If you have the time, go read the LA Times story about General Westmoreland.
If you don’t have the time, here is a critical excerpt:
"Meanwhile, as more Americans were leaving for Vietnam in uniforms and returning in body bags, the antiwar movement in the United States gathered steam. The first demonstrators were students, but they soon were joined by clergymen, teachers, journalists and politicians.
"The antiwar movement was alien to Westmoreland, and so were the people in it," a former staff officer told Westmoreland biographer Samuel Zaffiri. "He wanted to be a hero. Instead, he found himself being vilified."
During a trip to the United States in the spring of 1967, Westmoreland told journalists that he and his men were "dismayed by recent unpatriotic acts here at home." He said these acts "inevitably will cost lives" of U.S. troops and were handing the enemy successes that "he cannot match on the battlefield."
Although some politicians and editorial writers defended Westmoreland's comments, far more condemned him as an opponent of free speech."
Sound familiar?
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
A Great Man Passes Away
During my participation in Navy ROTC at Georgia Tech back in the late 1970’s, I had the opportunity to personally meet a number of important military figures when they came to deliver speeches to our group of midshipmen. Georgia Tech alumni and former President Jimmy Carter, former Chief of naval Operations Admiral Elmo Zumwalt, and General William Westmoreland are the three that I remember most.
Admiral Zumwalt died in 2000 and communist-dictator-loving ex-president Jimmy Carter is still alive and kicking, but I was saddened to learn this morning that General Westmoreland passed away yesterday in a Charleston, South Carolina nursing home.
In death as in life, General Westmoreland is hounded by the media for his management of US Army forces during the Vietnam war.
The NY Times says:
“Gen. William C. Westmoreland, who commanded the United States forces in Vietnam from 1964 to 1968, overseeing the vast troop buildup and the height of the fighting, died last night in a retirement home in Charleston, S.C., his son, James Ripley Westmoreland, announced. The general was 91.”
The Chicago Sun Times opens with this:
"Retired Gen. William Westmoreland, who commanded American troops in Vietnam -- the nation's longest, most divisive conflict and the only war America lost -- died Monday night. He was 91."
The Baltimore Sun agrees:
"Gen. William Westmoreland, the World War II hero who was later vilified for his leadership of the United States' failed war in Vietnam, died last night in Charleston, S.C. He was 91."
Notice anything uniquely consistent in all of the obituary articles?
Here's a hint...
The media continues to overshadow General Westmoreland’s decorated service in WWII and the Korean conflict in favor of blaming him for the "massive troop buildup" and the US's “loss in Vietnam.”
In my mind General Westmoreland couldn’t possibly be held responsible for “losing the Vietnam War” because the command of US Army ground forces was taken away from him in 1968—long before the war ended in 1972.
Today Bush is accused of not having enough troops in Iraq, but in 1968 Westmoreland had too many troops in Vietnam and it cost him his job.
Talk about a double standard...
And for your information, just in case you were born since 1972 and rely on school textbooks and newspapers to teach you history, the US didn’t lose the war in Vietnam, we were forced TO QUIT by the same leftist idiots and main stream media that today wants us to pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan and end our current war on terrorism.
If the US were forced to pull out of Iraq tomorrow, I suppose that in 20 or 30 years, upon his death, the news headlines would say General Norman H Schwarzkopf, Jr. was the leader of the US Army ground forces in the second war that the US lost (Iraq)—even though Schwarzkopf left the army in 1991.
All I have to say is: “Been there, done that, got the T-shirt…”
Admiral Zumwalt died in 2000 and communist-dictator-loving ex-president Jimmy Carter is still alive and kicking, but I was saddened to learn this morning that General Westmoreland passed away yesterday in a Charleston, South Carolina nursing home.
In death as in life, General Westmoreland is hounded by the media for his management of US Army forces during the Vietnam war.
The NY Times says:
“Gen. William C. Westmoreland, who commanded the United States forces in Vietnam from 1964 to 1968, overseeing the vast troop buildup and the height of the fighting, died last night in a retirement home in Charleston, S.C., his son, James Ripley Westmoreland, announced. The general was 91.”
The Chicago Sun Times opens with this:
"Retired Gen. William Westmoreland, who commanded American troops in Vietnam -- the nation's longest, most divisive conflict and the only war America lost -- died Monday night. He was 91."
The Baltimore Sun agrees:
"Gen. William Westmoreland, the World War II hero who was later vilified for his leadership of the United States' failed war in Vietnam, died last night in Charleston, S.C. He was 91."
Notice anything uniquely consistent in all of the obituary articles?
Here's a hint...
The media continues to overshadow General Westmoreland’s decorated service in WWII and the Korean conflict in favor of blaming him for the "massive troop buildup" and the US's “loss in Vietnam.”
In my mind General Westmoreland couldn’t possibly be held responsible for “losing the Vietnam War” because the command of US Army ground forces was taken away from him in 1968—long before the war ended in 1972.
Today Bush is accused of not having enough troops in Iraq, but in 1968 Westmoreland had too many troops in Vietnam and it cost him his job.
Talk about a double standard...
And for your information, just in case you were born since 1972 and rely on school textbooks and newspapers to teach you history, the US didn’t lose the war in Vietnam, we were forced TO QUIT by the same leftist idiots and main stream media that today wants us to pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan and end our current war on terrorism.
If the US were forced to pull out of Iraq tomorrow, I suppose that in 20 or 30 years, upon his death, the news headlines would say General Norman H Schwarzkopf, Jr. was the leader of the US Army ground forces in the second war that the US lost (Iraq)—even though Schwarzkopf left the army in 1991.
All I have to say is: “Been there, done that, got the T-shirt…”
Monday, July 18, 2005
What Do We Need To Do?
To get some people a clue…
I was just sitting here vegetating, looking at the internet with one eyeball and peeking over the laptop screen at FOX News with the other eye, happy that Hurricane Emily is going to spare much if not all of the US this week.
FOX’s “sacrificial lamb” hurricane reporter on the scene in Cancun Mexico was being interviewed by Geraldo Rivera. I can’t stand Geraldo, but FOX continues to expand his role in their on-air programming so I just cringe my way through it, all the time wishing that someone would wax his eyebrows and trim his moustache and nose hair.
Then they ran some videotaped interviews with tourists that were stranded there in Cancun at the hotel and were being forced to face the storm.
There was actually some man on their tape that said something to the effect that “duuuuhhh, I just flew in here yesterday and...I guess that I should have watched the news because I didn’t know that there was a Hurricane coming…”
I have a question…
HOW THE HECK CAN ANYONE FLY TO THE CARRIBEAN IN JULY AND NOT WATCH THE NEWS OR THE WEATHER CHANNEL OR SOMETHING IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND THE WEATHER CONDITIONS PRIOR TO LEAVING HOME?
Having asked that, another question comes to mind…
WE LET IDIOTS LIKE THIS VOTE IN OUR ELECTIONS?
I was just sitting here vegetating, looking at the internet with one eyeball and peeking over the laptop screen at FOX News with the other eye, happy that Hurricane Emily is going to spare much if not all of the US this week.
FOX’s “sacrificial lamb” hurricane reporter on the scene in Cancun Mexico was being interviewed by Geraldo Rivera. I can’t stand Geraldo, but FOX continues to expand his role in their on-air programming so I just cringe my way through it, all the time wishing that someone would wax his eyebrows and trim his moustache and nose hair.
Then they ran some videotaped interviews with tourists that were stranded there in Cancun at the hotel and were being forced to face the storm.
There was actually some man on their tape that said something to the effect that “duuuuhhh, I just flew in here yesterday and...I guess that I should have watched the news because I didn’t know that there was a Hurricane coming…”
I have a question…
HOW THE HECK CAN ANYONE FLY TO THE CARRIBEAN IN JULY AND NOT WATCH THE NEWS OR THE WEATHER CHANNEL OR SOMETHING IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND THE WEATHER CONDITIONS PRIOR TO LEAVING HOME?
Having asked that, another question comes to mind…
WE LET IDIOTS LIKE THIS VOTE IN OUR ELECTIONS?
Sunday, July 17, 2005
We Have A New Pet
Patricia has been after me for a couple of years for us to get some kind of pet.
Don't get me wrong here..I LOVE animals, but since my last two cats died--Patches and Hoover--I just can't bring myself to take on the commitment that properly caring for a pet dictates.
I like to travel too much and I don't want to have to leave someone (the pet) alone at home or at a kennel and I worry about the psychological effects of separation (me and my pet.) Further, it is just hard to travel with a pet if you choose to take him or her with you and it limits your options during the trip in so many ways.
Well, I've suffered a bit of spontaneous weakness, I hereby announce that Pat is getting her wish--I 've found this cute little bugger that I just couldn't pass up.
Here is his (its) picture:
BooBoo
Actually, here is the true story:
BRISTOL, Great Britain -- 'Kintana' is the first captive bred aye-aye, an arboreal nocturnal lemur, Daubentonia madagascariensis, a native to Madagascar, to be born in the United Kingdom. Bristol Zoo Gardens announced that it is the first UK zoo to successfully breed and hand-rear an aye-aye, the largest nocturnal primate in the world and one of the strangest mammals on the planet. (04/15/05 AP photo)
Pat will be so happy, and we don't have to worry about the neighbors stealing him...
Don't get me wrong here..I LOVE animals, but since my last two cats died--Patches and Hoover--I just can't bring myself to take on the commitment that properly caring for a pet dictates.
I like to travel too much and I don't want to have to leave someone (the pet) alone at home or at a kennel and I worry about the psychological effects of separation (me and my pet.) Further, it is just hard to travel with a pet if you choose to take him or her with you and it limits your options during the trip in so many ways.
Well, I've suffered a bit of spontaneous weakness, I hereby announce that Pat is getting her wish--I 've found this cute little bugger that I just couldn't pass up.
Here is his (its) picture:
BooBoo
Actually, here is the true story:
BRISTOL, Great Britain -- 'Kintana' is the first captive bred aye-aye, an arboreal nocturnal lemur, Daubentonia madagascariensis, a native to Madagascar, to be born in the United Kingdom. Bristol Zoo Gardens announced that it is the first UK zoo to successfully breed and hand-rear an aye-aye, the largest nocturnal primate in the world and one of the strangest mammals on the planet. (04/15/05 AP photo)
Pat will be so happy, and we don't have to worry about the neighbors stealing him...
Saturday, July 16, 2005
The “Wildbleu” Yonder
This Gives Me An Idea
So now somebody has come up with pajamas that help women with hot flashes keep cool at night.
“A new product for women going through menopause claims it can keep women cool and comfortable at night, even during hot flashes, according to a Local 6 News report.
Wildbleu pajamas use a heat-release technology to take sweat away from a person's skin, forcing moisture to the fabric, where it evaporates quickly.
Wildbleu pajamas are made of a patented fabric, according to the report.”
Sounds good to me—if they work—it will be $50 well spent
On behalf of men everywhere I have to ask, “can these people come out with a fabric that will do something about a women’s freezing feet and cold rear end?”
Maybe they can invent some “bunny suit” pajamas like little kids wear with feet in them and a mechanism that will distribute the heat from the menopausal hot flash to a woman’s backside and her toes…so she won’t be as likely to want put those cold things on ME to warm them up.
Hey guys...You know what I mean?
So now somebody has come up with pajamas that help women with hot flashes keep cool at night.
“A new product for women going through menopause claims it can keep women cool and comfortable at night, even during hot flashes, according to a Local 6 News report.
Wildbleu pajamas use a heat-release technology to take sweat away from a person's skin, forcing moisture to the fabric, where it evaporates quickly.
Wildbleu pajamas are made of a patented fabric, according to the report.”
Sounds good to me—if they work—it will be $50 well spent
On behalf of men everywhere I have to ask, “can these people come out with a fabric that will do something about a women’s freezing feet and cold rear end?”
Maybe they can invent some “bunny suit” pajamas like little kids wear with feet in them and a mechanism that will distribute the heat from the menopausal hot flash to a woman’s backside and her toes…so she won’t be as likely to want put those cold things on ME to warm them up.
Hey guys...You know what I mean?
Friday, July 15, 2005
The Plame Blame Game
(Yet more boring political stuff)
I’m sick of the current hysterical media and liberal attack on President Bush’s adviser Karl Rove.
Those of us that read and closely follow the news every day have known about this developing story for a couple of years now, but some of my blog idols like Powerline and Captains Quarters predicted that this story would hit a fevered pitch this week.
It did.
Rather than telling you that Rove did or didn’t do anything wrong, I’m going to give you a brief synopsis of the story and then show you where you can read the details for yourself.
The players in this story are President Bush, his Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove; Vice President Dick Cheney; former US Ambassador Joe Wilson and his wife Valerie Plame; columnist Robert Novak, and The NY Times and their reporters Judith Miller and Matthew Cooper.
The outline of the story amounts to this:
In his January 2003 State of the Union Address, President Bush uttered the now infamous 16 words:
“The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.”
In the year after the president made this statement, updated intelligence indicated that, while the Iraqis in fact tried to buy slightly refined ”yellowcake” uranium, they probably weren’t successful.
Reporters and Democrats, many of which apparently lack the ability to read, and many of those same groups that can read lacking the ability to understand the meaning of what it is that they have read, took the words “sought significant quantities” to mean “bought significant quantities.”
I’d like to point out that the significant underlying issue here wasn’t the possession of yellow cake, it was Sadam’s ATTEMPT to acquire yellow cake that was the problem. You don’t buy yellow cake uranium to season your steak on the grill or to patch holes in your driveway, you buy yellow cake uranium as feed stock to further refine into fissionable material for use in ATOMIC BOMBS.
That Iraq “bought significant quantities” is in fact NOT TRUE, but that is not what the President said.
No matter, a firestorm erupted as a result. “Bush LIED!” screamed the media headlines and the Democrats.
“Bush lied, Bush lied, BUSH MUST HAVE LIED (his staff couldn’t have simply been mistaken), we need to do something. What to do?????
WE, KNOW, WE NEED AN……I N V E S T I G A T I O N!!!”
And so they did…
A US Senate investigation, a special independent council, a grand jury, and every single left wing barking-moonbat reporter in the world has jumped on the case—and when they couldn’t prove that Bush lied about the yellow cake, they tried to do the next best thing...
Get Karl Rove, the architect of Bush’s election in 2000. Liberals hate Karl Rove more than George Bush--some claim that he actually runs the country.
They claimed that Karl Rove retaliated against Joe Wilson’s outspoken criticism of the war in Iraq by “outing” his wife’s identity as a CIA agent.
You see, some low level people at the CIA had previously sent former US ambassador Joe Wilson to Niger to check into things. I just so happened that Joe had married former undercover agent Valerie Plame, who subsequently moved to a desk job with the CIA in Langley, Virginia in 1997.
Then Mr. Wilson wrote an Op Ed piece on July 6, 2003 in the NY Times titled “What I didn’t find In Niger. In this writing, Wilson claims to have been sent to Niger by Vice President Dick Cheney. He also claimed to find no evidence that Iraq and Niger had any contact about yellow cake.
Cheney has since that time stated that he never heard of Joseph C. Wilson, IV until this current story hit the airwaves and newsprint. Further, it turns out that his wife, the now infamous Miss Plame, had in fact recommended that he be sent on the trip. Wilson has publically and in writing denied this FACT. It seems that it is Mr. Wilson, not the President or Mr. Rove that has a problem discerning the TRUTH.
In doing my own independent research (instead of taking the news reports words as fact,) I’ve just got through reading parts of the results of the Senate investigations’ efforts: the Report on the U.S. Intelligence Community’s Prewar Intelligence Assessments on Iraq produced by the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
By the way, this committee included some very vocal Democrats like Carl Levin, Dianne Feinstein, Richard Durbin, and John Edwards. What bothers me today is that, in spite of their intimate knowledge that the current uproar is based on complete crap, these Senators have chosen to remain silent or even speak out in support of the controversy in total disregard of their personal knowledge to the contrary.
Imagine that?
Here are some excerpts from Pages 71-75 of the report:
“(U) On June 17,2003, nearly five months after the President delivered the State of the Union address, the CIA produced a memorandum for the DCI which said, “since learning that the Iraq-Niger uranium deal was based on false documents earlier this spring, we no longer believe that there is sufficient other reporting to conclude that Iraq pursued Uranium from abroad.” This memorandum was not distributed outside the CIA and the Committee has not been provided with any intelligence products in which the CIA published its corrected assessment on Iraq’s pursuit of uranium from Niger outside of the agency.”
“Paragraph K. Niger Conclusions:
(U) Conclusion 12. Until October 2002 when the Intelligence Community obtained the forged foreign language documents on the Iraq-Niger uranium deal, it was reasonable for analysts to assess that Iraq may have been seeking uranium from Africa based on Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) reporting and other available intelligence.
(U) Conclusion 13. The report on the former ambassador’s (Joe Wilson’s) trip to Niger, disseminated in March 2002, did not change any analysts’ assessments of the Iraq-Niger uranium deal. For most analysts, the information in the report lent more credibility to the original Central Intelligence (CIA) reports on the uranium deal, but the State Department Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) analysts believed that the report support their assessment that Niger was unlikely to be willing or able to sell uranium to Iraq.
(U) Conclusion 14. The Central Intelligence Agency should have told the Vice President and other senior policymakers that it had sent someone to Niger to look into the alleged Iraq-Niger uranium deal and should have briefed the Vice President on the former ambassador’s findings.”
With the yellow cake controversy put to rest, the emphasis shifted to Rove, the special prosecutor, and the grand jury investigation.
All of the noise is currently about whether Rove “outed” Plame while she was an active covert CIA agent, which is against the law. Yesterday the idiot Democrats in the Senate even tried to relieve Karl Rove of his security clearance, even before the results of the investigation are available.
The Washington Times reported that Plame’s supervisor states that Valerie had not been deployed undercover since 1997. And now the media reports that columnist Robert Novak actually placed a phone call to Karl Rove and told him (Rove) that Plame was a CIA Agent, not the other way around.
I SAY THE CASE IS CLOSED.
Yet there continues to be tons of air and millions of square feet of newsprint wasted (you can read more commentary and details here, here , and here,) but in my considered opinion, that’s all the Joe Wilson/Valerie Plame/Karl Rove story is…
A TOTAL NON-STORY
I’m sick of the current hysterical media and liberal attack on President Bush’s adviser Karl Rove.
Those of us that read and closely follow the news every day have known about this developing story for a couple of years now, but some of my blog idols like Powerline and Captains Quarters predicted that this story would hit a fevered pitch this week.
It did.
Rather than telling you that Rove did or didn’t do anything wrong, I’m going to give you a brief synopsis of the story and then show you where you can read the details for yourself.
The players in this story are President Bush, his Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove; Vice President Dick Cheney; former US Ambassador Joe Wilson and his wife Valerie Plame; columnist Robert Novak, and The NY Times and their reporters Judith Miller and Matthew Cooper.
The outline of the story amounts to this:
In his January 2003 State of the Union Address, President Bush uttered the now infamous 16 words:
“The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.”
In the year after the president made this statement, updated intelligence indicated that, while the Iraqis in fact tried to buy slightly refined ”yellowcake” uranium, they probably weren’t successful.
Reporters and Democrats, many of which apparently lack the ability to read, and many of those same groups that can read lacking the ability to understand the meaning of what it is that they have read, took the words “sought significant quantities” to mean “bought significant quantities.”
I’d like to point out that the significant underlying issue here wasn’t the possession of yellow cake, it was Sadam’s ATTEMPT to acquire yellow cake that was the problem. You don’t buy yellow cake uranium to season your steak on the grill or to patch holes in your driveway, you buy yellow cake uranium as feed stock to further refine into fissionable material for use in ATOMIC BOMBS.
That Iraq “bought significant quantities” is in fact NOT TRUE, but that is not what the President said.
No matter, a firestorm erupted as a result. “Bush LIED!” screamed the media headlines and the Democrats.
“Bush lied, Bush lied, BUSH MUST HAVE LIED (his staff couldn’t have simply been mistaken), we need to do something. What to do?????
WE, KNOW, WE NEED AN……I N V E S T I G A T I O N!!!”
And so they did…
A US Senate investigation, a special independent council, a grand jury, and every single left wing barking-moonbat reporter in the world has jumped on the case—and when they couldn’t prove that Bush lied about the yellow cake, they tried to do the next best thing...
Get Karl Rove, the architect of Bush’s election in 2000. Liberals hate Karl Rove more than George Bush--some claim that he actually runs the country.
They claimed that Karl Rove retaliated against Joe Wilson’s outspoken criticism of the war in Iraq by “outing” his wife’s identity as a CIA agent.
You see, some low level people at the CIA had previously sent former US ambassador Joe Wilson to Niger to check into things. I just so happened that Joe had married former undercover agent Valerie Plame, who subsequently moved to a desk job with the CIA in Langley, Virginia in 1997.
Then Mr. Wilson wrote an Op Ed piece on July 6, 2003 in the NY Times titled “What I didn’t find In Niger. In this writing, Wilson claims to have been sent to Niger by Vice President Dick Cheney. He also claimed to find no evidence that Iraq and Niger had any contact about yellow cake.
Cheney has since that time stated that he never heard of Joseph C. Wilson, IV until this current story hit the airwaves and newsprint. Further, it turns out that his wife, the now infamous Miss Plame, had in fact recommended that he be sent on the trip. Wilson has publically and in writing denied this FACT. It seems that it is Mr. Wilson, not the President or Mr. Rove that has a problem discerning the TRUTH.
In doing my own independent research (instead of taking the news reports words as fact,) I’ve just got through reading parts of the results of the Senate investigations’ efforts: the Report on the U.S. Intelligence Community’s Prewar Intelligence Assessments on Iraq produced by the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
By the way, this committee included some very vocal Democrats like Carl Levin, Dianne Feinstein, Richard Durbin, and John Edwards. What bothers me today is that, in spite of their intimate knowledge that the current uproar is based on complete crap, these Senators have chosen to remain silent or even speak out in support of the controversy in total disregard of their personal knowledge to the contrary.
Imagine that?
Here are some excerpts from Pages 71-75 of the report:
“(U) On June 17,2003, nearly five months after the President delivered the State of the Union address, the CIA produced a memorandum for the DCI which said, “since learning that the Iraq-Niger uranium deal was based on false documents earlier this spring, we no longer believe that there is sufficient other reporting to conclude that Iraq pursued Uranium from abroad.” This memorandum was not distributed outside the CIA and the Committee has not been provided with any intelligence products in which the CIA published its corrected assessment on Iraq’s pursuit of uranium from Niger outside of the agency.”
“Paragraph K. Niger Conclusions:
(U) Conclusion 12. Until October 2002 when the Intelligence Community obtained the forged foreign language documents on the Iraq-Niger uranium deal, it was reasonable for analysts to assess that Iraq may have been seeking uranium from Africa based on Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) reporting and other available intelligence.
(U) Conclusion 13. The report on the former ambassador’s (Joe Wilson’s) trip to Niger, disseminated in March 2002, did not change any analysts’ assessments of the Iraq-Niger uranium deal. For most analysts, the information in the report lent more credibility to the original Central Intelligence (CIA) reports on the uranium deal, but the State Department Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) analysts believed that the report support their assessment that Niger was unlikely to be willing or able to sell uranium to Iraq.
(U) Conclusion 14. The Central Intelligence Agency should have told the Vice President and other senior policymakers that it had sent someone to Niger to look into the alleged Iraq-Niger uranium deal and should have briefed the Vice President on the former ambassador’s findings.”
With the yellow cake controversy put to rest, the emphasis shifted to Rove, the special prosecutor, and the grand jury investigation.
All of the noise is currently about whether Rove “outed” Plame while she was an active covert CIA agent, which is against the law. Yesterday the idiot Democrats in the Senate even tried to relieve Karl Rove of his security clearance, even before the results of the investigation are available.
The Washington Times reported that Plame’s supervisor states that Valerie had not been deployed undercover since 1997. And now the media reports that columnist Robert Novak actually placed a phone call to Karl Rove and told him (Rove) that Plame was a CIA Agent, not the other way around.
I SAY THE CASE IS CLOSED.
Yet there continues to be tons of air and millions of square feet of newsprint wasted (you can read more commentary and details here, here , and here,) but in my considered opinion, that’s all the Joe Wilson/Valerie Plame/Karl Rove story is…
A TOTAL NON-STORY
National EDUCATION Association?
I was dragging around the internet on a mission. There must be something going on in the world that will light a fire in my head and be the source of a good rant.
Heh Heh Heh, I FOUND something.
My blog friend Beth over at She Who Will Be Obeyed provided me with just the inspiration I needed. She mentioned that blog Diva Michelle Malkin was talking about the National Education Association’s annual meeting. (This is what you call a link to a link to a link in blogger lingo)
I’m sorry to tell you folks, but if you read the NEA’s meeting agenda, the NEA seems more concerned with national politics than teaching.
For instance, there is this little ditty:
“Business Item 78
NEA will urge its members that they "do not shop" at Wal-Mart and Sam's Club due to Wal-Mart's anti-union, low-wage, low-benefit policies that have left its employees in need of hundreds of million of dollars in public aid for various health care and social safety net programs.”
So all this bunch of socialist idiots wants to do is talk about boycotting Wal-Mart because Wal-Mart is fighting the unionization of their workforce.
And of course the NEA is fighting the Republican’s potential privatization of social security…
New Business Item 6
The NEA will form a coalition with other like-minded organizations and individuals to protect Social Security and the Defined Benefit Systems of this country. NEA will publish in NEA Today information about these efforts and encourage and educate our members of the continuing efforts to attack our members' retirement security
Then there is some stupid obscure issue about fragrances and fragrance chemicals???
“New Business Item 8
The NEA President, Reg Weaver, will direct the HIN to write an article on health problems from exposure to fragrance chemicals in NEA Today. This will include a questionnaire for membership using a variety of methods such as an online NEA web site posting, form in the article and questionnaires available at the 06 RA Hall of Health. The results will be published in NEA as well as posted on the NEA Web site, including a list of products identified by members as triggering health reactions. The questionnaire results will be posted to the NEA Web site
New Business Item 9
Recognizing the great support provided by NEA and the NEA-HIN, which are working to obtain outside funding to again send 25 additional members to the EPA Tools for Schools Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Symposium, should these funds not be forthcoming by November 1, 2005, NEA shall provide funds which will include a pre-symposium day for NEA members focusing on how to organize members around IAQ and Environmental Health issues. Attendees sign a commitment with their state president to establish an IAQ plan or activity.
New Business Item 75
The NEA will declare a designated area of the NEA/RA and related meetings and activities a fragrance free zone.”
I didn’t know that “fragrances” was such a big deal in school.
When I was in school, you just tried to stay away from the guys that had PE during first period because of the probability of them developing some serious natural fragrances (read that Body ODOR) was a potential problem.
Does this mean that if some little frilly 15 year old teen girl shows up at school dressed like a French whore…er…I mean…attired like Brittany Spears…that her attire is OK as long as she doesn’t also actually SMELL like a French whore with perfume?
I was shocked at how little talking about teaching they are apparently doing at the NEA convention. Go read the entire NEA meeting agenda for yourself if you have the time, but I can save you the trouble and tell you that, based on what I read, the NEA is more concerned with POLITICS than they are worried with the EDUCATION of our nation's children.
In my humble opinion, that’s just a crying shame.
Heh Heh Heh, I FOUND something.
My blog friend Beth over at She Who Will Be Obeyed provided me with just the inspiration I needed. She mentioned that blog Diva Michelle Malkin was talking about the National Education Association’s annual meeting. (This is what you call a link to a link to a link in blogger lingo)
I’m sorry to tell you folks, but if you read the NEA’s meeting agenda, the NEA seems more concerned with national politics than teaching.
For instance, there is this little ditty:
“Business Item 78
NEA will urge its members that they "do not shop" at Wal-Mart and Sam's Club due to Wal-Mart's anti-union, low-wage, low-benefit policies that have left its employees in need of hundreds of million of dollars in public aid for various health care and social safety net programs.”
So all this bunch of socialist idiots wants to do is talk about boycotting Wal-Mart because Wal-Mart is fighting the unionization of their workforce.
And of course the NEA is fighting the Republican’s potential privatization of social security…
New Business Item 6
The NEA will form a coalition with other like-minded organizations and individuals to protect Social Security and the Defined Benefit Systems of this country. NEA will publish in NEA Today information about these efforts and encourage and educate our members of the continuing efforts to attack our members' retirement security
Then there is some stupid obscure issue about fragrances and fragrance chemicals???
“New Business Item 8
The NEA President, Reg Weaver, will direct the HIN to write an article on health problems from exposure to fragrance chemicals in NEA Today. This will include a questionnaire for membership using a variety of methods such as an online NEA web site posting, form in the article and questionnaires available at the 06 RA Hall of Health. The results will be published in NEA as well as posted on the NEA Web site, including a list of products identified by members as triggering health reactions. The questionnaire results will be posted to the NEA Web site
New Business Item 9
Recognizing the great support provided by NEA and the NEA-HIN, which are working to obtain outside funding to again send 25 additional members to the EPA Tools for Schools Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Symposium, should these funds not be forthcoming by November 1, 2005, NEA shall provide funds which will include a pre-symposium day for NEA members focusing on how to organize members around IAQ and Environmental Health issues. Attendees sign a commitment with their state president to establish an IAQ plan or activity.
New Business Item 75
The NEA will declare a designated area of the NEA/RA and related meetings and activities a fragrance free zone.”
I didn’t know that “fragrances” was such a big deal in school.
When I was in school, you just tried to stay away from the guys that had PE during first period because of the probability of them developing some serious natural fragrances (read that Body ODOR) was a potential problem.
Does this mean that if some little frilly 15 year old teen girl shows up at school dressed like a French whore…er…I mean…attired like Brittany Spears…that her attire is OK as long as she doesn’t also actually SMELL like a French whore with perfume?
I was shocked at how little talking about teaching they are apparently doing at the NEA convention. Go read the entire NEA meeting agenda for yourself if you have the time, but I can save you the trouble and tell you that, based on what I read, the NEA is more concerned with POLITICS than they are worried with the EDUCATION of our nation's children.
In my humble opinion, that’s just a crying shame.
Thursday, July 14, 2005
Getting Serious
It's really weird how my interests and inspiration swings from extreme to extreme when it comes to my blogging.
For instance, I spent most of the mid-day yesterday watching NASA TV anticipating the shuttle launch. At the same time I was also doing some major Web research to support the development of a serious, in depth posting on the Rove/CIA/Plame/Wilson non-scandal scandal story.
Stay tuned for that posting later.
As a matter of explaination for those of you out there that don't write a couple thousand words a day like I usually try to do, please realize that if the words aren't there in your head, they probably won't be there on paper or the computer keyboard--at least not in a meaningful, readable fashion.
Yesterday was one of those days...I just didn't find a bunch of stuff worth talking or blogging about.
I did get a chance last night to go out to Ziggy's and explore the other half of my creative mind--I did Karaoke with my friend Smitty. There was a good crowd and my rendition of Billy Joel's "Piano Man" went over rather well, if I do say so myself. I played my "C" Suzuki Tremolo Harmonica and I can play circles around Billy Joel's harp work, but I wish I had taken piano lessons rather than Guitar lessons when I was 10 years old.
Playing piano when you are a male child is considered sissy, but that was before we found out that Billy Joel could grow up to marry Kristy Brinkley and Harry Connick, Jr. would play Carnege Hall.
Who Knew?
UPDATE: 3:20 AM 7/15/05 I forgot to mention Bruce Hornsby and Elton John in my listing of piano players I admire...
For instance, I spent most of the mid-day yesterday watching NASA TV anticipating the shuttle launch. At the same time I was also doing some major Web research to support the development of a serious, in depth posting on the Rove/CIA/Plame/Wilson non-scandal scandal story.
Stay tuned for that posting later.
As a matter of explaination for those of you out there that don't write a couple thousand words a day like I usually try to do, please realize that if the words aren't there in your head, they probably won't be there on paper or the computer keyboard--at least not in a meaningful, readable fashion.
Yesterday was one of those days...I just didn't find a bunch of stuff worth talking or blogging about.
I did get a chance last night to go out to Ziggy's and explore the other half of my creative mind--I did Karaoke with my friend Smitty. There was a good crowd and my rendition of Billy Joel's "Piano Man" went over rather well, if I do say so myself. I played my "C" Suzuki Tremolo Harmonica and I can play circles around Billy Joel's harp work, but I wish I had taken piano lessons rather than Guitar lessons when I was 10 years old.
Playing piano when you are a male child is considered sissy, but that was before we found out that Billy Joel could grow up to marry Kristy Brinkley and Harry Connick, Jr. would play Carnege Hall.
Who Knew?
UPDATE: 3:20 AM 7/15/05 I forgot to mention Bruce Hornsby and Elton John in my listing of piano players I admire...
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
Gosh Darn It...
Well, we've set here non stop since about 10:00 AM watching NASA TV broadcast the Astronauts getting suited up and loaded into the shuttle, and just as they got the last guy strapped into his elaborate seat a $50 "low hydrogen sensor" on the external fuel tank decided to go on the fritz.
They've unloaded everybody and the guys with sliderules and taped glasses are clammoring around trying to decide what to do next. Hopefully they can recycle and launch tomorrow.
They've unloaded everybody and the guys with sliderules and taped glasses are clammoring around trying to decide what to do next. Hopefully they can recycle and launch tomorrow.
NASACAR???
Not a half hour after I bragged about wanting to watch the space shuttle Discovery launch tomorrow I found this story about a “cockpit window” cover falling off and damaging some of the heat resistant tiles. OK, I can’t resist poking a little fun here, although I guarantee you that I wish only the best for the mission tomorrow.
My comedian idol and fellow Georgia Tech Alumni, Jeff Foxworthy, has a series of jokes he does about NASA—one of them involving my home state of ALABAMA.
Talking about Huntsville, Alabama, Jeff says “they might be building them (the rockets) there, but they ain’t letting people from there (Alabama) fly them."
I think that I’d be offended if I didn’t know that Jeff honestly thought that he knew what he was talking about. I can just see my old friend Gerrald Wynn saying "Hey Houston...it's dark as crap up here..."
The news article says:
“NASA was dealt a setback when a window cover fell off shuttle Discovery and damaged thermal tiles near the tail. But the space agency quickly fixed the problem and said it was still on track for launch Wednesday.
A lightweight plastic cover on one of Discovery's cockpit windows came loose while the spaceship was on the launch pad, falling more than 60 feet and striking a bulge in the fuselage, said Stephanie Stilson, the NASA manager in charge of Discovery's launch preparations.
No one knows why the cover -- held in place with tape and weighing less than 2 pounds -- fell off, she said. The covers are used prior to launch to protect the shuttle's windows, then removed before liftoff.
Two tiles on an aluminum panel were damaged, and the entire panel was replaced with a spare in what Stilson said was a minor repair job.”
See, the story proves that at least part the shuttle was designed in Alabama, probably by some NASCAR fans, because there is duct tape involved--and there's probably some Bondo in the repair job when all things were said and done.
Come to think of it, I believe that NASA and NASCAR should be merged. Think about it with me for a minute.
First, it would save a whole bunch of tax dollars. Imagine shuttles and other future rockets sponsored by Chevy and Dodge, painted with the logos for Nextel, Viagra, Home Depot, Lowes, and M&M's.
Instead of the mission control announcer saying "5,4,3,2,1, liftoff"...it could be Toby Keith saying "Gentlemen...start your engines."
Or instead of letting some nerd push a button to launch the rocket, some chick with fake boobs wearing a tight skirt could wave a green flag and some old astronauts could yell "boogity, boogity, boogity" as the plume of fire and smoke rises off the launch pad.
It would also give a whole new meaning to the term...
SPACE RACE.
My comedian idol and fellow Georgia Tech Alumni, Jeff Foxworthy, has a series of jokes he does about NASA—one of them involving my home state of ALABAMA.
Talking about Huntsville, Alabama, Jeff says “they might be building them (the rockets) there, but they ain’t letting people from there (Alabama) fly them."
I think that I’d be offended if I didn’t know that Jeff honestly thought that he knew what he was talking about. I can just see my old friend Gerrald Wynn saying "Hey Houston...it's dark as crap up here..."
The news article says:
“NASA was dealt a setback when a window cover fell off shuttle Discovery and damaged thermal tiles near the tail. But the space agency quickly fixed the problem and said it was still on track for launch Wednesday.
A lightweight plastic cover on one of Discovery's cockpit windows came loose while the spaceship was on the launch pad, falling more than 60 feet and striking a bulge in the fuselage, said Stephanie Stilson, the NASA manager in charge of Discovery's launch preparations.
No one knows why the cover -- held in place with tape and weighing less than 2 pounds -- fell off, she said. The covers are used prior to launch to protect the shuttle's windows, then removed before liftoff.
Two tiles on an aluminum panel were damaged, and the entire panel was replaced with a spare in what Stilson said was a minor repair job.”
See, the story proves that at least part the shuttle was designed in Alabama, probably by some NASCAR fans, because there is duct tape involved--and there's probably some Bondo in the repair job when all things were said and done.
Come to think of it, I believe that NASA and NASCAR should be merged. Think about it with me for a minute.
First, it would save a whole bunch of tax dollars. Imagine shuttles and other future rockets sponsored by Chevy and Dodge, painted with the logos for Nextel, Viagra, Home Depot, Lowes, and M&M's.
Instead of the mission control announcer saying "5,4,3,2,1, liftoff"...it could be Toby Keith saying "Gentlemen...start your engines."
Or instead of letting some nerd push a button to launch the rocket, some chick with fake boobs wearing a tight skirt could wave a green flag and some old astronauts could yell "boogity, boogity, boogity" as the plume of fire and smoke rises off the launch pad.
It would also give a whole new meaning to the term...
SPACE RACE.
America Returns to Space
Just in case you were wondering what I’ll be doing at about 3:51 PM Eastern Standard Time this afternoon, I’ll be watching the NASA TV Webcast of the Space Shuttle Discovery launch.
Rumor has it that the TV Networks are going to cover the launch live so those of you that don’t have cable or DSL internet service can watch it too, but if you have fast internet you should check out the NASA site for some cool images.
Unlike much of the American people and the balance of the world, I still get excited about things that fly, especially things that can obtain orbital velocity of 18,000 MPH.
Let's hope that NASA has got it's act back together and everyone is safely delivered to orbit, docks with the space station, and comes home in one piece.
Rumor has it that the TV Networks are going to cover the launch live so those of you that don’t have cable or DSL internet service can watch it too, but if you have fast internet you should check out the NASA site for some cool images.
Unlike much of the American people and the balance of the world, I still get excited about things that fly, especially things that can obtain orbital velocity of 18,000 MPH.
Let's hope that NASA has got it's act back together and everyone is safely delivered to orbit, docks with the space station, and comes home in one piece.
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Southern Comfort Food
Stress like that associated with hurricanes makes people do strange things.
Stress like that makes ME do even STRANGER things, at all hours of the day and night.
For instance, take a look at this picture:
Goober Peas...
Defense Exhibit A, the substance in the big boiler, is 4 pounds of nice, fresh, green Georgia peanuts.
Surrounding Exhibit A is a couple of gallons of water, seasoned with about 1-1/2 cups of kosher salt, some tabasco, red pepper, and a great deal of patience and love expended over four hours of soaking and cooking at a low temperature simmer.
The items in the middle on the paper towel are peanuts that gave their lives in the name of quality control.
I'm cooking right now as I write, and I sure hope that there are some peanuts left to eat when they are done cooking...
Stress like that makes ME do even STRANGER things, at all hours of the day and night.
For instance, take a look at this picture:
Goober Peas...
Defense Exhibit A, the substance in the big boiler, is 4 pounds of nice, fresh, green Georgia peanuts.
Surrounding Exhibit A is a couple of gallons of water, seasoned with about 1-1/2 cups of kosher salt, some tabasco, red pepper, and a great deal of patience and love expended over four hours of soaking and cooking at a low temperature simmer.
The items in the middle on the paper towel are peanuts that gave their lives in the name of quality control.
I'm cooking right now as I write, and I sure hope that there are some peanuts left to eat when they are done cooking...
Let’s Go Through This…ONCE AGAIN
I like to think of myself as a nice guy—you know?
I’m also a businessman.
Further, I’m also really concerned about the recent victims of Hurricane Dennis down there in Florida and Alabama.
I want to help their situation. Not just praying or donating five dollars or some canned goods, I want to really do something to assist in the shortage of supplies in the area affected by the storm, and I also want to make a little profit for my efforts—nothing extreme, just some extra cash in return for my time and energy.
I know—GENERATORS…they need generators…and I’ll go get some (generators) and haul them down there (to the hurricane victims in Florida) and sell them for a reasonable price—my out of pocket cost plus 25%. That’s not too much profit, is it? Furniture companies often make between 50% and 75% mark up on sofas and chairs—so 25% shouldn’t be too much to ask.
Yes, that’s the ticket!
I spring into action, first I get out my credit card and call around the local area looking for generators for sale. Bad news…since we live near the coast and it’s hurricane season, there are only a half dozen generators to be found in the area.
I know…go to a big city, away from the ocean, like ATLANTA—they certainly have to have lots of generators for sale in Atlanta. I crank up the Internet and book an airline ticket on Delta to Atlanta from Brunswick and a return flight next week from Panama City, Florida back to St. Simons through Atlanta.
Cost: $678.00
Next I go on line and rent a U-Haul truck that I will pick up in Atlanta and use for seven days driving around Atlanta to pick up my goods and to drive my generators from Atlanta to the Florida Gulf coast area.
Cost $766.00
I pack my suitcase, catch a few hours of sleep, and at 6:10 AM this morning I’m on an airplane on my way to Hartsfield Jackson International Airport. I snag a Starbucks Latte and a bagel on my way through the airport.
Cost $16.00
After picking up my luggage, a half hour taxi ride later I’m standing at the truck rental counter in Marietta, Georgia.
Cost $43.00
By the way, I also have also already spent one half of a day of my time in the venture so far, but I’m giving that away since I said before…”I’m a nice guy...”
So now as to the hard part—I need some generators to sell down there in Florida. Off to Home Depot and Lowes.
Vroommm Vrooommm in my rental truck
I buy all the generators I can get my hands on—new, still in the boxes—in several sizes. The little portable units that will run a few lights like the little Honda EN2500 that only costs me $665, and the larger 6500 watt electric start Honda units that set me back a little over $3200 retail.
Cost: (20) 6500’s and (40) 2500’s = $90,600 plus tax…not exactly chump change…
It’s still daylight, so after having my truck loaded full of generators, I hit the road for the six hour drive down to ground zero, arriving outside Ft. Walton at the Motel 6 having reserved a room for five nights.
Cost $500.00
On Wednesday morning I call the local day labor company and arrange to hire two assistants to support my sales effort.
Cost $200.00 per day x 5 days = $1000
Escambia and Walton Counties aren't stupid, they're in this for the moneyalso, so I have to buy a short term business license in each county and guess what...
Two licenses each x $125.00 = $250.00
I also need to pay for myself and my employees to eat for five days and I have to pay for gasoline to drive my truck from Atlanta, so I add in an additional $750.00 and my total expenses are…
(drum roll please……….$94603)
Now reality sets in. With expenses and a 25% profit, the EN2500 generators will cost you $900.00, and the 6500 watt models will cost $4075.00.
Being the greedy capitalist that I am, I stand to earn a tidy $22,897.00 for seven days worth of work.
NOW THE BAD NEWS…
Most governors (including Jeb Bush,) legislators, and many of my readers call my business idea...
“PRICE GOUGING”
I say I’ll just stay home here on St. Simons and let the poor Floridians and Alabamians sit at home in the dark.
After all, they could have bought a generator BEFORE the storm hit, when they were sitting around on the shelves like leaves on a tree (like my father did), rather than waiting for me to deliver them to them now, using the government to force me to sell them to them at a discount price, AFTER the hurricane has come plowing on shore in their back yard.
Where is Sam Kinnison when you need him?
Tell 'em Sam...
I’m also a businessman.
Further, I’m also really concerned about the recent victims of Hurricane Dennis down there in Florida and Alabama.
I want to help their situation. Not just praying or donating five dollars or some canned goods, I want to really do something to assist in the shortage of supplies in the area affected by the storm, and I also want to make a little profit for my efforts—nothing extreme, just some extra cash in return for my time and energy.
I know—GENERATORS…they need generators…and I’ll go get some (generators) and haul them down there (to the hurricane victims in Florida) and sell them for a reasonable price—my out of pocket cost plus 25%. That’s not too much profit, is it? Furniture companies often make between 50% and 75% mark up on sofas and chairs—so 25% shouldn’t be too much to ask.
Yes, that’s the ticket!
I spring into action, first I get out my credit card and call around the local area looking for generators for sale. Bad news…since we live near the coast and it’s hurricane season, there are only a half dozen generators to be found in the area.
I know…go to a big city, away from the ocean, like ATLANTA—they certainly have to have lots of generators for sale in Atlanta. I crank up the Internet and book an airline ticket on Delta to Atlanta from Brunswick and a return flight next week from Panama City, Florida back to St. Simons through Atlanta.
Cost: $678.00
Next I go on line and rent a U-Haul truck that I will pick up in Atlanta and use for seven days driving around Atlanta to pick up my goods and to drive my generators from Atlanta to the Florida Gulf coast area.
Cost $766.00
I pack my suitcase, catch a few hours of sleep, and at 6:10 AM this morning I’m on an airplane on my way to Hartsfield Jackson International Airport. I snag a Starbucks Latte and a bagel on my way through the airport.
Cost $16.00
After picking up my luggage, a half hour taxi ride later I’m standing at the truck rental counter in Marietta, Georgia.
Cost $43.00
By the way, I also have also already spent one half of a day of my time in the venture so far, but I’m giving that away since I said before…”I’m a nice guy...”
So now as to the hard part—I need some generators to sell down there in Florida. Off to Home Depot and Lowes.
Vroommm Vrooommm in my rental truck
I buy all the generators I can get my hands on—new, still in the boxes—in several sizes. The little portable units that will run a few lights like the little Honda EN2500 that only costs me $665, and the larger 6500 watt electric start Honda units that set me back a little over $3200 retail.
Cost: (20) 6500’s and (40) 2500’s = $90,600 plus tax…not exactly chump change…
It’s still daylight, so after having my truck loaded full of generators, I hit the road for the six hour drive down to ground zero, arriving outside Ft. Walton at the Motel 6 having reserved a room for five nights.
Cost $500.00
On Wednesday morning I call the local day labor company and arrange to hire two assistants to support my sales effort.
Cost $200.00 per day x 5 days = $1000
Escambia and Walton Counties aren't stupid, they're in this for the moneyalso, so I have to buy a short term business license in each county and guess what...
Two licenses each x $125.00 = $250.00
I also need to pay for myself and my employees to eat for five days and I have to pay for gasoline to drive my truck from Atlanta, so I add in an additional $750.00 and my total expenses are…
(drum roll please……….$94603)
Now reality sets in. With expenses and a 25% profit, the EN2500 generators will cost you $900.00, and the 6500 watt models will cost $4075.00.
Being the greedy capitalist that I am, I stand to earn a tidy $22,897.00 for seven days worth of work.
NOW THE BAD NEWS…
Most governors (including Jeb Bush,) legislators, and many of my readers call my business idea...
“PRICE GOUGING”
I say I’ll just stay home here on St. Simons and let the poor Floridians and Alabamians sit at home in the dark.
After all, they could have bought a generator BEFORE the storm hit, when they were sitting around on the shelves like leaves on a tree (like my father did), rather than waiting for me to deliver them to them now, using the government to force me to sell them to them at a discount price, AFTER the hurricane has come plowing on shore in their back yard.
Where is Sam Kinnison when you need him?
Tell 'em Sam...
Monday, July 11, 2005
Hurricane Reruns
I was snooping around on the Web this morning looking for gruesome photos of damage from Hurricane Dennis and I found out something I didn’t already know.
The NOAA Hurricane name list isn’t original each year, and some years it comes back up in the same order. I knew that they retired names if a kick ass storm kills a bunch of people and levels a couple of dozen miles of ocean front property like Andrew, Camile, and Hugo did, but I didn’t think that storm names came back up in short periods of time like—six years?
Here’s the link to the news story, and here’s the picture of Hurricanes Cindy and Dennis, and Tropical Storm Emily floating around the Atlantic in 1999:
Hurricane Reruns?
Leave it to the Imperial Federal Government of the United States to cut corners…how about some original names for our storms, Guys?
I suppose that they'll have to raise my taxes to do that...
The NOAA Hurricane name list isn’t original each year, and some years it comes back up in the same order. I knew that they retired names if a kick ass storm kills a bunch of people and levels a couple of dozen miles of ocean front property like Andrew, Camile, and Hugo did, but I didn’t think that storm names came back up in short periods of time like—six years?
Here’s the link to the news story, and here’s the picture of Hurricanes Cindy and Dennis, and Tropical Storm Emily floating around the Atlantic in 1999:
Hurricane Reruns?
Leave it to the Imperial Federal Government of the United States to cut corners…how about some original names for our storms, Guys?
I suppose that they'll have to raise my taxes to do that...
If I’m Gonna Be A “Tool”
I want to be a “POWER TOOL,” and I want a reputable brand name stamped on my handle…
“WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Political groups preparing to battle over the first U.S. Supreme Court nomination in 11 years have a powerful new tool -- Internet blogs -- to spread information quickly and influence decision makers without relying on traditional media.
Web logs likely numbering in the dozens provide a way for the thoughtful and the passionate to publish their views. Politicians are taking notice as they prepare for the first high court nomination fight since the Internet became common in American households.”
Would the idea of “(blogs) likely numbering in the dozens” be a fair assessment of the current blogging situation?
This same Reuters article, in typical inaccurate MSM fashion, goes on to say:
“A recent study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project said that 7 percent of the 120 million U.S. adults who use the Internet have created a blog or web-based diary.”
Gee whiz, let’s see here…cracking out my fifth grade math book…
7% of 120,000,000 equals...
.07 x 120,000,000 equals…………..uhhhhhhh……. 8.4 million?
Eight million, four hundred thousand blogs?
I thought that they said “likely numbering in the dozens”—talk about the gift of understatement.
As a Blogger, I do like being referred to as “A TOOL” rather than “a fool.”
Here’s a picture of the tool I’d like to be so I could help the recent hurricane victims:
My altered ego
I'd be a STIHL MS 880 Magnum Chain Saw...trees everywhere are shaking in their roots...
“WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Political groups preparing to battle over the first U.S. Supreme Court nomination in 11 years have a powerful new tool -- Internet blogs -- to spread information quickly and influence decision makers without relying on traditional media.
Web logs likely numbering in the dozens provide a way for the thoughtful and the passionate to publish their views. Politicians are taking notice as they prepare for the first high court nomination fight since the Internet became common in American households.”
Would the idea of “(blogs) likely numbering in the dozens” be a fair assessment of the current blogging situation?
This same Reuters article, in typical inaccurate MSM fashion, goes on to say:
“A recent study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project said that 7 percent of the 120 million U.S. adults who use the Internet have created a blog or web-based diary.”
Gee whiz, let’s see here…cracking out my fifth grade math book…
7% of 120,000,000 equals...
.07 x 120,000,000 equals…………..uhhhhhhh……. 8.4 million?
Eight million, four hundred thousand blogs?
I thought that they said “likely numbering in the dozens”—talk about the gift of understatement.
As a Blogger, I do like being referred to as “A TOOL” rather than “a fool.”
Here’s a picture of the tool I’d like to be so I could help the recent hurricane victims:
My altered ego
I'd be a STIHL MS 880 Magnum Chain Saw...trees everywhere are shaking in their roots...
July 11th Public Service Announcement
Today’s date represents the anniversary of several important milestones in my life and for that reason I can’t let it pass by without commenting.
On this day in 1981 I was standing at the altar as a groomsman for a great friend, Andy, who was marring a wonderful woman, Laura, to which he is still married to today. How she has put up with him for all these years, I’ll never know…(just kidding.)
Happy Anniversary guys, I hope to make it up your way to see you again soon.
Also, on this day in 1985 I found myself sitting at a Lawyer’s conference table in Smyrna, Georgia signing the loan papers to purchase my first house. I was only 25 years old then, and little did I know at that time how much responsibility home ownership would be. Twenty years and two houses later and I’m back to renting my own abode from a landlord, and acting as a slumlord by renting my properties to other people.
And finally, my friends Andy and Laura had three children together in their ensuing 24 years of marriage and if my memory doesn’t fail me, I believe that their middle child, Hunter, was born on July 11th —so I’d like to say happy birthday to Hunter.
…We now return you to the regularly scheduled broadcast already in progress…
On this day in 1981 I was standing at the altar as a groomsman for a great friend, Andy, who was marring a wonderful woman, Laura, to which he is still married to today. How she has put up with him for all these years, I’ll never know…(just kidding.)
Happy Anniversary guys, I hope to make it up your way to see you again soon.
Also, on this day in 1985 I found myself sitting at a Lawyer’s conference table in Smyrna, Georgia signing the loan papers to purchase my first house. I was only 25 years old then, and little did I know at that time how much responsibility home ownership would be. Twenty years and two houses later and I’m back to renting my own abode from a landlord, and acting as a slumlord by renting my properties to other people.
And finally, my friends Andy and Laura had three children together in their ensuing 24 years of marriage and if my memory doesn’t fail me, I believe that their middle child, Hunter, was born on July 11th —so I’d like to say happy birthday to Hunter.
…We now return you to the regularly scheduled broadcast already in progress…
Sunday, July 10, 2005
It Might Be Our Turn
As Hurricane Dennis fades from the news headlines and into memory and the clean-up begins, I’m sitting here wondering what ever happened to all the news stories about shark attacks and Natalee Holloway down in Aruba.
Remember them?
Then I realized that there is another woman that currently resides west of Aruba that might just ultimately be coming to visit us here on St. Simons Island.
Here’s her picture:
My New Girlfriend
She's just a toddler right now, a so called Tropical Depression 5, but by next Monday or Tuesday she could be standing outside our door as a full grown PMSing Bitch named Hurricane Emily.
I hope she chooses somewhere else to go to on vacation.
Remember them?
Then I realized that there is another woman that currently resides west of Aruba that might just ultimately be coming to visit us here on St. Simons Island.
Here’s her picture:
My New Girlfriend
She's just a toddler right now, a so called Tropical Depression 5, but by next Monday or Tuesday she could be standing outside our door as a full grown PMSing Bitch named Hurricane Emily.
I hope she chooses somewhere else to go to on vacation.
Does Somebody Actually Care?
I can’t help but be "extremely" disinterested in stories like this one:
Skateboarder Clears Great Wall of China
“Los Angeles--Daredevil skateboarder Danny Way rolled down a massive ramp at nearly 50 mph and jumped across the Great Wall of China on Saturday, becoming the first person to clear the wall without motorized aid, an event sponsor said…
"I was aware of the dangers and my heart was pumping in my chest the whole time, but I managed to pull it off with the help of my team, and I'm honored to have my visions embraced by the people of China," Way said in a statement.
A crowd of several thousand people, including China's ministers of extreme sports and culture, gathered at the Ju Yong Guan Gate about a 40-minute drive from Beijing, Quiksilver's greater China marketing director Ryan Hollis said.”
So let me get me get this straight, the “People’s Republic of China” has become so hip as to actually designate someone to be the “Minister of Extreme Sports and Culture?”
Are the sidewalks and parks in China infested with gangly crowds of pimply faced teens wearing baggy shorts, each sporting a skateboard in one hand and a cell phone in the other?
Are teams of young Chinese men doing “extreme”tricks with rickshaws or bicycles with sidecars?
Is the "Minister of Extreme Sports and Culture" sanctioning events in China featuring same?
I think that most skateboarders (and many snowboarders for that matter) are like fleas on a dog, infesting our planet and wrecking havoc on public places, damaging handrails, stair treads, and monuments with their idiotic “extreme sports” antics.
Most of these kids need to put down their skateboards, turn off their PlayStations, and start studying their school books and doing their homework because the odds of actually making any money as a professional skateboarder are even less than that of playing in the NBA, NFL, or in major league baseball.
I guess I’m just getting to be an old Fogie...
Skateboarder Clears Great Wall of China
“Los Angeles--Daredevil skateboarder Danny Way rolled down a massive ramp at nearly 50 mph and jumped across the Great Wall of China on Saturday, becoming the first person to clear the wall without motorized aid, an event sponsor said…
"I was aware of the dangers and my heart was pumping in my chest the whole time, but I managed to pull it off with the help of my team, and I'm honored to have my visions embraced by the people of China," Way said in a statement.
A crowd of several thousand people, including China's ministers of extreme sports and culture, gathered at the Ju Yong Guan Gate about a 40-minute drive from Beijing, Quiksilver's greater China marketing director Ryan Hollis said.”
So let me get me get this straight, the “People’s Republic of China” has become so hip as to actually designate someone to be the “Minister of Extreme Sports and Culture?”
Are the sidewalks and parks in China infested with gangly crowds of pimply faced teens wearing baggy shorts, each sporting a skateboard in one hand and a cell phone in the other?
Are teams of young Chinese men doing “extreme”tricks with rickshaws or bicycles with sidecars?
Is the "Minister of Extreme Sports and Culture" sanctioning events in China featuring same?
I think that most skateboarders (and many snowboarders for that matter) are like fleas on a dog, infesting our planet and wrecking havoc on public places, damaging handrails, stair treads, and monuments with their idiotic “extreme sports” antics.
Most of these kids need to put down their skateboards, turn off their PlayStations, and start studying their school books and doing their homework because the odds of actually making any money as a professional skateboarder are even less than that of playing in the NBA, NFL, or in major league baseball.
I guess I’m just getting to be an old Fogie...
They Say Close Only Counts In Horseshoes and Hand Grenades
I’d like to add Hurricanes to that listing—and Dennis was too close for comfort—but my Mom survived relatively unscathed.
A little rain, a little wind, and a little while spent without electrical power.
After a little yard cleanup, Dennis will be relegated to being a not so fond memory.
A little rain, a little wind, and a little while spent without electrical power.
After a little yard cleanup, Dennis will be relegated to being a not so fond memory.
From One Extreme, To The Other…
Continuing my “Devil May Care” attitude, I spent an hour at the pool this afternoon under the clouds, ignoring the weather on TV, instead choosing to sit outside and watch the 25 to 35 MPH wind gusts pushing the plastic pool furniture around the pool deck and making the big American Flag flap furiously on the adjacent flagpole.
About 3:30 PM I was driven inside by a burst of rainfall—they’ve been predicting buckets of rain here for two days and none was had, but finally a little water arrived, courtesy of Hurricane Dennis.
When I got back home I found that the storm was just coming on shore slightly east of Pensacola, Florida. I feel sorry for the poor bastards that own houses out there near Navarre Beach and anywhere else on Santa Rosa “Island,” because “Santa Rosa Island” should be called “Santa Rosa Sandbar.”
If you’ve ever been there, you know what I mean.
There will be whole houses tipped over on their sides in the bay and the local Holiday Inn will probably be out of business for two years again like it was after Hurricane Opal in 1995. God help all of the fools that have bought in on the new ten story condos they were building up and down the formerly pristine beaches in that area.
I believe that I’ll take time out to watch today’s NASCAR race on TV from Chicago and try to take my mind off of this natural disaster for a while.
At the risk of exhibiting extreme vanity, go check out this posting, the second one I wrote last fall when I started the blog…its called NASCAR Hype.
And keep your fingers and toes crossed for my Mom’s good fortune…
About 3:30 PM I was driven inside by a burst of rainfall—they’ve been predicting buckets of rain here for two days and none was had, but finally a little water arrived, courtesy of Hurricane Dennis.
When I got back home I found that the storm was just coming on shore slightly east of Pensacola, Florida. I feel sorry for the poor bastards that own houses out there near Navarre Beach and anywhere else on Santa Rosa “Island,” because “Santa Rosa Island” should be called “Santa Rosa Sandbar.”
If you’ve ever been there, you know what I mean.
There will be whole houses tipped over on their sides in the bay and the local Holiday Inn will probably be out of business for two years again like it was after Hurricane Opal in 1995. God help all of the fools that have bought in on the new ten story condos they were building up and down the formerly pristine beaches in that area.
I believe that I’ll take time out to watch today’s NASCAR race on TV from Chicago and try to take my mind off of this natural disaster for a while.
At the risk of exhibiting extreme vanity, go check out this posting, the second one I wrote last fall when I started the blog…its called NASCAR Hype.
And keep your fingers and toes crossed for my Mom’s good fortune…
Hurricane Eye For The Straight Guy
Well, here I sit—Hundreds of miles away, but I don’t know who is hyperventilating more—me or The Weather Channel’s Heather Tesch and Jim “The Weather God” Cantori.
Who bought Heather that funky paisley top anyway—her great Aunt? I think that the show's producers need to stop smoking whatever they are smoking and do some wardrobe screening prior to letting these girls on the number one show on world wide TV right now…can you imagine the number of people watching The Weather Channel today?
It looks like my old buddy Dennis has decided to tilt back westward just enough to spare my mother’s farm in Alabama from bearing the brunt of its onslaught.
Please help me by keeping your fingers, toes, and anything else you want to cross, crossed over the next few hours.
Who bought Heather that funky paisley top anyway—her great Aunt? I think that the show's producers need to stop smoking whatever they are smoking and do some wardrobe screening prior to letting these girls on the number one show on world wide TV right now…can you imagine the number of people watching The Weather Channel today?
It looks like my old buddy Dennis has decided to tilt back westward just enough to spare my mother’s farm in Alabama from bearing the brunt of its onslaught.
Please help me by keeping your fingers, toes, and anything else you want to cross, crossed over the next few hours.
Well, I’m afraid that it’s happening again.
I took a couple hour nap early last evening, and then stayed up much of the rest of the night to follow Hurricane Dennis’ progress. I even took a half hour swim in the pool about 1 AM.
When I went to bed after the 4 AM National Weather Service forecast of the storm track it looked like Mobile was going to be ground zero for the assault. Things looked pretty good for my Mom’s chances of avoiding significant wind damage.
Now I’m awake again and I’ve gotten back on the Internet and learned that the storm has stopped its westward progression, taking a turn directly north toward the Destin/Santa Rosa Island area. That’s bad news—and the Weather Channel TV broadcast just finally admitted same.
Here is what bothers me. If you happen to be unfortunate enought to reside on the eastern side of the eye of a landfalling Hurricane, within the inner 50 to 75 miles of the roar and confusion, you get to enjoy the brunt of the party--whether you want to or not.
Mom may just end up in that situation.
Being the amateur meteorologist that I am, I’ve checked my own resources and here is what I know so far. NOAA Buoy 42039 located about 115 nautical miles SSE of Pensacola reports wave heights of 32.8 feet and wind gusts of 58.3 KTS. Further, they are reporting the top wind speeds running about 145 MPH.
The only good news is that Mom hasn’t had much rain so far, so at least when the winds get there the trees won’t just tip over and pull out of the ground like they did during Hurricane Opal.
Technology is a wonderful thing, but sometimes ignorance is bliss…
When I went to bed after the 4 AM National Weather Service forecast of the storm track it looked like Mobile was going to be ground zero for the assault. Things looked pretty good for my Mom’s chances of avoiding significant wind damage.
Now I’m awake again and I’ve gotten back on the Internet and learned that the storm has stopped its westward progression, taking a turn directly north toward the Destin/Santa Rosa Island area. That’s bad news—and the Weather Channel TV broadcast just finally admitted same.
Here is what bothers me. If you happen to be unfortunate enought to reside on the eastern side of the eye of a landfalling Hurricane, within the inner 50 to 75 miles of the roar and confusion, you get to enjoy the brunt of the party--whether you want to or not.
Mom may just end up in that situation.
Being the amateur meteorologist that I am, I’ve checked my own resources and here is what I know so far. NOAA Buoy 42039 located about 115 nautical miles SSE of Pensacola reports wave heights of 32.8 feet and wind gusts of 58.3 KTS. Further, they are reporting the top wind speeds running about 145 MPH.
The only good news is that Mom hasn’t had much rain so far, so at least when the winds get there the trees won’t just tip over and pull out of the ground like they did during Hurricane Opal.
Technology is a wonderful thing, but sometimes ignorance is bliss…
Living Dangerously
I was just a teenager in high school when I experienced my first Hurricane. The odd thing was, until that day in September, 1975, when Hurricane Eloise hit Ozark, Alabama I didn’t realize how often I would soon be involved in worrying about this fairly common natural phenomena.
They say that hurricane activity runs in cycles, and the first 16 years of my life had been lived in what is currently described as a lull in hurricane formation—1968’s monster Hurricane Cammile that struck Mississippi being the rather spectacular singular exception.
The Southern Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of the United States are known to bear the brunt of the effects of the worldwide hurricane activity almost every year. I think that you will agree, however, that most Americans will trade a nice fat juicy Hurricane Hugo or Hurricane Andrew for the Christmas Tsunami that hit southeastern Asia last year, almost any day.
Hurricane Eloise came knocking on our front door fairly early on that September morning. My father was out of town traveling in New England on business, and my mother and sister and I awoke expecting to begin a normal school day, but instead learned through radio and TV news reports that the storm had unexpectedly shifted its course overnight from a predicted Mobile, Alabama landfall to coming ashore with 110 MPH winds near Panama City, Florida. I hope Dennis doesn’t decide to do the same tonight.
Of course back then there was no Weather Channel and tropical storm forecasting was basically still in its infancy by today’s standards, so we couldn’t blame the local weather guys for missing the details until the last minute.
My memory is that the intensity of the storm built up incrementally, and just when you thought that the wind couldn’t blow any harder and the trees couldn’t bend any farther, the wind blew still harder and the trees simply broke off half way up. In then end, we had over twenty big pine trees down in our yard. Probably half of them started out not standing in our yard, but on the adjacent vacant lot.
My new little Honda Civic had been pounded to death with pine cones and looked like someone had beat it all over with a ball peen hammer. Large pines had just missed our motor home and the Honda—instead laying parallel to each vehicle in some miraculous God-given stroke of fate.
We had half of a big pine tree laying on and sticking through the roof of the house, the power lines to the house were down, and there were two or three dump truck loads of leaves and other organic litter in the yard. When you walked outside, you literally were walking on TOP of piles of pieces of trees.
When the eye of the storm passed over our town, I went outside, over my mother’s objections, and cranked up the chainsaw and started cutting up critical pieces of trees to get a head start on the cleanup. Over the next few days the Alabama National Guard came by and removed the tree from our roof with a boom-truck and some local pulpwood contractors came by to pick up the larger tree trunks. It was a couple of years before things returned to normal at our house, and we lived 120 miles inland from where the storm made landfall.
Since that time, Hurricanes Opal in 1995, Ivan last year, and several other tropical storms and Hurricanes have wrecked havoc on our lives in southern Alabama. Opal beat Eloise by ten or twenty percent in actual impact—particularly since I wasn’t there to help my parents do the clean-up. Last year we dodged a total of five tropical storms and Hurricanes here on St. Simons.
Until I moved to Mexico Beach in 2001, I made a point, every time I visited the beach, to spend a few moments looking out at the shoreline and meditating—realizing that when and if I had the opportunity to return to that location months or years later that it might not be there—or might have been substantially changed by a hurricane. I still think about how easily the landscape around me could change here on St. Simons any day this Hurricane season.
I hope, when it is all said and done this morning, that somehow the minimum damage and effects will be realized by Hurricane Dennis, where ever it decides to come ashore.
Based on what I’m seeing right now, things don’t look too good…
They say that hurricane activity runs in cycles, and the first 16 years of my life had been lived in what is currently described as a lull in hurricane formation—1968’s monster Hurricane Cammile that struck Mississippi being the rather spectacular singular exception.
The Southern Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of the United States are known to bear the brunt of the effects of the worldwide hurricane activity almost every year. I think that you will agree, however, that most Americans will trade a nice fat juicy Hurricane Hugo or Hurricane Andrew for the Christmas Tsunami that hit southeastern Asia last year, almost any day.
Hurricane Eloise came knocking on our front door fairly early on that September morning. My father was out of town traveling in New England on business, and my mother and sister and I awoke expecting to begin a normal school day, but instead learned through radio and TV news reports that the storm had unexpectedly shifted its course overnight from a predicted Mobile, Alabama landfall to coming ashore with 110 MPH winds near Panama City, Florida. I hope Dennis doesn’t decide to do the same tonight.
Of course back then there was no Weather Channel and tropical storm forecasting was basically still in its infancy by today’s standards, so we couldn’t blame the local weather guys for missing the details until the last minute.
My memory is that the intensity of the storm built up incrementally, and just when you thought that the wind couldn’t blow any harder and the trees couldn’t bend any farther, the wind blew still harder and the trees simply broke off half way up. In then end, we had over twenty big pine trees down in our yard. Probably half of them started out not standing in our yard, but on the adjacent vacant lot.
My new little Honda Civic had been pounded to death with pine cones and looked like someone had beat it all over with a ball peen hammer. Large pines had just missed our motor home and the Honda—instead laying parallel to each vehicle in some miraculous God-given stroke of fate.
We had half of a big pine tree laying on and sticking through the roof of the house, the power lines to the house were down, and there were two or three dump truck loads of leaves and other organic litter in the yard. When you walked outside, you literally were walking on TOP of piles of pieces of trees.
When the eye of the storm passed over our town, I went outside, over my mother’s objections, and cranked up the chainsaw and started cutting up critical pieces of trees to get a head start on the cleanup. Over the next few days the Alabama National Guard came by and removed the tree from our roof with a boom-truck and some local pulpwood contractors came by to pick up the larger tree trunks. It was a couple of years before things returned to normal at our house, and we lived 120 miles inland from where the storm made landfall.
Since that time, Hurricanes Opal in 1995, Ivan last year, and several other tropical storms and Hurricanes have wrecked havoc on our lives in southern Alabama. Opal beat Eloise by ten or twenty percent in actual impact—particularly since I wasn’t there to help my parents do the clean-up. Last year we dodged a total of five tropical storms and Hurricanes here on St. Simons.
Until I moved to Mexico Beach in 2001, I made a point, every time I visited the beach, to spend a few moments looking out at the shoreline and meditating—realizing that when and if I had the opportunity to return to that location months or years later that it might not be there—or might have been substantially changed by a hurricane. I still think about how easily the landscape around me could change here on St. Simons any day this Hurricane season.
I hope, when it is all said and done this morning, that somehow the minimum damage and effects will be realized by Hurricane Dennis, where ever it decides to come ashore.
Based on what I’m seeing right now, things don’t look too good…
National Weather Service--All Lathered UP
Being the weather nerd that I am, I subscribe to the National Weather Service Hurricane Center E-mail list. You can get twenty e-mails in just a couple of hours, but it gives you some interesting insights into the goings-on behind the scenes in the professional weather forcasting business.
I just got this text in an E-mail from the National Weather Service:
"AFTER DEEPENING AT A RATE THAT BORDERED ON INSANE DURING THE AFTERNOON...DENNIS HAS CONTINUED TO STRENGTHEN AT A MORE NORMAL RATE THIS EVENING. REPORTS FROM AN AIR FORCE RESERVE HURRICANE HUNTER AIRCRAFT SHOW THAT THE CENTRAL PRESSURE HAS FALLEN TO 941MB...WITH MAXIMUM FLIGHT-LEVEL WINDS OF 122 KT IN THE NORTHEAST QUADRANT.
BASED ON THIS...THE INITIAL INTENSITY IS 110 KT. IT IS EXPECTED THAT WHEN THE AIRCRAFT AGAIN SAMPLES THE NORTHEAST EYE WALL THAT IT WILL FIND STRONGER WINDS THAT WILL JUSTIFY UPGRADING DENNIS TO A CATEGORY FOUR HURRICANE. IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT ALTHOUGH DENNIS HAS A VERY LARGE OUTER WIND FIELD... THE HURRICANE FORCE WINDS ARE CONFINED TO A VERY SMALL AREA NEAR THE CENTER."
I think that somebody needs some decaf coffee down there in Miami...
I just got this text in an E-mail from the National Weather Service:
"AFTER DEEPENING AT A RATE THAT BORDERED ON INSANE DURING THE AFTERNOON...DENNIS HAS CONTINUED TO STRENGTHEN AT A MORE NORMAL RATE THIS EVENING. REPORTS FROM AN AIR FORCE RESERVE HURRICANE HUNTER AIRCRAFT SHOW THAT THE CENTRAL PRESSURE HAS FALLEN TO 941MB...WITH MAXIMUM FLIGHT-LEVEL WINDS OF 122 KT IN THE NORTHEAST QUADRANT.
BASED ON THIS...THE INITIAL INTENSITY IS 110 KT. IT IS EXPECTED THAT WHEN THE AIRCRAFT AGAIN SAMPLES THE NORTHEAST EYE WALL THAT IT WILL FIND STRONGER WINDS THAT WILL JUSTIFY UPGRADING DENNIS TO A CATEGORY FOUR HURRICANE. IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT ALTHOUGH DENNIS HAS A VERY LARGE OUTER WIND FIELD... THE HURRICANE FORCE WINDS ARE CONFINED TO A VERY SMALL AREA NEAR THE CENTER."
I think that somebody needs some decaf coffee down there in Miami...
Saturday, July 09, 2005
Laughing In The Face of Death
Well, the good news is that Hurricane Dennis isn't coming anywhere near St. Simons this afternoon, and the 5:00 PM National Weather Service forecast track has the storm moving ever so slightly back to the west, AWAY from my mother's property.
We have had a bit of excitement here this afternoon, I had to do an emergency delivery. Here is a picture of the insturments I used:
Surgical instruments...
And here is a picture of the results of my efforts (the delivery took almost four hours):
I'ts a Boy...er...I mean a Pork Butt
I'm a proud father of a bouncing 5 pound baby Pork Butt. Don't you wish that you were me?
Here, have a Cigar...
We have had a bit of excitement here this afternoon, I had to do an emergency delivery. Here is a picture of the insturments I used:
Surgical instruments...
And here is a picture of the results of my efforts (the delivery took almost four hours):
I'ts a Boy...er...I mean a Pork Butt
I'm a proud father of a bouncing 5 pound baby Pork Butt. Don't you wish that you were me?
Here, have a Cigar...
Hurricane Prepairdness Checklist
It’s hard to not be serious when something as dangerous as a hurricane is approching your house. What puzzles me is how crazy people can get if they happen to live in a given hurricane’s “cone of death” and some of the insane things they do in the name of “Hurricane Prepairdness.”
The grocery store is a good place to observe this insanity. Take bread, for instance. When the TV says a storm is coming, what appears to be perfectly normal people will jump in their cars, drive to the grocery store, and buy an entire shopping cart full of loaves of bread.
What are they going to do with all that bread, make toast for two hundred?
Afterwards, the bread isle in the store will be empty, except posibly for one package of stale hotdog buns or a tray of smashed English Muffins that excaped the hoard’s attention.
Lowes or Home Depot is another place to witness unusual behavior. Everyone knows that generators and plywood are hot items with an approaching hurricane, but the savy store manager can sell anything if they place it on a special “Hurricane Display.”
People will buy rubber gloves and suppositories if you market them properly with 100 MPH winds bearing down on the nearby coastal areas. “Hey Mildred...snap... bend over…what?...I don’t know why, they were on sale…we can't waste them... com' on...just bend over darn it.”
As a public service, last fall I put together my own “Hurrican Prepairdness List” and published it here in the blog. Since I only had about three readers back then and virtually no one saw it, I thought that I would dust it off and offer a new and improved list for your use. Here it is:
PRIOR TO THE APPROACH OF A HURRICANE…
Do listen to local radio and TV weather broadcasts every few hours in order to stay up to date on the storm's location, forecast storm track, and any evacuation orders that may be issued.
Don't go to the local bar a few hours before the storm roars into your neighborhood and get shitfaced drinking beer and Kamikaze shots or a half dozen Long Island Iced Teas before heading home to tackle hanging that truck load of plywood you just bought at Home Depot over your windows and doors.
Do put together a basic hurricane supply kit including drinking water, prescription medicines, first aid kit, canned foods, flashlight and spare batteries, battery powered radio, etc.
Don't think that you're prepared when your hurricane kit simply includes a twelve-pack of warm beer, a fifth of tequilla, a few half burned candles from the last storm warning , an old Bic lighter, and an inflatable raft with one broken oar.
Do go to the grocery store to purchase enough non-perishable foodstuffs to support yourself and your loved ones for three to five days.
Don’t go to the convienance store and spend all of your available cash on scratch off lottery tickets and beef jerky.
Do gas up the car or SUV and move it to high ground prior to the local roads being closed.
Don't venture out during the storm onto flooded roads in high winds at break kneck speeds in an attempt to recreate Lt. Dan's hurricane scene in the movie "Forrest Gump."
Do move your boat onto it's trailer and secure it in a safe storage area. Relocate larger boats away from docks, pileings, and other boats and double/triple anchor them in place.
Don't think you are going to weather out the storm on board your boat with your warm twelve-pack and fifth of tequilla. (You will end up dead or be seen on CNN by all of your friends and family--you'll be the one hanging by a cable underneath a Coast Guard helicopter.)
I think that just about covers everything.
The grocery store is a good place to observe this insanity. Take bread, for instance. When the TV says a storm is coming, what appears to be perfectly normal people will jump in their cars, drive to the grocery store, and buy an entire shopping cart full of loaves of bread.
What are they going to do with all that bread, make toast for two hundred?
Afterwards, the bread isle in the store will be empty, except posibly for one package of stale hotdog buns or a tray of smashed English Muffins that excaped the hoard’s attention.
Lowes or Home Depot is another place to witness unusual behavior. Everyone knows that generators and plywood are hot items with an approaching hurricane, but the savy store manager can sell anything if they place it on a special “Hurricane Display.”
People will buy rubber gloves and suppositories if you market them properly with 100 MPH winds bearing down on the nearby coastal areas. “Hey Mildred...snap... bend over…what?...I don’t know why, they were on sale…we can't waste them... com' on...just bend over darn it.”
As a public service, last fall I put together my own “Hurrican Prepairdness List” and published it here in the blog. Since I only had about three readers back then and virtually no one saw it, I thought that I would dust it off and offer a new and improved list for your use. Here it is:
PRIOR TO THE APPROACH OF A HURRICANE…
Do listen to local radio and TV weather broadcasts every few hours in order to stay up to date on the storm's location, forecast storm track, and any evacuation orders that may be issued.
Don't go to the local bar a few hours before the storm roars into your neighborhood and get shitfaced drinking beer and Kamikaze shots or a half dozen Long Island Iced Teas before heading home to tackle hanging that truck load of plywood you just bought at Home Depot over your windows and doors.
Do put together a basic hurricane supply kit including drinking water, prescription medicines, first aid kit, canned foods, flashlight and spare batteries, battery powered radio, etc.
Don't think that you're prepared when your hurricane kit simply includes a twelve-pack of warm beer, a fifth of tequilla, a few half burned candles from the last storm warning , an old Bic lighter, and an inflatable raft with one broken oar.
Do go to the grocery store to purchase enough non-perishable foodstuffs to support yourself and your loved ones for three to five days.
Don’t go to the convienance store and spend all of your available cash on scratch off lottery tickets and beef jerky.
Do gas up the car or SUV and move it to high ground prior to the local roads being closed.
Don't venture out during the storm onto flooded roads in high winds at break kneck speeds in an attempt to recreate Lt. Dan's hurricane scene in the movie "Forrest Gump."
Do move your boat onto it's trailer and secure it in a safe storage area. Relocate larger boats away from docks, pileings, and other boats and double/triple anchor them in place.
Don't think you are going to weather out the storm on board your boat with your warm twelve-pack and fifth of tequilla. (You will end up dead or be seen on CNN by all of your friends and family--you'll be the one hanging by a cable underneath a Coast Guard helicopter.)
I think that just about covers everything.
More Hurricane Hyperventilating
Well folks, it’s that time of year again—Hurricane Season. Not only is it the season for hurricanes to develop, but we actually have big ‘ole Hurricane Dennis sliding back out into the Gulf of Mexico after crossing Cuba last night.
I think that we can thank Fidel Castro and the rest of the Cuban people for helping downgrade the storm from a category IV to category I overnight. I guess it takes a lot of energy out of a storm blowing all the tin roofs from over the heads of a country full of poor repressed people and knocking down all the sugar cane crops while their iron fisted dictator smokes Cohiba Cigars and sips fine brandy in his big leather recliner, watching The Weather Channel.
Speaking of The Weather Channel, I’m watching as I write this piece and they just reported that Clenfuegos, Cuba had reported a 149 MPH wind gust overnight and that 85% of the power lines were down. I guess the Cubans will probably be camping outside their destroyed homes and cooking on campfires until sometime next year. The good news for the US is that the storm not only lost energy over Cuba, but it also made a big jog to the west, thereby greatly reducing the brunt of force to be absorbed by the Florida Keys.
I bet that Jim “The Weather God” Cantori is losing sleep tonight looking at his roadmap, trying to figure out which beach in Florida he’s going to inhabit with his mobile camera crew this weekend. An interesting question occurs to me: “Can you have a mobile camera crew in Mobile, Alabama?”
If you happen to reside in what my fellow blogger Steve over at Hog on Ice calls “the cone of death”—the projected path of the storm—it is easy to appreciate the detail provided by The Weather Channel. If you live in Muscatine, Iowa or Palm Springs, California I bet that you wish the whole thing would go away like the missing-chick Natalee Holloway Aruba story.
Meanwhile, I suspect that the executives at Home Depot and Lowes are gleefully rubbing their hands together in anticipation of the profits generated by selling every sheet of plywood, tarp, flashlight, battery, and generator in North America in the next two days.
What kills me is, other than expendable items like batteries, how can anyone in the entire state of Florida (or any other coastal state, for that matter) not already own plywood, tarps, flashlights, and generators? What do they do with these items after they buy them each year, dump them offshore or sell them on E-Bay after hurricane season?
We are still delinquent here on St. Simons in some of our preparations. If I lived in a house instead of a condo I would have already purchased my own generator and several large tarps. Did you know that they sell a tarp that is 100’ x 100’ if you are willing to spend upwards of $500? With a tarp that size, who needs a house?
Any way, due to our limited storage area we have had to restrict our hurricane supplies to things like flashlights, extra batteries, a portable radio, and extra drinking water. The water here is basically undrinkable, so an outage due to a storm would only effect our bathing and dishwashing habits
The real problem is that where we live we are 4’ below the flood plain. One might think that’s not a problem since we live in an upstairs condo, but we have another problem—Pat’s Mustang and my Suburban. I’ve already figured out that the Brunswick airport is the highest ground in coastal Glynn County, so if Pat’s working in Chicago, and I’m feeling frisky when the next storm approaches, I might just move the cars over to the airport and try riding the storm out here if it is only a category I or II storm. If a big storm approaches, you’ll find me hanging out at the Holiday Inn in Jessup, Georgia else at my mother’s house in south Alabama.
Regarding my mother’s house in south Alabama, it (and my mother and her cat) are directly in the center of the aforementioned “cone of death” for Hurricane Dennis. I’ll basically be camped out today in front of the TV, watching the aforementioned “Weather God” Cantori, and checking out the National Weather Service Website to follow Dennis’ progress.
If the storm doesn’t continue moving westward and looks like it will make landfall near Panama City or Ft. Walton, I will be jumping in the car and heading toward my mom’s house to assist with the damage evaluation, repairs, and clean-up. The wind speed at her house is only reduced by about 20 MPH below the coastal wind speed when a storm comes ashore in the panhandle.
I wish that no one had to deal with this storm, but I selfishly hope that it hits somewhere west of Mobile, Alabama.
Wish us luck…
I think that we can thank Fidel Castro and the rest of the Cuban people for helping downgrade the storm from a category IV to category I overnight. I guess it takes a lot of energy out of a storm blowing all the tin roofs from over the heads of a country full of poor repressed people and knocking down all the sugar cane crops while their iron fisted dictator smokes Cohiba Cigars and sips fine brandy in his big leather recliner, watching The Weather Channel.
Speaking of The Weather Channel, I’m watching as I write this piece and they just reported that Clenfuegos, Cuba had reported a 149 MPH wind gust overnight and that 85% of the power lines were down. I guess the Cubans will probably be camping outside their destroyed homes and cooking on campfires until sometime next year. The good news for the US is that the storm not only lost energy over Cuba, but it also made a big jog to the west, thereby greatly reducing the brunt of force to be absorbed by the Florida Keys.
I bet that Jim “The Weather God” Cantori is losing sleep tonight looking at his roadmap, trying to figure out which beach in Florida he’s going to inhabit with his mobile camera crew this weekend. An interesting question occurs to me: “Can you have a mobile camera crew in Mobile, Alabama?”
If you happen to reside in what my fellow blogger Steve over at Hog on Ice calls “the cone of death”—the projected path of the storm—it is easy to appreciate the detail provided by The Weather Channel. If you live in Muscatine, Iowa or Palm Springs, California I bet that you wish the whole thing would go away like the missing-chick Natalee Holloway Aruba story.
Meanwhile, I suspect that the executives at Home Depot and Lowes are gleefully rubbing their hands together in anticipation of the profits generated by selling every sheet of plywood, tarp, flashlight, battery, and generator in North America in the next two days.
What kills me is, other than expendable items like batteries, how can anyone in the entire state of Florida (or any other coastal state, for that matter) not already own plywood, tarps, flashlights, and generators? What do they do with these items after they buy them each year, dump them offshore or sell them on E-Bay after hurricane season?
We are still delinquent here on St. Simons in some of our preparations. If I lived in a house instead of a condo I would have already purchased my own generator and several large tarps. Did you know that they sell a tarp that is 100’ x 100’ if you are willing to spend upwards of $500? With a tarp that size, who needs a house?
Any way, due to our limited storage area we have had to restrict our hurricane supplies to things like flashlights, extra batteries, a portable radio, and extra drinking water. The water here is basically undrinkable, so an outage due to a storm would only effect our bathing and dishwashing habits
The real problem is that where we live we are 4’ below the flood plain. One might think that’s not a problem since we live in an upstairs condo, but we have another problem—Pat’s Mustang and my Suburban. I’ve already figured out that the Brunswick airport is the highest ground in coastal Glynn County, so if Pat’s working in Chicago, and I’m feeling frisky when the next storm approaches, I might just move the cars over to the airport and try riding the storm out here if it is only a category I or II storm. If a big storm approaches, you’ll find me hanging out at the Holiday Inn in Jessup, Georgia else at my mother’s house in south Alabama.
Regarding my mother’s house in south Alabama, it (and my mother and her cat) are directly in the center of the aforementioned “cone of death” for Hurricane Dennis. I’ll basically be camped out today in front of the TV, watching the aforementioned “Weather God” Cantori, and checking out the National Weather Service Website to follow Dennis’ progress.
If the storm doesn’t continue moving westward and looks like it will make landfall near Panama City or Ft. Walton, I will be jumping in the car and heading toward my mom’s house to assist with the damage evaluation, repairs, and clean-up. The wind speed at her house is only reduced by about 20 MPH below the coastal wind speed when a storm comes ashore in the panhandle.
I wish that no one had to deal with this storm, but I selfishly hope that it hits somewhere west of Mobile, Alabama.
Wish us luck…
Friday, July 08, 2005
It's About Time
The Washington Times reports that the British Muslims wasted no time in condeming the explosions in the London transportation infarstructure yesterday.
LONDON -- Muslim leaders in Britain yesterday were swift to condemn a series of deadly bomb blasts in London and they appealed to Britons not to single out their community for reprisals.
The leaders also made an unprecedented appeal to the estimated 1.7 million Muslims living in Britain to tip off the police about who had carried out the bombings.
"These evil deeds makes victims of us all," the Muslim Council of Britain said.
"The evil people who planned and carried out these series of explosions in London want to demoralize us as a nation and divide us as a people.
"All of us must unite in helping the police to capture these murderers."
As I said earlier, I want to hear some of these proported non-violent Muslims publicly coming out against the terrorism and violence.
This is a good start.
LONDON -- Muslim leaders in Britain yesterday were swift to condemn a series of deadly bomb blasts in London and they appealed to Britons not to single out their community for reprisals.
The leaders also made an unprecedented appeal to the estimated 1.7 million Muslims living in Britain to tip off the police about who had carried out the bombings.
"These evil deeds makes victims of us all," the Muslim Council of Britain said.
"The evil people who planned and carried out these series of explosions in London want to demoralize us as a nation and divide us as a people.
"All of us must unite in helping the police to capture these murderers."
As I said earlier, I want to hear some of these proported non-violent Muslims publicly coming out against the terrorism and violence.
This is a good start.
Can't Live With Them...
Can't Live Without Them
My talk show host idol Neal Boortz has made the statement that if you look at wars and fighting in general all over the world, at the heart of the conflict there is usually a Muslim involved.
The guys over at Powerline pointed out that the Sun has published this map showing the locations where more than 4000 people have been killed since 1993—all by members of the lovely, peaceful religion of Islam.
MUSLIMS, can’t live with them…and if things keep going the way they are...
we most DEFINITLY can live without them.
My talk show host idol Neal Boortz has made the statement that if you look at wars and fighting in general all over the world, at the heart of the conflict there is usually a Muslim involved.
The guys over at Powerline pointed out that the Sun has published this map showing the locations where more than 4000 people have been killed since 1993—all by members of the lovely, peaceful religion of Islam.
MUSLIMS, can’t live with them…and if things keep going the way they are...
we most DEFINITLY can live without them.
What Might Have Been—And What Could Be
I’m think that I finally understand that, if it weren’t for having the experiences gained from living for 45 years, I wouldn’t know anything worth saying out loud that actually means anything to anyone but me in the “big picture” view of the world.
My writing falls in this same category. Do you know what I mean?
No?
Let me digress…
I was born in south Alabama back in the days when there were only 49 states in the union, Dwight Eisenhower was president, and George Corley Wallace had just recently suffered his first political defeat in the 1958 election for Governor of Alabama.
George was from Clio, Alabama--just down the road from Ozark where I was born. He was a Boxer in high school, a decorated fighter pilot in WWII, a lawyer, a judge, a Alabama State Representative, a two term Alabama Governor, and a candidate for US president in 1972 when some asshole named Arthur Bremer decided that, rather than let the American people decide the election by voting, he would end George’s candidacy in the parking lot of a shopping center in Laurel, Maryland by shooting him four times, relegating Mr. Wallace to living the rest of his life in a wheelchair, paralyzed, with a colostomy bag.
I think that option sucks--being considered an outspoken pseudo-racist doesn’t warrant being shot in the spine. George actually wasn’t a racist—he was just a politician following public opinion in the region of the country he lived in. He later apologized for is public statements made in the early 1960’s, and in spite of his injuries and disabilities, he was a visible figure—loved or reviled—for another 26 years in Alabama. I actually got to meet him and shake his hand in 1976.
Regarding extreme political activism, I’m also not a supporter of our current policies of abortion on demand, but I think that blowing up abortion clinics and shooting abortion doctors seems a bit extreme to me. A little more thinking and education and a little less sitting around smoking weed or crack cocaine would go a long way toward solving these problems. Holding a bible in one hand and a handgun in the other doesn’t, in my opinion, make you a Christian, in spite of what your preacher says. God has a sense of humor, and lightning does strike twice in the same place…so all of you “anti-abortion activists” need to watch your step.
Having said all of that, I have to address yesterday’s “activism activities” by the lovely, peaceful, European Muslims. I am seriously ready to hear some earnest denouncing of these type activities by major Muslim groups both domestically and abroad. I know that every Arab and Muslim isn’t directly responsible for these kinds of events, but I have little sympathy for the “talking heads” shown on TV sitting around complaining about the risks of “backlash” and “hate crimes” that might be committed against innocent Muslims in the future. “Live by the sword…die by the sword” comes to mind in this situation.
I think that their (the Muslim Terrorists) choice of England as a target, just like NY City in 2001, was a serious mistake—or at least a bad case of underestimation. The Brit’s that I know are some of the most hard headed, opinionated (in a good way) people ever and history dictates that a little hardship will not push them away from their goals and beliefs.
Just watch our domestic media, the liberals, the Democrats like Pelosi and Kennedy, and the international socialists wrestle with this situation. I predict that, following a period of silence and/or after issuing rote-like statements of support and consolation, they will all start gnashing their teeth and complaining about how the attacks are our own fault, and some will complain that the attacks unfairly add support to “Bush’s war on terror.”
Poor Bastards, when will they all get a clue?
My writing falls in this same category. Do you know what I mean?
No?
Let me digress…
I was born in south Alabama back in the days when there were only 49 states in the union, Dwight Eisenhower was president, and George Corley Wallace had just recently suffered his first political defeat in the 1958 election for Governor of Alabama.
George was from Clio, Alabama--just down the road from Ozark where I was born. He was a Boxer in high school, a decorated fighter pilot in WWII, a lawyer, a judge, a Alabama State Representative, a two term Alabama Governor, and a candidate for US president in 1972 when some asshole named Arthur Bremer decided that, rather than let the American people decide the election by voting, he would end George’s candidacy in the parking lot of a shopping center in Laurel, Maryland by shooting him four times, relegating Mr. Wallace to living the rest of his life in a wheelchair, paralyzed, with a colostomy bag.
I think that option sucks--being considered an outspoken pseudo-racist doesn’t warrant being shot in the spine. George actually wasn’t a racist—he was just a politician following public opinion in the region of the country he lived in. He later apologized for is public statements made in the early 1960’s, and in spite of his injuries and disabilities, he was a visible figure—loved or reviled—for another 26 years in Alabama. I actually got to meet him and shake his hand in 1976.
Regarding extreme political activism, I’m also not a supporter of our current policies of abortion on demand, but I think that blowing up abortion clinics and shooting abortion doctors seems a bit extreme to me. A little more thinking and education and a little less sitting around smoking weed or crack cocaine would go a long way toward solving these problems. Holding a bible in one hand and a handgun in the other doesn’t, in my opinion, make you a Christian, in spite of what your preacher says. God has a sense of humor, and lightning does strike twice in the same place…so all of you “anti-abortion activists” need to watch your step.
Having said all of that, I have to address yesterday’s “activism activities” by the lovely, peaceful, European Muslims. I am seriously ready to hear some earnest denouncing of these type activities by major Muslim groups both domestically and abroad. I know that every Arab and Muslim isn’t directly responsible for these kinds of events, but I have little sympathy for the “talking heads” shown on TV sitting around complaining about the risks of “backlash” and “hate crimes” that might be committed against innocent Muslims in the future. “Live by the sword…die by the sword” comes to mind in this situation.
I think that their (the Muslim Terrorists) choice of England as a target, just like NY City in 2001, was a serious mistake—or at least a bad case of underestimation. The Brit’s that I know are some of the most hard headed, opinionated (in a good way) people ever and history dictates that a little hardship will not push them away from their goals and beliefs.
Just watch our domestic media, the liberals, the Democrats like Pelosi and Kennedy, and the international socialists wrestle with this situation. I predict that, following a period of silence and/or after issuing rote-like statements of support and consolation, they will all start gnashing their teeth and complaining about how the attacks are our own fault, and some will complain that the attacks unfairly add support to “Bush’s war on terror.”
Poor Bastards, when will they all get a clue?
The Rain In Spain Falls Mainly On The Plain (or Train)
I’m sitting here writing another piece about the London Bombings at 3:48 AM when FOX News reports that Euston Station in London has been evacuated because of a “suspicious” package.
Some idiot “Professional Journalist” asshole that they (FOX News) were interviewing when this latest news story broke had just uttered some words to the effect that “the war on terrorism was so unfocused and unjust with prison abuses at Abu Grab-ass and Gitmo that these kind of terrorist attacks were to be expected as a result.”
CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT ANYONE CAN BE SO IGNORANT AS TO THINK THAT THE TERRORISTS WOULD ACTUALLY GO AWAY AND LEAVE EVERYONE IN EUROPE AND THE US ALONE IF WE WOULD JUST PULL OUR TROOPS OUT OF IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN AND LET ALL THE WAR PRISONERS GO?
The Spanish thought that way after they got their train bombings last year...
Is that how you think?
Some idiot “Professional Journalist” asshole that they (FOX News) were interviewing when this latest news story broke had just uttered some words to the effect that “the war on terrorism was so unfocused and unjust with prison abuses at Abu Grab-ass and Gitmo that these kind of terrorist attacks were to be expected as a result.”
CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT ANYONE CAN BE SO IGNORANT AS TO THINK THAT THE TERRORISTS WOULD ACTUALLY GO AWAY AND LEAVE EVERYONE IN EUROPE AND THE US ALONE IF WE WOULD JUST PULL OUR TROOPS OUT OF IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN AND LET ALL THE WAR PRISONERS GO?
The Spanish thought that way after they got their train bombings last year...
Is that how you think?
Thursday, July 07, 2005
Those That Fail To Learn From History...
Are Forced To Re-live It.
I guess that I am frequently guilty of poking fun at Europe in general with some of my disingenuous, ill thought out rhetoric. One might also say that Great Britain in general, and England specifically, is included in my own Redneck description of what is embodied by the term Europe and the politicts thereof.
I would take exception to this characterization, however.
I was a big fan of Margaret Thatcher during her term as British Prime Minister, even though I didn’t see eye to eye with her on her domestic and social issues. Since I didn’t live in England, I guess that you could say that that was England’s business, but her position on the world stage and generous support of President Ronald Reagan more than made up for her liberal socialist leanings inside her own borders.
Likewise, Tony Blair’s support of the USA and President Bush’s international policies in the Middle East has yielded a firestorm of contempt from the British and world media, but Mr. Blair has stayed the course and recently won re-election.
The people have spoken.
My Blog Idols over at Powerline pointed out these amazingly prophetic words uttered by another beliegured Britton, Sir Winston Churchill just as Great Britain was being deluded into thinking that sympathy and consolation could prevent further conflict with the Germans.
Here is an excerpt prefacing Churchill’s statement, along with part of his speech:
On September 29, 1938, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain flew to Munich, Bavaria, Germany, to meet the German Chancellor, Adolf Hitler. He returned to London on October 1st waving the famous piece of paper which he proudly claimed contained the agreement pledging that Germany and Britain would never go to war again, thus guaranteeing "peace with honour."
The public was overjoyed but Churchill, participating in the House of Commons debate on the resolution "that this house approves the policy of His Majesty's Government by which was averted in the recent crisis and supports their efforts to secure a lasting peace," charged that the Government had "sustained a total and unmitigated defeat," and that "a disaster of the first magnitude has befallen Great Britain and France."
"And do not suppose this is the end," he warned. "This is only the beginning of the reckoning. This is only the first sip, the first foretaste of a bitter cup which will be proffered to us year by year unless by a supreme recovery of moral health and martial vigour, we arise again and take our stand for freedom as in olden time."
I wish I could write and speak like that…
I guess that I am frequently guilty of poking fun at Europe in general with some of my disingenuous, ill thought out rhetoric. One might also say that Great Britain in general, and England specifically, is included in my own Redneck description of what is embodied by the term Europe and the politicts thereof.
I would take exception to this characterization, however.
I was a big fan of Margaret Thatcher during her term as British Prime Minister, even though I didn’t see eye to eye with her on her domestic and social issues. Since I didn’t live in England, I guess that you could say that that was England’s business, but her position on the world stage and generous support of President Ronald Reagan more than made up for her liberal socialist leanings inside her own borders.
Likewise, Tony Blair’s support of the USA and President Bush’s international policies in the Middle East has yielded a firestorm of contempt from the British and world media, but Mr. Blair has stayed the course and recently won re-election.
The people have spoken.
My Blog Idols over at Powerline pointed out these amazingly prophetic words uttered by another beliegured Britton, Sir Winston Churchill just as Great Britain was being deluded into thinking that sympathy and consolation could prevent further conflict with the Germans.
Here is an excerpt prefacing Churchill’s statement, along with part of his speech:
On September 29, 1938, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain flew to Munich, Bavaria, Germany, to meet the German Chancellor, Adolf Hitler. He returned to London on October 1st waving the famous piece of paper which he proudly claimed contained the agreement pledging that Germany and Britain would never go to war again, thus guaranteeing "peace with honour."
The public was overjoyed but Churchill, participating in the House of Commons debate on the resolution "that this house approves the policy of His Majesty's Government by which was averted in the recent crisis and supports their efforts to secure a lasting peace," charged that the Government had "sustained a total and unmitigated defeat," and that "a disaster of the first magnitude has befallen Great Britain and France."
"And do not suppose this is the end," he warned. "This is only the beginning of the reckoning. This is only the first sip, the first foretaste of a bitter cup which will be proffered to us year by year unless by a supreme recovery of moral health and martial vigour, we arise again and take our stand for freedom as in olden time."
I wish I could write and speak like that…
Chicken Shiite--Updated
I woke up this morning to find that the lovely Islamofascists are at it again in London:
"In the new statement, the group (The Secret Organization of al-Qaida in Europe) said "the heroic mujahedeen carried out a blessed attack in London, and now Britain is burning with fear and terror, from north to south, east to west."
"We warned the British government and the British people repeatedly. We have carried out our promise and carried out a military attack in Britain after great efforts by the heroic mujahedeen over a long period to ensure its success."
"We continue to warn the governments of Denmark and Italy and all crusader governments that they will receive the same punishment if they do not withdraw their troops from Iraq and Afghanistan," the statement went on."
Tony Blair has headed back to London from the G-8 conference and will probably catch hell from some of his fellow Brits in Parliment, but I hope he hangs in there with us.
Fox News has spent the entire day showing photos of the city and is now reporting 37 dead and at least 700 injured. I expect the death toll to rise sharply in the next 24 hours.
I heard Rush Linbaugh say that yesterday the little ex California hippy chick turned House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi made the claim that terrorisim is a direct result of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan . She wants a policy change...
"In the new statement, the group (The Secret Organization of al-Qaida in Europe) said "the heroic mujahedeen carried out a blessed attack in London, and now Britain is burning with fear and terror, from north to south, east to west."
"We warned the British government and the British people repeatedly. We have carried out our promise and carried out a military attack in Britain after great efforts by the heroic mujahedeen over a long period to ensure its success."
"We continue to warn the governments of Denmark and Italy and all crusader governments that they will receive the same punishment if they do not withdraw their troops from Iraq and Afghanistan," the statement went on."
Tony Blair has headed back to London from the G-8 conference and will probably catch hell from some of his fellow Brits in Parliment, but I hope he hangs in there with us.
Fox News has spent the entire day showing photos of the city and is now reporting 37 dead and at least 700 injured. I expect the death toll to rise sharply in the next 24 hours.
I heard Rush Linbaugh say that yesterday the little ex California hippy chick turned House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi made the claim that terrorisim is a direct result of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan . She wants a policy change...
Today she has this to say about the bombings:
“I extend my condolences to the victims and their families of the horrific and senseless terrorist attacks in London. The thoughts and prayers of all Americans are with the people of Great Britain.
“The actions of cowards against innocent people will not prevail; our resolve to fight terrorism around the world will not be deterred. We join President Bush, Prime Minister Blair, and all the leaders of the G-8 Summit in fighting terrorism."
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
It's Their Job
I don’t have any links to embed in this blog posting because I have all I need buried right inside my ever aging, ever graying, ever balding head.
I would like to point out that the current bunch of pansy assed, cry-baby, whiners that we call the United States Senate have a job to do, and in my expert opinion they’re doing a damn poor job of it so far.
They went to the trouble to raise campaign funds, run for the office, and now they are getting paid nearly two hundred thousand dollars each just for sitting around Washington DC nine months out of the year drinking expensive whiskey, eating goose liver and fish eggs, and they have the audacity to try to conduct their business in public by bitching and complaining about what they do, rather than going behind closed doors like professionals and getting the job done.
IBM or Motorola would fire a board of directors that were paralyzed with stupidity like much of this bunch, Democrats AND Republicans.
Excuse me if I say it this way, but I think that they should shut the %$#&@ up and get on with the business of passing some laws and follow the rules and laws that already exist when it comes to president Bush’s judicial appointments.
Hey Nancy, Harry, and Teddy…KISS IT, BABY…
Does any one else know what I mean?
I would like to point out that the current bunch of pansy assed, cry-baby, whiners that we call the United States Senate have a job to do, and in my expert opinion they’re doing a damn poor job of it so far.
They went to the trouble to raise campaign funds, run for the office, and now they are getting paid nearly two hundred thousand dollars each just for sitting around Washington DC nine months out of the year drinking expensive whiskey, eating goose liver and fish eggs, and they have the audacity to try to conduct their business in public by bitching and complaining about what they do, rather than going behind closed doors like professionals and getting the job done.
IBM or Motorola would fire a board of directors that were paralyzed with stupidity like much of this bunch, Democrats AND Republicans.
Excuse me if I say it this way, but I think that they should shut the %$#&@ up and get on with the business of passing some laws and follow the rules and laws that already exist when it comes to president Bush’s judicial appointments.
Hey Nancy, Harry, and Teddy…KISS IT, BABY…
Does any one else know what I mean?
Shucking and Jiving with the Weather
Well, in case you live in a cave or otherwise don’t watch television, Hurricane Season is off to a roaring, early start this summer.
I ask that everyone that doesn’t enjoy our geographic proximity to the Atlantic and Florida Gulf Coasts wish us all good luck, if you will.
I, personally, have a broad range of interests in the goings-on in the southeastern tropical weather department.
We currently live one hundred yards from the salt marsh connected through rivers and creeks to the Atlantic Ocean less than two miles away, four feet below the official Army Corps of Engineers flood plain, and I have several rental properties situated below the flood plain in the nearby city of Brunswick, Georgia that could be at risk.
Likewise, my lovely mother resides in southern Alabama within one hundred miles of the Florida Gulf Coast and is at slightly less at risk from flooding, but she has way too much prior experience with high winds from Hurricane Eloise in the 1970’s (100 mph) and survived a solid pounding by Hurricane Opal (120 mph) in 1996. Most recently, hurricane Francis trashed her property last fall and left her running the generator a few hours each day for a week while the local electrical company repaired the power lines.
Having grown up with hurricanes as a yearly natural phenomena, I tend to look at them with a dispassionate attitude until the last minute when our modern weather forecasting can actually tell me where a given storm is going to make landfall. We had a total of FIVE storms pass within 100 miles of our home last August and September and I expect that this year is going to at least exciting—in a not so nice way.
In the words of Lieutenant Dan in the movie Forrest Gump…”is that all you got?”
I ask that everyone that doesn’t enjoy our geographic proximity to the Atlantic and Florida Gulf Coasts wish us all good luck, if you will.
I, personally, have a broad range of interests in the goings-on in the southeastern tropical weather department.
We currently live one hundred yards from the salt marsh connected through rivers and creeks to the Atlantic Ocean less than two miles away, four feet below the official Army Corps of Engineers flood plain, and I have several rental properties situated below the flood plain in the nearby city of Brunswick, Georgia that could be at risk.
Likewise, my lovely mother resides in southern Alabama within one hundred miles of the Florida Gulf Coast and is at slightly less at risk from flooding, but she has way too much prior experience with high winds from Hurricane Eloise in the 1970’s (100 mph) and survived a solid pounding by Hurricane Opal (120 mph) in 1996. Most recently, hurricane Francis trashed her property last fall and left her running the generator a few hours each day for a week while the local electrical company repaired the power lines.
Having grown up with hurricanes as a yearly natural phenomena, I tend to look at them with a dispassionate attitude until the last minute when our modern weather forecasting can actually tell me where a given storm is going to make landfall. We had a total of FIVE storms pass within 100 miles of our home last August and September and I expect that this year is going to at least exciting—in a not so nice way.
In the words of Lieutenant Dan in the movie Forrest Gump…”is that all you got?”
See What Things Are Coming To?
Think about this situation with me for a minute.
You are minding your own business after dinner in a local business district.
While walking along the shoreline of the adjacent river, you notice a person in obvious distress in the water.
You’re a strong, confident swimmer.
Do you:
A) Jump in the river and save the person’s life…or
B) Stand on the river bank with your thumb stuck in a bodily orifice, wringing your hands, saying “Oh My My” while waiting on the authorities to arrive.
According to this news story 48 year old Dave Newman chose option A and as a result saved Abed Duamni’s life, but the “authorities” arrested Mr. Newman afterwards for “interfering” with their rescue efforts.
Dave Newman, 48, disobeyed repeated orders by emergency personnel to leave the water, police said. He was charged with interfering with public duties.
"I was amazed," Newman said Monday after his release on $2,000 bail. "I had a very uncomfortable night after saving that guy's life. He thanked me for it in front of the police, and then they took me to jail."
I think that this might just give new meaning to the old 60’s term referring to police officers as “PIGS.”
You are minding your own business after dinner in a local business district.
While walking along the shoreline of the adjacent river, you notice a person in obvious distress in the water.
You’re a strong, confident swimmer.
Do you:
A) Jump in the river and save the person’s life…or
B) Stand on the river bank with your thumb stuck in a bodily orifice, wringing your hands, saying “Oh My My” while waiting on the authorities to arrive.
According to this news story 48 year old Dave Newman chose option A and as a result saved Abed Duamni’s life, but the “authorities” arrested Mr. Newman afterwards for “interfering” with their rescue efforts.
Dave Newman, 48, disobeyed repeated orders by emergency personnel to leave the water, police said. He was charged with interfering with public duties.
"I was amazed," Newman said Monday after his release on $2,000 bail. "I had a very uncomfortable night after saving that guy's life. He thanked me for it in front of the police, and then they took me to jail."
I think that this might just give new meaning to the old 60’s term referring to police officers as “PIGS.”
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
There's A Fool Born Every Minute
Try to help me understand this story about a Russian Astrologer suing NASA.
“NASA’s mission that sent a space probe smashing into a comet raised more than cosmic dust — it also brought a lawsuit from a Russian astrologer.
Marina Bai has sued the U.S. space agency, claiming the Deep Impact probe that punched a crater into the comet Tempel 1 late Sunday "ruins the natural balance of forces in the universe," the newspaper Izvestia reported Tuesday. A Moscow court has postponed hearings on the case until late July, the paper said.
Scientists say the crash did not significantly alter the comet's orbit around the sun and said the experiment does not pose any danger to Earth.
The probe's comet crash sent up a cloud of debris that scientists hope to examine to learn how the solar system was formed.
Bai is seeking damages totaling $300 million — the approximate equivalent of the mission's cost — for her "moral sufferings," Izvestia said, citing her lawyer Alexander Molokhov. She earlier told the paper that the experiment would "deform her horoscope." "
At first I thought that the headline had a typo and that a Russian ASTRONOMER was suing NASA.
Nooooooooo sir, it’s an Astrologer—talk about a high degree of credibility.
The lawsuit raises a couple of important issues in my mind, stupid little things like "who owns Comets in the first place?"
Can I buy one (a comet) on E-Bay?
Next, who the hell here besides the Russians believes that they have the right to sue NASA in a Russian court. If the Russians want to look into issues involving NASA, why don't they look into the billions of dollars of our tax money that that have been embezzled and miss-spent by Russian Officials , dollars intended to be used in constructing modules for the International Space Station.
The only person more intellectually challenged than the “Astrologer” in this story is Alexander “Cocktail” Molokhov, the lawyer that is stupid enough to file this case in the first place.
“NASA’s mission that sent a space probe smashing into a comet raised more than cosmic dust — it also brought a lawsuit from a Russian astrologer.
Marina Bai has sued the U.S. space agency, claiming the Deep Impact probe that punched a crater into the comet Tempel 1 late Sunday "ruins the natural balance of forces in the universe," the newspaper Izvestia reported Tuesday. A Moscow court has postponed hearings on the case until late July, the paper said.
Scientists say the crash did not significantly alter the comet's orbit around the sun and said the experiment does not pose any danger to Earth.
The probe's comet crash sent up a cloud of debris that scientists hope to examine to learn how the solar system was formed.
Bai is seeking damages totaling $300 million — the approximate equivalent of the mission's cost — for her "moral sufferings," Izvestia said, citing her lawyer Alexander Molokhov. She earlier told the paper that the experiment would "deform her horoscope." "
At first I thought that the headline had a typo and that a Russian ASTRONOMER was suing NASA.
Nooooooooo sir, it’s an Astrologer—talk about a high degree of credibility.
The lawsuit raises a couple of important issues in my mind, stupid little things like "who owns Comets in the first place?"
Can I buy one (a comet) on E-Bay?
Next, who the hell here besides the Russians believes that they have the right to sue NASA in a Russian court. If the Russians want to look into issues involving NASA, why don't they look into the billions of dollars of our tax money that that have been embezzled and miss-spent by Russian Officials , dollars intended to be used in constructing modules for the International Space Station.
The only person more intellectually challenged than the “Astrologer” in this story is Alexander “Cocktail” Molokhov, the lawyer that is stupid enough to file this case in the first place.
Monday, July 04, 2005
Advice To The Filthy Rich
(And The Terminally Stupid)
I just got home from the grocery store, doing what was supposed to be a simple “fill in” trip like I do two or three days a week. My “big trips” usually involve driving all the way across the causeway from the island to the mainland to visit…gasp…WAL-MART—once every ten days or two weeks.
Oh my God what a freak show Wal-Mart can be much of the time. Does someone hand out the clothes and do the hair of these people and send them to the Jerry Springer Show if they win the wardrobe or hairdo prize at Wal-Mart? Maybe I’m just being snobbish myself, but it is all I can do to not laugh out loud at some of the circumstances and people I’ve seen wandering the isles at Wal-Mart.
Likewise, it seems that there is an equal proportion of snobby, self important people that live here around us on the island that have to put on a stupendous show when they arrive for the weekends and holidays and are forced to rub elbows with the great unwashed masses, including myself, in our local Harris Teeter.
They do things like insist on parking on the curb rather than waiting their turns for a parking space, and park their voluminous butts and carts in the middle of the isle and glare at you when you politely ask to pass by after 30 seconds of mindless dithering. I recently watched a woman pick up and carefully study the same dozen packs of chicken for at least eight or ten minutes while I spun around in circles and made side trips to pick up other items in an effort to avoid disturbing her ritual.
Today the tittering, ill mannered, older teenaged children of our seasonal visitors, complete with college fraternity T-shirts, got on my last nerve while in the grocery checkout line. There were five little college aged girls, each dressed like French Whores (or Brittany Spears) standing in front of the only self serve register terminal that is designed for people like me that are buying fifty dollars worth of stuff and actually KNOW how to operate a fly swatter, let alone a self serve register terminal.
These silly bitches were each buying 3 dollars worth of junk food and paying with a debit or credit card. They had obviously never operated anything nearly as complicated as the Harris Teeter equipment because the register attendant that was supposed to be overseeing the self-serve terminals basically held their lavishly painted hands and could hardly hold her tongue through the process.
This babbling group of five had already started checking out while I waited and I managed to move to the other smaller terminal and ring up $49 worth of stuff while they giggled and tittered and mindlessly wasted everyone’s time, instead of getting their frilly asses into the express line or the full serve registers where they belonged.
Excuse me while I go fix myself a stout drink and light the grill to cook dinner--
I think that my head might explode.
I just got home from the grocery store, doing what was supposed to be a simple “fill in” trip like I do two or three days a week. My “big trips” usually involve driving all the way across the causeway from the island to the mainland to visit…gasp…WAL-MART—once every ten days or two weeks.
Oh my God what a freak show Wal-Mart can be much of the time. Does someone hand out the clothes and do the hair of these people and send them to the Jerry Springer Show if they win the wardrobe or hairdo prize at Wal-Mart? Maybe I’m just being snobbish myself, but it is all I can do to not laugh out loud at some of the circumstances and people I’ve seen wandering the isles at Wal-Mart.
Likewise, it seems that there is an equal proportion of snobby, self important people that live here around us on the island that have to put on a stupendous show when they arrive for the weekends and holidays and are forced to rub elbows with the great unwashed masses, including myself, in our local Harris Teeter.
They do things like insist on parking on the curb rather than waiting their turns for a parking space, and park their voluminous butts and carts in the middle of the isle and glare at you when you politely ask to pass by after 30 seconds of mindless dithering. I recently watched a woman pick up and carefully study the same dozen packs of chicken for at least eight or ten minutes while I spun around in circles and made side trips to pick up other items in an effort to avoid disturbing her ritual.
Today the tittering, ill mannered, older teenaged children of our seasonal visitors, complete with college fraternity T-shirts, got on my last nerve while in the grocery checkout line. There were five little college aged girls, each dressed like French Whores (or Brittany Spears) standing in front of the only self serve register terminal that is designed for people like me that are buying fifty dollars worth of stuff and actually KNOW how to operate a fly swatter, let alone a self serve register terminal.
These silly bitches were each buying 3 dollars worth of junk food and paying with a debit or credit card. They had obviously never operated anything nearly as complicated as the Harris Teeter equipment because the register attendant that was supposed to be overseeing the self-serve terminals basically held their lavishly painted hands and could hardly hold her tongue through the process.
This babbling group of five had already started checking out while I waited and I managed to move to the other smaller terminal and ring up $49 worth of stuff while they giggled and tittered and mindlessly wasted everyone’s time, instead of getting their frilly asses into the express line or the full serve registers where they belonged.
Excuse me while I go fix myself a stout drink and light the grill to cook dinner--
I think that my head might explode.
F.Y.I.
Over the next few weeks there is going to be an extreme amount of yelling and screaming in the media about President Bush's nomination to replace US Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
Go take a read at this Slate story outlining some of the potential candidates qualifiactions and be prepared to intellectually slap the hell out of that liberal idiot bothering you at work or mindlessly blithering about the subject in the local bar or restaurant.
I enjoy winning intellectual arguments with facts, figures, and something that the left hates...
DETAILS.
What is your definition of "extreme circumstances?"
Go take a read at this Slate story outlining some of the potential candidates qualifiactions and be prepared to intellectually slap the hell out of that liberal idiot bothering you at work or mindlessly blithering about the subject in the local bar or restaurant.
I enjoy winning intellectual arguments with facts, figures, and something that the left hates...
DETAILS.
What is your definition of "extreme circumstances?"
In Honor Of Those Who Served
(and those whom abuse and refuse to recognize the privileges of freedom…and the responsibilities that go with it…)
July 4th, 1776…How things have changed here in North America since that time.
I don’t agree with everything that goes on in this country any more than I agree with everything our government does in my name or on my behalf, but I darned sure appreciate the sacrifice made by the 200,000 future Americans that fought in the Revolutionary War, the 4,435 that died and the 6,188 that were wounded in the fighting.
Then there are the other millions that have been drafted and volunteered for military service since that time, many of which were killed or wounded.
I don’t wear a uniform any more, but I’m still fighting for the cause that they fought for, and for other people’s right to be STUPID or IGNORANT or be COMMUNISTS or SOCIALISTS.
Just go do it some place else—far, far away from me…
And take Ted Kennedy and the UN with you if you will.
July 4th, 1776…How things have changed here in North America since that time.
I don’t agree with everything that goes on in this country any more than I agree with everything our government does in my name or on my behalf, but I darned sure appreciate the sacrifice made by the 200,000 future Americans that fought in the Revolutionary War, the 4,435 that died and the 6,188 that were wounded in the fighting.
Then there are the other millions that have been drafted and volunteered for military service since that time, many of which were killed or wounded.
I don’t wear a uniform any more, but I’m still fighting for the cause that they fought for, and for other people’s right to be STUPID or IGNORANT or be COMMUNISTS or SOCIALISTS.
Just go do it some place else—far, far away from me…
And take Ted Kennedy and the UN with you if you will.
Forget What The Truth Is…
“We Know Better”
I hate people that call themselves “advocates”, particularly “consumer” advocates.
Most ”consumer advocates” think that you are too stupid for your own good. Their often financially and politically driven, egotistical “advocacy positions” are fueled by emotion and hysteria rather than facts and competently interpreted statistics. Their positions are also funded by cash from well intended donors, those that they can dupe into giving money, and even the Government—both and local and national—pays for “advocates” and other professional busy bodies to meddle in our lives.
Take the 1960’s savior of auto owners everywhere, Ralph “the mouth” Nader, killer of the Chevy Corvair, for example. What a complete, total $#&@ moron Nader is (in my considered opinion.)
Nader wrote the 1965 book ”Unsafe at any speed” that tackled his and other “advocates” perceived “safety issues” with cars manufactured by American companies.
The Corvair was basically run out of the market by consumer reaction to Nader’s allegations, although most of his complaints were moot by the time the book was published in 1965, the year my own family adopted a new white four door Chevy Corvair with an automatic transmission.
We also at that time owned a bright red 1963 Volkswagon convertible, so our family was the poster child for Nader’s hysterical complaints about rear engine automobiles. Of course my mom and dad took a path to ensuring safety that Nader and his ilk always overlook—we obeyed the speed limits and otherwise didn’t operate our motor vehicles like complete ingrates and morons on the highways of south Alabama. In fact, neither car was ever involved in an accident. The Corvair even survived carrying us on a 6,000 plus mile four week adventure from south Alabama to southern California in 1968.
Furthering my theme of consumer "advocates," with the fourth of July upon us I did a Google search on Fireworks Safety and came upon the National Council of Fireworks Safety web site. There I found some interesting numbers, typical of what I find when I personally look into a subject rather than watching TV or reading the newspaper to fin out what I should be worrying about.
Their documents are in PDF format so I can’t accurately reproduce much of the text here without retyping, but essentially they say that fireworks use is up 661% (from 29,000,000 pounds to 221,000,000 pounds) since 1976, but injuries are down to 5 from almost 40 per 100,000 pounds of explosives.
Certainly fireworks safety should be everyone’s concern, but I would like to point out that, no matter what the "advocates" and your government tells you, it is probably more dangerous driving your car to the store to buy your fireworks than it is actually shooting them off on the 4th.
Know what I mean?
I hate people that call themselves “advocates”, particularly “consumer” advocates.
Most ”consumer advocates” think that you are too stupid for your own good. Their often financially and politically driven, egotistical “advocacy positions” are fueled by emotion and hysteria rather than facts and competently interpreted statistics. Their positions are also funded by cash from well intended donors, those that they can dupe into giving money, and even the Government—both and local and national—pays for “advocates” and other professional busy bodies to meddle in our lives.
Take the 1960’s savior of auto owners everywhere, Ralph “the mouth” Nader, killer of the Chevy Corvair, for example. What a complete, total $#&@ moron Nader is (in my considered opinion.)
Nader wrote the 1965 book ”Unsafe at any speed” that tackled his and other “advocates” perceived “safety issues” with cars manufactured by American companies.
The Corvair was basically run out of the market by consumer reaction to Nader’s allegations, although most of his complaints were moot by the time the book was published in 1965, the year my own family adopted a new white four door Chevy Corvair with an automatic transmission.
We also at that time owned a bright red 1963 Volkswagon convertible, so our family was the poster child for Nader’s hysterical complaints about rear engine automobiles. Of course my mom and dad took a path to ensuring safety that Nader and his ilk always overlook—we obeyed the speed limits and otherwise didn’t operate our motor vehicles like complete ingrates and morons on the highways of south Alabama. In fact, neither car was ever involved in an accident. The Corvair even survived carrying us on a 6,000 plus mile four week adventure from south Alabama to southern California in 1968.
Furthering my theme of consumer "advocates," with the fourth of July upon us I did a Google search on Fireworks Safety and came upon the National Council of Fireworks Safety web site. There I found some interesting numbers, typical of what I find when I personally look into a subject rather than watching TV or reading the newspaper to fin out what I should be worrying about.
Their documents are in PDF format so I can’t accurately reproduce much of the text here without retyping, but essentially they say that fireworks use is up 661% (from 29,000,000 pounds to 221,000,000 pounds) since 1976, but injuries are down to 5 from almost 40 per 100,000 pounds of explosives.
Certainly fireworks safety should be everyone’s concern, but I would like to point out that, no matter what the "advocates" and your government tells you, it is probably more dangerous driving your car to the store to buy your fireworks than it is actually shooting them off on the 4th.
Know what I mean?
Sunday, July 03, 2005
Train!
I’m hoping and wishing that everyone out there has a safe, but fun, 4th of July holiday weekend.
Sometimes the concepts of “safe” and “fun” are somewhat mutually exclusive, particularly when you are young.
Our visiting family members are back on the road toward Pennsylvania this afternoon, having survived the rainy weather earlier in the week, days and days of poolside sunshine, tons of my home cooking, and Vinny and Kris even successfully braved the evening rain, traffic, and crowds to attend the Pepsi 400 NASCAR race in Daytona on Saturday night.
Once again surrounded by silence and solitude, I was reading my blog-friend Beth’s blog, She Who Will Be Obeyed, this evening and learned about the Operation Lifesaver Website.
“Operation Lifesaver is a national, non-profit education and awareness program dedicated to ending tragic collisions, fatalities and injuries at highway-rail grade crossings and on railroad rights of way.”
Sounds like a good idea to me. It seems that trains cause more havoc than sharks each year:
According to preliminary Federal Railroad Administration statistics, in 2004 there were:
369 highway-rail grade crossing fatalities.
1,038 highway-rail grade crossing injuries.
480 pedestrian/trespass fatalities.
394 pedestrian/trespass injuries.
I’m embarrassed to report that my ignorant redneck neighbors in Georgia managed to make it into the top seven positions in all four of these categories.
And not to keep beating a dead horse, but isn’t it amazing that the TV and newspaper media have been freaking out and losing their minds over SHARK ATTACKS, when trains kill and injure on average ONE HUNDED TIMES as many people as sharks do each year.
And it’s not like sharks come flying out of crystal clear waters and kill or maim you at home while you are watching TV on your sofa. Likewise, trains rarely jump off of their tracks and run to places like St. Simons Island (where we have no railroad tracks) and cut your arms and head off.
Isn’t that a comforting concept?
Sometimes the concepts of “safe” and “fun” are somewhat mutually exclusive, particularly when you are young.
Our visiting family members are back on the road toward Pennsylvania this afternoon, having survived the rainy weather earlier in the week, days and days of poolside sunshine, tons of my home cooking, and Vinny and Kris even successfully braved the evening rain, traffic, and crowds to attend the Pepsi 400 NASCAR race in Daytona on Saturday night.
Once again surrounded by silence and solitude, I was reading my blog-friend Beth’s blog, She Who Will Be Obeyed, this evening and learned about the Operation Lifesaver Website.
“Operation Lifesaver is a national, non-profit education and awareness program dedicated to ending tragic collisions, fatalities and injuries at highway-rail grade crossings and on railroad rights of way.”
Sounds like a good idea to me. It seems that trains cause more havoc than sharks each year:
According to preliminary Federal Railroad Administration statistics, in 2004 there were:
369 highway-rail grade crossing fatalities.
1,038 highway-rail grade crossing injuries.
480 pedestrian/trespass fatalities.
394 pedestrian/trespass injuries.
I’m embarrassed to report that my ignorant redneck neighbors in Georgia managed to make it into the top seven positions in all four of these categories.
And not to keep beating a dead horse, but isn’t it amazing that the TV and newspaper media have been freaking out and losing their minds over SHARK ATTACKS, when trains kill and injure on average ONE HUNDED TIMES as many people as sharks do each year.
And it’s not like sharks come flying out of crystal clear waters and kill or maim you at home while you are watching TV on your sofa. Likewise, trains rarely jump off of their tracks and run to places like St. Simons Island (where we have no railroad tracks) and cut your arms and head off.
Isn’t that a comforting concept?
