For what I think may be the first time, Shrub is admitting the Iraq War is about oil. There are a couple of angles to explore here.
First and foremost, this notion of committing to the same end achieved through a variety of means and justifications is getting tiring. Put more succinctly, how can we be expected to "stay the course" when the course keeps changing? This desperate need for justification in the face of rapidly-changing public opinion about the war can't be good for Bush. It makes him look both desperate and deceitful.
Which brings me to my next point. It could be easily argued that Bush's speech is an attempt to bolster support for the war by using the recent Katrina tragedy in the Gulf states. Here we are, just before Labor Day when gas prices traditionally shoot up due to holiday driving. The devastation caused by Katrina is causing supply and capacity problems, which on top of the usual uncertainty in the Middle East will easily put consumer gas prices above $3 this weekend. And then here's Bush - leveraging that consumer backlash on gas prices to justify his war.
Shameful. Just shameful.
Of course, the smart conservatives will say that it's always been about oil, and we liberals were too stupid to see that from the beginning. Well heck, I would have been much more supportive of President Bush if the war were justified on the grounds of protecting our economic interests than I was when he threw out terrorism, weapons of mass destruction and securing freedom for the Iraqis as bullshit excuses. (I wouldn't have supported a pre-emptive strike, but I'd be more supportive in general...)
The stupid conservatives, on the other hand, will parrot back what Bush is saying. "You don't want the oil wells falling into the hands of terrorists, do you?" they'll say.
Well look at the situation we have here. If we pulled out today, we'd be leaving the oil wells to a bunch of loosely-organized insurgents and we'd leave the country in total chaos. If we stuck it out, however, we'd be presented with the 'opportunity' to hand those oil wells over to what appears to be headed toward a conservative Muslim theocracy that's likely to implode. As far as I'm concerned, what's the diff? Bush's argument holds no water with me.
The truck is a Dodge 1500 Quad Cab with a 5.7 Liter Hemi. It's like the one pictured here, except it's Patriot Blue instead of Red.
The Dodge was great in Maine. I could fit all five guys in the truck when we went into town, out to bars, etc. Plus, my quad fits neatly in the back. (On the return trip, I strapped it down in the bed and drove to the Cross Sound Ferry and drove the truck right into the boat.)
So far, I've been four-wheeling with it a couple times. The first time was in Maine, when Craig and I decided to go explore some of the Jeep trails around Machias. The Dodge performed admirably, handling rocky hill climbs with no problems whatsoever. The second time was on the beach this past weekend at Smith Point out on Long Island. Dennis and Cami were camping on the beach and Sara and I went out to visit them. I bought a day permit for the truck, let some air out of the tires and then took it down the beach to their campsite. There were a couple trucks stuck down there, but I didn't have any problems at all running 15 lbs. in each tire (down from 40 psi). The shift-on-the-fly 4WD is great. You don't even need to stop when shifting from 2WDH to 4WDH.
Probably the best thing about it, though, is that I don't have to worry when I need to haul some stuff around. My family is thinking about picking up a freezer in the next couple weeks, and the truck will easily haul it.
On Sunday, I took advantage of overcast skies to strip all the factory wax off and use the Mother's three-stage kit to put a fresh coat on. I did the same thing when I first got the Corvette, because for some reason, these new vehicles are coming from the factory with piss-poor wax on them. I noticed the first time some rain fell on the truck that the water wasn't beading, so I stripped the factory wax off, hit it with some glaze, and then put a new coat of wax on it and it looks phenomenal.
I also like all of the neat add-ons available. Before the winter, I'd like to get some nerf bars, a brush guard for the front, and maybe some sort of carrier for the hitch receiver (cooler rack with fishing pole holders). Thankfully, many catalogs sell aftermarket stuff for this truck, so I don't think I'll be at a loss for finding vendors to help me customize it a bit.
If there's one drawback, though, it's the fuel economy. I'm getting about the same mileage as I did in the Corvette (18 on the highway, less about town). I can also put 89 in it instead of the more pricey 93 the 'vette required. But the fuel tank on this thing is huge. If I want, I could probably fill it up twice a month if I don't go on any long trips, but every time I fill it up, we're talking over $100. With the Corvette, I'd fill it up every week for $50 or so. The truck needs to be filled up much less often, but when you do fill it up, it's a doozy. I'm hoping to get to the pump tonight before prices go up significantly for the weekend, and save myself a few dollars.
All in all, though, so far it's been a great vehicle.
If you teach intelligent design in schools, you must also allow equal time for Flying Spaghetti Monsterism.
New Orleans is one of my favorite cities and I'll never forget the first time I was down there. I spoke to the New Orleans Ad Club about rich media and the local media sales reps and ad club president really went out of their way to make me feel welcome and make sure I saw plenty of the town. I was even invited to a private party for a Mardi Gras "krewe" and got to see how a Mardi Gras float comes together. Really neat stuff.
Craig, Jen, Sara and I hung out with Dennis and Cami at Smith Point this weekend. They were camping on the beach all week.
There's something about falling asleep and waking up on the beach, the ability to stay put instead of fighting the traffic and having to lug piles of stuff to and from the parking lot, and having shower and cooking facilites 200 feet away from the water that really appeals to me. I've informally been looking at campers on eBay to see if anyone is selling something cheap within 100 miles of me. There are quite a few affordable trailers I could easily tow with the new truck.
Maybe if I can get some bills paid off, I'll see what I can do about getting something in the 21-27' range.
Somehow, the Bushies have re-framed the debate over Supreme Court nominee John Roberts such that asking questions about how his judicial philosophies and how he might function in a role as a Supreme Court Justice is seen as obstructing the confirmation process. This battle was fought and won by the Republicans before any of the serious grilling could take place.
Folks, someone has to stand up and bring this country to its senses. Senators would not be doing their jobs properly if they didn't get a reasonably complete picture of Roberts. I understand Dianne Feinstein says she needs to have answers to a few critical questions before moving forward with a decision - that's how the issue needs to be re-framed by the Democrats. The burden of proof with respect to Roberts' worthiness for this position lies with John Roberts, not with those participating in the confirmation process. And if Roberts stonewalls and refuses to answer critical questions, the Democratic response should be that he failed to prove his worthiness and that he deserves a "No" vote.
How could it be any other way? I resent the implication that senators should simply rubber-stamp Bush's nomination and that asking questions amounts to obstruction. O'Connor's replacement will represent a critical vote, and if we don't know where that vote will fall, whether Roberts will be a judicial activist or a strict intepreter of the laws, or whether his philosophy is compatible with the notion of interpreting the law rather than making it, how can senators make an informed decision?
Instead of asking these very basic questions about how we'll get to know John Roberts, we're instead looking at the issue through a lens foisted on us by administration Republicans that involves thinking of the Roberts confirmation as an "us vs. them" issue, where any sort of challenge to Roberts' suitability for this post is seen as partisan politics. That's a load of crap. We need to re-frame this such that everybody is on board with getting enough information to make an educated decision.
Day #2 - After our adventure of the previous night, Craig and I woke up the next morning with a dilemma. We still hadn't been able to get in touch with Gene, and the day was wasting away while we tried to think of a way to get back to the mainland.
Craig found an inflatable boat he had left on the island when he was a kid. We inflated that with the exhaust from the generator. Next, we took two pine planks and fashioned oars from them using a chainsaw. We patched a small leak in the boat with some tape and put it in the water.
Craig and I rowed about halfway to the mainland when we realized the boat was taking on water. We had ripped a hole along the seam where the bottom of the boat attaches to the inflatable pontoons, and we were both getting wet. On top of that, the boat had started to leak air and we were in trouble.
There's nothing like that kind of motivation to get your butt in gear. Craig and I rowed as fast as we could for the next 20 minutes, paddling as furiously as we could. We did make it to the mainland, albeit with a boat half-filled with water. As we pulled in to the boat landing, we saw a powerboat coming up on us. Turns out it was Gene and his friend Dick, who had come over to the island to check on us. We had just missed him.
So I sat there, grumbling under my breath with my arms nearly dead from having rowed across the lake. I was soaked, as were my car keys and wallet in my pocket. And if we had waited on the island for another 20 minutes or so, we could have been picked up instead of having to row across the entirety of the lake. Ugh.
Later, Craig and I would visit the boat we had abandoned along with Dick and Gene and drive a metal patch into the bow, securing it with sheet metal screws and some marine caulk. Dick lent us a battery so we could get our engine started again. The only consolation was catching a big pickerel as we slowly cruised toward home.
Day One, About 3:30 PM - We decide to visit a favorite fishing spot on the far side of Second Machias Lake, so we all jump in Craig's 16' fiberglass boat and head for the spot, which is about 30 minutes away by boat (with the weight of five guys in it).
About two minutes away from the spot, DJ gets tired and decides to give up his rock-spotting duties to Jimbo, who climbs up on the bow of the boat. Later, Jimbo would admit he wasn't paying attention to what was in front of us.
The next thing you know, my head is glancing off the instrument panel and DJ is on top of me. We hit a rock, dead center, and the boat simply stopped. Jimbo was ejected into the water and Craig picked himself up off the ground and immediately hollered out to Jimbo to see if he was okay. Thankfully, he was.
DJ cut the bridge of his nose and his forearm. I escaped with a mere bump on the noggin. Craig, Bonner and Jimbo were all fine. The boat didn't fare as well, unfortunately. As we approached our fishing spot, the bilge started filling up with water and we elected to limp back toward the island.
That's when things really started getting hairy.
Bonner and I were bailing water when the motor suddenly quit and couldn't be restarted. We killed the battery trying to get it restarted, and Craig couldn't find the pull cord for a manual restart. So Jimbo and DJ jumped overboard and started pushing the boat toward another nearby island while Bonner and I continued bailing. We made it to the island before sinking, but upon hauling the boat up on some rocks, found we had a nice gash in the fiberglass where the rock had hit.
We did manage to get a faint signal with Bonner's cell phone, so we called up family friend Gene Stoddard to see if he could lend a hand. Unfortunately, Gene wasn't around, so we had to figure out what to do next. It was a bit after 4 PM and we elected to travel to the other side of the island we were on to see how close we were to Craig's island.
That was a bit tougher than anyone had initially thought. The island we had landed on was mostly thick brush and trees. So we spent about two hours pushing our way through trees. Along the way we spotted moose and black bear droppings and wondered how creatures of such size could make their way through the dense brush. After wending our way through the woods, we came to a marshy area that took us some time to navigate. Picture, if you will, walking on something with the consistency of a marshmallow but with thorny bushes sticking out of it. Craig and I were wearing sandals and cut up our legs and feet quite a bit.
After traversing the marsh, we came to the waterline on the opposite side of the island. Craig didn't recognize the waterway, so we were kind of at a loss for what to do. Someone suggested we swim to the next island, but it was starting to get dark out and I didn't think that was such a smart thing to do. Not being able to get Gene on the line, I told Craig we should call 911 and get someone to come out and get us.
After Craig explained to the dispatcher that we were in trouble and gave a description of where he thought we were, we started a fire on a rock with some moss and dried timber. I burned a leech off my leg with a cigarette lighter and waited for help. Some hours later, in near-total darkness, we saw lights coming toward us. Two game wardens in shallow-bottomed boats spotted our fire and were trying to find a way to navigate between islands to get to us. After about 30 minutes, they made their way over to us and picked us up.
Turns out we had made our way into a part of the lake that was very difficult to navigate, with a ton of rocks and weeds that made getting through with a boat very difficult. It took us over an hour to get back to the island, and the game wardens had to take it slow, having spotters with flashlights spot rocks and logs from the bow of the boat with a flashlight. They'd have to stop every few minutes to remove weeds from their props.
They dropped us off at the island and took down all our names to file a report. We told them we'd get some help the next day to retrieve the boat and get back to the mainland, thanking them for their help. I was very glad to have made it back in one piece.
Just got back from my annual trip to Maine, where I had no Internet access. I promise I'll post a few vacation stories later, though. (There are many, and they're actually interesting.)
"We set out to establish a democracy, but we're slowly realizing we will have some form of Islamic republic."
Look for your conservative friends to complain that this is all due to liberal dissent and obstruction.
This isn't the fault of the liberals. The neo-cons went into Iraq under false pretenses with no plan. And when we eventually get out, Iraq will be worse off than it was pre-invasion. Saddam was no doubt a bad guy, but at least he kept his government secular. Now we're looking at some form of militant Islamic rule.
I'm saying goodbye to my baby. One mechanical problem too many, coupled with the insane incentives they're giving people to buy cars now, made me reassess having an impractical sports car around.
I pick up a new Dodge 1500 pickup tomorrow. The incentives to buy are insane right now. I could afford to get a lot more truck for my money, once they knocked off $8K or so from the price because of $3,500 cash incentives and another $4K and change for the "employee discount."
The best part of this is that I'll have something new to commute with, plus I'll be able to pull a trailer and have something to take on the beach.
Well, the business about Cindy Sheehan flip-flopping didn't work, so it's obviously time for the Republican camp to try something else. Evidently, that "something else" comes in the form of an alleged e-mail sent to Matt Drudge by another member of Casey Sheehan's family, saying the family does not support Cindy's point of view and wants her to stop.
Republican talking points seem to be all over this one, including in the following sentence: "The rest of the Sheehan Family supports the troops, our country, and our President, silently, with prayer and respect."
Who wants to take bets on which Republican hack ghost-wrote this puppy?
Armed men entered a Baghdad municipal building Monday, deposed Baghdad Mayor Alaa al-Tamimi, and installed a member of the Badr organization (the militia arm of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq). al-Tamimi is in hiding, in fear of his life. He was originally appointed by Paul Bremer.
Major drivers behind this act? According to one of the people organizing the ouster of al-Tamimi, it has to do with distribution of oil revenue and economic factors, including Baghdad's budget allocations.
I don't suppose I need to point out that SCIRI wants Islamic law. One wonders if one "unintended consequence" of the war will be that we take a secular government and turn it into an Islamic one, with Islamic militants who might otherwise be considered terrorists in official government positions of authority. Wonderful.
Somebody in the mainstream press (or perhaps a blogger) needs to figure out how Donald Rumsfeld made his determination that bombs found in Iraq came across the border from Iran. Because we've learned that our information isn't the greatest, and that we'll trump up accusations simply to make an excuse for armed conflict.
I'm 33 today. Which means in a few months, I'll have spent a third of a century on Planet Earth.
My Dad's Birthday was on Saturday. We're three days apart, on the anniversaries of the bombings of Hiroshima and of Nagasaki.
If I read one more opinion piece lamenting the death of consumer loyalty, I'm going to wig out. This is one of those questions where the answer is as plain as the nose on your face, so I wish everyone would stop treating it like a big mystery.
Marketing groups at many larger corporations are typically split into two areas - acquisition and retention. While the acquisition group tends to get the majority of the emphasis (new customer growth seems to be sexier than retaining existing ones), retention is typically underfunded and de-emphasized. It almost goes without saying that when your bank, automobile manufacturer, cellular provider, etc. starts taking you for granted, there's little incentive to stay with them. In many cases, the only force keeping you with them is inertia.
It's completely weird to me that a bank would wonder why their existing customers are switching to other banks when they're giving better deals and incentives to new customers while doing diddley squat for their existing customers. Why would I keep a checking account that charges me monthly service fees when the bank down the street is running a "free checking for life" promotion that gives me a $100 gift certificate to boot? See enough of those customer acquisition promotions and you begin to wonder - "What has my bank done for me lately?"
Lots of corporations wonder why their existing customers are defecting. It's because their competitors are offering better deals, and often because the company itself is treating its new customers way better than customers that have been with them for years. This totally flies in the face of Marketing 101, where one of the first lessons you learn is that it's much easier and less expensive to earn more revenue from existing customers than it is to launch an effort to acquire new ones.
So count me among the folks who wander from company to company, looking for the best deal du jour. And quit acting like the sky is falling because the economics of the very situation you created make it easier to switch than to hang on.
We even got to play a game of softball on the field. It was amazing. I got to indulge my childhood fantasies and go 2-for-2 playing around with the other attendees at the softball game. There's something about standing in center field where Bernie Williams plays, looking around at the stands and just picturing what might have been. I was speechless. It was terrific.
We have all sorts of great pictures from the day, some of which I may post later.
Today's Spin is on irrational, ego-driven bidding on PPC search engines.
There's another thing that kind of bugs me about search as well. In the rush to stake out the top positions on PPC engines, advertisers are sometimes forgetting how important brand advertising is. While it makes sense to fish where the fish are, so to speak, people have to know about your brand and your company before they can become familiar enough with your company to search for it.
Too often we forget this. If your company is reaching diminishing returns with its search campaign, perhaps one thing to do is to examine where your brand and product awareness levels are and what can be done to improve them.
After watching our pool-cleaning guy a few weeks ago, I noticed he had a portable vacuum rig that basically used the same setup. So I pulled the pump out of the basement and built a little dolly for it. I got the scrap wood around the house and the plywood from out back behind the shed. I got the casters, screws, fittings and electric cord at Home Depot. Unfortunately, all I had time for this weekend was building the dolly, mounting the pump to it and putting the fittings on. Next weekend, I'll wire it up so it can be plugged into the outlet out back. I'll also run and get a vacuum head and 50 feet of flexible hose for it.
The fittings on there right now are just two 3/4" hose bibs, just so I can hook up two garden hoses to the pump and see what it puts out once I get it wired. Hopefully, all should work well and I can use this rig to vacuum the pool.
When we switched over to porgies, though, we had a lot better luck. They're a tough fish to catch - when it feels like your sinker is dragging along the bottom, that's actually the fish nibbling on your bait, so the best thing to do when you feel something - anything - is to try to set the hook.
One of the guys on the boat filleted these fish for us and did a great job - porgies are usually quite bony if you don't fillet them right. I fried these up in a corn meal/egg batter and they were delicious.
