OxyMorons

Just think about "oxymoron". Makes one think of real dummies on oxygen, right?

I received this list from my in-laws, and got a chuckle or two or three out of them. However, I have a few comments on most of them, which I hope will be good for a grin or two.

Subject:Top 35 Oxymorons


35. Government worker.
(I have seen gov't workers actually working. At least twice.)

34. Legally drunk.
(Oh, it's allowed, as long as you don't drive/walk/talk.)

33. Exact estimate.
(Had one of those once. An auto mechanic. He lied.)

32. Act naturally.
(Tried that. Got arrested.)

31. Found missing.
(Tried that. Almost got drafted.)

30. Resident alien.
(Tried that. Scully didn't find me. Darn, she's cute!)

29. Genuine imitation.
(I do a pretty good imitation of normality, most of the time.)

28. Airline food.
(Eaten only by roaches and rats and desperately bored travellers.)

27. Good grief.
(Defined as given to an enemy. I've arranged that, at least once.)

26. Government organization.
(Not an oxymoron. Gov't IS organized to a fare-thee-well.)

25. Sanitary landfill.
(Consisting of Joey from Jersey, Frank from Chi-town...etc)

24. Alone together.
(Only when I forget to take my medicine...)

23. Small crowd.
(See 24 above)

22. Business ethics.
(No argument.)

21. Soft rock.
(Yech. I once heard a Muzak rendition of Magic Carpet Ride.)

20. Butt head.
(Like Artesians. "I seen 'em! They's ugly!")

19. Military intelligence.
(See 20, 32, 33)

18. Sweet sorrow.
(No argument)

17. Rural Metro (ambulance service)
(Carries candidates for Darwin Awards?)

16. "Now, then..."
(Well, "now and then I gets an idea...")

15. Passive aggression.
(Like the guy in Tianmen Square who stood up to the tank? Brave, but not too bright.)

14. Clearly misunderstood.
(I stood up instead of shutting up.)

13. Peace force.
(See 32, 31)

12. Extinct life.
(See 33, 34, 35 and the Darwin Award Honorees)

11. Plastic glasses.
(I wear 'em. So what?)

10. Terribly pleased.
(Only for Cosmic Calamities and other special occasions.)

9. Computer security.
(It can be done. But it IS unusual.)

8. Political science.
(Right up there with Social Science.)

7. Tight slacks.
(Can be a Good Thing, on the right person, which I'm not.)

6. Definite maybe.
(I use this one all the time! Got it from my Dad.)

5. Pretty ugly.
(No argument, it's an oxymoron)

4. Rap music.
(No argument again. "Rap Crap" comes to mind.)

3. Working vacation.
(If the Prez does it, it must be possible.)

2. Religious tolerance.
(Guaranteed by the Constitution. Of course, these days,
in America, it probably IS an oxymoron.)

1. Microsoft Works.
(Actually, it does, and fairly well. Microsoft's products
are unfairly hammered for lots of alleged failures which are
actually the result of Microsoft being the big guy on the
block, and therefore the biggest target around.)

Not-so-modern Husbandry

Evidently, I'm a superior sort of fellow - by the standards of days gone by.

142 As a 1930s husband, I am Very Superior Take the test!

I regret to inform you that I'm not always well-turned-out, shaved and in a suit on Sundays, nor am I silent in my sleep. In most other respects I'm quite acceptable, which I put down to my late mother's methods of correction - trust me, gentlemen, a wooden spoon alongside the noggin ensures attention to manners and other matters! Also trust me on this: when Mom decided that Dad had to know about my shortcomings, things were decidedly "bad". This was a rare occurrence, God be praised - Dad let me live.

Mrs. OWW and I have applied the principles above as imparted by our parents. Reports from the parents of our childrens' friends are encouraging - "Delightful", "Very nice", and "No trouble at all" come back to us.

Of course, we are properly shocked, and ask, "What'd you do with our kid?"

Darwin Award Contender

First, read the story HERE.

Then, think just a little bit.

Young Master Wesley, 17 years of age, can't get out of the way of a large, noisy, train that's coming right down the railroad tracks.

After reading the story, my instant reaction is: Why doesn't CSX (the railroad in question) sue the daylights out of Ms. Whiddon for:

1. Failing to teach her son that trespassing is illegal.
2. Failing to teach her son that choo-choo trains on tracks ALWAYS have the right-of-way.
3. Failing to teach her son that trying conclusions with large moving vehicles is a losing proposition.
4. Causing psycological trauma to the people operating the train, due to 1, 2, and 3 above.

Ms. Whiddon is supposed to be an "Educator" - so why didn't she teach her own son?

On the other hand, her son won't be able to spread his defective genes around, will he?

And yes, I'm an insensitive clot, with a bad attitude and a rotten disposition.

So, go ahead. Sue me.

I'll clean your clock.

On this Day...

This is what the Boys (including my Dad) saw.

Thanks, guys.....

Battle of Midway

Today marks the start of the Battle of Midway in 1942.

The Imperial Japanese Navy wanted to secure Midway as a springboard to invade Hawaii.

Alerted by a team who had broken the Japanese codes, the US Navy moved USS Enterprise, USS Hornet, and USS Saratoga and their escort groups to intercept the Japanese task force.

In a battle lasting for three days, the outnumbered US Navy sank four major Japanese carriers, and stopped the Japanese fleet.

One US carrier was sunk.

USS Saratoga (photographed by Robert Ballard's team) now lies at rest, three miles down.

The Way Life Is

Life is what happens when you're making plans for your life.

Plan: Spend some time with your Dad.

Life: Be with him while he gets a stent put in for a heart condition. Then, AFTER the stent, find out that he's not doing well.

Plan: Manage Mrs. OWW's diverticulitis so that surgery is not required.

Life: Riiiiight! Probably surgery is going to happen, RSN (Real Soon Now).

Plan: Hillary and Barak beat each other up so bad that McCain wins in November.

Life: Who knows?

Plan: Not run out of beer tonight.

Life: Got neighbors?

Memorial Day

Monday will be Memorial Day - when we remember all those of us who have died in the preservation of freedom.

By "us" I include men that I knew, whose names are carved upon The Wall.

By "us" I include those who went before me, in WW2, Korea, the 'Nam, WW1, and followed me in Panama, Greneda, and the Sand Box - all the wars and skirmishes that have preserved and protected the United States.

By "us" I include all those who fought and died with us - the Filipinos, Brits, Poles, Canadians, Viet Namese, Chinese, French, Belgian, Dutch, Kuwaiti, Norwegian, Danish, Czechs, and many more.

On this, our Memorial Day, I remember you all.

God Bless, and remember, so long as just one remembers, your spirit will never die...

Holocaust Remembrance Day

During the time that I was growing up, and through my young adult-hood, the 1st of May meant the day that all of the Iron Curtain countries "celebrated" the Victory of The Masses over the Czars.

Now, it's a little different.

Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The day where I, an American citizen, a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP), get up on my hind legs and say, "Never Again".

You think I'm kidding you?

Just remember, all you haters, just remember who the greatest killers in the history of the world really are.

We really did flash Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Had we deemed it necessary, Berlin and Munich would have met the same fate.

So, Damascus and Tehran, do you really want to get frisky?

Do you?

And yeah, I'm feeling very cranky this evening. It's been a long week so far...

Another Acronym

In Jawja, in April, any man's fancy turns to... boats.

My friends Charley and Ken acquired a 19-foot Boston Whaler a while back, which they now want to sell.

There's only one little problem - when the motor is run at full tilt, after about fifteen seconds, the outboard motor just... stops. BlaaaahhhhhThud.

Awww...crap.

Much discussion about probable causes ensues, with a collective opinion that there's a fuel-feed problem.

Ken sighs, and mutters to himself.

"What's that, Ken?" Says Charley.

"B.O.A.T. spells 'Bring Over Another Thousand' " says Ken.

So there you have it....

Not-happy Tax Day

I've already paid my damned taxes.

Actually, we're getting a "refund" of the interest-free loan that we've been compelled to make to the gummint, blast their miserable hides.

My wife and I make enough that Los Federales take a large chunk, the Staties take another, smaller chunk, and then they oh-so-graciously deign to "refund" some to us.

What "they" keep would pay ALL of our bills (plus two nice dinners for four at Outback) for three months. ALL of our bills include food, electric, gasoline & insurance, but NOT clothing, telephone & cellular or satellite TV.

Once again, I am severely pissed off.

Grrrr.....

Taxes and Friends

Now that my travails with the truck appear to over, it's time to comment on Taxes and Friends.

Taxes first, on the theory of getting the unpleasant stuff out of the way.

Presuming that you actually pay attention when you are doing your taxes, work out the percentage that the Feds, State (and maybe city) keep of your money. Then, factor in sales, excise, and property taxes. Assuming that you are actually in the taxpaying class, you'll be dismayed. If you're like me, you'll then be totally cranky. THEN, if you're as annoyed as I am, do a quick-and-dirty analysis of what your money gets spent on.

Grrr.....

On to more pleasant subjects.

What's a friend? Who are they? How can you tell?

OWW's definition runs like this:

My friend will come over to my house and open my fridge (He/She either has a key, or knows where the key is, and uses it whenever they please. I trust He/She - and He/She doesn't abuse that trust), see that I'm out of beer, and call me on my cell to let me know. Ten minutes later, he calls back to say that he's on his way to the store anyway, so don't worry about the beer, and what do I want for dinner?

My friend will listen to me babble on about something about which I know next to nothing, and will call bullshit on me right to my face.

My friend, when I call yelling for assistance, drops whatever he's doing and comes a-running. I'll also get a very hard time later for being semi-stupid in public. If it's really bad, I get a great silence about my stupidity.

When I'm feeling down and melancholy, my friend tries to move me along.

When I get too full of myself, my friend brings me back to reality.

When things go really well, my friend celebrates with me - without envy.

When things go sour, my friend commiserates with me - and not even one "I told you so". (Unless it involves a car's mechanical workings - which generates a few "Dummy" and "Idiot" comments. The favor is generally returned at a later date. What goes around, comes around!)

I have many nice, pleasant acquaintences.

I have a few dear and close friends.

Bob, Charley and Sharon, Tom and Kathy, Mikey, Bud, Brad and Susan.

So, today, when I was sniveling and moaning about our tax bill, Charley says "Hey! You should be happy! You're making enough money to complain about your taxes!"

Yah.

I think I said pretty much the same thing to him last week...

Car Stuff

Actually, it's that double-de-damned truck.

My Dodge Dakota decided that it no longer liked it's radiator.

Sigh.

Replace the radiator, plus the coolant. $248.57 and four hours later, I'm good to go, right? Plus however much it's gonna cost 'cause the A/C radiator/condenser had to be removed, making necessary an airconditiner service. (Trust me, if you live in Jawja, and summer-time is coming up, you NEED an air-conditioner in your car.)

Nope.

Then I find that in addition to the radiator, the thermostat's gasket was el-sucko.

Awww....CRAP!

$5.94 plus $0.36 tax plus two more hours got me a truck that doesn't puke coolant all over the place.

Ah, well.

When you own a vehicle with 99,548 miles on it, you have to expect something is going to break. So far, the rest of the bits and pieces seems to be holding up OK. With a little care, I should be able to get at least another 50K miles out of the engine/trans/rear-end.

I hope...

There is one good thing to come out of this.

My neighbor Charley was kind enough to lend me a car for the last two days.

A Jaguar XJ6, the sedan with that gorgeous 4.2 litre DOHC in-line 6-cylinder beast under the hood. NOT a stop-light Grand Prix vehicle. Not at all. But, at 75 MPH, when you stick your foot into the throttle, you sink back into the seat under a fairish accelleration which continues in a rather ghastly almost-quiet until you look at the speedometer and find that you're moving along in vigorous violation of any speed law in the land (unless you're in Montana).

That Jag has over 150,000 miles on the odometer.

I think I want one....

Geno's Cheesesteaks Rules!

From Fox News, HERE:

PHILADELPHIA — A Philadelphia agency has ruled that English-only signs at a famous cheesesteak shop are not discriminatory. The Commission on Human Relations says in its Wednesday ruling that the sign at Geno's Steaks does not violate the city's Fair Practices Ordinance. Joe Vento posted the signs at his shop in October 2005. They read "This is AMERICA: WHEN ORDERING 'PLEASE SPEAK ENGLISH."' Critics allege the policy discourages customers of certain backgrounds from eating there. They say the signs discourage non-English speakers from going to the shop. Vento says he has never refused service to anyone because they couldn't speak English.

Commentary: I guess the "Commission on Human Relations" listened to the various comments that the citizenry made, and decided that "English" is indeed the language of the land...

Arthur C. Clarke

Author and visionary Arthur C. Clarke has died.

There were two giants of Science Fiction in the Twentieth Century - Clarke and Heinlein.

Renowned for 2001:A Space Odyssey, a better look at his story-telling would be a collection of short stories: Tales from the White Hart, of which my favorite would be "The Defenestration of Ermintrude Inch".

We'll miss you, Mr. Clarke. Perhaps you can continue your conversations with Mr. Heinlein now...

Friday Exhaustion

Since my last post HERE, we have completed the Great Server and Workstation Move, mostly.

There have been little bumps and excursions along the way, but nothing major came to a screeching halt. Except for the external email that didn't work for two days, that is.

On the Tuesday, all the Really Big Stuff worked. Our depositors never noticed a thing. Their money was there when they wanted it, our website was up and running with their account information, it just flaming-well worked.

Our email system runs on Microsoft Exchange, and it worked just fine - as long as you were working within the Small Financial Institution. But from the outside? Nada, zip, zero, bupkis and nothing.

As it turns out, our firewall didn't want to know about a change in IP addresses for email. Everything else was OK, the firewall just had a snit about SMTP from the outside.

Grrrr.....

After much heartburn, and an outside and very expensive consultant who really did earn every dime of his outrageous hourly fee, email came back up on Thursday. And we didn't lose a single email message. Because of Proper Prior Planning, we didn't lose ANYTHING. Not permanently anyway, it was just delayed a bit.

If this all sounds a little vague, that's my intent. I am NOT giving out any further info - and not for CYA, just for basic security.

I've been very busy for the last 3 weeks, and I am one tired puppy.

"So, OWW, why are you up at this late/early hour?"

Glad you asked! It seems that our Voice Response system decided to pick tonight to be a PITA about it's backup routines.

CP&C (Crap Pee and Corruption).

It's fixed - but now I'm REALLY tired.

G'night....

Moving A Data Center

Granted, it's a very small data center - about twenty servers, plus assorted routers, switches and other paraphenalia.

The SFI (Small Financial Institution) that I work for decided about a year ago to plan ahead for the next ten years, and build a brandy-new Administration building to serve our five current branches.

That includes a brand-spanking-new server room (my term) or "data center" (our Marketing Guy's term).

We have raised floors (to keep the cable mess to a minimum), CAT6 wiring (for Very Fast data flow - can you say "gigabit"?), and some new switches (also for gigabit). All this "giga" stuff makes my geek heart just giggle...

So now it's all ready - and we've been moving servers and switches and routers, Oh My! And changing IPs and wrestling with cable and sweating bullets to get all this stuff in place and running.

'Cause Tuesday, if it don't work, the handy-dandy wall out back will be ready for it's first bullet marks, after the hapless IT geeks have been stood, "Up Against The Wall".

So, that's where OWW has been for the last couple of weeks.

It's kinda like marriage - BEING married is great, GETTING married is... not so great.

Sigh. More Politics...

I see that Kim duToit and Emporer Misha, among others, are somewhat... irritated with John McCain.

Hell, I ain't too thrilled with him myself.

To be blunt, Senator, McCain-Feingold irritated me, and McCain-Kennedy flat-out pissed me off at you AND at one G.W. Bush.

But that does not blind me to reality.

Reality: There are alleged humans out there who will blow themselves, children, and retarded women up to terrorize and disgust us, and to make us give up.

There is at least one Islamist state out there which is actively pursuing nuclear weapons, and has indicated very strongly that they will use those nukes against Israel.

So, Kim has already stated that while he may puke all over the ballot box, he'll vote for McCain, probably.

Misha (and all the rest of the True Conservatives) really need to correct your cranial-rectal inversion and THINK about what a Clinton or Obama sitting in the Oval Office might mean for you and me, and for our children.

We, the "Party", need to get up on our hind legs and do two things:

1. Hold our collective noses, and vote McCain in November.

2. Presuming he can whup Clinton or Obama, we can and should hold his toes to the fire until he sees the sweet light of reason.

The Clinton/Obama (or vice-versa) would be a much bigger disaster, wouldn't it?

And, once again, to Mr. Fred Thompson: "Damn your eyes, Sir, for running a suck-ass campaign!"

Life It's Ownself

I've been debating a change in the way that OWW runs things on this mostly restrained place.

Lately (like for the last two freakin' years) I've been more politically oriented than personally oriented.

Something's not right with that.

Of course, my personal life has been pretty quiet, Thank Gawd!

No divorces, no jail time, no lawsuits, no alarums OR excursions.

Hmmm...

I could comment about the whackos that I work with, except that they're not whackos.

I could raise all kinds of hell about my weird-ass neighbors, but except for Charley, they're nice folks. And even Charley's a good guy, until he and his daughter who's visiting from New Yawk get into the red wine and stay awake until 3 AM playing the music too loud and laughing even louder which pisses off their immediate neighbor, but not me 'cause I'm across the street and two houses down so I don't hear that stuff. I just hear about it later....

Of course, there has been the usual minor dramas of Life It's Ownself...

My thirteen-year-old daughter having a melt-down and tear-flood.

Or the nine-year-old daughter getting cross-eyed mad.

Or the idiot doggies being idiot doggies.

Or, on this fifth day of February going out and voting in the primary election, in my shirtsleeves, because it hit 82 F today, and is currently 68 F at midnight, which absolutely breaks my heart!

Primary Day

Tomorrow is Primary Election Day, "Super Tuesday".

Finally, after all the preliminary hoo-haw, I will be able to render my choice for whichever candidate best matches what I like.

I don't like Madame Hillary, or Mr. Obama - they're dyed-in-the-wool moonbats.

I ain't thrilled with McCain - McCain/Feingold and McCain/Kennedy come to mind.

That leaves Romney or Huckabee.

Romney it is.

Blast your eyes, Fred Thompson, for running a crappy LOSER campaign!

Peace-time Military

I don't know why I'm surprised by THIS:

Many people in the military now perceive a "generation gap" that is marked by a specific date; September 11, 2001. Those who joined after that day, were more likely to have done so for patriotic reasons and were in to fight. The pre-911 troops had served in a peacetime military. The 1991 Gulf War lasted only four days. The Balkans peacekeeping operations of the 1990s involved very little combat. In other words, the pre-2001 troops had seen very little action. A lot of the pre-2001 officers and NCOs had a hard time adapting to wartime.

There are people in the military who aren't really comfortable with the military's prime mission, which is to kill people and break things.

This shouldn't surprise me.

Ten years after I left the Navy, I ran into a couple of peace-time sailors who were still in the Navy, as a career, who hated going to sea, and resented the Navy for sending them to a ship that by definition, goes to sea!

The peace-time military acts much like a large corporation. You follow the peace-time rules and sing the company song, and you get promoted, especially if all of your paperwork is in order and your subordinates don't pee in the potted palms.

In wartime, all of a sudden the rules change, and the "routine" that you've been following, the simulated "war games" that you've been doing, the immaculate paperwork that you thought were the "real reason" you joined, are supposed to be actually put into real mud and blood practice.

And so, some of the peace-time military gets moved aside, and is "encouraged" to find something else to do.

And the newspapers, who are not staffed by war-time vets, "view with alarm" the number of mid-level officers and NCOs who are leaving the services.

Of course, once the war is over, the guys who do the heavy lifting, and are good combat leaders make the politicians uncomfortable. They are shuffled aside as quickly as can be arranged, because after all, we have to be "politically correct" while we're "preparing our military for the next "humanitarian mission" in Kosovo or wherever...

What Was That Al Sharpton Said?

This irony is just delicious - not to mention mind-boggling!

Yes, my mind is boggled!

The biggest mouth in America telling Bill Clinton to "be quiet", to "stop", to "shut up"?

Gawd, tell me it's true, please!

Al Sharpton: “But I think that it’s time for him to just be quiet. I think it’s time for him to stop. As one of the most outspoken people in America, there is a time to shut up, and I think that time has come.”

It is alleged that the Reverend Al said that on The View.

Got it from Fox News, HERE.

Un-Freakin'-Believable!

Now, you've all heard and seen the reports and informed opinion about the "Clinton Machine" getting all geared up to clobber Sen. Obama. Well, it appears that there's a bit of trouble in the "Machine", some sand in the gears, and perhaps a lack of lubrication.

Now, all we need is little screeching from Senator Clinton about the VRWC to make my day complete....

Monday, PITA Monday

It is generally acknowledged throughout the civilized industrial world that Monday is the "worst bloody day of the bleedin' week."

It is my personal opinion that all of the previous week's sneaky little gremlins have managed to hide all during the previous week, merrily plotting their weekend's activities, so that when the poor, humble, down-trodden IT geek shows up on Monday, it's "Surprise! We've been busy!"

Sheesh.

I shoulda got sick and stayed home, in bed, with a bottle of whiskey.

Good whiskey.

No, NOT the idiot dog that some misbegotten mongoloid named "Whiskey".

Y'all are a bunch of preverts.

And I'm a grouch.

Grrr....

Memories, PC and Fear

'Way back there, when OWW was a kid, the "Walt Disney Show" used to broadcast some of the Disney movies as specials, running for two hours, including commercials.

One of those marvelous movies was "Song of The South" - great music, and a good story line.

When "Song of The South" was released, in 1946, the critics loved it, and movie-goers went to the local theatre to see it.

Now, with every movie under the sun available on tape/DVD, you can't find a legit copy of "Song of The South".

Why?

One theory that has the ring of truth is that the Disney Corporation looks at "Song of the South" as causing great controversy - if they release it to home video, it will be widely condemned as "racist" or "inappropriate".

That's very sad, from my point of view.

Because I just remember "Song of The South" from a kid's perspective. Great songs, good characters, and a decent story line.

What else do you need, eggs in your beer?

Self Defense

First, follow the link HERE.

Second, by all means, do the Happy Dance.

Third, send a contribution to Mr. Taylor so that he NEVER runs out of fresh ammo.

Folks, "right between the eyes" is synonomous with "gun control".

I went out in the front yard and did the Happy Dance.

Twice.

Monday Came on Tuesday This Week - For a Moron

I've been stumped, recently, for things to blog about. Call it "blogger's block".

Politics, although interesting in the abstract, just doesn't have any zing.

I've already touched on the GHIP (Great Home Improvement Project), and I'm pretty sure that nobody is all that interested in my dog's "Kennel Cough", which is under treatment and going away.

How about one of my Christmas presents? Y'know, the headphones for my iPod, which have sent those pukey earbuds right into the trash?

Nahhh.

Well, how about "You Can't Make This Stuff Up"?

From Fox News...


Moron Arrested After Driving Truck Into House
Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Note to Mr. Moron: Don't act like one.

Bryan Scott Moron, 20, of Burleson, Texas, was arrested Friday after he lost control of his truck and struck a mailbox, then a house, MyFOXDFW.com reports.

Living up to his surname, Moron failed sobriety tests, the station said. The arrest report showed his blood alcohol level to be more than twice the legal limit.

Moron, a restaurant server, was also driving at an excessive speed, according to the report.

Iowa, Hillary vs. Barck, and the Future

After thinking it over for a little bit, I have my own advice for Hannity, Limbaugh, and Associates: "Be careful what you wish for!"

Just ask any Republican: "Who would you rather run against? Hillary or Barack?"

The Clintons (Hill 'n Bill) have a boat-load of negatives. In the general campaign, any half-decent campaign could load Hillary's record, her and Bill's documented record and political positions into the old political scattergun and have a ball. And beat the stuffing out of her/their candidacy, no innuendo or half-baked accusations required.

TGHIP - The Great Home Improvement Project

'Way back there, OWW got Real Lucky and was offered the opportunity to place a ship of the US Navy into inactive status. This involved shifting Classified Stuff from the ship into the hands of the appropriately cleared Naval Persons, which Persons were accompanied by armed Marines. We had to hump the Classified Stuff down "ladders", which are minimalist staircases, and down to the pier. I kid thee not, bruddah, we had mucho of the Classified Stuff, so there were many trips from Radio I and Radio II down to the pier.

That wasn't the worst.

The worst was paint.

Navy Haze Gray.

On the deck. On the overhead. On the bulkhead. On the mast.

Many, many days of ..... paint.

I hate, despise, and loathe paint.

TGHIP involves flooring. Move the furniture around, rip out the carpet, clean the concrete slab, lay down the plastic sheets as a vapor barrier, lay the planks of Armstrong Heirloom Hickory Laminate - not a problem, just a bit of physical labor.

But, between "rip out the carpet" and "clean the concrete slab" comes the despicable "paint".

Did I mention that I don't like paint?

I managed to skate out of actually painting a wall for thirty-seven freaking years, but now I am painting walls in "Tequila", or "Heron Blue", or "Duet Green", or "Baby Blue Eyes".

I may vomit.

The only reason I don't go into a quiet corner of the back yard and vomit is that Tiny, Bruiser and Ralph (our vicious guard dogs) would probably crowd around, and in Doggie, say "Watcha doin' Dad? Is it fun? Can we do that? You want a lick in the chops, Dad? How's about I wag my tail so hard I fall over? Dad? Dad? Whatcha doin' Dad?"

Gahhh!

I.

Hate.

Paint.

The "Winter Soldier" Arrives Again

I read American Thinker because of the observed bias in the MSM (Main Stream Media). The writers at American Thinker will hammer anyone, Right, Left, or Middle, when they're wrong.

So, I'm reading a sort-of review of To Set The Record Straight (about the Swiftboat Vets campaign against John Kerry) when I found a reference leading to THIS place.

The original Winter Soldier Investigation of 1971 involved John Kerry and Al Hubbard (verified as a liar HERE, which the least incendiary reference I could find) orchestrating a campaign of lies against all American veterans of the Viet Nam era.

As a Viet Nam era vet, I was very perturbed by this "testimony". Later, after the lies and liars were exposed, I was enraged by the liars and the spineless politicians and "newsmen" who oh-so-publicly admired the liars.

So, to the IVAW, a bunch of vets are keeping an eye on you AND the MSM. And now, information flow is not restricted to the MSM. Just remember what happened to Dan Rather when he tried out a little forgery...

A Pithy Saying

"Never ascribe to malice that which can adequately be explained by incomptetence."

Puts me in mind of our local government - The Board of Commissioners of Camden County, Georgia.

I've been here for three and a half years.

Where I came from, in Santa Clara County, California, the County Board of Supervisors had (and have) a constant state of tension with the Santa Clara Sheriff, almost always over budget matters.

The same is true here in Camden County, GA. The Sheriff, Bill Smith, wants more money.

There is a big difference between Santa Clara County and Camden County.

In Santa Clara County, inmates of the county jail do not run wild on "personal watercraft" and run into a dock owned by a private citizen.

In Santa Clara County, inmates of the county jail are not hauled to a neighboring state to work on the Sheriff's ex-wife's house.

In Santa Clara County, inmate work details are not rented out to private property owners for the benefit of said private property owners.

And when he's been informed that his proposed budget is $1 million more than the County Supervisors are willing to fund, the County Sheriff of Santa Clara does not resubmit the same budget - twice.

There's an election coming up, in November of 2008.

I predict that, should Bill Smith choose to run again, he will, deservedly, fail of re-election.

Vote The Rascal Out - on grounds of incompetence.

Budget, Taxes, and the Governator

Because news items from the MSM (Main Stream Media) tend to disappear when it's convenient, I have lifted the below, in it's entirety, from the NBC affiliate in Oakland, CA, Channel 11 News.

I am SO GLAD that I'm no longer subject to the tax laws of the State of California - 'cause trust me, this is gonna be Real Expensive to any resident of California...

= = = = = = = =

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Friday he will declare a "fiscal emergency" in January to give him and the Legislature more power to deal with the state's growing deficit.

Schwarzenegger made the announcement Friday after meeting with lawmakers and interest groups this week to tell them California's budget deficit is worse -- far worse -- than economists predicted just a few weeks ago.

The shortfall is not $10 billion, but more than $14 billion -- a 40 percent jump that would put it in orbit with some of the state's worst fiscal crisis, those who have met with him said.

A fiscal emergency would trigger a special session and force lawmakers and the governor to begin addressing the shortfall within 45 days.

"What we have to do is fix the budget system. The system itself needs to be fixed, and I think that this is a good year, this coming year, to fix it," Schwarzenegger said in Long Beach, where he was promoting his plan for health care reform.

California is struggling with shrinking state tax revenue from the meltdown of the subprime housing market and the credit crunch on Wall Street.

State spending also has increased by more than 40 percent since Schwarzenegger took office after the 2003 recall of then-Gov. Gray Davis.

Schwarzenegger in August signed a $145.5 billion budget that increased spending 11 percent due largely to the increased cost of bond repayments and special funds. General fund spending for day-to-day operations increased less than 1 percent, from $101.7 to $102.3 billion for the budget year that began July 1.

In August, Schwarzenegger's office projected the state would end its current budget year with a $4.1 billion reserve. Last month, the state's nonpartisan legislative analyst reported that the state would instead end the year in the red, and was on pace to rack up a staggering $10 billion deficit over the next 18 months.

Schwarzenegger and his top aides this week have privately told lawmakers and interest groups that the gap could top $14 billion and warned cities, counties and health and welfare agencies to expect cuts.

Last month, Schwarzenegger ordered agency leaders to draft plans for across-the-board cut as high as 10 percent.

State lawmakers have been criticized in recent weeks for pushing through a raise for themselves, despite the state's fiscal troubles.

Bill of Rights Day

Lifted this, in it's entirety, from Kim du Toit HERE.

If I could figure a way to file off the serial number and call it my own, I would.

I think I'll ask a random selection of folks why December 15th is a significant day.

And no, I didn't know...

======================================================

Today is the 216th anniversary of the adoption of the Bill of Rights, the first Ten Amendments to our Constitution, as ratified in 1791.

I know everyone here can probably quote the whiole thing, to the last jot and tittle, but please read the whole thing, just so we’re all clear on the concept:

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

------------

Amendment II

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

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Amendment III

No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

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Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

------------

Amendment V

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

------------

Amendment VI

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

------------

Amendment VII

In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

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Amendment VIII

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

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Amendment IX

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

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Amendment X

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

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Speaking English

OK, Geno's Steaks in South Philly is in the news again.

The Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations is charging "intimidation" over a small sign in the business's window.

Here's what the Commission's lawyer had to say:

Paul M. Hummer, an attorney for the commission, testified earlier that the sign is not about political speech, but about "intimidation," and that it suggested business from certain individuals was not wanted.

See the story HERE.

So, what's the big hooha? What does that mean, nasty sign say?


This is AMERICA: WHEN ORDERING PLEASE 'SPEAK ENGLISH.'

Now, Geno's, being in Philly, has a... different take on "English". An order for a cheesesteak in Geno's might be like this: "Gimme a steak wit'" - the "wit" indicating a cheesesteak sandwich with onions and peppers.

And that's all the English you need to know.

For that major offense, the The Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations has their collective knickers in a twist.

Jeezo, gimme a break here!

Laptops and Windows Vista, Oh My!

Well, I've been living with Windows Vista Home Premium on the HP/Compaq laptop for about two weeks.

So far, it just works.

Everything looks familiar, although some of the bits and pieces are in different places than they are in XP.

I really Do Not Like Internet Explorer 7 - not because it blows up (it hasn't yet), but because I'm used to Maxthon. Mrs. OWW likes FireFox. As soon as I'm Real Sure that this is a stable system, Maxthon and FireFox are going on, probably next week.

Office 2007 Student 30-day Evaluation edition was pre-loaded. I really dislike it a bunch. Office 2003 is going on, 2007 will be un-installed as soon as I'm sure that won't blow the system to smithereens.

Now, just to annoy you folks in Washington (State or DC), and Minnesota, and Ohio, or even in San Jose, CA, here in SouthEast Jawja, today, December 12th, I was walking around in shorts and a t-shirt and sandals, enjoying 80F weather. As I write this, it's 10:15PM, I'm sitting on my deck sneering at my slightly overgrown back yard, and the temp is 68F under clear skies.

Summertime in Jawja is hot and humid (like 90F, 90% humidity), so when a glorious day like this comes along, I just sit there and smiiiiile......

Local Politics and OWW

I don't comment often on local politics here, for a variety of reasons.

"All politics is local", which means that if I open my big mouth, I'm instantly visible.

That being said, there are times when one simply must speak up, and call out the fumble-fingered idiots running the show.

HERE, you'll see my take on the cheerful idiots who are running, or attempting to run, Camden County, GA.

"Fumble-fingered idiots" and "Cheerful idiots". I think that I'm being charitable...

Pearl Harbor Day

As I was once in the US Navy, I should probably post a photo of a ship burning in Pearl, or of the surrender ceremony in Tokyo Bay.

Nahhh....

My Dad was an infantryman in Europe. I think he'd appreciate this one a little more...


"Know any good Moslem prayers? I don't wanna miss any bets."

An Unsuitable Cop

Sergeant Andrea Eichhorn of the Casselberry, FL police department has been fired. FoxNews Story HERE.

CASSELBERRY, Fla. — Casselberry authorities say a police sergeant has been fired for suing a family after she slipped and fell while trying to rescue a 1-year-old boy from drowning. Casselberry Police Chief John Pavlis fired Sergeant Andrea Eichhorn on Tuesday. Eichhorn has dropped her negligence lawsuit. It claimed there was water on the floor at Joey Cosmillo's home when police arrived. Eichhorn claimed she broke her knee and missed two months of work after she slid on the wet floor. The boy suffered brain damage and can no longer walk, talk or swallow. He lives in a nursing home and eats and breathes through tubes. Eichhorn can appeal her firing. Pavlis said the lawsuit brought public ridicule to the agency and damaged its reputation.

This first came to my attention back in October from The Law Dog, whom I believe to have the definitive rant on this story.

To be fair, reports are that Sgt. Eichhorn actually fractured the knee. Of course, reports also say that she continued to work the scene -- it was only "later that day" that she sought treatment for the injury. The tile-crawling invertebrate hired by Sgt. Eichhorn to represent her in this lawsuit states: "It's a situation where the Cosmillos have caused these problems, brought them on themselves, then tried to play the victim,"

Read his entire essay HERE - and please do try to keep your blood pressure from spraying out of your ears.

I Sound Like What?

So, there's this strange survey out there, about accents. Now, keep in mind that I lived in New York City until I was ten, and then in California until I was fifty-five - and I've never lived within 500 miles of Wisconsin.

I asked Mrs. OWW if I sounded like I was from Wisconsin, and she said that even with the cold I'm fighting, I'm generic Californian, with Good Ol' Boy Jawja overtones that I've picked up in the three years that we've lived in SE Georgia...

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Inland North   You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop."
The Northeast
Philadelphia
The Midland
The South
Boston
The West
North Central
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Politics, Foreign and Domestic

FOREIGN

Hugo Chavez of Venezuela failed in his bid to be El Presidente for Life. Whilst y'all are cheering and dancing, I would remind you that the referendum results were 51% to 49%. That is NOT a huge margin of victory. Prediction: He tries again.

Vladimir Putin, on the other hand, cruised to a lop-sided victory in Russia. Look for Vlad The Bad to be a behind-the-scenes force for years to come in Russia.

DOMESTIC

Hillary and Barack are having at each other, likewise Rudy, Mitt, Mike and Fred. At least RMM&F are slanging each other over relatively substantive issues. Hillary and Barack are having it out over... what Barack said in Kindergarten?

Aww, c'mon Dems, you can do better than that!

Can't you?

Life It's Ownself

What a week!

BAD: Mrs. OWW was hospitalized with diverticulitis - a pretty nasty instestinal disorder that is VERY painful.

GOOD: Meelie-Noh (the nine-year-old) got to go to a cheer-leading competition, which was held at a place called "Wild Adventures" out in Waycross, GA. Meelie informs me that she had a really good time, and they placed well in the competition.

GOOD/BAD: Mrs. OWW is home from the hospital (GOOD), but tires easily, is weaker than a kitten, and although we don't talk about it, she's deathly afraid of a relapse (which would be Very Bad Indeed).

BAD: The clothes washer is beating itself to death - which will mean, sooner rather than later, another $500 out the door, as I don't want to buy used.

GOOD/BAD: The new (to me, at least) truck runs well, and doesn't appear to have any horrendously expensive problems, which is GOOD. It does need a new muffler, which in itself isn't bad, but I wanted to do a DIY (Do It Yourself) - and the parts stores want $100+ for a new muffler - plus clamps and gaskets - which is BAD.

GOOD: Through the generosity of my Dad, we now have a rather nice laptop, brandy-spanking new, with a nice widescreen (Very GOOD), 1 Gig of memory (GOOD), a 100 Gig Hard disk (GOOD), the usual crappy laptop keyboard (NORMAL for laptops) and a too-sensitive mushpad (BAD) that has a little button to disable it (GOOD), built-in Wireless-G (Very GOOD), and Windows Vista Home Premium (Unknown Good or Bad).

I'm of two minds about Vista - I've been using XP Professional for a while, and it's solid, and I know how to make it sit up and beg. OTOH, Vista is alleged to be more secure, and is visually very attractive. On the BAD side, one of my favorite untilites, Robotype, doesn't work with Vista - that's BAD. We'll have to see how it behaves as we go along....

And for all y'all in the cold parts of the country, it IS December 2nd, and here in SE Jawja it did hit 80F today, and I'm still wandering about in shorts and a t-shirt, even though it's dark outside at 6:30PM and it's still 78F.

Which is GOOD.

The Great Car Shuffle

We seem to have a kind of a tradition going on amongst us neighbors. Central to this tradition are my neighbors Charley and Sharon. Y'see, Charley is a bit of a car nut...

When we first moved in, 3 1/2 years ago, I mentioned to Mrs. OWW that "the guy two houses up the street is running a used car lot!" There were cars for Charley, his wife Sharon, their son Chuck, and their daughter Maureen (Son Kevin wasn't of driving age yet). Plus a dead-engine Suburban and a dying van (I disremember the make/model of that one).

Well, son Chuck traded the Mitsubishi for a Jeep, which was traded for a Jeep Cherokee, which was traded to a neighbor down the street for a Volkswagen GTI. Charley sold his beat-up well-used (200K+ miles) Chevy pickup and bought a Ford F-150, sold that, and bought a neighbor's Dodge 1500 w/Hemi, and then acquired a Jaguar XJ6 from a friend in Missouri to go with the truck. Wife Sharon had a Saab, which was sold and she bought a Nissan Altima, which was sold, and she bought a Volvo. Maureen was driving whatever wasn't being driven by someone else at the moment.

I was never sure who was home at the moment.

After a while, I started kidding Charley about the used car lot he was running. "Honest Charley's Fine Used Vehicular Transportation Emporium".

Then the vehicle count started going down.

The dead Suburban was sold and towed away. Maureen inherited her brother Chuck's GTI, and then her older sister Peggy's Saturn L200 (from out of town - it just magically appeared one day). The dying van was sold. Chuck moved out of town and got married, so whatever he was driving at the time went away. The GTI was sold to a neighbor. Son Kevin became of driving age, and Charley got him a Dodge Dakota pickup. Maureen moved out on her own, and the Saturn went with her. Kevin went to college, and the Dakota went with him.

Ulimately, it was Charley with the big Dodge pickup and the Jag, and wife Sharon with the Volvo. There was also a Harley-Davidson motorcycle for a while, but it lived in the garage.

There was also the odd boat or two in their driveway, but they don't count 'cause they're not street-legal.

Then, daughter Peggy who now lives up in New York needed a car, and Charley lent her the Jag. Two cars!!! No more smart remarks about "used car lots" from Old Weird Ward.

It was too good to last.... which is where OWW got involved in the neighborhood "tradition"....

I'd been muttering for some time that I want a truck for hauling stuff around. Due to the GHIP (Great Home Improvement Project) involving paint, Pergo-type floors, power-tools, runs to the dump, and other things, I wanted a Ford Ranger/Chevy S-10/Dodge Dakota/Nissan Frontier type of truck to haul said "stuff", with an extended cab so's I could haul Chickie and Meelie around.

So, I started checking out the local used truck market - yee flipping gods! These clowns want a short fortune for anything with wheels that runs! They seem to think that Kelly Blue Book retail, plus $2000 is "reasonable". So I was sniveling and moaning at Charley one fine day....

It seems that daughter Peggy hated the Jag XJ6. "Old man's car" is what she said, and wanted another Saturn. Son Kevin liked his Dodge Dakota OK, but really wanted a Saab. And since I wanted a truck...

Charley went up to New York driving my Saturn SL2, which went to daughter Peggy, and came back in the Jag. Son Kevin found a Saab, and the Dodge Dakota "Sport" (extended cab, 4-cylinder engine) now sits in my driveway.

While Charley was going up to New York in the SL2 and Kevin was finishing the week before Thanksgiving while driving the Dakota, I was driving that big Dodge of Charley's. I tell you true, it's a BIG beast, and drinks gasoline like you wouldn't beleive...

So here's the current car situation:

Mr. and Mrs. OWW have a yellow VUE and a Dodge Dakota in our driveway.

Charley and Sharon have the Jag, the big Dodge, and the Volvo.

The Volkswagen GTI has migrated from one neighbor to another neighbor.

The Cherokee in another neighbor's driveway.

I almost had the Jag as well as the Dakota but I let Charley talk himself into falling in love with it, thank God! Lovely car, but 'way back when, I had dealings with Lucas, Prince of Darkness....

Thanksgiving

Just when things seem to be going Real Smooth, and you're feeling pretty good about it, and you're even ready to brag about it, Life It's Ownself will smack you right in the face with a cold fish.

Last Saturday, Meelie, at 9 our youngest, came down with a stomach bug and was going at both ends, poor baby. Mrs. OWW did the majority of care ("I love you Daddy, but I want MOMMY!"), so of course guess who gets the bug?

Meelie recovers within 24 hours, and is bouncing off the walls like her normal self, and Mrs. OWW is flat on her back when she's not in the facilities and is thoroughly miserable. By Monday the worst is over for her, but she's still feeling very shaky and being Real Cautious about what food she eats.

On Tuesday morning, I'm commenting at work that I haven't taken a sick day for myself in two years, and I'm on a roll, right? By Tuesday evening, about 6 PM, guess who's making an intimate acquaintance with the Porcelain God?

By Wednesday morning, the worst was over, and I was able to go to work, and sorta function without it being obvious that I had a severe death wish - I just wanted to curl up in a corner and die quietly. As soon as I got home I crawled into be and slept like the dead until 4 AM Thursday...

Which was Thanksgiving Day.

Several weeks ago, our neighbors Sharon and Charley, and Lisa and Eric, and a few others decided to do a group Thanksgiving dinner at Sharon and Charley's place (Charley added on an enormous rec room when the house was being built). There were 15 (plus 5 younger children) and tremendous quantities of turkey and all the trimmings, and all of it delicious. I wasn't able to be my usual gluttonous self, but as I said, it was delicious.

Sectarian NON-Violence in Iraq!!

OK, I'm not much for going to church regularly. I'm still a Christian, by up-bringing at the very least.

So THIS really touched me....

Today, Muslims mostly filled the front pews of St John’s. Muslims who want their Christian friends and neighbors to come home. ..... Muslims keep telling me to get it on the news. “Tell the Christians to come home to their country Iraq.”

Go and read the whole thing HERE.

And answer me this: WHERE is the Main-Stream-Media on this? This story is huge, and the MSM is dropping the ball. Again.

Pfui.

Late Vet's Day Post

Just found this courtesy of the Grouchy Old Cripple in Atlanta (Hi There, Denny!)

On behalf of Mikey, Tommy, Butch, Dan, Xavier, and Poor Dumb Randy (aka PDR), I'm shoutin' out "Amen! Deal the cards, Brotha!"

Royko was a Great Man...

I just phoned six friends and asked them what they will be doing on Monday. They all said the same thing: working. Me, too. There is something else we share. We are all military veterans. And there is a third thing we have in common. We are not employees of the federal government, state government, county government, municipal government, the Postal Service, the courts, banks, or S & Ls, and we don’t teach school. If we did, we would be among the many millions of people who will spend Monday goofing off. Which is why it is about time Congress revised the ridiculous terms of Veterans Day as a national holiday. The purpose of Veterans Day is to honor all veterans. So how does this country honor them? By letting the veterans, the majority of whom work in the private sector, spend the day at their jobs so they can pay taxes that permit millions of non-veterans to get paid for doing nothing. As my friend Harry put it: "First I went through basic training. Then infantry school. Then I got on a crowded, stinking troop ship that took 23 days to get from San Francisco to Japan. We went through a storm that had 90 percent of the guys on the ship throwing up for a week. "Then I rode a beat-up transport plane from Japan to Korea, and it almost went down in the drink. I think the pilot was drunk. "When I got to Korea, I was lucky. The war ended seven months after I got there, and I didn’t kill anybody and nobody killed me. "But it was still a miserable experience. Then when my tour was over, I got on another troop ship and it took 21 stinking days to cross the Pacific. "When I got home on leave, one of the older guys at the neighborhood bar — he was a World War II vet — told me I was a ----head because we didn’t win, we only got a tie. "So now on Veterans Day I get up in the morning and go down to the office and work. "You know what my nephew does? He sleeps in. That’s because he works for the state. "And do you know what he did during the Vietnam War? He ducked the draft by getting a job teaching at an inner-city school. "Now, is that a raw deal or what?" Of course that’s a raw deal. So I propose that the members of Congress revise Veterans Day to provide the following: - All veterans — and only veterans — should have the day off from work. It doesn’t matter if they were combat heroes or stateside clerk-typists. Anybody who went through basic training and was awakened before dawn by a red-neck drill sergeant who bellowed: "Drop your whatsis and grab your socks and fall out on the road," is entitled. - Those veterans who wish to march in parades, make speeches or listen to speeches can do so. But for those who don’t, all local gambling laws should be suspended for the day to permit vets to gather in taverns, pull a couple of tables together and spend the day playing poker, blackjack, craps, drinking and telling lewd lies about lewd experiences with lewd women. All bar prices should be rolled back to enlisted men’s club prices, Officers can pay the going rate, the stiffs. - All anti-smoking laws will be suspended for Veterans Day. The same hold for all misdemeanor laws pertaining to disorderly conduct, non-felonious brawling, leering, gawking and any other gross and disgusting public behavior that does not harm another individual. - It will be a treasonable offense for any spouse or live-in girlfriend (or boyfriend, if it applies) to utter the dreaded words: "What time will you be home tonight?" - Anyone caught posing as a veteran will be required to eat a triple portion of chipped beef on toast, with Spam on the side, and spend the day watching a chaplain present a color-slide presentation on the horrors of VD. - Regardless of how high his office, no politician who had the opportunity to serve in the military, but didn’t, will be allowed to make a patriotic speech, appear on TV, or poke his nose out of his office for the entire day. Any politician who defies this ban will be required to spend 12 hours wearing headphones and listening to tapes of President Clinton explaining his deferments. Now, deal the cards and pass the tequila. - Mike Royko

Veteran's Day

I hung the flag this morning.

Then, whilst sipping my coffee and checking for news and views, I ran across THIS:

I have lived in America all my life, for 56 years now, and every single night when I have laid my head upon my pillow, you were somewhere watching over my safety. For every single one of those nights of peaceful rest, I simply say, "Thank you!"

Kyle-Ann, for all of my comrades, past, present and future...

"You're Welcome"

Old Weird Ward
USN 1969-1973

World-Shaking News!

The Writer's Guild is on strike.

No new TV shows! No new jokes for Letterman! No new movies!

I am sooooo not upset.

I was raised in L.A. I've met some of these people - some of the most two-faced self-important people in the world - even worse than US Senators. "I {wrote for/starred in/served latte} for {hit show/movie here}! I'm important, and I can comment on Global Warming!

I hope they all go broke and have to actually work in the Real World for a living.

Bah, Humbug! (Yes, the Christmas music has already started. Makes me just a little grumpy.)

First Amendment? Or What?

So, Hayden Barnes, this punk kid at Valdosta State (In, of course, Valdosta GA), decides to twist the administration's tail a bit. This is VSU's Administration, in the person of the President, right?

Read the whole thing HERE.

Well, the Prez, Ronald Zaccari, decided to expell young Mr. Barnes as a "clear and present danger to this campus".

The "clear and present danger to this campus" consisted of an entry in a FaceBook.com page, a collage with a reference to a "Zaccari Memorial Parking Garage."

Point #1: College students are always getting outraged over something - and flapping their jaws about it, whatever it is.

Point #2: College presidents are the face of The Administration. Good Heavens, they might even get mocked!

Point #3: His Eminence Zaccari needs to get over himself.

I mean, Mr. Barnes could have referred to the Prez as "The Little Zucchini", right?

Mr. Barnes gets a hearing on 26 November, which means that THIS quarter/semester is completely shot to doll rags.

The Little Zucchini has, with malice aforethought, laid VSU (and the taxpayers of Georgia, which means me) open to a whopping great lawsuit and judgement based on the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States - and that, my friends, really annoys me.

Why shouldn't it? After all, it IS my money, right?

The Nobel "Peace Prize"

From the Will of Alfred Bernhard Nobel

...and one part to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.

And.... so where does AlGore stand in the above?

For that matter, how about Yasser Arafat?

The Nobel "Peace Prize" has degenerated to a bucket of smelly stuff.

'Nuff said.

MoveOn Dot Org is afraid of Susan Collins??

It seems quite silly, actually.

One of the least visible, least influential Replican Senators, Susan Collins of Maine, has been targeted by MoveOn dot Org.

Senator Collins' campaign attempted to buy ads on Google to refute MoveOn Dot Org's attack ads.

Move On Dot Org promptly lit a fire under their lawyers, saying "Stop that Republican Senator from Taking Our Name In Vain!"

Which they promptly did.

Adam Kovacevich, responding to questions via e-mail from FOX News, said Google prohibits ads that include trademarked names if those trademark holders oppose those users. "Under our advertising policies, companies and organizations that demonstrate that they own trademark rights can request that their trademarked terms not be used in the text of ads on Google. MoveOn made such a request, and as a result we required that this advertiser rewrite their ad and remove the trademarked terms."

Now, I think we can all agree that Google lived up to the letter of their policies. However, we can also agree that their policies regarding political speech in advertising needs a good, solid review, especially considering Google's caving in to other left-wing organizations such as the People's Republic of China (aka "Red China").

We can also see that MoveOn dot Org is not interested in political debate. MoveOn dot Org is interested in winning (but their track record there sucks) and intimidation, at which they're actually pretty good, when pushing most Democratic politicians, and some Republican politicians around.

Now, this blog, OWW2.BLOGSPOT.COM, is hosted on BlogSpot, which is a unit of Google. Therefore, remember what the official name of the NAZI party was? The "National Socialist Worker's Party". And consider that the following has been demonstrated:

MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.
MoveOn.Org is an un-democratic, left-wing, fascistic organization.

And just a little itty-bitty reminder, Google and MoveOn - this is political discourse, does not violate the Terms of Service, and is protected under the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Should MoveOn.Org make any attempt to silence me, I expect Google/Blogspot to step up. If Google/BlogSpot caves in to MoveOn.Org, well, we'll know who's who and what's what, won't we?

Good "Free" Stuff For Your PC

Today is another "Things Computerish" day, wherein I point out some of the good free stuff that I use. "Free" as in "It doesn't cost me one thin dime, and is More Than Good Enough". This is stuff that I use and depend on. This stuff should all be at the top of the list for anyone who is at all concerned about getting the best out of their Windows computer.

SECURITY

Virus Protection: AVG AntiVirus can be had HERE. Good, solid stuff, and it does not get in the way of normal operations like Norton, or McAfee. You'll have to dig a little on their site, but trust me, it's worth it.

SpyBot Search and Destroy is HERE. Afraid of Malware? You're not? You should be! Use this, and you'll happy.

AdAware Personal is HERE. See above.

UTILITY

The Ultimate Boot CD for Windows can be had HERE. If you are the "Family, Neighbors, and Friends Local Computer Geek", and you don't have this, you're working 'way too hard. Also true if you are a professional supporting a Windows desktop environment. You don't need it often, but when you do need it, you need it Real Bad.

DIRMS is one of my favorites. It's included in the UBCD, and is a really good disk defragger - much better than Microsoft's included disk defragmenter. Stand-alone DIRMS can be had HERE. I highly recommend that you boot with the UBCD, and then use DIRMS to do a thorough and complete defrag of your system's hard disk. Your system will run faster and your hard disk will be less likely to fail.

AutoIT is for geeks only, and is available HERE. If you have to do lots of scripting, AutoIT is far superior to any other scripting language I've worked with. The learning curve is very steep, but the folks in the forums will be delighted to help, and the end result is simply astounding. If you have to support lots of PCs in a networked environment, you really need this one. If your management is being difficult, work up a couple of simple tasks (I used an installer for a terminal emulator that has lots of install options), and then do a Dog-And-Pony Show.

APPLICATIONS

NoteTab can be found HERE. Think Notepad on steroids. Good stuff, and absolutely free!

FireFox can be had HERE. I don't use it (I have to support Internet Exploder 6.0, so I use it, and I know it all too well!), but Mrs. OWW won't use anything else.

Now I've got a Teenager in the House!

Today is one of "those" days - "those" being defined as Very Important Days that you always remember.

Today Chickie went from being a "kid" to being a "teenager".

I've seen flashes of "teenagerness" of course. Clothing style. Hair. Nails. Smart-mouth. Unexpected tears. Maniacal laughter over nothing at all. From happy and smiling to red-hot rage to broken-hearted tears, and back to happy and smiling, all within fifteen bewildering seconds.

And that was just a taste.

I've been through this before, with Katydid, my first girl-child, about twelve years back.

Which brings up a story for me to tell.

We were still living in California, and Katydid was visiting for the weekend (Katydid's Mom and I were divorced many years ago), and we went off to the local supermarket to get some groceries - Katydid, Chickie, and me.

Katydid was carrying Chickie on her hip, and 'round about the time we hit the canned fruit section, this really nice older lady walked up to Katydid (who still had Chickie on her hip), and said "Your baby is beautiful!"

Katydid made me very proud of her that day, and eased my mind considerable, for I was dreading the "teenage years", and all the perils for a young lady.

Katydid replied, very nicely, to the nice older lady, "Thank you. But this is my sister."

Of course the nice older lady wanted to sink right into the floor.

When we got around the corner (into the "Ethnic Foods" section, as I recall), Katydid said to me, very quietly but with great intensity, "Daddy! As if I could be So Stupid!"

Well, Chickie, not so long ago, you made me equally as proud of you.

We were talking about one of your acquaintences here in Georgia, and you said something about her probably going to be an "un-wed teenage mother with no education, no husband, and no life, and NOT like me at all, because she's being an absolute dum-dum!"

On top of all that, Chickie, you are, for the most part, a pretty good kid, mostly, and I love you very much.

There's no doubt in my mind that the coming years will drive me right out of what's left of my alleged mind - but there's a few things I won't have to worry about. Much. I hope.

Happy Birthday, Sweetheart. I Love You....

Music and Weather

It's been raining, with occasional thunder and lightning, all day.

Perfect weather for listening to E. Power Biggs cookin' away at The Mighty Wurlitzer.

Toccata and Fugue in D-Minor. Fugue in G-Minor.

There ain't much better, anywhere, by anybody. J.S. Bach played by E. Power Biggs.

You think you know music? Def Leppard is OK, Queen rocks, the Moody Blues come close, but I tell you three times, pure music is defined by J.S. Bach as played by E. Power Biggs.

And yes, I am Old Weird Ward.

My place, my rules.

The Barbarians Among Us

Dr. Jerry Pournelle puts my opinion out there far better than I can. See it all HERE (You'll have to scroll down a bit)

I expect black and white citizens to act civilized, and finding excuses for barbarism does not seem like a worthwhile activity.

Tasers and Student and Stoopit, Oh My!

OK, here's the local news coverage on Andrew Meyer, the Florida Taser Kid.

Two points:

1. Meyer was being a PITA - a loud-mouthed low-rent jerque (spelling intentional).

2. Meyer was vioating Niven's Law.

What is "Niven's Law"?

This comes from the Democratic National Convention of 1968, when there were riots in the fair city of Chicago, and Hubert Humphrey was chosen to be the Democrat candidate for the Presidency.

Niven's Law: "Don't throw baggies of dog squeeze at armed police officers."
Corrollary: "Don't stand next to people who throw baggies of dog squeeze at armed police officers."

You think I'm being harsh? View the entire video, keeping in mind that Meyer jumped the line, and is/was an obnoxious big jerque, in the finest French tradition.

Note: Niven's Law belongs to SF author Larry Niven, may be copyrighted by him, and it's essential truth is self-evident.

Trash or Treasure?

As part of the GHIP (Great Home Improvement Project), we discovered a big box just chock full of old photographs - some of them over 20 years old. That's "treasure"

To see some of the trash, follow the link above.

Mrs. OWW is going to fire up the Smoking Scanner - and some of the evidence will be posted for all to see.

Incriminating evidence, of course, will be properly disposed of, even assuming that it ever existed in the first place, which it didn't, 'cause I wasn't in Vegas at the time, nor do I have any interest (fiscal or otherwise) in sports memorabilia.

Where's Old Weird Ward and What's He Doing?

Sweatin' my butt off in 90/90 weather, that's what!

The 90/90 refers to 90 F and 90% humidity.

See the whole ugly affair HERE.

The whole thing reminds me, yet again, why I like working in a nice air-conditioned office.

September 11th

Today has been One Of Those Days.

Firstly, at 8:46AM I took a minute.

Went outside, and reflected on the happenings of September 11th, 2001.

Over the past five years, I have done this every September 11th.

My conclusions remain the same: The Islamfascisti have made War upon us. We shall continue to make War right back at 'em. Even if some future adminisitration should choose to "forget" that the Jihadis hate us, I, an individual American, shall not choose to "forget". And I'm gonna hate 'em right back.

I shall remember our dead civilians. I shall remember our dead military men and women. I shall remember, every day, to say a little prayer for our people who are in harm's way.

I shall also remember those who say "this is too hard", who say "we must give up", who say "we must 'redeploy' our forces".

I say to them: "I remember you. You called me 'baby killer'. You called me a 'tool of American aggression'. You said that I am like 'Jengis Khan'.

Oh yes. I shall remember. I shall remember all that you have said and done.

On this day, I remember our dead. I most especially raise my hat to the firefighters of September 11th. When the Twin Towers came crashing down, FDNY Fire Fighters were still going up.

I remember the heroes of Flight 93 - those heroes succeeded in their mission: The ordinary Americans of Flight 93 prevented the Islamofascisti from completing their plan, at a most terrible cost. Indeed, "Let's Roll".

Today has been One of Those Days.

From Out of the Past

'Way back there, when I was young, immortal, and fairly good looking, I was in the US Navy, stationed aboard ships that were home-ported in San Diego, California. For the whole time I was there, the San Diego Union had a box, on the front page, counting the number of days that the USS Pueblo had been in the hands of North Korea.

Today I saw, buried on the inside of the Florida Times-Union (Georgia edition)a little blurb about the Pueblo. I can't find it in the on-line edition, so I did a little google, and found THIS. Then I looked at an on-line chart. Guess what? To get from Wonsan to Pyongyang requires a little trip in international waters, which was done in 1999, during the administration of Mr. Clinton.

Now, I'm not gonna snivel too much at Mr. Clinton's in-action - after all, many previous presidents completely ignored the status of the USS Pueblo.

But it looks like the Navy hasn't forgotten - the USS Pueblo is still carried as an active ship of the US Navy.

Of course, now that that's been drawn to the attention of the wusses in the State Department, there will be much hand-wringing as to how "provocative" we're now being...

Sunday, Lazy Sunday

Me? Lazy? Just because I let Chickie (the 12-yr-old) run the riding mower to cut the grass in the back yard?

Nahhhh.... she asked if she could.

I'm crazy, not stupid - I said "yes" in a heart-beat. I check on her about every 10 minutes or so, and I just gave her a bottle of water to drink while she runs the Mighty, Thundering, Craftsman LTX-1000! She's pretty pleased with herself...

In other news, HERE, the Democrat's funding scandal looks to be getting bigger - like that's a big surprise. What's also not a surprise is that the MSM is not getting in Hillary's face about it. Or Obama's, for that matter. Can you just imagine the feeding frenzy if any of the 'Publicans was linked to Hsu?

Things Automobilish

So, I'm on my way into work this AM, and the little red light indicating low coolant comes on. This is my 100K-miles-plus-a-bit Saturn SL2 that I've bragged on in the past, OK?

OK.

Get to work, and there's drippins' under thet-thar SaturnMobile.

"Oh, crap!"

$200 later (including new anti-freeze and a new radiator), Sally the Saturn is ready to go. Until the next time.

So far, the big expenses on Sally have been a temperature sensor ($15), a thermostat ($25), a radiator ($185) and anti-freeze ($25 for all the above).

Yes, I'm sniveling - even if she does have 100K+ and those are the big expenses.

I like sniveling, if I'm the one that gets to do it.... Ò¿Ö

Still Alive, Just Not Kicking Much

There's a ton of stuff out there to comment on, in politics especially - politicians and what is described as "political thought" is a laughable combination.

One of the better ones is our local Sheriff, who's having a major kerfluffle with our County Commisioners.

Sheriff Bill Smith has been having difficulties with:

- County prisoners walking away from work details
- County prisoners working on private projects (a big no-no under Georgia law)
- A county prisoner that got access to a Sheriff's Office "personal
water-craft" (read "JetSki") and promptly ran it into a dock, breaking
various and sundry bones
- Arguments with the County Commission about the Sheriff's budget
- A purchasing agent misusing a Sheriff's Office credit card
- Sheriff Smith's use of a county car for personal business

On the gripping hand, the County Commissioners aren't having a real good time either. It has taken them two years to find a County Executive. The last one quit, for no reason that's ever been put before the public. Plus, of course, the fact that one of the Commissioners is an employee of the Sheriff's Office, (I know, sounds fishy, but she did get elected, and she does not vote on issues relating to the Sheriff's Office, which makes it OK, I guess.)

And the above is just the lowest of the low spots.

Use Google for "Sheriff Bill Smith", then select "News".

Jeez, I was going to write "I ain't died, yet", and look what happens! Damned addictive blog anyway....

Today, Part II

This is not one of my better days.

A little script I've written to take care of a perfectly routine, and very repetetive chore has been kicking my red-neck butt all around the block. For two freakin' days. Microsoft IS the Evil Empire. Bill Gates is gonna burn in Hell....

And then, during my lunch 1/2 hour, my car rolled over and died. Actually, the battery died.

Sigh....

I'm feeling a little cranky, OK?

And then there's THIS.

"You Can't Deport Us All"

WTF???

You wanna make some book on that, hose-head?

If'n us Americans get pissed-off enough, just watch and see what happens, HomeBoy.

Illegal aliens have placed such a strain on the public services of California, and have screwed up the American culture of California so badly, that many of us have heaved a huge sigh of relief when we left California.

I'm seriously considering moving back to California, just so's I can be a large-scale pain in the butt to MeCHA and La Raza.

I think I'll start with an Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America:

The Official Language of the United States of America shall be English. All official documents and proceedings, including but not limited to Court Proceedings, Laws, Rules, Regulations, and Promulgations of the Governemnt of the United States, the Courts, the Congress, and the Executive branch, shall be in English.

And I'm not done. The best is yet to come...

Moonbattery Outside of California

California has more than it's "fair share" of Moonbats. Nancy Pelosi and her announced opponent in the next election, Cindy Sheehan come immediately to mind.

It's true that Moonbats tend to gather together. We even have a few right here in Jawja. Cynthia McKinney (Dem), formerly a Congresscritter from Atlanta comes quickly to mind.

And then there's the Mayor of the bustling metropolis of Macon, GA, an alleged gentleman by the name of Jack Ellis, or maybe that would be Hakim Mansour Ellis...

See the whole story HERE.

It would seem that Hizzoner Mr. Ellis (or would that be His Most Excellent Effendi Ellis?) sent off a little missive to that great humanitarian and lover of liberty His Excellency El Presidente Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.

...the mayor of the central Georgia city formally reached out to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez with a declaration of solidarity. Mayor Jack Ellis said the declaration, sent about two weeks ago by courier, was a message that local leaders can stand together despite disagreements at the highest reaches of government.

Of course, Hizzoner is taking a little heat from his neighbors and friends...

The mayor's decision prompted 20 pages of comments on The Telegraph's online message board before the newspaper decided to take it down. Some called for demonstrations and other ways to signal their distaste for the mayor's move. Ronald Johnson, a 71-year-old resident of nearby Houston County, called the move "treasonous" and is urging neighbors to boycott the city's businesses until Ellis is rebuked by city officials. "It's unbelievable that he would do what he's done," said Johnson. "That is so wrong."

It would seem that Fox News follows the lead of AP/REUTERS/CBS/CNN/ABC/NYT in noting Ellis' party affiliation at the end of the article, whereas an affiliation to the major opposition party would be noted in the very first paragraph.

Amnesty Redux

Note to Senator Arlen Spector:

Senator, do you really want to get hammered yet again?

See the full story HERE.

Some Republican leaders say they smell a rat in Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter's compromise proposal to get an immigration-reform bill through the Senate this year. Mr. Specter now suggests the 12 million illegal aliens he says are already here should be given the equivalent of "green card" status but "without the automatic path to citizenship" that critics labeled "amnesty."

Last month, the American citizenry called, and wrote, and made their wishes known: No Stinkin Amnesty!

You clowns in the Senate and the House tried to shove amnesty down our throats, you got caught at it, and, quite properly, you got hammered good and proper.

Now then, we're already peeved at you folks up there in D.C. D'you want to make us really angry with you again?

Beauchamp Admits to Lying

The "Baghdad Diarist", Pvt. Scott Beachamp, has now admitted in a sworn statement that the articles submitted to the New Republic were fabrications. From Fox News:

The Weekly Standard has learned from a military source close to the investigation that Pvt. Scott Thomas Beauchamp -- author of the much-disputed "Shock Troops" article in the New Republic's July 23 issue as well as two previous "Baghdad Diarist" columns -- signed a sworn statement admitting that all three articles he published in the New Republic were exaggerations and falsehoods -- fabrications containing only "a smidgen of truth," in the words of our source. Separately, we received this statement from Major Steven F. Lamb, the deputy Public Affairs Officer for Multi National Division-Baghdad: "An investigation has been completed and the allegations made by PVT Beauchamp were found to be false. His platoon and company were interviewed and no one could substantiate the claims." According to the military source, Beauchamp's recantation was volunteered on the first day of the military's investigation. So as Beauchamp was in Iraq signing an affidavit denying the truth of his stories, the New Republic was publishing a statement from him on its website on July 26, in which Beauchamp said, "I'm willing to stand by the entirety of my articles for the New Republic using my real name."

In other words, the SOB flat-out lied about his comrades.

In case this sounds a little familiar to those of you of a certain age, this link will take you to the "Jengis Khan" quote.

They told the stories at times they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam in addition to the normal ravage of war, and the normal and very particular ravaging which is done by the applied bombing power of this country.

John Kerry. Scott Beauchamp.

Lying SOS's, the both of them.

Contemptible little twerps, the both of them.

Bah.

US History and Constitution Questions

OK, I've got a "meme" going here.

I'm not going to pass it on to anyone else - this one's all mine.

A little background: About two months back, at my local Giant Bookstore (name changed to protect the guilty), I picked up a copy of Neal Boortz's "Somebody's Gotta Say It" expecting the usual ranting drivel.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that Boortz's rants were and are actually intelligently written, and upon occasion, amusing.

There is one section in there that is deadly serious.

The subjects will be American history, and the Constitution of the United States and the first ten amendments thereto.

So, here's the "meme": At various times, OWW is going to pose questions. You're free to do your own research, then answer the questions in the comments (I'll even include links to assorted pertinent documents). I'm going to crib heavily from Boortz's book (The chapter's entitled "What Kind of Mindless Horsesqueeze Is This?") and cherry-pick the questions.

Here's the first one:

Where in the Constitution of the United States does the word "democracy" appear?

Here's the research link: US CONSTITUTION