Dems vs. USA

Chris Hitchens is on target as usual in this article.

We are invited to believe that these hard-pressed soldiers of ours take time off to keep Osama Bin Laden in a secret cave, ready to uncork him when they get a call from Karl Rove? For shame.

You know CNN is Desparate

when they begin advertizing the Paula Zahn show on Fox News during the O'Reilly Factor.
I was surprised but I guess they can read the ratings as well as anyone and know where the people are.

Sam Houston

Meet The Press - South Dakota

Watching Thune and Dashle go at each other on MTP. The are getting hot and heavy and Tim is just sitting back and letting them go at each other.

Dashle is good but Thune is holding his own.

Great TV.

Update: It seemed to that Thune won this. Dashle was very bad at the begining on Iraq where we he said exactly the same things two or three times in a row. When it moved to Domestic issues Dashle got better but still there were questions that Tim asked where Dashle went somewhere else rather than answer. On the last question about rolling back the tax cuts and not spending the money (as if there would be any) Tim had to ask him three times for him to commit to not spending. (fat chance)

Meet The Press - South Dakota

Watching Thune and Dashle go at each other on MTP. The are getting hot and heavy and Tim is just sitting back and letting them go at each other.

Dashle is good but Thune is holding his own.

Great TV.

Update: It seemed to that Thune won this. Dashle was very bad at the begining on Iraq where we he said exactly the same things two or three times in a row. When it moved to Domestic issues Dashle got better but still there were questions that Tim asked where Dashle went somewhere else rather than answer. On the last question about rolling back the tax cuts and not spending the money (as if there would be any) Tim had to ask him three times for him to commit to not spending. (fat chance)

Father of Our Country

No not George Washington, Sam Houston.
Don't tell me you forgot that Texas was a country before it was a state?

On the way back from Dallas last weekend I stopped by to visit his statue which is just south of Huntsville on I45.

This is the statue of the great man. Lucky is was cloudy because on a sunny day it is blinding.

This is a closeup.





Here is the plaque at the base of the monument. Take note of Houston's words there will be a quiz on this later.

Rathergate

I have not written about this recently (you haven't written about anything recently(I know I know)) but two statements by Dan Rather struck me as very interesting and illustrative of why Dan has outlived his relevance and should be let out to pasture.

First his statement that while the docments may be fake the substance is true. How arrogant. Not only arrogant but what he is saying is that if a cop knows that someone is guilty of something then it is ok to plant false evidence to put that person in jail. No wonder Dan was able to get an interview with Saddam, they seem to have a lot in common in the methods they think are acceptable.

Second is his recent statement that is there is something wrong with the statement he wants to be the one who breaks the story. DUH!!
This transends arrogance to such a degree that it makes me think that Dan has lost touch with reality. He has been trying to cover up while others have been calling for an investigation since his original broadcast.

I think that Ronald Reagan, Charlton Heston and Dan rather have something in common. The difference is that Dan did not pull himself off the public stage before his loss caused him to embarass himself and his organization.

Links are all over the place but Roger or Glenn are good places to start if you have been in isolation all week.

Pictures from Dallas Weekend

I didn't take many pictures this weekend due to being busy talking and listening(mostly listening) to the other people there.
Here are a few quick snaps, first the host and bar.
Kim thought I was going to blackmail him with this but I told him that a picture of him mixing adult beverages would shock no one.

This is a picture of us outside of the DFW range on Sunday. Notice the various rifles on the pavement. They were only about half of what was actually there.
Kim is telling stories about people trying to hold up gun shops. Not a very wise thing to do.

Great Weekend

I had a great weekend in Dallas courtesy of Kim and Connie du Toit.
Saturday started out talking with the other guests both bloggers and non-bloggers. This was followed by a marvelous meal prepared by Connie who fed us like us like kings and queens.
Sunday was spent at the DFW range where I got to try out some handguns and found out what a rotten shot I am compared to some folks there. Of course when you are shooting at at target with Osama's picture you do have extra motivation.

Kim and Connie thank you for sharing your home with me and the other people there and for hosting this event in the first place. Having done things like this before I know they don't just happen but you both made it seem so easy.

I did manage to take a few pictures which will appear later. I had intended to do a series of posts last night but I was just too worn out.

The new Element performed better than I expected. I am a little confused. When I bought it it seemed to me to be a boy car but when I was getting the bugs washed off by the Plano HS band on Saturday I refered to it as a she. Unlike computers I usually don't name cars though I do identify them as male or female. I will have to see on this one.

Also got my new cell phones Friday. Now I can not only have my ringer play more rings including classical snippits but it takes pictures too

Update: More on the weekend and one of the wonderful shared moments here on Connie's blog.

I don't get it

I can't understand how after 9/11 some people don't understand that what we need to do to terrorists is kill them.
Even after what happened in Russia there are people like this who seem to think that the choices are fuzzy.

Of course for everyone of those there are some who like the Acidman have no doubts.

You don't negotiate with such people. You kill them

Milestones

I was quite surprised when I logged on to notice that this would be my 1001 st post. Time files when you are having fun.

New Car

I have a new car. A Honda Element. More on that and a picture tomorrow. I spent Saturday on the car and since then helping my daughter build her new Crusader character, don't ask.
It was a lot of fun but as good as I once was in almost all games she is better than I am.
Maybe I can still beat her at pinball, if I can find a machine.

George W. Bush

Extreme Shopping

I have heard about shopping frenzy but this at a new Ikea in Saudi Arabia is crazy.

Link Via : The Emperor