Rumsfeld: War critics suffer ‘moral confusion’

Yet more tactics of misinformation and name calling. When in doubt, the right hauls out the old "you are immoral and hate America" dead horse and starts kicking it again.

Really now, give me a fucking break! I am so tired of these idiots who think a divided America is best for Republicans. Does Rumsfeld REALLY think that Iraq was any threat to us before the invasion? He and the rest of this failed administration took their eye of the ball by going into Iraq and they have been playing catch-up ever since.

Does anyone remember Bin Ladin? Where is he? Wasn't he the terrorist responsible for 9/11? Why are we no longer looking for him? Why are we in Iraq? There had never been a connection.

Basically, Bin Ladin and the terrorists have already won. Bush and his fools played right into their hands. Not only have we created a new place for terrorists to train, we have emboldened them. "Kill the infidel because they are godless." That actually sounds like something Falwell or Swaggart might say come to think of it ...and it was something Christendom actually did practice.

From the witch burnings all the way back to Roman times, many of those who follow the teachings of the Bible have been no better than the current day Islamic extremists.

Unless these fools can understand that you cannot have peace at the point of a gun, the world will continue to fall into anarchy and no one's god(s) will save them.

New Look

I thought I'd try my hand at reconfiguring the template for the site. As you can see, it's still very much a work in progress. I'm having some problems trying to get the new title image to hit at the very top; pain in the ass if you ask me. Still have a lot to learn about programming with CSS.

As for the title image, what do you think? I did that all by myself. The background image is part of a picture I took of the San Juan Islands while on top of Mt. Pilchuck in Washington State.

What’s in a name? Defining a planet.

So astronomers are finally trying to sort out the planet definition thing. It’s about time if you ask me. However, many want to keep the traditional 9 planets for sentimental reasons not scientific.

I find humans funny in this regard; always trying to hang on to the past even though it is proven to be incorrect. They go kicking and screaming into the future and refuse change.

While I have not spent much time researching and thinking about what I’d do with regard to Pluto and all the other objects recently discovered, I can tell you, I would not keep the traditional 9; that would be like continuing to call the Earth flat long after it was proven to be round.

Snow Lake

Hiked up to Snow Lake with a friend yesterday. Nice sunny warm day for it as well. As usual, brought the old camera along.



While at the lake, we were entertained by the group next to us. One gentleman had it in mind that he wanted to jump in the lake. That, by itself is not too much to think of (other than the fact that it is a snow fed lake and quite cold; but hey, knock yourself out!). However, there was a catch... he stripped to his birthday suit and took the plunge. Unfortunately, it was on the other side of a big rock so there are no pictures to show.

So the guy gets out, climbs down to his friends totally naked (very nice body but still, no pictures) and lays down to sun bathe.

A bit later, a ranger comes by and asks him to put his clothes on because this was not a "clothing optional area." LOL, gotta love America. The human body is something to be morally opposed to but killing is no problem. Instead of getting all upset about "wardrobe malfunctions," we should be geting upset about the "weapon malfunctions."

OK, so his was not a "wardrobe malfunction," but hey, it was not bothering us. Oh well.

Letter to the Editor

This from the Seattle Times:

Editor, The Times:
A major terrorist attack against as many as 12 flights was stopped by British and U.S. officials. Thus far, 21 terrorists have been arrested ["Airline terror plot foiled, British authorities say," Times page one]. Thank God the Democrats and national media didn't know about this before the arrests happened, because the media would have put an article in newspapers, [thereby] giving the terrorists a warning.

One major victory by British Prime Minister Tony Blair and President Bush over terrorism.

The administration was right again with trying to get drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge [ANWR], even when the Democrats said it would do nothing to help our oil situation. Guess what: Prudhoe Bay oil is shut down and will stop shipping 400,000 barrels a day until the problem is solved, and [the shutdown] will cause great price increases and shortages; yet ANWR is projected to have three to four times more oil than in Prudhoe.

Conclusion: The Bush-hating Democrats and national media are wrong; President Bush again is right.

We are in the middle of a war on terror and we must eliminate the terrorists. We do have oil supplies that can help us in the long run get off foreign oil dependency; unlike [plans of] the Democrats, who want us to talk to these barbarian terrorists.
— Bob Mehr, Bellevue

I just love how people are loose with the facts. Somehow Bob seems to think that U.S Officials were on the front lines with the British to stop the attacks. However, according to MSNBC,

“U.S. officials say British investigators had the terror cell under close surveillance for several months, keeping the U.S. informed, then adding more specifics just within the past several days”

Seems more like the British were on top of it and were keeping the US informed; hardly enough to give George Bush credit for.

But alas, it does not end there. Mr. Mehr continues his illogic by attacking the fact that drilling in ANWR has been opposed by the Dems.

First off, even IF we had approved drilling there, nothing would be up and running yet so Bob’s idea that it would “save” us from the fact that production has been shut down in parts of Prudhoe Bay is asinine. Secondly, if the oil companies are not maintaining their current infrastructure, why would anyone think they would maintain any that was built in ANWR? Never mind the fact that ANWR is only a short term solution to a long term problem (anyone ever hear of the term nonrenewable resource?).

When will people pull their heads out of their collective asses and get off the oil band wagon? Conservation and alternate energy sources are the answer. However, since many politicians have their hand in oil or are friends with those who have oil, implementing alternate forms will not happen through them.

Finally, Bob gets it partially right with “We are in the middle of a war on terror and we must eliminate the terrorists.” However, his intent is to use violence to “eliminate” (read kill) the terrorists. Bob definitely is the product of a bit of inbreeding I think. Why is it SO difficult for these American nut jobs to understand that when you “eliminate” one terrorist, two come to take his place? The only way to “eliminate” terrorists is to “eliminate” the injustice that creates them in the first place. Killing someone's mother and sister through acceptable collateral damage will not endear them to you,

Seafair

The U.S. Navy Blue Angels visit Seattle every year for Seafair. This year, instead of hanging out within sight of Lake Washington to watch the show, I went down to King County International Airport/Boeing Field to catch the Angels during takeoff and landing.

This one is on final after the show on Sunday, August 6th. Rather nice being at the end of the runway though my hearing is a little worse for wear now.

Code Red

Interesting timing; must be getting close to mid-term elections.



While I don't consider this particular incident as some sort of governmental conspiracy, I will predict that we will see more Terror Alerts as November draws near.

Random Question: (long answer)

OK, so the form will not allow more than 150 characters to answer this question. However, my answer is a story in itself so I'm posting it here.

Random Question:
What's the most amount of sand you've ever had in your swimming trunks?

Answer:

In 1993 (yeah, that was a long time ago), some friends and I went to Hawai'i. We were staying up in a town on O’hau called Makaha. The beach up there was great. You'd swim what seemed like only 10 feet from shore and could not touch the bottom so there were awesome waves to body surf. Of course we had to try our hand a it. How hard could it be; just swim out and catch a wave in.

Not so fast! Easy swim out, great ride in, but at the beach, the wave would pick you up and slam you into it. It'd push you half way up the beach shoveling sand into your trunks before trying to pull you back into the ocean. Needless to say, there was a good amount of sand left in the trunks so you couldn't just shake it out. But how convenient that the ocean was right there.

The only way to get that much sand out was to swim back out, remove the trunks entirely, turn them inside out and shake the sand out. All the while you'd have to tread water and keep an eye on the waves to make sure a big one was not coming. As soon as one came, it was a mad scramble to get the shorts back on before being slammed once again into the beach. Might have gotten in trouble flopping on the beach all naked but the worst part would have been the pain from being pushed on your stomach with uncovered private parts up a beach full of hot sand.

Needless to say, necessity won out and there were no beached naked men. We spent the day entertaining ourselves with the waves and sand. Guess that gives new meaning to the term “rinse and repeat.” Now that was a fun day!

In the Beginning

Since everyone and their dog seems to be doing these Blogs, thought I'd jump into the frey and add my 2¢ worth.

So, welcome. Not sure what will be put here but I can guarantee I'll have SOMETHING to rant about sooner or later.