The MSM is Always a Riot

I wrote this prior to the Christmas holiday. Since it was not chock full of holiday spirit, I delayed the delivery until now.

I do not condone rioting in any form. It's grossly uncivilized behavior. That does not justify the uncivilized, biased reporting, that is being vended by the press. Violent riots have occurred in both France and Australia recently.

Important Note: Both riots were sparked by the actions of Arab, Palestinian or Muslim youths, breaking the law.

French Rioters Shoot at Police, Fire Crews
By JAMEY KEATEN
Associated Press Writer
Nov 03 11:45 AM US/Eastern

AULNAY-SOUS-BOIS, France - Rioting youths shot at police and firefighters Thursday after burning car dealerships and public buses and hurling rocks at commuter trains. France's government faced growing pressure to curb the violence, fueled by anger over poor conditions in suburban Paris housing projects.

It appears, in the first paragraph, Jamie would like to convince us that French youth are only acting on their pent up frustration over lean welfare checks, and police chasing lawbreakers into an electric insect zapper.

French rioters not linked to radical Islamic militants, officials and experts say
By: Associated Press - France has been rocked by riots since Oct. 27, and many of the youths throwing rocks and gasoline bombs are the French-born children of immigrants from North Africa and West Africa. The country is home to more than 5 million Muslims, many living in impoverished housing projects that have been epicenters of the unrest.

More apology coming from AP. Now they must be desperate to dissassociate their adopted constituency from being tied to global terror merchants. Sure, they are all just structured gangs. Sure, we are all just prematurely speculating.

Rioters shoot police as French president promises crackdown
Last Updated Mon, 07 Nov 2005 06:32:42 EST
CBC News

Many people view the violence as the expression of pent-up anger by the country's unemployed and underemployed youth, particularly in Muslim immigrant communities, and as a sign of the difficulty North Africans have experienced in trying to integrate into French society.

I will give you one guess who's opinion they are talking about. Even that guess doesn't count.

Let us fast forward to the riot events in Sydney:

(AP)Rioters Smash Sydney Stores, Cars
The violence shocked Sydney, a city of 4 million that prides itself on being a largely harmonious cultural melting pot.

One government lawmaker, Bruce Baird, said anti-Muslim resentment that has risen since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States and the 2002 Bali bombings in Indonesia that killed 88 Australians also played a role.

Local residents say there have been frequent minor racially charged confrontations on Cronulla beach, but never anything close to the scale of Sunday's unrest.

It certainly didn't take long for the press and local officials to identify the racist cultural hate brewing behind this riot. This may even be true! What I would like to know is, where was that sort of visual and journalistic clarity during the French riots? Well... it gets better.

Now we have the Reuter's story, on the Sydney riots, that plays both cards:

(Reuters) Police seek to stop third night of Sydney unrest
Racial violence erupted at Sydney's Cronulla Beach on Sunday when some 5,000 people, some yelling racist chants, attacked youths of Middle Eastern background. Police said white supremacists incited it.

The first night, it's all about 'racist whites'. Take note Reuters doesn't mention any racial or political motivations behind the attacks on two lifeguards, by the downtrodden Arab youths. Reuters also didn't think twice about keeping all this juicy racism information, in the story, sans editing. Then, several paragraphs later, during the 'STRIKE BACK' riot, Reuter's and local officials package the information about the Muslim riot response this way:

But some politicians laid the blame squarely on racism.

"We are just getting a sample of what happened in France a few months ago," said Labor opposition politician Harry Quick.

"We have reached a pressure cooker stage here. People of ethnic minority in Australia are just taking things into their own hands."

That's right folks. This article starts with Arab or Lebanese or Palestinian youths allegedly beating up lifeguards, followed by evil white racists, beating up Arabs and Muslims, followed by general banter implying racism on both sides, ending with an argument that the ethic minorities, and not the poor classes in general, are just victims of, you guessed it, evil white racists and downtrodden social conditions. I don't remember any mention of downtrodden social conditions for Lebanese Muslims, when they were raping young Australian girls, in the name of cultural tradition, back in the late '90's. Shhhh... don't tell anybody.


Do these people make this crap up as they go along?

Mass Exodus

For the second year in a row, Massachusetts is losing population.


Hmm...

• A speculation inflated real estate market, with soaring taxes.
• The ever popular Gay Marriage issue.
• Bills catering to criminal aliens, by offering in state tuition rates.
• State legislators, who fail to pay their own tax share, while raising ours and routinely breaking promises that they wrote into law.
• A US senate delegation comprised of a homicidal drunk and a Brahmen bozo, who doesn't show up for work most of the time.
• Hideous state authorities, maintaining a perpetually broken crumbled road system, so they can justify the existence of their bureaucracies.
• State agencies that define the meaning of rude, expensive and totally unresponsive.
• A voting system rife with corruption, union thugs and intimidation. This means going to the polls, to change the system, only to find over half the hacks are running unopposed.

What's not to Love?

Christmas Giving

I remember the sticky pine wreath and tree sap, weeping through my mittens, leaving little black fuzz on my fingers and a pleasant smell on my mind. Crazy Mistletoe traps hovered over doors, snatching perfectly sane adults in their grasp, only to urge them to pull me into a conspiracy of kisses. Yams, hams and Rankin Bass Christmas classic clay animation classics, with endless sequential stories of optimistic triumph over holiday tribulation, marched along the beating drum of carols and musical tributes. Where did mom hide those presents? Can I guess what's in this box?

There I was, Christmas eve, waiting in my grandmother's house for Santa's arrival. A brisk winter wind would usher the gnarled fingers from that craggy old oak, across a roof shingle or two. I would whisper over to my sister.

"Did you hear that?!"

I gasped, slipping from underneath the quilt, and padding to the window. I could feel the frigid breath of winter crystals kissing my cheek, through the leaky, creaky window sash, as I pressed on the glass, trying to purchase a glimpse.

"Shhhh! Quiet! Get back to bed!"

My sister would caution me, reminding me that if Santa detected my awakened state, he would hurry off to the next house, leaving us unadorned by gifts. She was bigger, but none the wiser. She also reminded me that if I scared St. Nick off, she would quickly cast my broken body on her scales of sibling justice, for my curious folly.

To my relief, the next morning, there was that brand new box full of Tinkertoys, the Erector set or a dazzling box of Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots. Stumbling in excitement and pajamas, in the midst of the smell of Christmas morning bacon sizzling, hot buttered toast, steaming rich cocoa and pancakes, we would shower each other in the confetti of exhausted bows and paper. Gramps would have to shoo us into the television den, since our rough housing had upended Gram's ashtray, bringing a brief orange shower down on her seasoned wood floor, still fuming from an early wash of Murphy's Oil soap, wicking between the cracks.

How do you tell a Holiday story, so that it will last many years?

If a story is embedded in the ritual of tradition and it is bound tightly to the human senses, the story will be immune to variations in language, or the education of its recipients. The Jewish folks have a meal called the seder. It is an elaborate ritual of cleansing, unleavened bread and ritual, geared towards the remembrance of Exodus. It does not matter what language is spoken during the exercise. The story is elaborately told by the sounds, the smells, the tastes and the timing.

As I get older, the things I cherish about Christmas are those very things that make tradition so important to people. I don't care much about gifts these days. The sounds, the tastes, the ornaments, music and gentle touches of the holiday mean much more to me now. Apparently, there was no brainwashing, in spite of years of exposure to consumerism.

Every year I inevitably join a discussion regarding the materialism and consumerism of Christmas. I know it's a popular theme here in Massachusetts, where everybody likes to pontificate on the evils of Walmart and Costco. Of course, they quickly bring the evil corporate bonus they received down to Walmart and Costco, to buy all those toys and gifts at bargain prices. Whenever a particular brand of criticism becomes too popular, much like a stock, I begin to think that it is time to get out of the market.

Is Christmas more commercial? Probably.

Are people trying to remove the original meaning from Christmas? Definitely.

Is the commercial aspect of the Christmas holiday wholly responsible for the decline in Christmas spirit?

Not really, in my humble opinion. I think secular hostility, political correctness and the destruction of the family dynamic, are the guilty parties. If you strip away a good deal of the real underlying Christmas spirit, what remains? The gift giving stands alone. It is easy to judge what is left over. It is easy to blame the leftovers, for any moral decline we now witness. If people are giving, merely out of the guilt of obligation, for generic Holiday theatrics, the meaning, behind the giving, is empty.

I know many people never grow out of selfishness. I know many people have painful Christmas holiday memories, often brought on by self-imposed emotional obligations. I have been through enough of those years, sometimes ruined by my own selfishness. It's all part of accepting the perpetual imperfection of our lives, I suppose.

Ultimately, isn't selflessness and human imperfection the lesson taught to us, by the human being who's name and birth are celebrated every Christmas?

.

Insol's Tesla Coil

The coil needs tuning and gap polishing. If I weren't so lazy, the sparks you see here would be about two to three times the size.
















This is what happens when I hold a shop light tube up to the sphere, with the camera in my right hand. There's plenty of energy potential to excite the tube's mercury vapor, noble gas and phosphor into fluorescence.

Howard's Georgeous Pink Eye

Howard Dean, chairman of the DNC, is all excited about his new warm and steamy pink relationship.











Code Pink founder, Marxist Medea Benjamin, had to be dragged off the DNC convention floor, in handcuffs, for interrupting Theresa Heinz Kerry's speech in '04. Code Pink gave $650,000 in cash and aid to terrorists in Fallujah last Christmas. They also annoy patriots like GunnNutt outside of Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Doesn't she look cute? And she's wearing one of those shirts Howard is now waiving proudly.









Oh what a difference, a year can make, in those cozy relationships. One thing I really respect about this guy, is he is not afraid to say it like he believes it. Way to go Howard! Keep up the good Republican fight!






It looks like Hillary has got a very difficult task ahead of her. She has to distance herself from from the likes of Howard Dean, Medea Benjamin and Cindy Sheehan to secure the support of the electorate. But she also needs money. A large portion of that money seems to be coming from that very same crowd. Between support of the troops and support of her base, Hillary is wedged firmly between Iraq and a hard place. She's a Clinton though, able to deliver a smile and a lie, without batting an eye. Wind her up and watch her go.




(h.t. to Ms. Malkin)

Nagged and Tagged

Doctor Phat Tony has called me a weirdo, even after I pimped his swag. However, in a most egregious and futile attempt to use reverse psychology, he tagged me with the duty to reply to his meme. What an amazingly transparent ploy; with no obvious hope of success.

So, without further ado, here are my five weird behaviors...

I have this irrational compulsion to fill the gas tank to the top, after it drops below the halfway point. I know the truck has plenty of extra capacity, even when the needle rests on -E-. It is also equipped with a blinding little orange gas pump symbol, that begins to hypnotically tease you, to the rhythm of a dying ocean of petrol, gasping at a healthy margin of two gallons. I have only seen the little Toyota tidy bowl man's lantern twice in the six years I have piloted the ship. I can only attribute this behavior to suffering at the hands of both my sister and mother, who often preferred to keep an empty can in the trunk, knowing that the inevitable negligence would lead to several hours of Zen meditation, while I bring rescue, or venture forth with their can.

In a not entirely unrelated compulsion, I always have to have redundancy in household mechanisms that require it. This means spare bulbs, spare blades, etc. Even snap off utility knives, with spare blades in the handle already, must have spare blades outside the handle. I know it's crazy, but there it is.

When I decide it is mentally fashionable to eat a particular food or combination of food, I usually eat it on march of days, get sick of it, then move on to the next interesting combination. For instance, I will pick something like beans and rice. For two weeks, it's navy beans, lima beans, kidney beans, pinto beans in combination with white rice, long grain, short grain, brown rice etc. Then I can't look at beans and rice for months. Then it's wrap sandwiches. Then it's meat and potatoes. Then it's salads in all varieties. This might be related to apartment living while working 50hrs a week on top of chemistry/physics classes at night, that required experiments involving factors and permutations. This excuse sounded as good as a hasty analysis of global warming.
So I went with it.

Much like Uber, I enjoy home experiments, of the scientific variety. DISCLAIMER: Do not try these at home, kiddies.I built a 250kV Tesla coil from PVC pipe, an automotive starting coil, carriage bolt spark gap and a homemade capacitor. You can stand next to this thing, while it generates ozone and six inch violet bolts of electricity. A loose shop light bulb in your hand, glows as bright as day. Another fun trick was filling a medium size thick plastic jug halfway, with water, an entire can of Red Devil lye. You then carefully drop sticks of aluminum foil in to generate large volumes of hydrogen. You fill trash bags with the hydrogen, and let them float off. You need plenty of head space and a decent snow bank to put the bottle in, since the exothermic reaction causes the water to boil violently. I might try my hand at a CO2 laser, or a home made fuel cell. That hydrogen experiment might come in handy for the latter.

Be careful. Boiling water with chunks of raw lye floating in it, can ruin your day. I always wear safety glasses, gloves etc. Don't be a dope, by say, filling your basement with hydrogen, when you have a lit pilot somewhere. The supreme being gaveth you your biological tools. Your raging curiosity can taketh them away. For our secular crowd, Charles Darwin always has his loving eye on you.

My last weird behavior is openly testing public situations and people that annoy me. My previous post, Magnetic Personality, is a perfect example. No doubt, I was tagged a weirdo there. I can't stand being put through a process, which has had all of it's original use and meaning stripped away. The public school system and the registry of motor vehicles are other good examples. There is nothing to be gained, in the humor department, by testing them.

Here are the links to Dr. Phat Tony's other victims:

Uber, JimmyB, Stella Piccolo, and Wyatt

Should I? What the heck. Tag this sidebar seniors and senoritas. (I know Wyatt tagged most of you guys, but now the pressure is on.)

GunnNutt, TylerD, Peakah, Katey, and FIAR

P.S. - In a completely unrelated event, I had to use my towstrap to pull several colleagues out of the snowbound parking lot at work, yesterday. As I was driving home, I noticed a guy in an exceptionally small and fragile vehicle, completely bogged in a slushy delta, at the mouth of another branch of the neighboring industrial park. I stopped to help. As I approached, I noticed the Kerry for Pres. bumper sticker on the back, along with all kinds of environmental paraphernalia. If only I had that Bush 2004 sticker on the truck. Damn! So, I took my evil conservative 4wd truck, hooked up the strap, and pulled his little hybrid hynie out of the polar soup. All thanks and salutations poured out. If only he knew.

.

Truths and Consequences

Dutch film maker Theo Van Gogh, was an outspoken, politically brash and abrasive film maker. He frequently excercised his right to free speech. He angered a lot of people with his words. He had praise for the U.S. He also had the courage to identify the real enemy in this world.


Here was his reward:

Van Gogh was shot and stabbed to death as he cycled in broad daylight through an Amsterdam street. Two knives were left in his body, one pinning a note to his chest, said by Dutch media to contain lines from the Koran.

Now we have Harold Pinter, an outspoken, politically brash and abrasive playwright and poet. He frequently excercises his right to free speech. He angered a lot of people with his words. He had defacto praise for Mideast status quo. He also had the cowardice to bash the only country willing to take the lead on doing something about it.




His reward:

Fawning praise from European liberals and a Nobel Peace Prize. There will be much angry mail and writing, but he will not die in the hands of an angry religious jihadist. They will leave him alone; not for his act of free speech, but his act of cheap speech.

Now the killer of Dutch film maker Theo Van Gogh, Mohammed Bouyeri,wants to blame world leaders for his crime. I guess he's taking his cue right from the Harold Pinter Nobel Prize winning political playbook.

I wonder who really has courage here? Rest in peace, Theo. Thanks for your charitable donation of human blood, to keep Mr. Pinter's speech free, along with all those US servicemen and allies.

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Weblog Awards

Here are some of my favorites who are in the Finalist round:

Mike Fitch's Radioactive Liberty. Visit Mike's inspiring political commentary and biting humor, after you vote for him.

Michael Yon for Best/Media Journalist Blog.

Basil's Blog for best new blog.

Charmaine's Reasoned Audacity.

I hope I did not leave anyone out. I thank everyone for their support and votes. It is a pleasure. If you want to vote for me, click here or on the sidebar finalist icon. Thanks!

Harold Pinter: Another Nobel Stooge

From the same wonderful body of supine, pretentious trash that gave the prize to Jimmy Carter:

Nobel Laureate Pinter Assails Bush, Blair
By KARL RITTER
Associated Press Writer
Dec 08 10:06 AM US/Eastern

"The invasion of Iraq was a bandit act, an act of blatant state terrorism, demonstrating absolute contempt for the concept of international law,"

You mean concepts of international law written in the pages of 17 UN resolutions? Would that be the state terror born over a year of hand wringing, while a secret cadre of international hypocrit snobs shuffled oil vouchers to each other, under the table? I am sure there was no act of banditry there.

"How many people do you have to kill before you qualify to be described as a mass murderer and a war criminal? One hundred thousand?" he asked in a hoarse voice.

The proper question is, "How many European deaths do you have to ignore, before stepping in and saving the quivering jello that remains? 6 to 10 Million?

"We have brought torture, cluster bombs, depleted uranium, innumerable acts of random murder, misery, degradation and death to the Iraqi people and call it 'bringing freedom and democracy to the Middle East,'"

I know Harold. The rotting dog food for oil program, non-random acts of body shredding, mutilation, electrocution and nerve gas experiments are so much more civilized. We all know that the UN was prepared to transform the region into a paradise of freedom, through the earth moving power of paperwork, child pornography and nepotism. At least we could have guaranteed that news networks like CNN would be able to suppress all of that inconvenient information, to maintain access to the regime. We would have spared the cowering sensitive orbs of every Harold Pinter, in this world.

The Nobel committee has not shied from rewarding writers who make a stand against authority, notably in rewarding the literature prize to Soviet dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn in 1970.

The only rewards they shy away from, are the ones producing real peace, instead of impotent rhetoric. You know, like Ronald Reagan, who brought down the Iron curtain and reduced the world's nuclear arms by half;
all in a single stroke.

Horace Engdahl, the permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, introduced the lecture by saying Pinter was delivering "his free words such as a writer has a right to say them."

This is how Horace's secretarial position became permanent. He schedules the lecture, then defers the credit to the idiot on the podium. How do you climb the prestigious ranks of the Swedish Academy? On your knees, fool!

Pinter accused the United States of supporting "every right wing military dictatorship in the world" after World War II, from Chile to the Philippines.

While Harold Pinter was supporting every left wing dictatorship after World War II, from the murderous Stalin and Mao to Fidel Castro. If we added up all those deaths Harold was pining about, in the opening to his rant, I wonder who would come out the winner?

"The crimes of the United States have been systematic, constant, vicious, remorseless, but very few people have actually talked about them," he said. "It has exercised a quite clinical manipulation of power worldwide while masquerading as a force for universal good. It's a brilliant, even witty, highly successful act of hypnosis."

Very few people have talked about them?! ...... Lung butter is issuing forth on a long and protracted session of laughter. Four decades of incessant moonbat ranting by the likes of Pinter, translates to 'very few'.

I really like that masquerading remark. Did you see that one, John Kerry?

Remember that remark, the next time a Democrat dangles that soap-on-a-rope, in your face, touting the need to recapture our respect in the world. In Harold Pinter's remark, lies your respect. Not only does it not exist, It never existed. These people think the US is the biggest evil on the planet, in spite of all the charity, technology and wealth we have created for mankind. They are just like those artificial Katrina victims, sitting before the Senate. No gratitude. No love. Leave them to the Islamic barbarians, I say.

Pinter said the U.S. "also has its own bleating little lamb tagging behind it on a lead, the pathetic and supine Great Britain.

If they desired it, Great Britain could walk right into pathetic, supine Sweden and plant the Union Jack. I guess they just do not have a pressing desire for all that pickled herring, ice and gamboling socialists with bipolar disorder.

He said both Bush and Blair deserve to be arraigned by the Hague, Netherlands-based International Criminal Court.

What a great idea Harold. As soon as they tell you to go to hell, then you can call (?) to enforce the guilty verdict.

In 2002, Pinter, whose works include plays such as "The Caretaker," "The Room," and "The Birthday Party," revealed he was undergoing treatment for throat cancer.

Maybe he should have read the Surgeon General's warning, printed on his copy of the communist manifesto.

What is quite remarkable about this whole affair, is how the Swedish Academy is so capable of brilliantly choreographing sheer stupidity. It is like hiring a premium wait staff, renting a large function room at the Ritz, then promptly serving a generous dollop of loose dog feces in polished Waterford crystal. Everybody brings a steaming silver spoonful to their lips. They all chime in unison about its delectable, subtle flavor.

Saddam's Defense Team

The Team:


There was no imminent threat. This was made up in Texas, announced in January to the Republican leadership that war was going to take place and was going to be good politically. This whole thing was a fraud.
-- Ted Kennedy

Teddy is preparing a court brief, nullifying the charges against Saddam, on the basis that the war was a fraud, therefore, the subsequent capture and trial of Saddam is a fraud.




...there is no reason, Bob, that young American soldiers need to be going into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terrorizing kids and children, you know, women, breaking sort of the customs of the... -- John Kerry

Here, Kerry is supplying an affidavit that US Troops are state sponsored terrorists. Therefore, charging Saddam with state sponsored terror is the pot calling the kettle black. Ah, this brings back those good old swift boat memories of Vietnam, doesn't it John?


If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime - Pol Pot or others - that had no concern for human beings. Sadly, that is not the case.

Durbin is bringing evidence to the table that the US is a perpetrator of war crimes on the same level as the Nazis and the Soviets. Therefore, charging Saddam with war crimes is the pot calling the kettle black.


Any court that considers criminal charges against Saddam Hussein must have the power and the mandate to consider charges against leaders and military personnel of the U.S., Britain and the other nations that participated in the aggression against Iraq, if equal justice under the law is to have meaning.
-- Ramsey Clark (D) former US attorney general

As Saddam's principle defense attorney, Ramsey Clark, champion of the scum of the earth, a founder of ANSWER, wraps up the whole plan. Here is a true lover of the process and a morally bankrupt microbe.

The Defendant Speaks:



Saddam suddenly shouted that he would not attend. "I will not return. I will not come to an unjust court! Go to hell!" Saddam yelled. He also complained that he had no fresh clothes and that he had been deprived of shower and exercise facilities. "This is terrorism," he said.

No fresh clothes and shower. I am sure Ramsey, Teddy, Dick, John, Howard and the entire DNC crew consider that torture.




Don't worry Saddam. If your defense team succeeds, you may never have to pay for...






This...









or this....











or this.






On that last image above, I hope the defense team takes the time to remind us that every political move they make, is not executed out of the desire to recapture the power of the pulpit, but is purely motivated out of their heartfelt love, for the children.

The Incredible Morphing Party

Troop Morale

The Good...



In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility -- I welcome it.
-- John F. Kennedy

"A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces but also by the men it honors, the men it remembers"
-- John Kennedy




The Bad...




We want to support our troops because they didn't make the decision to go there... but I don't think it should be open-ended....
-- Ted Kennedy






The Ugly...




Shamefully we now learn that Saddam's torture chambers reopened under new management, U.S. management.
-- Ted Kennedy

Al Qaeda really appreciates all your support, Ted. That is why you are a big hit on Al Jazeera.




National Defense
The Good...

When you see a rattlesnake poised to strike, you do not wait until he has struck before you crush him.
--Franklin D. Roosevelt

Four freedoms: The first is freedom of speech and expression - everywhere in the world. The second is freedom of everyone to worship God in his own way, everywhere in the world. The third is freedom from want . . . everywhere in the world. The fourth is freedom from fear . . . anywhere in the world.
--Franklin D. Roosevelt



Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
-- John F. Kennedy

"It is an unfortunate fact that we can secure peace only by preparing for war."
-- John Kennedy





The Bad...




Aggression unopposed becomes a contagious disease.
-- Jimmy Carter

Yeah. You are an expert on the the concept of 'unopposed', are you not Jimmy? Right at the very birth of modern Islamic extremism.








For two years, terrorist cells have been spreading like cancer cells. Any doctor who let that happen would be guilty of malpractice.
-- Ted Kennedy

We are all impressed by your comprehensive plan to destroy them Ted. Now what was it again?





"The American people and our brave troops deserve better than a photo-op for the president and a pep-rally about Iraq. They deserve a plan. Unfortunately, today's event only served to highlight the fact that the president refuses to engage in a frank conversation about the realities on the ground."
-- Harry Reid

So, where is that plan Harry? You know, the one You, Kerry and Kennedy have come up with.






I'll never give a veto to any country over our security.
-- John F. Kerry

Something tells me he doesn't really mean it...





The Ugly...






I'm an internationalist. I'd like to see our troops dispersed through the world only at the directive of the United Nations.
-- John F. Kerry

...Yep. He didn't really mean it.





It's better to send in the Peace Corps than the Marine Corps.
-- Edward Kennedy


So that's how you stop the spread of terror cells. Free medicine, food and hostages to boot! If I were cancer, I would set up section 8 housing right in your lymph nodes, Ted.



Domestic Crisis

The Good...


"For of those to whom much is given, much is required"
-- John Kennedy

"And so, my fellow Americans, ask not, what your country gives to you, but what you can give to your country."
-- John Kennedy






It is common sense to take a method and try it; if it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.
--Franklin D. RooseveltQuite right, FDR; specifically that admit failure part.

The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today; Let us move forward with strong and active faith.
--Franklin D. Roosevelt





The Bad...



Instead of talking about ways to save Social Security, Republicans are talking about a plan that will destroy it.
-- Harry Reid

Another Democrat, presenting his own innovative idea to cure the impending insolvency of Social Security. See FDR above, for motivation, regarding self admission and moving on with faith.




The Ugly...


What the American people have seen is this incredible disparity in which those people who had cars and money got out and those people who were impoverished died.
-- Edward Kennedy

Right. What a nice responsible quote, to rally the hopes of the people, before the bogus MSM told you that thousands never actually died. Now about that car thing... I know a certain young woman who had the benefit of a car, a date with money and she never got out. She died. You wouldn't know anything about that would you Ted?


John Kerry reporting for Doody





Governor Dean has no policy on Iraq evidently, except 'no.' 'No' is not a policy.
-- John F. Kerry









The truth is, if the Bush Administration had come to the United States Senate and acknowledged there was no slam dunk case that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, acknowledged that Iraq was not connected to 9/11, there never would have even been a vote to authorize the use of force -- just as there's no vote today to invade North Korea, Iran, Cuba, or a host of regimes we rightfully despise.
-- John Kerry

So 'No' really is a policy isn't it John?



Women's Rights and Dignity


The Good...




"I am the man who accompanied Jacqueline Kennedy to Paris, and I have enjoyed it." -- John Kennedy regarding his wife






The Bad...




I have often wanted to drown my troubles, but I can't get my wife to go swimming.
-- Jimmy Carter regarding his wife

Hey Jimmy, give your friend Ted Kennedy a call. He can help you out in this area...Ahem...



The Ugly...




"you'd better put some ice on that"
-- Bill Clinton's first aide advice to Juanita Broderick, after assaulting her.






Dad, I'm in some trouble. There's been an accident and you're going to hear all sorts of things about me from now on. Terrible things.
-- Ted Kennedy regarding his date




Parting Gifts



"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them."
-- John Kennedy







"I didn't leave the Democratic Party. It left me."
-- Ronald ReaganYou know Gipper, I can see exactly what you mean.

Thanksgiving

I am thankful to live in the comfort and security of an American home. So many Americans have made this possible.

I am thankful to the founders for securing my life, my liberty and my tranquility. I can speak freely. I can worship freely. I can protect myself and my family, thanks to the fathers.

I am thankful for the American economy. Economic freedom has given me the means to buy my home, my food and my comforts. I have the freedom to work for a job I enjoy. I am free to save for my retirement.

I am thankful for the Americans who built the home that shelters me from the rain and the snow. I did not have to saw my own lumber, nail my own shingles and plaster my own walls.

I am thankful for the Americans who bring fresh clean water to my home. I do not have to trudge out in freezing weather with a bucket. I can bathe with my water. I can drink my water. I can cook with my water.

I am thankful for the Americans who remove the waste from my home. They keep disease and vermin away. I don't have to trudge out to an outhouse in freezing weather. I don't have to dig my own landfill.

I am thankful for the Americans who bring heat, light and refrigeration to my home. Without this energy, I would have to chop my own wood, light my own lamps and stoke the fire of my own furnace. I have the freedom to cook when I please. I have the freedom to preserve my food.

I am thankful for the Americans who grow, pick and slaughter the food I eat. I do not have to dig for potatoes. I do not have to eviscerate poultry. I do not have to wait in long lines for hours, with hunger in my belly.

I am thankful for the Americans who built my car, deliver my mail and packages and ship all the goods I buy and consume every day. They are the blood in the arteries of the country. They bend the branch of American prosperity to my home, so I can just reach out and pick the fruit.

I am thankful for the Americans who bring electricity and communications to my home. I don't have to wait for letters, send telegraphs or venture out. I have emergency services at my fingertips at all times. Thanks to you, I can rejoice in good news. Thanks to you, in tragedy, I can reach out to my family for comfort.

I am thankful for the Americans who protect me and my home from fire and crime. You see the worst in us all, while you give us your best.

I am thankful for the Americans who protect my home from foreign invaders. They stand between civilization and the barbarians. They protect my life and my rights from tyranny abroad.

I am thankful for the Americans who will take me from my home when I die. They will let me pass with dignity and grace. My family will not have to dig my grave.

I am thankful for the Americans who fix my body when it fails. They provide the skills, the medicine, the machines and the science, to help me live a long life.

I am thankful for animal companions. They bring comfort and loyalty into our homes. We may live and work in places of steel, concrete and glass. Our pets remind us we always have a foot in the natural world.

I am thankful for the hands of the American family. I am thankful for every small questing hand that grows to the old experienced hand. I thank those hands that span many years, by bearing arms, turning wrenches and shifting gears. Hands that touch young shoulders to calm young fears. Hands that lift up cloths to wipe away tears.

Our founders, who lived in the past, never experienced the wonders of their future. They still gave thanks during this holiday. America gives us so much. The least we can do, is give thanks.

Lunch at Basil's

Check your supply of Depends

... befaw yu watch thisu movie trailuah aht Point Five.

Oh those Korean Cutups

A few short years ago:

Jimmy Carter meets the evil Korean Dictator, as Clinton's "unofficial" envoy, back in the good old Clinton days. He quite effectively short circuits US policy and sanctions on the evil little bastards.

Fast Forward to today:

Today on Drudge, we have yet another atrocity story by Meghan Clyne of the NY sun, entitled Korean Reds Targeting Christians.

Christians being run over by steamrollers, in front of fainting crowds, for expressing their religion. It is not like we didn't know that North Korea was doing this sort of thing for decades.

Thanks for being so helpful to your fellow Christians, Jimmy. You get the Nobel Pieces prize.

A Marriage made in the Senate

"Reports to Congress on United States Policy and Military Operations in Iraq.--Not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act" - Levin (D)

"Reports to Congress on United States Policy and Military Operations in Iraq.--Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act"
- Frist (R)




So, under our own Republican amendment, we get an additional 60 days before sloppy senate staffers bleed our war strategy details out to the media, for chewing and screwing. The resolution states that will not happen. Yeah, right.

Here's a tip for all the RINO Senators at http://jellyfish.gov:

If you want to get re-elected, stop pushing the media agenda, and start pushing the suppressed successes of the war. Show some of that great American optimism that seems to exist only outside of Washington. Talk about the great work of our troops and contractors. Talk about the fact that Iraq is not Vietnam. There are no refugees. Iraqis are repatriating their nation. Iraqis are investing in their future. They are turning out to vote, in large numbers, across all of the Muslim derivatives.

• Stop whining about the rights of terrorists and treating them like they are Geneva signatories.
• Stop redefining humiliation as torture.
• Stop undermining our intelligence.
• Stop nitpicking the war budget.
• Stop leaking like a pasta colander full of large caliber holes.

Finally, Stop letting the minority party screw you, then asking us to pay for your room, board and a big jar of petroleum jelly.

Chilled Milk for the Suburbs

I resurrected and updated an older post, on a whim, inpired by a technical comment from a4g on my previous post. This small essay is on the social effects of enabling technologies. It is reminiscent of the works of Alvin Toffler.

Cool Consequences

My father told me that, when he was a very young child, he and his mother would venture into town every other day for fresh bread, produce and milk. Every day they would meet neighbors and fellow church goers. When they got their brand new refrigerator, a portion of this social activity gradually abated. You did not even need a visit from the ice man. He told me about the great marketing effort nationwide for the new safe and affordable freon based refrigeration. There was a direct social impact consequence of this simple new technology. There were so many good things to come out of it. Less spoiled food, the ability to buy in bulk, the ability to make winter pastry in summertime are just a few that comprise the list. Everybody naturally thought it was a great convenience, which it was. But a social price was paid.

From Tool to Crutch

Engineers, before calculators, had to use slide rules and paper. When calculators arrived, these engineers were enchanted by the convenience. The calculator was tool of great accuracy and precision. Older engineers now had power in their fist, to augment their analytical skills, with quick calculations.





New student engineers were given the calculator and quickly cast aside manual and slide rule calculation. However, these new engineers did not have the discipline of mental estimation. The slide rule forced you to mentally estimate and place that decimal point. It forced you to make conservative projections.






They lost the ability to visualize and estimate the scope, or order of magnitude, of a design. The older engineer would look over his shoulder and say:

Don't those numbers look wrong to you?.

The new guy wouldn't know what to say, because he has learned to blindly trust the machine; He would stumble through a long sequence of calculations and arrive at a wildly inaccurate solution. There are now schools in this nation which don't require students to use multiplication tables or long division. There is no longer any emphasis on paper calculations. Why bother, when the calculator is there?

Here is a human consequence of the technology which has transformed the magnificent tool for the older engineer to a potential crutch for the new engineer.

Imaginary Substance

Television and modern communications have had an enormous and dramatic impact on society. Television brought crucial weather news and graphs to our eyes. It brought the marvelous moon landing into our homes. Television brought sports into the living room. It brought enormous commercial power and jobs to our nation. These were all good things.

Television also brought the main stream image based media. We have not had an American presidency, unmolested by brutal scrutiny and editorial mastication, since the birth of national television coverage, in the late Eisenhower years. Many of our greatest presidents, without telegenic faces, existed prior to national media.



Would they have been deemed so great, if this demand for a telegenic image had existed in their time? How would TR's high voice or Lincoln's humble looks survive this new media?

Be Inspired; not just wired

How will the new interactive technologies nourish the vices in people?

How will they amplify the virtues?

Will they cater to our own natural tendency to lapse toward mental and physical entropy and move us to crippling apathy?

Information technologies provide new degrees of freedom in communication and artistic expression. However, new technology is most appreciated by those who have suffered its absence. It is appreciated by those who are first introduced to it. It is appreciated by those who have been trained to view it with the eye of personal discipline.

New technology is rarely appreciated by those who take it for granted.
It is important to pass that eye of discipline to the younger generations. The school of hard knocks is not just your father's Oldsmobile.

Alma Mentor

Most of us know the latin term Alma Mater is used to refer to a college or university you graduated from. It means 'nourishing mother'. I do not feel that way about any modern college; even the one I got my engineering degree from. Since I have lived in MA all my life, my perceptions may be polluted by my environment. So be it.

I have many criticisms of the modern university system. Most of these relate to the bureaucratic and political behavior they engage in. I spent approximately ten years, at night, collecting an education and a degree. In that time, I learned more on the job, than in the classroom. There were many instances, where the class material was woefully obsolete. It was, however, a golden opportunity to attempt real time integration of college learning, with my job.

I could go on and on about the despicable liberal political demogoguery in the college classroom. I wish I had a digital recorder back then. I would have captured some of the absurd temper tantrums, thrown by college professors, at my tuition expense. Most of the offenders were in the social sciences.

What do the these sheltered people really know about the real world that feeds them a salary and a decent standard of living?

This is another rant for another day. I had many fantastic professors. I also had many abysmal professors. Two of my favorite professors had both retired from private industry jobs. They were sharing those life skills with college students, just to stay engaged.

The Sheepskin

If so much importance were not conferred to that paper degree, I probably would not have bothered. The fact is, a degree is still a crucial standard. Without a network of professional friends, it is one of the only things you can use to prove your worth . Another way to prove your worth is to start your own company and make it succeed, like famous college dropout William Gates. I think the degree standard is being abused by the university bureaucracy. If you don't have that degree, you don't get a good job. So you should bite your lip, and suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous liberalism.

All the jobs I have had were referred by friends. Unfortunately, this is poor insurance. That degree is still honored as an achievement milestone. There is a cruel irony here. The product produced by many of the schools can be almost as bad as the public schools. I have seen many a college graduate sliding through the company's hands, with degree in hand, unable to perform basic skills.

The Mentor and Apprentice

One of the smartest engineers I ever learned from is no longer with us. He never went to college. He was a passionate hands on person, who had a strong father mentor. His father had his own electronic repair shop. We do not see many of these places anymore. The global economy of large scale integration and consumer pricing have brought us great toys, but have eliminated the need for a local toy shop to repair them.

Charlie was raised by a father steeped in the curiosity of electromechanical machines. He would often accept challenging jobs, rejected by others. One of these jobs was to repair an optical grading machine being used in his school district. This was the early fifties, so this was a fairly new computing technology. He and his young ten year old son tackled the task, with potentially hazardous results. It was a wonderful wiz bang, whir and purr learning experience for Charlie. His lifelong curiosity and passion were germinated that day.

Charlie's educational institution of learning was his Alma Pater. He had a 'nourishing father'.

Charlie could design circuits in his head, perform the analysis and produce a schematic result. Although it was difficult and sometimes impossible for him to produce a design model for his results, I could prototype his circuits or simulate them on a computer. They worked quite well. They would even have statistically conservative, tested behavior. His engineering was just another example of how incredible the human brain is. It can form its own models, methodology and execution entirely within a private framework of understanding. This works even with complex modern technologies.

Many of the views we have of our world are based on models. Mathematical models are quite powerful. If you can prove that an observed phenomenon follows a math model, you can be sure that your use of that model in design will be robust and predictable. Applied physics is such a math framework. But a model is still only a model . There are many new computer iterative design models based on genetic algorithms, fuzzy logic and non-linear processes which have been proven to produce functional results. Although many of those results cannot be described mathematically, they function nonetheless.

Have we lost something, as a society, by marginalizing apprenticeship?

So many people, operating in the close learning environments, of friendship and collaboration, have produced miracles of new technology. Just look at the Xerox crew, which brought us GUIs, Networking, Object oriented software etc.

Relight the Torch

Universities and colleges are supposed to provide the substance of a career interest. They are supposed to provide a toolbox for learning new things. They are supposed to teach you how to think. Is that standard toolbox always the best start? Is it always the best set of tools? When I meet people like my late friend Charlie, I think we need to rethink our emphasis on institutionalized models and teaching.

Not everyone is a natural teacher, but there are many with natural gifts for creative building and innovation. Charlie was that rare blend of natural teacher and renegade technologist. He got all of that power from his own study and family dynamics. Apprenticeship is a old, tried and true concept, preceding all of the modern institutions of learning. Can this old concept be reinvigorated in our time, for more than the traditional electrical, plumbing and legacy trades?

Perhaps attempting to tap this mentor to apprentice communication will destroy it. Small team chemistry is meant to be small. Maybe it is best left alone.

Light Blogging

Sorry about the light blogging. Between aggressive work deadlines, stress related loss of blood sugar control and my latest battle with neuropathy in my feet, I have not seen much sleep lately.

When it flares up, it feels like sleeping with your feet in a bucket of ice water, or suddenly having ice picks pushed through your toes.

In the words of the Governator, I will be back.

Give Peace a' France

Please ACLU, send some of your high priced lawyers over to France. Those poor, downtrodden Muslim youths, fomenting civil war, must have their precious civil rights protected, in the land of Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite. Please pack all the sympathetic moonbats you can fit, into the carry on luggage compartment.

When you get to the Paris airport, make sure you announce your intentions, as loudly and publicly as possible.

I wonder how long it will be, before the BBC does an Abu Ghraib special on the French government? It could not happen to a nicer administration.

What happens two decades from now, when Muslims take over France, a country fully equipped with first class hydrogen nukes and modern delivery systems?

More good stuff over at Dread Pundit Bluto.

Harriet exit stage Left

UPDATE:
Enter Samuel Alito, stage Right. (Yes!)

It is no secret that I opposed the Miers nomination. I also do not believe the theory that this was some horrible miscarriage of justice. I do not think conservative opinion makers were responsible for her withdrawal. People have a constitutional right to free speech. They have the constitutional right to pressure both the congress, and the executive with any verbal tool they feel like using. I think this demonstrates strength of character and participation in government.

The political parties involved, in this process, made all the final decisions here.

They decided whether to be driven by pressure, stand on principle, make all the phone calls, advise, consent, dissent or pose for the cameras and smile.

I know emotions were high on this one. I visited a blog where the blogger was excoriating Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh and Laura Ingraham for using their media pulpit against Miers. She was drawing some sort of parallel between the type of personal destruction wrought by the left, and the criticism of conservatives. She complained about Miers information being cherry picked and used as a weapon. At the end of the exchange what does she do? She visits my blog, cherry picks some information, then posts an insulting threat, directed at me, in the comments. She was demanding dignity for her nominee, while denying dignity to those who disagreed with her. Emotion breeds hypocrisy.

President Bush made his choice

President Bush nominated Miers, knowing the reaction he and Ms Miers would get from that nomination. If he did not know, he should have. The reaction was instantaneous. The left likes to always accuse the conservatives of being zombie ditto heads, marching in fascist lockstep. That ridiculous label was proven false, by this SCOTUS drama. We think. We express those thoughts. We do it without reservation or remorse, even when we vehemently disagree. A controversial choice was destined for controversy.

President Bush did not defend the choice

Bush asked me to trust his choice, without reservation and wait through the process. I am sorry. I voted for the President. I financially supported the president. I firmly support him on many issues. I firmly disagree on others. I did not marry the president. There is not an implicit trust relationship here.

Frankly, I scrutinize everyone, within the borders of the District of Columbia. When it comes to the Washington crowd, trust must be earned. I am not a bleating Pollyanna. Public skepticism is healthy.

President Bush did not support Ms. Miers with anything more substantive than what you see above. When asked for details, he could have done one of two things. First, he could have handed them over. Or, since this is not a criminal prosecution , he could have claimed executive privilege and respectfully said no. Either way, he could have insisted the Senate proceed anyway. What did he do? He sat back and let his beloved nominee submit her resignation. No factual support or moral support, publicly uttered.

Deja Vu. Can anybody say Miguel Estrada? The president only stood up and really rallied for his nominee after Estrada was filibustered into history. Now that was a case of a person being denied their vote after the approval of the SJC. The Democrats did it, while the executive watched them do it.

Miers did not defend herself

Many of the opinions out there, say Ms. Miers was never tested in the SJC for her strength of character. What did she think was going to happen to her one way or another, being a trusted member of the Bush administration and a political ally? This is Washington DC, with a liberal MSM. They play Hardball. Remember Clarence Thomas? Remember the brutal laundry wringers they pushed him through? Harriet could have said ok, I am going to stick it out. I am going to demand those hearings. I am going to demand that vote. She could have had all of that, even though her chances were slim.

• Maybe her resignation meant that she was bowing to the President's wavering doubt, out of loyalty.
• Maybe it meant she did not want to face the crucible.
• Maybe it meant she firmly believed that her chances were hopeless
• Maybe she realized she was not up to the job
  

The first two are weak choices, with regards to a judicial pillar, expected to warm that seat for decades. The third is a judgement call, based on whether to stand on principle or not.

The last is a heroic introspection, analysis and conclusion, which should be applauded. If this was the reason, she spared herself, the president and the people the embarrassment of a brutal SJC process.

In any event, her voice was withdrawn by her own personal judgement.

The Senate's half-hearted support

Many of the senators had private audiences with Miers. They expressed their doubts, to both the president and the public. Big deal. Is this an earth shattering surprise? Is this a violation of due process? I think not.

You had congressmen openly lamenting Ms. Miers plight before the MSM cameras. Does anyone seriously think that Kennedy, Shumer and Reid were doing this out of respect for Ms Miers' right to advice and consent? They would pull that filibuster out in a New York minute, if they even sniffed a faint waft of conservative victory. This looked dangerously suspicious to me.

Some senators were undoubtedly swayed by public opinion of conservatives.

If the Miers supporters were so fired up and concerned about these votes, why didn't they step up and make the same fuming stink their counterparts did? It is not like the waffling support was absent from the news every day. I am sick of hearing these whining post-mortem laments about how Rush Limbaugh is now running the country or that other organization is controlling the vote. I hear enough of that garbage from the Democrats. What did all that whining cost them? All of their power in government. Welcome to representative government 101. The loudest mouse gets all the cheese. If you want more, squeek louder, when the cheese is being passed out.

Do not blame the Strong Willed

Sorry, in the realm of government power, the meek never inherit the earth. The meek wait around to be told what to do, where to go and how to vote by those unafraid to do so. Anyone who is wringing their hands over Ms. Miers and her lack of hearings, should blame the President, blame Ms. Miers and blame the senators, unwilling to stand on principle, to defend an impending yes vote. If they are blaming those exercising their opinion, their blame is misplaced.

Does anybody notice a theme here? There is no political courage in Washington, period. None of these players seem to possess any vertebrae. Jellyfish need not apply to the SCOTUS, I say. Ginsberg, Breyer and Souter eat jellyfish with their morning coffee and muffins. That is why I want to see another Roberts, Scalia or Thomas. Strong spines for hard times.

The conservatives who openly opined against the Miers nomination, were strong people in this story. They were taking the slings and arrows from both the left and the right. They stood up , spoke and took those hits because they stood on their principles of conservatism and told the perpetual compromise commitee to beware the consequences. This was no act of collective betrayal. It was an act of constitutional triage. They are the ones who took this quote to heart.

"Trust but verify." - Ronald Reagan

They demanded that verify part. If the nominee chose to withdraw, instead of marching toward her hearings, that was the weakness of her DC political position speaking, not the strength of the conservative right wing voice. Some conservatives pushed against the wall. The wall crumbled. The wall was too weak to withstand the pressure. The displeased should grab their constitutional trowels and build a stronger wall, with a stronger nominee.

Where is this irreparable damage?

Will the Harriet Miers nomination debacle cause the demise of the 2006 elections?

This will happen only if Harriet Miers supporters are willing to go to those polls, and pull that lever or stay at home, with this single grudge in mind. They will have to ignore all of the other conservative issues. Short term memory are the watch words here. If the president nominates a strong candidate, in the mold of Roberts, this will all be forgotten.

If the president decides to play the grudge game, by nominating a liberal or another career lightweight, the same vocal conservative base will exert their will again. The same DC players will have all those political and principled choices to make. That might split the party emotionally. That might send a message of serious instability to the large pool of centrist voters. However, the vocal dissenting base does not vote on any single issue. People so strongly plugged into the news and the process do not act like cavalier, waffling moderates in the voting booth. So, will there be damage in the voting booth? Probably not.

I could be wrong, but I don't think most conservatives will make that Ross Perot style mistake again. This has become a deliberate process of nailing conservative stakes down in the fabric of the RNC tent. The bigger the Republican party gets, the more they will have to deal with infighting. A large party means many opinions.

The Democrats can only steal the weak, grudge minded vote. What candy are they going to use to tempt that vote to stay away or join them at play? A liberal agenda? The Un-Bush strategy? What a miserable palette to paint by.