Thursday, September 30, 2010

Medal Of Honor Winner Turned Away From White House Tour

"Because he was not previously cleared for the tour."

Another MOH winner's family was turned away because the man's grandson was wearing shorts.

You know, I think that winning the Medal of Honor is clearance enough for admission to the White House, but what do I know? I'm just a hick from Florida, not a Harvard graduate.

USS Independence In The News

In a nice puff piece in the UK Daily Mail, to be precise.

Click the link to read the article and check out pics such as this one:

Victory For Human Rights: Saudi Government Gives Women...

...the right to drive:



h/t Denny @ Grouchy Old Cripple In Atlanta.

Heinlein On "One World"

Lastly, this trip around the world cured me of One-Worldism; I have fully recovered and am as immune to it as I am to measles. The idea of one sovereign world nation, free forever of the peril of war, working together in peace and harmony, is an appealing one. I do wish we could afford it. But, the earth and the human race being what they are, we cannot...not unless we are willing to accept the logical and inevitable consequences. "One World" means a situation in which the United States is not sovereign. That means that the United States would be outvoted...which just as certainly means that they would swarm over us immediately after counting the votes.

That which I am willing to fight for I am not willing to surrender as a result of counting noses in China and India. Therefore, no World State for me. It's a trap.
(ellipsis in original)

- - From Tramp Royale

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

I Wonder If They'll Be Sued For Discrimination...

...by a skinny girl?

A new fashion magazine in UK promises to focus on the needs of full-figured women and not use skinny girls as models, and not offer diet tips.

I don't think I'd kick this one out of bed:



How say you?

Ready For Yer Iron Man Suit?

Here it is:



From Raytheon, via UK Telegraph.

The articulation and movements of the suit remind me of the immortal Humpbot:



Still, it's a good start.

More On The Pizza Hut Shooting

The usual suspects, and both of them convicted felons, as you might imagine.

Still more here.

The delivery driver was remarkably compliant with the robbery until it became obvious that his gun was about to be discovered, at which point he took action.

America's Newest Entrepeneur/Inventor...

...and the device that will make him rich: Bill Moyer and his bedbug detector.

Pic:



You read it here first.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Follow the Bucks

Matt Drudge at play:



Harry Truman, of course, had a sign on his desk proclaming The Buck Stops Here. Obama usually passes the buck to George W. Bush, or looks desperately for the present button that he pushed so many times as an Illinois state senator. Biden, of course, was a counterfeiter, passing off other peoples' bucks as his own.

Catchphrase of the Day

"Sed quis custodiet ipsos cutodes."(sic) (Who watches the watchmen?)

h/t Instapundit.

I'm no Latin scholar, but that last word should be spelled custodes, I think.

I Felt A Great Disturbance In The Force...

...as if dozens of tiny, yapping voices cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened.

Invoking Antaeus

Stanley Fish does so in a fine New York Times op/ed that chides leftists for disparaging the Tea Party.

That's stupid and if you believe it you're stupid, too has never really been a good way to persuade people that their opinion is incorrect.

In Other Book News...

...Monster Hunter Vendetta by Larry Correia is in stores today.

Also, just finished John Scalzi's The Ghost Brigades, which is a worthy sequel to Old Man's War.

Over At Roberta's Place...

...a fine review of Volume 1 of William H. Patterson's biography of Robert A. Heinlein.

The Adventures of Roberta X: Robert A. Heinlein Bio: Book Report

I'd Be Willing To Bet That's EX-Employee Now

Here in Charlotte, a Pizza Hut employee shot two armed robbers dead while a third escaped.

Since employees of corporate-owned businesses such as Pizza Hut aren't usually permitted to carry guns on the job, the employee in question will likely lose his job, even if the DA finds it to be a clear act of self-defense. It's how things work in the corporate world, and I was once in the same situation myself, so I sympathize. Still, it's nice to have two worthless sub-humans taken out of the local gene pool.

Fill Your Hands...

...you son of a bitch. Here I come!

That is to say, the remake of True Grit comes to theaters for Christmas. Here's the trailer:



I'm conflicted about this one. True Grit is my favorite John Wayne movie, and it was successful because it didn't stray too far from the Charles Portis novel, and in fact lifted huge chunks of dialog from the same. I really don't want to see the story made politically correct, and I don't want to see the injection of Hollywood bullshit into it either, such as snide references to the Tea Party or changing the name of the villain to Lucky Ned Palin. In other words, I don't want to see a leftist remake of True Grit.

At the same time, there are some things that were in the book that I'd like to see in the remake, since they weren't in the John Wayne film. In the book, the rattlesnake bite results in Mattie losing her arm, and there was a sequence in the novel after the conclusion in which Mattie's later life is sketched (she became a rich spinster bank owner) and her search for the aged Rooster, only to find that he had died.

Ah, well. We shall see what we shall see.

h/t Joan of Argghh! at Primordial Slack.

Monday, September 27, 2010

This Woman Has a Tough Life

Judging BBQ up in Mayberry (Mt. Airy, NC).

Truly, though, this upcoming month is going to be big here in NC, lots of festivals and events going on, the biggest being the annual Lexington BBQ festival.

WWII Naval Ship Vandalized

USS Emmons, a destroyer attacked by five kamikaze planes during the Battle of Okinawa and sunk by the Navy to prevent if falling into Japanese hands.

Divers apparently stole the ships brass builder's plaque.

Man Dies In Segway Accident

Drove his Segway off a cliff.

Meanwhile, in other news, Titanic star Gloria Stuart has died at the age of 100, not while riding a Segway.*














*I'll call this a Segway segue.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Musical Interlude

One of those sad tunes that I just want to play over and over again: One Winter's Night by the supergroup Strength In Numbers. They made a CD in the early 90's that was played a lot on New Folk and New Age radio stations. The lineup was stellar: Mark O'Connor on fiddle, Bela Fleck on banjo, Jerry Douglas on dobro, Sam Bush on mandolin, and Edgar Meyer on bass fiddle.

Enjoy.

Treasure Blog: 1960 World Series Broadcast

Sometimes treasure is a horde of silver coins, sometimes it's a huge gemstone.

Other times, it's the recorded video of a long-ago World Series Game.

Singer Bing Crosby, who at one time was a part-owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates, had Game 7 of the 1960 World Series recorded by Kinescope video. After Crosby watched it (he didn't attend the game live because of superstition that his presence would "jinx" the team) the reels of film found their way to Crosby's basement wine cellar/vault. There they stayed until recently re-discovered.

Yes, they'll be re-broadcast, so you will be able to see this remarkable game.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Arrival

Brusletto Profileringskniv. A Norwegian Tollekniv-styled knife, stainless blade, birch handle. Excellently priced at $54. Fancier versions also available.



Found here.

These are good knives, Brusletto makes good blades. Some of the larger knives feature laminated blade construction, so you have a hard piece of center steel enveloped by two pieces of softer steel, making an extremely tough knife that holds a good, sharp edge. It's a good utility shape for most purposes.

Forced To Dig Your Own Grave?

I understand the instinct for self-preservation, and how you'd want to prolong your life for as long as possible, but what self-respecting man or woman would let someone force him/her to dig his own grave?

Why wouldn't you just look the bastard in the eye and say Get it over with, fucker. I'm not going to dig.

Let's have a poll. I'm going to phrase this very carefully, so consider the options before making the knee-jerk response, look honestly into your own mind and give the response you'd probably give to the person holding the gun on you:

Could You Be Coerced To Dig Your Own Grave?
Absolutely Not. Shoot me, you can't make me do it.
Yeah, I probably would.
I honestly don't know. I'd rather die bravely, but...
  
pollcode.com free polls

Biden Worries About Dem "Lethargy"

Vice President Biden said Thursday the conservative Tea Party movement might be "the best thing to happen" to Democrats with the midterm elections approaching.

Biden, speaking at a fundraiser in Chevy Chase, Md., for Sen. Barbara Mikulski, said the energy of the Tea Party might inspire a lethargic Democratic base to turn out and vote in November.

“Maybe the best thing to happen to us lately is the Tea Party wins," Biden said. "Maybe it’ll shake some of our constituency out of their lethargy.”


Might one even refer to it as a malaise, perhaps?

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

LA LA LA I CAN'T HEAR YOUUUUU!

Nancy Pelosi is asked whether she would step down as party leader if the Dems lose the House in the midterm election.

h/t Ann Althouse.

It's a First Amendment Case...

...because she's a member of the Church of Body Modification.

Something else that probably needs to be nipped in the bud, also.

*laughs*

Who Ya Gonna Call?

Police have staged a 30-year ‘retreat from the streets’, allowing the ‘disease’ of anti-social behaviour to blight Britain, a devastating report reveals today.

Chief Inspector of Constabulary Sir Denis O’Connor said the basic task of keeping the peace had been relegated to a ‘second-order consideration’ for officers who were obsessed with meeting targets for actual crimes.

This had led to officers being pulled off the beat, handing control to yobs and allowing anti-social behaviour to ‘gather momentum’, he said.

Sir Denis added: ‘The public do not distinguish between anti-social behaviour and crime.

'For them it’s really a sliding scale of grief.’

Despite the scale of the problem, some officers don’t think dealing with it is ‘real policing’, Sir Denis said.

He called for early intervention to ‘nip in the bud’ problems so they did not spiral out of control, and an end to underestimating anti-social behaviour.

He added: ‘Make no mistake. It requires feet on the street.’


Oh, hell, we have just the man for nipping it in the bud:

Walk It Off, Ya Pansy

In UK, an RAF WWII veteran who's terminally ill with cancer doesn't qualify for a nursing home because he's just not ill enough, I'm afraid. Sorry about that, old chap. Run along now, there's a good man.

But hey, it's free!

Rumors of My Extinction Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

Scientists go on a hunt for "extinct" species of amphibians...and find them.

They're feeling better:

Shoot-Out In Rock Hill, SC

A couple of the usual suspects tried to rob members of a band who were parked in an RV outside a club in Rock Hill, SC.

Just after 1 a.m. Tuesday two 22-year-old Rock Hill men, Demorrio Demarcus Burris and Dytavis Hinton, broke into the band's motor home, showed a gun and demanded money.

Scott Thomas grabbed a weapon and demanded the robbery suspects leave, the report states. His brother, a fellow band member, told police the suspect fired first and his brother returned fire, according to the report.

Three people, the suspects and Scott Thomas, were struck by bullets. Thomas was in critical condition at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, and Hinton was in stable condition Tuesday.

Burris was pronounced dead on the steps inside the RV where officials found him following the shooting.


I'd fault Thomas only for trying to get the two robbers to leave peacefully. If someone is pointing a gun at me and I manage to heel myself, I'm going to shoot that S.O.B. without stopping to discuss it first. He's forfeited his life by breaking into my home and threatening me with deadly force, so I'd have no compunction about shooting him down like the sub-human he is.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

That Old Mountain Dew

The New York Times notices moonshine and the microdistillery phenomenon.

Sara and I visited one such distillery during our recent visit to Charleston, SC. Firefly is listed among the microbreweries in a .pdf link in the article.

Here's That Old Mountain Dew sung by the man who wrote it, Bascom Lamar Lunsford:

What a Waste

Only 23 years old.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Book Purchase

I don't purchase many new books, since each acquisition takes up precious space on my shelves, already so overloaded, but I had to get this one.

Hitchens On "Everybody Pray For Hitchens Day"

Here:



via Hot Air.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

We Have Met The Enemy And He Is Us

Brooklyn is regretting the decision to use opossums in an effort to control the rat population.

Now Brooklyn is overrun by opossums as well as the rats.

In case you young 'uns aren't aware of the source of the blog post title:



Walt Kelly's immortal Pogo.

How Ya Liking Those Demographics?

Increasingly, the meat served in UK is halal, or killed in accordance with Islamic law.

And you didn't even know it, until now.

Imagine My Surprise

As you might expect, the restaurant in Carolina Beach, NC, that received national and even worldwide media attention for putting up a sign prohibiting screaming children is being sued by the parents of an "autistic" child.

The confrontation between the traditional US culture of courtesy and respect for good manners and the modern culture of permissiveness and rudeness exemptions for damned near everyone can't be clearer than in this case, folks. The people bringing the complaint in this case aren't so much concerned about "autistic" children as they are about forcing their will on a business owner that they don't agree with, and are using the US government to do it.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Six Zombies Will Die Quickly

The Breda Fallacy: are you ready?

At Breda's place, a fun meme of battling the zombie menace with the object to your left, which in my case is a Ruger Vaquero in .45 Colt. After that it would get messy, with my custom Dan Koster Nessmuk knife being employed.

And yah, I really do keep a loaded revolver at my desk as I work at the computer.

update: make that 20 dead zombies, if I have enough time to reload. Just remembered I keep a box of cartridges on the desk, also.

Maybe a Rat Trap Would Be Advised

A Clover, South Carolina woman accidentally shot herself with a .22 revolver while preparing to ambush a rat.

The story doesn't go into much detail, but the woman's hunting technique apparently consists of sitting in a chair on her porch with a revolver in her lap, and pieces of cheese on the porch floor around her. She reached down for a piece of cheese (hunger got the better of her?) and the revolver "went off," with a bullet piercing her jaw.

I'd be willing to bet that the revolver was cocked at the time, or perhaps was an old-fashioned single-action, with the hammer striking the floor after falling from her lap. Or hell, maybe it's a botched suicide attempt. It's unlikely we'll ever see more information than this single story.

Anybody Out There?

No comments at all on my Charleston vacation blogging, either the text posts or the photographs. I'm a bit disappointed in both of my regular readers. Has no one been to Charleston, South Carolina beside myself?

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Charleston, SC Vacation Pics

Here with some photos from our vacation to Charleston, South Carolina. I just got back a few hours ago and have been tweaking the pics.

Firefly Distillery, Home of Sweet Tea Vodka.


Tea At Charleston Tea Plantation.


Tea Harvester, Charleston Tea Plantation.


Melvin's BBQ. Great BBQ, Great Burgers.


At Melvin's BBQ, the Banana Pudding Is Nearly A Sexual Experience.


Replica of Confederate States of America Submarine H.L. Hunley.


Statue of Cacique (Native American Chieftain), Charles Towne Landing Historic Site.


Replica Gun Powder Magazine, Fort Moultrie.


Casemates With Cannon, Fort Sumter National Monument.


Charleston's Iconic Arthur Ravenel Jr., Suspension Bridge, Photographed From Fort Sumter Ferry.


Morris Island Lighthouse (Inactive), Seen From Folly Beach, SC.


Plantation House, Boone Hall Plantation.


"Avenue of the Oaks," Boone Hall Plantation.


Slave Cabins, Boone Hall Plantation.


Cooper River, Mepkin Abbey, Moncks Corner, SC.


Luce Family Graves, Mepkin Abbey Botanical Gardens.


Mepkin Abbey Entrance Sign, Mepkin Abbey, Moncks Corner, SC.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Brief Vacation Update

Today we went out to Folly Beach so I could photograph the Morris Island Lighthouse. The weather was beautiful: clear and sunny, but hot. Humidity wasn't too bad, so the heat was at least bearable. I took lots of photos of the lighthouse, not too sure how they'll look until I get them home and load them into the desktop computer there. In my netbook here the lighthouse looks out of focus in some of the shots.

The beach from which you photograph the lighthouse is easy to reach, but requires a few hundred yards of walking. You park at the last public beach access, then take the paved road (gated off from vehicle traffic, pedestrians ok) to the beach, walking the last fifty yards through a path in the dunes. There were several people out there fishing when I got out there, but no houses or other developement there. Some old house foundations can be seen in the area; I'd guess that they mark sites that were wiped out by Hurricane Hugo back in 1989.

After photographing the lighthouse I walked back down the beach itself to the area where we had parked the car, beachcombing along the way. Folly Beach is one of the better shelling beaches I've seen in the last couple of years; Sara actually found a complete sand dollar.

After leaving the beach we did some antique shopping in the area, then had lunch at a Greek pizzeria; I had a pizza, Sara had lasagne. Both delicious.

After lunch we drove back to Mt. Pleasant and visited Boone Hall Plantation, the most famous of the Charleston-area plantations. We toured the house and the grounds, took some photographs, and overall had a nice time; Sara had especially wanted to see a plantation while we were in the Charleston area, so this satisfied her desire.

After leaving Boone Hall, we visited a Barnes & Noble, then had dinner at Melvin's BBQ for the third time in four days. Melvin's has a great menu, folks, and you're missing out on something special if you don't eat here during a trip to Charleston. Today I had the hamburger that Emeril Lagasse has praised, along with great onion rings (they make them with a sweet fritter batter, so they are fat, chewy and delicious); Sara had the smoked turkey, and some more of the banana pudding that Melvin's does so well. Melvin's vegetable side dishes are also wonderful, Sara reports, although I was less than happy with the result of her eating the collard greens: chemical warfare would not be describing it inaccurately.

It's our last night, tomorrow we depart for home. We'll be stopping for a visit at Mepkin Abbey, a Trappist monastery, on the way home tomorrow morning.

Vacation Update, Cont.

Monday was Fort Sumter day. The weather was mild and sunny, unlike on Sunday, where high humidity had ruined most of our plans. We drove out to Patriot's Point to catch the ferry out to Fort Sumter. Since the US Navy destroyer Laffey (DD-724) wasn't at Patriot's Point (she's upriver undergoing an overhaul/painting), we didn't bother with tickets to Patriot's Point itself, but simply visited the gift shop, where Sara found a few items to purchase.

At 10:30 the ferry began embarking the passengers (painful process, having glue and then tree bark blown onto you with industrial sprayers), and after having been embarked we got underway for Fort Sumter. It's out at the entrance of the Charleston harbor, and is quite small when seen on a map. It's not too much bigger when you actually arrive. Along the way we saw the usual dolphins (harbor porpoises, in this case), which were really too far away for good photography. The ferry had a snack bar active, but the young attendant had his nose in a textbook and didn't seem particularly interested in serving anyone; he looked fabulous in his sunglasses, though.

The fort is dominated by Battery Huger, an addition from the Spanish-American War, and it is in this area that most of the tourist areas exist; you can climb to the top, where a display of flags can be found, and where wide views of the harbor can be seen; it's breezy and cool up there. The National Park Service really needs to place a few benches up there so people can enjoy the breeze.

There are modern restrooms, a museum, and a gift shop within Battery Huger, and there are even lifts for wheelchair-bound visitors so that they can visit the upper areas of the battery.

You are given an hour to explore Fort Sumter, but since the ferry crew doesn't seem to count heads going back on to the ferry for the return trip, I suppose that it is possible to remain out there longer, if you so desire. I don't know if Park Service staff stay at the fort at night, so the feasibility of overnighting on the fort I can't speak for. I'd actually prefer to explore Castle Pinckney, which is a similar sort of fortification, but has been abandoned.

I took lots of pictures, and will post them on my return to Charlotte on Wednesday.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Vacation Update

Saturday was spent shopping in downtown Charleston, first at Marion Square, then at the Marketplace; we didn't buy anything, nothing caught our fancy. Lunch was at Noisy Oyster, which my sister had recommended. I had a rather ordinary oyster po' boy, Sara had a spicy chicken sandwich that she didn't much like. We also had crab dip, which Sara also disliked, but I had no problem with.

After a trip to the hotel to freshen up we headed south toward Hunting Island State Park, but were turned back not far from Beaufort, SC, by torrential rain and thunderstorms.

Today (Sunday) we headed south to Charles Towne Landing State Historic Site, which, after the rains of the previous evening, was extremely humid and unpleasant. Since most of the site involved walking, we had to cut the visit short, because we were both sweating and dehydrating. We then decided to cruise around Mt. Pleasant a bit, and found our way to Fort Moultrie, which we decided to visit. We again had to cut the visit short because of the extreme heat and humidity, both of us wilting. We made a trip to the hotel to freshen up, then went antiquing, which was indoors and in air conditioned buildings. After antiquing we drove around for a while, scouting likely supper locations. We're currently back at the hotel, preparing for supper. Catch all of you later.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

From Charleston, SC

We're on vacation in Charleston, South Carolina until next Wednesday. The trip down was uneventful. On Friday we visited the Charleston Tea Plantation and the Firefly Distillery, where various boutique liquors are made, the most famous being the Sweet Tea Vodka. They also have lemonade vodka, plain vodka,mint tea vodka, a tea-flavored bourbon, and a couple of rums. We also visited Folly Beach to see the Morris Island Lighthouse, but that would have required a walk of 1/4 mile and we weren't dressed for it.

Dinner was at Melvin's BBQ, which I can recommend whole-heartedly; clean restaurant, great food. We ate so much that we nearly burst, and that's a good thing.

Today our plan is to visit the straw market/shopping district, then in the afternoon head out to Hunting Island State Park to photograph the lighthouse there.

My apologies for lack of photographs. I'm using Ubuntu Linux on my netbook, and I haven't figured out how to access my photographs after I load them in; some application called F-Stop has captured them, and I don't know how to access it to upload to Blogger. I'll work on figuring it out over the next few days and try to get them up, if not they will have to wait until we get back.

Thursday, September 09, 2010

Best Check The DUI Records

Over in Gastonia, which is a podunk sort of place west of Charlotte, a man robbed a bank and made his getaway on a moped.

Yep, the getaway vehicle was a liquorcycle. He shouldn't be hard to track down.

Thus Renderin' 'Im 'Armless!

In Sweden, a man had to amputate his father's arm to save his life when it became stuck in machinery.

Bonus points for identifying where I got the blog post title.

It's A Funny Old World

It's a funny old world, ain't it, where the Constitution is in dreadful danger if we don't allow Muslims to build a mosque near Ground Zero, but the Constitution is perfectly safe if we forbid Christians from burning books that they purchased with their own money?

Not Tonight Dear, I Have Leukemia

She only married you for the money.

Tuesday, September 07, 2010

Big Brother Jails Abusive Cop

I rag on the UK a lot for its nanny-statism, its coddling of criminals and its criminalizing of self-defense and self-defense tools (guns), but I have to admit that they are far harsher on abusive and crooked cops than we are here in the US, treating them far more like common citizens than Angels In Blue, which happens all too often here.

In this case the abusive cop was only caught because of the pervasive Big Brother closed-circuit TV monitoring that goes on routinely in the UK, so I'm conflicted. The CCTV was employed in the cause of justice in this case, but all too often you hear stories of CCTV footage being used to harass citizens for minor infractions such as littering or failing to clean up their pet's waste.

Sheepskin Made of Naugahyde

At the University of Baltimore, they're offering a class on zombies.

Students taking English 333 will watch 16 classic zombie films and read zombie comics. As an alternative to a final research paper they may write scripts or draw storyboards for their ideal zombie flicks.

Yah, that'll help you out in the real world.

BBQ Update

For those of you who have missed my BBQ road trips, you'll have to be patient a little while longer before there is some new content in that category; in the meantime, Kathleen Purvis, the food editor of The Charlotte Observer, has been making a BBQ road trip recently: Part One, Part Two, Part Three.

Sara and I will be hitting the road Friday for a vacation to Charleston, South Carolina. We've already got some leads on good BBQ restaurants, as well as some seafood places. As a parrothead, I'll also be stopping in the local Margaritaville for a look around, and maybe a burger. Stay tuned.

Quote of the Day

Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, in a New York Times article discussing hiring practices at the Supreme Court: "“I won’t hire clerks who have profound disagreements with me,” he said at a luncheon in Dallas a decade ago. “It’s like trying to train a pig. It wastes your time, and it aggravates the pig.”

And a bonus quote, also from Justice Thomas, regarding the hiring of clerks from law schools other than Harvard or Yale: "I have a preference, actually, for non-Ivy League law clerks, simply because I think clerks should come from a wide range of backgrounds,” he said. “I don’t have that pedigree. I’m not part of this sort of new or faux nobility.”

Bravo.

Sunday, September 05, 2010

When Hay Bales Attack

The results can be tragic.

I guess death by hay bale will now go into insurance company actuarial tables as something you can insure your life against.

Friday, September 03, 2010

The Door Just Spins, and Spins, and Spins

And the public is endangered by this government malpractice.

A Cure For Malaria?

Maybe.

Pat Caddell On The Midterm Elections

The pollster for the Jimmy Carter White House gives his opinions on the 2010 midterm elections.

Unlike President Reagan at his first-term midpoint, in 1982, “Obama is not able to go out there and say, ‘Stay the course.’ That’s just not possible. The Democrats’ hope with health care was that ‘people will like it after we pass it.’ Well, they hate it, and you don’t see any effort to promote it. The Democrats had a chance to do this right — most people supported aspects of reform — but because of the way it was passed, as a crime against democracy, the country has simply not accepted it. The lies, the browbeating, the ‘deem and pass’ — all of it was a suicide mission.”

“With Carter, I would argue that his failures were not of the heart or of intent, but, perhaps, of execution,” Caddell says. “He was never inconsistent with what he originally envisioned. I can’t say the same for Obama.” Successful presidents, Caddell argues, “realize that it is not about them — that the country is bigger than their presidency. With Obama, it is always about him. It’s a terrible thing to have to say, but I think that it has become obvious.”


It's worth reading the whole thing. I've watched Caddell on round table discussions before, and have always been impressed by his knowledge and his ability to comment in a non-partisan way.

Treasure Blog: Lord Nelson's Order of the Bath Breast Star

Thought lost, but wonderfully preserved for centuries. Valued at nearly three quarters of a million dollars.

Pic:



And what it looked like when Nelson wore it:



I'm surprised that the UK government is allowing this relic of its greatest naval hero to even be auctioned.

Ha Ha Ha, I Was Just Joking

The usual practice, when confronted by overwhelming evidence of cruelty/insensitivity is to attempt to pass it off as a joke.

Thus, these hilarious examples:

'That b****y maid needs a good slap. Some ppl [sic] here have no idea what it's like having servants.

'I'm sorry but being on call 24/7 and not having a day off for months and not being allowed to leave the house DOESN'T make you a slave.'


Or maybe it was just taken out of context. That's a popular way to get out of taking responsibility for your actions/words.

Thursday, September 02, 2010

Quote of the Day

Author, polemicist and atheist Christopher Hitchens, who is suffering with oesophageal cancer, on prayers offered by his many admirers: "A different secular problem also occurs to me: what if I pulled through and the pious faction contentedly claimed that their prayers had been answered? That would somehow be irritating."

TEOTWAWKI!*



via Say Uncle.

Now that is one fall show I'd be willing to watch regularly.

*The End Of The World As We Know It.

Fire Burns, Cold Freezes...

...and electricity will shock you to death if you aren't careful.

Really, how does someone get to be 18 years old and not learn these things? This is right up there with that idiotic lawsuit from the woman who was burned by hot coffee at McDonald's.

Headline of the Day

"Frankenstein cited over monstrous behavior in Ohio."

Abnormal brain, maybe?

Wednesday, September 01, 2010

Sea Glass

An article from the Wilmington, NC newspaper.

I used to have a pickle jar full of the stuff back when I was in the Navy, there was a pebbly beach over at the Norfolk Naval base and apparently lots of broken bottles in the harbor there (it was at the Marina where the Naval Base blends into the Naval Air Base), most of them brown beer bottle glass, as you might expect.

No Spellcheck At NC DOT?

Looks like they need one:



My Sara took that one here in Charlotte on her way home from work. (click to embiggen).