Bill Whittle has done it again.  He destroys the arguments that America has or wants an empire and takes on the topic of hegemony. 

However, he notes, quite correctly, that the power of our culture is not obtained through push, but rather through pull:

We are widely criticized among Europeans for what they call our cultural and economic hegemony. They decry our pop culture as vulgar and commercial, and in fact, it often is. McDonald’s are now everywhere on the European continent, and we are reminded what horrible, fattening food it is. Agreed.

What doesn’t seem to get through their anti-populist, anti-American blinders is that basic economic principle of supply and demand. I suppose we shouldn’t be too shocked to hear this. The birthplace, intellectual home and last bastion of Marxism has always had a tough time with economic reality.

They also have a tough time with democracy, and the idea of people —you know, the masses—making their own decisions. And the thing that breaks the heart of every European elitist is the inescapable fact that McDonald’s and Cheers are huge in Europe, because their own people can’t get enough of it.

I have never been to France myself, but I would presume that daily life there does not consist of squads of heavily armed US Marines rounding up the terrified population, herding them into McDonald’s at gunpoint, and shaking their last euros out of them. When France passes laws saying that some minimal percentage of their television programming (I think it is 50%) must be produced in France, then that is an admission—and it must be, if you will pardon the pun, a galling one—that huge numbers of their people prefer our culture over their own.

I’m really starting to appreciate my cable modem now that I’m out here using a dialup connection.  My mother is computerphobic.  She plays Mahjohngg and checks email, but she’s afraid to touch anything else on it.  This means that I’m her tech support.  So I had to update the virus definitions and now I’m sitting here waiting for a couple of month’s worth of Microsoft “critical updates” to download.  I sure hope that Microsoft’s vaunted security efforts actually start to produce results one of these days.  It seems like every time I use a PC with Windows XP on it I have to download a new fix.  It’s pretty annoying when you have to download them through a modem, kind of like sucking up the ocean through a straw.

I’ll be getting up early in the morning to drive back to Big Sandy for Christmas, so I really need to get away from this computer (reading my blog roll can be a time-consuming process).  Once I’m home I’ll be back in the land of the dialup internet connection, so I probably won’t be spending much time online, unless something sets me off on a rant (let’s hope for a peaceful holiday season ).

If I don’t get to update this site before Christmas, just let me say:

Merry Christmas!

I’m done for the year.  I have two glorious weeks off.  I’m not completely sure what I’m going to do during that time, but it’s all good.  I think that the first order of business, though, will be to sleep disgracefully late in the morning…

Ok, so this wasn’t exactly a deep thought blog entry, and the cat pic is gratuitous.  What can I say, I just got back from Fogo de Chão, which is a fabulous Brazilian churrascaria in Addison.  I’m stuffed to the gills with meat and beer.  Sleep beckons….

It think that this one has to take the prize for the longest Google search that I’ve encountered:
Microsoft VP Jim Allchin who stated, under oath, that there were flaws in Windows so great that they would threaten national security if the Windows source code were to be disclosed.  He mentioned Message Queueing, and immediately regretted it

This one, however, disturbs me:
pregnant at 12

Some interesting searches that landed people on this site:

• Ari Fleisher is a jerk—At least the searcher is keeping an open mind.
• north korea darpa against us latest update 02—Given the Total Information Awareness fiasco, I would wonder if DARPA is against us as well.
• paint code for fast and the furious mitsubishi eclipse—Eclipse?! (Spit!)  Now this is a car.
• banned delta airlines commercial—Is that the one where they show what really happens to people’s luggage?

Update: Moved the link to the Delta commercial here  The original was pretty stilted with the link where it was..

This post at InstaPundit took me to Gizmodo, who in turn linked to Pocket Calculator Show, who happened to have a boombox museum.

Back in my high school days I used to be the obnoxious guy at the back of the band bus with one of these:

…picture of a Magnavox D8443 aka the “Spatial Stereo Power Player.” This was probably the most ambitious release of Maganavox ever, featuring 5 Speakers, 3 Amps, SW tuning, Mic, Line In/Out via RCA jacks and a “Stereo” control which goes from Mono to Spatial. The system is quite large: 13” high, nearly 2 feet in length.

Did I mention that it was quite loud?  And that I played Run-DMC and L.L. Cool J and anything else that wasn’t “mainstream” at the time?  Heh.

Upon returning from my friend’s place this evening, I ended up caught in a backup on I35E-N in Lewisville at the Corporate exit.  It was just before 1:00am and I had been flying up I35.  As I rounded the bend about 3/4 of a mile before the Corporate exit I saw a long line of brake lights ahead of me.  Thank goodness for SIPDE (and a healthy dose of paranoid driving habits), which gave me plenty of time to react (the Avalanche has good brakes, but it definitely doesn’t act like a car—something to remember before cutting in front of one—I left that gap there for a reason).

It took quite a while to make it up to the scene of the wreck, since the police had closed off all but one lane of I35 as well as the service road.  While in the backup I saw one ambulance screaming off heading South, towards Dallas.  However I really knew it was a bad one when I got to the front of the line.  Just as we had managed to form a single line, I noticed the CareFlight helicopter rocketing off the ground with alarming speed.  You know that the crap has really hit the fan when they load you on one of those.  A few seconds later I saw the reason why.  A pickup truck had been smashed to the point that the front end was nearly unrecognizable.  I didn’t see any other vehicle that appeared to be involved and from the damage it would appear that the truck hit the bridge support (there was a UHaul right in front of the truck, but it appeared to be undamaged).  It looks like the fire crew had to peel back the roof and door of the truck to get at the occupants.  The front end had been pushed so far back that the driver was left with only 8 to 12 inches of space and there was quite a bit of blood on the seat.

I hope this turns out to be some kind of bad luck (a real accident), but given the time of day and the location I fear that it will turn out to be speed and/or alcohol related (I35E-N is the main corridor for people returning to Lewisville and Denton from the clubs in Dallas).  That’s one of the reasons that I always have some trepidation about driving that road after midnight on a Friday or Saturday night.  I always try to practice situational awareness while driving, but I ratchet it up to a pretty paranoid level during this time.  One of the best things I ever did was to take the MSF class.  The lessons taught in that class have allowed me to be a better driver, which I hope will allow me to avoid such unfortunate events as I witnessed the results of this evening.

Update:  Damn, the first sentence of that last paragraphs sounds a bit harsh.  I don’t wish that sort of thing on anyone.  What I was trying to get at (but my addled brain prevented me from) was that I hate to see people hurt or killed by something that can be prevented, like drunk or reckless driving.

I met up with an old friend¹ of mine this morning and we went to the Big Town Gun & Knife show in Mesquite.  The show appeared to be well attended, because the main lot was completely full and we ended up parking way out in BFE.  My friend is not a “gun person”, although he’s used them a couple of times and he’s contemplating purchasing something for home protection now that he has bought a house.

As we went through the show he remarked that he was surprised at the number of people who were there (as well as the variety of guns that were available).  It made me realize that the community of gun owners is generally a quiet one.  Most gun people don’t make an issue of their gun ownership (I generally don’t do it unless I know someone, this web site notwithstanding) and they don’t cause problems for others.  While that certainly says good things about gun owners as a whole, it also points out a weakness.  The weakness is that many people think they don’t know a gun owner and that gun owners are some weird breed (maybe they glow in the dark or something).  If someone doesn’t know any member of a group it makes it easier for them to build inaccurate stereotypes about that group.  In turn, this allows them to accept restrictions on that group, since they don’t see anyone they know being harmed by those restrictions.  Perhaps those of us who own guns should stand out more as an example to those around us.  If people see other people who are a lot like them, but who just happen to own guns, it makes it harder for them to buy into the distorted and misleading stereotypes being pushed by the anti-gun forces.

I’m looking forward to next Saturday when I will be taking another friend to the range for the first time.  I am going to introduce her to shooting with one of my .22 pistols.  I’ve found that the .22 is great for beginners because the reduced recoil and noise allow them to concentrate on safe handling and basic shooting skills.  I wish I’d started off that way (the first handgun I ever fired was a .44 back when I was really young and stupid).  But the first thing I always do is to give a talk on the The Three Rules™².  I want people to enjoy shooting and to be safe.  I like having company at the range (there’s nothing quite like being on the firing line with 7 or 8 people around you all firing at the same time).  While shooting is an activity that tests the skills of the individual, I think it can also provide an opportunity for group interaction (I think the word I’m seeking is comaraderie).  I’m hoping that her first experience with guns will be positive and that she’ll want to go again.  If she isn’t interested in the sport, then at least I hope she comes away with a new respect for it.

¹ Now that I think about it, it’s kind of interesting.  He’s the only person from my high school days that I’m still in touch with on a regular basis.

Which brings me to the fact that I’ve noticed in my referrer logs that I’ve gotten some hits from my Classmates.com profile.  If you went to Big Sandy High School (or East Texas State University), don’t be afraid to send me an email (the address is up there in the top of the left column).  I won’t bite (at least I generally don’t, unless someone riles me up by talking about gun control ).

²The Three Rules™:

1. Always treat every gun as if it were loaded.
2. Always keep your finger off the trigger until you’re ready to fire
3. Always keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction

While there are more rules (if I recall correctly, the NRA lists 10), these three will keep you safe if you adhere to them religiously.

Update: Unfortunately, it looks like other events will keep my friend from joining me at the range on Saturday.

Heads down at work and a trip to the range this evening.  Shooting will always take precedence over this blog thing.

Probably more heads down tomorrow…  Gun show Saturday….  Blogging may be limited.