Saturday, December 09, 2006
Thursday, November 02, 2006
On Dave ...
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Rich Wood and I run the Alternate Brain, a blog concerned mainly with veterans' affairs. I am honored to stand before you today with two of my heroes, men of honor. Let me throw out some numbers:
Close to 3,000 American service people dead
Over 20,000 wounded, many with serious brain injury, many missing limbs.
No WMDs
Civil War in Iraq
Osama bin Forgotten
And the Taliban are resurgent in Afghanistan because troops needed there have been sent to Iraq instead.
President Bush and his henchmen lied to us at every turn to provide a justification for the war in Iraq. They fabricated evidence of WMDs, as Ambassador Wilson proved beyond a shadow of a doubt. They've cashiered flag officers, like General Shinseki, who before the war even began, made clear the war plan was insufficient and inept. People who knew failure was a foregone conclusion before the first American boots touched the Iraqi sand.
They've used the war in Iraq, our soldiers' lives, for political purposes. They've gone so far as to destroy the career of an American intelligence officer in a petty attempt at revenge. Ambassador Wilson's lovely wife, performing the critical mission of chasing down WMDs and the people who would supply them to terrorists, was put in mortal danger by her exposure, as were her contacts and assets working in the region, because Mr. Wilson dared to speak the truth. Remember, she was looking for the WMDs the President said he so desperately wanted to find.
President Bush does not want to win the War on Terror; he wants it to go on forever, for that is the basis of his power. Were it not for a Congress of sheep, or lemmings as it were because they're following him off a cliff, he would have never been able to get away with it. The Human Rubber Stamps, like Peter King, have enabled him, smiling and nodding their heads, giving him everything he asks for without oversight.
Good men like Dave Mejias are needed to put a stop to this mess.
Dave will ask the tough questions, unlike Peter King who'll do and say whatever the Republican Spin Machine tells him to.
Dave Mejias knows American troops are not just props for photo ops, not just cannon fodder and deck apes in the imperialistic conquest and illegal occupation of Iraq. Not just a comma in a footnote of history.
Dave knows that America's obligation to our fighting men and women does not stop when they can no longer carry a rifle in combat.
Dave Mejias knows that the Armed Forces of the United States are not political tools to be used by a spineless bunch who've never looked into the business end of an enemy rifle. Dishonorable men who went to the greatest lengths to avoid service in their generation's war, yet squander the lives of this generation's soldiers so cavalierly.
I have, and it is the reason I stand with him. It is the reason every veteran in New York's Third District should as well. Dave Mejias knows the true meaning of 'supporting the troops' and that's why he has my endorsement, my respect, and my unqualified support.
Close to 3,000 American service people dead
Over 20,000 wounded, many with serious brain injury, many missing limbs.
No WMDs
Civil War in Iraq
Osama bin Forgotten
And the Taliban are resurgent in Afghanistan because troops needed there have been sent to Iraq instead.
President Bush and his henchmen lied to us at every turn to provide a justification for the war in Iraq. They fabricated evidence of WMDs, as Ambassador Wilson proved beyond a shadow of a doubt. They've cashiered flag officers, like General Shinseki, who before the war even began, made clear the war plan was insufficient and inept. People who knew failure was a foregone conclusion before the first American boots touched the Iraqi sand.
They've used the war in Iraq, our soldiers' lives, for political purposes. They've gone so far as to destroy the career of an American intelligence officer in a petty attempt at revenge. Ambassador Wilson's lovely wife, performing the critical mission of chasing down WMDs and the people who would supply them to terrorists, was put in mortal danger by her exposure, as were her contacts and assets working in the region, because Mr. Wilson dared to speak the truth. Remember, she was looking for the WMDs the President said he so desperately wanted to find.
President Bush does not want to win the War on Terror; he wants it to go on forever, for that is the basis of his power. Were it not for a Congress of sheep, or lemmings as it were because they're following him off a cliff, he would have never been able to get away with it. The Human Rubber Stamps, like Peter King, have enabled him, smiling and nodding their heads, giving him everything he asks for without oversight.
Good men like Dave Mejias are needed to put a stop to this mess.
Dave will ask the tough questions, unlike Peter King who'll do and say whatever the Republican Spin Machine tells him to.
Dave Mejias knows American troops are not just props for photo ops, not just cannon fodder and deck apes in the imperialistic conquest and illegal occupation of Iraq. Not just a comma in a footnote of history.
Dave knows that America's obligation to our fighting men and women does not stop when they can no longer carry a rifle in combat.
Dave Mejias knows that the Armed Forces of the United States are not political tools to be used by a spineless bunch who've never looked into the business end of an enemy rifle. Dishonorable men who went to the greatest lengths to avoid service in their generation's war, yet squander the lives of this generation's soldiers so cavalierly.
I have, and it is the reason I stand with him. It is the reason every veteran in New York's Third District should as well. Dave Mejias knows the true meaning of 'supporting the troops' and that's why he has my endorsement, my respect, and my unqualified support.
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Friday, October 27, 2006
King-sized scandal
Reprint of an email from the Mejias campaign, 27 October 2006:
What calls or meetings has Peter King had with Sean King and clients of Sean King? What requests has Peter King made on behalf of Sean King and clients of Sean King to government agencies and congressional committees? What Homeland Security contracts have Peter King steered in the direction of Sean King's clients? Has Peter King ever encouraged companies lobbying for Homeland Security contracts to hire Sean King's firm? Will Peter King release all correspondence with his Congressional office about lobbying for Homeland Security contract? Will Peter King release his Congressional calendar to show who he met with, and when?
FARMINGDALE - On the heels of the recent news that the home of Congressman Curt Weldon's lobbyist daughter was raided by the F.B.I.,
An article in yesterday's Newsday ("King's son works for defense lobbying firm"), details that Sean King is a Vice President at Park Strategies, and that "Park Strategies has lucrative contracts with many big businesses to lobby on defense and homeland security spending." The article quotes Peter King as saying "[Sean King] has no clients that deal with my office." NOT TRUE. This video shows Sean King in
A posting on the New York Observer's Politicker Blog quoted King as saying "[Sean King] is not a lobbyist, does no lobbying, and has no dealings with my office whatsoever." NOT TRUE. According to the State of New York, Sean King IS a registered lobbyist.
Today, in a separate Newsday article, Peter King continued to deny any wrong doing despite mounting evidence that he is engaged in a clear conflict of interest - homeland security contracts being awarded to companies that employ his son's lobbying firm.
"This is a perfect example of the culture of corruption in Washington - relatives of members of Congress lobbying for homeland security contracts," said Mejias. "Peter King is lying about his son's employment as a lobbyist, and Sean King's clients receiving government contracts. This is a major conflict of interest, and the people of
Mejias called on Peter King to answer several critical questions:
"It"s bad enough that Peter King has been a rubber stamp for the failed policies of the Bush administration," said Mejias. "Now we learn that Peter King's relatives are cashing in on his position, and he's lying to cover it up. It's time to put an end to the culture of corruption in
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Bombing the Google
Just helping Darryl, blogging at the General's place:
...
Share these links with your friends and family, and plaster the links all over your blogs and web pages!
Senate races:WA-Sen: Mike McGavick VA-Sen: George Allen TN-Sen: Bob Corker RI-Sen: Lincoln Chafee MT-Sen: Conrad Burns MO-Sen: Jim Talent MD-Sen: Michael Steele AZ-Sen: Jon Kyl
House races:WA-08: Dave Reichert VA-10: Frank Wolf PA-10: Don Sherwood PA-08: Mike Fitzpatrick PA-07: Curt Weldon PA-04: Melissa Hart OH-18: Joy Padgett OH-15: Deborah Pryce OH-02: Jean Schmidt OH-01: Steve Chabot NY-29: Randy Kuhl NY-26: Tom Reynolds NY-20: John Sweeney NY-03: Peter King NV-03: Jon Porter NM-01: Heather Wilson NJ-07: Mike Ferguson NH-02: Charlie Bass NC-11: Charles Taylor NC-08: Robin Hayes MN-06: Michele Bachmann MN-01: Gil Gutknecht KY-04: Geoff Davis KY-03: Anne Northup KS-02: Jim Ryun IN-08: John Hostettler IN-02: Chris Chocola IL-14: Dennis Hastert IL-10: Mark Kirk IL-06: Peter Roskam ID-01: Bill Sali IA-01: Mike Whalen FL-22: Clay Shaw FL-16: Joe Negron FL-13: Vernon Buchanan CT-04: Christopher Shays CO-07: Rick O'Donnell CO-05: Doug Lamborn CO-04: Marilyn Musgrave CA-50: Brian Bilbray CA-11: Richard Pombo CA-04: John Doolittle AZ-05: J.D. Hayworth AZ-01: Rick Renzi
Click here for more information about this post, and see this if you want to do something similar on your blog or web page.
...
Cross-posted at the Brain.
Sunday, October 08, 2006
Saturday, October 07, 2006
Cruise ships vs. Ocean liners
Since I'm sharing my vacation with you, I figured I'd explain a little about the differences in cruising between cruise ships and ocean liners, just in case you were seeing how much fun we're having and would like to book a cruise of your own.
There are more than two types of passenger ships but for cruising purposes you need only concern yourself with two of them. There are cruise ships and there are ocean liners and they are very different vessels. The first rule of thumb in differentiating is that cruise ships are a hull that's built around a hotel. Basically taking a land-based hotel and making it seaworthy. An ocean liner is a hull into which a hotel is fitted.
While both are basically floating hotels, ships like the Noordam and her sisters, Oosterdam, Westerdam, and Zuiderdam (Vista - class ships), Queen Mary 2, and Queen Elizabeth 2 are ocean liners. Most ships now plying the tourist trade routes however, are cruise ships. Big, boxy things that the esteemed writer and lecturer Bill Miller (who is also passenger aboard Noordam for this crossing and I had the delightful opportunity to meet the other day) calls "forgettable".
Ocean liners have a long, storied history, making their debut upon the high seas around the turn of the last century. They are, as I quote Mr. Miller once again, "the largest piece of moving machinery made by man." Noordam and her sisters are just the latest in a long line of ships who were built to make the North Atlantic crossing from Europe to the Americas. And that is the key fact about ocean liners, they are built to take the pounding of the North Atlantic through four seasons.
There is also a different culture aboard liners as opposed to cruise ships. Liners are still considered transportation, just as they were before the advent of passenger aircraft and the jet engine. Many people aboard Noordam, over a hundred by the way, are either staying aboard after we dock in NYC to move on to other destinations or were aboard when we embarked at Civitaveccia in Italy, leaving us in Spain or at Bermuda when we arrive. Mrs. F and I have come to believe that liners are the only way to return from a European vacation, which we did for the first time coming home from London aboard QM2 two years ago.
I won't get into the wonderful history of ocean liners, Mr. Miller does that far better than I in his 60 books on the subject, but I will make it easy for you. Ocean liners are a culture of sophisticated elegance. Cruise ships are party boats. Each has its place. The Mrs. and I have had a great time on the fourteen holidays we've taken on cruise ships since we were married. At this point in our lives though, you probably won't see us on another one. As I said, there is a different culture aboard liners.
Where a cruise ship has Caribbean bands and the canned background music is reggae, hip hop, and rock & roll, aboard a liner you're far more likely to see a string quartet or a big band, and the background is more Mozart than Bob Marley. A liner is more sedate, the crowd a bit older, and drinking and raucous partying is not the priority. Lord knows, the alcohol does flow, but you won't see people falling-down drunk. You won't see jeans and t-shirts at dinner, and it's the odd man who doesn't wear a jacket and tie to the dining room. Many people's downtime is rather spent in the library, attending lectures, or classes on one subject or another. I signed up for several master class lectures by Mr. Miller and the Mrs. is taking a series of cooking classes from some world-renkowned chef, broadening her already gourmet-caliber talents.
Refined elegance and liner culture is truly an amazing thing and the ghosts of the old liners now departed, the German Emperador, the Italian Rex, the French Normandie, the American United States, Lusitania and Mauritania the ships of the legendary British White Star Line (yes, even Titanic), and the original Queens, Mary and Elizabeth from Cunard stand guard over us as we make the crossing that was once the only way to get from Old World to New. Liners embrace the romance of the high seas and while to many, a ship is a ship, reading one of Mr. Miller's books will give you a new understanding of these leviathans of the world's oceans.
Liner vs. Cruise ship? Put me on an ocean liner any day. Once you're bitten by the bug, you'll see what I mean.
There are more than two types of passenger ships but for cruising purposes you need only concern yourself with two of them. There are cruise ships and there are ocean liners and they are very different vessels. The first rule of thumb in differentiating is that cruise ships are a hull that's built around a hotel. Basically taking a land-based hotel and making it seaworthy. An ocean liner is a hull into which a hotel is fitted.
While both are basically floating hotels, ships like the Noordam and her sisters, Oosterdam, Westerdam, and Zuiderdam (Vista - class ships), Queen Mary 2, and Queen Elizabeth 2 are ocean liners. Most ships now plying the tourist trade routes however, are cruise ships. Big, boxy things that the esteemed writer and lecturer Bill Miller (who is also passenger aboard Noordam for this crossing and I had the delightful opportunity to meet the other day) calls "forgettable".
Ocean liners have a long, storied history, making their debut upon the high seas around the turn of the last century. They are, as I quote Mr. Miller once again, "the largest piece of moving machinery made by man." Noordam and her sisters are just the latest in a long line of ships who were built to make the North Atlantic crossing from Europe to the Americas. And that is the key fact about ocean liners, they are built to take the pounding of the North Atlantic through four seasons.
There is also a different culture aboard liners as opposed to cruise ships. Liners are still considered transportation, just as they were before the advent of passenger aircraft and the jet engine. Many people aboard Noordam, over a hundred by the way, are either staying aboard after we dock in NYC to move on to other destinations or were aboard when we embarked at Civitaveccia in Italy, leaving us in Spain or at Bermuda when we arrive. Mrs. F and I have come to believe that liners are the only way to return from a European vacation, which we did for the first time coming home from London aboard QM2 two years ago.
I won't get into the wonderful history of ocean liners, Mr. Miller does that far better than I in his 60 books on the subject, but I will make it easy for you. Ocean liners are a culture of sophisticated elegance. Cruise ships are party boats. Each has its place. The Mrs. and I have had a great time on the fourteen holidays we've taken on cruise ships since we were married. At this point in our lives though, you probably won't see us on another one. As I said, there is a different culture aboard liners.
Where a cruise ship has Caribbean bands and the canned background music is reggae, hip hop, and rock & roll, aboard a liner you're far more likely to see a string quartet or a big band, and the background is more Mozart than Bob Marley. A liner is more sedate, the crowd a bit older, and drinking and raucous partying is not the priority. Lord knows, the alcohol does flow, but you won't see people falling-down drunk. You won't see jeans and t-shirts at dinner, and it's the odd man who doesn't wear a jacket and tie to the dining room. Many people's downtime is rather spent in the library, attending lectures, or classes on one subject or another. I signed up for several master class lectures by Mr. Miller and the Mrs. is taking a series of cooking classes from some world-renkowned chef, broadening her already gourmet-caliber talents.
Refined elegance and liner culture is truly an amazing thing and the ghosts of the old liners now departed, the German Emperador, the Italian Rex, the French Normandie, the American United States, Lusitania and Mauritania the ships of the legendary British White Star Line (yes, even Titanic), and the original Queens, Mary and Elizabeth from Cunard stand guard over us as we make the crossing that was once the only way to get from Old World to New. Liners embrace the romance of the high seas and while to many, a ship is a ship, reading one of Mr. Miller's books will give you a new understanding of these leviathans of the world's oceans.
Liner vs. Cruise ship? Put me on an ocean liner any day. Once you're bitten by the bug, you'll see what I mean.
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Cadiz/Jerez de la Frontinera 2
Seems that St. Michael (San Miguel) is a big macher in Spain. I think more churches are named after him here than any other. He's the patron saint of Jerez de la Frontinera.
This is the oldest doorway in the city of Jerez. Still in use in the town hall since just after the Romans got tossed.
The Plaza de la Asuncion in Jerez, also dating back to Roman times, Julius Caesar living here for a time.
The Gothic Cathedral de la Salvador. Notice the flying buttress architecture. To architecture nuts like the Mrs and me, this was heaven.
A statue of
Cadiz/Jerez de la Frontinera
Entering Cadiz through the old city walls.
A beautiful square in the center of the Old City. They have so many of these that I forget the name of this one, but way cool regardless. Art Deco abounds here.
Cadiz is a city of beaches as it sits on the Atlantic, just outside the Straits of Gibraltar. The sand is yellow, the color reflected in a lot of the old construction. The boats belong to the mackerel and anchovy fisherman who head out to sea in those little fucking things as the sun goes down.
The Al-Kazar. The Moorish/Muslim influence is great here, owing to the proximiy to Africa.
The ancient mosaics also decorate every street corner, a hint at the Catholic background of 90% of the people here.
Monday, October 02, 2006
Misc.
In Florence.
This bust of Dutch King William is at the end of our corridor on the ship. I rub his head for luck every time I go past.
Kids build the same crappy cars all over the world - Valencia.
The Fixers on the bus - Valencia.
Mother Superior jumped the gun. Boy was she pissed at me for taking her pic. Heh ... - Florence.
Valencia
Leaving Noordam bright and early.
Ruins of the old city wall.
Plaza de la Riena and the Church of San Miguel.
The bull ring.
The city market, which has been in operation in one form or another for close to 2 millennia.
Sunday, October 01, 2006
Barcelona
A couple frigates and desroyers from the Spanish Navy anchored off our bow.
And for all you Defensor Fortis guys, talk about an excellent field of fire and defensive position. Attacking this position would require something on the scale of Omaha Beach.
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