Recently in Personal Opinion Category
I've only done it once before.
But I have to do it again.
Awesome.
The first one is a scan of a Blue Press catalog I received, the second found deep deep in the archives of Theo Spark.
But I have to do it again.
Awesome.
The first one is a scan of a Blue Press catalog I received, the second found deep deep in the archives of Theo Spark.
Rudyard Kipling 1907
The sons of Mary seldom bother, for they have inherited that good part;
But the Sons of Martha favour their Mother of the careful soul and the troubled heart.
And because she lost her temper once, and because she was rude to the Lord her Guest,
Her Sons must wait upon Mary's Sons, world without end, reprieve, or rest.
It is their care in all the ages to take the buffet and cushion the shock.
It is their care that the gear engages; it is their care that the switches lock.
It is their care that the wheels run truly; it is their care to embark and entrain,
Tally, transport, and deliver duly the Sons of Mary by land and main.
They say to mountains, "Be ye removed." They say to the lesser floods, "Be dry."
Under their rods are the rocks reproved-they are not afraid of that which is high.
Then do the hill-tops shake to the summit-then is the bed of the deep laid bare,
That the Sons of Mary may overcome it, pleasantly sleeping and unaware.
They finger death at their gloves' end where they piece and repiece the living wires.
He rears against the gates they tend: they feed him hungry behind their fires.
Early at dawn, ere men see clear, they stumble into his terrible stall,
And hale him forth a haltered steer, and goad and turn him till evenfall.
To these from birth is Belief forbidden; from these till death is Relief afar.
They are concerned with matters hidden - under the earthline their altars are-
The secret fountains to follow up, waters withdrawn to restore to the mouth,
And gather the floods as in a cup, and pour them again at a city's drouth.
They do not preach that their God will rouse them a little before the nuts work loose.
They do not teach that His Pity allows them to drop their job when they dam'-well choose.
As in the thronged and the lighted ways, so in the dark and the desert they stand,
Wary and watchful all their days that their brethren's day may be long in the land.
Raise ye the stone or cleave the wood to make a path more fair or flat -
Lo, it is black already with blood some Son of Martha spilled for that!
Not as a ladder from earth to Heaven, not as a witness to any creed,
But simple service simply given to his own kind in their common need.
And the Sons of Mary smile and are blessed - they know the Angels are on their side.
They know in them is the Grace confessed, and for them are the Mercies multiplied.
They sit at the Feet - they hear the Word - they see how truly the Promise runs.
They have cast their burden upon the Lord, and - the Lord He lays it on Martha's Sons!
The sons of Mary seldom bother, for they have inherited that good part;
But the Sons of Martha favour their Mother of the careful soul and the troubled heart.
And because she lost her temper once, and because she was rude to the Lord her Guest,
Her Sons must wait upon Mary's Sons, world without end, reprieve, or rest.
It is their care in all the ages to take the buffet and cushion the shock.
It is their care that the gear engages; it is their care that the switches lock.
It is their care that the wheels run truly; it is their care to embark and entrain,
Tally, transport, and deliver duly the Sons of Mary by land and main.
They say to mountains, "Be ye removed." They say to the lesser floods, "Be dry."
Under their rods are the rocks reproved-they are not afraid of that which is high.
Then do the hill-tops shake to the summit-then is the bed of the deep laid bare,
That the Sons of Mary may overcome it, pleasantly sleeping and unaware.
They finger death at their gloves' end where they piece and repiece the living wires.
He rears against the gates they tend: they feed him hungry behind their fires.
Early at dawn, ere men see clear, they stumble into his terrible stall,
And hale him forth a haltered steer, and goad and turn him till evenfall.
To these from birth is Belief forbidden; from these till death is Relief afar.
They are concerned with matters hidden - under the earthline their altars are-
The secret fountains to follow up, waters withdrawn to restore to the mouth,
And gather the floods as in a cup, and pour them again at a city's drouth.
They do not preach that their God will rouse them a little before the nuts work loose.
They do not teach that His Pity allows them to drop their job when they dam'-well choose.
As in the thronged and the lighted ways, so in the dark and the desert they stand,
Wary and watchful all their days that their brethren's day may be long in the land.
Raise ye the stone or cleave the wood to make a path more fair or flat -
Lo, it is black already with blood some Son of Martha spilled for that!
Not as a ladder from earth to Heaven, not as a witness to any creed,
But simple service simply given to his own kind in their common need.
And the Sons of Mary smile and are blessed - they know the Angels are on their side.
They know in them is the Grace confessed, and for them are the Mercies multiplied.
They sit at the Feet - they hear the Word - they see how truly the Promise runs.
They have cast their burden upon the Lord, and - the Lord He lays it on Martha's Sons!
Whatever happens, for good or bad, the burden will fall on us.
James Lileks posted a dozen or so ads from the 40's and 50's for Red Ryder B-B guns (you know, "You'll shoot your eye out").
I remember pouring over most of these ads, visions of sharp-shooting clouding my heavily corrected vision. This particular ad struck a nerve.
LILEKS (James) Institute :: Archives
I remember Dad showing me how to shoot in the basement of the Valley Road house, and no, he never talked about the war. At least not with me and my brother.
A few years later, camping with the scouts, he would get drunk playing cards with the other Dads after we were sent to bed in our tents. Of course we would sneak out, injin up to the adult's tent, and listen to the stories. Some would have been better not to hear...especially from the Dad's who were Marines in the Pacific.
I remember pouring over most of these ads, visions of sharp-shooting clouding my heavily corrected vision. This particular ad struck a nerve.
LILEKS (James) Institute :: Archives
I remember Dad showing me how to shoot in the basement of the Valley Road house, and no, he never talked about the war. At least not with me and my brother.
A few years later, camping with the scouts, he would get drunk playing cards with the other Dads after we were sent to bed in our tents. Of course we would sneak out, injin up to the adult's tent, and listen to the stories. Some would have been better not to hear...especially from the Dad's who were Marines in the Pacific.
Gaa
I checked my serial numbers, and I'm OK, but I certainly don't want to worry about getting a wrong number on my sugar test.
China is getting to be a real pain in the ass...even tho China and India have the largest number of Diabetics in the world, - something like 80 million between them.
My wife had reason to remind me out loud of my Super Power this evening as we drove home.
"Another streetlight went out...just as you drove under it! Couldn't you come up with a better Super Power?"
This has happened to me at least once a week since I was a kid. Whether I drive, walk, or bike under them, streetlights go out as I pass beneath. I don't even notice anymore, except a for a vague feeling of accomplishment.
I can think of other Powers I might like to have, but at least this is something. Of course to please the wife, I'd have to be able to turn stuff into chocolate or something like that....that is, if it's possible to please a wife.
is garbage.
High-priced junk.
I used to do this all the time in mid-air after a couple of hits of 8-way Sunshine.
The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Fifth Level of Hell!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:
| Level | Score |
|---|---|
| Purgatory (Repenting Believers) | Very Low |
| Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers) | Very Low |
| Level 2 (Lustful) | Very High |
| Level 3 (Gluttonous) | Very High |
| Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious) | High |
| Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy) | Extreme |
| Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics) | Moderate |
| Level 7 (Violent) | High |
| Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers) | Very High |
| Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous) | Very High |
Take the Dante's Inferno Hell Test
Found on the evil, but slightly less evil, Mr. FreeMarket's site
I had the thought today that I wish Absolutely Fabulous was still on the tube. That was one funny show. Five seasons was not enough.
Sheryl Crow - celebrated for being an incredible dick head.
Harry Reid - celebrated for being incredibly dickless.
John Edward - celebrated for having hair more interesting than he is.
CNN - celebrated for their coverage of Virginia Tech.
Muslims - celebrated for calling Ham a hate crime - Justin would not be pleased.
Alec Baldwin - celebrated for his parenting skills
Katie Couric - celebrated for her news anchor skills
Mayor Bloomberg - celebrated for his skills in sucking every last cent out of New Yorkers
Samizdata is asking what skill that you lack do you most wish you possessed...
I would love to be able to consistently hit a 20" steel gong at 1200 yards with some heavy duty rifle - like a .338 Lapua or something. Iron sights and without glasses.
I knew Johannesburg was dangerous, but this is ridiculous.
The Blaster - The Anti-Carjacking Flamethrower.
You must check out the video on CNN
I like it. As noted by DirtCrasr in another thread, I wonder how many carbon offsets it requires.
So my wife sees this and her only comment: "I want one". You've gotta love those Jersey girls.
I found another video on YouTube...
Pakistani Art
French Fashion
Ugly Dogs
Fidel Castro
MilSurp Ammo
...and Gun Grabbers
ONE of the most memorable scenes in “The Good Shepherd”, Robert de Niro's excellent new film about the early years of the CIA, involves a conversation between a Mafia don and an impeccably WASPish CIA operative. “We Italians, we have the church and our family. The Irish have their homeland. The Jews have their traditions. Even the niggers, they've got their music. What do you people have?”
The CIA man replies, with all of the force of Yale and its most revered secret society, Skull and Bones. “The United States of America. The rest of you are just visiting.”
One of the oddities of America is that “visitors” have been so much better at understanding the country than the Skull and Bones crew. Two of the best observers—Alexis de Tocqueville and James Bryce—were foreigners. Other first-rate observers have sprung from the recent waves of immigration. Seymour Martin Lipset was one of the best of them, a man who devoted his career to defining what made America different. - The Economist
Another reason for the lack of a serious Socialist Party that Lipset misses is the universal possibility of success.Everyone knows someone who has started with nothing and made either a fortune or a success of himself. 'Workers' might bitch gently about the 'Rich', but they know deep in their bones that if they work hard enough, or are in the right place at the right time, that they too could be rich and successful. Why knock the rich when you'll be there someday.
Perhaps it just comes down to an individual feeling of confidence that manifests itself at the national level. American confidence is downright catching, especially to immigrants used to a more stifling system.
Continue reading American exceptionalism....
I took a freebie IQ test on the web.
For what it is worth - 127
Depressing actually...If I'm so smart, why ain't I rich?
We are in the middle of a war. The war is for the mindset of the western world. It is a war between conservatives and progressives, and its resolution hinges on the horrific.
It is perhaps a bit of hyperbole, but only a bit. The whole point to terror is to terrorize civilians, and with the chemical/biological/radiological nasties we have now, it would be possible to kill or maim 100,000 in the right venue. Think of the Super Bowl or St. Peters Square on a day when the Pope is speaking.
Like most of us, I've thought about this a bit and think that the reaction to an attack is fraught with complexities that have both progressives and conservatives scratching their heads. We are talking about a public reaction that would overwhelm any western government's standard level of control - the people would speak as one, and the government would have to follow - or fall.
Assuming that a terrorist organization wants to deal in this level of slaughter, two main questions emerge which bracket the actual event.
How can we stop it?
How do we respond to it?
Progressives and Conservatives certainly have different ideas about prevention - from abject surrender, thru engagement, to isolationism, low-grade conflict, realpolitik, reactive or preemptive attack, and everything in between. This can be endlessly debated, and really only has one place in the meme - after a large attack, how will whichever of the above that we are doing at the time be seen by the public?
The response to an attack like this is something neither Progressives nor Conservatives could predict. Their worst nightmare would occur - the people would decide. Conservatives might be faced with a population which demands isolationism or surrender, and Progressives could get swamped by a population with a blinding hatred for terrorist enablers and demanding the ultimate retaliation.
I don't think attacks to-date are any indication of how a country would react. Kill 50,000 in Madrid and you might get a different reaction than what occurred in Spain after the train bombings. Kill 50,000 in New York and Americans might just decide to leave the world to its fate and embrace isolationism again.
I'm sure both Progressives and Conservatives might like to say that a huge new attack would shock their populations into seeing things exactly their way...but mobs, whether 40 million in Spain or 300 million in the US, have a way of thinking with emotion, not realpolitik.
If you believe, as I do, that another attack is coming, then you might just see that you are in the middle of a battle to prepare your mind for the unthinkable.
The civilian and military minds anticipate and react to attacks each in a different manner. We know this.
Each mindset on its own has a serious failing.
A military mindset has little to hold it back - the mission is the end all and be all. It would be very easy to over-react (although I am not a fan of proportional response). Over-reaction to the point of insanity doesn't do anyone any good. You can't take back 300 nukes when 10 would have sent the message.
A civilian mindset is worthless in war. Suppose the hypothetical progressive government decides to prosecute the war to the utmost. They would have no support from the population which would be apathetic at best and downright obstructive at the worst - having been trained that way. It would take years to change the mindset with all the aggravations inherent in the task. Can you say draft?
I guess the best mindset for civilians in war would be a military one which also hated what it was doing (each and every minute) and (desperately) wanted to complete the mission so they could stop being military minded. I'm thinking of the Brits in World War II - stiff upper lip, get on with the job, etc. A people able to be world class warriors when the need arose - and world class civilians when the job was done.
What does that leave us with?
I'm seeing an attempt by conservatives to get civilians in a military mindset so that they react to an attack as a military would, attacking back with skill and aggression. I see Progressives trying to get civilians in a decidedly non-military mindset so that they would react as civilians would, becoming physical or mental refugees from conflict, and leaving the response to whatever the government wants to do.
Neither of these philosophies will work on its own.
It's a war folks; it's a war to prep you for the nastiness to come. Fight or flight. I vote fight, but that's just me.
Here were my December 2005 predictions for 2006....
- The Republicans will pick up seats in the House of Representatives, but stay about the same in the House of Lords
- Iran will announce that it has the bomb, unwisely.
- Saddam's trial will drag on for 6 months, then his appeal, and he'll be hung in 2007
- The MSM newspapers will lose another 2 1/2% of their readership and the other media channels will continue to trail any outlet that doesn't trash America every day.
- Osama, a wet spot on a cave wall, will not be found, but Zarqawi will - dead.
- There will not be another major terror attack this year in the US- from my lips to God's ear
- There will be major terror attacks in Europe, Asia, and around Russia's borders
- Hillary and McCain will announce right after the mid-term elections
- The Palistinians will devolve to what will be, in effect, a civil war*
- A coalition government will be formed in Iraq, with a large portion of religious MPs, but not enough to totally implement their agenda.
- North Korea will continue to be a low-grade thorn in the world's blanket
- The Insurgency will leave Iraq and become active in countries that they are afraid are becoming too democratized, ie, Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan.
- I'll get my Python
- Another seat will open up on the Supreme Court for Bush to fill...with Janice Rogers Brown
Couldn't be more wrong. The Dems picked up the House, and the Senate hinges on a sick Dem.
Bingo
Bingo - minus 2 days
Bingo
Bingo
Bingo
Plenty of attacks, some big ones foiled ( like that airline attack ), but nothing that caught the world's imagination
Bingo
Bingo
Bingo
This one is a gimme
Wrong on this one. Iraq is still the magnet
Nope, I suck.
Nope, I suck
Has anyone give thought to the fact that if Red States decided to secede from the Union that there would be no one in the Blue States that would be willing to fight to bring them back?
Just askin'.
The link is a bit simplistic from a progressive website, but might get you thinking. I could easily see secession down the road, and I don't see anyone resisting it to the point of serious military action. Economic warfare could happen, but the Blue States have a negative fertility rate, and would be in a European Death Spiral before long anyway.
The link is a bit simplistic from a progressive website, but might get you thinking. I could easily see secession down the road, and I don't see anyone resisting it to the point of serious military action. Economic warfare could happen, but the Blue States have a negative fertility rate, and would be in a European Death Spiral before long anyway.
I was out in the back yard a few minutes ago with the mooch. It's about 50 degrees and our Jersey shore bugs are just about gone. Watching the last desperate fly reminded me of Jimmy Jack.
When a warship goes to sea it carries whatever bugs it has with it. While roaches live forever, flies do not react well to salt air.
There is probably nothing so mind-numbingly boring (mostly) as being at sea and off duty (except maybe an AlGore lecture), you can find ways to pass the time. One of them is the great fly contest.
You catch a fly, throw some bucks in a pool, and try to keep your fly alive the longest.
Jimmy Jack, of song and story, lived six weeks below decks on the Kennedy. They're probably still talking about him...well, at least I am.
Epigram: Engraved on the Collar of a Dog Which I Gave to His Royal Highness
Alexander Pope (1688-1744)
I am his Highness' dog at Kew;
Pray tell me, sir, whose dog are you?
Talk about politically pointed verse
Those in an auto parts store in Fresno, or at a NASCAR race in southern Ohio, might appear to Europeans as primordials with their guns, “fundamentalist” religion, and flag-waving chauvinism. But it is they, and increasingly their kind alone, who prove the bulwarks of the West. Ultimately what keeps even the pope safe and the continent confident in its vain dialogues with Iranian lunatics is the United States military and the very un-Europeans who fight in it.- VDH I always find this European characterization of America silly. We like cars because we can afford them and freakin' need them to get around wide open spaces, NASCAR is just plain fun, guns are the tools of a free people (and you can have them too if you live here), religion is low key and very social in small communities (ignored completely in the cities), and it's easy to wave flags when you love your country and have optimism for the future. The American perception of Europeans is that they are generally a drab people, living drab lives, and whose only entertainment is in complaining about everything while doing nothing about anything. They are obsessed with what is in their rear view mirror. Europe is a place to visit as you would an auction house...everything old is for sale and nothing new has value. I'm sure that perception is as wrong as those about America. But there you have it. We don't have a rear view mirror in our lives, just on our cars (which we love). That's a big difference between us.
Continue reading Perceptions.....
We are three quarters thru the year....
Lets take a look at my predictions for 2006.
- The Republicans will pick up seats in the House of Representatives, but stay about the same in the House of Lords
- Iran will announce that it has the bomb, unwisely.
- Saddam's trial will drag on for 6 months, then his appeal, and he'll be hung in 2007
- The MSM newspapers will lose another 2 1/2% of their readership and the other media channels will continue to trail any outlet that doesn't trash America every day.
- Osama, a wet spot on a cave wall, will not be found, but Zarqawi will - dead.
- There will not be another major terror attack this year in the US- from my lips to God's ear
- There will be major terror attacks in Europe, Asia, and around Russia's borders
- Hillary and McCain will announce right after the mid-term elections
- The Palestinians will devolve to what will be, in effect, a civil war
- A coalition government will be formed in Iraq, with a large portion of religious MPs, but not enough to totally implement their agenda.
- North Korea will continue to be a low-grade thorn in the world's blanket
- The Insurgency will leave Iraq and become active in countries that they are afraid are becoming too democratized, ie, Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan.
- I'll get my Python
- Another seat will open up on the Supreme Court for Bush to fill...with Janice Rogers Brown
I'll stand by this one, but it might be reversed. Anyway - the stupid party will hold both houses.
Probably I was a year too soon.
How about drag on for 2 years and be hung in 2012
Bingo
Bingo yet again
Knock on wood
Mumbai, Israel (as always), and several major attacks foiled. We can only pray there are not more.
I think they have both shot themselves in their dicks too much to get elected, but they'll still both declare.
Close, but no cigar. Well, we are getting close. I might get this one yet.
True, but they are all still tools of Iran.
And they've pissed the Japanese off to the point that Tokyo is arming up.
Wrong on this one. They're still flocking to Iraq for the virgins.
Not a chance, dammit
Probably not this year...unless you're a fan of the dead pool. Stevens is about 112, ain't he?
but this chick is just too hot. Click for a bigger picture....
So I'm reading an article about left leaning colleges and it cites a report by the Princeton Review (subscription required) on 361 colleges and where they rate on many issues.
I'm a '68 IU Grad (BS Zoology) - Go! Hoosiers! - Yea!, Draft Deferment!* - and decided to check them out. I was curious to see where they were politically...I don't know whether to be disappointed or not.
Of 361 schools, Indiana University rated:
#1 Lots of Beer
#6 Party Schools
#9 Best college Newspaper
#15 Lots of Hard Liquor
Not in the top 20 of anything political.
4 years of tuition costs $82,969.21...(I had spent less than $5500 to graduate). Tell me these kids are getting a better education than I did... I doubt they're getting 15 times as much value for their dollar. I've got news for you...I went there and I don't believe IU is worth $82K. Take the money and invest it in index stocks. Leave it, do a tour, let the GI Bill pay for college at night, and when you're ready to retire you'll have a couple of mil to fall back on...and didn't waste 4 years at what passes for a college these days.
We did party up a storm tho, and the Journalism school had been attended by and then named for Ernie Pyle. My watchword back then was..."you are now entering Indiana, please set your watch back a hundred years". Not much has changed.
*Draft Deferment: de fer ment (di-fûr'm?nt)
n.
1. The act or an instance of delaying or putting off.
2. Officially sanctioned postponement of compulsory military service.
3. Holding off the Army for 6 months so I can graduate and enlist in the Navy
Amazingly enough, from the worlds premier gun-blogger comes a link to a new study of sexuality. This recent study of hetero men, hetero women, and lesbians complements a similar study of hetero and homosexual men last year.The brains of all three groups were scanned when sniffing male and female hormones and a set of four ordinary odors. Ordinary odors were processed in the brain circuits associated with smell in all the volunteers. In heterosexual males the male hormone was processed in the scent area but the female hormone was processed in the hypothalamus, which is related to sexual stimulation. In straight women the sexual area of the brain responded to the male hormone while the female hormone was perceived by the scent area. In lesbians, both male and female hormones were processed the same, in the basic odor processing circuits, Savic and her team reported. From the study last year.... In the Swedish study, when sniffing a chemical from testosterone, the male hormone, portions of the brains involved in sexual activity were activated in gay men and straight women, but not in straight men, the researchers found. When they sniffed smells like cedar or lavender, all of the subjects brains reacted only in the olfactory regions that handles smells.
Interesting...a true biological benchmark for sexuality. Kim brings up an interesting point. If sexual orientation is a response to chemical clues, could orientation be adjusted. Could homosexuality be 'turned' to heterosexuality by drugs or other treatment. Would it be right to do this? Would homosexuals even take advantage of this treatment if it was available? Would it be possible to 'turn' hetero orientation to homosexual? Who would want to? I find the study a bit simplistic. There are cultures where homosexuality is common among hetero males when females are not available....I wonder what the same study would show about them. Nature or Nurture.
In Ameri-speak, the late Ahmed Deedat would be considered a lecturer on comparative religion. Largely self-educated, he debated anyone anywhere in defense of Islam. He suffered a stroke in 1996 and lived as an invalid until last year when he passed at 87.
I have been told by educated Muslims that his writings are what they studied prior to coming to the west so as to understand Christians, Jews, and Hindus. The guy was a debater and scholar - a 'caller for Islam' as he was known.
My particular favorite is his debate with that true nutpuppy - Jimmy Swaggart. Deedat gets a +1 just for that one.
Of course, not everyone agrees.
I have no truck with organized religion, and don't mind watching these guys rip at each other's throats. We'll all find out soon enough who is right, and the world could probably use a few less of the God-mad right now.
Tax returns mailed, bills paid, food and other shopping done. Checking account depleted to the point that I want to start voting Democrat so I can get in on some of that free money.
Why is it that every year I always feel the worst about my prospects on the day I mail my Tax Return. It always reminds me of how far behind my goals I am, not how very close I am to achieving them.
I didn't feel this bad yesterday. We took a ride to look at houses in Pennsy (for the great escape). In my area, there are three corridors to free America which allow reasonable access to work up in the City: Route 80 West, Route 78 West, and the Turnpike (Route I95) South. Each are conduits for mass transit into the city, and each require less than 2 hours door to door (mostly snoozing on the train or bus). This time we went out the I95...a bit of an expensive area compared to the others.
After we were done we stopped for lunch in the gay/faux hippie/upscale artist-biker community of New Hope. Chowing down alfresco under a snow storm of cherry blossoms has a certain calming influence...broken only by the roar of passing Harley's and the ocular assault of purple hair, nose rings, and butt-crack tattoos.
I should look at the bright side. My taxfull contribution will help a family of 12 'undocumented' guests and allow them to partake of all the advantages of America without requiring them to actually share in the joy of April 15th. First they drove, then they walked, then they swam, and then they ran...and now I have the honor of supporting them.
I've always been a fan of legal immigration to the US, believing that immigrant efforts were one of the things that kept the country energized. I always believed that new immigrants tended to be conservative; if not politically then certainly in religion, and probably in family values and personal morals as well. Read that again: Legal Immigration.
Yeah, I know that immigrants always seemed to sprout criminal gangs, but that's been happening since the Irish came over to Tir na n'Og in their millions a hundred and fifty years ago. It's something of a tradition it seems; the freedom to be bad in the land of the free.
But I can't say that I see anything of value in these recent immigration protests; and they might just generate a backlash that the protesters don't expect. So say polls of all political stripes; the utterly overwhelming percentage of Americans want the border closed before even considering any amnesty for these criminals. Finally we agree on something.
I'm certainly not interested in watching a sea of Mexican flags waved around while the US gets trashed as racist. How about a sea of Mexican flags waved around while thanking God in his heaven for the wonder that is America? No, we don't get that - what we get is another interest group (illegal at that) pandered to by the usual suspects.
Aztlan my ass. If this is how you feel about America, then I have a suggestion for you;.walk back to the shit-hole third world toilet you came from.
Americans want your jobs; we just want to be paid more for them. Whenyou leave we'll save so much money in services that we'll be able to do that. We don't need you taking up 90% of the hospital services and nearly all of the correctional (and schoolroom) space in southwestern jurisdictions.
We don't need you jabbering in Spanish when the language of this country and most of the developed world is English. We are not interested in bi-lingual schools.
We do not believe in multi-culturalism, we believe in melting pots. You can honor your roots as much as you want (we all do), but be an American while you do it; or go back home to that paradise that you left.
We don't need you jumping the line to get ahead of over 2 million people a year who come to this country legally (more than anywhere else in the world). There may be 10 million of you, but there are 290 million of us, immigrants all for the most part; and we have an investment in this country that you either buy into - or you leave.
Surely there are good people among those 10 million. There must be some hard working, God-fearing, and moral people who want to succeed and become productive citizens of America. But at the moment folks, you are breaking the law; you're not 'undocumented workers' - you are illegals and invaders.
My heart does not bleed for you and I don't care if you die in the desert trying to make it to the Promised Land. We might actually want you, but we don't want you like this. You are taking up my air and my water.
So if you moonbats want to come up with some kind of a program which allows these illegals to prove that they are worthy of being citizens, fine; I'm all for it. But until then there'll be no driver's license, no health care, no free education, no welfare. And nothing, absolutely nothing;. no amnesty, no guest workers, nothing but deportation when we catch you and fines and jail time for those who hire you:
Until the border is closed.
Update: we could always follow Mexico's immigration policy....
- Article 11 guarantees federal protection against "undesirable aliens resident in the country." What is more, private individuals are authorized to make citizen's arrests. Article 16 states, "In cases of flagrante delicto, any person may arrest the offender and his accomplices, turning them over without delay to the nearest authorities." In other words, Mexico grants its citizens the right to arrest illegal aliens and hand them over to police for prosecution. Imagine the Minutemen exercising such a right!
- The Mexican constitution states that foreigners - not just illegal immigrants - may be expelled for any reason and without due process. According to Article 33, "the Federal Executive shall have the exclusive power to compel any foreigner whose remaining he may deem inexpedient to abandon the national territory immediately and without the necessity of previous legal action."
Tax Time....and BAG day.
A bit back from the Feds and a bit more to the state. At least that's after the first go round...without getting creative. I do not use the W2 like a savings account...I pay in the minimum I can get away with during the year... The goal being to break even at tax time. Getting a bit of money back is a plus, but I'm always trying to balance giving them the minimum each payday while insuring I won't have to pay at the end of the year.
I've been audited (which was not a terribly horrible experience)...so I stay just this side of fantasy. The auditor was a pretty nice guy and walked me thru what I had to do to get by, and commented that I brought too much proof...a good lesson. If they ask for 'X', just bring 'X'.
I'm honest with these things (while taking advantage of every deduction possible), and had lots of expenses in the first half of 2005 due to the straggling end of my business. In the second half I've got tons of deductions working for this consulting company that only reimburses about a third of what I spend...so my taxes are complicated, but not really too far out there. Any money I get back this year gets kept by the Feds to pay off a shortage in taxes from 2003. That'll about finish that off.
2005 was a transition year, and next year should see me getting back some money for BAG day. If the 2nd half of this year is any judge, I'll have over 20G's in deductions just from the consulting, not including the normal itemized deductions which always come to around 15G. Hell, any more deductions, and the Feds will owe me money. I average nearly $400 a week in non-reimbursed expenses.
But it doesn't matter how honest I am with this, my wife gets paranoid when she has to sign the return and I get a yearly lecture about her not wanting to go to jail...
Hell, I'd be in the next cell so whats the problem?
BAG day purchases will relate to the AR I am building. The Badger charger showed up as did specialty tools and a new front sight for the Trooper, but I'm having trouble getting the TiN bolt for the AR, and the technical book I want is out of print... my money was returned. I may have to opt for chrome for the bolt.
Here's an interesting picture...
Thanx to Cowboy Blob
Thanx to Cowboy Blob
TWO women were caught romping in a train station toilet, a court heard yesterday.
Nicola Hudson, 22, and Ann-Marie ONeill, 29, were heard moaning and groaning by a cop at Manchester Piccadilly.
He looked over a cubicle wall and saw ONeill naked from the waist down, kneeling and caressing a topless Hudson.
After several minutes the officer told them to stop and get dressed.
The pals had been waiting for a train after a boozy night out.
Hudson, of Manchester, admitted sexual activity in a public loo and was given a six-month conditional discharge by the citys JPs.
ONeill, of New Mills, Derbys, failed to appear and a warrant was issued for her arrest.
I need a couple of new categories....Thanx so much to cold fury
This has always proved to be a nightmare, but here it is....
- The Republicans will pick up seats in the House of Representatives, but stay about the same in the House of Lords
- Iran will announce that it has the bomb, unwisely.
- Saddam's trial will drag on for 6 months, then his appeal, and he'll be hung in 2007
- The MSM newspapers will lose another 2 1/2% of their readership and the other media channels will continue to trail any outlet that doesn't trash America every day.
- Osama, a wet spot on a cave wall, will not be found, but Zarqawi will - dead.
- There will not be another major terror attack this year in the US- from my lips to God's ear
- There will be major terror attacks in Europe, Asia, and around Russia's borders
- Hillary and McCain will announce right after the mid-term elections
- The Palistinians will devolve to what will be, in effect, a civil war*
- A coalition government will be formed in Iraq, with a large portion of religious MPs, but not enough to totally implement their agenda.
- North Korea will continue to be a low-grade thorn in the world's blanket
- The Insurgency will leave Iraq and become active in countries that they are afraid are becoming too democratized, ie, Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan.
- I'll get my Python
- Another seat will open up on the Supreme Court for Bush to fill...with Janice Rogers Brown
Just a bit of a limp left...
The best thing for tendonitis
Advil and Cold Packs
The best thing for tendonitis
Advil and Cold Packs
So I'll let other people do the blogging....
Bush Derangement Syndrome - by psychiatrist Dr. Sanity
Bullseye ain't buying the 'Bi-Polar' defense in the Miami Airplane shooting.
Mr. FM shoots at a mini-range in his local pub
Tookie must Die
The famous Margo's leftist WebDiary closes...and entries like this were the reason.
I've got your Quagmire right here...
I listen, I read, and I think. If you're a moderate news junkie like I am, you can't help but get overwhelmed by the noise now and then. I've stopped listening to the radio during my commute except for the weather and traffic reports.
The morning NY stations are an unrelenting screed of anti-American hate.
At Noon is Rush: That boy sure likes the sound of his own voice. I can never listen to him for more than a few minutes at a time...unless he's talking sports.
The afternoon shows are Hannity and Levin demeaning liberal callers. I never liked the kind of entertainment that depended on being cruel to morons.
Hence the title of this post (which was a comment, targeted at my side of an argument with a liberal on another forum. I liked the metaphor so much I declared him the winner by acclamation.)
I haven't bought a newspaper in years, and I still don't need to. Whatever they write is the now day-old crap being parroted by the major radio stations, the left side of the internet, and all the TV channels except FOX.
I could write the news myself....
- Quagmire in Iraq and a hate for everything military
- Castro, Kim, Saddam [your favorite dear leader here] good, Western leaders bad
- Unremitting hostility to the present administration
- Economy in the tank
- Guns, Christians, and Capitalists are bad
- Kyoto
- Bird flu, bird flu, bird flu
Today is the birthday of my wife's best friend, Alida. As we do every year we gave presents, took her to dinner, and went to the movie of her choice. This year it was Jarhead.
This is a hard movie to categorize. I've read the book, and it was edgy, but you can't pigeonhole the movie in any genre. It's not a war movie, it's not a buddy movie, it's not an adventure, and it's much gentler than the book. It's like listening to the thoughts of an annoying kid experiencing some pretty strange things. There was very little Hollywood make-believe about this film.
I did find it real. I kept leaning over to my wifes friend and saying things like...."we used to do the same thing", or "we didn't brand guys, we used to...".
We drank more, bitched about the Nav, and used drugs, but even so it was only your buddies that mattered. No one ever knew what we were doing or why. There was only the mission. You want to go home, but you want to use your training more. Wives and lovers left back home are gone forever as I personally learned. Officers are distant and unknowable. Non-commissioned officers are all too close and know everything. This movie showed how it is.
Driving back home I was thinking of my friends from my time in the service; Chief, Arrowsmith, Taco, Poncho, Friz, and Jarhead. Poncho stayed diving and a lifetime of underwater construction in cold Great Lakes' waters crippled him...he's years younger than I am and walks with two canes. Friz ate his own gun over a woman. The rest are lost in time and distance.
My wife knew them before I got to the team, and thinks they were all insane. Which begs the question of why she has stayed with me for 35 years. Sanity, I learned, is relative.
I recommend the movie for anyone who wants to see what the service was like without the gloss of Hollywood crap. Not all bad and not all good...but decades later you still remember your training and your friends. But would I do it again.....?
One of the big advantages to working down in Olde New York is the stuff. There is cool stuff everywhere. I found this overcoolstuffed bookstore the other day and bought this.
I admit to being a squid and although I generally wore greens, I did do my sunset tour on the Kennedy. This author makes the 20 hour watches it takes to run a warship under sail sound like a day at the beach. Of course he was an officer, but I swear to God I would have fragged that gleeful prick myself. One more gushing story about how the 'Jack Tars' were cheerfully willing to work to exhaustion for their godlike officers as long as they got their tot of grog...and I'm going to puke.
The Confederate raider Alabama, with half the crew British merchant seamen, took or burned 69 unarmed prizes and destroyed a smaller Union gunboat off Galveston. Worn out after an epic and exhausting cruise the Alabama met the Kearsarge off Cherbourg; a ship smaller in size, crew, and number of guns...but fresher and manned as a ship of war.
I can't wait to see how he covers the one-sided pounding they got from the Kearsarge*, killing or wounding dozens of the Alabama's crew, and resulting in the capture of most of the rest for the cost to the Kearsarge of 3 wounded (one later died). The Alabama's captain, Raf Semmes, was picked up by a yacht and escaped to England (as did the author).
This book was written 30 years after the fact (the author lived until 1922). Perhaps age and distance made the experience more romantic than it was at the time, but I've been out of the service for 33 years, and I still vividly remember the suck.
I love reading these types of stories, but this rebel is so damned cheerful he makes my teeth hurt.
Update: Finished the book...he blames it on the poor quality of gunpowder, shot, and shell they had. Probably valid, the hits they made on the Kearsarge might have been mortal if the shells they had been using would have exploded instead of just sticking in wood. Then again, after pounding each other for an hour, a single waterline shot from the Kearsarge doomed the Alabama in minutes.
My daughter is an Art Historian. Sometimes I ask her to explain to me why something is considered art...especially some of the things that I've seen in the MOMA. She generally has a scholarly explaination about use of shape, color, or perhaps just being first to do something at a particular moment in history.. So I sent her this in an email...her reply is below. Manny...is this art?Why do people even give pause to this junk? He obviously knew he'd get some attention from it. Seems like he's targeting citizens rather than political policies. I can't take it when folks from other countries criticize our problems with racism. At least people here address it. There was the volunteer here a few years ago. She was an Australian.She would go off to us about how stupid, lazy, and racist America is. She said this to our staff Reverend who is head of an AME church here in NJ. He is black and a former Army drill Sergeant. He shut her up real quick when he told her he'd been all over the world and still thinks America has some of the best opportunies for Minorities. He also said to her, "What about the way YOUR country treats it's aboriginies?" Any white European who acts all high and mighty about race issues is a moron. Racism is everwhere. An example: I read this book in college called "When I was Puerto Rican" about a woman who moved to the US from PR when she was a kid. In the book she explains how in PR she would get teased for being darker skinned. Even among african-americans there are those that get teased for either being too dark or too light depending on the company. Spike Lee made a movie about it. There are White Nationalist organizations all over the world, particularly in the supposedly culturally sensitive Nordic countries. It's not just an American problem. All this bashing of America, just like xenophobia, seems to stem from a fear of losing one's cultural identity. Everyone is afraid they are being subliminally Americanized. If the photographer wants to truly address social ills he should focus on those of his own backyard. He lives in Rome, right? Well how about a photo exhibition that addresses the stanglehold influence of the Catholic Church. I remember years ago the Vatican had Madonna cancel several of her shows in Italy because they deemed them indecent. Why the heck did the Italian people allow that kind on religious intrusion on a friggin' Pop Concert? Why because they have the ability to be just as sheepish and close-minded as any human being. Don't get me started on that goldfish bowl law. Just because Americans don't agree politically with Europeans, we're branded as idiots and bullies. Opinions are no longer allowed in Europe, one must conform. It's symptomatic of their Socialist political structure.
I don't think she liked it. One of these days I'll get her over to the light side politically.
One illegal every 2 minutes....
I haven't had much time to read politics lately...I was even doing some emergency work today up in North Jersey.
What I have seen is just a continuation of the standard blather. The right just keeps trucking along despite the increasingly shill complaints of the left. Cindy Sheehan is a shame, Air America is a sham, the investigation of John Roberts pre-school children is insane. BDS (Bush Derangement Syndrome) is in full flower. The problem is that the right-wingers can hardly be called conservatives...and what does that make the moonbat left. The media would have us believe the center has moved.
And therein lies the problem we have had over the past 5 years. The republicans that we get aren't much different than the democrats of 40 years ago.
Who will be running in 3 years? Hillary can win the primaries, but would get slammed in the general election. McCain has alienated the conservative base, and would have a hard time in the primaries...but could win a general election. I honestly don't see much of a difference between them. They would both want my guns. I would vote for neither.
It's SCOTUS that is important. Recent rulings have shown that at least 5 of the justices have never read the constitution. With a couple more constitutionalists on the court, I wouldn't care as much who won the election and might sit this one out.
I think a lot of burnt out folks feel the same way.
Laura Ingraham likes to say..."who says politics isn't fun". It doesn't seem like fun to me...not when it's a constant fight against the likes of Boxer, Feinstein, and that disgusting Kennedy...not to mention this blatantly corrupt state I live in. And all we have is RINO's on our side.
I needed to take the PATH into New York today to a business on the east side between Fulton and Wall Street. It was only two blocks from the WTC.
I had been down to the trade center many times since 9/11 by various subway lines. By that route, you get off the train in a tunnel and walk up stairs to be presented with the awful hole in the ground.
The PATH actually enters New York below street level inside the hole, travels 1/2 way around inside it, and comes to a stop at the PATH terminal on the west side of the crater. It was really, really, weird. I know it's awful, but the silly memory that popped into my head was of a Disney submarine ride I went on in Kali when I was 12. You had the same feeling of being 'in' the ride and things were happening above you as you glided around in circles.
Instead of water where it should be, there was air where it shouldn't.
It was 100o on the pavement in the city today...but this gave me a chilly feeling. I will never get used to that ghastly hole in the ground.
My son Pete sent me this link....
Google Maps, with Satellite photos.
Well, it will soon be over.
Terri has been sentenced to death by the courts...even though she is not dying. The courts have ordered her feeding tube to be removed for over a week now, and ordered that she not be fed...even though she can take food by mouth. Her venal estranged husband has won...even though others relate Terri's own words that she would prefer to live, that the nurses who treat her say she is not a vegetable, that after 15 years there has never been a medical review of her case with modern equipment, and that her parents would take complete charge of her care.
This is barbaric! It's illegal to treat a dog this way, but we've got the courts ordering the death of this woman.
The moonbats are typically quiet and breathe that her death will be painless...even as they decry the horrible death of starvation by people around the world. I've been a fool all these years worrying about starving children...moonbats tell me now it is a peaceful way to go. There is no sense of right and wrong...only what is legal. This allows moonbats to turn on and off their moral outrage depending upon their agenda.
I really don't care what is legal in this matter. I'm not a lawyer. I'm not a spineless Republican do-nothing, a vindictive Democrat hoping for a backlash, or a holier-than-thou Libertarian on this. I'm just a working stiff in Jersey who hasn't been to church for a Sunday service in over 30 years.
...but even I can see that this is just wrong...and it ain't the first time.
*She* and I have been following the Terri Schiavo case very closely these past several weeks. After listening to the commentary, the polls, the talking heads, her family, her husband, doctors who have examined her, doctors who haven't examined her, nurses who have cared for her, and various pundits in the MSM and blogworld...I have come to the conclusion that I am missing something here.
I have seen the video and this woman does not seem to be in a persistent vegetative state to me. She is not on life support. I have listened to the nurses...several of whom have lost their jobs for complaining about how Terri was treated. I have heard described in sworn affidavits how her husband has injected her with Insulin to try and kill her, and how he refused to spend money specifically won for her rehabilitation in a lawsuit...refused to spend it on her that is...he did OK. He deplorable actions are all public record.
I have seen that when she was discovered 15 years ago, the police thought it was a possible homicide...but it was never investigated because she lived. I have heard sworn affidavits that her husband repeated asked health workers when the "bitch was going to die", and if they could do anything to "speed it along". He refused any rehabilitation for her, and got a nurse disciplined for holding ice-chips to her lips.
The parents are willing to take her, and her care won't cost the public.
But most of all, despite the obvious fact that the husband is a dirtbag and wants his wife dead, is that I've seen the videos. I've been through this with my Mother when she was in extremis. She starved to death at the end by her own choice, and was mostly lucid until the last day...even while on mind-numbing pain medications.
I wouldn't treat a dog like this woman has been treated. Why is it so wrong to let her family have her? Why is it so important to starve her to death? Why do 60+ percent of Americans want to kill her? I'm pro-choice in most things, but I have suspicions about the choices made for this woman by her shitheel husband.
For better or for worse is the pledge you take. I guess I'm missing something.
Update: No place else to go. The legislature, Appeals and Supreme Court, and the rest have decided this woman must die. I think there is something very wrong about this....and I pretty much don't give a fuck if you think different.
My children laugh at my gentle conservatism sometimes. I'm pretty much a social libertarian, and not judgmental on most things...but as I age, I am getting less mellow, not more.I took my children shooting in the woods in Bricktown and to the dump near the police range in Lakewood when they were young. Now it's illegal. I could carry a gun on a plane when traveling...just hand it to the stew when you arrived at the ramp. Now it's illegal. My kids could ride a bike without a helmet. Now it's illegal. I could burn leaves and sticks in my yard. Now it's illegal. I used to be able to throw stuff in the garbage. Now garbage has to be sorted and packaged. Each year we used to go and look at the Holiday Decorations at the Town Hall. Now they're illegal. My kids could play cowboys and indians. Now it's disrespectful to indians, but screw the cowboys. I could smack my kids when they did something wrong. Now kids call DYFS. My brother was deaf. Now he is hearing impaired (or is it aurally challenged this week). Men were expected to be wage earners, fathers, protectors, and husbands. Now they are oppressors of women and, if white, oppressors of the world. The high school I attended had regular courses in Latin, Greek Mythology, Poetry, and advanced mathematics. Now it has woman's studies and has dropped American history for a course on the minority experience in America. The UN was the hope of the world. Now it's just another multi-billion dollar criminal enterprise. When I was young, if a dirtbag broke into your home he took his chances. Now if a alleged perp breaks into your home and stumbles, he can sue and take your home from you. We had presidents like Truman, Eisenhower. Now we have presidents that get hummers from interns in the oval office...then write best-selling books about it. Everybody went to church. Now if you go to church you're a red-state redneck. Freedom of Speech used to apply to everyone. Now Freedom of Speech is just another buzzword for letting moonbats say what they want without consequences. Anyone who burned the American flag would have gotten his ass kicked. Now it's called Freedom of Speech. Fat kids back then turned into fat adults, or not. Now they are the flavor of the week. Scientific theory was proved by rigorous study and experimentation. Now proof gets in the way of political expediency. Hippies were dirty smelly losers. Now they are dirty smelly activists. Politicians were crooked lying rat-bastards sucking on the public teat. Well, that hasn't changed much. At one time, Actors and Actresses served their country in many honorable ways. Now they serve anyone but their country in ways that turn my stomach.
They can laugh at me all they want. When they hit my age I hope they're happy with the collectivist nanny state they let slip up on them.
High-tech passports are not working
IN OLDEN days (before the first world war, that is) the traveller simply pulled his boots on and went. The idea that he might need a piece of paper to prove to foreigners who he was would not have crossed his mind. Alas, things have changed. In the name of security (spies then, terrorists now), travellers have to put up with all sorts of inconvenience when they cross borders. The purpose of that inconvenience is to prove that the passport's bearer is who he says he is.
The original technology for doing this was photography. It proved adequate for many years. But apparently it is no longer enough. At America's insistence, passports are about to get their biggest overhaul since they were introduced. They are to be fitted with computer chips that have been loaded with digital photographs of the bearer (so that the process of comparing the face on the passport with the face on the person can be automated), digitised fingerprints and even scans of the bearer's irises, which are as unique to people as their fingerprints.
Unencrypted digital photographs and information coupled to an RFID device that (1) works like crap, and (2) can be read at a distance...this sounds like a classic cluster fuck to me. Time to wrap your documents in tin-foil.
Continue reading More Bloody Hell...digital passports.
The Bill
National Identification Schemes (NIDS) and the Fight against Terrorism: Frequently Asked Questions - Clement, Stalder, Johnson, & Guerra
The National ID Card Trojan Horse - Ron Paul (Truth News)
Identity Crisis: Real ID Act does little to halt terrorism - The Monitor
The National ID Card that Isn't, Yet - Frank Pellegrini (Time)
A National ID Card Wouldn't Make Us Safer - Bruce Schneier (Minn Star Tribune)
Reject the National ID Card - Ron Paul (Texas Straight Talk)
Blogs
National ID Card - Big Brother
Freepers
Rayne Today
Mike Bell
4614 other blogs mentioning National ID cards
275 blogs mentioning HR 418 (Real ID)
There is not enough response to this outrage on the web. Only Gun Owners of America has started an email campaign....and the only republicans who have railed against this are those familiar to 2A advocates.
"The U.S. House of Representatives passed a national ID bill last week that masqueraded as 'immigration reform.' ... In reality, the bill is a Trojan horse. It pretends to offer desperately needed border control in order to con a credulous Congress into sacrificing more of our constitutionally protected liberty."
-- Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX)
Lambasting the bill on the floor of the House last week, Rep. Paul noted that the legislation gives authority to the Secretary of Homeland Security to expand the required information that goes into drivers licenses, including "such biometric information as retina scans, fingerprints, DNA information, and even Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) radio tracking technology."
Should this happen, it would mean that the federal government "would know where Americans are at all times of the day and night," Paul said.
Moreover, H.R. 418 requires the U.S. government to share our personal information with Canada and Mexico. Paul was flabbergasted. "There are no limits on what happens to the database of sensitive information on Americans once it leaves the United States for Canada
and Mexico -- or perhaps other countries," he said. Paul wondered if crooked Mexican officials would soon be able to sell thousands of identity files, including our Social Security numbers, to alien criminals.
Roll call for the Bill (HR 418)
Find your Congressman
Sample Letters for (HR 418) legislative scumbags who supported this and the heroes who opposed it are found after the 'more' jump.
"A society of sheep must in time beget a government of wolves." --Bertrand de Jouvenel
Continue reading Bloody Hell...Revisited.
National ID Cards....
The measure, called the Real ID Act, says that driver's licenses and other ID cards must include a digital photograph, anticounterfeiting features and undefined "machine-readable technology, with defined minimum data elements" that could include a magnetic strip or RFID tag. The Department of Homeland Security would be charged with drafting the details of the regulation.
For ID in my wallet there is a drivers license, voter registration card, social security card, firearms purchaser ID card, and license to sell firearms...all things that can be used for personal ID in the PRNJ. Spread among them are 5 signatures, 2 fingerprints and 3 physical discriptions including scars and tattoos. I'm not including my passport or birth certificate (of which I carry the originals and copies when I travel by air). Neither does it include credit cards, veteran stuff, cards for personal associations, and my picture ID for my work (which does include a smart chip).They should just cut to the chase and do this....
I drove with my wife to the mall this afternoon so she could redeem her Body Shop gift card. As we are walking thru the mall, she turns and says to me....
"...did you know that Mi..."
STOP - STOP - STOP - LA, LA, LA, LA, LA, LA....MY FINGERS ARE IN MY EARS, I'M NOT LISTENING....
I really do not want to hear anything about the wierdo...unless it contains the words 'died suddenly'.
There is hope. People do occasionally die from the flu.