A soldier's story....

Maryanne sent this to me via e-mail. It's worth reading, in my opinion. Regardless of your opinion on politics, the war in Iraq, or the military, we all owe a great deal to the men and women of our armed forces, men and women who are all volunteers. These are the men and women who lay their lives on the line so that the rest of us can sit at home and go about our everyday lives, even those of you who are die-hard, vitriolic, Bush-hating über-Liberals.

He's a recent High School graduate; he was probably an average student, pursued some form of sport activities, drives a ten year old jalopy, and has a steady girlfriend that either broke up with him when he left, or swears to be waiting when he returns from half a world away. He listens to rock and roll or hip-hop or rap or jazz or swing and 155mm Howitzer. He is 10 or 15 pounds lighter now than when he was at home because he is working or fighting from before dawn to well after dusk.

He has trouble spelling, thus letter writing is a pain for him, but he can field strip a rifle in 30 seconds and reassemble it in less time in the dark. He can recite to you the nomenclature of a machine gun or grenade launcher and use either one effectively if he must. He digs foxholes and latrines and can apply first aid like a professional. He can march until he is told to stop or stop until he is told to march.

He obeys orders instantly and without hesitation, but he is not without spirit or individual dignity. He is self-sufficient. He has two sets of fatigues: he washes one and wears the other. He keeps his canteens full and his feet dry. He sometimes forgets to brush his teeth, but never to clean his rifle. He can cook his own meals, mend his own clothes, and fix his own hurts. If you're thirsty, he'll share his water with you; if you are hungry, his food. He'll even split his ammunition with you in the midst of battle when you run low.

He has learned to use his hands like weapons and weapons like they were his hands. He can save your life - or take it, because that is his job. He will often do twice the work of a civilian, draw half the pay and still find ironic humor in it all. He has seen more suffering and death then he should have in his short lifetime.

He has stood atop mountains of dead bodies, and helped to create them. He has wept in public and in private, for friends who have fallen in combat and is unashamed. He feels every note of the National Anthem vibrate through his body while at rigid attention, while tempering the burning desire to 'square-away' those around him who haven't bothered to stand, remove their hat, or even stop talking. In an odd twist, day in and day out, far from home, he defends their right to be disrespectful.

Just as did his Father, Grandfather, and Great-grandfather, he is paying the price for our freedom. Beardless or not, he is not a boy. He is the American Fighting Man that has kept this country free for over 200 years.

He has asked nothing in return, except our friendship and understanding. Remember him, always, for he has earned our respect and admiration with his blood. And now we even have woman over there in danger, doing their part in this tradition of going to War when our nation calls us to do so. As you go to bed tonight, remember this shot: A short lull, a little shade and a picture of loved ones in their helmets....

Unlucky 7....

Check out The Seven Deadly Sins Quiz by QuizFarm. Here are my results:

Gluttony 69% Lust 50% Envy 50% Pride 44% Sloth 38% Wrath 38% Greed 6%

No room at the inn....

Well, it turns out the problem with my blog yesterday was that I had run out of space. I was publishing the posts to my Charter Pipeline web space, and I simply ran out of storage space.

I've switched hosting to Blog*Spot, which is Blogger's free hosting service. If I run out of room there, I may actually have to start paying for hosting.

Technical difficulties....

It seems I've been having some problems with my blog today. After some investigation I think the problem may actually lie with Charter, which I am using to host the actual blog pages. I'm hoping it's simply a bandwidth issue and that if I try publishing later again tonight or sometime tomorrow that it will be resolved.

Recommended reading?

Today I finished The Legacy by Stephen Frey. In a way I'm kind of ambivalent about it. On one hand the story was pretty good, it had some decent action, decent characters, and was very entertaining. But on the other hand, it wasn't particularly well-written and it lacked detail. Would I recommend it? I'm not sure....

Next on the list is Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens. This is the Everyman's Library edition, bound in cloth with a dust jacket, and featuring some illustrations by Phiz. It's a daunting 800+ pages; we'll see how long it takes to finish.

Protogé geek....

In my last post I commented on our last D&D session. This prompted Maryanne and Jenni to comment on one of the more memorable NPCs in the adventure, a priestess by the name of Henwen. Henwen's sanity was only so-so, prompting her to spend her days in continual devotions to a number of deities in a run-down chapel.

Yesterday, then, Maryanne asked me about the dieties of the D&D world, asking if Pelor was a standard deity. I tried to explain, with little detail, that most of the deities were a hodgepodge taken mostly from Greyhawk and partly from Forgotten Realms.

It was a pleasant surprise to see that Maryanne had a genuine interest in one of my geekier hobbies.

Action and adventure....

Yesterday was geek day, as we finished The Standing Stone. It was another event-based adventure. It was... OK. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't spectacular, either. I suspect some other DM would have been able to do more with it. Next will be The Heart of Nightfang Spire. I'm looking forward to that one.

On the book front, the next work I'll be tackling is The Legacy by Stephen Frey. I've never read anything by him before, and I don't read much contemporary fiction at all. We'll have to see how it works out. It's 373 pages, but since it's a mass-market paperback it should be a quick read.

Out of ...Business....

I finished Tricky Business. Once again, Dave Barry has written a page turner. This one I think was much better than Big Trouble. Both were entertaining. While character development was good in both, I think the plot in Tricky Business was a little more complex, even hiding several surprises.

At this point I have no idea what's next. I didn't bring anything with me, of course. I knew Tricky Business was a page turner, but never knew I'd finish it so quickly. Monday's post should have another book title.

Ashes to ashes....

Today I was able to finish From the Dust Returned by Ray Bradbury. One of the reasons I picked up the book was because I like Bradbury. The reasons I picked up this copy specifically are because it's a hardcover, and because it's illustrated. It also turns out that the cover art is by the brilliant Charles Addams, most famous for inventing the Addams Family.

Next on the list is Tricky Business by Dave Barry. I enjoyed his last foray in to pure fiction, Big Trouble, which did well enough to be made in to a feature film.

Justice....

Score one for common sense.

Too much Finding Nemo?

Those whack-jobs at PETA are back, this time trying to convince you that fish are friends, not food. I think they may have left Finding Nemo go to their heads.

Plagiarism?

Today I was finally able to finish Boccaccio's Decameron. I'm now convinced more than ever that Boccaccio read Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, or that Chaucer read the Decameron, especially after reading the last story in the Decameron. Other than the names being different, the two share a story that is nearly identical in both texts. Of course, it could have come from a third source altogether that they were both familiar with. The basic premise is similar as well: a group of people telling stories to one another to pass the time. It's a subject to ponder.

Next on the list is From the Dust Returned by Ray Bradbury. I've taken a great liking to Bradbury. He writes truly entertaining, imaginative fiction with great details, but without becoming bogged down in the details. Does that make sense? Probably not.... Let's put it this way. When he writes a science fiction story, it's more about the story than it is about the science. There. If that doesn't explain it, then forget it.

Non-stop action....

If you like military/action movies, check out the real thing.

Semper Fidelis....

If this doesn't move you, you're probably dead, or maybe should be.

Posted in honor of Veterans' Day.

Sidebar....

So Yahoo! Geocities has changed its "Ad Square" to something more resembling a navigation side bar. I kind of like it, actually. While it's a little on the big side, I like the fact that instead of appearing over the top of my content, it appears almost like a frame, kind of pushing my content over so it at least all appears, if scrunched. It's a step in the right direction from Yahoo.

Survey says!

I found yet another political survey, this one somewhat more satisfying than the last one.

My results:

Axis Position
1 left/right +0.7638 (+0.0460)
2 pragmatism +1.3158 (+0.0792)

Fast car....

Maryanne and I both had the day off on Friday, so we decided to head up north early to give us some more time. Unfortunately, we lost some of that time in Rosendale, where we were able to meet the chief of police. Maryanne was driving, and even though she knows what a speed trap Rosendale is, she wasn't paying close enough attention and got clocked at 42 mph in a 30 mph zone.

Trick of a treat....

See if you can figure out who the narrator is in this amusing short story. I should have posted this in time for Halloween.

Vote!

In creating this blog, I entered a description for it: "The musings, ramblings, and rants of a country geek transplanted to a (sometimes painfully) more urban setting."

No time has this been more obvious than during this presidential election. As a person with rural origins, growing up in a fairly conservative community, I'm much more conservative than many of the friends I have in this area. However, I'm still pretty moderate, and some political surveys and tests I have taken have shown that.

That being said... get out and vote! Vote for who you'd like (though I'm hoping you'll vote for Bush), but at least vote. It's not a waste of your time; it's your voice.

Further developments....

Here are some more important developments in the continuing saga of the missing explosives in Iraq.

Needing more truth....

Here's why we need more truth in sentencing.

Tell the truth....

If you're looking for a non-biased opinion of the candidates in this year's presidential election, then look to the other side of the pond. England, long known for an unbiased and no-holds-barred analysis of American politics, weighs in.

Berkeley East....

Here's another reason I'm glad I don't live in Madison anymore.

Recommended reading....

James Lileks in action again with some commentary on The New York Times' endorsement of John Kerry.

Hide and seek....

Maybe the reason we didn't find any WMDs in Iraq is because they were moved before we even got there.

The other one...

If I had to read a newspaper from New York, I'd choose the other one, the one called the New York Post.

Faintly flickering....

There's a glimmer of light in the darkness that is the liberal bastion of Madison, Wisconsin.

Good times, good times....

You know it's a good weekend when the Badgers win on Saturday, the Packers win on Sunday, and you have a day off on Monday.

Holy Crap!

They've found Luther's shitter.

A compass....

The Political Compass is kind of interesting. It rates you on both an economic and a social scale, so it's not just a matter of left and right anymore.

My results were a bit surprising:
Economic Left/Right: -0.12
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -1.74

They were a little further "left" than I anticipated. That's still pretty close to dead center though, in the grand scheme of things.

I wasn't really satisfied with the answers, though. It offers only a four-point scale of how much you agree or disagree. I think a seven-point scale would work better, with an option in the middle for neutral/no opinion/nothing else fits.

Waffles....

Here's John Kerry being a downright ass.

Ain't nobody here....

I bet you never even knew Madison had a chicken underground.

"Chickens are basically a good time."

How true that is.

Fooling yourself....

Don't be fooled by her voice: this little lady, Renee Olstead, is only 15 years old.

And, at great risk to my person, I would add she certainly doesn't look 15, either.

"Kill the pig...."

I'll admit I've never actually watched the show, but I've seen a lot of ads now for Lost on ABC. Am I the only one who thinks it's just Lord of the Flies with adults?

National Geek Day....

Saturday was National D&D Day, a day when Wizards of the Coast was celebrating the 30th Anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons with various events around the country. The local gaming store, Misty Mountain, was in on the action with some D&D events, as well as 15% off anything in the store for anyone participating in any of the D&D events. Along with all this came a free membership to the RPGA, which was pretty cool. Maryanne lamented the fact that she can now say she's a card-carrying geek, despite the fact she had fun.

Later that day we hung out with Eric for a bit until Tina was done at work, and then the four of us had dinner at Monty's. It was a fun, if long, day, pleasantly punctuated by a Wisconsin win over Purdue.

Sunday was pleasant as well, as the Packers were finally able to get back on track with a decisive win over the Lions.

Pocket full of posies....

Friday I was able to finish Don't Open This Book!, a collection of speculative fiction edited by Marvin Kaye. It was... interesting. Some of the stories were quite fascinating, some depressing, some bizarre, some thoughtful, and some downright chilling. Having finished it, I decided to start on The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio. When I saw this particular edition at Half Price Books I decided to pick it up, being a very nice cloth-bound hardcover featuring woodcut illustrations. I'd heard a lot about the book from Eric, and decided to give it a try. Set in Florence, Italy, during an outbreak of the bubonic plague in the middle of the 14th century, I suspect in might be a little like Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in nature.

No defense....

I might have to agree with this: Mike Sherman is good as a head coach, but his performance as general manager has been lackluster.

Geek day....

Saturday's geek day was fine. We started The Standing Stone, and the players discovered there's a mystery involved. Will they unravel it? We'll find out next time....

As I posted before, The Standing Stone is another event-based adventure, but there's no flow chart to use as an aid. In a way it gives the players more freedom to explore and investigate in whatever order they wish, but a flow chart, even if it involved "loops," would have been helpful.

I'm not sure how much I like event-based adventures. They certainly allow the characters more freedom in their actions, and it also allows the DM to tell a more complex story and maybe add some mystery, as well. However, even after having read this adventure at least three times, it was hard at times to keep things moving along. This was especially true when the players were interacting with an NPC, and I had to ad lib dialog. The characters were not my own, and even with the guidelines in the adventure, making up dialog on the fly was difficult. I think I've always had this problem with adventure modules, though. It's much easier when the adventure is one I've created myself, and the characters are my own. I know the nuances of each character I've created, what they know and don't know, and how they'll interact with characters in general.

I think the next time we run an event-based adventure, I think it will be one I've created myself.

Geek out!

Today is geek day, a day for our somewhat-regular Dungeons & Dragons sessions. Today we'll be starting on The Standing Stone. It's another event-based adventure, but without the help of a flow-chart as in The Speaker in Dreams. It's a much more complicated story. I hope I'm prepared!

Damning evidence....

Are you still not convinced someone in Iraq has it out for us? Check this out.

Embarrassing....

This op-ed piece from the Wall Street Journal raises some interesting --and important-- questions about Dan Rather's and CBS's botched story about Bush's service in the National Guard.

Protecting your jewels....

Money to burn for domain name + Too much time on hands = Scrotal Safety Commision.

Double vision....

Somehow I was recruited for some kind of "commitee" at work to relaunch the vision statement for I/S Client Services. Client Services is the group that includes the Help Desk, as well as other customer support-oriented groups.

I put the word "commitee" in quotes because I haven't really felt like my input has been valuable. Honestly, there are days I feel like I was an afterthought. After all, there's another analyst from the Help Desk on this commitee. The commitee is headed by a Help Desk manager, and I sometimes feel that she's just going through the motions of this as a formality, and that she's just looking for someone to rubber-stamp what she wants, without having to do any of the work herself.

Autumn....

There is finally a crispness in the air that testifies to the arrival of that season also known as fall. Fall sounds direct and brutal; autumn sounds lighter, and less harsh. Both evoke emotions. Fall has the snap of football and the crunch of dead leaves; autumn has the fiery colors of leaves in their splendor, and the home-hearth warmth of Thanksgiving.

In either case, it is a season of mixed emotions for me. The season typically starts with Maryanne and me celebrating our wedding anniversary, while only two weeks later after we enter October we're reminded of the passing of my father. Football season brings the arrival of the only sport I watch regularly on TV, and a changed Thanksgiving not only reminds me of how things used to be, but makes me wonder about the future and what new traditions will be established.

Demoralizing....

John Kerry is bad for morale.

The truth....

Here are some more facts regarding the weapons targeted by the recently-expired assault weapons ban.

Semper Fidelis....

The sound of gunfire, late at night, drifts through the air from Ft. Leavenworth. It is the sound of the brave men and women of the armed forces in their preparations. They prepare because they choose to fight --perhaps even die-- for something they believe in.

Constitutionalism....

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich offers some commentary of what he refers to as "popular constitutionalism" and how it not only does not overstep any bounds, but is a legal tool that has been used by such past pressidents as Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Apathetic....

The United Nations, once viewed by Americans as a benevolent force in the world, is now, at best, treated with apathy, and at worst, treated with hatred and contempt. Blame it on the hipocrisy of an organization whose deeds betray its words.

Waffles....

The Packers lost Sunday. It was a close game for a while, a real shoot-out, for a while, but Green Bay's defense was too slow to adjust. By the time they did, it was too late. Javon Walker's fumble, while ending a potential tying drive, was really just the nail in the coffin. I don't blame him; he should never have been put in to a position where he had to make a catch on a tying drive. The defense should have adjusted sooner, contained Indy to some degree, and kept the score more even, if not actually in favor of the Packers.

Personally, I blame John Kerry.

Geek day....

Yesterday was geek day, and we finished The Speaker in Dreams. It was really the first time I had run through an organized event-based adventure, and it was an interesting experience. I didn't really have to railroad the players at all. Parts of it were a little less challenging than I expected, as the module is designed for four players, and our group has five.

I think the module was most useful to me in that it really showed how to design and run an event-based adventure, as opposed to site-based adventures like the standard dungeon crawl. It's an interesting change of pace, and I think it allows for a more complex storyline.

Third Edition D&D in general has been an interesting experience. A lot of the mechanics have taken some getting used to, especially after having played First and Second Edition for so many years before the release of Third Edition. In general, things are much more interdependent, and there aren't any "throw away" skills or attributes. The "pacing" seems to be better as well; challenge ratings and encounter levels make for more balanced and better paced game play. On the other hand, a lot of the changes have been a big adjustment. Initiative works so differently that at first combat moved more slowly, and saving throws have been an adjustment as well.

The next adventure will be The Standing Stone. I haven't look at it closely yet, which is just as well. I know some of my players read this blog, so I can't give away any secrets!

New kid in town....

Newcomer Michael Wilson has created is own forthcoming documentary in response to Michael Moore's vitriolic Fahrenheit 9/11. Wilson's documentary, ironically titled Michael Moore Hates America, has a slower, more deliberate pace as it sets a more optimistic tone, and hopes to prove to be more thought-provoking than the dreck offered by Moore.

Into the blogosphere....

Compared to the speed of the blogosphere, the mainstream media is painfully slow, lumbering clumsily through traditional, sometimes antiquated methods. The circumstances starting the fracas over the faked Texas Air National Guard memos began the very night CBS aired them on 60 Minutes II, and it was more than a week before CBS admitted they had been duped. Now that mainstream media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, have finally caught up, it leaves CBS left holding the bag. It's CBS's move, and nothing short of a very public exposé and apology will fully restore their credibility. The repurcussions of not doing so could prove to be explosive, not only for CBS, but for the John Kerry campaign, as well.

Happy Anniversary!

Maryanne decided to go to The House On The Rock for our second wedding anniversary. I had never been there before, and it had been a very long time since Maryanne had been there. It was... interesting. Some of the stuff was absolutely intriguing, others merely interesting, and a few things were downright creepy. The drive out to the Spring Green area was interesting, especially since we were able to drive past Taliesin (pronounced "tal-yes-in", not "tally-essin"), Frank Lloyd Wright's estate. We plan on checking it out in the spring.

Legislating from the bench....

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) offers an interesting op/ed piece regarding the venerable Constitution of the United States and what the judiciary branch, unknowingingly or (worse yet) knowingly, is doing to it.

"It's a small world..."

Yesterday Amy threw what has turned into an annual party around the middle of September, and there were a few surprises in store for us. Not only did Greg and Jeneen make it out, but so did Angela, who we had not seen in two years. We also saw Dan again, whom we also had not seen in two years, and he had a girlfriend with him by the name of Bobbie Jo. It turns out she went to Oconto High School, which was in the same athletic conference as my high school, Sevastopol. On top of that, she knows our friend Heather, who works at WPS with Maryanne. What a small world!

We stayed a little later than we should, because it wasn't until around eleven that we were able to head over to Fitchburg and meet some people at the Great Dane for Rachel's birthday. Jeff said I need to keep this blog updated on our gaming activities. I suppose I do. Our next session is set for September 26th, and we'll be completing the second half of The Speaker in Dreams.

"Fully automatic propaganda...."

Mike S. Adams goes to town on all the misinformed or just plain ignorant people speaking their outrage against the expiration of the so-called assault weapons ban.

Over-worked....

The last couple of days at work have been very frustrating. Some new rollouts had caused a steady increase in calls pretty much throughout the day, and my personal feeling is that we have been ill-prepared for it. We've lost four members of our regular staff, though one of those is only on military duty, and it was a long time before any steps were taken to "replace" them. It wasn't until last week that some additional staff was brought in to support one of the new rollouts that some of the Help Desk regulars had been supporting exclusively.

I'm still not sure we're adequately staffed. The high call volume and the frustrated and sometimes combative callers have sapped my energy and left me frustrated and with low morale.

It's Blog!

The speed of the "blogosphere" may be instrumental in exposing fraud in the fracas over what could be forged documents in regards to George W. Bush's service with the Texas Air National Guard. Unfortunately, CBS News lacks the speed of the Internet, especially when the muscle of 60 Minutes and Dan Rather defensively retorts calling it a "counterattack" from "partisan political operatives." Even the New York Post is getting in on the action.

Transitions....

Today I was able to finish The House of the Seven Gables. It was OK. It didn't find it nearly as interesting as The Scarlet Letter, or any of the rest of Hawthorne's work, for that mattery.

Next I'll be starting on Don't Open This Book!, a collection of short speculative fiction pieces selected by Mavin Kaye. It contains short fiction by the likes of Tanith Lee, H.P. Lovecraft, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clark, and Jack Vance. It even contains a piece by Nathaniel Hawthorne. How's that for a transition?

Hypocrisies....

Doug Painter, president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, lays into John Kerry's hypocritical posing on gun rights.

No respect....

There once was a time when the venerable New York Times was one of the mightiest newspapers in the land, earning respect all around through the credo of "all the news that's fit to print." How the mighty have fallen! Not satisfied to stop at the recent debacle caused by a reporter creating news from thin air, and an editor resigning from the pure embarrasment of it all, the paper is now editorializing on a topic while completely ignoring the facts. What seems to be paranoia or righteous indignation is probably neither. More likely, it is the result of a hidden agenda to disenfranchise voters overseas, throw a wrench in the works of the republic, and let the election hang in the balance.

I, for one, am done with the New York Times. They've lost my respect.

Pining for the fjords....

Once again James Lileks has produced an interesting piece on architecture, of all things. He was spurred by a new development near Rochester, Minnesota, where the homes basically look like shoeboxes from IKEA. They have a modern, minimilistic approach, and their garages are detached. Doesn't seem the type of thing you'd want for a cold Minnesota winter.

An article on the development just dotes on them, though, while pooh-poohing the idea of what it calls "McMansions," a word describing larger, cheaply made, but functional homes with attached garages.

It seems to me that if you're building a planned community on the Minnesota prairie that maybe, just maybe, you could build them in a classic Prairie-style design.

Ulterior motives....

If this is true, then it opens a very big can of worms.

"And a woolly jaw"

Today is a much better day in regards to my allergies. I refilled my prescriptions for Allegra and my Rhinocort nasal spray, and I think the latter has made a big difference.

Good thing, too. Maryanne and I have decided to start calling the cat Daisy since it's about the only name we can agree on. She's starting to warm up a bit more. Some noises still scare her, but she comes out of hiding much sooner. We're debating whether or not to get her declawed, with our skin and clothing suggesting we should go ahead and do it.

Eric and Tina recommended we get a toy for her called a Woolly Bully Mouse. It's kind of clever, really, being made of all natural materials such as wool and leather. Daisy managed to chew part of the tail off this morning and eat it. We'll see how it agrees with her when we get home.

We highly recommend the Wisconsin-made Cat Dancer. Daisy loves it!

Cat scratch fever....

Maryanne and I spent Labor Day weekend in Door County, though much more cheaply than most. The weather was OK; Saturday was hot and muggy, Sunday much improved, and some rain came through Monday, rain that was badly needed in the area.

Mom had somehow acquired a mysterious addition to her rock garden: some kind of lily of unknown type and origins. We took some photos and did some research. A recent newspaper article in The Door County Advocate reported some other people with similar experiences. The columnist suggested it was a resurrection lily. Additional research suggested Mom has one, but it's a bulb, and she doesn't remember planting it. I've seen a few more throughout southern Wisconsin, including one in our back yard. Supposedly it's not supposed to be able to grow at all in Wisconsin. A sign of global warming? Hrm....

Sunday we stopped at Wilkins & Olander to talk to Caly, and in the bargain I found a very nice shirt on sale. Huzzah!

Monday we returned to the Door County Humane Society and picked up a new addition to our family: a cat named D.J. We're not sure if we're going to keep the name; we're leaning toward changing it to Daisy. She's pretty friendly and very affectionate. She was pretty scared for the three hour drive home, and it took several hours for her to come out of hiding once we got her home. She's been warming up quickly though.

She's been affecting my allergies, of course. Since being tested for allergies, it's now certain I'm allergic to cats. Last night and this morning I could definitely tell, but rag weed is coming in to its prime as well, so it's hard to know for sure what's making things miserable for me.

Take it back....

The McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law may have seemed like a good idea at the time, a way of leveling the playing field. As it turns out, what it's mostly been good for is covering the ultimate source of campaign donations, through the loophole of organizations known as 527s. Everything was fine and dandy so long as most of these were liberal, hiding behind such benign names as Take Back America and Move On. The amount of money flowing through them seemed capable of rivaling even George W. Bush's vast sums. Once conservative groups caught on, and John Kerry's resentful Navy swift boat peers formed their own group, the Democrats cried foul. Well, you can't have it both ways. Fortunately, Byron York sees it the same way I do: censorship of political speech. The solution? Repeal McCain-Feingold, of course.

Judged by looks....

Jon Caldara has come to see that the so-called assault-weapons ban was one of the goofiest gun laws on the books. After a long, slow conversion, he realizes just how superficial the law was, calling it "racial profiling for guns."

Coming soon!

Journalist and screenwriter Bridget Johnson shares the buzz on some new movie alternatives to the dreck produced by the likes of Michael Moore, including a satirical send-up from Trey Parker and Matt Stone.

All or nothing....

Clint Brewer says it best: "Civil rights are not a multiple choice affair." The Bill of Rights is an all or nothing affair, one amendment should be defended just as strongly as another. Thankfully, many people of Generation X are beginning to see that, accounting for the independent voters not beholden to any one political party's ideology.

20Q

Peter Kirsanow of the National Review shares some questions he'd like to ask of John Kerry.

Anonymity....

Over at Luke's website, I once commented how amazing it is what people will say when they can remain anonymous. Case in point....

Lousy crap for crap....

I really hate this new series of commercials from J.C. Penney. These are the commercials with the little animated runt of indeterminate ethnicity (though he mostly looks Hispanic), bouncing along with young school children to some hip-hop dreck for a soundtrack. Even the school bus has obnoxious chrome rims. The commercial would suggest that all such students listen to hip hop while wearing all the lastest trendy, urban-style clothing. Of course, this clothing is rarely the right size.

Fortunately, this ad campaign seems to be aimed at the back-to-school crowd, so I'm hoping it will be off the air sometime in September. Thankfully, that's not too far away.

I'm also not fond of McDonald's "I'm lovin' it" campaign. (You'll see I capitalized the "I" in that.) It's gotten to the point now where whenever Maryanne sees one of their ads, she sings the jingle, sans the "I'm lovin' it" bit. I've been trying to stop this by spouting a random obscenity in place of "I'm lovin' it," but it hasn't worked too well thus far.

Amnesia?

This coming Sunday will be a geek day, and today I realized I had not yet read through the adventure that we'll be starting! And this in spite of Jeff suggesting I read through it carefully, a couple of times!

Now I have to find the time between tonight and then to read through it.

Lucky Seven....

I decided to start reading The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne, having found a nice copy at Half Price Books.

"Good-by: I get off here...."

I finished The Celebrated Jumping Frog and Other Stories today. I'm becoming more fond of Mark Twain as I read more of his work. He has an irreverent, satirizing sense of humor that cuts like a knife. However, he also capable of writing very moving, reverential prose when needed. He truly is one of America's greatest (if not the greatest) writers.

Sadly, I didn't bring anything else with me today, so I don't have any more reading material. I'm not sure what I'll start on next. I'll have to pick something out tonight.

9K!

I hit 9,000 hits today! w00t!

"Emotional highjacking...."

California resident Howard Nemerov exposes Senator Barbara Boxer, who turns out to be a true comrade to evil incarnate herself, Senator Dianne Feinstein.

The manipulation, deception, and "emotional highjacking" used by these kind of people disgust me.

You can't judge a book....

I was able to finish Dave Barry Turns 40 today. Once again Dave Barry shows why he's a Pulitzer-winning writer, not only for his humor, but for his ability to write effective, serious prose as well. A number of his works have included such brief forays into serious, thought-provoking topics, and I think the fact that he sets them against his "irresponsible and vicious" humor writing style makes them all the more effective.

Next on the dockett is The Celebrated Jumping Frog and Other Stories by Mark Twain. It's a collection of short fiction by Twain published by Readers Digest in a beautiful illustrated hard cover. The only think I find unusual about the book is the cover art: it's done in a beautiful Art Nouveau style, but I find it somehow incongruous with all that I associate with Mark Twain.

Over the hill....

Today I started on Dave Barry Turns 40. I wanted something lighter after finishing The Grapes of Wrath last week. It's also much, much shorter.

A bitter vintage....

I finished The Grapes of Wrath today. It's easy to see why Steinbeck won a Pulitzer for it, and why it caused so much outrage. I was slightly disappointed by the conclusion; it was a little unsatisfying, or perhaps seemed incomplete. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the book. The realistic dialog couple with the vivid exposition created a very powerful, moving work.

I'm not sure what will be next on the list. I probably won't know until Monday.

Zero Tolerance = Zero Sense

Zero tolerance policies have been the bane of common sense, creating appaling situations like these. When was it decided that the letter of the law was more important than the spirit of the law? When did a child's imagination take a back seat to zero tolerance? Why do so many people lack common sense?

Domestic terrorism....

Just how wacky are whack-jobs like those at PETA? Read this and I think you'll find a very disturbing situation.

Who are you?

James Swan helps show us who the real gun owners are, an image that varies radically for what is portrayed in film and the press.

In no mood....

Maryanne often wonders why she usually drives when we're going somewhere together. Well, truth be told, it's because I hate driving around Madison. If you've read this blog on a regular basis, you see I've occasionally posted "Bad Driver Alerts." These are usually just the people whose license plates I can remember. There's actually far more. In fact, there are some days when it seems like everyone on the road is a bad driver.

Most of it stems from the fact that a lot of drivers around here seem to be discourteous, or downright rude. They drive too fast, or too slow, in the wrong lane, or rarely use their turn signals. They disregard your signal when you use it, making changing lanes or trying to exit nigh on impossible.

Of course, all this had to happen this morning as well. After merging back on the interstate off of Highway 30, I of course needed the next exit, Highway 151/High Crossing Boulevard. The on ramp off Highway 30 merges on to the interstate on the left, and of course the exit I needed was on the right. Do you think anyone was paying attention to my turn signal so I could change lanes? Of course not. Everyone was a bunch of selfish fucking bastards too wrapped up in their own need for speed that they weren't paying attention.

Now couple all this with the fact that Maryanne seemed to be upset with me and it all put me in a pissy mood. What a way to start the day.

California....

What the hell is wrong with California?

For a long time now I've felt that California was, shall we say, out of touch with middle America. Some of the people are nice enough, but most of the state is so painfully liberal that they've got some strange ideas and some strange laws. This is, after all, the state the produced evil incarnate, Dianne Feinstein.

Last night Maryanne and I were watching Trading Spouses on Fox. One of the families lived in California. They had a beautiful house, valued around $1.1 million. But they didn't spend much time there. A maid did all the work. The kids had no sense of responsibility because everything was done for them. The family seemed to be out of the house a lot. Why spend that much money on such a nice house if you're not even going to stay there but to sleep? The entire family struck me as being very selfish, and the mother was about the only one who seemed not to be completely shallow.

Now that I'm reading The Grapes of Wrath, I see the problem has existed for a long time. It seems that California has long been a home to shallow people who feel empty. They try to feel fulfilled by owning things like land and homes, and thereby exerting their power over others, but they still feel empty.

This past January Maryanne and I had gone out to California to see some friends. It wasn't the best time of year to do so, but it was still a beautiful state. But seeing how the people out there are, I don't think I ever want to go back.

Upheaval....

It looks like the shit's about to hit the fan in the Sevastopol School District.

To keep and bear arms....

Stephen Beale exposes the true intentions of the assault weapons ban, and counters it by showing the facts in the issue.

"Three Little Words"

Mark Steyn opines on the three little words that set the U.S. apart from the rest of the world: "We, the people...."

Stifling productivity....

Yesterday was fairly productive, but could have been better. After a pretty hearty breakfast, Maryanne and I decided to run some errands. We did the grocery shopping, stopped at Walgreens, and stopped at SW Fitness in Stoughton. We wanted to compare the rates at SW Fitness to Princeton Club. It turns out Princeton Club is less expensive, and a better value over all.

Once we got home, I was able to work on the stoop a little bit as well as work on laundry. I worked on the stoop until the batteries for the drill went dead; a little better timing and I would have started earlier, let the batteries recharge, and get a second crack at it.

Hindsight is always 20/20.

Lions, and tigers, and bears....

Yesterday was the day of free food as I had to work, and Amy brought in bagels. She forgot the cream cheese though. Since I had to work, Maryanne decided to do some overtime. On our way home we stopped so that we could get an oil change for Maryanne's car. It was a pretty lazy afternoon, and then we drove over to Amy and Luke's house to head over to the AmFam company picnic.

There wasn't much in the way of activities; it was held at the Henry Vilas Zoo, which I had never seen before. It was fairly kid-friendly. Some of the zoo staff were walking around with smaller critters such as birds and reptiles. The food was pretty good, much better than last year, being catered by Lum's.

We left the picnic pretty early, and the four of us went to the City Bar. After a couple rounds of drinks we went over to some place called Maduro. I felt under dressed. The waitresses were wearing cocktail dresses; I felt like I should be wearing a pinstripe suit. It wasn't bad though; fairly pricey, but they seem to specialize in high-end spirits and microbrews. Some friends of Amy's and Luke's, Brian and Carrie, met us there. Brian had gone to school with Maryanne, as it turns out. Small world.

We got home about eleven or so, and it was pretty much straight to bed.

Country boys....

Last night we met Jenni and Jeff at the Maple Tree in McFarland for dinner. The food was good, as always. It was a fun evening, starting around 7:30 and not ending until some time well after 9:00.

At some point our discussion turned to the fact that Jenni and Maryanne are basically city girls, while Jeff and I both grew up in the country. Jeff and I started talking about some of the unusual things we did for entertainment back in the day. This included using sections of pipe to launch bottle rockets from a car, and picking ears of field corn and leaving them in mailboxes.

Of course, Jenni and Maryanne could not understand how this could possibly be amusing.

I think living in the city distorts your sense of humor.

...And all I got was this lousy t-shirt....

Larry Elder, demographic-defying journalist, weighs in on his experiences at the Democratic National Convention.

It sounded like a good idea....

It might have looked good on paper, but the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law has made politics, already an oft-shady business, even shadier.

Unionized....

The Evil Empire attempts to resist unionization in one of its Quebec, Canada, stores.

Are they purple?

Tuesday I finished Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. It was typical Douglas Adams fare: well written, good pacing, good dialog, a quirky story that's very entertaining.

I had a flex day off work yesterday, so I didn't start on anything new. Today I'll be starting on John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. I'm familiar with some of Steinbeck's work; I very much enjoyed Tortilla Flat. I'm sure Grapes... is a much more serious work, as this edition (from Reader's Digest) weighs in at over 400 pages.

Dog days....

Here it is... August already.... Where has the time gone? All the things that keep me busy makes the time go that much faster.

The start of August marks the progression towards that part of summer that I'm not terribly enthusiastic about. I'm pretty ambivalent about late summer. It's usually hot, humid, what rain we get comes in storms. By this time the birds are mostly done singing their songs, so all you hear in the air is the sound of insects-- crickets, grasshoppers, cicadas. While the trees and grass might be green, I get a sense of impending doom. Is it because I know autumn can't be far away? Maybe it's the slow death as things start to turn brown, burned by the sun and the lack of a quenching rain.

They call late summer the Dog Days of summer. Did you know that it's because it's the time when the star Sirius is at its brightest? Sirius is also called the Dog Star. And in the Harry Potter books, Sirius Black can turn in to a dog. Coincidence? I don't think so.

Almost famous....

Yesterday was geek day, as we got the crew together for D&D. Unfortunately, Eric wasn't able to make it due to a scheduling snafu. Nonetheless, we were able to finish The Forge of Fury. It was a pretty decent adventure. I found the story hook a little weak, in a way, but considering it's for relatively low-level characters, it's not exactly the kind of thing where famous adventurers are asked to save the world. That probably comes later.

Next on the list, I believe, is The Speaker in Dreams.

Forgery....

The Bloomington, Illinois Pantagraph catches Michael Moore fabricating material for his "documentary," Fahrenheit 9/11.

Finished....

I finally finished The King of Ys today. Four books in two volumes. It turns out it's pronounced "eess."

It turned out to be a good read. It's very well written, well researched. The dialog is great, and the story very character-driven. There was nothing devisive about it.

Next on the list is Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams. Rarely have I read a book with a title so long. The few I can recall were also by Douglas Adams. It's over 300 pages, but since it's a trade paperback, it should be a quick read.