are you an investor?

if you are, you might be interested in this article by paul graham, a nerk/geek programmer. very interesting. he makes sure to make the point that investing in his company is a good thing, but overall, his analysis and thesis is well thought out, and well presented.

reading things like

this makes me want to do two things.

1. cry at the horror and waste of all those young children's lives being snuffed out


2. get my arsenal out of the gun safe, book a flight to iraq, and do some free lance islamo-fascist hunting. wonder where i need to go to get my hunting permit?

what is it with these people? children are the future. children are the survival of the race. children are the unrealized promise of great things, of giant strides in progress, of untold hope. and they are used as pawns in a horrific power struggle? how can they (the rat bastard murderous pigs) hold their hands up in prayer to their nominal god allah with children's blood on their hands? russia, iraq, israel. where next?

a tidbit of info about the nytimes lawsuit

i find it beyond bewildering how the NYTimes could be fighting so diligently to maintain it's phone records private and out of the hands of the feds. the feds are investigating who may have passed information to one of their reporters, who then tipped off an islamic "charity" that the feds were coming, the feds were coming. isn't the nytimes the same organ (yes, i selected that word most carefully) that is so fired up over the wilson/plame issue and the reporter novak? hmmmm, i think this has some serious odors of hypocracy, not to mention a total lack of responsibility. the nypost has a great op-ed about this apparent conundrum. the times, the management, and a majority of it's writers are being diminished daily by the continued 5th column type of activity noted on an almost daily basis. long gone are the days of the grey lady being america's newspaper of record. it's becoming little better than the weekly world news. i'm expecting to see a picture of an alien with the headline "aliens raped my electric broom. now it's too afraid to come out of the closet", which WAS a headline a number of years ago in the weekly world news.

oh, this is too good to keep to myself

don't know how long this will be around, but enjoy.

iran, and why we didn't need to go there

ok, please take this for what it's worth, but it looks like iran is collapsing around the mullah's ears. this was anticipated as far back a 5 years ago. i can recall reading a (much maligned) analysis by someone regarding iran. he stated that the mullah's, who are increasingly wealthy, and increasingly out of their minds with this whole ruling with an iron fist thing, were going to get tossed by the younger generation. these young folks are subjected to restrictive islamic imposed laws that chafe and wear at their desires for freedom. so it looks like it may be happening now. i have to believe that the thought of a free iraq had to spark this in some way. here's to the youngsters. all the luck in your struggles to be free of the domination imposed by this dark and (can it say it?) satanic religion, as exercised by the ruling elite in iran.

ohboy ohboy ohboy

i can hardly wait!! it's PUMPKIN TIME at Perry Farm in the beautiful Ardenwood Historical Park. as some of my correspondents know, my wife's family runs an organic farm within the borders of the park. every year brings PUMPKIN TIME around. during october, pops has a huge pumpkin patch, and i help around the place doing odds and ends chores, and give tractor pulled hay rides around the farm. we've had as many as 1200 school kids a day during the week, out for a day at the farm. i love this time of year. i'm so excited i can hardly contain myself. PUMPKIN TIME! i look forward to this for 10 months a year. i take a month off to recover, where anything pumpkin or tractor related sort of falls flat. but then, come thanksgiving time, i'm already planning my little talks as we travel thru the farm. last year, the early birds got a real treat. weekends are the main tractor ride times for the general public. and in the beginning of the season, we still have watermelons, persians, cantaulopes, and, well, we had 10 or 11 varieties of melons last year. and during the beginning of october, there are still a lot of ripe, unpicked melons in the field. so, being an independant sort, if the number of people wanting rides isn't too big, i get to go play. i will probably do the same this year. we went out to the melons, i picked a couple, chopped them up, and shared them with the folks riding with me. most of the melons, such as the russian seeded watermelon, are not available in any store. so the folks get to eat killer melons, while i talk about organic farming, farming in an urban area, and the loss of farm land due to encroaching residential/commercial building. and i get to show kids how to spit watermelon seeds. i always tell the adults that my mom tasked me with being an example for the younger ones, but she forgot to stipulate that it had to be a GOOD example. so it's a ton of fun for me, and i've never had a complaint from the folks that travel around the farm with me, except that we get back too soon.
so in honor of PUMPKIN TIME, i would like to share my favorite pumpkin soup recipe.

Roasted Pumpkin Soup
(this stuff is so good even my son the pumpkin and squash hater loved it).
WARNING: this is off the top of my head, which is the only way i've ever made it. no recipe card exists for this one that i know of. so if the measurements are imprecise, or the directions are foggy, consider this an opportunity to explore your own skills. you really can't make this soup wrong, unless you burn it.

• 2 eating pumpkins. none of those thin shelled carvers. if you can get at least one Cinderella Pumpkin,also known as rouge vif d'etampes, all the better. Ali probably knows this pumpkin well, because it was what i thought pumpkins looked like when i moved away from france. you can also use hubbard squash for this. it has just about the same texture and flavor as pumpkin squashes do. anyway, the other pumpkin can be any that you like, since we won't be eating that one. a carver about the same size as the one we're eating would be good.



• 1/2 tsp cordamon seeds, crushed or ground up in a spice mill (i use my coffee grinder) or about 1/4 tsp of ground cordamon. you CAN put too much of this in the soup, so taste as you go.


• nutmeg to taste


• allspice to taste (hint: this and nutmeg are pretty powerful stuff. a pinch or two of each should be plenty. as you get familiar with this soup, you will know how much or how little to add. me, i like about 1/4 tsp of each, give or take a pinch.)


• chicken stock in a 1 to 1 ratio with pulped pumpkin (this is not exact. use less for a thicker soup, more to stretch it and thin it out. 2 parts stock to 1 part pumpkin is still good!)


• 1 sweet onion, chopped. you don't need to get too crazy chopping the onion, since this is headed to the food processor when we're done. saves the eyes, aye.


• couple of cloves of garlic, minced.


• salt and pepper to taste. i just lightly lightly salt and pepper in the pot, and let the diner adjust to taste.


• sour cream or plain yogurt

cut and seed/gut the eating pumpkin into quarters. rub with olive oil, and place skin side down on a cookie sheet. pop into a 400 degree oven until the pumpkin turns a medium brown, speckled with some dark spots. takes about 15 to 20 minutes to even see any color. don't get too anxious. i've roasted them for up to 35 to 45 minutes before. we're looking for that carmalized pumpkin flavor here, so let them brown up, without burning. burned food is hardly ever good.

once the pumpkin looks good, and is at least fork tender (stick a fork in easily), pull the tray out of the oven and let cool for a couple of minutes. cooling at this point is really all about not burning the fingerprints off of your hands during the next step.

peel the skin off of the pumpkin and either mash the pulp, or put it into a food processor or blender just to break up the big chunks. add the pulp and chicken stock into an appropriately large pot, and bring to a very light boil. go easy on the chicken stock at first (after the first cup or so), adding as the soup cooks to the consistancy you are looking for. add the onion, garlic, and spices. once it's boiling, turn down the heat to a simmer. remember: boiling pumpkin pulp is like lava. avoid splatters, because they will burn for hours. and also be aware this stuff will scorch if you leave the heat on too long. pumpkin is not forgiving when it comes to too much heat.
let it simmer 15 to 30 minutes, depending on how hungry you are. thin if necessary with chicken stock, or water.

while you are waiting, cut the top couple of inches off of the 2nd pumpkin, and gut it. this is going to be the serving bowl. the audience will love it!

pour into a food processor or blender, in small enough batches to keep it from exploding when you turn on the machine. puree each batch and pour into the pumpkin shell. if you don't have a machine to puree this in, just pour it through a sieve/strainer, and force the pulp through using a rubber spatula. on the table, ladle soup into the bowls, and add a tsp (or more depending on how much cholesterol you can tolerate) of sour cream. and eat!

this is my very favorite pumpkin soup recipe, and it has never turned out exactly the same twice. for a little different taste, add a bit of ground or grated ginger, or even toss in a dash or two of ground cloves. the possibilities are limitless. it really is very simple and uncomplicated, except for the puree part. but most of us have that figured out already, right? and if not, now's the time. enjoy

cool volcano cam

been watching mt. st. helens all day. here is the link for the forest service cam, with static images updated every 5 minutes. looks like a beautiful day in the pacific northwest.

and if you are really bored, you can go and watch old faithful geyser.

wow, i feel better already just knowing this

information

a brief foray into the political

and i quote:

2. CNN's T. Carlson: "If you listen to the Democrats, George W. Bush is not only a moron who can barely tie his own shoes, but he's the most brilliant debater in the history of western civilization" ("Paula Zahn Now," 9/27).

taken from THE TEN MOST INTERESTING ITEMS IN THE HOTLINE TODAY from NRO.

and for those nights you're not eating tacos

dinnerware for everyday!

here's an item that everyone needs

from the sur la table catalog:



yup, i think everyone should have a least a couple of chihuahua taco holders for those all important mexican food nights. this is an unintentionally funny item. good for a giggle anyway.

scamming the scammers

i've heard of this done by others, but this is too damned funny. quoting from myron at rontini's sub board

An article in today's Houston Chronicle about a guy with a weird sense of humor. Go to his web site at the link in the article linked below to read some of his responses to the scammers. His characters are great. Gertrude P. Smith of the Beaumont Knitting Guild, Billy Bob Jones the Texas goat rancher, Jim Basdrop the largest weapons & computer dealer around in the central Texas area for the past 34 years, Priest Jobu the Haitian Voodoo Priest in Rattlesnake Butte, TX. Well, you get the idea.
Myron

and the link is at the houston chronicle
follow the link imbedded in the news article to go to the web site and laugh your kiester off. this is some funny stuff.

so, what did you do this weekend?

i know it's tuesday already, but for me, it's still monday evening after work. so, what did you do this weekend that was fun? i know that some folks were hunkered down with a big ass storm dumping on them. not me. i had beautiful clear skies, and balmy weather. saturday was a total kick back, not do a damned thing kind of day. i need one of those occasionally just to recharge. sunday was looking to be another one, but i was feeling a little restless. my better half got me thinking along the lines of a ferry ride to san francisco, and i invited edwardo (that would be the dude that cancels out my vote this november) and his loverly lady the matchmaker. if my wife ever gets tired of my crap, poor golden is the one that will have to bear the brunt of blame, since she's the one that arranged our first meeting.
so, on a spur of the moment thing, we blast off down to vallejo to catch the ferry to san francisco. it was so nice out, the wind barely wafting along, that even at 35 or 40 knots, on the bay, you didn't need a jacket to stand on the deck and let the wind mess your hair.
we got off at the san francisco ferry building. boy, if you live in the bay area, and haven't had a chance to check out the renovation in the ferry building, you really should. all kinds of cool shops and restaurants. of course, the place i really liked the most was sur la table, because i am an undiscovered great chef (even if it's in my own mind).
anyway, after wandering around the ferry terminal, we hiked the mile or two down the embarcadero to my favorite restaurant in san francisco Scoma's. i make it a point to go there at least once a year if for no other reason than their Lazy Man's Cioppino. oh man, i can't even describe it, other than it is more than worth the hit to the wallet. it's so good, i have even dreamed of it on occasion. that's when i know it's time to make another pilgrimage. and of course, it is illegal to drink anything other than Anchor Steam Beer when eating chioppino in san francisco. so i had two, just to make sure i was well within the bounds of epicurian rules. mmmmm, anchor steam beer.
after dinner, we decided to ride the electric trolley back to the terminal. note to self: don't bother with the trolley next time. way way too crowded, and it took longer between the wait and the ride than it would have been just walking back. but, it was part of the days adventure, and that counts for something. a bombay sapphire martini at the slanted door finished off the great day in the city. the ride back on the ferry was quick, and our day's adventure ended with a drive home from vallejo to napa. all in all, a great day and a great way to spend time with friends and loved ones.

now this would be cool...geek alert!!

so, are you a scientific geek? what is the atmospheric pressure at sea level? what is the atmospheric pressure at denver? or tahoe? ok, i'll tell you. it's about a .55 pound per square inch decrease for every 1000 foot elevation increase.
think about a 1/2 psi pressure differential. if you had a 1/2 psi differential across a 24 inch pipe, that would relate to a force of about 225 pounds. raise the differential, raise the pressure, or force exerted. raise the pipeline to the top of the sierra mountains, or the cascades or hell, even the rockies, with the intake at the base, and what kind of force do you think would be available?

i heard the following on the radio today, and will investigate what is available on the web, but here is a small taste.
what if you piped air from the sea level zone below mountains to the top of the peaks, how many turbines would you be able to spin, to provide electricity, without using fossil fuels (after installation of the piping.)? just think about this for a minute. in british columbia, they have close to a million miles of piping buried to move natural gas. and we have lines running from the midwest all the way to the west coast, for the same reasons.
why not use the natural pressure differential between sea level and high mountain elevations? no dams, no smoke stacks, no freaking fossil fuels from the middle east.
borg-warner (i think that's what i heard on the radio) proposes this. they state that the air velocity would become supersonic, plenty fast enough, given an appropriate volume, to spin generator turbines.

pretty cool, huh? people are thinking, and with oil at the $50 a barrel mark, it is going to be more and more important for us to think inovative, out of the box thoughts.

one of the reasons i'm letting my

National Geographic subscription lapse. i've been noticing without understanding the recent forays into politics in this august magazine. that's not what i buy the magazine for.

this morning's news commentary

david brooks of the nyt has expressed the frustration many of us feel towards the tragedy in the sudan. he also points out, with great skill, the fallacies of relying on the UN for any sort of international leadership. kerry wants to turn iraq over to the un, if you listen to his speeches. quagmire? hell, this would be a freaking disaster.

A quote from a military officer in the wsj opinion journal online : In Indian Country, as one general officer told me, "you want to whack bad guys quietly and cover your tracks with humanitarian-aid projects."
great quote. interesting article too, by the way

and here is a little tidbit gleaned from the washington times regarding various absence levels triggering citations for parents with kids missing school. now here comes the rant. since the beginning of the school year, the wash d.c. school officials have issues 765 truancy notifications. think about this for a moment. that represents 765 students that have at least 5 unexcused absences per quarter. so a student could skip 20 days of school a year, with no response or notification to the parent. no wonder kids nowadays seem to have a hard time getting the grades to get into university. the university of california system is considering a shift in gpa from 2.8 to 3.0 for minimum grades for admittance beginning in 2007. my my the howling and caterwauling has been poisonous. i get to see a little more of this issue, working for the university. the simple, basic remedy for not having a gpa good enough? STUDY HARDER! it doesn't go into affect until 2007. go to school every day, do your homework. seems pretty simple to me. and if you can't, then you probably don't belong in the university system. perhaps a stint in the junior colleges will get you tuned.
oh, where was i. oh, washington dc schools issuing citations. if you read the article, it's written and worded to make it sound like the school's administration is aggressively working on the problem. it's worded to make it sound like parents are jailed, neighborhoods are cleaned up, and the sun will shine all day, now that the school administration has embarked on this program. i'm sorry, but notifying the parent(s) that little joey missed 5 days of school this quarter is not aggressive. now chicago is beginning to jail truant's parents. Thats aggressive.

i'm so lucky.

do you live in one of the world's premier tourist destinations? i do. i'm so lucky. i never forget how cool it is just to live in the napa valley. i ignore all of the touristy stuff, but it is almost impossible to ignore the fact that i live in one of the most beautiful landscapes in the world. we have wonderful weather, wineries are a wall to wall business presence, and the culture is effete farm chic, well, ok, that's not so cool, but this place is just a special place to live. my drive home from work tonight prompted this. it was pretty damned warm in sacramento, but by the time i hit the valley, the air had cooled to a clean crisp snap. there's a winery in jamison canyon, and the smell of the grape crush and early fermentation of the whites and reds filled the air with perfume heavy with fruit, musty and acidic, with that aftertaste of wine on your taste buds.
i really am going to miss this place when i move. it won't be but 25 miles. 25 miles and an entirely different cultural setting. from wine farmers that get paid too damned much for their crops to cow town. it will be interesting.

ouch, ouch, ouch

oh, dan rathernot must be crapping tacks and roofing nails about now. while perusing the wall street journal online opinion magazine today (a great daily exercise for those that want to be in the know) i came across this little tidbit. now, please don't get me wrong. i like reading about die hard democrats jumping ship. really, i do. but this makes me a little suspicious, since all of the house organs of the media giant viacom have been in collusion regarding pimping anti-bush books and interviews this political season, ranging from the top to bottom media blitz of richard clark's now discredited book, to joe wilson's foray into the publicity mill touting his literary scat, to now blathergate and the forged memos. wonder if "good for viacom" doesn't mean "survival of viacom" when the dust settles. one way or the other, this cannot be good news for the kerry camp.

hey foodies, gicher recipes riyat cheer

carnival of recipes VI up and running at chez jennifer. the ol' nook dood sez.. good stuff to be found, check it out.

pssst. hey buddy, yeah you. don't cook? might go a long way towards getting you hooked up with a partner and away from the keyboard if you learn. the carnival is a great place to start!
ok, you can go back to NRO now.

the new editorial cartoonists?

Mike postulates that bloggers with photoshop skills are becoming the new editorial cartoonists. he's posted a couple, and the first one just kills me. good find mike

got some time to waste?

i've posted a whole bunch of photos from my road trip to alaska, yukon terr. and british columbia last year with my pop. the opening album is full of flowers. anchorage pix are from within anchorage city limits. wildflowers were taken all along the way. don't forget to visit the roadtrip album, which is linked on the album page.

flowers and the read only password (which you will need) is roadtrip. WARNING: all of these pix are between 150 and 250 kbytes each. and don't forget to click on the road trip 2003 link at the top of the album page for some sky and landscape views throughout washington, b.c., the yukon territory, and alaska.

if you haven't used photobucket before, you can either click on the picture for the image, or you can run a slideshow

enjoy. i'm working on the next batch from THIS years trip, but that will be for another night

does anybody out there know

how many Patriot Act abuse cases the aclu has taken to court since the inception of the act? i can't seem to find any new information about that. i remember a couple of months ago there was an op-ed that i read but i can't find it either. in the op-ed, the writer stated that to date, the aclu had not taken one single abuse case to court. i'm wondering if that's true, and if it's still valid. any suggestions?

huli huli chicken mmmmmmmm good

one of the many things i remember about being stationed in hawaii was the huli huli chicken road side fund raisers. i'd get in my car, drive around with the top down, and sniff the air until i found one. one what? one huge ass trailer bbq full of mesquite coals and rotiseries full of chicken. pure heaven. schools and civic organizations rent the trailer/bbq, buy all their chicken from the same company, who also makes the marinade, and volunteers man the fires. if you've lived in hawaii, you know what i'm talking about. if you haven't, you can try my huli huli chicken recipe for a taste of the islands. i went begging for this recipe, and it tastes exactly they way i remember the roadside stands. mmmmmmm.

couple of chickens cut up for the grill, or 3 or 4 lbs of chicken breasts.
1/2 cup of frozen pineapple concentrate (really, and using regular juice doesn't cut it)
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup catsup ( yeah, catsup. hawaii IS part of the U.S. ya know)
1 knob/finger of fresh ginger grated fine
couple of cloves of garlic, crushed. (to taste..my recipe card says 1, i use 3)
3 tablespoons of brown sugar

non food items:

• mesquite charcoal, or better yet, mesquite chunks soaked for at least an hour in water before use. toss them on when coals are ready. the hawaiians have a different name for mesquite, but that's the wood they use to bbq this stuff with. honest.


• bbq mop or a big paint brush. big. 4 inches or so big

mix all the ingredients up and marinade the chicken for at least 1/2 hour before cooking. i use ziploc bags. wonderful invention.
get the coals fired up. when you are ready to cook, toss on the mesquite chunks, and drop the chicken on the grill.
huli huli means turn over turn over (really). so here's how you cook this gem. once the chicken is on the grill, you mop it with the marinade, let it sit 5 minutes, then turn it over, and mop again. continue until the chicken is done, or you run out of marinade. if you run out of marinade first, keep turning the chicken every 5 minutes until done, or the brown sugar will burn.

this stuff is killer.

you can also do this in an electric rotiserie. every 10 minutes or so, baste the previously marinated bird with more marinade until done/out of marinade. you will thank me in the morning.

compare and contrast your news source

so we've been exposed to the machinations of the CBS evening news guru, in his attempts to skew the news to meet his own preconceived notions of what is what. a story that by forgery only has ever had any demonstrable credence. but if you watch the evening news for your dose of reality, you are sadly under-informed and mis-informed.

i was thinking about that today. a lot of the folks that i talk to that are vehemently against the war in iraq, or even more simply against the current administration typically parrot the big mainstream media's message. i hear it constantly from the folks in question, and it's like they are not using their time to actually investigate what information there is out there.

take the war in iraq. doom and gloom. doom and gloom. that's all we ever hear. doom and gloom. but not if you talk to (or email, or read the blogs of) most service members in iraq. there will always be a couple that are incredibly negative. we even had some like that on my boat when i was in the navy. the iraqi interim prime minister spoke to congress today, and the message he has is far different than the one you hear on most tv stations, or in the big 5 news papers. (i know, fox news...go ahead, roll your eyes. it was the first link on a google, and i'm getting to where i'm believing more and more of fox's actual news reports than any other broadcast ones. they are proving to be much more clear with their information.) but if all you do is listen to the candidates and their messages on tv, you get no coverage of the president's remarks, and an almost non-stop barrage of doom and gloom kerry's remarks.
so what i'm really saying is that a lot of opinions out there may simply be generated from tainted news. basic mind control, if you will. (hoo-whee, them there conspiracy boys are gunna trot out the white jackets again nook)

here is an exercise in comparison and contrast. the AP did a story on the ex-cat stephens. in this news story, he is a put upon messenger for peace, a humble, god fearing charitable servant of his religion, cast out by the malicious big bad american government invoking draconian security methods to persecute poor old al-islam, or whatever he goes by now. here is that story, as presented in the san francisco chronicle. if that was the only source of news, well boo-hoo, america is freaking paranoid, and this whole patriot act/homeland security thing is totally out of control.

then: enter the internet, and blogs, and the links bloggers post. i found this site by reading a hit piece in a left winger readers forum that i happened to wander into the other day. i've since seen her stuff linked in other places, but until i read her, i guess i just ignored the links. they must be all over the place. she's on the most hated list along with michelle malkin. that alone should make her of interest. anyway, Debbie Schlussel has written an examination of ol' cat's history of the last 20 or so years, and it is enlightening.

so, what does it mean? it means there are many more facts than those most folks follow to get their information, and subsequently form their opinions from. (sorry, that was a convoluted sentence. i'll try better next time)

this is not a political rant. it's a current affairs/ get your head out of the sand rant. become informed. read both sides. kill your television, and leave those damned newspapers alone, except for the advert circulars. never know when office depot will put 50 CD packs on sale for $5.00 again otherwise.

a couple more pictures from our summer cruise

i almost forgot that i have a bazillion bytes of pictures i took this summer. tinkered around with a couple just to tinker, and i'd like to share. as before, click the picture for a larger (around 250 kbyte) version.




this is the view from my folk's deck on the puget sound. well, actually the hood canal is to the left, and this is the bay/cove/inlet at seabeck, facing right. i could live in this house. i loved getting up in the morning, just as the sun came up. i'd brew a pot of coffee, and sit out on the deck watching the bald eagles fishing right below the house, which has a stunning unimpeded view of the water. mom calls the place her blue heaven, and it certainly deserves that name.



this is a shot looking directly away from the house. as you can see, there is a 25-30 foot drop straight down to the beach below. these waters are absolutely perfect for oysters, which i took advantage of. my wife's not impressed with eating raw oysters right out of the water. oh well, her loss.



my lovely wife and willing accomplice in many of my adventures standing on the observation deck of the ship. we are just about to leave the dock in seattle. mt. rainier can be seen in the background. this was one of a handful of days in seattle this year where the mountain was this visible. 'twas a loverly day for a boat ride.

thanks for the picture

a friend just sent me a great picture. it's so good, i'm sharing it with all of you. ok, ok, it's mildly political, but hey, it's my blog. and it does have something to do with guns, and it's no secret i'm a gun whacko, as well as a maladjusted operative of the vast right wing conspiracy. anyway, here's the picture:


thanks dude. you know who you are.

and today's good news is:

we move into our new home after 1 december. oh yeah. i am seriously jazzed. it's still a little difficult to wrap my feeble brain around the amount of money we're talking here, but that will pass with time... hope hope hope.
now all i need to do is finish up with the sale of my rental, which should close by october 13. hopefully we can bump that up a little. this is so cool.

this might be old news to some

but i found this picture over at the museum of left wing lunacy

like i've said before. the kids at the pointy end of the stick know what's going on, and they are still reenlisting in droves. they know what good they are doing. and they know who the enemies of the state are too.
marines
took the picture out because it was slowing down the site load. click away. it's good. honest.

why the hell are we in iraq?

here, i'll let Senator Kerry explain, in his own words.

ok, so it came from a gop website. doesn't mean the words are not kerry's. they are a matter of record.

found this on tom sullivan's website. he's a local sacramento business guru/radio talk show host. probably one of the most listened to radio dude in northern california, especially when he guest hosts for rush.

sorry, but here's more on ratherbiased.

ok, i imagine there are those out there that are getting sorta, kinda, well, damned tired of the ongoing and incessant blogosphere harping on the dan ratherbiased flap. folks like Mike. and i can understand. too much info, too many people harping, too much too much toomuchtoomuch. well, sorry. for those of you that are tired of all the blather, i recommend a short vacation of 20 or 30 seconds, available here.

for the rest of you (all what, 1 or 2?) that might be interested, i found a killer summation and analysis at the glittering eye regarding dan rathernot, and the blogosphere/mainstream media relationship.

see, this carnival of recipes thing has opened up a whole new group of folks for bloggers to visit. i wouldn't even know of the site if it weren't for beth, or as we have learned to call her, She Who Will Be Obeyed

when is winning $113million considered bad luck?

when this guy wins it. the litany of woes that winning all of that money (the world's biggest lottery jackpot of $315million before taxes) has brought this guy makes me wonder if i'd accept that much. of course, he isn't helping any either. i mean, who the heck wanders around with $50,000 in a briefcase, just for incidentals like lap dances and drinks for the house?

man, what would you do with that much free money dumped in your bank account? i know that i'd be a whole lot more conservative with how i spent it, because my wife would probably frown on my taking a stack of $100 bills to the local strip club. as a matter of fact, i know she would.

kind of makes me wonder sometimes

just how far we are going to take this whole self esteem thing. now, and F is an F, isn't it? that's as big a blow to your self esteem as you are going to get on a paper, isn't it? so why worry about the color of the pen used to grade the paper?

i think i'd be a little more concerned what my dad was going to say when i brought home the F than i was about whether the color was or was not threatening.

[/pondering]

and now, for something completely different

tonight's bumperstickers. well, not really really different, but at least it's not about dan rathernot, and that has to count for something, doesn't it?

Money Isn't Everything, But It Sure Keeps The Kids In Touch

and

WHERE CAN I GET A CLEAN SLATE?

more info on the ratherbiased flap`

so, do you think rather was duped? or was he a willing accomplice in this whole muddled, murky attempt to discredit the sitting president during a time a war? do you think this is a simple mistake of innocent newsgathering, or is it something much more sinister; a concerted effort to interfer in a presidential election, utilizing forged military documents (which, i believe, is a felony...the documents that is)?
so here's a small sampling of sites and articles i've collected, and i'll let you decide. besides stuff i've already posted, i'll include a couple of links to get you started.

here

a little sarcastic approach

and here.


there is so much information on the web about this that you could make a career out of trying to read and assimilate it all. good luck.

and in case you were wondering about the president's military service, you might want to check out this article from The Hill

one of the things that is cracking me up (shows a desperation on the dem's side that warms my heart) is that they found a pet judge to order the prez to release all of his service docs. he's already done that, and signed the privacy act consent form 180 to that effect... some time ago. as opposed to kerry, who has repeatedly refused to release ALL his documents via the form 180 path. hmmm, wonder what he's trying to hide?

a fighter pilot speaks out

sometimes i read something and think to myself "self, this guy really believes what he's saying. there's passion, and conviction behind his words". well, i read an article just now in the Insight online magazine. it's written by a fighter pilot, and he explains his feelings behind gw's service in the ANG. pretty good article..

today's bumperstickers

So Many Pedestrians So Little Time

and

When in doubt, empty the magazine

carnival of recipes V on line

at amy's place . and if you are interested in participating, you can email your foodie dream dish to recipe.carnival(at)gmail.com . now i know there are a lot of foodies out there, because i can see the general shape and dimension of folks while i'm out wandering about. and you don't get that way by eating brown rice and tofu. so pony up! i've already found a couple over the last several carnivals that will become repeat offenders on my table.

and now:
note they used what has become my slave name, the one i was issued back in the days of edward r. murrow and uncle walter bringing in the truth to american homes, before journalists became entertainers and political hacks. but the days of my bondage are over! world...i am bothenook, defender of freedom and right wing gun crazy whacko. i have cast off my chains of ignorance, no longer a slave to the main stream media! hail the internet.

hey, that was fun. i suppose they'll be sending the nice white van with a couple of burly attendants to take me somewhere so that i can be brainwashed into accepting the big lie.

hmmm, who to trust, who to trust

a retired general who accepted gw into the guard, or dan ratherbiased's dead major or whatever via forged documents? hmmm.

i wish this vietnam shit would go away. seems like there are those that can't let it. kerry's campaign opened a pandora's box when they marketed lurch as a heroic leader of the free world based on actions he may or may not have done 30 years ago. a vet's group called them on it, and the swifties are hurting the dim's candidate's image by telling their side of the story.

if mike al-moor, rather, soros, et. al. had left vietnam out of it, they'd probably be seeing better poll numbers. every time they think they've got a slam dunk, it's them that gets slammed, with verifiable, not made up information. let it go already. i think ratherbiased, instead of helping kerry's campaign, helped the bushies immensly, because now, nothing that the MSM reports will escape scrutiny or be believed at face value. they've lost our trust (what little of it we had). hooray for rather. he will probably have to lock himself in a little closet, and berate himself most loudly if he ever figures out that he's really an irreplacable bushie camplaign asset.

i don't wear pajamas. is that too much information?

i received an email tonight from a friend new to the blogosphere, wondering what the heck this whole pj's thing that sprung up this week was all about. well, for any of you that don't know, this would be a good place to start to find out more info. found via michelle who found it via someone else. ain't the blogosphere great?

a couple of things mined from yahoo news

ok, so it's not an unimpeachable source, but good for a quick look around before heading to bed.

here's one that just frickin' boils my blood:

In the statement, Basayev blamed President Vladimir Putin) for the tragedy

which of course refers to the horrific school massacre in russia, uttered by the leader of the group claiming responsibility. anyone that twisted, that can in any way publicly utter those words after what his group did, needs to die. i mean dead with prejudice. wiped out. nuked. obliterated. and any members of his group still alive. i hope the russians go in and simply level the entire region this dude is operating out of. screw the civilian losses. revenge is not pretty. and this is one of the times revenge is warranted. turn the other cheek? only if it brings my dominant eye into play as i'm focusing on your ass down the gunsites

and then there is this little gem:

stolen from yahoo daily news pictures. so what's the little girl crying for? see that big bad man, wearing an IUPAT (that's a union, not a univ. Indiana campus like i thought earlier...my bad...sorry) sweatshirt holding half of a torn sign? see the little girl holding the other half of the sign? it was a team bush poster, at the airport where kerry was landing. now isn't that just special? based on the look dad has, and the fact that he is still holding his daughter, and not kicking that stupid idiot's ass, shows the moron chose his target well. a 3 year old girl held by her dad. indiana, is this the caliber of your union members? moron.

edited to fix my stupidity and mistakes. sorry indiana/perdue. i'll slink off now.

am i wrong to be pissed off?

i'm not sure how or what to think about this. driving home from work tonight, i passed through a huge road construction project. one of the big asphalt machines was all lit up, and waving above the operator's station was a HUGE mexican flag. this struck me as all wrong. i'm not sure why, but thinking about it has given me a list of reasons:

• this is california, and it's a california transportation project


• this is the united states, not jalisco or mazatlan


• if this is a mexican paving company, why the hell is california not using californian companies to do the job?


• if it was a mexican national operating the machine, why wasn't a californian doing so on a state transportation job?


• if the flag was there because the operator or owner was proud of his heritage, why wasn't that an american flag, since they no longer live in mexico, but in california?

in this time of caterwauling about outsourcing work by the liberal left especially, why is this appropriate, especially in a predominately democrat area? i would think THEY would be upset. i'm not using this to show racism, because quite frankly, i could give a hoot less about your ethnicity or background. but if you are HERE, then be proud of being here. if not, go the fuck home.

i am agog. that's the word, agog

and i quote:

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi lashed out at Republicans for going after CBS.
"The Republicans' latest attempt to intimidate the news media is a waste of taxpayer money and an egregious example of how this Republican House only exercises its oversight responsibility for partisan political reasons," the California Democrat said.
"Clearly, Republicans will stop at nothing to distract the public from their miserable record," she added.

this is from an article in the washington times linked here.

hey united states citizens: i apologize for all californian's that we had the unmitigated stupidity to elect this freaking whackjob to the house of representatives. i'm sorry. really, i'm sorry. we didn't mean to, but you have to remember that where she was elected from still thinks that dan rather and the cbs news isn't the disinformation arm of the democratic party. sorry nancy, but pointing out obvious lies and mis/dis-information disguised as a clean, hard news expose has been exposed for the lie that it is is as american as baseball on a workday afternoon. and your defending that lie makes you what? a dupe? a willing participant in the spread of the lie? a member of the club that thinks the public should only think what we are told to think by you and your cronies? stupid? guess it'll sell in san francisco and berkeley, but not anywhere reason reigns over dogma.

personally, i hope they find the sorry ass bastard that forged those documents (looks like there is a likely candidate: why, it's bill burkett. hummm, didn't he , no, he couldn't be the, was he, isn't he some big kerry suppor...no, nobody in their right mind would try to sway a presidential election using fraudulent methods, such as forging documents attributed to a dead military officer, would they? hmmmm? sounds like a felony rap to me, and i hope they pursue and prosecute this to the fullest extent of the law. what really cracks me up is ratherbiased is now trying to soft sell the forgeries, stating they may not be real, but the stuff in them is. wtf? they had their preconceived agenda, and went out until they found someone/thing to support it, regardless of all the warnings that it's probably bullshit. i see the humpty-dumpty falling off of the wall here, and there is no freaking way cbs is going to be able to put this one back together again. mainstream media failed to pay attention the growing number of computer savvy conservatives, and thought they could just say whatever they wanted to, and figured we'd just buy it. the only demographic that still believes in the evening news is the non-computer literate older generation that only watch the evening news and read the sf chronicle/ny times crowd. the rest of us are finding new places to get informed, and we are no longer subject to THEIR filter on the news. damn, i love computers, and i am absolutely enthralled with the blogosphere. thanks ali.. i was informed before, but the difference between pre-blog and post-blog is the difference between a college bachelors degree, and a doctorate in public and current affairs.

60 minutes is now reporting

that bush paid off the national gaurd with $3.00 bills. read all about it here.

oh man, i love this stuff. insert paddle, stir slowly to a roiling boil. dan rather's credibility as taken such a shot i don't know how he can continue to sit in front of a camera.

today's bumpersticker

Eat Right, Exercise, Die Anyway

and

I was asked to leave Graceland

hmm, wonder if

dan rather had any directions or hints from the king of made up shit mike al-moor (saw this at little green footballs, and couldn't avoid stealing it.) sucker, you going down... what i'm trying to figure out is how the dreaded MSM (main stream media) has barraged Fox news, and then they get caught like this? with a computer generated forgery that joe average on the blogosphere caught as forgeries, and not the cbs research staff? please. after an almost non-stop hate bush itinerary on cbs from wilson to this, who has the fair and balanced news now? rush limbaugh?

so let's see, first clark (who told the 9/11 commission one thing behind closed doors, and something else when in public, and contradicted his own words in his own book...had to be lying somewhere in that mess), then wilson, who was so foul, that his lies were easily countered by just about everybody, mike al-moor's putrid polemic, 60 minutes almost slavish adherence to the hate-bush doctrine, and now dan ratherbiased and his forged documents. lies, lies, lies. and if you are a democrat, you can't help be see that honest and principled men of your party of both the conservative (miller) and liberal (crap, forgot his name...he was on ahem, fox last night) sides are decrying the foul and unprincipled direction your party has taken. not one of the staffers or the candidates have in any way shown anything other than outright support for these scurrilous attacks.

and you might say, "yeah, but when bush lied, people died." except i don't think bush lied. let's examine what has/is happening. first off, the entire world thought iraq had wmd's, up to and including the current demo candidate, who campaigned on the floor of the senate for then president clinton to do something about them. so we went in, after several u.n. resolutions calling for action. of course, there were those that voted FOR the resolutions, but then changed their mind...kind of flip-floppish if you ask me. i can understand why kerry likes germany and france so much, based on both his own, and their inability to take a stand. then there were reports, just before we began the invasion (and which probably prompted the attack, if we were to look close enough), of large movements of trucks and supplies heading into syria. so in we go, and take that murderous despot and his homicidal progeny out. but no weapons of mass destruction, other than a couple used as road side bombs, but the left can, and have, glibly ignored them. then a couple of months ago, jordanian officials caught a terrorist group based out of syria, where nothing but nothing happens without the official seal of approval (it's not like being in walnut creek, or des moines folks). this group had three trucks loaded with explosives and chemical weapons (hummm, wonder where they came from?), and the intent was to explode them near 2 jordanian government buildings, and the us embassy. an estimated 80,000 people, 80,000 people could have died, based on estimates published in several, but not all american newspapers. and now, possible evidence of syria using chemical weapons in the sudan. hmm, wonder where they came from. i wish the folks out there with a complete hatred for bush would pull their heads up out of the sand for a couple of minutes, and examine what is REALLY happening out there in the world. then look at the two campaigns. which one leaves you feeling dirty? and if you think the swifties are an underhanded campaign tactic, you haven't been paying attention to the vets, but have been listening to the newsies who have everything to lose if kerry doesn't win this election.

end of rant.

what a disengenuous dirtbag

that freaking kerry is a dirtbag. quoting from the washington times

The assault-weapons ban expired at midnight with no congressional action to renew it, and Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry blamed President Bush, saying he was aiding terrorists.
"Today, George Bush chose to make the job of terrorists easier, and the job of police officers harder," Mr. Kerry said.

so where the hell is kerry, when the congress is supposed to be "doing something"? out campaigning. it's not the president's job to keep that psuedo law in effect, but congress's and kerry, why the last time i looked, he was a !gasp! congressman. why isn't he at the front of the battle in the halls of congress, doing his job? guess he expects the president to do congress's job like he expects the EU to defend the u.s. and tell us when we can or can not kill a rat bastard when necessary.


and regarding that bogus law, one which unfortunately i have an even worse version here in california:

Researchers have found that the ban had little effect on crime — one recent study said the effect probably was "too small for reliable measurement" — and even some gun-control activists said the ban was ineffective.

thanks diane fienstien. 101 california wasn't a massacre, since the crazy bastard that went in only took out lawyers. but it could have been completely avoided if only one able shooter had been there, with a concealed weapon, and the training to use it. bah

back to the daily bumperstickers

i've been remiss. sorry, i'll try better. here are today's gems:

Honk If You've Never Seen An Uzi Fired From A Car Window

and

Environmental Stickers Don’t Mean Shit When They Are Stuck On Cars

calling all foodies

man, i've really been getting into this whole carnival of food thing (see links to left). some great recipes out there. i posted this over on Allan's blog, but i'm stealing it back so i can submit the dang thing. so here's what i wrote to allan:

want a quick marinade for beef? try 1/2 cup soy sauce (i like it full strength, but low salt works too), 1/2 cup water, one apple or pear puree (just take a nice ripe piece of fruit, blend, process or mash, and add to the bowl). couple clunks of garlic (or 1/2 to 1 tsp. garlic powder) and about 1/4 cup pureed onion (processor with some of the soy as liquid). finally, grate most of a finger of ginger, or a couple big pinches of ginger powder. mix it all together, and toss some beef shortribs, or tri tip strips into a ziplok bag with enough marinade to cover. toss in fridge overnight.
grill away....it's mighty damned good. it's a takeoff of korean kalbi-beef bbq sauce. my nice korean grandmotherly lady that lived next door to me when i was growing up showed me this sauce. hard to beat.
by the way, just about the only major difference between this and teriyaki sauce is pineapple juice instead of apples or pears. for an extra extra good addition, a little rice wine vinegar and a couple drops of toasted sesame seed oil caps the whole flavor pyramid.

the short ribs i fixed the other day were still great as leftovers for work this evening. ummmm, beef. cholesterol? d'oh!

for you chicken lovers, this is also a killer marinade for a couple of boneless skinless (why bother eating it then?) chicken breasts. toss them into a ziplok, let them soak for at least an hour or so, then grill. i use the left over marinade in the box to baste the breasts with on the grill. tasty.

so what's up with sandy berger?

i was reviewing my archives, reveling in the purity of thought and irrefutable logic, and realized that i was squawking about sandy berger for a while, but he's fallen off of the map since before the dnc. wonder what is going on with this guy. he broke to law, violated security rules that he had to be aware of, and was caught with his hand in the cookie jar. but a google search for him shows in the first 20 returns only as a name in conjunction with clinton in a moron dowd screed. hmmm, i hope the us attorney's office is building a nice cell somewhere for him to reside in for a period of time. probably not, because in this country if you are a big name pol you generally get by with a pass and a slap on the hand. basta.

what i did on 9/11/2004

i participated in exercising my 2nd amendment rights by going to the range today.


this is a 1 inch target, and it really has 10 .22 caliber holes in it, but the whole top of the target was shot off, and didn't come with the part i cut off. this is a 15 yard, offhand pistol group of about 3/4 inch. and yes, i am bragging


this is a 3 inch target, shot from the bench at 50 yards with my .22 caliber ruger 10/22 in a mild (less than 5 knots) right to left breeze. this target contains the traces of 30 rounds. or, i shot 30 rounds at this target, and all went somewhere inside this 3 inch circle.


and my son was not to be outdone, and here is one of his 3 inch targets. this was at 15 yards, offhand, with a .22 caliber pistol. this is 30 rounds. not bad.

on the eve of the 9/11 anniversary

a moderate group of muslims say We're Sorry.
i know, it's a couple of years too late, but in keeping with one of my earlier posts from yesterday, at least joe average muslim is starting to wake up to just what the hell is going on in the world in their name.

and in response to we're sorry.... thanks. it's not enough, but it is a start. want it to be enough? cough up the folks hiding out in your ranks, your neighborhoods, your countries, that subscribe to the insanity that brought 4 aircraft down from the sky. cough them up, and KILL them. and everyone that supports them. then, it will be enough.

bill gertz on france and iraq

snippets of bill gertz's book "treachery" were run in the washington times this week. interesting examination of what may have been reasons why we encountered such grief from the french regarding the whole iraq issue. link is here

pardon my right wing giggling

poor dan rather. the king of the evening mainstream media news shows has really stepped on the hem of his skirt, so much so that his knickers are showing. this whole controversy over g.w.'s national guard appointment, the now infamous letter, and rather's obvious vendetta against the current president are examined at ratherbiased.com. some of the comments are eye opening as well. i love the whole lt. governor thing about getting gw into the guard, when our president was already in the guard for a year before the lt. gov. took office. oh, i love the juicy stuff, kind of like james cagney loved grapefruit. remember the scene in one of his early movies where he jams the grapefruit into the face of his harping female breakfast companion? kind of like that.

blogosphere meets food, part IV

this weeks carnival of recipes 4 is up at The Glittering Eye. funny, but i find it amusing that some of the real fire in the eye bloggers of the right are really just a bunch of closet foodies. must be prosperity leads to leasure time, leads to exploring killer food. some great recipes out there. bothenook sez...check 'em out! what is really amazing is it's not all meat and grits...not that there is anything wrong with grits. well, i lied, there is something fundamentally wrong with grits, but i won't get into it here!

man, we're excited.

we put an offer in on a beautiful house in vacaville for more damned money than i could or would have imagined even a year ago. frightening to see the numbers, but it will work out ok. keep your fingers crossed world, because this house purchase will only work out if the rental i'm selling goes through quickly. i have an accepted offer, but until the check is in my hand, anything can happen...and often does. so world, wish us luck!

there actually might be some arabs that get it

when a member of your club does some heinous act, everyone in the club is assumed to be at least a co-conspirator. when muslims do horrifying acts in the name of their religion, the entire population of muslims are blamed. well, it seems that the "islamic street" if you will, is getting the message. a couple of quotes :

"It is a certain fact that not all Muslims are terrorists, but it is equally certain, and exceptionally painful, that almost all terrorists are Muslims," Abdel Rahman al-Rashed, the general manager of the widely watched satellite television station Al Arabiya said in one of the most striking of these commentaries.

In Jordan, a group of Muslim religious figures, meeting with the religious affairs minister, Ahmed Heleil, issued a statement on Wednesday saying the seizing of the school and subsequent massacre "was dedicated to distorting the pure image of Islam."

these are snippits from a very good article today in the NYT by John Kifner. one of the predominate comments regarding the islamofacists and the arab world was the lack of condemnation of the part of joe average against the attacks. guess they ARE finally getting it.

darn it allan...

so here i am, sitting down to enter a new recipe we tried out this weekend, and went wandering around friend's blogs for my daily checkup. and found.. Allan's chicken saltimbocca.
ok, not all is lost. i'm not really duplicating, but expanding on a theme... much like jazz players do with a riff.

here's our labor day dinner entre, and i don't have a good name for it other than nook's surprise (we were surprised how darned good it turned out)

ingr.
however many boneless skinless chicken breasts as you are going to grill
couple of thin slabs of munster cheese and/or provalone cheese for each breast
enough very thinly sliced prosciutto or ham for a couple of layers per chicken breast. i like prosciutto, salty and tasty
seasonings: mrs dash broiler chicken seasoning, or cajun seasoning, or any favorite seasoning salt

how?
butterfly each breast, leaving at least 1/4 to 1/2 inch connected along one side.
lay out breasts cut side down, and season the exposed top surfaces well... because we're taking these babies to the grill and most of them will fall off during cooking.
flip the breasts over, and build a couple of layers of cheese and prosciutto or ham on one side of the cut surface. don't overstuff them though, because next you flip the other half over the top of the stuffing, and pin it all together with toothpicks. i used a lot of toothpicks, because tossing these on the grill is tough on them.

fire up the grill. i use a charcoal weber grill, so i set it up for indirect heat (half the coals against one side, the other on the opposite side, with a nice big area of the grill with no coals under it). toss the breasts on the grill over the coals, and turn over as many ways and times as you can to get a nice sear on the whole thing. then toss them in the middle of the grill away from the coals, and let them bake with the lid on for about 10 minutes. flip them over, and cook for about another 3 or 4 minutes, and check to see if the meat is cooked all the way through. i use a meat thermometer, and usually cook them until the cheese in the middle is at about 150 to 160.
pull them off the grill as soon as they are cooked, because nobody likes dried out chicken meat except the cats. let them sit for about 5 minutes, pull the toothpicks, and enjoy.
if you don't like it, it was my wife's idea!! if you do, well, i did the grilling! (just joking sweetheart. really)
this goes very well with a raw broccoli, carrot, and cauliflower salad and a cold beer.

a little more than you really want or need to know

as some of you know, music has played a huge part in my life. stacks of reel to reel tapes with all of my and my friend's albums recorded and played thru my nakamichi r-to-r deck helped keep me sane for months on end when i was a submariner. my mom was a swing band singer when she was younger, and so we were surrounded by music as we grew up. my love for music stems from that early start.
so what does that have to do with knowing more than you really wanted to know? dirty little secret time... i have my own soundtracks for certain activities, and they play unbidden at the appropriate time. this morning i rode my motorcycle to work (hey, it's only 157 miles round trip). there is a stretch of road called Jameson Canyon, or better known to non-locals as highway 12. it's a bit twisty, but 55 to 75 mph is easy on this road. so, here i am, clad in my big assed boots, leather coat, and helmet, zooming down the road, leaning into my first sweeping turn, and ... da da da dada da da da dadadada.. a-ha's "take me on" starts playing. it's a cool video, and was ahead of it's time, cartoon to human to cartoon. anyway, the video starts with a bike race, and that's what plays in my head when i get to get it on.
there. you now know more than you really wanted to. wonder if i'm the only one that does that?

been thinking about what happened in russia this week

and i am physically ill over what happened to those poor kids. does anyone need proof now? we are not at war with barney loving kumbiya singing long haired peace symbol wearing counter-culture types. we are at war with the most despicable and violent murderers our country has faced in decades. we are dealing with cold blooded ruthless murdering thugs. this is just another step in their journey towards rolling the calendar back centuries in their attempt to invoke Sharia law. are they to be tolerated in our rapidly shrinking world? or removed as the cancer they are? can their tactics here and here be allowed to go unanswered? claims of 7 arabs in the group only proves the point that these islamofacists don't have just one leader, one nation, one race. it's not the arabs we need to eradicate from this earth. it's anyone subscribing to the same belief system that allows this kind of murder. i think it's time to stop trying to find excuses, and time to allow the president free reign to pursue the war on terrorism he told america that was necessary. he warned us in his speech to congress following the 9/11 attacks that this war is going to be a long one, and a costly one, but one that cannot be avoided. President Bush declared war on terrorism. we all cheered, in homes and bars and where ever we had gathered to hear his speech across the land. but it seems americans have an extremely short attention span, and if it isn't hurting this very second, it's not important, and if it's happening to someone other than us, all the better. who will fight the war on terrorism? the responsibility cannot be abrogated to an international organization that can't keep a lid on kosovo, or even calm things down in the sudan. what, we'll talk embargo as 1000 a day die in the sudan, as i've read in numerous reports?

wake up. wake up. this could have been anywhere. our oceans no longer protect us. only we can protect ourselves, and we MUST do it on THEIR turf. i'm not talking genocide here, but the suppression of a value system so toxic that it kills innocent little kids. isn't that what we stand for? isn't that part of the american psyche, our culture? or have we forgotten that in our mad rush to make a buck, to live comfortably, to have no strife. well, if we don't get with the program, and now, it will be the metreon that explodes. or The Mall of America. or your kid's preschool. when? can't tell, but it's going to happen. we are not as safe as we all thought on september 10, 2001. our world has changed, and we need someone decisive and committed to lead this country. there are a lot of things about the pres. that i'm not too happy with. i think he spends too much money on crazy stuff. he increased the education expendatures by 80% over those spent by the previous administration. that isn't a federal role, but a state's responsibility. he promised 16 BILLION dollars to help fight aids in africa and world wide (more than the entire rest of the world combined, by the way). well, color me somewhat indifferent. why is it OUR responsibility to combat this disease, when all we get is slammed for our help? and how about the prescription drug "benefit" which is going to cost the american taxpayers TRILLIONS of dollars as reported by the democrats that voted against it (good call democrats, i'll give you that one), and that's just the drug program (which has some heavy caveats to it's use) under government control. imagine what it's going to cost if they (whomever they may be) get their way and socialize medicine. but even though i disagree with his ban on stem cell research, on his archaic objections to same sex unions, on abortion, all of that pales in comparison to how i feel about his steady, steadfast, focused approach on the war against terrorism. afganistan and iraq. who's next? syria, iran, north korea? i don't know, but i wish he'd hurry up and let the troops finish what needs to be finished, with no hand wringing sobbing from the left keeping our kids from taking care of business in iraq. the iraqi's are holding elections in january, and we need to make that country stable enough so that it has a chance to change the middle east. then, it's on to the next bad character to pop up in the crosshairs. the phillipines would be a good place to start, then malaysia, and throw those three i mentioned earlier in the mix as well. might as well flex a little and bully the saudis while we are at it, considering that they are one of the greatest funding sources and manpower sources for most of the crap that's going on in that part of the world. can't afford your next tank of gas? just wait until we stir that pot. might as well start squirreling away your coin for the time fuel becomes your biggest expense.

hey george...kick ass, and forget about taking names. let history sort it all out. and while you are at it, tell those geniuses down at lawrence livermore they have 6 months to develope a viable alternative to fossil fuels or they are all fired. that'll get them going.

WOW

i use a site tracker, and block my own ip address. and today, i went over 1000 visits to the site. cool

today's wall street journal opinion blog

has some great stuff in it. check it out

and the kids in oakland think they have it tough

walking to school? hell, they ought to try living in Transylvania

something from the wall street journal

can be found at this link from an entry on the sub board

what i heard on the radio

made me shake my head. i was listening to one of those "liberal" talk hosts on the radio as i drove home tonight. i like to hear what the ahem, other side, ahem, thinks and is talking about. i've tried to keep my mind open. you know what i thought as i pulled into my driveway, after listening to the blathering and babbling for over an hour?
john f. kennedy would not recognize the people in the party he lead 40 years ago. you know what i heard, time and time again? i'll translate the noise for you: "i don't want to do anything for my country. i just want to know what more the government will do for me." don't believe it? if you can stomach it, give it a listen. more more more government dole. more programs, more more more.
jfk must be rolling in his grave.

you've got to be kidding

oh man. sam donaldson and gil gross. what a barrow full of tripe and excrement. i listened to the pres's speech on an ABC feed radio station, and the shear volume of partisan crap flowing out of their mouths is just another reason why i avoid the "mainstream media" (MSM) sources at all costs, when possible. i have a vague recollection of the coverage of kerry's speech by these guys, and it was all laudatory bowing and scraping. these chumps started the shredder before g.w. even took the stage. after over an hour of specifics, the comments by gross to the effect that it was a long speech about nothing, with only vague references to goals and programs. what crap. this is why the M.S.M. is losing their asses to independent feeds and internet. what a travesty. i'm sure that the u.s.a. is poorly served by the journalists that are supposed to be providing us with information, not opinions. that's what the opinion pages of the paper, or talk shows is for. for shame. just another coin on the balance scale pan on why i don't think sam donaldson should at any time describe himself as a journalist. same with gill gross. don't remember the third voice that kept overriding the pres's words, but this is one sad trio. i wonder if it was as bad on the other networks? i don't recall this treatment of kerry on fox news during his speech. even fox stuck closer to the journalistic ideals than abc. i am not amazed any longer. i'm only amused. or is it confused?

an interesting take on Zell Miller

and the modern democratic party. this is from The Intellectual Conservative. read this. not all folks that hold different opinions are knuckle draggers. here's proof.

cross post.

i posted this as a response to a post on my bud dwardo's blog, with the specific entry linked below in the text. i thought that perhaps what was said was important enough to repost here. please read on...


ah, my fine liberal friend. good quote, by the way. let us examine those who may speak: "i died on an airplane, on my way home from a business trip"... "i died while fixing breakfast in the restaurant i worked at on the 120th (or whatever) floor". those are the voices, the voices of joe citizen that is heard. soldiers, soldiers place their lives in the hands of those that lead, understanding that they may be asked to sacrifice all so that others may continue to live, and not have their voices join the chorus of the innocents. you may not understand that, and there is no requirement that you do so. but THEY understand, and in this case, THEY are doing the job they joined the military for, and that is taking the war to the enemy's backyard, as far from home as possible.
i grieve for each young life snuffed out. i feel for their families and friends. but this is an all volunteer military, my friend. and those volunteers joined without press gangs, or a draft. different generation, different war. this is not vietnam, and perhaps those that are unable to differentiate between the two need to examine what it is they are actually for, and against.
amigo, a smart guy like you should be able to cut through the rhetoric and see what it is that is happening in this tumultuous world. we did not ask for this, we did not paint huge targets on the sides of our buildings. what we have done is stand by a friend in the middle east that is constantly on the verge of extinction. and for that, this country has gained the animus of those for whom a leap to the middle ages would be a leap forward. this is a new kind of enemy; one that finds no issue with killing innocents on the street by blowing themselves up. this is an enemy that paid the families of those bombers compensation as a means of continuing a steady stream of "heroic" volunteers. this is an enemy that would climb on an airplane with explosives to bring the plane down. this is an enemy that uses deadly force to hold an elementary school full of little kids and their teachers and parents as bloody bargaining chips in their "struggle" to return to the dark ages. these are just the latest examples of the activities being carried out throughout the world. perhaps these are activities we will see in our own country. how do you combat this? waffle, weasel, and woof for years while trying to gain a consensus? or do you stand up and say "that's it" ?
1100 of our countrymen and women have gone into harm's way, and came home in coffins. to these heros we owe a thanks that is impossible to deliver. but their compatriots are still there, on the line, showing the world that the u.s.a. is no longer willing to talk about the issue, but is now taking action. those that support and lend safe havens and aid are now put on notice. this is what we can do, this is what we will do, this is what we ARE doing. the time for talk ended when the first plane hit.
# posted by bothenook : 3:57 AM

man, i'm hating caltrans tonight

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh
caltrans is working on the freeway i use to get home on. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh... they took one of the busiest highways in the whole united states, and then necked 5 lanes down to 1, from both left and right, in under a mile. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh... it took me 58 minutes to drive 2 1/2 miles..at midnight...
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh.. i hate caltrans.

anyone need proof on why we need to act?

just heard that there is a SCHOOL in russia that has been taken over by chechian terrorist. up to 400 hostages. wtf?