A Matter of Principle Vs Saving Lives

A good discussion on the rapid-fire charges regards prisoner abuse over at QandO Blog . At what point does devtion to principle start costing more than it’s worth? How many lives should one sacrifice to one’s principles?

CTV reports a -46f wind chill factor in Ottawa, and -40f in Toronto.
We get much the same weather in Rochester as they do in Toronto. I don’t know what the windchill was here, but I’ll bet it was darned close.

James at Outside The Beltway links a WaPo article reporting that Councilwoman Cropp has now agreed to some (very) minor changes in the baseball proposal for Washington DC, and that they’ll pass the proposal today’s open session.

My read was that this was NOT, as some have suggested a baseline argument against using government funds for such purposes, but instead was a stroking problem for the Councilwoman.

And as I said elsewhere… the reason behind the action is all-important.

SITYS.

Passed on by a reader;

A SOLDIER’S CHRISTMAS
‘Twas the night before Christmas, he lived all alone,
In a one bedroom house made of plaster and stone.
I had come down the chimney with presents to give,
And to see just who in this home did live.
I looked all about, a strange sight I did see,
No tinsel, no presents, not even a tree.
No stocking by the mantle, just boots filled with sand,
On the wall hung pictures of far distance lands.
With medals and badges, awards of all kinds,
A sober thought came through my mind.
For this house was different, it was dark and dreary,
I found the home of a soldier, once I could see clearly.
The soldier lay sleeping, silent, alone,
Curled up on the floor in this one bedroom home.
The face was so gentle, the room in such disorder,
Not how I pictured a United States Soldier.
Was this the hero of whom I’d just read?
Curled up on a poncho, the floor for a bed?
I realized the families that I saw this night,
Owed their lives to these soldiers who were willing to fight.
Soon round the world, the children would play,
And grownups would celebrate a bright Christmas day.
They all enjoyed freedom each month of the year,
Because of the soldiers, like the one lying here.
I couldn’t help wonder how many lay alone,
On a cold Christmas Eve in a land far from home.
The very thought brought a tear to my eye,
I dropped to my knees and started to cry.
The soldier awakened and I heard a rough voice,
“Santa don’t cry, this life is my choice.”
“I fight for freedom, I don’t ask for more,
My life is my GOD, my country, my Corps.”
The soldier rolled over and drifted to sleep,
I couldn’t control it, I continued to weep.
I kept watch for hours, so silent and still,
And we both shivered from the cold night’s chill.
I didn’t want to leave on that cold dark night,
This guardian of honor so willing to fight.
Then the soldier rolled over, with a voice soft and pure,
Whispered, “Carry on Santa, it’s Christmas Day, all is secure.”
One look at my watch, and I knew he was right,
“Merry Christmas my friend, and to all a good night.”

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is written, bieng printed now and will be ready in July, I hear. A quick look on Amazon.com showed it being listed as not available… they’re not even taking orders, and yet it has a sales ranking. Perhaps they’re basing this on Pre-order values? Oh, wait… they’re not even taking pre-orders, yet.

Strange.

UPDATE:
Apparently, is IS available for pre-order at Barnes and Noble.

Channel 2 in NYC is reporting this morning:

“Now there are questions about the over-the-counter pain reliever naproxen, commonly known under the brand name Aleve and in use for 28 years.
…
“Officials at the said the study was suspended after three years when it was found that patients taking naproxen had a 50 percent greater incidence of cardiovascular events — heart attack or stroke — than patients taking placebo. “

CNS is reportng some great news this morning:

“The U.S. Department of Justice has declared that the Second Amendment explicitly recognizes the right of individual Americans to own and carry firearms.”

The story describes a Justice Dept Report, on that very question. Their conclusion?

The 103 page report, with 437 footnotes, concluded that, “… the Second Amendment secures a personal right of individuals, not a collective right that may only be invoked by a State or a quasi-collective right restricted to those persons who serve in organized militia units.”

Well, that’s that. It’s now on record.
Good.

Well, at least I found out something new about Bit’sBox, my van, this morning.
I’ve mentioned in previous postngs that it has a Temp readout that’s connected directly to the master ECM. You are told what temp the Engine thinks it is outside as you drive, which is as close to accuracy as no matter for the purpose.

The new bit of information is that it does read temps that are below Zero.
About that; It’s not even winter for another 24 hours, yet…

Yes, I saw the SNL skit. And I agree, they’d not have done such a skit about Belushi or Farley. On that basis alone, ‘d find their skit distasteful at least. Michelle Malkin has more.

TIME says PowerLine is the Blog of the year.

A good choice, but I wonder a bit.

Consider a parallel; McQ’s annoyed with me, because I don’t like what Councilwoman Cropp down in DC did regarding the Baseball deal. McQ states, understandably, that he likes the idea on principle. But Cropp is someone who has never objected to spending government money previously. Not ONCE. Indeed, the action is so far out of normalcy with DC Democrats in general and herself in particular, I wondered publicly what the motivation was, and speculated there was some less than honest money involved. Turns out, I was right.

I have a similar suspcion here.

Usually, Time gets things so flat out wrong, usually intentionally so for the purpose of backing liberal politics, that this blogger cannot help but wonder what their motivation is here. One possibility occurs to me; Powerline is unreservedly Religious right. and, deservedly, is the most popular among blogs of that type. But given that Time has also named President Bush Person of the year, can this be an attempt by the unabashedly leftist Time Magazine, to link the Presdient more solidly to the Religious right in terms of reader perception? And in the event you think this is over-reading on my part, may I suggest Dean Essmay’s excellent article on perceptions and symbolism, that he’s posted this morning?

My thoughts on this will be nothing but reinforced if this award goes UNawarded next year, as James Joyner suggests it might.

No real story, and no real argument… just a bit of flavor from my home town, for this week’s Bit’sBit; Ridge Road, and the Lights If you like Christmas displays, you’ll like this.

“Tis the week before Christmas and all through the town, not a darn thing is moving,” Bit said with a frown.

It’s cars, vans, and snowflakes.  It’s all you can see, along this stretch of road.

The road is much bigger, of course, than I can see at the moment. Called by the locals, either Ridge Road, or 104, it is one of the longest roads in the state. Well, at least it was before Eisenhower, the interstate system and specifically, I-90 came though. It runs from the Canadian Border at Lewiston, it runs out about 200 miles or so…as far as SR 13, in a place where there’s no towns at all; a rather obscure end.

I’ve traveled this big road end to end, exactly twice in my nearly half a century on this planet. Doing so gives you quite a variety of sights to see… the areas 104 runs through are quite vaired, and are in fact a bit of a microcosm of life in this area called western New York.

It’s true; there’s hardly a county in the country that does not have a ‘Ridge Road”. Usually, it’s not nearly as big a fixture in the community as this is, here. “The Ridge” gets it’s name from being where the southern shore of Lake Ontario used to be, millions of years ago, and is both a landmark and a weather demarcation line. Often, when running in north-south roads… say, Interstate 390, for example, it will suddenly start snowing once you get north of the Ridge. It’s rather like turning on a switch. Apparently, the uphill swing as you move south of The Ridge tends to provide some level of added resistance to storms coming up off the lake.  Often people living between Ridge Road and Lake Ontario, will get many inches of snow, when the people south of it often by only a few blocks, will get little more than a dusting. This is particularly true from Rocehster west of Lewiston where the grades are somewhat more pronounced.

Most of 104 is so far out in the country,…. (For New York State) that one needs to drive for a half hour to find a gas station in some spots, and nearly two hours to find a burger joint. But that’s not the situation today; I’m sitting in traffic along “The West Ridge” in the western end of Rochester, in a town called Greece, where I grew up.  Along here are shops, and stores plazas and a good sized mall… about a zillion snowflakes, and nearly as many cars, on this week before Christmas.

It’s actually dark out just now, given it’s a little past 4:30 in the afternoon. I’m on my way home from shopping… which I’m about half done with. I’ll be going by way of one of the more popular spots around these parts, just prior to Christmas.

It’s a little out of the way street. Just your average suburban street… well, streets, actually. There’s blocks of it. I’m going to run over there and grab a few shots. See, I’m worried, that the whole thing is going away some year, soon.THe traffic on this little CuldeSac is outright nuts as a result of the size and quality of the Christmas displays.  You can see the traffic here.
I’ve parked Bit’sBox, and have started walking. That’s the box in the left of this pic. The traffic is all inbound. You see what I mean about the intensity of the traffic. Eventually, some stick in the mud will take the rest to court, and they’ll all have to tone it down. I want to grab some pictures before it disappears.
The level of illumination is crazy. These shots were taken at the Day setting on the camera. Here’s the one that started it all; They’ve been doing their displays now for nearly 30 years, and the rest of the neighborhood just piced up on the theme… it’s become a good natured competition.

Perhaps more good natured than most such; As you drive though you notice that a goodly number of the displays run across property lines and indeed are hung from house to house.

We’ve been considering making a trip to nearnby Syracuse to catch a light show of this kind in Onandago lake park. But I can’t imagine the experience being quite as unique as this one. And this one’s free, too.
I’m not sure there’s much of a point here, as far as this column goes.
But perhaps with this subject, it’s not really needed.

1500/WTOP has dropped the other shoe… the sources of funding which ran the campaign against the Stadium.

WTOP Radio has learned up to 20 percent of the $50,000 came from Robert Siegel, an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner whose business would have to move to make way for the stadium.

Siegel is a major landowner on the South Capitol stadium site, an area that Siegel calls “D.C.’s unofficial Red Light district.”

He owns 11 properties, several of which house gay nightclubs. He also owns a gay porn shop and adult theaters.

Other groups involved ‘friends of the earth” and the ‘Green Party”

Now perhaps we see why the last minute nonsense. Is it too soon to ask how much of that money ended up in the bank account of Councilwoman Kopp ?
I knew this stunk. The concept of a Democrat… ANY Democrat… Particularly one in Washington DC’s metro government, being concerned about this kind of expenditure was too far out to be taken at face value.

DENVER (AP) –: ” A homemade DVD shows Denver Nuggets star Carmelo Anthony with a man who warns that people who tip police about drug deals ‘get a hole in their head.’
The remark was apparently made in a conversation on a street in Baltimore, where Anthony grew up. In excerpts broadcast on television stations in Denver and Baltimore on Thursday, Anthony does not appear to be participating in that part of the discussion.
Anthony’s agent, Calvin Andrews, said Anthony ‘did not knowingly participate in the production of this DVD and does not approve of its message or content.’ “

So, did he say this or not?  I mean, this goes directly to what I said a couple weeks ago.  I’ve yet to see anything to alter my perceptions, and I frankly doubt I will.

Readers are invited to make the attempt.

McGehee atYippee-Ki-Yay!

“Buenos Aires, Argentina (CNSNews.com) – After a relentless attack on the United States for opposing the Kyoto Protocol, environmental groups concede the international treaty will have no impact on what they believe to be impending catastrophic global warming. “

Longtime readers to this blog will know my feelings on this. In short this has always been a a flat-out sham, and only a tool to attack the United States with. we were right to reject Kyoto.

Ask yourself; if Kyoto won’t work, why would they be demanding we sign onto it?
You know why.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, Scientists are discussing a rather marked drop in world-wide polution… and what do you know… it a” happend without the greens and without Kyoto.

How can this be?