IRA Forsakes Violence

I never thought I would see this day. Amazing. This is wonderful! My best wishes to the Irish, I hope they can reach their goal! I am so happy that arms have been laid down, though, this is truly great news! I don't what else to say, I'm just happy!

WOOT!

It looks like Firefly is at least going to have its first season aired on Sci Fi... starting tonight!
1900 hrs, 1800 in Central time zone feeds...
I don't have a TV, so I won't be watching, but still, that's cool!

ROFL

Go to IMAO... now...

Discovery A-OK!

Happy dance! She's good to go! Here here!

WHOA!

I remember back to 2002 that I saw a preview for a show called 'Firefly'... sort of a western in space it seemed to me. It looked cool, but I was never able to see it because of my schedule. Fast forward to now...
I was handed a copy of the one and only season of Firefly by a friend of mine... he said that I needed to see it and his wife more than seconded that motion. Well...

I've seen almost all of it now. Most of the Airmen that I work with have seen it now. We all love it! It is one of the best written TV shows that I have ever seen! It's cool! It's funny (we were litterally rolling when a ganster gets kicked into a jet engine... you had to have been there)! It's even somewhat scientifically sound (no sound in space, bullets don't spark, etc.)!

WHY, we ask, is there only one season? This is pure gold! Well, I found out that it's Fox's fault. They wanted to make room for irreality TV so they nixed Firefly... throwing out the baby and drinking the bathwater, if you ask me. Well, it gets worse... it seems that they won't release the rights for the show to anyone else... WANKERS!

It is somewhat nice to hear that there are going to be some movies... but still... WHY throw away such gold and replace it with the tripe that's on now? Firefly gives Farscape a run for the money. Yeah. It's THAT good.
My two cents...
P.S.: Anything that shows 'The Alliance' as bad guys is cooool by me...

Say that over your own dead...

I was pretty happy with the new Pope, as he seems to be a man of unflinching principle. However, I have to take mega exception to some recent political comments of his.

First, read this, hat tip: Drudge.

Violations of international law? Gonna have to call a BS flag on that.
First, 'international law', as it now stands, seems to do more to help tyrants and terrorists that it does protect the innocent... so since Israel is one of two democracies in the region, the only nation in the region free of grievous human rights violations, and the most liberated nation in the region, I suppose it does not really matter how they keep it that way, does it?

Second, the Isrealis have, if anything, underresponded to the assaults against her and her people. Look at the number of people in Israel killed by terrorists as a percentage of the population... that should prop your eyelids a bit farther open if you don't already know.

Third, these retaliations against terrorists by Israel are not only just, but neccesary. Without them, the death toll would rise even more. I bet the Pope would have a far different view if the bombs were killing his people in the Vatican... turn the other cheek does not work with a force that is trying to kill you, for crying out loud!

Now, in all fairness, the Pope denounced some of the retaliation... I wish he had been specific. My point would be that every last thing the Israelis have done to retaliate has been kosher... sorry, could not resist. In fact, the Israelis have been bowing to the will of the terrorists by forcibly evacuating their own settlements!

Everybody who's ragging on Israel needs to stop right now and look at what is actually going on! They need to look at who protects the innocent and who kills them. They need to look at the behavior of the Israeli government and compare it to that of the PA. They need to look at how Isrealis contribute to the world versus how those under the PA do... then, with eyes and ears open, make their comments.

Charlie Foxtrot out.

Oi.... Mud, Blood, Sweat, and rocks...

So, the trip started well enough... I called up my friend from my unit and we decided to go for the bike ride that we had been putting off since May. We found the trail and up we went. You can see here what we saw about 10 minutes into our ascent. Lovely weather, truly. I wish it was like this more often. Right after this point, though, things began to go wrong...
The night's rain had done bad, bad, things to the trail surface. It began to get steep, and with nothing but wet rocks a oozing clay to grip, both of us were spinning in a futile effort to climb the grade. We could not get any traction eventually and had to hike it to the nearest flat... and the the fun began in ernest.

My friend (know to you as Ghettorig) has caliper brakes on his bike, you see. The clay was getting caked onto his tires, but was getting caught by the brake shoes. It kept locking up the wheel. We would stop often to dig his hardware free just to keep the wheels turning. Undetered, we pressed on, hoping that it would be drier on the gentle slopes up high. For the most part, we were right.

The rest of the ascent was not bad, but Ghettorig's wheels needed frequent attention and by this time, my front deraileur was essentially non-operational. Our bikes both felt as if they had doubled in weight.



We chilled up there for a bit... we were both pretty spent and it was simply gorgeous out.



On the way down, gravity worked for us. I saw some deer, but did not get a clear shot. On my way back to the bike, I saw Ghettorig fiddling with his bike. It did not look hopeful. When I got there, I was looking at a mangled rear derailleur. It had gotten so clogged with clay that it had locked, then been carried by the rear wheel to 180 degrees of where it should have been. Also, somehow, the chain was caught in his pedal. He now had a velocipede... no direct drive. We did bend the offending brackets back into place with out bare hands, but still, the drivetrain was shot. We could ned get everything staight without tools.

All was hunky dori for a while. We chose a direct route down to minimize further damage to the stricken bike, a steep and widing trail. The sun was out enough by this time that it had begun to dry somewhat. Down we went, around a hairpin, let it out a bit in a straightaway... Ghettorig pulled way out ahead of me, but I made no effort to catch up. We were 200 yards from my truck by this time... BANG! I don't even know how it happened. All I could see was dirt. I couldn't breathe. My mouth was full of wet dirt. I don't know how long I was on the ground, but shortly enough, breath returned and got up. From waist to neck hurt/stung/burned/felt chilled... somehow, I'd departed the bike and pancaked my body onto the trail at about 30 MPH. Nothing seemed broken, but as Ghettorig came up the trail, I checked. Nothing was, but I was scraped up pretty nicely The bike seemed okay, but the rear brake acted up the rest of the way to the truck... I decided to deal with it later...

I had to get ready to go to one of those lovely day off things on base that required my presence. Anyway, I got off easy: I slid 20 feet down a rocky trail and broke nothing. I hit at speed. While my arms and chest are sore, none of the abrasions are deep. I was wearing a helmet and eyewear, so the noggin is etirley untouched, though the inside may have been damaged to begin with. I missed the dropoff and all nearby pointy vegetation. Not bad. This pic here sums up most of the damage. Not bad at all. I am annoyed that I can't figure out how I crashed... I like to learn something every time I crash. Oh well, I had fun, Ghettorig had fun... but both of our bikes need work. I am also more convinced than ever that disc brakes are the only choice... my wheel never locked.

Next trip: We aim for zero casualties.

Tancredo

What he said was out of line... but tell me you have not felt it... Is there really a need for resignation? Even if the choice was mine to make, I would not nuke Mecca because there are plenty of people there who are innocent. Would I consider it, though? Have I considered it?

Absolutly.

I'm tired of seeing people getting killed in the name of a hollow religeon.* Especially if another FIVE THOUSAND civilians were killed in an attack, especially a nuclear (noo klee ar) one... I would be out for blood and I'd be for sending a message right back in the face of those who struck...


*Religeons are not equal. We're looking at one here that says you can convert people through violence and that relegates women to property. There is no room for such thought.

Anyway, kudos to Tancredo for going for the balls, just I hope he tones it down and acts more professionally in the future.


Last but not least:
The crew is on board... launch is a GO! YEEEEEEEEEHAAAAAA!

Monday Roundup

Who the hell brings business cards to a funeral?
Exhibit A: Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor Catherine Baker Knoll.

Who does this woman think she is? Has she no shame? She clearly has no respect... She showed up uninvited to the funeral of a U.S. Marine and caused quite a stir.
Michelle Malkin has more, including the weak appology letter. I expect so much more from a person in such an office, even from a person off the street.


In other bizarre 'news', somebody has some serious sex on the brain... now I can't exactly point fingers there, but is this not just a little out of hand?

Um, who ever heard of a flint knapping tool being used as a... well...? Let's keep the science in science. I think it's more than going out on a limb to say that this artifact is any kind of sexual representation without some evidence to that effect. After all, sometimes a flint knapper is just a flint knapper. The evidence shows that the thing has been used for knapping flint... I saw no evidence mentioned of any other use.

You know, I had an English professor that was like this: anything longer than it was wide simply had to be a representation of a penis in his mind. That class was hell... the man refused to accept that sometimes writers write exactly what they mean.


Rhetorical question: is it customary in Brazil to wear large, heavy, coats in the summer? Is it customary to run from police, even when they say 'STOP'?
'nuff said. My sympathies are non-existant.

Last of all, but greatest: IMAO has a new podcast out! Get your lazy, disorganized, unmotivated, carcases over there, NOW! MOVE!

The above is one huge hyperlink just so it's easier to hit on your excitement... of course, if you have not added IMAO to your Firefox toolbar, you need to first fix this and then go haze yourself severely for about two hours.

I wish I could say that I'm shocked...

Drudge may have labled this shocking... I can't bring myself to do so. How else do you explain the nearly universal awfulness of music on the radio these days? I hate the music industry and a hate Clear Channel (just thought I'd throw that last one in there)! I want good music again! Maybe then I could listen to something other than talk radio... wait, Clear Channel even managed to screw that up!

Clear Channel sucks! Haha!

Great Idea!

One of the few readers here left me a really great idea that I had not even come close to thinking of (see the first comment under Giddyup).

The idea of not putting all of humanity's eggs in one basket: that's brilliant! It's very good insurance aginst natural disasters to have people living all over the place here: some in Florida, some in Minnesota, etc... take that concept and expand it to the Moon, Mars, Titan, Ganymede, Calisto, Europa...

The technology that could gained from the need for more rapid transport between those moons would bee a boon to the human race's attempts to leave good old Sol behind in search of other suns and rocks to set down upon. The trips in the intervening time would tell us much about how to live in space for extended time periods, but of course, to really under that completely, we'd need to do it out past the heliopause.

That's very cool idea, indeed! I hope I get to see it come into being.

EDIT: Godspeed, Discovery!

WOW!

Congratulations, Mr. Armstrong!
You all know the deal by now: 7th win of Tour de France for this amazing man and his team!

In very happy and unrelated news, it seems that the heat is about to release its death grip on the west. The results are spectacular thunderstorms and hopefully, sleep for me. Though enjoyable, this is odd weather for Colorado: humid and overcast... I love it.

In also unrealted but unhappy news, if this even counts, I got shot right in the nose today with an air gun. It smarted some... No, I don't have photos... sorry... but I will possibly add some other photos to the site soon.

Giddyup!

Good news!

That is so good to hear. Space exploration can only help, besides, I want my flying car already! It's five years overdue! Seriously, moving outward will be good for us.
I personally would like to serious efforts at colonizing both the moon and Mars... I volunteer to go if I can help!

For more freaky geeky tottally cool space stuff, check out the LIGO projects. I think it's sweet...

In other good news, I have decided not to kill you...

EDIT: Okay, this is going to be one of those posts...
I was over at Michelle Malkin (what, you weren't?) and a I read, among the posts on terrorism, this post on wedding vows.
I'm in a good mood, so I won't rant, but let me say that is totally representative of what's wrong around us. Come on, have the courage to commit! What happened to loyalty? are we getting this shallow? I'd rather shoot myself than be that cowardly. You know, if you have doubts, ...you don't have to get married... WHOA!

RE: What I just said...

I told you so...
Oh, I'll BET Mr. Akaka 'does not recall'... his kind never does.

That's PART of the story...

Read this...
....and the ask yourself: Does the fact that so many people back here rag on the guys over there have anything to do with it? Look at the news: all the main organs have on Iraq is 'doom and gloom'. We have U.S. Congressmen comparing those guys to NAZIS, for crying out loud!

It sucks living and working out there. It more than sucks to be away from your family. It is indescribable to your average civilian what it is like to be in a transport unit over there. It can't help to be detracting from the accomplishments of those men on national T.V.! They get to hear what is said, they get to read the news. I am for simply ending the brodcast or printing of anything that slanders, detracts from, smears, belittles, berates, or discourages our soldiers.

Whether you are for or against the war, it is going VERY well and our soldiers are doing a superlative job. Let's start telling those stories over here, as the smallest thing we can do back here to fix any morale problem over there.

Charlie Foxtrot out...

A Sad Day

General William Westmoreland is dead. Such is the way of everyone, sad though it may be.
The General, if you did not know, was in charge of American efforts in the Viet Nam war from 1964 onward. He was a great General and a great American. Rest in peace...

Moderation in all things...

With the apparent dual vacancies on the supreme court, there a buzz out there like never before on who will be picked to fill the seats. I have heard cries from all over on who should be picked, ranging from really thoughtfull names, chosen for their beliefs and fortitude, to the completely assinine: 'We need a woman'. 'We need a moderate'. 'We need somebody who can bring the country together'.

Let's take those one one by one.

Being a woman is not a merit or a detraction when it comes to being a judge, particularly a judge of how to apply the Constitution. How about we look for a JUDGE and not even care if that judge is a man or a woman? How does that sound? How about we forget people's sex when looking for such a job? Does it matter?

Breaking order, here: The job of a justice is not to unite. It is to meter out justice. It is to be wise and fair. If that unites, so be it... but you can not be just if your goal is to unite for the sake of unification. Your justice will anger some. Your justice will make enemies and divide. Justice, however, must be the supreme standard of all judges, the consequeces be damned.

Now for my favorite: MODERATE.
Boy oh boy oh boy... where do start to kill that one? Okay, have you noticed how moderate is usually a euphamism for 'not Conservative'? ... back to that thought later. Alternatively, it means somebody who is not willing to take a stand on an issue when taking a stand would draw fire. In my experience and observation, moderates are those who are willing to compromise on issues of human life, on issues of national well being, and on issues of morality. These are exaclty the issues upon which there can be no compromise, for to compromise on them would be to de-legitimize your position and to concede that, for example, that some are less equal than others (a nice fuzzy way of putting it).

Now, I personally know a lot of you who call yourself moderates. What I just wrote probably stung a bit. You are going to tell me that you simply look for common ground over conflict. I'll tell you that you can't do that, and I'll tell you why: sometimes you can't compromise. When lives are at stake, you can't compromise. When it comes to what is right and what is wrong, there can be no compromise. You can compromise on how to allocate funding. You can not compromise on what is within the Costitution... or what is without... what is written there is written there. The words are plain. What's more, the words have meaning, meaning only what they state and nothing more or less. Their meaning can't change.
You see, what is, is. Existance exists. These are immutable, absolute. Because of this, you must move forward in your mind and recognize that there is a concept of truth. Truth describes what is. Because of this, truth can not change.
Since there is truth, there must be right and wrong. You can also look at this as true and false. Now, how can you find middle ground on truth? How can you find middle ground on morality? If I say that that it is acceptable to take your life, you are going to take exception. You say that it is not accpetable. Is there anywhere that we can compromise? Murder is wrong. That's all you can say about it. It can't be justified, that's why it's murder.

I have seen self proclaimed moderates try to compromise on terrorism, national defense, human rights, civil rights, and even human life. They move through life, carefully choosing a path that does not require them to defend anything at the expense of the rights of others.
Such attitudes can not be allowed anywhere near an instution who's task it is to apply the absolutes of the Costitution to modern law. It is these attitudes that have led to the current revisionism and the direct conflict with our own supreme law.

What we need on the supreme court are men and women who are not there to change anything. We need men and women who will stand on the truth of law and apply that truth instead of attempting to create 'new' truth or to overrule the truth. Without absolute truth, the Court will loose its authority. Truth is the only leg upon which law and the court can stand.
I suppose that one could debate for a very long time what is right and wrong (but that's dumb, most of us know even if we don't like the answers), but one thing that you can not debate is the meaning of words, such as the words in the Constitution. We all know what they mean and we don't get to pick. There can be no moderation or compromise in the application of those words.

Now, back to my thought on moderates, for some odd reason, seeming to be moslty liberal. Don't even consider Democrat vs. Republican... those tags grow more meaningless by the day. Is it just me or are the compromises that they make usually slanted toward the left, towards fewer rights for people and towards more government control?


Well, maybe I should do a post on right and wrong... naaaa
Charlie Foxtrot out...


EDIT: We find out at 2100 East Coast time...
EDIT 2: The meaning of words can change. The intent of the words and the meaning of words from a certain time is not only unchanging, but well understood.

Too funny!

This had me rolling... Go over to Israellycool anyway...

This Explains A Lot and other Miscellany

I don't have much time, but a few things have caught my attention today.
First off, this explains a lot. (Thank you Mr. Drudge).
I'm not entirely sure what to think about this... I'd like think that the explantions given are true... well, then...

The Discovery launch may have been put off, but I am absolutly extatic to see people getting ready to take her back into space again. I am pleased at the level of caution displayed, for I remember the Challenger and why she was destroyed.
We need to be aggressively pushing into space, and even though we have slowed to a crawl, any forward movement is music to my ears.

A Chinese general would love to nuke our cities, so he said recently. Hmmm...
all over Taiwan, I might add... That's a lot of fuss for a small island.

It's been a while now since I mentioned this: Michelle Malkin has another one... wow.

IMAO has been podcasting for a while now, and those 'casts are about the funniest things I hear these days. If you are not in dial-up hell, GET OVER THERE and listen! There is a link for normal people and for all you too-cool iPod minions.

Last but not least, my one new year's resolution EVER is about to break. I said no new guns this year... well... see... there's this shotgun... and... um... well... I HAVE A GOOD EXCUSE!
Bah, no such thing... Charlie Foxtrot out... so sleepy...

You can't have it both ways...

.... and Soledad O'Brien is a total moron, a fact that she insisted on repeatedly demostrating as she interviewed a former LAPD officer concerning the recent incident in which a baby girl was killed by the LAPD SWAT. Said interview aired this AM on CNN. (CNN SUCKS!)

For those of you critical of the LAPD in this case, answer the following:

1. Have you ever shot a gun?
2. Can you shoot so accuratly that you can hit a baseball from across the long way of a basketball court?
3. Can you make the shot every time you try?
4. Can you do it under extreme stress, of the life or death kind?
5. Can you do it with your life at risk (bullets coming at you)?
6. Can you do it knowing that you target is a person and will most likely die as a result?
7. Are you/have you been a cop or a soldier?

If you did not answer yes to all those questions, than you have no right to criticize the LAPD Officers' actions. These guys know what they are doing. Too, there is a risk of death to anyone in a tactical scenario... ANYONE. This includes YOU. Now, this is only the second time that the LAPD has killed somebody innocent in a situation like this in something like 40 years.

Now also consider this:
1. Would you accept a person firing a gun at your house?
2. Would you accept a person firing a gun at their daughter in cold blood?

If you answered no to either or both of those questions, you must support the LAPD's decision to act when they did. This man had to be stopped. That the operation went wrong is tragic, but the threat was eliminated, an evil man was killed. He got one of his kids killed, but the cops saved the other. We should be grateful that her life was saved, not critical of efforts made in good faith to save another. This is not a situation like Columbine where the cops'actions were inappropriate, flawed, negligent, and ill concieved. These guys did well, but accidents do happen. The world is a dynamic place and no situation is really ever fully under control... there are just too many variables.

What really frosts me is that people are blocking police cars in LA now and demonstrating against the police. Yeah, don't bother to remember that these guys are out there 24/7 with little pay risking their lives to protect you. Most of them are not only good men and women, but better people than most.
Is it not enough that the men involved in this shooting may never work again... not for being fired, but from the toll exacted from them from the knowlege that they killed an innocent insted of saving her?

I heard Ms. O'Brien repeatedly question why efforts were not made to negotiate. Well, WAKE UP! You can't negotiate with the muzzle of a 9mm pistol! You must have a party willing to negotiate. Also, many times, there is nothing to be gained from negotiation. It does not always wor, especially when one party is hell-bent on killing another. Lastly, when a guy says he will kill his kid and he punctuates the remark by attempting to gun down his other daughter, do you really think that negotiations have any place at all?
We CAN'T all just get along, we CAN'T just talk things through. When the times are such as these, you are left only with getting your hands bloody and removing (read kill, destroy, end...) the person responsible.

Oh yeah... Ms. O'Brien also suggested shooting the guy in the leg...
She was too dumb to even see the response from the cop coming:
"You shoot a man in the leg who has a gun to sombody's head and he just pulls the trigger."

CNN sucks, too.
Charlie Foxtrot out.

The Big Difference

One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. That is a statement tossed out into the ring by many, but I am here to show that piece of male bovine anal excrement as the lie and counter-American propaganda that it is. This outburst, of course, is brought on by certain comments in recent days about the early years of this great Republic. It is alos a statement used by a friend of mine, and I've been meaning to write something on the subject for some time.

Terrorists are not freedom fighters. A terrorist seeks to undermine the establishment through violence delivered to civilians with the intent to cause disorder in the general civilian population. Terrorsist nearly always are seeking to bring about a state that denys freedom. Go ahead, name an exception!
A freedom fighter fights for freedom. This is accomplished by engaging government forces and attacking government resources. Into this latter category, the American Revolutionaries fall. There is no way to construe them as terrorists.

The terrorist is an agent of deconstructionism while the freedom fighter is a builder. Don't forget this and don't let anyone get away with interchanging these terms. Don't let anyone say that there is any grey area or flexibility of definitions here...

Charlie Foxtrot out.