few simple rules:

1. Post what I want.
2. Unmoderated comments.
3. Engage the readers.

Many blogs hold back posting things. I'm not claiming to be an expert, so I'll say what I think and let any readers that happen by set me straight. Since I'm posting what I want and I want people to read, I can't put limits on what they post. And, since the whole point of blogging, I think, is to engage in a larger dialog, I plan to engage the readers and respond as much as I can.

Welcome to my little home on the Web. I hope you are entertained.

Atlanta Police Shooting

2006-11-28T10:19:00.000-05:00

This is all over the news. The Agitator has some interesting observations regarding the signatures on the warrant. They appear to be reproductions, rather than real pen to paper signatures.

Sign your name four times in a row, on separate pieces of paper, just like the judge would have had to do to approve the warrant, and they compare them. I suspect they'll look quite different from each other - even if you try really hard to make them match.

Missed Opportunity

2006-11-28T08:55:00.000-05:00

As a Dead Guy, I often fervently wish for specific people to join me in the afterlife – meaning I wish people dead.

You may think me a bad person for it or silly or inhumane or even insane. But, I believe that this planet would be much better off if certain people could no longer dirty it with their presence.

This was a missed opportunity to make my wish come true.

The six Imams did the following things to get themselves removed from that airplane purposely:

They prayed loudly and inappropriately in the terminal before boarding.
Positioned themselves on the plane in a pattern reminiscent of the 9/11 hijackers – two in the front, two in the middle in exit rows and two in the rear of the plane. No, they were not sitting in their assigned seats.
They asked for seatbelt extenders, but placed them on the floor in front of the in an “at the ready” position, rather than wearing them.
They carried on loud conversations in which they denounced the US involvement in Iraq.

I wish everyone that was at the little prayer sessions in both the Minneapolis Airport and Reagan National Airport were here with me now, in the after-life, so I could show them that my pimp-hand is strong.

An earthquake, lightning strike, tornado or a freak accident would put a smile on my face.

If a bunch of Catholics tried to hold mass at an airport in Saudi Arabia, what do you think would happen?

If a bunch of Baptists tried to hold a Bible study session at an airport in Iran, what do you think would happen?

If a generic Christian simply made the sign of the cross at an airport in Turkey, what do you think would happen?

In each case above, the cited example demonstrates what happens to people who aren't making a public political statement. If my theoretical examples came true, those people would likely die rather quickly. They would either be murdered outright, on the spot or put in a prison to die slowly. It wouldn't be done by some radical or terrorist. The people in the airport who just happened to be passing by would go nuts and mob them. If the protestors survived, the governments would take care of the rest.

These six Imams are pushing a political agenda and the Christians and Jews that accompanied them are too weak and foolish to see that. In all cases, I fervently hope that these people are planted quickly. I don’t want slow or horrible or painful. I’m just wishing for the “end” result.

I am NOT advocating that anyone actually do something to cause the death of another individual. That is definitely wrong, immoral, evil and illegal - in most cases. But, I am hoping that nature will take its course quickly. A plane crash would be poetic.

Paul Campos - Hack?

2006-11-26T17:37:00.000-05:00

The Rocky Mountain News has an article by an alleged law professor where-in he expounds on economics and the military draft. Does anyone think he is a hack since he is completely wrong with every fact he uses to support his position? Personally, I'd be afraid to hire him as my lawyer or send my child to his classes.

I sent him the following e-mail:

You are horribly uninformed. Have you done any research on this subject at all? Have you at least reviewed the Heritage Foundation study that uses the census data to clearly demonstrate that the US military is exactly the opposite of what you described? Military recruits are more middle-class, more rural, better educated and whiter than the general population. Additional studies demonstrate that in combat jobs, all minorities are under-represented as compared to the general population.

To provide you with some anecdotal evidence, my household is in the top 1% of income earners in the US. I paid cash for my daughter’s first semester of college – tuition, books, housing, a car and $500 per month just to blow. But, she just joined the ROTC and was awarded the coveted full scholarship. That is a scholarship you have to work for by basically working with and for the military representatives on campus for free and then passing a board, examination and physical readiness test. In other words, you really have to want it.

My wife works for the US Army Corps of Engineers as a civilian. She is also retired military. Because she can’t serve any longer, she applied for and got the job and then volunteered to go to Baghdad for four months – all so she could feel as though she was doing her part.

Don’t belittle the military with your uninformed leftist propaganda. You really have no idea what you are talking about and are simply repeating talking points that are popular with the far left. I suggest you research this topic more thoroughly and write a follow-up column that is based on the facts.

I’m not saying your opinion isn’t valid. Rangel’s point that those in power might think twice if their children were forced to go to war is probably a good one. But, the facts you use to support that opinion are dead wrong.

I hope I get a response.

Maybe the government should re-instate the draft – but a better solution is a draft that centers purely on the families of congressmen and senators – the people that actually authorized the war.

2006-11-25T05:58:00.000-05:00

Via Instapundit, Jackie Daniki is looking for assistance in finding a low-life that allegedly assualted her. To be clear, I say allegedly because I have no idea who Jackie Daniki is and she wasn't very clear on what happened.

I had a similar experience when I visited London a few years ago...and I'm NOT a woman. I'm not even especially handsome. I'm 6'4" and have fairly average looks. Apparently, being tall is a real turn-on over there. On the tubes, I was physically assualted twice, by women, just looking to cop a feel. On several other occasions, women would make a remark such as "aren't you tall dark and handsome" in front of everyone and quite loudly.

My wife and twin daughters were also accosted almost constantly by men looking for a good time. They weren't "handled" in any way, but some of the young men were quite persistent in trying to get a date or just a few hours of thier time. Luckily, size works wonders in chasing off these punks. We stopped using the tubes and found that the open-deck tour buses were excellent transportation.

I came away from London with the impression that the people were very forward and not the least bit shy. According to Jackie, they are also getting more agressive.

Slow news day.

2006-11-23T20:16:00.000-05:00

I'm glad to see that US Airways is sticking to its guns, for now, regarding the six imams.
I'm glad to see that Lebanon is standing up for itself again.
I'm glad to see that there are some reporters that are willing to call Saudia Arabia on all the BS.
I'm disappointed that people aren't listening to Radley about no-knock raids.

But, I'm thankful that I had a nice Thanksgiving. There was good food, family, friends and plenty of fun.

And so goes the battle.

2006-11-22T08:47:00.000-05:00

Pray loudly, make a fuss and act ominously all to bait someone into complaining. Now, they can scream about discrimination and how they’ve been victimized.

This is a battle. If US Airways apologizes or Congress passes a stupid law, they win this battle and the world will become more dangerous.

Be safe out there!

2006-11-22T07:16:00.000-05:00

I want to wish all that happen upon my lowly blog safe travels and a Happy Thanksgiving.

No sappy sentiment and no nostalgia. Just be safe on the roads, patient at the airports and pleasant to the in-laws. Forget about your troubles and be happy for a day – you deserve it!

Why would someone be a kamikaze...or a homicide bomber?

2006-11-21T18:44:00.000-05:00

When the kamikaze “craze” started, the outcome of the Pacific war was already clear. But, these pilots were convinced that they would be the Japanese equivalent of martyrs and that their deaths would save thousands of lives by delaying the US invasion of mainland Japan long enough for the Emperor and his generals to prepare the people to defend Japan. Serving the Emperor was tantamount in the Japanese culture of the time. The kamikaze pilots weren’t trying to win the war or kill sailors, they were trying to damage the war-fighting capabilities of the US and delay our Navy and Marines from continued island hopping.

This correlates to the purpose of the homicide bomber. They will be martyrs with all the trappings. They will help extend the caliphate across the globe and be rewarded in heaven for their effort. It is a very powerful reward to them. The key difference is that a homicide bomber’s goals are purely political. They know that the US military can’t be defeated.

The homicide bombing and political after-math shows the weakness. The calculus was simple and it is working. They bombed us on 9/11. We react by invading someone and looking askance at devout Muslims at home. The invaded country and the oppressed Muslims at home become victims. Victim-hood provides political status. Political status equals political power. Power equals more recruits. We just elected the first Muslim to congress – Keith Ellison from Minnesota. He has ties to radical Islam and the Nation of Islam. He is the first win in a larger war.

The homicide bombers are probing attacks that are designed to find our political weaknesses. As commenter Philip Cassini pointed out, there needs to be a follow up to exploit that weakness, but he is misses the form of the follow-up. Exploitation of that weakness is a three pronged attack that is already under way:

1. A soft invasion of Europe. They immigrate, breed hate and generally cause trouble. If they can get a strong response from somewhere, they can rally a billion Muslims world-wide to the cause of the oppressed Muslim minority.

2. Friday prayers. They imams to preach hate. They blame all the ills in the Muslim countries on an external force – the Jews, America or democracy. They encourage riots and protests to foment that hate into action and try to intimidate the rest of the world.

3. Power projection. They continue to work on a nuclear program and strive to get an atomic bomb. With that bomb, they can wield a tremendous amount of political power and dominate the Middle East. Just the threat of the bomb has Europe running to give them goodies to make them stop and the UN Security Counsel arguing over meaningless sanctions. Imagine the ruckus when they test a bomb – they’ll have real power and they can easily rally a billion Muslims to their cause.

The world is in trouble. Militant Islam is front and center on the political stage. If forced to choose between your God and your country – which would you choose? I am certain that anyone that is deeply religious would choose their God. Those that aren’t deeply religious will see the others that choose God and just go along for the ride. Many non-Muslims will convert out of fear - hoping to be "Muslim light" just to get by and not cause any trouble. I think we can count on Muslims throughout the world, regardless of how devout, to choose their God over thier country.

I think we’re all in for quite a spot of trouble. Maybe not today, tomorrow or even next year, but certainly within my lifetime. Personally, I hope it is all over before my son turns 18. I'd gladly serve my country again, but I couldn't stand to see him off to war.

The Game.

2006-11-21T17:28:00.000-05:00

Via The Agitator.

You just lost the game...and so did I.

Radley sucks. I'll be doing this forever now.

UPDATE: I just lost again. Man, that sucks. But, to be nice, I'll only blog about it when I lose because of blogging - like reading Radley or review my own. Plus, I'll just keep updating this post. I don't want to annoy all those readers that I don't have.

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

2006-11-21T09:58:00.000-05:00

Instapundit links to Spengler and Simon discussing suicide bombers and selling women. They are all wrong about thier conclusion that radical Islam has already lost. Though I will give Glenn the benefit of the doubt, since his conclusion is only an implication through links, not a statement.

I am a former military medic. I was taught the cold art of triage. My job was not to save lives. My standing orders were “to keep as many men, at as many guns, for as long a time as is possible.” The distinction is important, so please bare with me.

Here is a scenario to describe how triage works.

A squad is hit by a mortar round and suffers casualties. One man has a dislocated shoulder, another has shrapnel wounds in his left thigh, a third has a large gash on his forehead and a fourth has a sucking chest wound. All four lives can be saved with quick medical treatment. If I was in the life-saving business, I would treat the most deadly injury first – the sucking chest wound. I would seal the wound and dress it and give the guy morphine and start an IV. I would then move to the leg and verify that it didn’t hit the femoral artery, put on a pressure dressing and give him a dose of morphine and immobilize the leg. The next patient would be the forehead gash and I would just give him a pressure dressing and clear his eyes. Finally, I would immobilize the dislocated shoulder and call it a day.

But, to follow orders, the flow would be very different. The shoulder would come first, because that guy could immediately pick up his gun and start shooting. Rather than immobilize it, I would reduce the shoulder and tell him to get back at it. The forehead is second, a pressure dressing and eye wash gets him shooting again. Third is the leg. He is third because it might be the femoral artery and he might be dead without knowing it. If it was the artery, I’d have to dig for it inside the wound, clamp it and then put on the pressure dressing – that takes time and likely won’t save him anyway. Luckily, in this scenario, it isn’t the artery, so he gets a pressure dressing and maybe a splint and he gets to fire from the prone position. As for the chest wound, if he isn’t dead yet, I’d first look around to make sure no one else could be patched up, then I’d deal with him – maybe. If we are advancing and I have to leave him behind, I’ll shoot him up with morphine and try to stop the suction and leave it at that. If we are retreating, I’ll just leave him – we can collect his body later. If we are in a holding position, I’ll treat him full throttle until something else comes up.

It all sounds rather cruel and calculated – and it is. As a medic under fire, I’m not in the business of saving lives – I’m in the business of making war. I explain all of this to make a simple point – just like medics, military generals don’t care about how many troops get killed in action because they want to preserve life, they care because they want to preserve war-fighting capabilities.

When a general orders a probing skirmish, he thinks that by sacrificing a squad or two to find the enemy’s weak point, he’ll preserve his war-fighting capabilities for subsequent battles by having fewer casualties in this battle. Here is the comparison:

I throw my army at the enemy and by chance hit a strong point of the enemy. I lose 50% of my troops, but win the battle. But, because of those heavy losses, I have to wait for reinforcements before the next battle.

Or, I send one percent of my troops at different points along the enemy lines and find the weak spot, exploit it and win the battle with 20% overall casualties. I can then chase the retreating enemy immediately, because I preserved my war-fighting power by sacrificing a few squads.

War is a very cold and calculating business. We don’t try to save lives; we try to preserve war-fighting capabilities. We go into battle assuming our purpose is clear and noble and then act to achieve that purpose. We know that people will die or be maimed, but we don’t try to minimize that for humanitarian reasons – war is not humane. We try to minimize casualties so we can continue to fight until the objective is achieved. Then, and only then, we’ll worry about the fall-out to all of those brave troops.

Why is all of this important? It explains homicide bombers. The enemy, in this case, Islamic militants, is probing us. They are looking to exploit a weak spot while suffering as small a loss as possible. If they confront the US head-on, militarily, they will lose and they know that for a fact. So, they recruit suicide bombers to probe for a weakness they can exploit – politics. Unfortunately, we don’t view terrorist attacks as what they are – probing attacks. We view them as a political tool that Islamic militants are using to challenge our politics. Terrorists are freedom fighters that are trying to preserve their rich culture and break the tyrannical grip of the United States and our evil corporate overlords. Sadly, too many Americans buy this vision. And, sadly, if we continue on this course, there are only two outcomes. Either we will all be enveloped in an Islamic Caliphate, or many, many Americans will die in a great cultural war.

Spengler and Simon are wrong because they don’t understand the cold calculus of war. Suicide bombers are not the desperate death throws of a defeated enemy. The enemy is using suicide bombers as a warm-up – and they are winning the battle with simple probing attacks precisely because people don’t understand.

Party Time

2006-11-20T16:18:00.000-05:00

I can't believe how busy I am - like you people that don't ever read my blog care!

I've hosted dinner parties the past three weekends, this week is Thanksgiving (Happy Thanksgiving) that I'm hosting, next week is a work party that I'm hosting, the next week is a Christmas Party (Merry Christmas) that I'm hosting, the next week is a trip to Mexico for a Christmas Party (Merry Christmas, again) for work, the next week is Christmas (Merry Christmas for real) with family coming, the next week is New Years (Happy New Years) and the next week is my daughters' (twins, so the punctuation is correct, loser) birthday(Happy Birthday)! Man, I'm going to need a vacation. I think I need one just for writing such an incredibly long run-on sentence...or maybe a lobotomy would solve both.

I wouldn't mind it too much if my EDS didn't bother me so much right now. I can't seem to do anything without injuring something. Thankfully, I have a hot-tub. I think I'll write a blog post from there tonight.

Pellazi, Pelici, Pel, Pel...

2006-11-16T15:32:00.000-05:00

What was her name again? Wow, talk about light speed obscolecence! Mere minutes after unanimously confirming her as their choice for Speaker of the House, her own party lays down her first defeat! I can see why the Democrats didn't want to put Murtha in any sort of power position - being that corruption was the big issue that brought them to power.

I can't wait to see what happens with the Intel committee - an impeached former judge as the chair? Don't they need some sort of security clearance for that? Can he pass one? If he doesn't need one, why should I need one? I've never been impeached.

I'm also wondering why all the left side of the blogosphere and media thinks that the Iraq war was the defining issue, when all the exit polls from the election listed it pretty far down the list.

Do my huge quantity of zero readers know why?

I didn't think so.

Good-bye Donald Rumsfeld

2006-11-14T14:48:00.000-05:00

I'm glad that Rumsfeld is gone.

I was all for the reforming of the military. His ideas were great in both concept and application. We have the greatest fighting force on the planet. Faster, stronger and better is exactly what the military needed.

But, the ideas were short sighted in that they didn't anticipate the inevitable need for an occupation force. We can kick anybody's ass, but we can't occupy them properly. I'm sure the terrorists in Iraq are saying "you call that an occupation force? HA! Saddam would have been ripping out my fingernails months ago!"

We are failing in our occupation of Iraq. We need more troops securing more areas and staying there to ensure that security. Those snipers wouldn't make it very far if we had a machine gun at every intersection. IEDs would be much harder to plant with troops in foxholes everywhere. The problem is, we are more concerned about the politics - winning hearts and minds - than with force protection. We are trying to win hearts and minds in the near term. We are putting our troops at risk in the hopes that Iraqis will like us and decide not to kill us any more. But, we should be beating the entire populace into submission. Later, when the infrastructure is in place, we can lighten up. We can gradually turn over areas to the Iraqis and then they will love us when they see how nice things are - running water, electricity, sewer service and a real police force that protects citizens.

I'm BACK...again.

2006-11-14T14:06:00.000-05:00

Well, I guess I ruined my New Year's resolution of posting once per day.

I'm not kidding around this time, I'm going to blog as regularly as I can. Maybe, just maybe, one day I'll get a reader and it will all be worth it. My first post will be about Iraq.

Nancy Pelosi says that Iraq isn't a war: "If it were a war, we could win it by killing people and blowing stuff up. While security problems necessarily involve the occasional application of force, the dominant difficulties in Iraq simply aren't force-on-force problems. The remaining problems are sociopolitical. No amount of firepower is going to resolve the intractable conflicts of interest between the Shiites and the Sunnis, or between various subgroups. No US troop level will convince the rival Iraqi factions that pluralism is better than asserting their own interests. They'll either find it in their interest to moderate. . .or they won't."

That sure is a pretty and logical sounding sound-bite. She is right that we are past the phase of force-on-force problems. Now, we have the problem of building up the Iraq infrastructure - meaning the Iraqi military and police - so that they can deal with thier own problems. I think we have a responsibility to do that now. We broke it, so we have to fix it. In hindsight, it was a bad idea to disband the Iraqi military. But, now we have to build it again. We have to train them, we have to support them and we have to give them a chance to establish themselves with personnel, equipment, policies, procedures and everything else that makes a military. We can't just grab a bunch of guys off the street, slap some boots on them and hope it turns out okay. The middle-east is dangerous and there are far stronger militaries in the area. How long before Iran would invade if we pulled out without leaving a real Iraqi military behind?

She is also right that no amount of firepower is going to resolve the differences of the Shia and Sunni and the bad things that happen because of it. That will take police work. We also have to help Iraq develop a police force - along the same lines. Police work under a democracy is far different and more restrictive than police work under a dictatorship. In the old days, they just threatened, tortured and/or killed people to solve crimes, then disposed of the criminal. Now, there are civil protections, real courts and real freedoms to protect.

Until those two major tasks are accomplished, we need an occupation force.

Slide show of words

2006-01-09T08:41:00.001-05:00

Here is the recap from the past 10 months.

April - the wife went to Iraq for four months. She is a civilian working for the Army and volunteered to spend some time in Baghdad. I get to be Mr. Mom. It isn't the first time. Near the end of her military career, she went overseas for a full year. The project was also incredibly busy.

May - mostly project work and keeping up with the kids. We had a nice tradition of doing something family oriented on Saturdays like watching a movie or playing miniature golf. One of my daughters broke up with her boyfriend and entered into the whole teen angst scene. Bitchy, whiney, etc. I was ready to sell her to anyone that was brave enough to take her.

June - Same as may. Exactly the same, except it was warmer.

July - The wife came home. To celebrate her return, we went to her 2nd favorite restaurant. Some nice people heard us talking about coming back from Iraq and bought our dinner. That seemed like a bit much, so I had the waitress charge them for the wife's meal and I picked up the rest of us. Very nice of them and good to know there are people out there that support the work she does. Four days after her return, we went on a private cruise. I rented a crewed sailboat for a week in the Virgin Islands. Best thing I ever did. We all had fun, got tan/burned, saw fabulous sites, collected some nice treasure, ate well, drank too much and jumped naked from a bar/boat. What a blast.

August - The project blew up. We came up to the budget limit and everything came to a screaching halt. We moved to maintenance - which meant that I did everything by myself. I didn't slow down, I just had no one to help me.

September - uneventful, except for a big anniversary party. I had two siblings that had been married near the same time and we all chipped in for the party. The whole family was there and we had a great time.

October - totally uneventful, except a return trip to the Virgin Islands for the wife and I to look at time shares. We bought two weeks worth. Very nice.

November - the parties started. Thanksgiving, then on to December.

December - two decent holiday parties hosted, lots of Christmas cheer. All in all, this was the best year of our lives.

Now - same shit, different day. I continue to slog through this project and can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. Although, the new company taking over the software is so screwed up, I think I'll be working this forever.

Howard still has the heartbeat thing going on. It is starting to get really annoying. I hope he goes live soon.

I'm BACK!!

2006-01-09T08:41:00.000-05:00

Even though no one reads my crap. Yes, I've taken a ton of time off. That's what happens when you get on a tough IT project that requires 16 hour days, have a wife, four kids and too many other things to do. But, the good news is, I can start posting again...so no one will read it.

For my triumphant return, I have absolutely nothing to say except that my New Year's resolution is to put up at least one post per day.

I will say that I'm very, very excited about the return of Howard Stern...or rather, his debut on Sirrius. So far, the show sucks. The little heartbeat background was cool for a while, but now it is annoying. I did like the recap of his career with snippets from the very beginning - but it makes me feel old.

My next post will be catching everyone (meaning no one) up on what has been happening since my last post.

Schiavo Strategy

2005-03-25T07:54:00.000-05:00

Just reported on Fox - the judge declined the latest request to re-insert the tubes. That is it for her.

All the politics lately have gotten me to thinking strategy. The Republicans passed a law that required a fresh review, at the federal level, of the Shiavo case. The idea, as I understand it, was to get something called "de novo" review. Basically, judges act as fact finders and establish those facts via the de novo thing. To get an injunction under this, you have to show irreparrable harm (easy, since she'll die) and a likelyhood of being successful in your appeal. The success part is what the federal judge rejected.

But, think about it for a minute. The Republicans pass a federal law. That law requires a judge to decide something. The judge makes a correct legal ruling that is opposite of the hopes of Republicans. Or is it? Now, when trying to appoint judges, the Republicans can point to this "liberal" judge (whether he is or not) as an example of the "damage" the Democrats are doing and why we should ignore them when they protest Bush's nominees.

I can hear it now - "the Democrats are just trying to get us Republicans to appoint more judges that would have allowed Terri Shiavo to die."

Karl Rove - evil genius...or at least that is what the Democrats will claim later. I think I just started a conspiracy theory!

CNN is funny!

2005-03-23T19:44:00.000-05:00

HA, HA, HA, HA. CNN is trying to up its ratings. They don't plan to do anything too drastic, like giving all sides of a story, reporting real news, giving fair analysis. They just want to tweak the way Larry King turns things over to Aaron Brown.

What's funny is that no one at CNN realizes that we watch Larry for two reasons. One, old people that love Larry (like trailer park queens love Dr. Phil) watch out of habit. Larry is down to about a million viewers per night. I'd say thats because viewers are dying.

Two, Larry is a train wreck! Everyone loves a trainwreck! He gets nutty guests with extreme opinions. Did you see the Johnny Carson tribute? Joan Rivers cried without letting her face move - it looked more like a leaking baby doll toy - and all the other old men were trying to one up each other with "I knew Johnny when" stories. It was totally hilarious.

I think CNN just needs to admit that Comedy Central is its real competition and go after them full force....they might even get me to watch.

Schiavo - sitting on the fence.

2005-03-22T11:52:00.000-05:00

Would I want to live if I were in the same shape as Terri Schiavo? No, absolutely not. Would I want to die by having my feeding tubes removed? No, absolutely not. That is the quandry. The only "life support" Terri needs is food an water. Basically, she requires the same care as an infant.

I do not support removing her feeding tube. I agree with euthanasia. But, what is happening to Terri right now is murder. She isn't being "allowed to die."

Is it okay to allow an animal to die by not giving it food and water? That's animal cruelty.

Is it all right to exectute a prisoner by with-holding food and water? That's a clear violation of the "cruel and unusual punishment" clause of our great Constitution.

You've seen pictures and read reports about the starving people around the world. They lie in agony, clutching thier stomaches. It is a horrible, painful way to die. No one is willing to step up and guarantee that Terri will feel no pain.

So, what is my solution? Mercy killing. I see no problem giving her an OD of some sort. Or, giving her enough meds to numb her while she starves. But, the current plan seems to be just pull the tube and wait. That is wrong and it is very different from standard "pull the plug" cases where the person in question is brain dead and the body is being kept working via purely mechanical means.

I also have a problem with her husband. He's got too much of a vested interest in her death. It will give him a certain level of freedom he doesn't have and he'll gain slightly monetarily. He's too interested in seeing her dead.

Iraq Report

2005-03-21T10:37:00.000-05:00

My wife is in the Green Zone in Baghdad. She is working there as a civilian for a few months. I was extremely worried about the whole thing, but, as it turns out, Baghdad isn't as bad as we believed.

She has two major complaints.

1. Office Politics - her accomodations are fine, the food is decent enough and not too institutional, but the office politics are driving her nuts. Lazy and/or incompetent people that cause her extra work. Sounds just like home.

2. Bad Hair Days - every time she leaves her building to go to chow or back to her quarters, she has to wear a flack jacket and helmet. The helmet messes up her hair. She's very, very annoyed by that. After leaving the harsh wet weather, she thought she'd have some good hair days in the desert.

All in all, I'd say Baghdad isn't as bad as everyone thinks. Yes, she's in the Green Zone, but even that has been touted as being dangerous and deadly.

She has heard some explosions and seen smoke pillars from various attacks, but nothing even close. All of the attacks that she mentioned didn't even show up on the news...which makes me wonder what the MSM is actually doing while they are there.

Not safer, but pain free

2005-03-18T15:16:00.000-05:00

Radley Balko links to a post about the "Drug War." I often agree with him, but this is the kind of doctor that should be put away. Basically, anyone that wanted could show up, pay cash and get a prescription of choice. This is bad medicine. As a chronic pain patient, I want to see guys like this locked up for a variety of reasons.

First, it gives the Feds something to do...which means they will leave my doctor alone.

Second, this guy is giving a bad rap to any legitimate pain patients. I'm not sure how long I'd survive without some sort of relief. I have a legitimate pain doctor that has me on appropriate medications, physical therapy and meditation techniques. Simply prescribing pain killers doesn't help the patient.

Third, this guy is facilitating a fast slide in life for a whole bunch of people. Unemployment, family problems, theft - anything to get the cash for the next fix. He made it easy to get that fix.

Fourth, I believe (but have no proof) that addicts take money out of my pocket - addiction centers, ER visits, welfare, etc. Not too many drug addicts are contributing to society, which means they are taking away. Semantics aside, there are government give-aways and drug addicts are getting and I'm giving. The less leaches, the smaller the system.

At Risk of Belaboring the Obvious

2005-03-18T07:18:00.000-05:00

Timohty Noah is a lefty whacko.

There, I said it. Everyone was thinking it after this article, but I'm the one that said it.

The run down:

Noah thinks Ari Fleischer's new book is full of lies. Ari says the press is biased and liberal. He backs up that point by making these observations:

1. The press thinks the government's job is to solve problems.
2. They use lots of tear jerker stories of losers that are out of work.
3. They concentrate on the unemployment numbers.

Noah responds by saying (this is a cut and paste from his article):

At risk of belaboring the obvious:

1. If the government doesn't exist to solve problems, what the hell do we have it for? We can argue about the particular problems government should solve, and about how successfully government addresses them at any given time, but not, I think, about whether government should be in the problem-solving business.

2. Un-picturesque though they may be, people do tend to suffer when the economy is faltering, as it did throughout the period covered in Fleischer's memoir. If a lagging economy didn't cause people to suffer, there would be no great reason to keep track of the economy at all. Anecdotes about individual sufferers help the public understand in a concrete way what it means to have a weak economy.

3. The principal way people suffer when economic growth is weak or nonexistent is by losing their jobs. The statistic that keeps track of the people who lose their jobs is the unemployment rate (at the moment a so-so 5.4 percent). Fleischer doesn't want the press to focus on the "micro" story of individual suffering, but neither does he want the press to focus on the "macro" story of economic statistics. In effect, Fleischer is saying that it's unfair for the press to cover the economy at all.

First, Noah's first point proves Ari's first point. Noah really does think the government's job is to solve problems. I'd wager that there is a large number of people who disagree. Those people would not be liberals. There are also a large number of people that do agree - liberals. I'm no genius, but I do have a college degree and took some government classes. I also read the constitution. It seems to me that the job of the government is to provide for the nation's defense, regulate interstate trade and administer our legal system. I don't recall ever seeing or reading anything that said the government's job was to solve problems. If anyone can show me valid proof that the U.S. government's job is problem solving, I'll print this post and eat it.

Second, I've seen the unwashed masses. Yes, they are very sad stories. They are poor, they are unemployed, they have massive money problems and you can go pretty much anywhere to find a few and get a sob story. Talk to nearly any member of my family. Life is tough. Life is tougher when you don't have a job. I don't feel sorry for any of them. Everywhere you turn, there are job listings. If it means feeding your family, take a job at McDonald's. If you didn't have enough pride to go to college and get an education, why do have enough pride to say "no" to a job you don't like. Suck it up and get to work. When I had trouble finding a job, I delivered pizza for Dominoes during the day and worked as a short order cook at night. I cut back on everything - cable, phone, eating out, etc. - to make ends meet until I found something better six months later.

Third, I remember being taught that 5% unemployment is as close to full employment that we could ever get. I expect certain fluctuations. The problem I have with the press is the way they spin it. 4.5% means that lots of people just stopped looking, or the military is counted or the number is flawed in some other way, 5.4% means the world is coming crashing down.

So, basically, Noah proved Ari's points while claiming to refute them. That sounds pretty much like a lefty whacko to me.

Honey, I'm Home!

2005-03-15T06:21:00.000-05:00

Wow, what an odessy (did I spell that right?). I have just spent two weeks travelling the US for work. Virginia to New Jersey to Florida to ALL OVER West Virginia to home. I've posted about New Jersey, the only part of Florida I saw was Tampa so most of this post will be West Virginia. But, first, a short paragraph on the Data Center I saw in Tampa.

The Data Center was a very nice facility. They tout it as the "Co-Lo Technology Hotel." It is very close to the internet back-bone - only one hop away. They have excellent physical security, excellent disaster preparedness, good temperature control, a nice set up and good fire watch. But, it had major problems that really scared me. I didn't see the battery room. That is usually a source of pride at a data-center and they talked about it, but didn't show us. There were open panels in the electrical room and cardboard boxes all over the place. The chemical fire suppression system was impressive, but hadn't been checked in three years. The control room had people drinking coffee and an open bottle of water right over-top of some of the machines. All that planning and money will eventually go up in smoke. Too many fire hazaards.

As for West Virginia, again, WOW. Let's do a day by day, just for fun.

Sunday - I drove there. Very hilly and relatively un-eventful. The only thing I noticed was a lack of eateries near all the factories. There were several miles of an industrial area and the only retail place was a gas station. Someone should open a diner.

Monday - I drove to a little out of the way place called Buckhannon. There was some sort of police training session right near the hotel and the place was filled by West Virginia's finest. They all seemed like standard cops, but fit the stereotypes from several places. There was the crusty old donut eater guy, the potbellied tough guy, the young handsome eager guy and a few generic detective types that looked at everyone as a potential criminal.

Tuesday - We did our first training. The clinic was in the middle of nowhere - like everything in WV, apparently. I didn't see any barefoot people, but I did see a sex toy farm (or maybe a WV whorehouse) that was raising sheep. On the way home, it snowed like crazy. I guess any snow storm that high in the mountains is a blizzard. I couldn't see ten feet in front of me. The driving was really nuts. This is the day I discovered the lack of communications available. My cell didn't get a signal, the internet at the hotel was up and down, the land-lines were all down and even the satellite phone in my truck struggled to get a signal. I was really cut off from civilization.

Wednesday - There was a clinic, right on a river that looked like it was about to flood. The lady in charge was a real babe and was very nice and seemed to be in a perpetual good mood. Some guy is lucky - smart, sexy, good job and good attitude. I also noticed the roads a little more today. They have a good driving surface, but they are really winding. The S-Curve signs also don't give you any warning. I was cruising a straight stretch at 55 when I hit a curve that allowed about 30. I think they gave me about 50 feet of warning to slow down. The whole state was like that.

Thursday - Nothing too eventful, but this is when I started to notice the housing. There really are a lot of trailers in WV, but the more disturbing part was the shacks. There would be a one room, one floor, stone block "house" with a satellite dish that was nearly as big as the "home." These things were everywhere. I was shocked that anyone would live in one. The really odd part is that most of them looked brand new. There were also incredible mansions interspersed with these things. It was an odd mixture. The most annoying thing I noticed was the lack of paint. Some of the houses were just standard small homes. They looked okay, nothing fantastic, just a standard generic house that was in desperate need of a paint job. I figured it was probably $100 worth of paint and brushes, but these people just didn't do it. The whole thing was very depressing.

Friday - Another uneventful training day, but a hell of a ride home. It snowed again while I was in the mountains. Three hours of searching for the road and tons of cars that went right off the side. It was snowing hard and fast and accumulating quickly. It was very nerve racking, but once I got out of the mountains it cleared right up.

In conclusion, WV is a beautiful state and a real sportsman's paradise. But, for a lowly IT schlepp like me, it was a nightmare.

Kill the children

2005-02-28T12:52:00.000-05:00

There is a FOX article today about the upcoming decision in the Supreme Court regarding the death penalty for teenagers.

According to the article, "the American Medical Association and American Psychiatric Association, among others, have argued that 16- and 17-year-olds are, in a sense, physically incapable of making judgments as well as adults, and are therefore not as culpable."

Well, if that is the case, what about 18 or 19 year olds? Is there some sort of physiological change that occurs at 18? When, exactly, is a person capable of being culpable? And, what does "in a sense" mean?

I don't see the point in making a clear demarcation like that. How many of them are going to feel differently about the murder they committed at age 15 when they are 21?

I'd say that if you know the difference between right and wrong, then you know that killing is wrong. If you plan a murder, commit a murder, then take actions to conceal yourself as the perpetrator, you know you are wrong and you deserve to die....regardless of your age.

I am Psychic

2005-02-25T18:12:00.000-05:00

Or maybe it is psychotic. Either way, I have a prediction.

Someone associated with either the FReepers or Little Green Footballs will scour Ward Churchill's books and find that he is also a plagarist.

At that point, the University of Colorado will finally get rid of him.

Why isn't Ward in movies? He is one scary looking dude. He could be the creeper killer in any movie. Even better, he could dress like a woman and play the part of Janet Reno...or Helen Thomas...or Madeline Albright...or, like Eddie Murphy, he could play all three in an uproarious but touching comedy about three lesbians caught in a love triangle while living in Amsterdam.

Liberal? Conservative? Libertarian?

2005-02-25T07:47:00.000-05:00

A little of each, I think. I figure that I ought to post my personal political leanings so it is in writing and anyone that wants to argue with me about something will know where I'm coming from.

I'm a fiscal conservative. I don't think taxes should be collected so they can be given to other people that aren't doing something useful. I don't like welfare, subsidies or social security. Yes, I see many exceptions to that rule of thumb - physical and mental handicapps, etc.

The libertarian in me says that government should be as small as possible, to grant the maximum amount of freedoms. But that is tempered with common sense.

The liberal in me is all about helping others and agree with liberals, to a point, on many issues - from abortion to the environment to gay marriage.

No, I not a moral equivalest...or whatever they are called. I believe there is a moral right and a moral wrong.

I am a bit of a warmonger. I don't see the point of having the biggest stick unless you use it once in a while. A mix of positive and negative reinforcement seems appropriate.

These are general, rules of thumb. I try to use my own common sense, formed through my own experiences. I know there are exceptions to those rules.

I give money to charities that I trust.

I have great respect for many people - Tom Palmer on the libertarian front, Ronald Reagan or George W. Bush on the republican front, Hillary Clinton or Tom Warner on the democratic side. They all seem to have good ideas, good moral character and a good dose of common sense. They aren't perfect, I don't agree with all they do and they are a strange mix of people to admire, but in my book, they do more things right than they do wrong.

Supreme Litmus test.

2005-02-24T17:41:00.000-05:00

Via Powerline, I hopped to Hugh Hewitt, who pointed me to this post by Carol Platt Liebaou in which she complains that liberals are going to argue against assumed Supreme Court Nominee Michael Luttig based on the premise that he should be recused from death penalty cases because his father was murdered and he gave a victim impact statement at his father's trial.

Wew! This is really a stretch - by everyone involved.

First, we have to assume that Michael Luttig will be nominated to the Supreme Court - safe assumption, maybe, but still an assumption.

Second, we have to assume that liberals are going to argue against him - again, safe assumption.

Third, we have to assume that the liberals will use this argument - this is where it gets dicey. The only one making the assertion that liberals will/might use this argument is Hugh Hewitt and Carol Platt Liebaou.

Fourth, we have to assume that people will take the the "parrot lady" Laura LaFay (why does she write about parrots so much?) and her arguments seriously.

Fifth, we have to assume that Laura LaFay (or anyone else) even considers this an argument against the Judge. It is an argument she didn't actually make. She just reported on a few lawyers trying to get Judge Luttig recused (smart tactical move I think, though I'm not a lawyer) for just that reason. LaFay's big cause seems to be prison conditions. She also seems to be a bleeding heart liberal and has held the standard liberal line on Abu Graib while connecting it to US prison conditions.

This seems to me to be just a way to beat up on liberals for something they haven't actually done yet. Powerline, Hugh Hewitt and Carol Platt LieBaou should be ashamed. This is the same type of misleading crap that bloggers accuse the media of perpetrating. IF someone actually tries to use this argument, I'll jump on the bandwagon condemning it. But, unless they have some sort of evidence that this is in the works, they should all just lay off.

It is easy enough these days to beat up on liberals without having to invent things.

I know who I am.

2005-02-23T16:37:00.000-05:00

Okay, I'll bite. Frank J. at IMAO has decided we should all put up our credentials. I'm game, so without any further BS on my part, my answers to:

THE "WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?" BLOGGER QUIZ
1. Who the hell do you think you are?

I'm so pretty, oh, so pretty. I'm so pretty and witty and bright.

2. So, other than blogging, what's your job? Do you work at some fast food joint, dumbass?

I am a $75 per hour whore, better known as a computer consultant. Just above lawyer on the pond scum food chain.

3. Do you have like any experience in journalism, idiot?

I worked for my high school newspaper - I was the guy that got to interview the principal and the town mayor...though I was very stoned and don't remember much. Except for that time that the mayor turned into a lizard and started speaking in heiroglyphs. I still can't figure out how he pulled that off.

4. Do you even read newspapers?

I don't like to get ink on my hands and there is a rubber glove shortage in my area, so no, I don't read them...just the headlines I can see through the glass on the little dispenser machine thingies.

5. Do you watch any other news than FOX News propaganda, you ignorant fool?

Oh, this one I got nailed. Yes, I watch the naked news every night, though between the nudity and the jiggling of my bed, I don't catch much.

6. I bet you're some moron talk radio listener too, huh?

Do Howard Stern and the XM comedy channel count as talk radio?

7. So, do you get a fax from the GOP each day for what to say, you @#$% Republican parrot?

Fax? Hah, reviewing faxes is billable work...and the income tax rebate checks are all used up, so I usually just shred them.

8. Why do you and your blogger friends want to silence and fire everyone who disagrees with you, fascist?

Well, mostly because it is fun and makes me feel all powerful - like Superman and Spiderman - only in pajamas instead of tights.

9. Are you completely ignorant of other countries, or do you actually own a passport?

I have a passport, it isn't mine, but I do have one. I also have an MSN passport, but I don't use it much, since they are a bunch of liberal weenies.

10. Have you even been to another country, you dumb hick?

YES! I've been to both Los Angeles and New York City, plus Canada, Mexico, France, Germany, Italy, England, Phillipines and Washington, D. C. I consider hick a compliment. I'm glad you understand that I can take you out with a high powered rifle from a thousand yards, then gut you, skin you, mount your head and turn you into a very tasty road kill stew. Chili powder makes everything tasty.

11. If you're so keen on the war, why haven't you signed up, chickenhawk?

I did my time. Six years as a Navy Corpsman. My wife did 19 as an officer. I am permanently recallable due to my medical training. Part of that "back-door-draft" you guys always bitch about. I'll be happy to go when my number is called. And, just to prove a point, on March 5, my wife will be going to Bagdad for four months in her current job with the Army Corps of engineers. So, what have you done that is useful, other than talk bad about the military and collude with the insurgents.

12. Do you have any idea of the horrors of war? Have you ever reached into a pile of goo that was your best friend's face?

Well, yes, I have. I was a Navy medic, ran ambulances, did ER trauma work, etc. The goo that was on my best friends face was his acne. It was really gross and I puked up a lung. He had these vicious whiteheads that would pop if you just touched them a little. Sometimes, they'd explode like a bomb. Yuck. I'm getting nauseous just thinking about it. I've seen my share of blood and guts and puss...lots of puss. Ugh.

13. Have you ever reached into any pile of goo?

I am a father of four children and have two dogs and a wife with a weak stomache. I have definitely reached into a "pile of goo" - unidentifiable goo at that. So, there.

14. Once again, who the hell do you think you are?!

Call me Ishmael or Wade or Dead Guy or Frank or George but not Dan or Eason or John but maybe Steve or Bob. Never call me Brian. That would turn out badly. You haven't even called me that and I'm getting mad about it. My mother calls me by all my brother's names...in order. She just starts at the top with each of us and goes through the whole list until we answer. My wife calls me sweetheart, baby and asshole.

I'm so pretty, oh so pretty. I'm so pretty and witty and bright!

The Politicos are all Crazy

2005-02-22T21:42:00.000-05:00

First, Maurice Hinchey sees Karl Rove behind every bush. Can you believe it? If Rove is really that much of an evil genius, he will be ruling the world in a few years. That is just paranoia in the extreme. Rove must be loving this. Imagine the power you would feel when you absolutely know that you have gotten into your opponents head to this degree.

Then, good ol' Charlie Rangel thinks the term Islamic Terrorist is racist:

Asked about the refusal by some European governments to declare Hezbollah an Islamic terror group, Rangel told WWRL’s Steve Malzberg and Karen Hunter, “To call it Islamic terror is discriminating, it’s bigoted, it is not the right thing to say.”
Rangel even questioned whether, in fact, a worldwide Islamic terrorist movement even existed, saying, “We just take for granted that there is an Islamic terror movement because we do have some fanatic people who come from Islamic countries.”
The Harlem Democrat complained: “When we had the Ku Klux Klan we didn’t call them Baptist terrorists. When Hitler was killing Jews, we didn’t call it Christian terrorists.”

Baptist terrorists? Christian terrorists? Is he really that stupid? What did the KKK and Hitler have to do with religion? Neither group ever claimed to be doing the work of God. That's just stupid.

Finally, even PowerLine's John Hinderaker flew off the handle. Like a man, he admitted his mistake, apologized and moved on. Much better than the lunatics at other, more liberal sites.

Deep in the heart of Texas

2005-02-22T21:30:00.000-05:00

So, I went to Texas last week - Dallas to be exact. It seemed like a very nice place. I was strange to see barren trees during such warm weather. I was also interested in the trees that didn't lose their leaves. I don't know what they were, but they were green and it was a nice break from the stripped clean mountains.

The place was also surprisingly clean. The roads didn't have any stones on them. I guess it is the lack of snow and salt trucks.

My one bad experience was a highly annoying bus ride. There was some wench sitting a few seats back babbling incessantly about whatever popped into her head.

I was highly amused by all the billboards. They were advertising specifically to Texas. In the mountains, the billboards just advertise something - Hardee's, Sheetz, beer, etc. In Texas, they relate the product specifically to Texas. There was a billboard for Crown Royal that had a regular size bottle and a "Texas" size bottle. American Airlines proclaimed that it "does Texas better."

The buildings were very cool looking. Not too many standard sky scrapers. The buildings had lots of architectural detail and design. Even the sound barriers on the highway had cement caps and some keystone looking things.

The traffic was relatively light and there didn't seem to be much construction going on. It seemed to say that the area was stagnant, but there were far too many small businesses to bear that out.

The oddest thing - Walmart, Target, Pizza Hut, Calico Corners, etc. make you feel at home, but Sonny Bryans smokehouse bbq and Landry's Seafood let you now you are in Texas.

Now I know which exit.

2005-02-10T11:19:00.000-05:00

I took a five state odessy yesterday. Virginia, through West Virginia, through Maryland, through Pennsylvania, finally ending in New Jersey. I came back the same day.

When I got close to my final destination, I was early. I decided to stop for gas and a coffee refill. I picked a random exit off of I-78 and expected to see an area typical of a highway exit. Fast food, car dealerships, restaurants, gas stations and miscellaneous businesses. What I saw really surprised me.

It was like wilderness. Not 100 feet from the ramp, the forest started. There were a scattering of houses mixed in the trees and some quaint settings that were actually quite nice. There was even a sheep farm, which I would expect to see in WV, not NJ. I had to drive a mile to get to the gas station, where I received full service on my vehicle. Fill up, window wash and tire pressure check, just like the old days. I went inside for a cup of coffee and the clerk was cleaning up the coffee area and pored the cup of coffee for me. Decent coffeee at that. I was pleasantly surprised and got a very good first impression of NJ. Then it went down hill.

MapQuest took me through the heart of Newark. Here I am, a big goofy white guy wearing a suit in a giant pick up truck, in the middle of a ghetto with prostitutes hollering at me. I was somewhere in the vicinity of the art center, which apparently is a very rough section of town. I was pretty sure I wouldn't make it out alive. Every person I passed was of a race other than white and glared at my offensive presence.

Then I got to the Kearny area. It was very nice. A long straight boulevard with shops, people walking, kids going to school and remarkably clean. But, there was no place to park. Here I am in the land of cars and highways, just surviving the ghettos and I couldn't find a parking spot. I kept driving and felt certain I would hit another ghetto at any moment and risk my life again.

My business finished, I found a safer way out of town. I took the Garden State Parkway, which has an amazingly large cemetery that stretches out on both sides of the road and has a little deli-food mart on one corner, right up against the tomb stones and mausoleums. One each side of the cemetery, there was a two lane road with row houses across the street. I'm not sure I'd want to be there in life or in death. Both prospects are disconcerting.

Traffic was much lighter than I thought. There were plenty of cars and we were following very closely, but traffic was moving very well.

The strangest part of the trip was leaving NJ. I flew right into NJ along I-78, but on the way out, I had to stop and pay a toll. It was very Hotel California-ish. You can get in, but you can't get out. At least not without paying 75 cents.

All in all, I thought NJ was a nice place and wouldn't mind going back.

Other strange sites:

A female flasher on I-81 north of Harrisburg. She wasn't very well endowed though.
A donkey farm in PA along I-78 in which each donkey had a private barn that looked like a giant "dog-gloo" you can get from the evil WalMart.
A convoy of six tanker trucks carrying different chemicals. Lord knows what would happen in a pile up.
A male of middle eastern decent with a dot on his forhead. I've seen women like this, but never a man. I don't remember what it means or whether it is religious or cultural. I just know I never saw a man with one.
A funeral procession with some idiot driving beside each car and honking. I think he was telling each of them that thier lights were on. Kind of funny, but tasteless.
Real, live prostitutes. Other than Tiajuana strippers, I'd never seen a prostitute.
A rain, snow line. I didn't realize it was really a line. It was raining and as I went up over a mountain, it very abrubtly turned to snow.

Silly Radley, Its "For The People"

2005-02-08T09:11:00.000-05:00

Radley Balko is confused by Kevin Drum's logic. I can explain.

Drum is very consistent in his views. It just doesn't make sense to a Libertarian, because, well, the logic is designed to not make sense, but sound like it does.

Radley views the logic from a freedom perspective - freedom of choice, freedom of association, freedom from government interference. It all makes good logic and good sense to most of us. But, Drum uses different logic. It is NONSENSICAL LOGIC. It is a great tool for the left to use. They can make all kinds of nonsensical claims and then back it up with logical, intelligent thought that the rest of us aren't smart enough to understand. Look:

It is good for the people for the government to prevent the people from smoking.
It is good for the people to prevent the government from taking their property.
It is good for the people for the government to protect their sexual preferences.
It is good for the people for the government not to go to war.
It is good for the people for the government to censor television and radio.

Never mind the whole state's consistently respecting property rights junk and the lack of reasoning behind whether it is really good for the people or not. All that is important is that people like Drum understand.

They understand why the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz is smart. The wizard gave him a diploma, which he didn't need, because he was always smart, even though his head is filled with straw. He just needed proof that he was smart, which suddenly made him a math genius, showing he was smart. But, he didn't have to show he was smart. We knew he was smart because we have proof - he has a diploma! See?

It is logic, it just doesn't make any sense. I'll give you an example that maybe you can understand.

Nickels are money.
Pennies are money.
I have three pennies.
You have one nickel.
Three pennies weigh more than one nickel.
I have more money than you.

It is very logical, it just doesn't make sense. Don't get all worked up over people like that. It will only frustrate you. Don't ask for consistency, because they are being consistent, its "for the people."

Happy Birthday to Ron and Me

2005-02-07T09:02:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was my birthday. It was also Ronald Reagan's birthday. Ronald Reagan is the reason I am a republican...most of the time.

As a child, growing up in central PA, I only got a few television stations. Each time the President was on TV, I watched. I never really understood what he was saying. I was very young and he was using very big words. But, I was fascinated nonetheless. When I did understand what he was saying, I agreed. I didn't have the Vietnam War or Watergate cynicism evident in the reporters that commented on his appearances, so I usually disagreed with them. I also was touched by the Reagan magic that made it seem he was talking directly to me.

When I graduated high school, I joined the Navy and ended up stationed at the Quantico Marine Corps base (I was a corpsman) where I met President Reagan face to face. He was there for a horse ride at the stables. Apparently, he did that rather frequently. I was lucky enough to be part of the crew deployed to support the President's visit. He made it a point to shake each of our hands and ask us a small talk type question. It was a huge waste of time for a man with so much more to do, but he stopped, to talk to a few service members that were likely to vote for him anyway. There was no press and no mention of it anywhere other than the base paper.

I met him for a second time when he and President Bush 41 went to Quantico for a round of golf. Again, my republicanism was reinforced when both men took the time to thank the servicemen present. But, I was especially joyed at the fact that Reagan remembered me.

On the other hand, President Clinton never came to Quantico and the stories I heard from friends that worked in the White House Communications Office totally turned me off.

Ronald Reagan is the reason I am a republican and George W. Bush is the reason I still am. He's learned the Reagan lessons of being a human, not just a politician. I provide as evidence of this, three things.

1. He went to Bagdad on Thanksgiving. He didn't have to do it. It was dangerous for him personally. But, he wanted to show his solidarity and thanks to the troops. No matter how the media portrayed this, he did it for the troops. Was the danger he faced worth the publicity at a time well before the election was heating up? I think not.

2. Donald Rumsfeld did take responsibility for Abu Graihb. He offered his resignation on two seperate occasions. But, President Bush realized that Rumsfeld is well liked and respected by the men in the field. He didn't want to change leaders in the midst of the conflict. It would have gained him votes and made his political life easier if he let Rumsfeld take the fall. But, he thought of the troops first.

3. He retroactively increased death benefits paid to families of service members killed in action. He could have done this before the election and gained some votes, but by waiting until after the election, he sent the clear message that he sincerely cared about the troops and what happened to their families.

President Bush is a great man following in the footsteps of one of the greatest President's the United States ever had.

Happy Birthday, Mr. President - to both of us.

I was bad, I was punished.

2005-02-05T17:29:00.000-05:00

I was late, it was raining, I really needed to get to work and I was driving too fast. I knew I would slide if I stopped for the red-light, so I took my chances and lost. I still think the little old lady I clipped pulled out on purpose. I know she saw me. That's why I was mad.

Yes, I ran a red light and clipped a gaggle of little old ladies and spun their car completely around. To make matters worse, I got out to yell at the driver (because I KNEW she saw me coming and pulled out anyway). I walked right up to her car, she rolled the window down, I said "you stupid f***ing bitch," then all hell broke loose - on me.

She nailed me right in the face with mace - not pepper spray, real mace. I was blinded and could hardly breath and dropped to my knees. Then, she got out and started beating me - viciously. She hit me repeatedly with her purse. Then, the other three old ladies joined in. I was poked in the legs and ribs with an umbrella, I was thumped with a purse, I was kicked in the ribs and one of them even smacked me a few times with a bible. I know it was a bible because I could clearly see the cross coming at my head and had some catholic school flashbacks.

It may seem cowardly, but in the face of superior numbers and superior firepower, I retreated to my car and got the hell out of there. At least I won't have an increase in insurance. My bumper was a little dented and that's it.

But, my body, pride and ego are severely bruised.

Canadian Socia-Capitalism

2005-01-29T19:28:00.000-05:00

So, my lovely daughter attends college in Canada. She recently had a project for her business class where the students had to start and operate a "business" - more commonly known in the US as a fund-raiser.

Her group chose to open a hot dog stand where they sold, remarkably, hot dogs! And, a few other things like soda and sausages.

They quickly found out that there were cyclical sales periods that coincided with the beginning and end of scheduled classes. So as to not sit idly, one young woman trekked inside the buildings and chased down professors to sell hot dogs to. She did fairly well and even got some very generous tips.

The students did a remarkable job and turned a nice profit for the day. They invested their own money, set up everything themselves, did all the work and kept all the books. The professor provided very minimal assistance and guidance.

When all was said and done, the university kept the money. No one is really sure what the money went to. But, the university does have it.

So, there you go, teach students to be capitalists for the betterment of the state - socio-capitalism.

No word on whether the hot dogs were kosher and free of Mad Cows and or human remains.

The Week in Review

2005-01-23T09:16:00.000-05:00

Feminists across the world were incensed by the remarks of Harvard University President Lawrence Summers. Summers indicated that females were weaker and suggested that innate differences between the sexes could help explain why fewer women succeed in science and math careers. The remarks caused Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) biologist Nancy Hopkins, to walk out. She later told reporters she would have "either blacked out or thrown up" if she had remained. Hopkins added, "I would have loved to debate him on this point, but, I was too weak to continue. Women are strong...unless they are too weak to continue and feel faint or are on our period."

Peace protesters at the Presidential Inaugeration were furious that the only press they got was for beating up counter protesters. At the Inaugeral parade, members of DAWN, a peace activist group, beat and kicked a man carrying a pro-Bush sign. An unidentified, masked peace protester was quoted as saying, "we are totally against war and violence, but this guy really pissed me off, so I had to stomp him. It is unfortunate that all the good we did by protesting Bush's unhumanitarian and unjustified war was undone by the press covering only the violent aspects of a largely peaceful protest. We should take out those damn reporters next time so only our message of peace can get through."

In other Inaugeration news, President Bush's speech caused uproar on both sides of the political aisle. His speech was mainly a repeat of President John F. Kennedy's speech, with it's message of spreading freedom and liberty throughout the world, and the courage and conviction of the American people to do it. The main problem seemed to be that Bush generally means what he says and will most likely take action on his own words. Whereas Kennedy was just trying to get laid by sounding both insightful and macho.

Professional hockey players held a new round of negotiations...but none of the people who can make decisions were there, so no one really cares.

Condoleeza Rice was due to be confirmed on the same day of the Inaugeration, but was delayed when senator Robert Byrd refused to agree with a unanimous consent vote. Byrd gave some lame excuse about wanting to debate the nomination. Democrats defended Byrd's decision. House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi said, "Senator Byrd just wants to ensure adequate discussion occurs. This has nothing to do with Ms. Rice being black or Senator Byrd's former membership in the Ku Klux Klan." Republicans were also understanding of Byrd's position. Dennis Hastert was quoted as saying, "we don't think it has anything to do with him being a Klansman. We just think he is so old that he forgot what the vote was for and needed to get a briefing from his aids." That briefing may take a while, as Byrd has refused to talk to any staff member with the title of "aids" for fear of catching the HIV virus.

Finally, our standard item about the United Nations not actually doing anything but taking credit for everyone elses efforts while the diplomats enrich themselves and take posh vacations so they can study nearby tragedies and create 3000 page plan of action papers. We will note that the UN actually deployed two helicopters to the tsunami devestated areas to assist with the relief effort by shuttling diplomats and reporters to the hardest hit areas for proper photo-ops.

Oh, Canada

2005-01-22T18:30:00.000-05:00

Here is my report from the front lines of the Canadia. The Canadians are war-mongers because they are all massing at the US border, preparing for attack. They seem to be living normal lives, but everything they do is in preparation for all out war on the US. I can tell by the look in their eyes and, they ALL SPEAK FRENCH!

When I flew over the enemy lines, the first thing I noticed was how industrial everything looked. It was one massive military-industrial complex. The buildings were all lined up and the same size and shape. It was very communistic. Even the highways were straight as arrows...except for the times when the road "jogged" to one side. Sort of like the incompetent military engineers realized, half way through construction, that they were off the mark and just shifted everything to get it lined up again. I'm convinced this is some sort of ploy to confuse our pilots when the inevitable counter attack bombings occur.

It was also much warmer than I had been told. My ultimate destination was Prince Edward Island, which is supposed to be bad. The propagandists in Canada always say how cold it is an how snowy it is. Well, there was only a little snow and the temperature hovered just above freezing. Not nearly as bad as we've been told. Just another Canadian lie to keep us from learning more about them.

They also have "self-defense" armories. I'd buy that, but the things are everywhere. I'd wager that every Canadian is within 200 feet of a gun at all times. I don't think they are very good shots though. I played pool with a few of them and they weren't very good. Unless, of course, this was just another con job to keep me from being suspicious.

I also saw lots of cool looking cows. They certainly didn't look angry or mad to me. Again, just another bit of propaganda to keep us out of their country. A couple of the cows did look a little annoyed, but nothing approaching mad.

There are also mysterious giant tire/snowmen everywhere. These are large, 20 foot tall snowman looking statues that are made of tires and wrapped in white plastic. I can't believe anyone would go to all that effort unless there was some underlying evil intent.

There are lighthouses all over Canada, except they are camoflauged. They look nothing like a lighthouse. They are shaped funny and very short. The are also all over the place. I think they are all laser beams, waiting to blind out troops.

In short, the Canadians are very, very scary and we should anhilate them at the earliest possible time. Screw Syria and N. Korea, the Canadians are much more dangerous. Axis of Evil my ass, we've got evil just to the north.

Kos - Not As Think As I Dumb You Are

2005-01-20T07:21:00.000-05:00

Kos is a Republican operative. There is no other reason for proposing such idiocy:

The Democrats need to offer an alternative agenda over the next four years. It won't be enacted, so they can shoot for the moon. The hell with good policy, make proposals that sound great. The GOP used flag burning and gay marriage to rally their side. We can find equivalents. Don't worry about them becoming law, because they won't. Worry about branding the party and placing every bit of bad news (and there will be plenty) squarely at the feet of the party that controls all levers of government.

We need to make the GOP radioactive. Their incompetence is providing the ammunition. It is our job to wield it. Remember, they control everything. We don't need to be bipartisan. We don't need to work with them for them to pass their agenda. So we offer up clear alternatives to everything they propose. We have to be aggressive.

Absolutely brilliant. The Democrats will look completely foolish. Can you imagine the alternatives:

Republicans, today, proposed new legislation to enact a popular flat tax. All workers would pay a straight 15% tax on all income. The new law would virtually eliminate all confusing tax rules, tax forms and the IRS labyrinth. Democrats countered with their own plan which would impose a flat tax in a graduated manner. Workers making less than the federally defined poverty line would pay no tax, workers make more than poverty line but less than the social security cap would pay 5%, workers making more than the social security cap but less than $150,000 would pay 10%, workers between $150,000 and $1 million would pay 15% and anyone earning income over $1 million would pay 75%. To ease the marriage penalty, couples filing jointly would pay 2/3 of the single rate, unless they made over $500,000, then they would pay 3/4 the single rate. Any couple making over $1 million, with less than three children would pay the full 75%. There are many more nuances to the plan, which is outlined by the DNC on their website.

There is no such thing as a "clear alternative" proposal by the Democrats. They are the party of policy wonks. They vote for things before they vote against them to show they agree with the principle of the legislation but disagree with the form it took and would rather have the right legislation than any legislation at all. Have you ever seen a Democrat take a clear, concise stand on anything? Kos is actually encourage Democrats to do things that will further alienate them from the American people. He MUST be a Republican operative.

I truly fear the Democrats are killing this country. While I may be closer to the Republicans ideologically, I clearly see the need for a strong opposition to provide balance. The Democrats are not even close to being strong and are getting weaker by the day. They are headed straight for Libertarian and Green party marginalization.

British Monarch Embarassed by Nazi Symbol Ban

2005-01-18T11:00:00.000-05:00

Queen Elizabeth is said to be highly embarrassed by the proposed EU-wide ban on the Swastika. Her grandson, that little brat and third from the throne Prince Harry, was recently featured on the front page of British tabloids sporting a Nazi uniform, complete with Swastika, a drink and a cigarette. This started a huge up-roar within the US and the UK.

In the UK, they were very upset that Harry had the bad judgement to be wearing a Swastika. Even though there are very few Jews in the UK, the public saw this as an opportunity to finally side with the Jews on something. The EU, has now proposed a complete, Europe-wide ban on Nazi symbols. This embarrassed the Queen for reasons only the mainland EU can understand.

Even the Queen was confused and said, "I'm not certain why they think I should be embarrassed. I represent every fallen soldier who fought the oppressive Nazi regime. We are the only country that fought Hitler from start to finish. Our boys were dying why those wimpy Frenchman were sipping lattes and collaborating with the Germans. On second thought, I know why I should be embarrassed. I should have convinced Harry Truman to nuke the whole damned continent back in '44. They are right. It is highly embarrassing that I missed that opportunity. Maybe I can make up for it today by suggesting a ban on the ultimate Nazi symbol, the German language!"

In the US, the MSM was highly insulted. It wasn't that Harry was wearing a Swastika, but that he had the audacity to smoke in a designated non-smoking area. When asked about the dust up, new NBC news ancor Brian Williams was quoted as saying, "I don't know anyone that voted for Bush, but that doesn't mean I'm biased!"

Senator Ted Kennedy was more empathetic towards the Prince, saying, "Er, ah, Prince Harry is a just a misguided child. Er, ah, I can understand his attraction to Socialist symbols, but maybe he should stick with something less controversial like a Che Gueverra t-shirt. He's a handsome, er, ah, young man. He should have wooed the reporter to his car and driven him off a bridge or something. Er, ah, having too many drinks and killing someone is easier to get away with than you think. Er, ah. Strike that last part."

An undisclosed high ranking Bush official was quoted as saying, "Did Harry make a mistake? Certainly. Did he mean any harm? No. Should he be beaten? Probably. Would I like to administer 50 lashes? Absolutely. But, you deal with the foreign dignitaries you have, not the dignitaries you wish you had."

Other foreign leaders had this to say:

French Prime Minister: "This is excellent news. Even though there is so much anti-semitism in my country, I can now point out how anti-semetic the British are, thus deflecting the spotlight away from France. Harry is such a stooge. I wonder if I can make money from this."

Canadian Prime Minister: "We're not interested in commenting. Canada doesn't wish to offend anyone, so we'll just keep our opinions to ourselves. Thank you for asking though. I hope it wasn't too much of a bother getting in touch with us. Would you like something to drink?"

Mexican President: "Prince Harry, who's that? Can I use this as a platform to further my relationship with the US? What did Bush have to say? Can't you just make up a quote for me that won't offend the Leader of the Free World?"

German Chancellor: "We are proud that Harry would assist us in offending the US by choosing our ultimate symbol of nationalism...oh, wait this isn't an election year. It's just the British Monarch, who cares?"

This Blog Sucks!

2005-01-18T10:57:00.000-05:00

Since I really have nothing intelligent to say and most people find me humorous (hopefully not just funny to look at), I have decided that from this post forth, I will attempt nothing but humor. I want to be sort of an on-line version of one of my favorite TV programs - The Daily Show.

Let the further sucking begin!

The Democrats Still Don't Get It

2005-01-11T07:35:00.000-05:00

This article is very enlightening on why the Democrats keep losing elections. Just for fun, let's point out the...the...well, idiocy!

Democrats "as a group are uneasy" about attacking and defending on character, says Harold Ickes, a former Clinton aide who heads the Media Fund, a political ad organization. "But they damn well better get the stomach," he adds, because "we've seen way too many of our candidates taken down on issues of character."

There are two idiocies here. Uneasy about attacking character? It seems to me that the 2000 drunk driving story is character based. I'd say painting Bush as a National Guard coward and deserter is the same thing...and don't even get me started on Rathergate. The second idiocy is candidates taken down on character issues. Could it be, maybe, that the Democratic Presidential nominees just sucked in general? John Kerry was so strewn with flaws (X-mas in Cambodia, "returning" his medals, too wonkish, couldn't connect with public, really did flip-flop a bit, Theresa, orange skin, etc, etc, etc), it is a bit incredible to blame his loss solely on character assassination by the Republicans.

managed to brand them as unpatriotic (Michael Dukakis, the "card-carrying" member of the ACLU), untruthful (Al Gore (news - web sites), the "serial exaggerator") and unprincipled and weak (Kerry, the "flip-flopper" who couldn't be trusted to keep the nation safe). All are variations on a theme: These men have character flaws that disqualify them for the White House

Well...yes...on all counts. I fail to see how any of that was branding, though. The article implies that none of those traits was true. But, we all know Dukakis was a liberal - he said so. We all know Gore exaggerated - Love Canal, inventing the internet. We all know Kerry was a flip-flopper - he voted for it before he voted against it. I would hardly say that pointing out character flaws in branding. Plus, when did he truth become a "theme?"

"It is stunning, the extent to which Democrats keep repeating their errors over time," says Darrell West, a political scientist at Brown University in Providence.

This one is really funny. Mr. West's quote, within the context of the article, implies that the Democrats are surprised that the Republicans attack character, rather than the truth - Democrats keep nominating unelectable candidates with character flaws. Every day, I look in the mirror and I am surprised I'm white! I keep wondering how the mirror manages to do that.

Ruy Teixeira, co-author of The Emerging Democratic Majority, says Kerry's silence on the Vietnam ads "gave voters the impression that where there's smoke, there's fire, and why didn't this guy defend himself?" When the campaign finally fought back, he says, the delay suggested it was done out of political necessity, not because the charges were baseless.

There are a number of funnies in this paragraph. Ruy Teixeira?? Is that really a name? "The Emerging Democratic Majority?" HA, HA, HA, HA, HA. Plus, he did respond to the ads because of political necessity. Then, tried to counter with Rathergate - see, you're getting me started.

So, the gyst of the article, actually, the main point, is that John Kerry lost the election because the Republicans are evil and mean. They pointed out is many and obvious character flaws!!! How dare they?!?!?! Obviously, the Democrats have no chance of winning an election anytime soon. Until they figure out that they possess a certain moral bankruptcy, they'll never put forth a candidate worth voting for.

Think about it, George Bush is a polarizing figure. Many, many people hate him. I posit that George Bush was responsible for about 90% of the voter turnout this time around. 52% of the people loved him enough to show up and vote, the other 38% hated him enough to show up and vote for "the other guy." The Democrats could have run anyone and the results of the election would be the same. That tells me that John Kerry wasn't worth voting for as much as George Bush was worth voting against.

Tsunami and Politics 2

2005-01-04T09:08:00.000-05:00

Here we go, it is getting stupid.

The LA Times - Bush was slow, always has been, always will be, blew a great PR opportunity.

and, Bush isn't really concerned, he's just showcasing concern - gee, wouldn't that qualify as "news analysis," as the LA Times like to call their lefty editorials.

The Washington Post - the tsunami is a great excuse to get out of Iraq!

The New York Times - this one is so full of bullshit, it is hard to know where to start.
Bush's original pledge of $15M was embarrassing and piddling...even though it came with an aircraft carrier and Marine strike force.
The UN is going to redeem itself...even though they've already been taking credit for things they didn't do and are busy getting down to the business of disaster relief by setting up a four-star hotel and 24 catering for themselves.
Finally, at least for the crap I'll point out, none of the money we pledge will ever get spent.

CNN - they think celebrities are oh so generous because they are going to perform for free in another telethon. Once again, I say forget the telethon and give a million a piece. They can afford it. Sandra Bullock did it, why can't the rest of them. I'll bet Rosie O'Donnel gives a bundle too. Leonardo DiCaprio also pledged something. I wonder if the Times will track him...sorry, that won't happen, he's a democrat.

As a side note, USA Today tells of the evil of cows. I think my story is better.

Tsunamis and Politics

2004-12-30T16:45:00.000-05:00

I find it amazing that in the face of one of the worst disasters in modern history, people will take the opportunity to play politics.

The UN is just going nuts. One guy says the US is stingy, another says we are messing things up with our own coalition. WAPO says Bush is both insensitive and freaky and all the left wing blogs are saying even worse.

Pathetic.

WOW 2

2004-12-27T13:18:00.000-05:00

My previous post caused a little confusion, so I'll try to explain my point.

In America, there are American Muslims. People that were born and raised here. People that go to Mosque faithfully, believe in God and believe in charitable works. These are not ordinary Muslims. They are far outside the mainstream. They have been "Westernized." They are part of the American fabric and fit in very well.

The majority of Muslims are not so nice. They hate America. They view us as unclean infidels. No matter what we do, we cannot change that opinioin. The Koran and tolerance of any non-Muslim religion does not mix. They are commanded by Mohammed (a truly viscious warrior) to convert non-Muslims. Those that cannot be converted must be destroyed and/or subjugated.

Many people don't truly understand the difference. The Muslims they know are westernized. They are nice people - friends, neighbors. They can't comprehend the unbridled hatred that the majority of Muslims feel for Christians and Jews. They really do have a cartoonish, evil desire for world domination.

WOW

2004-12-12T20:13:00.000-05:00

I've tried to explain this to others. Muslims come in all shapes and sizes. Some are very religious, like "Born Again" Christians. Others take religion with a grain of salt. Sure, they believe in God, but don't really take the Koran/Bible all that seriously. They concentrate on the positive aspects of living a good life, help others when you can, etc. But, for all those Muslims that truly believe...we need to be worried.

Carnival Time!

2004-12-03T21:10:00.000-05:00

Yummy food, new blogs to explore, good times for all. Carnival of the Recipes #16 is up. As always, update your weekend shopping list.

Uh-Oh

2004-12-01T08:59:00.000-05:00

Regarding the "Everybody Send a Dollar" post, maybe Steve Gardner is full of shit. His employer responds.

Keep that dollar for now. At least until this plays out a little more.

Everybody send a dollar.

2004-11-29T18:43:00.000-05:00

This guy is worth it. If we can get people to send him a dollar, he can get back on his feet and can see just how much we think of him and how much we thank him.

Hopefully, he'll set up a paypal account or something.

Reasons I Hate Walmart

2004-11-29T09:58:00.000-05:00

I shop at Walmart as infrequently as possible. Occasionally, I go just to see if it gets any better. Everytime, I am reminded why I hate Walmart.

1. Walmartians - these are the poor, hungry, huddled masses that can only afford to shop at Walmart. They are quite often unpleasant to look at or converse with. Whether it is prejudicial or not, you start to feel a little uppity and can't believe you shop at the same stores as "those" people.

2. Stupid people - they all seem to congregate at Walmart. They block the aisles, write checks out completely at the counter, don't have enough money to pay, argue prices with the check out clerks, have a full cart in the express aisle, etc. You see a little of this at every store, but Walmart has so many people, you are almost guaranteed to experience this at Walmart.

3. Crappy products - Walmart is so hell-bent on keeping low prices, quality suffers. I'm not sure many shoppers can look at a Dirt Devil for $250 and some off brand thing that looks the same but only costs $125 and not pick the cheap one...which will break quickly and not work very well. It is an evil trap that Walmart sets - offer name brands to draw in customers, then put forth so much cheap junk that you can't resist.

4. Sam's Choice - as a kid, I hated generics. They never tasted as good. Walmart is filled with generics and I feel bad for all the little kids that suffer through tasteless colas, only to discover Coke and Pepsi as an adult.

5. Greeters - why do I feel an overwhelming urge to maim the Walmart greeters?

6. Cheerleaders - there is something very disturbing about knowing the store employees are forced to do a Walmart cheer. Very 1984ish.

7. Lack of service - did you ever ask a Walmart clerk to help you find something? They usually say that it isn't thier department. When they do try to help, they are usually wrong.

8. Business practices - my hometown is now poorer due to Walmart. We had a wonderful little shopping district that had lots of specialty stores. When I was a kid, Jerry, the owner of the local jeans store, would special order my jeans in August, knowing I'd be there to buy them in September and would have them waiting in a bag with a price tag. I wore a strange size - 28 x 36. Jerry is out of business now and is a departmental manager at Walmart. After Walmart came to town, he couldn't compete. The local "brand-buster" merchants (someone that sells only one thing, like jeans, or toys) are all convinced that they were targeted one by one. Now, the downtown is mostly empty or cheesy. All those merchants that made a decent living are now scraping by with Walmart pay. None of them ever made enough money to just retire.

9. Walmart is nasty - the place is dirty. It smells bad. The aisles are narrow. The merchandise is just jumbled on the shelves. The shopping-carts are always broken. There are too many unruly children with inattentive parents. The place is just nasty.

Gullible

2004-11-22T09:47:00.000-05:00

The day off excuse I posted below is a load of BS. Just as promised, I try to deliver BS. I'm amazed that some people thought this was real.

My boss fell for it. Her boss fell for it. Even my daughter, who knows I'm full of crap, fell for it - but, then, I did once convince her that the moon was a hologram.

Recipe time!

2004-11-19T19:09:00.000-05:00

The Carnival of the Recipes is up! Hooray! Just in time for my Thanksgiving food shopping.

Also, Jane Gault has a few of her own that sound pretty good.

Go forth and feed.

Best day off excuse ever

2004-11-19T08:52:00.000-05:00

I woke up this morning feeling great. Lots of sleep, good coffee and a bagel. As usual, I pushed the button for the garage door, then went inside to get my jacket, lunch, etc. As I returned to the garage, I noticed something quite odd. It wasn't hard to notice, being that it was standing proudly in the middle of my garage, licking grass off of the lawn mower. It was a rather average looking cow.

This came as only a minor shock. There is a farm about 100 yards away, so I immediately assumed this little heffer simply escaped. I went back inside to grab the phone book for animal control. Being a native of a small town, I assumed this town had a farm registry for escaped cows and someone would come retrieve it. I was right. A very grumpy sounding woman answered the phone and said someone would be over and also told me it was okay to shoo the cow out of the garage.

I went to the garage with my electric fly swatter. It looks like a tennis racket and has a small charge running through the face to zap insects. I figured this would be quite effective on the cow to get it moving in a direction out and away from my garage.

With grim determination and my sadistic streak in full swing, I swung open the door to face down the evil invading cow...only to discover that it had multiplied. It may have actually multiplied twice, though I'm not sure cows can even count. Nonetheless, there were now FOUR cows in my garage. Faced with such overwhelming numbers, my determination waivered, but my anger took over and I waded in, ready to defend my lawnmower from the indignity of being licked clean by a small herd of cattle.

It was then that I realized there was something larger occurring. Apparently, there wasn't just an escape, there was a mass exodus. There are no less than 32 cows roaming my neighborhood, mostly congregated near my house. One of them is lying comfortably under the trampoline, five are happily munching on my front yard and the neighbor's flower bed (he's quite annoyed, as he spent six hours planting all those geraniums) and another has taken a keen interest in my wifes car, though I'm not exactly certain why. Man cannot know the thoughts of cows.

I managed to chase the four cows out of my garage. The electric swatter was quite effective. Though they are milling about on the road now and the construction crews are starting to arrive. I think the brick layers are afraid of cows. There are seven of them packed into a truck that hasn't moved in about 15 minutes.

Obviously, I'll have to stay home today to manage the eradiction of the bovine infestation. Hopefully, I'll get some free steaks out of this.

Oh, to be rich...REALLY rich.

2004-11-18T15:15:00.000-05:00

Bill Gates gets 4 MILLION e-mails per day. Mostly SPAM. He has his very own special set of filters for his inbox. Then, he has a staff to clean out the rest.

That's what I need. A staff for my inbox...and my outbox...hell, if I was worth a billion dollars, I'd hire someone to read and write all my e-mail in every known language.

Killing the Dead

2004-11-16T06:14:00.000-05:00

Let's be clear here. During a time of war:

It is illegal to shoot civilians.
It is illegal to shoot prisoners.
It is illegal to finish off the severly wounded.
It is illegal to shoot someone that is surrendering.
It is illegal to falsely surrender.
It is illegal to fire when showing a white flag.
It is illegal to booby trap dead bodies.
It is illegal to attack while posing as a civilian. (A good example of the subtleties of this rule is found in Master and Commander. In the big battle scene, the British disquise themselves as a commercial ship to draw the French closer, but just before attacking, they change uniforms and raise the war flag, clearly identifying themselves as combatants.)

War is messy - both physically and morally. The Iraqi terrorists in Fallujah have been consistently breaking the law. They play dead, then attack. They pretend to surrender, then attack. They booby trap dead bodies. In other words, they make it extremely difficult for a Marine to determine who is and is not a threat.

Already, the MSM is playing this up for way more than it is worth. It would seem to me that there are three possibilities here. Either the Marine in question committed a crime or he made a very bad judgement call or the guy really was a threat. Regardless, the US Military will investigate and punish him appropriately IF he did something wrong.

But, the MSM is convicting this guy before there is even an investigation. They show a "dramatic" tape that doesn't really show anything. You hear the Marine saying the guy isn't dead, then you see a brief glimpse of a still body, then the tape goes black and you hear the shot. What I don't hear or see is any of the other Marines in that room (or the reporting crew) telling him to back off or stop or not to do it. They make this look like a horrible war crime.

They might be right, however, soldiers in the field are given wide latitude regarding who they can and can't shoot. Basically, they determine the threat and act appropriately. Based on the actions the Iraqi's have been taking with the dead and wounded, based on what the Marine said, based on the lack of protest from other Marines, I'd say the kid felt threatened.

Right now, that Marine is sitting somewhere in Iraq thinking "what the fuck? what did I do?" He's even more confused because he sees his picture on CNN. The MSM is absolutely rooting for Iraq to become another Vietnam. I wonder who will emerge as the new age John Kerry.

Someone reads my crap!

2004-11-12T18:06:00.000-05:00

Two comments on the King George post! Wow. I'm amazed, even if one is from my wonderful daughter.

Economy - as oil continues to fall, the economy will continue to grow. However, it is all up to businesses now. They have to start spending some profits and upgrade machinery and do all those mundane business things that really kick the economy into gear. The current growth is fairly small and is mostly fueled by consumers. I think a good Christmas season will be a turning point...if it happens. So, everyone should send me really expensive gifts.

Iraq - The terrorists were dealt a decisive blow when King George was re-elected. They had hopes that continued attacks would weaken him and give them a US president that was more French than American and would follow the traditional "cheese-eating-surrender-monkey" role. Now, they have unleashed the deadliest fighting force in the world on themselves. They are absolutely no match for the US. We always learn from our mistakes and will crush them in urban warfare. Elections will be held and the Iraqi people will taste true freedom and be changed forever by it. The US will lavish them with support and other middle eastern countries will get the message.

King George - this is a play of words from my childhood. "King" was an '80's colloquialism in central PA. It was a simple word that rolled the meanings of cool, fantastic, super, excellent, etc. all into a short easy to use term. Not only did I dislike John Kerry as a candidate, I liked George Bush. Growing up as a Reagan child, I see many parallels between the two men. Both had vision, goals and determination regardless of what the MSM had to say about it. I hope that my children remember him when they hit the voting booth for the first time and compare all future candidates to him, as I do with Reagan. I believe history will treat him kindly and he'll be viewed as one of the best presidents of all time.

There are many things that my libertarian insticts rebel against, like the Patriot Act, but all in all, King George is my man. I hope his successor is just as strong.

Dead rodent.

2004-11-12T17:57:00.000-05:00

One isn't supposed to speak ill of the dead, but, hey, we're talking about Yassar Arafat. I'm glad he's dead. I hope he is rotting in hell as we speak. Being tortured by every foul and evil demon ever thought up. I think the Israelis should completely destroy his compound now. Just to make sure it doesn't become "holy" to anyone. I also hope that every Israeli that is physically able will desecrate his grave in as hideous a manner as possible.

Everyone has high hopes now for peace. I don't see it happening. Arafat has poisoned the minds of the next generation. It will be decades before anyone steps forward that can control palestine and the terror groups.

All I can say is that I hope his death was horrible, painful, and miserable.

Carnival is up!

2004-11-05T16:29:00.000-05:00

You can find links to lots of yummy recipes at The Glittering Eye. As always, add things to your shopping list.

All hail King George.

2004-11-03T18:54:00.000-05:00

I wasn't too far off in my predicitions. I overestimated Bush's electoral college and underestimated the popular vote. I really thought Nader would grab more anti-Bush votes from people that couldn't bring themselves to vote for Kerry.

I'm glad the election turned out the way it did. Consider these facts:

This is the first winner since 1988 to receive more than 50% of the popular vote.
Bush received more votes than any other president in history.
Popular vote over 50% is generally considered a mandate.
Electoral vote over 280 is generally considered a mandate.
In what was considered one of the most contentious elections ever, the winner was clear.
The Republicans increased in the House, Senate and Governerships.

The Republicans did lose some ground though. There are fewer Republicans in the state houses all over the country. Democrats made some gains there.

There is a ton of nasty, impetuous whining all over the left side of the blogoshpere. I'm too lazy to link to it all, so go to Instapundit for a round up, then keep clicking through links and reading comments. I'm amazed at some of twisted things they think up.

My Posts Suck.

2004-11-02T08:47:00.000-05:00

This is why I call my stuff crap.

Whoever Dave is, he's a friend. Since I don't live too far away from and work even closer to Arlington, I'd be honored to take him to dinner.

Angry Aussie

2004-11-01T20:32:00.000-05:00

Jericho is pissed.

I don't blame him. And, I pretty much agree.

Redskins and Kerry

2004-11-01T16:13:00.000-05:00

A Redskins loss this weekend might not be such good news for John Kerry. This has been the year of broken streaks. It started with the Olympics and that little gymnist guy. Wasn't he the first American to win gold in that event? I think I read that.

Then, the Red Sox ended the curse. Then, the Patriots got beaten. So, it isn't such a good year to count on any help from statistical anomolies.

The two best indicators both point to Bush.

Halloween masks are a good political indicator. The candidate whose likeness was sold most, wins. This year, it was Bush, by a hair.

Also, the little kiddies. The Weekly Reader does a vote for little kids every election. They've been right every time they did. This year, they went for Bush in the popular vote and Bush won every state except Maryland in the "electoral college." This may or may not be a good indicator. You could argue that the kids are voting along the parental lines, or that the kids are rebelling and voting opposite the parents.

As for personal anecdotal evidence, my teenage twin daughters go to a "politically active" school. The kids have chosen sides. During lunch, if a member of the opposition party walks by, they boo. This year, the Democrats are getting louder and longer boos.

Here is my prediction:

Popular Vote Electoral College
Bush: 49.1% 301
Kerry: 46.5% 237
Nader: 3.1%
Other: 1.3%

No lawsuits, no major problems, plenty of allegations, but by midnight tomorrow, Bush will be the winner.

It's recipe time!

2004-10-29T15:27:00.000-05:00

Once again, a gracious blogger has put up this week's Carnival of the Recipes. As always, update your shopping list.

You should read the Mountaineer Musings too. Very good stuff. Way better than the crap I post.

Bush gets my vote.

2004-10-28T15:21:00.000-05:00

I've decided to explain myself...even though I'm still pretty certain no one reads my crap. What do I know anyway.

Iraq

John Kerry has no big ideas on Iraq. His general theme is, I'll do it better than Bush and I'll "involve" the international community. I think this involvement means forcing Israel back to the bargaining table with Arafat. Bad idea in my opinion. Arafat is a terrorist and will always be one. Sharon has a plan, is implementing it and it will probably succeed. Remember, the "wall" that he's building isn't really a wall, it is mostly a fence.

While Bush screwed up royally so far in Iraq, he continues to move the process forward and some of the moves that appear stupid might actually be shrewd and caculated. The general population initially viewed Al Zarqawi as a hero. Now, they are sick of him. Afghanistan looked pretty bad too, but they just had elections. It isn't perfect, but it is moving in the right direction. The only danger is getting the international community to start doing business in Iraq and viewing them as legitimate. Though I think money will solve that in the long run. The French, Germans and Russians want a piece of the oil pie too.

Economy

Kerry wants to raise the minimum wage. I think that is a bad idea. Minimum wage is why many manufacturing companies move overseas. Let the market decide what the appropriate labor rate is. Our economy did just fine for almost 150 years without a minimum wage. I don't see any of his plans being able to increase the number of jobs by anything significant.

Bush inherited a crashing economy that lost .5 million jobs from the burst of the internet bubble. Then, 9/11 lost about another million. But, over the past year, we've added about 1.9 million. Bush's policies had little to do with this other than the tax cuts softened and shortened the downturn. You can argue about the appropriateness of the cuts, how they were implemented, etc, but the fact is, they helped a little. Bush's idea of re-educating workers is on point. Give the people the tools to decide what they want to do and let them have at it. It worked for me.

Taxes

Kerry is going to raise my taxes.

Bush isn't going to raise my taxes.

Social Security

Kerry wants to "find a way to fix it." He has a plan, but it is mostly more of the same.

Bush at least wants to try something. Agree with it or not, he's at least going to try, which will push congress to do something.

There are other issues in this election, but these are the ones that are important to me. Anyone can argue the merits of the various proposals, but in the end, it all boils down to which set of ideas you think will work. I think Bush's will.

Good Point...maybe.

2004-10-24T19:48:00.000-05:00

I'm not a very religious man myself, but this is a good point.

However, the Bible is a bloody book. Cities are smote, people are stoned and Christianity itself is based upon the death of a man...the violent, horrific death. What if the president simply thought God wanted him to start another crusade?

The morals and humanism taugth by religion are good, but religious extremists come in all shapes and sizes.

"Isn't it better, I asked, to have a leader who believes that in the next life, he will have to answer for the decisions he makes in the here and now?"

Remember, terrorists that die, die as martyrs. They expect to be judged as well.

Jared is on a roll.

2004-10-19T20:26:00.000-05:00

Jared, at A Western Heart is plain pissed off. Read the link, then go back to the main for a few shorter rants. He is absolutely on fire...and totally correct.

Tommy Lee misses Pam...big time.

2004-10-19T20:03:00.000-05:00

Radley finds a rather embarassing picture of Tommy Lee. Words fail me.

Best Bush Ad

2004-10-19T20:00:00.000-05:00

This is the best Bush ad I've seen yet. I'm a cold hearted bastard and even I got a little choked up.

John "Breck Girl" Edwards

2004-10-19T19:58:00.000-05:00

HA. He's a sissy. I little, wimpy, metrosexual sissy.

Just the man I want a heart beat away from the presidency.

Congrats for Joanne Jacobs

2004-10-18T19:44:00.000-05:00

She almost has a book, she has a publisher. Can't wait to read it.

It's not that different down under.

2004-10-15T21:52:00.000-05:00

A Western Heart has a sort of "leftist" round-up from Australia. Oddly enough, the conservative party in power are referred to as liberals, so be careful while you are reading.

I love the new masthead picture. Someone down there is an awesome photographer.

I still wonder who that woman from the previous masthead really is and what the Aussies think of Steve Irwin.

At my next dinner party, I'm going to match my wife's incredible Italian feast with Australian wines. The best way to show appreciation or disdain is with your wallet. The Aussies get my small token of appreciation via a few bottles of wine.

Electoral Votes

2004-10-15T20:13:00.000-05:00

For those of you interested.

The Republican blogger's count.

The Democratic blogger's count.

Both have Bush ahead by a small margin. I like the Democrat better. He seems to know more about polling, makes a concerted effort to just count the polls without interpretation and keeps his up to date daily.

Charles KrautHAMMER

2004-10-15T17:52:00.000-05:00

Backing up my stem cell post, Charles lays into Kerry-Edwards. He should know what he's talking about. He's trained as a physician and is a quadraplegic.

More Recipes!

2004-10-15T15:26:00.000-05:00

Carnival of the Recipes is up. Time to go shopping!

Power Line gets it wrong.

2004-10-13T22:46:00.000-05:00

Power Line thinks the debate was a tie and that no one committed major gaffes.

Bush took this debate on many levels. He seemed more human than Kerry. He did much better on "social" issues than Kerry and he pretty much tied him on the other issues. Bush hit this out of the park and Kerry only hit a double. But, the major gaffe was Kerry's injection of Mary Cheney into the debate. Edwards blew it when he did it and Kerry made it worse. Now they look desperate.

How did Deacon miss that?

Mary Cheney Wins!

2004-10-13T22:25:00.000-05:00

Mary Cheney won the debate tonight. John Kerry did one of the lowest, basest, ignorant, rude and abusive things I've ever seen in the political realm. There was absolutely no reason to bring up Ms. Cheney and her homosexuality. It was plain wrong. Based on this incident alone, Bush wins, Kerry loses.

I urge all gays to vote for anyone but John Kerry. He took a member of the community and targeted her, embarrassed her and singled her out for no other reason than she is gay and he could score points. That's just low down dirty pool.

Shame on John Kerry.

Kill Bill

2004-10-13T18:24:00.000-05:00

Bill O'Reilly is being sued for sexual harassment. HA! I believe it. When he gets "frisky" on the radio show, I shudder. It's really creepy.

Read The Agitator's entry and link over to TSG.

Stem Cells

2004-10-12T17:28:00.000-05:00

The embryonic stem cell plank is totally bogus. John Edwards is a twit. Drudge Report has this quote from an Edwards campaign stop:

'We will stop juvenile diabetes, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and other debilitating diseases... When John Kerry is president, people like Christopher Reeve are going get up out of that wheelchair and walk again.'

What an incredibly assinine statement. He thinks that embryonic stem cell research will cure people. The fact is, there has been absolutely no drug or treatment created using embryonic stem cells. There are several types of stem cells, the embryonic ones are all the rage in the campaign.

Bush decided to give federal research funds to existing embryonic stem cell lines, but not pay for any more - if he did give funds, it would be federal funding of what can reasonably be called abortion by the pro-life group. This isn't unreasonable, given that there is a relatively small chance that embryonic stem cells will lead to any sort of cure.

The other stem cells are already curing things. Bone marrow trasplants are a direct result of adult stem cell research.

Don't be fooled. This is a bogus issue.

And, so I can claim full disclosure, I'm pro-choice to the point that abortions should be legal any time through the first tri-mester or if the mother's life is in grave danger. But, after your second procedure, you need to be implanted with birth-control or an IUD. After a fifth, you should just be sterilized.

Ouch

2004-10-12T17:25:00.000-05:00

This hurts. It is dirty and wrong on so many levels. But, totally hilarious.