Site Meter Issues?

Sometimes I wonder about Site Meter. They’ve been having problems of late, and Laurie recently suspected her Site Meter had gone away completely (and it had – for a while). They’ve been getting slower, and slower, and slower …sometimes to the point where they are completely inaccessible, as demonstrated by this message I received while trying to check my traffic just right now:

The page cannot be displayed

The request cannot be processed at this time. The amount of traffic exceeds the Web site's configured capacity.

---

Please try the following:

· Click the Refresh button, or try again later.

· If this error persists, contact the Web site administrator to inform them that this error continues to occur for this URL address.

HTTP Error 500.13 - Server error: Web server is too busy.
Internet Information Services (IIS)

I hope they clear it up. Especially since I sprang for the pay version last November.

Car Ad w/No Comment

Conviction, Defection, Insertion...

Today’s Big, BIG News is the Libby verdict. Actually, it was yesterday, but because I usually only blog once or twice a day it will be today, for all intents and purposes.

Since I’ve only been following this story haphazardly I don’t have a whole helluva lot to say about it, except that I agree with the WSJ:

The word "guilty" had barely crossed the airwaves yesterday in the perjury case of Scooter Libby before critics were calling it proof that President Bush "lied us into war" and demanding that Dick Cheney be strung up next. Maybe now Mr. Bush will realize that this case was always a political fight over Iraq and do the right thing by pardoning Mr. Libby.

The conviction is certainly a travesty of justice, though that is not the jury's fault. The 11 men and women were faced with confusing evidence of conflicting memories in a case that never should have been brought. In the end, they were persuaded more by prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's story line that Mr. Libby, a former aide to Mr. Cheney, had lied to a grand jury about what he knew when about the status of CIA official Valerie Plame, the wife of Bush critic Joseph Wilson.

The most interesting thing about this whole affair is there was no crime committed until the special prosecutor’s investigation began, as Libby was convicted for lying to a grand jury. No special prosecutor, no grand jury, no crime. Pretty damned sad, if you ask me…which, of course, you didn’t. Ask, that is.

Still, one wonders what Hamsher, Hardin, and their various partners-in-crime (quite the world-class Leftie rant, there, at least as far as word count goes) are going to do in future, now that their whole raison d’être is gone. Do ya think they’ll fold up the tent and go home, now that the show is (nearly, save appeals) over?

Nah. Me neither. Because there’s just so much to be outraged over!

On the other hand, Libby’s conviction may have “larger consequences.” I use the scare quotes because…well…some in the Republican party just might be experiencing a twinge of apprehension. Captain Ed discusses:

However, Cheney and his office will have to answer a lot of questions over the next few weeks, and perhaps some of those may be in Congress. The Libby conviction will present a major distraction for at least a while, and the Republicans will have to answer for it in the next election. That's not a demand by me, but just a cold, hard, political reality. Libby lied to investigators who were probing the administration, and he was not some junior flunky at a folding table. Libby was an inner-circle man, and this will hurt. A lot.

Good stuff there, if one is interested in examining tea leaves or goat entrails.

This isn’t just good news, it’s frickin’ GREAT news…

A RETIRED Iranian general who went missing in Turkey last month has defected and sought asylum in the US, according to a well-connected Arabic newspaper published in London.

The newspaper, al-Shark al-Awsat, cited "high-profile" sources saying former Iranian deputy defence minister and Revolutionary Guard commander Ali Reza Asghari had gone over to the West.

Reports from Istanbul that General Asghari's family had also disappeared in Turkey support the likelihood that he defected rather than was kidnapped by either the CIA or by Israel's Mossad, as has been speculated. The general went missing from his Istanbul hotel a month ago.

Iranian authorities, who have been silent on the disappearance until this week, claim he has been abducted. "It is likely Asghari has been abducted by Western intelligence services," said Iran's top police officer, General Esmaeil Ahmadi Moghaddam.

Defection of such a high-ranking figure would leave no external enemy to blame and would be seen as a rejection of the Islamic state by someone who well knows its inner workings.

If it’s true. Ya never know. Still, one hopes it’s true because the general would be a veritable intelligence gold mine, not to mention The Mother of All Embarrassments to Tehran. Much more here, including this:

Soon after his disappearance was discovered, Iran dispatched an operations team to Ankara to help the Turkish authorities to look for him. At the same time, a public relations campaign was launched with Iranian minister Mottaki has doing his best to downplay Asgari’s importance as an official in order to reduce the damage to the Iranian government’s image.

He wasn’t fooling anyone. It is clear that Asgari is a man privy to numerous secrets which Iran desperately does not want revealed. As well as being a former deputy defence Minister, Asgari was also a General in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC). The IRGC, more than any other branch of Iran’s armed forces, is aware of, and has access to Iran’s nuclear program. Its members are in charge of monitoring and protecting Iran’s nuclear installations, and scientists.

Wow. This is sooo much better than talking about Scooter, nu?

And this is pretty danged funny:

Ordinarily I try to come down on the side of law enforcement when it comes to homeland security. But this time DHS has crossed the line. Evidently, they are harassing decent people who simply want to exercise their right to board airplanes with magnets up their butt.

According to Reuters, Atlantic City resident Fadhel al-Maliki was searched while trying to board a plane, and they found the suspicious iron in his rectum, where--let's be honest--it wasn't bothering anybody. Except maybe Mr. al-Maliki. I have to ask. Is Islamism this guy's problem, or is it just that he's from Jersey?

Fadhel al-Maliki...isn't that the skinny guy who played the doctor on the coincidentally named show, Deep Space Nine? I wouldn't be too surprised if that guy turned out to have random pieces of hardware up his rear end. But that's a matter of personal choice, as the ACLU would surely tell you. It's one thing if he had a phaser up there and was running around bending over at people in the name of Allah. It's another if it's a purely recreational item, such as an Emmy award or a plastic Dr. Bashir action figure.

Steve does some great good things with words and dumb stuff from time to time, but this one is a classic… The real news story as at the “up their butt” link.

Today’s Pic: Another shot of SN3 taken at the Mickey Dee Play Palace. Note the tee shirt...

You don’t wanna know just how many shots I took that day. Or rather, I don’t want to tell you. Embarrassment, ya know.

Still in South Florida. Still March, 1998.

Just a Little Bit Cynical...

I’m projecting here, but Bec asked in the comments if I thought Bob Dole and Donna Shalala were good choices to head up the presidential commission that will tar and feather the usual suspects investigate the military health care scandal. The short answer: yes. The long, and cynical, answer follows. Oh, and the “projecting” bit? I’m projecting that Bec, and possibly others, are wondering why I haven’t commented on the Walter Reed thingie. That’s part and parcel of the long answer…

First: the caveats.

• In my 22-year Air Force career I never was shot at, let alone wounded. So it goes without saying I never spent any lengthy amount of time within the tender embrace of the military health system, let alone undergo numerous operations and months, if not years, of physical therapy.
• I was always subject to the Air Force’s health care system, save for the one-year period of time I spent in an AF tenant unit on an Army post. Say what you will, but I believe the stereotype of the USAF providing better people-care than our sister services. Just sayin’.
• I have never entered a Veterans Administration (VA) medical facility except as a visitor. So, by definition, I’m not qualified to render any sort of first-hand judgment on the quality, or lack thereof, of VA care. Their reputation isn’t sterling, however. Once again, just sayin’.
• The current scandal is less about the VA and more about the military. But the scandal will grow to include the VA, much sooner than later.

The military and the VA…especially the VA…have long-standing reputations (deserved or not) for providing mediocre health care to their clients. And “mediocre” may be too kind. There are, and have been, periodic scandals about abuse, neglect, incompetence, malpractice, and various other evils surrounding the military medical establishment as long as those organizations have been in existence. If you missed them, you haven’t been paying attention, or you’re very young. I myself am way too young to remember the earliest scandals, which began shortly after the Civil War. But the scandals come close on the heels of the nation’s latest war. The Biggie for my generation was the Agent Orange scandal and the associated lawsuits filed by veterans (and others) long and tortuous path through the courts.

Enter the cynicism. The military’s health care system will always be plagued by scandal, simply because it’s part of a large bureaucracy. And bureaucracies are the bane of modern existence, as we all know. As an example, does anyone really believe the average DMV will ever get fixed in our lifetime, or the lifetimes of our great-great-grandchildren? If so, then you also harbor hopes about the military medical system. I’m not equating the functions of the medical system and those of the DMV, they are apples and oranges, except for the fact they are both large bureaucracies and as such are subject to the immutable laws of nature, specifically the Law of Inertia. But can one expect meaningful change from another Commission? I think not. But we’ll do it. We’ll Commission. Yet again.

There will be much gnashing and thrashing. There will be lots…too much…blame-mongering and finger pointing for political gain. It’s already begun.

In hearings of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee at Walter Reed Hospital, Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Los Angeles) said that veterans and their families are "flooding us with complaints" and that "this may be the tip of the iceberg of what is going on all around the country."

And, citing a litany of news stories and congressional reports, Waxman threw doubt on claims by the Army's higher-ups that they were surprised by the Post's disclosures two weeks ago.

"They said, 'We never knew things were out of hand.' " Waxman said. "I have a stack of reports and articles that sounded the alarm bells."

I watched part of those hearings on C-SPAN yesterday. While not all of the proceedings were marked by blatant political posturing, there was enough if it to turn one’s stomach. Surprised?

So. What to do? I’m not advocating a “business as usual” approach. By all means, bring on the commission(s). Air it out. Make your recommendations. Do your absolute BEST to implement the recommendations and thereby ensure we’ll never see a scandal like this again. Until this war is over, that is, and the military recedes into obscurity until the next war. By "obscurity" I mean the military will become a wasteful use of funds that could be better used to stamp out drug abuse or protect Spotted Owls. That's just the way things work in America.

I could say more on this subject, but I think you get my drift. I’ll end on a positive note: My past and present experiences with the Air Force Medical Corps have been nothing short of superlative. The fact that I’m getting old and have (not to mention will need) direct access to the medical folks at Cannon AFB is one of, if not the, principal reasons I stay docked in Portales. I only wish every other military person and veteran had it as good as I do.

A Lazy Sort of Tuesday

Chap posted a great read today, all about Chief Ken Joyner, Submariner.

In 1950 America was segregated and unequal, though in New York there was token integration. Very naïve in the knowledge of racist treatment in the United States I went to 90 Church Street, the Federal Building in New York City. Raising my right hand and vowing to protect and defend, my Navy life began. Having passed the pre-requisite tests, unbeknownst to me I qualified with a group of pioneers. “The New Navy” Black men were being assembled to integrate the Navy for all men.

Read the whole thing. Courage comes in many forms, not the least of which is overcoming adversity the likes of which most people have never known.

Sometimes things work out like you want them to, or, at the very least, you find you’ve avoided a dicey situation or an outright catastrophe. Such was the case this morning when I awoke to find the propane gauge had reached the “Call Cortez Gas” level. And so I called. Only to hear the lovely Estella tell me that Albert just got his truck back yesterday after a week of downtime to have a new clutch installed. I think I posted about the trials and tribulations of finding an alternate supplier when Cortez is…uh…indisposed. The bottom line: it’s purt near impossible. But the state of my tank (full, diminishing to Call Cortez) just happened to coincide with Cortez’ downtime.

In which case: Thank You, Lord!

I’m still drinking coffee and making the rounds. And here it is: nearly noon. Damn but this retirement gig is stressful! {insert smiley face here}

Today’s Pic: Oh Hell…let’s do another Baby Pic. Coz…when all else fails, baby pictures don’t. Fail, that is. Bobby, aka SN3, in one of Micky Dee’s Play Palaces, somewhere in South Florida. Key Largo, I think, but wouldn’t bet my life on it.

March, 1998.

Apologies

Every time I try to talk to you
I get tongue-tied
Seems like everything I say to you
Comes out wrong and never comes out right

–Chad Kroeger (w/Santana)
(30 sec sample and lyrics here)

Writer’s block. Blog ennui. Whatever. But everything I write these past few days “comes out wrong and never comes out right.” At least it seems that way. As an example, one post that shouldn’t have made the cut was that DUI thing I put up day before yesterday. I had bad feelings about it, even after the third editing pass, yet posted it anyway. Suffice to say “it didn’t come out right.” And that’s an understatement!

Being blocked is a strange thing for me. Back in the day when I literally wrote for a living I was rarely blocked, although it did happen occasionally. In most cases (but not all) the block was clearly traceable and explained by the fact I didn’t understand what I was trying to say. The cure was to revisit the subject and learn more, often by talking it over with a subject matter expert. Once I achieved “understanding” the words flowed freely, if not eloquently. Eloquence came with editing, but it came.

I should note that “writing for a living,” in my case means writing and editing technical proposals, most often in response to a “Request for Proposal,” or RFP. The writing involved a mixture of describing technical solutions to specific problems and the “benefits” of our clearly superior solution vis-à-vis the solution(s) of our competitor(s). All under deadline pressure. And one never has enough time, for one reason or another. But hey! It was fun, in a bizarre sort of way, and I loved it.

But that was then. I’m at a loss to identify why I’m having such a hard time these past few days. I write for real fun now (not bizarre fun), it’s not work. Or at least it’s not supposed to be “work,” the way I see it. Yet writing is difficult, and writing well can be damned difficult. One can string words together fairly easily, but organizing those words into coherent thought is hard. It gets harder when one tries to be entertaining as well as informative.

It’s said that “we are our own worst critics,” and that may be part of what’s in play here. I really don’t know, but I’m working on finding out. In the mean time…please accept my apologies for the reduced output. Both of you.

Today’s Pic(s): From last Fall’s San Antonio trip. I was quite taken by this gas fountain in the courtyard of Pat O’Brien’s San Antonio store and took more than a few pictures of it, at least two of which I posted to the blog. But I missed the transaction going on in the right hand side of these pics as I snapped the fountain. Until this morning. Judging from the body language on display, one has the feeling that everything turned out quite well, nu?

October, 2006.

Help Needed

Laurie over at Soldiers’ Angels NY posted a plea from an Army spouse at Fort Benning GA yesterday:

I am writing on behalf of the military tornado victims of Thursday night's storm in Columbus, GA beside Fort Benning. The housing shortages and inadequate housing at Fort Benning causes many military families to look off base for housing. While the base did not receive much damage in this recent storm, many houses of military families off base were impacted.

These families are in desperate need of help and are falling between the cracks in the system. Inexplicably, they are not receiving requested help from the Red Cross, Military One Source, or United Way. Each of these organizations has suggested calling one of the others.

It’s not just Fort Benning, either. Army families at Fort Rucker in Alabama were also hit hard by those horrible tornadoes this past week.

Laurie has the details and a Paypal link. If you can spare a few dollars you should get on over to Laurie’s and pony up. To say this is a "good cause" would be redundant in the extreme…