I have put off this trip for a long time. This is what far away is, I've come by train and I've arrived at the limits of wherever it is I know... Have only been here a few times after considerable effort to arrange to get out of town. There's a place I want to see - don't get me wrong: this small town on the line is a place I like and I've wanted to walk in again for a long time - to see people - artisans, a town brewer, little round streets. However, there's somewhere else I'd really like to see if I press on a few hours. Haven't I been there before?

A strange recurring dream

To keep with tradition, I drew this in class. I was trying to remember how to do vanishing points I learned in school.

I start in the morning in a cavernous station with large, looming windows. You look out the window and all there is to see is sky in all directions, like we're suspended from a suspension bridge or long floating isthmus. It reminds me of a futuristic port - there are moving sidewalks taking immense numbers of people to and fro. No time to take in details. There's a sense of urgency to catch the train, plane, automobile, whatever it is. It's disorienting yet very remarkable.

Some winning advice from Steven Seagal

In case of emergency: Break out Steven Seagal quote:

"Superior state of mind, superior mental attitude."

I don't like all-nighters anymore, but I have to summon some Seagal-like qualities to finish these two papers in ten hours.

Film at 11...

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Around the bend...

National Day of Prayer on May 7

by Donald E. Wildmon,Founder and ChairmanAmerican Family Association

The theme for this year's National Day of Prayer on May 7 is Prayer ... America's Hope! It's based on Psalm 33:22, which says, "May Your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our hope in You."
This is an extremely critical time in America's history. From economic pressures, to the ongoing threat of terrorism, to the unraveling of our culture's moral fabric, many people are dealing with a deep sense of uncertainty and apprehension.
However, we can be confident that when we come to God in humble prayer, He hears us and stands ready to respond to our cries for help. Our forefathers sought the Almighty for guidance and safekeeping; and we, too, can depend on His divine intervention if we will turn to Him in repentance and prayer. That will be our purpose as we gather with other people of faith across the nation on May 7th.
There are many ways you can get involved:• Join our LIVE online prayer room every Thursday at Noon CST• Find local events• Connect with volunteers in your area• Request free devotionals• Download prayer resources• Join the Online Prayer Rally• Sign-up for weekly prayer tips via email• Support Regan Smith, driver of the NDP and Furniture Row race car at NASCAR's Talladega event on April 26th• View GOD TV's LIVE webcast and television coverage of the National Observance from Washington D.C. from 9-noon EST on May 7th.
Visit www.NationalDayofPrayer.org to learn more.
Again, I hope you will join with millions of other Americans on Thursday, May 7th, to observe the 58th annual National Day of Prayer.
Sincerely, Donald E. Wildmon,Founder and ChairmanAmerican Family Association

One more for my karaoke repertoire

Overkill - Men at Work - 1983

Especially at night...

Brace yourselves for commie freako impact...

You've caught me in a grim mood, genteel reader.

My inbox this weekend had the makings of a big anti-American wallop in the works, a harbinger of unabashed iconoclasm well in the open:

1. Hate crimes statutes, a.k.a. thought crimes, (call them what they REALLY are) are percolating again. This screams against reason. Every crime is committed with a degree of hatred toward law and order. Why should there be double jeopardy for something done with an evil or at least untoward end in the first place? This threat stifles free speech, and sets a nihilistic snowball in motion toward 'everything's relative', 'if it feels good, do it.' No problem there - but anything counter to opening the floodgates in the spirit of said 60s mantra, then you're intolerant, and must defend against a label rather than advance with reason. A popular tactic of the scions of community organizing.

2. Jesus missing from speech: Why did The White House request the symbol representing Jesus be covered at the President's speech at Georgetown last week? At least The Sermon on the Mount was mentioned in the President's speech. Crickets.

3. Gov't vs. USMC: Look at the so-called Haditha massacre. Your troops are becoming scapegoated for doing their jobs and will need to henceforward second guess all of their battlefield decisions based on the fear of being prosecuted. Not a good situation to be in. May have been a similar instance with the SWAT vs. the evil CA parolee two weeks ago (the parolee killed 4 officers). I'm told the police followed restrictive ROE which made them less able to act, because heaven knows everytime a thug is killed, it's the fault of vindictive policemen. Lt Col Chesani has been absolved at least twice for any wrongdoing. How is it in the govt's best interest to spend this much time and resources trying to convict one of their own, and a war-hero?

4. Targeting right-wing speech: This exceptionally stupid report was another politically motivated attack on conservatism (see earlier post, 'Fusion Centers'). Napolitano, a former governor of the state of Arizona, could have done more, much more to stem the flow of invaders from south of the border during her tenure, but acted contrary to the wishes of her constituency based on personal politics - unethical and absurd. Now she's DHS? Good job.

5. Breaking news: (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,517137,00.html)

Excerpt:
Miss North Carolina Kristen Dalton was crowned Miss USA on Sunday, but the big story to come out of the normally politics-free telecast was Miss California's comments regarding gay marriage. When asked by judge Perez Hilton, an openly gay gossip blogger, whether she believed in gay marriage, Miss California, Carrie Prejean, said "We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite. And you know what, I think in my country, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there, but that's how I was raised." Keith Lewis, who runs the Miss California competition, tells FOXNews.com that he was "saddened" by Prejean's statement.

[End.]

So she was asked a loaded question by a pervert, responded in kind with her beliefs, and will probably be targeted by '1' and '4' above. I tell you what, friends: It's a race to the bottom. Any reasonable person should be outraged at the swirling cloud of anti-reason looming in. So brace yourselves. At least Miss U.S.A.'s standing up for normalcy, and maybe bought one more week for those of us that would like to speak out in public for the American way.

"There are no formulas for love, courage, sacrifice or compassion"

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Hwy. 75

Untitled

Sometimes I just want to get away from it all.

Hoosegow

Quote of the day

A pessimist sees difficulties in opportunity;
An optimist see opportunities in difficulty.

Aboot that last post, never mind (they were rescued) - wonderful!

Joes 4, Pirates 0!

Did not see that coming. Bravo! It appears to me that details of the operation were well protected to ensure success from a mealy-mouthed media disaster.





To those who are having trouble keeping score, I submit this quote:

"Pirates, Ninjas, Navy Seals, Cowboys, Vikings, Terrorists... the rankings are all too complex for me to follow."

"Easy. Pirates were the no. 1 seed in the West bracket and Ninjas no. 1 in the East. But that was the last tournament.Since then the Navy Seals took the no. 1 seed in this years tourney and blew out the Pirates out of water. Vikings lack any sort of credible offense to beat the Pirates. And as for the Cowboys, they got too much locker room issues. How bout them Cowboys?"

Piracy, meet Post-Modern Chaos

I added bolds for emphasis on this important statement on piracy.

I'm told 'man-made disaster' is the current administration's parlance for 'terrorist act', and
that 'overseas contingency operation' has replaced the term 'Global War on Terrorism'.

Hey - this isn't that serious! I mean come on, pirates are cool and well, let's call it like we see it! [Chuckle]
-Ed.

President Speaks to Sea Piracy
Source unknown
From http://www.therealrevo.com/

Since the pirates are still holding the captain, I have sent FBI negotiators to facilitate his safe and speedy release. I assure his friends and family that I will not stop until this man-made disaster is resolved in a peaceful, tolerant and ecologically-sound manner.
Obviously, this incident has raised many concerns among Americans. There have been calls for justice and even violence against the misguided perpetrators. But such an emotional reaction has led to the disparagement of entire groups with which we are unfamiliar. We have seen this throughout history.

For too long, America has been too dismissive of the proud culture and invaluable contributions of the Pirate Community. Whether it is their pioneering work with prosthetics, husbandry of tropical birds or fanciful fashion sense, America owes a deep debt to Pirates.
The past eight years have shown a failure to appreciate the historic role of these noble seafarers. Instead of celebrating their entreprenuerial spirit and seeking to partner with them to meet common challenges, there have been times where America has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive.

Some of us wonder if our current Overseas Contingency Operation would even be needed had the last administration not been so quick to label Pirates as “thieves,” “terrorists” and worse. Such swashbucklaphobia can lead to tragic results, as we have seen this week.
To address this issue, I have instructed Vice President Joe Biden to create a cabinet-level Czar of Pirate Outreach and Buccaneer Interrelation. In addition, June 1-7 has been designated as Pirate Awareness Week, during which all federal buildings will fly the Jolly Roger and sponsor sensitivity training. Thankfully, my American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will fund free grog and hard tack for all attendees.

Finally, to all pirates listening to international broadcasts, shortwave services and ship-to-shore radio, let me say this:

Ahoy, me regret arr relationship has set sail in a scurvy manner. Arr people share many mutual ‘alues and concerns on t’ raging main. Perchance, could ye handsomely release the cap’n o’ the ship and I assure that no harm will come t’ ye or ye hearties. Let us smite t’ reset button and launch our seabond on a new pegleg. Savvy? Godspeed t’ ye and t’ ye beauties. Aye, me parrot concurs.

The Mysterious case of the Denver Broncos

For some reason, a coach of the Denver Broncos football team implemented some kind of control about eating crummy food as a motivator [hygiene factor?] to try to turn the team around.

As to why the team was a 'laughing stock', I'm not sure. Corned beef hash = higher scoring?

Quote of the day: 'Horsiness of the brazen tart'

Subject: Dr. Michael Savage on Laura Dern's Golden Globes acceptance speech. Colorful English is fun!

I wholeheartedly agree with Dr. Savage's recent disdain of the the modifier 'so' as in "Thank you 'soooo' much." I paraphrase:

"You ever hear that thing that's been going on the last two years, 'Thank you sooo much.' They throw that extra "so" in there. If you hear that, you better go for your Glock because you're about to be fleeced."

"It's horsiness of the brazen tart. No wonder so many men are becoming gay, listen to these women."



My take on the matter is that it's a pretty crappy vernacular trend. There is no shortage of pretense in this; imagine a cake made of 1/8" bread and 7/8" frosting. (Unfortunately, so may be my bombast.) However, for that matter, the common greeting "How are you?" is also a bit disingenuous, but resists rejection because it is firmly steeped in our language tradition.

I once knew a lady who threw in the 'so' at every opportunity. I wanted to ask her, "So - what do you say when you're TRULY grateful for something? This, because you already said 'so.'"



Never fear, the 'sooo' trend is on the way out.

As for "Horsiness of the brazen tart," this is a figurative jackpot. All three reels landed on beautiful underused words. What's going on within this sentence, exactly? Facial structure? What about 'brazen'? Does this refer to one accustomed to pretense? I presume 'tart' refers to the category of the lumped America-hating femmes in Hollywood, very few resist the sway of the cult of personality. How could you expect them to?

Visit Dr. Savage at http://www.michaelsavage.com/



Cagey out.

Violence

'Shape of My Heart' by Sting

He deals the cards as a meditation
And those he plays never suspect
He doesn't play for the money he wins
He doesn't play for respect
He deals the cards to find the answer
The sacred geometry of chance
The hidden law of a probable outcome
The numbers lead a dance

Quote of the day

"He who has come through the fire shall not fade in the sun."

- Hindu proverb