Tin Foil Curtains

I like to shop by mail. You get twice as much shopping for your time - once when you send in your order, again when you receive your goods. Plus you never loose your car when shopping by mail.

Sometimes I don't read the description quite as closely as I should, which is how I ended up with tinfoil curtains. They're solar shield curtain liners, or something like that, to cut down on heat invasion/loss depending on the season and which way you put them up. They're billed as 'metalized polyethelene' but they look like tinfoil to me.

Anyway, I got 'em and put 'em up on the side windows. I feel too sorry for my neighbors to put them on the street-side windows. Ugly as sin, but they seem to work.

So now that my home is protected by tinfoil, will I stop receiving evil VRWC conspiracy rays? In a few short weeks, will I have traded my guns in for tofu? Will I blog from under a pyramid, humming Kumbaya? If so, what will I do with all that meat in the freezer?

Stay tuned . . .

Female Concealed Carry

I just got a couple of blouses from Deva that work well with a gun on the waist and yet aren't hideously ugly. The silly Deva website doesn't have direct links to the shirts, but search for Victorian blouse (long sleeved and frilly) and/or summer top (short sleeved and casual).

Because we can't wear oversized t-shirts all the time!

Update But for those times when you do wear a t-shirt, you can't do better than Kalashnikitty! Hurry - offer ends August 12th!

Harold Fish Self Defense Fund

Apparently Arizona prosecutors have decided to go ahead with prosecuting Mr. Fish. If you can help Mr. Fish out, please make a check out to Jones, Skelton, Hockuli for the amount you wish to donate, and in the memo section of the check, please write for the benefit of Harold Fish

The address to send it to is:

2901 N Central Ste #800
Phoenix AZ 85012

My synopsis:

Mr. Kuenzli was a man with some mental health problems. He had a therapy dog and he frequently walked dogs for the Payson Humane Society. One of Mr. Kuenzli's previous problems with authorities was a penchant for not leashing his dog.

Payson Humane Society knew something of Mr. Kuenzli's problems. They permitted him to walk two dogs from the Humane Society along with his own therapy dog. One of the dogs released to Mr. Kuenzli on the fateful day was a dog of known aggression, barely saved from being shot by a detective who had been bit in the leg by the dog.

Mr. Kuenzli was out with the 3 dogs unleashed in a forest preserve. Mr. Fish came from the other direction. According to Mr. Fish, the 3 dogs charged Mr. Fish. Mr. Fish fired a warning shot and the dogs scattered. So far so good.

Then Mr. Kuenzli charged Mr. Fish. Mr Fish warned Mr. Kuenzli to stop, but Kuenzli did not stop. Fish fired and Kuenzli died.

"Coconino County sheriff's detectives say the shooting of 43-year-old Grant Kuenzli was a justifiable homicide. But the victim's friends say he was a peaceful man who had volunteered to take a couple of dogs from an animal shelter out for exercise and didn't deserve to die."

The sheriff's department didn't want to prosecute the guy. Animal rights lovers, imho, have pressured this arrest into taking place. Payson's animal shelter appears to me to be the 'most guilty' party in this. They KNEW they had a dangerous dog, they KNEW they had a potentially unstable dog-walker, they KNOWINGLY made the combination and let it loose on society.

My hunch is that Payson's is pushing for prosecution of Mr. Fish to distract attention from their own, obvious, criminal negligence.

This is discussed emotionally over at
The High Road, with copies and links to various newspaper articles. I know some will hear the word 'dog' and immediately side against Mr. Fish. Before you do that, would you please read my post on role-playing, where I've relayed the incident only without the dogs.

Thanks.

Update: Blogspot being blogspot, the link to the earlier post doesn't actually take you there.  Here's the text of the June 8th post:

"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?"


& that's the essence of the Fish case.

Update II, Aug 1: Mr. Fish has pled not guilty to 2nd degree murder charges. Court date is August 16.

A different sort of quiz

and one that really brings meaning to the term Anger of Compassion, which is the website that pointed me to it.


You correctly answered...

25 %

of the questions. This marks you as

an Intermediate
student of Communist atrocities.

It says something about our knowledge of things that actually matter, if a score of 25% marks me as an Intermediate instead of Pretty Clueless. Take the test and read the answers.


Sample:

EXCLUSIVE of the Ukrainian famine in 1932-33, the numbered of "kulaks," or better-off peasants (and their families) murdered by Stalin numbered about:

A) Only a few thousand village leaders - almost all of the "kulak" fatalities actually occurred during the Ukrainian famine following the dekulakization campaign.

B) 100,000 - about as many Japanese who died from the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

C) 250,000 - about equal to the number of Gypsies exterminated by Hitler.

D) 1.5 million - about as many as the Turks killed in the Armenian holocaust.

E) 2 million - about as many as killed by Pol Pot in Cambodia.
 
F) 6.5 million - somewhat more than the number of Jews murdered by Hitler.


Your answer, C, was incorrect. The correct answer was F.

"Dekulakization" was truly the crime of the century - for not only did it exterminate on a Hitlerian scale, but it also largely escaped the world's attention then and since. The mass deportations of kulak families preceded forced collectivization - it was apparently directed at "decapitating" peasant communities of any leaders who might organize resistance to Stalin's policies. "Kulaks," incidentally, were often very poor - an extra cow or a careless word spoken to a Party member were easy ways to earn this deadly label. While Soviet sources long denied the Ukrainian famine, they have always admitted that entire kulak families were "liquidated" on a large scale. See Robert Conquest, The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivization and the Terror-Famine.

Relax . . your government is in control [snicker]

Snopes has officially declared that the Anne Jacobsen story is a false alarm. Normally, Snopes is one of the few sources I'm inclined to trust. Not this time.

I mean, yeah, maybe, in this particular instance the guys were really simple brain-dead musicians with no idea of proper airplane behaviour. It could be.

That doesn't alter the fact that their behaviour was suspicious, and should have been called to the attention of authorities. Ms. Jacobsen did the right thing.

I am most perturbed by the way this story has been handled by the authorities, by the media, by the musicians, and by a good portion of the public.

We only have two names - Anne Jacobsen and David Adams, FBI spokesman. We have no musician names, no band names, no casino names. We have no statement from the band manager, saying "Sorry, they're a bunch of typical airhead musicians and didn't realize they were scaring the heck out of people by ignoring airplane rules." What we do have from the FBI is the utterly absurd and blatantly false statement that being concerned about terrorists can cause as much damage as being a terrorist.

Horseshit. HORSESHIT! Even if the entire plane had panicked and attacked the band, the ultimate worst would be a couple of people dead and a few injured. Bad? Yes, very bad indeed. As bad as an entire planeload of the dead? As bad as an occupied building destroyed, along with all its contents including humans? No. No comparison.

So WTF, FBI? What game are you playing here? Why are you encouraging the American Public to fall asleep at the wheel? It seems to be working on some people, but for me, the more I hear that kind of talk from government authorities, the less inclined I am to follow it.

Real Cars

'Member real cars? This site even has the sound of a real car!

Rob at the Backroad prompted this nostalgia.

Water Ballet

Normalcy left Driver's life on May 28 . . .

How many of us can pinpoint the exact day that normalcy left our lives?

Photos here.

Anti-social valentines melting under rug

All from Eric at Classical Values.

Your Icecream Flavour is...Neopolitan!

You aren't satisfied with just one flavor. They say variety is the spice of life and this shines through in your Ice cream of choice! Just don't eat all the chocolate and leave the strawberry and vanilla behind!

What is your Icecream Flavour?

Find out at Go Quiz



You will be smothered under a rug. You're a little
anti-social, and may want to start gaining new
social skills by making prank phone calls.


What horrible Edward Gorey Death will you die?
brought to you by Quizilla

Get thee over to Gut Rumbles and give Aciddaughter a hand. She's getting a troll infestation.

She's probably tuff enuff to handle it, but still . .

Fly Your Colors!

Rachel is, of course, terrific. Today, she is specifically being terrific regarding 14 Syrians on an airplane.

Rachel links to Michelle Malkin's post on same. Ms. Malkin's posts are open for comment, and many of the comments are "you're all racists for being concerned" (condensed version).

There isn't much response to that but 'No we're not" "Yes you are" etc.

SO, in an effort to bring peace, harmony and facts into the discussion, if perchance you will be traveling with a group of people who share your racial/physical characteristics, coordinate amongst yourselves behaving like terrorists on a dry run. I'd be interested in hearing what happens.

Maybe you are one of those people who travel somewhere exotic for your wedding, and take the whole wedding party with you. As long as you're stuck on a flight, you may as well go to the lavatory. There's nothing else to do on a plane anyway. Just make sure that when you go, you take something with you and leave it in the john. Also, go at a time when you're not permitted to leave your seat. Finally, block the aisles as you talk softly in a foreign language to your bride's maids and ushers. If you don't know a foreign language, just mutter some gibberish. We won't be able to understand you anyway.

Was it racist to be afraid? Was it reverse racist to not do anything about it?

My personal hunch is that, if that group had been white, black or chinese, the plane's reaction would have been a simple "Sit down, ya knuckleheads!" Not deathly fear, just annoyance. And we're more conditioned to deal with annoying people than with killers. We know so many jerks, but few genuine psychopathic killers.

I'm really sorry I can't afford to hire a bunch of ethnic groups to fly and behave like terrorists (dry run only!). Well, maybe I'll win the lottery weekend.

Stars in the American Firmament

The stars who deserve media attention are not the ones who have lavish weddings on TV but the ones who patrol the streets of Mosul even after two of their buddies were murdered and their bodies battered and stripped for the sin of trying to protect Iraqis from terrorists.

Read the whole Monday Night at Morton's column. This is the first I've heard of Ben Stein's column, and apparently it's his farewell colum.

Thanks for the link, Jayne!

Anne Jacobsen's Flight

John at the Castle ARRRRGGGH! posts about Annie Jacobsen's Scarey Flight. It recalled to my mind that, on my flight to California, there actually was a mid-east person trying to wander about the plane during takeoff. I put my hands on the person, saying "No, it's not safe!" while another passenger called the stewardess.

What was the difference? Was I and that other passenger a pair of brave heroes?

Well . . no. The mid-east person was an older woman, clearly trying to make for the lavatory. I can relate. Further, I knew her command of English wasn't too good. For one thing, it was a Southwest 'grab your seat, every man for himself' flight. She was in the middle seat of the very front row, with no one on either side of her. When I boarded the plane with my lowly C ticket (last group to board) I almost cried with joy seeing those two prime open seats. "Excuse me, are those seats open?" says I. "Yes," says she. I merrily grabbed the window seat.

Then was treated to hearing other boarding passengers question the lady about the remaining front row aisle seat. . . "Excuse me, is that seat taken?" "Yes" . . . "Excuse me, is someone sitting there?" "Yes"

OK, I'm next to an older foreign woman in a hajib (sp?) who at least knows the word 'yes.' The plane is in take-off and this older woman stands up, clutching various things in a manner that clearly indicates her legs are a little weak and the angle of the plane isn't helping. O yeah, I'm gonna grab her. A passenger across the way signaled to the stewardness and we got her back into her seat for a bit . . but boy she had that desparate "I gotta go" look on her face. She still went to the lavatory before she should have, but at least waited until the plane leveled out a bit. I stayed behind her to the galley, and the stewardness helped her back.

Actually I stayed with her until she got her luggage and her son showed up at the airport. She was as sweet as apple pie, and very grateful for the assistance. Her son, too, seemed pleased that someone had taken care of momma.

I would be shy about tackling someone and forcing them back into their seats for my own safety if I wondered if somebody might perhaps be a Bad Guy plotting nefarious deeds - but had none about setting someone back into her seat for her own safety.

and yet - she was muslim, she had a metal cane, I suppose she could, theoretically have been a bad guy - in which case my assistance could actually have deflected suspicion, if there was any to deflect, which there wasn't.

Whaddimeantersayis - an elderly woman with a cane could actually do a lot of damage if she wanted to.

O well, I suppose anybody could if the motivation is strong enough.

It's highly possible that there's a point to this post.

It is easier to destroy than to create



Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;

"I think it is despicable that the ACLU would file a lawsuit to destroy a veterans memorial when American men and women are again risking their lives in war zones at this very time," said Roger Baldwin.


I think so, too.

The San Bernadino County's article seems reasonably balanced for something produced by major media. It's a refreshing change.

If an energetic person feels like researching the veracity of this Congressional Record of Sept 20, 1961, I'd be interested in the results.

In 1948, the Reverend Heist protested the withdrawal of the use of their hall by Occidental College to an identified Communist poet, Langston Hughes, who was to speak on a poem of his entitled, "Goodbye, Christ," which called for "Christ, Jesus, Lord God Jehovah" to "beat it" and "make way for a new guy named Marx, Communist Lenin, Peasant Stalin, and worker me." (Reference: Hollywood Citizen News, February 26, 1948.) This would not be a strange protest from an atheistic Communist, but when it comes from a Methodist minister?

Some fairly well-known politician is also a fan of Langston Hughes.

People who pay for chocolate become irritated when they are given sand instead.

Linda Ronstadt is a thief.

Linda Ronstadt vomited forth praise of Michael (the Moor) Moore at a Vegas concert, and the audience was not pleased. Yelling 'Farenheit' in a crowded theater got Ms. Ronstadt escorted out of the Aladdin Hotel for provoking a 'near-riot.'

It's about time that innocent people paying for entertainment aren't forced to listen to foolish political blathering. I'm pleased by this.

The cries of 'evil conservative censorship and dicatorship' have already started. Yawn. At the Washington Dispatch comments(click on Ronstadt above), we have:

It's scary how conservatives in this country try to shut down dissent and turn America into some kind of dictatorship with blind acceptance of leaders and foolish cheerleading that has nothing to do with real patriotism.

I haven't the stamina to continue arguing with persons bereft of logic. I posted my own bit of silliness instead:

It's scarey, the way liberals think they're entitled to steal money from others and use that money to spread their propaganda. Liberals like Linda Ronstadt are trying to turn this county into a dictatorship by constantly forcing their viewpoints on captive audiences, without allowing those same audiences to express alternating viewpoints.

I daresay I'll regret it, but c'mon, people! get a clue!!

There is an organization named Hezbollah that considers me, Linda Ronstadt, my auto mechanic, and your dry cleaner a walking-talking military target. This same organization considers a film produced by Michael Moore worthy of their efforts to assist in the distribution of said film in the Middle East. Farenheit 911 is considered a useful propaganda tool by people who want to kill Linda Ronstadt and her entire Aladdin Hotel audience and the LLLs don't even pause for thought.

!

Update: Ravenswood weighs in. Puggs at Random Nuclear Strikes brings this interesting little quote to the fore:

In an interview with the R-J’s Mike Weatherford before the show, Ronstadt said with a laugh: “I keep hoping that if I’m annoying enough to them, they won’t hire me back.”

ok. You're fired. Oh, Ms. Ronstadt? It would be an act of gracious honesty if, when the LLL screams 'censorship,' you point out to the loud amongst us that your removal from the Aladdin Hotel is precisely what you wanted and worked for.

My life is rated PG-13.
What is your life rated?

Who knew there was that much excitement in my life?

This quiz was found over at The Cheese Stands Alone. HAH! "The Cheese Stands Alone," my foot! Sure, that's they want us to think.

Thank goodness for the Internet. Without it, I would never have known that it's not the 'jooooos' who are the real power in this world. Why, the Jews don't even exist!

No, it's the Queen of England, pulling the strings of her reptilian puppets. IT"S ALL FOR CHEEEEEEEESE!!

Read, and open your eyes, o sheeple!

Use Clean Cooking Utensils!

An emergency room nurse who works the hospital of a small prison town tells us she had about eight prisoners in one night. Seems they used the toilet bowl to make hooch.

Botulism is ugly.

I need to update my blogroll because without the formal links, I go looking for Baldilocks, but instead of her, I get Baldilocks.

Scarey.

The Ultra Rich Fairy Godmother of the Radical Left

This is making the email rounds. I can't vouch for its accuracy, although the Tides and Cair references, at least, are spot-on

Following is a brief backround on Mrs. John Kerry . She hates being called that, by the way:

Maria Teresa Thiersten Simoes-Ferreira Heinz Kerry. Married Senator Kerry in 1995. She only took his name eighteen months ago and she is an "interesting" paradox of conflicts.

If you thought John Kerry was scary, he doesn't hold a candle to his wife! Maria Teresa Thiersten Simoes-Ferreira Heinz Kerry was born in Mozambique, the daughter of a Portuguese physician, was educated in Switzerland and South Africa. Fluent in five languages, she was working as a United Nations interpreter in Geneva in the mid-60's when she met a "handsome" young American, H. John Heinz, III, who worked at a bank in Geneva. He told her his family was "in the food business."

They were married in 1966 and returned to Pittsburgh where his family ran the giant H. J. Heinz food company. He was elected to the US House of Representatives in 1971, and in 1976 he was elected to the first of three terms in the United States Senate. A Republican, he wrote a burning diatribe against some of the causes backed by young House member John Kerry.

Several years later, in 1991, he was killed when his plane collided with a Sun Oil Company helicopter over a Philadelphia suburb. The senator,his pilot and copilot, and both of Sun's helicopter pilots were killed. He was survived by his wife, Teresa, and their three young sons.

Four years later, having inherited Heinz's $500 million fortune, she married Senator John Forbes Kerry, the liberal then-junior senator from Massachusetts. She became a registered Democrat and the process of her radicalization was set in motion.

Heinz Kerry is not shy about telling people that she required Kerry to sign a prenuptial agreement before they were married John Kerry may not have check writing privileges on the Heinz catsup and pickle fortune, but he is certainly a willing and uncomplaining beneficiary of it.

A lot of hard-earned money, made through many years of hawking catsup, mustard, and pickles has fallen into the hands of two people who despise successful entrepreneurship and who believe in the confiscatory redistribution of wealth.

So how does Mrs. Heinz Kerry spend John Heinz's money?

Just one example:
According to the G2 Bulletin, an online intelligence newsletter of WorldNetDaily, in the years between 1995-2001 she gave more than $4 million to an organization called the Tides Foundation. And what does the Tides Foundation do with John Heinz's money?

They support numerous antiwar groups, including Ramsey Clark's International Action Center. Clark has offered to defend Saddam Hussein when he's tried.

They support the Democratic Justice Fund, a joint venture of the Tides Foundation and billionaire hate-monger George Soros. The Democratic Justice Fund seeks to ease restrictions on Muslim immigration from "terrorist" states.

They support the Council for American-Islamic Relations, whose leaders are known to have close ties to the terrorist group, Hamas.

They support the National Lawyers Guild, organized as a communist front during the Cold War era. One of their attorneys, Lynne Stewart, has been arrested for helping a client, Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, communicate with terror cells in Egypt. He is the convicted mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

They support the "Barrio Warriors," a radical Hispanic group whose primary goal is to return all of Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas to Mexico.

These are but a few of the radical groups that benefit, through the anonymity provided by the Tides Foundation, from the generosity of our would-be first lady, the wealthy widow of Republican senator John Heinz, and now the wife of the Democratic senator who aspires to be the 44th President of the United States.

Aiding and supporting our enemies is not good for America, regardless of your political views.

If voters will open their eyes, educate themselves and see the real Teresa Heinz Kerry, they will not appreciate her position as ultra rich fairy godmother of the radical left. They will not want to imagine her laying her head on a pillow each night inches away from the President of the United States.

Hopefully they love this country enough to decide that the only way these two will ever be allowed into the White House is with an engraved invitation in hand.

Those who buy the Kerry facade, beware what you vote for - - - you may regret that you got it!

It takes C.A.T.S to identify your inner dog.

The Canine Algorithmic Transfer System at Gone to the Dogs, a website for a British comedy, tells me I'm a German Pinscher.

Often described as spirited and self possessed, this is in fact a good natured, playful dog which is good with children and makes a fine guard. It is alert, loyal, watchful and and fearless. However, they can be bull-headed and stubborn and need to know who is boss. For this reason, the German Pinscher is not a good breed for children. They will bite first and think later.

Well, it got my faults right. Look down on the righthand side of Gone 2 the Dogs webpage for quiz link.

It happened to the friend of my nephew's boss's neighbor's dentist's aunt by marriage, so it must be true.

Just a cute little story making the email rounds

"I work with a gentleman from India who tries hard to improve his knowledge of English, and frequently asks me for help. One day, he asked me what the term 'having sex' meant.

Somewhat embarrassed, I explained. He looked bewildered. "And that is all? Then why do you say it when you greet someone?"

It was my turn to look bewildered. "You know," he reminded me. "You say, 'O, for having sex, it's good to see you again!"

Happy Wednesday

Don't Forget

July 9th is International link to IMAO day.

sigh

It's been a while since we had a declaratory and restrictive clause.

Amendment III


No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

Hey! That declaratory and restrictive clause is still untainted!!!

P.S. Maybe I shouldn't say this, even on my own blog, but doesn't it just figure, that the one clause that would get me a strapping young man in my very own home is the one clause that hasn't been brutalized. Go figure . . .

Catalina Island

My sister and I spent a couple of days on Catalina Island. Catalina has one of the lousiest tourist websites I've ever seen, (caution: takes forever to load)so here's my supplement.

Catalina Island has no bridges leading to it, very limited handicap access, no easy access to cars, and most hotels are not smoker-friendly. For all of that, we had a pretty good time.

It may be pet-friendly.

The only way to get there is by boat. If you don't have a boat of your own, you can take the Catalina Flyer for $44 per person round trip, or the Catalina Express, rates unpublished on the web. The Flyer leaves once a day, the Express leaves several times a day. There are probably a few other boats, as well.

We took the Express, as the trip was included in our hotel package. It took about an hour on the water; add 1/2 hour to load and unload. The boat has a little snack bar with coffee and potato chips, etc. The inside is pretty comfortable, sort of airplane-ish. The boat has TV screens inside. On the trip out they showed the GPS heading/speed etc, and it was quite interesting. On the trip back they had Entertainment Tonight or some such similar trash on and I nearly got seasick for the 1st time in my life. There ought to be a law against inflicting Michael Moore's lying face on people entrapped on a boat. Smoking is permitted on the main deck, outside in the back. At least one woman on a different trip than ours took her dog on the boat with her. I have no details; it may have been a guide dog. This is only to say don't automatically exclude your dog if you don't want to, but call the boat and see what they say. Apparently it can be done, at least under certain circumstances.

I had to call about 7 hotels before I could find one with smoking rooms. We finally settled on Cloud 7, which turned out to be a very good choice indeed. Clean, quiet, and comfy. Nice, helpful people. Like much of Catalina, it's on a steep incline and if it had wheelchair access, it was cleverly hidden.

There are very few cars on Catalina. You can't bring one or rent one. The official websites and tourist literature pump up golf cart rental, but that's crap. Yeah, you can rent a golf cart - for two hours, which is hardly enough time to go anywhere and see anything, and it certainly won't take you back to your hotel at night. Catalina's best kept secret seems to be the tram. Get yourself an all-day $5 tram ticket and you'll be able to get a ride every 35 minutes to just about anyplace you'll want to go. You can buy tickets right from the driver.

My sister's theory was that the tourist industry doesn't like to discuss the tram because the golf carts rake in so much money. She's probably right.

Those stupid golf carts!! $30 an hour, and all you do is drive around the mountain. That's more than it costs to rent a car, for pete's sake.

We rented one anyway, and drove it dutifully around the mountain. It was kind of like a drive-your-own roller coaster. Exhilarating, and some killer views, but it is not transportation.

Anyway, if you go, wear comfortable walking shoes, bring some aspercreme, and take the tram.

Lessee, what else? We took the tram to the botanical gardens and Wrigley memorial - well worth it if you like either gardens or artchitecture or views. The hills are very, very, very steep.

We took the Casino tour and were blessed with a super guide full of history and human-interest tidbits, like a 'time-out' room where they put gentlemen who were dancing too close to the ladies. Apparently the sexes had to be an arm's length apart while dancing.

We also took the glass bottom boat, which was neat.

Antonio's has a wonderful cheeseburger. The Country Club makes some mighty powerful drinks. No watered-down whiskey there, lemme tell ya! Normally I don't get quite that sloshed on my second.

Avoid the steak at Cafe Prego.

Lots and lots of shops, most of which seem overpriced. However, it is an island and everything has to be brought in by boat, so it's not actually a rip-off, except for those damn golf carts.

The Chicago Cubs did their spring training on the island until 1951, so we'd hoped for more Cubs history than we actually got. However, there was more info on WWII than we'd expected, as apparently it was used for training. The army and special ops would practice taking over the Coast Guard at Catalina for WWII training.

All in all, a good time, if somewhat exhausting due to the terrain.

Parts of California are A-Ok!

I'm baaaccckkk!!

Spent the 4th in Wrightwood, California, for Mountaineer Days, a little festival for July 3rd & 4th. 'Twas wonderful. It's a very small, very charming town in the mountains with a good spirit. They only had about two military people to march in their parade, but those two got the biggest cheer of the day. As small as the place was, they managed to squeeze in two very good bands, but regrettably neither one had CDs for sale.

Apparently this is an old song, but I had never heard it:

Up against the wall, redneck mother
mother that has raised your son so well
He's 34 and drinking in a honkytonk.
kicking hippie ass and raising hell.

Good folks, good music, good bar-b-q. What more can one ask for?

Won't You Be My Minion?

Yikes!

(W)e at Stonewall Columbus cannot allow any opportunity for violence to occur, intentional or unintentional.

the organizer of the event (Stonewall Columbus) approached us and in an obvious, confrontational way, asked us to hand over our weapons or she'd take them from us. That, or leave. Blah, blah, blah.. etc. She was carrying a pretty big stick..with a key hanging off the end. Looked like a leathel weapon to us sitting nicely on the grass. She called in security (It looked like 20 or so) . . .

In other word, Stonewall Columbus cannot allow any opportunity for violence, unless Stonewall and only Stonewall are the ones to create it. Then it's okay.

This attitude must cease!

Also - the Pink Pistols were pleased not to have been charged with anything, but then they shouldn't have been as they were breaking no laws. " . . no arrests were made, as no laws were broken."

So I guess having a 2-foot club and 20 minions behind you as you threaten to make off with another person's property is not illegal. I'm pleased to know that, as I'm having one of them-thar mid-life crisises (crisiss? crisi?) and need a career change. Thuggery and intimidation would certainly be a change for me. Sadly, however, I am lacking minions. If you would like to be my minion, please so indicate in the comments. Pay will be an equal portion of the take, divided among the parties (except that I, as the queen of mnions, get two portions).

Senator Bill Nelson (d, FL) and the AWB

"Thank you for contacting me regarding your concerns about the
expiration of the Assault Weapons Ban.

I support the constitutional right to bear arms. However, I also support efforts to reduce gun violence and promote firearms safety. As a member of Congress, I voted for banning assault weapons such as AK-47's. It is imperative that such firearms are kept out of the hands of felons. I will keep your thoughts and concerns in mind when the Senate debates the extension of the Assault Weapons Ban.

I appreciate you informing me about your views on this issue. Your communication is important as it helps me serve you better in the Senate."


But, Mr. Nelson, it's already illegal for felons to own any guns. Maybe we should just pass a law that says it's illegal for felons to break the law. That'll fix things!

I've got the blues

Ponder this statement:

the whole point of the democratic process is to decide Who Gets To Ram What Down Someone Else's Throat. What the hell do you think you're voting on?

Is that what democracy really means to John T. Kennedy? Not fundamental respect for the inherent worth of each individual; not a love of the principles of decency, honor, and just general leaving-people-the-heck-alone; not a governmental system that allows individuals to determine their own destiny - no, none of these things . . it's deciding Who Gets To Ram What Down Someone Else's Throat.

I feel ill.

Gee, I try to vote for those persons most likely to respect the right of the individual to choose . . anything. My choices are sadly limited, but that's what I strive for. John T. apparently deliberately seeks out whichever candidate will give John T. the most power over other people.

Surely . . surely . . this is not what he really meant to say?

No, I think he does know what he's saying, although perhaps the full implications haven't hit him yet.

I'm starting a webring. Anybody who's willing to try to be courteous can join. You don't even have to succeed, you just have to try.

Try To Be Courteous Join | List | Previous | Next | Random | Previous 5 | Next 5 | Skip Previous | Skip Next Powered by RingSurf

P.S. Several other blogs have posted on the current lack of simple decency, including, but not limited to, Classical Values and e-Claire. For whatever reason, I don't seem to find their actual posts.

P.P.S. John has kindly put a clarification in the comments. Thanks, John, you really had me worried.

Wish this wasn't coming up at the moment, because I'm heading out the door for a couple weeks and it deserves delving into.

I will admit that I'm rubbed raw by the current insanity of the political climate, and may well have absorbed it myself at this point.

My assumption (now, based on his clarification) is that JTK's point is against pure democracy, 3 wolves & a lamb deciding what's for dinner etc. Presumably, then, John's comments are intended to point out the dangers of democracy, not to gleefully embrace them for his own nefarious ends. Whew!! That's much easier to bear. I reject his contention that civility and politics are necessarily exclusive, but that's a post for another day.

My beef, still, is at being called a brownshirt and wanting to change the tone of the political climate. Ignoring doesn't work; I've ignored Al Gore as hard as I could for years and years, yet he just gets loonier each day.

Satire is fun, but the digital brownshirt satire is too easily turned around by people willfully misunderstanding the point.

I guess I could try writing a letter to Al Gore and Terry McAuliffe and asking them to please play nice.

In particular, what I asked of the original author of that post, and did not get, was a suggestion on how to fight such allegations. I am still looking for suggestions.

In general, the political climate has gotten too darned vicious, and people are gonna start killing each other if we don't all tone it down.

I sooooo badly want to argue with this moron but, in what is probably the wisest method of dealing with trolls I've seen, Avery requests that we do not, at least not on his blog.

Fair enough.

Look, God's first and greatest gift to humankind was free will. If you honor God, you will also honor that gift.

Should you rebuke your brother if you see him doing something that you know God doesn't like? Yup - especially if your brother doesn't realize what he's doing is wrong. BUT! you can't create sin out a hat; you don't want to confuse sin with something you simply don't like; you don't want to nag the heck out of people (cast your pearls before swine, even); and you don't want to glom onto somebody else's sin just to make yourself appear more holy in your own eyes.

The last one causes a lot of trouble. Seems like some people sniff out a sin to which they personally have no temptation, and then trumpet that sin to make it loom larger than maybe it really is.

Here is a sin for you - spending Sunday not honoring the Lord. It's such a big sin that it has its own commandment. Why doesn't it get any airplay?

because we nearly all commit this sin, that's why.

Naaah, think I'll stick to condemning the sins to which I feel no temptation . . maybe that way the condemnation will never come back to haunt me.

In the words of Gabriel Betteridge (The Moonstone, by Wilkie Collins):

Bless you! You have your sins, and I have mine. Our vices aren't the same, maybe, but we both have them."

We need to fight sin in ourselves, and try to help other people avoid sin too, but let's have a little proportion as well.

Happy Birthday to You!!!

Happy Birthday, Dear Iraa-aaq!
Happy Birthday tooooooo yoooooooooooo!!!!

The cuddly puppy is confident about Iraq's future.

Spoons has ventured in where Angels fear to tread - the DU - to monitor the howling of the moonbats. I haven't the stomach for it, myself.

So far, neither Zeyad nor Alaa have posted on the turnover. Hopefully, this will be good news to them. For both, their last posts were on the bombings and assasinations. I admire Alaa's spirit in particular as shown in these words:

"Come rain, come tempest, descend fog and darkness, We Shall Overcome."

Yes, you shall - but it's still going to be a long, hard row to hoe.

The selfish, squirrely bits of me sort of hoped the transfer would be delayed until July 4th, just because that would be fun. But June 28th is good, too.

Anybody remember some thug named Saddam? He's going to "be hauled in chains before an Iraqi judge within days. . . the trial of Saddam would not turn into a replay of the war crimes trial of former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic at The Hague, in which he could grandstand and appeal to the sympathies of people back home. "We have put some restriction on the political discussion. Basically this is going to be purely his criminal acts," Rubaie said.

The Shiite Muslim political leader then recited the alleged crimes that the jailed dictator would be judged for. "Saddam Hussein, why did you kill Sadr?" he asked, referring to Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Sadeq Sadr assassinated in 1999, allegedly by the former regime.

"Why did you kill tens of clergy? Why did you kill tens of thousands of people? Why did you commit the massacres? Why did you use the chemical weapons against our people in Kurdistan? Why did you start the Iran-Iraq war? Why did you invade Kuwait? Why did you bring this country all of these miseries?"

Godspeed, Iraq.

Sign Spotted

On a business marquee on Tampa Road:

This year, Iraqis can celebrate the 4th of July

Dull Pride

James Rummel posts about a disagreement betweenThe Gay Pride Parade people and the Pink Pistols. Apparently the parade people prefer that the Pink Pistols portray only the party line and port no pistols on parade.

Nice alliteration, eh?

Actually, the Gay Pride People letter wasn't nearly as snotty as one has come to expect from the leftwing. It was worded in a downright civil manner! Frankly, I can kinda sorta see why they wouldn't want concealed carry in a parade, but on the other hand I can't see having a parade at all. It just blocks traffic and annoys people. On the third hand, I don't exactly see how they think they're going to confiscate anybody's weapon, and on the fourth hand, it'd be nice if they'd respect others' right just as much as they want others to respect their rights. and if I continue in this vein, I'll need an extra pair of mittens.

Parades ought to be something everybody can enjoy. I can't get excited about somebody else's sex life. Blocking a stranger's route to work in order to flaunt one's sexual preference is boorish.

Now here is a group that I can relate to, except the 'men' part. They don't have parades, of course. Not in keeping with their lifestyle.

Their reaction to Sept. 11 mirrored my own. I think they are on target as to the causes of terrorism and many other things that trouble the world:

Our next thought was what a pity . . . that these guys had to get their kicks in such an awful way . . . that they are not content like we are to enjoy simple, ordinary things. These guys carried excitement-seeking to the ultimate and awful extreme.

With a relatively small financial investment, Atta & company did a tremendous amount of damage. What if all that skill, preparation, hard work and organization had been put into improving the middle east? Atta & co. would have had no fame, no cameras, but what a better world it would be today - if the talent (sans insanity) was still in this world and working to heal it. What a freakin' waste.

Anyway, the DMC proposal is to dull them down:

We’ve done some research. We have some dull things that the terrorists might like to do — things that do not kill people or harm property.

Sand. Watch the wind blow it around. Collect sand. Take pictures of sand . . . learn all about sand, see different kinds of sand, and see sand from different places around the world.

Go to barber shops in Afghanistan to watch beards being shaved off.

Take pictures inside their caves. Caves are similar to tunnels. We could put the picture on our Tunnels Page. . .

Dang!

A link from the inimitable Frank J., a link from the erudite and thoroughly admirable Baldilocks, and my very own troll!

This week will live in my heart forever.

Hey, how come it's the shallow, silly stuff that gets links? Ah well, don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

Help Wanted: Artists

I know, I know, I know! Rush Limbaugh is too big to get a link. Too bad, he gets one anyway.

June 29th in New York will see an auction of artwork with the goal of raising money to defeat George W. Bush. Mr. Limbaugh proposes following suit.

Dave? Are you paying attention here?

Frank J. outlined his ideas for a Portrait of Michael Moore way back in August '03. Here's chance to present that creative genius to the world!

I'm thinking of a cage, with 250 people inside. On top, put a snake with a Clinton head and a cigar. At one side, a clock bound in chains. Call it "No Time for Slime"

The 250 caged people represent the number of persons doing jail time for perjury during Clinton's - er - incident.

Remember, it's "designed to make you think."

The floor is open. Send your ideas in to Rush, and let the bidding begin!

Update:
La Maison Blanc De Kerry

Wow.

Who needs astrology and shrinks? We have online quizzes!!

How to make a Persnickety

Ingredients: 3 parts competetiveness 5 parts crazyiness 1 part ego

Method: Blend at a low speed for 30 seconds. Add lovability to taste! Do not overindulge!

Username:

Personality cocktail
From Go-Quiz.com

The above came from The Monkeyboy Loves Cheese. If you're thinking about putting a warning sign on your front door, check out her post above the quiz post.

Speaking of warnings:

Persnickety Look out for the

m HOLE

Username:

From Go-Quiz.com


umm . . . okay . . . .

!$%@#$!!!

Dean Esmay reports that Paul Johnson has been executed by our peace-loving, misunderstood, 'they're not bad, just different' terrorist friends in Saudi Arabia.

I'm tired of this.

What do we do? Write our congressmen and tell them we support the summary execution of 100 Gitmo residents for every civilian killed by the ROPma?

Storm Hamtramck?

Any suggestions?

Sometimes you really need a laugh!

If this is one of those times, go here. Especially, scroll down to the movie reviews and see what they say about 'The Core."

Without examining anything, Keyes takes about five seconds to surmise that the victims all died from malfunctioning pacemakers and the malfunction was definitely not due to a secret weapon. We're supposed to be impressed, but our experience with real scientists and engineers indicates that when they're on-the-record, top-notch scientists and engineers won't even speculate about the color of their socks without looking at their ankles1. They have top-notch reputations because they're almost always right. They're almost always right because they keep their mouths shut until they've fully analyzed the data.

We're not sure why the Virgil's ultrasound was needed for boring through water but it was turned on anyway and attracted whales like a silent dog whistle. Inspired by the ultrasound, these great beasts displayed an astonishing ability for deep diving.

Enjoy!

Goes Without Saying

Baldilocks posts on the draft. There are commenters trying to figure out why Rangel and his band of merry men are pushing for it.

Here, I'll tell ya:

The dems are pushing for it because nobody wants it. A draft will increase anti-war sentiment. Pushing for a draft brings it into the news. Because it's a demo pushing for something unpopular, the media will not mention that it's a demo idea, nor will they mention that the marines and airforce waiting lists are all backed up due to large numbers of applicants. Therefore, the assumption made by the casual viewer/reader will be that the draft idea is coming to the forefront now as a result of the war in Iraq and President Bush's policies, and persons teetering between Bush and Kerry may veer toward Kerry, thinking the draft is a result of republican policy.

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.