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Amen to that!


It's been a while since I mentioned baseball, and it's long overdue. I think this is the first time I've ever seen so many 90 win teams in one league. The American League is home to 5. It'll sure be a shame if one of them, specifically Boston, would get shut out of the playoffs. During the first game of the season at Yankee Stadium, I saw a banner that I really really enjoyed. It read "1918, 2004, 2090." Should Boston lose again, their whiny fans can restart the curse talk.
I probably shouldn't provoke these yokuls, I wouldn't want Ben Affleck to whine about the "evil empire" some more. Hey Ben, why don't you keep trading down for girlfriends? Seriously Gwyneth Paltrow, then J-Lo and now Jennifer Garner- and she's only staying around because he knocked her up- who's next on the list? So anyhow, go Yankees and Indians. Oh and go Blue Jays. That's all folks.

Rockets go Boom

So Israel pulled out of Gaza thinking that Palestinian militants would cut them a break and stop attacking them. Well that didn't work out all that well. The Palestinians, okay Hamas and Islamic Jihad have been firing missiles at Israel since the pullout. Well Israel decided to stand up and say enough is enough, at least for now. Every time Palestinian terrorist groups declare a cease fire they turn right around and show that they're lying, or find some way to blame Israel for something stupid, like idiots mishandling explosives at a Hamas rally and killing a child and some other "innocent" bystanders. Here in America, most parents tell us that playing with fire will get one burned. Apparently nobody told Hamas that playing with C4 will get you cremated without a proper memorial service. I have very little sympathy for people who pick a fight and then get a black eye in retaliation. At some point both sides are going to run out of people willing to continue this idiotic cycle. Which side runs out first is basically arithmetic now. Israel has an army, and a well equipped one at that. Palestine has fanatics who run the risk of being smeared every time they walk out the door.

3 Cheers for the A-Team

Apparently, the #2 jerk in Iraq has been taken down by Special Forces operators. While most of us were sleeping, or just going to sleep, a group of America's Finest were hard at work tightening the noose around terror financing. It's always heartening to see success amid the constant media river of bad and worse news. Go Army.

Porkbusters

So Instapundit and The Truth Laid Bear have devised a plan to help fund Katrina relief programs by getting bloggers to call out their elected officials on programs that reek of Pork. Not that pork always smells bad, there's nothing like the smell of Bacon in the morning, but I digress. So I now live in NE Ohio and am just getting to know the politicians that will represent me, why not take the time to let them get to know me? I took a look at Steve LaTourette's (R-14th district) congressional website and identified a little over $2.7 Million in ODOT pork projects that can probably wait. Most notable among these projects are the Construction of a bicycle path extension in Geauga County Park District in Chardon for $400,000 and the purchase of right-of-way for transportation enhancement activities in Bainbridge Township, for about $1.44 Million. It's a little late to contact the congressman right now, but his site does have an 800 number for his local office and if I can't get in touch with someone that way, I'll give his D.C. office a shot. I'm sure I won't speak with him directly, and $2.7 Million doesn't some like much, but this is only after a cursory search. With time, I'm sure I'll find more. Every little bit helps, especially if it means no tax hikes.

Update 9/26: I haven't been able to get through to the congressman's office by phone, mostly because I don't get home in time to catch anyone on the late shift. I have, however, e-mailed Mr. LaTourette requesting he consider cutting back on transportation funding locally to help out Katrina victims, we'll see how long it takes to hear from him. A Rose by Any Other Name has yet to hear from the distinguished gentleman.

Update 9/28: I have yet to receive a response to the email I sent Congressman LaTourette, so I stepped it up and sent an e-mail to Senator Mike DeWine. It is now a race to see who can respond first. I'm not holding my breath.

Ballsy

Click on THIS link. The voice you'll hear is that of Lt. General Russell Honore. He is currently in charge of the rebuilding efforts for Katrina and the evacuation ahead of Hurricane Rita. The clip consists of a back and forth session between he and some reporters who don't have a clue. The fact that they don't have a clue does not help their cause much, as you'll hear. This is a man who clearly gets results. I'm sure this isn't the last we'll hear from him, either.

Feinstein should be fined

Today in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, John Roberts had to endure hours of windbags, blowhards and the self important members speaking aimlessly about whatever their politics dictate. In what must be one of the most astonishingly stupid statements of all time, Dianne Feinstein belched this nugget, "For me, one of the most important issues that needs to be addressed by Judge Roberts is the constitutional right to privacy. ... It would be very difficult for me to vote to confirm someone to the Supreme Court whom I knew would overturn Roe v. Wade."
So in other words Senator Feinstein wants Judge (soon to be Chief Justice) Roberts to respect a person's privacy while at the same time disregarding his own, so she can use his own right to privacy against him. This strikes me as patently stupid. Of course, people keep electing her, so who is the dumber? There should be a new rule enacted in order to be an elected official: Every idiotic comment you make will incur a thousand dollar fine. Freedom of speech is not the same as Freedom of stupidity.

AA403 Down

In the midst of all the Katrina madness I happened upon another story of some interest. A Naval board of inquiry has reconfirmed that Lt. Cmdr. Michael Scott Speicher is still "missing/captured." This story is significant because he has been missing since the opening night of Operation Desert Storm in 1991. I had the pleasure of buying the book "No One Left Behind" while waiting for a flight at Newark Liberty Airport. The book, by Amy Waters Yarsinske is essentially the reason why Speicher's status was changed from dead to missing/captured. He even had a tombstone in Arlington. The significant part of this story is that the review board concluded that there may be high level Iraqis or Bedouin tribesmen who can speak to the status or location of Speicher. The problem in tracking these people is twofold: The Iraqis may not want to speak for fear of reprisal from former administration types still free in the country, and the Bedouins are a nomadic group, meaning they generally don't stay for very long in one place. It's sad to say that we may never know the whereabouts of Speicher, but one can hold out hope.
AA403 is the identification number of Speicher's F-18.

Deluge self discovery

I've been pondering this whole epidemic of politicizing the aftermath of Katrina and just keep rediscovering the sage advice I never absorbed. The first realization is a study in accountability. Immediately after Katrina packed her bags and left town, there were 2 distinct reactions. These aren't in any specific order just the way I remember them.
The first came from Haley Barbour, who took a no-nonsense approach to reacting and rebuilding Mississippi. He started by letting any potential looters know that they would be in a world of hurt should they act on their impulse. In his own words, "To me looting is about the equivalent of grave robbing," he said. "We're not going to stand for it." Barbour had a plan, acted on it, and minimized the loss of lives for his state. That doesn't mean that he did everything right, but he has certainly fared much better than Ray Nagin and Gov. Blanco over in Louisiana. These two illustrate the second reaction that we've seen. They failed to live up to their respective disaster plans (Hundreds of idle school buses ruined in a parking lot, and failing to ask for Fed help are just 2 examples) and attempted to cover their tracks by pointing a finger at the federal government. Well as it turns out, Nagin and Blanco have since had their bluffs called and will likely (but not definitely) lose their jobs in the next elections as a result. All they had to do was be accountable for their own inaction and people would likely be somewhat more sympathetic to them. To look at Barbour he completely wiped out any need for accountability by springing into action as soon as he could. He may still be open to criticism, but certainly not what's in store just west of Mississippi.
A large lesson in this, in some ways, is that you can't always sit around and wait for others to help, sometimes you have to help yourself, and unfortunately in this case it cost a lot of lives.

After the Deluge

It occurred to me the other day that the only job better than God is that of President of the United States. Why who else could cause so much panic, so much despair, so much adversity than God himself? That bastard George W. had to go and whip up a little storm in the Gulf of Mexico for the ultimate goal of committing covert genocide. At least that is what the nitwits in this country would have one believe. Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and the rest of the brigade of "blame-white America first" got down to Louisiana post-haste to blame the current administration for the express purpose of pointing out injustice throughout the bayou. Actually, what they did was inadvertantly point out the ineptitude of a previously corrupt local and state government, who have since turned on each other after trying to blame the federal government for not sending in a squadron of F-18s to blow that damn Katrina out of the water. Well I for one am not about to elevate the President beyond his elected position. There is no more powerful force than Nature. Let me repeat that, There is NO more powerful force than Nature. If 175 MPH winds are headed your way, here's an idea: Get your car keys, get a bag of clothes, and find some relatives who are at least 500 miles in the opposite direction of said winds. Don't hang around to see if the levee breaks, don't try to protect your worldly possesions. They're going to be waterlogged and virtually unusable, unless of course they are swim trunks or a pair of floaties. Honestly, have we as a country become so stupid that we can't help our fellow man? You can't blame anyone but nature for what happened and since there isn't any human personification of Nature, maybe some of the more idiotic people around the world can take a step back and realize that what people in Lousiana, Mississippi and Alabama need is a helping hand, not some loudmouthed jerk who wants to point a finger. It's times like these that I'm glad I can take the handy advice of Mark Twain: "It is better to be silent and thought a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt." Amen to that.

Update (Sep. 7 - 9:03 PM):
Here are 3 articles that basically solidified my view of this whole mess:

CYA is a big job by Steve H. Graham

Don't blame only Feds by Michael Goodwin

Blame Amid the Tragedy by Bob Williams