Tag: miscellaneous

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Just a Reminder:.

(Sorry, Peet! Last one! It’s little!)

The speaker at this year’s Rendezvous dinner will be Major Chuck Ziegenfuss, millblogger author of From My Position… On the Way! Major Zeigenfuss was wounded in June of 2005 shortly after being deployed to Iraq. He lost a finger, and has suffered significant damage to his hands. He was the inspiration behind Project Valour-IT which provides laptop computers with voice-recognition software to wounded and amputee soldiers. He received such a laptop while in Walter-Reed so he could continue to blog during his recovery, and that inspired him to begin the project.

I look forward to meeting the Major very much. Kudos to Mr. Completely for selecting and securing such a fine speaker.

Why Defeatism Matters

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One of those people the Left decries as “economic mercenaries” writes about progress in Iraq, and how it is affected by the enemy loyal opposition here in Congress, the media, and the Left in general in Looking Iraqis in the Eye. I strongly recommend you read the whole thing, but here are a few choice excerpts:

Who can say that the morale of ordinary Iraqis and American soldiers was not damaged when one of the most powerful men in America, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, stood in front of the world and declared, “I believe… that this war is lost.” Who can expect them to ignore the defeatist postures of men and women like John Kerry, Richard Durbin, Edward Kennedy, John Murtha, Jack Reed, John Conyers and Nancy Pelosi? Who can forget the media deification of people like Cindy Sheehan and groups like International A.N.S.W.E.R and Code Pink, who are far more concerned with pushing a radical social and political agenda than they are with bringing peace and stability to Iraq?

Iraqis watch us, and they listen to us. What they hear from some of our politicians, political activists and cultural elites has made many of them reluctant to work with the Americans in bringing security to their country. Many Iraqis are afraid of what they are hearing from the Democratic Party leadership and their media shills – that America will abandon them. And as long as they are afraid, they will be reluctant to seize the initiative in their towns and villages and chase out those who are murdering their families.

That reluctance makes sense, since if the Americans leave now, as the Democrats are urging, the murderers will rule them. And the murderers will hunt down and kill anyone who ever worked with or cooperated with Americans.

I imagine they were none to happy to hear news reports that Barack Hussein Obama said that preventing genocide was not sufficient reason to keep American troops in Iraq. Nor will they be too happy to hear that the Iraqi government has failed to achieve the “benchmarks” set by our Congress in a self-fulfilling prophecy.

It is very easy to pass judgment and make flippant statements on the Iraq situation from the comfort and safety of American soil. It is even easier to push lies and misinformation from the newsroom while nestled amongst those in agreement with your world view, where there is near total disconnect between words written and their effects on the ground in Iraq. But who would push to abandon Iraq if they were face-to-face with Iraqis as I was? Would Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Charles Schumer or Charles Rangel be able to listen to their frightful stories, to smell their fear, to feel their disappointments and still tell them that it would be right to leave them before delivering on our promises? Would you be able to look an Iraqi in the eye while saying that?

Now there’s a question I’d like to hear at the next Democrat debate.

Please, RTWT. Fortunately, most of my audience doesn’t need to hear it. Unfortunately, most people who do will never see it.

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Jenny Masche Isn’t Afraid of Buying Big Jars of Mayonnaise

You know, as I get older my memory is going to hell. I thought for sure I’d written something on the Amy Richards story when it came out, but checking the archives I find that I did not. Let’s get this out of the way right up front: I do not believe we should ban abortions. I think there should be some limits on when abortions should be performed (first trimester) at the discretion of the mother, and past that it should be only for actual medical need. At some point a fetus does become a human being, with all attendant rights. The disagreement is apparently over just when this occurs. I’ve picked my arbitrary point. Others have picked theirs.

But I was, admittedly, appalled at the choice Amy Richards made, and her “reasoning” behind it.

I applaud the choice Jenny Masche and her husband made. Here’s the key quote from the article:

When she had got over the shock of a scan which showed she was carrying six babies, Jenny says she was offered the opportunity of a selective reduction. “Even though we were in a complete state of shock, we just couldn’t do it. How do you choose which three of the little heartbeats to remove?

That question was apparently easy for Amy Richards. Since she was carrying identical twins and a fraternal, the twins got it, and spared Amy the horror of having to buy “big jars of mayonnaise.” Congratulations to the Masche family.

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Cue Islamic Rage Boy!.

(I especially like “I am not Amish!”)

Some 25 newspapers refused to carry last Sunday’s Opus cartoon. According to Eugene Volokh, one reason given was “a sex joke a little stronger than we normally see”. With all due respect: horseshit. As a commenter put it so succinctly:

Let’s not act all innocent here. The Post is not afraid of offending someone, they are afraid of offending someone who might bomb them. Breathed has gleeful drawn caricatures of evangelical Christians for years and the Post has complacently published them, not out bigotry but out of the tacit but wholly accurate calculation that evangelicals, whatever their shortcomings, are not likely to commit terrorist acts.

And remember the South Park Muhammed episode? The one Comedy Central censored? Who haven’t Matt Stone and Trey Parker skewered? No, this is simple cowardice.

Not so, here at TSM. Here’s the offending cartoon in all its glory:

Ah, Steve Dallas is a conflicted man.

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(Audio) Receiver Bleg.

Well, my Technics SA-EX400 receiver has finally given up the ghost. It is no more. It’s a dead parrot.

I need a new one.

There is never a good time to buy new audio equipment – everything changes so fast in that industry. I remember reading some piece of fiction sometime where the main character said something on the order of “I’m not going to start buying compact discs until somebody promises me that this is the LAST change they’re going to make!”

I am not an audiophile. This thing goes into my living room, where the acoustics are about equivalent to a – well, a living room. Not a listening chamber.

Here’s what I hook to it:

A turntable (needs a needle, though.)
A dual cassette deck
A 5-disc CD changer
A VCR
A DVD player (non-HD, but maybe someday)

This receiver is a 5 channel (maybe 5.1, but I don’t recall seeing a subwoofer output. Hey, it’s been a couple of years…) I use the two main channels and the center channel. It has Dolby Pro Logic, which I like, even though I’m not using the extra two channels. Again, maybe some day. It has an AM/FM tuner as well.

My budget is about $300 +/-. Any suggestions?

A Strongly Recommended Read.

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The Peace Racket, in the latest issue of City Journal. The money quote:

George Orwell would have understood the attraction of privileged young people to the Peace Racket. “Turn-the-other-cheek pacifism,” he observed in 1941, “only flourishes among the more prosperous classes, or among workers who have in some way escaped from their own class. The real working class . . . are never really pacifist, because their life teaches them something different. To abjure violence it is necessary to have no experience of it.”

And the final paragraph echoes much of what I have been saying here – and expands on it – since I started this blog.

Like Hell it Was.

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I like George Hill, proprietor of the singular blog Mad Ogre (note to George: permalinks would be nice.) He’s an opinionated SOB, but aren’t we all? I read George because he’s an interesting writer (could use spell check from time to time – OK, a lot) and I enjoy a lot of what he has to say.

But not all. Especially not when I read things like this:

I was asked about the Confederate flag in my banner artwork. Really that was the idea of the artist who put it in there… as to him it expressed the MadOgre.com vibe. To me, it does that too… and a little more. First off, I’m a Son of the South… so let me explain this as best as I can… The Confederate flag is not a symbol of hate as the damn Yankees would have you believe. It was the flag of the Confederate States of America. This is a part of our shared American History, not just a south eastern regional thing… It’s not saying I want to start my own country or that I want to own me some niggers to pick my cotton back at the ol’ plantation. That’s just ignorant stereotyping to even think that when you see the Dixie flag. The way I see it, it’s about Liberty.

OK so far, I’m with him. I think the Confederate flag controversy is far overblown. But then this:

The War of Northern Aggression was, in a nut shell, about States Rights. About the individual states deciding on how to run their own states… about not letting the Federal Government dictate matters that should be local matters.

The “War of Northern Aggression” began when the South captured Ft. Sumter – a Federal Fort. The Civil War was, like it or not, a war over the practice of slavery and the desire to continue it. It was a war that was born in the compromises required to ratify the Constitution in 1788. Yes, “States rights” was the excuse nearly all (especially non-slaveowning) Southerners used to explain their reason for fighting, but slavery was the causus belli.

This is a concept completely alien to so many Americans now. What with George Bush being the controller of everything…

To a large extent this perception is true. It is also true that it is, in part, one result of the war – in which “These United States” became THE United States.

the President of the United States is evidently responsible for your local municipal road maintenance and everything else now. This is BS.

Granted. But this outcome is not entirely due to the Civil War, it’s due in large part to 150+ years of entropy, wherein busybodies from both sides have come to make the Republicans into the “Daddy” party, and the Democrats into the “Mommy” party. And whoever is sitting in the White House is seen by the majority of the population as “the Father of the Nation.” Yes, it’s BS, but it’s the logical outcome of our system of government. “Democracy” is the problem, not the Civil War.

Local folks should manage local matters. Simple as that. Salt Lake City should not have to bow down to the wishes of Boston or San Francisco. And vice-versa. Or in San Fran’s case – vice-vice. Or Washington DC. What does Washington DC know about the Uintah Basin? Those inside the Belt Way have never even been here, yet they have the audacity to tell me what’s best for me and my own here? They are going to tell us what to do and when? I don’t believe that’s right. That’s not the way it is supposed to work.

Also granted. But there it is.

Yes, I believe The South should have won. Many Southern Scholars believe that Slavery would have been ended within a short number of years anyways and The South would have returned to the The Union all on its own.

And many scholars do not. I do not believe the South should have won, not if their goal (as stated) was secession from the Union.

The only difference is that The South would have rejoined on their own terms and not as subjects of The North. I also believe that. The writing was on the wall even then.

This is the part I take strongest exception to, because I don’t believe the South would have rejoined the North. I think the result of the South winning the war would have been eventual disaster on the global scale. Perhaps the best example of this comes from the novels of historian Harry Turtledove. His “Great War” series examines one possible outcome of a Southern victory, and it’s not only plausible, to me it is chillingly convincing.

Of course those of you who get your history strictly from Yankee written books might think otherwise because you guys want to feel justified in your invasion of The South. The War of Northern Aggression seriously damaged The South in ways Yankees don’t and never will understand. The economic scars remain there today. I know it’s hard to understand, but there is more to The South than just grits and Dollywood… even though those are some of the best things.

My parents were born and raised in a coal town in Virginia. I was born in Lexington, Kentucky and raised mostly in Florida. I’m not a DamnYankee, and neither are they. Yes, the loss of the war and the economic predation that occurred during Reconstruction did vast damage to the South, but the preservation of the Union, with all of its warts, was better than letting the nation dissolve as I believe it would have done.

George thinks that the South would have rejoined the North, though from the sound of his jeremiad he’d be just as happy if the South had won and remained separate, or marched into Washington and demanded surrender. (Had that happened – and were the union preserved because of it – I might not be so piqued about this.) But preservation of the Union was what motivated Lincoln, and he was right. The war was, at its root, about whether it was morally right for human beings to own other human beings. If you read the words of the Founders, especially the philosophical justification expressed in the Declaration of Independence, then this nation could not have endured a continuation of the practice of slavery. It took seventy years for the fuse lit by the ratification of the Constitution to ignite the powder keg that was the Civil War, but any other outcome, I believe, would have been disastrous for both America and Europe. The damage caused to the South was tiny compared to what could have happened.

KevinLeave a comment

“No wonder so many women have self-esteem problems.”

Via The Unforgiving Minute comes a link to iWANEX Studio, a “professional photo retouching studio.” The title of this post comes from the link, and I think it’s quite appropriate. Go to the site and click on the “portfolio” link. There are several examples of their work available to review. They are, I will admit, very skillful. Here’s an example of after-and-before:

The effect is much more, er, impressive when you see it as a mouse rollover.

Jeebus. What are we doing to our kids?

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I Would Patent This Idea…

…but I want it spread far and wide.

First, this (via South Park Pundit):

DIY Phone-Activated Camera-Blinding Laser

Now that China’s taken point on sticking surveillance cameras pretty much everywhere, we’re going to start seeing all sorts of fun projects to disable them, all of questionable legality. This impressive setup is a cellphone-controlled laser, which can render a security camera useless from afar. Simply set the laser up pointing at the camera(s) of your choice, then give the connected phone a call when you need to not be seen.

Now, instead of using a low-powered laser sight, use THIS:

Turn a flashlight into a handheld burning laser

DIYer Kipkay extracts the laser from a DVD burner and mounts it in a small flashlight to create a handheld laser burner that can light matches and burst balloons. Hit the play button to see how he did it. This project isn’t for the faint of heart: it involves pretty specialized components and soldering, but that’ll all be worth it when you’re camping with your pals and you start the fire by pointing your homemade handheld laser at the tinder.

That would absolutely be powerful enough to fry the CCD chip in a digital video camera. (Also your retinas and probably your corneas, so don’t torment your cat with one of these.)

Used with a mirror, I bet you could fry security and speed cameras with little to no chance of being identified. This beats the hell out of “necklacing” them.

I wonder how long it will be before they start registering DVD burners in England?

UPDATE: I just checked on the laser module shown in the instructions. This is what I found at the site:

It looks like a lot of people are building the laser part, anyway.

KevinLeave a comment

On the Road Again.

Out of town for a couple of days. Blogging will be light to non-existant.

(P.S.: Blogspot has started “word verification” security, apparently to prevent automated spam-bot blogging. The word for this post was “whmdj” – is that shorthand for “whamdijous”?)