Random Thoughts 7/16/06

• Shannon is on her way home from Denver today. Words can't describe how badly we've missed her. Fortunately Denver is only like a three hour drive with her brother at the wheel (nine or ten hours for the rest of us).
  
• Surely if there is one country that is more readily criticized than the the US for trying to do the right thing, it has to be Israel. Western, free, democratic countries try to fight totalitarian and terrorist regimes to make people free and safe and yet the pundits make it sound like Israel and the USA are what's wrong with the world. I'm not sure I understand the self-loathing that I hear.
• It's amusing watching the people on the news try to talk intelligibly about military things. One info-chick was reporting on Israel's use of the MLRS. She says, "…the MLRS, that's the mulitple long-range rocket system…" Good try but, um, no. That's the Multiple Launch Rocket System. I wonder how much the producers of some news shows just make stuff up assuming that the audience also doesn't know.
  
• Curiosity may yet still kill my cat. Kala, our mangy monstrosity, has a habit of finding a closed door and meowing until it's opened. She especially likes bathroom doors after you've begun your shower. After entering, she turns a 180, calling to mind battleships and such, and then begins meowing at the newly closed door. Considering that she's only one more hairball from being made into a calico rug, she ought to consider being less conspicuous.