found it, stole it, posted it

jab jab

how many of us in this country can there be that don't understand the significance and majesty of what happened in iraq during their elections? well, obviously, john kerry doesn't. if you listened to the sunday talking heads, kerry was out there badmouthing the election and the entire u.s. policy. same with that pinhead peloski (sorry america, california once again showed why it should have it's borders sealed by electing her), and that caricature of a human ted kennedy. kennedy was blathering all over the place today about how the coalition troops were to blame for all the violence in iraq, and we needed to get out. hell, the thought that something president bush initiated worked so well was so hard for hillary to take she fainted. they said it was stomach problems. i know what it was: a gut feeling her bid for 2008 was just shitcanned.

and have you seen all of the pictures of those iraqis that voted? a big bright purple inkstain on their index finger. several pundits have captioned the pictures as "giving the insurgents the finger." i think they are giving our own idiots the finger as well. however, i think someone really missed the boat on the advisory team. they talked the iraqis into staining the wrong finger.

anyway. there are many folks on the blogosphere doing analysis and commentary about the elections, so i'm not going to add much more to the volume. instead, i'd like you to visit WillyShakes and see what he has to say. very well done, and better than i could have. only comment here is about willyshakes' nick. of course, being a lower than whaleshit enlisted puke, my mind is almost always in the gutter somewhere, but when i think willyshakes, i think the three (any more and you are playing with yourself) shakes willy gets after a visit to the head. ok, i'm gone.

edit: back again, with a recommendation to go visit today's lileks bleat. again, i wish i could write half as well as this dude. i have several folks to utilize as blog models. he's at the top of the writer's list.

at least SOME europeans get it

the following is lifted word for word off of the sub bbs over at Martini's. i am not adding any commentary, because this german said everything much more succinctly than i can, and besides, i'm lazy.

One European got the message!

It's fascinating that this should come out of Europe. Matthias Dapfner, Chief Executive of the huge German publisher Axel Springer AG, has written a blistering attack in DIE WELT, Germany's largest daily newspaper, against the timid reaction of Europe in the face of the Islamic threat.

This is a must read by all Americans. History will certify its correctness.

EUROPE - THY NAME IS COWARDICE
(Commentary by Mathias Dapfner CEO, Axel Springer, AG)

A few days ago Henry Broder wrote in Welt am Sonntag, "Europe - your family name is appeasement." It's a phrase you can't get out of your head because it's so terribly true.

Appeasement cost millions of Jews and non-Jews their lives as England and France, allies at the time, negotiated and hesitated too long before they noticed that Hitler had to be fought, not bound to toothless agreements.

Appeasement legitimized and stabilized Communism in the Soviet Union, then East Germany, then all the rest of Eastern Europe where for decades, inhuman, suppressive, murderous governments were glorified as the ideologically correct alternative to all other possibilities.

Appeasement crippled Europe when genocide ran rampant in Kosovo, and even though we had absolute proof of ongoing mass-murder, we Europeans debated and debated and debated, and were still debating when finally the Americans had to come from halfway around the world, into Europe yet again, and do our work for us.

Rather than protecting democracy in the Middle East, European appeasement, camouflaged behind the fuzzy word "equidistance," now countenances suicide bombings in Israel by fundamentalist Palestinians.

Appeasement generates a mentality that allows Europe to ignore nearly
500,000 victims of Saddam's torture and murder machinery and, motivated by the self-righteousness of the peace-movement, has the gall to issue bad grades to George Bush... Even as it is uncovered that the loudest critics of the American action in Iraq made illicit billions, no, TENS of billions, in the corrupt U. N. Oil-for-Food program.

And now we are faced with a particularly grotesque form of appeasement... How is Germany reacting to the escalating violence by Islamic fundamentalists in Holland and elsewhere? By suggesting that we really should have a "Muslim Holiday" in Germany.

I wish I were joking, but I am not. A substantial fraction of our
(German) Government, and if the polls are to be believed, the German people, actually believe that creating an Official State "Muslim Holiday" will somehow spare us from the wrath of the fanatical Islamists.

One cannot help but recall Britain's Neville Chamberlain waving the laughable treaty signed by Adolf Hitler, and declaring European "Peace in our time".

What else has to happen before the European public and its political leadership get it? There is a sort of crusade underway, an especially perfidious crusade consisting of systematic attacks by fanatic Muslims, focused on civilians, directed against our free, open Western societies, and intent upon Western Civilization's utter destruction.

It is a conflict that will most likely last longer than any of the great military conflicts of the last century - a conflict conducted by an enemy that cannot be tamed by "tolerance" and "accommodation" but is actually spurred on by such gestures, which have proven to be, and will always be taken by the Islamists for signs of weakness.

Only two recent American Presidents had the courage needed for anti-appeasement: Reagan and Bush.

His American critics may quibble over the details, but we Europeans know the truth. We saw it first hand: Ronald Reagan ended the Cold War, freeing half of the German people from nearly 50 years of terror and virtual slavery. And Bush, supported only by the Social Democrat Blair, acting on moral conviction, recognized the danger in the Islamic War against democracy. His place in history will have to be evaluated after a number of years have passed.

In the meantime, Europe sits back with charismatic self-confidence in the multicultural corner, instead of defending liberal society's values and being an attractive center of power on the same playing field as the true great powers, America and China.

On the contrary - we Europeans present ourselves, in contrast to those "arrogant Americans", as the World Champions of "tolerance", which even (Germany's Interior Minister) Otto Schily justifiably criticizes. Why? Because we're so moral? I fear it's more because we're so materialistic, so devoid of a moral compass.

For his policies, Bush risks the fall of the dollar, huge amounts of additional national debt, and a massive and persistent burden on the American economy - because unlike almost all of Europe, Bush realizes what is at stake - literally everything.

While we criticize the "capitalistic robber barons" of America because they seem too sure of their priorities, we timidly defend our Social Welfare systems. Stay out of it! It could get expensive! We'd rather discuss reducing our 35-hour workweek or our dental coverage, or our 4 weeks of paid vacation... Or listen to TV pastors preach about the need to "reach out to terrorists. To understand and forgive".

These days, Europe reminds me of an old woman who, with shaking hands, frantically hides her last pieces of jewelry when she notices a robber breaking into a neighbor's house.

Appeasement? Europe, thy name is Cowardice.

confession time

ok, i have a deep dark secret to make. i go to Ananova every couple of days, just for the comic relief. i know it's not news, but after reading an article like this, or this, or this can you blame me?

guess i'll have to turn in my library card now, huh?

edit: just been knocking around the usual sites, and i've found that i'm not the only one that goes to ananova. this story is really making the rounds. hell, when the the corner on nro, as well as drudge carry a story, it makes me feel

• i'm really with it. hey everyone else goes there too
or
• sadly pathetic that i'm just as shallow as everyone else, and vapid potty humor is the only bright spot in my day.

of course, i chose to believe the first

just marking the days off

the following routine is found at Age Gauge.

You said your birthday is 7 / 30 / 1954
which means you are 50 years old and about:

37 years 9 months younger than Walter Cronkite, age 88
34 years 2 months younger than Pope John Paul II, age 84
30 years 2 months younger than George Herbert Bush, age 80
22 years 10 months younger than Barbara Walters, age 73
20 years 8 months younger than Larry King, age 71
14 years 6 months younger than Ted Koppel, age 64
11 years 1 month younger than Geraldo Rivera, age 61
8 years 1 month younger than George W. Bush, age 58
3 years 0 months younger than Jesse Ventura, age 53
1 year 3 months older than Bill Gates, age 49
6 years 1 month older than Cal Ripken Jr., age 44
11 years 11 months older than Mike Tyson, age 38
16 years 0 months older than Jennifer Lopez, age 34
21 years 5 months older than Tiger Woods, age 29
27 years 11 months older than Prince William, age 22

and that you were:

47 years old at the time of the 9-11 attack on America
45 years old on the first day of Y2K
43 years old when Princess Diana was killed in a car crash
40 years old at the time of Oklahoma City bombing
39 years old when O. J. Simpson was charged with murder
38 years old at the time of the 93 bombing of the World Trade Center
36 years old when Operation Desert Storm began
35 years old during the fall of the Berlin Wall
31 years old when the space shuttle Challenger exploded
29 years old when Apple introduced the Macintosh
28 years old during Sally Ride's travel in space
26 years old when Pres. Reagan was shot by John Hinckley, Jr.
25 years old at the time the Iran hostage crisis began
21 years old on the U.S.'s bicentennial Fourth of July
20 years old when President Nixon left office
17 years old when Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace was shot
14 years old at the time the first man stepped on the moon
13 years old when Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated
11 years old during the Watts riot
9 years old at the time President Kennedy was assassinated
5 years old when Hawaii was admitted as 50th of the United States
3 years old when the Soviet satellite Sputnik 1 was launched

think about how the world has changed during my lifetime. when sputnik entered the atmosphere, haralding the age of communications satellites and global communications, i was already alive. now, i can sit down in front of a computer virtually anywhere in the world, log in, and communicate with someone virtually anywhere else in the world. just boggles the mind.

a new member on the submariner list

i'd like to introduce a new blogger (tip of the hat to Joel the bubblehead for the lead) to the world. if you are looking for the typical half assed, barely coherent entries found on my blog, don't bother. if, however, you would like to get a well written, intellegently thoughtful view of the world, please visit Unconsidered Trifles. ok, so he was an officer, as was Joel, but i don't hold that against either of them. as they say in sunny mexico, caca pasa.

pictures available of the uss san francisco in dry dock

oh man, did those guys hit, and hard. it's one thing to hear about the collision, and how things were jumbled and tumbled. it's another thing entirely to see the boat in drydock.
the link is for rob schumacher's blog, which i'd previously linked in the submariner's section.

joel the bubblehead over at the stupid shall be punished has links to pix as well, with commentary and responses from the sub community.

when i was in submarines, i always put faith in the boat, but knew there were things that could happen. when i got out, and worked as a nuclear test engineer at Mare Island, i saw the boats disassembled, dissected, gutted, torn apart, fixed, and put back together. then we tested the hell out of them. when i look at those pictures, all i can think of (aside from shear awe that the crew made it back) is what a hell of a time non-nuke test group is going to have assessing, repairing, and retesting that mess. gives me headache, just thinking about the paperwork.

aghghghhghgh.. the UN is on the march

well, the predictions by the Diplomad have come true. the u.n. is proclaiming what a good job they've done in the tsunami relief effort. hooray u.n.. except...they didn't do a damned thing except show up, set a hotel on it's ear, eat american chow, and hold meetings. oh, and run endless commercials on radio for fundraising. of which they've not spent anything on actual food on the table and water in the glass aid. read the diplomad, get pissed, and join me in raising the cry for the u.s. to get the hell out of the u.n., and for the u.n. to get the hell out of the u.s.

very interesting reading about the new mein kampf

as publicly touted by al-zuccinni, or whatever his name is (you know, that little sheet head in iraq). New Sisyphus has a very insightful and intellegently presented entry that i recommend all to read.

oh yeah, i see this happening

while perusing lucianne, i came across THIS piece of insanity. just what friggin world does chirac live in? an international tax? of course, the proposed 10 billion dollars raised annually would be spent in france, because we all know that's where the main researchers are, right? good grief. like i'd trust any world organization to regulate and administer a global tax. trust the french? they can't even keep their own economy viable. trust the EU? the belgians are french lite. trust the UN? can you say "oil for food"? and a global tax? not a chance. we can't let that camel get it's nose under the tent. the next thing you know, we'll all be singing the internationalle.
no frikkin way. what timerity

i'm going to go out on a limb here

and state for the record i think the "upper class" of our country has lost touch with what it means to be a responsible american. big words, but that's how i feel. i remember a couple of years ago a kid went into the marines, and it was so foreign to his father that dad ended up writing a book about it. it became something of a novelty, and dad/son appeared on quite a few talk shows and cspan books discussing it. the fact that a well to do kid with "everything to live for" (not my words but a commentator's) would join the military was seen as a tragic waste by many of dad's contemperaries. let me share with you a little quote from the Oct.2004 Smithsonian Magazine. the article was about a harvard educated lawyer/professional baseball player by the name of Eddie Grant. he joined the military in 1917. the quote is as follows:

"I am going to try to be an officer," Grant wrote to a friend. "I don't know how much of a success I shall make at it. I had determined from the start to be in this war if it came to us, and if I am not successful as an officer I shall enlist as a private, for I believe there is no greater duty that I owe for being that which I am - an American citizen."

why is it that the "elite" have such a hard time understanding this? why was such a big deal made, and derided when Pat Tillman walked away from a multi-million dollar football contract to enlist in the army? i think it's because we as a society have forgotten that as citizens, we have a debt to repay to the country for the wealth, security, and freedoms we enjoy. those carry a heavy freight.

there are still those in our society that "get it", and to them, i salute. but if you look at the makeup of today's military, the one thing that stands out is how few of "the elite" actually join. i heard on the radio the other day a few statistics, which i don't remember exactly, so i'll paraphrase. the overwhelming majority of college graduates that join the military come from state schools, with just a tiny tiny fraction coming from the "elite" ivy leage schools. perhaps full citizenship should only be granted to those willing to sacrifice for the common good of the country. seems a bit like a heinlein story line from Starship Troopers, but it makes a lot of sense to me.

who can honestly say that our way of life is not threatened by the actions and machinations of the islamo-terrorists? i, for one, were i 30 years younger, would be there. i may have done my service in submarines during the cold war, but that doesn't mean i don't still wish there was something i could do to further our successes we've seen in the middle east. i have grandkids, and i don't want them to grow up with the modern day equivalent of "duck and cover", which was at least a monthly drill in school when i was growing up. our big concern was a nuke from our enemy in russia. will they be holding the same kind of drills aimed at surviving a terror attack? i hope not.

today's funny from bill

Subject: Towel Heads


Recently I received a warning about the use of this politically incorrect term, so please note, we all need to be more sensitive in our choice of words.
I have been informed that the Islamic terrorists who hate our guts and want to kill us do not like to be called "Towel Heads" since the item they wear on their heads is not a towel but actually a small, folded sheet. Therefore, from this point forward, please refer to them as

"Little Sheet Heads."

do you like japanese food?

do you like going to japanese restaurants? perhaps you should watch this short video.
it's a global conspiracy.

stole this from the submarine bbs.

our citizen indepunditly smashes one over the fence

ok, so that was a really bad try at wordplay. but for an insightful and well thought out reading of wordplay, go visit citizen smash the indepundit. his post today regarding all the countries we should apologize to in the world for interfering makes for great reading.

i admit i'm a geek

but even philistines have to admit that

this visible radiation is absolutely spectacular.

i really should quit torturing myself

since i can't EAT pizza, at least i can play pretend. man, this dieting thing sux.

ouch. a right righteous fisking of tom friedman

i like tom friedman. at least he brought what i thought was some reason to the table in discussions about the middle east, and the problems that existed/s between various factions. but lately, i've been very uneasy about the apparent lack of true news writing in his columns. by that i mean he's doing less journalism, and more editorializing. sure, his column has been advertised as an analysis rather than straight report, but still, one expects a certain honesty in someone of his stature. today, New Sisyphus fisks a recent friedman column, and damned if he didn't finally put a finger on what has made me so uneasy lately. i'm not stupid, but i am loyal to those i consider worthy. i've like friedman for some time, and it is finally getting through my thick head the loyalty is misplaced.

along those same lines, i have to say my long held esteem for Col. David Hackworth has totally and completely tanked. for years, i followed his remarks, and felt he had the soldiers and sailors at the top of his concerns list. he's had various websites, with newsletters and columns, and i've avidly followed them. about a year and a half ago, i started feeling some serious changes had taken place on his website, and in the columns he'd occasionally get published in the papers. what finally hit home was his endorsements of the texas ang paperwork that cbs tried flying in an attempt to take down the president. then it hit me. this now is the hackworth that in a fit of pique ran off to australia, toss his medals, and joined a kook anti-nuke movement. i am so brokenhearted i can hardly express my sorrow. this is a man that, as a military leader of warriors, has few if any peers living. this is a man that should be wearing the Congressional Medal of Honor for actions in Vietnam. this is a man who's books were magnets to me, to be read, and passed on to active duty kids going into danger. this is now a man that i must, in my mind, no longer view as my hero, but just another asshated moonbat. it really really sucks when your hero becomes an object of much deserved derision as another whackjob bleating inanities and idiocy. i salute and revere the man col. hackworth was. i'm beginning to despise the man he has become.

link to an old post, but very spot on.

the blogosphere has more than it's fair share of tweenies posting vanity blogs. actually, i count mine in the vanity catagory as well. but every once in a while, i run across a killer blog. what constitutes "killer" in my world? any post that indicates the writer has more than two synaps firing at any one time, that can make a cogent and insightful post about a subject. i don't have to agree with the commentary. however, i found a blog, soon to be linked, that has a consistently intellegent, well written point of view.
that said, Varifrank's readout on the press is articulate and well reasoned. bothenook sez: check it out.

mike al-moor's bodyguard arrested with a gun

oh, life sometimes offers us delicious dishes of irony. it seems that fat tub of guts mike al-moor's bodyguard was arrested for carrying a concealed weapon. hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
now there is a perfect example of laws are only applicable to the little people, not the high and mighty. reminds me of rosie o'donnell's virilent anti-gun spew on tv, and then we find she hired ARMED bodygaurds. good for the goose, good for the gander.

23rd Carnival of Recipes is up

over at Cal Tech Girl. as always, some yummy stuff

here's an eye opener

for anyone that thinks the u.s. isn't doing "it's fair share" witht the tsunami relief, i recommend reading this article by a naval officer on the Lincoln, currently off the coast of indonesia.

just bragging, ignore if pure ego offends

date: 14 December 2004, weight: 284 pounds (yup, you read right)

date: 19 January 2005, weight: 254 pounds

30 pounds, 36 days. hell, at this rate, i'll look like twiggy by summer. hell, if i keep at it, i might just buy a brazilian sling to wear to the beach. uhh, maybe, no, definitely not. erase that from your mind.

this is a bummer.

so long spinsanity. the site was a spot of reason on the web, with often infuriating takes on the news, but always informative. the following is the complete text of the e-mail they sent out today:

SPINSANITY (http://www.spinsanity.org)
Countering rhetoric with reason
=========================================

FROM THE EDITORS
========================================
We want to let you, our readers, know that we have decided to
stop updating Spinsanity. Since March 2001, we've poured vast
amounts of our time into this site, writing more than 400
articles as well as a book. It has been a rewarding but
exhausting process, and after much reflection, we have decided
not to continue the website. We will make sure our complete
archive remains online as a resource for citizens and
journalists, and have completed a final update of our topical
index that presents an annotated guide to our body of work. It is
available at http://www.spinsanity.org/topics/

When we started Spinsanity, we never imagined how popular and
influential it would become. For that, we want to thank our
readers. Your feedback, criticism, tips and support have been
immensely valuable.

We hope you'll keep up the fight for a more factual and rational
political debate. Unlike when we first launched Spinsanity,
fact-checking is now receiving sustained attention in the
mainstream press and at websites like factcheck.org and
cjrdaily.org (where Bryan works). But more is still needed. As we
wrote in the conclusion to All the President's Spin, we believe
an engaged citizenry, active press and strong network of
fact-checking websites and blogs can help turn the tide of
deception that we now see.

If you wish to follow any of our work individually, you can do so
at our personal websites:

http://www.datelinehollywood.com [the satirical entertainment
website Ben co-edits]

http://www.bryankeefer.com [Bryan's blog]

http://www.brendan-nyhan.com [Brendan's blog]

Best-
Ben, Bryan and Brendan

Bacalao fritters

ok, so that's just a fancy name for salt cod balls. we went out for dinner this weekend. our choice: Fonda Solana in albany. for you non-bay area types, that would be "berkeley lite".
one of the many dishes we had was a salt cod fritter, as named above. they were so good, i went out to the web to see if i could find a recipe that at least approximates the taste and texture of what we had in the restaurant. the following is what i think is a close match. this recipe was stolen from Maria's Cookbook at Maria-Brazil, in it's entirety.



1 pound salt cod

2 cups of mashed potatoes

2 tbsps of finely chopped parsley

2 large eggs

oil for frying

Soak salt cod overnight and during the morning, changing water three times. Drain, remove skin and any bones and cut in small chunks. The next step is poaching the cod. In Boston, I learned a great trick from Julia Child, who calls her fritters Aunt Priscilla's Codfish Balls (there's a Portuguese connection somewhere...) I always do it her way now. Simmer a small onion, thinly sliced, with a bay leaf and 4 peppercorns in 2 cups of water. After 5 minutes, add the cod and 2 cups of water. When it simmers, cover the pan and remove from heat, so the cod doesn't toughen. You can keep the cod in this liquid in the refrigerator until ready to use it.

To form the bolinhos: drain the fish and flake it well into a bowl. Add 2 cups of mashed potatoes; beat two eggs with a pinch of salt and add them to the fish and potatoes. Some cooks like to separate the eggs, adding first the yolks, then the beaten whites. Add the parsley (and if you want, 1 small chopped onion), salt and freshly grated pepper to taste. Wait about 1/2 hour to form the balls; they should be about 1 1/2 inches. Use good, fresh oil for frying (set deep-fryer temperature at 375°). Dry in paper towels.

now it's my turn for tweeks and variations. for a bit of a different taste, substitute cilantro for the parsley. you can also add a clove of crushed and finely minced garlic and 1/2 an onion very finely sliced to the mix as well. i think, but haven't tried this, that substituting fresh cracked crab meat for the cod, or at least a portion of the cod, would add a whole other dimension to these wonderful chunks of finger food.

we live around a bunch of portuguese, so getting dried salt cod is not an issue. if you don't, i found a store on line that carries it at The Vermont Country Store

i've had these from various restaurants and homes enough times to be something of an expert. i've had bad ones and good ones. the bad ones were usually the result of trying to rush the rehydrating process.

for a complete list of my online recipes, follow the link here

sarcasm on demand

have you been to scrappleface yet? no? too bad, because you are missing out on some damned funny sarcasm, wrapped around current events, with links, even.

a snippet of a conversation

my wife and i went to napa monday to visit friends. one of our stops was at the napa valley coffee roasting company. the round table in the corner window has been the scene of many a lively conversation. most of my friends in napa are regulars there weekend mornings.
one of the folks i have had my most lively sparring matches with, tim, is a dyed in the wool, hard-core, anti-government, anti just about everything i'm for, left wing democrat. monday, he sported his Impeach Bush button. so, you probably know someone like him. conspiracy is how our government operates, yadda yadda yadda. having said that, i really like the guy. he's smart, articulate, an extremely talented photographer, and easy to get fired up. he has a huge ON button attached directly over his heart. it's almost not a challenge to find something to get him fired up over, and that makes for great conversations. he and i had been talking about the differences between our old stomping grounds in napa, and my new turf in vacaville. one of the things i mentioned was that i would be going to the sheriff's office to see if i can get a concealed carry permit in our new county. napa is notoriously anti-gun when it comes to that sort of thing. for that matter, the whole friggin' state of california is.
anyway, a friend of his came in, and was introduced. i didn't hear, or it wasn't said, what the friend does for a living. tim mentioned that we had moved to vacaville, and that i was interested in obtaining a permit. friend asks why? my response: to exercise my second amendment right. friend shakes his head, and states: "that's not good enough". (note: unfortunately, in this state, actually having a constitutionally guaranteed right does not mean you can exercise it.) friend then states that the police department in vacaville is worse than the oakland p.d. i asked in what way? his response: "they are the worst violators of civil rights around". my response left him and tim at a loss for words: "well, if you don't break any laws, you won't have to deal with the police".
i guess the irony of his bitching about the lack of sensitivity to law breaker's civil rights, and my not being able to exercise one of mine was lost on him.
all in all, a great way to start the day!

quote for the day

Professional Warriors DO NOT ESTABLISH EXIT STRATEGIES, WE ACHIEVE AN END STATE!

Major General Dunford, Assistant Division Commander, Fighting First Marine Division

the above quote is from an email sent out by Mayhem 6, a marine commander in iraq. the full text and post can be found at blackfive's blog well worth a read.
again, we are hearing a much different story from the troops on the line than we are from cnn or the other alpahbet soup news organizations.

an interesting read over at joel's place

why do we fight? why are we fighting in the middle east now? joel, over at the stupid shall be punished, has a pretty good writeup. bothenook sez, check it out.

Underway on nuclear power

tomorrow, 1/17/05 marks the 50th anniversary of the Nautilus underway. during the intervening years, the u.s. navy conducted thousands of patrols in the world's waterways. who knows how many russian ops there were, or french, or british, or even now, china?

the beauty of nuclear power was quickly realized by the navy. imagine being able to circumnavigate the entire globe underwater, as did the Triton in the early 60's. or allow us, on the old seawolf, remain submerged and divorced from the atmosphere long enough to establish an almost unimginable record, a length of time that may still be classified. i don't know if it is, and i don't actually remember the duration, but i do remember being away from shore for 128 days that trip. long enough for the boat to receive the Navy Unit Commendation for doing so, going over 80 days continuously divorced from the atmosphere. no ventillating the boat, no sticking the snorkle mast up and sucking in sweet, fresh, non-recycled air, replacing air redolent with farts, feet, hydraulic and good old 2190 TEP lubricating oils, cooking grease, and diesel, with a piquant undertone of amines used to scrub the atmosphere of carbon monoxide.
we carried our oxygen with us, in O2 banks and chlorate candles, which when burned exhausted oxygen and a fine coating of soot and dust throughout the boat.
so if you ever meet me, and notice i'm a little twitchy, even after 20+ years, you are probably right.

how we spent our saturday

rather than type it all in, i'll let edwardo tell you what we did yesterday, in a cross-post. all in all, a pretty damned good day. any day i can get to a PEETS coffee to buy beans, it's a good day. we don't have one here in cowtown, so a trip to berkeley for dinner and a flick was made especially special. especially since there was a restaurant on the corner across from the theater we went to that went the way of the dodo, to be replaced by a PEETS. yahoo. isn't that especially special.

ranting about La Conchita snivels

i feel really bad for the folks in La Conchita. you know, that tiny town in ventura county that had a huge mud slide take out a number of homes and killed something like 10 people. it is never good when people die from a natural catastrophe, be it tsunamis or slides. but i have to tell you that i'm incensed after listening to the news today.

what pissed you off nook, you may ask. that's easy. "waaa, the government didn't do anything to stop this". it's all the county's fault. after listening to all of the news that has come out of that area for the last couple of days, i've gleaned the following:

• this has happened here before, in the 90's
• the county erected a large steel and wood retaining wall to mitigate any damage that might occur from similar events
• the county posted warning signs, and verbally warned the residents that the retaining wall would not protect them completely
• these folks live at the base of a steep hill/cliff with lots of loose soil which has shown a tendency to slide during heavy rains
• these people continued to live there, knowing the danger

so why is it the government's fault? imagine the cacophony that would have been raised had the county condemned this area as unsafe for habitation?
i'm sorry that these people have experienced such a devastating event. i'm not at all sympathetic. it's like an adult that picks up a loaded revolver, looks down the barrel, and then pulls the trigger to see what would happen. the end result is obvious, and any surprise on the family's part is misplaced.

shipmates honor sailor

During a last man roll call yesterday, all the sailors in the Auxiliary Division of the Engineering Department were present -- except Petty Officer 2nd Class Joseph Allen Ashley.

read the rest of the article here.

the submarine force has been so lucky in the last 30 years. we have had an exemplary safety record. there have been several deaths shipboard during this time, but all in all the boats have been safe. other military branches lose kids during training, ops, and while just performing their jobs on a day to day basis. not so the submarine force. while we may have done some of the most dangerous and hazardous jobs in the world, we were inside our cocoons, engineering marvels of almost unimaginable complexity. training, maintenance, and an ethic of excellence, a reliance on the skills of those building and maintaining the boats, and the almost mind numbing cycle of training, training, and more training, have made submarining pretty damned safe. that's not to say death isn't just one heartbeat away, as young petty officer Ashley proves. but when an event like this happens within the submarine community, it affects everyone that ever earned and wore his dolphins on his uniform. the immensity of the casualty, and the fact that only one man died, is a testiment to the training and skills of this crew. that they made it back to port at all should be a shining example of all that is right with the navy's submarine program.
i am proud to be counted as part of this community. and as part of this "brotherhood", i grieve that one of ours has fallen while safegaurding our nation.

so why isn't this guy in a prisoner of war compound?

British Muslims called to take up jihad

By Hannah K. Strange
UPI UK Correspondent

London, England, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- Muslims living in Britain are facing two choices; either to migrate or to join the jihad, a key Islamic figure has said.

Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammed, leader of the now officially disbanded Islamic militant group Al Muhajiroun told United Press International Saturday that as the covenant of security under which Muslims previously lived in Britain has been broken, Muslims must now consider themselves at war.

sometimes i think we in the west really do want our civilization to collapse. collective guilt following years of colonialism, perhaps? stupidity? i don't know, but it is easy for me to see, and i am no scholar of renown. i'm just some infidel living my life as a non-believer. i'm a citizen of one of the great societies known to history. and yet, i see the warning signs, in glaring bright neon. warning, warning, don't ignore what is going on around you. the world is not a comfortable place to live, and bad things really are shaping up. warning, warning.

in light of the "we're not british, we're muslim" train of reasoning expressed by the sheikh in this article, perhaps western societies should recognize this, and not grant citizenship, or the protections and rights associated with citizenship to folks that espouse these ideals. talk about bedding the wolf with the sheep. it is coming to be true that there are indeed times when it is neither intellegent nor compassionate to accept this in the name of diversity.

i think i'll go to the range on my way to work tomorrow, and continue honing my skills with hand-held protection devices. can anyone say 1 inch groups at 25 yards, offhand in a darkened room?

this stuff is driving me crazy. or, perhaps it should be said, more crazy.

this is cool

i just might trip over 5000 visits today. i set ignore for me, so it's not that i've been visiting and racking up counts that way. hard to believe there are that many folks out there that are interested in what i have to say. of course, it could just be my mom, visiting over and over, trying to see if there are any pictures of the great grandkids being posted.
sorry mom, just blatherings of a bemused and easily befuddled mind

a quick and easy lunch or appetizer

i'm working diligently to lose weight. tough, but doable. that doesn't mean i have to stake myself to a post out back, and only eat lawn clippings or shrub leaves.

here's a recipe from one of my favorite ladies, Gloria. she is related to my wife in a really convoluted way, and she helps out during pumpkin season at the farm. she makes this spread, and it is the highlight of the day to come in and make a sandwich with this stuff.

having said that, let me also state it is really good for those of us trying to lose weight. why, you ask? because most of the diet failures occur when the dieter sacrifices all in the quest to lose those ugly pounds. denial leads to cheating, leads to quitting altogether.

corned beef spread (or is it corned beef salad spread? dunno)

ingredients:

• 1 can corned beef


• mayo, light mayo for you masochists, or salad dressing


• yellow mustard


• pickle relish, sweet or dill, depending on taste


• optional: 2 cloves garlic, finely minced, and a couple of tablespoons of onion, minced (you can use dried onion, as long as you let everything sit for a while before eating. i find this impossible to do, so i use fresh onion)
• optional:1 stalk celery chopped and/or diced, if using for sandwiches

can you see where this is going? looks just like a lot of tuna salad recipes out there, eh? well, it is!

open the can of corned beef and dump into a bowl. using your own taste and by eyeball, add a couple of really good squirts of yellow mustard.
as far as relish goes, individual taste rules the day. a hint, though. if you are like me, and watching those ugly calories, add a LOT of relish. it's almost free in the world of calories, and the moisture you add here won't be required when you start spooning up the mayo. same with the mustard. use lots.
since this is going to be a major part of my meal, i make sure there is a lot of flavor going on. that way, i'm satiated, without having to eat a lot. so this is where i add the garlic, and a lot of onions. again, personal preferences rule here. if you don't like onions or garlic, leave them out. it's still good.
stir and mash to make a paste, and add only enough mayo to make it spreadable (if you are being a good kid), or just add and add and add mayo until the mix is smooth. that's probably best for you young whippersnappers that don't have to keep adding holes to their belts.

how do you serve?

for appetizers, spread on good quality crackers. ryecrisp works very well, as do many multigrain crackers.

sandwiches: use just like tuna

for those of you intrigued by my use as a diet food, here's my secret. it's pretty simple, but upon looking at the ingredient list, you just have to wonder what the hell i'm talking about.

wash and cut 4 or 5 celery stalks, and cut them to 3 or 4 inch pieces. dry with a paper towel. measure out 3 tablespoons of the mix, and spread onto the celery. celery makes up the bulk of the meal, and the spread only costs you about 200 calories. not bad, eh? and when you are done, you don't feel like you've missed anything. certainly better than cheating and buying a double whopper with cheese on the way to work.


for a complete list of my online recipes, follow the link here

before i forget

Happy Birthday to a fellow foodie, blog bud, and a member of the AliGator duckling brigade. Allan, here's to a great birthday, and many many more.

now i'm really really confused

so if i went out and bought a gas guzzling SUV, i just might be saving europe from turning into a desert?.

wish these eviros would make up their mind. it's just all too confusing for us little people.

life is good. really, really good.

and my measure of how good it is: 4 ounces of apple and alder smoked wild caught north coast salmon from Sea-Pal on the mendicino coast. shhh, don't tell anyone. it's my splurge for the day. we have a killer fresh fruit/veggie market off of pedrick road in dixon. they have just about any fresh or dried fruit or veggie, and they also sell this killer smoked salmon. so, i stopped, bought some brazil nuts, a bag of mixed fried veggies (deep fried green beans are too good to even try to describe), some olives, and SALMON!
just a note: for those who care, i've been on a NO BREAD diet for 4 weeks. i'm dying, but hopefully i'll delay it by losing this small refrigerator's worth of spare weight. it's been mostly fruit and veggie, with hard boiled eggs (that's ok, i like hard boiled eggs) and the occasional chunk of baked/broiled/grilled meat. today, i splurged, but only because the doc told me salmon was ok.
so how much have you lost, fat man? 25 pounds in 4 weeks, that's how much. oh, and that included the holidays.

My name is Rather. And I'm a dick.

It was a quiet cold Monday at Black Rock. Too quiet, I thought, slowly polishing the lens on my trusty Sony VC6809. New York is not the kind of town that likes to keep secrets, and my tingling senses told me that somewhere in Gotham somebody was spilling some beans. And in my line of work, you get to know deep down in your gut those beans have a habit of being silent - but deadly.

the world will continue to turn, and life will continue to be interesting. it is not coming to an abrupt end. i know this, because as long as there are folks out there like the Iowa Hawk writing and posting, there is a reason to get up in the morning. this is the second time i've linked to this guy. must be a sign.

read and laugh.

looking for info about the grounding of the San Francisco?

i've seen a number of search entry links from folks looking for info about the SSN-711 grounding, and thought i'd do a public service.

if you want to know what's going on, i.e. the latest rumors, straight skinny, wild ass speculation, or any other issue regarding the past, current, or future of submarine warfare, and the crazy idiots that ride them, please visit Ron Martini's Submarine Bulletin Board. or as we call it, rontini's house of verbal dispute. hey, we may all have been sailors, but we don't always agree. please visit, but if you are a troll, remember, this group collectively; fought the japanese, the cold war, and many are currently patrolling the oceans. amongst this group there are knuckle draggers and techno wizards. not a group you want to mess with unless you have absolute bullet-proof spoofing. they can and will find you, and you may find find yourself duct-taped to the overhead, prussian blue dye smeared all over your head (ask me sometime: it'll cost ya a beer to find out what THAT'S all about) and a serious case of the thumps.
for all the non-trolls, check it out.

oh, there are a couple of other submariner bloggers, and they are trying to stay up with the current info. their links are at the bottom of the blog-links. stop by and tell 'em bo sent ya.

a dose of good news from afghansitan

i've been wandering around the blogosphere, chasing links and whatnot, and found this blog. chrenkoff has quite a good number of postitive posts about what is happening in our name in agfhanistan, and the "good news from afghanistan part 8" linked above is simply another great post in a long list of posts. in it, he delineates just how many good things are going on in that country. i'm proud of the accomplishments our military and state dept., in conjunction with the afghani people. we took the reins, and the result is beyond even the wildest speculation. i hope you take the time to explore what is going on, by reading the article. you won't see or hear of most of what is going on in the media here in the us, mainly because it shows a positive result. we all know by now that the majority of media outlets in this country hesitate publishing anything that might show our current administration in any way other than incompetent. sad, because as americans, we have a lot to be proud of.

a very quick quote from the article:

"His fellow tribesman, Sarwar Akhund, goes one step further: Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar and terror kingpin Osama bin Laden, he charges, tricked followers like him into believing they were fighting a holy war against infidels, 'when really they just wanted to consolidate their own seats of power.' If allowed back into society, he pledges to 'do whatever I can' to help kill or capture the fugitive leaders.

maybe we can get these guys to take on the other enemy of america, mike al-moor

today's installment of bill

Dear Abby,

My husband is a liar and a cheat. He has cheated on me from the very beginning, and when I confront him, he denies everything.

What's worse, everyone knows he cheats on me. It is so humiliating.

Also, he's been out of work for the past three years and has not looked for a new one since. All he does is smoke cigars, and cruise around with his pals, while I have to work to pay the bills. Since our daughter went away to college, he does not even pretend to like me...and hints that I am a lesbian. What should I do..?

Signed,

Clueless


Dear Clueless,

Grow up and dump him. For Pete's sake, you don't need him anymore...

You're a United States Senator from New York, act like one.

today's chuckle from bill

A woman's husband dies. He only had $20,000 to his name.

After everything is done at the funeral home and cemetery; she tells her
closest friend that there is no money left.

The friend says, "How can that be? You told me he had $20,000 a few
days before he died. How could you be broke, already?"

The widow says, "Well, the funeral cost me $6,000. And of course, I had
to make the obligatory donation for the church and the organist and all.
That was $400 and I spent another $400 for the wake, food and drinks,
you know. The rest went for the memorial stone."

The friend says, "$13,200 for the memorial stone? My goodness, how big
is it?"

The widow says, "Three carats."

With friends like that, who needs tsunamis?

the above quote from the inimitable Mark Steyn in an op-ed piece for The Austrailian. pretty good read about who is donating time and money, and who is not. along with a few potshots at the saudis and others, this is worth the time it takes to read. sure do like finding steyn out there on the web. quite a smart feller, and articulate as well.

the latest on the USS San Francisco grounding

received the following via the old timer submarine network. my heart goes out to the kids that are injured, and my pride at their training and ability to bring a badly damaged boat home knows no bounds. brothers, you make us old timers proud.

Sent: Mon Jan 10 02:17:01 2005
Subject: USS SAN FRANCISCO SITREP -2100W/9 Jan 05

Fellow Flag Officers this is my second unclas update on the SAN FRANCISCO
incident for your situational awareness:

At 10 January 1634 local (100134 EST) the USS SAN FRANCISCO returned safely to Apra Harbor, Guam. The ship moored with her own line handlers in a normal submarine configured mooring (AFT draft is 27'-10'' (normal AFT draft is 32') and FWD Draft is above the draft marks with the waterline at the point the towed array faring begins; 0.8 degree STBD list and 1 degree Down bubble indicating by naval architecture calculations that 1 A/B and 2A/B MBTs are most likely flooded). The severely injured Machinist Mate(Engine room Upper Level Watch at time of grounding) was evacuated immediately and transferred by ambulance to Naval Hospital Guam where a fully staffed medical team was standing by. He is conscious and in stable condition. Approximately fifteen additional injured personnel requiring medical care subsequently departed the ship and were transported to the hospital after taking a moment to meet with family members.

Crewmembers from the USS CORPUS CHRISTI, HOUSTON and FRANK CABLE assisted in line handling and various return to port evolutions such as propulsion plant shutdown, shore power cables, and rig for surface. Standing by on the pier was a full complement of watch standers from USS CITY OF CORPUS CHRISTI (and SAN FRANCISCO stay-behinds) to satisfy all watch standing requirements for reactor plant shutdown with follow-on in-port forward and aft watch sections.

Following the grounding on 8 January, the ship transited on the surface at 8kts with surface escort, USCGC GALVESTON ISLAND to Apra Harbor, Guam. Due to deteriorated weather conditions on the evening of 9 January, the Commanding Officer shifted bridge watch stations to control and shut bridge access hatches to maximize watertight integrity in light of reserve buoyancy concerns. The ship maintained stability throughout the surface transit with continuous operation of the Low Pressure Blower on the Forward Main Ballast Tanks. SAN FRANCISCO has experienced no reactor plant, propulsion train or electrical system degradations as a result of the grounding. The Commanding Officer shifted the Officer of the Deck's watch to the bridge on 10 January in preparation for piloting into Apra Harbor.

The critically injured Machinist Mate (Auxiliaryman) passed away yesterday afternoon as a result of his injuries. The MM2 was in Aft Main Seawater Bay at the time of the grounding and his body was thrown forward approximately 20 feet into Propulsion Lube Oil Bay. He suffered a severe blow to his forehead and never regained consciousness.

Emergency medical personnel, including a Naval Hospital Guam surgeon, Undersea Medical Officer and Independent Duty Corpsmen, arrived on the ship via helicopter transfer to provide immediate medical care and prepare the crewmember for medical evacuation on the morning of 9 January. Unfortunately, the sailor's condition deteriorated and he died onboard while under the care of the embarked physicians. Just moments prior to the sailor's death, I spoke with the Sailor's father in preparation for their pending travel from Ohio to the West Pacific to see their Son. Since then I have passed on to his Dad my condolences on their Son's death and reassured them their Son's remains would be treated with utmost respect and dignity.
His father expressed great gratitude for the extraordinary efforts made by the Navy to save his Son's life. He told me his Son loved the Navy, having just reenlisting earlier this year and wanted to make it a career. That when he called home he always talked about the many friendships and the wonderful camaraderie the crew of SFO exhibited. Prior to sailing, he was really excited about the pending ship visit to Australia. The parents are considering traveling to Guam, with Navy support, at some point to meet the crew and partake in a memorial service for his Son.

For the remainder of the transit, the embarked medical trauma team administered medical care to the other injured personnel. Their careful attention and evaluation augments the ship's Independent Duty Corpsman's heroic efforts since the grounding.

Submarine Squadron Fifteen COMMODORE, Captain Brad Gerhke and Captain Paul Bushong, Commanding Officer of the Submarine Tender USS FRANK CABLE have mobilized their assets, staffs, crews and local Navy Community to provide comprehensive support to the SAN FRANCISCO. Professional counselors, medical personnel and Navy Chaplains are scheduled to meet with the entire crew to provide grief counseling and assistance throughout the next several days and as required over the long term. Brad has been meeting frequently with the SFO families and they are doing remarkable well. The entire Navy community in Guam has come to the SFO's families' assistance. I have talked to Kevin Mooney's (SFO Skipper) wife, Ariel. Her state of mind is Positive
and resolute, with a courageous and upbeat view of the trying days ahead.

The ship's Main Ballast Tank damage and deformation has degraded maneuverability and mandated the use of two tugs to moor in Apra Harbor. A Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard/NAVSEA Material Assessment Team comprised of a structural engineer, MBT vent expert, air systems expert and naval architect arrived in Guam with special ship salvage and recovery equipment to stabilize the ship pier side as soon as possible. The team, led by Captain Charles Doty, commenced a seaworthiness and repair assessment upon the ship's arrival. Once additional buoyancy measures are in place and tested satisfactory, the Low Pressure Blower will be secured to allow divers to
enter the water to conduct an inspection.

While this grounding is a tragedy, with a through investigation led by Cecil Haney, we will find out all the facts and then ensure we learn from the mistakes. But, I too believe we have much to be thankful for today, and much to be confident in. An operational warship has returned to port on her own power with all but one of its crew after sustaining major hull damage. The survival of the ship after such an incredibly hard grounding (nearly instantaneous de-acceleration from Flank Speed to 4 KTS) is a credit to the ship design engineers and our day-to-day engineering and watch standing practices. The continuous operation of the propulsion plant, electrical systems and navigation demonstrates the reliability of our equipment and the operational readiness of our crews as a whole. The impressive Joint and Navy team effort which resulted in SFO returning to port safely says volumes about the ingenuity and resourcefulness of all our armed services. For all who participated in this effort, thank you and your people. We are all eternally grateful to each of you.

as a footnote, i've "known" Kevin Mooney, the skipper of this boat for quite some time. he was on the Honolulu when i did a remote job from mare island, and i've also conversed with him on Martini's submarine bbs. he's a hell of a guy, very switched on, and very on top of his job. we don't know all of the details yet, but i'm finding it very hard to believe this was attributable to kevin's leadership. who knows? guess we'll have to wait until the vultures in whites pick a scapegoat. i've also got a couple of others i've communicated with over the years that were on the boat during the collision, one of them is the chief of auxilliaries division. it was one of his kids that died. i can't even imagine how tough it must be for those guys. i'll leave them be for now, because i know they have a lot more to deal with than communicating with a board bud right now.

wow. i know we did some hinkey stuff when i was riding those sewer pipes around the deep blue sea, but i never had one run into a mountain from 40 knots to an almost dead stop. holy crap.

i'm sure glad the saudi's are our friends

yup, i'm glad they are our friends , because if they were our enemies, things would really be messed up. i wonder if we told the american oil companies they can sell all the oil from saudi arabia they want, with a cut to the american government, as long as they can hold the fields. bet that government would fall, and things squared away in a hurry. gross commercialism and untrammeled capitalism would rule the day. and those pesky jihadists? i wouldn't want to bet against an oil company if they had free rein to do as they pleased.
i can't see any other way, other than neutron bombs in a few selected places throughout the kingdom. i sure am glad they are our friends.....

just another reason why i'm glad to be an American

i've ranted and raved, both vocally and on the web, for years. if i see or hear of something that pisses me off, or that i feel is going to endanger me or my family, or my country, i'm a raving fool. I've chimed in on various forums on the web since i first discovered the internet. I've left many many rants against the government's apparent collusion with foreign governments that simply were not in our interest. a specific point would be the sale and dissemination of missle guidance systems by Raytheon to the chinese, ostensibly for communications satellites, but the system and the programs were bought and paid for originally by the american public for use in the intercontinental ballistic missle. not something i would willingly give to our next global competitor for markets and ideology. the clinton administration had no problems with doing so, even following the revelation that the plans for the W-88 multi-warhead nuclear device had been stolen/given/fill in the blank from the nuclear labs in los alamos, and had ended up in china. a plus b equals ? so anyway, that is old news, but illustrates the fact that i stood up, and using my own name and website, raved against the policy. i did not end up in jail. i got a lot of interesting emails and comments, but i did not end up in jail.
now fast forward a couple of years. i'm still out there spewing invective and railing against what i believe to be programs or laws that are counter to our constitution. but, i'm still not in jail.
that would not be the case were i to live in other parts of the world. take iran as a case in point. for all of the hand wringers and snivelers out there bitching about the repressive government here in the u.s., and the horrors patriot act and satan incarnate john ashcroft, even the aclu has no cases or briefs filed regarding abuses of the act. yup, i'm sure glad i'm an american.

from john over at the sub board

Grandpa was driving with his 9-year-old granddaughter and beeped the horn by mistake.
She turned and looked at him for an explanation.

He said, "I did that by accident."

She replied, "I know that, Grandpa."

He replied, "How did you know?"

She said, "Because you didn't say 'asshole' afterwards."

for you long time single guys out there

take a hint from those clever chinese! quiet those rumors, quell the incessant nagging, gain the admiration of your buds!



yup, those chinese are a clever bunch. ma's getting a little long of tooth, and wants to see at least a faint hope of grandkids in the future before she dies? vicious rumors of your proclevity for internet porn sites starting with "Huge Guys" going around the block? just call the county for a "rent-a-girlfriend" for a family gathering! one quick call, and all the rumors and worries...gone.

wish i'd thought of starting one of those agencies. of course, here in california, they are called "escorts"...nudge nudge, wink wink.

more gun stuff

i've been reading the archives over at Diplomad, and came across this comment, quoted in full to a post about weapons cool .

Never thought about the 1911 Colt .45 automatic as "beautiful"; my idea of a "beautiful" pistol is the .357 Python with scope. Or maybe a 1800-period double-barrelled rifled percussion muzzle-loader. But that's just me.

Where I think the 1911 model Colt excels is in its stripped-down matter-o-factness; it meets all of the criteria established by Douglas Adams when he imagined the "Kill-o-zap" ray-gun. And I quote: "The designer of the gun had clearly not been instructed to beat about the bush. "Make it evil," he'd been told. "Make it totally clear that this gun has a right end and a wrong end. Make it totally clear to anyone standing at the wrong end that things are going badly for them...This is not a gun for hanging over the fireplace or sticking in the umbrella stand, it is a gun for going out and making people miserable with."

THAT's what I think of when I look at the 1911 Colt .45. From the wrong end, the muzzle looks AWFULLY big.

.

for my money, few things inspire close personal cooperation between two "at-odds" individuals as does a gaping .45 inch hole at the end of a 1911A1 semi-auto pistol.

you really should check out this blog. the comments alone are worth the price of admission.

The Saber-toothed Tigers and Human Specifications

i must thank the notoriously nice Mike for leading me to the site from which i gleaned the following. i think that the whole discussion about aging is spot on. the concept of engineering and medical science to keep us alive long after we should have succumbed to the tiger in the jungle is not only witty, but quite insightful as well. and if you want to get the old plateletes scurrying about in an accelerated manner, read the posts from 31 dec on to now. just what frikin good is the UN, anyway?

for those anti-handgunners out there

today's SF Chronicle has an amazing article written by an indian journalist from new delhi. the article is here.

while the judicial system in india differs from the one here in the u.s., there are parallels that are inescapable. a quote:

Delivering a lecture on "Law and violence on women" at the Institute of Women's Studies, a senior advocate of the Supreme Court, Arvind Jain, called upon female students not only to learn the art of self-defense, but never to hesitate in killing the man who tries to rape them, because in India, fighting a case against a rapist was far more difficult than fighting a case of murder in self-defense.

.

the moral: be prepared to defend yourself. need handgun instruction? give me a call.