28 November 2009

Beat Me Up Scotty

I didn't post anything for Thanksgiving. I was spending it with family and friends.

I hope everyone had a happy one.

I also haven't posted anything for the various birthdays of our military services, nor did I post for Veterans Day or Memorial Day.

If you're lucky you will get a post for Christmas.

Whatever. It's not like you're paying me for this.

Damn It's Cold

So far I haven't commented on the whole CRU global warming leaked Email scam since it's been covered extensively at other places.

The only reason I'm mentioning it now is because I, like The Knight Shift, think it needs to stay front and center somewhere on the Net.

Christopher Taylor uses the term "warmaquiddick". I like it.

click on the kitty to see how cold it is

Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods, golf phenomena, has gotten into a little fender bender. So far the best comment I have seen on it was "Crashing Tiger, Hidden Hydrant" but I forgot just where I saw it. Probably one of those smart-alecs on Ace of Spades.

Anyway, it seems as if he may have been fleeing a late night altercation with the wifey. Makes sense to me.

HT: AoSHQ commenter *Chef Boy* RDB (sockpuppets unite!)

Chills

Indymedia is a news aggregate site, much like the Drudge Report or Memorandum, that depends on volunteers to collect news stories to be linked. It's a leftist site, so many of the stories are about protests and marches championing leftist causes.

On January 23rd of this year the network administrator that provides Indymedia with it's server space was hit with a subpoena from the US Department of Justice. The subpoena requested information for "all IP traffic to and from" the Indymedia server, including "IP addresses, times, and any other identifying information" for June 25, 2008.

No reason was given for the request, and no other information other than an order "not to disclose the existence of this request" unless authorized by the Justice Department. Much to their credit the network administrators retained counsel. When the Justice Department was sent correspondence from that counsel they dropped the request, and Indymedia then disclosed the existence of the request.

What should be troubling to all of us, regardless of which side of the political spectrum you fall under, is the ways and means that the Justice Department was attempting to gather data. According to the article linked from CBS News it is likely that this subpoena was issued in violation of regulation, and demanding that the visitor's information (including addresses and social security numbers) be disclosed plus the gag order should raise more than just a few eyebrows.

Anyone who writes for or visits news sites on the Internet should be concerned about this story. Otherwise when they come for you, there may not be anyone left to speak for you.

HT: The Indentured Servant Girl

NOTE: If you are going to leave a comment, be legible and intelligent. Long rambling screeds heavy on accusations and light on facts, especially when submitted by Anonymous, will likely be rejected. This likelihood approaches unity when all rules of grammar and syntax are ignored.

25 November 2009

Cajun Jokes


This was sent to me by my cousin who is a Louisiana resident and retired Squid maverick Officer weatherguesser who is convinced that Algore invented the Intertubes just for him so that he could send bad jokes around the world through the magic of Email.

I shudder to think what will happen when he discovers Internet pr0n.

The Monster Within

It's easy to forget how sick she really is.

The doctors predicted remission following radiation therapy. It didn't happen. We got another burst of hope when the docs said the tumor was shrinking because of the chemo. That, too, was short lived. Sometimes it gets bigger, sometimes smaller, but it's not going away.

She doesn't look sick. Her doctor has often commented on this fact. She hasn't experienced huge weight loss, her hair is growing back after the radiation treatments, it's even regaining some (not all) of it's auburn color. Because of that it's easy to ignore it.

But the signs are there, if you look. She doesn't have the energy she once had, particularly in the week following chemo. That happens every three weeks. I saw her wincing in pain last week, and when I asked she admitted that her lung was hurting. I know that happens more times than she will admit.

Where once she would get up and be active all day while I slept, she now moves out to the couch and naps most of the day away. Because I work nights I don't see it much, but if I wake up and come out of the bedroom I see her there more and more often.

Our daughter works as a pharmacy tech, so she usually handles her mother's prescription. She was aghast when she filled the last one because of it's narcotic content.

She started out only taking a half a pill of her old prescription when she was having trouble sleeping. She started having trouble sleeping more often. Now she is taking a half a pill of the new prescription. At first the new prescription was only necessary once or twice a week. This, too, is happening more often. How often I can't say since I work nights, but I know it happens at least 2 or 3 times a week.

Daughter is worried that Mother is going to become addicted. Mother points out jokingly that it won't be a permanent condition. Daughter and I fail to see the humor.

She was diagnosed two years ago in December. She has determined that she will hold out for another eight.

I am selfish enough to want her to stay as long as possible, but not so selfish that I want her to stay in pain. I am torn between these two desires, but in the end it will hurt worse to see her in pain than it will to lose her.

The Navy has a phrase, hope for the best but plan for the worst. I guess that's all I can do.

21 November 2009

Military Appreciation

Well, it's nice to know that our Soldiers are respected, even among certain disreputable groups (look at the second story on the link).

From the story: "They took everything from his pockets, but when the gang leader looked in the victim's wallet and saw an Army Reserve ID card, he told his accomplices to give him his stuff back."

Hit the link to read the entire story, and while you are there go ahead and sign up for the weekly newsletter. It's fun and it's free

HT: This is True, a weekly newsletter by Randy Cassingham (author of the TRUE Stella Awards)

20 November 2009

Connections

I've just upgraded my wireless router from a B to a G. The old router kept dropping the connection even though all the indications on the router's front panel showed that it was on and transmitting. Hopefully the new router will make everything all better.

In other news, the mighty Rampage has it's new carburetor installed but I have to go to the parts store tomorrow and get a clip for the throttle cable. Hopefully this solves the fuel system problems that has been plaguing me for a couple of months now.

How are things in your world?

19 November 2009

A Purchase

I have just ordered Weird Al's boxed set.

The Knight Shift says it will not disappoint.

I'm looking forward to it.

It's Sad To See

Brigid has had to restrict comments at the Range because of a troll.

Having never met her, I only know her through her command of the written word. From that knowledge I see a gentle soul who has a core of solid steel.

I know that even the most likable among us (not a good description of me, by the way) has some that do not like them. I am saddened by the fact that someone has seen the need to take a potshot at such a beautiful spirit as she.

The Range is usually my last stop of the day while skimming the interwebs. I find that I usually need a bit of tranquility after everything else that I see.

Chin up lass. Only you can define who you are. But then, you knew that already.

Learning From History

Well done, MV Maersk Alabama. Hopefully others will learn from your sterling example.

I won't hold my breath.

And, as an aside to those who say that violence never solved anything, I call your bluff.

Imaginary Numbers

b times the square root of -1

Iowa congressional district 24 (and 439 other districts in other states)

30,000 jobs, at a cost of $225,000 per job, saved or created.

I had an instructor once who used to say that figures don't lie, but liars figure.

13 November 2009

Finally!

Robert Stacy McCain mentions me!

Well, sorta. Here's the quote:

"Once upon a time, patriotism was the last refuge of a scoundrel. Nowadays, libertarianism is the last refuge of a scoundrel."

Hey, I'll take it.

Yeah, that's worth a hit to the tip jar.

11 November 2009

Note To Young Girls

Never do anything you would be ashamed to tell your grandparents about. On your mother's side. At least until after you graduate from college. Even then, make sure it doesn't end up on any recordable media.

Keep in mind that, should you ignore the advice above, anything you do can and will end up on YouTube so your children will see it. Or worse yet, your child's nemesis in high school. (Think about how you would feel if your bitchy enemy found a video of your mother in a compromising situation.)

And yes, that boy that you think is so dreamy, the one that you Looooovvvveeee!!!!!!! really will sell that video for a million clams, or really will post it on the net (that's a not quite SFW Google search, BTW) to show all of his buds what a dirty whore you are after you dump him for being a complete pig.

Act accordingly.

UPDATE: And now it seems that there may be as few as eight and as many as 20 of these tapes. There's a phrase for this, ladies. It's called "Head Smashing Stupidity".

HT: Ace of Spades HQ and Pat Dollard.

Happy Veterans Day

From one vet to another.

06 November 2009

The Latest from Beltway Bob

"Imagine just a few years ago had somebody walked around with images of Hitler."

Nope. Can't imagine it.

HT: Ace of Spades HQ, Weekly Standard article by MKH.

What Went Wrong

How could this have happened? An officer, a psychiatrist, at Fort Hood, has apparently gone off his nut and killed 13 soldiers, wounding 30 others.

The first clue might have been when the officer, a Muslim, compared suicide bombers to those who throw themselves on grenades to save the lives of their comrades.

Another clue might have been when he filled out a form seeking a spouse through a program at a mosque listing his birthplace as Arlington, Virginia, but his nationality as Palestinian.

The basic problem is that he saw himself as something else before he saw himself as American.

Theodore Roosevelt warned us of this over a hundred years ago, but we fell into the trap anyway. Why, you may ask?

Because we wanted to be nice.

We wanted to be nice, so instead of pointing out that "united we stand, divided we fall" we said nothing when once again people started identifying themselves as "whatever-Americans". We didn't want to be thought of as racist.

We said nothing when our language started to change, bending itself around political correctness. We didn't want to be thought of as intolerant.

We said nothing when our American beliefs and traditions came under assault from multiculturalism. We didn't want to be thought of as ethnocentric.

It happened when we pressed 1 for English. It happened when we let our public school administrators treat us as part of the problem instead of part of the solution. It happened when we allowed good people to be hung out to dry for BS reasons and didn't stand up for them.

Nidal Malik Hasan bore the weapon and squeezed the trigger that put 13 soldiers in their graves and 30 others in the hospital.

But we provided the bullets.

I Wish

That I could be surprised.

God bless the Fort Hood soldiers and their families. May He have mercy on the victims. May He have none for the perpetrator.

What's Happening

So once again I have committed the number 1 sin of the blogging world in that I haven't posted anything new lately. The only excuse I have is that I've been working like an idiot for the past couple of weeks. In fact, the photo in my previous post was taken while I was on my way to work.

In my copious off time, I've been working on a paper model of Serenity. It's my first cardstock model and it's surprisingly difficult. This is no "fold tab A into slot B" type of paper airplane, there are over eighty pieces printed out on twelve cardstock sheets. It's been a lot of fun.

My copy of "The Gathering Storm" has arrived, and I'm reading through it at the moment. Brandon Sanderson is an apt storyteller, but he isn't Robert Jordan. It's obvious that there is another voice speaking, but he is definitely telling Jordan's tale so I think it will end well.

On the political front, much is being made by the Democrats of Hoffman's failure to take NY-23, but they are strangely silent on the changes in the governorships of New Jersey and Virginia. Virginia may have not been much of a surprise, but New Jersey certainly was. I wish the new Governors well and hope they do good for their respective States.

The Hoffman saga is a horse of a different color, and although the established political parties don't want to make much of it I believe they do know what it's significance is. Time will tell if the RNC actually absorbs the lesson from NY-23 or not, if they do then they will see future success, and if not, they won't. It's as simple as that.

For me it's just a simple question, that being when does a moderate Republican cross the line into being a moderate Democrat? I've said there isn't an ounce worth of difference between the two parties and the NY-23 race certainly reflected that, at least initially. But then, a "moderate" Republican (who was more liberal than the moderate Democrat) got her head handed to her by the Conservative party candidate that wasn't supposed to be able to poll much beyond the normal 5 percent or so. Instead it was the Conservative party candidate that polled well, and the Republican candidate was at the 5% mark.

Party loyalists preach the party line, about how supporting the Party is paramount, that conservative Republicans can't win in "moderate" areas of the country, about how supporting third party candidates just split the vote and hand the race to the Democrat. This did certainly happen in this instance, but the major difference here is that the party candidate never really did have the full support of the party members. She was selected, not by a primary where the voters might have been able to voice an opinion, but by a panel of elites. The voters were understandably upset, and they broke for the candidate they might have supported had there been an actual primary.

The ironic thing here is that conservatives have never been very good at being party loyalists, they see themselves as independents and must be given a reason to vote for a particular candidate. They may hold their nose and vote for the R over the D because the Republican party more closely represents their values, but this is not always the case.

The plain truth is that the two parties must be different, they must have different platforms and their candidates must adhere to those platforms, otherwise there is no clear choice between them. If there is no clear choice, the ones that are left out in the cold (usually the conservatives) usually do choose the "lesser of two evils" and pull the lever with the "R" beside it. Lately, however, the conservatives have been choosing a third party, or they are choosing not to decide (and, like the song says, still making a choice). If the Republican party wants to remain the default choice of conservatives, they need to examine themselves and pull back to their conservative roots. Otherwise they will continue to shed members. This was the lesson that should have been learned during the McCain presidency bid (the only thing that saved it was the addition of Palin to the ticket) and clearly wasn't.

They have a chance again to learn this lesson from NY-23. We will see if they do so.