October 2006 - Posts
1. Could Dilbert be any more realistic? There's a budget crunch and pending layoffs at my workplace. It seems that everyone is scurrying around trying to validate their worth for the company's execs by pointing out others' failures.
The other day I picked up an old copy of a Dilbert book that was lying around the house and found sometimes it's not all that funny. Sometimes it hits a little too close to home. In one Dilbert strip, the pointy-haired boss says, "We'll succeed if we understand who our competitors really are!"
To which Wally replies, "My competition is Dilbert and Alice, with whom I compete for salary increases are rare promotion opportunities."
Preach.
2. Buy Mr. Ed's tombstone on eBay here. I did a little research and discovered that there could be a little controversy over this sale. Reportedly, Mr. Ed was quietly "put down" in 1969 while the show continued to air. He had a broken leg and other health issues. However, the monument states that the famous horse died in 1979. The show producers kept Mr. Ed's death a secret to keep ratings from tanking. The horse that was buried in Pennsylvania was not Mr. Ed.stand-in for promo pictures.
You ask, so what? All I'm saying is that Mr. Ed may still be alive and this headstone is only a ruse -- similar to the Elvis headstone.
3. Your moment of Zen: "Flags of Our Fathers" directed by Clint Eastwood is out today [Link]. My spidey senses are a little tingly on this one. I think it was the plural usage of the word "flag" that set them off. I have my fingers crossed that it'll be an epic and not a preachy antiwar film.
4. I miss Theodore Thursday. On the old blog, I used to post a Teddy Roosevelt quote every Thursday. I might start that up again.
There are some hotly contested Senate, House and governor races across the nation. The New York Times is predicting possible chaos because of new voting machines, long lines and heightened partisanship. According to the NYT, this November could be Florida 2000 times ten.
Maybe the editors of the NYT news magazine are grasping at straws as profits plunge, but there is a realistic possibility that some poll results will be close and, therefore, disputed. Throughout the history of the U.S. there have been many disputed elections. Even now we only have to look back over the past six years to find multiple examples.
So, you ask, what does Joe think? I say that news outlets have to hype all political contests as close for ratings and profits. I will watch the aftermath of these "close" races and expect incorrect polls and clear, lopsided wins.
In Tennessee, I'm voting for Bob Corker for Senate and Phil Bredesen for Governor.
Who are you voting for? Put it in the comments? I'm especially looking for you Lieberman / Lamont voters.
1. Doesn't "nuclear dong" make you giggle? What other name could Kim Jong Il name his new rocket?
2. Is Air America bankrupt politically or financially? Oh, look! Both.
3. Your moment of Zen: Fuel-Air Explosives "disperse an aerosol cloud of fuel which is ignited by an embedded detonator to produce an explosion. The rapidly expanding wave front due to overpressure flattens all objects within close proximity of the epicenter of the aerosol fuel cloud, and produces debilitating damage well beyond the flattened area. The main destructive force of FAE is high overpressure, useful against soft targets such as minefields, armored vehicles, aircraft parked in the open, and bunkers." [Link. See the cool animation at the bottom of the page]
4. My two boys are in elementary school. Lately, they've cracked me up with their funny sayings and songs. They have a song that is a hilarious, very politically-incorrect song about a guy that likes biscuits. How do you scold them when you really want to join in the laughter?
And on top of all that, my younger son has a crush on a little girl and has decided that he wants to take a shower every morning in order to impress her. Oh, man, this is fun.
So, yesterday, I was sitting at my desk and read on the Drudge Report that a plane had crashed into a highrise on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. After the initial shock that we may be under attack, I discovered that it was just a small single-engine plane flown by New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle. Not so fast. Was it really?
Or did covert operatives from a U.S. shadow government highjack the plane, land it at an undocumented airfield, shoot the NY pitcher and his passenger execution style, dump the bodies in the Hudson River, disassemble the plane, fire a cruise missile into the apartment building and then plant unidentifiable Gitmo detainees' bodies on the sidewalk below?
Think about it: The NY Yankees not going to the World Series is bad for baseball; and whatever is bad for baseball is bad for America. Also, Detroit has the largest concentration of Muslims in the country. This "plane crash" could easily be blamed on the Arabs and their ball club in Motor City in order to make Americans hate the Tigers.
In fact, the Detroit Tigers are probably in the Axis of Evil. If you're not pulling for the A's, then you're not a patriot.
Last night, I was able to watch the debate between our Democratic and Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate. Both candidates are vying for a job as a legislative representative -- or lawmaker; and one thing struck me almost immediately: Neither is a leader. I don't know why I was surprised by that because, by nature, lawmakers are not leaders. Lawmakers should be the wisest among our communities whom we send to Washington to shape national policy. They do not make executive decisions or enforce the laws.
I should have known that to find a leader I should have looked to the Executive.
The top five American presidents according to a Wall Street Journal survey of 78 historians are George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt. Over the past 50 years the presidents in the middle of the list have gone up or down, but the top five have remained relatively unchanged. The presidents at the top are there primarily for their prowess for making tough decisions and "staying the course."
Look over the list of the top presidents and you'll see men with moral convictions, crisis management skills and the ability to persuade Congress and the public. You'll see men who made tough decisions and accepted the consequences.
Is George W. Bush the worst president in history? It'll be tough to compete with James Buchanan and his incompetencies in preventing the impending Civil War. Is George W. Bush the most divisive president ever? Years from now we'll have to look back and judge, but the nation didn't split under his tenure like it did for Abraham Lincoln. Is he a "cowboy president" bent on unilateralism? Read about Jefferson's purchase of the Louisiana Territory or Teddy Roosevelt's capture of the Panama Canal and decide for yourself.
For Senate and House representatives, I'm looking for wisdom and someone with the same convictions as me to shape policy. In 2008, I'll look for a leader.
What say you?
Here at A Son of Liberty, I like to lighten it up a bit on Friday with Free Prose FridayTM. After fighting in the trenches* all week, the Liberty Forward Army needs some R&R.
1. Here's a "how to" for folding maple leaves into roses. I'll be in the Great Smoky Mountains this weekend and will give it a try. Look for pictures next week. [Link].
2. If you stick around this blog long enough, you'll see that I sometimes get carried away with my own eloquence. I have a friend that writes some really profound stuff. If I could, I'd put her on the staff here. Check out her blog and let her know how good it is. [Link].
3. Your moment of Zen: 20 "mike-mike" M61A2 Vulcan. 6,600 rounds per minute -- that's one round every 31 feet! [Link].
4. Well, the first week is in the can. Thank you to all of the readers for stopping by and sampling. There are some major changes due in the coming weeks. I would like some help from you, though. This template is a little blah. I'd like to jazz it up a bit. Please offer suggestions in the comments. Also, offer recommendations for subjects of upcoming posts. See you next week.
* "Fighting in the trenches" is a figure of speech. As a member of the Liberty Forward Army, I'm well aware that that we're not in the trenches. We carpet bomb from thirty-thousand feet! Or we strike surgically with a team of special operators. Oo-rah!
Q: So, Joe, whadya know?
Joe: Cute. Real cute.
Q: OK, maybe that wasn't the best way to start. Can I have my kneecaps back?
Joe: Only on one account: You don't ask stupid questions.
Q: Yes, sir.
Joe: You need a haircut and your glasses are funny looking. Why?
Q: Shouldn't I be the one asking questions?
Joe: And where'd you get the name Whitney? Were your parents wussies?
Q: Yeah. I'm a little sensitive on that one. Can we leave it alone?
Joe: Wuss.
Q: C'mon, man. We're not getting anywhere here.
Joe: Wussy wuss.
Q: You know what? I don't need this. I'm trying to support a wife and two kids and you give me this?
Joe: Where's your lunch money, wuss?
Q: I'm outta here. You can have this stupid blog.
Joe: What are you? Chicken? Hey, don't run off without your kneecaps...
High Payoff Target (HPT): Targets that must be acquired and successfully attacked to achieve the friendly commander's mission.
We must lift up every rock, identify evil, and crush its head. Fix the enemy and shoot center mass.
In America's current war, we are not fighting terrorism. We are not fighting disenfranchised or disaffected Muslims. We are not even fighting against Islamic radicals or Islamofascists. We are fighting against people who have put the philosophies of Muhammad into action. We are fighting against Islam. Period.
Adolph Hitler and many of the German people put the philosophies of Nietzsche and Darwin into action. It is estimated that Hitler and his Nazi State murdered approximately 20,000,000 people.
Mao Tse-tung's social experiment and "Great Leap Forward" put into action the philosophies of Marx and Engels. Mao's communists killed some 3.5 million, but the destruction of the agricultural system caused the world's greatest recorded famine -- as many as 38,000,000 people starved to death.
Joseph Stalin's Soviet Gulag State was also the expression of Marx's and Engels' writings and doctrines. Stalin's lethal politics killed about 20 to 23 million people.
The followers of Islam and their terrorist states are the realization of Muhammad's ideologies. In the Qur'an, the ideologies are virtually harmless. To many it seems right; but, in the end, similar to the philosophies of Nietzsche, Darwin, Marx, Engels and many other men, putting it into action only leads to death.