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Today’s Earworm

Two people I admire, working together at last.

Quote of the Day

Don’t be too proud of this technological terror you’ve created.  The ability to hang doo-dads on the end of a carbine is nothing compared to the power of the Mosin. — Darth Vladimir, Dark Lord of Izhevsk and amateur chiropractor

30 Days of Churchill – Day 8

Although always prepared for martyrdom, I preferred that it should be postponed. — My Early Life, A Roving Commission (1930)

Figured It Out

Recently, President Obama moved the upcoming G8 meeting from its original location of Chicago to Camp David, the presidential retreat in rural Maryland.  No reason for the move has been given by the White House.

But I think I know why:

President Obama wants to get the conference away from the inevitable protests and security nightmare so that he and the rest of the G8 leaders can have peace and quiet to rehearse “Nearer My God To Thee“, which will be recorded at the end of the conference.  Copies of the performance and the corresponding music video will be sold on the White House website to raise money for G8 countries in bad economic situations, meaning all of them.

Thoughts on Yesterday

  • It’s a sad state of affairs when you consider spending more on a new roof than you did on your first three cars combined as a “good deal”.
  • There is nothing quite as funky as the stuff you find underneath and behind a set of wooden shelves that have been in the basement as long as the house has stood.
  • A set of new steel shelves looks so nice before you put all your crap on it.
  • I have given even more proof to the household belief that I cannot do a project without bleeding all over it.
  • There is something satisfying about being able to report to your wife that the dishes are all done, the laundry is caught up, all of the floors have been mopped, and the pizza man is on his way when she gets home.
  • Laying down for a ‘nap’ at 6 PM and not waking up until 6 AM the next morning feels pretty darn good.

30 Days of Churchill – Day 7

If Hitler invaded Hell, I would make at least a favourable reference to the devil in the House of Commons. — To his personal secretary John Colville the evening before Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union.

My Take – Sometimes being a pragmatist is necessary, and it never hurts to be on the good side of the enemy of your enemy.

Lamp Post, Rope – Some Assembly Acquired

A male homo sapien* from New Jersey was arrested in Henryville, Indiana, on Wednesday and is going to be charged with burglary.  The facts of the case seem to be that this primate, who isn’t from the area and has no connection to Henryville, was cutting out the copper wiring from homes that were destroyed by the tornadoes that hit the area on Friday.  When neighbors confronted him and called the police, he ran off and and hid in the woods.  According to news reports, his excuse was that he was gathering up the copper so that it could be kept away from scavengers.

Please forgive me if I don’t buy it.

I’m not advocating extra-judicial lynchings of looters, but I wouldn’t shed a tear if someone who is looting is turned into the police in less than showroom condition.

I make a judgement call when it comes to people who take things from rubble.  If you’re taking the necessities of life, such as food, medicine, water, or clothing, so that you or others can live, that’s not looting to me.  Maybe it can be taken too far, and sometimes it can be outright thievery if you’re taking things that you can tell belong to and are being used by others, but if you’re going into the ruins to find a loaf of bread for your kids, I won’t condemn you.

Looters on the other hand, I have no sympathy for.  Those who take advantage of bad situations to personally profit by stealing non-essentials like painkillers, recyclable metals, money, or high-dollar items should be given a quick trial and a quicker punishment.  Maybe we’re beyond the use of lampposts and hemp to correct the issue, but I would see nothing wrong with someone who’s been caught stealing copper from the ruins of someone’s home being chained with similar pieces of human garbage and forced to work off their debt to society clearing out the stuff the tornado left behind.

In the event that this scum is found guilty, I hope he’s sent to the worst prison that Indiana has for as long as the law provides.  In the meantime, I hope that the fact that the people of Indiana and Kentucky won’t stand for this nonsense gets through to others who might have the same idea.

*I refuse to call this bad example of our shared gene pool a man.

30 Days of Churchill – Day 6

Still, if you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.  — The Second World War, Volume I : The Gathering Storm (1948)

My Take – Putting off something that’s unpleasant, be it a war or confronting a personal problem, when you have a good chance of success is foolish.  Life has a way of making those things we put off much worse as time goes by.  Time does not heal all wounds; most of them just start to fester unless attended to properly.

Today’s Earworm

See Chameleon,
Lying there in the sun,
All things to everyone,
Run, runaway

I believe

  • I believe that there is no shame in having family and friends to support you in your life.
  • I believe that if you choose to not lean on anyone unless you absolutely have to, that’s OK too.
  • I believe that my life is my responsibility, not yours.
  • I believe that I have the right to reject taking responsibility for your life.
  • I believe that if I am being asked to take responsibility for something, then I get a voice in that thing.
  • I believe that I value all life, but I’m honest enough to admit that there is a hierarchy of lives that I value: my kids, my wife, my family, my friends, my countrymen, our allies, then the rest of y’all.  My own is in there somewhere too.
  • I believe that faith is a personal matter and that no church guarantees faith.
  • I believe that there is true evil and true good in this world.  I’ve seen both.
  • I believe that I am my brother’s keeper, but if I have to keep him, I get to put a boot in his ass until he doesn’t need a keeper.
  • I believe that blogging isn’t as good a cure for insomnia as I had hoped.