COMensarations
Saturday, February 02, 2008
Caveat Emptor — Cable Service
Another great reason to kill your television.
The other day, someone made comment about my life-style choice; regarding no television. Implied it was my own fault I wasn’t getting certain forms of information; specifically being able to record City Council sessions on my VCR via the local cable channel 17.
I didn’t go into much detail as to WHY I made that choice, about ten years ago. I didn’t think it relevant. Besides I didn’t want to drag out the meeting any longer than it was already going to go.
And the only reason I mention it now is because of THIS article.
A $2000 bill for equipment the cable service user lost during a tornado??!?!?!?
We’re talking about some SERIOUS ‘windfall’ profits here. And the Time-Warner Cable legal department must be expecting some serious bonus packages this year if it flies.
Who know that that stupid box was worth that much.
So...if some wind storm or fire or flooding or burglars damage, destroy or steal your cable box, be prepared......
Personally? I still suggest killing your television.
Friday, February 01, 2008
A Modest Proposal
What to do about ‘illegal combatants’ or....
...can’t we just cut off their heads with a dull knife, video-tape the operations, show them on YouTube.....and have DONE with it?
I’m in an discussion with some people over on Roger L. Simon’s blog. Here’s the the link.
As with many such discussions, the original topic has been set on the back-burner while someone wants to exorcise some particular, personal demon(s). In this instance, something to do with the concepts of ‘torture’ and, for lack of a better term, ‘illegal combatants’.
Sooner or later, Roger is going to close that thread. Therefore, I’ve decided to open this one in order to futher examine this idea of how people running around killing other people without uniforms or distinguishing insignia should be ‘treated’ vis-a-vis the Geneva Conventions and, as preached in the US Army, Law of Land Warfare.
Read the text in the link to Roger’s web-site and provide your comments on what we should do with these people. It’ll probably be an issue in the forthcoming general election.....
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Reply to Colonel Hollister
Are these Wing-Wipers all alike?
The other day, the Pueblo Chieftain published a letter to the editor that caught my attention.
I decided that it needed to be addressed.....and fisked.....
The letter is from a retired United States Air Force colonel, who currently resides in Colorado Springs.
The first half of the letter seems to have been a trip down memory lane for the good colonel. He fondly remembers the salad daze of his youth. It’s not important that he visited this, that or the other church. Not as far as I am concerned.
Rather, I am interested in his outlandish support of Senator McCain for the presidency.
“Of all the candidates, Sen. John McCain of Arizona stands out head and shoulders above the competition with the ability to answer this call.”—Colonel Hollister
He certainly does stand above all the other candidate. He’s the only one I know of who willfully broke his oath of office as a commissioned officer in the Armed Forces of the United States.
Let me relate that oath to you.
I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.
It’s the one I took upon being commissioned as a lieutenant in the United States Army. And, based on what I know, it’s identical to the one that Senator McCain took when he received HIS commission.
And, I suspect its the same one that the good Colonel Hollister took as well.
Do you see that business about defending the Constitution of the United States? Against ALL enemies? Foreign AND domestic? And the additional part about bearing “true faith and allegiance to the same”?
Interesting stuff that. But, what does it mean?
Most reasonable people would get the idea that it would not involve doing things that destroyed the Constitution of the United States. Don’t you think?
However, Senator McCain has done exactly that. He, in his infamous act titled the McCain-Feingold Bill of Election Reform struck a blow at the Bill of Rights of the Constitution of the United States. How so? Well, this legislation bans people like you and me, or anyone else, from criticizing members of Congress in the days prior to an election in which they are running.
Why, on God’s green Earth, would someone who has sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States do something like that?
Was he beaten so severely during his stint in the Hanoi Hilton that he completely forgot his oath as an officer in the United States Armed Forces?
“From his time in a prisoner of war camp in North Vietnam to his willingness to take on the Washington establishment on porkbarrel politics and prosecution of the war in Iraq, John McCain has the experience, intellect, passion and vision to carry on the efforts of great Americans who were taken from us prematurely.”—Colonel Hollister
All that business about taking on “the Washington establishment” and “prosecution of the war in Iraq” is all well and good. But it does not, in my honest and professional opinion, alleviate the gross malfeasance of striking at the Bill of Rights while protecting his incumbent fourth-point-of-contact.
“Sen. McCain is the leader our country needs at this critical juncture in our nation’s history.”—Colonel Hollister
I think that the good Colonel Hollister has suffered from the same loss of memory that Senator McCain suffers. He seems to have forgotten the oath of office he took and the necessity of upholding the Constitution of the United States, against all enemies; foreign and DOMESTIC.
And for the truly obtuse, a reminder....
....the Bill of Rights is part and parcel of that Constitution.
Anyone who would willfully attack our cherished freedom of speech is obviously an enemy of the Constitution of the United States. And, therefore, not the sort of person to make the supreme executive of this nation.
P.S. Maybe it has something to do with that thin, canned air these wing-wipers breath doing multiple machs. Probably affects the little gray cells.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Analyzing the Y Zone Analysis
The poor you will always have with you,--Matthew 26:11.
An editorial in the Pueblo Chieftain on Sunday discusses the so-called “Y Zone” and compares it to the rest of the city. The editorial is written by The Poverty Study Group, and the names of several well-known citizens and officials are given. The PSG is “an informal consortium of community leaders committed to understanding and reversing intergenerational poverty in Pueblo.”
First, let me say the article does present some interesting data, but data are not necessarily the same things as information. The article cites three sources for the data: the 2000 Census, data from the state Department of Public Health and Environment, and a book called “Missing Class” by Katherine S. Newman and Victor Tan Chen. The “progressive” nature of the book is signaled when the PSG says “the “Missing Link” {sic} authors, Newman and Chen, see universal, high-quality, early childhood education as key to improving the situation of the working poor. They also advocate universal health care. Also on their list is maintaining access to higher education, something we work hard at in Pueblo.”
Monday, January 28, 2008
The Coming Fury….Second Installment
The [Cultural] Civil War of the 21st Century. Has it already begun?
There was an article in the paper the other day by my neighbor. Based on my reading, it suggested that we, as a people, were on the verge of a war of violence relating to matters of culture. It was, if you’ll pardon the term, liberally laced with innuendo and militaristic metaphor.
These tools of rhetoric were used to describe a militaristic mind-set of a particular group of christians. They implied that this group was getting ready for ‘war’. And even went so far as to convey the impression that they might even be getting ready to do violence.
Whether this is accurate or not, I do not know. As a retired Army officer, I learned the truth of an old staff puke axiom....
“Things are never as bad, nor as good, as first reported.”
I’ll gather more information. But based on what I know and I have gathered already, doing research on the web, I don’t see justification for my neighbor’s ‘concern’ that these christians are preparing to wage a war of violence, instead of rhetoric, against their perceived ‘enemies’.
After 57 years of observation and participation, I see that the culture war is, contrary to the title of my neighbor’s article, not just under the surface. Rather, it is already upon us. Those who think otherwise, have not been paying attention.
Maybe it’s just me. Maybe it has to do with my current delving into Bruce Catton’s accounts of the Civil War of the 1860s. But I see and learn from history. And the history I’ve been learning of late correlates with what I’ve been observing over the last 30 years.
There is a culture war going on. And, at times it has become ugly. And, on a few occasions, even violent. However, the violence has more often been by non-christians against christians, or other believers in the Judeo-Christian God, as described in that Old Book. And that violence has not always been perpetrated by the fanatical followers of bin Laden and his ilk. Statistics will bear this out.
On the less ugly side, we have other evidence that the war is on. Case in point, the sorry state of so-called ‘mainstream’ denominations; Roman Catholicism with it’s issues of pedophiles in it’s priestly ranks, Episcopalians, Methodists and some Lutherans over homosexual ministers. These are just a few examples that spring to mind as I write. I’m certain that I could come up with more after some additional coffee is applied.
Does my neighbor suggest that people who can—and do—read the that Old Book for themselves and comprehend that something is wrong should not speak out about it? Or is he afraid that by speaking out they may prove a certain cherished position he has held could be proven wrong?
Is he concerned that by reading such books as America at the Crossroads by Ewing and Marschall they might gird up their loins and develop the ‘fighting spirit’ to “take up their pens and enter the fray”?
I say “Good for them AND good for my neighbor and myself.” One of my guiding principles has been the idea that a clash of doctrines is not a disaster. Rather, it is an opportunity....to learn. And in learning, gain a better understanding. Besides, I always enjoy a good debate. Maybe that’s why I judge Colorado High School Forensics.
As for the debate turning violent. It, occasionally, has. I’m reminded of one incident where someone in an SUV deliberately drove over several people, in broad daylight; as the police looked on. No charges were filed against the driver.
What do you think of that?
The people who were assaulted with this vehicle, were protesting against abortion.
Did that change your previous opinion?
If so....why?
I suggest that if your opinion DID change, you’re already a combatant in the culture war. And a violently hypocritical one at that.
Think about it.
As I said, I’ve been getting a lot out of Catton’s account of the Civil War. And I see parallels between the lead-up to that violent episode in our history and what is going on today.
We may not have had a John Brown’s Raid. We may not see such an event, but I think we are seeing the period of heated rhetoric that occurred for a number of years before. We could even be in the period resembling the terrible days of ‘Bleeding Kansas’, as people come to churches across the land and start slaughtering the worshippers; anybody remember what happened a few miles up the road from here? Or have we already forgotten?
I submit that those who hate Christ are already performing the acts of violence against His followers that my neighbor proposes these christians are edging towards. However, I doubt these christians are planning to do the same. Some might, but they would be a distinct and condemned minority. Condemned by the REAL christians.
On the other hand, we have incidents like what happened in Kansas where a minister peacefully carrying a sign on the public sidewalk around a park was arrested by the police for peacefully carrying a sign on the public sidewalk around a park.
Other people were carrying signs at the same time. They were not arrested.
Why this dichotomy?
Yes. The war is on. And, occasionally, it is violent, but the violence, by and large, is against christians. Especially the REAL ones.
Will they fight back? Yes. With violence? Some may. But they will be few. Meanwhile, the vast majority will remember what their Master taught; something about “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” Enemy or not....
Friday, January 04, 2008
The Real Hazards of “Made in China”
It’s bad enough that Christmas is made in China.
I have long been unhappy that nearly every Christmas decoration for sale in major stores is made in China, a country that is not friendly to Christian values, let alone Christian institutions and missionaries.
I have not been happy that I am supporting a hostile government every time I buy shoes. (Think I can avoid it? YOU try to find shoes in the children’s department that aren’t made in China!)
Yesterday I went shopping for “foundation garments” and discovered that nearly all of them are now made in China, also. As has been the case with handbags and wallets for some time.
If we ever go to war with China, we’re going to be walking around naked and barefoot with our money, cell phones and car keys dumped in double-layered plastic grocery bags.
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Cooking Spices & Herbs HEADS UP!
Saving money with greater value.
Recently revisited the local chain grocer.
Checked out pricing on bottled herbs.
Herbs de Provence, at the chain, goes for about $7 for less than an ounce.
Compare THAT with THIS.
Not only do they cost less...BUT...the quality is SUPERIOR!
Seriously....
....who, in their ‘right’ mind, would pass up better quality for less money?
A Look at Civics in Public Education
Miscellaneous thoughts on the holiday as I’m preparing the feast.
Sitting here at the kitchen counter, listening to great music [Billy Joel’s She’s Always a Woman], while the guest of ‘honor’ has been thrust into the oven and all the sides are prepared for cooking, diddling on the laptop....I’m reviewing what’s in the Pueblo Chieftain and I was struck by a juxtaposition of todays editorial and other thinks that had come to mind over the last few days. [Ed. Note: Thank God for the internet and the [current] ability to see so much in so little time....without the filtering of the so-called ‘Major Media’.]
I am struck by the idea that the Chieftain thinks it is important to remark on the words of US Supreme Court Associate Justice Joseph Story. Especially his words to the young of this country....
Let the American youth never forget that they possess a noble inheritance bought by the toils, and sufferings, and blood of their ancestors; and capacity, if wisely improved, and faithfully guarded, of transmitting to ... posterity all the substantial blessings of life, and the peaceful enjoyment of liberty, property, religion, and independence.
What’s going on?
Is the vaunted American Public Education system failing to teach this message?
I wonder.....if I were to ask some high school student, in a man-on-the-street approach, something about Justice Story’s remark....what would I hear in reply?
Get this. I am a judge of Colorado high school debate. I specialize in Cross-Examination, Lincoln-Douglas, Public Forum and One-on-One Value debates.
Admittedly, I’m very much impressed with the skills, thought processes and command of the English language of many of the contestants I judge in a round at an event. However, I have this niggling concerned that these few that participate in high school forensics are a few ‘rare birds’, indeed. A problematic ‘minority’....in more ways than one.
The BIG problem, as my concerns point, is not that we are not raising up successors with the mental discernment that I and my contemporaries and peers enjoy today. I am certain that many I’ve heard over the last few years will surpass me. Seriously. I’ve heard some stunners just a couple of weeks ago. And I’m gladdened with the thought.
However, I have serious concerns that not ENOUGH young, future-voting citizens are as well instructed. [Note: The process has been referred to, over the last two decades, as the dumbing-down of America.]
Half of the time I sit in on the Pueblo 2010 Commission, I hear ‘concerns’ about how Colorado State University-Pueblo (CSU-P) has problems retaining students. They seem to drop out rather early and never complete higher education.
Ever time I’ve heard that, I’ve looked at the respresentative from Pueblo School District 60....if they are in attendance.
I get the distinct impression that most people think it is the fault of CSU-P that these aspiring young adults fail. I see it as a totally different problem.....something in the realm of K-12, i.e,. District 60.
And this Chieftain article makes me want to ask the D60 rep, “What is taught in civics, these days?” With follow-on questions about Math, English, Life Sciences, Hard Sciences, Art, Theater, etc., etc., etc.....?
TO: Kitty Kennedy
RE: Next Time....
....I hear comments at 2010 Commission about CSU-P and drop-outs....’Be Prepared’. [Note: Yeah....I know....It’s a Boy Scout, i.e., guy, think. But still and all.....]
Sunday, November 18, 2007
The Orwellian Nature of ‘Affirmative Action’
An interesting essay on political correctness and the division of a nation.
I am reminded by this article how angrily I filled out my form during the last national census. I struck through EVERY question about race, creed, color, etc., etc., etc., etc....ad nauseam, and scrawled American as my reply.
I did this based on several decades of military service and remembering a famous, nameless company First Sergeant who, when being questioned about his attitude regarding Equal Opportunity by the Annual General Inspection ‘inquisitor’ about Equal Rights replied....
When I look at that formation every morning, I don’t see black, white, brown, red or yellow. All I see is GREEN.
Try THIS Next Weekend — 071118
Tasty suggestions for a weekend of culinary pleasure. And a pleasant change of pace after two days of feasting on occidental turkey.
I’m going to start doing this sort of thing every week or so, as a way to bring fine food and beverage to everyones attention.
This offering is a discovery about Asian cooking. You’ve heard of teriyaki sauce. Used on such delicious dishes as teriyaki chicken, Japanese barbecued chicken, a.k.a. yakatori.
I’ve figured out how to do a variation on teriyaki sauce, known as tsuekeyaki sauce. It is more flavorful as it has honey and lemon in it.
Here’s how you make it.....
Evil, Mad Genius at Work
Welcome to America!
US got a LOT to be thankful for. And Mark Steyn is just the guy to explain it to the Europeans. And a few confused Americans too.
My favorite is...
And just when you think you’re on top of the general trend of novelty, it veers off in an entirely different direction: Continentals who grew up on Hollywood movies where the guy tells the waitress “Gimme a cuppa joe” and slides over a nickel return to New York a year or two later and find the coffee now costs $5.75, takes 25 minutes and requires an agonizing choice between the cinnamon-gingerbread-persimmon latte with coxcomb sprinkles and the decaf venti pepperoni-Eurasian-milfoil macchiato.
Who would have foreseen that the nation that inflicted fast food and drive-thru restaurants on the planet would then take the fastest menu item of all and turn it into a Kabuki-paced performance art? What mad genius!
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Quote of the Day — 071117
A Thought on the Music ‘industry’.
The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There’s also a negative side. — Hunter S. Thompson
Bumper Sticker Wisdom — 071117
Sardonic humor about how smart some slick slogans are.
Check it out....
Another Reason I Killed My Television — 071117
Why I believe in Groucho Marx
Stephen ’VodkaPundit‘ Green provides another reason I don’t watch television.
And he wants the lost two hours of his life BACK!
Science Imitates Hollywood
The SciFi people beat the hard sciences to the punch...AGAIN??!?!?
Someone may have finally found the answer to Life, the Universe and Grand Unified Theory....
....and the guy has the attitude of the hero in a science fiction cult classic from the 80s.
Come on now....the Eight Dimension??!??!!
It’s too much of a coincidence to ignore.