RIP Buddy Miles

Buddy Miles, the drummer in Jimi Hendrix's Band of Gypsys and a hitmaker under his own name with the song "Them Changes," died Tuesday at his home in Austin, Texas. He was 60.

Miles suffered from congestive heart failure, his publicist, Duane Lee, said, according to Reuters. Lee said he did not know the official cause of death.

Buddy Miles, to you youngsters out there, was one of the great drummers out there, most famously as a part of Jimi Hendrix's Band of Gypsys. He was part of the soundtrack of my youth, providing the beat behind many of Hendrix's legendary guitar riffs.

read the whole obit/article here

hey algore, can i borrow a fur coat?

OK, so one winter does not a climate make. It would be premature to claim an Ice Age is looming just because we have had one of our most brutal winters in decades.

But if environmentalists and environment reporters can run around shrieking about the manmade destruction of the natural order every time a robin shows up on Georgian Bay two weeks early, then it is at least fair game to use this winter's weather stories to wonder whether the alarmist are being a tad premature.

And it's not just anecdotal evidence that is piling up against the climate-change dogma.

interesting reading at Forget global warming: Welcome to the new Ice Age

2/22/08 submarine blogger roundup

well, it's time for me to go around and pull the most recent musings of my fellow bubblesphere bloggers into one place. that's submariner bloggers for the uninitiated.

not to sound like a broken record, but you do know that there is one place out there for all of the latest in submarine news, right? that place is of course eric's The Sub Report and his blog at The Blog! where he posted a couple of weeks ago with pictures from the USS Boise (SSN-764).

now on to the other blogs that have posted new content in the last week or so:

you will be seeing recurring themes this week. Politics and the Navy's excellent marksmanship were the primary topics out there in bloggerland.

Joel starts it off with this post about the spectacular satellite shot the navy did.

guess what WillyShakes talks about? yup, shooting down dead satellites. the video was just too cool, don't you think? time to remind all the kids on the block who has the biggest muscles.

Chap posts a press release about the shootdown.

and one of my blogging idols Gus gives us the benefit of his experiences blogging with this excellent primer on blogging. there are some important things he points out for the neophyte as well as the experienced blogger. only thing i disagree with is the whole advertising thing. me, i still refuse. this isn't my profession, just a hobby. and again, we are tempting a shift in the universe's entropy balance by my linking to his latest roundup. if you don't have him bookmarked so you can find his weekly roundups, what the hell's the matter with you???

and one of the other key sources of new and interesting submarine/navy info is Vigilis over at the Molten Eagle. his latest post about Naval Prison proposals will make you nod your head and either say "hell yeah", or "WTF?"

and one of our resident lefties (dig dig) Rob has come to the realization that regardless of who wins the coming election, the right loses, no matter what. Rob, it saddens me to say this, but you are right there buddy.

how's this for a quote? "My wife didn't think our lives were complicated enough so she went out and bought a new dog." go check out Ted's new pooch Molly. doxies are cute little critters, but having had them underfoot as a kid, i've learned my mutts have to be big enough to see, to not trip over.

Reality Frame reprints an article from one of those places i only visit to see what the other side (tinfoil hatted) thinks. i am not shy about stating i think his politics and world view are way way way different than mine. but he always has interesting things to say about how he sees things. and i have no doubt his views are held as closely as mine. that's why i love this blogging thing. i can cast about and find just about any side of just about any issue, and find intelligently written articles. want to see? go visit Seven Steps to Revolution.

need a dose of old fart music? i mean, ancient, blow the dust off the 78's and 45's? check out what COOKIE thinks of as contemporary music. i kid, i kid. (not really, but i don't want cookie mad at me). and don't forget to wander through his latest batch of postings for your humor recharge. he posts some funny stuff.

and the Knavish one has a little musing about Castro's retirement and the effect it will have on hollywood.

Myron has a sure fire way to clean your dirty computer monitor.

and imagine my surprise when Sonarman stated within the first paragraph of The Scarlet Letter that "Because I am “ultra-conservative”, I am, in the eyes of some, an insensitive thug waiting to trample on the rights of the poor, the hungry, and otherwise oppressed. And also I supposedly want to harm small, furry and otherwise, creatures of the forest." well, that's what I THOUGHT about you! Brothers under the skin! anyway, he goes on to riff on what he considers an abridgment of rights. don't know if i totally agree, but i do know someone that has been dealing with the issue for years for a stupid human trick he pulled as a teen, messing with an underaged girl when he was 18. she was literally only a couple of months younger than he was, and emancipated, but the law was the law. he tells me there are people that drive by his house even now (he's on the statewide "predator list") and throw things at the house.

our resident lawyer always always educates me when i visit. here's an intriguing quote "She claims that the failure of Israeli troops to rape Arab women achieves the same goal as actually raping them; that the reluctance of Israeli troops to force themselves on Arab women is humiliating and evidence of Israeli racism -- a rather extreme example of Jewish anti-Arab discrimination." for an education of multi-culti libtards, check out Out on a Limb. this dude's blog should be required reading.

the Old Coot has a Great Quote.

"Some mutant retard despoils a little blond girl and it's all over the cable channels for months. Spoiled Saudi boys with box cutters crash a few planes and we spend trillions crashing around through Mesopotamia. We lose control of our cities, Detroit, DC, Baltimore, Cleveland, Houston, Los Angeles, nobody says or does, a damned thing. Just pretend it didn't happen." Red Dog (hiya Dave... he's an old red headed shipmate of mine) gives his thoughts on the state of civil order, or disorder in L.A. dude, i wish i could say you were wrong, but i'd be wrong.

the resident competitive eater in our little band of brothers has challenged himself to not eat meat for Lent. a quote from 8Feb "I’ve never done the Lent thing; giving something up – usually a guilty pleasure or some other vice – for 40 days. In fact, I’m not even religious. But this year I’ve decided to give up meat. Not just red meat (as some people suggested), but ALL MEAT.
And the funny thing is, I’m sort of looking forward to it. I mean, I know it’ll suck at times, but when those 40 days are over, that first burger will taste like heaven."
his last month of blogs has been chronicling this exercise. he is, of course, a dyed in the wool meat eater, and his adventure has been funny reading. he's now contemplating what Lent means. in his own words, he's not religious, but he did attend a Catholic wedding once. visit Mega Munch. laugh at him. i am. ordering a Whopper, and taking off the meat is cheating, bud....

Subvet links to an article about Momma Obama, or as he calls her, Lady Macbeth. damned interesting reading, especially if you are a fence sitter on the upcoming presidential election. Education education education. these are the things that we need to make reasonable and well thought out decisions. consider this part of your education.

and over at Right Mind, read about one of my personal heroes Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and what she told an audience in Dallas about honor killings. chilling.

a week and a half ago, Midwatch Cowboy posted a video about an incredible landing few have heard about. the reason i include him with this week's list is there is a very interesting comment to the entry. makes you wonder about getting in an airplane.

Doc MacDonald does not leave you in suspense. want to know what he thinks about the major newspapers? He'll tell you. and it should not come as a surprise that i wish i'd written this post myself.

Chucklehead posts Yet another reason for the 2nd amendment. there is a mantra within the shooters circles i travel in that goes "When seconds count, and the cop's are minutes away, what are you going to do?" there have been several things that have cropped up in my newsreader feeds regarding lawsuits brought by citizens against the local constabulary. in every case, the plaintiff lost because the judge found for the cops. what were the findings? the cops were not liable for your safety. if you call for help, and they don't show up, and bad things happen to you, too bad, so sad.
my answer? a 7 shot .357 loaded with 125 grain hollowpoints, with a .45 acp loaded with 230 grain personal defense rounds as a backup. if i have the time to call the cops, i will. but i will not place my family in jeopardy by inaction in the hopes that help will arrive in time. when seconds count, i will count to 7, reload, and count to seven again. and then tell the cops what happened when they finally arrive. yeah, i'm one of THOSE people. you know the kind. the ones that don't believe the government will or should fulfill all my needs. honestly, the very last thing in the world i want to do is to point a firearm at someone, much less drop the hammer. make that the next to the last thing. the last thing in the world i want is for my family to come to harm while waiting for someone to come rescue us because i couldn't or wouldn't defend us by any means necessary.

Sleepyeyed Whiner of the Deep posts about Success!

Ben has a humorous picture showing the newest import The Molotov. funny stuff dude.

In Through the Out Door posts about Open Souce discussions regarding networking within the military. another reason why i like the blogosphere. i'd never have even thought of this topic without a nudge. thanks for the nudge.

if you have followed my blog at all, you know that i love to cook. and bake. and eat. well, i'm not the only one. check out this cake Will made. he's a new guy. go over and say howdy.

another excellent baker, this one a professional(!) let's us know that he's not dead. whew.

"In Dubuque, Iowa, some people brought to Obama an unemployed union member who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged him to place his hand on the man."
Exurban League posts about the vatican investigation surrounding the latest Obama Miracle.

ever hear of the Jedi Church? me either. The Good Donut has, and links us up.

Blunoz reminds us why fatherhood is so precious. hey dads, remember the wiener dance?


and finally, i'd like to direct you to my own blog. i've been following the whole islamist/Danish dustup. i talk about Analyzing the news you hear or read coming from europe.

any submariners with blogs not listed on my blogroll, please email me. i'll be sure to add you, and visit from time to time.

updating and shifting the bubblehead blogroll

it's time for a little maintenance on the links list. the bubblesphere bloggers that haven't posted in 6 months are getting moved down to the drydock, and a few new ones are being added.

first new addition is Bill's Vignettes an old bubblehead torpedoman who is now a Babtist minister. just shows that many of us continue on after life in the Navy to serve our country and fellow citizens in other ways. some go on to be firemen, cops, and even ministers.

and for some reason, i thought i'd already linked up Emergency Blow, but i didn't. fixed that!

another one i found has just migrated from blogspot to wordpress. meet The Good Donut, whose tagline is "The best donut is a free donut; the next best donut is… the next free donut". i can get behind that....

and one that isn't a submariner, but is still worthy of note. i found this blog some time ago, and posted a link, but failed to blogroll. i am now correcting this error. go visit The Sand Monkey. interesting perspective of life in Egypt.

and a bummer is that CeeBee a RN submariner looks like he's pulled his blog offline. bummer. Ceeb was a good guy, and has just finished a tour in the 'Stan as a medic type. Ceeb, here's hoping you resurface when all is well.

anlyzing the news with new eyes: go Denmark!!!

ok, before i start ranting, let me point out that even though i slam on the brits on occasion regarding their apparent lack of will to stand up to the islamic wackjobs in their own country, i am quoting things from the BBC. yeah, it looks like i am an idiot, but there are two points i'd like to bring up. one: it's in english. two: it's a news feed widget i got with firefox.
just to show i do know where the good stuff is buried, i also read the the Daily Mail, because it is one of the few papers in Britain that consistently publishes articles examining problems in Britain brought about by the general lack of will to say NO to the islamists. case in point is THIS article discussing new bonds authorized in Britain

A new sharia law controversy erupted last night over Government plans to issue special "Islamic bonds" to pay for Gordon Brown's public-spending programme by raising money from the Middle East.

Britain is to become the first Western nation to issue bonds approved by Muslim clerics in line with sharia law, which bans conventional loans involving interest payments as "sinful".

The scheme would mark one of the most significant economic advances of sharia law in the non-Muslim world.

It will lead to the ownership of Government buildings and other assets currently belonging to British taxpayers being switched wholesale to wealthy Middle-Eastern businessmen and banks.

The Government sees sharia-compliant bonds as a way of tapping Middle-East money and building bridges with the Muslim community.

But critics say the scheme would waste money and could undermine Britain's financial and legal systems

dudes, the end is near in europe. if you value your freedom, get the hell across the atlantic NOW while you still can. avoid canada though, because even if it is America's hat, it is a european style hat.


i've been paying more and more attention to what is going on in europe over the last 4 years. it started when john kerry made such a big deal about aligning ourselves with the european elite. that "elite" is comprised of the so-called 68-ers. some of the characteristics of this group range from appeasement to avoid conflict at any cost, to a loudly expressed hatred of America. the fact that most of the european societies are in rapid decline, probably setting themselves up for life under sharia law, doesn't appear to make even the slightest bit of difference. norway and sweden, two countries held up as shining examples of enlightened societies, have all but handed over the deed to their country in a craven attempt to avoid stirring up the muslims in their countries.
Britain has their own worries. the archbishop of canterbury came out last week saying that it is inevitable britain will have sharia law. and there are whole sections of that country that are no longer under british rule, per se. neighborhoods throughout britain are now no-go zones unless you are muslim. and there are those so afraid of being seen as anything but purely politically correct that they will accept unbelievably unsocial behavior from the muslims. these people will attack anyone that complains about the heavily unfair and biased treatment of "real" british citizens at the hands of these invaders.

want to see how sympathies lie? want to see how biased the BBC is? an example from a recent article about the Danish cartoon flap:

Earlier, at Friday prayers, Danish Muslims from many backgrounds expressed frustration that one of the cartoons they find so offensive could have been printed again.

Weary resignation

Many said they simply could not understand the motive unless it was hatred for Islam.

But the overwhelming mood was not so much anger but weary resignation; a sense that they have been through this crisis once before and nothing has been learnt.

what i find humorous is that you can tell the writer was having a hard time putting the next sentence in, but without it, the whole point of the article would be lost:

On Tuesday, Denmark's Security and Intelligence Service said it had uncovered a plot by three Muslims in Denmark to kill one of the cartoonists.

Two of the men, who are not Danish citizens, are due to be expelled to Tunisia rather than put on trial.

source


the attempted pressure treatment has started. the "oh woe is us" bully them until they give up thugs have piped up:

"A condemnation and apology would help convince the Iranian people that Denmark's authorities had distanced themselves from the action, Iran's parliament said in a letter to Danish MPs."

thankfully, the Danes have begun to show they are no longer going to be bullied about by a minority group that is inimical to their way of life. this country has seen the murder of Theo Van Gogh, and the threats and vilification of Ayaan Hirsi Ali. the chance of a murderous attack on anyone that speaks against the muslims, excuse me, islamists, in europe is so high, that all too many are stuck in the appeasement mode. the Danes are quickly becoming the pariahs of the old school stick our heads in the sand, appease them and they'll go away european elite. and i say, good for them.

Nine members of Denmark's foreign affairs committee were due to arrive in Iran on Monday for a three-day trip focusing on human rights and the Islamic Republic's nuclear programme.

"We are not the ones to apologise," said Villy Soevndal, the leader of Denmark's Socialist People's Party.

"If anyone needs to apologise for freedom of speech, human rights, imprisonments, executions and lack of democracy, it is the Iranians."

Denmark's foreign minister has backed the parliamentarians' decision not to travel.

source

and lastly, here's another example of why i'm becoming more and more enamored with the Danes (beside the fact that one of my grandfathers was dutch):

Mr Wilders says his film will show the Muslim holy book is an inspiration for murder.

But the Iranian justice minister says it is an unnecessary attack on what Muslims regard as the holiest of things.

He said the motivation behind the film was satanic and urged the Dutch government to stop its screening.

Mr Wilders has already been advised that he may have to leave the country for his own safety.

But the government has so far refused to intervene, saying the issue is one of freedom of expression.

source.
you know, when a raft of movies came out depicting Christ in other than the "accepted" version, such as in The Last Temptation of Christ, i don't recall anyone firebombing or stabbing to death marty scorsese for directing the film here in this country. yeah, there was a lot of teeth gnashing and chest thumping. but no knife pinning a multi-page screed into his chest, ala Theo Van Gogh. i doubt there is another eurabian country that will show this movie, for fear of reprisals. and let me stress, if you haven't figured it out already, that if i have to fear reprisals or death for speaking my mind, it's time to get out the firearms. because in this country, you can still nominally speak your mind. but even here, there are sacred cows that can get you tossed in the slammer, because the mindless minions of political correctness have determined that some opinions and speech can be classified as hate speech. sorry. speech is speech. if you can express your opinions, then so can anyone else. even if they are morons.

i am firmly convinced every american should read the following two books to get an american perspective on what is going on in eurabia today. you will have a really tough time finding anything like this coming from european writers for many reasons. one reason: they are afraid of being murdered for saying anything against the onslaught of jihadis in eurabia. another: it is becoming easier and easier for islamists to use the courts to sue or have jailed anyone that says negative things about islam/islamists. in italy, you can and will be prosecuted for "hate speech". same for many other of the "enlightened" countries. when the main chant in protests by islamists is "Fuck free speech", we need to sit up and take note!
America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It by Mark Steyn, and While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam is Destroying the West from Within by Bruce Bawer

i wonder what the response will be this time?

remember this?
seems there are a couple of Danish newspapers that are reprinting that cartoon two years after the first time. and only days after the Danes arrested 3 bozos in the planning stages of killing the creator of the cartoon. for more info, check out Michelle Malkin's blog. it's a good place to link out to various articles and analysis of the latest in this long running public exhibition in stifling free speech.

Uncommon sense from Britian

...as a perfect reflection of the European-establishment mentality-or, more specifically, of the neurotically conflicted attitude toward America that's standard issue for the so-called "'68-ers". It's the '68-er-Europe's version of the sixties generation-whose formative experiences shaped the politically correct politics of today's European establishment, and who still make up the heart of that establishment.

Like their American counterparts, Europe's '68-ers were mostly middle-class university kids, children of postwar prosperity who came of as protesting the Vietnam War and decorated their bedrooms with posters of Bobb Dylan and Jim Morrison (and, in some cases, Mao and Ho Chi Minh). The transatlantic similarities are many. But there are important distinctions. For one thing, the Europeans had another key formative event in addition to Vietnam: the May 1968 general strike by French students and workers, which paralyzed France and nearly brought down the government of Charles de Gaulle. This experience not only gave students an exaggerated lifelong sense of their own power and importance; it also established a postwar French custom of resorting to crippling, pointless strikes at the drop of a chapeau in response to just about anything.

The major differences between the American and European '68-ers emerged in the post-Vietnam years. Young Americans who'd raged against the evils of the American establishment grew up to become members of that establishment. In all but a relative handful of extreme cases, the pure, abstract oppositional ideology of their youth could not survive confrontation with the complex reality of America that was all around them and with the simple fact that America was their nation, their home, and - now- their responsibility. Indeed, for Americans in positions of power, the world world was their responsibility.

that was not the case with Europe's elite 68-ers. As they grew older, their awareness of their own provincality intensified, and with it their resentment and envy of the immense country on the far side of the ocean. America was the cultural hub; America was where it was happening. Americans of the Sixties generation had international responsibilities and an international audience. By contrast, as the European '68-ers progressed in their careers- as politicians, writers, journalists, teachers, professors, government bureaucrats- they became more acutely aware of the relative unimportance of what they themselves said and did and wrote, and could only look on from the sidelines, sniping and sneering at a country whose people they were, essentially, invisible. This marginality and irrelevance had its impact on their views and their rhetoric: aware that their critiques had no effect, they continued into their adulthood to assume a posture toward America that was every bit as extreme and cartoonish as that of their youth.

quoted from While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam is Destroying the West from Within by Bruce Bawer (pages 97-98 of the paperback version), a book i highly recommend if you are at all curious as to why Americans and Europeans seem to be so diametrically opposed on many many issues.

why did i go through the trouble to type the previous paragraphs? because today i read an editorial by a Brit that claims 1968 was probably one of the worst years in British history, and his assessment mirrors Bawer's. Read the editorial here