Now This SUCKS

The Lovely Harvey broke a tooth!

I cannot imagine how bad this must hurt. But she's mentioning that it does hurt, so it must be a lot.

You know when the doctor asks you to describe the hurt on a scale of one to ten? For most of us, her three is a ten. She has an amazing tolerance.

So, lets all give a prayer to the higher powers for her hurt tooth until she can get into a dentist to get it fixed.

Oh I Almost Forgot

The miserable piece of shit that GM calls the M30 4L60E transmission bit the big one in the wee hours Sunday morning.

Gods fucking damn it all!

This is the fourth time for those of you scoring at home.

This leaves me with a number of choices:

A. Another rebuild.
Pro: Relatively cheap and has a one year, 12,000 mile warranty.
Con: $1000 a year is getting old doing option A.
B. Junkyard tranny.
Pro: Cheapest option, about $600.
Con: Crap-shoot on the thing living and only a 30 day warranty.
C. Remanufactured GM Certified Replacement.
Pro: Three year, 36k mile warranty.
Con: $1,350 plus a $350 core deposit. If the dead tranny is too messed up, I don't get the deposit back.
D. GM Performance Parts 4L65E.
Pro: Much tougher version of the 4L60E. Three year, 36k mile warranty.
Con: Not a direct replacement, some mods required. $2,290.
E. Convert to a manual transmission.
Pro: Strongest option. Very cool. Better mileage. What I plan on doing eventually anyway.
Con: VERY Expensive, $3,900 in just parts alone, more in tools and fabrication prolly $5,000 all said and done.
F. Third Part Remanufactured Unit.
Pro: Relatively affordable, $750 plus $350 core deposit.
Con: One year, 12,000 mile warranty. Too many remanufacturers are the bee's knees today and scum tomorrow. If the dead tranny is too messed up, I don't get the deposit back.
G. Hope that the rotating parts are OK and it's just the valve body and replace it.
Pro: Even cheaper than the junkyard tranny.
Con: Can't buy a new valve body, so would have to get one from a junkyard. Crap-shoot on the thing living and only a 30 day warranty.

And a MAJOR fuck you to Grady, whose incompetence with creating a shift kit has caused all the problems.

The really sad part of this is the engine is a bone stock '96 LT1 running a '95 PCM. The only things not stock on the motor are the intake and ignition coil. Those changes should not have created tranny killing power (and in fact they do not). I went way out of my way to get a reliable package when I set the car up, and I have been awarded constant pain from the gods be damned tranny.

Option C is in the lead. Not least of which, when I can afford option E, this tranny bolts right into Harvey's car.

Sigh...

Lemme try to explain this to the ACLU again...

Our laws and constitutional protections stop at our borders, with one exception. Citizens of the United States of America still retain their constitutionally guaranteed and protected rights when abroad.

Foreigners and aliens only receive such when they are legally inside our borders.

What this means:
It is 100% constitutional and legal for the USA government to listen to every single word spoken or to read every letter and e-mail written by a foreign national in another nation. If said national doesn't like it, it is up to that nation to do something about it, not the US. If our tapping is illegal there, then we are breaking their laws. But there is nothing in the Constitution forbidding Congress from passing laws which violate the laws and sovereignty of other nations and their citizens.

What If

What if the protesters convinced a woman, after going through all the pain of an abortion, that she was a murderer and her soul was indeed irredeemable?

What if she decided to just start shooting said protesters, she's crossed the moral rubicon, she cannot undo her abortion, why not just keep killing?

Comments from this post:

Hmmmmmm...

From the Day By Day archives.  Copyright 2006 by Chris Muir.

This one sparked a comment thread worth retaining...

Some Pondering

In the grand scheme of things, it is actions and not words that matter.

I do not care what a politician says, it is how they vote that defines who they really are.

An Occasional Sense Of Melancholy

A toast to heroism!

Here is to the people who run into burning buildings instead of out.

Here is to the soldiers who run to the sound of the guns instead of away.

Remember, a hero is someone who does something that could them killed in order to save others. Being a hero is not the same as being determined, or being brave. Without the risk, there is no heroism.

So, to the heroes! Too many died.

Heirlooms Aplenty

My mom is cleaning out her house in preparation for the big move to Colorado and the ACLF.

The only shing she had that I really wanted was the drafting table that my dad gave me.

To ship it, she would have been charged the "one room" rate from any mover, so she filled up the load with the rest of a room!

The Boy gets a new bed.

We have a huge desk that is now a table-like entertainment center sort of deal in the bedroom.

We have piles of antique glassware and china.

I have a huge assortment of Dremel attachments and two new Dremel tools.

We have basic wood working tools! Something that was sorely missing from my box.

Thanks Mom!

Dwarf Again

Gimli Gloin's son If I were a character in The Lord of the Rings, I would be Gimli, Dwarf, handy with an axe when orcs are about. In the movie, I am played by John Rhys-Davies. Who would you be? Zovakware Lord of the Rings Test with Perseus Web Survey Software

Mrs Hillary Clinton

I resented her acting like she had won the presidential election instead of her husband. She's anti-gun. She does seem to get the war though, that's a plus to me.

The thing I cannot stand about her as a senator has very little to do with HER. Considering that she votes a lot like the other senator from NY, I have to believe that this is what NY wants in a senator, that's cool as far as it goes.

What I can't figure out is WHY THE VOTERS OF NEW YORK VOTED FOR SOMEONE WHO JUST MOVED TO NEW YORK MERE DAYS LONGER THAN THE ELIGIBILITY PERIOD????

There were other Democrats that fit the ideology, why not vote for someone from New York?

This is why I am so damn conflicted about 9/11. Three thousand some odd people were killed, but that means three thousand some odd LESS New Yorkers voting. No, there is no conflict, if they needed killin' then it was OUR job to do it, not some third party. I don't think they needed killin', even if I think they were morons for living and working in NYC.

Sick Of Defending Bush

How can anyone who knows me think that I like him?

Perhaps because I was VERY anti-Clinton? News flash, I am opposed to all the damn idiots that have discarded our constitutional republic for, whatever what we have now is.

Clinton was merely the first politician on the radar once I had learned enough to have a political opinion. My contempt backdates to FDR (PS that includes Ford and Nixon), but I cannot do anything to prevent the past, so I must focus on the present and hope to reverse the wrongs done then.

I know why I disliked Clinton so strongly, do the people who hate Bush know why they don't like him? Other than he is not Al Gore or John Kerry?

Gun control is unconstitutional, it's plainly stated in the second amendment and my position is backed by the author's notes, the Federalist Papers and the Anti-Federalist Papers, Mr Clinton signed Brady and the AWB.

Mrs Clinton wasn't an elected or appointed official, but she swept in like she was the entire cabinet. I'm not really sure I can blame Bill for this one, but at some time he really should have said something to the effect of, "Honey, you have no official capacity, so stop having press conferences." Mrs Clinton is a topic of a whole other rant really.

And of course, the Lewinsky thing. And I only started caring when someone pointed out this, "Would he have kept his job, or would we have said, 'that's A-OK,' if he had been the CEO of a Fortune 500 company?" Huh? Why, no. Last time I delved into the sexual harassment laws, there was no exemption for the President.

Bush the Younger:

Um, close the border, use troops, shoot them if you have to.

Quit acting like Dad is going to walk in at any moment and take the car keys away! You ran a successful business once, you were a popular Governor, you really did get elected, start acting like you have the brain that you demonstrated you had before late 2000!

Oh yes, another thing: The economy pretty much runs on its own. There is damn little the government can do about it, so taking credit for good times or blame for bad times is more a function of timing than talent. I believe that subsidies hurt business because it prevents the market from sending feedback. I believe that low taxes spur growth because people will want to make more money when they get to keep more of it. And if the president is really responsible for the economy, why don't we worship Dwight Eisenhower like a GOD?

Mourning

Pam, wife of Skeezer passed on this morning about 5am CDT.  Cancer.

She was a very nice person and Skeezer is, of course, devastated.

Middle East Peace Trip

What Condi would be tasked with telling the Israelis if I were President.

"It has become obvious that there will not be peace until one side or the other is eradicated. Since we get along with you Israelis better than we get along with Palestinians, eradicate away."

THAT is how State should support an ally. If we don't, then why call them allies?

How Some Things Work By Dr Thag

CO2! Global warming, yadda yadda yadda.

Guess what? It doesn't work the way the news says.

CO2 absorbs a certain wavelengths of light. That makes the molecule heat up, and that heat is released as longer wavelengths or by transferring it to adjacent molecules. What this means for temperature is that it is transparent to frequencies transmitted by the sun and opaque to the re-emission from earth. That keeps heat from escaping back into space, or at least slows it.

The thing the media screws up is how much light the CO2 is stopping.

Lets say, for simplicity, that a given concentration of CO2 stops 50% of the light from escaping back into space. If we double the concentration how much light is stopped? It's not 100%. It's 75%. Triple it, you'd get 87.5%, quadruple gives 93.75%, five times gives 96.875% and so on. Notice the diminishing return?

The CO2 argument also ignores water. Lots of water up there. And water tends to absorb the same wavelengths as CO2.

Read more about it here!

Quote Of The Random Interval

"Basically, I figure guns are like gays: They seem a lot more sinister and threatening until you get to know a few; and once you have one in the house, you can get downright defensive about them." -- Teresa Nielsen Hayden

Kill Them All

There is no room on the planet for Western Civilization and Islam. Since I am a member of Western Civilization, I would rather see Islam go away. Since they behave like this, I see no need to let them live.

Be forewarned, that link has links to the heathen barbarians mutilating PFC Tucker and PFC Menchaca.

I am finished with the belief that we can ever coexist peacefully with these idiots and am coming to the conclusion that anyone who thinks otherwise should be killed and that the killing be considered self defence on my part.

DWARF

.....|
.?.h.+#
.....| 

If I were a NetHack monster, I would be a dwarf. I enjoy using expensive, high-quality equipment, and I'm not afraid to work hard to get it.

Which NetHack Monster Are You?

By Jingo

From here

Next time you look at the moon, challenge yourself to think of something: there are footprints up there. Footprints, and tire tracks. Also three used cars, and one golf ball.

Why are they there? Because we decided to go to the moon, that's why. What a typically arrogant, unilateral, American conceit! Damn right it was, and that footprint - you know the picture - will still be there, unchanged, a million years from now. In ten million years, it might begin to soften a little around the edges. But in a billion years - a thousand million summers from this one - it will still be there, next to glistening pyramids of gold and aluminum junk decaying under the steady cosmic drizzle of micrometeorite hits.

Space Is Big Really Big

You are tiny and insignificant.

Holy Stinking Snot Batman

In my ever continuing quest to convert all of my 3e GURPS characters to 4e standards I have to recreate the racial statistics of some non-human races.  Tonight was the Centaur from Fantasy Folk.

Because of the differences in how the various editions handle ST, the Centaur goes from a ST 13 with a split ST Advantage to get a horse body with a ST of 26.  With all the other things added on, a 3e Centaur was 55 points.

The new ST rules you buy a ST of 26 and take "Weak Arms" to get that ST 13 in the torso.  When I was finished it comes to 143 points!  OUCH!

Centaur, Fantasy Folk
143 Points
Attribute Modifiers: ST+16 (Size -10%) [144]; IQ-1 [-20]; HT+2 [20].
Secondary Characteristic Modifiers: Per+1 [5]; Basic Move+3 [15]; SM+1 (3 hexes).
Advantages: Claws (Hooves) [3]; Damage Resistance 1 (Tough Skin -40%) [2]; Enhanced Move 1 (Ground Speed 16) [20]; Extra Legs (4 Legs) [5].
Disadvantages: Low TL -1 [-5]; Overconfidence (12) [-5];  Phobia (Enclosed Spaces) (12) [-15]; Stubbornness [-5]; Weak Arms [-6].
Features: Short Fur on body; Tail.

Go Read Follow The Links Read Them Too

A Terrible Resolve.

And I find that, I too, am a Jacksonian.

I would also add, should we cry havoc and set loose the dogs of war, we will save a pup or two for any who stand in our way at home.

Are you listening Mr Keller?

Excerpt From "The Jacksonian Tradition" By Walter Russell Mead

Jacksonian America has clear ideas about how wars should be fought, how enemies should be treated, and what should happen when the wars are over. It recognizes two kinds of enemies and two kinds of fighting: honorable enemies fight a clean fight and are entitled to be opposed in the same way; dishonorable enemies fight dirty wars and in that case all rules are off.

An honorable enemy is one who declares war before beginning combat; fights according to recognized rules of war, honoring such traditions as the flag of truce; treats civilians in occupied territory with due consideration; and -- a crucial point-- refrains from the mistreatment of prisoners of war. Those who surrender should be treated with generosity. Adversaries who honor the code will benefit from its protections, while those who want a dirty fight will get one.

Read the rest here: http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2751/is_1999_Winter/ai_58381618/print

"I'll tell you what war is about; You've got to kill people, and when you've killed enough they stop fighting." Curtis LeMay.

Now I Are Smart

You Passed 8th Grade Math

Congratulations, you got 9/10 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Math?

Music To Take The Edge Off

Thag's Anger Songs >:[
"Judgement Day", Son House.
"The Game", Disturbed.
"Die Muthafucker Die", Dope.
"Du Hast", Rammstein (auf Deutsche!)
"Give It Revolution" Suicidal Tendencies.
"How Will I Laugh Tomorrow", Suicidal Tendencies.
"Painkiller", Judas Priest.
"Sing Sing Sing", Benny Goodman and his orchestra.
"Seasons In The Abyss", Slayer.
"Just One Fix", Ministry.
"I Don't Wanna Be Me", Type O Negative.
"Head Like A Hole", Nine Inch Nails.
"Teen Angst", Cracker.
"Dr Mabuse, 13th Life Mix", Propaganda.
"Last Cup of Sorrow", Faith No More.
"Sure Got Cold After The Rain Fell", ZZ Top.

Can We Take Off The Gloves Now

I just found out the condition the bodies of PFC Tucker and PFC Menchaca were found in.

I reiterate my position that treating partisans like troops is a mistake and summary execution after brutal interrogation is the proper and legal method.

When they want to be treated like troops again they can start acting like troops.

I also think that we start using the Curtis LeMay definition of precision bombing again. Besides, fire missions on a four digit coordinate set is much easier.

This war lasts as long as we want it to. That is a defining point of asymetrical warfare. The big guy defines the fight and stays only as long as he wants. The other side counts on the big guy getting fed up and leaving. It also counts on us never using the full power at our disposal.

The LeMay method worked in Germany. The LeMay method work in the island hopping campaign. It will work again.

All we have to do is say, "We tried to minimize civilian casualties, but the targets are simply too integrated with the civilians to discriminate clearly between them." The obvious part of that statement is we will no longer attempt to minimize damage when prosecuting targets. Noncombatants figure it out very quickly.

And I don't give a shit about "them". I care about "us". And if killing all of "them" saves even one "us" so be it. I am brutal and unforgiving.

And I still think we have a job to finish.

For SGT Adam Plumondore.

And Just In Case You Forgot (And Lots Of You Seem To Have)

Nazi is a derogatory shortening of Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, or National Socialist German Worker's Party.

Note the SOCIALIST part of that before you go bragging about your political beliefs.

Communism is also a form of Socialism.

Socialism as a whole has had governments MURDER HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF PEOPLE try to remember that when you tell me about how great the program you are selling is.

And if you had asked where a mass muder of Jews was most likely to occur, the poll would have answered, "The most anti-semetic nation on the earth, the USA," not Germany, so don't tell me "It can't happen here."

Enviro Law Rant

Why do I think that global warming is either not real, or not caused by Man?

Al Gore believes that both are true. http://www.canadafreepress.com/2006/harris061206.htm

Actually I lean toward the not caused by Man, especially since Mars, Jupiter and Saturn all show signs of warming. Our sun is a variable star, and it is making more output than ever recorded lately.

I am not saying we should return to the days of 8 mpg land yachts, that gives too much power to OPEC. And the pollution caused by that is real.

I am saying that last time(s) we tried to legislate the fixes without understanding the causes we spent a lot of money for no measurable effect.

The AIR pump, mandated on all cars sold in the USA after 1976, injects air into the exhaust stream to make the catalytic converter work better; better catalytic converter design and fuel injected engines made this a teat on a boar.

Catalytic converters themselves! Platinum is used for making jewelry, plating to stop corrosion and as a catalyst in the production of acids. Oh, and in catalytic converters. What they really do is cause a reaction in the exhaust gasses that changes those gasses into something that the EPA doesn't care about. And many of those compounds react with air, water and sunlight to make acids. Acid rain anyone?

R-134; actually developed as a prototype technology demonstration to prove that you could make a refrigerant without CFC. It was not intended to be a direct replacement of R-12 (real freon). Once a non-CFC gas was available at all, the government moved up the no-CFC mandate day by fifteen years and required that R-134 be used instead of R-12 in new cars from that day on. R-134 is not compatible with the older R-12, and it doesn't work as well. DuPont maintains that a non-CFC, direct R-12 replacement gas is possible and could be made cheaply, but the law mandates that only R-12 or R-134 be used in older units and only R-134 in newer units. And if a better refrigerant is developed? Why would it be, the company making it is legislated out of marketing it, so why bother developing it?

And the hole in the ozone layer in Antarctica closed on its own too soon to have been helped by reduced CFC emissions from the US and Europe. And total CFC emissions have not dropped yet because places like Mexico, Pakistan, India and China are still making as much or more as we used. And people wonder why the economy took a hit... Gee, Einstein, we just made it illegal to do some things here until we come up with an enviro-happy way to do it. Things that we still need done. We can still get them done in China. Once we export the expertise to do the job and the people who used to do it here find new jobs while we develop the enviro-happy process, we wont have people locally who can do the job once the new process is ready! DUH!

But, by and large, Congress is populated by lawyers. Congress is not populated by engineers, scientists or economists. And some wonder why they get it wrong so consistently.

One More Damn Thing

Lost the primary cooling fan on the Biscayne.

That would explain why it was running a little hot. It's not running at all when I am stopped or going slow and is an obstruction when at speed.

Remember fans that worked as long as the engine ran? Me too.

Good And Bad

Good! Got the mortgage reinstatement check to our lawyer and he got it to their lawyer. He says that it should be automatic as what they sent us constitutes an offer, that we accepted and paid.

Bad! Mom is selling her house in Las Cruces and moving to an ACLF in Denver. This gets her in the same city as my sister, who earns the "good kid" title for all time for being the "go to" girl on helping Mom out. All Mom had talked about for a long time before retiring was a little house in the desert and a cactus garden.

Bad! Every conversation with Mom has been about her estate. First it was what did we plan on doing with it, then it was did I think my marriage was solid enough that it wouldn't just be taken in a divorce. She's all over the map and it's kinda scary.

And my sister really deserves the lion's share of the inheritance. She's really always been the attentive child with the relationship with Mom. If Mom splits it 50-50, it really is screwing Sis.

Another bad thing is she is treating me like I was 16 again, where you could tell I was lieing because my lips were moving. You might turn over a new leaf and go straight, but you are never forgiven by your parents. Yes, Mom, I used to lie a lot. No, Mom, I don't any more. I discovered that it wasn't worth it, but when you treat me like I never changed, it makes me wonder why I bothered changing.

Wrenching For Fun And Profit

The Lovely Harvey's car threw codes last week and started running rough. Corvette John's scan tool told us it was "Random Misfiring". Gee, how uninformative.

We figured the first place to look was the spark plugs and wires.

Wow, what a mess. Today was the very first spark plug change EVER done to the car. It has 123,251 miles on it. Holy stinking spit!

Three of the plug boots popped off the wires when I twisted them off the plug. All of the plugs had badly eroded electrodes and bridges.

The short test drive went well. Hopefully it will run like new tomorrow when Harvey takes it to work.

Update: Once more into the breach!

Plugs and wires weren't it. It is better, but still sputters above 45.

Got a coil. Hope that is it because it's cheap and easy.

If that doesn't cure it, we need an optispark. Which is not cheap or easy.

The Dragon Is Slain

At least the laptop works...

I am in the process of reformatting the new hard drive because, while it worked by itself, it would not boot when the old IDE drives were connected.

I am thinking that it is a configuration binding issue and that reinstalling XP will fix things if I format and install with the old drives present.

If this doesn't fix things, I will be forced to take the old drives to someone with a DVD burner and copy my data over the old fashioned way.

Update:

For the record, XP Home sucks.

When you install the OS, every drive you intend to run had better be hooked up or it brain farts. At least if there are boot sectors on any of those drives. It can account for them if they are present when you partition and install, but not later.

It was trying to assign drive letter G: to my boot hard drive. XP can't do that.

I also messed up repartitioning and reinstalling the OS. I grabbed the XP Pro disks for the laptop. I got all the way to "Enter the CD Key" before I caught my error.

I am a bit surprised by what I am NOT installing. Most of Office is not installed now. Open Office 2.0 is my preferred suite. Only Outlook 2000 is on now.

iTunes had a hiccough when I moved the music files from the old C drive to the current C.

IL-2 4.05m moved painlessly from the old drive to the new without needing a reinstall.

Grappling With The Beast

The long awaited upgrade has begun!

The 250gig SATA drive is formatting with Windows XP SP2 (upgrade) now. And some called me mad for saving the old 98 CD. MAD! Well, who's laughing maniacally now? BWAH HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Corvette John stopped over during the mechanical process of swapping hardware and getting the BIOS set up. He held the calming 3 Cell Mag Lite, just to calm me down if I messed something up... Luckily, no clue had to be forcibily applied.

Times To Test Mens Souls

Hired a lawyer to hold my hand filing the paper we need to file to get the mortgage reinstated.

It's pretty simple, but I didn't know what was called what. Dan filed a notice of appearance so that GMAC's lawyers can't say we defaulted.

He managed to get the Offices of Daniel Stern to actually speak to him. That might have been worth the retainer all by itself!

This is causing all sorts of tension at home, but we should be good real soon.

Fucking M$

I am trying so damn hard to go legit.  Why can't they just make it easy?

This damned Windows Genuine Advantage BS really pisses me off.  Yes, I know that the copy of XP Pro "corporate" I am using has been compromised.  Yes, I know that the license that I recieved has expired.  You honestly don't need to tell me every ten seconds by opening a bubble pop-up.

I'll toss a clue out there for you M$, there are two reasons people pirate software: 1) Because it's WAY overpriced.  2) Just to see if they can get around whatever anti-piracy crap there is.  Just ask Ubisoft, they got hit with both 1 and 2.

M$ is definitely guilty of overpricing.  Just look at the price difference between Home and Pro.  Then try and find out what makes Pro so much more expensive...   My brand new legit copy of XP Home was bought after much soul searching and I really couldn't find a good reason to drop the extra $100 .

And because they are the big boy, they walk around with a target tattooed to their chest.  I can't help but point out that Win98 was exceedingly easy to install on multiple machines, and M$ did not go out of business.  And M$ became a GIGANTIC corporation with the childishly easy to copy DOS and Windows 3.11.

It's an old story, they are counting every single instance of piracy as a lost sale.  Not the correct paradigm.  There are a good many people that if you magically made it impossible to steal an M$ OS would not buy it.

My suggestion to M$ is to lower the price, that encourages people to just buy the damn thing.  I'll even bet that if it was $40 for Home and $60 for Pro, they would see a large enough increase in sales volume to make up for the reduced price.  The second suggestion I have is to make no attempt to prevent piracy.  And the reason I suggest this method is: PEOPLE ARE PAYING FOR LINUX!!!!  Linux is out there FOR FREE but people will still call up NewEgg, or Staples or Best Buy and drop their hard earned on it.

I will admit my original reason for buying a legit copy was because the version I am running currently was not going to survive major hardware changes (new motherboard), but why couldn't this shit waitTHREE MORE FUCKING DAYS FOR THE GODDAMN HARD DRIVE TO GET HERE????

So now I must do the "build a completely new machine" thing with a blank drive and new motherboard.  Joy of joys.

Please excuse my use of the Franch Language.

Oh, and Windows Genuine Advantage?

The only advantage I can see to having a legitimate copy is getting the stupid bubble to stop popping up.

I bought my legit copy of XP before this cutesy little trick.

My next upgrade will be enough machine to run my games with an emulator on Linux.

Congratulations M$! You really created a future customer with this.

Memorial Day

On The Cross

I have clashed with some over Freedom of Religion is not freedom from religion topic before.

Most of the time I have to conceed the other side's point. Putting the Ten Commandments outside a court house is the State chosing a religion.

State funding of a memorial to fallen soldiers that happens to be in the shape of a huge cross, isn't. Motive is everything in a criminal case, why not here?

The big ass cross is in San Diego.

The Fort Rosecrans National Cemetary is as big as Arlington.

I am fed up with this irrational need to irradicate any symbol that resembles a religious one.

Us veterans put that cross there to honor the fallen. Making the federal government pay for the upkeep of a memorial to the dead of its wars is the proper thing to do. The current fiasco stems from a rule that federal funds cannot be used to maintain property that the federal government doesn't own. They didn't always own it. Nor did they always own Arlington.

It is not symbolic of Christian Glory. It is a memorial to the troops who are no longer with us. If this were just a Christian thing, there would not be Jewish, Muslim or Buddist graves there. Just like Arlington, the individual grave is consecrated by the appropriate holy figure. But most of them are Christian graves.

Fucking Moonbats, learn what a thing is for before going off. I am willing to bet that not a single one of these morons bothered to find out WHY that cross is up there. All they know is Federal Land and Religious Symbol.

I wonder if the problem is really that there is a religious symbol on the hill, or if that cross simply reminds these spinless oxygen thieves that there are better people than them who gave everything for some really nebulous ideals.

I know the above is a rambling mess, but I get angry and emotional around this topic on Memorial Day.

Memorial Day

It's not about Grandma.

It's about me mates who didn't make it.

And here is my annual posting of this poem. In New Zealand they only quote the "They shall not grow old" stanza, raise a glass, drink, and say, "Lest we forget!"

For The FallenWith proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free. 

Solemn the drums thrill; Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres,
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears. 

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted;
They fell with their faces to the foe. 

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years contemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them. 

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England's foam. 

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night; 

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain. 

Laurance Binyon

Think On This

I think, legally and morally, that if someone is threatening your life, you are correct in killing them first. By the way, in most US states, the law agrees with me and juries some states where it is illegal too.

Compare this to Islam vs the US. A very vocal group of Moslems not only says they want us dead, but say that they intend to make us dead. So, there is nothing wrong with killing them!

"But what about the majority of Moslems who don't wish us any ill at all Mr McThag?" I recommend that they start putting some distance, physically and mentally, between you and the people who say that they want all us Americans dead. Time for them to stand up and be counted as our friends, or at least insist that the terrorists do not represent them.

The situation we have now is akin to some belligerent fool waving a knife in my face with all of his buddies standing behind him at a distance whispering, "Stab him!" I hesitate to shoot him because I worry that the crowd will rush me, but I think I might have to kill knife boy or he will kill me. It certainly appears that I am going to have to kill the entire crowd to be safe, even if the guy with the cutlery is slowly cooling at my feet. What would help the situation immeasurably would be for the crowd to start saying, "Go ahead and shoot him, he can't threaten any of us when he's dead."

Teflon™ Concepts

There are a lot of things that my mind cannot accept. My thoughts slide off these concepts like they were made of teflon.

One example is being dead if there is no afterlife. The idea of just ceasing causes my mind to recoil away from it. To not even be aware that there is no longer a you. It staggers me.

A Hmmmmmm...

I was reading where Kim Du Toit feels that changing moral values leads to no morals and the end of society. He makes a good case, but...

There's always a but.

His case hinges on the disposal of one value leading to the disposal of the next and so on. He cites Ptolemy Egypt and Imperial Rome and compares them to modern gay marriage and co-habitation.

Like I said before, he makes a good case. But I differ with him. The values he is mourning in todays society are all derived from the WASP ideal. I have offered my admiration for that ideal before myself, but unlike he, I don't feel that the things he is talking about lead to the downfall of America.

My moral philosophy is "Do as you will, harm none." Most of the WASP framework fits into that ideal, so I tend not to conflict with it much. But I feel that we can have a whole lot of sex with a whole lot of different people and not hurt anyone. Letting two men have sex doesn't advocate theft, murder, arson, rape or child molestation.

I have substituted a different set of morals that retains a large chunk of the WASP one. I believe Kim's mistake is in assuming that morals are an all or nothing proposition. And to an extent, he is right. If I am a Christian, then the entire package is a take it or leave it deal. You can't covet your neighbor's wife and steal and still be a Christian. But you can believe in the sanctity of marriage and think stealing is wrong without being Christian.

The danger, of course, of substituting one set of moral values for another in a society is accidently omitting the one thing that was keeping things tied together.

I fear that Congress is doing far more to unglue American society than the changing moral values brought by accepting that homosexuals can have meaningful relationships as strong as marriages.