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hey, didnt we already have a 'dead horse' story this week?

Judy Miller Testifies to Multiple Sources on Plame

Reporter Not 'Absolutely Certain' Libby Was First Source. Oh, now she tells us...

Ignore the Washington Post, your one stop shopping on the most asinine trial in the history of mankind can be found at the man Time calls 'man of the year' Tom Maguires blog - 'Just one minute'

Posted @ January 31, 2007 10:43 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)

another bush critic dies under mysterious circumstances

Kentucy Derby winner, and frequent outspoken Bush administration critic Barbero dies under mysterious circumstances. Authorities unable to ascertain whereabouts of Dick Cheney or the ousted and discredited Donald Rumsfeld at the time of the horses death.

Those monsters will stop at nothing to keep their regime going...

Posted @ January 29, 2007 10:48 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)

mating season: boeing 767 tanker makes first contact

Boeing is competing for a contract to replace the US Air Force's KC-135 Tanker fleet. A final Request for Proposals for the KC-X program is expected soon followed by a contract award announcement in the summer.

Boeing has produced nearly 2,000 tankers in its history and currently is building four tankers each for Italy and Japan. The KC-767 has logged more than 200 flights and 600 hours during its flight test program.

(Editors Note: Boeing is competing against Northrop/EADS who are competing with an Airbus A330 derivative. Boeing is agressively going after this contract with an alternate proposal based on the Boeing 777. Now that - is one big tanker!)

Posted @ January 28, 2007 07:59 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (3)

rick moran has a question for you leftists out there

"...The netnuts are fond of calling those of us who support the mission in Iraq chickenhawks. What do you call someone who sits on their ass in front of a keyboard, railing against the President, claiming that the United States is falling into a dictatorship, and writing about how awful this war is and yet refuses to practice the kinds of civil disobedience that their fathers and mothers used to actually bring the Viet Nam war to an end?

I call them what they are; rank cowards. There should be a million people on the mall today. Instead, there might be 50,000. Today’s antiwar left talks big but cowers in the corner..."

As always, "Read The Whole Thing"

Posted @ January 27, 2007 10:42 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (1)

Airbus: How to inspire confidence - Lesson #421

Our man at Airbus...

Step One - Issue a press release saying that youve fixed a problem with the new aircraft and its complicated wiring.

(inner dialog)

Wiring? Isnt that sort of important? Didnt that SwissAir MD-11 crash because of a wiring problem? How could you not get the wiring right? if you cant do something like the wiring right what chance do they have of making sure that the pylons that attach the engines to the wing are engineered with some sort of high precision or dare I say possibly even "over-engineered" to be able take the stress of every day flight? When I hear 'wiring problem' I think of 'inflight fire', and 'inflight fire' is almost always a bad thing.

Step Two - Issue a second press release the same week correcting the first saying that you only meant to say that you fixed the wiring on the first aircraft, not the entire fleet.

(inner dialog)

What in the wide, wide world of sports? Are you telling me that Airbus is now custom making aircraft by hand like the way that black forest craftsman make cuckoo clocks? The whole purpose of manufacturing is to make one aircraft after the other in the exacting fashion, not cobble together big complicated things that fly out of the floor shavings.

Step Three - Appoint as your Operations manager a man with the unlikely name "Gerhard Puttfarcken"

(inner dialog)

Are you freaking kidding me?...

Posted @ January 26, 2007 08:46 AM | Aviation | Comments (6)

Ex-Wife of John Warner Supports Hillary

"I'm for Hillary" says the famous ex-wife of Hotel heir Conrad "Nicky" Hilton, Michael Wilding, Eddie Fisher, Richard Burton and Richard Burton (2nd marriage),Senator John Warner, Larry Fortensky and widow of Producer Michael Todd.

With a candidate getting backing from celebrities with character like this, why even bother to hold an election? I'm mean its cinch that Hillary is going to win now! Why she's cornered the crucial Larry King panel guest and Michael Jackson supporter demographic!

Try to keep in mind when when you see thngs like this, that we have almost twenty three long months to go until the election.

twenty...
three...
looooooooonnnnng...
months...
to...
go...

zzzzzzzzzzzzz

Remember that between now and then, that for every day that goes by some other Hollywood half dead ghostly spectre of the past is going to crawl forth from their coffin to try to prove to the world and to themselves that they are still worthy of receiving the warm glow that comes from receiving camera time, by proclaiming to everyone in the world that:

a) Bush is as dumb as a retarded three-toed tree sloth!
b) Hillary is great!
c) Obama is great!
d) Warren Beatty really should run for President!
e) All of the above.

day after day, after seemingly never ending freaking day this is what we have to look forward to.

Posted @ January 25, 2007 10:29 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)

Quote of the day

My favorite smell? Cordite. After you've fired a gun.
From: "What I've Learned" - Peter O'Toole

I have to admit that cordite is up there on my list, but I've got a thing for the smell of air blowing through laundry that's hanging on an outside clothes line.

Posted @ January 25, 2007 04:32 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)

Whats missing at the RNC

Have you seen yours lately, Senator Ensign?

Posted @ January 25, 2007 04:10 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)

The futurist - who hates america?

A new-to-me blog the futurist wrote a terrific piece last year that further expands on the hard to believe explosive subject of "maybe everyone really doesnt hate us after all"

but then again, maybe I'm just too "immature" to understand the root cause and validity behind anti-american bigotry.

Posted @ January 25, 2007 01:26 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (3)

Sign the pledge

Let me say this first. I am not someone who tosses around the words "I will quit the party" lightly. I believe that "you dance with them that brung ya"

So I do not toss around the words "I will not support Republicans" lightly, but I say that with direct and specific meaning. If the party does not take action to stop the reckless self serving cowardice being undertaken by Senator Warner in the Senate, I will not not support the Republican party. Not one thin dime, not one even remotely positive blog posting. That goes for all of you up there Honourable Ladies and Gentleman, so let's not try to take cover behind the "I'm your pal, its us against Warner, so dont get mad at me" because it wont work with me. You stand with him, I will not stand with you. It's that simple.

The message that Warner is sending is nothing short of the worst sort of gutless cowardice, it is worthy only of rebuke,not support on any level however 'quiet and reserved' it may be. Do not allow this masturbatory action to detract from our mission.

We as Republicans can debate border control, we can debate issues of taxation, but we cannot and will not stand for cutting the legs out from our military while they are at war. We did not send our men and women in Iraq to be fodder for the loudmouth layabout Senators on CSPAN, we sent our men and women to fight the enemy and win.

Let them fight and we will win. Let this action stand on the floor of the Senate and no one in our military will fight for us again without looking over their shoulders for support; but do it also with a mind to the fact that our enemy will keep coming no matter how many 'non binding resolutions' you pass.

There can be only one Peace from this war, and that is the Peace that comes through victory.

Now, go sign the pledge and do the same.

Posted @ January 24, 2007 06:02 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (4)

Kerry "cuts and runs"

Citing the nations continuing prejudice and bigotry against soulless, spineless political automotons; John Kerry ended the dreams of right wing bloggers and comedy writers everywhere by quitting the dream of running in a race that already had him polling lower that Dennis Kucinich.

"I just had to face up to the fact that really do suck like an electrolux, and theres no amount of money from Theresa thats going to change that fact" said the man that Jonah Goldberg once described as "The Human Toothache".

Oh I could go on like this all day...

Posted @ January 24, 2007 12:48 PM | Category 2 | Comments (0)

America: Now more than ever, more popular abroad - just dont tell the pollsters

I've never understood how on one hand people overseas will tell the pollsters how much they hate America - and Americans, and yet our streets seem to be increasingly filled with people from all around the world who have risked life and limb and broken the law of their country and ours to get here.

I mean, if I dont like a restaurant, I dont stand in line for 4 hours to get in, I just go somewhere else. I sure dont stand in line for four hours and then say how much I hate the place.

I wonder if theres a sort of 'natural reflex' to just tell the pollsters what they want to hear, rather than tell them what you actually think.

Think about it, when the western United States was being settled, I dont think there were people saying how much they hated Oregon and California when they were selling everything they had and walking away from Ohio and other parts of the east. " I hate Oregon, so lets take our life in our hands and try to go there", followed by headlines that said " Oregon more unpopular than ever says poll of former residents of Ohio".

face it, if there is a line of people stretching across to continent walking to oregon, then any poll saying "oregon unpopular..." is clearly based on faulty data, right?

It's not that I've dont trust the MSM(I dont), its just that when my dashboard instruments give me information that is contrary to what I can see and test with my own eyes, I tend to think the instrument is broken in some way.

UPDATE: Welcome instapundit-eers.

Via the fabulous babalu:

19 men gave up everything they had in the socialist paradise of Cuba and risked their lives crossing 90 miles of open sea on a raft to come to the United States. Their reaction on arrival?;

"...The rafters were overjoyed! They wanted to know how long before they could get a job and were jittery with excitement at the world opened before them. Some of them reported that living under a system where you fear the police and the state 24 hours a day is not living, and to not be able to enjoy the fruit of your own labor is the worst form of slavery."

You see those big smiles? Gosh they do seem geniunely happy to be here, dont they?

(Funny, none of these men seem to have commented on our foreign policy stance with Israel. Perhaps they are just "immature" as one commenter on this post has opined.)

Posted @ January 24, 2007 07:25 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (16)

The Asshat Senator from Virginia

A few people asked me today what I thought of Senator Warner and his "non binding resolution".

angry? well yeah. you could say that...

In the last 6 years, where I have repeatedly watched the President of the United States called every name in the book, where I have watched a country denigrated by its own citizens and their representatives in both Houses of Congress while its own men and women were away during a time of war, yet after all of it, I have never in my 45 years of life ever seen anything that has made me so stomping mad as this.

Warner, You fat bastard. You unthinking coward. You slimy warthogs rectum. You walking colosotomy bag. You mouldering sack of crap. Get out of my party!

I can take Dick Durban calling our own military the equivalent of nazis, I can take a former President saying that we are "supporting the jews" and somehow making it sound like its a bad thing, I can take the near endless lies and slow assassination of the President by Democrats on an almost daily basis for 6 years but I cannot, nor will I accept from a member of my politcal party the kind of gutless, wincing, crybaby cowardace that is in display by my party as is being done at this moment by the Senator from Virgina. Make that former Senator, because to me, he's mud.

If I do not see the head of the Republican Party revoke this mans membership from the party or otherwise publically rebuke this dottering, infeebled, spinach chinned, daiper wearing jackass in very stern public and exacting terms, then I will leave this party. Having John Warner in the Republican Party is just not all that different from having Jane Fonda in the party, except that Senator Warner has slightly bigger breasts and a better signing voice than she, and I may point out that neither of those things we are in any particular need for right now. We need to support our President. We need to defeat the enemy, we need to let our military go do the job we ask them to do with the tools we begrudgedly have given them.

Dear God in heaven, do not fail to send me enemies, but oh please dear lord save me from my friends.

When this party has retreated to the point that the best and most forceful spokesman that is left for the Republicans is Joe Lieberman, then the Republican party is no more. When the day comes when a man who has the clarity of mind to marry Elizabeth Taylor (because he was sure that this time after all the other marriages, that it was sure to work) is considered to be a "stalwart right wing thinker" in the Republican party, then perhaps its time we refomed the Whig Party and waved goodbye to these aging party boys that have grown too fat in the ass and too damn deaf and dumb in the head to see the consequences of their acts.

This act, this "non binding resolution" will kill our men and women in the military. It will kill them because it has shown the enemy exactly how to win. Dont fear their Aircraft carriers, dont fear their bombers, dont worry about the Marines, just kill 3,000 Americans and they will run home like squealing little crybabies.

You want to end the war? then agree to fight it. Take the fight to the enemy and press it home until they give up. That is our task, nothing more, nothing less. To fail in this fight is to only ensure that our grandchildren come back to fight "Gulf War III".

Two wars in the Gulf has been enough for our country to bear. Let's end it here. Lets not have to go back in 20 years because we decided today to leave another dictatorship in place to threaten our country in the future. Let's leave a democracy behind this time and undo the curse left by our Governments cowardace in backstabbing the people of Vietnam.

This man Warner deserves nothing but the very largest steaming cup of contempt that can be thrown into his face for this bald attempt to gather the love that comes from the end of a camera for his own personal fulfillment over the responsibility that comes with governance within the party of ideas, the party of liberty.

We are not Republicans because it is easy; we are Republicans because it is hard. You cannot be Republican by default, you have to choose to be a Republican, and its a hard choice to make. Public sentiment has always been against Republicans, and dont expect that to change any time soon. Since the days of Lincoln, our party has always made the tough choices that life requires and weve moved human liberty forward as a result despite the collective entropy of the masses that always seems to say that we should 'do nothing', and weve done it all the while getting kicked in the shins by 'public sentiment', but we dont care, were not here for the love of the camera. We are here for love of country, of our nation, of our liberty.

If its the love of public sentiment that you want, then go be a Democrat, but if you wish to serve your country rather than yourself, then be a Republican. But remember, its hard. No one will like you, your friends will ostracize you, your neighbors will draw the blinds on the windows as you walk by, you will have to hide your party affiliation from those you date, but you will know in your heart that doing the right thing very often means going against what makes people happy in the short term, but you know that it must be done. That's what makes you a Republican.

I say a very public and hearty "Screw him" and that goes to anyone on our side that decides to back this 'non binding resolution'. And dont ever ask me again what I think of this man or any of the other cowards who now abandon the President, this country and its military in a time of war. You aught to know me by now...

(from the musical 1776)

Does anybody care?
Is anybody there?
Does anybody care?
Does anybody see what I see?

They want us to quit; they say
Frank, give up the fight
Still to Alqueda I say
Good night, forever, good night!
For I have crossed the Rubicon
Let the bridge be burned behind me
Come what may, come what may

Commitment!

The croakers all say we'll rue the day
There'll be hell to pay in fiery purgatory
Through all the gloom, through all the gloom
I see the rays of ravishing light and glory!

Is anybody there? Does anybody care?
Does anybody see what I see?

Posted @ January 23, 2007 04:17 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (2)

hes not tanned, hes not rested, but he is ready

Stephen Green, who has been silent for far too long, is going to 'live blog' the State Of The Union speech this evening.

Go, Enjoy. You wont be disappointed.

Posted @ January 23, 2007 10:11 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)

Democrats fail to stop American in-surge-ncy

You know two can play at this 'war of expectations' thing;

3,200 new US troops arrive in Baghdad
Despite the best efforts of the highest priced punditry, Democrats have failed again to stop a growing number of American troops from entering the Bagdhad area.

3,200 troops from the so called "82nd Airborne" division entered the city unopposed, supported by much of the local populace, who have been quietly supporting the outsiders. Recent attacks on American Insurgents by the Iranian and Democrat supported Badr Brigade have resulted in severe losses and a general retreat of Iraqi insurents that is now seen occuring across the region. While scattered resistence is offered by the Badr brigade, it is noted that not a single city that has been captured and occupied by the American Insurgents has ever been recaptured by the now floundering Iraqi and Iranian forces.

While no news organization has come out said so publically, it now appears to this reporter that all is lost in Iraq, and that Democrats should being pulling out of the region immediately if their lack of credibility in foreign affairs is to remain intact.

Yet, despite this clear loss of inititive, leading as some would say to the inevitable impression of being in "a quagmire", Democrats have instead chosen a policy of "stay the course" in their war against the growing presence of Americans in the Middle East.

hmmm... hey thas kinda fun, I'll have to start my day like that more often.

Posted @ January 22, 2007 07:59 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (2)

SNL - "Youre Great"

I'm old enough to remember when SNL was on Saturday nights, and not imbedded in my web site.

Posted @ January 22, 2007 07:47 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)

Harvard professor: Department is bastion of sexism

Parents of America - this is where your tuition dollars are going.

Let's read this paragraph from cnn together, and see if we can detect everything that is wrong with it, shall we?

"BOSTON, Massachusetts (AP) -- A Harvard University professor who accused the school of gender discrimination has withdrawn her resignation, but said Thursday that the school's landscape architecture department remains a bastion of sexism".

1. Accusation of 'gender discrimination'? What the hell does this mean? Did spanky and alfalfa reform the 'He man woman haters club'?

2. It's serious enough to resign and serious enough to report breathlessly, but not so much that you really mean to leave the job. Must not be all that bad if you ask me.

3. In the 'landscape architecture department'? At Harvard? Whats the semester cost for going to Harvard? So you can study wheres the best place to put the ficus? I guess the ESP and telekinesis department lost its credibility and all those folks had to go somewhere.

4. "Bastion of Sexism" sounds like the name of a terrific bar or a great garage band but it does not sound like the haunt of college professors - especially those in the "landscape architecture department".

5. These words leave you with the impression that our poor put-upon female college professor has been forced to get the men of the departent coffee and was ordered to pick up their shirts at the dry cleaners. However, parsing through the article you discover that 'professor cinderella' has been teaching at Harvards "landscape architecture department" since 1992 while she developed a world renoun and internationally known landscape architeture practice on the side. Oh, the horror and indignity of it all. All those years forced under the servitude of men, it mustve driven her to the madness of practicing free market capitalism and moved to the hard stuff of starting her own business.

The poor thing, I'm surprised she didnt stand on a table in the professors lounge and hold up a piece of carboard with the word UNION on it, as the thugs from the regents office dragged her away to meet her doom.

Posted @ January 21, 2007 11:12 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)

The big day is here at last!

All hail! - the new king in town...

Well today, Hillary Clinton surpised absolutely no one in the world by announcing her candidacy for President of the United States. Yet, instead of creating a buzz about the candidacy of the woman who has already enjoyed more unelected executive power since back when Mrs. Edith Wilson said "Woodrow has a really bad head cold and wont be out for weeks, but he said its ok for me to sign those papers you got there Senator"; Hillarys genius campaign staff has instead created the worlds largest collective yawn, causing immediate redefinition of all english language metaphors for the concept of 'anti-climactic'.

And I'm afraid its all downhill from here on out. Theres nothing like an oversold winner when they lose, and let me take this opporunity to say again - she wont win.

Her timing was terrific, after allowing virtually every other Democrat in the Western Hemisphere to announce that they too would like to be President and after sending disbarred and impeached husband to desert island for the duration of her campaign, she announces her candidacy on cold Saturday morning in January when all the reporters who ask the really tough questions are in line at costco buying firelogs, thus allowing only the second string reporters to be around to fall at her feet like "womyns studies" students at a k.d. Lang concert.

Ahh, what a vision!, Hillary does a webcast. Its a study in leadership like Churchill at the podium. There she sits on the front room sofas, talking down camera to us about having "a conversation", on a form of media that allows only one way communication. Ironic? well If you think about it, it is kind of a talisman of the future of this campaign and the country."let me tell you what you think" is the subtext here, and it wasnt lost on me a bit.

Don't try to question her motives dear readers, dont try to get a straight answer from her from here on out. To do so will only invite the worst sort of anger in those who seek only fairness towards the good and gracious "St. Hillary". You mind your place you peons, "It's her turn" dontcha know. Learn to heel, that's my advice.

There she sits, like everyones maiden aunt, talking to us about the need to "communicate", while using a downward camera angle, leaving me with the audience perspective of a five year old child. She sits there as only person on planet earth still unaware of husbands philandering, making the subconscious mind wonder if she will ever notice if the chinese decide to invade Taiwan. Despite voting over and over again for action in Iraq, when challenged about that fact, she uses the excuse that "Bush lied to me". What kind of a character do you have when you let men walk all over you like that, over and over again? Oh sorry, shouldn't ask questions like that, musnt use words like that. sorry.

Oh, what fun it will be over the next two years to listen to a campaign that is filled to the brim, with funloving "soundbite sized" statements that will be hurled at us daily from every audio orifice, such as "it takes a woman to clean up a mess this big!" followed by giddy laughter from the women in the newsroom. I wonder if they make a "nerf TV", because I think I'm going to need one.

So why is she qualified to be president?, well she enjoys the same basic qualification as most men enjoyed for nearly a millenium, that being her gender, but she has little else to show for a job thats likely to age her 25 years in the 8 years that the office is available to her. She's certainly old enough for the job and she has passed my own prime requirement for the office of having run for and held a public office before running for this one. But from there, it gets kind of light if you ask me. But just as all caterpillars must one day metamorph into buttterflies, its a fact of nature that all lawyers eventually cocoon themselves with their most trusted advisers and turn into "Presidential Candidates", then climb to the top of the nearest tree, spread their arms and cry out the immortal words; "its time for a change!". And this time, they really mean it...

Why is she qualified to be President? Well, at the start of her campaign for Senator of New York, she has actually convinced the people of the State of New York that she is in fact from New York, when she is actually from Chicago and comes to New York via Arkansas and Washington D.C. making her as residendially qualified to be Senator as the Canadian Snow Geese that visit the state every year. I actually do respect a politcian that tries to use that sort of bald faced double talk, especially when they manage to pull it off so well that people now actually think that she is from New York, though I suspect that the populace of New York has been subject to a good deal of lead in their water suppy by evidence of this vote and many other logical incongruities. Guile is a good character trait to have as President, and yeah she's got it, by the bucketload.

Why is she qualified to be President? The foundation of candidacy seems to be based on the idea that "she is not Bush", which instantly makes 239 million americans feel that they have at least one thing in common with her. "Connecting with the people", is a very good trait to have as President.

What should she do next?

Well, for starters, She should send Sandy Berger to national archives to gather up and destroy all film negatives of pictures like this:

Whoa...Long live "the dry look", eh?

So, What will happen next?

The phones will begin to melt at RNC headquarters as donations begin to pour in from all corners of the globe. She has single handedly given us Republicans something that is both fun and easy for us to agree on. We all hate her immensely, and the idea of being saddled with the reality of having to listen to that sharp edged harpy talk down to us like we were her pet dogs for the next four years is enough to get even the most self destructive Republican back on board. Congratulations Carville!, you've single handedly breathed new life into the corpse of the Republican Party.

The RNC will begin running commercials showing just her picture on the screen with the crowd chanting "four more years" on the voice over. Despite it being initially thought to be a Democrat sponsored advertisement, it will prove to be amazingly effective - for Republicans.

Oh, and John Kerry, what will happen to him? Well my guess is that while quietly playing with his stamp collection in good ole beantown, he will be suddenly and inexplicably sucked into a mysterious black hole, the only thing left in this dimention will be the fading memory of that horrible campaign. No one notice his departure or will much care that he is gone. The office of Junior Senator of Massachusetts will go on, much like it did while he held the office.

Empty, and not of much use to the people of Massachusetts.

Posted @ January 20, 2007 08:57 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)

Side by side comparison

Bush War Plan(Code Name: Victory)

Insure that middle east becomes a place where Democracy is seen as the norm,rather than an anomoly. Insure that scenes like the one above are performed more often. Return people of the middle east to a existence that includes the possibility of dignity and human liberty. Generations from now, Iraqis and other people in the middle east will find themselves to be the recipients of the fruits of liberty, that being peace and freedom.

Pelosi War Plan(Code Name: Surrender)

Ensure that Iraqis civilians are forced to fight overwhelming odds against the very worst form of Islamic terror without the support of American Troops insuring death and deprivation to Iraqi civilians young and old across all of Iraq. Ensure that others in the middle east dont stick their necks out trying to join the world of democracy, of peace and freedom. Ensure that future generations of Iraqis hate Americans for their cowardace for leaving them to the tender mercies of Iran.

Ensure that the scene above, never happens again.

Posted @ January 19, 2007 04:54 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)

A bit of a translation problem

"The president knows that because the troops are in harm's way, that we won't cut off the resources. That's why he's moving so quickly to put them in harm's way," Pelosi said on ABC's "Good Morning America."

Hmmm. I'm sorry Ms. Speaker, I can't understand a word you're saying. You see, I don't speak French...

Posted @ January 19, 2007 04:45 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)

They actually said this (and they meant it too)

A group of Senators once got together and sent a letter to the President. Here is the text of that letter.

"Dear Mr. President:

Up to now, you have set this summer as the deadline for announcing a decision on the deployment of a National Missile Defense (NMD) system. We are writing to urge you to delay such a decision and not to take any steps toward deployment at this time.

Last weekend's test failure demonstrates that it is too early to know whether deploying a cost-effective NMD system will be possible in the near future and whether it will provide real protection against the potential threat from emerging nuclear powers.

As you know, there is growing scepticism within the scientific community about the technical feasibility of the proposed system. A recent study by the Union of Concerned Scientists and MIT has raised serious questions about whether it would be effective against even the fairly simple countermeasures that adversaries would be capable of developing. Furthermore, a group of 50 Nobel Laureates and the American Physical Society, which represents 42,000 physicists, have recently issued statements critical of making a deployment decision before the system is adequately tested against realistic countermeasures.

We fear that a decision to deploy would imperil, not improve, our national security. Both Russia and China have said they will respond with a new buildup of their own nuclear forces. Furthermore, our allies have expressed grave concern about the impact deployment would have on international strategic stability.

Mr. President, the most effective way to reduce the threat of nuclear weapons is by continuing our arms reduction agreements and by working aggressively to stop the spread of nuclear weapons and missile technology. We hope you will continue your efforts to preserve the ABM treaty and resist pressure to deploy a national missile defense system at this time.

The letter was signed by the following Democratic senators:

Max Baucus (MT) Jeff Bingaman (NM) Barbara Boxer (CA)
Richard Bryan (NV) Robert Byrd (WV) Max Cleland (GA)
Tom Daschle (SD) Christopher Dodd (CT) Byron Dorgan (ND)
Richard Durbin (IL) Russell Feingold (WI) Dianne Feinstein (CA)
Tom Harkin (IA) Tim Johnson (SD) Edward Kennedy (MA)
Robert Kerrey (NE) John Kerry (MA) Frank Lautenberg (NJ)
Patrick Leahy (VT) Carl Levin (MI) Barbara Mikulski (MD)
Daniel Moynihan (NY) Patty Murray (WA) Jack Reed (RI)
Harry Reid (NV) Charles Robb (VA) Jay Rockefeller (WV)
Paul Sarbanes (MD) Charles Schumer (NY) Paul Wellstone (MN)
Ron Wyden (OR)

It is of note that Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), Vice President Gore's choice as running mate, did not sign the letter, and in a July 25 hearing stated his hope that the president would "keep the program going forward."

The letter was sent to President Clinton on August 8th, 2000.

Knowing what has occured in history since that time, I can't believe anyone on this list can show their face in public, much less run for office (and win!). Gee, I wonder if the 'concerned scientists' ever sent a corresponding version of the letter to the Chinese?

Posted @ January 19, 2007 07:22 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)

Chinese missile destroys satellite in space

from UK Telegraph.

But have no fear, a soon as Teddy Kennedy calls the Chinese to tell them that such a system is simply "too costly and unworkable" im sure they will come to their senses. But first he has to pen an article that blames bush for the Chinese making such a system in the first place.

Posted @ January 18, 2007 08:29 PM | Comments (0)

10 things I learned from Iraq

- No matter how much we wish to think that war strategy can be discussed in ‘silver bullet’ terms of things such as aircraft carriers, submarines, bombers, fighters, missiles and stealth technology, warfare is still largely about one man holding a rifle and standing on a piece of land, and refusing to be moved off of that land by other men with rifles. Warfare in the last 2000 years can still be distilled down to squads of men moving across terrain behind some form of personal shield. In the age of Achilles, it was done with brass plates over leather, today its done with Kevlar body armor.

- While it was always tempting to try to fit Iraq into the metaphor provided by other wars, such as WWII or Vietnam, it turns out that Iraq was neither of those things and thus has generally escaped definition. It has now been raised to be its own metaphor. In the future, people will not refer to a war where the public is divided and the goals shift almost daily as ‘another Vietnam”, but will instead bring out horrible possibility of “another Iraq”.

- We in the west talk endlessly about the benefits of freedom and democracy in a 'progressive civilization', but we are often too busy enjoying the benefits of those things to see how essential it is to the life of those to whom it has been denied. Sally Strothers cries her eyes out for you to send food to the worlds poor, but little hadji is going to have to grow up in a charnel house because it would be wrong to “impose our cultural values” on him. A crate of velveeta covered macaroni or a Madonna DVD is almost never thought of as “imposing our cultural values” but seeing that people are not executed for speaking their mind is.

- To many people, Abu-Ghirab and Guantanamo now outweigh the 9/11 attacks in terms of how they see our role in the world.

- While I thought that Afghanistan would be very hard and would take at least 10 years to make even the most basic level of military progress, that it would never be invaded successfully and would resist to the last man, I thought Iraq would be the “easier” of the two.

- For the record, I expected that the Iraq invasion would take almost 7,000 US military lives and would take 6 months for us to make it to what was left of a “scorched earth” Baghdad. I expected the bridges to be blown at every opportunity, cities and towns to be scorched (by the Iraqis) and a refugee crisis of huge proportions that would slow our progress. After that was over, I expected that the Occupation would take 10 years before the first elections would occur.

- The same group who screamed the loudest to “end the sanctions” in the 1990’s are the same people who cried the most when Saddam was executed in 2006.

- Now that America is in Iraq, the world cares deeply of the loss of quality of life of the Iraqi people. When Saddam was in charge, the world couldn’t possibly have cared less.

- The justification for going into Bosnia was the fact that Bosnia was in a full blown sectarian civil war and that we needed to stop it. The justification for leaving Iraq is that it is a full blown sectarian civil war and that we dont need to stop it. Makes me wonder what the Bosnians had that the Iraqis dont. Oh yeah, were still in Bosnia by the way...

- Public support for the “War on Terror” came into existence at 5:30pm EST September 11th, 2001. It peaked on January 12th, 2002 and it ended on May 3rd 2003. In 2004, the dials on the “Cultural Time Machine” began to slowly roll backwards and by 2006, the display on the chronometer had gone all the way back to 1968. Welcome to the past ladies and gentleman, I cant wait to see how it all plays out this time.

Posted @ January 18, 2007 12:33 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (6)

Been to Iraq?

Michele Malkin has, and here's her reaction:

"...I came to Iraq a darkening pessimist about the war, due in large part to my doubts about the compatability of Islam and Western-style democracy, but also as a result of the steady, sensational diet of “grim milestone” and “daily IED count” media coverage that aids the insurgency.

I left Iraq with unexpected hope and resolve..."

As the Vodkapundit would say "Read the whole thing".

Posted @ January 17, 2007 12:17 PM | Comments (0)

I wish he would just die already

There are times when I'm convinced that Fidel Castro is just fine, and is simply trying to push his Google ranking up with false reports of his death. He's just sitting somewhere on a beach with a laptop saying "Raul watch this, my blog will jump right to the top of Technorati in about 10 seconds, all I gotta do is say that 'Castro is getting ill' and poof! right up to the top..."

Just put a pillow over his face and count to 1000 very slowly, ok Raul? It's not like you dont know how. What? You think Gil Grissom and the team from CSI is gonna come investigate this? Are you kidding me? Come on man, you know you want to.

I dont want to see any more whispered reports of "Castros pending death" until I start to see reports of where Jimmy Carter is going to stand in the funeral procession.

Fidel dying after a long painful and dehabilitating illness is apt justice in my opinion, but live or die, Cuba will still be ruled by a Castro. Its just that for about 10 years, we have to watch "Fidel the lesser' run around pretending to be real deal.

Cuba Libre, folks. And let's just leave it at that.

Posted @ January 15, 2007 10:11 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)

A Teaser

This is the subject of this weekends essay:

Map courtesy of Wikipedia...

And just to let you know, It's not what you think.

I'll be back later...

Posted @ January 13, 2007 03:21 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (4)

A visual aid to assist Senator Boxer

Dear Senator Boxer,

These men

are not children. They are not babies. They are not victims, they are American Marines. They were not pressed into service against their will, these men volunteered to serve their country. These men put their lives on the line in war zones both at home and abroad to carry out the orders of the President and perform under their oath to defend the Constitution of the United States. They do this willingly and without reservation.

They are not objects of pity or scorn. They are the very best that this country has to offer.

just to 'compare and contrast', this person -

is a rank, floor licking politican of the first order, who is not fit to shine their shoes. Please check your mirror and see of you resemble this disgusting self loathing creature.

Don't mess with Dr. Rice, and stop talking about members of the military like they were lost pre-schoolers, you contemptible scab...

Posted @ January 12, 2007 11:31 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (1)

my reaction?

No President can go too far wrong by announcing that he has sent a Carrier Task Force into action.

In short - I thought it was positive, dead solid and perfect. Now, if we can get that sort of thing on a monthly basis...

No Defeat. No Surrender. No whining about a "national malaise". The man is a thumb in the eye to the world of conventional pundit wisdom, to them he should be flat on his back surrendering his Presidency to the forces of modernity and good sense, but the old man says "come and take them" like some sort of modern day Spartan.

That's my Bush. Give 'em Hell old man.

Now, let's go execute the plan, shall we?

Posted @ January 10, 2007 07:29 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (10)

Just keep in mind

As you hear the responses to tonights speach, that the only thing that sends the Democrats into shudders of fear and dread isnt that the plan wont work but its the mere shadow of a thought that the Presidents plan in Bagdhad just-might-work.

And therefore, it must be stopped.

Posted @ January 10, 2007 04:19 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (1)

piddle, twiddle and resolve

This Headline( and that picture of the three of those folks):
Democrats Plan Symbolic Votes Against Iraq Plan

Made me think of this lyric from 1776:

You see we piddle twiddle and resolve
not one damn thing do we solve
piddle twiddle and resolve
nothing's ever solved
in foul, fetid, fuming, foggy, filthy, Philadelphia.

and I laughed.

and yet, this headline and this picture:

al-Qaida Chief in Somalia May Be Dead

made me smile. go figure...

Posted @ January 10, 2007 01:12 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (1)

Foreign Policy Alternatives

Some Republican operatives in the Senate have performed a public service by doing a bit of 'dumpster diving' in the Senate office buildings. As a result, they have uncovered a list of possible 'alternative strategies for Iraq' that was produced from a brainstorming session by the Democrats so that they may be offered to the public by the "new powers that be" in Congress as an alternative to President Bush and his evil warmonger ways.

- Hide behind sofa - rub rabbits foot for good luck. Tax the rich to purchase sofas and rabbits feet for poor and dispossessed.

- Hide behind sofa, light up a doobie, play Jim Morrison albums at full volume, tell everyone how horrible vietnam was.

- Drink heavily, invite girls from secretarial pool over to 'let off steam'.

- Write a revised 'pay any price, bear any burden' speech, insist that the other speech given by former President was just a 'horrible misunderstanding'.

- Complain about the US not supporting freedom and democracy in the world, then help a small third world government create one, then cut the funding for support of this new government when they are invaded by its militarist, dictatorship neighbors.(see Vietnam, South).

- Offer driving lessons to insurgents (no charge!), then fail to offer requisite swimming lessons to go with the driving lessons, then put on neck collar and apologize on teevee to Government of Iran for wiping out hordes of insurgents in sudden rash of 'driving accidents'.

- Offer to bus shiites to sunni neighborhoods and vice versa in plan to increase the 'diversity' of iraq.

- Tax ammunition and explosives of insurgents to help control the spread of violence.

- Negotiate surrender of US to Islamic revolution of Iran as best way for the US to 'atone for the sins of the past', hope to get best terms possible for Democrat party members under 'long term fascist collaborators discount' plan.

- Blame Reagan.

Posted @ January 10, 2007 10:25 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (1)

5 things you dont know about me

Mrs. "neo-neocon" has tagged me with one of those blog memes, so here goes.

1.In high school, I was an A/V geek, worse still; I also ran the school ‘radio station’. I could not have been a bigger nerd if I had hornrimmed glasses, which 'thank the maker' I did not. It is true that I had acne so bad my face bled if I smiled, but glasses? thankfully and inexplicably, no.

Yes dear reader, I was one of those pimply faced do-gooders who ran between classes moving slide projectors and audio equipment from class to class and from school assembly to school assembly. I was the master of feedback and a mover and shaker of wiring. I was responsible for the care and feeding of the the most expensive electronic things on campus. I was in fact, not much more than the Principals “roadie”. Honestly, my work in the A/V group is a close as I ever came to having an artistic outlet. In between moving equipment around campus, I studied photography, films and filmmaking, the use of slide projectors synchronized to soundtracks as an interactive special effect for presentations. It actually was my first foray into the world of technology, which would make the basis for my career. People who knew me then fully expected that I would surely find a career in radio, as some sort of “announcer” or disk jockey type thing. But I had other ideas, almost none of those ideas involved work in something as public and exposed as being in radio or God forbid a disk jockey.

2. While my job does on occasion require that I give technical presentations to large numbers of people, and I do perform this effort with absolutely no problem at all, I find the idea of being in a room with more than 5 people at a time just for recreation purposes, alarming to the point of nausea. I am now and shall always be, a very non-people person. Its nothing personal, its not “you”, it’s the whole human crowd thing that I have trouble with, it just give me the hives. Give me a book by the pool and I’m happy. That is, of course, if no one else is at the pool. Put me in a party with people I don’t know, and I’m quickly looking for the most remote corner of the room and I’m stacking the furniture around me as a barrier. I have to say that over the past 20 years, my phobia has improved. I used to simply vomit and pass out in the bathroom, now I can manage about an hour before I start to cringe uncontrollably.

3. While I consider myself a car aficionado, I have owned a ‘63 Chevy Corvair, an ’82 Chevette, an ’84 Pontiac Fiero. Only the Fiero was bought by choice, the rest were out of poverty driven desperation and all three were staggering examples of “how not to build a car”. The ’62 Corvair was bought on my 15th birthday, with my own money for 300 dollars. My idea was “Well at least it runs”, my father had a different idea. I awoke the next day (my actual birthday) to find the car completely disassembled – every bolt from every nut, and a gift copy of “Chiltons Auto Repair for the 62 Corvair” as my birthday gift. He had given me exactly 365 days to accomplish this task and I had absolutely no clue how to put it back together. The old man had a seriously warped sense of humor. I was successful in the task, and out of spite immediately sold the car and bought a motorcycle, which was promptly taken away until my 18th birthday. I was a difficult child. My favorite car that I have owned was the 1990 Nissan 300zx. My favorite motorcycle was the Honda 1975 750/4. I tend to prefer motorcycles to cars. Its the whole "crowd" thing again, I guess.

4. The proudest moment in my corporate life occurred when I was being viciously attacked verbally by a Vice President of a large Oil Company ( it starts with a "C", ends in "RON"). Unfortunately for this particular VP, the week he picked to attack me that I was on sulfa drugs for a major kidney problem I was suffering from. You see, Sulfa drugs tend to have a nasty side effect of making people very “irritable”. Given that I also had to fly almost 18 hours to have this meathead yell at me(for something that was a) no longer a problem, b) not MY problem in the first place as IT WAS HIS IDIOT TECHS THAT BROKE THE SYSTEM IN THE FIRST PLACE, c) a two second fix over the phone, therefore totally not necessary for me to fly from Tennessee back to California, with a broken kidney I might add, just so he could scream at me like a spastic 15 year old girl.) I was to say the least, “most irritated”. After being yelled at in the most unprofessional way for nearly 20 minutes, I just totally and completely "snapped" and began to unleash verbally back at on the poor bastard with all that my Navy upbringing had taught me about the anglo-saxon language. After my returning his verbal fire in several non-stop, spittle covered, rage filled minutes, moving step by step closer to him at the end of each profane stanza and calling down from hell all that the ‘lords of cussing’ could muster onto this mans head like some crazed ‘preacher of hate’; he was left in tears, cringing and simpering behind his desk, holding only his decorative letter opener towards me as his only remaining pathetic defense.

Most people will occasionally find themselves in a situation where they want to really yell at their boss or their customers. Well, I actually did it, and the really cool thing is, I didn’t get fired for it.

Two months later, I gave a presentation to a group of ‘key investors’ for the company I worked for. One of the people was – you guessed it - the said same cringing Vice President of a large Oil Company, last seen taking shelter behind his desk, with a letter opener in his hand, looking for all the world like an Eskimo with a really, really small spear and I was a rather large enraged polar bear.

Not only did he not just get up and run out of the room screaming when he saw me start up the presentation, after it was over he reached out and shook my hand and congratulated me on a "job well done". Apparently, he had forgotten about the day I nearly threw him out of a 6-story office window just for the fun of watching him splatter on the ground below.

Later I asked my boss about this. His explanation is something I’ve never forgotten.

"Frank, do you think that Mr. XXXX is a jerk?"

“Well yeah, he’s an A-Class Jackass Jerk of the first order”.

“Do you think everyone thinks that too?”

“Yeah!”

“Do you think you’re the only person in history to ever scream at the top of your lungs at him? Well, I've got news for you, to you this was a big deal, a most unusual event, but to him it was just another day at work. He thinks that sort of thing is normal. He doesn’t remember what you did, because since then it’s probably happened half a dozen times again. I’ve screamed at him half a dozen times myself. It just doesn’t mean a thing. ”

And that explained why I still had a job after verbally attacking a Vice President and and corporate investor of my company.

5. I have known my best friend since he and I were 15. We first worked together at a miniature golf course and go-cart track. We went to college together and we have both worked at the same companies professionally, but we have never worked together since the days at the miniature golf course. His wife and mine were also roommates in college, and we both live within a mile of each other to this day. It’s pretty amazing when you think about it.

Well that wasn't so bad.

Posted @ January 08, 2007 11:57 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)

This is what you get when you hang out with a bad crowd

that lady with the apple on her face has tagged me to talk about "5 things you don't know about me", which I find to be both terribly embarassing and a bit of an honor considering everyone she asked is on my list of "damn fine bloggers". How I got there, I have no idea. Maybe she thinks I'm Vodkapundit?

So I have to go walk the dog but then I will write a blog post about me, which is much like being in the 7th grade and having a girl ask you to go to a square dance, youre thrilled at the honor of being asked but your horrified that someone might see you in the process.

Posted @ January 08, 2007 09:49 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)

Now take him to Detroit

Korean Martial Arts Master Bong Soo Han - who helped revolutionize Hollywood's understanding of martial arts by creating fight sequences for modern American films, died on Monday. He was 73.

You'll remember Master Bong Soo Han in his role in 1977's Kentucky Fried Movie from this vignette called; " A Fistful of Yen" where he played the evil "Dr. Khlan".

Dr. Klahn: The CIA thinks they can infiltrate the Mountain of Dr. Klahn!
CIA Agent: You can't scare me!
Dr. Klahn: Take him to... Detroit!
CIA Agent: No! No, not Detroit! No! No, please! Anything but that! No! No!

Rest in Peace Bong Soo Han. You were truly a man of extraordinary magnitude.

Posted @ January 08, 2007 09:20 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)

more evidence of our troops committing crimes in Iraq

More evidence of our troops horrid behavior in Iraq can be found here.

those inhuman bastards, dont they know that exposure to uniforms is the leading cause of infant militarism?

...via the great Val Prieto

Posted @ January 08, 2007 10:00 AM | Comments (0)

bob lutz - the smartest man in detroit

"The Chevrolet Volt has a battery-powered electric motor that can run the car for up to 40 city miles on a single charge. Beyond that, a gasoline-powered, one-liter, three-cylinder engine can generate electricity to power the car and replenish the battery, with a range of up to 640 miles..."
from msnbc.com

My notes:

1) If you absolutely insist on driving to work, where 90% of the drive is spent "sitting" you might might as well look good while you do it.

2) This is what you get when the guy running the show actually likes cars. Bob Lutz is a man who "Gets It".

3) This car desperately needs a convertible option.

4) Might I suggest the use of ceramic Bose speakers imbedded in the sides of the car that play sound effects, such as the thunder of a Chevy V-8 at the flip of a switch? The problem with electric cars is you cant make an entrance.

5) Apparently the big technology problem to overcome is cooling the batteries. May I suggest, ahem, a radiator?

6) You know, this would be just as nice with a V-8. Maybe thats the key here, a correctly designed car could accept a variety of power plants, depending on the desire of the end user. If they did it right, the dealer could mate the frame with the powerplant at the time of purchase, rather than at the factory. It would also help with the process "Powerplant Upgrading" as the technology improves.

Ok, before I start getting complaints that I've turned into Autoblog, I'm actually working on something big that is going to deal with a problem I've been thinking about since the Hezbollah war last summer.

When I say big, it is larger than just about anything else I've ever done, and I think we all know how windy I can be. I'm thinking multiple posts, maybe even a podcast.

This is just a little Sunday afternoon diversion. So just relax, ok?

Posted @ January 07, 2007 11:27 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (2)

I think I see a pattern here

Yet another politician who didn't support Bush on the Iraq war has died. hmmm...

Also, attacks on the US from outer space are up 300% under Bush.
(I know, I know - why does the solar system hate us so?).

Or is the headline here "Critics say Bush Missile Defense fails to protect US from space terror."

Posted @ January 04, 2007 03:08 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)

Gauge the distance

The death Benito Mussolini and his mistress by Italian Partisans in April 1945.

The May 7, 1945 Time Magazine reports the death of the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini with the following prose:

"Death came last week to Benito Mussolini, from the rifles of an Italian firing squad. As his body lay, reviled and spat upon, in a public square of Milan, it was as though the pent-up jury of a nation was beating upon the senseless clay of the man who had led it to vainglory, shame and disaster..."

The entire report from that day can be found here.

In summary - Benito Mussolini – Killer , thug, madman, murderer, who found justice that the end of a rope. No trial, no appeal. His body in all its gore, displayed for all to see with no respect or concern given to his family.

Shall we now compare that clear minded prose to the "goo-goo" coverage of Saddam Hussein?

Jan 3rd 2007 – Time Magazine

“The brutal spectacle of Saddam Hussein's execution, recorded on cell phone video and seen around the Middle East, has drawn condemnation from around the world, including Washington. But Saddam's final moments highlight a much more serious and fundamental problem facing the Administration: The U.S. no longer has any control over the Iraqi political process.

Having created a new state in Iraq — and not yet ready to admit that it is a failed state — the U.S. felt obliged to hand Saddam Hussein over to the Iraqis to administer the death penalty...”

The full report can be found here.

Saddam Hussein. Brutal dictator? Madman? A Killer who found justice at the end of a rope, after he was given a trial, and then an appeal? Oh no dear reader, Todays time magazine views Saddam Hussein as but another victim of a failed US foreign policy. A brutal monster not to be reviled, but a low man worthy only of pity. A victim of the dumb cluck ham-handed American military-industrial machine.

Just what the hell happened to the minds of journalists? Is this what happens to peoples brains after two generations of fluoridation?

Posted @ January 03, 2007 11:18 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (3)

so they werent kidding after all

The Giugiaro Mustang - I love it.

ok, its a good start. You start to think the world is safe for democracy again when BAM!, this shows up:

Apparently Ford wasn't content in being mercilessly mocked by me because it might make a 'wagon' version of the Mustang, now its considering making a car thats modeled after both a truck and a 1950s locomotive.

You know, when I think "speed" and "sportscar", the first two metaphors that jump right into my mind are "truck" and "locomotive".

Remember the 1970's Triumph Spitfire commerical? the guy starting his car while an overlay of a pilot starting a real spitfire played at the same time? THAT is proper imaging for a sportscar.

Not "hey man, this car looks like a freight train".

Posted @ January 02, 2007 11:35 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (3)

I’ve had one hell of a vacation, and yet I haven’t gone anywhere

I stink at vacation. My genetics simply haven’t prepared me for a world of leisure. For years after my grandfather left the Navy, he wore a sort of improvised uniform and essentially went to work every day with his own self imposed regular work hours in a machine shop of his own design, behind his home in San Simeon. It wasn’t a job, it didn’t involve any sort of commerce, but to him that job was as important as anything he ever did to earn a wage. He may have left the Navy, but he was still on duty.

Sure enough, when his health finally declined to the point that his work was no longer possible and that he was no longer ambulatory, he died soon after. It wasnt the health, it was the lack of purpose for the day that did him in.

My father was the same way, just 30 days after retiring to Idaho he died of a sudden massive stroke. He spent exactly one month off the clock and frankly it was probably the burden of dealing with “free time” did him in.

In his last week before the stroke he uncharacteristically just sat in a chair on the deck with a set of binoculars looking out towards the Grand Tetons and said to no one in particular “I don’t think I can take all this laying about” and ‘tsk-tsked’ himself at the shame of it all. My mom said that in the final month, he would wake every morning and just sigh, now that he had to face the incomprehensible torturous burden of “free time”.

He hated that phrase “free time”. He believed that time was unique in the universe of things, it could neither be created nor destroyed and while it was always used, it largely went to waste. He used to say that “unlike money, which can be created and lost over and over again, time was irreversible, irreplaceable and in very short supply”.

I’m blessed with having a job in an industry that I really love. I honestly think I would do what I do even if I didn’t get paid. My biggest challenge with this style of work is learning how to stop working. And with my genetic predisposition in the area of personal work ethic, it’s a bigger problem than you think.

Those of you who have been around this blog for a long time know that I work from my office in my home. On occasion I do travel to various places in my job but day after day, week after week routine is that I work from a reclining sofa, laptop in its proper place an office phone by my side. That’s it. My job is not physical, its mostly communicating and thinking. Yeah, it’s not a bad gig to have, but it does have its unique difficulties. Most people have to be motivated to go to work, I have to be motivated to stop working.

Like I said, I stink at vacation. I routinely stop accruing vacation and have to be told to go on vacation and use the time or lose the benefit. The best of my managers tend to note this mental defect of mine and schedule my vacations for me. The really good and smart ones just call my wife and ask her for the best dates for my vacation, thereby cutting out the useless and ineffective middleman in question. I make sure the kids and the wife get their time, but after the number of years I’ve been with the company I work for, that still leaves me with two more weeks a year to occupy.

Its hell.

This last break for example, I had quite literally forgotten that I had schedule time off for the end of the year. It was only after working half a day that my manager noted my presence online and asked “ Why are you here?” that I was reminded that I wasn’t supposed to be earning revenue for the next two weeks. So, after putting a few things away that I was working on and making solemn vow not to log on, check email or use various IM tools, I took vacation.

And what did I do? Go to a beach in Hawaii or go skiing like other normal people?

Nahhhhh.

Oh you know exactly what I did brother; I worked with computers, read technical magazines and other such nerdy technical things for almost the entire time of my vacation break from work,

Just-like-I-do-when-I-am-at-work…

And you know what else? I had a great time doing it too! I don’t recommend it for everyone, and I don’t mean to say that its better than going to a beach in Hawaii or going skiing, but I have to say that there’s something to be said for just doing something, not because you have to, but just for the fun of it. And yeah, computers, software, networking things together is FUN.

Now, I didn’t work with the same stuff I work with at work, I worked with other things that are decidedly “outside the lines” of what I do at work, but that’s precisely why it was fun. Yes, I'm exactly the kind of person who goes to Las Vegas with a stack of technical books and sits at the pool being generally annoyed because the rest of the people at the pool cant keep it down so I can read this exxciting article about "virtual machines".

I should be locked up.

For example, during this vacation, amoungst a host of technical things, I worked with a set of Legos. Lego Mindstorms that is.

Lego Mindstorms is a deceptive piece of technology. If youre like me, you hear the word "Lego" and all you think about is the pain of stepping on them in the middle of the night when your kids don’t clean their rooms, but the “Lego” aspect is not what is really important here. Lego Mindstorms is a simple to use, create your own robotic system. It uses a software controllable cpu system that drives a set of sensors and motors that you can control. A bluetooth compatible, portable cpu system that uses an RJ-45 interface with gui driven software. Oh, sorry, I got carried away for a moment, Ill have to wipe the drool from the keyboard.

Home Robotics today has that same sort of vibe that was happening in the world of home computers in 1978. No one at the time took it seriously, and few had the vision for what it would eventually become. There were just a few whackjobs in their garages playing with things that looked to the rest of the world to be not much more than toys. But if you look 20 years in the future, and those same whackjobs transformed the world with their little gadgets and toys. My feeling is that Home Robotics will have the same transformative effect as home computing. I spent a good portion of the time off making something that would mop the kitchen floor.

Why? Why the hell not!

So yeah, a good portion of my vacation was spent playing with Legos, and yeah, I loved it.

Another part of this vacation was spent setting up another Slingbox. This makes now two for the house. The rule should be that if you have a Tivo, then you MUST have a Slingbox. Theres no sense timeshifting if you cant also placeshift as well. I enjoy sitting in Panera Bread and watching my Tivo on my cellphone, it freaks out the kids sitting in there with the ipods.

“Download to tv shows to my ipod”? Bah! how 2005 is that! (I don’t have an Ipod, I absolutely hate the interface; which makes me a complete and total culture heretic to the starbucks crowd and as nearly as unhip as Merv Griffin**.)

I cannot say enough good things for this little piece of technology. It works, it works very good and its addictive. I now have friends and relatives from all over the globe watching my Tivo in the wee small hours of the evening. If you’re wondering why your network bandwidth suddenly stinks, you can stop blaming all the “new AOL users” and start blaming streaming video from slingbox users on your network.

I also spent a good deal of time helping the kids get their new Xbox 360 going, and getting a couple of their friends who also got Xbox 360s for Christmas going on the network. I’m struck by the staggering weight of computer infrastructure going into people’s houses. Explaining to non-technical people “what a wireless network router is” and how to set up a WEP security system is quite an experience.

All worked out well, and its clear to me why television networks don’t have any ratings. They only time the kids watched TV over the holiday break was when they were waiting for their friends to join them online. Passively watching TV has as much attraction to this generation as listening to recordings of “Fibber Magee and Molly” did to mine.

If you’re wondering how much better the Xbox 360 is from the “old” xbox? Well, the xbox 360 is a great all around machine for the home. Think of it as a great high quality DVD player that also lets you play games and the price wont bother you as much. I think the video conference facility is the most underutilized under marketed part of the Xbox. I had a small video conference with a co-worker overseas who also had an Xbox 360. It worked very well, and with just a small amount of effort, Microsoft could easily create a set of software for the 'home office worker' that would greatly facilitate that world.

Oh, and wouldn’t every boring meeting and conference be that much more fun if you could entertain yourself in the meeting by playing a ‘first person shooter” game with your co-workers? Sure. I know, I had the same thought.

Thank god vacation is over. Its good to be back at work.

**- I once met Merv Griffin in an elevator at a hotel in Carbondale, Illinois. He stepped in with his dinner guests and one floor up, the elevator got stuck between floors. For one hour, I was both an audience and a guest of the worlds smallest “Merv Griffin Show”.

The hour flew by. He’s seems like a nice guy. He dresses funny, sort of like the “white rabbit” in “Alice in Wonderland”. He was wearing a suit that was somewhere between a floor length bathrobe, a Col. Sanders costume and something “Huggy Bear” would wear on “Starsky and Hutch”. Oh, and he was smaller than I thought he would be. But ever since that experience, I’ve had what I call the “Merv Griffin” test for all celebrities.

It goes something like this:

“If celebrity X were to be stuck with me in an elevator for an hour, what is the likelihood that celebrity X would not make me want to impale them in the neck with my ballpoint pen, just to get them to shut the hell up?"

Merv passed the test with flying colors. Depending on my mood, Donald Trump might pass the test but Rosie O’donnell doesn’t stand a chance.

Posted @ January 01, 2007 11:37 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (1)

Happy New Year

Happy 2007 to one and all.

And on a quick note; This post is what blogging is all about.

Posted @ January 01, 2007 12:51 AM | Comments (0)