Bathroom is finally complete - pretty much, anyway

The new bathroom is now complete or as complete as it will be for now. Pretty much a luxury.

There are a couple of features that I haven't shown in the earlier posts that are interesting.

The first is the little burled wood box that you see on the end of the counter. That is something that is designed for someone who if any lazier would suffocate because they would be so lazy their lungs wouldn't work. This box is an automatic winder for automatic watches. Yep, I have a watch that doesn't have a winder nor does it take batteries. It is a self winder that relies on a minimum of physical activity to stay wound. Since I don't walk around a lot, working from home and all, I had to get a winder to keep my watch wound. Something wrong with that picture, but I won't dwell on it.

Then you'll notice the towel rack on the end of the linen cabinets. That towel rack is also a towel warmer. It is filled with oil (I believe) and that oil is heated so the rack throws off radiant heat, warming towels as well as the bathroom.

We also added a corner cabinet. The countertop in a "perfume" bar for a spoiled rotten wife. The good part of the cabinet is underneath. That is where we store the toilet paper. The end result is that if you're sitting and ........ and find out you've run out of paper, you can simply reach out and open the door and wallah!

Islam - the religion of peace

What a joke. You simply have to despise a group who in the name of their god is willing to slaughter young Christian girls[^] and blow up Hindus[^] on the advent of one of their most significant holidays, Diwali[^]. As far as I am concerned this is a mindless cult, premised on the rantings of an animal they revere as a prophet. The world would be a much better place if we would simply nuke both Mecca[^] and Medina[^] which are central to their bastardized cult called a religion. These people are evil to the core, a fact explified by their desire to eliminate a people and a country[^]

Christmas List

from to

Ginnie____|___Mike
Margie____|___Paige
Tina______|___Jim
Doug______|___Margie
Nanette___|___Ginnie
Paige_____|___Tina
Randall___|___Doug
Mike______|___Oz
Jim_______|___Randall
Oz________|___Nanette

Suicide

The early posts on this blog track the renovation of our master bath. There was a primary contractor and two subs. One of the subs did the lion's share of the work and the other was a drywall / paint subcontractor. He did fantastic work but the job required some touch up work. He had promised to come back and finish up but never made it. I just got a call the other subcontractor that the drywall / paint sub wouldn't be able to finish the job because he had committed suicide.

46 years old. Survived by his mother and his daughter. Unbelievable. When he was here working he was a hard worker, energetic and very competent. Why would anyone take their own life?

So sad.

Letter to the editor - Islam

Muslims around the world are missing an important point.

That point being that there is a tremendous amount of murder and mayhem taking place around the world in the name of Islam. If Muslims believe, as I've been told, or want to contend that Islam is a peaceful religion then, they could quickly put a stop to the hateful commentary by condeming the evil done in the name of Islam. If they would I would warrant that the hateful posts and snide remarks would cease world wide.

No one gives a flying fuck who someone prays to, who someone worships, how someone prays, how someone worships, etc. but they do care that there are murderers, spinless fucking creatures of the shadows who intentionally, not accidently, but purposefully, kill and maim innocents - all in the name of Allah and in the name of Islam. No Muslim I've seen posting on bulletin boards, writing articles for newspapers, sitting for interviews on the cable news shows and no mainstream or well known Islamic spokesman speaks up to condem it.

And by the way, saying Bush is a Christian and look what he does doesn't mean shit. Yes he prosecuted a war in Afganistan and we killed God only knows how many, yes he prosecuted a war in Iraq but he did so neither in the name of a religion nor did he do it in the name of God. Folks may not agree with either war but both were prosecuted because of his belief it was necessary to live up to his obligations as the elected president of the United States and not because he's attempting to convert the world to his religous beliefs.

So until you Muslims speak up against what is being done in the name of Islam, ya'll can all fuck off. A prime example of the peaceful religion of Islam[^] just took place in Egypt. The crowd, no doubt, was urged on by some jackass in the Mosque.

Letter to the editor - the ICC

Remember a few years back when we (the US) pointedly stated that we would not sign on to the concept of the Internation Criminal Court? A spot on (as the Brits say) decision. If we had signed on to the ICC we would have to turn over 3 soldiers for doing what they are paid to do[^] in the course of prosecuting a war.

Letter to the editor - exit strategy

Here is something that might make you ponder for awhile. Some 40 years ago LBJ announced a war on poverty[^]. Some 10 years later we announced a war on Drugs[^]. Hold these thoughts for just a minute and read on.

We recently went to war with the Saddam regime in Iraq. There were any number of reasons and you may not agree with any one of them. You may even be one of those demanding an Exit Strategy[^] after only a couple of years of engagement.

Now all Iraq related arguments aside, don't you think it is time for an exit strategy from a 40 year war on poverty or a 30 year war on drugs - neither of which have any hope of success, both of which are huge drains on the economy, both of which intrude on the so called right to privacy[^] that was the basis for the Roe v. Wade decision that: 1) legalized abortion, but by some twist of logic 2) doesn't apply in either of the two long term wars?

Disco may not be dead after all

I have to admit that I sometimes enjoy listening to disco. Even though I never disco'd because, well I just have no rythem. It seems there's a revival of sorts in Europe, at least in two different countries. Giev the choice, I much prefer the way the Brits do it[^] over the way they do it in the Netherlands[^] but just think how much fun it would be to watch a Netherland's version done in a London club. Makes you go, hmmmm.

Your kid's teacher

Have you ever wanted to know how good you kid's teacher is? Well, not so much how good he or she is but what other students thought about the teacher. I didn't realize that the site existed but there is a place where teachers from all over the country are rated by students. Even my little bro' has a rating. If you want to, Rate em here[^]. My bro' has an interesting rating, students enjoy him but he's tough. Have fun checking on your kid's teachers.

Letter to the editor - Bush + Harriet Miers

Way back in 2000 conservatives threw their support behind George Bush. It isn't that any conservative would have considered Gore, that would have been an abomination of the first order, but it was a choice between McCain and Bush. Those of us who supported Mr. Bush did so largely because of the pending Supreme Court vacancies and his promise to nominate strict constructionists to those seats once they became available.

The seats remained filled through out his first term but 2 opened this year. The first nomination, Roberts, met the expectations of Mr. Bush's promise although that fact was difficult to discern it does appear to be true.

The second nomination falls well short of his promise in that Ms. Miers, while no doubt an intelligent lawyer, is not a schooled constitutional attorney nor can we discern whether or not she is a strict constructionist.

The country is in the midst of a cultural tug of war. One side in this tug of war is exemplified by the ACLU, and organization that believes anything goes in a public forum including desecration the flag and public sex acts but not prayer or religious figures. On the other side are traditional Americans who believe sex should be a private matter between consenting adults in the privacy of their homes and that the flag should be held high and honored.

With a Supreme Court that is populated by judges who believe they can look to European legal trends for insight instead of reading what the constitution says it is imperative that we be sure that this one remaining open seat, that of Justice O'Connor, be filled by a strict constructionist someone who understands that the founding fathers meant what they said and didn't intend that the constitution be bent to satisfy a trendy urge.

For that reason I strongly believe that Harriet Miers be denied a seat on the Supreme Court, even if that means a set back for the President that I otherwise support - well, mostly.

Letter to the editor - more on Minutemen

My previous comments on closing off the southern border focused on illegal immigrants. That is incredibly important but as important if not more so is keeping the borders closed to the enemy. We cannot be a soverign nation if we don't protect that soverignity and that starts at the border, both North and South. Thanks to MG for correcting my original post.

Letter to the editor - Will Bush grow balls?

There has been a McCain added rider to a Department of Defense appropriations bill that is an idiotic idea[^] and president Bush may just, as he damn well should, veto the bill if it reaches his desk. The idea that we should pass legislation that interferes with the Department of Defense' ability to prosecute a war against animals using Marquess of Queensberry rules is ludicrous. Does that mean a G'tmo interrogator should be able to peel the skin off a detainees back just for the hell of it? No but it does mean that congress should worry about their personal pork barrel projects and stick to the things they do best and let the military do the same.

Point in fact if it came to it and torture was the tipping event that could save an American city from annihilation, I don't want congressional interference standing in the way. McCain suffers from the years he spent in captivity and his opinion has some legitimacy but he is further off base on this piece of legislation than he was on campaign finance.

Rumor has it thatpresident Bush will veto this, and he should.

Letter to the editor - Dumb and dumber

I typically hold these two[^] in high esteem. They are often hard hitting and (almost, but not quite) conservative. Their latest piece of team work though is laughable and dangerous. McCain should certainly know better but for some reason seems determined to under cut the war on terrorism, at least in this instance.

Instead of defining treatment for these "detainees" we should close our eyes, and say a silent prayer that the guys in uniform (and the spooks who aren't) are doing anything and everything to squeeze intelligience out of the "detainees".

Letter to the editor - I will not watch

Sean Penn - in anything.
Barbara Striesand - in anything. Too bad, "What's up Doc?", great.
Donald Southerland - in anything because of his BBC interview.
George Clooney - in anything.
Robin Williams - in anything.
Chevy Chase - in anything.
Dixie Chicks - okay, I won't listen.

Letter to the editor - White Caucus

Can I join it? Well no I can't because it doesn't exist and if I tried to create it I am certain that I would be in deep legal trouble. I have wondered about this for years, it is one of those things that sort of tickle the back of your mind. There is even a Hispanic Caucus[^].

Now the way I remember these sorts of things, this shouldn't be allowed. Try to form a club and exclude women. If you get tired of that, try forming a club and exclude gays. You'll get spanked again.

Seems the law of the land has somehow decided that the traditional white middle class should not exist.

A young Tennessee representative has decided to take an unusual approach to the same conceptual problem, he is trying to join the Black Caucus[^] but he is having a bit of a problem. Now that he is attempting to join it looks like mainstream media is digging a bit deeper[^].

Letter to the editor - the New York Times

For years I bought the Sunday New York Times at the grocery store because I enjoyed much of the content and especially the crossword puzzle. Then we decided to get home delivery for that same Sunday edition because we sometimes were unable to get a copy from the grocery store. About a year ago, maybe two, I came to the realization that this venerable instituition had been taken over by political hacks - publishing to an agenda with a vengence. Their agenda was obviously not mine. So I cancelled my subscription. That was interesting because I did it by stopping the process whereby I told my MasterCard bank that I no longer would accept a charge for the Times.

The way this worked was that MasterCard then had to call the New York Times department that issues these charges to tell them that I was cancelling. When the MasterCard agent called them they put up a stink and MasterCard had to call me for a 3-way chat. When MasterCard called me to include me in the conversation the agent was thrilled, because she agreed with me (re: the Times agenda).

I am more than glad I cancelled. Since the NYT is bent on a leftist agenda and is also the prime feed for local papers, their leftist agenda is stuffed down the throat of damn near anyone who reads a newspaper. We already have to endure distortion from Reuters who refuses to call a terrorist a terrorist so why would anyone support the Times when their version of the truth[^] is anything that can smear a conservative or other media that permits conservative opinions to see the light of day?

Letter to the editor - Minutemen

Sorry President Bush, but here is one thing we certainly disagree on - the Minutemen[^]. These guys are doing what the federal government should be doing. We're literally being invaded and overrun and neither political party has the balls to do anything about it. With the Minutemen we have private citizens doing what should be done, something in keeping with our history and heritage.

Minutemen - my thanks. Generally people believe there is no harm: cheap labor, the American dream, they're only interested in providing for their families. Horseshit. These illegals cost us dearly. Increased taxes to pay for court (can you believe these are American courts?) mandated social services, increased taxes to pay for jail and prison staff, increased taxes for schools (why would we educate illegals?), the loss of entry level jobs.

You hear the old saw, "they're only taking jobs we won't do", but that is crap. If illegals weren't here filling these jobs the wages for the jobs would go high enough to attract entry level workers. Failing that, and this is one of our big losses, American engenuity would be applied to somehow fill the void.

Again, Minutemen - my thanks.