Yes to change the subject...Train News!

Two whole mountains where leveled and two new ones sprouted up in their place. After making progressively better scenery I demolished some older mountains and made new ones. The G&GRR is operating flawlessly with Mikes old Athearn engine. It runs slicker than snot and all the rolling stock is working perfectly too.
The SP&S is still in negotiations with G&G RR to use their Portland line. The Northern Pacific is not such a stick in the mud, they will start serving Gregg Junction very soon. Northern Pacific passenger service is on its way! The NP was started by order of the President (Lincoln) back in 1864. By 1883 it was completed and ran between Minnesota and Portland then up to Tacoma. Eventually the NP was absorbed, in 1970, along with the Burlington, Great Northern, and SP&S into the Burlington Northern RR.
In 1996 Burlington Northern merged with AT&SF to become Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway. It was one of the 4 last serviving transcontinental railroads in the United States. It currently has direct control over 50,000 miles of track making it the second largest rail network in the US after the Union Pacific.


G&GRR got rid of the old Bachmann POS transformer. That machines voltage ouput curve sort of looked like a reverse L. It has been replaced with an MRC 1370. This unit uses solid state technology to control the current not a little wire on a coil. This should mean far smoother train operations for all locos.

Of course this means that G&GRR is now turning its attention to the electrical situation of the layout.

Problem 1: Wiring under layout is a big mess.
Problem 2: Blocks are non-existant.
Problem 3: More stuff like #1 and #2


Here is the current G&GRR layout in all its trackiness.

Playing with trains

Today I built a train. I know what you are thinking. This sounds pretty dweebish. I will explain. On the layout there are industrial and commercial clients that need servicing. Mikes mine will need to be serviced. There is Trudy Farms, Gregg Steel, and Mijo Meats. There will be others but for now these 4 need servicing.

Today each industry needed a car "spotted" at its location. I used the SW7 to do all the work. You start with a "cut" of empty cars. I had a slew of them parked infront of the station. The mine needed a hopper car, the farm needed a cattle car, the meat company need a refridgeration car, and the steal company need a box car. The thing about a train is that unless you have passing sidings or switching yards it is hard to spot individual cars without running into cars.

It took about twenty minutes to figure out how to get the job done. The cattle car was three cars into the cut of cars. I took the uncoupled after the cattle car and took it along with two other cars to Trudy Farms. I dropped it off, or spotted it infront of the livestock pen. Then I took the other two cars back to town and ran all the way down to where the mine would be, dropped off the hopper car, then did the reversing loop back to Gregg Steal to spot the box car. Then I had to spot the refridgerated box car at the meat co. This was tricky. The fridge car was in the middle of the remaining train. I ended up taking the back car down the track, parking it and then taking the SW7 around the track layout then moved the other car into the yard siding. Then when back and got the fridge car. I had to back it quite a ways but finally got it infront of the meat co's freight door. Yeah!

I figured this would take most of the morning to do this in real life. So by the time the crew was done doing that they could have lunch then pick up the cars and built the train for the west bound freight. I basically did the job in reverse and ended up with a completed train. It is like a big puzzle. I see why passing sidings and spurs are sooooo important. Right now the layout has industries wihtout spurlines. This puts cars in the way. But things can be done to get around that.

I added a coupler finally, to the SW7 and it also needs one in the front. If it had a forward mounted coupler then switching would be way easier. Anyhow it was fun and very brain taxing.

ZHAN Lives!

Zhan Motorwerks of Hoestaffen Oberweissburg has moved to Gregg Junction to produce its 100% electric supere-car the all new 1100. It is true that the 1100 is the one and only production label of the Zhan car company. But they figure why muck around trying to come up with a different name, or number.

The old 1100 used Nuclear Fusion drive to heat the water that powered the crankshaft of cast iridium to give the old 1100 its impressive 2000 HP and 1600 ft pounds of trouque at 7000rpms. The liquid sodium cooling system provided superb nuclear reaction of the 1 pound ball of Uranium 235. Of course the big draw back to the old 1100 was the fact that it was totally illegal to drive almost everywhere. And all sorts of terrible side effects of a collision meant that nobody wanted to be anywhere around it if it did have an accident.

The new 1100 is totally different. It has shelved its nuclear reactor and in its place a subatomic reactent membrane delivers electical power to the motor. This mindboggling achievement is still a very tight secret. Aparently Zhan has been able to organically create a self-organizing gel that converts random subatomic interference with the cars surface into DC power. In principle it is similar to a photo electric cell that uses photons striking the cell to generate power. The faster the car goes the more power is sent through the skin to the powerplant. Since it uses particles other than photos, night driving is not a problem.

The new 1100 is not as fast as the elder machine. It only generates 750 HP @ 6300 rpms and 700 ft-lb of torque. However it does not red line until the full 6300 rpms has been reached. Its tops speed is in excess of 200mph and has a 0-100mph at 6 seconds. The engine is aircooled so don't get stuck in a traffic jam.

Money and work

We live in a world fashioned by a bunch of indebted Italian businessmen and the bankrupt princes and kings that claimed to rule them. Long ago money was money. Then in the 15th century money became an IOU. It has been that way ever since. When you look at a dollar you are looking at an IOU from the government. All it is is a piece of paper. In places like Florence so many IOU's were issued by princes and merchants that people took to collecting them and trading them. "I do not have a gold ducet but I have an IOU from Lorenzo D'Medici, and he is pretty rich so perhaps Don Carlo will accept Medici's IOU to me as payment?" And modern money was born.

Money is perhaps the grandest illusion in human history. The paper dollar is easy enough, if you think about it, to show its absurdity. Gold coins are another matter. If you saw a 12" high pile of 1 dollar bills and an equally high pile of gold coins you would instinctivley go for the gold. People talk about going back to the "gold standard" But what is gold? It is a shiny rock. It is has no more absolute value than dirt. It is a great electical conductor. When Jesus was asked what to do with the Roman coin he said to give to Caesar what is his and Gods what is gods. Lots of people have thought that meant you need to serve the state with obidience and pay your taxes. This is nonsense. Jesus was saying give the shiny rock to Caesar and your imortal soul to God.

We slave over the shiny rocks and paper IOUs. We have spent 500 years building a worldwide slave system. We have put ourselves in bondage willingly. If you can see the absurdity of not being able to eat or have a home because you lack shiny rocks or pieces of paper, then you are half way there. This is insanity spread so vast that it seems normal. Like the insane person who see themselves as normal, we suffer the illusions everyday. Wars are fought because of rocks and paper. And good people suffer for no other reason than they lack rocks and paper.

Marx was right in his assesment of things. However his solution was the hight of vainglory and shear stupidity since his solution did not cling to the fundemental reality of human nature. He, idiotically, felt that human nature could be molded by philosophy and politics. Sorry Karl, millions of years of kill or be killed trumps your utopian clap trap.

There has to be a way for us all to live and not be ground to death by the lack of rocks and paper. It is nuts. But like the drug addict or the insane, we cannot even fathom what life would be like without the rocks and paper. I don't know how things would work. Let me know if you do.

Railroad Update III

A passenger gets out of her fancy black jag at the mainline station in Gregg Junction. The city is getting close to being finished. If it ever can actually get finished. There are a few more industries that need to be added and the water in the river needs to be added.


This train station was built back in 1975 by me when I was 10. It is the oldest model on the layout. It is kinda crappy but it has memories. Cattle pen is owned by Trudy Farms.


Trudy Farms now has the real house. The barn is totally scratch built from white styrine. To real modelers I am sure it looks crappy but I am proud of it. It looks like an old wooden barn to me. The farm also boasts 16 Herefords. The figure by the corvette is a guy we hired off the steet to pose as a model.

Ack! Iraq!

More of my two cents worth on the big stink. The one man on the hill that has actually used my own verbiage on Iraq is Chuck Hagel (R). His statements yesterday were right on the mark and far more caustic than the limp bisckets around him.

Hagel pleases me and should please others too who tend to think that Republicans are all a bunch of preprogrammed charletans. I know that he is placing himself into the pot of potential candidates so I take what he says with a grain of salt. But his candor and clear communication regarding Iraq is refreshing. I am sure W and Cheney are busy trying to build a voodoo doll of him right now.

I still think that we are not having the debate we need to have. The arguments are all very slim and narrow. 21,500 or not 21,500. This is not a good sign. How much blood and money is it going to cost to "win" and what does "win" mean? This also is not a good sign. If we, 4 years into this war, are still arguing about what we want out of this war then that too is not a good sign.

Lots of bad signs all around. McCain says we need more troops. Okay Johnny where are they gonna come from? Kusenich says we need to get out now. Okay Davey how about Iraq? I mean we fucked it up and now were are just gonna leave it fucked up? Not very moral or ethical. Bush says we need 21,500. Okay W, lets cut the crap and tell all of us where those 21,500 are coming from. Mainly from the army that is already there. Stoploss GI's that are already there, and send back 3rd-time-a-rounders. And if 100,000 heavily armed guys in Baghadad isn't helping what will another 21,500 do?

Oh we are really in shit city over this big stinking mess.

Basically the new anthem of DC is written by The Clash:

Should I stay or should I go now?
Should I stay or should I go now?
If I go there will be trouble
An if I stay it will be double
So come on and let me know

Rail Road Update

The sucky aspect of the G&G is that the curve radii are all 18" or less. This basically means that the math prohibits big locos from from running smoothly. Especially on the numerous turn-outs located near or ON curves. So the big 4-8-4 Northern with its gigantic 40 foot oil tender cant take it and will have to be shelved. It also is doom for the 4-6-6-4 Challenger and its centipede tender.

But no fear. The SP&S is coming to the rescue. This FA unit, along with a powered FB unit will pull freight and passengers with no prob. This is a Walthers Trainline loco with all wheeldrive and electrical pickup. And at $39 each it is affordable.
Link


This little 0-4-0 also has no problems with any of the radii. However it is a Modelpower POS so is prone to jackrabbit starts.


This beast has no problems either and is rock solid. I still have to get a coupler to attach to the loco. It also has all wheel dirve and electical pickup.


This leaves the GP38. This looks impressive but is another cheap POS. It has 4 wheel electrical pickup. So it has the same electical footprint as the little 0-4-0. Actually a little less since the distance between the drivers on the docksider is longer than the front wheels on the gp38.

I would like to paint the GP38, the FW7, and the Docksider with the grey, red, green color scheme of the G&G. Although I have no patience for such fine work. I would like Mike to do that.

W's State of the Union 2007

Based on rhetoric: (1-10) 7
Based on intelligent argument: (1-10) 8
Based on proposals: (1-10) 4

Mr. Bush did as good a job as he could tonight. He seemed chastened albiet not humble. His talk of the stakes of our war I think are not indispute. The problem on that front continues to be that many of us think that our actions in Iraq have elevated the threats not made them any better. There is no sign that military action is going to solve the overall problem of islamic extremism. And the reality behind much of his rhetoric on combating this real enemy is that he has no real strategy to succeed. Other than to kill them. However the pot containing new extremists is ever filling thanks to our actions in Iraq.

Mr President I agree with you in your assesment of our enemy and their goals. But I strongly disagree with how you are going about fighting them.

Trudy's Farm

The railroad is a family afffair. So here is how Trudy's farm is progressing. The building is a stand in for the farm house that is yet to be built. Trudy did the painting and aging of the fences herself. She decided on the color and what to add to them to make them look old. She then set about mixing up her own ground cover. It looked so good that I am trying to copy it for use in the alpine area. The two cars are hers too. There is even a "burn pile" I had not thought to add one of those but it was the first thing Trudy thought a farm should have.



Here is another angle. Her farm is on a rural road that connects Portland with a small depot and water tower. She owns the cattle pen and ramp that gets her prize black Angus to market. She also has a pig pen and chicken coup. And a small vegi garden that you can see. We also added a hill behind her house. She named it Gertrude Hill. This is the olden days photo.

Summer Time Fun

We are all now or shortly to be 40 years + old. We have all had our fair share of physical problems. Blood pressure, cancer, colitis, pile driving off mountain bikes, cart wheeling down glaciers, and falling off scooters. So lets work the old bodies out and get them really buff for this coming summer attraction! Dragon Tail Peak via Asgard Pass.

The enormous north face of the peak, as it soars up 3000 feet above Colchuck lake looks daunting. However this is not the face we will be doing since that is for real climbers with real gear and hopefully real climbers insurance. No my fellow oldlings we will scramble to the summit via the southeast ridge. This is a non-technical climb. Sort of like South Sister but not as high and better rock.

Expeditioin itineary:

Day 1: Leave from PDX and head to Leavenworth WA. Car camp there for one night.

Day 2: Early we drive up a dirt road for about six miles then park. Thus begins the hiking. We hike up to Colchuck lake. About 2500 feet elevation gain over 4 miles. Sort of like the hike up Eagle Creek. We hike around tothe south west side of the lake and camp. CAMP 1

Day 3: We eat our dehydrated gunk then boot up for the slog up Asgard Pass. This is steep and gains about 2500 feet of elevation in short order. For Mike and John, this is about like that hike we did to Munra Point. Same elevation gain in about the same distance. Camp atop the Pass finding some sheltered spot. Beyond the pass is The Enchantments, a spectacular alpine valley with lakes and glaciers a plenty.

Day 4: We scramble to the summit of Dragon Tail Peak 8840ft. Then go back down. Pack up and go down to Colchuck. We either stay a night there or head back to the car. Probably the latter. If we hit the car then we drive back to PDX in one long slogging drive.

Gear: Ten Essentials
Boots
Clothing for various weather
Treking poles or ice axe
Tent (lets try to keep it to one or two.)
Sleeping Bag and pad.
Food and water with filteration
gas burner

Q: Where is this peak located?
A: In the heart of the North Cascades National Park.

Q: Do we need permits?
A: Yes and we should get them early since they only allow a limited number of people up there per day.

Q: Will we have to cross snow?
A: Have no idea.

G&G Rail is on the move

I sent out a story of the G&G Railroad and would like to ad it here. But it would take up a lot of blog space so forget it. Here is a photo of an EMD (electro magnetic desiel) SW7 (Switcher 7) These beasts started running back in the 1930's. They continued on in service until well into the 1980's This SW7 is the one and only desiel switcher locomotive that the Gregg & Gregg railroad has. It is going to be used to haul tourists up to glacier lake and picking up cuts of cars in the east. It was purchased from Southern Pacific.

Currently the roster of loco's for the ficticious G&G railroad is as follows:

EMD SW7 #100
EMD GP9 #150
Steam 4-8-4 Northern #300
Steam 0-4-0 #200

Construction Zone

I am not sure why the construction of small scale things is as facsinating as it is. I have been working diligently on the G&G railroad for weeks now and things are progressing. But I look at it and conclude that there is not a single inch of it that serves a rational purpose. I am not facsinated with trains. I am not a trainspotter. I am not really much into industrial junk. However this is very very large part of the layout. along with the mountains. I like the mountains too.

The above photo is the portion of a town called Gregg Junction that is mythically located south of Portland on the Willamette River. You can see some of PDX in the background. The mainline train station is not present in this photo since it was not finished as of the date of the photo.

Gregg Junction is struggling to keep its urban look while alowing some gentrification. Some of the buildings above have been turned into lofts. The river front is still pretty poor and the spaces directly becide the traks are squalid.
The hotdog stand to the right is The Lunch Box.

In Response to W's mumblings...

Time Magazine - Friday, Jul. 14, 1967

"North Viet Nam is paying a tremendous price with nothing to show for it in return. The war is not a stalemate. We are winning, slowly but steadily." So said General William Westmoreland last week in Saigon as he briefed Robert McNamara at the outset of the Defense Secretary's ninth visit to Viet Nam. If his tone was uncharacteristically defensive, that was understandable. In recent months, it has become apparent that the war in Viet Nam is not going entirely according to the U.S. scenario for 1967. McNamara's trip will help to determine whether Westmoreland gets some or all of the additional 100,000 fighting men he now says he needs beyond the 480,000 scheduled for the end of this year. Perhaps significantly, one of McNamara's first questions was: How can more results be got with the 464,000 American soldiers now in Viet Nam?

Me: Ugh!

The End of Dictators

Shock in viewing the disturbing images of the execution of Saddam is natural. The outrage over the violent nature is also natural. However the end of Saddam is prototypical of many dictators.

Czar Nicholas: Whole family led to basement and gunned down.
Hitler: Shot himself after poisoning his wife
Mussolini: Hanged then disembowled along with his wife
Tojo: Hanged
Chowchesku: led into field and shot along with his wife

So the ending of Husain's life was about what you would expect. I am sure it came as no surprise to him.

FYI to all right wing idiots

1: It is against the law to administer ANY form of religious test to gain access to the halls of power in the US of A.

Article VI section III of the United States Constitution says it quite clearly:

"no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States."

For people claim to follow the Federalists, or are "strict constructionists" this is great for you since Article VI isn't even an amendment. It was part of the law of the land that we could all agree on prior to any of the first 10 great admendments.

So if a man or woman wishes to take an oath on a Bible, or the Quran, or a Superman comic book, they can do so. But as far as the law is concerned they owe their duty to the people, in whos name they hold their office. Mr. Virgil Goode, for what I am not quite sure, is dead wrong in his assertion that a Muslim in Congress is a sign of the end. As far as I can recall President Jefferson, a Virginian, a slave owner, the author of the Declaration of Independance, did not believe that Jesus was God. I guess Jefferson, the veritable creator of American democracy, is un American or not in keeping in with some cock and bull tradition that never was.

As a Christian I am continually appauled by the shallow headed stupidity of those claiming to speak for me. Jesus Christ, GOD, is unconcerned about what piece of paper you hold in your hand or do not. He cares about how you interact with His borthers and sisters. So Virgil Goode can put his hood back on a go stand in front of a burning cross, and pretend that he serves God too, just like the empty headed idiots who thought they were serving God by burning Joan of Arc, or those that thought they were serving God by flying plains in buildings, or serving God by killing their families with shotguns before killing themselves. Yes by all means Mr. Goode, you and the rest of your Taliban please go and serve God. Just don't do it anywhere near me because flaming this or exploding that is not what I am into. Peace be with you brother, reform you life and return to God.

Words of Saint James.

"If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, "Here's a good seat for you," but say to the poor man, "You stand there" or "Sit on the floor by my feet," have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? But you have insulted the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong?"

From me: Our faith provides us a way to constantly renew our comitment to civil rights, and the upholding of the dignity of all the people. This is what, as people of Christ, we are called to do.

"Your gonna do what with that rope!?"

Well this goes to show all middle eastern dictators that about 20 years afer shaking the hands of US diplomats you end up getting strung up by your own people.

It would be really cool if this execution would stop all the warring but I don't think it will accomplish much more than ending the life of a scumbag. So long Saddam, we hardly knew ya. Though what we did know about you really made us think little of you. Now I know that the muslim clerics in your country are all asking God to take vengence upon you. However I, as a Christian, would ask God to have mercy on your soul.

Lets Ban Gay Marriage! And waste more time!

I urge the Democratic majority in both House and Senate to ignore the bigoted, homophobic, crack-heads, on the right an not pay any attention to that non-issue. We have a nation to nurture and wasting time on non-issues such as gay marriage would not only be...well...a waste of time, but also it would really piss off the ghosts of these guys. Their spirit is still with us and it gives us the courage to belive that we can govern ourselves with wisdom.

Of course we can argure about if it is wise to let gay people marry. But it would be a stupid argument. If a gay person wishes to marry somebody who am I to tell them no. Marriage is as tough a business as there is in the field of interpersonal relationships. So if two gay guys or gals want to try to make a go of it then heck yes I am all for it.

Now onto making a nation where workers don't have to worry about having their jobs leave for Peru!

Goodbye Ford

I liked Jerry Ford. He was the perfect President for years 1974-1976. What was America like back in those days?

Unemployment was whopping 8.5%
The Budget Deficit: A poultry 550 billion

He had the luck to be the President to actually see the end of the Vietnam War in all its ugly failure. He pardoned Nixon and I think he probably did the right thing. Most all the scumbags that hungout with Nixon ended up going to jail and Nixon was destroyed politically anyway so I think Ford didn't really keep America from getting much more justice out of Watergate.

He also was President during Apollo~Soyuz. This may not sound like much now but back then it was HUGE. Two nations with 10,000 nukes pointed at each other and sworn to kill each other, went up to space to shake hands.

I would certainly take him over the turdsandwich in the White House now. However lots of scummy people who ill advise Bush got their false starts with Ford such as Rummy and Chenny. What killed Ford politically was Regan. Regan's upstart neo-con push for the Presidency in 1976 killed off the tremendously centerist, and potentially progressive, Republican party. That failure in 1976 was to bring to fruition the assinine policies of the Shrub of today. Ford ended up being good freinds with Jimmy Çarter. Both men have taken a beating from the press and their parties, but in the long run both men may shine brighter than, Regan, Clinton or the Bushes.

So long Jerry Ford! Thanks for helping out while you could.

Mom in Iraq

It was touchingto hear about the mother who went to Iraq to see the place where her son died. And it was touching to her words about how the media only reports "the bomb of the day" but unfortunately she is seeing the conflict through eyes stained with tears from a lost son. As an American I thank her son for his service and am sorry that he died. And I wish that the people who brought this war on be sent to prison for murder. This is a war that never needed to happen. While those who sought to kill us and hurt our nation are still at large, we are stuck in Iraq between violent factions bent on killing each other. There are lots of good things happening in Iraq, just like there were lots of good things happening in the 1860's in the USA, but they did not change the fact that the nation was ripping itself apart.

The reasons for being in Iraq or not are, in the long run, academic anyway. There is a huge cost to this war. The balance sheet will determine when this war, for America, ends. Remember WWII? The balance sheet was just as responsible for the dropping of the atom bomb as any other reason. Remember Vietnam? What tipped the balance? Money.

Politically Incorrect Santa III

Ho Ho Ho!

Merry Christmas!

Yes it is Christ's Birthday, again, and no it is not his actual birthday but a date that at least most of us can agree on and not shoot each other over. Not like that whole Easter thing. Anyway so it is the holidays again and time for me, Samta, to give you that ol' fire side chat. I know that FDR did it first but am one to take good ideas of others and run with it.

So here goes for 2006:

I was going to post a really nose-bleeder of a incorrect santa letter but I have had a Dickensian change of heart. You all live in won magnificently adorned and screwed up world. You live in the best and worst of times and have done so since he begining of your meteoric rise from monkey-ville, past Jericho with its problematic walls, and Rome with its good and bad emperors, and those miserable kings of soggy Europe, and the grand and ridiculous emperors of China, all the way to moon landings and asian wars a plenty. So I guess if you can still bother to come together and celebrate a 2000 year old event I outta respect that and not beat up on you all.

Merry Christmas

Santa

The Big Stories and hard issues of today

Should Miss Nevada be stripped of her title because of lewd photos? Should Miss USA keep her title? And what about Miss Teen USA? There is a lot of snow on the ground in Colorado, and its winter! Should we get to have a nativity scene in downtown USA? Well all these stories are good for something. What I am not sure. I guess they keep our little minds of other things like the brake out of civil war in the Palestinian Territories, or the chaos in Iraq.

Or the 60 million Americans that suffer from malnutrition and hunger. This photo is of an American Citizen. This child was born in the richest nation in the history of man. This is not an old photo from the 50's or 60's. This is from 1996 Alabama. We have all the money we need to stop this kind of terrorism. But instead we waste our money killing people on the other side of the globe. To live in hunger, with no job, and no home, and no way out, is terrorism.

Merry Christmas :)

Good News! Freightliner to build new plant!

After the doom and gloom around Freightliner having to lay off 4000 workers due to poor sales, the company has anounced that a brand new sparkling plant will be built to add to its capacity to meet the growing demand for their great trucks. Unfortunately the 4000 workers who got layed off in the US would have to move to Mexico if they wanted to work in that new plant.

Are we (The United States of America) insane?

More Chair Straighting

Lets see if I get the analogy correct:

The RMS Titanic has struck an iceberg and is sinking. There are too few life boats. So the White Star line decides to fire the captain and hire a new guy. Captain Rumsfeld smiles and walks off the bridge. Captain Gates takes his place. Outside, underneath Captain Gates, the dark cold ocean is getting ever closer, the ship is sinking. The physics of water, and bouancy are relentlessly closing off options for the good captain. He decides to visit the ships interior, yep it is sinking. He goes to the bridge and sure enough things are looking bad. His staff decide that perhaps more people should bail water. But Gates is no fool. Bilge will work as long as electrical systems and the boilers are functioning, but the ship is displacing 47 thousand tons of water, there is a gash below the water line, the force of water rushing in must be tremendous. Worse than those awful statistics is the 20 life boats that are rated as holding 1179 people. There are 3,500 people on board.

I hate that the Titanic scenario is matching our situation in Iraq but it does. The situation is not in the control of Washington, it is way beyond that. No new people are going to save this ship. Whatever is going to happen in Iraq, probably bad, is going to happen regardlesss of the "decider" or his minions. Come up with plans, talk to people, launch a study group, but the problem is that the situation is terminal. All the potential happy endings were written out of the equation before the ship was built. The RMS Iraq is sinking precisely because it was designed the way it was.

Prozac Problems

I listened to some really freaked out people talk about how Prozac ruined their lives. I do not doubt that they have had bad experiences. However in my experience Prozac has been a huge help. It is not a panacea for all that is wrong with your life and there are loads of warnings from Eli Lilly about how it works.

First of all like any such drug, it can effect different people in different ways. One side effect of begining taking a regem of Prozac is that your symptoms of nervousness or anxiety can get worse. This, for me, lasted a couple weeks then went away. Prozac does not instantly level out your illness. It takes about a month for it to really start to work correctly. It is also vital to take the med as perscribed. Do not take more or less as you think you need it. It is not asprin, it alters the way your brain cells communicate with each other. Also you should not simply stop taking it. Follow the directions for the medication and your doctor. Also make sure that you stay under the care of a qualified mental health professional.

For those whol like to self medicate:
Prozac is not a narcotic. If you are feeling a little blue and somebody offers you a Prozac it will not act on you like taking Codine for a sprained ankle. It does not act on you like Ativan either. The best idea is just DO NOT SELF MEDICATE.

Just my two cents worth regarding Prozac

Climbing on Mt Hood

10,000 people a year attempt to summit Mount Hood. And a heck of a lot of them make it. So in climbing circles Hood is not very impressive. At least until you have been on it in a storm. I have been up on it in a storm and it sucks. Bad weather on Hood can be really bad, arctic bad, antarctic bad, himalayan bad. When you go from Portland to the summit in a single push, and that wis what most people do, you gain 11,000 feet of elevation. This is like climbing from base camp on Everest to the summit in a day. True almost half the climb is in a car on a highway, but the body is still effected. Another thing about Hood is that the upper section of the peak can stink to high heaven, litterally. Just when your wacked from slogging up snow slopes for five hours you get assaulted by sulfor dioxide from active fumerals.

Mountains and nature allow us to summit or not as they decide. If our desires and the cold, unfeeling, calculations of nature run against each other, nature always wins. Climbers are keenly aware of their smallness and fragility, the mountains and high places of the Earth make us aware. It is one reason why so many people go up to the hills. In the city it is all too easy to think ourselves important and in control, superior to the lower lifeforms of the wild. Mt Hood, and its rocky and ice-scared brothers and sisters, is a reminder that we are basically bacteria living on the skin of an apple.

The West and Middleast Working Together!

Who says that east and west has nothing in common? At least one pro-western group can work with the Iranians.

Today the Iranians are having a "conference" on whether or not the holocaust happened. As if it didn't happen unless the Iranians say it happened. They "liberally" say that if the evidence is there then they will agree that it happened. This is pathetic and I would really wish the world would rise up and shout these scumbags down. To allow this regime to gain the high ground is the best reason I can think of to impeach Bush. Thats right Bush. Bush's mishandling of the post 9-11 world has allowed this pimply little scumbag to claim leadership. Our heavey handed treatment in Iraq spearheaded Nenajad's rise to power in Iran. Our actions helped him solidify his own power base.

It is a pitty that even though both the Palestinians and the Jews have so much in common they cannot see each other. The conditions of Palestine are attrocious and it is made that way in no small part by Isreali actions as well as Hamas. But trying to say that the holocaust never happened is like Isreal saying that there is no problem in the occupied territories. Just because you say something is so doesn't make it so. Look at the mess in Iraq that was brought by believing dubious claims. The Iranians are going down the same bad path with their dunderheaded leadership.

I hope that the Iranian people, who have millenia of civilization to stand on, will not fall prey to this revisionist clap-trap.

Remember Pearl Harbor!?

I read a pathetic Neo-con diatribe about how Iraq is a failure because we used half measures. How we are too timid. What a load of crap. Watching a father cary his dead daughter out of his bombed house screaming "WHY WHY WHY" one wonders what, to a neo-con, would be full measures? They also brought up Pearl Harbor, like we forgot it or something. Well there is a big leasson in Pearl Harbor. Here it is:

The lesson is that Pearl Harbor shows the utter stupidity of premptive attacks. America did not attack Japan. Japan, wishing to teach America a lesson, and disaude it from getting in Japans way in the far east, launched a spectacularly successful series of strikes accross the Pacific, I guess the Neo Cons forgot about the Phillipines, Shanghi, etc, since they only bring up one of the multiple attacks. Anyway the Japanese, after all their initial success ended up getting creamed. They, like Bush, were little boys pushing stones down a hillside. Easily starting what quickly got out of their control.

The real enemy that hit us on 911 is still alive and doing fine. We have not really done much to the real enemy. Extremism, even in the good ol US is alive and well.

As long as we try to fight a war against terrorism we will never win! This is not being defeatist just smart. Fighting a war on terror is like fighting a war against mean people, or "bad guys" there will always be plenty of them to go around. We did not fight a war against facism in WWII. We faught against Germany and Japan. We had no problem allying ourselves with other totalitarians in WWII.

The biggest lesson of Pearl Harbor is "Let's not commit one!"

But this is all wasted on most of the knuckle walkers out there. To them the rules never seem to apply to them. Like Hitler and Tojo, or Stalin and Kruschev, the American Neo Con is blind to the reality of power. Power, real power, never comes out of a gun. Nations that base their greatness on force of arms are quickly vaporized.

All the Air Craft Carriers and tanks, fighter jets, and missles are a made possible by our power, they are not our power. Have we used them to get rid of Bin Laden? NO We have squandered the benifits of our power in Iraq. So our image is less than it was. That sin falls upon the heads of the American Neo Con. If the goal for the New American Century was to rid the world of American power then, I guess, they have done a good job. Like idiots who talked of new world orders, and thousand year reichs, and how they would burry this nation or that, the Neo Cons are only burrying themselves.

So what are we left with? Well throw the turd sandwiches out and get to work fashioning a pragmatic solution to this problem with the full understanding that there will be lots more problems coming, such is life i nthe big wide wonderful world.

Americans should really get to know Iraq

The image here is just a small section of Baghdad. This section is what is refered to as Sadr City. I noticed that Google Earth updated their imagery to 2006 images of the city. I wish they would give us the opportunity to layer the years. In so doing you could see the transformation of Baghdad from a city of parks, soccer fields, pools, golf courses, and jammed city streets, to a wasteland of bombed out buildings, acres of single-wide moble homes for contractors, and zig-zag paterned streets around the Green Zone. If you spent time flying over the city early on in Google Earth it wasn't a shining city by any means, but now it looks more and more like Mogadishu

The Jordan Fiasco

The stakes could not have been higher today for both Bush and Maliki. To grease the wheels of this high-stakes meeting, the Bush administrationi leaked a highly critical letter from Stephen Hadley about Maliki and his advisors. Then to help matters more, as if they needed more help, the meeting between King Abdullha, Bush, and Maliki got quickly cancelled. And for a final act of support, Sadr and his allies have threatened to pull out of the Iraqi government. With statesmanship like this why should we worry.

Can any of these guys ever to ANYTHING right? Can we not even have a simple meeting without tripping over our own feet? Oh yes and now I find out the my States Governor has spent 2 days in Iraq. Thats right folks, the Governor of Oregon has now spent more time in Iraq than our President.

Getting back to Hadley's memo, his decription of Maliki as being surrounded by people who limit the information he gets to make decisions, sounds earily familiar with another leader we know. The only good thing about the memo is that it shows that at least Hadlely sounds like he has his head on straight in viewing the problems. However the solutions he offers are straight out of some kind of crack-pipe.

Thankfully the illustrious Republicans now say that Bush will have a big announcement on how to go forward with Iraq. All I can say is "whatever"

Bush continues his tough no-decision stance!

The little dear, known as the President of the United States, continues to be stuck on the highway of life looking into the oncoming headlights of an Iraqi civl war. He asked for NATO members to be more willing to take on hard missions in Afgahnistan and did not get much for it. The biggest casualty in the Iraq War is very probably Afgahnistan. The resurgence of the Taliban has only be possible thanks to the stupifying lack of rebuilding and money for that torn up nation.

Diplomacy is really too little too late. It is as if Bush smeared his own crap all over his bedroom walls, waited a few months, then decided to ask other people to help him clean it up. Why would people be willing to do that? Clean up your own crap Bush!

The Democrats need to start demanding action from the White House. Not pussyfooting around and trying to act like Republican-light. It is clear that Bush has no clue as to how to proceed with the war. He has been effectively canned by our enemy. We need a radical redirection and Bush, and I fear our new Congress, is not going to get us there. The US is bleeding power in fighting an unwinable, and ill defined war. Not only is Iraq wrong, so is the entire conceptual strategy of the war on terrorism. The leadership of our nation is monstrously pathetic in their non-intellectual approach to almost every major problem that we face. It really makes little difference whether you listen to republicans idiots or democratic idiots, the words are basically the same. "We will give you a slogan and then beilieve our own BS." Hitler would have kicked our ass if Bush and the leaders of today were in Washington.

If our current leadership continues to bleed power away like they are now, they should all be gotten rid of in a legally binding way. This is serious. I for one do not wish to live in a has-been nation. We have the intellect to do this, but the smart people are not in Washington. We don't need all the smart people, only a about 600 of them. Is that too much to ask?

Are we all taken care of?

Do you believe in an omnipotent God? If you do then don't start squaking about the big fight between God and the devil. That dog don't hunt. The only reason to put forth such crappola is a selling tool for the weakminded to get them to come to church. Scare them to church. This has worked quite well. However it is really not necessary. God has created everything and has it all under control. So stop worrying about raptures or end-times blah blah blah. Christ even opened the gates of hell to retrieve the damned, remember? I know there are lots of nasty things that happen to us, but really all the years of war, famine, and other such crap-going, is only a mere instant in eternity. So start rejoicing! If we all did that and there would be no more bad stuff. It is because we are waiting for something that has already happened that we languishing in pain.

Polonium 210

I heard on NPR how Po210 is tough to get a hold of and how only people at a nuclear facility could concoct it. This is obsurd to anyone familiar with this substance. It is the main substance in a product called the Static Master Brush. This is a anti-static brush widely used in the graphic arts and photography. You can by a brush for less than $30 over the web. What follows is a copy of text from the manufacturer:

"Some additional words about safety:
We must not lose sight of the fact that Po210 is highly toxic, emits alpha particles and is regulated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Fortunately, the matrix in which it is encased, renders probability of exposure extremely small unless the matrix is damaged by abration or grinding so as to generate dust particles that may be inhaled.

This product is generally recognized as being safe because the potential for exposure is extremely low. Obviously, we can not keep someone from trying to cut this product open and perhaps metallographicall polishing it. So there are limits to what we can guarantee. When all factors are considered, we truly believe this product to be safe if used as instructed. 1" Wide Brush by Staticmaster®"

I forwarded this not only to NPR but also Scotland Yard Drug Directorate.

Remember Occam's Razor?

HO Scale Trains on G&G Railroad

This is a photo of a 4-8-4 Northern locomotive. This, and a 4-6-6-6 challenger, is what hauls big loads on our main line. We also have EMD SW-7 switcher and an old 0-4-0 switcher for branchline service. This is not a prototypical railroad. It is total fantasy. Keep you posted as it progresses.

Happy Turkey Day

Hey! What the? Who put this photo of Turkey here for Turkey day?

HO Scale Trains

My dad, God rest his soul, while dying of cancer created the beginings of a large HO scale 1:87th train layout in his basement. That was back in 1998. After many years of sitting unfinished my daughter Trudy decided to start back up on finishing it. She was about 1 year old when last she saw anyone working on it. Here it is today with the detritus of American consumerism around it; the boxes of used stuff, the old computer, etc. More photos to come as we progress!

Abizaid Disappointing

To here General Abizaid talk the only concern we have is Iraq. It is taking place in a bubble. He spoke as if the situation was all part of the plan of "campaign" as he put it. His assertion that we have to "embed" our forces into the new Iraqi security forces seems like a rehash of the old policy of: train the Iraqis to fight the war we pushed them into.

I would argue with Mr. Levin that we gave the Iraqis really NO opportunity to advance a democracy because we NEVER gave them a stable nation in which to build such a state. Our war-on-the-cheap has led directly to the current situation. Now the political will is no longer there to take the costs of finishing the job we started for ourselves. It is pretty piss poor to blame the Iraqi's since we are the ones who started this ball rolling not them.

The problems of controlling the civil war in Iraq are now so monumental that I can see no way to accomplish that goal. Unless massive troop deployments were to occur. This is not likely to happen. Again I would say that Carl Levin et al need to ask the question is the situation winnable, or solvable? What will it cost to solve it? And do we want to spend what it will cost? Of the answer to either the first of last question is no then the troops need to be withdrawn right now. Despite the catastrophe that would happen, since it already seems to have happened.

Get To Work!

The Democrats, a party traditionally held together with duct tape and bailing wire, with a few rubber bands for good measure, is now going to be in the drivers seat. My advice to my party is to keep together, but not at the expense of credibility. We need leaders who are unassailable from an ethical point of view. Thus if a member of either Senate or House is problematic they should not be in positions of leadership. Murtha seems to have some trouble. I like what he says and I think is a good egg. However he does not have to be majority leader. At this time personalities like Murtha need to play a background roll as rabel rouser, this is not condusive to majority leader. They position needs to be more cohesive and less bomb-thrower. A Murtha leadership will only lead to more squabbling and accomplish nothing that Murtha wants.

Remember "We Hate Bush" is not a policy.

Syd Mead

I think I have pigeon hold Mr Mead. He is the artist that has created Leisure Suit Chic. His designs, for the most part, glorify suburband futurism with all its consumerism. But unlike some artist who try to show how silly total consumerism is, Syd Mean goes out of his way to lionize it. His worlds are total make-overs. His cities are glorious only from a distance. On the streets the place is a total mess, totally non-people freindly. Ug. If his stuff didn't look so damn cool, even now, I would not think much of it. But it is cool and he is a favorite artist.

Veterans Day

Rumsfeld and his pathetic former boss

Today Donald Rumsfeld resigned. A day after the President's party took a beating at the polls. Only a fewdays after the president said that Rumsfeld was the right man for the job. As an American I am sickened by Bush. What did it take to get the President to sack Rumsfeld? 2800+ dead soldiers? No 10,000+ wounded soldiers? No. Millions of shell shocked, brutalized and torn up Iraqis? No it took his party losing an election.

The resignation of Rumsfeld is the Bush administration at its clearest. Bush does not care one bit about our brothers and sisters off at war. If Bush was a real man and leader he would have sacked Rumsfeld a year ago. But not Bush. The Presidents loyalty to our troops is only surpassed by his loyalty to his party, his friends, and himself. I continue to be stunned by and ashamed of the behavior of our President.

If Rumsfeld's handling of the war was a problem before election day why did the President keep him around? Obviously he felt that Rummy could hlep him garner votes for his faithful. Then when Rumsfeld proved otherwise he was cut loose. But what are the soldiers supposed to think about that? Their needs for victory were secondary to Republican electioneering? And why the big wait on the new plan from Baker? If the situation on the ground is deteriorating is it not mandatory for the President, the commander of the army, to do what it takes to lead our soldiers? Over and over againt our soldiers have had to wait, fight, kill, die and get wounded, because their commander is too busy with his parties politics to really waste time on his "comma"

Bush is disgusting. The Democrats should impeach him and send him to Iraq as a private looking for IED's. That would be just. But they won't do that. They will not waste time on him. They will consider him as one considers the dead, already gone. Unfortunately for our soldiers he is not gone. He is there, and they are stuck in Iraq because of him.

Blame Bush..and conservative hypocrites

Republicans should real do some soul searching. You should dump the conservatives in your leadership and get wit hthe program.

Alright alright lets stop back slapping and get to work. I know we are still counting votes but the world waits for no one. The turd has now been cut in half and the Democrats now have to have the guts to deal with it. Remember ANTI-BUSH is not a policy. We have a war to win, or at least stop. We also have a lot of economic oversite to deal with. We have a budget to get back into balance. Remember the dolts we are replacing. Unless we can do better we may get swept out in 2008. So let us not have that happen. Dump the Delay style political mumbo-jumbo and get back to basics. Lets work for the good of the people.

Good Luck Democrats! God bless you and may He grant you fair wind on your quest to make America better. Let you all stay true to the best interests of America.

More Philosophy on Good and Evil

You will have to bare with me. I was thinking last night on the subject. So here I go again. My argument, that has been developing for a while now, is that good and evil is a human construction not an actual thing. The reason I say this is that each act considered good or evil is only that way because of the viewpoint of the entity saying an act is good or evil.

The only way to really know for certain that an act is good or evil is to understand it within the total confines of causality. Unless you know 100% of the causality of the universe you cannot say for certain if an act is good or evil. All you are able to do is say that given a set of local circumstances, from a particular viewpoint, at the certain moment, an act is good or evil.

This would mean that only a God that had total awareness of all causality could possibly know good and evil.

This does not mean that I am saying that everything is permissible or even desireable. What I am saying that using the term good or evil is not sufficient to explain the necessity of actions. My example right now is the War on Terror. The President uses the term good and evil a lot. This is not good enough and has not really worked in keeping us on task.

The reason for this, I think, is that subconsiously we know how shallow the terms are. We need a more indepth reason to sacrifice in a war. There are real reasons that religious extremism should be faught against. But good and evil are not reasons they are viewpoints.

A better argument would be to start at the beginning. The meaning of life is to create more life. Within that outter sphere is an inner sphere of human hirarchy, all human societies rely on some form of hirarchy into order to exist. We cannot exist outside either of those two outer spheres. Then it is a matter of determining what form of hirarchy is most benificial. It is demonstratable that extremist hirarchies do not last long. The devolve into chaos then reorganize. This is not condusive to the expansion of the spieces. Nor is it condusive to mental expansion. This is very important since I would posit that human intellectual expansionism is most important to spieces survival, and indeed life survival of all life on Earth.

So only societies that have dispearsed power, limited government, and diametrically opposed forces can allow humans to think freely. Free thought flows into scientific, social, and philosophical progress and that is good since it allows humanity to better coexist with its neighbors and live on the Earth without destroying it. Extremism, of any kind, puts out of bounds certain thought so that potential answers to important questions are never brought to fruition. As messy as western liberal democracy is, it is the best hirarchy that has yet been developed to advance the spieces. That is a reason to fight against religious extremists.

My Two Cents Worth on Oregon Vote 2006

1: Vote by mail, though convinient, is crap.

It is crap for the following reasons. It requires you to spend money to get to vote. A 32 cent poll tax. It is also NOT vote by mail up until election day. In Oregon a post mark does not count. If you mail your vote and some dufas miss handles your ballot and it does not get to the elections office by 8pm of elections day you have NOT voted. It doesn't matter if your ballot is post marked a week before the election. So drop it off in a ballot box. Don't mail the damn thing in. It also saves you having to pay the poll tax.

#43 Parental Notification: NO

I am sorry but there are lots or parents out there who are not much more mentally mature than their teenaged offspring and are no better at decision making. If a teen seeks an abortion that requires a level of forethought that is beyond the norm. The number of teens stupid enough to ruin their lives with kids when they are 15 is much higher than the number who seek out an abortion. This is basically not a problem so lets not solve the non problem.

#40, #45, #46 #48: NO

No reason to ammend our Constitution. It has done fine since 1859.

#44: NO

Sorry. I would love to vote for this but until we really totally rethink our whole healthcare nightmare I do not want to joepardize what we already have.

#47: NO

We need 100% public financing of elections but until this happens it would be silly to pass this. All it would do would be to further limit the power of people to advocate for change.

#39: YES

This could cut both ways but it should be the law anyway. It just makes sense.

This has been my two cents worth. As for the people on the ballot. Vote for those people you feel least likely to screw you over.

Sadam found guilty! Duh. Who else is guilty?

"As a result of the openings created by Rumsfeld's diplomatic triumphs, U.S. companies were recruited and encouraged, both covertly and overtly, to ship poisonous chemicals and biological agents to Iraq, by the administrations of both Reagan and George Bush Sr.. Care packages to Saddam included sample strains of anthrax and bubonic plague, and components which would be used to develop nerve poisons like sarin gas and ricin." -

Support the Troops!

For people who like to say how Iraq is only going badly because the news media concentrates on only the bad things here is what the American people of 1861-1865 go to look at on a daily basis. Not in some other nation but in their own backyards, farms, and church grounds. The difference is that in the Civil War there was a reason to fight. Iraq is a war without a purpose, at least not one that doesn't change with the polls Bush claims not to watch.

In 1863 there were massive demonstrations and draft riots in New York. Mainly because the rich and powerful could simply buy their way out of it. They would hire people called proxies that would go and fight instead of themselves. The common people thought this disgusting, as did many soldiers who had returned from the carnage.

Bush and his family are cut from the cloth of those who send people to war but who do not go themselves. Kerry did not have to see combat either. With his connections he could have easily gotten out of it. No he sought it out. Like many many Americans in the 1860's who could have easily hired proxies he too went forth.

What has Bush and his Bushleage done? Northing.

Boehner needs to appologize!!!!!

BOEHNER: Wolf, I understand that, but let's not blame what's happening in Iraq on Rumsfeld.

BLITZER: But he's in charge of the military.

BOEHNER: But the fact is, the generals on the ground are in charge, and he works closely with them and the president. We've seen this run up in violence as we get closer to the election, as we get closer to Ramadan, same thing we've seen over the last couple of years.

Me: So Mr Boehner is now saying basically don't blame Rumsfeld for Iraq. Blame the military. So he is blaming the troops on the ground and their commanders instead of those planning (haha) the war.

Just when I get pissed off I read this and think...He is a pretty good talker, just not a joker.

John Kerry -

“If anyone thinks a veteran would criticize the more than 140,000 heroes serving in Iraq and not the president who got us stuck there, they're crazy. This is the classic G.O.P. playbook. I’m sick and tired of these despicable Republican attacks that always seem to come from those who never can be found to serve in war, but love to attack those who did.

I’m not going to be lectured by a stuffed suit White House mouthpiece standing behind a podium, or doughy Rush Limbaugh, who no doubt today will take a break from belittling Michael J. Fox’s Parkinson’s disease to start lying about me just as they have lied about Iraq. It disgusts me that these Republican hacks, who have never worn the uniform of our country lie and distort so blatantly and carelessly about those who have.

The people who owe our troops an apology are George W. Bush and Dick Cheney who misled America into war and have given us a Katrina foreign policy that has betrayed our ideals, killed and maimed our soldiers, and widened the terrorist threat instead of defeating it. These Republicans are afraid to debate veterans who live and breathe the concerns of our troops, not the empty slogans of an Administration that sent our brave troops to war without body armor.

Bottom line, these Republicans want to debate straw men because they’re afraid to debate real men. And this time it won’t work because we’re going to stay in their face with the truth and deny them even a sliver of light for their distortions. No Democrat will be bullied by an administration that has a cut and run policy in Afghanistan and a stand still and lose strategy in Iraq.”

I love political dumbasses...NOT

As a member of the big groupt that wants to rest the controls of the ship of state from the hands of those seeking to run us into yet another ice berg, I am flumexed over the stupidity of those claiming the mantel of leadership (so called) in the Democratic Party. Don't make jokes about Iraq. Let the republicans do that. Iraq is not worthy of making jokes about. It is a sick and twisted mess and the soldiers there are stuck. My advice to Kerry is to shut the hell up and get out of our way.

Politicians are just plain stupid. It is as if DC sucks the grey matter out of their heads. Bush is brain dead, Kerry seems brain dead. Bill Frist is brain dead, Dennis Hastert is gigantic and brain dead. I think we should remove the feeding tubes from all the pathetic SOB's in DC and let them all go to the maker they all claim to want to serve. Though what God will do with these losers is anybody's guess.

Politicians make me wanna puke. A bunch of self righteous turd sandwiches. Meanwhile 103 brave soldiers get to go home in sacks. That equals about 1,339 wounded this month. So by all means lets just all use the war for scapgoating and political crappola and not try to solve this shit.

I want the Dems to win for many other reasons that Iraq. But mostly because I want some oversite on this out of control shit pile that is the Bush League's White House. I guess the morons in charge, or who want to be in charge, think they can go around and spew whatever the crowd of the moment will let them get away with.

I would like to believe in someone. But I find I cannot really do that. I do not want someone pure. All I want is someone who is smart enough to know what to say and when to say it. Someone who is tough enough not to take crap unless taking it will help US out. Some other advice to both parties is be careful of what you are shovling because you will invariable have to step in it yourself. We need something better. Not someone. Vote party not personality. Vote your agenda. Vote for America, for you brothers and sisters, your kids. But don't think these dolts are going to save your. We need to guide them in their fumblings in Washington.

Al Queada is trying to swing the election!

I rarely agree with VP Cheney but he is right that our enemies are trying to swing our election. They are attempting to help Bush scare voters into reelecting Bush's party to Congress. Our enemies realise that a Republican defeat would be a very serious problem for them so they have gone out of there way to be even more violent than usual.

I don't actually believe this shit. The average Iraqi insurgent couldn't give a rats ass what party is in charge of the US. Nor does Osama BL really care either. If the republicans win does any sane human really think he will think "oh no! They are really gonna get me now!" or the reverese if the Dem's win? This is retarded.

The only thing more retarded is the argument that a vote for Democrats is a vote to impeach Bush. What is that kind of argument saying about Bush? Nothing good. I doubt the Democrats will waste time on impeaching Bush. He is already so lame that impeachment would be rather redundant.

Now onto other news:

I WANT US TO WIN THE WAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Get this into your empty heads you no-talent conservative hicks!
As a committed liberal I want to kick the ass of our real enemy six ways from sunday and stick his (OBLs) head on a stick. We need to ratchet up things against our real enemies and stop fucking around in Iraq. Every American GI that is getting killed in the FUBAR that is Iraq is dying only because Bush can't figure out what to do. All this horseshit from Republicans about Democrats or liberals not wanting to fight is just that. We just want to rip the stupid blinders off the morons in DC and point them toward the right target. The deer in the headlights need to get out of the way!

In total confirmation of my assertion that Bushco has given aid and comfort to our enemy the pentagon now ackowledges that 14,000 weapons that we gave to our iranian backed Iraqi buddies are missing. Wow knock me over with a feather.

Don't buy the snake oil!

If Americans are willing to buy crap coming from Bush et al about how tough things are in Iraq, but we only have to adapt and overcome, blah blah blah, then they need their heads examined. It is a VERY DANGROUS thing to have a President have an election outcome get him to act in a war of his making. The more this SOB acts the more he makes me sick. First he gets us into a war that we didn't need to have, then he BS's his way around trying to tell us its all going to be gravey, then when thi9ngs go shitty he acts like an idiot saying his "stay the coursse" crap. Now, after reading the polls, something he says he never does (yeah right), he is changing his tune. Well talk is cheap you pathetic texas Cow-hearder, and your talk is cheaper than a Rolex Watch your can buy from a Time Square street vendor and just as reliable. If Americans are so fucking stupid as to buy his shit then we deserved to lose, and we will lose since Bush and company can't win for trying, other than elections.

VOTE DEMOCRAT AND THEN HOLD THE DEMOCRATS FEET TO THE FIRE OF TRUTH! DON'T LET THEM SQUIRL OUT OF DOING WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE!

Review of The Departed

I figured that with a title like The Departed nobody was going to live. I will not give away the ending (s) of the cast. Solid acting and a pretty solid story all the way around. The only draw back to this little flick was the lousy cinematography. The shots seemed to be lined up by Mr. Bill and Sluggo. The editing was ho-hum and the music sucked. The sound was great and the characters were great, however the girl playing the shrink was totally lame. Not that she did not do her part well, it is just that a shrink helping cops would probably see "the signs" of trouble and would not get involved with such psycho nut cases. She seemed pretty weak. Nicholson was great as usual. He has not lost his creepiness factor. No real surprises in the film. No "ah'ha!" moments. But was plenty violent without the violence seeming gratuitous. Gets a 8

Review of Flags of Our Fathers

It is a very sad film. Sad in that a lot of money was wasted on very stupendous battle scenes and other cgi recreations of 1940's America. The story was a gripping one, personalities a plenty, and had a lot of worthiness to it. However it was a jumbled mess that told a story poorly and I left the theatre thinking to myself. "Yep war is pretty shitty." Eastwood did the best he could with the script. However he should have told the story in a different way. It was a jumbled mess about a pretty simple set of circumstances. Guys go to war, have to take an island, some die, others live. One group raises a flag then another group does. The second bunch look better, its just a better photo. The government uses the photo to sell war bonds. The men know the truth. The end. Gets a 6.5

Rama~Tet

Those pesky nay sayers trying to compare Iraq with Vietnam. You'd never here Bush do that! Oh...I guess he did. Then he said that the Democrats are all over the page on Iraq. I would say thank God somebody is trying to figure out what to do. Bush's deer-in-the-headlights approach is certainly not a winning strategy.

I was discussing this terrible problem with a freind over a drink, both of us lamenting the war, when I was asked what would constitue a good reason for going to war. I said I would only go to war if the survival of the United States depended on it. If the reason was given was anything longer than that it was probably not worth it. I would also say that any war is not worth fighting if a draft would be looked down on. I would fight for my country to keep us going. But not for some Iraq-like farce.

One other thing bothers me too. As a student of history I do not recall any Union troops being stop-lossed back into combat during the Civil War nor in WWI or WWII. How our worthless president can send these men back to hell because he can't figure out what to do, and still sleep at night is beyond me.

Frontline was great

If you missed this very well produced Frontline episode please think about watching it online at

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/yeariniraq/

From the mouths off Paul Brimmer, general Jay Garner, and a host of others responsible for post war Iraq we are led down a very sad rabbit whole in the Alice and Wonderland that was the White House and their misguided effort to recreate Iraq. This program should be mandatory viewing for all people wanting to topple nations then rebuild them as a case study in what NOT to do. My hats off the Frontline for such a great program.

How they see us

Every once in a while you get a glimpse of how they see us. Corrupt, hedonistic, selfish, lewd, imoral. We are not all this way. Freedom gives us the ability to do many things including being all of the above. It also forces us to make choices. In tyranny, whether religious or secular, people do not have choice. Freedom from authority forces upon us the mantel of the decider. We are all the decider. We annoint our own leaders and then unannoint them as we see fit.

There are, I think, many people who do not like this. They want the annointing to come from above or from something else that has more purity of puropse, or clarity of conscience. This is impossible but they seek it nonethless like Galhad seeking the grail. Forever do they throw up one figure after another to lead them only to find the leader only human. At least the free people of the Earth understand the structure of humanity, make and agree upon laws, and strive to accept responsibility for our own sucess and failure.

We have the capacity for loathsome behavior. But whereas those that believe in tyranny seek to push the blame for holocausts and death to God's shoulders, the free peoples of the earth accept that it is mankind who makes wars and concludes peace. We have been given the free will to either live or die. To kill or not to kill. To build or to destroy. Only the free people understand this responsibility. Only the free understand that the future is in our hands and that we are not puppets nor are we pawns in some war between the good God and the bad god whom we can blame when things do not go our way: ah it was God's will...or...the devil made him do it.

So who are they? The people who do not understand freedom. Or who do undertand it's implications, and have rejected it in favor of being pawns in a game out of their control. Freedom is a very adult thing. Many see it and then recoil, unwilling to take on the responsibilities of adulthood. Seeking the security of childhood where they are told where to go, what to belive, and who to follow. These people are children, seeing the complexity of the universe and rejecting it. They see no point in saving the Earth. It is too hard for them to comprehend such large acts. They throw up their hands and say it is all in some unwritten plan, or buried in ancient books whos authors simply cannot come out and tell them what to do. Bin Laden, seeking to destroy the evil, as he sees it in the world, and Robertson, asking if certain leaders should be killed, are the same. Instead of rolling up their sleeves and pragmatically seeking peaceful coexistance they shrink back into the womb of absolutism, claiming that they speak and act on Gods behalf.

What if the truth actually revolves around our own intellect, granted to us by millions of years of evolution, set up by God. Our own minds and will have made our human world. And to understand the history of mankind is to see a constant struggle between those who wish to broaden the human horizon and better the human condition, and those that seek to retrograde back into the womb. History teaches that the womb seekers always fail.

Clarification of what DPRK has done

North Korea evidently does not have a thermonuclear weapon. They have an atomic bomb. There are large differences. The weapons currently in the US arsenal need a bomb the size of the one dropped on Hroshima just as a fuse to set them off. A fission bomb works by detonating TNT around fisiable material. The fissionable atoms break and realease its engery. A thermonuclear bomb uses an atom bomb to cause its nuclear material to fuse. This creates enormous heat hence the term thermo. The fusion bombs we have are basically small Suns that we can start. They are thousands of times more destructive than the DPRK's little bomb. They are overkill made flesh. This is not to diminish the problem caused by the DPRK testing their fire cracker. If you can build an atom bomb you are not too far from building a super-bomb.

DPRK's Bomb estimated at: 15,000 tons of TNT

Us bombs: 100,000,000 tons of TNT or about 7,500 times more powerful than the DPRK's bomb

Birthdates

We all live on such a razor thin margin of existance. That life will continue for any of us for more that a nano second is in no way certain. I could pop off to death right now for all I know. A very nice man I know died a couple of days ago, doctors were able to bring him back to life and he will go home from the hospital tommorrow. My daughter and I were having a deep conversation of the problems of living forever on Earth. She came to the conclusion that the only way she would want to live forever is that if all her family and freinds could too. She figured that it would be pretty sad to hang around while all her family and freinds dopped one after the other. She also said, at the end, she could still make new freinds.

Benito ~ Limbaugh NO YOUR ENEMY NO YOUR FASCIST

HIV Epidemic not credible

Good news! Aids is not a problem in Africa or Asia. All the statistical analysis has been shown to be not credible. By who? By that paragon of science GW Bush. This is of course nonsense. The statistics he doesn't like are usually the ones that show his war to be going badly. He hates the truth, can't stand the pesky thing. So he simply says that the analysis showing over 1/2 million war dead in Iraq is not credible. He does not back up his assertion with any coroberating data whatsoever. We are just supposed to trust him. Him? Trust Bush? Well all I can say is that his little "comma" is turning into an exclaimation point. The wreakless brutality of the Bushleague is matched in scope only by their utterly dilusional belief in their own views. Their mindless adherence to the two-headed pig that is their war policy. They give aid and comfort to our enemies and will win nothing but the mantel of failure. Yet it is not their blood and guts that get blasted out in their stumbling and lurching to loss. It is the soldier, the child screaming in the streets, the families wailing over their dead fathers only to be blown up by the coffin.

Who's Fault is DPRK's Bomb?

This guy is to blame. It would be nice to blame Clinton or Bush, but this guy had way more to do with the bomb than either of those other two guys. To my knowledge neither Clinton or Bush was in the decision making process in the North Korean bomb making program. North Koreans planned their bomb, north Koreans built their bomb, and north Koreans exploded their bomb. So blame North Korea.

Now it is up to Bush and company to keep us safe. I know this really sounds bad, and it probably is. Bushco is as pathetic a bunch of losers as can be imagined, but hey they are all we have....for now...

Nuke Test In Korea

The situation with North Korea and Iran has been made inevitable by a lack of coherent post cold-war nuclear policy by the US and Russia. Instead of joining forces to help other nations see the futility of such weaponry both nations have drifted without direction, caught up in their own internal problems and unwinable wars. The lack of world leadership by the two most powerful nations has hurt our chances as a spieces to survive.

The solution to Korea is certainly not further sanctions. The country is already to most isolated nation on earth. Using medieval siege tatctics against Korea will do nothing to combat the threat of them selling technology to our real enemies. Only full on engagement will help matters. For those who think that war is the answer I would ask what we are going to fight that war with? GI Joe figures? Forceful engagement is the only way forward. All the big-stick approach does is allow Korea to react. It gives them no way forward other than bluster. By handing down ultimatums we hand the regime in Pyongyang more power. It gives them a legitimate way to explain away why they do what they do.

Civility, and carrots, a desire to negotiate gives us legitimacy and would put the DPRK in a weaker position. I am really at a loss as to explain the logic behind the current administrations policies. Other than to assume they mean to harm the US and deminish our role in the world.

Spet Oct Poll Crunch 2006

I have not done a Poll Crunch since the summer. So to rectify the situation here is the Presidents standing as of today. Much has been in the media about a "bump" for Bush. I see no real evidence of this as the poll-crunch plainly illustrates.

Approve: 36.5%
Disapprove: 58.5%
Duh: 5%

This has one of the lowest "Duh" ratings of any poll cruch. Very few undecided people in these polls. These number are derivedd from 7 national polls taken between 9-01-06 and 10-06-06. The spread on the Approval side ranges from a low of 33% to a high of 45%. The most recent polling from CNN/Wall Street Journal/ and NBC has him at 39%. This is down from a high of 42% two weeks ago.

Most positive poll: LA Times/Bloomberg of 9/16 has him at 45%
Least positive poll: Newsweek at 33%

My bellweather poll is the FOX/Opinion Dynamics poll and it places him at: 42% on 9/26

To anybody from the Clintonian school of politics this would be a disaster. To the bushleague they couldn't care less. They do not care how unpop[ular Bush is. All they want is enough of the true-believers to come out to vote to swing things their way. I am not sure if this calculation is going to come out in their favor this time.