an old joke

wordsmithed to make it submarine specific. if you have done any 6 of the things mentioned, you were or are a submariner! just in from my old shipmate puffer, he who is at the epicenter of the seawolf reunion in a couple of weeks.

A TRUE SUBMARINER

An old Submarine sailor walked into a bar. As he sat sipping his drink, a young, good looking woman sat down next to him. She turned to the old guy and saw the dolphins on his ball cap and the baseball warm-up jacket he was wearing, and asked, "Are you a real Submarine sailor?"

He replied, "Well, my father, two brothers and a third cousin were on the "boats". I've spent my whole life, riding "boats".

Snorkeling, deep dives, Diesel Boats, Nuclear Power, Med Runs, Northern Runs, Deterrent Missile Patrols, Arctic Runs, SPECOPS, WESTPACs, runs to the Caribbean, Halifax, Faslane, Holy Loch, Rota, Naples, 2 day runs, Blue Crew, Gold Crew, the other crew, 90 day patrols, 6 month deployments, been through the "ditch" across the equator, under the ice, and up to the pole. Pearl, Yokosuka, Guam, La Madd, Fort Lauderdale, San Juan, tracked ruskies, dodged P-3s, been depth charged, torpedoed, tracked with Active Sonar, detected by SOSUS, built them, decommissioned them, overhauled them, re-commisioned them, been a Blue Nose, Shellback, Blown from test depth, gone emergency deep, rode Tridents, 688s, 637s, 594s, Skipjack and Franklin class, drug runs, liquor runs, crazy Ivans, been in trail, used a Steinke hood, been through the tower, dodged Russian air power, fought flooding, fires, reactor scrams, stood watch on the Ballast Control Panel, Ships Control Panel, Electric Control Panel, Garbage Disposal Unit and Trash Disposal Unit. I got dolphins, a combat patrol pin, deterrent patrol pin and "Diesel Boats Forever" tattooed on my chest, THRESHER on my left arm, SCORPION on my right arm, Missiles on my back, and twin counter rotating screws on my ass. I've drank beer at the Horse and Cow, scotch at Highland Mary's in Dunoon, wine in Naples, puked at Beaman's Center in Pearl, ate Chili at The SUBVETS, drank whiskey at Rosie's in Groton and I ain't missed a Submarine Ball since 1956, so I guess I am a Submarine sailor.

She said, "I'm a lesbian, I spend my whole day thinking about women. As soon as I get up in the morning, I think about women. When I shower, I think about women. When I watch TV, I think about women. I even think about women when I eat. It seems that everything makes me think about women.

The two sat sipping their drinks in silence.

A little later, a man sat down on the other side of the old Submariner, notices his ball cap and jacket and says "You must be a Submariner"

The old boy replies: "Well I always thought I was, but I just found out I'm a lesbian."

and some well written stuff out there

And so the enemy plays a game of fire and flee, hauling the mortars around town, setting up the tubes (or rockets), firing a few shots, and moving out quickly. To buy a little more insurance, the enemy often picks a POO close to a school or a mosque, knowing that Americans will be reluctant to shoot at schools, and usually will not fire at mosques. In fact, mosques are off-limits without higher approval unless you are clearly taking fire from them. But this isn’t a case of giving the enemy a safe haven for launching bombs at our soldiers. Insurgents have learned the hard way that higher approval is not a high hurdle when the same mosque is used for a shield more than once. If a man does not respect his own sacred ground, he should not expect others to. A man should never hide behind religion like he’s hiding behind his momma’s leg.

exerpted from Micheal Yon's post on 7/21/05.

i'd heard about this guy, but hadn't taken the time to investigate. this is some good stuff. he's now linked, and i don't link just anybody. unless you're a bud, or a bubblehead. then i link with abandon. otherwise, you have to impress the crap out of me. he did.

there's some funny stuff out there

i'm just banging around the net, scoping out a few of my favorite pit stops, and found this Chris Rock video that had me laughing my ass off. hat tip to Sondra K., who is big across america. thanks for the laugh sondra. ah hell, just visit the entry i lifted the video from. it has an Excellent PSA.
and here's a cap shot of one of her ads on the blog. this is so gross i may have to buy a half dozen to give to my "liberal friends and family".

food blog: the world's greatest wings, korean style

first of all, let me say that i love Hawaii. i have great memories of that place from my navy time, and my time over there working for mare island naval shipyard. yeah, the bikinis were nice, the sunsets lovely, the water warm and inviting. but that's not why i love hawaii. i love hawaii for the food. even more than watching all of those well filled bikinis wrapped around all those nubile haolie girls broiling in the tropical sun. and i didn't say that just because i know my wife reads my blog, either.

think about the cuisine available. you have european (the portuguese are a big part of hawaiian "culture"), asian, pacific islander, and who knows what others are mixed into that melting pot. i posted a recipe for huli-huli chicken" a while ago, and it has katsup in it. so the different cuisines are slowly but surely borrowing the best from the others and fusing it all together to make some of the finest eats in the known world. thai food in hawaii isn't like thai food anywhere else. same with chinese. or korean.

now, one of my fondest memories of my last couple of work trips to hawaii was a hole in the wall korean place over by the ala moana shopping center. it's name was Chicken Alice's. and alice made the best hot chicken wings i've ever eaten. the best. they were spicy and flavorful, and i couldn't get enough of them.

a friend of mine knew how much i liked Chicken Alice's wings, and sent me the recipe in a link to the Honolulu Star-Bulletin article on Chicken Alice.

these wings are so good that it's almost impossible to describe them. part of the appeal is the heat, obviously. but a large part of the flavor is from the kimchee sauce, with its ingredients (like fish sauce) adding a unique and incredible flavor to an old favorite.

Here is the recipe as found in the article mentioned above:

Chicken Alice's Wings

• 5 pounds chicken wings


• Vegetable oil for deep frying (Wesson brand preferred)


» Batter:

• 1/3 cup Parks brand kim chee sauce


• 1 tablespoon minced garlic


• 2 tablespoons salt


• 2-1/2 cups flour


• 2 cups water, or more, as needed

Rinse and dry chicken. Cut off and discard wing tips. Cut through joint to separate drummettes from other half of wing.

To make batter: Combine kim chee sauce, garlic, salt and flour. Add water gradually, enough to make a thick batter, about the consistency of pancake batter.

Add chicken pieces to batter, mix well and marinate in refrigerator 2 to 3 hours.

Heat oil to 350 degrees. Deep-fry chicken pieces about 10 minutes, until chicken rises to surface and coating is deep brown.


so where do you find kimchee sauce? it's no problem in this area, since we have asian superstore markets that carry EVERYTHING you can imagine. but if you don't have one nearby, i found the following on the web. i can't imagine Aunty Soon's sauce is much different than Park's. Aunty Soon's kimchee sauce

if you like hot wings, and you are willing to try new flavors, i strongly recommend giving these a whirl. you'll be naming your first born after me if you do. they really are that good.



as always, if you try this recipe, or it inspires you to try something different, please let me know how it turned out. i'm always looking for fresh and clever ideas to improve my own cooking skills and recipes.

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

restaurant and wine review

so i'm not james beard. sorry. but i am a consumer. one that enjoys food and wine, and the pairings that bring out the best of both. so here goes:

we were in richland washington last week for 5 days. behind our hotel was a restaurant that was doing land office business. i mean, from 4 to 10 in the evening, that parking lot was full. so i inquired about the place. a couple of the instructors told me that it was one of the better restaurants in the area, but it was a bit spendy, and you definitely needed reservations.

so we called Anthony's and found out that we couldn't get a seat until 8:15, the next evening. that's 2015 for those of you that know how to tell time. so i set the reservation for dinner for two at 2015 thursday evening.

when we got there, the place was hopping. the great thing about it is there didn't seem to be a shortage of wait staff. we were seated, and our waitress was right there. no waiting, no craning my neck looking for someone to bring a glass of water.

we got the menus, and i immediately zeroed in on the alder plank king salmon. Moe didn't know what the hell he wanted, so i talked him into the halibut cheeks. halibut is one of the finest cold water deep fish out there, and the cheeks are the most tender and succulent part of the whole fish. and since i was in what is now being called the washington state wine country, i asked our pert and perky (but not too over the top) waitress for a recommendation. we talked about the local appelations, and the characteristics of each. she also clued me in on the fact that most of the local wines are much higher in acidity than i'm used to in the local napa valley wines i've come to love. i've had very few washington wines, and the only wines on the wine list were local. she recommended a crisp and acidic white wine by Hedges Cellars. since i was having garlic mashed spuds with the salmon, and the salmon was topped by a garlic butter sauce, i figured a nice acidic wine would be best. She brought me a glass of Hedges CMS 2004 white. it's a blend of chardonnay, sauvigon blanc, and marsanne grapes. it held its own and then some with the salmon. this isn't a sit down and have a glass of white during a gathering. it IS a killer accompaniment with salmon. i think both flavors were enhanced when put together.

so i was in gusticatory heaven, but as all things must, dinner ended. i was so bummed. they grilled the salmon to perfection. most fish take a sharp and a knowing eye when grilling. the difference between perfection and a piece of dried out fish tasting shoe leather can be as little as 15 seconds. the chef did a superb job on my fish, and Moe wasn't talking at all. he was taken by the flavor and texture of the halibut to the point where our dinner was actually a very quiet affair. along with the salmon and garlic mashed spuds, they served a lightly sauted baby greenbean dish with onion and garlic. it was all good. i didn't even have one bone in the salmon, which told me that the attention to detail in the prep was simply an extension of the attention to detail we saw throughout the entire meal.

After dinner, we ordered their "mountain blackberry cobbler", which was surprisingly good. i have no idea what the hell mountain blackberries are, but they are tiny compared to the ones i've picked my entire life. the crust was more of a pie crust than a biscuit one, but i'll give them that one.

dinner and desert, with a glass of local wine, $40.00. i suppose if you live in richland, that is spendy for dinner. hell, that was a really fair price, especially for how good the food was, and how good the wait staff was. the waitress was so good, i tipped her $20.00.

this place is on the columbia river, with the main windows facing the sunset, which was spectacular. it doesn't look like there is one bad seat in the house. very well designed, well laid out, and expertly set up. i liked this place. a lot.

the restaurant is one of a chain. Anthony's has shops all over the state of washington, including SEATAC airport. which is where we had fish and chips on the way home from richland. i wish they'd come down this direction.

submarine officer in deep kimchee

you may have heard of the sailor in guam who was shot in the shoulder a while back. the navy is now pressing charges against him. seems he shot himself with a 25 caliber pistol, then tossed it into the drink at the end of the pier. you can read about the charges at The Stars and Stripes.

now i just have a couple of questions.

• WTF was he doing with a pistol on the boat? have they changed the rules that much? i don't think so. imagine being out to sea with someone as unstable as this dude. unstable enough to shoot himself. and he HAD A PISTOL with him while underway. holy shit batman.
• he tossed the pistol into the water, 30 feet deep according to the above article. i can remember when the topside watch dropped a full magazine of ammo for the topside .45, and the divers were down there and up in no time, magazine in hand. perhaps this young sailor dude hasn't spent much time alongside the pier. if he had, he'd know they can find ANYTHING tossed over the side. especially in guam, where the water isn't as grungy, and the bottom is sand, not bay mud.
• it brings to mind the countless things that "accidently" found their way over the side, into the mare island channel. some of the things i specifically remember:
  • welding rods. these were cool, because if you threw them hard enough, they'd slice through the water like a laser, leaving a fine trail of bubbles behind. get the right angle on the toss, and they would zip 20 or 30 feet, just below the surface. maybe you had to be there
  • about a hundred million white navy coffee cups with the blue stripes. hell, i can remember the topside watches would just blast the cup against the off hull collection tank barge, just so they didn't have to carry the empties back down to crews mess at the end of the watch
  • a CO2 fire extinguisher, with the handle taped down, on the 4th of July one year. having duty on a holiday sucks. but it really sucks when directly across the river from the pier is 10000 people gathered to bbq, drink beer, have fun, and watch the fireworks. having the fireworks pop directly overhead was cool, but no beer made it no fun. so what's a bunch of bored sailors to do? make their own fireworks. you should see the way the water bubbles as the CO2 charge blasts out
• and finally, did this dude think the navy wouldn't go apeshit that one of their sailors was SHOT, on the PIER, on the BASE? did he think they'd take his word for it, and just let the matter drop after sending him home? i am not sure what universe this kid is living in, but it has very few intersections with the real world.

you CANNOT make stuff like this up

you just can't. not unless you are a pro writer for some of the edgier comedy shows like Dave Chappelle.
what am i talking about? well, read it here.
i'm trying to figure out if this is simply a case of stupidity (as in: WTF were you thinking?) or a case of racial insensitivity. in either case, they all need a "whoa, hold on there partner" minute to get their collective act together.

and WTF is this "ghetto style" they are trying to celebrate? isn't that like celebrating your coming in next to the last in the Special Olympics, and you have no disabilities? you know, you don't even have the distinction of coming in last, which could give you some sort of bragging rights? celebrating a culture that lionizes drug dealers and the "pimping life" seems diametrically opposed to something the local government ought to be sponsering. but since this is in miami, home of the blue hair liberals, i don't know why i'm surprised.

still alive

yup, i'm still kicking. been learning all about how to be my facility's "designated felon". sure is a lot of information to learn in a short period of time. looks like i'll be taking more classes in the near future.

i was a real bone head. here i am, in the heart of nuclear land west, and i forgot to look up some of the dudes i worked with at the shipyard. i finally hooked up with one of them today at lunch. i'm not really amazed, but i am surprised at how many of the the mare island refugees ended up here at the hanford site in the tri-cities area in eastern washington. and most of them are in positions of "elevated responsibility". that makes sense, since as nuclear shift test engineers we were pretty much at the top of the nuclear operations heap. once you've qualified as a nuclear test engineer, and lasted long enough to be a chief test engineer, you are imprinted with the need to run whatever show you end up in. i'm glad to hear that my favorite admin assistant ever is still married to my buddy Matt. he was one of my most dynamic and intelligent trainees, and once i got him certified, he kicked ass as a test engineer. good things do happen to good people, and he and emily are nice people. good for them.

this industry is hell on marriages. long hours, uncertain work schedules, pressure from regulators and management all take their toll. matt and emily have made it through the hardest part, i think. i've managed to skirt a lot of that by getting employed at a research facility, removed from the day to day oversight by the nuclear reg commission and the dept. of energy. regulators serve a function, but that function is a son of a bitch to deal with on a non-stop basis. at least we have a little slack. i don't know how ugly my job would be if we had an office full of regulators on site. it would be doable, but it wouldn't be pretty.

so, i'll be flying out tomorrow afternoon, with a somewhat long layover in seattle. just long enough to be a pain in the ass, and not long enough to go to my sister's to hang out. oh well, i'll be back in august for the reunion, so i shan't cry over missed opportunities.

hope you are all doing well.

and he's gone, gone, gone

don't know if there will be any i-net cafes or whatnot where i'm heading, so the next week will be sparse, i'm sure. going to miss seeing the final touches put on our new roof, but then again, i won't be around for the mess either.
see ya in a week.

post installation pix

ok, so the sun is now on the other side of our house. these are afternoon shots. the morning light is like 3 times brighter. these are taken without flash, and in what were the two darkest corners of the house interior.

and


pretty neat.

the difference between interested and committed

i'm interested in putting putting a skylight in the hallway (actually, they will be doing that in the next hour or so)
i'm committed to the one in the family room

kind of like the old joke about a ham and egg breakfast. the chicken is interested in breakfast, the pig is committed

the roofing saga

it's been crazy around the old homestead for the last week or so. we've had our old shake roof torn off, and i installed some ventilation and lighting fixtures in the bathrooms. the roof was sheathed, papered, and had the battens put down. the tiles came, and were put on the roof. well, half of them were. the other half arrived today. here's a shot of the process, during the gutter installation phase

i lost my hangout for a while until the roof is on.
and of course, we have to contend with piles of stuff during the day.
luckily, they are pretty good about squaring the area away at the end of the day, but it's still like navigating an obstacle field during the day.
i like the images of the tiles stacked on the roof. the stacks remind me of a sculpture in progress. i've traveled places where folks will stack rocks, and it looks like that. that, or a thai temple grounds. probably just me. still, it's pretty neat to look at.click for larger image

one thing i'm glad of. i am not a roofer. it has been over 105 degrees a couple of days. hooray for air conditioned work spaces!

carnival of recipes # 48 (???? wow) up

over at one happy dog speaks. as always, there are some great looking recipes to try out.

cat blog friday

i have a weird cat. she's so weird, we named her spooky-cat, because she spooks so easily. but she also will find the time to pet herself with your feet, and watch out if you are sitting anywhere near the back patio when she decides she wants petting. but usually, you bend over to pet her and she is out of there like an F-18 at full military power. varoom, gone. and strangers? forget it.
but one thing will always get her to come visiting. light up a cigar, and she's there. probably because that's when i am most vulnerable, and will pet her until she's tired of it.
so dwardo and mrs dwardo were over for dinner recently, and as is our custom, we retired to the back patio for an after dinner adult beverage and a fine dark wrapper maduro cigar. i think my cat is hooked on cigar smoke. that's the only thing i can figure, since she climbed up on dwardo's lap as soon as he had the stogie stoked, and didn't leave until he put it out.

weird cat

posted for the Friday Ark

food blog, the great american bbq

we had a bunch of friends over for a 4th of July bbq. on the menu was grilled tri-tip steaks, grilled london broil, alder and apple smoked chicken mango sausages, and a whole alder smoked copper river salmon. one guest brought her friends from germany with her, and the nice visitor made me the real deal german potato salad. to say that nobody went home hungry is an understatement.

smoked salmon:

marinade:

• 1 1/2 cups kosher salt
• 1/2 cup REAL maple syrup
• 1 cup white wine
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• juice from 1 lemon, and the peel, grated
• 1 tbs brown mustard
• 2 cloves garlic, minced finely
• 1/2 cup yoshida's gourmet sauce (you can skip this and use a 1/4 cup soy sauce, or leave it out entirely)
• 1 bunch parsley, stems cut off, and leaves chopped medium
• 3 or 4 sprigs of fresh rosemary chopped medium to fine, saving the twigs for the smoker pan
• 4 cups of lukewarm water, to dissolve the salt

ingredients:
• 1 whole 6 lb salmon, filleted and quartered. of course, you can do this for just a couple of salmon steaks or fillets. i lucked out and found fresh alaskan sockeye, so i bought the whole thing and cut it up myself.
• fresh ground pepper

mix everything together in a bowl. i cheated, and ran it in my blender. this not only chops the garlic and parsley up for me, but it also helps get the salt dissolved fast.
place your salmon fillets in a couple of ziplok bags, and transfer the marinade to the bags. squish everything together to make sure no meat is left dry, and then refridgerate overnight.
here's what that looks like:
when you are ready to get the smoker going, try the following. remove the fish from the fridge, and rinse off most of the marinade. if you don't, it will taste like a fish flavored salt lick. you can run some water thru the strained marinade, and sprinkle them on the fish, but don't fail the rinse part. seriously. it's a terrible way to waste good fish. let the fish come to room temp while getting the smoker prepped.
i used the rest of the bottle of white wine, in this case a Hess Select Chard, and mix it with about a quart of boiling water. get the coals going, or in my case, plug in the electric smoker. let the element get hot, then toss a handful of wood chips into a small (like a 5 or 6 inch small) cast iron skillet that is resting on the element. the wood should be soaked for at least 1/2 an hour before doing this. i used alder wood for the salmon. in the PNW, that is the ONLY wood my grandfather used when smoking fish. who am i to argue? he owned a cannery, and that was his business, so monkey see monkey do. put the smoker together, and pour the hot liquid mix into the water bowl. put the top grill on, wipe it down with cooking oil so that the fish doesn't stick, and then drop the fish on the grill, skin side down. grind a little fresh black pepper over the fish, to taste. cover and walk away for about an hour to an hour and a half. don't peek. the fish will be ready in that time frame. the meat will be ready, honestly. don't overdo it though, because you can end up with salmon jerky instead of salmon fillets.
here's an image that will get the mouth watering of anyone that has ever smoked or eaten smoked salmon

this is the chef's nibble piece. this stuff was great on party crackers and cream cheese, with a big blob of salmon on top. or just flaking it off the skin and eating it. hard to go wrong with smoked salmon. leftovers make a great omelet, too.


when i posted about the bbq on the 4th, i was asked how i get the london broil to not be tough as shoe leather. there aren't a whole lot of tricks to it, but it does require buying good meat. old bossy the cow slaughtered because she doesn't give milk anymore probably would be good for stew meat, and not much else.
bbq tri tip and london broil

marinade
• 3 tbsp per steak McCormick Montreal Steak Seasonings. this stuff is good, and it has enough salt to work as a marinade.
• 1/4 cup oil per steak
• 1/2 beer per steak. for the marinade, not the marinader. marinader gets as many as he wants. for a non-alcohol version, bump up the vinegar called for next
• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
• for tri-tip steaks, use the one steak proportions for every 3 pounds

combine the ingredients, and pour over the meat that has been placed in ziptop bags.
as you can see from the picture, being the marinader is tough, sweaty work, requiring an almost constant resupply of fluids. i chose to resupply with a sierra-nevada pale ale. almost a no brainer, know what i mean verne?
refridgerate overnight. when ready to grill, take out of the fridge and let it come up to room temp before cooking. DO NOT PIERCE MEAT to "TENDERIZE". baaad baaaad habit to get into.
get the grill fired up. i use a weber charcoal grill, and cook these indirectly.
when the grill is ready, i toss in a couple of chunks of mesquite or hickory that has been soaked in water for at least 1/2 an hour. the meat goes right down the middle. i grill the first side for about 10 minutes, then flip. after another 5 minutes, i get the meat thermometer out, and measure from one end, not the middle. i insert the thermometer parallel to the grill, and when the temp hits 120, i take out the thermometer, and slap the steaks right over the coals for about 2 minutes a side. then it's off to a plate in the oven set at 150F (to keep everything warm while cooking the other steaks). i did the london broil first, then finished up with the tri-tip. that way, the london broil could continue to slowly cook until i was ready to carve.
cut the steaks cross grain in really thin pieces. i use an electric knife to do this, and that will give you a nice tender piece even if the meat is tough. save the juices on the plate to pour over the cut meat.

and of course, no bbq is complete without sausages, especially when you have german guests over. i did up some aidell's chicken-mango sausages in the smoker after the fish came out. i added a mix of apple and alder to the pan, and there was still enough wine and water in the water pan that i didn't need to add anything else. after smoking for as long as it took to cook the steaks and london broil, about 50 minutes or so, i pulled them out of the smoker and hit them hard over the coals for a couple of minutes, just to get a little char going on the skin. damn, they were good.

and of course, no 4th of july party/bbq is complete without a tasty patriotic treat like this: a flag cake made by our lovely and talented friend Golden.

great party, great food, great people.


as always, if you try this recipe, or it inspires you to try something different, please let me know how it turned out. i'm always looking for fresh and clever ideas to improve my own cooking skills and recipes.

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

submarine stuff

have you ever been to the MSI in chicago? i remember the first time i went was after bootcamp, while waiting for A school to start. i toured u-505 then, and really knew the submarine community is where i wanted to be. can't get to chicago? try this site. of course, living in northern california, i have access to the USS Pampanito (SS-383). there are submarines scattered around the country set up as historical ships, museums dedicated to keeping alive the knowledge of the skills and sacrifices of the underwater fleet.

which sci-fi writer are you?

I am: Robert A. Heinlein Beginning with technological action stories and progressing to epics with religious overtones, this take-no-prisoners writer racked up some huge sales numbers.

Which science fiction writer are you?

just another cheesy internet quiz, but damn, i can't argue with the results.

tip o' the tam to PigBoatSailorAzimov

the insanity isn't just in the U.S.

you know, the political correctness insanity.

and then there is this piece of news regarding the california national guard and the crazies.
it seems some "peace" group was taking a tour of some national guard facility, and someone saw a flier that described a perhaps apocryphal story of general black jack pershing in the philippines before WWI.

The Pershing flyer recounts a tale -- which may have been embellished or entirely woven of legend -- that resurfaced after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States. According to the tale, Pershing captured 50 Muslim extremists before World War I while stationed in the Philippines. He tied 49 of the men up, slaughtered two pigs in front of them, dipped bullets in the pig's blood and had the men executed, believing that by doing so they would doom the men to hell.

this isn't new, as it's been around the internet world since i don't know when. i've seen it crop up quite a few times.
what really gets me is the following:

``It's troubling to see a governmental organization dedicated to the security of our country promoting culturally and religiously insensitive ideas,'' said William Youmans, media relations manager for the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Santa Clara. ``It's very possible to combat terrorism without offending the cultural values of a major world religion.''

excuse me? cultural sensitivities of a major religion? bite me. what about my country's sensitivities about beheading innocent joes just trying to earn a living to support their family? or some poor lady on a bus to work, or the mom with her kid going to the doctors on the subway? cultural sensitivity. i've got your cultural sensitivity hanging, asshole. obviously there are those in our country without even the teeniest tiniest smidgen of self preservation. these folks should be allowed to remove themselves from the gene pool at the earliest, because as long as they are around, the survival of the rest of us is in question.
hey, if it meant that only one crazy ragheaded bastard murderous bombing sonofabitch decided to stay home because he thought the americans were using pig's blood on the bullets, hell, i'd kill every pig in the country, render them, and dump it all in the copper vat used to make bullet jackets, and then advertise it to the world.
it's almost as crazy as this item i posted last year. remember the whole "you can't use those bullets against arabs, because they were made in Israel" issue? this is about like that. fookem, i'd use whatever i had to survive. what idiotic stupid ass ever thought that war was a clean sport? what idiot thinks that winning isn't everything? during WWII, the allies believed that you should give everything, and hold nothing back to ensure victory. they won. consider the alternatives. do you want to live under sharia law? as far as i can tell, the whole islamist sharia law is diametrically opposed to our constitution, and in no way should it be allowed even a tiny foothold on this continent.
wrap bombs in bacon, lube bullets with pork fat, send the dead home wrapped in pigskins. do whatever needs to be done. this shit is not for the weak of mind or resolve. this is for keeps.

edit a couple of hours later
as always, i found someone out there that puts my thoughts in better perspective, and clearer english. check out what chap has to say

toasty

on our way to 46 degrees C (that would be around 105F for you non metric types).
sure glad i didn't ride my motorcycle in to work today. nothing like riding into a hot air hair drier. there is NO way to be cool enough to enjoy that ride. ahhhhh, air conditioning in the car. way to go. the ONLY way to go on a day like today

strays

i was cleaning up around the patio inbetween roofer's stacking and unstacking stuff. look what i found left over from our 4th of july party.


this was a great spanish sparkling wine (can't call it champagne, ya know, because it doesn't have the right appellation)

how D-Day would be reported today

got this in the mail from my buddy dwardo. unfortunately, this isn't too damned far off

HOW THE D-DAY INVASION WOULD BE REPORTED BY TODAY'S PRESS:


NORMANDY, FRANCE (June 6, 1944)

Three hundred French civilians were killed and thousands more were wounded today in the first hours of America's invasion of continental Europe. Casualties were heaviest among women and children. Most of the French casualties were the result of artillery fire from American ships attempting to knock out German fortifications prior to the landing of hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops.

Reports from a makeshift hospital in the French town of St. Mere Eglise said the carnage was far worse than the French had anticipated, and that reaction against the American invasion was running high. "We are dying for no reason,"said a Frenchman speaking on condition of anonymity. "Americans can't even shoot straight. I never thought I'd say this, but life was better under Adolph Hitler."

The invasion also caused severe environmental damage. American troops, tanks, trucks and Machinery destroyed miles of pristine shoreline and thousands of acres of ecologically sensitive wetlands. It was believed that the habitat of the spineless French crab was completely wiped out, thus threatening the species with extinction.

A representative of Greenpeace said his organization, which had tried to stall the invasion for over a year, was appalled at the destruction, but not surprised. "This is just another example of how the military destroys the environment without a second thought," said Christine Moanmore. "And it's all about corporate greed." Contacted at his Manhattan condo, a member of the French government-in-exile who abandoned Paris when Hitler invaded, said the Invasion was based solely on American financial interests.

"Everyone knows that President Roosevelt has ties to 'big beer'," said Pierre Le Wimp. "Once the German beer industry is conquered, Roosevelt's beer cronies will control the world market and make a fortune."

Administration supporters said America's aggressive actions were based in part on the assertions of controversial scientist Albert Einstein, who sent a letter to Roosevelt speculating that the Germans were developing a secret weapon -- a so-called "atomic bomb". Such a weapon could produce casualties on a scale never seen before, and cause environmental damage that could last for thousands of years. Hitler has denied having such a weapon and international inspectors were unable to locate such weapons even after spending two long weekends in Germany.

Shortly after the invasion began, reports surfaced that German prisoners had been abused by American soldiers. Mistreatment of Jews by Germans at their so-called "concentration camps" has been rumored, but so far this remains unproven.

Several thousand Americans died during the first hours of the invasion, and French officials are concerned that the uncollected corpses will pose a public-health risk. "The Americans should have planned for this in advance,"they said. "It's their mess, and we don't intend to help clean it up."

another blogger prating about the london bombings

it seems every blogger out there with a political bent is blogging away about the bombings in london. even i posted the day of the bombings.

what has been the primary bitch in the west? that the religious leaders of that particular belief system have been silent. i've even used the line myself a time or two in this blog.

so i was somewhat amazed to read the the following article in the sf chronicle. what really piqued my interest was a statement from one of the obvious terrorist apologist organizations, CAIR.

"They always ask, 'Where are the Muslims? What do they have to say?' " said Amina Ansari, representing the Santa Clara-based Council on American Islamic Relations.

so what's happening in the world? are the "mainstream" islamists finally getting fed up with the whole jihad thing? don't bet on it.

what i see happening is the "oh that's horrible" publicly, "way to go" privately. CAIR has many many times acted as a mouthpiece for the radically bent members of the islamfacist ilk. how many times in the last 4 years has CAIR defended the hezbollah whackjobs, stating that the west simply misunderstands what it is "they" are trying to accomplish? how many times have we seen CAIR reps decry the west's propensity for requiring accountability for one's actions? how many times has CAIR been in front of the cameras, not denouncing the actions of terrorists, but deflecting the righteous and earned wrath of the public. it's not the terrorist's fault. it's the west, and they way they treat the terrorists. blah blah blah

the only good thing to come of this is that there actually seems to be an americanization of some of these muslim groups. only in california, maybe. california seems to be a weird place that infuses it's collective "feel good" mantra of diversity and "fairness" into every niche of society. even i've been infected to some degree, because i feel the religious right wing of my political party are every bit as whacked as the liberal left of the demo party.

perhaps we'll see some movement towards distancing themselves from the insanity that is the modern islamofacist regime. i don't know, but i can only hope.

the adventures of home ownership

i've been following the trials and travails of blue and hobbit's issues with their new home, and the bozo that is responsible for the whole repair thing. no, i didn't link to any specific issue they have, because it seems to be an ongoing thing.

i, on the other hand, am having a great experience reroofing my house. it's amazing just how much work it is to remove an old shake roof, and sheath, paper and tile the new one. the complexities of the guttering alone is something else. guess i'll be putting on my boots and grabbing a shovel to run new drain lines. the existing lines are not going to do it all. i'll get some pictures as they get further along.

i installed combo light and fan units in the two bathrooms when they had the old roof pulled. it went pretty well, except for the wiring in the master bath. i would like to find the person that wired this mess the last time and slap him around for a while. i had to install a junction box, and reroute a bunch of wires just to get the thing close to code. fortunately, i was able to take yesterday off to get it all done before they finished putting the sheathing down. that would have been a nightmare job if i had to crawl around the rafters after the roof was finished. i discovered a yellowjacket nest while up there, and that by itself made doing the job with the roof off much much easier. i can just see it now. "Homeowner stung to death during a home improvement job. Trapped in a tight space, the hapless owner disturbed a nest of angry yellowjackets." not the kind of story i want go down in history for.

to the ends of the earth

the latest round of atrocities carried out in the name of islamofacism have rocked London on the heels of the celebrations held yesterday over the olympics being granted to london in 2012.
how can anyone with even the slightest hint of self preservation think there is any way to negotiate or deal with these murderers? there is one way, and one way only. and that is to help them along to paradise.

this latest act is just an extension of the types of crimes against humanity al-qaida carries out. an egyptian diplomat, 5 bodies found alongside a road with their heads chopped off, the paki ambassador shot at and wounded...the list grows with each day. and this is a religon of peace?

fuck'em. time to take off the gloves. "oh, a day of joy for the nation of islam" indeed. time to get serious about this war, and to hell with the niceties. we are talking survival here. find them, kill them, and don't get in the way or you will go down too.

quick, there's another one. get the net

i must say that i laugh my ass off every time my sister-in-law gets that "vacantly focused" look in her eyes when talking about horoscopes and assstrology. sorry, not to trample on anyone's toes that actually believes in that tripe, but please.
so now there's an ass-hatted moonbat in russia sueing NASA for affecting her horoscope following the "deep impact" test on a comet out near jupiter.
sigh.

the passing of a true american hero

Adm. James Stockdale has passed away at age 81. while many american's will only remember him as the oft times bumbling running mate with ross perot during the 92 elections, he was much much more than that.
this man endured 7 1/2 years as a prisoner in vietnam. to prevent being used as a propaganda tool, he smashed his face so badly there was no way the north vietnamese could take pictures of him without making it look like they were torturing him. and torture they did. the list of indignities he suffered can make a grown man's knees buckle. and they bitch about wearing a hood, and sleeping on the floor in gitmo.
Stockdale was one of the most highly decorated Navy men in the history of the service, receiving a multitude of medals for valor and heroism, including the Medal of Honor.

Admiral, i never met you, and the only visual i have of you is the 92 v.p. debates. but i've read about you and sir, i salute you. thank you for your invaluable service to our nation, and your fellow prisoners and shipmates. you were a true hero.

Sailor, rest your oar.

edit: i just found a great post by Varifrank that says what i did a whole lot better.

stuff you find surfing, and reading your mail

well, i hope everyone had a safe and sane 4th. we celebrated on the 3rd, and it was a crowd pleasing winner. i'm not going to go into all of the details just yet, but my hair still hurts.
let's see. started the day with a whole copper river sockeye salmon in the smoker at 1100, which required a sierra pale ale. well, actually it required two, because that' some hot, thirsty work.
then i grilled 4 london broil steaks, and about 10 pounds of tri-tip. and a couple of eggplants, a bunch of red peppers, a passel of squash, and sauted up about 5 pounds of mushrooms and onions/garlic. which required a couple more beers, and several glasses of mango ice "tea" if you know what i mean. i guess that would be a tropical russian ice tea?
and then, of course as the guests arrived, we started cracking the vino. with a total of 12 adults, 3 or 4 who didn't imbibe, we killed the most of a case of beer, 10 bottles of wine, including 2 of champagne, a bottle of port, and an entire bottle of rum making mohitos!!
today was a recovery day.
so anyway, i was surfing following the links provided in a couple of emails, and found the following watercolor:


i don't know if you have ever tried to do watercolor painting before, but it's a hell of a lot harder to make it look good than you think.
check out this link for more: CLICK

hope yet for europe?

we've been posting about the whole eurabia thing and the almost suicidal willingness of the european countries to appease the islamists. but there is hope. i guess the best way for europeans to get a grip is to have their most dearly held customs threatened.
i can vouch for belgian beer, and i fully understand why why this lunch was cancelled. i have been chuckling since i read the article. i suppose the french would have to be asked to give up their wine and cheese to have any impact in that country.
a small quote to show that maybe, just maybe, the european folks are starting to stand up and say NO WAY.

Anne-Marie Lizin, a Socialist, then canceled their meeting. She said in a statement that Iranians should respect local customs in Belgium, just as Belgians should in Iran.

i think we in this great country of ours could learn something as well.


and in other news: it's been on the talking heads shows, and in the papers the last week or so. mexico has a problem spreading across its country. the problem? obesity, and obesity's sidekick diabetes. more and more mexicans are becoming overweight. as a matter of fact, the percentage of overweight mexicans is second only to the u.s. why? a rising affluence, more discretionary funds, and a taste for the "fast food" rather than the traditional fresh foods mexico has been famous for. where the hell is that money coming from? while the journos don't address the source directly, it's easy to infer where that money is coming from. it's being sent home by illegals in this country.
so i propose we tighten the borders and chase out the illegals. it's only right. we ARE concerned with the mexican's health, aren't we?

think my scale is trying to tell me something?

got up this morning, did the usual getting ready for work stuff, and stepped on the scale before getting dressed.
i may have to buy a different scale. this one's too f*****g honest.



and here's a little gun prop for today. i like it.