March 31, 2007
SOME SORT OF SHARK GOT JUMPED OVER SOMEHOW
So here's my take on
24 this season: Nope. If I wanted to watch political wrangling, I'd watch
The West Wing. Or C-SPAN. Less talky, more shooty. Also, what is the deal with the running mates on this show? How come every season we've got something like a Ralph Nader-David Duke ticket? I know everyone hates politicians, but can't we for once have a Vice President who is not trying to take over the world and/or sell nukes to bad guys? Logan I could love to hate, but how necessary was it to have two completely unstable VPs in a row? The whole thing stinks. But, to
paraphrase Lileks, the show could turn into 24 hours of nature photography, and I still would tune in every Monday.
Posted by: Sarah at
02:54 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 143 words, total size 1 kb.
March 29, 2007
FRANK J IS FUNNY
Heh.
The Planet Is a Bad Analogy
The problem with [Al Gore's] analogy is that anytime he says, "The planet has a fever," people are going to immediately respond, "And the only prescription is more cowbell!" So that doesn't help his cause.
Posted by: Sarah at
02:03 AM
| Comments (2)
| Add Comment
Post contains 48 words, total size 1 kb.
1
Science is what has gotten us into this mess. What we need is a 24 year old drop out at the Goddard Institue to edit scientific papers that don't conform to his religious beliefs. We must insist that the Parks Service remove any literature from its book store that the Grand Canyon is not a product of Noah's flood. Science is what's wrong with this world. We need to push the clock way back
Posted by: bill at March 29, 2007 03:03 AM (+eIOk)
2
Wow, a whole ROOM full of strawmen knocked down. What did they do to you to warrant such violence, bill? Should they ask themselves why you hate them, perhaps?
(Perhaps I should find other reasons for commenting here besides troll-smacking.)
Posted by: Patrick Chester at March 30, 2007 02:27 PM (MKaa5)
Hide Comments
| Add Comment
March 26, 2007
UPDATE
My in-laws have been visiting, so I've been away from the computer. We've seen all the military museums in the area, as one is wont to do in these sorts of towns, and we even managed to be surprised by our visit downtown: in one shop we were treated to a right-wing rant wherein the shopkeeper will shoot Hilary Clinton if she becomes president, and in the next shop we met a gay jeweler who spends his free time either jetting to London or running the local indy theater with his partner. If I were Lileks, I'm sure I could write something really cool about that juxtaposition, but I'm not Lileks, so I'll just have to point out that it takes all kinds in this world, don't it?
Anyway, the husband just found out he's been assigned to be a Farsi speaker. He is ecstatic. Life is good around here.
Posted by: Sarah at
03:54 PM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 152 words, total size 1 kb.
March 22, 2007
DEBATE
It's interesting what happens when people
actually realize that the global warming issue isn't one-sided:
Before the start of the nearly two hour debate the audience polled 57.3% to 29.9% in favor of believing that Global Warming was a “crisis”, but following the debate the numbers completely flipped to 46.2% to 42.2% in favor of the skeptical point of view.
via Hud, who always has the good links
Posted by: Sarah at
06:15 AM
| Comments (2)
| Add Comment
Post contains 70 words, total size 1 kb.
1
Checkout the video Annika has on her website about 'Global Warming', it's long but well worth the time spent!
Posted by: Brad at April 02, 2007 08:21 AM (9ADYb)
2
More and more people are resisting the hype, i think. So the MSM's response is to shout louder and more often: There is no debate!
like
time magazine's latest cover
Posted by: annika at April 02, 2007 05:25 PM (WfR6S)
Hide Comments
| Add Comment
March 21, 2007
RANDOM THOUGHTS
I want to know how John Edwards' 28,000 sq ft home has
the same energy price as my 1900 square foot home! Whatever he's using, I want some.
Also, I have been meaning to write about this for a while now. The minimum wage hikes went into effect at my knitting job. So everyone gets an extra dollar per hour...and we all just got our hours cut. Now there's your basic economics at work! I am now a part of that group of people who end up making less because of the minimum wage hike. Thanks a lot, government jerks.
Posted by: Sarah at
08:57 AM
| Comments (2)
| Add Comment
Post contains 104 words, total size 1 kb.
1
LetÂ’s give credit where credit is due, that would be the Democrat jerks.
Posted by: tim at March 22, 2007 02:41 AM (nno0f)
2
Could you provide us with more of the details ? What are your plans for your extra free time ?
Posted by: John Ryan at March 27, 2007 05:12 AM (TcoRJ)
Hide Comments
| Add Comment
TIME
The other day we got an offer in the mail for a subscription to
Time magazine. We cancelled that rag years ago, but I was wooed by the free clock/radio/thermometer they were giving away with the subscription. My mental dialog went like this: I really want that radio, and it's only $20, but then that means I'm saddled with
Time. Weighing, weighing. In the end, I decided to do without the radio because I couldn't bear the thought of giving more money to that stupid magazine. Unfortunately, Annika has a free subscription, so she's reduced to tossing her
Time when it gets
unfreakinreadable.
Posted by: Sarah at
01:52 AM
| Comments (2)
| Add Comment
Post contains 105 words, total size 1 kb.
1
In the past few weeks, Time has mailed me two free issues trying to get me to subscribe. Mind you, I am a volunteer with a soldier support organization, and I subscribe to a whole bunch of magazines that I am not interested in just so I can mail them in my care packages. However, after seeing the covers (the first was something offensive about Iraq, the second insinuated that Cheney was guilty of--something, who knows what), I threw the magazines away. I will NOT send that drivel to deployed troops.
Posted by: Pat in MN at March 21, 2007 10:14 AM (aUYIZ)
2
When I got my first apartment, one of the first things I did was subscribe to Time because in my mind, all grown ups had one such subscription.
Now I realize that if I really do need a Time subscription to be a grown up, I guess I don't really need to be a grown up.
Posted by: airforcewife at March 22, 2007 03:20 PM (0dU3f)
Hide Comments
| Add Comment
March 20, 2007
WORTH THE EFFORT
I don't know who out there will take my advice and read this blog, but hopefully at least one of you will. I have just sat here for an hour and a half catching up on
the neo-neocon's forty-year journey. Is someone out there interested in doing the same? You'll have to set aside time, for you'll need lots of it, but the journey is far worth the effort. Imagine you're reading a book instead of a blog! Grab coffee or cocoa and get comfy. Hit the link, scroll to the bottom, and begin the still-unfolding journey from Vietnam protester to neocon.
Posted by: Sarah at
03:58 AM
| Comments (2)
| Add Comment
Post contains 108 words, total size 1 kb.
1
Have it marked and plan on spending my day off there. I too have made such a journey...felt much vindicated when I read Michael Medved's "Right Turns".
Posted by: Mary*Ann at March 22, 2007 06:32 PM (bdvqO)
2
I've read it. Neo-neo's blog is excellent for when you're in that kind of mood.
Fortunately, I was raised by parents who were Conservative and Libertarian respectively, so I was spared that kind of excess nonsense in my upbringing.
Posted by: hydralisk at March 26, 2007 09:36 AM (C5NoR)
Hide Comments
| Add Comment
STEADY DIET OF INSANE
You know, there's a lot of disturbing crap on LGF. But after reading it for years, I've grown fairly numb to the shock value. Psycho Muslims, absurd protests, Jews are pigs and apes, yeah yeah yeah, every day. But this one, this one was too much for me to take.
Protesters in Oregon burned a soldier in effigy.
So let's counter that display of evil with a huge display of hope: Kurdistan is getting a mall. And a Hilton. These photos will take your breath away.
Posted by: Sarah at
02:25 AM
| Comments (1)
| Add Comment
Post contains 94 words, total size 1 kb.
1
Yep. Don't you wish you lived here too? It's so sad. Our recruiters here have one of the hardest jobs in the Army, and the attitudes we put up with aren't exactly easy on their families either. I miss living in a military community much more than I ever thought I would.
Posted by: jen d at March 21, 2007 11:24 AM (GFXQl)
Hide Comments
| Add Comment
March 19, 2007
OH THE THINGS YOU CAN KNIT...
I'm already nesting for a baby that doesn't even exist yet. How's that for tuning in to my maternal spirit? But motherhood is also a handy excuse for new knitting patterns. Here's what I've been working on for the past two weeks:
The wombat looks highly ridiculous, but I just wanted mine to be the only kid on the block with a handmade wombat. The rhino is actually pretty cool, I think.
I plan to crowd the kid's crib with these things. Next up: an octopus and a snake.
Posted by: Sarah at
09:10 AM
| Comments (4)
| Add Comment
Post contains 101 words, total size 1 kb.
1
too cute! poor kid is going to live in a zoo . . . LOL!
Posted by: heidi at March 20, 2007 04:18 AM (E0L31)
2
I wish I had thought of crotcheting (I don't know how to knit) a wombat.
I did crochet a hippo in a ballet dress for one of them, though.
Posted by: airforcewife at March 20, 2007 09:34 AM (0dU3f)
3
Those are so cute! Even if I manage to learn to knit, I don't know that I'd ever be able to do anything quite so creative!
Posted by: Robin at March 20, 2007 12:55 PM (QKOEJ)
4
I like pigs!! haha They go well with rhinos and wombats
Posted by: Jennifer at March 22, 2007 03:07 AM (wrlJD)
Hide Comments
| Add Comment
March 17, 2007
WHEW
We just got back from seeing
300. It was beautiful. And the line was all the way out the sidewalk and around the corner...not bad for a Saturday at 1:00. I hope they're making a ton of money.
Posted by: Sarah at
09:31 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 40 words, total size 1 kb.
HOW CAN WE KNOW WHAT IS SO?
I watched James Cameron's
The Lost Tomb of Jesus the other day, and I found myself fairly convinced by what I was hearing. But at the same time, something nagging in the back of my mind made me feel like I was being led down the garden path. I was taken in by the statistical data presented, thinking that it seemed more than just coincidental. But then I read
this article in Scientific American called "Has James Cameron Found Jesus's Tomb or Is It Just a Statistical Error?", and now I don't know what to think.
I don't really have a dog in this race. Whether or not those are really Jesus' bones has no effect on how I have chosen to live my life and what kind of person I want to be. I just want to know the truth and not be manipulated.
The problem with documentaries is that the documentarian always has something he wants his viewers to see. The process is inherently manipulative. James Cameron thinks they're Jesus' bones, so he will present evidence that supports that conclusion. Similarly, Al Gore thinks man is causing global warming, and Michael Moore thinks George Bush is evi, so they present evidence of the sort. But I know for a fact that someone could make a documentary showing that dogs are vicious, dangerous beasts. String together footage of snarling pit bulls, stories of children who've been mauled by dogs, and a reenactment of the time my neighbor's yellow lab bit me in the butt cheek, and a documentarian could convince someone who's never been around dogs that they're nasty creatures. That doesn't necessarily make it so.
I don't care if the ossuary belonged to the Jesus or not; I'm not sure what would change if we ever could figure it out, and I don't even really think we can figure it out. The inscription doesn't say Jesus The Messiah, The Guy We Were All Talking About In The Bible with a stick figure being crucified, so it's not so easy to be sure. But I also don't want someone to use math to manipulate me.
Math is too precious to be cheapened that way. Come to think of it, so are Jesus' bones.
Posted by: Sarah at
05:53 AM
| Comments (1)
| Add Comment
Post contains 388 words, total size 2 kb.
1
well it all comes down to whether you believe in the supernatural.
Posted by: John Ryan at March 27, 2007 05:15 AM (TcoRJ)
Hide Comments
| Add Comment
March 15, 2007
CONFERENCE
Registration is underway for the Milblogs Conference! If you are planning to attend, please make sure you
go register!
Posted by: Sarah at
07:04 AM
| Comments (1)
| Add Comment
Post contains 21 words, total size 1 kb.
1
I sure do wish I could go. It sounds really interesting. The timing just isn't right though. Maybe next year.
Posted by: Robin at March 15, 2007 02:28 PM (V5aG3)
Hide Comments
| Add Comment
March 14, 2007
FOR ME?
Did somebody out there buy us a really nice gift? We received a copy of
America's Secret War: Inside the Hidden Worldwide Struggle Between America and its Enemies in the mail today, and neither my husband nor I ordered it. And there's no receipt inside the package, so I can't even figure out if it was supposed to go to some other Amazon buyer or something. Anyway, it seemed blog-related, so I wanted to check and make sure none of you sent me a special gift while I try to track down who really was supposed to get this book.
Posted by: Sarah at
10:32 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 104 words, total size 1 kb.
March 13, 2007
SHE GROKS
If you haven't seen Pamela Hess' interview yet, you must devote nine minutes to
watching this video. She's a reporter who went to Iraq to figure out how our servicemembers could possibly have such high morale. She never expected the lesson she learned.
Now she groks.
It is this understanding she's gleaned from Iraq that drives my husband and others to yearn to return to Iraq. My husband will most likely be deploying next year, and that's not soon enough for him: he asked me if he could volunteer to go this fall instead. He aches to go back before it's too late, before there's a drawdown or before President Clinton yanks us out of there. He feels like he's running out of time to get back there and help, and it's killing him. I told him that I understand, but that he's slated for language training and he would be a whole lot more useful if he did that first before he deployed.
(Ha -- People kept telling me there's no 100% safe time to have a baby in the Army; my husband's trying to purposely deploy during the nine months we've set aside. Our breeding plans aren't safe from his convictions!)
Pamela Hess managed to grok what fuels our troops. Let's spread her story.
Posted by: Sarah at
04:34 AM
| Comments (6)
| Add Comment
Post contains 220 words, total size 1 kb.
1
ewwwww! Don't say "President Clinton"...it makes my skin crawl!!
Posted by: Angie at March 13, 2007 06:39 AM (4DpOk)
2
Being a C-span junkie I saw this live, the whole thing. I was touched and felt priviliged to have been watching. She is real.
Posted by: Ruth H at March 13, 2007 10:34 AM (c54X3)
3
OMG...I have found a kindred spirit in the "I cry when I am impressed with someone's human spirit" affliction. I even learned something watching that...I mean, she conveyed something that I didn't really understand completely and I feel smarter for having watched that.
Posted by: CaliValleyGirl at March 13, 2007 12:58 PM (deur4)
4
I know exactly what you mean. Even while hubby was deployed it was always, "When I deploy again..." It was never "if".
Sometimes I think he might believe the fate of the entire war and the free world rests on his upholding his end of the effort in-theater.
It's very bittersweet.
Posted by: airforcewife at March 14, 2007 10:05 AM (0dU3f)
5
I understand what you mean. I am in the RI Guard and wengt for OIF I. Just transferred to a unit that returned in OCT 2+2 = I probably wont get back to the sand box and though my family cant understand it, I'd like to go back, like your husband "before its too late".
Posted by: majham at March 16, 2007 08:50 AM (5ap+X)
6
Most Americans want the troops home.
Posted by: John Ryan at March 27, 2007 05:16 AM (TcoRJ)
Hide Comments
| Add Comment
March 12, 2007
March 11, 2007
JUST...WOW
You can't imagine how disappointed and frustrated I feel after hearing what happened to AirForceWife:
Another Reason Not to Trust the Media
Posted by: Sarah at
04:31 AM
| Comments (2)
| Add Comment
Post contains 24 words, total size 1 kb.
1
wow, I wonder if they'll actually air that show?
Posted by: Angie at March 12, 2007 08:16 AM (4DpOk)
2
THANK YOU SO SO MUCH FOR POSTING THIS. It is schocking that Montel did this considering he was a Marine once. We are going into our first deployment so I am trying to take in as much as I can.
Posted by: Annie at March 16, 2007 04:53 PM (YadGF)
Hide Comments
| Add Comment
March 10, 2007
300
If you're already excited about the release of the movie
300, or if you don't know what the heck it is, you should read
Victor Davis Hanson's review of the movie. Me, I'm excited. We haven't seen a movie in the theater since Superman returned, but we might have to make an exception for this one.
Posted by: Sarah at
05:17 AM
| Comments (4)
| Add Comment
Post contains 58 words, total size 1 kb.
1
We saw it last night. AMAZING movie. Equal to Braveheart in emotional impact and creation of the desire for courage and valor. And excellent dialog.
There was one scene in particular where the audience went nuts and applauded and cheered. And at the end it got a very loud ovation.
You won't regret seeing it.
Posted by: airforcewife at March 11, 2007 03:25 AM (0dU3f)
2
Ditto airforcewife, except the audience part, I live in a blue state.
I NEVER go to the movies, but I had to see these one.
Go. See. This.Movie!
Posted by: tim at March 12, 2007 03:21 AM (nno0f)
3
I went to go see this movie, however I found it too "shallow" and simplistic, but I loved the whole idea of paralleling it with America and the war on terrorism (I didn't read VDH's piece, but I assume that is what is suggested). The only thing that troubled me though is that this movie can be watched by anyone and seen basically as this call of "never give up and fight to the end, even if your position is futile and your countrymen don't agree with your POV." Okay, fine and dandy for us...but any jihadi watching this movie would nod their head in agreement too.
The whole time I was thinking...wow, this is such a propaganda film for the pro-war contigent of the war on terror. But today I spoke with someone at work, who had seen the movie and mentioned that, and he said...oh, yeah, now that you mention it, I guess it was, but otherwise I would have never thought so.
I loved the Queen's speech to the senators though...fabulous! We need Laura do make such a speech...however it only made sense 'cos the King was leading the troops. We need some Generals' wives to make speeches.
And there is nothing better than watching that movie surrounded by America's warrior class: about half the cinema or more were soldiers from the local Army base...it was pretty hooah!
Posted by: CaliValleyGirl at March 12, 2007 12:40 PM (deur4)
4
Didn't the folks who did "sin city" do this? It looks cartoonish and computer enhanced. It doesn't appeal to me.
Posted by: Tom at March 13, 2007 03:56 AM (YuwDy)
Hide Comments
| Add Comment
March 08, 2007
HOOAH
Two good links I found on JackArmy:
First, some dorks tried to call recruiters and trick them into being so desperate as to let gays or druggies into the Army. Didn't work.
Second, a medic wrote about his reasons for joining the Army:
I digress a little, but people say only the bottom of the barrel go to the military but I definitely don't think that's true. A lot of my friends from college have joined because college life just wasn't for them and they're all smart kids (none of us scored lower than 99 on the ASVAB). I went to college for awhile myself, but both ran out of money (College is expensive!) and decided that it was far too dumbed down and ... hands-off to be enjoyable. I wasn't satisfied with half-sleeping in a classroom while the professor rambled on about stuff I didn't care at all about just so in 4 years I could take my $100,000 debt and get a reasonable job (which a college degree doesn't even guarantee these days). Some of us just want to do something that matters. Being a college student hardly accomplished anything -- I'd rather be out there fighting for something that shows results. Saving people from gunshot wounds, giving people gunshot wounds or leading others to do the same.
Posted by: Sarah at
05:46 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 222 words, total size 1 kb.
THEY WILL BE FUN
Lileks on
parenting:
We stood in the driveway and hacked at the ice with our heels until a yard of rubble cluttered the pavement. I thought of this today while listening to a Medved show about a WaPo piece on marriage; seems only the well-off can marry these days, and the poor decline the opportunity. A caller – male, age 31 – noted how he didn’t want to marry, and didn’t want kids, because they would ruin his freedom. Medved gently pointed out how things change, and gave the fellow a useful piece of news: kids are fun. You never consider that when you’re fancy-free and unburdened with diaper-filling squall-o-matic obligation units, but they’re fun, in ways you can never predict. You fill your day with all sorts of important tasks, but in the end nothing beats standing in the drive way in the wan March light, laughing and cracking the ice. That's the stuff you remember on your deathbed, I'll bet. That's the stuff you remember when you leave the building and strap on the wings.
I made a baby blanket. Now we just have to make the baby.
But I've found a new motto: If at first you don't succeed, drink boatloads of margaritas for 5-7 days and try again.
Posted by: Sarah at
03:34 AM
| Comments (1)
| Add Comment
Post contains 220 words, total size 1 kb.
82kb generated in CPU 0.0331, elapsed 0.1405 seconds.
61 queries taking 0.1172 seconds, 265 records returned.
Powered by Minx 1.1.6c-pink.