Wonder why Iran needs 12 Cruise Missiles?

Joel Rosenberg is reporting, via Ha'aretz, that:

"Iran Received 12 Cruise Missiles with a 3,000-Km Range from Ukraine, Capable of Carrying Nuclear Warheads" -- Ha'aretz headline

Excerpt: "Maj.-Gen. Aharon Ze'evi (Farkash), Director of Military Intelligence, told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Tuesday that Iran had recently received 12 cruise missiles with a 3,000-km range, which are capable of carrying nuclear warheads. 18 such missiles were transported from Ukraine to Russia, of which 12 ended up in Iranian hands; the other six were received by China."

On the road again

The last couple of weeks have been extremely busy and very eventful. This past Sunday afternoon the Glasgows and the Hughes put on the best doggone wedding any of us had ever had the pleasure of attending. One of these days I may post a few celebratory wedding pics, but I had to leave town on business way too early the day after the festivities and I don't have access to any of the ones I took at the reception.

There is much about which to blog, but lo, I haven't caught up on sleep as yet and I'm on a "borrowed" computer for the next week or so.

Will write as time allows.

Pic of the Day

Iraq's Purple Finger of Democracy, courtesy of Alexandra over at All Things Beautiful.

Cover-ups of 2005

WorldNetDaily is doing a piece on the biggest covered up stories of 2005. My vote is for the ABLE DANGER story which Rep. Curt Weldon has successfully uncovered, but it hasn't gotten the attention or investigation it deserves.

Random Cat Blogging

So why would a devoted news junkie involve himself in "cat blogging" when so much is going on around the world? It's because the Glasgow household is completely disrupted this week on account of our daughter's wedding is this Sunday. My wife is completely monopolizing the computer throughout the day and evening organizing every last detail and I've been thoroughly entrenched with "honey do's and daddy do's."



This will most definitely become "the week that was." By the time the wedding comes and goes, this entire week will have become a totally surrealistic "did it really happen, or what" week for Teeka and me.

And so I'm cat blogging at random. Our 9 year old uncommonly common gray tabby, who goes by the name of Little Joe, usually steals our attention just when we think something important is going on and he demands center stage. Tonite is such an occasion. When so much other stuff is going on, Joe's megalomaniacal persona demanded I put him up on the blog. So I present to you Little Joe!

China Massacre Draws Global Attention

From The Epoch Times:

The forced appropriation of farmers' land by the municipal authorities of Shanwei City, Guangdong Province has incited a mass protest by the residents. The land appropriation was conducted in order to build a power plant. The local authorities suppressed the protest using thousands of armed police who reportedly shot the protesters using submachine guns and tanks. Dozens are believed to have died. This latest attack on its own people by the Chinese government reminds the West of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre and has drawn serious attention globally.

On December 10, the official state media finally broke the silence and confessed that Shanwei villagers were shot at by police and that the official who ordered fire was arrested.

Cox & Forkum nail this one! I hope Congress is paying attention.

An Easy Way to Say "Thank You"

This just takes a minute and could mean so much to one or more of our troops who selflessly serve our country. Tell them how much they are appreciated. A hearty thanks to townhall for making this service available. Go there now!

Just one word, "Funerals!"

Back in 1967, when we were watching The Graduate, the influential businessman, Mr. McGuire, gave Benjamin (Dustin Hoffman) invaluable advice in the form of one word on which he should build his future: "Plastics."

Today the word is "Funerals:"

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Funeral directors worried about a baby boomer crunch in the years ahead are actively recruiting in high schools.

They fear they may not be able to handle the demand by 2025 when the number of people dying every year is expected to jump by more than 20 percent.

Two years ago, the National Funeral Directors Association prepared a recruiting guide. It features a video with funeral directors extolling their job, and suggests they avoid wearing black suits.

One funeral director in New York hands out a brochure to young people that asks, "Searching for a career that's six feet above the rest?"

People in the profession admit it can be a hard sell. For one thing, pay can be mediocre. Median earnings in 2002 were just over $43,000.

The times, they are a changin'!

Here's something you don't see everyday!

Hat tip to FreeRepublic for turning me on to this site. Be sure to check out HappyNews.com - All The News That's Fun To Print. There's positive stuff here. It's not just some pollyanna site. Believe it or not, good stuff happens once in awhile.

Go there. I've linked it on the right hand column and plan it go there often. So should you!

Not something for which to be proud

New York City is the abortion capital of America according to New York Magazine online:

In 1970, New York passed the most permissive abortion law in America, one that defined the state as the country’s abortion refuge. Overnight, a new industry materialized in New York City, promoting itself to women across the country. The pitches were often blunt. A newspaper ad from the time inquired, “Want to be un-pregnant?”

Thirty-five years later, New York has the highest abortion rate in America. In 2000, the last year for which good data are available, 39 out of every 1,000 women in the state ended a pregnancy, for a total of 164,000 abortions that year. In America, one of every ten abortions occurs in New York, and in New York, seven of every ten abortions are performed in New York City. In absolute terms, there are more abortions performed on minors, more repeat abortions, and more late abortions (over 21 weeks) in New York City than anywhere else in the country. In parts of the city, the ratio of abortions to births is one to one.

Over the past twenty years, while legislatures have circumscribed access to abortion in state after state, especially for the poor and the young, New York has remained an island of unrestricted abortion rights. Medicaid pays for abortions for low-income women. Teenagers don’t need a parent’s permission to have an abortion. There are no 24-hour waiting periods. Thirty-four major clinics in New York City each perform more than 400 abortions per year.

New York becomes more pro-choice every year. After years of electoral free fall, the New York Right to Life Party failed to win enough votes in 2002 to stay on the ballot. The party doesn’t even have a Website anymore. The New York Right to Life Committee, which founded the national anti-abortion movement in 1967, hasn’t had a legislative victory in years. No pro-life candidate can win statewide office in New York. Ambitious Republicans climbing toward the governor’s mansion, like George Pataki, and now John Faso, hastily ditch their pro-life pasts. New York City’s mayor is one of the most pro-choice politicians in the country.

In short, New York is the abortion capital of America.

Pity New York!

More Blacks opting to home school

More Black families are deciding to educate their children at home, according to an AP piece in The State. And why not? As government schools take it upon themselves to indoctrinate more and educate less, the home education movement will continue to flourish, as it should.

The bogus claim that home educated students suffered from the lack of socialization which, supposedly, only government schools could offer, may now be the very reason NOT to send children to the failing government schools. The "socialization" in government schools is demonstrably a negative influence on children.

The sub-culture of insolence, drugs, promiscuity and lack of discipline, rampant in so many of the urban schools, not to mention the lack of education, have spawned a desperate need for alternative schooling in cities across the country. Poor Black families, who often live in blighted urban areas, in the past have had no choice in where and how their children could be educated.

Powerful leftwing Teachers Unions, like the NEA, have decried school choice and school vouchers and have left parents no other choice but to take responsibility for the education of their own children in what is, most assuredly, a safer, more loving environment...their own homes.

This growing phenomenon is producing well mannered, well rounded, intelligent young people who are being sought out by colleges. The home education movement is gaining credibility and popularity because it is succeeding in producing quality students.

The success of home schooling is a threat, like no other, to the proponents of government education. Like so many failing leftwing institutions, schools and administrators are threatened by the success of home schoolers because it renders them virtually irrelevant. Not only can parents educate their children for a fraction of the cost, but they can actually do a far better job.

It may not be possible for everyone to educate their children at home, but it's definitely a viable option.

Newsweek's Top 10 Movies for '05

I guess it shouldn't come as any big surprise that the Top 10 movie picks from Newsweek don't include The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.

Here they are:

1. HEAD-ON: A rough German masterpiece about two lost Turks transformed by love.
2. GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK: Clooney's stunning, stirring tribute to a brave journalist.
3. KINGS AND QUEEN: Exhilaratingly unpredictable French gem about the havoc wreaked by a bourgeois femme fatale.
4. BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN: Ang Lee's devastating gay love story of the New West. A watershed.
5. THE BEST OF YOUTH: This Italian epic follows two brothers from '66 to now. It's six hours. You don't want it to end.
6. CAPOTE: Smart, unblinking portrait of a charming, ruthless genius.
7. CACHÉ: This chillingly ambiguous thriller shows a French couple under siege. Is the enemy without or within?
8. MUNICH: Spielberg's tense, disturbing study of terrorism and reprisal.
9. THE SQUID AND THE WHALE: Painfully funny comedy of a bookish family's self-destructing.
10. A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE: Small-town hero or savage gangster? Cronenberg's tight, provocative teaser.

Flyover country snubbed the critics and Narnia won big this weekend. Heh heh! Go see it!

The Chronicles of Narnia

This afternoon we went to see The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. It's a must see! Having never read the books, I knew nothing of the story. I wanted to see it before hearing or reading anything about it. All I had heard was that it was a big movie in the genre of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It is! Go see it this weekend before hearing all the reviews. Best Picture of the year! Best special effects (awesome)! Best Director! Longest list of credits! Be sure you see it on a very large screen.

See the trailer and incredible video clips of how they made the movie right here. There's nothing here that could spoil your movie going experience. Check them out!

Here are 5 reasons why Narnia is the next big thing.

AFTER you've seen the movie, you may go here, but do yourself a favor and wait, because she reveals too much of the story. If you've read the book, you already know the story so suit yourself, but don't say I didn't warn you!

Proud to have Sam Johnson as my Representative

It's not often you hear from Rep. Sam Johnson. He's the antithesis of the media whores who proliferate on Capitol Hill. It's not often that anyone stands up to Sen. McCain either, but the good Representative did just that regarding McCain's proposed legislation to ban torture. The mere suggestion, by Sen. McCain, that torture is standard operating procedure by our armed forces plays into the hand of our enemies...domestic and abroad.

Mr. Johnson has circulated a letter to colleagues arguing that the McCain proposal, which sailed through the Senate, 90-9, would needlessly hamper counter-terrorism efforts – a stance that has surprised human-rights advocates.

"I can't imagine what he's thinking," said Mark Ensalaco, director of the international studies and human rights program at the University of Dayton.

"America should never do to anyone, even our worst enemies, what the Vietnamese did to John McCain and Sam Johnson," said Tom Malinowski, Washington advocacy director of Human Rights Watch.

Mr. Johnson defended his position Tuesday, after two weeks of avoiding requests to explain his views on the McCain proposal, which he called "well-intentioned but unnecessary" and potentially dangerous.

"I feel very strongly about this because I know what torture is. Torture is already against the law, and John's proposal doesn't make it any more illegal," said Mr. Johnson, who spent seven years as a POW and left the service with two Silver Stars, a Distinguished Flying Cross, two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star.

He said federal law already bans torture, and the proposed language – which also rules out cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment of foreign prisoners – would give enemy fighters tips for withstanding interrogation.

"I'm afraid John's proposal will drastically diminish our ability to gather intelligence," he said.

Representative Johnson is one of the good guys in Washington and we need others like him to stand up to the RINO's, like Sen. McCain and so many others in Congress. I'm happy that he represents me in Washington DC.

Much more about McCain's torture rhetoric can be found at the home of America's truth detector.

Rumblings about Lieberman replacing Rumsfield

Reuters.com is reporting rumors that Sec/Def Rumsfeld is about to retire and Joe Lieberman will be the man to replace him:

The New York Post reported that Gordon England, the No. 2 official at the Pentagon, was the "inside contender" to replace Rumsfeld, but that Sen. Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut Democrat, also was a possibility.

In fact, the Defense Department said Rumsfeld held an early-morning meeting at the Pentagon on Thursday with Lieberman. The senator's views of the Iraq war, in contrast with many other Democrats, have been quoted approvingly in recent speeches by President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Rumsfeld himself.

Rumsfeld says he's not going to retire:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, the craftsman of U.S. Iraq war strategy and a magnet for criticism, said on Thursday he had no plans to retire from the post more than 2-1/2 years into the conflict.

"Those reports have been flying around since about four months after I assumed my post in 2001," Rumsfeld, 73, told reporters on Capitol Hill when asked about a New York Post report that White House officials are telling associates they expect him to quit early next year.

"I have no plans to retire," added Rumsfeld, who has been criticized over the conduct of the Iraq and the treatment of detainees in U.S. military custody.

I first heard the Lieberman rumor on the Glenn Beck Program this morning and to my surprise, Glenn thought it would be a good idea!

Couple that with the fact that Sean Hannity drools on himself whenever Lieberman is a guest and has gone so far as committing to campaign for him. OK, he may be better than most other dems, at least on his stand on the war against terrorism, but Joe Lieberman is still a very liberal democrat! Remember the Gore/Lieberman ticket?

Herein lies the monumental problem with the democrat party rocketing to the far left...the run of the mill liberal NOW looks like a conservative by comparison. That's not a good thing, folks, because the same axiom applies to republicans as well. When the left moves even further to the left, it allows the republicans to head to the center and even left of center. The entire body has moved to the left, not just the out of control dems. That's why true conservatives are so flummoxed these days.

We revel in the leftist implosion. It's a daily hoot to see and hear the democrat leadership make literal fools of themselves and their party, but the effect on the republicans has been devastating. They've never been comfortable standing up to their political foes in the media or across the isle, so it's much easier to just appease them by becoming more like them. They can more easily get away with it these days because the opposition is so far to the left the republicans can be "liberal" and still apprear to be conservative by comparison. That's why someone like Joe Lieberman can come across as a conservative when in reality he's still a liberal democrat by past standards.

Republicans may not be moving to the left as quickly as the party of Michael Moore and Howard Dean et al, but in general, the Republican party is not nearly as conservative as it was when Reagan was at the helm. This is what is so frustrating to conservatives. The repubs are in the majority, but they don't seem to be in charge.

Brothers Die In Separate Car Crashes Minutes Apart

It's being reported that two brothers, one 23 and the other, 21, were killed in unrelated accidents just 20 minutes apart. What kind of horror must that be for the parents and grandparents.

If anyone needs our prayers, it's the surviving family of these young men. Please take a few moments to ask that these poor folks may be comforted as only God will be able to do.

Don't run from Air Marshals

Not sure why this story is getting ANY negative feedback. The U.S. Air Marshal did exactly what he was supposed to do. Certainly the entire country reaches out to the family of Rigoberto Alpizar, the man who had mental problems, ran from the Air Marshal and was subsequently killed. How was the U.S. Marshal, who shot him, to know the man was ill and hadn't taken his prescribed meds? He couldn't have known and so he was completely justified in shooting to kill.

The bottom line here is just as it is in every case where a would-be criminal runs from a cop after being told to stop. Worse yet, this guy supposedly went for a possible gun or bomb in his belongings. You just don't do that!

His wife claimed he was mentally ill, but didn't take his meds. How very tragic! Seriously! The message to be learned here is, take the frickin' meds!!!!!

The WaPo Online has the story.

Late Autumn in Dallas

Although it's almost winter, as of today it still looked as though it was mid autumn, here in Dallas. We had a late fall here and I was able to get some last minute shots of some of Dallas' best photo spots. Last minute because it began to sleet and get real nasty even as I was on this shoot. We don't get much snow here, but it's sleeting as I write at 11:30PM, and tomorrow promises to be a day of closures around town.



Having grown up and learned to drive in snow and ice in the Great Pacific Northwest (Spokane, WA.), I know, firsthand that, driving on sleet/ice is incomparable to driving in snow. Even so, when it sleets here, the biggest problem is inexperienced drivers as much as the ice. So, when they close it down because of a quarter inch of ice, it's understandable.



Still, the northerners scoff at us wusses down here when we collectively stay home over a quarter inch of ice. Whatever!



But, it's as good a day as ever to post some Autumn shots of Dallas. If weather gets steadily dramatic in the next few days, I'll be there with my trusty camera with some winterized Dallas shots!

These pics were taken at White Rock Lake and Lakeside Drive in Highland Park, two of the prettiest areas in all of Dallas, regardless of the season.

64 Years ago...Remembering Pearl Harbor

Sixty-four years ago we were blindsided (although, there are indicating factors that some may have been forewarned) by the Japanese when we were attacked in Pearl Harbor. December 7, 1941 needs to always be remembered. We didn't start the fight, but we finished it!

Here are a few Pearl Harbor links for you to check out:

National Geographic is a good starting point with a multimedia map and timeline.

The Naval Historical Center lists a comprehensive index of action reports. Be sure to go there.

Pearl Harbor Attacked is an excellent site visually, as well as textually, containing information and discussion on the attack.


Time Magazine has a good photo essay as well as pertinent links.

The Online Encyclopedia Britannica is a comprehensive site with good links.

See This Day in History for the History Channel's overview.

National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific

(photo courtesy of skylighters.org/)

Saddam and the Dems

So what's up with Saddam telling the judge to go to hell and announcing he's not going to show up because he's not happy with his wardrobe? Is the judge being intimidated? Since when do "alleged" perps get to call the shots. Anti-war activist, Arch-leftist and one time Attorney General, Ramsey Clark, sure must be doing a bang up job for the deposed dictator. At this writing it has just been announced that the trial has been adjourned until December 21st.

Poor Saddam. He nobly announced that he wasn't afraid to die, but he certainly isn't acting like it. He said the withholding of clean undies and a new shirt was tantamount to terrorism. Here in America where Ramsey Clark might pack the jury with sympathetic "progressives," that kind of logic might hold water, but in Iraq, where real torture was a way of life, the jury may be less likely to identify with Saddam's current "discomforts."

If you haven't been able to listen to Rush, he's been predicting that Saddam's defense team would be wise to use the DNC's strategy that the war was based on lies and therefore illegitimate. It would be great for Saddam and poetic justice for the duplicitous dems, who are now actively campaigning for our loss in the war against terrorism.

The dems, under the leadership of Howard Dean, who just yesterday, declared a defeat in Iraq, have transcended embarrassing behavior and are sliding at breakneck speed toward sedition.



Yesterday was a big day for the foot-in-mouth dems. Senator and admitted war crimes perpetrator, John F. Kerry, called our troops in Iraq, terrorists. Way to go, dems. Every day that passes without repudiation from someone in the democrat party is another day of shame they bring upon themselves.

(Howard Dean photo courtesy of CODEPINK)

Homeschooling? Better check this out!

My blogging buddy, Heather, over at Sprittibee, has written an excellent, must read, if you're involved in homeschooling.

Her Top Ten Things To Do When You Start Homeschooling... is worthy of a national publication or homeschooling journal. Maybe someone will see it and pick it up. In the meantime, be sure to visit her site and read this piece.
__________

Homeschoolers, for more than a generation, have had to listen to the vacuous argument which suggests homeschooling inhibits necessary "socialization." We knew it was a bogus argument 20 years ago, and my friend, Mary Eileen over at Stand in the Trenches has posted a good piece on the so-called socialization problem. As the article aptly points out, all you need to do is be around home educated kids for awhile, spend a little time with them, and the age-old socialization myth is obliterated. Quite the contrary is true. Why, homeschoolers actually seem to be better socialized that those in government schools. Hmmm, imagine that!

Check it out...It's a good article.

Random shots of Arizona

My Arizona project is pretty well wrapped up and while I was out there I was able to take lots of pics. Here are a few.

Shown here, on the north side of Camel Back Mountain, is the Praying Monk. To give you an idea of his size, when I took this, there were two people standing on the Monk's head. If you look closely you can see a slight blur on his head. Those are the two climbers.




This old buckboard is at Greasewood Flat, one of the old timey watering holes in far north Scottsdale which lies in the shadow of Pinnacle Peak. Just a few years ago, this place was WAY out in the desert and now million dollar homes and resorts surround this place, which was once a stopover and bunkhouse for stage coaches.




This is a shot of Pinnacle Peak late in the afternoon taken from the above mentioned Greasewood Flat.



This is a shot of a golf course lake on McCormick Ranch, Scottsdale.

Cloud Blogging

There were some interesting cloud formations between Phoenix and Albuquerque this past Friday afternoon. I thought I would post a few of them.

53 and out of it

So, there I was tonight, at my favorite microbrewery/pizzaria, in Scottsdale, sitting at the bar, sipping a nice handmade pale ale, waiting for a little formaggio pizza, subjecting myself to head splitting, current rock tunes, blasting over the restaurant's sound system. Questionable music or the muted, widescreen ESPN sports events du jour is not why I'm here, so I patiently awaited my pizza as I read the Arizona Republic.

Then, I happened to recognize one of the "songs" playing and I asked John, the Gen X bartender, if he knew who the group was. He said it sounded like Coldplay, as if I would actually know the group, (I recognized the song "Talk" because talk radio station, KFYI, here in Phoenix uses that song on one of its promos). The Gen X girls sitting near me concurred with the barkeep and they helpfully added that the lead singer was married to Gwyneth Paltrow. Well, that was somewhat interesting! Maybe a light hearted conversation was in the works!

I contributed to the budding conversation saying that he sounded very much like David Gates, lead singer of the group, Bread, at which point I was met with blank stares of silence...they were clueless and I was completely out of the generational loop!

A quip of some sort was in order, but all I could think to say was, "I guess you just had to be there...In the '70's that is...way before you all were born!"

Scintillating conversation wasn't among the reasons I was there either. Still, the pizza and handcrafted libations more than filled the generation gap.