Hook’s been cranking out episodes of his Jackie O’Shea story. You should check it out.
Updated the link to Jackie O’Shea. Hook’s put the links in order.
…it shortened a horrific American Idol by an hour.
And yes, I’m saying this BEFORE the speech.
Update: Okay, not a bad speech all in all. Beautiful Wife loved Laura looking at him mouthing, “Thanks Babe.”
Ya know…if the media would spend a half, a quarter, a scintilla of the amount of time reporting on soldiers, marines, airman and sailors wounded in the line of duty as they have on Bob Woodruff, I may have more respect for them.
It’s like all of a sudden there’s an IED problem in Iraq. Really? Gosh, thanks kids, never noticed it before. What would we have done without Bob Woodruff’s experience opening our eyes? (/end dripping sarcasm)
I’ve just started reading Prayers for the Assassin but I thought I’d put a couple of first impressions down before I got too deep into it.
So far it reads like a whodunit/where’dshego set in an America that’s been conquered, mostly through non-violent means, by Islam. I’m liking it more than I thought I would which suprises me. I had prejudged it in my head as simply another attempt at some sort of Twilight Zone episode writ topical and large, but I find myself more intrigued the more I get into it.
“What if?” is a hard game to play. Get too out far out and you lose the readers. Get too matter-of-fact and you risk boring us to death. Ferrigno doesn’t beg the question of how Islam took over in the United States, he simply tells the story and in the process he reveals how it happened without taking over the current story. A neat trick.
I’ll leave it at that until I’ve finished, but I’m already thinking about turning in early to read a couple extra chapters tonight and I don’t do that very often.
BTW: I love this mock news site that they’ve set up to further imerse ourselves in the world of the book.
NOTE: Thanks Kevin for checking my spelling.
I’ve done it before, and I’ll do it again. If I see a comment that has nothing to do with the post it’s attached to on MY posts, I delete them. I understand if the conversation evolves somehow from one point to another, but for goshsakes, don’t hijack one of our posts for one of your own rants or positions. Wait until we talk about it, or, better yet, get your own blog.
And if you need to complain about ads or a techie issues, simply email one of us, preferably Kevin since he likes people more than I do, most of the time, if he’s had his meds, otherwise… It should be as simple as clicking on one of our names.
And if you’re not using the Firefox Browser then I probably can’t help you anyway because my first answer is going to be, get Firefox and most of your browser problems will solve themselves.
mmmm’k?
Thanks.
The winner and clearly a man after my own … heart is:
SFC B with: “Laura Bush prepares to demonstrate how her third date with George ended.”
Hey, you want better quality captions, play the game.
Since Boyo is nine, I often get to enjoy current cartoons where many grownups may miss some of what’s going on in that arena. Okay, fine, I watch cartoons with my son sometimes. I’m all for the current trend going on at Cartoon Network where they’re once again producing cartoons with some very grown-up humor that goes right over the kids’ heads and smack into our funny bones. When Grim from The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy awoke from a dream saying, “This is not my beautiful house. This is not my beautiful wife.” and Billy was chanting “Same as it ever was, same as it ever was.” I almost lost a mouthful of tuna salad. A Talking Heads reference was not expected, and I loved it. And last night when Billy unearths a frozen Fred Flintstone from his front yard? Funny stuff.
Yesterday morning, before school, Boyo was watching a new Scooby Doo cartoon. I’m not big on the newer Scooby cartoons, the formula was old when I was watching them and the artwork has gotten downright sad. However, something stuck out in this one. As the gang was fleeing from a giant sea monster, Daphne surfing a 10 footer with the rest of the crew on her shoulders, Rockaway Beach by The Ramones was playing. Not some cheezy, producer written, studio musician performed psuedo 70s rock tune, Rockaway Beach by The Ramones.
I don’t know who’s behind this, and I don’t care, but I think it must be celebrated, it must be cheered, it must be encouraged. My son’s musical tastes are currently centered around the soundtrack from The Chronic (WHAT) kulls of Narnia to Evanescence to Enya, who we played in his nursery to get him to sleep some nights. Any more good music that he can get exposed to that doesn’t come from us (because, what do parents know about music when you’re nine?) is well appreciated.
Bravo Scooby Doo. Keep up the good work.
Okay, so you guys want more military memoirs, here’s one I’ve threatened to tell since I got here and never got around to it.
This is mostly from a letter I sent home from the end of January, 1991. Thanks to Paddy for saving it. The rest is from memory, and you know how that goes. And I make no apologies for the rough language, it’s the way I talked back then.
Operation Desert Storm, January, 1991. Southwest Saudi Arabia, Team Stealth. F-117s in the hangars and surrounded by Arabs.
As is always the case on a deployment, the cops are overworked and getting a little crispy around the edges because they’re working, they’re trying to eat, they’re trying to keep their uniforms somewhat professional looking, some of them are trying to keep their PT up, and oh yeah, when there’s time left, they try to sleep through all the prayer calls. Cranky cops are okay for a little bit but you don’t want youngsters with guns with bad attitudes wandering around a foreign country…especially Saudi Arabia where the locals are a bit more…sure of themselves…have a healthy sense of self-esteem…oh fuck it…where the locals are the most arrogant sons a bitches you’d ever want to meet. And I know from arrogant, I used to think it was a positive character trait instead of defect.
Back then when the cops got a bit over-worked, we augmented them. By that I don’t mean we attended traffic pattern safety school and put on an orange vest and got RSD from waving cars in the gate, I mean we grabbed a gun, flack jacket and helmets and we sat posts or rode patrols and we basically did what the cops did. We watched, we reported, we told the locals, “Stay away from our airplanes.”
In case you haven’t figured it out, I like simple when it comes to cooking. Picked this one up from my Mom last weekend. Make a batch of this and bring it to an event, be sure you bring copies of the recipe. Tastes like a chocolate covered brittle.
Groceries
1-2 Sleeves Saltine Crackers (Salted).
1 Cup Light or Dark Brown Sugar (Depends on your taste.).
2 Sticks Butter.
6 Regular Size Hershey Bars.
1 Cup Chopped Walnuts.
Preheat oven to 400.
Line 9×13 jellyroll pan with foil.
Line foil with crackers.
Melt butter and brown sugar in sauce pan until well blended.
Pour butter/sugar mixture over crackers.
Bake for 5 minutes
Place Hershey bars on top. Be careful, 400 degrees of butter and sugar is HOT.
Do NOT place back in oven, the chocolate will melt.
When melted, spread chocolate smooth.
Sprinkle walnuts over chocolate.
Place in freezer for 1/2 hour.
Peel off foil and break into pieces.
If still “wet” let sit overnight, uncovered, in the refrigerator.
Couldn’t help it, had to do it:
Winner(s) Monday.
Other Caption Blogginess:
Wizbang
Outside the Beltway
Stuck on Stupid
CLOSED. Play next time.
…this whole thing where the entertainment media combines names of famous couples.
Quit. It.
It’s not cute, it’s not hip, it’s not hot, it’s annoying.
Bennifer
TomKat
Brangelina (Thanks Stryker)
Maybe it’s the stars of today. Can you even imagine the stars of yesteryear putting up with:
Tracy and Hepburn? SpenceKat?
Bogie and Bacall? HumpLaur? BogCall?
John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara? JohnAureen? Waynara?
See? Not even in your wildest dreams. It’s just wrong.
What the heck, put your favorite combinations in the comments.
Hey. Jeff Harrell has a featured column over at Wizbang that’s worth your time. He’s got a good wrapup of all the shots fired at us before we fought back in the war on terror.
So I went to see my Mom in Chicagoland this weekend, driving out Friday Morning and back today. I thought I’d share some of the random flotsam that goes through my brain when I’m running I-80 through the “scenic” Iowa and Illinos farmlands.
Attention Flatbed Drivers. For the love of GOD, please make sure that your load of empy 50 gallon drums are ALL secure before you head out on the hiway. I’m still pulling pieces of upolstery out of my ass. But ya know, thanks for the fact that it was empty, all that bouncing helped me miss it…I think…I’m still unsure of HOW I missed it.
Why is it every package of beef jerkey you can purchase in a truck stop is stale?
I have no idea why so many RVs were on the road. Isn’t it January? Who RVs in January?
Attention Country Radio. Bless the Broken Road by Rascal Flats IS a killer song, but perhaps you should consider toning down how many times an hour your play it.
Attention all drivers on the hiway: 1) PICK. A. SPEED. 2) Slower drivers to the left, faster drivers to the right is NOT the recommended practice. 3) Merge does not mean I need to get the hell out of your way, it means you need to adjust your happy self into the flow of traffic. 4) 18-Wheelers are bigger than we are. That in itself deserves some respect. Considering the taxes that truckers pay compared to us, yes in fact they DO own the road, a couple times over I might add. Give them a freakin’ break. 5) PICK. A. SPEED. Yeah, one and five are the same, some folks need to be told twice.
Iowa rest stops are quite clean and well-kept, good on Iowa.
People in Iowa are very very very friendly to an old fart in an Air Force hoody. People in rural Illinois are also very friendly. This friendliness begins to fade as you get closer to Chicago.
Family members and friends who have lived in Chicagoland all their lives or most of their adult lives have NO idea what the hell is going on in the world other than Bush sucks and all our troops need to come home and lock down our borders.
Don’t know how long but at least until the middle of next week, probably longer. I’m bored.
1. President Bush relives his last debate with John Kerry. Rodney Dill.
And ya give me more than 10 next time, I’ll give ya more than one winner.
…we have assumed control, we have assumed control, we have assumed control.
Yesterday I found R30, Rush’s 30th Anniversary World Tour, recorded in Frankfurt, September 2004, and I almost couldn’t wait to put the DVD in the Bose last night and crank it to 11. Beautiful wife went so far as to put her earplugs in for me. Sigh. Wonderful woman.
First of all, I have been a Rush fan since 1976 where in Paul Anderson’s basement I first heard 2112. As far as I’m concerned, there isn’t a better guitar player than Alex Lifeson, a better basist and synthesizer wizard than Geddy Lee or better drummer/lyracist than Neil Peart. They got into my teenage head and heart and they’ve never left. I will still stop a converation if Tom Sawyer comes on the radio. I’ve seen them live and I hope to take my son to see them live one day. They’re musicians, stage craftsmen, performers extraordinare.
How the hell they keep the songs fresh after all these years, I don’t know, but there isn’t a stale moment in 22 songs. They still look like they’re having a blast, and they still look like they’re working on improving the material. I really like their takes on classics like Crossroads, Summertime Blues , Heart Full of Soul and The Seeker which were all pleasant suprises in the show. They sound a little weird with Geddy Lee’s giant mouse/siren voice singing but they’re very good.
BEST. DAMN. ROCK. DRUMMER. EVER. (Unless Bill Bruford is in the room and then well, they’d probably try to put it off on the other.) Neil Peart, aka, The Professor, is still center stage, surrounded by his drum kit from which he invokes both thunderbolts and butterfly carresses at will. His precision has been written about and commented on for years…and he’s still a freak of nature when he plays, sometimes making me wonder if he’s not a creation of the Priests of Syrinx. He introduced me to Ayn Rand. Yes drum fans, Der Trommler is played in all it’s glory. I got chills.
Geddy Lee with his bass and magical symphonic keyboards (some that he plays with his feet) are over stage left…his voice clearer but still as quirky as ever. I don’t think there’s a uglier damn rock star on the planet. He’s always had this mad wizard thing about him and now that he’s older, it just fits him even better. He’s also one of the three vocalists that can turn his voice into a siren so, much is forgiven. (And the other two are? Anyone?)
Alex Lifeson is stage right and his hands haven’t slowed down a damn bit. That man always was one of the least acknowledged guitarists around. He’s one of the guitarists I love to WATCH play.
I thoroughly enjoy watching rock bands who go away when they play. Not the muggers and pretenders. The ones who somehow manage to truly step aside and let the Rock Gods use them up for the two or three hours that they’re on stage. R30 captures that. Instead of taking bits and pieces from the worldwide tour in 2004, they managed to capture an amazing night for all of them and present it as such. I never thought a film or video of Rush could do them justice, but R30 does.
All in all, even if you’re a casual Rush fan, one that can hear the opening of 2112 and not close their eyes in bliss, you’re going to want to add this DVD to your collection. This is the way Rush is meant to be heard, playing for and with an audience.
And if you’re not a Rush fan and try to dump on them here, I will delete you, I have no desire to have that conversation.
Other Captioning Silliness:
Wizbang
It Comes In Pints?
Outside the Beltway.
If you’re doing caption fun, email me or trackback.
I guess I’ll go through and pick the “best of” on Sunday Night/Monday Morning.
What are the marks of a sick culture?
It is a bad sign when the people of a country stop identifying themselves with the country and start identifying with a group. A racial group. Or a religion. Or a language. Anything, as long as it isn’t the whole population.
A very bad sign. Particularism. It was once considered a Spanish vice but any country can fall sick with it. Dominance of males over females seems to be one of the symptoms.
Before a revolution can take place, the population must loose faith in both the police and the courts.
High taxation is important and so is inflation of the currency and the ratio of the productive to those on the public payroll. But that’s old hat; everybody knows that a country is on the skids when its income and outgo get out of balance and stay that way – even though there are always endless attempts to wish it away by legislation. But I started looking for little signs and what some call silly-season symptoms.
I want to mention one of the obvious symptoms: Violence. Muggings. Sniping. Arson. Bombing. Terrorism of any sort. Riots of course – but I suspect that little incidents of violence, pecking way at people day after day, damage a culture even more than riots that flare up and then die down. Oh, conscription and slavery and arbitrary compulsion of all sorts and imprisonment without bail and without speedy trial – but those things are obvious; all the histories list them.
I think you have missed the most alarming symptom of all. This one I shall tell you. But go back and search for it. Examine it. Sick cultures show a complex of symptoms as you have named… But a dying culture invariably exhibits personal rudeness. Bad manners. Lack of consideration for others in minor matters. A loss of politeness, of gentle manners, is more significant than a riot.
This symptom is especially serious in that an individual displaying it never thinks of it as a sign of ill health but as proof of his/her strength. Look for it. Study it. It is too late to save this culture – this worldwide culture, not just the freak show here in California. Therefore we must now prepare the monasteries for the coming Dark Age. Electronic records are too fragile; we must again have books, of stable inks and resistant paper.
~~Friday and Dr. Baldwin in Friday~~
Found at Quoteable Heinlein
…only after he loses out on a multi-million dollar deal.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson has sent a letter apologizing for suggesting that Ariel Sharon’s massive stroke was divine punishment for pulling Israel out of the Gaza Strip.
Robertson’s comments drew widespread condemnation from other Christian leaders, President Bush and Israeli officials, who canceled plans to include the American evangelist in the construction of a Christian tourist center in northern Israel.
In a letter dated Wednesday and marked for hand delivery to Sharon’s son Omri, Robertson called the Israeli prime minister a “kind, gracious and gentle man” who was “carrying an almost insurmountable burden of making decisions for his nation.”
“My concern for the future safety of your nation led me to make remarks which I can now view in retrospect as inappropriate and insensitive in light of a national grief experienced because of your father’s illness,” the letter said.
“I ask your forgiveness and the forgiveness of the people of Israel,” Robertson wrote.
Emphasis mine.
I’m not sure what’s worse, the original comments or the fact that he only apologized after taking a hit to the pocketbook. You have to wonder who’s handling his image? Why not just come out and say, “I’m so sorry I lost all that money?”
Perhaps word of the President signing a bill last week that makes it illegal to be annoying without using your real name on the internet caused some of you to go hmmmmmmmmmm, I wonder what jail looks like?
Not to worry. As long as what you’re saying is protected under the First Amendment, you’re okay, but you wouldn’t have known it from all the scurrying and hyperventilating I saw over the weekend.
Luckily some folks wait before they comment on a story.
Via Ravenwood.
Over at It Comes In Pints.
Curse you Ken Summers.
Warning. Extreme screen and keyboard damage is probable. Remove all liquid from your immediate vicinity.
Comments closed do to idjits (Robin’s back Mom) giving away the punchline.
Received this email from Spirit of America today:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SPIRIT OF AMERICA RELEASES ANONYMOUS BLOGGING GUIDES IN ENGLISH,
ARABIC, CHINESE, AND PERSIANSpirit of America has launched the BlogSafer wiki, available at http://www.blogsafer.org. BlogSafer contains a series of guides on how to blog under difficult conditions in countries that discourage free speech.
LOS ANGELES, California – January 7, 2006 – Spirit of America’s
BlogSafer wiki hosts a series of targeted guides to anonymous
blogging, each of which outline steps a blogger in a repressive regime
can take, and tools to use, to avoid identification and arrest. These
range from common sense actions such as not providing identifying
details on a blog to the technical, such as the use of proxy servers.
More »
Saw this in the Early Bird this morning and almost forgot about it until now.
Saddam’s Terror Training Camps
What the documents captured from the former Iraqi regime reveal–and why they should all be made public.
by Stephen F. Hayes
01/16/2006, Volume 011, Issue 17THE FORMER IRAQI REGIME OF Saddam Hussein trained thousands of radical Islamic terrorists from the region at camps in Iraq over the four years immediately preceding the U.S. invasion, according to documents and photographs recovered by the U.S. military in postwar Iraq. The existence and character of these documents has been confirmed to THE WEEKLY STANDARD by eleven U.S. government officials.
Gosh…that might mean that we weren’t lied to. Perhaps some of intelligence was accurate. Perhaps Iraq was actually a valid target in The Global War on Terror. Perhaps this information should have been released to the public the moment it was found and we could have avoided some of the tearing apart the country is currently going through. Perhaps if there’s MORE information it should be released as soon as possible instead of waiting for, oh, I don’t know, a political cycle and maybe we can stop sneering at each other so damn much.
I guess it all depends on what your definition of “support” is.
From the Air Force Sergeant’s Ass0ciation (AFSA) Periodical 300-2, Jan 6, 2006.
TAKE ACTION NOW! PROTECT THE MILTARY HEALTH CARE BENEFIT!
In early December, AFSA warned its members that the Administration, through the Department of Defense (DoD), is going to propose to Congress drastic increases in the cost of health care for military beneficiaries–with military retirees, their family members, and survivors as the prime targets.
…
The latest threat to military health care is very serious. If DoD gets its way, prescription costs would significantly increase for all TRICARE beneficiaries, the annual costs of Standard and Extra would, for the first time ever, be required to pay annual fees, and the TRICARE for Life program will remain intact, but the increased cost of prescriptions would significantly reduce the financial well-being and quality of life for our oldest retirees, their family members and survivors. Other proposals being considered could further degrade the value of the retiree health care benefit. Specifically, DoD seeks to:– Progressively raise TRICARE Prime for enlisted retirees over the next three years from the current $230 per individual and $460 per family to $300 per individual and $600 per family in 2006, $375 per individual and $750 per family in 2007, and to $450 per individual and $900 per family in 2008.
– Establish for the first time, a TRICARE Standard enrollment fee–$100 for individual coverage and $200 for family coverage next year; $150 per individual and $300 per family in 2007; and $200 for individual coverage and $400 per family in 2008.
– Increase annual deductibles under TRICARE Standard and TRICARE Extra programs. Currently, the deductible is $150 for individual coverage and $300 for families. These deductibles would rise to $175 for individual and $350 per family next year and rise again to $200 per individual and to $400 per family in 2008.
– Increase TRICARE pharmacy co-payments. A $5 co-payment could be levied for generic drugs obtained from Retail Network Pharmacies; no co-payment would be imposed for those ordered by mail. The current $9 co-payment for brand name drugs would increase to $15 from TRICARE Retail Network Pharmacies and to $10 by the Mail Order Pharmacy. The cost for all non-formulary drugs would remain at $22 per prescription.
I’m usually not a write your Congressman kind of guy, but crap like this just pisses me off.
Maybe get ahold of your Senators too.
And since it is the President’s Administration, go ahead and drop him a line too.
Let them all know that you think our military deserves better. The guarantee of “free health and dental for life” if you do 20 years was broken years ago and now they want to make it clear that while they may love us and support us and they’ll even pray for us, they just don’t want to pay us or those that came before us what was promised.
That’s right America, you are letting your elected officials break promises made to your military. Yes I’m guilt trippin’ on ya, and no, I’m not sorry.
Let’s look at the official response from the good reverend’s website:
ISRAEL
Robertson Spokesperson Addresses Comments Made by Pat Robertson Regarding Ariel Sharon
VIRGINIA BEACH, VA., January 5, 2006—Pat Robertson expresses his deep sadness over Ariel Sharon’s life threatening stroke and concern for Israel’s future security.
On The 700 Club broadcast this morning Robertson said he has met with Sharon at significant times and considers him a friend. Robertson, an ordained minister and bible teacher, has been a life long supporter of Israel and has continually expressed grave concern over dividing the land of Israel. Robertson pointed to the book of Joel in the Old Testament to show a biblical perspective of God’s view of Israel and efforts made from people who try to divide God’s land:
“In the book of Joel, the prophet Joel makes it very clear that God has ‘enmity against those who divide My land.’ God considers this land to be His. When you read the Bible, He said this is my land. For any Prime Minister of Israel who decides he will carve it up and give it away, God said, “No, this is Mine.”
According to his spokesperson, Angell Watts, Robertson is simply reminding his viewers what the Bible has to say about efforts made to divide the land of Israel.
She also expressed Dr. Robertson’s outrage at People for the American Way, who have a clear left-wing political agenda and who, on an ongoing basis, lift his comments out of context and widely circulate them in an attempt to discredit him.
Okay, so because a book that was composed around 400 B.C. says that the Hebrew God doesn’t like anyone carving up His backyard, somehow this is explanation for what’s happened to the Prime Minister of Israel? Nothing personal, the Bible says it. Oh, and because it’s a liberal group pointing out that this bullshit is bullshit, we’re supposed to be mad at THEM instead.
The Reverend Robertson’s dogma has been run over by his kharma…again.
I think I like Episcopalians. They’re whacky!
Too bad the pilot ran into Galactica.
By the way, SciFi Friday is all new. Galactica RAWKED!
I know I’ve been quiet. It’s been one of those weeks where I’ve started to write on this or that or the other thing and just couldn’t get myself to publish any of it. I saw Ken grab ahold of this meme and figured why not? No tags. You’re all it.
Four jobs you’ve had in your life: 1. Mover. 2. Hot tar roofer. 3. Chemical Engineer and Mass Developer (Color Prints) for a Commercial Photo Lab. (Remember those lovely photos you had taken in school?) 4. Bartender. (And those were the GOOD jobs I had before I joined the Air Force.)
Four movies you could watch over and over: 1. Silverado. 2. Mickey One. 3. Angels With Dirty Faces. 4. The Last Waltz.
Four books you could read again and again: 1. LOTR. 2. Time Enough for Love. 3. The Way of the Peaceful Warrior. 4. The Tao of Pooh.
Four places you’ve lived: 1. Chicago IL. 2. Ramstein Germany. 3. Anchorage AK. 4. Honolulu HI.
Four TV shows you love to watch: 1. Battlestar Galactica. 2. American Idol. 3. Grey’s Anatomy. 4. Two and a Half Men.
Four places you’ve been on vacation: 1. New York NY. 2. Silver Dollar City Arkansas. 3. New Orleans LA. 4. Disneyland.
Four websites you visit daily: 1. Day By Day. 2. Protein Wisdom. 3. It Comes In Pints?. 4. Deviant Art. But there a a LOT more I manage to hit daily.
Four of your favorite foods: 1. BBQ Ribs. 2. Steak. 3. Gyros. 4. Kim Bop.
Four places you’d rather be: 1. North Shore of Oahu. 2. West Shore of Maui. 3. Kenai Alaska. 4. Lincoln Park, Chicago IL.
Four albums you can’t live without: 1. Dark Side of the Moon. 2. Soundtrack from Dazed and Confused. 3. Physical Graffiti . 4. Homebrewed.
But four is nowhere near enough.