The World Welcomes...

Lauryn Elizabeth [redacted], born some time today (around noon-time). Other important events that occurred on this day in history? On June 20th, 1975, JAWS premiered. I think this bodes well for baby Lauryn's future. Follows is the email from Loretta, the paternal grandmother:

As you know, the baby has arrived. Lauryn Elizabeth [redacted] (I believe the
first name is spelled correctly, but not certain of the middle name spelling.)
at 6 lbs. 14 oz, 19.5 inches long. Born this morning. Dark hair. (for now
anyway) Very nice.

Unfortunately, my camera didn't function
properly on the photo of the entire family, and rather than send something that
didn't come out right, I will send you the one with Michael and the baby and one
of the baby alone, so you can at least see how sweet she is. I'm sure there
will be others of the family coming in the next few days. Until then, I can
say they all looked beautiful and happy, though a little tired so soon
after.

Loretta (the paternal grandmother-ed.)

Pictured below is the bro-in-law Mike with the new addition to the family. Yay!

Three Word Solution...

...For this is simply "complete" and "total" "eradication." They are not terrorists, they are not barbarians, they are not thugs. They are animals. PURE. AND. SIMPLE. Like a pack of wild rabid dogs loose in your hometown, every single last one of them must be hunted down and destroyed. Spare not a single one. Wipe them from the face of the Earth. Destroy all memory of them. Eradicate every last sign that they ever existed. They will not be stopped. They will not be reasoned with. They will not change. KILL THEM ALL!

Mega Movie Madness

SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!

DANGER!!!!!!

So I watched a couple movies yesterday, and thought I'd give y'all a review of them.

Ocean's 13: Had all the standard Ocean's gags and double-crosses, but still not really as good as the first two, and also didn't have Mrs. Michael Douglas in it. Wait for video, if even then. "I liked it." (barely)

Knocked Up: Hilarious movie from the guy who brought you The 40 Year Old Virgin. Like 40-YOV, Knocked Up is on it's surface a typical teenage boy comedy. Full of anatomy jokes, pot smoking, juvenile behavior, and lots and lots of swear words. I think that this is an excellent tactic by the director, rope in a huge audience and then give them something to think about under the radar. Just like 40-YOV showed the final success of a mature "old-fashioned" relationship, Knocked Up espouses some decidedly conservative values. During the first visit to the OB-GYN, we see an ultrasound of the fetus at 8 weeks, and the doctor points out the heartbeat (which apparently starts at 5 weeks). To show the progression of time in the film, they show a NOVA like close up of the baby, with it's developing arms and legs, etc, with a title card that gives it's age in weeks. Early on, the mother decides to keep the baby and the stoner/loser father must decide whether or not to grow up and be a part of the process. While not saying really anything of an anti-abortion tack, I feel the movie is decidedly pro-life, and includes the core conservative belief of individual responsibility. An excellent movie, if slightly colorful at moments. "I loved it."
Update: Kathryn Jean Lopez, I think, misses a critical point with her review of Knocked Up on NRO. She closes her review with:

"Maybe I’m getting old, but it seems to me that the
Wedding-Crashers-40-Year-Old-Virgin crass-blockbuster fun has been had. While
I’m all for redeeming messages (keep the baby, love the child, take some
responsibility for your life) reaching us where we’re at, if this is where the
culture is — 23-year-olds filling gas masks with marijuana smoke — is it really
an excessively laughing matter? (And I say this as someone on record as excessively
tolerant.) With vagina shots and jokes and a bit of a celebration of
loserism, Knocked Up ultimately allows its beautiful aspects to be overpowered
by its disturbing ones. It isn’t a likable-loser crude comedy. It’s a
this-genre-may-have-just-hit-rock-bottom comedy."

While this is her opinion, and therefore "true," I think the point I made earlier is still valid. I really wouldn't recommend this to an ultra-conservative 70 year old blue blooded matron, but then again, such a person clearly isn't the target demographic. If this movie's raunchiness and crude humor appeals to teenagers and twenty-something slackers, I say great. Maybe just a few of them will leave the theater with a "pro-life" thought wedged deep within their pot addled mind. Something to hope for anyway.

Rise of The Silver Surfer: Just crap. Unless you have a very serious crush on Jessica Alba (who is sporting those creepy blue eye contacts), or have a ridiculously low tolerance for movies, definitely skip it, or wait for video. Just kind of lame. "Didn't like it."

Mr. Brooks: A really good and creepy movie with the Mariner. As an aside, this is one of the few films where I think Kevin Costner is a good actor. In my opinion, he can really only play whitebread middle America characters (Field of Dreams, The Bodyguard, A Perfect World, etc.) and when he actually has to act, we get things like Waterworld and Robin Hood: Prince of Crap. That said, this is a great portrayal of a serial killer, living and killing in Portland Ore, who travels down a never before seen path. At least, it's a story arc I don't recall ever seeing. I don't want to give too much away, so just go watch it! "I loved it."

Next Up: Transformers! Transformers! Transformers!!!1!!

Why Am I Here?

So my sister's supposed to have her baby this weekend, my brother and his family went to Disneyland, letting me stay at their place (with a hot-tub, barbecue, big TV, etc) in the BIG city, but am I doing that? No, I'm at work. Yay!!! The good thing is, the boss has to leave by 11 to go to a graduation, so I'm going to cut out early. I plan to go watch a bunch of movies. That are brand new. In the theater. Reviews to follow!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Look at all those candles....hmm.

Happy Flag Day

The American Flag

Today, June 14th 2007, is National Flag Day. USFlag has info on the history of Flag Day, as well as an excellent FAQ which includes such items as proper flag etiquette, half-mast display, and more. From Wiki, more info on Flag Day, as well as it's entry on Betsy Ross. Remember those that fell protecting our Nation's flag. Should flag desecration be a crime?

Mr. Gorbachev...

..."Tear down this wall!" Twenty years ago today, President Ronald Wilson Reagan gave his famous speech, urging Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall and usher in a new era of freedom for all the citizens cowering behind the oppressive iron curtain. The famous line from his speech:

"General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"

Notably, both Reagan's State Department and National Security Council opposed the speech, including Deputy NSA Colin Powell (surprise, surprise). The wall finally fell on November 9th of that year, in an emotional and awe-inspiring display of the people's yearning for freedom.

See also: Powerline has video of the speech, also Bryan at Hot Air has this post which also includes the video.

Update: Welcome AoSHQ morons! After paying proper homage to The Gipper, feel free to look around. Some possibilities are: a theory I had regarding those whales that were lost a couple weeks ago, my FAQ post (even though I've never actually been asked anything!), some recent movie reviews are here, and I develop a rather painful headache! So, make yourselves at home, the bar is open! I am a newbie, so feel free to leave any general tips/ideas/picked-nits in the comments. Thanks!

Dem Supports Child Murderer

A new blog category has been created, brain explosions. From time to time, when I find something that absolutely makes me twitch, I will post it here with this picture:


The item today, this post from MM that will make you want to shoot your computer screen. Please put down all guns and heavy objects before reading!

Fred Heads Unite

Well, I went over to the Fred Heads to sign up. Will you? Also, click here to go to Fred!'s official website to donate lots of money!

Update: Blogger is dumb, it wouldn't let me have "!" in either the post title or in the label title. To make up for that egregious shortcoming, let me just say Fred! Fred! Fred!

Ender's Game...

...Is nigh upon us. Ace has info regarding the development of "the ansible." I can't wait to "meet" Jane. Now all we need is a zero-G battle school and some highly intelligent adolescents and we'll be all set to finely defeat the bugger menace. Yay!

26 Years Ago Today...

...Someone talented and beautiful was born. This woman, born on Tuesday June 9th, 1981, has often been compared to Audrey Hepburn. There is the same classic beauty, and indeed the same intelligence as Ms. Hepburn. Our 26 year old beauty demonstrated this native intelligence by earning straight-A's at a very prestigious university. Born near the sea, she moved with her family at a very young age to the location where she would spend the rest of her childhood. Now, however, she has moved away from the family home for work-related reasons.

Our classic beauty, no, babe really, has a job that not many people can claim to have done. Plenty of other people do this job, but she truly excels at it, even winning awards for her outstanding performance. Although very smart and basically just hot, this charming woman has held true to her principles and beliefs, even in an industry that some say is male-centric. A flashing smile, a sharp wit, entrancing eyes, this woman is definitely one for the ages.

Who is she?

Update: Oh yeah, it's also my little-little sister's birthday today. Right now she's a pilot instructor, but soon she'll be flying one of these. Happy Birthday Bongo!

Poking With Stick...

...with an outraged voice, "I'm not dead yet!" I'm linking to Glenn's post regarding the possible, apparent, short-termed, still breathing demise of the immigration bill because he wittily uses a movie quote, obviously a "skill" I respect.

Update: Ace links to this post which I think nicely sums up some of the behind the scenes wrangling that (hopefully) killed this bill. Just go to AoSHQ, he's posting on this like a...like someone who's posting a lot!

My Very First Bleg

If anyone knows how to fix that mess in the sidebar, please let me know. I did a lot of fiddling around last night with the template, and the best result I got was being able to see the entire Fred! widget, but unfortunately having it overlap onto the posts. Help!

Bumped: Just in case-as if!

Instalanche Bait

Here goes nothing (context):

Prof. Reynolds,

This is a layman's response to John Derbyshire's comment regarding Romney's use of the phrase "a null set." For full disclosure, I am a mechanical engineer, and not a mathematician (or a lawyer). I was intrigued by your post, and decided to dig deeper. Per wikipedia's entry on null set, "in mathematics, a null set is a set that is negligible in some sense." (Wiki's emphasis). It goes on to say that in set theory there is only one empty (null) set, whereas in measure theory, any set of measure 0 is a null set.

By my understanding, iff (heh) Mitt Romney was discussing probability or statistics, than he was correct in his usage of "a null set." However, if Gov. Romney was thinking in purely mathematical terms, then Mr. Derbyshire's critique is correct. However, by my reading of NRO's excerpt of the debate, Gov. Romney was using "a null set" as a synonym for non sequitur. (Which can be either of the logical or absurd flavor). Since (roughly) "it doesn't follow" is not equal to "empty/none/zero/etc.," then it is my opinion that "a null set" is not a synonym for non sequitur, and therefore the entire subject is moot.

However, the real question should be Gov. Romney's usage of the phrase "non sequitur." It may be a valid usage if Gov. Romney considered the question a post hoc ergo propter hoc argument as opposed to a modus tollens argument. This is most certainly the case, since one additional reason someone might make the conclusion that invading Iraq was a mistake is because we didn't invade Iran first. Or maybe I'm trying to read too much into it. And yes, this is "Instalanche Bait".

Respectfully, Thomas Paine

Cross-posted at my blog, 21st Century Common Sense. :)

Developing...

Updated June 8th, 2007 at 9:00 AM: ...crickets...heartache

Ejectia!

Bill Whittle's got a post up on his site concerning the progress of Ejectia, the new meta-community. Read it all, and then stroll around and read everything else he's written. Then sit down and hold your head and ponder. Then go back and read it again. Bill's essays are that good.

Operation Overlord - D-Day

On this day, 63 years ago, almost three million troops crossed the English Channel as part of the largest armada of naval vessels this world has ever seen. The brave warriors of the Greatest Generation went ashore in Normandy to wrest Europe from the iron grip of the Nazis. The best film treatment of these events is undoubtedly Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan. The opening scene of the storming of the beach still gives me chills whenever I watch it. Thanks to the sacrifice of the brave Allied soldiers, a toehold was established on Continental Europe allowing for the ultimate defeat of the evil Third Reich.

Update: Even better post by Slublog over at Ace's, and Bryan at Hot Air has this post (with pictures).

They Never Learn

40 Years ago today, the Middle East's only democratic nation was surrounded on all sides by the forces of darkness. What happened? The Armies of Evil got their collective asses handed to them by a smaller force. The Israeli Air Force was out-numbered 4 to 1 in numbers of aircraft, and the combined Arab force was at least 20% larger in numbers of soldiers. Despite this, Israel inflicted a 27 to 1 kill ratio (in their favor), destroyed 400+ enemy aircraft, captured the Sinai Peninsula, the Golan Heights, Gaza, East Jerusalem, and more. Despite this, they decide to try again. (h/t LGF).

A Round-up of Today's Idiocy

This article from yahoo news wins for best closing sentence.

The Whore of Babylon checks in to the Grey Bar Hotel.

Just when you thought he had pushed the stupidity envelope to its limit, Mike Tyson continues to amaze.

Vermont wants to secede from the Union. My opinion, let them.

"Cold Cash" Jefferson indicted. Possible maximum prison-term? 235 years!

Given Blog Title, Required Post

Bryan over at Hot Air has a post that should be terribly obvious to anyone with half a brain. Not that your typical f'n moonbat has half a brain, damn glorbal warmeners.

It Is To Laugh

Is it wrong to let forth a cynical laugh at this news? Because I did.

Exit Question: What are the holidays like?

Bonus Exit Question: In the unlikely (he's 63, she's 46) event that they spawn and have a daughter, what are the odds that said daughter will be horribly murdered or disappeared?

Remember Tiananmen

Gateway Pundit has the post of those events from 18 years ago today.

A Few Movies I Watched

So I decided to be a little lazy this weekend. About the only real thing I accomplished in the meatosphere was installing an air conditioner in my house. Cool. So I watched a few movies this weekend, and thought I'd sure some short reviews/thoughts. As an aside, I have decided to adopt netflix's scoring system for maximum neural efficiency. On to the movies!

Smokin' Aces starring a bunch of people. Kind of like Ocean's Eleven meets Lock Stock, but not quite as good as either. Entertaining enough, just nothing to write home about. "I liked it."

Pan's Labyrinth starring a bunch of Spanish people. Yes, I was aware that it was marketed as a fairy tale for adults and is rated R, but it stars a little girl and is a fairy tale. So I was stupidly surprised at the brutality and sheer "messed-upness" of the film. Very moving and beautiful, a must see. "I really liked it"/"I loved it."

The Painted Veil starring Kong's Bane and Smoochy the Rhino. I liked it because I love Smoochy, in a completely hetero way, because I think he's one of his generation's most talented actors. I also love Jet Girl because, well, she's unbelievably and incredibly hot, and also a good actress. In a nutshell, The Painted Veil is very English Patient-ey, and if it were a fruit, I'd say it was "a very plum, plum." Like English Patient, it's filmed in a very sumptuous and beautiful manner. Instead of the throat parching desert, you can almost smell the sickeningly sweet fragrance of tropical orchids wafting from the screen. Set in the hinterlands of 1920's China, The Painted Veil centers around a bacteriologist, and his wife, sent to a small town to deal with a cholera outbreak. Most excellent. "I loved it."

Blogging the Koran

Robert Spencer's first installment of blogging the koran is up at Hot Air. Read it all!

Ouch...

I think my brain just exploded.

(From this post at LGF)

Just for Brooke

I have a sister-in-law, Brooke. Currently she is unemployed, and therefore probably my primary (and most likely only) reader. She self-identifies as a centrist lefty, but from my perspective, she's a member of the loony liberal left. So anyway, she mentioned that I've been slacking this week (as I've already noted), so I thought I would put up a post just for her. Enjoy!


Of course, such paragons of cuteness eventually turn into this, or even this! And so they must all be dealt with appropriately!

F.A.Q.'S

Who is Thomas Paine?

Aside from the obvious, just like my profile states, I am a thiry-something engineer attempting to effect great change in The Republic.

OK, so what does that mean?

I intend to lend yet another voice to the cacophony of the blogosphere. If just one person reads my blog (that would be a start), forms an opinion about current affairs, converts from the dark side and goes on to fight for "truth, justice, and the American way," then I will consider my efforts a success.

Why bother?

Ultimately, to rid the world of this. (EXTREME content warning!)-via this post at The Jawa Report.

That's really gross!

Well, that's the enemy, and the reality, we face. Sorry about that. By the way, the fierce and murdering Taliban jihadi in the picture above, he's twelve. When I was twelve I think I wanted to be Indiana Jones, or maybe a Transformer.

So is that it, you're another counter-jihadi?

Not quite, I just know that the rise of islamofascism is this generation's greatest challenge. There are other topics I consider important, just not as much as the possibility of crazed moon-rock worshippers killing fellow Americans. (Is it a slur if it's the truth?)

Like what?

Well, border security is the most recent topic in the news, but also the economy (good), government spending (bad), pork/earmarks (out-of-control), inflated government size (bad), abortion (bad), low taxes (good), etc, etc.

Ah ha! So you're a Republican!

Well, I was, until the proposed amnesty bill currently in the Senate ("the straw that broke the camel's back") caused me to re-register with no party affiliation. The only way I'll register as a Republican again is to vote for Fred! in the primary. Other than that, I'll only support candidates, of any party, who actually want to preserve the integrity and greatness of this country.

Blah blah blah, what's with all this "Fred!" nonsense I've seen around?

You mean Sen. Fred Thompson? Why might it be a good thing for him to run for POTUS? Well for starters, he's very down-to-earth, a great communicator, an accomplished actor, and so far as we know, a true conservative. (Sound familiar?) Now of course, he's not in the race yet, and we still have much to learn about his ideas, plans, goals, etc. etc. Currently, with what is now known, his role can be summed up thusly: "This is our most desperate hour. Help us Fred!, you're our only hope."

So is that it?

Well, that about sums it up. There is of course much more, but that's enough for now.

What's Shaking in the Blogosphere

OK, I've been slacking the last few days, I know. Just dealing with craziness on both the work front and the home front. (Since when do the kids have to parent the parents, teh silly). Anyway, the big story of the weekend obviously is the JFK terror plot. After prolonged silence from the left, the Kos Kids are finally showing their true colors. Typical moon-battery. Allahpundit's got the must-read round-up over at Hot Air. Also check out Michelle's coverage as well. A familiar name that popped up and may be linked to the plot, Adnan Shukrijumah.

As a barely important aside (found via HA's new headlines feature), Putin has decided to place Russia back on a cold war footing by targeting European sites with nuclear missiles. Related info can be found here.