Thank you, Annie Jacobsen

A few days ago, I blogged about Annie Jacobsen's account of her family's flight from Detriot to Los Angeles. "Terror in the Skies, Again?" was a scary, eye-opening article.

Clinton W. Taylor at NRO identifies the Syrians. They were a band. They played at the Sycuan Resort and Casino in San Diego.

This is reassuring for this particular case, but there are a few other considerations I want to point out before people go back to sleep.

1. June 29th was a day of heightened alert, with the Dept. of Homeland Security indicating "unusually specific internal warning".

2. Remember the citation of Jason Burke's article in The Observer, dated February 8, 2004. The title of the article was "Terrorist bid to build bombs in mid-flight: Intelligence reveals dry runs of new threat to blow up airliners." Just because this case may have been a false alarm doesn't mean that there's absolutely no threat.

3. When the dog bites, watch him. Terrorists, historically, use airliners. Ms. Jacobsen is to be commended for her vigilance. This incident may not have been a dry run, but we know that terror cells are plotting further attacks on civilians on US soil. Increased awareness is a GOOD THING, and I thank her for giving us all a much-needed head's up.

Like Michelle Malkin, I prefer a false alarm to a flaming plane.

I also prefer to have my countrymen alert and observant.

Kudos to Ms. Jacobsen.

Sept 11 Commission: report

For those, like me, who want to see the raw data for themselves, instead of the media's interpretation, keep an eye on this space.

The Commission's final report is to be posted tomorrow morning at 11:30 a.m., EST.

UPDATE: I'm already threough the first 100 pages of the report. I feel the anger I felt on Black Tuesday. I don't think it will ever fade.

I recommend that everyone read the entire report for themselves.

Cycles

I was on the road this morning when, all unbidden, the memory of my daughter's birth flashed in front of me.

I simultaneously smiled and wept.

I'd looked forward to her birth, as much to met her as to prove my own feminine strength by experiencing labor. I knew I could do it. I knew that I wouldn't need drugs. I was absolutely certain that during labor, I would be able to reach down deep, into the lodge of my soul, to grunt, push, scream, and bring life into this world in turbulent beauty.

Her official due date was December the 10th. We went in for a checkup that day. I'd had some false starts at labor, but I wasn't showing any sign of going soon. The checkup showed that I'd gone from 50% effacement to only about 10%. My midwife couldn't swear that she felt the Little Miss' head in my pelvis.

Long story short, the fabulous Wee Bean was breech. The Ob/Gyn and midwife tried external version, but at 40 weeks gestation, and with a nigh nine pound baby in there...the Miss didn't budge.

She was delivered by Cesarean the next day, and I don't think I've ever cried so hard in my entire life. Don't misunderstand me -- the wait was over, and I finally got to hold her, (AT LAST!) but I was disappointed to be denied the Goddess' challenge. Also, my worst fear was realized -- I was doped up when she was delivered. I'd never wanted that. I wanted to greet her clear-eyed and centered.

What's more, I never labored, so my milk never really got started. Sure, I was on Pitocin after the C-section to shrink my uterus, but something never clicked. At the height of my production, it would take two days to produce four ounces of breast milk. She went on formula almost immediately while I took herbs like brewer's yeast, and faithfully pumped every two hours. Without going into the dreary details, I tried everything. My lactation consultant was at a loss as well. I just wasn't producing milk, which just added insult to the surgical scar.

Really, it wasn't my fault that my baby was breech. That wasn't anything I'd done. However, the inability to feed her with my own body did feel like a betrayal. Then, when she developed reflux-related colic, I blamed myself, thinking that maybe she wouldn't have to go through that if I'd just been able to breastfeed her.

That was grief and joy comingled. My joy was her. My maternal joy is absolutely and forevermore in the delight I take in my daughter, and how she has grown from a fussy, colicy infant to a brilliant, chirpy, vital and interested toddler. My joy is in the way my marriage has grown and changed over the last nineteen months and how, even through some relatively dark days, we've both been too committed to our love for each other to do anything other than work it out and shoulder on, hand in hand.

My joy is in my man, and how he has become such a confident and good-humored father. He loves me. It may be that no man has never loved a woman as much as he loves me. I am not sure he can ever know how much I love, admire, and respect him.

But the inability to breastfeed was a little death for me.

Speaking of death, my grandfather's fading has not been serene. He has lingered for years now, suffering stroke after stroke, so dissolved by multi-infarc dementia that he no longer even remembers my grandmother -- the woman who, in life, was his sole passion.

It's tragic. He swiftly approaches his century. When I stop to consider everything this man has seen, and everything he has encompassed...it boggles the mind. He saw WWI. He fought in WWII. He served stateside, an engineer, and in the Marine Corps, during Korea, and sent his only child to Viet Nam. He immigrated to America in his boyhood. He loved and served this land because he chose to. He never once took Liberty for granted. He knew all to well what the other side was like.

After my father's divorce from my birth mother, I lived with my grandparents for a year or two. My grandfather was wise, witty, funny. He could do anything with his hands. He built me a treehouse that fell down only five years ago. Somewhere in storage, I still have the doll cradle and chest he made for me. I was always his "Princess". He used to draw me into his lap and tell me stories. Honest to Gods, I thought the assassination of Austria-Hungary's Prince Franz Ferdinand was just a sad fairy story until I got to third grade and started studying history for real.

All the moments of his life are washing away, one grain at a time, with his impending passing. Once he is gone, those pearls will only live on because his children remember the lessons he taught. It is a hard going -- he doesn't let go easily. But then, 'tenacity' describes my family's personality well.

But it is through him that I am here, and The Miss.

Some people pithily say that we begin dying the minute we're born. If this is so, then his long, fruitful dying has inexorably led to my daughter's life.

Life/death. It's all a cycle. Like the seasons. And what goes out does return. That which was, shall be again. We just have to gather the pearls of memory together, and keep them in trust for the next generation.

Blogoversary

So...

Tomorrow is my blogoversary.

I started out on blogspot. In October, the Munuvians asked me to come and play, and by Christmas I was setting up shop on MuNu. Before that, I maintained a public journal on Diary-X (it's long gone; all the entries are backed up and saved for my viewing pleasure, alone). All-in-all, I've been a web presence for about four years.

But this is the anniversary of my first year as a "blogger".

I know that written content from me has been sparse and lacking a lot of depth since January. There are lots of reasons for that, the largest of which is that thing we call Life. I'm a mother, you know. I'm also a wife and a domestic (wannabe) goddess. I'm also a full-time employee for one of those technology giants. I have other hobbies.

I also realize that there are lots of other people out there who are tons better at punditry than I. I link to them all the time.

I haven't the time or energy to be big dogs like the bloggers I admire.

Writers are told to write what they know. I know a lot about being a mother and a wife. I'm a Pagan. I'm a writer, a seamstress, a quilter, and a gamer grrl. I know what it means to be an American, and I'm damned proud to call this country my home.

For the next while, I will not have time to update every day. But when I do write, my posts will run the gamut of different subjects.

As a result, I'll probably lose a few readers who come here for political commentary. But also hope that I'll gain a few more who like to see a more -- dare I say the word -- diverse blog.

In the meantime, Loren has finally decided to go ahead with his own site, which will be very cool. I'll help him get set up, hopefully with a little direction from my friend, The Bartender, and we'll move all his posts over there with trackback links so folks can find him.

But tomorrow is my blogoversary, which I am celebrating today. Yay me!

Read this.

A little sunshine for you. Read this right now, especially if you plan to get on a plane any time soon.

Annie Jacobsen from Women's Wall Street recounts her airline experience on June 29th of this year, on flight 327 from Detriot to Los Angeles. Put yourself on that plane while she relates the story, and seriously consider her question: Can the USA realistically uphold the civil liberties of everyone, everywhere, and still protect her citizens from terrorist attack?

I think not.

Sure, you can whine and whinge and talk about ideals all you want, but I'm one of those simplisme types who live in the real world. We've seen the Islamic threat to the West gathering since the Iran hostage debacle in the late '70's. 9/11 was just the big pop to a conflict that's been been stewing for years. To deny this is to lose sight of history and the context that brought us to 9/11, and the events of today.

In its most simple terms, Islamofacism teaches hatred of everything we are, which is to say free, well-fed, well-tended, healthy and opinionated. The materialistic stuff just falls into place with that. We submit to nothing; no one. It's a slap in the face to those people that we're still walking around. Islam means "submission". We haven't submitted. Shouldn't Allah have already destroyed us?

So, our existence must be a test by their Moon God. Are they devoted followers? Yes? Then they have to kill the infidel.

That's us. They want to kill us. They're willing to do anything to achieve that end.

We haven't shown a lot of determination to do everything it takes to save ourselves.

See, I don't give a shit about Halliburton, the "Bushco" allegations, who lied to whom, or why. The plain fact of the matter is that there are people who want to kill me, you, and everyone we hold dear. They want to see the US in all its cantakerous glory pass from the face of the earth. They'll use nukes if they can get their hands on them. They'll use airliners -- we already knew that. They'll take hostages and film beheadings. They'll do whatever it takes to demoralize, terrify, and cow us. It's easier to kill people who are afraid.

I don't give a shit about the reasons for going into Iraq. All I know is that once we got there, it turned out to be a damn good thing. Saddam Hussein is out of power. The rape camps and murder gangs and torture parties are over. People aren't getting fed feet-first into shredders any more.

All I care about is keeping my nation safe from these animalistic murderers, and I'm going to vote for the one man who stood up in the face of all opposition, and has actively done something to defend American sovereignty. No, it isn't John Kerry.

Do you know what I want? What I really, really want?

I want to see Iran freed: in the hands of the people, and playing with the West once more. I want Syria cowed. I want Lebanon freed from Syrian influence. I want to see Yassir Arafat dead. I want to see the Palestinian terror training camps dispersed, and Israel in a place where defensive walls are unnecessary.

I want to see sovereign Iraq come out of its shell, and kick our ass at soccor. I want every terrorist, everywhere, taken and shot. I'd like to see their heads on pikes, please, to serve as both warning and reminder.

I'd like to see the justification for these truths I hold to be so urgently obvious, that only someone who exclusively watches the news will miss it.

Speaking of news agencies, I want to see the Fifth Column break out, and start telling the truth about what's going on. I want to see liberal obstructionists silenced. I want the American people to have all the data, uncolored, so they can make their own decisions. I want a counter-revolution to PC culture so we can get back to calling a horse a horse, and a terrorist a terrorist.

It's simple, really. I want freedom, safety, common sense and integrity. Anyone else?

Hot Air

From the FIL:

A woman in a hot air balloon realized she was lost. She lowered her altitude and spotted a man in a boat below. She shouted to him, "Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don't know where I am."

The man consulted his portable GPS and replied, "You're in a hot air balloon, approximately 30 feet above a ground elevation of 2346 feet above sea level. You are at 31 degrees, 14.97 minutes north latitude and 100 degrees, 49.09 minutes west longitude.

She rolled her eyes and said, "You must be a Republican." "I am," replied the man. "How did you know?" "Well," answered the balloonist, "everything you told me is technically correct, but I have no idea what to do with your information, and I'm still lost. Frankly, you've not been much help to me."

The man smiled and responded, "You must be a Democrat." "I am," replied the balloonist. "How did you know?" "Well," said the man, "you don't know where you are or where you're going. You've risen to where you are, due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise that you have no idea how to keep, and you expect me to solve your problem. You're in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but, somehow, now it's my fault."

For the Common Good

Cox and Forkum unmask Hillary.

Thieves

My parents still live in Texas. Yesterday afternoon, their place was broken into. The thieves took the televisions, several of my father's firearms, his Nikon camera with all accessories, and several other miscellaneous things. The neighbors were away for the most part. One gentleman, whose house is to the back and side of my parents', says that he heard hammering, but since Dad does a lot of construction, he didn't think anything of it. To quote my mom, "They're thinking about it now!"

Keep in mind, however, that my father is both a veteran and a gunsmith. He has tools stashed in places that most people would never think to look. So fortunately, he isn't completely defanged. Also being an intelligent human being who believes in planning for the worst so you're delighted when the best occurs, he had a complete list of his firearms' serial numbers. The police are distributing the data to gun stores and pawn shops in the area so if anyone tries to pass them off, they come up flagged.

The sons of bitches who did this need to pay. I'm too far away to do much, but I just did something that might help ensure that their fate wings more quickly to their hearths. Between that and the efforts of the police, joined with the vigilance of shopkeepers in Central Texas, I'm feeling hopeful that my Dad might get a few of the guns back. (If anyone wants to write something discouraging about them getting seized/impounded, or never showing up -- just save it. I don't want to hear it, and I sure as hell am not interested in defeatism. Good things do happen by a mix of focused visualization and focused action.)

The thieves are fucked. Don't mess with my family.

Bless This Land

I was an American too busy enjoying my freedoms this weekend to post anything. I was with my family, celebrated my SIL's birthday, enjoyed my time with my husband and daughter, and even got to do a little shopping. (Just doing my part to help the economy's recovery. :) )

The sentiment is still there, even if I didn't write something big to celebrate the anniversary of American Independence.

God(s) bless our country, our armed services, and our people.

Only Starbucks...

Only Starbucks would put in a new store in the very same strip mall as an existing one.

I just wanted to share that.

Regarding Moore-on's Latest Tripe

Jonah Goldberg, via NRO:

"I don't need to know very much about you or your ideas to know that if you think Michael Moore is just great, a truth-teller and a much-needed tonic for everything that is wrong in American life, you are not someone to take seriously about anything of political consequence, or you are French...'

"...But the fact remains that the more you think Michael Moore is an insightful and honest person the less reason there is for the rest of us to pay attention when your lips are moving."

Jonah also offers links to other analysis of the gross lies inaccuracies of Moore's latest piece of fiction. Read entire.

Kerry's Resume

Via The Federalist. WARNING: Drink alert dead ahead.)

JOHN FORBES KERRY, "MAN OF THE PEOPLE"

CAREER OBJECTIVE

President of the United States, Renter of the Lincoln bedroom,
Intern Supervisor, Commander and Chief and Defender of the Working
Man, I mean Person

EDUCATION

Educated at Swiss Boarding Schools -- because my parents did not
like me that much

Attended elite private schools like Fessenden School in West
Newton, Massachusetts and St. Paul's in New Hampshire -- just
like your kids

Graduated Yale University, 1966 (I am much smarter than that Bush
guy -- oh, wait, he also went to Yale.)

Graduated Boston College Law School in 1976 (I am much smarter
than that Bush guy -- oh, wait, he got an MBA from Harvard.)

VIETNAM MILITARY SERVICE

Served as an officer on a swiftboat in the Mekong Delta in
VIETNAM for three long months -- tried my best to come home a
hero like JFK after his service on PT-109. I was in VIETNAM --
VIETNAM was a place where I was for a while. Did I mention that
VIETNAM veterans love me?

I collected three Purple Hearts in my three months (had to get
three in order to come home and run for Congress as a hero like
JFK) and the last one for that scratch on my finger -- it REALLY
did hurt! It was important to have the right connections so I
could get home and run for Congress on my hero status like JFK --
he was not in VIETNAM, but I was.

Brought my own motion camera to make sure images of me in VIETNAM
becoming a hero made it back home to the states. Got a free trip
home after three months on my swiftboat where I suffered severe
injuries and collected three Purple Hearts (did I mention that),
a Bronze and Silver Star for heroism -- ensuring my destiny as
a hero and man of the people like JFK.

Got home and found out they were not bestowing hero status on
war heroes like me, so I threw my medals, or was it my ribbons,
over the White House fence. Maybe it was someone else's medals.

Co-founder of the VIETNAM Veterans of America and spokesperson
for the VIETNAM Veterans Against the War and worked closely with
Jane Fonda to make sure everyone knew that all the guys in VIETNAM
were war criminals -- I was too, and even testified before the
Senate about my own war crimes.

"Represented" my cadre of anti-American misfits in a Paris meeting
to discuss how we could better provide "aid and comfort" for
the North Vietnamese and to discuss the unconditional surrender
of the U.S. In doing so, I knowingly, directly violated UCMJ
Article 104 part 904, and U.S. Code 18 U.S.C. 953.

Did I mention that this meeting, and my other anti-American
activities, also put me in violation of the Constitution's Article
three, Section three, which defines treason as "giving aid and
comfort" to the enemy in time of warfare.

Consequently, I stand subject to the Constitution's Fourteenth
Amendment, Section 3, which states, "No person shall be a Senator
or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and
Vice-President...having previously taken an oath...to support
the Constitution of the United States, [who has] engaged in
insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or
comfort to the enemies thereof."

But I don't have to resign -- I am understudy to Teddy Kennedy,
now the patriarch of JFK's family.

I topped off my coddling of Commies by authoring a book called The
New Soldier -- but since military heroes are back in vogue, I now
sue anyone who reproduces the cover of that book on any website,
especially a website like http://kerry-04.com/. (The cover picture
is a mockery of the Iwo Jima flag raising -- you can see it at
http://kerry-04.com/ until my lawyers get them to take it down.)

CONGRESSIONAL "SERVICE"

Volunteered as a campaign worker for my mentor, Teddy Kennedy
in 1962. I just love that big lug!

My first campaign for Congress was in 1972 -- I was a war
hero like JFK but nobody noticed so I ran on my anti-American
platform. I won the primary with a little help from my campaign
manager (brother Cameron) who broke into my opponents campaign
headquarters. Unfortunately, because of that Watergate thing,
I lost the general election to a Republican even after spending
more than any other Congressional campaign in the nation.

In 1982, with the help of Uncle Teddy, I got elected as lieutenant
governor for governor Michael Dukakis -- then got elected to the
Senate in 1984 -- it has been smooth sailing ever since.

I have dedicated the last 20 years, between wives and vacation
homes, promoting big government spending (except in defense and
intelligence, which I vote against every chance I get), class
warfare, the welfare state and general wealth redistribution, any
kind of abortion on demand (without parental consent for minors),
and obstructionist tactics in the judicial nominee process.

According to Americans for Democratic [sic] Action, a far-left
watchdog group, I have a higher lifetime liberal voting record
at 93% than Ted Kennedy with 88%

I am the ranking Democrat member of the Committee on Small Business
and Entrepreneurship. My current millionaire wife is heiress of
the Heinz Ketchup fortune -- a "small" business

Ranking member of the Hispanic Task Force, even though I "borked"
Miguel Estrada

Chaired the Senate Democratic Leadership Steering and Coordination
Committee

In 1987, teemed up with Teddy to get an override of presidential
veto of Boston's Big Dig Boondoggle -- one of the most larded
distributions of taxpayer largess in U.S. history.

In 1991 the Senate created the Select Senate Committee on POW/MIA
Affairs to investigate the possibility that U.S. prisoners of
war and soldiers designated missing in action were still alive
in Vietnam. Acting as chairman, I helped persuade the group to
vote unanimously that no American servicemen still remained in
Vietnam. In doing so, I helped begin the process of normalizing
U.S.-Vietnamese relations.

Wealthiest senator ("man of the people"), with an estimated net
worth of nearly $200 million (that's $800 million if you combine
it with my current wife's assets)

POLITICAL POSTURING AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

ABORTION

Voted to federally fund abortions

Voted against parental consent for minors

Voted against ban on Partial Birth Abortion (3 times)

Voted against ban on sending money to UN population fund --
the money was sent to pay for China's forced abortion and
sterilization policy

Have been warned by Catholic clergy that I will not be served
communion due to my stance on this issue

NARAL lifetime rating of 100%; National Right to Life
Committee lifetime rating of 0%

DEATH PENALTY

Oppose federal and/or state death penalty (except for innocent
unborn children -- see above)

Voted against death penalty for terrorists

Voted against death penalty for drug-related murders

TAXES & ECONOMICS

I like high taxes and want to raise them

Voted against all three Bush tax cuts & want to repeal them

Voted for 1993 Clinton tax hike (largest in history)

Voted against major tax relief packages at least 10 times

Support re-raising taxes on the wealthy to redistribute money
for healthcare and education -- i.e., Socialism

Claim I can stop outsourcing and create 10 million new jobs in
four years, despite the fact that there are only about 8
million unemployed people in the U.S.

Want to raise the minimum wage, which will result in
outsourcing and the loss of jobs Voted at least 5 times
against balanced budget amendments

Voted at least 5 times to raid the Social Security Trust Fund

Believe Washington manages your money better than you could

Lifetime rating of 26% from Citizens Against Government Waste

MILITARY & NATIONAL SECURITY

We don't need a military, per se

Favor UN control of remaining U.S. Troops

Voted for 7 major reductions in military funding

Voted against Gulf War I (1991)

Voted for Gulf War II -- but then criticized and voted against
military appropriation for troops

Voted against MX missile, Trident Submarine, SDI (Strategic
Defense Initiative -- Star Wars), and the B-1 and B-2 Stealth
Bomber/Fighter

Supported slashing $2.6 billion from intelligence funding
while serving as a member of Senate Intelligence Committee

SECOND AMENDMENT

Against

Have earned a lifetime rating of 0% from the National Rifle
Association

FAITH & VALUES

Against/Don't have any

Voted Against Defense of Marriage Act

Favor civil unions for homosexuals until marriage is popular
enough to support

Voted to extend hate crimes protections to homosexuals

Voted against voluntary school prayer

Voted against ban on human cloning and support embryonic
stem-cell research

EDUCATION

Voted against voucher pilot program

Voted against approving a school-choice pilot program

Support racial profiling and preference for admission to
universities, known as "affirmative action"

JUDGES, COURTS & LAW

Against racial profiling and preference when dealing with
terrorism

Voted against confirmation William Rehnquist as Chief Justice
of the Supreme Court

Voted against confirmation of Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas
to the Supreme Court

Only support activist judges who will support abortion,
persecute Christians and rewrite the Constitution

Voted against confirmation John Ashcroft as U.S. Attorney
General

Voted against punitive damage limits in products liability
cases

As Michael Dukakis' Lt. Governor from 1983-1985, supported
granting prison furloughs to hundreds of Massachusetts inmates

FOREIGN POLICY

Against linking Most Favored Nation status to China's human
rights record

Voted for Kyoto Protocol on Environment that exempted major
Third World polluters, while creating an unfair burden on
American taxpayers

Supported Iraq regime change as late as January 2003, but not
anymore

Support unilateral nuclear freeze

Support submitting completely to the UN, as well as the
International Criminal Court, taking all sovereignty away
from the U.S. and its citizens

Don't know what the Geneva Conventions say, mean or who
they apply to

OTHER QUALIFICATIONS

Five multi-million dollar mansions

A large multi-million dollar yacht

Many "American" cars, including several gas-guzzling SUVs, which
I am opposed to politically

Personal 757 campaign jet

Access to unlimited condiments -- did I mention my current
millionaire wife is heiress to the Heinz fortune

Have dual citizenship in France

REFERENCES

General Vo Nguyen Giap -- most celebrated military hero of NORTH
VIETNAM, where I served

"Hanoi Jane" Fonda

Teddy Kennedy

John F. Kennedy -- we have the same initials

Howard Dean -- (Albert Gore by proxy)

Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw and Peter Jennings

"Foreign Leaders" who I am unable to name at this time

Patriots, please visit Patriot Petitions, and join your name to those calling for John F. Kerry's resignation. Alternatively, you can send a blank email to: sign-Kerry@PatriotPetitions.US. Each email received at that address will be counted as one signature for the petition.