So John at Aarghhh!!! links to a SGT Hook photo montage set to the lyrics of Simon and Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water." I took the liberty of making it real, and Top approves, so I am offering it up here.

Probably a right click and "Save As" is your friend here. I am working on it for you Mac people.

UPDATE: You can also download it over at Aargghhh!!!

UPDATE II: Aargghhh!!! has the other one up, too. I haven't posted it here, yet.

UPDATE III: Now I have. For Mac people, I am having trouble converting to a decent file size .mov and .mpg are still extravagantly big. Any ideas, Macsters?

Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, you should be. Tomorrow's (sometimes he posts early) is an excellent example.

I wrote before that the Democrat candidates who were running on Iraq (falsely reported) bad news were expecting nothing to change. Rich Galen makes the point that the same is true on the economic front.

Bring 'em on.

A link to the latest Mark Steyn:

Why is this important? Because, in a nutshell, Iraq is the last war. That’s to say, the last war in which the Bush administration will spend the months beforehand amassing a quarter of a million troops on an enemy’s borders. Doing it that way gives the enemy too long to enlist his own forces — the Western media, the UN and the moth-eaten French pantomime mule of Messrs Chirac and de Villepin. All these parties are dedicated to ensuring that even when the Americans win, they lose. The speed with which they’ve managed to taint victory in Iraq is impressive, though it bears no relation to anything so tiresome as reality. So from hereon in engagements in the war of terror will be swift, sudden and as low-key as can be managed. The US will depend not on multilateralism but bilateralism — the many agreements the Americans have signed for base rights and training missions and other below-the-radar stuff from the Middle East through old Soviet Central Asia to the Pacific. There will be, faute de mieux, a reliance on light and mobile configurations and special forces.

He even seems to be channelling David Warren!

Theories abounding - Arafat is sick or dead or something.

That is too bad. I really hope those are all false rumors. Mike and I agreed last night - no terrorist should die of natural causes.

I had some problems posting from Cafe-conLeche.net. If the post was too long, I would get a time out. Now I've gone to the airport, and while I have seen no signs advertising any wireless hotspots, I decided I would plug the card in and check it out - and I am on a wireless link that is 1) free, and 2) doesn't timeout on the posts. Cool. So here is the word - in Columbia Metropolitan Airport - free WiFi!

Don't get many comments, so when I get an email from MT telling me I got one, it is a big deal. I got a comment to an old post - Rachel Lucas had posted this (which is a long way from the fuzzy doggy pictures):

Good grief. It feels like the 1980s all over again. I spent most of my childhood and teen years worrying about nuclear war, but back then it was the big bad USSR, the hated Soviets. Boy, do I remember that feeling of fear and loathing of what seethed behind the Iron Curtain.

Now I'm supposed to be scared of a bunch of troglodytes who wear laundry on their heads?

No, thanks. Nuke us if you can, donkeyriders, but know that if you do, the entire Middle East will turn to glass shortly thereafter.

I suspect the Bush Administration is engaging in a bit of disinformation. I don't believe that they believe bin Laden is alive, and I think they want us to believe yesterday's tape contained bin Laden's voice, in order to garner more support for an attack on Iraq. I'm not opposed to an attack on Iraq, but still, that's what I think.

I believe Osama bin Laden is dead, and to me, the release of another new audio tape confirms that theory. If the guy was alive, he'd make sure we knew it beyond a doubt. If he turns up alive, I'll eat my words, but I've been convinced for the last year or so that the asshole is dead and buried, and we'll never find his corpse. Pity, that.

Anyway. I'm just taking a break from studying, gotta get back to that because the test is in one hour. In the meantime, do any of you think bin Laden is alive, and do you fear a nuclear attack?

I don't.

My post was:

What Rachel said

Bring it.

I've got my stuff packed already. You'll need a lot more than that when you are living on a plain of glass.

And the comment was this:

Rachel is a very dedicated, kindhearted, honest and caring female woman. On my behalf, I would like to congratulate Rachel for helping all those person in need in her programm:'Tista Tkun Int.

'Rachel, may the Lord award you generously in this world and after because you are doing exacltly what Jesus did. Keep it up Rachel.

Umm, okay. Nice sentiment I guess, but I don't think that guy read the post I linked to. So I Googled up "Tista Tkun Int" and it turns out there is a television personality in Malta named Rachel Said!! Apparently she does some sort of Maltese Oprah show, reuniting families, arranging fantasy weddings, stuff like that.

Geek talk follows. Finished up project early, so I went to Columbia to get home earlier. Got my flight changed, and looking to kill time, I used my T-Mobile Sidekick to Google up "internet cafe Coumbia SC." I found Cafe-conLeche.net, which is, according to a press release, trying to leverage the Hispanic community link with Internet access. They have workstations that are wired and wireless connections, and its all pay. They are right down the street from a big Starbucks that has the town scandalized because it has a big facade on a street with little shops, but it doesn't have T-Mobile. Advantage to the Hispanic community, you might think, but I am the only customer in this place, and Starbucks is teeming. Maybe if they had a more rational wireless model - either T-Mobile or one of the other national deals. I had to give them my MAC address and pay $6 for all day access, but of course I won't be here all day. Maybe if they had free wireless, they'd make it up in coffee. Hard to say. If I come back to Columbia, I'll see if they're still around.

Today was a good travel today. My product implementation was cake, got done early, and went to the Queen's City and met Mike Hendrix of Cold Fury. Met him in a old style country-punk diner called the Penguin Drive-In (would you expect anywhere else?), where I enjoyed some adult beverages and the conversation. Cool to meet the folks of the blogosphere - nice of Mike to agree to meet with me. I was thinking we would go to a Starbucks and do a blog thing - North Carolina does have T-Mobile HotSpot - but they don't have adult beverages there. And the coffee is not nearly so strong as the drinks they were pouring at the Penguin.

I got to something before James Taranto (but not before David Warren)! Can't link to individual items on Best of the Web, but in today's BoW (scroll down to the Road to Damascus):

Meanwhile, the Associated Press reports that "President Bush on Tuesday said that Israel's air strike in Syria was part of an 'essential' campaign to defend the country, and drew a parallel between U.S. policy on terrorism and the actions being taken by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon."

Could it be that there's a coordinated antiterror strategy here, with the U.S. dealing with terrorism in places like Iraq and Afghanistan while leaving Syria to the Israelis?

The AP also reports that Syrian dictator Bashar Assad said the Israeli air strike, in the AP's words, "will enhance his country's role in the Middle East, not diminish it as sought by Israel." In that case, by all means, let's let Israel enhance the Syrian role more.

Also found there today:

"The UN has told the Canadian government to ban all forms of corporal punishment of youngsters--including even a light slap," reports the CanWest News Service. The Committee on Rights of the Child said Canada, as a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, is obliged to make spanking illegal. So if you're a Canadian parent and you want to discipline your children without running afoul of the U.N., you may soon have to hire a Palestinian to blow him up.

OUCH!!

If it's not a crime to be gay, why can't we get married?

I dunno. But it isn't a crime to be brother and sister, either.

I've seen and heard a lot of concern about Arnold being married to Maria Shriver - a Kennedy. And there were all those Shrivers up on stage with him.

That's probably the biggest import of his campaign - Kennedys (and no doubt adoring fans) supporting, and voting, for a Republican, for the first time ever. Besides, he knows how to handle political disputes in the family. (Though I guess it is surprising that didn't get any play from the NOW types!)

Hope to blog about it tomorrow. No, not California.

As I noted below, we are using our veto to stop the UN Security Council from condemning Israel's attack of the terrorist camps in Syria. Actually, what we are saying is, we can't sign onto this thing as is, but if you would just also condemn the terrorist attack that precipitated it, we will. And the UNSC can't bring themselves to do that simple thing.

Now, the Democrat candidates for President are just about unanimous (except for Lieberman) that the UN should be in charge of the US war on terror.

Those guys are so going to lose.

David Warren gave us the flypaper strategy, or at least the name for it. Now he seems eerily prescient on what is "Next."

My impression from speaking with several administration, especially Pentagon, insiders, and by observing what one can discover of the extension of U.S. operations overseas (through the securing of basing and landing rights and other joint agreements), is that we should expect the field struggle against international terrorism to disappear off our television screens. The media have been discovered to be an enemy, pure and simple, and no attempt to brief or include them in operations makes any sense. Indeed, shaking off media attention is now intrinsic to the strategy.

Moreover, it has been discovered that for both political and tactical reasons, it is counter-productive to build up forces in any one location. Since this is necessary to full-scale invasions, full-scale invasions have to go. They only give the enemy a chance to prepare his resistance, whether directly or indirectly.

(I saw this in a few places, but I think I saw it first at Jennifer Taliaferro's). That column was published October 3d. On October 5th, Israel attacked terrorist camps in Syria. Yes, it was in the aftermath of a terrorist bombing in Israel. But let's be clear - Syria is also an enemy of the United States. They are on the State Department list of state sponsors of terror. They have also been implicated in the Guantanamo Bay espionage cases. And Israel is our ally.

The President declined to criticize Israel Monday for its air strike deep inside Syria, saying Israel "has got a right to defend herself." And we are using our UN veto in the Security Council to keep them from issuing a condemnation of Israel. (Those links also from The Greatest Jeneration.)

I am not saying that the US was behind the Israeli strike on Syria. But we are definitely not displeased. From my second post ever:

World War III

Here's the lineup.

Good guys: US, Israel, Russia, and India.

Bad guys: Every majority Muslim nation in the world save Turkey.

I don't hold with the WWIII=The Cold War formulation, making the War on Terror (WOT) WWIV. This is truly the next World War, and we have really just gotten started.

Here's the AP's cut on this. And a note on Turkey - agreeing to send 10,000 troops to Iraq.

Also spotted on Jen's site: A close aid to supreme Taliban leader Mullah Omar has been killed in a clash in south Afghanistan, an Afghan official said on Monday, the second major blow to the hardline Islamic movement in under a month. I haven't seen that anywhere else - we are winning!

Got on a friend's wi-fi network here in South Carolina. I'm going to be staying an hour away, but I may have to drive back here just so I can get my net fix, since apparently there is no other wi-fi here.

UPDATE: At least my hotel has wired broadband!

On the road again, this time to South Carolina. No HotSpots, and my work laptop just died, so blogging will be spotty. I grew up in SC, so I will get a chance to see some old friends.

PS - any bloggers in South Cakkalaki?

Man, does that guy need to get over himself.