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Light blogging in the next day or two while I take care of some projects. See you later....

The Chief received the following via e-mail. This correspondent of his, a former USN active-duty shipmate, added his pithy comments to an AP story.

For your consideration:

Aug. 13, 2005, 10:33PM Associated Press Bush backers join Crawford showdown Counter-rallies are prompted by anti-war group

CRAWFORD - A grieving mother's anti-war protest entered its second week, gaining momentum and spurring counter-rallies, as hundreds of people with conflicting opinions about the war in Iraq descended Saturday on a road leading to the Western White House.

More than 350 anti-war demonstrators gathered at a park near downtown, then moved the rally several miles away to the peace vigil's makeshift campsite along the road to President Bush's ranch.

"Who knew that the beginning of the end of the occupation in Iraq was going to start last Saturday in Crawford, Texas?" said Cindy Sheehan of Vacaville, Calif.,

She is delusional. Her fifteen minutes of fame has gone to her head.

who started the protest Aug. 6 in memory of her 24-year-old son, Casey, who was killed in Iraq last year.

I doubt her son would support what she's doing.

As about a dozen Bush supporters stood across the street holding signs, down from more than 250 who gathered there Saturday morning, one exchange became heated. A Bush supporter approached an anti-war veteran, and they stood chest to chest as deputies tried to separate them.

When the veteran shouted about his wartime experiences and yelled, "I earned the right to be here!" several of his fellow protesters subdued him, moving him away as he sobbed and his knees buckled.

Who knows if he's really a veteran. You can tell people anything and they will believe it. If I told people I met Mick Jagger some place they'd believe it. If I told them I was in Vietnam they'd believe it. If I told them I sat the bench on some OSU football team and that Woody Hayes chewed me out a few times, they'd believe it.

Sheriff's deputies and Secret Service agents otherwise kept the groups on opposite sides of the road, and no one was arrested. The morning pro-Bush rally was organized by Darrell Ankarlo, a conservative radio talk-show host for KLIF in Dallas, who said, "In my heart of hearts I believe that we're trying to do the right thing" in Iraq.

I think we are too.

He also asked to meet with Sheehan, but she agreed only to meet privately Saturday evening with Bush supporters whose relatives have died in Iraq.

She might be putting herself into some emotional buzz saw with this move.

The 250-plus Bush supporters stood in the blazing sun for a few hours in a ditch across the street from the campsite. Most waved American flags and held signs, including "Help! I'm surrounded by America hating idiots!"

He's probably right.

"I feel sorry for Cindy, but I think she went about this the wrong way," said Bill Garrett, of Dallas, a member of Protest Warrior, a group that frequently holds counterprotests to anti-war rallies. "Somebody's got to stand up to them."

This is true.

The first counter-rally was Friday night, organized by another conservative radio talk-show host, Mike Gallagher. He brought many of the 100 Bush supporters by bus to the anti-war group's campsite, and the pro-Bush side waved flags, sang patriotic songs and chanted, "Go, George, go!"

Mike wants publicity for his show.

But Tim Origer, who lost his left leg above the knee when he was a 19-year-old Marine fighting in Vietnam, said Saturday that believing the war with Iraq is wrong does not diminish the protesters' support for the soldiers.

Again.....a real vet or someone who lost his leg on his motorcycle? I've seen guys who say they were in Nam who, even in 1975 when it ended, weren't old enough to be there. I'd say that someone has to be at least 47 to have been in Nam at the end.

"When Iraqi Freedom started, it looked so much like Vietnam that I couldn't be quiet," said Origer, who lives in Santa Fe, N.M., and is a member of Veterans for Peace. "It's real easy to say war is good when you don't have to be in it." The campsite of tents and anti-war banners has swelled to several hundred people some days but has a core group of about 100. They sing songs, chat and plan strategy each day on the shoulders of two intersecting side roads that form a triangle with Prairie Chapel Road, which leads to Bush's ranch.

Stevie Wonder can see that these people don't have jobs. What job lets you go and spend a week at a anti-war rally.

They vow to remain until Bush meets with Sheehan and the group's other grieving parents or until the end of his monthlong ranch visit.

Gimme a break. They won't do that. Bush will outlast them. They'll give up in about two weeks....except the six who decide stick it out.

Bush has said that he sympathizes with Sheehan but hasn't said whether he will talk to her. Two administration officials met with her last weekend.

If I were Bush I would not talk to her as it won't do him any good.
- - - - - - - - -

Just the viewpoint and words of a non-activist friend. H/T/ to this former shipmate, and regular Texas guy. I've heard a LOT worse commentary on this, and other issues.

Via Instapundit. While self-important rock stars hold silly concerts to raise consciences, Zimbabwe sinks deeper into brutality. I fail to see how forgiving the debt to the West will stop Robert Mugabe from terrorizing his people....

Lions on the plains would alter order of the food chain

First came the Princeton University spawned idea to return the Great Plains to what was called a "buffalo commons". (No farmers/ranchers need apply.) Now comes this idiocy of converting areas of the US plains into a new edition of the Serengeti, complete with AFRICAN type lions, etc.

Lions in your back yard?...Well, maybe, if a group of prominent ecologists gets to establish a "Pleistocene Park" on the Great Plains. Authors of the plan -- which appears in today's issue of the journal Nature -- say their idea to transplant African wildlife to North America could save many of the animals from extinction.

Oooooh Kaaaaaay. First these moonbats need to relocate their apartments to the middle of the Serengeti - without fences or doors. After a couple of years of this field testing THEN let's hear their ideas. No, let's not - throw them to the lions, and give them their great opportunity to contribute THEMSELVES to the food-chain.

Why is it that these eastern moonbat academics have all these great ideas on what to do with the rest of us out here on the plains. They must truly think that THEY are the only one's who have the intellectual understanding to decide the best way to manage the planet and all of it's occupants - including their fellow citizens.

"Obviously, gaining public acceptance is going to be a huge issue, especially when you talk about reintroducing predators. There are going to have to be some major attitude shifts.

Attitude shift? To becoming an item of catfood? Not in THIS life!

That includes realizing predation is a natural role, and that people are going to have to take precautions."

Right, dude. It's MY natural role to kill animals that try to eat me. I'll take precautions, alright. How's about a semi-auto 30-06 with a 20 round clip?

Nevertheless, the scientists say the relocated animals could restore biodiversity on this continent to a condition closer to what nature was like before humans overran the landscape.

This statement is just plain illogical. Bringing AFRICAN wildlife into North America is RESTORING biodiversity to the continent? It seems to the Chief (who has a biology degree) that this is REPLACING the continent's biodiversity. (At least the buffalo commons idea used North American animals.) I'm not alone in reaching this conclusion:

Some scientists and conservationists, however, hoot. "It is not restoration to introduce animals that were never here," says University of Washington anthropologist Donald K. Grayson. "Why introduce Old World camels and lions when there are North American species that could benefit from the same kind of effort?"

Phew! At least SOME reason isn't gone from academia!

There WAS a time in the history of western civilization when this sort of plan was followed to some extent:

Here are some graphs I found on eduction spending and performance. These graphs took me about five minutes to find. I love the Internet....

From KXAN Austin: Cindy Sheehan continues to camp outside the president's ranch, demanding he tell her what noble cause her son died for. While she has plenty of support, there's also opposition, including the parents of a fallen Central Texas...

I'm in the process of moving so posting will be light for the next few days....

Thanks to all who submitted links in the recent "call for links" posts. I'm working on getting several of the links added to the blogroll, but for some reason Typepad doesn't really want to co-operate with me tonight. But they'll...

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