NOVATOWNHALL

Nature and music. First the music -

My wife and I are fortunate in so many ways it is impossible to quantify, but one is our respective cultural inheritances, which are inarguably excellent. Just like I’ve got the great musician, Paul Cebar, who attended my obscure college while I was there, Linda has The Clarks, who attended her equally obscure school while she was there. We make it a point to go see both of them every convenient opportunity.

This week our trek was to Dewey Beach, Delaware to see The Clarks at the Bottle and Cork - which is, incidentally, a really, really good bar: large, open-air, friendly and cheap.

I can’t classify The Clarks because I am not a rock critic and am frankly an old man, but I will just say they are an original rock act (did a cover of Springsteen’s The River on Thursday, but that’s the only cover I’ve seen them do) with an exuberant quality, an outrageously good lead singer, and just a very fun sound …. which explains the fantasticly loyal fan base this Pittsburgh band has throughout the mid-Atlantic region.

To get the sense of their style, go here and watch “Shimmy Low” under the “Video” section.

The Clarks did a kick-ass show opening for Sister Hazel who I never heard of before on account of my boutique (read “old man”) musical repetoire. By far the majority of the audience were there for The Clarks, I can say. Hopefully the Bottle and Cork will have them back as the lead act and give them a little more time in the future. Sister Hazel was quite good, though, rock in a similar vein.

Definitely check out The Clarks if you get the chance. I guarantee you will like them.

Here are the rock and roll photos for my wife’s photo album:

Scott Blasey

Greg Joseph

Dave Minarik

Rob James

ELSEWHERE IN DELAWARE ….

My sleeping habits being what they are, I woke up well before dawn and could not get back to sleep, so I went driving around to check out the fishing scene.

This is sunrise at the Indian River inlet. Note the seagull over the rising sun, Digital Camel dudes. ART, my friends.

Here are the fishermen heading off down the jetty. Wish I was going with them, but that is a trip for another day.

I’m not sure.

It’s been almost 3 years since he last was here, so it’s not one of his regular priorities.  He seems to have already finalized his position on the situation, so I don’t think it’s an information gathering mission.  The only reason I can think of to explain his visit is to silence his critics.  He wants to be able to say, “I’ve been there,” when they challenge his position.  In short, a publicity stunt.

He won the Democratic Party’s primary on a campaign promise of withdrawal.  I will be surprised if he visits with an open mind.  If he gets here, sees how things have improved, and changes his position, I won’t think less of him.  That’s what “change” is all about, right?

P.S.  It doesn’t bother me that the network news is paying Obama so much attention on this trip.  The man has charisma.  Senator McCain is boring.  Who would you put on YOUR news program?

For quite some time now, we have been told that man made global warming (MMGW) is settled science, supported by a consensus of scientists from various disciplines. Many are also beginning to question the validity of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change conclusions.

Recent news :

The American Physical Society, an organization representing nearly 50,000 physicists, has reversed its stance on climate change and is now proclaiming that many of its members disbelieve in human-induced global warming. The APS is also sponsoring public debate on the validity of global warming science. The leadership of the society had previously called the evidence for global warming “incontrovertible.”

Read More at APS

WASHINGTON (7-15-08) - Mathematical proof that there is no “climate crisis” appears today in a major, peer-reviewed paper in Physics and Society, a learned journal of the 10,000-strong American Physical Society, SPPI reports.

Christopher Monckton, who once advised Margaret Thatcher, demonstrates via 30 equations that computer models used by the UN’s climate panel (IPCC) were pre-programmed with overstated values for the three variables whose product is “climate sensitivity” (temperature increase in response to greenhouse-gas increase), resulting in a 500-2000% overstatement of CO2’s effect on temperature in the IPCC’s latest climate assessment report, published in 2007.

Read More at SPPI

My prediction, at some time in the not too distant future, we will hear an announcement from the MMGW crowd that we are no longer threatened, due to the decrease in the number of SUVs on the road caused by the recent record gas prices.

Can Brett Favre be seduced by Dan Snyder’s siren song ? Seems Favre has become less than enamored with Green Bay after their tepid reaction to his return to football. Do the Skins want him, and could they get him ?

Read More

I can easily see Favre-Moss supplanting Manning-Burris as the preeminent pitch-and-catch duo in the NFC East. Given the season Favre had last year, he will not be playing backup in Green Bay, he will be moving on. Why not Washington ?

During my first deployment, my platoon occasionally had to execute a joint mission with the Afghan National Army.  I say “had to” because we didn’t want to.  They were terribly unproffesional and incapable of accomplishing anything by themselves.  Being hooked on opium, most of them were there for the pay.  The police weren’t much better.  Slightly more proffesional in appearance, they were far more corrupt.  I remember thinking at the time that if nothing changed, they would never be able to hold off the Taliban on their own.  I haven’t been back since then, but it doesn’t sound like things have improved.

I am pleased to see that this is not the case in Iraq.

In the small section of Baghdad I see regularly, the Iraqi forces are all over the place.   The Iraqi Army, Iraqi police, and third party groups like Sons of Iraq have really stepped up to the plate.  Carrying American weapons and driving American trucks, I always see them standin’ tall and lookin’ good.  Planning and conducting their own patrols, security stations, and traffic checkpoints, it’s only a matter of time before they are completely running this area on their own.  I’ve yet to work with them directly, but on the few occasions I’ve gotten to talk with one of them, I’ve always perceived through the language barrier an impressive sense of pride and duty. I’ve yet to hear one of them complain.

I cannot overstate the positive impact these forces are having.  Aside from the obvious benefit of having their forces share the burden, there is a huge psychological impact on the public’s view of the new government and the American presence here.  There is a certain amount of racial, religious, and nationalistic prejudice that American forces will never be able to fully overcome in this part of the world.  The Iraqi forces do not have this problem so much.  I’ve been told the Iraqi Army was cheered by crowds lining the streets of Basra when they took back that city.  Also, it’s pretty hard for someone like Muqtada al Sadr to keep complaining about us “foreign occupiers”, when it was the Army loyal to the Shia-led government of this country that kicked his militia out of the Baghdad district named after his father.  Sorry there, Mr. Sadr…you won’t be coming back to Sadr City.

That’s not to say these forces are perfect.  Their capabilities don’t come close to ours, but it is improving.  There is a certain level of corruption and enemy infilitration in these groups.  However, it hasn’t been enough to overshadow the overall positive impact that they are having.

We are winning here, and their efforts are helping.  I wish I could thank them each personally, soldier to soldier.

What a dope:

In his first substantive talk about the magazine’s inflammatory cartoon depicting him and his wife as fist-bumping terrorists, Obama told CNN’s Larry King the image fueled misconceptions and insulted Muslim Americans…

“I’ve seen and heard worse,” Obama said. “[Still], in attempting to satirize something, they probably fueled some misconceptions about me instead.”

What he should have said is, “Heh, it’s funny, they do this all the time, right? I’m a public figure.” The best thing he can say without answering “no comment.”

By attempting to defend himself, Obama keeps the issue alive. Like I said, playing defense means he has something to defend against.

This whole issue of Barack Obama’s Muslim, anti-American, pro-terrorist alleged affiliations is blossoming.

It’s only July, folks.

I am guessing by the time September rolls around the Obama campaign will be holding out for nothing more than a single podcast debate with John McCain aired solely over an IRC channel. Barack has, as they say, some “issues.”

John McCain should be chomping at the bit to get this guy in a public forum.

While the title of this post may appear a blatant play for Google traffic, longtime readers of this blog will know I would never stoop to such cynical tactics.

A “Dr. Kring” is reportedly recommending NASA study the practicalities of sex in space:

He believes that Nasa could learn from the operation of bases at the South Pole, where researchers who are separated from their families for months at a time take “expedition spouses” as sexual partners for the duration.

He said: “You have an exclusive relationship with them for six to nine months but when the expedition is over, so is the relationship and you return to your normal lives and families.”

He added: “The polar environment has similar characteristics of isolation and confinement to space. Most of the evidence suggests that the addition of women there has had a positive effect on these traditionally all male crews.”

I’ll say.

It is personally comforting to me to know that scientists going into polar regions for a few months nowadays get concubines for the trip, and also that everyone goes home to their normal lives and families afterwards, and also that my geek friends from college who were mired down in organic chem while I was drinking Southern Comfort and arguing philosophy eventually made out quite all right. Better living through science, indeed. When I dropped calculus my senior year of high school, I had no idea the fork in the road I was then choosing and the fabulous life of hedonism I was leaving behind.

Clearly, the question of sex on Mars is an interesting one … sex on the Moon slightly less so. The Moon trip would likely only be six or nine months: You tell your wife, Hey I’ll be away nine months and Dr. Lovelace will be my expeditionary spouse, and your wife probably responds with something like, “Like hell” and you don’t get to go.

But Mars -well that’s pretty exotic, a few years project at least and a cherry subtitle on the curriculum vitae. You say: Honey, we are preparing the way for the next stage of humankind, the point of departure for civilization, the very evolution of our species, so me and Dr. Lovelace will be testing all the ramifications of gestation in a zero-gravity environment. I trust you and the kids will be fine until I get back and we start up the Wednesday night bridge games again.

I’m sure 99 out of 100 wives will say: Well, you were a physics major, I knew what I was getting into when I said “I do.”

We have some scientists around here: What say you, guys? Is Dr. Kring spilling the beans?

George Will is one of my favorite writers.  Come to think of it, with the passing of WFB he IS my favorite writer.  Will’s articles on baseball and politics, two of my passions, are a mainstay for this conservative.  George and WFB both abandoned Jorge Bush long before many others and frankly looking back it only goes to show how much smarter they where than the rest, including yours truly.

Will has now written about another passion of mine, Beer.  George quickly puts beer in the driver seat with regard to the devlopment of our current world.

The development of civilization depended on urbanization, which depended on beer.

This is an obvious truth, why this statement does not appear on our money I do not know.  George continues …

Dying of cirrhosis of the liver in your forties was better than dying of dysentery in your twenties.

I am going to have a Guiness now, for medical reasons, with the upcoming presidency I am going to get real health conscious.  I strongly recommend reading the whole of the article and the commentary. For instance

A recent study found the average American walks about 900 miles per year. Another study found Americans drink, on average, 22 gallons of beer a year.

That means, on average, Americans get about 41 miles to the gallon.

Kind of makes you proud to be an American.

I am on my second beer now, with a tear in my eye.  Such commentary is poetry, sublime poetry.

Well the time has come.  The interviews are over, the permits submitted and the tapes edited.  The only thing left to do is watch this thing from beginning to almost end (sorry but you won’t see the impact-still classified).  Have your daytimers marked for Sunday, July 20th at 2000 hrs or 8pm civilian time.  This is a Discovery presentation but shown on the MILITARY CHANNEL.  I believe the Discovery people will do a great job in holding our interests.  Good watching.

UPDATE:  Here is a complete listing of all showings.

(7/20) 8 and 11 pm  (7/21) 3 am  (7/23) 9 pm  (7/24) 12 and 4 am, 5 pm  (7/26) 12 and 5 pm  (7/30)  2 pm

The backlash at the New Yorker is typical.  The left wing’s sacred cow has been defiled and the shrieking, designed to silence and instill fear, has commenced in earnest.

“The New Yorker may think, as one of their staff explained to us, that their cover is a satirical lampoon of the caricature Senator Obama’s right-wing critics have tried to create,” said Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton. “But most readers will see it as tasteless and offensive. And we agree.”

The countless cartoons depicting George Bush as an ape are not tasteless?  Or Bush Hitler connection?  The MSM did not rise up on its collective hind legs over this tasteless humor.  But the orthodoxy surrounding the tale of the Chicago Messiah must be protected at all costs.  So in this case a stalwart ally is savaged.   That’s OK, the New Yorker will crawl out from under the bus, and soon a cartoon depicting Obama in the correct ‘lite’ will be proffered as penance.

It appears that since the fear campaign known as Political Correctness, or PC has not managed to shut down the pajamahadeen then the boys at Google decided to do it themselves as reported in the NYT ‘BITS’ section.

Did Google use its network of online services to silence critics of Barack Obama? That was the question buzzing on a corner of the blogosphere over the last few days, after several anti-Obama bloggers were unable to update their sites, which are hosted on Google’s Blogger service.

The number of sites was seven, not several, but the gray lady has been suffering from journalistic senility the past 20 years, so I chalk it up as remarkable that the water carriers for the Democrat party reported this at all.  The claim that these sites were not targeted is laughable as this kind of thing requires human action.

Seven blogs run by Democrats who oppose Obama’s nomination for the presidency were incorrectly flagged as spam sites by Blogger, the hosting service Google has owned since 2003. Google says it was an automated response from a spam filter.

But the bloggers believe that Web surfers who support Obama took advantage of a loophole in Blogger’s system that allows readers to report spam blogs, the artificial Web sites that abound on the Internet and are used to promote other sites.

“It appears that [Blogger’s] policy can be manipulated by people determined to shut down the free exchange of ideas,” said Carissa Snedeker, whose blog, BlueLyon, was among those that were frozen.

This is classic.  The left wing, typified by the likes of  is shouting ‘censorship’ when they are called on being the windbags like Rosie O’Donnell. The interesting thing is the ongoing censoring of good news from Iraq and Afganistan.  Nothing to see, move along.

More typical of left wing censorship is on going intellectual pogrom on college campuses.  Hate speech is defined as anything that annoys or offends some left wing loon.  The banning of reading of books that have scary words is another pastime of the left wing campus thought police.

Sampson’s troubles began last year when a co-worker complained after seeing him reading a book titled “Notre Dame vs. the Klan: How the Fighting Irish Defeated the Ku Klux Klan.”

It appears that study of American history can be more radical than one would imagine.

Sampson, a 58-year-old white janitor and student majoring in communication studies, said he tried to explain that the book was a historical account.

I have an interest in American history,” Sampson said. “I was trying to educate myself

But Sampson says his union official likened the book to bringing pornography to work, and the school’s affirmative action officer in November told Sampson his conduct constituted racial harassment.

You used extremely poor judgment by insisting on openly reading the book related to a historically and racially abhorrent subject in the presence of your black co-workers,” Lillian Charleston wrote in a letter to Sampson.

I guess its OK to get hysterical over nothing when dealing with a middle age white guy, a.k.a. a redneck.   Harassment of the non-protected class is okey dokey.

If the bloggers who got targeted where Obama supporters the story would have appeared on the NYT’s front page not the BITS section.  If a member of the LBGT community where targeted for reading something, the story would be a lead on the 6 O’clock news.  Because the websites are against the DEMOCRAT presidential candidate and because this guy is some uneducated middle aged white guy (who can’t jump) the media is giving these stories short shrift.  Now, that is not censorship?

You do not have to burn down the building with the printing press or have a bonfire of books to engage in censorship.  The two acts I mentioned where brought to you by the Communists and the National Socialists. All you need to do is silence through intimidation and kangaroo courts, or have a left wing media establishment with an agenda.

Other left wing types who support censorship, like the Communist Chinese, currently still have a state run press.  Chavez, the self appointed Castro of the 21st century, also shut down the free press in his country.  I am not sure why the left feels it cannot win in an open forum.  Still, we have no real worries, its not like it really can happen here.  Ask Nancy Pelosi, she is a champion of free speech.