Bourbon Pundit

Who wants to be an enemy of the people?

This post, originally entitled "shit list" has been renamed to more accurately reflect the author's plan for this thread.

I really need to stop paying attention to politics. Here's the beginnings of my list of politicians and others who, in my opinion, are enemies of the United States. Word and actions count and citizenship is not a barrier for list admitance. I'll move it to the sidebar as it fills up.

Today's winners:

1. Hugo Chavez
2. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
3. Fidel Castro
4. Kim Jong-il
5. Noam Chomsky

Geneva Conventions

A couple things you ought to know...

1) The Geneva Conventions were meant to be reciprocal obligations. If one doesn't abide, the other doesn't have to.

2) They were meant as a punishment for those that break the rules, not a protection for those that don't.

Wasn't that long ago an combatant out of uniform was able to be shot on sight. The US in WWII put them through military tribunals, but that effort wasn't required.

Ambrham Lincoln comments on our times

At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it? — Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a blow? Never! — All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Buonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years.
At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.

What is new is only evil and inhuman

A new religion had fanaticised whole nations. Men bred up in the habits of a wild and roaming freedom, had been brought together by its influence, and taught to unite the energies of a savage life with all the harmony and calculable coincidencies of a machine. But this religion was deadly to morals, to science, to civil freedom: no society could be progressive under its influence. It was favorable to superstition, cunning, and sensual indulgence; but it bore no fruit, it yielded no marriageable arms to the vine, it sheltered no healing plant. The soil was grassless where it grew; the fox made it its nest at the root, and the owl screamed in its branches.
- Such was the religion of Mahomet.

"The War Not a Crusade'' August 6 1800 _Essays on His Times_ v.I p.240, in
_The Collected Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge_ Princeton University, EoHT
being collectively V.3., consisting of hundreds of newspaper opinion pieces.

Of Sheep, Wolves and Sheepdogs

http://hobbes.ncsa.uiuc.edu/onsheepwolvesandsheepdogs.html

We may well be in the most violent times in history, but violence is still remarkably rare. This is because most citizens are kind, decent people who are not capable of hurting each other, except by accident or under extreme provocation. They are sheep.

I mean nothing negative by calling them sheep. To me it is like the pretty, blue robin’s egg. Inside it is soft and gooey but someday it will grow into something wonderful. But the egg cannot survive without its hard blue shell. Police officers, soldiers, and other warriors are like that shell, and someday the civilization they protect will grow into something wonderful. For now, though, they need warriors to protect them from the predators.

Bush Explains IT to Matt Lauer

Matt Lauer Interview with President Bush

I am so embarrassed that I'm minimally related to this empty suit posing as a reporter.

Five years on

Yesterday I remembered the fact that on 9/11/01 I didn't own a flag and on that day I would scrable across the city to get one of any size. I've been through two flags since then mostly because it's been flying continously since; in bad weather, in bad lighting, probably enough to piss off every scout master; but I can't bring myself to take it down. My 9/11 flag sits neatly folded on the mantle, very faded, tattered, and in need of a proper retirement; but I think I'm going to buy a flag case for it instead. I know that the proper retirement of a flag is the proper thing to do; but this one holds some special meaning for me, it reminds me of the patriotism I didn't know I had until that day.

On that horrible day, I saw a man waving a flag over the 38th street overpass on 465 and I barely made it home through the tears after seeing that and at the same time it filled me with pride. I figured if we have just a few more people like this guy, we'll all be ok in the end. Every year since then, that guy has been there and it feels the same; but every year right before 9/11 I get nervous...nervous that he might not be there. Last night, I started thinking about that. Will anyone remember? Will it still be important after five years?

I decided that if that guy wasn't there this year, that I was going to be THAT guy this time and it reminded me that if we just have a few more people like that, we'll all be ok in the end.

This morning I saw on the news that finally a reporter thought to go find out who THAT guy is. Turns out his name is Jim Clark; a local business owner, but I didn't catch the name. He'll wave the flag from 6am to 6pm on that spot. The reporter asked him if he'd be doing it next year, 5 years from now, 10 years from now and he responded that he thought it was important and he'd be doing it. It appears there are a few more people like him; I saw another at Allisonville this morning and the local news indicates there are others around town.

I'm full of pride and at the same time, sickness because I know we've not come far enough yet. My country lags behind understanding and dealing with the problem of terrorism. We collectively hide behind political correctness, vague definitions, and couched remarks. We speak of moderates that will come forward and solve the problem from within for us. We look for ways we can change so they won't hate us anymore.

I've had my fill of bullshit. We'll be ok in the end if there's a few more people that have also had their fill.

Worth reading today:

Five Years On

Names? Results at the end.

Ok, ok, stop badgering me for not having a name yet. Names are important things and picking one, let alone two takes care. I don't want to hear in 20 years he's gone to a judge and had it legally changed.

So the two we had were Ryan William and Zachary William. We worked back from Andrews...we knew that much, hey, we're 1/3 the way there...small goals ok? We thought we wanted William as a middle name as Williamson is Stacey's maiden name...2/3 done; so then we just had to come up with a single name. We picked a pair of names to try out on him when he's born and see which one fit the best.

After trying them out on him in full form, they just didn't stick; but Ryan was the only name I came up with Stacey didn't hate and Zachary was the only one she came up with that I didn't hate so basically, our choices were limited. Stacey's bright idea was to put them together as Ryan Zachary. I married her because she's smart so we're probably going with that; besides, she did all the work today.

Ryan Zachary Andrews
Arrived: September 7, 2006 - 11:01 EST
9 Pounds, 5 Ounces, 23+ Inches Long

New Thread

3:00 pm - Nothing new to report; still working on the name finalization. We're in our new room on the 4th floor of Clarian North. Trying to get mom to take a rest, but she's got some energy and is starting to get her legs back. Baby is sleeping, well, like a baby. He's real calm so far; hardly a scream out of him even during the sponge bath. I have no concern that he'll correct that behavior in the near future... Emily is still jazzed about being a big sister; she needs a rest too, but I doubt that'll happen.

Emily got a little close to him a while ago and triggered his rooting reflex and she got her nose sucked on. I'll remember that one for later in life so I can pull it out at a particularly embarrasing moment for her.

This one doesn't seem to have the Andrews big toe like Emily and I do; but he does have my nose, not that either of us have small noses to begin with. Boy needs his nails cut though, we've got a little Edward Scissorhands.

Today has been an easy day for our family; no concerns or worries. Can't say enough how blessed and fortunate we feel, and how thankful we are for everyone's congratulations. I wonderful to have such great family and friends; me, I'm just happy to be here.

3:30 pm - Clarion North is a NEW hospital...very new. When we took our tour last month they were still putting finishing touches on a lot of things; but they've got a lot of cool stuff here. First, cell service is excellent, 5 bars everywhere inside, better coverage than outside the building...make for good wireless data service. Second, I'm a voice over IP telephony geek, the whole hospital is that way AND all the staff have clip-on star trek style communicators that are part of the phone system. I've got to look into that. Baby is down at the nursery for his first checkup.

LiveBlogging from a Hospital

5:00am - Yawn. Who on earth decideds we have to be at the hospital at 6:30am? We had to do this last time, but I was 4 years younger then and waking up was a lot easier then.

6:45am - All setup in our room and Stacey is getting hooked up to all the monitors. How on earth did babies get born before all this technology? We've got full printouts of heart rate, blood pressure, etc for mom and baby. Three nurses have been in and out so far; I tried to remember all the names last time, now I'm lucky to get hair color right.

Gratuitous belly shot:

View from the room:

7:15am - Drawing blood from mom, getting ready to start the petosin. I guess things move along faster the second time around; last time we did this it was 4 or more hours before anything useful happened.

Mom before drugs:

7:30am - How on the hell did I forget to put photoshop on my laptop?

8:00am - Petosin started. Emily is watching her DVDs and I've already raided the snack room. Gourmet coffee, any kind of pop, juice, popsicles, jell-o, pudding, crackers, snacks, cereal, soup...whatever you want...sweet. I'm thinking about what I'm going to order for my catered dinner here...king crab maybe? Since this is pretty much going to be a bunch of sitting around and waiting until it's puncuated by a few minutes of screaming, I'll do what I can to fill in along the way.

8:06am - Uh oh, Stacey is hungry; this could get ugly. She hasn't been allowed food since midnight last night and can't have anything until after the baby is born. Stacey isn't a happy person when she's hungry; I fear for the hostpital staff.

8:11am - Dr. Kindig is making the rounds breaking waters...she's got 3 on deck today; Stacey's starting the process of unjacking from the hospital to make her first waddle to the bathroom.

8:12am - Ok, photoshop problem is fixed; I'll backfill with pictures shortly.

8:28am - Petosin is taking effect...couple of sharp contractions...pretty close together. How fast is this thing gonna happen? The anesthesiologist hasn't made it in yet.

8:30am - Emily has been sitting on a rolling barstool. Emily...on something that spins and has wheels...doesn't that sound like a trip down to the emergency room? Yeah, let's end that idea. In other news today, Giant Panda's giving birth!

8:35am - Breaking water. Again this time, Stacey had a couple gallons of water. They're sending up a crew from maintenance with a couple bags of oil-dry. Doc says she's 5/75...dialated 5 cm and 75% effaced. They're rolling her back and forth on the bed changing the sheets. Hell, I can't change bedsheets that fast on a bed with nobody in it! Emily found the snack room too; they've got 6oz soda cans...just her size. In other news, Elephant born at Indy Zoo doing well.

9:12 am - Stacey is all drugged up now; she's happy about that.

9:23 am - Nurse says the contractions are picking up quite a a bit now; Stacey says she doesn't feel a thing.

Feelin' no pain:

9:34 am - Nurse is in setting up all the tables, gowns, etc and Stacey's contractions are REALLY picking up...still not bothering her though.

Mideval torture:

9:45 am - A whole lot of nothing going on. Nurse is busy though, taking temperature, watching the printouts; monitoring the machine that goes "bing!" I'm off for another coffee. I'd have something to eat, but I don't want to eat in front of Stacey.

Here's a snapshot of the progress:

10:00 am - Ok, first screw up for me. I left the ward without punching in my code...didn't know you had to do that on exit; nurse Kratchet read me the riot act. Right after that, they decided to try a fire drill. As if. Why was I leaving the ward? Well, camera batteries are dead; how dumb can we be. I'm hunting down a part and have someone that might be able to deliver it for me as Stacey didn't think spending 40min to run home and get ours would be such a great idea at this point; she has no sense on how much longer any of this will take and I don't blame her for wanting me here. We do have a disposable camera as a spare so no big worries.

11:37 am - Sorry for the delay. Dr. Kindig came in at about 10:30 am and checked on Stacey and started to get ready for a birth. Stacey started pushing about 10:45am and the baby was born at 11:01am! 9 pounds, 5 ounces and 23 inches long. I dispute the 23 inches though...the tape measure only went to 23 inches. I suspect 24. Just about big enough to ride roller coasters already.

Purple baby shot

Mom and baby

Proud big sister

Props to Bob for finding me a camera charger and delivering it!

1:51 pm - My boy gets his first sponge bath from a hot nurse. By the time it's important to him, he'll have forgotten it. ;( I guess my job as a dad is to remind him of the important things in life.

Chillin: