Where are the Isotopes I Ordered?

State of the Galaxy Quest

2010-01-28T05:14:00.000-08:00

Not even the Thermian's of the Klaatu Nebula would be fooled by President B+'s "Historical documents" of the Union address.

The Mirror of Men's Eyes

2010-01-26T04:52:00.000-08:00

Narcissus was so handsome that many women and men fell in love with him. He rejected all of them. One of his admirers was the nymph Echo, who had been cursed by Hera* to repeat only the last words spoken to her. Ameinias, another admirer, was so devastated by Narcissus's indifference toward him that he killed himself. Before doing so, however, Ameinias called on the gods to punish Narcissus. They caused the beautiful youth to gaze into a pond at his reflection. He fell in love with his own image and drowned trying to touch it. In other accounts of the story, Narcissus killed himself out of sorrow and frustration. The gods then changed him into the flower that bears his name

Blinded by Snakes

2010-01-11T05:00:00.000-08:00

Commentary says : " Maureen Dowd is a woman scorned, it seems. Candidate Dreamy has become Captain Obvious. She hisses: “We must do better,” Captain Obvious said Thursday at the White House, “in keeping dangerous people off airplanes while still facilitating air travel.”..“Rather than a failure to collect or share intelligence,” President Obama said, “this was a failure to connect and understand the intelligence that we already had.” Wow. That makes me feel that all those billions spent on upgrading the intelligence system were well spent.

And this, (also from Commentary), " Not even the grande dame of the Gray Lady can avoid the conclusion that Obama hasn’t panned out. The fellow whom she and the entire liberal media swooned over during the campaign and those very qualities the Left punditocracy touted as praiseworthy (e.g., intellecutalism, emotional reserve) have proven ill-suited to the job. Obama is neither leading nor seeming to understand state craft.

How could they have gotten it so wrong? Well, they were plainly in love with the “historic” opportunity to elect an African American. And they saw in Obama one of them — elite educated, scornful of gun clinging and Bible thumping Americans, contemptuous of American exceptionalism, skeptical of “hard power,” and infatuated with the public sector. It turns out that this was a recipe for disaster when it comes the the presidency", may explain why the Sacred Grove of the Press is so slow to say, "Uh Oh."

If he is "one of them", then they are incompetent and snow blind as well.

Citizen 'Jury Nillifications'

2010-01-09T06:47:00.000-08:00

Frontpage talks with Ralph Peters:

FP: Your perspective on how the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are going? What strategies that are in effect are wrong? What strategies would be more effective?

Peters: Strategy? We still don’t have a strategy for Afghanistan-Pakistan. We just have a collection of disjointed techniques we’re desperately trying to apply, hoping something, anything, will work. A troop surge is a tool, not a strategy. And you can’t nation-build where there’s no nation to build. I’m disheartened. American soldiers and Marines are dying and being maimed for fairy-tale counterinsurgency strategies that insist that digging wells for illiterate Afghans will deter al Qaeda’s Arab fanatics from killing Americans. The only wise and effective thing we’re doing is applying UAVs (drones) and our special operations forces to the indispensable task of killing terrorists.

I’ve never been threatened by a dead terrorist. And when a terrorist believes he’s on a mission from his god to kill you, killing him is the only plausible response.

As I’ve written recently, what little analysis of the Afghan problem we do obsesses on our continuing failures. But the real question, which we refuse to ask, is “Why are the Taliban successful?” And, of course, we go on pretending that Islam has nothing to do with anything. Political correctness is killing our troops, defeating us, and facilitating terror around the world.

FP: Potential threats in 2010? Where have we taken our eye off the ball?

Peters: Good Lord, where do you start? The usual suspects will still be with us: Iran, al Qaeda, Chinese subversion of our economy (brought to you by WalMart, among others, thanks), piracy, Hugo Chavez’s apparent determination to precipitate a border war with Colombia, the Kirchner regime’s attempt to hobble democracy in Argentina, Islamist aggression in Nigeria (which is intensifying again), and, above all, Mexico–where the narco-insurgency constitutes the real number-one threat to the welfare of our citizen. It bewilders me that we’re obsessed with “saving” Afghanistan, a worthless piece of dirt in the middle of nowhere, when the crucial struggle is right on (and crossing) our southern border. Mexico is the most important country in the world to us–for better and worse–and we treat it as problem number 47.

Where have we taken our eye off the ball? Please, tell me where the Obama administration has an eye on any foreign-policy or security balls. This ultra-left administration isn’t concerned with security (except to the extent that it impacts on politics), but with a hard-left, destructive and divisive vision of “social justice.” Which means, of course, punish productive citizens to reward the Lumpenproletariat. We’re a greater threat to ourselves, in the long run, than al-Qaeda is to us.

Some questions- if the Detroit bomber is just a criminal, what did he expect to gain from his crime, free airline miles? Better food?

Presently, ordinary citizens are constrained from shooting, torching, tarring & feathering, spray painting etc. at the enemies within because the police rightly must pursue such acts as crimes. When, how or what will create the equivalent conditions where they behave lie the jury who refuses to convict? When the police say, "Well, as far as we're concerned, he just slipped on a bar of soap"?

Janus with 10000 Teleprompters

2010-01-09T06:07:00.000-08:00

The Buck Stops buckshot target: “I am less interested in passing out blame than I am in learning from and correcting these mistakes to make us safer. For ultimately, the buck stops with me. … When the system fails, it is my responsibility.”

He is, of course, just reading what's there. It has no inscription on his heart, and cannot be believed. He does these sorts of things as theater and nothing else.

He is Janus with 10000 teleprompters.

Islam, The Religion of Showgirls

2010-01-08T05:34:00.000-08:00

At the Strategy Page we read :

"As Pakistani security forces take over more Taliban facilities in South Waziristan, they are horrified to find religious schools that specialize in convincing poor, rural teenagers to be suicide bombers. It only works on a few percent of the students, which is why there were so many of these schools. Captured suicide bombers in Afghanistan had freely discussed these schools, but this is the first time Pakistani officials have been able to examine them closely. The Taliban have developed a curriculum that combines religion and Islamic radical preaching, and the promise of sex and luxury living, to produce suicide bombers. Lurid details of all this are being widely reported in the media, fueling even more enthusiasm for continued efforts against the Taliban. In the last three months, Taliban terror attacks have killed over 600 people, most of them ordinary civilians."

This phony paradise should be ridiculed from the highest rooftops and mastheads. And it should further be pointed out that there are entire cities in America where sex and luxury living can be had among the living, and one doesn't need to self immolate to get it. Las Vegas comes to mind. On the one hand, the Taliban want to destroy the immoralities of the west, and on the other are promising Las Vegas and Mardi Gras if you'll just put on this colored vest and push this button. "And 66 more, just like these!",

'The Religion of Showgirls'

Ridicule, scorn, and more scorn and ridicule.

Gibbs: sputum exsplendia abotliar Obamicus

2010-01-07T05:20:00.000-08:00

Via Byron York and the Washington Examiner this exchange of 'brilligs' and 'slithery tove' between Gibbs and Questioner:

Later in that same briefing, a reporter raised the C-Span issue again:

QUESTION: Okay, just lastly, why can't you answer the C-Span question --

GIBBS: I did.

QUESTION: You didn't, because you said --

GIBBS: I said I hadn't seen the letter, which I haven't --

QUESTION: do you need to see a letter? I mean, this is something the President said during the campaign and he talked about he wants everything open on C-SPAN --

GIBBS: Dan asked me about the letter and I haven't read the letter.

QUESTION: Well, I'll just ask you about having it on C-Span --

GIBBS: I answered Dan's question and I answered this before we left for the break, Keith. The President's number-one priority is getting the differences worked out, getting a bill to the House and the Senate…

QUESTION: There are a lot of reasons not to do it on C-Span -- people could showboat. Does he regret making that statement during the campaign?

GIBBS: No.

Fast forward to Wednesday's briefing. Another question from another reporter:

NO. Let's fast forward backwards to what should have happened:

INQUISITIONER: Gibby, the Pres. promised eight times to put everrything on CSPAN. He hasn't done it yet. (And stop right there. No more question. And wait)

GIBBS: Mrplxs. biffgs pfoe fflopa zs.e !

INQUISITIONER: He hasn't done it yet.

D.C. al perpetua. It is pointless to use this forum as if it were a question and answer show and tell. It is not. If someone would just stand there and repeat, "He hasn't yet, he hasn't yet, he hasn't yet", the intransigence of the exchange would be the 'news', as it should be. And then the facts would become visible, like a drug side effect.

Pres. B+, Obiama clearliar Chicagous

2010-01-07T04:42:00.000-08:00

This video shows eight straight "I will do this...you will see this....we will be seen....this will be there for all to see....you will see this clearly....as I said before, we will be clearly seen....everything will be here to see..."

Therefore we ask, if the truth of anything Pres. B+ says depends on the number of times he says it, what is that number? We know it is greater than eight. His most favorite word..."I".

I suggest that whenever one sees or hears Mr. B+ say the word "I", it be heard or seen as if watching a Chinese martial arts movie. The subtitles read "I". In the literal translation, the phrase is, "I am a liar."

If Pres. B+ tells the truth in a forest, and no one is there to no report it, or deny he did, or did not say it, is he still lying?

Gitmo Prisoners in Illinois

2010-01-07T04:28:00.001-08:00

A short argument for moving the terrorists to Illinois.

They will be easier to shoot off the top of the walls.

Screwed up Boneheadedness

2010-01-06T16:45:00.000-08:00

The failure to snatch the crotch bomber before combustion is a "screw up" says Pres. B+

His buying a sliver of land, his own Gadsen purchase from Sir Rezco a "Boneheaded mistake".

What will he call if someone dies?

And who will be try to blame then?

We are on our own until 2010. Hopefully enough Dhims can be swept from the field to outflank Pres. B+.

We must pray the country is not overtaken by events.

Pres. Alien Insect Overlord...and VP B+

2010-01-05T05:11:00.000-08:00

(thinking) "mmm...the only guy whose brain we don't have to eat."

Downing Street Back at Ya!

2010-01-05T04:59:00.000-08:00

Return the bust of Churchill to the British, give the PM a set of movies he cannot play and in return, receive this lovely parting gift:

MI5 told US about Detroit bomber's terror links 'a year ago'

Britain told American intelligence agents more than a year ago that the Detroit bomber had links to extremists, according to Downing Street.

As with all and any newspaper articles, to spot and avoid the speculative "this could have" and the " some say, but others disagree" we're reporters, and have two wrong opinions in our story 'fairness disclaimer and the passive voice wet manure landmines "last week it was found that"...read the article from bottom to top.

Words' Evasions

2010-01-04T05:17:00.000-08:00

Pres. B+ quoted his inaugural address. "On that day," he said, "I made it very clear our nation is at war against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred, and that we will do whatever it takes to defeat them. . . . And make no mistake, that's exactly what we've been doing."

This is just more adulterated bullshit from the B+ in chief who, it seems to me, believes words are actions. And subsequently he uses them as proxies for real actions. "We have previously addressed our position on flatted tires, and it's time for the partisan Pirelli attacks to cease." Gag me.

Others, (Powerline et. al.) have noted the B+ in chief took four days to reply to the Christmas attack, but only four hours to whine at Dick Cheney's calling him out. These evasions are very very lethal to liberty. The man cannot speak plainly and it is obvious he simply does not have it in himself to do so. In this respect I am reminded of someone I know who believes that all the miracles of the Lord Jesus Christ, and of all the Communion of Saints are pathologies. He has built for himself a very convenient reason to dismiss all things supernatural. Mr. B+ has built the same with words, excusing him from the need to have, and act, with true courage. The occasional spit suffices.

Unfairly B plussed

2010-01-03T06:16:00.000-08:00

We read, via Redstate.org, at Newsweek.com, regarding the death of CIA agents in Afghanistan this, " Presidential aides are concerned that Obama will somehow be unfairly accused of dropping the ball on the fight against terrorist in Yemen"

Is this 'concern' at the top of the list?

Or is it the only item on the list?

We think the latter.

TSA "Systems so perfect..."

2009-12-30T05:41:00.000-08:00

"Why should men love the Church? Why should they love her laws?
She tells them of Life and Death, and of all that they would forget.
She is tender where they would be hard and hard where they like to be soft.
She tells them of Evil and Sin, and other unpleasant facts.
They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
By dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good."(Choruses from The Rock, VI, T.S. Eliot

"Now, the more comprehensive, formal reviews and recommendations for improvement will be completed in the coming weeks, and I'm committed to working with Congress and our intelligence, law enforcement and homeland security communities to take all necessary steps to protect the country. -President B+,

"...dreaming of systems so perfect, that no one will need to be good".

Some will still choose to be evil. And if, as I believe, we are on our own, then the response of the common man will, in the absence of specific, actionable intelligence, be blunt. When some of their citizens were murdered in Iraq, Tibetans struck back at their Jihad local with safety matches.

"In Defiance of Every Hazard"

2009-12-30T04:30:00.000-08:00

As is apparent from the weasel words from President Solid B+ and Sec-try Incompetano, Americans are on their own in this fight against the underwear bombers. Layers upon layers of defenses against nail clippers and paper cuts, decreeing that children must sit at their desks, hands properly folded, seat backs upright will avail nothing. We are under assault by an evil ideology. We can see it clearly. Mr. Solid B+ cannot. Why?

He does not want to (admit there is a Something Greater than his massive self). As with alcoholism, he may need to hit rock bottom to finally see. Maybe not even then. (In his book, Radical Son, David Horowitz asks his therapist if people ever change. The therapist replies "Only when they get in enough pain, and sometimes not even then." In the popular culture visualize Alec Guiness' almost last words in Bridge on the River Kwai, "Oh my God. What have I done?") He leads an entire political movement which does not want to see. Therefore, until what I hope is the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot of November 2010, we are on our own.

Thank God we have guns. "In our own native land, in defense of the freedom that is our birthright, and which we ever enjoyed till the late violation of it...we have taken up arms. We shall lay them down when hostilities shall cease on the part of the aggressors, and all danger of their being renewed shall be removed, and not before."

Note the "Thank God" part there. "Got God"? A few sentences prior in the quote above the Founders wrote "With hearts fortified with these animating reflections, we most solemnly, before God and the world, declare, that ,exerting the utmost energy of those powers, which our beneficent Creator hath graciously bestowed upon us, the arms we have been compelled by our enemies to to assume, we will, in defiance of every hazard..."

Sitting with tray tables up, seat backs in their upright and locked position, laptops put away, not getting up in the last hour of the flight, and working, via Mr. B+, "even harder, to be even more innovative and relentless " is not "...unabating firmness and perseverance, employ(-ed) for the preservation of our liberties: being with one mind resolved to die freemen rather than live slaves."

In what text or place he said this, though speaking of Communism, this quote from Archbishop Fulton Sheen is germane:

"The world is rapidly being divided into two camps, the comradeship of anti-Christ and the brotherhood of Christ. The lines between these two are being drawn. How long the battle will be we know not; whether swords will have to be unsheathed we know not; whether blood will have to be shed we know not; whether it will be an armed conflict we know not. But in a conflict between truth and darkness, truth cannot lose."

Obama's Epitaph

2009-12-30T04:01:00.000-08:00

His "few remarks" about the attack, bilge.

His epitaph, "I was effective".

Bomber Stopped by the Militia

2009-12-29T16:55:00.000-08:00

Since the system did not work, and only the failure of the explosives to explode, and a brave Dutchman putting a choke hold on the 'ptak!' stopped him, I ask...

In the same way that the authorities responsible did not stop the attack on the plane, and the office they failed to uphold was honorably filled by a volunteer, what events will lead the other citizens to step in when elected officials similarly fail to uphold the duties of their offices?

Searching Everyone

2009-12-29T16:51:00.000-08:00

Of course Janet Incompetano has now said 'Oops, the system did not work'.

If 'the system' means the strategy... no, tactic, of searching everyone, I ask a question

Can we determine, without searching, who does not need to be searched?

One if by land, two if by Interpol

2009-12-23T07:09:00.000-08:00

This is very, very bad. http://threatswatch.org/analysis/2009/12/wither-sovereignty/

The Boy President amends President Regan's executive order to grant to Interpol, among other things, immunity from searches conducted on American soil.

I see this as a wedge into local police departments. For what armed citizens behind their door, knowing local police and Interpol are attempting a breach of his castle would cease to return fire? What has one to lose when it comes to Liberty or Death?

Email to Congress Weasels,

2009-12-23T06:59:00.000-08:00

Hello. I believe it is entirely hopeless to try to convince changing the mind of anyone to whom, when I sent a letter opposing a particular position in the past, in response I received one thanking me for my support. So I will suggest you read the document of July 6, 1775, "A Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms" and realize you are King George III's contemporary proxy, and this current 'health care (sic.) abomination has its corollary in The Intolerable Act. Your cohort Amy K's CPSIA act is the unrepealed stamp act. Congress's outlawing of incandescent light bulbs perhaps article 14, (of 65) articles of the Stamp Act. And please keep telling yourself that letters such as these from constituents, because so wildly out of joint with their recipient's received knowledge, may simply be dismissed. but recall the words of Captain John Parker, of Lexington in, (I believe) 1775, "Stand your ground. Don't fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it start here."

Please do not using your superior coping skills and supercilious down- the-nose caring skills to, by any means extrapolate from my references any particular or specific threats to your personal safety or that of your family dog. I merely point out history which, as you remain an American, ought to give you pause regarding the actions you are so foolishly taking.

An Email to My(sic.) senator

2009-12-21T14:52:00.000-08:00

“If our own failures are to be justified because of the shortcomings of others, there is no hope for virtue. "

Well , it appears you have gone and done it.

The Stamp Act. On February 6th, 1765 George Grenville rose in Parliament to offer the fifty-five resolutions of his Stamp Bill. A motion was offered to first read petitions from the Virginia colony and others was denied. The bill was passed on February 17, approved by the Lords on March 8th, and two weeks later ordered in effect by the King. The Stamp Act was Parliament's first serious attempt to assert governmental authority over the colonies.

Note two things, 1) how quickly the Act was "ordered in effect" and 2) the motion to read petitions denied. Here is one of the articles, " For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any special bail, and appearance upon such bail in any such court, a stamp duty of two shillings."

There were sixty three others just like it. (If you remember when Franklin was a boy, he purchased several loaves of bread in Boston, six loaves I believe, for one penny. Do you know how many loaves of bread are in a shilling? You should. As you should know how many gallons of gasoline or cubic feet of propane are in an $8000 fine for non-participation in your assault on Washington Heights.)

Also in March of 1765, The Quartering Act was passed. " during the continuance of the said act, there may be occasion for marching and quartering of regiments and companies of his Majesty's forces in several parts of his Majesty's dominions in America: and whereas the publick houses and barracks, in his Majesty's dominions in America, may not be sufficient to supply quarters for such forces: " etc. etc. Today the EPA requires quartering of certain ligh tbulbs, the ATF certain pieces of paper, etc. etc.

(Here is one you will like, as you imagine yourselves to be kings.) The Declaratory Act. In full: AN ACT for the better securing the dependency of his Majesty's dominions in America upon the crown and parliament of Great Britain.

WHEREAS several of the houses of representatives in his Majesty's colonies and plantations in America, have of late, against law, claimed to themselves, or to the general assemblies of the same, the sole and exclusive right of imposing duties and taxes upon his Majesty's subjects in the said colonies and plantations; and have, in pursuance of such claim, passed certain votes, resolutions, and orders, derogatory to the legislative authority of parliament, and inconsistent with the dependency of the said colonies and plantations upon the crown of Great Britain: ... be it declared ...,

That the said colonies and plantations in America have been, are, and of right ought to be. subordinate unto, and dependent upon the imperial crown and parliament of Great Britain; and that the King's majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons of Great Britain, in parliament assembled, had, hash, and of right ought to have, full power and authority to make laws and statutes of sufficient force and validity to bind the colonies and people of America, subjects of the crown of Great Britain, in all cases whatsoever.

II. And be it further declared ..., That all resolutions, votes, orders, and proceedings, in any of the said colonies or plantations, whereby the power and authority of the parliament of Great Britain, to make laws and statutes as aforesaid, is denied, or drawn into question, are, and are hereby declared to be, utterly null and void to all intents and purposes whatsoever."

Note that last part again, "...all resolutions...in any of the said colonies...whereby the power and authority of the parliament of Great Britain...is denied...are hereby declared...null and void..." (One suspects from the memory of this act came the Tenth Amendment, to wit: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.)

The Townsend Revenue Act, June 1867. Taxes on glass, paint, oil, lead, paper, and tea were applied with the design of raising £40,000 a year for the administration of the colonies. The result was the resurrection of colonial hostilities created by the Stamp Act.

Reaction assumed revolutionary proportions in Boston, in the summer of 1768, when customs officials impounded a sloop owned by John Hancock, for violations of the trade regulations. Crowds mobbed the customs office, forcing the officials to retire to a British Warship in the Harbor. Troops from England and Nova Scotia marched in to occupy Boston on October 1, 1768. Bostonians offered no resistance. Rather they changed their tactics. They established non-importation agreements that quickly spread throughout the colonies. British trade soon dried up and the powerful merchants of Britain once again interceded on behalf of the colonies.

We are aware that your Utopian health bill has its own Townsend taxes on medical devices. (Do you know that the House version classifies tampons and toothbrushes as 'medical devices'? If not, why not? We especially like the part above, "Crowds mobbed the customs office..." We note with amusement that your boss met with her constituents over the phone, and, reportedly the number of questions approved and taken approached an even dozen.) Also, from the Act, " ..it is lawful for any officer of his Majesty's customs, authorized by writ of assistance under the seal of his Majesty's court of exchequer, to take a constable, headborough, or other public officer inhabiting near unto the place, and in the daytime to enter and go into any house, shop cellar, warehouse, or room or other place and, in case of resistance, to break open doors, chests, trunks, and other pakage there, to seize, and from thence to bring, any kind of goods or merchandise whatsoever prohibited or uncustomed, " Think about that last part, because you yourselves are now no longer descendants of those being broken into but the breakers in.

The previous was followed by the Intolerable Acts, which has five parts, The Boston Port Act, The Administration of Justice Act, The Massachusetts Governing Act, The Quartering Act and The Quebec Act. The Boston Port Act embargoed the Port of Boston, ("but if you like your own health care plan, you can keep it"). The Administration of Justice act denied local authorities jurisdiction over those enforcing any of the King's acts, and "allowed ACORN to investigate itself and find itself blameless of any corruption". The Massachusetts Government acts allowed the State of New Jersey to no longer abide by its own constitution and select for Senatorial office whomever they wished, ..oh, and disallowed the colonists the authority to elect their own councilors. The Quartering Act expanded on the same of 1765, except it allowed for the commandeering of any building whatsoever if none were offered after 24 hours, and "allowed armed ATF agents to burst into people's houses, shoot and burn to death ordinary citizens, and suffer no consequences whether such persons were innocent or not".

All these offences were followed by The Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress, which the King and Parliament ignored "because the Republicans are just the party of no, says the Prophet of Nevada and the Medusa of San Francisco".

We have arrived at October of 1774. Let us skip ahead to July of 1775 and note the little document, 'Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking up Arms:" a statement authored jointly by Thomas Jefferson and John Dickinson.

Again the obligatory professions of loyalty to the king were made, but this document contained a thinly veiled threat that if matters were not made right, then independence was the likely consequence:

Lest this declaration should disquiet the minds of our friends and fellow-subjects in any part of the empire, we assure them that we mean not to dissolve that union which has so long and so happily subsisted between us, and which we sincerely wish to see restored. — Necessity has not yet driven us into that desperate measure, or induced us to excite any other nation to war against them. — We have not raised armies with ambitious designs of separating from Great-Britain, and establishing independent states. We fight not for glory or for conquest. We exhibit to mankind the remarkable spectacle of a people attacked by unprovoked enemies, without any imputation or even suspicion of offence. They boast of their privileges and civilization, and yet proffer no milder conditions than servitude or death.

Lest this email should disquiet the minds of those of you reading it and those to whom I expect it to be passed on, we assure them that we mean not to proffer a Declaration for Taking up Arms, but to point out our mutual history, and not that necessity has not "yet driven us to that desperate measure", but repeat our earlier statement, that you have forgotten your predecessors and redressed yourselves, in the name of Government charity, in a cloak of tyranny. Can you not take a serious look at your, our own History and just leave us alone?

"Wise Latina Woman"

2009-05-29T11:20:00.001-07:00

Since December 12, 1531.

"You Can't See Me. I've got my eyes closed."

2009-04-02T06:18:00.000-07:00

Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., speaks at the McConnell Center in Dover, N.H. "I can make a firm pledge," he said there; "Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes."

" The fort is betrayed even of them that should have defended it. " -St. John Fisher

Target Practice: 2 rounds center mass.

2009-03-30T09:21:00.000-07:00

Swell, the "US government is now standing behind" my GM warranty.

If that's the case, I will be using my warranty for target practice.

Remember the second rule, "Be sure of your target and what is behind it."

Putting Money in people's pockets

2009-02-10T05:57:00.000-08:00

If the "One" wants to put money in people's pockets, he should take his hand out of those pockets.

How We'll Know The Stimulus is Working

2009-02-10T05:44:00.000-08:00

We'll know the stimulus is working when more newspapers are failing...

We'll know the stimulus is working when someone asks "The One" how $4billion for ACORN creates "jobs".

Slavery & Abortion

2008-10-14T17:18:00.000-07:00

The great evil of abortion will someday be viewed like slavery is viewed now; there will be a lot of ‘what were they thinking?”. A commentor at Right Wing Nuthouse writing “Call me a baby-killer, but I want my children to have a choice” will sound as odious as despicable as arguments made for slavery sound to us.

Here’s an excerpt from William Harper’s ‘Memoir for Slavery’, read before the Society for the Advancement of Learning, in SC, in 1837. ” We believe that the tendency of Slavery is to elevate the character of the master. No doubt the character — especially of youth — has sometimes received a taint and premature knowledge of vice, from the contact and association with ignorant and servile beings of gross manners and morals. Yet still we believe that the entire tendency is to inspire disgust and aversion towards their peculiar vices. It was not without a knowledge of nature, that the Spartans exhibited the vices of slaves by way of negative example to their children. We flatter ourselves that the view of this degradation, mitigated as it is, has the eflect of making probity more strict, the pride of character more high, the sense of honor more strong, than is commonly found where this institution does not exist. Whatever may be the prevailing faults or vices of the masters of slaves, they have not commonly been understood to be those of dishonesty, cowardice, meanness or falsehood. And so most unquestionably it ought to be. Our institutions would indeed be intolerable in the sight of God and man, if, condemning one portion of society to hopeless ignorance and comparative degradation, they should make no atonement by elevating the other class by higher virtues, and more liberal attainments."

Bringing the 'good' of choice to his children by reducing the competition from siblings...?

And here are the absolutist abortion words from Obama, from the Illinois Senate, in March of 2001, courtesy of Rick Warren's forum, and linked here at Crosswalk.com"

"Number one, whenever we define a previable fetus as a person that is protected by the equal protection clause or the other elements in the Constitution, what we're really saying is, in fact, that they are persons that are entitled to the kinds of protections that would be provided to a—a child, a nine-month-old—child that was delivered to term. That determination then, essentially, if it was accepted by a court, would forbid abortions to take place. I mean, it—it would essentially bar abortions, because the equal protection clause does not allow somebody to kill a child, and if this is a child, then this would be an antiabortion statute."

Let us do evil, that Good come? " Our institutions would indeed be intolerable in the sight of God and man, if, condemning one portion of society to hopeless ignorance and comparative degradation, they should make no atonement by elevating the other class by higher virtues, and more liberal attainments.”

The Ref is Betting on the Game

2008-10-02T06:15:00.000-07:00

Why watch the Veep 'question and answer pop quiz' ? It's as if Gwen Ifill were an NFL ref who is betting on the game. Why watch a game when you know the ref is betting on the other team? It would be like watching a recording of a game from last week, hoping the outcome will change.

"About," said they "What Meant, but..."

2008-09-26T05:23:00.000-07:00

Who, when asked what they meant by saying, "...Palin is an 'extremely conservative woman who is out of touch with mainstream America.", would answer, "If Sarah Palin isn't enough of a reason for you to get over whatever your problem is with Barack Obama, then you damn well had better pay attention,' ... 'Anybody toting guns and stripping moose don't care too much about what they do with Jews and blacks. So, you just think this through.'

But, Hastings, who is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, made his comments in Washington, D.C., while participating in a panel discussion sponsored by the National Jewish Democratic Council, would have us believe it the other way around...ass backwards, rather than ass forward.

Above No One's Paygrade

2008-08-18T03:46:00.000-07:00

Obama: “. . . whether you’re looking at it from a theological perspective or a scientific perspective, answering that question with specificity . . . is above my pay grade.”

Making the moral judgement that killing the unborn in the womb is wrong is not above anyone's paygrade.

It's What for Dinner?

2008-08-03T05:11:00.000-07:00

If you read this in a restaurant's menu...

"If it is part of an overarching package, then I am not going to be rigid in preventing an energy package that goes forward that is really thoughtful and is going to really solve the problem."

...would you order it for dinner?

"This arrugala is part of an overarching package that is not rigid in preventing an energy package working its way forward down the intestional track record by means of an intermittent epiglottal-windpipe bypass assisted by alimentary canal flucuations..."

Would you eat it, if it was free?

They's a Weevil in it, 'gin.

2008-08-02T04:51:00.000-07:00

These guys had it tough. Did they whine like his Inflated-ness whines? The Obama "plan" has a weevil in it.

BARACK OBAMA’S EMERGENCY ECONOMIC PLAN

TAKE THE EXCESS PROFITS OF OIL COMPANIES TO HELP WORKING
FAMILIES DEAL WITH ENERGY COSTS WITH NEW $1,000 REBATE CHECKS
AND ENACT A $50 BILLION PACKAGE TO SAVE 1 MILLION JOBS

Where whoever really wrote Obama's "plan", (vomit-scare quotes intentional), where it says "TAKE", read "STEAL". And Mr., Mrs., or Miss whomsoever, who appointed you the seizer of profits, excess, minimum, mazimum,positive, negative or any other '-tive'? More drivel in paragraph one:

Barack Obama recognizes that for tens of millions of hardworking American families the economic winds have become a perfect storm: Seven straight months of job loss, gas above $4.00 a gallon, falling wages and home values, and foreclosures mounting. Barack Obama believes that America cannot afford to continue the reactive, too-little-too-late approach that the Bush Administration has taken to our immediate economic challenges – an approach that John McCain is committed to continue. Barack Obama understands that we must move aggressively to provide immediate help to America’s working families and turn our economy around, as well as move to enact a long-term plan to foster shared, bottom-up growth. The roots of our current economic problems lie in our failure to tackle long term challenges: energy policy, skyrocketing health costs, education, oversight of financial institutions, and the abandonment of fiscal discipline. Obama has proposed bold initiatives to address these long-run structural problems. But beyond those steps, the economy cannot wait – the risks of insufficient action are mounting by the day as economic uncertainty grows.

For His Inflated-ness, the glass isn't even half full, but about 1% full, of swirling bilge water filled where weevils are practicing their backstrokes! And all that needs to be done to bring about the "Golden Age of The Most High Inflated-ness" is vote him in. Oh Glory Hallalujah!! There is no point trying to refute any of this made-up factual roadkill. These people string little phrases together like a mixed-grill Waldorf salad, except where that recipe reads apples, raisins and walnuts, they used beach sand, carp tongue, scallop milt, and thistle drift with a dressing of alum, sour milk and burning tires. You don't have to swallow any of it to know how it tastes. Just stay upwind.

His "plan" is just handouts. National welfare. Dole for All. $$$$ from the "Can do's" to "Help me Obie Wan Brak-bama! You're my last HOPE..." Handouts for votes. Why do we never hear of "plans" to sieze "profits" from Hollywood actors and film producers? Professional atheletes? Various non-profit foundations? "Seize the profits of the Non-profits!!!" Hitler did pretty well after Kristalnacht "seizing" the profits of Jewish businessmen and bankers. Here's real employment data for 2008. Deep water. Lots of it. Filled with tasty fish.

Barak's Campaign-" There is a little weevil in it"

2008-08-01T04:51:00.000-07:00

"...Us deciding that we’re going to come together to bring about real change in America.."

"..doesn’t look like all the presidents on the dollar bills and the five dollar bills ."

Will "we're going to come together" replace Benjamin Franklin on the hundred with Ben Hogan on the 17th? Or Benjamin Kubelsky, on his 39th?

Shall "we're going to come together" replace Alexander Hamilton on the tenner with Alexander Graham Bell on hold? Alexander the Great changing the saddle on Bucephalus?

How 'bout "we're going to come together" and replacing U.S. Grant on the $50 with Grant's Tomb? Or replace the fifty entirely with graphic novels copies of James Joyce Ulysses?

Maybe if "we're going to come together" could get it together enough, FDR could be moved to the one cent piece, and a two cent coin struck for Lincoln. Rename the dime the "Brother can you spare a" and engrave thereon the image of a grandmotherly "...typical white person" and "Rich!! White!!! People!!!!!" groveling perpetually in obesiance to Jim on the raft, Pocahontas, Sacajewea, and Harriet Tubman as they land on the moon and emerge from the Eagle.

"There's a little weevil in it". Hint, Sojourner Truth won't make the cut of "we're goin' to come tah-gether"

His Inflated-ness Repulses

2008-08-01T04:23:00.000-07:00

This is all over the net, here, from Political Punch:

"John McCain right now, he's spending an awful lot of time talking about me," Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., said today in Rolla, Mo. "You notice that? I haven’t seen an ad yet where he talks about what he’s gonna do. And the reason is because those folks know they don’t have any good answers, they know they’ve had their turn over the last eight years and made a mess of things. They know that you’re not real happy with them."
Obama continued: "And so the only way they figure they’re going to win this election is if they make you scared of me. So what they’re saying is, ‘Well, we know we’re not very good but you can’t risk electing Obama. You know, he’s new, he’s... doesn’t look like the other presidents on the currency, you know, he’s got a, he’s got a funny name.'
"I mean, that’s basically the argument -- he’s too risky," Obama said, per ABC News' Sunlen Miller. "But think about it, what’s the bigger risk? Us deciding that we’re going to come together to bring about real change in America or continuing to do same things with the same folks in the same ways that we know have not worked? I mean, are we really going to do the same stuff that we’ve been doing over the last eight years? ... That’s a risk we cannot afford. The stakes are too high."

Then in Union, Mo., this evening, Obama seemed to specifically accuse McCain and the GOP of peddling racism and xenophobia.
Obama said that "John McCain and the Republicans, they don’t have any new ideas, that’s why they’re spending all their time talking about me. I mean, you haven’t heard a positive thing out of that campaign in ... in a month. All they do is try to run me down and you know, you know this in your own life. If somebody doesn’t have anything nice to say about anybody, that means they’ve got some problems of their own. So they know they’ve got no new ideas, they know they’re dredging up all the stale old stuff they’ve been peddling for the last eight, 10 years.
"But, since they don’t have any new ideas the only strategy they’ve got in this election is to try to scare you about me. They’re going to try to say that I’m a risky guy, they’re going to try to say, 'Well, you know, he’s got a funny name and he doesn’t look like all the presidents on the dollar bills and the five dollar bills and, and they’re going to send out nasty emails.

No one is talking more about His Inflated-ness than His Inflated-ness himself. No one looks like those other Presidents on those other dollars because no one wears powdered wigs any longer. None of the candidates for President have beards either. None of them will be the First President. None of them will preserve the Union. His Inflated-ness sprays all He sees with slime and sputum, and them complains of the stickiness. His Klingon relations, ("Barak, you Ptak!"), will be turning over in their archives.

Who Do Men Say That I Am?

2008-07-31T03:39:00.000-07:00

Messiah.

...then Peter was asked, "Who do you say I am?"

Not.

But The Over Inflated One answered his own question: "This is the moment . . . that the world is waiting for," adding: "I have become a symbol of the possibility of America returning to our best traditions."

Don't mix 'em up!

Why is There Air?

2008-07-31T03:22:00.000-07:00

His Inflated-Ness speaks:

"There are things you can do individually, though, to save energy. Making sure your tires are properly inflated — simple thing. But we could save all the oil that they’re talking about getting off drilling — if everybody was just inflating their tires? And getting regular tune-ups? You’d actually save just as much!"

His Inflated-ness has floated to the candidacy on inflated nothingnesses and words fully on empty, saving millions of gallons of meaning. Sergeant Schultz was only pretending to know nothing. His Inflated-ness is the real deal.

Barak Facts Obama

2008-07-30T03:58:00.000-07:00

The next time Obama goes 'facts finding' somewhere, remember it took him twenty years to learn the facts about a church he'd attended for twenty years.

Throngs for that Other Messiah

2008-07-27T06:28:00.000-07:00

Before the Candidate I will not name here was pontifi...slumming in Berlin, 150,000 people came from a bit further away than the nearest Berlin transit hub to say hello to an 80 year old man from Germany. And, a few days later, while the witless writhed in Berlin, 500,000 said goodbye. What doth it profit a false prophet and his camp followers and Scribes to make of themselves prating fools in Berlin, when the real deal was Present in Sydney?

Those 500,000 were not on their feet. They were on their knees. I know. I heard from witnesses.

credits: Pilgrims gather for World Youth Day opening mass at Barangaroo.Photo: Bob PearceSydney Morning Herald

Plane, Trains, Berliner Walls...

2008-07-26T07:21:00.000-07:00

For days I could sit there and listen to them go on and on with a big smile on my face. They'd say, "How can you stand it?" I'd say, "'Cause I've been with Del (Obama Hussein) Griffith. I can take ANYTHING." You know what they'd say? They'd say, "I know what you mean. The shower curtain ring guy. Woah." It's like going on a date with a Chatty Cathy doll. I expect you have a little string on your chest, you know, that I pull out and have to snap back. Except I wouldn't pull it out and snap it back - you would. Agh! Agh! Agh! Agh! And by the way, you know, when you're telling these little stories? Here's a good idea - have a POINT. It makes it SO much more interesting for the listener!

Obama Plays Berlin

2008-07-26T04:40:00.000-07:00

The Show in Berlin... maddening...visceral unpleasant mellifluous incoherance.

He has no thoughts of his own.

He sings while someone else writes.

Not profound. Not eloquent. Flickery shadows...grainy lights.

Obama in Berlin: "I Am the World"

2008-07-25T04:07:00.000-07:00

Greetings Earthlings! (Cheers and whistles!) I come to you today with the most profound humility....Perhaps the most profound humility ever...As sea levels begin their long descent to higher tidal levels of safeness....And amidst billowing, flowery concern for all peoples...those in the front of the pews, those in the back, and those who missed most of the sermons...I come to you today... Not as an American...Not a citizen of the World... Not just a member of the Solar System...but... as The Representative... of the Great, Expanding, Universe! (Whistles! Cheers! Bottle rockets! Ionizing particle cloud chambers!) This is our momentito! Our great minuto! La Grande momento accelerando desperado!!! People of the Earth, "I have returned, Rally to me!"

"I know that I don't look like the Americans who've previously spoken in this great city." Yo! Have you forgotten already? I'm not here as an American...or just as The Candidate for American President...Nor as a Chicagoan who never said anything I haven't already said I believed ...And said differently when asked about it later, like that guy in Momento. But a new guy! A different guy. A guy whose father grew up with goats. And that's why I'm here. And you are here for the same reason...the same yearning. To get away from the goats! (Whistles! Jeers!! Wheels of cheese!!!) The yearning to be free!! Free of concerns...free or cares about needless fears, and imaginary threats....After all, Germany... is just a tiny country....And let us not fail to remember...it was people of tiny countries , flying tiny planes... into real tall buildings...and into Berlin...that left "...much of this continent ... in ruin". So I repeat my wonderful self, Germany is no threat to us...And the earth is no threat to us...It is just a tiny country, nothing at all like the Soviet Union....Now the Zorg's, of Planet Bog. That is a threat endangering us all! (Spzrgk's! Zrip Gripg!! Plqzkels!!!)

As we look forward...to a time of change...a time of hope...and a time when it's inappropriate to visit soldiers during my visit to your tiny country, paid for by MY Campaign...Let us be clear about the past....
"The odds were stacked against success. ... a heavy fog filled the sky... in the darkest hours, the people of Berlin kept the flame of hope burning". In their stoves and fireplaces.. Their furnaces and boilers...Their power plants and their 55 gal drums... On the street corners, and in the alleys ...Using coal from America...Coal from the hills of Applachia...Coal from the mountains of West Virginia...(Sparklers! Smoke bombs!! Jelly donuts!!!)

"People of the world - look at Irving Berlin!" (Broadway ditties! Show tunes!! Dirty limmericks!!!) "History has led us to a new crossroad, with new promise and new peril..." And Star Wars, a New Hope.

Earthlings!! Insignificant little beings from tiny little countries!!! I am the one we have been waiting for me, and so are you!!! "That is why the greatest danger of all is to allow new walls to divide us from one another."

"Here, at the base of a column built to mark victory in war..." we see they have fallen before. Many times in places all over the world, the walls have been collapsed on "...the the Center of a Europe at peace." "That is why America cannot turn inward." Earthlings!! Groveling, partially sentient Schnitzel lovers and adorers of the solace of sophistry. Rally to me! This is the time, again. Once more again, this is the Moment! Again!! I am the World!!! (Whistles! Harmonicas!! Bagpipes!!! Pipe Organs!!!! Naked Fainting Frauleins!!!!! )

Hold on, hold on now...er..um...the task...uh...well, er...getting closer to ,,,,the.....,,,,momnets of,,,we....(sotto voce), "Turn the G- damn prompter back on Dumb Kraut Kremepffs!!!.

Yes!! Earthlings!!! This is the moment...This is the Time...This is The Day the Earth Stood Still!! (Cheers! Decoder rings!! Barak...Barata Nikto...I'm worried about Gort !!!)

"This is the moment..."...when one man arose...in a time for moments...unlike any other moments, in the entire universe of moments, a time, a film: "free and fair for all...we must forge trade ...call for a new dawn ...watch the further spread of the deadly atom...across this entire continent...leave our children a world where the oceans...marched and bled for democracy...to give our children...left behind in a globalized world...the carbon we send into our atmosphere... candy to grateful children...the blogger in Iran...and those who don't look like us ."

Earthlings! Tiny countries!! Worshippers of the Greatest Most Improbable Me!!! I Am the Universe!! (Meteors! Comets! ! Asteroids!!! The Great Magellanic Clouds!!! The Trifid Nebula Messier 20 in Sagittarius!!!! Supernova Messier 1!!!!!!!! "People of Berlin - and people of the world - the scale of our challenge is great. The road ahead will be long. But I come before you to say that we are heirs to a struggle for freedom. We are a people of improbable hope. Let us build on our common history, and seize our common destiny, and once again engage in that noble struggle to bring justice and peace to our world."

Barack Obama, a Democratic Senator from Illinois, (with 243 days experience in the Senate, and the ability to fool anyone with the sounds of his own voice, especially himself),is the presumptous(sic) Democratic presidential nominee

Why Obama must be careful...

2008-07-23T03:49:00.001-07:00

...visiting the Middle East.

We know what happened that last time a Messiah appeared in the Middle East.

IBD Editorail: He said what?~!

2008-07-23T03:21:00.000-07:00

At this Investor's Business Daily editorial we find a cache of Obama nonsense words:

"Obama, whose foreign policy consists of talking to our enemies while bombing our allies, told the assembled veterans at the VFW Convention in Kansas City last year, 'All our top military commanders recognize that there is no military solution in Iraq'."

Reflect on the monstrous nonsense of those words. He agrees with the unknown, unnamed "military commanders" because they confirm what he already thinks. Confirmation bias. In sixteen year old boys it sounds like this, "Hey, Mom, Bob Dylan writes song just like mine." (Either my twin or I once said something just like that. Neither of us were right.)

Next this.

"Obama was asked by ABC's Terry Moran recently: 'If you had to do it over again, knowing what you know now, would you support the surge?' Obama replied: 'No, because keep in mind that . . . .' An incredulous Moran asked, "You wouldn't?"

Obama continued: 'Keep in mind . . . these kinds of hypotheticals are very difficult. Hindsight is 20/20. But I think that, what I'm absolutely convinced of, is that at that time we had to change the political debate because the view of the Bush administration at that time was one that I just disagreed with.'

IBD: "Huh? Knowing we would win, he'd still oppose the surge and suffer defeat in Iraq just because he just didn't like George Bush?"

A couple more things. "These kinds of hypotheticals..." Name some other kinds of hypotheticals Barry! "At that time..." When and what exactly was "that time"? Vague, squishy, slippery, slimey and venomous, like a dangerous jelly-fish!

"I think that...At that time we...I disagreed". Is that "we" lurking there the "Royal We"? This is self centered, narcissistic, messianic megaglomaniacal, pompous, bloated self-regard. Gilderoy Lockhart on top and Iago cunning beneath. Of course he'd screw anyone, anytime, anywhere... just because.

The Top Masts Aflame

2008-07-22T03:27:00.000-07:00

...And may the NY Times burn to the waterline!

The NY Times refused to print John McCain's 700 words after publishing Obama's litty sea chanty on Iraq, saying, “It would be terrific to have an article from Senator McCain that mirrors Senator Obama’s piece. To that end, the article would have to articulate, in concrete terms, how Senator McCain defines victory in Iraq.”

How big of them. Read this quote from "editorial page poobah, David Shipley"-
"The Obama piece worked for me because it offered new information ... while Senator Obama discussed Senator McCain, he also went into detail about his own plans.”

This self referential "worked for me" is one of the great moral character flaws of contemporary times. Compare it with this famous quote. "It's easy to see that the problems of two little people don't mean a hill of beans in this crazy world." Or this one, "Who would be the master of all, let him first become the servant of all."

Look for it and you will see how self-referential the phony Messiah is.

Barak's Ptak: the Bomb Dropped on Pearl Harbor

2008-07-20T05:57:00.000-07:00

"The bomb that fell on Pearl Harbor" at Jeff Emanuel, Combat Journalist.

My comment: It's a very tiny bit of history; I'm not surprised His Lightness of Cerebella knows about it. What He presumed was its common knowledge throughout the hoi polloi. The uninformed and ignorant ought to accept as a compliment, His Lightness's belief that all Americans, left, right, center, sweet, sour, salty and bitter, the irreligious and the non-religious, the let goers and the Klingoners know who Pearl Harbor was. Your ignorance ought not incline you folks to predjudice. The Harbor Master at Pearl Harbor, one Sean Sweeney McGuinnis O'Flattery was very found of both his adopted country, (himself hailing from County Cork), the United States Navy, his second home, and, of all things, though not surprising, even though English, Jack Russell Terriers. His Jack Russell terrier,appropriately, was named after his duty station, "Pearl Harbor". "Pearl Harbor" hated the Japs with a fierceness the Bush-haters could only dream about at their nastiest, salivatingly-est, utmostness-est. "Pearl Harbor" took a bomb in the teeth saving the life of Mr. Sweeney McGuinnis O'Flattery. Curiously enough, Watanabe Kurishino Devlin, the Japanese pilot of the Zeke which dropped the Bomb on Pearl Harbor was a very distant cousin of Sweeney, his grandmother having been seduced, not unwillingly, by Mr. O'Flattery's step grandfather of the Shanghai merchant fleet at a stop in Yokohama in 1911. The story goes on, like Barak, somewhat interminably, with twists through Chinese hairpin makers, Korean dog breeders and obscure Christian churches in the Cook Islands. Though I know all this history well, His Obamaness will stop at nothing to relearn history to us too. Change we cannot not disbelieve in.

Bring out your Dead, Disassembled Junk

2008-07-19T06:15:00.000-07:00

In this interesting article, How a Young Lawyer Saved the Second Amendment, we re-read this about D.C.'s "I'm not dead yet!" gun law-"... a total ban on handguns, and a requirement that shotguns and rifles be kept disassembled or locked within the home." Any pile of scrap Spacely Sprockets in a box or clutter of Cogswell Cogs in a basket could are "disassembled handguns". Good for throwing too, out or at.
"Wait! Wait! Don't shoot! I've almost got it assembled".

"No you haven't".

"There, I've finished. Just loading now...".

"No you're not, you'll be stone dead in a moment.

What Other Brands of Thugs Tell Themselves

2008-07-19T05:32:00.001-07:00

And what happens to them. One of the beauties of science is its effort to find theories to explain observed events. When observed events, as observed by Mssr's. Galileo, Copernicus et. al., began to overtake the mythology of one long dead Egyptian, Herr Ptolemy, the earth and the sun exchanged positions in the solar system. There was much gnashing of teeth and pontificating by the Star Tribune editorial board : "Also in recovery mode is our larger community, shaken to its soul by this assault on its sense of safety and security." We wrote here, "To the extent they believe their black skin means they must dress, behave, and talk in a particular manner is their choice!" And now the consequences belong to them alone. Tough. (I have compassion for all those caught up in this not unusual mess of human nature, but tough. You pays your money, you takes your chances.)

These guys told themselves they were 'War Resisters'. Uh huh:

"An American army deserter who took refuge in Canada before returning to the U.S. voluntarily was given a dishonourable discharge yesterday and sentenced to nine months in jail, a close supporter said."

"One of those other resisters is 25-year-old Robin Long.
Long became the first American war resister deported from Canada Tuesday, and could also potentially face a court martial."

Felons now, not "resisters". And the sun still does not revolved around either resisters or the earth. What were you guys thinking?

Will the Real Obama Lockhart...

2008-07-19T05:14:00.000-07:00

After reading this at Instapundit, "The Gilderoy Lockhart of candidates?
UPDATE: Reader J.P. Hrutka emails: 'You may be more correct than you think. Gilderoy used memory erasing spells and liberals use the memory-hole/current-truth incantation. What is the difference, eh?' This would explain the website-airbrushing . . . . " I asked my fan-of-the-Harry Potter-books-we-hated-the-movies-wife, "Which Harry Potter character Obama is?" Instantly!! Faster even than a speeding Obama pirrouette around a moving bullet outpacing the racing locomotive from the front of which Einstein saw globs of light moving forward in pomposity and backwards in scrubbed policy positions she said, "Gilderoy Lockhart". Heh.

Obama:The Spark Plug Gap

2008-07-19T04:51:00.000-07:00

Here is Krauthammer's Audicity of Vanity and a quote:

" Every senator looks in the mirror and sees a president. Nonetheless, has there ever been a presidential nominee with a wider gap between his estimation of himself and the sum total of his lifetime achievements? "

Indeed. If Obama were a spark plug, measuring the gap between his achievements and his self-regard would take feeler gauge blades calibrated in Astronimical Units: those millions of miles from the Sun to Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. And several blades left over for the occasional orbit of visiting comets.

D.C. Police are issued...

2008-07-18T18:52:00.000-07:00

..."MACHINE GUNS"! Eeeeeeek!!!!!!

At Kim's place a commenter replied to my inquiry and said the D.C. police are issued .40 Glock 22/23's. The D.C. law defines any pistol with a capacity of 14 rounds or greater as a machine gun, and outlaws them. What's good for me, is not good for thee?

Commments on the Strib Editorial

2008-07-18T18:10:00.000-07:00

Since the Strib editorial will likely disappear beyond a firewall, here it is:

What should have been a fun day at the park has left a Twin Cities man and his family recovering from a horrible ordeal. During the July 4th weekend, the 41-year-old was severely beaten at Valleyfair amusement park in Shakopee.
Also in recovery mode is our larger community, shaken to its soul by this assault on its sense of safety and security. If such random, senseless violence can happen at a family park, where can any of us feel safe?
Six young men and one juvenile are accused of taking turns kicking the victim in the head until he was unconscious. The group jumped him after he yelled at them for groping his 12-year-old daughter. Witnesses said some of the attackers punched others randomly as they left the park.
In the big picture, such brutal attacks are relatively rare. Still, that is small consolation to citizens who feel barraged by stories about beaten bus drivers, random shootings and people killed or injured in their homes.
The seven now charged with the vicious assault include one 14-year-old boy and men ranging in age from 18 to 22. All of the accused are African-American.
Thinking people know better, but when blacks commit violent crime, some will predictably use the incident to reinforce their racist views and indict all young black people. Witness the nasty exchanges on talk radio and online comment forums.
But race-based ranting won't solve the problem. Nor will knee-jerk, overly aggressive policing. Increased security at Valleyfair or any other public place should not result in sweeps of black youth just because they're black, or wearing baggy britches and oversized T-shirts.
Youth violence is a major issue for our society, and it transcends questions of race and class. The recent "mean girls" YouTube video demonstrated that young people of various races are savagely beating their peers and recording it for their 15 minutes of fame on the Internet.
Certainly part of the answer lies in law enforcement and the courts, which must do their parts to get the most violent off the streets and deliver swift and just punishment. We wonder, for example, why some of the accused in the Valleyfair incident weren't in jail for previous offenses.
Government and schools can also be part of the solution. At the national NAACP conference this week, presidential candidate Barack Obama repeated his call for increased funding for education, health and antipoverty efforts. And he challenged the black community itself to do more.
"Yes, we have to demand more responsibility from Washington," Obama said. "And yes, we have to demand more responsibility from Wall Street. But we also have to demand more from ourselves.'' That's a call to improve parenting and to support and expand groups like 100 African-American men, MAD DADS and Big Brothers -- organizations that help steer black youth away from violence.
We share the anger and outrage caused by bands of young thugs. No family should have to endure the loss or injury of a loved one in this way. Yet in the search for solutions care must be taken to properly punish offenders and address the root causes of violence -- without giving in to fear, ignorance and racism.

Certainly part of the answer lies in law enforcement and the courts, which must do their parts to get the most violent off the streets and deliver swift and just punishment. We wonder, for example, why some of the accused in the Valleyfair incident weren't in jail for previous offenses.
Government and schools can also be part of the solution. At the national NAACP conference this week, presidential candidate Barack Obama repeated his call for increased funding for education, health and antipoverty efforts. And he challenged the black community itself to do more.
"Yes, we have to demand more responsibility from Washington," Obama said. "And yes, we have to demand more responsibility from Wall Street. But we also have to demand more from ourselves.'' That's a call to improve parenting and to support and expand groups like 100 African-American men, MAD DADS and Big Brothers -- organizations that help steer black youth away from violence.
We share the anger and outrage caused by bands of young thugs. No family should have to endure the loss or injury of a loved one in this way. Yet in the search for solutions care must be taken to properly punish offenders and address the root causes of violence -- without giving in to fear, ignorance and racism.

For the most part, I think the editorial is melted Jello. The usual suspect of more government, greater this, larger more caring that and ...root causes. Bang!!! A forgettable sermon. But this, "The seven now charged with the vicious assault include one 14-year-old boy and men ranging in age from 18 to 22. All of the accused are African-American.
Thinking people know better, but when blacks commit violent crime, some will predictably use the incident to reinforce their racist views and indict all young black people. Witness the nasty exchanges on talk radio and online comment forums.
But race-based ranting won't solve the problem. Nor will knee-jerk, overly aggressive policing. Increased security at Valleyfair or any other public place should not result in sweeps of black youth just because they're black, or wearing baggy britches and oversized T-shirts." Here the Strib tells us what to think, and what not to think. I don't think they have any idea what to do with feral youth. However, immediately, it is the Strib identifying these thugs first as black, "...when blacks committ violent crime". Yeah, they have black skin. So did the UPS man who parked in front of my house on Dale, blocking the now down to one lane each way traffic because of water main work, as he asked my address. First I saw the UPS uniform. Then a somewhat long, angular gait as he leapt from the truck, "Where is 1427?" "There!" I pointed. As he put the package onto my neighbor's porch he shouted, "Thanks a lot". "Fellow American!", I replied. Nothing, NOTHING about his demeanor, language, posture, verbal skills, nothing, said, "Thug". The "Thugs" at Valley Fair might have black skin; that is irrelvant. To the extent they believe their black skin means they must dress, behave, and talk in a particular manner is their choice! (Run this experiment sometimes. Dress with boxer shorts up to your chest, pants down to the knees, doo-rags, hats, chains, floppy shoes, the entire regalia. Sooner or later someone's likely to ask, "Hey! Why you dressin' black? Ask them why they are "...dressin' black'.) As human beings, we either have free will or we do not! There is no victim class, poor creatures tossed about by fate. Sure, we all have tough breaks and make bad choices. (See God, mercy of...) Each of us is responsible for our choices, for what we have done, and what we have failed to do. I think the entire episode is tragic, for the attacked and attackers. The former hospitalized and traumatized. The latter, hopefully, on their way to prison for some elongated time in small rooms where they, more hopefully, might come to some redemption. That's up to them too. (See God, mercy of...) At the very least, they will be out of arms- and foot stomping length for some time.

Violence upon the Riders

2008-07-18T17:41:00.000-07:00

Here is the Powerline post, An Argument For An Armed Citizenry . Here's the first Star Tribune article, Dad who shielded daughter in attack at Valleyfair recovering, wife says. A silly editorial is here, Editorial: More violence, more questions. Valleyfair beating assaults us all. An alter ego of mine responded to Powerline forum comments thusly: This assertion, “But the truth is that a world where most of the law abiding citizens have guns is also a world where guns are more plentiful and cheap enough for more bad guys to get a hold of as well,” is nonsense. The mere presence of firearms has no bearing on the intentions of those possessing them. Firearms are not some pathogen infecting their possessors with crazed passions and lusts. Do you suppose that if one of these “misunderstood youths” were holding a Keltec or a Firestorm sideways, he would not have “capped the bitch”? Suppose a permit holder came on the scene three head stomps in. I’ll bet you a dime’s worth of reasoned argument to ten dollars of hoplophobia the mere appearance of a steady, modified Weaver stance by a 111 pound, 5’2” female with a .357 six shooter would have stopped that crap right now!!! Are you unable to distinguish an act of perfidy from an act of self defense, just because a firearm might be involved as the instrument equalizing 8 to 1 odds? If you ever call the police for help, will you ask them to leave their Glocks in the car? Crime is not caused by firearm density, but by the density of criminals, double meaning intended. And this bit of pultroonery, “On a small localized scale I can find anecdotes where carrying a concealed weapon saved an innocent life, and I can also find anecdotes where the concealed weapon made a bad situation worse”. Good for you, anecdotes. Firearms are used defensively some 1.8 to 2.5 million times annually to deter acts of criminals. I disremember how frequently they are fired, but a majority of instances of threats and assaults end with the mere appearance of a weapon. Good for the Valley Fair security guards; but an unarmed guard, like the one at Red Lake High School, armed only with a cell phone is more properly called a target. All such “security” can do is phone for someone with a gun. Please do not ask me to stand by waiting for that man with a gun to arrive while my spouse is being threatened, assaulted or “smacked by the homies”. This is a sad situation, but to assume that it would have turned out better with an armed citizenry is flawed reasoning. There are better methods of arguing for expanded concealed and carry legislation without resorting to such flawed appeals to emotion. A third bit of flotsam, “This is a sad situation, but to assume that it would have turned out better with an armed citizenry is flawed reasoning.” Yes, it turned out just fine without any firearms at all. Swell. I got your flawed reasoning right here. The man who might wake up in his hospital bed wondering where the past thirteen days went will no doubt say to himself, “If only I had just given those nice young men what they wanted, my daughter, none of this would have happened.” See above flawed reasoning about the 5’2” w/.357. Let’s make here blonde and buxom. I guaroon-damn-tee you, those nice, misunderstood “youts” wouldn’t be focusing their predatory glares at the blondeness nor the buxomness. Even their tiny lizard brains are attacted by small, shiny objects of stainless steel and the steel backing it up. “Col. Jeff Cooper: “One bleeding-heart type asked me in a recent interview if I did not agree that ‘violence begets violence.’ I told him that it is my earnest endeavor to see that it does. I would like very much to ensure — and in some cases I have — that any man who offers violence to his fellow citizen begets a whole lot more in return than he can enjoy.” Your groupings downrange may vary.

Distractions Your Ass!

2008-07-16T17:49:00.000-07:00

His holeyness the bawd O'bama continues to say Iraq is a distraction... from this, that and everything else in the world. Since Bin Laden hizzself said as much also, we're shure lucky ol' OBL got distracted too. He's been so distracted by the mauling and grinding 'n' ass whooping his good ol' Jihad thugs have been getting at the hands of "Our Guys!!!" and, lately, the Iraqis, that there have been no attacks on our soil since the last one.

Assimlate that O'bama-asshat!

DC, Bitterly clinging

2008-07-16T03:59:00.000-07:00

From Heller: In sum, we hold that the District’s ban on handgun possession in the home violates the Second Amendment , as does its prohibition against rendering any lawful firearm in the home operable for the purpose of immediate self-defense. Assuming that Heller is not disqualified from the exercise of Second Amendment rights, the District must permit him to register his handgun and must issue him a license to carry it in the home.

From DCist, regarding DC's "new" firearm regulations:

Allowing an exception for handgun ownership for self-defense use inside the home.
If you want to keep a handgun in your home, the MPD will have to perform ballistic testing on it before it can be legally registered.
There will be a limit to one handgun per person for the first 90 days after the legislation becomes law.
Firearms in the home must be stored unloaded and disassembled, and secured with either a trigger lock, gun safe, or similar device. The new law will allow an exception for a firearm while it is being used against an intruder in the home.
Residents who legally register handguns in the District will not be required to have licenses to carry them inside their own homes.

Hmm...perhaps the DC council, Chief of Police and city attorney haven't yet received their copy of the ruling...?

Greasy, grimy Obama Guts

2008-07-16T03:42:00.000-07:00

Joe Lieberman gave a speech at the Center for Global Engagement on July 15th. He are his remarks about the candidate whose middle name must not be spoken.

Senator Obama this morning said that he wants a foreign policy that is “tough, smart, and principled.” This afternoon, I ask: was it tough when Senator Obama voted to order U.S. forces to retreat from Iraq on a fixed timeline—regardless of the recommendations of our military commanders, regardless of conditions on the ground? Was it smart when Senator Obama opposed the surge and predicted that it would fail to improve security? Was it principled when Senator Obama said that he would order U.S. troops to retreat from Iraq, regardless of the humanitarian consequences for millions of innocent Iraqis—even genocide? Was it tough and principled when Senator Obama said he would be open to changing his plan for Iraq after going there and talking to General Petraeus—only to change that position a few hours later after being heatedly criticized by organizations like Moveon.org? I say respectfully, the answer to all of those questions is no.

Changing his mind by moving his lips differently, we cannot believe anything we hear.

For anyone who wants to wade through it, the Center for US Global Engagement is here. An "About Us" quote: The Center for U.S. Global Engagement, the educational arm of the U.S. Global Leadership Campaign, unites business, humanitarian, faith-based, community and military leaders around the country to broaden our understanding of America’s interests in building a better, safer world. The Center works to educate and inspire support among the public, opinion leaders and policymakers for increasing American assistance abroad and strengthening our leadership in international affairs.

An Email to DC Councilman Mendelson

2008-07-15T17:57:00.000-07:00

Several days ago, after reading that DC laws define semi-automatic pistols with greater than 14 rounds' capacity as "machine guns", I sent an email to DC Councilman Phil Mendelson, (Pmendelson @dccouncil.us) I do not expect a reply.

Here it is:

Mr. Mendelson, I'm sure you have more important things to do than answer queries from someone in St. Paul, MN. But did FOX quote you accurately here: " I think an individual possessing a handgun that can fire 18 rounds — that is loaded and can fire 18 rounds semiautomatically — is a problem for public safety in the District," Mendelson said. "I don't know what the correct number is, but something less (than 18 shots)." Is the quote correct? If so, may I be so bold as to enquire how the number of rounds in a particular pistol outweighs the intentions of the hand holding said pistol? Recall that Ronald Reagan was almost killed by a .22 caliber revolver, with six shot capacity. Some personal data may be illustrative. I have a permit to carry a pistol in Minnesota. It has a capacity of 14 rounds in a double stack magazine. I usually keep only 10 rounds in the magazine to reduce carry weight.. But as I have no intention of ever opening fire into a crowd as I speed by in my trusty, rusty, 1994 Ford Escort station wagon, it wouldn't matter if it had a 1000 round capacity. God protect me from the need to ever have to draw my weapon in self defense, much less fire it. But carrying a pistol is much simpler than carrying a policeman about. (Because, when seconds count, the police are only minutes away. No slam on the police.) It seems to me a more honorable position for the District, given what I assume are your personal distaste for firearms, would be to recognize that the problems are with the character and behavior of individuals rather than the characteristics of particular firearms. (It may seem as if I am preaching dictates to you. I intend only queries, and if it seems otherwise, it is only my poor writing to blame.) On last question. The article said also, "Current city law defines a 'machine gun' to mean 'any firearm which shoots, is designed to shoot, or can be readily converted or restored to shoot: a) Automatically, more than one shot by a single function of the trigger; b) Semiautomatically, more than 12 shots without manual reloading'. " I have no plans to come to DC, but will now probably stay away in perpetuity, as this law magically turns my CZ pistol into a machine gun. Who knew?

Thank you for enduring my pesty questions.

Despite my groveling politeness, nothing yet. I will be writing again to ask about the proposed new regs. You can read about them at dcist.

Car Crash and Gun Nut Salad

2008-07-13T17:52:00.000-07:00

If this article in the Naples Florida News, Guns & Children was a salad, it would be raw tuna, whipped cream, avocado bits, dried dates, Grape Nuts, black olives and nougat on a bed of white asparagus and sea urchin roe. I sent her an email:

I believe-and don't ask me how I know this- that you know absolutely nothing you wrote about in your Guns & Children. Ask me about firearms in my house and I say it's none of your business. If you don't like my answer, don't visit. Although at your question, I've already pulled in the welcome mat. Let me ask you a question about "our children" and what we want for Florida or any state. First, on a personal level, how safe for children is a home with firearms compared to a mother's womb? One child in four gunned down by the mother would be about equivalent. On a larger scale, the laws vary from state to state as to how a firearm permit holder can discharge his weapon. Here in MN we do not have a Castle Doctrine, and I must retreat, may use my firearm only in fear of great bodily harm or death, and can fire to save another only, as my instructor put it, "For those persons to whom you would donate an organ." On a personal level, if I walk into a bank and see a knife to your throat, I will be fleeing the scene and dialing 911, not testing my not very rusty shooting skills. (By the way, do you have any idea the range at which most shootings, of all kinds, police, criminal, citizen, occur? Under 20 feet. A criminal with a knife can close 33 feet in about 2 seconds. A really skilled person can draw from holster in concealment in 2-3 seconds.) And lastly, on a vulgar level, this, "We’ve registered cars and required skills training for those licenses since forever without banning motor vehicles." If you want to make this argument, then everytime someone without a license to drive kills someone in an accident, punitive laws affecting all those people who did not kill someone in an accident, or shoot someone with their legal firearm, should be enacted. Like limits on the number of cylinders in engines. Waiting periods for car purchases of at least six weeks to three months. No more private sales of cars from individual to individual. We've got to close the car show loophole. The restriction of auto usage to professional drivers, after all, cars are designed only to kill when crashing into children. Cars must be kept in steel garages with multiple locks, batteries disconnected, spark plugs taken out and tires deflated. These are just "common sense car laws" after all, no? Aren't 50,000 automobile deaths a year enough?

One more thing...the article is described as a guest commentary. Guest(sic)? Guessed. Heh.

At "$140/barrel, shale is..." A No Brainer

2008-07-13T06:38:00.000-07:00

At Powerline, John Hinderaker writes: "Can shale oil be developed economically? At today's prices, of course. A few years ago it was estimated that shale oil development would be competitive at around $40 a barrel. That figure may have risen a bit, but with world oil prices over $140 a barrel, shale oil development is a no-brainer."

Why then, do the Demonicrats oppose shale oil? Because it's a no brainer.

Oh no! Guns, GUNZ!!! National Parks!!!!

2008-07-13T05:57:00.000-07:00

These nice people, the NPCA, want people to send comments about " That's right, guns in parks. LOADED guns in parks." Eeeeeeeeeek!!!!! So I edited their suggested email a little. Just a few minutes of angle a little.

America's national parks are some of the most peaceful places in our country, interuppted only by the occasional kidnapping, rape or assault committed by armed criminals upon a disarmed citizenry. (We at the NPCA are indifferent to in favor of bear attacks upon humans. They are natural, if messy.) They offer solitude and an opportunity for reflection, the perfect environment from which to put rounds downrange. That's why I was so thrilled to learn that the administration is considering allowing loaded guns in our national parks. No longer will human predators be able to sneak up on visitors to our parks with the assurance of grizzlies snacking on honeybees. The bees will not be better armed, but the rest of us will.
Illegal poaching is a serious issue in our national parks--how this can be possible we at the NPCA do not know, as we are certain that even gun carrying criminals will respect to the utmost, the ban against guns in the parks. Your guess is as good as ours. As our park rangers cannot keep up with the activity already happening in our parks,we at the NPCA suggest values tests to keep out of our national parks all but the most fervant outdoor types, bicyclists and hikers only. No more RV's, cars, diesel busses and the like. If people want to visit the parks, they can hike to them and in them. Opening up the parks to allow guns even where hunting is not allowed will put a greater toll on the Park Service, we'e much rather have toll house cookies, and the keebler elves, rather than unspecified, and imaginary threats to wildlife species. However, since the problem of human predators in our parks will not go away with the bits of wishful thinking I have not edited from this letter, the only solution which remains is to stop this silly prohibition on the right of the people to keep and bear arms, and thereby defend themselves from the most dangerous species which travel to our parks yearly.
Please open up our parks to loaded guns. This administration would be setting a terrible precedent by not allowing loaded weapons in our parks, validating the basic trust in the values and virtue of the American people, from whom you derive your consesnt to govern. And don't forget it!!! MOLON LABE. (Reputedly the reply of Leonidas and the Spartans to Darius and his Persian army at Thermopylae who, when told to surrender their arms said, "Come and take them". Sometimes this phrase is translated as, "Don't shoot til you see the whites of their eyes."

Go hence to the link above and compose your own letter.

Benedict, 'Jimmah', Barak,Arafat & Wright

2008-05-01T03:53:00.000-07:00

Look at what we are seeing in the public panoramas. The representative, by his assertion, of the 'Black Church', was preceded by the Vicar of Christ, dressed in white. While the latter, the heir of St. Peter visited the current office holder in the lineage of George Washington, another of that lineage, arguably the worst such representative of modern time and memory, lays roses at the dirt covering the founder of modern terrorism.

If the not so revered Wright speaks for the 'Black Church', I invite him to listen more closely to the Vicar of Christ. Would the not so Reverend tell is there is a 'Black' Golden Rule? Is Barak's idea of transcending race to say, pay no attention to that man screaming "God d-! America" from the pulpit for 20 years, I didn't?

An Open Field for the Proxies

2007-12-19T02:55:00.000-08:00

Mine, and Anonymous's comments from the Princeton blog, The Prox, put here for context and reference.

A syllogism to show the foolishness of Anon's comment below might be written thus: A Princeton student lied about being attacked. The Princeton student holds conservative ideas. Another Princeton student asserts that, from one student who lied, and who a happens to have to conservative ideas that, therefore all conservatives are liars. Following this reasoning, I, therefore assert, that, because this commenter is anonymous, and unknown to me, and that all Princeton students are unknown to me, Princeton has only one student, and all of them are incapable of reasoning, because they are really llamas.

Anonymous said: " Nava is a shameless, dishonest liar- though what conservative isn't these days?
December 18, 2007 3:58 PM

Broadsword said: "Here's a quote; can you guess the speaker: "There you go again". Anyone, anyone, Bueller? Anon #5 said, "...though what conservative isn't these days". Hmm...Martha said: "in the past failed to really rise to the task of fostering debate and creating a truly inclusive community." Martha, I'd say the past has returned. Although I don't give a rats rectum about being included, I am certainly up to debate. Although the Anons ought to show themselves; it's very difficult telling them apart. They all look alike you know. I"ll keep it simple. Anon #5, have you met or sampled all conservatives? No. Then you, sir, are a political bigot. Yes, that's a gauntlet at your feet. You have the choice of weapon. I suggest you not choose invective, as it can be refuted by merely standing upwind.

Anonymous said: "Wow this Broadsword dude needs to chill out..."
December 18, 2007 8:39 PM

Broadsword said: "Chillin' out here...The quote came from Ronaldus Magnus. Does Anon #5 have no seconds willing to support his assertion that all conservatives are shameless, dishonest liars? Or is this the type of anonymous attack in the dark OK, even though also, made up? I have opened the lists at Where are the Isotopes I Ordered, if anyone wants to enter the field there to argue the virtue of anonymous slander."

Doom and Futility

2007-12-01T03:37:00.000-08:00

Mr. Hedges, in his article, Hands Off Iran, painted a bleak and hopeless a picture. He's right on on the bleak. Wrong on the hopeless. .

I do not share Mr. Hedges faith in futility, that any course tried by the United States must end in chaos and Hell. His images are too fabulous, and his faith in politics misplaced. Of course he will believe what he wrote; that is part of his politics, to believe all other politics are failures, misguided, devious, power mad etc. By default then, what's not done by one side, because of the inevitable disasters it will automatically unleash, automatically guarantees success for another side? History says...maybe so, and maybe not. But, to make a faith of politics, as I believe many on secular progressive left have done is, as he said, "doomed". "But", protests Mr. Hedges, "I said nothing about faith."

No, he did not. But he did say he said he "Hopes a Judge would..." And he said he would ask his friends in Tehran, and elsewhere, to "forgive him". He takes his faith, and hopes to the wrong judge. He's asking the right thing in the wrong place. Hope is one of the Christian virtues. Forgiveness goes with that other scary word, redemption. His politics cannot save him. He will not be absolved by despising the other side.

Oh the Hyperbole!!

2007-11-30T10:45:00.000-08:00

Take a deep breath of oxygen, a sip or two of red wine and wade through Chris Hedges "Hands Off Iran". I'll plow snow until you get back. _____________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________

Back already? I wonder does he believe this stuff himself? Really? I believe Job in the belly of the whale, but this fish tale..... The possible-maybes-could-sorta-kinda-perhapses are thicker than a slab Texas limestone. it’s a wonder my printer doesn’t clog, warnings flashing on the screen “Too much speculative verbiage. Reboot.” Every paragraph if his could be an entry in an "It Was a Dark & Stormy Night" writing contest. Category: Prose. Literary Style: Apocalyptic. Inclination: Hysterical

If this sort of "Huh? Say what?" writing is insight into the tough nut of Iran, and its nuclear ambitions, then God and all the Saints “ Halp us!” Does he really believe all this abstract hyperbole? Are all the Horsemen of the Apocalypse, their friends from the Purple Sage, and Dale & Roy & Silver & Trigger & Tonto & the KimoSabe and Lulu Belle , and Tony the Wonder Horse of doom are poised and waiting to descend upon the entire region? Vast herds of the Swords and Neutrons of Damocles will immediately gallop onto the piled up nuclear reactor ambitions of Iran, that enriched radioactive landmass three times the size of four times the size of sixteen times the size of Delaware plus a few beaches from Maryland, and their stampede will instantly set the entire region into an uncontrolled chain reaction? “Disruptions felt immediately igniting the Middle Ease soaring to a triggering global depression protracted, with futile guerrilla war in humiliation over increased terrorist attacks with full-scale guerrilla resistance widespread, sabotage of oil productions in solidarity, firing rockets, perhaps unnavigable, could maybe in some cases many think though not all believe result in more unstable neat little war with a range of 1100 miles, before it was made public from a rogue nuclear stateundo(ing) five decades of international cooperation, thrust(ing) us into a Hobbesian nightmare in a state of permanent war, being snuffed out to stoke a public clamor for revenge????

” But……………… if we do nothing……….. Iran's nuclear materials will suddenly turn out to have been an enormous mound of lead, plastered over with the antique radioactive luminous dials of 65 million, 1966 vintage Timexes?

“Ha, ha, ha, ....we told you- the 3000 centrifuges were just to make face of watches to glow in the dark, not Tel Aviv! HA HA HA!!"

Hedges last sentence …. “Once the slaughter is over”

---WAIT!!!!!!! WHAT DO YOU MEAN, “ONCE THE SLAUGHTER IS OVER?” You know how everything will happen if a particular President, from a particularly sandy, hot, dry state in the west, deigns even to glance in a particular direction, with a particular Imperial Gleam in his “Smash the Civil Liberties, Full Repression Ahead” beady Texan eyes…all these things you promise us will come to pass, and more if we do not fall down and worship all the wisdom of your world that you will give to us?

But how it ends…?......the rest is-----

The USS Shaw

2007-11-29T10:21:00.001-08:00

Our parents and grandparents didn't care.....

...why they hated us.

Pariahs & Quitters

2007-11-29T09:42:00.000-08:00

It should be obvious why remembering the Doolittle Raid is important. History is important. I've no doubt the savagery of the Japanese exceeds Al Queda and the totalitarian Islamists only in degree of magnitude . Righteous anger towards the Japanese was widespread, and justifiably so. Yesterday's stars and starlets would look at today's celebrities with disgust. They would have been treated as pariahs and yellow cowards. They would be right.

It should be as inconceivable today as it was then to side with the enemies of Liberty. Posters like these ought to be on every light post and bulletin board in the country. With the names changed, to indict the guilty.

The Doolittle B-25 Raid on Japan

2007-11-27T14:01:00.000-08:00

All the following is drawn or quoted from: The First Heroes, by Craig Nelson.

From page 95: "In a mere five months the entire Pacific Ocean west of a line drawn from the Aleutian Islands to Hawaii and Australia has come under the control of Dai Nippon Teikoku. The Japanese empire stretches six thousand miles from the home islands to Korea and eastern China, across today's Vietnam to Myanmar, down Malaysia to Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore, and then across all of Indonesia to most of New Guinea. What Tokyo calls the Greater East Asia Coprosperity Sphere spells the end of Western control over Sarawak, Borneo, Sumatra, Java, the Celebes, the Moluccas, western New Guinea, the Solomons, the Philippines, Malaya, Indochina, the Andamans, Guam, Wake, the Gilbert and the Marshall Islands, and includes a vast amount of the world's oil, rice, tin, and rubber. The bucktoothed, nearsighted race of American cartoons had unceasingly defeated England, Australia, and the United States in battle after battle. The tally: 15,000 killed and wounded Japanese; 320,000 killed, wounded, and captured Allied soldiers."

The enemy, pg. 73: "(The attack on China)...was the beginning of a Japanese reign of cruelty that today remains a permanent stain of the country's history: Locals were treated like slaves and animals; POW's were subjected to unspeakable brutality; and soldiers were allowed to run amok. Over the next eight years, more than two hundred thousand illiterate rural women in the conquered territories would be told that high-paying factory jobs were available in Japan. They were instead sent to "comfort stations" across the Chrysanthemum Empire, imprisoned for up to eight years, referred to as "public toilets," and required to sexually service up to fifty soldiers a day. "

"Manchkuo's 2nd Lt. Tominaga Shozo described what the Kwangtung Army did with its new recruits: 'At the last stage of their training, we made them bayonet a living human. when I was a company commander, this was used as a finishing touch to training for the men and a trial of courage for the officers. Prisoners were blindfolded and tied to oles. the soldiers dashed forward to bayonet their target at the shout of 'Charge!' some stopped on their way. We kicked them and made them do it. After that, a man could do anything easily...Everyone became a demon within three months. Men were able to fight courageously only when their human characteristics were suppressed."

Broadsword: This last sentence, true in the totalitarian regimes, is not universally true. Greater love hath no man, who lays down his life for his friends. This is why our guys fight. See Murphy, below. The Japanese savagery has nothing over the current Islamists except its scale. The latter are working to alleviate this deficiency. Some in this country yet have eyes closed.

The enemy, continued: "Throughout China, Japanese troops would follow senki-saisaku, the 'Three All' policy: Burn All, Seize All, Kill All. They torched the town of Sungchiang, killing one hundred thousand civilians, and slaughtered nearly the entire population of 350,000 in the ancient city of Suzhou. When the Republic of Chin's capital city of Nanking fell on December 13, 1937, fifty thousand Japanese soldiers faced the task of subduing its five hundred thousand inhabitants. After going from neighborhood to neighborhood and tacking up posters on every street corner that urged TRUST OUR JAPANESE ARMY, THEY WILL PROTECT AND FEED YOU, the troops would methodically divide local men who had surrendered their arms into groups of around 150, promise the beleaguered, starving residents food and water, send them outside the town walls, and kill them. "

"During Nanjin Datusha- the Rape of Nanking-Japanese soldiers rampaged through the streets for months, eventually killing between 260,000 and 350,000 civilians; the exact number remains unknown. 'Few know that soldiers impaled babies on bayonets and tossed them still alive into pots of boiling water,' a Japanese eyewitness reported. 'They gang-raped women from the ages of twelve to eighty and then killed them when they could no longer satisfy their sexual requirements. I beheaded people, starved them to death, burned them, and buried them alive, over two hundred in all. It is terrible that I could turn into an animal and do these things. There are really no words to explain what I was doing.' "

Broadsword: The citation for this Japanese soldier's quote comes from Iris Chang's book, The Rape of Nanking. She is citing Japanese veteran Nagatomi Hakudo in Joanna Pitman, "Repentance", New Republic, February 10, 1992. Chinese civilians were selfless helping downed Doolittle Raiders to escape and evade the Japanese.

Doolittle, pg. 32: "Boys growing up between the wars had two kinds of men to look up to. There were the sports titans like Jack Dempsey, but looming much larger were those aces of the air, those awe-inspiring aviators who defied the laws of ordinary life, men like 'Lucky Lindy' Lindbergh and World War I ace fighter Eddie Rickenbacker. For these Eglin Volunteers, at that time, to learn that their mission leader was none other than the world-famous and notorious Lt. Col. James Harold Doolittle-well, it would be like being asked to join a secret new baseball team, and it just so happens the lead guy's Babe Ruth. They were completely stunned and excited."

"My name's Doolittle. I've been put in charge of the project that you men have volunteered for. This is the toughest training you'll ever have. It will be the most dangerous thing any of you have ever done. It is inevitable that some of your planes will fall into the hands of the enemy....If you have any doubts, drop out now. Any man can drop out and nothing will ever be said about it. In fact, if there's any worry at all, if you've got a wife, or some kids, it would be your duty to drop out. No one will ask any questions; no one will think less of you for it. None of the volunteers even considered taking Doolittle up on this offer. One airman said, 'Within five minutes, we were his...we'd have followed him anywhere.' "

Broadsword: Once the aircraft carrier Hornet was underway, the men were once again given the opportunity to unvolunteer.

""...Jimmy called his men together for the most important briefing of their lives. He explained, briskly, exactly where there were going to go and what they were going to do. Howard Sessler remembered him saying, 'If there's any of you who don't want to go, just tell me. Because the chances of you making it back are pretty slim.' One flier said, 'When Doolittle revealed what the mission was, I was scared, but also impressed and fascinated by the audacity of this plan. Mot volunteering was as unthinkable as not stepping over the line at the Alamo.' "

"Two days after the task force cleared the Golden Gate Bridge, the bosun's whistle sounded. It was the moment every officer had been waiting for-the time to let the curtain rise. Captain Mitschner announced over Hornet's loudspeakers, and simultaneously via semaphore to the other ships: 'The target of this task force is Tokyo. The army is going to bomb Japan, and we're going to get them as close to the enemy as we can. This is a chance for all of us to give the Japs a dose of their own medicine.' "

"Cheers and screams of excitement broke out across the decks of every ship. Both services would now unite, at every level, to strike a blow of vengeance. ...Bob Bourgeois remembered. 'People went wild. I rejoiced just like everyone else. I was glad to see somebody was going to retaliate for Pearl Harbor.' Mac McClure said, 'The sailors I saw were jumping up and down like small children.' "

"American had never seen darker days. Americans badly needed a morale boost," Doolittle noted. "I hoped we could give them that by a retaliatory surprise attack against the enemy's home islands launched from a carrier, precisely as the Japanese had done at Pearl Harbor. It would be the kind of touche the Japanese military would understand."

Broadsword: It's difficult for us to comprehend the national mood then. But before the Hornet left San Francisco, an incident which did not happen is illuminating. Page 60: "One sailor on leave, in fact, told a reporter that for the right amount of cash, he could tell him all about a pending raid on Japan. The newspaperman patriotically turned down this scoop of a lifetime." On the 210th anniversary of Washington's birthday President Roosevelt mad a few remarks.

Roosevelt, pg. 30: "This war is a new kind of war. It is different from all other wars of the past, not only in its methods and weapons but also in its geography. It is warfare in terms of every continent, every island, every sea, every air-lane in the world...Speaking for the United States of America, let me say once and for all to the people of the world: We Americans have been compelled to yield ground, but we will regain it. We and the other United Nations are committed to the destruction of the militarism of Japan and Germany...This generation of Americans has come to realize, with a present and personal realization, that there is something larger and more inportant than the life of any individual or of any individual group-something for which a man will sacrifice, and gladly sacrifice, not only his pleasures, not only his goods, not only his associations with those he loves, but his life itself. In time of crisis when the future is in the balance, we come to understand, with full recognition and devotion, what this nation is and what we owe to it...The task that we americnas now face will test us to the uttermost. Never before have we been called upon for such a prodigious effort. Never before have we had so little time in which to do so uch. These are the times that try men's souls..."

Broadsword: It's very easy for us to 'look back' at history and see the path beaten out by those who preceded us. We need to appreciate and remember that the future was, and always is hidden, obscured, and dark. The current Long War against the totalitarian Islamists is also a new kind of war. The Islamists are the tares in the wheat, the Aids virus attacking the immune system. They will use Liberty and Freedom to destroy Freedom and Liberty.

By the way, after the Doolittle Raid, the Japanese decided to end any possible future attacks on the home islands by, once and for all, destroying the American fleet by attacking and occupying the Island of Midway. Midway was, as you know, a decisive defeat for the Japanese, who never again regained the offensive. I will not say that Iraq is Midway, or, perhaps more apt, Guadalcanal. But I will say Iraq is, and dare I uses a past tense, has been not a war, but a battle. Scorn upon those who have refused to persevere in the fight.

Thomas Paine, The Crisis: "Quitting this class of men, I turn with the warm ardor of a friend to those who have nobly stood, and are yet determined to stand the matter out: I call not upon a few, but upon all: not on this state or that state, but on every state: up and help us; lay your shoulders to the wheel; better have too much force than too little, when so great an object is at stake. Let it be told to the future world, that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet and to repulse it."

Information, Please

2007-11-27T08:25:00.000-08:00

Headline: Texan Kills Thieves: Hero or Homicidal?

A few quotes from this...story. "Don't go outside the house," the 911 operator pleaded. "You're going to get yourself shot if you go outside that house with a gun. I don't care what you think."

"You want to make a bet?" Horn answered. "I'm going to kill them." (Broadsword: I wonder if he really said this? Who is more believable, the AP or...take your choice. )

"The case brought back memories of Bernard Goetz..."

"At issue is whether it was reasonable for Horn to fear the men..."

Comments I left at the site:

Why are the only two possibilities Heroic or Homicidal? Who that is homicidal calls 911? Does the behavior of the criminals bear no scrutiny whatsoever? Have they no responsibility at all for their actions? Whose choice was it put them downrange of a shotgun? They were just innocent workmen plying their day job of breaking into homes, taking property they did not earn or own? If only that wicked man had left them be, they would not have lunged towards him? They really only wanted to be left alone? And this, "It's horrible," she said. "He was so eager, so eager to shoot." How do we know his state of mind? If he was "eager to shoot", why did he call 911 first? Eager to shoot shoots first, checks for signs of life, shoots again to be certain, and maybe then calls 911 to dispose of the bodies. Weren't the dead "Eager, so eager to attack a citizen?" Suppose Mr. Horn had been unarmed and himself beaten to death. Would the AP quote his widow, "Why were these men eager, so eager, to stove in my husbands skull?" I'm holding my breath AP. Furthermore, "The case brought back memories of Bernard Goetz.." Brought back memories for whom? What memories need bringing back from the dead are memories of fear criminals ought to have at committing felonies in broad daylight and not so broad night time. They need to fear being arrested. They need to fear being prosecuted. They need to fear not being released on bond. They need to fear 6-10 for a first offense. They need to fear having their heads stoved in an aroused populace, enraged by a journalism that remembers only those poor criminal boys now resting at room temperature. If those poor criminals boys had elected to go into another line of work, they would not have had that close encounter with groups of 4-aught.Lastly, "At issue...said Fred C. Moss..." So what if he teaches criminal law? Does he have any experience or training with firearms? If so, what sorts? Has he ever been a victim of crime? Does he believe in personal responsibility or victim theology? Has he ever been assaulted, and thereby have some sense of how quickly an assault can occur, and an appreciation of the emotional state following an assault? Same question about emotional state afterwards when a citizen believe they are at risk of great bodily harm or death, and use deadly force to defend themselves. As long as "Big Journalism" perpetuates their this-side-versus-that-side "stories", and inserts their own passive voice narrative into "stories", (those ubiquitous phrases "some say", or "the fear is"), such "news" reports no news, fails to give readers sufficient facts, contexts and data to understand or make up their own minds regarding current events. Think about the day to day reporting of newspapers and television. How is one day's "story" connected at all to the next days? Reporting has become just fireworks, day after day after day. Fireworks get old when every snow festival, every baseball game, every home run ball and halftime show is occasion to set them off. Tell me about the fireworks makers, or the history of gunpowder, or medicines made from sulphur, or the biases of Liz Austin Petersen, AP writer. Is she homicidal, or heroic?

Broadsword: To reiterate, nothing whatsoever is said about the two thieves' behavior. No questions about their motives, questions about their choices. What was the state of their consciences? Who is responsible for another man's conscience? The law will decide whether Mr. Horn will be charged with any crimes, but if he had been killed, would we hear from the parents of the thieves saying, "They didn't mean to kill him. He should have stayed in his house."?

Broadsword, update 11/28: It may seem I am criticizing Mr. Fred Moss. That is not my intention, and if it seems so, it reflects my poor writing abilities. I think the journalist's only asking about the legal inferences but none of the other questions reveals her ignorance, and possibly bias.

"There are no Americans at the Airport!"

2007-11-24T06:26:00.000-08:00

Krauthammer:

"It does not have the drama of the Inchon landing or the sweep of the Union comeback in the summer of 1864. But the turnabout of American fortunes in Iraq over the past several months is of equal moment -- a war seemingly lost, now winnable. The violence in Iraq has been dramatically reduced. Political allegiances have been radically reversed. The revival of ordinary life in many cities is palpable. Something important is happening. "

"And what is the reaction of the war critics? Nancy Pelosi stoutly maintains her state of denial, saying this about the war just two weeks ago: 'This is not working. . . . We must reverse it.' A euphemism for "abandon the field," which is what every Democratic presidential candidate is promising, with variations only in how precipitous to make the retreat. "

"How do they avoid acknowledging the realities on the ground? By asserting that we have not achieved political benchmarks -- mostly legislative actions by the Baghdad government -- that were set months ago. And that these benchmarks are paramount. And that all the current progress is ultimately vitiated by the absence of centrally legislated national reconciliation. "

Broadsword: Perhaps if the Iraqi government were to pass some sort of minimum wage legislation?

The "Foggy Bottom" Awakening

2007-11-24T05:56:00.001-08:00

New boss turns the tables on Al Qaeda
Ex-Sunni insurgent becomes U.S. ally

"The once-dreaded Al Qaeda in Iraq stronghold of Amariyah has a new boss, and he's not shy about telling the story of the shootout that turned him into a local legend and helped change the tenor of the Iraq war."

"Since Abul Abed's fight in Amariyah, some of the most feared Baghdad neighborhoods, including Abu Ghraib, Fadhil, Ghazaliyah, Dora and Adhamiyah, have followed suit, forming their own brigades of Knights, welcoming the U.S. military and receiving U.S. money.Abul Abed is coy about his insurgent connections. He gave his real name as Saad Erebi Ghaffouri al-Obaidi, though he is known across Baghdad as Abul Abed. U.S. officials, Amariyah residents and Sunni leaders say he was a prominent commander in the Islamic Army. He described himself as a former Iraqi army major who "went into business" after the regime fell. He won't say what business.But he acknowledged that many of his men once fought Americans and now work closely with them."They recognize that they made a big mistake," he said. "They realize that they were on the wrong path and that they wasted many chances with what they did."

Broadsword: After three months or so of "Surge", the Anbar Awakening is spreading throughout Iraq. The Democrats' "Pelosi Escalation" surged into the House and Senate over a year ago. Why hasn't the Anbar Awakening come to Foggy Bottom? Will they ever realize that they were on the wrong path and that they made a big mistake, and wasted many chances with what they did?

Niebuhr: The Easy Conscience of Modern Man

2007-11-16T14:50:00.000-08:00

The Gifford Lectures were given by Reinhold Niebuhr at The University of Edinburgh in 1938 & 1939, and later published in two volumes. Volume one, from which I quote was published by Scribner & Sons in 1941. (Broadsword: " Note that in 1938, Edinburgh invited Niebuhr, not Goebbels to speak".) Niebuhr's learned, astute observations on human nature still breathe. From chapter IV, The Easy Conscience of Modern Man:

"Our introductory analysis of modern views of human nature has established the complacent conscience of modern man as the one unifying force amidst a wide variety of anthropological conceptions. In the words of T.E. Hulme: 'All thought since the Renaissance, in spite of its apparent variety, forms one coherent whole...It all rests on the same conception of the nature of man and all exhibits the same inability to recognize the meaning of the dogma of original sin. (Broadsword- I can feel you wincing at the screen. Hark! More wincing approacheth!) In this period not only have its philosophy, its literature and its ethics been based upon this new conception of man as fundamentally good, as sufficient, as the measure of things; but a good case can be made out for regarding many of its characteristic economic features as springing entirely from this central abstract conception.' " (Hulme quote ends, Niebuhr continues.)

"The most surprising aspect of the modern man's good conscience is that he asserts and justifies it in terms of the most varied and even contradictory metaphysical theories and social philosophies. The idealist Hegel and he materialist Marx agree in their fundamental confidence in human virtue, disagreeing only in their conception of the period and the social circumstances in which and the method by which his essential good is, or is to be, realized. The romantic naturalist Rousseau agrees with the rationalistic naturalists of the French enlightenment, though in the one case the seat of virtue is found in natural impulse unspoiled by rational disciplines (Broadsword: such as the Breasts not Bombs topless activists), and in the other case it is reason which guarantees virtue....

The whole Christian drama of salvation is rejected ostensibly because of the incredible character of the myths of Creation, Fall, Atonement, etc., in which it is expressed. But the typical modern is actually more certain of the complete irrelevance of these doctrines than of their incredibly. (emphasis, Broadsword). He is naturally not inclined to take dubious religious myths seriously, since he finds no relation between the ethos which informs them and his own sense of security and complacency. The sense of guilt expressed in them is to him a mere vestigial remnant of primitive fears of higher powers, of which he is happily emancipated. The sense of sin is, in the phrase of a particularly vapid modern social scientist, 'a pscyopathic aspect of adolescent mentality.' "

(Broadsword: Today our 'secular, progressive, humanist, responsible for other peoples' feelings, superior moralists might say, "happily e-person-cipated"). Niebuhr continuing, comments upon the tyranny of the Marxists in Russia and notes other "Contemporary... manifestations of man's hysteria's and furies...evidences of his daemonic capacity and inclination to break the harmonies of nature and defy the prudent canons of rational restraint."

He then says:

"Yet no accumulation of contradictory evidence seems to disturb modern man's good opinion of himself. He considers himself the victim of corrupting institutions which he is about to destroy or reconstruct, or of the confusions of ignorance which an adequate education is about to overcome. Yet he continues to regard himself as essentially harmless and virtuous. the question therefore arises how modern man arrived at, and by what means he maintains, as estimate of his virtue in such pathetic contradiction with the obvious facts of his history."

Broadsword: Doesn't the bold sentence perfectly describe the pathology of the Left?

"Valor"

2007-11-14T10:30:00.000-08:00

It is altogether fitting this man's courage is honored.

Often the citation includes the phrase, "Conspicuous gallantry..."

They sounds like words from another age. For such men as this one, thank God that they are not.

Envoy from Heaven, Emissaries of Hell

2007-11-14T10:28:00.000-08:00

Heaven does not invite emissaries from Hell to come speak to the assembly of Angels, Archangels and Blessed Saints. Though an emissary from Heaven once visited Hell on a three-day weekend. He went uninvited. No manuscripts of the conversation, dialogues, questions, chatterings and recriminations from the faculty there survived His visit. Just this early postcard of the faculty, dialoguing and free expressioning...

Did academics somewhere recriminate their peers for incivility

Another Test

2007-11-14T09:39:00.001-08:00

Another test.

Test

2007-11-14T08:44:00.000-08:00

Test