The Razor

Pirate-King has an interesting post about the cliches of TVLand. The one about girls being smarter than boys reminds me of a commercial the Kid & I saw last night on CartoonNetwork.

We were in the midst of Static Shock – a rather politically correct yet watchable show whose main character is a dread-locked high school black kid cum superhero. A commercial for Connect4 appeared – the game where you have to drop plastic coins to form four in a row. In it a 9-ish year old girl is playing a similarly aged boy. She then proceeds to kick his ass in this game, leaving him whining and frustrated – in a happy sort of way that you’ll never see in real life.

“You know, girls aren’t smarter than boys,” I said to The Kid.
“Girls are stupid,” the Kid replied.
“No, they’re just as smart as you are,” I said.
“They aren’t smarter than me?” the Kid asked.
“Some girls are, and some girls aren’t – just like with boys.”

Not that this matters. The commercial failed to make either me or the kid want to buy Connect4 – it’s sole purpose for appearing before us. The Kid’s got other things like video games and special train engines and cars on his “wish list”.

Parents 1 – Pop Culture 0.

The Pirate-King has begun his journey across the Red Sea – as in “Red States”. While I’ll miss knowing that he’s only a few minutes drive away, I know that I’ll be in contact with him electronically for a long time. Besides, it takes a big man to cry and a bigger man to laugh at that man – and the Pirate-King is that bigger man!

He has an interesting story posted about how small deeds can have big consequences. While the story itself may be apocryphal, there is no doubting the truth it portrays:

We are all connected – and our actions impact others in ways that we cannot fortell.

Once I mentioned to a coworker at my job at a video store that I had received a rejection slip from my first choice university. “Have you appealed?” she asked. I admitted that I didn’t know I could. “Write a letter, and show why you really want to go there.” I did – and three weeks later received a fat envelope filled with stuff including a letter that began “Welcome to the University of California – San Diego”.

At UCSD I refined much of the critical thinking that the Jesuits had instilled in me during high school. I also met the woman who was destined to become my Wife (may Her name be praised!). As a result I traveled around the world, lived in places that I hadn’t even heard of, and learned languages and ate things that would gag most people.

The terrible thing is that I cannot even remember that girl’s name! But her one conversation, one bit of advice, completely changed my life forever.

With this knowledge comes great responsibility. We must strive to be nice and considerate of one another at all times – not only at special times or using grand gestures.

As they say in Tanzania, “Safari njema!” Pirate-King. “Tu-tau-nana!”- Until we meet again!

Michael Barone has an excellent read on the use of non-violence to overthrow regimes:

Nonviolent protest, Ackerman and Duvall argue, means “separating governments from their means of control.” They admit that nonviolent protest does not always work. Some dictators are too ruthless; some populations—Germans in Nazi Germany—are not willing to oppose their rulers. But nonviolent protest can be a force more powerful than busy policymakers, preoccupied with negotiating with governments, are inclined to think.

We are seeing non-violence at its best in Ukraine, as Barone states in this essay. I’ve always believed that non-violence could have been used successfully by the Palestinians had their goal been the creation of a state alongside Israel. The reason that this was never attempted, however, is that was never the goal: the true goal was the annihilation of Israel and the subjugation of the Jews living there. Therefore violence was the only choice to achieve that aim since the Jews would never submit to their own destruction.

I just came back from having lunch with the Pirate King, and thought I’d pass along an interesting experience I had during the short drive back.

As I pulled up to a traffic light, I noticed that I was behind a “man in a hat”. Now everyone must know that anyone wearing a hat most likely drives 10 mph below the speed limit in his aging American car, so being behind one isn’t usually a good thing for those who are perpetually pressed for time. However just before I started cursing my luck, I noticed that he had a bumpersticker on his car that said “351st Bomber Group” below a drawing of a B-17.

The drawing immediately held my attention. B-17s are beautiful machines in the same way A-10 Warthogs are. Other planes may have sleeker lines, but only these planes are the best at keeping their crew alive to fight another day. These planes are some of the toughest ever manufactured, and the B-17 Flying Fortress flew so many missions that it should have been called the B-17 Liberator – because that plane helped liberate Europe. For those of us who see beauty in functionality, the B-17 is to planes what the woman that your momma wants you to marry is to women. She may not be the prettiest thing around, but she will cook, clean, cherish you and mother your children better than any Hollywood Starlet. The B-17 was the plane crews married, and she took care of them better than any other WW2 era plane around.

Here’s a link to the 351st. These guys were the rock stars of their era. According to the link they flew 9,075 sorties, lost 125 aircraft, dropped 20,770 bombs and suffered 974 casualties. The 351st took part in some of the most famous missions in WW2 history over Schweinfurt, Berlin, Dresden and Hamburg. They also have the most decorated pilots of the war.

Here’s a pic of one of their beauties:

Here’s a pic taken from one of a German ME-109 off the wingtip:

Keep in mind that was the enemy whose job it was to kill you. Had there been P-51s nearby, that guy would never have gotten so close. But the B-17s did not have air support by friendly fighters during most of their mission. They were all alone over enemy territory with just luck, their skills, and their planes to keep them safe. For nearly a thousand men, it was not enough, but for the vast majority like the “man in a hat” it was.

The men who did this job must have had balls of steel. They helped defeat the worst tyranny the planet has ever seen, and now the dwindling few are wearing hats and driving slowly in their cars into the unknown.

I now feel honored to have gotten so close to such a man, and will remember this the next time I come up behind a man driving and wearing a hat.

It’s that time of year again, time to think about ourselves, contemplating our own navels until we collapse into a blackhole of pure selfishness. So in keeping with that spirit, I thought I would list the things I don’t want for Christmas and why. Rest assured that should I receive any of the gifts below, they will be exchanged for something useful and more appreciated, like a back-wax.

1.Big ass flat screen HD TV – The pictures look great when they aren’t moving. However the moment they do, it’s like watching a show through a rain spattered windshield. Plus in two years all the current HD flat screens will be obsolete, and the ones that replace them will be almost free. Walking into an electronics store and seeing these dimly lit overpriced monstrosities makes me wonder if they are broadcasting submliminal messages like “Ignore the crappy picture. You want one of these”. Well, I can’t and I don’t.
2.Fahrenheit 9/11 – If I wanted to waste 2 hours of my time on hateful lies, twisted facts and propaganda, I’d watch CBS Nightly News with Dan Rather.
3.Apple iPod – I’m old school. If I can’t blast it from my car stereo and feel it through the soles of my feet, I don’t listen to it.
4. Anything made in China, except children. – No, I’m not creepy, just honest. The only decent export out of China today is children. Everything else, all the products, everything, is so shoddily made that I end up returning the things broken anyway. So I may as well return them new and get something better right away.
5. Hummer/BMW/Lexus – Not that the Wife (may Her name be praised!) would ever be stupid enough to buy one of these for me, but they are worth mentioning anyway just in case any of you win the Powerball jackpot and want to annoy me.
I live on the East Coast – not the Nevada salt flats. I don’t need a BMW to drive bumper to bumper on I-95. I need something nimble yet well-armed, maybe one of these. The advantage of a Toyota Technical is that on the weekend I could remove the 50 calibre machine gun and haul drywall from Home Depot.

I just learned from a gay football blogger of all people that Hanukkah begins tonight.

Happy Hanukkah!

I’ve been trying to figure out just what the hell Green Day is singing about in the song “American Idiot”, so I googled and found the lyrics here.

I figured it was some kind of Lefty, Moore-ish rant. Truth be told, I can’t make heads or tails of it.

Welcome to a new kind of tension.
All across the alien nation.
Everything isn’t meant to be okay.
Television dreams of tomorrow.
We’re not the ones who’re meant to follow.
Convincing them to walk you.

Who’s the idiot: Americans who support Bush and the War on Terror, the kids who buy their CDs or the songwriter who can’t get his message across? Convincing them to walk you? What, is that supposed to mean that I’m a poodle? Can I be a Rottweiler? But you said “we’re not the ones who’re meant to follow”. So… WTF?

Punk is about being direct. I thrashed at an Exploited show where the British hardcore band sang “F*** the USA”. You can’t get more direct than that. The lead singer got hit in the head with a beer bottle during that show too. One has to love Freedom of Expression.

I still listen to the Dead Kennedy’s and Minor Threat. I’ve pared back on the Goth because honestly, I’ve got plenty of drama in my life without needing to make more up. And I love my trance techno – even if it is the musical equivalent of a jackhammer. And there’s still the odd moment when I crank Ozzy Osbourne or Ted Nugent. Yes, an idiot I know once said something wise once: “The music you listen to at 16 will be the music you’ll listen to for the rest of your life”. Smart man, that idiot.

Every time I hear about how Left American university campuses are, I think of this lyric from the Dead Kennedy’s Holiday Classic, “Holiday in Cambodia”:

Play ethnicky jazz
To parade your snazz
On your five grand stereo
Braggin’ that you know
How the niggers feel cold
And the slums got so much soul

Yep, Jello Biafra used plain speech to get his point across. So what is with Green Day’s artsy crap?

Punk is sure dead if Green Day claims the mantle of “Punk Band”.

Update: 12/21/2004
It just dawned on me this morning who the true American idiot is: The kid who listens to Green Day, whines about Bush – then doesn’t vote.

If you want change, you have to do more than listen to a song about it. You have to do more than slap an anti-Bush bumpersticker on your car or post at SmirkingChimp.

Why didn’t these kids vote? I think it’s because their parents couldn’t do it for them.

Go ahead. Listen to Green Day. Whine about your world. Then do absolutely nothing about it.

I’ve installed new software that blocks the spammers who have taken to posting in the comments section – thanks to The Pirate King.

In Buddhism, one of the tenets of wisdom known collectively as the “8 Fold Path” is “Right Livelihood”. Now I am about as far from Buddhism as one could be – especially one who drinks as much coffee as I do. But to me it is important to do a job that one can be proud to do. Now being an IT geek isn’t as glorious as say a Marine in Fallujah, but when the day is done I can say I did make the world a little better than I found it – or at least I tried to.

But there are parasites in the world who simply exist to feed off of others. I was reminded of this when I checked out eBay and looked for some Yu-gi-oh! cards for The Kid. Most of the hottest cards were being sold by scammers – sellers with IDs less than a month old with 25+ positive feedbacks through purchasing free products or $.02 recipes.

Yes, caveat emptor, but sometimes you just want to grab such people and slap em while shouting, “Just what the f*** is the matter with you?”

As I have written before, there is no balance in the Universe like the Taoists think. Evil, often under the guise of apathy reigns. Good is the exception.

I can’t change the world, but I can change me, so I try to worry about my own crap. Still, I would love nothing more than to cane one of those eBay scammers. I am not a violent man, but I do grow my own bamboo…

This is a continuing story. Last update was here.
Sister in law is still sober, and Girly Man continues abusing the system. Sister in law received her divorce papers on her 20th anniversary. That must be quite a job, serving divorce papers on people. It must be up there with jobs like bill collector or mortgage foreclosure specialist. Yes, some jobs have to be done by someone I suppose. Still, there no law that say you have to like the person who does it.

Girly Man continues his adultery in Sister in law’s house, and has refused to amend the Protection from Abuse order (PFA) to allow her to get her things. Meanwhile, Girly Man’s shiksa continues to play house, sleeping over regularly in front of sis-in-laws two teenagers.

Girly Man is seeking complete custody of everything along with child support. He alleges misconduct based on her drinking and has hired an attorney to prove it.

So now the wheels of justice begin their slow roll forward.

In a previous post I noted my 4th year anniversary of sobriety. My last drunken night was spent drinking with Girly Man, who drank me under the table that night. He still drinks.

He’s an evil, selfish, self-righteous moron, drinking drunk and adulterer. He knows nothing of loyalty and honor.

He is not a man in any sense of the word, so maybe I should stop calling him Girly Man and refer to what he truly is: nothing.

Link to the latest news from our local newspaper, the Delaware News Journal. I don’t read the thing. It’s not much of a paper really. It’s liberal, until the topic of banks and credit card companies come up. Then it’ s John Birch reactionary.

The slippery slope predicted by anti-abortion protesters seems to exist after all according to Hugh Hewitt’s Death by Committee posted at the Weekly Standard. Here’s the part that reminds me to brush up on my shooting skills at Targetmaster:

A parent’s role is limited under the protocol. While experts and critics familiar with the policy said a parent’s wishes to let a child live or die naturally most likely would be considered, they note that the decision must be professional, so rests with doctors.

As I wrote in the original Razor about Terry Schiavo, parents should have the ultimate say in matters of life or death over their children no matter how old their children are. No parent should be forced to see their child killed for any reason.

Got that Dutch?

Mothers and fathers are the creators of life. They are responsible for the well-being of their children. They should be the sole arbiters in matters of life and death of their children.

This decision is chilling, and once more proves how morally bankrupt Europe has become to even begin to entertain this.

Yesterday was my 4 year anniversary of sobriety.
Thanks to Linda for her refusal to be a co-dependent anymore.
Thanks to John Buckley and AA for being there when I need them.
Thanks to my Higher Power whatever it is (and no, it’s not Karl Rove).

In Swahili they say kidogo-kidogo, which is their “one day at a time”.

Yep…

Thanks to Dean’s post of Pat Sajak’s article found here:

Somewhere in the world, a filmmaker creates a short documentary that chronicles what he perceives as the excesses of anti-abortion activists. An anti-abortion zealot reacts to the film by killing the filmmaker in broad daylight and stabbing anti-abortion tracts onto his body. How does the Hollywood community react to this atrocity? Would there be angry protests? Candlelight vigils? Outraged letters and columns and articles? Awards named in honor of their fallen comrade? Demands for justice? Calls for protection of artistic freedom? It’s a pretty safe bet that there would be all of the above and much more. And all of the anger would be absolutely justified.

Sajak puts the killing of Theo Van Gogh in language American Leftists can understand by discussing their sacred cow, abortion. His conclusion?

If I were Michael Moore, I would much rather rail against George W. Bush, who is much less likely to have me killed, than van Gogh’s murderer and the threat to creative freedom he brings. Besides, a man of Moore’s size would provide a great deal of “bulletin board” space.

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