THE Announcement...

So. I put this morning’s post up after making the rounds of my fave blogs, but without consulting The Oracle. And Jeez! I would be remiss indeed if I didn’t mention today’s Big News, which is news in the same sense that announcing the sun rose in the east this morning is news. Inevitability, and all that.

The Captain speaks for me when he says:

Of course, it wouldn't be Hillary without getting Sillary. She tries for an Oprah-like chatty tone to her announcement, and winds up offering this laughable little nugget:

"I'm not just starting a campaign, though, I'm beginning a conversation with you, with America," she said. "Let's talk. Let's chat. The conversation in Washington has been just a little one-sided lately, don't you think?"

It has? What happened on November 7th, a tea party? Puh-leeze. The Democrats have hardly been silent during Bush's six years in office. They have been shrill, hysterical, and well-covered by the press and bloggers on both sides of the partisan divide. What they haven't been, until the last midterms, is convincing.

Hillary's announcement changes nothing. No one seriously thought she'd take a pass, and all this does is confirm what everyone already knew. It's interesting that she committed this early, though. Normally, candidates who already hold national office or governorships like to wait until later in the cycle so as to allow their natural access to the media to work as de facto campaign appearances. As long as they haven't announced, equal-time provisions won't apply. The early announcements of candidacies or of explorations by people like Barack Obama may have forced her into an early commitment.

So in one day we've had Hillary and Sillary. Perhaps we'll soon get Shrillary, who never stays quiet for long.

What he said. God Save Us.

We DID Get Some Snow!

Via Lex…the 21^st Century Swiss Army Knife. With a 1 GB USB drive. How very cool! I don’t think I’ll trade in my Executive model just yet, though…

Coup d’État Internet… Google is taking over the internet. Really. The subject is geeky, to be sure, but the writing isn’t: “When Being a Verb is Not Enough: Google wants to be YOUR Internet.” Excerpts:

Google controls more network fiber than any other organization. This is not to say that Google OWNS all that fiber, just that they control it through agreements with network operators.

[…]

Google loves secrecy. That they've been acquiring fiber assets hasn't been a secret, but the sheer volume of these acquisitions HAS been. Why? One thought is that it kept down the price since people didn't really know it was Google snatching up this stuff (they've done it under a number of different corporate names). But if price was the issue, then why hasn't Google just bought the companies that own the fiber? It made no sense until I scratched my head and thought a bit further, at which point it became obvious that Google wants to -- in its own way -- control the Internet. In fact, they probably control it already and we just haven't noticed.

[…]

The answer is pretty simple. Google intends to take over most of the functions of existing fixed networks in our lives, notably telephone and cable television.

Read the whole thing, coz it ain’t just bandwidth. Google is building lots of new data centers, too, sometimes in the most unlikely places. This is a case made on circumstantial evidence, but the case is well-made. I tend to believe it. Now I just need to decide if this is a good thing, or a bad thing.

Today’s Pic: “Not Going Anywhere Today.” I was out and about El Casa Móvil De Pennington for a few moments this morning, and this is the result. We have at least six inches of new snow on the ground, and there just might be eight inches. It’s still snowing, too. It’s very quiet outside, traffic is non-existent, and I mean there’s NO traffic on US 70…none at all. The road may be closed again, for all I know. I’m very, very glad I took the necessary action to get all stocked up yesterday morning. Coz like I said: “I ain’t going anywhere today!”

Freebie

I just checked my e-mail and it occurred to me…I have a LOT of invites to G-Mail. Anyone want or need one? I’ve been using G-mail for well over a year now and I like it. The best thing about G-Mail is Google gives you 2807 MB of free storage. Over one year on and I’ve only used eight per cent of that two gigabytes, and I save (most) ALL my mail.

Drop me a line if you want an invite…my e-mail address is buckpennington01 (at) gmail (dot) com. That's zero-one in my address, BTW.

Waiting for Some Serious Snow...

Good news: The AP reports Main aide of Muqtada al-Sadr arrested

BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. and Iraqi forces arrested one of Muqtada al-Sadr's top aides Friday in Baghdad, his office said, as pressure increased on the radical Shiite cleric's militia ahead of a planned security crackdown in the capital.

An adviser to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, however, denied the government knew in advance about the raid, in which Sheik Abdul-Hadi al-Darraji was captured and said the detention was not part of the new operation aimed at quelling Baghdad's sectarian violence.

"There was no coordination with the Iraqi political leadership and this arrest was not part of the new security plan," the adviser, Sadiq al-Rikabi, told Al-Arabiya. "Coordination with the Iraqi political leadership is needed before conducting such operations that draw popular reactions."

[…]

Al-Sadr said in an interview with an Italian newspaper published Friday that the crackdown had already begun and that 400 of his men had been arrested, confirming an earlier statement by al-Maliki. La Repubblica also quoted the cleric as saying he fears for his life and stays constantly on the move.

Al-Sadr told the newspaper his militias would not fight back during the Muslim holy month of Muharram, saying it was against the faith to kill at that time. Muharram starts Friday for Sunnis and Saturday for Shiites.

"Let them kill us. For a true believer there is no better moment than this to die: Heaven is ensured," he was quoted as saying. "After Muharram, we'll see."

Al-Sadr said he is being targeted.

"For this reason, I have moved my family to a secure location. I even have had a will drawn up, and I move continuously in a way that only few can know where I am," he was quoted as saying.

Militia commanders have said the Shiite prime minister has stopped protecting the fighters under pressure from Washington and have described pinpoint raids in which at least five top commanders of similar standing were captured or killed in recent months.

This is a fairly long article that goes into some detail about recent actions to curb the Iraqi militias. The troubling bits are in the first two paragraphs, to wit: "There was no coordination with the Iraqi political leadership and this arrest was not part of the new security plan…" If we had coordinated the action, would the arrest still have taken place? Will this aide remain in custody? Will he be charged? Lately there are positive signs coming out of Iraq, not the least of which is that 400 Mahdi Army men have been arrested. The fact that al-Sadr thinks he’s being targeted isn’t bad news, either. “Targeting” al-Sadr is one thing, killing him is quite another. And you know where I stand on that issue.

Related: Charles Krauthammer proposes a “Plan B,” to be exercised in the event al-Maliki doesn’t deliver the goods where the new security plan is concerned. It sounds plausible, to me.

Bad News: Dean Barnett, writing at Hugh Hewitt’s Townhall Blog:

Even though we have some 150,000 troops in harm’s way and we universally profess to “support the troops,” over 1/3 of our society either wants them to fail or doesn’t know if they want them to succeed. Even more chilling are the results regarding our currently dominant political party. 49% of Democrats either want us to lose in Iraq or “don’t know” if they want us to succeed.

This in reaction to a Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll that asked the following question: “Do you personally want the Iraq plan President Bush announced last week to succeed?” Overall, 63% of those polled replied “yes,” 22% said “no,” and 15% said they “don’t know.” Mr. Barnett is absolutely correct in his observation that we’ve gone “through the looking glass.” My immediate reaction was WTF? How can this be? Dr. Sanity says it’s because we’re in denial, serious denial, and she identifies some root causes for the condition. Some of the Good Doctor’s prose is a bit strident, but she does make some valid points.

More on the Fairness Doctrine today in the NY Daily News:

With Democrats mattering a little more in Washington these days, some Democratic liberals are pushing for the reinstatement of radio's Fairness Doctrine.

Don't expect it to happen anytime soon, although Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and representatives Dennis Kucinich of Ohio and Maurice Hinchey and Louise Slaughter of New York are backing legislation to reverse the 1987 FCC decision that killed it.

[…]

Whatever its merits, even proponents see little chance it will be reinstated.

"Personally, I believe it was a good thing," says Dr. Kim Zarkin of Westminster College in Utah, co-author of the 2006 study "The Federal Communications Commission" (Greenwood Press). "But at this point, it would be like closing the barn door after the horse got out. There's almost no way to go back to it."

Even if Congress votes to reinstate it, Zarkin notes, President Bush almost certainly would veto it.

She also suggests that after 20 years without the doctrine, enforcement - always random, like with jaywalking laws - would be "nearly impossible. If you enforced it literally, you'd put big numbers of people out of work, because there isn't an Al Franken for every Rush Limbaugh."

All well and good. But this isn’t the way the Hard Core Left sees it. Let me quote:

As you might expect (and as Taylor pointed out earlier) the Wingnut crowd is not reacting well to the notion of the reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine. I don't know why anyone's surprised. The Right Wing's whole stock in trade is peddling mendacious bullshit to the masses, so naturally the concept of media reform to them is like throwing water on the Wicked Witch of the West. ("MEEEELLLL-ting! MEELLLLLLL-ting! Oh, what a world! All my beautiful WICKEDNESS…MELLLLL-tiiiiiiiiiiing…!")

[…]

Let's just call a spade a spade here. The Right Wing toxification of the media environment, which began when Reagan struck down the Fairness Doctrine, has infected and corrupted our political apparatus in a potentially lethal fashion. See, the conservative world view looks like this: If two people are standing on the sidewalk and one looks up and says, "Oh, my god! There's a safe and it's falling straight toward us! Run!" You can tell the other person is a conservative when he says, "That safe isn't falling toward us. It's actually moving away from us so quickly that it only looks like it's falling on us. We're fine standing right here."

Say What? Hunh? And the rant goes on and on. After this little bit of “excellent writing” (so described because the author of the above bits claims that the Left writes “better” than the Right), said author goes on to invoke Hermann Goering (gotta bring the Nazis in), rails against “Pox News” (I love the affectionate sobriquets the Left creates), beats up on LaShawn Barber, and equates talk radio with hate speech. Isn’t that special!

{sigh} I’m not even sure why I read this clap-trap. My efforts at trying to see the other side’s POV just leave me feeling slightly unclean.

So. Sitting here, all snug like a bug in a rug (as Mom used to say), watching tiny little random flakes drift down out of a leaden sky. The forecast keeps changing but the winter storm warning remains the same: “BY LATE IN THE DAY SATURDAY...SNOW TOTALS OF 6 TO 12 INCHES ARE FORECAST FOR PARTS OF THE EAST CENTRAL PLAINS...” (Sorry about the caps, but I’m not gonna retype it. I’m lazy.) The snow is supposed to start out slow today (accurate, so far) and build in intensity throughout the day and into tomorrow. My larder is full and I’m all stocked up on every conceivable manner of consumable. And I have running water, too! So: Do your worst, Ma Nature. I can handle it.

Wait!! I didn’t mean that!! NO ICE, please!!

Today’s Pic: Plane Pr0n! My favorite WW II fighter, the North American P-51, shot on the runway at the Amarillo, TX airport. May 22, 2004.

Green Wackos Redux

I first wrote about Green Wackos back in November of last year. In so doing, I added a small blurb about the Weather Channel’s supremely-irritating “Climate Expert,” Dr. Heidi Cullen.

Oh, and for the folks at The Weather Channel: stick to your knitting and spare us the global warming sermons. You’re very good at what you do, which is weather reporting. On the other hand, I find Dr. Heidi Cullen, Climate Expert, and her "commentary" annoying as all get-out. Stop it.

Well, the good doctor has become more than irritating. She is now threatening, as in advocating certain professional certifications be revoked for meteorologists who just might be skeptical about the human causes of “global warming.” (I’ve removed certain links in the quotes below because they were originally posted in a ham-handed way and screw up the formatting in this post.)

The Weather Channel’s (TWC) Heidi Cullen, who hosts the weekly global warming program "The Climate Code," is advocating that the American Meteorological Society (AMS) revoke their "Seal of Approval" for any television weatherman who expresses skepticism that human activity is creating a climate catastrophe.

"If a meteorologist can't speak to the fundamental science of climate change, then maybe the AMS shouldn't give them a Seal of Approval. Clearly, the AMS doesn't agree that global warming can be blamed on cyclical weather patterns," Cullen wrote in her December 21 weblog on the Weather Channel Website. [Note: It is also worth taking a look at the comments section at the bottom of Cullen’s blog, very entertaining.] See: (link removed) This latest call to silence skeptics of manmade global warming has been the subject of discussion at the annual American Meteorological Society’s Annual conference in San Antonio Texas this week. See: (link removed)

"It's like allowing a meteorologist to go on-air and say that hurricanes rotate clockwise and tsunamis are caused by the weather. It's not a political statement...it's just an incorrect statement," Cullen added. [Note: Hurricanes (Cyclones) in the Southern Hemisphere do rotate clockwise. Also, Cullen and the media have ignored the growing climate skepticism by prominent scientists see: (link removed)

Cullen’s call for decertification of TV weatherman who do not agree with her global warming assessment follows a year (2006) in which the media, Hollywood and environmentalists tried their hardest to demonize scientific skeptics of manmade global warming. Scott Pelley, CBS News 60 Minutes correspondent, compared skeptics of global warming to "Holocaust deniers" and former Vice President turned foreign lobbyist Al Gore has repeatedly referred to skeptics as "global warming deniers." See: (links removed)

[…]

Broadcast meteorologists (TV weatherman) skeptical of climate alarmism have -- up until now -- been unburdened to speak out on climate issues. Cullen’s call for decertification by the AMS can only serve to intimidate skeptics and further chill free speech in the scientific community. Stripping the "Seal of Approval" from broadcast meteorologists could affect their livelihoods, impact their salaries and prestige. TV weathermen are truly the last of the independent scientists and past surveys have shown many of them to be skeptical of manmade global warming claims. Their independence is being threatened now.

If you can’t convince dissenters with the logic of your arguments, backed up by facts, then intimidate them. Above all, silence them. There’s no need for further debate, the issue has been decided, right? Sarcasm doesn’t really work here…the whole approach is simply despicable.

My original post about Dr. Cullen was more of an aside than anything else. I didn’t give specific reasons for finding her and her show objectionable. But the article I’ve quoted above hits all the bases, not the least of which is her obvious star-struck demeanor and promotion of the ecological views of Big Hollywood Stars, as if those frickin’ idiots have anything informed and meaningful to say on the subject. Oh, yeah… and Algore, too.

Dr. Heidi Cullen, Climate Expert Green Wacko, First Class.

Update: There are 438 (!) comments to the post on Dr. Cullen's TWC blog , the one where she calls for the de-certification of meteorologists who don't toe the line. And they're pretty damned funny. I am NOT alone...

Update II (1000 hrs, Jan 20): Dr. Cullen has posted a response to this brouhaha on her blog. She says, in part:

I've read all your comments saying I want to silence meteorologists who are skeptical of the science of global warming. That is not true. The point of my post was never to stifle discussion. It was to raise it to a level that doesn't confuse science and politics. Freedom of scientific expression is essential.

Many of you have accused me and The Weather Channel of taking a political position on global warming. That is not our intention.

Our goal at The Weather Channel has always been to keep people out of harm's way. Whether it's a landfalling hurricane or global warming.

I looked for (but couldn't find) the part where she says "never mind" about decertifying meteorologists who do not agree about the human impact on climate change.

Dr. Cullen's response has generated 1193 comments in two days; the comments form has a message stating "** Due to the tremendous recent response to Heidi's blog, posts may take up to one business day to appear. **" Ya think?

This Just In...

SN1 sends this along via e-mail. Click for larger, of course, and note the black patch below the US flag. Politically INcorrect, to the max, but oh-so-true. I suspect this troop is in Bosnia or thereabouts. And the pic might be Photoshopped, but I hope not. Coz it's just too, too good.

A Short War Story...

By way of Chap, here’s (in Chap’s words) “a gorgeous food blog.” That it is. The pictures tend to make me drool…Lord, but they are loverly! I find it interesting that a guy in Guam writes a food blog…

And here comes a brief war story… I spent two years over a ten-day period of time on Guam back in the ‘70s. I wasn’t impressed. World-class bugs, heat, and humidity are the things I remember most about Guam. Five other guys and I from the Engineering and Installation (E&I) division of the 1956^th Communications Group deployed to Guam in 1975 to change out the bull-gear on an FPS-60 series search radar, which was an adventure in and of itself. The bull gear is a huge, and I mean huge, gear that turns the search antenna. Changing out the bull-gear means jacking the entire antenna (which weighs a couple of tons) about three feet into the air, crawling underneath the antenna, unbolting the old bull gear, sliding it out on one side of the antenna and sliding the new gear into place from the other side. It’s hot, difficult, dangerous and messy work, given that the gear weighs a few hundred pounds and you “slide” the old and new gears into place on 4x4s laid over 55 gallon drums, using LOTS of grease. The picture (courtesy of the On-line Air Defense Museum) gives you an idea of the size of the antenna inside the radome. And keep in mind: we were working on Guam, in temps that exceeded 90 degrees and in 90% relative humidity. There was little or no air circulation inside that radome… Fun, fun, fun!

The best part about that TDY? The return flight to Japan. We flew back to Tokyo on a Pan Am 747. The plane was SO empty that the crew outnumbered the passengers, of which there were maybe ten. The chief steward relieved half the crew, who promptly raided the liquor supply and joined our little USAF team in the back of the plane for an impromptu party that lasted all the way back to Tokyo. My buddies Ed and Barry had brought their guitars along and they broke them out. We sang (badly) and drank (gloriously and well) all the way back to Tokyo. To use an old saying: “they poured us off the plane.” Now that was fun!

I have a few more stories from that TDY but I can’t tell you about them, given (a) the PG-rating of this blog and (b) the fact that at least one of the chief protagonists in those stories reads this blog occasionally. I wouldn’t want to live out the rest of my days as a marked man…

Not much on memeorandum today that piques my interest. It all seems to be the same ol’, same ol’. And I’m growing weary of the same ol’. Just sayin’.

Ahhh....

It warmed up just enough (~ 40 degrees) where a judicial judicious application of heat from the propane torch on the park’s faucet freed up the ice block. Hooked up the new white water hose and Walla! Water.

Just out of the shower and feelin’ FINE!

It’ll be a long danged time before I forget to set a drip…or pay attention to falling temps. On to the next crisis, James.

Bits and Pieces

I don’t normally read Michelle Malkin for the same reason(s) I don’t read Ann Coulter: both are just a wee bit too strident for my tastes. However… Malkin is back from Iraq and has posted what may be the first in a series of posts on her embed experience with the Dagger Brigade in northern Baghdad. Ms. Malkin returned from Iraq with renewed enthusiasm regarding the war. She believes it is “winnable,” and her experiences make for good reading. Lots of photos, too. Ms. Malkin’s associate, Bryan Preston, accompanied her to Iraq and has posted some of his observations at Hot Air. Both posts are lengthy and filled with detail; both are very good reads.

Anne Applebaum wrote a provocative yet sensible article for Slate yesterday about the Afghani poppy/opium problem entitled “Legalize It - How to solve Afghanistan's drug problem.”

Now NATO is fighting a war to eradicate opium from Afghanistan. Allegedly, this time around the goals are different. According to the modern British government, Afghanistan's illicit-drug trade poses the "gravest threat to the long term security, development and effective governance of Afghanistan," particularly since the Taliban are believed to be the biggest beneficiaries of drug sales. Convinced that this time they are doing the morally right thing, Western governments are spending hundreds of millions of dollars bulldozing poppy fields, building up counternarcotics squads, and financing alternative crops in Afghanistan. Chemical spraying may begin as early as this spring. But, in retrospect, might history not judge this war to be every bit as destructive and wasteful as the original Opium Wars?

[…]

The biggest producers are in the southern provinces where the Taliban is at its strongest. Every time a poppy field is destroyed, a poor person becomes poorer—and more likely to support the Taliban against the Western forces who wrecked his crops. Every time money is spent on alternative crops, it has to be distributed through a corrupt or nonexistent local bureaucracy. To date, the results of all this are utterly dispiriting.

Read the whole thing. Ms. Applebaum proposes a solution that has worked in the past and doesn’t seem all that unreasonable. But drugs in general, and opium production, in particular, are emotional subjects fraught with moral arguments. Arguments that, in most cases, are either unsupportable or counterproductive. I doubt seriously if anyone in power will listen to Ms. Applebaum, but they damned well should. There’s a lot at stake here, and I believe winning the Afghan war should take priority over moral posturing. It’s a sad state of affairs.

More on Obama in USA Today…the lede grafs:

CHICAGO — Two years in the U.S. Senate. Seven years in the Illinois Senate. One loss in a primary election for the U.S. House of Representatives. One stirring keynote address at a Democratic National Convention. Two best-selling books.

That's Barack Obama's political résumé. Is it enough to qualify him to be president?

The article goes on to answer the questions in point-counterpoint fashion and provides more detail about the candidate’s life story. The article is pretty much a puff-piece but is interesting, especially if you’re of the Democrat persuasion. I’m not in that camp (i.e., a Dem), but I found the article informative.

And then there’s this:

Illinois Senator Barack Obama (D) formally announced his plans to run for President and instantly finds himself near the top of the heap. A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of 401 Likely Democratic Primary Voters finds that 22% favor New York Senator Hillary Clinton (D) while 21% prefer Obama. Obama has consistently been in second place in several Rasmussen Reports polls, but this is the first time he has been in a virtual tie with the former First Lady.

I still think it’s too early to be talking about an election that will be held over a year and a half from now. I guess I’m all alone out here…

It Could be Worse, Part Deux

Up too late again. Back in a few, but until then, there’s…

Today’s Pic: Keeping with the “It could be worse” theme… Yesterday’s pic was taken at the old homestead in Perinton, NY. Today’s pic was taken in my new, post-marriage-termination quarters, a rather nice, very new apartment (I was the first tenant) in Webster, NY.

Me (on the phone, waiting for the other end to pick up)…dum-da-dum-da…
Him: EDS, this is (my boss)!
Me: Hey, it’s Buck. I won’t be in today, I’m snowed in.
Him: Snowed in? You can’t get out? Really?
Me: Really. There’s a four foot drift right outside my garage door.
Him: Really?
Me: Yeah, really. Check your mail in a minute or four. I’ll send you a picture.

And this was the pic I sent. It was very late in the day when the apartment complex finally got a front-end loader and a dump truck in to remove the snow… March 3, 1999.

Well, It COULD be Worse...

Here it comes…thanks to that Ohio Socialist (emphasis added):

Over the weekend, the National Conference for Media Reform was held in Memphis, TN, with a number of notable speakers on hand for the event. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) made an surprise appearance at the convention to announce that he would be heading up a new House subcommittee which will focus on issues surrounding the Federal Communications Commission.

The Presidential candidate said that the committee would be holding "hearings to push media reform right at the center of Washington.” The Domestic Policy Subcommittee of the House Government Reform Committee was to be officially announced this week in Washington, D.C., but Kucinich opted to make the news public early.

In addition to media ownership, the committee is expected to focus its attention on issues such as net neutrality and major telecommunications mergers. Also in consideration is the "Fairness Doctrine," which required broadcasters to present controversial topics in a fair and honest manner. It was enforced until it was eliminated in 1987.

Kucinich said in his speech that "We know the media has become the servant of a very narrow corporate agenda" and added "we are now in a position to move a progressive agenda to where it is visible."

This whole Fairness Doctrine thingie is one of my minor hot-buttons. I first mentioned it here, and hit the subject again in September of last year. And in May of last year I said:

The above is an excerpt from “The Fairness Doctrine; How We Lost it, and Why We Need it Back,” a Lefty Cri de Coeur for government intervention in the marketplace. Which is entirely typical, of course. And another reason NOT to stay home in November, as if you needed one more. Never hurts to point these things out, though.

I’m fairly certain the Congress won’t bring back the fully discredited Fairness Doctrine (well, fully discredited amongst thinking people, anyway). The Dems’ majority is fairly thin and there are enough Blue Dog Democrats to undo the majority if and when it would come to a vote in the House. I think the little weasel from Ohio is just grandstanding.

Captain Ed has more on the subject of the Fairness Doctrine, and it’s a good read.

I went to the little weasel’s site looking for a blurb on the FD to quote (coz he’s always good for unintended, over-the-top humor) and got sidetracked by this:

The Administration is preparing to escalate the conflict. They intend to increase troop numbers to unprecedented levels, without establishing an ending date for the so-called troop surge. By definition, this escalation means a continuation of the occupation, more troop and civilian casualties, more anger toward the US, more support for the insurgency, more instability in Iraq and in the region, and prolonged civil war at a time when there is a general agreement in the world community that the solution in Iraq must be political not military. Iraq is now a training ground for insurgents who practice against our troops.

[…]

These are the elements of the Kucinich Plan:

1. The US announces it will end the occupation, close military bases and withdraw. The insurgency has been fueled by the occupation and the prospect of a long-term presence as indicated by the building of permanent bases. A US declaration of an intention to withdraw troops and close bases will help dampen the insurgency which has been inspired to resist colonization and fight invaders and those who have supported US policy. Furthermore this will provide an opening where parties within Iraq and in the region can set the stage for negotiations towards peaceful settlement.

And it just gets better, and better, and better. I use the word “better” with the strongest sense of irony. Gawd, what a moonbat.

More irony: Kucinich begins all the missives on his web site with “Dear Friends.” The ex-hippies among us smile knowingly at that particular reference. I’m up in the air as to who’s actually funnier.

A man who believes his own press:

WASHINGTON -- In an announcement weighted with history and moment, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), who less than three years ago was serving in the Illinois Senate, declared today his intention to run for president.

"As many of you know, over the last few months I have been thinking hard about my plans for 2008," Obama said in a statement on his presidential exploratory committee Web site. "Running for the presidency is a profound decision—a decision no one should make on the basis of media hype or personal ambition alone—and so before I committed myself and my family to this race, I wanted to be sure that this was right for us and, more importantly, right for the country.

"I certainly didn't expect to find myself in this position a year ago. But as I've spoken to many of you in my travels across the states these past months; as I've read your emails and read your letters; I've been struck by how hungry we all are for a different kind of politics."

“A different kind of politics.” Why does this statement make me think of that frickin’ peanut farmer? That statement aside, I’m wondering about the wisdom of a man (and his supporters) that launches a campaign for the highest elective office in the nation on such a thin, thin resumé. The lead sentence says it all: “…who less than three years ago was serving in the Illinois Senate…” Only in America.

Today’s Pic: I’ve gone on quite a bit about the weather these last few days. I seem to have forgotten the fact it could be worse, much worse. So, in honor of the “it could be worse” school of thought, here’s one of my favorite weather pictures: looking out on the deck from my dining room window in Rochester, NY (Perinton - actually). January, 1999.

No Joy

After two hours of supreme frustration: no joy. Unsuccessful. I managed to disconnect my water hose from the RV’s fresh water inlet after about an hour (no kidding) of painstaking, bone-chilling work. And speaking of “lost things,” I could NOT find my channel-lok pliers, which complicated the fresh water hose removal. But…I persevered and got the frozen hose off. The next trick was to get water running from the faucet and that proved to be my undoing. The faucet refused to run, even after about a half-hour of careful heating with my new handy-handy propane torch. So…I gave up. Tomorrow’s high will only be 32 degrees, so I’m in for another 48 hours or so of inconvenience.

My timing for this little debacle couldn’t have been worse. Today is the fourth day in a row where the mercury hasn’t risen above freezing. I swear I do NOT remember another period of time where we’ve gone more than three days, at the very most, with sub-freezing temps.

I suppose I’ve done more stupid things in the past, but I’m damned if I can remember when. If half of life is "just showing up," then the other half just has to be "pay attention!" Bad things happen when you don't. Pay attention, that is.

It's STILL Freezing...

Via Lileks (and he’s NOT making this up): pictures of Soviet Roadside Bus Shelters. Interesting. Bizarre. Quirky. Add your own adjective. But the pics are quite interesting, if you’re into unusual things (and I am).

Gerard has a (relatively) new post up about the differences between “us” and “them.”

I'd also bet that the reader comes to The Prince, as we have here, after mistakes have been made, and sees it much as we see things in our rear view mirrors. Especially that one on the right which always reminds us that "Objects In Mirror May Be Closer Than They Appear."

Of course, the crux of our entire consuming argument over Terrorist War I is exactly how close those objects in our rear view mirror are, or if they are even there to begin with.

The Right would argue that these Objects are indeed right behind the car and will either follow us home if we don't kill them now or that, indeed, they are already home and waiting for us in the garage and crawl space.

The Left would argue that those Objects might have been tailgating us a couple of years ago but only because we cut them off on the freeway of life. They're really not there anymore, and if we just drive home and park and live quietly and on our own, they won't be doing any drive-bys with airplanes, nail bombs in shopping malls, or a low yield thermonuclear weapon at the next 4th of July picnic in San Diego. Just leave them alone and they'll go home wagging their turbans behind them. And besides, we started it because, well, we start everything, and get those ice-caps under control already, China's got nothing to do with it....

Well, as Ronald Reagan put it when dealing with the Soviet Union and arms-control, "You trust your mother, but you cut the cards."

As always in these times, both the Right and the Left are wrong, have been wrong for quite some time, and will continue in their error since the object of their policies is neither victory abroad or security at home, but the mere destruction of the other in political terms. It is a small and ignoble goal, but it seems to be all our pundits and politicians are capable of at this time. The times demand heros and giants but we are only seeing pygmies and cardboard figures. This is likely to continue until some deeper shock wakes us from out sleep.

Interesting premise, that…both Left and Right are wrong. There’s truth in Gerard’s assertion, especially where our illustrious congresscritters on the Right are concerned. Even Heather Wilson (R-NM) has questioned Dubya’s “surge,” and I never thought I’d see that. It’s amazing what a near-run election will do to one’s principles. But I digress, as is my wont.

Gerard goes on to make some very good points beyond the fact our politicians are simply posturing, rather than working for the common good. Recommended.

Two more Saddamites meet their fate on the gallows…al-Reuters reports:

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Two of Saddam Hussein's aides were hanged before dawn on Monday, the Iraqi government said, admitting that the head of his half-brother Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti was also ripped from his body during the execution.

On the defensive after international uproar over sectarian taunts during the illicitly filmed hanging of the ousted president two weeks ago, government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh insisted there was "no violation of procedure" during the executions of Barzan and former judge Awad Hamed al-Bander.

[…]

Barzan was a feared figure in Iraq at the head of the intelligence service in the 1980s, at a time when the Shi'ite majority was harshly oppressed, some like those from Dujail due to suspected links to Shi'ite Iran, then at war with Iraq.

Bander presided over the Revolutionary Court which sentenced 148 Shi'ite men and youths to death after an assassination attempt on Saddam in the town in 1982. With Saddam, they were convicted on November 5 and their appeals rejected on December 26.

The article also quotes an Iraqi official as saying the hanging was a “blessing,” and that the men should have been turned over to the people. That would have made Mussolini’s fate look like a tea party.

No one does snark like Steyn does snark…and he’s in top form with “Pelosi a rare example of a woman who 'has it all'” He opens with:

Can you guess which grandma it was, boys and girls? Yes, it was Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has single-handedly, as she put it, ''shattered the marble ceiling.'' And she's right: From CNN to the New York Times, the entire press corps has lost its marbles. Grandma Smith Goes to Washington is the hit of the planet. At a time when most grandmothers are reduced to eating dog food because the Bush administration refuses to let them bulk-order prescription drugs from Saskatchewan or, even more horrifying, reduced to watching Robert Goulet in dinner theater night after night in Florida, Gran'ma Pelosi has single-handedly shattered the dinner-theater ceiling and/or dog-kennel ceiling.

And gets better (or worse, depending on your POV) from there. No profundities or redeeming social value here, folks. Just good ol’ fashioned, entertaining snark. I love it.

Today’s Pic: “You can’t see the forest for the trees…” Interesting (well, to me, anyway) study of frost-encrusted branches, with more frost/ice in the background. As always, click for larger... 01/13/2007.

And now it’s off to Wally-World in the single-digit wind chill. I’ve had enough of camping out—I will have water in an hour or two. Three days of bathing in the sink has grown old, old, old…I want a shower!

Pretty Scary

Pretty

Scary

Taken about 20 minutes ago. The ice on the wires ain't all that bad, but if this damned fog doesn't go away it will get worse.

A Bad Day...

Well, yesterday was certainly a bad day to quit thinking, to paraphrase Peter Graves from the movie “Airplane.” As I wrote in the comments to “Damn!” (below) we’re not forecasted to get above freezing before sometime Monday, at the earliest. So…two, perhaps three, days of “…camping but like with heat and electric” as Laurie so appropriately put it. It’s gonna be interesting to warm water on the stove for bathing and to do dishes. Kinda like things used to be around these parts back in the late 1800s. Except that I can see an end to my pain inconvenience, those tough ol’ pioneers fetched water every day… day in, day out. And heated it on the stove, too. This morning I’m thinking I’m not nearly tough enough to have made it back in those days.

It’s wonderfully quiet outside. Traffic on US 70 is very, very light and not much is moving in La Hacienda Trailer Estates, either. We have moderate fog in the area; I tried to capture it in a photo but wasn’t too successful.

Today’s Pics: The view of the road leading out of La Hacienda Trailer Estates, shot through the frost/ice encrusted branches of a small tree not far from my door. I’ve included a summer pic with roughly the same view for comparison purposes. That’s SN3 on my old bike. This morning and July, 2004.

Damn!

My water line is frozen. No water until tomorrow sometime, more than likely late afternoon. Stupidity rears its ugly head once again. I wrote that yesterday was warm, and our overnight temps didn’t reach down into the realm of the freezing. Ergo, I didn’t open my tap just a little bit to prevent the inevitable freeze-up, coz…well, it didn’t freeze. I also wrote earlier that the temps were dropping, along with my spirits. I didn’t correlate the “no drip” situation with dropping temps until about 20 minutes ago, and…too late. Froze up.

Damn! I only have about three liters of emergency water, one-third of which is reserved for tomorrow’s coffee. No shower today…

Sometimes it sucks to be me.

A Few Good Links II

SN1 sent this pic today, which is entirely self-explanatory. Nuff said.

By way of Lex, a new milblogger in The Sandbox: Acute Politics. And Boy-Howdy, Teflon Don can write! Just a taste:

The modern military combines part big brother society with part warfighter. We soldiers are considered almost mature enough to understand that war is dangerous, and the weapons we fight it with are just as dangerous as the enemies. The military seems to trust that we will understand that we can't be running around post like cowboys with loaded weapons or explosives. On the other hand, the most mundane and common-sense workplace safety practices often warrant a official warning. These warnings are usually accompanied by graphic photographs of the one idiot who managed to mutailate themselves in spectacular fashion.

Since I've come to Iraq, I've learned that you should not attempt to exit a moving vehicle or I may injure myself. I've been told that in the event of a rollover, I should not try to open the uparmored door that is now above my head lest I be crushed under it. I've seen pictures of what may happen to me if I hit my hand with a hammer, or get too close to a dirt auger. I now know that I shouldn't play with knives, and that opening the feed tray of a weapon while it is firing may be bad for my health. I have been warned on the dangers of cigarettes, and told that I shouldn't be drinking alcohol (not that doing so is allowed anyway). I know not to light fires inside tents, or any other enclosure, for that matter.

That whole piece made me laugh out loud. The military has changed a lot since my day, but some things remain the same. Teflon Don has other (and more profound) observations from Fallujah. A good read, to be sure.

And by way of Acute Politics, I learn Lex’s constant reader and frequent commenter Kris, in New England has a blog now, too. Drop by and welcome her to the ‘sphere! The milblog community, and those that love them, appears to be growing by the proverbial leaps and bounds. This is a good thing!

Laurie put up a great post today: Where is the Spirit of America? A rhetorical question, that, but food for thought, none the less. The Spirit exists, and we all know it exists in spite of the efforts of some people to deny or diminish it. Keep the faith!

And the weather continues to deteriorate. Our Winter Storm Watch has been replaced by a Warning and the temperature is creeping steadily downward, along with my spirits. It looks to be a long and uncomfortable sort of weekend. Oh, well. There are lots of sites to be surfed, nu?

!!

Late again. My eyes are barely open, I’ve just now poured the second cup, and haven’t even looked at memeorandum or begun to make the rounds as yet.

Bizarre weather. I opened the shades and looked out upon fog, which is pretty danged rare in this part of the world. It’s 30 degrees outside as I write; yesterday I gave some serious thought to putting the top down on my journey to and from the Big(ger) City^TM. But I didn’t…it was “only” 63 degrees or so. My how things change, and rapidly, too. Ice storm in the forecast for tonight and early tomorrow morning. I wasted ten bucks getting the car washed yesterday, didn’t I?

Today’s Pic: Let’s go back to the park! Another Chinese pagoda in Golden Gate Park, same day in July, 2000.

Back in a few.

Escalation and Other Stuff

In today’s WSJ (Mission Baghdad -"Clear, hold and build" will take at least this many troops.):

Mr. Bush's words offered the hope that the new plan won't simply mean employing more troops to carry out a strategy that hasn't been working. Though widely described in the press as a troop "surge" or even "escalation," the number of additional soldiers being sent to Iraq is significant but not overwhelming. The real difference will be how America uses its troops in Iraq. Put in simplest terms, Mr. Bush seems finally to have decided that the way to defeat the insurgency is to protect the population, especially in Baghdad.

The media, in this case, are taking its cues directly from the Democrats. The Democrats are throwing around the word “escalation” quite freely to describe the President’s rather modest troop strength increase in Iraq. First came Teddy:

"The American people sent a clear message in November that we must change course in Iraq and begin to withdraw our troops, not escalate their presence," Kennedy said. "An escalation, whether it is called a surge or any other name, is still an escalation, and I believe it would be an immense new mistake. It would compound the original misguided decision to invade Iraq. We cannot simply speak out against an escalation of troops in Iraq. We must act to prevent it."

And last night, Kerry piled on:

John Kerry responded to Bush’s address to the nation tonight in interviews on NPR and ABC Radio. Kerry noted on NPR that Congress must act to stop Bush’s escalation of the war. Bush “gave no indication” tonight in his speech “that the troop increase would be short-lived.” (emphasis added)

The Lefty blogs have picked up on the escalation meme in a big way. It’s hard to find a Lefty blog that doesn’t beat this drum…loudly and often. Here are yet more examples: The “escalation” tag at dKos. Be careful here, because this way madness lies…

Here are the facts: There are now about 132,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. Bush would raise that number to 153,500. By comparison, there were 133,000 US troops in Iraq as of 01 March 2006, down from about 160,000 in December 2005 during parliamentary elections. So we’re “escalating” the war by increasing troop levels to a point below what we used to have. Strange choice of words, that. It looks like Viet Nam all over again, eh? (/sarcasm)

We’re gearing up, the Brits are drawing down…from The Telegraph (UK):

Tony Blair will announce within the next fortnight that almost 3,000 troops are to be cut from the current total of 7,200, allowing the military to recover from four years of battle that have left it severely overstretched.

In what will be the first substantial cut of British troops serving in southern Iraq, their number will drop to 4,500 on May 31. The announcement will be made by the Prime Minister before he steps down from office as an intended signal of the achievements the British have made in Iraq — albeit at the cost of 128 dead.

There’s a tremendous difference in the security situation in the US and British areas of responsibility. Of the numerous facts and figures being thrown around about Iraq, the one that resonates with me the most is 80% of the violence in Iraq takes place within a 30-mile radius of Baghdad. So it doesn’t seem strange at all the Brits are drawing down: their sector is (relatively) stable. Additionally, one looks at the numbers quoted in the Telegraph article and wonders about being “overstretched” and the cost of the war, in terms of both lives and money. It’s all a matter of perspective, isn’t it?

Just sayin’…I thought the President’s speech last evening was pretty good; I’d give it a seven on a scale of ten. Minus points for all the hullabaloo leading up to the speech, i.e., I don’t see the proposed actions as a change in strategy, they’re more of a change in tactics. Plus points for Dubya’s acceptance of responsibility for “mistakes” in the conduct of the war, even though those mistakes weren’t enumerated (not that they needed to be, we know what they are). Best (apparent) news: a change in the rules of engagement that allow us and the Iraqi government to tackle both the Sunni and Shiite militias. It remains to be seen if al-Maliki’s government really means it. The initial indications are positive. But al-Maliki has given lip-service to disarming al-Sadr’s militia before, and worse, has protected him (and vice-versa) in the past. We’ll see…

Today’s Pic: A Chinese pagoda in Golden Gate park, SFO. July, 2000.

History

Constant reader Laurie sends this along via e-mail and it’s appropriate, given the Libs vs. Conservatives argument raging in the comments to “Just Another Manic Monday,” below. It should make you smile, regardless of your political affiliation!

HISTORY

Humans originally existed as members of small bands of nomadic hunters/gatherers. They lived on deer in the mountains during the summer and would go to the coast and live on fish and lobster in the winter.

The two most important events in all of history were the invention of beer and the invention of the wheel. The wheel was invented to get man to the beer. These were the foundation of modern civilization and together were the catalyst for the splitting of humanity into two distinct subgroups: Liberals and Conservatives.

Once beer was discovered, it required grain and that was the beginning of agriculture. Neither the glass bottle nor aluminum can were invented yet, so while our early humans were sitting around waiting for them to be invented, they just stayed close to the brewery. That's how villages were formed.

Some men spent their days tracking and killing animals to B-B-Q at night while they were drinking beer. This was the beginning of what is known as the Conservative movement.

Other men who were weaker and less skilled at hunting learned to live off the conservatives by showing up for the nightly B-B-Q's and doing the sewing, fetching, and hair dressing. This was the beginning of the Liberal movement. Some of these liberal men eventually evolved into women.

Noteworthy liberal achievements include the domestication of cats, the invention of group therapy and group hugs, and the concept of democratic voting to decide how to divide the meat and beer that conservatives provided.

Over the years conservatives came to be symbolized by the largest, most powerful land animal on earth, the elephant. Liberals are symbolized by the jackass.

Some modern liberals can drink beer (with lime added), but most prefer white wine or imported bottled water. They eat raw fish but like their beef well done.

An interesting evolutionary side note: most of their women have higher testosterone levels than their men. Social workers, personal injury attorneys, journalists, and Hollywood dreamers are typically liberals. Liberals invented the designated hitter rule because it wasn't fair to make the pitcher also bat.

Conservatives drink domestic beer. They eat red meat and still provide for their women. Conservatives are big-game hunters, rodeo cowboys, lumberjacks, construction workers, firemen, medical doctors, police officers, corporate executives, athletes, Marines, and generally anyone who works productively. Conservatives who own companies hire other conservatives who want to work for a living.

Liberals produce little or nothing. They like to govern the producers and decide what to do with the production. Liberals believe Europeans are more enlightened than Americans. That is why most of the liberals remained in Europe when conservatives were coming to America . They crept in after the Wild West was tamed and created a business of trying to get more for nothing.

Here ends today's lesson in world history.

Thanks, Laurie!