Memorial Day

Thank you to all of America's fallen heroes, who gave the greatest sacrifice to preserve our nation and way of life.

Thank you to all the men and women who have served in America's armed forces whether it was in time of war, or time of peace. Service in the armed forces is never easy and always dangerous.

Thank you to all the men and women currently serving in the armed forces. America supports and appreciates you. Never believe the insults and slights of the insane and immature reflect how we truly feel about you.

Thank you to the wives, husbands and families of those who serve and have served. Your trials and sacrifices are often overlooked, but have to be endured just the same.

Thank you Dad. I have often made fun of your service in the past, but I truly respect you and your service. Thank you Mom. It was never easy being a service wife, especially with two young kids, and a husband in Vietnam.

I salute all of you, and though mere words can never repay you, it is all I have to give.

Crazy Weather

I had the air conditioner on last Saturday, and I nearly turned on the heater last night.

Don't you just love living in Southern California?

New Orleans

OK, your reaction to Hurricaine Katrina showed you guys were stupid. But re-electing Nagin? You guys are just retarded.

Combine Nagin's re-election with the behavior of the refugees, especially in Houston, and we might be better off just letting you drown yourselves next time.

Stockard Channing

While Stockard will never when a beauty pagent, she is one of those rare women who has become more beautiful as she has aged. And it doesn't appear to me that she has accomplished it surgically.

Mea Culpa

If I have any regular readers...I apologise. Work has been a little stressful of late, and what energies I have had for blogging I have spent arguing immigration matters on other people's blogs.

I will get better, I promise.

West Wing (4/30/06)

OK, so they crossed me up on the Vinnick thing. His character does make a good Sec. of State though. I wish they had shown a little of Josh and Donna's vacation. That's probably coming next week. I still want to see a series based on the Santos administration.

Yet More Evidence of Why the Texans Suck

Look, they didn't have to take Reggie. In fact, my suggestion all along has been that they trade down. The Texans are last for a reason. They need help, lots of help. Primarily on their offensive line. Carr spends more time on his back than a call girl in Las Vegas.

Believe me, a rookie Defensive End is not going to make a bit of difference to the Texans. Even if he gets two sacks and 10 tackles a game, (which he isn't) it would just mean that the Texans would lose by fewer points.

And how do you think Houston is going to take this? They wanted Vince Young, the hometown boy. They were willing to accept Bush because he was clearly the best player in the draft. But Mario Williams? How many seats do you think he's going to fill? The only way that this doesn't turn out to be the worst pick of the draft is if Millen picks another wide receiver in Detroit.

National Anthem Outrage

Some idiot has re-written the words of the American National Anthem and translated it and recorded it in Spanish. The pro-immigration groups are distributing this recording to radio stations in an effort to get everyone to give it airplay. This was a serious mistake. It will destroy all the goodwill they have been trying to build by downplaying the Mexican flags.

John and Ken had the great, great grandson of Francis Scott Key on today talking about this, and he got it exactly right. There is one flag, one national anthem, and one president, and if you disagree, you don't belong here.

It's the NATIONAL Anthem , numbnuts. You can't have more than one version.

Bicentennial Memories

Today is the 30th anniversary of the day Rick Monday rescued a flag that was about to be burned in Dodger stadium. Captain Ed over at Captain's Quarters is blogging about it today.

I certainly applaud the actions of Monday, but I was troubled by one paragraph in the story

"With the bicententennial of the Declaration of Independence coming up, the country had started a celebration of the event that overloaded on red, white, and blue. The nation tried to put on a coat of faux patriotism it didn't really feel, and the entire effort felt commercialized and hypocritical. With Independence Day two months away, many already had had enough of the celebration."

In 1976 I was eleven years old, and living at Lakenheath AFB in the United Kingdom. And after reading this, I'm very glad of that. Because the Bicentennial was very different for me. It was a time of unabashed patriotism and a celebration of the birth of our nation. It was something we tried to share with our bemused British hosts, who after all, were the ones we were celebrating our separation from. I am sure the fact that I was living on an Air Force base overseas had a great deal to do with my experiences, but that makes them only more special to me. I am an unembarassed, unreformed and undying patriot. I have seen the sacrifices our men and women make to make the world a better and safer place. There is not, and has never been, a better nation than ours.

Thank you Rick Monday, thank you to all those who have served in our military (and their families) and God Bless America.

Two and a Half Men

OK. I know I'm supposed to be mature, and full of disapproval of tonight's episode. But I actually thought it was funny as hell.

West Wing (4/23/06)

I know there are only three episodes left, but I'd like to see the series continue. The Santos team looks intriguing to me. I wonder if there is any chance of Bravo or TNT or someone ordering new episodes?

On another note, the sneak peeks seemed to show Santos asking Vinnick to be his VP. Looks like my 25% prediction is coming true.

South Park

South Park has just jumped the shark. I'm sitting here watching a show that features Oprah's "minge" (how'd they get that past the censors?) and asshole as the main characters. Towelie carries the whole episode...none of the kids appear. The only thing I can imagine is that Trey and Matt are trying to get fired. At the very least they are punishing Comedy Central. No telling what is coming up next.

State of Confusion

I just watched five minutes of a Japanese Samurai drama, translated into Spanish on a Spanish language TV station. I need to go lie down now.

Sin City

Just saw it for the first time. Farking awesome! Hands down the best adaptation of a comic book into a movie ever!

Ward Churchill

I am watching Ward Churchill on C-SPAN debating David Horowitz about politics in the classroom. One of the inanities to come from Churchill's mouth is that there is no objective truth. This is one of the foundations of leftwing thought. Truth doesn't matter, only feelings and perceptions. He also believes it is impossible to be objective as a teacher in the classroom. Again, this is absurd. As Horowitz said, "you can teach about a controversy" without being either in favor or against it.

The crowd heckled Horowitz while he made his opening statement, and sat spellbound while Churchill made his.

Highway to Hell

I bought a few CDs recently, including a new copy of Highway to Hell. This re-mastered version is so much better than the original CD. The music is much brighter and crisper. This album is truly one of the greatest rock albums of all time. Every song on it could be a single. The only AC/DC album that comes close is Back in Black, but Back in Black has a few weak songs on it. If you are an AC/DC fan, and you haven't upgraded to the re-mastered CD yet, do yourself a favor...you won't regret it.

West Wing (cont)

Well I felt they handled Leo's death well. I especially liked Josh's and Vinnick's comments about bringing in the lawyers. To be honest I think devoting all, or a majority , of next week's episode to Leo's funeral is a little self-indulgent, but they have earned the right to it, especially knowing that the series is ending. It was pretty clear from the beginning that Santos was going to win, but they made Vinnick more human than I expected them to. (Although most of the Republican staffers were caricatures.)

If they announce one, I still give it a 60% chance that C.J. is named VP, 25% it is Vinnick, (yes I said Vinnick) and 10% it is not a main character and 5% it is Josh. (yes I said Josh).

LA Dodgers 2006 Pt 2

Damn. I watched my first Dodger game (actually two) of the year today. The only names I recognized used to play for other teams.

Looks like the new team in charge really did understand how screwed up things were and virtually cleaned house. It's a brand new team, and while it looks promising, it also looks OLD. It's nothing but rookies and 35 year olds.

Illegal Immigration Debate

Here's a little food for thought for those of you engaging in the illegal immigration debate.

First, an article pointing out the hypocrisy in Mexico's position on illegal immigration. (It is a PDF)

Second, a copy of the Mexican Constitution, translated into English.

Update 4/9/06: Larry Elders' column of 4/6/06. Charles Krauthammer's column of 4/8/06.

Basic Instinct 2

Basic Instinct 2 tanked at the box office. The director is trying to blame President Bush and the current "political culture" of the US. I think it is more "basic" than that. Have you got a good look at Sharon Stone lately? She has never been my kind of woman, but she was considered sexy by most at one time. But now? I don't think so. As far as I am concerned, she's a posterchild for the horrors of plastic surgery.