Author Archives: BZ

Memorial Day

Posted on by

IN FLANDERS FIELDS

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
— Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918) Canadian Army

It is the soldier, not the reporter, Who has given us freedom of the press.
It is the soldier, not the poet, Who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the soldier, not the organizer, Who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.
It is the soldier, Who salutes the flag, Who serves beneath the flag,
And whose coffin is draped by the flag, Who allows the protestor to burn the flag.
– Father Dennis Edward O’Brian, USMC

To The World:

Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you:

1. Jesus Christ
2. The American G. I.

One died for your soul, the other for your freedom.

God bless America and her soldiers.

Our country: the last,
The best —
The only —
. . . hope, of this entire planet.

BZ
 Share

On Purpose?

Posted on by

WorldNetDaily thinks that the recent rash of tainted pet products and, more recently, food, is purposeful on the part of China:

WASHINGTON – While Americans are still recovering from a scandal over poison pet foods imported from China, FDA inspectors report tainted food imports intended for American humans are being rejected with increasing frequency because they are filthy, are contaminated with pesticides and tainted with carcinogens, bacteria and banned drugs. Last month, like most months, China topped the list of countries whose products were refused by the FDA – and that list includes many countries, including Mexico and Canada, who export far more food products to the U.S. than China. Some 257 refusals of Chinese products were recorded in April. By comparison, only 140 were from Mexico and only 23 from Canada.

Purposeful or by accident? What do you think?

BZ
 Share

The Replacement for Books

Posted on by

Is there a replacement for books?

Google seems to think so.

The Economist has a handle on this issue. Go here for the article.

For those unknowing:

IN SECRET locations and using secret methods, human beings are scanning lots and lots of books for Google, the world’s largest web-search company. That humans are involved is beyond doubt (fingers are visible in the corners of many pages on books.google.com) although this is uncharacteristic of Google, which has a fetish for purist technology.

Google will not divulge exact numbers, but Daniel Clancy, the project’s lead engineer, gives enough guidance for an educated guess: Google’s contract with one university library, Berkeley’s, stipulates that it must digitise 3,000 books a day. The minimum for the other 12 universities involved may be lower, but the rate for participating publishers is higher. So a conservative estimate has Google digitising at least 10m books a year. The total number of titles in existence is estimated to be about 65m.

The author of the article makes several points but adds:

Most stories, however, will never find a better medium than the paper-bound novel. That is because readers immersed in a storyline want above all not to be interrupted, and all online media teem with distractions (even a hyperlink is an interruption). People do not read fiction in order to accomplish a specific task in a limited amount of time, as they read reference and schoolbooks. Random-access dictionaries and cookbooks may be useful; random-access novels less so.

I submit there are two clear and unequivocal categories of reading:

  • Research/business
  • Pleasure

Digital books will never, ever, replace pleasure reading.

There is nothing, nothing quite so satisfying as holding an actual book in one’s hands. That feeling will never, ever be replaced by something as intangible as a mere faux collection of 1s and 0s.

Period.

BZ
 Share

Letter to the RNC

Posted on by

Dear Readers:

I just got back, Thursday evening, from a week-long law enforcement conference in South Lake Tahoe. Whilst it was 92+ degrees in the Sacramento Valley (Fornicalia), temperatures were 50 to 58 degrees with some winds coming off the lake itself. It was wonderful. Cooler than my house. I was in heaven. Sometimes I think I was an Arctic polar bear in my previous life.

When I returned I found a letter addressed to me, from the Republican National Committee. They were hitting me up for money, asking me to renew my membership in the RNC. I had previously contributed $500 to the RNC in 2006.

In the letter, dated May 18th, the fourth paragraph read in part:

Higher taxes and increased government spending are just the beginning. Socialized health care and more government interference in our lives. Weakened national security and foreign policy held hostage to international approval. We can’t afford to let the Democrats enact their failed liberal agenda.

Quite frankly, this pissed me off. So I’ll just cut to the chase: I’m not sending them any money. Not until they secure our borders. Which means I’ll likely not be sending ANY more money to the RNC.

In lieu of sending money, I stuffed their prepaid envelope with the following letter I wrote:

Republican National Committee
310 First Street SE
PO Box 98206
Washington, DC 20077-7561
Robert M. Duncan, Chairman

Dear Mr. Duncan:

I personally appreciate brevity and for that reason I’ll keep this letter short as, of course, you paid postage for my reply. I appreciate that as I would rather not waste an additional 41-cents (recently up 2-cents) on the RNC.

I suspect you’ve already interpreted the slant of my letter in the first few words, and that is this:

No. No cash to the RNC. No further checks from me to you. In any amount. Period.

Not until the Republican Party coalesces and President Bush declares there shall be no amnesty for illegal immigrants and that he publicly states that illegal means illegal, and that he declares, publicly, that his goal is to build an 854+ mile fence along the US/Mexico border.

Your letter to me, in part, states:

Higher taxes and increased government spending are just the beginning. Socialized health care and more government interference in our lives. Weakened national security and foreign policy held hostage to international approval. We can’t afford to let the Democrats enact their failed liberal agenda.

You can’t even tell the truth. President Bush has spent money like never before. And you have the guts to even write about “weakened national security” — laying it on the steps of an “international agenda”?

No. Wrong. It is President Bush who has weakened our borders. It is completely within his power to insist, stridently, publicly and continuously, on securing our borders.

It is within his power to loudly and continuously call for a border fence, for continual enforcement of immigration laws already on the books.

It is within his power to insist that funding to all states shall be dependent upon individual law enforcement agencies turning over, as we once did, illegal aliens to INS.

And to cutting off federal funding to those cities deeming themselves to be “sanctuary cities.” Let them be sanctuary cities funded by their own local tax base.

Because these are my criteria for sending any more checks I know that, in truth, I shall never be sending any more money to the RNC ever again. Neither President Bush nor the GOP have the guts to either 1. simply enforce the laws currently on the books or 2. insist that we completely secure our borders — both north and south.

The GOP has gone completely invertebrate. You do not deserve my money. You have consciously determined not to protect our country. Demography is prophecy. You fail to comprehend that concept.
Understand this: bringing your Republican President into line, bringing your Republican Congressmen into line, bringing your Republican Senators into line — it isn’t my job.

It is yours.

Do your job.

Sincerely,

________________________________________
Ladies and Gentlemen:

I would humbly suggest that each and every one of you likewise draft a similar letter should you be solicited for cash by the RNC or the GOP.

So be it.
BZ
 Share

Away

Posted on by

Dear Readers:

I’ll be away at a conference for the next week, in South Lake Tahoe. This is a wonderful area bordering Lake Tahoe itself on the Nevada / Fornicalia border.

Because I already live high in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, this entails my driving a few more miles up Interstate 80. I don’t know if their rooms provide internet access. In anticipation of no access, I’m going to advance-set a number of posts I’ve written prior to today. I hope to return, absent the ability to blog in my hotel room, on this coming Thursday.

Please read down to see three new posts, and visit the sites of my Usual Suspects. Take care, and always take time to tell the ones you love how you feel about them. Tempus fugit.
BZ
 Share