Category Archives: Rants and Raves

This article appeared today on avweb.com “An accident synopsis from the NTSB identifies the pilot’s personal texting as a contributing factor in the Aug. 26, 2011, crash of a Eurocopter AS350 B2 helicopter near Mosby, Mo., that killed all aboard. The flight was operated as a medical services mission flown in VFR conditions, carrying three crew and one patient. It crashed due to fuel starvation “about 1 nm short” of its planned refueling stop, according to the NTSB. The NTSB says that “the pilot missed three opportunities to detect” the aircraft’s low fuel state and was engaged in texting before … Continue reading →

If the tile of this post is black, click on it to view the featured-image header and continue reading. You’re probably aware of the recent proposed change to TSA procedures allowing knives to be carried on board commercial airliners. Like everything else going on in this country, this has stirred up a hornet’s nest of controversy. I carry a knife everywhere I go as a matter of convenience and with the knowledge that should the situation arise, I can defend myself at least to some degree. I can put it in checked baggage (and probably never see it again), or … Continue reading →

. . . Not Everyone In DC Runs For Safety . . .

Imagine yourself as a British soldier standing in a line with your mates, all of you wearing bright red coats, while the colonials are concealed in the forest with their long guns picking you off one at a time. What a cowardly thing to do. The rebels should come out and fight like honorable men. Would the American Revolution have turned out any differently if the British generals had taken the time to jettison their stuffiness long enough to question why in the name of the King should they be standing there at the wrong end of a shooting gallery? … Continue reading →

Language lives, breathes, morphs over time to reflect changes in culture, religion, technology, among other things, and, of course, politics. Here’s a new word making the rounds, and I predict that it won’t take long for it to be recognized as the most accurate descriptor for what America has become. (Click on the image for a larger view and use the back button on your browser to return to this page.)

(Source photo for header image taken by Matt H. Wade. If you’re looking at the fighter pilot header, click the post title.) An Obituary printed in the London Times: Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as: Knowing when to come in out of the rain Why the early bird gets the worm Life isn’t always … Continue reading →

Well, it’s official, as if I have finally seen the worm. (Image credit to pullyourownstrings.com) My loss of faith in Apple as a corporation began when I bought an Apple TV2 so that I could stream Netflix programming. As chronicled in previous Rants and Raves Logbook posts, I had taken a huge swig of the advertising Kool Aid telling me how wonderful it was going to be. It didn’t take long to experience the truth of the matter, which is that only on rare occasions could I watch a movie from start to finish without frequent pause/buffering problems. Without going … Continue reading →

In a previous Rants and Raves logbook post based on an article by Andrew C. McCarthy III in the National Review Online, I addressed the issue of whether the Islamic principle of zakat is equivalent to charity as defined by common understanding and usage of the word in non-Islamic contexts. Having accepted McCarthy’s contention that it is not, I concluded the post with: Are we therefore to conclude that through ignorance of Islam the President has embarked on a mission of inadvertently making it easier for Muslims to fund jihad from within the United States? Or could it be that … Continue reading →

If you’ve arrived here with the intention of reading this post and react to the source by dismissing it as nothing more than an opinionated rag with a radical agenda, please take a moment to reconsider. Yes, The Weekly Standard is neoconservative, but this article isn’t. If you’ll give it a chance, I submit that you might well agree with me (and Charlie Reese, the journalist who recently wrote his last column before retirement — see my post “545 vs 300 Million”) that the American political system has failed us. We are on a steep path to decline, and our … Continue reading →