US EMBASSY BOMBED! In Pakistan,

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) - A suicide attacker crashed a bomb-laden car into a guard post outside the U.S. Consulate in Karachi, Pakistan, killing five people and injuring at least 25 others on Friday.
The massive blast incinerated a dozen cars, including two police vehicles, and sent debris flying a half-mile. It occurred around 11:15 a.m. (1:15 a.m. EDT) in the sprawling southern port city.
Police said the bomb was concealed in a white car that the driver crashed into a police kiosk at the southern end of the consulate compound, destroying part of the heavy concrete wall. It also damaged the nearby Marriott Hotel and shattered windows in buildings a block away.

The death toll now stands at 8. No word on whether any Americans were killed.

Chaos Factor The website Raising Hell has developed a nifty little tool to allow you to calculate the chaos coefficient of your family.

I scored 1 billion.

I think it undercounts worse than a Florida polling machine....

Of course, the next question is, can we use this number for better planning? For instance, use the CsubCh to determine how much time to allow for routine activities, like shopping. Apply it on a logarithmic scale. for every order of magnitude, double the time required. So a task that would take a single person 5 minutes should take me 45.

That's pretty close....

New post in And So It Goes; It's my Birthday!

At 0030, my parents called me here at work to sing 'Happy Birthday'. That's just too cool. Thanks Mom and Dad!

One last gasp on Intelligent Design.

I spent two rather lengthy posts attacking the Popper definition of science, as it applied to the intelligent design theory.

On my way to work this evening, I realized that Intelligent Design is falsifiable, and due to the construction of the theory, it would be relatively easy to do so.

The theory boils down to this: there are biochemical systems in the body which are irreducibly complex, that is to say that the removal of any one piece renders the entire system inoperable. These systems cannot have evolved through neo-Darwinian natural selection, since any small change would result in a non-functioning system. Therefore, the systems must have been designed.

First, as I stated before, that conclusion is flawed, since it presupposes that no other explanation exists to explain irreducible complexity. Ironically, this weakness in the theory is what renders it falsifiable, making it, according to Popper anyway, scientific.

In order to falsify intelligent design, one of two things needs to be done.

1. Identify a sequence of steps whereby an "irredicibly complex" biochemical system could arise by gradual stages. For example, demonstrate a biochemical evolution of sight, from the most primitive photosensitive biochemistries to the most complex. The beauty of this approach is that you wouldn't have to prove that the evolutionary chain you construct is in fact the actual process. Merely by providing a viable alternative to intelligent design, you invalidate the theory.
   
   
2. Discover a new mechanism for evolution at the biochemical level which allows for systems to become irreducibly complex by stages.

Both of these approaches are well within current capabilities, which makes ID falsifiable, and therefore scientific. At least, if you still follow Popper's definition.

Katie hits another one out of the park. It's easy to see why she's a professional. Her latest essay, covering abortion, cuts through the sloganeering and hypocrisy of both camps, and deals in a very honest and open way with what really matters.

Suddenly, I, a person with all her grandparents still alive, a person who had never even been to a funeral, was faced with death. Not only was I faced with death in the abstract, I was faced with The Decision. In consultation with my with my sweet, 26 year old husband, a man similarly unschooled in the ways of mortality, I was charged with handing down a judgment as to whether Peanut would continue to leap and hop about in my womb and ultimately, be born alive. With a somber face, the doctor uttered the words that were to become so familiar to us over the next weeks, "Now, no one can make this decision for you. Only you can decide."

What a choice to have to make.....

So much for the "moderate Palestinian majority" According to polls conducted by the Palestinian Jerusalem Media and Communication Center most Palestinians favor the complete elimination of Israel.

Fifty-one percent of people surveyed said the end result of the uprising should be "liberating all of historic Palestine," referring to British-mandate Palestine, part of which was recognized as Israel in 1948.
Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the 1967 Middle East war and these territories have since been the focus of internationally sponsored peace negotiations for the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Forty-three percent of respondents said the aim of the uprising was to end Israeli occupation and establish a state only in the West Bank and Gaza.
This compared with a poll taken in December in which 48 percent said the uprising's goal was to end the occupation compared with 44 percent who said the aim should be to eliminate Israel, the JMCC said.

As I said earlier in this blog, as soon as anybody can show me any credible evidence that support for the Intifadah and the elimination of Israel is not widespread, then I will entertain the notion of a sizeable moderate faction in Palestine. Until then, I'll know them by their actions.

If they aren't careful attorneys could slip below used car salesman in the public eye. Richard Reid's lawyers have successfully argued that a plane is not a vehicle for mass transit.

Reid's attorneys had argued at a hearing last month that there was a potential defect in the law because it does not clearly define an airplane as a vehicle of mass transportation.

The law doesn't define the word 'a**hole' either, but then, the defense attorneys appear to have that covered.

This is what happens when you sleep all day You miss things like this:
Looks like a dead ringer to me.

Courtesy of the Junkyard Blog, who, along with Armed and Dangerous have just been added to the my links.

From a tract handed out last weekend in Gatlinburg:

Concerned parents:

• Do you know what your children are watching on TV?
  
• Do you know that they are being indoctrinated with communist propaganda, cleverly disguised as entertainment?
  
• Do you know that the programming is so subtle that it has been on the air for decades, and only now, through sophisticated analysis techniques have we been able to identify the hidden subtexts that are programming your children to become mindless servants of the state?

Do you want to know more?

It’s alarming but undeniably true. The word programming will take on a sinister new meaning when you finish reading what we have discovered.

Some of the beloved children’s shows of all time are in fact secretly encoded with communist propaganda. The propaganda is skillfully hidden, obviously the work of a master of subliminal psychology. Each piece is so small as to be unnoticeable, but when taken as a whole by a properly receptive audience, the effect is as powerful as a blow to the head.

Before we delve into the messages hidden in your child’s favorite shows, let’s look at the mechanics of the process.

The TV you watch shows an interlaced picture, which means that half of the picture is replaced each time the tube is scanned. The tube is scanned 60 times a second, which results in a frame rate of 30 frames per second. 60 cycles per second, or 60 hertz is also the frequency at which we transmit AC power. Coincidence? Not hardly.

60 hertz is a primary harmonic of a certain type of brain wave called a theta wave. This brain wave pattern is associated with deep hypnotic trances, or meditative states, where the mind is open to suggestion. Experiments have shown that when people watch TV, their brain synchronizes with the scan rate, and begin to show increased theta wave activity.

Do you still think it’s coincidence?

The implications are staggering, folks. TV’s were designed to numb your conscious mind, leaving you open to whatever propaganda the government sees fit to put there.

Now that we know how the process works, it’s time to reveal the shows used to carry these diabolical messages, and to expose those messages to the light of day. You’ll be shocked to find that some of your old favorite shows are on the list.

• The Flintstones
  
• The Jetsons
  
• The Brady Bunch
  
• Gilligan’s Island
  
• Warner Bros cartoons, particularly Road Runner.
  

The list goes on, but I’m sure you’re shocked enough already.

“This can’t be true,” you say. “These shows were my favorites when I was a kid.”

People, that’s the dead giveaway. How much of the stuff you liked when you were a kid do your kids like?

Nothing!

Except for these shows.

Is the picture getting clearer yet? They like the shows because they’re programmed to! It’s so obvious once you put the pieces together.

Now then, how are the messages transmitted? Once the mind is in a properly receptive state, the messages are delivered via the actions of the character. Archetypical characters are introduced, and then made to behave in ways which support communist propaganda.

For example, the professor on Gilligan’s Island is a direct representation of American technology and ingenuity. He can build a trans-atlantic phone network out of coconuts, some colored vines, and a cable that washed up on the beach. He is a true whiz with gadgets, and a fountain of knowledge. But he is helpless when it comes to solving the primary dilemma, how to fix the boat. This symbolizes the futility of American technology and initiative when faced with the insurmountable obstacle of the communism, as it marches to inevitable victory. Wiley Coyote similarly represents the futility of technology when facing a natural power in the Road Runner. The tip off here is in the name “Road Runner.” The initials RR actually stand for Red Russia. Notice that the syllabic pattern is the same as well. Another tip off.

Going back to Gilligan’s Island, Ginger represents the seductive nature of capitalism. It looks great from the outside, but once involved, you find out that it is all an act. That’s why Ginger was an actress on the show. Another tip off-her hair was red.

It’s beginning to get frighteningly plausible isn’t it?

The Howells are easy, representing the useless, exploitative, upper class parasites, who exist on the efforts of others. The tip here is in the name Thurston Howell III. The Industrial revolution came first, then the American Revolution, and the third great revolution will be the Communist Revolution.

MaryAnn and Gilligan are the workers, the heart of the communist system. Good hearted, and simple, they follow the lead of the state, represented by the skipper, and do most of the labor that keeps the commune running. They need the guidance of the skipper to keep them out of trouble, just as the worker needs the state to take care of him.

So now you see how this seemingly innocent show is actually indoctrinating your children with communist propaganda. It only makes sense. Why else would such a lousy show still be on the air in every market in America?

WAKE UP PARENTS and take action now! Call the number listed below to find out how you can help.

The guy makes a strong case…..

New post in And So It Goes: The Loves of My Life: The Tragic

New post in And So It Goes: The Loves of My Life: The Comic

A nice note Richard Bennett just sent me a nice note, thanking me for the link, and telling me that he once lived in Morristown, which is just up the road from me. He asks if that makes him an honorary Tennessee blogger.

Sure! Hey, the Axis of Weevil gives out memberships if a blogger is even remotely considering the possibility of moving to Alabama. Richard actually lived here for awhile. I wonder if we could get him to the next Tennessee blogger bash?

There is a difference, Katie Katie Granju just posted a new essay on show moms, and how she was surprised to discover she had become one.

But behind the pastel-colored sweatsuits, the over-permed hair, and the strong regional accents are women with a steely glint in
their eyes. These mothers are out to WIN. As youthful pageant competitors themselves back in the day, they may have never had the opportunity to make it past Miss Hickman County 1984, but their little girls are going to go all the way, dammit, and woe to anyone who gets in the way.

I never imagined that I could have anything in common with these infamous "pageant moms" until a recent evening as my sister watched me carefully packing my six year old daughter's riding clothes, boots, helmet, gloves, hair ribbons, saddle, bridle, and snacks in [reparation for a horse show the next day. My daughter, Jane, had already gone to bed, but I stayed busy
for the rest of the evening finishing up ironing, saddle-soaping,and polishing her gear.

I wrote about those pageant moms earlier.

There is a clear difference between what Katie is doing and what those pageant moms were doing. Katie's daughter is showing a horse. In a child beauty pageant, the child is the horse.

That makes all the difference.

Ends justifying the means? First read this:

WASHINGTON — The annual document the president prepares for Congress on national security strategy will include a new "strike first" military policy against terrorists and rogue states that possess chemical, biological or nuclear weapons, the White House said Monday.

My dad always taught me that if you are going to get into a fight, and there's no way to avoid it, make sure you land the first punch. Often, the fight will end right there.

Maybe I watched too many westerns as a kid, but I remember in every gunfight, the bad guy always drew first. Then the good guy drew like lightening and gunned the villian down, and it was legal because it was self defense. That ethic made an impression on me that remains still. You can fight back only when you are attacked, otherwise you are provoking the fight.

Now, we have an official national policy of striking first. I understand the reasoning behind it, and can't really say that I disagree with it; I'm sure my dad is all for it. But whenever you replace principle with expediency, you have to pay a price. A nagging voice in the back of my head keeps asking what is going to happen when that bill comes due.

That's one for the good guys
(For the whacked out liberals out there, that means us)
Today, we found out that a month ago, a US citizen who was planning to set off a 'dirty bomb' was arrested as he re-entered the country.

An al-Qaida plot to detonate a radioactive “dirty bomb” in the United States was foiled when a U.S. citizen was arrested in Chicago last month as he arrived on a flight from Pakistan, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced Monday. The suspect indicated “some knowledge of the Washington, D.C., area,” but the plot was disrupted before a target was decided upon, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz said later at a news conference.

Reading the rest of the article, it appears that this jerk was a typical thug until he joined up with al Qaida. That may be the scariest thing about this terrorist group. A common street thug can potentially trigger a nuclear device.

On a related note, I'd like to thank all the left wingers in the country who will cry and moan about how this was kept secret for a month, how the poor dear is being held indefinitely, and not being allowed free access to his lawyer. Y'all y'all keep worrying about the rights of scumbags like him. That frees me up to worry about the rights of my kids to not become nuclear waste.

That's it? Heres the link. Read the story. It won't take long.

Where is the rest of this story?

Soccer hooliganiskisFrom FoxNews:

Russian soccer fans rampaged near the Kremlin after their team lost to Japan in World Cup play Sunday, torching cars, smashing store windows and attacking young Japanese musicians. At least one man was killed in the melee.


An Associated Press photographer saw a mutilated corpse lying on the street during the chaos, which erupted across a square from the Kremlin walls and lasted more than an hour.

At least seven cars were burning and more than a dozen were overturned. Dozens of others had their windows smashed. Officials said as many as 27 people were hospitalized.

About 8,000 fans, according to police, ran through the streets chanting "Forward, Russia!" and other soccer slogans. They broke shop windows, jumped up and down on cars and threw empty beer bottles at each other. Some were wrapped in the Russian tricolor

Russia is becoming more westernized every day.

Looks like it'll be a tie I was afraid of that. The US had the lead, and went into a typical soccer stall, but Korea is just too strong onn the attack for that strategy to work. They scored, and with 4 minutes left, it's a 1-1 tie. If it finishes this way, both teams will have one win and a tie, and be tied for first. Whoever wins between portugal and poland later this morning will be in third place. For the US to seal the second spot in the round of 16, they will have to at least tie Poland. Then it won't matter who wins between Portugal and Korea next week.

Flexibility is a good thing I like running a multi part blog. I can write according to my mood, and the events in the world. If there isn't anything really captivating going on in the world, I can concentrate on my personal journal, and vice versa. Piers Anthony claims to have never suffered from writer's block because of a similar system, where he keeps several projects running simultaneously. If an idea for a project occurs to him while working on another one, he switches in mid stream to capture the idea, before returning to the original. I'm doing something very similar here.

Helps keep things fresh...

New posts in Battle of the Bulge; Transitions and And So It Goes; Swimming With Sharks

Enjoy!