Doug Ross @ Journal

Soldiers' Angels, Beslan Coverage, and a Car

Latest family news: we adopted a soldier through Soldiers' Angels. While families who adopt soldiers should not expect a note back, our adoptee -- a Marine serving in Afghanistan -- wrote a very nice reply to our introductory letter. A care package will go out after Labor Day, based upon our interpretation of what's allowed by the Post Office and DOD. I would encourage anyone reading this to consider adopting a soldier. Their sacrifices make possible all the freedoms we enjoy.

AutoRantic Virtual Moonbat

A few miscellaneous notes:

Beslan

You would think that the trial of an accused terrorist -- captured after a vicious, senseless attack on a school -- would merit some news coverage by the mainstream media. Of course, you'd be dead wrong. The MSM, best as I can tell, is completely ignoring the Beslan terror trial and, most egregiously, the heartwrenching testimony of the child-victims.

Once again, it's up to the blogosphere to cover important world events -- don't look to "real journalists" like Paul Krugman and Maureen Dowd, for goodness sake. After all, they've got better things to do. Like claim Al Gore won in 2000, and suggest that we train the Iraqis to defend themselves, respectively. I'm pretty sure that you could replace either columnist with our friend, the AutoRantic Virtual Moonbat (pictured at right), and you'd be hard-pressed to tell the difference.

Back to Beslan. GatewayPundit has been covering the trial. Caution: the following testimony ain't pleasant.

"On the second day, we were all very thirsty. Women told us, the boys, to pee into plastic bottles so that the children could then drink our pee," the boy said, bursting into tears. "I peed into a bottle, and small children -- even babies -- drank it." "Listen, Kulayev, listen," Judge Tamerlan Aguzarov angrily ordered the defendant, who showed no emotion as he sat in a steel cage with bulletproof glass behind the testifying children. As the boy tried to stop sobbing, the courtroom spectators, mostly women wearing black clothes and black headscarves, swore at Kulayev. "Give this terrorist to us! We will tear the bastard apart!" the women shouted... A 10-year-old boy testified Thursday, August 25th in the trial of the one lone terrorist to be captured alive after the siege in Beslan. One of the female terrorists ... told us that if she found a phone on anyone, that person would be killed and three more people near him or her would be killed too.

Yes, the bottom-feeders and mouth-breathers that represent the majority of the MSM have better things to do. Who could expect them to cover the trial of the sole surviving accused terrorist in a brutal schoolhouse attack that killed hundreds, including scores of children? The Video Music Awards were on, for Pete's sake... they can't be expected to ignore all those celebrities!

Mitsubishi Lancer ES (MSN)

Car

I went out and got my daughter a car. It's a heck of a lot nicer than the '71 Chevelle Wagon (Caprice Classic) that was my first ride. It's a 2003 Mitsubishi Lancer ES -- not the wickedly powerful Evolution -- and was highly rated in terms of both reliability and safety. As an aside, I did the majority of my research on MSN's Auto Site. It is pretty darn comprehensive and is, quite literally, a bible of auto purchasing for both new and used vehicles.

I'd been given some advice from some other recent purchasers of cars for younger drivers. Paramount tip: don't buy a new car. Those who'd done it were... shall we say... disappointed in the ding, scratch, and dent factor. Especially with the high school parking lots these days, which are less parking-lot and more minor-league demolition derby. This particular car has a bit of wear and tear on it (a couple of scratches on the sides and a small gravel ding on the hood), but is otherwise a pretty fine-looking unit. Here's hoping all who ride in it do so in good health.