A Certain Je Ne Sais Quoi

Thanks for the Memory to Moonbat Central via Right Wing Nut House via The Common Room.

Oft we are reminded by many on the left and by Francophiles everywhere that we Americans are so simplisme', so naive to the ways of the world, while the French, well, the French are more nuanced, more sophisticated. This is evidenced by the grammatical and other verbal faux pas committed by our Commander in Chief. Why, a French statesman would never commit such a gaffe. They are far too suave for that, n'est pas?

...during the visit of French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy to the new Holocaust museum in Jerusalem's Yad Vashem on September 8, he asked - while perusing maps of European sites where Jewish communities had been destroyed - whether British Jews were not also murdered. Needless to say, Douste-Blazy's question was met by his hosts with amazement. "But Monsieur le minister," Le Canard quoted the ensuing conversation, "England was never conquered by the Nazis during World War II."

The minister apparently was not content with this answer, which, according to the magazine, was given by the museum curator, and persisted, asking: "Yes, but were there no Jews who were deported from England?"

Comment vous dites "Nukular" en Francais?

When It Rains, It Pours

First Katrina, now Rita.

I spoke to Vulture 6 last night, and Houston's a bit on edge. As of last night, four of the ten most likely models had her slamming the Texas Coast, and if the storm surge goes up Galveston Bay into the Houston Ship Channel, things could will get ugly.

What will be interesting to see is how Texas' response compares to Louisiana's. According to V6, Texas has been painfully aware of the consequences of a killer storm since Alicia, and are well-prepared. We shall see. The good news for Katrina Survivors is that Arkansas has agreed to take all those who have not yet found permanent housing by Thursday off of Texas' hands. That should help.

My prayers are with Houston. Neither the people of Texas, who are such awesome hosts, nor the people of LA/MS/AL, who've already sufferend enough, need this. God be with you all.

James and Jake

Remember that I mentioned the reunion of James, a blind evacuee at the shelter where I worked and Jake, his service dog?

Well, again, the media was there, and Houston TV station KHOU has the footage available for viewing online.

UPDATE:
Never mind. It's been brought to my attention that the footage is nothing more than the talking heads in the studio doing the "coming up" lead. I'll post pictures when I get the film developed.

UPDATE II:
My sister called and left a message that James was on the Today Show this morning.

Volunteer Blogging: Other Perspectives

Thanks For The Memories To:

The Jawa Report

Turns out that Dr. Rusty Shackleford isn't just my Blogfather, he's a fellow Katrina Relief volunteer. And while he wasn't a "first responder", he has been helping out closer to the "front lines" than I did. He has words for those criticizing the response efforts that arer as strong as mine were for those criticizing the relief efforts.


The Common Room

The Headmistress had kind words for me last week, and now she's directed my attention to the Blog of Dr. Goodheart, who has me and Rusty both beat in spades when it comes to putting his ass where his mouth is.

Volunteer Blogging: IntroRetrospection

Well, it's been 61 hours since I ended my last shift as a volunteer at the Red Cross Shelter at ChristChurch Baptist Fellowship, and it's 24 hours until that same shelter starts its last day of operation. I've had time to rest, recuperate, recreate, and reflect. I have memories that will last me a lifetime, though for some of them, "haunt" might be a better term. and I've definitely formed some opinions of the relief effort.

I'll never forget the lady (whose name I didn't even get) who ran from the chair next to me crying "Thank you Jesus! My baby's alive, I've got to find him!" or E., who still didn't know on Friday if the same was true of his son. His quiet dignity as he went about the business of living in the face of daunting obstacles was an inspiration to me. His friendliness and faith renewed my own.

It will be a long time before I'll forget the sense of purpose and significance I felt doing something as menial as emptying trash cans, or the satisfaction I got from guiding someone through the process of applying for assistance. People are better off thatn they were before we entered one anothers' lives. That's not something I can usually say after a day at the office.

Ironically enough, I doubt I'm as qualified as even the remotest blogger in Alaska to speak to the first response efforts, upon which so much of the attention has been focused. Quite honestly, this last week I lacked the time or energy to pay attention to it. But I CAN speak to the follow-on relief efforts, and perhaps there are parallels to be drawn. That is something that will be discussed for some time, I'm sure.

Quite frankly, on an organizational level, the efforts (even those of myself and my fellow volunteers) left something to be desired. It's not that we didn't want to help, and it's not that we didn't have help to offer, but the actual process of delivering that help was chaotic. The problem was that there was no central clearing house of information that could direct an individual to every source of asssistance available to them. My last day at the shelter was the FIRST day it was visited by a FEMA official. It was Wednesday or Thursday of LAST WEEK when a representative of the AFL-CIO showed up to let us know they were assisting with job placement for displaced union members. On Thursday, I helped one gentleman fill out his LA state unemployment form, when a question on it caused a lightbulb to go on over my head. I ran a Google search, and became the first volunteer at the shelter who knew that the VA is also providing job assistance, for displaced veterans. Texas HUD, god bless them, is willing to foot the bill for rent for qualified applicants (and almost all Katrina evacuees qualify), but it takes 2 weeks to process an application, and we didn't know this until Thursday -- less than a week before people have to be out of the shelter. Many national and international corporations offered relocation and assistance to their employees, but unless those employees think to look that info up, it would have been very difficult for their companies to find them.

I started thinking that what's needed is a database -- run either by an organization like the Red Cross, or by FEMA, that lists all of the different private, local, state, and federal agencies that provide assistance, what kind of assistance they provide, to whom they offer it, and how one requests it. This database should be available to frontline relief workers, perhaps through FEMA and/or a select number of private agencies (RC for example). The workers should have a computer questionnaire they can use to screen each victim -- are you a veteran? A union member? Who was your employer? Did you rent or own your home? Did you have homeowners insurance? etc. etc., and based on the answers given, the database is searched and all relevant assistance for that victim is brought up.

One other thought on the relief efforts: I have heard a few people, both bloggers and non-bloggers, make comments to the effect that the relief efforts are in vain because it will just turn the evacuees (who are all single mothers, according to these same comments) into welfare recipients.

Kiss my white volunteer ass.

I've been around these people for a week. And while it's possible that my shelter was non-representative, I can tell you that most of the evacuees *I* encountered were families, and MOST of them wanted jobs as much as they wanted immediate aid. And many of them already had jobs by the time I showed up.

To be sure, there were some who seemed interested only in the checks they could get from the Red Cross or FEMA. But to paint all of the evacuees with a broad brush would be unfair. They wanted a leg up, not a hand out.

It was quite a week. If I had it to do all over again, I would. I'm grateful that I had the opportunity to help. My thanks to all of you for keeping me in your thoughts and prayers. And especially, my thanks to:

The Feared Redhead for caring for The Lad, for busting her ass to keep our house, and for making it a home to return to;

Uncle Scott and Aunt Joyce, May, and Kimberly, for helping TFR with childcare while I was gone;

Corrine for the donation of the Frequent Flyer miles that got me to Houston;

The Sister In Law for donating clothing and cleaning supplies, for meeting me at the train station and driving me to the airport, and then for letting me rest at your house before heading home yesterday;

The guests of Gervais Salon & Spa who contributed cash for travel expenses and the purchase of supplies for the shelter;

Vulture Six and the Vulturette, for being such great hosts and transportation, and for the good company every evening;

Mr. Priapus, Darth Apathy, Vulture 6's Brother, Tito, John, and all the other Houstonians who showed me a great time all week;

The Congregation of Hosanna Christian Fellowship, my home congregation, for paying for my hepatitis vaccinations, and for praying for me;

The congregation of ChristChurch Baptist Fellowship, for turning your facilities into the shelter where I felt so useful;

The Red Cross volunteers who worked next to me and gave me such encouragement and camaraderie;

The guests of the shelter who showed me how to face adversity with dignity and humanity.

Volunteer Blogging; Day Five (Last Day)

Today was bittersweet. I am sad to be done volunteering, but I'm also glad that we've accomplished so much. I miss my wife and son, but will miss doing something that gave me such a feeling of usefulness. I made some friends, both fellow volunteers as well as guests, and I'll miss them.

But overall the day was full of good notes on which to end the week. In the morning, I was helping a woman in the computer room. After helping her set up her FEMA request, we went to the Yahoo1 People Finder link I mentioned earlier, and I helped her discover that her 21-year-old son is still alive. His last known location was the Astrodome on September 7, but he's alive.

:ater in the day I and another volunteer gave a ride to a young couple who were looking for an apartment. He just found a job as a welder yesterday. They found a nice place in Humble (pronounced "umble" apparently). While they were filling out paperwork, we drove over to a nearby Methoist church and saw to it that they were aware of the presence of this young couple and the fact that they'll have some immediate needs until his paychecks start coming in. The church promised us they'll take care of them -- it's already sent some of their own congregation as volunteers.

And the best news of the week. When we left at 2:30, there were a reporter and cameraman setting up. By the time we returned it had grown to four camera crews.

You see the shelter has in residence a blind man from New Orleans named James who had lost his service dog and longtime companion "Jake", a yellow lab. When I returned to the shelter on Wednesday, there were signs up asking if anyone had seen the dog -- apparently it had been rescued by a National Guardsman, and been relocated to a shelter, but noone knew where.

Well, they finally tracked the dog down to a shelter in Louisiana (Slidell or Baton Rouge, I can't remember which), and today a volunteer drove him to Houston. Right around 6:30, the time I was getting ready to finish my last day's work, I had the joy of watching them reunite James and Jake.

I'm not ashamed to tell you I cried like a baby. Most of us did. Not only was it a wonderfil, heartwarming event, it was tangible evidence that our efforts have not been in vain. It was a welcome release of the week's pent up emotions to cry. I'm really grateful to God for ending my week's volunteering on an up note.

Volunteer Blogging Lite: Day 4

All a Blur

I came home early from the shelter today, at around 3 PM. The morning was much busier and in the afternoon we had more volunteers than normal (and more than needed), so I hitched a ride with another volunteer. I only worked 7 hours. I felt guilty about that until I realized that on Monday and Wednesday, I'd put in 11 hour days. That compounded with late nights visiting with old friends had me exhausted, buth mentally and physically. Ironically, it did't hit me until AFTER I had stopped being busy. I was in the volunteer waiting area, waiting for something else to do, when I realized I needed to knock off.

Simply the Best

One of the reasons I was able to leave early without leaving them in the lurch was that the local Best Buy/Geek Squad sent over about a dozen of their people to help out. They freed those of us who've been there from being needed in the computer room. I still hate their commercials but at least I respect them as people.

Volunteer Blogging: Day 3

Back to Square 1

Today I returned to the shelter from Monday, the one at ChristChurch Baptist Fellowship. The other volunteers there seemed genuinely happy to see me, and not just because the help was needed and welcome -- we seem to have developed some real camaraderie. I think I'll be going there the rest of the week (all two days).

Marsha, Marsha, Marsha!

One policy at the shelter makes me really question my motives for blogging on my volunterering at all, and definitely caused me to decide not to catalog everything I do each day. It was a simple thing, really. At the shelter, volunteer vehicles are parked the furthest from the entrance, evacuee vehicles closest. And that's how it should be. Because no matter how much good we're doing, it's not about us -- it's about the people in need. Anyone who has a problem with that shouldn't bother volunteering for anything. Ever.

Yippee Yahoo!

I will mention in passing, however, that I spent the second half of my day in the computer room, helping evacuees with their FEMA assistance applications, job searches, apartment searches, and searches for missing friends and loved ones. I mention this in passing to point out some websites that really impressed me.

Yahoo has a People Finder that searches at least a dozen different missing persons registries. I saw it firsthand successfully locate at least one missing person. Very good for them.

If you want a creative way to help, consider donating frequent flier miles. MileDonor matches up people who want to give with people in need of flights. They weren't specifically set up for Katrina, but they are helping. The airline tickets donated by Continental were gone in three days.

Courage

This morning I gave a ride (in another volunteer's car) to an evacuee (name withheld) who needed to check out an apartment for rent. His wife already has a job, and he will get one as soon as he's found them an apartment. She has medical complications which require that their new place be right on a bus route, so he's doing the leg work while she goes to her job. He was polite and friendly and was doing his best to muddle through all the red tape associated with getting long term help. all this despite the fact that he still doesn't know where his fourteen year old son is, or even if he made it. I have a great deal of respect for the rescuers and first responders and relief workers and volunteers, but let's not forget the heroism of many of the hurricane's survivors, for whom day-by-day living is an exercize in courage.

Volunteer (or not) Blogging: Day 2 (sort of)

Arrived at the new shelter at Spring Tabernacle early today, around 7:45 AM. Was assigned to the already overstaffed kitchen. helped break out several cases of bottled water, Capri Sun juice, and soft drinks, which took all of 10 minutes. Waited for another hour or so, helped clean up by retrieving 1 tray of food from the service line, was borrowed by the front desk to empty tjhe trash from one men's room. When I returned to the kitchen, the work was done. Was sent to the front desk, who informed me that they didn't havre anything else for me to do, they're overstaffed. Went home 2 hours after arriving.

I did notice that this shelter was better organized, but there didn't seem to be the same warmth on the part of the staff. It was also interestingly differnet in that most of the evacuees at this shelter drove themselves out the day before or the day of the hurricane, while most of tjhose at yesterday's shelter were rescued from rooftops by helicopter.

I'm really frustrated. I came here to help. It's good to see that this shelter has all the help they need, but my day's shot now (no transportation to other shelters). Tomorrow I'll go back to the shelter at CBF. Today I'll sort the clothing and other supplies that were sent down here with me, in preparation for donating them. I hope the rest of the week proves more productive.

Volunteer Blogging: Day 1

Today was my first day volunteering at a Red Cross shelter helping the survivors of Hurricane Katrina here in Houston. It seems appropriate, since a Blog is, after all, a log, that I journal my experience. For the duration of the week, I'll just be recording my experiences for the day. I don't intend to make sense out of them all, or extract any deeper meaning or lessons or points, at least not immediately. I want to make sure I focus on recording, as soon as possible, the impressions I get and things I see while they're still fresh in my memory (with that in mind, but as an aside, Hepatitis-B vaccinations hurt worse than Hepatitis-A vaccinations, but the soreness from the Hep-A shot lingers longer. Trust me on this, my arms know from bitter experience).

I arrived at Christchurch Baptist Fellowship at around 8:30 this morning and signed in as quickly as possible. They set me to emptying trash cans into the dumpster. After I'd finished that, I was put to "work" (if you can call it that) sitting by the entrance to the living quarters of the shelter, making sure only the resident guests (evacuees) and specific authorized volunteers went in. It was tedious work -- necessary, but mind-numbingly easy to the point of boredom. If it hadn't been a needed function, I would have felt guilty performing it.

That job morphed into one that was just as dull, but a bit more physically demanding. I and two other male volunteers were tasked with patrol duty -- walking around, mall-security style, making sure that everything was in order on all three floors.

This tied up a good 30% of all the men working at the shelter, as female volunteers outnumbered male volunteers, by at least 5 to 1. what we lacked in numbers, we ,made up for in willingness to do whatever was asked of us.

Most of the volunteers were Houston locals, but I did meet one other volunteer with a storey similar to mine. she flew down from Colorado to volunteer.

While most of the guests were African American, there were some residents of the shelter, as well as day guests (who are staying elsewhere but showed up for assistance during daylight operating hours), of many various ethnicities -- caucasian, Laotian, natives of the Indian subcontinent. And while the majority of the volunteers were white, there was als a good representation by other ethincities.

A few things struck me about the evacuees. they were incredibly polite. I don't think I've been greeted with "good morning" that many times in one day in my entire life. They actually READ my name tag and called me Brian.

I also noticed how parenthood has changed my perspective. When I did have time to converse with guests, I gravitated towards families with children as young as The Lad. And our mutual experience as parents made establishing common ground blazingly simple.

But while they were polite and friendly, they were also quiet -- and I don't mean just a polite "Let's not disturb anyone" quiet, but an eery, shell-shocked quiet.

Furthermore, despite the rapport that has been established between the guests and volunteers (especially the veteran vlunteers), it was obvious they hit it off with one another even more, and had a kind of bond, almost like fellow soldiers in a war.

My final duties included helping unload incoming donations, as well as unloading the hot food delivered from KFC. I finishes around 6:30 PM, got a ride home from Vulture 6 at 6:45, and had a chance to relax in the pool before I sat down to Blog.

I don't have to stay there. Despite enjoying the swim, I couldn't help but think of those who do.

Chickens, Eggs, and Volunteer Blogging

Do Bloggers manage to find something noteworthy in every experience, or do people who frequently have noteworthy experiences end up Blogging?

In my case it's probably a bit of both. Take my current trip to Houston to help with hurricane relief. I hadn't even left Oregon, heck, I hadn't even left at all before things got interesting.

It had been three years since I'd seen Vulture Six and his wife at their wedding, so The Feared Redhead insisted we develop the pictures we have of The Lad to bring down and show them. Of course I managed to not get this done until Friday. So I trekked over to the local Wal-Mart in Springfield to use their one hour lab (the only one in town that takes film that late in the afternoon.

By the time I got them in (4:50 PM), they told me it would be two hours, not one. I was fine with that. Two hours gave me time to feed The Lad, do some laundry and packing, then pick up the pictures, then go pick up TFR from work.

Right.

Of course, The Lad was cranky because of his teething, so very little trip preparation got done. Then, when we arrived at Wal-Mart to pick up the pictures, we were informed that they were not ready yet. Give them 45 more minutes, and they'll be on the house.

So we waited. It was too impractical to go home and come back, so we stayed at the store. And I proceeded to forget to use the time to pick up needed supplies for the trip.

The 45 minutes elapsed, and still no pictures. By now TFR had called and was ready to be picked up from work. I told her (and kept her informed, in a running series of phone conversations) they said it would be 15 more minutes.

It was actually 30 more minutes. But eventually I got the pictures and escaped Wal-Mart (yes, yes, I'll post them soon, patience). By the time I drove to downtown Eugene, met TFR at the restaurant where she was eating while waiting, got home, got packed, and got to bed, it was around 11 or so instead of the intended target time of 9 PM.

Nonetheless, I managed to get up at 4:10 AM yesterday and get going rather quickly. The plan was to catch the 5:45 Amtrak Cascades, which would put me in Portland at around 8:30. That would give me a full 5 hours before my flight time, plenty of time for the SIL to pick me up, take me to Fred Meyer to buy snack supplies, and get me to the airport.

The countryside through which the train cruises is much more scenic than the view along I-5, but one spot along the way, just outside Aurora, Oregon, I got to know too well. We stopped to let a UP freght pass us onto a siding before we could proceed. The freight train managed to break down right next to us, before it could clear the track. We sat for two hours waiting for it to be repaired, during which time we had not eta on the repairs. I don't suppose you'll be surprised when I tell you that those of us with appointments to keep (a couple who ended up missing a wedding they were to attend, three other people with flights even erlier than mine, etc.) were a bit on the... anxious... side.

Finally, they repaired the computer that was giving the UP train fits, and it, and then we, were on our way. we pulled into Union Station around 10:30 or 11:00. By this time I knew I was SO Blogging on the whole adventure.

Thankfully, the airport and my flight went off without a hitch, and here I am in Houston. Today I'm scheduled to go get my Hepatitis vaccine (already have a tetanus booster under my belt), and also hope to finalize the details of where I'll be spending my volunteer time. I also need to deliver the donated goods TFR sent with me.

Let's just hope today doesn't go like yesterday.

Chefs Are From Mars, Cooks Are From Venus?

Professor Chaos has an interesting take on Mom vs. Dad cooking styles and the lessons they taught us:

"Without saying a word, what our mothers taught us is that cooking is the process of feeding a family. This is in stark contrast to what our fathers believe, which is that cooking is a process in which you invent unique and delicious creations and through which you bond with your kids."

To a certain extent, I can see his point. However, in my family, it was a little more complicated than that, in part because of my parents' backgrounds and upbringing.

My mother pursued a degree in what was then called (quite un-PC'ly) Home Economics. She never finished the degree, because she married my father and found herself in the practical side of the discipline instead of the theoretical, but she never forgot what she had learned. I'm convinced that her abilities in those pursuits were as much talent as skill, but that's a matter for another discussion.

The point is, she knew her stuff when it came to the kitchen. A lot of people, especially women of her generation, that I know, know how to cook the dishes that they were taught growing up. They know that X dish requires Y ingredients cooked for Z time and temperature. But my mother taught me the basics -- how to boil water, and eggs, and how to regulate temperature and not burn milk and how salt or pepper or sugar or any number of spices affected flavor. In short, she laid the foundational knowledge that would eventually allow me to not only follow a recipe, but to avoid catastrophe when not following one specifically. And yes, she did teach me more of the practical side of cooking.

My father had no such formal training in cooking. What he did have was a childhood and adulthood of abject poverty, which taught him quite well how to make do with what he had. This meant that my father was almost an artist at taking the simplest, cheapest of ingrediants and making something flavorful out of them (as witnessed by his potato soup recipe). This meant he was, to admit it, far more creative in the kitchen than my mother was. However, my mothers ability to master any cooking style taught to her is unsurpassed. She can bake pastry, can, pickle, and handle just about any task set before her. My fathers SKILLS were limited to frying, grilling, and a little bit of baking, but what he DID coook was always inventive, interesting, tasty, and well-presented.

One last point to make, as an observation not of my parents but of my own progression as a cook: Professor Chaos should have not only compared men to women, but SINGLE men to MARRIED men. I remember how I used to bristle when I'd hear people make the tired old joke that bachelors can't cook. I knew it was BS because I was a bachelor and I could certainly cook. But I noticed that I didn't cook. Or at least, not much beyond tossing something into the microwave. But the abilities were there. Why didn't I use them?

The answer came to me when I started having a social/party/dating life, and suddenly found myself throwing together some damned good recipes. It was obvious. Men cook fancy only when we have an audience. Why bother going to all that trouble to make something special and present it nicely if you're the only person who'll experience it? But when we have other people who can appreciate the effort, especially if that person is an attractive woman, well then, suddenly we're Bobby Freaking Flay.

That, I think, is the REAL difference between male and female cooking styles. Women cook to feed families, men cook to woo women.

The Fight Is On

The Lad just turned 7 months a week or so ago, and already we're engaged in our first battle of wills with him. He's grown accustomed (our fault) to being rocked to sleep, and will not go to sleep at night if you lay him in his crib while still awake. So we've started to put him down anyway, and let him learn to fall asleep.

Easier said than done.

The instinctive reaction of any parent (well, any decent parent) is to want to rush to our baby's side as soon as he cries. Crying is a natural reaction to distress, and is a good indicator that something's wrong. Usually, something mundane but nonetheless worthy of attention, like a dirty diaper of an empty belly or an "owie" (that's the medical term, laymen may know it as a "boo boo"). It can also be an indication of more dire distress.

But in this case, it's him being pissed because we're not giving in to what HE wants.

Well, not right away.

The truth is, it's not going so swimmingly. We're supposed to let him fuss for about five minutes, then go tell him he's alright, make sure he's covered and comfy, and then leave him in the crib. That, at least, is the theory. In practice, we make it about 2-4 minutes between each time we respond (due to the mounting fury of his cries), and after 3 or 4 times, we usually give in and pick him up, rocking him to sleep as he wants.

So we're in a no-win situation. If we leave him in his crib, his cries break my heart. My greatest fear in life is that I would ever neglect my child. If we pick him up, we fail to help him learn, and are spoiling him. My second greatest fear in life is that I will fail my child in rearing him right.

I've a feeling that while the battle of wills over going to sleep will one day be over, the deeper internal struggle will go on forever.

Jason Atkinson Leads the Way

Gullyborg over at Resistance is Futile reports on yesterday's meeting between GOP gubernatorial candidate Jason Atkinson and Oregon Bloggers. From what he has to say, I'm liking Atkinson more and more all the time.

I also look forward to the next meeting between Bloggers and Atkinson, hopefully I can attend the next one.

Oregon: A Swell State

Thanks for the Memory to friend (but not fellow blogger) Lurch.

After meeting TFR at her work each day and taking the helm of the MoronMobile, We drive along I-205 back towards home, to be greeted by the picture-framed view of the Three Sisters, a set of tall peaks in the Cascade Range.

Well, soon there may be a fourth sister.

Or maybe not, according to the article.

I've known about the bulge growing in the area for some time, but I didn't have all the details right. I thought it was one of the Sisters herself. But apparently it's a region near the mountain.

I also learned something I didn't know, but doesn't surprise me, which is that Oregon is home to 4 of the 18 most active volcanoes in the U.S. (Putting us in such impressive company as Washington, Alaska, and Hawaii. Welcome to the Ring of Fire, baby!). Those four are Mount Hood (I suspected that), Crater Lake (I thought she was extinct, but apparently is only dormant), Newberry Crater, and South Sister.

It was also a bit unsettling to learn how inadequate monitoring of them is. Usually volcanoes give you some advance warning, but still, the sooner we know the better, doncha think?

Whether the magma will move again or ever reach the surface is a mystery. But if it did, geological history suggests it would result only in small cinder cones that spew ash and lava.

...but would still be cool to watch.

The good news is that such an eruption likely would not seriously affect any population centers, Chitwood said.

Yeah, except for Bend, that's pretty remote country.

This could be kind of cool. Back when I thought one of the Sisters herself was bulging, I was worried about the towns and the city of bend and all the potentially threatened wildlife. But if it results in a much smaller but still interesting to watch event, it's a win-win. Scientists get the chance to observe a volcano being born, Oregon Tourism gets a boost, and the Cascades get to blow off a little stress, all without any real harm being done.

Cooking Blues

It's been a while since I posted a recipe, mostly because it's been a while since I had a chance to try any new ones out. Last night I had a chance to tinker, and came up with a cool dessert recipe. I hope to embellish it later, but for now it's pretty good on its own for now:

Sweet Blue Corn and Hazelnut Tamales

1 cup masa
1 cup blue corn meal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup apple juice
1/4 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup oil or melted shortening
1/4 cup chopped hazelnuts

dried cornhusks, soaked for 2 hours in cold water

combine the dry ingredients in a glass bowl. In a small saucepan, combine sugar, honey, vanilla, and apple juice. Heat over low until lukewarm, stirring until sugar and honey are melted. Pour into dry mix, mixing together with your hands until you have a smooth, lump-free dough.

using a mixer, beat shortening until fluffy. combine dough, mix thoroughly and continue to beat until light.

place 2-4 tablespoons of dough in each cornhusk, fold sides over and then fold over ends. Steam approximately 1 hour or until husks no longer stick to the tamale.

Makes a bunch.

I'm considering a couple of ideas for a sauce to pour over them, but nothing yet.

A Little Good News

Thanks for the Memory to Howie, posting for Blogfather Rusty.

Hostage Roy Hallums has been released!

Rusty's been deeply involved for some time in the effort not to let Roy be forgotten. It looks like that effort was not in vain. The story of his release is running on Fox News, CNN, and the NY Times. This is good news indeed.

Rusty points out that up until now, for the months that Roy was missing, the State Department would not comment on the existence of another US Hostage in Iraq. Given the news today, I can't help but wonder if that wasn't for purposes of Opsec (Operational Security). The less they talked about him, the less wary the Tangoes would be of search efforts.

Either way, I'm glad he's free. Congratulations to Roy, his family, the brave US soldiers who rescued him, and to the Jawa Report for keeping the faith all this time.

Long Shot

I've been conversing with Vulture Six, my impending host, who is recommending that I make sure I get vaccinations for Hepatitis-A, Tetanus, and Influenza.

So the next day or so will be spent looking into that. Wish me luck.

I'm not squeamish about needles -- as a veteran of childhood diseases and surgeries, they're old hat. I am squeamish about the effect on my wallet.

Phoenix Rising

This is a Bleg for information.

It has come to my attention that I have a four hour layover in Phoenix on my way home. Is there anyone in the Phoenix area who can recommend something to see that:

A) can be reached quickly enough to get there, do/see it, and get back to the airport without jeopardizing my next flight;
B) Is worth the trouble?

UPDATE:

Whoops. Never mind, I was looking at the second flights ARRIVAL time in Portland, not it's DEPARTURE time in Phoenix. Layover's an hour at most.

News From the Home Front Lines

The following was forwarded to me from my cousin, whose boyfriend is serving on one of the U.S. Navy ships in the story, the U.S.S. Bataan. It gives a glimpse of the earliest rescue efforts put forth by the Navy, immediately after Katrina swept through:

THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 03 SEP 05

Crew Faces Uncertainty In Gulf
By KATE WILTROUT, The Virginian-Pilot

ABOARD THE BATAAN, GULF OF MEXICO — If all had gone according to plan, the 1,300 sailors aboard this ship would have returned to Norfolk on Friday in time to celebrate the holiday weekend with their families.

Instead, after six weeks at sea for a maritime exercise, the amphibious assault ship is doing doughnuts in the gulf, its flight deck buffeted by the rotor wash of search-and-rescue helicopters flying up and down the hurricane-battered coast. Friday, the Bataan took on more than 80 medical personnel pulled from duty at a Jacksonville, Fla., naval hospital. The surgeons, pediatricians, anesthetists and obstetrician-gynecologists don’t know whether they will treat hurricane victims flown aboard ship or if they’ll be asked to set up a makeshift clinic on the beach.

The Bataan’s crew lives with the same uncertainty. Since Sunday, it has been the only major Navy ship in the area, and it’s doing a little bit of everything. Helicopters have left its flight deck carrying pallets of peanut butter, Vienna sausages and water. They’ve plucked survivors off the roofs of flooded buildings. The 12-man crew of the Bataan’s landing craft utility, from Virginia Beach’s Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base, has seen the devastation up close. The boat spent two days navigating the Mississippi River, looking for signs of human life along its banks. Instead it found the bloated carcasses of cows, horses, dogs and alligators.

When the boat left the belly of the Bataan on Wednesday, crew members didn’t know what to expect, said Chief Warrant Officer 2 William Fish. They were prepared to hand out food and water – including 100 sandwiches they made themselves – as well as provide toilets and power to residents or rescue crews.

They came across two men in a boat searching for family members.

“Other than that,” Fish said, “there was nobody living that we saw.”

The boat continued upriver, passing through the tiny Louisiana villages of Pilottown, Venice and Boothville. They saw no signs of human life anywhere – but no dead bodies, either.

In Venice, the chief warrant officer said, the boat pulled into a pier in the pitch black. The crew members shone their flashlights into the darkness and shouted to let people know they were there.

“No one showed up,” Fish said. “The word is eerie.”

Further upriver, in Boothville, the crew prepared to tie up again but was dissuaded by the barks and growls of a Rottweiler, Labrador retriever and German shepherd.

“I don’t want you to think we’re sissies,” Fish said, “but I didn’t want to risk any of my men.”

After journeying about 55 miles upriver, with the sandwiches they’d made still untouched, the landing craft turned around.

Then debris knocked out its starboard propeller. A generator went down. A thunderstorm hit. The boat limped back to its mother ship early Friday morning. Though most of his crew hadn’t slept in more than two days, Fish said, Friday afternoon they were prepared to head out again.

Two of Fish’s sailors – engine men Samuel Hawkins and Garland Bourgeois, both petty officers first class — have a personal stake in Hurricane Katrina’s devastation. Bourgeois has family in Kenner, La.; Hawkins in Moss Point, Miss.

Bourgeois said his wife, in Hampton Roads, had made contact with his parents. They evacuated to Lafayette. Hawkins had less to go on: A sister in Gulfport went to Moss Point to check on their parents. The house was flooded but intact. No one was home.

“I wish I knew what they were working through,” Hawkins said.

The Bataan will soon have lots of company in the gulf: Other Norfolk-based ships, including the carrier Truman, amphibious assault ship Iwo Jima, dock landing ship Tortuga and amphibious transport dock Shreveport, are on their way.

“Everyone is bringing something different to the flight,” said Capt. Nora Tyson, the Bataan’s commanding officer.

Tyson said the flight crews on the Bataan are working overtime and then some.

“We are basically flying our guys from 7 or 8 a.m. until 2 and 3 a.m.,” she said.

Tyson, a pilot herself, said her tour of the wrecked coast seemed more nightmare than reality.

“You feel like it’s a bad dream you’re going to wake up from,” she said. “You just say, 'This is not us. This is not our country.’”

Yes, and it's my country too, and I'm damned grateful that it's being defended and served by people like the crew of the Bataan. God Speed, Captain Tyson, and thank you and your crew.

Texas Bound

Back on the first in my entry on Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, I mentioned that I was seriousy considering going down to help out.

Well it look like everything's falling in place for that to happen. Here's the progress so far:

1. I never heard back from my local Red Cross chapter, but I spoke to good friend and fellow blogger Vulture Six who assures me that the local Red Cross in Houston has PLENTY of room for more people to help out at the Astrodome, and he's graciously offered to put me up while I'm there.

2. a woman in my church has offered her frequent flier miles to cover my airfare, so I have a way to get there.

3. We have at least two and maybe as many as four volunteers to help care for The Lad while I'm away and The Feared Redhead is at work, so childcare is almost all covered.

4. The scheduling department at my work has agreed to approve time off on short notice, the only hting in the way now is supervisor approval if the time in question conflicts with other previous vacation requests.

So it's at least 80% certain at this point that I'll be spending a week helping in Houston. Of course I plan to keep you all apprised of how it goes. But I also have a couple of requests from my readers:

1. If you're in the Houston Area and would like to meet up for an evening aftyer the day's work, drop me a line.

2. I'll be taking along clothing to donate as well as cash to buy more supplies to donate. The cash will come from my coworkers, TFR's coworkers, and members of our church. If any of my readers want to add to the kitty, Vulture Six will be helping me set up a Paypal donation button on this blog. Deadline to give would be Wednesday the 7th. If you don't give by then, please go give directly to a relief organization.

Thanks for your prayers and well-wishes, keep 'em coming.

UPDATE 9/6/2005:

Vacation time has been approved and the flight confirmed -- I'll be in houston Saturday evening.

Effective Deterrents

Thanks for the Memory to Ace of Spades:



Seems to me that shooting is the LEAST horrible fate looters could face inside!

Damned Just... and Just Damn

Thanks for the Memory to LMC at the Llamabutchers who writes:

USA v. Richard Reid

One of the other lawyers in the office passed along the imposition of sentence in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in United States v. Reid. Judge Young:

Go read the rest there. Wow. That judge really gets it.

In Katrina's Waves

Today, Bloggers across the net are participating in Disaster Relief day. I didn't get around to officially signing up, but I'm going to toss my hat into the ring from here and urge my readers to give.

A couple of charities that I and TFR believe in are among those listed, and I give them my hearty endorsement. They are:

Operation Blessing

Samaritan's Purse

Mennonite Disaster Services

Please give. We are.

UPDATE:

I just got off the phone with my local chapter of the American Red Cross, and they are going to call me back with information about volunteering for disaster relief work. I've also spoken to TFR about this, as well as emailed an inquiry to my boss. If I can get the following details resolved, I plan to go help with the relief efforts:

1. I will need special permission from work to take my vacation on shorter notice than normal.
2. I will need to be able to spend the amount of vacation time I have to spare, if the Red Cross can only accommodate long term volunteers, I can't miss extra work.
3. I need to scrape up travel expenses to get there. We don't have that in our budget.
4. We need local friends and/or family to step up and help The Feared Redhead care for the lad while she's at work and I'm gone.

I'd appreciate any prayers, well wishes, or financial support my readers want to pitch in. Thanks.

Good Luck With That

To whomever found my Blog while doing a Google Search for Giadas DeLaurentis Naked:

If I had that here, do you honestly think I'd be a measly Large Mammal in the TTLB Ecosystem?

It Was a Very Good Year

Thanks for the Memory to Robert of the Llamabutchers.

This is a pretty fun meme. Go to Music Outfitters, and lookup the year you graduated from high school. The search will bring up a list of the top 100 songs from that year. Post them. Put any you liked in bold, strikeout any you didn't like, and leave alone any you don't remmember or don't care about one way or the other.

So without further ado,

1987:

1. Walk Like An Egyptian, Bangles
2. Alone, Heart
3. Shake You Down, Gregory Abbott
4. I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me), Whitney Houston
5. Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now, Starship
6. C'est La Vie, Robbie Nevil
7. Here I Go Again, Whitesnake
8. The Way It Is, Bruce Hornsby and the Range
9. Shakedown, Bob Seger
10. Livin' On A Prayer, Bon Jovi
11. La Bamba, Los Lobos
12. Everybody Have Fun Tonight, Wang Chung
13. Don't Dream It's Over, Crowded House
14. Always, Atlantic Starr
15. With Or Without You, U2
16. Looking For A New Love, Jody Watley
17. Head To Toe, Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam
18. I Think We're Alone Now, Tiffany (hey, I thought she was cute, ok?)
19. Mony Mony, Billy Idol
20. At This Moment, Billy Vera and The Beaters
21. Lady In Red, Chris De Burgh (Second whiniest song ever
22. Didn't We Almost Have It All, Whitney Houston
23. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, U2
24. I Want Your Sex, George Michael
25. Notorious, Duran Duran
26. Only In My Dreams, Debbie Gibson
27. (I've Had) The Time Of My Life, Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes
28. The Next Time I Fall, Peter Cetera and Amy Grant
29. Lean On Me, Club Nouveau
30. Open Your Heart, Madonna
31. Lost In Emotion, Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam
32. (I Just) Died In Your Arms, Cutting Crew
33. Heart And Soul, T'pau
34. You Keep Me Hangin' On, Kim Wilde
35. Keep Your Hands To Yourself, Georgia Satellites
36. I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me), Aretha Franklin and George Michael
37. Control, Janet Jackson
38. Somewhere Out There, Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram
39. U Got The Look, Prince
40. Land Of Confusion, Genesis
41. Jacob's Ladder, Huey Lewis and The News
42. Who's That Girl, Madonna
43. You Got It All, Jets
44. Touch Me (I Want Your Body), Samantha Fox (There wasn't a teenage boy in America who didn't break into a sweat thinking of Sam Fox singing this song to them!)
45. I Just Can't Stop Loving You, Michael Jackson and Siedah Garrett
46. Causing A Commotion, Madonna
47. In Too Deep, Genesis
48. Let's Wait Awhile, Janet Jackson
49. Hip To Be Square, Huey Lewis and the News (Shut up! I did NOT identify with this song!)
50. Will You Still Love Me?, Chicago
51. Little Lies, Fleetwood Mac
52. Luka, Suzanne Vega
53. I Heard A Rumour, Bananarama
54. Don't Mean Nothing, Richard Marx
55. Songbird, Kenny G (Actually I can't remember it, but it's Kenny G so I struck it out on general principles.)
56. Carrie, Europe
57. Don't Disturb This Groove, System
58. La Isla Bonita, Madonna
59. Bad, Michael Jackson
60. Sign 'O' The Times, Prince (One of the few Prince songs I can't recall)
61. Change Of Heart, Cyndi Lauper (Ditto Cindy)
62. Come Go With Me, Expose
63. Can't We Try, Dan Hill
64. To Be A Lover, Billy Idol
65. Mandolin Rain, Bruce Hornsby and the Range
66. Breakout, Swing Out Sister
67. Stand By Me, Ben E. King
68. Tonight, Tonight, Tonight, Genesis
69. Someday, Glass Tiger
70. When Smokey Sings, ABC
71. Casanova, Levert
72. Rhythm Is Gonna Get You, Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine
73. Rock Steady, Whispers
74. Wanted Dead Or Alive, Bon Jovi
75. Big Time, Peter Gabriel
76. The Finer Things, Steve Winwood
77. Let Me Be The One, Expose
78. Is This Love, Survivor
79. Diamonds, Herb Alpert
80. Point Of No Return, Expose
81. Big Love, Fleetwood Mac
82. Midnight Blue, Lou Gramm
83. Something So Strong, Crowded House
84. Heat Of The Night, Bryan Adams
85. Nothing's Gonna Change My Love For You, Glenn Medeiros
86. Brilliant Disguise, Bruce Springsteen
87. Just To See Her, Smokey Robinson
88. Who Will You Run Too, Heart
89. Respect Yourself, Bruce Willis
90. Cross My Broken Heart, Jets
91. Victory, Kool and The Gang
92. Don't Get Me Wrong, Pretenders
93. Doing It All For My Baby, Huey Lewis and The News
94. Right On Track, Breakfast Club
95. Ballerina Girl, Lionel Richie
96. Meet Me Half Way, Kenny Loggins
97. I've Been In Love Before, Cutting Crew
98. (You Gotta) Fight For Your Right To Party, Beastie Boys
99. Funkytown, Pseudo Echo
100. Love You Down, Ready For The World

Hmmmm.... that's 47% of the top 100 that I liked (back then, some still today), and only 7% (well, really 6%) that I didn't. Yup, as I recall, it was a fun time to be young, and the soundtrack was part of that.

Peace Offering

For Smallholder.

Thanks for the Memory to Russell at Mean Mr. Mustard.

Ovofacial

Yesterday I posted a (now removed) very snarky, nay, quite biting, post in response to a post by Smallholder at Naked Villainy. I was quite angry because I felt the post in question maligned me as members of a specific group of bloggers. SH contacted me personally and made it clear that he knew full well that I had conducted myself in a way different from those with whom he takes issue, and in no way intended to defame me by his post. His gracious effort to convey this to me was effective, and I have remove my offending post.

In retrospect, I should have contacted him personally with my objections before airing a feud that really wasn't to begin with. For thisd I am ashamed and offer my apologies to my readers and to my friend, you all should have been able to expect better from me.

The Other Foot

Last night I tossed out for discussion the idea that I might take some of my vacation time to volunteer to go help with disaster relief in the Gulf Coast. TFR quickly disabused me of this idea, since we don't have the money for me to travel and she needs my help with The Lad. I'll have to satisfy myself with giving blood and money.

For the most part I've been heartened by the outpouring of support and compassion shown by so many. My cousin sent me a link to news of her boyfriend's ship being sent as part of the relief efforts. Good friend Vulture Six has a rundown of different government and private relief efforts. There's even a Blogger Relief effort getting under way.

Despite this, I am disturbed to see the looting and a few other incidents of barbarism, and I'm disgusted that some would use this as an opportunity to slam Bush and the United States.

I can't help but wondering. Countries like Germany, whose Green Party leader blames this on Bush, and who was among the countries critical of US relief efforts after the Tsunami, they're already scrambling their navies and air forces to send relief, and their people are holding huge fund-raising drives to help the people of Louisiana, right?

Right?

Update (Thanks to reader Filou):

Actually, right.

I stand happily corrected.

Darfur: No More Out of Sight, Out of Mind

I've made my feelings known in the past:

Something needs to be done about the Genocide in Darfur.

This isn't a partisan issue.

The efforts so far are a good start, but need to go further.

The last thing we can afford to do right now is to assume that since the slaughter has abated, everything's just fine. The group darfurgenocide.org agrees, and in an email I received from them today, makes some excellent poits as to why:

The Sudanese government is playing a game, the same one they've played throughout Sudan for 20 years. They claim to want peace, but will try to fix the negotiations to get what they really want - despotic control over the people of Darfur and the power to begin the genocide again anytime the international community looks away.

Only one thing can stop them: a peace agreement that gives real power to the people of Darfur through representation in government and a fair share of Sudan's resources. To get this, the Darfurians need international support - our support.

They then explain that one of their fund-raising efforts is to help raise awareness of the situation and increase the public awarenss, media coverage, and thus negotiating leverage of the people of Darfur.

I think that's an excellent campaign, and I think that we as Bloggers can do more than give them our financial and moral support. I believe we can use our Blogs as a collective Bully Pulpit from which to give Darfur a voice. I have borrowed and modified Pastor Niemoller's quote, but this time the original is more germane. I will not be silent and wait for someone to come for me, I will speak out. Write your congressmen, your local paper, and post to your Blogs. Keep talking about Darfur until even the Sudan listens.

What Part of "In Harm's Way" Don't You Understand?

(Originally posted at 9:47 AM Aug 29 2005)
Thanks for the Memory to Blogfather Rusty.

A Reuters soundman was killed and another journalist wounded during a firefight in Baghdad. According to accounts, the shots that killed them may have been fired by U.S. Troops. Let's start by saying that the loss of human life, especially when unnecessary, is always tragic. I am not celebrating the death of this man, nor will I argue that he deserved to die.

But let's be clear on something else. While he was not an enemy combatant, neither was he just an innocent bystander suddenly caught in the crossfire. Reports from all sides indicate that he was responding to a possible story, and was seeking out the firefight in which he was killed to cover it. This means he was taking his life in his own hands. Firefights are by their very nature, deadly places. Think about it. Two or more individuals are firing weapons designed to kill, and they are firing them with the intention of killing each other. Death is in the air, and if you drive into such a situation, you have to expect that it just might alight on you. Furthermore, there's no reason to believe (and I expect to see this argument cvome from the fringes of the Left quickly, if not already) that he was targeted specifically because he was a journalist. As Dr. Shackleford points out, possession of camera gear alone is not enough to distinguish you as a non-combatant in Iraq -- the terrorist have their own cameras crews (as if sympathetic western media weren't enough!) tasked with recording suicide attacks and the detonation of IED's among other things. So even assuming that their gear was evident at the time they were shot (and this is still unclear), their status as journalists may not have been.

In short, if you take on the job of war correspondent, and intentionally seek out battles to cover, and are subsequently killed, that is tragic, but in and of itself is neither surprising nor outrageous. If you're not prepared to take that risk, then maybe the local sports beat is more your speed.

UPDATE (8/30/2005):
The more I learn about the incident, the less inclined I am to think of this as a tragic accident and the more inclined I am to think of this as a tragic accident brought on by the stupidity of the actions of the victims. Read on, from Rusty's Blog:

Here is an update on this incident from a reader:

The cameraman in question was
shot by soldiers in my son's unit. First hand reports are that the moron sped
into the middle of a firefight, jumped out of his car and threw up to his
shoulder a TV or Movie camera with a sound boom and telephoto lens.

It was [understandably
considering the circumstances] mistaken for an RPG and the moron quickly became
the late moron.

Incidentally, this crew was
told beforehand NOT to go into the area of the firefight, as it was entirely too
dangerous.

After a post-battle
debriefing and investigation, the soldiers were determined to have adhered
properly to the rules of engagement, and were found innocent of any
wrongdoing.

Actually, the first hand
report was: "Some dumb b**tard came up to us in a speeding car, jumped out and
pointed his camera at us. We thought it was an RPG and lit him up."

Perhaps Reporters Without Borders should be complaining about Reuters not training their crews to have some common sense instead of seething against the U.S.

Paging Neville Chamberlain

Your Legacy is on Line 1.

Thanks for the Memory to Ace of Spades and Vulture Six.

Supporters of Israel knew this would happen. We knew that the capitulation of Gaza would not bring peace. We knew that it was a mere Lebensraum ploy, and that with each Israeli concession, the demand from the Palestinians would be "more!" We knew that this would not bring peace.

And the Palestinians agreed with us. They said as much. And now they've backed their words with deeds -- dark deeds.

Understand one thing, and be very clear about it. The violence in Israel will not end when the Israelis abandon Gaza. It will not end when there is no Israeli left in The West Bank, in the Golan Heights, or in Jerusalem. The forces carrying out these bloody attacks will not rest until there remains not a single jew in all of what is now the State of Israel. Indeed, many of them will feel the restless itch of the trigger finger, the allure of the Cemtex, so long as there exists any Jewry on the entire planet.

The time for appeasement is at an end. It is time to recognize that no amount of surrender will ever bring real peace.

All We Are Saying is Give Peas a Chance

Saturday The Lad turned 7 months old, and despite playing preemie catch-up developmentally, he's been trying solid foods for several weeks now. I'm not sure which is more entertaining -- watching him gobble up the foods he does like, such as pears, carrots, and apples, or reject the foods he doesn't --which until last night consisted mostly of sweet potatoes.

But last night we tried peas. That was a No Go. And while The Feared Redhead and I have agreed not to express our own personal distaste for any food in his presence, so as to avoid biasing his decision, neither of us like peas, either. In fact, the baby food peas were making TFR sick just trying to serve therm, so when it became obvious he wasn't going to keep them in, it was no skin off our noses.

Pandora's Box

Thanks for the Memory to Ken Summers at It Comes in Pints?

Ken points out an interesting quote regarding assassination. Let's compare.

Who said:

We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability,"..."We don't need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator," ..."It's a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with."

?

That's right, Pat Robertson. Now, who said:

A misplaced moral squeamishness should not stop the president from talking about assassination. ... If we can kill [him], we should. ... What's unlawful and unpopular with the allies is not necessarily immoral. ... The president would no doubt pay a heavy political price if the operation failed but he would be a huge winner if he succeeded.

?

If you answered "George Stephanopoulis", you win a prize!

Stephanopoulis's comment drew a rebuke in the article from Chris Matthews, but beyond that, I don't recall nearly the furor being raised by that comment that Robertson has caused. In fact, these days, George is one of the Democrats' point man in media circles.

So what's the difference between the two? Some would argue it's Robertson's position as a leader in Evangelical Christian circles, and the bad light in which it casts us. But just doesn't cut it, because Robertson's "fan base" within the Church has been slipping for some time -- for both religious and political reasons. His influence over and position as a voice for Evangelicals isn't nearly what it used to be. But he's still watched like a hawk by those outside the Church, especially the detractors of Evangelicalism. As I stated over at Ken's Blog, I suspect that the reason for this is that as long as they can characterize Robertson as our leader, the media and the left can summarily dismiss all conservative Christians as being as "loony as Robertson", without having to consider our points. As I said, he's a living, breathing, walking, talking straw man.

Furthermore, as I've mentioned before, Robertson was not appealing to religious authority as his reason for espousing the view he did. He was speaking on a practical matter, not a theological one.

And the irony is, in this case, he's absolutely right. And so was Stephanopoulis. Or at least, if he was wrong, it was in that this may not be the time and place to assasinate Chavez. But that doesn't mean it will never be the time and place. Yes, you heard me, I'm saying that I think that in certain specific situations, assassination is a valid strategic weapon. For example, the ambush of Japanese Admiral Yamamoto, or the bombing of Saddam's presidential palace.

There's a story that's part of Churchillian apocrypha -- sometimes related as being told BY Winston, about an anonymous man and an anonymous woman, sometimes in the story Churchill is the man. Either way, the gist of the story is that the man in story asks the woman if she would sleep with him for a million pounds. After a shocked pause, she admits that yes, she supposes she would. He then asks her if she would sleep with him for ONE pound. She indignantly asks him wehat kind of woman he thinks she is! His reply is, "Madame, we have already determined what kind of woman you are. Now we are merely negotiating a price."

The same principle applies to assasination. I believe that in certain situations, the pplication of deadly force, the taking of one or more humann lives to defend other humans, is justifiable. That means a criminal in the act of murdering an innocent victim, that means an enemy soldier aiming at your platoon mate, and that certainly means the commander in chief of an enemy force. In for a penny, in for a pound. That doesn't mean I think assasination should be a commonly used option, nor an easily reached conclusion. Like any decision to take a life, it is not an easy one to make, and must be weighed as carefully as the situation allows against other options. But once you've established that deadly force CAN be justifiable, you cannot summarily rule it out.

UPDATE:

I Scooped my Blogfather!

State Politics

There's some irony in the fact that, despite my active interest in national politics AND my love of my home state, I don't know that much about Oregon politics -- the players, etc.

Fortunately, thanks to my fellow Bloggers Coyote, Sailor Republica and Gullyborg, I am getting a look at what other conservative Oregonians think, where I agree and disagree with them, what the state of the party is in this state, and who to keep an eye on.

So when all THREE of them, along with Blogger Daniel support the same candidate, and give some compelling reasons why, I sit up and take notice.

That's why, after reading their comments, I am joining them in supporting Jason Atkinson for Governor.

It's the Thought That Counts

A while back I set out with the goal of devoting at least one post a week to

my father’s stories from his Navy days. Unfortunately, I have not been

that consistent with those posts, but I plan on doing my best to share at

least one a month.

This is installment #4 in a series.

Among the many ports of call my father had occasion to visit during his time in the Navy, one of the most amusing stories comes from the time his ship made a call on Darwin, Australia. Darwin is a port city on Australia’s northern coast. The town was in a festive mood due to some visit by royalty or some commemorative celebration (my father wasn’t clear on what). I’ve been told by friends who’ve been to Australia on their Navy tours that Australians are skilled masters in the art of hospitality.

Just prior to the arrival of the USS Bausell, a Royal New Zealand Navy ship pulled in to port and had been there several days, and the townsfolk had been showing the Kiwi tars quite a grand time. This high level of attention given to them by their antipodean neighbors quickly waned, however, when the Yanks sailed in to port. From that point on, it was the American sailors who got the attention of the local lasses and the free rounds, and the Kiwis who were left, for the most part, to their own devices. Fortune is a fickle mistress.

This, as may be expected, did not sit well with the New Zealanders. Very soon, my dad and his mates learned that when walking down a Darwin street, it was wise to walk as far from the doorways as possible, because if the door led to a pub, you were likely to receive a cold-cocking from a Kiwi fist.

This went on for several days until one event “turned the tide of history,” so to speak. My father and a buddy were walking back to the ship after spending the day in town, when they came upon an individual wearing the uniform of an officer of the Royal New Zealand Navy, lying in the street, drunk as a… well, as a sailor, appropriately enough. Now, my father was a teetotaler – his father had died an alcoholic, and my father had a lifelong aversion to liquor. So he and his buddy were stone cold sober when they hoisted the Kiwi officer to their shoulders, carried him the few blocks to the HMNZS Whatsitsname, walked him up the gangplank, left him in the gentle care of his shipmates, belatedly saluted the quarterdeck, and marched back down the gangplank and into the darkness. But the New Zealanders didn’t know this. So while my father thought the crew was cheering him for an act of kindness, he learned later that the New Zealanders thought they were cheering the two Yanks who had drunk their XO under the table.

After that and for the remaining time the two ships were in port, there was no further trouble between the crews.

Crazy Is as Crazy Does

Two Bloggers whom I greatly respect and even consider friends both have posted their reactions to Pat Robertson's comments regarding Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Normally I agree with Vulture Six and Darth Apathy, but this time I must beg to differ. and while I believe that the Maximum Leader makes some good points regarding freedom of speech, press coverage, and double standards, I'm not as convinced as he that this proves Robertson's stupidity.

Despite being a "Mindless Christian Conservative", I don't watch Robertson daily -- or even on a regular basis. I do watch his show occasionally, and TFR enjoys it a bit more than me, more for the inspirational sections than anything else. And by no means do I agree with much of what Robertson says -- from a theological perspective or from a political. I don't even agree with him on this issue.

And while I think this is a bad idea and that Christians are going to catch flak for this comment, I don't think that a political pundit represents himself as a Christian advocating assassination of one individual for strategic reasons is quite the same as a group of Mullahs advocating Jihad simply because the targets are dirty infidels who don't worship the right god.

Furthermore, I have a question for Scott. Let's agree for the moment that it would be wrong for the United States government to assassinate Chavez simply because we don't like his politics or his foreign policy towards the US. Let's agree that even though he's openly hostile and hateful towards the US, it would be political and diplomatic suicide to assassinate him even if he openly declares himself our enemy. I'll grant you, and even agree with you, that it would be stupid, arrogant, and probably illegal right now to even consider Robertson's advice.

My question is, if it became apparent that Venezuela were actively supporting terrorist groups like Al Quaeda, if it was provable, say (for the sake of argument) to a degree even admissable in a court of law that he was providing aid and comfort to enemies of the United States and actively encouragin them or even supplying them with the resources needed to carry out terrorist attacks on the United States or its citizens, if that were the case, then how would assassinating him be any different than bombing the Presidential Palace in Baghdad in attempt to kill Saddam Hussein?

Child Sacrifices

Thanks for the Memory to Jaybird, cross-posting at Head West, Turn Right.

A couple of weeks ago, Jay commented on his Blog and on the joint Blog at Head West, Turn Right on Oregon's lack of an online Sex Offender database, and the travails of a bill to institute one. As a parent, I was understandably upset. I've gone through the hoops currently required to get a printed list of local sex offenders MAILED to me. For my little town of Springfield, that list is 11 pages long!!!!! You can imagine how thrilled that makes me, and how eager I am to have a more reliable and informative resource for helping me protect my child. But before I posted and ranted on it here, I emailed my local state rep. To give credit where credit is due, my local rep, a staunchly liberal Democrat, not only supported the bill, she AUTHORED it. That placated me a bit, but I was still disturbed that this bill almost died of neglect.

Well, now Jaybird has information on "who might have been behind efforts to kill this bill and why, as well as a companion bill to increase sentences for rape of children. I'm not a resident of the Portland area, so I don't know much about the political machinations that go on there, so I can't comment on the accuracy of the allegations, but I know his source, Lars Larson, and while he's definitely partisan, he also know what he's talking about, and has a lot of ins into Oregon political circles, so I am inclined to believe him. If what he's saying is true, I'm incensed. These are measures that are needed to protect children against predators who would rob them of their innocence, their chilhood, their joy, even their lives. To sacrifice them for political gain, or to appease a powerful supporter, is completely indefensible. If this is true, I can't imagine why anyone, conservative or liberal, other than those who directly benefit from this Machiavellian ploy, would support her.

Update:

Jaybird was gracious enough to drop by and comment, and pointed out he had sources other than Larson: Bill O'Reilly, yeah, that Bill O'Reilly, is the journalist/commentator most responsible for breaking this wide open. For months O'Reilly has been on a jihad against politicians who he considers to be light on the issue, and he's systematically going through it state by state and seeing where each state stans on Jessica's law. when he got to Oregon, he discovered Kate Brown. Lars Larson picked the ball up from there. That was made clear in Jaybird's post on his blog, and was my oversight.

Now THAT'S Florida Sunshine!

The other night, The Feared Redhead asked me to fix her an adult beverage. Now, while we are social drinkers, we are not heavy or extremely frequent drinkers, so while there's usually something in the house from which to craft such beverages, there's seldom a large selection from which to choose. Furthermore, given the weather, she required something light and refreshing as well as... relaxing. With these parameters in mind, I set to my task. We had in the refrigerator a pitcher of a blend of orange and ruby red grapefruit juices. This seemed ideally suited to the mission, and with that as a starting point, I created the following:

Electric Screwdriver
1 oz. vodka
1/2 oz. Grand Marnier
3 oz. orange juice
2 oz. ruby red grapefruit juice
1 cup ice

Combine all ingredients in shaker, shake well, serve over ice in an Old Fashioned. Garnish with a lime wedge.

Corrupt Capitalistic Pig

Being the corrupt capitalistic pig the he is, Conservative Christian Brian B. is out today furthering his occupation education so he may further exploit the masses and shamelessly enrich himself and his family at the cost of not feeding poor orphans in the sub-Sahara region. Don’t worry though, he will be back soon to give his RNC Talking Points and to carry out the will of the New World Order. The pig.

Vulture 6

Insult to Injury

Thanks for the Memory to Vic at Darth Apathy.

Remember the Kelo case? The one in which the Supreme(ly arrogant and stupid) Court ruled that it was just hunky-dory to strip people of their property rights in order to line the pockets of developers?

Well, the winners of that case have decided that that was merely pillaging -- now they've moved on to raping.

All of the residents of the condemned property have received letters informing them that they owe the city back rent for the time they've remained in their homes since the initial evictions which sparked the court battle.

That's right. Not only are they taking these people's homes, paying them a price that I GUARANTEE you will not be what the property's worth (or a SMIDGEN of what it will make the city in income), but they expect these folks to PAY them for the privilege of being treated like chattel!

I want to rant, but this is so infuriating, I don't know where to begin or end. As one of my liberal coworkers just said, "This is the kind of sh!# that makes people start dragging out guns!"

The HMS Pinafore of Blogs

Ya know, all things considered, maybe the Llamabutchers shouldn't be blogging on a series of novels about a period in naval history that was famous for three things.

Just saying.

Blessed Are Those Who Mourn, For They

Shall Have Comfort Food

This week I thought I'd share a recipe not of my own making, but one my father came up with (sorry, Rusty, I'll try to keep posting on other issues, but the recipes keep coming).

I'd have to say that my parents are the key influence in my becoming as good a cook as I am. Both my parents had a love of cooking (Mom still does), and they both shared that love with my sister and me. We were allowed to help in the kitchen from an early age, and even allowed to "take over", to do the cooking ourselves, with their "help" (read: guidance and emergency backup). From my mother I learned the technical skills required for cooking -- how to simmer vs. boiling, how to fry, how to check temperature, how to guage and regulate heat, prep, stirring, etc. From my father, I learned how to improvise, how to experiment, and a sense of presentation.

While my ability to develop gourmet dishes has, I believe, far surpassed my father's, the one area in which I believe he was still my superior before his death, and probably would still be today (or at the very least, my equal), is in his ability to throw together simple but tasty comfort food dishes.

Not long before his death, my wife, The Feared Redhead, was treated to one of these dishes, and insisted that he give her the recipe. He complied, and thanks to her, it lives on. Whenever we think of him and miss him, we think of this dish, and the simple joy he got from her delight in it. It's a food that comforts not just in eating it, but in reminiscing upon it. And so I share with you:

Charlie's Potato Soup

2 strips lean bacon
1 small onion
3 stalks celery
4 cups water
1 cup instant mashed potato flakes
1 large carrot
1/2 cup milk
butter
salt
Pepper

Chop the bacon, celery, and oniond into small pieces. Sautee in a saucepan until the bacon is brown and the onions are caramelized. Add 2 cups of water, bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Reduce heate to a simmer. Mix together 1 cup of instant potato flakes and 2 cups water. Stir the potato mixture into the soup. Peel and grate 1 large carrot, add to soup. Slowly stir in 1/2 cup milk, stir constantly until smooth. Add butter, salt and pepper to taste.

Thanks, everyone

Posted by Vulture Six on behalf of Vic at Darth Apathy.

First of all, I would like to thank everyone for their well-wishes, support, and prayers regarding my sister.

Sadly, they have all been in vain.

After a series of bone scans, CAT scans, and MRI's, we have learned the true extent of the spread of cancer. In addition to the breast cancer and the bone cancer, which we already know about, there have been additional complications. The cancer has spread to the lymphatic system, to the spinal cord, and to the liver. According to the doctors, the prognosis is terminal. At this point, it's just a matter of time.

-Vic

Unexpected Company

To all the visitors so graciously directed here by LaShawn Barber:

Welcome. Make yourselves at home. Curious about the name? I can explain. Ditto for the mangled Niemoller quote.

While you're here, have a beer and something to eat. Give the place a tour, and feel free to sign the numerous "guest books". I'm a benevolent dictator when it comes to comments -- flames, Trolls, and blatant non sequiturs are likely to be deleted and their posters may be banned, but respectful, well-reasond disagreement with me is welcome.

Separation of Church and War

(Orignally Posted 8/15/05 at 7:22 AM PDT)

While the comments section on my own Blog remains a fairly tame place with few dissenters, let alone trolls, my daily surfing takes me to some Blogs where the discussions can get somewhat heated, shall we say. For this reason, I’ve become fairly familiar with some of the arguments proposed by those whose political views differ from my own in defense of their own beliefs or in rebuttal to mine.

When the discussion turns to the issue of the War in Iraq, or even of war in general, it’s not uncommon to encounter an appeal to my religion, an argument that goes along the lines of “How can you call yourself a Christian and support war? Didn’t Jesus teach you to turn the other cheek?” Often this argument will be coined as a reproach of hypocrisy – “How can you, as a Christian, support/oppose X position, and not oppose war? You hypocrite!”

For the moment I shall actually avoid getting into the details of Christian Pacifism vs. Just War Theology – that’s another post, and one I’m working on. I shall also refrain from an in depth discussion on the differences in kind between the issues raised in comparison and the one at hand. What I wish to explore in this post is another interesting dichotomy posed by this type of discussion, one of which I’m sure my opposites are unaware.

I’ve noted with bemusement that, more often than not, the individuals who, in discussion, will try to convince you that Christians should oppose war on a theological basis are the same individuals who, if a Christian Blogger tries to base their position on any one of a number of other political issues – Abortion, Evolution vs. ID, Gay Marriage, Drugs, Education, etc. – will immediately cry “Separation!” and loose the dogs….

So let me get this straight. When it comes to the issue of war, you are suggesting that I should let my faith (or at least, your interpretation of it) inform my politics. But when it comes to any other issue, if I let my faith inform my politics, I’m suddenly posing some grave threat to the constitution, and must be stopped at all cost? What’s the difference? Does the fact that war is a foreign policy decision somehow exempt it from the same uber-interpretation of the First Amendment that you apply to domestic issues? Or is it, as I suspect, that you apply a different set of rules to each situation in order to give your own position the advantage?

Seriously, if there’s anyone reading this that has made both those arguments to a righty: Oppose war because your faith says you should; Keep your faith out of politics because it’s a personal matter; I’d love to hear from you. Please explain to me why it’s ok to apply my religious beliefs to one issue, but not to the others. I’m sure the explanation’s a good one.

UPDATE:

LaShawn Barber yesterday asked her readers an equally intriguing question. And I think the questions have a point in common -- what do you do when two values you hold highly conflict with each other? Which do you really believe in more than the other?

I'm just jealous because she actually has people who are willing to give answering the question a shot.

And Then I Woke Up

Thanks for the memory to the Llama Butchers.

Your Summer Ride is a Jeep

For you, summer is all about having no responsibilities. You prefer to hang with old friends - and make some new ones.

What's Your Summer Ride?

Of course, that's not what I ACTUALLY drive! The questions don't seem to allow for marital and parental status, and that's the only reason my summer ride isn't "Station Wagon" or "Minivan".

One Prayer Down, More to Go

For some time now my good friend Vulture Six has been trying to regain custody of his children from his ex-wife. I won't go into details, but suffice it to say, the woman is not a fit mother and the only way children would be worse off is if they were sent to live at Wonderland. If Scott wants to share details that's up to him.

Well, he just gave me the good news that he finally has a court date - October 13th. Please keep Scott and his kids in your prayers.

And Then There's The Other Side....

Thanks for the Memory to Vulture Six at Vultures Row.

A while back I made it very clear what I thought of those on the Left who claimed to be for peace but failed to speak out against violence by their own side. Time to put my money where my mouth is.

This Stupid White Trash Inbred Mouthbreathing Paleolithic Piece of Work does NOT Freaking Speak for Me!

Look, I may disagree with a lot of what Cindy Sheehan and her associates are saying, and the way they are saying it. But violence in response to what is so far a peaceful protest is NOT the way to respond. Had antiwar protestors assaulted this man and he attacked back in self-defense, that would have been one thing. But plowing your pickup into a row of crosses, risking injury to people just standing there, no matter how wrong I think those people may be, is JUST PLAIN WRONG! Not to mention, as Scott points out, the crosses represented Americans killed in service of their country. Regardless of your opinion of the people erecting the memorial or their motives in doing so, you respect the memorial! Judas Jump-Up-and-Kiss-Me Priest, People! Ever heard of the baby and the bathwater! Get a freaking clue. And for God's Holy Sake, if you claim to represent me, damn well represent me in deeds as well as words, or shut your mouth before I shut it for you!

Deeply Hurt

A few days ago, my friend Vic over at Darth Apathy posted an interesting news link. I found it amusing, but also deeply hurtful that he immediately thought of one of our mutual acquaintances, but forgot me, knowing as he does my enthusiasm for quality craft beers.

Regardless, I pass on the news here:

Man Acquited After Prosecutors Fail to Prove that Miller is Beer

I don't think they could have accomplished that task even if the head of Miller himself were a witness for the prosecution!

Bush Lied, (Fewer) People Died

Thanks for the Memory to Demosophist cross-posting at The Jawa Report.

For some time, one argument put forth by those opposing the War in Iraq has been the death toll. They would have us believe that we have unleashed a bloodbath upon what was previously a relatively safe, if not free, country.

The Strategy Page puts lie to that argument with new information indicating that the death rate in Iraq is now lower than it was under Saddam's regime.

Imagine that.

So if you're an Iraqi, you're LESS likely to die in Iraq now than before the invasion, AND you now have the right to vote AND a multi-party slate of candidates to choose from.

But just remember, you're worse off.

Happy Birthday

Vultures Row wishes a very happy first birthday to Memento Moron: Remember, Thou Art Stupid. It's been a great first year.