Watching the NBC Nightly news this evening, it seems that Texas has got their act together. For those people that are living under rocks (or are from New England), there's another storm tearing across the Gulf of Mexico as I speak^H^H^H^H^Htype. Name of Rita. Currently, Rita is a Category 5 hurricane and is bearing down on the Gulf Coast of Texas. Expected landfall is right across Galvaston. They're expecting it to still be a Category 4 when it makes landfall. Big, tough, and nasty. ...

You know how they say, when you're dying, your entire life flashes before your eyes? Well, I had a similar experience this past Labor Day weekend. Only, it wasn't my life flashing before my eyes. It was my daughter's. It's amazing to think that in a span of seconds, memories that span almost four and a half years can flip through your mind. Images of the sweet little girl (that blessed little girl, after three boys) in her mother's arms at the hospital. Images of her sitting in her bo...

I know that it's not something that we, here in the US, like to think about. There are times that a strict application of military force is the only way to curb lawlessness. It seems that that someone has finally realized that. Links to articles (with minimal details at this point) are: Link Link Link More later, including thoughts on what Martial Law means for NO.

For various reasons (including we go too busy, naturally), my wife stopped making her award winning homemade bread. I had forgotten how much I loved this bread... Now, this isn't just any home made bread. It's lovingly craft from fresh grains, ground into flour right before going into the mixer. She literally starts from scratch with every loaf. MMMMM. Smells so good when it's baking. There's nothing that smells quite so good as fresh baked bread. Did I happen to mention that it...

I know that we're only at the 48 hour mark on this tragedy that used to be a fine, historical city on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. I know that the US is the biggest responder in international tragedies (like the SE Asian tsunami). After this time (and a Google search) there are no signs that Europe is doing any more than parroting the news articles that the AP, UPI and NEWS.COM.COM puts out. Where is the hew and cry from Europe seeking aid for the poor folks that are flooded out ...

One thing that Hurricane Kristina has done is severly impact the oil recovery and refining facilities in the Gulf of Mexico. One report on MSNBC was predicting an 8% loss of refining capacity for as much as two weeks. That's not even taking into account the loss of production from the wells and rigs that had to be evacuated as a result of the storm. Nor does it take into account the oil platform that decided it would rather rest against the bridge in Mobile harbor than out in the Gulf wher...

AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There. Now that we've got THAT out of my system... I really HATE cities. And not in the "it's really a minor dislike" type of hate. Loathing. Detestation. I had to deliver some papers to a lawyers office on the north side of Richmond (VA) yesterday afternoon. I was given the papers (finally) at around 4:10 yesterday and told that they had to be in the lawyers office before 5. And it's a 45 minute d...

One of the exciting things about raising kids is that you're not sure what exactly is going to pop out of their mouths. For instance, the other night, while watching the news with my oldest two sons, the younger one (who's actually the middle boy) asked "What is war?" So, after pausing the TV (gotta love TiVo!), we spent an hour discussing what war is, why it's sometimes necessary, but never to be loved. He just nodded his head after the discussion ended and then lay there watching the r...

Here at my office, we have some outspoken conservative folks and some outspoken liberal folks. There was discussion a little while ago about the nominations for the Federal judges that recently concluded. It got rather heated at times, for some of the same reasons that discussions in Congress (and here at JU) got heated - personal beliefs and biases. Given the vitriol, backstabbing and outright bigotry on the part of Congressional Democrats (in general) during these discussions, how ar...

Reading a recent comment by MasonM, I realized something that's been tickling the edges of my awareness for a while now. The gentleman is a dying breed. I say they should be put on the endangered species list.I am just a plain spoken, Southern boy from north Alabama. I was raised to be a gentleman. To me, a gentleman exemplifies the following: Courtesy Politeness Respect for others Respect for self Respect for Authority Humility Gentleness A gentleman ...

I was listening to the radio yesterday on the way home from the office. I heard a song playing that I've been hearing for several years. It's by Joe Diffie and is called "Third Rock from the Sun". It's a song about how, even when everything looks chaotic and out of control, if you look close enough, there's "a chain of events. Cause and effect." All of life is this way. It seems that everything going on around us is random and out of control. If you look deep enough, you can see the ...

It seems to me that there are as many reasons to be for or against abortion as there are people on the planet. Everyone has their reasons. What I'd like to do in this article is to explain MY reasons for why I'm against abortion. It all started in November of 1974. Wait, check that. It all started about 9 months earlier. When my wife's mother conceived her. See, in the year after Roe v. Wade, her mother could've aborted her, without any legal repercussions. Instead, in November of...

I know what y'all are thinking. Any conservative person in America today has to be confused. Far be it from me to disabuse you of the notion. I should say that I'm a confusing conservative. I believe in several things that put me in that camp. I believe: There is a God who sent His Son to die for us over 2000 years ago. Every person (male, female, black, white, purple, etc.) has the right to my respect. Every person has a right to lose my respect as soon as they prove that th...

After a brief hiatus, including problems with ISP and web hosts, the Chaos Manager blog is back in business. Not that it had very many readers to begin with. Hopefully, this will change. Y'all come back and check for more later, ya hear?