Cleanse your visual palate and move on!

Hop over to Bennings’ place for a very nice appreciation of John William Waterhouse.

After you’ve done that, take a turn over at Richard Lawrence Cohen’s establishment. He’s caught in one of those “where am I” loops. And he’s got some nice pictures of Greece here.

And now for something you weren’t expecting:

I have trod the upward and the downward slope;
I have endured and done in days before;
I have longed for all, and bid farewell to hope;
And I have lived and loved and closed the door..
– Robert Louis Stevenson

Set to music by Ralph Vaughan Williams sung in all of its tenderness and regret by this genius. I’ve pushed the album before; I’m pushing it again. Hear a decent snippet at Amazon (track #9 – sorry I don’t know how to do technical things to give you the music…)

Yes, it’s in The Bookshelf and no, I’m not recommending you buy it so I can get rich off the kickbacks (heh) – I’m shilling it – again and again – because this album is some magnificent food for the soul. I’m dead serious.

Iraq buried Chemical Weapons in Fallujah?. Hmph. Might explain why the insurrectionists holed up there. This from the recently translated Iraqi docs that no one but Ed Morrissey seems to want to report on. He also has news about terror suspects arrested in the UK which is being lost in the Zarqawi news. We need to not lose site of these two stories.

And if you missed it do check out Dr. Sanity’s round-up of leftist reaction to Zarqawi’s death. Really, some of them are just unbelievable.

You might also want to check out Ed Morrissey’s latest column (on Conservative Battle Fatigue) in Mark Tapscott’s National Examiner

Instead of staying home, we need to get more involved. If your representative or senator votes for pork, bigger government, and ignores border security, look for a credible primary challenger to represent conservative values instead. Organize and speak out on behalf of candidates and politicians who do the right thing, even if they don’t represent your district or state.

Bruce Kesler points out that the Examiner is making a point of bringing some bloggers to the forefront, both from the left and the right. This is not the first time I’ve seen a “right wing” endeavor make offers to the left (and – apparently get spurned for the effort). Pajamas Media did the same. I’m trying to think of a “left wing” endeavor that has invited righties to participate, but I may be unaware…can you think of any?

I linked to it elsewhere, but it’s important so I’ll do it again: Go check out AJ Strata’s piece on how the immigration situation might be solved.

Mr. Wong has a provocative piece up, “I feel something within me that compels me to burn Rome.”. It’s not like anything you’ve read this week.

I’ve always had a softspot for the USS COLE, probably simply because of how CIC Clinton said the words but did nothing when 17 of his sailors were killed and one of his naval vessels was attacked. Tammy Bruce notes she is asail again and she remembers the names of the fallen. The COLE heading back to the Middle East.

Sailors in the current crew of 320 — including many who asked to be assigned to the Cole — say they’re unafraid to deploy to that region.

“You’re looking over your shoulder, maybe a little nervous pulling into ports and stuff like that,” Chief Robin Guy said Tuesday on the ship, docked at Norfolk Naval Station.

“But I think right now throughout the world we have to be like that on any of our ships,” said Guy, 35, of Virginia Beach. “That threat is there, whether you’re here or overseas.”

One of my brothers was on a submarine. God bless ’em all, says I.

Neo-neocon has found some old savings bonds…check it out – pretty cool.

Did you know a film could be rated PG because its content is too religious? Interesting.