I'm Gonna Eat Lobster Tomorrow...........

.....

Thanks to the........



Of these Folks........





That is what this day is about.......

The Back O' The Bible Returns!...........

..........

Jay Pinkerton is back with a long awaited installment of another series from his Back O' The Bible collection. This time, it's the Book of Jonah that gets the Pinkerton review...

An excerpt from the review of The Book of Jonah by Jay Pinkerton-

" Lo unto thee, Bible fans! As always, this week’s BotB installment explores the murky backlog of the Old Testament — specifically, the final dozen books penned by the minor prophets (or as I like to call them, “Guess What God’s Angry About Now?” Parts One through Twelve). This time around we'll be examining what is probably the most famous of the minor prophet Books — sorry, Haggai — the Book of Jonah.

Whether or not you've read B of J, chances are you're at least peripherally aware of the plot: there's this guy named Jonah, stuff happens, dude gets swallowed by a whale, more stuff, the end. (Perhaps you're familiar with the tale in its more current incarnation as Jonah: a VeggieTales Movie, a film that attempts to indoctrinate children to the Bible's teachings through the seductive glamor of a talking asparagus.) Prior to my research for this article, my awareness of the story started and ended with a childhood pop-up book where you got to feed Jonah to a whale by pulling on a paper tab. If executed properly, one could make it look like the whale was repeatedly barfing up Jonah before gobbling him back up again. I don't mind telling you it was completely awesome.

My background reading on BoJ uncovered that biblical scholars have evidently found weightier things to take away from the story than the theological implications of a God who would allow a whale to boomerang barf our hero for eternity. The Book of Jonah, it seems, is an allegory about how bad it is to hog all the good news about Christ, and that god-fearing Christians owe it to heathens to tell them exactly how displeased God is with them at all times. Gosh, that's nice of them. This is a lesson our hero Jonah learns firsthand — a lesson driven home, presumably, while gobbling up room temperature shrimp from the dank floor of a whale's stomach. I'll give God this — He knows a thing or two about wearing down the resistance of His subjects before making any points. After three days sitting within a few feet of an intestinal tract the diameter of a school bus, I bet I'd be all ears too. "

If you are easily offended by Bible parodies and jokes about the eternal inconsistencies of the Bible, then you probably won't think this is very funny.

Too bad, 'cause I think it's hilarious......

Cool Saturn Picture for The Day...And A Mini Rant About -Surprise!-NEO's......

........




Radio Occultation: Unraveling Saturn's Rings
May 23, 2005 Full-Res: PIA07873

Specially designed Cassini orbits place Earth and Cassini on opposite sides of Saturn's rings, a geometry known as occultation. Cassini conducted the first radio occultation observation of Saturn's rings on May 3, 2005.

Three simultaneous radio signals of 0.94, 3.6, and 13 centimeter wavelength (Ka, X-, and S-bands) were sent from Cassini through the rings to Earth. The observed change of each signal as Cassini moved behind the rings provided a profile of the distribution of ring material as a function of distance from Saturn, or an optical depth profile.

Pretty cool picture, no? I thought so.

Now about the NEO's.

As I posted last week, congress just passed H.R. 1022, the George E. Brown Jr. Near-Earth Object Survey Act. While it is definitely a step in the right direction, it hardly qualifies as a step. NASA currently has a budget of over $15 Billion dollars, and H.R. 1022 gets the following-$20,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2006 and 2007.

I'm sorry, but as much as I enjoy reading about the latest cool things going on with the Cassini Mission at Saturn, or the plans for us to return to the moon, NONE OF THESE PROGRAMS WILL MEAN A GODDAMN THING IF WE CANNOT SERIOUSLY ENGINEER A PROGRAM TO MITIGATE NEAR EARTH OBJECTS FROM KILLING EVERY LAST DAMN ONE OF US.

Does that mean I think that armageddon will one day come in the form of an asteroid? Maybe. The odds of it happening in my life time are minimal. It may not happen in the next 10,000 years. But it will happen. I am not screaming that the sky is falling. What I am screaming is that of a $15 BILLION Budget for NASA, only $20 million for NEO tracking is a freaking joke.

In regards to NEO 2004 MN4 and other NEO issues, Rusty Schweickart of the B612 Foundation gave a presentation to the the National Space Society International Space Development Conference in DC last weekend. I listed the PFD file for it before, Here it is again- A Call to (Considered) Action. In it, he breaks down the cost analysis of tracking and possibly mitigating 2004 MN4 if it turns out to be headed our way.

"The question arises as to whether the expense of an immediate science mission to asteroid 2004MN4 is warranted. From an economic point of view the justifiable expense to mitigate the cost of an undesired event is determined by the product of the probability of the event occurring and the cost of the event were it to occur. In this instance where the impact "path of risk" passes from the western Pacific Ocean north of Japan, along the Mexican west coast, through Central America and out into the Atlantic Ocean, the most likely result of a collision with asteroid 2004MN4 in 2036 is a massive tsunami. The societal cost of a tsunami which would be generated by the impact of this asteroid is estimated to be $400Billion. Given that the current probability of impact is 1 in 10,000 the justifiable investment in currentaction to mitigate against this eventuality is $40M. By mid-2006 the probability of impact (and with it the justifiable investment in mitigation) is likely to increase by a factor of 4 and by mid-2012 by afactor of 10. The cost of a $3-400M scientific mission to the asteroid would therefore be a rational and prudent investment in public safety."

And even with this money, it would still only be a dent in the $15 billion NASA budget. I think it is RECKLESS to do anything less than what Mr. Schweickart is proposing.

But then again, I am an asteroid freak.........

Yep, That Sounds About Right...........

...........According to The Personality Defect Test, I am a-

Capitalist Pig You are 85% Rational, 100% Extroverted, 57% Brutal, and 14% Arrogant.

You are the Capitalist Pig! This means that you are less emotional than most, focusing more on logic. You are also more selfish, greedy, and care very little for the well-being of others, hence you probably hold capitalistic political views. You are also an extrovert, like most of the people in the hallmark capitalistic country of America. Despite these traits, you are surprisingly not very arrogant, tending to view yourself as equal to others. Which seems strange given that you are so mean and brutal to others at times. In conclusion, your personality defect is that you are a bit too logical, rather unemotional, way too extroverted, and also very brutal in regards to others. You may even be a bit insecure about yourself, little piggy. So stop being so selfish and calculating and learn to see people as people, man! To put it less negatively: 1. You are more RATIONAL than intuitive. 2. You are more EXTROVERTED than introverted. 3. You are more BRUTAL than gentle. 4. You are more HUMBLE than arrogant. Compatibility: Your exact opposite is the Starving Artist. Other personalities you would probably get along with are the Smartass, the Braggart, and the Spiteful Loner. * * If you scored near fifty percent for a certain trait (42%-58%), you could very well go either way. For example, someone with 42% Extroversion is slightly leaning towards being an introvert, but is close enough to being an extrovert to be classified that way as well. Below is a list of the other personality types so that you can determine which other possible categories you may fill if you scored near fifty percent for certain traits. Link: The Personality Defect Test written by saint_gasoline on Ok Cupid

..........

Whatever.......

Well, It's Better Than Nothing I Guess..............

...........


NOAA, NASA BILLS SAIL THROUGH COMMITTEE

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The House Science Committee today favorably reported out four bills related to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

By voice votes, the Committee passed H.R. 50, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Act; H.R. 2364, to establish a Science and Technology Scholarship Program to award scholarships to recruit and prepare students for careers in the National Weather Service and in National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration marine research, atmosphere research, and satellite programs; H.R. 426, Remote Sensing Applications Act; and H.R. 1022, George E. Brown Jr. Near-Earth Object Survey Act.

"All of these bills will improve our lives through increasing our understanding of the Earth, how it works and what may threaten it," Science Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) said. "As usual, these bills represent a bipartisan effort. I look forward to their passage."

And of course the one part of this bill that I care significantly about is the following-

H.R. 1022, also introduced by Rep. Rohrabacher, would establish a program within NASA to detect, track, catalogue, and characterize the physical properties of near-Earth asteroids and comets equal to or greater than 100 meters in diameter in order to assess the threat of Earth being struck by such near-Earth objects. The bill would authorize appropriations for the program of $20 million for each of fiscal years 2006 through 2007.

Rep. Rohrabacher said, "The potential catastrophe of an asteroid hitting Earth should no longer be ignored. We need to know what is out there. Accounts of asteroids passing close to Earth with almost no prior warning should be enough to get our attention. The first step is to assess the threat. Given the vast number of asteroids and comets that inhabit the Earth's neighborhood, greater efforts for tracking and monitoring these objects are critical. This bill would direct NASA to expand their current program to track and detect potential threats and would provide a funding authorization. Any threat that would wreak havoc on or world should be studied and prevented if possible. We have the technology, we need the direction – this bill provides that."

But only $20 million? That's it?

2006 Fiscal Year Budget for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration=$16.2 billion. Out of $16 billion being spent on NASA, we can only come up with a measly $20 million to track and locate Near Earth Objects.

This is retarded.

Here are the estimated tsunami effects what if the asteroid 2004 MN4 landed in the pacific ocean in 2036.

2004MN4 Impact Tsunami Simulation (Quicktime)

And in the Gulf Of Mexico

2004MN4 Impact Tsunami Simulation (Quicktime)

$20 million?

From the B612 Foundation

A Call to (Considered) Action
Presented at the National Space Society International Space Development Conference, Washington, DC
By Russell L. Schweickart, Chairman, B612 Foundation

May 20, 2005

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to call upon the Congress of the United States to initiate, via the National Research Council or other appropriate body, a formal analysis of the circumstances presented by the close encounter between the Earth and asteroid 2004MN4 in April 2029, and the potential for a subsequent collision with Earth in 2036. Informal analysis indicates that the accuracy of our knowledge of the asteroid’s trajectory using optical and radar tracking is likely to be inadequate to make a timely deflection decision in the improbable event that one should be needed. Should this claim prove to be correct after formal analysis serious consideration should be given to placing a radio transponder on 2004MN4, perhaps as one of several scientific objectives. This mission should be launched in the near future in order to provide adequately accurate trajectory information about the asteroid by 2014, the approximate date by which a deflection mission decision, if required, would have to be made.

You can read the entire proposal here- A Call For Action(pdf).

$20 million? That's it?

Blogs Have Officially Jumped The Shark........

...........

I mean Wow.

'nuff said.

Liberal Media Bias? Nnnnnnnaaaaaaaaaah........

..............

It's not everyday I get to fisk one of my own readers, but today is one of those days.

A commenter by the name of Alon Levy from the post below entitled "It's Time To Play Compare and Contrast!" left me a comment asking the following-

"I'd be thrilled if you could cite one serious study about media bias in the United States that showed a left-wing bias."

Just one Alon? I can do better than that.

First we have the study conducted by the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) that found the following information- (Info Via the Media Research Center)

"In 1996, as a follow-up to a 1988 survey, the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) surveyed 1,037 reporters at 61 newspapers of all sizes across the nation, asking "What is your political leaning?" Results of the survey were published in ASNE's 1997 report The Newspaper Journalists of the ‘90s, highlights of which appeared in the MRC's May 1997 MediaWatch.

KEY FINDINGS

In 1988, 62 percent of journalists identified themselves as "Democrat or liberal" or "lean to Democrat or liberal." In 1996, 61 percent said they were liberal/Democrat or leaning that way.

In 1988, 22 percent identified themselves as "Republican or conservative" or "lean to Republican or conservative." By 1996 that figure had declined to 15 percent.

Those identifying themselves as independent jumped from 17 to 24 percent between the two years.

At newspapers with more than 50,000 circulation, 65 percent of the staffs were liberal/Democrat or leaned that way. The split at papers of less than 50,000 was less pronounced though still significant, with 51 percent of staffs identifying as liberal/Democrat compared to 23 percent who identified as conservative/Republican.

Women were more likely than men to identify as liberal/Democratic. Only 11 percent identified themselves as conservative or leaned that way.

Minorities tend to be more liberal/Democrat with a mere three percent of blacks and eight percent of Asians and Hispanics putting themselves on the right."

Perhaps the best evidence I could give you however was the study that the New York Times did on itself (PDF file) in efforts to improve its credibility.

The following statement spells it out pretty clearly for me-

"Though we have our lapses, individual news stories on emotional topics like abortion, gun control, the death penalty and gay marriage are reported and edited with great care, to avoid any impression of bias. Nonetheless, when numerous articles use the same assumption as a point of departure, that monotone can leave the false impression that the paper has chosen sides.

This is especially so when we add in our feature sections, whose mission it is to write about novelty in life. As a result, despite the strict divide between editorial pages and news pages, The Times can come across as an advocate. The public editor found that the overall tone of our coverage of gay marriage, as one example, "approaches cheerleading." By consistently framing the issue as a civil rights matter — gays fighting for the right to be treated like everyone else — we failed to convey how disturbing the issue is in many corners of American social, cultural and religious life."

But the best commentary I have read regarding the phenomenom of liberal bias in the US media comes from an article in the LA Times by Andrew Klavan- Read My Lips: Hire Some More Conservatives-

An excerpt-

"Look, I'm really busy right now but, all right, I'll take five minutes to solve the problems of the mainstream media. I mean, ratings for network news are at an all-time low, newspaper readership is falling off the chart, the public's trust in journalists is steadily eroding — the least I can do is sacrifice one coffee break in order to sort things out. It doesn't require internal studies or revamped formats. Just three little words of advice will fix every one of their troubles: Hire some conservatives.

I don't mean hire a conservative. I don't mean cover conservatives. I don't mean allow conservatives to express a minority opinion on your Op-Ed page or argue at the top of their lungs on some yes/no, black/white, point/counterpoint debate program. I mean that at ABC, CBS, NBC, the Los Angeles Times et al, a substantial proportion of the reporters who cover stories, and the editors who assign and shape those stories, should be people with conservative beliefs. The rest can continue to be what they are now: left-wingers who live under the delusion that they're moderates."

How about this report?

A Measure of Media Bias:
Tim Groseclose,Department of Political Science-UCLA
Jeff Milyo,Department of Economics-University of Missouri
December 2004

"In this paper we estimate ADA (Americans for Democratic Action) scores for major media outlets such as the New York Times, USA Today, Fox News’ Special Report, and all three network television news shows. Our estimates allow us to answer such questions as “Is the average article in the New York Times more liberal than the average speech by Tom Daschle?” or “Is the average story on Fox News more conservative than the average speech by Bill Frist?” To compute our measure, we count the times that a media outlet cites various think tanks and other policy groups. We compare this with the times that members of Congress cite the same think tanks in their speeches on the floor of the House and Senate. By comparing the citation patterns we construct an ADA score. As a simplified example, imagine that there were only two think tanks, one liberal and one conservative. Suppose that the New York Times cited the liberal think tank twice as often as the conservative one. Our method asks: What is the typical ADA score of members of Congress who exhibit the same frequency (2:1) in their speeches? This is the score that we would assign to the New York Times. Our results show a strong liberal bias. All of the news outlets except Fox News’ Special Report and the Washington Times received a score to the left of the average member of Congress. Consistent with many conservative critics, CBS Evening News and the New York Times received a score far left of center. Outlets such as the Washington Post, USA Today, NPR’s Morning Edition, NBC’s Nightly News and ABC’s World News Tonight were moderately left. The most centrist outlets (but still left-leaning) by our measure were the Newshour with Jim Lehrer, CNN’s NewsNight with Aaron Brown, and ABC’s Good Morning America. Fox News’ Special Report, while right of center, was closer to the center than any of the three major networks’ evening news broadcasts. All of our findings refer strictly to the news stories of the outlets. That is, we omitted editorials, book reviews, and letters to the editor from our sample."

Alon continues in the comments-

"All studies I know about point out to a right-wing bias, in particular a pro-American bias in foreign policy (how many American TV stations called Bush on his WMD lies before the war on Iraq began?) and a moderate pro-Republican bias in domestic policy."

You must have missed the ones I have pointed out. Honest mistake, I understand.

"And that's not including Fox, which is fair and balanced in that it gives equal time to people who think Bush is God and people who think Bush is God's assistant."

Well, I think neither, but I don't watch FoxNews. In fact I don't watch much TV at all. And if the best you can do for conservative commentary is FoxNews, can you name me ANOTHER TV station that has an admittedly conservative viewpoint?

The floor is yours Alon.

Do You Hate Cameron Diaz? Maddox Sure Does.......

..........

Me? Meh. Take her or leave her. She was funny in There's Something About Mary, in a stupid bimbo kinda way. Which makes me wonder how much "acting" she was doing.

Maddox however, author of the Best Page In The Universe, feels quite differently. Ms. Diaz currently has like, this totally rad MTV show called like, ya know like, trippin' yo'.

Maddox doesn't like the show either. A brief excerpt-

"Just when you thought MTV couldn't get more annoying, they give Cameron Diaz her own show called "Trippin':"

Note that the name of the show is "Trippin'" and not "Tripping" because the addition of the letter "g" would not be consistent with the views of MTV's urban youth demographic who tend to frown upon linguistic formalities such as proper enunciation. I mean, proper 'nunciation, yo!

Each episode starts out with me imagining how awesome it would be to punch Cameron Diaz in the face. Nothing too showy, just a quick crack to the jaw to make a believer out of her. I suspect she has a glass jaw like most of the children I fight. Man, just thinking about landing a left hook is giving me a boner. Back to the show though."


The proper definition of the hypocrisy that encompasses this show and Cameron Diaz would be the term-Limousine Liberal.

From Wikpedia-

"Limousine liberal is a derogatory American political term for a wealthy liberal person that expresses a deep concern for the poor, yet does not spend any considerable portion of his/her wealth to help poor people. It can also mean a wealthy person who does in some way want to help the poor, but is oblivious to the costs of doing so. The term was coined by Democratic New York City mayoral hopeful Mario Procaccino to describe Mayor John Lindsay and his well-heeled Manhattan backers. Procaccino criticized Lindsay for favoring unemployed blacks over working-class white ethnics.

In the 1970s in the United States, the term was repeatedly applied to wealthy liberal supporters of open-housing and school busing. In the case of Boston, supporters of busing, such as Senator Edward Kennedy and Judge Arthur Garrity, either sent their own children to private school or lived in affluent suburbs. To residents of poor South Boston, suburbanite Garrity's requirement that their children attend schools with blacks, but refusal to do the same with his own children, seemed like blatant hypocrisy."

My favorite Limousine liberal is probably Arianna Huffington...Here's some of her latest blog posts, sort of...not really... Don't thank me- I'm a giver....

Deep Impact Update: Gettin' Closer...........

..........

Closer, almost there, steady.......steady.......



MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109.
D.C. Agle
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Dolores Beasley/Erica Hupp
NASA Headquarters, Washington

NEWS RELEASE: 2005-074

DEEP IMPACT MISSION STATUS REPORT

Fifty-nine days before going head-to-head with comet Tempel 1, NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft successfully executed the second trajectory correction maneuver of the mission.

The burn further refined the spacecraft's trajectory, or flight path, and also moved forward the expected time of the Independence Day comet encounter so impact would be visible by ground- and space-based observatories.

The 95-second burn - the longest remaining firing of the spacecraft's motors prior to comet encounter -- was executed on May 4. It changed Deep Impact's speed by 18.2 kilometers per hour (11.3 miles per hour).

"Spacecraft performance has been excellent, and this burn was no different," said Rick Grammier, Deep Impact project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "It was a textbook maneuver that placed us right on the money."

Right on the money is where Deep Impact has to be to place a 1-meter-long (39-inch) impactor spacecraft in the path of a comet about as big as the island of Manhattan that is bearing down on it at 37,100 kilometers per hour (6.3 miles per second). At the same time, from a very comet-intimate distance of 500 kilometers (310 miles), a flyby spacecraft will be monitoring the event. This all occurs in the wee hours of July 4 - at 1:52 am Eastern time (July 3, 10:52 p.m. Pacific time) -- at a distance of 133.6-million kilometers (83-million miles) from Earth.

"With this maneuver our friends working the Hubble Space Telescope are assured a ringside seat," said Deep Impact Principal Investigator Dr. Michael A'Hearn of the University of Maryland, College Park. "Their observations, along with space telescopes Chandra and Spitzer and numerous ground-based observatories, will provide us with the most scientific bang for our buck with Deep Impact."


How big would it suck if they missed though, right? I mean, years of development, millions of dollars spent, and you get one shot. Miss it? All that out the window. I sincerely doubt that they will, as the folks at JPL landed on an asteroid back in 2001 with the NEAR Spacecraft, but still.

That would suck, right? Here's to hoping they get this one right though. As an avid asteroid/comet freak, we need to get this one right.

I don't know if you had heard about this, but there is the astrology freak in Russia who is planning to sue NASA for 8.7 Billion rubles for going through with the Deep Impact Mission. Here's the story-

Russian Astrologist Plans to Crash NASA’s Independence Day
Anna Arutunyan
MosNews

Now, the last thing NASA expected was a lawsuit from Russia.

But Russian astrologist Marina Bai gave it a try, and, according to her lawyer Alexander Molokhov, it looks like she may just pull it off. In a lawsuit she filed last month with the Presnensky district court in Moscow, Bai is demanding that NASA call off its $311 million operation, with the spacecraft already in its cruise phase. She also wants 8.7 billion rubles (the ruble equivalent of the entire cost of the mission) in compensation for moral damages.

"The actions of NASA infringe upon my system of spiritual and life values, in particular on the values of every element of creation, upon the unacceptability of barbarically interfering with the natural life of the universe, and the violation of the natural balance of the Universe," Bai said in her claim.

Bai’s initial lawsuit was dismissed by the Presnensky court, but the Moscow City Court took up the appeal and will rule following a hearing scheduled for May 6. And lawyer Alexander Molokhov is convinced the case will move further.

"I have no doubt that the Moscow City Court will cancel the [previous dismissal]," Molokhov told MosNews.

Indeed, the consequences of destroying a comet may include anything from an asteroid shower to disruption to radio waves.

And people wonder why Russia never made it to the moon.

Wonder no more.

It's Time To Play Compare and Contrast!........

.......

David Westin -president of ABC(US) News- writes an editorial in todays Wall Street Journal entitled "Caveat Vendor". In the article Mr Westin discusses the changing environment of news feeds, and the undeniable fact that Newspapers and the Evening News telecasts are slowly losing readers and viewers.

Why is it that fewer people are getting their news from our major newspapers or from the broadcast evening news? It's certainly not because they've lost their value. Even with the declines we're seeing, both newspapers and evening newscasts still remain dominant news providers for many millions of Americans. Eight out of 10 Americans read at least one newspaper over the course of a week; more than half of all adults read a newspaper every day of the week. Nearly 100 million Americans watch at least one broadcast evening news program every week, and about 25 million watch every night.

And I don't think anyone can claim that the drop-off in newspaper circulation or evening news viewership is because of some decline in overall interest in the news. The fact that there are fewer Americans reading the Washington Post or watching World News Tonight with Peter Jennings doesn't tell us anything about the overall appetite of our audiences for news and information. To the contrary, over the past decade we've seen an explosion in the number of news outlets in this country -- from cable news channels to the Internet to more local television covering the news. We wouldn't have had this explosion unless there was an appetite out there for the news and information being provided.

No, the issue isn't that the size of the news pie is shrinking. If anything, it's growing. But it is being sliced into smaller and smaller pieces. And the primary reason is simple: convenience. People don't want to wait for their news, and they certainly don't want it to be out of date. They never have. A generation ago, we saw the virtual death of the evening newspaper in large part because people could get their news in the evening from television, which was putting the news report to bed minutes before broadcast, rather than several hours earlier.

Uh-huh. So the reason you are losing viewers is because people "don't want to wait" for the evening news? Interesting. Despite the fact that ABC and the WSJ have online versions of what they run on the evening news and the daily newspaper, the reason they are losing viewers is because Americans are impatient when it comes to their news sources.

This may be true to a degree, and there is no denying that the internet has greatly expanded the number of sources one can get news from. But there is something that has turned people away from the regular news sources, and this is where we get our compare and contrast for the day.

Perhaps you have heard of the recent scandal from NewsWeek-

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Newsweek magazine on Sunday said it may have erred in a May 9 report that said U.S. interrogators desecrated the Koran at Guantanamo Bay, and apologized to victims of deadly violence sparked by the article.

"May have erred"??? How about- "We really screwed up on this one, and our rush to denigrate the US Armed forces and the Bush administration using false and unverifiable information resulted in the deaths of 16 people and worse, has set back the progress the Administration had made in the Arab world."

What Mr Westin and the folks over at NewsWeek are apparently unable to recognize is that a majority of people elected Bush as our president. And as the press continues its Jihad against Bush and the Military, it is continually pushing away a large segment of the population by rushing to report the slightest offense perpetuated by either group. Our enemies in the Arab world are slicing peoples heads off while they are still alive, and instead of reporting on the numerous examples of these atrocities our own press is making up stories to harm the soldiers and the administrations reputations.

I'm afraid if you read the first article from the WSJ, you will notice that the press is unable to remove its head from its ass at this point, and look the truth in the face.

Roger Kimball has a question for those in the media wondering why they are losing audiences-

Why is it that all the stories you read in Time-Newsweek-The New York Times-The Washington Post-Etc. or see on CNN-The BBC-CBS-NBC-Etc., why is it that all their stories about Iraq, Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay, Donald Rumsfeld, George W. Bush, etc., why is it that the presumption, the prejudice, the predisposition never goes the other way? Why is it that their reporters always assume the worst: that we're doing dirty at Guantanamo Bay, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc., and are primed to pick up and believe any rumor damaging to the United States? Shakespeare knew that rumor was a “pipe/blown by surmises, jealousies, conjectures,” not to be trusted. So why do these journalists, trained to sift evidence, to probe sources, to listen beyond the static of rumor: why do they only do so in one direction, so to speak? Yes, I know that's a self-answering question, at least in part, but it is worth pondering nonetheless.

Mr Westin, what do you think? Could it be more than just the increase in sources? Or are Americans increasingly frustrated by Media Enterprises who seem to continually side with our enemies?

I Don't Usually Do Question Lists......

.........

But this one was easy...from your friends over at It Comes in Pints?

"And No Lies!
What's in your CD player right now?

What book is on your coffee table/night stand?

What's in your VCR?

What's in your DVD?"

My answers-

1.) WES MONTGOMERY- FULL HOUSE - LIVE AT TSUBO, BEREKELY, CALIFORNIA

2.) Silent America -Bill Whittle

3.)Pre Taped Family Guy episodes-

4.)Looney Tunes Box set-

Let's hear yours in the comments. Or not. Whatever you wanna do is fine with me. Either way. It's fine really. No big whoop. Just you know, if you have nothing better to do, than fine. Leave your list. Thanks, that'd be great. Yeah.

Damn. Three hours until I can get me guiness.

Huffingtons Post Versus Huffingtonstoast......

.......

Yes, Arianna Huffington has a group lovefest/blog started up where they all pat each other on the back and think of new and exciting ways to make fun of Bush.

I'm curious as to why people listen to this windbag in the first place. Wasn't she an unabashed Republican conservative until she fleeced her ex-husband and needed to remain in the spotlight to keep paying for her fake accent lessons? Didn't anyone else notice the strange conversion process/bullshit opportunism here? And another thing, with her and Bill Maher- who pays/sleeps with who in order to maintain each others relevance?

All so very confusing.

The one bright spot of Arianna's new adventure is the parody site set up called Huffingtonstoast. Not only does it righteously skewer the Huffington madness, but it sticks a knife in the heart of the egosphere and twists it nice and slow. Many of the jokes will be inside for those unfamiliar with the regular blog communities, but for those that understand them, they are HI-larious.

Two favorites so far are-

I’m Too Sexy for This Faith
May 12th, 2005
not really by Andrew Sullivan

and for the Hunter fans (he's probably laughing at this one too)

The Great Mark Hunt
May 12th, 2005
not really by Hunter S. Thompson

Some classic stuff....

Dumb, Dumber and Pat Buchanan............

...........

Some days you read things on the web that make you chuckle. Some days you read things that make you sad. Some days you read things that give you hope.

Then there are days like today, where you click the mouse and BOOM! Ignorant ramblings jump off the screen and in to your lap. You wonder if the level of idiocy on the internet is ever truly peaked, and then things like this sprout up.

Was World War II Worth It?
By Patrick J Buchanan.

I'm not going to post the whole article because it would foul this blog to have anything but the link above listed. Essentially, Pat's incredulously ignorant thesis for his article are these main points-

"If the West went to war to stop Hitler from dominating Eastern and Central Europe, and Eastern and Central Europe ended up under a tyranny even more odious, as Bush implies, did Western Civilization win the war?"

Well Pat, I think it's safe to say that a guy like Hitler wasn't exactly someone we could trust to stop attempting to take over the world when he reached the UK. We went to war to stop Hitler. Period. He was a ruthless tyrannical dictator bent on worldwide domination. Does anyone doubt if Hitler had the opportunity to use Nuclear weapons that he would have exercised restraint? One of the exhibits at the Air and Space museum in DC is the V2 rockets, and the examples of there success in destroying parts of the UK. How hard is it to imagine Hitler fitting one of those with a nuclear warhead? Perhaps that's why part of the strategy of the Allies during WWII was to get the scientists who might be capable of creating such technology the hell away from Hitler.

Pat goes on, unfortunately-

"When one considers the losses suffered by Britain and France - hundreds of thousands dead, destitution, bankruptcy, the end of the empires -was World War II worth it, considering that Poland and all the other nations east of the Elbe were lost anyway?"

To answer this question I present the following evidence from the blog You Big Mouth You!. It is a letter from Albert Gaynes, an US soldier from the 12th Armored Division who had just liberated a concentration camp, addressed to his lady Debbie.

"30 April 1945
Debbie,

I have seen today the full, complete bestiality of what was one of the Nazis horror concentration camps. I saw for myself with my own eyes the ungodly sight. Debbie, I hope that you will never see what I will see until I die.

Our division overran a concentration camp located in the path of our advance. The last town I visited before this location was Augsburg in southern Germany. It has been several days since its capture when I visited it.

The camp is located about 300 yards off a main road. It's not hidden or out of the way. The shacks resembled the OCS barracks which you saw at Aberdeen - the tar paper ones. But for sleeping quarters the prisoners lived on the dirt floor with nothing but some dirty straw.

But how can I describe the actual inhuman, unbelievable sights.

I saw dead men lying inside of these shacks. I saw them lying in the fields and on the ground.

They were naked. How had they died? They were starved and tortured to death. They were skeletons with skin. Their hideous faces appalled me, but I wandered about almost refusing to believe that I was not dreaming. I saw men with their arms broken into all shapes; men with arms and legs cut off; men with their throats slit; men with their heads cut off; men with their legs twisted and misshapen. I personally saw 50 or 60 of these creatures which once were Human beings. There were some shacks which the Nazis had burned and I saw the charred bodies.

When I had seen all my mind and stomach and heart stand, I left. Others of the company who explored the area found long ditches for graves which were littered with dead bodies which had not even been filled with dirt.

What had these men done to warrant being tortured. (They were tortured; not just starved. The arms and legs and countless other mutilations must have been done while the inmates still lived.)

These men had disagreed with the Nazis. They were political prisoners - Jews, communists, liberals, devout Catholics - anyone who had disagreed with the Nazi political philosophy......"

You can read the rest of the letter and many others like it here...

Read those letters and then tell me why anyone would print what Pat wrote in anything resembling a newspaper or newssite.

Thanks Pat, now please go crawl back under your rock.

Um, What The Hell Is In The Water These Days In China?........

..........

I thought that Chinese men are normally less taller than their western counterparts, no? Not trying to stereotype all asians with this statement, but from what I remember, there was a significant height differential; as in Westerners in general were usually taller.

So first you have Yao Ming. 7'6", 310 lbs. He's a big boy. Also Ranks #3 this year in the NBA in Field-Goal Percentage(0.552). Pretty decent player, size wize a complete freak of nature.

Until I heard about this.

China's rising Sun

He's 7-foot-8 and growing

By Ross Siler , Staff Writer

He stands 7-foot-8, weighs 360 pounds, wears a size 6XL jersey and seems to be the reason camera phones were invented whenever he ventures out in public.
He arrived in the U.S. only three months ago and already is the star of a reality television project, tentatively titled "The Great Tall of China.'

He has the story to be basketball's Sidd Finch, George Plimpton's mythical pitcher from the pages of Sports Illustrated, as well as the next Yao Ming, all at only 21 years of age.



4/29/05--El Segundo-- Chinese center Sun Ming Ming might be the biggest human on the planet, standing 7-foot-8 and weighing 360 pound a potential NBA prospect he will be working out with the Lakers in El Segundo to see if he can cash in on his enormous assets .(Gus Ruelas/LA Daily News)

7-foot-8 and weighing 360?????

Imagine being that tall. No bed is long enough. You have to drive from the backseat of the car, clothes shopping is next to impossible. Shoes? Forget it. Doorways simply aren't made that tall in most places. You'd spend most of your life leaning over. On the plus side, I can't imagine you would have to worry about people messin' with you too much. You could just step on them if they get out of line.

So what the hell is going on in China anyways? They trying to take over the NBA or something?

So I'm Talking To My Mom On Mothers Day......

.........

And the conversation went a little something like this-

Mom: "So, I read in the Boston Globe about the big ole Blog Conference in Nashville this weekend. I'm assuming you went, right?"

Me: "Actually, no. I had planned on it, but changed my mind around Friday night before deciding whether or not to go the big welcome party shindig downtown. For some reason, I just wasn't feelin' it."

Mom: "Explain."

Me: "Lately, I get the feeling that blogs are less about being interesting corners of the WWW, and more about how much money you can get people to pay you to advertise crap on your blog. I don't write this blog to make money, and I certainly don't expect the eight people who read it to start a political movement. I write it because it's fun, and I like voicing my opinions and thoughts to see the reactions from people. I could care less if anyone takes it seriously or not- and I for damn sure am not going to take it too seriously either."

Mom: "I see. I think I understand."

Me: "I don't want to vilify those that do want to turn it in to a source of income either. To each his own, which is what makes blogs interesting in the first place. I just am getting a little tired of people who take themselves WAY TOO FRICKIN' seriously because they write stories on the web. Blogs are an important tool for disseminating news and stories from any angle, as well as opinion thereof but that doesn't mean that Newspapers are about to go out of business either. I just didn't feel like sitting around a room full of people hoping to catch a ride on the hype express. Funny that most people read about blogs- IN NEWSPAPERS."

The satirical site Something Awful had a story that put these things in to perspective a couple of months ago-

Shut Up About Blogs Already

"No matter where you go, no matter what news site you read, no matter what television channel you switch to, no matter what radio station is on, we, the American people, are constantly reminded about this exciting newfangled device called "a blog." The news media has adopted the word "blog" as their "horribly annoying catchphrase of the decade," opting to drone on and on about such an exciting topic nonstop until the Internet decides to take its own life. Blogs turn any average drooling idiot into a seasoned news reporter! Blogs bring the world together and share intimate moments with complete strangers, most of which who are probably masturbating! Blogs allow fair and balanced news reports by offering both sides of the political spectrum equal chances to make up lies and get away with it! Blogs can cure cancer! Blogs will colonize space! Blogs will transform the human race into a hyper intelligent race of androids able to travel through time and shoot laser beams from their eyes! What on Earth can't blogs do? BLOGS BLOGS BLOGS!

The simple reason the term "blog" is on every suit-and-tie-wearing idiot's mouth is simple: the media wants to be hip. It doesn't matter if they're recycling Internet crap which hit its peak popularity in the mid-1990s, it's news to them as long as the other networks have failed to thoroughly beat the term into the ground and pile drive it into the shattered shores of painful overexposure. Hey, have you guys heard about this crazy "Bubba Rubb" dude? What about "all of your bases?" How about this hilarious site called E-Bam's World which posts tons of funny original content like "man falls off motorcycle #742" and "Michael Jackson soundboard #1124"? The news media is perpetually five years behind the Internet's popularity tide, and by the time local news channels begin reporting on the latest uproarious new digital trend sweeping the AIM chatrooms of prepubescent America, we've already suffocated and buried it under a pile of "hello my future girlfriends" and "Tunac Tun Tuns." And don't even get me started on Jimmy Kimmel.

So here's a little tip for all the vigilante 60-year old news reporters prowling websites on their son's dialup AOL account: don't bother. I have yet to discover a single television or radio show able to report on the Internet without spewing the same tired cliched crap every other television and radio show has dutifully reported on for the past six months. I guess it's pretty sad that the Internet, by far the most factually incorrect, illiterate, immature, idiotic form of communication in the history of mankind, seems to be setting the trends which other media outlets vigorously pursue. Please do the world a favor, news media: stop latching onto an Internet concept or pseudo-celebrity and then promoting the hell out of it in a futile attempt to trick the world into thinking you guys are hip to these super-bitchin' techno trends on the k-rad information superhighway. Leave us lonely and pathetic Internet wretches alone with our endless rolling sea of one-hit wonders, tragically unhip anti-celebrities, and cutting edge software which stopped cutting years ago. This crap is bad enough on the Internet; the last thing we need is to see it plastered all over our newspapers and television screens."

Look, I mean no ill will towards those that attended the blog conference, and I am proud that Belmont University stepped up and by all accounts offered an excellent venue to host this conference. I imagine that there were some interesting points discussed, and the sense of camaraderie was surely electrifying, just like it was at the Jackson's Blogger meet up last month. BOO YA!

Just wasn't feelin' it folks, is all.

My one regret?

I wanted to meet John Cox, of Cox and Forkum fame, because I have truckloads of respect for those two and every time I get to have a few beers with Allen Forkum, we tend to get in to some great conversations. That I do regret.

The rest? Meh. To be honest, sleeping in on Saturday just sounded more enjoyable than the conference. Again, I'm not ripping those who attended, and I'm glad that people came out in support and what not. There's just so many times you can have an argument about the "influence of the blogosphere and the effects on the mainstream". After that, it's well, boring to me.

I'll just stay over here in my corner of the web freaking out about asteroids 'n stuff.

Couldn't Say It Better Meeself.....

.......

Stephen Green over at Vodkapundit has some great news for which he is deserving of many congratulations-

Melissa is pregnant. She's due in December. We have a tiny little vodkaswiller on the way, to be delivered undoubtedly by a schnockered stork.

Go and wish him well. They will both be great parents, of that I have little doubt.

However, this great news is buried deep in an article that voices some thoughts that I've had over the last few weeks. In particular about the War against Islamic terrorism, and blogging thereof.-

What exhausts me most – and what on bad days, just absolutely disgusts me - is that after three-plus years, I still haven't gotten a single worthwhile point through to a single person who should be my ally already.

I'm talking, of course, about the Terror War. I'm talking, of course, about people who ought to be on the leading edge of the (for lack of a better phrase) propaganda campaign, but aren't.

But where are my allies?

Much of the pro-choice lobby thinks it's just dandy if half of the Arab world is confined to the abaya. Many of my gay friends have apparently decided that, if some countries want to topple stone walls on top of their local gays, that's not the concern of San Francisco. "Porn for me but not for thee" is the attitude of about every pornographer who has ever expressed an opinion on the Terror War. And the TV and movie moguls make the porn kings look brave by comparison.

Where the hell are my allies?

I've had many of the same thoughts recently, most notably in my attempts to debate the justifications for removing Saddam in the first place. It seems that a case of amnesia has settled over the anti-war crowd in the sense that they forgot that as far back as 1998 the official US government policy was the removal of Saddam Hussein. That Bush was finally able to lay the groundwork for putting our military where our mouth was shouldn't have come as a shock to anyone. How anyone could to this day, after all we know, argue that it was a BAD THING to remove a mass-murdering psychopathic dictator with a penchant for building and using WMD's, supporting and financing Islamic terrorists, and preaching the "wisdom" of Mein Kampf to his followers is beyond me. It seems that there are many people who suffer from a lapse in logic on these grounds.

And just like Stephen, I'm tired of holding peoples hands so they can read the fine print of why we went to war in Iraq in the first place.

For those who did forget, here it is again.

Joint Resolution to Authorize the Use of United States Armed Forces Against Iraq

If one reads that resolution, and believes that the only reason we went to War in Iraq was because of a pile of Sarin gas shells then I can't explain it any better. Fortunately, all but 2 people in congress had that problem, and that resolution passed easily.

Yet another point lost on many people.

Rant over, just kind of wanted to get that one out.

Greatest Portrait of Saturn Yet?............

.........

A decent argument could be made....It does look quite spectacular...

The Greatest Saturn Portrait...Yet
February 24, 2005 Full-Res: PIA06193
While cruising around Saturn in early October 2004, Cassini captured a series of images that have been composed into the largest, most detailed, global natural color view of Saturn and its rings ever made.
This grand mosaic consists of 126 images acquired in a tile-like fashion, covering one end of Saturn's rings to the other and the entire planet in between. The images were taken over the course of two hours on Oct. 6, 2004, while Cassini was approximately 6.3 million kilometers (3.9 million miles) from Saturn. Since the view seen by Cassini during this time changed very little, no re-projection or alteration of any of the images was necessary.

Three images (red, green and blue) were taken of each of 42 locations, or "footprints", across the planet. The full color footprints were put together to produce a mosaic that is 8,888 pixels across and 4,544 pixels tall.

The smallest features seen here are 38 kilometers (24 miles) across. Many of Saturn's splendid features noted previously in single frames taken by Cassini are visible in this one detailed, all-encompassing view: subtle color variations across the rings, the thread-like F ring, ring shadows cast against the blue northern hemisphere, the planet's shadow making its way across the rings to the left, and blue-grey storms in Saturn's southern hemisphere to the right. Tiny Mimas and even smaller Janus are both faintly visible at the lower left.



Looks pretty frickin' cool to me..........

Let's Play- Make Fun Of Annoyingly Egotistical Hollywood Stars!....

......

Why? Because you can, that's why. If you want to read more about Annoyingly Egotistical Hollywood Actors, head on over to the Superficial, and put your drink down.

First up?

Tom Cruise: Star of the single most homo-erotic "supposedly straight" guy movie ever. Top Gun. This movie has the added distinction of ranking #1 at the Best Page in the Universe's list of 5 Shitty Movies Everyone Loves-

"For those of you who don't remember, "Top Gun" was the movie about a bunch of guys who stand around high-fiving each other for about 90 minutes. The movie focuses on some loser named "Maverick" who penetrates deep into the coveted veil of the top gun academy of smug, sexually frustrated aviators. I know many of you reading this will probably think I'm exaggerating when I say this (since I exaggerate everything, except for my manliness which is enviable), but there were no fewer than 500 shower scenes in this movie. The wardrobe for this film must have consisted of a towel, a jump suit, and 50 pages of gay innuendo, because the rest of the time Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer were walking around naked eyeing each other's packages."

Perhaps lately you have heard the our boy Tom has taken a fancy to Katie Holmes, famous actress herself. Famous for what, don't ask cause I don't know, but rest assured she's famous. Tommy-boy don't date no commoners.

Katie, if you're reading this, which I can't imagine why you would be, look at for Tommy-boy, he's a little on the freaky side.

Actor Tom Cruise Opens Up about his Beliefs in the Church of Scientology

Actor Tom Cruise talks about his 20-year membership in the Church of Scientology as he and Director Steven Spielberg discuss the filming of the soon-to-be-released "War of the Worlds." The film, coming out June 29, plays off Americans' fears about terrorism. Spielberg says he has always wanted to direct a "really mean invasion from outer space." Cruise insists, "I just want to help people."

Uh-huh.

Let's go to the tale of the tape, shall we?

Katie and Tom before-



And Kate post kissy-face with Tom-



Blegh.

Let this be a lesson to you girls out there who lust after Hollywood bigshots. Just read what this very smart girl says in the following essay, Why Geeks and Nerds Are Worth It, and tell me I'm wrong.

The saying used to be, "Nice Guys Finish Last".. Well, I'm here to tell you the updated version of this saying-Nice Guys Don't Have Herpes.

And We Don't Give Them Away Either.

The "Brave Iraqi Resistance", and An Update on USAID in IRAQ..........

..........


Via Michael Yon : Online Magazine, who is currently in Iraq taking pictures and I assume researching for whatever he's writing these days, comes this heartbreaking picture along with the story behind it.


Mosul

Major Mark Bieger found this little girl after the car bomb that attacked our guys while kids were crowding around. The soldiers here have been angry and sad for two days. They are angry because the terrorists could just as easily have waited a block or two and attacked the patrol away from the kids. Instead, the suicide bomber drove his car and hit the Stryker when about twenty children were jumping up and down and waving at the soldiers. Major Bieger, I had seen him help rescue some of our guys a week earlier during another big attack, took some of our soldiers and rushed this little girl to our hospital. He wanted her to have American surgeons and not to go to the Iraqi hospital. She didn't make it. I snapped this picture when Major Bieger ran to take her away. He kept stopping to talk with her and hug her.

The soldiers went back to that neighborhood the next day to ask what they could do. The people were very warming and welcomed us into their homes, and many kids were actually running up to say hello and to ask soldiers to shake hands.

Eventually, some insurgents must have realized we were back and started shooting at us. The American soldiers and Iraqi police started engaging the enemy and there was a running gun battle. I saw at least one IP who was shot, but he looked okay and actually smiled at me despite the big bullet hole in his leg. I smiled back.

One thing seems certain; the people in that neighborhood share our feelings about the terrorists. We are going to go back there, and if any terrorists come out, the soldiers hope to find them. Everybody is still very angry that the insurgents attacked us when the kids were around. Their day will come.

"Brave Iraqi Resistance" indeed. Killing innocent children is no way to gain momentum for a political movement Mr Zarqawi. I suggest a less abrasive technique, like suppressing womens rights, look how well that worked out for the Taliban.

Oh wait, never mind.

In other Iraqi news you won't hear about in the newspapers or on the Television, I give you the following report from USAID's operations in Iraq- (Via LGF)

Iraq Reconstruction Accomplishments: A Brief Overview

Working in close cooperation with the Iraq interim government to improve the lives of Iraqis, USAID is devoting substantial resources throughout the country to restore critical infrastructure, support the delivery of healthcare and education services, expand economic opportunities, and improve governance.


1. Restoring Essential Infrastructure
Objective - Rebuild and rehabilitate the vital components of Iraq's infrastructure

Key Accomplishments


-Generated 4,518 MW on October 6, surpassing the pre-war level of 4,400 MW.
-USAID is working to add 827 MW of capacity through new generation and rehabilitation projects.
-Conducting water and sanitation projects worth $183 million that will benefit 14.5 million people.
-Rehabilitating three key bridges (Khazir, Tikrit, and Al Mat) critical to the flow of passengers and goods throughout Iraq. Al Mat Bridge was the first to be completed and reopened March 3.
-Reopened Umm Qasr seaport on June 17. Approximately 40 ships offload cargo per month.
-Completed emergency work to prepare Baghdad and Basrah airports for operations. -More than 5,000 flights have arrived and departed Baghdad International Airport since July, which now averages more than 20 non-military movements per day.
-Restored international calling service and activated more than 140,000 subscriber lines in Baghdad.

And that just part 1. Click the link to learn about-

-Supporting Essential Health and Education Services
-Expanding Economic Opportunity
-Improving Government Efficiency and Accountability
-Humanitarian Assistance

We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming........

The Battle Of Nashville Monument............................

...............

Photo's Courtesy of Miss Nastily.....

Amazing to realize how much history is soaked in to the ground underneath your feet....These are pictures of our rainy day visit to the Battle Of Nashville Monument. It's our Moretti connection.....




It is one of the few Civil War statues that honors the memory of both the Union and Confederate dead. The bronze figure of the young man also stands for Americans from north and south who fought again, now under a common flag of a reunited nation, in the Spanish-American War and in the first World War.

The Monument's original builders understood and interpreted it for their time, and we may do the same for ours. Perhaps its meaning today is that what we have in common as Americans is more important than what divides us into bitterness over issues of race or class or ethnicity or gender.

I congratulate the Tennessee Historical Commission on this occasion, and thank it for restoring this grand old sculpture for the instruction and enjoyment of all our people.

With warm regards,
Don Sundquist




Erected A.D. 1926
By
The Ladies Battlefield Memorial Association
Aided By Contributions From Patriotic Citizens
The State Of Tennessee
And
The County Of Davidson




The Spirit Of Youth Holds In Check Contending Forces That Struggled Here At The Fierce Battle Of Nashville, Dec. 16th, 1864, Sealing Forever The Bond Of Union By The Blood Of Our Heroic Dead Of The World War 1917 - 1918.
A Monument Like This, Standing On Such Memories, Having No Reference To Utilities, Becomes A Sentiment, A Poet, A Prophet, An Orator To Every Passerby





Oh, Valorous Gray, In The Grave Of Your Fate,
Oh, Glorious Blue, In The Long Dead Years,
You Were Sown In Sorrow And Harrowed In Hate,
But Your Harvest Today Is A Nations Tears.
For The Message You Left Through The Land Has Sped
From The Lips Of God To The Heart Of Man:
Let The Past Be Past : Let The Dead Be Dead. --
Now And Forever American!





History of the Battle of Nashville Monument

The monument was originally created in 1927 by Giuseppe Moretti, who was commissioned by the Ladies Battlefield Assocation. In 1974, the obelisk and angel were destroyed by a tornado, and during the 1980s construction of a large interstate highway interchange obstructed the monument to public viewing. The new monument has been completely restored, with the bronze sculpture of the youth and horses refinished, and the marble base, obelisk, and angel reconstructed in granite, which is more durable than the original marble. It is a monument which was conceived, built, and dedicated as a memorial to those brave men and women, from both North and South, who fought so courageously in not only the War Between the States but also in World War I, known as the Great War. It is a monument intended to unify the country, which in the early part of this century and even up until World War I was still badly torn with strife resulting from the Civil War.


"There is a terrible war coming, and these young men who have never seen war cannot wait for it to happen, but I tell you, I wish that I owned every slave in the South, for I would free them all to avoid this war." - Robert E. Lee..........

Hey Look! She Made A Funny!!......

...........


Laura Bush decided to tear GW a new one this weekend, and I am pleased to see our presidential couple has a healthy sense of humor. It included bits about Laura being such a desperate Housewife that she went to a Chippendales with Lynne Cheney, Condi Rice and some of the other Ladies of the Administration- subsequently I'm now going to do my best to remove that mental image from my mind.

Laura Bush: First lady of comedy?
(The complete transcript of Laura Bush's comments from the White House Correspondents' Association dinner, held April 30:)


Some of my personal favorites from the speech-

I am married to the president of the United States, and here's our typical evening: Nine o'clock, Mr. Excitement here is sound asleep, and I'm watching Desperate Housewives— with Lynne Cheney. Ladies and gentlemen, I am a desperate housewife. I mean, if those women on that show think they're desperate, they oughta be with George.....

But George and I are complete opposites — I'm quiet, he's talkative, I'm introverted, he's extroverted, I can pronounce nuclear —

The amazing thing, however, is that George and I were just meant to be. I was the librarian who speant 12 hours a day in the library, yet somehow I met George.

But I'm proud of George. He's learned a lot about ranching since that first year when he tried to milk the horse. What's worse, it was a male horse.


On another note, I made the unfortunate decision to leave Birmingham and the always enjoyable company of Miss Nastily on saturday afternoon to go and help a friend celebrate his birthday. Said friend, who shall remain nameless, ended up in rare form. Said friend then ended up annoying the majority of the people around us, causing me to leave earlier than expected. Said friend also made awkward attempts at hitting on women that other friends were quite obviously already enamored with. The technical term is cock-blocking-

1. cock block
One who prevents another from scoring sexually.
Trudy and Dan frequently had time alone but her cockblocking roommate ruined any chances they had to have sex.
Source: Miss Priss, Apr 13, 2003

Said friend is young so I will cut him some slack. He still has much to learn in the ways of social grace, to put it kindly. Hopefully he comes away from this weekend a year wiser, and puts his new found knowledge to good use. If not, well, good luck to him.

Shoulda stayed in B'Ham.....sigh......oh well. Next time I'll know better.

On a final note, "Hey Miss Nastily- Whaddaya Think about this for Dinner sometime?"

The World’s First All-glass Undersea Restaurant Opens

The Maldives | 15 April marks the day that the first ever all-glass undersea restaurant in the world opens its doors for business at the Hilton Maldives Resort & Spa. Ithaa* will sit five meters below the waves of the Indian Ocean, surrounded by a vibrant coral reef and encased in clear acrylic offering diners 270-degrees of panoramic underwater views.

"We have used aquarium technology to put diners face-to-face with the stunning underwater environment of the Maldives", says Carsten Schieck, General Manager of Hilton Maldives Resort & Spa. "Our guests always comment on being blown away by the colour, clarity, and beauty of the underwater world in the Maldives, so it seemed the perfect idea to build a restaurant where diners can experience fine cuisine and take time to enjoy the views – without ever getting their feet wet."




How cool does that look? I mean, on a scale of one to ten it's like what, a 13?

Very cool view. Don't tell me how much it would cost. Just let me enjoy the fantasy...

Update: Fantasy Over...

Note to readers.....

Do not try and find out how much it would cost to get to the restaurant underwater.

If you feel like torturing yourself, here is the link to the Hilton hotel on Rangali Island with the underwater restaurant.

Hey- it's only $200 a night!

Then go and price flights to the Maldives. Because once you get there, you'll need to spend $230 to get a sea plane to Rangali Island....because they don't have an airport ya see..and then dinner at the restaurant, which again is why I'm going to the Maldives, is $200 per person......

Here's what Orbitz priced them at.....

So Miss Nastily, what say I sell the condo so we can eat underwater?