Beer in the Headlights

With a hefty dose of class and dignity

Bill Bennett and Seth Leibsohn have written an eloquent and thoughtful critique of Barack Obama. Consider it something like "Counter-Coulter" given it's lack of inflammatory and derogatory commentary.

It's well worth the read and I'll just list the bullet points and link to the column where you can read the explanations for each.

1. Barack Obama’s foreign policy is dangerous, naïve, and betrays a profound misreading of history.

2. Barack Obama’s Iraq policy will hand al-Qaeda a victory and undercut our entire position in the Middle East, while at the same time put a huge source of oil in the hands of terrorists.

3. Barack Obama has sent mixed, confusing, and inconsistent messages on his policy toward Israel.

4. In the primary campaign, Barack Obama consistently campaigned against NAFTA, but has now changed his tune, as he has with other issues.

5. Barack Obama’s judgment about personal and professional affiliations is more than troubling.

6. Obama is simply out of step with how terrorists should be handled; he would turn back the clock on how we fight terrorism, using the failed strategy of the 1990s as opposed to the post-9/11 strategy that has kept us safe.

7. Barack Obama’s economic policies would hurt the economy.

8. Barack Obama opposes drilling on and offshore to reduce gas and oil prices.

9. Barack Obama is to the left of Hillary Clinton and NARAL on the issue of life.

10. Barack Obama is actually to the left of every member of the U.S. Senate.

And it's not just because he's a fellow Rutgers alumnus.

Tony Soprano is shedding his wardrobe for charity. James Gandolfini, who starred on the hit HBO series, is selling off 24 outfits, including the button-down blue shirt he wore in the opening credits and the bathrobe he donned to fetch the morning newspaper.

Proceeds from the June 25 pop culture auction at Christie's will go to the Wounded Warrior Project, a nonprofit group that assists severely wounded soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Estimates for the costumes start at $500.

Gandolfini's wardrobe, which includes many outfits with the original production tags attached, is expected to bring up to $36,500.

The article doesn't reference anything about it, but I do recall he's done some charity work in the past for the Wounded Warrior Project.

It's refreshing to see someone in show business do something for those that have taken one for the team, so to speak. Celebretards usually raise money for AIDS or something absurd like the Transgendered Undocumented Worker Legal Defense Fund.

Chock full of interweb meme greatness

And the song is pretty good, too.

Thank you, Sonny.

Georgians with carry licenses will be able to tote their concealed guns on public transportation, in restaurants that serve alcohol and in state parks under legislation signed by Gov. Sonny Perdue on Wednesday.

Thugs like Nafiza Ziyad will now have to think twice before they "get all up in someone's face" on Atlanta's MARTA trains. Law abiding MARTA riders are no longer sitting ducks.

John McCain rarely speaks about his experiences as a POW in Vietnam, but one of his cell mates at the Hanoi Hilton on Thursday described some of the conditions and character traits that earned McCain the commendations he received for his war service.

Col. George “Bud” Day, 83, is the most decorated service man since Gen. Douglas MacArthur, with more than 70 medals. A living legend, Day was blown out of the sky two months to the day before the North Vietnamese shot down a propaganda prize, whose father and grandfather were renowned American admirals.

I blogged about what Bud Day had to say about McCain, but it merits mentioning again.

Admirable, tough and honorable behavior as a POW doesn't necessarily qualify one to be president, but it sure sets McCain apart from Obama and Hillary.

Just take a look at the spineless way Obama has handled the problems surrounding his pastor spiritual advisor and mentor. And look at Hillary crying on the campaign trail.

No contest. None.

Let them know you care.

I received a link to the Gratitude Campaign via email this morning and the timing on it is interesting as I just learned the other day that someone I knew in high school was killed in Iraq last August.

I hadn't thought about Jason for years. I had forgotten about him. But upon finding out that he was killed in the line of duty brought back some fuzzy memories of who he was. I'm not sure why but I was moved a heck of a lot more than I thought I would have been. It's not like he and I were anything approaching close friends.

I suppose what hit me so hard is that he's someone from my youth that is no longer with us. He was taken too soon. He was killed doing something important and selfless.

Thank you, Jason. Your loss is not in vain.

And to all the men and women serving us with honor and distinction thank you.

I've been wanting one. I've been dropping hints.

Well, it finally came.

OK, settle down... It's not mine. It's Mrs. TC's.

I've got my trusty 4+ year old ThinkPad on which I'm creating this here blog entry and she hasn't had a computer of her own. I met the missus at Fry's this afternoon and we picked out a MacBook. This one.

Frankly, it's better than I had hoped. It's fast, frighteningly easy to use and looks pretty good. The recent Popular Mechanics Mac vs. PC article was the tipping point for me.

The slick little box fired up and was a breeze to configure. I just had to skip past the wireless network configuration part because I was too lazy to transcribe the wireless security key from a text file on my flash drive. Going into the settings to create the connection was easier than eating pancakes. Updates were far quicker than those for Windows.

Mrs. TC wanted the ability to fiddle with Word documents so we bought VMWare Fusion so we could run copies of Windows XP Home and Office XP. Both the Windows and Office installed quickly and without a hitch. And it's pretty cool how fast Windows XP boots up inside the Mac OS.

I've played with Windows Vista. I hate it. I've made my living knowing my way around various Windows operating systems for over ten years. In my opinion, hubris got the best of the gang in Redmond when it came to rolling out the successor to Windows XP. Vista is a bloated pain in the behind.

Do yourselves a favor when it's time for some new computer hardware and buy a Mac. Either that or get yourself a good quality computer and load Ubuntu Linux on it.

My son is getting to the age where he should get his own computer. I hate to do it to him, but the next Mac in this household is mine and it's going to be a nice MacBook Pro.

Spring arrived along with the seasonal "honey do" list. First item; ceiling fans.

Bought three ceiling fans from Lowe's for each of our (occupied) bedrooms. Two out of three weren't bad. But this one sucked. It's noisy, wouldn't go into reverse and now is inoperable. It's going back.

We bought our fans from Lowe's because Home Depot is my enemy, but that's a blog entry for another day.

I had to borrow an 8' step ladder from our neighbors as the gable ceiling in my daughter's room it 14' high. I'm 6'3" and could just reach the ceiling.

As mentioned above I detest Home Depot. Lowe's is better, but not great. You want great service? Go to Ace. I love my local Ace Hardware. I had to buy some extra wire, 40 watt bulbs for the ceiling fans, furnace filters, wire nuts, and #8 wood screws to fix the gate at the bottom of the stairs. They had it all there and they knew exactly where everything was located.

I got the notion to replace the lackluster light fixtures in our upstairs hallway with the ones I took down from our bedrooms. They look great. I slapped some 60 watt compact fluorescent bulbs into them. I didn't do it because I'm out to save polar bears or to keep spring and fall high tide engulfing Miami. I'm just a frugal guy and the cf bulbs do cost less to use than do incandescent bulbs. Gotta be the Scottish blood in my veins.

Fixed the hinge on the baby gate at the bottom of the steps. A couple weeks ago my son decided it was a playground implement and was swinging on it. The screws that held the top hinge to the banister post sheered off so I had to remount the hinges. Not looking forward to having a seriously scarred wood finish when it's time to take the gates down in a year or so.

After all that it was time to vacuum. I love our vacuum. It's a Simplicity upright and it will suck up small animals and maybe even midgets without breaking a sweat. We bought it from a terrific vacuum store in Gainesville, GA. Got up-sold on it in a big way, but I'll have to admit that the thing is worth every penny. Quality construction, great performance and made in the USA.

As I was vacuuming I got to thinking about items on one shouldn't skimp. Although a vacuum might not come to mind, I'll have to add it to the list. Other quality items include a chef's knife, a paring knife, grill (gas or charcoal), cookware, firearms, tents, hand tools and footwear. I'm sure there's plenty more I could add to the list.

Now it's time to get started on some paella for dinner.