May you live as long as you love ‘n’ laugh and love ‘n’ laugh as long as you live.

Be excellent to one another.

We’re back. Exhaustive posting to follow, after recovery from 2-day drive along IH-10 and 8 across substantial portions of four western states between San Antonio and San Diego… with a dog. Did we miss anything interesting? Don’t everyone chime in at once….

I don’t know if y’all have heard about this - it’s making the local news because it’s a GA National Guard company.

I ran across it on a couple blogs earlier this week, but forgot to say anything. Basically, a company of Guardsmen, whilst patrolling a city looking for insurgents, came into a house with a sick child, who had what appeared to be a huge tumor on her back. Turns out she was born with Spina Bifida, and the doctors there said she wouldn’t last 45 days. Well, she’s about 3 months old now, and thanks to our servicemembers and some generous doctors, corporations, and aid groups, she’s coming to Atlanta to have corrective surgery, FOR FREE.

A friend of mine said they were showing her on the news (last night?) and the grandmother (grandma and papa are traveling with the little one) was rocking her, in her lap at the airport, and calling her “Georgia.”

Without the surgery, her days are numbered. With it, she has a chance at a functional life, although most likely in a wheelchair.

Oh - I remembered where I first read about her - at OpinionJournal’s Best of the Web, where they were wondering if this was what he meant when Senator Kerry said that US troops are terrorizing children in Iraq. James Taranto was referencing CNN, so maybe y’all *have* heard about it.

UPDATE: She arrived in Atlanta this evening, and her first surgery is scheduled for Jan 9.

This from Aero-News:

Department of Defense representatives told Bloomberg News Friday the Pentagon plans to end a development program for a backup powerplant for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF.)

The move — which would have to be approved by Congress — aims to save approximately $1.7 billion through 2011, according to a DoD memo released last week. That’s not a small amount of money by any means — but it is a relative drop in the bucket compared to the $256 billion total cost of the fighter jet development program.

The backup program was initiated by Congress in 1995, according to Bloomberg, with the intent of maintaining competition and, thus, lowering costs of the Pratt & Whitney-designed powerplant intended to be the primary engines for the JSF. In a $2.2 billion deal, GE and Rolls-Royce teamed up to develop a backup powerplant — which also would have been utilized had technical problems cropped up with the P&W F135 units (below).

This would seem to me to be penny-wise and pound-foolish. Single-sourcing on any major component is just never a good idea. Even if there are no technical problems with the Pratt & Whitney design, any of myriad problems can develop to disrupt supply over the decades which this aircraft is expected to be in service. And I don’t believe, on a program of this size, any economies-of-scale will be realized by giving the entire production to one supplier.

My feeling, however, is that this cutback will not last. General Electric simply has to much clout in Congress (and Rolls-Royce in Parliament) to be nudged-out without a major fight.

But, as Military.com reports here, engine development is not the only part of the program facing cutbacks:

The plan would scale back the Pentagon’s requested JSF research, development, testing and engineering funding level by $108 million. The Senate-passed appropriations bill called for a larger $270 million reduction. The House’s defense spending bill fully funded the Pentagon’s $2.4 billion JSF RDT&E request.

The report accompanying the conferees’ FY-06 defense appropriations bill contains no language explaining the JSF reduction. But in a separate September report on the version of the defense spending Legislation that was later approved by the full chamber, the Senate Appropriations Committee said “continuing uncertainties” surround the joint Air Force-Navy program, making it “difficult to estimate the resources needed for the program.”

I find it a bit unsettling that these “continuing uncertainties” exist this far into the program. But it would seem to me that cutting development money would only hinder their resolution.

Wizbang’s got proof that not all members of the bin Laden clan are worthless.
Rodney’s finally given up the Santa references and is back to…politics as usual.

And a question for you regulars. Do you WANT me to pick a winner or are you okay with my just letting it fade away?

Just read this on Yahoo! News….

The National Guard has found a way to help out its soldiers who were affected by Katrina. If the soldiers’ job is gone due to Katrina, they can extend their active duty time (up to one year), and work on rebuilding projects, including an NG headquarters building in New Orleans.

So far, over 200 LA Guardsmen have signed up, and some MS troops are interested, as well.

From Sgt Hook (always one of my fave reads), comes a story he originally posted on Blog Cuba.

If Sgt Hook ever writes a book, I’ll be standing in line to buy one of the first copies.

Pedro Martin (Originally posted at Val’s Blog Cuba, August 2004).

Private First Class Peter Martin lay on his cot made of an aluminum frame and green nylon, dressed only in his desert camouflage trousers and a brown t-shirt and tan suede combat boots. His blouse hung on a hook fashioned out of 550 cord and an expended 7.62 shell casing tied to a section of the tent’s metal frame. He lay on his back, with his hands behind his head, staring at the canvas ceiling, tiny rays of sunlight piercing the many holes in the tent, waiting. He’s been there waiting for three days now while his platoon was on patrol in the village to the east of their forward operating base. The tent flapped violently in the wind and dust settled on everything. Pete Martin tired of waiting and tired of the heartache he felt within.

He had joined the Army just less than two years ago, shortly after the events of September 11, 2001. He signed on to be an infantryman, he loved being an infantryman. The day that he raised his right hand taking an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies was one of the proudest moments in his life, he was twenty-one years old at the time. He had trained hard after enlisting, first at Fort Benning’s school for boys during the Army’s basic training, then with his unit at Fort Campbell, Kentucky before coming to Afghanistan two months ago.

Read the rest.

Blonde Sagacity posts about a special train ride - no, it wasn’t the Polar Express. It was more special than that. The complete article can be found here.

It seems that last year a certain Philadelphia gentleman and his wife were sad when they thought about the troops who were stuck at Walter Reed and Bethesda, recovering from wounds received overseas. So this year, they decided to do something about it.

Since the gentleman in question owns a few luxury rail cars, he hooked up with other luxury rail car owners, and they ran a special train to the Army/Navy football game. Luxury cars, gourmet meals, seats on the 50-yard line, corporate goodie bags, and each military member was allowed to bring a guest (the Marines chose to forego the guests, so that more Marines could attend). The guests got goodie bags, too. There were no press on the train, no politicians, and no “pentagon suits” so the troops could just enjoy themselves.

Probably the part of the article that hit me the hardest was towards the end. The author was detailing the reactions of the philanthropists and their guests, and it was wonderful to read. I especially liked this paragraph:

The most poignant moment for the Levins was when 11 Marines hugged them goodbye, then sang them the Marine Hymn on the platform at Union Station.

“One of the guys was blind, but he said, ‘I can’t see you, but man, you must be f—ing beautiful!’ ” says Bennett. “I got a lump so big in my throat, I couldn’t even answer him.”

It’s been three weeks, but the Levins and their guests are still feeling the day’s love.

“My Christmas came early,” says Levin, who is Jewish and who loves the Christmas season. “I can’t describe the feeling in the air.”

God help us all. B Dubya is in the house. Crazy old coot…

Once upon a time, when I was very young and living in Washington State, my family was Democrat, and had been since WWI.
I remember John Kennedy’s inaugural. I especially remember this line: “Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and the success of liberty.” I have always translated that to mean that we would stand by our friends and allies and visit seven kinds of hell on our enemies and let God do the worrying about the body counts. That was the Democratic Party I knew right up until 1972. And then the left wing of the party hijacked the bus and ran Eugene McCarthy (I’m personally glad the old bastard is dead).
Jack Kennedy may have been a flawed human being, but by God, he acted on the beliefs he swore to us, “For I have sworn before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forebears prescribed…….” and I believe he was sincere. He took us all to the brink of nuclear war over Cuber and he was prepared to take the next step. Khrushchev wasn’t, had miscalculated the metal of the man, and realized that the Soviet Union could not survive unless the Soviet Premier blinked, and so backed down.
The assassination and the Johnsonian presidency led us to Viet Nam, where we found that we really weren’t willing to live up to Kennedy’s admonition to the world. Instead, we got MSM trading on defeatism for larger market share and the collapse of will in the Democratic ranks of the west and north. Instead of Ed Murrow, we got Walter Cronkite. Instead of Harry Truman, we got LBJ bleating that he would not run for a 2nd term after he’d spent his entire political life trying to be what he wasn’t the right stuff for, President of the United States.
No person who earns less than $750,000 (adjusted for inflation..) per annum has any business being a Republican, not since before Hoover.
Here is my political wish list for a party of Democracy:
I want my party back from the self loathing, cringing, defeatist, collaborating left that has made it too sickening to be associated with. That includes Jimmy Carter, John Kerry, John Dean, and Bill Clinton (though maybe not Hilary) and virtually all of the surviving Kennedy clan…
I want a party that believes that people have rights, and that Corporations are legal constructs, made for generating money only, are not equal to individuals under the law, and that they should be regarded, at best, as predatory creatures and at worst, as amoral enterprises that would seek financial advantage for themselves at the expense of every American liberty or value.
I want a party that pledges to help the poor, the aged, the infirm, widows and orphans in need, but who will tell able persons that they are on their own to live or die as free men and women should.
I want a party that will prosecute war against our enemies without reserve and with all available resource and energy. A party that can recognize friend from foe and that does not give a Tinker’s goddamned what the decadent Old World has to say about it.
I want a party that presents candidates for office who are honest, able to say the hard stuff, and willing to serve if elected, not rule.
Give me a system of taxation that is fair and not one designed to fund the nanny state or maintain the existence of government entities that have had no purpose since the 19th century.
I want a party that believes that if you can’t pay for it, and it’s not vital, you don’t get it.
I want a party that believes that the life of a single US citizen is worth more than the lives of all of our enemies. That believes that wars should be fought to protect American lives and freedoms. That wars can be fought to bring liberty to our friends. A willingness to shed blood for liberty may make our neighbors fear us, perhaps even hate us, but they will certainly be able to guide their future actions toward us so as not to anger us. I personally do not crave the approval of the French, or of the Germans. I only require that they understand what it means to be a friend or a foe of my country.

I will settle for a party that comes remotely close to it. That’s why I am forced to vote as a Republican.

There was a particularly contrary officer that worked in my area. He wasn’t in my chain of command, but I had to deal with him on a regular basis. His problem: He simply didn’t trust anything enlisted people said. He wanted chapter and verse and a copy of the page where it’s written. And sometimes even when he’s wrong he’ll argue that it didn’t apply to us because we weren’t assigned to the Air Force at the time. He made me tired.

After two plus years and two hours of going around on one issue in particular, I threw up my hands in exasperation and simply said:

“Sir, I’ve come to the conclusion that no matter what I say to you, I’m going to be wrong.”

Without any irony whatsoever his response was:

“Now that’s just not true.”

Luckily we were interrupted by one of the older civilian guys dragging me away because he needed something and I didn’t ruin the rest of my time there by laughing in the man’s face.

go to the NSA’s official website and read their mission statements and outline of Signals Intelligence (SIGINT). Hell, dig through the whole thing.

Tell me again the kerfuffle? I’m more confused than ever. If the signal orginates overseas from a known bad guy, we’re supposed to ignore it because the guy at this end might be a U.S. Citizen and
a righteous dude?

Shamelessly stolen from The Venemous One, here’s a list of end of year memes for you all to play with:

1. Who is your candidate for the Biggest Idiot of 2005 (excluding yours truly, of course) and why?
Howard Dean for making it appear that the Democrats truly do hate our country.

2. If you had a time machine, what one event in 2005 would you undo?
Hurricane Katrina.

3. List someone famous (living or dead) who ought to be a blogger and think up a blog title for his/her blog.
John Belushi blogging at, Did we give up when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?

4. Run to your underwear drawer (or wherever you stow your undies) and list all of the things there that are not underwear. (No fibbing!)
Various and sundry laundry tags, a collection of orphan socks and an old Zippo Lighter.

5. List the title (with a link) to the single worst entry you wrote during 2005. (Score extra karma points if you post an entry on your blog linking back to this question.)
I don’t like most of what I write about two days after I’ve written it. Why don’t you all tell me what your least favorite post of mine was?

6. Let’s pretend you’re going to write your autobiography next year. What will it be titled?
The Recruiter Forgot to Mention That

MORE:

7. What did you do in 2005 that you’d never done before?
Shaved my head.

8. What was the best thing you bought?
Toss up between our iPods and the Bose Home Theater.

9. Where did most of your money go?
Paying off debt and getting some things that improved our quality of life.

10. What was your greatest musical (re)discovery?
Led Zepplin. Especially Robert Plant.

The Islamic States of America, could this happen? America’s resources stretched razor thin by an extended war on terror. Our economy falters under the strain. Our leaders fail to have a plan. Western Europe’s Muslim minority becomes the majority.

Sound like any blogs you know? Sound like your blog? This is premise Robert Ferrigno puts forth in Prayers for the Assassin.

The novel will be published by Scribner in February. We have been given 400 advanced reader editions to send to writers focused on politics, religion, world events or books.

If you actively blog or podcast about politics, religion, world events or books, we invite you to request a free advanced reader edition of this novel. Just fill out the form below. Note, we only have a limited supply and cannot guarantee every request will receive a free book.

I think it’s very cool that they thought of sending advanced copies to bloggers. I’ll let you know what I think when I’m done with it.

And what are you going to buy now that you know you didn’t get it?

Oh…me? My friends know me. I got 30 bucks worth of iTunes Credits. I really haven’t had any sittin’ and shoppin’ time.

Hey, I’m not going to let our fucked-in-the-ass archive/search function spoil my buzz here… It’s fucked-up, you and I both know it - whatever. And you and I both know that, while I can’t draw any links out of my hat, both Timmer and I have sung the praises of Radio Paradise.

Well, I’ve become a bit distanced of late - choosing instead to tune-in old cable TV reruns - even if I’d seen them three times before - shame on me.

And there is something of my obsessive-compulsive thing at play here… Man, this is way better than my old Macintosh system - S/N wise, but hardly as good as the Yamaha. But the stereo image.. I have to hold my head right here - there’s no dimensional presence… Eegad!

Man, I don’t know. This is leagues beyond watching cable TV reruns. But, damn, I’ve got to work on my room acoustics.

Anyone wanna play cards? There are currently 20 spam comments about poker waiting to be dealt with - I’m saving those for Kevin/Timmer/Mom cause I don’t know if y’all do anything special with them. (delete, mark as spam, block, whatever)

I guess I should just be grateful that it’s only card spam, and not some of the other stuff that I’ve seen on occasion.

I hate spam.

…And I might come back later and yank this post, as not really being related to the overall theme of our blog, but sometimes you just gotta dump what’s in your gut, and hope there’s someone who can hear it and relate to it.

Later this week, for the first time in my life, I’ll be going to an Al-Anon meeting. For some reason, this scares me. It shouldn’t. It’s not like I’m the only person in the world who ever grew up in an alcoholic family. It’s not like I’m the only person in the world who ever needed help to keep from wanting to kick the living shit out of someone because of how they behave when they’re “likkered up.” I’m certainly not the only person in the world who has bad childhood memories (or no memories?) of family holidays because there was so much stress/chaos involved in them. So even though I’ll be walking into a room full of strangers, it’s not like I’m walking into a room full of strangers, ya know?

Heck, I won’t even be going alone - I’ve got a friend who’s offered to go with me so there’ll be someone there I know. And we’re going to a meeting that she particularly likes, where she assures me I’ll be safe.

This is actually huge progress, for me. Two years ago, she offered that if I ever wanted to attend a meeting, she’d go with me. At that time, I couldn’t even consider it, because in my brain going to a meeting meant that I was defective, somehow (hmmm… *they’re* the alcoholics, but I’m defective). Recently, I’ve been able to view Al-Anon as a resource that can help me get to where I want to be, which is detached from the emotional chaos that my family generates. It kills me that I can still be sucked into their chaos when I’m 500+ miles away from them.

So I guess that means I’m growing up (not the part about being sucked into their chaos - the other part). Which is not a bad thing. And it probably means I’m healing, which is definitely a good thing. Now, if there were only some way to make it not hurt, then everything would be all better. Or if I could figure out what hurts, or why it hurts. For lack of a better description, my heart hurts.

Is it because I can’t avoid the fact that we weren’t a “Leave it to Beaver” family? (were there any such?) Or is it because I’m the only one in my family who will say that the family was/is alcoholic?

We’re hillbillies. Drinking is what we do. One time when I was home from college, my brother teasingly said maybe I wasn’t really one of the family, since I wasn’t a drinker (I didn’t like the taste of alcohol back then, so I wouldn’t drink). Christmas gifts to grandparents were huge jugs of whiskey, and christmas visits involved lots of alcohol (mostly for the adults, of course). I spent most of my adolescence refusing to drink with my aunt and my grandma, and then listening to them say I thought I was better than they were, since I wouldn’t drink with them. They just kept ignoring the part where I was 14, or 16, or whatever age I was at the various times. (eta: I’m not talking about wine with dinner, I’m talking about sipping whiskey throughout the entire day)

As far as I know, I’m the first one of us to spend 3+ years in therapy, trying to get past my past. And other than my dad’s little brother, who joined AA 15 or so years ago, I’m the only one I know of who’s choosing to go to an Al-Anon meeting. I thought about an Adult Children of Alcoholics meeting, but after some research, I think Al-Anon might be a better fit for me, right now.

I’m hoping to learn how to detach from the family without divorcing the family. And it would probably do me good to learn that I’m not crazy, and not alone. So it’s probably a good idea for me to go.

My therapist told me one time that it’s the *healthy* members of the family who are in therapy. I’m just not feeling very healthy, right now. I’m pretty much feeling defective.

(/personal stuff)

Update: Looks like I won’t be deleting this post I came online this morning, ready to delete it, and there was already one comment posted, so I thought I’d wait until I had time to email the commenter and thank him/her for posting, and the next time I looked, there were 6!
I *do* appreciate y’alls support - last night was a wee bit of a meltdown…they’ve been happening fairly frequently this holiday season as my past battles its way into my consciousness again for more healing.

This al-anon decision has been slowly building since last New Year’s Eve, when I was visiting my dad for the holiday, and had to leave the house at 2am to find a motel, because my nephew and his wife (who lived with my dad) were having a drunken row, and it was impossible for me to sleep. Things came to a head with them this fall, and they’ve since been evicted from my dad’s house last month (they weren’t renting from him, they were squatting from him). But it really drove home to me how much enabling is one of our family traditions (denial’s another big one), and then the whole mess just kept dragging on, and everytime I’d hear more about it, I’d get tied up in knots cause I don’t detach well, and so I knew it was time.

It’s still scary - biggest fear is that I’m just gonna sit there Fri night and bawl my eyes out, much as I was doing last night. But I’m ok with that, as long as I know that no one’s gonna jump on me for it. But since I’m no longer hungry, lonely or tired, it’s not as frightening as it seemed last night.

Thanks, everyone, for your support. It really does help.

Stryker mentioned it here, but I think it needs more discussion.

What in the name of holy HELL is with all the toy bondage? What could possess anyone to want to secure a toy to it’s container in a fashion that requires TOOLS in order to get them loose? Power Rangers. GI Joes. RC Cars. All of them! Bound to their containers using the nefarious wire surrounded by slickery, grey, flexible plastic that you simply can’t get a grip on. If that’s not enough, it’s supplemented with the invisible rubber bands that must have been created in the middle of the Nevada desert because those things are the stealthiet things I’ve come across in my entire life. You get done working on the twisty things with the wire cutters and you’re sure the toy is finally free and you practically take Duke’s head off because of the Rubber Bands of Satan.

“Some Assembly Required” I understand. Been doing that since my nephews were young. Did it for much of Boyo’s life.

“Batteries not included” I also understand. There’s not a Dad out there that has missed that little notice more than once. You try findng a pack of Triple A Batteries on Christmas Day in the middle of Europe only one time…your lesson is learned.

It’s not like we can stage a boycott or anything. For some reason, all the toys Boyo “must have” are subjected to a treatment out of The Story of O.

Do yourselves a favor. Earn yourselves a little goodwill. Stoppit.

Stop the toy bondage.

Stop the toy bondage.

STOP THE TOY BONDAGE!

Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Bears!

…for this holiday season so here’s quickies for what we’ve seen.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: Definitely worth seeing on the big screen. Lots of fun and they did justice to the book. Well done. It’s over before you know it.

Aeon Flux: Charlize Theron in tight fitting clothes. What more do you want? Okay, fine. Add a decent hard science fiction story and a grownup storyline and then you can wonder how the drug use got past then censors for a PG-13 rating. I never saw the animated version so I have no idea how it compares. But this is probably the best science fiction movie I’ve seen in years. It wasn’t watered down. It was much better than we expected and actually had to explain some things to Boyo which almost never happens. It’s already been bumped out of the theaters in our area but definitely worth picking up on DVD to add to your collection. Warning: You may have to think. You may have to decide how you feel about things like genetic engineering and environmental manipulation. You may have to wonder which is the lesser of evils. I’m hoping for a director’s cut version when the DVD comes out.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe: I read these books as a kid but only once vs once a year like I did with Tolkien. I don’t have the details memorized like I did with Tolkien. Anyway, the movie was a great tale of good vs evil. It was exciting. Boyo “WooHoo’d” through the battles. A good time was had by all. And most important to me, they didn’t screw up Aslan. Because I do remember Aslan quite clearly. If they had Jar-Jar’d Aslan I would have been pissed, they didn’t. A great exercise in the way CGI should be done.

We’re off to see King Kong this afternoon. I’ll let you know how it goes but from what I’ve heard, I’m thoroughly expecting “WOW.” I’d go see this movie if it was JUST Jack Black or JUST Peter Jackson or JUST a remake of a classic. The fact that it’s all three is a no-brainer for me. We’re going.

Update: And King Kong was amazing! Worth the money. A fantastic movie. We laughed, we cried, etc.. Seriously, the best movie we’ve seen all year.