Posts from — December 2006

At 10PM CST it was 32°. This is much too early for a freezing temperature,

There’s a tent over the fish pond so the feral cats can get in out of the cold, and I have a lamp on the concrete slab out back for the less friendly cats.

Update: It dropped to 29° and established a new record low for the date.

Update2: Echidne of the Snakes earned the right to use all caps and the exclamation mark for BRRR!

John “the Walrus” Bolton admits he is unloved and goes home to yell at his family instead of the United Nations. The Shrubbery is annoyed that the minions are thwarting his imperial will.

Also Ellroon at Rants from the Rookery discovers a speech by Bill Moyers at West Point. Preach, Brother Moyers, preach!

Pat Lang of Sic Semper Tyrannis writes about Cheney being summoned to Saudi Arabia. Someone needs to explain to the Shrubbery that Sunni Arab governments can not and will not ignore a Shi’ia “ethnic cleansing” of the Sunni in Iraq. If things look bad for the Sunnis in Iraq, the war will widen.

Crooks and Liars has the video of Lieberman’s State of Denial-or-calling all arsonists…:

LIEBERMAN: I believe that America is a mighty enough nation that we should never fear to talk to anyone. But anyone who believes that Iran and Syria really want to help us to succeed in Iraq, I just is missing the reality. Asking Iran and Syria to help us succeed in Iraq is like your local fire department asking a couple of arsonists to help put out the fire. These people are flaming the fire. They are the extremists. They are supporting terrorists in Iraq, in Lebanon and of course in the Palestinian areas.

When I heard this on the radio, it crystallized for me how disconnected from reality Liebermann actually is. These are Likud talking points, not a sober assessment of the situation. Neither Iran nor Syria wants a failed state on their border, and both helped the United States after 9-11.

The worst thing that could happen to the current government in Syria would be for Israel to withdraw from the Golan. The Israeli occupation keeps the Ba’athists in power.

Yes, it’s the time of year when the Sun dies and must be re-born through an elaborate ceremony that involves some form or type of sacrifice, such as finding gifts for people you can’t stand and smiling brightly as you receive yet another gift based on an urban legend that you actually like truly stomach-wrenching color combinations.

Of course there was a time when the Solstice sacrifices were more visceral and the evergreen was covered in things that pleased only ravens and such, but we have put all that behind us by opting for the possibility of electrocuting one another and causing chaos on the power grid.

What a brilliant idea: moving a large supply of pre-kindling soaked with highly flammable resins into your house, loading it down with petrochemical-based ornaments, lacing it with heat-producing electrical devices, and surrounding the base with cardboard boxes and tissue paper. You just can’t have a traditional celebration without a proto-bonfire in your living room.

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If you feel the need for a stainless steel colander™, but fear it will clash with your wardrobe, Jersey Cynic of Blonde Sense has found the answer: a collection of shielded clothing.

I have to wonder what this stuff will look like if you go through the new TSA x-ray scanner. I think you can expect to be added to the no fly list.

Dr. Cole looks at the Rumsfeld memo and is taken by the fact that Rumsfeld is more concerned with “the message” than the reality of Iraq.

Rumsfeld has always been more concerned with “marketing” than the product of the Defense Department. He has been running it like a failing corporation, slashing budgets and services while talking about “improved efficiencies”, rather than working to improve the capability of organization to provide what it is supposed to be providing: the defense of the United States.

The state of Nevada didn’t wait for the VA to make up its mind on the issue and went ahead and did the right thing.

According to the article on CBS, the state installed a marker in the Northern Nevada Veterans Cemetery that had the Wicca pentacle to honor the beliefs of a fallen soldier.

“Roberta Stewart, widow of Sgt. Patrick Stewart, and Wiccan leaders said it was the first government-issued memorial plaque with a Wiccan pentacle – a five-pointed star enclosed in a circle.”

The VA is still shuffling paperwork.

I would point out that a five-pointed star on a circle were the wing flashes for American aircraft during World War II.

Florida License Plates

Beneficiary

A weekend feature of Why Now.

I written about Generalissimo Aleksandr Suvorov before, as the greatest nearly unknown military commander in the world. Perhaps because he served during the reign of Ekatrina the Great, who was an overpowering presence, and her son, Pavel, who is best forgotten, only specialists are aware of his existence.

While Suvorov was never defeated in over six dozen major battles, the action for which he is most noted is the 1799 strategic retreat over the Alps. Understand that his ability to save his army from a battle he could not win after the Emperor of Austria withdrew the majority of his forces is considered his greatest feat. There is a monument to this feat in the Swiss Alps.

The reason I bring this up is that a strategic retreat is the most difficult military maneuver there is. The possibility of the retreat becoming an undisciplined rout with the army disappearing in a fog of fear sits right under the surface. The troops know they cannot possibly win, or they would be attacking, so every step is a step closer to safety.

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Minou of French Tidbits has found the formula for success in her IN box.

Today is Elaynes Riggs’ 49^th birthday, so head over to Pen-Elayne on the Web and wish her a happy one. It’s tough having a birthday within a month of the winter solstice as there is already overload.

DJHlights of Exit Stage Left is having to shut down his blog. He has been elected to a position with his union and wouldn’t be able to speak his mind without having it affect his position.

His articles on the famous and near famous who have played in the theater in Pittsburgh where he was the head electrician and lighting guy, as well as his views on labor issues will be missed. This is a drawback about not being anonymous when you blog.

We made through without a storm. Thank you El Niño, we needed the break.

Unfortunately the El Niño can’t stay in place and things will probably revert to conditions more conducive to hurricanes next season and there still has not been much done to improve the survivability of the areas struck by Katrina last year, nor has FEMA finished the clean up from the 2004 season.

I would also like to thank the persistent low pressure system over the Atlantic that sucked those storms that did form to the north, and the African dust storms that interfered with storm formation.

Ladies Aid Society

How’s it going? How you been keeping? Haven’t seen you since morning.

[Editor: These are the core of the pride at my house: Tonto, the Lone Ranger, and Mrs. D renewing scent recognition by rubbing cheeks with each other.]

Friday Ark