Dann Todd's 'Dain Bramage'^**

Abbott Sells Costello A Computer

I received a shorter version of this via e-mail today. Fortunately, I'm old enough to have heard the original. Give it a click. I assure you it it will give you a grin.

by Dann 

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The World Of Order

Also over at Michael Totten's place is a post about a Tom Friedman story where he calls for an active response to the problem that is Hezbolla.

Lebanon, alas, has not been able to produce the internal coherence to control Hezbollah, and is not likely to soon. The only way this war is going to come to some stable conclusion anytime soon is if The World of Order — and I don't just mean "the West," but countries like Russia, China, India, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia too — puts together an international force that can escort the Lebanese army to the Israeli border and remain on hand to protect it against Hezbollah.

I am not talking about a U.N. peacekeeping force. I am talking about an international force, like the one that liberated Kosovo, with robust rules of engagement, heavy weapons and troops from countries like France, Russia, India and China that Iran and its proxies will not want to fight.

Tom writes for the NYTimes, and they have his columns locked behind the subscription firewall. So no direct links to the entire thing.

by Dann 

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Either With Your Shield Or On It

Callimachus is guest blogging over at Michael Totten's place. He has re-posted an entry he wrote three years ago when he was thinking about the American military operating in Iraq. He thinks now is an apropos time to re-read it.

I want to take another stab at convincing some of you there's an important -- essential -- distinction between a warrior and a terrorist, and it's not based on the cause they're fighting for. It's a theme I've brought up from time to time in the blogging I've done.

In Greek histories, Spartan mothers sent their sons to war with the commandment, "Come back with your shield, or on it."

I agree.

by Dann 

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Losing The Fight

For some time, there has been a group of people that were trying to persuade our county not to allow the sales of excess stray animals to class 2B animal dealers. Class 2B animals are used for a variety of medical programs oriented around saving other animals as well as saving human lives.

Many (almost half) animals sold for such uses end up being adopted out to families after their time in the research program has been completed.

Ending the program will inevitably result in more animals being killed by our local animal shelter. The county only has so much space and only has so much money available for feeding strays. When the cages are full, the animals have to go....one way or the other.

Last night, our board of commissioners put emotion before logic and voted to end "pound seizure" and the sales of animals to class 2B dealers. They voted to kill more animals.

I spoke out against it, but as usual I was alone.

by Dann 

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Naming A Country

Back when Canada was still an unnamed nation to our north, they came up with a unique way of coming up with a name for their country.

Miss Great White North, 1706, was selected for the task. She reached into a barrel of chips. Each of which was labeled with a letter of the alphabet. She drew out the first chip and handed it to the announcer, and he said:

"C....eh..."

She drew out the next chip, handed it to the announcer and he said:

"N....eh..."

[With profound apologies to my many Canadian friends and acquaintances. It was too good to pass up.]

by Dann 

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Silly Season

Once again, our great nation launches into silly season. That wonderful season that comes every two years when politicians say and do the silliest things in order to persuade voters to vote for them.

As with past election campaigns, I am thoroughly pissed off by campaigns that contact me in a manner that disregards my privacy and my property rights. Right now I'm having a little go-'round with the Mike Bouchard for US Senate campaign. They are spamming one of my many email addresses. By their own admission, they purchased email lists and are happily spamming all of those addresses to their hearts content. Purchasing lists does not constitute obtaining permission to send commercial email.

Rather than respecting our property rights, Mr. Bouchard's campaign is apparently willing to commit trespass to chattels and theft by conversion in order to promote his candidacy. Did I mention that he's the current Sheriff for Oakland county?? You'd think he'd know that trespassing and theft are against the law.

I gave Mr. Bouchard's campaign due notice that they were abusing my inbox. It was ignored. Therefore, I've been properly and politely reporting this abuse to Mr. Bouchard's Internet provider with the request that they take action to stop the abuse. Thus far they have just passed the complaint along to the media company that has, thus far, provided spectacularly poor email advertising advice to Mr. Bouchard's campaign.

I am also reporting spam that I've receiving from some goomba in Alabama that wants to be the Alabama Auditor General. I'm in Michigan for Pete's sake!! How much farther off could he be??

Here's a couple of candidates with abusive campaigns that lost my vote the last time around. Here is my letter to the editor on the same subject from two years ago.

And here are my rules that all political campaigns should follow if they truly want to avoid abusing people:

1. If there is a "No Trespassing" sign or a "No Solicitations" sign on the front door, then walk away.

2. If a telephone number is on the FCC's "Do Not Call" list, then don't call it and don't pay someone else to call it.

3. Don't send unsolicited email advertising your candidacy. Since "confirmed opt-in" is the only acceptable list generation method, and since so few marketers are willing to adopt this method, campaigning via email is just plain unacceptable.

Also, for the record, I did receive some spam from the Michigan Democratic Party. I responded to a couple of their media gurus and haven't seen anything further from them. And usually I'm not even inclined to vote for Democrats!!

Anyone want to bet me regarding the number of abusive campaigns that I'll be complaining about this year??

by Dann 

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A Tribute To the Human Spirit

The Sandmonkey has some thoughts on the human spirit and our desire to survive and thrive in spite of the violent streak in our human nature.

"So yes, despite my utter contempt for Human nature, I have nothing but outmost admiration for the Human spirit. One should never let the horrors of the first blind you to the beauty of the latter"

Also check out the photos from the Israeli bomb shelter currently home to both Israelis and some Lebanese visitors.

by Dann 

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Lebanon Roundup

NZ Bear has a round up of posts and maps regarding the current conflict in Lebanon.

by Dann 

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Gay Marriage Discussion

Glenn Reynolds has an extensive discussion about gay marriage* going on over at his place.

One of the many points for discussion is the suggestion that gay marriage will in some way harm straight marriage. The argument that is made is that extending welfare that previously only covered widows and orphans to unmarried women helped undermine traditional marriage.

The problem with making such a comparison is that welfare subsidizes behavior [single parenthood] that is socially harmful. Children raised by single parents and even those raised by unmarried adults are more likely to have trouble socializing and performing in school. They also have a greater likelihood of having trouble functioning as adults. That is the socially harmful behavior that results from increasing rates of single parenthood.

Those increasing rates are quite closely tied to expanding welfare benefits, sexual liberation, and the devaluing of traditional marriage. At the least, there is a considerable correlation between increasing rates of single parenthood and all of those phenomenon.

What does gay marriage subsidize? What social harm does it do? People are already disinclined to marry. Wouldn't gay marriage promote stability within the gay community? Would gay marriage encourage straights not to marry?

I've seen marriages where one spouse [and sometimes both] cheats on the other. I've seen marriages marked by alcoholism, mental abuse, and physical abuse. I've seen marriages where one spouse will alternatively abuse** their children and then use their children's affection to harm the other spouse.

If those marriages don't denigrate the institution of marriage, then I don't see how a couple of gay folks that don't want to do such things to one another could possible harm the institution of marriage.

I understand some of the motivations of those that oppose gay marriage. Change is never easy and rarely comfortable. And this would be a huge change. As large as granting women the right to vote. A large as ending Jim Crow. And perhaps gay marriage advocates are pushing too hard and too soon for such a change to be made.

The larger point remains. How will gay marriage harm straight marriage?

*For the purpose of this discussion "gay marriage" refers to the legal rights and benefits conferred by government recognition of a legal union. Churches and church rules for marriage should remain solely within the scope of those private institutions.

**By "abuse" I don't mean beating up children, or torturing them. I do mean creating stress in children's lives that outsiders can clearly see isn't normal. There is a line that needs to be crossed before we use the full power of the state to separate children from their parents. In no case was that line crossed, IMO.

by Dann 

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Perspectives On The Current Israel/Lebanon Conflict.

As you know, I rely on Michael Totten's personal experiences in Lebanon to provide bell weather information about that part of the world. He is currently working on a short term job that is consuming all of his time. His absence is sorely noted.

He took some time to write a few posts [here, here, and here]. Like me, Michael is frustrated with the attacks on Beirut when the real villains are further south on the Lebanese side of the Lebanon/Israel border.

My general feeling upon hearing the news of Israel's campaign against Lebanon was to hope that they would stay focused on the Hezbollah emplacements and leave the rest of the country.....the ones that also oppose Hezbollah.....alone. No one north of Hezbollah questions Israel's motivation for the attacks. Many also share contempt for Hezbollah.

But that is already changing as the peaceful, more secular, more pro-Western Lebanese that live outside of the Hezbollah controlled south are being punished activities that are beyond their control.

As much as I wish Israel good hunting when it comes to killing terrorists, I would also hope that they would point their weapons in the right direction. Something that they aren't currently doing.

by Dann 

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Why Celebrities Aren't Good Policymakers

Or perhaps, why we shouldn't pander to celebrities and their quirks quite as much as we do. Tacitus had posted a story about his trip to South Africa with Ashley Judd. I've enjoyed some of Ashley's film work. But apparently she can be a bit much to deal with on the road. This was some sort of charity gig and apparently being surrounded by AIDS infected children that were also living in extreme poverty did little to correct her skewed perspective.

Tacitus was compelled by his former employer to remove the story. Well, Google saves everything and it saves it forever.

So here's a link to the Google cache. No pictures, which is a shame. But you can view the entire set [including the fabulously beautiful and pain-in-the-ass Ms. Judd] here.

by Dann 

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