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I left early today and met up with some friends to go to the Dallas Auto Show.  There were a lot of nice vehicles there and some interesting new concept vehicles. 

For example, I wouldn’t mind having one of these:

  The Dodge Magnum SRT-8

And while I tend to like driving trucks and SUVs, if I were going to drive a car, I think this would be it:

  The Mercury Marauder

Hmmm…  I seem to be detecting a trend towards big V-8’s.  Call me old-fashioned, but there’s just something about a big rear-wheel drive V-8 that no high-revving 4-banger can touch (even if I wouldn’t mind having one of these).

I saw a brief video of the Iraqi Information Minister* on TV this morning.  I thought it humerous because I could hear him talking, but I couldn’t see him because he was completely hidden behind a wall of microphones.  Now if I could just find a way to similarly turn off his rantings and ravings (along with much of what is coming out of the Arab world).

* I consider any country that has a Ministry of Information as untrustworthy simply for having such an organization.

This incident had me seeing red.

MONTPELIER, Vt.—A group of Vermont teen-agers threw rocks at a uniformed female Vermont National Guard sergeant last week, in the latest example of a service member facing hostility in the United States.

National Guard spokesman Capt. Jeff Roosevelt said the woman was not injured in Friday’s incident, which took place in Plainfield, but said the woman had decided she would no longer wear her uniform outside of work.

“We are a very tolerant state and people in the military also expect to be treated with the same courtesy and respect that we show to others,” Lt. Col. Scott Stirewalt, director of security at the Vermont National Guard, told WCAX news.

The teens blocked the sergeant as she went into a store and again on the way out, yelling obscenities at her along the way, Roosevelt said. The group also threw small stones at her car as she drove away, he added.

The sergeant said she believed the protesters had taken part in an anti-war demonstration in Montpelier that day. National Guard troops are often deployed to such events to help keep the peace.

“There were various profanities directed in her direction, along the line of ‘[expletive] murderer, [expletive] baby killer,’” Stirewalt said. “It culminated with some of the individuals throwing rocks at her, and as testament to her disciplined professionalism, she got in her car and left the area.”

I’ve tried really hard to maintain a level of civility concerning anti-war types, but I have zero sympathy and zero tolerance for anyone who would attack a member of our armed services or call them names like “baby killer” and “murderer.”  I hope that I never see something like this happen in front of me.

Link via a small victory.

Tonight was range night.  I think I may have eye strain from too much time at the computer over the past week.  I was suffering from CSS¹-induced CHS² syndrome.  Out to 30 feet the target was too blurry to be useful, although by the end of the hour I was seeing a little better, though my main problem is seeing the front sight, which is the most important factor in handgun shooting (I’m far-sighted).

To add to the fun, the Kimber started ejecting spent casings straight back, hitting me right smack in the forehead three times (which is fairly unpleasant with .45ACP).  It tended to induce a bit of flinch.

Next week will be better.

¹CSS – Can’t See Shit
²CHS – Can’t Hit Shit

This nit was so ripe that I couldn’t resist picking it.  I’ve noticed that a lot of the addlepated local media is using the phrase “War On Iraq” in all of their newscasts.  I think our history of declaring war on damn near everything (poverty, crime, drugs, terrorism, etc.) has made it impossible for them to phrase this correctly.  Saying “war on Iraq” sounds like we’re trying to wreak havoc and kill innocents.  We’re waging a war in Iraq to remove the tyrannical government and its sympathizers.

It another big race weekend at Texas Motor Speedway.  Somewhere on the order of 400,000 rabid NASCAR fans will descend on the area, backing up traffic and getting in the way of local residents.  Every Friday before a race weekend I end up stuck in a traffic jam on 377 at 1171.

Argh.

It’s too bad I can’t have those front-mounted rocket launchers I’ve always wanted for my Avalanche….

Some good news in the battle against telemarketers:

Nat’l Do Not Call Sign Up Starts in July

Mar 26, 5:17 AM (ET)

By DAVID HO

WASHINGTON (AP) – People fed up with unwanted telemarketing can sign up in July for a national do-not-call list that will block many sales calls, the Federal Trade Commission said Tuesday.

The FTC will launch a Web site on July 1 so consumers can register online for the free service, the agency said.

In the past I’ve been of two minds about this kind of thing.  It offends my libertarian sensibilities.  However, the plague of telemarketers finally convinced me that intervention was needed in this area.  Those deceptive bastards were incapable of policing themselves.  It reached the point where I wouldn’t answer the phone if I didn’t recognize the name or number on the caller ID.  My phone would ring four or five times each evening (and I would often come home to see that there had been about the same number of calls during the day).  Now that I’m on the Texas do not call list I hardly ever get sales calls anymore.  Perhaps now I’ll be able to eradicate those final few that think they’re immune to Texas law.

Hat tip to my friend Rodney for emailing this article.

I’ve been listening to Fox News on my XM Radio on the way to and from work for the past few days in order to get the latest war coverage.  It’s simply an audio feed directly off their cable TV network, except for the commercials.  They run special content during the commercial breaks on XM, most of which appear to be filler (entertainment updates, consumer watch segments, etc).  One of these I heard yesterday purported to be a “financial news update.”  The whole segment was spent explaining how you could get a reward for turning in a tax cheat to the IRS. 

The whole thing rubbed me the wrong way.  It was advocating turning in people you know to the government for a non-violent crime.  I don’t have a problem with rewards programs for real crimes, but for tax cheats?  It sounds like a recipe for disaster.  All it would take would be one disgruntled former spouse, lover, or even employee to turn someone’s life upside down.  There’s a reason that the IRS is the most feared and hated agency in the US government.

Oh, and they reminded you to report your reward on your next tax return.  Wouldn’t want to cheat Uncle Sam, would you?

I don’t normally go for ad hominem attacks, but Michael Moore pisses me off no end.  While I won’t comment on his size, given my own particular situation, I have no qualms saying that he’s a gaseous windbag spewing noxious, false bullshit.  So it was with some interest that I came across this campaign:

   BUY A GUN FOR (TO SPITE) MICHAEL MOORE DAY-APRIL 15

It would be such fun to inform his noxiousness that people are out there buying guns because of him and his propaganda crap fake-umentary.

Besides, there’s a gun show at Dallas Market Hall on April 12th and 13th.  That sounds like a good enough excuse to me.

Many have written on the topic of news coverage and the so-called setbacks in the war in Iraq.  While there are those in the media who have taken an anti-American slant (*cough* BBC *cough), I’m concerned with the picture being painted by those who have not chosen such a path.  One of the problems as I see it is that the media in general lack the ability to maintain perspective and look at things in terms of a larger plan.

My fear is that such coverage will convince some to waver in their support of the war and agitate for the withdrawal of our troops.  So far, it appears that the American people understand that this war will not be without losses on our side.  I just hope that they can continue to ignore the frantic reporting.

Once the switch was thrown and the first coalition forces crossed the border, we were committed.  It is not possible to turn back now without doing incalculable harm both to our country and to the people of Iraq.  Some anti-war protesters may genuinely believe that it’s possible to bring the troops home at any time, but they are ignoring reality.  If it can be shown that the infliction of casualties will persuade the United States to withdraw forces, no one will take this country seriously for years to come.  It has been American weakness in the past that has emboldened the terrorists (according to one source I read recently, Bin Laden saw the withdrawal of American forces from Somalia as evidence that the US could be defeated and he stepped up his efforts). 

The United States will be viewed as weak and without honor, which will make us fair game for more and bigger attacks in the future.  And it doesn’t matter whether Bin Laden himself is still alive, there are more like him waiting in the wings—just look at some of our college campuses these days.  At the same time, we will have screwed the Iraqi people twice.  When we let them down in 1991, Saddam Hussein killed thousands of his own citizens who came out in favor of his removal.  We owe these poor bastards this time.  Let’s not screw them again.  Even if Saddam Hussein is dead, withdrawing our troops will not save these people as long as any of his government continues to exist.

The only option now is to see the mission through to completion.  The only way to safely bring our troops home is through victory.  Let’s hope that it happens sooner, rather than later.