We've known for a while now that Dan Rather was stepping down from his high chair within a month or two of Innauguration day. What hasn't been known is who will be replacing the bastion of bias...until now. Through undisclosed sources, Deepthroat (Watergate people!), and a promise to Tammy Faye Baker that I'll cure her cancer, I have learned who his replacement will be.
"The decision to make Glenn Reynolds, the Instapundit, the new anchor of 60 Minutes II was purely based on merit and has absolutely no ties to the Oil-For-Food program." said new executive director Kofi Annan, "and I can assure you. There is no animosity between Dan and the the leader of the pajama wearing world of blogging, Glenn Reynolds."
When seen on the set of rehearsals for the handing down of the reigns of power show, scheduled to air two days prior to innauguration Dan seemed rather pleased with his replacement. I'm sure this was just for a bit of ratings grabbing showiness but one of Dan's lines was "Vader. Rise."
In an exclusive with Glenn he confessed that he has always wanted to rise to a power greater than being the lord of bloggerdom could grant him. He also made mention of how much he has idolized Mr. Rather and with a gleam of his black molded helmet said "Now the student has become the master."
Puppies and Hobos not available for comment.
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I'll be posting more about this later but here's a ponderance to get you started. Most of you have read this parable before but here it is for you to reflect upon while I try to expand upon things. Hopefully this doesn't offend anyone:
The Blind Men and the Elephant
by John Godfrey Saxe - 1816-1887
It was six men of Indostan
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the Elephant
(Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mindThe First approached the Elephant,
And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to bawl:
“God bless me! but the Elephant
Is very like a wall!”The Second, feeling of the tusk,
Cried, “Ho! what have we here
So very round and smooth and sharp?
To me ’tis mighty clear
This wonder of an Elephant
Is very like a spear!”The Third approached the animal,
And happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,
Thus boldly up and spake:
“I see,” quoth he, “the Elephant
Is very like a snake!”The Fourth reached out an eager hand,
And felt about the knee.
“What most this wondrous beast is like
Is mighty plain,” quoth he;
“ ‘Tis clear enough the Elephant
Is very like a tree!”The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,
Said: “E’en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most;
Deny the fact who can
This marvel of an Elephant
Is very like a fan!”The Sixth no sooner had begun
About the beast to grope,
Than, seizing on the swinging tail
That fell within his scope,
“I see,” quoth he, “the Elephant
Is very like a rope!”And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong!Moral:
So oft in theologic wars,
The disputants, I ween,
Rail on in utter ignorance
Of what each other mean,
And prate about an Elephant
Not one of them has seen!
Charlie, everyone, you deserve an explanation.
Some people are concerned about where I stand on the issues of the world we live in. Sometimes he thinks I'm on the edge of flipping the switch, or going democratic, of becoming a (pause for effect) liberal. (Gasp!) Then, at the last moment, it appears that I snap back to party line and start barking again. To answer this I'm going to have to spill the beans.
When I originally started this blog it was to rationalize my thoughts on paper. If it sometimes looks like I'm swaying my viewpoints on certain subjects it's because I'm trying to hash out what I really feel about a topic on paper, or pixels as the case may be. It helps me to think, a sort of therapy if you will.
As more and more people started visiting I thought it to be a great opportunity to discuss ideas and have people help me form my opinion of life in general. Many, okay most of the people who read my site are very intelligent and strong willed and are willing to boast their opinions from the highest mountain top. I do that as well. I’ve noticed it breeds the most discussion, the most shaping of my thoughts and ideas, the most therapy.
So that’s part of why many of my rants read like a pompous right-wing extravaganza. I’m trying to grab you enough to spur some sort of emotion strong enough for you to feed my brain by making a comment.
If you completely agree with my point of view that’s great. Give me some data to back up why you feel that way.
If you think I’m an arrogant twit that deserves to be banned from your site and put on your ignore list tell me why you feel that way with facts. Sure, it stings when you call me a moron but I’d rather have it sting a bit now than really hurt later when I realize myself that I’ve been a complete schmuck after Dick Moore hands the presidency over to me in 2016. about something for years.
Now that I’ve said a bit about the way my site runs I should tell you a bit about my views of the world as they stand today.
Warning: Most of these views are subject to change by someone with a quick wit and a good solid link. Salon and Free-Republic will be considered strict propaganda and promptly laughed at. Don’t worry though, some of the stuff I throw out there will be promptly laughed at as well. It’s happened and will happen again. Anyway, here goes:
I have a fragile little mind that is easily warped. Many of the topics rattling in my head bend and sway and are shaken around until they’ve either formed a strong opinion about things or have become the perfect martini, again shaken not stirred. Usually, but not always I consider myself a little bit left of center but not too far. Mostly though, I’d just like to see America reform all of the worthless crap floating around in the government today. Look at my fake Glenn Reynolds quote: I am a bleeding heart liberal republican…and I mean it.
Take, for example, welfare. I think welfare is the absolute biggest waste of taxpayer money on the face of the planet. There are way too many pitfalls and it teaches the poor in this country to suckle off of the great big government pig. I would like to see something on an incentive program for people that are willing to work but can’t find jobs that pay better than welfare. People have called it workfare and, if implemented correctly, could totally slay both the funds coming out of welfare and the loser stigma that goes along with it. I really don’t know what side of the fence this one is supposed to fall on but I’m sure some of you out there will think I’m wrong in my point of view. GOOD! Now go tell me why with links to studies not found on NRO or the Democratic Underground.
Most of my viewpoints are rather drastic in nature, some are less so, some are more and again, they are subject to change. MOST of these are subject to change. Two of these are not. Bush and the military. Now I’m going to have to explain this the best I can and I’m not sure it’s going to work right so bear with me. To tell you why I need to explain something about my history that I normally don’t publicize too often and might even delete after a week or so just because I don’t want it getting around or used as a trump card.
I have held a high level security clearance with the U.S. military since 1992. I have seen information being passed around that I really wish I could talk about. My wife saw this when we lived in Korea. The moment I would get home from work I would sit down in front of the television and just wait, praying that I would see something on the news so that I could say something. To get it off of my chest. She learned very quickly that if I didn’t say anything afterwards I couldn’t talk about it. I thank her for that. In fact, I’ll think I’ll thank her for that when I get home today. It should scare the crap out of her.
I can’t talk about it but it has shaped my views of the world and how we work with it. The data I’ve seen on military affairs will trump yours 99.9 times out of 10. The closest I can come to explaining this is to go to the Australian News and read an international article and then go to the biggest barking moonbat news site you can find and compare the spin. Now make the short snippet of an Australian news clipping and add real world intel that can’t, or hasn’t been released to the public until it has matched in size the space filling article filled with irreverent postulations.
That’s what I’ve been reading for twelve years. This is what is jading my view of the military and the president. This is why it ticks me off so much. Sometimes I know things that I can’t talk about and it’s really not that the data you are feeding me is that wrong. It’s just that it’s incomplete and missing the full picture. There’s more to be said than what you’re getting.
There are a lot of things I could say right now and what I really want to do is give a practical example. Unfortunately, I can’t do that. The closest thing I can say to spilling anything is that Centcom has a classified website. That’s all I can say about it so please don’t ask.
I really hope that by saying this it doesn’t sound like I’m yelling DOMINOE MOTHERF**ER!! I’m absolutely not trying to trump anything. I’m just trying to explain part of the roots in my military and presidential patriotism. The other part revolves around my parents and I’ll let Patty-Jo expand on that part if she wants to. Hell, maybe my dad would like to guest blog it if he feels up to it. If not I can completely understand. It’s been hard for me to type this and even as I do I want to delete the whole damn thing. There’s a whole world of truth out there that you, and I, will never be able to fully grasp and it doesn’t involve conspiracy theories or cups of magic Kool-aid. It involves a world of intel that many in the military can’t talk about without going to Leavenworth.
God Bless.
Hat Tip: Rusty
Sports Illustrated is doing their sportsman of the year and Pat Tillman is coming in third behind Michael Phelps and Lance Armstrong. Don’t get me wrong, Phelps and Armstrong have done some major things this year. They’ve both broken record in their respective sports. It’s just that Pat Tillman has shown himself as a real hero while the others are just great athletes.
While Michael Phelps was trying to outswim a Thorpedo and working on gold medals Tillman was dodging RPGs and earning silver stars.
Lance Armstrong stuck it to France with 6 consecutive Tour De France wins but was somehow absent at the Greece Olympics. Tillman put his life on the line to serve his country and instead of a bunch of little yellow wristbands that all of the cool politicians wore he paid the ultimate sacrifice and only had a toe-tag.
Phelps and Armstrong are great athletes that do our country proud but don’t hold a candle to the hero that was Pat Tillman. If for no other reason vote for Tillman to support all of the troops, all of the heroes that have given their lives and those that have not had to make that sacrifice.
GOTV! Vote Pat Tillman for Sports Illustrated sportsman of the year.
Well, this is my second movie review. The first was Spongebob a couple of weeks ago. Can anyone else see a pattern here? Yes, I've got a child. He runs my life...Well, at least when my wife's not busy running it. Anyway, here's the review:
It Incredibles is a standard pixar movie that doesn't seem to be much better that any of its counterparts. Its no better than Toy Story, Toy Story II, etc. Most of the movie uses the same style and capability of graphist as do all of the others. But that's just the comparison within Pixar. It's a bit unfair. Can you remember a Pixar flop? Me neither. It hasn't happened. I have yet to see a pixar movie that stunk and I hope I never do.
To be rather critical of the movie, the first half of the movie was rather slow. It was almost solely about a superhero forced to live in society because some guy he saved sued him and got away with it. Hey, don't laugh! McDonald's got sued twice because hot coffee is actually HOT. Some people have said that the movie has political overtones. I'm here to tell you that if you find political overtones in this movie you are really smoking some good stuff and I'd like a piece...for medicinal purposes, yeah, for my cataracts.
It does however just about bring insurance companies and lawyers to their knees. Sure, we all hate them on a general level. Sure pot shots are always made about them. The first half of the movie actually addresses the problem. I won't ruin the quasi-climactic end to the first half of the movie but it's been something that I'm sure everyone has wanted to do to your boss at least one, well maybe twice, okay, at least three times in your life. Unfortunately, it heralded the same consequences that would happen to us. Where's the imagination?
The second half of the movie was nothing like the first half. It was as if they'd been saving up all of the action for the second half of the movie. If you were to get into the theatre late you're still fine. I'll say this next part loudly so everyone can hear: The second half of the Incredibles SMOKES anything Pixar has EVER done before! They really made the superhero part of this movie to be the superhero movie that all the others wish they were. Lets just say that I'd rather watch and Incredibles II than a X-Men III or a Spiderman III. Yes, it rocked that much!
SO, to some this up. Don't worry if you come in late because the first half is rather slow and not really important to the overall thrill ride you'll be expecting in the second half. It's because of the first half though that I can only give this movie a 7 out of 10. If they could have possibly shortened the first half it would have gotten a better rating.
Now that I've seen and rated both of this years kiddie movies I've given them both a 7 of 10. They can't be perfectly matched can they? One of them has to come out on top. Personally, I found it to be a draw but these were kids movies. They were meant for kids, not adults. For the final results I had to ask my son:
Me: So Brandon. Which movie was better? Spongebob or The Incredibles?
Brandon: Can we buy both movies?
Me: They're only in theatres Brandon. We'll get them when they come out. If you had to choose one which one would it be.
Brandon: The Incredibles was Awesome!
Me: What about Spongebob.
Brandon: Yeah, that was cool too, but The Incredibles was much cooler!
So, there you have it. The Incredibles wins by a boy.
UPDATE: I just checked sitemeter and someone from learningco.com (Borderbund) is currently reading this article. If you're reading this dear Borderbund person I don't mean to alarm you. Thanks for stopping in. I hope you enjoy the read.
(Part 1 of 2)
(The complete piece should be out early Morning around 3 A.M.-ish)
(I'll put everything together as one full piece.)
(I just checked N.Z. Bears TTLB, would someone please buy him some good happy pills? Now I'm 175? Something is really weird and I haven't even bribed him yet.)
Sometimes I turn on the news and all I see is how yet another bomb has gone off killing some Iraqi civilians and maybe a U.S. Marine or two. It happens with regular frequency and it’s rather depressing. One place has gotten so bad, Fallujah, it is being re-captured. Another, Mosul, is in a pretty sad state as well. There is a whole list of people that would have the U.S. leave tomorrow if they could make it happen. It’s times like these that we need to reassess what is going on and why it is happening. Is the U.S. doing the right thing?
The part that disheartens me the most are the real insurgents. I’m not talking about the Baathist party that’s trying to retain control. I’m not talking about the militant fundamentalists, or hard-line terrorists as some call them. I’m not even talking about the locals that were threatened into terror or anti-democracy groups. I’m talking about the ones that have looked at their options and have chosen to believe that anything the U.S. represents will be bad for Iraq’s future and are willing to put their lives on the line to get them to leave.
These people are the freedom fighters of Iraq. They believe what they are doing is the same thing America did against Britain so many years ago. They are trying to liberate Iraq from its occupiers. Unfortunately, they fail to realize that America is doing everything within its power to enact peace and a free voting democracy in Iraq. They have been mislead, wrongly educated or have just plain chosen the wrong side. It’s not that they’re bad people. They’ve just made a bad decision and will be forced to pay for it with their lives.
When I say that they will pay for their decision with their lives I do not mean the intention is to quell their decision making by force if necessary. I mean it is unfortunate because they have no hope of winning against the American and Iraqi forces. They are doomed to die alongside those that would seek to destroy Iraq just to see America fail at the hands of terror.
The Iraqi forces are gaining new recruits every day. They just recently graduated 6,000 new forces for fast action response teams. Although they are not to par with teams such as the SAS, SEALs, Rangers, and a host of others, they are superior forces to the standard Iraqi force on the ground today and show a new tiered effect within the Iraqi military. As for the U.S. military, the more they attack them the more we realize there is a definite need to maintain a large force in the region. They are there to gain and maintain the peace. Their vigilance will only increase if you attack them.
What makes everything so difficult is our inability to tell which group is which. Can you tell a freedom fighter from a Baathist from a terrorist by the way he hells out: “Allah Akbar!” or “god is great”? The media isn’t helping matters either. Many of them are filming the insurgents with the same amount or more frequency as the legitimate forces. Some have even gone as far as to interview them so that they may tell a story of peace and happiness through martyrdom. All the while not making any differentiations between groups. The media on the ground has failed in its job to report exactly who is who in this struggle for peace. They report everyone as an insurgent regardless of where they come or why they are fighting.
I really feel for these people and wish there was a way that they could be saved from whatever woes that will befall them. This is what makes me ask if what America is doing is the right thing to do.
(More to come including the bibliography and such.)
(Maybe by Monday I'll be a higher being?....nah.)
Melbourne is looking to be the San Francisco of Australia. Strangely enough they have to take the title away from Sydney's actively gay population to get it. But Melbourne's openly gay city council member, Gary Singer, thinks with a little bit of work they can take the crown...wait...no...take the tiara.
And all this time I was hoping they'd try to be Austraila's new lower Manhattan.
Crossover groups are nothing new to the world of rap and rock. The first one I remember was Anthrax with their song "I am the man". They eventually got grouped up with Public Enemy and "Attack of the Killer B's" was formed. If you don't remember them perhaps the song "Bring the Noise" will refresh your memory.
Another one was "Walk this way" with Aerosmith and Run DMC. It was another great fusion between rap and rock.
My wife just pulled me into the other room to watch the next rap/rock fusion in the making. Jay-Z and Linkin' Park were doing a club venue together. I never thought that "99 Problems" and "One Step Closer" would flow together so seemlessly to make an entirely different. I had goosebumps.
The album comes out on Nov. 30th. This will be the first album I've actually paid for in about six months to a year so its not like I'm trying to sell something. It sounded great. Go buy it!