One man's view of the world, from the top of this great big rock somewhere in the middle of God's Country, with an eye toward freedom....or at least some way to get back down without goin' over the edge.

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Location: West Virginia, United States

Former U.S. Army, SPC E-4, Veteran of Operation Desert Storm. If you are or have ever been a soldier, you have friends in my house.

Monday, August 14, 2006

Points of Interest: Mid-August-ish

Forgive me, o faithful ones, but this one's a little backdated due to my recent vacational absence. Just thought I'd catch up on a few interesting pieces I missed while I was away, and introduce you to a couple of new virtual neighbors I have recently found in the process.

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Patum Peperium opens today's edition with an article dated August 7th, which ponders the words of King James I on the Divine Right of Kings, and explores the impact of the failed marriage of Prince Charles and Lady Diana on the relevance of British royalty and, indeed, the very future of Britain as a whole. (Did you know, for example, that the 25th anniversary of their wedding ceremony just passed on July 29? Nope, me neither....and Mrs. P, the author of this missive, doesn't see Chuck doing anything to change that in the near future.)

The Anchoress is said to reside in a little sealed room, with a little window through which to observe the outside world...and the view on August 10th, says she, was crowded with a lot of people trying to make their own personal brand of hay out of the recently busted "liquid explosive" Al-Qaeda plot. The thing she fears about this is that, while the perennial pundits preen and primp and punk each other out for position and pride, the voices of people such as one moderate Muslim noted herein are being pushed aside in the rush for political point-scoring.

And, since we're on the subject, the noted proprietor of Free Will put his two cents in on August 5th, noting that Tarek Fatah, the head honcho of the somewhat-less-than-fundamental Muslim Canadian Congress, has decided to resign from his position therein...because he has been receiving a lot of death threats lately. Seems being a moderate Muslim isn't good for one's health these days.

Okay, time for a little levity. On a past field trip through left-wing blog country, Vince Aut Morire found an interesting little post by Robert J. Elisberg which listed "50 Easy Questions to Ask Any Republican". Well, it's apparently been on his back burner for a while, but he finally got around to answering them, one by one, on August 9th. Strap on yer hip-waders and prepare to duck.

Finally, we come full circle back to the present day, wherein we find the stalwart Captain Ed at the helm. There are many entries in his ship's log today, but the one I've highlighted is a celebration of sorts...a feast at the captain's table, in honor of the life and sacrifice of a guy named Max, and a testament to the power that faith can bring to bear when it is needed most. I'm no Catholic, but it seems to me that things like this need to be remembered once in a while.

I'll have my land legs back under me before too long, I promise.
Until then, you have your orders. Stander out.

UPDATE: Oh my stars and garters, have I found a beauty here. It didn't make the cut earlier, simply because I didn't stumble onto it in time, but it simply MUST be read.

Brought to you by Cassandra of Villainous Company, this piece reminds us of a few things we probably don't remember about how today came to pass the way it did. Lord knows we need our heroes, but they had their "damn-i-forgot-my-pills-again-oh-well-here-we-go-anyway" days just like anyone else. (Or is that just me?)
This piece of hindsight might piss some of you off, but go ahead and take a look back anyway. After all, your children's children will be looking back at YOU someday. What will THAT picture look like, I wonder?