Mark Steyn: Justifications for backing Kerry fall flat

I wish I could write like Mark Steyn.

"But Kerry's version of this story undermines the Kerry view of the war -- or, at any rate, the most recent Kerry view of the war. That's the best clue as to the resolve he'd show as President: He has no internal conviction of his own, and so his campaign has run on incoherent reflex oppositionism, as, indeed, his Senate career has -- if America had followed the positions advocated by John Kerry, there would have been no Reagan arms build-up, and the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact would have lingered on, and their clients in Grenada would have destabilized the rest of the Caribbean, and Latin America would not have been democratized, and Saddam Hussein would still be in power and still controlling Kuwait."

Sort of says it all.

BTW, where I work, the next few years is all refurbing programs that Kerry voted nay on the first time. Think he'll want to extend their life? I didn't think so either.

Impermissible Mixing of Religion and Politics

Tom Harkin channels the BIG GUY and says He's for Kerry.

The Daily Recycler: The Choice

Just watch it.

Teddy Roosevelt vs. Teddy Ruxpin
Johnny Cash vs. Air Supply
Let's Roll vs. Let's Sue

And my all time favorite:
Michael vs. Fredo

Watch for W's one fingered victory salute at the end.

'My Pet Is a Blessing': Beliefnet members share spiritual stories of their cats, dogs, birds, animal companions, Jesus, Bible -- Beliefnet.com

'My Pet Is a Blessing'

You say you're not hitting Belief Net regularly? Well, check it out. Whatever floats your spiritual boat, its there.

I myself liked the Belief-O-Matic. I scored 100% on Catholic and Greek Orthodox and 97% on mainline to conservative Protestant.

Warning: Belief-O-Matic™ assumes no legal liability for the ultimate fate of your soul.

Late Breaking News in the World of Religion

They have located Martin Luther's toilet.

I read a biography of Luther once. It omitted the constipation details. I guess that's why it was called, "Here I stand," rather than here I sit.

Brokenhearted.

Vote for Bush..

And drive pointy headed Euro-weanies nuts.

Money quote illustrating the "sophisticated European" approach to politics:

"John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald, John Hinckley Jr - where are you now that we need you?"

WPVI.com: Anti-Kerry Film Showing Canceled

Look for the Union Label. Where are the Pinkertons when you really need them?

Kerry Wows 'em in Malaysia

Mahathir tells American Muslims to vote for Kerry.

"Dr Mahathir retired last year mired in a controversy after telling a summit of Muslim leaders that 'Jews rule the world by proxy. They get others to fight and die for them'. "

Blogtoberfest Vol. 5 Montelle

Montelle
Note: Montelle isn't in Hermann, it's in Augusta. Its worth the trip because the drive is beautiful and so is the winery.

Cynthiana- warms up the mouth. Peppery.

Chambourcin- Lightly oaked. French oak vs. American. Although I detest anything French. The lighter flavor was a welcome departure from the heavily oaked wines that I tasted.

Rose gold- a blush, white zinfandel. Tasted of pears but too sweet for me.

River Country Red-Chianti style wine that was better than the E. S. (can’t even remember what I meant here.)

Strawberry
Blackberry-These wines remind me of eating at IHOP and having all the syrups to choose from. Need a boysenberry wine.

Cynthiana Port-What? Not too bad. I was surprised.

Icewine-made from vidal grapes. Very sweet desert wine.

Framboise-Too sweet.

On 50 wines, 50 states, Andrea Immer recommended the Icewine at Augusta Vineyards. I went there last year and if I had had extra time this year, its not one of the wineries I would have returned to. Not bad, but not up to Stone Hill, Adam Puchta, or Montelle.

Blogtoberfest Vol. 4 Adam Puchta

Adam Puchta

I imagined the following conversation between Adam’s Mom and big sister.
Mom, the baby’s crying.
Check his diaper.
Adam Puchta in his diaper.

This was by far the best wine of the trip.

Chardonnel-Lightly oaked. Hints of pear and green apple. DEEEELIGHTFUL.

Norton-The taster helping out really knew their stuff. Served this with dark chocolate chips. This brought out the flavor of the wine and the chocolate on the tongue interacted in a wonderful way.

Hunters Red-a semidry red with 15% Norton grapes and 85% St. Vincent.

Vivant-This wine is a varietal from grapes that are grown only in MO. It is a semi-sweet white. Had a fruity nose. The brochure mentions kiwi, banana, mango, and citrus. Yeah, I get it. Yeah.

Adam’s Choice-sweet fruit wine. Tangy and Teutonic. The brochure says semi sweet, I say, BS.

Desert wines:
Misty Valley-Get me some pancakes.
Jazzberry-If you like raspberries and lots of sugar.
Riefenstahler-If you must, this was the best of the desert wines.

Blogtoberfest Vol. 3 Hermannhoff

Hermanhoff

This winery is in downtown (sic) Hermann.

Vignoles-bouquet of pears, mildly sweet. An enjoyable wine.

Cherry-

Sweet Cherry wine, so very fine, so drink it right down, pass it all around.

Tommy James.

This song was playing in the back of my head when I tried this wine. Might be useful to marinade some fruit in and pour over some homemade cherry ice cream.

Chambourcin-Light. Thinner than the excellent chambourcin that is obtainable locally from Holy Field in Basehor, KS. This tasted more like the St. Vincent.

Norton-Dryer than the Chambourcin. This was a real keeper.

H Cuvee-This was a barrel fermented vignole. Didn’t impress me much.

Blogtoberfest Vol. 2. Das Wash Haus

Name of a laundromat in Hermann.

Blogtoberfest Vol. 1 Oak Glen

I went to the German towns of Hermann and Augusta to taste the local wines. Here are my notes. I'm no Doug Frost.

Oak Glen
Oak Glen is about a mile and a half east of Hermann.

Rip-off alert. To get to Oak Glen you must drive what seems like a mile on a one-lane gravel road. Half-way down this road I got a $2.50 a head shake down for admission to the grounds. Only winery visited where this practice was observed. Also, there was a $0.50 per tasting fee. Also, only place where this was observed.

What was the cover charge for? A guy with a guitar and a drum machine. Big whoop.

The winery is pretty it looks over a valley facing north towards the MO river.

Now my tasting notes.

Vidal-OK
White Port-Tasty Too sweet for my tastes. However, if you like a sweet white after dinner wine, this would be worth a try.

Chambourcin-Yuck. Off nose. Finished with a strong hint of battery acid.

St Vincent-Probably the best wine here. I bought a bottle just to avoid the tasting charge.

Movie Review - What the Bleep Do We Know?

Short review: How the Bleep did they get $8 out of my wallet for this crap?

The website for the movie is:



What the Bleep do We Know?

The directors are all adherents of Ramtha, the 30,000 year old warrior who is channeled by J Z Knight, who also appears in the movie.

Ramtha has his own web site

Ramtha.

Some people will believe any crap.

James Bond Martini

As presented by Andrea Immer on Fine Living Channel's Simply Wine.

1 oz Lillet (white)
3 oz Bombay Saphire Gin
1 oz Vodka (in my case Absolut)

Combine in shaker with Ice. Pour into chilled martini glass.

I made the alternative that Andrea used on the show.

3 parts Lillet
3 parts Bombay Saphire
1 part Absolut

Mix up some of these and tune into the Retro Cocktail Hour.

DVD Movie Review - Mystic River

Clint Eastwood is the quintissential American actor. He is also one of the finest directors to ever make a movie. Of the 28 movies he has made, look down the list, Play Misty for Me is the first one out of the blocks in 1971 and here he is 33 years later, averaging a little under one movie a year. Along with starring as an American icon in 35 movies in the same time. This man's body of work is truly amazing.

Mystic River shows that Clint is getting better, if that's possible. The reivews of this movie that I read all said that the plot was "plodding." Well I say, BS. Clint put the scenes in this movie that needed to be there.

Oh yeah, he also wrote the music. Clint uses music in movies better than anyone. I like the way Quinton Tarrantino uses music in movies. Particularly Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown. But, Clint is the king here too. He made a biopic of Bird starring Forrest Whitakker that is simply amazing.

Mystic River is the story of three men who were boys together. The movie starts with an episode that tells the story of how one of the boys was abducted while the other two watched. The abducted boy grows up into the Tim Robbins character. The other two boys grow up into a detective (Kevin Bacon) and a neighborhood store owner (Sean Penn). The event that triggers the action in the movie is the murder of Penn's daughter. Guess who the detective who catches the case is? No fair peeking.

Kevin Bacon. Well, it could happen. Yeah but then there wouldn't be a story now, whould there? And you would have to go back to productive work instead of reading my reivew. So there.

Needless to say, there are twists and turns before Kevin Bacon wraps up the case. But, you know, when a teenaged girl gets killed there just aren't any happy endings. My only complaint is that the ending wasn't unhappy enough.

About the actors. Do a mental experiment. Of Kevin Bacon, Tim Robbins, and Sean Penn, imagine each one acting in the role of the other two. How many combinations do you have? Or is it permutations? Just kidding. But seriously, Kevin Bacon is the only actor of the three that I could have imagined credibly playing the other two roles with no loss of credibility at all.

Yet, Penn and Robbins got the Oscars. How do you figure? Could it be that they are outspoken LEFTIES?

Kevin Bacon is my new choice to play Harry Bosch if Micael Connelly ever sells the rights to his books.

The women in the movies are there to react to the three men. Bacon's wife left him and lives in NY. Robbin's wife is played by the lovely Marcia Gay Harden. Penn's wife is played by Laura Linney. I thought both women effectively played their roles and I truly did not recognize Linney until I saw the credits roll.

About the screenplay. I remember when L.A. Confidential came out. I was excited. But, DAMN, how are they going to put that into a movie that is less than five hours. Brain Helgeland came to the rescue, cut out a whole plot line and tied two threads together and the result was a really tight movie. I notice from IMDB that Helgeland and Eastwood worked together before in Bloodwork, an adaptation from my favorite mystery author, Micheal Connelly.

I am going out and buy Dennis Lehane's novel that Helgeland adapted for this movie.

For you, I recommend that you rent this movie. It is worth your time.

DVD Movie Review - PI

Short review: Sucked.

Longer review:
We've seen it all before. You want crazy? Go watch Russell Crowe.

You want Jewish mysticism? Hard to top David Mamet.

You want disembodied voices on the phone? Reilly Diefenbach from GMAC is your man.

Best thing I can say is that it was a short movie and I got to go to bed earlier.

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Babies found in Iraqi mass grave

John Kerry wants to increase the size of the coalition fighting terrorists. Well, the weak kneed Europeans. just don't have the stomach for it John. The USA is currently the only country in the West, along with Great Britain and Australia, to recognize terrorism for what it is and to fight it.

Money quote:

"The body of one woman was found still clutching a baby. The infant had been shot in the back of the head and the woman in the face."

Yeah, but we can't count on the Europeans, they just can't be bothered to get their hands dirty.

"Mr Kehoe said that work to uncover graves around Iraq, where about 300,000 people are thought to have been killed during Saddam Hussein's regime, was slow as experienced European investigators were not taking part.

The Europeans, he said, were staying away as the evidence might be used eventually to put Saddam Hussein to death. "

One day Europe is going to wake up and find out that it has 30 % or more Muslim population and then it will be game over.

Pledge of Action to Stop a Stolen Election

What a whiny assed bunch of sore losers. Heavy on the losers. Heck, Kerry could win. But, just in case these idiots have got their whine revved up and ready to go.

Just look at the luminaries on the list.

Jesse Jackson
Howard Zinn
Daniel Ellsburg

Sorry Little Mouse

Last week I wrote about making soup on the GE Profile Dual Fuel Range.

One of the last steps in making the soup is stirring in the ham flavor packet. Because I made the soup during the week and didn't serve it until Saturday, I left the flavor packet on my counter. Saturday morning I found the packet with a hole torn in it underneath the cast iron grates that suspend pots above the gas burners.

Mice, I said. I was determined to rid my kitchen of mice. I went to Price Chopper and bought some $0.88 for a pair mouse traps and some Skippy Chunk peanut butter.

I went home and baited the traps. I went to Paddy O'Quigleys and sang karaoke, Happy Together.

I came home. The mouse traps had become mouse feeders. The traps I had lain carefully along what I thought would have been the Ho Chi Mouse trail, were all picked clean.

Sunday, I went out and bought the $4.85 traps. I placed them.

Monday morning I found the little guy. I was sorry that it had come down to this. I'm sure that the house was big enough for both of us and I would have happily let out my basement or garage to him for nothing. Actually, having the company was nice. But there he was, dead.

Luckily it was trash day and I gave him the Deffenbaugh funeral procession.

Sorry little mouse.

Senator Edwards, I know Jon Edwards, You're no...

...Jonathan Edwards.

Also see, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.

Money quote:

"It is everlasting wrath. It would be dreadful to suffer this fierceness and wrath of Almighty God one moment; but you must suffer it to all eternity. There will be no end to this exquisite horrible misery. When you look forward, you shall see a long for ever, a boundless duration before you, which will swallow up your thoughts, and amaze your soul; and you will absolutely despair of ever having any deliverance, any end, any mitigation, any rest at all. You will know certainly that you must wear out long ages, millions of millions of ages, in wrestling and conflicting with this almighty merciless vengeance; and then when you have so done, when so many ages have actually been spent by you in this manner, you will know that all is but a point to what remains. So that your punishment will indeed be infinite."

Sort of like listening to John Kerry on the stump, but for all eternity.

Yahoo! News - Senate OKs Intelligence Reorganization

Looks like the Reorg passed 96-2. Let's see, two people couldn't be bothered to vote on what Senator McCain called, "...one of my prouder moments because of the way this entire body has acted in the national interest."

Who were the two Senators who voted no? Well, they were the segregationist Democrat Fritz Hollings and the former KKK member Robert Byrd. Byrd in fact said, "Like a whipped dog fearing its master, the Senate obediently complied with the demands of the White House." Well Byrd should certainly know about whippings and Masters.

Two Senators couldn't be bothered to show up and vote. Who were they? Could it be the one they call Senator Gone and the other one they just call, Lurch? Yes ,indeedy.

"Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry of Massachusetts and running mate John Edwards of North Carolina did not vote."

Amazing that these two fellow travellers still draw a paycheck.

Sorry Little Dog

I was driving down Blue River Parkway to go to a CDD meeting when I saw the little dog. It looked like Sassy in Mark Trail. The dog looked up at me and I made eye contact as I drove by.

Oh shit, I said. I kept on driving. But, I couldn't go on, thinking that the little pup had been dumped. When I got as far as Bruce Watkins, I turned around.

I went back to the turn out where I had seen the dog. It had wandered out of the woods and was getting a drink out of a pool of muddy water. I got out of my car.

When the door slammed, the pup looked up at me with all of the wiles of a dog who has evaded many a dog-catcher. It immediately broke for the woods in terror.

I called to it. Come here little dog. It's not bad being Jim's dog. It's all Johnson County vets and Iams Liver and Rice dog food. No mites, warm beds to sleep in and as much food as you can stand.

It was no good, though. The little dog never came out of the woods.

I got back into my car, relieved that I had done everything I could but sad that the little dog would not have a good life.

Dogs, people, you just can't make them do what they don't want to do.

Fat Boy Blogging October 6

Under 240 pounds.

Swam enough laps to get 5 aerobics points. At 40 points for October I am still 10 ahead of plan.

My lap times were very good but this ended up being only 1/3 of a mile.

Still Think I'm All Wet?

When the Lawrence decision struck down Texas's sodomy laws, along with Missouri's and Kansas's, I predicted that polygamy laws were next. Johathan Turley agrees with me.

Now, I don't want government to be strong enough to regulate what I do in my bedroom. However, overturning laws that try to regulate such behavior is the responsibility of the people, either through referrenda or through their elected government. Repeal of laws through judicial fiat results in people who don't bother to vote because their vote is irrelevant to the way they live their lives.

Help! I'm Becoming Metrosexual

I've been swimming a lot of laps lately and my hair has looked like crap. I stopped off at Beauty Brands to get something to help. Now I have to use four "products" on my hair when I swim.

1. Clarifying Shampoo
2. Clarifying rinse
3. Softener
4. Gel

I think I may be approaching metrosexuality.

Couple this with the whole kitchen appliance thing and I'm starting to get worried.

Oh, Esquire came in the mail today and I'm catching the $199 sale at Jos. A. Bank this weekend.

Kitchen Blogging

When I bought my new house, I spent over $1,000 on kitchen upgrades. One of the things I bought was the GE Profile Dual Fuel Range.

Today I put the precise simmer burner to the test while I made bean soup. I left the pot to simmer for 2.5 hours while I went to swim laps and go to Costco. When I returned the soup was perfect and the Dual Fuel Range exceeded my expectations. Try that with an electric range.

I would give my GE Profile Dual Fuel Range two thumbs up.

Union Thugs Riot for Kerry

It looks like the AFL-CIO is up to their old tactics.

I grew up in a pretty pro-labor household. It took George McGovern for the first person on my Mom's side to vote for a Republican. This behavior, however, sickens me.

It is not atypical, however. I went to UMKC Engineering School with Mark Wheeler, son of former Mayor Charles Wheeler. Mark told me that his father had ironclad evidence, that had no chance of ending up in court, that KC firefighters had set fires in KC during the firefighters strike.

I hope my former Republican friend is happy with the company they are keeping.

Fat Boy Blogging October 5

I lifted weights on October 3 and 5.

I did the elliptical machine after lifting weights and according to the table on the Cooper Aerobics web site, I earned 15 points.

So as of October 5

3 out of 12 weight lifting sessions for October.

35 aerobic points out of my goal of 155 for the month. At 5 per day, I am 10 ahead of plan.

Ok on diet, I did have tortilla chips at Margarita's Taco Tuesday. I have cut my carbs way down. Going to hit it hard Wednesday and Thursday.

Hey Dad! Turn Here to Cassville

There used to be a sign outside Cassville, MO on MO Highway 37. There was this adolescent kid yelling to his Father that he needed to turn left RIGHT NOW or they were going to miss Cassville, MO.

The sign is gone. I had to turn there to go to Cassville from memory.

Takedown of Kerry on RNEP

Ditto!

Church Blogging Vol. 2 PROPER ATTIRE FOR MEN

Hey, guys, if you have a drivers license but aren't yet ready for adult diapers, wear long pants to church. OK? God knows what your legs look like. He loves them just the way they are. Me, they make me want to throw up.

Maybe you are going to go shoot a round after church. Would it take that long to change into shorts in your car? I didn't think so.

Do I have to mention sandals? I should hope not. If you happen to be walking along the Sea of Gallilee they are just fine. In Johnson County Kansas, I want you to be in hard shoes with socks.

Are we clear on this?

Church Blogging Vol. 1 THE CHURCH

Since I moved to Overland Park, I have been church shopping. I will offer periodic reviews of my experiences.

Here are my impressions of St. Michael the ArchAngel.

The kneelers are enough to do it for me but I soldier on. I think I pulled a hammy getting up the first time I tried to kneel. OP is practically the richest set of zip codes in the US and they have about 10 mils of foam on top of a steel I-beam and want me to pray? I'm just praying that the prayer is short.

Eight minute sermon. I've heard my cousin Stewart preach a longer introduction.

The priest is very personable. Looks like Sam Wanamaker in the Competition. Side note, I didn't know he died.

The Church interior is very beautiful. However, it is not as beautiful as this parish.

As a protestant, I'm just not used to having Jesus up there on the cross.

All in all, the Roman Church is the real thing but it is too European for me, I'm glad I went but I'll probably be taking my business elsewhere.

Motorcycle Blooging

I know the mission of this blog says that I will post on Motorcycles. I haven't done much of that. Mostly death, politics and my gut.

Here's a motorcycle post.

I went to Eureka Springs to an Internet BMW rally. I had a good time. I went lickety-split down 69 to 54 and went over to Missouri. For the nearly 200 miles I rode in Missouri I saw about 1000 political signs. I saw exactly one sign each for Kedwards and McCaskill. If they had to win running in SW Mo they could look for honest work.

Oh yeah, I missed my Mom while I was on the road and I followed my diet pretty well.

I got some Mike's low-carb lemon-lime coolers. It tasted like when I used to go to Hi-Boy and get a seven up and drink some out and pour in some vodka before I would go to the drive in. Only with diet seven up and not much vodka.

The BMW performed excellently. If you want a motorcycle to take you from KC to San Diego in 36 hours, I highly recommend it.

Saw lots of friends there. Robert, the Bunny from Alabama, David from Chicago, John and Karen from KC, and Ken from work. Missed seeing Brian and Karen. Oh, forgot to mention George Wacaser. He took some photos you'll find it here.

Oh, I forgot about meeting Greg, Pete, and Blake.

Fat boy update

I did swim a mile in under 54 minutes. By interpolating on Dr. Cooper's formulae, I calculate the points as 18.73. At 10 points a day, that means that I am 8.73 ahead for the month.

I weighed in at 240.

Pretty good on Atkins but I did have some corn chips at Cozy Mels last night.

Fat Boy Blogging

Well it's a new fiscal year and with that comes new goals. One that I am going to announce is kind of embarrassing. I have never in my life been able to do even one chin up. Well FY2005 is going to see that change.

This is similar to the year when I decided that I was going to swim a mile without stopping, something I do regularly now and, in fact, will do as soon as I post this.

So, how am I going to get there and how are you going to help me?

I will post my progress here regularly and will announce monthly goals that should help me reach the goal of one pull up by September 30, 2005.

By posting my progress on my goals, I guess people who know me and read this site (both of you) will be able to help me "just say no!" to carbs and the sedentary lifestyle that is so seductive to a fat boy like moi.

I think the best way to get to where I need to go is to attack on two fronts.
One, increase my strength so I can lift myself up.
Two, reduce my weight so I have to increase my strength less.

This month, to make progress towards my goal I am going to lift weights at 24Hr Fitness 12 times and I am going to earn 155 aerobics points.

I lifted weights yesterday. 24hr has one of those neat pull up machines where you can get a boost so you can do a pull up even though you could not, with your upper body, lift up all the lard you carry around with you. It looks like I have about equal amounts of weight losing and weight lifting to accomplish. So, it looks like a job for DR. ATKINS, cue scary music.

I guess I'll add a third goal for October. By the 15th, I will turn one of them little strips of plastic purple (if you don't know, you probably don't want to know.)

Starting weight: 242 buck nekkid ( a pretty thought, I know.) Goal for October: 237.

September 30, 2005, Jim weighs in at 200 and does one pull up. Be there aloha.

Kerry wants to put me out of business!

And part of that leadership is sending the right message to places like North Korea. Right now the president is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to research bunker-busting nuclear weapons. The United States is pursuing a new set of nuclear weapons. It doesn't make sense. You talk about mixed messages. We're telling other people, "You can't have nuclear weapons," but we're pursuing a new nuclear weapon that we might even contemplate using.

Not this president. I'm going to shut that program down, and we're going to make it clear to the world we're serious about containing nuclear proliferation.