The View from the Bunker

Spineless

2007-07-13T13:56:00.000-05:00

"...as soon as we commit militarily, a good portion of the country starts questioning everything. Some think it's a mark of our civility, but that seems to be making a virtue of spinelessness. If we don't even have the moral courage to know our right to defend ourselves as a country, how can anyone take us seriously?"

This is probably one of the best editorials I have read in a while. Although IMAO is known for their humor, today, Frank J. posted a serious editorial that I feel goes right to the heart of one of the biggest problems in America. This writing also opens up many questions and issues that I feel are vital that we address.

I'm with Fred

2007-07-09T15:53:00.000-05:00

"I am tired of people apologizing for America, the greatest beacon of hope for all freedom seeking people in the world."
-Fred Thompson

It is refreshing to hear words like this spoken by some one who could possibly be our next president. I know that if Fred runs, he will have my vote.

If you haven't, go check out his blog, Fred File.

Let us remember

2007-05-28T00:35:00.000-05:00

For love of country they accepted death...
~James A. Garfield

On this Memorial Day, let us remember those who have given their last measure for our freedom.

Also, be sure to say a prayer for those who are currently serving our country during the ongoing War on Terrorism.

And to my Air Force brethren:

Here's a toast to the host
Of those who love the vastness of the sky,
To a friend we send a message of his brother men who fly.
We drink to those who gave their all of old,
Then down they soared to score the rainbow's pot of gold.
A toast to the host of men we boast, the U.S. Air Force!

Fireside Chats Revived

2007-05-23T00:17:00.000-05:00

In my last post I mentioned Fred Thompson's internet video response to Micheal Moore's challenge. In that post I was discussing the contents of the video - I want to step back a minute and talk about the format itself.

Candidates issuing videos is nothing new, however, Fred Thompson posted this response just hours after Moore made the initial challenge. I believe this bods well for his candidacy if he runs. Most candidates run topics by their advisers and opinion polls before issuing a statement. Fred Thompson has shown that he is not afraid to make his views known by issuing a digital video - imagine how far ahead he could stay of his opponents if he continued this throughout the campaign - blindsiding opponents before they can even consider a response.

Let's take this idea of digital videos one step further. Pretend for a moment Thompson is elected president. Imagine a weekly video from Thompson posted on youtube. This could be the modern day version of Roosevelt's fireside chats. By speaking directly to the citizens on a weekly basis using this new format, Thompson could truly be a president of the people. Than again, so could any president that is wise enough to use this new tool.

Media

2007-05-22T23:59:00.000-05:00

It's still a long ways out, but you can't help but hear about the presidential candidates. I'm not paying too much attention to all the gossip about them, primarily because the man I want in office hasn't announced he is in the running yet - Fred Thompson. Thompson is a man among boys - if you have been living under a rock and missed his response to Micheal Moore, go watch it now. I swear I'll get an alias just so I can vote for this man twice.

I did happen to watch Rudy Giuliani on Letterman last night and was impressed by some of his answers to Dave's queries. Letterman kept asking questions slanted to try to get Rudy to blame Bush for Iraq, buy Rudy wouldn't give it too him. Letterman kept on digging trying to sling mud on Bush, but Rudy just stuck to his guns. This is one of the things that sickens me - the media will take absolutely anything and try to use it to make Bush look bad. They hate him so vehemently it clouds their every thought.

How I long for the days when major media outlets actually cared about reporting the truth.

A Table in the Presence

2007-02-27T00:00:00.000-06:00

A very close friend of mine gave me a book this past Sunday that he thought I would enjoy reading. It is "A Table in the Presence" by LT. Carey Cash. I don't read books that often, but sometime about this book really caught my attention.

LT. Cash served in Iraq during the initial invasion as a chaplain attached to the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment. The cover of the book bills it as "The Dramatic Account of How a U.S. Marine Battalion Experienced God's Presence Amidst the Chaos of the War in Iraq".

I am only two chapters into the book, but it has been excellent so far. LT. Cash has described how God was present with these Marines no matter what. I have found this to be very inspirational, because lately, as shameful as it is to admit this, I have struggled with some doubts. I don't think it is any coincidence that my friend chose now to loan me this book.

I plan to post a some more complete thoughts on this book when I finish it, but so far I would highly recommend it.

Mourning

2007-02-26T22:49:00.000-06:00

Today, well, today has been an interesting day to say the least.

Today, I had the honor of paying my respects to a young man who laid down his life for our country. Twenty year-old Private First Class Chad Marsh was killed in action Feb. 18th when a grenade exploded near him in Baghdad, Iraq.

Twenty years old -- just a few months older than me. When I found out his funeral procession would be passing by near to where I live, deep down I felt that I needed to be there. After lunch, I picked out a spot along the procession route and waited. After about 45 minutes the roar of motorcycles could be heard in the distance. As I rose to my feet, they came into view - a flag waving group of motorcycles escorting a hearse, followed by a hummer and more motorcycles, and finally the family and friends. Other passing motorists stopped their vehicles and stood beside them to pay their respects.

I have not cried in recent memory, but today for this young soldier I did not know, I cried.

Rules of Engagement

2007-01-18T15:56:00.000-06:00

Much of the talk in the news lately has been the new "surge" strategy for Iraq. I had the opportunity yesterday to have lunch with a U.S. Army sergeant who has served two tours of duty in Iraq, and participated in the initial invasion and made the push from Kuwait into Baghdad. I picked his brain on his thoughts on the current situation, the viability of the surge plan, and the options of where do we go from here.

I have my personal views on the situation, having supported the war all along, but I will try to keep them from coloring the rest of this post and convey this soldier's impressions from actually having his boots on the ground. Here on out, I will refer to this soldier as "Sgt. R"

As I said Sgt. R. participated in the initial drive from Kuwait into Baghdad. On their arrival to Baghdad, the rules of engagement were what we typically think of in times of war - any potential threats were neutralized. He stated that Baghdad was relatively secure due to the fact that the citizens knew that the American troops could take whatever actions necessary to maintain the security.

Over time, however, the rules of engagement changed. The military softened it's stance, in an effort to "win over" the hearts and minds of the Iraqi citizens. Sgt. R states that the citizens began to realize that they could get away with violence, and the military troops couldn't do anything about it. Their hands were tied. To top it off, when soldiers do take action, they face murder charges. These more restrictive rules of engagement have lead to the current situation in the Sunni Triangle.

The new surge plan proposed by President Bush involves a return to the original rules of engagement, which Sgt. R believe will bring Baghdad back under our control and restore peace in the city. However, he says that the peace will only exist because of the fear of the American troops. He wonders how will we maintain that peace for good. Eventually, once troops are withdrawn, the violence will return. Do we plan on an extended peace-keeping mission? Is it even possible?

Sgt. R said he doesn't know the answer, but hearing him relate his experiences has given me a lot to think about. I don't know the answer any more than he does, but as a nation, we must come up with a long range solution.

The Violence of the Lambs

2007-01-18T00:01:00.000-06:00

This movie looks horrible...yet I want to see it so bad because it looks hilarious at the same time.

Check out the trailer:

The Beast

2006-12-29T17:00:00.000-06:00

"Computers don't make errors. What they do, they do on purpose. By now your name and particulars have been fed into every laptop, desktop, mainframe and supermarket scanner that collectively make up the global information conspiracy, otherwise known as The Beast."

-Dale Gribble

I just got bank from the bank a little bit ago, after a very frustrating afternoon. It started when I was eating my lunch today and was looking through the mail. I decided to open my bank statement and see if I had gotten paid for some work last week. As I read through the statement, I realized just how generous of a person I really am.

Apparently, I had donated several hundred dollars to various charities overseas in Italy. Also, I donated to the Tsunami relief fund for the children of Georgia. As in Atlanta, Georgia.

All of these charges had been made within the last few days, so I quickly called the number on the back of my debit card to see if they could freeze my card. They said I had to go to my bank. So, off to the bank I went. Thankfully the lady there was very helpful, and froze my card immediately. I was afraid I would be out of the money, because I though that unlike a credit card a debit card offered no protection against fraudulent charges. Thankfully, this isn't the case, so now I have my money back at least.

I still have to wait a week to get my new debit card, but I guess that isn't so bad as long as I still have my hard earned money. I would like to know who by and where my card number was stolen, as I only really ever use it to pay at the pump at the local gas station, and I occasionally buy stuff on Amazon, which I think is pretty secure.

I guess this is what you get for having your information in The Beast. Maybe I should just ditch the debit card and go entirely to cash and hard currency. Then I'll move out into the woods and bury my money in the back yard. Sounds like a plan.

Initial thoughts

2006-12-26T23:31:00.000-06:00

Update: A more complete article on the death of President Ford is now up here.

"I guess it just proves that in America anyone can be President."

Personally, I have always found it interesting that President Ford was never actually elected President. And yet, while holding that office for just one term, he made sweeping changes and helped a nation heal from the wounds of the Watergate scandal, and begin a new chapter of life after the end of the Vietnam War.

Although I wasn't alive during his time in office, I feel sort of a sense of loss, knowing my country has lost one of it's former leaders. My prayers this evening will be with his wife Betty and family. As I head off to bed, I will close with this appropriate quote from President Ford:

"The greatest defeat of all would be to live without courage,
for that would hardly be living at all.”

President Ford dead at 93

2006-12-26T23:01:00.000-06:00

The death of former President Ford has been confirmed within the last 10 minutes by several major news outlets.

May you rest in peace Mr. President.

Haiku of Hatred

2006-12-06T23:26:00.000-06:00

My heart aches with pain
When I see you, I vomit
Die away from me

- Steven Hyde

Turn it up

2006-11-22T00:28:00.000-06:00

I got an early Christmas for myself today - a Creative Zen Vision:M mp3 player! I've been downloading mp3s for a long time - I started out with the first version of Napster, back in the good old days before the lawsuits shut them down.

I never really had much need for an mp3 player until about 3 months ago when my favorite radio station changed formats. It's hard to believe that in this metro area there are now no media outlets for alternative music.

Without my familiar station, the 45 minute drive to and from school has become quite dull. So, I decided to treat myself to an early Christmas present and picked up the Zen and an FM transmitter, so now I can listen to whatever I want as I cruise down the road.

I originally wanted an iPod - I mean everybody has one, but I have started download my music on the new Napster service, so an iPod wouldn't work for that, and I'm glad I ended up with the Zen, it seems like a much better player in my opinion. Of course, today's my first day with it, so we'll see how it pans out in the long run.

Addendum

2006-11-21T00:35:00.000-06:00

While reading through my previous post I want to clarify a few things:

I am in no way romanticizing or glorifying war - I'm not one of these kids that wants to run off to war and get a bunch of medals.

Guess what - I've seen people die. I've done CPR on a person in the middle of a highway and watched them die, I've seen someone die in a fire while trying to get out of their house, I've found people who died alone, I've seen the anguished face of a mother as she watched her son be declared dead. There's nothing glamorous about it - it's not noble to witness these things. There's no honor, no glory in it.

It pretty much sucks. And yet, as terrible as these experiences are, I think I have grown and learned from them. I know they will forever be with me.

All of these things occurred right here in my hometown, but yet, I feel like maybe I'm missing out on something by just knocking around my hometown while other's are fighting overseas. I wouldn't want to be over there for any glory and honor, most won't find it there, but for the experience.

I don't know, maybe it's the journalist in me, but I know that something big is going on, there's a story there that will need to be passed on to future generations, and quite possibly the defining event for my generation is occurring, and I'm sitting in my parent's basement.

What did you do during the war Grandpa?

2006-11-21T00:12:00.000-06:00

I've been thinking a lot lately - well, not really thinking, more like contemplating. I recently started reading a book entitled "The Story of World War II" by Donald L. Miller. In the preface, Miller makes reference to war as "the greatest of human experiences". I also recently read "Nam" a book comprised entirely of the words of Vietnam veterans. They too spoke about the human experience of war - the horrendous sights, the humanity, and the emotion of it all.

Each of those wars defined a generation.

While studying those topics, I realized that right now, what will probably be the defining human experience for my generation is occurring with the war in Iraq. I know many people my age who are over there currently, and many who have returned from their tours of duty. While speaking recently with a friend who is now home after two tours, he described it as "a million-dollar experience that I wouldn't pay a dollar for". As we visited, he made it quite clear that while he had no desire to go back, he wouldn't trade anything for the experience.

All of this has lead me to ask myself - the greatest human experience of my time is occurring, and what am I doing?

This question has been haunting me know for some time, it is a question I'm afraid to answer. Although war is a horrible thing, I almost wonder if I am missing out on something if you will. I'm sitting here in my parent's basement, and attending class at a local community college while my peers are off fighting in a foreign land.

Someday down the road I hope to have grandkids - when they ask me, "Grandpa, what did you do during the war?" - what will I tell them?

Remembering

2006-09-11T00:12:00.000-05:00

Five years ago today - it doesn't seem possible. It seems like it was just yesterday, yet it seems like an eternity ago. The images of that morning are seared into my mind forever, so vivid it feels as though those terrible events occured just hours ago. Yet the world has changed so much since then, we have went to war, homeland security is at the forefront - it seems as though a lifetime has passed.

As we mark this anniversary, let us remember those who lost their lives that day. The 343 FDNY firefighters, the police officers, and the thousands of civilians. Let us keep their families in mind as well. We will never forget.

Pet Peeve

2006-09-06T20:38:00.000-05:00

You know what I hate? I hate it when you go to an appointment be it at the doctor, dentist, whatever, and you are sitting in the waiting room reading a really interesting magazine article, and just as you get to the good part and are about to find out what happens, they call you back to see the doctor. I hate that.

It happened to me today at the dentist. There I am reading a fascinating article about bear hunting in Pennsyvania, and just at the climax of action when the hunter is leveling his rifle at the bear, I hear my name called. Now I will never know if all their hard work tracking had payed off and they got the bear.

Getting Raped

2006-08-21T16:31:00.000-05:00

Verizon Introduces New Charge-You-At-Whim Plan | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

Any Verizon customer, such as myself, will attest that even though this is a humor article its actually pretty much true. I always dread the arrival of my Verizon bill in the mail, because I know I'm going to get raped once again.

Bar hopping

2006-08-06T00:33:00.000-05:00

I did something out of the ordinary for myself this weekend - I spent the entire night in a bar last night. Now, I know most of you are thinking "big deal", but this is the first time in my life I have ever set foot in an establishment that was solely a bar.

Anyway, I came to realize several things: First off, bars are a great place for college kids to hang out. Secondly, I made a pact with one of my friends that if he ever sees me sitting in a bar when I'm 40+ years old that he is to promptly shoot me. There were several older people sitting in the bar who were total losers - it was just a sad sight. It's one thing to go out with some buddies and have a beer, but when your sitting at the bar getting trashed while your kids sit at home alone their is something wrong with that picture.

Like I said, the bar scene is great for college-aged kids, but after that, grow up a little, take on some responsibility, and maybe stay at home with your family for a change, instead of getting up on the bar and stripping like the 50 year old guy at this bar did. I guess that's what you get for going to a small town bar, I'm sure a bar in a college town would suit my tastes much more.

Army MARS program still going strong

2006-07-19T23:23:00.000-05:00

Army MARS program still going strong

Here's an interesting article about the U.S. Army MARS program that I'm involved in. In my spare time I operate one of the member radio stations mentioned in the story.

Tripping

2006-07-15T15:16:00.000-05:00

Basil is tripping for the weekend, hmmm, I may have phrased that wrong, but anyway he has turned his blog loose and left us with a free for all trackback post! Go and enjoy all the trackbacky goodness.

Mr. and Mrs. Windigo

2006-07-15T01:16:00.000-05:00

Pretty exciting day today, well yesterday rather, since it's now after midnight. Anyway, I attended Windigo's wedding. That's right folks, there's now a Mrs. Windigo! I can't help but be really happy for him, I got to meet the new Mrs. and she is a great lady.

The ceremony was really nice, and went off without any hiccups. The wonderful service was followed up with excellent cake and punch, but I was a little disappointed that I didn't get to see the new couple open their gifts, but I know Windigo should like mine. Hopefully, they will have opened them by the time Windigo reads this or it will spoil the surprise, so he has fair warning to stop now and continue reading after opening it.

At first, I wasn't sure what to get for a gift. This is the first wedding I've attended alone, so always before my folks would take care of the gift and I would just sign my name on the card.

So after much thought, I settled on a very traditional wedding gift - a set of weapons. That's right, a deluxe set of stainless steel kitchen knives. Whether dicing celery for a delightful soup or stabbing an intruder in the liver, these knives are guaranteed to give years of trouble free service.

And just to be thoughtful I threw in a set of kitchen towels, which should serve Mrs. Windigo well to dry dishes or sop up the blood while Windigo buries the body under the gazebo.

At any rate, I suggest you swing by Sakrata and tell Windigo congratulations.

White Elephants

2006-07-11T21:46:00.000-05:00

As many of you know, I reside in the general vicinity of Wichita, the Air Capital of the world. Lately, I've grown quite fed up with the ideas being presented by the Sedgwick County commission and the Wichita city council. For those of you that aren't familiar with current events in this areas, these two groups of people have a major fetish for white elephants.

The county voted last year to build a new arena, which really wasn't needed in the first place, but its a done deal now and planning is in the works. The project is already over budget and behind schedule.

The city has decided that they want to work on a water walk project along the Arkansas river. This idea is floundering as well - the one business that they have attracted to the area, Gander Mountain, is sinking fast. As an aside, whoever designed the Gander Mountain store was an idiot - the building faces away from the river, so looking at it from the river all you see is the bare back wall - kinda detracts from the whole water walk theme.

The city and county are both pouring money into the doomed "Exploration Place" which is nothing more that a glorified money pit. I toured the facility once, and you couldn't pay me to go back.

Now we can finally get down to what really irks me. The arena planners keep stating how we need to mirror Oklahoma City. The water walk developers keep talking about San Antonio. Why on earth do we want to be like other cities? Whatever happened to being unique?

We are the Air Capital of the world, and what do we have to show for it? We have an air museum that is struggling to survive, because the city and county refuse to fund it. I mean, it's kind of obvious in my eyes - we are the AIR CAPITAL - we should have a world class air museum. The board of the Kansas Aviation Museum has a long term vision for a complex that would be incredible, with the main part of the facility housed in the renovated Wichita Municipal airport terminal, and several hangers featuring restored aircraft that changed the world after they rolled off the assembly lines at Wichita plants.

Why not take all the money that is being poured into all the white elephants and build that museum? Something we can be proud of, something that will show what made Wichita what it is today, something that shows our heritage, and something unique.

But no - our leaders will continue to waste our money to try to be like everybody else.

It's a girl

2006-07-11T21:09:00.000-05:00

Redneck birth announcement

This is awesome - if I ever have a kid, this is how it's getting announced.

hat tip to basil

WAR is on

2006-07-11T21:07:00.000-05:00

I meant to post this much earlier in the day, but got distracted somewhere along the way...

Anyway, Wide Awakes Radio is on the air today for their relaunch! I've listened a bit off and on throughout the day and it sounds like they are off to a great start.

We can hope

2006-07-11T14:29:00.000-05:00

Castro Dead?

I thought I had better jump and on the bandwagon and report that this morning rumors are circulating that Castro has bought the farm.

Nothing reported by the media, but I wanted to get the scoop early if its true!

Jericho

2006-07-09T22:12:00.000-05:00

Like many people, I'm about to go out of my mind with all the reruns that are currently on TV, so I'm really looking forward to the fall season to start up. I am really anxious to see how the next season of NCIS turns out, but today I found another show to look forward to as well - Jericho.

I heard about the idea for this show a few months ago, but at that point it had not been decided whether the show would actually go into production or not, but as I was watching TV this evening I saw a trailer for it. It looks freaking awesome. The show is set in the small fictional town of Jericho, Kansas. One afternoon a nuclear bomb is detonated in western Colorado, and one in Atlanta. The electromagnetic pulse (EMP) from the bombs knocks out all electronic devices (to include radio, TV, and cars) nationwide, leaving the citizens of Jericho cut off from the outside world and forced to survive.

As some of you know, I'm a survival nut, and love talking about situations just like this, which I'm sure annoys my friends to no end, but this show looks right up my alley.

I'm afraid what will happen with this series is that I will really like it, so of course it will get cancelled after one season. But, optimistically, looking at some of the other crappy series that are still airing, this probably has as much a chance of any show for running a few seasons.

Wide Awakes Radio

2006-07-09T14:26:00.000-05:00

I must be really out of the loop. It wasn't until about three days ago that I heard about the Wide Awakes Radio project over at www.wideawakesradio.com. Its very exciting, one of the few bloggers who gives me linkage, basil, will be hosting his own weekly show on the network.

Since hearing about W.A.R. I have been anxiously awaiting their return to the air, which was supposed to take place this morning, but due to technical difficulties they had to postpone their launch a while. They haven't said when they will be back online for sure, but it should be before too long.

I can't wait!

Single

2006-07-09T01:50:00.000-05:00

I had an opportunity today to have a long visit with one of my very close friends. We're both going to be entering our sophomore year of college this fall, and as of yet, neither of us has had a girlfriend in our lives. For close to three hours this evening we talked about this, as we did last week as well.

As always, our conversation just left me more depressed about my situation. I really don't have any chances to meet any women who might be interested in me. In the town I live in there is a limited number of girls my age, and most of them I have no chance with. Either they are already taken, I've burned a bridge with them, or they just flat aren't interested in an unattractive person such as myself.

The next place a lot of people look for women would be at church, but alas there aren't girls in my general age group at my church. Some people have suggested that I attend a larger church so I would have a better chance, but the purpose of church isn't to meet women so I really don't want to change just for that reason.

Finally, the best place to meet someone would be at college, but because of expenses I live at home and commute to school two days a week, and there aren't many girls in my firefighter classes. So I'm basically deprived of the social scene that most college kids have that gives them to opportunity to find someone.

So anyway, I'm basically single for the time being, and I guess I'm ok with that, it keeps things simple, but I really would like some female companionship.

Angry

2006-07-07T01:18:00.000-05:00

Remember, smoking doesn’t kill people. People who are trying to quit smoking kill people.

I ran across this humorous quote today, but I have to say that it is also quite true. I'm currently in the process of quiting, I haven't had a smoke since last Saturday, and I am just about to go crazy. I swear I'll probably kill something or someone in the next day or two.

New York Skillsaw Massacre

2006-07-06T16:40:00.000-05:00

Subway Rider Sliced in Power Saw Attack

Hmm..a man armed with two power saws goes on a rampage in the subway slicing open one man's chest. As tragic as this is I couldn't help but chuckle when I read the article.

Dud

2006-07-04T22:40:00.000-05:00

North Korea Fires at Least 3 Missiles

What a coincidence - I put up a post about how the media has forgotten the possible North Korean missile launch and what happens? Less than 24 hours later they launch the bad boy.

If Korea is going for the intimidation factor, boy do they have us shaking in our boots. I mean - their most advanced ICBM explodes 35 or 40 seconds into flight. Quite the demonstration of their supriority.

Addendum

2006-07-03T23:58:00.000-05:00

Oh! I forgot to mention on my previous post that I am completly digging this whole threat of North Korea launching an ICBM. It's got all kinds of tension that makes is very Cold War-esque. Will the U.S. intercept it? Does it actually have a warhead? Did I stock up on enough Ramen noodles?

I just love the idea of us getting nuked and living in survival mode - it'd be so much fun!

I'm Back

2006-07-03T23:50:00.000-05:00

I can't believe it's about a month and a half since I lasted posted on here. I've just been so incredibly busy, but I decided I should finally post something. I found it quite interesting that my last post was about missiles in Iran being in the news, and now missiles in North Korea are in the news. Of course, North Korea is probably more likly to go pscho and actually launch a missile.

My thinking on this is that Kim Jong Il or whatever his name is is just getting a bit lonely since he hasn't been in the news much lately. Iran, Iraq and all those cools places are making headlines left and right and nobody is paying any attention to North Korea or their poofy-haired dictator at all. So logically Kim has to attempt some bold and provocative action to get some attention.

The ironic part of this is that North Korea made the headlines for like two or three days and then this whole Israel vs Gaza thing came up and stole the headlines back. Leaving Kim Jong Il completely forgotten again.

"I'm so ronry, so ronry..."

Missiles

2006-05-19T21:20:00.000-05:00

Paul Harvey reported today in his news and commentary that Iran is poised to launch a missile, sans warhead, in the US's direction as a demonstration of their power. He went on to claim that sattelite imagery showed a ICBM being prepped for launch.

I've spent some time trying to track down any news related to this on the internet and haven't been able to verify it, but still interesting none the less.

Of course, since it was on Paul Harvey, it must be true!

Yummy

2006-05-19T21:09:00.000-05:00

Muffins that made 18 staff members at a Dallas-area high school ill contained the active ingredient found in marijuana...

Brings a whole new meaning to the term high school...

Town won't let unmarried parents live together

2006-05-17T14:21:00.000-05:00

Wow...a town counsel that has some morals!

Hop the border...

2006-05-04T00:04:00.000-05:00

Wow...almost two months without a post - I must've forgot I had a blog!

Actually I've just been two lazy to write anything, but lately one of the items in the news has gotten me a bit riled up and I feel like it's time to speak my mind.

I'm talking about illegal immigration of course. Turn on the evening news and you can't help but be bombarded with video of some Mexicans running around waving flags and chanting. I believe the media is in error when they report that the issue is about immigration - nothing could be further from the truth! The issue is with ILLEGAL immigration. I have no problem with someone wanting to come to America - just do it legally!

I had to write an essay on this topic a few years ago, and I feel this excerpt from it sums up my feelings pretty well:

"I have no problem with legal immigrants taking advantage of government benefits, but it is a blatant abuse of the system when illegal immigrants are given benefits paid for with taxpayer money.

For example, Governor Kathleen Sebilus of Kansas supports giving illegal immigrants a driver’s license. The key word is illegal! Why should we give them anything? Last time I checked, the government was interested in preventing illegal activity, not promoting it. Actually, the offer of a driver’s license for an illegal immigrant might be a good guise to round them up for deportment.

The government shouldn’t be giving benefits, let alone driver’s licenses to anyone who is identified by the word illegal. This isn’t to mean that I dislike immigrants. In fact, I take great pride in the fact that so many people want to move to the United States. People don’t dream of immigrating to China, Iran, or North Korea. People don’t lash together small rafts and try to float to Vietnam. No, they dream of coming to America, where they can build a better life for themselves. They dream of living in this great land, where they can work toward that American Dream."

King of the Hill Quote

2006-03-05T22:31:00.000-06:00

For all the severe weather enthuisists out there:

DALE: This tornado's already registered a level two on the Fujisaki scale. A storm that strong will send an egg through a barn door -- two barn doors if one of them's open.
BOBBY: What will a level three do, Mr. Gribble?
DALE: Level three will send an egg through a brick wall. Tornado chasers call it "Humpty's Revenge."
BOBBY: Wow.
DALE: Tornado time is like the End of Days, Bobby. The soft shall be blasted through the hard. Chaos will descend upon the well-organized. And the strongest of men will become like a woman of average strength.

It's my time

2006-02-24T18:52:00.000-06:00

I'm so excited - it's almost severe weather season! I was going to wait a few weeks to bring up this topic, but since Windigo mentioned it, I can't contain myself any longer. As you can probably tell, much like Windigo, I live for tornado season. I've been a trained spotter for my county for the past several years, and have loved every minute of it.

In my four years of spotting I've seen one tornado, but have been scared to death on several occasions when I couldn't see anything because of the storm and I'm hearing reports over the radio of a tornado at my location! Fun times!

I decided to go ahead and share some some of my favorite weather resources on the web.

The first would have to be the Storm Prediction Center website. This is pretty much a one stop shop for all your severe storm forecasting needs. Be sure to check out the convective outlooks - they are the single most usefull product available to spotter or weather afficianados. Also check out their Composite map, but be sure to read the tutorial on how to interprete it. Another great resource.

Another valuable tool in the box would have to be the forums over at Storm Track. Excellent discussions take place here, and on days that look really promising you might even get a meteorologist of two from the SPC to post their thoughts there.

And rest assured, as the severe weather season gets underway, I'll post some pictures for you all.

KOTH Quotes

2006-02-22T21:55:00.000-06:00

Every evening I settle down into my recliner and enjoy an episode of King of the Hill. Having watched to show for quite some time, I have found that there are invaluable bits of wisdom hiding in the dialog. I have hence decided that each week I will share a quote from the show that has struck a chord with me. Each quote will be given with no explaination or background info. So folks, I now give you the first installment:

You just be careful. Computers have already beaten the Communists at chess. Next thing you know, they’ll be beating humans. - Dale Gribble

The Answer

2006-02-22T21:50:00.000-06:00

I've been thinking for awhile now that I should quit smoking, but I didn't quite know how to go about it. Going cold turkey has never worked for me, but today I found the answer - smokable nicotine sticks.

To quote from the article:

To date, more than two million American smokers have tried Nicarest, a specially treated nicotine stick which, when lit and inhaled, is said to completely curb a person's craving for cigarettes.

This is exactly what I need!

The Nuclear Option

2006-01-23T23:49:00.000-06:00

Doug at Below the Beltway has a very interesting post pondering whether war with Iran is inevitable.

"...we are heading down the tracks of a major confrontation in the Persian Gulf, and this time it won't be with a two-bit dictator with a third-rate army. How it will play out is something none of us can pretend to predict."

I suggest you go read the chilling article in it's entirety.

Depressed

2006-01-23T00:38:00.000-06:00

I started my studies at a new school this past week after transfering from K-State, and I absolutely love the classes so far. I am however, incredibly pissed off that I don't attend K-State anymore.

As at most schools, K-State has a lecture series where they bring in influential speakers. Last semester I had the opprotunity to see former soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev, which K-State administrators said was their most prestigous speaker in years and that the speakers lined up for the next few years wouldn't even compare to Gorbachev as far as importance goes.

However, just last week they announced a surprise speaker would be coming - a guy would I would give my left testicle to see -

President George W. Bush.

I would kill just to see him from a distance, so I was really upset when I found out they were limiting admission to students and faculty, but I just about went off the deep end when one of my old Air Force buddies called to brag that my old AF unit will actually be escorting the President out onto the stage.

Several of my friends from K-State have called to tell me they have tickets and are looking forward to seeing the President. So I have just one message for them - you can all go screw yourselves.

On the bright side at least I won't be around if a bunch of towel heads decide to blow the place up.

Keep my mouth shut

2005-12-31T02:08:00.000-06:00

I was planning on writting a nice little post tonight about what I got for Christmas and wish everyone a happy new year, but in light of some recent events that will have to wait until tomorrow.

First, a little background. As many of you know, I am a firefighter for our local volunteer fire department. We respond to fire and medical calls in our community of 215 people, and also cover the surrounding 36 square miles.

With that background out of the way I'll now proceed to my story. Earlier in the week I made the offhand remark to someone that I wanted to catch a few more runs before the end of the year to make our run total an even 60 responses for the year. I added the disclaimer that I didn't want anyone to get hurt or lose property, but maybe we would just have a minor grass fire or two.

The rest of the week went pretty slow with no 911 calls, but on Thursday things went to heck in a handbasket. About noon that day we got a call of a person not breathing. He didn't make it.

Not the kind of call I was wanting at all, but I thought that was just one of those calls you answer once every couple months and that we wouldn't run another like it for quite some time.

Friday morning however, I was awakened from my sleep to my pager going off. Rolling over and grabbing it I couldn't believe that we had another call of a person not breathing. We were not able to save this patient either. The ironic thing was this call happened to be right next door to where the gentlemen had passed away the day before. Both of these people were middle aged, so it was quite a shock with both of them.

The calls themselves really didn't bother me much - both patients had simply went to sleep and never woke up, so there wasn't any gory scene to deal with - but I just feel kinda bad that I had made the comment just days before that I sure would like to get a run sometime this week. I know these calls would have came even if I hadn't made the comment, but I still feel bad about it.

Merry Christmas

2005-12-25T00:32:00.000-06:00

"And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.

(And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)

And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.

And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)

To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.

And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger."

-Luke 2:1-16

Single

2005-12-21T23:07:00.000-06:00

I'm feeling a bit like a loser right now. I've been kind of excited and nervous lately because I had a date lined up for New Year's Eve. This was to be my first date you see, and so I was feeling a bit like a loser - not even getting a date until I was out of high school. But now I feel even more like a loser because I just got stood up. The girl called earlier and told me she wouldn't be able to make it after all - she had some excuse about she had to babysit for someone.

Aaarrrrghhhh

2005-12-18T22:36:00.000-06:00

Holy Crap! I'm moved back home, so now I just can't walk out and have a smoke whenever I want. I'm freaking pulling my hair out here. I haven't had a cig in like two days and I swear if I don't get one in the next hour or so I'm gonna flip out.

Blogiversary

2005-12-10T22:26:00.000-06:00

Howdy folks! It seems I have taken a three week vacation from blogging, I just couldn't get motivated to write anything, but I'm back and actually have ideas for posts, so fasten your seatbelts!

The big news to catch you all up on is that I missed my one year blogiversary on November 23rd, so happy late blogiversary to me. Looking back on this, my first year of blogging, I can see that I have written about a wide range of topics and shared many of my experiences with you all.

I've done many things in the last year that I'm sure I will remember forever. I've graduated high school, attended a state college, joined Air Force ROTC, decided those last two weren't for me and enrolled in a community college for the upcoming spring 06 semester, and figured out what I want to do with my life.

So there you have it - my year in review.

Cowboy Killers

2005-11-20T23:15:00.000-06:00

I just stumbled upon an awesome old post on IMAO. This particular post was written during Frank's liveblogging of the 2004 election. I always knew I liked Frank J's thinking, but this makes me love it even more. For your pleasure I will repost his entire post here:

This liveblogging event is brought to you by Marlboro cigarettes. Mmm... Marlboro cigarettes. It's like candy you set on fire!

Yay! Frank likes Marlboro! Get yourself a pack of Cowboy Killers today - you'll be glad you did. I know I am when I'm enjoying that smooth flavor.

Kitty

2005-11-20T18:17:00.000-06:00

Cat-blogging seems to be all the rage this days, and not one to be left behind I thought I had better get in on the action. So here for your enjoyment is a portrait of my cat Stripe.

Now, you should all go post a picture of your cat, all the cool people are doing it. (How's that for peer pressure?) Remember - everybody's doing it...

Bah!

2005-11-09T19:10:00.000-06:00

The Kansas Board of Education made some wise decisions yesterday. To quote the from an AP article:

At the risk of re-igniting the same heated nationwide debate it sparked six years ago, the Kansas Board of Education approved new public school science standards Tuesday that cast doubt on the theory of evolution.

Reading the whole article just got me a little bit steamed up. I just don't understand these liberals who think Kansans are just idiots. To quote one our our own liberal board members:

"This is a sad day. We're becoming a laughingstock of not only the nation, but of the world, and I hate that," said board member Janet Waugh, a Kansas City Democrat.

Oh, My! What a shame to actually have some morals. This quote just reminds me of the book "What's the matter with Kansas?" that implies people who actually care about moral issues are simple minded morons who aren't smart enough to vote. It really scares me to think of what is happening to our country when the majority of people will point and laugh at those of us with morals.

News Media

2005-11-09T18:47:00.000-06:00

It's been in the news lately that newspapers have been experiencing falling circulation rates. This decline is almost undoubtable due to the increasing use of internet and cable news outlets. Windigo has an interesting post up with his take on the situation, and how he is looking forward to the new advances, and he is speculating that digital paper is the thing of the future.

Although I enjoy getting breaking news live off the internet, I will disagree with many by saying that I am sad to see newspapers experience loses. I used to take for granted being able to pick up each day's Wichita Eagle and browse through it. Now that I'm off at college, I rely completely on the internet for my news, and while I learn about things in a very timely manner, it just can't replace a good old fashioned paper. I can't just browse through a news website the way I can a paper and stumble upon interesting articles, I have to hunt to find the articles I want.

I guess my ideal world involves a blend of old and new - catching breaking headlines on drudge, and then spending a relaxing bit of time browsing the paper for recaps of yesterday's happenings.

Statistics

2005-11-07T22:09:00.000-06:00

I happened to run into one of my good friends from high school over the weekend, who just so happens to smoke like a chimney. I was telling him about my lastest post on my blog about the tactics to curb teen smoking and it got us to wondering just how many kids from our school smoked.

In my last post I sarcasticly said there was nothing wrong with teen smoking, but I have noticed that there seems to be a smoking epidemic in my old high school. After that converstation with my buddy I decided to do a little informal research when I got home that evening. I dug up enrollment numbers for my graduating class of 2005, and the junior and sophomore classes from that year. I decided to just look at the percent of males in each class who smoke, since I am more familiar with which guys smoke and really don't know which girls might.

What I found was astounding. In each of the three classes, over 50 percent of the males are current smokers. The junior class has the highest figures with nearly 60 percent of the guys lighting up.

As a side note, those students were juniors last year when I was a senior, so they are seniors this year. The 60 percent figure is just the guys I am aware of who smoke, so there may be some closet smokers out there who are pushing the numbers even higher.

Surely these figures cannot be representative of all high schools, and if not, why is smoking so popular in my high school? Maybe the Richard Simmons scare tactic really should be tried...

Good Lord, NO!!!!

2005-11-02T23:35:00.000-06:00

I stumbled across an excellent idea this afternoon to help solve the teen smoking problem. I know some of you are asking yourselves at this point if there is actually anything wrong with teen smoking - and I would have to share your point of view, but I digress. The main point of this guys argument is that by constantly telling teens how bad smoking is for them, it just makes them want to do it that much more. And since this advice is coming from uncool nonsmokers - then smokers must be cool people.

So his solution is simple - tell them its really not bad at all, and show them commericals with really uncool celebrities taking a big drag off a cigarette. I find that his last line sums up his theory well, and I know it would have scared me out of smoking:

"Hi, I'm Richard Simmons, and smoking made me the man I am today!"

***********

P.S. This endnote will only make sense to those of you who are familiar with the schools I attended, but this scare tactic is the exact same approach our middle-school gym teacher used to convice us not to smoke in her health unit. She got up in front of the class and announced "Smoking these last 50 years has made me the sexy love-machine I am today!"*

*These words may have not been actually spoken by the gym teacher in question, but it would had been terribly horrifying if they had, and probably would have led to several students ending their lives on the spot.

Ramblings

2005-10-27T23:45:00.000-05:00

I have the feeling that this is going to be one of those rambling posts with no real point, so bear with me...

I've said it before, but let me say it again - college sucks. I can't begin to count the ways that is sucks - that would take a long, long time, and although I'm hopped up on nicotine and caffeine I don't want to spend that much time typing.

I'm to the point now that I've got the days numbered on my calendar until the end of this semester. 32 class days to be exact. I'm really thinking about starting a countdown here on my blog as well. I really don't care about anything here anymore, I just want to pass my classes and get it over with.

I have finally made up my mind and I am definitely going to a different school at for the spring semester. I will be transferring to a small community college close to home to study fire science, which is what I have wanted to do all along. I will be taking all but two of my classes online, so I will be living at home and just driving to the campus one day a week.

That is only thing that keeps me motivated up here - knowing that each day I an one day closer to getting away from here and going back to where I want to be. I know that may sound like the wimpy thing to do - going back home after just one semester away, but I really don't care what anybody else thinks, it's my life. I know many people say you need to get out and see the world and broaden your horizons, but I would be perfectly content to settle down back in my hometown and just live a nice slow-paced life.

As I visit with other students in the ROTC program up here, some of them never went to the same school two years in a row because their parents were in the military. I don't want that for my kids when I finally get married. I have realized that I love being a homebody and I want to just settle down and put down roots in what I consider to be a pretty darn good area.

I can't wait for Dec. 16th - that's when this nightmare will finally end and I can go back to where I belong...

Dr. Frances Fox Piven is nuts

2005-10-24T21:05:00.000-05:00

Since I have been really lazy and haven't posted anything I here in a while I decided earlier today that I had to post something today. The only problem was that I couldn't think of anything to write about - I just couldn't get motivated about anything.

I got some motivation about two hours ago, however. I was supposed to attend an air force flight meeting at 7:00 tonight, however I recieved an email this afternoon that announced instead of a regular meeting and drill we would be attending a lecture by some professor on militarism, an excellent topic for a group of military officers-to-be.

We quickly found that lecture wasn't the place for us. We quietly sat through 45 minutes of Bush and military bashing. About the only thing we learned is that Dr. Frances Fox Piven is a very smart woman, but unfortunately she is wasting most of her mental capacity. After the lecture they opened up the discussions for questions from the audience. The first few people to go up front were mindless supportors of the left and Dr. Piven reveled in the praise. When one of our cadets got up and asked a question, however, things changed. Dr. Piven quickly tried to cover up the facts that were being brought up by the cadet.

Now mind you, at an event such as this we are acting in a civilian capacity, we aren't supposed to let on that we are military personell. After several cadets in a row got up to ask her damaging questions she began to figure out that we were there together. Finally one of the cadets slipped up and mentioned in a question "those of us here from the military", and Dr. Piven realized why were all sitting together. She quickly launched into an anti-military tirade, denouncing us as killers, while the audience laughed at us. She even had the gall to refuse to let us ask questions, all the while taking questions from her supportors claiming that Bush was against democracy.

This woman is a sham. The scary part is - many people agree with her.

My lame attempt at humor

2005-10-11T18:11:00.000-05:00

Looking at the front page of my college newspaper for today, I am informed that it is National Coming Out Day. The paper feature several stories of student who sturggled with their orientation, but finally got up the courage to tell their families they were gay.

I was greatly inspired by their stories, and I decided it was time I made my statement:

I'M STRAIGHT.

Yes, you read that right folks. I've known ever since I was little - I've always been attracted by hot women.

It took alot of courage to admit this on a liberal college campus...

I'm popular!

2005-10-10T21:12:00.000-05:00

Judging from my current unread message count in my inbox, I must be the most popular person on the face of the planet...

Since last spring I have been using Mozilla Thunderbird for my email software. Thus far I have been very impressed with it and would never go back to Outlook. Thunderbird worked flawlessly up until about a week ago, then it started doing screwy things. First the "Get Mail" button quite working so I couldn't check my email manually. Then, best of all, it started showing an exagerated message count.

This morning it showed I had over 6,000 unread messages and over 97,000 messages total - at least now I feel very popular. In actuallity I had four unread messages.

I have tried everything to fix this - I've reinstalled the latest version of Thunderbird three time, scanned for viruses and spyware to no avail.

If anyone has any advice, please, please let me know!

Yay, a bomb!

2005-10-05T17:19:00.000-05:00

I got to experience my first real bomb scare this afternoon. Talk about a disappointment. It all started when I was walking into the military science building on campus for a class and noticed a large, odd looking leather bag leaning up against the building. I thought it was rather strange that no one was around outside except myself. I really didn't pay it much attention, and went on inside, briefly thinking that in a big city they would have the bomb squad out in minutes for something such as this.

I got to work inside and completely forgot about the bag, only to be quickly reminded about a half hour later when I heard our Lt running up and down the hall yelling "Who left the bag outside?" It wasn't long before we were herded out of the building and the police and firemen were on the way.

In a moment of disapointment, a student walking by, unaware what was going one, exclaimed "Oh, That's were I left it" picked up the bag and walked away.

We didn't even get to see any fire trucks.

Relief

2005-10-01T13:40:00.000-05:00

As many of you know - I hate college. However, this past week or so has let me see the light at the end of the tunnel. I just flat out ade up my mind that at the end of this semester I would drop electrical engineering as my major. Just knowing that after December 15 I don't have to worry about that anymore is a huge weight off my shoulders.

See, I never wanted to major in electrical eng. in the first place, but I was offered a scholarship in that area, so I took it. I finally realized "screw the scholarship - it's not worth suffering through five years of school doing something you hate for a job you don't really want."

Now, I just have to figure out what I'm going to do this coming spring semester. I know I'd like to go into fire science, but I have to get all the details out. Oh well, this is the time of my life to change what I'm going to do like a dozen times.

Pointless

2005-10-01T13:33:00.000-05:00

Well, since I haven't posted anything of value lately (or anything at all for that matter) I'd thought I would continue that trend and post the results of a pointless survey I just got done taking. Actually, I only took the survey because Windigo took it and I wanted to feel cool like him.

And for once, the survey is pretty accurate...

Better dead then Red!

What pisses you off?

Created by ptocheia

The Rest of Us

2005-08-27T16:27:00.000-05:00

For a lack of anything else to do last night, and since a Friday night is a terrible thing to waste, I went and saw the local band "The Rest of Us" in concert last night. I'm really glad I went. When they first took the stage for a sound check I wasn't quite sure what to expect. It wasn't long before I realized that these guys rock. Everyone should go to their site and download "Sky if Falling" under the music section.

Air Power!

2005-08-27T16:14:00.000-05:00

I had my first three Air Force ROTC training sessions this past week. I've already learned quite a bit - such as I suck at marching. By the end of the third training session I was alot better at it, and I've pretty well nailed down the facing commands (90 degree turns for you non-military types out there), but I really need to work on my about face (180 deg turn).

I also got to get a little taste of the "death by PowerPoint" syndrome that is infamous in the military. It seems that in the military in general, and idea cannot be communicated unless it can be formated into a powerpoint slideshow. Our first briefing wasn't too bad, but I hear the slideshows just get longer from here on out.

Overall though, I'm realy enjoying the whole AFROTC experiance, and I could highly recommend it to anyone interested in military service as an officer.

However, we'll see how I feel about things after next week. On Monday we will start doing PT (physical training) at 6:00 A.M. What fun!

I'm saved!

2005-08-25T21:22:00.000-05:00

If not for this site I probably would have starved to death.

So help me God

2005-08-23T20:43:00.000-05:00

Well...even though I don't like school that well, I'm really excited. As of this afternoon I am no longer a civilian. I was sworn into the United States Air Force Reserve as part of my ROTC requirements, so now I am considered U.S. Military personell.

Even though I am called a "Cadet" in the ROTC classes, I also am required to hold an enlisted rank in the USAF Reserves so that I can be on the payroll.

Although I'm not sure if the Air Force will end up being the thing for me, I felt an incredible amount of pride as I stood at attention with my right hand raised and recited my oath of office, concluding with "so help me God". As soon as I said those words the other officers and enlisted airmen watching burst into applause and the Colonel gave me what had to be the best handshake ever and said "you'll remember this day forever, I sure remember my oath."

I should be getting my dress uniform in the next week or so, and my military id card shorly after that, so from now on I will be addressed as Cadet you maggot!

Hey Andy!

2005-08-22T21:14:00.000-05:00

Just a quick shout out to a friend...

College

2005-08-20T23:51:00.000-05:00

I moved up to college today. I'll not hide my feelings - college sucks. I freaking hate it.

I'm setting myself up for failure, mainly because of several things:

A) I don't want to get a degree in electrical engineering. I hate the idea of spending a good deal of time to earn a degree I don't even want.

B) I don't want to go into the Air Force, yet I'm attending college free of charge thanks to USAF ROTC, with a four year service committment following graduations, assuming I don't flunk out before then.

C) I don't want to go to college. Deep down I really don't want to go to college at all. Yet here I am...

D) I already know what job I would like, and an opening is available. This is a job I have a passion for, something I could spend every day of my life doing, and yet never have worked a day in my life because I enjoyed it all.

These aren't just sentiments that have come on just being away from home for the first time and in new surroundings. I've been thinking long and hard about these things over the past three months, and I know this isn't the way that is meant for me.

I just wish I could summon up the courage to tell my parents all of this. In the end it would save everyone alot of trouble, I just don't see the point in wasting everyone's time doing something I don't want to do and leading others on.

IMAO Podcast

2005-08-06T15:03:00.000-05:00

Wowza! I just got around to listening to the IMAO Podcast for this week, and much to my surprise, Right Wing Duck used one of my questions in the podcast. I'm gonna be famous!

I never have managed to get mentioned on IMAO, but finally, I get mentioned in the podcast!

Go download it now!

Not Fonda Her

2005-07-25T15:10:00.000-05:00

Yay! I'm so excited I can hardly contain myself - Jane Fonda just announced that she will be making a cross-country bus tour to call for an end to U.S. military operations in Iraq. Ok, maybe I had a hint of sarcasm there, but the story of her planned trip is kinda funny. As part of her whole liberal enviromentally friendly scheme she will be traveling on a bus fueled by vegetable oil.

That just begs the question - if the bus exhaust smells like cooking french fries, how far behind can Michael Moore be?

Read more at AP.

On the topic of food, swing by basil's blog to grab some lunch.

Sickening

2005-07-24T22:11:00.000-05:00

This just makes me sick:

"Not even 24-hours after Private First Class Tim Hines's wife and family said goodbye at his funeral, American flags that had adorned their Fairfield yard were piled beneath a car and burned."

This woman just lost her husband, she's expecting, so let's go set her car on fire. I'd like to find the idiots who did this and beat their heads in with a baseball bat.

What a moron

2005-07-24T21:21:00.000-05:00

"I swore to myself that I would not let them down. They sacrificed and gave to me something that I could never repay; freedom."

That stirring quote was written by Marine Staff Sergeant Goodrich in an email to his wife from Iraq. Sadly SSgt Goodrich died while serving his country several weeks ago. At a funeral in Pennsylvania while his family and friends gathered to pay their last respects, the Lt. Governor showed up univited and spoke her mind stating, "our government is against the war".

Blackfive has the entire story here.

Changes abound

2005-07-24T16:23:00.000-05:00

Since I love my faithful readers so much, I have spent hours working on a new design for my blog. All as a treat to you! Let me know what you think.

Get the heck outta my way!

2005-07-24T14:27:00.000-05:00

Windigo over at Sakrata has a post up about driver courtesy that kinda has me riled up. He was specifically talking about people not pulling over for funeral processions, but he also mentioned that he sees people fail to yield to emergency vehicles. That part really struck a nerve with me.

As some of you may know, I am a volunteer firefighter in my town. This past week or two I have made several emergency runs, and have witnessed some really stupid moves on other motorists' part. For starters, two weeks ago I was making a run with another firefighter in our engine. We had to travel up the busiest highway in our area to get to the scene.

En route, about half of the oncoming vehicles pulled over, the rest just pretended we weren't there. The oncoming vehicles aren't so bad, it's the cars you come up behind. We came upon a pickup pulling a trailer who was traveling much slower than we were - the guy never even looked in his rear view mirror. Here we are with all kinds of flashing and rotating lights, sirens wailing and driving a big red truck, and he refuses to get out of our way. I'm yanking on the air horn chain for all it's worth, and the guy still doesn't even turn his head. Finally we just had to pass him in the other lane. If people would just pull the heads out from where the sun don't shine it would make our jobs just a little bit easier and safer.

Yesterday evening it was quite refreshing to make a run and have every single vehicle along the way yield to us - something that is all too rare.

Now for some irony - we have people who consistently fail to yield to us. When the time comes that we have to make a response to their residence, the first words out of their mouth is always "it took you forever to get here".

"American Hiroshima"

2005-07-16T17:51:00.000-05:00

HOLY CRAP!!! If you want to be scared half to death, one doesn't have to look any further than an article out today from WorldNetDaily. Apparently according to their sources, Al Qaida has already snuck nukes into the United States across the Mexico border. A few highlights from the article:

"...government officials are contemplating what they consider to be an inevitable and much bigger assault on America – one likely to kill millions, destroy the economy and fundamentally alter the course of history..."

"Bin Laden's goal, according to the book, is to kill at least 4 million Americans, 2 million of whom must be children."

"There is virtually no doubt among intelligence analysts al-Qaida has obtained fully assembled nuclear weapons"

While I get started building my bomb shelter, go read the rest of this disturbing piece.

hat tip to windigo for bringing this article to light

Yummy

2005-07-16T14:34:00.000-05:00

My mom always watches "Wheel of Fortune" while we eat supper. Yesterday night one of the puzzles in the category before and after was revealed to be "American Kennel Club Sandwich".

Ironically, I'd imagine this is the same sandwich Evil Glenn often orders at Schlotsky's.

Memory Meme

2005-07-14T19:38:00.000-05:00

I've just been tagged for a memory meme by Windigo over at Sakrata. Being as I haven't actually written anything of substance lately, I might as well take part in this - it could end up being quite interesting. Also, I have to tag five others for this meme, so enjoy reading my responses while I ponder my victims.

What I was doing 10 years ago:
I was eight years old, so I was attending elementary school, no doubt living for recess. I was playing baseball on the local team, and was the only kid to get someone out by catching a fly ball the entire season. Quite a contrast to the uncoordinated non-athlete that I am now.

5 years ago:
Moved up in the world, I was an eighth-grader in middle school. That means your the top dogs in the building, all the other little kids are terrified of you. Good times! I had just taken an active interest in severe weather, and attended my first spotter training class. Got involved with the local fire dept not long after, riding along with their spotters during storms.

1 year ago:
Junior in high school - I had decided that I wanted to go into a military career - specifically the Army Signal Corp. I was working as the Chief Designer of the school newspaper, as well as doing part-time work for the local paper covering sports. I was inducted into the National Honor Society at school, and quickly got roped into doing all kinds of volunteer projects with them - including sponsering the Red Cross blood drive that Windigo become very familiar with. I also become active with the Army MARS program, adding to my enjoyment of my ham radio hobby.

Yesterday:
Let's see, I got up at 7 A.M. and went out to work in the field (My name isn't farmhunk for nothing.) I put in 14 hours there, only stopping once for 15 minutes for lunch, and 30 minutes for dinner, makes for a long day sitting in your little glass cubical of a tractor cab. I did sneak away once in the afternoon to make an emergeny medical run with the fire dept, but wasn't gone very long. Got home around 10:30, watched an episode of M*A*S*H, took a quick shower, and went to bed.

5 snacks I enjoy:

Potatoe chips
Beef jerky or summer sausage
Popcorn
Bannanas
Raman Noodles

5 songs I know all the words to:
American Pie - Don Meclean
The Clincher - Chevelle
I'm Proud to be an American - Lee Greenwood
Good Riddance - Green Day
Almost - Bowling for Soup

5 things I would do with $100 million:
Build a new building for my church
Build a nice house with all the technology I can imagine
Set up the ultimate ham radio station
Buy all new trucks for the fire dept.
Travel Europe

5 locations I would like to run away to:
New England
Germany
Rocky Mountains
Great Britian
Anyplace with mountains

5 bad habits I have:
Procrastination
Smoking
Lazy in my exercise
Don't listen
Stick my nose where it doesn't belong

5 things I would never wear:
Speedo
All black
a bracelet
an earing
a tatoo

5 TV shows I like:
NCIS
M*A*S*H
King of the Hill
American Dreams
Mail Call

5 biggest joys of the moment:
Hanging out with friends
Freedom to come and go as I please
Internet
Smoking
Sleeping

5 favorite toys:
1) Computer 2) Ham radio 3) Digital camera 4) Guitar 5) DVD player

Later I will update with my list of those fortunate enough to be tagged for this meme. Stay tuned!

Sadly so true...

2005-07-10T00:07:00.000-05:00

Your Summer Anthem is Best Of You by the Foo Fighters

I've got another confession my friend
I'm no fool
I'm getting tired of starting again
Somewhere new

While you may seem bright on the outside, your insides have a distinct angst flavor.

What's Your 2005 Summer Anthem?

Holy Cow...this thing is quite accurate. Especially the "While you may seem bright on the outside, your insides have a distinct angst flavor" part.

Lately it seems like I've been acting like my normal cheery self around my family and all, but then when I get around my friends I really do have this angst thing going on. I just feel ticked off about everything and so I break out the smokes and just try to mellow out to some rock music and bs with the guys a little bit.

Bad moon risin'

2005-06-26T22:45:00.000-05:00

I've noticed the last few nights that the moon has looked incredibly big when it's rising. It's also been really neat because it's blood red when it first comes up. Anyway, here's a neat article from the BBC about it, so apparently I'm not the only one noticing this!

Chinese dragon awakens

2005-06-26T22:06:00.000-05:00

Holy Cow! After reading this article early this morning, it's really stuck with me all day. It really doesn't scare me - it's just given me a lot to mull over.

"China is building its military forces faster than U.S. intelligence and military analysts expected, prompting fears that Beijing will attack Taiwan in the next two years, according to Pentagon officials. U.S. defense and intelligence officials say all the signs point in one troubling direction: Beijing then will be forced to go to war with the United States, which has vowed to defend Taiwan against a Chinese attack."

While doing some political musing with Windigo a couple months ago, we decided that the U.S. would be in a grave situation if China was to ever attack Taiwan. The news out today shows that China could attack within the next two years. To add even more accelerant to the situation is the rapidly chilling relations between the U.S. and Russia, and the fact Russia is rapidly moving back towards totalitarianism and has allied themselves with China. Also, we must not forget that Iran has been know to have a working relationship with China as well.

As near as I can figure, one of two situations will play out to start a global war. Either China will attack Taiwan, or Israel will attack Iran. Either way - the U.S. would automatically become involved to defend Taiwan or Israel as the case may be, and the other aforementioned countries would be drawn in as well.

Not very optimistic scenarios.

As I wrap up this posting, just let me remind you that we are hanging in a very delicate balance...

Know thy enemy

2005-06-25T01:51:00.000-05:00

It amazes me how much liberals "just don't get it". I stumbled across "The Liberal Lounge" today, and found it provides an interesting, yet scary look into the mind of a modern liberal.

You must know your enemy in order to defeat them, so I suggest you spend some time reading The Liberal Lounge - you will come to see why the biggest threat facing our country is not terrorism, but liberalism.

Not Guilty

2005-06-13T16:40:00.000-05:00

What a freaking farce - Jackson "gets off" on all counts. I shoulda known that a bunch of dumb California liberals wouldn't convict him. They're all too darn star-struck to actually serve some justice for once.

No different than the O.J. trial.

Always Remember

2005-05-30T15:33:00.000-05:00

As I stood in the cemetery this morning, next to a friend in his Air Force dress blues, while the haunting melody of "Taps" rang out, never was I more proud and grateful to be an American.

Let us never forget the sacrifices made by our troops.

To Grandpa S., USCG - Thanks for your service.

And to Grandpa P., USMC - Semper Fi.

Survivor in the heartland

2005-05-29T17:24:00.000-05:00

I'd always wondered if I was the only one who wanted a Survivor reality series to be based in Kansas. Now I know I'm not, just take a look at this incredibly funny post. I would tape every episode of this show. Indeed.

Interesting search words

2005-05-28T14:08:00.000-05:00

Apparently if you search Google for "ninja monkey pictures" my blog comes up as the third hit. Heh.

Podcasts are fun

2005-05-28T14:04:00.000-05:00

IMAO unveiled their new weekly podcast this morning. Of course, before I could listen I had to go find out what a podcast was - once I got that all cleared up, I was listening and laughing like never before.

(I recommend the Doppler podcast reciever)

Go check it out if you know what's good for you! Indeed.

Rough night

2005-05-22T01:10:00.000-05:00

My head feels kinda funny - maybe because I just smoked like 10 cigarettes back-to-back. Hmm.

Filthy Lie - Sakrata style

2005-05-21T14:03:00.000-05:00

I stopped by Windig o's office just while ago to visit with him about his problem, but he wasn't anywhere to be seen. As I headed back to his door, something caught my eye, something even more startling than his quote that had worried me earlier.

There next to his keyboard lay the latest Cuisinart catalog, open to the spread displaying the new "SmartPower Premier 600-Watt Blender". The bold description read "...can handle the toughest blending tasks with ease...". My God.

As I recoiled in horror I bumped his mouse, causing the "Pretty Penguins" screensaver to disappear. I read the title of the webpage he had open in his browser - "Classifieds - Pets". My mind struggled to comprehend - how could Windigo have stooped this low?

I felt the air begin to chill. It was the chill that one feels when Evil Glenn or one of his minions is near. I bolted out the door.

Safely in my truck, I started off down the street, scarcely making it a hundred feet from the school where Windigo works when a dumpster caught my eye. There was something laying behind it, I couldn't make out quite what it was, but as I drew closer, I knew.

A dead hobo.

The Enemy Within

2005-05-20T17:57:00.000-05:00

These are treacherous times we are living in, thus one must always remain on guard. In this great blog war the Alliance is always probing for the enemies' weakness, but who would have thought that the enemy might lie within? It seems that Evil Glenn is craftier than we may have thought - he is apparently working to subvert Alliance bloggers and use them as his spies. I'm afraid one of my close friends may have succumbed to his influence, just this morning on Sakrata, Windigo uttered this phrase:

"Glenn's actually a nice guy and I enjoy reading his website regularly."

I will be speaking personally with Windigo, and I am sure he will see the error of his ways, but this incident just serves as a reminder that we must be ever vigilant.

I'm Old

2005-05-20T15:08:00.000-05:00

Howdy folks! Sorry for the long period with no posts, I've been incredibly busy the past few weeks tying up the loose ends as my senior year came to a close this past Tuesday. Now I'm trying to get everything ready for my graduation this weekend. I actually just got done vacuuming the house - you won't find me doing that very often.

Also noteworthy besides my graduation, yesterday was my 18th Birthday! Now, turning 18 is a big deal - there's all kinds of cool stuff I can do now: ignore my parents (I wish), buy lottery tickets, and yes Harvey - I can now go get a lapdance. I wish I would've gotten a lapdance for my b-day, but no such luck :(

It worked out just right in that I got all kinds of freedom all at once - I finished high school and turned 18 the same week. I'm free to go and do as I please, it's great! It felt really strange out having a smoke with my friends last night because I don't have to be really paranoid that a cop will drive down the street - I'm 18 remember! I can also now just strut on into the local convienence store and request a pack of Marlboro Lights, no more having a friend go get them for me.

Now, about that lapdance...

On and off the wagon

2005-05-07T18:51:00.000-05:00

Sorry folks for my blogging absence these past few days. I know you have all been longing for me to once again share of my wisdom.

As I announced earlier, I'm trying to quit smoking. After that post, things went well until last weekend. I then proceeded to fall horribly off the non-smoking wagon, but once the work week started back up, I hopped back on for the rest of the week.

Things went smoothly - until yesterday evening. Before I knew what was going on, I found myself outside enjoying a smoke. I was so mad with myself - while outside I got to thinking just how disgusting of a habit this is. I want to quit, yet when I am around a bunch of my friends and they light up, then I want to as well. The problem is more mental than anything.

However, if Windigo over at Sakrata comes through with his new invention, then that could be a whole 'nother addiction to deal with...

Day of Random

2005-04-27T13:58:00.000-05:00

Arf!

Incoherent thoughts

2005-04-27T10:21:00.000-05:00

First off, you can all ignore the silly little post below - just having a little fun with a friend.

Next up, smoking update - haven't had one since last Wednesday, that makes it a whole week without a smoke!

Finally, I apologize for not posting anything of consequence lately, so to make it up to you, I will be participating in "Day of Random" later today. For the scoop on this "Day of Random", I've pasted the official instructions from The Project Bowl for you all to enjoy:

Dear Blog reading friends, fans of the blogging memes and other such hoo-har,

On Wednesday 27th April 2005 the Day of Random beings. To play simply title a thread in your blog "Day of Random" and post just one word in that post. The first random word which filters into your brain. Enable comments and then your visitors should leave a one word reply of randomness in response to your blogged word: the first word that came into their mind! Each of your blogging visitors then should do the same on their blogs, starting off with their own random word and seeing what randomness their visitors inspire... are you up for chaotic randomness of silly words that could follow?

Edit for clarity to some questions: You can post more than once in the comments but not consecutively! You are encouraged to run a similar posting on your own blog.

It would be worth posting these rules in advance to prepare folks for the bizarre moment which will momentarily hit your blog.

Well, there you have it. Be on your toes waiting for the silliness to begin, you never know when it could strike...

Hey Sarah!

2005-04-26T21:34:00.000-05:00

Just a quick shout out to one of my friends...

Quitting

2005-04-22T10:06:00.000-05:00

I don’t know how I got this way
I know it’s not alright
So I’m
Breaking the habit
Tonight

-Linkin Park

After prompting by several bloggers, including the notable Mustang 23 and several of my close friends, I've decided to try and stop smoking. Yes folks, after a whole two weeks of it, I'm through. I finally made up my mind when I was out having a smoke the other day and I got to thinking - why am I doing this? I know it's harmful to my health, it's a nasty habit, and it's pointless. The only attraction is that I enjoy it. And besides, since I'm trying to get in shape to pass the PFT (physical fitness test) for ROTC, why should I keep smoking - running is hard enough already.

I'm sure it shouldn't be too terribly hard for me to quit, I mean, I've only been at it a little over two weeks anyway. As additional motivation, several of the cute girls in my class have said that they think it is a gross habit and that they would never date someone who smokes - so all the more reason to quit!

Exciting Confusion

2005-04-20T13:46:00.000-05:00

As I look at the calendar, I realize I only have to show up at school 19 more days until I graduate. I'm really excited, yet at the same time incredibly scared and confused. I'm looking forward to going off to college, but deep down I know that I high school is a really comfortable place. It's just so routine, every day I know I get to come and hang out with my friends, and not really have to work very hard.

I am excited to graduate, but then I realize that in just a few months I will be out on my own with nobody to look out for me. I'm also confused about what to do after high school. I'm planning on going to school and taking part in Air Force ROTC to become an officer.

I've been offered a full ride scholarship in my choice of several engineering majors, but I really don't want to major in any of them - hence my confusion. Should I put up with four years of stuff I hate to get a free education, or should I drop the scholarship, major in what I want, and do AFROTC anyway?

I sometimes even wonder if a large four year school is the right path for me anyway. I really want to do the ROTC thing, but maybe I should ditch the military idea, and just go to a two-year school, get a degree in fire science and become a firefighter. It's just so confusing when deciding what to do with the rest of your life.

Habit forming

2005-04-11T13:38:00.000-05:00

I have a couple of friends that I hang out with at school and on the weekends. These guys are great. A couple of them smoke, but they have never once pressured me to do so, so they rank pretty high in my book.

About two months ago we were hanging out on a Friday night. I had always wondered what it was like to smoke, so I finally got up the nerve to ask one of them for a puff. I took one small drag, and much to my surprise, I didn't cough at all. I didn't like it, but I didn't cough. I thought to myself, why would anybody want to smoke? It tasted like chewing on a piece of burnt wood. I had always thought that smoking was a nasty habit, and that I would never start.

It seemed though that each weekend since then, I kept asking for a drag or two. A few weeks ago I finally realized why they do it. The taste starts to grow on you, and most of all - it is very relaxing. I knew I shouldn't do it, but hanging out with my friends when they lit one up was just too tempting - I wanted a drag so bad.

I guess I went over the edge today - I bought my first pack.

Yeah...I know I shouldn't do it, and I know all the statistics about how every smoke brings you that much closer to the end, but that all goes out the window when you are sitting on the sidewalk with absolutely nothing to do, stressed out after a long day, and it just sounds so darn good.

So darn good - I can't believe I just said that. I used to be all uptight about drug use - now I'm buying cigarettes. I'm starting to wonder about myself - six months ago I would have laughed at the possibility of me smoking a cigarette.

And now I'm pretty well hooked.

Tired

2005-04-11T10:03:00.000-05:00

Oh man...it's a Monday. It's only 10:00, but I'm ready for the week to be over with already.

I'm really tired from staying up last night and wathcing some thunderstorms move in. I was kinda burned out anyway yesterday evening from analyzing forecasts all day hoping to catch at least a supercell or two in my area - but nope - a bust. A good day pretty much wasted just staring at the computer screen. Wait a minute - that's what I do everyday anyway. Oh well.

Victory

2005-04-03T14:18:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm a little late with this announcement, but the Good Guys were victorious in Basil's Blog War. I guess that mean's it probably time to take down the battle flag, I need to find a waving American flag to replace it with - that'd be cool.

I was just thinking about how Frank J. always ends his posts with "Be honorable, ronin." I need to come up wit some sort of tagline to end my posts with. This will require much thought.