I’m confined to bed for the weekend, as the flu developed into pneumonia.
Post away.
After spending the last three days and counting betting my butt kicked around by the flu, I only have one thing to say: My health plan WILL have a flu shot with my name on it ready and waiting for me this Fall.
Dadgum vaccine shortages.
Thirty-six years older. Whee. 
For all of you keeping track of these events, I share the same birth date with John Jay, William Garrison, Grover Washington Jr., Chief Stand Watie, Gustave Flaubert, Joe Williams, Sheila E., Ed Koch, Dickey Betts, Wally Dallenbach, Terry Kirkman, Mayim Bialik, Madchen Amick, Wings Hauser, Jennifer Connely, Tracy Austin, Bridget Hall, John Osborne, Bob Petit, Cathy Rigby, Paul Rodgers, Hank Williams III, Dionne Warwick, Connie Francis, Nicholas Dimichino, Sheree J. Wilson, Bob Barker, Mike Pindar, Frank Sinatra, Ralph Garr, Clive Bunker, Rubin Carter, Ana Alicia, Rafael Septien, and Edward G. Robinson.
Also, on this date in history:
On Dec. 12, 1787, Pennsylvania became the second state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.In 1870, Joseph H. Rainey, of South Carolina, became the first black lawmaker sworn into the U.S. House of Representatives.
In 1897, “The Katzenjammer Kids,” the pioneering comic strip created by Rudolph Dirks, made its debut in the New York Journal.
In 1913, authorities in Florence, Italy, announced that the “Mona Lisa,” stolen from the Louvre Museum in Paris in 1911, had been recovered.
In 1917, Father Edward Flanagan founded Boys Town outside Omaha, Neb.
In 1937, Japanese aircraft sank the U.S. gunboat “Panay” on China’s Yangtze River. (Japan apologized, and paid $2.2 million in reparations.)
In 1947, the United Mine Workers union withdrew from the American Federation of Labor.
In 1963, Kenya gained its independence from Britain.
In 1975, Sara Jane Moore pleaded guilty to a charge of trying to kill President Ford in San Francisco the previous September.
In 1985, 248 American soldiers and eight crew members were killed when an Arrow Air charter crashed after takeoff from Gander, Newfoundland.
In 2000, a divided U.S. Supreme Court reversed a state court decision for recounts in Florida’s contested election, transforming George W. Bush into the president-elect.
Ten years ago: The Brazilian Supreme Court acquitted former President Fernando Collor de Mello of the corruption charges that had forced him to resign in 1992. IBM stopped shipments of personal computers with Intel’s flawed Pentium chip, saying the processor’s problems were worse than earlier believed.
Five years ago: Author Joseph Heller, whose darkly comic first novel “Catch-22″ defined the paradox of the no-win dilemma and added a phrase to the American language, died in East Hampton, N.Y., at age 76.
One year ago: Paul Martin succeeded Jean Chretien as Canada’s prime minister. Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger was knighted by Britain. Keiko, the killer whale made famous by the “Free Willy” movies, died in the Norwegian fjord that he’d made his home.
Also, a few hours after I entered into this world, actress Tallulah Bankhead made her departure. However, on my 18th birthday, the L.A. Lakers beat the Boston Celtics 117-110, becoming the first visiting team to break their 48-home game winning streak at the old Boston Garden since December 1985.
I had a very good day today. And I hope yours was just as fine.
Due to a week-long certification course at work, the blog will be quiet until this weekend. My evenings will consist of studying, studying, and more studying.
For lack of a nuanced explanation, I was just plain tired.
When I come home from work, the first impulse is to get warm, have dinner, relax, go to sleep (oftentimes in the recliner, if not in the master bed), wake up, lather, rinse, and repeat. Said impulse lasted for a long period of time, and even into the Thanksgiving weekend spent in Southern California — which was compounded by the absence of television, no computer access, one faraway sister visiting from the East Coast, three nephews, one niece, four cousins, and a three-day diet of good, home-cooked food.
With that being said, I hope that your Thanksgiving holiday was a thankful one.
While I hope for more time and energy to write and post more meaningful entries here, I can’t promise that the blogging mill will be running at full speed. However, I’ll continue to do my best to make whatever gets posted here worth reading and talking about. Also, I’m looking for like-minded folk and kindred spirits who wouldn’t mind being featured guest bloggers here. The pay isn’t much (OK, it’s nothing), but you’ll have a dedicated audience of readers. If you’re interested, drop me a line and show me what you’ve got.
In the meantime, thank you dear readers for your continued patience and understanding. Your support guarantees that the sky will not fall and the world will not stop turning — even when yours truly gets a bit tired every now and then.
Michele Catalano speaks for me on the following subject:
I do believe that even if every person in America who voted for George Bush marched themselves in front of a line of lefties outside of George Soros’s mansion this morning and pledged that they did, indeed, vote for GWB, they would claim that Karl Rove implanted mind control chips in each and every person.Why is it so hard to imagine that not everyone thinks like you? Are these people so arrogant, so self-smug that they truly believe their way is the only way? Funny, that. They accuse Bush of that all the time and here they are engaging in it, with relish.
If you don’t mind, I’d like to address the throngs of Chicken Littles who seem to be out in full force on the net today. I just want to clear up a few things, as you all seem to be pretty misguided in more than one area today.
I voted for George Bush.
I am not a redneck.
I do not spend my days watching cars race around a track, drinking cheap beer and slapping my woman on the ass.
I am not a bible thumper. […]
I am not a homophobe.
I am educated beyond the fifth grade. In fact, I am college educated.
I am not stupid. Not by any stretch of facts.
I do not bomb abortion clinics.You will not be thrown in jail for the sole reason of being a liberal.
Your child’s public school will not suddenly turn into a center for Christian brainwashing.
Your favorite bookstore will not turn into puritan central.This is not Nazi Germany in any way.
You will not be forced into concentration camps.
You will not be burned in human-sized ovens because of your religion.
We will not be forced to wear uniforms and march in line every day.
You will not live in fear.
If you think this is a country in which you have to live in fear, I have some friends in Iran who would like to have a little talk with you.What does the election of George Bush mean to you, as a member of the left? It means you and your party have four years to get yourselves together and figure out exactly what you stand for. It means you have a couple of years, max, to come up with a viable candidate who represents the majority of you and doesn’t pander to every knock off group of your party. It means you have time to get your act together and decide once and for all what you stand for and produce a leader who will stand up for your ideals. It means you better find a candidate who is someone you can vote for with conscience, and not just vote for out of hatred for his opponent.
What did you all believe in this year? Hate? Anger? You ran your own campaign, one filled to the brim with bile and acidic spittle and you wonder why you feel so black today? You were pinning your hopes on the the wish that the rest of America harbored the same intense hatred as you and would vote with their clenched fists. Now that you are left without the hoped for victory party as an outlet for your rage, you have to direct it somewhere else. If not at the candidate, then at his voters, right? What I am seeing today makes me pity you, and it’s a pity tinged with disgust and should not be mistaken for empathy.
It means the same things for us moderate Republicans. Maybe in this time we can produce a candidate who doesn’t alienate the social liberal in us, yet speaks to our concerns about defense, security and the war on terror. I am not completely enamored with the Republican Party. There’s a lot of work to be done within the ranks. I’d like to see a full stop of the move towards the religious right.
Perhaps there is the perfect candidate out there for both of us, someone just making his or her way up the political chain right now. With any luck, there will be a day when a president is elected who is liked by both sides of the fence, who is respected by everyone.
There a whole lot more to the small amount above which I cited.
Please read the essay in its entirety before you reply.
I’m taking the evening off for some much-needed rest. Final poll results for Nevada will be posted tomorrow evening here and at The Command Post. I promise!
Update: Gloating? Who’s gloating? Moi?
Rumors of my being hushed into silence have been highly exaggerated. For the record, posting has been light due to cable modem problems, home improvemnt matters, and for this weekend, house sitting for friends.
Recently, I’ve come under fire from critics for my support of President Bush (so, what else is new?), leveling the usual accusations, demonizations, and whatnot. I won’t go into defending my stance in this post, as I’ve already done so many times on this blog. I will say, however, that I will not intimidated by such rhetoric from anybody. Period.
I voted for President Bush two weeks ago for reasons well-known to anybody who reads this blog and knows where I stand. If you’ve been reading this blog for some time and still don’t get it, here’s a refresher or two.
I’m not going to discuss this matter any further. I’ve got blogging and other better things to do. If you don’t like the opinions I express on this blog, why are you here? Go read another blog that makes you happy, because I’m not backing down from my center-right, small-l libertarian views just because you don’t like them.
This isn’t the first time America was faced with a bitter election year during a war and it won’t be the last. Regardless of who may win Tuesday night, the Republic will go on despite the current political divide.
I’m Darmon Thornton and I approve this message. I also approve this message, too.
My apologies for the lack of posting. Rather than offer the usual (yet very valid) excuses, I ‘d rather explain what I’ve been up to:
* I voted.
Early voting began last Saturday and went ahead and participated in the process. Nevada’s new e-voting machines are user-friendly and easy to use. Hud has more on the process, as he also took the time to vote early.
I probably won’t be blogging much about the presidential elections for the next 2 weeks, save for liveblogging the Southern Nevada election results come Nov. 2. Of course, this may change as events warrant.
* I’ve been busy making my house a home.
Contrary to unpopular opinion, I do not sit in front of my hand-built home PC in pajamas blogging all day. I like going outside, too.
The early fall weather has been nice, and being outdoors taking it all in was an option that simply couldn’t be passed up. While I was at it, I repaired the lighting in my kitchen, hanged some paintings, and bought new furniture for the living room.
Until yesterday, I’ve never owned any new furniture, as I’ve either made do with secondhand items or month-to-month rentals. When I bought the house, it was furnished with some early ’80s relics from the previous owner. Since then, the two mismatched sofas have shown (and felt) their age, and it was time to have the two decommissioned and replaced with a leather sectional sofa and recliner.
* I’ve been reading.
Besides reading other blogs, I’ve been hitting the books again. Not just the technical fare, but catching up on a stack of Sci-Fi/Fantasy stuff.
There’s more to the long list of Things Done While Not Blogging that I could add here, but I shouldn’t waste further time going in detail, other than say that more postings will come soon (time permitting). Also, I’m looking for a like-minded guest blogger or two who wouldn’t mind helping out (e-mail me in confidence if you’re interested).
Thank you, dear reader, for your continued patronage (as well as your continued patience and understanding). The blog will continue on, one posting at a time.
Not only does the Supreme Court convene for new cases this coming Monday, yours truly will be starting a new job in data network design as well. It’ll be a definitive change for me with a lot of challenges and responsibilities, but I’m looking forward to starting the new journey in my technology career.
Blogging will continue, but it will be relegated to the evenings, as work and other day activities will keep me occupied.
I will also be considering like-minded guest bloggers to help maintain a steady flow of blog content. If anybody is interested, please drop me a line.
My apologies for the lack of posts since last Friday, as one of my brothers was in town attending an expo for aspiring recording artists over the weekend — not to mention some slight allergy-related effects (I hate “Indian summers”). Being the host (and last-minute semi-demo producer) that I am, I had to put the blog aside at short notice.
More to come soon…
This blog is three years old as of last Wednesday.
Well, happy belated blogiversary to me — and thank you, dear readers, for your support.
The very left-wing Las Vegas City Life published its cover story on local blogs featuring only James Hudnall and myself.
All in all, I can’t say that I’m completely disappointed with the article. The writer’s focus was on “war blogs”, and apparently Hud and I were those who came close to supporting her focus.
The problem is, however, this isn’t a “war blog”.
In response to the article, I’m in agreement with Hud:
…[W]ar bloggers are people who dedicate their blogs to the war on terror. Blogs like The Command Post, Little Green Footballs, or the semi-satirical [Allah Is In The House]. What I do here is just talk about whatever I feel like talking about. I do share a similar view to conservative bloggers who take a hawkish stand on the war on terror. History has shown the only way to defeat fascism is to fight it.It’s sad to me that the left hasn’t figured this out and spends a lot of its time accusing the US of being fascist.
I don’t, however, buy into anyone’s ideology. The truth is a tricky thing and both sides play fast and loose with it. I prefer not to take anything at face value.
Secondly, the blog excerpts used for the article were incomplete and deliberately taken out of context. You can find them in their entirety here and here.
Also, for the record:
I’m a small-l libertarian, not a capital-L one. I am not, nor will I ever be, a member of the Libertarian Party. Although I do align myself with some conservative groups, I’m not a social conservative.
I reject the term “war blogger”. It’s so 2002. Besides, there’s more to this blog than war and politics. I write about numerous items, including my take on what’s going on in my own backyard.
I’m not the only black person in Las Vegas who leans right. It’s not a disease that needs to be explained, but a matter of individual thought and convictions.
I am the vice-president of the local SF/F club, not the leader. Club members can relax; no bloodless coup has taken place.
For those visiting the blog for the first time via CL, welcome. Read the About Me section and free to ask questions. Get to know your friendly neighborhood opinionated (yet confused) black gun-nut another Vegas local who simply publishes his opinions on the web for others to read.
Related: Amritas has further discussion on the article. John Paul Cassidy also weighs in.
One of my biggest pet peeves is the politicizing of worship services. Whether it may be a politician who’s been invited to “speak”, or if the personal opinions of the clergy become the sermon topic, It annoys me to no end.
Michael King comments on such a recent moment:
One of the associate pastors was delivering the sermon, and she chose to make all sorts of veiled political assertions and accusations against the Bush Administration. I growled my best Klingon growl, and bit down on a retort. Rachel shifted a little uncomfortably as she noticed (she told me later) a number of other people squirming a bit in their pews.I sat stone-faced through the remainder of her sermon, and came awful close to getting up and walking out.
But, as I’ve been told many times before, “…ain’t no one monkey gonna stop the show…” I was not about to let her or anyone else stop me from worshiping the Lord, and I was not about to let anyone tell me that because my political ideology didn’t follow theirs that I was ‘not in God’s favor,’ to use a quote from her sermon.
I’ve had similar moments myself, ranging from veiled mutterings about the immorality of Bill Clinton to the hinting of GWB making back-door deals with the grim reaper. I get enough of that noise almost every day; I don’t need to hear more of it during 90 minutes on Sunday morning.
But if you enjoy that sort of thing, several popular secular televangelists can fit the bill nicely (not to mention the weekly parables of the global corporation that feeds millions with a few soybeans).
Whether it might be the suburban Southern Baptist megachurch or the inner-city Missionary Baptist edifice, just keep the politics out of the pulpit, please. There’ll be time enough for both preachers and parishioners to get their politics on after the benediction.
Semi-Related, With Sidenotes: I also get annoyed by celebrities who come to church in order to gain publicity. Baldilocks has lots to say about that, namely about Michael Jackson, who paid a visit to First African Methodist Episcopal Church in Los Angeles last Sunday prior to the start of his pre-trial business.
…Just tired at the moment.
Helping to deploy information technology to nearly a dozen new schools all over the Las Vegas valley within the past few weeks, along with refinancing a home mortgage, paying off a slew of bills, and fixing a master bathroom can wear a blogger out and leave him too tired for keyboarding. Rest assured, though, that I will not remain weary for long.
To those of you visiting this blog by way of the NRO article on the Conservative Brotherhood, welcome! Make yourseleves at home. I’ve been commenting on a lot since 2001, and there’s more to come. Also, be sure to pay a visit to the other CoBro member weblogs.
Speaking of articles, I was interviewed by Las Vegas City Life for an upcoming election-themed article on local blogs. The CoBro was profusely mentioned, along with this blog. When the alternative weekly prints the story, you’ll be the first to know.
Although David Anderson and I disagree politically on a lot of issues, we both share good tastes in electronic gizmos that make life easier to manage, such as the Palm Tungsten T3, which now replaces my worn, but well-cared-for Sony Clie T665.
While on the subject of satisfying my Bluetooth sweet tooth, Verizon Wireless finally regained my customer loyalty by adding the Motorola V710 mobile phone to their service, which means I can now say the following to T-Mobile: Danke, aber Auf Wiedersehen.
And that’s just a glimpse of what’s going on in my world. On a closing note, be sure to check out the latest installment of what’s going on in Frank J.’s world.
And last, but not least, Kate is back!
Motorola V710 Update: Word on the street is that Verizon Wireless deliberately crippled the new phone’s Bluetooth capabilities.
Well, f–k Verizon. Time to look at Cingular and AT&T’s BT phones.