If you currently follow me through RSS (and want to continue ;-) ) you will need to update the feed URL to http://www.bkennelly.com/vox/feed

Sorry for the trouble - I just got very tired of dealing with MT's complete rebuilds and poor spam controls. Hoping Wordpress will make life easier

There were two cashiers working and one of them was "helping" the same customer for nearly 15 minutes. At one point a woman who looked like a supervisor (no uniform, keys hanging around her neck) came out and stood behind the counters, just sort of staring at us - then she disappeared again.

Finally, another clerk came from the back and signed in to his terminal - at which point one of the other clerks went on her break, and the other disappeared to the back muttering something about printer ribbon.

There was no way to avoid the obvious comparison so I said, "Just think, these people could be running your health care system"

Only one of the folks suffering in line with me didn't laugh out loud.

Bruce Thornton takes him to task for not only the ridiculousness of the claim,

The problem isn’t the rudeness or vulgarity or even violence of political speech, all of which are typical of democracies with freedom of speech. It’s the rank hypocrisy of liberals like Friedman who attempt to silence speech they don’t like by invoking scary scenarios of assassination. And let’s not forget the racial dimension of this newfound liberal sensitivity. From the beginning of Obama’s campaign, his supporters have attempted to short-circuit robust criticism by raising the specter of assassination by frothing racist, a trick akin to Jimmy Carter’s recent charge that criticism of Obama reflects inveterate American racism.

The truth is, political speech in democracies has been notoriously vicious going all the way back to ancient Rome and Athens, where orators and comic poets alike charged their political enemies with everything from homosexual prostitution and incest, to plundering the treasury and selling out their country to the enemy.

Little that we’ve heard so far from Obama’s conservative critics comes close to the vicious slanders and rhetorical violence aimed at George Bush, Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld, and the Republican Party for eight years, the aim of which was precisely the “delegitimation” that’s now got Friedman in a fit.

I often tire of the argument, presented almost daily, of "I know you are but what am I". Over and over we say, "Can you imagine if Bush/Cheney/Palin..... had done that? Why the media would be up in arms" In situations like this we say, "You guys were fine when it was our guy being lambasted & targeted. Why is free speech suddenly a problem for you now?"

The things is, though - it is true. It is irritatingly, gratingly true. The myriad gaffes and blunders made by Barack Obama would have filled op-ed pages and late-night monologues for weeks at a time had George Bush made them. The outfits worn by Michelle Obama would have been grist for every fashion magazine & talking-head had Laura Bush worn them. The ridiculous & potentially dangerous slips made by Joe Biden would merit full on frothing at the mouth outrage had they come from Dick Cheney.

Can you even imagine how the NY Times would have gone after a Bush administration so filled with corruption and graft and incompetence as Obama's has been in the early days? Every time he tries to fill a cabinet post or appoint a czar we get another glimpse into the sliding scale of ethics that exists on the American Left. (Come on, we've got a guy in charge of at Treasury who couldn't even pay his taxes, an "error" he blames on his inability to figure out TurboTax)

Still, as much as the hypocrisy burns like a Texas bonfire, making it nearly impossible to ignore, I wish we could continue to focus on the points being made by the demonstrators. Rather than complain about how they wouldn't be ignored/dismissed/derided/delegitimized if they were on the left, we need to just continue to help spread their message - loudly. Blog it. Tweet it. ReTweet it.

The folks who don't see the hypocrisy probably never will, no matter how much we point it out. They may, however, get the message that bigger government is not a positive direction for our country.

The folks who recognize the hypocrisy don't need to be reminded, they already know. They do, however, need to see they are not alone, they need to know that what they feel a part of is genuine. They need to see the right messages and principals being represented and repeated across the country - even if it never gets covered on CNN.

I like Thorton's article because he makes it clear how ubiquitous political speech is now and has always been.

* log in required at NYTimes.com

(I like Nordlinger's column *because he makes very clear concrete examples - and in effect, his protest is the hypocrisy itself.)

Not all books translate into Kindle format.

I knew there would be certain genres that would not make the leap to eInk; e.g. the scrapbooking and other craft titles I enjoy would be a big disappointment without the gorgeous color photos. However, a couple of text specific titles have caused me irritation, as well.

Both were read via the "Sample Chapters" feature offered by Amazon. In many instances, a quick start on the sample has been all I need to go ahead and complete the purchase. Unfortunately, in the case of Michelle Malkin's Culture of Corruption, I found the typos and formatting issues completely off-putting. So much so that, should I choose to read the rest, I would avoid the Kindle version - unless they redo the conversion. I assume that in the dead-tree version, they have proofreaders that would have stopped that.

Then there is Glenn Beck's Arguing with Idiots, which I wouldn't even have looked twice at if not for the glowing reviews I am seeing all over the internets, and the ability to sample before I buy. The book, though, appears to be laid out to include fun little facts and drawings and trivia....most likely on the edges of the page in obviously separate spaces so as not to disrupt the flow while you are reading. In the Kindle version, as you read happily along, you are suddenly in a paragraph that has nothing whatsoever to do with the subject at hand. There is no real delineation (I noticed a couple had an extra blank line preceding) and no rhyme or reason. Then poof, there you are, back in the chapter you thought you were consuming in the first place. Again, there is no way I would buy this title for my Kindle unless they took the time to redo it and make it readable. I assume with this one also, that the dead-tree version has someone actually thumb through the finished product to ensure customer satisfaction.

I LOVE my Kindle, and I certainly find plenty to fill it up, plenty to keep me reading. However, neither of those titles was a small release - with two proven authors writing two almost guaranteed bestsellers, why wouldn't the publisher want to ensure a quality product for a market like Kindle owners?

"I never call them guys," the sultry brunette said. "I always called them boys. Maybe it's a superiority complex -- my needing to keep them down," she said.

UPDATE: It appears they may want actual money to buy virtual food & water, so I might have to fing Dex a good home - or send her off to live on a farm. Still figuring it out so we'll see.

Just want to give him a hug, he makes me miss my grandpa

Advancement will come with hard work. Many new friends will soon be attracted to your friendly and charming ways.

"After kids, there are days that just get going when you say, 'Hi honey, I'm home'", wrote the U.S. Army Major. "My conclusion is that what we do until that moment pales in comparison to what we do after that point in the day."

The name on mine is Major Kip P Taylor, he was serving at the Pentagon with the US Army when terrorists flew Flight 77 into the building. His office was on the outer ring, he was killed instantly.

Other than that I don't know much about him, but what I know is this:

He had received his promotion to Lt Colonel but deferred to the next round in October so his family could attend. But by October, Kip was gone.

He had a 2 year-old son, Dean (named for his brother), and his wife, Nancy, was pregnant. They were both thrilled about the arrival of their second child. But by the time their son Luke was born in October, Kip was gone.

Nancy was diagnosed with cancer after that. She was beginning the fight for her life, a time she needed her husband, and she was alone. When he should have been by her side, Kip was gone.

Nancy lost her fight on November 18, 2003. The Taylor's children were 4 and 2 then. They should have had the strength and love of their father to help them through. But as their mother was taken by a terrible disease, their father had been taken by a terrible evil.

I encourage you to learn more about Lieutenant Colonel Kip Paul Taylor (he received his promotion posthumously) and his family here. Kip's brother, Dean, and his wife are raising the boys so you can be sure they will learn enough to know the father they can't possibly remember. A man that I remember, despite the fact that I know so little about him.

Only what I have read.

And that he was killed along with nearly 3,000 other innocent people on September 11, 2001.

Lt Col Kip P Taylor
Sept 5, 1963 - Sept 11, 2001
Rest in Peace

Be direct, usually one can accomplish more that way.

Curiously, this one says it is from Panda Express. I never eat at Panda Express (too salty) so I must've snagged it from someone. I wonder who or when?

Why do I mention his birthday now, when it is still weeks away? Because I just got around to turning my calendar from August (yeah, so sue me) and noticed an anomaly that had never struck me before. September is almost devoid of family birthdays. There are only 2, and both of those are "married in's" In a family the size of ours, you'd think we'd have managed a September birth or two.

And the calendar? One of the greatest gifts I get each and every Christmas, from another man who has been an incredible blessing in all our lives ~ my brother-in-law. My sister started the tradition decades ago of gifting everyone with a calendar, pre-populated with all the family birthdays & anniversaries, each year (nope, no anniversaries in Sept, either. Odd). When she started doing it, that meant writing all the data, on all the pages, by hand. The task was eventually made easier when she could load all the relevant dates into a computer and print out labels, though they still need to be individually stuck in the right block on the right month. When she died, her husband stepped up and took over. It is a testament to the type of man he is that he still carefully shops for those calendars, making sure we each get a unique one which fits our interests and personality - and I can only imagine him with his assembly line of open calendars, peeling & sticking label after label from his printed sheets.

It is a great gift, and a great tradition, from a great man - and it reminded me that I have 3 weeks to come up with something for another great man in my life.

and 2 months to come up with something for THE great man in my life - D's birthday is in November. Along with 6 other members of the family :-)

Yep, I said it, a woman claims to have been abused and I am questioning the veracity of her story. She just has so little credibility, and has shown a willingness to try ANYTHING to get press coverage in her quest for fame. If you are on Twitter you may very well have seen her tweets about a month ago (several in a dialog with @McCainBlogette) about having to deal with a "stalker", which got her no traction in the media. Before that she had the Playboy spread, the desperate for the spotlight reality shows...she started her 'career' by claiming the title of "most friended" on MySpace, mainly by being as provocative and sleazy as she could get away with on the site.

Now, not so long after a pop star was beaten by her boyfriend, leading to an outpouring of sympathy, support & good will (and the accompanying press) tiny little Tila claims that a mountain of a man, with no prior record of such behavior, snapped and choked her (and some other unclear bodily injury) at a party with other people in attendance. After said attack by the 6'4", 265 lb Merriman, she was OK to go to the police department to swear out a citizen arrest warrant (wouldn't she just file a complaint?)...before heading to the hospital. I really find it hard to believe she isn't seeking another moment in the spotlight - no matter who she needs to damage in the process.

Readers of this blog know how I feel about the thugs currently playing in the NFL, and Merriman had his issues with steroids in the past. You also know that I have a zero tolerance policy when it comes to domestic violence of any kind.

This story, however, seems a bit off - and I have a feeling that, like the Roethlisberger accusation earlier this year, there will be more to this story than she wants us to know.

Maybe it will turn out that she is telling the truth, and I will be apologizing down the road. Maybe she will learn that when you present a specific persona to the public, you shouldn't be surprised (or angry) when they believe it.

UPDATE: It appears that she did call 911 from his house and the police & an ambulance came. It also appears that, other than that detail, the facts are lining up much as I originally thought. The fact that she appears to have spent several days tweeting about a relationship that he doesn't seem to have been involved in (her tweets were suggestive & targeted, he doesn't appear to have answered in that time-frame) is a huge red flag. The fact that the police didn't feel the need to press charges and there were witnesses to back his story but not hers kind of puts a cap on it.

(No, I have not regained any interest in the NFL - but every year D asks me for this site, and every year I have to search for it because I've forgotten the site name. I have apparently posted it here before, but without enough info to find it when I went searching through my posts tonight)

her: Did the taxes get paid last week?
me: I didn't pay them, I believe M was going to come in and do that
her: So can you tell me whether or not they got paid?
me: No, but M said that she was coming in on Friday to pay them. If she did she would have left you the receipts.
her: Yeah, I've got the receipts.
me: ?????!!!!!

UPDATE: Turned the episode into a comic at Pixton