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May 23, 2005
Just A Thought for Warren Beatty
This weekend Warren Beatty saw fit to take advantage as he was given a role as a graduation speaker at the University of California at Berkeley to take a swipe at Governor Schwarzenegger. Find the story here at Yahoo.
I've just one thing for Mr. Beatty to consider before taking a run at the mansion in Sacremento...you'll need to get more people to vote for you than are coming to your movies lately!
See you on the high ground!
MajorDad1984
Posted by MajorDad1984 at 05:56 PM | Comments (3)
May 21, 2005
HomeSpun Symposium XXI
Wow! Either I need to change the latency for my posts or I need to post more. Didn't realize that I'd fallen off the edge of the Earth...
In any case, I'm now "running" or moderating the Symposium on HomeSpun Bloggers...I'd invite you to come take a look at what we do over there. Just click the link to the left and come on in. Membership isn't too picky. Sign up and join the fun.
On to my response to my own question of the week which read:
Well, I was at a loss about what to ponder this week for the Symposium, but thanks to "The Sun" in the UK, I think I'll make this one about Saddam.
What do you think about "The Sun" publishing the pictures of Saddam? While I haven't seen all the pictures, the one everyone seems to be talking about is the one of the former dictator in his "tighty whities."
Will this event further fan the flames of Islamic hatred for the West and the occupiers of the Coalition? Or will this blow over? Abu-Grab it's not in my book.
What do you think?
Well, like most things I read in the traditional mainstream media, I think it's being taken a little too seriously. Let me address the obvious first.
1. After Abu Graib, it would seem to me that the last thing you'd want "floating around" in a military prison is a camera of any type. Or at least one that wasn't closely controlled. I can definitely see the need for cameras and surveillance of prisoners, but that's to be used only for official purposes. I would hope that we have thousands of pictures of Saddam and other Baathist slugs...but that they're kept for no other reason than to show that we are in fact caring for the prisoners in accordance with Geneva Conventions and International Law.
2. What in the world, other than to sensationalize things, would "The Sun" have for publishing the photographs on the front page of their "rag?" I have to admit, that I did gain an appreciation for "The Sun" during Desert Storm though. I worked very closely with the field artillery types....and there was a contingent of Brits attached to our HQ. They often got "The Sun" in their version of care packages...I got quite a kick out of Page 3. Check it out...it's still part of the paper. But back to the meat of this...why would a paper, so quickly after the hassle Newsweek created with the unverified Koran desecration story, think this was a responsible act of journalism? Dumb, Dumber, and Dumberer.
3. The British tabloid is a tabloid. I suppose I can forgive them there, but why in the world would the New York Post and other American outlets decide to follow suit in order to fan the flames? Whatever happened to the "loose lips sink ships" mentality in wartime? While not apologizing for foreign morons in charge of print media...I can certainly slam and will slam our own press for being just as dumb.
Now let's get back to reality here...there's more, but you'll have to click the link to read it.
Saddam has decided to sue over this issue. What he thinks he might get out of it is just this side of insane to me, but then again I'm not a genocidal megalomaniac. Think he'll try to have his case thrown out?
Let's see...I invaded two sovereign nations....gassed both Iranians, Kurds and Iraqis...taught my sons to "play with humans" as if they were toys....I harbored terrorists....I filled mass graves with my citizens AND
YOU HAD THE AUDACITY TO TAKE A PICTURE OF ME IN MY UNDERWEAR...
If you drop your case, I'll drop mine. Nice try Saddam, but I think we're a little brighter than that.
Next, we're hearing yet again about the Islamic outrage over this incident. Okay, want to hear my outrage? How about beheading American, British, and other coalition partners on videotape that somehow finds itself all over the Internet within hours of the dastardly act? How about the outrage over blowing up men, women and children with suicide car bombers throughout Iraq? How about targeting and assassinating "men of the cloth" to further your own sick and twisted "religion." How about the outrage about the way the Holy Bible is treated in fundamental Islamic nations?
Makes me wish I'd smuggled in a thousand of them as I and hundreds of thousands of my comrades defended the "Kingdom of Saudi Arabia" (what an armpit!).
So where does that leave me...what are my recommendations?
1. Get a handle on cameras and their use within prisons. Official cameras are fine, privately owned, stuffed in the pocket ones aren't.
2. To the media...consider very carefully what you choose to print and what you don't. You really have no gun to your head to report absolutely everything that you're sent, hear about or see. Sometimes it's best to leave things unsaid.
3. To the American people, let's be realistic. Boys will be boys...and sometimes the girls will be boys (thank you Lyndie England). I have to admit, that if I were guarding Saddam, I might be tempted to snap a candid action shot of him sometime. I think I'd wait for the expression when he passed a kidney stone, had projectile diarrhea or generally wasn't on top of his game. A shot of him in his BVDs doesn't seem worth the effort.
4. It's time to treat stupidity and immaturity differently than crimes like kidnapping and murder. You'd think that we'd slipped Saddam into an orange jumpsuit and had him kneel in front of an American flag to beg for his life before beheading him. Grow up liberal cry babies. If you feel so strongly about this...enlist and become an MP.
See you on the high ground!
MajorDad1984
Posted by MajorDad1984 at 11:28 AM | Comments (4)
May 12, 2005
Top 10%...Unless You're in Texas
House OKs top 10% college admission cap
Automatic admission would be capped at half of freshman class; bill's fate uncertain.
Okay...read this link at the Austin American Statesperson.
Come back and tell me why I'm about ready to chew through my straps?
See you on the high ground in Texas...where the top 10% doesn't really mean top 10%!
MajorDad1984
Posted by MajorDad1984 at 10:11 PM | Comments (9)
F*** Huffington
Wow!
Yes, that's about all I can stand to say on this subject. You probably realize how I REALLY feel about this...if you don't, check the title of the post. Yes, that's really a four letter word on "Cursed by a Classical Education."
If you haven't seen it yet, go check out the Huffington Post. Arianna's been at it again. I just want to know what she's been smoking and sharing with her contributors.
If you want to see what it was like during Stalin's years in the old USSR, check this site out! Re-writing history better than Stalin, better than Big Brother, better than...well, you get the idea.
I predict linking to some of the nonsense I find here in the weeks to come, but I'd imagine that this will be a flash in the pan. Just like that liberal radio syndicate that was going to knock Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Bill O'Reilly off the top of the heap. That brainchild of Al Franken is just one step ahead of the creditors from what I understand.
See you on the high ground...
MajorDad1984
Posted by MajorDad1984 at 08:39 PM | Comments (2)
May 05, 2005
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Is it a must see?
Probably not unless you've read at least one of Douglas Adams' books (preferably the Hitchhiker's Guide).
I thought that it was fairly well done, but I missed so much of the imagery (and that should be easy to come across with...it's a movie dammit!) and descriptions that Adams uses in all his writing. Things got a little slow towards the end and I have to admit I was physically nodding off. Yes, I'll have to see this one again, but probably not until it hits DVD.
Apparently I'm wrong with my impression of the audience that this would appeal to...as it ran away as the top hit from the box office last week. It's worth a matinee admission.
See you on the high ground...and don't forget your towel!
MajorDad1984
Posted by MajorDad1984 at 08:30 PM | Comments (3)
