Monday, February 28, 2005
Continuing a meme
He trailed off, suddenly aware that Amberle was shaking her head in disapproval. The Elven girl crossed her legs before her and sat back.
“What’s the matter?” he asked, dropping down next to her.
From “The Elfstones of Shannara” by Terry Brooks.
The rules are simple.
1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog along with these instructions.
5. Don’t you dare dig for that “cool” or “intellectual” book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest.
Well?
Lebanon’s government resigns
I’m stunned. The entire Lebanese Syrian puppet government has resigned as the entire Lebanese population has risen up against the Syrian occupiers.
(Betcha that’s an occupation that no one on the Left has bothered to protest over the last few decades.)
Syria invaded and became an occupying force in 1977. There were Marines killed in Beirut (which was declared the Most Dangerous City in the World).
The sudden appearance of a rather large American force on the border Syria had once deemed safe has caused it to start realizing just exactly what kind of a rock/hard place in which it has found itself.
Syria is suddenly in a very vulnerable spot. Its international neighbors are:
- Turkey - an American ally in the War on Terror (WoT) and EU member
- Iraq - newly democratic and current location of more than 100,000 of the deadliest fighting forces on the planet
- Jordan - a WoT ally led by a King whose stepmother is still an American citizen
- Israel - an American ally who has kicked the shit out of (much larger) Syria repeatedly over the last half century, and who stands ready to do so again, on a moment’s notice
- Lebanon - who is fighting to kick Syria the hell out after the 28-year occupation
God bless ‘em all.
There’s something to be said for a
Cold Fury. He has said it all, and better than anyone else could have possibly done.
And now to the point about all this being divisive. I’ve said many times that I find it highly amusing that immediately after losing an election (or, at this point, several in a row), the Dems/LLL/whatever can always be relied upon to begin bleating about how awful “divisiveness” is and how desperately the country needs more “bipartisanship” and a “dialogue” and “communication” and “unity” and all that other meaningless rebop that adds up to “let’s all pretend we didn’t lose, okay?”
Translation: the libs are losing, and they don’t know when or even if they’ll ever start winning again, and they’re frightened by what that might mean—and it all rings pretty goddamned hollow coming from people who, the week before the votes were cast and counted, were calling everyone who dared to even consider voting Republican either a Nazi or a moron, and have done for more than thirty years now.
He also spanks the “Against the War, but Support our Troops” hypocrites pretty effectively, too…
Read The Whole Thing.
I can’t believe I’ve never read his stuff before. Why aren’t you guys telling me about these kinds of blogs?
UPDATE: Loyal Reader Leigh points out that the only possible answer to “Why aren’t you guys telling me about these kinds of blogs?” is “Because there’s no way to comment!”
Friday, February 25, 2005
OK…I’m a bit late
I took my nephew to the game, and had to get him home. He’s 10, and that is a most distracting age.
Distracting ina way that actually means, “Make John 10 minutes later than he absolutely needs to be.”
So...I said I would post....well...here you go.
OK….so I haven’t been posting….
...I have other hobbies.
Though blogging is a passion, and I love doing it, I admit that I have stopped down a bit, due to Drummie’s efforts to push the site over to another platform.
That, and being sick. What ever had a hold of me sucked....suckedsuckedsucked.
Did I say it sucked?
Well, the dilemna...do I post, or do I wait? Part of the joy of blogging is the reciept of your salient and knowledgeable commentary.
That and the babes. Lots of babes.
I’ll be on later....to post a post. To blog a blog, so to speak.
About 10:30 EST, I’ll begin. Expect a posting after 11:30 EST.
Carry on. That is all.
Sorry about the lack of posting, folks
I’m trying to make Jim’s workload as light as possible, because he has literally thousands of posts and comments to swap over. I’ve offered to help, but I’d probably be about as useful as a third nipple. He started with the post about Puerto Rico (a few days ago), and went backwards.
20 months backwards.
That’s a lot of stuff to swap over, and once he gets that done, he has to import everything I have written since then.
Thus, the dearth of writing.
I’ve been arguing science/religion over at Lee’s during the slack times. Stop on by…
And keep checking back. There will probably be some things I wanna bitch about from time to time, Jim’s workload be damned.... 
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
We’re getting HAIL fercrissake
Rain sucks, but hail sucks worse, and damages things to boot.
This weather simultaneously sucks and blows.
That is all.
Dammit. 
UPDATE: 10 minutes later, the hail has stopped and I can actually see a patch of blue sky when I look out the window. Meanwhile it’s still raining like a horse pissing on a flat rock. This weather sucks.
We salute you
On February 23, 1945 - exactly 60 years ago today - after days of some of the heaviest fighting of the Pacific War, American forces managed to climb to the top of Mount Suribachi, the highest point on Iwo Jima, where they took down the Japanese flag and replaced it with the American Flag. A photographer was nearby, recording the event, and snapped what has become the most reproduced photograph in all of History.
We salute those brave souls, and are proud to be the heritage of their sacrifices.
Geeky jokes
I don’t know whether or not I should be ashamed of the fact that I both understood - and laughed my ass off at - the jokes in this FARK thread (article).
Q: What do you get when you cross an elephant and a banana?
A: (Elephant)*(Banana)*sin(theta) in the direction normal to the Elephant-Banana plane
Tuesday, February 22, 2005
The transfer
Thanks to the tireless efforts of those who know more about this than I do (hey, I’m a hardware type), our transfer is continuing apace. Once we complete everything, and the layout is how we like it, we will make the switch, with a total down-time measured in minutes, if we’re lucky.
You shouldn’t notice any real changes, except that you will have to register to post comments. But at least there will be no more spamming of the comments, and no track-back spams, either.
Hang in there, folks. It’s gonna be well worth it, once we’re done.
Feeling a bit Better….
...yeah, better with a big ‘B’, though from what I have heard about this bug, there are three stages:
1. Feeling like crap
2. Feeling better for 3-5 hours
3. Feeling like crap.
I’m going to get a column up and out there, before I hit Stage Three, and it will be about horses, ice, and the Media.
Monday, February 21, 2005
Puerto Rico
I just heard Neil Cavuto griping about where we would put the 51st Star if Puerto Rico finally gets off the dime and becomes our 51st State.
If that is his only concern, he should have asked me.
Three rows of nine alternating with three rows of eight.
If we add a 52nd State (maybe Washington, DC), we go to four rows of seven alternating with four rows of six, and for 53, it’s four rows of eight alternating with three rows of seven.
The question of where the extra seven Congressmen that Puerto Rico would get (since PR has a bigger population than Oregon, and Oregon has seven), its population would be just added into the mix, and the 435 Congressmen would be re-apportioned. It wouldn’t be easy, but it’s just work.
Happy to help, Neil…
This is teh funny
Regarding the Ward Churchill “free speech"/"professional incompetence” controversy, Gonzolo comes up with an absolutely brilliant suggestion (in the comments on this thread).
He should not be fired. He should be ridiculed. He should remain so that people really understand what “Ethnic Studies” is all about. In fact, Pres. Bush should write a letter requesting that he NOT be fired. How much would that fuck with people? How awesome would that be, if Churchill owes his job to Bush?
Sunday, February 20, 2005
Republican = Racist?
It is a long and revealing list.
RTWT.
Sick, sick, sick….
I am sick. Quite sick
Cold? Flu? Whatever it is, it’s winning, I am losing. Badly, however you look at it.
Head is feeling somewhat swollen, eyes are puffy, low grade fever, peeing six or seven times more than normal.
If I can recover a bit over the next day or so, I’ll post a column....or, I’ll rent a Roto-Rooter to excavate my nasal passages.
Peace all. I’m off to get some orange juice, and get to the bathroom....again.