StartLogic (which is crap for service, don’t get a website hosted there. ever.) is acting up today. I may or may not be able to do a full round-up. If need be, I will get this up somewhere. I may take up a friend’s offer of space on his new server. Meanwhile, a bit of a theme today:

Bloviating Zeppelin has some really good editorial cartoons up. The top one says it all, I think. Good ol’ Inexperienced Illinois Senator.

Blackfive is always a good read, and there is always something fresh posted there. Just put in on your must-read list, already. Also a big fan of the IIS.

Over at Charming, Just Charming GuyK points to a “Dorwin Award” – may not be what you think, unless you are a big fan of Asimov. IIS alert.

cookiecrumbexpress tells about their outing to the Tick Farm. Nice comparison shots of the 45 and the 9mm. Very nice Mauser action, too. Nothing here about IIS, however.

I’m in agreement with Regular Ron – I don’t like flying, either. Hmm, nothing here about IIS, either.

Greybeard reports on the Building of a Religion over at Pitchpull. Good – back to IIS.

Amboy Times has a message that is not favorable towards a certain IIS.

Didn’t have to go too far in to find the first IIS moment on the BLOG.

Mary is into books and their reviews. She has a terrific selection up in her latest post.

Akinoluna has pictures from her time on Okinawa, and there was a door decorating contest. Honestly, I mis-read the word in her title, and almost tacked on another IIS tag to her entry here. But, since it says “barracks” and not “barack’s” I will resist.

Richard found a turkey vulture, and he didn’t go anywhere near D.C.

Texas Fred has an article posted about drunks who hit cops. Nothing here about IIS either, but give it time.

Political Pistachio has a neat little post about the population of the earth and theories about how long humans have been around. His second post is about – you guessed it! – the IIS.

Ablur would like your input on how the internet has affected the storytelling tradition of humans on Some Things Just Need To Be Said. His second post is also about the IIS.

Put on your boxing gloves – Jenn has entries up about the IIS!!

Bushwack‘s first entry is about the oil reserves under the Alaskan area. The second one is about the IIS. I know, you are very surprised, as was I.

Andrew Tallman gives us his thought of the day.

Third Wave Dave has a post up about a freedom survey. Guess where the IIS’s hometown came in?

Old Soldier has a video about a beer-bottle symphony. And a second article about the IIS.

Brother Helms has a thought on “bumper sticker evangelism” over on Our Sovereign Joy.

Gawfer has a graphic (available on a tee-shirt) regarding the Second Amendment. His second post is about – guess who? – the IIS!

Kathi has birthday wishes for some special people posted on Supporting the Troops.

That’s all I’ve got for now. Be sure to tune in tomorrow at 0700 MST for The O Word on BlogTalkRadio.

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, Time, Inc. is a bunch of weasels, listen to The O Word on BlogTalkRadio, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

WordPress wants me to update to version 2.6. Anyone out there done the update yet? Anything I should look out for?

Kathi and Tony went to Arlington for the first time, and they have a slide show up and running of the pictures that Tony took. Well worth the look-see. Kathi also gives a shout out for the Run for the Fallen, going on now.

Brother Johnny T. Helms expounds on the Archbishop of Canterbury’s insistence that islam be included in an interfaith council on religious tolerance with a link to an article explaining the exact opposite should happen on Our Sovereign Joy.

Akinoluna has an observation about death and leave in the Marine Corps.

Richard’s latest entry is on a mother and juvenile Red-bellied Woodpecker. Beautiful photography. Did I mention that Richard is responsible for some of the header photos on this blog?

GuyK is his usual, Charming self today – slow start, but then he gets up a head of steam…

Over on Blackfive is photographic proof of troops purposely mimicking the locals in Iraq. Scandalous, I say!

Samantha (aka Hana Matsushita) continues her love letter to/about/for the 24^th MEU in Afghanistan.

The Rogue has a few straight-talking words about Jamie Gorelick. (Don’t know the name? Do a little digging, and find out why Rogue believes she ought to be sitting in the cell next to the Enron folks…) Also check out his essay on Naval ships named after Commanders in Chief…

Texas Fred is his usual fun-loving, rose-colored glasses self today. His entry on raising award-winning pansies is excellent. (just kidding, Fred – don’t change a thing!)

A new addition to my blogroll, Andrew Tallman, is a local radio show host. His show is on 1360 KPXQ in Phoenix, Arizona from 5 to 7 pm daily.

Over on The Old Right Daily is Regular Ron’s viewpoint on the World Court’s declaration that the US should delay the execution of five Mexican nationals held in a Texas Jail. Good reading.

The cookie crumb express has information and a link regarding this year’s Milblogging Conference in Las Vegas.

Oddly enough, over on Take a Stand Against Liberals, Jenn points out the hypocrisy and goofiness of the left. Go figure.

SoCalOilMan’s company is being purchased. Will he have a job? Will he be moving soon? If he moves, will he tell his wife, who is in Montana for three months? Stay tuned…

Today we have BZ’s take on the economy. Be sure to scroll down and check out some pictures he found through his exhaustive research…

Gawfer has a few points on this season’s campaign.

Doug has news about the talks in Israel over on Political Pistachio.

Old Soldier’s latest entry is all wet.

Ablur points to an article that shows that all this cleaning up of the pollution and being green has actually lead to a warming trend… on Some Things Just Need To Be Said.

Third Wave Dave has a video posted that answers the question “How did we get to this point?” Good commentary by Judge Napolitano on how the government is breaking it’s own laws with the “not a bailout” of Fannie and Freddie.

Improv Everywhere pulled off a mirror stunt. Only in New York.

I couldn’t access American and Proud of It – I hope that’s not because of WordPress 2.6!

Greybeard has some “recycling” news on Pitchpull.

Amboy Times has news from the Philippines in regards to how appeasement is working out for them. Don’t forget to scroll down a bit so you can be pointed to Blogrolling. I do apologize if you didn’t get mentioned.

A quick side note – my bass guitar developed a nasty little buzz last night, just before service. I need to figure out what went wrong before I can use it again. Meantime, I used the church’s bass. I wasn’t entirely unfamiliar with it, as I started out on that one, but still…

Thank you for stopping by, In God We Trust, God bless you all, Time, Inc. is a bunch of weasels, listen to The O Word on BlogTalkRadio, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

First – a quick reminder that The O Word will be on the air at 0700 Mountain Standard Time tomorrow morning, as usual, but only 30 minutes long. Be sure to join the chatroom or call in the listener line at (347) 838-9573.

It’s been a while since I’ve done an Update for my blogroll friends, so here goes:

First up is Blackfive, where the ethics videos for certain government entities have been procured and posted.

Richard is making good use of his new camera.

Good old GuyK woke up this morning with a list of aches and pains. He shares his morning with you…

Our Sovereign Joy has a series going on about sinners being restored from their trespasses. I’m going to mark this as a required reading entry.

Texas Fred has a couple of articles up about the recent SCOTUS decision about child rapists … and their “right” to not be executed. Nope, nothing controversial there… (update – latest entry is about the 2nd amendment)

On One Loon’s Tales, Loon herself is also carrying the story of the SCOTUS miscue decision.

Political Pistachio, back on after a brief blip, talks about the SCOTUS too – but this time, about the 2nd Amendment case involving handguns in our Nation’s Capitol.

I’m sensing a trend here – Samantha has a view on the SCOTUS dropped ball also.

Rogue wants to know who took his country. Good question. I’m bettin’ the DemocRATs had something to do with it.

Right Turn has her view on the Henderson KY shooting.

According to Jenn’s latest post, the “think” tank in San Fransissyco has determined that an appropriate memorial for our current president would be renaming a public works building. I think it’s a crappy idea.

American and Proud of It joins the ranks of the bloggers posting on the SCOTUS’ collective cranial collapse.

ablur has some information on the Obamassiah you might want to read.

Mary has a book review about Stormie. (good to see you in action, Mary!)

Akinoluna has a story about triplets who are joining the Marine Corps – together! Instant family tradition, anyone?

Got a few minutes? Make that a bit longer – as is the case anytime you want to peruse Dumb Looks Still Free – as he delves deeply into the respective plans (not policies!) of the presumptive candidates. A good read, worth the thought and effort of getting all the way through it.

cookiecrumbexpress shows off the last part of the trip home, and shares a little bit about certain members of the Obama Nation being “removed” from the public eye…

Third Wave Dave highlights the effort to send the largest care package shipment to our troops in history.

Old Soldier has two questions for you, one regarding the legal standing of the primates, and another concerning voting. Two separate entries, please take the time to view both.

Cube takes a look at the Microsoft team – then and now. All I have to say is, thank God the seventies ended when they did.

My Point shares Doctor Blogstein’s search for a fatwa. Oh. My.

Just John has a reminder from the Japanese park authority about your dog.

Bloviating Zeppelin has a must-read on the so-called “Fairness Doctrine” that should be used as a reference while you contact your representatives.

Supporting the Troops has the Wednesday Hero up – go check out (Army) SSGT Voss…

And last (but certainly not the least) of the recently updated (according to blogrolling.com, anyway) is my good friend Gawfer, with his thoughts on Obama, McCain, and the American Dream.

Be sure to check out the rest of the people on my blogroll. Tell ’em I sent ya.

My Bad: I am most disgusted with myself for forgetting to mention the latest member of my blogroll, Amboy Times. Another good read. GO! Enjoy!

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, Time, Inc. is a bunch of weasels, listen to The O Word on BlogTalkRadio, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

Hard to believe that it’s been that long, and so much has changed.

I started out blogging on Blogspot just to put my family history in electronic form – that project is still in the works, as evidenced by the lack of progress behind the tab marked “The Wisconsin Cartters” at the top of this page.

Then I started a personal blog to take my rants off the family page. That led me to meet a wonderful bunch of people – most of them still hanging out on my blogroll, some of them having signed off, one or two having shed this mortal coil – but all of them worth reading and chatting with when I get the chance. Oh, sure – like any family, there are going to be instances where some members of my blog-family aren’t going to be getting along with other members, and that’s fine, we’re all human, and if we all got along all the time it would be downright boring.

I started out with two blogs, and ended up with this one when I merged them in April of 2008. Having my own domain and full control over the blog is a comfort to me, being the semi-control freak that I am, and I have to thank Texas Fred and Robert for their help with getting this site set up.

I don’t remember who the first batch of contacts I made was, perhaps the gang over at The Notebored, a writer’s workshop headed up by Dee and her wonderful circle of fellow writers. I tried my hand at some writing projects over there, but there was something – I don’t know, missing? – and I just never really fully clicked. They are very welcoming there on The Notebored, but I don’t think I was ready for primetime. I do know that once I ran into Gawfer I ran into the best bunch of people I could call friends and a great variety of “conservatives” – from absolute white hat to situational conservatives, you can find a bunch of them on the blogroll now. Like I said, we don’t all get along all of the time, but we always have a great conversation.

I found Bill Whittle, a former liberal who started reading and thinking for himself (proof, by the way, that it can happen) and then using his talents as a writer to put our thoughts to “paper” and let us all read it and realize that “Yes, by thunder, that is EXACTLY what I was trying to say!” I still read him, when he publishes in between his super-glam life on the west coast and the movie deals and the screenplays… In fact, one of my personal favorite entries for I’m Thinking of the “O” Word was inspired greatly by Bill’s writing; specifically, my entry titled The Sheep, The Sheepdogs, and the Wolves was written after I had read his entry titled Tribes. I think it’s still relevant.

My wife, whom I refer to as TMBWitW, gave birth to our child, MEG, on December 30, 2006. I ran a babypool of sorts, and Paul at prying1 came in second while Just John (who, at the time, was going by Gunny John) came the closest in guessing the day and time for the momentous occasion. MEG is growing and running around and keeping the dogs on their toes now – the cats are not sure what to make of this little rosy-cheeked beauty that wants to pet them all…

And then in January of 2007 I read this entry on Jenn’s blog, and it just didn’t sit right with me. I started my campaign. Without funding. Trying to get a groundswell of support and momentum for a run at the White House. Trying, and failing. My feelings haven’t changed, especially now that we are guaranteed a liberal in the Oval Office, and I am seeing more and more signs of a revolution brewing to take this country back into the conservative hands of We The People. I do, however, plan to take another run at it in 2012, when the people of this country should be good and fed up with the liberal actions of the president and want to get back to being a sovereign country with absolute borders and absolute laws.

Now I have a BlogTalkRadio show called, appropriately enough, The O Word. Be sure to tune in on Friday mornings at 0700 Mountain Standard Time.

One thing about having a blog, and meeting (on line, of course, except in rare instances where you actually get to meet the fine people you blog with in person) other blog-owners – you will never run out of people to meet, and people who you want to link to, and people who may want to link back to you. Of course, having all these links is one thing, but being able to keep the connection going is another. I don’t always get to read all my links every day, but I sure try to stop in at least once a week or so.

Most recently, I was asked to join the gang over at Reject the UN and help spread that word. I don’t know how often I will be able to contribute, but I will be doing what I can when I can.

One thing that hasn’t wavered since I’ve discovered it: Wear Red on Fridays. I’ve got some way cool shirts that help spread the word, and I know that when service members see my red shirt they know they are being supported, prayed for, worried about, and generally appreciated for what they are doing.

A lot has changed in three years. I am so happy to have met all of you, and hope that you feel the same about me. We may not see eye to eye, but unless you break my commenting rules and totally disregard common courtesy, you will be welcome here. I know that there are a lot more people out there who deserve to be mentioned, and I will, on this Friday’s show. I’m sorry if I didn’t specifically mention you, but know that I think of each one of you often. Either to wonder what you are up to, or why you haven’t written anything lately, or to berate myself for not getting over to your site and leaving a comment. Tell you what – would you do me a favor, and just click on the “All Blogrolls Here” tab up there, and read through everyone who is making a difference in the blogosphere? Stop in and tell them I said hi, and I’ll be by later to chat.

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, listen to The O Word on BlogTalkRadio, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

So – how do you like that header image?

I really like it. Thanks again to Mr. and Mrs. Bushwack.

I woke up this morning to a wonderful smell – moisture on a desert wind. I opened up the house a bit, and the temperature inside dropped from the overnight 78° to about 71° in less than a half hour. The wind is blowing pretty good, and it’s so darn pleasant that I might just turn this thing off and go sit on the patio.

Well, I just sat here and thought about it. I’m going to do that.

Saturday afternoon, TMBWitW was rear-ended on the freeway. Seems her lane of traffic was slowing, so she slowed, but the person on the cellphone in the vehicle behind her was too absorbed in the conversation. Knocked TMBWitW into the middle lane, and she did get the car back to the right lane and onto the shoulder; the person in vehicle 2 only hung up once the officer showed up. My wifes car (a 2005 Camry) has some rear-end damage. The S-10 Blazer could not be driven away. TMBWitW, MEG, and our Momma are OK, but there are some minor issues that need to be addressed. Turns out, also, that vehicle 2 did not have current insurance. So, along with everything else, we get to pay our deductible and watch as our insurance company tracks down and sues the pants off person 2.

Three guesses as to the ethnicity of the driver of vehicle 2. The first two don’t count. (hint: open borders suck)

I’m also taking a quick survey. Please put your answers in the comments section. Real fast, and I won’t bother you anymore. Two questions: What browser are you using? Does the text on this page appear to be left-justified, centered, or right-justified?

That’s it. (Update – never mind. It’s fixed now.)

One last thing: I’ll be “off the air” for a few days. TMBWitW is working from home tomorrow, and taking Thursday and Friday off (she graduates Sunday with her Bachelors in Accounting). This means no posts here until Monday, most likely, and no BlogTalkRadio show Friday. The regular schedule will resume on Monday.

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, listen to The O Word on BlogTalkRadio, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!