June 30, 2007
I Know! I Know!
Jupiter's clouds are changing color!
Jupiter's cloud patterns are undergoing dramatic changes, reveal new images by the Hubble Space Telescope. Similar transformations of the giant planet's clouds have been witnessed before, but never in such detail – and they have never been explained.
I blame anthropogenic global warming.
June 29, 2007
True Immigration Reform
Does it bother anybody else that the ardent supporters of immigration reform are now giving up after the defeat of the monstrosity they presented to the Senate? Do they truly believe that their way was the only way to solve the problem? They're like a bunch of little kids who are going to take their ball and go home because they didn't get their way. Why aren't they working on a plan that the American people will support? Instead, they are turning on their constituents in a way I've never seen happen before. If immigration reform is as important as they said it was, why are they giving up?
My personal feeling is that it's because each and every one of them is full of stuff that smells bad and makes plants grow, but maybe that's just me.
Manish brings up a very good point in the comments thread here:
I still await seeing a viable plan (that doesn't involve fantasies like assuming that we can catch them all) that doesn't involve "amnesty" that has a chance of working while not ruining many sectors of the economy that rely on immigrant labor.
I'm waiting as well; the last plan certainly didn't fit the bill.
Here are the broad outlines of a plan,that should solve the problem in a way acceptable to most Americans. Feel free to discuss in comments or at your own blogs.
- Secure the borders first. That should be the strongest message that immigration reformers take from the public debate. The first order of business is not to legalize those who are here already, or to deport them. The first order of business is to stop the flood. Trying to deport those here illegally already would be like trying to save the Titanic by bailing it out with a 5 gallon bucket. Stop the leak first. Then deal with the flood waters.
- Assess the factors driving the immigration This is actually part of step one. No matter how strong a fence you build, if people want to cross it badly enough, they will. Look at the Berlin Wall, for example. We have to assess what drives people to cross the border, and minimize those drivers as much as possible. The biggest driver for illegal immigration is that unskilled workers cannot find work in their home countries and there's not a whole lot we can do about that. Consider Mexico. When NAFTA passed, all we heard from the opposition is that all the jobs would go south of the border, leading to a labor crisis here in America. Obviously, the "giant sucking sound" was just another figment of Ross Perot's fertile imagination. The Mexican economy is crippled by the corruption of the Mexican government, and that's something we can't do anything about.
However, there are two sides to this coin. They have too many workers and too few jobs on their side of the border while we here in America have the exact opposite problem; too few workers for too many jobs. Our immigration policy needs to reflect this reality.
- Develop a realistic visa policy Our immigration policy should first address our needs as a nation. Immigration should be targeted to fill gaps in our workforce. Jobs with below minimal manning should receive top priority. It is obvious that there is a demand for unskilled labor in the US, and our visa policy should reflect that.
First of all, let's reduce the upfront burden on the employer. As it stands now, in order to apply for unskilled visas, the employer must first prove that they have jobs to fill and nobody to fill them. Eliminate this requirement. Instead use already available statistics from the NLB to determine which industries require additional workers.
Second,the visa belongs to the worker, not the company. Why should an American company hold the visa? All it does is take power away from the worker,who is now not only dependent on the company for his livelihood, but for the very ability to earn that livelihood. Again, use the info from the NLB to determine the number of visas allowed for each industry, and issue those visas directly to the applicant. These first two steps go a long way towards reducing the abuses of immigrant labor by big business.
- Enact and enforce tough penalties for employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens We need to create an incentive to hire legal immigrants over illegals. Right now, the incentive is the other way around,since illegal aliens can be hired significantly cheaper. By creating an economic penalty for hiring illegal aliens, that incentive disappears.
- Pass a law that anyone found working in the US illegally will be deported and will never be eligible for a legal visa Why go to the expense of trying to round up millions of illegal aliens when we can create an incentive program that will encourage them to go home voluntarily? If we set up a sane visa policy that allows for unskilled immigrant labor to get visas quickly and easily, and at the same time erect stiff penalties for being caught in the US illegally, doesn't that create a strong incentive for anyone here illegally to go home and come back the right way?
Take all the steps together and you have a sane, practical policy that will encourage legal immigration to address America's needs while discouraging illegal immigration and at the same time, provides a strong incentive for those here illegally to go back home and come back the right way. Throw in a secure border, the very first item on the list, and the solution is complete.
Sure,there will be a lot of those who are here illegally who will resist going back home. At least,at first. But as they begin to lose work because employers are hiring legal immigrants, and as they see others deported and not come back within a week or two, the incentive for them to stay here illegally will begin to diminish, as will their numbers. The illegal immigrant population will go into a decline,slowly at first, but increasing over time as they are displaced by legal immigrants.
And all of this without English only legislation, or having to round up millions of people.
So Sen. Martinez (who is probably too busy throwing a tantrum to actually hear anything) I've answered your challenge. I've given you the broad outlines of an immigration policy that meets the needs of America, without amnesty, without devastating businesses,and without requiring racially charged legislation. The question is this: Do you or any of your colleagues in Washington have the balls to do anything about it?
Commenting Policy
I don't believe in editing or deleting comments, nor do I believe in banning people from commenting.
So I am very reluctant to do so.
However, in response to my post on Immigration,a commenter has attacked a friend of mine, calling him a racist simply because he supported the immigration reform bill recently defeated in the Senate. Now the irony is that I was called a racist in the same thread because I was against the same bill.
In the words of Inigo Montoya, "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."
Do I delete comments that are insulting, unfounded, malicious, or otherwise objectionable, or do I leave them up to allow those ignorant enough to make them to be seen as they truly are?
SCOTUS and Schools
So, the Supreme Court has just ruled that not only are you not allowed to use race to keep kids out of certain schools, you are not allowed to use race to put kids into certain schools.
How can anybody have a problem with that?
June 27, 2007
Hot Out There Today, Isn't It?
So let me get this straight. Our wonderful Congresscritters are attempting to pass a law that requires equal media time for conservative and liberal programming. Leaving aside the insurmountable obstacle of determining what content is liberal and what is conservative (According to the Kos kiddies, the New York Times is a conservative rag.) and the equally insurmountable obstacle of weighting that content (Is a show that promotes awareness of global warming the equivalent of a show profiling successes in Iraq? Or should one be weighted as stronger than the other?) and the equally insurmountable obstacle of determining how to calculate equal time over multiple broadcast formats (TV has pictures as well as sound so 1 minute of TV should equal at least 5 minutes of radio) isn't it a fundamentally unamerican approach to issue sweeping regulations on who gets to say what and when?
Isn't it odd that the same folks who scream about government censorship when a preacher suggests that maybe bloody mutilations and graphic sexual encounters shouldn't be on TV when kids are watching are silent or solidly behind this significantly larger curtailment of our Constitutional freedoms?
Not to keep beating a dead donkey, but don't Democrats ever get tired of their own hypocrisy?
I'm just wondering if they will extend the "Fairness Doctrine" to all media, or just the ones where conservatives dominate? Will we see a Blogging Fairness Doctrine? Will Randy Neal be forced to open his doors to, gasp, the dreaded conservatives? Oh the horror!
Out of curiosity, how will this new doctrine be enforced? Will we be paying people to listen to the radio with stop watches, timing conservative and liberal content? What about libertarian content? Will that be null space? It might as well be since nobody listens to us anyway. What about Green Party ideology? Who will that count against?
Just a side thought, but even though the short term effect will be to limit the ability of conservatives to speak, won't the long term effect be to completely crush the ability of a third party to develop? If all the air time is split between the big two, there won't be anything left for anybody else, will there?
More protection for the incumbents...
So, Republicans don't want us to talk about sex and Democrats don't want us to talk about politics; I guess all we can talk about is the weather.
Hot out there today, isn't it?
June 26, 2007
Cloture Passes and I Re-assess My Patriotism
Remember when the Democrats told us that since 55% of the American public were against the War in Iraq that we should pull out because it was "the will of the people?"
How is it that those very same Democrats are silent while immigration policy opposed by 75+% of the American people is being shoved down our throats by a Democrat-led Senate?
I'll take hypocritical asshats for 2000, Alex.
Don't think I give the Republicans a pass, oh no. They're right in this thing because instead of voting on principle, they are playing political games with this bill, allowing President Bush just enough leeway to slide this one by. I'll give the President his due; all along, since he first started campaigning for the presidency, he's promised he would provide an immigration reform package. He hasn't flip-flopped, and as is his nature, he's pursuing the course he thinks is right with bulldog intensity, with every bit the same energy and determination he's shown with the War on Terror.
That he is as wrong as it is possible for a man to be is tragic; that he is being aided and abetted by a cynical Senator who is willing to sacrifice America's long term security for short term political gain is shameful; that our Senate as a whole is willing to disregard the loudly expressed will of the people in favor of corporate lobbyists and visions of their own electoral invincibility is a national disgrace; that our national press corps is more concerned with covering the release of an heiress convicted of a misdemeanor than covering an issue that will, regardless of the decision made, radically affect the character of our nation for generations to come is sadly typical.
What really gets me is that if you don't read the blogs, if you just listen to the news, you know almost nothing about the issue. You don't know the costs associated with this bill. You don't know about the automatic extension of benefits to those who came here illegally. You don't know that the so-called triggers are only for show, since they won't apply to the vast majority of those who are already here illegally.
You don't know, and most of you don't care.
George (Not Carlos. Gotta stop typing while listening to music) Santayana said that those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it, so let me give you a quick history lesson that applies directly to our situation today.
Roughly 500 years after the birth of Christ, the Romans were evacuating the British Isles after years of occupation. As they withdrew, the island fell into chaos, with native Celts and Woads battling with encroaching Norsemen, Angles and Saxons for control of the territories the Romans were abandoning. In this turbulent time, a king who could not control his borders soon found himself without a kingdom. One such king, by the name of Vortigern, thought he'd found a way to defend his borders against the encroaching hordes without costing him the lives of his own subjects. His insight was radical for the time; since the land was already being overrun with Anglo-Saxons, he would make a deal with them. He would trade them living space for their service as defenders of his borders.
Vortigern approached a Saxon leader by the name of Hengest to make his deal. Hengest realized that fighting to defend a land is much easier than fighting to take it, and the deal was struck. At one stroke, Vortigern had taken a liability and turned it to his advantage.
Unfortunately for Vortigern, his advantage didn't outlive him. Hengest died, and his son Horst realized that the Saxons were stronger than the Celts,and reneged on the deal his father had made. He and his men rose up and slaughtered the Celts, including their king, Vortigern, and took all the land.
Here's another example; ask a Cherokee Indian what unchecked immigration does to the native population. Or any member of a Native American tribe. Ask an aborigine in Australia.
The lesson of history is very clear; when a nation loses the ability or the will to defend its borders, it ceases to exist as a nation within a generation. Its people are replaced with a more vigorous, more robust people, a people who are willing and able to defend their territory.
Folks, this is where America is today. Just listen to the rhetoric on the pro-illegal immigration side. If you oppose this legislation, you are automatically, a bigot and a racist. You are prejudiced, and don't understand the true meaning of being an American. You are cruel and lack compassion. You are all of these things and worse, simply because you believe that we as a nation have a right to say who gets in and who doesn't.
Again, listen to what they say. We must have compassion for those who come here. After all, all they want is something better for themselves and their families. They say America should be open to all who want to come here. They say that there are too many here illegally already; there's no way we can correct the problem except by legitimizing them. They say that attempting to secure our borders is a cruel and racist act. They say that asking those who immigrate whether legally or otherwise to assimilate within our culture is wrong; that we should allow them to maintain their own national identity, even though they live and work in this nation.
Listen to what they say; they no longer believe that our borders are worth controlling.
And I have to struggle with the idea that they may be right. Is America still worth defending? Sadly, I have my doubts. I figure that there will be tremendous outrage when this bill becomes a law, but that fewer than 10% of those who vote to pass it will be defeated in their next election cycle. Remember the outrage over McCain-Feingold? How many supporters of that monstrosity were voted out? Nope, John Q is too busy surfing the internet for pictures of Britney Spears' nipple to be overly concerned about immigration legislation.
So I have to ask myself: Is this nation worth fighting for? Killing for? Dying for?
The question is very important because I have a son who is in that position right now and another who is leaning strongly that way. I served, as did my father, my uncle, and my grandfather. My ex father in law once removed (very long story, but he's good people and I'm proud to consider him part of my extended family) served, as did his son.
But would I volunteer to serve today? I really don't know. I don't know if the American people are worthy of such sacrifice, or if they would just waste it.
A few months ago, I jokingly wrote that I wasn't worried about Sharia law being implemented in America because I was pretty sure the new, fervently Catholic Hispanic majority wouldn't allow it. Whatever humor that quip once possessed has been extinguished by its increasing probability.
June 24, 2007
A Good Day
Have you ever had one of those days that goes so well that you don't want it to end, but when it does come to an end, you're happy because that means nothing can happen to screw it up?
I like days like that.
June 21, 2007
And Now for Something Completely Different
Ladies and gentleman,we here at Shots Across the Bow are proud to welcome to this blog the one and only Atomic Horns Show Band, who will now get down and get funky for you.
June 20, 2007
Bonnaroo Pictures
Here are a few shots I took during Bonnaroo. They are all work safe.
My little corner of Bonnaroo
Notice the truck tent, which really saved space and made my camping significantly more comfortable. The tall tent just to the right of my truck was my shower tent, equipped with a battery operated pump and a propane water heater. Hot showers are a wonderful thing. If I'd wanted to, I probably could have paid for my whole trip by selling showers to other campers.
The interior view
I built this setup over the last 4 years that my brother and I have been going to Bristol for the races. I've pretty much finished it,except for a good sound system. Due to space considerations,I left the movie projector and screen at home.
I could have been much worse off
These cars were clean just a day ago. The dust was everywhere. I saw lots of folks using bandannas to keep the dust from diluting the pot they were smoking.
Music Festival or Refugee camp?
Packed in like a can of sardines
If you were on the inside of a row, you were going to be staying for the entire festival, whether you wanted to or not.
One of the many vendors selling...ummm...stuff
Quoting from the Bonnaroo Guide:
Illegal drugs are forbidden at the festival, and the festival safety/security staff will work with law enforcement officers to handle drug related violations in accordance with Tennessee Law.
Native Americans selling overpriced beads to the white man. Can you get more ironic?
An object lesson in failure to achieve victory.
Yeah, ask them what happens when you fail to control immigration.
Centeroo field
Green Camping Bonnaroo Style
Nothing green survives Bonnaroo. Well, except for the almighty dollar.
If everybody is having such a good time,why aren't they smiling?
I'm having so much fun I'm just going to lie here in the middle of the hot, dusty road!
Ribbon fries
Obviously, Bonnaroo wasn't all bad. These ribbon fries were every bit as good as they looked.
And I got to meet Alexa Ray Joel and talk with her for a few minutes. For a young lady who has grown up in a spotlight with two famous parents, she is refreshingly candid, and just plain nice to be around.
She sings pretty well too!
Railroad Earth
And if you could fight your way through all the obstacles, there was some mighty fine music to be had,including these guys,Railroad Earth, a newgrass jam band.
The "Talk About Yourself" Meme.
I was semi randomly tagged by Barry, so here goes:
WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Yes,my mother's father. His middle name was Drury. Mine isn't.
WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? Chopping onions for a homemade philly cheesesteak pizza last night.
DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? No, it's sloppy and ugly. My handwriting's so bad, I should have been a doctor.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? bologna
DO YOU HAVE KIDS? 6. 7 if you count my ex-wife.
IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? No; I have a hard time dealing with people who think they know everything..
DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? Only when I'm awake
DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yep. And it's a closely guarded secret that I have the tonsils of three other people in a jar on my desk.
WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Depends on my alternatives.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Captain Crunch sans the berries.
DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Workboots yes. Sneakers no. Loafers occasionally.
DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Legs yes. Heart yes. Will yes.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? Praline Pecan
WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? If their smile is real or fake.
RED OR PINK? Red
WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? My lack of confidence in myself.
WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? My dad.
WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? Shoes are gray. No pants at the moment. I'm blogging.
WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? A few Fritos.
WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Elton John
IF YOU WHERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? taupe
FAVORITE SMELLS? Frying bacon, grilling steaks, the air right before a storm, the air right after a storm, new baby, wood smoke and fresh fallen snow.
WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? My oldest daughter
FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH? Football, MMA, Boxing
HAIR COLOR[S]? Dark Brown
EYE COLOR? Blue
DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? Yes
FAVORITE FOOD? Too many to list, but here's a few: Fried chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy. Blackened redfish with fettuccine alfredo. Grilled ribeye medium rare with a loaded baked potato. Lasagne. A fried bologna sandwich w/ chili. Grilled salmon w/lemon and saffron rice.
SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Scary movies with a happy ending. I don't like the movies where the good guys lose.
LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? Ocean's 13
WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? Gray and Orange UT logo shirt
SUMMER OR WINTER? I want both. I like having 4 distinct seasons and I enjoy all of them.
HUGS OR KISSES? Both
FAVORITE DESSERT? My homemade pecan pie with semi-sweet chocolate chips and a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream.
MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND?
LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND?
WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? The Pursuit of Happyness by Chris Gardener. The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel. A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeline L'Engle. Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman. Lost Girls by Alan Moore.
WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? My mouse.
WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT? A little bit of "Enterprise" I DVR'ed.
FAVORITE SOUND[S]? a gospel choir. A baby laughing. wind in the trees. thunder.
ROLLING STONES OR THE BEATLES? The Beatles.
WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME? Hong Kong or Thailand
DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? Yes.
WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Memphis, TN
WHOSE ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING BACK? Anybody who wants to play along.
June 19, 2007
Hillary! Chooses her Song
You and I by Celine Dion.
It makes sense. Hillary wants to import Canada Care so she might as well import her campaign song as well. Of course, she is sending an awkward message that the best song to win her the American Presidency is Canadian.
Tales from Bonnaroo Pt 5
Day 4 Sunday
I bailed.
When I got back from the Flaming Lips Saturday night/Sunday morning, one of my neighbors let me know that she and her husband had chased some folks out of my campsite. They had been using my grill to cook up something that wasn't food. I was pretty sure after that that I was done, and when the kids across the street started playing an extended disco dance mix of Pink Floyd's Have a Cigar at 5:30AM I was completely sure. I was on the road by 7:30AM, which actually worked out kind of nice since there was absolutely no traffic. As I drove back towards Kodak, I thought about why I decided to leave early. There were a lot of reasons, but they boiled down to two big ones.
First, and most importantly, I wasn't in the right place to begin with. Everywhere I looked, I didn't see people enjoying themselves; I saw miserable people trying to substitute frantic activity for true pleasure. I looked through the pictures I'd been taking and I realized that almost no-one was smiling. I was surrounded by people who felt that the epitome of a good time was to drink or dope themselves to the point of insensibility then stumble around in a near coma until they fell unconscious in the middle of a street or field, wherever they happened to be. And if they weren't fogging their brains into oblivion, they were busy spouting the most insane political propaganda imaginable. I had a guy tell me that Bonnaroo was a racist event because they didn't invite black groups to play, which was ironic because we were listening to Ziggy Marley at the time.
It wasn't just the people; it was the music. When I was kid, music was about optimism; it's goal was to make you feel good. That's no longer the case. Today, a lot of music is about anger and frustration, and Bonnaroo reflects that. Sitting in my campsite, all I could here in some cases were the drumbeats and the bass lines,and you could literally feel the menace and the anger they conveyed. And the mood was contagious.
There's enough anger in the world without amplifying it.
The second factor was the organization of the festival itself, or rather, the lack of organization. It seemed like the purpose of the sponsors was to interfere with any chance of people actually enjoying themselves. It was strange to read in the guide that Bonnaroo was against drug use, yet see vendors lining the streets selling pipes, bongs, and other accessories while the police looked on blandly. The hypocrisy rankled, particularly when they were so concerned over whether my camera was "professional" or not.
In short, the good music and enjoyable portions of the festival were far outweighed by the aggravations that went with it. I got up Sunday morning and decided I'd rather spend Father's Day at home with my family.
So I left.
As I look back, I'm glad I went, and there were parts of it I really enjoyed, but I will never do it again. I will find other music festivals to attend, though, because I still like the idea of enjoying a weekend of really good music with a lot of other people; maybe I can find a festival with Meatloaf, Styx, Sister Hazel, and Simon and Garfunkel.
I'll buy tickets for that show tomorrow.
Tales from Bonnaroo Pt 4
Day 3 Saturday
Day three started out hot, dry, and bright,just like the days before it. After the long delay at the gate the night before, I decided to avoid the main gate for the remainder of the weekend. I had to walk a little bit further to get to the side gate, but there was almost no line, and the security checks were much less strenuous. I was actually allowed to bring my camera on site for the first time all weekend. I went directly to The Other Tent, where Railroad Earth was playing and met up with my brother and his friends. We compared notes about the festival, and who we'd seen and heard. They were planning to stay there for the Hot Tuna, show, and I wanted to sample some other groups,so I moved down the road towards the Sonic stage, where I got to talk with Alexa Ray Joel again and get her autograph. I'd missed most of Railroad Earth's set at The Other Tent, so I was happy to see that they would be playing at the Sonic Stage in just a few minutes, so I stayed there,and happened upon another happy accident.
Jonah Smith,a singer songwriter I'd never heard of before was playing a set and I really enjoyed his music. His voice reminds me a bit of Ken Block of Sister Hazel, but that may just be me. In any case, I really enjoyed his set, and I've downloaded his album.
By the way, just about every artist I've mentioned has songs available on Zune Marketplace.
After Jonah, I listened to the full Railroad Earth show, and then wandered the venue checking out other acts, and doing some people watching. The crowds were the heaviest I'd seen at the festival and I decided since the Police were playing that night, I'd leave the crowds behind for a while and go out to my camp and get a little peace and quiet before the madness of 80,000 people trying to get to the same place at the same time. Yeah, I missed a couple of groups I wanted to hear this way, but I was fuly charged up and ready for the Police, followed by the Flaming Lips.
Unfortunately, as my live blog of the Police set covered, they didn't play for the full two and a half hours they were scheduled for, coming up about 45 minutes short. I guess the greatest rock band of the 80's didn't think they had enough good music to fill the full set. To be honest, Sting just doesn't seem to remember how to rock any more. He didn't really cut loose until the final song, and songs that should have rocked just kinda floated instead.
The Flaming Lips, on the other hand, put on one of the greatest shows I've ever seen. Even though I was a couple of hundred yards away from the stage, I could still see what was going on.
Their light rig was built to move, and to look like a flying saucer, although you couldn't see that at first. The show started with the stage filling with red light and fog, while spacey organs played a droning chord. As the fog built, the lights came down from above the stage, showing the flying saucer, and on top of the saucer was the Lips' front man, Wayne Coyne, trapped in a large transparent bubble. The saucer moves down to the stage, where Coyne walks the bubble down the ramp and is released after a titanic struggle. The saucer then tilts up to reveal a monster light show underneath, and the show began in earnest.
I'm not going to describe the rest of it because you really should see it yourself, but even though it wasn't my favorite music, it was the best show of the festival.
Day 3 Tips
- Saturday, the venue is packed. Be prepared for large crowds and nowhere to sit. Hot, tired, and cranky Rooers will be sitting everywhere they can find the least bit of shade.
- Eating on site can be challenging since there are, as I just mentioned, not many places to sit. A few dozen picnic benches would go a long way towards improving conditions in Centeroo.
- Flexibility is the watchword for the day. The large crowds make it certain you will miss something you wanted to see.
- To avoid waiting in long lines to get into the venue, here are two helpful hints.
- First, avoid the main entrance like the plague.
- Second, and this will seem counterintuitive, don't go early. Get to the gate with just enough time to make your show. The reason is simple; everybody else will be doing the same thing and a huge crowd will develop. Health and safety concerns will force security to speed up the inspection process, resulting in a line that moves about as fast as you can walk.
- Be prepared for the weather to change. Temperatures Saturday night dipped into the high 50's or low 60's which is very chilly unless you have a decent sleeping bag. Or a decent sleeping partner.
- When going to a show at one of the main stages, you have two options.
- You can get there several hours early and fight your way through the crowds to get somewhat close to the stage, then stand up for 5 hours straight. Or you can get there 10-15 minutes before the show, set up a beach chair and sit back under the stars and listen to the band play live.
- The night and evening shows are much more pleasant than the day shows. They are also more popular. Plan accordingly.
MIchael Moore Outraged Over Movie Piracy
Michael Moore has promised a full investigation into determining who released a master copy of his film sicko and then uploaded to YouTube.
In a related story, he's playing golf with OJ tomorrow.
School Safety and Your Kids
In a time when it seems every other day brings a story about teachers having sex with students, a Virginia school system has enforced a no touch policy that outlaws high 5's and even shaking hands.
Apparently teachers want to be the only ones allowed to touch students.
Upgrading Entries.
I've come to the realization that Microsoft word does not play well with the internet, so I'm going back through my Bonnaroo entries and correcting all the ugly punctuation,and also correcting some og the glaring errors. These were first draft style posts, so I'm going to take a little time to lean them up.
June 17, 2007
Tales from Bonnaroo Pt 3
Day 2: Friday
I normally sleep in a very dark bedroom. While my tent does a good job keeping out the rain, bugs, and apparently any humans of the female persuasion, it doesn't block light very well, so I was up early with the sun. Now as all good physicists know, light is heat, so the inside of my tent began to get warm. Very warm. Fortunately I was able to use my negotiating skills with Sol, and he agreed that if I opened up some vents and rolled over, he wouldn't broil me inside my tent for at least two more hours, so I went back to sleep until about 9.
Now one of the things about camping every year is that you gradually acquire all kinds of camping goodies; In my case, those goodies include a freestanding hot water shower. So after I crawled out of my tent, I proceeded to take a nice Navy style shower, which was kind of weird because here I was nekkid, and there were dozens of people walking by on their way to the venue. Not that I'm shy or anything but I'm not used to carrying on a conversation with folks while I'm showering.. Anyway, the shower went fine until I realized that I'd left my towel in the cab of the truck. I could have just left the tent nekkid and grabbed my towel, but remember yesterday, when I said you should make friends with your camping neighbors?
I don't think they were prepared to let our friendship get quite that close.
Fortunately, Tony, the guy camping right next to me, was nice enough to retrieve my towel, although the ladies across the way were yelling for me to flaunt my inadequacies before the world.
I told them maybe tomorrow.
I got very lucky with my neighbors. Through sheer luck of the draw, 6 of the ten spots around me were filled with people close to my age, and we all talked while we set up our campsites. We quickly formed a little community, which was great, especially on Saturday, when some of my neighbors had to run off a few folks making themselves at home in my camp.
It's kind of a funny place, this place. While I was making my breakfast (Eggs, bacon, and lemonade) a guy came up and tried to place an order. He thought I was a vendor or something I guess. Maybe I should hang out a sign and make some money while I'm here.
Anyway, once I'd finished my morning constitutionals, I looked over the schedule and made sure I knew what my choices for today's music would be, then I packed up the laptop and headed for the venue. Yeah, I brought my laptop; so what? Bonnaroo was providing WiFi hotspots, and I planned on using them. Unfortunately, the bandwidth was severely limited, and I could barely get on the internet to do anything useful. That's why you're reading this late.
When I got to the venue gate, like I mentioned in yesterday's report, I learned that the rules had changed, and security wasn't letting any cameras through whatsoever. Fortunately, I'd left mine back in the truck. However, apparently Bonnaroo hired their security from the same place that the airports hire theirs because there were cameras and camcorders everywhere. I'm wondering what they won't allow tomorrow.
After last night's less than appealing experience, I went looking for some music I knew would satisfy, and I found it. The first show I watched was Uncle Earl, a 4 woman newgrass band that rocked. It helped that they were pretty, too. I'm guessing that this show provided the first of the surprises that Bonnaroo is famous for. John Paul Jones, former bassist for Led Zeppelin, came out and played a few numbers with the band on the bass and the mandolin. It's this kind of flexibility that marks a true musician.
Next up was Alexa Ray Joel, Billy's daughter. It seems she's inherited her father's talent and her mother's looks, a great fortune in both cases. While her skills aren't as polished as her father's, she has a strong bluesy quality and is a pretty good song writer. Once she gets a few more miles under her belt,she might be something special. The last number she did, "Makes No Difference to Me" (title?) rocked the joint. I got to talk to her a little after her set the following day,and she's a very sweet down to earth person.It's early enough in her career that she's still genuinely flattered when people respond to her.
Next on the list was Kings of Leon, the first act on the main stage. Good solid hard rock, but I got there only 10 minutes before the show, so I was way on back in the pasture. I could barely see the stage, but the two gigantic jumbotrons made up for that lack. During the show we actually got a spot of rain that made things a little cooler for about 45 seconds, then just turned to steam. After about 45 minutes, I ventured on to check out some other acts.
From the Nightwatchman, I heard the following speech:
"We're a new territory here and now. We're taking it back from George Bush. We are now the People's Republic of Bonnaroo."
Considering the fate of most People's Republics: bloody purges and disastrous famines, I hope he's wrong.
Michael Frenti made the following musical statement:
"God is too big for just one religion!"
Tell it to the Muslims, pal. They're the ones running around beheading folks for their religion.
That does bring up an important point. Bonnaroo isn't just musical; It's political as well. Or maybe it's political, and they have some music on the side. Over and over I've heard the message that Bonnaroo is a green festival, and the sponsors have gone to great lengths to preach environmentalism, global stewardship, and the like.
Look folks, organizing a music festival to promote environmental responsibility is about as dumb as sponsoring an orgy to promote zero population growth. As I look around the grounds I see a eighty thousand people trampling every living thing into the dust. There's litter everywhere, despite the best efforts of the cleanup crew, and the easy availability of trash receptacles. And let's face it, there's no such thing as a green RV.
Well okay, the color green maybe, but you know what I mean.
But the point I'm trying to make is that if you want to hear some good music, and there's plenty of it here, be prepared to get a heaping side helping of sanctimonious enviro-babble along with a nice desert of liberal guilt.
Making up for this are many wonderful new things to learn and try. Just as an example, I saw a radically new way to prevent sunburn. First, take off all of your clothes. If you're shy, you can leave your pants on. Next, allow a complete stranger to cover your entire body in paint and glitter. Finally, do this in front of a hundred cheering, clapping, horny old farts who are taking your picture to post on the internet as soon as they get home on Monday.
No, you will not see any of those pictures here.
There's a weird sort of thing going on here; I've never seen so many people be so proud to display their body, but at the same time be unhappy with it. Tattoos, piercings, scarifications, brandings, breast and other implants (and no, you'll see no pictures of those either); so many of the people here are desperate to go to any length to feel better about their bodies.
Okay, enough social commentary. Back to the music.
I saw Jennifer Nicely, a girl from my neck of the woods perform. She was thrown off a bit by the noise of another band playing in the background, but she pushed herself through it and did a credible job. She has a jazzy delivery that reminds me of Norah Jones, only not as accomplished.
Next, on my way to hear Nashville band Bang Bang Bang, I got a chance to listen to The Roots. Remember yesterday when I said you should listen to music you normally wouldn't? Well, this was a case of that, and I'm glad it did because I enjoyed the show a lot. They're listed as a hip hop group, but their performance went far beyond any hip hop that I've heard, admittedly not much. If I had to describe them, and since I'm writing this I do, I'd have to say they remind me a little of Blood Sweat and Tears and Earth Wind and Fire all mashed together, plucked out of the seventies and body slammed into the new century.
It sounds strange, but it works. I'd go see them again, and that's saying something.
Next up, Bang Bang Bang.
Loud Loud Loud.
The feature act today was Tool. If you're into anger, rage, and depressingly monotonous bass lines, not to mention Satanic lyrics and imagery, this is the group for you. I went back to my campsite and ate dinner.
The midnight acts included The String Cheese Incident, a bluegrass jazz fusion group that played from midnight until 3AM. I went out to catch the show, only to get caught in a 45 minute line while security performed a very thorough check on everybody. I'm not saying that they went too far, but usually, I have to pay $100 plus tips to be touched like that. I felt like I owed the guy dinner or something.
Day 2 Tips
- Bring a beach chair or something else to sit on. A three hour show feels a lot longer when you're sitting on the hard ground
- Arrive extra early to the venue of your choice. The main stage is surrounded by a huge field, and if you don't get there fairly early for the popular acts, you might be better off just watching MTV from the comfort of your couch at home. The other stages and tents are a little easier, but getting there 15 minutes early makes a huge difference in where you sit.
- Do not expect the rules to remain consistent. Just because you were allowed in one day with a camera, don't assume you will be allowed in the next day. Or the next hour.
- Allow extra time to get into the gates. Sometimes you won't need it, but most times, you will.
- If you're running your campsite off of an inverter wired to your car battery, start your car every couple of hours or so and let it run for 10 minutes.
- The number one tool for Day 2 is patience.
Tales from Bonnaroo Pt 2
Day One Thursday
When I first decided to go to Bonnaroo, I had a major misconception. I anticipated a camping crowd similar to the ones I was used to at Bristol. Had I thought about it ahead of time, I would have known better. Obviously a festival crowd is a lot different than a race crowd. I just didn't appreciate how different. I've never seen so many dreadlocks and so much tie dye in one place. It's rainbows and snakes as far as the eye can see.
Not to mention the bikinis everywhere, some delightful, others frightful. Due to the heat, minimal attire is the rule of the day, and most of the female crowd is following the rule. In fact, there's a burlesque show here that's probably going to close down because even after the stripper finishes stripping, she's wearing more than most of the audience.
One piece of apparel noticeably lacking is the bra. In fact, I've seen more guys wearing a bra than girls.
I wish I were kidding.
The personality of the Bonnaroo camper is a little bit different as well. I've been camping at Bristol for several years now and today was the first day I'd ever been offered a double lap dance for a stick of butter. Unfortunately, along with such generosity in spirit, comes some less desirable traits as well. Once I got my campsite set up, I got many admiring remarks, particularly on the shower and the kitchen, but I also got some warnings to hide anything portable, like my grill and stove, otherwise they might get stolen. Now I'm sure that there are difficulties with thievery at Bristol races as well, but I've never worried about leaving my grill out before.
Ah well, we must adapt to the modern times, so I lock up my grill when I leave camp.
Getting from your campsite to the venue can be tricky, particularly on the first day, since gates may be open or locked at seemingly random intervals. Like yesterday, when I asked why, I got:
"I don't know."
So you walk around following the crowd, which is also wandering around semi aimlessly, because they don't know either, then one of them stumbles across an open gate, and like lemmings over the cliff, everybody converges on that spot. As you work your way through the crowd, you come to the security checkpoint, where you will be checked for contraband. The interesting thing about the search isn't the full contact pat down, it's the fact that the definition of "contraband" changes from day to day, from gate to gate, and from security guy to security guy. Apparently some security guys take their jobs very seriously because I saw two young ladies walking around without bikini tops. I guess the guards thought they could be used to strangle somebody.
While it may be annoying to be told that the camera you brought in yesterday is no longer allowed today, it does result in hours of entertainment for everybody else trapped in line behind you. Think of yourself as being part of the show, and you know you always wanted to be in show business, right?
When you get through the gate tip your security guy if you enjoyed the service, then head through the vendors into the main area. Don't expect your usual carnival vendors here. The items for sale are usually handmade, and run the gamut from wooden puzzle boxes to hand tied hammocks to a place that lets you build your own drum. The food also offers more choices than your average carnival or fair, including Cuban food, Greek, several varieties of Asian, and for the true Vol fan, gator tail. If you're cheap like me, you'll bring most of your food to eat in camp, but leave a meal or two open for experimentation. Besides, it's such a long walk back to camp that you'll probably want to eat at the venue to save a little wear and tear on the feet.
Thursday's shows started off around 3:30 or so, and there weren't a lot of acts I wanted to see, except for some Knoxville groups like Smokin Dave and the Primo Dopes, and the Westside Daredevils. The Dopes show was pretty good until politics took over, but what else would you expect from Todd Steed? I stayed with him right up until he tried to put himself in the place of a soldier, apparently without ever actually speaking to a real soldier. Considering my son is about to ship off to Iraq in the next few months, I lost patience with Smokin’ Dave and skipped the rest of his show. I'm sure he didn't mind.
From the Dave debacle, I wandered around and sampled music from all of the tents operating before winding up listening to another Knoxville group, the Tenderhooks. They had a lot of trouble getting the mix right, which made it hard to hear the lead singer's vocals, but the female base player sang some lovely harmonies. It sounds like they have promise, and they're playing another set later in the weekend so I may try to catch them again.
And that brings me to a major dilemma that will face every Bonnaroo goer: trying to decide which groups to see when there are 8 playing at the same time. And don’t even dare to hope that your two favorites won't be scheduled to play at the same time. They will be.
My first night ended early, about midnight. At that point I'd been awake for 38 hours and I was ready to sleep. I had to miss the Westside Daredevils, but they too will be playing later in the festival, so I'll catch them then.
Tips from Day 1
- Plan ahead. Use your schedule to pick the acts you really want to see. Fill in the gaps with shopping, eating, or hearing an act youve never heard of. Challenge yourself.
- Be careful what you bring in to the venue. Just because they let you bring it in yesterday doesn’t mean they'll let you in today.
- If you get turned away from one gate, try another.
- Take your time. This is a marathon, not a sprint. You’ve got three more days of this ahead of you.
- Try food you've never had before. Yeah, it's a little pricey, but it's nowhere near as bad as Disneyland.
- If you’re turned away from the gate for carrying something you shouldn't, try another gate.
- Get to know the folks camping near you. You're neighbors for the next 96 hours; you might as well be friendly.
- Drink plenty of water before you leave your campsite, and keep drinking it while you're at the venue. Bonnaroo provides free water stations, or you can spend $2.50 for a bottle.
By the way, to answer your question, the young ladies got their butter. I did not however accept their generous offer.
Tales from Bonnaroo Pt 1
Ok, I've switched venues, and while I'm waiting for The Flaming Lips, I'm going to take advantage of the free Wi-Fi to upload some of the things I've written over the last few days.
Getting There is None of the Fun
The emotions experienced in getting to Bonnaroo compare favorably with many other notable life transitions, like your first root canal, your first "full" physical exam after you turn 40, and the first time a woman rips your heart out and stomps it flat on the floor. It's not getting to the festival that's so tough; it's what happens after you get there that causes strokes, high blood pressure, and screaming fits of rage.
First of all, the organizers of this event decided that in order to improve traffic flow, they would have two entrances, one on either side of the campground. This sounds wonderful, except that on the opening morning, they only used one entrance!
I asked a traffic control person why they were sending us all the way to the other side of the campground, and got an answer I was to hear over and over again throughout the weekend;
'I don’t know, that's just what they told me to do."
Now, it's bad enough that they only have one entrance open, but for some reason, they decided to fill the campsites from back to front. So, by virtue of being early to Bonnaroo, I'm camping just about as far from the venue as possible.
Delightful.
But the fun doesn’t stop there, no sir. As you first enter the campground, they break the line of traffic up into about 15 lanes for inspection. You see, Bonnaroo has a lot of very strict rules about what they allow on site and what they don't. Those rules are spelled out in multiple places on their website, and include limits on how much alcohol each person may bring in with them. Obviously, in order to enforce these rules, they have to inspect every vehicle that comes in the gate.
Here’s where the insanity begins. How are you going to inspect a fully loaded and packed up truck, car or RV without causing a traffic snarl of epic proportions? Answer: You can't. So the folks at Bonnaroo have come up with a unique solution. They divide a single lane of traffic into about 15 and route them to 15 inspection stations. After you pass through the inspection, they recombine these 15 lanes of traffic back into one. Of course, there are no lane markings, so what happens is a free for all that makes a demolition derby look like a Sunday drive in the park. Here’s the capper. After creating this monstrous traffic snarl, the inspection consisted of a single question.
"Do you have any glass containers or weapons in your truck?"
"Does an 8 pound sledge and a crowbar count?"
"Nope."
"Then no, I don’t."
"Okay, off you go."
No, I’m not kidding.
After passing through this rigorous inspection process, and after weaving my way back into single file, I drove the length of the campground out to the back 40 where three teenage kids guided me to my spot in paradise, a 10 square foot plot of overgrown weeds and space to park my truck. I actually caught a break on this one. I'm at the end of a row, so if I have an emergency and have to leave, I can get out. The folks in the interior are not so lucky. They can't leave until the people around them leave which should make Monday a very interesting day.
Planning and Arrival Tips
- Come early, come late, it doesn’t seem to matter much as far as the wait goes.
- There are very specific rules on what you can and can’t bring with you and the type of shelters you can use. They are available well in advance of the event. Ignore them.
- You will have a very limited amount of space to set up your campsite, roughly 100 square feet plus your vehicle. Plan accordingly.
- Prices are high as you might expect. Make sure to bring everything you need.
- Bring extra ice.
- Plan on drinking roughly a gallon of fluids a day. This does not include alcohol
- Bring your own toilet paper.
- Showers are $10. A solar shower from WalMart is $6. You do the math.
- You will want to take a shower.
- Your neighbors will want you to take a shower.
- The three most vital things to bring besides lots of water are
- A hat
- Sunglasses
- Sunblock
- A hat
- Traffic getting into the site is a nightmare so make sure you have plenty of gas to get in, and back out again.
- Cell phone service is available, but spotty. Encourage your family to send text messages instead. They get through easier.
June 16, 2007
Live blogging Bonnaroo
I'm not sure how long this connection will last, but while it does, expect to read my thoughts on the Police as they take the stage in about 15 minutes.
8:47 This laptop has more than lived up to my expectations. As I sit in the middle of this field typing, I have about 4.5 hours of battery life. I expect I'll need it.
8:51 I just had a web designer ask if I was really online or not.
I am.
8:52 A girl just asked if she could check her myspace.
8:54 I can't touch type. This should be interesting.
8:55 I'm proud to accept the nomination as world's biggest geek for live blogging a rock concert.
9:00 Open with Message in a Bottle. The crowd of 80,000+ rises to it's feet. Ok, some stagger to their knees but the thought was there.
9:04 I'm probably 150-200 yards from the stage and at this distance, Sting looks like a horse's butt. Wait, I'm sorry, that's the actual butt of the guy standing in front of me.
9:05 Many Miles Away??? The mix is a little bass heavy.
9:09 The Elvis Twins, jumpsuits and all, just walked behind me.
9:11 Walkin' on the Moon. I;m not entirely certain, but I think somebody nearby is smoking something that isn't tobacco based. Don't tell anybody, OK?
9:15 This s the perfect antidote to Tool, who played last night. They were all about anger, rage, and aggression. I skipped the show but could still hear it from my tent, so the cleaner happier sound of the Police is a welcome contrast.
9:16 Some song I don't know. Driven to Tears??? Enough people have sat down so I can see one of the video screens now.
9:21 Voices. I heard about Stewart Copeland calling Sting a "prancing little man" on stage. I haven't seen that, but it does seem that Sting has been so sensitive for so long, he's forgotten how to rock.
9:22 I may be getting some of these song titles wrong. That's okay. I think the band is getting some of the notes wrong as well. Just kidding guys. (Like they are going to read this.)
9;30 Another song I don't know. Sting is singing "Woo-ooohhh-oooh" if that helps. Truth is everybody?
9:35 Every Little Thing She Does, with a little calypso feel to it. Sing along....Eeeooohoh
9:37 I'm not sure if Sting is aware of where he is. He hasn't said the word "Bonnaroo" yet. Then again, it is a silly word.
9:38 Wrapped Around your Finger. Sting is definitely more comfortable on the slower,more sensitive numbers.
9:47 ASIDK. Just had a nice conversation with the girl sitting behind me who wanted to know what the heck I was doing. She was very nice and refrained from telling me how strange I was.
9:50 De Doo Doo Doo, De Dah Dah Dah Sting skipped the high notes but he's going to be singing for another couple of hours, so that's understandable. I skip the high notes when I'm singing in the shower.
9:55 Walking in your Footsteps. Nice bongos. Oops, sorry, that's the girl standing in front of me.
10:00 ASIDK I Can't Stand Losing You?? Sting says "Bonnaroo" for the first time. Also the first number that begins to rock.
10:01 Roxanne And the crowd goes wild.
10:17 Every Little Thing She Does is Magic
10:22 ASIDK
10:27 The last few entries were sparse. I was trying to use the internet to help a young lady named Hannah find her group. She needed a phone number so she tried a reverse lookup. Ain't the internet cool?
10:30 Every Breath you Take. Sting pretended to end the show an hour early. Uncool.
10:36 ASIDK but it rocks. For the first time tonight, I suspect Sting still possesses his testicles.
10:42 And the show is over, 45 minutes early. I want my money back. Hey, do you think Meatloaf will ever play Bonnaroo?
Thus ends the Police live blogging experience. I hope you enjoyed it/
June 14, 2007
On to Bonnaroo!
I'm leaving in about 30 minutes for Bonnaroo. I hear there will be some sort of Wi-Fi access there so you might maybe see a post here over the next 4 days.
But I wouldn't count on it...*grin*
June 8, 2007
Justice May be Blind,But She's Still a Woman
So, what do you think a fair sentence would be if you were convicted of shooting a sleeping man in the back with a shotgun?
How does 210 days sound?
And she plans on suing to get custody of the kids.
Nap time must be hell in her house.
And before you jump on me about how cruel and heartless I am, let's look at a few things.
The day after the murder, she said nothing to the police about physical and sexual abuse. Instead she said,"My ugly came out." She went on to say,
"He was a mighty fine person, and that's the thing," she said.
"Just say, 'The lady was a moron, evil woman,' and let's go on with it. That's fine. ... That's my point of view."
After she shot him in the back,as he lay here dying, she wiped the blood from his mouth, and said she was sorry.
Yeah, he was a real monster alright.
By the way, Mary Winkler was caught up in a check fraud scheme that was about to blow up in her face.
Instead it blew up in her husband's back.
Brittney Quits; World Weeps
As you may have already surmised from the post title, I'm not going to join in the wailing and gnashing of teeth surrounding the departure of Brittney from Nashville is Talking.
Let's take a quick reality check here folks;
- Brittney was getting paid to blog. Most of us, myself included, are paying for the right to do what she got paid to do.
- She quit her paying gig. She wasn't fired. She wasn't run out. She wasn't told she had to change her style. She didn't leave out of some high minded campaign to keep pure her ideological point of view a la Knoxville's Tom Sullivan. She quit because she was burned out, and she didn't like the negative feedback she was getting, even though by her own admission, she received what she gave.
- She hasn't quit blogging! She's just not getting paid for it anymore.
So why the tears? She's still blogging, still doing what she likes, but now she's doing it when and where she wants. Sorry, I just don't feel the blogosphere trembling beneath me. I say good for her for doing what makes her happy,and I wish her all the best as she continues to blog on her own time.
And a quick aside to any Knoxville TV or radio stations; if you want to try and duplicate the NiT experiment, I'll make you this promise. If you pay me to do what I'm doing now for free, people can call me whatever they want and I'll keep 'em coming back for more.
June 4, 2007
Campaign Songs for Hillary!
Hillary! is looking for a theme song for her campaign. As I always try to be helpful to ladies in need, here are my suggestions:
- The obvious first choice: The Bitch is Back by Elton John.
- Welcome to My Nightmare by Alice Cooper
- She's a Maneater by Hall and Oates
- Same Old Song and Dance by Aerosmith
- Big Shot by Billy Joel
- Evil Woman by E.L.O
- Lucretia MacEvil by Blood Sweat and Tears
- Bad Moon Rising by Creedence Clearwater Revival
Feel free to add your own in the comments.
Bonnaroo Bleg
I'm going to Bonnaroo in just under two weeks and I'm looking for any advice from folks who've been there. What to bring; what not to bring; what time to get there, and stuff like that. The biggest thing I'm trying to find out is what time to try and get there. Right now my plan is to leave around 5AM EDT on Thursday and get to Manchester as the gates open at 7AM CDT.
Is this a good idea or a bad one?
Dating Question
When the date ends with a long, graphically detailed discussion about the various potential injuries accompanying car wrecks where the occupants were not wearing seat belts, is that a good sign, or a bad one?
June 1, 2007
Fun and Games at KnoxViews
I was reading a post over at Lissa Kay about Fred Thompson's upcoming announcement. She linked to a post at KnoxViews, but when I clicked on the link, I was sent to the Free Republic website.
I had to laugh because back on Mr. Neal's old site, he did the same thing to Bill Hobbs and me.
It's nice to see that some things never change.
Thoughts of a Button Man
According to Kleinheider, an American soldier is basically the same as a mob hitman; he just works for a different boss. This isn't the first time he's insulted our troops; not too long ago, he defended John Kerry who joked that only stupid or lazy people got stuck going to Iraq. In essence, Kleinheider said that Kerry was right, and told an anecdote that suggested that only the dregs of today's youth choose a military career.
But Kleinheider honors military service. He says so several times. He just thinks they're stupid killers for hire, not that there's anything wrong with that.
I'm a Navy vet. My son is currently enlisted in the Army. My father was a Navy vet. My uncle was a Marine vet. My maternal grandfather was a Navy vet. That's four generations of service to our nation, or as Kleinheider would say, four generations of stupid hitmen.
If you think I'm taking this personally, you're absolutely right. Kleinheider admits in the comments to his post that he has absolutely no first hand knowledge of military life, yet feels comfortable spewing out hateful nonsense about what a soldier is or isn't.
What a moron.
I'm going to address a few of his points, not because I think it'll change his mind. If he seriously thinks he can call the troops stupid and ignorant, and then refer to them as the moral equivalent to Mafia assassins, and doesn't see a contradiction between those two statements and his contention that he honors and supports them, then there's nothing that can be said to penetrate his delusions.
Instead, I'm doing it simply because his insults cannot be allowed to stand. He has offended me, denigrated my service and my family's service, and I won't let that go unchallenged.
Soldiers are just that — soldiers. They are spokes on a wheel. Many, many soldiers, save those at the very top of the pyramid, are pawns. They are button men for our civilian leadership. Is this an honorable profession? Certainly. But it is also, in the end, just that — a profession. Soldiers should be proud of their service, maybe prouder than men of any other profession, but let’s not get out of control with it.
Just another profession, right? Like doctors, lawyers, or maybe garbage collectors and journalists?
I don't think so. You see, there's a key difference between all of these professions, and a soldier. A soldier is willing to put his life on the line in order to defend an idea. That's a demand that no other profession on the planet is required to meet. A soldier is also required to give up many of the very freedoms he is fighting to protect, and he makes this sacrifice willingly. He goes where he's told, does what he's told, and does so to the best of his ability. To ACK, this makes him a pawn; a piece of little value and little power to be sacrificed as strategy demands. That may be true on a strategic level, but ask anyone who has ever commanded troops if he sees his men as pawns.
But you might want to duck after you ask that question.
Military men and women make a major sacrifice when they serve. In war, that sacrifice is obvious, but the sacrifices are still there in peacetime as well. Just as an example, for 4 months while getting ready to go to sea after an overhaul, we were on port and starboard duty rotation. That means that we spent 36 hours out of every 48 hour period on board the ship, away from our families.
For 4 months. No overtime pay. No weekends off.
Show me another profession that does the same for poverty level wages.
A military man has to be dedicated to something above and beyond himself, his family,or his community. It is that dedication that separates his profession from all others.
There are no more good soldiers than good people in this country and there are no less bad people in a position of dominion over these soldiers than in the civilian population.
I'm slightly surprised to hear this tripe coming from a supposed conservative; it sounds more like something I'd expect from Rosie O'Donnell or Bill Maher. There is a glaring logical flaw in ACK's statement,one that he will never see because of his bias against the military. ACK assumes that in the best case scenario, the members of the military will resemble the general population, resulting in a similar distribution of good guys and bad guys. The error is that the military population is not a random sample of the general population. In fact, the military has some fairly strict criteria that potential recruits have to meet before they can join. Things like no criminal records, a good record of educational achievement, and good physical health. So even if a randomly selected cross section of society went through the recruiting process, the selection criteria would result in a subset of society that was smarter, healthier, and better behaved than the general public. And yes, there are wavers for some things but not enough to make the example invalid.
But ACK actually goes further. While in this posts, he pretends to believe that soldiers are a cross section of society, in his other post, the one where he defends Kerry, he shows that he really holds a quite different view:
The grunts, the people that fight and die on the ground in Iraq, many of them are not exactly “college boys.” This is not a criticism of them. I admire men who can handle themselves and a firearm and dispense violence effectly[sic] when needed...A friend of mine who serves in the Army as an officer mentoring young enlisted men also has a brother who coaches football at a community college. The brother is constantly complaining about having to deal with the uncoachable wild young men of limited intelligence in his charge.My friend could only respond to his brother that he was lucky because he was charged with leading and shaping young boys who couldn’t even get in to community college. It was said jokingly, but it was funny because it was true.
This is the old fallacy that the only people who enlist are those who can't do anything else. Even a cursory glance at today's military shows that this simply isn't true unless you think that guys who can't even get into community college are the ones running nuclear reactors for the Navy. Yeah, they're all enlisted folks. Oh yeah, and all the hospital corpsmen and medics? Yep, they're enlisted as well.
Computer operators and electronics techs? Enlisted.
Avionics techs and crypto operaters? Enlisted.
Plane captains and jet techs? Enlisted.
Nuclear machinists,fabricaters and welders? Enlisted.
Chemists? Enlisted.
I could go on, but anybody with a brain can see my point. The skill sets required by the modern military simply cannot be mastered by a bunch of educational rejects, no matter how much Kleinheider would like to think so. Even the lowliest infantryman is a highly specialized warrior in today's military; there really is no such thing as a grunt anymore. To be sure,there are jobs that don't require a tremendous amount of book learning, but there are a lot fewer of them in the military than there are in the civilian world.
These are not saints, they are soldiers.
This is true, but incomplete, particularly on Memorial Day. You see, Memorial Day is set aside to honor specifically those soldiers,sailors,airmen,and marines who died in the line of duty. They paid the ultimate price,made the highest sacrifice possible for a man or woman to make, and in doing so, they transcended their imperfections; they exceeded their limitations. You either get this,or you don't.
A man who gives his life to defend his country is a hero, regardless of whether or not he was an ass in his regular life. Robert Heinlein tells the story of a hobo in Missouri who died trying to save a woman from an oncoming train. The guy was a bum, a derelict; he was most likely a petty thief, and possibly a drunk as well. But he gave his life trying to save the life of a stranger, and that makes him a hero, worthy of remembrance.
So how much more remembrance should we give those who died to save not just a stranger, but an entire country? No, they weren't saints, but the very fact that they were flawed human beings makes their sacrifice that much more heroic. Is it too much to ask to set aside one day to honor their sacrifice, to put aside politics and snide carping and just say thank you?
Sadly, for some people like Kleinheider, the answer is yes.
Ironically, even though Kleinheider cannot appreciate the sacrifices that the heroes of the past and present have made and are making for him, they'll keep doing it anyway.
That's what makes them heroes.