Boy was a fun time had today! We had two mega battles going at the same time, a 40K mega battle with about 30 people, and our Epic Mega Battle with 12 people. I came equipped to play either side, but ended up as an Ork on the Forces of Disorder side of the table. I had Tau to the right of me and more Orks to the left. I faced down Imperial Guard across the table from me.

Here's how my forces looked set up. As with all pictures, click on them for a full view:

I felt like I was playing Whack-A-Mole and I was the mole. I would advance a unit, it would get broken and run away. Wash, rinse and repeat. I wasn't making any headway, but by the inverse the IG player wasn't making any headway on me.

Here's how it looked at the end of turn 1:

I dropped a Rok (landing craft) in his backfield and assaulted his artillery, wiping it out. At least he wasn't going to do a lot of steel rain on me this time. I dropped a second Rok and he was ready for this one, I was wiped out to an Ork on the second assault. But still he spent his time on his side of the board defending it from me, unable to advance onto my side.

Here's how it looked at the end of turn 2:

We had to wrap it up at that point, a lot of people had other obligations and we wrapped it up, calling it a draw. Neither side could make it on to the other side of the board. Each side would advance in turn and get beaten back. So we resolved to meet again, before New Years Eve and try again.

Mike and I stuck around and played another 3,000 point game, kind of hoping to ring in the new year there at the Bunker. I played a weird list, all vehicles and no infantry. I played my Supa-Stompa, which is the same points as the Warhound titans that Mike routinely plays against me. Except this one is a lot nastier. It's weaker in some areas, but stronger in others. I fielded a 765 point unit with that as the center piece, and he fired at it once, with both of his Warhound titans. I promptly saved all of the hits, then put the smackdown back on him, killing one Warhound and breaking the other, which went and hid in the corner of the battlefield with only one point of health left on it.

For once, I ended up on top. I'll have to explore this kind of list a little more throughly, as it seems to work. The Big Gunz on the Gunwagonz are fairly accurate and Mike is afraid of them.

Just so you can see the difference, here is a picture of my Great Gargant and my Supa-Stompa.

And that's how my 2005 ended, with two great games and I got home in time to ring in the new year by myself. I hope all of you had a great time and got home safely.

Happy 2006!

Posted by Mark at 11:45 PM | Permalink

I have to go to work in two hours, and I have to get paining for the Epic:Armageddon mega battle New Years Eve. I'll see you next year and let you know how the battle went.

Posted by Mark at 8:23 AM | Permalink

Well, it was a big thing, no doubt about it. That Flat Top game is the bees knees. Mike has his own BatRep here. A fairly complex game that we messed up in some ways, but all-in-all we carried out the spirit of the game.

We took about 2 hours to set-up the game, because we each had about a hundred counters to manage, split into various task forces and airbases. I myself, playing the Japanese had 9 task forces.

The game started rather quickly, we carried out the first 6 night turns in about 30 minutes, because all we did was move the task forces around secretly. You see, there are two board maps that take about about 5 square feet, and then you have sheets that you plot your task force movement on, because the movement of task forces are hidden until discovered by an air unit.

Once planes were in the air, we had to track every air groups movement, test to see if it could carry out a search, then keep back checking to see if they saw anything. You also had to track were the air group launched from, how long it could stay in the air, who was at high and low altitude and several other things. Like Mike says, you really need a staff to play this game.

I now understand why the modern generation likes their RTS (Real Time Strategy) games, you don't have to worry about the details, just focus on throwing forces at the enemy. This was as close to real combat as you could, hours of boredom with minutes of stark terror interspersed among them.

I had spotted his main carrier force first, but I had spent my aircraft on a couple of minor task forces. I sunk a Light Cruiser and damaged a Battleship, but again my forces were busy reclaiming aircraft and it would have taken several hours to recycle them to a ready status. Could he find me and strike before then? We'll never know, because after 7 hours and only 10 turns played (again, 6 of them were really fast night turns) we had to cut it off for the night.

By the end, both of our brains hurt, but for a good cause. We were working at a WWII strategic level, with their level of technology. This is a game that both of us want to try again, and we will. There is also a game engine that we can use to play by email (PBEM) that will take care of the small details for us. That should go better, since we will be able to leave rules and details to the computer.

All in all, a magnificent experience and one that will be repeated again.

Posted by Mark at 10:42 AM | Permalink

This is an extremely sad story: Deadly rampage leaves loved ones asking why.

It's about a man with Bipolar Disorder who kills two people, seriously wounds another and then kills himself. There, but for the Grace of God, go I. I have told you before that I have had the Memphis SWAT team out to my house to capture me. Twice. It's not a sight you want to see, stepping out of your house to see a dozen armed officers, training their weapons on you.

I have been so close to what this man did that it is scary. Those thoughts and images haunt me to this day. It is not a right mind that thinks, "I'm going to take them with me" outside of a battle in a war.

The good news is, I am on medications that, for the most part, keeps those thoughts away. Oh, sure, I still think about suicide, but they're more of a flash thought and no real impetus behind those thoughts. No driving force to carry them out.

I am very strict with myself about taking my medications. They sit right here, under my monitor where I can see them all the time. They are in a week long pillbox, so I can easily see if I have taken my medications today. I have no excuse not to take my medications. It doesn't matter if I feel good or not, I still take them. I will never fall into the trap that because I'm feeling good and stable, that I don't need to take them. It is by taking them that I feel good and stable.

Don't worry about me. I highly doubt that I will end up the same way. The chance is there, always, but I have urges like that under control. When life starts getting out of control, I know what to do to retake control of myself, and violently lashing out is not an option.

This man's family, and the families of his victims, will never know the answers to the questions that they have. They wouldn't make sense to a rational mind anyway. The logic of an unstable mind is difficult to follow. While it makes perfect sense to us, it doesn't to the rest of you.

Posted by Mark at 10:17 AM | Permalink

I'm not sure who they were supportive of, Bush or Clinton. Tom Brokaw, Ted Koppel: Clinton Would Have Gone Into Iraq, Too.

This smells like revisionist history, trying to bolster the Clinton Legacy. "Yes, if 9/11 would have happened on his watch, he would have gone into Iraq."

KOPPEL: I mean, the only difference between the Clinton administration and the Bush administration was 9/11.

BROKAW: Right.

KOPPEL: If 9/11 had happened on Bill Clinton's watch, he would have gone into Iraq.

BROKAW: Yeah. Yeah.

I highly doubt that stipulation. The "Most ethical administration in history" was hounded by *-gates from day one when Co-President Hillary fired the travel office's staff to replace them with her friends. And it all went downhill from there.

No matter how much anybody (including Clinton himself) might say it, Clinton would not have gone into Iraq, or even Afghanistan. He would have just lobbed more cruise missiles and issued arrest warrants for OBL and company. He lacked the spine to make the hard choices, and I think history (especially his-story) should reflect that fact.

I will say that the present President Bush is a very lackluster President. If it wasn't for 9/11, he would have been as forgettable as Rutherford B. Hayes. The only thing Bush had going for him besides 9/11 is his tax cuts. While that's nothing to sneeze at, it is still nothing to significantly remember him by.

But again, this is all about Clinton and his-story. To even suppose that Clinton would have had the balls to do anything like what Bush has done is pure sophistry.

Posted by Mark at 9:59 AM | Permalink

I don't know what it is, but I can't concentrate on the news this week. Nothing just seems to strike me. Maybe it's the post-Christmas letdown, or this is "slack off" week.

Anyway, I'm preparing my apartment to play a game of Flat Top, an old hex board game of carrier battles in the South Pacific. This is in place of my usual time at the Memphis World of Battle Playing Epic:Armageddon. But with a 18,000 point game two days ago, and another mega battle on Saturday, I thought taking a break is the best thing. Besides, variety is the spice of life. It's been years since I've played a hex-and-counter game. Gotta go, my opponent is on the bus and due to arrive in a few minutes.

Posted by Mark at 9:11 AM | Permalink

Well, well, well. It looks like a lot of the EU countries are hoist by their own petards over Kyoto. Europeans missing their Kyoto targets.

Britain and Sweden are the only European countries honouring their Kyoto commitments to cut greenhouse gases, according to a think-tank report.

Although the US is portrayed as the ecological villain for refusing to sign up to the agreement, 10 out of the 15 European Union signatories - including Ireland, Italy and Spain - will miss their targets without urgent action, the Institute for Public Policy Research found.

And "urgent action" are words not found in their vocabulary over there. Singularly or together. So what will happen? The governments will get fined billions of dollars, which they will pass on to their citizens with higher taxes. Remember, New Zealand got stuck with a bill because there were too many sheep emitting greenhouse gases. It came to something like $3,000 per citizen in fines.

So there you go. Bureaucracy in work. To create the mess and make it worse.

Posted by Mark at 9:05 AM | Permalink

Well, all I can say is what a battle! On one side was Tyler and Mike and myself, with Corey, John and Ernie on the other side. Space Marines, Eldar and Orks facing more Eldar, Imperial Guard and more Space Marines. I got to be the supreme commander for my side. With each player fielding 6,000 points, that was 18,000 points per side, 36,000 total on the table. We took up about 15 feet of table, and even at that we were pretty tightly packed.

We got whomped a good one at the beginning of the first turn when the IG's Mantacores opened up with an artillery barrage, breaking two of my warbands before they even got a chance to activate. Then the other side walloped us some more. We were holding our own, but barely. We used turn one to get our forces in position.

Turn two things went drastically different. The Mantacores were busy reloading, being slow firing (can only fire every other turn) so we got a relief from that steel rain. Tyler rolled up the left flank, and I rolled up the right. Both of us pulled off coordinated assaults on multiple enemy formations.

You see, if two enemy formations are too close to each other, then you can declare them "intermingled" and treat them as one formation for all intents and purposes for the assault. Using a method known as clipping, you "clip" one small side of the enemy formation. You bring overwhelming force to bear on one little part of the enemy formation, doing a lot of casualties on their side while avoiding a lot on your side because not everybody can shoot back at you. By having more kills than your opponent, you get a head start on the combat resolution roll, where you roll two dice and see who actually wins the assault (that's what you do, but there are a lot of modifiers to the roll. I won't go into them here). If you win, you break the enemy formations and they must withdraw. If you have multiple formations involved, all of them must withdraw.

It was about 8pm when we hit the halfway point of the second turn (we started at 2pm. Remember, we have about 100+ units per side, and each activation takes 2-5 minutes) and we had to wrap up, but the inertia had swung to our side. We had about 10-15 more activations left than they did, and they knew we were going to savage them with those activations. It would have taken another turn to sew it up, but we were on top and everybody knew it. we were driving both flanks inward, and we were consolidating our hold on the center.

I feel pretty good with this win, it's one of the few times when I've gotten to be supreme commander and won. But I must admit, I couldn't have done it without my teammates. It was truly a team effort. This is something that we'll have to try again, albeit with a slightly less point value so we can get through all three turns.

Posted by Mark at 10:36 PM | Permalink

Name the movie, character and actor for Bonus Cool Points.

Posted by Mark at 9:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Today marks the weekday we get off for Christmas, and people will be busy getting back home again after visiting relatives. Just be safe and courteous out there and arrive home safely. Nothing newsworthy to report today.

As far as what I'm going to do today, I'll be playing 7,000 points (that's a lot all by itself) each player of Epic with Mike and some friends today. It should be a slugfest with Space Marines, Orks, Eldar and Necrons (or more Eldar). Maybe some pictures. I'm literally throwing everything I have into the force, and some stuff I don't have (I don't have an Ork Killkroozer, but I do have an orbital bombardment planned).

I'll let you know how things went tonight.

Posted by Mark at 8:43 AM | Permalink

Thanks, Mike, for the link.

Today, on this Christmas day, a great victory was won by the American forces fighting for Liberty. Read the whole story here.

The very will of these men make me proud that I share military Service with them. What they endured, what they went through I can only imagine. But went through it they did, and because of their brave actions, America is a free country, dedicated to the rule of law, where the people who run this country must periodically bow to the will of the People, instead of the other way around.

WE THE PEOPLE, those tall, proud words eleven years later started an experiment that continues to this day. Let that experiment continue forever.

Posted by Mark at 2:33 PM | Permalink

This should bring a tear to your eye. It did for me.

'Twas the night before Christmas, he lived all alone, in a one-bedroom house made of plaster and stone. I had come down the chimney with presents to give, and to see just who is this home did live.

I looked all about, a strange sight I did see, no tinsel, no presents, not even a tree.

No stocking by mantle, just boots filled with sand, on the wall hung pictures of far distant lands.

With medals and badges, awards of all kinds, a sober thought came through my mind.

For this house was different, it was dark and dreary; I found the home of a soldier, once I could see clearly.

The soldier lay sleeping, silent, alone, curled up on the floor in this one bedroom home.

The face was so gentle, the room in such disorder, not how I pictured a United States soldier.

Was this the hero of whom I’d just read? Curled up on a poncho, the floor for a bed?

I realized the families that I saw this night, owed their lives to these soldiers who were willing to fight.

Soon round the world, the children would play, and grownups would celebrate a bright Christmas Day.

They all enjoyed freedom each month of the year, because of the soldiers, like the one lying here.

I couldn’t help wonder how many lay alone, on a cold Christmas Eve in a land far from home.

The very thought brought a tear to my eye, I dropped to my knees and started to cry.

The soldier awakened and I heard a rough voice, “Santa don’t cry, this life is my choice;

I fight for freedom, I don’t ask for more, my life is my God, my Country, my Corps.”

The soldier rolled over and drifted to sleep, I couldn’t control it, I continued to weep.

I kept watch for hours, so silent and still and we both shivered from the cold night’s chill.

I didn’t want to leave on that cold, dark night, this guardian of honor so willing to fight.

Then the soldier rolled over, with a voice soft and pure, whispered, “Carry on Santa, It’s Christmas Day, all is secure.”

One look at my watch, and I knew he was right. “Merry Christmas my friend, and to all a good night!”

A Marine wrote this poem. The following is his request. I think it is reasonable...

PLEASE. Would you do me the kind favor of sending this to as many people as you can? Christmas will be coming soon and some credit is due to our U.S. service men and women for our being able to celebrate these festivities. Let's try in this small way to pay a tiny bit of what we owe. Make people stop and think of our heroes, living and dead, who sacrificed themselves for us. Please, do your small part to plant this small seed.

Posted by Mark at 10:25 AM | Permalink

Before I leave you to have some good times with your family over the weekend, I want you to remember this: Democrat Landlord Bilks Republican's Homeless Shelter.

A liberal lawyer in Los Angeles is threatening to throw nearly three dozen homeless center residents back on the streets because of something he finds indefensible: The center's founder is a Republican and voted for President Bush.

[...]

Milton Sidley, a retired attorney and landlord, said he discovered earlier this month that Ted Hayes, founder of Justiceville/Homeless, USA, was a Republican.

[...]

Two days later, Sidley decided to raise the rent at Justiceville’s "Dome Village” from $2,500 per month to $18,333 per month because, he states, "This Democrat is tired of supporting Ted and his Dome Village.”

So much for the notion that Democrats want to help the country's poor.

Liberals want to "help", only on their terms, which is to give them just enough to keep them totally dependent on the Liberals for everything. God Help Them if someone should actually want them to be independent!

Posted by Mark at 10:13 AM | Permalink

I wanted all of you to have this link: Norad Tracks Santa. It's only a few hours until Santa starts handing out presents, and I wanted all of the kids (both young and old) to start tracking him as he flies across the globe.

Posted by Mark at 9:45 AM | Permalink

Another well-attended bash last night! Mike has the full details. After getting both of our buts whipped in a three-way Epic, we cut the day short and rushed down to the bash, at Quetzal on Union.

Conversations abounded, on all subjects. What stopped the talking was an episode of Boondocks, being played on the Cartoon Network. It must be played at night, because one of the kid characters called Santa a "Bitch ass N*****" And that didn't include the pixelized images of men having sex with each other. If I had the Cartoon Network, I would pull it from my channel lineup, as that kind of stuff has no place on a kids network. I realize that "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" and "Sealab 2021" pushed the envelope, but this stuff shot it in the head.

With the exception of Boondocks, the entire night was a night of good conversation and good friends. It took three midgets and a crowbar to get this crowd out of the door, 20 minutes after closing and the conversation still continued on in the parking lot.

I look forward to crossing swords with the liberals of the group. Now I know where they blog.

Posted by Mark at 9:27 AM | Permalink

Last night, the Senate agreed to a six month extension of the Patriot Act. This will pass and become law (again) and the bickering and political posturing will continue for another six months. This time will run out just as the election cycle goes into full swing. I think everybody will vote for it, as anybody who votes against it will be bludgeoned with that fact during the campaign by their opponent.

Oh, well. It's been said that there are two things you should not watch being made, laws and sausages. With this information flood we have nowadays, you can't help but watch these bills being made in all of their gory details.

Posted by Mark at 9:21 AM | Permalink

Two stories relevant to this post: Debate Rages Over Legality of NSA Wiretap Program and Surveillance Court Judge Resigns.

I usually nominally agree with Rush on most things, but this one I have to say he's wrong. Rush's contention is that we must give up these rights to be safe, as we won't have them if we are dead. He also contends that this is a legal thing to do.

I can understand that we need to monitor Al Qaeda here in the US, but we can do that within the scope of the law. I do not want to suspend this monitoring by the NSA, I just want judicial oversight. That isn't much to ask, is it?

Granted, Jimmy Carter signed an executive order back when he was President declaring that this kind of stuff was legal, but an executive order does not supersede the Constitution. Reagan, Bush 41 and Clinton all used this EO and nobody questioned it. Why Clinton actually expanded it to include warrantless searches of your property and infrared surveillance of you. Now isn't that comforting?

Rights given up are never given back. Once the government has the power to do something, they keep it, unless the people wrest it back from them. And this is something we need to do. Like I said, I'm not against this, I just want judicial oversight. If you need to monitor someone right now, and can't get a warrant fast enough, then start the monitoring and work on the warrant at the same time.

I am not calling for impeachment, as under the twisted confines of the law, President Bush does have the authority, kind of. It's like pulling yourself up by the bootstraps. He does not, according to the Constitution, have the authority to do what he is doing, and should revert to the Constitution.

Posted by Mark at 9:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Nothing strikes me as commentable today, other than the story about Carmen Electra. She put herself up for auction on eBay for a date and the winning bidder bid so high she would have felt obligated to sleep with him. Luckily for her the bidder was disqualified.

Other than that, it's cold, I'm tired and I don't want to go into work today. I have to because I've used up all of my sick days. I keep my thermostat at 66 to keep my energy bill down, and right now I'm wrapped up in a sleeping bag while typing. I know I'm whining, but I don't do it very often, so I figured I would whine a little before Christmas and get it over with.

That's it for now, I'm going to go and keep warm until I have to go into work. See you tomorrow.

Posted by Mark at 8:34 AM | Permalink

In this post 9/11 world, we know that disaster can strike from man-made as well as natural disasters. In any case, it takes 48-72 hours for the local responders to re-establish basic services.

WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO TO SURVIVE THOSE 72 HOURS? Do you have a plan? Do you have the no-cook supplies? Water? Lights? Communications?

Give your family the gift of survival this year: An emergency kit. I found this one, Readdy Freddy. I like this one because it has a hand cranked cell phone charger. There are others out there, such as the ones from Emergency Essentials. Whether you buy one of these or assemble one of your own, this is something everyone should have.

Posted by Mark at 9:37 AM | Permalink

This does not justify President Bush's position on getting warrentless wiretaps. In fact, this shows you just how bad Clinton's Administration really was: Clinton NSA Eavesdropped on U.S. Calls.

During the 1990's under President Clinton, the National Security Agency monitored millions of private phone calls placed by U.S. citizens and citizens of other countries under a super secret program code-named Echelon.

..., the NSA had been monitoring private domestic telephone conversations on a much larger scale throughout the 1990s - all of it done without a court order, let alone a catalyst like the 9/11 attacks.

Neal Boortz proposed an interesting scenario, namely Osama bin Laden calls someone in the US. No one answers. Now, we know that OBL changes phones frequently. In case OBL calls back from a different phone in a few minutes, there is no time to obtain a search warrant.

Granted, there might not be time, but getting a warrant while the wiretap is in action I can understand. There is judges available 24/7 for FISA (Foreign Intelligence Services Act) and if there isn't time to get one right now, a parallel operation should be permitted.

But this does not excuse the Clinton Administration from spying on it's own citizens. That just shows the corruptness of the Clintons. I don't excuse it, but at least Bush had a reason.

Posted by Mark at 9:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

A NOT SAFE FOR WORK rating on this link: How not to launch a bottle rocket.

I just had to do this, the level of stupidity in this (thankfully) short clip is simply staggering. It is a testament to just how stupid some people could be, and a warning that there are worse offenders out there.

Posted by Mark at 9:14 AM | Permalink

Here is another thing I am not happy with the Bush Administration over: Bush Lets U.S. Spy on Callers Without Courts.

I am not happy, not happy at all. This should not be happening in America. I can understand being spied on by the NSA, that's their job. But to do so without judicial oversight is just plain wrong. This needs to be rescinded or abolished RIGHT NOW and President Bush admonished for this. I can understand the want and need to monitor emails and phone calls, but within the scope of the Constitution, please.

Posted by Mark at 9:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The rabid anti-smoking Nazis (and when I mean Nazi, I mean militant, Socialist "I know what's good for you" kind of nutballs) strike again. Smoking foes try to stop parents from lighting up.

There is some point where the courts go too far and this is one of them. The courts have no right to reach into this persons life and tell them this. I grew up in a smoking house, both of my parents were 2 pack a day smokers, and it ended up killing them. If anything, it made sure that I wouldn't smoke. And while I think smoking is a vile, disgusting habit, you should be free to smoke in your own home. If you want to pollute it along with yourself, I say go for it.

This is just another example of the nanny state that America is turning into.

Posted by Mark at 9:14 AM | Permalink

I ran into an ad for ThoseShirts.com, and I wanted to tell you about them.

They've come up with a couple of new ones, like: "May cat has been neutered. Now he's French."

Then there's "Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. It should be a convenience store, not a government agency."

And my favorite, "Viva La REAGAN Revolucion."

If you would like to buy me one of those shirt for Christmas, just punch that Paypal button over there to the right and I'll get it in time for Christmas. But you better hurry! Time is running out!

Posted by Mark at 9:07 AM | Permalink

I almost beat Mike last night with my Orks. We played a 5,000 point battle, and I matched him for once in activations. I took a bunch of smaller formations, and some new formations and went right after him. He was playing my Warlord Titan (850 points, most unit sizes is ~300 points), otherwise he would have still out activated me.

I tried some new stuff, I set up a gunline of Big Gunz equipped units on Overwatch so he couldn't approach my lines. I also added another sqawdron of Fighta-Bommaz (Orks can't spell) and went after him. I did make one stupid mistake, and the activations I lost cost me the game. The game ended on one die roll, he had to activate his titan to obliterate 3 of my Deth Koptas. If he rolled a one, he couldn't activate (which he did; I only had a 16% chance that he wouldn't). If I could have gotten one unit to unbreak after being broken, I could have swung from defeat to taking a chance on winning by how much units we destroyed.

All-in-all, a very tough game. That's the second time Mike has beat me by winning the die roll of the game. He got me a few weeks back where we were in an assault; Who won the assault won the game. He won. Despite Mike's "analysis paralysis" he is quite a good general now.

Posted by Mark at 9:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Jane Fonda strikes again: Jane Fonda: U.S. Troops Are 'Killing Machines'.

Our troops are trained to be as efficient as possible at their jobs, which means killing the enemy. Dehumanization of the enemy is the only way to keep the troops psychologically intact. But when the cowardly enemy refuses to be recognized as the enemy, instead hiding among the populace, then mistakes happen. This is not a fault of our troops to mistakenly kill a civilian sometimes, it is the fault of the terrorists. The terrorists want as many civilian casualties as possible, and they will do anything to accomplish that goal.

So the troops are forced to fire back at anybody that fires at them, in self-defense. They can't make the distinction between a civilian and a terrorist, except by the fact that terrorists shoot at them.

Yes, this is having a negative affect on our troops, and I wish there was a way around it. Freedom has a price, and it must be paid. And it gets paid every day, in the blood of American troops and terrorists. Hopefully more terrorists than troops.

Posted by Mark at 9:26 AM | Permalink

...about Liberal blogs. They are full of hate. They spew vindictiveness at Bush and anybody not Liberal. I have taken up going after some of them on Tennessee Guerrilla Women. I can't say I'm making progress, but I'm not being significantly challenged on the facts.

I remember one comment where I tore apart a quote, point by point. Once Liberal commenter came after me on every point by the "The rich are not paying their fair share" because I showed the top 1% of taxpayers are paying more than the bottom 75% of taxpayers, by a factor of 2:1.

I didn't hate Clinton while he was in the White House. I pointed out what he was doing in a factual manner.I presented facts, not emotional arguments. I did the same with Kerry during the '04 elections. I made statements then back them up with facts. I did not mock him, I did not call him names that I could not back up, I did not make unflattering parodies of him.

I think it's sad, really that they are so full of hate that they can't see clearly.

Posted by Mark at 10:20 AM | Permalink

Tookie got terminated early this morning. You can read a timeline of his final moments here. courtesy of FOX News.

The Crips are no Elks club. They are a bunch of psychopathic thugs, who are willing to kill anybody who gets in their way. And Tookie was the head Crip. He co-founded the gang, and only God knows how many other crimes this piece of trash was guilty of.

From Boortz:

In 1981, Williams was caught beating up an other inmate with his fists, and ignored orders to stop. In 1982, Williams refused to an order to line up...and told a guard "you'll get yours boy, I can do anything now because I know what the gunmen will do...one of these days I'll trick you boy." Twice that same year, Tookie attacked guards with chemical substances. In 1984, Tookie was back to beating up another inmate...and didn't stop until a guard fired a warning shot. Also in 1984, Williams was caught making out with a female visitor. He told the guard then "you are looking around too much and that's not your job. I have dusted many officers on the street, one more would not make any difference." Sounds reformed to me. But there's more...1986...he beat up another inmate. 1988..he was stabbed in retaliation for a stabbing he ordered of another inmate. 1991...Tookie was again caught beating up another inmate. Same thing again in 1993. Get the idea?

Doesn't sound to me like he was an innocent victim of the system. He was convicted primarily on testimony that he bragged about killing his victims. Again, it doesn't sound like an innocent person to me.

My views on the death penalty I will discuss another day. Maybe.

Posted by Mark at 10:09 AM | Permalink

This is circulating in the Internet, you be the judge of its veracity:

UPDATE: Never mind. Snopes says it's false. I should have checked, but I was short on time this morning. Thanks goes to Kathy for being my fact checker.

Utah's Evacuees. Another perspective from a relief worker in Utah.

Let me tell you a few things about the wonderful group of evacuees we received here in Utah.

The first plane arrived with 152 passengers. Of the 152, 10 were children. 3 of these children had been separated or abandoned by their parents.

As these passengers attempted to board the plane, the National Guard removed from their person; 43 handguns (it is Illegal to own a handgun In New Orleans ), 20 knives, one man had 100,000 dollars in cash, 20 pounds of Marijuana, 10 pounds of Crack, 15 pounds of Methamphetamines, 10 pounds of various other controlled substances including Heroin.

Upon their arrival here in SLC, two people immediately deplaned and lit up a joint.

During the course of medical evaluations, it was discovered that parents were using their kids to carry loads of looted jewelry (price tag still on), and other items.

One third of the people who got off the plane were angry that they didn't get to go to Houston, San Antonio or Las Vegas.

Over the course of the next 36 hours we received an additional 430 evacuees.

Most of these, like their predecessors had to be relieved of illegal items.

Additionally, most of them, were the owners of exceptionally prolific criminal records, just like those in the first flight.

By the second night in the shelter, there was one attempted rape of a relief worker, sales of drugs on going and a gang had begun to rebuild.

When the people arrived at the shelter, they were given the opportunity to dig through piles of donated clothes from local church groups. Many complained that they were second hand clothes.

The state set up a reception center with relocation assistance, Medicaid and workforce services among many assistance groups.

This past Saturday, workforce services held a job fair. 85 of the 582 evacuees attended. 44 were hired on the spot. 24 were asked back for a second interview. Guess the others had no desire to work.

Yesterday we began relocating evacuees to be with family or friends who had agreed to take them in as well as three to the county jail.

Now in the health arena; 4 with Aids, 15% of those 582 had some form of STD, one case of TB, 2 Heroin withdrawals, 15 mental health admissions, one brain tumor and 15 nursing home patients.

Like everyone in this nation, I watched as the news media blasted FEMA and President Bush for the "poor response".

While everyone on TV saw nothing but people being let down by government, I saw people letting down people.

Who would have ever thought that we would reach a point in time that US citizens would lie around in piles of trash complaining that no one had come to pick them up out of it.

What ever happened to people pulling together to make their circumstance better? Why couldn't they get up and move on their own or at least just clean up the area where they had to wait for evacuation? Why did they feel the need to take a crap in the aisle of the super dome?

FEMA did not fail them. FEMA is not a response agency. State and local government is responsible for the first 72 hours. But more important, we all have a responsibility to help ourselves and neighbors.

Poverty is not an excuse to behave like animals. The rest of the Gulf Coast did not have problems like this! Difficult situations are not an excuse to loot your neighbor 24 hours before the storm even hits.

I have always said New Orleans was a toilet! Now everyone has proof that not only was it a toilet, but a toilet long overdue for a flush.

(Unfortunately it got flushed on the rest of the country)

Matthew Anderson
Salt Lake City , Utah

It's sad, really.

Posted by Mark at 10:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Check out this guys Christmas lights.

Posted by Mark at 4:40 PM | Permalink

"Our Constitution gives us the right of free speech, but it does not say you will not face the consequences of your words."

Which means you can't say anything you want and then scream "CENSORSHIP!" when someone tells you that your view is stupid, or just plain wrong.

I face the possibility of eating my words every time I post. Are you ready?

Posted by Mark at 11:19 AM | Permalink

I'm not at that stage today, but I sure was yesterday. Today is just a hacking dry cough and a general malaise. Maybe it's because I want to be warm under the covers instead of going out into 22 degree weather in less than an hour.

In the mean time, there's only one thing that I wanted to comment on.

The bipolar guy who managed a suicide by cop was a "but for the grace of God go I" kind of thing. I have had the SWAT team out to my house. Twice. All because I was not stable. Thankfully, I didn't get shot, although I will admit the thought crossed my unbalanced mind at the time. I must stand up for the Air Marshals in this case, they had a tough decision and they shouldn't be second-guessed about it.

I won't say that the dead guy got what he deserved (he didn't), but in this post-9/11 era you can't take the chance to psychoanalyze somebody while he's reaching into a bag. It was a clear decision to shoot in that moment, and they did it. My heart goes out to the widow, but I have to ask why the fuck wasn't he on his meds? I have learned the hard way not to skip even one day, how could she had let this happen? You don't let someone like that just roam around an airport or get on an aircraft.

Posted by Mark at 9:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

I still have this cold and it is wearing me out. Can't get any rest at night, and I sleep most of the day. I hope I can make it to work tomorrow.

See you then.

Posted by Mark at 2:17 PM | Permalink

Today is the anniversary of one of those days where everybody remembers where they were when it happened. Along with JFK's assassination and 9/11, you just don't forget those days.

But just to show you how what the schools teach is wrong, let me tell you about that Sunday in Hawai'i.

When the 184 Japanese bombers and fighters came screaming out of the sky that morning, we were a Navy that thought Naval power came from a Battleships gun. Carriers were a passing fad. But the attack and the damaging of our Battleships forced us to use carriers for our offensive arm.

The Japanese made several crucial mistakes. They didn't attack the fuel farm and they didn't destroy the shipyard. They also didn't destroy the Submarine base. It was these items, left unscathed that cost Japan the war. By allowing the United States to have a forward base, they had access to most of the Pacific. To deny us this base would have severely hampered our efforts to control the Pacific.

The shipyard allowed us to repair all but the USS Arizona and USS Oklahoma. The fuel farm allowed us to keep the carriers and surviving Battleships to operate. And the Submarine base allowed us to conduct unrestricted submarine warfare on the Japanese home islands.

So while the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a tactical win for the Japanese, it was a strategic loss. It led to their defeat 6 months later at Midway, and the next 4 years we spent chasing the Japanese back across the Pacific.

Posted by Mark at 10:06 AM | Permalink

John C. Dvorak, the anti-editor for PC Magazine, has a very good article that does not bode well for the Internet. Dvorak: Net Porn Scores Victory.

The idea was to isolate the porn sites under the .xxx domain so you (or your children) don't accidentally happen upon a porn website. I distinctly remember wanting to check out a museum here in Memphis called the Pink Palace. I tried the obvious name and got a rather nasty porn site. This would not have happened if porn sites were restricted to .xxx domains.

You also have the trouble with popups popping up infinitely. As soon as you close one popup, two more open up on you. And that's not mentioning the data mining cookies you get by visiting these sites.

Read the article and weep.

Posted by Mark at 9:37 AM | Permalink

Mike has taken on the mantle of planning a Bloggers Bash by the end of the year. If you are a blogger in the Memphis area, please stop by Mike's page and give your input. It's always nice to put faces with pseudonyms.

Posted by Mark at 10:54 PM | Permalink

I cut my wargaming teeth on Avalon Hill's Tobruk back in 1977. Quickly following was Squad Leader, Wooden Ships and Iron Men, Star Fleet Battles and many, many other board games that used hundreds, if not thousands of little cardboard counters, reams of statistics papers, and so on. Unless you played one of the "quick" scenarios, you generally never finished a game because they were so detailed that it would take days to complete a full scenario.

Mike has renewed my interest in these classic games. He bought a game of Tactics II that we have yet to play, but just today, FedEx delivered a 7 pound wargame to me: Flat Top. This is a strategic level wargame about the Solomons Campaign in 1942-43. You track each ship, almost every aircraft, as you vie for superiority of the South Pacific.

This is going on on top of Epic:Armageddon and Warhammer 40,000. I am going to have to start pacing myself or there won't be any time for work I'll be gaming so much. ;-)

I am sad to see these kind of games go by the wayside, as many of these games have been out of print for years. No one but the most hardened wargamer wants to deal with games of such complexity and investments in time. Besides, the First Person Shooter and Real Time Strategy games are much more suited to the Instant Gratification Generation we are raising today.

It's sad. No one has the time anymore.

Posted by Mark at 10:04 PM | Permalink

It seems that I have come down with a cold. I had a fever last night, and right now I feel like garbage with a achingly dry nose (especially in the back) and a sore throat. I am taking today off of work to make sure I don't spread this to other people. Hopefully I'll feel better for Epic Wednesday.

I'm going to cuddle up and keep warm. See you tomorrow.

Posted by Mark at 11:14 AM | Permalink

If you think that the rich "don't pay their fair share" in taxes, look at this article: Who pays the taxes.

Let's put those numbers into a table:

Since the median income in America is about $45,000, we are talking about people making more than $100,000 a year to be in the top 25%.

You absolutely cannot look at that table and tell me that the rich don't pay their share of taxes. If anything, they pay too much. Every time we have cut the top tax rate, revenues have increased. Why? If you give the rich more money, they invest it, either into their company or into other companies and this is a good thing.

when you invest money into a company, you enable them to hire more people, lowering the unemployment rate, increasing the tax base and turning unemployed tax consumers into tax producers. This leads to more taxes collected, more people at work, the economy expands and everything that cascades from that.

That's why when JFK, Reagan and Bush all cut taxes, revenues increased. I don't know why Liberals don't make this connection. What would you rather collect, 50 cents on one dollar, or 40 cents per dollar on two dollars? If you concentrate on the tax rate, you'll go with the 50 cents. If you do the math and you see that you'll collect 80 cents if you allow the economy to double, then you're smarter than a tax and spend Liberal.

Liberals, read it and weep.

Posted by Mark at 10:51 AM | Permalink

Howard dean should be chewing on his knee, he has his foot stuck so far in his mouth. Dean: US Won't Win in Iraq.

I hate to tell Howard the Duck* this, BUT WE ARE WINNING IN IRAQ. He doesn't know his history very well. We had an insurgency in Germany after the war, and it took seven years to put the damned thing down. That's right. We had terrorist attacks by the Werewolves (a group of Stormtroopers) as late as 1952. And the press screamed "WE'VE LOST THE PEACE" the whole time.

So Howard has gone over to the Enemy. He wants us to lose. He wants anarchy in Iraq. Why? Because it would be damaging to the Bush Administration. That's why. So Howard will say anything to convince you and I that we've lost the peace.

Don't listen to Howard the Duck. He's full of bullshit.

*= I call him Howard the Duck because he refused to appear with Ken Mehlman, the head of the GOP on his last appearance on Meet The Press. He literally ducked into the Green Room and wouldn't come out until Ken number left.

Posted by Mark at 10:37 AM | Permalink

Here you go. Just another sign that even Elementary schools are turning into Liberal Indoctrination Centers: Principal rejects anti-war assignment.

Thank God there was a sensible policy in place to oppose such an assignment, but the Liberals went ahead with it anyhow until they were stopped.

And I agree with Congressman Green, They shouldn't have been writing letters one way or the other on this matter. Third Graders don't know enough about the war, they are just writing what they are told to write. At eight years old, their skulls are pretty full of mush and will believe almost anything that the teacher tells them.

I have seen garbage like this time and time again. From putting up Al Gores picture (and John Kerry's) in the line of Presidents instead of Bush, to having students forced to write an end of the war by withdrawing instead of victory, I am glad my son is homeschooled.

Posted by Mark at 10:15 AM | Permalink

Back in March of 2004, I made two posts concerning Rafael Jaramillo. You can read the posts here and here.

In essence, Rafael came to this country illegally at the age of two with his family. Rafael's siblings went through the system and became citizens, but he never did. Then, he made a very stupid mistake. He made a phone call as part of a drug deal and got caught. Rafael was going to be deported, when I saw the story (no longer up in the newspaper).

I initially gave a "buh-bye" post, as he got himself in his own position. I then became a little sorry for him, as he got himself into a real pickle. He was facing deportation to a country where he didn't speak the language, and had no family to support him.

Then, last night, I got this as a feedback:

Not sure if you remember me, but I thought I would come back to the Zone and explain to people what has occurred in the past year and 1 half since this article- well, it so happens that I am still in the USA- Wow, can you believe that and it also so happens that I derived citizenship through my father, basically I am and have been an American since the age of 14- I went through their jails, process, spent a lot of money for nothing- I am happy because its made me a better person but I have actually been through HELL- SO I wanted to update you guys, if you have any questions about the law or what happened please let me know, its pretty interesting actually

It's nice to know that he remembered us, and would bring an update as to how well he is doing. I made this post to update everybody on what is going on, since he responded to a very old post.

If you want, Rafael, you can put your story in the feedback for this post.

Posted by Mark at 10:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This just in: Dems Back Saddam Hussein in New Poll.

Let's put the numbers out there:

Forty-one percent of Democrats gave Saddam a thumbs up, while just 34 percent said Iraq is better served with the murderous dictator gone, reports the New York Post.

41 percent want Saddam back in power, 25 percent doesn't know/care, 34 percent doesn't. To me, it says that Democrats are so screwed up it's sad.

How could anyone support a man who is documented as killing, raping and torturing hundreds of thousands of his own people? Their hatred of Bush seems so deep that they would do anything to see him out of office. Including selling their souls to the Devil. Which is exactly what they are doing when they choose Saddam over Bush.

It's a sad state of affairs, really, to see such a party go quickly down the tubes. How could anyone do such a thing? I just don't understand it.

Posted by Mark at 9:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

From FOX News and Britt Hume's Grapevine:

A century-old painting commemorating the Pilgrims' landing in Provincetown, Massachusetts, no longer hangs in the town hall after city officials voted that its was discriminatory against women. The Boston Globe reports that town Selectwoman Sarah Peake said she found it "disturbing" that the large oil painting — depicting the Pilgrims voting on the Mayflower Compact — didn't include a single woman. Despite the fact that only male colonists actually signed the historic document, three of the four selectmen agreed to remove the painting, which had hung in the town hall for at least 60 years.

Things like this care deconstructing our history. If we take out the things that we don't agree with, then we lose part of our history, and the ability to understand what really was going on there. If we take paintings like this down, what about the painting of the Constitutional Convention? There were nothing but men there as well.

Women held no power at that time, and that should be remembered so we know how far we have truly traveled. Today, despite the failure of the Equal Rights Act, women serve in the highest levels of corporate America, and the government itself. To take away things like our history will only doom us to repeating it. The lessons are there, will we not profit from them?

Posted by Mark at 9:22 AM | Permalink

Have some "ammo" ready for the anti-gunners. Via AlphaPatriot: How to Be a More Effective Advocate for Freedom

This web page gives you good examples of points to bring up (and what not to bring up) when trying to reason with a Liberal who's hot button issue is Gun Control.

You won't convince them that gun control is a bad thing, it's too deep in their psyche. You can, however, by hitting them with irrefutable facts cause them to do a reboot, blink and walk away, looking for someone to reinforce their silly ideas. It will also help convince someone on the fence to come over to your side of the argument.

Things are right in the world when the government fears its citizens, especially the armed ones. If I wasn't prone to suicidal thoughts, I would love to have my guns back. But one must take life as it comes.

Posted by Mark at 9:11 AM | Permalink

I have told you again and again to be ready for emergencies. Well, I need to follow my own advice.

I was trying to install and uninstall some software, and something was changed. I can no longer access the internet from my desktop system. I am making this post from my backup laptop.

Heed my words of warning, make a restore point before you install or uninstall any software. You never know what it will screw up. In face, making a restore point once a week or so would be a good idea, and will be part of my system maintenance from now on.

Very limited posting until I get this problem fixed, no posting today. I'm going to try and reinstall Windows on top of itself, if that doesn't work, I'll have to wipe the drive and reinstall everything.

Wish me luck.

Posted by Mark at 11:13 AM | Permalink