Jan’s been out playing in the rain. Go take a look. I always like her photography, but the video really hit home for me. Made me feel like I was there, and wish I was there.

LeVar Burton is blogging. He’s only done two posts so far, but they were a surprise. He’s the first celebrity blogger I know of who actually seems to understand the concept of blogging. Nicely written in a very personal, yet not too personal way. He’s writing about what he knows, and interests him. He’s even taking the time to do audio versions of his posts. Nicely done Mr. Burton, keep up the good work, and good luck with stopping smoking.

Punished first, acquitted later – Ezra Levant

But I’ve read the dismissal letter three times now, and each time it makes me more angry. Because I haven’t been given my freedom of the press. I’ve simply had the government censor approve what I said. That’s a completely different thing.

Larry Godwin and the City of Memphis have issued AOL with a subpoena to reveal the owners of the blog MPD Enforcer 2.0. This police whistle-blower blog is of course making plans to fight this subpoena.

In what could be a landmark case of privacy and the 1st Amendment, GODwin has illegally used his position and the City of Memphis as a ram to ruin the Constitution of the United States! Some members of the Enforcer 2.0 have contacted their attorneys and we are in the process of filing a lawsuit against Larry and the City of Memphis.

A quick look at comments on a local news story suggest, that Mr. Godwin isn’t getting much public sympathy. I somehow doubt the increase in the traffic at MPD Enforcer 2.0 due to this subpoena is going to put him in a better mood.

h/t Instapundit.com

From The Frontlines, Ustream.TV.

Melanie Morgan and Michelle Malkin are hosting a fund raising effort to send care packages to troops in Iraq. If they live up to their own hype, it should be quite spectacular.

We’ve got a star-studded line-up of troops, military charities, celebs, and talk radio stars — from Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin to Dr. Laura and Laura Ingraham to musician John Ondrasik and “Lone Survivor” author and Navy SEAL hero Marcus Luttrell — who’ll be joining us in our eight-hour marathon fund-raising drive to help send the largest number of care packages in history to our men and women in uniform serving overseas. – Michelle Malkin

Go check it out.

Somebody at Skinny Moose wants to know…

Some days don’t you feel like this guy…

No, no I don’t.

He is very funny however. Go take a look.

I won’t be posting anything else today, so check out the comments here to see what others are talking about, then go check out HotAir’s video about the Lumberjack in a Desert.

This is the Veteran’s Day edition of Open House, and comments and trackbacks are now open. If your site doesn’t support trackbacks, use the Wizbang Standalone Trackback Pinger.

What are you doing this Veteran’s Day?

For everything you need to know about the writers strike, go see what Ze has to say about strike day. It’s not actually a news story, it’s much more coherent. Did I mention that it was funny? Well, this is Ze, so that could be assumed I suppose.

Have you been to Cascade Exposures lately? Here’s three reasons you should have.

• A Reflection
• Allurements for Persuading the Eyes
• More from the Japanese Garden

Jan’s been traveling again. She posted about Spokane’s Riverfront Park a few days ago, and today she’s posted pictures of the 1909 Looff “Carrousel”.

Riverfront Park was the site of the 1974 World’s Fair, and it’s been a highlight of Spokane ever since. It’s quite beautiful. The Looff Carrousel is a stunning work of art. Beautifully carved horses, and they’re very well maintained. I have a lot of good memories of this carousel. Given the chance, I ride it every time I’m passing though Spokane.

High Desert Wanderer An alternative (read: conservative) view by an intelligent cowboy who can articulate his opinion. Such clear thinking is rare these days. – Alexanders Archive

Now that’s flattering. Despite the title of this post, flattery will actually usually get you at least a link. In this case I added him to my blogroll too, he’s got a nice site.

“Intelligent and articulate” Obviously he hasn’t read my site for very long. Give him a few weeks, and he’ll likely change it to something like “A cowboy who can occasionally put words together in an understandable order.” He must have got me on a good day.

Little Green Footballs is reporting two C130s crash at Stewart Air Force Base. Nothing on mainstream news yet.

Update: ABC, CBS, FOXNews, and MSNBC are showing nothing. Drudge Report hasn’t posted anything on it either. Hoax? Hopefully.

Update: Thankfully, a false alarm.

Alex at Alexanders Archive has commented on one of my posts. I believe he classifies my sentiment as “well deserved, but misplaced”. He’s probably right. I do however, still disagree with Columbia University inviting Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak. Fortunately for them, they didn’t ask me. Of all the people who could speak, why invite him? Hearing all viewpoints is good, but his viewpoint is well known. Did he have anything new to add to the discussion, or did he just give another rant against the US, homosexuality, and any religion other than his own?

I do however agree with Alex that “Their desire to hear all sides of a very important contemporary argument should not be censored.” I’m curious though, if Columbia wants to hear from all sides… why do they continue the ban on ROTC?

Go read all of Alex’s post. I particularly like this part.

Iran’s president says there are no gays in Iran, and as wildly insane as that sounds (about as much as when Larry Craig says he “has never been gay”), Iran executed two gay teenagers by means of hanging not long ago. Some conservatives have said Mahmoud is right on this fact: there are no gays in Iran because he’s killed them all. Which is of course ridiculous, as much so as some of the denials we’ve heard. – Alexanders Archive

Take a few days off, and everyone seems to post somethng interesting. How do they know I’ve leaving?
Jan Bussey posted a bunch of photos from her latest trip.

• CascadeExposures: looking Down on the Palouse from the Top of Steptoe Butte
• CascadeExposures: Palouse Falls State Park
• CascadeExposures: Looking Over the Edge on the Way Down

Cox & Forkum took a Final Bow. Anything that starts with “With mixed emotions…” is bad news.

Forrest Croce posted a great “Escheresque” photo of Two Ducks in Golden Gate Park.

Ben Willmore posted more of his neon graveyard photos

• More Neon Shots
• Where is Ben?: Graveyard Light Bulbs
• Where is Ben?: More Light Bulbs

And Sage exposes a photo hoax with Pictures Don’t Lie…or Do They?. I’m really proud of her for that post. She spent a lot of time and effort working out why that photo isn’t real. Others may have done it before, but she worked it out herself. Very well done.

Comment registration is open!

Enough said.

Update: Now closed.  Good things never last.

Self proclaimed Iraq war vet/murderer is exposed as a fraud. Not really a big surprise, but I’m glad he’s officially being recognized as the fraud he is.

Rosemary of Rosemary’s Thoughts has a new site.

While she often attends my Open House posts, I don’t believe I’ve linked to any of her sites before. Her new domain, rosemarysthoughts.com looks like it’s in the final design stages, but it looks like it’s off to a good start with this WordPress site. Good luck Rosemary.

I spent last night walking around Pittsburgh working on city-night photography. Pittsburgh police officers approached me asking me not to use a tripod do to it being a security threat. – Craig Photography: City Night Photography

In reference to Mr. Craig’s experience with his tripod, Michael Weir asks…

When is it OK to allow fear to publicly override profession?

I’d ask a more specific question. When is it OK to allow fear to override the civil liberties?

Were these officers suggesting that it’s against the law to take photographs on the street with a tripod? Or that tripods are themselves illegal in Philadelphia? I find both suggestions absurd. Absurd of course doesn’t mean it’s not true.

I think the most plausible answer here is that someone, the officers possibly or more likely a bureaucrat,  is taking their job a little too seriously. Making arbitrary security rules, just to hear their own voice. Shameful behavior on whoever it is.

Trackposted to The Pink Flamingo, Perri Nelson’s Website, Leaning Straight Up, Allie Is Wired, CommonSenseAmerica, Republican National Convention Blog, and Big Dog’s Weblog, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Did you see the story in mid August about the Iraqi woman who claimed here house was shot by American troops? Her photo was all over the web for a few days, holding two nice shiny cartridges to prove her case. Two nice, shiny, unfired cartridges… Since the news editors didn’t catch this obvious error, the dissident frogman has posted an informative video for all the news agencies to use in the future.

Kat at CatHouse Chat has suffered a tragic loss. My prayers are with her.