I read this piece and quickly my eyes began to glaze over. I had to force myself to finish it. It's not really mean spirited, it's merely foolish in the extreme.

I'm going to surprise some people right now. I actually respect pacifists. I mean real ones, where nonviolence is an article of faith and there are no exceptions. Where they don't mean nonviolence for one side only, but turn away from carnage done in the name of non-Americans. I mean real Ghandi style pacifists. They are wrong, hopeless romantics and they are deluding themselves about the nature of conflict between men and nations. I respect them to the point where they live the talk that they talk.

MacArther said once that no one hates war more than a soldier, and I believe that's true. Few if any sign up because they wish to kill, that's not what motivates a man to take that oath. He may have many reasons, all good and all reasonable, but they really boil down to a simple reason, he wants to share in defending something. To protect, his family, his nation, the God he worships or even something he can't articulate. It's not a killers instinct but a father's that motivates a man to use his life in defense of his country. Killing is what you learn to do, but you hope you don't have to. You also feel the deaths of GI's strongly, because you can often put a face in a uniform where a lot of civilians see just a symbol. You know a man has died, not a faceless drone of a policy you hate, but a real breathing person, just like the men you shared the trials of service with. You know the cost, and you know the nature of such a death.

So yes, you do hate war. But you hate something else far more. You hate the cost of doing nothing, the cost to your own people, your family, your nation. You won't suffer them to be a victim. Not while you breathe.

What people like Bernice do not grasp is that evil is a very real thing. It's not a misunderstanding as she and others seem to think. Nor is it purely poverty, that's projecting your politics on a situation where they simply don't apply. The Iraqi's had oil wealth, a thriving culture, and a monster smothered it for his own gain. So how would feeding the poor have changed this? And what justice was served by Saddam's treachery? Bernice is a fool to make that arguement when it's so plainly and easily disproven.

I wish it was as simple as she seems to think. I wish we didn't have to shed blood, ours or theirs. I wish we could just spend a little more and just make it all go away.

It won't, and pretending that it can, is suicidal.

It's a foolish view she has, but I can respect her having it. Just that she should remember one thing. She couldn't exist, couldn't survive, if it weren't for millions of people who find the courage to risk their lives so that she could have such a safe haven to dream her dreams in.

I don't expect her to thank us, but it would be nice if she acknowledged the debt.

My reaction on reading this was , Huh? How can you live in the west and not know this? Have they gone too far in the PC drive so zealously persued in Europe? Taken the real reason for Christmas away entirely?

I don't now, but it's sad really.

This is what Americans do, sharing something we love with others. It won't make them Christian, that's not the point. It does show that friends are where you find them, and when shown a need, we will make an effort to help.

I wonder if they still talk to her in the Hallways at the Guardian?

To contemplate the thought processes of such individuals makes any decent person want to wash their hands until the slime of hypocritical hatred is swept away. But when whole sections of society peddle such lies, it's scarier still. And when carriers of the disease are shielded by those who govern us, you start to believe the lunatics have taken over the asylum: the EU's racism watchdog recently suppressed a report on the rise of anti-semitism because it concluded that Muslims were behind many incidents. What sort of world do we live in, when racism is "allowed" to be reported only if it comes from the white and the right? What about a stubborn, shimmering little thing called truth?

Jarjar would not approve of this piece. The Guardian has, as leftwing as it is, exhibited a touch of sanity on occasion. I'm sure they'll get over it as soon as they can.

The Army is pushing to get this weapon sooner than planned, largely because of problems that have continued to occur with the M-16. This is a good source about the weapon.

I wish they would reconsider the 7.62mm round though. Knock down power is important. AK is the resident expert, and I value his judgement, so what do you think about it my friend?

My profound apologies for the greater than normal typo's. I was in a rush yesterday trying to get the house ready for my son's 2nd birthday party, and was posting largely on the fly between projects. Sadly too, my vision is blurring a lot more lately and I suspect that my right eye is still deteriorating rapidly. (Old service injury, a stupid accident, clearing debris from a security fence in a high wind and caught some in the face, tore the cornea). Time for new lenses again.

Everybody will be here in a couple of hours. His birthday is the 19th, but this is the only day before when we could get everyone together.

I'll correct the more glaring ones as time allows.

Update, some corrections are now made, sorry, I know that typo's happen to all of us, but I try to not do it this often most of the time.

How about thousands? I'm in general sympathy with most people who lose a job through no fault of their own, it is a part of modern life. This however annoyed the Hell out of me.

WASHINGTON - Dozens of Forest Service employees in Utah and Montana were told last March they would be among the first victims of the Bush administration decision to bid out work by government employees to private contractors, who could do it cheaper.

Bad enough, but it soon becomes apparent that we are talking about high paid jobs with marketable skills. Everyone knows government jobs are soft and cushy, but damn it why should I pay for this, why do I have to subsidize someone to make twice what I do? Especially when something like this happens.

At an auction scheduled Dec. 3, other companies will have a chance to outbid Kroger for the 11 stores, as well as other Big Bear assets including stores, store leases and warehouses.

Penn Traffic last month requested permission to close 41 of its less profitable stores in four states by mid-December, eliminating 2,000 jobs.

I have some personal knowledge of this, I worked for Big Bear for 14 years, I took my military leave while working for them. I resigned in 89, several months after Penn (the fuck) Traffic took over in a hostile buy out. I have since put in 14 years with a competiter. The point is simple, those people are screwed, no fancy government union to go to court for them, they get shown the street, some with over 40 years on the job. On Dec. 3rd. three weeks before Christmas.

I have a lot of friends among them. So what happens when you are 40 with no transferable skills and get dumped? What company will hire you for a novice position?

It's how the world works, I understand that, our system is harsh, brutal sometimes. The only answer is that all the other systems suck even harder. I asked an old aquiantence who's fairly high on the corparate food chain wether we could absorb some of them. He said yes, we would try to pull in that core of experienced people. The catch, is that they will be starting all over again, at the bottom. But it's a job. I'm doing what I can, locally, calling in favors with people I know, tweaking some guilt, twisting a bit. Just to try and get some of them hired where I work. I know my influence is tiny, miniscule, but if I can get even a few some work, it will be a good thing.

If I hadn't resigned then, I would be with them now. I believe in our system, our economy, but I'm realistic about it. People get hurt, The only comfort is that we need to look out for eachother. Not a government gimme, just one worker offering a helping hand to another. It's community, helping our own without being told too, or being taxed to absolve of us responsibility. It's not a difficult concept.

It used to be common, maybe you have to be small town to remember that.

You are charged with protecting the president, terrorists would love to get to him. Then something like this happens. Suggestions are being made that the president was left vulnerable to a car bomb style attack. It's not that simple. They could have stopped the car sure, by killing everyone in it. But in this case it's a disturbed woman and three innocent children. This opens a whole can of worms.

Totally safe is a myth, I think the cops did as best they could. The only thing they could do better would be to park a ring of cars around the exits, blocking entry. That way, even a car bomb would have had to detonate away from the building. Depending on the size of the blast, even that isn't a necessarily a safe bet. An 18 wheeler would roll over cars, and how big could the bomb load be?

No simple easy answers. I suspect the Secret Service is well aware of the example set today. There will be changes, just not ones you read about in the papers. They do not discuss procedures.

Remember the wide spread condemnation of the US military after the Bagdad bombing of the UN headquarters? It was all our fault, we screwed up the security or somesuch nonsense from people who wouldn't understand security procedures if they smacked em in the face with a coal shovel.

The independent report is in, the verdict?

UN report slams Canadian for lapses in Baghdad blast
Steven Edwards
The Ottawa Citizen

Report: U.N. Responsible in Baghdad Blast
Saturday November 1, 2003 10:46 AM
By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press Writer

Annan responds to 'dysfunctional' security in Iraq
By Evelyn Leopold
November 1, 2003 - 11:47AM

Panel to look into U.N.'s lax security
Annan
By Edith M. Lederer
Associated Press

The last one has this liitle jewel.

The report on the Aug. 19 truck bombing criticized the United Nations for shunning protection from U.S.-led coalition forces and for ignoring "credible information on imminent bomb attacks in the area." It also accused the United Nations of violating its own security rules.

This is not a case of I told you so. This is a case of sit down and shut up you moron.

From Drudge, an update on the Reagan mini-series. No doubt the writers and producers of this show will scream interference, and censorship, but is it really? If I got the money together to produce a mini-series of say....Jimmy Carter, and then proceeded to write in whole passages of fiction, ignoring all requests by the Carter family to at least try and be fair. Would a request that I run a disclaimer at the bottom,

Gillespie said that if CBS denies the request, he will ask the network to run a note across the bottom of the screen every 10 minutes during the program's presentation informing viewers that the miniseries is not accurate.

Really be so unfair? Fiction is fiction, when you mix it with fact in such a way as that people who do not know their history can't tell the difference, then what purpose is served other than a purely partisan one. That everyone who's publicly connected to this in an important way is a member of the opposition party just ads to the suspection a hatchet job is in the works.

I'm no economist, I follow the numbers, watch for what others I respect have to say, but it's not an area of interest for me. I do understand the basics, growth is good, no growth is bad, and that jobs are dependent on a thriving economy.

The democrats know that their only hope of challenging Bush in 04 is for the economy to be in the dumps. That's when their strengths come into play. They no matter how much they complain, can't change the nations perception that the democrats are very weak on national security. During the nineties Clinton used those trends and perceptions to take and hold the White House. But there is a major difference now, war, and the threat of continued attacks on American soil have shattered the easy times feelings that nurtured Clinton. So unless they can run on a poor economy, the democrats haven't a hope in Hell of retaking the White House. Enter the following,

WASHINGTON (AP) - The economy grew at a blistering 7.2 percent annual rate in the third quarter in the strongest pace in nearly two decades. Consumers spent with abandon and businesses ramped up investment, compelling new evidence of an economic resurgence.

As I said, economics aren't my area of interest, and I'm quite sure many of our readers understand the numbers far better than I. This has got to be devastating news to Dean and Kerry. Their pet issue has just disappeared in a cloud of dust, a confidant economy is the last thing they need. Which leaves the deficit, they can run on it if they like, but if we could pay it down in the nineties, then people can be forgiven for thinking that we can overspend a little in wartime.

From Drudge.

As a rule, I never comment on celeb's outside a political context. But this plays like a rerun of an old Cops episode. I grew up watching Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland in the old movies series Andy Hardy. I watched the mother self destruct in reruns of old shows.

So, this is really kind of sad. I was never a great fan of Lisa, but still, I think it's just,......I really do feel sorry for her.

Frankly, if that guy was in my life somehow, I'd probably beat him too.

DOESN'T have a sense of humor.......

Via newcomer jcrue

Hoooo, baby. This must have been a tough report for the CDC to release - and for CNN to report. I mean, we've been told for years that "gun control laws work" and that they "save lives" and "prevent violent crime" - despite evidence to the contrary in the UK,

So, what does an objective evaluation of the data suggest?

A sweeping federal review of the nation's gun control laws -- including mandatory waiting periods and bans on certain weapons -- found no proof such measures reduce firearm violence.

Ahhhh, but these things are always open to interpretation, you see:

The CDC said the report suggests more study is needed, not that gun laws don't work. But the agency said it has no plans to spend more money on firearms study.

Yep, they didn't get the results they wanted - so it means more study is needed. BUT, they aren't going to spend any more money doing so. Is this because it's no longer considered to be an important question, or because they know that spending more money will yield the same results. The CDC has been VERY active in the gun control arena: you can bet that the study was designed to find a positive effect for gun laws, and that the data were massaged every way possible to see if there was an effect. The fact that they were unable to find any benefit, coupled with their decision to not pursue the matter further, speaks volumes about what the CDC did (and did not) find when they tabulated their data.

And, of course, the Brady Center takes the opportunity yet again to tell us that gun control laws work - even if their benefit can't be discerned by reviewing the literature on gun control laws as was done by the CDC:

A spokesman for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence said the laws work, but it is nearly impossible to prove it [how convenient - ed] because people can buy guns in one state and carry them into one of the handful of states with strong antigun measures.

"It's hard to study whether gun control laws work in this country because we have so few of them," said Peter Hamm. "Talking about studying gun control in this country is like talking about studying democracy in Iraq."

So few gun laws? I thought there were something like 28,000 gun control laws already on the books across the US (I have no idea what the real number is, just that it is huge. If anyone can provide the real number, let me know). The Brady Center response is, however, typical of any ideologically driven argument. There is no evidence that gun control laws work. The CDC was unable to find any evidence that they work. But the Brady Center knows they work, and knows what is best for you. So they want the federal government to keep funding studies until they get the results they want. Then, once they get the results they want (from the taxpayer-funded studies that will be performed until the "appropriate" conclusion is reached, of course), they will try and get the same federal government to undo the second amendment. It doesn't matter what the data says - it only matters what THEY say. After all, THEY are the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, and have some kind of omnipotent knowledge when it comes to the effectiveness of gun control in the US. Study results be damned - THEY KNOW GUN CONTROL WORKS, DAMNIT!

But, of course, it is not that gun control laws don't work, it's because the studies are flawed:

"When we say we don't know the effect of a law, we don't mean it has no effect. We mean we don't know," said Dr. Jonathan Fielding, chairman of the CDC task force. "We are calling for additional high-quality studies."

This is classic researcher mental masturbation. We all go into a research project (including this kind of meta-analysis reviewing all of the literature on a topic) with pre-conceived ideas. This so-called "researcher bias" is very difficult to control for, and why, in the biological sciences, things are typically done in a "blinded" fashion. For example, if we are testing to see if a new cancer drug increases survival, then there will be a study done that compares the effects of the drug against a placebo - and the researcher won't know which compound an individual patient is receiving. This is harder to do for social sciences research, and allows investigator bias to come through, sometimes even in the face of perceived objectivity. So, if these results had come out of a meta-analysis performed by the NRA, you would be right to be skeptical and wonder where the bias lay. However, these results came from the pro-gun legislation CDC - which is telling indeed.

Of course, the CDC spokesman tells us their negative results aren't really negative, and offers all kinds of reasons why this is so - most of which blame the quality of the studies evaluated. This is also a classical researcher two step. If the results of the study support your pre-conceived ideas - then you are perfectly willing to believe that the study is well designed and appropriately controlled. If the results are NOT what you wanted, the tendency is to look for the problems with the study - after all, it couldn't possibly be your preconceived ideas that are in error, right?

I don't doubt the CDC spokesman's claims that the studies were less than ideal - retrospective meta-analyses never are. There are a huge amount of confounding factors involved. But I would be willing to bet a small fortune that, if there had been even the slightest positive benefit shown, these results would be being presented to us as definitive proof that gun control works, and there would be nary a word about how "inadequate" the studies reviewed were.

First Kyoto gets dissed by Russia, now this. It�s been a bad week for the tree-hugging "we know what's best for you" crowd.

You gotta protect the furry little animals, man.......

We recently had some ALF nonsense here at my university. Extensive damage was done to a lab in our building, with years of research destroyed and hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage.

It really is time to start dealing with these people like terrorists, rather than letting them continue to do whatever they want under the guise of "protectors of animal rights".

The net result? We now have cameras in all of the labs, and much more intrusive security. Aren't these ALF morons the same ones screaming about erosion of civil liberties, and the evils of "big brother"? Well, thanks for doing your little part to help "Patriot Act II" become a permanent fixture.

Globalization has felled another business that was a pure and unsullied example of regional pride.

More alarming was the news this week that some of Bavaria's most storied beer brands � including Lowenbrau � are being sold to Belgium's Interbrew conglomerate.

"It's sad," Munich resident Monika Heckel said Saturday, sitting in the late-summer sun in the Lowenbrau beer garden. "In Bavaria, you want to drink a Bavarian beer. I think the tourists do, too."

The Belgians did it, those sneaky little capitolists have struck at the heart of German culture. Life will never be the same.....sob sob..........sniff.

They will continue the name and product lines, leave the brewries in place, yet you just know at the next anti-global rally harmonia will be wearing black. Besides, this has no resonance in America. It's like saying a Hoosier bought Smuckers Jelly company from the Buckeye state. If they change little, the reaction would be a collective yawn......................For all the whining about us all living in a shrinking would where the opinion of foriegners is vital to do anything.....The anti-globalists are awfully provincial about these things. The rhetoric just doesn't match the actions. This will be considered bad, horrible, yet I doubt the Germans will even notice the change.

Crybabies and whiners the lot. It becomes clear quickly that they really don't think through their own positions. I don't really care if Belgium owns the Germans brewries, There's barely a dimes worth of difference between them anyway. But I expect that demands will be made to block the sale. If the companies just die, then at least they die German owned. A serious comfort to unemployed Germans I'm sure.

I await the complaints, this ought to be good.

Via Drudge.

Some of you may know, but it was a fixture of military service for a long time. I still have one on my key ring.

Here's a clue.

C-rations, the terror of the cold war servieman, it would keep you alive, just not very happy about it. If you have lived on these for a while, then nothing much fazes you when it comes to food. I know good food, and I know maintenince fare. I can eat hash cold out of the can, and have when I was single and in a hurry. But I was kind of sorry to hear they were gone, that the MRE has totally replaced it.

I know nothing of MRE's, but I found this and it took me back.

From their research so far, they said one thing is certain.

�Not only was the taste of our MREs preferred, but the majority of more than 25 participants said they are much more convenient to eat from, and portability is easier. They are lighter, produce less trash and (are) more compact.�

But then, US rations always have won that contest, I heard horror stories of Brit rations, read my WWII history. The Japanese troops just carried a ball of sticky rice with some seaweed and vegetables in it. Maybe some dried fish. The French find mention here in the article.

�We found that many people enjoyed the taste of the French MREs over most; � particularly the lamb,� Paston said.

Well some people eat Brie too, which I consider one step below paint chips. Pity the French don't spend more time worrying about fighting to win as opposed to the size of their field kitchens.

From Cigar Dave, a little story.

THE BUNNY AND THE SNAKE

I�d say you must be French!�

Badaboom daboom,..................................

Is because I want to have my own land, and my own property, and be able to do with it as I please.

Just paint your face and shadow smile
Slipping me away from you
Oh it doesn't matter how you hide
Find you if we're wanting to
So slide back down and close your eyes
Sleep awhile - you must be tired

Some of you may recognize the lyrics. Burn, from The Cure. I was exposed to them a little from the soundtrack to The Crow movie. But it came during a dark time for me, I was working through some issues on death. Music sometimes has a very theraputic effect, allowing you to drain off some of the pain, to release some of the emotion. I listen to Meatloaf's Objects in the rearview mirror may be closer than they appear, for similar reasons. I chose music to fit my mood. Tonight it's quietly dark, sad, but not hopeless. Tomorrow I'll feel differently.

But for now, it's The Cure.

I wonder if the pizza delivery guy really was trapped by some pycho, or if this is some wierd suicide kind of act?

This post is a response to Puggs' comment that the Soviets made excellent submarines... I replied that while they made a LOT of submarines, they were not, by my standards, excellent. My standards involve getting your average crewman (me, for instance) back to the pier in one piece, and with the reasonable assumption of living for more than a few months or years after leaving the service.

Ship designs (as with all engineering projects) are a series of trade-offs. If you bulk up the armor, you have to reduce armament to maintain the same acceleration and top speed. If you go heavy on magazine space, you lose some independent deployment capability because there's not as much room for food. You install a kick-ass C3I (Command, Control, Communication, and Intelligence) suite and now your budget won't allow for ice-cream machines in the Wardroom.

In the Soviet Union's case, they decided to skimp in three major areas in their nuclear sub program: design testing and proofing, crew training, and reactor safety. This allowed them to play to their strengths: mass production, a large pool of labor in the form of conscripted sailors, and a reckless disregard for human life, or for the safety of their own personnel and the general public.

Lack of concern for human life is deeply embedded in Russian culture. This a topic that is probably un-PC in the extreme, and deserves a post of its own someday. However, briefly: the peasant class of Czarist Russia were considered chattel (a possession that was a part of a particular property; much like slavery except that they couldn't be sold off to another owner unless the land itself was sold) until the mid-19th century. Even after their emancipation their prospects were poor, and they formed the bulk of Russian armies, in the feudal traditions of old. Plow fodder at home, cannon fodder in the field, their lot in life was suffering and misery. When the Czar was overthrown, the new Communist dictators essentially continued the system under a different name. The People were the property of the Party, and if thousands had to die to complete an objective, well, there were always more where they came from. This lack of concern, in my opinion, is the base cause of the Russian nuclear Navy's abysmal safety record.

"Reactor shielding? That's a lot of weight for a submarine. Cut it by half. And that whole emergency cooling system seems like a lot of extra money for an unlikely occurrence. What's that? Crew health? They're conscripts, who cares if their cancer risk is tripled and their life expectancy drops by a quarter? If we don't have these subs rolling out of the yards in a year, we'll all see the firing squad."

"Crew training? That's very expensive and time-consuming, and a lot of these guys won't have much education anyway, would they understand what the hell we're talking about? Just train up the officers, they can tell the crewmen what to do."

The US Nuclear Navy has never had a serious reactor incident in more than 50 years of operation. This is because attitudes like those above are the antithesis of what Admiral H. G. Rickover demanded of the officers, crew, and contractors who were a part of the Nuclear Program. He was an asshole and a martinet, but he was perfect for instilling the anal retentive, eyes-open, double-checking mindset the Nuclear Program needed to survive.

Nukes in the US Navy use equipment designed ten, twenty, some times forty years earlier, not because there isn't newer stuff available, but because the old design has been proven to work in all sorts of conditions. The Navy evaluates new designs for years; they test to destruction. Nuclear-selected officers and enlisted personnel are trained exhaustively for almost two years before they even see a ship. They are schooled in theory, then trained in practice, and tested continuously to ensure that they retain their knowledge and skills. Enlisted Nukes don't follow the orders of seniors blindly; they are trained never to do so. In fact they are encouraged to contradict an officer (politely, of course) if they know the officer's planned course of action is wrong. This can lead to friction between Nuclear-trained junior enlistees and non-Nuclear senior NCO's and officers, as the Nukes are wont to suggest improvements or question decisions in a way that seems insubordinate to people accustomed to hearing "Yes, sir" and not much else.

That culture of safety in design, training and questioning attitudes is what keeps the US Nuclear Navy running smoothly. Without it, we might well have had as many early accidents as the Soviets. We certainly wouldn't have had as many recently, because the program would have died in infancy.

Yes, the Russians had a lot of submarines. Yes, they may have been able to go fast, or dive deep, or shoot far. But the price they paid for those abilities is higher than any right-thinking Navy would have accepted.

More, or less, secure?

Hello to all you RNS readers! My name is Erik Moll but I go by the name Mollbot 'round these parts, by which I mean the Blogosphere. Having heard that I was unable to blog because my computer was packed up for a move, Nukevet, Puggs, and the Analog Kid graciously offered me the chance to write for RNS now and again. I was, and am, honored that they felt I would add to the flavorful mix that is RNS.

Read on if you dare...

A little bit about me: I'm 25 years old. I was born on the eastern side of Washington state but soon moved northwest and was raised in a town north of Seattle. I love the outdoors; I went on my first campout when I was about 5 months old, I think. I'm told I was very little help with the camp chores. I still love to camp, hike, hunt and fish. For fun I memorize Robert W. Service poetry and recite it around the campfire, following my father's tradition. I was a Boy Scout, and earned Eagle Scout in 1995. Now I am an Assistant Scoutmaster for Troop 70, Chief Seattle Council. I am an unapologetic Christian, a member of the Queen Anne United Methodist Church. I love reading, and devour books at a tremendous rate... my favored genres are Fantasy and Sci-Fi, especially Military SF, but I can find time for a good Mystery or nonfiction History book. I like tinkering with computers, surfing the 'net and I play a lot of computer games; I spend more time on a computer than is healthy, most likely. I also enjoy writing, mostly short fiction stories, and blogging, more recently. I am a Country music fan, classic Country and new. I also like Oldies and Glibert and Sullivan musical numbers. (Hey, I'm a man of many parts.)

I joined the US Navy after graduating from High School, and served six years in the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program, the last four of those years aboard the USS Enterprise, CVN-65. For you Nukes who happen along, I was an ELT. For non-Nukes, that stands for Engineering Laboratory Technician, and it means that I controlled water chemistry in the reactors and secondary systems and provided oversight for radiological controls operations. If you really want to know more about it, let me know, and I'll send you a link to a Navy recruiter; they're always trying to fill their quota of Nukes for the month.

I am currently a sophomore at the University of Washington. I haven't selected a major yet, I am tending toward a couple types of Engineering, but that may change.

I started a blog in the Spring of 2003 with my partner in crime and Navy buddy Captain Morpholine. We call it "What Hath I Wrought?" because we couldn't think of a catchier name at the time. Head on over, I've started posting there again, and maybe the Captain will grace the page with his words a time or two as well.

That's all for now, I am worn out and I have to work early again tomorrow. Glad to be here, I hope I can add something worthwhile to Random Nuclear Strikes.

Cait from Caiterwauling has come up with a list of new names of interest. A sample.

Fuckachoo An idiot with hay fever
Fuckallueia A religious zealot idiot
Fuckknocker A Jehovah's Witness idiot
Fuckwaaah A whiny idiot crybaby
Fucklygamist A Mormon idiot

This lady has wit, as sharp as a kittens claws. Enter her lair, but bring a saucer of milk with you.

You have been warned, now go forth and tremble.

That insomnia sucks?

So, what do you do with guys like this? They are dead if they are left in the general prison population, but I'm sure someone would scream "cruel and unusual punishment!" if he were placed in solitary for his entire sentence.

It seems to me that prisoners should get some level of protection - you shouldn't get raped if tou're not strong enough to defend yourself, you shouldn't get killed when you weren't given the death penalty. Or, am I completely missing the boat, and we should be happy that some monstrous pedophile is no longer costing taxpayers money. I think John Geoghan was scum. He certainly ruined enough lives, maybe it's appropriate that his was ended by someone who very likely suffered from a similar abuse as a child.

we all scream for ICE CREAM!

2 scoops of Iraqi Road, please.

Or maybe I should get I hate the French Vanilla?

I have changed the BB so that it does not require activation - we'll see how this works out. A lot of people are reading the boards, but not very many are commenting.

Saying "Thank You" to those in the armed services. AK penned a little screed about the movement of our troops in South Korea; a movement that has all of the younger Koreans who "hate" the US a little nervous. There have been quite a few comments to this post, including some by individuals currently or previously stationed in Korea.

I never served in the military. I went down to the post office and registered on my 18th birthday, and would have done what I was told in the unlikely event that the draft ever was reinstituted. I guess I don't really know how most in the military view us, the "citizens" of America. It would piss me off royally to go somewhere horrible, fight for my life to preserve the ideals I believe in, and then come home to hear some piss-ant pontificate on the horrors of war, how I was a baby killer and war criminal, etc. I hope that those in the military know that most Americans support and appreciate the sacrifices made on our behalf.

Anyway, the only point of my post is to say that I, for one, realize how lucky I am to live in a country where I am afforded the luxury of doing what I want, saying what I want, and having a dedicated force of men and women who see it as their duty to protect me and mine.

Memo to the ungrateful (Both American and French and South Korean and....): This attitude of "put your life on the line to protect me while I revile and vilify you" just really needs to stop.

Edition 1,423.

Let's see now, who controls Hamas?

Finally!

Our troops in South Korea are going to be moving soon, so expect to hear the anti-US dodo's over there get reeeal quiet. Now that the folks we put on the DMZ aren't waiting to be overrun, and the SORKs are going to have to man that position, people over there are getting nervous.

"When people hear the news, their immediate reaction often is, 'What? Who's going to defend the border? Are the Americans moving south so that they can leave our country fast when the war breaks out?'" said Song Young-sun, an analyst in Seoul's Korea Institute of Defense Analysis."

But "The Pentagon says it can better deter North Korea by moving U.S. troops farther south from the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas."

No date has been set for the move, but just the idea gives me warm fuzzies.

I never liked the idea that our service men and women were being used as a tripwire. Human fodder that were only there to try to draw the fire and slow down of the NORKs until we could get more troops over there. The expected KIA rate was over 95%. All the while being told to go home by the succeding generations. Squirm now, you little brats.

Thanks to Right Thinking from the Left Coast for the directional sign.

So, some 2,500 protestors shopwed up outside of Florida governor Bush's office to protest the FCAT - a standardized test that has the gall to try and assure minimal competency before students are allowed to enter the next grade.

Third graders are generally required to pass their reading test before advancing to fourth grade and, beginning this year, high school seniors must pass the 10th grade exam to receive their diplomas.

So, high school seniors must pass the 10th grade exam to graduate. Oh, the horror. What ever happened to expecting someone in the 12th grade to perform at a 12th grade level before they were allowed to graduate? But noooooooo - if students can't pass with stringent guidelines - then let's loosen the guidelines until they can. And people wonder why we have so many uneducated people running around trying to enter the workforce (or not) without being properly prepared. And look at this photo from the article:

See the sign that says "Look into the eyes of the children you are hurting"? Well, which hurts the children more - holding them back a year until they gain minimal proficiency, or giving them a free pass so that they graduate without basic reading comprehension, writing, and math skills? But heaven forbid that some child feel "demeaned" because they weren't given a free ride through the educational system.

Maybe the sign the person is holding should be changed to this:

Ottawa's our friend again! Or at least they want to be sure that the US embargo of Canadian beef is as short lived as possible.

Pettigrew (Canadian trade representative - ed) said he had talked to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick on Tuesday.
�He (Zoellick) of course volunteered to do everything he could within his administration to make sure collaboration and cooperation between Canada and the United States prevailed in this case. So we will make sure the embargo is as limited as possible, as short-lived as possible,� Pettigrew said.

And it seems about right:

What Is Your Animal Personality?
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Outlaw stupidity.

I'm going on vacation more often. Analog Kid tells me he is already receiving hate mail, so I guess he's doing something right!

Many thanks to AK for holding down the bunker in my absence. I'll try and catch up tomorrow, after I dig myself out from under the flood of e-mails that appeared while I was away.

Internet access was 0.75$/MINUTE on the cruise ship, so I didn't even check work related e-mail.

I do love our new troll "arabs make nukes quickly". I wonder if that text is enough to get carnivore interested? I'll have to do a little traceroute on our friend, and see where he really comes from.

I wrote this piece a while back, but it meshes nicely with AK's post below.

Apparently, there is some question about whether the jockey of the Kentucky Derby winner had something other than his whip in his hand during the race. Now, I am not a big racing fan, but the fact that the jockey and the stable have changed their story 3 times is not such a great thing. Their current story is that the reporters misunderstood what the jockey was saying (he speaks with a heavy accent), and that what the images show is a copper bracelet that he wears for arthritis. Look at the pictures below, and tell me what you think - is that a bracelet? Why is he holding it in his hand instead of wearing it on his wrist? And, as I read in one report, other photos of the jockey do show him wearing the bracelet, but it is always on the left wrist, and this is the right wrist in the photo. So, all in all, I am pretty skeptical of the "it's a bracelet" claim. Plus, the stable is denouncing the investigation with a verve and vigor that would make a French Diplomat to Syria proud - which makes me even more suspicious.

The thing that interested me enough about this to write a post on it was these 2 pictures, from the MSNBC website dealing with the story. They are supposed to be 2 different photos of the "hand in question", taken from slightly different angles. One of these photos shows the mystery object (right), and the other does not (left). But, doesn't it look like the photo on the left has been retouched? And not very well, either. It looks to me like someone took the color of the shirt from the jockey seen behind the hand, and colored out the suspicious object with it. Doesn't it appear as if the color of the shirt is somehow in exactly the same place, and actually covers the webbing between the fingers? I mean, come on, if you're gonna use photoshop, at least try and make it convincing. Or, am I completely wrong and misinterpreting what I see?

UPDATE:

This definitely looks like a bad photoshop job in this close-up of the Easley photo.

Louisiana has millions of small bodies of water that hold bass and panfish. If you are willing to do a little hiking, you can get to secluded ponds that have had minimal fishing pressure on the local inhabitants (read: the fish are neither too timid nor too bright). However, there are a few bad things that go along with these secluded ponds. Lots of biting bugs and, worse, biting snakes. My least favorite is this critter:

Water Moccasins (cottonmouths) are mean, ill-tempered, and aggressive. They will chase you around the pond, and I've even had a couple try to get into my boat if I annoyed them enough.

Fortunately, in Louisiana, they sell really effective snake repellant. Today, I just took my "small size" snake repellant with me.

For that "special occasion - you know, wedding, anniversary, first date with someone you REALLY like"?

And challenges the "Bush as moron" mantra so common from the left these days (hell, since day 1, actually)

Which begs the question - if you call someone a moron, and that person repeatedly outmaneuvers and outflanks you, then that makes you .........what, exactly?

The general take seems to be that the speech was just about right for the occassion, and the aircraft carrier setting was perfect. Instapundit liked the speech, but didn't care for the "publicity stunt" landing. It seems most pundits disagree with the Instaman on that score. Bill Quick over at DailyPundit has a view opposite of GHR's, and his comments section provides some interesting fodder for thought as well.

Some of the interesting points brought up by Bill's commenters:

but the best one - that the event took place on May Day - the official "workers party day". Heh, nice little bit of upstaging.

And as for the cries of "political grandstanding" - so effin what? The Democrats started politicizing the war as soon as it started, so why shouldn't Bush get a little love now that the major combat ops have ended? Yeah, there's still a lot of work to do in both Afghanistan and Iraq - there will still be suicide bombings and attacks from Ba'ath party hardliners. But we will just have to deal with those things as they arise. I'm sure every attack on US forces will be pointed at as proof that certain elements of the "Arab street" still hates and resents us, which will undoubtedly contain a central core of truth. But if true, I would still prefer the "Arab street" to hate and FEAR us, rather than just hate us.

Will love this site, or hate it.

Found via the Volokh Conspiracy

you know, illegal?

Have more people been killed:

1) In the name of organized religion

2) Because of their religious beliefs

3) 1 and 2 are the same, just depends on which side of the fence you are on at the time the killing starts

4) By Secular Utopian evils, like Communism, Socialism

5) By the horrible evils inherent in the pursuit of Capitalism

And really, think about the answer a bit before you just decide to start bashing Capitalism in a leftist frenzy of "must protect Marx"ism. Really try and count up the numbers, and let me know what you think.

My choices, in order, would be 3), followed by 4), with 5) running a VERY distant 3rd.

Following up on my "Madman style bunnies" comment below, a question occurs to me:

Has anyone ever seen the Unablogger and the Madman together in the same room?

Just goes to show ya, you can't let down your guard, even for a major non-sectarian winter festival.

The Madman has snowballed the RNS bunker. We now prepare to retaliate with a terrible vengeance!

Snowballs? We don't need no freakin snowballs!

Back sometime in the next few days. Everyone have a safe and happy holiday!

In a seperate but related story to the one immediatly below, we have a report that a local grand jury will refuse to indict a New Orleans man, Sean Minor, who shot and killed a teenager who was breaking into cars in his apartment complex. When they got to his, he opened fire.

I'm not sure how I feel about this one. The guys doing the vandalizing were a couple of teenagers, and probably would have been scared off by Minor turning on his porch light and yelling at them. However, just because they were teenagers doesn't preclude them from having guns and attacking anyone they thought saw them, either. The story just sounded too much like the car owner laid in wait, and then blasted the kid once he got to his car. The reason the case went before the grand jury is that the local police decided that Minor was not justified in using deadly force, since only his property was in danger.

UPDATE

Apparently the New Orleans DA will pursue a prosecution for manslaughter.

Like this.

and Columbia taketh away. The trustee's of Columbia University have voted to take away the Bancroft prize awarded to now-disgraced Emory University historian Michael Bellesiles.

I posted this once before, back in my Radio Userland days. It is a really cool video, so it seems like it deserves a home here on the MT site of RNS as well. This is a high bandwidth video (2MB), so be forewarned before you follow the link.

Angel Decoys

Well, real life took over everything for the last few days. A consulting trip to Joisey, followed by the death of my wife's car and the need for an immediate replacement (hence the need for consulting jobs) have pretty much occupied all of my spare time. I hope to get in the groove over the next day or so.

And thanks to those people who noticed I was gone and asked if everything was OK. That is soooo cool. You guys rock.

Offer your own captions. Seems like a friendly bunch of guys.