Wipe Out

I was playing 'tennis' with the Boy and Girl in the street on Sunday afternoon. It's something we've done for the last several years. The Boy and I have played it with the Girl chasing the ball in years gone by. Now she's bigger and can play too, although she uses a racquetball racquet. Event's she's about six, she's always been rather athletic. All that said . . . There's nothing like seeing one's wee one running in the street then go face first down on the asphalt . . . Man, that's gotta hurt!!! When I got to her, wailing was building. At first glance, it was less than I feared; I thought I saw her head bounce after the initial fall. Luckily there was no damage to her head. The rest of her was not so lucky . . . I've always feared broken bones with both of them. It's something I never had to deal with since the only broken bones I've had were my ribs playing football. . . When I got to her, I noticed her pinky was at about at 60 degree angle. I feared it was broken but did the obligatory 'squeeze my hand'. The pinky of course didn't move until I gently moved it into place. It appears it was dislocated and not broken!!! At last count is was four bandaids. One big patch was for her 'strawberry' on her elbow. This was by far the biggest one, but nasty none the less. All toll it was a six bandaid kinda day . . .worthy of a big bowl of ice cream.

Stupid Athletic Dribble

Check out the unbelievable rambling dribble from Reggie Rivers, the former NFL Denver Bronco, who now writes a weekly column for the Denver Post. He equates military service with slavery just because you can't quit when you when the going get tough.

Yes, our slaves signed up of their own free will, but most of them were as misled about their job as the rest of us were about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
And I don't think "slave" is too strong a word to describe someone who is not permitted to quit his job no matter how dangerous it becomes or how much he hates it. For most of us, the 13th Amendment abolished slavery and guaranteed that we have the right to withhold our labor. It doesn't protect soldiers.

Granted our service personnel are unable to up and leave when they want, but via a court-martial and dishonorable discharge. Stretch this into slavery requires a hellva imagination or one big racial chip.
This reminds me of when Rahseed Wallace, then of the Portland Trailblazers, spouted how the NBA owners were 'slave masters and we're just their slaves'. Racism is ugly in any guise

Iranian Mullahs

I remember the Iranian Islamic Revolution. I was in high school in SoCal with a large Iranian ex-pat population at the time. All were loyal to the Shah and most were afraid. Afraid for their families since they knew what awaited their country. They also understood that some of them would never see their homeland again.

Here's a good article from Michael Ledeen of the National Review which addresses the desperateness being felt by the mullahs.

Apparently morale is very low in the ranks of the Basij, the group of fanatical thugs that do the regime's dirty work in the streets, things like beating up women whose scarves show too much hair, rounding up student protesters, and so forth. Friends of mine in Iran tell me that Basiji are becoming convinced that the regime's days are numbered, and they are understandably discouraged.

Is their power and influence waning? Once can only hope. However, Iran's 'theoretician' for Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei actively announces a strategy to 'bring America to its knees'.

So, last Sunday, Abbasi set out to restore the Basiji's enthusiasm for the Islamic Revolution. Speaking at the Technical College of Tehran, he made some amazing statements. "The infidels — Western countries and America — are the sworn enemies of God and Muslems and any action taken to terrorize them or frighten them is considered holy and a source of pride." Abbasi went on, "Lebanese Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and Hamas have all been trained by these hands," that is, Iranian hands.

Thus far, the usual jihadist rhetoric, although the specific confirmation of Iran's intimate links to three of the world's most lethal terrorist organizations was a bit unusual. But then he went on with a megalomanical vision that bears some attention. "We intend to withdraw $53 billion of Iranian and Arab investments from the U.S.A. and thus cause instability [in] its economy, we take pride that our actions have brought 1/9 of the budget deficit in America's economy this year and we shall keep up with our economic actions." The claim to have caused nearly ten percent of the American deficit probably refers to the rise in oil prices. But this was only the beginning of his promise to bring America to its knees.

If and when we prevail in Iran and Afghanistan, the mullahs will feel the pinch and crack down. This will cause such a backlash with the 'normal' will uprise.

Ramblin's

Pretty light in thought today . . . Blogging is a bit harder than I thought since I'm not used to composing my thoughts on a daily basis; that's saying something isn't it. So let's try some extemporaneous composition.

Heard most of GWB's speech yesterday. I was not overly impressed, yet not disappointed either. He tries to play the hard ass, but not hard enough. The male pop is behind him for the most part unless they are under 24 or over 30 and never grew up. I can understand the younger crowd being *rabid* liberals. I think it is almost genetic in nature to both rebel against authority and espouse empathy toward the *down trodden* in society.

The Girl's T-ball was rained out . . .what a surprise!!

Michael Berg's Lack of Reality

The loss of a child would have to be the most tragic loss a person could know. The loss of reality very well could be caused by the loss of your child. However, I'm of the mind that Michael Berg's reality was already out on a milk run. His unbelievable essay in the Guardian shows just how far over the edge his reality has gone.

I am sure, knowing my son, that somewhere during their association with him these men became aware of what an extraordinary man my son was. I take comfort that when they did the awful thing they did, they weren't quite as in to it as they might have been. I am sure that they came to admire him.

I am sure that the one who wielded the knife felt Nick's breath on his hand and knew that he had a real human being there. I am sure that the others looked into my son's eyes and got at least a glimmer of what the rest of the world sees. And I am sure that these murderers, for just a brief moment, did not like what they were doing.

This is so unbelievable it's mind blowing!! Not quite as in to it as they might have been? ? ? Not like what they were doing? ? ? ? But wait there's more.

So what were we to do when we in America were attacked on September 11, that infamous day? I say we should have done then what we never did before: stop speaking to the people we labelled our enemies and start listening to them. Stop giving preconditions to our peaceful coexistence on this small planet, and start honouring and respecting every human's need to live free and autonomously, to truly respect the sovereignty of every state.

This man would be willing to talk us into extinction!

PartyPoker Update

Just a quick game since we had a T-Ball game. Came in 3rd and lost on a hand with a Ah9d to a 2h9h for two pair 2s and 7s. . . tough break.

Up a bit to $111

T-Ball

Ya know, there's nothing like seeing a pack of 5-6 year old girls in ponytails chasing a baseball. The only thing better is when they're in the field and the coach says "ready!!" and a chorus of sopranos yell "SET!!" Makes a daddy's heart swell . . . sniff, sniff.

The Girl played well and swung the stick with authority. The Boy and I had a good game of catch before the game. Too bad he doesn't like baseball, oh well. I refuse to live vicariously through my children as some other parents do.

PartyPoker Update

Good night!! I just play one game and won with four Aces!!! What a way to go out!!

Back up to $107.

PartyPoker Update

Sunday... first game came in 4th. Lost on a Ad7h, hard loss . . . Played well all game.

Let's try game two . . .no good so far . . .no hands!! Tried bluffin' but no luck . . .
Damn, lost on a KsQc to a Qs6h . . .for 5th f'in' place. DAMN it!!

down to $88.50

Poker Party Update

Good night!! Played only one game and won. Some good hands but not many. Good bluffing tonight. Finally won with a 9h4d hand.

Forgot . . . back up to $100.50

The battle is against militant Islam, not “Terror”

I recently read the most profound article on the 'War on Terror'. It's by Andrew McCarthy of the National Review. It's a lengthy piece, but well worth it.

Well, we are now well into the third year of what is called the "War on Terror." That is the language we all use, and it is ubiquitous. The tabloids and the more prestigious journals of news and opinion fill their pages with it. The 24-hour cable television stations are not content merely to repeat "War on Terror" as if it were a mantra; they actually use it as a floating logo in their dizzying set designs.

Most significant of all, the "War on Terror" is our government's top rhetorical catch-phrase. It is the way we define for the American people and the world, especially the Islamic world, what we are doing, and what we are about. It is the way we explain the nature of the menace that we are striving to defeat.

But is it accurate? Does it make sense? More importantly, does it serve our purposes? Does it make victory more identifiable, and hence more attainable? I humbly suggest that it fails on all these scores. This, furthermore, is no mere matter of rhetoric or semantics. It is all about substance, and it goes to the very core of our struggle.

Terrorism is not an enemy. It is a method. It is the most sinister, brutal, inhumane method of our age. But it is nonetheless just that: a method. You cannot, and you do not, make war on a method. War is made on an identified and identifiable enemy.

In the here and now, that enemy is militant Islam ; a very particular practice and interpretation of a very particular set of religious, political and social principles.

There are so many cogent points, it's difficult to pull selected quotes. Suffice it to say, we need to become diligent in this battle against Militant Islam! After viewing the Berg tape, I went searching for the Daniel Pearl's tape. Needless to say I found it; along with several other Militant Islamic executions. Everything from a captured Russian PVT getting his throat slit (extremely graphic!) to Pearl's over-produced propaganda film. All I know is I'm now galvanized against these 'people'.

Palestinians? Your choices have caused your suffering, everthing from choosing corrupt leadership intent on siphoning off millions of dollars *Mrs Arafat* to not agreeing to a peace accord which would have given them over 90% of their *demands*. But I'm sure I'll do another post on the poor Palestinians.

Yu-Gi-Oh

Boy, it's niced to have a hobby. The Boy is into Yu-Gi-Oh. . . in a big way. I'm currently sitting in the middle of Toys R Us watching a gaggle of pre-pubescnt boys squeel with delight. The Boy is quite knowlegible of the characters and powers. He's also *such* the yakker!!!

This is a great way to people watch, too. It's interesting to see how other folks interact with children. Some kids are such punks. I just look at the parents and wonder if they realize the trouble they are bringing upon themselves and the rest of us.

I've been to a couple of these in the past and inevetably there's one or two post-pubescnet boys. I'm not sure what's up with them. Are they just emtionaly immature and stunted? Or are they just too geeky for words? ? ? I'm not sure; the jury is still out.

PartyPoker Update

Aw, crap.... lost on a As9s to a Q10 tonight. Didn't have many good hands tonight but bet hard on two or three which, since I didn't have strong hands, cost me dearly.

At $81 now.

The Beginning

Well, I've decided to officially become a Blogger!! I've been perusing all the blogs, landing on one or two. But never had the urge to create my own.

I'm somewhat challenged when it comes to prose . . . or poetry for that matter!

Let's see how this works.