Sunday Song

In keeping with the Christmas theme, the incomparable Kathy Mattea.



Wonderful performance of an inspiring song.

Sunday Morning Dawg

The dog wasn't feeling good last week.  He had some sort of eye infection, so we took him to the vet, who told us that he had injured his eye, but with just a little attention and some antibiotics, he's be his old self in no time.  So, we've been squirting paste in his eye for the past 10 days.  Milady took him to the vet on Friday, who said that the eye looked much better, but to keep the antibiotics for another five days.

He's got a little spring in his step now, and he looks like he's feeling much better.  Even if he does need a haircut.

Christmas on the Bayou

I present, without comment, the Cajun Night Before Christmas.



Heh!  Why not?

Backlash

I had a long post started, about the most visible rape cases of the week, the UVA rape case in Rolling Stone, and Lena Dunham's case that she outlined in her new book.  Both of which turned out to be demonstrably false. Lies from start to finish, simply to sell a product.

I've worked rape cases that turned out to be false.  Sometimes people make-up stuff that didn't happen, through some misguided need to be a victim, but I've never seen a takedown like the one at the Victory Girls blog.

Lena Dunham, I don’t believe you. I don’t believe anything that comes out of your mouth. I don’t believe that you were raped or sexually assaulted. I don’t believe that you are a victim or a survivor.

I believe that you are a psychopath that needs to be the center of attention. I do believe that you are an uncaring, unintelligent, immoral liar. I do believe that you were foolish enough to think that you could write whatever you wanted in your pointless book without any repercussions. I do believe that you didn’t think people would try to find out who your alleged rapist was, and you didn’t think that you would quite probably ruin a man’s life. I believe you didn’t care one bit. 

I've worked rape cases, and while I can never say that I know the horror and the trauma, I can say that I've seen the aftermath, which in itself is a horror.  I've also conducted the investigations, and assisted the prosecution, and sent people to jail.  I've also worked those cases that turned out to be demonstrably false.  The complainants story didn't make sense, the physical evidence didn't support her version of the event, and the alleged perpetrator could not have been there.

In these two cases, (UVA and Dunham), these two cases are demonstrably false, they don't stand up to even rudimentary investigation, and they were narrated to sell a product.  And that's probably the most despicable part of those stories, that they were narrated to generate a profit.  And, they diluted the stores of true rape survivors in the process, simply to make a profit.  Truly despicable.

Let me be clear.  Rape is an horrific crime that should be reported, investigated, and prosecuted.  It is a crime of violence and should have the highest priority in our investigative resources (right up with murder).  But, making false accusations is not the way to bring the problem to light.

Laser Weapons Fielded

It looks like the Navy is fielding operational laser weapons.  As Glenn Reynolds would say, "this is the 21st century."

"We've tested it in the lab we've tested it operationally at sea. Now, we are not testing it anymore. This is operational," said Rear Adm. Matthew L. Klunder, chief of naval research at the Office of Naval Research. "They are using it every day."
If a small or large attack boat, missile or aircraft launched an attack upon the USS Ponce, sailors are equipped to destroy an approaching threat in seconds with the new laser weapon.

That's cool, and I'm sure that the sailors on watch will put this new tool to use.

I'd say Go Navy, but this weekend is the Army-Navy game, and I'm a soldier, after all.   I hope the cadets beat the midshipmen like yard-dogs.

Wednesday Wipe-Out

Late day today.  Did an after-hours in-service, and that actually didn't last long.  Changed into coat and tie, then went to the nursing home to serve brisket for the Christmas Party.  Santa showed up, and everybody ate like kings.  Then said my goodbyes and went to the funeral home to say goodbye to a classmate and dear friend. The place was packed, so I didn't stay long.  He'll be missed by lots of people.  Sorry that he's gone.

MAD Magazine

I haven't thought about MAD magazine in 40 years, but in high school and college I often read the rag for their brand of tongue-in-cheek, cynical, off-color humor.  Turns out, they're still publishing and Ed Morrisey, over at Hot Air is also a fan.  He's got an exclusive with them to highlight their year end magazine that comes out next week

The twenty dumbest people, events, and things of 2014.  Number 16 is the security at the White House.

I'm going to have to look for that issue.  I may even buy a subscription.

Another Convert

Christians are happy when a person is saved, and hunters are happy when another person sees what we're really all about.  This feel-good story is about a California photographer who decided to make a photo shoot about hunting, and had an epiphany.

I am totally a so California girl, I thought hunters were barbaric, blood thirsty, gun lovers. What Ive learned moving to Idaho is hunting has nothing to do with violence or aggression. It’s a little like farming or gardening. People protect and care for their chickens and their vegetable plants, only to end up using them for food. Also, hunters support conservation of wild places and laws that protect wildlife populations What I learned with Harlee’s family is that they want to know where their food comes from, have clean lean meat, they eat the whole animal, and share the meat with friends and family. I still would never be a hunter, but my perspective has shifted and learned hunters are more knowledgeable and thoughtful about animals and nature.

Of course, when you have a photo subject as alluring as this, it's easy to see the beauty of hunting.  Here's the model, with her dad.

Here's another one, just because.

Nice elk, beautiful country, ad a wonderful photo opportunity.

That's a feel-good story all around.

The New South

Michael Tomasky, writing The Daily Beast, has an epic meltdown over the loss this weekend of the last Democrat senator in the Deep South.  Perhaps his editors should have questioned his sanity, and the publishers should have questioned the editor's acumen.  There's lots wrong with that article.

With Mary Landrieu’s ignominious exit, the Democrats will have lost their last senator in the Deep South. And that’s a good thing. They should write it off—because they don’t need it.

I don't know so much about that, Michael.  The South still has a lot to recommend it.  And, the loss of one seat doesn't speak to the whole region, although I admit that the Democrats haven't been doing well here in national elections.  But, we still have a lot of elected Democrats on the local level.  My sheriff is a Democrat, as is our District Attorney.  We elect a fair portion of Democrats, but Mary forgot where she came from, and who she represented.

 And that is what Louisiana, and almost the entire South, has become. The victims of the particular form of euthanasia it enforces with such glee are tolerance, compassion, civic decency, trans-racial community, the crucial secular values on which this country was founded… I could keep this list going. But I think you get the idea. Practically the whole region has rejected nearly everything that’s good about this country and has become just one big nuclear waste site of choleric, and extremely racialized, resentment. A fact made even sadder because on the whole they’re such nice people! (I truly mean that.)

Well, thanks, Michael.  I'm pleased that you think we're nice people, even if we have no tolerance, compassion, or civic decency. (Just what passes for Nice in the North, anyway?)

Cohen thinks maybe some economic populism could work, and that could be true in limited circumstances. But I think even that is out the window now. In the old days, drenched in racism as the South was, it was economically populist. Glass and Steagall, those eponymous bank regulators, were both Southern members of Congress. But today, as we learned in Sunday’s Times, state attorneys general, many in the South, are colluding with energy companies to fight federal regulation of energy plants.

Yeah, we mouth-breathing rednecks love populist politicians, like our own Bobby Jindal. (snerk, Bobby ain't no populist).  But we do love a good stump speech.  What we don't like is damnYankees trying to regulate us.  Especially progressive damnYankees.

It’s lost. It’s gone. A different country. And maybe someday it really should be.

You don't mean that.  We tried that 150 years ago, and y'all objected strenuously.  During your objection and your war of aggression, y'all destroyed our economy and burned much of the infrastructure.  I doubt you mean it today, but you are feeling a bit unappreciated.  Well, good.  We don't appreciate folks like you telling us how to live.  Or who to elect.  That's the nature of the South.

Sunday Song

Continuing the old hymns with a new twist, we come now to a group called Home Free.



That guy needs to take his hat off in church, but other than that, lovely.

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Bill Cassidy, our new Senator-elect in Louiisana.

Congratulations also to Ralph Abraham, our new congressman representing the 5th District.  That's my district.

Congratulations to Garrett Graves, who will represent our 6th District in congress.

Get to work, boys.  We'll speak no more of your opponents.  Believe me, you'll be hearing from me in the coming months.  I'm one of those guys who writes letters to my congress-critters, and if you think that you can get away with foolishness, you're gravely mistaken.  Now, get to work.

Lest We Forget

In the early morning hours of Decenber 7, 73 years ago, the naval forces of Japan launched an attack against the US bases at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.  That event launched us into World War II.

Saturday Song

We're in Advent now, and it's appropriate that we consider the meaning of the season, the beginning of the Christian year.



O Come O Come Emmanuel is a staple of the season.

Skunked

I've been skunked thus far this season, hunting on the family land.  The deer just aren't there, which is odd, because deer have always been in that area.  That area is well-known locally for having deer.  I don't know what has changed, but I'm not even getting pictures on my camera, indeed, the lens tripped only once this week and I'm not sure what tripped it.

That's all that was on the camera this week, which is truly odd.  I'm not sure where the deer are, but they're certainly not on my little hunting area.

It's About Over - In More Ways Than One

The election season is about over for this cycle, and I'll be glad to see it gone.  We've been getting lots of calls at the house from political pollsters, and they're about to drive me ragged.  The only poll that matters is the one that Louisiana participates in tomorrow morning, when we actually go to the polls.

You would think that with only two days left before the election, the pollsters would take a minute to breathe, but the breathless calls I've been getting are not seeming to let up.  I probably won't answer the phone tonight, unless I recognize the number.

Several hotly contested races on my sample ballot, from the Senate lollalooza, all the way to local races as minor as our local Justice of the Peace.  (Just exactly what does a JP do, anyway?).  Still, we've got to let our preferences be known and I'll be glad when it's over.

It seems that the national media has finally come to Louisiana, not to praise Mary, but to bury her.

A US Senate seat hangs in the balance, with a Democratic incumbent desperately needing some reason for hope, and the national media that normally might have circled the wagons has either ignored the race altogether, or are circling the all-but-certain corpse of Mary Landrieu’s career. The media that have finally made the trek to Louisiana for the runoff election tomorrow come as pallbearers to the funeral.

I don't feel especially bad for Mary, she can go to work in January working in John Breaux's office.  Breaux was a senator from Louisiana, who decided to leave while he could and start a lobbying firm.  From all indications, he's doing well, and I'm sure that he'll make room for another ex-senator from his home state.

But, it ain't over till it's over, and we've got to go to the polls tomorrow.  For myself, I intend to be there before noon.

That's Just... Oh, My.

Making the rounds at Say Uncle and Arf.com, we find this example of **WECSOG, on what was a nice BFR revolver.

Look at the barrel.  Home porting job.  Why pay a professional when you can do it yourself?

Hacksaw or Dremel tool?  I'm not sure.  But I'm pretty sure I wouldn't try to fire it.  Oh, my.  Just... Oh, jeez.

**WECSOG - Wily E. Coyote School Of Gunsmithing

Eric Garner

I've never heard of the fellow, but evidently he was selling cigarettes on Staten Island, New York without paying the tax.  The police tried to arrest him and he resisted, and after the arrest was completed, he was dead, from a choke hold applied by one of the officers.  No indictment by the grand jury.

A grand jury on Staten Island has decided to not indict a New York Police Department officer in the death of Eric Garner, who was placed in a chokehold and died of a heart attack.
Garner, who suffered from asthma, was captured on video telling arresting officers that he couldn’t breathe as Officer Daniel Pantaleo’s arm was around his neck, pushing him face-first toward the sidewalk.
The medical examiner ruled the death a homicide, saying compression of the neck and chest with asthma, obesity and hypertensive cardiovascular disease as contributing factors killed Garner.

This is the first I've heard of the case, and I don't have any other information than what I'm reading right now.  Instapundit is all over it, and he has some good observations

(1) His initial crime: Selling “looseys” — individual cigarettes — in violation of NYC tax law. When you pass a law, however trivial, you are providing an opportunity for police to use lethal force. That’s why I favor fewer laws, not more.(2) I saw someone on Twitter saying that if you expect a Staten Island grand jury to indict a cop, then you don’t know Staten Island. That may be the case, but it shouldn’t be. If police can’t be accountable for their use of force, then we shouldn’t have police. Fire ‘em all and privatize. We’re not supposed to have titles of nobility in this country.
(3) Listening to NPR on the way back from the UT Studio — I taped a segment on this for The Independents on Fox Business tonight — they kept stressing that it was a WHITE officer who had killed a BLACK MAN. You could pretty much hear the capitals in their voices. They’d never stress race that way in other circumstances. And it’s not clear that excessive force by police is especially a racial problem. In Alabama, we had the shooting of a unarmed white 18-year old by a black cop; in Utah, we had the Dillan Taylor shooting, also unarmed, also not prosecuted. Racializing the issue makes it more divisive and less likely to be addressed.

That seems about right to me.  I wonder what Al Sharpton will have to say about it?  He doesn't have to travel far, it's right in his back yard.

Just Wow!

This picture is making the circles around Facebook and Reddit today, and I'm not sure if it's a photoshop or a real picture.  Ostensibly from three protesters in Ferguson, MO.

The guy in the center really caught my attention.

Just Wow!  Really?

If anyone can find that this pic is a fake, let me know and I'll update the posting.

HPDATE**  Yeah, Joe points me to a site that says it was photo-chopped.  Thanks, Joe.

It's Just Physics

Compliments of the Physics Girl, we find a cool phenomenon that I can replicate in the swimming pool.  Fun with a vortex.



I've got to try this one sunny day.

Doom: Early vote trends are gruesome for Mary Landrieu

That's not my headline, that's the headline of a Hot Air piece, detailing the challenges facing our senior senator, one week before the election.  Doom.

“[President Obama] can’t finish his agenda because he doesn’t have people like Mary Landrieu with him…I’m asking you tomorrow to go out and vote for Senator Landrieu. She’s been in office for 18 years, and in the Senate, that’s what you need to get things done. And she will go on to support Barack Obama 97 percent of the time! [Cheers]”

Mary should have conceded in November.  She's gotten all the votes she's going to get.  Her time as our senator is just about over.  Had she conceded in November, it would have been a graceful way of acknowledging the will of the people.  Now, she's dragging it out to the end, and displays nothing that will change the electorate's mind.