Category: Politics

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This ’n That

Just a few quick bullet items:

  • President Bush had some great lines in his speech last night. Here are my two favorites:
  • “The other party’s nomination battle is still playing out. The candidates are an interesting group with diverse opinions. They’re for tax cuts and against them. They’re for NAFTA and against NAFTA. They’re for the Patriot Act and against the Patriot Act. They’re in favor of liberating Iraq, and opposed to it. And that’s just one senator from Massachusetts.”
  • “They now agree that the world is better off with Saddam out of power. They just didn't support removing Saddam from power. Maybe they were hoping he would lose the next Iraqi election.”
  • Last night I took Isaac and David sledding at Roby Park in Nashua. David has become quite the daredevil, which was surprising, because the last time we went sledding, he pretty much didn’t like the big slopes at all. (In fact, he used to beg to go to a nearby school for sledding that was about as thrilling as watching golf.) The slope at the park was mostly ice, so we got some great speed, and proved without a doubt that the best way to sled is to use David or Isaac’s smaller sled in front of mine, allowing me to hold onto the back of theirs and providing excellent steering.
  • Earth to the Palestinians: Want to get anything you want? Stop blowing up innocent people. One isn’t exactly going to garner sympathy by creating busload after busload of noncombatants killed by suicide bombers.
  • My team leader, Brian Cortez, gave us a milk crate full of model rockets and accessories. We will be repairing some of his old models (an X-16 looks particularly cool), and hope to have him present for its re-launch after so many years.
  • At work, I’ve been learning and working with the Jakarta Struts framework, which has been both challenging and fun. The only gripe is the number of “silent failures” that occur (a code-500 server-side error with absolutely nothing in a log file is not exactly easy to diagnose and debug).
  • The new commute is awesome. It takes me only about 45 minutes to take the kids to school and then get to the office in the morning, and I can get home in as little as 20 minutes. Even with slightly longer work hours due to the new project, family time has improved dramatically.
  • The new house, with the entire first-floor in an open layout, is also very good for family interaction and activities. I also have to thank Nichelle for her graciousness in allowing the Lego collection to stay out for days at a time.
  • Speaking of Lego, the new family room has enough room to spread out and build, and we are developing the habit of spending Saturday mornings building with Lego. It’s been great, although I’m still missing one box of miscellaneous Lego that got shuffled in the move.
  • Speaking of Lego, I have to commend them on their customer service. I e-mailed them a suggestion on improving the Lunar Lander set, by using gold visors for the astronauts (instead of the clear ones provided), and they sent me six of the gold visors for free.
  • Moving out of state costs money! (God has provided all that we need, but we have spent quite a bit on car registrations, new licenses, new insurance, new cell phone services, etc.) It seems one has to spend money to save money. (Our car insurance will drop about $125 to $150 per month. Our new cell phone plan will save us up to $100 per month. Gasoline savings will amount to about $100 per month. School tuition is cheaper. Now, if I could just get out of donating 5% of my income to the State of Massachusetts … but the law on that isn’t likely to change!
     
  • The Route 3 widening is a few months behind the schedule that had been listed on their FAQ until a few weeks ago. They are now promising a “substantial completion” by May of 2004, instead of February. Still, that is not very far off.
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    Lessons in Rocketeering

    [doug]This should also satisfy those of you who want pictures of our new house.(Well, not really, but there’s a picture of part of one room.) If you are planning to sell your house, then Sell your house quickly with Bonnie Buys Houses Fast which will help you in selling your property quickly and at good rates.

    Phil Luchon gave “The Boys” (which includes me) an Estes complete model rocket kit for Christmas. We got permission from Pastor Miller to use the church ball field for launching (try that in Brockton!), and got two flights up on Saturday. The first photo above shows David when it was his turn to launch. John missed out until the next day due to what I thought was bad batteries, but turned out to be a dud engine. So, I bought fresh batteries, and some extra rocket engines, and we planned to have another try at it on Sunday.

    Sunday included the regular church service, a pot luck feast (dinner is too small a term for it), and an early afternoon service. We had a guest speaker, a pastor from Arkansas who is being interviewed to become principal for the Christian School. There was a lot of teasing about the weather and his accent—Pastor Miller has a great sense of humor, and both services were a lot of fun, while being spiritually fulfilling as well. Bryan Harrington may be interested to learn that his Temperature Conversion Chart got read from the pulpit.

    After the afternoon service, we went back out to launch the rocket again. After discovering that the engine, not the ignitor or batteries were to blame, John got as near flawless a launch off as we’d seen so far. Then I decided to put in a size B engine….

    The flight was spectacular. The B engine took off with enough power to send the rocket at least a couple of hundred feet into the air (we haven’t done the triganometry on any of our flights yet), leaving us cheering, “Wow!” and gazing awestruck at the power demonstrated by the rocket’s flight. (The blast was hot enough to mis-shape the steel splash plate where the engine fired.)

    Unfortunately, the chute deployed at an altitude high enough to carry the rocket about 100 feet downwind, just enough to get tangled in the top of a tree at the edge of the church property. Despite John’s bravery (see the second image above), he couldn’t get a decent grip on the branch it was on, so the nose cone and parachute are still up in the tree, until we return with some rope or a saw. Thankfully, we shook the body of the rocket (which is not weather-resistant) loose, and that is safely at home.

    That evening the church hosted a SuperBowl get-together, at which I dropped John off, while David, Isaac, and I built with Lego. (See the third photo above.) You can see that our new family room has more than enough space to spread the Lego boxes out while we build. The pinball machine and pellet stove are in the background, as are sundry other items that have yet to be unpacked. Nichelle is going to kill me when she sees which photo I’ve posted, but the fun is worth it.

    While I was at it, I put up a newer photo of Naomi, for her many fans.

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    In MegaTokyo, This Would Be a “Dead Piro Day”

    Okay, that’s a bit of an “in” joke. MegaTokyo is an online comic I read. Every now and then the artist gets behind schedule or is overwhelmed with other things, and posts a sketch instead of a comic strip. We’re wiped out from moving (but things are great!), but I need to get something up on the BLOG.

    How Big Is a Billion?
    The next time you hear a politician use the words “billion” casually, think about whether you want that politician spending your tax money.

    A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, but one advertising agency did a good job of putting that figure into perspective in one of its releases:

    • A billion seconds ago, it was 1959.
    • A billion minutes ago, Jesus was alive.
    • A billion hours ago, our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.
    • A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the rate Washington spends it.

    How Long Is Too Long?
    People are complaining on how long the war is taking but consider this:

    • It took less time to take Iraq than it took Janet Reno to take the Branch Davidian compound. That was a 51-day operation.
    • It took less time to find Saddam's sons in Iraq than it took Hillary Clinton to find the Rose Law Firm billing records.
    • It took less time for the 3rd Infantry Division and the Marines to destroy the Medina Republican Guard than it took Teddy Kennedy to call the police after his Oldsmobile sunk at Chappaquiddick.
    • It took less time to take Iraq than it took to count the votes in Florida!!!!!!
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    Coming Soon to Country [Not] Near You—Your Job

    My yaar Pankaj Verma sent me a link to this article this morning, which predicts that by 2015, 348,028 U.S. computer jobs will move “offshore.” This is a rather frightening prospect for those of us who have been burned by the dot-bomb crises of the past few years, although this report includes the comforting statistic that approximately 1,761,000 new jobs will open up in these areas by 2010.

    While I’m on it, I still have two former co-workers who are looking for work after the big corporate “treatment” a year ago by [fomer employer’s name deleted]. These are both hard-working, highly-skilled, dedicated people, who, frankly, don’t deserve to have been unemployed as long as they have. Grrrrrrrrr.

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    Dumb, Dumb, Dumb

    [doug][nuke]It seems that today I have come across a number of headlines that reflect individual, societal, or corporate stupidity. Let me share a few:

    Individual: Not getting enough attention with your body piercings? Have your tongue split!

    Reuters Oddly Enough news simply titled this article, “Aaaaaaaaagggggghhhhhhhhhhh!!!! ” Enough said, da?

    Societal: Let’s boost tourism by catering to marijuana-smokers!

    A little history:

    Last month, the Canadian government introduced legislation to end criminal penalties for the possession of small amounts of marijuana.

    Under the bill, people caught with 15 grams (half an ounce, or enough for about 15 to 30 joints) or less of cannabis would only be fined, and criminal penalties would be reduced on those growing up to 25 marijuana plants.

    I won’t even begin to list the stupidity of moving toward the legalization of marijuana (but, hey, it’s Canada—the people who brought you the best argument against Socialized Medicine in North America), but check out these statements, made by “Prince of Pot” Mark Emery:

    ”Marijuana—that means fun times, parties, a cool city and an enlightened state of mind,” Emery told a crowd gathered in front of Toronto's police headquarters.

    Cradling a marijuana plant in the crook of his arm, and a pipe in one hand, Emery said: “Believe me, marijuana people don’t create problems like alcohol people. You want those kinds of tourists who are laughing, having a good time, and eating a whole lot in Toronto restaurants.”

    See the full article here at Reuters.

    ¡Qué bárbaro! (What an idiot!) Apparently, slowed thinking and reaction time, confusion, impaired balance and coordination, cough, frequent respiratory infections, permanently impaired memory and learning, increased heart rate, anxiety, panic attacks, drug tolerance, and addiction are not problems. You might want to wander over to the Partnership for a Drug-Free America® site.

    Corporate: USB Whah?

    Confused about USB standards? You will be.

    In December [the USB Forum] announced that henceforth USB 1.1 would be called USB 2 and USB 2 would continue to be called USB 2. To help the public grasp this subtle distinction USB 2, which was the old USB 1.1, would have “Full Speed” added to its title and USB 2, which was USB 2, would have “Hi-Speed” added.

    See the full article here at the Bangkok Post.

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    Cuba: The Forgotten Oppressed

    Mallard Filmore, from April 29, 2003

    [nuke][doug]It angered me when I heard (a few years ago) that former President Bill Clinton shook hands with Fidel Castro at the United Nations. Were I President, I would have relished the opportunity to speak with Castro, but I would not have shaken his hand, and my conversation would have opened with, “¿Por que odias tu propio gente?” (Why do you hate your own people?)

    One of the first Cuban exiles I ever met, Pastor Elmer Fernandez, has a lovely final memory of Cuba—he was able to flee to America to be with relatives when he was 8 years old—his last significant memory is his mother saying to him, “Do you hear that noise? Those are gunshots. They [Castro’s revolutionaries] are executing our pastor.”

    Modern-day Cuba should be a paradise. It has amazing agricultural and tourist potential, yet in all but a few areas it clearly demonstrates the absolute failure of Totalitarian Communism. We know a number of people who have visited Cuba, some on covert missions trips, who are able to provide a better picture than our media. Would you like to live in a large city that has running water only two hours a week? How about visiting a hospital emergency room with your infant, to find nothing but squalor and crying? Would you enjoy being part of a population that cannot buy aspirin? Or books? The people there don’t even mention Castro’s name—they merely make a sign with their fist like a beard.

    It is a pity Castro has lived so long.

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    Now This Is Just Plain Wrong

    In Denver, a judge overturned a convicted murderer’s death sentence because jurors consulted Biblical passages such as “an eye for an eye” while they were sequestered during death-penalty deliberations.

    For the record, Robert Harlan was convicted in 1995 for murdering Rhonda Maloney, a waitress who was driving home from work, and shooting and paralyzing good Samaritan Jaquie Creazzo who tried to come to the woman’s aid.

    The full article is available at Reuters.

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    We Were Soldiers Once … and Young

    [book][film][doug]Seems to be a good week for finishing books. We Were Soldiers Once â€¦ and Young—Ia Drang: The Battle That Changed the War in Vietnam, by Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore (Ret.) and Joseph L. Galloway, is the book on which the film We Were Soldiers is based.

    The film, although gritty and graphic, is probably one of the finest war films ever made, and actually does a better job of integrating the stateside events and human drama with the events on the battlefield than does the book. The book, of course, is more detailed than the film, although I was surprised at the high level of accuracy the film obtained—many historically-based films tend to sacrifice accuracy for drama.

    The book covers the events portrayed on screen, including a second (or perhaps continuing) battle that happened nearby shortly after the primary battle ended.

    Both book and film are excellent, illustrating the importance of training, leadership, and coordination of forces that are vital to a successful campaign. The book included a criticism that was not in the film—Due to President Johnson’s failure to declare a state of emergency and extend the active-duty tours of draftees and reserve officers, any soldier who had less than 60 days to serve on his enlistment would not be deployed with the First Air Cavalry. This left them both understaffed and cost many of their best-trained men.

    There were other Presidential errors as well—the North Vietnamese were allowed to retreat as needed into nearby Cambodia; US forces were forbidden to follow. Overall, though, these are mentioned more for historical background than anything else.

    Due to the improved emotional story of the film, I would actually recommend seeing the film before reading the book—something I would rarely prescribe.

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    Do we tend to act too soon or too late?

    [I]t was the United States—under Bill Clinton, for those of you keeping score at home—that worked hardest to prevent UN intervention or even from saying the word “genocide” in any official documents.

    Read Samantha Powers’ prize-winning account of this, A Problem from Hell, if you doubt this. It is just this kind of combination of ignorance and arrogance that gives rise to anti-Americanism, and no wonder. (And by the way, the Rwanda episode is by far the most shameful act undertaken by Clinton and company.

    —Eric Alterman, MSNBC