I am not a lawyer. I have never played a lawyer on TV. The closest I’ve been to a real lawyer is my college roommate, who is a successful lawyer in Ohio. The blog name Lex E. Libertas – Latin for Law and Liberty – is a high-minded reference to the US Constitution and the freedoms and responsibilities it enshrines. I try to stay away from all things legal because sure as the sun rises in the East, as soon as you say, “he did it” some other guy confesses. Or “that guy’s being railroaded” they find the murder weapon in his basement.
All that said, I’ve been following the Scooter Libby trial on MSNBC and in the Daily Punctilio here in Ft. Wayne. Libby is on trial for perjury as to when and from whom he first heard that Lyin’ Joe Wilson’s wife worked at the CIA. But if you watch MSNBC or read the Daily Punctilio, you’d swear the trial was about manipulation of prewar intelligence. Christy Matthews, David Schuster and Keith Olbermann are all beside themselves. God forbid Libby should be acquitted, they will all require years of therapy.
What never makes it into the MSNBC conversation is that Joe Wilson is a lying sack of excrement. Further none of the great MSNBC thinkers remind the viewer that it was brave courageous Richard – and if ever a guy should be called Dick – Armitage who admitted leaking Lyin’ Joe’s wife’s name to Bob Novak - which started the whole Special Prosecutor thing.
So brave Richard the Dick goes about hobnobbing with the jet set while Rove, Libby et al are being hauled before the Grand Jury multiple times and at great expense to the government and the individuals involved to find out what Richard the Dick and the Special Prosecutor already knew. Richard the Dick also let NY Times reporter Judith Miller cool her heels in prison for over a month. And this is what the fat, bald Uncle Fester look-alike with third world dental work – Richard the Dick – calls being a man.
Then as if that were not enough to make a sane man’s head spin, the CIA gal who was outted turns out not to have been outted at all. Turns out she was just a run of the mill government bureaucrat who happened to drive in and out of the front gate at Langley everyday and was married to a lyin’ Walter Middy type.
The Special Prosecutor knew all of this. He knew that Lyin’ Joe’s wife wasn’t a covered agent and that no crime had been committed by mentioning her name. He knew that Richard the Dick committed the non-crime of mentioning her name. Still the prosecutor continued to haul people before the Grand Jury. There, apparently Scooter Libby lied about or forgot details of the non-crime that others remembered. So now, Libby is on trial for his freedom. Did he lie or just forget the sequence of events? I don’t know.
It’s a sign of a weak argument, I think, when you point to other bad behavior to justify something. That said, look at the other side of the political aisle. Sandy Burger steals and destroys top secret papers from the National Archives and gets off essentially Scott free while Libby faces years in jail for a faulty memory – or at worst – deceiving the Special Prosecutor about events the prosecutor knew were not a crime and even who had committed the non-crime in the first place. Only in America. Only in Washington DC. Only Democrats.
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Former anti-aircraft gunners and stoned out losers against the war
Former actress and anti-aircraft gunner, Hanoi Jane Fonda (HJF) took to the Mall this last weekend to break her silence on the war in Iraq. After telling the crowd of 40-50,000 Geritol users that there were Depends changing stations throughout the Mall, HJF said that she had remained silent because after all of the lies told about her she didn’t want to taint the movement. Lies? What lies? We have the pictures and tapes of HJF giving aid and comfort to the enemy. We have her on record not only condemning the war but the soldiers who fought it. So, what lies? The one where people say she got by on her own talent rather than her husband’s or old man’s last name – that lie? HJF wound up her talk with a reminder that many aluminum walkers look alike, make sure you have your own.
What HJF failed to provided the crowd in beauty, grace, dignity and refinement, Sean Penn provided in intellectual heft. Sean Penn is one those rare guys that actually looks as smart, or in this case dumb, as he really is. Sean Penn is like John Wayne in one way – Wayne never had to act to be Big Jake McCandles, Rooster Cogburn or, in the end the cancer riddled John Bernard Books in The Shootist - Wayne was those guys. And Penn is the guy who started his career, Ridgemont High’s favorite under achiever, the ignorant, stoned out loser Jeff Spicoli – a prefect spokesman for the group that gathered on the Mall and later defaced our Capitol Building with spray paint on Saturday.
But least this time they are sure to remind us, in about every other line, that they support the troops. Yeah right, if you believe that, take your wrecked minivan to Spicoli because his “dad (who happens to be an electronics repairman) has a bitchin’ set of tools.”
What HJF failed to provided the crowd in beauty, grace, dignity and refinement, Sean Penn provided in intellectual heft. Sean Penn is one those rare guys that actually looks as smart, or in this case dumb, as he really is. Sean Penn is like John Wayne in one way – Wayne never had to act to be Big Jake McCandles, Rooster Cogburn or, in the end the cancer riddled John Bernard Books in The Shootist - Wayne was those guys. And Penn is the guy who started his career, Ridgemont High’s favorite under achiever, the ignorant, stoned out loser Jeff Spicoli – a prefect spokesman for the group that gathered on the Mall and later defaced our Capitol Building with spray paint on Saturday.
But least this time they are sure to remind us, in about every other line, that they support the troops. Yeah right, if you believe that, take your wrecked minivan to Spicoli because his “dad (who happens to be an electronics repairman) has a bitchin’ set of tools.”
Monday, January 29, 2007
John, I actualy voted for Kyoto before I voted against it, Kerry
Something must have happened to John Kerry when he was in Cambodia earning his seventh or eighth Purple Heart that week he spent in Vietnam. How can one guy be such a colossal glob of stupidity?
OK there are a lot stupid people out there. Take Joe Biden – please. Here’s an idiot advocating for a partition of Iraq into Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish areas. Fine, who cares? But slow Joe also opposes a troop surge of a measly 21,000 troops. Hey Joe, how many troops do suppose it’ll take to make all the Sunni leave their homes in the Shia’ and Kurd areas and move to – where – in the Sunni area? Now multiply that times three to deal with Kurds and Shia’ being forced to do the same thing. Partition is an idea tantamount to real civil war. Forcibly moving three groups people in every manner imaginable and then forcing them to stay there. So yeah, like “ten years in prison” partition is an easy thing to say but a hard thing to do.
But even Slow Joe is bright enough to just talk in sweeping generalities, “We will partition the county into three autonomous, peace loving, terror hating regions that will form a lose Iraqi state where the riches of the state will be shared, each according to its needs and each according to its abilities, Kumbiyha, oh yeah Kumbiyha.” Then just shut up.
So while John, I voted for it before I voted against it, Kerry may not be the dumbest box of rocks in any given room, he does seem to be the one most willing to demonstrate his stupidity by talking too much to prove, ironically, that he’s the smartest one in the room. As a result we are blessed with idiocy like this from a buffoonish Kerry:
“When we walk away from global warming, Kyoto, when we are irresponsibly slow in moving toward AIDS in Africa, when we don’t advance and live up to our own rhetoric and standards, we set a terrible message of duplicity and hypocrisy.
"So we have a crisis of confidence in the Middle East in the world, really. I’ve never seen our country as isolated, as much as a sort of international pariah for a number of reasons as it is today.”
The United States is a signatory to the Kyoto protocol but has neither ratified nor withdrawn from the protocol. The signature alone is symbolic, as the protocol is, Senate Democrats will love this, non-binding over the United States unless ratified. On July 25, 1997, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed by a 95–0 vote the Byrd-Hagel Resolution. That resolution, non-binding I suppose, stated the sense of the Senate was that the United States should not be a signatory to any protocol that did not include binding targets and timetables for developing as well as industrialized nations or "would result in serious harm to the economy of the United States". Oh yeah John, The Davos Darling, Kerry voted yea on the resolution rejecting Kyoto – and this dolt talks of hypocrisy.
As for AIDS in Africa, John, I’m too smart to add, Kerry decried President Bush’s three fold increase in AIDS aide to Africa over the Clinton administration, a figure the president recently asked congress to double.
Then there’s the whole “international pariah” thing, which if you’re talking about the likes of Iran, Syria, North Korea, China, Russia, Cuba, Venezuela, and France I suppose is true. But who gives a crap about being a pariah among that gang. For that matter who gives a crap about phony allies like some in the EU who probably know that US success in Iraq is in the world’s best interest, but will not lift a finger to help.
So, as if we needed any more proof, John, the pariah, Kerry demonstrates once again what a complete piece of crap he is. How can anyone with a brain take this guy seriously?
OK there are a lot stupid people out there. Take Joe Biden – please. Here’s an idiot advocating for a partition of Iraq into Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish areas. Fine, who cares? But slow Joe also opposes a troop surge of a measly 21,000 troops. Hey Joe, how many troops do suppose it’ll take to make all the Sunni leave their homes in the Shia’ and Kurd areas and move to – where – in the Sunni area? Now multiply that times three to deal with Kurds and Shia’ being forced to do the same thing. Partition is an idea tantamount to real civil war. Forcibly moving three groups people in every manner imaginable and then forcing them to stay there. So yeah, like “ten years in prison” partition is an easy thing to say but a hard thing to do.
But even Slow Joe is bright enough to just talk in sweeping generalities, “We will partition the county into three autonomous, peace loving, terror hating regions that will form a lose Iraqi state where the riches of the state will be shared, each according to its needs and each according to its abilities, Kumbiyha, oh yeah Kumbiyha.” Then just shut up.
So while John, I voted for it before I voted against it, Kerry may not be the dumbest box of rocks in any given room, he does seem to be the one most willing to demonstrate his stupidity by talking too much to prove, ironically, that he’s the smartest one in the room. As a result we are blessed with idiocy like this from a buffoonish Kerry:
“When we walk away from global warming, Kyoto, when we are irresponsibly slow in moving toward AIDS in Africa, when we don’t advance and live up to our own rhetoric and standards, we set a terrible message of duplicity and hypocrisy.
"So we have a crisis of confidence in the Middle East in the world, really. I’ve never seen our country as isolated, as much as a sort of international pariah for a number of reasons as it is today.”
The United States is a signatory to the Kyoto protocol but has neither ratified nor withdrawn from the protocol. The signature alone is symbolic, as the protocol is, Senate Democrats will love this, non-binding over the United States unless ratified. On July 25, 1997, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed by a 95–0 vote the Byrd-Hagel Resolution. That resolution, non-binding I suppose, stated the sense of the Senate was that the United States should not be a signatory to any protocol that did not include binding targets and timetables for developing as well as industrialized nations or "would result in serious harm to the economy of the United States". Oh yeah John, The Davos Darling, Kerry voted yea on the resolution rejecting Kyoto – and this dolt talks of hypocrisy.
As for AIDS in Africa, John, I’m too smart to add, Kerry decried President Bush’s three fold increase in AIDS aide to Africa over the Clinton administration, a figure the president recently asked congress to double.
Then there’s the whole “international pariah” thing, which if you’re talking about the likes of Iran, Syria, North Korea, China, Russia, Cuba, Venezuela, and France I suppose is true. But who gives a crap about being a pariah among that gang. For that matter who gives a crap about phony allies like some in the EU who probably know that US success in Iraq is in the world’s best interest, but will not lift a finger to help.
So, as if we needed any more proof, John, the pariah, Kerry demonstrates once again what a complete piece of crap he is. How can anyone with a brain take this guy seriously?
Friday, January 26, 2007
Impeach Bush? Hmm, I'm thinking.
The great Liberal thinker Rosie O’Donnell has been talking about impeaching President Bush. Hmmm. We’ve seen these Impeach Bush bumper stickers. I wonder if conservative should join the movement so we could get Dick Cheney as president for the next two years? We should all buy one those terribly clever Impeach Bush bumper stickers and then either above or below it place another bumper sticker that reads “America needs Dick Cheney Now”.
While we’re at it we could all get one of those bumper stickers with “Had enough?” on top and “Vote Democrat” under as well. Split the bumper sticker down the middle and substitute “Want to surrender?” for “Had enough.” Come to think of it the possibilities are endless. Try these followed by “Vote Democrat”:
Praise Allah
Like Burkahs?
Like Osama?
Want open borders?
Usted Quiere abierto linda con Mexico?
Want more taxes?
Need a hand out?
Criminals
Hate Christmas?
Hollywood know nothings
Think America’s too strong?
Love Castro?
Want to make stealing from your neighbor legal?
Free everything?
While we’re at it we could all get one of those bumper stickers with “Had enough?” on top and “Vote Democrat” under as well. Split the bumper sticker down the middle and substitute “Want to surrender?” for “Had enough.” Come to think of it the possibilities are endless. Try these followed by “Vote Democrat”:
Praise Allah
Like Burkahs?
Like Osama?
Want open borders?
Usted Quiere abierto linda con Mexico?
Want more taxes?
Need a hand out?
Criminals
Hate Christmas?
Hollywood know nothings
Think America’s too strong?
Love Castro?
Want to make stealing from your neighbor legal?
Free everything?
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Why boost the oil reserve now?
A quiz
Riddle me this Batman, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve was boosted from 778 million barrels of oil to one billion barrels of oil in 2005. Now just as gas is getting under $2.00 a gallon, the president wants to double the reserve, taking another billion barrels of oil off the market. Supply and demand being what they are, do you think gas prices will go up or down as we add an additional billion barrels to the reserve? If prices rise, will Bush’s popularity go up or down? And now the $64,000 question, what does the president know that we don’t that would cause him to risk his already anemic favorability rating to yank a billion more barrels of oil off the market?
Perhaps this what Bush knows:
Iran (From ynetnews)
"Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad… assured that the United States and the Zionist regime of Israel will soon come to the end of their lives," the Iranian president was quoted as saying.
"Sparking discord among Muslims, especially between the Shiites and Sunnis, is a plot hatched by the Zionists and the US for dominating regional nations and looting their resources," Ahmadinejad added, according to the report.
The Iranian president also directly tied events in Lebanon to a wider plan aimed at Israel's destruction. He called on "regional countries" to "support the Islamic resistance of the Lebanese people and strive to enhance solidarity and unity among the different Palestinian groups in a bid to pave the ground for the undermining of the Zionist regime whose demise is, of course, imminent."
North Korea (From Telegraph news)
North Korea is helping Iran to prepare an underground nuclear test similar to the one Pyongyang carried out last year.
Under the terms of a new understanding between the two countries, the North Koreans have agreed to share all the data and information they received from their successful test last October with Teheran's nuclear scientists.
The Bush Doctrine
The U.S. will "make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them".
The State of the Union
To extend this nation's prosperity; to spend the people's money wisely; to solve problems, not leave them to future generations; to guard America against all evil; and to keep faith with those we have sent forth to defend us.
Listen to this warning from the late terrorist Zarqawi: "We will sacrifice our blood and bodies to put an end to your dreams, and what is coming is even worse." Osama bin Laden declared: "Death is better than living on this Earth with the unbelievers among us."
These men are not given to idle words, and they are just one camp in the Islamist radical movement. In recent times, it has also become clear that we face an escalating danger from Shia extremists who are just as hostile to America, and are also determined to dominate the Middle East. Many are known to take direction from the regime in Iran, which is funding and arming terrorists like Hezbollah -- a group second only to al Qaeda in the American lives it has taken.
Hezbollah terrorists, with support from Syria and Iran, sowed conflict in the region and are seeking to undermine Lebanon's legitimately elected government.
Radical Shia elements, some of whom receive support from Iran, formed death squads. The result was a tragic escalation of sectarian rage and reprisal that continues to this day.
The United Nations has imposed sanctions on Iran, and made it clear that the world will not allow the regime in Tehran to acquire nuclear weapons.
We could expect an epic battle between Shia extremists backed by Iran, and Sunni extremists aided by al Qaeda and supporters of the old regime. A contagion of violence could spill out across the country -- and in time, the entire region could be drawn into the conflict.
US Senate
Takes up a non-binding resolution against those who’d do us harm. Iran? No. North Korea? No. Al Qaeda? No. The brave souls who populate the hallowed halls of our congress are taking up a resolution against the President of the United States. Below is note I sent to Chuck Hagel
Dear Senator Hagel
It is doubtful that anyone will ever include in their “Profiles in Courage” a weak craven politician who votes with the majority on a non-binding senate resolution to quit a war. Aside from boosting enemy morale and dampening our own, what possible good does a non-binding resolution serve?
Riddle me this Batman, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve was boosted from 778 million barrels of oil to one billion barrels of oil in 2005. Now just as gas is getting under $2.00 a gallon, the president wants to double the reserve, taking another billion barrels of oil off the market. Supply and demand being what they are, do you think gas prices will go up or down as we add an additional billion barrels to the reserve? If prices rise, will Bush’s popularity go up or down? And now the $64,000 question, what does the president know that we don’t that would cause him to risk his already anemic favorability rating to yank a billion more barrels of oil off the market?
Perhaps this what Bush knows:
Iran (From ynetnews)
"Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad… assured that the United States and the Zionist regime of Israel will soon come to the end of their lives," the Iranian president was quoted as saying.
"Sparking discord among Muslims, especially between the Shiites and Sunnis, is a plot hatched by the Zionists and the US for dominating regional nations and looting their resources," Ahmadinejad added, according to the report.
The Iranian president also directly tied events in Lebanon to a wider plan aimed at Israel's destruction. He called on "regional countries" to "support the Islamic resistance of the Lebanese people and strive to enhance solidarity and unity among the different Palestinian groups in a bid to pave the ground for the undermining of the Zionist regime whose demise is, of course, imminent."
North Korea (From Telegraph news)
North Korea is helping Iran to prepare an underground nuclear test similar to the one Pyongyang carried out last year.
Under the terms of a new understanding between the two countries, the North Koreans have agreed to share all the data and information they received from their successful test last October with Teheran's nuclear scientists.
The Bush Doctrine
The U.S. will "make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them".
The State of the Union
To extend this nation's prosperity; to spend the people's money wisely; to solve problems, not leave them to future generations; to guard America against all evil; and to keep faith with those we have sent forth to defend us.
Listen to this warning from the late terrorist Zarqawi: "We will sacrifice our blood and bodies to put an end to your dreams, and what is coming is even worse." Osama bin Laden declared: "Death is better than living on this Earth with the unbelievers among us."
These men are not given to idle words, and they are just one camp in the Islamist radical movement. In recent times, it has also become clear that we face an escalating danger from Shia extremists who are just as hostile to America, and are also determined to dominate the Middle East. Many are known to take direction from the regime in Iran, which is funding and arming terrorists like Hezbollah -- a group second only to al Qaeda in the American lives it has taken.
Hezbollah terrorists, with support from Syria and Iran, sowed conflict in the region and are seeking to undermine Lebanon's legitimately elected government.
Radical Shia elements, some of whom receive support from Iran, formed death squads. The result was a tragic escalation of sectarian rage and reprisal that continues to this day.
The United Nations has imposed sanctions on Iran, and made it clear that the world will not allow the regime in Tehran to acquire nuclear weapons.
We could expect an epic battle between Shia extremists backed by Iran, and Sunni extremists aided by al Qaeda and supporters of the old regime. A contagion of violence could spill out across the country -- and in time, the entire region could be drawn into the conflict.
US Senate
Takes up a non-binding resolution against those who’d do us harm. Iran? No. North Korea? No. Al Qaeda? No. The brave souls who populate the hallowed halls of our congress are taking up a resolution against the President of the United States. Below is note I sent to Chuck Hagel
Dear Senator Hagel
It is doubtful that anyone will ever include in their “Profiles in Courage” a weak craven politician who votes with the majority on a non-binding senate resolution to quit a war. Aside from boosting enemy morale and dampening our own, what possible good does a non-binding resolution serve?
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Fisking Webb
A light fisking of Senator Jim Webb's response to the president last night:
When one looks at the health of our economy, it’s almost as if we are living in two different countries. Some say that things have never been better. The stock market is at an all-time high, and so are corporate profits. But these benefits are not being fairly shared. When I graduated from college, the average corporate CEO made 20 times what the average worker did; today, it’s nearly 400 times. In other words, it takes the average worker more than a year to make the money that his or her boss makes in one day.
Damn that Bill Gates, Jack Welsh, those oil, manufacturing and airline execs that keep America running in spite of onerous government regulation. I wonder how many Americans are so petty that they ignore their own good fortune to wallow in class envy about the family in the big house across the street. I guess we now know that Jim Webb does. Since he’s taken on class envy as his cause celeb, I guess he’ll be calling out all of the Democrat millionaires like Pelosi, Kennedy, Rockefeller, Kerry, Schumer, Clinton, Tester etc.
Wages and salaries for our workers are at all-time lows as a percentage of national wealth, even though the productivity of American workers is the highest in the world.
I admit I don’t know what that means. I guess it’s something like, “Sure I’m doing great, 8 TVs, 4 cars, a big house, IPODS, computers, two vacations a year, but damn it the boss is doing better and until I make more than he does this is an unfair system!”
Medical costs have skyrocketed. College tuition rates are off the charts. Our manufacturing base is being dismantled and sent overseas. Good American jobs are being sent along with them.
Medical cost have skyrocketed on the back of two events, government intervention into the system through Medicade and Medicare and phony malpractice law suites. Anytime the government steps in and tries to regulate and/or subsidize a market you can bet fraud, mismanagement and over spending will follow. It’s amazing how one’s appetite and tastes change anytime a person thinks someone else is footing the dinner bill. This is what happens when government gets involved in medicine. Every common cold becomes life-threatening, every scrape a serious threat to loss of limb. Common aliments that would have cost us a $15 run to Walgreens now cost our neighbors a $1,500 trip to the clinic. Why $1,500? Well if the doctor doesn’t order every test possible and the patient that comes in with a scraped knee then has a stroke a year and half later, that patient will sue the clinic and some jury, thinking that nobody is really paying, will give the “victim” $187 million dollars.
College tuition increases faster than any service in America but goes largely unchallenged in the hallowed halls of congress because colleges are liberal darlings. Oil prices go up a nickel after a hurricane shuts down gulf drilling and transport and the oil execs get hauled up on the hill, read their rights and the riot act by a bunch know nothings that couldn’t keep a single BP station running through the morning rush. College tuition increases 600% over ten years and the same know nothings want to subsidize the obscene costs without a single question as to why that cost is so high. That subsidy by the way will only cause cost to go higher, because after all, it’s the government not mom and dad footing the bill.
Manufacturing being dismantled? I don’t know. What’s the option? Isolationism? Fords and Chevys that cost 2 times what a foreign manufactured car costs and lasts half as long – is that the answer?
I want to share with all of you a picture that I have carried with me for more than 50 years. This is my father, when he was a young Air Force captain, flying cargo planes during the Berlin Airlift…I recall the words of former general and soon-to-be President Dwight Eisenhower during the dark days of the Korean War, which had fallen into a bloody stalemate. “When comes the end?”
Did Truman and Eisenhower quit, ceding Berlin and South Korea to the enemy? Jim? Webb? Class? Anyone? No. Anyone?
The President took us into this war recklessly.
How great it would be to be a Liberal unencumbered by silly little things like facts when making an argument. I wonder if Webb knows that in his run up to the Iraq war President Bush made essentially the same arguments as President Clinton did on Feb 17, 1998 in an address to Pentagon personnel. I wonder if Webb knows that President Bush’s arguments essentially echoed the thoughts of such Democrat luminaries as Carl Levin, Jay Rockefeller, John Kerry and ten other Democrats supporting military action against Saddam in an October 9, 1998 letter to President Clinton.
How great it’d be to be an uninformed Liberal, then I could call this “George Bush’s war” because I’d be totally ignorant of comments and votes in support of the war by Senators John Kerry, Jay Rockefeller, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards et al. How great it’d be not to know that the Iraq War Resolution Passed the House 296-133 with 126 Democrats voting Yea and passed the Senate 77 to 23 with 28 Democrats voting yea. If I were a Liberal, I’d probably have forgotten or never knew that public support for the war was over 70% at the start.
Now things are a bit tougher and the sunshine patriots and summer soldiers want to quit. That's very Truman and Eisenhoweresque, don’t you think? Jim? Webb? Class? Anyone?
When one looks at the health of our economy, it’s almost as if we are living in two different countries. Some say that things have never been better. The stock market is at an all-time high, and so are corporate profits. But these benefits are not being fairly shared. When I graduated from college, the average corporate CEO made 20 times what the average worker did; today, it’s nearly 400 times. In other words, it takes the average worker more than a year to make the money that his or her boss makes in one day.
Damn that Bill Gates, Jack Welsh, those oil, manufacturing and airline execs that keep America running in spite of onerous government regulation. I wonder how many Americans are so petty that they ignore their own good fortune to wallow in class envy about the family in the big house across the street. I guess we now know that Jim Webb does. Since he’s taken on class envy as his cause celeb, I guess he’ll be calling out all of the Democrat millionaires like Pelosi, Kennedy, Rockefeller, Kerry, Schumer, Clinton, Tester etc.
Wages and salaries for our workers are at all-time lows as a percentage of national wealth, even though the productivity of American workers is the highest in the world.
I admit I don’t know what that means. I guess it’s something like, “Sure I’m doing great, 8 TVs, 4 cars, a big house, IPODS, computers, two vacations a year, but damn it the boss is doing better and until I make more than he does this is an unfair system!”
Medical costs have skyrocketed. College tuition rates are off the charts. Our manufacturing base is being dismantled and sent overseas. Good American jobs are being sent along with them.
Medical cost have skyrocketed on the back of two events, government intervention into the system through Medicade and Medicare and phony malpractice law suites. Anytime the government steps in and tries to regulate and/or subsidize a market you can bet fraud, mismanagement and over spending will follow. It’s amazing how one’s appetite and tastes change anytime a person thinks someone else is footing the dinner bill. This is what happens when government gets involved in medicine. Every common cold becomes life-threatening, every scrape a serious threat to loss of limb. Common aliments that would have cost us a $15 run to Walgreens now cost our neighbors a $1,500 trip to the clinic. Why $1,500? Well if the doctor doesn’t order every test possible and the patient that comes in with a scraped knee then has a stroke a year and half later, that patient will sue the clinic and some jury, thinking that nobody is really paying, will give the “victim” $187 million dollars.
College tuition increases faster than any service in America but goes largely unchallenged in the hallowed halls of congress because colleges are liberal darlings. Oil prices go up a nickel after a hurricane shuts down gulf drilling and transport and the oil execs get hauled up on the hill, read their rights and the riot act by a bunch know nothings that couldn’t keep a single BP station running through the morning rush. College tuition increases 600% over ten years and the same know nothings want to subsidize the obscene costs without a single question as to why that cost is so high. That subsidy by the way will only cause cost to go higher, because after all, it’s the government not mom and dad footing the bill.
Manufacturing being dismantled? I don’t know. What’s the option? Isolationism? Fords and Chevys that cost 2 times what a foreign manufactured car costs and lasts half as long – is that the answer?
I want to share with all of you a picture that I have carried with me for more than 50 years. This is my father, when he was a young Air Force captain, flying cargo planes during the Berlin Airlift…I recall the words of former general and soon-to-be President Dwight Eisenhower during the dark days of the Korean War, which had fallen into a bloody stalemate. “When comes the end?”
Did Truman and Eisenhower quit, ceding Berlin and South Korea to the enemy? Jim? Webb? Class? Anyone? No. Anyone?
The President took us into this war recklessly.
How great it would be to be a Liberal unencumbered by silly little things like facts when making an argument. I wonder if Webb knows that in his run up to the Iraq war President Bush made essentially the same arguments as President Clinton did on Feb 17, 1998 in an address to Pentagon personnel. I wonder if Webb knows that President Bush’s arguments essentially echoed the thoughts of such Democrat luminaries as Carl Levin, Jay Rockefeller, John Kerry and ten other Democrats supporting military action against Saddam in an October 9, 1998 letter to President Clinton.
How great it’d be to be an uninformed Liberal, then I could call this “George Bush’s war” because I’d be totally ignorant of comments and votes in support of the war by Senators John Kerry, Jay Rockefeller, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards et al. How great it’d be not to know that the Iraq War Resolution Passed the House 296-133 with 126 Democrats voting Yea and passed the Senate 77 to 23 with 28 Democrats voting yea. If I were a Liberal, I’d probably have forgotten or never knew that public support for the war was over 70% at the start.
Now things are a bit tougher and the sunshine patriots and summer soldiers want to quit. That's very Truman and Eisenhoweresque, don’t you think? Jim? Webb? Class? Anyone?
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Today everyone thinks he is the Commander in Chief
What is going on now with regard to the president’s troop surge in Iraq is proof positive that there are not three politicians in America today smart enough to have made a positive contribution to the Constitutional Convention of 1787. The 55 delegates to the Philadelphia Convention that gave us our Constitution had a broad understanding of things military, commercial, governmental and most of all they had an understanding of the rights and responsibilities of free men.
Today the politicians have a broad understanding of how to pander to a constituency. They seem more men of convenience than of conviction. The Iraq War Resolution Passed the House 296-133 with 126 Democrats voting Yea and passed the Senate 77 to 23 with 25 Democrats voting yea. Public support for the war was over 70% at the start. Now many of the sunshine patriots and summer soldiers who voted for the war think that they should be president. And so, in an effort to appeal to the uninformed and maintain their own political viability, these pillars of silly putty are undermining the US and the war they voted for by sounding as if they opposed the war from the start.
The 55 delegates at the Philadelphia Convention knew that a nation could not fight a war with 55, 155, 255 or 535 commanders. So the Founders inserted Section 2, Clause 1 into Article II of the Constitution – “The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States;”. Pretty darn clear isn’t it? Not clear enough apparently for the men of convenience who after voting for the war now want to run the war. They are dividing up into camps each proposing a different strategy to quit rather than win.
Rare indeed is a profile in courage that will stand with the Commander and proclaim, “This body authorized this Commander in Chief the authority to go to war in Iraq. It is now our responsibility to provide the means necessary to win the war.” How gratifying it must be to al Qaida, Hamas, Hezbollah et al to see the spineless jellyfish that make up America’s body politic today. How disappointing it must be to the Founders.
Today the politicians have a broad understanding of how to pander to a constituency. They seem more men of convenience than of conviction. The Iraq War Resolution Passed the House 296-133 with 126 Democrats voting Yea and passed the Senate 77 to 23 with 25 Democrats voting yea. Public support for the war was over 70% at the start. Now many of the sunshine patriots and summer soldiers who voted for the war think that they should be president. And so, in an effort to appeal to the uninformed and maintain their own political viability, these pillars of silly putty are undermining the US and the war they voted for by sounding as if they opposed the war from the start.
The 55 delegates at the Philadelphia Convention knew that a nation could not fight a war with 55, 155, 255 or 535 commanders. So the Founders inserted Section 2, Clause 1 into Article II of the Constitution – “The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States;”. Pretty darn clear isn’t it? Not clear enough apparently for the men of convenience who after voting for the war now want to run the war. They are dividing up into camps each proposing a different strategy to quit rather than win.
Rare indeed is a profile in courage that will stand with the Commander and proclaim, “This body authorized this Commander in Chief the authority to go to war in Iraq. It is now our responsibility to provide the means necessary to win the war.” How gratifying it must be to al Qaida, Hamas, Hezbollah et al to see the spineless jellyfish that make up America’s body politic today. How disappointing it must be to the Founders.
Monday, January 22, 2007
Dems can't get by on "living wage"
Well it’s official. The official cost of raising a family in America is $15,080 a year or $1,256.67 a month or $290 a week or $7.25 an hour. $7.25 is what Democrats decided would be the new minimum/living wage and even that is phased in over two years.
$15,080? That wouldn’t cover Fat Teddy Kennedy’s weekly bar tab, a weekend at Teresa’s Aspen ski chalet for gold digger John Kerry, Nancy Pelosi’s monthly cosmetic buy or a down payment on another phantom land deal for Scrawny Harry. Dems promised a living wage. Now they have determined that $15,080 is a living wage even though not one of them would ever try to get by on $15,080 a year.
Like most things, employers and employees ought to be able to negotiate employment without interference from the Federal Government. I notice that the Dems don’t offer legislation that an employee must work for one year at the minimum wage. Why not?
The minimum wage is a tool of the unions. That is who the Dems are sucking up to. Because there are so few of them, Dems could care less about minimum wage workers. Dems are catering to the union crowd who use the minimum wage as leverage to argue higher wages for themselves. It’s that simple. Union votes – that’s why Wal-Mart is a boogey man and the minimum wage a cause celeb for Dems - union votes.
$15,080? That wouldn’t cover Fat Teddy Kennedy’s weekly bar tab, a weekend at Teresa’s Aspen ski chalet for gold digger John Kerry, Nancy Pelosi’s monthly cosmetic buy or a down payment on another phantom land deal for Scrawny Harry. Dems promised a living wage. Now they have determined that $15,080 is a living wage even though not one of them would ever try to get by on $15,080 a year.
Like most things, employers and employees ought to be able to negotiate employment without interference from the Federal Government. I notice that the Dems don’t offer legislation that an employee must work for one year at the minimum wage. Why not?
The minimum wage is a tool of the unions. That is who the Dems are sucking up to. Because there are so few of them, Dems could care less about minimum wage workers. Dems are catering to the union crowd who use the minimum wage as leverage to argue higher wages for themselves. It’s that simple. Union votes – that’s why Wal-Mart is a boogey man and the minimum wage a cause celeb for Dems - union votes.
Friday, January 19, 2007
24 Vs. the Doomsday Clock
Not that we would ever expect them to be consistent but, Libs have been more inconsistent (ie hypocritical) than usual of late.
24 Vs. the Doomsday Clock. When the producers and writers of the Fox hit show 24 decided to blow up part of Los Angeles with a suitcase nuke, the Libs went nuts. Why this is just the Fox TV network trying to prop up Bush. Even while Libs were getting off zingers like, “Not even Jack Bauer can save Bush” and “Bush is more in need of an episode of ‘Touched by an Angle’ than 24” they remained apoplectic over the 24 episode.
MSNBC and CNN brought in panels of like-minded Libs to confirm their first suspicions, that 24 was nothing more than a shill for Bush. How long can it be before a permanently bug-eyed Nancy Pelosi and phantom real estate mogul and good-time Christmas tipper Scrawny Harry Reid haul the entire 24 crew before congressional hearings?
Then there is the Doomsday clock. While 24 moves along supposedly at real time, the Doomsday clock is permanently stuck just a few minutes from mid-night – mid-night being the time that the world will be destroyed by man’s folly. You know, nukes, global warming, famine, pestilence, another Clinton presidency that sort of thing. How do you get that gig – being in charge of clock that doesn’t keep time - sort of like the Dems 100 hour clock that let hundreds of hours tick off unnoticed? I have a couple here at home but nobody calls to ask what the time is on them. Anyway, the scientists who run the clock have moved the minute hand closer to mid-night because, "The major new step reflects growing concerns about a 'Second Nuclear Age' marked by grave threats, including: nuclear ambitions in Iran and North Korea, unsecured nuclear materials in Russia and elsewhere…” But because the Doomsday group and Libs are about as equally optimistic about America and our future, MSNBC and CNN had like minded guests and panels on telling us how the advance of the Doomsday Clock shows how Bush has made the world less safe. No doubt wide-eyed Nancy and Land Office Harry will soon have the Doomsday group up to testify how badly Bush has screwed things up.
How does all of this work in a Lib brain? A fake TV show that shows nukes going off in LA is shilling for Bush. A fake clock that shows nukes might soon be going off in LA needs to be taken seriously.
24 Vs. the Doomsday Clock. When the producers and writers of the Fox hit show 24 decided to blow up part of Los Angeles with a suitcase nuke, the Libs went nuts. Why this is just the Fox TV network trying to prop up Bush. Even while Libs were getting off zingers like, “Not even Jack Bauer can save Bush” and “Bush is more in need of an episode of ‘Touched by an Angle’ than 24” they remained apoplectic over the 24 episode.
MSNBC and CNN brought in panels of like-minded Libs to confirm their first suspicions, that 24 was nothing more than a shill for Bush. How long can it be before a permanently bug-eyed Nancy Pelosi and phantom real estate mogul and good-time Christmas tipper Scrawny Harry Reid haul the entire 24 crew before congressional hearings?
Then there is the Doomsday clock. While 24 moves along supposedly at real time, the Doomsday clock is permanently stuck just a few minutes from mid-night – mid-night being the time that the world will be destroyed by man’s folly. You know, nukes, global warming, famine, pestilence, another Clinton presidency that sort of thing. How do you get that gig – being in charge of clock that doesn’t keep time - sort of like the Dems 100 hour clock that let hundreds of hours tick off unnoticed? I have a couple here at home but nobody calls to ask what the time is on them. Anyway, the scientists who run the clock have moved the minute hand closer to mid-night because, "The major new step reflects growing concerns about a 'Second Nuclear Age' marked by grave threats, including: nuclear ambitions in Iran and North Korea, unsecured nuclear materials in Russia and elsewhere…” But because the Doomsday group and Libs are about as equally optimistic about America and our future, MSNBC and CNN had like minded guests and panels on telling us how the advance of the Doomsday Clock shows how Bush has made the world less safe. No doubt wide-eyed Nancy and Land Office Harry will soon have the Doomsday group up to testify how badly Bush has screwed things up.
How does all of this work in a Lib brain? A fake TV show that shows nukes going off in LA is shilling for Bush. A fake clock that shows nukes might soon be going off in LA needs to be taken seriously.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Dem strategy: Quit then blame the consequences on Bush
The Islamo-terror-fascists have declared that the war in Iraq is the major battle against the US, but for reasons political, Americans have not recognized that fact. Just like the ITF have declared war on us for the last 25 years. We were happy to go along with ships, planes and buildings being blown to pieces at regular intervals as long as it didn’t happen here and as long as the death toll was something less than 3,000 people killed in a single day.
We were at war for a short time after 9-11, but that was five years ago. Now, it has been over five years and still no victory parade. It's taking too long. I can make popcorn in the microwave in 40 seconds, why is this war taking so damn long? Besides, it is play-off time and all of this talk of war is ruining all of the parties.
We should remember it’s not about Iraq. It’s about us. One thing missing from the president’s recent address on Iraq was line something like, “We will stay in Iraq as long as our national interests demand.”
It is in our national interest to keep killing foreign fighters in Iraq rather than the US.
It is in our national interest to keep Iraq from becoming a base of operation from which Islamo-terror-fascists can operate.
It is in our national interest to keep the region and the oil price stable – because we refuse to become energy self-sufficient.
It is in our national interest to change the paradigm of how the US operates in Middle East from one which does business with every manner of brutal dictator, king, emir etc. to one that does business with leaders who represent the people they govern.
But Lex, that’s an open ended commitment. Yes it is. It’s like the old Fram Oil Filter commercial, “you can pay me now, or you can pay me later.” People who tell us we can just retreat from Iraq with no consequences are selling us a bridge that they don’t own. There certainly will be consequences if we quit, and I predict dire consequences at that. But whatever the consequences after the retreat that they impose, Democrats, the MSM and microwave Americans will blame them on Bush.
Well of course Iraq spiraled into civil war – a real one not that phony baloney civil war we and the MSM hyped for three years – but that never would have happened if Bush hadn’t botched the war we voted for in the first place.
No doubt tens of thousands have been butchered, but that never would have happened if Bush hadn’t botched the war we voted for in the first place.
Why of course the ITF are emboldened and dancing in the streets threatening every government in the Middle East, but that never would have happened if Bush hadn’t botched the war we voted for in the first place.
Sure oil prices have spiked to over $100 a barrel wrecking many Western economies, but that never would have happened if Bush hadn’t botched the war we voted for in the first place.
Of course our allies don’t trust that we’ll ever finish a job, but that never would have happened if Bush hadn’t botched the war we voted for in the first place.
We were at war for a short time after 9-11, but that was five years ago. Now, it has been over five years and still no victory parade. It's taking too long. I can make popcorn in the microwave in 40 seconds, why is this war taking so damn long? Besides, it is play-off time and all of this talk of war is ruining all of the parties.
We should remember it’s not about Iraq. It’s about us. One thing missing from the president’s recent address on Iraq was line something like, “We will stay in Iraq as long as our national interests demand.”
It is in our national interest to keep killing foreign fighters in Iraq rather than the US.
It is in our national interest to keep Iraq from becoming a base of operation from which Islamo-terror-fascists can operate.
It is in our national interest to keep the region and the oil price stable – because we refuse to become energy self-sufficient.
It is in our national interest to change the paradigm of how the US operates in Middle East from one which does business with every manner of brutal dictator, king, emir etc. to one that does business with leaders who represent the people they govern.
But Lex, that’s an open ended commitment. Yes it is. It’s like the old Fram Oil Filter commercial, “you can pay me now, or you can pay me later.” People who tell us we can just retreat from Iraq with no consequences are selling us a bridge that they don’t own. There certainly will be consequences if we quit, and I predict dire consequences at that. But whatever the consequences after the retreat that they impose, Democrats, the MSM and microwave Americans will blame them on Bush.
Well of course Iraq spiraled into civil war – a real one not that phony baloney civil war we and the MSM hyped for three years – but that never would have happened if Bush hadn’t botched the war we voted for in the first place.
No doubt tens of thousands have been butchered, but that never would have happened if Bush hadn’t botched the war we voted for in the first place.
Why of course the ITF are emboldened and dancing in the streets threatening every government in the Middle East, but that never would have happened if Bush hadn’t botched the war we voted for in the first place.
Sure oil prices have spiked to over $100 a barrel wrecking many Western economies, but that never would have happened if Bush hadn’t botched the war we voted for in the first place.
Of course our allies don’t trust that we’ll ever finish a job, but that never would have happened if Bush hadn’t botched the war we voted for in the first place.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Don't worry Hillary will save us
There are intelligence reports that the Islamo-terror-fascists are already pulling out of Baghdad ahead of the US surge. This is a classic insurgent tactic – never offer battle when the opponent is strong. Look for the gaps in the opponent’s defense instead of impaling your forces on his strong points. So the ITF are headed to safer places in a nation the size of California. No doubt the ITF have informed their propaganda arm, aka the American MSM, where they are headed so that the steady drip of nightly car bombs on the six o’clock news can continue.
Are 20,000 additional troops enough to secure the entire country? Nope, not even close. But it appears to be enough to run a number of the ITF out of Baghdad without a shot. The idea was to secure Baghdad to give the fledgling Iraqi government some breathing room. The insurgency, it seems, is willing to husband its forces until the Democrats and other microwave Americans get impatient and, in spite of our national interests, pull out of Iraq. Then they will return with a vengeance.
If Iraq descends into a civil war, watch out. The entire region could follow. Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the rest of the Gulf States are unlikely to sit idly by while an Iraqi Shiite majority – but Muslim minority – butcher an Iraqi Sunni minority, which happens to be a Muslim majority. But then Iran is Shiite majority as well. So the entire region could explode into a regional sectarian war. Can you say $300 for a barrel of oil? Why we continue to place our collective heads in the sand and forego a national energy policy that exploits our own nuclear, renewable and natural fossil fuel advantages is an absolute mystery to me.
One hope is that Bush is able to hold the whole thing together until Hillary and Obama get elected ’08. Agggghgggah, Hillary elected in ’08, Lex you damn traitor!! Well, we know that Democrats will not fight under a Republican president – Vietnam. Dems cut off funding to introduce troops into South Vietnam when the North closed in on Saigon. As a result 2 million Cambodians were killed and 100s of thousands of Vietnamese were killed or imprisoned. That was Southeast Asia. There was no threat of Vietnam blowing up Washington DC.
Iraq is Southwest Asia and there is every indication that once the ITF settle the score in their own region they will definitely come after us. With Dems in control of the White house the House and Senate, they will own the war on terror. Sticking their heads up their butts and sniping at Bush from the safety of the sidelines won’t do. They will have to fight the war. Hopefully Conservative will help to win the war rather than seek political advantage as the Dems have done thus far. 4-8-12 years of Dem control and victory in the war on terror with all of the domestic social downside may be preferable to SWA falling into chaos. Hell no, I will never vote for Hillary – ever!
Hillary and Obama in the White House, Lex what’s the good news? Well the kooks that run the doomsday clock recently advanced the minute hand of that clock closer to mid-night.
Are 20,000 additional troops enough to secure the entire country? Nope, not even close. But it appears to be enough to run a number of the ITF out of Baghdad without a shot. The idea was to secure Baghdad to give the fledgling Iraqi government some breathing room. The insurgency, it seems, is willing to husband its forces until the Democrats and other microwave Americans get impatient and, in spite of our national interests, pull out of Iraq. Then they will return with a vengeance.
If Iraq descends into a civil war, watch out. The entire region could follow. Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the rest of the Gulf States are unlikely to sit idly by while an Iraqi Shiite majority – but Muslim minority – butcher an Iraqi Sunni minority, which happens to be a Muslim majority. But then Iran is Shiite majority as well. So the entire region could explode into a regional sectarian war. Can you say $300 for a barrel of oil? Why we continue to place our collective heads in the sand and forego a national energy policy that exploits our own nuclear, renewable and natural fossil fuel advantages is an absolute mystery to me.
One hope is that Bush is able to hold the whole thing together until Hillary and Obama get elected ’08. Agggghgggah, Hillary elected in ’08, Lex you damn traitor!! Well, we know that Democrats will not fight under a Republican president – Vietnam. Dems cut off funding to introduce troops into South Vietnam when the North closed in on Saigon. As a result 2 million Cambodians were killed and 100s of thousands of Vietnamese were killed or imprisoned. That was Southeast Asia. There was no threat of Vietnam blowing up Washington DC.
Iraq is Southwest Asia and there is every indication that once the ITF settle the score in their own region they will definitely come after us. With Dems in control of the White house the House and Senate, they will own the war on terror. Sticking their heads up their butts and sniping at Bush from the safety of the sidelines won’t do. They will have to fight the war. Hopefully Conservative will help to win the war rather than seek political advantage as the Dems have done thus far. 4-8-12 years of Dem control and victory in the war on terror with all of the domestic social downside may be preferable to SWA falling into chaos. Hell no, I will never vote for Hillary – ever!
Hillary and Obama in the White House, Lex what’s the good news? Well the kooks that run the doomsday clock recently advanced the minute hand of that clock closer to mid-night.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Troop surge
I had a conversation with an acquaintance a couple of days ago about the surge. The man thought it was too little too late. I said I’d have preferred five divisions to five brigades but that the new rules of engagement are themselves force multipliers. The man asked, how so? Well if there is a riot and people begin looting, there are two ways to stop the riot and looting. One is by massive police intervention, apprehending, arresting, booking, charging, trying and incarcerating the perps. This is a huge manpower, administrative and financial sink whole.
The other way to get the riot and looting under control is by changing the rules of engagement. The mayor could announce that looters will shot. After the police actually shoot a couple, you’d be surprised how quickly a riotous, looting mob becomes a group of model citizens. What President Bush has done is essentially said, we’re going to begin shooting the looters in Iraq.
The big difference of course is that the Islamo-terror-fascists are playing for far more than a new color TV. It’ll be interesting to see how many of the rank and file terrorists want to test the theory of the 72 virgins when an additional 20,000 Yanks show up willing to oblige them in ways that heretofore we have not.
On a different note, does anyone else find it odd that the world has its panties in a wad because Saddam’s half brother lost his head in a botched hanging (too much rope for the fall it seems)? I can’t imagine that it matters at this point. One has to wonder how many beheadings and other awful deaths Al Takriti was responsible for while the same people who are moralizing now over his severed head sat quiet.
The other way to get the riot and looting under control is by changing the rules of engagement. The mayor could announce that looters will shot. After the police actually shoot a couple, you’d be surprised how quickly a riotous, looting mob becomes a group of model citizens. What President Bush has done is essentially said, we’re going to begin shooting the looters in Iraq.
The big difference of course is that the Islamo-terror-fascists are playing for far more than a new color TV. It’ll be interesting to see how many of the rank and file terrorists want to test the theory of the 72 virgins when an additional 20,000 Yanks show up willing to oblige them in ways that heretofore we have not.
On a different note, does anyone else find it odd that the world has its panties in a wad because Saddam’s half brother lost his head in a botched hanging (too much rope for the fall it seems)? I can’t imagine that it matters at this point. One has to wonder how many beheadings and other awful deaths Al Takriti was responsible for while the same people who are moralizing now over his severed head sat quiet.
Monday, January 15, 2007
Race relations
On the way to dropping Lex jr. off at school this morning, I heard a local pastor say that taking a day off from school to celebrate Dr. King’s life was counterproductive and sends a wrong message. The last thing children need is another day at the mall. Two things struck me by these comments. First, here was a real pastor, with a real congregation, offering counterintuitive advice for celebrating Dr. Kings life. I wondered what the rest of the day would bring from the congregation-less race-baiting set of “reverends”. Then I wondered if we were making any progress in race relations - in some places, yes – in others, no.
My first clue that we were making progress on race came when I entered the back gate near base housing at Marine Corps base at 29 Palms, California in 1980 something. There I saw a large group of kids playing in the street. The kids were of every skin color imaginable and all were running laughing and having a good time. The next indicator came when I had to tell two of my staff sergeants, one black one white, that they had been passed over for promotion. Neither was very bright, which accounted in large part for their being passed over, and both claimed racism was responsible for their failure.
I really think that the military is about as good as we’re ever going to do with regard to integration and it is far from perfect. The military requires that people get along. It puts them situations where their well-being and at times even their lives depend upon their mutual trust and cooperation. As a result, the most ardent racist becomes more interested in a man’s job proficiency than the color of his skin.
Probably the least progressive environment in America today is the college campus. These bastions of tolerance, deep (politically correct) thinking, respect, liberal thought and love are about the only places in America where a fraud like the Duke rape case could gain traction. While our military requires that everyone in a unit eat, sleep, work and play together our universities are promoting segregated dorms, fraternities and student unions.
Then it’s these very institutions that kick ROTC and military recruiters off campus for not being sensitive to women’s or gay rights. Well if the military followed the example being set on campus today, they’d take a huge leap backwards and create all women’s units, black units, Catholic units etc. There are few things in life more tiresome than being lectured by a hypocrite. You want diversity? Stay off campus. Join the Marines
My first clue that we were making progress on race came when I entered the back gate near base housing at Marine Corps base at 29 Palms, California in 1980 something. There I saw a large group of kids playing in the street. The kids were of every skin color imaginable and all were running laughing and having a good time. The next indicator came when I had to tell two of my staff sergeants, one black one white, that they had been passed over for promotion. Neither was very bright, which accounted in large part for their being passed over, and both claimed racism was responsible for their failure.
I really think that the military is about as good as we’re ever going to do with regard to integration and it is far from perfect. The military requires that people get along. It puts them situations where their well-being and at times even their lives depend upon their mutual trust and cooperation. As a result, the most ardent racist becomes more interested in a man’s job proficiency than the color of his skin.
Probably the least progressive environment in America today is the college campus. These bastions of tolerance, deep (politically correct) thinking, respect, liberal thought and love are about the only places in America where a fraud like the Duke rape case could gain traction. While our military requires that everyone in a unit eat, sleep, work and play together our universities are promoting segregated dorms, fraternities and student unions.
Then it’s these very institutions that kick ROTC and military recruiters off campus for not being sensitive to women’s or gay rights. Well if the military followed the example being set on campus today, they’d take a huge leap backwards and create all women’s units, black units, Catholic units etc. There are few things in life more tiresome than being lectured by a hypocrite. You want diversity? Stay off campus. Join the Marines
Friday, January 12, 2007
America gets what it voted for
So let’s see we’re about 20 hours into the Democrat’s first 100 hours and what do we have:
Ethics reform – except for Rep. Alan B. Mollohan, a West Virginia Democrat currently under Justice Department investigation for steering more than $200 million to five nonprofit groups in his West Virginia district, Rep William Jefferson, a Louisiana Democrat under investigation for having $110,000 of marked FBI money in his freezer, Rep Alcee Hastings, a Florida Democrat and former impeached federal judge and Rep Keith Ellison, Nation of Islam Democrat who has yet to meet a cop killer that he doesn’t like, a parking ticket he will pay or an Islamic nut-job he won’t speak in favor of, every thing is looking very ethical.
Minimum wage reform – I cannot understand why the Democrats don’t just raise the minimum wage to $88 an hour and run Wal-Mart, Big Tobacco, Big Pharmaceutical, and Big Oil out of business. But then there’s this - a major tuna company in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco district is being exempted from the minimum-wage increase that Democrats approved this week. Hmm, maybe Ms. Speaker’s name needs to be added to the list of the ethically challenged above. What’s good enough for Big Tuna ought to be good enough for the rest of us.
Embryonic stem cell research – of all the idiocy perpetrated so far by Democrats, this may be the most idiotic. Just as science discovers that you don’t have to destroy embryos to get these stem cells, the Democrats pass legislation to increase federal funding to destroy them anyway. Also notice that the legislation says nothing about the legality of embryonic stem cell research. It’s perfectly legal for Michael J. Fox and the rest of the stem cell crowd to pour all of the money they can afford into this type of research. But they don’t. Like all Libs they prefer the government (i.e. you & me) pay for their harebrain ideas. Wouldn’t Big Greedy Medical be all over this type of research if it were as promising as Libs claim? Then they could charge confiscatory rates for treatments and make even more money off of the sick and dying. If government finds the cure, it’ll cost ten times as much but Libs will be happy because the government will give it away as an entitlement. After all its the right of every American to live forever without so much as a headcold - right?
Today the Dems take up Hillary Care II – they start to mess with people’s choices in the purchase of prescription drugs. The Dems are using the VA as model to say that the government’s big purchasing power can lead to huge savings in providing Medicare drugs. What they don’t tell you is that the many drugs used by Medicare patients are not available or have restricted use criteria in the VA system. No doubt the drug companies in Ms. Speaker’s district will be exempt from any program imposed by the government.
Ethics reform – except for Rep. Alan B. Mollohan, a West Virginia Democrat currently under Justice Department investigation for steering more than $200 million to five nonprofit groups in his West Virginia district, Rep William Jefferson, a Louisiana Democrat under investigation for having $110,000 of marked FBI money in his freezer, Rep Alcee Hastings, a Florida Democrat and former impeached federal judge and Rep Keith Ellison, Nation of Islam Democrat who has yet to meet a cop killer that he doesn’t like, a parking ticket he will pay or an Islamic nut-job he won’t speak in favor of, every thing is looking very ethical.
Minimum wage reform – I cannot understand why the Democrats don’t just raise the minimum wage to $88 an hour and run Wal-Mart, Big Tobacco, Big Pharmaceutical, and Big Oil out of business. But then there’s this - a major tuna company in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco district is being exempted from the minimum-wage increase that Democrats approved this week. Hmm, maybe Ms. Speaker’s name needs to be added to the list of the ethically challenged above. What’s good enough for Big Tuna ought to be good enough for the rest of us.
Embryonic stem cell research – of all the idiocy perpetrated so far by Democrats, this may be the most idiotic. Just as science discovers that you don’t have to destroy embryos to get these stem cells, the Democrats pass legislation to increase federal funding to destroy them anyway. Also notice that the legislation says nothing about the legality of embryonic stem cell research. It’s perfectly legal for Michael J. Fox and the rest of the stem cell crowd to pour all of the money they can afford into this type of research. But they don’t. Like all Libs they prefer the government (i.e. you & me) pay for their harebrain ideas. Wouldn’t Big Greedy Medical be all over this type of research if it were as promising as Libs claim? Then they could charge confiscatory rates for treatments and make even more money off of the sick and dying. If government finds the cure, it’ll cost ten times as much but Libs will be happy because the government will give it away as an entitlement. After all its the right of every American to live forever without so much as a headcold - right?
Today the Dems take up Hillary Care II – they start to mess with people’s choices in the purchase of prescription drugs. The Dems are using the VA as model to say that the government’s big purchasing power can lead to huge savings in providing Medicare drugs. What they don’t tell you is that the many drugs used by Medicare patients are not available or have restricted use criteria in the VA system. No doubt the drug companies in Ms. Speaker’s district will be exempt from any program imposed by the government.
Thursday, January 11, 2007
So far, so good
Well for the most part I’m happy with the plan for Iraq. I’d have preferred to see 20,000 troops for the surge in and around Baghdad and an additional 2 Army Cavalry Regiments for the borders with Syria and Iran. But it appears as if the president was reading Lex when he said:
Our past efforts to secure Baghdad failed for two principal reasons: There were not enough Iraqi and American troops to secure neighborhoods that had been cleared of terrorists and insurgents. And there were too many restrictions on the troops we did have. Our military commanders reviewed the new Iraqi plan to ensure that it addressed these mistakes. They report that it does. They also report that this plan can work…
In earlier operations, political and sectarian interference prevented Iraqi and American forces from going into neighborhoods that are home to those fueling the sectarian violence. This time, Iraqi and American forces will have a green light to enter these neighborhoods – and Prime Minister Maliki has pledged that political or sectarian interference will not be tolerated.
That Mr. & Mrs. America is called a change to the Rules of Engagement or ROE Lex called for two posts under. The change in ROE is in itself is a force multiplier. This will allow the 4,000 Marines headed for Anbar Province to kick ass and take names. Dead terrorists "don't return" once cleared. The neighborhoods the president is talking about are Sadr Army neighborhoods. Sadr’s Madhi Army is about to become the Madhi Fire Team (for the unwashed: A fire team is a Marine three man combat team). Not causing Sadr to assume room temperature two years ago was one of the mistakes the president accepted responsibility for at the start of the speech.
Also encouraging was the information that another carrier strike group was headed to the Gulf region. That bit of information followed this:
Succeeding in Iraq also requires defending its territorial integrity – and stabilizing the region in the face of the extremist challenge. This begins with addressing Iran and Syria. These two regimes are allowing terrorists and insurgents to use their territory to move in and out of Iraq. Iran is providing material support for attacks on American troops. We will disrupt the attacks on our forces. We will interrupt the flow of support from Iran and Syria. And we will seek out and destroy the networks providing advanced weaponry and training to our enemies in Iraq.
Let me see, “we will seek out and destroy the networks providing advanced weaponry and training to our enemies” followed by, “I recently ordered the deployment of an additional carrier strike group to the region.” Hmm, does anyone else think these two developments just might be linked?
Will the plan work? I don’t know. I do know that dealing with Syria and Iran now is a good thing. I do know killing the Islamo-terror-fascists in Anbar is good thing. I do know watching Sadr soil himself in the face an unrelenting US Army assault into “his neighborhoods” is a good thing. But at the end of the day R.C. Durbin was right about the Iraqis having to step up. This plan will give them and the region one more chance to do that.
7
Our past efforts to secure Baghdad failed for two principal reasons: There were not enough Iraqi and American troops to secure neighborhoods that had been cleared of terrorists and insurgents. And there were too many restrictions on the troops we did have. Our military commanders reviewed the new Iraqi plan to ensure that it addressed these mistakes. They report that it does. They also report that this plan can work…
In earlier operations, political and sectarian interference prevented Iraqi and American forces from going into neighborhoods that are home to those fueling the sectarian violence. This time, Iraqi and American forces will have a green light to enter these neighborhoods – and Prime Minister Maliki has pledged that political or sectarian interference will not be tolerated.
That Mr. & Mrs. America is called a change to the Rules of Engagement or ROE Lex called for two posts under. The change in ROE is in itself is a force multiplier. This will allow the 4,000 Marines headed for Anbar Province to kick ass and take names. Dead terrorists "don't return" once cleared. The neighborhoods the president is talking about are Sadr Army neighborhoods. Sadr’s Madhi Army is about to become the Madhi Fire Team (for the unwashed: A fire team is a Marine three man combat team). Not causing Sadr to assume room temperature two years ago was one of the mistakes the president accepted responsibility for at the start of the speech.
Also encouraging was the information that another carrier strike group was headed to the Gulf region. That bit of information followed this:
Succeeding in Iraq also requires defending its territorial integrity – and stabilizing the region in the face of the extremist challenge. This begins with addressing Iran and Syria. These two regimes are allowing terrorists and insurgents to use their territory to move in and out of Iraq. Iran is providing material support for attacks on American troops. We will disrupt the attacks on our forces. We will interrupt the flow of support from Iran and Syria. And we will seek out and destroy the networks providing advanced weaponry and training to our enemies in Iraq.
Let me see, “we will seek out and destroy the networks providing advanced weaponry and training to our enemies” followed by, “I recently ordered the deployment of an additional carrier strike group to the region.” Hmm, does anyone else think these two developments just might be linked?
Will the plan work? I don’t know. I do know that dealing with Syria and Iran now is a good thing. I do know killing the Islamo-terror-fascists in Anbar is good thing. I do know watching Sadr soil himself in the face an unrelenting US Army assault into “his neighborhoods” is a good thing. But at the end of the day R.C. Durbin was right about the Iraqis having to step up. This plan will give them and the region one more chance to do that.
7
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
George Bush's war?
Lex recently took the family to Washington DC to see the sites. While we were there we visited the National Firearms Museum (NFM). The NFM is located outside the beltway west on US 66. In a section of the museum dedicated to the innovations of the Ruger firearms company for WWII, I found the poster pictured above.
The first thing that struck me was how utterly we have failed in the propaganda war in our struggle against the Islamo-terror-fascist. The president has done too good a job in encouraging us to get back to life as usual. That fact coupled with the fact that there has not been a significant attack against us in America since 9-11, has us thinking that life is normal except for Johnny’s math score and the nightly picture of the latest car bomb in Iraq (and of course the American body count). We are so back to “normal” that we think the only real problem we face is getting out of Iraq. Rather ironic don’t you think? The main front in the war on terror that has successfully kept us safe at home since 9-11 has us up in arms and ready to quit.
The next thing that struck me was the tag line on the poster above – “This is YOUR WAR…FIGHT IT!” Because we have gotten back to life as usual, few have accepted the fact that this is our war. Fewer yet are willing to fight our war. Teddy Kennedy and the Democrats insist on calling the main front in the war on terror George Bush’s war. With MSM, Libs and the uninformed lining up like lemmings behind Fat Ted and the overwhelming majority of the rest of just going along living life as usual, how long can it be before Fat Ted marches us over the cliff?
At some point soon the American people are going to have stop living life as usual, accept ownership of this war and begin to fight it or we can go living life as usual until the next 9-11.
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Last chance - Go Big
President Bush will announce his new Iraq strategy tomorrow. Not even knowing what that strategy is has not stopped the Democrats from condemning the strategy. Not to put too fine a point on it, the strategy is probably the same – help develop Iraq into a functioning Democracy that will be a partner in the war on terror. What will really change are the military operational objectives in Iraq.
If President Bush decides to “surge” troops to Iraq with no new military objectives, we’re probably in trouble. If he sends the troop in to clean Sadr’s clock wipe out resistance in Anbar and send a clear message to Syria and Iran that we’ll come after them if they continue to stir up trouble in Iraq, we might accomplish something.
Bringing more troops to the fight is not a bad idea in and of it self, as Democrats believe. Pouring more water on fire can be helpful. But if you’re pouring bucket after bucket of water on the smoldering kitchen throw rug while the fire on the stove is burning the curtains which catch the ceiling on fire which is moving toward the living room, you might want to rethink where you’re throwing the water.
No matter though. Whatever the president does, he’ll be criticized by Democrats whose only plan is to run like a squirrel. Even if the president announces that he will retreat or redeploy or quit or run away in accordance with the only plan Democrats have ever offered, the Democrats would attack him and now and really low the boom when Iraq spirals into civil war, then secular region two of which are sure to support terror.
Advice:
Go Big – You’ll only get one chance so go big. Don’t send 20,000 troops and in six months ask for another 5,000.
Change the ROE – It’s pretty obvious that the current Iraqi government is not letting the US kill all of the people in Iraq who desperately need to be killed. Tell Maliki this his last best chance for a democratic Iraq and we will help, but we’re going to do right the first time – no more Falujaha’s, no more Sadr’s, no more releasing of criminals and anarchists.
Start to announce body counts – The MSM is obsessed with every US casualty. Those deaths need to be placed into some kind of context. The American military has foregone body counts as metric since the Vietnam days. It’s time to start announcing who and how many of the enemy are being destroyed – if only to satisfy the bloodthirsty among us that if nothing else we killing a lot Islmo-terror-fascists. That fact alone is good enough reason for me to stay a while longer in Iraq.
Most important - ignore the Democrats who only want retreat as means to destroy your presidency. They have no plan for victory. They have no will for victory in Iraq under a Republican president. If you listen to them, they will destroy you like they destroyed your father.
5
If President Bush decides to “surge” troops to Iraq with no new military objectives, we’re probably in trouble. If he sends the troop in to clean Sadr’s clock wipe out resistance in Anbar and send a clear message to Syria and Iran that we’ll come after them if they continue to stir up trouble in Iraq, we might accomplish something.
Bringing more troops to the fight is not a bad idea in and of it self, as Democrats believe. Pouring more water on fire can be helpful. But if you’re pouring bucket after bucket of water on the smoldering kitchen throw rug while the fire on the stove is burning the curtains which catch the ceiling on fire which is moving toward the living room, you might want to rethink where you’re throwing the water.
No matter though. Whatever the president does, he’ll be criticized by Democrats whose only plan is to run like a squirrel. Even if the president announces that he will retreat or redeploy or quit or run away in accordance with the only plan Democrats have ever offered, the Democrats would attack him and now and really low the boom when Iraq spirals into civil war, then secular region two of which are sure to support terror.
Advice:
Go Big – You’ll only get one chance so go big. Don’t send 20,000 troops and in six months ask for another 5,000.
Change the ROE – It’s pretty obvious that the current Iraqi government is not letting the US kill all of the people in Iraq who desperately need to be killed. Tell Maliki this his last best chance for a democratic Iraq and we will help, but we’re going to do right the first time – no more Falujaha’s, no more Sadr’s, no more releasing of criminals and anarchists.
Start to announce body counts – The MSM is obsessed with every US casualty. Those deaths need to be placed into some kind of context. The American military has foregone body counts as metric since the Vietnam days. It’s time to start announcing who and how many of the enemy are being destroyed – if only to satisfy the bloodthirsty among us that if nothing else we killing a lot Islmo-terror-fascists. That fact alone is good enough reason for me to stay a while longer in Iraq.
Most important - ignore the Democrats who only want retreat as means to destroy your presidency. They have no plan for victory. They have no will for victory in Iraq under a Republican president. If you listen to them, they will destroy you like they destroyed your father.
5
Monday, January 08, 2007
Perception is reality
The Griffin reminds us that perception is reality and that the perception in Israel is that Iran wants Israel destroyed. No matter whether the nut job “leader of Iran” who calls for the destruction of Israel is serious or not, the Israelis perceive that he is. No matter whether the UN, EU and NATO call for sanctions and condemnation of Iran or not, Israel has not survived by counting on the good graces of the likes of the UN, EU or NATO. Israel has survived largely by its own cunning, daring and US support.
Now some creepy Iranian says he’s going to blow Israel off the face of the Earth with nuclear weapons that Iran is openly pursuing. What’s Israel to do, hope that the UN, EU and NATO will forego their anti-Semitic past and rein Iran in? Don’t count it. The know-nothing, do-nothing losers that populate the majority of those organizations will vacillate until Iran has a bomb and uses it on Israel. Then they will call for what’s left of Israel to show restraint.
In a perfect world, the US and Britain would see to the overthrow of the Iranian Mullahs and Iran’s cartoon character president Mahmood Ahmadinezhad. But ever since the Democrats gutted the CIA after Vietnam, we are incapable of such operations. So we look to a diplomatic solution, but France, Russia, China and the rest of the usual suspects, more jealous of US economic and military might than they are interested in a peaceful world, would rather see the US go it alone and then condemn the US for whatever the outcome. Remember, had these weasels joined the US in the last promise of military force against Iraq, that war might have been avoided and Saddam ironically would still be in power. But they didn’t and they won’t against Iran. That leaves the military option. The US and Britain could launch a 36-48 hour conventional bombing campaign of 300-400 sorties that would put Iran’s nuclear program back to square one. Given the current political climate in the US and Britain, that option is probably off the table.
So what to do? Iran marches inexorably on to a nuclear weapon and then the destruction of Israel? Not likely. The Israelis will mount their own military strike. Because the Israeli Air Force is incapable of surging and maintaining the sustained conventional sortie rate required to destroy Iran’s nuclear program, the Israelis may resort to low yield nukes. Next to the destruction of Israel this would be the worst outcome.
President Bush and PM Blair ought to stand shoulder to shoulder at the UN and demand that Iran be neutered by date certain or they will do it. When that date passes, as with all things UN it is certain to pass, start the bombing and support a pro democracy up rising in Iran.
GBBF
3
Now some creepy Iranian says he’s going to blow Israel off the face of the Earth with nuclear weapons that Iran is openly pursuing. What’s Israel to do, hope that the UN, EU and NATO will forego their anti-Semitic past and rein Iran in? Don’t count it. The know-nothing, do-nothing losers that populate the majority of those organizations will vacillate until Iran has a bomb and uses it on Israel. Then they will call for what’s left of Israel to show restraint.
In a perfect world, the US and Britain would see to the overthrow of the Iranian Mullahs and Iran’s cartoon character president Mahmood Ahmadinezhad. But ever since the Democrats gutted the CIA after Vietnam, we are incapable of such operations. So we look to a diplomatic solution, but France, Russia, China and the rest of the usual suspects, more jealous of US economic and military might than they are interested in a peaceful world, would rather see the US go it alone and then condemn the US for whatever the outcome. Remember, had these weasels joined the US in the last promise of military force against Iraq, that war might have been avoided and Saddam ironically would still be in power. But they didn’t and they won’t against Iran. That leaves the military option. The US and Britain could launch a 36-48 hour conventional bombing campaign of 300-400 sorties that would put Iran’s nuclear program back to square one. Given the current political climate in the US and Britain, that option is probably off the table.
So what to do? Iran marches inexorably on to a nuclear weapon and then the destruction of Israel? Not likely. The Israelis will mount their own military strike. Because the Israeli Air Force is incapable of surging and maintaining the sustained conventional sortie rate required to destroy Iran’s nuclear program, the Israelis may resort to low yield nukes. Next to the destruction of Israel this would be the worst outcome.
President Bush and PM Blair ought to stand shoulder to shoulder at the UN and demand that Iran be neutered by date certain or they will do it. When that date passes, as with all things UN it is certain to pass, start the bombing and support a pro democracy up rising in Iran.
GBBF
3
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Be optimistic in 2007
It’s 2007and there are a couple of things to be optimistic about.
Saddam is dead. I’m not crazy about the government killing people, but I know of no other alternative for people like Saddam. What are people to do? Left alive in exile in some place like G’itmo the Iraqi people would always suspect a return of the dictator. And given the new Democrat majority, they’d have good reason to worry. Democrats have already said that Iraq was better off with Saddam. No doubt one of the mental giants that populate the party would advocate for the release of Saddam, reparations to him and Iraq’s Ba’athist party and the closing of G’itmo. So Saddam had to go, neck stretched slightly, to his grave. Good riddance.
Kofi Annan is out as UN Secretary General. Kofi waxes on and on about how fouled up the US is, while his own crook son (and how far can an apple fall from the tree) steals millions right under his nose. Now Kofi is relegated to living high off the hog in some other UN capacity. Go back to Gahanna and steal that country’s entire $1.98 worth of assets, you third world creep.
Last, I’m off to the Nation’s Capitol to show Lex jr. the sights. I’ll return to this page in earnest on 8 Jan. I can only imagine your disappointment. Happy New Year!
1
Saddam is dead. I’m not crazy about the government killing people, but I know of no other alternative for people like Saddam. What are people to do? Left alive in exile in some place like G’itmo the Iraqi people would always suspect a return of the dictator. And given the new Democrat majority, they’d have good reason to worry. Democrats have already said that Iraq was better off with Saddam. No doubt one of the mental giants that populate the party would advocate for the release of Saddam, reparations to him and Iraq’s Ba’athist party and the closing of G’itmo. So Saddam had to go, neck stretched slightly, to his grave. Good riddance.
Kofi Annan is out as UN Secretary General. Kofi waxes on and on about how fouled up the US is, while his own crook son (and how far can an apple fall from the tree) steals millions right under his nose. Now Kofi is relegated to living high off the hog in some other UN capacity. Go back to Gahanna and steal that country’s entire $1.98 worth of assets, you third world creep.
Last, I’m off to the Nation’s Capitol to show Lex jr. the sights. I’ll return to this page in earnest on 8 Jan. I can only imagine your disappointment. Happy New Year!
1
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