You Know You've Been Out Of Touch...

When you read about a major local event at Ace of Spades. There's been another random shooting spree at a local mall. I go to this mall 4-5 times a year and from the description in the paper, it appears the shooter walked from one end of the mall to the other, firing randomly, yet "only" managed to kill the first two people he shot while still in the parking lot. Bad as it was, this could have been a lot worse.

V Tech Shooting

Oh God. My niece goes to Virginia Tech. I know there are 25,000 students on that campus, but I'd still like to know she's OK.

Update: My mom just called. My niece was on her way to class in that very building when the police stopped her from going on. Now she's got one of those "If I hadn't stopped for a cup of coffee..." stories.

Update: I just talked to my sister. She's just back from a funeral that could have been her daughter's. My niece actually had a 10:00 Spanish class in the same room as the French class that was attacked. She usually got there early and sat in the hall. Sometimes she even sat in on the French class. But since her 9:00 class got out early, she decided she had time to get a cup of coffee. I had been thinking she was stopped by some sort of cordon, but the shooting was in progress when she arrived and the police yelled at her to get back.

Here's a photo of the now famous coffee cup with her message to the victims. It reads:

If it had not been for this coffee cup, I would have been in Norris 251. I can't thank God enough for saving my life, but I will also never understand why yours had to be lost.

You know what's so scary about these random shootings? He could have decided to shoot up the coffee shop and then she would have been in the wrong place. There's nothing you can do and not much you can learn from these things.

Incomprehensible Truthers

There's something I'll never understand about the Truthers' fascination with WTC7. Rosie, in addition to her groundbreaking scientific discovery about steel being impervious to fire, also stated that while planes did fly into WTC1 and 2, WTC7 was brought down by explosives. What are we supposed to believe about this? That the government somehow managed to have planes flown into the Twin Towers, but figured their evil plan just wouldn't be complete if they couldn't bring down that much smaller building that no one outside of the New York area even knew existed? I guess this is why Truthers flood the zone with details of little relevance. Their big picture just makes no sense.

Can't Hollywood Even Make A Decent Action Flick Anymore?

My long suffering husband will sit through the occasional chick-flick with me, but, lest I abuse his good nature, I'm always on the lookout for action/adventure movies that we can both enjoy. I was hoping that Mark Wahlberg's new film Shooter would work for us. Alas, according to Libertas, this film goes deep into moonbat territory and never finds its way out. The movie sounds like a nightmare, but, at least the review was entertaining.

Another Thing I'll Never Live Down

Yikes. My twin nieces' 3rd birthday party was today. Alas, I thought it was next week. Since we were already late when they called to see where we were, I just sent Brian and Mia rushing out the door. I wish I could say this was the first time I've done something like this, but....

At least it gave me the opportunity to watch this fascinating video that Bookworm posted about the nihilism inherent on the left today. Good stuff. I suppose it's a little narcissistic, but I always enjoy hearing conversion (to conservativism) stories that mirror mine and Evan Sayet tells one at the beginning of this video.

Suburban Redneck In Training?

Is it possible to raise a red neck in the middle of suburbia? Because I think I'm doing it. When Mia hears Hillbilly Deluxe (Brooks and Dunn), she comes running to dance. At first I wasn't concerned. It is an easy song to dance to. But then she said she likes it because there are monster trucks in the video. Monster Trucks? Excuse me? What? My 5 year old girl likes monster trucks? I blame her father. Their special thing to do every Friday is watch "Trick My Truck."

The Core Program

In my perpetual quest to get my act together, I discovered a book called The Core Program by Peggy Brill. She's a physical therapist and has designed this program to cure women of their various aches and pains.

I'd been walking on the treadmill 3 times a week for a few months and I hadn't lost an ounce. I stopped gaining so I guess that's something. But I also had debilitating headaches, felt achy and couldn't sleep.

I've been doing these Core Program exercises for about a month with great results. I feel much less achy, sleep better and have only gotten one mild headache instead of my weekly bout of violent pain.

The exercises are pretty easy to learn and pretty easy to do. You can increase the intensity as you go along. I've always had a hard time finding an exercise program that wouldn't injure one of my weak spots. So far so good with this one.

And an additional benefit: I've lost 5 lbs, 2 inches from my hips and I am fitting back into a smaller clothing size. Not a small size, mind you, but a smaller size at least.

Just thought I'd throw this out there for anyone with back or neck problems.

Is My Give A Damn Busted?

Remember that song from a year or two back about the girl whose man had treated her so badly that he broke her ability to give a damn about him? Cute song, but is it becoming a lifestyle for me?

The drummer I blogged about a few weeks back took a three week break from drumming. I thought his parents had finally decided to show a little courtesy towards their neighbors. More likely he just sprained a wrist because he started drumming again on Monday. The next day he drummed for about 30-45 minutes after school. Well, about 5:15 he started up again. I declared to myself that I had shared my last evening with that little s**t and called the cops on him without a second thought. My give a damn is definitely busted in regards to these neighbors. In January, it took three months of 2-3 daily drumming sessions, 6-7 days a week to drive me to calling the cops. In February, it took three sessions over two days.

Then today at school I had another shockingly (for me) assertive moment. Normally, the parents just wait in line and pull forward as the teachers get the kids out of the cars, but today I had to run inside to take care of a few things. There are two parking spaces near the door for this eventuality. There is a narrow spot in the parking lot where the line snakes through, but two cars can just pass. At least they can pass if some moron in a giant SUV isn't parked smack dab in the middle of the road. So in the few seconds it took me to drive up, I had to decide if I would 1) wait 5 minutes for the teachers to start the drop off procedure so the moron would move forward and I could finally get around, or 2) somehow convince genius girl to get out of my way.

I can guarantee that last year (maybe even last month), I would have waited. But today, I stopped about 4 car lengths behind her, rolled down my window and gave a little honk. When she rolled down her window I asked her (politely, I swear) to scoot over as I needed to get through.

She: I'm in line.
Me: I know, but I need to get through.
She: blah blah there's a line.
Me: I'm not waiting for the drop off. I need. to get. through.
She: Well, I don't know what you want me to do.
Me: (slightly less polite) Well, back up and scoot over so I can get through .

She eventually did this and I went about my business.

I know these aren't earth shaking incidents for normal people. But for a stereotypical doormat like myself? Deciding that a peaceful evening for myself is more important than anything some little punk could have going on? Calling on the police to do my bidding? Confronting someone with a request (a demand really) that they do something for my convenience?

Completely foreign territory.

Idiocracy: Much Funnier Than .5HNH

Okay, maybe that's not a ringing endorsement, but we did laugh and laugh through this silly little movie. Our protagonists, chosen for their utter averageness, have been frozen in a cryogenic experiment. Forgotten for 500 years, they awake to discover that, due to rampant breeding of low IQ types, they are the smartest people on earth.

Warning: much naughty language and crude humor. But at least it's integral to the story. It demonstrates how degraded language and culture has become. A positive review here.

Misc. Thoughts on Global Warming

Coincidentally, I finished listening to State of Fear by Michael Crichton just in time for the release of IPCC report and the resulting media coverage, so my level of skepticism is high.

Regarding the book: I liked it, but I think a large part of its appeal was it's iconoclastic approach to environmentalism. Crichton mercilessly mocks "limousine liberals," which was great fun, but I was sometimes given to wonder why the secret agent guy was dragging civilians all over the back of beyond with him and how said civilians managed to nearly die of exposure, be struck by lightening, be swept away in rushing rivers and be poisoned by (I don't want to spoil the surprise) and then jump up then next day to attempt more daring deeds. And some of the exposition might be deathly dull if you aren't interested in global warming. But on the flip side, the novel is a fun way to slog through potentially dull statistics. If you do read it, don't skip the appendices. Good stuff on previous occurrences of "science" induced hysteria.

Favorite quote (from memory): "Ted, you think civilization separates us from nature. But, in fact, civilization protects us from nature." Amen, brother.

Glenn Reynolds has a post on GW that makes a lot of sense, especially this part:

One thing that I think is important: Energy conservation needs to be something positive. Nothing sells on a "suffer for the future" model very well. Too many environmental activists are hair-shirt types (at least when the hair-shirt is for other people) and that stuff is poor salesmanship. Martin Eberhard, of Tesla Roadster fame, is right when he says that many early electric cars were "punishment cars," predicated on the notion that driving was inherently suspect. Make electric cars fun, and useful, and people will want them.

Absolutely. Often environmentalists give the impression that people are a scourge on the earth and unicorns would rule the planet if only there were a whole lot less of us. I can't help but question their motives when they are practically drooling over the thought of world-wide famine and the drastic population reduction that would follow.

As if to underline Glenn's point about going after the low-hanging fruit, the first High Efficency Wal-Mart just opened in Kansas City area. It uses 20% less energy than the typical Wal-Mart. It took all of one year to achieve that level of reduction.

Ted Koppel Almost Makes Sense

So the clock radio goes off this morning and I find myself listening to something I cannot believe: Ted Koppel sound like a war blogger and making sense. And then, just when I begin to wonder if I'm still dreaming, he turns it around. He's still too liberal to get his own point

Check it out:

The administration is right. The consequences of a premature U.S. withdrawal would have disastrous implications for the region. And the region, in case anyone has forgotten or is too polite to mention it, is the oil-rich Persian Gulf.

So setting benchmarks for Iraqi achievements and behavior is nonsense. What are we saying? It's too dangerous to leave because of possible consequences to the region; but if the Iraqis show that they're incapable of preventing anarchy and chaos by not meeting our benchmarks, then we're going to leave?

I think what we ought to be saying is that U.S. troops will start withdrawing as Iraqis do meet the benchmarks.

Right on, Ted. He's getting more liberal here but watch him give Nancy Pelosi and company the back of his hand:

We've been given so many bad reasons for why we went to war in Iraq — those weapons of mass destruction, Hussein and his neighbors, Hussein and al-Qaida, establishing democracy — that we've actually convinced ourselves that we did it for them… for the Iraqis; not because it served the U.S. national interest.

That makes it easy to depict the Iraqis as a bunch of underperforming, ungrateful retches; and if they don't start shaping up, we're pulling out.

Yeah Ted. It is about U.S national interest. And treating the Iraqis like a bunch of teenage slackers is stupid. Too bad the Democratic leadership keeps doing it. But wait. It gets a little vague after that so I'm not wedded to this interpretation, but in going on to say the democrats are equally dishonest he seems to imply that the "tough love" approach he finds so silly is Bush's doing. He thinks he's back handing Bush.

He's so sure that Bush can't say anything worthwhile that it has completely escaped him that he has offered the exact same policy. Can anyone tell me the difference between these two lines:

-- "I think what we ought to be saying is that U.S. troops will start withdrawing as Iraqis do meet the benchmarks" --Ted Koppel

--"When the Iraqis stand up, we'll stand down." --George W Bush

It's almost as if he attributes every stupid idea, no matter how many times the Democratic leadership utters it, to Bush. Fascinating

Meme Propagated

We have a fabulous public affairs radio show here in KC called Up To Date. I really like the host. He asks intelligent questions and actually lets he guests get a word in edgewise. But I guess they were short on guests this week because they did a program where they invited four of the areas "most interesting and diverse personalities" to basically BS about whatever.

They very first question was to one Nicholas Segura who runs a marketing/design firm. What's the best movie he's seen recently. Loose Change. Seriously, that's what the guy brings up. I'm sure he thinks it's all edgy and hip. Just like him.

As if this hasn't been debunked numerous times.

Of course, he goes on to mention the fascinating Noam Chomsky book he downloaded from the internet, so Loose Change is par for his course.

Behold: The Power of Fries

Mia developed some sort of mental block about reading for her teacher. She'd never done it and when her teacher would bring it up, she would cry. Now she will read to strangers on the street, so I don't know what the problem was. But after months of waiting patiently and weeks of cajoling, I brought out the big guns. Yesterday, I told her that if she read for the teacher, I would take her to McDonald's for a happy meal. Today, she read for the teacher.

John Kerry Defined

Why does Mark Steyn have so many devoted fans? Well, here's how he describes Kerry:

If Karl’s Rovebot laboratory had spent years constructing the perfect candidate to run against, it would have looked pretty much like John F Kerry – a vain thin-skinned self-regarding tone-deaf francophile insecure not-quite-blue-blood incoherent anti-war war-hero from a Swiss finishing school with nothing to show for 20 years in the Senate other than getting wrong every foreign policy question of the day and so alien to the habits of his electorate he’s unable to engage in as routine a photo op as eating a hot dog without looking like a Grand Duchess dropping in on the village idiot’s hovel.

Alas, as is typical with Steyn, it's a good thing he's making you laugh or his larger point would make you cry:

And yet the media came within a whisker of pulling him across the finish line. If it’s a 50-50 nation with John Kerry dragging down one half of the seesaw, what would it have been with someone marginally less unlikeable on the ticket? A blowout?

I wondered that myself at the time. And I just pray that the Dems don't nominate another empty suit (John Edwards, for example), because I have a feeling that at least 51% of Americans are ready for a change.

Oil As Strategic Weapon

So, the Saudi's are increasing oil production, causing a drop in price, presumably to squeeze their current enemy #1, the Iranians. Says Allah:

Someday that mullah mushroom cloud’s going to spout over Manhattan, but I promise you this, my friends: by the time it does, gas will be at 35 cents a gallon.

Ha, ha. But I've always wondered why we can't do this. Oil prices would drop if we just started looking for oil off our coasts. We wouldn't even have to actually drill. Of course, neither environmentalists nor oil companies want to see low prices. But couldn't they just suck it up so we stop pumping our money directly into the pockets of our enemy?

Is This Nifong's First Trip Off the Reservation?

Seriously, do you go this far over the line on your first try? How many people without great legal teams and tons of press interest has this guy railroaded?

So, I finally did it.

I finally called the cops on my neighbor, the drummer. He's been drumming on average for 30-50 minutes, 2 times a day, every day for the past month and half. Yes, that includes Christmas day. Occasionally he only drums once a day, which doesn't bother me. Hey, a kid has to drum. But often, we get three sessions which I just cannot tolerate.

But I have been tolerating it, because I'm loathe to make any waves. But tonight, he had a 20 minute drum session during our dinner (as always. How does he know?) He later commenced with a session that has been going on for an 1.5 hours. I called the cops after 65 minutes.

Doesn't this kid have parents? Do they have no consideration for their neighbors? Or do I just have too much consideration? I would strongly discourage Mia from taking up drums, would make her practice in our windowless room, and would never let her drum on and off all day. But maybe I'm just to into what everyone thinks of me.

Ohhh, silence. Maybe the police have arrived. But I'm way to into what everyone thinks to risk looking out the window and giving away that it was me who called.

Nerd in Training?

At one of the many after Christmas sales, I found a great price on Hey Andrew, Teach Me Some Greek, a program to teach beginning Greek to little kids. Even though Mia's not quite ready to use the full program, I think she can easily learn to say the Greek alphabet and the price was unbeatable.

Well, Mia saw me ordering it and is absolutely beside herself waiting for it to get here. Why? Does she even know what Greek is? Brian got a package today and when she saw it wasn't her Greek, she cried. She's going to hound me about it every day until it gets here. But who knows when that will be? With the weekend and the holiday and the day off in honor of President Ford, the package probably didn't even ship until today. And it's probably coming by donkey cart, since the shipping was free.

I had hoped she would like it. She likes to learn German phrases to say to her opa. But I never dreamed she'd be this excited about it. Now I'm worried. She's either going to be disappointed when she sees what it's all about, or she's a nerd. If her parents are any guide, it's the latter.

Cleaning Up Our Act

New Year's Day Impulse Buy = Hoover Steam Vac:
I could never figure out a convenient time for the carpet cleaners to come, so when I saw that I could buy one of these for less than the cost of 2 visits from the pro's (not including stairs and upholstery), I said "what the heck."

To be sure it worked, I cleaned a small room. That's all I really planned to do today, but Brian is really into it. He's done part of our bed room, the dining room, the stairs and is starting in on our hand-me-down recliners. I should bring home cool cleaning toys more often.

Review: Sleeper Cell

We just finished watching the first season of Sleeper Cell last night. I thought it was excellent. I was concerned that most of the terrorists being white would stretch credibility to the breaking point, but it didn't. For me, it just added to the scariness. In fact, that is my problem with movies like Sum Of All Fears, where the screen writers replace scary Islamists with boring neo-Nazi's or even more boring Haliburton executives. They take away the scary for the sake of political correctness.

Also, the acting was great. The accents were amazing. Or maybe my standards were lowered by having just seen Lantana. Anthony LaPaglia's on again, off again Australian accent was just a distraction in an otherwise good movie.

My only complaint is that I cannot recommend this to my mother because of the graphic sex that shows up in almost every episode. It's actually more graphic than the violence, which, considering the topic, is strange.