Michael Yon reporting from Iraq

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this site before, but Michael Yon is a citizen journalist who is posting some interesting first hand pieces on happenings in Iraq. His latest post tells about his experience tagging along with some British soldiers.

Its nice to hear from guys like Yon, since we're never going to get any unspun information on Iraq from the main stream media. I can practically quote what I hear every night on the local WRAL newscast here in NC. "Today was another violent day in Iraq. X (insert the daily number) of soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in Bahgdad and Y (insert the daily number) of civilians were killed as a suicide bomber detonated an explosion in a crowded marketplace."

I know that bad things are happening, but I'm also equally sure that there is good being done. Good news is news too. Why not report it too?

Lileks on Hugh on Romney

Lileks' bleat starts a bit slow today. It sounds like he's suffering fromt he same sort of spring cold that I've got, runny nose, etc. Then he gets into a review of Hugh Hewitt's latest book "A Mormon in the White House?: 10 Things Every American Should Know about Mitt Romney." His review of the book leads to a few statements about Romney and Mormons that I found interesting. For instance:

"Romney’s religion isn’t the main reason his campaign isn’t out front by 10 points. There’s something else at work; could be the YouTube flip-flop problem. But I think I know what it might be. He’s in a hard position: he’s too good to be true, but he’s truly that good."

Lileks mentions that he recently had a pair of Latter-day Saint missionaries knock on his door, and although he wasn't interested in their message, he adds this comment about their desire to offer service if he needed any help.

"If at that moment I had some sort of domestic emergency that required me to leave the house but also required someone to stay at the house – I don’t know, to watch a scientific experiment or take a cake out the oven (a cake – for the Pope!) – I would have trusted both of them to hold down the fort until I returned, and I know I would have found both of them sitting in the living room when I returned, with nothing in the house out of place or moved to a pocket.

Surely how one lives one’s life is as important as the things the curious things they believe, no?"

Say what you want about our beliefs. Hey, I know that it takes a lot of faith to believe and live as we do, and if you don't have it then you can't be expected to understand or accept the many non-emperical aspects of our religion. But, you can't argue with the fact that we, as a whole, are a good and wholesome people. I don't say that with pride, it just naturally follows from living how we're taught to live, and very many Mormons do.

I haven't yet read the book myself. I haven't decided if I will or not. I don't think I can learn anything about Romney's religion and the fact that he was a Stake President tells me an awful lot about him personally. I could buy the book to loan to friends, but most of the people I work with are so far to the left that Romney isn't on their radar screen and most of my non-Mormon friends are not interested enough in Politics to read a whole book.

A warmer climate could prove to be beneficial

I haven't blogged on global warming for a while, so here is a good article by Dr. Richard S. Lindzen (Professor of Meteorology at MIT) summarizing some of the common misinterpretations of global warming data and addressing other fallacies of global warming alarmism.

The current alarm rests on the false assumption not only that we live in a perfect world, temperaturewise, but also that our warming forecasts for the year 2040 are somehow more reliable than the weatherman's forecast for next week.

Many of the most alarming studies rely on long-range predictions using inherently untrustworthy climate models, similar to those that cannot accurately forecast the weather a week from now.

Family Photos - Nae in the Forest

Nae in the Forest (taken 04/06/07 at Umstead Park, NC).

Images - Wildflower

Wildflower (taken 04/06/07 at Umstead State Park, NC).

Images - Reedy Creek

I captured this image of Reedy Creek on our hike at Umstead State Park, NC (taken 04/06/07)

Family Photos - Dyeing Easter Eggs

Can and his brothers had fun dyeing Easter eggs last Saturday. The trick was getting him to put the egg in the dye gently enough so that it didn't break or splash all over the place.

A soldier's eye view of Iraq

I would much rather trust the word of a soldier who is on the ground in Iraq than the main stream media, which has proven itself untrustworthy time-and-again. (Thanks to Hugh for bringing us the positive news and not just the bad)

Easter Morning

The morning Easter egg hunt at our house. Sorry for the poor quality and lack of sound. Our video camera is broken so I had to use the video function on the digital camera and I forgot to turn on the audio setting. Can was a little slow with the broken leg but seemed to manage just fine.

Family Photos - Happy Easter

The boys look very nice in their new Easter outfits. It was a little tricky getting them to all hold still long enough to take this picture, since they were all hopped up (pun intended) on chocolate.

Images - Dogwood Blossoms

I love that the dogwoods are blooming. (taken 04/06/07 Umstead Park, NC)

Images - More Strange Forest Creatures

Besides the trolls I saw in the forest, these nascent ferns also had a bizarre appearance as they begin to emerge from the ground following the winter freeze.(takne 04/06/07 Umstead State park, NC)

Family Photo - Our Little Troll

I apologize that I've not been very good at posting for the last couple of weeks. We did have a couple of noteworthy heppenings.

Dec really is a cute kid even if this picture makes him look a little troll-like. He needs a haircut and notice the gap in his teeth. He lost his first tooth on Monday. (taken 04/06/07 in Umstead State Park, NC)

Mad's appearance was altered on Monday too. With his new contacts he isn't wearing glasses anymore. I'll post a picture of his new look tomorrow.

LDS Church is a Christian church

From a USNews article about Mitt Romney by Michael Barone:

"The LDS Church is a Christian and an American church"

I would have thought that the real name of the the church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, would have made this an obvious statement, but many "Christians" don't agree.
This article talks about how a lot of the money Romney raised in the first quarter of 2007 came from Mormons. I love how many people want to say that the Mormon Church helped provide the money, as if Bishops stood up and read a letter from the First Presidency telling us to donate to Romney. I'm sure that individual Latter-day Saints donated to Romney, but that is on their own and not as a result of any church influence.

Hugh Hewitt was doing his part to point out that not all of the Utah money is from Mormons, but some comes from individual who saw Romney in action with the SLC olympics. The HH post also links to a Washington Post Q&A about Hugh's new book. When someone said that core LDS beliefs (Joseph Smith seeing visions, etc.) was weird, Hugh responded with a reference to more mainstream Christian miracles and then this:

"Lots of Americans believe lots of weird things. Democrats believe raising taxes will help the economy. We should decide debates on the weirdness of beliefs in the public policy arena, not the theological."

That was great.

Images - Mossy overhang

This is similar to one posted a few days back but emphasizes the cavelike nature of the mossy overhang at this little pool (taken 03/25/07 near Lake Pine, NC).

Family Photos - Scootin'

Dec rode his scooter while we walked around Pine Lake (taken 03/25/07).

I'm married to Wonder Woman

My wife is amazing. Yesterday morning she got up an ran eight miles. That is an amazing feat in and of itself, but then she came home and helped me with shoveling mulch up onto the hill. If there was any chance that I could somehow complete eight miles of running (which there isn't) I would spend the next week sitting on the couch until I could move my legs again. As it is, I ran/walked about 2 miles on the treadmill. I've been doing this beginner training course that involves running for some period of time and then walking for some period of time. The running periods gradually get longer and the walking gets shorter. I'm up to 4 minutes running with 1 minute walking, repeated five times. I still have pains in my left shin and right foot when I do it, but I think that starting slowly with this training course is minimizing this. I don't ever expect to be able to run eight miles without stopping, or with stopping for that matter, but maybe I can avoid adding my standard 15 pounds as I go through my fourth decade.

A few months ago we had some other Latter-day Saints move in right next door. It has been nice to have them. Last night, after the Priesthood session of General Conference, I came home to find Can in bed and the big boys watching "Pete and Pete" on the TV. Mom had gone next door to help get a room taped for painting, and I went over there for ice cream. At about 11:30, Mads rang the door bell and asked when we were coming home. In talking, we didn't realize that it had gotten so late. I decided to see if they could get themselves into bed without direct parental supervision, so I told him that we would be home later and I informed him that he was welcome to go to bed. We stayed for another hour and were wagering with one another one whether they would be in bed or up playing video games. They were all in bed but Dec still had on his clothes. I guess that we still have some more training to do before we can leave Mads in charge all on his own.

I have noticed that ever since Can broke his leg he has been demanding things. I'm trying to teach him to say please, but he is digging in his heels. We bought some grapefruits the other day (first time in years) and Mom was eating one this morning. Can started ordering her to get him one, so I said that he needed to say please. It took a lot of persuading to get him to mumble a please but once he did then he got a grapefruit half. He didn't want to eat the segments with a spoon, but instead, turned it over and tried to take a bite of the skin. After a very screwed up face and a loud "blech," I think he has now decided that he doesn't like grapefruits.

Great letter from a US Marine in Iraq

This letter should be required reading in schools and they should read it on every television news broadcast. Of course, these bastions of leftist thinking would never allow such truth and positive thinking to be promulgated in their domains. Here are a couple of clips.

I'm thankful that I was born and raised in the United States of America, the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. We Americans have been blessed with such a unique and special country to call home. The United States is truly an exceptional nation that has been a blessing to the entire world. When you see America's power amassed in war, like I have, it's no wonder that America's enemies should tremble at our strength and power. At the same time, there is no more generous country than the United States of America. As the Marines of the 1st Marine Division from Camp Pendleton, CA say: there is "no greater friend and no worse enemy." I wish America's greatness and "manifest destiny", as well as the values of our Judeo-Christian values system which are the foundation of Western Civilization, were still taught with pride in our public schools.

Just yesterday, one my Iraqi interpreters, who is from Baghdad, told me that most of his Iraqi friends desperately want to know about America and Americans. I told him that Dennis Prager taught me that everything that Americans value can be found on a coin: "Liberty, "In God We Trust" and E Pluribus Unum" (out of many one).

Brief history of "Yankee Doodle Dandy"

Lileks is enlightening me yet again. Referring to the song "Yankee Doodle Dandy."

Never understood that as a kid, but I accepted it. Yankee Doodle was silly, so he thought his feather was cheese-drenched pasta. Of course, it meant something different; the Macaronis were fashionable young men who’d been to Italy and picked up Continental Affectations; famous dandies given to peering with exaggerated longeur through glasses mounted on a stick, they were regarded as amusing fops by real men. So when Mr. Doodle thought a feather made him a member of the Macaroni Society, it just showed what a provincial hick he was. I loved learning that. It made the past seem so much more real in a brief and vivid way – until then, perhaps, I didn’t think they had slang.

Maybe not an authoritative source of history, but it sounds good to me.

Images - High Centered

I don't know the mating habits of turtles, but it seems like the right time of the year. Many of the turtles looked to be getting close. I'm not sure if these two were trying to neck on this log or if they were two males squaring off, but the one on the left looks like it may be high centered.