This meme is too darn long

Courtesy of The Xset, we have the following:



Possibly the worlds longest MeMe! The instructions are simple, the number is close on 450 - let’s see how you get on!

- Bold those you’ve read
- Italicise those you started but never finished
- Add three of your own
- Post to your blog

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien

2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen

3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman

4. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams

5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling

6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee

7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne

8. 1984, George Orwell

9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis

10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte

11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller

12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte

13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks

14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier

15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger

16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame

17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens

18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott

19. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres

20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy

21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell

22. Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Stone, JK Rowling

23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling

24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling

25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien

26. Tess Of The D’Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy

27. Middlemarch, George Eliot

28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving

29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck

30. Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll

31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson

32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez

33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett

34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens

35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl

36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson

37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute

38. Persuasion, Jane Austen

39. Dune, Frank Herbert

40. Emma, Jane Austen

41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery

42. Watership Down, Richard Adams

43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald

44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas

45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh

46. Animal Farm, George Orwell

47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens

48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy

49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian

50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher

51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett

52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck

53. The Stand, Stephen King

54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy

55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth

56. The BFG, Roald Dahl

57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome

58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell

59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer

60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky

61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman

62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden

63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens

64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough

65. Mort, Terry Pratchett

66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton

67. The Magus, John Fowles

68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett

70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding

71. Perfume, Patrick Susskind

72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell

73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett

74. Matilda, Roald Dahl

75. Bridget Jones’s Diary, Helen Fielding

76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt

77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins

78. Ulysses, James Joyce

79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens

80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson

81. The Twits, Roald Dahl

82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith

83. Holes, Louis Sachar

84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake

85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy

86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson

87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley

88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons

89. Magician, Raymond E Feist

90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac

91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo

92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel

93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett

94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho

95. Katherine, Anya Seton

96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer

97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez

98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson

99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot

100. Midnight’s Children, Salman Rushdie

There's more!

101. Three Men In A Boat, Jerome K. Jerome

102. Small Gods, Terry Pratchett

103. The Beach, Alex Garland

104. Dracula, Bram Stoker

105. Point Blanc, Anthony Horowitz

106. The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens

107. Stormbreaker, Anthony Horowitz

108. The Wasp Factory, Iain Banks

109. The Day Of The Jackal, Frederick Forsyth

110. The Illustrated Mum, Jacqueline Wilson

111. Jude The Obscure, Thomas Hardy

112. The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13 1/2, Sue Townsend

113. The Cruel Sea, Nicholas Monsarrat

114. Les Miserables, Victor Hugo

115. The Mayor Of Casterbridge, Thomas Hardy

116. The Dare Game, Jacqueline Wilson

117. Bad Girls, Jacqueline Wilson

118. The Picture Of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde

119. Shogun, James Clavell

120. The Day Of The Triffids, John Wyndham

121. Lola Rose, Jacqueline Wilson

122. Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray

123. The Forsyte Saga, John Galsworthy

124. House Of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski

125. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver

126. Reaper Man, Terry Pratchett

127. Angus, Thongs And Full-Frontal Snogging, Louise Rennison

128. The Hound Of The Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle

129. Possession, A. S. Byatt

130. The Master And Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov

131. The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood

132. Danny The Champion Of The World, Roald Dahl

133. East Of Eden, John Steinbeck

134. George’s Marvellous Medicine, Roald Dahl

135. Wyrd Sisters, Terry Pratchett

136. The Color Purple, Alice Walker

137. Hogfather, Terry Pratchett

138. The Thirty-Nine Steps, John Buchan

139. Girls In Tears, Jacqueline Wilson

140. Sleepovers, Jacqueline Wilson

141. All Quiet On The Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque

142. Behind The Scenes At The Museum, Kate Atkinson

143. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby

144. It, Stephen King

145. James And The Giant Peach, Roald Dahl

146. The Green Mile, Stephen King

147. Papillon, Henri Charriere

148. Men At Arms, Terry Pratchett

149. Master And Commander, Patrick O’Brian

150. Skeleton Key, Anthony Horowitz

151. Soul Music, Terry Pratchett

152. Thief Of Time, Terry Pratchett

153. The Fifth Elephant, Terry Pratchett

154. Atonement, Ian McEwan

155. Secrets, Jacqueline Wilson

156. The Silver Sword, Ian Serraillier

157. One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey

158. Heart Of Darkness, Joseph Conrad

159. Kim, Rudyard Kipling

160. Cross Stitch, Diana Gabaldon

161. Moby **** , Herman Melville

162. River God, Wilbur Smith

163. Sunset Song, Lewis Grassic Gibbon

164. The Shipping News, Annie Proulx

165. The World According To Garp, John Irving

166. Lorna Doone, R. D. Blackmore

167. Girls Out Late, Jacqueline Wilson

168. The Far Pavilions, M. M. Kaye

169. The Witches, Roald Dahl

170. Charlotte’s Web, E. B. White

171. Frankenstein, Mary Shelley

172. They Used To Play On Grass, Terry Venables and Gordon Williams

173. The Old Man And The Sea, Ernest Hemingway

174. The Name Of The Rose, Umberto Eco

175. Sophie’s World, Jostein Gaarder

176. Dustbin Baby, Jacqueline Wilson

177. Fantastic Mr. Fox, Roald Dahl

178. Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov

179. Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, Richard Bach

180. The Little Prince, Antoine De Saint-Exupery

181. The Suitcase Kid, Jacqueline Wilson

182. Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens

183. The Power Of One, Bryce Courtenay

184. Silas Marner, George Eliot

185. American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis loved!

186. The Diary Of A Nobody, George and Weedon Gross-mith

187. Trainspotting, Irvine Welsh

188. Goosebumps, R. L. Stine

189. Heidi, Johanna Spyri

190. Sons And Lovers, D. H. Lawrence

191. The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera

192. Man And Boy, Tony Parsons

193. The Truth, Terry Pratchett

194. The War Of The Worlds, H. G. Wells

195. The Horse Whisperer, Nicholas Evans

196. A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry

197. Witches Abroad, Terry Pratchett

198. The Once And Future King, T. H. White

199. The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle

200. Flowers In The Attic, Virginia Andrews

201. The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien

202. The Eye of the World, Robert Jordan

203. The Great Hunt, Robert Jordan

204. The Dragon Reborn, Robert Jordan

205. Fires of Heaven, Robert Jordan

206. Lord of Chaos, Robert Jordan

207. Winter’s Heart, Robert Jordan

208. A Crown of Swords, Robert Jordan

209. Crossroads of Twilight, Robert Jordan

210. A Path of Daggers, Robert Jordan

211. As Nature Made Him, John Colapinto

212. Microserfs, Douglas Coupland

213. The Married Man, Edmund White

214. Winter’s Tale, Mark Helprin

215. The History of Sexuality, Michel Foucault

216. Cry to Heaven, Anne Rice

217. Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe, John Boswell

218. Equus, Peter Shaffer

219. The Man Who Ate Everything, Jeffrey Steingarten

220. Letters To A Young Poet, Rainer Maria Rilke

221. Ella Minnow Pea, Mark Dunn

222. The Vampire Lestat, Anne Rice

223. Anthem, Ayn Rand

224. The Bridge To Terabithia, Katherine Paterson

225. Tartuffe, Moliere

226. The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka

227. The Crucible, Arthur Miller

228. The Trial, Franz Kafka

229. Oedipus Rex, Sophocles

230. Oedipus at Colonus, Sophocles

231. Death Be Not Proud, John Gunther

232. A Doll’s House, Henrik Ibsen

233. Hedda Gabler, Henrik Ibsen

234. Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton

235. A Raisin In The Sun, Lorraine Hansberry

236. ALIVE!, Piers Paul Read

237. Grapefruit, Yoko Ono

238. Trickster Makes This World, Lewis Hyde

240. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley

241. Chronicles of Thomas Convenant, Unbeliever, Stephen Donaldson

242. Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny

242. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon

243. Summerland, Michael Chabon

244. A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole

245. Candide, Voltaire

246. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More, Roald Dahl

247. Ringworld, Larry Niven

248. The King Must Die, Mary Renault

249. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert Heinlein

250. A Wrinkle in Time, Madeline L’Engle

251. The Eyre Affair, Jasper Fforde

252. The House Of The Seven Gables, Nathaniel Hawthorne

253. The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne

254. The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan

255. The Great Gilly Hopkins, Katherine Paterson

256. Chocolate Fever, Robert Kimmel Smith

257. Xanth: The Quest for Magic, Piers Anthony

258. The Lost Princess of Oz, L. Frank Baum

259. Wonder Boys, Michael Chabon

260. Lost In A Good Book, Jasper Fforde

261. Well Of Lost Plots, Jasper Fforde

261. Life Of Pi, Yann Martel

263. The Bean Trees, Barbara Kingsolver

264. A Yellow Rraft In Blue Water, Michael Dorris

265. Little House on the Prairie, Laura Ingalls Wilder

267. Where The Red Fern Grows, Wilson Rawls

268. Griffin & Sabine, Nick Bantock

269. Witch of Blackbird Pond, Joyce Friedland

270. Mrs. Frisby And The Rats Of NIMH, Robert C. O’Brien

271. Tuck Everlasting, Natalie Babbitt

272. The Cay, Theodore Taylor

273. From The Mixed-Up Files Of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, E.L. Konigsburg

274. The Phantom Tollbooth, Norton Juster

275. The Westing Game, Ellen Raskin

276. The Kitchen God’s Wife, Amy Tan

277. The Bone Setter’s Daughter, Amy Tan

278. Relic, Duglas Preston & Lincolon Child

279. Wicked, Gregory Maguire

280. American Gods, Neil Gaiman

281. Misty of Chincoteague, Marguerite Henry

282. The Girl Next Door, Jack Ketchum

283. Haunted, Judith St. George

284. Singularity, William Sleator

285. A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson

286. Different Seasons, Stephen King

287. Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk

288. About a Boy, Nick Hornby

289. The Bookman’s Wake, John Dunning

290. The Church of Dead Girls, Stephen Dobyns

291. Illusions, Richard Bach

292. Magic’s Pawn, Mercedes Lackey

293. Magic’s Promise, Mercedes Lackey

294. Magic’s Price, Mercedes Lackey

295. The Dancing Wu Li Masters, Gary Zukav

296. Spirits of Flux and Anchor, Jack L. Chalker

297. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice

298. The Encyclopedia of Unusual Sex Practices, Brenda Love

299. Infinite Jest, David Foster Wallace.

300. The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison.

301. The Cider House Rules, John Irving.

302. Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card

303. Girlfriend in a Coma, Douglas Coupland

304. The Lion’s Game, Nelson Demille

305. The Sun, The Moon, and the Stars, Stephen Brust

306. Cyteen, C. J. Cherryh

307. Foucault’s Pendulum, Umberto Eco

308. Cryptonomicon, Neal Stephenson

309. Invisible Monsters, Chuck Palahniuk

310. Camber of Culdi, Kathryn Kurtz

311. The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand

312. War and Rememberance, Herman Wouk

313. The Art of War, Sun Tzu

314. The Giver, Lois Lowry

315. The Telling, Ursula Le Guin

316. Xenogenesis (or Lilith’s Brood), Octavia Butler

317. A Civil Campaign, Lois McMaster Bujold

318. The Curse of Chalion, Lois McMaster Bujold

319. The Aeneid, Publius Vergilius Maro (Vergil)

320. Hanta Yo, Ruth Beebe Hill

321. The Princess Bride, S. Morganstern (or William Goldman)

322. Beowulf, Anonymous

323. The Sparrow, Maria Doria Russell

324. Deerskin, Robin McKinley

325. Dragonsong, Anne McCaffrey

326. Passage, Connie Willis

327. Otherland, Tad Williams

328. Tigana, Guy Gavriel Kay

329. Number the Stars, Lois Lowry

330. Beloved, Toni Morrison

331. Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal, Christopher Moore

332. The mysterious disappearance of Leon, I mean Noel, Ellen Raskin

333. Summer Sisters, Judy Blume

334. The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Victor Hugo

335. The Island on Bird Street, Uri Orlev

336. Midnight in the Dollhouse, Marjorie Filley Stover

337. The Miracle Worker, William Gibson

338. The Genesis Code, John Case

339. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevensen

340. Paradise Lost, John Milton

341. Phantom, Susan Kay

342. The Mummy or Ramses the Damned, Anne Rice

343. Anno Dracula, Kim Newman

344: The Dresden Files: Grave Peril, Jim Butcher

345: Tokyo Suckerpunch, Issac Adamson

346: The Winter of Magic’s Return, Pamela Service

347: The Oddkins, Dean R. Koontz

348. My Name is Asher Lev, Chaim Potok

349. The Last Goodbye, Raymond Chandler

350. At Swim, Two Boys, Jaime O’Neill

351. Othello, by William Shakespeare

352. The Collected Poems of Dylan Thomas

353. The Collected Poems of William Butler Yeats

354. Sati, Christopher Pike

355. The Inferno, Dante

356. The Apology, Plato

357. The Small Rain, Madeline L’Engle

358. The Man Who Tasted Shapes, Richard E Cytowick

359. 5 Novels, Daniel Pinkwater

360. The Sevenwaters Trilogy, Juliet Marillier

361. Girl with a Pearl Earring, Tracy Chevalier

362. To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf

363. Our Town, Thorton Wilder

364. Green Grass Running Water, Thomas King

365. The Interpreter, Suzanne Glass

366. The Moor’s Last Sigh, Salman Rushdie

367. The Mother Tongue, Bill Bryson

368. A Passage to India, E.M. Forster loved

369. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky

370. The Phantom of the Opera, Gaston Leroux

371. Pages for You, Sylvia Brownrigg

372. The Changeover, Margaret Mahy

373. Howl’s Moving Castle, Diana Wynne Jones

374. Angels and Demons, Dan Brown

375. Johnny Got His Gun, Dalton Trumbo

376. Shosha, Isaac Bashevis Singer

377. Travels With Charley, John Steinbeck

378. The Diving-bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby

379. The Lunatic at Large by J. Storer Clouston

380. Time for Bed by David Baddiel

381. Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold

382. Quite Ugly One Morning by Christopher Brookmyre

383. The Bloody Sun by Marion Zimmer Bradley

384. Sewer, Gas, and Eletric by Matt Ruff

385. Jhereg by Steven Brust

386. So You Want To Be A Wizard by Diane Duane

387. Perdido Street Station, China Mieville

388. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Anne Bronte

389. Road-side Dog, Czeslaw Milosz

390. The English Patient, Michael Ondaatje

391. Neuromancer, William Gibson

392. The Epistemology of the Closet, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick

393. A Canticle for Liebowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr

394. The Mask of Apollo, Mary Renault

395. The Gunslinger, Stephen King

396. Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare

397. Childhood’s End, Arthur C. Clarke

398. A Season of Mists, Neil Gaiman

399. Ivanhoe, Walter Scott

400. The God Boy, Ian Cross

401. The Beekeeper’s Apprentice, Laurie R. King

402. Finn Family Moomintroll, Tove Jansson

403. Misery, Stephen King

404. Tipping the Velvet, Sarah Waters

405. Hood, Emma Donoghue

406. The Land of Spices, Kate O’Brien

407. The Diary of Anne Frank

408. Regeneration, Pat Barker

409. Tender is the Night, F. Scott Fitzgerald

410. Dreaming in Cuban, Cristina Garcia

411. A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway

412. The View from Saturday, E.L. Konigsburg

413. Dealing with Dragons, Patricia Wrede

414. Eats, Shoots & Leaves, Lynne Truss

415. A Severed Wasp - Madeleine L’Engle

416. Here Be Dragons - Sharon Kay Penman

417. The Mabinogion (Ancient Welsh Tales) - translated by Lady Charlotte E. Guest

418. The DaVinci Code - Dan Brown

419. Desire of the Everlasting Hills - Thomas Cahill

420. The Cloister Walk - Kathleen Norris

421. The Things We Carried, Tim O’Brien

422. I Know This Much Is True, Wally Lamb

423. Choke, Chuck Palahniuk

424. Ender’s Shadow, Orson Scott Card

425. The Memory of Earth, Orson Scott Card

426. The Iron Tower, Dennis L. McKiernen

427.The French Lieutenant's Woman, John Fowles

428. The Four Feathers, A.E.W. Mason

429. The Jester, James Patterson

430. Cry the beloved Country, Alan Paton

431. The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath

432. The Stranger, Albert Camus

433. Deathscent, Robin Jarvis

434. Memnoch the Devil, Anne Rice

435. My legendary girlfriend, Mike Gayle

436. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Phillip K Dick

437. Bored of the Rings - Harvard Lampoon

438. The Pelican Brief - John Grisham

439. The Popol Vuhl - Dennis Tedlock translation

440. The I Ching - Wilhem Baynes translation

441. The Bible - King James version

whew!

What are all these books I haven't read, and what are all the books laying around all over the house?

What kind of thinker are you?

Logical-Mathematical thinkers:
Like to understand patterns and relationships between objects or actions
Try to understand the world in terms of causes and effects
Are good at thinking critically, and solving problems creatively

Like Logical-Mathematical thinkers, Leonardo based his theories on evidence rather than speculation. Other Logical-Mathematical Thinkers include
Isaac Newton, Archimedes, Albert Einstein

Careers which suit Logical-Mathematical thinkers include
Physicist, Chemist, Biologist, Lawyer, Computer programmer, Engineer, Inventor

BBC Thinker Quiz found at Lone Wacko, who is also a logical/mathematical thinker.

Grief and Pride

notes from watching the funeral

The prime Reverand Danforth seems uninspired and unfamiliar with his text.

The rabbi was great. "Where does such leadership come from?
but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint. "

Sandra Day O'Connor read off the original 16something passage by Winthrop about the 'shining city on the hill.' Frankly, it sounded like a bunch of commie propaganda to me. I'll have to review it later.

Margaret Thatcher was there via a recording due to her health. This woman is a class act from head to toe.

Mrs. Thatcher said that while President Reagen was recovering from the assasination attempt, he told her: "Whatever time I have left belongs to the big feller upstairs." Mrs. Thatcher continued "and certainly his life seemed providential to us."

He brought down the Soviet Union "not only by not firing a shot, but by inviting enemies to come out of their fortress and to become friends."

and by his good-natured spirit he "made it possible for a man of good will to arise from the Soviet Union."

and finally:

"We have something that Ronad Reagan never had – we have his example."

PM Canada Brian Mulroney also spoke very kindly and with good humor. You will hear the 'two irishmen' story elsewhere, I'm sure.

This is a very rough remembrance of Mr. Mulroney's comments:

"It was a time when communism and democracy were considered equally valid; a time of moral equivalence. President Reagan saw communism's squalid underpinnings and predicted communism would fall swiftly, provided NATO and the industrialized world stood united. And they did."

He said Reagan inspired us to "dream big and exciting dreams."

Next up was Bush 41. I hadn't recalled him being such a dull speaker – not memorable, his delivery is conventional and . . . o god but he’s breaking down and almost crying. he was just trying to keep himself together . . .don't do this to me, President Bush . . Ok, under control again.

A story about Reagan in the hospital, he spilled some water and is cleaning up the floor so the nurse wouldn’t get in trouble.

President Bush said Reagan "never turned an adversary into an enemy" . . "was never mean-spirited." and finally closed with a verse from Psalm 37. I'm sorry, but I don't remember which one.

President Bush 43 was the only speaker to really refer to President Reagan's long illness:

"We have missed for a long time . . . his kindly presence. . . It has been 10 years since he said his own farewell . . . it is still sad and hard to let him go . . . he belongs to the ages now, but we preferred it when he belonged to us."

"A great American story will close at sunset tonight." (President Reagan will be buried before sunset today.)

“He believed that the gentleman always does the kindest thing . .
America was not just a place in the world, but the hope of the world."

Reagan story, from his acting days. I don't know who the other speaker was:

"Have you ever considered becoming president?"

R: "Of what?"

"The US."

R: "What’s the matter? Don’t you like my acting either?"

Bush didn't pussyfoot around religion either:

Reagan had the "faith of a man who prayed for the man who shot him, before he prayed for himself. . . We look to that fine day when we will see him again . .when the sorrow of his parting is gone forever.’

The Battle Hymn of the Republic, played by the army band:

"As Christ died to make men holy, let us die to make men free."

(if a non-Christian president dies, what song will they sing?)

Preacher:
“Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good works”

The Rev. Danforth does better at the end of the service, seeming a little more aware. He speaks of the Sermon on the Mount: "You are the light of the world, a city set on the hill cannot be hid. . . . For him, America was the shining city on the hill. . . The Winthrop message became the Reagan message . . . if ever we have known a child of light, that child was Ronald Reagan. What you saw was what you got. . .not consumed by himself . . didn't need to be president to be a person . .We will always be grateful to Nancy for sharing him with us . . nothing petty or mean-spirited about him."

Amazing Grace, Roman Tsomebody, irish tenor
"Grace will lead me home . "

Ode to Joy
There is Nancy singing along . .
and Bush 43 and Laura and Colin Powell singing too.

Reading and response

"Dust thou art, and to dust you shall return."

Three military guys come up and turn the coffin around, to head Reagan's remains out the door. The pallbearers approach the coffin . . the candle bearers and cross leave the sanctuary.

O Nancy . . . it seems terribly unfair that it isn't possible to reach through the TV set and put your arm around that woman . .

Nancy is escorted to the car. You can see her lips say 'thank you' to her escort. (what does that marine say in return? 'you're welcome?' that seems so . . so . . )

It is raining again, which seems fitting.

The body is being flown to California today for burial before sunset tonight. Nancy Reagan has a long day ahead of her.

May God hold you in the palm of His hand, President Reagan. May God's love shield and strengthen Nancy Reagan and family in the coming days.

I have to clean my glasses. Tears have a lot of salt in them.

FrankenFeinstein's Monster

Dianne Feinstein has introduced S4298, to extend the assault weapons ban for 10 more years. Details at Publicola.

You can write to your congress critters here.

Ciao,

Let's do some role-playing

Count to ten, clear your mind, and imagine this:

You are standing at the bottom of a hill. Some guy comes running at you, saying he's going to kill you. His fists are clenched and you can't tell if he has anything in them.

Your gun is drawn. You tell him to stop. He doesn't.

What do you do?

Put your wallet on standby

Police detectives say a shooting was justified, but prosecuters decide to charge Mr. Fish with 2nd degree homicide anyway. Discussion and article links are at the Highroad.

Fish is hiking. Three loose dogs charge him. Fish fires a warning shot. The dogs disperse, but the dogwalker charges Fish. Fish warns the dogwalker, then shoots from a distance of 8 feet. Dogwalker is dead.

2 of the dogs were shelter dogs, one of unknown temperament, one with a history of agressiveness. The dogwalker also had a history of loosing it.

A poster known as AZG23 is looking into a defense fund for Mr. Fish. I'll post more info if/when I get it.

If you do head over to the High Road thread, I urge you not to stop at the first linked news article, which clearly favors the dogs and the dogwalker over Mr. Fish. Read all the linked articles before making your judgement.

For reasons that escape me, the presence of dogs somehow makes some people think Fish should have just stood around and gotten mauled. I don't get it . . .

oh yeah. & if you are a dog owner, please leash your dog.

Thank you.

update: This from a


letter to the editor of the Arizona Republic:

"What if the three dogs had attacked a child instead of an armed adult? Would Grant Kuenzli still be considered a victim?"

Special note to visitors searching for 19th century ship parts

Boy, are you lost!

Ammo trouble

I practice with reloads I buy from the range. I know these are not good for self-defense: no stopping power and they will go right through the bad guy and the wall and whatever's beyond the wall.

Fine. Gunsmith A recommends PMC Mag safe (if I remember correctly), but he doesn't have them in stock.

Kim Du Toit recommends Federal Hydro-shock. I figure, what's good enough for Kim is probably good enough for me. The range has Hydro-shock.

Fine, .357 please.

No, you don't want .357 for self-defense.

I don't?

No, the noise and flash will be too much inside . . you'll be incapacitated, temporarily blind and deaf. Unless there's only one bad guy and you take him down with a single shot, you'll be in serious trouble.

??????????????????

So why do they even make a .357? Why didn't I just go with a plain ol' .38?

Whatever. I'll take the .38 hydro-shock. They'll be better than the reloads, anyway.

Except they're not. I can't use them.

For a woman, I have pretty large hands, but they're not large enough and strong enough to conquer Federal Hydro-shock.

I can't get the friggin' box open!

Rest in Peace, Ronald Reagan

OOOoooooooh!

Shiney!

Pretty!

and so practical!

The first thing we do, is kill all the law students.

Law students behaving this way in a university is utterly chilling and appaling. Tomorrow's leaders will be happy to leave you free to think what you like - from a prison.

How long can this vitriol go on, before it is absorbed into our political system? Will it diminish naturally first, please God?

Piranhas hate me.

YOU ARE THE NILE

At 4145 miles from your furthest extremity to the Mediterranean Sea, you outdo the Amazon to become the world's longest river. The piranhas hate you.

Beneath you lies an underground river with six times your volume. You kept this remarkably quiet for several thousand years. In fact, you're full of mystery; your source wasn't discovered until 1862. You're also full of water. And crocodiles. And nuclear pharaoh machines that run on light and can see through time.


Which Extremity of the World Are You?
From the towering colossi at Rum and Monkey.

The questions for this one are great: When the vicissitudes of life tear at your very soul and existence is bleak and featureless, does this tend to hamper your mood somewhat?

Found this one over at The monkeyboy loves cheese.

Ho Hum

* Why run with the wolves when you can nap with your cat?


* How can you tell the sex of a chromosone?
Pull down its genes and look!

* You know you're getting old when your stomach makes the same noises as your coffee machine. (Maxine, Shoebox Greetings)

That's all, Folks!

It's time for a gentle reminder . . .

How does leaving Saddam in power promote peace and justice in Iraq?

"There will be civilian deaths in the war. Saddam has killed two million people. There are families here in this country who lost 20 or 30 people on one day in a gas attack by Saddam Hussein, little girl.

And I will tell you this: Yes civilians will die. My cousins will die. Maybe. Allah forbid.

But here is a certainty that you do not understand in your simplistic Nickelodeon diplomacy, is that you are guaranteed to have civilians die under Saddam.

So now you try again to answer my question without playing the ping-pong: How does leaving Saddam in power promote peace and justice in Iraq?"
KVI radio station, Seattle, March 6, 2003

Partial transcript here.

Download the audio here.

Let's try not to go all lily-livered, here, shall we?

We are doing the right thing.

Nobody said it would be easy.

Americans, like the rest of the world, are humans. Humans are fallible. Mistakes (and worse) will be made. Reality will interject itself. This is no way diminishes the cause of right, nor does it undermine necessity. When we fall down, we'll pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and keep going.

For all you doubting Thomases out there: Quit acting like a bunch of goddamn schoolgirls and grow the hell up.

Carribean Ice Cicada - cute, cuddly and cold, long white ears, distant but able to leap across the distance with proper inspiration. ISO SM blacksmith, faithful or decapitated - your choice. It's not every man that can shoe me - are you the one? Write to Princess Bugs, PO Box 42nw8s, Bermuda.

These are all from Eric at Classical Values.

Take the Cicada Test!

BEAUTIFUL ICE PRINCESS/PRINCE .You need distance
between you and your partner in your
relationship. You are very difficult to get.
You have big requirements and this one you love
must try hard to get you. But after she/he melt
your heart she/he will be the most happy person
in the world. You need someone who shoes you
that you are special and it makes you feel
good to see that you are loved. She/He shall
know that you could easily get another
girl/boyfriend but you wont as long as you
love him. when she/he hurts you you will hurt
him too, but in general you dont get hurt. If
your partner cheated you ,you would react cold
and immediately (try to) forget him
PLEASE VOTE, I want to know what you think about my
quiz, I worked hard on it.You can always
message me or tell me how I can improve that
quiz. Ill sure write back.


~THE big LOVE TEST!! What do you need? With PICS! For girls and boys!~
brought to you by Quizilla


Mean lil fellow, arn't you?


What Monty Python Character are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Surfin'

Why, I couldn't say, but it popped into my head to wonder what happened to all those KGB agents when the USSR collapsed. So I googled "What happened to the old KGB agents." I still don't have the answer to that question, but here's a 2002 article on Putin and Chechnya and how the Chech islamist terrorists are all Putin's fault.

Aw geez. No. The terrorists are their own fault.

Effective Communication

I'm taking a little class at work. It's rather hokey, but not too bad, on communication ettiquete.

Here is a question that the course recommends you ask yourself before disseminating information. I would like to see the Media ask this question of itself.

What is the goal for your communication? Do you need to:

(a) provide specific information,
(b) persuade people to see your point of view, or
(c) train them on something new?

I think the Media goal should be (a); the Media seems to think the goal is (b).

Knock it off, Media!

State's Rights, Declared Rights, 'Human' Rights, Left Rights, Wrong Rights, Night Rights, Might Rights, Kites' Rights, Blighted Rights

. . whatever.

Florida and Alabama will not be recognizing gay marriages performed in Massachusetts. However, at least in Florida, nobody knows whose responsibility it is to go around prosecuting over it. Although, really, what is there to prosecute? It would be a case of denying benefits, not throwing someone in jail.

What really got me down was this:

"State Attorney Harry Shorstein of Jacksonville, whose circuit covers Duval, Clay and Nassau counties, said such a case would not be a high priority for his office because there are more serious crimes to prosecute.

"I don't want to pass the buck, but I would think that would be in the purview of the attorney general," Shorstein said. "... I hate to say it, but if there's no gun involved, I'm not very interested. I don't think it's a state attorney's function."'

coupled with Florida statute 741.212 says, "Marriages between persons of the same sex entered into in any jurisdiction, whether within or outside the state of Florida ... are not recognized for any purpose in this state."

added to Article IV of the Constitution, states: "Full faith and credit shall be given in each state to the public acts, records and judicial proceedings of every other state."

multiplied by the fact that Massachusetts won't honor my FL CCW

which gives you a sum product of the laws and the constitution don't mean jack unless they suit the desires of people with more power than I happen to have.

Happy Wednesday.

& Speaking of long-ago things for which I have no link

Instapundit links to more info on sarin. Am I the only person who remembers that sarin was found in the Euphrates at the beginning of the war?

They found traces of sarin and 2 other highly toxic bio-chemical substances in the Euphrates river. The assumption, based on the amounts and location of the traces, is that fairly large quantities were dumped in the Euphrates about the time that President Bush issued his two-day ultimatum to Hussein.

So hear this, my left-wing liberal friends: your buddy Hussein does bad things to the environment. Just think about those poor little fishies.

The UN lied; Fish died!!

ok, actually on the one particular point of WMD, the UN didn't lie.

How about: The UN provaricated; Fish expir . . no. . .

The UN stalled; fish were mauled!

France got cash; rivers were trashed!

Well, anyway.

Witchy woman

The Smallest Minority has a post that points to an article that inspires me to post on something sort-of related:

Why aren't we taking better advantage of the superstitions of terrorists? Remember, these are the people who think a handshake or a cell phone call could shrink their penis. No, I don't have a link handy, but Glen Reynolds wrote about it a month or so(?) back.

Anyway, shouldn't this sort of thinking be encouraged? Let's spread rumors to the effect that "73% of those who participated in insurgency acts against the Coalition in Iraq have experienced penile shrinkage of 34% or higher."

Why not? Also how?

Look for strange rumors to appear in this blog. I think I'm just going to start making stuff up and posting it. Why not?

Three Strikes

Somebody's followed my comment at Free Market Fairy Tales over to my humble blog, presumably looking for more info on the 3-strikes rule.

Roughly, the '3-strikes and you're out' means tacking on extra time and punishment to criminal receiving their third conviction. The details vary by state, and some states don't have such a rule at all. Say a charge normally gets a 5 year sentence - if this is the third time you've been convicted, you might get something like 15 or 20 years instead.

The good side is that it keeps the genuine, no-doubt-about-it bad guys out of society's hair for longer periods of time. The downside is that a criminal who already has two convictions may freak (become more violent) when he's about to be busted for the third time. Overall, I believe the benefits outweigh the downside.

Equine Caffeine

Care Bears could kick my ass? Care Bears???? I don't get no respect!


You're My Little Pony!! Sweet and innocent and
happy, you make people want to spew burrito
chunks. Even a Care Bear could kick your ass.


What childhood toy from the 80s are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Hat Tip: Classical Values


I think I like the results of this quiz better:

You Are a Plain Ole Cup of Joe But don't think plain - instead think, uncomplicated You're a low maintenance kind of girl... who can hang with the guys Down to earth, easy going, and fun! Yup, that's you: the friend everyone invites. And your dependable too. Both for a laugh and a sympathetic ear. What Kind Of Coffee Are You? Take This Quiz :-) Find the Love of Your Life (and More Love Quizzes) at Your New Romance.

Hat Tip: The Cheese Stands Alone

Isn't That Special?

Little Salam Pax gets his name in lights.

Should be terrific. I'll look forward to the movie about how eeevvvilll the USA is, making it possible for a hither-to unknown to sell books and movie rights, and how great Baghdad was in the good old days, when Salam's relatives were getting slaughtered by Hussein.

Special.

Question: What Is The Truest Definition Of Globalization?

Answer: Princess Diana's death.

Question: How come?

Answer: An English princess with an Egyptian boyfriend
crashes in a French tunnel, driving a German car with a
Dutch engine, driven by a Belgian who was drunk on
Scottish whisky, (check the bottle before you change the
spelling) followed closely by Italian Paparazzi on
Japanese motorcycles; treated by an American doctor using
Brazilian medicines.

This is sent to you by an American, using Bill Gates's
technology, and you're probably reading this on your
computer that uses Taiwanese chips, and a Korean monitor,
assembled by Bangladeshi workers in a Singapore plant,
transported by Indian lorry-drivers, hijacked by
Indonesians, unloaded by Sicilian longshoremen, and
trucked to you by Mexican illegals.

That, my friends, is Globalization.

The above has been making the email rounds for a while now, but what the heck!

Fresh, Lively, Only Slightly Evil

Mama Geek's Journal provided the links to these quizzes:

I am 38% evil.




I could go either way. I have sinned quite a bit but I still have a bit of room for error. My life is a tug of war between good and evil.


Are you evil? find out at Hilowitz.com



Sittin' on the fence . . .



Your total score is 50

Interpretation of Results
Others see you as fresh, lively, charming, amusing, practical, and always interesting; someone who's constantly in the center of attention, but sufficiently well-balanced not to let it go to their head. They also see you as kind, considerate, and understanding; someone who'll always cheer them up and help them out.

Dr. Phil Test

I wonder if Dr. Phil has me confused with someone else.

Here, kitty kitty kitty!

Time for dinner!

Consarn it!

WEBoggle is down. They may as well take away my coffee, as take away my WEBoggle.

BUT! the WEBoggle site listed various websites that linked to it. One of the linkers, Sleepless Nights, is nothing but links and links to games, including "Can you pass the third grade?"

Apparently not. I failed the test. Can anyone tell me why those silly tiny little Northeast states the size of a gas station get two senators?

: (

My beloved Burlington Bees are now in last place of the Western division of the Midwestern League.

But the Cubs are in second place in the Central division.

Let loose the dogs of war!

just amazing.

Yasukuni Shrine

The article on Mr. Koizumi mentioned that his visit to the Yasukuni Shrine displeased a fairly large portion of the Japanese population.

Tablets representing 2.5 million Japanese warriors are at this shrine. Of those 2.5M, 14 represent war criminals. Furthermore, some of the wars are ones that Japan today wishes they hadn't participated in. Apparently some Japanese feel that Prime Ministers who visit the shrine are condoning war crimes and bad wars.

Well, nobody from Japan is likely to visit my lil ol' site, but just in case they do:

This solitary American figures (a) 14 is a pretty tiny percentage of 2,500,000 and (b) even if certain wars were wrong or misguided or even just plain rotten, honoring those who fought and tried is still appropriate and not necessarily an approval of the actual war. We all have 20/20 hindsight.

Anyway, I'm not offended by the Yasukuni Shrine, nor by Koizumi's visit to it. I'm offended by the people who are trying to kill me today, and I appreciate Japan's corresponding response to the evil of today.

Thank you, Japan!

Belated thanks, but thanks nevertheless.

Despite - or because of? - the japanese hostages taken (and released) in Iraq, despite the sorry example of Spain and Honduras, despite the constraints placed on the Japanese military from old WWII treaties -

Despite all this, the Japanese people re-elected Mr. Koizumi and are hanging in there in the WoT. The famous Japanese honor still stands tall.

God Bless Japan.

Congratulations, Iraq the Model!

Kudos to USA Today for publishing the article; irritated sighs for not including the links.

Ain't I cute?

There's a brouhaha in the blogosphere, and John Hawkins is in the center of it.

Apparently, if I'm understanding this right, to get traffic you have to be a good-looking female. It probably helps if you also write well on interesting subjects, but one step at a time.

I am really good-looking. Trust me.

O yes - I believe I also have to use the word 'boobies' in a sentence:

You can see white and dark boobies here. Immature boobies are discussed, but not shown.

This blog is rapidly deteriorating.

Have I mentioned lately what I think of (most) artists?

No? Well, I won't do it right now. You probably already read Dave Barry's blog, and so have seen this artistic pistol that will 'make you think.'

Yes indeed. It will make you think 'boy, what a knucklehead.'

Penis Envy Got Ya Down?

The May issue of First Freedom gives a Ban-Demonium award to Dr. Joyce Brothers for making silly statements:

"To most, the gun means added power, something that erases all feelings of inferiority, weakness, vulnerability and impotence. It's not irrelevant that guns, in themselves, are so frequently linked to sexuality and the male sex organ."

Oooooh - so that's why we have the second amendment! Thomas Jefferson had a little weenie!! Now I understand! It's all clear to me. . .

See, men who are secure in their masculinity apparently don't mind being enslaved under tyrants. Only those uncertain of their sexual prowess like freedom.

Damn - if I'd only realized that owning a gun would substitute for having/being a man, I would have gotten a bigger one! Preferably one that could climb up on the roof and brush off those tree limbs. Also one that can dance.

Gosh, I wonder what deep-seated neurosis afflicts the ACLU? Maybe as children, the ACLU's parents said "Children should be seen, and not heard" just one time too many. Yes, THAT explains it. And what's up with people who insist on search warrants before the police can snoop around your home? Whoa - got some issues there, I guess!

As a general rule, I like older folks but between her and Andy Rooney I may change my tune. Isn't there some sort of home for these people?

Why not?

Caught a new one on Quizilla:


You are the age-old, wise German Shepherd. Not much
can get to you. You are loyal and protective of
your family. You can be shaky sometimes, but
you hide it well.


What breed of dog are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

The state of Virginia has gone insane.

If I were a good blogger, I would elaborate here. But I haven't the patience. This is so blatantly stupid, so tyrannical, so short-sighted, that I have no words.

Nobody tells me who I can and cannot contract with. NOBODY!.

Not that I'm gay or living in Virginia. That's not the point. The point is anybody can contract with anybody - freedom to assemble, to trade, to bargain, to associate, to do business, to !!!!!!

argh.

Dirty Little Secrets

CAUTION: GRAPHIC, OFFENSIVE, AND POSSIBLY OBSCENE.

HIV in the porn industry is all over the blogosphere. Poor, poor porn stars, having unprotected sex with a gazillion people and getting infected. Poor, poor pitiful porn stars.

If you stand out in the rain, and so get wet, is it a tragedy? I cannot feel sorry for these people in the proper sense of the term. Where is the line between cold-hearted and sensible?

I don't like porn, I don't like the porn industry, I especially don't like people who say 'porn is a victimless crime.' & I really don't want to be taxed to protect pron stars, who had better all be adults and who ought to be perfectly capable of protecting themselves.

Pornography that involves children, animals, and/or violence is not victimless. Porn acts that end up creating an outcry for regulations and inspections take money from people like me to create yet another taxing body. Porn stars that contract nasty, permanent, debilitating diseases drain the general revenue. They will need care; we don't really want to throw them in the gutter to die. It would be the natural thing to do (as in following nature's course), but the goal of the human soul is to rise above nature where possible.

Ya know what else? Porn makes lousy lovers. Men who are into porn lack imagination and interest. In general, their love-making technique is more mechanical. "As seen on TV!" An interest in technique, as opposed to an interest in the woman, in her body, in her, makes for a cold, detached, self-absorbed lover who is DULL! "How'm I doing?"

Yawn. Why bother?

Married women will confirm this, in secret, in whispers . . yes, he's been much more exciting since staying off the porn. They won't say it out loud, to their husband's face, for fear of harming the poor little dear's sensitive male ego.

Love-making is an art, not a science. It's a union, not a dog-and-pony show.

If you are not sufficiently attracted to your partner without the use of artificial stimulants, maybe - just maybe - you shouldn't be with that person in the first place. If your penis isn't performing, maybe your penis knows something you don't. Maybe your penis knows where it doesn't want to be.

Best sex quote I ever saw was on the comments section of some blog talking about the Jackson/Timberlake fiasco and the lousy commercials as well as the lousy half-time show.

"If you people hadn't made sex so boring by shoving it down everyone's throats 24/7, maybe you wouldn't need all that viagra!"

Yeah, I know there are medical issues blah blah yadda yadda - that's not what I'm discussing here. You know it.

Continuing the Shallow Theme

What's Your Wine Personality?

You scored 60% Pinot Noir
In another life you were probably Colette. You obviously have a kind of sensuality that governs your outlook on life (and on men -- but that's another story). For you, the most satisfying wine of all (and if one isn't satisfied, what's the point?) is pinot noir.

You scored 20% Merlot
Women confident enough to drink a great wine from a jelly glass aren't a dime a dozen, but you're one of them. Moreover, your no-nonsense approach to life is a big tip-off. You're a classic merlot drinker.

You scored 20% Cabernet Sauvignon
Life is too short to drink bad wine. Whoever made up this saying could have been thinking of you, right? Your taste for the finer things in life (and the fact that you always seem to be attracted to whatever's most expensive) makes it very clear: You're a cabernet sauvignon drinker.

Who or what is Colette?.

The Wine Quiz and many others are at iVillage.

Something Different

James at Hell in a Handbasket passes on this neato idea. My nearest book is a dictionary, so I'm taking the second nearest book. Here we go:

"Did you know that high carbohydrate diets increase water retention (three grams water/H2O to every gram of glycogen-stored muscle sugar), making you look soft and puffy, as well as reducing your body's ability to burn fat?"


Is chocolate high or low in carbohydrates? What about whiskey?

Packing a Grouch

Light posting lately, for no better reason than I'm cranky.

More Quizzzzzzzzes

Courtesy Classical Values once again!


:: how jedi are you? ::

Yay!

Blogger-made Quizzes!

How many ZZZs in 'quizzes?'

Well, anyway, both of the following were created by Theognome.


Which Old Testament Character are you?
brought to you by Quizilla



You are the Great Pyramid of Giza!

You are a natural leader who expects nothing but
the best effort from yourself and others. You
make decisions quickly and accurately. As the
Great Pyramid of Giza, you are also very
detailed, and you admire attention to detail in
yourself and others. You organize projects and
teams very well. You do tend to be impatient,
and hate mistakes made by others and especially
yourself. Being wrong is the worst fate that
you could imagine.


What Wonder of the Ancient World are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Damn straight, they're my heroes!

Andy Rooney is a senile old bat who should've been sold to the glue factory back in the Pleistocene Age, but nevertheless his latest column is making the rounds at The Mudville Gazette and other places. I started the following as a comment at Blackfive's, but then thought maybe it was a little too inflammatory and crazed to leave on somebody else's blog:

I'm sorry to have to say something this terrible, but nobody else is saying it and it needs to be said.

Osama bin Laden & his crew declared war on Americans February 23, 1998.

"The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies--civilians and military--is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it,"

So - Andy Rooney, and you, and I, and our children, auto mechanics and pizza delivery boys are walking, talking military targets. War has been declared; war has been ongoing for six years. Wars are either won or lost. If the fighting comes to my territory, I will not willing lose my war. If need be, I will take the offensive on the streets of my own town.

It is a terrible thing that I'm saying. If the only way to save my country and liberty is by destroying my enemy on my homeground, will I become a mosque-burner? Will I be sending anthrax to CAIR? Will I go that far?

Please God let me not be put to the test.

This sounds very melodramatic, but if the Andy Rooneys of the world get what they say they want, it's not outside the possibilities.

On the brighter side, I don't think Rooney & co actually want what they say they want.

But anyway - yeah, the military people who are taking the war to Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the intelligence people and propaganda people and rebuilding people, are all my heroes. They are keeping me from being put to a test that I can readily see myself failing.

String 'em along

Japanese hostages not harmed, but not released yet either.

The Turkish Prime Minister is trying to help. Will he be effective? Don't Turkey and Iraq have a little animosity? Or is that limited to Turkey and the Kurds?

We have the mandatory silliness from Turkey:

"Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed on Tuesday to aid Tokyo win the release of three Japanese hostages while urging the world to ease poverty in Iraq , which he called the root of terrorism. "

and

"I think the Iraqi issue cannot be resolved with military means," he said. "If there are extra funds, rather than use them to buy weapons, we hope they can be allocated to alleviate poverty.

"In the end it will be useful in eradicating terrorism," Erdogan said.

But if that were true, the Japanese hostages would never have been captured in the first place.

Agence France-Presse quotes repeatedly from some Japan opposition Democratic party member named Fujita, who repeatedly states he doesn't know what's going on. Well, then . . . why . . . o, never mind!

Democratic party for appeasement. Cheez, it's the same all over.

Agence France Press also gives us this tidbit:

"Koizumi reiterated that, despite the desperate pleas of relatives, his government would not bow to the demands of kidnappers or pull its troops out of Iraq.

Even so, Japan has three C-130 cargo planes in Kuwait ready to evacuate Japanese nationals from Iraq, a defence spokesman said."

I would expect Japan to be inclined to get their civilians out of Iraq with all possible speed, especially the ones who have been held hostage. I suppose I should also expect that a news agency is, like the terrorists, incapable of distinguishing between terrorists, soldiers, and civilians, but it still surprises me.

LA Times, which I do not subscribe to and so can't access, has a headline that says "Cheney says the US will help." I should hope so.

The Chinese hostages have been released. Don't know yet who they were, why they were taken, or why or how they were released. They are being looked after by "the Association of Islamic Clerics." Doesn't sound safe to me . .

Ukrainan and Russian hostages have also been released. Whoever kidnapped them won't admit it.

My hunch: these are not terrorist kidnappings; these are your ordinary, everyday, bumblef**k thugs trying to make a quick buck or impress the chicks with their bravado. We are in for this sort of thing in spades until about July 5, shortly after the Iraq transition begins. It'll then die down for a few months, but surge with even greater vengence in the 2-3 months before the US elections.

After the US elections? Well, if Kerry wins, we won't really know what happens in Iraq because media attention will no longer be focused there. We will, however, see an increase in general, worldwide terrorism as the vile islamofascits will believe - possibly with justification - that they can not only get away with it, but even accomplish goals. As Kerry transfers US sovereignty to the UN, we will also see an increase in domestic terrorism of the Terry McVeigh type.

If Bush wins, we see a mad blast of desparate, take-no-prisoners, give-no-quarter 'insurgency' in Iraq. Iraq will be constantly in the news, and the media will be pushing heavily for withdrawal. If Bush and co. can hold firm in the face of ANSWER and the NY Slimes, Iraq will breathe fairly freely by - say, December 2005, plus or minus a couple months. We will have constant skirmishes for another generation or two.

If we withdraw under a Bush administration due to media pressure, Iraq will plunge into civil war and the media will constantly play it up. Afghanistan will probably also revert. Worldwide terrorism will increase. The media will play it up and play it up, and by the time they and their weenie academic friends actually face reality, it will be too late to recover.

Just my hunch. We'll see.

Update: Instapundit points to The Belmont Club for a discussion on journalists' kidnappings that makes you go 'hmmmmmmm.'

Take the quiz: "Which Hobbit are you?"

Sam
You are the best of all hobbits! You're friendly and faithful. Just remember though, you're second to Mr Frodo

Cougars Sweep Bees

A complete, 3-game sweep! The Cougars were my favorite team when they were affiliated with the Marlins; I just can't get excited about them now that they've gone to the Oakland (ewwww!) Athletics. I was hoping the Bees would sting the Cougars' hides right back to last Wednesday.

Oh well, we'll see how they do tonight against the Timber Rattlers.

GO BEES!

Vocabulary Lessson

A "Banana" is an uncharitable term coined by uncharitable liberals for a person of Far Eastern extraction . . . who has "sold out" her race (similar to the term Uncle Tom). What constitutes selling out? Duh: embracing conservative politics.

From The Banana Republican.

If you don't have enough to be irritated about today, read her post entitled Reminding me once again why I'm not a poli-sci major...

Nice Ad!

One Man's Vote points to this most excellent, but apparently unoffical, Bush ad.

PRAY

for the Japanese hostages in Iraq. I am sure you are doing it already - but do it some more.

The Indian Express says they may be safe; Channel News Asia says not.

Pray.

Something Nice About People No One Ever Says Nice Things About

Congress: Yes, they are frequently vile blood-suckers utterly oblivious to the Consitution they've sworn to uphold. Nevertheless, in at least one instance, they did do something right, reasonable, and in line with the will of the people. There is now no marriage penalty OR marriage benefit in the income tax structure. Pat your congresscritter on the head!

Microsoft: Yes, they too are frequently vile bloodsuckers, writing bizarre programs that think they know what the user wants better than the user does. But Just for once, they were right. I was having problems with bizarre links creating themselves on my computer, and zillions and zillions of popup ads. Seems I inadvertently pressed 'yes' on some popup, and accidentally installed a hideous program that throws advertising at you like an islamofascist throwing stones at an adulterous woman. Microsoft XP has this nifty 'restore' feature that just sets your computer back to last week. It seems to have undone whatever bone-headed thing I managed to do. So if you see Bill Gates, pinch his cheeks for me and tell him he's a good boy.

House Resolution 568

Whereas the Declaration of Independence announced that one of the chief causes of the American Revolution was that King George had "combined to subject us to a juridiction foreign to our constitution and unacknowledged by our law"

Hey, King George and Sandra Day O'Connor would have got along great!!

You remember, I threatened to post on this subject again and again and again and again. I bet you thought I'd forget. Hah! Silly you!

Anyway, Feeney has updated his webpage and it now contains the resolution text. The quote above is from the resolution and links to the .pdf file. So now, when you write your representative in support of the Reaffirmation of American Independence Resolution, you can include the formal reference, HR 568.

Think how happy your rep will be when he or she comes into his office on Monday morning and finds all the emails the Easter Bunny left!

Keep putting one foot in front of the other, like a weasel in the snow

Kevin at The Smallest Minority has two sad posts about the loss of American liberty and the lack of concern at the same. I can't disagree with any of it, but the mom in me offers up this little Grimm's Fairy Tale (as near as I can remember it):

The Little Raindrop That Did What It Could

Once upon a time, there was a farmer who was very sad and scared, because it hadn't rained for a long, long time and his crops were starting to fail. He looked up into the sky every day, but all he saw was blue sky.

One day a raindrop was hanging around above the farmer's field with a few of his friends. There weren't enough raindrops to make a cloud, not enough to see anything from the ground. But the raindrop could see the farmer.

"Hey," says the raindrop. "That farmer's in trouble. Maybe we should head on down."

The raindrop's buddies laughed at him. "C'mon, are you crazy? There's, like, what, six of us? There'd have to be a million of us to do any good! That ground's so dry it's cracking!"

The Little Raindrop was a little stubborn. "Well, we could help a little bit."

The raindrop's buddies laughed again. But the Little Raindrop said "I don't care. I'm going down anyway. If I can't do anything else, maybe I can cheer him up." and he headed on down to the field, while the other raindrops just shook their heads.

But then a second raindrop said, "O what the heck. That guy's a nut, but I'm not doing anything right now anyway." So the second raindrop went down to the field.

Then a third.

Then some raindrops that were farther away noticed the action and came over to see what was happening. Then more . . then more. Then pretty soon, there was a whole cloud that rained down on the farmer's field, and his crops grew and he didn't go hungry that year.

All because one little raindrop did what it could.

And on that note, I'll quit blogging for now and try to compose a mature, reasoned and persuasive note to the Sheriff of Franklin Country, Ohio. James over at Hell in a Handbasket seems to think the Sheriff is not paying proper attention to the spirit of Ohio's new laws.

Don't Click that Hyperlink!

Scattered throughout the posts, you may see some hyperlinks that are underlined, but not in a different color than the normal text. I did not put them there. Apparently Blogger or some outfit even more notorious has helped itself to my blog, usurping my text for their own nefarious adverstising. Please do not click any of those links.

Thanks.

Annual Easter Joke

The great thing about having a blog is that it provides new victims people to appreciate my annual Easter joke. Ready? OK, here we go:

Q. What do you get when you pour boiling water down a rabbit hole?



A. Hot cross bunnies!!

HA HA HA!

I am not the only person with foot-in-mouth disease

A young friend is on the 'No blood for oooiiiiiiiiilllllll' kick, and constantly sends out emails to all and sundry with links to various moonbat sites. The latest one contained a bunch of Bush-bashing bumperstickers. It elicited this response, also sent to all and sundry:

"It is highly recommended that you take your professors off of your distribution list. I am fairly confident, after having you in class for two semesters, that if I asked you to explain many of these bumper stickers to me you would not have the knowledge to do so.

Let me remind you of a couple of the key concepts you should have learned last semester. As a communicator, you have the ethical responsibility to send messages that you know are true and correct. Also, don't make assumptions about your audience - just because I am a professor, does not mean I am a liberal.

I voted for Bush and will do so again. "

Whew! Shot down in the prime of life. Although, in defense of the misguided moonbat, nobody really expects these 'forward to everyone you know' emails to have any basis in reality, right?

& speaking of foot-in-mouth

What I find most astonishing about the whole Kos business is that a person who can publicly and unashamedly tout his refusal to award compassion for the death and mutiliation of four people, can turn around and expect to receive compassion when he suffers the heinous crime of de-linking and loss of advertising revenue.

Hello? Is anybody home?

Over My Head

Eric at Classical Values has a post that is completely over my head. Envy has nothing to do with why I hate artists. I hate them simply because, first, they hate me and all that I love. Secondly, they think displaying their hatred entitles them to adulation. Thirdly, they're a bunch of obnoxious, narcissistic, self-preening weenies.

I don't hate gays in general, and gays are most certainly entitled to recognition and protection of their contracts on the same level as heterosexuals; however I do hate the SF Gays who participated in the destruction of executive/judicial/legislative checks and balances with the same cold disdain I feel towards the New Orleans 5th circuit. Envy has nothing to do with why I hate the 5th Circuit or SF Gays. It's a desire for the constitution to mean something, and a dislike for those who would destroy it.

There is a certain amount of wistfulness in my distaste for use of the word 'marriage' in connection with permanent gay relationships. The wistfulness may be nearly as strong as my concern for the degradation of the English language.

Do you know, I'm a radical liberal, which means I'm a libertarian, which in today's political climate makes me a conservative. How can we communicate?

Update: I'm sorry! I should have either not posted this at all, or else made it about 20 times longer. No, I don't really hate the entire world. Dave, you are not a slimy, narcissistic twit and I didn't mean to imply that you were. Eric at Classical Values is apparently psychic, because he said in his comments "There are some good artists, but I share your view of sanctimonious crap which passes for art (if that's what you mean). You may be complaining also about artists who think the government should fund them (which destroys art). Not sure."

So this is a very incoherent post. I hate this artist and these types. A weenie, icky artist probably chose the color scheme for this house.

So, finally, to qualify as a weenie, icky artist, one has to meet one or all of the following criteria:
you must produce sanctimonious crap; and/or
you must be government-funded (this includes taking money from town councils; and/or
you have to have bad taste.

nuff!

Take the quiz: "What kind of chicken are you???"

You are the dancing chicken.
You just wanna shake your tail feathers. You tend to dance around questions and not answer them directly, but you're oh so damn fun!

We thought we heard the Angels sing

I'm trying to clean it up right now, so if you're looking for a chapter, sorry, and come back tomorrow.

Update: WHEW!! Ho-kay. Everything is in order and this time the full chapters took. I can't get rid of italics in Chapters 13 through 15, but too bad for now. If you are looking for something to read, go the April 2003 archives, scroll past all the gardening stuff down to April 10. After that, you're on your own.

We Thought We Heard the Angels Sing is a book about being stuck in the Pacific Ocean for 21 days, with Eddie Rickenbacker and about 8 other people. They ran out of fuel and got lost in WWII. It's out of print.

It's really the reason I started this blog. It's too good a book, and too compelling a tale, to simply disappear into the mists of time. To prevent that, I've retyped and posted the whole darn thing. I'm sure it's full of typos etc, especially in chapters 10 on, where I started having weird blogspot trouble. Sorry. Perhaps the next time I feel like spending an entire Saturday in front of the computer, I'll do some correcting. In the meantime, you'll have to rough it. It would be helpful if you put needed corrections in the comments {like: paragraph 3, line 2, 'ahd' should probably be 'had'}

This is from the introduction:

. . . 14 hours SSW Oahu. May have overshot island. Hour's fuel."

Real life, real people. If you don't get a few chills reading it, you're just not human.

Enjoy!

Wish List

This is exactly what I need to deal with those #%@ noisy neighbors across the creek.

Welcome, Lynne Truss

We need you! I'm afraid she's in for some disillusionment, though.

But she will not cast the first stone at the Americans, often mocked by the haughty British for bastardizing their mother tongue.

"American education seems to take grammar quite seriously," she told Reuters


I don't think American education takes anything seriously but the teacher's union. But come on over and give it the ol' college try!

Populist Authoritarianism

New meme brought to you by Samizdata. Tyranny of the majority and all that.

hat tip to The Smallest Majority.

Free Speech Stuff

BIHK links to Adopt a Blog, a site apparently dedicated to mirroring or hosting blogs currently residing on servers blocked in China and presumably other locations.

"The Adopt a Blog project began in response to the second major blocking measure taken by the government of the People's Republic of China against blogging services. The first such measure was taken against Blogger's free Blogspot hosting service on January 8, 2003. That block is still in place today. The more recent block of Typepad blogs began on March 25, 2004, and is also still in effect.

The Adopt a Blog project is not a political agenda seeking to oppose the PRC or its policies. It is not confined to any particular country. It was founded strictly to uphold free speech, regardless of content. Its main idea is: we spread out our blogs, and when they block a blog, we move it elsewhere."

Zounds!

Quizilla is broken! The pictures aren't coming through! But they work on the Quizilla site, and doubtless at some point someone at Quizilla will fix it. so I'm leaving these quizzes up.

It had to happen

Sooner or later, someone had to come up with this quiz:


You are "What random object are you?"


What kind of Quizilla Quiz are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Terrific! but which random object, in particular?


You are... A rubber duck!


Which random object are you? (Results contain pictures)
brought to you by Quizilla

All true . . but still not specific enough. So off we go to Captain Quack's Duck Quiz for more information.



What more does one need to know?

Justice Triumphs

Slowly and painfully, but every now and then something right happens.

Tim at the Englishman's Castle brings us excellent news - Col Tim Collins has won libel suits against The Sunday Mirror and The Sunday Express.

If you've forgotten Lt. Col. Collins speech to his troops at the eve of the Iraq war, Bryan Strawser has it archived here. I still tear up when I read it.

Thank God this nightmare is over for Col. Collins, and let him and his family recover and be renewed.

and thank you, Colonel, for your words, your service and your spirit. The world is a better place because you are in it.

Spring forward, Fall back

Saturday night/Sunday morning, 2:00 a.m., April 4, is clock-changing time in the USA. You'll be moving the clock forward an hour, so maybe you should go to bed a little early tonight and ease into it. Did you know that most heart attacks occur on Monday, and the Monday with the most heart attacks is the one following the spring time change? Take it easy this weekend, gentle reader.

If you want to know more about this vile custom, read About Daylight Saving Time. If you hate it, and would like to feel less lonely, try End Daylight Saving time

Weirder and Weirder

Hell in a Hand Basket points to Publicola who points to Keep and Bear Arms, who is getting the weirdest "I'm gonna sic my lawyers on you" letters that I ever hope to see.

KABA follows various gun laws etc. One thing they do is monitor crime rates in countries that have enacted strict gun grabbing laws. Monitoring of such countries as UK and Australia indicates that crime increases as gun rights decrease. In the course of KABA articles, they naturally link to articles on gun crime.

Apparently, reporter Greg Truscott of the South London Press resents the fact that people read the articles he's written, such as this one about a gun-wielding thug in gun-free UK who threatened a defenseless, unarmed woman with it, and this one about a gun-wielding thug in gun-free UK who killed a defenseless, unarmed man.

This is the first time I've heard of a reporter who didn't want anyone to read his stuff, but I'm a-scared of his lawyers (no, really, I mean it) so if you click on the links to his articles, please read them with your eyes closed . . or something.

Hmmm. Maybe it's a ploy on Mr. Truscott's part, to get his 15 minutes of fame. KABA seems to think that it is not an April Fool's joke.

whatever. It's a bizarre world.


Update: Well, Nicki's still getting emails from this guy, according to comments at Publicola. and it's not April 1 anymore. I guess maybe it's really real. But a reporter who doesn't want his work read and who doesn't believe in free speech . . that just beats the band. We need to package this guy up and sell him to Ripley's Believe it or Not. Those authoritarian 'liberals' just keep getting stranger and stranger.

Congress Critters

This nifty site not only provides contact information for your senators, representatives, and president, it also tells you how your personal critters voted on key issues.

My brain-(d)ead rep, Jim Davis, voted NO on the Personal Responsibility in Food Consumption act. Sheesh. Luckily it passed anyway.

Misc.

Now is probably a good time to boycott MGM and United Artists.

Some Catholics are unhappy with Kerry's desecration of the Eucharist. I can't say I blame them. I find the Catholic Church's many rituals rather bewildering myself - they seem to have more criteria than Protestants for such participation. However, it's reasonable to expect that someone who claims to be a practising Catholic actually knows what and how Catholics are supposed to practise. It seems Kerry falls short of expected conduct.

Digression: BUT! At least in the Protestant churches I've been in, they only rarely tell you that you shouldn't take communion unless you've accepted the sacrifice of Jesus on a spiritual level. Sometimes they tell you after communion, but that's a little late for a visitor who's unfamiliar with the routine.

Reaffirmation of American Independence

I will re-post this and re-post this and re-post this until you get excited about it!!

There is a resolution in the House of Representatives that needs your support. It says, essentially: Bleep You, Sandra Day O'Connor, AND the World Court you rode in on!

Only more tactfully -

"Six Supreme Court justices have written or joined opinions that cited foreign authorities -- including courts in Jamaica, India, Zimbabwe, and the European Union -- to justify its decisions. Lower Federal courts are beginning to follow this disturbing trend.

Article VI of the Constitution unambiguously states that the Constitution and federal statutes are the supreme law of the land."

You can write to your rep here. You'll need your entire zip code (long version) so go get your phone bill.

If you can't think of anything to say, feel free to copy and paste: Please support the Feeney/Goodlatte Reaffirmation of American Independence Resolution. Thank you.

If you wonder why such a resolution is needed, check out Ravenswood and The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler and Tech Central Station who says : "Two hundred thirty years ago, we fought a revolution so that Americans wouldn't be governed from Europe. It's high time the High Court was reminded of that bit of American history."

Some people on the left don't see the problem. I do.

People have died for this independence. So click some buttons for independence.

You know the moonbats get all the attention, to the point where congress and foreigners seem to think the moonbats represent the USA. Make yourself heard. It's easier - and kinder - to do it now, with a keyboard, than later with a gun.

Update: The Smallest Minority either agrees, or is linking to shut me up . . either way is fine. I just want congress to start realizing that a lot of people in the US happen to like the constitution.


Update II: Whoo Hoo! Obnoxious Fumes has a March 27 post, with a link to an automatic letter.