Archive for February 2005
Hollywood’s Useful Idiots
Well, I didn't watch most of The Oscars last night, but I caught a bit of it. Clint Eastwood is as good as you get in Hollywood, and from what I know of him, he's a real human being. Glad he took a couple of the top prizes. My wife & I just happened to see Million Dollar Baby the night before, and I'd recommend it. Glad to see Jamie Foxx get top actor for…Read More
The TSA – Part 2
OK, I’ve expressed my rage over our treatment at the hands of the TSA (Yea, like I’m going to deny that it’s rage? The proper distinction is between mindless and principled.). Having read the comments thereto, let me expound in greater detail and in a calmer tone. First, I don’t get into proposing alternate (but more “efficient”) ways of disposing of your natural freedom. I don’t contrive to identify groups it would be “better” to…Read More
A Bizarro Day
Well, first, my wife and I go walking the dogs over at the local high school. In addition to Rotor, our rat terrier that I walk 3 miles every morning, we’re taking care of Rosie, my brother-in-law’s boston terrier, while he’s trying to sell his house. We’ve taken care of her before. While she’s protective when someone knocks on the door, she’s never been a problem over at the park running off leash. I’m so…Read More
Gorillas of the TSA
I just returned from a weeklong trip to the Hawaiian island of Kauai. In company was my wife, her parents, and my parents (yes, we all get along swimmingly). It was a great trip, all in all, not marred by one single unfortunate event. But it was tarnished, nonetheless—purposefully and willfully—by a group of loathsome people with the effrontery to call themselves “public servants.” The first incident came right at the start, leaving from San…Read More
Kauai – Wrapup
I wrote briefly about, and posted some photographs of, our just-concluded week in Kauai here, here, here, here, here, and here. Because of the quite surprising level of very nice and complimentary comments and emails, I promised to put up a good collection of the images in full high-res at Club Photo. Promise delivered. Now I can get back to a little rage. It should be no surprise that my first topic will be the…Read More
Kauai – Day 6
The tour with Safari Helicopters was fantastic. Note to Commander Preston Myers, USN (Ret.): from one former Navy officer to another, your operation is ship shape from top to bottom. Your offices (even the head), your staff, your shuttle vans, your aircraft and your all-ATP-rated pilots performed superbly, and as for the personnel, each and every one demonstrated a high degree of pride in what they do. Well done, sir. Here are a few pics…Read More
Kauai – Day 5
Well, we didn't take the helicopter tour yesterday. Scheduling conflict. It should go down today. Relatively quiet yesterday, and we topped it off with a Luau that our traveling companions treated my wife and I too. I've always resisted going to one of these group things, but this one was put on by a family who's been doing it for decades. There's nothing in the world like competence. Three pics today. This first was quite…Read More
Kauai – Day 4
It goes without saying that we're having a wonderful time. Today is helicopter tour day: Waimea Canyon, Na Pali Coast and whatever else they have in store for us. Pics tomorrow. In the meantime, let's get to yesterday's pics. Thanks for all the kind comments and emails, and to answer the questions, yes, there are dozens more photos. Once I get back on Saturday, I'll throw most of them up on Club Photo and announce…Read More
Kauai – Day 3
So far…so good. Three days—and I’ve yet to have to suffer through some pretentious, teachy spectacle showcasing the “vast superiority” of the native Hawaiian culture to that of Western Civilization. And; you know, how much more “harmoniously” they interacted with nature, et cetera. I’ve got three pics today. One is from the beach on the southwest of the island, just north of the Navy’s missile rest range. There’s Waimea Canyon, said to be “The Grand…Read More
Kauai – Day 2
I'm really pleased with our choice of Kauai for this trip. We previously did a week in Maui, which was fantastic (do the bike ride from the top of Haleakala: 40 miles, all downhill, with only about 200 yards of peddling), and a day in Oahu, which was enough (though I'd like to explore the north and interior). Yesterday, we explored the east and north side of Kauai. Here's a couple of pics (I'd do…Read More
Hawaiian Paradise
I’m sitting here, looking out the rear sliding door of our rented condo, situated at the extreme southern tip of Kauai (Makahuena Point, Poipu). We’re right on the rock cliff’s edge and can see the sunrise to the east, and sunset to the west. We’ll be here throughout the week. I’ll toss up some pics later.Read More
VDH: Move Over
Billy Beck, the big show-off, parades his considerable depth of knowledge in the long-range geopolitical consequences of military history. I recommend taking the time to not only read, but understand.Read More
No Comment
Ann Althouse delivers a good summary on the topic of comments on blogs, which, since I just enabled comments on this blog, is of some interest to me. Perhaps someone has mentioned this before, but I think there are two kinds of blogs that transcend the left vs. right divide. Some blogs, like Instapundit, exist primarily as clearing house for links and a quick description of current events, mostly of a political nature. Other blogs,…Read More
Not at a loss for words
Rachel Lucas, who had a very popular blog, then quit, then started again, then quit again, and then started a whole new blog...is never at a loss for words (unless she forgets about her blog for a while).Read More
Fraudpublicans
Shocking news out of the NYT: ...President Bush unveiled a $2.57 trillion budget for 2006, the largest in the nation's history. The cuts he called for, in areas like veterans' medical care, farm subsidies and vocational training, were met in Washington with doubts that they would ever get through the Republican Congress. ... The Cato Institute, a libertarian research institution, says overall federal spending has increased twice as fast under Mr. Bush as under Mr.…Read More
X=Blog
Law Professor Ann Althouse gives an interesting summation of her speech on blogging to the the University of Wisconsin at Madison Physics Department.Read More
Mencken on Free Speech
No wonder neither the right nor the left have any capacity whatsoever to tolerate it: “The danger in free speech does not lie in the menace of ideas, but in the menace of emotions. If words were merely logical devices no one would fear them. But when they impinge upon a moron they set off his hormones, and so they are justifiably feared. Complete free speech, under democracy, is possible only in a foreign language.…Read More
The Social Security Ponzi Scheme
Jeff Jocoby, at townhall.com: You don't have to be a financial wizard to know that Social Security is a lousy investment. Unlike the money you deposit in a bank or salt away in an IRA, you don't own the money you pay into Social Security. You have no legal right to get those dollars back, and when you die you can't pass them on to your heirs. Nor can you use your Social Security account…Read More
Libertarian Girl
A couple of months ago, everyone, present company excluded, was all abuzz about a new blog called "Libertarian Girl," that sported a pink design template and a large photo of a reasonably attractive blond. But her posts advocated all sorts of wacky things for a libertarian to advocate, such as a "breast-implant tax." Now, had people actually stopped to think right then and there, they might have smelled something fishy. But no. So, yesterday, Catallarchy…Read More
A Dangerous Combination
Stupidity; and too much time on one's hands... Ann Althouse asks: These are starkly opposed positions. What mental leaps are required to decide to believe one or the other? Is it perhaps possible to hold in one's mind the possibility that either might be true or that both might be part true and to make careful case-by-case decisions as we go along? Both Sharansky’s and Buchanan’s arguments ring true. Sharansky is correct that democracies, in…Read More