Havasu Falls 2007

[Administrative Stuff...]

On any of the pictures below, you can click on the picture to see a larger version. We took these pictures on two cameras...a Canon PowerShot A75 at 3.2 megapixels, and stills from a Canon DC210 video camera at about 1 megapixel. When you click on the pictures, you'll see the difference. I have a couple of videos which aren't seen here. While I offer no promises, if I can figure out how to get them onto YouTube, I'll add them later.

Daughter#1ofAzlib loaded these pictures onto her laptop and enhanced them using Microsoft Digital Image Pro 9. She said this made the colors "pop". I may get to this chore for our own use, but probably won't re-post them here. I think these pictures, bad as they may be, are still vibrant enough to let the viewer see just how wonderful this area of Arizona is.


Prelude...

For those who don't know, the Grand Canyon is, obviously, as one of the Seven Wonders of the World, a wonderful visual experience. You can do it "civilized" and take The Train to the Grand Canyon Village to stay in one of their lodges and be quite happy by doing nothing more than to peer over the edge. Or, you could do it more roughly and pack yourself down to the river, perhaps enjoy a raft trip, and come away with a different, and also enjoyable experience.

For a number of reasons, we chose to bypass the National Park altogether and go the Havasupai Indian Reservation and hike the 10.2 miles to Havasu Falls. For those who don't know, here is a map of the region. Primary among our reasoning was that Havasu Falls is very pretty. Most of the pictures one sees from the bottom of the Grand Canyon, frankly, aren't as nice as the ones from the Havasupai Indian Reservation (although, this is admittedly a matter of personal preference and degree). WifeofAzlib also hiked to Havasu Falls in her late teens, and a secondary aim was to have the family experience what she had long talked about. Also, the Indians run a helicopter service (more on this later).

Our Privacy...

I've thought long and hard about whether and how to post pictures of our faces. As I was drafting this post initially, I included unaltered pictures with the justification that the kids would eventually post them on FaceBook or MySpace or somewhere else. I'm sure that we are included in the backgrounds of other people's photos. So, understanding that our pictures are out there on the internet somewhere, why shouldn't I just put up the unaltered photos?

My answer is: I am still a very private person. Beyond my nature, I have good reason to maintain my anonymity. So, where our faces are visible, I obscured them with one of the tools on the Microsoft Digital Image Pro mentioned above. Some of the obscurations leave odd effects...hollow faces, and the like. It pained me to do all this, because I treasure my family, and in some of the photos, their expressions made the picture (for me, at least). But if you happen to know me personally, and are interested in these photos, I'll be happy to email or otherwise get copies to you. You'll know how to get in touch.

In the same vein, I address the family in their relation to my nom-de-internet. It's a bit cumbersome, but on the internet I call myself "Azlibertarian", which makes my wife "WifeofAzlib", my son "SonofAzlib", my oldest daughter "Dau#1ofAzlib", and my youngest daughter "Dau#2ofAzlib". I hope these labels don't distract the reader unnecessarily.

Preparations and Equipment...

As I mentioned here, we put out some effort and expense at making this trip as easy as possible. A portion of our preparation consisted of a membership at the gym which I mentioned here [Interestingly, the image which I inserted into this post (and which is now restricted) is one that brings a fair number of visitors to my humble blog.]. A hike of 10.2 miles in the Arizona desert in June is tough for the most experienced of backpackers, and we certainly count as novices. I hadn't been backpacking since my early 20's (as I recall). SonofAzlib and I have old-school metal-frame backpacks and other equipment from his Boy Scout days, but empty, the packs are quite a bit heavier than newer packs. Of course, the girls needed everything. So, we started from square one. Everyone got new backpacks (this one for SonofAzlib and I, last year's [and somewhat inferior] version of this one for WifeofAzlib and Dau#2ofAzlib, and this one for Dau#1ofAzlib), sleeping bags (45° bags from REI), sleeping pads for the girls (and a Big Agnes for WifeofAzlib's bad hips and knees), and this three-man tent. We felt that SonofAzlib's 2-man backpacking tent (similar to this) would round out our tent needs. Other odds-n-ends included MSR hydration bladders, nalogene bottles , water purification (don't want to catch any bugs out there!), and trekking poles for the girls (bundled with the guy's packs and clearly the best money spent on the trip!). We used SonofAzlib's stove and part of my set of pots for cooking. Sporks were new for each of us.

We also had some clothing and footwear needs. We each got new boots, and Teva-type shoes (although Dau#1 had her Tevas from a previous trip). We also got lightweight pants that zipped off into shorts. As it turns out, only SonofAzlib wore his pants at all, and then only for about 45 minutes on our first day. I got a new hat (and cheap!) to protect against the Arizona sun and the others made do with hats they already had.

Equipment successes: Clearly the trekking poles. I never would have believed that these would make much of a difference, but they did. "Biners" were very useful, and we'll pick up more for our next trip.

Equipment disappointments: Carrying two extra water bottles on the two packs for Wife- and Dau#2- of Azlib was difficult. We had to rig up biners and a sling affair, and they never did work out well. (It looks as though this year's model of this pack solves this problem.) While the video camera is small and lightweight (and it's cool that it uses DVD as the media), the still resolution was not what I had hoped it to be. Wife- and Dau#1- ended up with blisters and other foot problems, although the three remaining of us had little footcare problems. I believe the root of WifeofAzlib's blister problem was that she could not get her socks to stay stable on her feet. Coolsnakes. Whatever it is inside these things that makes them work, we didn't have enough of it. For the most part, they were just wet neckwear. We've had these in the past, and our old ones worked much better. These: Not so much. (Maybe next time, we'll make our own.)

[A brief digression on WifeofAzlib and her feet...]
I cannot tell you how proud I am of my wife. As you can tell from the photos, both of us have our middle-aged weight. Neither of us is happy about this, and we both tried (she harder than I) to drop some pounds before the hike, but we are still who we are. Couple this with a bad set of hips (only somewhat facetiously, we joke about hip-replacement as her 50th birthday gift), and this hike was going to be tough for her. However, two weeks before the hike, as she was walking to the gym in her hiking boots, she felt something painfully pop in her right foot. She ended up with a torn Plantar Fascia. She went through some physical therapy, and considered a cortisone shot to get her foot better before the trip. All to no avail...there really wasn't enough time for her foot to heal. We discussed the idea of postponing the trip until next spring, but I was afraid that other events (like the impending graduation of our older two) would overtake this trip, and we'd never end up going. I encouraged her to helicopter in (again, more on this later), but she felt she could make the hike...and she did. It took her a bit more time than I'm sure she wanted, but she made the entire 10.2 miles in, and the 2.2 miles back to the village all while carrying the entire weight she had in her pack. Having her with us made the trip special for each of us.

I am so proud of her.
[/digression]

Equipment to consider for next time: Headlamps. We saw more than one group start or end their hike in the dark. Having a decent headlamp (and lamps capable of red lighting) would be great. Non-stick cookwear. We made a nice dessert of Hot Apple Cobbler, but it turned out to be a chore to get the pan cleaned. It appears that many other dehydrated meals which need to be cooked (as opposed to reconstituted in the bag) would benefit from non-stick cookware. GPS. I don't know how to use one, but if we get out again, and especially if we get off the well-traveled trails like the one to Havasu Falls, I imagine that having and knowing how to use a GPS would make everyone feel better about not getting lost.

Food...

As you'll see from some of the photos, with some exceptions (PopTarts and Instant Oatmeal) we primarily used dehydrated food for our meals. They're lightweight, easy to prepare and meet the needs of being outdoors 24/7. Being outside exerting yourself for most of the day means that salt and potassium replacement is important, and these foods are generally high in salt. So much so that one meal which sounded appetizing really wasn't all that good. While hiking, we drank water and Gatorade, and ate Fruit Leathers. The hit for trail eating were the Shot Blocs. They were generally edible (although nobody cared for the Cola flavor--a big surprise), and we each felt so much better after chewing one down. In camp, we tried GU2O (although not in the 2# canister!), which while it's probably a better product than Gatorade, none of us cared much for. As I mentioned above, the apple cobbler was good, but difficult to clean up...not so much a fault of the dessert (the directions say to use a non-stick pan), but of my cookware. None of us really cared for the S'Mores (believe it or not!)--we felt it amounted to chocolate pudding with mini-marshmallows and graham cracker crumbs. I really liked the Granola with Blueberrys, but I gulped this down on our last morning as we were hustling to get packed up (so as to hike out in the early-morning cool).

In general, our meal planning was too ambitious. As a party of five, and since most entrees serve two, we planned on having available food for six at most meals. In reality, the five of us could barely get down four servings. I imagine it would be better to have too much food rather than too little, but we'll have to keep in mind our experience here on our next trip.


1 Packing before the trip

Travel Day:

Our plan for the trip was to hike in as early in the day as possible. To make this happen, we left home to get to the parking lot about dinnertime. Our plan was to eat our dinner out of the icechest and to sleep in the SUV and on cots with the aim of getting up before dawn to be on the trail in the early morning. We did all this, but were surprised at the number of folks who were both arriving and departing in the dark. That they were able to do this came from two things we hadn't anticipated: Most were using the headlamps mentioned above, and we had a (very) full moon. The parking lot stayed very busy all night.


2 Late afternoon


3 WifeofAzlib talking with the parking lot Security Guard (He clued us that the parking lot would be busy and noisy all night.)


4 Sunset

The Hike In:

I've put these photos in roughly chronological order. Some will merit a caption; most won't.


5 The Merry Hikers about to start out.


6 Note the switchbacks in the lower part of the photo.


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10 A break to work on WifeofAzlib's socks


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20 SonofAzlib and I carried empty water jugs clipped to our packs for use while in camp


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26 Azlib emerges from a canyon


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31 From foreground to background, it's Dau#1-, Dau#2-, Son-, and WifeofAzlib


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Horses!!

The instructions that came with our reservation included a caution that the trails would be shared with horses and mules and that they would have the right-of-way. This first group (the first two photos here) surprised us, and yielded the best photos, if you ask me. I was much too slow in getting the video camera up and running and missed a video of this group entirely. Subsequent groups of horses were smaller and were being run at a slower pace.


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Supai Village:

The same instructions mentioned that pictures while in the village were considered not particularly polite, and pictures of children were expressly off-limits. This wasn't surprising to me, as the village contains both the Supai homes as well as being part of the tourist industry which is their financial lifeline. In the village is a small lodge (which I'm guessing contains maybe 15-20 rooms) with real beds and real showers, a restaurant, and a small store. They also have a school, and two churches. All-in-all, the Supai village showed people who were poor, but better off than in other Indian communties I've seen in Arizona (on which it is not uncommon to see people still using outhouses and perhaps not having electricity). Most houses had small corrals for horses, which as you've already seen are a big part of their tourist industry. I saw no outhouses, and most homes had a window air conditioner. One of the great luxuries the Supai have is a helicopter service. If I recall correctly, it runs 4 days a week, and the Supai have both priority and free use of this service. They keep cars up in a parking lot near where we parked at the start of the trail. In the village, there are no cars...everyone has at least one horse, and there are a couple of Mules for use in emergencies.

It was quite a milestone to come around the bend and see that we'd made it to the village.


36 Supai Creek leading into the village


37 Two oblisks watching over the village. I am using this photo as my computer wallpaper.


38 Azlib and WifeofAzlib entering the village.

The Last 2.2 Miles...

On paper, the last 2.2 miles didn't look like they should be all that difficult. The terrain is fairly flat, and after a refreshing stop in the village, why should it take all that long? In experience, however, we found these last miles to be at least as taxing as the previous 8. The trail is very sandy, as the horses make frequent use of this trail. [Not all the horses and mules go all the way to the top. Many people will fly in and out and will hire an Indian to "horse" in their equipment and supplies for theses last two miles.] We stopped often, and asked everyone who passed us on their way up just how far we were from the campsite.

39 Crossing a bridge over Supai Creek.

Our First Look at Why we Walked All This Way...


40 Spectacular!


Camp Life...

We finally got into the campsite area about 1pm....which posed a problem. All the campsites with tables were taken. Try as we might, there simply were no campsite tables available. So, after a brief search for suitable non-tabled campsites, we settled on a site on the far side of the creek, distant from the spring water, with our tents set in two small gullies (and far to close to the trail), little shade, and a collection of small rocks for seating. Quite unsuitable. The one redeeming quality here was that we were near to the creek, which we all found to be quite refreshing.

About 7pm, WifeofAzlib came back from the restrooms with news that a Boy Scout group was preparing to leave and that we could move into their site (which was near to a table, but didn't expressly "have" one) as they moved out. The two great parts about this new site was that it was near to the spring water and restrooms, and that it had a large rock which could be used as a table. We discussed this for a couple of minutes and decided to make the move. Sleeping bags and tents were stuffed into our packs in record time, and we were out of there at 7:15.

We got our tents set up again as the darkness settled in around us, and went to bed with the Boy Scouts still not quite out.

When I got up in the morning, I saw that the Scouts had vacated two tables, and that one would be great for our use. So, when more of us got up, we moved a table over and this completed our campsite.

[A Rant on Boy Scouts]

When I was a Scout, and when I was a Scout leader while SonofAzlib was in Scouting, the operative phrase was "Leave only footprints; Take only photographs." This group of Scouts was the dirtiest I have ever seen. They left five (!) pairs of shoes, a nasty pair of boxer shorts, lots of food, and wrappers all over the place. I would have never allowed a Scout Troop of mine to leave a campsite in the condition that this troop did.

[/rant]

43 A flat place to lay down

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46 Ooohh. Look what's for lunch!

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47 The creek was no more than 25 yards from our tents and table


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49 Packs and boots hanging from a tree limb

Havasu Falls....

We hiked down to the Falls to spend some time there, and to get closer photos. The girls swam under the falls, but pictures were almost impossible, as the mist off the falls kept the camera from focusing. Most of these photos speak for themselves.

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54 The Three Amigos!


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60 This couple were married by a Supai Medicine Man (or whatever he's called) down at the Falls while we there. It looked like it was the sort of second marriage (kids from one or both were there too), that would be memorable for them. Later, they went swimming with everyone else.


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63 Near the falls, the Supai women have a little mini-restaurant where they sell Indian frybread and tacos (along with cold sodas and candy). WifeofAzlib enjoyed one of their Diet Cokes.


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Mooney Falls....

The kids went downstream to Mooney Falls. This set of falls is much narrower than Havasu, and the trail down to it is quite steep....they have laid a chain and some (less-than-safe) ladders to get yourself up and down. Not liking heights at all, I elected not to go.


65 You've been warned!


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68 Dau#2 and behind her, Sonof- at the bottom. Note the two ladders. The chain is visible when you enlarge the photo.

[A Digression on Walt Disney...]

Years ago, we took a Pink Jeep tour in Sedona, AZ. While on this tour, the guide mentioned that Walt Disney had spent some time in the area, and that there are many connections between Disney and the rock formations in north-central Arizona. The Red Rocks of Sedona were rumored to be the inspiration for the setting for Fantasia. The Disney film company is called "Touchstone".

I mention all this because I cannot help but recall that much of the terrain in the Disneyland Frontierland looks like it could have been inspired from Havasu and Mooney Falls.
[/digression]

On Our Way Home...

We planned all along to not take many (if any) pictures on our way out. Also, WifeofAzlib and SonofAzlib had planned to take the helicopter out (she had done the trek as a teenager, and he just wasn't interested in the hike). The decision for the remaining three of us was up to me: Did I think I had it in me to hike out, or would we all fly out? What we did not know when we started was that the same helicopter service that takes people out, also flies packs out. For $20/pack, you could walk the trail unburdened by your pack. Obviously, this was money well spent.

So, we all hiked out the 2.2 miles to the village, and the two girls and I dropped our packs off, and continued on the trail. The top flaps to the guy's packs detached to make fanny packs. So, Dau#2 and I carried the fanny packs with water bladders and some small snack items, and we downloaded Dau#1's pack into the others and the three of us started up the trail.

We made very good time...the remaining 8 miles in a bit less than 4 hours. We weren't racing anything but the thermometer. We stopped as often as we felt necessary to rehydrate and catch our breath. The last mile (the steepest part of the hike) took us 50 minutes.

The five of us got to the village about 6am, and since the helicopter service didn't start until 9:30 or so, this meant that the three hikers got a considerable head start on Wifeof- and Sonof- and our packs. I was genuinely touched that Wifeof- was concerned that I might not be able to make the hike (expressed with a wink as: "I was certain that I'd see an Indian coming up the hill leading a horse with your carcass draped over it's back"). But on finishing the hike, the three of us concluded that we could have made it with our packs (although obviously not as fast as we did without them). As things turned out, the hikers made it out before the fliers.

The three of us watched every helicopter land to see when our remaining two might show up. We were all surprised when they walked into the parking lot. It turned out that getting our two fliers and our packs onto the same flight wasn't something that could be worked out. So they flew separately, and Wifeof- and SonofAzlib had to wait at the landing pad for our last packs.

All-in-all, it was a great family trip, and one I'd do again in a minute. If you've read down this far, you can see that we learned some things, but didn't do too much wrong that might have ruined the trip for any of us. I heartily recommend a trip to Havasu Falls!!

Great News...

...not seen in the MSM. They won't be able to ignore it for much longer, but as of this writing, they're still reporting our casualties, rather than the operations in which these casualties were taken.

Promises, promises...

I've been working on a draft of the über-post on our trip to Havasu Falls. Pictures, verbiage, and everything.

Coming soon to an un-read blog near you!

"Papers, please"...

In the wake of the inability of the .gov to get passports to US citizens (who do have US birth certificates and who don't require a background check, etc.), am I the only one who is suspect of the .gov's ability to produce forgery-proof work-identity documents for our illegal immigrants (who don't have underlying identity documents and who do require background checks)? Can the .gov even do these background checks--requiring information from foreign sources--in the 24 hours that the bill requires?

...Section 601 (h)(1) of the bill allows the government only one business day to conduct a so-called background check on each applicant....

And even if the .gov could produce these documents, do Americans of every ethnicity and regardless of how far back one stretches one's citizenship, realize that they too will have to carry this work document?

...The plan would also include a secure identity card everyone in the United States would have to use, citizen and non-citizen alike, to gain employment....[emphasis mine]

I've said here in the past that our efforts at getting rid of our illegal immigrants is more xenophobia than concern over our security. I realize that our open borders create holes through which terrorists can access targets here, but I also realize that an open society benefits from our immigrants--illegal or not.

The bill--now largely dead--is wrong on so many angles.

Reason #872 to...

...hate lawyers.

...The insurgents who kill our young soldiers are ruthless, but we have sometimes been cautious in our response. Take the question of targeting bomb makers: There may be an unlimited supply of explosives in Iraq, but there is not an unlimited supply of people who know how to wire the detonators. In 2004, CIA operatives in Iraq believed that they had identified the signatures of 11 bomb makers. They proposed a diabolical -- but potentially effective -- sabotage program that would have flooded Iraq with booby-trapped detonators designed to explode in the bomb makers' hands. But the CIA general counsel's office said no. The lawyers claimed that the agency lacked authority for such an operation, one source recalled....

Of course, Glenn had it first.

Barbara Ann...

Oops. Wrong lyrics. A better set here.

Also...who knew Joe Lieberman could sing?

h/t Glenn.

Re: The Libby Conviction...

Guess who said...

...There is something troubling about prosecutors using perjury and obstruction of justice to turn into criminals people who haven't committed any other crime. Instead of using the grand jury as a tool for investigating other criminal activity, it becomes the forum for creating criminal conduct. The role of the FBI and federal prosecutors becomes one of creating criminals instead of catching them. Technically, I know, it's not entrapment, but it's still different than the usual business of tracking down those who have violated the law and punishing them for their bad acts. The investigation doesn't solve the crime; it creates it....

Heh.

My wonderful family...

We just got back from our hiking vacation to Havasu Falls (and a much more detailed [with photos and video!] posting to come later), but here's a small tribute to my wonderful family.

On our drive home, tired and dusty after our 20+ miles of hiking through the desert, we came upon a very recent accident. A Suburban towing a travel trailer had blown the left rear tire and ended up on it's right side blocking the entire roadway. We didn't see the accident, and weren't the first to come onto the accident, but we were one of the first.

So, I hopped out to see what I could help with. As I got to the Suburban, I could see several people unloading "stuff" (meaning seats, tools, boxes of honey, etc.) from the back of the Suburban as they were trying to get to the front, and I helped out for a few moments. Inside, I saw a black lab and one male arm. There was a guy who later introduced himself as a Phoenix EMT, and a guy wearing some Fire Dept. t-shirt (apparently on a motorcycle trip) who were trying to remove a 60+ year old man from the front passenger seat through the smashed windshield. I was a bit surprised at this, as I couldn't imagine that they wouldn't have suspected spinal injuries, but I don't have any medical training beyond very basic First Aid, and my very lapsed CPR training. None-the-less, "Frank" was pulled from the vehicle.

But before long, my whole family was there with me.

My wife brought out a blanket and pillow we'd had on our trip to lay "Frank" down on. She also drug out a tube tent (more on that in the full trip report) that we used to make some shade for Frank. My son helped me haul the stuff out of the back of the Suburban and later held a corner of the shade tent. He also poured some water for Bridget the lab, who was upset in her own way. My oldest daughter set out our warning triangle to keep us from having to deal with a rear-ender traffic accident behind us. My youngest daughter dug through our hiking gear to fetch our first aid kit and the gauze bandages that ended up on Frank's elbow (his only apparent injury--a Miracle!). [My biggest concern was the propane tanks on the trailer, and I was able to detach the regulator and remove them from the trailer.]

None of us did anything significant. But we all helped out. And we did so while surrounded by 50 other adults who were doing nothing more than sitting in their air conditioned cars wondering what had happened and how long they were going to be inconvenienced by the closed road.

I could not be more proud of my family!

The Big Day...

We're finally packed for the big hike (to Havasu Falls, if you're not following along). Despite much effort and significant money spent on acquiring the lightest and most efficient equipment for our needs, I cannot believe at how heavy our packs are. SonofAzlib and I are in the 35-38# range, and WifeofAzlib and the two DaughtersofAzlib are in the 30-33# neighborhood. We're each carrying 5 liters of water (a bit more than recommended) which weigh about 11 pounds, so the packs should get lighter as we go on, but even still, they're starting out heavier than I had wanted.

Pictures (de-identified, of course) will be posted on our return.

Memorial Day 2007...

[Wow. Is it already May of 2007?]

I had been flying my flag pretty much 24/7 (and certainly on holidays like this one) until sometime last year when a gust of wind bent the bracket that attaches the flag to the house. Like all household projects, replacing the bracket--and doing it right--will take me longer than it ought to. Understanding this, my excuse is that a bracket replacement simply hasn't made it to the top of the priority list.

That said, in my heart, my flag is flying proudly.

And in the vein of those sentiments, please stand and join me in singing...

Dennis. I'll be standing right with ya', man.

Watch it all, but the relevant portion starts at 1:46.



h/t Patrick, who I am checking in on regularly now.

Still not dead...

OK, the wrought iron is painted (Finally!), and I've only got the exterior lights to clean and paint. In other words, the end of the giant paint project is approaching.

However, so is recurrent. I'm behind where I want to be in regards to getting the CD package finished, as well as in general studying....and that deadline is fixed. Daughter#3's graduation also approaches, with the hoopla she deserves, and family in town for the event. Finally, our trip to the Grand Canyon comes at the end of the month.

In other words...I'm still busy, and still not dead.

On a brief political note, I bring you this. George Tenet has apparantly written a book intended to resurrect his political hide. It will serve that purpose with those who already believe that "Bush Lied: People Died", but serious folks are seeing holes in Tenet's story right from page 1.

Hillary in striped pants

Not dead yet...

Just a small post to stay in the game, even at my current minimal level.

I'm finally getting the wrought iron painted, out-of-town visitors on their way, have recurrent to study for, and Daughter#3 graduating from HS next month all on my plate in addition to the normal crises.

I'll get back to this in a more regular fashion when things calm down.

A soldier says...

...what I said (although I was far too verbose).



The Democrats are determined to lead us into defeat. As of this moment, just about the only thing keeping them from achieving this defeat is that President Bush is determined to keep the Islamists from winning.

h/t Confederate Yankee.

A brief political point...

Yesterday, Elizabeth Edwards announced that her breast cancer had spread to her bone. Further, she and her husband, John, announced that he would be continuing his pursuit of the Presidency.

I genuinely wish both the Edwards' well. It is not easy to have cancer, to have it spread to an incurable place, or to be the spouse who has to watch this happen. I'm glad that they're doing what they feel is best.

However, I have to wonder if their path is what is right for America.

Let's say that Edwards wins his nomination, and later wins the presidency. (A long shot, if you believe the current polling, but bear with me.)

This morning the Today show medical advisor, Dr. Nancy Snyderman, said that a person in Edward's position had a 20-25% chance of surviving beyond 5 years. Five years is 60 months.

It is now March of 2007. Edwards wouldn't take office until January of 2009...22 months from now. Assuming that Elizabeth Edwards would be in the 75% side of the equation, and that Snyerman's numbers are correct, when her husband was inaugurated, she'd have no more than 38 months to live. This places her death in the third year of a hypothetical Edwards first term.

Is it right for America to elect a man who we have to believe will be undergoing a deep personal trauma in the middle of his Presidency? Could we expect him to fully act in our interests? How much slack could we or should we allow for him to tend to a sick wife, while the world (which will be in turmoil, I guarantee you) spins by us?

I appreciate that the Edwards both want to pursue this ambition of theirs, and even that this pursuit might somehow be theraputic for Elizabeth. However, I don't see that electing a man with a sick wife is the right thing to do.

Anyone with any sense knew this all along, but now...

...it's official. The Second Amendment protects individual rights, not the states'.

The Dhimm get Dhimmer....

h/t John at Power Line.

What has changed?

h/t Pat Dollard, via Glenn

They think....

...that we don't remember stuff.

Replay video | Share video | Watch more videos

h/t Rodger

And along those lines....

Replay video | Share video | Watch more videos

USA Today...

It's not often that I even read a USA Today. Their coverage lacks the depth that I like in a newspaper, and their slant is obvious.

However, in today's edition, Ralph Peters writes this opinion piece which makes the case that we are not in a "Battle of Ideas", but rather in a war "over religion and ethnicity" (something which I've long thought).

Further, Peters notes that a "hearts and minds" approach will not work. The insurgency we face can be put down, but it will take bloodletting. As I've worried about earlier, I'm afraid that we won't be willing to spill serious blood until we've been bloodied first. It may take the loss of much of a major American city before we're willing to take down enough of the Islamic faith that they call off their jihad.

A good day...

Got some small chores done around the house today.
We had wonderful weather here today...mid-60's with clear skies. I got away to an IDPA match.
Got a haircut (which I needed badly).
Got out to a 50th birthday celebration for a friend.

I certainly could have done more, but all-in-all it was a nice day.

Make no mistake...

Iran is our enemy.

America's Bush's Defeat...

I've made this point (h/t Glenn) to the lefties on that other Forum a couple of times, but their BDS has them impervious to logic.

We're in a war here folks. The Islamofacists, represented by the 19 9/11 hijackers, killed the rich and the poor; white, black, brown and yellow; Christian, Jew and Muslim; Democrat and Republican alike. Whatever our differences, our enemies saw us as enough alike that they did not discriminate. The killed because they are fighting our freedom.

Sadly, the Democrats cannot see that the war is not just about defeating Bush. It is about defeating those who define themselves as our enemies.

"God's Gonna Cut You Down"

Lifted from Bill at INDCJournal.

Escalation...

I've written at least three posts recently (starting here) making the point that we've escalated things in Iraq. We're not letting Iran get away with any of their mischief. Mookie is thought to have been run out of town. I've speculated a couple of places here that we may be looking to provoke, or, at least will not turn away from a new Gulf of Tonkin.

After the start of the new offensive (or perhaps in reaction to the recent, and disturbing loss of helicopters), here is evidence that we've upped the ante.

Obama vs. Howard...

The Democrats have, for many years and without apology, advocated policies that can be summed up by the following...

From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.

Case in point. (h/t Cowboy Blob)

[They do this, coincidentally, without letting us know who said this.]

A dustup was begun between Barak Obama and John Howard after Howard's statement that...

"If I were running al-Qaida in Iraq, I would put a circle around March 2008 and be praying as many times as possible for a victory, not only for Obama but also for the Democrats."

Obama's reply?

...If the Australian prime minister was "ginned up to fight the good fight in Iraq," he needs to send another 20,000 Australians to the war.

"Otherwise, it's just a bunch of empty rhetoric," Obama said.

But what about that "each according to his ability" line? Do we mean it or not?

"...We won’t make that mistake again. ...."

Somewhere the other day I saw a brief clip of an interview with Robert Gates after his meetings in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The money quote...

“After the Soviets left [Afghanistan], the US made a mistake,” said Mr Gates. “We neglected Afghanistan and extremism took control of that country, and the US paid a price for that on September 11, 2001. We won’t make that mistake again."

Substitute "Iraq" for "Afghanistan" in the above, and make the appropriate changes to the tenses of the verbs, and you get why we're not leaving Iraq.

Ever.

If you're not now convinced of the wisdom or necessity of staying in Iraq, you had better find a way to get used to it. Most Democrat politicians are pandering their way into positions that support, in one way or another, a retreat (or "redeployment" if you buy into it) from Iraq. But just because the D's now can do nothing except run against everything that Bush has done, doesn't mean that they will leave Iraq. Whichever D gets elected (God forbid), they'll find a way to stay in Iraq. Retreat ain't gonna happen. It is the same mistake Gates spoke of.

A Semi-Sabbatical...

For the short- to middle-term, I think I'm going to cut back on posting here. In the short-term, I've got a large painting project that I'm behind on, the taxes to do for ourselves as well as for the three kids, recurrent approaching, and the normal stuff that just piles up.

On top of that, Dad has cancer, and for the middle-term, I'll be travelling to see him as often as I can. I get the feeling that he doesn't have a long-term.

What...

...he said. ("He" meaning John, of course.)

There's trouble brewing...

...with Iran (as if that weren't obvious).

A while back, I wondered if the end of our kid-glove approach with Iranian meddling in Iraq wasn't an omen that a new Gulf of Tonkin incident might be in the offing. Since this post, there has been the very sophisticated kidnapping and execution of 5 soldiers (h/t Protein Wisdom, and others). The speculation is now running that the Bush administration is soft-playing this story for some reason.

But now the MSM is putting two and two together and wondering if these forces moving behind the scenes aren't about to break out into a more public war.

I certainly don't wish for a wider war, but I cannot ignore the fact that Iran must be confronted. They're the ones pushing their apololyptic vision of the future, and we're kidding ourselves if we think this will just go away.

Hey, Hillary....

Look! The circus is back in town!

h/t Glenn.

A Good Move...

"Troops allowed to kill Iranians in Iraq". This is an overdue move, and bringing heat to those who are fomenting trouble in Iraq is a good thing.

It amazes me that this might in any way be viewed as controversial.

The Democrat's problem...

..."exemplified".

Kerry isn't so dumb (or, more correctly, those who might contribute to a Democrat Presidential candidate aren't so dumb) that he can't see that he can't be elected. He screwed up his '04 run, never answered his Swiftboat critics, never provided full and open review of his military records (as he promised), never lost his reputation as a flip-flopper, and spent the remaining 2+ years further tarnishing his own standing. A Kerry '08 candidacy was doomed, and not entering the race is just about the only rational thing he's done.

But, as John at Powerline notes (and I noted yesterday), Kerry's problem with how he crafts his message on Iraq is exemplary of the broader problems of the Democrat Party on Iraq. Nobody--not one--Democrat has a public vision of how to win in Iraq. Ignoring this question, in the hopes that it will all be blamed on Bush, is not the way to win an election.

State of the Union...

[I confess that I slept through most of the SOTU speech last night. I didn't sleep particularly well the night before, got a good workout at the gym in the morning, then spent the afternoon making concrete. Therefore an evening nap was unavoidable.]

But, I did see much of the post-speech discussion (on FNC, of course). And, I cannot help but agree with the strength that Jules Crittenden sees here.

We are at war. For all that the Democrats try, they cannot ignore this point. They've been trying to snatch defeat out of the hands of victory as they pursue their own political agenda, but when it comes to Iraq, they offer nothing, and are proud of their "nothingness" as long as Bush gets the blame for Iraq. Eventually, either today or when their candidate wins in '08 (God forbid), they're going to have to deal with the problems in Iraq, the Mid-East, and the Muslim world.

The Gym...

Update: I get very few readers to my humble blog, but more than a few of you come in looking for a photo of Havasu Falls. It appears that the photo I hoarked from some .edu site is now unavailable. I invite you to look around a bit, but if you're interested in Havasu photos, you can see plenty in my report on our hike. You can access it here.
[/update]

OK. So, as we're now well into our middle ages, we have to admit that we've managed to put on more than a few pounds. Further, since we have committed to a family hike down to the Havasupai Falls...



...loosing weight has become part of that committment. Therefore a membership at the local gym has been added into our lives.

With that prelude, I was impressed by the sight of a 75-or-so year-old white-haired grandmother on the treadmill next to me this morning. She didn't go fast, or very long (20 minutes or so), but she was there. She left the treadmill for the "hand-bike", and I lost track of her. I hope that we're still in the gym at her age.

"...if [the Americans] get out of Fallujah,..."

"... Washington itself will be a target."

As usual, read the whole thing.

Also, Michelle Malkin, after her embed in Iraq, has gained new optimism that this thing can be won. Also, don't fail to read the report of her colleague, Bryan Preston, that winning is not impossible. Both believe that the Iraq War has had far more mistakes than we naively believed we would encounter, but that the media is misleading America on the progress there, and that, with patience and perseverance, this thing can be won.

These two reports jibe with that of Michal Yon, posted a couple of days ago.

Sandy Berger...

...has more questions to answer, if he were an honorable man.

h/t Scott at Powerline.

"Saddam was...

...lynched."

At least according to Charlie Rangel in a discussion of MLK day on this morning's Fox News broadcast. Link here.

Geez. Is....

...this cover photo creepy, or what? Gore looks like a James Bond movie villan.
Plus, take a look at Gore here, doing his "Dr.-Lara-Croft's-Legitimate-Brother" look-alike pose.

Oh. And global warming? Bunk.

Bush's White House=....

...Faux Klingons. Allah is all over it.



Now that I think about it, having a Democrat majority is going to be fun. These guys are a hoot!

After all he's said in public...

...now Joe Wilson is on the road to being forced to speak under oath. Heh.

The President is moved...

...to tears during the award of the Medal of Honor.

Those who say he declared war in Iraq to avenge the attempt on the life of his father, "Blood for Oil" or any other ridiculous reason are daft.

I dunno....

...but am I the only one thinking "Tit for tat"?

It's quite possible that Greece has any number of characters who might do this, and certainly America has made enemies around the world, but the timing of this attack on the embassy makes me suspicious.

Update: Via Scott at Powerline, I see this (the NY Sun, again!), which includes this nugget...

...Another administration source yesterday said the White House and State Department do not consider the Iranians arrested yesterday to have diplomatic immunity because the building that was raided was not a consulate....

Hmmm. No diplomatic immunity. Candidates for Gitmo, perhaps?

The quickest money...

...ever made.

I finally got around to renewing my CCW last week. The renewal is much simpler than it used to be...no classroom, no shooting, no nothing. Just fill in the application, attach your $65 renewal fee and....

...Get fingerprinted.

I went to the place I've done all my CCW training for the fingerprinting. It took all of 3 minutes, and the fee? $30.

I don't begrudge the proprietor his right to make a buck, and frankly I expected to have to pay something. But I did think this was a bit much. If I can remember at my next renewal, I'll shop around a bit.

Payback, Ops Normal, or Prelude to another Gulf of Tonkin?...

Who cares? In any event, this is something that's been sorely needed.

h/t Rightwing Nuthouse via Allah and Ace.

In preface to...

...President Bush's speech on the addition of troops to Iraq, I found this article relating Tony Snow's thoughts on the speech. I have to wonder, if the focus is in Baghdad, are they thinking about the dangers posed by Iran (which I've earlier written about)?

Michael Yon...

...is back in Iraq. His post on entering is here.

Although I won't at all pretend to be the writer or have the experiences that Yon does, I will echo one of his points...that it is the senior enlisted guy who gets things done.

This was one of the lessons of my (humble and entirely peacetime) military service that was difficult, and came late to me. Air Force officers--especially pilots (and most especially, fighter pilots)--are taught to be arrogant. The world turns around them, and the enlisted are there to make sure it does. While I enjoyed being a FAIP (First Assignment Instructor Pilot), the AF does a disservice to these young officers by creating a work environment where they are almost completely segregated from enlisted and especially non-commissioned officers.

It wasn't until my last year or so that I began to learn that the enlisted can and will make or break an operation. It doesn't really matter what the General, or the Colonel, or the Captain may think about something. Until the Master Sargeant thinks that an operation or a new program makes sense, it'll never get off the ground.

Yon's attraction to the CSM is just an extension of this. The CSM is a badass guy, who is also smart. The press make the same mistake I made as a young junior officer by ignoring him.

Predicting a result of Iran's acquisition of nukes...

Michael Totten notes that...

Six Arab governments – Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, the United Arab Emirates, and Tunisia – say they will pursue nuclear weapons programs now because Iran’s atomic bombs need to be countered. None of these Arab countries sought nuclear weapons to offset those acquired by Israel. They fear and loathe the Shia of Lebanon and Iran (and most likely Iraq, as well) more than they worry about the Zionists regardless of what they may say....[emphasis mine]

h/t Glenn.

A Persian Gulf of Tonkin?...

Yesterday, on my NYC layover, I was able to score a New York Sun [Yeah!] (but not this morning--Boo!). On the front page of this issue of the Sun, I found this article (now under discussion widely in the b'sphere), which reports that we've captured intelligence that Iran is supporting both Sunni and Shiite militias in Iraq. [For the record, Iran is Shiite as is the majority of Iraq. Saddam was a Sunni. Saudi is majority Sunni.]

This kind of blows apart the whole meme that religion rules over pragmatism. Iran sees that chaos in Iraq--regardless of the source--is in their best interests. Tieing down the Great Satan to where he is viewed to be impotent is in their interests, more than pursuing their views on Islam.

Also, Stennis is headed for the Gulf.

Concerning the news last week...

...I thought I'd reprise an oldie-but-goodie.



h/t Rodger.

Irony Alert...

As mentioned in the comments here, the scene of Saddam's legal team headed to the courts of the Great Satan to prevent his execution absolutely drips in irony.

A lesson on...

...Moonbats. I've dealt with some of the lesser moonbats on that other Forum, and they can be equally oblivious to logic.

The Intellectual Argument for....

...what I've long said: We need to fight this war with the gloves off, or not at all. I have said, for years now, that we need to aim for Victory instead of Peace.

I wondered about this too....

I was thinking recently about the new report regarding Sandy Berger's theft at the National Archives. Specifically, I was wondering if Berger realized that he was stealing and destroying American history here, and if he did realize it, did it bother him at all? These documents did not belong to him. They are ours. He stole them from all of us.

Then, today, I find over at Powerline, a post from a reader-expert who spoke to exactly this point.

"...They were true historical documents capturing a snapshot in time in the Administration and the thoughts of those individuals involved with the events of the day.

Those documents belong to the People, not to any individual. Sandy Berger was destroying historical records and putting them into a 'memory hole.'"

Berger's reputation cannot possibly get further smeared, but unfortunately, there will be far too many who forget this level of depravity.

Layover photos....

This is one of the photos that I had no idea how it would turn out. In full attribution, I have no idea how to make a photo turn out the way I might like it, but I'm pleased with this one none-the-less.

Central Park. A purple tree.

My New Homeboy....

Yeah. You guessed it. Danny Bonaduce.



h/t lgf.

Layover Photos...

For no other reason than I've got nothing else to say today (nor the time to say it), I'm beginning a semi-regular feature of this blog...favorite layover photos.

And here is one of my recent favorites...a combination Dunkin' Donuts/Sushi shop in Boston. I've always wondered what came first: The donuts or the Sushi?

Go Roman...

OK, not more than three hours after I write that I won't have much time to write than I find (as I was eating my soup at lunch) this gem.

Dennis Miller absolutely gets this...



h/t...John at Op-For.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Not much time to post here with lots of things to do around the house, busy at work, Christmas, etc.

Will try to put up something later, but I don't expect to have much time until after the holidays.

And in that vein, to my tens of readers, Merry Christmas.

An object lesson on tin-horn dictators...

...presented by Charles.

If only this were comedy.

Let's redeploy from Iraq...

Heh.

And I thought ScrappleFace was a humor blog.

Oh, yeah. You know where the hattip goes.

Is the MSM just daft or willfully stupid?

I open up MSN.com this morning and see this headline as their top news story...

WP: Combat troops out of Iraq?

The story begins talking about the ISG (see below) recommendations that combat troops in Iraq should be withdrawn by the end of 2008.

Seven paragraphs into the story, Bush is quoted as saying...

"This business about graceful exit just simply has no realism to it whatsoever," Bush said.

Further, it takes no time at all to find this story (from the NYT, no less)....

BUSH REJECTS QUICK TROOP WITHDRAWALS

So, what is it? Daft or willfully stupid? Both?

Is anyone really surprised...

...That the Iraq Study Group will recommend a pullout (sort of). This sort of compromise between staying and leaving offers the worst of both approaches.

The liberals will hail the brave ("realistic") recommendation of the James Baker-led ISG to meet with the Syrians and the Iranians (as if any serious person could believe either have something constructive to offer). While doing so, they will conveniently forget the criticism they leveled against Baker in his previous dealings with the Iranians.

As I've said many times, what is missing in discussions of this war is a determination to do anything and everything necessary to achieve victory. We've become soft. Until we're willing to totally crush our enemy--Islamic fundamentalism--wherever it may reside, we're not taking this war seriously enough.

h/t Charles, Captain Ed, and nearly everybody else.

I am honored...

...to be the anonymous reader in the update here.

The flying imams: Another look

In today's Washington Times Audrey Hudson reviews the behavior of the flying imams: "How the imams terrorized an airliner." Here is information on the seat belt extenders that I have not seen reported elsewhere:

Three of the men asked for seat-belt extenders, although two flight attendants told police the men were not oversized. One flight attendant told police she "found this unsettling, as crew knew about the six [passengers] on board and where they were sitting." Rather than attach the extensions, the men placed the straps and buckles on the cabin floor, the flight attendant said.

(Emphasis added.) The story also discusses the seating of the imams on the plane, including the apparent fact that two of the imams moved from their assigned seats to first class:

The imams who claimed two first-class seats said their tickets were upgraded. The gate agent told police that when the imams asked to be upgraded, they were told no such seats were available. Nevertheless, the two men were seated in first class when removed.

With two of the imams in first class, the six imams were positioned on the plane from front to back:

Passengers and flight attendants told law-enforcement officials the imams switched from their assigned seats to a pattern associated with the September 11 terrorist attacks and also found in probes of U.S. security since the attacks -- two in the front row first-class, two in the middle of the plane on the exit aisle and two in the rear of the cabin.

Greg Lang of Soliah.com takes a look at the seat belt extenders. In a message summarizing his research, he writes:

I believe the seat belt extensions create a serious airline security threat. This is one heck of a weapon that has been overlooked. Basically the "heavy" head of this is very heavy with both the latch and the belt adjuster lock thing. In a weapon sense it's a lot like a padlock on a chain or in prison a canned item in a sock. A solid blow to the head can disable and the strap can be used to choke or restrain. I was astounded that these were [allowed for use as] carry on items.

I close with a quote from former Minnesota Senator and U.S. Ambassador to the UN Commission on Human Rights Rudy Boschwitz:

There you are at the gate about to kiss your wife and kids goodbye and the imams begin praying. Would you walk away and let the family go forward? Or would you be much relieved if the airline said: hold on, we ought to check these guys out. Give me a break and not this liberal bullshit.

The airline acted prudently just as it should have.

UPDATE: A reader who asks not to be identified adds:

I am an airline captain at a major national airline. On the subject of seat belt extensions, at my airline, we carry them onboard and I wasn't aware that they could be purchased elsewhere. These extensions have a legitimate place onboard. They are used by our larger passengers who are unable to fasten the seatbelt absent an extension (and if you've spoken to this point already, I've missed it).

That these extensions could be used as improvised weapons is not something that our crews are unaware of. There are many, many innocuous items that can become deadly. You've already cited a canned item in a sock (I wonder how many passengers think the flight attendant is simply being overly thrifty with the soft drink can when she wants to only dispense a glass at a time?). A belt with a heavy buckle would serve the same purpose. Sturdy pens can be stabbing weapons. The list of improvised weapons is only limited by the ingenuity of those who might use them.

The larger point I'd like to make is that, despite the increased level of TSA scrutiny we all go through, it is unrealistic to expect that airplanes would be weapons-free zones. Prisons cannot be made weapons-free despite strip searches and controls on contraband.

Although without knowing more details of what actually went on in this case, it is difficult to know exactly how I might have reacted, from what I've read, it appears that the crew did the right thing. These imams were behaving oddly enough that, knowing what I know now, I think I would have had them removed too.

It's for the Children...

Don't cha' know.



h/t Gerald

"Civil War"...

...according to NBC. I have to disagree that Iraq is in a civil war now. Certainly the sectarian violence is troubling. However, wide parts of the country are basically at peace. The violence level in Iraq is less than many parts of the world now considered to be at peace. I guess that "civil war" thing gets around.

Either that, or NBC is editorializing.

Update...via Glenn, here. (Isn't The Prospect a liberal rag? Or am I thinking of The American Prospect? Are they related? Should we alert Matt Lauer?)

Range Report...

I finally made it to an IDPA match yesterday, and my recent absence showed. Ivan challenged me with long shots (one at 25 yds). I could probably make the case that my poor results are due to shooting new 180 grain ammo. I do think that my Glock doesn't like it, but that is a slim crutch to stand on. My results are mine--not the ammo's.

It was nice to get to the range again, but I just can't go six weeks and expect to make my shots.

Oh, now here's something new...

Not.

The D's are planning to investigate Bush to death. They are still smarting from the impeachment of their last President--a man of dubious character. [Side note: They recently ran out of their party the one Democrat with moral clarity.] Their investigations will amount to nothing, but their media accomplices will make mountains out of any molehills that might exist (e.g. Scooter Libby).

I am afraid that the D's are not taking the GWOT seriously at all. They are ostriches--hoping that it will all just go away. This is going to be a long two years.

Power Line Forum

Although they've been operating it for a month or so, the guys at Power Line have started a Forum. One of the things missing, IMO, on their blog is the ability to comment. This Forum solves this problem.

In the first thread I look at, the question is asked: "Who is the enemy?" And I reproduce here the second answer in full.

IronDioPriest...

It’s time we realize that the Islamic fanatics worship Satan by another name.

In order to know and understand the truth of the evil nature of our Islamic enemy, I watched the Paul Johnson beheading video shortly after the poor man was decapitated by the Islamic fanatic Zarqawi (Thank you God, George Bush and the American Military for removing this scum from existence).

What I saw was an innocent man pleading for his life, and then the knife being applied to the side of his neck, and then the screams of terror as the knife began to cut, and then the thrashing for a shred of hope of life, terrible screams unlike anything I’ve heard, and then after what seemed an eternity, the knife finally reaching the windpipe, and the gurgling sounds, still attempts to scream in horror, still the knife cut deeper, reaching the spinal chord, where the sawing motion became more vigorous and violent in order to get through the bone, still, unbelievably, screams and gurgles, until the moment that Paul’s head was more detached than attached - then the screams stopped, although there was still, even now, gurgling, attempts to put a voice to experiencing the ultimate horror, until the head was finally severed completely, and Paul’s murderers were finished killing innocence in the name of Allah as far too many Muslims are prone to do.

All the while, the Islamic animals in the room, screaming in Arabic, god is good, god is merciful, glory to god. They were reveling in this slaughter of innocence. They call their false god Allah. After watching this video, I now know that the Allah worshiped by this type of Islamic fanatic is just Satan by another name.

Because of these animals, we are forced into a corner. That corner is coming to the conclusion that the enemy is Islam. Surely not every Muslim, but Islam nonetheless.

I hate to say it. I really, really hate to say it. I want to give all people the benefit of the doubt, and I don’t like to paint with a brush any broader than necessary. But sooner or later all freedom loving people will realize it, so I’ll just say it again now.

The enemy is Islam.

It doesn’t feel good to even think it, but sometimes the truth hurts. I wish that all the people who think it would have the balls to say it.

It is regrettable. I know that all individual Muslims are not the problem. That would be an asinine conclusion for one to draw. Good people and bad people come in all stripes.

The enemy is Islam, not because all Muslims are evil, but because a very significant number are. One cannot ignore the fact that the driving force behind the hatred of the Islamo-fascists is the religion of Islam. They believe that in waging Jihad, they are following the will of Allah, and these fanatic Muslims exist in sufficient numbers to draw the conclusion that Islam must be dealt with as an enemy. The remainder will not or cannot speak out or rise up against their fanatic Islamic brethren, at least not in numbers that matter. At some point, we will be unable to afford the luxury of trying to discern which Muslims are peace loving (the ones that don’t strictly follow the Koran, in other words) and which ones want to kill your children in the most agonizing ways imaginable. Therefore we must see the enemy as he wishes us to see him. The fundamentalists want a holy war, and we have no choice but to engage them on those terms, or eventually be exterminated.

If we aren’t willing to even admit who and what our enemy is, we will lose the epic war for the survival of western civilization, and either be killed, or live under Sharia Law in Dhimmitude. Dhimmitude would not be a good life for anyone.

And for those who morally equate the Islamic death cult with American Christian fundamentalists or the Jewish state of Israel, all I can say is you ought to live in the real world and take off your ideological blinders. To equate American Christians with the Taliban, or the retributions of the Israelis against the Palestinian butchers of innocents as has been done by Leftists is intellectually dishonest, and shows a commitment to ideology before truth.

I guess I can say one other thing. In the coming war against the evil of Islamo-fascist Jihad, America is the last, best hope for the West. The Muslims are going to force everyone to choose a side, and those who wish to remain neutral will eventually understand that neutrality is not in the Islamic plan. And I think when push comes to shove, whiners and moral relativists will cling to the coat-tails of traditional American greatness, the mighty American military, and whomever else is given the charge of protecting you and your family.

Welcome to the Jihad. The enemy is Islam, whether you want it or not, because the Islamic fanatics do, and they’re the relevant Muslim coalition that we are forced to contend with.

I can't say I disagree. We're fighting the entire religion. Certainly not every practicianer is a bad person who wishes us dead. But enough of them do that I have to suspect the entire faith. The sooner we realize that we're in a war between Islam and Liberty, and fight it with that knowledge, the better.

Hey, Sears...

It looks like you're missing a couple of tools...

Whats not...

...to agree with?

A Rant on Copilots (and their Hats)...

I recently finished two trips which were much more difficult than they otherwise should have been. Bad copilots on both parts.

Copilot #1...
Just about the first thing he says when we meet is that we need to be on time on the last leg...then four days in the future. He's got a close connection to the last flight of the night. I've got no problem with this as I'm a commuter too and understand completely. Then, on the second day, he wants to switch legs so that he doesn't have to land in the same place twice. I agree, but wonder: On the day he retires, will the number of landings here vs. there make any difference to anybody? (And I notice that this change makes the last leg his.) He has a habit of taking off his shoes, which is somewhat unusual. At one point in the trip, we speak about the good workout room on the last layover. On the last day, he asks if I minded if he dried out his gym clothes. I (reluctantly) agree...it was just one leg, and I'd be done with him. Then, as he's standing after draping his wet gym clothes throughout the cockpit, I detect an odor of something. I wonder: Did he just fart, or do his gym clothes come complete with skidmark? I try not to answer.

He did have a hat (more on that later), and a coat. The hat rarely touched his head and spent most of the time on a second hook on his suitcase. The coat fit him, oh maybe, 20 pounds ago, so it didn't often get buttoned.

Copilot #2...
I notice right away that he doesn't have a coat. Well, that's not exactly right. He has a coat, just not a uniform coat. It's more of a windbreaker. No hat in evidence though. The conversation on our first leg is pleasant enough, but it becomes clear to me (and probably to him) that we aren't going to agree on much. He was angry that the pilot's pension was lost while everybody else retained theirs. I explain my belief that our pension was probably just a ghost anyway and about the divorce cons I'd heard go on. He says that we'd be better off if we were a more hard-core union. I think: Great. I'm flying with one of those guys who thinks that we're pussies unless we go past the point of threatening to Burn-the-House-Down, but actually throw the gas and light the match. Never mind that we're in bankruptcy. Never mind the conditions of the rest of the industry. It was all about how we sold out too early. Anyway, again, the conversation wasn't unpleasant, but we soon drift into our own silences. On the second leg, I got to the airplane a bit before him. As he arrives, he asks if I've done the walk-around. I say "No", and off he goes--coatless--for his mid-November walkaround. [A small digression on walkarounds...While he may think I'm being a prick for not jumping at the opportunity for a walkaround, I don't think so. If you've paid attention at all on that other forum, you can probably guess at why I don't really like to get too far away from the cockpit without packing up at least a portion of my stuff. I use the time while the F/O is outside to brief the Flight Attendants. I don't really like most F/As, but I do have to work with them. It is up to me to set an environment where they want to work with me rather than for me. Also, I told myself when I got hired that I'd do half the walkarounds over my career. Guess what? I've already done my half. And finally, the surest way to get me to never do a walkaround is to somehow intimate that you expect it.] His leg into LGA is a challenging one. The weather was low and the winds were near crosswind limits. Most pilots would keep the automation on until we saw the runway, but this guy does otherwise. He clicks off the autopilot and autothrottles and flies manually. There's nothing procedurally wrong with this, but it does make things harder than they need to be. Once we break out, he was lined up on the downwind (right) side of the runway, further making things difficult for himself. The landing was good for LGA and the conditions (read: "firm"). On the approach on his second leg (second day), he again turned off all the automation. We didn't have the weather conditions to deal with this time, but again he lined up on the right side of the runway. I wonder: Is this a trend? [Another digression--this one on his hat. On the third day, his hat makes a brief appearance, from deep inside his roll-aboard, as we change planes in ATL.] His last leg was the real doozy. The weather in LAX was right at minimums. We were very close to needing me to do a Cat II or Cat III approach. So what does our intrepid aviator do? Yeah. You guessed it. He again turns off all the automation and hand-flies the approach. A Cat I autoland would have been perfect here, but that doesn't occur to Steve Canyon. He manages to find the centerline this time, but he wipes off the power at about 25 feet (767) and absolutely crushes the landing. I mean--it was awful. We taxi to the gate in silence. At the gate, he packs up his stuff, we exchange pleasant, but not warm goodbyes, he says goodbye to about a third of our passengers, and then in one of the biggest displays of cowardice I've ever seen, he leaves. I'm left to put my face to what is probably the worst landing experience our passengers have ever been through. No stones at all. None.

Epilogue...Here are the common threads:

• I had F/As question me on the behavior out of both these guys. The first less-so than the second, but in both the non-conformity was easily noted. The second guy was a bit abrasive with a couple of the girls. One of the F/As in the crushing landing later complained of back pain (after Steve had left). Not good at all (and later, I thought that I should have asked if this was OJI back pain, or just back pain.) They both cut a wide swath.
  
• Both these two guys have trouble with the hat. If you're out to make me wonder if you're about to ask for special treatment, do non-standard things in the cockpit, and make me think that I'm going to have to watch for sub-par flying skills, not wearing the hat is a good signal. I'll be able to see you coming a mile off.

Some random thoughts...

...On the election.

Janet Napolitano struck me as all too smug. She's a crafty politician, and she's entitled to enjoy her victory, but she has already taken her "mandate" too far.

There was a discussion on talk radio this AM that JD Hayworth might be able to overturn the results of his defeat with the 100,000 ballots that still needed to be counted. A long shot. I imagine that his "Foghorn Leghorn" act has worn thin in tony Scottsdale and smarter-than-thou Tempe.

The D's appear to be on the edge of making too much of their victory. They have succeeded in serving up the thumpin' (to use Bush's words), but their victory is still less than average for seats won on off-year elections in a President's second term. The House has not much more of a Democratic majority than the Republicans had. The Senate may stay in Republican hands, with razor-close races in Virginia and Montana, although at this writing that appears to be a thin thread. If the D's intend on unending investigations and an impeachment, they're kidding themselves. The Democratic leadership appears to be much more liberal than the successful candidates who have put them in the majority. Caution would be advised. The inmates are now in charge of the asylum.

And in addition to the "thumpin'", the D's have now placed Rumsfeld's head on their pike. Rummy took the heat far longer than Ashcroft did (the other liberal villan). Bush's immediate replacement of Rumsfeld is a stroke of genius, IMO. Now the ball is fully in the D's court. They will have to quickly confirm and just as importantly, work with Gates, or face the deserved criticism of being a "Do-nothing" majority.

At Bush's press conference this morning announcing the change at SecDef, he appeared a but subdued. Although he said we were staying in Iraq to win, the change in Congress may make this difficult to pull off. I just hope the Democrats who hate Cheney more than they fear the Islamists can pull their heads out of their asses.

I'm wondering how long Stevens and Ginsberg have on the Court. Now that a right-wing (read: Originalist) nominee is unlikely to get through the Senate, perhaps they'll be leaving.

I linked to this a week or so back. I hope this is like a bad sci-fi movie and not prologue.

Geography....

This morning I sat in front of a couple of guys engaged in an interesting conversation. We were headed from Phoenix to Los Angeles, and one of the guys wondered if we'd be able to see the Grand Canyon. Also in the conversation was a discussion of where the Continental Divide was. And one of them named to the Salton Sea as Lake Mead.

I realize that I see these things much more frequently than most people do, and that it is my business to have an understanding of where we're headed, but I wonder: Is basic geography ever taught and understood? Is it too much to know that the Grand Canyon is north of Phoenix, and that this flight is headed west?

Ouch...

Chris Muir spanks the Democrats.

Thomas Friedman...

...is an idiot. Its been some time since I "fisked" an article, so here's another attempt.

Insulting Our Troops, and Our Intelligence
by Thomas L. Friedman

Every time you hear George Bush or Dick Cheney lash out against John Kerry, I hope you will say to yourself, They must think I'’m stupid. Because they surely do.


George Bush, Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld think youÂ’re stupid. Yes, they do.

They think they can take a mangled quip about President Bush and Iraq by John Kerry- a man who is not even running for office but who, unlike Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney, never ran away from combat service and get you to vote against all Democrats in this election.

Three paragraphs into the article and the "chickenhawk" meme comes out. You'd think the liberals would be tired of repeating themselves. For the record, Bush and Cheney aren't running for office either. Bush served honorably (contrary to what Dan Rather thinks) in the Guard. Cheney got deferments, not unlike many of the time. And, in this country, it is a good thing that we pride ourselves in the civilian control of our military.

Every time you hear Mr. Bush or Mr. Cheney lash out against Mr. Kerry, I hope you will say to yourself, They must think I'm stupid.” Because they surely do.

They think that they can get you to overlook all of the Bush team'’s real and deadly insults to the U.S. military over the past six years by hyping and exaggerating Mr. Kerry a’s a mangled gibe at the president.

Nobody has had to hype or exaggerate Kerry's gaffe. It stands on its own.

What could possibly be more injurious and insulting to the U.S. military than to send it into combat in Iraq without enough men — to launch an invasion of a foreign country not by the Powell Doctrine of overwhelming force, but by the Rumsfeld Doctrine of just enough troops to lose? What could be a bigger insult than that?

The "Powell Doctrine" carries with it the idea that your overwhelming force will prevent the Iraqis from bringing on their own forces. What of Powell's Pottery Barn Rule--"You break it, you've bought it"? How would the Murthians settle this score? The "Rumsfeld Doctrine" balances the immediate military needs with not keeping an overbearing force in country. What would the incentive be for the Iraqis to develop their own military if we were there doing everything necessary?

What could possibly be more injurious and insulting to our men and women in uniform than sending them off to war without the proper equipment, so that some soldiers in the field were left to buy their own body armor and to retrofit their own jeeps with scrap metal so that roadside bombs in Iraq would only maim them for life and not kill them? And what could be more injurious and insulting than Don Rumsfeld’s response to criticism that he sent our troops off in haste and unprepared: Hey, you go to war with the army you’ve got — get over it.

Some of the responsibility for not enough proper equipment ought to properly rest with Congress and President Clinton...and with that ordinary Americans of all stripes who have become accustomed to their entitlements. The decision to add armor to HMMVVs did not come easinitiallyy were initally unarmored because without the extra weight,maneuverablere maneuverable. Adding the weight of the armor also adds to suspension problems and the likelihood of rollover accidents. Compare Rumsfeld's quote to...

Once, during the Siege of Boston, when almost nothing was going right and General Schuyler had written from Albany to bemoanWashingtonbles, Washington had replied that he understood but that "we must bear up against them, and make the best of mankind as they are, since we cannot have them as we wish</span>." [emphasis added]

1776, David McCullough pg 256.

What could possibly be more injurious and insulting to our men and women in uniform than to send them off to war in Iraq without any coherent postwar plan for political reconstruction there, so that the U.S. military has had to assume not only security responsibilities for all of Iraq but the political rebuilding as well? The Bush team has created a veritable library of military histories from Cobra II to “Fiasco” to State of Denial all of which contain the same damning conclusion offered by the very soldiers and officers who fought this war: This administration never had a plan for the morning after, and weÂ’ve been making it up— and paying the price ever since.

Look. What Friedman and the rest of the liberals don't get is that the enemy has a vote in what happens as much as we do. We are still very much in this war. He wants a plan--a timeline--for every step of the war, and fails to account that the enemy will throw up roadblocks every chance the can. You always make up the "plan for the morning after". Whatever plan you started with is your first casualty.

And what could possibly be more injurious and insulting to our men and women in Iraq than to send them off to war and then go out and finance the very people they are fighting against with our gluttonous consumption of oil? Sure, George Bush told us we’re addicted to oil, but he has not done one single significant thing — demanded higher mileage standards from Detroit, imposed a gasoline tax or even used the bully pulpit of the White House to drive conservation to end that addiction. So we continue to finance the U.S. military with our tax dollars, while we finance Iran, Syria, Wahhabi mosques and Al Qaeda madrassas with our energy purchases.

Changing not just our, but the world's reliance on oil, will take generations. It is not just George Bush's fault. And we have to have a viable alternative energy source in sufficient quantities to replace oil. If it was so easy, someone would have already done it.

Everyone says that Karl Rove is a genius. Yeah, right. So are cigarette companies. They get you to buy cigarettes even though we know they cause cancer. That is the kind of genius Karl Rove is. He is not a man who has designed a strategy to reunite our country around an agenda of renewal for the 21st century — to bring out the best in us. His “genius” is taking some irrelevant aside by John Kerry and twisting it to bring out the worst in us, so you will ignore the mess that the Bush team has visited on this country.

Note to Tom: Karl Rove hasn't had to do anything here. The Kerry gaffe was caught by a radio station reporter. It was posted to youtube.com, and it took off like wildfire from there. It's just a guess, but I wouldn't be surprised if Rove read about this on his Blackberry.

And Karl Rove has succeeded at that in the past because he was sure that he could sell just enough Bush cigarettes, even though people knew they caused cancer. Please, please, for our countryÂ’s health, prove him wrong this time.

And just what is the relevance of the connection to cigarettes? Has Bush or Rove spoken at all about Big Tobacco?

Let Karl know that you’re not stupid. Let him know that you know that the most patriotic thing to do in this election is to vote against an administration that has — through sheer incompetence — brought us to a point in Iraq that was not inevitable but is now unwinnable.

You know, there is tons of military advice (Also see this for a defense of Rumsfeld) that says that this war is winnable. It is very difficult now, and Bush has been forthcoming on this point from the start.

Let Karl know that you think this is a critical election, because you know as a citizen that if the Bush team can behave with the level of deadly incompetence it has exhibited in Iraq — and then get away with it by holding on to the House and the Senate — it means our country has become a banana republic. It means our democracy is in tatters because it is so gerrymandered, so polluted by money, and so divided by professional political hacks that we can no longer hold the ruling party to account.

Ah yes. It is self-evident that if the Repubicans don't lose the House and Senate, then our democracy is doomed. "Tattered". "Polluted".

It means we're as stupid as Karl thinks we are.

Speak for yourself, Tom.

I, for one, don'’t think we're that stupid. Next Tuesday we'll see.

Yes, we will. I'm betting the R's hold both Houses and the D's go crazy (again).

Edit: Lots of formatting problems coming from the cut-and-paste of Friedman's column. I got most of them, but not all.

So Iran wants nuclear power...

Guess who else does? A better question might be: Who doesn't?

h/t ahem at Jeff's place.

The reasons for the War in Iraq...

Told ya' so. Even the NYT says so now.

Paul at Powerline weighs in.

And, of course, Captain Ed is all over it.