the irish lass

Calblog

My friend Justene at Calblog has a couple of new topics she's blogging about.

I'm blogging differently. You'll find my biweekly poker column at Blogcritics.org. In addition, I have become part of Vespaquest, a new corporate blog for Vespa scooters. In the next year, I plan to switch from car driver to scooter rider and I'm blogging the effort as well as providing insight into life's journey in general.

Blogshares?

Can anyone explaing to me what Blogshares is? I have apparently been purchased by William Fisher and am worth $4,748.80.

I Hate SUVs

Yesterday the Opionion Journal posted the following:

Make SUV, Not War

Almost three years ago, we quoted Keith Bradsher, a New York Times reporter, who had this to say about people who drive sport-utility vehicles:

"They tend to be people who are insecure and vain. They are frequently nervous about their marriages and uncomfortable about parenthood. They often lack confidence in their driving skills. Above all, they are apt to be self-centered and self-absorbed, with little interest in their neighbors or communities."

Well, at least he didn't say they're excitable! Blogger Andrew Sullivan, just back from vacation, has alighted on this ancient trope:

As far as I'm concerned, those people driving SUVs are aiding and abetting the enemy, and helping to finance the terrorists that want to kill us all. I'm well aware that the notion that the Bush administration has any interest in energy independence or taxing gas or deterring SUVs is about as likely as their demanding subsidies for sex-changes, but I might as well vent. We can always stigmatize these SUV-terror-enablers. How about bumper-stickers for non-SUVs that simply say: my car doesn't subsidize Saudi terror. Would that help?

Later he relays a reader's tasteful slogan suggestion: "How many soldiers-per-gallon does your SUV get?"

Meanwhile, al-Jazeera reports that "speculation over the actual size of Saudi Arabia's oil reserves is reaching fever pitch as a major bank says the kingdom's--and the world's--biggest field, Gharwar, is in irreversible decline." If this turns out to be true, then SUV drivers should be regarded as heroes, not goats, for they are helping hasten the day when the Saudis run out of oil.

And today they ran this followup:

Make SUV, Not War--II
Our item yesterday about hysterical opposition to sport-utility vehicles brought this thoughtful comment from reader David Bookstaber:

I must admit I hate SUVs. I think they are obnoxious and dangerous compared with lower, lighter cars, and I believe relatively few SUV owners use the cargo, towing, and off-road features that would justify their expense. But still, this anti-SUV hysteria misses the mark.

Rank the following groups according to their guilt in keeping us dependent on foreign oil:

People who choose to drive an SUV that gets 15 miles a gallon instead of a sedan or wagon that gets 25 miles a gallon

People who choose to live 10 miles from where they work each day instead of five miles.

People who choose to commute to work in private cars instead of on public transportation.

People who choose to heat and cool a 5,000-square-foot house when they could maintain a 2,500-square-foot-house with the same number of rooms.

People who choose to fly overseas for vacations instead of going to a local retreat.

People who oppose nuclear power plants.

I don't believe the SUV owners are at the top of the list. And my guess is that many of the SUV haters won't countenance somebody questioning their decisions to live where they want, in what they want, or to vacation when and where they want, even though on net those decisions probably consume more oil than an individual decision to drive an SUV.

I would also wager that the anti-SUV crowd has a large intersection with the anti-nuclear-power crowd. which, amusingly, also intersects with the pro-Kyoto treaty crowd. You just can't win with some people.

Indeed.

I'm with David Bookstaber. I hate SUVs not because of their gas consumption. I drive a car, not a semi-truck and trailer. I hate it when I'm looking in the parking lot for my car and I can't find it hidden behind the giants. I think they're ugly like expensive big track homes that all look alike. I prefer variety to conformity. I think it will be really bad when all these SUVs go on the used car market and are driven by impulsive teenagers.

But the anti-environment arguments the anti-SUV crowd uses are stupid.

Michael Yon

For the last couple weeks, I've been catching praise from the bloggers for Michael Yon, but I didn't look into it. Thursday, driving home from work, the Hugh Hewitt guests were again talking about him, so I decided to seek him out.

Wow! What a story! Action, Suspense, Drama, Heroes and best of all it's true.

Gates of Fire

(/snip)And then help arrived in the form of one man: CSM Prosser.

Prosser ran around the corner, passed the two young soldiers who were crouched low, then by me and right to the shop, where he started firing at men inside.

A man came forward, trying to shoot Kurilla with a pistol, apparently realizing his only escape was by fighting his way out, or dying in the process. Kurilla was aiming at the doorway waiting for him to come out. Had Prosser not come at that precise moment, who knows what the outcome might have been.

Prosser shot the man at least four times with his M4 rifle. But the American M4 rifles are weak--after Prosser landed three nearly point blank shots in the man's abdomen, splattering a testicle with a fourth, the man just staggered back, regrouped and tried to shoot Prosser.

Then Prosser's M4 went "black" (no more bullets). A shooter inside was also having problems with his pistol, but there was no time to reload. Prosser threw down his empty M4, ran into the shop and tackled the man.

Keep Reading

I always thought it was a made-up movie devise when the hero would throw down his weapon because it jammed or was out of bullets. Shows what I know.

They're saying that Gates of Fire may be made into a movie.