baldilocks

Dual-Use Item

Oh, there are so many jokes that can come from this excellent story. Here’s mine:

That’s why we call them plugs.

(Thanks to Q and O)

More Disaster Relief

Here's the Amazon Button for Asian Disaster Relief.  Amazon donors have contributed nearly $7 Million as of today.

I'll leave off on the alleged American Western stinginess, since it's demonstrably not true. However, one wonders whether the UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland is able to convince his colleagues to pony up some of that Oil-for-Food money. Keep it on the down-low, Jan. The US Senate doesn't have to know.

(Thanks to Donald Sensing)

Washed Clean

December 28, 2004, Nighttime: It’s raining in LA. Those of us who live here and have grown up here know that a large amount of precipitation is not unusual in the beginning of winter. But it’s not merely raining, it’s pouring; windy rain, sideways rain. It’s the kind of rain that makes my shorn-headed, no umbrella-carrying self think about buying another hat.

It’s pouring as if a trillion glasses of water were being spilled onto the Southland. Pouring like the coldest of high-pressure showers. Additionally, there’s the thunder and the lightening; both very unusual phenomena accompanying an LA shower; the type of T and L that frightened your humble (hah!) correspondent very much some forty years ago.

An even more unusual occurrence was observed in the nighttime skies around here: seeing aircraft *depart* LAX. I live right under the LAX approach lanes and have prayed many times for no craft to crash, especially on top of my house. But seeing aircraft leave LAX was rather jarring: like seeing a clock run backward.

However, I love it when it rains in LA. After the storm blows through, the basin is the most beautiful of sights: everything washed away out of the “Valley of Smoke,” at least for a couple of days. Driving north away from my house on the Harbor Freeway (I-110), downtown LA, Mount Wilson, the Hollywood sign and the Observatory appear pure, new and beautiful.

But water is yet another one of those facts of living that has taken on a whole new meaning since the natural disaster in Southern Asia: it’s our friend and our enemy. Just as I have never viewed any overhead aircraft in quite the same way as I did before September 11, 2001, I’ll never view water—especially ocean water--in the same way since December of 2004; especially living on the perimeter of the “Ring of Fire.”

Fear? Yeah, well. It’s hard to fear most things, at least for me. It’s not my Christian faith that suppresses most of my fears (though it keeps the remnants in check), it’s not that I’m so tough. It’s simple utility: what good does fear do? Fear the reasonable things--the situations that you can keep yourself out of--sure. But fear the things you can’t control? Heck, you’d never leave the house.

December 29, 2004, Daytime: Flash floods, traffic accidents, shut-down freeways, weather related fatalities and a couple of missing hikers near the now snow-laden Mount Baldy. Hard going (and Godspeed to those involved). But who would have thought that one would feel that we’re getting off easy in acts-of-God sweepstakes? I guess a little perspective will do that.

UPDATE: Commenter Bigfire says that there was a tornado touch-down close by. Turns out that it was very close.

The tornado struck the Los Angeles suburbs of Inglewood and Ladera Heights around 1:30 a.m., ripping the roof off a house, snapping trees and damaging cars, but causing no injuries. Dan Keaton, an NWS meteorologist, confirmed that it was a twister after examining the damage.

Casualties Rising

Up to 60,000 now.

Scott Ott of Scrappleface has an uncharacteristically serious post containing more vehicles for Asian Disaster Relief.

(Thanks to Greyhawk)

Quandary, But Not for Me

Commenter Arbiter has this sardonic response to my quotation of Jesus’ biblical prophecy in this post:

The worst sort of fearmongering [sic]. You must be a proud Christian, indeed.

Help me out here, Arbiter. If you don’t believe in Jesus’ prophecy, what’s to fear?

But if you believe this particular foretelling to be an accurate one, then, logically, you believe all the rest of the stuff about Jesus. So again, I ask: what’s to fear?

Wealth of Knowledge

Jason of CounterColumn (the blog formerly known as Iraq Now) exposes NY Times columnist Bob Herbert’s horrendous ignorance regarding the function of that old oxymoron, military intelligence.

In the commentary, Mr. Herbert also takes a shot at Lt. Gen. William Boykin. You remember him, don’t you? He’s the deputy undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence who also happens to be a member of one of the most feared groups in the world: fundamentalist Christians. Mr. Herbert seems to think that membership in this group somehow disqualifies General Boykin from taking an active part in any endeavors regarding national security.

Tell me, Mr. Herbert, does the military have a regulation that specifies to which religion its intelligence personnel can adhere? Will accepting Jesus Christ as Savior prevent competence at intelligence collection and analysis? And has the military never been involved in intelligence matters in the past? Surely, you know the answers to these questions from your apparent wealth of knowledge on both subjects. (That's sarcasm, folks. I know the answer to all of them.)

When did fundamentalist Christians—who occasionally annoy—become more feared than Islamists—who occasionally cut off folks’ heads? And when did fundamentalist Christians, as a group, become generally known for not doing their appointed duties as military men and women?

But I won’t fully fisk the column, since Jason has already done an able job.

(Thanks to Instapundit, who also tossed me an Instalanche in the link)

Fire and Water

Is this a Sign of the Times?

MADRAS, India — The death toll from a massive undersea earthquake that triggered a wall of water crashing through Asia climbed to more than 23,000 today as officials braced for more deaths and a Herculean cleanup.

Millions of people were reported homeless in a wide swath from Indonesia to the Indian subcontinent. Whole villages were missing and the wreckage was too extensive for any reasonable estimate of the cost beyond many of billions of dollars. It will likely take years to rebuild.

The next part will be even worse.

…experts warned that the aftereffects were likely to be equally deadly. Disease, spread from rotting corpses, starvation and lack of drinkable water all threaten to keep killing for weeks.[SNIP]

The disaster was an equal opportunity killer, claiming rich Western tourists [and] impoverished native fishermen ...

…in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and even Somalia. This is nearly too horrific to contemplate. It’s almost as if the earth opened up and swallowed thousands.

But consider this:

3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,[a]’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.

(Matthew 24: 3-8)

Hey, I don’t have an inside line to God. I’m just pointing out what the Guy said. Could be a coincidence, for all I know.

Michele has an extensive list of organizations that will be assisting these poor people for some time to come.

(Thanks to Hog on Ice)

UPDATE: Joe Gandleman has a roundup of Asian Blogs regarding the disaster.

(Thanks to Michael J. Totten)

DOD Coin

This is probably the coin that Donald Rumsfeld gave to the grieviously injured soldier from the Banty Rooster link in the previous post.

Such tokens are highly prized. The gentleman more than earned it.

The Donald and His Bloody Ankles

Between the so-called insensitivity demonstrated by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and the bogus autopen “controversy,” there has been quite a bit of news about “the Donald” in the last week and a half.

The problem with the mainstream media is that so few of them are (or recognize) real men, that such foreign beings actually frighten them. Real men communicate with each other (and everyone else) without the…er…nuance that characterizes the exchanges between more neutered types. So when the SecDef says something like this to a National Guardsman,

As you know, you go to war with the Army you have. They’re not the Army you might want or wish to have at a later time. [bold mine]

…the two men know the statements reflect a mere military axiom (regardless of whether the precipitating question was planted or not). However, the mainstream media types--and, unfortunately, some Republican US senators--who are more accoustomed to weasel-worded lip-biting drivel, squeal “Insensitivity to the Troops!” as if they gave a rat’s hairy behind about any of the troops. (Who was the last US Senator to visit the troops? Probably this one, ironically.) That the factual and mutually-understood statements were also lifted out of their more clarifying context is just gravy. (Okay, thinking of Christmas dinner makes my metaphors more…culinary.)

To add more babbling into the mix, Mr. Insensitivity jetted off for a Christmas Eve vacation to those known luxury spots: Mosul, Tikrit, Fallujah and Baghdad. How insensitive of him! Would that his critics were so “unfeeling.” (It's either his seventh or eighth trip to Iraq since March 2003.)

Speaking of insensitivity, has any of Mr. Rumsfeld’s more "empathetic" critics—especially those that brewed up the autopen BS—noticed anything about the SECDEF’s hands?

Does anyone remember how old Mr. Rumsfeld is?

Could it be that he was using an autopen to sign the letters because he has one of the most common ailments known to people over the age of seventy?

If Mr. Rumsfeld does suffer from arthritis, you can rest assured that he’d never tell it. He’ll just go on ahead and sign those letters, pain and all, for two reasons. First of all, he doesn’t appear to be the type of man who makes excuses for his weaknesses, physical or otherwise. The second reason, however, is far more important: he is keenly aware that, at the behest of his boss, he is sending men and women into the type of danger in which painful joints would be the most trivial of worries. (Here’s an account of a meeting between the secretary and an injured soldier in Mosul, which validates the second reason in a most graphic manner.)*

To paraphrase one of the soldiers interviewed regarding the visit, Mr. Rumsfeld didn’t have to bring his old, creaky, ornery, blunt self to Iraq *yet again,* but he did. (And he and his wife don’t have to visit the injured at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, but they do—minus the prying eyes of the mainstream media.) Additionally, he honors those who didn’t have to sign up to defend our way of life, but did. One way that he does this is by speaking to them as one speaks to an equal: honestly. And, from all accounts, most of them love him for it. Real men recognize other real men on sight and shake hands looking into each others eyes; if only to make sure that neither is drawing a weapon more lethal than an inkpen.

Merry Christmas.

*I wonder what the SECDEF coin looks like!

(Thanks to Powerline and LGF)

You Go, Girl (and Boys)

Rachel Lucas gets a Christmas card from the ultimate Santas!

(Thanks to Instapundit)

A Certain Kind of Monologue

Er, mine doesn’t talk, but apparently others do.

(Thanks to the Pajama Pack)

Child Abuse

Thirty-eight years ago: this big, fat, scary-looking mofo with the white beard is gripping on my arm just a little too tightly. (My aunt says that I had to be coaxed into getting near him.)

So I can definitely feel the pain of these poor kids. :::snort:::

(Thanks to Citizen Smash)

UPDATE: SondraK is putting together all our Santa Perv Claus pics in one place. Go forth and send her yours.

(Thanks to Dean)

MilBlogs Roundup

This is but a mere sampler of the expressive abilities of those who are serving and have served in the US Armed Forces. For a much larger slice, click on the MilBlogs link. 109 members and going strong!

At Going Down Range, B. has some perspective on the problem of Afghanistan’s most profitable crop.

Blackfive posts a letter to actor Harrison Ford from Amy K., a Marine wife whose husband is presently in Iraq. Mr. Ford is slated to portray Marine General Jim Mattis in a movie about the Battle of Fallujah. In light of Mr. Ford’s previously published views on the Iraq War, Mrs. K. has a question for Mr. Ford. As do many others, undoubtedly.

David Green gets poked before going to Iraq. (Relax, it is a technical term among those of us who give shots for a living.) :-)

Remember Pablo Paredes? You know, the sailor who refused to board ship before his craft sailed to the Arabian Gulf? Well, he’s finally done the right thing: present himself to face the consequences of his actions. Additional in the post, Smash shows his Commander side!

Walt at Truth, Lies and Common Sense points out that the Brits aren’t taking Christmas bashing lying down either.

If you're old enough to die for your country, you're old enough to have a Bud.

Froggy may be a tough guy, but Superman would think twice about having to confront the raging nutcase in his own office. I suggest referring her to a doctor who prescribes HRT. Or valium. Wait! Maybe you should take that last one, Matt. ;-)

A One-Winger Pinger, Ramrod, back in The World, has some interesting musings on his Iraq deployment, among several other items.

What it’s really about: 2Slick points to Dr. Haim Harari’s April 2004 commentary regarding the Israeli-Arab conflict.

Um, that's why God invented the dry cleaners, darling.

And Mrs.Greyhawk gives a review of a USO tour in Germany. (Mr. Greyhawk is in Iraq.)

Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, etc. to all of you, whether you’re at home or in the hot places. (That would be Iraq and Afghanistan, not the Hot Place.) Much Love.

Paid Pundits

Here's a sample of the commentary that I've been reading of late:

Henninger: The Ahabs of the world go fishing.

Kinsley: Hyperlinking like rabbits!

Krauthammer: Even a Jewish guy is defending the beleaguered Christmas.

Barber (yes, that one! ): The little blogs played big roles in the Rather-gate dustup, too.

Tremoglie: Donald Rumsfeld and the armor controversy in context.

(Thanks to various bloggers)

How Sweet

Oh this is better that the skillfully Photoshopped pics that the Fighting Fusileers posted of a certain member of the Northern Alliance.

(Thanks to Gerard Vanderleun)

Lazy

As my loyal readers may have surmised, I am “not feeling” the posting that much. Must be the natural inclination to relax during the Christmas season.

However, I won’t be taking an actual break. What I will be doing is linking to others who are working through Christmas. And if the spirit moves me, some original content may be had here.

I’ll start by linking to myself. :-) Roughly three hundred posts ago I requested that you fine readers help me compose a “best of” list. Not much response, so here’s a prospective list (in alphabetical order):

A Little Substance, Please

Again With This Bovine Excrement

Blowing Smoke

Coin With Two Sides

Fear Itself

Measuring Up

One Word In Front of The Other

Open Letter to Monica Lewinsky

Questioning Patriotism

Renaissance Man Remembered

The Criterium

The Cooler

The Last Word On AWOL

The Lingo

The Standard

If you have any other suggestions, post ‘em. The choices will end up on one of the side bars.

Linkage

(I actually composed this one yesterday. It’s been a very long day)

More on rising violent crime in the UK: Scottish psychologist Dr. Ian Stephen gives some appalling advice to potential crime victims. Wretchard recalls where he’s seen this type of advice before.

Val takes down the Che Guevara spin and gets quoted about it in the South Florida Sun Sentinel. Additionally, here’s a picture of his fine self.

Accentuate the positive: DarkStar has some constructive suggestions for the black right and the black left.

Andrew Ian Dodge gives us a list of the latest politically-correct terminology.

Conversely, The Lion has a transcript of a very un-PC Carl’s Jr. commercial. Oh, Jacques Chirac will be ready to declare war! :::shudder::::

DCGI, an air traffic controller, is the relay for a cool exchange between a civilian Beechcraft Baron pilot and a B-52 pilot.

Stay Away From Musicians: Key tells a tale from her wayward youth (which I’m not so sure has ended).

And a Christmas poem for the Rough Men and Women from Indigo.

URGENT MESSAGE! Not That Urgent A Message

Cal Tech Girl say that the Fighting Fusileers for Freedom are a mere five dollars from being in third place in the Team statistics in the Friend of Iraq Fund Drive! (ignore these stats) Okay, we didn’t manage to take down that subversive Northern Alliance, but come now! You can’t let us fall even further behind.

And in that vein, The Last Amazon has some words of encouragement for you, along with some examples of the works of our troops which you won’t see publicized by the mainstream media.

Help push the Fusileers up! But, seriously, help the Iraqis obtain the blessings of liberty that we presently enjoy. Click on the picture to donate.

Of Corrections And Turkeys

Fake Turkey, One Year Later: Talk about a late correction! And ‘No sh**, Sherlock,’ say millions of present and former military members.

(Thanks to Glenn)

The Brotherhood of Pythagoras

Simple questions: How many people do you know who don’t know that ¾=.75=75%? Or that all of them are fractions and represent a portion of a solid, whole entity of many parts?

I wonder about this when I hear it argued that, for example, because there are more illegitimate children born to white women than to black women, that the phenomenon is a worse problem among whites. Do some commentators not understand that 29% of 106 million is going to amount to a larger whole number than 70% of 17 million?*

Over at Avery’s and Cobb’s, the discussion for a bit has been about Math and the general consensus of its “difficulty.” (Tangent: I’ve often said that learning math is easier than learning foreign languages, in that the rules don’t change and that there are a finite--usually--number of answers to a given equation--or translation, to continue the metaphor.)

Cobb says of his sojourn in a “bonehead” university math class:

I learned everything I was supposed to learn since arithmetic in two semesters.

(No worries, bro. I had to take a “bonehead” science course. I took the path of least resistance: biology. Got an ‘A,’ but in the regularly bio class I received a ‘B’; and the professor was being generous.)

And Avery, who has taught math to elementary school students, says this:

Here's my take on the reasons behind our [American] lag: we accept mathematical illiteracy. It's not uncommon to hear people say, "I just don't do math" or "I never was any good at that." And I'm not talking about kids here, I'm talking about adults; not them jokers standin' on the corner, either. I'm talmbout college-edumacated; experts in their fields...will tell you that they aren't good at math and don't fool with it on those grounds. And most of us, even if we don't like it, we'll at least accept it. Now if somebody tried to say that about reading, they'd get blasted out of the water. Mathematics is just as fundamental as reading.

In my formative years, I was raised my great-aunt—the one I talk about all the time--and great-uncle (RIP). Neither had much education beyond high school. However, they did something very simple with regard to my math education, which has had a rippling effect on how I’ve viewed math since.

When I was four, they start me off with addition and subtraction charts; the next chart was a multiplication chart; the next one, division. Now I’m not going to sit here and say that I figured out immediately that 12+12+12+12+12+12+12+12+12+12+12+12 amounted to the same as 12x12. The theory, however, was that, through repetition of the chart content, I’d be able to parrot that 12x12 equals 144 at the drop of a hat and figure out what it meant later. What my aunt and uncle did is called Building a Foundation.

Oh, I looked like the kindergarten genius alright, but I’m not so sure. All over the landscape, I see little kids of all races commit to memory all manner of foul language and “charming” rap lyrics. From that, it could be concluded that the GIGO axiom is alive and well and living in many American homes, and, unfortunately, in all too many black and latino homes. And, conversely, there could be all manner of “little geniuses” out there waiting for someone to impart the most basic of math literacy to them.

Sure, it’s easy for someone with no offspring to tell others how to raise their children, but, dang, it ain’t that hard to read “Little Red Riding Hood” to your kids--or whatever the latest tomes are for the pre-school set. And, it certainly isn’t difficult to tell them that 1+1=2 or that 81/9=9 and everything in between. All of the implications of those equations will usually follow.

Maybe I was just blessed. However, that doesn’t mean that other children can’t get a little (or a lot) of that particular blessing as well. Caring and time are all it takes.

More from La Shawn.

BTW, here’s a site that I’ve been looking for an excuse to publicize: Who Are The Greatest Black Mathemeticians?

*Estimates of the female population percentage of black and white Americans, assuming that it is 50% for each.

UPDATE: Not sure how to calculate (or, rather, don't feel like calculating) the number of black and white women existing in the US against the number of illegitimately births in 2000--404,000 and 904,000, respectively. But there are the numbers; from the Census.

The Spirit Keeps Moving

Jack at Random Fate reminds us that giving to the less fortunate is part of the America individual way of doing things.

No matter of how you feel about the Iraq War or the Afghanistan War, you cannot deny that helping the people in these countries is the right thing to do. Regardless of how you feel about the larger War on Terrorism, you cannot deny that giving the people of Iraq and Afghanistan a helping hand in putting together their lives and their economies will help prevent the kind of hatred that breeds further attacks to create more death and destruction, especially when that help comes directly from the people of the United States and not through some government program.

Jack also blows his cover and tells us what he’s really doing over there in France: spying on that dastardly Northern Alliance. Ah, the things that are done under the cover of darkness shall surely come to light!.

Click on the picture to donate to the Spirit of America in the name of the Fighting Fusileers for Freedom, if only for the fashion crimes of the Northern Alliance. (Peep *that,* Ambra!)

Toast (Eventually)

Scott Peterson gets the death penalty. Now, hopefully, we won't his smug little mug anymore on the tube again until his first appeal is filed. (Note to self: in case of being tried for murder, hire Cochran, not Geragos.)

(Thanks to Margi Lowry)

Seek and Find

Me?

You Are a Seeker Soul

You are on a quest for knowledge and life challenges. You love to be curious and ask a ton of questions. Since you know so much, you make for an interesting conversationalist. Mentally alert, you can outwit almost anyone (and have fun doing it!). Very introspective, you can be silently critical of others. And your quiet nature makes it difficult for people to get to know you. You see yourself as a philosopher, and you take everything philosophically. Your main talent is expressing and communicating ideas. Souls you are most compatible with: Hunter Soul and Visionary Soul

What Kind of Soul Are You?

(Thanks to Avery and Samantha)

Using The Force

Spirit of America Day Eleven: CalTechGirl has morphed The Fighting Fusileers into the Star Wars good guys. I’ve never stayed awake on a Star Wars movie—now, now; don’t throw things—so I don’t know who’s who exactly, but, of course, those Northern Alliance represent the Dark Side, just like in real life! BTW, can someone tell me who my character is? :-)

Don’t forget the Donate to the Spirit of America Friends of Iraq Blog Challenge! (Click picture to donate.)

(Thanks to Cowboy Blob)

Homeland Insecurity

Bernard Kerik, President Bush’s nominee for Homeland Security Director, has withdrawn himself from consideration for the post because he hired an illegal alien as a housekeeper and nanny to his children.

Too bad. With his typical American boot strap story and his experience as top cop during the Rudy Giuliani Administration in New York City—including on 9/11—he seemed to be the ideal candidate for the position. But he’s toast now, and, unfortunately, rightly so.

It’s serious business now.

(Thanks to Roger L. Simon)

Spirit of America Day Ten

(This one may be Whittlean or Den Bestean in length, if not in quality, so bear with me.)

Way back when—or back in the day—I was an active duty Air Force bomb loader, officially called an Aircraft Armament Systems Specialist. Oh, I didn’t load any conventional fire-bombs that would burn, maim, but not contaminate. My specialty? Loading nuclear and chemical munitions onto fighter-bomber aircraft. I had entered the Air Force as an “open-field” enlisted candidate and, though I had scored high in the ASVAB test in all areas except for mechanics—hey, I’m a chick—the AF gave me a mechanical job.

I hated it, but I stuck it out for three years, until I was able to cross-train into another field.

Kiddies

So my sister sends me a pic of her--and my brother-in-law’s--newest little project.

Jadyn Grace, born May 17, 2004

But of course she had *better* send me photos of Jadyn’s brothers and sister, even if they are from last year. :-)

Spirit of America Day Nine

The Night Before Blogathon by BloodSpite. Wish I could tell a story like that!

The Patriette reminds us that the Spirit of America Fund Drive is for everyone who wants the US and the Iraqis to succeed.

(Click here to donate.)

The Criterium

In one of Reverend Donald Sensing’s posts regarding CBS and NBC, the two networks have refused to run ads by the United Church of Christ which purports to make homosexuals feel welcome in their churches.

The broadcasting corporations’ rationale for the refusals is confusing, but, conversely, revealing; betraying a common misconception of what it means to be a Christian.

In a written statement to the church, CBS, a unit of Viacom, said the fact that the Bush administration had proposed a constitutional amendment to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman made the advertisement "unacceptable for broadcast."

NBC said the ad violated a long-standing policy of the network not to allow commercials that dealt with issues of public controversy. NBC is part of NBC Universal, which is 80 percent owned by General Electric Co. ., with the rest owned by Vivendi Universal.

Somehow, the Bush Administration’s support of the FMA proposal—and general disapproval of same sex marriage--has become synonymous with Christians allegedly wishing to bar homosexuals from attending church services. (No doubt, President Bush's public Christianity is somehow mixed into this stew of odd reasoning.) How did that happen?

Over A Barrel

Again, Mark Steyn gives a rundown of what it’s like to be the Monarch of your castle (or business) in the UK.

Four years ago, Shirley Best, proprietor of the Rolander Fashion emporium, whose clients include Zara Phillips, was ironing some clothes when the proverbial two youths showed up. They pressed the hot iron into her flesh, burning her badly, and then stole her watch. "I was frightened to defend myself," said Miss Best. "I thought if I did anything I would be arrested." There speaks the modern British crime victim. [SNIP]

In New Hampshire [where Mr. Steyn lives], there are few burglaries because there's a high rate of gun ownership. Getting your head blown off for a $70 TV set isn't worth it.

High rate of gun ownership in liberal New Hampshire? Whoda thunk it? Even here in the more liberal LA, one rarely sees a home invasion type burglary. Additionally, in my working/middle class South Central environs, the neighbors are very protective of each other and keep their eyes peeled for trouble. (Okay, there are security windows and doors all around, to boot.) And would-be armed robbers of fed-up American business owners and employees often find themselves on the wrong side--depending on your point of view--of the lead equation. If the crooks are well-armed, it only makes sense for the law-abiding contingent to be as well, as long as the government isn't permitted to hinder that.

As Mr. Steyn says, crooks are only stupid up to a point. That point ends where the barrel of Grandma’s well-maintained .38 begins.

(Thanks to Glenn)

UPDATE: Ugh! From Kim Du Toit, read this tale of a old man defending himself in Illinois. The ending is happy only in that the gentleman is still alive.

The Big A

An Allah sighting, along with a hilarious and interesting comment thread, can be found here. Isn't that just like a Deity? Throwing bones to the faithful every now and then. Come back, O Great One!

(Thanks to the Commissar)

Rude Girl

Want to see me yank on somebody’s chain? Go here to Charles G. Hill’s link to my post, History Lesson.

I try not to do that too much here, being the good little hostess and all (snort).

Remembrance Day

Many pundits--professional and otherwise--have compared December 7, 1941 to September 11, 2001. The only comparison that means anything, however, is how committed the attacked are to making the enemy think twice about doing it again.

God rest the souls of the Fallen: those of 63 years ago, of three years ago and all those in between.

Spirit of America Day Seven

The Fighting Fusileers are fine upstanding, all-American, teetotaling salt-of-the-Earth types unlike those preverts [sic] of the Northern Alliance. Or so says Cool Blue of the Blog. (Hey wait a minute! Aren’t some of those preverts on our team?)

Over four grand donated! (Click here to donate.)

Right Wing News

John Hawkins has his Third Annual 2004 Warblogger Award results posted. I was asked to contribute but was too late in submitting my ratings. However, many of the choices were my choices as well.

Additional, John submits his opinion on the remarks made by Senator Harry Reid (D-NV)—the Senate Minority Leader to-be—regarding Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Incoming Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid on Sunday had harsh words for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

When asked to comment on Thomas as a possible replacement for Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Reid told NBC's "Meet the Press": "I think that he has been an embarrassment to the Supreme Court.

"I think that his opinions are poorly written. I just don't think that he's done a good job as a Supreme Court justice."[SNIP]

But the Nevada Democrat said that he could support Thomas' fellow conservative, Justice Antonin Scalia, if he were nominated.

"I cannot dispute the fact, as I have said, that this is one smart guy," Reid said of Scalia. "And I disagree with many of the results that he arrives at, but his reasons for arriving at those results are very hard to dispute."

Says John:

Harry Reid's real problem with Clarence Thomas isn't the opinions he's written, it has to do with his skin color.

Larry Elder said much the same thing on his radio show yesterday. Well guess what? I’m going to have to disagree with two gentlemen who will usually make points that make sense to me.

The problem with assuming that Senator Reid dislikes Justice Thomas because he is a black conservative *using the evidence of the senator’s above statement* is that, to do so, one must assume that black people in general are notoriously bad writers and that the senator is playing to that stereotype.

Being unfamiliar with the quality of Justice Thomas’ written opinions in comparison to those of his peers--legal eagles may weigh in on this subject--I can’t comment one way or the other. However, if his writing abilities *are* inferior, it should be okay to say so, in spite of the recent denigration of the competence of other prominent black conservatives. If content of character is the tool against which all conservatives want to be measured, then it’s not racist to opine that a given black person isn’t up to a particular position, if it’s a legitimate opinion based on evidence.

Senator Reid isn’t off the hook, however. It’s interesting that Senator Reid didn’t give any examples of the justice’s allegedly less-than-stellar written opinions. Has the senator had actually read a Thomas opinion? Or was he just repeating the opinions of others who have spread the rumor that Justice Thomas isn’t quite up to snuff? Or was he merely playing to a portion of the Democrat base, a large portion of whom rabidly despise the youngest Supreme Court Justice? These are questions that probably have interesting answers.

War Musings

Today’s essay in honor of The Spirit of America’s Fund Drive is penned by Eric, the Straight White Guy. In it, he quotes Anacreon:

War spares not the brave but the cowardly.

Eric disagrees with the statement but I take it in the context of this quote by William Shakespeare:

Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once.

Go read what Eric has to say.

New Definition of Torture

Vote Early, Not Often

The voting has begun for Kevin Aylward’s Wizbang 2004 Weblog Awards.

Here are my picks. (BTW, I didn’t vote in the categories containing blogs with which I’m not familiar.)

Oh, and before you check my choices, the word is out that the denizens of a certain blog are using their technological prowess to…uh…rock the vote.

UPDATE: The rumor has been confirmed.

Pig Meat

Geoffrey has seen some of the Northern Alliance bloggers in, shall we say, in a compromising situation. If you don’t want to be a party to such depravity, donate to Spirit of America in the name of the Fighting Fusileers! (Click picture to donate.)

(Photo courtesy of The Donovan)

All Dogs Go to Heaven

Dean has a moving story about the life and death of his family's best friend.

(Thanks to Acidman)

Spirit Of America Day Four

If you donate via the Northern Alliance, you will contribute to James Lileks’ perverse perversities of pervertness.

(Created by Cowboy Blob)

Donate via the Fighting Fusileers (click on the photo) and save a kitten. For all you cat-haters, donate here anyway to make the Fighting Fusileers smile. John says that we've raised over $3,000!

History Lesson

I heard Democrat pundit Bob Beckel opine that Secretary of State nominee Condoleezza Rice was “not up to the job” for which she’s set to do (thanks for reminding me, lyle).

However, Ann Coulter takes a walk down memory lane to remind us of the quality of some of the more recent occupiers of the SOS Cabinet position.

With [Madeline] Albright at the helm of the State Department [during the Clinton Administration], Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) ran wild throughout the Middle East, the North Koreans began feverishly building nukes under her nose, and we staged a pre-emptive attack solely for purposes of regime change based on false information presented to the American people by Albright about a world leader who was not an imminent threat to the United States. Slobodan Milosevic (news - web sites) wasn't even a latent, long-term, hypothetical threat. [SNIP]

Or how about Clinton's first secretary of state, Warren Christopher, a lawyer whose dazzling foreign policy experience consisted of being President Carter's chief negotiator for the hostages in Iran? That's almost as impressive a resume entry as "Chief Iceberg Lookout, the Titanic," "Senior Design Engineer, the Edsel," "Navigator, Exxon Valdez," or "Writer/Executive Producer, 'Alexander.'" [Ha Ha!]

Of course, it wouldn’t be an Ann Coulter column without her dropping a few more Coulterisms (read: withering snark) into the mix.

The entire Bush cabinet is starting to look like an Image Awards telecast minus the fisticuffs and gunplay. [SNIP]

It's extremely valuable for Democrats to be able to campaign in black neighborhoods while talking about the "white boys" running the Republican Party. When she was managing Al Gore (news - web sites)'s 2000 campaign, Donna Brazile said she was not going to "let the white boys win in this election." (If I had a nickel for every time I've confused Al Gore, Joe Lieberman (news - web sites), Terry McAuliffe, Paul Begala and James Carville for the Jackson Five ...)

McAuliffe might pass as Michael Jackson's stunt double, but as for the rest...

A few weeks back, I also happened to witness an exchange between Coulter and Beckel, during which she nearly made him cry. The subject was related to this column: President Bush’s minority Cabinet appointees and the general disdain that Democrats seem to have for them. You know Ann; she’ll call a spade a spade, no pun intended. She said flat-out that those who would malign Rice, Powell, et al, for being Republican While Not-White were racists. Well Mr. Beckel took it personally and played the I-Marched-In-The-Civil-Rights-Movement Card. Can you tell my eyes were rolling? Now don’t get me wrong. I appreciate those who did as Mr. Beckel did, but shouldn’t such people be happy to see that the barriers of race—not to mention party-affiliation—have fallen so low in such a short period of time? But it appears that for Beckel--and for all too many other left-of-center media types-- that black progress is only real progress when it has a (D) in front of it.

…Bush nominates a brilliant geopolitical thinker who happens to be black and female and all of a sudden she's Butterfly McQueen, who don't know nothin' 'bout birthin' no Middle Eastern democracies.

(See background.)

(I almost expected Bob to ask Ann where she was when he was getting his head cracked--his words--by the powers-that-were. Since Ann in her early forties, I suspect that she was in kindergarten, administering a beat-down to some little dodgeball player who had the cojones to pull one of her blond ponytails.)

As Ann says, the Democrats are just scared to lose their stranglehold on the black electorate. You think you’ve seen a mass liberal hissy-fit in the wake of the 2004 election? This is nothing. Should Condoleezza Rice change her mind and run for president in 2008, I predict that 50% of the black vote will go toward the Republican ticket. And that’s a conservative estimate. Pun intended this time.

Straight Poop

Sorry Brian, but it ain’t that serious. And speak for youself.

According to CBS Marketwatch, at a post-election wrap-up session, when a fellow panelist "mentioned that bloggers had had a big impact on the reporting on Election Day, [Brian] Williams [set to replace Tom Brokaw as the NBC Nightly News anchor] waved that point away by quipping that the self-styled journalists are 'on an equal footing with someone in a bathroom with a modem.'"

Day By Day Returns

A hearty "Welcome Back" is due to Chris Muir and, as usual, he has the scoop on the rest of us. It seems that a certain soon-to-be unemployed network anchor has come over to the dark side.

The Battle Begins

The Spirit of America Blog Challenge starts today. Donations go to worthy endeavors like these.

Here’s a list of the Fighting Fusileers.

Brain Shavings
Dean's World
The Brier Patch
She Who Will Be Obeyed!
Techography
Sgt Hook
Argghhh! The Home Of Two Of Jonah's Military Guys..
Margi Lowry
BLACKFIVE
Random Fate
Army of One
The Last Amazon
Boudicca's Voice
Ben's World
The Common Virtue
pamibe
Technicalities
baldilocks
The Patriette
Dog Snot Diaries
University Blog
Not Exactly Rocket Science
Drink this...
Straight White Guy
Musings From The Imperial Senate
Hubs and Spokes
The Cool Blue Blog