Guard Dog

Here are two little surprises. While I was getting dressed for work this morning I had CNN on the TV, they actually ran a segment on how shocked viewers were and what a unexpected twist this was. Then on the way to work they were actually taking calls about it on the radio on WEGR. I guess it is a pretty poular show after all. A lot of folks said they were never watching again but I said the same thing after I read that part in Book 1 and again after you-know-what in Book 3. But here I am ready and waiting for book 5.

I would put the story of Saint George and the dragon as a parable to this situation. They were sold by their governments but can you say without doubt that they weren't coerced into it? You of all people have in idea of what life is like in a place where people have no rights and suffer the predations and whims of their government. I don't know who is more despicable, the Guatemalan official who accepted the deal, of the US official who arranged it. Actually I could say the same thing about slavery in pre-civil war America. Who was worse, the slavers who captured and sold the slaves or the country that allowed them to be purchased and worked to death? I could not say.

The United States as an institution has existed continuously since 1776. While Volo is correct, the politicians of today are not culpable for the crimes of predecessors they should be aware that evil done in the name of the US still must be atoned for even if it was done by those long gone. I am disgusted by this story, I don't know how I missed but I had never heard it before. An apology and acknowledgement is the least of what is appropriate here. Every survivor and their affected decendants should be compensated. The history of the US is not snow white and clean. No nation state on earth can be said not to have done evil in it's own interests at some point. Remember, the US did not go out and kidnap these people, they were sold as lab rats by their own government. As black as our crime is, theirs is as bad or worse.

Just poured a highball, herre is a toast to Hurlie's son feeling better... and to Malcador's clean bill of health... and to Raithe's writing project and to Tales movie exeperience, and mod status... and to.... It seems I need another drink. There we go... An to the Canucks, may they play better than they have been. Now, back to the game.

Just got home from a very long work day, capped off by a brutally long commute. I started to write a reply in the "Deficit Reduction" thread but it's just more mental energy that I have at the moment. I think I'll have a PB&J for dinner and spend the rest of the night on the porch drinking good bourbon on ice and playing my guitar.

Nevermind what I said in this post... I don't want to bring in LoF, or Oby-somthing or whatever he's calling himself today.

To reiterate what many of you have said, green energy is a great idea whose time has not yet come. Abandoning proven and reliable (to say nothing of fairly clean) nuclear power generaton with no workable alternative to take it's place is just lunacy.

Now reading The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski. I was not sure what to expect but it is light and entertaining reading. After this I'll give the game another go.

The house is cleaned up, the fence is fixed, the road & yard have been cleaned of debris. I just got home, dialed up Bob Marley Legends on my Ipod. I'm going to fire up the grill and make grilled chicken for the dogs and a steak for me. Then I'm going to invite Sam Adams out to the porch and get ****** up!

Ok, I know the Royal Gurkha Rifles is not an elite unit by definition, but how is this for badass: http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/06/02/soldi...self/?hpt=hp_t2

I hate to say this but Sanderson taking over has been a good thing for the WoT series. Jordan should have wrapped this thing up four books ago. Books eight and ten did nothing to advance the story they should have been cut by 70-80% with the remaining stuff rolled into books 9 & 11. Books three, four and five could have been combined into two books with no loss. The whole Shiado plot should have been wrapped up after their defeat in book four but it languished on for six more books. The whole Ebou Dar thing went on far too long. I could go on.

Power is back on I'm happy to say. Things are getting back to normal. You know the oddest thing, I found myself worrying about that coyotes that hang around my house. They have been nothing but loud destructive pests and I've even taken a shot at them a time or two but for all that I hope they made out ok with everything going on. I spent the day today fixing my fence and doing some clean up. I'm leaving for Florida in the morning to get the dogs and bring them home. I can't wait to see them again.

**** the house, what about the bloody Camero, is it totalled? I love Camero's man... Well and mustangs... But geez dude, I'd be an angry man. It's a 1973 RS. I've been working on restoring it. I just finished rebuilding the engine (327 small block I took out of a '75 Nova). It was mounted and would run. The drive train and transmission were on the floor and I had just put new front seats in it. The water downed it to the dashboard and it was submerged for about a few days. It does suck because I've got a few bucks sunk into it but I'm just happy that is the worst of it. The barn it's in needs some work now and my lawnmower needs to be replaced but that looks like the extent of my damage. The guy up the road from me is finding some of his stuff lying in the mud hundreds of meters from his house.

Sounds like a damn good night out, to be fair. Oh yeah, so long as he woke up with all of his vital organs intact, and still installed!

Umm you know that can be esaily rectified. You could probably finish all of them before Season Two starts. You do not need to read the first one after the next three episodes because the series has been pretty faithful to the story.

I came out of this pretty much ok. There is some damage but the only thing I actually lost was the camaro. I was very lucky. Well, there was some planning too. When the builder and I first looks at the property for a place to build we picked that spot because it was a good two and a half meters above the tops of the markers. He said the Hatchee never floods but "you never know". Smart man. Actually the Hatchee did not flood, the Mississippi did but small difference that makes. At least there was no tornados. Flood damage can be repaired. Tornado damage on the other hand.... Whats going on up in Joplin and other places is a real tragedy.

I wonder, since the world did not end do the folks who donated to him get a refund?

Way ahead of you.

Found out that my flood insurance does not cover damage to the car so it is a total loss. That is small potatoes though. I've been helping my neighbors with clean up. Shoveling mud out of people houses is a real wake up call. Especially when you can come home and yours is high and dry. It makes you realize how lucky you are. The water in the Hatchee is finally dropping back to normal levels. I can see to tops of the flood markers again so hopefully it's over now. Still no power at the house but I have a pretty big generator I bought for hurricane season when I lived in FL so at least I can run the well & kitchen appliances some of the time. Today is my first day back to work sincce this started. Damn it feels good to be in air conditioning again!

Damned Russians! Our President goes over for a friendly visit and they take him out on a bender. He probably woke up with cotton mouth and a black eye in some low end dive off Tverskaya Ulitsa with some womans panites in his hand and his wallet missing. Ok, it might have happened!

I must admit that has been somewhat jarring for me. Only Tyrion & Arya come close to what I imagined.

A very funny poastr from GRRMs blog: If they were upset about killing the wolf which was not shown, wait until we hear the outcry over Ser Gregor beheading his horse. Eveyonr needs to grow up, no animals are actually harmed in filming these days.

They have gone off book a fair bit but it is working well and the story is heading in the same direction. The only thing I really do not like is how they are handling Renley. He did not conspire to usurp Robert, and the TV character seems like something of a pansy. The book Renley was a lot more robust. And yes the thing with Loras was in the book too. Martin did not hit you over the head with it but it still works they way it is done in the show. One thing they whiffed on was the Queen was supposed to have manipulated Robert into fighting in the tournament. It was supposed to be an opportunity to assasinate him that Ned Stark foiled by talking him out of.

We'll I'm back home at last. Last week the Hatchee river (which meets the Mississippi about five miles from my house) flooded out of the banks. Scary stuff, it rose about two and a half meters in just a few hours.When I woke up and saw the end of my driveway under water I loaded up the dogs and went to my Dads old place in Florida. So after four day of unexpected and nerve wracking vacation I got back today to asses the damage. It did not make it up to the house, thank God. The barn flooded and it ruined the Camaro I've been working on restoring. It also ruined some projects for my side business. My fence is down in a few places but as long as the house is ok I'm a very lucky man. Some of my neighbors were not so lucky.