American Warmonger

Review: Megadeth - Greatest Hits - Back To The Start

How does one go about reviewing a "best of" or "greatest hits" album? Doesn't everyone already know what the songs sound like? Sure, you could go on about which songs the band chose. You could even give your opinion on which songs "should have" been on the album. That is not the case with this album. Dave Mustaine did something I don't think I've ever seen before. He let the fans decide what songs were on the album.

Since the fans know best what they want on an album criticizing the song selections would be like explaining how we all voted for the wrong singer in American Idol. It would be like biting the media hand that feeds you. What I can do is give you a run down on the album art, copy quality and pretty much anything else that pops into my head.

Before we get to that we should provide the song list. This list is all-important since the Megadeth fans did it:

1. Holy Wars...The Punishment Due
2. In My Darkest Hour
3. Peace Sells
4. Sweating bullets
5. Angry Again
6. A Tout Le Monde
7. Trust
8. Kill The King
9. Symphony Of Destruction
10. Mechanix
11. Train Of Consequences
12. Wake Up Dead
13. Hangar 18
14. Dread And The Fugitive Mind
15. Skin O' My Teeth
16. She-Wolf
17. Prince Of Darkness

Did everybody get that? They packed seventeen of the best fan-picked songs into one single disk. I was expecting more like 12-15 but 17 of Megadeth's greatest are well worth it. I was impressed with how strong they have stayed throughout the near twenty years in the industry. I can think of another band that started in the same timeframe that wasn't able to keep their sound nearly as well as Megadeth has. They've stood strong through it all.

To get into the history of the band one needs only to look at the band member list for these tracks. Most of the band members in Megadeth tend to be expendable. Only two band members have stayed to full course, Dave Mustaine and David Ellefson. For an example of how rocky the band employment is I provide this list from the CD's liner notes:

Dave Mustaine: vocals, lead & rhythm guitars [all tracks]
Chris Poland: lead & rhythm guitars [tracks3, 10 & 12]
Jeff Young: lead & rhythm guitars [track 2]
Marty Friedman: lead & rhythm guitars [tracks 1, 4-9, 11, 13 & 15-17]
Al Pitrelli: guitars [track 14]
David Ellefson: bass & bkg vocals [all tracks]
Gar Samuelson: drums [tracks 3, 10 & 12]
Chuck Behler: drums [track 2]
Nick Menza: drums [tracks 1, 4-7, 9, 11, 13, 15 & 16]
Jimmy Degrasso: drums [tracks 8, 14 & 17]

A different band member for each one of their albums. I guess this guarantees the lineup will always stay fresh? I'm sure there's probably a long, rock & roll soap opera explanation for each of the rotating band members but I'm not going to speculate as to exactly what transpired. I will speculate that this will probably be the last album you see from Megadeth. From what I hear this album completes the contract with the Capitol Records and, since injuring his arm in 2002, believes it better to pursue other options in the music industry. Of course, I could be mistaken on all of this. It's just rumor-mill stuff.

Anyway, back to the review.

Listening to the album one thing stuck out about it. There was little to no digital remastering done on any of the tracks. Every extra high or low pitch on the original song was in this album. Although I believe they could have stood a bit of volume and warble fixing on a few of the tracks it was entirely for the fans. I would guess that they had this in mind when they decided not to monkey with the original recordings. The people voted on the original songs and that's what they got.

Now, most reviews would end here but I believe there is another factor to reviews that people tend to miss. Album art can be as important as the album itself. I can say without a moment of hesitation that this had great and fitting album art. From the Photoshopped "Megadeth Skull" in the nuke blast on the cover to the beautiful rendition of "the bomb" on the back the album art is not only excellent but sticks to a motif. There is excellent album art throughout.

Reviewing this album was more of a pleasure than a task. It is definitely going to be one of my favorites for a while. It might be an even bigger favorite if the Gigantour Megadeath is headlining were to come to my neck of the woods, but some things just don't come to pass. Maybe they could just swing by Hampton Roads and make it 34 dates instead of 33?

Now I must provide a numerical verdict for this album. You know, that trusty old "out of ten" scale everyone looks for. Well, it's not really a requirement or anything, it's just good to have. Anyway, I give this album and 9.5. The only detractors I found was the album sound had some problems with the first note of some songs and a few others sounded as if they had a slight warble to the volume.

This post is also available at Blogger News Network.

In The Global War On Terror Time Is Telling

The last Islamic terrorist action on American soil was 9-11-2001. Taking the fight to the enemy has and still does prevent casualties on our own shores. It has been said many times since 9-11 that time will tell if Iraq was the right war at the right place at the right time. This has been a "wait and see" scenario for many Americans. It has been two long years since we invaded Iraq and it is time to make an assessment.

Do we have bombed out buildings on the streets of America? Are we afraid of large groups for fear we might be attacked? Are we afraid to fly for fear of terrorists? No, we are no longer afraid. Air travel is pushing ever onward. America is going about its business.

Keep on saying Iraq was a bad plan. Protest the war and believe the price the servicemen and women are paying is in vain. Complain about how the rice pilaf in Gitmo is so cold as to be torturous. Remember your freedom from terror when your wife goes out in a bikini instead of a burkha. Time is telling the tale.

What you see on the television every day has to do with another improvised explosive device and another soldier dead. They are not dying in vain. They are dying to keep terror away from home. They are doing an incredible job. We should be proud of how well they are doing, not calling it an unwinable quagmire. We have been winning since war was declared.

So why do we not hear it on the radio and read it in the newspapers? Why aren't people making announcements that we are safer than we were two years ago? Quite frankly it's because a lack of story tends to wind up as no story at all. Would you listen to a news report stating that JFK International Airport still hasn't been bombed? Probably not. It's easier to look at the active than the passive. Only time is telling the tale.

Something else that was queued up as potentially the "bankruptcy of America" was the national debt and the economy. Our economy plummeted and national debt skyrocketed after 9-11. We were disparaging a very horrible catastrophe and hit rock bottom. Many people felt that we were going to fall into some sort of pit of oblivion. People thought we were going to lose this great nation.

Here we sit, nearly four years later. The jobless rate is at the best it has been since George W. Bush took office in 2000. Although the stock market has not reached the levels it had during the tech boom this is nowhere close to a bear market. We have slowly pulled our economic selves together over time. The best part is when you grow the economy over time there is no inflation. Have you seen any inflation? Neither have I. (Except at the pumps, but that's a different matter.) Time has again told the tale.

Our national debt is still high but is no longer growing. It has stabilized and may even begin to fall, as the economy grows. Since we have the added costs of the war on terrorism it should be blatantly obvious that the slowdown has come from increased tax revenues by reducing the overall taxes. I've explained it before and no one, particularly the liberals out there, believed me when the law of diminishing returns is explained in a tax example. We are now closer to our tax equilibrium point and therefore able to collect more in total tax revenue. Time is providing the economic proof.

Remember these words the next time a short-sited senator, congressman or other individual claims we're in an unwinable war. Reflect on our long realized accomplishments the next time someone erupts about our horrible quagmire in Iraq. Know in your heart that we are winning, and have been winning for nearly four years now. Know that time has told the tale, and nothing else.

This post is also available at Blogger News Network.

Need an ad in a hurry?

Yes, that's what I've been doing this weekend...and last night. Here's the fruits of my labor:

Blogger News Network
Frame 1

Frame 2

Pumping Pixels

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

Reasons For Clothing Rules At School

I don't know about your community, but some of the schools in this area have strict "no baggy pants" rules. The punishment for this is expulsion in some cases. So, what makes them so strict about it? Maybe all those fuddy-duddies just hate that gangsta' rapper fly stylin'. More likely than that is the chance they've seen this video:

VIDEO LINK

NOTE: This might not run normally on your computer. You may need to download the Divx Player/Codec.

There were a total of 12 guns and a clip in the boy's pants. Reason enough to ban baggy pants?

Blogging For Dollars

Harvey over at Bad Example is currently unemployed and convinced that he will wind up with a job that has the word "analyst" in the title. I'd be willing to bet he'd end up in a cube farm. If anybody isn't sure about what sort of hell this guy has in store then you need to watch Office Space one more time.

Long story short he has five (5) months to try and earn a living through blogging. I know all of us have thought about doing this ourselves and we all have different ways we could go about doing it. What I'm asking is that anybody that doesn't know Harvey to start visiting his site regularly, click on any advertising that may come up, buy adspace if it becomes available and offer money making ideas related to the blogsphere.

Help Harvey live the new American dream. Otherwise he'll be stuck in cube farm hell forever. Go offer your support now.

SAVE FERRIS HARVEY!

World of Warcraft - ON SALE!!

Just because I have nothing better to do I decided to peruse the Best Buy weekly ad. Yes, I know. I should have noticed this on Sunday. The game I've been oggling for about six months now has done something I never would have expected until Christmas: It went ON SALE!!

Two locations have it on sale this week:

Best Buy for 39.99
CompUSA for 40.99 (online only)

I have issues with ComUSA and how they do business so it's off to Best Buy for me! (I have a gift card for them anyway.)

If I disapear for a month or two you know what happened...

Summer Fun With Scott and Michael

Now that both trials are over and it's a lazy Summer day I ponder the question about our gossip culumn media. Which trail provided the most entertainment value? Was it Michael Jackson? Scott Peterson? Maybe it's the long belated vindication of the mississippi Burning trial that kept you glued to the television while more relovent news stories were crawling across the bottom of your screen.

Whatever trial it was this is the thread to hash it out. Go for it guys.

Editor's Note: (Like I have an editor, HA!) This is just for the trials. The thread for the missing persons will be coming next week...or the next time I'm having a slow blog day.

Review: Life Of Agony - Broken Valley

So I get this new Life Of Agony DC, Broken Valley. I'm expecting some resemblance to the dark, low and moody sounds more than ten years ago. After this long of a gap I expected them to have tempered that dark, brooding feel with at least some semblance of a tempo. After all, their sophomore effort, Ugly, was a far cry from rhythmic. Ten years can to a lot with a band. Life Of Agony is no exception. This may be the original cast of characters but they are a completely different band now. Gone are the days of dark brooding melodies. This is not the same band, not even close. If you want to hear that sort of music go buy their first album, River Runs Red.

Something of note here is that even though they aren't the same band they don't suck either. In fact, they have a pretty tight sound. No, that's not right. They have an extremely tight sound. From the way they arranged each piece it appeared they had locked themselves up for those ten long years and practiced at reinventing themselves.

This post is also available at Blogger News Network.

The downside of that is that place they locked themselves up in had a full collection of Stone Temple Pilots CDs. On the first listen through of the album I counted about ten times I wanted to take the CD out of the player and verify I wasn't listening to an STP album; a damn good STP album at that.

Maybe it was just me but most of the songs sounded as if they were made to honor a different band. My wife picked up the first one, "It sounds like that alien song". Actually, it was Aerials by System Of A Down that she meant to say. I had to agree with her. Let me compile a list:

1. Love to let you down: Aerials - System of a down
2. Last Cigarette: STP
3. Wicket Ways: Veruca Salt - One Last Time
4. Don't bother: One time a thing occurred to me...wait...wrong STP song.
5. Strung Out: Completely Original
6. Junk Sick: Sugar teat?...more STP
7. The Calm That Disturbs You: Starts off like Robert Trujillo from Metallica then trails off.
8. No One Survives: Pink Floyd - The Wall or Dark Side Of The Moon
9. Justified: Starts off like Zombie from the Cranberries then trails off.
10. The Day He Died: Yet More STP
11. Broken Valley: Something off The Crow soundtrack - It Can't Rain All The Time
12. Room 244: The other LOA

Now that I've dissected the album to the best of my abilities I really hope I didn't spoil it for anybody. In fact, I hope this challenges you to go out and see for yourselves because it's a pretty good album overall. After the third time through the album I found myself starting to sing along to songs 1-6, 10 while I'm trying to critique everything.

What about songs 7-9, 11, 12? Well, the backup vocals ruined 7. Sorry guys, let Keith Caputo sing and the rest of you should stick to your instruments. 8, 12 were fillers. I wish they had turned into songs. Finally, 9 and 11 were just too soft to suit the rest of the album.

The band aside there was one element that stuck out in my mind. The mixing was almost perfect. I say almost because whoever was mixing things seems to have made a slight mistake with vocals clarity. I'm not sure if they needed to push the vocals just a hair louder or if there's some magic clarity knob on the soundboard that got bumped, but it was just slightly muffled. Not too much, though. Mind you, I was singing along to half the album by the end of my reviews so it wasn't that bad.

Okay, I've covered the band, the songs and the mixing. The last major point that usually gets ignored: Album Art. Three things stand out here:

1. This album looks like it was stepped on. That is a completely new concept for me. I would never have thought of doing that. Excellent idea!

2. Whoever did the lettering needed to do something with the Broken Valley words. If you don't look for them the dark, thin, red lines blend into the black background.

3. The behind the CD art is always my favorite. It's like a hidden surprise. What is it you may ask? I'm not telling. That would ruin the surprise. I will say that is was the right piece to put there. Nice choice to whoever thought of it.

Well, that about wraps this review up. If I had to give it a number I'd give it an 8 out of 10. If this had been just on the first half of the CD I'd have given it a 9.5.

As one last note this may be because I haven't really put any CDs in my computer in a while, but if you do be sure to have DirectX 9 installed. There’s some extra stuff in digital.

Testing Pings

Phin, over at Phin's Blog gave me a heads up on the blogrolling pinger. What's a pinger? It's basically a little tool you can use to tell a site that you have updated your blog. If you don't send pings some people will have no idea when you update. Remember, updating is one of the keys to more traffic.

Here's the list he's got running:

http://api.my.yahoo.com/RPC2
http://api.my.yahoo.com/rss/ping
http://bblog.com/ping.php
http://bitacoras.net/ping/
http://blog.goo.ne.jp/XMLRPC
http://blogbot.dk/io/xml-rpc.php
http://blogdb.jp/xmlrpc
http://bulkfeeds.net/rpc
http://coreblog.org/ping/
http://ping.cocolog-nifty.com/xmlrpc
http://ping.rootblog.com/rpc.php
http://ping.syndic8.com/xmlrpc.php
http://ping.weblogs.se/
http://rcs.datashed.net/RPC2
http://rpc.blogrolling.com/pinger/
http://rpc.pingomatic.com/
http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping
http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2
http://topicexchange.com/RPC2
http://www.a2b.cc/setloc/bp.a2b
http://www.bitacoles.net/ping.php
http://www.blogpeople.net/servlet/weblogUpdates
http://www.weblogues.com/RPC/
http://xmlrpc.blogg.de/
http://www.blogroots.com/tb_populi.blog?id=1
http://xping.pubsub.com/ping/

Here's one more that I've been using. I think you have to register your site with these guys but it's been so long now I can't remember.

http://ping.weblogalot.com/rpc.php

Phin has more info over at his site. Good article Phin!

Patriotic Pictures 2

President Bush Visits Travis Air Force Base. Yeah, not all these patriotic pictures are going to be boobies. It's just..well...patriotic pictures.

Nick Queen is a believer.

Yes, we all know he's a Christian. I'm not talking about his faith in God. Today it's about his faith in Durbin. Durbin is supposed to be a well respected guy, right? Go see what Nick believes thanks to Dick.

This one's worthy of the Goomba awards.

Happenings in Mongerville

1. Just dropped in the code for Blogs for McCain's Opponent. I'm sorry, the guy has been doing just a bit too much butt snorkeling with the DNC as of late. Hell, how many commercials does he have out with Kennedy?

2. My article, Dick Durbin - Bad For America was Lisa Iannucci's pick of the week over at Blogcritics. For this coveted award I'd like to thank Dick Durbin for pissing me off enough to lambaste him like that.

3. I believe it's high time I tweaked my template...or my nipples. Not sure which yet. Anyway, I'm planning on taking everything on the left and moving it to the right. I undertand that my layout does not conform to 800x600 screen size so the blind people need to move the page around. This switch would enable easier reading from that perspective.

Security Clearance Hell

Anybody wonder why I only put up a quickie today? No? I'm always sporadic? Gee, thanks for the sympathy.

Has anybody here ever had to get a government clearance and fill out their wonderful paperwork? I don't care who you are, you ain't seen nuthyin' yet.

Tonight's completed security paperwork completed:

- Self EPSQ (SF 86 Digital Form)(10 pages)
- Foreign Born Spouse Statement of Personal History (FBS-SPH)
- Subject Acknowledgement Statement (A one page essay on your spousal relationship)
- Spouse EPSQ (SF 86 Digital Form)(10 pages)

ouch...I think I lost my brain...

Sometimes headlines just write themselves

Just flipping through the news today I caught a glimpse of a headline that just HAD to be a typo. This is too perfect. I'm sorry the guy died and all, but I can't help but laugh:

Cardinal Sin, leader of 'People Power' movement, dies at 76

Can someone else write a comment for this? That name is so much low hanging fruit I can't decide which route I should take with it.

I guess this is a comment contest on a name. Go for it guys!

...I'm probably going to hell for this.

Gingrich Calls for Censuring Durbin

Everyone has heard what Durbin said. I have no need to repeat them here. By now you have read something that has polarized you on a topic once again. Either this whole deal has been "blown out of proportion" and Bush really is a Nazi, or you believe that Dick Durbin's comments were completely unjustified and out of line. To help you understand what his statements really meant let me clarify a few things:

1. Claiming someone's actions are like or similar to a person or persons of vile and infamous note is a direct insult. We are defined by our actions. If you state one's actions are deplorable you have attacked the person.

2. No amount of saying how much you really love and support the troops changes the reality of the knife in their back. I would rather you just kill me and get it over with than shake my hand with your right while you plunge the knife with your left. Call it a misunderstood statement. Claim we're ignoring the substance, but what has been said can have no sugar coating.

3. Making accusations of anything in a congressional forum is the same as filing a lawsuit. You have made an official declaration and better have the facts to back up your story, not just a report in which you can't even tell if it was a statement from an FBI agent or if it was just a report from an FBI agent. Doesn’t an FBI agent write all the reports from the prisoners? When an official speaks in a congressional forum he speaks to the world that something is fact and has tangible evidence to back up your claim.

This post is also available at Blogger News Network.

This being said you should be able to ascertain this writer's opinion on this particular issue. I feel that Dick Durbin made a statement in an official capacity that stated torture similar to that which happened by the most heinous of persons has gone on at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Not just that, but you make the official claim that it was not only authorized, but directed by the senior most official of the United States.

Isn't someone going to do something? Isn't someone going to stand up and let people know they need to stop name calling? When is it going to stop? How far can a congressman go before someone throws the foul flag? When is enough enough?

Today a small group of senators have taken a stand to claim their absolution from Durbin's statements. They are asking for congress to make a declaration that Durbin's statements do not speak for the whole of congress but his voice alone. So, without further blathering, let the quotes begin:

"He should certainly apologize," Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press." "There's no comparison whatsoever."

Yes, McCain asked for an apology from Durbin. I'm not defending him, but the quote is there....of course, this quote is there too:

I think on balance the argument has got to be, the weight of evidence has got to be that we've got to adjudicate these people's cases, and that means that if it means releasing some of them, you'll have to release them. Look, even Adolf Eichmann got a trial. We are signatories to numerous agreements on human rights against torture, universal declaration on human rights, et cetera. So that means that we have to do something with these people, and I hope we can move that process forward very soon.

I have two things to say:
1. When is McCain going to officially switch parties?
2. I would like to officially join Blogs for McCain's Opponent now.

Lets see what Newt Gingrich had to say:

And in an appearance on "Fox News Sunday," Gingrich argued that Durbin's words had damaged the U.S. abroad. On the English-language website of the Arabic news channel Al Jazeera, an article about Durbin's remarks was listed Sunday as one of the site's most-frequently e-mailed items.

"You cannot … have a public official quoted throughout the world by our enemies describing the U.S. in these terms," Gingrich said. "It puts every young American in uniform at risk."

So Al-Jazeera's most e-mailed comment on Sunday was Durbin's quote. Sort of tells me that he caused a stir in the terrorist ranks. Anyway, that's a fight for a different post. Let's get back to censure:

Here's the link to the document Newt was passing around the senate on Friday: LINK

By his statements equating American treatment of suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay with the behavior of the evil regimes of Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and Pol Pot’s Cambodia, Senator Richard Durbin has dishonored the United States and the entire U.S. Senate. Only by a vote to censure Senator Durbin for his conduct can the U.S. Senate restore its dignity and defend American honor.

Senator Durbin’s comparison, sadly, is despicable.

Now, many people have misunderstood the meaning of censure. It is not the removal of someone from power. They are not trying to boot him from Congress. It does not even mean that the person loses any seniority. It means that the Senate, as a whole, is disavowing themselves from the disparaging statement that was made. If Durbin felt compelled to, he could sign the censure himself. In fact, if it went to censure and he signed it would be the ultimate official apology money could buy. Yes, that would be cool but lets face facts. It's not going to happen.

As Gingrich has said, this vote would also establish a character reference of where people stand in Congress. It should not be a partisan issue. It should be a bi-partisan issue. Whether you believe Durbin's words were misunderstood or not, the true censuring is against the belief that our men and women in the United States are no better Nazi in a death camp.

Patriotic Pictures

I guess I'm starting my own version of "Sorta Blogless Sunday"

Flushing of the flag at Gitmo!

No, this is not an example of lack of discipline in the ranks. This is an example of lack of common sense in the United States. Let's start with the Qu'ran desecrations.

There have been five instances where a U.S. service member has accidentally desecrated a Qu'ran at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. All five of those times the individual in question was severely punished and either reassigned or kicked out of the military. Just getting the boot from the military doesn't seem like that big of a deal until you realize that any company with a contract to be on a base has to sign an agreement that states they will hire no one that was granted a less than honorable discharge. (It's about the same thing as the "gas with oily discharge" you get from Olestra.) Those that have been terminated from Gitmo have severely limited their careers. But I digress, that's not really what this whole thing is about. It's about treating a material item as something greater than itself. For many it's about respecting a culture. The Qu'ran is supposed to be the icon of that culture.

Lets take a look at this picture:

This is an image of Hindus protesting the destruction of those two giant Buddhas in Afghanistan. The book they're turning to confetti is none other than the Qu'ran. No one went to war over it.

How about this one from Korea:
I can't find the image of the Qu'ran burning in South Korea after they had a guy beheaded. If anybody out there still has a copy I'd be much obliged.

Okay, the point here is that the Qu'ran gets desecrated daily. It's no big deal, especially when it's unintentional. Just ask the Wahabists when they burn down a stack of Qu'rans:

Sepahi Sahaba and Wahabis attack the holy Mousque. This is how they claim to be Muslim, to attack children, female people's properties and even the place Islamic prayers.

As far as I can see the Qu'ran is a symbol of the Islamic peoples. They are also a symbol of terrorists. When I heard about the Qu'ran flushing truth stretch and what occurred I was tempted to flush a Qu'ran myself. Then I came to my senses and realized I would be paying a pretty hefty plumbing bill if it did this.

So why am I ranting about this now? Well, it seems that congress is trying to pass that flag burning law again. It appears they want to make it illegal to burn the flag. I say we should only make it illegal to flush them. C'mon, can't you see what happens when we try to flush an item of importance? People riot in the streets and kill people. No one dies when you burn a flag, only when you flush something to people seem to die.

No, I am not serious about this. I don't believe any of these items should be burned but I respect one's right to burn an item of extreme importance in effigy. In my eyes it's protected under the same category as other forms of art. Do we arrest the painter for painting Bush like a monkey? Did we fine political comics for all of those truly tasteless "blue-dress" jabs? No, they're protected as free speech.

My father once asked me whether burning a flag was speech or action. If you burn a random article you are doing nothing more than making an action. If you burn something of importance you have just made a statement. That is speech.

Let me give you a few more examples of this "active speech". Someone doesn't like the way congress is raping the constitution so they buy a copy of the constitution and burn it in protest. That is speech. Someone urinates in a jar and dumps a crucifix in it, then calls it "Piss Christ". As repulsive as it may be it is protected as speech. (Just for the record, I know that this little piece was paid for by the government and that would cause me to enact the Constitution burning if I was one of those people that burned things.) Bible burnings, Qu'ran burnings and even Torah burnings are free speech because you are trying to send the message of disdain and/or anger, rage, disappointment, disgust, etc.

Sure I could do something a little less drastic to try and make my point. Would it put me on national news to hold a bake sale against Judaism? (No offense to Jews. I'm just giving this as an example.) I might get a five second blurb on Good Morning America if I raised over $10,000. Someone would roll their eyes and we'd be on the next segment. If you burned a symbol of importance you have just given yourself national and sometimes international coverage. If you were an American you'd get interviews, the blogosphere would talk about you for weeks. People would devote whole sites both for and against you. It might even net you a book deal for your cause.

To end this I'd like to quote a poem I heard today so we can all have a little perspective:

IT IS THE SOLDIER

It is the Soldier, not the minister
Who has given us freedom of religion.

It is the Soldier, not the reporter
Who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the Soldier, not the poet
Who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the Soldier, not the campus organizer
Who has given us freedom to protest.

It is the Soldier, not the lawyer
Who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the Soldier, not the politician
Who has given us the right to vote.

It is the Soldier who salutes the flag,
Who serves beneath the flag,
And whose coffin is draped by the flag,
Who allows the protester to burn the flag.

(© Charles M. Province)

Taken From: Babalu Blog

Ken from The Squamata Report was kind enough to find Zell Miller's 2004 speech where he uses a piece of the above poem. LINK

Dick Durbin - Bad For America

I'm sure you have heard the accusations by Senator Dick Durbin (D) that Guantanamo Bay is like a Soviet Gulag or Nazi Germany. He even likened the situation to Pol Pot's regime in Vitnam. He stated today, after several military support groups went into action, that:

...the comments were intended to compare "torture" at Guantanamo to torture during the Nazi regime, not to equate Americans at the base to the Nazis and similar groups...

Excuse me? You're comparing the actions of marines to the actions of Nazis...but not comparing the people. Is anyone else having a hard time wrapping their brain around this one? They act like Nazis but aren't being compared to Nazis? Am I the only one that spots the inconsistencies here? Lets go to the original quote, maybe it will explain things better:

...those actions could have been done "by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime – Pol Pol or others – that had no concern for human beings."

Nope, just as disturbing as when I first heard it. Just as pointed against our troops. Just as destructive towards America in general. It's his right to spout off nonsense like this, but we sure as hell don't have to like it. In fact, this act coupled with a few others borders on the treasonous. No, it's not outright treason, but when you put everything together and see the pattern it starts to get close.

Dick Durbin, it turns out, has a history of attacking just about everything Bush puts on the table and some things he has absolutely no bearing on. From Gitmo, to appointments, to even missile defense, Durbin has been riding the president's backside with no regard for who it hurts, as long as it goes against the president. Don't believe me? Well then, let me plead my case...like you could stop me...HA!

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Linking to this open post at Mudville Gazette.
Since it's an open post about "A toast to our soldiers" here's a Durbin related toast:
May Durbin and his ilk learn what real torture is about.

In 2001 Bush spoke about ramping up missile defense. Well, Durbin didn't like Bush back then. Here's Durbin's take on Bush' plan for missile defense:

The President's position is an invitation to an arms race. It would violate existing arms control treaties and ask us to defend our nation with a technology that some of our nation's best scientists do not believe is reliable.

Maybe it's just me bu it sounds like he's likening the plan to the cold war with the USSR. I guess there's a history with making accusations of grandiose proportions, particularly if they attack Bush.

If you remember, Durbin was one of the Democrats that initially questioned Gonzales before the senate voted him in. Basically, he didn't really give him a question but more of a scolding. He didn't really like his answer about the Abu Ghraib scandal:

I respectfully disagree. Blaming Abu Ghraib completely on renegade night-shift soldiers ignores critical decisions on torture policies made at the highest levels of our government – decisions that Mr. Gonzales played a major role in making. If we are going to hold those at the lowest levels accountable, it is only fair to hold those at the highest levels accountable.

He then went on to attack half of the administration for alleged abuses of Geneva Conventions that had absolutely nothing to do with Gonzales. He was grandstanding and trying to give the administration a black eye. He was taking a dig at Bush while causing Gonzales harm. Rather unfortunate too, considering he had called Gonzales "an impressive individual with a record of achievement and an inspiring personal story" not moments before.

Of course, Gonzales isn't the only Bush appointee he has problems with. Bolton caught his ire just as bad, if not worse than Gonzales got it. Just because Bolton is a roughneck doesn't make him a bad candidate for the U.N. It definitely doesn't make him milquetoast, that's for sure. Anyway, Durbin has a problem with his hard charging style:

“John Bolton has repeatedly demeaned the United Nations; he boasts that he has worked against non-proliferation; he has brow-beaten intelligence analysts who would not doctor their findings to suit his political preferences; and he dangerously inflated assessments of weapons of mass destruction.
...
What a contrast to suggest John Bolton should succeed John Danforth as our man at the U.N. Danforth, a statesman and a well-spoken public figure, cleared the Senate unanimously. John Bolton is embroiled in a controversy of his own making over his suspect qualifications.

Funny, I thought it was the liberal senators that brought up some improvable accusations that made his reputation suspect. Silly me, I guess it's the fact that he's a mean guy. Does that mean we should ban mean guys from working in Washington now?

Stem cell research is something I disagree with the president on. I think they should be readily available. I also understand that he has religious convictions about using embryos. I can respect that even though I don't agree with it. What does Durbin think:

The current policy, which limits federal funding only to embryonic stem cells that were derived by August 9, 2001 when Bush first announced his policy, is severely limiting America’s ability to find the treatments and cures for the deadly and disabling diseases, such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis and spinal cord injury, that affect more than 100 million Americans

Pop quiz!
Name me one of the above diseases that stem cells have actually helped? Anybody? Anybody? You in the back. Yeah, you! The guy laughing. What's that? None? Is that your final answer? Need to phone a friend? Okay, good. You're right! Congratulations!

To date, there has been absolutely no breakthrough, major stride or even a baby step made with embryonic stem cells. I am not discounting that the can potentially be used to assist in these diseases. I am discounting the myth that stem cells will be a miracle cure just as long as Bush gives the scientists free reign over what many people consider life.

We've all seen the gas prices lately. They suck, pure and simple. The Democrats are mad that Bush won't release some of our oil reserves for this emergency. Is it an emergency? Are we going bankrupt as a nation because our gas is over two dollars a gallon? Well, it turns out that even though we'd like to see lower gas prices we're still surviving. It doesn't appear to have slowed anybody down in the least. If anything it has helped us remove ourselves from the burden of oil. Today there is a back order for ALL hybrid electric cars on the market and last year's car of the year was the Toyota Prius, hands down. Of course, that's not good enough for Durbin. We must release our oil reserves:

“President Bush is looking the other way while consumers in Illinois are paying the price for the Administration’s inaction. Opening the Strategic Reserve now can bring about price relief to hard working families in Illinois and across the country.”

The rest of the article points out this little factoid:

In the fall of 2000, the Clinton Administration announced a swap of 30 million barrels over 30 days, causing crude oil prices to quickly fall by over $6 per barrel and wholesale gasoline prices to fall $0.14 per gallon.

So what does a release really home to gain? 14 cents a gallon? The marked fluctuates more than that in a WEEK! If releasing 30 million barrels of oil will only give us 14 measly cents and drop the price of sweet, light crude a meager six bucks no thank you Mr. Durbin. I'd veto that bill any day of the week.

Medicaid is something many people take seriously. Many people depend on it to survive. Bush decided on Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt to take full control of the issue. That wasn't good enough for Senator Durbin. He wanted assurance from Bush that he would force the 15 person committee to be fully bipartisan:

Medicaid is in need of independent and bipartisan review to ensure the long-term viability of this critical health care program, and the American people deserve more from the Bush Administration than a stacked commission that will lock out important voices in this debate.

Good show Dick. Way to tell Bush where to stick it. I'm sure appointing the Health and Human Services Secretary to select a panel for the issue isreally stacking the deck. Does Durbin ever look at this stuff before he says it?

Something I don't fully agree with is increasing the minimum wage. It seems to me that very few people are effected by it and most places, unless you're fast food, pay you more than minimum anyway. Many people believe other than me and that's completely fine. It's a matter of opinion. Durbin is one of those people and that's fine too. He believes it's time to increase the minimum wage. Maybe he's right. Let's see what he has to say about the minimum wage:

“It is a matter of priorities. Republicans are breaking the rules of the Senate to confirm extremist judges instead of using the rules of the Senate to help hard working families.”

Um...Senator Durbin...that argument is over and done with. We've moved on to the minimum wage now. Maybe you could obsess a little be less.

Another bill the good Senator Durbin was hard at work on would allow for reservists in the federal government to get paid by the government to cover what they weren't getting paid when they went active. This is basically a bill that would make government service employees eligible to receive a stipend to cover costs in the case of being recalled to active duty. It was voted on and passed bipartisanly in the senate but didn't make it past the conference committee. You have to face facts, some things just don't make it into a budget; You have to pay for other things. Durbin was peaved:

“That’s why it is so troubling to me that, for the third time, a bipartisan measure to correct this inequity was stripped from the final legislation behind closed doors in conference committee.”

“The Bush Administration opposed the inclusion of the Reservist Pay Security in the supplemental appropriations bill, saying it would ‘have a negative impact on morale and unit cohesion.’ If that is the case, why would the Defense Department’s own website praise employers that make up the pay difference for their workers?”

Can someone explain to me how Bush is in charge of a conference committee? Is there some strange loophole in the checks and balances that allows the president to go into a closed-door session and tweak a few things he doesn't like? I guess I missed that one. It really sounds like Senator Durbin doesn't like Bush to me. He blames him for nearly everything. I'd be willing to bet that if he stubbed his toe he'd say it was Bush's fault..

This is just a culmination of precursors to the big one that happened this Tuesday. This Tuesday he made the statement that put him over the top. Before Tuesday all he was doing was disliking the president. Tuesday was the day he hurt America. He compared the minds of our troops to the minds of true torturers. In his eyes they had become Pol Pots and controllers of an evil American Gulag. Tuesday they became Nazis acting on the policies of the evil General Bushitler:

If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime -- Pol Pot or others -- that had no concern for human beings. Sadly, that is not the case. This was the action of Americans in the treatment of their prisoners.

Fantastic Senator Durbin. Our American troops are no better than some mad regime, no better than Nazis, no better than Soviets in their Gulags. Your words bring be to tears senator. It truly pains me to see a man so consumed with hatred for one man would condemn his military bretheren. So what do you claim was as ruthless as the ovens? What could be as evil as the experiments? What could be as damning as the slave labor found in Soviet Gulags?

On a couple of occasions, I entered interview rooms to find a detainee chained hand and foot in a fetal position to the floor, with no chair, food or water. Most times they urinated or defecated on themselves, and had been left there for 18-24 hours or more. On one occasion, the air conditioning had been turned down so far and the temperature was so cold in the room, that the barefooted detainee was shaking with cold....On another occasion, the [air conditioner] had been turned off, making the temperature in the unventilated room well over 100 degrees. The detainee was almost unconscious on the floor, with a pile of hair next to him. He had apparently been literally pulling his hair out throughout the night. On another occasion, not only was the temperature unbearably hot, but extremely loud rap music was being played in the room, and had been since the day before, with the detainee chained hand and foot in the fetal position on the tile floor.

God forbid we subject them to extremely loud rap music. Oops, sorry, Allah forbids. Lets see, Rap music, a cold room, chained in the fetal position for a day (not bad if you're laying down, no circulation is lost) and extremely hot conditions over 100 degrees (isn't that a normal day in Iraq? aren't our soldiers wearing Kevlar in 120+). Sure, that's absolute torture of the worst degree. Maybe we should show the good Senator some videos of what real torture is? Maybe he's just lost his mind?

This should be plenty to validate my concerns about Senator Dick Durbin's motives against the Bush administration. It gives me the impression that he as either lost his mind or become consumed with hate and rage for the president. It's to the point that he may be effecting his own beneficial causes in the process.

You see, Durbin is not completely a bad guy. I could have combed his record and come up with just as many statements about how he's trying to help the troops. There are at least three separate acts (Veteran's Disability Benefits and the Welcome Home G.I. Bill) just this year that he has been one of the major influences on. This has to be understood to really feel the full impact of what he said about the troops at Gitmo.

It is my opinion that Dick Durbin really does love the troops. It is also my opinion that Durbin hates Bush and the Republicans every bit as much as Howard Dean does. Maybe he's just trying to oust Dean as the head of the DNC? I really think what has happened is that Durbin hates conservatives to such a point as to effect his cause for the troops.

Have you ever seen someone so blinded with hate and rage that they would hurt their own family members just for a shot at hurting the person that made them mad? For me this is what is taking place with Senator Durbin. He has lost his focus and is now destroying his own cause.

PETA - Bad For Animals!

Yes, that's right. PETA is bad for animals. There is much documentation on this and another piece has just come to the surface:

Two on PETA staff charged with cruelty to animals

So here's the rules. Write something factual about what PETA has done to undermine the very cause they are working for. Maybe it's their huge meatlockers you want to rant about. Maybe it's the baby seals they painted the big red X on so the polar bears could spot them better. Maybe it's that they euthanize more animals than any other group. Whatever your bone to pick please link it here. If I get more than 10 bursters I'll start a blogroll that everyone can use at their discretion.

To date There are 8 people who have written on this blogburst. Trackback, leave a comment or e-mail me to be included.

PETA Is Bad For Animals Blogbursters:

Mat Tech - Included in WTF Friday Rant
Editors In Pajamas

TMH's Bacon Bits

Cao's Blog

NIF

Cranial Cavity

The MaryHunter at The Wide Awakes

MoonBattery

Have YOU posted on this yet?

An Absolutely Unbiased, Balanced Story of the Creation

This was sent to me from my cousin in Washington State. I think you're gonna love it, left OR right.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once upon a time, God was missing for six days. Eventually, Michael the archangel found him, resting on the seventh day.

He inquired of God, "Where have you been?"

God sighed a deep sigh of satisfaction, and proudly pointed downwards through the clouds. "Look, Michael. Look what I've made."

Archangel Michael looked puzzled, and said, "What is it?"

"It's a planet," replied God, "and I've put Life on it. I'm going to
call it Earth and it's going to be a great place of balance."

"Balance?" Inquired Michael, still confused.

God explained, pointing to different parts of earth . . .

"For example, northern Europe will be a place of great opportunity and wealth, while southern Europe is going to be poor -

Over there I've placed a continent of white people, and over there is a Continent of black people," God continued pointing to different
countries.

"This one will be extremely hot, while this one will be very cold and covered in ice."

The Archangel, impressed by God's work, then pointed to a land mass And said, "What's that one?"

"Ah," said God.. "That's Washington State, the most glorious place on earth. There are beautiful streams, hills, and forests. The people from Washington State are going to be handsome, modest, intelligent and humorous, and
they are going to be found traveling the world. They will be extremely sociable, hardworking, and high-achieving, and they will be known throughout the world as diplomats, and carriers of peace."

Michael gasped in wonder and admiration, but then proclaimed, "What
about balance, God? You said there would be balance!"

God smiled, "Wait until you see the idiots I put in the other
Washington."

Boobies from the technical standpoint

Earlier today the subject was broached among my friends why technical guys, like myself, usually end up on the subject of boobies. It was argued that the boobie was not a technical thing, just two anatomical pieces for flesh that bring men to stupidity. Well, I must wholeheartedly disagree. Boobies are much more than something to keep your bra from sagging. They are quite possibly the most intricate part of the universe.

Women don't seem to understand this. Well, maybe lesbians do, but that's a different matter all together. Women tend to think of them more like a hassle than a blessing. It bothers them to have these two hunks of fat hanging off their chest. Well ladies, you have totally misunderstood you bodies. You boobies are quite possibly the most technical thing us guys could possibly talk about.

Let me explain:

Okay ladies. Boobies ARE technical. Allow me to explain.

A set of boobies is not just a pair of tits that hang off your chest. To say they come in all shapes and sizes does no justice to these treats of womanhood either. Yes, size and shape are sights to behold; a small perky "Hershey’s Kiss" is just as beautiful as the full, voluptuous "ripe pear". But as I said, that is just one aspect of the boobie.

There are smells in the area of the chest and particularly with the areola and nipple that exist nowhere else on a woman's body. It has that sweet and fragrant smell that a woman's freshly cleaned hair can only HINT at. (Which explains hair a bit.) Even the underside of the boobie has a unique smell unto itself. It's usually a bit more pungent and hints of the smells you will encounter below the waistline if you're fortunate.

Next we delve into texture and color. I put these two together because they deal with one another in a large part. For example, an Asian or Black woman can have extremely firm boobies and it feels right. They're pliable, not rock hard. They will bounce as if to say, "I am supple and ripe like a firm grape". A full figured white woman's boobie, more like the pear in shape generally but not required, has a lighter, milky colour (Yes, I used the English word.) and a texture that welcomes you in with it's soft and milky tissue. It cries "mother's milk". (but not in the incestuous way.) It says that this person is a mother and needs to be made love to with that in mind.

Last, we explore taste. I really saved the best for last. With taste you get not only the flavours that coincide with the aroma, you get a level of texture you never knew about. It's a texture of interaction. The soft caress of a boobie is simple and plain to see. The boobie gets slightly firmer, and the nipple and areola tighten and get those little goose bumps. To taste that happening is like tasting the boobie ripen to full succulence. It is really quite exquisite.

The flavor is not just a culmination of the aroma and texture. It is more than that. It's like exploring the many different varieties of a rare, to medium rare steak. (And that explains why men like steak so much.) The boobie has the same fleshy, slightly salty but well seasoned taste that comes from the best steak you have ever eaten. To lick, suck and yes, even bite the boobie, but never chew. Chewing destroys the taste of the boobie as well as the taste of the steak, don't do it. (Have you ever noticed the only bite of a steak that really matters is the very first one? It's like taking a soft bite of a boobie.)

So, to answer the question, the boobie is a VERY technical thing to behold. You should be proud of them, not shun them. Let your boyfreinds or husbands dwell on them with the fervor and delight they gain. You will now know they're not just being pigs, but exploring your universe.

Michael Jackson - Guilty Until Proven Innocent

FLAME WARNING.

What the hell country is this? Should we just get rid of the court system and go back to public lynching? What is the standard for this crap now? Does it mean that if the MSM convicts you of a crime then the courts must make reality match what some pundit claims to be the truth? That's complete crap. You all have convicted people through mob justice before the truth or even a half-truth is known.

Lets start this off at the beginning and ain't a one of you going to like the whole thing.

Can anyone explain to me how Bush is guilty of war crimes? Can anyone show me a shred of realistic evidence that proves he is an evil Bushitler that put out an order to specifically torture prisoners? Better yet, just prove he engineered the evidence for war. You can't can you? You've had your head so far up the ass of what some guy told you was the truth that you followed along like a perfect little lemming. You don't get an opinion. You sold your opinion for some magic beans and no beanstalk ever came. Shut your cake eater and wait for the evidence, cause you ain't got it yet.

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Michael Schiavo is the most evil person on the planet for what he did to that poor, poor woman. He beat her up and put her in the hospice with the sole purpose of murdering her. Really? Did you ever cross correlate a few of your empirical facts of the case? Ever notice that the seven-year mark, the year Michael did the switch on euthanasia was the same year it was legalized down in Florida? To be fair I should also point out that Michael stated several times to several people, "I had no idea" what she would want in a situation like this. No one EVER got all the facts in that case and no one probably ever will. Call it an activist judge if you want. I'll call it a tough decision where NO ONE comes out ahead.

Lets go back a few years to O.J. Simpson. Did the glove fit? Did it matter? He was tried and convicted of murder by the media before he ever set foot inside his Bronco. Go ahead and explain how all of the evidence was mounted against him and how he's guilty as sin because you saw ALL the evidence on national television, direct to you from CNN. A court made a decision. They called him innocent. Was he? I don't know. You don't know either. You just THINK you know. You weren't one of the jurors in the case. Neither was I. All we have are the bits and pieces that Ted Coppell fed us. We ain't got jack.

Robert Blake's wife, to hear many people call it, was the biggest witch spelled with a B that the world has ever known. I guess that means Blake did it. He's a murderer because he didn't like his wife. He's a murderer because he was in the area. It’s funny that there was no witness that saw the shooting. Wouldn't it be sort of a gaping hole? All right, lets do the math here. Blake is at a restaurant. He steps out onto a sidewalk in broad daylight. He caps his wife. he then walks calmly over to a dumpster and drops off his gun. No one saw a damn thing. No witnesses at a popular restaurant in the middle of the day. Maybe there weren't? How would I know? Was I there? Were you there? You don't know for a fact one-way or the other. Shawn Hannity does though! He knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that Robert Blake is a cold-blooded murderer, and people believe him.

Now lets look at the most recent public lynching, Michael Jackson. Quite frankly, this guy has never had a normal life. He grew up with stardom and as a result never fully grew up in the head. He's had two wives. I'd be willing to bet he's even had sex with either one or both of them. He has two children that he loves and tries to keep out of the media spotlight. He has a pet chimp named bubbles. It's not a dog, but hey, there's a lot of people out there with snakes and tigers and all manner of animal. A chimp? That isn’t weird. That's just wealthy.

One of Michael Jackson's big charity deals is the time he spends with terminally ill children. He lets pre-teen children sleep in his bed...while he sleeps on the couch...or so he says. Doesn't his being a weirdo make him a pedophile? Because he's around young children he has to be diddling them, right? Well, maybe just to little boys. It doesn't matter that a jury found him not guilty of ten separate charges. They were just stupid people. What could they know? They didn't have the help of the media pundits to guide their minds. They had to rely on the facts of the case. They couldn't possibly make an educated decision by hearing the direct testimony without the media filter put on. Or could they?

It's the court's fault he got off. The system is corrupt. It's unconstitutional. It's a liberal/conservative activist judge. They jury was bought off. The prosecutor was a failure. Insert lame excuse for why the guy you thought was guilty went free here.

Is this sinking through for anybody? The media does not give you "the whole truth and nothing but the truth". They give you mob justice. They impress upon you their views and beliefs and many of you suck it up with a straw. Am I telling you that Michael Jackson isn't a pedophile? Am I saying that Robert Blake is innocent? Am I saying Bush didn't manipulate the truth? NO! I'm saying that you do not have enough information to cast your eternal judgment on any of these people, with or without the help of Chris Matthews.

Life, Liberty And The Persuit Of Happiness

Many years ago a little document called The Declaration of Independence was written. Inside of this document was a small passage:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Life, Liberty and Happiness - doesn't sound too hard to maintain does it? In fact it looks pretty simple. Many years ago it was.

I'm not the first guy in the world to take notice of the happenings of these three words. In fact, several other bloggers have written at great length about it. N.Z. Bear, Common Dreams, Spare Change, Getting Elected Blogline, Dust in the Light, Meyerweb, MVRWC, RealFake, Democratic Wings, The Fat Guy, Laugh at Liberals, Freespace and others have all written about it. Heck, there's even a blog with the name LiLpoH (abbreviated out). For many it is a piece of history that should exact an effect in every life as an American.

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(I'm a busy little propagator, aren't I?)

Over time this cornerstone on which the United States of America was founded on has slowly been eroded from the hearts and minds of Americans. Today there are just too many caveats to the statement. It appears that over time we have lost our way. Nothing is ever as simple as it seems when you subject it to the scrutiny of the law.

For words so impacting on our society you could imagine that these words are written in several documents that have guided this country. That's where you'd be wrong. Both the Bill of Rights and the Constitution, the documents that make up our laws make no mention of the phrase. The closest we can come is section one of the XIV amendment in the bill of rights:

No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Okay, that's close to what we're looking for; Life, Liberty and Property; but it's not the whole deal. Happiness doesn't seem to play into law.

That's exactly what has been happening though. Through the use of law these unalienable rights appear to be slipping away and eroding right before our very eyes. These words have become watered down versions of themselves with no more potency than a near beer. They still contain the flavor of content, but no ability to effect change or guide policy. Allow me to explain in detail:

LIFE
Everyone has the right to life. Everyone is "endowed by their Creator" with the unalienable right to life. This quandary is quite possibly the simplest to define if not for the two opposing sides in this battle.

Does a murderer have a right to life? Much data has been gathered about the death penalty and most of it indicates that it does nothing to rehabilitate or discourage any future crime. Many times it has proven to end the life of an innocent. The only function it serves faithfully is to end the life of someone that has been deemed unable to be rehabilitated, or at least that's what it's supposed to be for. Many courts have used if for "an eye for an eye" decisions that would make the grieving family of the victim(s) feel better but do nothing else. Is this really showing your right to life appropriately?

Does a fetus have a right to life? Where does one's blob of cytoplasm end and life begin? How long will we keep fooling ourselves into believing that it's okay to end this life, or potential life, so long as it hasn't taken its first breath? It has been proven that a fetus has nerve endings and can feel by the end of the first trimester. Is this considered life? Is this considered a living, feeling human being or still no better than a dog or other household pet as some would lead you to believe?

Many people will argue that it is choice and therefore protected by the next two words: Liberty and Happiness. There's a reason that the word LIFE was put first. It's the word we should most cherish. It's the one we should give the most consideration above all else. "Choice above all" infringes on others unalienable rights to all three.

LIBERTY
This is where things can get a little confusing. What is liberty? Is liberty the freedom to to whatever the heck you want or does it have to be within reason? Where do these rights come from? How can I protect my liberties?

Right now we have a good example of diminishing liberties. It's called the Patriot Act. Some say it is a necessity if we are to maintain security in the United States. Others believe it's a rehash of the McCarthy act. Although we haven't had the hysteria related to McCarthyism it has drawn national attention to what powers our government actually holds over us. How much control is too much? Where is our happy medium between security and liberty?

The other piece I'd like to put in here has to do with state's rights vs. federal rights. Again, this is a gray area that really should not be. This used to be clearly defined in the past as anything that crosses the border from one state to another gets covered under federal rights, while anything within a state is classified under state law. That all changed when some asshat judge decided it would be cool to give federal control over in-state issues. Now I sit wondering why we even have states anymore. Why not just give all of the power to the government and take it out of the hands of the individual states? Who needs the local government anyway? We should all have big brothers hand controlling every aspect of our lives. Can you see my cynicism in this?

There is a reason for states rights and for the maintenance thereof. By allowing the federal legislation to intermingle with that of a state's you have effectively taken away the liberties that each state enjoys. It's no better than centralized communism.

HAPPINESS
To be more correct, "The pursuit of happiness. This is one of those perception issues. This is also where I'm probably going to get into the most trouble. So, where does happiness come from? Does it come from intrinsic or extrinsic things? In other words, is happiness something you can buy and touch or is it something on the inside?

I would suggest that it is both of these. Happiness can be derived from both your physical pleasure sensors and how you feel about things. So, what can I make from this that might torque people?

Here's a list of controversial "feeling" pleasures:

Cigarettes

Alcohol

Prostitution

Marijuana

Hard Drugs

Now here's a list of controversial "feel good" pleasures:

Vindication

Malice

Lust

Holiness

Yes, I know some of you may not be happy that I lumped holiness with the other controversial feelings but I shall explain. Many people have a problem with those that speak and feel of religious feeling. It makes them uncomfortable for some reason as as such people try to turn the tables by banning religion, just like people try to get of lust, vindictiveness and malice. They are all controversial items of Happiness.

To dig this pit a bit deeper, I have a hard time seeing how anything listed above should be disallowed. What? How could I say that we should let people shoot up on the streets? Should we have prostitutes on every corner now? What's up with that?

Okay, let me explain. As long as there is no infringement of anyone else's unalienable rights why should it be any of our businesses what you do in the privacy of your own home. That's the trick: in the privacy of your own home. Many of the things noted above are considered adult behavior. Subjecting minors, heck, anybody to questionable adult practices is an infringement upon someone else's rights.

That doesn't answer the question of sustainability though. I'm talking about those people that will become addicted to THC, barbiturates, uppers, downers, etc. If we are to open these facilities up to general population it should come at the cost of adequate facilities to rehabilitate those that gain problems. Most people call these sin taxes and they have frequently been funneled away from the programs they were intended for to pay for Congressman Bob's pet project. The money paid in by the tobacco giants never met the needs of a single smoker. Bob got it all.

I'm sure you can find many more examples of how these three little words have been tried and twisted to suit the needs of today. You can see it in most every piece of major law you find. It always breaks down to a bunch of rhetoric and doesn't really pay attention to why we founded this country: Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

MICHAEL JACKSON FOUND INNOCENT ON ALL COUNTS!

In a late verdict today Michael Jackson, the King of Pop has been found innocent of all charges in his case dealing with child molestation and providing alcohol to minors with the intention of molesting them. He has been found not guilty on all ten counts as well as their lesser crimes.

This marks the second time Jackson has been accused of child molestation but only the first time there has been a trial. The first case was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum of money.

The jury has stated that there was no one factor that swayed the case. It was an accumulation of everything that brought them to their decision. It was also noted that all of the jurors had come into the trial with their individual opinions as to guilt or innocence, but had come to look at the evidence and not their personal views of Jackson.

This post is also available at Blogger News Network.

new ad for mind and media

Mind and Media

You too can get a specialized ad image such as this one for the low low price of seven dollars. Pumping Pixels does much more than ad images like this one, but we'll to small things like this as well. If you like what you see or you have a good referral we'd be happy to help.

You can see this ad going up and both BNN and LaShawn Barber's Corner.

I don't know how you spell it but...

Squamata. There I said it. Are you happy now? Honestly, I have no idea how you're supposed to say it. I say Squam(ah)ta, you say squam(ay)ta...

Okay, enough picking on the new guy. The graphics ain't the best...unless you like the green snake up at the top. The grammar is a bit better than the last highlight, but the content. It's all about the content.

The Squamata Report

Be there or be square.

Strictly Commercial

Okay, here's the first test of my new attempt to get money. Yes, I like money. Money is a good thing. Money is what keeps my wife off my back. Money is a really good thing. Anyway, instead of talking about money I should probably talk about something worthwhile. I guess I should talk about the product you should see to your left.

Yes, Harry Potter and the Halfblood Prince is coming out soon. I can't remember the exact day but I intend to buy myself one or two when its out. I guess this is supposed to be book six of seven in the whole HP series, but I get a sneaking suspicion that there will be more coming out. Call me crazy, but I believe that there will be a market for more Harry books after number seven. maybe they'll do a spinoff, I dunno. Maybe they'll go to Harry in his first year as one of those protector people or something.

Now that the time is coming near, I wonder when she'll put out the next book? Does anyone have a clue as to what it will be titled? For that matter, does anyone know when the next movie is coming? I saw a flyer, not a trailer, at the movies the other day. I'm guessing towards the end of summer, maybe even for christmas.

Anyway, this should be plenty of blathering in order to wrap the text. I hope everybody clicks through and buys 100 of them.

Me and John Bambeneck - In the lion's den

Okay, so there's this site called Blogcritics that gets around 600,000 hits a month. Both John and I blog there as a propagation of your voices. We get free stuff as well, but that's a different matter. Ever since I joined up a month or so ago I've noticed an overwhelming majority of lefties roaming the place. No, none of them are as bad as the trolls we fisk with frequency, but they do hold the majority on the site. Many of them are even capable of thought! *gasp*

To tell the truth, I'm not sure exactly where I'm going with this article other than to say that John and I are doing a splendid job of holding our own in vastly superior numbers. I would suffice to say that John is doing a much better job than I am if only for the reason he is writing much more than me. So, if any righties out there want to even things up and can speak politely we could always use another blogcritic to even things out a bit. As a kicker you get the opportunity to review books, DVD's, movies, CD's etc. for the low, low price of FREE! Yup, that's right, absolutely nuthin'.

So what are you waiting for? Go over to Blogcritics today and ask Eric Olsen to let you in.

New Video For Kill The King

For those of you who have seen my blog and know my internet moniker of "the nuke" can see right away that me being all over this new album and DVD by Megadeth is quite simply too fitting. It's like they knew before they put together the cover art or something. So anyway, I'm getting the distinct pleasure of reviewing Megadeth's new Greatest Hits: Back To The Start package coming out June 28th. You can take a peek at the playlist and place a pre-order here.

Can't wait to get some dirt your friends don't have on the new release? Well, I'm here to please. I have recently obtained...and watched, rocked out, etc. to a new pre-release video for Kill The King. For me the video was sort of choppy, but that could be my internet connection. I was given seven different versions of it so at least one of them should work for you.

A Quick Review:

Aside from the chop that is invariably on my end it was the same song that was put out in 2004...THANK GOD! It probably would have disappointed if they'd have tried to make an acoustic version or put in a symphony recording. It's a good solid Megadeth tune that stays true to their style. It's not my personal favorite Megadeth tune, (a toss up between Sweating Bullets and Hangar 18) but it's definitely worthy of being on the greatest hits album.

The video is what is different and the video is what I should be reviewing. If this were the debut release of a video on its own I would have felt let down. It chops from scene, to scene, to scene and back again. It would not help tell the story of the song in the least. Fortunately, this video has a different purpose. It takes snippets from footage throughout the career of Megadeth and stirs up memories of what the band is all about.

Bottom line, if you're looking for a standalone video to retell the Kill The King story this is not it. If you're looking for a reminder of accomplishment that gets you geared up for the release June 28th then this is the video for you. It's also a good piece of heavy metal nostalgia.

What? Not good enough for you? You want to see it for yourself? Fine, here you go:

Did I mention the GIGANTOUR this summer? It doesn't appear to be coming to the Hampton Roads area, but I have yet to see all the dates.

This post is also available at Blogger News Network.

http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/06/08/032345.php">This post is also available at Blogcritics.

Free Thoughts From Foreign Lands

Nickie "The Don" Goomba has given us all a directed blog launching. I can't really say that I blame him. Stefania's Free Thoughts has poor spelling, bad grammar, slow loads and unattractive design. So why am I giving her props after all of this? Because she tells it like it is better than most American bloggers I know. The best part is she isn't an American. She's off in Europe somewhere proving that not all Euros hade Bush and America...and she's doing one hell of a job. Go check her out and be amazed at how many people in the world actually love Bush and love America.

GO NOW!

Bunker Mulligan, May You Rest In Peace.

On Friday, July 3rd Michael "Bunker Mulligan" Reed passed on to the great big golf course in the sky. He left this earth early with only 52 years of life. It should have been more, but God chose to take him early for his own reasons.

I only knew him through the occasional kind comment and I would drift by his site occasionally and leave one myself. I had never known him to be brash or unkind to anyone else in the blogosphere. From the little I knew of him he would have a great friend to have, just as long as you like to golf...a lot.

For those of you who wish to pay your respects with flowers to the family they have requested that you instead make donations to Homes For Our Troops. They are a non-profit organization with the purpose of building new homes or remodeling existing homes to accommodate service members that return home with permanent disabilities. Please go by and see what you can do to help.

Services for Michael Reed will be at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery, Friday, June 10th at 10AM.A link to directions can be found here. There are no restrictions on who may attend but I would suggest you contact the family prior to showing up at the funeral.

If you would like to see a photo-collage of Bunker to get a better look into his life you can go here. If you have the inkling please go pay your respects to the family. Bunker Mulligan, you will be sorely missed. To the family I offer my deepest condolences.

This post is also available at Blogger News Network.

Potential Ebola, Marburg Virus Vaccine Effective In Monkeys

U.S. and Canadian scientists in Winnipeg, Manitoba have reported the successful testing of a vaccine for both the Marburg and Ebola viruses in Nature Medicine Magazine this Sunday. According to Steven Jones, the lead scientist behind the study"

“The data would suggest that instead of 100 percent chance of dying, they would have an 80 percent chance of survival.”

This would mean that there are only another five to six years until safety tests for humans could be completed for these potential breakthroughs in medical science. This makes these vaccines about halfway through their development life-cycle of 10-15 years.

Ebola has been responsible for just under 1,300 deaths in mostly Sudan and Zaire with about a 70% chance of a violent death from severe blood loss within days of infection. Fortunately, it has not spread to more populated regions of the world with the exception of Reston, Virginia. A strain not dangerous to humans was found in a shipment of monkeys there.

The Marburg virus is considered equally as deadly in the same manner. It also has been isolated to parts of Africa, has similar effects and has an average death rate of about 80%.

This post is also available at Blogger News Network.

Political profiling

Jeremy's Political Profile

Overall: 60% Conservative, 40% Liberal

Social Issues: 75% Conservative, 25% Liberal

Personal Responsibility: 50% Conservative, 50% Liberal

Fiscal Issues: 75% Conservative, 25% Liberal

Ethics: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal

Defense and Crime: 75% Conservative, 25% Liberal

These were actually some pretty direct questions. Not a bad quiz at all.

Taken from Toni at MyView.

Houses SUCK! part II

Well, happy birthday to me...do go down to Lowes and fix the kitchen sink!

Okay, here's the story. Our kitchen sink suddenly lost pressure on my birthday. It was bad, but we could get by. Yesterday was great. We had some friends over and my wife, as always, gets told to go into the restaurant or catering business. She's a fabulous chef that would probably be kicked out of culinary school because the instructor would CONSTANTLY be doing something wrong. Yes, she's that good and never went to school for it. Anyway, that's not the point of the story.

Today, the day after, it is my sole task to get the sink from low to full flow. So, at 4PM I went down to Lowes, found out what I needed to do and went home. Basically, it was assumed that I had a "ball-type" sink and was told how to take one of them bad boys out. So I go home and start to disassemble, with the water OFF, just in case you were wondering. I get down to the stem and can go no further. There is such a calcium build-up that it won't budge.

In my grand intelligence I take the parts that I have managed to take off and a couple of digital pics of what I have left back to Lowes for some help. Maybe there's a special trick to getting that last remaining bastard part off. The guy at Lowes takes one look at the picture and knows exactly the type of assembly I have:

Hey! I know that one! I'd recognize it anywhere! Yeah, we don't sell that assembly. The assembly you're looking for is solid brass and can only be found at this one specialty plumbing store and they'll have to special order it. It's shouldn't run more than 30-40 bucks.

Great, I'm already halfway there sooo, I guess I'll be taking a whole new faucet assembly. It's a nice one too. It has a button on the pull-out head that will change from steady flow to shower mode. All in all it ran about $85. It's not too horribly priced and gets us out of the woods. Besides, the old one is probably 25 years old. It's about shot.

So we get the new one home, start running through the installation with my son asking me about every 30 seconds if I'm done yet. Yeah, he's seven and it was cut for about the first 20 minutes.

So next, on taking out the old one I make my donation to the installation gods. Basically, this means I cut myself on a sharp edge. It's all good though. It's a sign the install should go smoothly. Everything seems to be going smashingly.

Okay, screw on nut to center copper pipe to mount faucet head. Hmmm...this nut seems to be giving me a problem getting threaded. It doesn't seem to want to go. Ah! Maybe it's one of those reverse thread jobbies. Let me look...WTF?....okay, where's the thread on this thing? There's supposed to be a friggin' thread on this nut! Well, I guess I can put that on tomorrow after I get the right nut from the guys at Lowes. I can still complete all the installation stuff, It just won't be completely mounted. It’s annoying, but small stuff that can be fixed with minor repairs. On to the install!

Alright, that should just about do it. Hmm..why the hot water valve leaking? It's completely shut off. Let me see what happens when I turn this on. That's cool, it only leaks when the valve is turned off. Since we want the valve in the ON position I can find somebody to do some solder work on the copper later.

Now, the moment of truth. Both valves on, lets flip this sucker on....*ffssshh*..*thud*...trickle.... Okay, so it's just as broke as the last one. It can't be. Damnit, there's something I'm missing. Okay, take some stuff apart, monkey with the fittings. Lets try again...trickle...great, it still doesn't work.

[continue the troubleshooting ad nauseum]

Turns out that one of the gaskets on my connection hose had disintegrated on the old hoses and had gotten clogged in the part that goes from the faucet body to the pull out faucet head. Total install time, excluding the two new problems that need fixed: 5 hrs 50 minutes. (4PM to 9:50PM)

1. Still need to get a THREADED nut.
2. Still need to fix the valve on the hot water under the sink.

Maybe I should just move into a big apartment and have someone else fix this sort of crap for me? I'm a computer geek, not a painter, or a plumber, or an electrician, or a roofer, or a builder......

...I guess I'm ALL those things now.

Image of Quran Descecration

Something has come to my by secret means. It shows absolute proof of someone of great power defiling the Quran. The below image shows undeniable evidence of a Polish born infidel of great power desecrating the Quran in such as way that if Bush did the same it would cause rioting in the streets of the Middle East in such waves that we would have no choice but to pull out completely. We might even have to pull out of Europe as well.

So what did this infidel do that was so horrible? What is so unspeakable that I couldn't just put it on the front cover? Go below the fold and see for yourself:

Yes, this is an infidel. This is quite possibly the highest form of infidel available. This was the leader of an opposing religion not only putting his bare hands on the holy Quran, but putting his saliva on it in a kiss. Just imagine if Bush, another great man of God, were to do the same thing.

Anyone else see the ridiculousness of this? Too bad Newsweek didn't.

31*

No, I have not hit this many home runs. I'm just getting older. Today is my 31st birthday. There will be wings, beer and cheesecake. No candles this year, just cheesecake. I think there's some city ordinance about having more than 30 candles on a cake is considered a fire hazard or something.

Anyway, I'll be doing a comparison review of the PSP and Nintendo DS next week sometime. Yes, my wife stinks at the whole surprise deal. She got the only game for the PSP that didn't have someone's severed head on the cover, that tetris-like game. Considering she's the tetris junky how much time do you think I'll have on it? (I already played it with her in the room. She was over my shoulder the whole time making move suggestions.)

...and if you really want to by me something I DO have
a list.

Have a great weekend everybody!

New Proposal For .XXX Domain Fails To Register

If you've been on the Internet for longer than say ten seconds you have encountered something called pornography. It's rampant. It's close to impossible to avoid unless you use some serious filters, and even they aren't 100%. Normally, the best way to go is to keep an eye on your kids and make sure they don't go anywhere they're not supposed to. It's a real pain to watch them like a hawk, but that's the price you pay for having a computer around children.

Understanding a bit about the Internet's pornography problem the Internet's primary oversight body, ICANN, unveiled a plan to create a top level domain specifically for pornography, .XXX. The idea would allow the porn people to move from easily mistaken sites to more appropriate digs where you know what you're getting. It would also allow people and companies to better block web traffic to and from these domains. This should be a good thing for the future.

As the title of this article implies there is a snag in this plan. Even though the pornography industry soaks up $12 billion a year off the Internet the projected cost for an XXX domain name will be upwards of $60. This price is approximately ten times higher than the standard Internet name. I'm sure some of you are thinking, "Why should we care if they have to pay a bigger price for porn? They're the ones making $12 billion. They should be able to afford it, right?"

Which domain would you buy? The one that will put you in the mainstream and capable of generating more revenue that costs only six bucks? Or would you do the "kind and gentle" thing and fork over $60 for a label that will get easily filtered out of many of the revenue streams throughout the world? I wouldn't be surprised if whole countries would filter a XXX domain.

So, what are our alternatives? We could make it cheaper for a XXX site. It could be a free domain registration. It might make up for costs, however, anyone that wanted a free domain and didn't mind the stigma would be putting their non-porn site on the new XXX domain. That would be a dud solution.

The only effective solution I can see is to make the cost identical to any other domain name. You wouldn't be able to cure the stigma problem, but you would no longer be adding insult to injury. Countries could individually write legislation to require pornographic sites to be on the XXX domain as well. If the costs were identical to a regular domain there would be no legal problems with lifestyle discrimination for such legislation as well. Charging more for one lifestyle than for another would be problematic at best and downright unconstitutional at worst.

Overall, this is a great idea and a good step forward but the cost issues need to be worked on in order for this to actually function. I want to be able to filter out questionable material just as much as the next person, but I don't want it if we have to turn XXX into the pornographic concentration camp of the Internet.

This post is also available at Blogger News Network.

KFC Claims Most Complained About Commercial

LONDON, England - 1,671 members of the public have complained to the Advertising Standards Authority about a new KFC ad running in only in England. SO what type of commercial gets the Britoners' ire up? Was there sex going on? No. Maybe some underage smoking or drinking? Wrong again. What about violence? It had to be violence then, right? Wrong.

Offended viewers said it encouraged bad manners in children by making it appear funny to sing or speak while eating, and 41 of those who complained said their children had aped the ad.

Don't talk with your mouth full? Yep, that's the value they wanted to retain more than any other, according to complaint data. This beat the previous record holder at 1,187 complaints for a safe sex print ad showing the pope in a helmet. I'm not about to speculate what they were trying to compare in the ad. I think that might be best for everyone's active imaginations.

Are you now a little bit curious about the ad? Was it as bad as everyone is claiming it is? Is it really worse than the pope in a safe sex ad? Well, you won't be able to see it. KFC has aid that the ad has run its life and will not be re-aired. The above image is the only one that is known to have been obtained from the offending commercial, curtesy Adrants.

sound check

Winamp Demo

Yes, we got Llamas!

Shi'as Show Solidarity With Sunnis in Fallujah

FALLUJAH, IRAQ - On May 6, 2005 a group of Shi'a Muslims called Muslim Peacemaker Team (MPT) traveled to the Sunni-dominated city of Fallujah from as far away as Kerbala and Najaf to help their Sunni counterparts clean up rubble from the previous U.S. assault on the city. In a symbolic act of solidarity, members of MPT sought to counter the growing reports of Sunni-Shi'a sectarian violence and to demonstrate unity in a tense time.

I am only aggregating the story. Go here to read the whole thing. I'd be willing to bet that you haven't seen or heard anything about this from your regular news outlets. Solidarity doesn't sell.

So, what am I saying this means? It means that despite the terrorist's goal of civil war it ain't gonna' happen. The people of Iraq are trudging ever onward and fighting for their freedom. The rumors of Iraq's demise are greatly exaggerated.

Images of Hope 29

by Reynaldo Ramon

May 26, 2005

Soldiers from the 155th Brigade Combat Team check the quality food in Dunis, Iraq. The Soldiers are collecting agricultural data that will be used to assist Iraqi farmers improve their crop yields. This photo appeared on www.army.mil.

...either that or their doing an add for The Onion.