It’s vegetable canning season. For the first time in a couple of months, every inch of counter space in our house is not lined with tomatoes, peppers, etc. Instead, gradually, the counter tops are getting lined with hot mason jars filled with homegrown veggies, each one announcing it’s successful seal with that distinctive popping sound. If you’ve never grown and canned your own vegetables, you’re missing out on one of life’s great joys.

My point is, my light blogging over the past several days is due to having my hands full… and it’s likely to continue through the late summer. I did want to take a minute to post a few links, though. I still have time to read a bit and obsess over the presidential race, the war, and the news in general… even if I don’t have time to sit down and type up my tirades about it all right now.

Employment in America: Just how many jobs are there in the US right now, really? Can we know for sure? Is the payroll surveying system reliable? The Heritage Foundation has some ideas and information.

Swift Boats, Kerry, and Bush: Here’s a fairly unique point of view… an anti-Kerry, anti-Bush, anti-Swift-Boat-Vets-For-Truth republican. I suppose William McTavish is actually in favor of something, but I’m not sure what.

Sacrifice and Service: Jeff Bergner has more interesting things to say about the Moore/O'Reilly debate than either of them actually said during the debacle...uh, I mean, the debate.

Cuddle Parties: I heard Neil Boortz talking about this the other day:

“At the outset, participants form a circle where they establish their personal boundaries - "I won't touch you anywhere adult, if you don't touch me anywhere adult" - and then the cuddling begins, with little interference by the host, who plays New Age tunes from his laptop.”

If there’s one phrase I hope to never utter to another human being as long as I live, it has to be “Let’s touch each other in a non-adult way while we listen to that new age music coming out of that guy’s laptop computer.”

Rick James: Did the GOP have him taken out to keep him from endorsing Kerry? Well, of course they did. And, in doing so, they caused us all to miss the chance to see Teresa dancing to Super Freak at Kerry’s inaugural party. Oh, how I hate that Dick Cheney!

Finally, we re-watched the movie Three Kings on DVD the other night. Ten bucks at Best Buy, and well worth every penny. I remember enjoying the film when it was new, mostly for it’s cinematography and action sequences… but the movie is downright resonant in a post-Saddam world. If you haven’t seen it, rent it or pick it up on DVD. It’s the story of some Desert Storm soldiers who turn down a chance to abscond with some of Saddam’s ill gotten gold, and, instead, help some Iraqi refugees escape the dictator. I’m sure that liberal Hollywood didn’t intend to make a film that, in retrospect, is now very sympathetic to the American cause in Iraq… but that’s how Three Kings plays now, and it’s enjoyable on many levels.

Oh, yeah... if you’ll excuse a totally irrelevant aside… I have to say that the more I hear Nickleback, the more I realize I was far too hard on Creed.