I Could Sharpen Knives With His Teeth

James Lileks skewers Garrison Keillor again today. I don't read Keillor's columns. I'm not even sure where to find them. So I don't know if the pieces Lileks criticizes are indicative of the majority of his pieces. But considering the topic, and how it's addressed, I rather suspect so.

Keillor is in Massachussetts, and goes for a walk in a picturesque town. He stops to watch a baseball game and gets to talking with a parent of one of the players. This all leads Keillor, of course, to contemplate how terrible the future is for that girl, thanks to our current administration.

Everything makes Keillor think of the current administration and how loathesome it is. I suspect he could make an Anti-Bush column out of tripping over the sidewalk:

"I was walking, as I am prone to do, down main street the other day, contemplating the vagaries of life on the northern prairie and noting how the incessant sunshine draws us somehow closer to one another, as we sweat our summers away in our separate houses, gathered around our air conditioners the way folks early in the last century used to gather around the radio. It's our new shared experience. Suddenly I found my body propelled forward at an alarming rate. I caught myself, but not before experiencing that primal surge of blood and adrenaline so strong you can smell it that usually accompanies unexpected hurtlings of the body.

Looking back to ascertain the cause of my narrowly-avoided plummeting toward Mother Earth I espied that a section of sidewalk had been pushed up, like a great tectonic plate, above the pedestrial plane. As I considered this offensive block of concrete I couldn't help but compare it with the Current Occupant, who has in his infinite blundering managed to force eight years of our National Experience out of alignment with the otherwise smooth plane of American History, and I thought of all the others besides myself who had stubbed their toes there, wondering if any of them had required medical attention and been unable to afford it because of the Current Occupant's utter failure to provide health care for those below the line of undue affluence and power."

You know, I wish I could make Keillor's salary to write the same column over and over. Perhaps it's just a mental exercise for him, to see how many different ways he can say "I hate Bush" without actually saying it or repeating himself.

I hope we never see the day when it becomes obvious that Bush was right. I hope Keillor never has to write a column someday about how sad he is that the little girl he once watched play baseball on a boys' team now isn't even allowed out of the house, let alone play sports of any kind on any team, because Sharia law forbids it. But if he does, I suspect he'll find a way to blame that on Bush, too.

Because of course it's never Keillor's fault. He's just a Passive Observer, doing nothing more than reporting on the world he sees around him. Each column is an impartial sounding of the depths for all to hear: "Life still sucks! Bush is still in office! Tune in again next week!"

I have no use for such people. If, as his columns seem to indicate, everything he experiences reminds him of how aweful Bush is, then he has developed a psychosis. He is not alone in this. I know people on both sides of the political fence (or is it barricade, these days?) who are pretty much the same way. They can't pull their heads out of the political quicksand long enough to notice that the world is still going on around them. They can't do something as simple as watch a baseball game without getting into a stew over politics.

I can't live that way. I refuse to live that way. This morning there was a light mist (or perhaps smoke) in the foothills above town that caught the morning sun and transformed the scene into an impressionistic painting. Oddly enough, I found myself enjoying that brief glimpse for what it was, and managed quite easily not to draw any comparisions to Bush, Obama, McCain, Pelosi, Putin, Sarkozy, or Mugabe, et al.

I'm just arrogant enough to believe that mine was the proper way to enjoy it.

Is Mass Transit The Answer?

After reading this article on TownHall.com, I'd have to say no. Just another corner we've painted ourselves into.

Ecuador to the Rescue!

At last some perspective! Frank J at IMAO provides some in his warning against asteroids. He even solves the two problems (election, economy) distracting everyone from the real danger!

Funny stuff, which we could all use right now, I think.
(Hat-tip: Instapundit)

Volcanos and Polar Bears

At least one study is suggesting that undersea volcanos may be melting the arctic ice.

The earth is a vast, complex, poorly-understood place. I'm just sayin'.

Worms. Why Did It Have To Be Worms...

While very interesting, I'm not currently encouraged by this latest development in allergy relief:

Using hookworms to protect against allergies

Just ten worms can significantly reduce symptoms while not producing any noticeable problems. Well, I still think I'll pass for now.

Bring The Troops Home NOW!

We need them here to do for us what they've done for Iraq!

Recent polls, as reported by Next Big Figure, show that 17% of Americans believe our country is on the right track. Meanwhile 43% of Iraqis believe things are going well in Iraq.

Thoughts on Violence

While on vacation I went on a tour of the local museum with my father-in-law. They had an exhibit on the Battle of Tampere, which was a significant engagement during the Finnish Civil War. Much of the information was, of course, in Finnish, so after I got home I looked it up on Wikipedia. Pretty stark stuff, made all the more powerful by the revelation that my wife's grandfather fought in the war when he was 13 years old.

Then yesterday I read one of Michael Totten's reports on Bosnia. It occurred to me that Americans--indeed, most of the Western nations--are very lucky. We've lived a life of such relative security that it's almost impossible for us to comprehend that one's government or way of life could ever fall apart. It's difficult for many to understand that while all conflicts can be resolved, some are not worth the cost. It's almost inconceivable for many that someone could feel the "right-ness" of their viewpoint--or the "wrong-ness" of yours--so strongly that they would feel the only proper response is violence.

The reality is that governments can and do fall apart, and not everyone has the same idea of how things should be put together again. People do fear the idea of a rival viewpoint carrying the day that they are willing to kill others to advance their own viewpoint or defend against someone else's. And when someone is trying to kill you, it doesn't really matter if their viewpoint makes sense or has valid points. You don't want them to kill you, so you must be prepared to kill them. And once the killing starts it is extremely difficult to stop it and figure out how to work together again.

It happened in Finland. It happened in Yugoslavia. It's happening in Lebanon and Sudan, and could be about to happen in Zimbabwe. But we in the West sit back and think "Oh well, those were different times, or that's a different culture. We're better than that. We can work out our differences."

And we can, right up until the point when we can't. Your right to swing your fist ends where my nose begins. We don't have civil war in America because we still believe in the authority of our government. We still believe that no matter how extreme some political ideas may be, the reality will always fall more or less in the middle. We still believe that violent conflict between groups is futile because our government will put a stop to it.

If that ever changes then America could become as deadly a place--if not more so--as Yugoslavia ever was. We could see civil warfare as violent, destructive, and inhumane as anything in Darfur or Finland. Because when someone else starts reaching for their gun to back up their viewpoint you'll want to make sure you've got one, too.

It's all the more amazing to me now to realize that we have a government that has allowed as much freedom as it has while remaining viable and strong as it has for as long as it has. Not many nations can say that, really. We may be one of the younger nations in the world, but when it comes to continual, static forms of government, we're one of the oldest.

It's not come without a cost. I wonder if we are still willing to pay the cost. If we're not, then our government will lose its viability. And if that ever happens you can bet people will be reaching for their guns.

Completely Finnished

...as in wiped out. And back from vacation in Finland. We just spent 2.5 weeks in one of the most beautiful places in the world (perhaps I'm biased). It rained nearly every day it was there, but I didn't mind that much. It's a green country, and they've needed the rain.

But it was a bit of a shock to return to our desert home. Fortunately only from the general environment here, not from the condition of our yard and garden. Both were left in, it seems, quite capable hands. The place looks great, and 2.5 weeks of growth are sure noticeable.

It's good to be home. Here and there both.

Still Here...Sort Of

There's a good reason why posting has been light (okay, nonexistant). Honest there is. Ask me again in a few days.

The Superpower of Imagination

J.K. Rowling gave the commencement address at Harvard. Interesting and thought-provoking stuff. It kinda undoes some of the negative stuff she's done lately.

Caught In Passing

From an MSNBC newsblog:

Mr. Bush is on the final day of his Western swing, where he has two events: a meeting with the head of the Mormon Church in Salt Lake City and a fundraiser for a Republican House challenger in Kansas, both closed to coverage.

It's probably nothing exciting--a thank-you visit for our humanitarian efforts, most likely--but interesting, nonetheless. Since we never hear about this, it makes one wonder how often this happens.

Things Always Go Boom Eventually....

I don't know if that's an exact "Ivonova Quote", but it works.

O.S. Card has a new essay out. This time he's skewering Obama about how he should have handled Bush's "appeasement" speech. Or at least he starts out that way.

What he has to say there isn't anything major. My thoughts, pretty much, only more eloquently (and lengthily) put. But then he segues into what Obama's response means for the future: Obama really IS a believer in appeasement, and that spells trouble.

He then dives into a little bit of political history on the election between Abraham Lincoln and George McClellan during the Civil War:

Lincoln, facing probably defeat in the election, called together his cabinet and handed them a sealed memorandum, which he directed that they should sign as witnesses, so that when, after the election, the document was opened, they would know that this was what Lincoln had written at that time.

Here's what was in that memo:

"This morning, as for some days past, it seems exceedingly probably [sic] that this Administration will not be re-elected. Then it will be my duty to so cooperate with the Government President elect, as to save the Union between the Election and the inauguration; as he will have secured his election on such ground that he cannot possibly save it afterwards."

Lincoln's point was plain: McClellan had so bound himself to the promise to declare defeat by negotiating an end to the war that Lincoln had to make sure that between the election and the inauguration the war was won so there would be nothing for his successor to negotiate.

Furthermore, it is an obvious historical fact, supported by evidence from the South, that because McClellan was running with the pledge to let the South have its victory in the Civil War after all, the Confederacy based all its hopes on prolonging the war long enough for McClellan to become president.

In short, Card is suggesting that Bush is preparing to make a decisive blow against Iran in case Obama or Hillary get elected and mess everything up. And if he's not planning that, he should.

Meanwhile, Obama, by his own admission, is precisely the kind of candidate who makes the writing of such a memo necessary.

That's scary stuff. Especially in light of a buildup of forces in the region. It could be nothing. It could be a big something. It could be...

[music cue]...the end of the world as we know it! [/music cue]

Okay, that said, I don't know whether to hope Card is right or wrong on this one. I do find myself hoping that Obama won't win so we don't have to find out right away.

Warning: No Puns Were Spared In This Post

Q: What do you call a nun in a tower?
A: Nun of the above

Q: What do you call a nun who can run an entire marathon without getting tired?
A: Nun too healthy

Q: What do you call a nun who earns at least a C grade in all her courses?
A: Nun shall pass

Q: What do you call a nun who works for you?
A: Nun of your business

Q: What do you call the end of this post?
A: Nun too soon!

In Offensive

Joseph Lieberman has written an editorial in the Wall Street Journal outlining his thoughts on national security and the Democractic Party. I can't speak for his domestic record, but when it comes to foreign policy, Joe's got it right:

A great Democratic secretary of state, Dean Acheson, once warned "no people in history have ever survived, who thought they could protect their freedom by making themselves inoffensive to their enemies." This is a lesson that today's Democratic Party leaders need to relearn.

Appeasement and Obama - My Take

As if it matters what I think. ;-)

Obama had every chance to ignore Bush's remarks in Israel. It's clear that Obama is not the only one calling for talks with enemy powers. Lots of people in many countries are saying the same thing. He could have claimed the comments weren't directed at him because "appeasement" is not his intention.

But no, he pleads guilty in rising to what may not even have been bait. By objecting he's essentially said that "Yeah, I guess what I want to do could be called appeasement, so you were talking about me!"

McCain, meanwhile, probably should have just kept his mouth shut and let Obama hang himself. But his response of "Obama favors talking with these people. I just want to know what he plans to say" is immensely valid, and for Obama to pretend it's not means he's got something to hide. The American public deserves a chance to vote for the person they think would have the best things to say to our enemies.

Why not answer McCain's question? What if the things he would say are all the right things? Wouldn't that HELP his candidacy? Wouldn't that PROVE he's got the foreign policy chops to get the job done? Why isn't he welcoming the chance instead of throwing up an smokescreen and dodging the issue...again?

Instead he's falling back on his standard response to any criticism: "How dare you bring that up! That's off limits! I won't even validate such criticism with a response! And that goes for both of you, even though McCain was saying something entirely different!"

Meanwhile, he's also mixing in his own brand of misinformation. Bush has not, as he and Hillary claim, been going it alone on Iran. Iran is one place he HAS been working with other nations. There have been times when the other nations have actually talked tougher on Iran than we have. The "Cowboy Diplomacy" they accuse Bush of is exactly what he's NOT been doing with Iran.

So what Obama is really telling us here is that Bush's multi-national approach is not working, and that HE will solve the problem ALL BY HIMSELF by talking to our enemies. This particular quote by Obama is interesting:

"Instead of tough talk and no action, we need to do what (Presidents) Kennedy, Nixon and Reagan did and use all elements of American power — including tough, principled, and direct diplomacy — to pressure countries like Iran and Syria."

This leaves me more confused. He initially claimed we need to talk to these nations. Now he's saying that talk isn't enough--we need to act. So what exactly is he proposing? Why not lay it out for us so we can see how his approach is so different--and better--than Bush's?

I heard no mention of working with other world powers on this. So after so many years of criticizing Bush for "going it alone" that's exactly what HE wants to do! And if we're going to go it alone to back up his talk, just what exactly does he plan to say?! McCain has it right! I want to know!

But he won't say. He does everything in his power, including sulking like my five year old whenever anyone says anything that could be taken as criticism of him. Why on earth would we want this to be our face to the world for the next four years?

Here We Go Again...

I've got another article from Orson Scott Card to foist upon you! This week he tackles science, Darwinism, Creationism, and Intelligent Design. I have a hard time finding anything wrong with his assertions.

To be honest, I have to wonder now if he is really putting into words the things I've already believed but never worked through, or if he's just outright convincing me of what he believes. Perhaps I should read his work more critically.

But he writes so well it's really hard for me to argue.

Space Monkey Mafia

more cat pictures

This one just strikes me funny for some reason...and perhaps I can relate a little. To the monkey? To the victim? Short answer...yes.

Gore is So 2004

It seems Gore doesn't bother to keep current on climate research. According to an article in Investor's Business Daily Gore has blamed the cyclone and resulting deaths in Myanmar on Global Warming:

There's a "trend toward more Category 5 storms," Gore claimed, and this trend "appears to be linked to global warming and specifically to the impact of global warming on higher ocean temperatures in the top couple of hundred feet in the ocean, which drives convection energy and moisture into these storms and makes them more powerful."

He's wrong on two points. First of all, recent science has indicated that Global Warming results in fewer, less-powerful hurricanes. Second, research has indicated that ocean temperature has been on the decline for the last five years.

Furthermore, Global Warming enthusiasts are always quick to point out that any weather that doesn't match up with the idea of increasing temperatures is a statistical anomaly, or more colloquially, "weather is local, climate is global". So if I can't claim that the US experiencing one of the coldest winters in some time is a sign against Global Warming, then Gore can't claim that one nasty cyclone is proof positive. You can't have it both ways.

The article goes on to claim that Gore is purposely making these misleading statements in order to keep the public excited about green technologies, which he has invested heavily in as of late. I don't know about that. One man's market manipulation is another man's "putting his money where his mouth is". I'll give him a pass on that.

But not on ignoring two of the most important climate research studies in recent months. For someone of his prominence who claims authority on the issue, ignorance is inexcusable.

Time Travel Trolls

(hat-tip Instapundit)

This is too good! Someone has written a time travel story as a comments forum.

It's good for a chuckle, anyway.

Organized Crime

I've been trying a new organization method to help make me more effective. I have to admit that all it seems to be accomplishing at the moment is making me tired just thinking about all that I have to do. I had an entire evening to work on stuff tonight and what did I do? I transferred all the peripherals that I've been attaching to my computer via the ports on the front to the ports on the back so it looks a little nicer and has fewer cords sticking out all over.

I guess that's something. And I was able to listen to our local congressman's town hall phone conference while I worked, thus justifying the outlay for the speaker phone last week. Yay! Other than that, I feel tired and overwhelmed. I just want to go to bed.

I guess if I look back over my list of tasks and see all that I've crossed off since last week I've done quite a bit. It just seems like there's always more to do, and all I'm accomplishing are the "low-hanging fruit" while I avoid the big stuff.

Fiddle-dee-dee, Ashley. I'll think about that tomorrow.