Let Her Eat Cake...

...from the GOP.

The DC reports that the MassGOP sent a cake to Elizabeth Warren, the "Martiarch" of Occupy Wall Street, for their one year 'birthday':

Is this a great country or what??

Important Safety Tip

Via Public Secrets, who also has this:

Churchill on Islam
September 15, 2012
One of my favorite books is Winston Churchill’s “The River War,” about the Anglo-Egyptian campaign in Sudan in the 1890s. Among its many memorable passages is Churchill’s meditation the nature of Islam. Recent events make me think it’s worth dusting off:

How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries!  Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy.  The effects are apparent in many countries.  Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live.  A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity.  The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property—either as a child, a wife, or a concubine—must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men.  Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities.  Thousands become the brave and loyal soldiers of the Queen: all know how to die.  But the influence of the religion paralyzes the social development of those who follow it.  No stronger retrograde force exists in the world.  Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proseltyzing faith.  It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science—the science against which it had vainly struggled—the civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome.

Some on reading that will scream “racism” (1) and “Islamophobia.” Whatever. Looking over the events of not just the past few days, but the last 20 years, I can’t help but wonder if instead the future prime minister wasn’t sharp-eyed and wise.
Thanks to Steven Hayward for the reminder.

Footnote:
(1) Even though Islam isn’t a race, but a religion. But it’s a bit much to expect intellectual clarity from the Left; the facts are against them, so all they have left is invective.
(Crossposted

Four More Years... (Updated - now with captions!)

...it'll get even better.

I swear!!

Via the ever lovely Pundette!

Then, there's this:



via PJ Media

What he said...

Via the ever suave Mr. Green

Request??

REQUEST???

...via Fox News.

WTF... (Updated w/ Drudge, now with Steyn!)

...is Obama doing?



I agree.  As I said at the Coalition, I went screaming past embarrassment a long time ago. Felt it with the first bow.

Now, I oscillate between appalled and furious.

Here's the haps in Arab Spring (Opposite) World:

(Oh, and our credit rating took another hit, by the way...)

 Nothing on the White House official site:

 and nothing on his schedule:

I've done a quick scan of Fox, ABC and MSNBC, and meeting the bodies is as close to Doing Anything that he's doing.  I can only assume he will follow the schedule as planned.

Gots him some flesh pressin' to do at 7:00.

Am I missing something?  Maybe this would help:

 

Personally, I think having him write it out, longhand, as many times as it takes, until he can recite it (and *all* the amendments).

It would keep him out of trouble for a while.

 

Must See...

Ms. Malkin is on a roll!

Thanks Pundette!

WANT!!!

Controversial Billboard Message Now On Bumper Sticker

From CBS DFW:

DALLAS (CBS 11 NEWS) – A North Texas billboard that garnered national attention for its election message, is expanding from the side of local highway, to highways across the nation. It’s moved off the board to bumper stickers, and even t-shirts, after reports about the ad spread across the internet.

That's Racist!!

The Unreported Racism Of The 2012 Election: 0% Of African-Americans Support Romney

The results of an NBC-Wall Street Journal poll came out recently and got very little play in the media. The poll’s results were race-related and quite startling. While the media has jumped on anything involving race quite readily during the Obama presidency – and even before – apparently this survey didn’t produce the type of front page race-talk the media likes to report on.

According to the NBC and Wall Street Journal’s poll conducted in August of 2012, 0% – that’s “zero percent”, not a typo – of African-Americans support the GOP presidential candidate-to-be Mitt Romney in the presidential election of 2012.

Read the rest!

CBSDC via Drudge

 

Who Ya Gonna Call?

Apparently. Bibi, not Obobo

From ABC:

KABUL – Al Qaeda has released a new video of American hostage Warren Weinstein delivering a personal message to Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu.

In the video, Weinstein, 71, believed to be held in the tribal regions along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan, appears healthy and calm, speaking in a soft, controlled manner.

"Unfortunately President Obama and the American government have shown no interest in my case," Weinstein says in the video, seated on a chair with his back slightly slouched, wearing a thin white t-shirt.
"Therefore, as a Jew, I'm appealing to you, Prime Minister Netanyahu, the head of the Jewish state of Israel, one Jew to another, to please intervene on my behalf."

.

.

.

In May, Al Qaeda released another video of Weinstein, in which he appealed directly to President Obama to intervene for his release. He said his captors' demands included an end to U.S. airstrikes, and the release of Al Qaeda members in prison. 

Lotta good THAT did, huh??

Palin to Obama:

 Time To Grow A Big Stick

Click.  Read!

  Via Breitbart

Obama and the Muslims...

The Gift that Keeps on Giving

...meanwhile, in Opposite World:

Ambassador Stevens was trying to get staff out of the embassy when he was killed.

Upsetting photo below the fold:

Excrement... (Updated with the movie trailer!)

...turbine.

Guess now we find out what kind of President Obama really is.

Update:

USA Today:
"Egyptian demonstrators climbed the walls of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo today and pulled down the American flag to protest a film they say is insulting to the prophet Mohammad."

Weekly Standard quotes the U.S. Embassy:
"The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims – as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions. Today, the 11th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, Americans are honoring our patriots and those who serve our nation as the fitting response to the enemies of democracy. Respect for religious beliefs is a cornerstone of American democracy. We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others."  (My emphasis.)

So, we're apologizing, it seems.   Guess now we know.

Update II

Here's what the whole shitstorm is about:



Update III:

The Denver Post did not link the trailer, but it did give the names of the two men who produced it and promoted it:  Sam Bacile and Morris Sadek.  

The Post also noted: " A YouTube spokesman said the website would not take down the video at this point. The spokesman said the website's policy is to remove videos that include a threat of violence, but not those only expressing opinions. 

'We take great care when we enforce our policies and try to allow as much content as possible while ensuring that our Community Guidelines are followed,' the YouTube representative said. 'Flagged content that does not violate our Guidelines will remain on the site.' "  Bless their little hearts. 

As some of you may have gathered, I went to Catholic school from grade school thru college.  When I was in high school, we were taken to the Cinerama Dome to see "The Greatest Story Even Told", a movie about the life of Jesus.  We didn't feel it necessary to go burn down the studio that made it.

Huh.

Eleven Years Ago Today...

UPDATED:

Randy Scott

Fox News, via Rodge

Fr. Judge

Thank you, Mme. Sherzo

Curiouser and Curiouser...

Lewis Carroll is my favorite non-fiction author. (Me)

or

When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.  (Dr. H.S. Thompson)

Doug Ross from Ann Althouse:

Click. Read. Bang your head...

and Gerard has the headline of the election:

Click MoDo!

And we have almost 2 months to go!!  What next!?!?!

Forward...

...indeed!

The "fiscal cliff" is nigh!!

Giggle du Jour....

Wiley's best ever!

Braaaaiiinnnzz

I like that the CDC has an actual, verifiable sense of humor:

Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse

Categories: Zombies

May 16th, 2011 11:48 am ET  -  Ali S. Khan

If you're ready for zombies, you're ready for just about anything else!!  Click on over and find out what you need to know!

No,...

...corporate beyotch!!

Thank you, Mme Sherzo!!

Color Me Shocked...

Apparently even Trudeau has noticed the funny goings on...

As Annie Savoy would say, "Oh, my!"

Videos to Think Upon...

 ...scary stats.



Found at Rodge's.

Bow to no one:



From Sondrakistan

Isaac and Katrina

Forbes (at Drudge) reports that Isaac could rival Katrina.

Here's the track cone as of about 40 minutes ago:

I wonder if:

  ...people will actually evacuate this time?
  ...if the school buses will be used this time?
  ...the levees will hold this time.
  ...the Governor will ask the President to activate the National Guard?
  ...the FEMA response time will be any better?
  ...if the idiots who weren't prepared last time are any better prepared his time?

My bets:
  Doubt it.
  Maybe
  Dunno
  Jindal?  Yea, most likely he will understand that he has to do it in order to get
  the National Guard rolling.
  Doubt it (they were within normal operating parameters the last time - about a
  week to get boots on the ground.)
  Doubt it.

Stay safe and dry, everyone!

Trudeau...

...jumps shark?

Well, aliens, actually.

He's been in the tank for the Dems since the git-go, but this one has me confused.  Of late, he's been using Dem talking points as the basis for his strips - see this one, for example.

 

Color me confused... is he seriously saying that Hillary's brand of diplomacy will appease the putative aliens?  Or, that outsourcing and downsizing them wouldn't work?

Latest Sintestrosphere Shorts-Wadder-Upper

Call for peaceful change of Oval Office's occupant, or call for his assassination?  The sinestrosphere thinks it's the latter.

I think the former, and I like it!

Childish Things...

I'm re-posting a comment I made over at Gerard's in response to this:

"OK. Both the coat and the pants are too short. The coat should fall to the first knuckle of the thumb, and the bottom of the cuff should *at least* be down to the top of the shoe (break optional).

First thought on this look - the kid needs a new suit, because he's outgrown this one. But, for the generation of extended childhood/childishness, I suppose it's appropriate."

I expected to see the overcoat mis-buttoned.

Maybe there IS Hope...

Amazon has a map of books sold in the last 30 days that shows the percentages of "Blue" books vs. "Red" books sold.  This may be a better poll than any other.  OTOH, it may show the Dems are doing homework.

Unbelievable, but I prefer the former (optimistic) thought.

Click caption to visit Amazon's "Election Heat" Map

Pop Quiz...

...over at the Christian Science Monitor!


I got a "C: (76%) - my metric physics units foo is non-existent.  When I studied physics in high school, we used real units of measurement, like foot-pounds, feet/second and such, like God intended!!

Damnit.

Audience participation...

More from the dating site.  This one is "The most private thing I'm willing to admit".

Mine is "I once buried a man for the price of a haircut".

Discuss and comment, please.

Big bada-boom!!

I was revisiting my dating profile, and came across this question.  You get to choose from a list of answers, then explain further.

In a certain light, wouldn't nuclear war be exciting?

 No, it wouldn't. 

In the late 80s, I worked at the missile factory that was directly across the street from the Naval Weapons Station. (They would neither confirm nor deny that they had nuclear warheads there.  But we were betting "Yes".)  I figured that, if the Russians pushed the button down, I'd call my daughter to say good-bye, then drive into the office, set my lawn chair out front, and have a scotch-rocks or two whilst watching the incoming.

I figured that being a few hundred yards from two major bull's eyes would pretty much insure that I'd be incinerated in a flash.  Radiation sickness is not something I want to do, if I can avoid it.

Seriously.

Happy 4th of July!!

Noli permittere illigitisimae vos carborundum!!

("Don't let the bastards grind you down!")

Happy Fourth!

This is my current desktop background:

Seems appropriate for the holiday.

Fatima and the Nazis

My mind tends to meander a lot.  One of the exes said once that, had she not seen me sit and read a book to the exclusion of everything else around me, she would have bet I was ADD.  What I've just described  has both advantages and disadvantages, but perhaps another time.  Point is, about a week ago, a remembrance of something I read or saw popped up.  For no apparent reason.  (I'll go with synchronicity, myself.)  What I had seen was a story about an ethical, if not downright moral conundrum.

During WWII, the Nazis did absolutely horrific medical "experiments".  We would call them "torture".  Thing is, they accumulated quite a bit of data about human performance in what could only be described as extremely hostile conditions.  The one that sticks in my mind had to do with hypothermia, basically tossing people into ice water to see how long they would live. The conundrum arose after the war.  All of this data became available, but many scientists and doctors were hesitant or unwilling to use it, because of how it was obtained.  Those opposed found it repugnant to use data that was "tainted" by the horrific manner in with it was obtained.

As an IT guy, I view data by itself, as neutral, neither good nor bad.  When enough data is collected, it becomes information, and can eventually lead to understanding.  It is true that many medical advances are made as a result of wounded and injured soldiers in battle.  Field medicine propagates to the E. R.  and to other medical specialties.  The circumstances surrounding this data collection is hardly different in the level of horrors from that of the Nazi's manner of developing their data.

There is the obvious difference in circumstance - our wounded have put themselves in harm's way voluntarily for almost the last  40 years.  And they do it with some level of informed consent.  By enlisting in one of our branches of service, they are made aware (or at least have been told) that they could easily find themselves in harm's way.  The Nazis used slaves as their subjects.  The subjects were coerced.  Morally, there is no comparison between the two scenarios.

And the data is still useful.  It can be used to save lives.  So, do we ignore it, because of it's provenance, or do we hold our noses at the stench of it's origin, and go ahead?

"Baruch Cohen,a Californian lawyer and Holocaust researcher, argues that ‘although use of the Nazi data might benefit some lives, a larger bioethical problem arises. By conferring a scientific martyrdom on the victims, it would tend to make them our retrospective guinea pigs, and we, their retrospective torturers.’’[1]

Cohen goes on to say:

"Absolute censorship of the Nazi data does not seem proper, especially when the secrets of saving lives may lie solely in its contents. Society must decide on its use by correctly understanding the exact benefits to be gained. When the value of the Nazi data is of great value to humanity, then the morally appropriate policy would be to utilize the data, while explicitly condemning the atrocities. But the data should not be used just with a single disclaimer. To further justify its use, the scientific validity of the experiment must be clear; there must be no other alternative source from which to gain that information, and the capacity to save lives must be evident.

Once a decision to use the data has been made, experts suggest that it must not be included as ordinary scientific research, just to be cited and placed in a medical journal. I agree with author Robert J. Lifton who suggested that citation of the data must contain a thorough expose' of exactly what tortures and atrocities were committed for that experiment. Citations of the Nazi data must be accompanied with the author's condemnation of the data as a lesson in horror and as a moral aberration in medical science. The author who chooses to use the Nazi data must be prepared to expose the Nazi doctors' immoral experiments as medical evil, never to be repeated." [2]

So, with appropriate care and citation, the data may be used ethically.  Now, what about Fatima?

"The essence of the Fatima message concerns conversion from sin and a return to God, and involves reparation for one’s own sins and the sins of others, as well as the offering up of one’s daily sufferings and trials. There was also a focus on prayer and the Eucharist at Fatima, and particularly the rosary, as well as the Five First Saturdays devotion, which involves Confession, Holy Communion, the rosary and meditation, for five consecutive months with the intention of making reparation to Our Lady (for more details visit Theotokos.org.uk)." [3]

The key phrase for my purposes is "...reparation for one’s own sins and the sins of others...".  No one but themselves can know the state of soul and mind of the doctors (and others) who performed these tortures.  But, I think that if they are willing and able to accept it, using their data for a good cause could be redemptive for them.

A tool is just a tool, and data is a tool.  They quality of the results of it's use depend entirely upon the intention of the person wielding the tool.  A gun can be used to commit a crime, or stop one.  Data can be used to harm or endanger someone, or it can be used to educate, illuminate, enlighten, or even save a life.

I felt that a couple of citations were in order:

[1]  Bogod, David. "The Nazi Hypothermia Experiments: Forbidden Data?", Anaesthesia,
       Volume 59 Issue 12 Page 1155, December 2004.
[2]  http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/naziexp.html (accessed 6-30-2012)
[3]  http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/features/2010/08/05/the-priests-who-survived-the-atomic-bomb/
     (accessed 6-30-2012)

Anchoress...

Ballpark.   Out of.

I wrote the following to a poster over at Anchoress' who said:

“ 'It is not our job to protect the people from the consequences of their political choices.'
But maybe it *is* their job to protect me from other people’s political choices. I didn’t vote for Obama."

Did you actually READ Anchoress' post.  I didn't vote for him, either, and yet, I now realize that its NOT up to SCOTUS to make it better for me.  Nor should they!  Our government is ",,,of the people, by the people, and for the people...".  In tech terms means that its a bottom-up structure, NOT a top-down one.

So stop whinging, get off you ass and vote this time, too.  And get everyone out there whom you know to go vote with you.  Drive them to the polls! And they should probably vote for Romney while there at it.  And for ever Republican congresscritter on the ballot.

It's the only way to nuke 'em from orbit.  Which as I'm sure you know, is the only way to be sure!

(Oh, and I cleaned up my typos when I posted it here.  Double duh.)

Speaking of Mitt:

Given the ruling today...

...use this as your guide:

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

Sad news...

Daphne at Jaded Haven has decided to call it quits.  She has marked her blog as "private", making it unavailable.  At first, I though she might have decided to filter her readers, so I sent a request to be admitted.

Here's the e-mail thread:

 (I've cleaned up the e-mail addys, and chopped it up a bit, just so you can read it top-to-bottom, like normal.)

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: the blog
From: Daphne
Date: Sun, June 24, 2012 7:57 am
To: leelu

Hi Leelu,

I'm shutting down the blog, it's in a temporary state of limbo until I can transfer some of the stories for safekeeping.

So, please don't be offended that I haven't returned your request for admittance, nobody is getting in, the curtain is coming down.

I want to thank you for spending time at the Haven and wish you well.

Best to you,
Daphne

On Jun 24, 2012, at 11:08 AM, leelu wrote:
No offense taken.  Are you OK??

Subject: the blog
From: Daphne
Date: Sun, June 24, 2012 12:54 pm
To: leelu

I'm fine, just feel like the blog has become a pointless waste of time.

I disagree

Who knew?

Story over at PJ Media about eight priests who survived the Hiroshima blast in 1945.

They were, of course, Jesuits.

This...

...almost cost me a keyboard.

I-5 Road kill...

...I don't know about other states' road signs near the border w/ Mexico, but the sign on the left is an actual, honest-to-God CalTrans sign, near both the INS checkpoint at San Onofre, and just before the border crossing at San Ysidro.  STG.

I believe Mr. Freeberg has it about right.

Apology

From CandyCartons.com via the ever suave Mr. Green:

My apology to conservative America.
I can only write about my experience, but I pray there are thousands like me who will show up in November.
“My vote won’t make a difference”. I remember telling my wife, Erin, only 6 months ago. I believed it. I figured the majority would always win, and I was part of that majority. So why even bother?
At 43 years of age, I have never voted once in my life. My eyes would roll when anyone in the family wanted to talk politics. I had more important things to attend to: business, family, fun… selfishness.
6 months ago I joined twitter, but only to dip my toe in for business purposes. I had planned on following hotels around the country (my main clientele) so as to build relationships to increase sales. Then, someone re-tweeted @dloesch, and it was a very conservative tweet. Initially I thought to myself, “this person has some balls, don’t they know they could lose leftist business”!?
The re-tweet inspired me to look at who @dloesch was following, and to read more and more and more tweets: hooked.
I’m not much of a writer, but suffice it to say that twitter has changed my life. I now embrace the fact that there are MILLIONS out there who value our constitution, our right to have a voice, and our right to tell Obama “NO”!
Now, instead of rolling my eyes at my father-in-law, I join him in conversation, debate and SHOWING UP FOR THE VOTE!
God bless all of you! And if you don’t like my views, don’t buy my product! I’m done being a pussy.

Greg Beckemeier
CandyCartons.com

Yeah.  Go vote.  We gotta get that numbnuts out of the White House and get this country back on track, constitutionally and economically!

Pathetic...

Res ipsa loquitur  (via Public Secrets and Blogs 4 Mitt)  Click pic for analysis.

Reading List Addition

I just added Public Secrets to my reading list.  Found it on Blogs 4 Mitt, read the first screen load, and decided I needed to share!

Go.  Read

New Blog

I grew up in Los Angeles when newspapers were, well, newspapers.  I avidly read two columnists who wrote for the L.A. Times,  Matt Weinstock and Jack Smith. They weren't political columnists, they were observers of life around them.  I remember Matt Weinstock writing about the phenomenon of traffic on the Santa Monica freeway slowing as it went thru the cut between Normandie and Rimpau.  For unknown reasons, drivers slowed as they went thru, in either direction, no matter what time of day or night. (Except late at night, when the kamikaze rice-rocket boys blasted thru traffic at near warp speed.)

Jack Smith wrote mostly about his life in his neighborhood just North-East of Downtown L.A.  Of the two, he had the longer run, and I enjoyed him the most.  He is the one who is providing the inspiration for my new blog, Window on Red Lion.  I intend it to be about life in my new home town, in the tradition of Mr. Weinstock and Mr. Smith.  If I could write half as well as either of them, I'd be twice the writer I am now.

Please swing by and take a look!

Thanks!!

Pundit & Pundette: Malkin: Who will protect the freedom to blog?

Go.  Read.

Pundit & Pundette: Malkin: Who will protect the freedom to blog?

Separated at birth??

 Gloria Allred

The Joker

Seriously?  

Her face is way too damned symmetrical to be natural.  Joker at least came by his looks honestly, and for a lot less money.

Added thought:  I  know it's not, but that does look like a line-up wall behind her.

:-p

I read on Fox that the margin was about 7% for Gov. Walker.

It will be interesting to see what kind of a "legal" rear-guard action the Dems will try (you know they will) to reverse that...

(Image stolen from Gerard.)

Yeah. right...

Via House of Erathosthenes:

Next Monday, June 4, will be the four-year anniversary of the speech candidate Obama gave celebrating his delegate count, which would make him the certain Democrat nominee. He took the occasion to state what he thought his presidency foretold. Of his own nomination victory, Obama said, “This was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on Earth.”

Un effing Believable

Link to page on screen cap above.  Link to site here.

Thanks to THS

Web site registration info below the fold.  (Its an office building in North Hollywood, Ca.):

Party like...

...its 1939.

Nazi Renaissance in Iran.

I ran the site through a couple of web page translators to get a quick and dirty approximation of what it was about.  Based on two quick scans, it looked pretty laudatory about the Hitler and whole Nazi movement.

And yes, they were on the side of the Axis during WW II.

Look into the void...

...for it is you.

Gerard has a long and excruciatingly thoughtful piece on the refusal to imagine.  From what I've seen in the last 10 years, 8 months and 19 days, the refusal to imagine starts with the refusal to look.  Look at what has happened, knowing the we can easily become part of it, either as perpetrator or victim.  (But remember, there are no victims, only volunteers.)  So, some images from around the web as a reminder  (warning - really graphic stuff below the break):

WW II

9/11/2001

You, or my lyin' eyes, II...

Stolen from the Ulsterman Report, via Gerard (of course):

Presidents At Work

by Ulsterman on May 30, 2012 with 7 Comments in News

This photo is now making the rounds – suggesting perhaps in 2008 Americans actually elected its first woman president?




And that exit sign is rather appropriate as well…

One of my (former) co-workers saw this on my computer and immediately said, "Oh, well, He's helping someone else, unlike the other two!" 

I didn't think so, either

Taylor...

... just pray:

Mme Scherzo writes:

"Everyone, stop and reblog this, it won’t make your blog ugly. Taylor is fighting a rare form of cancer and she is struggling to survive. Reblog this photo if you hope she will win her battle with cancer.  Pray for Taylor Love.  Shes so beautiful!"

Rabid Penguin Photography...

...is my young cousin's photography site.  He is a young man, about to get married and chase after a Master's degree.  He's had, from what I've seen, a bumpy time of it, but his recent goals bode well for him, I think.  I'm hoping that his pain (I know it was there) has passed.

Go visit.  He has some interesting stuff up.

You...

...or my lyin' eyes?

From Cold Fury:

"Bill Clinton, a white Southerner, was the first black president. Obama, an apparently straight guy, is the first gay president. George Zimmerman, an Hispanic, is a white guy. Elizabeth Warren, the whitest white woman anybody ever saw, is an Injun."

(Altho, I'm not sure about Obie...)

As you can see from above...

...I'm out of the political closet.

If you are so moved...

...sign this and pass it on.

Be sure to personalize.

Thanks to The Anchoress.

The Universe is God Dreaming

Gerard has this up, and its too good not to share:

In short...

Maj. Owens...

...on his next deployment??

(Yes, I know he's retired, but when duty calls...)

New Scam...

Updated

Got another one of these (similar, anyway).  The English is awkward/atrocious, and I had to share this:

"The position involves liaising with clients and managing processes in a fast paced circumference..."

Almost makes me want to respond, just to see how bad it really is.



...this was in my spam folder just now.  Wonder why??


Greetings,

I would like to discuss a business proposal that has the potential for significant earnings.

I am currently employed with a privately held manufacturing company. My company has demand for a specific material that is vital to its processing operations. We are currently purchasing this material at a price well over the manufacturing cost.

I would like to explore the possibility of having you stand-in as a new supplier, providing this material while retaining the same profit margins. My role would be to introduce you to my company, as the supplier, and to obtain a contract between you and my employer. I have already discussed sourcing possibilities with the existing manufacturer, leaving room for attractive profit margins. What is still required in order to materialize this venture is an individual who is at arm's length to oversee these supply chain transactions. The required capital to purchase our initial order from the manufacturer will be funded strictly from myself and no additional investment will be required from yourself. With that said, we can discuss terms and commission structure in the near future.

I understand that your experience with  ******************* does not directly relate to my field. However, this venture is more in line with your personal capabilities rather than your professional experience.

I would like to confirm your current phone number *********. Please send a return email to verify your contact number and to schedule the most convenient time to discuss these possibilities in detail. I look forward to speaking with you soon.

Kindest Regards,
Curtis Stanford 

He is first talking about a material, then switches to talking about "...requires capital to purchase our initial order from the manufacturer...".

I don't believe that he is serious.

A-ha!

...had an epiphany about this on the way to work today.

Obie's strategy is not to attack something (business, religion) directly, but to hobble it so it can't do what it is supposed to do, until it dies.

What do I mean?

Well, he can't make farming illegal, or nationalize it.  Instead, he tries to control the actions of the farmer, in this case, essentially making it illegal for farming skills and work ethic to be passed down in the family.  Similarly, he's not directly confronting the Catholics, rather he's trying (thru HHS) to tell them they must do something that is, in their view, immoral.

Beauty of this is, when we go to argue abut what's really happening (can you say "collectives"?), it's "O noes, it's for the chirren!! We has to!!"

You have been warned.

Por Favor...

When you drop by, leave a comment, even if it's just to say "Hi".

I'd like to know who my visitors are.

Muchas gracias!!

Anonymity

I was browsing an open thread over at the Headmistress's place, and  Anonymity is mentioned a couple of times, which moved me to share a couple of links:

Ixquick ("Is quick") has put a layer of anonymity over your Google search, hiding your IP address and blocking cookies from Google.

DNT+ (Do Not Track Plus)  by Abine is a browser extension that blocks tracking by social networks, ad networks and tracking companies.  Downloading is free.

You're welcome.

And thanks to Vodkapundit for pointing me to them!

Voting time...

...over at Zilla's place.

Pick one...

Bad man kills innocent youth



Bad man kills bad man



Upstanding citizen kills innocent youth



Upstanding citizen kills bad man



 Out of the four possible choices from these four photos, our media chooses the only one that supports their narrative.

They seem to have forgotten their business model -  they are selling readers/viewer to the advertisers.  Really.  Where does most of their revenue come from?  Advertisers.  And they can't convince us to pay for the privilege of being advertised at because of crap like this.  So, subscription rates are crashing, and revenue is crashing with it.

It isn't the technology, it's the content.

E-mail to a friend...

I write my friend in Ca from time to  time, and then realize it could be a post, so...

I'm sorry to hear about you losses.  Sadly, we are the age where that becomes more frequent.  It's weird being the 'elders' at family gatherings now.  I'm glad to hear that your parents are still with you.  Why is your mom in hospice?  And, how is your dad?  Tell them I said "Hello", please.

I'm doing OK.  Met a nice lady on line... we've gotten together a few times in the last month - 1/2 and enjoyed it.  Just hangin' together, but it's been fun.  No rush to take anywhere in particular, which is nice.  I finally found a decent MD, and I'm back on NSAIDs for arthritis in my hands, so I haven't been hurting so much since the first of the year.

Working at two schools as an adjunct, looking for more class hours, or, better yet, a full time gig w/ bennies.  The new doc wants me on Lipitor, but I can't afford it right now, what with the head and hand meds.  He does have me on low-dose aspirin, and I'm generally in good shape.

Arrgh!  Sound like an old guy, talking about all this health shit.

Going to make a business proposal to my lady friend - she has been very successful in sales, and I'm going to ask her if she would try to sell me as a consultant to local small businesses.  I'll go back to being a computer geek whore, and she can be my pimp.  I got a call out of the blue Friday... someone in the DC area code wanted to know if I'd like to be a UG drafter for him.  Going to call back Monday.

Well, that's about it.  Did I send you the link to Eric Raymond's political manifesto?  If not, it's on the blog.  You guys ought to take a look at it.

Say "Hello" to your lovely wife for me!

Cheers!

I've long been a fan...

...of Eric Raymond.  I first discovered him when I picked up a copy of his New Hacker's Dictionary at the MIT Press Bookstore many years ago.  I thoroughly enjoyed The Cathedral and the Bazaar, and I enjoyed his comments in the film Revolution OS, about the early history of Linux.

But this is amazing.  He's captured pretty much everything I've thought in the last 11 years.  Go read =>, or click the AIM button on the right.

200 + people...

...just having fun!  (Ignore DougM's atrocious pun, tho...)

Just... dumb.

OK.  I finally figured out that I wrote about and to Lifelock, rather than Carbonite about Rush.

I hate when I do stuff like that.

Sheesh...

Reading List

I got a comment on the old post about the NPR reading list, and responded back with an e-mail.  Then, I thought to my self, "Self, post your own reading list."

I enjoyed the movie "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen", based loosely on a comic book of the same name.  What tickled my brain about it was that all of the main characters were from various 19th and early 20th century novels:  Alan Quartermain, Captain Nemo, Tom Sawyer, Mina Harker, Ishmael, "M", Dr. Jekyll/Mr Hyde, Dorian Grey, and the Invisible Man.

Up to that point, I had read 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, Tom Sawyer, Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, and Moby Dick.  So, in the summer of 2004, I hit Amazon for the titles I hadn't read:

King Solomon's Mines (Alan Quartermain) by H. Rider Haggard

The Invisible Man, by H. G. Wells

The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mister Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson

And, for completeness, the ones I'd read (in italic, just to be different)

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, by Jules Verne

Dracula, by Bram Stoker,

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)

Which ones have you read??

Sluts Everywhere!!!

Rodger has this up at his place, which prompted me to send this:

Hi, Tami,

I assume that, since MSNBC's Ed Schultz called Laura Ingraham a "slut", that you will not be sponsoring his show, if it  does come back on the air?.  I can only assume so, based on  Mr. David Friend's 3/2 statement (and 3/3 update) about the use of the word by another talk show host Lifelock sponsored.

Will Mr Friend be scheduling a "face-to-face meeting" with Mr. Schultz as well?

Thank you,

That's the name on the e-mail I found at Lifelock:  tami@lifelock.com

 I'm just curious to see if Mr. Friend is consistent in his application of outrage.  No one the media should ever call anyone a slut.

Among our other burdens, we need to better behaved than our inferiors.

(See also sondrak for the text of Mr. Friend's statements.)

Twiddling...

...added a couple of new comics and web sites to the lists, and changed what gets shown on the lists.

Enjoy.

I'm getting pinged lately...

...or, "Context is Everything"

It's been my experience over the years that God does, in fact, talk to us.  The problem for any one of us being talked to is  noticing that it is happening.  I think the communication channel used is syncronicity.

Wikipedia has a pretty good definition:

 "Synchronicity is the experience of two or more events that are apparently causally unrelated or unlikely to occur together by chance and that are observed to occur together in a meaningful manner. The concept of synchronicity was first described in this terminology by Carl Gustav Jung, a Swiss psychologist, in the 1920s.^[1]
The concept does not question, or compete with, the notion of causality. Instead it maintains that, just as events may be grouped by cause, they may also be grouped by meaning. A grouping of events by meaning need not have an explanation in terms of cause and effect.
In addition to Jung, Arthur Koestler wrote extensively on synchronicity in "The Roots of Coincidence" ^[2]"

 Seems to me that syncronicity falls between absolute random chance, and events that have statistical probability.

F'rinstance, suppose my birthday is August 30.  A friend invites me to go with her to a concert.  It starts at 8:30.  We get there, and pick up our tickets.  We are seated in row eight, and my seat happens to be number 30.  That's syncronicity.  

But, what about the meaning?  If this were to happen to me, I'd be surprised.  I'd probably say something to my companion about the Universe (a.k.a. God) wishing me happy birthday.  And that would be that.

No context, really.

Context:

Here are some numbers:  12345

What do they mean?  You might say "The first five digits."  But since we are at the Post Office, I would say, "It's zip code for Schenectady, New York." (Really!)

If  it were an arithmetic class, your answer would have more meaning than mine, based on the context.

Context shapes meaning. 

So, the pings that I'm getting lately are about Catholicism.  Ever since the Obama/HHS decree that all health care providers *will* provide all "reproductive services"  (birth control and abortions), many of the blogs I read have been discussing it from a Catholic perspective.  The new friend I'm busily making is working her way towards Catholicism.  A couple of my college buddies have returned to it over the years.  I didn't think I would ever go back, and I'm still pretty sure it's a low-probability bet, but lately I'm becoming not so sure I won't.

I turned away from the Church (yes, I still capitalize it...) when I was 20.  I had concluded that I was agnostic.  (The fact that not being Catholic reduced the course requirements for Theology and Philosophy might also have figured in to it.)   About ten years later, I met wife #2, who was a practicing Christian Scientist.  We would discuss it on the drive to and from work (it's where we met).  It started to make sense to me.  About a year and a half after we met, I signed up for an EST-like training.  I knew that it included some exercises that would let me fiddle a bit with some of the theories I had learned.  I did, and they seemed to actually work.  Fast forward a few years later, and I was playing with first, the Church of Religious Science, and then with another church called Teaching of the Inner Christ.  After about 10 years of metaphysical study, I gave up any formal association with a church, and went my merry way.

There are some things that will have to be reconciled somehow if I am to return to the fold. In no particular order:

•  While I am a firm believer in evil and sin, I don't believe in "the devil". 
• I believe that, because we are made in the image and likeness of God, we are already perfect.
• I think that salvation is a matter of becoming the perfect expression of our perfection.
• Original sin?  Choosing to live in this physical state, apparently separated from God.
• I believe that we have chosen the life we live, and the experiences we create.
• I believe that sin is simply turning away from God.
• I believe that evil, like darkness, not something in itself, but an  absence of something.  As darkness is the absence of light, evil is the unwillingness to hear and respond to God, or, our absence from God.
• I believe that what we call God's Laws work in a way that is similar to gravity.  Hold something up and let go of it, and it will fall.  Do something contrary to one of God's laws, and it *will* come back to bite you.  Because of Divine Law, God doesn't need to micro-manage things.  (This leaves God more time for important things, like managing the outcomes of NFL and college football games based on teams' prayers...) 

I'm still on the fence about birth control.  I think "family planning" is a good thing.  My take on the Church's view is that they see it as the peak of a very dangerous and slippery slope that leads to sin and depravity.  They may be right.

Abortion is murder.  I think the Church and I are pretty much in agreement there.

I've gotten a pretty good handle on patience.  I fear my next lesson is humility.  I can see it coming, and I can't stop it.

Cheers!
 

 

Unclear...

...on the concept.

Lowe's wants you to fill out a form and fax it to the to get permission to link to their site.