Opaque Lucidity

Maybe Shakespeare Was Right

I hate lawyers. There--I said it. I know 'hate' is a strong word, but there is no group of human beings who have done more to destroy the underpinnings of our society than lawyers (except liberal politicians, many of whom are---you guessed it---lawyers. Bill Clinton is a perfect example). For the record, I know there are good lawyers out there who do pro bono work for poor people and who have set out to make sure wrong-doers are held accountable. But for every good lawyer, there seems to be about a hundred who are money-sucking leeches.

Case in point: the recent airline crash in Lexington, Kentucky. It is against the law for an attorney to contact the family members of an airline accident victim for 45 days (or so) after the crash. So how do the local bloodsuckers here in Kan-Tuck-Ee do it? They take out full page ads in the Lexington Herald-Leader, the city's largest newspaper. I don't have an online copy of the ads to link to, but they are sickening: after expressing their sympathy to the families, they say things like, "Call Us--We'll Get To The Bottom Of This Tragedy". What sort of low-life, sub-human dirtbag would do such a thing? Lawyers. Lawyers. Lawyers.

If the average American could see how much more expensive his life is because of malpractice insurance, nuisance lawsuits, ridiculous R&D costs for pharmacueticals and the like, there would be crowds hanging lawyers from street lamps. I'm not condoning this activity, of course, but it makes me think that every bastard lawyer in this great country needs to think his lucky stars we are a civilized people.

Shheeeesh.

Still Crazy After All These Years

John Kerry is using a tin foil hat theory about the 2004 Presidential vote in Ohio to try and place that state's governorship in Democratic hands. Think about it: how would the Republican "machine" have stolen more than 100,000 votes? I don't think even Joe Kennedy could've pulled that off.

Once again, to you Democrats: this is your party. The Dems are so far out of touch that they can't imagine the majority of Americans NOT loving their ideas. Thus, when they lose, the assume that foul play must've been involved. Otherwise, they would have to re-examine their stance on the War on Terror, abortion, gay marriage, etc., etc. This they can not do.

It may not happen in 2008, but if the Democrats remain on course, they will eventually steal another election just like JFK did in 1960. Instead of using organized crime, the new Dems will use the liberal courts to get their way. This time, however, it could spell the beginning of the end of the United States as a democratic republic and a first-world nation. Write that down.

Never A Good Day

Comair Flight 5191 crashed after takeoff from Lexington, Kentucky at 6AM this morning. Of the 50 people on board, only one of the pilots survived. As of right now, it appears that the pilot tried to take off from the wrong runway. The runway he used was too short for the commuter jet; I don't know if he pulled up too early and stalled or just ran off the end of the strip. The plane landed intact in some farmland a mile away, but a fire engulfed the aircraft immediately. Officials are saying that most of the people who died probably burned to death. Not a pleasant thing to think about.

Although it's probably not a good time to bring this up, I can't help but be angered by the local media's handling of this story. I can certainly understand granting special coverage to the crash because Lexington is only an hour from Louisville. What I can't understand is the morbidity and stupidity of the reporters covering the story. It served as a reminder to me that most reporters went to college, got a degree in journalism (which makes one an expert at nothing) and then went to work for a media outlet. Most of them just don't come across as very smart people.

A case in point is the press conference the CEO of Comair held this afternoon in Lexington. He made it clear from the outset that his first priority is the passengers' families. They will be flown to Lexington from anywhere in the world and settled in nearby accommodations until such time as they want to go home. Yet, the first questions was, "Have you been to the crash site?" His answer: "No. I came right from Cincinnati and my first priority was to see to the families of the victims. We have a team at the crash site who are cooperating fully with the NTSB." Second question: "Why haven't you gone to the site?"

Really? Are you that dense? Or do you just like the sound of your own voice?

I have a theory about reporters in our 21st century, 24/7/365 news world: if you have good hair and teeth, can read a teleprompter and can ask a scathing question without batting an eye, then you're in. It's not exactly Edward R. Murrow out there anymore, and we are all a little worse for it.

Frappr Time

After putting it off for far too long, I have set up a Frappr map for Matt's Today in History. What's a Frappr map, you may ask? Well, it an interactive map that allows you to post your name and location (and other info if you wish) for everyone else to see. Thus, with enough participation, we can get an idea of who listens to the 'cast and where they live. It's a fun way to get a grip on how far-ranging this podcasting thing has become.

Goofy? Yes, And Pluto, Too

Pluto is no longer to be considered a planet. What the hell is the Solar System coming to? I know this is not the way to return to blogging after a lengthy absence, but come on....Pluto is getting fired!!!

Mary's Violet Eyes Make John Stay Up Nights Proposing. That's how I learned to memorize the planets when I was in grade school. Your experience was probably similar. Now we'll have to come up with something new, like: Michael's Violent Engravings Made John Shoot Up Nightly...maybe that's not so good for the kiddies.
How about Matt's Vision Enlongated Matronly Jane's Shadowy....ummm, that's not going anywhere.

Or, we could just leave off "proposing", which leaves us wondering what Johnny's doing at night when he thinks of Mary's eyes. Eyes...yeah, I'm sure that's what he's thinking about.

In my opinion, anything which orbits a star and has enough mass to be spherical should be considered a planet. Evidently, though, there are dozens of bodies out beyond Pluto which match that description, meaning that we actually have about 50 planets in our little neighborhood. Isn't it funny how little we know about our own backyard? I makes me wonder what future astronomers and researchers will discover.

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I'm Still Here

Yes, I'm still alive. I'm tired as hell tonight; it was a long, long day that started with dead network switch; you can imagine the fun. I was going to put up a long post about the Benet-Ramsey confessed killer, but since it may be a hoax, I'm not going to waste my time. However, I will say that if this guy is the little girl's killer (she would be 16 now, by the way), then he needs to spend the rest of his short life in the general prison population of a large state prison. A thin, white guy like him would get passed around like a rag doll until somebody stuck a shiv in his chest.

And it wouldn't be a moment too soon.

Next Stop

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, head wacko of Iran, has dismissed calls for his country to give up efforts at uranium enrichment and other work that could lead to the development of nuclear weapons. We're one a four-lane highway that is about to become a one-way dirt road.

Iran can not back down from US/European/UN pressure and still save face in the Arab world. As it stands now, Tehran has its fingers and thumbs in every terrorist pie from the eastern shore of the Med to Afghanistan. Any pullback will look like weakness in the eyes of the "Arab street"; from their view, this probably seems more suicidal than a showdown with the West.

As long as Iran maintains a hard line, the options are very limited: embargo, invasion or ignore the entire issue and hope it goes away. I think we all know that the latter is not likely to occur, at least not unless the Democrats win back the White House in 2008. An embargo will be weak at best, since Iran's borders are porous and "allies" such as Russia and France are more than willing to do business with anyone who has cash, oil or very large credit cards.

That leaves invasion, and that's out of the question. Iran is not Iraq; an invasion would be bloody and an occupation worse than anything we have seen thus far. Yes, there is a large anti-government movement in Iran, but it could very well disintegrate at the first sign of an invasion. And American domestic support for such an operation would be weaker than current support for operations in Iraq.

There is another option, but I don't believe it's on the table (at least not yet). Since it is apparent that radical Muslims only understand force, promise force: announce that any facility that is suspected of enriching uranium, building nuclear weapons or researching long-range missiles will be destroyed from the air, immediately and without warning. I know that some of the suspected research sites are underground, but I have no doubt our intelligence services could discover enough of them to leave the Iranians scratching their heads.

The leadership in Iran knows that they are putting the West in the position of either putting up or shutting up. It's the best move they could make with the hand they've been dealt. Look how well it's work so far.

In Honor Of

At least 50 newborn babies in the West Bank and Gaza Strip have been named after Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah over the past month, sources in the Palestinian Authority Health Ministry told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.

This is the most depressing thing I have read in a long time. One must wonder about any culture in which people honor terrorists by naming their children after them. There is a school of thought which says that one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. Using this logic, the above story is the equivalent of 18th century Americans naming their sons after George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.

Except, the comparison doesn't work. People who are considered freedom fighters generally fight to bring their countrymen a better way of life. Even the Viet Cong in Vietnam believed that everyone, from the North AND the South, would be better off once the war was won. They were wrong, but you can at least say that they were probably trying to make people's lives better. Can Hezzbollah say that? No.

The Middle East is mired in a culture of death. It seems that the ultimate goal of every terror group in the region is the destruction of Israel, the US and/or all of western society. Then what? There seems to be no discussions of freedom, either physical, economic, religious or otherwise. There is only talk of pushing Jews into the sea, as if they are some sort of oppressor who must be destroyed. If that is true, then they wish to to replace one overseer with another, a seventh-century caliphate that treats women like cattle and kills anyone who is not a Muslim. This is worth dying for?

The children named after terrorists will one day learn the source of those names. They will begin to view them as heroes, just like their parents do now. The hate will continue for another generation.

80, Dammit

Fidel Castro turns 80 on Sunday. That rat bastard has outlasted nine Presidents. I hope he has been given so much time only because the demons in Hell need to make sure the fire is extra hot when he arrives.

Front row, Fidel. Right in front of the stage.

The Little Words Make All The Difference

The British did a wonderful thing this week when they broke up a terrorist ring planning to blow up airliners heading for the US via the use of liquid explosives which would be combined once the flight was airborne. It also showed us all, once again, that political-correctness can get us all killed.

There is one undeniable fact concerning all the terrorists attacks made against this nation since 1993: the perps have all been young Muslim males. All of them. Without exception. We can talk about Islam being a religion of peace and, gosh, maybe it is, but that one truth remains: young, Muslim, male.

So now, as you read this, Americans, Brits and pretty much anyone else getting on a plane in the UK or the US is barred from bringing liquids aboard an aircraft. Baby formula is an exception, but one report said that security people were making the parents taste it first. Meanwhile, the idea of binary components being combined to form an explosive is as old as chemistry itself and was certainly known to the world at large before last Wednesday. So why is this precaution being taken now? Three words: young, Muslim, male.

In a world free from political considerations, anyone who is young, male and of Middle Eastern descent would be searched more thoroughly before being allowed on a plane. While this would not be a foolproof method of finding potential virgin harem seekers, it would certainly put the odds in our favor. The message would be clear: if you match this profile, or if we don't like the look of you or, as they used to say, the cut of your jib, expect to be searched. Every time you fly. Sorry, but this is the world we live in now and you have to live in the world you have, not the world you wish you had.

Of course, this will never, ever happen in the United States (or, I fear, in Great Britain). Muslim groups are already issuing press releases reminding us all that Muslims are people, too, and have the same rights that the rest of the population has. This is true. But if any of you reading this are Muslim, please understand something: almost all of us understand that you have a right to practice your religion and embrace your culture without fear of harassment or discrimination. There are people who think you shouldn't have that right, but they are freaks in our society, an abhorrent subset of people who will, hopefully, move off the planet soon.

What many non-Muslims in this country fail to understand is why your fraternal groups are quick to demand respect but so slow to publicly announce the need to clean house. Yes, condemnations have been issued from mosques in the United States, but they are few and far between. I think I speak for many people when I say that I would feel a lot better if that condemnation were so in my face that I got tired of hearing about it.

If we are serious about safety (and I wonder sometimes if our government really is), then our security procedures need to reflect the realities we face. My 69-year old mother and her bottle of water are not a threat to anyone, yet she faces the same treatment at the airport as the 23-year old "student" from Saudi Arabia with a backpack and a 32 ounce bottle of Gatorade under his arm. A child would look at this situation and find it funny; yet our society looks at it and breathes a sigh of relief because it is free of discrimination.

When the next terror attack comes to this country (and it will), the same crowd that is so concerned about not hurting anyone's feelings will be the same crowd asking why that attack wasn't prevented. The answer will be the same as it has always been: because the people who were serious about security were not allowed to keep this nation secure.

The Frontline Is Everywhere

The arrest this morning of 21 people in the UK on suspicion of planning to blow up aircraft over the Atlantic reminds us all that we are at war with Islamo-facists, and that while we are on guard more than ever, we will be attacked again. Maybe next year. Maybe today.

The events of today remind me of what so many people (Howard Dean, Hillary Clinton, Michael Moore) have said about Osama Bin Laden. They believe that we have failed to score a victory in the War on Terror because OBL is still on the loose somewhere in the mountains of Pakistan/Afghanistan. Their thinking, I suppose, is that if we had his head on a stake the war would be over and everyone could come home. Or, at least, that’s what they would demand.

This is September 10th thinking, and it’s dangerous. Al Queda and its fellow travelers are not centralized armies that can be defeated by capturing or killing the leadership caste. They are loose, small groups who operate independently and may not have communications with anyone once they receive their seed funding. They are not of one nationality or race and the only thing they have in common is their perversion of Islam and their hatred of the West.

Bin Laden will one day be found, and the world will be better with him no longer on the loose. But it will do little to stop this war. Everyone who is an adult today will probably not live to see a time when the Western world is free from the threat of radical Islamic terror. Victory will only come when that ideology is dead.

As for Dean, Clinton and Moore…well, they’ll never get it because it’s not in their best interests to understand.

Reviews, Reviewers, Etc.

I would like to ask those of you who are regular readers of this blog and who also have heard my podcast to go to:

http://www.thepodcastreview.com/2006/08/09/the-podcast-review-episode-02/

and listen to that podcast as they review Matt's Today in History. They cover it within the first ten minutes, so you don't have to invest too much time. I would appreciate any comments you may have, whether you agree with their conclusions or not. Thanks in advance for your time.

ADL vs. Olbermann

You may not have ever actually watched Keith Olbermann's show on MSNBC (Countdown with Keith Olbermann), but you have probably seen clips of him attacking Bill O'Reilly. In fact, it seems that Olbermann's entire show centers around a bizarre hatred of O'Reilly. Anyway, here's a letter the Anti-Defamation League sent to Olbermann:

Keith Olbermann
Countdown with Keith Olbermann
MSNBC
July 28, 2006

The Anti-Defamation League

I'm not going to argue about the appropriateness of the salute. Personally, I think it's tacky, but it's not worth getting mad about. Then again, I'm not Jewish and I don't have relatives who died in concentration camps. That kind of changes your perspective, methinks.

One question, though: if the situation were reversed and it was Bill O'Reilly (or Rush Limbaugh or Laura Ingraham or Anne Coulter) doing the salute, do you think it would be front page news? You bet. Let me remind you of what happened when Mississippi Senator Trent Lott tried to compliment Strom Thurman. His innocent statement was made out to be in praise of segregation; he lost his seat as Majority Leader because of it. Former KKK member Robert Byrd has said worse during his ramblings on the Senate floor, but he's treated like some sort of honorable scholar instead of the base, racist country hick he really is.

Biased media? Of course not.

As Time Goes By

One of my sisters' in-laws are getting ready to move into an assisted care facility. They are both 80 and it is becoming increasingly difficult for them to take care of each other and their home. The saddest thing about the situation is that they've only been in their current home for about three years.

My mother will be 70 in November; my dad is 73. I know that within the next decade, my siblings and I may be having that talk---the one wherein you tell your parents that they need to go live with people who can keep an eye on them. In other words, you tell them that they need a babysitter. You tell the people who changed your diapers, read you bedtime stories and made sure your hair was combed that they are becoming children again. Nice.

I broached this subject with my dad on Sunday and his response was that they would stay in their current home until they could no longer do the basics: drive, do laundry, etc. I told him that I could take care of the yard with no problems, but much of the house maintanence would need to be hired out. That's hard for me to imagine, a repairman of some sort knocking on my parents' front door. Growing up, I didn't know that people hired plumbers, electricians and carpenters. Dad was an electrician by trade, but he had learned many trades out of necessity or personal interest.

Then he told me that their home's central air unit was going to need replacing before next summer, since it will be 30 years old. This is a job he would normally do himself, but he told me that he planned on hiring a neighbor, who does heating and cooling work for a living, to help him because, as he put it, "I just want someone there because I'm beginning to doubt my abilities." That's tough to hear coming from the man who always seemed like he knew everything. Even now, I'm amazed by his near-encyclopedic knowledge of many subjects.

There is more of this in the future. It's not fun.

We Don't Need No Stinkin' Pictures!

Well, well, well....it seems as if Reuters has been faking photographs. If you are trying to pass yourself off as a journalist, but you feel the need to doctor photos in order to lend support to a known terrorist organization, what does that make you, other than a fraud? Isn't there a term for people who give aid and comfort to terrorists? Oh, yeah...I remember now: ACCESSORY.

And, lo and behold, it looks like The New York Times, that bastion of all things true and right, has published at least one of these fakes. Niiiicceeee.

Has anyone called Dan Rather yet?

Roar Of The Grease Paint, Smell Of The Crowd

Kelli's parents took us to see a local production of 'The Wizard of Oz' this afternoon. It was well-done, the music was great and it was genuinely funny. I haven't seen the film or a stage production of 'Wizard' since 1989, when I played the Cowardly Lion. Ahh, the memories.

I remember most the heat. The lion outfit was heavy, furry and included gloves. Under the lights, it was stifling. I donated the suit to my high school some years later, where it has been displayed several times during anniversary gatherings. I hope no one ever has to wear it again---or, at least, I hope they get it cleaned first!

I never saw 'The Wizard of Oz' as a child. I wasn't going to try out for the play (my last) because, at that time, I was set to enter boot camp on June 2, barely 5 days after I was due to graduate from high school. I did not want to spend my last few months of freedom practicing for something that would have zero application in my adult life. But our acting teacher, Rebecca Reisert, must've talked to some of my peers, for that weekend I went over to my friend Hope's house and spent the evening watching the movie for the first time. When it was over, I wanted to try out for the play. I found out later that the role of the Lion had already been assigned to me and that the tryouts were something of a formality. If I hadn't tried out, things might've gotten messy.

I remembered today that I was something of an asshat during that time in my life. My ex-girlfriend got a role in the chorus after years of dance training and some modeling experience. Since we were Seniors, she would never have another chance for a lead role. And I REJOICED in that. I mean, I was actually happy. Of course, she now has a doctorate and probably makes ten times my salary, so everything worked out. Or something.

Theater is the only thing I miss about high school. I wasn't exactly the thespian type, and so I was sort of an outsider among the actors, but they were almost universally good people and I enjoyed my time there. Kelli worked on almost every production I was in, although if anyone had told us we would be married one day we would've laughed ourselves silly. Her sister also helped---I remember yelling at her backstage because she wouldn't give us knights our swords before we had to go on during one of our fight scenes in 'Camelot'. She probably doesn't remember, although I still feel bad about it.

During the fall of my Senior year, I played Earnest Worthing in 'The Importance of Being Earnest'. The female lead was shared by two women, one of whom was my girlfriend. We broke up early in the production, so there I was, stuck kissing a girl every other show with whom I could barely stand to be in the same room. Kelli and her still communicate and she spends time with us when she is in town; we've never really covered those days in much detail because, well, it's kind of awkward to talk about your high school romances in front of your wife. At least for me.

Kelli told me today that I should get back into theater, and if it wasn't for the podcasting I would. But my singing voice is rusty and the only roles I'm physically suited for these days is Santa Claus and a biker bar bouncer. But I've learned that time can work wonders, so I won't say never.

Just When You Thought...

I love seeing pictures like this. It reminds me that there are some really assed-up server rooms out there. Kind of makes me appreciate what I have.

Music Of Our Lives

Today was one of those days that seemed bad for no good reason. Nothing went wrong at work; the home is as stable as ever. But for some reason, I didn't want to talk to anyone all day. I sat down earlier this evening to remove some podcasts off my Nano and I realized that I haven't loaded any music on it in weeks. That's probably part of the problem.

So I started going through our iTunes library (which is a mess with duplicates and files with labels like "Track 4") and transferring some tunes to my constant companion. I had to laugh, because I thought of Kelli and how she always says I have weird taste in music. She's right---I can listen to The Fray or Neil Diamond. But every song I like enough to keep and listen to over and over resides in my mind not because of lyrics or melody, but because of the time it represents in my life.

We went to high school in the 80's, so I could write a book on the meaningful music from that decade. Most of it reminds me of the rougher times: breakups, loneliness, fear of an uncertain future. I look at most of the stuff from that decade with a sort of sappy nostalgia occasionally mixed with a tinge of bitterness over the stupid mistakes I made that still have an effect on my life.

With the onset of the 90's, the music memories become much more focused. There is Rod Stewart's "Downtown Train", the first song I heard when I graduated from boot camp (go without listening to music for eight weeks and see what kind of stuff gets stuck in your head---I had to listen to "How Great Thou Art" about 20,000 times). Or Journey's "Wheel in the Sky", a song that was on the first CD I ever bought. Of course, there is "Unchained Melody", the song that played during the famous clay pot scene in the film "Ghost". Kelli and I went to see that on our first date in November, 1990; I didn't know it then, but we would dance to it eight years later on our wedding night.

The Gulf War ended several weeks before I graduated from Naval Nuclear Power School; it was a magical time filled with stress, relief and the knowledge that I was going home to Kelli, who was now officially my girlfriend but who I had not seen in seven months. The song playing on that long drive home from Orlando was Rod Stewart's "Rhythm of My Heart". You have to hand it to Rod: he's been there for a lot of us. Do you remember any of the words? "Where the ocean meets the sky, I'll be sailing." It made me feel like Admiral Nelson.

Most of the music from the mid-90's reminds me of Dallas: the club scene, the 110-degree days spent in a delivery truck, the days when we didn't know from where the rent money was going to come. It all seems to be encapsulated now in the Butthole Surfer's "Coming Down the Mountain": "then he lost his leg in Dallas/he was dancing with a train". A train is as good a euphemism as any, I guess.

I could go on, but I've rambled enough for one evening. There's a lesson here somewhere, and I think it's that everything we create or participate in---a photograph, a winning game, a podcast---can be an impression in someone's memory. I hope anything I leave you triggers good, happy thoughts...or at least not sad ones.

No Viva Fidel (Here's Hoping)

Fidel Castro is still alive. Is anyone other than me disappointed?

I had a Spanish teacher in high school who had escaped from Cuba with her family when she was young. She hated Castro and communism with a hot, hot, hatred that, upon reflection, probably wasn't healthy. Then again, he and his fellow pinkos didn't ruin my childhood. Regardless, Lourdes believed that Raul Castro (Fidel's brother) was insane and that putting him in charge of Cuba would be both bad and good: bad because he would be much more ruthless than his brother and good because he would soon be killed by his own inner circle. If the rumors are true, Raul was running the show while Fidel went under the knife. I guess that means he's officially the next guy to run the empty store.

I can't wait until Cuba and her people become a free nation or at least a freer nation. Billions of dollars and pesos will be invested there in tourism and agriculture. What's more, thousands of Cuban ex-pats living in the US will go back home with a desire to raise the standard of living up to what they are used to here. It can't happen soon enough.

Prediction: when Castro dies, he will be treated as a sort of misunderstood hero by most of the mainstream media and the Hollywood leftists who have kissed his ass for the past thirty years. Ed Asner, Oliver Stone and the rest will talk about how he built hospitals, schools and provided universal healthcare. Somehow, the thousands who met cruel deaths at the hands of his regime will be ignored. After all, that's just a little too dirty for them to handle.