You are looking at posts that were written in the month of March in the year 2007.
Posted on March 31st, 2007 by Mark.
Categories: Just Dumb, My Life.
Next to cheese is there anything better than a hammock?Â
This afternoon the wife and I attended her company picnic. A great time was had by all and I must say high taxes and high insurance rates aside… we live in paradise. The picnic was held in a park right on the water. The aqua blue waters and the cool breezes coming off of them just made the whole thing so… well… Florida.Â
Anyway, we got back to the house and set about our usual routines of getting work done online or just slacking off on the computers. We got some alcoholic libations for the evening (it is Saturday after all) and after a couple (while working), we decided to take a break. Where to? Lounging around watching TV is so passe. So we elected to do what we do entirely too infrequently.. take a cocktail out to the hammock.
Do any of ya’ll have a hammock? I highly recommend it. It’s just great. I really get more use out of the hammock than the wife, but even I have been negligent in its use as of late. There just is nothing better. We have a nice yard and while in the hammock you are looking into the canopy of a tree. We spotted a few birds nests and just watched the gentle swaying of the treebranches as we discussed all of the little peeves of life. It was therapy for the half hour or so that we were out there. We were untouchable.
Then we noticed the cat stalking the yard. Was she looking for our friend the baby bunny? Probably. We got up, scooped up the huntress and went back to our “routines”… but we had that thirty minutes in the hammock. Couple that with the picnic of earlier in the day and I think you can say that TODAY at least, we got to enjoy the pleasures… even if fleeting.
Posted on March 30th, 2007 by Mark.
Categories: Editorials.
This week Congress passed emergency spending bills which in essence would provide the monies needed to fund the war in Iraq. Attached to the bill was a timetable for withdrawl which although non-binding, would put pressure on President Bush should he actually sign the bill without the language being removed. He would basically be agreeing to the timetable without agreeing with the timetable. It would put him between a rock and a hard place.
Now the hardball politics has begun. Bush and Republicans have come out and said that the congress is showing its lack of support for the troops by denying them the funds necessary to prosecute the war. The congress is countering that by saying, they’ve done no such thing, they’ve passed the emergency spending bill and the timetables that were added actually support of the troops. This is unacceptable to Bush who has said that he will veto any spending bill that includes a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq. It’s the proverbial stalemate, and the real battle here is going to be waged between the executive and legislative branches and their tusseling over who the public perceives as having a lack of support for the troops.
I am so sick of Bush and his supporters equating support for the troops with MONEY.  What the hell is that? Is that where the support ends?  Worse yet, who the hell in this country bites off on that kind of BS rhetoric? Are these the morons that have the “support our troops” magnets on the back of their cars? These people can’t even commit to a BUMPER STICKER. They need something readily removable!  Even their lame display of support is half assed. If you’re one of these people, hang your head in SHAME.
What have we as a country done to support our guys and gals in Iraq? What sacrifices have we made? If this war MEANS SOMETHING, why not support a draft? Why not truly support the troops by sending your sons and daughters to COVER THEIR ASSES IN THE FIELD? If we had a draft I bet the tenuous support for this war (somewhere around 33% or less) would all but dry up. Suddenly the war would be RELEVANT in the lives of EVERY American with a family. Suddenly it would matter how long we were there and what we were doing there. Since the war touches so few of us, it seems all but forgotten in the day to day mania of “getting ahead”. More people know the name Paris Hilton than do the name Nouri al-Maliki (that would be the current head of state for Iraq aka Prime Minister).Â
It’s embarrassing how little people know about what is actually going on over there. One thing that is obvious is that support for the war directly correlates to how informed about the situation over there a person is. Some of the staunchest supporters of this war don’t even know what a Shiite or a Sunni is… they’re absolutely clueless. I mean if you don’t understand that Iraq was a country ruled by a minority and that years of hostility have boiled up into a civil war and our troops are in the middle of it, you have no business having an opinion. If somebody is informed and still believes we ought to be there I can respect that, but I still don’t understand it. If you believe that we should be there you should still have some major questions about our level of commitment to see the job done.
A total lack of body armor, an unwillingness to mass produce the IED stopping “V” hulled vehicles, lousy health care upon their return, all of these things point to the lip service that is this administration’s support of the troops. I guess videogames aren’t quite the desensitizing tool that parents and bored legislators looking for some cause to attach their name to, thought they were. People are coming back from this war f’ed up and taking care of them is the responsibility of all of us but most of all the president, who as Commander in Chief sent them to Iraq. He can’t even get that right… and YES, I hold him accountable even for lousy medical care. It’s his job to know what’s going on. It’s his responsibility to know. How many people and excuses will be tossed in front of this speeding bus that is Iraq before people place the blame where it squarely belongs?
The congress is doing what it must. It is doing what the people of this country demanded of it on November 7th, 2006. They’re playing politics? Really? The Republican Party lost the congress, because of this war. The country spoke loudly and clearly. This is what they wanted. They wanted pressure put on. They wanted there to be some end in sight. It’s been four years… let that sink in… FOUR YEARS. It’s about damn time that the people in charge of this fiasco were held to task. Maybe like all procrastinators (myself included), this president and his staff will finally PRODUCE because of this pressure. And I suppose in the end that is the greatest bit of support that our troops can receive.
Define the need. Define the mission. Define the endgame.Â
Posted on March 29th, 2007 by Mark.
Categories: News.
So here we have news that Lloyds of London has posted a profit of $7.2 billion for last year. Well thank goodness for that, I mean in 2005 the company lost $130 million! Hmmm… think about this for a moment. You post loses one year of $130 million and then the next year you post PROFITS of $7.2 BILLION. I guess they can reinvest all of that in the stockmarket, and when their investments tank pass on THOSE costs too! Insurance is a giant PONZI SCHEME. To tell you the truth, the ponzi scheme probably operates with more integrity than an insurance company.
Lloyds isn’t alone. State Farm, Allstate, hell all of them have posted huge profits for 2006 and you better believe a huge portion of those proceeds are coming from Florida.  Just another day in paradise.Â
Posted on March 28th, 2007 by Mark.
Categories: Just Dumb, My Life.
Hoofah. Are any of you guys familiar with Marty Stouffer? He’s the ‘Wild America’ dude that you’ve probably seen or heard on television a couple of hundred times. Anyway, last evening we here at the ranch had a little ‘Wild America’ moment of our own and I could not help but laugh afterward thinking about the voiceover work that Marty could have done for this little episode.Â
We were hanging out in the kitchen making dinner when we heard this god awful cry. I’ve never heard anything like it so it was downright startling. The thing about it is that it was moving along the back of the house passing the open garden windows that look out onto the backyard. It was a really nice evening and like most evenings here in paradise we had all of the windows and the french doors to the master bedroom open. So, this shrill screaming is moving at a good clip and the next thing we know it is coming from the master bedroom off of the kitchen. I run in to see what the deal is and there is our cat Scrunchie (a fat assed calico) standing there with what looks like a large rat in her mouth.
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The aforementioned fat assed calico. The steely look of murder is in her eyes!
My first concern was to contain the cat and this thing in the bedroom because I really didn’t want to have to chase some varmint around the house. I have to admit, I was loud and I likely threw a few expletives into the mix. I believe something like, “The cat’s got a f’ing rat in its mouth and it’s in our bedroom!” may be about right on target. What was priceless about it was the look on the cat’s face. She was all proud of herself for about a half a second offering up this sacrifice to her master, and then she got this look like, (insert mumbling voice because her mouth was full of varmint) “Uhhhh, did I do something wrong?”Â
I shut the bedroom door and the wife and the boy entered the room through the french doors effectively cornering the cat and her prey. As it turns out it was a baby rabbit. We have tons of them around the property (we’re on a little wooded preserve with a stream). The boy managed to grab it up while the wife snatched up the cat and vigorously chastized her for attacking “the wittle itty bitty baby bunny” (yes unfortunately that’s a quote).
Not the rabbit he was darker and smaller (probably younger) but this is the variety and a pretty good facsimile. The image below is a little closer I think.
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The cat was haphazardly tossed into the family room and then the wife grabbed up the bunny from the boy to “examine” it. Of course we were thinking how lousy it would be for a poor baby bunny to be the victim of the merciless huntress that is our cat. I mean what the hell good is the bell on her collar if these critters are too stupid to hear it!? As it turns out our murderous cat had the thing by the scruff of the neck and no harm came to the little thing.
For five minutes the wife held and pet the thing. I thought it was cute but I didn’t want it to be alienated from its family by our scents. It was probably bad enough that the thing had the stink of Scrunchie spit all over it. The little rabbit spent most of that five minutes cupped gently between the wife’s hands or held close to her boosoms. You have to love that! A furball gets more action in five minutes than I’ve seen in a month!
Oh well… just another day in the life!
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Posted on March 28th, 2007 by Mark.
Categories: News.
According to the Russians, we are:
MOSCOW, March 27 (RIA Novosti) - Russian military intelligence services are reporting a flurry of activity by U.S. Armed Forces near Iran’s borders, a high-ranking security source said Tuesday.
“The latest military intelligence data point to heightened U.S. military preparations for both an air and ground operation against Iran,” the official said, adding that the Pentagon has probably not yet made a final decision as to when an attack will be launched.
Great. I suggest all of you run out and tank up the SUV now… gas is going to be at 
Ugh.
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Posted on March 28th, 2007 by Mark.
Categories: Editorials, News.
Nah, no civil war here! Who the hell are these people trying to kid? Our guys are in the middle of a thousand year old struggle that has reconstitued itself in Iraq. As I have said before and will say again, get our people out of the way of these lunatics… safeguard the oil, and make the development of alternative fuels a national security issue. Enough of the f’ing around and placating big oil. They are fat off of profits, if they want to survive they can invest that money into research and development. Getting us away from middle eastern oil should be priority number one. These people are using our own MONEY to buy the tools to KILL US. Remove america as the major purchaser and the price of oil will plummet.Â
If they want to kill each other in their towns and cities, so be it. Sooner or later they’ll have to compromise. What the body count is until they reach that point is THEIR problem.
Posted on March 27th, 2007 by Mark.
Categories: News.
The deal now is getting out of a losing propositon, getting somebody with half a brain and perhaps a semblance of a conscience into the presidency and putting the $2 billion a week we are spending chasing failure into rebuilding our military, our infrastructure and our future. We can fight terror with good intel, a little forethought and well placed RIGHTEOUS FURY as can only be administered when this country acts from a position of GOOD FAITH.Â
This doesn’t have to be the end. This could be the beginning. This could be the first serious effort we have made in handing terror the proper ass kicking it’s deserved since 9/11. We haven’t collected on the debt. We haven’t settled the score. We haven’t brought justice to those murdered by these bastards. War president? Riiiiiight.
Posted on March 27th, 2007 by Mark.
Categories: News.
Mycroscope’s New York bureau chief *snickers* sent us the link for this little tid bit of the wonderfully strange.
CALVERT, Md. (AP) — Toby, a 2-year-old golden retriever, saw his owner choking on a piece of fruit and began jumping up and down on the woman’s chest. The dog’s owner believes the dog was trying to perform the Heimlich maneuver and saved her life.
Debbie Parkhurst, 45, of Calvert told the Cecil Whig she was eating an apple at her home Friday when a piece lodged in her throat. She attempted to perform the Heimlich maneuver on herself but it didn’t work. After she began beating on her chest, she said Toby noticed and got involved.
“The next think I know, Toby’s up on his hind feet and he’s got his front paws on my shoulders,” she recalled. “He pushed me to the ground, and once I was on my back, he began jumping up and down on my chest.”
Remember a few years back when President Bush was choking on a pretzel? Do you think Barney KNEW how to help the guy, but didn’t?! DUH! DUH! DUMMMM!Â
In any case Toby is a hero and so we’ll give him a little face time here at the scope. Here’s a picture of him and his thankful owner. Full story and photo is at Cecil Whig.
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Posted on March 27th, 2007 by Mark.
Categories: News.
You have got to love this. We’re engaging in a big time show of force in the gulf and coincidentally enough it comes four days after the abduction of 15 british sailors.Â
The U.S. exercises come just four days after Iran’s capture of 15 British sailors and marines who Iran said had strayed into Iranian waters near the Gulf. Britain and the U.S. Navy have insisted the British sailors were operating in Iraqi waters.
U.S. Navy Cmdr. Kevin Aandahl said the U.S. maneuvers were not organized in response to the capture of the British sailors — nor were they meant to threaten the Islamic Republic, whose navy operates in the same waters.
He declined to specify when the Navy planned the exercises. (emphasis my own).
Frankly, I could care less what the reasoning is. I just hope that Iran sees that this is a losing proposition for them. I wonder why the mighty Iranian Navy doesn’t menace US warships. I have to admit, a small part of me wishes that we would just sink a few of their little gunboats and send a message. The message that the military officially wants to convey however, is:
“What it should be seen as by Iran or anyone else is that it’s for regional stability and security,” Aandahl said. “These ships are just another demonstration of that. If there’s a destabilizing effect, it’s Iran’s behavior.”
How subtle! Nice shot across the bow, if I do say so myself.
Posted on March 27th, 2007 by Mark.
Categories: News.
As expected, the foolish move by Iran to abduct British sailors from Iraqi waters is only turning up the heat for that country and further diminishing its position. The whole of the world is not akin to the radicalized “students” that this Ahmadinejad props up as the Iranian public. Tony Blair seems resolved to do what must be done to secure the safe return of the kidnapped sailors and the fact that he is already resorting to not so veiled threats is troubling.Â
“These people have to be released,” the prime minister told GMTV.
“What we are trying to do at the moment is to pursue this through the diplomatic channels and make the Iranian government understand these people have to be released and that there is absolutely no justification whatever for holding them.
“I hope we manage to get them to realise they have to release them. If not, then this will move into a different phase.”
All that Ahmadinejad is doing is bolstering the argument that Iran is incapable of conducting itself in a decent and civilized way. Further I am sure that the manner in which Ahmadinejad continues to tempt the world’s powers to engage his country in war is further alienating him from his own people. This is a man that was already losing political support in his own country, so his willingness to possibly further erode his base of support is provocative and worrisome.
So what’s the deal? Oh I dunno… maybe this guy wants to go out a martyr?
All I know is that much like us, Iran must rein in its president. I can only hope that cooler heads prevail, but the sudden desire on the part of the Iranian regime to stoke western ire cannot bode well for that prospect.Â
