Weather Conditions, Wish we were there...

Odd things and such things, as I feel appropriate, possibly relating to the war.
Email me at jll3a@hotmail.com.

Look below for links to good sites, ebooks and such.

Jerry Lawson, Proprietor

 
What? You still here? Hold on, you'll be there in a second!
posted by Jerry Lawson at 2/10/2004 10:37:11 PM

 
Well, I'm setting up a redirect here - so hold onto your wallet and fasten your seatbelt.

Next stop - Milblog.
posted by Jerry Lawson at 1/26/2004 07:28:51 PM

 
If you try to contact me via any of the Hotmail accounts I've got - you're not going to get me. I'm letting them expire, since I can access the Milblog account from work and the Hotmail accounts were getting SERIOUSLY choked with spam.

So - you can get me at jll3 at milblog.org, if you want to e-mail me.

Hey, free hosting AND e-mail. What more could you want?

J.

posted by Jerry Lawson at 12/29/2003 11:12:57 PM

 
You may have noticed there's not been much new put up here - the action's over on Milblog.Org now. Come on over and visit!
posted by Jerry Lawson at 11/29/2003 12:25:30 PM

 
Okay - we're getting things set up over on the new site (www.milblog.org) - so I'll be moving things in for a bit. Come on over, take a look!
posted by Jerry Lawson at 11/19/2003 11:05:21 PM

 
JTA NEWS: "Ford announces new funding guidelines
as it admits to aiding anti-Israel groups
By Edwin Black

WASHINGTON, Nov. 18 (JTA) — In a stunning reversal, the Ford Foundation has admitted it erred in funding anti-Israeli Palestinian groups and has vowed to establish tough new guidelines to stop its funds from being used for anti-Semitic activities anywhere in the world.
The group said it was 'disgusted' by anti-Israel and anti-Semitic agitation action taken at the 2001 U.N. Conference Against Racism at Durban, South Africa, which the foundation helped finance.
'We now recognize that we did not have a clear picture of the activities, organizations and people involved,' conceded Ford president Susan Berresford in a Nov. 17 letter to U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.).
In addition to establishing new funding guidelines, the foundation´s letter said the group promises to cease financing of pivotal anti-Israel groups and even recover funds where the grant´s intent was violated."

Damn. What's happened, has the clue-truck dropped off a fresh load or something?

J.

posted by Jerry Lawson at 11/18/2003 10:44:58 PM

 
Well, the file's there, but I can't import it without it looking...

Bad.

So, I'll fiddle with things a bit, see if I can get things in.

J.

posted by Jerry Lawson at 11/18/2003 10:20:58 PM

 
Again - let's see on the export.....
posted by Jerry Lawson at 11/18/2003 09:44:31 PM

 
Hah. Sure. Let's try that again. Sorry if you're catching this while it's messed up...
posted by Jerry Lawson at 11/18/2003 09:22:50 PM

 
Well, that was relatively painless.... Let me go back to massaging things, and we'll see what we get.
posted by Jerry Lawson at 11/18/2003 08:12:17 PM

 
Here we go - I'm exporting the blog now...
posted by Jerry Lawson at 11/18/2003 08:02:44 PM

 
US will use nukes in Korea if needed

"We understand that weakness can be provocative, that weakness can invite people into doing things that they otherwise might not even consider," Mr. Rumsfeld told a joint news conference with South Korean Defense Minister Cho Young-kil.

Better not tell the idiots over on Indymedia. They're firmly convinced that the only way to avoid any sort of conflict in the world is to be completely defenseless.

Which is fine, until someone picks up a rock.

North Korea's in kind of a bad place right now. Kim's screwed, he knows it, but he has to maintain a fiction of strength even as his people starve. To admit he's fallible, indeed, to bend at all in his stances, would lead to an uprising.

As it is - his people starve while he threatens South Korea. Such are the glories and triumphs of communism.

J.

posted by Jerry Lawson at 11/18/2003 12:42:47 PM

 
The Rich ARE different from the rest of us.

Their stupidity is MUCH more visible.

LOS ANGELES — Paris Hilton says she never thought the sex video she made with her ex-boyfriend ever would become public.

"I feel embarrassed and humiliated, especially because my parents and the people who love me have been hurt," the socialite and reality TV actress said Monday in a statement to The Associated Press.

Yeah, but I'll bet you'll never have to worry about getting a date again. Just make sure the next guy keeps the cameras out of the bedroom, hmmm? Use what's between your ears as something more than filler to keep your skull from collapsing.

Maybe this'll be a wakeup call to you - not everyone who praises you is a friend, and not everyone you date will have your interests in mind. You may be rich, but that doesn't preclude you having to think before you act. And being drunk or high makes it a LOT harder to think.

J.



posted by Jerry Lawson at 11/18/2003 10:15:41 AM

 
Still trying to get MT up and running on the new site, over at milblog.org. Got it running once, then like an idiot I deleted the admin user account I logged in on, and am trying to reinstall.

Well, it beats staring at the TV. At least I feel like I'm getting SOMETHING accomplished. I'm learning something new, anyway!

By the way, I've got a question for you. And it's going to require just a bit of thinking outside the box, because it's one that's going to be VERY important in the next few year.

The premise is this....

1. In the United States, we have a government which is supposed to be tolerant of all religions.

2. If a minority religion is established, it's beliefs are tolerated by the government.

3. If the minority religion is fundamentally non-tolerant of other religions, up to and including condoning actively hostile acts against members and facilities of other religions -

the question is -

Does the US have any right to interfere with the proponents of the minority religion who are practicing their faith in the manner they think they must?

Discuss..
posted by Jerry Lawson at 11/18/2003 08:24:36 AM

 
USS Clueless:

"If Falwell and Robertson are fundamentalist zealots, our enemies are much worse. Prayers and sermons delivered in the great mosques all over the middle east routinely include pleas to God to destroy the Jews and Americans. (They're published, and MEMRI has translated many of them into English.) Followers of some Islamic sects believe that they are quite literally soldiers of God, engaged in a Crusade on His behalf. And so they too face that same problem: if they're God's chosen, God's soldiers trying to spread His word, why have they been losing? Why do the Godless sinners in the west, particularly in America, seem to win?

It can't be that their beliefs are wrong. It isn't possible that they're deceived. Those answers are not acceptable. To even consider them is heresy.

If God is not fighting on their side, it can only be because the Muslims have not been devout enough. It's because they don't follow the most strict interpretations of the Qur'an. It's because they let their women run around with bare faces, and don't pray when they're supposed to, and smoke and drink alcohol and gamble and charge interest on loans and in so many other ways don't actually follow God's dictums. It's because they've been seduced by the evil ways of the West. It's because they've become spiritually corrupted. They do not live as God said they should, and thus God refuses to aid them. They're not worthy of God's aid; God is displeased with them and shows it through inaction. And from this only one conclusion is possible."

Read the whole thing. It's long, but worthwhile (As Mr. DenBeste's items are.)

J.

posted by Jerry Lawson at 11/16/2003 09:50:55 PM

 
FOXNews.com - Top Stories - Intelligence Report Links Saddam, Usama:

"Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein (search) gave terror lord Usama bin Laden's thugs financial and logistical support, offering Al Qaeda (search) money, training and haven for more than a decade, it was reported yesterday.

Their deadly collaboration — which may have included the bombing of the USS Cole (search) and the 9/11 attacks — is revealed in a 16-page memo to the Senate Intelligence Committee (search) that cites reports from a variety of domestic and foreign spy agencies compiled by multiple sources, The Weekly Standard (search) reports. "

Think this'll make any different to the folks screaming we should have left Saddam alone to kill his own people?

Me neither.

J.

posted by Jerry Lawson at 11/16/2003 07:52:10 AM

 
The home-to-be of Milblog

Okay, let's see if I can figure out how to mangle things...

J.

posted by Jerry Lawson at 11/15/2003 11:58:26 PM

 
Wow again.

The e-mail with the login info came about ten minutes later. I've logged on, ordered a domain name (Milblog.org, of course) and set up an e-mail account under that domain, and am downloading the suite of tools they provide.

So far, I'm impressed. (It did cost me $6 for the domain name. But heck, that's less than the price of a paperback these days.)

We'll see what the tools are like. I'm wondering - how am I going to transfer this over there? Can I? Should I?

Decisions, decisions. BTW, the downloads are FAST from this place....

J.

posted by Jerry Lawson at 11/15/2003 10:50:58 PM

 
Wow.

You note that little reference to 1and1.com web hosting a post or two back? Well, I just activated. It's a 4 step process, you've got to indicate your interest, they'll send you an e-mail with a link to a page where you put in your phone number (and they allow one setup per phone number) then an automated system calls you with your pin number, and you put that in on another page - then they e-mail you your login info.

I put in my home phone, and hit enter. I clicked over to check another web page, and before the page finished loading, the phone rang. We're talking maybe 5 seconds here.

Impressive. I'll keep you posted on this.

J.

posted by Jerry Lawson at 11/15/2003 10:00:29 PM

 
Baghdadee:

"To have the opportunity to hear from those who witness what is going on inside Iraq

'Difference between certainty and doubtness is four fingers.....
that is the distance between eyes and ears .' , Ali BinAbeeTalib- Muslim khalif, 600 AD."

Another Iraqi blog, in English and Arabic. Welcome to the world, friends! Tell your stories loud and long - because for far too long you've had others telling lies for you.

J.

posted by Jerry Lawson at 11/15/2003 11:40:50 AM

 
Campfire Song Book : The coming of the frogs : words and midi file:

"Mine eyes have seen the horror of the coming of the frogs,
They are sneaking through the swamps and they are lurking under logs
You can hear their mournful croaking through the early morning fogs,
The frogs keep hopping on. "

Heh. Enjoy!

J.

posted by Jerry Lawson at 11/15/2003 11:15:16 AM

 
Free Web hosting for three years? | Metafilter

"United Internet is launching its public hosting service with a special promotion: a full 500 meg hosting account free for three years. Includes email hosting, FTP and shell access, 5 gigs of transfers, Perl, Python, PHP and MySQL... plus $25 worth of Google AdWords. Sounds fishy to me, but they never asked for my credit card when I signed up."

They're a European company, and their site's at 1and1.com. Free web hosting. I may check it out - 5 GB/month transfer... hmmm.

Free. I LIKE free!

(Grin)

J.

posted by Jerry Lawson at 11/14/2003 10:39:48 PM

 
THE MESOPOTAMIAN:

"But this is an ordinary mother, a citizen, and she is actually talking about her sons. She doesn’t have to say what she says. She is a free American lady and does not have to say anything she doesn’t sincerely believe and feel. I don’t know if you have kids. But we fathers and mothers can understand. Kissing this hand is no act servility. The hand that raised, fed, changed nappies, sweated and toiled for years. The mother that watched her babies grow from infants to toddlers to little lovely boys stammering with their first words, and then they grew and went to school and were teenagers and finally men tall and handsome. Do you know what it means for a mother to see her children in mortal danger? Do you? And yet and despite of the danger of the ultimate sacrifice she does not want to walk away and leave our country in chaos . This is not some general abstract and theoretical or ideological position, this is a mother with her son actually on the ground thousands of miles away. She is willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for the sake of a people far away that most likely she has never known or seen. Believe me this is a position even superior to that of ours. I mean we are in this boat and we have to fight for our freedom and life. But Doreen is living out there in prosperity and safety and she can just shrug her shoulders and stand by preferring the safety of her children, and no one can blame her for that. How big is this heart that feels for others just as it feels for one’s own offspring !

Believe me, kissing this noble hand is no act of servility or debasement. It is a heartfelt greeting from one free man to a great Free Mother. This kneeling is not the gesture of a slave, but the salute of the free to the great nobility of the human spirit.

Salam

Alaa"

I will likely never meet this man, but my respect for him grows daily. He handles trolls much better than I would in the same situation. But his words reminded me of a day Aaron and I went out to the base, and mixed in with what I've seen on the anti-war sites and places like IndyMedia - and I came up with this...

Some proclaim they know the way
that all of us should live.
'Think not of others who might need
the hand that they could give.'

When they see slaves they first think
it does not concern them,
yet they see not that in their hearts
their turn as slaves begins.

Far better to die that others may be
stricken free of their chains,
than live and turn your head away
and bind your heart and brain.

The slavemaster loves the chains,
though he would wear them not,
and rejoices when he sees some then
put chains on in their thoughts.

The chains on thoughts get bound
so tightly to the thought
that when freedom is seen by the slave
that freedom is often fought.

And so the happy slavemaster
gets the slaves he wants
they cost him nothing at all to keep
for they're kept by their own thoughts.

So when you see somebody say
the slave is happier not free
A slave and master reside within
thoughts twisted in dark glee.

My son is young, he is but 5,
but one day he said to me
when he grows up and is a man
a Marine he wants to be.

I asked him why and his reply
just rocked me to my core
"There's bad guys out there, Daddy,
and if I don't stop them, there'll be more."

I could not speak, but thought a bit,
what really could I say?
I'd done my part, with all my heart,
over 24 years and several days...

I enlisted when it looked so like
that we and the USSR would war
But though we bluffed and blustered,
the missiles never roared.

Is this how my own parents felt,
when I decided it was time?
When I enlisted so long ago,
making that decision which was mine?

Sometimes it takes a child's eyes,
and a child's enormous heart
to show you just what the right thing is
though it could tear you just apart.

Look at the very young child's heros,
who are they and what do they do?
They are the protectors, the helpers,
what they'd like to be and do.

So I looked at my little boy,
at his face shining up at me -
"I'll be proud of you, my little Boo,
if that's what you decide to be."

J.

posted by Jerry Lawson at 11/14/2003 10:16:11 PM

 
THE MESOPOTAMIAN:

"Greetings,

So now it is the turn of the gentle Italians.

This particular contingent is one of the most loved and kindest on the ground. They treat the people so kindly. They are doing a lot to help the local people. Everybody in Nassiryah will tell you this. And this town has been so peaceful. And it is this that drives the Misguided Demented mad. Targeting this particular target is not just another operation. It is premeditated and pregnant with meaning. They are infiltrating to the South to try to beak the tranquility and peace there. Every single attack or sabotage south of Baghdad is infiltration from other areas. The kind gentle folks of the south would never ever perpetrate such atrocity. Nor do I think any Iraqi, had any part in this. Suicide attacks are the hallmark of foreigners infiltrating into the country, to do Jihad at the expense of our blood, future, and the safety of our children and ordinary folk.

So now noble Roman blood is being shed on the ancient plains of Mesopotamia, as it had been more than two millenniums ago, near Ur, near Akad, near ancient Sumeria, near the birthplace of the great prophet Abraham ( PBU ), near the birthplace of western civilization.

And again what can we say to the Italian people, these gentle, cultured, cosmopolitan, kind people whom I have known and visited several times; Only the banal words of condolence to families, friends and entire nation.
Iraqis: Noble blood of the best of humanity is being shed in your cause, and one day, one day when the new enlightened civilization of Mesopotamia is reborn again, you will erect statues of Gold in you hearts and your boulevards for those now fallen.

We weep again.

Salam

Alaa"

Thank you. To the Italians, to the brave souls blogging from Iraq, to all who are helping that country shake off the diseases and sicknesses of the past.

But to those who would encourage the madness, may you die alone and unmourned, wishing desperately for water in the desert.

J.

posted by Jerry Lawson at 11/13/2003 08:59:50 PM

 
al.com: Special Report - Alabama chief justice removed from office:

"MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) -- Chief Justice Roy Moore was removed from office Thursday for refusing to obey a federal court order to move his Ten Commandments monument from the rotunda of the state courthouse.
The Alabama Court of the Judiciary unanimously imposed the harhest penalty possible after a one-day trial in which Moore said his refusal was a moral and lawful acknowledgment of God. Prosecutors said Moore's defiance, left unchecked, would harm the judicial system. "

I've been kind of curious to see how this would play out. I'm not sure that this is the correct decision. I'm no religious zealot, and I guess I'm not liberal enough, but I can't see how having the 10 Commandments displayed is establishing one religion over another. If it was a necessity to profess adherence to a particular religion before one could be defended in our legal system, I could see where the separation of church and state would be a good thing. But this?

The First Amendment reads: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
I don't see this as being a justification for the total elimination of everything resembling religion from any government office. Is it a case where if ANYONE is offended by 'something', then all instances of that 'something' must be banned?

Then what we end up with is a tyranny of the minority. I'm not sure I like that idea at all. It could well open up a whole new can of worms. But the question arises - if a Muslim complained that, for example, he WANTED a copy of the Koran on display, would it be okay to set aside the rights of the Christian majority and put it up?

J.

posted by Jerry Lawson at 11/13/2003 07:08:24 PM