Durbin Should Have Waited For The Facts

Dick Durbin should have waited for the facts before he popped-off about the American military. See, Dick, the American military is on our side. You are supposed to give the military the benefit of the doubt, not the detainees.

More interesting is what is not in the report. Schmidt and Furlow found no substantiation for Sen. Richard Durbin's allegation that terror suspects were chained for hours and forced to defecate on themselves, nor that Gitmo interrogators kept their prisoners in hot or cold rooms, two claims he made on the Senate floor. They also found no verification that the military denied prisoners food or medical necessities, a favorite charge of the Left.

Congratulations, Dick. Unlike thoughtful, measured Senators, like Brownback or Lieberman, you have earned a reputation of thoughtlessness. When you are quoted I'll think something like this: "Hmmm, Durbin. Not a careful thinker. Likes to throw tainted red-meat to his base. I'll wait till I hear from someone I can trust."

United We Stand

Ara Rubyan is right. The leaders of this country must unite against terror. But in a democracy the voters are the leaders. With that in mind, I apologize for comments I have made which are divisive and I invite anyone to call me out, both for past, present and future behavior. The one mind I can be sure of changing is my own.

Would Welfare Reform Work for Africa?

This African economist thinks so. Africa doesn't need aid. It needs capitalism.

Hooray! Let's Bomb Syria!

Bring back Cowboy George! Let's cut the suicide bomber supply line now.

Grandkids, Tradition and the Good Life

Lee Harris explains the proper function of tradition, demonstrates how it has made life better, and how it will continue to do so.

This is great stuff, so go read it.

Via somebody I don't remember, darn it!

Comment On the FEC's Proposal To Regulate Bloggers

Via Instapundit.

I Want A New Tax

I want a new tax controlled by the Fed. It could even be several taxes: like a small property mill levy, a 0 to 5% progressive income tax, a 0 to 5% capital gains tax and a 0 to 1% sales tax. When the economy heats up, instead of raising rates and making our deficit worse by paying more interest on the debt, which I'm very tired of, the Fed temporarily raises taxes a little. And it doesn't give my former party an excuse to raise taxes, increase spending and then never cut taxes. When the economy cools off, instead of it being an excuse for my fellow Republicans to cut taxes but not spending and then never raise taxes, the Fed cuts them temporarily.

Each of these taxes shouldn't give Greenspan too much room, but enough to help the economy.

The Volokh Conspiracy - House Passes Abortion Bill:

Orin Kerr wants to know whether the House bill prohibiting transport of a minor across state lines to avoid parental consent and notification laws is constitutional. He may delete my comment, which follows, as not germane since it does not reflect current Supreme Court jurisprudence.

I am not a lawyer, but I have been reading Restoring the Lost Constitution, so maybe I qualify. Here is my attempt to divine original meaning. This bill does not pass Commerce Clause muster, since abortions are not a trading (original meaning of commercial) activity, they are a medical service, and the Commerce Clause only allows Congress to regulate (original meaning is make regular) activity, not prohibit it. But this bill is justified under the Ninth and Fourteenth Amendments, and since it is designed to protect our rights, it is both necessary and proper. The right to raise one's child as one sees fit is clearly covered under the Ninth Amendment, and the Ninth Amendment, as written, applies to both Federal and State governments. The Fourteenth Amendment authorizes Congress to write laws protecting the rights protected by the Ninth Amendment. I would say the Constitution authorizes States have a parental notification and consent law as well, to protect their Ninth Amendment rights.

I will specify that this is not Supreme Court jurisprudence, it is Randy Barnett inspired analysis. The undue burden and health and privacy issues could doom this law, even under such inspired analysis, since the rights to health and privacy must be balanced against parental rights as well as the residual right of the baby. If I understand the commentary I've read, the Court does recognize the rights of the baby, but does not consider them significant enough to protect.

I hope he does not delete it. My dream is that Randy will comment, and perhaps even agree. Ah, the eternal quest for ego gratification.

I Used To Like Jimmy Carter As A President

I still like him as a man. But, in hindsight, his response to the hostage crisis was completely feckless, and must be considered a root cause of the 9/11 attacks. Full Disclosure Time: A group of college friends and I got together and sent Khomeini a pocket Koran with a can't we all be friends letter. What a yutz I was!

Via Mary Madigan, at Dean's World.

Sometimes bloggers meet...

The Read this.

Our Forefathers - Collected

Go check out our Founding Documents. And don't miss out on the double-sided single page copy of the Constitution.

Get Gmail

This service allows you to get a Gmail invite, and it works.

Loving Your (Political) Enemies

David Frum shows his love for Andrea Dworkin. He's a better man than I, and he makes some very good points.

At Least One Inupiat Eskimo Wants ANWR Developed

Don't take my word for it. Read Tara Sweeney's speech. She says 75% of Native Alaskans want the land they own to be developed. Does this mean those who want to keep ANWR from being developed are racists?

John Kerry Is Still Dishonoring The Troops

John Kerry is fishing for soldier as victim stories. Sorry, Senator. You honor our troops by telling stories of them as heroes, not by painting them as victims. Considering your past and your unwillingness to repudiate your consistent anti-military stance, perhaps you should give up on National Security issues.

The Real Cuba

Go visit The Real Cuba. BTW, their health care system looks horrible.

Via Kim du Toit.

Hydrogen From My Roof?

Tim Worstall says that we'll all be getting power from our roofs in less than twenty years. He says sun shine plus water and titanium oxide equals hydrogen and oxygen, and hydrogen and oxygen plus a scandium oxide fuel cell equals electricity.

Sounds good to me.

Via Deinonychus antirrhopus.

Why Radical Change Makes For Big Problems

Jane Galt may have the best post of the year about same sex marriage, even though she hasn't picked a position.

Via Instapundit.

Bork On The FMA

Robert Bork says the FMA is our best hope.

Don't Fight A Democracy!

R. J. Rummel has some fascinating stats on war.

...in the 19th Century democracies won 76 percent of the wars they fought, while monarchies won 43 and dictators 42 percent. In the 20th Century, the percentages are respectively, 54, 37, and 33.

Via Dean.

Hiatus

Hi, I'm Wince and I'm an internet junkie. Staying off the internet, including blogging, over the past six weeks has greatly improved my life. So I'm going to stay off it and do other things. You all have been very good to me and thank you.

You Wouldn't Leave Your Car Running, Would You?

Take the Identity Fraud Quiz, and learn how to protect yourself.

A Proposed Amendment

Karl Spence wrote the following to me in an email:

How about an amendment that reads like this:

The Judiciary of the United States shall not presume to exercise nonjudicial power.

The sense in which this Constitution was accepted and ratified by the nation shall be the guide in expounding it. Its provisions are neither to be restricted into insignificance nor extended beyond the natural and obvious meaning contemplated by the plain understanding of the people at the time of its adoption. Any faults it may contain are to be corrected by amendment as prescribed in Article V, not by usurpation.

Disregard of these principles is cause for impeachment.

If any of those phrases sound familiar, it's because they're lifted from the writings of John Marshall, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton and George Washington.

The amendment would need additional sections to ratify those changes the courts made for us that we should have made for ourselves (e.g., the overthrow of Jim Crow), and --- if it is to have a chance of success --- to give proper constitutional authority to a great deal of the functions the federal government is now performing (Social Security, Medicare, the Federal Reserve, national parks, disaster relief, etc., etc., etc.). Devising it and getting past the furious opposition of today's legal establishment would be a lot of trouble. But at the end of the day, we'd have the advantage of practicing actual self-government, instead of bowing to the dictates of a judicial elite whose interpretations of the Constitution bear less and less relation to its original, true, ratified meaning.

I like it. What do you think? You can also email Karl yourself.

Does HIV Cause AIDS?

Dr. Harvey Bialy discusses this with us in Dean's World. Sample idea: Out of more than 250 chimpanzees who have been infected with HIV since 1980, only one has gotten AIDS. Chimpanzees are our closest genetic relative, and this is the only disease we know of which has behaved thus. Doesn't that fact deserve investigation?

An Unwitting School Tyrant

Kim du Toit argues persuasively against a man who would force his views upon my children. Were you to succeed, Professor Apple, you would only force my family to flee beyond your reach. Your intentions are benevolent, I grant you, but like all who would impose your views upon free men, you must be opposed. In the end, you, sir, intend to be a dictator, a petty, harmful tyrant. I'm sure you will work within the system, like Caesar, but in the end your desire is the same: to impose your views upon us all.

Some Compassion From Our President

I have a sister who is so profoundly intellectually disabled that she cannot chew her food or sit up without assistance. The only reason she has lived this long is that my parents have cared for her to this day, just over forty-two years after her birth. The initiative Rich Lowry describes will not help her, but it will help the many intellectually disabled folks who can work. I've known many such people like this. They are hard, willing workers, who only want to live as normal a life as possible. Jeb Bush is an enthusiastic backer of this program, which is designed to enable more intellectually disabled people to enjoy the dignity of work. Hooray for the Bush family!

Bring Back The Constitution

We discuss who wants to restore which parts of the Constitution on the lawyer dominated group blog called The Volokh Conspiracy.

Can a 911 Hang-Up Provide Probable Cause?

Matt Rustler and friends discuss a case.

The Third for StoryMaker

My duaghters are crazy for Petz . And Petz is significantly better suited for children than Sims, I figure.

Hugh's Questions

Hugh Hewitt asks these questions.

Here they are with my answers.

Whom did I cast my vote for president for in the past five elections?

2004 - Bush
2000 - Gore
1996 - Perot - as a protest. I was sure Clinton would pull a Nixon, but I didn't like Dole.
1992 - Clinton
1988 - Dukakis

Do I attend church regularly and if so, in which denomination? Weekly, Church of Christ.

Do I believe that the late-term abortion procedure known as partial birth abortion should be legal? No. What I really want is a way to abort the pregnancy but save the child, like artificial wombs.

Do I believe same sex marriage ought to be legal? No. What I really want is research into the causes of homosexuality and a cure for it. Anything which so badly compromises the biological purpose of one's reproductive organs is a disorder, and you should be able to get a cure for it, if you want one.

Did I support the invasion of Iraq? Yes. I think it was great strategy in many ways.

Do I support drilling in ANWR? Yes. There isn't enough environmental impact to matter.

Here are Silflay Hraka's answers.

Another One For Story Maker

Man finds his old best friend via Google!

The Salvation Army...

...reports on the tsunami.

The Iraq War Is Going Well

Orin Kerr and friends discuss how well the Iraq War is going. My take is that it is going well for a war.

Accurate Handgun Shooting

Massad Ayoob, whose books and articles I highly recommend, tells how to shoot a handgun accurately.

Via someone in Kim du Toit's forum.

I Like Rumsfeld

So do some diplomats.

Via Dean Esmay.

Where To Donate

For tsunami relief:

The Salvation Army

World Vision

Catholic Relief

A Post For StoryMaker

Let's pray for Tara, and her owner, Ms. O'Brien.

Environmental Regulations Metastasize

Because environmental regulations are written without regard to cost versus benefits they often metastasize into a cancer on the body politic. Laws should not be written to make us feel good. They should be written to do useful work. Resolutions are what we write to feel good.

Military Intelligence Not An Oxymoron

Jason explains why the military should be required to perform intelligence tasks, not just allowed to, in this fisking of Bob Herbert.

Really, Bob, do I criticize columnists for expressing their opinions? Shouldn't philosophers do that? Don't get the analogy? Well, the military has been doing intelligence since the military was invented. They shouldn't stop because you want civilians to do it too. Aaaa, fudge. Mrs. Wince says I make terrible analogies. I'm beginning to think she's right.

Via Instapundit.

Don't Shop Target

I want to go back, but I can't. Not till they bring back the Salvation Army!

Paging the Nobel Committee

Saving the world from nuclear destruction deserves a Nobel Peace prize in my book. And here's the list of folks who could nominate him!

A MAD Situation

Instead of MAD, we could still have Accidental Mutual Assured Destruction (AMAD), like we almost did in 1983. Hmm. Glenn Reynolds is rightly worried about asteroid impacts, although not this one. I suggest we worry a bit more about AMAD. Bush and Sam Nunn are worried about it. I'd like to see some progress.

Why I Need To Be More Civil

Dean Esmay points out that the 60 million of us who voted for Bush are all called names here, in a post claiming lefties are more tolerant than righties.

I left this comment (which I am recording here, since she tends to delete them):

"If there is support, it's generally a statement of some rightie myth that's been proved untrue a thousand times over. And since I don't want to be responsible for the propagation of lies, off my blog they go."

Hmmm. That's odd. When I, a rightie, go to a leftie blog for civil discourse (I like Ara Rubyan's blog) I often find leftie talking points that I've found a thousand different arguments against. So, you don't believe my talking points and I don't believe yours. Even though I think what you are saying isn't true, I know you aren't a liar. We just have an honest disagreement over our respective opinions.

But if I stated my opinion here, it sounds as if you'd just call it a lie and delete it, because you had seen it 'disproved' a thousand times. I've found that many people can't tell the different between fact and opinion, and can't tell the difference between proof and argument.

Is this comment civil and rational enough for you? If not please give me some pointers.

Yours,
Wince

Clearly, I need to be more civil when I write about or to lefties. Hopefully I'll puzzle Ms O'Brien enough that the cognitive dissonance causes her to change her mind.

UPDATE: Here's my latest comment.

maha,

Name a typical rightie myth and give your proof against it. If you are like everyone else I've read your proof will actually be an argument (maybe even a good one) and a significant portion of your facts will be opinions (maybe even well-supported opinions).

Myself, when discussing with a leftie, I've only proved something to my satisfaction once. It took days and thousands of words, and when I was done, I hadn't proven it to his satisfaction.

Opinions are easy and everyone's got 'em. Proof is hard, and almost no one has it.

As my liberal Democratic Dad sometimes reminds me, "You know that isn't a lie, it's just a difference of opinion." And my Dad, so far,
has always been right.

Yours,
Wince

We'll see whether I can keep this up. Well, I guess I can't. That last comment was deleted. Ms. O'Brien's last comment was:

People, the topic of rightie pathology is not up for discussion on this blog. I'm not going to argue with anyone who doesn't see it. Your posts will simply be deleted.

Well, now I know not to buy or recommend Ms O'Brien's book, Blogging of America. If she can't discuss things with me, when I've put on my Politenessman costume in it's most polite mode, she almost certainly does not want me as a customer anyway. OTOH, considering how badly she's been burned by rightie trolls (and it sounds like she's been pestered by some truly awful jerks), let's cut her some slack. Maybe not enough slack to buy the book, but maybe enough to check it out of the library.

What My Kids Need To Know About Dogs

How to tell when a dog is violently unhappy, and how to react. Especially since we hope to get one soon.

Via Say Uncle.

Taking The Christmas Out Of Christmas Shopping...

...is bad for Christmas sales. I don't understand why Target thought they could kick out a Christmas icon like the Salvation Army. I want to shop at Target. It's clean, unlike Wal-Mart. It's aisles are wide, unlike Wal-Mart. You can get help when you need it, unlike Wal-Mart. It's merchandise is classy, unlike Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart has only one advantage: rifles, shotguns, ammunition and gun supplies.

But I can't shop at Target until they bring back the kettles. Listen to your customers, Target! I want to shop at the Shiny!

And I will too, and forgive all, if Target will just bring back the bell ringers. The Salvation Army raised nine million dollars at Target last year, their second highest chain total. To yank that away from the poor at a whim, without the support of your customers is a bit much.

Do Not Add Your Mobile Phone To The Do Not Call List

According to the Washington Post, any emails which tell you to add your mobile phone to the National Do Not Call list are incorrect. Telemarketers are not going to start calling your mobile phone. There will be opt-in directory assistance, costing $0.50 to $1.25 per call for everyone but Verizon customers. There will not be a phone book containing mobile phones.

A Miracle Of Production

So what's the real story behind the Humvee armor kerfuffle? Just a Production Miracle. Here's a telling quote from the Knight-Ridder article, "I have never seen a military acquisition program go so fast as this one."

Real Evangelicalism

Think John Stott, not some TV evangelist.

Via Dean Esmay.

Gotta Be True Sometimes

I wouldn't characterize all angry atheists this way, or even most, but there's gotta be some for whom it's true.

The Tenth

Say Uncle kicks off a Constitutional discussion that begins with irony and ends with a little acrimony.

Innocent Until Proven Guilty

It seems that there is a resolution moving through the House calling for Kofi Annan to resign. Well, Kofi is innocent until proven guilty of a crime. He appears also to be innocent until proven guilty of competence.

Had Ken Lay been guilt free of any crime, but was obstructing the investigation, would we still have called for his resignation? What if he were guilt free and cooperative? Let's be realistic. If he hadn't resigned he would have been fired, even if he had done nothing wrong personally. Can we apply a different standard to Annan?

No Shiny This Year

I won't be shopping at The Shiny anymore. Too bad, it's been my favorite place to shop for Christmas for years. Target has kicked out the Salvation Army. Next year they are removing all references to Santa Claus. And the following year they will substitute the words "Winter Holiday" for Christmas in all company memoranda, email and sales flyers. No Christmas decorations featuring Christian motifs will be allowed.

Only Scrooge will shop at Target anymore.

Radical Secularism?

Articles like these give Christians like me the heebee jeebees. People claim that they just want to keep prayer out of the schools, but then they take God out of history. It is wrong to fail to mention that the original and all subsequent declarations of Thanksgiving were feasts of Thanksgiving to God. Amazingly, not only does the Maryland public school curriculum fail to mention that Thanksgiving was given to God, they also fail to explain that Puritans were believers.

This staggers the imagination. To mention Puritans without mentioning God is like mentioning fish without ever referencing water.

In California a teacher has been forbidden to quote the Declaration of Independence because it mentions God. This article gives additional detail, including the this important note: It all started with a parent's complaints after the teacher responded to a student's question about "Under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance.

And so I argue for school choice.

Via Dean Esmay.

Tim Lambert, Read This!

Self defense is dead in Great Britain. Crime lives on.

Via Instapundit.

The Absolutely Relevant Story Which Is Being Ignored

Varifrank is very unhappy at the peaceniks and those who question the run-up, the justification and the handling of the Iraq war. Let him give his simple compelling reason.

Does "Never again" mean anything to you?

Via Instapundit.

Bill Wants Kofi's Job!

According to George Woods on 710 KCMO, a UPI story says Bill Clinton wants the Secretary General's spot when Kofi Annan retires in 2006. What a calamity that would be!

A Kerry Win Sends The Wrong Message

Dean Esmay says that if Kerry wins, "The American people will have shown that they are willing to let the press get away with blatantly slanted, context-free, anti-war reporting, and the political classes will have shown that they will exploit this for victory at the polls." Dean then follows up. If Kerry wins, I believe that American troops should not be deployed to the Sudan, especially under the banner of the UN. Somalia all over again, and we won't have a steady hand a helm anymore to make it work.

The Debate

Great debate. Bush won, but Kerry showed sufficient spine that I won't panic if he is elected.

Sure wish either he or Bush had taken the opportunity to send a nice clear message to Iran, such as, "I will take military action to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons if necessary." I'm sure Bush would, but I'm pretty sure if we elect Kerry, Israel is the only thing preventing a nuclear mullacracy. Yuck. And as far as bilateral talks with North Korea, that's a loser. North Korea always wants bilateral talks with the US. That's a clue. The clue is they think it works to their advantage. They don't need any advantages.

Kerry is still dissing our allies. That is awfully ignorant and short sighted.

It's also clear that Kerry wants to destroy jobs. He'll raise taxes on the small companies who create them. (Here's an idea, John. How about a new tax bracket for people who earn over 50 million dollars in one year? That should leave small business alone. Your Mrs. and Soros can pay.) He'll increase regulations. He won't reform your legal liability system (except for medical liability). He'll drop Kyoto on us like a ton of bricks. Sounds like double digit unemployment to me. Thank God for the Republicans in the House and Senate.

The Clicketty Clack Boogie

For your train viewing pleasure, Trains Magazine has a Web Cam. Registration and Java plug in required.

An Intriguing Interview With Dr. Barnett

This guy clearly isn't pumping out either DNC or RNC talking points. Read An Interview With Dr. Barnett.

Via Glenn Reynolds.

The Whole Story Would Be Nice

News Media, listen up! Read the entire Duelfer report, not just the bits that support your world view.

Mirror, Mirror

Could the Democrats admit Bush was right? Can that admit that toppling Saddam was the right thing to do? Can they admit that Kerry's way would have kept that tyrant in power? Can they admit that Saddam was going to break out of his container and get WMD? Jonah Goldberg says, for shame. Must Kerry and the Democrats define themselves using a mirror?

Observe Shrove Tuesday

Les Jones points the way to Shrove Tuesday Observed. You will laugh when you find out how literature would be if all stories were written like science fiction stories.

Evil Joy

The Anchoress wonders if the two Johns remember the woman in the black hijab. I think they do, but I don't think they learned. We aren't in a worldwide popularity contest, gentlemen.

Via Glenn Reynolds.

Kerry Was A Brave Man

Brave in Vietnam, anyway. But Mike at Virginia Patriots notes that Kerry claims his anti-military rhetoric was brave. Well, I suppose that since many people are more afraid of public speaking than death, his stance could be called brave.

OTOH, wasn't Tailgunner Joe famous for vague, hysterical, unproven charges? Wasn't the Communist menace even more dangerous than Vietnam? Why do Democrats vilify Joe McCarthy but praise John Kerry for behaving exactly alike?

At Least The Republicans Aren't Organized

Mobs of Thugs on the Left.
Single thugs on the Right.
Stand up, sit down.

Umm. Hold it.

Let's NOT fight, fight, fight.

Good News From Iraq

The next generation will make up for us underachieving baby boomers. BTW, the Sixties (with the exception of the Civil Rights movement started in the Fifties) were an achievement just like an enjoyable 120 mph street race which ends with your car in someone's living room is an achievement.

Via Glenn Reynolds.

Three Brave Marines

Hurrah! I found the two marines who charged down that Iraqi trench with Marine Capt. Brian R. Chontosh! They were both awarded the third highest medal a Marine can receive, the Silver Star.

The first is Lance Marine Cpl. Armand E. McCormick, who was awarded the Silver Star.

Under heavy fire McCormick exhibited exceptional bravery when the lead elements of his battalion were ambushed with mortars, rocket propelled grenades, and squad automatic weapons fire. Fearlessly he drove his lightly armored vehicle directly at an enemy machine gun position and purposely crashed it into an occupied trench line. With the initial breach of the enemy defense now gained for his unit, he sprang from the vehicle and began assaulting the berm and ambush line with two Marines. Taking direct fire, and outnumbered, he pressed forward, firing his M9 pistol at enemy forces. Moving through the trench, he repeatedly came under enemy fire, each time calmly taking well-aimed shots.

As the group ran low on ammunition, he collected enemy rifles and a rocket- propelled grenade and continued to press the attack forward several hundred meters. As a follow-on company began to make their entrance into the berm, he returned to his vehicle and backed it out of the trench. McCormick's boldly aggressive actions greatly reduced the enemy's ability to inflict casualties on the rest of his battalion.

The second is Marine Cpl. Robert P. Kerman, who also was awarded the Silver Star.

Kerman exhibited exceptional bravery when the lead elements of the battalion were ambushed with mortars, rocket propelled grenades and automatic weapons fire.

As the vehicle he was traveling in drove directly into machine gun fire and into a trench line, Kerman sprang from the vehicle and began assaulting down the enemy occupied trench with two other Marines. As the enemy soldiers fired at him, he fearlessly plunged towards them firing his M16 with lethal accuracy. Continuing to move through the trench he repeatedly came under enemy fire.

Each time he would calmly occupy a steady firing position and take well-aimed shots that had devastating effects in the enemy.

As the group ran out of ammunition, they pressed forward 200 to 300 meters utilizing captured enemy AK-47s.

He showed no regard for his own personal safety, and his actions directly contributed to the successful outcome of the engagement.

And finally, their leader, Marine Capt. Brian R. Chontosh, was awarded the Navy Cross, the second highest medal a Marine can receive.

While leading his platoon north on Highway 1 toward Ad Diwaniyah, Chontosh's platoon moved into a coordinated ambush of mortars, rocket propelled grenades and automatic weapons fire. With coalitions tanks blocking the road ahead, he realized his platoon was caught in a kill zone.

He had his driver move the vehicle through a breach along his flank, where he was immediately taken under fire from an entrenched machine gun. Without hesitation, Chontosh ordered the driver to advanced directly at the enemy position enabling his .50 caliber machine gunner to silence the enemy.

He then directed his driver into the enemy trench, where he exited his vehicle and began to clear the trench with an M16A2 service rifle and 9 millimeter pistol. His ammunition depleted, Chontosh, with complete disregard for his safety, twice picked up discarded enemy rifles and continued his ferocious attack.

When a Marine following him found an enemy rocket propelled grenade launcher, Chontosh used it to destroy yet another group of enemy soldiers.

When his audacious attack ended, he had cleared over 200 meters of the enemy trench, killing more than 20 enemy soldiers and wounding several others.

God has truly blessed America through the services of these fine men.

The Swift Vets Smear Kerry

John Dean and The Daily Howler show pure smear in chapter four of Unfit for Command.

O'Neill and Corsi stoop to calling Kerry a baby killer, when by their own evidence he was no such thing.

Stick a fork in the Swift Vets. I won't tolerate that kind of behavior.

Update: More discussion at Dean's World. I failed to give credit to shep over at Rosemary's place for the John Dean article. He and I have been going at this hammer and tongs there, and at Ara's place. I don't like John Kerry calling all our vets war criminals, and I don't like some of our vets calling John Kerry a baby killer. The ends (getting out of Vietnam / preventing a bad Presidency) do not justify the means. (Rush Limbaugh, Michael Moore, Ann Coulter, Howard Dean, Ted Kennedy and Al Gore, take notes. And no I can't think of Republican equivalents to Howard Dean, Ted Kennedy and Al Gore, because I wasn't paying this much attention during Clinton's gig, and I really don't remember hearing any Republicans behave that badly this election cycle. Maybe Mark Adams or Bill Underwood will drop by and remind me. I'd appreciate it. It would round out this little rant nicely.)

Bush/Cheney - Bad For Halliburton

John Edwards played Oliver Stone in last night's debates, going all conspiracy theory about Halliburton. But Bush/Cheney has been bad for Halliburton. Here's a useful factoid:

So, if you bought the John Edwards view of the world, then three and a half years ago when Bush won the election, wouldn’t you have also bought Halliburton stock? If you did, you got hurt. Since Bush’s inauguration, Halliburton’s shares have fallen 11 percent. To put things in perspective, other oil-related industries have risen roughly 36 percent in this time.

But, since the Democrats believe that a Presidency should benefit the President and Vice President financially, if Kerry wins, be sure and buy stock in Heinz.

Mark Noonan explains....

Kerry's Global Test. Mark says,

Winston Churchill understood things much better than John Kerry - he was in favor of attacking Nazi Germany even when the whole world was opposed to it; no "global test" for Churchill. Right is right and you do what is right even if everyone disagrees with you. President Bush instinctively understands this as well - we do not put American honor up for a global vote; we do not resign ourselves to evil because a majority of the world is unwilling to assist us in fighting against it.

Kerry gives away too much power by seeking popularity.

The Winners Are...

Gwen Ifill over Jim Lehrer and Dick Cheney, in every way, over John Edwards.

Dick Cheney may be the best Vice-President ever. I know he doesn't want to run for President in 2008. I say draft him. He's that good.

Kerry's Iran Plan Worse Than We Thought

John Kerry's plan would give Iran nukes by Christmas.

Words fail me.

Holy Katz!

Joe Katz says I'm deluded for taking comfort in Kerry's debate performance. He says John Kerry is an appeasing dove. Look at this analysis of Kerry on Iran:

Kerry's positions on issues like Iran are clear, and were openly stated in the debate: normalize relations with the world's #1 terrorist sponsors while they undermine Iraq & Afghanistan, offer them nuclear fuel, propose sanctions the Europeans will drag their feet on in order to stop a late-stage nuclear program that's impervious to sanctions anyway, and oppose both missile defense and the nuclear bunker-buster weapons that would give the USA defensive or offensive options in a crisis.

I'm Wince, and I'm wincing now. That looks like a strategy which will only succeed because Bush gave Israel 5000 precision guided weapons before the election. Thank God. Kerry will force Israel to attack Iran. I am not enthused about using Israel to wash the world's dirty laundry. I'd rather see American elbow grease applied to this problem. Take some responsibility, Senator!

The Best Thing About Blogger

They are still adding nice features. I hope you like them as much as I do.

One Peeve About Blogger

I wish Blogger would time stamp entries when you publish them, not when you start writing them.

Impressions On The First Debate

The most important thing I heard was that Kerry will not abandon Iraq. This is very comforting, it is honorable, and it reflects well on Kerry's character.

Kerry won on points, Kerry lost on style, and Bush won on substance. Overall I score it a win for Bush, but only because Kerry lost so badly on style.

As far as points go, Kerry made more points than Bush. He was more focused, and spoke better. During the second half of the debate, Bush seemed tired, distracted, and stumbled through many of his answers. At times I was worried he would lapse into the version of Bush we saw in that one disasterous press conference, but he was always able to rally himself.

I can hardly believe that I am going to say Kerry lost on style, but I must. How could someone as tired and distracted as Bush was win on style? He didn't. Kerry had the wrong stuff. Kerry's problem was that he was prosecutorial, not presidential. Bush was warm, humble, plain-spoken and honest. Kerry was arrogant, accusatory, blaming and angry. He lacked candor. He was dismissive and condescending towards our military, our allies, the Iraqi people and the American people. A Presidential candidate can attack in these debates, but he must soften his tone with humility, humor, compassion and respect for his opponent, especially since somewhere near half the country will not vote for him. Kerry failed. We aren't electing a District Attorney. We aren't electing a Special Prosecutor. Kerry is going to have to work with his opponents in the Congress, among our allies and among our rivals. He cannot take this kind of superior tone with them. We could use Harry Truman. Kerry was giving us Johnny Cochran.

As far as substance goes, I have little to say. Bush won on substance because I agree more with him on substance then I do with Kerry. If you've read what I've written here and on comment threads this won't surprise you. It's very hard to say Kerry won on substance when every time he opened his mouth I said, "That's not true" or "That's a bad idea." It's even harder when every time Bush opened his mouth I said, "That's true" or "That's a good idea." I've been following the politics and the campaign closely for a long time. The debate format is unlikely to allow a candidate to change anyone's mind on the issues, especially someone who has studied enough to form an opinion. There simply isn't time. I would expect most Democrats to call the debate for Kerry on substance. Your Mileage Will Vary.

I will say that Kerry seems too eager for the United States to be popular abroad. If subordinating our national interests to others would pay off it might be worth it. When Rome was the sole superpower, it was hated. When Britain was the sole superpower, it was hated. When the Cowboys were 'America's Team' they were hated. Dare I mention the Yankees? The fastest way for the U.S. to be liked is for us to be the 1968 Mets. I'm not sure why Kerry thinks he can buck this basic part of human nature, but he does. I'm also not sure how denigrating our closest, strongest allies and rewarding our rivals is going to work. (And I'm really not sure why Kerry thinks he can buck a 95-0 vote in the U.S. Senate. Was he Rip Van Winkle during his twenty years there?) If Kerry wants us to have more friends he should advocate treating our friends better, and treating our best friends the best. Like creating a Super Favored Nation trading status for our allies who sent troops to Iraq originally (and Iraq itself), a Well Favored Nation trading status for people who sent troops to Iraq now, and a nice new 1% tariff on everyone else.

Mrs. Wince says that the desire to be liked gives too much power to other nations. Nations then gain power by disliking us, criticizing us and failing to help us. The key is to do what is right, not what is popular.

213 Things Skippy Can't Do - The List

Read the 213 Things Skippy Is No Longer Allowed To Do In The U.S. Army.

You will enjoy it. Here's a sample:

145. I should not drink three quarts of blue food coloring before a urine test.

146. Nor should I drink three quarts of red food coloring, and scream during the same.

Via The Gantry Launchpad.

Maybe He'd Only Mess Up Domestically

Hurrah! Maybe I don't have to worry that Kerry will completely screw up. John Kerry shows his inner warrior.

I will wage this war relentlessly with a single-minded determination: to capture or kill the terrorists, crush their movement and free the world from fear.

And he's embraced Bush's grand strategy, too.

Sixth, we will promote the development of free and democratic societies throughout the Arab and Muslim world. Millions of people there share our values of human rights, and our hopes for a better life for the next generation. They are facing their own struggle at home against the forces of fanaticism and militancy. They are our natural allies. Their lost trust in our intentions must be restored. We must reach out to them and yes we must always promote democracy. I will be clear with repressive governments in the region that we expect to see them change – not just for our sake but for their own survival.

Now I just have to read (not skim) the rest of the speech to make sure he won't completely screw up Iraq.

The America Affiliate of the ISPC: The USPSA

The United States Practical Shooting Association is the American affiliate of the International Practical Shooting Confederation, like the Aussie affiliate noted below. The downloadable rules are here.

Apparently American Handgunner has a IPSC postal match (where you mail in your results) every year. Here are the results from 2003 on back. Here is a diagram of one of the match stages. You start standing in Area A, facing center of barricade with flat hands on X’s, and on start signal, draw, and from Area A shoot T1 through T4 and P1. Each target T1 through T4 is shot at least twice, then you shoot P1 (the popper) until it falls (one solid hit). Only your best two shots are counted on targets T1 to T4. The winner of this stage in the Revolver category finished in 9.11 seconds. Since that is a minimum of nine shots, and revolvers hold only six shots, that includes one reload. The shooter got 41 points out of 45 (five maximum points per shot). Youza!

Arnold Harris Wants To Win The War

I await a Kerry speech which is this good. A sample:

Because we always have been on the side of liberty and the freedoms that liberty comprises. It was exactly for that purpose that the great generation of the American revolution fought their war, with our armed countrymen starving and frozen in the terrible winter of Valley Forge, but never broke with the pledge they had undertaken to establish liberty on this continent.

We face a struggle of great dimension today, a clash of civilizations as it is truly termed. It is not a struggle that shall be won in one year, even ten years, perhaps not in a hundred years. But we must never surrender to the status quo of armed barbarism, gang rule and murder conducted purely to advance the cause of a crazed and warped theocracy or anything similar.

We have in fact no choice. We must struggle to implant liberty, responsible government and respect for human rights throughout the middle east. Otherwise, we must turn the United States and much of the rest of the lands of the west into armed, frightened encampments which, if pushed too far, may opt to strike back with our own very real weapons of mass destruction. Weapons that could burn up much of our planet. Or simply surrender to the barbarians.

Rarely has there been a time when so much of our future depended upon a solid, steady leadership characterized neither by defeatism nor by a foolish assumption that wars of this type can be won by a few strategic blows and without casualties. Whether or not we choose and support such a leadership will determine whether we ever can return to the relatively easygoing America that we knew before the age of terrorism.

Thanks to Dean for pointing out Arnold's eloquence.

Does Kerry Want to Win the War?

The Washington Post takes Kerry to task for trying to drive our allies away. In 1971, John Kerry said, "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?"

That line was the one of the worst pieces of irresponsible asinine rhetoric I can imagine. Why saddle the many troops in the field with that kind or morale buster? (Sign of a poor leader.) Why hand the enemy that kind of propaganda victory? (Sign of a poor strategist.) Why show a weak hand to the negotiators in Paris? (Sign of a poor statesman.)

That line alone is good evidence that Kerry should never have gone beyond state politics.

Now listen to his sister Diana:

Asked if she believed the terrorist threat to Australians was now greater because of the support for President Bush, she replied: "I would have to say that," noting that "[t]he most recent attack was on the Australian embassy in Jakarta."

She said this of her country (and of the war that Australia is helping us with in Iraq): "[W]e are endangering the Australians now by this wanton disregard for international law and multilateral channels."

John Kerry is singing the same defeatist tune he sang for Vietnam, Nicaragua, the Cold War and Gulf War I. Has this man ever met a war he wanted to win? If so, has he ever given any evidence he knows how to win one?

Compare and contrast these quotes:

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." (Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1933).

"We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old." (Winston Churchill, 1940, just after Dunkirk).

"Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." (John F. Kennedy, 1961).

"Yet this much we know with certainty: The desire for freedom resides in every human heart. And that desire cannot be contained forever by prison walls or martial laws or secret police; over time and across the Earth, freedom will find a way. Freedom is finding a way in Iraq and Afghanistan, and we must continue show our commitment to democracies in those nations. The liberty that many have won at a cost must be secured." (George W. Bush, 2004).

"As generous as you have been, we will stand with you, too. As stalwart as you have been, we will stand with you, too. Neither tyranny nor terrorism has a place in our region or our world. And that is why we Iraqis will stand by you, America, in a war larger than either of our nations, the global battle to live in freedom. God bless you and thank you." (Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, 2004).

"How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?" (John F. Kerry, 1971).

"The last thing you want to be seen as is a puppet of the United States, and you can almost see the hand underneath the shirt today moving the lips." (Joe Lockhart, 2004)

John Kerry has shown no ability to inspire us to win this war. He needs to hire me as his speechwriter. I'll toughen him up. Here's a sample:

"In the mountains of Afghanistan, a soldier examines a dusty footprint, on the trail of a terrorist, a killer of both Afghans and Americans. We will fight. In the deserts of Iraq, a Marine scans the horizon, looking for the roaside bomb trigger man. We will fight. In an embassy in Jakarta, an intelligence officer meets with his Indonesian counterpart, exchanging information vital to the capture of a bomb maker. We will fight. In a customs office in Los Angeles, an officer handcuffs a terror suspect. We will fight. On the streets of New York a citizen notices a man taking pictures and making notes of schedules, of guard rotations, and of security precautions. He makes a phone call. We will fight. We will fight on the streets of New York, of Los Angeles, of Kandahar, of Najaf, of Jakarta. We will fight if all our allies desert us. We will fight with our blood, our sweat, our sight, our words, our thoughts. We will fight and we will win." (Wince, right here, 2004).

I ask again: Where's My Cult of Personality?

Maybe this is a clue. Diane Kerry also said, "He responds well to challenges and has the reputation of fighting well from behind." So this is a strategy. If we are losing the war in Iraq when Kerry is President, he'll fight better!

How State Sponsors Gave Al Queda Global Reach

The Belmont Club shows the importance of safe enclaves for terrorists:

His last paragraph is crucial to understanding why the defeat of the Taliban in Afghanistan and the toppling of Saddam Hussein may have cripped global terrorism so badly. Without the infrastrastructure of a state sponsor, terrorism is limited to cells of about 100 members in size in order to maintain security. In the context of the current campaign in Iraq, the strategic importance of places like Falluja or "holy places" is that their enclave nature allows terrorists to grow out their networks to a larger and more potent size. Without those sanctuaries, they would be small, clandestine hunted bands. The argument that dismantling terrorist enclaves makes "America less safe than it should be in a dangerous world" inverts the logic. It is allowing the growth of terrorist enclaves that puts everyone at risk in an otherwise safe world.

Via cut on the bias.

Payment With Our Lives

Maybe we should encourage news organizations to pay money for story assistance. These other forms of payment are truly disgusting. CBS Producer Mary Mapes helped a dangerous white supremacist violate security procedures in the Federal pen.

And this is establishing Mapes as someone who has a pattern of assuming herself above the ethics and even laws that the rest of us must go by - all in the name of journalism. She clearly is as arrogant as Dan Rather. It puts her actions in calling Joe Lockhart in much greater relief, and as part of a pattern, not an aberration. She's willing to make deals with a dangerous prison inmate as well as a discredited (yet somehow "unimpeachable") partisan hack, even calling a presidential campaign to put them in touch with someone who has potentially explosive information about their opposition, in clear violation of journalism ethics, all in the name of getting a story.

Via JunkYardBlog.

The Junior Practical Pistol Sport

The International Defensive Pistol Association is the younger brother to the IPSC. Here's a description from their site:

Defensive pistol shooting as a sport is quite simply the use of practical equipment including full charge service ammunition to solve simulated "real world" self-defense scenarios. Shooters competing in Defensive Pistol events are required to use practical handguns and holsters that are truly suitable for self-defense use. No "competition only" equipment is permitted in Defensive Pistol matches since the main goal is to test the skill and ability of an individual, not his or her equipment or gamesmanship.

I don't know who does IPDA in Kansas City, but I'd like to try it as well.

Well Now We Know, And It's Official

As noted below, Bush is winning the all important Halloween mask sales battle 57% to 43%. And, as requested, here is a link.

IPSC Australia

Guns are frowned upon in Australia, where gun restrictions grow tighter every year. But there are still those who practice the shooting sports down under. Check out the home page for IPSC Australia. Here's their description of this challenging sport:

In Practical competition, a variety of target types are used (both paper and steel), and there is no set way these targets are arranged, nor even how many targets are used in a single match. A competition organiser creates a number of “stages” (conforming to a set of design rules), each using different numbers and arrangements of targets, to create a shooting challenge that the competitors have to solve as accurately and as rapidly as possible.

The other major difference to other shooting competitions is the way in which the final score is calculated for a competitor. In most other competitions, the score is calculated simply by adding up the values of the scoring zones hit by the competitor. In Practical competition, the time taken is also part of the final score. The sum of the scoring zones is worked out, and this then divided by the total time the competitor took to engage the targets. Thus the quicker the competitor completes the stage, the better the final score will be.

Additionally, stages usually require competors to move from a starting position to enable them to see and engage all the targets in the stage. This adds an athletic component to the test, as well as an intellectual one in that the competitor is required to work out the most efficient manner and order of engaging the targets, taking into account his/her own shooting skills, athleticism etc.

In Australia, Practical competitions are most often for centre-fire pistols and revolvers of calibres from 9mm to .38. Stages are started with pistols holstered on the belt, and most often will require the competitor to perform reloads of the pistol during the stage. Occasionally, competitions are also held for rifle and/or shotgun.

Practical shooting competitors, then, do not train by shooting the set competition over and over again. There is no set competition. Instead they practise the skills that are required to fit them to engage whatever stages a match organiser may throw at them.

I attended an IPSC meet at my local shooting range. Safety is paramount, and the club has never had an accidental shooting in its fifteen year (I think) history. There are two range officers working with each shooter. One follows about three feet behind the shooter to observe safe pistol handling technique. I was very impressed, and hope to try out this sport myself.

Well, Now We Know

On the radio this morning (710 AM, KCMO), I heard that George Bush is beating John Kerry in the all important Halloween mask sales poll, 57% to 43%. These sales have predicted the winner in every election since 1980. The count was in dispute for months in 2000, but they finally determined that Bush sold five masks for 55%, but Gore sold only four, for only 44%.

I'm Stunned

Translation: "You can do a lot in one single day; just imagine what can happen in three months."

Go and be stunned.

Via James Lileks.

This Name Kills Me

As Lileks puts it:

... the best Male Athlete name, ever. Magnus Scheving.

John Kerry Can Help Heal Our Vietnam Wound

When John Kerry either irresponsibly slandered our Vietnam vets in 1971 (my belief) or told truth to power (as others believe) he created, almost single-handedly, a festering wound, as Mark Steyn points out. I propose a simple strategy for Kerry to handle this. Either show his proof that his 1971 testimony was true, or admit that he engaged in McCarthy like tactics by making nebulous false charges against a large group of unpopular Americans without any proof. If he cannot do the former, because he does not have such proof, the only responsible course is for him to do the latter, and vice versa. These choices may be seem impossible now, as they would hurt his election chances, but they would still be the right thing to do. My questions: Are they perfectly possible November 3rd? If Kerry loses? If he wins?

If Kerry Can't Get The Vets, How Can He Get The French?

Instapundit links this Tech Central Station opinion piece: The Alliance Builder? Revel in this irony:

John Kerry failed to build a credible alliance. Unilaterally speaking for the group of 23 veterans represented in the 1969 photograph highlighted the failure. His use of the photograph was based on a fraudulent coalition of just 3 of the 23.

Emphasis in the original. If Kerry can't successfully reach out to Kerry-hating vets, how can he successfully reach out to America-hating citizens of this world?

Does Kerry Have A Yes-Man Problem?

In the comment thread of this excellent Dean's World post, Steven Malcolm Anderson says:

That's another difference and another reason for not voting for Kerry. President Bush has selected a rather wide spectrum of experienced and knowledgeable people to advise him in this War, from the dovish Colin Powell to the hawkish Paul Wolfowitz (leader of the Evil Jewish, oops, Zionist Neo-Con Straussian Conspiracy) and including Donald Rumsfeld and Condoleezza Rice. They disagree among each other and he listens to all of them. His Vice President Dick Cheney openly disagrees with him on the FMA. He even held his convention in the midst of screaming radicals who hate his guts parading in the streets, and without putting them in cages. If that's crushing dissent, I'll take more of it.

By contrast, Kerry is such a thin-skinned and conceited little snot that, if he runs his administration even remotely like he's running his campaign, he will hire only yes-men, fawning sycophants, to advise him, and will snap "Do you know who I am?" and "How dare you question my patriotism?" at the slightest whiff of criticism. That's no way to run a business, no way to run a government, and most certainly no way to fight a War.

I agree with Steven that Bush does not have a Yes-Man problem. I don't think Kerry is a "conceited little snot", but I'm not sure: Does Kerry have a Yes-Man problem?

Where's My Cult of Personality?

Joe Gandleman sent me to this post, which inspired this train of thought which I put (in slightly different form) in the comments:

I'm not sure Kerry's message on Iraq is clear, as Ara claims.

For me, Kerry has two problems. The first is that he doesn't want to commit to a stance and thereby lose votes.

I talked to one of the conductors on Kerry's campaign train who talked to Kerry for about a half-hour. He said:

1) After a little initial stiffness, Kerry warmed up and, in fact, you could drink a beer with him.

2) Kerry had a good understanding of the Amtrak problems. (What else would a conductor talk about?)

3) Kerry was highly critical of Norman Mineta's (the Bush Administration) approach.

4) Kerry would not say what he would do differently, even when asked repeatedly.

As for the second, maybe Kerry is being sound-bitten to death, but he can't seem to manage his message. Given the sound bites, he certainly seems to have changed his mind several times by now. Or maybe the problem is that the Democratic party is still horribly split on Iraq.

It sounds like Kerry's focus is on "bringing the boys home." Bush's focus is on victory. My desire is for victory followed by a nice long cooperative security arrangement with Iraq like we've had with Germany and Japan.

Frankly, Kerry seems to be replaying Vietnam, the Contras and the Cold-War. And he sounds like he wants to make all the same mistakes in Iraq that he made during the Cold War. When is Kerry going to support freedom and liberty? When will he embrace the historic Democratic emphasis on human rights and freedom, for which America will spend both blood and lots of treasure? My examples are Roosevelt (anti-Nazism, anti-colonialism), Truman, Kennedy and Johnson (anti-Nazism, anti-Communism), and Carter (anti-Shah, anti-Communism). Remember, Carter started the big defense buildup that Kerry ran against in 1984. Kerry complains about the 200 billion dollar cost which pales in comparison to Truman's Marshall plan. It pales in comparison to Carter's defense buildup.

I've left out Clinton, not because he wouldn't have spent both blood and lots of treasure, but because, although he did have the chance, he didn't have the necessary wake up call.

I don't want the US to become France or Germany (feeble military, lots of diplomats, plenty of money to buy votes). How horribly decadent. The Kerry trend is not my friend.

The Bush foreign policy is more like those of all the Democratic Presidents I mentioned than Kerry's. When will Kerry get fired up and champion the muscular, involved, proactive America of his Democratic forebears?

I'm looking for, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Nice soundbite! Or maybe, "Ask not what your country can do for you..." Instead I get whining which boils down to "How come we have to pay all the money and make all the sacrifices?" All over a war which is actually low-cost (historically speaking) in both blood and treasure.

Why can't I get a Cult of Personality, here, instead this long-faced dolorous nuance master?

9/11 Memorial Vandalized

I'm furious over this.

An Islamic Reformation

The New Statesman proclaims an Islamic Reformation, at least with regard to women.

Mrs. Wince Says #3

Mrs. Wince, "I need to marinate some vegatables, since I have a husband who wants to grill and some vegtables which are a-withering in the fridge. If they were a-mouldering I'd throw them away, but since they are a-withering I'll feed them to you."

Wince, "Good."

Mrs. Wince, "No, not good; if they were good I'd have to wait a week."

LATWTTER (Laughing All The Way To The Emergency Room)

Mrs. Wince Says #2

Wince: The New York Times is useless.
Mrs. Wince, deadpan: Lots of people have birds, honey.

Inspired by Rachel Lucas.

Fantasy Camp

People pay to go to Baseball Fantasy Camp when they are too old or too unskilled to play pro ball. Anyone out there who would pay to go to Boot Camp? How much would you pay? And how much would it cost, anyway?

Via One Hand Clapping.

A Blog Olympics

I don't want to watch the Olympics, I want to compete! Ever hear of a postal match? It's where you shoot your targets, and then mail them to a neutral judge to score them and declare the winner. It works on the honor system. We have digital cameras, digital video, etc. Why not a blog Olympics? You run your race, swim your laps, shoot your targets, etc. You email your digital video to the judge for your events and they announce the winners (and maybe post the video) on their blogs! Does anyone know how to judge pommel horse?