STS116-S-002 : STS-116 crew Godspeed Discovery!

Image above: These seven astronauts take a break from training to pose for the STS-116 crew portrait. Scheduled to launch aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery are, front row (from the left), astronauts William A. Oefelein, pilot; Joan E. Higginbotham, mission specialist; and Mark L. Polansky, commander. On the back row (from the left) are astronauts Robert L. Curbeam, Nicholas J.M. Patrick, Sunita L. Williams and the European Space Agency's Christer Fuglesang, all mission specialists. Williams will join Expedition 14 in progress to serve as a flight engineer aboard the International Space Station. The crewmembers are attired in training versions of their shuttle launch and entry suits. Photo credit: NASA

NASA has a launch blog for Discovery.

 

I have another Blog Critic article up and running. 

 

A day that will live in infamy – and the memorial.  A few minutes ago Fox had an excerpt from the ceremony today and the playing of Taps.  Okay, it made me cry.  You think off all those brave men and women who died fighting for freedom.  We remember them, but are we honoring those who are dying today?  It sounds so trite, but so true.  Freedom isn’t free and those who are willing to give up a little liberty for security deserve neither.  (Stolen from Ben Franklin.)   

 

 Just who is remembering?

 

Check out the tribute on . Wizbang mentions it. Hedgehog has a heart-wrenching (after all these years) of the Arizona as it dies and refers to Tom Bevin’s RCP blog today.    Little Green Footballs has a mention and a commentary. and a poster from the National Archives.   Ankle Biting Pundits has a comment. Captain’s Quarters has one of the best tributes. Right Wing Nuthouse has a tribute and a stunning photo that would be magnificent if we did not know the subject and the horror.

 

I can’t get over all this you know what about the night launch of Discovery and not being able to do any photography.  Bull!  Some of the best photography I ever did at a shuttle launch was during a night launch.  There is nothing like it.  At the same time there’s some bad solar activity going on.  Someone is going to get some gorgeous auroras.

 

The Pajamas Media  is reporting that the grand Ayatollah is in grave condition.  This could get very interesting. 

 

I’m sorry, but there is no longer any honor in my beloved game of baseball.  Once upon a time anyone doing what Barry Bonds has done or has even alleged to have done would be outta there.  Not now.  It just gets him more money. http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/12/07/D8LSC3E80.html

 

AJ Strata just keeps on detailing the spy thriller that is reality there in London.  The plot thickens. It is getting weirder by the day.  There is no way this could be fiction, it is just too strange and no one would believe it. Strata is doing probably the best job I’ve seen keeping up with a story that needs a complicated scorecard and playbook.  He makes one major point at the end of today’s post:

“…What worries me most about this incident right now is the Polonium-210. It’s utility as weapon is severely time constrained. For either a nuclear bomb or a dirty bomb it only has so much shelf live. In a little over four months after it is produced it loses half its potency and is half lead. I would guess (and I am guessing) at that point it is not very useful in a weapon. At 2 months it loses a quarter of its potency. The Litvinenko poisoning was a month ago. This doesn’t leave this batch much more time to be of use to terrorists. If this was an assassin attempt then there is a problem that there could be a large source of Polonium out there somewhere. But that same problem exists if this is all about a smuggling effort for a very dangerous nuclear material. How much was brought into London? We know how much killed Litvinenko - enough to kill 100 people (at a cost of 30 million Euro). Obviously that was not all the material given all the contaminated sites. When will the UK discuss this aspect of the situation - the left overs. How can we be sure Litvinenko ingest all the Polonium apparently smuggled in?”

 

Thursday Blog Trackbacks and Mentions

 

Don’t forget the Open Trackback Alliance.  You may want to check out the 910 Group Blog. I think the principle behind this one could become increasingly important as we continue this horrific War for Civilization.  I have been so negligent of the Persecution Blog and I am sorry.  think in this day and age nothing is more important than praying for Christians who are being persecuted every day, for our faith.  I have found a fascinating  You may want to check it out along with their no foul language blog-roll.  I really like the idea of not using the “F” word, but reserve the right to use a few of my other favorite profanities such as ___ ___ and ___ especially when dealing with Democrats! Since I am dedicated to the whole idea of doing anything possible to prosecute pedophiles and prevent other children from going through what I did when I was eight years old, I don’t think it is a good idea for me to join something ‘family friendly’ because I may have some stuff a parent might not want a younger child to read.  I think the work going on with Absolute Zero is terribly important.  I just wish I had time to do more.

 

Christopher Brocius of Absolute Zero also does the Cowboy Code blog-roll which I swear is my very favorite, even though he is a Brocius and I am a Wyatt Earp groupie, biographer, etc.  You know, Wyatt would love it.  I just wish I had permission to tell a story I know about Wyatt.  It is incredible.  Bottom line, he was a good guy and a protector of women who had been abused.  It is an incredible story and I can’t even tell it. 

 

Yesterday was a very good day from a purely superficial and tacky standpoint.  Finally, after 15 years of trying, I was able to procure a 1991 Hallmark Star Trek ornament of Enterprise NCC1701!  Best part of it is I managed to hook into an EBay sale where I picked it up a good $150 below list price!  I also finally managed to get the rest of my ornaments on the tree. 

 

Friendship is very important to me.  I’ve learned a lot about it through the remarkable friendship between Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday.  There is a scene in Tombstone that takes place not long after Wyatt Earp has basically blown Curly Bill Brocius  (Sorry about this, Christopher Brocius over at the Cowboy Code! apart at Iron Springs.  Wyatt is dealing with his demons.  Doc Holiday is dealing with his TB and the consequences of not taking care of himself.  At one point one of the participants in the Vendetta Posse asks Doc why he is endangering himself.  Doc replies, “Wyatt Earp is my friend.” 

 

You stick up for your friends when you see them unfairly attacked.  What Rush Limbaugh and all the RIGHT people are doing to men like Lindsey and John McCain because they are not 100% pure in their eyes as conservatives is just plain wrong.  I think what is even worse is the fact that there are those who do not have the ability, or refuse to even comprehend that unwarranted personal attacks are not only counterproductive but are also somehow bordering on the immoral or perverse.  Lindsey Graham is my friend.  He does not deserve to be attacked the way conservatives are attacking him.  Strange, but a few years ago when he was on the impeachment trial of Bill Clinton he was the conservative’s darling fair-haired boy.  There is something seriously flawed when certain individuals set themselves up as the bastions of what is right and what isn’t. 

 

Lindsey on the Iraq report. 

 

If ever there was a more perfect example of what is wrong with the conservative RIGHT end of the GOP, the comment posted to Wednesday’s entry is it


“Lindsey Graham is a big moderate. He wants media adulation, like McCain, on fact his main goal seems to be to impress McCain: he says whatever Mcain (sic) does. There are many instances of Graham RINO'ing it up: Gang of 14, the torture bill, this summer on military tribunals, etc. He's pretty spineless on most things- not a true conservative. Rush does the same thing to McCain, because you can't respect them as conservatives.”

 

 

And this is my reply. “Thank you so much for the comment.  It is truly quite remarkable.  I have problems with an all or nothing mentality.  My real concern with conservatives (and I still believe 90% of ‘conservative’ issues) is that my 90% isn’t good enough.  Lindsey’s 96% conservative rating isn’t acceptable?  The other thing that constantly dismays me is the fact that character is no longer a measure for an individual.  I am not a McCain fan, but I can find nothing in his character that would give me license to demean or devalue him as a person or a Republican.  As a personal friend of Lindsey’s I happen to know he is one of the finest, most honorable, most decent, most patriotic men to ever serve in the House and the Senate.  But, evidently decency, honor, and patriotism aren’t enough anymore.  Where does it end?  Frankly, I can no longer participate in the practice of degrading and destroying good men and women, no matter their political views.  There are too many truly disgusting people in the political scene who need to be ferreted out and removed from office. These are the people who truly make everyone look bad.  I don’t care if a man or woman is liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican as long as they are decent, honorable, and truly have the best interests of the country at heart.  If one accepts the all or nothing mindset, then men and women who have a 100% conservative rating, but are truly deplorable individuals (and there are more than a few in public office) are allowed to hold office, but men like Lindsey Graham or John McCain have no right to be in office at all because they are not perfect conservatives.  Don’t you see the fallacy here?  When the pure of ideology who are not of admirable character are more acceptable to a movement than decent, honorable individuals who are not pure of ideology, then we have a very serious problem.

 

So then I hear Rush crudely say, “Lindsey Graham soon to die of anal poisoning for sticking his nose so far up John McCain’s…” That is nasty, disgusting.  It demeans Rush, not Lindsey.

 

Fascinating Karl Rove take from today’s Political Diary

“…While much of Mr. Rove's briefing is his attempt to explain why the Republican defeat was not historically unprecedented or very surprising, he does engage in some introspection. He acknowledges that Republicans lost several seats because they were unwilling to insist that some members who had either "misbehaved or overstayed their welcome" look for new lines of work. One participant told me Mr. Rove was clearly referring to cases such as those of Rep. Mark Foley, who resigned from Congress over improper email exchanges with former pages, and Rep. Don Sherwood, who paid an out-of-court settlement to resolve civil accusations that he had attempted to strangle his mistress. "His message was that they had hung to incumbents too long and they paid a price for that when voters rebelled against their behavior," the participant told me. NewsMax.com has also reported on the Rove meetings and says they included a strong statement by Mr. Rove that the White House would not follow the example of Bill Clinton and engage in a policy of "triangulation." That term was invented by former Clinton political guru Dick Morris as a way of explaining how Mr. Clinton could simultaneously support small-bore policies that appealed to the right and to the left -- school uniforms and parental controls on the Internet were famous examples -- and boost his approval ratings. Mr. Rove says President Bush will have none of that. He insisted Mr. Bush would remain steadfast in appointing conservative judges and continuing to try to force less bloated budgets out of Congress. Mr. Bush will also continue to fight for the extension of his tax cuts. Mr. Rove also made clear the President is not interested in a deal to reform Social Security that involves massive tax increases.”

You need to read a posting by Matt Margolis over at GOP Bloggers.  Howard Dean is calling for a Florida Do-Over for the seat vacated by Katherine Harris.  Yes, you read it correctly – a redo of the election.  At least they are consistent.

 

Giuliani is a little ticked with the Iraq report. 

 

“…Mayor Giuliani resigned from the Iraq Study Group when it became clear that signing the group’s report would politicize its findings and conflict with his likely presidential run in 2008. When asked yesterday by The New York Sun, the mayor said he had not read the report’s recommendations but that some of those he had heard about on television sounded “useful.” Nonetheless, Mr. Giuliani’s views on the war are in contrast to the Iraq Study Group’s conclusions. The extent of Mr. Giuliani’s disagreement with the bipartisan group’s Iraq policy recommendations, published yesterday, was made clear in remarks he made to a talk-show host, Dennis Prager, on Tuesday. “The idea of leaving Iraq, I think, is a terrible mistake,” the former mayor said. The group’s report, however, stresses that America should not make an “open-ended” commitment of troops and links the presence of troops to milestones met by the Iraqi government….”

Malkin has a piece about the catfight between Hillary and Arianne Huffington.  Meow! /

Captain’s Quarters has an excellent piece on the tax code. 

Say it ain’t so.  Placido Domingo was booed at the Metropolitan Opera last night during the a performance of La Boheme.  Before you say how can he be that bad, you need to know he was conducting, not singing (that’s where the problem was – HE should have been doing Rudolpho.  Evidently he and obnoxious diva Anna Netrebko (Mimi) were not getting along.  From what I gather this is one of those jinxed performances, enhanced by temperamental sopranos. 

Primary roundup

Race42008 has a detailing of a nightmare scenario.  Obama winning. 

Lord help us all.  Joe Wilson and Valarie Plame are moving to NM (there goes the neighborhood) to work with Bill Richardson’s presidential run.  Fortunately he is next to last.  Richardson is going to announce in January.  Remember this is the man who was in charge of the DOE when all those lovely little scandals occurred.  I must give him credit as a governor though.  He has created a huge budget surplus here in NM.    Richardson is denying he is running.

The rumors about Rudy to the UN persist. I read it the other day in a James Taranto piece in the WSJ.  Now Race42008 has picked it up. 

 

The big problem for Giuliani are the RIGHT conservatives who control the GOP primary system. 

 

 

Thirteen Reasons I am a such a Scrooge at Christmas 

1.    Country Music Christmas Carols

2.    Rap Christmas Carols

3.    Barbara Streisand singing Christmas Carols

4.    Christmas Music in Malls

5.    Same Christmas songs being played over and over on radio

6.    Grand Old Opry Christmas Music

7.    Michael Jackson singing Christmas songs

8.    Hokey Christmas TV music specials

9.    My ex-brother-in-law’s Christmas music selections

10.  Christmas music in grocery store, Wal-mart, Target, Albertsons, etc

11.  Christmas being played before Dec 20

12.  Heart felt (yea right) renditions of Christmas singing on made for TV movies on Hallmark, etc.

13.  Constant, mind-numbing repetition of Christmas music, same song, 1,000,000 times between Thanksgiving and Dec 25