"When We Come Home Alive..." Those Who Walk The Walls Followup #1 of 2

"Sometimes I wish they would do this for us when we come home alive."

That's what one sailor said, watching the procession, and crowds, that gathered to mourn the loss of another sailor, killed in the line of duty as a corpsman in Iraq, supporting Marines in combat.

Think about that for a second.

Why don't we?

Aren't these our heroes?

Aren't these the bravest, most dedicated, most honorable of our young people?

Why DON'T we do this when they come home alive?

Why aren't there parades for living armed forces personnel? Why don't we call out the whole town to see our kids come home?

Why do we only bring out the ticker tape and confetti, the marching bands and police escorts, to bring home their bodies?

I ask, because I, too, once wished they would do something like that when I came home alive, and when my friends did.

Why do we only recognize the contributions of the dead? Are those brought home still living not equally responsible for the good we accomplish?

Remembering Those Who Walk The Walls

For the few of you who don't know, I am a veteran. I served in the 82nd Airborne Division; I am a second-generation paratrooper, actually, and had my wings pinned by a Brigadier General at the Airborne school at Fort Benning, Georgia. I served my country well, and was deployed in a variety of places, including the longest Airborne mission in history, as well as Kosovo.

The tradition of military service is strong in my family; I, my father, my grandfather, my great-grandfather, several of my cousins, and various and sundry second- and twice-removeds have all served, in various capacities.

So, certain holidays mean a bit more to me than they do to most; Memorial Day is one of them. Memorial Day is the holiday during which we, as a nation and a citizenry, honor the sacrifices of those who walk the walls for us, and fell on our behalf.

We don't do enough of that. In our furor over politics, we often lose sight of the fact that those who walk the walls yet do so, regardless of our support or lack thereof; and although we loudly bewail their loss, we still often choose to protest at their funerals. Those who have fallen in the cause of liberty are our defenders; they are our bravest, our finest, our most motivated; and we don't give them enough credit or respect.

Army life is pretty thankless. You never get paid enough, you work harder than at any civilian job, and you endure snide comments from civilians anytime you go out in public wearing the uniform. And yet your soldiers, airmen, marines, and sailors continue to do the really stellar job they do, with motivation, aggression, belief, and competence. Some of them - those we honor today - die in the cause of those beliefs; that freedom is worth having, and worth defending, even for those who sneer at the people who provide it to them.

A while back, I heard a song from a band I'd never listened to before; a song that hit a chord for me, as a former soldier and veteran of our Armed Forces. It's a song that I believe every soldier ought to hear; every citizen ought to listen to. Because it sums up the creed, and the beliefs, of a soldier better than any other statement I believe I've ever heard.

That song is "Winterborn," by the Cruxshadows. What follows is the lyrics, followed by a music video for the song. The actual band video is basically just them on stage, so I chose this video instead, as I felt it matched the music more fittingly; but either way, it's a powerful tribute, and one I believe deserves to be shared. I will note that emphasis within the lyrics is mine. Without further ado:

Winterborn (This Sacrifice)
by Cruxshadows
album: Ethernaut (2003)

Dry your eyes and quietly bear this pain with pride
For heaven shall remember the silent and the brave
And promise me they will never see, the fear within our eyes
(my eyes are closed)
We will give strength to those who still remain

So bury fear, for fate draws near
And hide the signs of pain
With noble acts, the bravest souls
Endure the heart's remains
Discard regret, that in this debt
A better world is made
That children of a newer day might remember
And avoid our fate

(I've waited all day in the pouring rain, but nobody came, no, nobody came)

And in the fury of this darkest hour
We will be your light
You've asked me for my sacrifice
And I am Winter born
Without denying, a faith is come
That I have never known
I hear the angels call my name
And I am Winter born

Hold your head up high-for there is no greater love
Think of the faces of the people you defend
(you defend)
And promise me, they will never see the tears within our eyes
(my eyes are closed)
Although we are men, with mortal sins, angels never cry

So bury fear, for fate draws near
And hide the signs of pain
With noble acts, the bravest souls
Endure the heart's remains
Discard regret, that in this debt
A better world is made
That children of a newer day might remember
And avoid our fate

And in the fury of this darkest hour
We will be your light
You've asked me for my sacrifice
And I am Winter born
Without denying, a faith in God
That I have never known
I hear the angels call my name
And I am Winter born

And in the fury of this darkest hour
I will be your light
A lifetime for this destiny
For I am Winter born
And in this moment..I will not run
It is my place to stand
We few shall carry hope
Within our bloodied hands
(bloodied hands)
And in our Dying, we're more alive-than we have ever been
I've lived for these few seconds
For I am Winter born

And in the fury of this darkest hour
We will be the light
You've asked me for my sacrifice
And I am Winter born
Without denying, a faith in man
That I have never known
I hear the angels call my name
And I am Winter born

Within this moment now
I am for you, though better men have failed
I will give my life for love
For I am Winter born
And in my dying
I'm more alive, than I have ever been
I will make this sacrifice
For I am Winter born

That, to me, is great tribute indeed.

The video in that clip, by the way, is from the movie Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, which I think was better than it got credit for.

It's Memorial Day.

Go thank a veteran; place flowers at a soldier's grave; honor the fallen. They honored you with their sacrifice on your behalf; you can at least buy them some flowers, or give them a friendly word. Those fogies down at the VFW hall paid a dear price for their right to sit there, and many of their friends are among those we honor today.

Yet Another Rant About Taxation, But Since You Can Read This, It Applies To You Directly!

OK!

The reality is that we have too many goddamn taxes.

We use those taxes to fund programs we shouldn't even have.

But regardless, we have too many goddamn taxes. EVERYTHING you do is taxed; income, "sales" tax, which really ought to be called a purchasing tax, luxury taxes, capital gains; real property; gas; phone; dying; medical care; everything you do, from A to Z, is covered by a tax.

Why?

What a draining effect on our economy. If we tried - we could at least TRY it, rather than simply saying "it wouldn't work" in the absolute absence of any evidence - running the government within a balanced budget, and requiring that it do so from personal income taxes and a real property tax, the economy would be hundreds of times stronger than it's ever been.

Because contrary to screaming liberals' beliefs, no tax cut in the history of the world has ever had a negative effect on an economy. Not one. NONE. EVERY tax cut, no matter where it's directed, has a positive effect. It's that simple; there's just no way around it. Tax cuts benefit the economy in general, without fail, every time. Tax increases damage the economy in general, without fail, every time.

So.

We have a service that all of us use - all of us capable of reading this page, at least - that has never been taxed.

That would be the Internet.

Know why? Because - demonstrating an understanding of economics they deny when it comes to their favorite pork barrel - Congress banned taxation of Internet service from the get-go, saying that a tax would prevent it from reaching "commercial viability" because it would have a "chilling effect" on e-commerce.

Right, because increased taxes are always bad, and decreased taxes are always good.

I'm glad Congress can understand that.

So, now the ban is a few months away from expiring, which would allow states to set their own tax rates on Internet service.

The Internet companies, of course, are trying to provide their services to their customers at an ever-cheaper price, so that more people will use them, because they understand basic economics better than, say, the oil companies: you have more pies if you take a tenth apiece of fifty pies, then if you take a fifth apiece of only five. This being the case, they hate the idea of states being able to tax their services at any rate they feel like, because they know as well as you or I do that the states will view Internet service as an untapped honeypot, and tax it as much as they think they can get away with without people actually turning it off.

The states, of course, and a lot of the larger municipalities, are of course trying to convince Congress to let them tax your Internet service as much as they want to.

Think about living in New York - a famously tax-happy state anyway - and specifically in New York City - a famously tax-happy city anyway - and more specifically in one of the boroughs. You might see taxes on your Internet service not from one, but from ALL THREE, if this ban does not become permanent. I don't know how many of you would object violently to a sudden 30% hike in the price of your Internet service - I'm following New York tradition, and starting all three taxes at 10% - but I'd bet it would be a lot of you.

So, start complaining in advance. Write your Representative, and your Senator, and tell them that the ban needs to be permanent.

Local governments have enough piggy banks that end up coming out of your pockets already; they don't need to tax this too.

Especially when their arguments basically are that they ought to be able to tax anything they want, and besides, you already use the Internet, so it's commercially viable and therefore - because there's no evidence that people EVER stop using things that get too expensive, Noooooooo - doesn't require tax protection, because you'll keep right on using the 'Net, like heroin, no matter how high they jack up the price.

I look forward to seeing a wave of liquor store robberies to pay Verizon.

Your Free Speech: READ THIS!!!

There's a guy named Glenn Beck.

I've never watched his show, ever; until tonight, I had no idea who he was.

But this guy is the only person talking about free speech these days who actually knows what's going on.

Watch this clip, all the way through.

Listen to what he says.

Now, think about what he said.

Then watch it again. And think about it harder.

It's not "almost" as if these groups are positioning themselves to control the debate; it's what's happening. There have been bills proposed by some of our current liberal Senators to make conservative commentary illegal.

THEY ARE TRYING TO MAKE IT ILLEGAL TO DISAGREE WITH THEM.

Can you understand this? There can be no more blatant attempt to take over control of our society than this; making it illegal to SPEAK, despite your CONSTITUTIONALLY GUARANTEED RIGHT TO SAY WHATEVER THE FUCK YOU WANT, is WRONG.

Read the First Amendment again, folks.

It says:

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.

Note the part where it says "or abridging the freedom of speech," and bear in mind that there are no qualifiers on that statement.

None.

There has been no Constitutional Amendment to change that. Every law about "hate speech," every law about "sedition," every law against, in fact, slander or libel, is UNCONSTITUTIONAL.

Just because they've never been struck down by a court doesn't mean they're not on their face illegal. The First Amendment guarantees you the right to yell "Fire!" in a crowded theater. It does NOT guarantee that you won't get your ass kicked after you do; but it does guarantee that there can't be a law telling you not to.

You have the right - let's be clear about this - to say ANY GODDAMN THING YOU WANT TO.

Now, businesses have the right to say "ok, but not on our premises." And you as a person have the right to tell anyone "I'm not listening to this," and walk away, or change the channel, or just plain turn the goddamn thing off.

But you, and I, and everyone else are bound by a simple law, which says that no matter how offensive something is to us personally, we do not have the right to tell someone else not to say it.

Don Imus should never have gotten fired.

I find it interesting - incidentally - that the folks to whom his offensive comments referred were offended that he said they had curly hair - which, being black, some of them clearly did - but none of them were offended by the fact that he also called them prostitutes.

Seriously, you're more offended by an allegation that you have curly hair, than you are by the allegation that you have sex with strangers for money?

That's Bizarro World, folks.

But it's more than that. This issue is growing, and unless we do something about it now, it will not be long before you will see children - and I mean 5 year olds - serving jail sentences for calling each other names at school. At that point, we might as well give up speaking to one another at all, since anything you do or say can be held legally actionable; in fact I would recommend ignoring other people as a course of action wholeheartedly, except for the fact that you can then be found guilty of "creating a hostile work environment."

What the FUCK has happened to our sanity?


It's not our military that makes us the laughingstock of the planet, folks. It's that with all the gigantic advantages we have in this country - natural resources, plenty of room, wealth beyond the wildest dreams of most nations, a huge industrial base, a standard of living for even our poorest citizens again beyond the wildest dreams of most countries - THIS is what we find to argue about.

If we, as a nation, don't have anything better to do than try to find ways around our own Constitution, maybe we should fail as a nation, so that something else can be tried. Obviously representative democracy is a foolish idea.

Let's note that we've had democracy - the great ideal - up and running for less than 300 years, and we're falling apart, dramatically, in front of the whole world.

The empires of the past lasted for thousands of years, and in fact with the exception of Rome, only fell due to the effect of outside influences - and Rome only fell after they became a Republic.

I hate to have to compare the two, because despite the historical track record of empires on human rights - shitty - in every other way they are clearly a superior form of government.

Maybe what we need is a Constitutionally-governed empire.

A Steak Dinner For Cheap

Now, I know that you all have eaten meats from various places, and know that some are better than others.

Obviously.

But there is a way to turn frozen New York Strips - $6 a box at Wal-Mart - into a semi-appealing meal.

I know you don't believe me. But I'm gonna tell you how to do it.

First, get a casserole dish big enough for however many steaks you want to cook, plus liquid. Place the steaks in it; preferably thawed a little, but it's not necessary.

In a bowl, mix two to three beers; one packet of instant onion soup per beer; a can of mushrooms if you like; and a shot glass full of lemon juice. Mix it thoroughly, then pour over the steaks. Cover with tin foil.

Let the steaks marinate in the fridge overnight if thawed, two nights if frozen.

When ready, pre-heat the oven to 350, and once it's up and going, slap the casserole dish, steaks, marinade, and all, in and let it go for about 20 minutes.

While that's going, you have a decision to make: potatoes and gravy, or something else.

Since we're planning on having gravy fries tomorrow, we went with an Italian blend salad.

After 20 minutes at 350, flip the steaks over, set the heat down to 300, and cook another 15 minutes. Then remove the steaks from the oven, and serve. If you're making gravy, you can mix either cornstarch or flour with water in a jar, and mix it into the marinade in a skillet, frying it on low heat until it thickens slightly.

At any rate, I know you may not believe me, but beer is a near-flawless ingredient for cooking, folks. Natural meat tenderizer, and the flavor complements not only meats, but grains as well.

For this recipe I would choose Dos Equis or Tecate, although in this particular case we were forced to settle for 2 bottles of barely adequate Michelob Ultra Amber.

Enjoy!

James And The Giant Bouncy Chair

...because I know none of you could wait; all of you were just sitting on the edge of your seats, waiting to leap up with excitement, here is a video of my son enjoying his bouncy chair.

Enjoy!

Wiretap The Internet Day: Mother's Day, Part 2 Of 4

...And the second of today's festivities concerns the upcoming "Wiretap The Internet Day," May 14th.

...The WHAT?!? you might ask?

Well, you see, in 1994, Congress passed a law called CALEA, the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act. It allowed the FCC, and domestic policing agencies, to demand greatly increased facility for installing wiretaps be built into the communications infrastructure.

Now, thanks to a seemingly endless supply of officials in technology-oriented positions who know nothing, and care less, about technology, the FCC has succeeded in convincing some judges somewhere that CALEA should apply to the Internet, as well, and as a result, May 14th is the deadline for basically all broadband providers, cable and DSL alike, to set up built-in monitoring stations to allow the police to more rapidly deploy wiretaps monitoring electronic communications, not only including email, but in fact tracking web browsing habits, instant messages, and data traffic of all descriptions.

Of course, they will still require a search warrant to do this, but these days that's hardly more than a rubber-stamp formality.

Since the deadline for telephone compliance in 2002, the number of court-ordered wiretaps has nearly doubled. Is there any reason to suspect that it won't do the same, or worse, following tomorrow?

No, there really isn't. The easier and less time-consuming we make it for government agencies to spy on the citizens, the more they will resort to that, rather than actually looking for evidence.

I just can't wait to see what happens when they begin outlawing certain kinds of speech.

Make no mistake; it's going to happen. Democrats have already stated openly that they intend - if they ever get sufficient control of Congress to do so - to pass legislation declaring conservative opinion equivalent to sedition. Yes, they're trying to make it illegal to be a Republican. Wow.

Do you really think they'd scruple at outlawing sexually-oriented websites? Or political ones, if they disagree with the current wave of hysterical communism? I think not. And tomorrow, they have yet another arrow in their quiver; one more weapon to assist them in doing so.

Isn't "representative government" wonderful?

Hollywood Revisits The Past: Mother's Day, Part 1 of 4

Yes, four articles today, to make up for the preceding few days of not very much.

In December of 2005, I posted an article in Xeno's Paradox about a scandalous event in Enumclaw, Washington.

A man went to a barn, sexually molested a horse, and the horse screwed him to death. Now, that's gross, but not all that important in the grand scheme of things, so I didn't do much follow-up on it, and since I didn't realize that the news site would remove the article, you know, 2 days after they posted it, I didn't exactly flesh things out with a lot of detail.

Unbeknownst to me - because really, zoophiles aren't of THAT much interest - it turned out there was more to the story after all. In fact, the man and his friend were members of a secret society of Seattle-area zoophiles, people who sneak out to area farms and screw, or get screwed by, animals.

Gross.

But, since Hollywood is more fascinated by the grotesque than am I, a film is making the rounds in Seattle, describing the incident, and its meanings.

It's called "Zoo."

Really, nobody ought to see it, I suspect; there's not a lot filmmakers can really do to make a horse-buggering trespasser all that sympathetic, but that doesn't mean they didn't try.

Maybe it's because of the incipient Writer's Guild strikes; Hollywood is running out of people willing to dredge up TV shows from the 1960s and rehash tired franchises with sequel after sequel. I don't know. But I do know that "going to see a man about a horse" takes on a whole new meaning these days.

Mother's Day, Part 4 Of 4

And now, the finale:

We talk about Mother's Day.

For some reason, we didn't put the two holidays together - you know, Mother's Day today, and Father's Day next Sunday. But that notwithstanding, today is Mother's Day.

Mothers serve a role in our society, and in human development, that is different from the role of a father. Both are equally valuable, but both are equally necessary.

Mothers provide nurture, and support; they often are a baby's first, and for a time sole, source of food; they often care for the baby exclusively, in households where the father is the sole income provider; and they guide the development of children in knowledge of all things female.

Parenthood - of either stripe - is a nearly universally thankless job. All too often, by the time a child is grown enough to recognize the work their folks put into them, and appreciate it, the folks who did the work are long gone.

I know. I almost reached the same point; I only grew up enough to really understand, and in a sense take ownership of, what my parents had done for me, in time to spend the last 7 years of his life with my father. Some are not that fortunate; they only reach maturity great enough to recognize the debt after their parents are gone, and some never reach it at all.

So, on behalf of those not yet there, and those who will never get there, thanks, moms.

Some of us know what you've done, and continue to do, for us.

Thank you.

Go, Vegans! Mother's Day, Part 3 of 4

Now, I really try not to make a big deal about how stupid I think Veganism really is.

Honestly. How many articles have you read by me making noise about that?

That's right; none. But today, we're going to discuss it. There is a point to this, and it relates to Mother's Day, as well, which I'll get to. But bear with me.

Ever look in the mouth of a cat? A cat has no molars; just sharp, ripping teeth. This is because a cat is what's called an obligate carnivore: it MUST eat meat, to survive. This meat can be fish, or fowl, or game; the type doesn't matter, but if a cat doesn't get meat in its diet, it'll die.

A cow, on the other hand, has nothing but flat teeth, for chewing grain and grass, and multiple stomachs, for digestion of vegetable matter; this is because a cow is an herbivore, which means it MUST eat vegetables, or it will die. Those vegetables can be pretty much anything not actually poisonous, although admittedly I've never seen a cow eat an oak tree, but if a cow doesn't get its fill of vegetables daily, it'll die.

A human, on the other hand, has both kinds of teeth; flat for veggies, and sharp for meat. This is because we as a species are what's termed "omnivores," which is slightly inaccurate: it means "ones who eat everything," which is not ENTIRELY true. I dunno about you, but sheet metal is beyond me. But still; the point of the term is that meat and vegetables are both necessary for a proper human diet.

One of those words is the important one. Want to guess which?

Yeah. "Necessary." In other words, if human beings are not nourished with protein complexes, lipids, carbohydrates, and minerals found in both types of food, animal and vegetable, they will acquire various diseases as symptoms of malnourishment, and DIE.

Now, there are quite a few Vegans around; people who believe that any consumption of animal products, despite their biological dictates, is some kind of moral evil. They're not dead. But I challenge you to go look at them. The only ones who aren't malnourished in some way - because contrary to popular belief, it IS NOT POSSIBLE to get animal-manufactured proteins and lipids from plants - are taking dietary supplements; those supplements contain the necessary proteins and lipids to maintain their health - and they are manufactured from animal products.

A more delusional and self-loathing bunch cannot be found, in my opinion.

But I've never seen that insanity devolve into a level near what happened in Atlanta, on April 25th, 2004, and whose chilling consequences are only now reaping their just reward.

On Wednesday last, Jade Sanders and Lamont Thomas were sentenced to life in prison for starving their son to death. Crown Shakur Sanders was six weeks old when he died on April 25th. The couple admitted openly that they had fed him a diet consisting entirely of soy-based products and applesauce; breast milk is an animal product, you see. MILK is an animal product. And being "pure" as a Vegan was more important to them than the health of their son.

The prosecutor in the case called the couple "not Vegans, but babykillers!" in a fit of departure from his normal legalese. Sadly, he's wrong; they are certainly babykillers, but they were also Vegans. Because anyone who tries to deny the simple biological requirements for food is crazy. I mean, absolutely bat-shit insane; gone south; lost their marbles; FUBAR; and just, plain, simply, nuts.

Your body requires certain forms of nutrition. The reality - however much you may willfully deny it - is that some of those elements are only present in the consumption of other life. This couple's insistence on denying that reality killed their only child, and earned them life in prison.

They claim they didn't realize he was in trouble until minutes before he died, despite attributing his unnatural state of emaciation to his Vegan diet.

Does the connection really, honestly not occur to you?

AT&T LOVES YOU!! YAY!!!

...And because they do, they've decided to keep things simple for customers.

Just wait, I'll explain.


I know, these days, everyone loves to use cell phones, VOIP, and unlimited landline long distance, but there are still people who either can't afford, or don't want to be bothered with, such fripperies; these are the folks to whom AT&T sells phone cards for long distance.

Recently, because they're in such dire financial straits, AT&T started charging extra minutes for in-state long distance.

Up to eight minutes charged per actual minute used.

This is because, said they, they had to recoup FCC and state fees on in-state long distance service.

There's a tiny problem with this: The FCC doesn't regulate in-state long distance.

There's another tiny problem with this: Neither do the states in which AT&T is charging extra.

There's another really BIG problem with this: The FCC states, "Calling card rates aren't regulated. Period."

That does seem like it holds that theory back a bit, don't you think?

From the AT&T calling card Terms and Conditions:

For calls that begin and end within the same state, minutes are deducted at the following rates per minute of talk time:
1 minute: DC, IL, IN, MA, RI, USVI;
3 minutes: AL, AR, CA, CT, DE, GA, HI, KS, KY, LA, MD, ME, MI, MS, NE, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, OR, PR, SC, TN, UT, WI, WV;
5 minutes: AK, AZ, CO, FL, IA, ID, MN, MT, NC, NH, OK, PA, TX, VA, VT, WA, WY;
8 minutes: MO, ND, SD.

So, you ask, in what way did AT&T make things simpler for the customer, especially since these changes are not noted on the cards themselves?

Well, they sure made it easier to choose not to buy from AT&T, didn't they?