Target Centermass

Month: April 2006

  • Nothing from Me Tonight

    Perhaps you will be so kind as to visit two recent additions to the Target Centermass blogroll. Hey, I can always use more quality Lone Star blogs.

    Do drop by and pay them a visit if you don’t enjoy their work already.

  • Tartan Day ’06 Tartan Dump

    I’m just wrapping up Tartan Day ’06 with some actual tartans. I’ll throw the images below the fold.
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  • Tartan Day ’06 Link Dump

    Scots Wha Hae
    (c) FreeFoto.com

    It’s Tartan Day. You want links? I got ’em.

    Well, let’s start with the obvious — the Scottish Tartans Society, the “principal authority in the world on tartans and Highland dress.”

    On the internet, I recommend ElectricScotland.com as a starting point for all things Scottish, be it history, geneology, clans or travel.

    Ith at Absinthe & Cookies shows all of the blogs marking Tartan Day by participating in the Gathering of the Blogs, 2006 edition.

    Want to weave your own tartan? Try the tartan weaver, where you can design your own and even purchase products made with your design.

    This chronology may or may not help you brush up on your Scottish history, but it just might bring a chuckle (hat tip to Blackfive).

    Alexis Malcolm Kilts has kilts moderately priced, with a wide selection that includes the tartans of all the branches of the U.S. military.

    Here in the DFW area, the fine folks at Scotland Forever have been helpful with my wedding planning.

    For a kilt on a budget, there’s Sport Kilt, even if you’re looking for digital camo or a Hawaiian print.

    I’ve already blogged about the tragic passing of the famed Scottish regiments, as units centuries old are being amalgamated into one regiment. Here’s the site of the Black Watch, one of the legendary regiments now only a battalion

    The American sport of lacrosse has begun taking root in Scotland. The Scottish national lacrosse team is currently preparing for this July’s 2006 World Championship in London, Ontario. The Scots went 4-3 and finished seventh in the 2002 championships in Perth, Australia. Check out their history page — the Scottish national team can essentially trace it’s roots to the aftermath of the Lockerbie bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.

    The 2006 Texas Scottish Festival and Highland Games is approaching, with a full slate of activities and entertainment scheduled for June 2-4 in Arlington. I went to last year’s festival and had a grand time. Hey, nowhere else but Texas would someone opt for this outfit — kilt, hose and flashes, sgian dubh, cowboy boots and hat (click for larger). Oh yeah, that ain’t me in the picture.

    Texas Scottish Cowboy

  • Tartan Day ’06

    It’s now the sixth day of April, 2006, where I live, so let me welcome you to Tartan Day, a day to be celebrated by Scots and those of Scot descent. Since it is Tartan Day after all, let’s start this with the tartan of my family, which is expected to play a prominent role in my pending nuptials. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Wylie family tartan.

    Next, here’s a quick look at the historical reason why April 6 has been chosen as the day of celebration.

    Me? I’ll be marking the day by donning a shirt in the famed Black Watch tartan. Too bad such noble garb will be wasted in the cube farm. Hopefully, I should have some good wedding pics for the 2007 edition of Tartan Day.

    Now, I’ll put up more Scot-related material later, but I wanted to point y’all toward the third annual Gathering of the Blogs, as Ith at Absinthe & Cookies presents a collection of bloggers planning on honoring the day. Those blogs, currently, are as follows:

    Aye, check ’em out throughout the day for what promises to be some good ol’ Scot-related blogging.

  • What I’m Reading Right Now

    From sci-fi/horror novelist Dan Simmons, whose work I’m unfamiliar with but may have to investigate, is this piece of speculative fiction on our society, our enemies and the Long War. It’s interesting so far, with some tasty little lessons from history thrown in the mix.

    Hat tip to LGF.

  • Silly Quiz: Which Historical Lunatic Are You?

    I'm Caligula!
    Which Historical Lunatic Are You?
    From the fecund loins of Rum and Monkey.

    Hat tip to Joshua Abraham Norton and Pope Stephen VI, a.k.a. the Llama Butchers.

  • 24 Wis. Communities Vote for Iraq Pullout

    Well, here’s some heartening news … for our enemies on the ground in Iraq.

    Thousands of voters turned out in Wisconsin to offer a purely symbolic but heartfelt message: Bring the troops home from Iraq.

    By margins overwhelming in some places and narrow in others, voters in 24 of 32 communities approved referendums Tuesday calling for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.

    Joy Kenworthy, 78, of Madison, doesn’t mind that the nonbinding referendums have no bearing on federal policy. She was one of more than 24,300 voters in the state capital who gave 68 percent support to a referendum calling for the pullout.

    “I thought this war was ill-advised from the moment it started,” she said.

    In addition to Madison, those communities supporting the measures included the Milwaukee suburbs of Shorewood and Whitefish Bay, and the western city of La Crosse. Those voting down the measure included the northwestern city of Hayward and the south-central city of Watertown, where 75 percent of voters disapproved.

    […]

    Such measures have been passed by city councils and voters in other states, including Vermont, which served as a model for Wisconsin’s effort, said Rachel Friedman, spokeswoman for the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice.

    The group, which helped organize Tuesday’s initiatives, is already looking at ways to take the referendums into more communities. Elected officials can’t ignore the results, especially as the November election season looms, Friedman said.

    “They have seven months to listen to us, to the voters and to do the right thing,” she said. “The people have spoken. This is what democracy looks like.”

    The morale of soldiers — and their safety — could dip when they hear about such referendums passing, said Bill Richardson, treasurer of Vote No To Cut And Run, a group that opposed the measures.

    Perhaps it’s time to change the Wisconsin motto from “Forward” to “Retreat.”

    Boots and Sabers‘ Owen, a resident of Wisconsin, played down the referendums as he monitored the results.

    Then it hit me, who cares? All but two or three of the communities are tiny communities. Even if 31 out of 32 pass, it still represents an incredibly small percentage of the population – especially when you consider that the turnout is very low. I suspect that the Green Party and anti-war activists who organized this, targeted a bunch of small communities because they knew that it would only take a few hundred votes to win them. That way, at the end of the day, they can claim that 25 out of 32 (or whatever) referenda passed.

    Frankly, I’m hesitant to really care much about an orchestrated and obvious PR event.

    So, I guess my reaction is…. whatever. It really doesn’t matter all that much. It is not a reflection of public opinion in Wisconsin, much less the country. Furthermore, the referendums are meaningless because Shorewood doesn’t have a say in foreign policy.

    Seeing that the referendum received a little over 24,000 votes in Madison, a city of about 220,000 that includes over 40,000 at the fairly liberal University of Wisconsin, I suspect Owen is correct that these results are in no way indicative of the general population of the state.

    Still, the message that it sends must some warm fuzzies to any of our enemies that hear the news. No good can come from this, but American blood can.

  • DeLay Calls It Quits on Re-election, House

    I don’t feel enough about this story is known yet to comment strongly, though I do feel that Rep. Tom DeLay was demonized for a willingness to successfully play hardball while Republican. Still, much more may come out about this during ethics investigations and his indictments at the hand of Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle, so for now I’ll settle for a little all-Texas link dump.

    Houston Chronicle: DeLay says prospect of losing led him to step down

    U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay decided more than a week ago to resign his seat, disappointed with the margin of his Republican primary victory and looking at poll numbers that showed he might lose the seat in November, he said today.

    […]

    His internal polling showed he had a 50-50 chance of winning in November, he said.

    “The district was very polarized,” he said. “I had strong support and strong opposition.”

    He would have had to draw votes of moderate Republicans and independents, he said.

    “Why risk it, when we can save the seat?,” he said. The district leans Republican. “I’m incredibly confident I’m not leaving the 22nd District in jeopardy.”

    Former U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson is the Democratic nominee for the 22nd congressional district seat.

    Lampson, whom DeLay has long lampooned as the “Hollywood” candidate because of his financial support from Democrats outside the state who oppose DeLay, will see that money supply dry up if he’s running against less of a lightning rod than DeLay, the congressman predicted.

    “He’s got enough to run a campaign right now, but it’s not going to be a referendum on me,” DeLay said. “He has to defend his voting record.”

    DeLay, the subject of more ethics investigations than any other member of Congress, has been under increasing pressure from a sprawling investigation into political corruption that grew out of the lobbying activities of Jack Abramoff, with whom he had close political ties.

    The ongoing investigation has an impact on him politically.

    “I’m a realist and understand that,” he said. “But all they have is guilt by association. I’ve served honestly and ethically. I’ve never broken a law or a House rule.”

    DeLay said he’s not going away, but will fight for conservative causes in a different arena. And he says he will work to elect a conservative Republican as his successor.

    Houston Chronicle: Many show interest in seat

    Familiar and lesser-known political names emerged Monday night as possible contenders for the congressional seat being vacated by Republican U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay.

    Those who acknowledged interest in the seat or were mentioned as contenders included Harris County Judge Robert Eckels, state Rep. Robert Talton, Sugar Land Mayor David Wallace, Houston City Councilwoman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, former state District Judge John Devine and lawyer Tom Campbell, who ran against DeLay in the March Republican Primary.

    Harris County Republican Party Chairman Jared Woodfill said he started receiving calls from interested officials within minutes of hearing the news of DeLay’s decision.

    “Numerous people have called me inquiring about the seat,” he said.

    Other phones also were ringing as politicians gauged potential support or heard from backers.

    “I’ve had a number of calls this evening. I’ll visit with my family and look at the process,” Eckels said. “I do have an interest in at least looking at the race.”

    He said that his experience coordinating the local response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita left him frustrated with the federal government and its impact on local issues.

    Sugar Land Mayor Wallace said he got wind of DeLay’s decision over the weekend and began organizing a campaign.

    “I’m running for that spot,” Wallace said Monday night.

    “It is going to be a sprint. We have been working this weekend and today kind of organizing our campaign making sure we pull together a grass-roots team,” Wallace said.

    […]

    Sekula-Gibbs, who lives in Clear Lake, said she has received several calls from local Republicans asking her if she would be interested in the seat.

    “I’m saddened that the congressman has decided to step down, but I’m interested in the position,” she said. “I’m definitely giving it very serious consideration.”

    Campbell, who came in a distant second with 30 percent of the vote in the March primary, said he still wants the position.

    “I believe that Tom DeLay did the right thing in stepping aside and allowing the Republican Party to move forward,” Campbell said.

    […]

    A special election to fill the remainder of DeLay’s term likely will be held on the next uniform election date, which is in May. Gov. Rick Perry will set the date.

    It was unclear Monday night how Republicans will select a November nominee to replace DeLay, who won the GOP primary in March.

    “We’ve never had this happen in a congressional race,” Woodfill said. “We’ll have a little bit of time to figure it out. We have our lawyers looking at it.”

    At issue is whether the responsibility for selecting a nominee falls to the 62-member state Republican Executive Committee or to GOP officials in the five counties that lie partly within the 22nd Congressional District.

    “It’s in our best interest to choose a nominee before the special election. Otherwise, the election is going to be a free-for-all,” Woodfill said. “The situation you don’t want is for our nominee to be someone different than the person who runs for the special.”

    DeLay is expected to resign officially sometime after April 7 and move to Virginia to work with a conservative organization.

    That would make him ineligible to run despite his nomination, opening the way for party officials to select another nominee, Woodfill said.

    Petrified Truth: DeLay out?

    DeLay has outlived his usefulness in advancing the conservative cause, but I do hate to see moonbat Austin D.A. Ronnie Earle get even part of what he wanted.

    TexasRainmaker: Tom Delay Sacrifices Himself for Conservative Cause

    Delay certainly understood that the campaign would be a rough one. He’s also an experienced student of the numbers and realized that for the first time in 22 years he would have a real fight on his hands. But he also realized that fight wasn’t about constituents of District 22, but rather Delay himself. There’s sure to be much speculation surrounding his decision…

    But I think it just insures a Republican keeps the seat. His opponent, Nick Lampson has already been defeated down here and was only campaigning on the “Tom Delay is evil” mantra.

    Rightwingsparkle: Tom Delay will resign

    I never liked Delay. I can’t really say why. God knows he isn’t as bad as many in Congress and he was right on most of the issues, but there was just something that didn’t seem right with him. He was just a bit too slick for me. I never liked Newt Gingrich either. I get my vibes about people and I stay with them. I always seem to be right.

    Here’s hoping for better leadership.

    The Fire Ant Gazette: …

    [Quiet on the DeLay story, but Eric does note with reservation that Peter Jackson is making a movie based on the Halo video game. Just thought I’d throw in that tidbit]

  • Carnival Of Liberty XXXIX

    This week’s installment of the Life, Liberty, Property community’s Carnival of Liberty is up over at Below the Beltway. Go read another fine collection of posts from a libertarian slant.

  • British Secretary Wants Geneva Review

    It is a sensible call that allows for the realities and dangers of the day.

    Britain’s Defense Secretary called Monday for a review of the Geneva Conventions, saying international rules of war needed to be revamped to reflect the threats of global terrorism.

    John Reid said the potential for groups or countries to develop or acquire weapons of mass destruction should lead to a new debate about whether pre-emptive strikes should be allowed under the rules of war.

    “The laws of the 20th century placed constraints on us all which enhanced peace and protected liberty,” Reid told an audience at the Royal United Services Institute, a security and defense think-tank in London. “We must ask ourselves whether, as the new century begins, they will do the same.”

    He suggested the Geneva Conventions — which date to 1949 — may need to be revised.

    The Geneva Conventions set standards for conduct during times of war including the treatment of prisoners and protection of civilians and journalists. They ban torture, rape, mutilation, slavery, genocide and a host of other war crimes in all conflicts. Violations are a punishable criminal offense under the national laws of countries that have signed the conventions.

    Reid did not specify what changes he thought should be made to the Geneva Conventions or other international rules of war.

    Indeed, in the half-century-plus since the beginnings of the Geneva accords, the U.S. has repeatedly faced enemies that have either ignored or not qualified for the negotiated provisions.

    As I said, Mr. Reid has issued a sensible call — hence, it must be shredded by opponents, though not on grounds of content or validity. Feel free to read the rest of the linked Associated Press piece as the shredding commences and several tiresome talking points of those against our efforts in the Iraqi theater are introduced unchallenged. This begins immediately with labelling U.S. efforts as a “so-called war on terrorism” and just snowballs from there. While the second half of the “news” piece reads as a leftist editorial, I have yet to discern any statement contrary to Mr. Reid’s general assessment on the failure of the Geneva Conventions to adequately cover either the nature of our likely enemies or the destructive power of their potential weaponry.