As many problems I have with the man and his administration, I have to say this. Without George Bush's SCOTUS appointments, yesterday's 5-4 vote in District of Columbia v. Heller that backed the true meaning of the 2nd Amendment and protected every American's right to keep and bear arms, surely would have gone 4-5 or even 3-6 against. Without Bush's appointments of Alito and Roberts, it would have been a very dark day today indeed.

You can read the decision here [supremecourtus.gov].

Col. Steven Folsom dismissed charges [washingtonpost.com] against Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani today. This is great news. Only one more left (SSgt Frank Wuterich)! I suspect the charges against this final "Haditha" Marine will be dismissed post-haste.

I wonder if we'll finally see charges brought up against the prosecutors, General Mattis, and Rep. Murtha for unlawful command influence?

UPDATE (Tue Jun 17 19:05:35 PDT 2008): Not sure if I'm supposed to do this, but I've recorded an interview Michael Savage did with LtCol Chessani's lead defense attorney Brian Rooney. Once I MP3-ize it, I'll upload it here. It's an eye-opening interview.

UPDATE (Tue Jun 17 23:12:56 PDT 2008): As promised, the interview with Brian Rooney.

I'm sold. I'm so very sold on Tony Romo. It's unbelievable the way this guy is playing. It was a great win against the Colts last week, but I was really curious how he would handle this possible "trap" game against the Bucs. DONE! I know he's been "learning" on the bench the last three years, but COME ON, this is ridiculous! The poise Romo is showing is... nuff said.

Update: Idiots. Why do sports writers keep referring to Tony Romo as a rookie? HE IS NOT A FRIGGIN ROOKIE! Sure... these are his first games, but he is not a rookie. He's been on the bench LEARNING NFL football for the last three and half years. Idiots.

We (the family) spent three days down in Silicon Valley looking for a place to live. We saw condos, houses, and of course, apartments. We finally settled on a nice apartment on the Santa Clara/Sunnyvale border. It's such a nice area... especially when compared to Vallejo. It felt so good, so clean, so safe just walking and driving around that area. Everyone I know who lives or has recently lived in The Valley says I made an excellent choice of location. I hope so.

While house hunting is never fun, we managed to have a blast with our Japanese friends from Los Gatos. They have been so helpful over the last few weeks. They're wonderful people.

One geek note: I managed to schedule my cable and internet installation for the evening we move in. I should only be off the net for 24 hours. THAT ROCKS! Oh yeah... and my wife will have TV Japan. Suh-weet!

Update (Thu Oct 26 21:59:43 PDT 2006): Silicon Valley is very nice. The job... not so much.

I've accepted employment with the consulting firm I mentioned in my last post. I'm very excited about this position. My gut is telling me everything is right.

I'm even more excited for my family. They really hate it in Vallejo/Fairfield. I believe they'll enjoy the San Jose area so much more. The schools are light years better. The parks... the people... the food! YEAH! My stomach will be much happier too. My wife will be able to buy ANY Japanese cooking materials she'll need. Yakiniku resutoran mo aru! Okunomiyaki mo! Ramen mo! Honmono desu!

Suh-weet!

Michelle Malkin thinks they're the worst (as does Paul Merton), but I paticularly like some of them. My favorite?

• The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't.
  Russell Beland, Springfield

Man... did I need that!

Hey! I'm photoblogging!

These things are pooped out. The daughter thing was fully recharged after this nap.

Her and Jiji (Granddad) tourtured this poor crab (yes... there is a crab in that box). What am I saying? Crabs deserve no better!

There's nothing better than cold watermelon on a hot summer day. Too bad I'm allergic. She's obviously not!

My yougin' befriended these three brothers. We later set off fireworks together.

One day it was rainy and sort of cold. That's OK. We went to this awesome onsen (hot spring) pool. Ridiculous view!

This is the house we stayed at. It's right on the beach. Izu no Obaachan's (Grandmother from Izu) daughter built it and kindly let us use it.

The view from the house. Not bad?!

I did some snorkeling with the family. I helped bring home about 1/4 of these. They're tasty to some, but me... not so much.

This is Izu no Obaachan, my daughter, and her baba (grandmother). Izu no Obaachan is 91 years old!

This is the house Izu no Obaachan lived in before her husband passed. This place is 60+ years old. That's very old for Japan!

Japan is a very mountainous country. Anywhere you go, you'll more than likely drive through the mountains. Unfortunately, we saw a lot of this.

I ran across a most useful tool today. It's called the citation machine and it should save teachers and students a lot of time and heartburn. Enter the pertinent information (author, book title, website, etc.) and the citation machine will spit back a perfectly formed MLA and APA bibliographic reference. I wish I'd had something like this years ago.

• Citation Machine

I ran across this amazing blog today called Iraq The Model [http://iraqthemodel.blogspot.com]. It is written by three brothers who live in Baghdad. Two are dentists and one is a doctor.

Apparently, the authors of Iraq The Model are involved in a Spirit of America program to give free blogspace to any democracy supporting Iraqi who wants one. To top it off, the Arabic blogging tool they use has a very cool name - Viral Freedom. Donate here. I did.

Hat Tip: PowerLine

Author: possibly Frances Matthews (whoever that is)

The election is over. The results are now known.

The will of the people has clearly been shown.

We should show by our thoughts and our words and our deeds

That unity is just what our country now needs.

Let's all get together. Let bitterness pass.

I'll hug your elephant.

You kiss my ass.