Catching up

There's lots of stuff on the Internet to keep me away from writing. Too much, in fact. I need to get back to it after spending three days reworking my plot to catch up with my characters. If you're a writer, you'll understand - frequently your characters will "take over", and you're just along to put the words on paper. That usually works for a couple of chapters, then you lose the plot. You've got to keep a tight rein on these nonexistent folk, or they'll steal your book! Anyway, it's time to dig in and start cranking out words. I'll try to update the count before going to bed tonight, but suffice it to say that I'm halfway and a bit more. Still need another 25,000 words, but I think I'll make the deadline on time.

I'm still interested in finding a few people to read what I've written, and let me know of any major blunders. It will have to be a labor of love, since I don't have an extra dime to send anybody's way! Just click on the Blog title for my email address, and let me know you're interested. I prefer to send my work zipped, so I'd also expect the recipient to be able to unzip it.

Here are a few things I've run across in the last couple of days that might be interesting, plus some comments.

More big fat lies
Obesity Statistics Are As Bogus As Weight-Loss Scams

As if we hadn't already figured that out for ourselves... Now we have research to back us up.

Lawsuit challenges critical habitat for 48 species in California
PLF lawsuit accuses two federal agencies of broad failure to meet the requirements of the Endangered Species Act.

Colorado had the same problem with the so-called Preeble's Jumping Mouse, which turned out to be the same species as 22 other "unique" mouse varieties along the Colorado Front Range. The Endangered Species Act is being used by environmentalists as a club against growth. Unfortunately, it's being extensively over-used, to the point where the entire Endangered Species protection process is being undermined.

A couple of blogs to check out:

Interested Participant has some good articles, including some really off-beat stuff that's good for a glow or a laugh.

2Slick, posting from Kuwait/Iraq. He's going in the MilBlog section!

Outside the Beltway has some interesting articles and great links this week, including some interesting stuff on the Bush Cabinet reshuffle. Check 'em out.

Patrick Ruffini is the person that ran the George Bush website, and did some great work helping get President Bush re-elected. He's returned to blogging, and is looking for a 'paying gig'.

The Left continues to disgust me.

I'm not a Republican, but I did vote for George Bush. I picked Bush, because I believe he understands one important thing - we are in a war, and it's going to be long, bloody, and costly. He also believes, as I do, that there's no other option but winning if the United States is going to survive. My vote was not just an "Anybody but Kerry" voter, but having been in Vietnam when Kerry was testifying, and knowing that every word out of his mouth was BS, I would not have voted for him if Atilla the Hun was the only other candidate.

One of the lies the Democrats keep repeating is that "they're far more intelligent than anybody on the Republican side". I don't know about the rest of the Bush voters, but I find that offensive. I'm not the sharpest pencil in the drawer, but I'm intelligent enough to have attended the Air Force Academy for a semester. I managed to make a perfect score on a Veteran's Administration intelligence test. My SAT scores were not great - verbal 604, Math 596, in 1963. Quite a few of my fellow cadets had perfect 1600's. My ASVAB tests were all maxed out, and so was my AFQT. My Air Force language aptitude score was 132 - I have no idea what that means, but the Air Force tried mightily to send me to Chinese language school. I don't have a Bachelor's Degree, but I do have more than 200 semester-hours of college credit, and could qualify for about 70 more through "life experience" - I've had enough of THOSE! Some of those "life experiences" including two different periods of working on archeological excavations. I've been credited with 7 hours of postgraduate credit in field work, if I ever decide to claim them. I've visited most of the countries of Latin America and Europe, and a few in Asia. I read about 300 books a year, which includes anywhere from 50 to 100 non-fiction works ranging from Anthropology to Zoology, with just about everything but math included. I never could understand how I could build B-52 flight plans that required a working knowledge of spherical trigonometry, but had to have a calculator to balance a checkbook...

The thing is, I know dozens, possibly hundreds of people like me. Most of us are prior military, or currently still on active duty. Most of us were Air Force, but a few were Army and Marines. A third of us are Vietnam veterans. We "fought" other wars as well, unrecognized, unheralded, but actively participating in keeping track of the action, building scenarios and watching them either be carried out or falling through, and more or less keeping track of all the nastiness that might threaten our nation. I've probably spent more time looking at East German airfields than most people in this nation did filling out their annual income tax over the last 30 years. The overwhelming majority of my friends consider themselves both well-informed and conservative.

It takes all kinds of people to add up to 60 million voters. To claim that "all the intelligent people" voted for Kerry is an insult to those of us who have just as much on the ball as any Kerry supporter, seasoned with some real-world experience and a healthy dose of common sense. That last ingredient, common sense, seems to be the primary missing factor on the liberal side of the political equation.