"She pulled an alleged crack rock out of her mouth and placed it on the deputy's car for inspection..."
Woman tells cop she bought 'bad crack'
aloha
[posted with ecto]
Technorati Tags: philosophy, psychology , sociology
December 2006 Archives
I am an INTP.
I served in the military during the Cold War.
I spent 184 days serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom (so far).
I speak fluent Japanese though my wife would argue the fluent part.
I love my wife.
My two biggest heros are my children. I want to be just like them.
I like Country & Western music.
I believe in God, in fact I depend on Him.
I lived in Wyoming, Iowa and would like to live in a rural community again.
I prefer ranches to farms and farms to cities.
I home-school my children.
I have a MySpace page and know more about the web, the internet and computers than my kids.
I'm afraid of the DVD player. My wife has to start the movie.
I love my truck, it is the best ride on the road.
I'd rather have a conversation in iChat than on the phone.
I have been to Japan, Korea, Kuwait, Iraq, Kenya, Hong Kong, Thailand, Philippines, Germany, Canada, Mexico and Singapore. And, of course, the United States.
I was a regular user of the internet before the web was invented.
I have been to California, Washington, Iowa, Colorado, Texas, Minnesota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Illinois, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, Nebraska, Michigan, and Hawai`i.
I worked as a teller in a bank. I was working the day they got robbed.
I left Microsoft to go to work for Apple.
I went to school with Gary Trousdale.
I wear glasses.
I cuss like a sailor.
I like Mexican food even though it gives me indigestion and gas.
I don't like Chinese food.
I love the holiday season and long for White Christmases.
My wife and I have conversations on iChat while both of us are sitting at the kitchen table.
I went on a safari in Kenya.
I always wear a hat.
I was a Civil War Re-enactor and enjoy living history.
I like photography.
I sang in the high school men's choir and still enjoy singing.
I am a reasonably good barista.
I have a security clearance.
I smoked cigarettes for 15 years but have not smoked at all in eight years.
I have a drinking problem and because of that I no longer drink alcohol of any kind, ever.
I wore a hakama for my wedding which was in a church in Tokyo.
I believe that being a husband and a father are the most important things I will do in my life.
I believe that accepting Christ as lord was the most important decision I'll ever make.
I was 'held back' in the first grade which means I did the first grade twice.
I liked Navy Boot Camp and was sorry to see it end.
Of all the vehicles I've owned, the 1984 Jeep CJ-7 was my favorite. I wish I still had it.
I broke my arm at the age of 17 falling off a flag pole.
I suffer from a condition called BPPV.
I am left handed.
I miss Bing Crosby and Bob Hope.
I like singing hymns.
Two of my favorite authors are Janet Evanovich and Sue Grafton.
I seriously considered joining the Australian Navy under a special program for foreign service members.
Aloha
[posted with ecto]
We're losing the war in Iraq. That's what a majority of Americans think according to a recent Washington Post article. Do you suppose that Americans think we're losing the war in Iraq because that is what has been coming out of the media since May 1, 2003? It amazes me that the Bush administration cannot muster a communications department that can get a better cotnrol of the message.
The stated goal of the invasion by Coalition forces was to remove Saddam and his party from power. A ramification of that stated goal is the necessity to put a new government in place. The war was over when Saddam and his government no longer held power. A new government has been established. While it can be said that the initial representatives were picked by Americans, in the elections since those people have been replaced. The current Iraqi government might still show some American finger prints but the process is in place for the Iraqi people to remove those finger prints if they wish.
Coalition forces remain in Iraq at the request of the Iraqi government and by a resolution of the United Nations. The same United Nations that everyone wanted us to involve in the Iraqi process. Transfer of power in the middle east is typically an extremely violent process. Leaders in the middle east typically lead through fear and violence, to one degree or another. If the government of Iraq is to survive it will need assistance in dealing with the violence until it has its own forces that can provide security, internal and external. This is and should be the criteria for Coalition forces exiting Iraq. An Iraqi force that is capable of defending Iraq against all foes, foreign and domestic.
And what is America's national interest in Iraq? Oil. The world economy runs on oil. We can deny it, we can cuss it, we can talk about how it needs to change but in the world we live in, the world economy runs on oil. Gain control of a significant portion of the world's oil reserves and you have undue influence on the world economy. It is in America's best interest to make sure the world oil reserves remain readily accessible to the world. Even after we have weaned ourselves off of oil, it will still be in America's best interest to protect the world's oil reserves.
aloha
[posted with ecto]
My friend Jess sent me this via email. I'm not one to send emails around to friends so here it is. This is funny. It's a damn shame that it is true.
Montana cowboy was overseeing his herd in a remote mountainous pasture when suddenly a brand-new BMW advanced out of a dust cloud towards him. The driver, a young man in a Brioni suit, Gucci shoes, Ray Ban sunglasses and YSL tie, leans out the window and asks the cowboy, "If I tell you exactly how many cows and calves you have in your herd, will you give me a calf?"
The cowboy looks at the man, obviously a yuppie, then looks at his peacefully grazing herd and calmly answers,"Sure, Why not?"
The yuppie parks his car, whips out his Dell notebook computer, connects it to his Cingular RAZR V3 cell phone, and surfs to a NASA page on the Internet, where he calls up a GPS satellite navigation system to get an exact fix on his location which he then feeds to another NASA satellite that scans the area in an ultra-high-resolution photo. The young man then opens the digital photo in Adobe Photoshop and exports it to an image processing facility in Hamburg, Germany.
Within seconds, he receives an email on his Palm Pilot that the image has been processed and the data stored. He then accesses a MS-SQL database through an ODBC connected Excel spreadsheet with email on his Blackberry and, after a few minutes, receives a response.
Finally, he prints out a full-color, 150-page report on his hi-tech, miniaturized HP LaserJet printer and finally turns to the cowboy and says, "You have exactly 1,586 cows and calves."
"That's right. Well, I guess you can take one of my calves," says the cowboy.
He watches the young man select one of the animals and looks on amused as the young man stuffs it into the trunk of his car.
Then the cowboy says to the young man, "Hey, if I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me back my calf?"
The young man thinks about it for a second and then says, "Okay, why not?"
You're a Congressman for the U. S. Government", says the cowboy.
"Wow! That's correct," says the yuppie, "but how did you guess that?"
"No guessing required." answered the cowboy. "You showed up here even though nobody called you; you want to get paid for an answer I already knew, to a question I never asked. You tried to show me how much smarter than me you are; and you don't know a thing about cows...
This is a herd of sheep.
Now, give me back my dog.
aloha
[posted with ecto]
I followed the Kim family story from the point where Kati Kim and the kids were rescued. I followed with interest the search for James Kim. I could identify with a man worried about his family. I was saddened by the discovery of his body. He died trying to find help for his family. I have read and even participated in discussions about what mistakes he made and how he should have done things differently.
Though I am in the high tech industry, I did not know who James Kim was other than a man stuck in the wilderness with his family. I am saddened by his death and hope that Kati and the kids find peace in the loss of their husband and father. I feel sorrow as I wonder about what James was thinking in his final hours and minutes. It must have been horrible.
I read the timeline of events leading up to the departure of James Kim in search of help. Reading through it I realized that I could have easily ended up in the same place. Hindsight bias has us thinking that James and Kati should have been able to see what was going to happen, should have made better choices. However, reading through the sequence of events I realized that they were trying to think things through and make good choices. They made a lot of good choices. They made enough good choices that Kati and the kids survived almost two weeks without preparation.
I can easily see where I might have been James. Knowing about the Kim's experience, if I find myself in the situation James and his family did, I will very likely handle it differently than I might have. Assuming that I remember. However, I will not forget that I could have been James. I hope that those commenting in the news stories and blog entries about James and his family will bear in mind that they are looking at the event with the advantage of hindsight. James and Kati were working the problem through with foresight. I believe they all did well. Better than most of us would have.
Be strong Kati. James believed in you. Your devotion and commitment to each other and your family is admirable. A quality lacking in the world today. My prayers are with you. May you go with God.
aloha
[posted with ecto]
Technorati Tags: life, philosophy, sociology
[This was written in reply to a post from my friend Jessica, the bulk of which was a letter from Michael Moore.]
MIchael Moore and the rest are using two different methods of calculating involvement in this "longer than World War II" thing. For WWII they are counting the time from 07 Dec 1941 to 15 August 1945. This is the time period from US entry into WWII until the government of Japan announced unconditional surrender. If we use that same criteria with regard to Iraq, US forces invaded on 19 March and by 01 May, the government of Iraq cease to exist. Therefore, if we use the same standard to measure the Iraq War, it was so much shorter than WWII as to be completely insignificant. There were battles in WWII that lasted longer than the Iraq War.
If we measure the time of involvement in WWII by including the occupational periods, US involvement in WWII was about 10 years. In the period from 1945 to 1952, US occupational forces were providing security and support for the rebirthed governments. And that is what US forces in Iraq are doing today. You get people's attention when you draw a comparison of almost anything to World War II. This comparison is disingenious.
Most of Michael Moore's "history" throughout this letter is equally sketchy. Comparing Saddam Hussein to King George, calling improvised explosive devices constructed from 155mm artillery shells, priming mechanisms that are triggered by cell phones "two tin cans in a pothole", and completely overlooking the fact that we did indeed try to dictate government to Japan, writing their Constitution for them. Mr. Moore grabs the sensational sound bytes and polls that serve his cause, provides 'references' to make it appear official and accurate, and completely ignores whatever facts do not suit his cause.
Among those that actually know something about what is happening in Iraq -- Michael Moore clearly does not -- the vast majority do not support a withdrawal of Coalition troops. To do as Michael Moore suggests is to destine Iraqis to a return to rule by some one like Saddam. The Iraqi government went before the UN and asked that Coalition forces remain in Iraq for another year. The UN agreed. Coalition forces are now in Iraq at the request of the Iraqi government and the United Nations.
The simple fact is, there is no easy road into or out of Iraq. The American public suffers from hindsight bais and believes that we should have seen this going in. Democrats try to claim they knew, yet they voted in support of the invasion of Iraq. And now, there we are. There is a UN Resolution that calls on the United States to provide security for the Iraqi government for another year. Shall we simply thumb our noses at it and the UN? We should have worked with the UN going into this thing. We should work with the UN now.
Yes, US involvement in Iraq is about oil. The world economy runs on oil. Not just the US, the world. We can deny it, we can wish it wasn't true, we can talk about how it shouldn't be, we can talk about what should change. But in the world that we live in today, the world economy runs on oil. Iraq is sitting on a huge pile of it and Saddam had designs on gaining control of more of it. That is the US interest in Iraq.
Michael Moore -- like Rush Limbaugh -- is an entertainer passing himself off as a political pundit. He should be taken as such.
The American education system is a product of the society that made it. Some schools are better, some are worse. Schools here in the bay area suck. That is one of the primary reasons that we home school our children.
I think the Democrats are in trouble. It is very easy to point a finger and say, you suck. It is far more difficult to state clearly what is wrong and devise a plan for correcting it. The Democrats are united on only one thing. They are united on the fact that focusing on the Iraq war is very likely to get them elected. Now they've been elected and everyone is watching them. I suspect that in 9 to 14 months time the American public will realize them for what they are and, in 2008, we will see voters simply vote out the incumbant, regardless of their party. It has happened before.
An aside: Kosovo is still on the list of exotic places I might get an all expenses paid, one year trip to, courtesy of the United States government. The Dayton Accord in 1995 supposedly ended that conflict. What the hell is the US interest there??
Smittie
[posted with ecto]
