She's here!!

She's here!! Mom and baby are just fine. My little girl was born at 7:07pm 12/22 and was 9 lbs. 6 oz. and 21 inches. She's perfect. More to come....

We're off to the hospital...

The Fetching Mrs. Wookie started having contracitons this morning at around 4am, and now they're at about 4 minutes apart right now... Our doula has been here with us for an hour or two as we'd wanted to put off going to the hospital for as long as possible in an attempt to facilitate a natural birth. No drugs, no IVs, just relaxation and meditation. Might sound kinda hippie-tree hugger-ish to some, but the contractions thus far have been relatively painless and her water may have just broken. So off to the hospital we will be going... Hopefully I can post a baby picture soon!!

Illiegal immigrants helping build the border fence

Doesn't get much more ironic than that... [ed. note - I actually had this post ready last Friday, just never got around to posting it. My bad...] SAN DIEGO -- A Southern California fence-building company and two executives pleaded guilty Thursday to knowingly hiring illegal immigrants and agreed to pay a combined penalty of $5 million. The executives could also go to prison. The penalty is one of the biggest fines ever imposed in an immigration case, and the case represents a rare instance in which prosecutors brought criminal charges over the hiring of illegal immigrants. Golden State Fence Co. will pay $4.7 million. Mel Kay, 64, the company's founder, chairman and president, will forfeit $200,000, and Michael McLaughlin, 42, a manager in the company's Oceanside office, will pay $100,000. Illegal immigrants building a fence to keep illegal immigrants out of US... I guess you really can hire illegals for any job... literally... any job. What the article doesn't mention is that this is the fourth time this company has been cited for hiring illegal immigrants, so I'm not sure what's worse... that the company had to be fined 4 times or that the government hired them knowing they already been fined 3 other times.

Zawahiri says elections are for the birds. Blowing up people is the way to go

That's what he told Palestinians. Nevermind that they elected Hamas into their government. They should stick to what they do best. Car bombs at pizza parlors. Dec. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Al-Qaeda's second in command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, urged Palestinians to reject elections and wage Islamic holy war to "liberate Palestine," warning that attempts to form a national unity government will fail. "Any road other than jihad will only lead to loss and failure," al-Zawahiri said in a videotaped message broadcast today on the Qatar-based al-Jazeera television channel. "Anyone trying to liberate the land of Islam through elections based on secular constitutions or on decisions to surrender Palestine to the Jews will not free a grain of sand," he said. Jihad is the only way. The sad thing is they'll keep the jihad as long as 40% of the population continues to be teenage boys, and as long as they hate the Jews more than they love their children (as the famous quote goes...). How else to you convince someone to commit suicide for you...

Iraq Commission Report

Between work and all things associated with the great Baby Countdown of 2006, I haven't had a lot of time to blog (not even a fantasy football update... I'm in the playoffs and won the first round game...). But I still wanted to put up a post on the Iraq Commission Report and what I though would be just another useless bureaucratic report. But then there's this piece by the esteemed Michael Ledeen who's thoughts are that the report made some good points, even if they were 180 degrees opposite of what they should have recommended. At first I, too, thought the Iraq Surrender Commission Report was a total downer. But I’m more and more convinced that it was a great blessing. Not that they intended it to work out this way, but the Wise Men (and the token Lady) have elevated Iran to its rightful place in our national squabble over the war: dead center. The Surrender Commission Report underlines the basic truth about the war, which is that we cannot possibly win it by fighting defensively in Iraq alone. So long as Iran and Syria have a free shot at us and our Iraqi allies, they can trump most any military tactics we adopt, at most any imaginable level of troops. Until the publication of the report this was the dirty secret buried under years of misleading rhetoric from our leaders; now it is front and center. Either deal effectively with Iran, or suffer a humiliating defeat, repeating the terrible humiliation of Lebanon in the Eighties when Iran and Syria bombed us out of the country (thereby providing the template for the terror war in Iraq). The Surrender Commission members do not shrink from humiliation. They want American troops out of Iraq, and therefore they advocate appeasing the Syrians and Iranians. But a considerable number of Americans don’t want to be humiliated by the clerical fascists in Tehran, and I think it’s fair to say the recommendations have largely bombed, despite the flattering photos in Vogue, and the fawning attention from the MSM, including Time’s respectful parroting of (what they must know is) mullah disinformation, and reporting, with an obvious tone of sadness, that the Baker/Hamilton call for talks is more popular in Tehran than in America. Read the rest of the article. Ledeen's always worth it. Who'd have thunk they'd get it right but totally the wrong way... I guess that kinda falls under the 12 monkeys, with 12 typewriters, theory on luck in writing...

For those of you who are bored at work and looking to break up another monotonous day...

It's like "Talk like a Pirate" day but better! It's "Talk like Jack Bauer" day! And just how, praytell, does one talk like Jack Bauer? I'm glad you asked! Here's some tips... -Make sure to yell very simple requests. -Use at least 5 exclamation points in every email!!!! -Ask "Who are you working for!?" to as many people as possible. -Throw out a "Dammit" during the day, just for the hell of it. -Drink each time you hear a co-worker say "Dammit". -Make a mistake at work? Blame Nina Myers. -Request everything be sent to your PDA (works best if you don't have one). -Accuse co-workers and/or children of being moles. -Make sure to let your co-workers catch you looking at Google Earth maps of their houses. When they ask why, tell them that you've tracked a terrorist cell to that location. Samples Co-worker: How was your weekend? You: damnit Bob, we don't have time for simple questions. Co-worker: I just asked about your weekend. You: Dammit. Who are you working for? Co-worker: Never mind, forget I asked. Co-worker: Hey man. Did you already get breakfast? You: I've killed 3 people today and no I've yet to eat breakfast. Dammit! Co-worker: Is that a threat? You: That's not a threat, that's a fact. Boss: Hey, where are the reports I asked for? (pull out stapler, move towards boss) You: I think the question you should be asking is how are you going to read the reports after I staple your eyelids to your desk! So next time that annoying dweeb from finance stops by your cubicle, try it out. If you make him cry, you know you've got the hang of it! And don't forget, the 6th longest day in Jack Bauer's life begins January 14th... amazing how these terrorist attacks are scheduled so precisely these days...

Incoming Senate Intelligence Committee Chair fails basic intelligence quiz

I know it's an bit of an old story, but I still couldn't resist. Intelligence chairman fails quiz... You really can't make this stuff up... Washington, D.C. (AHN)-It seems ironic that the person selected by incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to chair the Senate Intelligence Committee would fail to pass a basic intelligence quiz. But that is exactly what happened when Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas)-who is slated to take the helm of the Intelligence Committee in January-attempted to take a simple quiz put together by Congressional Quarterly. Reyes struggled when asked even simple questions about major terrorist organizations, Al Qaeda and Hezbollah. For example, Reyes' response to a question asking which branch of Islam-Sunni or Shiite-comprised Al Qaeda was "probably both, predominantly, probably Shiite." That answer is incorrect. In fact, Al Qaeda was founded by Osama Bin Laden and is a Sunni organization which rejects Shiites as heretics. Reyes was also unsure who or what Hezbollah was-a major terrorist group which operates outside of Southern Lebanon. CQ National Security Editor Jeff Stein, who posed the questions to Reyes, said he was "amazed" by Reyes lack of knowledge about the two major terrorist organizations, telling CNN, "If you're the baseball commissioner and you don't know the difference between the Yankees and the Red Sox, you don't know baseball. You're not going to have the respect of the people you work with." What else can you say about that? It's simply unbeleivable. Hopefully America files that in the back of their minds and corrects this sort of mistake in 2008 (see also Chuckie Rangel calls for reinstatement of draft). I bet if the follow up question to that was "Hezbollah attacked Israel recently. Who's fault is that?" he would have answered Bush. Nevermind that he doesn't even know who Hezbollah is...

Riverside county to add more toll roads to IE freeways

What a bunch of CRAP! $2 billion and we can't get any regular freeway lanes on the 15 and 91?! WTF! In what members hailed as a "monumental" and "breakthrough" decision, the Riverside County Transportation Commission voted 22-0 to approve a multifaceted project list that will draw money from a variety of sources to pay for the improvements. Those sources range from developer fees to sales tax revenues raised through voter-approved Measure A to funds made available through a recently passed state transportation bond. The commission also voted 21-1, with county Supervisor Bob Buster casting the dissenting vote, to endorse the idea of building toll lanes in two places: on a portion of Highway 91 that would connect with the Orange County Transportation Authority's toll lanes to the west and on Interstate 15 from Highway 74 to the border with San Bernardino County to the north. Traffic on those freeways is shit! And there's plenty of room to add lanes, and they're going to waste it making toll roads! Bureaucratic IDIOTS! What... they don't steal enough from us in taxes that they've got to hit us with toll roads if we'd like to go 20 miles in less than 2 hours? Bob Buster seems to be the only one with any minute amount on sense on that committee... Friggin' toll roads... Morons.

Dow hits another record - 12,416.76

Those stocks just keep chugging along...

Democratic Senator Tim Johnson in critical condition

Everyone's thoughts and prayers are with Johnson and his family. South Dakota Senator Tim Johnson is responding almost 24 hours after his emergency brain surgery. Johnson is listed in critical but stable condition at George Washington University Hospital in Washington D.C. His doctors say a mass of abnormal blood vessels entangled with arteries in the brain started to bleed. Senator Johnson is responding to both voice and touch and at this time no further surgeries are required. I talked with his communications director this afternoon, by phone and she says Johnson's two and a half hour surgery late last night was a success. No politics on this one. All signs so far point to his recovery which is good news. And I'm sure the Republicans and Democrats alike wish him a speedy recovery. This does bring up an interesting governmental quandry... What happens in the unlikely event of his incapacitation? Hugh Hewitt was just discussing the situation and mentioned that it's extremely unlikely that he'll reliquish his seat. There have been lots of old people in the Senate and there age and various conditions may have made daily attendance impossible, but thanks to the hard worrk of their staff, they were more than capable of active participation in governmental processes. I'd love for Republicans to take control of the Senate, but not this way. Get well soon Senator Johnson...

Adventures of a first-time father to be... part 9

The arrival of little baby Wookie quickly approaches, and since the fetching Mrs. Wookie's due date is only a week and a half away, we figured it's probably about time to get the little tyke's room ready. So adios guest room. Hello explosion of lavender and yellow! The big idea was taking a mocha brown colored room and doing a 2 tone paint job: lavender and pale yellow. Then we thought, let's get real creative and add vertical stripes and a chair rail. Ooh and add a deep purple pinstripe on top of that too. That's a heel of a good idea and a hell of a lot of work. Here's how it went. Since I haven't posted in a while this is going to be a long one... After putting on a white primer coat with the help of my parents 3 weeks ago, we put on the base coats of lavender and pale yellow the following weekend (again thanks to the soon to be grandparents for the help with the paint job). Not too bad... a level and some painter's tape and it was easy. The fun part was the vertical stripes. We were adding 12 inch wide lavender stripes to the pale yellow top portion, and the toughest part there was taping it off. Can you say "tape in a straight line"? If the laser level was off it was off around the whole room and the room was starting to look like it was spinning... Of course that could have been the paint fumes... Moment of truth... painting on the stipes. We checked and rechecked those stripes. Seemed like everytime we looked at them they were crooked... So off comes the tape and the room's starting to shape up. About time too since this was all from this past weekend, only 2 weeks til the due date. I'm sorry, but that's just about the best damn paint job ever. And then we add the chair rail, move in the furniture and voila!! Cutest friggin' baby's room EVER. It may have been a lot of work, but I can't walk by the room without stopping and checking it out. Plus I've shown the pictures to just about anybody who'll listen to me ramble about the baby room that's straight out of a pottery barn catalogue, so I figured let's have my 3 dedicated readers have a look too... So now the main debate is the deep purple pinstripe. Put it up or leave it as is. For that pinstripe we're not painting it on. My mom came up with the great idea of using ribbon instead of paint for the pinstripe. It's a lot less work... no taping, no leveling, no painting. Just sticking the ribbon to the wall. So let's get some opinions on the choices below... So let's hear it. Pinstripe or no pinstripe... What do you think?

Memorial held for local marine killed in Iraq

It was a beautiful ceremony... extremely moving. ANZA -- At times light-hearted and at others solemn, a memorial service Monday for Jeromy D. West, a 20-year-old Marine from Aguanga killed recently in Iraq, was in the end a celebration of the life of a young man who had loved his family and was proud to serve his country. [...] They called him a hero and recalled how on many occasions he had been protective of them or he made them laugh. Lisa West, his mother, spoke about her son's stubbornness, about the day he was born, about the mullet haircut he sported in his youth and about his decision to join the Marines when he was 17. Many things went through her mind the day he enlisted, she said, "and this day was one of them." But she is at peace, West said, because it had been something her son felt passionate about doing. "He wanted to do this so his friends and family were safe," she said. I was lucky enough to meet Jeromy once, even if it was only in passing, and I was truly saddened when I heard he'd been killed by a sniper in Iraq. I knew how hard this would be for his family because of how proud his mother and sister were of him and his service. He will be remembered and honored for years in this area. Thank you for your service Jeromy. Rest in peace.

John Bolton to resign as US Ambassador to the UN

He was never confirmed as UN Ambassador thanks to a Democratic filibuster, so his term ends with the current lame duck session, another casualty of the November election. Mr. Bush had planned to push for confirmation during the current lame-duck session of the Republican Congress, which would have allowed Mr. Bolton to continue as ambassador. But today’s announcement suggests that the White House realized it was not going to receive the necessary votes. President Bush said that he accepted “with deep regret” Mr. Bolton’s decision to end his service. “I am deeply disappointed that a handful of United States Senators prevented Ambassador Bolton from receiving the up or down vote he deserved in the Senate,” Mr. Bush said. “They chose to obstruct his confirmation, even though he enjoys majority support in the Senate, and even though their tactics will disrupt our diplomatic work at a sensitive and important time.” Mr. Bush, who is expected to meet with Mr. Bolton later today, said in his statement that this “stubborn obstructionism ill serves our country, and discourages men and women of talent from serving their nation.” To be fair, we can't blame this one entirely on the election and the Democrats. Republicans should have grown a spine and pushed his nomination through when they had control of the House and Senate. Now we're going to get a watered down, PC version of John who will simply allow the UN to continue to be the pointless organization it currently is. We continue to pour billions of dollars into the UN without any hope of meaningful action in return. Bolton was the only bright spot in that organization. Now he's gone.

Newly elected Congressman Ellison insists he'll only swear in on a copy of the Koran

He's the first Muslim elected to US Congress and he's refusing to swear in on the Bible. Some think, what's the big deal? He's not Christian; he's Muslim, so let him swear on his own holy book. A fair argument, but Dennis Prager's become the latest conservative labeled a racist by the PC police thanks to this column that says it is a big deal what book he uses to swear in on. Forgive me, but America should not give a hoot what Keith Ellison's favorite book is. Insofar as a member of Congress taking an oath to serve America and uphold its values is concerned, America is interested in only one book, the Bible. If you are incapable of taking an oath on that book, don't serve in Congress. In your personal life, we will fight for your right to prefer any other book. We will even fight for your right to publish cartoons mocking our Bible. But, Mr. Ellison, America, not you, decides on what book its public servants take their oath. It's a good point. America reveres its symbols; from the flag to the bald eagle to our public officials swearing to uphold the laws of this great country and taking that oath with their left hand on the Bible and right hand in the air. Can we just subsitute that powerful imagery to suit the person taking the oath? Would it mean the same if a Mormon swore on the Book of Mormon? A Scientologist on a copy of Dianetics? Should a left handed person be allowed to swap their hands around, right hand on the Bible and left in the air? Would those images have the same meaning to the American people? It may seem arbitrary, but like most symbols, it's the meaning that's important. What's the big deal about the flag? It's just some stars and stripes... Who cares if we burn it our not? WHo cares if an "artist" puts it on a wall covered in urine and feces? Or the bald eagle... it's just another bird. It's the people who fought, bled, and died for those images that gives the image meaning. Washington, Jefferson, and Madison swore on the Bible. So have thousands of other Christians, Jews, agnostics and aetheists who served as congressmen, senators, and presidents. Why should Muslims receive preferential treatment? Dennis also cautions that we ought to take this seriously because of the message this send the Muslim world. The appeasement crowd would say that this would show our accceptance of all cultures, creeds, and religions. That would matter if our primary concern was making the rest of the world like us. But our enemies could see this as the beginning of their ultimate goal: the Islamicization of America. Take some time to read the whole article. It's well worth it...