LimeGate

Care Net Helps the unborn?

2007-01-28T10:23:00.000-08:00

Care Net is a crises Pregnancy Center. The following is my letter to the editor of Care Net's Report, the current issue can be found here:

http://www.care-net.org/publications/documents/CNRJanFeb07.pdf

*******

Sir,

I read the two movie reviews you posted in the January/February issue of The Care Net Report (Movie Report, War and Peace: Why We Fight and The Fog of War). Simply said, this kind of writing does not belong in Care Net's publication.

Quite frankly, I am stunned that an organization that fights for the life of the unborn, which is your primary mission, would devote even a moment to discussing issues related to warfare and the politics that surround them.
Is our battle won against Abortion? Have all the hearts been changed that need to be changed? Are all the women in crises pregnancies no longer in need of our help?

Why then spend the time (and my money as a donor) printing a thinly veiled diatribe against the US and its war efforts? I'm sure you can argue in a hundred different ways that your intentions are noble, but let's face it: This is an editorial hack job pushing the following themes:

1. America is "Constantly at War" and "engaged in foreign entanglements"
2. The US is in the grip of Eisenhower's "military industrial complex" and the "the U.S. is a war machine and operates largely as a war based economy".
3. The above somehow pushes the U.S into engagement after engagement, to "dispense our military force" and "fight as a nation because we perceive it is our interest to fight and then mention words like 'freedom' and nice common values that - who can be against freedom?".
4. America is "drifting dangerously far from her founding principles toward a more imperial and uncertain future".
5. Christians should not participate in warfare nor swear allegiance to a secular state.

How this relates to Care Net's mission is unclear to me. Your entire article seems disingenuous in both its construction and omissions. You attempt to pre-emptively deflect criticism by using extensive quotes of others to make your case, including various conservatives, and by stating "it is not the position of Care Net to declare any war just or unjust", but your perspective shines through clearly and you infer that all recent U.S wars are in fact unjust through your choice of commentary.

Were I to take the time to clearly refute your points with easily found hard data, we would find that:

- suggesting the U.S is a "war-based economy" or in the grip of a "military industrial complex" is laughable simply based on the numbers and percentages of GDP involved. - Wilton Sekzer is a PROUD Vietnam veteran who felt justified in asking the Dept. of Defense to put his son's name on a bomb to help avenge his son's death in the World Trade Center on 9/11.
- LTC Karen Kwiatkowski is a highly partisan anti-war commentator who makes a living through her criticism of the administration. In addition to running for the Libertarian party Vice Presidential nomination, she has been publicly discredited by the bipartisan Senate Select Committee on Intelligence for her accusations against the government. Further, she could and should have been prosecuted for numerous breeches of UCMJ by releasing extensive amounts of confidential and potentially classified information to the media while still an active duty officer in a sensitive position. She's not just some concerned mother who is also a military veteran.

Why would you neglect to balance your commentary with information such as this?

I am a Christian...and a military veteran.... with combat experience.... who agonized over the weighty questions you mention. I have a son who serves and while I am concerned for his safety, I believe it is a necessary effort for he and so many others to make. Unlike Mr. Setzer and LTC Kwiatkowski, I can easily see the importance of both our current conflict as well as the others we have fought in the past.
I have been a regular and generous contributor to Care Net for quite some time. I believe wholeheartedly in it's mission and in taking whatever steps we can prevent abortions and protect the Unborn. I would like to think this is your mission as well. Your article tells me that perhaps you have other objectives in mind in your role as editor.

I will be publishing this letter on numerous blogs as well as contacting Care Net's Office of the President. I want to know if Care Net's focus has changed and whether I should redirect my contributions to another crises pregnancy organization who will focus on saving the unborn.

Pflugerville, TX

She was a good dog

2007-01-20T21:26:00.000-08:00

We had to put down our old dog Strider today. She apparently slipped on the ice from this weather and damaged her spine, maybe slipped a disc, who knows. All we know is that over a period of about 5 days, she went from being able to walk/trot, to barely walking, to unable to stand, to unable to sit up.

Sadly, we made the decision this morning to have her put to sleep. She's a pretty heavy dog and although we could drag her outside to go pee and poop, her clock and ours were out of synch. This led to more pee and poop inside the house than out as those functions continued to work just fine...

We bundled her up and took her to the vet (which was always the only way we could guarantee she would pee!) and they fianlly had a room ready.

It was strange, I'd never seen a dog put down before. We were petting her and calming her and the doctor gave her the injection. Within 3 seconds, she put her head down, coughed once very softly and stopped moving. The Vet pulled out a Stethoscope, listened for her heart and said "her heart has stopped".

From injection to his verdict was no more than 20 seconds.

It is truly amazing how fragile life can be and in witnessing her dying, I gained more appreciation for how much a miracle living actually is.

Thanks sweet Strider for being a great dog and teaching me about living, loyalty and forgiveness. You were great dog.

This is Real Leadership

2007-01-02T18:24:00.000-08:00

I get so tired of hearing the Al Sharptons and Jesse Jacksons of the world tell (both the Black Community and the White Community) that the reason for all the problems in Black America is because of discrimination by whites.

Quite frankly, I see their pandering as a major part of the reason we still have so many problems today.

I was heartened a few months ago to hear Bill Cosby turn the finger around and point at Black America.

Now we have Alphonso Jackson, Secretary of HUD, not only saying the same thing, but also pointing directly at the so-called Black leadership and calling them a big part of the problem.

Maybe we're turning the corner. I sure hope so.

Here's the Newsmax article in its entirety:

HUD Secretary Attacks Black Victimhood

By Ronald Kessler

Alphonso Jackson, the secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, says that black leaders like Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and Julian Bond are doing a disservice to blacks by perpetuating an ideology of victimhood.

“They [black leaders] have created an industry,” Jackson, who is black, told NewsMax. “If we don’t become victims, they have no income. They have no podium.”

Rather than confronting real issues that face blacks, African-American leaders suggest that “it’s racism that’s stopping everything that we’re doing,” Jackson said.

“They are in the business of making excuses,” he said. “White folks have nothing to do with the fact that seven out of every 10 black children born in this country are born out of wedlock,” Jackson said. Nor do they have anything to do “with that fact that we have more black males in prison than we do in college.”

While racism still exists, “Young black kids are getting every opportunity that they need, just like every other kid,” Jackson said. “I think in 2006 to say that everything is the fault of our brothers and sisters of the lighter hue is ridiculous.”

Until blacks “begin to focus in on the serious problems that we have in our communities, and begin to try to solve those problems in the most positive manner that we can, we’re not helping ourselves,” Jackson said.

Welfare ‘Close to Stealing’

Jackson said he was reared in a segregated environment in Dallas. As a college freshman, he participated in a civil rights march in Selma, Ala., on March 7, 1965. As he stepped onto the Edmund Pettus Bridge, state troopers blocked his way and unleashed tear gas and dogs on the marchers.

But Jackson’s father Arthur Jackson told his son that everyone can succeed in America regardless of skin color. Even though he had been diagnosed with cancer and had virtually no income, his father refused to go on welfare or take food stamps. When necessary, his church helped out.

“Never take anything that you didn’t earn,” his father told Alphonso. “That’s close to stealing.”

“I never went to school with my brothers and sisters of the lighter hue until I got off to college,” Jackson, a lawyer, said. “But I’m sitting here,” he said, referring to his cabinet position, which controls a budget of $32 billion a year. “And I’m sitting here because I believe that the American system might not be the panacea, but it’s the best system that I’ve ever been able to live in.”

Black Leaders Making Problems Worse

By characterizing blacks as victims, making excuses for them, and suggesting that they cannot advance themselves without reliance on the government, black leaders exacerbate the problems that blacks face and give them the tools to become “losers,” Jackson said.

“I am not going to let the black leadership — the so-called leadership — of this country tell me that I am a victim,” he said. “I believe that if you work hard, strive to do the very best, things will work out for you. [That] doesn’t mean you won’t have obstacles — you will. But we can’t keep living in an era that is bygone,” Jackson said. “We need to begin today to teach blacks that they can look in the mirror — and that they have the ability, once they look in that mirror, to achieve.”

In his book “Enough,” Fox News TV commentator Juan Williams pointed out that blacks who emigrate to America from Africa and the Caribbean are more successful than blacks born in the United States. As outlined in an Oct. 20 NewsMax article, “Juan Williams Called Black Ann Coulter,” Williams attributed that to a self-defeating black culture of victimhood, one that says doing well in school is a cop-out and that the way to be successful is to come off as threatening.

Agreeing with Williams, Jackson said, “All you have to do is look at Miami’s Little Haiti. The average income of a Haitian in Miami is the same as his white counterpart. They work very hard. But they have not been conditioned that the government owes them something.”

Jackson said Africans from such countries as Ghana, Nigeria, Gabon, and Senegal come to the United States. with “one attitude: that they’re going to get the very best education and make as much money as they can.”

Inclusive Administration

When George Bush became president, he named Jackson deputy secretary and then secretary of HUD. Bush and his wife Laura got to know Jackson and his wife Marcia, a former teacher, when Jackson headed the Dallas Housing Authority. The two couples began to socialize, and their kids would go to the movies together. Laura Bush invited Marcia to join her on the board of Child Protective Services Community Partners, which supports social workers.

“She stood out as a person who wanted to bring a diverse face to Dallas,” Marcia Jackson told me for my book “Laura Bush: An Intimate Portrait of the First Lady.”

“There are many whites who interact with blacks at work, but in their private lives, they don’t,” Marcia Jackson told me. “I think that says a lot about them as people.”

Alphonso Jackson said Bush has demonstrated the same inclusiveness in his administration, appointing, for example, Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell secretary of state. The response of black leaders has been to say that Bush made the appointments to garner votes. That “does nothing to support the progress of black Americans, or to recognize how far we have come,” Jackson said.

Denying rumors that he is leaving HUD, Jackson said he is working with congressional leaders on legislation to simplify procedures so potential homeowners with poor credit records can more easily obtain mortgages insured by HUD’s Federal Housing Authority (FHA).

Minority Housing Initiatives

“One of the things we have found, especially when it comes to blacks and Hispanics, is that if we can get them in the home, they can sustain the monthly house note,” Jackson said. “The biggest problem has been getting them in there, because they have bad credit records. Also, many can’t make the down payment and closing costs.”

Jackson said he is encouraging those who build public housing to create complexes of low density townhouses rather than single buildings.

“That’s why I like to use the housing authority in Atlanta as a model, just as in Dallas,” Jackson said. “They have 13 public housing complexes. They’ve created low density townhouses, and if you go to Dallas or Atlanta, you’ll see that the crime is down, education is up, people are working.”

Jackson is also working on changing rules under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) so settlement costs will be more understandable and estimates of costs given before closing are the actual prices charged.

RESPA was passed in response to disclosures in a 1972 Washington Post series of kickbacks among real estate brokers, lenders, builders, title attorneys, and title insurance companies. Many of those practices have continued, often disguised. A builder, for example, may force a buyer to use a high-priced lending company owned by the builder. Jackson did not address whether rules will be tightened to try to eliminate these practices.

Besides helping new homeowners through the FHA program, HUD counsels people on how to buy their first home. Through the American Dream initiative, HUD even provides assistance in making a downpayment and paying closing costs to those who meet eligibility requirements. These programs and the improving economy have meant that 70 percent of Americans now own homes, Jackson said.

“For the first time, we have closed the gap that exists among white, black, and Hispanic Americans,” Jackson said. “Over 50 percent of black and Hispanic Americans own their own homes for the first time in this country. Some of the people who never thought that they could own a home, they’re owning a home.”

As an example, Jackson cited Donna Davis, who was able to buy her first home in New Orleans, and Essie Jackson, a maintenance person in HUD’s headquarters. Davis told Jackson, “You know, Mr. Secretary, I have a yard. And I have the thrill of measuring and shopping for curtains in my new home.”

More than two years ago, Essie Jackson asked the HUD secretary if he could help her buy a home. He got her enrolled in a counseling program.

“She thought she would never be a homeowner,” Jackson said. “Today she is. She has a two-bedroom, 2 ½ bath condominium, and she’s planting flowers in her window. And she came and told us the story.”

Rick Santorum

2006-10-27T19:59:00.000-07:00

Great Speech by Rick Santorum. If you are able to help this man both financial and in getting out the vote, please do so.

Ah, Sugar, Sugar..Vote Republican!

2006-10-24T22:56:00.000-07:00

Truly a neat little video. Thanks Redstate for the link

Why GOP voters will (should?) stay home - my response

2006-10-24T21:19:00.000-07:00

Ross,

I am optimistic that both houses will stay in Republican hands.

Actually it is only hope. Optimism says that we will actually increase our majorities when the votes are counted!

Seriously though, I have a hard time accepting that the voters who were intelligent enough to choose Bush over Kerry/Gore are not intelligent enough to understand the threat incurred by handing control to the Democrats.

Media Bias and pandering on behalf of liberal issues is nothing new. Over weighted polls and un-scientific sampling to shape voter opinions are nothing new.

Republican/Conservative voters have been well aware of this and sidestepped it in every election since 2000. Are they suddenly going to cave just because its become even more intense and obvious? 'Wow, the media really are on the side of the Liberals - I guess they deserve to win!'

Yes the majorities took advantage of the trust handed to them and shamefully spent the country into deeper debt. That has really pissed me off.

I was angry to find that Bush was not truly a Conservative.

I'm angry over the lack of any true immigration progress.

In my wildest dreams, however, I cannot conceive that I might sit out this election - or any election- where the outcomes are so important.

Is the overspending really enough of a reason to throw in the towel? At least I have low taxes and greater wealth while it's happening. Will this continue under Democrats?

Will Democrats be any tougher on immigration reform? (Ha!).

Is removing all pressure from Iran by pulling out of Iraq and 'talking' really the smartest thing to do?

I am not happy at how we've run the war. In 14 months, my son, an Army Officer, heads to Iraq with his unit. Do you think I am pleased at this? Of course not, but I am convinced it has to be done.

If Republicans truly do stay away from the polls and the balance of power shifts to the left, it will greatly sadden me.

Not because the majority was lost, but because the will to do right was overridden by the will to give up and hide from reality; overridden by the political equivalent of a kid taking his football and going home when the game doesn't go exactly his way.

Are we really that immature as a party?

If so, every Republican who stays home or votes against the majority will have placed themselves on par with the legislators who couldn't say no when it came to earmarks.

Both knew what was moral and right and both failed to do it for selfish reasons. I think the Republican/Conservative voters are better than that.

So, yes, I am optimistic (or hopeful). I don't have anything to really support this, I just expect it as I expect the sun to rise tomorrow.

In my narrow view, no other outcome makes sense and the opposite result is a reality check I'm not currently willing to deposit.

New Top Ten Site

2006-10-19T21:53:00.000-07:00

I've added a new top ten website to this Blog: RedState .

I've been reading this for a while now and after several weeks of spot-on commentary and analysis, I decided that it was time to add a link- I was spending a lot of time there anyway, I figured an easy link was a good idea.

Why did CNN air the insurgent sniper videos?

2006-10-19T21:41:00.000-07:00

CNN is taking a lot of heat over their decision to show Iraqi guerillas sniping American soldiers. They opened a comments page after their explanation. Since I assume my comments will not get published, I published them here as well:

**

Rather than debate whether you should have shown the video, I would rather see CNN directly approach the topic of whether there is merit in fighting this war.

The unstated position of CNN seems to be that either that the US is in the wrong or that both sides have equal weight in the morality of their positions and so it musn't take sides.

Show what you will, it's your network and that of your stockholders.

However, if my opinion counts, I ask that if you believe the former (that the US is wrong) then state this clearly. State also that CNN has chosen sides and that you intend to do what you can to bring about the defeat of the US.

However, if you believe that neither side has moral justification, then please do the following: Show everything, on both sides. Show the victims in the Israeli cafes, and Iraqi schools as well as the dead children forced to provide cover for Hezbollah and Hamas. Show the beheadings and bodies splattering as they hit the concrete after jumping from the Towers.

Show the tragedy on both sides and why both sides are fighting and what they expect the end state to look like if they win.

Explain the historical context.

If you are going to claim to be objective, then be objective. Do not pick and choose in such a way that gives comfort to any one side. At least in that sense, you can actually report the news instead of shaping it. I guarantee you many on both the left and right will be angry - and respect you - all at once.

I think your shareholders will also be happy in this case.

This is how you change attitudes

2006-10-18T19:55:00.000-07:00

In a society where so much of what passes for discourse involves some form of shouting and an automatic assumption of idiocy (on the part of those who disagree with you), these folks have earned my respect.

I think people are tired of getting hammered on what they are 'supposed' to believe. Those who offer them a chance to think for themselves are almost assured to make a substantial impact on the attitudes of others.

Well done.

The Tide is Turning - finally

2006-09-27T06:25:00.000-07:00

I've written several times before regarding the hysteria over man-made climate disaster. With Senator James Inhofe's remarks, perhaps this will mark the turning point of this debate into more reasoned waters - instead of the shrill alarmism that substitutes for thinking.

Money Quote: "I now believe that the greatest climate threat we face may be coming from alarmist computer models". Ahhh, perfect...

Note: The Senator is the Charman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

Is McCain a Good Man?

2006-09-18T21:45:00.000-07:00

I don't mind challenging the conventinal wisdom on this one. I read the linked article claiming McCain was a coward (I agree) and then read a comment at the end by another reader that started off "John McCain is a good man...".

I'm sorry, but I disagree. Here's my comment:

****

"John McCain is a Good Man"

Define that, please.

If you mean that he doesn't go around raping and killing and doesn't cook meth in his garage (who'd ever suspect that?), then perhaps he's a good man.

If you mean that when the chips are down and a crises exists that requires a principled vote to do the right thing for this Nation and the people he is supposed to serve, then occaisonally he is a good man.

If you mean he has an inner character that leads him to do what is right, regardless of the fallout, consequences and political repercussions, then seldom is he a good man.

If you mean by 'good' he constantly challenges and undermines the legitimate authority of the President, constantly positions and compromises to do what he can to make hay with the media and to make himself look good, regardless of the messages it sends to our allies and enemies and the impact it has on our ability to defend this Nation..then I guess he must be very, very good.

I think he has the potential to be good but consistently chooses to be bad. Like all the other bad men in the world.

So what did Pope Benedict Really Say?

2006-09-17T07:00:00.000-07:00

Calls for War by Arab Editorialists, riots in the streets, increased security around the Pope.

Something momentus must have been said to enrage the Muslim world, right?

Hardly. If you read the whole text of the Pope's remarks, you will find the comments that inflamed Islam to be unrelated to defaming Islam at all and part of a broader discussion on reason and faith and their place in both cultural and intellectual debate.

So many today refuse to do real reading and form their own opinions. Instead, they wander around bashing others for supposed insults and comments and views when in fact they are clueless as to what was said or intended.

Don't listen to the news on this. Read it for yourself and form your own opinion.

You Know Who You Are

2006-09-11T21:30:00.000-07:00

Amen to that. It is time. It is time to stop hiding-hiding behind fear of condemnation for speaking truth. It is time to stop hoping - to stop hoping that this problem will go away by ignoring it. It is time to start speaking - to start speaking out and say what everyone knows but few will say:

Islam as preached in a great part of this world is the problem - not the U.S.A, or GW Bush. You cannot reconcile those who subjugate women, who say there is only one acceptable belief and you must accept it or die....you cannot reconcile that idealogy with a belief system that says every man and woman has the freedom to choose their lifestyle without fear of retribution, that women have the right to choose who they will marry or speak with, that people have the right to choose their own leaders and to make their own laws in accordance with the majority's will. All muslims are not guilty - only those who will not publicly condemn this hateful ideology. You know who you are.

A little change of focus: Are there really women like this?

2006-09-06T19:03:00.000-07:00

Caught this article by chance. Had to laugh - a little. How contrary to the blame men world of today. I think I'll write a male version one day.

More Heather Macdonald

2006-08-28T11:04:00.000-07:00

Here's a few more comments on articles by Heather MacDonald at Rossputin.

I had the chance to add some of my own to the post and had followup replies from Ross.

I'm sure he sees me as a well-intentioned dunderhead religious nut, but I was happy to have a chance to put thought to paper, so to speak.

"...why very bad things happen to good people..."

2006-08-23T10:02:00.000-07:00

In the National Review article by Heather Macdonald, a couple good points are made and she raises a traditional question that is almost always raised by non-believers (and often by believers when bad things happen).

1. "If a belief system is not true, however useful it may be, it seems frankly cynical or condescending to counsel it for others." Absolutely true. Unless, of course, it benefits them in some objective way that all could agree as a net positive, in that case it would fall into a less black and white area, such as the Easter Bunny or Flying Reindeer. However, that's not my main point, just a side comment and a great anchor for another discussion topic.

2. "...subjective experience is not always a guarantor of objective reality....an outside observer needs something more to reach that conclusion" Also true. Simply believing something to be true does not make it objectively true. The opposite is also true: Something absolutely true is not rendered untrue by lack of empirical evidence.

3. And then the question: " I have to revert to the question of why very bad things happen to good people...". I have heard this many times and it is a fair question. In Heather's (and perhaps every case) the real thrust of all the above could be restated to say:

"Many people say they know or believe what is true regarding Christianity, Christian Science, Islam, etc. However, I need proof that a there is a God and that this God knows and loves me. Unfortunately, the proof I need is undermined by the very fact that terrible things happen to good people, so therefore that contradiction between a God's supposed love and the objective reality makes me an atheist or agnostic. As an Atheist/Agnostic, your efforts to create an environment in line with your beliefs clashes with my rights to not operate in that environment."

In a "show me" world, I think the above is a fair statement and I've heard it many times.

However, I think the above is really just smoke. People believe what they want to believe, regardless of the evidence and will stick to that belief to their dying breath until a fundamental change occurs inside that allows them to accept a change.

Those who claim a need for objective proof do not want objective proof, they want to not believe. If Jesus showed up at their door, they'd call the police to have him arrested for door to door preaching.

You do not have to go into the spiritual realm to see this behaviour. The anti-Bush crowd cannot accept anything coming from his administration as genuine or real; everything is fabricated for consumption by the evil genius, Karl Rove. The President is a stupid puppet on someone's knee, etc.

People believe what they want to believe and order their facts to support their beliefs.

Why do bad things happen to good people? I don't know, but I could talk for hours on why I think it is. A more interesting thing to ask a non-believer is, why do bad things happen to bad people? That answer will be a far more interesting one.

Shitty Little Country?

2006-08-23T07:22:00.000-07:00

This a great post regarding Israel (thanks Rossputin). I haven't fact checked it, but my personal experience causes me to accept it at face value.

I had the opportunity to be in Israel during an awards presentation for a technology company at the Weizmann Institute of Science (Israel's equivalent of MIT). During this presentation, there were at least 40 patents awarded from the previous year from among a crowd of less than 300 people. I was stunned.

They perform this way in nearly every area.

To survive on as little arable land as they have, they needed to find ways to increase productivity and effectiveness in every area. They did and turned desert into thriving farm land. I suspect the food grown in Israel is probably more nutritious than elsewhere. The dairy and produce certainly tastes much better than anywhere else I've eaten (although they don't seem to understand beef very well).

To compete economically, they needed to produce innovative products. They have. See the list on the link.

To survive as a Nation, they needed to produce the most effective local military. They have. (In spite of the recent standoff in Lebanon, they are still the best in the region. Because of political interference/hesitation, they won every battle and lost that war. They will not make that mistake again).

In my deep dark past, I have had the opportunity to train both Israelis and other regional military pilots (Saudi, Kuwaiti, Bahrani). Night and Day. The Israeli pilots arrived prepared and in many cases understood selected aircraft systems better than I did. As a group, they were the best pilots I ever trained. As a group, the others were below average.

I believe the Israelis are possibly the smartest population in the world. You can argue race or environment, but with as many ethnicities as they have absorbed, it has to be environment. I think if one needs an example of true darwinian adaptation, Israel is a perfect example.

Are the others jealous. Is that why they hate Israel?

Yes.

So, What will Tomorrow Bring?

2006-08-21T17:09:00.000-07:00

I have always loved science fiction. Ever since I learned the magic of reading, these kind of stories and books drew me like a magnet. I can remember reading 4-5 books in a week, sometimes through the summer nights, with the windows open; the heat still radiating from the rooftops and the crickets and cicadas chirping and rattling.

Sometimes my father would come in and say "You're still up? Go to sleep!", and I would roll over, turn out the light and close my eyes. Usually I fell asleep, but sometimes I could not and I would wait till he went back to bed and start reading again, sometimes even by flashlight.

I loved science fiction, as it told of futures not yet seen, inventions not yet invented but already saving and condemning worlds we had yet to discover. Mostly I loved science fiction because it was the closest thing I could find to my Holy Grail: Time travel. The things I read in the older stories had frequently become reality in my present. I intuitively knew that the things I read of that were not yet were someday to be. I could travel to the future in my mind and see what was coming. Of course not everything I read actually became reality, but many things did, along with many things no one thought of at the time.

In the linked article, Dan Simmons quotes a book 'Replay', by Ken Grimwood. I have read it and loved it. I'm sure it influenced, at least in part, Bill Murray's 'Ground Hog Day' which I also loved. In Dan's (fictional?) story, a time traveller arrives from the future and our immediate future is spelled out for us. It is an unhappy one.

Tomorrow brings the 22nd of August, 2006. This is the day Iran's President, Ahmadinejad, says Iran will answer the world as to their nuclear program and the world's demands that it cease developing weapons and enriching uranium. You can read elsewhere of his determined beliefs that he can hasten the arrival of their messiah/prophet/Madhi through war and bloodshed. The bottom line is that his particular sect believe they can, and that August 22 is a forecasted day of the Mahdi's return. What I focus on is Ahmadinejad's claim that he will light up the sky over Jeruselem.

As in the science fiction of my youth, not all that is predicted will occur. However, something tells me that soon this may be one of those things that did.

Hold on.

Worst Hurricane Season...Ever!

2006-08-19T23:03:00.000-07:00

I cannot help but notice: As the world spun irreversably toward a man-made global warming nightmare: We were supposed to experience an even more brutal hurricane season in the U.S. in 2006 than in 2005.

There's still lots of time to have several bad ones, but it should be obvious to even a casual observer that 2006 will be nowhere near as bad as 2005.

Unsurprisingly, all the voices of 'An Inconvenient Truth' are strangely silent, whereas they dominated the press only weeks ago with hysteria.

Maybe they're at the beach. Waiting. For a hurricane. That must be it.

Update 8/21/06: Apparently I'm not the only one noticing.

Neo-Neocon: Solzhenitsyn

2006-08-18T20:36:00.000-07:00

I've heard of Solzhenitsyn, but never before read anything he wrote or said. I just finshed his 1978 Harvard speech courtesy of Neo-Neocon and....Wow!

Talk about predicting the future.

I read it and added my own $0.02 to the comments:

Dicentra says above: "I'm afraid that our public devaluation of religion, especially among the intellectually elite, has created a vacuum into which the structure and certainty of Islam might thrive."

At first, I laughed and said "Islam filling our moral vacuum? Right, when pigs fly!"

However, in retrospect, I've been wondering if it could happen, though not in Dicentra's exact terms. My thinking was more along the lines of "how does a murdering, fanatical theology conquer a Western world that is committed to freedom of self over any greater good? As soon as the mass murders begin (again) on American soil, the left will finally awake (ala Neo-Neocon) and get with the program."

Now I'm not so sure. Islam is a theology of works. In this theology, one's actions are your ticket to heaven. How else can an angry Mohammed Atta fly an airplane into a tower and believe he is redeeming himself?

Works are a material thing - of this world. The rapidly sinking West is engaged in its own religion of works (humanism) and all that comes with it: Sensual, material living. Under a microscope, the two (Islam and Humanism) are fundamentally the same theology: what you do is more important that what you believe.

In comparison, Christianity, in all its major variants (even the Catholic church, although many of us seem not to understand that) is a theology of faith. What you believe matters more than what you do in terms of your salvation. Of course what you do matters, but only in the context of what you believe.

You cannot work your way to heaven, but you can believe your way there. (I apologize for this horrible Cliffnotes abbreviation of Christian beliefs. Try to overlook this and catch my broader point). Therefore, a Christian can never be "good enough" to redeem himself. It takes an act of faith, a belief, that one who is good enough (Christ) can redeem the sins- for free- and will vouch for the believer at the time of judgement. That belief is supposed to drive the subsequent actions and works.

Those who perform the same actions and works, but do so in the belief that this is what saves them, have crossed into the same core theology as Islam and Humanism.

So, yes, I agree with Dicentra. I can envision a scenario where Islam conquers the west by offering salvation based on a set of black and white works instead of the more popular rainbow colored set, with the alternative being head removal for those who insist on more than two colors.

Stilton Cheese Perfume? Smells like Fumunda to me.

2006-08-07T16:04:00.000-07:00

Interesting post from Drudge.

"Why has our perfumery been so successful? Without question, I think it's because so many people are fed up with everything smelling the same. There's no individuality any more."

Seems to me, in a world where everyone smells with their own special fragrance, the next big trend will be easy: Just take a bath and spray on - nothing. It'll probably catch on, especially with the leading edge consumers.

I can see it now: Fancy bottles, elegantly packaged, very expensive...completely empty.

"It's like I'm wearing Nothing at All!" will probably be the catch phrase of the best selling brand.

The Real Mel Gibson

2006-08-02T18:02:00.000-07:00

Above links to Rossputin and his comments on Mel Gibson. Below follow my comments on his site.
**
I think Mel's actions show that regardless of what one does in life, it is awfully difficult to unravel the unconscious lessons learned in childhood.

I would agree that his actions show a strong anti-semite streak in his nature that came out while drunk. However, step away from the particulars for a moment and consider the mild-mannered office worker that turns into a mean drunk, or the otherwise moral woman (or man) that turns into a slut after drinking too much.

Are they really just assholes and sluts, hypocritically running around under the facade of normalcy? Or, are they otherwise decent people who have a character flaw that was revealed when they lost control?

I know what happens when I drink too much - one of the reasons I don't drink much anymore. I can sympathize with Mel Gibson in this sense. I see him as the latter of that described above - an overall decent person with a character flaw that was unfortunately revealed through drink.

I do not apologize for his behavior as it was abhorrent. He needs to follow up this incident and his apology with action. Yes, some action is appropriate to convey repentence to the world, but he shouldn't overdo it. Those who want to skewer him will not be satisfied regardless of what he does and says. The real action he needs to take is to address that which make him drink so much as well as the obvious inner conflict that led him to lash out at Jews. After that, he needs to drive on and continue to make great movies.

As to the Passion: I saw it three times, once at the release and twice more over the last 2 years. I think folks see in it what they wish to see. Nothing I saw led me to believe he was being anti-semitic or intended to denigrate the Jewish people. As I watched the movie, I didn't say to myself "Those hateful Jews, can't they see it's JESUS, our GOD?" Instead, I only saw myself and the rest of humanity reflected in their faces. The same fears, the same hates, the same failures to see who this man is and what he came to do and why it what necessary. Sadly, not much has changed today.

I love Israel, I love the Jewish people I am fortunate to work with on a weekly basis and feel blessed by the chance to visit Israel twice; once in the military and once on business. Each time I found nothing but gracious people. I have found them to be an amazingly brilliant group, focused and hard working. They have my utmost respect.

I don't see the Jewish people as those who murdered Christ. We all did. I see the Jewish people as those who brought Christ to the material world. And for that, the material world hates Israel and the Jewish people.

Immigration Comments

2006-06-04T20:52:00.000-07:00

Here's the text of my letter on immigration to The President and the Key Republican Leaders:
**********************
The Honorable George W. Bush,
The Honorable William H. Frist, The Honorable Kay-Bailey Hutchinson, The Honorable John Cornyn
The Honorable J. Dennis Hastert, The Honorable John Boehner, The Honorable Michael T. McCaul

Sirs and Ma’am,

I am writing to express my thoughts on immigration. I am profoundly disappointed in the general performance of the Legislative and Executive branches and specifically with the Republican Majority in Congress. You are failing in your obligation to the voters of this great country. I have reached the breaking point and have lost my patience with the dithering on this topic. I am writing alone, but my thoughts echo those of my fellow citizens both in my community and across this country.

Here are my main areas of concern:

• If we will not enforce our borders, how can we claim to be serious on the war on terror?
• People who illegally enter this country have broken the laws and should be treated accordingly.
• Employers who employ illegal immigrants are breaking the law and should be treated accordingly.

We are told there is a war on terror, that this war on terror endangers our lives on a daily basis and that to help combat this war, we must submit to numerous restrictions on air travel, have our communications subject to monitoring and other restrictions that, were there no war on terror, would clearly be an infringement of our constitutional rights. I can accept these as temporary measures as I do believe there is a serious threat and we are subject to attack. However, if each of us must submit to shoe removal and extensive personal baggage search; why then is it not at least as important to safeguard our borders? If X-Ray inspection of every bag is required, the vast majority belonging to persons obeying the law, why is it not at least required to inspect each person crossing our borders, a substantial majority who are not obeying our laws? To fail to know who is entering this country illegally is to make a mockery of the other restrictive efforts in the name of anti-terrorism.

The United States is a Sovereign Nation. As such, it enjoys the consent of its citizens to make and enforce laws in every imaginable area. I argue that if we do not, will not or cannot enforce the borders, we can no longer call ourselves sovereign and claim the right to enforce these other laws. A nation that cannot control its borders is no longer a Nation but merely a crossroads between territories and cities.

We are a Nation of immigrants and I am third generation Norwegian/German heritage. Immigrant influx is essential for economic growth, for the stimulation of new ideas, technologies and markets and to help this country maintain its vibrancy. I would like to see us increase our overall rate of legal immigration. Legal immigrants bring with them an appreciation for the opportunities, optimism and a work ethic I seldom see in my fellow citizens. Legal Immigration is a good thing and should be expanded -with educated, talented people from all countries, not just the poor and uneducated.

The proposal before Congress rewards those who break the law and discourages those who strive to adhere to the law. Period. Regardless of how you slice it, any path to citizenship for those who are currently here illegally is an amnesty program and you shame yourselves by asking the American people to believe otherwise. Even if they pay fines and back taxes, allowing them to stay in the U.S., under any program, rewards illegal behavior.

I read of the damage done to those who have borne children while in this country; how those children are now citizens and the harm it will cause to deport them. Why are the children citizens? Why should they be granted the rights and benefits of citizenship when their parents broke the law to bear them here? Again, we are rewarding illegal behavior. I do not have a problem with deporting anyone and everyone who has broken the law to come here. Enforcing the law is always correct. If it will cause economic harm, then accelerate the admission process for those who are patiently waiting their turn and abiding by our laws to gain entrance legally.

If an employer provides a job to an illegal immigrant, they have broken the law. Decrease the demand – by enforcing the law - and you will decrease the supply. If we will not enforce the law, we invite employers to break it. By failing to enforce the law, you create anti-competitive forces between those who abide by the law (and bear higher costs) and those who do not and enjoy, cheap, off the books labor.

I expect you to take the tougher, correct, path and pass and approve legislation that closes our borders to illegal immigrants, deports illegal immigrants in this country today and punishes employers who hire illegal entrants .

Sincerely,

xxx

More Environmental Divergence

2006-06-01T20:17:00.000-07:00

Apparently we will all be soaked water rats, parched desert rats or pummeled by Cat 5 hurricanes for the rest of our brief but miserable lives - all due to the obvious Global Warming trend and the irresponsible U.S. failure to respond to it.

So They say....

The more news you read, the more the story gets repeated: Global Warming is happening, acclerating and we are moments away from global annilation. Witness Al Gore, who is Not (repeat, "Not" "Don't Count on it") running for President and his recent explosion back into the limelight.

Global Warming is a fine story and a good cold winter's night read. I admit, things have changed over the last many years. I remember snow days in Virginia schools in the 70s that no longer exist. Things are getting warmer.

But then, They (the other They, not the They above), say this has been happening and then cooling and heating again; over and over and over for a long, long time.

In spite of this, (and contrary to Al Gore's 'Misconception #1'), Scientists do not agree on whether anything significant is happening, what is happening, to what extent and why. The more I read, the more I'm convinced that the issue has become so politicised that it will probably never be possible to know the truth until:

it is either too late to take appropriate action (in the case of Man Made Global Warming) or,
the climate begins to cycle cooler again and it is attributed to the (over) reactions to the (perceived) Global Warming problem.

However, there are a lot of folks who feel otherwise on the topic of whether 1. it is happening, 2. Man is causing it and 3, what to do about it. Here are a few recent commentaries/ studies/ Reports:

- At Rossputin
- At the Denver Post

VDH's Memorial Day comments

2006-05-30T13:22:00.000-07:00

I've read VDH's work for many years. I've always enjoyed history and the lessons we can learn from it and he has always had the ability to place historical events into relevance for me. He comes with much credibility and is no slouch or sloppy polemicist.

I like what he has to write regarding Memorial Day and include it below in it's entirety:

******
Looking Back at Iraq
A war to be proud of.
by Victor Davis Hanson
National Review Online

There may be a lot to regret about the past policy of the United States in the Middle East, but the removal of Saddam Hussein and the effort to birth democracy in his place is surely not one of them. And we should remember that this Memorial Day.

Whatever our righteous anger at Khomeinist Iran, it was wrong, well aside from the arms-for-hostages scandal, to provide even a modicum of aid to Saddam Hussein, the great butcher of his own, during the Iran-Iraq war.

Inviting the fascist Baathist government of Syria into the allied coalition of the first Gulf War meant that we more or less legitimized the Assad regime’s take-over of Lebanon, with disastrous results for its people.

It may have been strategically in error not to have taken out Saddam in 1991, but it was morally wrong to have then encouraged Shiites and Kurds to rise up — while watching idly as Saddam’s reprieved planes and helicopters slaughtered them in the thousands.

A decade of appeasement of Islamic terrorism, with retaliations after the serial attacks — from the first World Trade Center bombing to Khobar Towers and the USS Cole — never exceeding the occasional cruise missile or stern televised lecture, made September 11 inevitable.

A decade was wasted in subsidizing Yasser Arafat on the pretense that he was something other than a mendacious thug.

I cite these few examples of the now nostalgic past, because it is common to see Iraq written off by the architects of these past failures as the “worst” policy decision in our history, a “quagmire” and a “disaster.” Realists, more worried about Iran and the ongoing cost in our blood and treasure in Iraq, insist that toppling Saddam was a terrible waste of resources. Leftists see the Iraq war as part of an amoral imperialism; often their talking points weirdly end up rehashed in bin Laden’s communiqués and Dr. Zawahiri’s rants.

But what did 2,400 brave and now deceased Americans really sacrifice for in Iraq, along with thousands more who were wounded? And what were billions in treasure spent on? And what about the hundreds of collective years of service offered by our soldiers? What exactly did intrepid officers in the news like a Gen. Petreus, or Col. McMaster, or Lt. Col Kurilla fight for?

First, there is no longer a mass murderer atop one of the oil-richest states in the world. Imagine what Iraq would now look like with $70 a barrel oil, a $50 billion unchecked and ongoing Oil-for-Food U.N. scandal, the 15th year of no-fly zones, a punitative U.N. embargo on the Iraqi people — all perverted by Russian arms sales, European oil concessions, and frenzied Chinese efforts to get energy contracts from Saddam.

The Kurds would remain in perpetual danger. The Shiites would simply be harvested yearly, in quiet, by Saddam’s police state. The Marsh Arabs would by now have been forgotten in their toxic dust-blown desert. Perhaps Saddam would have upped his cash pay-outs for homicide bombers on the West Bank.

Mohammar Khaddafi would be starting up his centrifuges and adding to his chemical weapons depots. Syria would still be in Lebanon. Washington would probably have ceased pressuring Egypt and the Gulf States to enact reform. Dr. Khan’s nuclear mail-order house would be in high gear. We would still be hearing of a “militant wing” of Hamas, rather than watching a democratically elected terrorist clique reveal its true creed to the world.

But just as importantly, what did these rare Americans not fight for? Oil, for one thing. The price skyrocketed after they went in. The secret deals with Russia and France ended. The U.N. petroleum perfidy stopped. The Iraqis, and the Iraqis alone — not Saddam, the French, the Russians, or the U.N. — now adjudicate how much of their natural resources they will sell, and to whom.

Our soldiers fought for the chance of a democracy; that fact is uncontestable. Before they came to Iraq, there was a fascist dictatorship. Now, after three elections, there is an indigenous democratic government for the first time in the history of the Middle East. True, thousands of Iraqis have died publicly in the resulting sectarian mess; but thousands were dying silently each year under Saddam — with no hope that their sacrifice would ever result in the first steps that we have already long passed.

Our soldiers also removed a great threat to the United States. Again, the crisis brewing over Iran reminds us of what Iraq would have reemerged as. Like Iran, Saddam reaped petroprofits, sponsored terror, and sought weapons of mass destruction. But unlike Iran, he had already attacked four of his neighbors, gassed thousands of his own, and violated every agreement he had ever signed. There would have been no nascent new democracy in Iran that might some day have undermined Saddam, and, again unlike Iran, no internal dissident movement that might have come to power through a revolution or peaceful evolution.

No, Saddam’s police state was wounded, but would have recovered, given high oil prices, Chinese and Russian perfidy, and Western exhaustion with enforcement of U.N. sanctions. Moreover, the American military took the war against radical Islam right to its heart in the ancient caliphate. It has not only killed thousands of jihadists, but dismantled the hierarchy of al Qaeda and its networks, both in Afghanistan and Iraq. Critics say that we “took our eye off the ball” by going to Iraq and purportedly leaving bin Laden alone in the Hindu Kush. But more likely, al Qaeda took its eye off the American homeland as the promised theater of operations once American ground troops began dealing with Islamic terrorists in Iraq. As we near five years after September 11, note how less common becomes the expression “not if, but when” concerning the next anticipated terror attack in the U.S.

Some believe that the odyssey of jihadists to Iraq means we created terrorists, but again, it is far more likely, as al Qaeda communiqués attest, that we drew those with such propensities into Iraq. Once there, they have finally shown the world that they hate democracy, but love to kill and behead — and that has brought a great deal of moral clarity to the struggle. After Iraq, the reputation of bin Laden and radical Islam has not been enhanced as alleged, but has plummeted. For all the propaganda on al Jazeera, the chattering classes in the Arab coffeehouses still watch Americans fighting to give Arabs the vote, and radical Islamists in turn beheading men and women to stop it.

If many in the Middle East once thought it was cute that 19 killers could burn a 20-acre hole in Manhattan, I am not sure what they think of Americans now in their backyard not living to die, but willing to die so that other Arabs might live freely.

All of our achievements are hard to see right now. The Iraqis are torn by sectarianism, and are not yet willing to show gratitude to America for saving them from Saddam and pledging its youth and billions to give them something better. We are nearing the third national election of the war, and Iraq has become so politicized that our efforts are now beyond caricature. An archivist is needed to remind the American people of the record of all the loud politicians and the national pundits who once were on record in support of the war.

Europeans have demonized our efforts — but not so much lately, as pacifist Europe sits on its simmering volcano of Islamic fundamentalism and unassimilated Muslim immigrants. Our own Left has tossed out “no blood for oil” — that is, until the sky-rocketing prices, the U.N. Oil-for-Food scandal, and a new autonomous Iraqi oil ministry cooled that rhetoric. Halliburton is also now not so commonly alleged as the real casus belli, when few contractors of any sort wish to rush into Iraq to profit.

“Bush lied, thousands died” grows stale when the WMD threat was reiterated by Arabs, the U.N., and the Europeans. The “too few troops” debate is not the sort that characterizes imperialism, especially when no American proconsul argues that we must permanently stay in large numbers in Iraq. The new Iraqi-elected president, not Donald Rumsfeld, is more likely to be seen on television, insisting that Americans remain longer.

A geography more uninviting for our soldiers than Iraq cannot be imagined — 7,000 miles away, surrounded by Baathist Syria, Wahhabist Saudi Arabia, and theocratic Iran. The harsh landscape rivals the worst of past battlefields — blazing temperatures, wind, and dust. The host culture that our soldiers faced was Orwellian — a society terrorized by a mass murderer for 30 years, who ruled by alternately promising Sunni, Shiite, and Kurdish collaborationists that cooperation meant only that fewer of their own would die.

The timing was equally awful — in an era of easy anti-Americanism in Europe, and endemic ingratitude in the Muslim world that asks nothing of itself, everything of us, and blissfully forgets the thousands of Muslims saved by Americans in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Somalia, and the billions more lavished on Jordanians, Palestinians, and Egyptians.

And here at home? There are few Ernie Pyles in Iraq to record the heroism of our soldiers; no John Fords to film their valor — but legions to write ad nauseam of Abu Ghraib, and to make up stories of flushed Korans and Americans terrorizing Iraqi women and children.

Yet here we are with an elected government in place, an Iraqi security force growing, and an autocratic Middle East dealing with the aftershocks of the democratic concussion unleashed by American soldiers in Iraq.

Reading about Gettysburg, Okinawa, Choisun, Hue, and Mogadishu is often to wonder how such soldiers did what they did. Yet never has America asked its youth to fight under such a cultural, political, and tactical paradox as in Iraq, as bizarre a mission as it is lethal. And never has the American military — especially the U.S. Army and Marines — in this, the supposedly most cynical and affluent age of our nation, performed so well.

We should remember the achievement this Memorial Day of those in the field who alone crushed the Taliban and Saddam Hussein, stayed on to offer a new alternative other than autocracy and theocracy, and kept a targeted United States safe from attack for over four years.

©2006 Victor Davis Hanson

The "New" ATT

2006-05-20T10:09:00.000-07:00

I'm including this because it falls into one of those things that always happen to others - but never someone you know and certainly not to yourself.

I've been an SBC customer for several years. They have recently merged with AT&T and taken on the AT&T name. Three months ago, I made a small change in my bill to save a few dollars on the monthly charges. It should have resulted in a reduction in $10-15/month in savings.

Imagine my surprise to receive a $4,400 bill the next month, HA HA! Well, it was so over the top and clearly wrong, that I was amused and asked them to fix the problem and send me letters saying I would not have to pay, which they did. They assured me it would be fixed by this month, although the charges may take a few billing cycles to fix. No problem - I was cool with that and it was kinda unique to have a $4,400 residential phone bill.

May 5th rolls around and I expect to still see $4,400 in charges, less my normal payments. Surprise again! Now its double that. They still assure me this will be fixed and not to pay (like I could anyway). I told them I was still amused - but not nearly as much as the first time it happened.

The Price of Oil

2006-05-12T17:23:00.000-07:00

Here's a fellow that actually says something lucid regarding oil and oil prices.

Words (and Wisdom?) From Fred

2006-05-04T13:24:00.000-07:00

I don't like Fred....

He pisses me off a lot.

I wonder though, does he anger me because:

a. I've become too PC to hear what he has to say without cringing inside, or
b. Because I disagree with what he says?

I need to spend some time pondering that. It may well be the former, not the latter. I do agree with him a lot and many times find myself saying "Yes, but I wouldn't say it that way".

For Example:

"This gelding of men, pushed everywhere in the media (note the universal prevalence of girlish male models with waxed chests and slight figures) can easily be seen as the desired consequence of female hostility to men; the corresponding de-feminization of women, as another front in an anti-male war led by hostile feminists. Perhaps. I have assuredly thought so at times. Yet women seem as unhappy in their mannish roles as do men in womanish ones. One thing is sure, which is that women do not understand men—their drives, needs, nature, or inner light. "

Read the rest: http://www.fredoneverything.net/SurvivalSchools.shtml

I like Fred...

Flight 93 Film

2006-04-27T20:57:00.000-07:00

I will see this film. What a great quote at the end of Mr. Beamer's article:

" The enemy we face does not have the word "surrender" in their dictionary. We must not have the word "retreat" in ours. "

Amen.

eBay Listing

2006-04-27T19:45:00.000-07:00

I like to write. Everyone has a creative edge, some in art, some in cooking, some in business. I've a little bit in many areas and occasionally in writing. Mostly I have fun whenI write. I decided to sell my watch on eBay and as I held in in my hand, I thought to myself, "How can I distinguish this watch from all the others out there competing for buyers' attention and money?".

See, part of the thrill in eBay is scoring. Yes, it's fun to make money, but it's more fun to connect with a bunch of buyers and sell something they want. For a brief moment, you feel like an anonymous star, catching the attention of the masses (or even 4 or 5 who get in a bidding war over your item). It reminds me of that movie 'Turk 182', where the star kept putting his brother's fireman's badge number on public monuments to draw attention to his injuries and the city's refusal to address them. He was a star and everyone wondered who he was and why he was doing it.

So, I have this watch (or had, it'll be gone in another hour). What can I say about an old watch, still working, still ticking, but old nonetheless. It didn't really talk to me, but in a way it did. I thought about all the places that watch had been and the things I had endured while wearing it and the following just started to flow:
****************

Seiko Quartz Diver's Watch Automatic

You are bidding on a Seiko Autowind Quartz Diver's Watch, water resistant to 150m.

See the photographs, the watch is used, the bezel scratched.

Let me tell you about this watch:

First the technical:

The watch works fine, keeps good time, date changes properly. It's got a Rotating bezel, Stainless Stell case, multi language day of week, etc. It's a good watch.

Now the History:

I am the original owner. This watch was purchased in 1988. It spent most of it's operational history wrapped around my wrist on top of Nomex Fire retardent gloves. It has flown inside Apache and Kiowa Helicopters and flown over Germany, Austria and Italy. It deployed to Saudi Arabia as part of Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm and walked the streets of Dhaharan, Ad-Damman and Rafah. It flew in combat operations at 3 a.m. across the Iraqi border before the ground war kicked off and deep into Iraq as part of the action to kick the Saddamites out of Kuwait. It's weathered blinding dust storms, searing heat, soaking rain storms and a lot of sweat. This is a watch with a noble history and it served me and our country well.

So why sell it? This is a tough watch for tough missions and tough environments. I left the Army and flying long ago for corporate America. I wore it for a while, but it began to look more and more out of place. Here was a watch designed for physical challenges, clinging to a wrist that was pushing papers across a desk. It seemed out of place and it seemed kind of wrong; like making a race horse pull a plow. I eventually took it off and put it in a drawer, where it has been for several years. Periodically I pulled it out and set the time, moved it around to keep things working (and it always did), but I began to notice it seemed heavier and heavier each time I picked it up, almost as if I were growing weaker.

Finally, I began to hear the watch talking to me, saying things like "uhh...excuse me? I'm a little bored here. Could you send me to Bosnia to go back to work? Then it began asking for duty in the Persian gulf, enforcing the U.N Resolutions. At first, I ignored the voice, but it began to get louder and more assertive, especially after 9-11. And then last night, it became downright abusive: "Hey LimpWrist! Yeah, I'm talking to you - desk rider!! If you don't get my quartz outta here I'm gonna take charge of all the clocks in the house. We're going to organize, put together a little union action here and then you know what? We're going on strike. How you gonna get to work on time after that...Paperboy! You might get fired and then have to get a Real Job..."

So, let's face it. If you can get past the fact that I'm hearing my watch talk to me (and getting pushed around), this watch needs a better home, one full of abrasive sand, wet with a little RBC,climbing a mountain, diving to a wreck somewhere...Anywhere except riding in my desk drawer. Please, I can't handle the voices anymore! I'll even list it for a penny if that's what it takes to get this thing off my back and around your wrist, doing tough things like it's designed to.

I'd would even lie to get rid of this thing and say stuff like "it'll make you better looking, pull in the chicks like a magnet, and make you tougher", except eBay would skewer me for false advertising. So, lets just say it might do all those things for you if you're the winning bidder. It might.

Either way, it's a damn good watch.

Shipping is $5 to anywhere in the U.S. If you are a soldier serving this great country and currently deployed to Iraq or Afganistan (or just came back) I'll ship it to you for free in the U.S. To a foreign address or APO, I'll take $8 off the total shipping if you're out there serving the U.S. somewhere. Non U.S. persons at foreign addresses must wait for invoice and actual shipping calculations before paying. If you don't like the idea of me subsidizing the shipping for U.S soldiers, I don't care. They're helping to keep your ass from getting blown up and deserve a break.

Bid with confidence: Everything is described accurately, so bid accordingly and no returns on this item (are you kidding me, like I'm going to let it back in the house? Right):

Good luck bidding!

Tom.

P.S. In the photo, the back of the watch looks like a burnished bronze when in fact it is a brilliant stainless steel. I couldn't get it to photograph well and get the details of the backside/serial number and look nice at the same time. Also, there is no guarantee this watch will talk to you too. In fact, I hope not. But I hope it helps you tell some stories of your own some day.

***********

The best part of the whole thing has been the comments I've had from the various folks out there reading the listing:

***********

jimmyc36 (35)

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Hey Dude- Great Story & History!
If someone doesnt buy this watch- We may as well hang it up and move out of the country-huh?
You should consider writting, as you have an great flair for it-im sure you would sell many copies-im not kidding! Good Luck & Take Care-Jim (USMC Veteran).

===============================================

$oldout$ (1437)

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That was a great narrative about your watch. Are you a writer, because you should be. It really made me want to own the watch! Thanks and good luck.

*************

canage16 (84)

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Hi, Not a question but a comment. KEEP THE WATCH!!! That kind of history and sentimental value cannot equal the peanuts some one will give you. Put it in a box and strap it on for old times sake. Just a thought. Ernie
**
My Reply:

Ernie - Thanks. There are many things involved in this sale with two the most significant: 1. I helped my parents move to their retirement place a few years ago and was staggered at the sheer volume of stuff they had that they did not use and could not move. My mother agonized over getting rid of all these unused, unappreciated (stored for years) 'treasures' that they could not move to their smaller home. My 7 siblings and I received everything that had meaning to us (a large volume of items). In the end,however, they still had a lot of stuff they simply gave/sold to folks who had no regard for the history. In retrospect, although it seemed ridiculous at the time, I now recognize that they were not much different than many/most middle class Americans who fill their garages and attics with stuff they will not use again, often do not know they still have but can't bear to let go.

2. I read a book called 'Margin' by Richard Swenson. Without providing a book review, let me say that the book and what I learned from my parents convinced me that I needed to take an honest look at the trappings of life and hold tightly to those things most important to me that had real value (monetary or otherwise) and let the rest go that really was just stuff, all valuable, but only in the right hands. I have many mementos from the Gulf war and my time in service and although each is part of a story, it's my story and only I can tell it, something I can do with or without those things. In the end, it's now an unused watch, a tool designed to be used for telling time in tough environments. I've gotten more than my money's worth through the comments of folks like yourself who have written to me. I enjoy writing and it is gratifying to read the comments and know my words have moved others in some way. I am happy to sell the watch to whomever needs and wants it and give them a bit of history at the same time. If a soldier buys it, all the better. Thanks and best wishes. Tom

************
wesman777 (327)

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Best Seiko watch Ebay listing EVER. HoooRaaah.

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Great fun! I love eBay.

Found Another

2006-03-12T03:36:00.000-08:00

In the ongoing search for Islamic voices of reason, we find that of Dr. Wafa Sultan, portrayed here at the NT. Times and recently interviewed on Al Jazeera.

If the media, especially Islamic media, give voices like this an outlet, there is some hope left...

What if we had a Democratic President - right now?

2006-03-10T20:37:00.000-08:00

I was reading an article on Steven Spruell's media blog (at National Review). He was addressing press bias against Bush negatively driving perception of the economy and other issues.

Of course, as a reflexive, blinder wearing conservative (gotta maintain the stereotype), I accept this at face value (it's so obvious, can't you see...?). However, I started wondering, "what if the shoe were on the other foot and we had a Democratic President in office right now?"

Could I look at the same facts as I believe them to be right now, come to the same assessment as to their validity and make a rational decision to support the administration, or would I see an evil, partisan hand behind every decision, every agreement? I did during the Clinton administration, I admit it. In fact I sounded much like the Moonbats of the left do today, seeing an end to life as we know it in every decision of Bill and his puppet master, Hillary.

Quite frankly, I cannot visualize a democratic administration in which this would occur, the divide being what it is between left and right. Still, I wonder.

I pose the same question to you (non-existent liberal reader) . If the tables were turned, and all the facts were the same, would you be against or for the (Democratic) President right now? Would this "wrong" war suddenly become right if a President Hillary were to say our survival depended on it?

Tickle Says...

2006-03-07T19:17:00.000-08:00

I decided to take one of those online Tickle tests; spot the shapes, complete the sentence, etc.

It was kinda fun, like going back to high school (without the stress and acne and girl problems).

Results? Drum roll....

"Congratulations! Your IQ score is 131

This number is based on a scientific formula that compares how many questions you answered correctly on the Classic IQ Test relative to others.

Your Intellectual Type is Visual Mathematician. This means you are gifted at spotting patterns — both in pictures and in numbers. These talents combined with your overall high intelligence make you good at understanding the big picture, which is why people trust your instincts and turn to you for direction — especially in the workplace. And that's just some of what we know about you from your test results."

Nice.

Not sure what this means, but I'm smart enough not to pay $12.95 for the rest of the story.

Searching the web, I found this which says I'm smart enough to be an editor.

Cool. Does that include blogs?

Funny...They didn't ask me where I get mine...

2006-02-27T03:05:00.000-08:00

So 70%+ of Americans still get their news from the local broadcast networks and National news.

It's probable that they just don't know yet where the real news is being reported. Thank God for the blogosphere and the thousands of real journalists (read "authentic") who are interviewing, sifting data and analyzing to report what is really happneing.

It is unfortunate, as they obviously still have no clue as to what is happening in the world. I suspect this is an artifact of the boomer genration and their parents who are still around. Having grown up with network TV, its probably asking too much for them to walk away.

A Simple Jew: Guest Posting From Chabakuk Elisha - The Perils of Yisro's Path

2006-02-23T03:30:00.000-08:00

A Simple Jew: Guest Posting From Chabakuk Elisha - The Perils of Yisro's Path

Interesting article. Says alot about the essence of faith, regardless of the particular religion.

It's the same challenge for us all. Do we continue to try and dissect the fundamentals of what we believe, trying to establish exactly why and what we believe, trying to establish a defensible bedrock?

Or do we simply accept what is told as revealed and true, regardless of the questions and ridicule of others who do not understand?

In many ways, the second is easiest. Capitulate to the beliefs, accept them as true and spend one's spare time trying to live them and on other areas of life.

I think, though, that everyone has a responsibility that extends beyond simple acceptance. The responsibility is to those others who question our beliefs.

We need to accept, but also seek to be able to explain, to the extent that we can. Ultimately, however, it is the way we live our beliefs that says the most about them to others.

Nobody respects the man who can fully explain his faith but fails to live it

Found a Few here

2006-02-22T05:25:00.000-08:00

In the search for rational Muslim leaders, a few have shown their faces and spoken out, such as Jordanian journalist Jihad Momani who wrote:

"What brings more prejudice against Islam, these caricatures or pictures of a hostage-taker slashing the throat of his victim in front of the cameras, or a suicide bomber who blows himself up during a wedding ceremony?" (Read it all here, courtesy of the NY Times.)

Well said!

Too bad he's now facing prosecution and appears in court today to defend his action. I think the punishment for heresy is death.

It doesn't bode well for the future if those who would speak out can't because they are dead

Willful Ignorance?

2006-02-22T02:43:00.000-08:00

Two separate posts, one at Roger Simon and the other at Rossputin detail similar examples of what I would call willful ignorance.

Roger links to a book review "While Europe Slept" that describes Western Europe's willingness to believe that the cultural dichotomy between European Liberalism and Islamic Fundamentalism will resolve itself in Europe's cultural favor.

Rossputin links to an article (written pseudonymously by a Colorado legislator) that describes the Democratic Party's war on Christianity in general and the Catholic Church specifically.

Although the venues and targets are different, the goal is the same: gradual attrition of prevailing cultural and social norms that get in the way of a radical ideology. In both cases, the targets slowly bleed to death while hoping the attacker will suddenly make nice - and then everyone will all get along.

War, whether cultural or otherwise, doesn't work that way. Only one side can win. Sometimes its a decisive victory, usually the open conflict devolves into a guerilla war that lasts until one capitulates.

Did we find one?

2006-02-19T20:05:00.000-08:00

Last week, I wrote "Where are the Muslims who..."

Perhaps we found one here, by Mansoor Ijaz at the L.A Times, courtesy of Atlas Shrugs.

Although the article is encouraging, the author still doesn't condemn the violence that seems to be becoming the norm for Islamic expression.

He writes, "You either believe in the oneness of God or you don't. You either believe in the teachings of his prophet or you don't. You either learn those teachings and apply them to the circumstances of life in the country you have chosen to live in, or you shouldn't live there."

OK.

I say:

-You either believe it is wrong to saw someone's head off with a knife or... you don't
-You either believe it is wrong to strap a bomb to your body and walk into a movie theatre ...or you don't
-You either believe non-believers in your faith have basic human rights..or you don't.

The list of black and white can grow quite long, but the point should be clear.

I'll keep on looking

Mad, I tell you ...Mad as a hat!

2006-02-17T20:07:00.000-08:00

One of the sharpest lines of the week comes from National Review's new weekly roundup section called Window on the Week.

Referencing former Vice President Gore's comments in Saudi Arabia this week, NR writes:

"Speaking before an audience in Saudi Arabia, Al Gore, who used to be vice president before he went mad..."

Perfect.

Democratic Party Hacks Hackett

2006-02-17T14:57:00.000-08:00

Looks like the Democratic incumbents decided to support a 'safe' insider by taking out Paul Hackett's campaign for Senate.

Good thing for the Republican majority, I think. Not so good for the Democrats. Unfortunately the GOP has dirty hands here as well. Remember Pay Toomey vs. Arlen Spectre. Can't say I'm happy with his performance since the adminstration saved his campaign.

Gracious Gentleman

2006-02-17T14:45:00.000-08:00

Harry Whittington, the man inadvertantly shot by the Vice President while hunting, was released from the hospital today. His statement reveals a very gracious man.

Of all the things he could have said (and most probably would have said in similar circumstances), sympathy for the Cheney's and their media gauntlet is not one that I would have expected.

It is the kind of statement I would expect from a true Christian, which I suspect he is.

Idaho Coral Reefs......Idaho?

2006-02-17T09:46:00.000-08:00

This is the website of a friend I know. Actually, he does the website and this is a link to his page on the website. So, why link this?

How many coral reefs do you know in the state of.......Idaho?

http://www.idahoreefs.org/ReefTour2004/ScottMorellSlide/Scott_Morell.html

Time for Action

2006-02-17T07:39:00.000-08:00

Victor Davis Hanson is on the target yet again with his discussion of the nuclear threat in Iran.

In a relativistic world view he takes a black and white approach to the question that says "who are we to tell others they can't have Nukes?"

Eventually action will be taken, but will it be in time to make a difference?

"Totally Depraved" - What Are You?

2006-02-16T13:36:00.000-08:00

According to QuizFarm I am a :

"Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan. You are an evangelical in the Wesleyan tradition. You believe that God's grace enables you to choose to believe in him, even though you yourself are totally depraved. The gift of the Holy Spirit gives you assurance of your salvation, and he also enables you to live the life of obedience to which God has called us. You are influenced heavly by John Wesley and the Methodists."

Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan

89%

Roman Catholic

86%

Neo orthodox

86%

Charismatic/Pentecostal

79%

Emergent/Postmodern

68%

Reformed Evangelical

50%

Fundamentalist

50%

Classical Liberal

25%

Modern Liberal

21%

I'm not sure I'd buy the 'totally depraved' part, but the rest feels about right...

We're Number One!!

2006-02-15T20:21:00.000-08:00

According to Rossputin, according to Charles Krauthammer.

Go USA!

Ftsenarzemi?

2006-02-15T19:34:00.000-08:00

Chareon,

When I first came to the company and started using email all the time, I struggled to find something appropriate to put at the end of my notes.

'Sincerely' sounded too trite and too formal. Although I was usually sincere, most of my writings were not very formal.
'Cheers' irritated me when it came from anyone other than a Brit or an Irishman, as I saw Americans who used it as posers.
'Best Regards' was similar to 'Cheers' but not as bad, I just didn't feel comfortable using it
Using nothing at all seemed rude

I finally settled on 'Take Care', as an expression that conveyed sincerity, and was intended to convey a sense of well being, good journeys in life, etc.

The only problem with this is that after working with many Europeans, Asians and Israelis who do not use English as their primary language, it occurred to me that they probably had no idea what I was intending to convey.

'Take care' literally translated probably came across as 'don't drop' 'be careful' 'watch out' 'caution', etc.

So I'm training myself not to use it, but slipped and put it at the end of your email by accident.

I have been saying 'Best Wishes', but find this can still be misunderstood.

From now on, I am going to simply use the following:  'Ftsenarzemi', which means absolutely nothing in any language known to man.  However, since it occupies the space at the end of the note, it will allow the reader to decide what is meant by the expression 'Ftsenarzemi', based upon the tone and content of the email as well as the punctuation.

For example:

Ftsenarzemi!!
Ftsenarzemi.....
Ftsenarzemi??

See what I mean?

Thanks for asking,

Ftsenarzemi!!

Tom

*******

Hi Tom,

What do you mean by "Take care"?

Where are they?

2006-02-14T18:21:00.000-08:00

Where are the Muslims who condemn the craziness?

Where are the Muslims who condemn the beheadings and suicide bombings?
Where are the Muslims who accept Israel has a right to exist?
Where are the Muslims who accept that the Holocaust happened?

If there are two sides to every argument and if ideological thought bridges a spectrum from far left to far right, then where are the vocal, far left Muslims who believe the above?

Do they exist? I sure hope so. I'm going to start looking. If I can't find them, I can only conclude that a very long and bloody series of battles are coming.

Denmark Pissed off

2006-02-14T18:13:00.000-08:00

Great editorial. I think the tide is starting, ever so slightly, to finally turn. Perhaps the major news outlets can finally play a useful role and be unbiased on reporting on this topic.

The more this escalates, the more likely the folks who pays the politician's bills may start to call for sides to be taken. Perhaps that will provide the cover the real Muslims (who abhor the hijacking of their faith by radicals) need to speak out against the craziness.

LGF has more comments here

Fred on Everything

2006-02-10T04:53:00.000-08:00

Fred is great. I mean it. I disagree with about half of what he writes, but I can at least see why he holds those views. He can write on the topics he does because he has experience in those areas. So many who blather on about this and that have no clue.

They are not necessarily wrong, nor is he right, but he is authentic whereas they are not. He can speak from having lived, that living having shaped his life and perspective.

He irritates me more often than not, but rather than being driven away, I am interested in his perspective and views. The typical frantic ranter simply causes me to walk away.

Read Fred. Get on his mailing list. Enjoy a good think.

Plus, he is unashamedly un-PC. This is fun.

Fred on Everything.

2nd Post - Woo Woo!

2006-02-08T19:05:00.000-08:00

So I signed up for a blog so I could post a reply to 'Baconeatingatheistjew'.

See it all here:

Guess I should have a blog too

2006-02-08T18:43:00.000-08:00

So, I wanted to post on another blog and it asked me whether I wanted to post as a blogger.

And I said "Why Not".

This is my first post. I am sure you are underwhelmed if you are reading this.