Yes, this is a day late. I forgot to do it.
You have just won one million dollars:
1. Who do you call first?I'd definitely call my parents first. Probably not a good idea, but I'd do it anyways.
2. What is the first thing you buy for yourself?Independence from my bloody academic loans, that's what!
3. What is the first thing you buy for someone else?Er, I'd buy the restoration of my father's old 1960s muscle car.
4. Do you give any away? If yes, to whom?Ten percent to my Methodist church of choice, for use in the local programs where I will have control in the disbursement of the money. I'll not have my money wasted on left-wing social experiments at the hands of the national Methodist establishment.
I'd also try to find someone who I could trust to administer another ten percent in donation to local charitable organizations.
I'd also endow a scholarship at my alma mater, along with putting the cross-country team on a strong financial footing. Perhaps an annuity?
5. Do you invest any? If so, how?
On September 14 2003, the USAF's aerial demonstration team, the Thunderbirds, lost a General Dynamics F-16C Fighting Falcon during a demonstration at Mountain Home AFB in Idaho.
Captain Chris Stricklin was attempting to perform a split-S when he basically ran out of altitude. He ejected and survived without serious injury. The F-16C was destroyed, and its loss was attributed to pilot error. Subsquently, Captain Stricklin has been reassigned to Washington, D.C., working the halls of the Pentagon.
The good men of Boots and Sabers have posted in-cockpit video; find it in their initial here. Additional information can be found here in the F-16.net story on the final report.
General Electric Transportation Systems is the current leader in the manufacture of diesel-electric locomotives for freight use in the United States. It seems that they've gone and put together a website for afficionados of their products, available at:
The site apparently is built around selling things with the GE Transportation logo or other representations of their locomotives. I wish they had a little more, but hey, it's a start. If anything like this exists for the Electro-Motive Division (of General Motors and the other major locomotive manufacturer in this country), I don't know about it.
If anyone wants to get me a GETS mug, I'd appreciate it. I don't have any pecuniary interest in GE, but I do happen to have a large number of their late-model locomotives installed for use in Train Simulator.
Within the next week or so, I'll be revising the categories just a little; I'm aiming for "subcategories" and whatnot, so there will be a few changes.
Readers of this blog will remember my ill-tempered rant about the moveon.org group's perceived immaturity and unsuitability for participation in the national discussion at the adults' table. I'd also said that I was worried about what Dean's whole "Bush lied!" plank was corrosive to the body politic. (For the full text, click here.)
It appears that Peggy Noonan is voicing the same sorts of concerns, in an article aimed primarily at General Clark. She asks of the candidates,
Is he stable and adult and experienced?I agree with Ms. Noonan's question. In fact, this ought to be the preliminary screening question for participation in the serious campaigns for the Presidency.
She spends many electrons hammering General Clark, and I'm not going to bother repeating them at this point. Suffice it to say that I'm not convinced that General Clark has the best interests of American sovereignty at heart, and I agree in large part with Ms. Noonan, reserving for myself some wiggle room if it's ever needed.
Ms. Noonan closes with this:
And so my Democratic friends, patriots who vote Democratic and are voting in today's primary and the ones down the road. Please. We will take Joe Lieberman or John Kerry or even young John Edwards, men who appear to be somewhere in the normal range. We need a person who could rally the nation on a terrible day, and who could arguably meet the security demands the age requires. We can't afford flip-outs, or people who are too obviously creepy. Just a person in the normal range. Is that asking too much? Say it ain't so.I agree wholeheartedly, and it's the advice I'd give to any Democrats who read this blog. I also expect Democrats to ask this of whoever we've got in 2008 when we're choosing our candidate.
I first heard of this in a guest-post on Politburo Diktat, entitled "Normal Is Good Enough".
The post is brief, but it has a good component, reproduced here:
The Blogosphere should not be lured into the temptation of being a right wing, online version of FrankenMoore. If Kerry, or any other Dem, has policies, a record, or proposals, that we disagree with, fine. Hammer away. But the process should not resemble Whack-a-Mole, where whatever Dem happens to get out in front, is targetted for treatment that a Howard Dean or a Wes Clark deserve.
I concur. He asks earlier if the blogosphere is supposed to be an extension of the RNC, and says no. I also concur here. The reputation of the blogosphere is supposed to be based in part on its "independence" from the established opinion outlets and so forth, and simply being an extension of the RNC would compromise that. By this I do not mean that the conservative/rightist (a possible redundancy) components of the blogosphere should not present, argue, and defend their political positions. Rather, I would like to preserve the overall position of "with the GOP, but not necessarily of the GOP" so that we're a franchise in the marketplace of ideas, and not merely an outlet store stuck in a strip mall.
Continued independence would make sure that our side keeps its brian bubbling twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and year round in order to escape ossification and mere knee-jerk reaction to the other side. I suppose the grand structural idea is that "we" function as some sort of ersatz think-tank.
So.
What does all of that mean?
Well, two things, one of which applies to all voting Americans, and one of which applies primarily to your humble correspondent:
1. Those of us who are entrusted with the franchise and who choose to exercise that franchise have an awesome responsibility in our hands. We must choose those who will lead the nation, and we must choose consistently well. Because we enjoy such a broad spectrum of freedoms, political and otherwise, we have the responsibility to protect those freedoms. Often, that is done by men (and women) who go forward into harm's way at the peril of their own life. Luckily, that isn't the primary mode of defense for our freedoms. That responsibility falls to each and every one of us who votes, because we must make intelligent, responsible, mature, and adult choices. Cast your votes wisely---distinctly unfriendly individuals rest outside our borders and wish us ill.
2. Although I'm certainly going to push a conservative viewpoint, I'm also trying to make sure that the political commentary I present is, in large part, of a sort that's not irresponsible, juvenile (unless clearly marked so) or otherwise not part of fulfilling the responsibility I laid out in the first point. That means you probably won't see some of the same things that get wide traffic on other blogs, but maybe you'll see something that helps illustrate an issue for you, or guides you towards a better understanding of the conservative side.
Call it The Country Pundit does what NPR says it does.
It's prediction time, and the only results I have are from Dixville Notch, which I hear went for General W.K. Clark. Without further adieu, although these are issued on the basis of 'probably' and may be subject to Imus-style "Uh, Charles, I picked the winner" revisions:
First Place: Senator John F. Kerry
He's got momentum from Iowa, and I haven't heard a lot of negatives about him lately. Even if his campaign is decelerating, I think he'll be able to cross the line first.
Insert a small gap here. Five to ten points at most?
Second Place: Senator John Edwards/Governor Howard Dean
I can't figure out who's going to be next, and I expect these two to tangle over it. Edwards has been a 'favorite' of mine for a while, because of his background; I expected him to be a capable candidate, and I had been wondering why he hadn't caught on earlier. It is true that Americans respond to negative campaigning, so he might be in trouble down the road. In any event, I've read one story that indicates there are attempts at friendly ties between Senators Kerry & Edwards, which may indicate some sort of link in the future. This could be trouble.
On the other hand, it seems that Howard Dean has managed to temporarily skate past the "I have a scream" speech. The power of the penitent man is often considerable, and if Dean has successfully put his anger schtick on the Atkins diet, he could theoretically begin his necessary comeback here. I couldn't help feeling sorry for the guy, and his minions may yet regroup.
I'm leaning towards Edwards second in order to protect against the possibility that Dean's negatives blunt the first wave of his comeback.
Fourth Place: General W.K. Clark
Not far behind the other two will be General Clark. I don't expect him to beat these other two, but he'll be "in the draft" of third place, a car length or two back. I would not expect this finish to be fatal, but he doesn't need these kinds of finishes. At best, he could squeak past the third place man, whoever that is. As for General Clark down the stretch, there may be problems. The Hugh Shelton thing may come back and get him, as might other things from his recent past.
Fifth Place: Senator Joseph Lieberman
Joementum? No. As much as I hate to say it, Senator Lieberman's ship is riddled full of holes near the waterline, and the machinery, assuming there ever was any, has been reduced to a wreck. I wanted Lieberman to run and be the nominee, but that's not going to happen. I'm not the Democrat electorate. Funny, a Southern Christian---embodiment of the Moral Majority, the Christian Coalition, and the Religious Right---wouldn't mind seeing a Jew on the top of a national ticket. Hee hee, I'm more progressive than the Left. Disraeli and outreforming the reformers, indeed. RN would be proud. (Actually, we checked. Southerners are supposed to hate Jews. Would you kindly stick to the stereotypes as laid down by The New York Times and Hollywood, please? --Ed.)
There you have it. To borrow from Leonard Postosties of Leonard's Losers, "Percy, get me out of here!"
UPDATE: It seems that these predictions have been issued almost completely ignorant of recent polling, so I may wind up looking like an idiot. Nonetheless, I stand by my picks and they have my complete confidence. That is, until they're proven wrong. Chuck, have Bernard and Lou get the tapes of this one...
Since Kerry's got the ball, he's currently the target of Republican focus. This is all well and good, but Colonel M.T. Owens, USMC (ret.) has penned a column for National Review Online that lobs a salvo at the Kerry politico-military record.
Let me be clear: I do not question Lieutenant Kerry's heroism and I have considerable regard for the man's bravery. Kerry the soldier seems to be a respectable man who made pickup on some of his fellow soldiers in a bad situation. His service was honorable.
What I do however have a problem with is the content of his political activities---but not the fact that he did them---once he returned to the United States from Southeast Asia.
He may well pull New Hampshire off. I am uncertain as to the realities of the State, due to my geographic location and information isolation. I don't trust the media coverage to give me an accurate picture of what's going on (as opposed to say, what they want to go on) and in a place like New Hampshire where it is conceivable that the primitariat would in large part actually meet the candidates and form impressions without the "guidance" of ABC, CBS, CNN, FNC, MSNBC, or NBC, that's a problem.
My prediction? Probably Kerry first. Dean and Edwards will be behind, but close to each other. Clark may be thrown in there somewhere closely in fourth, and Senator Lieberman won't do much.
For what it's worth: A friend of mine here at school is a rabid New York Democrat. In fact, he's fond of Neil Kinnock, the former leader of the Labour Party in the United Kingdom. He also hates Howard Dean, and desires a Kerry-Edwards ticket to have a strong Northeastern liberal and a Southern man to try and carry them to victory. I don't like the sound of that.
The more I think about it, I just didn't see the big issue with Dean's speech in Iowa. I read Charles Krauthammer's column on the subject in the local paper, and he reported that observers on the ground and in the room didn't think it was out of place either.
Admittedly, I'm writing this a bit late, but I smell a replay of the Nixon-Kennedy 1960 debates, where television and radio audiences came away with completely different views of the outcome. People who listened thought RN mopped the floor with Kennedy. People who watched thought Kennedy vigah-ed his way through past RN. History demonstrates that the image outweighed the substance, and of course Kennedy would go on to be the President.
I pretty much understand the circumstances (in the abstract) which would lead to this, and I can see myself as a campaign manager telling a candidate that "Look, you've got to do something. Get out there and work the crowd, even though we took a beating. Go! Fire them up, do something; I don't care what you do!"
Oddly enough, it was Al Sharpton (religious post not noted due to the fact that I don't know a) what denomination he's from and b) where his home church is) that made this clear, albeit indirectly. He noted something on the order of "if I'd spent all that money and come in third, I'd be hootin' and hollerin' too", and I realized that Dean was doing damage control. Yes, it backfired, but damage control can be like that sometimes.
I remain inclined to give him a pass on the issue. He was doing what he had to do, i.e. deflect attention away from the result. Mission accomplished, but I doubt it was in the fashion that Joe Trippi intended. Maybe I'm just jaded, but I really don't care if Governor Dean lets out a bellow or two. Sure it sounded strange, but hey, TV's like that.
Yippee. This PS2 is a nifty little device, even though I'm not particularly fond of the DVD system. That's a little clunky but it will sure beat trusting my laptop for DVD playback when I go on vacation or something.
Since my city was part of the massive snowstorm that hit the East Coast, I was able to take the day off and go in search of games. I found both of the previously-mentioned titles, and I also got some more memory cards. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and Castlevania: Lament of Innocence all on one system, yay.
OK, so I finally broke down and bought a PlayStation 2. Got the DVD kit for free. The launch title for my purchase was Castlevania: Lament of Innocence because I'm a sucker for the franchise. I'll be buying Battlestar Galactica soon; that title also contributed heavily to my decision to buy.
I've got to find a copy of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty now, bother.
This is entirely too addictive: Penguin Swing.
My best is something like 319.6 or so.
Recently, from Right Wing News: The Difference Between Liberals, Conservatives, and Southerners.
I disagree distinctly with the stereotype of Southerners in terms of grammar and speech, but I'm still laughing at the rest of the content.
Oh, man.
Captain Kangaroo is dead. I used to watch him regularly as a kid, and now this? Charlie Brown was right; you can't go home again.
Tip of the Wisconsin hat to KJL@NRO.
Within the last two years, I found an amusing website dubbed Canadian World Domination, which recounted the ways that Canada would soon be taking over the continent and eventually the world.
It was humorous, well put together, and worth visiting on a regular basis. Alas, as many things on the Internet are wont to do, it has now vanished and www.standonguard.com no longer can be found.
Generals Claire and Jenny, wherever you are, (hopefully at the bottom of the Great Slave Lake, you upstarts) thanks for making me laugh out loud several times in my carrel, disturbing the others around me as they worked oh so very hard at being "serious" law students.
UPDATE: I've found a mirror of a very rough version of the site, and it's here.
I'm looking for...
62.213.67.122
Come on down! You're the next contestant on Your IP Is Banned!
Today Tonight is a good day. Night. Whatever. I've finally sat down and been able to puzzle out the consists for three of the Pennsylvania Railroad's most famed passenger trains from the post-World War II era, and assemble them for Train Simulator.
Thanks to some relentless Google-work and a copy of a Kalmbach Publications magazine, I've assembled the Broadway Limited, the Congressional, and the Senator. I'll wind up posting the things once I get them transferred over to the blogging computer, on the off chance that someone might make use of them.
Something else has occurred to me while reflecting on Howard Dean's reactions during the post-caucus festivities:
"No class."
What's historical about this? Well, to further link the present to the past i.e. Richard Nixon, "no class" is part of a dismissal issued by John F. Kennedy in regards to Richard M. Nixon's final concession in 1960. Vice President Nixon, instead of making a concession speech himself, sent his press secretary Joe Klein to read a congratulatory telegram which had previously been sent to Senator Kennedy. The senator, watching with Pierre Salinger, stated, "[Nixon] went out the way he came in, no class."
Howard Dean could also take a page from Richard Nixon on how to lose an election. After the final concession (of a campaign that makes 2000 look clear-cut) RN went home and decided that he should appear capable of losing gracefully, and that the country could not stand for a recount or contesting of the election.
Now that I think of it, both Al Gore and Howard Dean could take a page from then-Vice President Nixon. The Gore campaign put the country through considerable chaos and damaged the process of election, all on questionable grounds, whereas RN let the Kennedy team savor its short-lived victory, sparing America the anguish of a recount and contest.
Howard Dean's remarks, or what I saw of them, struck me as being in poor taste and without class. More and more, Candidate Dean fails the test of history---he isn't worthy of being in the race.
For graciousness amongst the Democrats, see Gephardt, Representative Richard A., and acknowledge some class. I hate to see him go for a variety of reasons, and I wish he'd lasted a lot longer.
Our latest spamming idiot:
67.68.196.34
You've just won an all-expense paid trip to the Camp X-Ray for blog spammers! Give that man a round of applause!
I had been wondering how Team Dean would respond to Anger-Powered Howard's third-place finish in the Iowa caucus, so I wandered over to the Dean campaign blog. I don't do that often, but this time it was worth it.
Dean must stop letting other people define him! The bashing stuck to him, and it blocked his message from getting through. . . And when Kery or Liberman steal a platform plank, CALL THEM ON IT! And when they say stupid insulitn comments in a debate, don't answer. Say "Is that the best question you can come up with? Why are my corrospondence records sealed until a judge can review them? Really, Joe, peaople acn see through that kind of nonsense question." HOWARD, DON'T LET OTHERS DEFINE YOU! YOU ARE THE SMART ONE WHO BROUGHT THE DEMOCRATIC DEBATE TO THE LEVEL IT IS AT THIS YEAR.1
Read that last capitalized line a couple of times and remember my earlier remarks on the Dean campaign. Now, conjure up the voice of Jonathan Harris' Doctor Zachary Smith from the old Lost in Space and imagine this next line as being spoken by him:
"Oh, the irony."
1Blog for America: Comment upon On to New Hampshire
Yes, it's late in the evening and I'm writing this in the midst of working on some locomotives for Microsoft's Train Simulator. Several points:
1. I am disappointed that Representative Gephardt didn't finish better. I liked him for some reason, primarily because I thought that he was a) an experienced hand in Washington and b) didn't campaign like Dean (i.e. "I hate George Bush and by the way, my name's Howard Dean!")
2. I am downright surprised that John Kerry won. I, like most other conventional wisdomeers, had written Kerry off. I didn't yet write off the ability of Kerry to spend a lot of money, but I had been expecting him to go quietly into obscurity.
At the same time, I'd been expecting him (before things got started) to be a formidable candidate, due to various factors which at present don't seem to matter. Those factors include his reputation as a Northeastern liberal, his initials, his ostensible experience, and whatnot. Go figure.
3. Hooray for John Edwards. Sure he's a slimeball, but he's a Southern slimeball, and I'm more inclined to root for ours than I am for Vermont's. Somewhere within the depths of the National Review website is an article by Byron York about how Edwards broke some rules to slam Charles Pickering, but that's neither here nor there.
4. Dean sounded like he was trying out for the job once held by 'Mean Gene' Okerlund, namely the announcer for Saturday afternoon WWF wrestling matches. Either that, or the job held by Richard Dawson in Running Man.
That's all. My brain, it is tired.
I was looking at my assignment for Agency & Partnership the other night, and I happened to see the cover of my casebook. What to my wondering eyes did appear, but the name of a Professor whose blog is linked here.
That's right, I've got a copy of Agency, Partnerships, and Limited Liability Entities: Cases and Materials on Unincorporated Business Associations by William A. Klein, J. Mark Ramseyer, and, most importantly, Stephen M. Bainbridge.
Heh heh heh. Whoah. For what it's worth, Professor, I like the book so far.
On January 17, 1897, the Roanoke Machine Works were purchased by the Norfolk & Western Railway.
This would, of course, be part of the process that would lead to the mighty "Roanoke Shops" which would turn out the A, J, and Y classes of locomotives in the 1940s for the N&W, all part of what they called 'Precision Transportation'.
One of each of the penultimate classes of N&W steam locomotive survives today; the Virginia Museum of Transportation has the last surviving A and J types, and the National Transportation Museum in St. Louis, Missouri, has the last Y. There are three tracks in Roanoke under the Claytor Pavilion, and the Y6 belongs with her sisters.
Information courtesy of the 2004 Norfolk & Western Historical Society Calendar.
The visual presentation of this quiz result has been altered by me in order to avoid causing retinal burns.
"Sin is incurable by the strength of man, nor does free will have any validity here, so that even the saints say: 'The evil which I do not wish, this I do.' 'You are not doing the things which you wish.' 'Since my loins are filled with illusions,' etc." You are Martin Luther!
Yeah, you have a way of letting everyone know how you feel, usually with Bible quotes attached, and will think your way through the issues, although sometimes you make no sense! You aren't always sure of yourself, and you can change your mind about things, something you actually consider a strength. You can take solitude, especially with some music.
I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing. I generally do not get involved in the high-level muckity muck that goes on in the blogosphere in terms of religious issues, primarily because I do not understand them. As a happy-go-lucky Methodist, I think I should probably be happy that I got Martin Luther, unless John Wesley was an option. Then I'd be embarrassed for not getting him.
Tip of the Wisconsin hat to the team over at Evangelical Outpost for posting this.
UPDATE: John Wesley is indeed an option. Oh, too bad.
Matthew Stinson has a non-traditional run down on the remaining Democratic candidates for the nomination, with analysis written as if America is a gal in a bar, and the candidates are trying to catch her favorable attentions.
I laughed several times while reading, so I highly recommend that you click here and read it.
Well, not exactly a spot per se but an annoyance nonetheless. Comment spammers annoy me, so they're going to be banned. Although TCP is a fair and just man who values the rule of law, this blog, in the words of Jed Eckert from Red Dawn, is not a democracy. (Admittedly, this means that it's free to be a rule of law blog and not a rule of the mob one, but work with me.)
Therefore, two IPs are banned for comment spamming:
-24.50.163.53
-81.218.198.82
Welcome to the list, gentlemen! You'll not be posting back any time soon. No ACLU or capital murderer sympathizers to plead your case here. Tip of the Wisconsin hat to Matthew Stinson for giving me the idea to publish banned IP numbers.
1. What does it say in the signature line of your emails?Nothing, unfortunately.
2. Did you have a senior quote in your high school yearbook? What was it? If you haven't graduated yet, what would you like your quote to be?My high school was too cheap to give us senior quotes. I'd hate to have to try and think back through a fog of bad memories and multiple years---gah, coming up on too many---to figure out my mindset as of the time and come up with one.
3. If you had vanity plates on your car, what would they read? If you already have them, what do they say?At one point in time, I was going to try and figure out some variant of "Liz Phair", just for the heck of it. There was a time when Miz Liz was my favorite singer/song-writer. Heck, I'm still quite fond of her.
The real answer to this is, I'm afraid, not for publication.
4. Have you received any gifts with messages engraved upon them? What did the inscription say?Yes, it was from an uncle of mine. I had to throw the bloody thing in the fire, and it said, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them...
Just kidding. I can't recall any engraved gifts like that.
5. What would you like your epitaph to be?Virginian.
I like Joe Lieberman. I don't know why I like him, but there's something inherently amusing about the droll and dry sort of wit he'll roll out with while on the stump. I heard audio of him singing a song to some people, and darned near laughed out loud, because it was so novel, and rather comic.
Per that Buckley brat Rich Lowry, we get a new story about Joe on the stump. You've got to admire the guy's pluck, saying he wanted Carol Moseley-Braun in his administration. At least it shows optimism. As for Iraq, Joe's quip about Wes Clark is amusing. He ought to try and play up his dry wit, and see if it works.
Senator Palpat---er, Lieberman probably has no chance in the primaries---this could change, if the current fanatics infecting the Democrat electorate would go away---but that doesn't mean I'm not fond of the guy. Heck, electing him for a term would be worth its weight in gold simply to see how the vaunted Arab street reacts. Too bad decorum wouldn't allow him to stand up and say, "Well, you know, we got tired of running the country by proxy through banks and big business and so forth, so we just decided to go ahead and assume direct control of the reins of our client state, America." Or another potential President Lieberman scenario: "My fellow Americans, I am pleased to tell you that I have just signed legislation that will outlaw the Middle East forever. We begin bombing in five minutes."
Heh heh heh. Talk about really messing with the Islamists' heads!
Hooray!
At approximately 10:05:05 last night, visitor number 1000 came by. As best I can tell, they came from attbi.com and were sent here by Google.
I managed to get about 500 hits before the end of 2003, and now I've doubled that in two weeks. Fantastic, eh. All you readers out there, I appreciate your patronage.
I just saw my first Wesley Clark commercial the other night. The only reaction I remember to it is that there was a disclaimer on the pictures of American GIs fighting in Vietnam, and it read something about "FILE PHOTOS OF AMERICAN COMBAT TROOPS".
I suppose that was put there so as not to leave room for someone to make a big fuss about how the infantryman in the picture wasn't actually Wesley Clark and the like. I don't remember a whole lot else about it, other than the statement of responsibility at the end, which ran something like "I'm Wes Clark, and I authorized this ad". I'm curious as to whether a) that's a Federal requirement b) it's a Virginia requirement, and c) what the requirement actually is. The way that the Clark people weaved that audio snippet in was actually kind of jarring, and it didn't flow well with the overall tone of the ad.
Enh. I suppose I'll get to see that loathsome batch trudge through Virginia in search of Democratic support. If any of them are actually within easy reach, I'll probably go to a public event or two, especially if Kucininch comes around. Hee hee. "Country Pundit last seen shouting 'Take a bath, you hosers!' as an unwashed mob converged upon his stalled car".
Enh.
I'm a fan of Steven den Beste's work, even when what he writes is impenetrable to my brain. I'm no longer exactly sure how I ran across this article, but it's a good one to explain "another side" on the global playing field.
Transational Progressivism is, as always, a long-form essay on a topic. It's wholly worth reading, and I suggest that you do so. I'm fond of getting inside the other guy's head (the better to defeat you!) and this helps. If you've ever sat down and asked, "Did IQs just drop sharply while I was away?" in response to a lot of the non-governmental organization whining that seems to go on (or that from the 'Europeans' in Brussels), this will explain things.
The scary thing for me is that I had a professor in undergraduate who heartily embraced these sorts of theories. He used to wax long and eloquent about the greatness of international law, and how it was a good thing. Naturally, he wasn't very pleased when I quipped (more loudly than I should have, in retrospect) that, "International law consists of those things that your navy can enforce". He was also very fond of the European Union. (You also could have done the assignments, which might have helped. --Ed.)
Yeah, my grades from him usually suffered. That is not to say that I was 'punished' for my stances, but it is difficult to excel in a class where one don't grant some of the initial premises that the class is based upon.
I was and am an ardent nationalist who isn't particularly interested in bending America's knee to the United Nations or any other unelected, unaccountable, and unrepublican establishment. (At the same time, there's usefulness left in the UN, and I wouldn't pull out. It just needs a structural tweak or two and then it could be better.)
Anyways, enough from me. Get thee to the article, and learn more about the people who sit on a different side of the table. It's important to know what they're thinking, even if you and I think it's bunk. Whether it is or not is completely irrelevant; the point is that this is how they think and everyone else must position themselves accordingly.
Ugh. The final semester of law school has started. I so don't want to go through with this. I would readily prefer avoiding the inevitability of taking the Virginia bar.
On the other hand, I got a grade back in a class that I was expecting to retake. Two full letters above what I thought I'd get, and I'm pleased. Hooray. Nevertheless, I don't want to actually have to get out into the real world and pull my weight, darnit. Isn't there some super-rich family that just would love to have a grumpy, acerbic, and sarcastic wiseacre amateur political analyst and lawyer as a son-in-law, married to their uber-babe daughter whose accent is either English or proper Southern? (There are plenty of them out there; it's just that none of them are interested in you. --Ed.)
Oh well. Once more into the breach, and unfortunately, I don't think I'm Richard Sharpe at Badajoz.
Picking up where yesterday's entry left off, I was browsing around the Norfolk Southern's website, and found this speech made by David R. Goode at the kickoff for the O. Winston Link Museum funding campaign.
Mr. Goode is the chairman, president, and CEO of the Norfolk Southern Corporation, which is the parent company for the Norfolk Southern Railway. Mr. Goode's job is to earn money for the shareholders, and since he's held his job since 1994, he must be doing something right.
His speech struck me as rather brief, but then none of the executive speeches I've read that have been given by Norfolk Southern officers have struck me as being long. No one will include in a collection of great oratory, but something nagged at the back of my mind as I read it. I haven't yet put my finger on what exactly was bothering me about it, and it may be nothing.
Anyways. Those of you who like reading speeches made by people, go check it out and see what you think. I have no connection to any party to the events, but I'm glad that the Norfolk Southern Foundation, along with employees of the N&W/NS, have seen fit to donate a pretty hefty chunk of money to the campaign. Hats off to all involved.
First, an introduction: I like railroads, and I like the business of running a railroad. That being said, the late Norfolk & Western Railway and the current Norfolk Southern Railway lead all others in my esteem.1 This of course means that I've been to the Virginia Museum of Transportation several times. Haven't you? I've stood beside the silent flanks of N&W 611 and N&W 1218, and it's an awe-inspiring experience. The sheer scale of these things is astounding, and it's a little humbling to think that we used to be able to make these things, but that, like much else of our basic industrial capacity, has been vanquished. (We're paying you for a toast to a museum, not for an ill-tempered rant against globalization and the de-industrialization of America. If I wasn't busy calling someone in Punjab to order some iron girders, I'd come up there and beat you. --Ed.)
And so it goes that I'm also a fan of the work of the late O. Winston Link. He was a photographer and advertising man who spent time on the Norfolk & Western in the late 1950s, as the railway phased out the use of steam locomotives. Link shot hundreds if not thousands of pictures of the N&W in action, most of them in black and white. His work is, to an uneducated observer, an example of technical prowess masterfully combined with a compelling subject. Link's work on the N&W is documented in two books that I'm aware of, Steam, Steel and Stars and The Last Steam Railroad in America, both of which are highly recommended.
At any rate, a museum to the man and his work has finally been put together in the former headquarters of the Norfolk & Western, in a manner that I'm sure Link would approve of. The old N&W passenger depot in Roanoke, Virginia, has been converted to use as the O. Winston Link Museum, and it opens today, 10 January 2004. I'll let the Museum speak for itself:
The Station is the last structure to be renovated within Roanoke's Historic Rail District. Other significant renovation projects include the Virginia Museum of Transportation (former railway freight depot) and the Roanoke Higher Education Center (former N&W General Office Building North). N&W General Office Building South has been renovated for use as upscale downtown apartments.The Station is a Virginia Historic Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Recently, the Virginia Department of Historic Resources deemed the Roanoke Station eligible for national level significance on the Register. The Station is significant due to the "vital role played by the Norfolk & Western Railway in the development of the rail systems of the United States, and the vital role played by the N&W in the enormous expansion of American Industrial capacity."
Norfolk Southern Corporation (formerly Norfolk & Western Railway) used the Station for offices after passenger rail service was terminated from the Valley in 1971.
Yes, and that last paragraph grates considerably. I'm still hoping that our representatives in Richmond and the powers that be at Three Commercial Place in Norfolk are able to come to an agreement on the provision of passenger rail service to the Roanoke Valley and points west. And yes, I'd use it. I'd much rather sit on my butt on a train than have to drive on the interstate highways. I digress.
I am very glad to report the opening of this museum, and I'm just sorry that I couldn't have been there, due to previously existing academic commitments. If you've never been to Roanoke, the present's looking better all the time.
The only bad thing about this news is that now I'll have to schedule even more time when I go to Roanoke. Bother! Let's just hope they've got a well-stocked gift shop.
1 Next on that list is the late Penn Central Railroad. Yeah, I've got a thing for black and white locomotive liveries.
I recently decided to take a look at the SiteMeter stats and see what I could find that was interesting. One thing popped up, and I don't have any explanation, but here goes:
Forty-five percent of TCP visitors are on the East Coast of the United States. Twenty-five percent are in the Central time zone. About twelve percent are in the Mountain time zone. Ten percent are in the Pacific time zone. The remainder come from Western Europe, with a concentration in the Scandinavian countries. I've seen *.fi in the data for a while, and I'm really kind of curious as to what's bringing them here. Not that I'm complaining.
I suppose that I'd kind of like to know what attracts so much traffic from the Atlantic coast, and why (if there's any coherent reason) that there's a drop-off that's almost by half with each continuing step as you head west. Interesting.
To all the visitors, be you from NBC, Disney, the DOD, the Federal courts, or anywhere, thanks for coming!
I'm still not sure what's going on here, eh. I hope it's temporary.
UPDATE: The problem was due to an absence of postings for the recent period. Correction of this is under way.
Just a moment. Just a moment.
I've just picked up a fault in the AE-35 unit.
Something's wrong and I'm looking into it while I work with some other stuff.
Per the discussion available in an earlier discussion of the MoveOn ads, I am "moving on" from the discussion of their ads.
Thus, you probably won't see any more discussion of them on this site. As I kept trying to hammer home, I consider them unreasonable and immature, and therefore no longer worthy of inclusion in the debate. Thanks for playing, children!
Earlier on, your humble correspondent swore a vow to refrain from the discussion of two large things making their way around the World Wide Web from celebrity culture. One involved someone's recorded romp, and another the continuing legal saga of a celebrity whose name will not be mentioned. This policy remains in effect, and it will not be revisited or reconsidered. Unlike Roe v. Wade, it is settled law. (Take that, Patrick Leahy!)
That being said, your correspondent also sees much merit in Comrade Commissar's suggestions for the blogosphere, excerpted in relevant part below:
Commissar does not mean to reject a comrade's request. Suppose you get email from Comrade, "Hey I wrote interesting post." He wants you to link to it. Here's rule: You link to it.
Comrade Commissar, in his infinite benevolence, has offered me an opportunity to comply with his dictum, and now we do, much belated.
Fisk Does никогда-land is the post, and if you've got past those happy Christmas feelings and want to hear about some nasty-side effects to a nasty British journalist, from a sarcastic viewpoint, visit it.
(Journalistic integrity requires me to note that the real story is here, and basic human decency requires me to say that I'm glad nobody was killed. At the same time, one has to note the oddity of Mr. Fisk's response in that he understood the actions taken against him. That may be the kind of man who, when confronted with a criminal, wants to know what he did wrong and how he can be of assistance to the poor unloved criminal. That is, of course, the wrong response. Ideally, one would reply as Anavel Gato does in one of the closing episodes of Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory to something like this: "DIE!")
NOTE: This post is yet another continuing victim of me forgetting to change the 'Draft' radio button to 'Publish'. I'm too picky to go and change the default setting, because I usually keep a post or two in the hopper and prefer them to be floating about without publishing. This is common at TCP, and I trust all will work around it.
I got this in the mail from Blogs for Bush:
Chairman Calls on Democrat Candidates to Repudiate Ad Comparing Bush to HitlerRepublican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie today called on the nine Democrat presidential candidates to repudiate an ad posted on the Moveon.org website comparing President George W. Bush to Adolf Hitler.
GILLESPIE: If you look at some of these outside groups that are coming together to defeat the president, they will spend over $1 million a day next year to defeat him. One of those groups is a group called MoveOn.org, a group that, after September 11th, said we shouldn't respond in a military fashion, that we should just take diplomatic means to address this tragic occurrence and this terrorist strike. But they have been running an ad selection campaign on their Web site, and one of the ads that was submitted that they considered viable for airing -- with $7 million, by the way, in funds that we don't know where it comes from, but we know they've said they'd spend $7 million to air the ad that they've settled on -- one of them morphed President Bush into Adolf Hitler. That's the kind of tactics we're seeing on the left today in support of these Democratic presidential candidates.
The transcript, edited by me for clarity, follows:
GRAPHIC: Pictures Of Hitler
HITLER: (Speaking In German)
SUBTITLE: We have taken new measures to protect our homeland,GRAPHIC: Pictures Of Hitler
HITLER: (Speaking In German)
SUBTITLE: I believe I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator,GRAPHIC: Pictures Of Hitler
HITLER: (Speaking In German)
SUBTITLE: God told me to strike at al-Qaida and I struck them,GRAPHIC: Pictures of President Bush
HITLER: (Speaking In German)
SUBTITLE: and then He instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did.SUBTITLE: SOUND FAMILIAR?
BACKGROUND: Cheering German Crowd
This is disgusting. At some level, it also insults the roughly 13 million Jews, gypsies, Slavs, homosexuals, and other assorted victims of the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei for political purpose. Is it really the act of a reasonable man to compare Adolf Hitler with George W. Bush? Is it really reasonable to compare the Final Solution against innocents to the capture and confinement of enemy combat personnel? Sorry, but I don't see any equivalence between Anne Frank and John Walker Lindh.
Reasonable men can perhaps disagree over the question of Iraq. Reasonable men should probably not disagree over the question of the Afghanistan operation. There may be areas of legitimate discussion for Afghanistan, but I would want any party who chose to dissent from the attack to be very, very focused in these legitimate areas, or else I'd write them off as being neither serious nor reasonable, and thus not part of the discussion.
I am, of course, aware of the long-standing tradition of comparing President Bush to Adolf Hitler. It's my litmus test for reasonability. Why am I so precipitous with this? Because it's patently ridiculous to compare Hitler to Bush. Adolf Hitler slaughtered a bunch of "undesirables" because they had the rotten luck to be classified Ãœntermenschen in a system where only the Herrenvolk was allowed to survive.
I ask the men of moveon.org the following questions: Where are the concentration camps? Where is Kristallnacht Amerika, wherein Arabs are dragged from their homes, their businesses, and off the street for murder? Where are the Nuremberg Laws? In Hitler's Germany, such an attack as occurred on 11 September 2001 would have probably led the SA or the SS into the streets at the head of mobs to destroy every single synagogue that they could get their hands on.
Where were the mobs of Americans led by Homeland Security men storming their local mosques and murdering Islamics? Where was the forced "resettlement" of Arabs?
The simple answer is the accurate one: Nowhere. There isn't anything like that in this country. There is absolutely no support for a comparison that equates Adolf Hitler with George W. Bush. Hitler used false reports of a Polish attack on a German radio station in Gliewitz to bolster support for a German assault on Poland. This was false. It was staged by German troops, according to generally accepted sources. On the contrary, nobody reasonable appears to doubt that around three thousand people lost their lives in Virginia (you bastards, this isn't over yet!) Pennsylvania, and New York. Unlike the radio station (or even the Reichstag fire), an external party (namely al-Qaeda) has claimed responsibility for the attacks. Adolf Hitler told Jews that they were responsible for what he did to them. George W. Bush calls for the protection of Arabs and goes out of his to bend over backwards in support of Islam. Yeah, they're just alike.
Moreover, al-Qaeda has initiated several strikes against American targets before. The dead from the USS Cole come immediately to mind. There does not appear to have been a similar National Socialist effort to create a unified "Jewish conspiracy front", other than for Hitler to sit around and mouth about how the Jews had it in for the people of Germany. There wasn't a Zionist radio station which functioned as a virtual propaganda arm of a well-funded, world-spanning militant group led by a rabbi, unlike a wee little going concern named al-Jazeera.
The most odious thing in the ad is the attempt to link Adolf Hitler to the Christian faith of George W. Bush. The purportedly Christianity of Hitler is a useful tool for secularists and weak-kneed "Christians in name only" who are readily eager to brickbat the two-thousand year old faith in exchange for platitudes from the cultural left. Unfortunately, just like the rest of this ad, there are factual problems of truth. Adolf Hitler didn't like Christians. He didn't like the concept of a Savior who wasn't out to layeth the smack down and brutally crush all who stood against him. Hitler had no use for Christians, and perhaps had them penciled in as 'next' after the Jews had been handled. Some students at Rutgers Law took note of this; a Dave Shiflett column goes into more detail.
I've seen this ad, and the transcript seems to be a true record thereof. If indeed moveon.org is running this ad---a quick view of their site didn't show it---then this is additional evidence that they are unreasonable, and should not be considered a part of the national discussion of politics. Simply put, they don't belong at the adults' table. This is irrational and immature behavior. It is another example of the sort of behavior that I wrote about earlier in I Don't Want Dean---an entry I again recommend for reading---and briefly in Matrix News of Varying Quality. I don't believe in rational discussion with irrational and unreasonable fanatics. Therefore, I don't believe in meaningful engagement with the men of moveon.org. Their protests will not be heard, and their arguments have no weight.
These are the men who back Howard Dean the strongest. They propel him, they support him, and they are unequivocally dedicated to Dean. For shame, moveon.org, for shame. And shame on you, Howard Dean. You embarrass the State of Vermont with your acceptance of their support.
Those wishing to view this ad may download from the RNC website/press release set up to do so. The direct link is here.
UPDATE: The Simon Wiesenthal Center has issued a press release on the subject; they're not happy with moveon either. View it here.
It appears that, from CNN live reports, we have heard from our Spirit lander on Mars. Hooray!
Viking and Mariner, perhaps we will some day recover you. This is good news, and I'm glad that this has happened. I have no news about the fate of the British/ESA probe; I hope they find it sooner or later.
OK, so I forgot to do the first Friday Five of 2004 entirely on time. I plead the defense of being enslaved to storing Christmas ornaments, and also goings on at Blogs for Bush as having distracted me. Look for my quasi-mordant commentary in several threads there, eh.
Here goes:
What one thing are you most looking forward to . . .
1. ...today?Since I'm writing this at the end of the day on Saturday, I suppose I'm looking most forward to going to church tomorrow, because a good friend of mine is almost always in the pew behind me, and we always have pleasant conversations about (primarily) railroads.
2. ...over the next week?I'm most looking forward to the completion of an academic project and the fun parts of my return to law school for the final semester. What those fun parts will be, I don't know.
3. ...this year?The period that comes after the successful completion of law school and successful passage of the Virginia bar. That'll be a reason for considerable celebration and thanksgiving, rejoicing, and other things related to it.
4. ...over the next five years?A successful transition to being a small town Southern lawyer. That involves procurement of a Mrs. Country Pundit, but the outlook on that isn't good at the moment. Felgercarb.
5. ...for the rest of your life?Hrrm. Success, power, and wealth. That's flippant and sarcastic, but I don't quite have the Fifty-Year Plan laid out yet. I suppose the answer is, "I'm looking forward to a life lived in such a way so that when I have to answer to higher authorities at the end of said life, their evaluation will read 'acceptable' and I'll get the cheery welcome into Heaven, instead of a first-class one-way ticket on the Express Elevator to Hell."
This is late (as usual) but I ran across the thing late last night and, 23-odd hours later, am finally getting to posting it, What Not To Do During Return of the King". Excerpted in full here:
1. Stand up halfway through the movie and yell loudly, "Wait... where the hell is Harry Potter?"
2. Block the entrance to the theater while screaming: "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!" - After the movie, say "Lucas could have done it better."
3. Play a drinking game where you have to take a sip every time someone says: "The Ring."
4. Point and laugh whenever someone dies.
5. Ask everyone around you if they think Gandalf went to Hogwarts.
6. Finish off every one of Elrond's lines with "Mr. Anderson."
7. When Aragorn is crowned king, stand up and at the top of your lungs sing, "And I did it.... MY way...!"
8. Talk like Gollum all through the movie. At the end, bite off someone's finger and fall down the stairs.
9. Dress up as old ladies and reenact "The Battle of Helms Deep" Monty Python style.
10. When Denethor lights the fire, shout "Barbecue!"
11. In TTT when the Ents decide to march to war, stand up and shout "RUN FOREST, RUN!"
12. Every time someone kills an Orc, yell: "That's what I'm Tolkien about!" See how long it takes before you get kicked out of the theatre.
13. During a wide shot of a battle, inquire, "Where's Waldo?"
14. Talk loudly about how you heard that there is a single frame of a nude Elf hidden somewhere in the movie.
15. Start an Orc sing-a-long.
16. Come to the premiere dressed as Frankenfurter and wander around looking terribly confused.
17. When they go in the paths of the dead, wait for tense moment and shout, "I see dead people!"
18. Imitate what you think a conversation between Gollum, Dobby and Yoda would be like.
19. Release a jar of daddy-long-legs into the theater during the Shelob scene.
20. Wonder out loud if Aragorn is going to run for governor of California.
21. When Shelob comes on, exclaim, "Man! Charlotte's really let herself go!"
The Country Pundit pleads guilty to 6, 13, and 17. I had to do something during that movie.
On this date in 1892, a man named John was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa. He would later go on to fight in the Great War and became an academic, with some note coming to him for his work in philology. He also liked to write books on the side.
Why do we care?
His name was John Ronald Reuel Tolkein.
Happy 112th, Professor. Thank you for your work.
The Country Pundit is quite fond of President Richard M. Nixon, which probably sets me apart from the vast majority of the blogosphere, be they Republicans or Democrats. That being said, I'm usually taking umbrage at one Democrat or another for making some snide remark about some perceived ill of the Nixon Administration. As of late, I've been meaning to put a broadside or two into Howard Dean, who's been aiming at the Sage of Saddle River in recent speeches.
Governor Dean's been making some fumbling protestations about Richard Nixon's so-called "Southern strategy", and how it was somehow inherently based upon racism. Yes, Nixon the racist candidate. Hubert Humphrey helps create Johnson's program of black suffrage and whatnot ("You blacks need me to help you...") and George Wallace more or less comes right out and declares his disdain for the civil rights movement, and Richard Nixon's the racist.
Only in American politics can you find something this surreal. Nixon wants to be less than hell-for-leather in the implementation of busing, and this apparently vaults him over George Corley Wallace in terms of racism, or at least Governor Dean thinks so.
I'd like to see Dr. Strange be so bold against a living and viable Richard Nixon. Take a half-wit governor from a third-rate State and send him up against the most successful national-ticket Republican (four wins in five appearances; leads the modern era of American electoral politics; given the irregularities of 1960, I'm tempted to peg him at 5-0 for pure spite) and see how he does.
A very delightful article came to my attention via Dana of Note-It Posts, commenting upon President Nixon versus Howard Dean. Ed of Late Final penned it, and I enjoyed reading it. My favorite part for use against Dean is reproduced below:
Nixon won a squeaker of an election against Hubert Humphrey that was made closer by Wallace, who won 46 electoral votes from below the Mason-Dixon line. (So much for that "Southern Strategy.")
Heh heh heh, a good post to make a Nixon Administration double-play. Thanks for the post, Ed!
I found this on CNN today; it finally "proves" the old saw I'd heard about Dr. Henry A. Kissinger making some thinly-veiled remark to someone (probably an OPEC minister) that the West would not for long tolerate the oil embargos of the 1970s. The British intelligence apparat seems to have been concerned that President Nixon would order some sort of invasion of the Middle East, to secure the oil reserves there and to get them out of the hands of the OPEC magnates.
According to these documents---which I intend to try and track down---the Brits determined that we were right angry over the embargo (y'think?) and that we could do pretty good by bagging Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Abu Dhabi.
Leave it to President Nixon to take a bold stance in dealing with Arab perfidy. I wasn't alive during the oil embargo of 1973, so I don't remember anything about it. This sort of reputation is one reason I like Richard Nixon. Although the existence of the 'madman theory' has been reportedly discredited, it is good when those who want to oppose you have to fear you. It doesn't do much to embolden OPEC if they have to worry about American paras falling in on them after a production cut and a price hike.
Anyways.
Admittedly, now that I think about it, we're already in Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait, and I bet the Brits would swap Abu Dhabi for Iraq pretty easily. Heh heh heh, the Nixon Administration proves its presience again! That article a couple of months ago comparing Nixon to Bush seems to have been born out after all.
I can now feel better about having Bush as the President for the next four years. It's fun using slogans like, "Re-elect the President" or "Now, more than ever." That just warms my evil little Republican operative's heart.