Saturday, January 26, 2008
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Their Finest Hour
I implore Americans to read books again. It will be difficult at first, have you given up reading for some time. But I want Americans to force themselves to read. Whatever they read, they should throw a history book in every once in a while, even if the reading is a bit dry, they can push forward knowing that they'll possess knowledge few others do.
Right now, I'm reading, Their Finest Hour, by Winston Churchill. The book opens like this:
MORAL OF THIS WORK:
In War: Resolution
In Defeat: Defiance
In Victory: Magnanimity
In Peace: Good Will
THEME OF THIS VOLUME:
How the British people held the fort ALONE till those who hitherto had been half blind were half ready.
In the theme of course, he spoke of Roosevelt.
Right now, I'm reading, Their Finest Hour, by Winston Churchill. The book opens like this:
MORAL OF THIS WORK:
In War: Resolution
In Defeat: Defiance
In Victory: Magnanimity
In Peace: Good Will
THEME OF THIS VOLUME:
How the British people held the fort ALONE till those who hitherto had been half blind were half ready.
In the theme of course, he spoke of Roosevelt.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Recession-Not
The sky is falling yet again. CNN told me so. Not only does global warming threaten wipe out Manhattan in a CO2 powered deluge, but the world hates America, millions are dying around the world because of American Imperialism, an Imperialism powered by us Capitalist Pigs. But, CNN and NPR told me that there's a recession looming. Thank goodness. Maybe people being out of work will finally cause Capitalism's implosion, as Hillary seems to want.
But wait. There's a problem. What the heck does the word recession mean when it comes to economics? Ummm, folks. We're not even close. Yes the economy has stopped growing at the rate it had been for several years. (Around 7 percent) It's grown about 1.7 percent in the last month. But as the word itself alludes, a recession is marked by a contracture of market growth for 6 consecutive months. I'll be sure to set my doomsday clock when the FIRST month of recession takes place.
Alas. It seems I was duped again by politicians who's only hope of election is to make me believe that I can't live without them, can't make do without THEIR system. Mostly their system is comprised of taking my money and my stuff. Hey Hillary--how about a smaller system? Would that be OK? Would Karl Marx approve?
For the next few months, until the general election, maybe I'll sit around, eating Soylent Green (It's people after all, and they're not THAT important), driving my Hybrid, and toting luggage made of Hemp. Great stuff that Hemp. But I don't light Hemp on fire--it messes with Serotonin, which is kinda important. And if on election day, I still feel like everything is just bad, bad, bad, I'll vote for the Party of Defeat. You all know which one that is.
More likely though, I'll vote for whoever will create jobs by cutting taxes, maintain the best military in the world, and continue to allow America to be the world leader in virtually everything good.
Till then.
But wait. There's a problem. What the heck does the word recession mean when it comes to economics? Ummm, folks. We're not even close. Yes the economy has stopped growing at the rate it had been for several years. (Around 7 percent) It's grown about 1.7 percent in the last month. But as the word itself alludes, a recession is marked by a contracture of market growth for 6 consecutive months. I'll be sure to set my doomsday clock when the FIRST month of recession takes place.
Alas. It seems I was duped again by politicians who's only hope of election is to make me believe that I can't live without them, can't make do without THEIR system. Mostly their system is comprised of taking my money and my stuff. Hey Hillary--how about a smaller system? Would that be OK? Would Karl Marx approve?
For the next few months, until the general election, maybe I'll sit around, eating Soylent Green (It's people after all, and they're not THAT important), driving my Hybrid, and toting luggage made of Hemp. Great stuff that Hemp. But I don't light Hemp on fire--it messes with Serotonin, which is kinda important. And if on election day, I still feel like everything is just bad, bad, bad, I'll vote for the Party of Defeat. You all know which one that is.
More likely though, I'll vote for whoever will create jobs by cutting taxes, maintain the best military in the world, and continue to allow America to be the world leader in virtually everything good.
Till then.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Reagan years--the greatest job growth in world history
This is an article published in the New York Times in 1990. 18.7 million jobs created because of Reaganomics. But the Dems still can't get it right. They still want to push the Marxist agenda, bleeding cash out of hard-working Americans, thus destroying "Big Business" (Darth Vader music, please). Ever been employed by a poor person? If you have been, I guarantee you were poor too. Corporate America is lefty codeword for "Tax Sink". When they speak of the rich--they're not talking about all the millionaire Hollywood actors hiding their cash in overseas accounts. They'd prefer to tax the hell out of these businesses, already burdened by near-crushing regulation, until there's no one left to employ you or me. And guess what? When there's no one left to employ, there's no one working to feed our welfare system or help Africans learn to stop annihilating themselves.
Article here: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE1DC153BF934A25752C0A966958260
Article here: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE1DC153BF934A25752C0A966958260
Who said this? Answer tomorrow...
Do you know who said this?
"Together we must also confront the new hazards of chemical and biological weapons, and the outlaw states, terrorists and organized criminals seeking to acquire them. Saddam Hussein has spent the better part of this decade, and much of his nation's wealth, not on providing for the Iraqi people, but on developing nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and the missiles to deliver them. The United Nations weapons inspectors have done a truly remarkable job, finding and destroying more of Iraq's arsenal than was destroyed during the entire gulf war. Now, Saddam Hussein wants to stop them from completing their mission. I know I speak for everyone in this chamber, Republicans and Democrats, when I say to Saddam Hussein, "You cannot defy the will of the world," and when I say to him, "You have used weapons of mass destruction before; we are determined to deny you the capacity to use them again."
"Together we must also confront the new hazards of chemical and biological weapons, and the outlaw states, terrorists and organized criminals seeking to acquire them. Saddam Hussein has spent the better part of this decade, and much of his nation's wealth, not on providing for the Iraqi people, but on developing nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and the missiles to deliver them. The United Nations weapons inspectors have done a truly remarkable job, finding and destroying more of Iraq's arsenal than was destroyed during the entire gulf war. Now, Saddam Hussein wants to stop them from completing their mission. I know I speak for everyone in this chamber, Republicans and Democrats, when I say to Saddam Hussein, "You cannot defy the will of the world," and when I say to him, "You have used weapons of mass destruction before; we are determined to deny you the capacity to use them again."
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Fire Base Cobra--Part I
This is the story of Fire Base Cobra--a US special forces outpost in Afghanistan. Enjoy....
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
The Iranians win again
The Iranians have won three victories against the West, in the last year or so.
First, there was the capture of British sailors--in which those sailors never fired a shot as they were being boarded and captured. Those same sailors were then paraded in front of television cameras by Iranian officials and forced to "confess" that they had veered into Iranian waters. Their confession was a de facto violation of the Geneva Convention--not perpetrated in secret with the hopes that no one would find out, but on international television with the hopes that everyone wouldfind out.
Next--the National Intelligence Estimate comes out and announces to the world that Iran is no longer trying to get the bomb. Hurraaaay! Party at the Ayatollah's place! Leftists were suddenly orgasmic over the NIE--the same entity that stated in 2003 that Saddam had WMD. And, even if Iran has ceased its bomb-making protocols, it's still enriching Uranium, which is the most time consuming and difficult part of attaining nuclear weapons. Once the Uranium shells are complete--it's a snap to build an atomic bomb.
Lastly, Iran again slapped us in the face with their little dance in the Strait of Hormuz. These tests are well-planned and thought-out missions. They are not haphazard and random flybys and harangues. There were certainly recording devices nearby on shore, taping the energy profiles of each American ship as the Iranians closed the distance. When did the American's first react? What was the active-radar profile at such and such a distance? How did the Americans manuever?
The Iranian ships should have been annihilated. They radio'd to the Americans that they were going to explode, then they began dumping boxes overboard as if they were unloading mines. The American ships inaction will cost more American blood in the future.
Al-Queda and Hezbollah believe the West is crumbling, weakened and degenerate.
They're right.
First, there was the capture of British sailors--in which those sailors never fired a shot as they were being boarded and captured. Those same sailors were then paraded in front of television cameras by Iranian officials and forced to "confess" that they had veered into Iranian waters. Their confession was a de facto violation of the Geneva Convention--not perpetrated in secret with the hopes that no one would find out, but on international television with the hopes that everyone wouldfind out.
Next--the National Intelligence Estimate comes out and announces to the world that Iran is no longer trying to get the bomb. Hurraaaay! Party at the Ayatollah's place! Leftists were suddenly orgasmic over the NIE--the same entity that stated in 2003 that Saddam had WMD. And, even if Iran has ceased its bomb-making protocols, it's still enriching Uranium, which is the most time consuming and difficult part of attaining nuclear weapons. Once the Uranium shells are complete--it's a snap to build an atomic bomb.
Lastly, Iran again slapped us in the face with their little dance in the Strait of Hormuz. These tests are well-planned and thought-out missions. They are not haphazard and random flybys and harangues. There were certainly recording devices nearby on shore, taping the energy profiles of each American ship as the Iranians closed the distance. When did the American's first react? What was the active-radar profile at such and such a distance? How did the Americans manuever?
The Iranian ships should have been annihilated. They radio'd to the Americans that they were going to explode, then they began dumping boxes overboard as if they were unloading mines. The American ships inaction will cost more American blood in the future.
Al-Queda and Hezbollah believe the West is crumbling, weakened and degenerate.
They're right.
Monday, January 7, 2008
A Writer's Diary Part II
Here we are again--in make believe.
In the first installment, I gave you a little bit of history about myself, as far as the writing life goes. Today I want to talk about something called the Writer's Trance.
I believe that if you are ever to attain a high level of competence as a writer, you must be able to enter a trance-like state. It's a kind of euphoria in which your mind is moving so easily and fluidly, that your fingers move on their own over the keyboard, the characters are speaking to you--and you're simply recording their actions and statements, as a journalist.
Is the trance something that can be attained at will?
Yes.
But it takes practice, and beyond that, it takes confidence. If any of you have played a particular sport for any extended period of time in your life--perhaps college athletics, or just weekend softball--you've probably experienced something referred to as, The Zone. Professional athletes seek the help of psychiatrists so that they can achieve The Zone at will, or at least more frequently. Here are some tips that I have for achieving the trance while you write:
1) Write a lot. The more you do it, the more comfortable you'll be. And believe me, it's all about comfort. Things need to flow. You can't feel anxious, stressed, or tired. Flow, relax, be Zen or whatever--just don't be worried.
2) Chuck the dictionary and the thesaurus on your first draft. You'll break your stream of thought if you're referring to Webster every minute. In my experience, I only have a couple, maybe three hours worth of writing time a day, in which I can write well. So I must cram as much typing into a two-hour period as possible. After that amount of time, I'm just too tired to write anything worth reading. Just keep typing and imagining--worry about the specifics later, in your second or third drafts. The first draft is for ideas--not grammar.
3) Be arrogant. Imagine yourself as a great writer. Believe that the great writers of the past are no better than you. Know that they all started at the same place; with no idea of what they were attempting and no objective way to tell if what they were writing was garbage or legendary prose. And they all started with the same cocky attitudes that said: "I'm good. There's something in me, even though others don't see it or know about it. That something drives me to write and to write well. Boy when people see this, they'll be amazed!" As a man thinketh--so is he.
4) Throw out the rules of style and the structures of schoolbooks. If you're writing fiction, that is. Write what YOU want. Rules are great, especially for beginners, but rules also make us consider the process more than the content, and this leads to anxiety. There are no rules in writing fiction. Read James Joyce's Finnegan's Wake or Ulysses or even better--Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow. These are extreme examples and not every one's cup of tea, but they show that there are people who will be drawn to your originality; they may even join you in your trance when they read your stuff.
5) Read a lot. Everyday if you can. Nothing can take the place of reading, in helping you to become a good, if not great, writer. If you don't have the time to read--you don't have the right to write. Read, and earn the right.
6) Stop caring so much. In caring less--you'll care more. Here we go with the Zen again. But caring really means worrying, and as we've said, you can't worry and write well at the same time.
Over time, after putting my suggestions into play, you may find that simply by remembering the feeling you had during previous writing sessions, you can summon the trance to do your bidding.
In the first installment, I gave you a little bit of history about myself, as far as the writing life goes. Today I want to talk about something called the Writer's Trance.
I believe that if you are ever to attain a high level of competence as a writer, you must be able to enter a trance-like state. It's a kind of euphoria in which your mind is moving so easily and fluidly, that your fingers move on their own over the keyboard, the characters are speaking to you--and you're simply recording their actions and statements, as a journalist.
Is the trance something that can be attained at will?
Yes.
But it takes practice, and beyond that, it takes confidence. If any of you have played a particular sport for any extended period of time in your life--perhaps college athletics, or just weekend softball--you've probably experienced something referred to as, The Zone. Professional athletes seek the help of psychiatrists so that they can achieve The Zone at will, or at least more frequently. Here are some tips that I have for achieving the trance while you write:
1) Write a lot. The more you do it, the more comfortable you'll be. And believe me, it's all about comfort. Things need to flow. You can't feel anxious, stressed, or tired. Flow, relax, be Zen or whatever--just don't be worried.
2) Chuck the dictionary and the thesaurus on your first draft. You'll break your stream of thought if you're referring to Webster every minute. In my experience, I only have a couple, maybe three hours worth of writing time a day, in which I can write well. So I must cram as much typing into a two-hour period as possible. After that amount of time, I'm just too tired to write anything worth reading. Just keep typing and imagining--worry about the specifics later, in your second or third drafts. The first draft is for ideas--not grammar.
3) Be arrogant. Imagine yourself as a great writer. Believe that the great writers of the past are no better than you. Know that they all started at the same place; with no idea of what they were attempting and no objective way to tell if what they were writing was garbage or legendary prose. And they all started with the same cocky attitudes that said: "I'm good. There's something in me, even though others don't see it or know about it. That something drives me to write and to write well. Boy when people see this, they'll be amazed!" As a man thinketh--so is he.
4) Throw out the rules of style and the structures of schoolbooks. If you're writing fiction, that is. Write what YOU want. Rules are great, especially for beginners, but rules also make us consider the process more than the content, and this leads to anxiety. There are no rules in writing fiction. Read James Joyce's Finnegan's Wake or Ulysses or even better--Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow. These are extreme examples and not every one's cup of tea, but they show that there are people who will be drawn to your originality; they may even join you in your trance when they read your stuff.
5) Read a lot. Everyday if you can. Nothing can take the place of reading, in helping you to become a good, if not great, writer. If you don't have the time to read--you don't have the right to write. Read, and earn the right.
6) Stop caring so much. In caring less--you'll care more. Here we go with the Zen again. But caring really means worrying, and as we've said, you can't worry and write well at the same time.
Over time, after putting my suggestions into play, you may find that simply by remembering the feeling you had during previous writing sessions, you can summon the trance to do your bidding.
Friday, January 4, 2008
What is God?
Ask yourself--do you believe in God? If your answer is yes--then ask yourself, what exactly is this object--God--that you believe in?
It is an important question to ask, for no man can be expected to believe in that which he cannot define. If there are no words to describe something, it is doubtful that anything else would do the job.
I defer to St. Augustine in his Confessions 400 AD, when he was 43 yrs old. Here is the philosopher/theologian/writer supreme at his best:
"...This is which I love when I love my God.
And what is this? I asked the earth, and it answered me, 'I am not He'; and whatsoever are in it confessed the same. I asked the sea and the depths, and the living creeping things, and they answered, 'We are not Thy God, seek above us.' I asked the moving air; and the whole air with his inhabitants answered, 'Anaximenes was deceived, I am not God.'...And I turned to myself, and said to myself, 'Who are you?' And I answered, 'A man.' And behold, in me there present themselves to me a soul, and a body, one without, the other within...These things did my inner man know by the ministry of the outer: I the inner knew them; I, the mind, through the senses of my body. I asked the whole frame of the world about my God; and it answered me, 'I am not He, but He made me.'
So you see, Augustine knew that there was no corporeal existance for God. That God exists beyond His creation, beyond all of the images that we bring to mind when we think of God. God is known from the objects we perceive in space/time--but those objects are in no way God. There is no place we can go in this reality that will bring us to God.
I wish that modern Chrisianity would move back to the thoughts of Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas. In the day and age of science and rationalism, Christians need to present their case in rational terms, to show the world, that a rational mind can--indeed must--conclude that even though we cannot ever be absolutely sure beyond any doubt that God exists(just as we cannot for anything), it is most likely that God does exist. Christian theologians must explain, that in order to believe in God--a person must first have the WILL to believe. Will comes before rationality and faith, both. One must will himself to be rational. One must will himself to have faith. Even in the case of God though, rationality leads to belief. "For by the things that ARE seen, we know of the things UNSEEN."
Stop putting God in a shoebox. The person who does this either wishes his own concept of God to be small--so that through logic he can intentionally disbelieve,(that is, WILL himself to not believe) or is being intellectually lazy, and appearing a fool in our rational times, thus causing unbelief in others.
It is an important question to ask, for no man can be expected to believe in that which he cannot define. If there are no words to describe something, it is doubtful that anything else would do the job.
I defer to St. Augustine in his Confessions 400 AD, when he was 43 yrs old. Here is the philosopher/theologian/writer supreme at his best:
"...This is which I love when I love my God.
And what is this? I asked the earth, and it answered me, 'I am not He'; and whatsoever are in it confessed the same. I asked the sea and the depths, and the living creeping things, and they answered, 'We are not Thy God, seek above us.' I asked the moving air; and the whole air with his inhabitants answered, 'Anaximenes was deceived, I am not God.'...And I turned to myself, and said to myself, 'Who are you?' And I answered, 'A man.' And behold, in me there present themselves to me a soul, and a body, one without, the other within...These things did my inner man know by the ministry of the outer: I the inner knew them; I, the mind, through the senses of my body. I asked the whole frame of the world about my God; and it answered me, 'I am not He, but He made me.'
So you see, Augustine knew that there was no corporeal existance for God. That God exists beyond His creation, beyond all of the images that we bring to mind when we think of God. God is known from the objects we perceive in space/time--but those objects are in no way God. There is no place we can go in this reality that will bring us to God.
I wish that modern Chrisianity would move back to the thoughts of Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas. In the day and age of science and rationalism, Christians need to present their case in rational terms, to show the world, that a rational mind can--indeed must--conclude that even though we cannot ever be absolutely sure beyond any doubt that God exists(just as we cannot for anything), it is most likely that God does exist. Christian theologians must explain, that in order to believe in God--a person must first have the WILL to believe. Will comes before rationality and faith, both. One must will himself to be rational. One must will himself to have faith. Even in the case of God though, rationality leads to belief. "For by the things that ARE seen, we know of the things UNSEEN."
Stop putting God in a shoebox. The person who does this either wishes his own concept of God to be small--so that through logic he can intentionally disbelieve,(that is, WILL himself to not believe) or is being intellectually lazy, and appearing a fool in our rational times, thus causing unbelief in others.
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