Yesterday morning I awoke from a good night of sleep. Same for this morning. Amazing what a little rest can do for your health.
The weather’s been gorgeous, too, which has put me in a great mood: sunny, mid 70s, and not so humid with an occasional shower or two thrown in for good measure. Man, I don’t remember the last time Raleigh has had an actual spring, but now I see why I missed it so much!
Now, if I could only figure out how to get in a good sail or two, I’d be happy!
Marines seeking revenge for the death of a Marine allegedly slaughtered fifteen Iraqi civilians in November, says MSNBC. Rep. John Murtha, a former Marine himself, claims the allegations are true (emphasis is mine):
Murtha, a vocal opponent of the war in Iraq, said at a news conference Wednesday that sources within the military have told him that an internal investigation will show that “there was no firefight, there was no IED (improvised explosive device) that killed these innocent people. Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them, and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood.”
Our troops are being pushed beyond the breaking point in Iraq and Bush wants to deploy National Guard troops along the Mexico border? Does this sound like sound, rational leadership to you?
That’s how Kelly described me: beleaguered, when I returned from yet another trip. I guess its starting to show. I found out today that another SE resigned due to too much travel. Quite a shame. Now one wonders if one (uh, me, in particular) will be asked to fill the void.
I got back this evening from a day trip to New Yawk and couldn’t keep my eyes open on both flights. I’m thinking its time to find a more static occupation. That, or let the world come to me! 🙂
Imagine this scenario: you’re walking through the parking lot of a multi-office office park. You pass an empty car with its headlights on. The car is unlocked and there is no one else around. Enough offices are in the office park to make it impractical to notify every one. Leaving a note on the windshield would be funny but obviously pointless.
What do you do? Do you enter the car and turn off the lights? Or, do you respect the owner’s property but leave it to slowly drain the battery?
What would you do?
I got back to Raleigh from Vegas around midnight last night, a good fifteen minutes ahead of schedule. As always, the crew on the Southwest flight were entertaining and fun.
The flight attendants spent the whole time teasing the two Canadian guys in the seats in front of me. It was easy to tell they were Canadian because they said “beauty!” dozens of times! They hadn’t spent much time in America and had lots of questions. They were here to visit MCI‘s NOC in Cary, so I piped up with some things they could see while they were here. High on their list are visits to a good steakhouse, Hooters and maybe a strip club or two. Heh.
Once we landed, I offered to give them a ride to their hotel since it was a mile away from the airport. They were starved so I drove them through the drive-through at Wendy’s beforehand. They seemed pretty grateful and it was fun introducing them to North Carolina. I think MCI might still have a luxury suite at the RBC Center, so I hope they can see some hockey while they’re here. Make ’em feel at home, y’know.
Good to be back with the family for a change, though it won’t be for long. I go to New Jersey Wednesday for a day trip, then to Maryland on the 23rd. In June, I go to Amsterdam for the week. Man, my head spins sometimes!
As I was eating my lunch near UNLV today, I heard a siren approaching. A yellow fire truck went roaring by, lights flashing. It got me to wondering: what good are flashing lights on a fire truck in Las Vegas? I mean, there are flashing lights everywhere here. Even the CVS and McDonald’s are covered in flashing lights.
If emergency vehicles really want to get attention in Las Vegas, they shouldn’t flash any lights.
They’ll stick out like a sort thumb.
There’s no shortage of bad taste in Las Vegas.
I’m in Vegas this weekend for a conference. You can follow along at my alter-ego blog, Mindblogging.com.
As I mentioned several times here on MT.Net, I have admired the work the NSA has done in keeping our nation’s secrets while searching for those of other nations.
The key phrase in that last sentence is, of course, other nations. The NSA of which I was a part didn’t spy on Americans. In the acronym-happy military vernacular, that would be a CEM: a Career-Ending Move. We were proud to respect our nation’s cherished Fourth Amendment while providing early warning of threats to our country.
I used to respect Gen. Michael Hayden, DIRNSA, too. He had a tough job retooling the NSA to match the dramatically changing communications landscape caused by the explosive rise of the Internet. Overall he was successful, too. But I no longer respect Gen. Hayden, as he was far too willing to take the Fourth Amendment and USSID 18 – the laws which govern unreasonable search and seizures – and feed them to the shredders. Hayden has dodged questions on domestic spying before (full transcript here), which doesn’t instill confidence that he’ll keep the NSA focused on the real, external threats.
Imagine my dismay to read USA Today’s story that major phone companies willingly forked over calling records to NSA without a warrant. This is clearly a violation of the Fourth Amendment, USSID 18, and the spirit of NSA’s charter.
I expected this kind of behavior from the communist countries I used to oppose when I wore a uniform. I didn’t expect it from my own country
You remember the one, right? The “land of the free?”
Fried Chicken and Gasoline
By Southern Culture on the Skids
From the album Dirt Track Date
I been on the road so long it seems
that all I can taste is gasoline
Been on the road long mile after mile
It all looks the same to me after a while
So crow now rooster its the break of day
Twenty-four hours and I can’t stay away Continue reading
