It's been enough time to try to begin to process some of the events of the day.

It was an emotional rollercoaster, and I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit that, YES, I did break down at the end of the memorial service, and was blubbering like a little baby, something totally out of character for me.

It was a very moving service, with a touch of religion (which Rob wouldn't have particularly cared for), and testimonials from his friends about past events that had moved them,(which I believe that Rob would have found quite touching).

They had his cremains in a simple wooden box slightly larger than a cigar box, with Rob's name and a guitar burned into the lid. That was what got to me in the end. It was just the right container for him; but to think that it held the mortal remains of a man that so many people had come to come to hold as a friend...the finality of it all just hit me like a ton of cement blocks, and I just totally lost it. I went to the mens room to compose myself and try to prevent furthur embarrassing myself and then I heard Robs voice, as clear as the water in a Florida spring fed pool: "get your shit in one sock". Yeah, I know, I was just imagining it, "it was a stress reaction". But hey, it worked.

But to tell you the truth, I prefer to think of it as proof that Rob was wrong about death when he stated his belief that there was nothing after the final beat of the heart but darkness and oblivian; I look on it as proof that something of us lives on, even if only in the overactive imaginations of those we have left behind.

After the service, everyone proceded to go to Rob's mothers house to have a party to celebrate a life in a manner that befit the man. There was a lot of food, reminiscing, and picking. Oh yes, there was picking. Seven guitars, an electric base guitar, an accordian, and a mandolin, along with some bongo drums on the few of the numbers. And watching Dave play; it was almost as if Rob was there, just having a jam session with with his mates.

There were stories swapped of past antics and interactions with Rob, both RT and in the 'sphere; there were old friends meeting again and new friends meeting for the first time, and most of all, there was the healing balm of laughter. It was a fitting tribute to a man that was as complex as Rob was.

In conclusion all I can say is goodby, until we meet again ya old bastid, ya should be dragged out and shot for leaving us too soon...and I hope you have found the some peace on an eternal beach, drink near to hand, entertaining a bevy of nekkid women around you with the sweet strains of your guitar and voice.

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 02:41 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Well, after two relatively reasonable flights, and a 48 minute drive into the hinterlands of Georgia, I made it safe and sound to Catfish Manor. The old grouch was in Savannah, trying to get one of his quacks to tell him how much longer he'd have to suffer the aftereffects of his last stint in the OR, and as usual, they put him off with generalizations and promises that it would get better "soon"...

I walked up to the front door, rang the doorbell, and Nancy called out, to "come in, it's open". We had a nice talk, interupted several times from far-flung Jawja Bloggers wanting updates on the Memorial service tomorrow. About an hour later, Catfish strode into the front door with his voice booming out "any calls?" and then came and shook my hand.

Just as when I met Rob for the first time in Austin; there was an instant feeling of having known him for all my life, but even more so. Sometimes you're hesitant to meet old blog friends in RT; there is always the chance that you might be disappointed with the reality that differs from the picture you have built up in your mind, but such was not the case with Catfish or Nancy. They are both even better than what I had hoped to find.

Look up Southern Hospitality in the dictionary, and I'm positive you'll find their pictures at the top of that entry. There are few people I have ever instantly felt more comfortable with than Catfish. With him, what you see is what you get; with no pretensions of being anything but what he is, just a good ole boy with his feet planted firmly in reality, rough edges and all, and no apologies made for that.
I can see why Rob and he were such good friends. Catfish may not be as eloquent in speech and mannerisms, but they were both cut from the same cloth.

We have had confirmations from around the country of those that want to attend the Memorial service tomorrow, including Zonker and Stevie. I can hardly wait to see Zonker again, and meet the indomitable Miss Stevie for the first time; it's just terrible that it had to be under such tragic circumstances.

I hope that the Memorial will be suitably solemn as befits such an occasion, with the get together afterward as equally raucious, just as Rob would have wanted it to be. I have I feeling that all expectations will be met in both instances.

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 05:50 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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I talked to Catfish, and he's graciously consented to put up with a "Damned Yankee" for a few days, so I've decided to go to Acidmans memorial service.

It's out of character for me to spend this much money in this way, but Rob helped me over some pretty rough spots, and I would never forgive myself if I didn't go, I owe it to his memory.

Hell, who am I fooling?, I NEED to do this for myself. It's the only way to get closure and start to go on to the healing process.

I don't have a lap top to take with me, so until I return on Sat., I'll have to hope that my archives will be enough to keep this place going.

Hopefully, I'll have some good stories to relate, and a fresh outlook on life, as well.

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Here's a tribute post that Acidman would have really liked.

I can only hope that it ended up that way.

Chris Muir payed Rob the best complement he could as well:

There is an on-line obituary and guest book HERE, please leave some kind words for Dave,Samantha, Quinton, and Mommie in their hour of grief.

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You say that there is no such thing as Magic? Chris Angel begs to differ!

Truly amazing to observe his skill at what he does...

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Ann Coulter throws down the gauntlet yet again in her latest post.

My favorite line is :

"Finally, a word to those of you out there who have yet to be offended by something I have written or said: Please be patient. I am working as fast as I can. "

You GO, Ann!

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Has Rep. Murtha overplayed his hand? Robert Novak seems to think so.

I personally hope that Murtha continues speaking out loudly and often. While it won't be long before the Democrats start to try to distance themselves from his senile rantings, the ugly truth is that he does represent the views of a large segment of the Left's base, and the more those views are exposed, the better. For the GOP.

On a similar note, Victor David Hanson outlines his reasoning why the Fall elections won't be as good for the Democrats as they are trying to project they will be. I HOPE that Mr. Hanson's reasoning hold true, but he is forgetting one wild card, and that is that he comes from a logical reasoning frame of view, and unfortunately, many of the electorate these days have eschewed that type of reasoning to one based on "feelings" and whatever the current meme of the left is in favor at the moment. Mr. Hanson view is dependent on an informed, reasoning, electorate; and it seems in recent times that there is a serious lack in those areas in a large segment of the electorate....

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Neil Boortz has a chance to give an overview of the Fair Tax proposal (HR25). I have been studying this proposal for almost a year now, and I have to say that I believe that this could be the most important legislation to come down the pike in a hundred years.

If you want to get a more in depth analysis, go HERE.

I sincerely believe that this proposal will do more towards giving the power back to the people and away from the political elites than any other single step.

Update: Grin & Bear It uses the Fair Tax in a cartoon:

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 04:50 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Sorry about the lack of substantive posts lately, but it seems that I'm suffering from a down cycle with my CHF. Kinda hard to get really interested in current events when you can't sleep because every time you lay down, you feel like your drowning.
And YES, HD, I AM doing everything I can to get through this and back to a higher level of health, it just takes time.

So meanwhile, just a few links....

Madeline Notsobright seems to think the current escalations of tensions in Iran and Nort Korea are a direct result of our activities in Iraq. Proving yet again that she really is a bit of a dim bulb.

Frank Gaffney is calling for an "Iraq war truth squad" so that the issues can be fully explored prior to the elections in November....Gee, that what I thought most of the Blogosphere has been doing for the last three years. But I think he's correct. A lot of people don't have computors, and even most of those that do don't read blogs; so a good public forum may be helpful in informing people, trouble is, just what format to use?

“We’re no better than bacteria!” University of Texas biologist Eric Pianka recently announced. Eco-nihalism at it's moonbat finest.

And finally, just WHAT are you ON Connie?!? Singing just ISN'T your forte...

Time for Meds, see ya'll later.

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 04:48 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Here's a great video for all you Star Wars fans...

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Today is holiday that most Americans have forgotten. We have Memorial day, where we honor those that have died defending our freedom, Veterans day to honor those that serve, Labor day to honor those that keep our country the most economically successful in the history of the worls by the sweat of their brow and the strength of their backs.

Today is the day set aside to remember the birth of the symbol of all those and more. That symbol is 229 years old today, and to our shame, as a people we really don't pay attention to this day.

Wild Thing hasn't forgotten though, and she's made a better post about it than I ever could.

Most importantly, remember these words.

The flag represents these eternal principles: liberty, justice, and humanity.
The flag embodies American freedom: freedom of speech, religion, assembly, the press, and the sanctity of the home.

The flag symbolizes every Americans's birthright, A heritage of liberty, purchased with blood and sorrow. It is every Americans's RESPONSIBILITY to maintain Eternal vigilance as the price of that freedom, and to be willing to defend that freedom with every means at their disposal; with their very lives, if need be.

To those that would disparage her, I let Penn say it for me:

Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you, Jesus Christ and the American G.I.
One died for your soul, the other for your freedom.
Thank them both today.

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Manouchehr Mottaki: "We emphasize the peaceful nature of our nuclear weaponsÂ… I meanÂ… of our nuclear power plant, and nuclear energy and activities. We have no need for nuclear weapons, as weÂ’ve often said. Nuclear weapons are not part of our defense doctrine".

Watch the excerpt and decide for yourself.

Seems like Iran may be getting a new Foreign Minister soon...the powers that be in Iran don't like it when honesty slips out in public.

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I'm beginning to wonder if my stance on the monitering of telephones was incorrect....

We had taken the plunge and dropped our land line service with AT&T(may bees PISS upon them!) and gone to a service that uses the net (like Vonage) to give us an alternative to the lousy cell phone we get here. Always pays to have a plan B...

So I called my dad to let him know our new phone number, and try to catch up on how things are going for him and my mother.

As usual, we had a rambleing discussion in search of that one topic that could get us going at each other like a pit bull going for an intruder.
This time, it was call monitering...I believe that it is a necessary to security program, dangerous to privacy, yes, but with proper oversight, the best of a couple bad choices.

I thought my dad would have similar ideas....but no, he was enraged by the whole idea.

Then I discovered why. Seems that yesterday he had had a very long discussion with his sister still residing in the old Homeland of the Netherlands. She is very ill, and she was wanting to talk, and my dad was more than willing to humor her, so it ended up being roughly almost a two hour call (I HATE to think of his next phone bill!!). About ten minutes after hanging up, he got a strange call, just asking for "Mr. Meyer?"; he thought it was a phone solicitation and promptly hung up. Another minute, and the phone rings again.."Mr. Meyer?"...he told the voice "I'm not interested in anything you're selling" and slammed the phone down. THIRD time the phone rings..voice says, "Mr. Meyer, this is Agent so&so of the FBI, please don't hang up on me again, or we will be forced to come to your home in person"

My dad told him, "why didn't you identify who you were on the FIRST call?" Agent so&so just stated that it wasn't important, but that he had a few questions for my dad; he could answer now over the phone, or "agents could be sent to bring him in to the office and the questions asked there".

Seems that he had just gotten off of what was a very long phone call to a foreign country that was well known to have a large immigrant Muslim population, he was speaking in a language (Dutch) that no one in the office was
capable of translating, and could he please divulge what the conversation was about?

Dad just said, "it's none of your damned business, but I was talking to my sister about her illness and a number of other contemperary things. That "strange language" is Dutch, and I'm sure you can fine someone to translate it for you easily; you want to know anything else, get a warrant and come get me". Then slammed down the phone.

I don't know yet if they will go to such lengths or not, but the thing that concerns me is; my dad was the first person I called on the new phone line (Lila had placed a couple prior to mine), and within half an hour after I hung up with him, we have been unable to place or receive a call on that line....we get dial tone, but nothing else. We have two calls in to the help center, but haven't gotten any reply from them as yet.

I know it's probably paranoia to believe the the FBI really has anything to do with the loss of service, but still, in the back of my mind, I wonder. It hadn't been up long enough to really develop a glitch, and the three calls total we had made on the line prior to the call to my dad were trouble free....maybe it has had to be rerouted to moniter?

Just makes me go Hmmmm.

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 01:12 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Finally, a Muslim that "Get's It" Wonder how long before the Fatwah for his "betrayal of Muslim solidarity" comes out?

After all, any Muslim that says: "We Muslims are the source of our own misery, and we are not misunderstood by others who see in our conduct a threat to their peace. " is surely anathema to the Imams.

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Here's some Good News. Some states are finally taking the proper attitude to the lowest dregs of the pervert element.

I'm sure that the ACLU will fight against this tooth and nail, after all, they are part of their core constituantcy....

My only quibble with the new law is, why TWICE convicted? Seems to me that this is a crime that should be a "no pass, go straight to Hell" thing on the FIRST conviction. After the first incident, there should be NO possibility of a second.

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Alvino-Mario Fantini, a grduate student currently studying in Holland, has what I believe to be the best diagnosis of what has been going wrong there for at least the last twenty years or so.

I think that he hits the nail square on the head when he says:

The national identity has been hollowed out over the years; traditional Dutch beliefs have been forsaken; and the past has been extirpated. Nihilism of this sort, regardless of the number of tulips that garland it, is an insufficient foundation on which to base liberal, democratic values or a vibrant, civil society.

Holland used to have a culture of devout religious belief, a belief that was almost unique in that it allowed a great deal of tolerance to varying creeds while maintaining it's central core. As Fantini point out in his article, that was not to say that the various groups, say Catholics and Protestants for the sake of the argument, walked hand in hand singing Kum-Ba-Yah and all was Tulips and Bier.

The groups relied on their fellows within their group for their support, not interacting with other groups except in the most general terms. BUT all of the groups allowed the others the freedom to practice as they pleased without interference or prejudice.

Once that core belief base is stripped away, there is nothing left to guide a society. Add in overwrought PC codes and the rewriting of a society's history, and you have a recipe for disaster.

People, Holland is acting as the canary in the mine, and judging by the canary's condition, the mine is filled with methane, and I fear that the effects may soon prove fatal.

The U.S. Left is following in the footsteps of that canary, and the results will be the same. There is still time to turn on the exhaust fans in the U.S. mine and clear the air, but we have to wake up to the fact that the air is polluted, and we'd best do it soon.

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 06:28 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Everyone seems to be wondering why Muslim terrorists are so quick to commit suicide. Let's see now. . . . .

No Jesus

No Christmas

No television

No cheerleaders

No baseball

No football

No hockey

No golf

No tailgate parties

No Wal-Mart

No Home Depot

No pork BBQ

No hot dogs

No burgers

No chocolate chip cookies

No lobster

No shellfish, or even frozen fish sticks

No gumbo

No jambalaya

No Beer

Rags for clothes and towels for hats.

Constant wailing from the guy next-door because he's sick and there are no doctors.

Constant wailing from the guy in the tower.

More than one wife.

You can't shave.

Your wives can't shave.

You can't shower to wash off the smell of donkey cooked over burning camel dung.

The women have to wear baggy dresses and veils at all times.

Your bride is picked by someone else.

She smells just like your donkey.

But your donkey has a better disposition.

Then they tell you that when you die it all gets better!

I mean, really, is there a mystery here?

Thanks Jack! put's it all into perspective, doesn't it?

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Why Is It That We Have To Speak English?

A U.S. Navy Admiral was attending a Naval conference that included
admirals from the U.S., English, Canadian, Australian and French
Navies.
At a cocktail reception, he found himself standing with a group of
half dozen or so officers that included personnel from most of the
countries.

Everyone was chatting away in English as they sipped their drinks but
a French admiral suddenly complained that, whereas Europeans learn many
languages, Americans learn only English. He then asked: "Why is it
that we always have to speak English in these conferences rather than
speaking French?"

Without hesitating, the American Admiral replied: "Maybe it's because
the Brits, Canadians, Aussies and Americans arranged it so you wouldn't
have to speak German."

Suddenly the group became very quiet.

H/T to Jack

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 10:53 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Every time I hear a moonbat say that "war never solved any problems" I just turn my ears off. They are coming from a Moonbeam and Unicorn world that has little to do with reality; where holding hands and singing Kum-Ba-Yah is all that is needed for any "misunderstanding between people" to be solved.

I wish the world DID work that way, but on all too many occasions I've been faced with the grim reality that there are people that have ONLY one thing in mind; to do me and mine physical harm, and they won't let a kind heart stop them.

The next time I hear this tripe, I think I'll just refer them to this:

F.E.T.E.

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 02:21 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I got this in my e-mail from Catfish today, and while it's certainly totally un-PC, it's certainly food for thought....

You pass me on the street and sneer in my direction.

You call me "Whiteboy", "Cracker", "Honkey", "Whitey" and you think it's OK.

But when I call you, nigger, Kike, Towelhead, Sand-nigger, Camel Jockey, Beaner, Gook, or Chink you call me a racist.

You say that whites commit a lot of violence against you, so why are the ghettos the most dangerous places to live?

You have the United Negro College Fund.
You have have Ma'uled Al-Nabi
You have the NAACP.
You have BET.

If we had WET(white entertainment television) we'd be racists.

If we had a White Pride Day you would call us racists.

If we had white history month, we'd be racists.

If we had an organization for only whites to "advance" our lives, we'd be racists.

If we had a college fund that only gave white students scholarships, you know we'd be racists.

There are over 60 openly proclaimed Black Colleges in the US, yet if there were "White colleges" that would be a racist college.

In the Million Man March, you believed that you were marching for your race and rights. If we marched for our race and rights, you would call us racists.

You are proud to be black, brown, yellow and orange, and you're not afraid to announce it. But when we announce our white pride, you call us racists.

You rob us, carjack us, and shoot at us.
But, when a white police officer shoots a black gang member or beats up a black drug-dealer running from the law and posing a threat to society, you call him a racist.

I am proud.

But, you call me a racist.

Why is it that only whites can be racists?

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