I Got Back Home

Late last night. My two flights back from New Jersey were just as uneventful and timely as the ones going up there, so I don’t really have any complaints. Northwest did a good job or I got very lucky. Either way, kudos to them for making the trip as painless as air travel can be. It was a very busy week and I am a little tired from the training, which was mostly field work and just a little class time.

I’m too old for this stuff I think.

I know.

I’ve paid very little attention to current events or politics this past week. It was quite nice, actually, but I do feel like I am very behind on my reading. Hillary won a big primary, pretty much insuring that she will take the fight all the way to the convention.

Good.

I can’t wait to watch the fireworks.

Obama continues his chameleon campaign, changing colors and his website links as fast as people can find the anti-semitism terrorist-supporting messages in them. Will the media ever notice? Probably not.

I did catch something on the news about a food shortage. The media is all over it pushing panic, of course. I don’t believe a word of it. Neither should you.

I guess I am now both a Global Warming Denier and a Global Food-Shortage Denier.

Cool.

Did I mention my nice two and a half hour chat with the 23 year old very cute, very sweet, very classy Southern-belle blonde from Louisiana who was on her way to New York City? No? How silly of me. Well, it’s a long story - too long for here - but let’s just say I had a great time and never once opened my book or turned on my portable DVD player. And just so you know, I gave her several opportunities to ignore me and sleep or read or just look out the window, but she declined and just kept on chatting. No doubt in awe of the awesomeness of me.

My lawn is up to my knees. Almost. And it is raining so I won’t get to mow it until it gets even higher. Sigh. It’s also cold here today. What the hell? And they opened out pool while I was gone, too.

Did any of you watch the John Adams series on HBO? I did. Fantastic film-making. I also picked-up a copy of the book** while sitting around the airport. Check both out.

Okay, well, that’s it for the moment. Things to do.

BTW, this is an old picture but it is what I do when I am in training. Like I said, I am too old for this.

** Link fixed.

My Newest Read

Liberal Fascism by Jonah Goldberg. A New York Times and Amazon best seller and, if the first chapter is any indication, even better than I expected it to be.

I would like to say I purchased it, but the truth is my very liberal son who works at a bookstore, got it for me for free (employees can check out books and return them). My apologies to Mr. Goldberg, but he shouldn’t worry too much because chances are I will like it so much I will just have to buy it for my bookshelf.

It took some doing to get him to borrow it for me.  He was reluctant to put it mildly, but after loaning him some of my Haz-Mat gear he agreed and it was here when I woke-up this morning. 

No wonder he took two showers last night. Poor kid.

Maps As They Could Have Been And Still Could Be

I found this map over at Strange Maps, which as you can guess from the title is all about strange and unusual maps.

The map is a depiction of a “Balkanized North America” in which “. . . the westward expansion of the Anglo-American people proceeded pretty much as it did in our reality . . .  but the United States government just couldn’t keep up. Every national identity crisis resolved itself in favor of the separatists instead.”

It’s interesting to see how our nation would have formed, or not formed as the case may be, had historical multiculturalism had its way.  Frightening too, in my opinion, because there are many living in our nation who wouldn’t mind seeing some form of this map as a reality now. 

It reminded me of this excellent book, Prayers for the Assassin (and described fairly accurately here and here), that pictures an America of 2040 split into four distinct pieces, an Islamic Republic, a Christian bible-belt, a Nevada “sin-state” and a small Mormon nation.

You can see a bigger version of this map here, by the way.

I highly recommend the book for its great storytelling - it’s a great read, full of political intrigue and interesting characters - but also because it provides a hard look into a future that is possible if we do not continue to deal with Islamic fantacism in a strong way.