General: November 2003 Archives

Bloghosts had a hard drive crash about 3 a.m. this morning just a few hours after I submitted a couple of lengthy entries, representing a lot of work. I am hopeful that at least a couple of you out there visited the blog between that last submission and the server crash and either saved the entry or still have it in the cache of your browser. I'm looking for anything more recent than "Council to punt?" -- e-mail it to blog at batesline dot com.

To see if you have the entries in your cache, try these addresses:

http://www.batesline.com/archives/000316.html
http://www.batesline.com/archives/000317.html
http://www.batesline.com/archives/000318.html

If it comes up with a page, instead of a 404 error, you've got one of the lost entries.

Thanks.

UPDATE: Found two of the entries in cache and have reposted them, and should be able to reconstruct the third soon.

Permit me a bit of introspection. At nearly this very moment two score years ago, I emerged from the womb, was slapped on the rump, and proceeded to empty my bladder on the obstetrician. (You try riding around for nine months without a potty break.) Some might suggest that my response to an apparent insult to my person established a pattern that continues to this day.

My fifth birthday party featured an American flag cake. The frosting on the field was so deep blue that it prompted worried calls the following morning from the mothers of my friends. One of my birthday gifts was a ride on a Santa Fe train from Bartlesville to Copan.

A variety of things on the web over the last little while that you may find interesting:

Russ McGuire reports that there is a free Internet service to help you keep track of how your Congressman is voting. It's called VoteNote -- follow the link, plug in your zip code, and they'll send you a weekly e-mail with information on votes cast that week.

Clayton Cramer calls our attention to the blog of Michael Williams, who blogs thoughtfully about all sorts of subjects, including the theology of the Matrix series, the racism of the abortion industry, the shifting political winds, and space elevators. And I really like the design of his site, especially the look of the blockquotes.

The Washington Times has published a series of three excerpts from Georgia Sen. Zell Miller's new book, A National Party No More: The Conscience of a Conservative Democrat. The excerpts are titled "How Democrats lost the South", "Able Democrats, but left-wing all the way" (about the presidential contenders), and "In pursuit of an American Churchill". The latter article includes this excerpt from his speech to the Senate on the Iraq war:

"A few weeks ago," I said, "we were doing some work on my back porch back home, tearing out a section of old stacked rocks, when all of a sudden I uncovered a nest of copperhead snakes.

"I know the difference between those snakes that are harmless and those that will kill you. A copperhead will kill you. It could kill one of my dogs. It could kill one of my grandchildren. It could kill any one of my four great-grandchildren.

"And you know, when I discovered these copperheads, I didn't call my wife Shirley for advice, like I do on most things. I didn't go before the city council. I didn't yell for help from my neighbors. I just took a hoe and knocked them in the head and killed them — dead as a doorknob.

"I guess you could call it a unilateral action," I said. "Or pre-emptive. Perhaps if you had been watching me, you could have even called it bellicose and reactive. I took their poisonous heads off because they were a threat to me. And they were a threat to my home and my family. They were a threat to all I hold dear. And isn't that what this is all about?"