On Monday we returned from 5 days in Orlando. Brace yourself for the barrage of photos and videos.

We flew out of Flint Wednesday morning. They needed to block off our row for on the plane for some reason, so they bumped us up to first class rather than move other people around to get us seats together.

We stayed at the Animal Kingdom lodge. There were giraffes and other wildlife right outside our window. Lisa really liked the decor and the high ceilings of the lobby. The boys enjoyed the pool and Elliot, especially, the water slide. We spent Wednesday afternoon at the pool.

We rode a bus back and forth from the hotel to the various different parks: Magic Kingdom on Thursday, MGM on Friday, Epcot on Saturday, and the Animal Kingdom on Sunday.

Here is a video from the airplane and then some photos:

This bugs me. Giuliani had some attraction as a competent, successful administrator and leader. But this tears it. There is plenty of room for difference of opinion about strategies for fighting terrorism, but with blunder after blunder the Republicans have not demonstrated that they have a superior understanding of the terrorist threat and how to successfully fight it. And Israel/Palestine has nothing to do with it? Please.

From an article of the same title by Roger Simon on politico.com (via Drudge):

Rudy Giuliani said if a Democrat is elected president in 2008, America will be at risk for another terrorist attack on the scale of Sept. 11, 2001.

But if a Republican is elected, he said, especially if it is him, terrorist attacks can be anticipated and stopped.

"If we are on defense [with a Democratic president], we will have more losses and it will go on longer."

"I listen a little to the Democrats and if one of them gets elected, we are going on defense," Giuliani continued. "We will wave the white flag on Iraq. We will cut back on the Patriot Act, electronic surveillance, interrogation and we will be back to our pre-Sept. 11 attitude of defense."

He added: "The Democrats do not understand the full nature and scope of the terrorist war against us."

Giuliani said terrorists "hate us and not because of anything bad we have done; it has nothing to do with Israel and Palestine. They hate us for the freedoms we have and the freedoms we want to share with the world."

Last week Scott Freeman tagged me as a "thinking blogger". It's now my turn to tag 5 blogs that make me think. Several of my favorites have already been tagged (Freeman, Elrod, GKB, etc)

Scott Adams - Dilbert Blog I get a kick out of Adams' cartoons but somehow I was surprised by how engaging his blog was.

Fred Peatross - Abductive Columns it's all about the missional.

Phil Wilson's Blog - nice variety of topics...from Heroes/BSG to faith to kids, etc...lots I have in common with...plus we must have been at Lipscomb at the same time cause I recognize his mug

James Wiser - Books, Beaches, & Blather James ain't the most prolific of bloggers, but he's always got something interesting to say. He's the one that first got me hooked on the COC blogging community when my mother-in-law sent me a link. From there it was GKB, TS, Freeman, Elrod, and so on. The other thing IIve enjoyed from the COC blogs is the glimpses of life at Pepperdine, Harding, ACU...where are the Lipscomb bloggers?

Justin Mundie - Growing Up I first met Justin in the comments on Freeman's blog. My first impression there was that he was a bit over the top. I enjoy his blog and his perspectives and the fact that we often disagree.