tryingtogrok.new.mu.nu

October 16, 2006

THAT AIN'T MY COUNTRY

They've been beating us over the head with that new Chevy commercial during the postseason, and my husband hates it too. He flies off the handle every time it's on. He's mad that someone would proudly boil the US down to Hurricane Katrina and Vietnam protesters. I'll have to point out this quote from Slate: "I wonder if they could squeeze in the Rodney King beating and the Abu Ghraib photos, too."

There was a much better commercial on AFN that tried for the same concept. I have been looking online for 15 minutes but can't find any trace of it. Those of you in USAREUR will remember the Navy Reserves commercial that laid out things worth fighting for: hot dogs, Route 66, baseball, etc. This Chevy commercial really misses that mark.

Posted by: Sarah at 08:51 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
Post contains 140 words, total size 1 kb.

FIELD

All alone for a week; husband's out in the field. Heh, the field, for Finance. They sit around and pretend to pay people.

Posted by: Sarah at 03:13 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 25 words, total size 1 kb.

October 15, 2006

ONLY IN AN ARMY FAMILY

I've got a story that might freak you out -- it's certainly a bit more intense than what you'll find in "Humor in Uniform" -- but someone somewhere out there will understand this story and think it's funny.

I ordered some photos online from our digital camera before I realized I forgot to order one that I wanted. I decided to take the one photo to Walmart with me and just print it off of that Kodak machine. So I grabbed my husband's thumb drive and saved the photo. Piece of cake, right? Well, those photo machines work by searching the thumb drive for all photo files. So there I am at the store and the Kodak machine is asking me which photo I want. It's afternoon on a Sunday, so the Walmart is swarming with people, and I'm about to have a heart attack.

Because, you see, I had saved it to my husband's thumb drive from Iraq.

So there I was in Walmart, on the very big, very public Kodak machine, frantically scrolling through photos of dead insurgents trying to find the stinkin' picture of our dog.

Could've died of embarrassment.

[Disclaimer: Before anyone gets too freaked out by this story, I must point out that these weren't "trophy photos." One of my husband's tasks in Iraq was to document anything that happened to his platoon while they were out on patrol. He had to take these photos back to battalion so they could cross-reference them against high-value targets and known troublemakers.]

Posted by: Sarah at 03:35 PM | Comments (13) | Add Comment
Post contains 203 words, total size 1 kb.

1 Too funny! I've been warned several times by my husband not to ever use his thumb drive for that very reason!

Posted by: Rachel at October 15, 2006 06:41 PM (ta8UF)

2 Both of my grandfathers fought in world war 2. My grandfather Joe was in Patton's third army and fought through the battle of the bulge. I remember him as an unassuming man, talking about all the "skinny guys" they kept finding on trains as they marched to Berlin. When my father with a child, my grandmother gave him my grandfather's medals to play with, and he and his brothers ended up losing them around the farm - he always felt bad about that. Anyway, my grandfather was a good guy - a regular guy who fought and saved the world. I didn't know my other grandfather who fought in the Pacific so well, but I know he had brought back a few Japanese dishes and cups and stuff, and that kind of freaked me out - it always made me think of him stalking through some Japanese family's hut and taking their stuff - but I accept that these indescretions happen. However, neither of them had secret picture collections of the enemy dead that they brought home with them. That shit didn't happen in my grandfather's army.

Posted by: Will at October 16, 2006 09:12 AM (QRBGL)

3 Jesus, Will, did you totally ignore the last paragraph of my post?

Posted by: Sarah at October 16, 2006 09:52 AM (7Wklx)

4 Wow, that is kind of funny. In a really twisted way. I can only imagine what you looked like as you tried to scroll through all those nasty pictures.

And Scout's "Iraq" thumb drive got stolen (while it was in someone else's posession). So much for OPSEC.

Posted by: Erin at October 16, 2006 12:42 PM (023Of)

5 Yeah, but your disclaimer doesn't explain everything. I mean, is your husband part of the DIA? Is this the kind of task they farm out to anybody in the army? Has the DIA not checked the photos yet - why does your husband still have them at all? Isn't that stuff turned over to people who need it? It just rings my 'this-seems-shady' bell. I would honestly be disappointed if I came across a box in the attic with my grandfather's pictures of dead germans in it. IF, everything here is on the up and up, then I agree that it's a funny story. My parents love the Walmart photo center too.

Posted by: Will at October 16, 2006 01:19 PM (QRBGL)

6 "Farm out to anybody in the Army"? If "giving responsibility to trained Army officers" is what you mean by farmed out, then I guess so. Do you really think that my husband, out on patrol in the middle of nowhere Iraq, is supposed to call someone from the DIA out there to check out a body? How do you really think that intelligence is gathered? Perhaps you never really thought about it that deeply, but each individual platoon/company/battalion in Iraq is responsible for gathering local intelligence. And it's not "turned over", as in confiscated. My husband has all important after-action reports saved for documentation. Because he's a professional soldier entrusted with handling this sort of responsibility. Or maybe you just relish the thought of me and my husband gleefully scrolling through our collection of photos of dead people. Does that make you feel better about yourself? And neither your grandfather nor mine has photos of dead Germans. They didn't have to bother with the overwhelming task of making sure that a dead body was not an innocent, because they killed soldier and innocent alike in WWII. When your grandfather fought at the Bulge, he wasn't ordered into the forest when the firing stopped to document the dead bodies, not knowing if there were more live bodies waiting to jump out. So don't get all sanctimonious about your grandfather's service while saying that my husband's is "shady".

Posted by: Sarah at October 16, 2006 01:37 PM (7Wklx)

7 Sarah, I guess it's a good thing my husband has the photos he had to take on CDs and I think he has them hidden pretty well. Because we also swap thumb drives to share files fairly often. I read your story to him, because he and I can appreciate how you must have felt, and are able to see the humor in it.

Posted by: Robin at October 16, 2006 05:14 PM (6G8cC)

8 No, it wouldn't make me feel better about myself if I thought that. And I'm glad it seems to be otherwise because I want to love my country and its military.

Posted by: Will at October 16, 2006 09:59 PM (QRBGL)

9 That's hilarious! People are so used to seeing murdered bodies everywhere it's no big whoop!

Posted by: Karl at October 17, 2006 10:51 AM (/HpIA)

10 My only objection is the word insurgents. Let's call these MFs what they are. Terrorists. I don't care what the DoD says. The rest of you need to remember the purpose of a military is to kill people and break things. HOOAH

Posted by: MaryIndiana at October 17, 2006 04:51 PM (YwdKL)

11 "However, neither of them had secret picture collections of the enemy dead that they brought home with them. That shit didn't happen in my grandfather's army." Will,you are seriously delusional if you think this hasn't been happening since 1861. You don't attend many auctions,do you? With a 1000 WWII vets a day passing away,you can find these types of photos very commonly. Grim and inappropriate if they are 'trophy' photos? Yes. But you cannot honestly think they are rare.

Posted by: Matthew Brady at October 17, 2006 05:06 PM (YwdKL)

12 "The rest of you need to remember the purpose of a military is to kill people and break things." Incidently, this is also the purpose of terrorists.

Posted by: Karl at October 18, 2006 09:27 AM (/HpIA)

13 ..yes,this is true. Which makes me all the more proud of Sarah's husband. Thank you for serving our country,S.H.

Posted by: Uncle Sam at October 18, 2006 10:24 AM (YwdKL)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

October 14, 2006

GOOD LINK

I started feeling antsy and came in to check blogs. I found a great post on the supposed 654,965 dead Iraqis over at Annika's. And I was so engrossed in reading it that I missed Suppan's homerun. Dangit.

Posted by: Sarah at 03:58 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 42 words, total size 1 kb.

October 13, 2006

BLAH

Lileks has a good bleat today and a link to an article called "Imagine Earth Without People". Take a deep breath and dive in. Now, I'm no biologist, but you know what else earth probably wouldn't have if it didn't have people? Pandas.

Posted by: Sarah at 04:24 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
Post contains 45 words, total size 1 kb.

October 12, 2006

SHORT BUT SWEET

Found: a den Beste post

Posted by: Sarah at 03:26 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 11 words, total size 1 kb.

October 11, 2006

GOOD MEMORY

Wow, Victor remembered something that I completely forgot: I posted my birthday in a comments section three months ago. It was in reference to a poem he posted that I really liked and that's appropriate for me today...

Eighteen years old, October eleventh
Drunk for the first time in her life,
she tossed her head in a horsey laugh
and that new opal gift sailed off her sore earlobe,
in a graceful parabola,
pinged twice on the stone porch floor,
and rolled off to hide behind the rose bushes.
click to keep reading

Thanks, Victor, for having such a good memory and remembering to swing by here today. Some of my best friends didn't even remember it's my birthday!

Man, I love the blogosphere.

Posted by: Sarah at 01:15 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 128 words, total size 1 kb.

SAD

I actually watched Rolie Polie Olie a few times in the mornings in Germany, simply because I knew Lileks liked it. It wasn't a bad show, as far as kids' stuff is concerned, and that's saying a lot because I didn't even have a kid sitting next to me while I watched it. Too bad my future kids won't get to see it.

Posted by: Sarah at 04:33 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 65 words, total size 1 kb.

ALMOST THERE

Finally the countdown to 30 can begin; today I'm officially only one year away.

Posted by: Sarah at 02:21 AM | Comments (15) | Add Comment
Post contains 18 words, total size 1 kb.

October 10, 2006

ANTI-WAR

Bunker used to wake up at the crack of dawn, so he was almost always the first person to read my posts and comment on them. He was always very encouraging in my quest to grok, and I wish he were here today to help me grapple with this post.

For you see, I just finished reading Flyboys.

I agree with nearly every review I've read that Bradley was a bit clumsy in trying to make the US and Japan equals in barbarity. At least I know I'm not the only one who ruffled at the fact that the first chapter of the book lays out America's "government policy of ethnic cleansing." But in his attempt to be fair and balanced with the war in the Pacific, Bradley did manage to do one thing: make me feel utterly and completely anti-war.

I cried myself to sleep every night I was reading this book. Bradley managed to bring the horrors of war to life in a way I've never quite experienced. Maybe it was the cannibalism that put me over the top. Maybe it was Jimmy Dye's white scarf. Maybe it was the fact that I personally think we're currently fighting an enemy that's more ruthless than the Japanese. But something in this book hit me in the gut, and I can't stop thinking about it.

My husband warned me about writing a post wherein I call myself anti-war. But I said that, if a blog named Trying to Grok isn't a place where I can be honest about my thoughts, then what's the point of writing on it? And so I confess that I see myself as anti-war. Except that anti-war doesn't really mean what the plain-faced words would seem.

I don't mean anti-war in the Sheryl Crow's Sequined T-Shirt way that most people mean when they call themselves anti-war. Most of those people actually mean anti-Bush. And I certainly haven't lost all my brain cells and begun to think that there actually ever could be a world without war either. I know there's no such thing as NO WAR, regardless of how many bumper stickers are printed.

But when you read about POWs having their heads chopped off and then being eaten by the enemy, when you read about the napalm that fell on Tokyo, when you read about the absolutely ghastly things that went on in the Pacific, you all of a sudden can grok a sentence you've heard over and over but never really gave much thought.

War is hell.

Posted by: Sarah at 07:56 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
Post contains 425 words, total size 3 kb.

1 War IS hell. And in my mind any balanced well thought out human being is ANTI-WAR. We don't want it to be the first course of action, we don't want the suffering for anyone. But we also know, if that's what it takes at the end of the line, then hell it is.....

Posted by: Tammi at October 10, 2006 08:50 AM (Bitcf)

2 I agree completely with Tammi. Any decent, thinking human being is anti war. But, as long as human kind has existed and as long as we do exist there will be evil. Sometimes we have to respond to that evil. The trick is, not to end up becoming what we are trying to stop.

Posted by: Pamela at October 10, 2006 10:14 AM (aZt2+)

3 you grok perfectly well, little nestling.

Posted by: MajMike at October 10, 2006 11:17 AM (NMK3S)

4 War is hell, and only the dead have seen the end of it. I think you have groked this to the nth degree. I think that all people that try to grok this, will truly wish for a world with out war. And we honestly thing that it would be better if force was not ever used. But if you truly grok the way the world is you understand that some times, the only way for freedom to live, and grow. Is by force, and if you foe is another mindset, such as it is now with Islam. War is the only answer, and Victory is the only choice.

Posted by: dagamore at October 10, 2006 10:18 PM (7IZfE)

5 Sarah, My father was in Burma in WWII. He saw many things which the Japanese did which violated all the Geneva Conventions, all the rules of war. Their ruthlessness was matched only by their disregard for other human life. He never saw Japanese POWs mistreated. During combat he and his men ruthlessly and determinedly killed them in any way which they could to save their own lives. After the shooting and bombing stopped, no Japanese POW was mistreated. No "ethnic cleansing" ever occurred. No atrocities were committed. I am sure some did occur on the US side in that war. LCDR Dudley "Mush" Morton machine gunned Japanese survivors in the sea after sinking a troop transport. He was not prosecuted, nor should he have been. But it was killing defenseless Jap soliders who would likely have drowned anyway. He kept them from being rescued and sent to war against us again later in the war. There are many other cases of slaughter in the middle of combat. There are none documented of killing after surrender. That is the difference. Those cases do not excuse the wholesale rape and murder by Japanese forces in China (Nanking, over 200,000 Chinese and foreigners alone were killed in Nanking in 1937), on the Bataan Death March, in the Philippines, Singapore, Korea, and numerous Island and Pacific Ocean inhabitants were killed without provocation by the Japanese. (And also by the Russians and German armies in WWII) Today's filmmakers want our country to be seen as the same as everyone else. We are NOT. Our civilization is better than theirs because we care more about them than they do about themselves. Our civilization is better because we give more for their welfare than others do. And our civilization is better because we defend our ideals in the face of the greatest adversity, anywhere. No other country is so vilified. No other country will rise to defend itself when its freedoms are endangered. And no other country so exemplifies the difference between right and wrong as America today. If Flyboys paints a picture of Americans as killers of defenseless women and children for no other reason than ethnic or racial hatred, then it is nothing beyond wrong. Dresden and Tokyo were firebombed because they made significant contributions to the war efforts of our enemies, were valid military targets, and the weapons of the day did not allow any more precise methods of bombing to be accomplished. Even the atomic bomb on Nagasaki was dropped off target in its day, leading to complaints that we didn't destroy the target we were trying to at the time. (It was Nagasaki, it was just dropped off the center of the bullseye.) America is not anything like the Evil regimes we fought. Anyone who says otherwise is wrong or stupid. And I'm not ashamed to say it. Subsunk

Posted by: Subsunk at October 11, 2006 06:28 AM (PaSM8)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

October 09, 2006

JARHEAD

We haven't seen the movie Jarhead in our household, but we do gleefully work the phrase "I hear their bombs and I'm afraid" into conversation as often as we can. I've had zero interest in seeing the movie, until I read this review at Cold Fury. If you've already seen the movie, definitely go over and read both the review and the comments.

Oh, and how ridiculous was it when I saw a soldier on Law and Order call another soldier a "jarhead"? Sheesh, google could've helped them avoid that bonehead script gaff.

Posted by: Sarah at 03:15 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 95 words, total size 1 kb.

October 06, 2006

CHRISTMAS PRESENT

I don't know if my friend from Sweden still checks in on my blog anymore, but if you do, don't look! The rest of you can check out the extended entry... more...

Posted by: Sarah at 05:03 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 166 words, total size 1 kb.

October 03, 2006

FOOD NETWORK RULES

Is it just me, or is TV going a bit too far with snarky social commentary? I was watching Cold Case the other day, and one of the suspects was a former crackhead who'd turned his life around. So Scotty snidely quips, "Yeah, you overcame drugs and had a stint in the Guard; you could be president." Hardy har har. Shut up and solve the damn mystery. It's no wonder I find myself spending more and more time on the Food Network.

Speaking of which, look who I nearly had a heart attack to meet today...

Posted by: Sarah at 02:50 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
Post contains 102 words, total size 1 kb.

October 02, 2006

HEH

The Princess of Jordan came to watch my husband's combative training at PT this morning. Isn't that the most random thing you've ever heard?

Posted by: Sarah at 04:01 AM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
Post contains 26 words, total size 1 kb.

1 The princess of Jordan just married the crown prince of Dubai, who is a Minister of Defence for the UAE. Recently the U.S. denied Dubai the rights to own and operate its docks or ports something like that. Pretty random stuff. I think democrats wanted to block the Dubai deal most but Bush defended it for a while. Who really remembers anything like this?

Posted by: Will at October 02, 2006 08:34 AM (H4u2c)

2 Not sure where to even begin on this. I don't usually comment on my wife's site. She gets a fair amount of trolls coming here that will twist even the most boring noncontroversial comments into some political bullshit. She could always take the comment feature off but she seems to enjoy some of the feedback she gets, personal attacks not withstanding. So, Will, what did you hope to accomplish by this? Do you have any knowledge of Modern Jordan or the Hashemite Kingdom? I mean real knowledge not just typing something into Wikipedia and then coming here and parrotting it like you've always had this encyclopedic knowledge that seems to be your M.O. Is your paranoid fantasy so warped that you really think, without doing any real research, that Jordan is working on behalf of the UAE to redo the already dead ports deal through some princess? Or is it more likely that you just like to poke whatever holes you can find in the arguments of any right winger on the net with the hopes of getting that quick rush you get from humbling them, even just a little, with your Wikipedia intellectualism and Cliff notes understanding of current events? To be honest, I don't care why you come here. I just started this comment to let you know why the Jordanian princess was really here but I let my emotions get the best of me and had to taunt you a little. You'll forgive me won't you? Anyway, the princess you are talking about is Princess Hayat Bin Al Hussein. She didn't come to Fort Jackson, Will. You see, King Hussein I had four wives so there are something like 8 or 10 women in the world who hold the title of Princess of Jordan. The princess who came today was Princess Iman bint Al Hussein, daughter of American born Queen Noor. Princess Iman was educated in the U.S. and at the Sandhurst Military Academy (It's the Brittish West Point, Will. No need to google it). She holds the official title of General in the Jordanian Army. She is here in the U.S. on a tour to see how the American Army integrates females into daily life so she can take some of these lessons learned to the Jordanian Army. She went and saw some basic training soldiers as well as our combatives display. Among other things, she got to see a black female officer toss yours truly over her shoulder. How's that for modern? Ports Deal...or improving the status of women in the middle east? You can believe whatever you want, Will. But next time get your facts straight. You brought kool aid despite the fact that this is clearly a Gin Party, Son!

Posted by: Sarah's Husband at October 02, 2006 11:55 AM (7Wklx)

3 Hi Sarah's Husband. I forgive you. I actually don't have any problem with being taunted, I was just throwing some stuff out there that I happened to know off hand. My more pertinent point was 'who really remembers this stuff?" I think short-term memory is a huge problem with the media in this country. So if I hear that a powerful figure from Dubai is visiting military personal, I can only connect it to whatever else I know about Dubai - in this case, last year's Dubai port deal. The paranoid fantasy you flesh out is actually more interesting than anything I could have come up with, and it sounds like a pretty good plot for a Tom Clancy book. But if you say she was her to learn how to improve options for women in Jordan, then I think that's a good thing and hope it helps. But I doubt it. The reason I check this blog every once in a while is because one day somebody here is either going to explain to me why the Iraq war is a good thing, or I'm going to get to witness a change of opinion in you guys. I'm just waiting.

Posted by: Will at October 02, 2006 12:57 PM (H4u2c)

4 Dang Will, you got SPANKED! And Sarah's Husband, I miss this part of you SO MUCH! He brought kool-aid to a gin party? Ha-larious. Seriously, reading this was the best part of my day.

Posted by: Erin at October 02, 2006 01:14 PM (023Of)

5 Oh yeah, Will. Sarah probably forgot to mention that her husband is a freakin' genius. Too bad for you, huh?

Posted by: Erin at October 02, 2006 01:16 PM (023Of)

6 I haven't been here in a while (internet connection issues). Who is this WillTroll and how long has he been infesting your blog? Was I just not reading the comments before?

Posted by: PS at October 02, 2006 03:04 PM (4qzQf)

7 Sarah's husband. Do you have any idea how you sound? I doubt a pompous pseudo intellectual such as yourself is even aware. The ports deal is not "dead". The Readers Digest version is as follows: Dubai's DP World, one of the world's largest container terminal operators, purchased London-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co. (P&O), which has operations at six major U.S. ports, including New York and Baltimore. Politicians argued that an Arab company owning American ports represented a security threat, even though Dubai is one of the closest allies of the US in the Middle East. Because of the political firestorm that ensued, the Dubai company promised to transfer ownership of its U.S. port operations to an American "entity". This agreement in principal has NOT, in fact, occurred. In MY opinion, this transaction will NOT occur either. You obviously are ignorant of the strategies of the Islamists. I will keep it simple so that even a dhimmwit like yourself can understand this one very important principle. Once a piece of "real estate" has been "conquered" either by force or through purchase, it must NEVER be returned to the "infidels". As for paranoid delusions, I submit the following link, http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/ RTFA

Posted by: Doc at October 02, 2006 03:25 PM (+bwCA)

8 So... 'A' Princess of Jordan, not 'The' Princess. Oh my, better make that clear or someone might make a long-winded rant in the comments section and- Oh, too late. ;-)

Posted by: Patrick Chester at October 03, 2006 05:25 AM (MKaa5)

9 Sarah's husband, you don't happen to have a much older single brother, who's like you, do you? (smile) I think you guys are totally terrific. Thank you for all you do for our country. Both of you.

Posted by: Maggie45 at October 04, 2006 04:46 PM (8NS3C)

10 I'm not a troll. Doc is a troll. Don't confuse me with the wingnuts, okay?

Posted by: Will at October 12, 2006 12:06 PM (QRBGL)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

LINK

Absolutely horrifying:
Is There Blood On His Hands? The Case Against Kofi Annan

And absolutely mindboggling:
At Gitmo, detainees get La-Z-Boys, pastries

Posted by: Sarah at 02:44 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 24 words, total size 1 kb.

October 01, 2006

QUESTION

Go read this post by Hud, because I have a question about it...

If the global warming crowd is denounced as anti-capitalists who want to retard American hegemony, and the non-global warming crowd is denounced as selfish jerks who are ruining the planet, and any and all research being done is funded by someone who has an agenda either way, how on earth can we actually figure out what's going on? How can science be divorced from agenda? Isn't that the whole point of science in the first place? If both sides of the debate are accusing the other of being biased and bought, how can we ever know the truth?

Or can we ever know the truth about what the earth will be like centuries from now?

Posted by: Sarah at 03:24 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
Post contains 130 words, total size 1 kb.

1 Of course we can know the truth. All we have to do is live a couple of more centuries. Heh. I think the truth probabaly lies somewhere in the middle and we have to keep studying both sides without doing anything drastic.

Posted by: Pamela at October 01, 2006 04:34 AM (GX0/3)

2 There is no way we can know. I personally believe we give humans way too much credit about global warming. I believe all the modelers have their own agendas, right now global warming is getting a lion's share of grant money, and the POWER to get publicity and more. I have been married to a marine scientist for 48 years and have been on the scene with many discussions of this and seen some with my own eyes. I am very cynical about it. It is now a huge political issue. Once politics enters in so it can be seen by all, science is really corrupted. It has been corrupted in secret for a long, long time. I have observed that my husband was very slow to admit that some of his beloved scientists might have a political agenda. He now realizes it and it has really burst his bubble. (I sure hope he never sees this !)

Posted by: Ruth H at October 01, 2006 04:35 AM (YMjhl)

3 Sure, there is a way. It is science, after all, not dogma granted from on high, and therefore, trustworthy data is repeatable by anyone at all. You don't even need a college degree to do it. This is what seperates science from philisophical opinion and moral certainties...you don't have to take anyone's word for it yourself, you go see if it works our not. The problem, of course, is that global warming covers so many different disciplines. You need to learn quite a bit before you yourself can go out and construct verifiable climate models. but you can learn enough to check the data. It takes quite a bit of work to produce valid data for consumption, but it doesn't always take as much knowledge to find flaws in methodology, point out ill concieved assumptions, and maybe do some of the work yourself to try and replicate the resultes from the existing data, even though you can't gather it yourself you can maybe get away with your own analysis and come to your own conclusions. It can even be done as a group, with everyone checking the work of everyone else to ensure quality. Or you can trust others to tell you what it all means. Most people do exactly that, and allow themselves to be led in the direction they were already leaning anyway, and discard the conclusions of others as wrong. When you have multiple sources of authority telling you different things, its easy to choose one that feels good or otherwise satisfies some internal need, then you can declare the other authorities as insufficiently authoritative and just ignore them. There's something to be said for both methods. With the first, you can arrive at a conclusion that is your own, unhampered by the opinions of others. You might even come up with the right answers. Of course, you'll have to spend some time on it, and the more complex the issue, the more time you must take to educate and perform the work. With the other method, you have plenty of time to do other things and feel secure in knowing you are doing something that is otherwise personally productive...but you may be settling for less and never knowing it. Call it an intellectual law of scarcity.

Posted by: Jason at October 01, 2006 07:05 AM (L2RHD)

4 I stand firm on my opinion that we do not know and what's more we cannot know. We are not allowed enough time on earth to know the exact past, we surely do not know the future and modeling just doesn't cut it. We can forecast trends in weather, we cannot predict volcanic activity, meteors, and other phenomenon that cause changes in the atmosphere and climate. Even if we could, we could not do much about it. Stop a volcanic eruption? not in the next hundred years. And if we could, what about the unintended consequneces? Our lives are undpredictable and so is that of the earth, in the long run.

Posted by: Ruth H at October 01, 2006 01:48 PM (BVuZl)

5 I found this yesterday. http://epw.senate.gov/speechitem.cfm?party=rep&id=263759 It makes some interesting reading about how the media has changed over the years. Global Warming is only today's cause celeb. The real problem the media has is being questioned about their objectivity. The term that George Orwell used in "1984" was doublethink. Wikipedia defines it as thus: Doublethink "The keyword here is blackwhite. Like so many Newspeak words, this word has two mutually contradictory meanings. Applied to an opponent, it means the habit of impudently claiming that black is white, in contradiction of the plain facts. Applied to a Party member, it means a loyal willingness to say that black is white when Party discipline demands this. But it means also the ability to believe that black is white, and more, to know that black is white, and to forget that one has ever believed the contrary. This demands a continuous alteration of the past, made possible by the system of thought which really embraces all the rest, and which is known in Newspeak as doublethink." (1984) I guess that the more things change the more they remain the same.

Posted by: SciFiJim at October 01, 2006 02:34 PM (puKZ0)

6 I'm a big fan of global warming as long as the earth survives and only human civilization is destroyed. "Civilization" is becoming a real pain in the ass to me and my rabbit kind.

Posted by: Will at October 01, 2006 05:53 PM (H4u2c)

7 There are a few simple things to keep in mind when reading anything on global warming, no matter which side it promotes: 1. The earth's climate is NOT static. The temperature that we currently enjoy is not the normal temperature. The fact is, there is NO normal temperature. 2. The climate has been warmer in the past than it is now. 3. The climate has been colder in the past than it is now. 4. Extreme temperature shifts have caused mass extinctions in the past, and will do so again in the future. 5. The only way for humans as a species to survive any changes is to adapt. There is nothing that can be done to change the fact that the climate changes, sometimes drastically. 6. A warmer planet is not neccessarily a bad thing. Keep those things in mind when reading anything on global warming.

Posted by: John at October 04, 2006 06:19 AM (5/yJm)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

September 27, 2006

LONG WAY TO GO

Well, we're eastbound and down, loaded up and truckin' this morning. More when I get back where it's warm.

Posted by: Sarah at 02:26 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 27 words, total size 1 kb.

September 25, 2006

LINK

Secrets of 'South Park'

Posted by: Sarah at 04:55 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 6 words, total size 1 kb.

NAKED

The first thing two of my best high school friends said when I walked up to them at the reunion was "Hey, we found your blog!" Gulp. All of a sudden I was completely self-conscious, and I still can't shake the feeling. Neither of them said anything to lead me to believe they agree (or disagree) with anything I say here. They just read it. And I don't like it.

Again, I can't help but think about what Tim said about Polite Company. (I swear, this is probably the post that I think about more than any other blog post that's ever been written.) My blog thoughts are never anything I would every want to discuss during a five minute conversation at my reunion. All of a sudden I felt naked, like everything controversial I've ever said was right there in the open. I was embarrassed, and the more I think about it, the stranger I feel.

I have a friend from high school who's Muslim. Devout Muslim. And we're most certainly still friends...because we both believe in Polite Company. What if he were to find my blog? Even though everything I write here is how I honestly feel, I still can't stand the thought of him finding it and learning everything all at once. What if he were hit with the full force of this blog instead of gradually discussing issues face to face, the way people used to get to know each other before blogs?

I can't stop wondering what these two friends are thinking. Do they talk about how crazy I am? These are two people I really look up to and admire, two of the smartest men I've ever known; what do they think of me now that they know every intimate detail about the inside of my brain?

Right now I feel so uneasy that I can't even stand to blog. It's not normal for your old friends to know the entirety of your personal and political beliefs when you don't know a single thing about theirs. It's a consequence of blogging that I wasn't quite prepared for, and to be honest it makes me feel ill.

Posted by: Sarah at 03:33 AM | Comments (14) | Add Comment
Post contains 364 words, total size 2 kb.

1 "Do they talk about how crazy I am?"...I've been reading your blog for quite a while now, and you've never said anything that struck me as even remotely crazy.

Posted by: david foster at September 25, 2006 07:03 AM (/Z304)

2 Being that they're from the same high school as you, I doubt they think anti-muslim musings are crazy. However, they might think you're crazy once they read this five-paragraph post about themselves.

Posted by: Will at September 25, 2006 09:05 AM (H4u2c)

3 Honesty can only be respected. I don't agree with alot of what you write... I've even been angry at times. But, I am still here at least a couple times a week, because none of it is sugarcoated. I have a lot of respect for you and your writings. I always know that I will get an honest opinion about a perspective that I would not necessarily have, and that, to me, is very valuable.

Posted by: Terri at September 25, 2006 11:07 AM (cgjLF)

4 Will, what on earth are you saying? Why do you think that people from my high school will all think like me or be anti-Muslim? What could've possibly made you jump to that enormous conclusion?

Posted by: Sarah at September 25, 2006 04:02 PM (bw5Sm)

5 I had the same sort of feeling the day my mother left a comment at my site!

Posted by: Stephen Macklin at September 25, 2006 04:23 PM (DdRjH)

6 It was really good to see Terri's comment--nice that there are still at least a few people seeking out opinions that challenge their own.

Posted by: david foster at September 25, 2006 05:03 PM (/Z304)

7 Sarah - politics are regional, that's why I made that "enormous" conclusion. I just really wish conservative opinions challenged my own in any way. I'd probably seek them out more if that were the case.

Posted by: Wll at September 25, 2006 09:16 PM (H4u2c)

8 OK...and I went to h.s. in Illinois, a blue state.

Posted by: Sarah at September 26, 2006 03:47 AM (bw5Sm)

9 Blue state? Really? 'Cause I gotta tell you,it looks more purple from here...

Posted by: MaryIndiana at September 26, 2006 08:19 AM (YwdKL)

10 Heh well, trust me, I don't *want* it to be blue. I'm just saying I think it's ridiculous for Will to think that he can guess someone's worldview based on where she went to high school. FYI, one of my best friends is dating a guy who works for Obama. My friend group isn't nearly as monotone as Will would like to think.

Posted by: Sarah at September 26, 2006 08:45 AM (bw5Sm)

11 Having been raised in the South and learning about polite company, the reason you stay away from religon and politics is they are too prone to cause argument and raised voices. My wife won't discuss politics with anyone other than me, not even inside her family. For me, I like to discuss politics and I don't get upset when people raise their voice, it is part of the fun. Of course, you don't have such conversations in Church or around loaded fire arms. But there is a difference between a raised voice from passion and calling some one a nitwit or worse. Once the insults start, discussion has stopped. The Democratic process is supposed to be built on debate. People should be able to give their opinion and it should be shot down if possible. Often, we must choose the least bad decision. Too often we want a perfect decision or one defended by our ego. I read Sarah's Blog because her opinions make me think and examine my own. Her opinions and writting are good enough to have caused me to change my mind. I think that's a damned good compliment. Sarah, if people don't like your opinion, let them state why. If they want to call you names, they are worth the electrons their opion is written on.

Posted by: Xopher at September 27, 2006 12:40 PM (surHd)

12 Sorry, that was supposed to be they aren't worth the elctrons they are written on.

Posted by: Xopher at September 27, 2006 12:42 PM (surHd)

13 Thanks, Xopher.

Posted by: Sarah at September 28, 2006 02:15 PM (7Wklx)

14 Sarah~ Don't listen to Will. If it's the same dude that I think it is, he used to leave retarded arguements on TheQuestingCat's site. Anyhow, there's been a lot of talk on the blogs (that I read) lately about posting or not posting due to recognition or offensive issues.... The collective sum is, "Don't worry about it." Easier said than done, that's for sure. But don't stop! I think that plenty of folks really enjoy reading you (I know I do!!). And the Wills of this world apparently can't stop reading you.... I'm still trying to figure out how to keep blogging.... It's very addictive...

Posted by: allicadem at October 01, 2006 10:53 AM (N9Muk)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

September 23, 2006

SPURLOCK SEEMS FULL OF BALONEY

Hud found a study that tried to replicate the Super Size Me movie and had vastly different results. My husband and I would like to try to replicate Spurlock's stint with poverty. We watched him on Oprah talk about how impossible it was to live on so little money...and then he takes his niece and nephew to the movies and buys everyone popcorn and candy. So the moral of the story is that it's hard to live like a baller on little money? Duh.

I honestly think I could live on minimum wage. Heck, we don't even try and we only spend half my husband's paycheck, and I spend $400 a month at the grocery store on gourmet mushrooms and cheeses. If we really tried, like going to Aldi and having my husband ride his bike three times a day to work instead of just one, we could cut that down to next to nothing. And we sure as heck wouldn't be 1) going to the movie or 2) buying outrageous Junior Mints there. If we were so inclined (and we might not be, since I love cooking and cable TV), we could spend very little money. To be honest, all we could think about while watching Spurlock on Oprah is how hard it would be for us to stay on minimum wage. If for some reason we both had to start from the bottom again, we'd race each other back to the top. Night school, adult education, something so that we'd make more money. And we wouldn't spend a dime more than we had to. Spurlock just sat around his apartment and complained about how much better his old life was and how hard it was to be poor.

Actually, the real experiment we missed out on came as a tardy inspiration. I should've gotten a job at Walmart when we moved here and seen how I was treated for the six months. That would've been interesting blogging.

Posted by: Sarah at 07:01 AM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
Post contains 339 words, total size 2 kb.

1 Blogging about Wallmart is the best. Now excuse me while I login into my mycoke account.

Posted by: Will at September 23, 2006 10:02 AM (H4u2c)

2 I watched the same episode and had a similar reaction to yours. What I couldn't understand is how people that have to live in shelters or get public assistance can "afford" $300 car payments and cell phone bills (when they make $700 a month, or however much). Scout and I aren't anywhere near living in poverty, but our car payment certainly isn't even close to that much. Hmmm...and they wonder why they can't afford medical their medical bills...

Posted by: Erin at September 23, 2006 01:38 PM (023Of)

3 Sarah, First of all, I just wanted to say that I've been reading your blog for a while now. We have a couple of mutual friends, and I think our husbands know each other. :-) Second of all, I completely agree with you. I know that my husband and I could live on much less than we do now, because we've done it before. It wasn't pleasant, but definitely possible. In some ways, life was simpler back then. Even now, if I really want to see a movie in the theater (sometimes there's nothing like it), I just wait a few weeks until they show it in our $2 theater here. Sorry, I just don't see the point in spending over $7 to see a movie that I can wait a little while and see for $2. I really enjoy reading your page, and I even agree with quite a bit of what you write. Keep it up!

Posted by: Robin at September 23, 2006 05:52 PM (6G8cC)

4 I would suggest trying to live on minimum wage here in New Jersey, you might find it to be near immpossible. You may scoff but think of this: the average apartment rent here in NJ is $800.00 a month, throw in another $200.00 a month for utilities minimum, and you've already exceeded the full one year pay of one person @ minimum wage. C'mon tell us how to live on minimum wage, especially when you get housing, and medical for free, and pay reduced rates @ the commisary and PX/BX. Seriously do the math.

Posted by: BubbaBoBobBrain at September 24, 2006 07:35 AM (8ruhu)

5 People aren't meant to live on minimum wage. It's for teenagers and people who can't speak english.

Posted by: Will at September 24, 2006 10:44 AM (H4u2c)

6 I've got plenty of money myself and I look at the so called Pooor and ask myslf "what's your problem?" If everybody could just be more like me, we wouldn't be having all these problems

Posted by: Norton at September 24, 2006 12:09 PM (EegKo)

7 I'm going to have to agree with one of the above commentors. I think the biggest obstacle to living on the current minimum wage is the almost across-the-board high housing cost in this country, never mind the states that far surpass "high" and cross over into absolutely ridiculous housing costs. The cost of a typical basket of goods doesn't differ much from place to place but the housing costs certainly do.

Posted by: Nicole at September 24, 2006 01:32 PM (nTCFk)

8 Yeah, no one should live on minimum wage in New Jersey. But why on earth does a guy working taking blood *need* to live in New Jersey? Move your family of four to Iowa and make roughly the same salary but with WAY lower cost of living! There are ways to live better, but usually the hard luck stories are people who can't make it in LA or East coast where housing is astronomical. Rent in Kirksville, MO, is $385/mo for 1100 sq feet, and you flip the same burgers you'd flip in NJ. Why not move there?

Posted by: Sarah at September 24, 2006 05:40 PM (bw5Sm)

9 Been there done that. Shoulder messed up too badly to work. VA comp being taken by congress to pay off my separation pay (on a side note I've finally gotten to see my first VA check recently after ten years of VA disability). My wife working at Taco Bell, and me silently furious over the traumatic realization of my own mortality. It sucks, it's hard, and it requires making sacrifices. It is also doable so long as you make the sacrifices. No cable, don't buy CD's, don't rent movies, don't go to the movies, sell the crap you accumulated but couldn't bear to part with, then move the hell out of the city, no eating out, drive a Ford Model POS, and learn something about keeping it running. Turn the dang lights off, don't run the AC when it's only 90, and grazing with the fridge door open. Choose cheap dial-up so you can keep net access for e-mail and help job search. Be willing to walk when you don't have to go cross town, and use public transportation when available. It really sucked and it is even more difficult when you're coming off life with a 70k/year job, but it is doable and transitory. Oh, and with sacrifice you can afford a treat of the movies every so often. When I was growing up (dirt poor) we had a banana split once a month at Alex's Drive In (window trays, roller skates and all) and a movie every three to four months. That was in Hawai'i where it was $800/month decades ago. Kalroy

Posted by: Kalroy at September 24, 2006 07:07 PM (9RG5y)

10 Ever heard of a "zero yen house?" That's Japanese for "zero dollar house." Apparently in Japan there's a whole rising niche of architecture specifically designed to cost no money, with houses usually located in the trees or under a bridge. They do things like hook up solar panels to modified storage containers and some of them even have gardens. Anyway, if you consider the way minimum wage is going and the way Walmart pays minimum wage and the way Walmart is putting every decent local business out of business, I'm sure we'll all be needing to think about stuff like this soon.

Posted by: Will at September 25, 2006 12:42 AM (H4u2c)

11 I don't make minimum wage, in fact I make about twice minimum as does my wife, I work at least 48 hours a week, she about 20-28. Even with the money we make it is a struggle. Add in an autistic 14 year old son and diabetic 13 year old daughter, and ...well you can imagine how expensive it can be. I really can't leave the north east to cut costs as my son's care would suffer, see while we pay ridiculous taxes here in NJ it is one of the top five states in which to rear an autistic/handicapped child. Curious thing all the top five are here in the north eastern part of the nation. the next tier are California, Oregon, and Washington notice a pattern here Sarah?? Sure I could move to oh say North Carolina, but the programs for handicapped kids down there generally suck... remember low taxes = low/lousy services. I just hope you never have to face the dilemma we do.

Posted by: BubbaBoBobBrain at September 25, 2006 07:16 PM (8ruhu)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

130kb generated in CPU 0.1131, elapsed 0.2014 seconds.
67 queries taking 0.1739 seconds, 349 records returned.
Powered by Minx 1.1.6c-pink.

Search Thingy

There is neither happiness nor misery in the world; there is only the comparison of one state with another, nothing more. He who has felt the deepest grief is best able to experience supreme happiness. We must have felt what it is to die, Morrel, that we may appreciate the enjoyments of living.
--The Count of Monte Cristo--

While our troops go out to defend our country, it is incumbent upon us to make the country worth defending.
--Deskmerc--

ABOUT SARAH

In a Nutshell
100 Things
Sarah's knittery
knitting pics on Flickr
What the heck is Grok?
I also contribute at SpouseBUZZ
tryingtogrok -at- hotmail

READING

The Spy's Wife

My Imaginary Friends

USS Clueless
Instapundit
Amaravati Abode of Amritas
The Bleat
The Corner

Deskmerc
Eject! Eject! Eject!
Ambient Irony
Parkway Rest Stop
Cavalier's Guardian WatchBlog
Bunker Mulligan
Right Wing News
Conservative Grapevine
Joanne Jacobs

Hud's Blog-O-Rama
Power Line
Beth's Contradictory Brain
Varifrank
Cold Fury
Bear Creek Ledger
Photon Courier
Anwyn's Notes in the Margin
Fiberlicious
Wis Faest Wordum
The Cobwebs Of My Mind
Rachel Lucas
Dear Darla
Learning To Live
Unliberaled Woman
Daily Koan
Kannie's Cogitations
Rockport Conservatives

Blackfive
Mudville Gazette
Shield of Achilles
Chuck Z
Senseless Drive By Thoughts
ArmyWifeToddlerMom
Most Certainly Not
A Work In Progress
Sis B
CaliValleyGirl

Monthly Traffic

Pages: 174433
Files: 8085
Bytes: 2.9G
CPU Time: 204:59
Queries: 6759797

Content

Posts: 3662
Comments: 14416

Feeds

QUOTES

Contrary to what you've just seen, war is neither glamorous nor fun. There are no winners, only losers. There are no good wars, with the following exceptions: The American Revolution, WWII, and the Star Wars Trilogy.
--Bart Simpson--

If you want to be a peacemaker, you've gotta learn to kick ass.
--Sheriff of East Houston, Superman II--

Going to war without France is like going deer hunting without an accordion. You just leave a lot of useless noisy baggage behind.
--Jed Babbin--

Dante once said that the hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in a period of moral crisis maintain their neutrality.
--President John F. Kennedy--

War is a bloody, killing business. You've got to spill their blood, or they will spill yours.
--General Patton--

We've gotta keep our heads until this peace craze blows over.
--Full Metal Jacket--

Those who threaten us and kill innocents around the world do not need to be treated more sensitively. They need to be destroyed.
--Dick Cheney--

The Flag has to come first if freedom is to survive.
--Col Steven Arrington--

The purpose of diplomacy isn't to make us feel good about Eurocentric diplomatic skills, and having countries from the axis of chocolate tie our shoelaces together does nothing to advance our infantry.
--Sir George--

I just don't care about the criticism I receive every day, because I know the cause I defend is right.
--Oriol--

It's days like this when we're reminded that freedom isn't free.
--Chaplain Jacob--

Bumper stickers aren't going to accomplish some of the missions this country is going to face.
--David Smith--

The success of multilateralism is measured not merely by following a process, but by achieving results.
--President Bush--

Live and act within the limit of your knowledge and keep expanding it to the limit of your life.
--John Galt--

First, go buy a six pack and swig it all down. Then, watch Ace Ventura. And after that, buy a Hard Rock Cafe shirt and come talk to me. You really need to lighten up, man.
--Sminklemeyer--

You've got to kill people, and when you've killed enough they stop fighting
--General Curtis Lemay--

If we wish to be free, if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending, if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained -- we must fight!
--Patrick Henry--

America has never been united by blood or birth or soil. We are bound by ideals that move us beyond our backgrounds, lift us above our interests and teach us what it means to be citizens. Every child must be taught these principles. Every citizen must uphold them. And every immigrant, by embracing these ideals, makes our country more, not less, American.
--President George W. Bush--

are usually just cheerleading sessions, full of sound and fury and signifying nothing but a soothing reduction in blood pressure brought about by the narcotic high of being agreed with.
--Bill Whittle

War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.
--John Stuart Mill--

We are determined that before the sun sets on this terrible struggle, our flag will be recognized throughout the world as a symbol of freedom on the one hand and of overwhelming force on the other.
--General George Marshall--

We can continue to try and clean up the gutters all over the world and spend all of our resources looking at just the dirty spots and trying to make them clean. Or we can lift our eyes up and look into the skies and move forward in an evolutionary way.
--Buzz Aldrin--

America is the greatest, freest and most decent society in existence. It is an oasis of goodness in a desert of cynicism and barbarism. This country, once an experiment unique in the world, is now the last best hope for the world.
--Dinesh D'Souza--

Recent anti-Israel protests remind us again of our era's peculiar alliance: the most violent, intolerant, militantly religious movement in modern times has the peace movement on its side.
--James Lileks--

As a wise man once said: we will pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty. Unless the price is too high, the burden too great, the hardship too hard, the friend acts disproportionately, and the foe fights back. In which case, we need a timetable.
--James Lileks--

I am not willing to kill a man so that he will agree with my faith, but I am prepared to kill a man so that he cannot force my compatriots to submit to his.
--Froggy--

You can say what you want about President Bush; but the truth is that he can take a punch. The man has taken a swift kick in the crotch for breakfast every day for 6 years and he keeps getting up with a smile in his heart and a sense of swift determination to see the job through to the best of his abilties.
--Varifrank--

In a perfect world, We'd live in peace and love and harmony with each oither and the world, but then, in a perfect world, Yoko would have taken the bullet.
--SarahBellum--

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.
--Ronald Reagan--

America is rather like life. You can usually find in it what you look for. It will probably be interesting, and it is sure to be large.
--E.M. Forster--

Do not fear the enemy, for your enemy can only take your life. It is far better that you fear the media, for they will steal your HONOR. That awful power, the public opinion of a nation, is created in America by a horde of ignorant, self-complacent simpletons who failed at ditching and shoemaking and fetched up in journalism on their way to the poorhouse.
--Mark Twain--

The Enlightenment was followed by the French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars, which touched every European state, sparked vicious guerrilla conflicts across the Continent and killed millions. Then, things really turned ugly after the invention of soccer.
--Iowahawk--

Every time I meet an Iraqi Army Soldier or Policeman that I haven't met before, I shake his hand and thank him for his service. Many times I am thanked for being here and helping his country. I always tell them that free people help each other and that those that truly value freedom help those seeking it no matter the cost.
--Jack Army--

Right, left - the terms are useless nowadays anyway. There are statists, and there are individualists. There are pessimists, and optimists. There are people who look backwards and trust in the West, and those who look forward and trust in The World. Those are the continuums that seem to matter the most right now.
--Lileks--

The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.
--Winston Churchill--

A man or a nation is not placed upon this earth to do merely what is pleasant and what is profitable. It is often called upon to carry out what is both unpleasant and unprofitable, but if it is obviously right it is mere shirking not to undertake it.
--Arthur Conan Doyle--

A man who has nothing which he cares about more than he does about his personal safety is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the existing of better men than himself.
--John Stuart Mill--

After the attacks on September 11, 2001, most of the sheep, that is, most citizens in America said, "Thank God I wasn't on one of those planes." The sheepdogs, the warriors, said, "Dear God, I wish I could have been on one of those planes. Maybe I could have made a difference."
--Dave Grossman--

At heart Iâ€™m a cowboy; my attitude is if theyâ€™re not going to stand up and fight for what they believe in then they can go pound sand.
--Bill Whittle--

A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.
--Alexander Tyler--

By that time a village half-wit could see what generations of professors had pretended not to notice.
--Atlas Shrugged--

I kept asking Clarence why our world seemed to be collapsing and everything seemed so shitty. And he'd say, "That's the way it goes, but don't forget, it goes the other way too."
--Alabama Worley--

So Bush is history, and we have a new president who promises to heal the planet, and yet the jihadists donâ€™t seem to have got the Obama message that there are no enemies, just friends we havenâ€™t yet held talks without preconditions with.
--Mark Steyn--

"I had started alone in this journey called life, people started gathering up on the way, and the caravan got bigger everyday."
--Urdu couplet

The book and the sword are the two things that control the world. We either gonna control them through knowledge and influence their minds, or we gonna bring the sword and take their heads off.
--RZA--

It's a daily game of public Frogger, hopping frantically to avoid being crushed under the weight of your own narcissism, banality, and plain old stupidity.
--Mary Katharine Ham--

There are more instances of the abridgment of freedoms of the people by gradual and silent encroachment of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.
--James Madison--

It is in the heat of emotion that good people must remember to stand on principle.
--Larry Elder--

Please show this to the president and ask him to remember the wishes of the forgotten man, that is, the one who dared to vote against him. We expect to be tramped on but we do wish the stepping would be a little less hard.
--from a letter to Eleanor Roosevelt--

The world economy depends every day on some engineer, farmer, architect, radiator shop owner, truck driver or plumber getting up at 5AM, going to work, toiling hard, and producing real wealth so that an array of bureaucrats, regulators, and redistributors can manage the proper allotment of much of the natural largess produced.
--VDH--

Parents are often so busy with the physical rearing of children that they miss the glory of parenthood, just as the grandeur of the trees is lost when raking leaves.
--Marcelene Cox--

Monthly Traffic

Content

Feeds

October 16, 2006

October 15, 2006

October 14, 2006

October 13, 2006

October 12, 2006

October 11, 2006

October 10, 2006

October 09, 2006

October 06, 2006

October 03, 2006

October 02, 2006

October 01, 2006

September 27, 2006

September 25, 2006

September 23, 2006

Search Thingy

My Imaginary Friends

Recent Comments

Categories

Archives