Credit Where Credit Is Due

A few days ago, I whined about the "rate-limiting" that prevented me from importing my old blog posts into the new Blogger-powered blog. The basic problem was that I needed to import well over 1,000 old posts, and Blogger was limiting me to just 50 posts a day. I wrote to Google, hoping for some kind of solution.

Well, today the folks at Blogger came through -- they changed the limit for my blog from 50 posts/day to 500 posts/day. At this rate, I'll have them all imported within just a few days. It's a perfectly good solution, and one that I'm quite happy with. If you look in the "Archives" section at right, you'll see that I've now got about half my old posts imported -- just a couple more batches and I'll have them all!

Considering that Blogger is a free service, this is outstanding customer service -- not instantaneous, but plenty fast enough; polite and cheerful; and best of all -- effective!

I am impressed, Googloids. And thank you!

Pecans in the Cemetary

Tip o'the hat to Marsha Y.:

On the outskirts of a small town, there was a big, old Pecan tree just inside the cemetery fence. One day, two boys filled up a bucketful of nuts and sat down by the tree, out of sight, and began dividing the nuts. "One for you, one for me. One for you, one for me," said one boy. Several dropped and rolled down toward the fence.

Another boy came riding along the road on his bicycle. As he passed, he thought he heard voices from inside the cemetery. He slowed down to investigate. Sure enough, heard, "One for you, one for me. One for you, one for me."

He just knew what it was. He jumped back on his bike and rode off. Just around the bend, he met an old man with a cane, hobbling along. "Come here quick," said the boy, "you won't believe what I heard! Satan and the Lord are down at the cemetery dividing up the souls." The man said, "Beat it kid, can't you see it's hard for me to walk?" When the boy insisted though, the man hobbled slowly to the cemetery.

Standing by the fence they heard, "One for you, one for me, one for you, one for me..." The old man whispered, "Boy, you've been tellin' me the truth. Let's see if we can see the Lord." Shaking with fear, they peered through the fence, yet were still unable to see anything. The old man and the boy gripped the wrought iron bars of the fence tighter and tighter as they tried to get a glimpse of the Lord. At last they heard, "One for you, one for me. That's all. Now let's go get those nuts by the fence and we'll be done."

They say the old man with a cane made it back to town a full 5 minutes ahead of the kid on the bike...

Raw Temperatures

In my poking about trying to get a grip on the debate about global warming, I've tried several times to get raw temperature data. Until this morning, I've always failed -- all I've been able to find is the "adjusted" data, and the adjustment methods are opaque. I'm suspicious when I see something this; it makes me think there's something there the authors don't want me to see.

So I was delighted this morning to uncover this graph of raw temperature data -- and of California, no less! You can click on it to get a full-sized, readable view. I found it at this web site, along with this description of how the data was gathered:

Today I visited my friend Jim Goodridge, former California State Climatologist and the man with a garage full of data going back to before the Gold Rush.

He’s been quietly toiling away in his retirement on his computer for the last 15 years or so making all sort of data comparisons. He gave me two CD ROMS full of data that I’m just now wading through. One plot which he shared with me today is a 104 year plot map of California showing station trends after painstakingly hand entering data into an Excel spreadsheet and plotting slopes of the data to produce trend dots.

He used every good continuous piece of data he could get his hands on, no adjusted data like the climate miodelers use, only raw from Cooperative Observing Stations, CDF stations, Weather Service Offices’s and Municipal stations.

Nothing but the data, ma'am. Just good, clean, raw data. And it is fascinating to examine.

If you're unfamiliar with this particular method of plotting data, here's the key point: the biggest red dots represent the largest temperature increases, and the biggest blue dots represent the largest temperature decreases (both over the 104 years of data). As the author points out, there's a definite pattern there -- the red dots are clustered around major population centers (Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, etc.) and the blue dots are, well, nearly everywhere else.

One of the frequently heard claims of the global warming skeptics is that the data used by the global warming proponents is biased by the "urban island" effect -- a well-known phenomena wherein cities are warmer than their surroundings. The reasons for this are many, but they boil down to the predominance of man-made materials in a city (concrete, asphalt, etc.) over the plants (trees, grass, crops) found around them -- and where the city is, before the city was built.

It sure looks like this raw data supports that that claim. If you were to subtract the populated areas from this chart, the trend would be toward a mild cooling! This single compilation of data, however compelling, is a long way from scientifically credible proof -- but it certainly doesn't decrease my skepticism about the global warming "phenomenon"...

Scary, Scary Lady

In the text of a speech Hilary Clinton gave on Tuesday, I discovered that she said:

It's time for a new beginning, for an end to government of the few, by the few and for the few, time to reject the idea of an "on your own" society and to replace it with shared responsibility for shared prosperity. I prefer a "we're all in it together" society.

Usually her socialist proclivities are hidden behind screwphemisms and other clever language. This statement lays it out in the open, though. Shared prosperity simply means forced wealth redistribution -- or, more personally (since I'm in the top 25% of wage earners), it means take money away from me, forcibly, and give it to someone else.

Socialism.

A "fact sheet" on Hilary's site is chock-a-block full of the non-facts, lies, distortions, and clever common to the liberal dialog these days. It's best viewed as propaganda (spin, if you prefer the more, er, polite term), and not as a serious piece. But it is useful for understanding how the leading Democratic candidate is posturing. And it's downright scary to someone (like me) who believes in the America our founding father's created. Hilary and her ilk would like to turn our country into something more closely resembling a European country.

If I was attracted by that, I'd move to Europe. Sure wish Hilary would!

Cognitive Bias

I'm currently reading a fascinating book (The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb). One of the topics discussed in the book (though not its main focus) is the way we humans habitually misinterpret (and therefore misunderstand) the world around us. I did some poking around the web to learn more about these cognitive biases, and ran across this Wikipedia page that lists 20 or so common kinds of cognitive bias, and points to pages explaining them. I was actually looking for information on "confirmation bias", and found this example on another Wikipedia page:

Among the first to investigate this phenomenon was Peter Cathcart Wason (1960), whose subjects were presented with three numbers (a triple):

2 4 6

and told that triple conforms to a particular rule. They were then asked to discover the rule by generating their own triples and use the feedback they received from the experimenter. Every time the subject generated a triple, the experimenter would indicate whether the triple conformed to the rule (right) or not (wrong). The subjects were told that once they were sure of the correctness of their hypothesized rule, they should announce the rule.

While the actual rule was simply “any ascending sequence”, the subjects seemed to have a great deal of difficulty in inducing it, often announcing rules that were far more complex than the correct rule. More interestingly, the subjects seemed to only test “positive” examples, triples that subjects believed would conform to their rule and thus confirm their hypothesis. What the subjects did not do was attempt to falsify their hypotheses by testing triples that they believed would not conform to their rule. Wason referred to this phenomenon as the confirmation bias, whereby subjects systematically seek evidence to confirm rather than to deny their hypotheses.

It's fascinating to read about all these cognitive biases, and understanding them can (I hope!) lead to a better ability to avoid them in one's own thinking. Taleb's book provides abundant reasons for investors to avoid these biases, but it's easy to see how avoiding them would improve just about any decision making. Taleb makes an interesting point regarding these biases: that most likely they evolved because they helped humans when we were in more primitive situations -- but today, in our modern, more civilized context, they often get in the way rather than help us...

Spam King: Nailed!

This is very welcome news: Robert Soloway (aka "The Spam King") has been captured and arrested in Seattle. He's been indicted on charges of identity theft, money laundering, and mail, wire, and e-mail fraud. From the story on Yahoo! News:

Between November of 2003 and May of 2007 Soloway "spammed" tens of millions of e-mail messages to promote websites at which his company, Newport Internet Marketing, sold products and services, according to prosecutors.

Soloway routinely moved his website to different Internet addresses to dodge detection and began registering them through Chinese Internet service providers in 2006 in an apparent ploy to mask his involvement.

Spam messages sent by Soloway used misleading "header" information to dupe people into opening them, according to Sullivan.

Soloway is accused of using "botnets," networks of computers, to disguise where e-mail originated and of forging return addresses of real people or businesses that wound up blamed for unwanted mailings.

If convicted as charged, Soloway will face a maximum sentence of more than 65 years in prison and a fine of 250,000 dollars.

Prosecutors want to seize approximately 773,000 dollars they say Soloway made from his spamming-related activities.

More than 65 years. Well, if it's enough more, it might just make up for all the garbage this evil man has spewed. I can only hope that his cell mates despise spam even more than I do...

30 Years

On June 30, 2005 there was a horrific crash that killed five people and injured five more. Two of the dead were children; one was a pregnant woman. The car was full of illegal aliens being smuggled into the U.S., but nobody was chasing the car -- the driver, probably nervous and frightened, passed on a blind corner and crashed head-on into a large pickup.

The driver of that car was Fidel Wilfredo Gonzales, who is 20 years old now -- and has just been sentenced to 30 years in prison on multiple counts of gross vehicular manslaughter and assault with a deadly weapon.

Gonzales is directly responsible for the horrors of that day. His actions, taken of his own free will, caused those deaths, injuries, and much consequent misery. He deserves that sentence, and arguably more.

But while he bears responsibility for his own actions, I believe our immigration policies bear responsibility, too -- not for his actions, but for creating the incentives for those actions. Gonzales was essentially in this game for the money, and the money was only there because these aliens could only immigrate here illegally. I don't know whether the aliens Gonzales was carrying wanted to come here to become Americans, or simply to take advantage of jobs or handouts available here for them. In either case, I believe our current policies are loony.

People who want to come here to become good Americans -- we should welcome them, plain and simple.

People who want to come here to take advantage of our generosity -- we should remove their incentive for doing so. Not by the utterly hopeless notion of "closing the border", but instead by being tough on employers who illegally hire them, and by stopping the government handouts and policies (such as free hospital care) that attract them.

Instead, we have our hopelessly ill-designed system of unachievable goals, conflicting incentives, and guaranteed human misery. The miserable story of Gonzales and his passengers is but one tiny piece, destined to be repeated over and over until and unless we chuck our current system out the window. Let's chuck it!

Blogger Quiz

Question: which blogger can get all of the following into a single blog post:

Justice is a lot like sex, always interesting, but only truly enjoyable when silly concepts like trust, decency and mercy have been perverted right out of it.

Whenever I look into the mirror and think there can't be a bigger loser in the whole wide world, a voice in my head screams, "Al Gore still lives!" I hear any number of voices in my head, true. But this is the only one that makes me feel better about myself.

Global warming is one of the major reasons that people have been mocking liberals since the dawn of time.

I can't be the only one who would have a hard time imagining Al Gore losing sleep over the prospect of Florida being forever under the sea, can I?

Without celebrities, America is just another collection of fat people who kill foreigners. Not unlike the Mongols in the days of old.

But let's get to Big Al's larger point shall we? Are girls with big tits and mental and legal difficulties a threat to American democracy? Or are they just a fun way to spend a weekend? The answer might shock you!

Back then Americans gave a shit about Hollywood, because they really felt that it was the land of hope and dreams. They believed that it was full to overflowing with beautiful, wonderful people who shared their values and love of Jesus, apple pie and America. This might sound familiar, because Americans used to feel that way about America, too.

Fifty years ago, the phrase "politics is show business for ugly people" was a cute joke. Today, it's an astute observation.

Democracy isn't doomed because the media made people stupid, it's doomed because people stopped caring and consciously chose stupidity.

Answer: Skippy, of Enjoy Every Sandwich. But don't go there if you're offended by graphic images or equally graphic and, er, colorful language!

Immigration Reform

One of my readers wrote to ask why I haven't posted about the immigration reform. Fair question, but I'll warn you: it's complicated.

First of all, I have very little real understanding of what the immigration bill actually says -- and the contents are still very much in flux. Worse, I suspect that none of our Senators and Representatives really understand it either. The thing is hundreds of pages long (you can see it here on N.Z. Bear's wonderful site dedicated to this bill).

What little I do understand about the immigration reform bill, I don't like -- but probably not for the reasons you might guess. What I don't like is that it's basically more of the same stuff we're doing now, which I object to. My underlying thoughts:

• I believe, on principle, than anyone with a desire to become an American should be allowed to come to America to pursue that dream. Many people don't know it, but America had no restrictions at all on immigration until the late 1800s -- and significant restrictions were first put in place in the 1930s. I believe we've lost something important by pursuing the route of immigration control.
  
  
• I believe that immigrants who fail to become good Americans should be deported. By "become a good American", I mean assimilation and permanent residence, learning our common language (English, as some seem not to know), and in general, good behavior. All of these are necessarily subjective assessments, and I believe we should not shrink from making them. In other words, rather than "defend the border", I believe we should cull our prospective citizens to get rid of the bad apples.
  
  
• I believe that immigrants should make it on their own steam, or with the help of their sponsors -- not with government assistance. I believe this is an essential filter mechanism to ensure that America attracts good, productive new citizens -- not welfare recipients.
  
  
• I believe that the notion of "defending the borders" is absurd on first principles. Particularly deceptive is the idea that we must defend the borders to defend against terrorism. The very idea that any conceivable border defense (whether practical or not) would inhibit terrorist attacks on the U.S. is laughable on its face -- the only way we could accomplish that is if we walled ourselves off from the world, and allowed no travelers in or out. Putting up a fence on the Mexican border will simply cause the people who so desperately want to come to the U.S. to come in through some other means -- and there will always be some other means.
  

So there's my slightly radical viewpoint. It seems clear that the immigration reform bill makes no move in this direction, so I do not support it.

Bomb Iran

Norman Podhoretz, writing in the WSJ's OpinionJournal, has a fascinating essay advocating the bombing of Iran. The lead:

Although many persist in denying it, I continue to believe that what Sept 11, 2001, did was to plunge us headlong into nothing less than another world war. I call this new war World War IV, because I also believe that what is generally known as the Cold War was actually World War III, and that this one bears a closer resemblance to that great conflict than it does to World War II. Like the Cold War, as the military historian Eliot Cohen was the first to recognize, the one we are now in has ideological roots, pitting us against Islamofascism, yet another mutation of the totalitarian disease we defeated first in the shape of Nazism and fascism and then in the shape of communism; it is global in scope; it is being fought with a variety of weapons, not all of them military; and it is likely to go on for decades.

What follows from this way of looking at the last five years is that the military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq cannot be understood if they are regarded as self-contained wars in their own right. Instead we have to see them as fronts or theaters that have been opened up in the early stages of a protracted global struggle. The same thing is true of Iran. As the currently main center of the Islamofascist ideology against which we have been fighting since 9/11, and as (according to the State Department's latest annual report on the subject) the main sponsor of the terrorism that is Islamofascism's weapon of choice, Iran too is a front in World War IV. Moreover, its effort to build a nuclear arsenal makes it the potentially most dangerous one of all.

He goes on to make the case in very convincing fashion, arriving at this point (which I agree with):

In short, the plain and brutal truth is that if Iran is to be prevented from developing a nuclear arsenal, there is no alternative to the actual use of military force--any more than there was an alternative to force if Hitler was to be stopped in 1938.

Since a ground invasion of Iran must be ruled out for many different reasons, the job would have to be done, if it is to be done at all, by a campaign of air strikes. Furthermore, because Iran's nuclear facilities are dispersed, and because some of them are underground, many sorties and bunker-busting munitions would be required. And because such a campaign is beyond the capabilities of Israel, and the will, let alone the courage, of any of our other allies, it could be carried out only by the United States. Even then, we would probably be unable to get at all the underground facilities, which means that, if Iran were still intent on going nuclear, it would not have to start over again from scratch. But a bombing campaign would without question set back its nuclear program for years to come, and might even lead to the overthrow of the mullahs.

The opponents of bombing--not just the usual suspects but many both here and in Israel who have no illusions about the nature and intentions and potential capabilities of the Iranian regime--disagree that it might end in the overthrow of the mullocracy. On the contrary, they are certain that all Iranians, even the democratic dissidents, would be impelled to rally around the flag. And this is only one of the worst-case scenarios they envisage. To wit: Iran would retaliate by increasing the trouble it is already making for us in Iraq. It would attack Israel with missiles armed with nonnuclear warheads but possibly containing biological or chemical weapons. There would be a vast increase in the price of oil, with catastrophic consequences for every economy in the world, very much including our own. The worldwide outcry against the inevitable civilian casualties would make the anti-Americanism of today look like a lovefest.

I readily admit that it would be foolish to discount any or all of these scenarios. Each of them is, alas, only too plausible. Nevertheless, there is a good response to them, and it is the one given by John McCain. The only thing worse than bombing Iran, McCain has declared, is allowing Iran to get the bomb.

And yet those of us who agree with McCain are left with the question of whether there is still time. If we believe the Iranians, the answer is no. In early April, at Iran's Nuclear Day festivities, Ahmadinejad announced that the point of no return in the nuclearization process had been reached. If this is true, it means that Iran is only a small step away from producing nuclear weapons. But even supposing that Ahmadinejad is bluffing, in order to convince the world that it is already too late to stop him, how long will it take before he actually turns out to have a winning hand?

If we believe the CIA, perhaps as much as 10 years. But CIA estimates have so often been wrong that they are hardly more credible than the boasts of Ahmadinejad. Other estimates by other experts fall within the range of a few months to six years. Which is to say that no one really knows. And because no one really knows, the only prudent--indeed, the only responsible--course is to assume that Ahmadinejad may not be bluffing, or may only be exaggerating a bit, and to strike at him as soon as it is logistically possible.

Finally, he concludes with this:

Much of the world has greeted Ahmadinejad's promise to wipe Israel off the map with something close to insouciance. In fact, it could almost be said of the Europeans that they have been more upset by Ahmadinejad's denial that a Holocaust took place 60 years ago than by his determination to set off one of his own as soon as he acquires the means to do so. In some of European countries, Holocaust denial is a crime, and the European Union only recently endorsed that position. Yet for all their retrospective remorse over the wholesale slaughter of Jews back then, the Europeans seem no readier to lift a finger to prevent a second Holocaust than they were the first time around.

Not so George W. Bush, a man who knows evil when he sees it and who has demonstrated an unfailingly courageous willingness to endure vilification and contumely in setting his face against it. It now remains to be seen whether this president, battered more mercilessly and with less justification than any other in living memory, and weakened politically by the enemies of his policy in the Middle East in general and Iraq in particular, will find it possible to take the only action that can stop Iran from following through on its evil intentions both toward us and toward Israel. As an American and as a Jew, I pray with all my heart that he will.

I have no idea what Mr. Podhoretz things of the rest of George W. Bush's performance as President. Personally I have been very disappointed by many aspects of his presidency -- but on the question of the war on terror, I rate his performance very highly. As Mr. Podhoretz points out, Mr. Bush has endured just about every indignity one can imagine because of his stance on the war on terror -- and for that resoluteness, on the issue that has the highest priority in the nation (in my book, at least), he has earned my forgiveness for all his other failings. I simply don't care how he does on the rest of his agenda, so long as he pursues our enemies.

This same logic (which I know many would call simplistic, and certainly not nuanced enough) drives my thinking on the candidates for the 2008 presidential election. All I need to know about them is their stance on the war on terror. This immediately causes me to rule out every announced Democratic candidate, along with most of the Republican candidates. I'm left with a tiny pool of Republicans -- Guliani and possibly some others whose position on the war on terror I don't yet understand, such as Fred Thompson (who of course hasn't even announced yet). If there was no war on terror, Guliani wouldn't attract me at all; he stands for much that I disagree with. Like Mr. Bush, however, I'd forgive him all of that just to get his leadership on the war on terror...

Parachutist Dies in Jamul

Update and bump: A new report identifies the victim as 48-year old Forrest Miller.

Original post:

I've only seen this from one news source (FOX 6), who is reporting that an as-yet unnamed parachutist has died at Skydive San Diego (near Otay Lakes):

An investigation is underway into the death of a parachutist in Jamul. The 48-year old jumper died on Monday after his parachute went into an uncontrollable spin around 1000 feet.

He came to a stop when he hit a tree, at 120 miles an hour. Paramedics gave him CPR, but he died on the scene.

Many moons ago, before I was married, I was an avid skydiver. I learned while in the U.S. Navy, stationed at Mare Island, in 1973. Between then and about 1979, I made over 400 jumps at drop zones all over the world -- but mostly at Davis/Dixon, Elsinore, and Otay Lakes here in California. I still get a little shiver when I read of someone being injured or killed pursuing this hobby...

Hee Ah Lee

An inspiring video about Hee Ah Lee, a Korean woman who overcomes challenges that most of us cannot even imagine -- and has become a concert pianist playing to sold-out concert halls.

Read more about Hee Ah Lee here and here.
Thanks, Chrys, for letting me know about this!

Rule of Experts

Ilya Somin, writing at The Volokh Conspiracy, has an interesting post on the "rule of experts" advocated by some libertarian paternalists (for the record, that would not be me!). The lead:

Power to the Experts! - A Solution to the Problem of Political Ignorance?

As I noted in my last post, some advocates of libertarian paternalism try to get around the problem of political ignorance by suggesting that their policies be implemented by government-appointed experts rather than by elected officials. This is not a new argument. Totalitarians from Plato to Lenin have argued that the ignorance of the masses can be offset by concentrating power in the hands of an expert elite. So too have some moderate liberal scholars such as Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer and even libertarian Bryan Caplan. Breyer, the libertarian paternalists, and Caplan would never think of taking the argument as far as Plato or Lenin. But the core logic is similar: the experts know better than the average person - and therefore they should make the decisions.

For advocates of limited government, the rule of experts is like the vampire that refuses to die no matter how often we drive a stake through its heart. We've been fighting it for 2500 years, but have never quite managed to finish it off. Nevertheless, I'm going to put on my vampire slayer hat, and take a wee little stab at it.

Then he proceeds to do a darn fine job of attempted vampire slaying. Given the aforementioned 2,500 years of history, however, I suspect the vampire will rise yet again...

Read the whole thing!

Chocola

Via Cute Overload, of course.

Very high cutiosity factor!

Thought for the Day

Well, for yesterday, really. Bravo Romeo Delta (writing at Protein Wisdom) echoes some of my thoughts, but adds a talent for writing:

I am very much of the opinion that the United States of America is a singular entity. I know of no other nation that is derived solely from a set of ideas and principles, rather than a long cultural and ethnic history, perhaps save Vatican City. One can argue the case for American exceptionalism, but the concepts upon which our nation was founded and has grown are so key to the American identity that it is remarkably hard for most people born in the US to really conceive of a national identity being something much closer to self-identification of Texans or New Yorkers. For that matter, it is equally difficult for many foreigners to understand that flying the flag, or the fits of patriotic fervor that occasionally sweep the nation are not the harbingers of some chauvinist nationalism, bearing the seeds of latent militarism or racism.

It is a unique and strange situation that being a foreigner - an outsider - in the US is not reason to be looked down upon or excluded. A Martian could arrive in the US and would be regarded as being American as soon as they became a citizen. Compare this to many other countries in which being a citizen for generations may not be sufficient to make one a “true” member of that nation. We like to believe that our assessments about people are based not “by the color of their skin but by the content of their character”. It does say something that a person like Martin Luther King, who was jailed for his protests less than fifty years ago is now hailed as a Great American who embodied many of our best traits. In fact, it is even a bit more interesting that in most nations, such a change in perspective about someone viewed at the time as a trouble-maker would have almost only come about as a result of a coup or revolution.

I believe that we have done well for ourselves and have shown respect for the ideals on which this nation was founded, complaints from the left and right about the country’s slide into the abyss, notwithstanding. Rather, I tend to regard the complaints from the extreme wings of political discourse about the direction the country is heading to quite often be equivalent to the self-image of an anorexic supermodel. Those who complain aren’t trying to tear down the nation, but they lack a fair appraisal of how good things really are, and are possessed with an uncompromising desire for even further perfection. Granted, things are never perfect here, but they’re pretty damn good.

Read the whole darned thing, would ya?

His point about America -- uniquely -- being founded on principles and ideals (rather than geography, race, religion, etc.) resonates strongly with me. This fact truly does seem to separate America from the rest of the world that I have observed, and I'm a reasonably well-traveled man. The closest thing I've seen is Australia, but even there it isn't quite the same thing (although they seem to do a pretty good job of assimilating immigrants). Europe and Asia are quite radically different than us, though, in these foundations. I've had a few conversation with Europeans (English, Germans, Estonians, and Finns) about the notion of patriotism, and just as Romeo Delta says, it's a very alien concept for them ... and I think Bravo Romeo Delta is spot-on about the reasons...

Patio Flowers

While I was taking all the hummer photos in the preceding post, I had to do quite a bit of waiting on the patio. It was very pleasant waiting: the temperature was 72 F, the sun bright but not overwhelming, I had a mug of ice-cold lemonade, and my wife was only an hour or so from home after five days on the road. Plus I was surrounded by the flowers in bloom on our patio, which is what these photos are of:

Chaparral Hummers...

For several weeks now, we have had our summer population of hummingbirds -- hundreds and hundreds of hummingbirds at our feeders. Currently we're keeping 7 feeders out, each with 8 feeding stations -- room for 56 hummingbirds -- but every morning and every evening (the most busy feeding times), all the stations are full and hummers are waiting in line. There's a kind of "hummingbird cloud" all around the feeders. The hummers are quite accustomed to our presence, and we can go out and stand right in this cloud -- they dart and buzz all around our heads, sometimes even landing on our hats, our ears, or our glasses!

One diminutive female seemed to like perching in our pampas grass -- she liked it so well that I was able to get quite close to her to take her picture. My lens was only a few inches from her when I took this photo! When I finally did get too close for her comfort, she whisked off at a blinding speed, straight through the heart of the (very dense!) pampas grass -- then whizzed around to right behind my head, hovered for a few seconds, and then zipped straight back to her original perch!

Another female seemed to be particularly fond of our potato flower. She had a regular flight pattern from the feeder to "her" perch in the potato flower tree, where she'd rest for about 60 seconds, then zip back to the feeder for another tipple -- and then back to the potato tree. If you follow the individual hummers, you'll soon see that many of them have such patterns, for at least hours at a time. I haven't yet figured out if they maintain these patterns over periods of days or longer...

Some more hummer pictures for your enjoyment...

Back from the Show!

Debbie was up in Pomona, California for the past five days, with all three of our field spaniels (Lea, Mo'i, and Miki). Miki (our one year old) was just there for the practice; he needs to learn how to behave in crowds of people and dogs. But Lea and Mo'i were both competing in agility...

Lea was the star of the weekend -- in her eight runs (four standard and four jumpers) she had four qualifying runs, three first places, and a title. She runs with the twelve inch dogs (meaning that the jumps are set at 12" high). Three of her qualifying runs were on Excellent A Preferred standard courses, which earned her the AXP (Exellent A Preferred Standard) title. She also qualified on one Excellent B Preferred jumpers course. She took first place on three of her four standard course runs -- she beat the second place dog by 12 to 15 seconds!

Thyroid medication is a good thing!

Mo'i had just one qualifying run, but that's not as bad as it sounds. For starters, he runs in the most advanced category (Excellent B) and he runs with 20" dogs -- mostly border collies, which are your basic nuclear-powered sports cars. Mo'i had no problem with speed, which is a big improvement -- he used to "stall" on the teeter and the pause table. Those problems are history -- Debbie reports that Mo'i powered over all but one of the teeters, and just a second or so hesitation at the pivot point on the one that wasn't perfect. On the pause table, his "sits" and "downs" were crisp and fast. Where he fell down was on the weave poles, where he was slow on Friday and Saturday, but fast on Sunday and Monday after a friend helped Debbie figure out why he was fast on the weave poles at home, but slow at the show. And Mo'i had several "extra credit" events, where he took an extra jump or other obstacle -- still making qualifying time, but at his level the course deviation disqualifies him.

All in all, a good show. Debbie is all smiles and quite happy with how things went...

Maka Lea

Maka Lea ("twinkly eyes" in Hawaiian) is also a rescue cat. In his case, our veterinarian, knowing Debbie's weakness for "challenged" cats, prevailed upon us to take this little fellow. He had an infection and a very high sustained fever when he was a tiny little thing. As a consequence, he's got some neurological damage that makes him walk funny, fall frequently, and rely on his front paws for almost everything involving motion.

He climbs using one front paw to throw his weight up, while he grabs a higher point with the other front paw. He can't jump; he just doesn't have enough control of his rear legs. And his leaps from high places are the absolute antithesis of grace -- he's as likely to land on his head as he is to land on his feet. When he does accidentally land on his feet, he looks startled, like "What happened here? I'm supposed to be in pain on the floor, but instead I'm up and about!"

But Maka Lea's real grace is his personality -- he's as sweet, dependent, and affectionate as our dogs. He'll follow us all around the house, demanding attention just like our dogs do (only even more persistently!). He comes to us when we call him, just as reliably as our dogs do. And he'll nuzzle and kiss you exactly like the dogs do -- very unusual cat behavior, and impossible to resist...

Halala Pala

Halala Pala (Hawaiian for "big mellow") is a rescue cat, but we suspect he's all or mostly Maine Coon. His appearance and his behavior are completely consist with everything we've ever heard about Maine Coons, and several breeders have written us in the past to assure us that he is indeed a Maine Coon.

But really, who cares?

Note the grumpy look on his face upon being bothered by the photographer!

America the Beautiful

Ray Charles sings it:

In Flanders Fields

For Memorial Day:

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Memorial Day

Today, as every day, our American flag is flying. But today we will spend some time remembering those brave Americans who died while defending this great nation and its principles.

Often these men and women were so very young -- I've read that the average age of our fallen soldiers is just 19. Often they died in distant, lonely, and strange places; there's something particularly discomfiting about dying so far from home.

Today is the day we remember their sacrifices. Today we salute the bravery and dedication of the American soldiers and sailors, past and present -- they have kept America safe and free for over 200 years.

Thank you, one and all.

Here are some Memorial Day links for you:

Wikipedia

Paralyzed Veterans of America

Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Memorial Day Links Roundup

Memorial Day History

Memorial Day Thoughts

Cal and Jamie Johnson, Part II

Jamie Johnson left an extensive comment on my previous post, and once again I will let her comment speak for itself. I have made some trivial formatting changes to make it more readable:

Thank you for the opportunity to set a few more wrongs right.

Yes, my husband has lost weight. Partially from the addiction and partally from the daily stresses of being self employed in a city that is corrupt and immune from persecution. As to my weight loss. In August of 2004 I underwent gastric bypass surgery in an attempt to better my life and reduce the health related problems I was enduring as a result of being overweight for more than 15 years. To inadvertently imply I may have been using as well shows the ignorance of society and the "jump on the band wagon" mentality that I have tried to overcome.

Secondly, our children's health has NEVER been disregarded. I have always been the primary caregiver when it comes to our kids and that has not changed. Our family life was not one of anger and rage. Do we punish our kids for wrong doings...yes. We ground them, we take away possessions, we do not torture, beat, threaten or abuse our children. don't you think if the police saw evidence of abuse, my kids would be elsewhere instead of at home with me where they are.

I also believe that persons under the influence of drugs should be held accountable for thier actions. At no time have I insinuated that I think my husband should be treated with "kid gloves" because I have chosen to give him the chance to make a change in his life. I will stand up in court and tell the truth and when asked if I support my husband I will say that I do. does that mean I don't want him to take what he has coming to him for these acts. Absolutely not. He will be spending time in prison for this, I do not delude myself into thinking that I can stand up and ask a Juadge to go lightly on him.

On the other hand, he has 100% committed to entering himself into intensive residential treatment for however long it takes. He will have to prove to me that nothing like this can ever happen again before we can even begin to try to heal our relationship. I have to give him the chance to get better and heal himself and as a result I can heal as well.

Our children are our first priority and steps have already beenn taken to begin treatment for their mental well being. I will never let my kids think that it is okay to treat someone in this manner. It has to be said that our family is not crippled with a continuing pattern of domestic abuse. This incident is the one and only exception to domestic violence. I am not saying we have had a perfect 23 year relationship, but at no time has my husband abused me prior to this tragic day. Has he called me names, yes. Has he yelled at me or raised his voice, yes. Has he lost his temper and said things he later regretted, yes, but who hasn't. I have too.

We have worked very hard instilling consequences and values in our kids and if you really know my family, you would know that as well. I don't excuse my husbands actions and simply blame his addiction. I was merely trying to say that absent the addiction this would not have happened. My family will need time to heal and my husband needs time to heal as well. He isn't going to be in Jamul for a very long time. His treatment is going to begin immediately upon his release from jail and will continue for as long as it takes. Cal knows he screwed up and he also knows that only time and a genuine committment to himself will begin the road to recovery. I can only hope and pray that he will be successful.

Now to set the record straight as to the false reports from the press and Sgt. Mary Helman. First and foremost, my husband had NO weapons on him when he was arrested. Secondly, he was not "on the run" for days. He waited until he was able to talk to me so that I could meet him and we could go together to the police station and he could turn himself in. He wanted his soulmate by his side and I in turn wanted to be there to support him and to let him know he wasn't in this alone. Our children asked me to be with him so he would not be alone and afraid. Selfless acts are the wings of angels.

Third, my husband did not torture me over a week, as stated by the prosecutor, or even 3 days as stated by the press. This incident began on that tragic day and ended on that tragic day. Fourth, at NO TIME did my husband threaten to kill our children. My comment to the police was that if they were to arrest my husband in front of our children...IT would kill them.

If you noticed the news reports made no mention of my husbands addiction. Why you ask. If one were to find out that perhaps an addiction played a role in this it might not be as sensational. He may not be viewed as such a horrible monster. Well, enough said.

Those that think you are immune from addiction and the pain of a tragedy...think again. Meth isn't predjudiced. It will take ahold of anyone that chooses to partake of it. The only thing that I can say may be my saving grace in all of this is that if one women can be saved from being abused by having this tradgedy brought to light then the humiliation and pain that I feel every second of every day since this happened is worth it.

To the young women who stopped that morning on Proctor Valley Road...I thank you from the bottom of my heart. You are an angel and I will never forget you.

God bless,

Jamie Johnson

Jamie, thank you for sharing this with the community. I am reminded once again (for the bazillionth time) just how different the same events can appear when viewed from a different perspective, or in a different context. I hope that in some small way it is helpful for you to have a public forum for your thoughts and feelings.

We wish you and your family all the best as you move on from this awful day -- you, your kids, and Cal all have some real challenges ahead. Feel free to contact me (email at right) if there's any way the JamulBlog and its readers can help...

Ivory Sector Rule

The beautiful old instrument at right is a very fine example of a "sector rule". These sector rules were computational tools, the equivalent of a calculator in their time -- the 1700s and 1800s. This particular sector is made from ivory and brass by the English instrument makers Nairne and Blunt; it dates from about 1790.

You can read more about this instrument at my collection web site.

Formidable People

Last November, the London Telegraph published this fine essay by Andrew Gimson. A comment I heard the other day reminded me of it, and this weekend seemed an appropriate time to share it. The essay concludes:

The Americans are prepared to use force in pursuit of what they regard as noble aims. It is yet another respect in which they are rather old-fashioned. They are patriots who venerate their nation and their flag.

The idea has somehow gained currency in Britain that America is an essentially peaceful nation. Quite how this notion took root, I do not know. Perhaps we were unduly impressed by the protesters against the Vietnam war.

It is an idea that cannot survive a visit to the National Museum of American History in Washington, where one is informed that the "price of freedom" is over and over again paid in blood.

The Americans' tactics in Iraq, and their sanction for Israel's tactics in Lebanon, have given rise to astonishment and anger in Europe. It may well be that those tactics are counter-productive, and that the Americans and Israelis need to take a different approach to these ventures if they are ever to have any hope of winning hearts and minds.

But when the Americans speak of freedom, we should not imagine, in our cynical and worldly-wise way, that they are merely using that word as a cloak for realpolitik. They are not above realpolitik, but they also mean what they say.

These formidable people think freedom is so valuable that it is worth dying for.

Read the whole thing.

And remember -- and give thanks for -- the soldiers and sailors who died making us a "formidable people"...

"Dr. Death" to be Released...

Dr. Jack Kevorkian (aka "Dr. Death") is about to be released from prison, after serving just over eight years of a 10-to-25 year sentence.

He plans to promote assisted-suicide enabling laws after he is released next week, but says he won't break any laws while doing it. In other words, he's pledging not to kill anybody himself, so long as it remains illegal to do so. Actually, Oregon has such laws, so presumably he could start plying his hobby (or whatever it is) there with impunity...

Whatever your beliefs about assisted suicide, this guy is creepy. My impression of him -- and I know I'm not the only one -- is that he just plain likes to kill people. Very creepy, he is...

I imagine him smiling as he pushes the button...

What's That Funny-Looking Thing Up There?

A reader asks "What's that funny-looking thing to the right of your blog's name?" The reader, by the way, is from Jamul himself.

That "funny-looking thing" is the trunk of a manzanita tree -- the most emblematic image of the chaparral that I could think of. Apparently it wasn't emblematic enough, if even another Jamulian didn't recognize it!

So I hereby announce a contest -- or maybe it's a plea -- for an image that evokes the chaparral, at least for people familiar with the chaparral of Southern California...

Day-by-Day

I always keep Chris Muir's excellent Day-by-Day cartoon posted on the sidebar. Today's is a great zinger on the lamestream media's awful coverage of the war in Iraq -- and Chris would know, as he was himself embedded a short time ago.

Just click on the small image at right, and it will zoom to readable size...

Blogger Update

Another 50 old posts imported, and once again Blogger said "STOP, SPAMMER"!

Sigh.

On the positive side, I believe I have figured out a way to re-insert all my old photos and images into the old posts (which now just have funny boxes where the photos are supposed to be). But I won't do this unless Blogger solves my import problem!

Cal and Jamie Johnson

I've posted twice (here and here) about the recent strange case of Cal Johnson, accused of holding his wife captive, beating her, torturing her (including with over 100 electric shocks), and threatening to kill her. The news reports have been very sketchy, and my earlier posts included a plea to the community for any information they might have about Mr. Johnson and his wife.

This morning I discovered that Jamie Johnson -- Mr. Johnson's wife -- added a comment to the second post. I must be careful to point out that this could be someone pretending to be Jamie, as I have no way to verify the authenticity of the commenter. The rest of my comments here will assume that this really was Jamie Johnson; you can judge for yourself (I have corrected some obvious and trivial spelling errors):

First let me say that Cal Johnson is not the person the prosecutors are trying to portray. I know this as I am his wife and the victim of this assault. My husband is the most loving, caring, giving person one could meet...that is until he became addicted to methamphetamines. My husband did not do these acts to me..the drugs did. I know some of you will say I am ignorant or just trying to protect the man I love and the father of my children. To a point you would be right, however I also know that he has to be held accountable for what has happened. He knows he has to be held accountable for this. The news did not report the facts as accurately as they should have. The actions of the reporters covering this case, particularly the reporter from channel 39 is deplorable. Seeing as this is being referred to as a sexual assault...what about my rights?!?! It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who the wife of "Cal Johnson, 47 of Jamul" is. Why can't a personal and private family tragedy be kept personal and private. Those in this community that wish to pass judgment on us, on him, go ahead. I will stand by my husband every step of the way just as I have for the past 23 years. He is not a danger to anyone but himself and I am saddened and perplexed how anyone could judge another person until you've walked a mile in their shoes. Go ahead and scorn us and turn your heads and whisper when you see us about town, just remember...this could happen to anyone. I pray that no one would have to endure what we are at this point in our lives, but what doesn't kill you makes you stronger and we are definite fighters. I sincerely hope that our friends will still be our friends, but if not then you never really were.

God bless,

Jamie Johnson

This is certainly a far different context than the one reported in the news. While it's easy to understand Jamie's desire for privacy, reality is that the moment Cal committed a crime (which she is not denying), his actions became a public matter -- something for all of us to be concerned about. Her assertion that Cal is not a danger to anyone but himself is belied by her own experience as his victim, which she confirms. I'm guessing that she means that he is no danger to others going forward, but that is a matter that it is definitely in the public interest to ascertain.

I find myself reacting in several different ways to Jamie's comment, all at the same time. On the one hand, who could help but admire a loyal wife "standing by her man" in his time of need? On the other hand, her man's behavior and actions have caused her great pain, and apparently put her very life in danger -- would we admire her if she had been killed?

Jamie makes a clear distinction between her husband's actions and the drugs's actions, and she accuses the latter rather than the former. While she doesn't directly say this, one can infer that she would like to see her husband treated for the drug addiction, and gently punished for his actions while under the influence. This, of course, is a classic public policy question with lots and lots of baggage. From my own reading, the success rate of drug addiction treatment is not high -- there are great success stories, but there are many more stories of failure. Those successes seem well worth fighting for ... until you discover the costs (to individuals and to society) of the failures. My personal viewpoint is that people should be held accountable for their actions without regard to whether they were under the influence of some substance when they committed those actions. In this case, I'd argue that Cal should be punished for whatever crimes he is guilty of, without considering his methamphetamine addiction as a mitigating factor.

But my overriding reaction to Jamie's comments is one of sympathy. Just think what this poor woman has lived through! Even before Cal attacked her, I'm sure there much fear, anguish, and distress over her husband transformed by his addiction. Quite likely there were failed attempts to get him into treatment. Then the awful attack -- reading even the lightweight news reports about it gave me the shivers. Then there's the experience with the press, the appearance in court, her husband -- whom she obviously loves very much -- in jail, and in distress himself. My life seems like a complete cakewalk when compared with just her recent experiences. Whatever you feel about her and her situation, you just can't help but admire Jamie's pluck and courage...

Evening in Jamul

It's a lovely, quiet evening in Jamul. This photo is from the near-realtime camera on Lyons Peak. This particular camera is pointed due north; if our home was visible, it would be just right of dead center in the photo.

If you click on the photo to expand it, you can see the evening mists starting to gather in the valleys. Looking out my window, I can see the first tendrils of it wandering by in the evening gloom...

American Honor

The Wall Street Journal has a superb column by Peter Collier on line (but behind the subscription wall) in honor of Memorial Day. Hopefully they will make it publicly available in the next few days (they usually do).

Meanwhile, here's the lead:

Once we knew who and what to honor on Memorial Day: Those who had given all their tomorrows, as was said of the men who stormed the beaches of Normandy, for our todays. But in a world saturated with selfhood, where every death is by definition a death in vain, the notion of sacrifice today provokes puzzlement more often than admiration. We support the troops, of course, but we also believe that war, being hell, can easily touch them with an evil no cause for engagement can wash away. And in any case we are more comfortable supporting them as victims than as warriors.

Former football star Pat Tillman and Marine Cpl. Jason Dunham were killed on the same day: April 22, 2004. But as details of his death fitfully emerged from Afghanistan, Tillman has become a metaphor for the current conflict -- a victim of fratricide, disillusionment, coverup and possibly conspiracy. By comparison, Dunham, who saved several of his comrades in Iraq by falling on an insurgent's grenade, is the unknown soldier. The New York Times, which featured Abu Ghraib on its front page for 32 consecutive days, put the story of Dunham's Medal of Honor on the third page of section B.

And here's the end:

Leo Thorsness was also at the Hanoi Hilton. The Air Force pilot had taken on four MiGs trying to strafe his wingman who had parachuted out of his damaged aircraft; Mr. Thorsness destroyed two and drove off the other two. He was shot down himself soon after this engagement and found out by tap code that his name had been submitted for the Medal.

One of Mr. Thorsness's most vivid memories from seven years of imprisonment involved a fellow prisoner named Mike Christian, who one day found a grimy piece of cloth, perhaps a former handkerchief, during a visit to the nasty concrete tank where the POWs were occasionally allowed a quick sponge bath. Christian picked up the scrap of fabric and hid it.

Back in his cell he convinced prisoners to give him precious crumbs of soap so he could clean the cloth. He stole a small piece of roof tile which he laboriously ground into a powder, mixed with a bit of water and used to make horizontal stripes. He used one of the blue pills of unknown provenance the prisoners were given for all ailments to color a square in the upper left of the cloth. With a needle made from bamboo wood and thread unraveled from the cell's one blanket, Christian stitched little stars on the blue field.

"It took Mike a couple weeks to finish, working at night under his mosquito net so the guards couldn't see him," Mr. Thorsness told me. "Early one morning, he got up before the guards were active and held up the little flag, waving it as if in a breeze. We turned to him and saw it coming to attention and automatically saluted, some of us with tears running down our cheeks. Of course, the Vietnamese found it during a strip search, took Mike to the torture cell and beat him unmercifully. Sometime after midnight they pushed him into our cell, so bad off that even his voice was gone. But when he recovered in a couple weeks he immediately started looking for another piece of cloth."

We impoverish ourselves by shunting these heroes and their experiences to the back pages of our national consciousness. Their stories are not just boys' adventure tales writ large. They are a kind of moral instruction. They remind of something we've heard many times before but is worth repeating on a wartime Memorial Day when we're uncertain about what we celebrate. We're the land of the free for one reason only: We're also the home of the brave.

If you get the chance, do read the whole piece...

Rolling Thunder

It's an annual Memorial Day weekend tradition:

Every Memorial Day weekend on Sunday, Rolling Thunder, an organization of mostly Viet Nam veterans, comes to DC for their motorcycle ride from the Pentagon to the Vietnam Memorial. It’s an hours-long parade of thousands of participants from across the country to insure that America doesn’t forget the men and women who died for this country in that unpopular war.

This year it’s a little different - today they partnered with the newly-formed Gathering of Eagles, which has it’s roots in the internet. When Vietnam veterans felt that the Wall was threatened by anti-protesters back in March of this year, they hastily assembled an internet gathering point and made plans to protect that monument from being defaced. On March 17th, they gathered around the three Vietnam memorials and the Korean War Memorial and lined the protest to the Pentagon. Crowd estimates were about 20,000 pro-troops participants to about 4,000 anti-war protesters.

There are lots more photos at the link. I particularly enjoyed a sign (obviously directed at the liberals supporting redeployment withdrawal) that read:

What part of "Support our troops!" don't you understand?

Missing In Action

Watch this video:



Then ponder this: Jack-in-the-Box's competitors are suing them. This is a statement about our society, and I don't think it's a good one.

Where the heck is their sense of humor? It's completely missing in action. Wouldn't a competitively funny ad have been a much better response?

Sheesh, folks...

Take A Beating...

Scott Adams has a completely rational answer to the major issues related to global warming:

The question of whether people are the cause of global warming, or part of the cause, is somewhat irrelevant. It doesn’t really matter if the problem is caused by cars or farting cows or rotting leaves. If the warming is going to threaten life as we know it, the only important questions are these:

1. Are we sure global warming will cause more bad than good?

2. Realistically, can we do anything to stop it?

3. Would the costs of stopping it be more or less than the benefits?

I’m fairly certain the answer to all three questions is “Beats the shit out of me.”

Me, too -- though I'll add that experience would indicate that any cries of "The sky is falling!" are best met with intense skepticism, and shouldn't be believed without very credible evidence (as opposed to, say, someone's over-simple and fudge-factored computer model). Remember "nuclear winter"? That was just thirty years ago, and some of the same climatologists where are now warning us about global warming were then warning us about global cooling...

But enough of that serious stuff. Isn't it just a hoot to watch Scott Adams think?

Hero Dog

A dog named "Hero", who used to live in Iraq, now has a new home in New Hampshire with the parents of one of our fallen heroes. In Iraq, Spc. Justin Rollins was amongst the soldiers who discovered Hero in a litter of newborn puppies. The very next day (two months ago), Justin was killed by a roadside bomb near Baghdad. Skip and Rhonda Rollins, knowing that Hero was one of the last things to bring joy to their son, were eager to adopt him. His fiancee, Brittany Murray, felt the same way. So the three of them are going to jointly take care of Hero:

He was one of the soldiers of Charlie Company who discovered the mixed-breed dog, among a litter of newborn puppies, outside an Iraqi police station on the streets of Samarra in March.

Pictures were taken of the soldiers and the puppies, and Justin told Murray when they talked that night "I have some great pictures, you're going to flip out when you see them." But he never told her what they were, she said.

When Justin's mother saw the pictures, she said "The first thing I said when I saw the pictures is 'I want that puppy.' I named him Hero because Justin is a hero," Rhonda said yesterday with her voice cracking as she stood with her husband and Murray in Hodes' office before the dog arrived.

The three intend to share the puppy. "I wanted Brittney to have something positive for her. Justin loved her and was going to propose to her when he got home ... Justin was a great kid. He loved what he was doing," Rhonda said.

It took a lot of work to get Hero out of Iraq and into the United States -- thickets of bureaucracy to navigate, rules and regulation to appease, and plenty of hassle. But with perseverance and a lot of work from good people, they pulled it off. Several companies contributed gifts that will help Hero's new "parents" with the costs, too:

Word came earlier this month that U.S. Central Command had authorized the transfer. One of Rollins' best friends in the unit, Sgt. Jason Wheeler, had been taking care of Hero in Iraq.

Yesterday, representatives of DHL, the company that flew Hero from Iraq to New York and then to Manchester, drove the dog from Manchester to Concord and watched as the dog got to know its new owners.

Petting the puppy, Skip Rollins thanked every one who helped to bring the dog to the United States. "Our family can never thank you enough for what you've done for us," he said.

The gifts kept on coming as Sandy's Pet Food Center in Concord donated a year's supply of dog food as well as a basket of doggie gifts.

The Associated Grocers of New England arrived with a side of beef that Hero liked the smell of.

Before Hero arrived, Hodes told the media "Today is a very moving day in more ways than one. This has been a long Odyssey for a little puppy and a family that has had a tremendous loss."

What a nice story for a memorial day weekend!

Lyrics of the Day

Dan Collins, writing at Protein Wisdom, has rewritten the lyrics to the song originally titled Happy Together:

Imagine me with nukes, I do
I think about it day and night, it’s only right
To dream about the means you need, kafir to smite
The weapon I’d treasure

I called up AQ Khan, but at the time
The guy was under house arrest, it crossed my mind
To send the boys to rescue him, it would be fine
To take such a measure

Just think of the interesting things I could do
With such a bomb
Who needs to shape charges when you can kablooey
New York, with megatons?

Me and nukes, and nukes and me
You know the I would roll the dice, if it could be
To hit them from this cave I’m in, indignity
Would turn into pleasure

The photo is the album cover. Do go read the whole thing...

Martian Art

NASA has a wonderful collection of photos and graphics from the various robotic spacecraft orbiting Mars, or exploring its surface. The photo at right was taken by the Opportunity Rover, two years ago. The collection has multiple pages, so don't forget to flip through them all!

Fetal Consent Bill

Now here's some abortion reform that I could get behind!

New Abortion Bill To Require Fetal Consent

Torture Manual

A few days ago, American forces discovered an Al Qaeda torture manual, complete with illustrations like the one at right (see The Smoking Gun for details). Horrifying, but hardly surprising; we know too well what barbarity the warriors of the "Religion of Peace" are capable of. The news mostly left me frustrated that the lamestream media essentially ignored this story whereas they trumpeted even false stories of American "torture" that was positively loving by comparison. Wretchard says it very well:

The problem with the word "torture" is that it has been so artfully corrupted by some commentators that we now find ourselves at a loss to describe the kinds of activities that the al-Qaeda interrogation manual graphically recommends. Now that the term "torture" has been put in one-to-one correspondence with such admittedly unpleasant activities as punching, sleep deprivation, a handkerchief pulled over one's face and loaded with water, searches by women upon sensitive Islamic men or the disrespectful handling of Korans -- what on earth do we call gouging people's eyes out?

Answer: we call it nothing. My fearless prediction is that not a single human rights organization will seriously take the matter up. There will be no demonstrations against these barbaric practices, often inflicted upon Muslims by other Muslims, in any of the capitals of the world. Not a single committee in the United Nations will be convened nor will any functionary in the European Union lose so much as a night's sleep over it. The word for these activities -- whatever we choose to call it -- will not be spoken.

Read the rest of his post, too. Michell Malkin noticed Wretchard's comments as well, and she also has a great roundup.

Meanwhile, in our upside-down world, Americans will continue to be condemned and even sent to prison for "torture" such as exposing Muslim prisoners to Playboy centerfolds, and Al Qaeda is not condemned for gouging out eyeballs, drilling holes in hands, amputating fingers and genitals, endless beatings, and beheadings.

Makes you want to run right out and vote for a liberal Democrat, doesn't it?