Bah! Down with Valentine's Day and all this hearts-and-flowers rubbish. That is all.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 05:02 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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OK. I've managed to get rid of most of the spam, and this entry was reserved to announce it. The posting of short pieces will commence shortly.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 12:59 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The blog has been hit recently by comment spammers, and I'm in the middle of deleting the bloody spam, a process which is taking a lot longer than I thought it would.

There have been a couple of successive waves which have frustrated my efforts at spam control. When the situation is rectified, I'll post the backlog of articles. Does anyone have any suggestions as for how I could prevent all this?

Posted by: Country Pundit at 02:49 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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1 MT allows you to ban IP addresses from Comments. Kindsa like locking the barn door after the horse has escaped, but better than nothing. There are also 'visual recognition' tools that require Commenters to fill out before they can comment. Also I think the latest version of MT, 2.601?, has some Comment spam control fetures. I live with it.

Posted by: The Commissar at February 20, 2004 07:01 PM (tN5jc)

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Greyhawk over at The Mudville Gazette has a post detailing how John Kerry's correspondence to a single voter in the early 1990s managed to have him on both sides of supporting Operation DESERT STORM. (Admittedly, that sort of political reversal isn't outside the realm of legitimate possibility, but Kerry goes from 'no war' to 'I support the troops' within the space of ten days, which I find a bit fishy.)

The best part of the amusing article is this quote:

By the way, Senator Kerry, as a Vietnam Veteran with a Blog, is eligible to join MilBlogs. I wonder if he will? Speaking of which, how come no left wing blogs link as "Friends of MilBlogs?" I thought they supported the troops?

Maybe just some of the troops?

Remember, these folks only support the troops when they're shooting their officers, or otherwise behaving in the manner that Leon Trotsky would find appropriate. That, or testifying on Capitol Hill as to gross atrocities by American forces that apparently never happened. Wait, I may be on to something here; that must explain why Jane Fonda (who I'll admit was a looker at some point) was tolerant of that ugly-mugged Kerry.

Tip of the Wisconsin hat to Swanky Conservative for the link.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 04:01 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Stolen shameless from Jonah Goldberg:

GUADALAJARA, Mexico ? The boos nearly drowned out "The Star-Spangled Banner," and a few dozen fans chanted "Usama! Usama!" as the United States was eliminated by Mexico in Olympic men's soccer qualifying.

A loud anti-American crowd yelled the first name of Usama bin Laden (search), the leader of the Al Qaeda (search) terrorists who carried out the Sept. 11 attacks, as Mexico beat the United States 4-0 Tuesday night in the under-23 tournament, claiming a berth in the Athens Olympics (search).

As U.S. players left the stadium for their bus, several fans -- some clutching beers -- chanted "Usama! Usama!"

All right, all you bloody Texans who think you're all that and the proverbial bag of chips, time to get even. If "Don't Mess With Texas" is supposed to be anything other than a laugh line, I suggest you start shouting "Sam Houston!" when you see some Mexicans losing at a sports game, or perhaps "Cortez! Cortez!" The former works with the types who want to take back the Southwestern States (i.e. Mexican nationalists and La Raza types), and the latter will work with any of the sundry Indian groups comprising the Mexican underclass.

UPDATE: I heard about this sort of thing happening at RFK Stadium when the D.C. United were playing a game against someone; the local south-of-the-border contingent decided it was kosher to boo and heckle the Star-Spangled Banner. Sure it's soccer fans (strike one) and sure they were drunk (strike two) but I'm not a man who favors booing anyone's national anthem (even La Marseillaise, although one can snicker at that) so this is really something that gets me irritated.

Perhaps President Bush, when not too busy giving el Presidente Vicente everything he wants in terms of immigration policy, can mention it to him and get an apology.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 03:24 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The IMDB is reporting that Star Wars and its two sequels are going to be released upon 21 September 2004 in a box set. This is a good thing, right? Absolutely wrong.

It's going to be those bastardized remakes from the 1990s which incorporate annoying things like a revised sequence in Jabba the Hutt's palace and Greedo shooting first at Han Solo in the Mos Eisley cantina. No, I didn't like "Jedi Rocks", either. I never thought I'd agree with Nicholas Meyer (who reportedly hates directors' cuts) but it seems that Lucas should have left well enough alone.

Why am I so ticked at the Greedo shoots first thing? Well, here's why: In the original Star Wars, Greedo was a bounty hunter for the as-yet-unseen Jabba the Hutt, and I thought Han was in a pickle. Greedo jams a blaster in Han's face and maneuvers him to a booth, where the latter eventually starts arming his DL-44 blaster. This culminates with Greedo's "I've been waiting for this for a long time", which Han punctuates with "Yeah, I'll bet you have", and a shot under the table. Greedo's head then thumps down on the table, and an unruffled Solo flips the barkeep a coin in apology for "the mess".

In the revised version, Greedo shoots first. He shoots first and misses. He's got a blaster no more than a foot or two away from Solo's face, and the shot misses. I understand that Greedo's a Rodian and has funky eyes and maybe his depth perception's off, but at that kind of range, you can pick which eye you want the shot going through. Jed and Owen of Boots and Sabers or John of Argghhh!!! are the pistol mavens and would know more, but that's ridiculous to miss at that range.

The justification I heard reported was that George Lucas didn't want to encourage violence and wanted to make sure that Han acted in self-defense. Hello? A pistol in the face and a threat to kill you don't constitute grounds for some sort of deadly force response? Good grief!

I don't know if/when I'll buy these. I've been a Star Wars fan since the 1970s, but I've been left flat by the last two movies, and there's just not a lot of enthusiasm left for me in the franchise.

UPDATE: It seems that others have the general idea and had it ahead of me; once again I'm a day late and a post short. TFB! Anyways. A Small Victory has posts on this subject, here and here. Tip of the Wisconsin hat to Comrade Commissar for sending me in the direction of the other posts with his humorous and somewhat disturbing take on the thing.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 02:58 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Blah. If you're reading this, you're probably aware of the specific split in the candidates' vote totals. Our Democrats rejected Senator John Edwards and General Wesley K. Clark, giving an outright majority to that Northeastern nitwit John Kerry.

I'm embarrassed for my Commonwealth. On top of that, I heard an ad today on the radio for higher taxes from some bunch of nitwits. They wanted "increased funding" and told us to support either Governor M.R. Warner's or Senator John Chichester's plans for "enhanced revenue". This of course means higher or broader taxation. Broader taxation is acceptable if a) it doesn't infringe upon traditionally non-taxed areas, b) comes with reductions in the existing tax structure, and c) is part of fiscal responsibility, i.e. spending cuts. Given the identity of the people pushing this "revenue enhancement", I am not particularly optimistic that any of those three factors mentioned above would be present if they got their way.

Needless to say, this Tuesday hasn't done much for my opinion of Virginia Democrats. Whatever happened to Harry Flood Byrd and pay as you go?

Posted by: Country Pundit at 11:58 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Out there somewhere in the ethereal and eldritch strands of the Internet, there's a photo of a young George W. Bush around the cockpit of a Convair F-102A Delta Dagger. From what I understand, young George was training to fly these things in the Texas Air National Guard.

Much has been made over John Kerry's Vietnam service, and much has been said about George W. Bush not being in Vietnam. The bottom line there is that I don't care. If Bush did his job, then yay for him. If he didn't, I'm still stuck voting for him because I'd rather frog-march someone over broken glass than vote for Kerry.

However, not much has been said about the F-102, one of my more favorite Century Series (Whaddya mean? You like them all. --Ed.) aircraft. Anyways, here's a couple of tidbits about the "Deuce", as it was called by her crews.

1. The Delta Dagger was an all-weather interceptor, remarkably unsuited for tactical air missions (i.e. light bombing and close-air support). It was armed solely with missiles of two sorts and rockets. The missiles were usually a mix of Hughes AIM-4A/AIM-4E Falcon semi-active radar homing missiles and AIM-4C/AIM-4F infra-red homing missiles, and the rockets were 2.75 inch Folding Fin Aircraft Rockets.

2. The vast majority of the 875 Daggers built served in the USAF's Air Defense Command, which kept on the lookout for Soviet bombers. Thus, they served at bases within the United States for the most part, but several squadrons were sent to places like Keflavik in Iceland, Bitburg in West Germany (wow, haven't written that in a long time) and a couple other European countries.

3. Daggers saw service in Vietnam, with several PACAF units being deployed to Thailand and the Republic of Vietnam from 1962 until withdrawal in 1969. They were tasked to prevent the North Vietnamese air force from doing something stupid, but also rode shotgun on B-52 raids up North. In this capacity, the two-seat trainer variant, the TF-102A, was also employed.

4. The 509th FIS reportedly lost one to a MiG-21 on 3 February 1968, somewhere in Route Pack IV, the only known air-to-air engagement by the F-102A.

5. Despite being a pure interceptor, the USAF managed to get some air-to-ground use out of them, courtesy of Project STOVEPIPE. Aircraft would fly over the Ho Chi Minh Trail in the RVN and use their IR-guided missiles to hunt for campfires. If they found a heat source, they fired. Not really a tremendous threat, but Charlie's evening bowl of rice and his bong would be upset by the arrival of a missile. Given that the Falcon's IR seeker had a very short operational life once started on the launch rail, I'm not entirely sure how effective a tactic this was. I'm also told that the pilots would use their radar to try and find targets; if they could lock a target up, they'd fire off a SARH Falcon.

Later efforts saw them using the 2.75-in. FFARs in daylight attacks, which had to be amusing.

6. Many F-102As were expended as drones to support USAF live fire missile drills in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s.

Obligatory Bush content: If W's TANG unit was equipped with Delta Daggers, then it's extremely unlikely that he would have gone to Vietnam, and so therefore hush about him potentially ducking the call.

Much credit to Joe Baugher for his entry on the F-102.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 12:28 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Gah. I hate when Ford drivers win. On the other hand, at least it wasn't one of those stupid Gillette "Young Guns". I've been following NASCAR goings-on in three decades, and it's getting more and more lame all the time.

I miss the good old days of Darrell Waltrip, Cale Yarborough, the Allisons, and Dale Earnhardt.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 11:43 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The Country Pundit, being of civic mind and political virtue, decided to take advantage of John Edwards' presence in the Commonwealth, and drove to a rally being held for the man.

It was held in a small restaurant that wound up being crammed with people, probably 250 or more. Pretty loud, but the George Bush rally I attended in Tennessee four years ago had better volume. (Yes, and about ten thousand people. I hear that helps. --Ed.) Edwards showed up late, which is understandable. Having worked on the middle division (as opposed to the periphery or the inside) of a Commonwealth-wide campaign myself, I know that being late is something that happens all the time. The prior stop always has one last autograph or one last influential local who can't be blown off.

Anyways, Senator Edwards was introduced as the next President of the United States, et cetera et cetera. The taking of pictures was greatly complicated due to the fact that Edwards was addressing the other direction, the one where the television crews were set up. This also means klieg lights, one of which was directly in my face for most of the speech.

A couple of things broadly remembered:

1. Edwards suggests not only "buy[ing] American" but "hir[ing] American" and also "job security" to go along with "national security". These got loud cheers and so forth, especially because he mentioned the textile plant closings that have hit Southside Virginia (i.e. the WDBJ Channel 7 viewing area such as Martinsville and the surrounding environs) rather hard.

I'm pretty sure that Senator Edwards means the repudiation of NAFTA and the imposition of tariffs or something similar. Also possible might be some sort of a direct industrial subsidy, but I'm not sure. At the same time, I honestly like the idea of hiring Americans. It is difficult-if-not-impossible to defend grandiose claims of the glories of free trade when fellow Virginians are put out of work so that someone in a foreign land gets a job.

Edwards has a good line here, and it could take off if he'd been more out in the Martinsville-Danville area.

2. Turning to foreign policy, Senator Edwards talked about how respected we were prior to 11 September 2001 and how President Bush had squandered that respect, acted unilaterally, et cetera.

I understand that these things have to be said, for they are the red meat of the party that doesn't like red meat. At the same time, I always want to ask the speaker either "So what?" or "What part of England/Poland/Australia/other countries committing troops to Iraq don't you understand?"

Similarly, we had respect for us prior to 11 September 2001. Funny, the respect of the world community didn't do a lot to stop Mohammed Atta et al from playing "Make Mine Mistel" with a couple of airliners. Sure we may have risked something to go after Iraq, but then again, I doubt the Franco-German axis was particularly interested in maintaining open respect for us.

3. Literature was somewhat tightly controlled. I usually get at least two of each available thing, but the people at the literature table were rather tightly controlling those things, and I actually had to ask for a lapel sticker. Part of me considers this good cost control but another part of me complains about not being able to preserve parts of the American political history.

Overall, I'd say this was a pretty good stop. I've been to better---read the candidate's on time---but the speech was pretty tight and the energy was there. No money was raised that I'm aware of, so that's a bit of a downer. I also didn't get an autograph.

Bummer.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 11:52 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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1. What's the most daring thing you've ever done?

2. What one thing would you like to try that your mother/friend/significant other would never approve of?

3. On a scale of 1-10, what's your risk factor? (1=never take risks, 10=it's a lifestyle)

4. What's the best thing that's ever happened to you as a result of being bold/risky?

5. ... and what's the worst?

UPDATE: Bugger, somebody named Bec beat me to first.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 01:01 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I was playing Robotech: Battlecry for the PlayStation 2, and one of the missions unlocks interviews with the voice actors/actresses responsible for the game. In many cases, these folks are reprising roles performed for the original 1985 television program.

So anyways, I unlock an interview, and it's of Melanie MacQueen. Most Virginians have seen her at one point in time or the other, because she serves as the Virginia Lottery's mascot, Lady Luck. I figure, "Hey, cool. When I see Lady Luck at something, I'll mention to her that I enjoyed the work she did in Robotech: Battlecry," because it's not every day that I get to talk to a voice actress in a video game that I've got.

So I'm watching this and she mentions getting the part of Lisa Hayes. I got very suspicious all of a sudden, because there wasn't any footage of Commander Hayes in the game. But, I reminded myself that it was Reba West who provided the voice of the old sourpuss.

Curiousity won out, however, and I checked the IMDB entry for Melanie MacQueen, and sure enough, there it was. She had provided the voice for Lisa Hayes and the Zentraedi ace Kiyora in Battlecry. I scrolled down the page and nearly fell out of my seat. Why? Melanie MacQueen had been the voice of Lisa Hayes twenty years ago.

I'm very rarely in a position to be knocked over with a feather. Be it cynicism or world-weariness, not too awful much gets a tremendous drop on me, but this did. I sat there in my apartment saying, "I've talked to Lisa Hayes. Holy [expletive deleted], I've talked to Lisa Hayes!" I'd met Lady Luck at some Virginia Lottery promotional function that was going on, and had decided to say something pleasant to the mascot. At the time, I had no idea that I'd been talking to the voice behind one of my three most favorite characters in the Robotech series. (For the record, the other two are Commander Roy Fokker and Max Sterling.)

Call me crazy, but the next time I see her, I'm getting another autograph, and I've got to tell her that I appreciated her work as Commander Lisa Hayes. It's grand to live in Virginia.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 12:38 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Massive crowds have gathered throughout Kountrypundsk in reaction to the latest production from The Politburo Diktat.

Comrade Commissar has followed in the footsteps of Brigardier General Vincent Brooks, USA, and has issued a deck of customized playing cards "to identify dangerous bloggers, regime holdouts, and hardcore Blaa-blaah-ists."

It's an amusing thing, and it is enjoyed, just like every other thing that the Commissar's produced in this vein. As with those other products, CC's put Glenn Reynolds at the top of the heap, as the Ace of Spades. Hrrm. Instahussein?

Unfortunately, the Country Pundit found that this production was not included. It's like being a gangster who finds out that the FBI just doesn't care about you. Might have to go and do something rash, in the words of C-3P0.

Oh well. There's always the hope that I'm scheduled for inclusion in the upcoming collectible card game as an ultra-rare card. If not that, the crowds will definitely march on the local offices of the Diktat, and exact the revenge of the people.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 05:48 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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I was reading Chessie: The Railroad Kitten by Thomas W. Dixon, Jr. earlier tonight, when I found something that I thought was worth posting here, sort of a "I concur" thing.

The Chesapeake & Ohio Railway ("George Washington's Railroad") had as its mascot a small female kitten known as Chessie. In 1937, Chessie was joined by Peake, billed as "Chessie's Old Man". When America entered World War II, Peake's illustrations started including a garrison cap or some other indicator that he too was off to war with the men of America.

The 1944 C&O calendar depicted Peake reading a letter from Chessie; text as follows: "Dear Peake: We eagerly await your return from war and here at home we're doing all we can to hasten that day. It's the one thought uppermost in our minds. -- Your loving Chessie."

It may sound mushy or trite, but I agree with the C&O's mascot. I want our boys (and girls, !@#%) back home and I reckon a lot of good people are doing what they can to hasten the return of our troops.

It's fair to ask, "This isn't World War II, and nobody's employed on the production lines making B-24 Liberators in 12 hours or so or Liberty ships in a day; moreover, what're we supposed to do?" The answer to that is simple, although perhaps a little less than immediately obvious. What civilians in 2004 America can do is simply support the troops.

It sounds trite, hackneyed, or perhaps overplayed. Lord knows that a lot of left-leaning types like to begin a waffle phrase with "I support the troops, but..." Never mind that; neither those words nor those who speak them are important, but they can have an effect over time. Therefore, the patriotic citizen must practice quiet resolve to defeat those things things which would lead to problems with bringing the boys home.

So, what do we do? Since Vietnam, it has been clear that the national will is tremendously important to the success of any American martial effort. We cannot be defeated in the field, but America stands vulnerable elsewhere. Allow me to present several things that may help the citizen to repel attacks on the national will.

First: Understand that our people can't come home until the job is done. This is a simple thing to comprehend, and it is necessary. The road to the return of forces from overseas first requires that victory must be achieved.

Second: Understand that the job will require total victory. James Woolsey said in a recent speech that there would be no Islamist Gorbachev, someone who sees the light and comes to make peace in the name of radical Islam. Rather, the Islamists will continue their attacks where possible, and their number will increase. The only way to prevent this is to demonstrate utterly without equivocation that to plot violence against the United States is to a) fail miserably and b) die trying in the attempt.

Third: Understand that enforcing failure and death to our enemies is a messy thing. We will, by and large, take many Islamist lives in this conflict. Our forces are heavily armed, highly trained, and the beneficiaries of trillions of dollars in research, development, and procurement. There are times when we will make mistakes, however. Accidents will happen. Innocents will die, and our people will die. That is an unfortunate reality that can only be controlled, never eliminated.

Islamist dead are not to be mourned for anything other than the fact that a human life was needlessly wasted in pursuit of a gruesome and hideous agenda. As for our people, honor their sacrifice by staying the course and resolving to make their deaths meaningful. At some level, our dead perished so that we might not bow to the Islamist or to his allies. Yielding to the demands of those who say that America deserves the rage of the Islamist or that we shouldn't fight evil does exactly what our lost soldiers fought against.

Fourth: Do not be afraid to stand up for your freedom and your way of life. When someone says that America should not be committed to a war on terrorists, remind them that these Islamists came looking for us. Remind them that they want our way of life destroyed, the very way of life that allows you and the other individual to hold and express differing views. Courteously confront those who espouse the negative view, and make them defend their assertions. You may not win over that individual, but others might see and hear, and come away with a better understanding of your viewpoint.

Fifth: Support your soldiers. What does that mean? When you see a man or woman in our country's uniform, thank them for their service. Tell them that you're proud of their successes and that they make your safety possible. It should build morale among the troops, and that's a crucial thing.

That's all I've got; it's probably simplistic, but I wanted to make it easy. I've often asked myself what I can do for the furtherance of the war effort and the nation's legitimate war aims, and that's the best I've come up with to date. And yes, I want our people home. The perfect sound bite for this comes from Apocalypse Now, where Robert Duvall's Colonel Bill Kilgore says, "I want my people out of there now!" He's talking about wounded men, but I think it applies here as well. I care for our folks, and I want them back. I'd also rather them come home after a job well done with no more major needs to revisit the question.

Funny; all this was inspired for posting by an advertising calendar's illustration of a cat from sixty years ago.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 12:45 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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This got sent to me in the 14 January 2004 issue of The Federalist, a conservative e-mail newsletter, and bears reposting for the heck of it:

"Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me because, as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns -- the ones we don't know we don't know." -- The Honorable D.H. Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense.

It's a good quote.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 11:33 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Hrrm. I've arrived, being hit with God only knows how many comments from a spammer advertising prescription drugs or something. To borrow from old Eighth Air Force briefings,

"Gentlemen, the target for today is 217.218.127.73; good luck."

Death to comment spam. I had hoped that I was all of a sudden very popular. Bah!

Posted by: Country Pundit at 02:43 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Yay Patriots.

This marks year three (or more) of me ignoring the Super Bowl. Call me crazy, but I just don't care. (If this keeps up, we're going to have to license that Michelle Branch song. --Ed.)

Posted by: Country Pundit at 11:39 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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