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May 31, 2004
Do you only acknowledge Memorial Day
As the unofficial start of summer? Well, go read this and see if you feel differently afterwards.Posted by Nukevet at 10:04 PM | Comments (0)
From the ground
From Omar Muhammed's Iraq the Model Blog, comes an essay from a man on the ground.
This war demands great determination, patience and faith on the parts of the governments and the people. For me, an Iraqi citizen, the American administration has never failed me, not yet. I hope that they keep the course, otherwise the loss will be that of the whole humanity and I doubt if it can ever be overcome.
Posted by Nukevet at 09:35 PM | Comments (0)
People are stupid
I mean really, really stupid.
An Arkansas school teacher who gave her students a fish-shaped water gun is under fire from a parent who says she disapproves of weapons in her house, reports KPOM-TV in Ft. Smith, Ark.
The teacher at an elementary school in Rogers, Ark., gave her students the squirter following a lesson about animals in the rain forest. School officials say she feels horrible about the entire situation and didn't mean to offend anyone.
The parent who complained, Karen Young, doesn't want fish-shaped toy guns in her house because she accidentally shot an ex-boyfriend one time when the gun she was beating him with went off. {emphasis added}
Here's an idea - instead of griping about a teacher giving your kid a water pistol, why not raise them with a little knowledge. What kind of dumbass uses a loaded "gun" as a club?
Posted by Nukevet at 09:06 PM | Comments (1)
Saudi's still believe
That appeasement will somehow save them. Comforting to know that they know "what the men look like", eh?
Three of four attackers who killed 22 people in the Saudi oil city of Khobar were allowed to escape because they were threatening to kill 242 people being held as human shields, a senior Saudi Interior Ministry official says.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:08 PM | Comments (0)
(Bad) Science Fiction as Policy Foil
OK, so MoveOn.org wants us to ignore the lack of facts in The Day After Tomorrow, and just accept that Bush's policies are really, really bad for the environment. MoveOn even went so far as to label it "The film the White House doesn't want you to see". Now that the "science" of the movie has been thoroughly debunked, the Gore-ites still want to make the movie a political issue.
Well, if we can do that with this piece of fantasy from Roland Emmerich, then why can't we do it with his 2 other movies: Independence Day and Godzilla 2000? I mean, getting attacked by either space aliens or a giant radioactive lizard is just as likely as the events shown in "The Day After Tomorrow". And suppose they both attacked at once - even worse than having Manhattan get flooded by screwy weather. Bush could at least climb into his F-102 Convair and attack both the aliens and Godzilla - what's Kerry going to do? Yeah, the Convair wasn't such a great aircraft, but what are you going to do with a Viet Nam era swiftboat against an amphibious radioactive dinosaur, much less aliens from space? I mean, maybe you get a couple of shots off at Godzilla while he's swimming in from Japan, but otherwise you're toast. And forget about doing anything to fight the aliens.
The results of this highly scientific survey reveal that Bush is better prepared than Kerry to deal with the disasters in 2 out of 3 Emmerich films. And I'm not so sure that Kerry actually wins out on "Day After Tomorrow", since he hasn't actually elucidated a coherent policy on the environment.
I know that imaging Bush in a F-102 fighting aliens and Godzilla may be a bit hard visualize. That's why we had the crack CGI team here at RNS whip up this little bit of movie magic:
Posted by Nukevet at 07:01 PM | Comments (2)
No doubt the media coverage
Will far exceed that devoted to Abu Ghraib, right?
My local translator stops, no longer willing to delve into her story. "She is only 13," he says, and walks away. Tentatively, she continues talking to me in Arabic: "They tied me to a tree and raped me all night. I became very ill and fell down. They thought I died, so they left me."
Yes, it's a rhetorical question. The perpetrators were Arab militiamen, the victims Sudanese, and Americans had nothing to do with it. So the rape of innocent civilians in the Sudan (head of the UN Civil Rights Commission, don't ya know) will go unheeded while we focus on the fact that terrorist suspects have been humiliated.
Posted by Nukevet at 03:54 PM | Comments (0)
It's finally here
The new Louisiana quarter, that is.
Posted by Nukevet at 03:02 PM | Comments (2)
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember'd;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile, 65
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day
A reminder for me, like most veterans I was spared the trials of close combat. So these words bring sharply into focus an emotion I've felt since the day the towers fell. I didn't do enough. I should have done more, I should have been able to enlist again, able to engage the enemy. I'm shamed that I can't do these things, shamed that others are going while I simply watch. But a man who walks with a cane is not an asset. I'm sorry, for failing to join the fight, sorry, and ashamed. I do find some comfort in these words from AK's post.
to pray, not for comfort, but for combat; to keep the soldier's faith against the doubts of civil life, more besetting and harder to overcome than all the misgivings of the battlefield,
I can't help feeling I should do more, but since I'm to broken to be accepted, I can give voice to those who can't speak in their own defense. They're too busy for that, and I will suffer no insult to them. Life IS a battle, and you can't always choose the field on which it's waged. But you can however, choose to win, choose to fight.
Posted by Nukevet at 08:54 AM | Comments (1)
good luck charm
A small pin, about the size of a nichol. Round, with the words, "The US Army Salutes America's veterans" around the outside edge. Not worth fifty cents probably. A staff sargent who worked the recruiting station down the block gave it to me. I see the men and women who work there fairly often, they pop in to grab some stuff before heading out for the day. After 9/11 what was once just a casual reminder of past duty took on almost an urgency for me. I went out of my way to make small talk, to give them the extra bit of attention that often gets forgotten these days. I want to show them in at least in a small way, at least I appreciate who and what they are.
That Staff Sgt. was my age with grandkids while I started my family later in life. My children and his grandchildren are about the same ages. He's a nice guy, a good man. He moved Heavan and Earth to get back to his Division when it was deployed in Iraq. He's in the 4th Infantry, as was my father. Before he left he gave me that pin, just a tiny gesture of freindship. He's over there now, and if he comes home safe, I'll never know. His home is in another state, his roots are there. I barely knew his name, we weren't as close as that, just casual freinds and I was really flattered and surprised when he gave it to me.
I wear it high on my name badge, beside an American flag, a customer award, and a union award. I refuse to take it off my name plate, and when I missplaced it for a couple of days, I was frantic to find it. The reason will sound silly to most people, I wear it because I want him to come home safe. A totem, a lucky charm, warriors can be terribly superstitious, I was, and I guess I still am. I won't take it off until I can be certain he's home again, and maybe not even then, there are others over there. I was putting it on a new badge recently, having to push the pin through a quarter inch of plastic, it slipped, ran it right into my thumb. A minor nothing, but my blood washed over it, smearing as I finished putting it on.
Have you ever had a moment when you thought time and space suddenly stopped? When the outside world suddenly went silent and you could feel the blood rushing in your ears? Everything hushed down to a low buzz as you ticked the seconds by slowly as if you were somehow outside the world even while you stand within it? It happened to me then, I've only felt that rush before a couple of times. In that moment,..it's hard to say why exactly,..but I felt a flood of emotion. Everything, fear, pride, anguish and longing, conviction, devotion .....memory flashs of gunfire and engine sounds,. smells of barracks and weapons oil.....as if everything merged for just a second or two. It seemed to last forever and yet, last for only a moment. I don't try to explain it, just to say what it felt like.
I just know deep inside me that I have to wear that pin. A logical man will tell me it was nothing, explain it away as some kind of neurosis. Too much stress and emotion combined with chronic pain just finding an exit point. Maybe, but in truth, I have to go with my instincts on this. "More things in Heavan and on Earth then men can Imagine", I just want my friend to come home alive and safe, and if fate requires a small piece of blind faith for that, so be it.
Did I say it was worth fifty cents? I should have said priceless, because what's hope and faith in a man's life worth? Veterans share a covenent with each other, a bond of blood and devotion, we must never, ever, break with that faith.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:35 AM | Comments (3)
debts
Remembering, the past, the faces, the names, the places. Remembering too, the present. Remembering the reason, all the Hell and the pain, all the horror, are for one thing in the end,
Freedom.
Bless the veterans of that generation, they taught those of us that followed much, and we're greatful for that. 16 million men and women served in that war, there are four million left. The number dwindles by a thousand a day.
From sons
to fathers
from fathers
to grandfathers
from grandfathers
to great grandfathers
from great grandfathers
to the whispered sound of eternity.
They returned from war to build on what was saved. Children were born and raised, homes made, communities. Everything we are now, sprang from what they protected, and what they built.
It was only in vain if we will not learn what they have taught. Tyrany can be beaten, Evil driven back into the pit, light shone once again onto slave peoples. If only we have the courage and the will. If only we remember who we are.
Posted by Nukevet at 04:46 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Speech
If I could write as well as Puggs, I wouldn't have to hunt down the words of others. He says everthing this does, but in a lot less words.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
THE SOLDIER'S FAITH
(n Address Delivered on Memorial Day, May 30, 1895, at a Meeting Called by the Graduating Class of Harvard University. President Theodore Roosevelt's admiration for this speech was a factor in Holmes' nomination to the US Supreme Court.)
Any day in Washington Street, when the throng is greatest and busiest, you may see a blind man playing a flute. I suppose that someone hears him. Perhaps also my pipe may reach the heart of some passer in the crowd.
I once heard a man say, "Where Vanderbilt sits, there is the head of the table. I teach my son to be rich." He said what many think. For although the generation born about 1840, and now governing the world, has fought two at least of the greatest wars in history, and has witnessed others, war is out of fashion, and the man who commands attention of his fellows is the man of wealth. Commerce is the great power. The aspirations of the world are those of commerce. Moralists and philosophers, following its lead, declare that war is wicked, foolish, and soon to disappear.
The society for which many philanthropists, labor reformers, and men of fashion unite in longing is one in which they may be comfortable and may shine without much trouble or any danger. The unfortunately growing hatred of the poor for the rich seems to me to rest on the belief that money is the main thing (a belief in which the poor have been encouraged by the rich), more than on any other grievance. Most of my hearers would rather that their daughters or their sisters should marry a son of one of the great rich families than a regular army officer, were he as beautiful, brave, and gifted as Sir William Napier. I have heard the question asked whether our war was worth fighting, after all. There are many, poor and rich, who think that love of country is an old wife's tale, to be replaced by interest in a labor union, or, under the name of cosmopolitanism, by a rootless self-seeking search for a place where the most enjoyment may be had at the least cost.
Meantime we have learned the doctrine that evil means pain, and the revolt aginst pain in all its forms has grown more and more marked. From societies for the prevention of cruelty to animals up to socialism, we express in numberless ways the notion that suffering is a wrong which can be and ought to be prevented, and a whole literature of sympathy has sprung into being which points out in story and in verse how hard it is to be wounded in the battle of life, how terrible, how unjust it is that any one should fail.
Even science has had its part in the tendencies which we observe. It has shaken established religion in the minds of very many. It has pursued analysis until at last this thrilling world of colors and passions and sounds has seemed fatally to resolve itself into one vast network of vibrations endlessly weaving an aimless web, and the rainbow flush of cathedral windows, which once to enraptured eyes appeared the very smile of God, fades slowly out into the pale irony of the void.
And yet from vast orchestras still comes the music of mighty symphonies. Our painters even now are spreading along the walls of our Library glowing symbols of mysteries still real, and the hardly silenced cannon of the East proclaim once more that combat and pain still are the portion of man. For my own part, I believe that the struggle for life is the order of the world, at which it is vain to repine. I can imagine the burden changed in the way it is to be borne, but I cannot imagine that it ever will be lifted from men's backs. I can imagine a future in which science shall have passed from the combative to the dogmatic stage, and shall have gained such catholic acceptance that it shall take control of life, and condemn at once with instant execution what now is left for nature to destroy. But we are far from such a future, and we cannot stop to amuse or to terrify ourselves with dreams. Now, at least, and perhaps as long as man dwells upon the globe, his destiny is battle, and he has to take the chances of war. If it is our business to fight, the book for the army is a war-song, not a hospital-sketch. It is not well for soldiers to think much about wounds. Sooner or later we shall fall; but meantime it is for us to fix our eyes upon the point to be stormed, and to get there if we can.
Behind every scheme to make the world over, lies the question, What kind of world do you want? The ideals of the past for men have been drawn from war, as those for women have been drawn from motherhood. For all our prophecies, I doubt if we are ready to give up our inheritance. Who is there who would not like to be thought a gentleman? Yet what has that name been built on but the soldier's choice of honor rather than life? To be a soldier or descended from soldiers, in time of peace to be ready to give one's life rather than suffer disgrace, that is what the word has meant; and if we try to claim it at less cost than a splendid carelessness for life, we are trying to steal the good will without the responsibilities of the place. We will not dispute about tastes. The man of the future may want something different. But who of us could endure a world, although cut up into five-acre lots, and having no man upon it who was not well fed and well housed, without the divine folly of honor, without the senseless passion for knowledge outreaching the flaming bounds of the possible, without ideals the essence of which is that they can never be achieved? I do not know what is true. I do not know the meaning of the universe. But in the midst of doubt, in the collapse of creeds, there is one thing I do not doubt, that no man who lives in the same world with most of us can doubt, and that is that the faith is true and adorable which leads a soldier to throw away his life in obedience to a blindly accepted duty, in a cause which he little understands, in a plan of campaign of which he has little notion, under tactics of which he does not see the use.
Most men who know battle know the cynic force with which the thoughts of common sense will assail them in times of stress; but they know that in their greatest moments faith has trampled those thoughts under foot. If you wait in line, suppose on Tremont Street Mall, ordered simply to wait and do nothing, and have watched the enemy bring their guns to bear upon you down a gentle slope like that of Beacon Street, have seen the puff of the firing, have felt the burst of the spherical case-shot as it came toward you, have heard and seen the shrieking fragments go tearing through your company, and have known that the next or the next shot carries your fate; if you have advanced in line and have seen ahead of you the spot you must pass where the rifle bullets are striking; if you have ridden at night at a walk toward the blue line of fire at the dead angle of Spottsylvania, where for twenty-four hours the soldiers were fighting on the two sides of an earthwork, and in the morning the dead and dying lay piled in a row six deep, and as you rode you heard the bullets splashing in the mud and earth about you; if you have been in the picket-line at night in a black and unknown wood, have heard the splat of the bullets upon the trees, and as you moved have felt your foot slip upon a dead man's body; if you have had a blind fierce gallop against the enemy, with your blood up and a pace that left no time for fear --if, in short, as some, I hope many, who hear me, have known, you have known the vicissitudes of terror and triumph in war; you know that there is such a thing as the faith I spoke of. You know your own weakness and are modest; but you know that man has in him that unspeakable somewhat which makes him capable of miracle, able to lift himself by the might of his own soul, unaided, able to face anniliation for a blind belief.
From the beginning, to us, children of the North, life has seemed a place hung about by dark mists, out of which comes the pale shine of dragon's scales and the cry of fighting men, and the sound of swords. Beowolf, Milton, Durer, Rembrandt, Schopenhauer, Turner, Tennyson, from the first war song of the race to the stall-fed poetry of modern English drawing rooms, all have had the same vision, and all have had a glimpse of a light to be followed. "The end of wordly life awaits us all. Let him who may, gain honor ere death. That is best for a warrior when he is dead." So spoke Beowolf a thousand years ago.
Not of the sunlight,
Not of the moonlight,
Not of the starlight!
O Young Mariner,
Down to the haven.
Call your companions,
Launch your vessel,
And crowd your canvas.
And, ere it vanishes
Over the margin,
After it, follow it,
Follow the Gleam
So sang Tennyson in the voice of the dying Merlin.
When I went to the war I thought that soldiers were old men. I remembered a picture of the revolutionary soldier which some of you may have seen, representing a white-haired man with his flint-lock slung across his back. I remembered one or two examples of revolutionary soldiers wom I have met, and I took no account of the lapse of time. It was not long after, in winter quarters, as I was listening to some of the sentimental songs in vogue, such as--
Farewell, Mother, you may never
See your darling boy again,
that it came over me that the army was made up of what I should now call very young men. I dare say that my illusion has been shared by some of those now present, as they have looked at us upon whose heads the white shadows have begun to fall. But the truth is that war is the business of youth and early middle age. You who called this assemblage together, not we, would be the soldiers of another war, if we should have one, and we speak to you as the dying Merlin did in the verse which I have just quoted. Would that the blind man's pipe might be transformed by Merlin's magic, to make you hear the bugles as once we heard them beneath the morning stars! For you it is that now is sung the Song of the Sword:--
The War-Thing, the Comrade,
Father of Honor,
And Giver of kingship,
The fame-smith, the song master.
Priest (saith the Lord)
Of his marriage with victory
...
Clear singing, clean slicing;
Sweet spoken, soft finishing;
Making death beautiful
Life but a coin
To be staked in a pastime
Whose playing is more
Than the transfer of being;
Arch-anarch, chief builder,
Prince and evangelist,
I am the Will of God:
I am the Sword.
War, when you are at it, is horrible and dull. It is only when time has passed that you see that its message was divine. I hope it may be long before we are called again to sit at that master's feet. But some teacher of the kind we all need. In this snug, over-safe corner of the world we need it, that we may realize that our comfortable routine is no eternal necessity of things, but merely a little space of calm in the midst of the tempestuous untamed streaming of the world, and in order that we may be ready for danger. We need it in this time of individualist negations, with its literature of French and American humor, revolting at discipline, loving flesh-pots, and denying that anything is worthy of reverence--in order that we may remember all that buffoons forget. We need it everywhere and at all times. For high and dangerous action teaches us to believe as right beyond dispute things for which our doubting minds are slow to find words of proof. Out of heroism grows faith in the worth of heroism. The proof comes later, and even may never come. Therefore I rejoice at every dangerous sport which I see pursued. The students at Heidelberg, with their sword-slashed faces, inspire me with sincere respect. I gaze with delight upon our polo players. If once in a while in our rough riding a neck is broken, I regard it, not as a waste, but as a price well paid for the breeding of a race fit for headship and command.
We do not save our traditions, in our country. The regiments whose battle-flags were not large enough to hold the names of the battles they had fought vanished with the surrender of Lee, although their memories inherited would have made heroes for a century. It is the more necessary to learn the lesson afresh from perils newly sought, and perhaps it is not vain for us to tell the new generation what we learned in our day, and what we still believe. That the joy of life is living, is to put out all one's powers as far as they will go; that the measure of power is obstacles overcome; to ride boldly at what is in front of you, be it fence or enemy; to pray, not for comfort, but for combat; to keep the soldier's faith against the doubts of civil life, more besetting and harder to overcome than all the misgivings of the battlefield, and to remember that duty is not to be proved in the evil day, but then to be obeyed unquestioning; to love glory more than the temptations of wallowing ease, but to know that one's final judge and only rival is oneself: with all our failures in act and thought, these things we learned from noble enemies in Virginia or Georgia or on the Mississippi, thirty years ago; these things we believe to be true.
"Life is not lost", said she,
"for which is bought Endless renown."
We learned also, and we still believe, that love of country is not yet an idle name
Deare countrey! O how dearly deare
Ought thy rememberance, and perpetuall band
Be to thy foster child, that from thy hand
Did commun breath and nouriture receave!
How brutish is it not to understand
How much to her we owe, that all us gave;
That much to her we owe, that all us gave;
That gave unto us all, whatever good we have!
As for us, our days of combat are over. Our swords are rust. Our guns will thunder no more. The vultures that once wheeled over our heads must be buried with their prey. Whatever of glory must be won in the council or the closet, never again in the field. I do not repine. We have shared the incommunicable experience of war; we have felt, we still feel, the passion of life to its top.
Three years ago died the old colonel of my regiment, the Twentieth Massachusetts. He gave the regiment its soul. No man could falter who heard his "Forward, Twentieth!" I went to his funeral. From a side door of the church a body of little choir- boys came in alike a flight of careless doves. At the same time the doors opened at the front, and up the main aisle advanced his coffin, followed by the few grey heads who stood for the men of the Twentieth, the rank and file whom he had loved, and whom he led for the last time. The church was empty. No one remembered the old man whom we were burying, no one save those next to him, and us. And I said to myself, The Twentieth has shrunk to a skeleton, a ghost, a memory, a forgotten name which we other old men alone keep in our hearts. And then I thought: It is right. It is as the colonel would have it. This also is part of the soldier's faith: Having known great things, to be content with silence. Just then there fell into my hands a little song sung by a warlike people on the Danube, which seemed to me fit for a soldier's last word, another song of the sword, but a song of the sword in its scabbard, a song of oblivion and peace.
A soldier has been buried on the battlefield.
And when the wind in the tree-tops roared,
The soldier asked from the deep dark grave:
"Did the banner flutter then?"
"Not so, my hero," the wind replied.
"The fight is done, but the banner won,
Thy comrades of old have borne it hence,
Have borne it in triumph hence."
Then the soldier spake from the deep dark grave:
"I am content."
Then he heareth the lovers laughing pass,
and the soldier asks once more:
"Are these not the voices of them that love,
That love--and remember me?"
"Not so, my hero," the lovers say,
"We are those that remember not;
For the spring has come and the earth has smiled,
And the dead must be forgot."
Then the soldier spake from the deep dark grave:
"I am content."
Posted by Nukevet at 04:38 AM | Comments (1)
May 30, 2004
New Take on a theme
Remember that these
These
And these
And even these
Are because of these
Remember.
Posted by Nukevet at 09:52 AM | Comments (9) | TrackBack
May 29, 2004
Fight! Fight!
Well, not really.
I was watching the dedication of the World War II memorial when I saw former President GHW Bush give a friendly two hand push to Clinton while those two and President GW Bush were on stage. I knew that someone was going to say something stupid about it.
And Kos and his readers at the Kos IMC did not disappoint.
Hmmm, I wasn't watching the WWII Memorial ceremony, but apparently there was a bit of jostling around. Reef the Dog reports in the Open Thread comments:
It was on CNN. Bush 41, 43, and Clinton were talking at the end of the ceremony. Clinton wagged his finger in Bush 43's face. Dunno what they were talking about but it seemed at least superficially cordial. Then Poppy suddenly shoved Clinton in the chest with both hands, enough to throw Clinton off balance. I don't know why, but it was completely inappropriate and almost seemed to me like 41 was trying to prove his manhood or something. I'm not even sure what happened after that, the camera quickly went somewhere else.
Are these people blind!?
Here are two screen grabs (sorry, I can't get the pics to format properly)
Does GHWB look angry or violent to you?
Do you see those sunglasses GHWB is wearing? Hmmm, looks to me to be recent cataract surgury. Holy 'No Depth Perception' Batman!
My G*d, these people are looking for any reason to be angry.
And why wasn't Kos watching the dedication anyway?
Might be that he thinks the same way that another Kos contributor, Meteor Blades, does?
More than ever this year, it will be impossible to forget that in several wars - the Mexican War, the Indian Wars, the Spanish-American-Cuban War, the Vietnam War and the Iraq Attack - those dead soldiers were put in the ground by criminals inhabiting the highest levels of the U.S. government. Criminal politicians unworthy to touch the Stars and Stripes, much less wrap themselves in it to bolster their claim of having the best interests of America�s freedom and security at heart.
Memorial Day will be especially embittering this weekend. Moving with self-righteous self-importance among the mourners and the graves will be the liars who got us into Iraq. Those leaders who distorted and concocted intelligence assessments while denigrating and trampling the few courageous officials who objected will be stealing the rubric of patriotism for their speeches at this ceremony and that. They will reference the very American ideals that they have done their best to obliterate since September 11, 2001.
But I refuse to watch this weekend when the President, or Vice President or Secretary of Defense or Secretary of State or any of the others in this Administration appear behind the microphones and tell us how much respect they have for those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
All along they have lied without remorse. Why expect any truth from them now?
Posted by Nukevet at 11:32 PM | Comments (1)
Reuters shot the video on May 11th
Funny that we haven't seen it make the US news, isn't it?
Posted by Nukevet at 08:57 PM | Comments (1)
Memorial day
It's about remembering. So, do you? Remember, that is.Posted by Nukevet at 08:04 PM | Comments (2)
What is wrong with these people?
[Kelli] ARENA: Neither John Kerry nor the president has said troops pulled out of Iraq any time soon. But there is some speculation that al Qaeda believes it has a better chance of winning in Iraq if John Kerry is in the White House.
BEN VENZKE, INTELCENTER: Al Qaeda feels that Bush is, even despite casualties, right or wrong for staying there is going to stay much longer than possibly what they might hope a Democratic administration would.
Atrios calls this an outrage
There you go. We're fighting al Qaeda in Iraq and they think John Kerry is a wimp.
This isn't 2000. We're not going to take this shit lying down.
You're right on the one side Kos, this isn't 2000. How observant of you.
But you're wrong on the other. You and your readers and your candidate will take this lying down. You will do this because, by your nature, you are cowards.
The only reason you and yours are unhappy with Bush is because he went off and started taking care of a problem you and your entire party wanted to ignore as long as possible.
You and yours hate the whole War on Terror because it distracts from your little pet causes of environmentalism, socialized medicine, gun control, etc. etc.
You and yours were willing to negotiate and capitulate and pay the danegeld until western civilization was pinned into a corner, just so long as you were able to tell people how to live. People like yourselves should be hung and shot for sedition, the way you parade around with your rightious indignation held high and the way you rate each other by how much you hate President Bush. The way you take anything that happens around the world, as long as it looks bad for Bush, and make it out to be the worst thing that could possibly happen. Your worry as to what the rest of the world thinks of America is ignorant at the very least. And is more than likely treasonous.
None of you would know how to fight the good fight if it came in Cliff's Notes format. And that means you will never know how to win the good fight.
So you go on, keep telling the America that works to make your life and liberty something you never have to worry about that they are idiots. But don't you dare act surprised when they tell you go fuck yourself afterwards.
Posted by Nukevet at 08:01 PM | Comments (0)
ok, but what does it mean?
I found this little test at our new friends at Spauwhanen. Guy's help me out here, I'm just a simple bear, 4 out of 5 but I don't know if it's in the positive or the negative, did I do OK?
Ja ja! Du er ikke uden evner.
I have no idea wether it's good or bad. I understand the "yes,yes, you" part. But some help with the rest would be appreciated.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:00 PM | Comments (0)
has mikey gone soft?
I mean his tone, his mind and body gave up that fight the day he discovered he could forget his prolonged virginity with a few dozen double quarter pounders. But this?
Washington, May 29 (NNN): Film director Michael Moore claimed to have interview footage of slain US hostage Nick Berg, whose killing shocked Americans after an Arabic-language website showed a video of him being beheaded, but the controversial movie-maker said that was not used in his anti-Bush documentary Fahrenheit 9/11.
Moore, whose film won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes festival, said the footage was about 20 minutes long.
He said it would not be released to the media and that he was dealing privately with Berg's family about it.
My first thought is,...bullshit. If he had it, and could possibly use it, he would have. No chance he would've missed an oppurtunity like that. Which means if he does indeed have it, he couldn't possibly twist it to his advantage. So twenty minutes of Berg that he couldn't use suggests two things.
1. Berg mounted a well reasoned defense of the war. His family contends he supported Bush.
2. He said something disturbing, something that linked him to a radical antiwar fringe that even Mikey was afraid to touch.
If it exists, I grant no credibilty to Moore on anything since his fondness for serial lying is second only to his dislike for hygiene products. But it also says something else to me. What if he did defend Bush's actions in the interview? If Berg's asshat father squelches the tape because it conflicts with his cherished international red politics,.....what does that say? The only chance the world will have to see what his son was thinking when he put himself in Iraq, and daddy possibly withholds it for political reasons? The only answer is to release it, and let the chips fall where they may. Crazy or reasoned, let Berg speak for himself, his fathers soft headed treatment for his son's executioners while blaming the president as being primarily responsible removes him from any serious considerations, removes him from the realm of sympathy.
The interview, which was not conducted by Moore, centered on the technical work Berg hoped to find repairing radio towers on behalf of his company, Prometheus Methods Tower Service. Berg, 26 when he died, also talks about humanitarian work he did in Uganda and Kenya.
"Nick seemed to be fairly conscious of using this thing to promote his business," David Berg said. "(The interviewer) does ask him at one point about the money and he said no one's denying there's money to be made. But it's very clear when you watch it, Nick knew he wasn't going to make a lot of money."
Moore said he had considered using some of the footage in his film but that it got edited out, David Berg said. Aware of the footage they had, some of Moore's staffers cried when they heard about Berg's death, the filmmaker told David Berg.
So, he appeared well reasoned, defended democracy in Iraq, and Berg's family is going to bury as deep as Nick's grave. Mustn't have anyone get confused about who is right or wrong on Iraq must we? This part...
David Berg said Moore has handled the situation with "dignity, respect and discipline."
"Michael Moore has really been a total class act with this whole thing," David Berg said. "He could have sold this to the media or stuck it in his movie."
Only because he likes your wacked out families politics boy. If Nick had shared them, you can bet he would haved aired that film regardless of what you wanted. Overly harsh on Moore here? Call it what you will, I grant that freak zero oints on humanity, zero points on wisdom, I frimly believe Mikey would dance and spit on the Pope's grave if it got him money or lefty applause. He's proven himself a whore in the past, he should stand on his record.
Posted by Nukevet at 05:10 PM | Comments (0)
so,....will Europe get outraged over this?
From Drudge, this bit of news.
During that incident, one of the seven WA officers, who are all from the Fremantle district, was allegedly assaulted by one of the American Notre Dame students and had a tooth knocked out.
Enraged, some of the drunken officers tracked the American down to the university's student accommodation.
It was there that several American students, including some who had nothing to do with the clash at the Zanzibar, were made to kneel on the ground and were humiliated.
It is understood the taunting included comments such as "Yankies go home", "What are you doing in our country" and "What are you doing in Iraq".
Think they'll demand international investigations into "widespread" abuses by Aussie police? Demand the immediate resignations of the police commisioner, his staff, and John Howard? Demand an immediate release of prisoners from Aussie jails, regardless of the reasons for their being held? Condemn the acts as indicative of Australians as a whole, as brutish thugs, drunken louts, and serial abusers of foreigners?
Me neither.
I see this as what it is, a group of out of control assholes with a badge out to have some fun at the expense of every living thing in their path. I have no doubt that having been exposed to this, the Aussies will do the right thing and begin disciplinary proceedings. We'll never hear about this again, as opposed to the Iraq prison scandal, where we'll hear about it from now till the end of time. One happy note,
allegedly assaulted by one of the American Notre Dame students and had a tooth knocked out.
I don't know about "assaulted", (who attacks a group of seven drunks?), but good for you kid.
Posted by Nukevet at 04:38 PM | Comments (0)
polly is a crackpot...whaaacck
How often do you see a statement like this from the Euro left?
"The inequality/obesity link is mirrored internationally. America has by far the most unequal society and by far the fattest. Britain and Australia come next. Europe is better and the Scandinavian countries best of all ... the narrower the status and income gap between high and low, the narrower the waistbands."
Well, Scott Burgess has done some fact checking, and the result? Polly's talking through her ass as usual.
"... and by far the fattest."
No it doesn't - Pacific Islanders have by far the fattest. Among non-Pacific Islanders, residents of Greece, Jordan, Palestine, Panama, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates are also fatter than Americans.
Thank you Scott, thank you, thank you for looking up these figures. I especially liked the part where Palestinians come out as,...well, FAT! The third world so idolized by the Euro left is in dire need of a staimaster. Mustn't be from all those Mickey Dees burgers since they don't get all that many in Gaza and the West Bank. If as she contends imperialism has something to do with it,..if you define imperialist as wanting to conguer other peoples, steal their homes, and commit genocide,..she may have a point where AraFAT is concerned.
But it's a small point, and I'm sure cosmetic surgery can shave off the cranial deformity for her, (for an outrageous fee of course.)
So,......now that we know that arabs fall into the FATEST group of people in the world, will the Euro left now suddenly shun them as so unegalitarian? Polly, Polly,.....shrill dumb and British is no way to go through life.
Posted by Nukevet at 04:08 PM | Comments (0)
May 28, 2004
I love the smell of gun parts in the morning
The paycheck falls in my hands and I trade part of it for this...
Next week, the guts. The week after that the stock.
Yay for me!
You can do this too. Go here or here.
Posted by Nukevet at 08:54 PM | Comments (0)
How stupid can you be?
Hey, numbnut - being in the military isn't the same as having a job.
Apparently, you should just be allowed to quit your post if it gets too dangerous, scary, or inconvenient for you to fulfill your obligations. As I've said many times - I've never been any closer to the military than going down to the post office on my 18th birthday to register for the draft. But am I missing something here? Is their ANY validity at all to this guys argument that I'm missing?
Our military is one of the last bastions of slavery in the United States. At the moment, our slaves are stuck in a combat zone, getting killed and maimed, and there's nothing they can do about it except hunker down and pray.
Yes, our slaves signed up of their own free will, but most of them were as misled about their job as the rest of us were about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
And I don't think "slave" is too strong a word to describe someone who is not permitted to quit his job no matter how dangerous it becomes or how much he hates it. For most of us, the 13th Amendment abolished slavery and guaranteed that we have the right to withhold our labor. It doesn't protect soldiers.
Our armed forces recruiters are quite adept at making military service appear beneficial (it mostly is) and safe (it's not). The threat of war is minimized, because few rational people actually want to fight.
Just realized that the author of this little bit of excrement is Reggie Rivers, former "star" running back of the Denver Broncos (to use his own PR language). I wonder if Pat Tillman thought of himself as a slave when he turned back to re-engage the enemy? I wonder if Tillman thought about how unfair it was that he couldn't just get up and leave whenever he wanted?
Posted by Nukevet at 07:33 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
valor, tears and something more
"Those who established our liberty and our government are daily dropping from us," a mournful Webster observed.
Are they? In body yes, mortality and time is taking it's toll, sadly fewer and fewer of that generation will reside among us until sometime in the not so distant future, they will all have passed. They will however remain among us in a different way, an immortality born of dreams.
In an earlier time, when Evil could be called by it's name without snickers and mumbling from the cynics. When duty wasn't looked upon as a suckers game, when doing right for it's own sake had merit, even if there were no reward. A generation stepped up to the plate and stood for us, for us and in the end, the entire world.
Reagite Ut Defendatis
Each generation has had someone to man the wall, to plug the breach. The "The Greatest Generation" deserves the respect it's given, but they aren't alone, or unique. Every town, some so small as to be barely worthy of the name has a recruiting station it seems like. If you ever happen by one, pause for a moment, please, and look at the young faces that come and go from that place. Do you see the face of a monster, or a face of hope? Hope that the future will be better, will be made safer, even if they must purchase that future at the cost of their own? Fresh young faces, little more than boys and girls really.
We we ever that young once?
I meet people all the time, most just a cypher, not remembered past the moment of parting. Every now and then, someone says something that stirs me, marking a signpost to their passage through my world. A nice lady, buying things for a party, yet she didn't seem happy. Almost ready to cry outright it seemed. We made small talk briefly as she finished her order. A graduation party,....and her son was leaving for Paris Island next month. Silence for a long moment, I was at a loss, how do you give comfort to a stranger for that kind of fear? How do you express pride, best wishes, and your own nagging fear because you know what war is? What are the words? How do you give a glimmer of hope to someone so deathly fearful for her just grown son? Quietly, almost whispering I asked her her sons first name. And I wish I'd thought to show her my son's picture, to tell her I owe her son a great debt, one that can't ever be paid for. But it happened so quickly, I didn't have the chance to think, just to feel.
How do you thank the parent of a hero?
My children, your children will have their time in the son because of the man she raised. I pray he comes home safe, but the furture is as cloudy to me as to anyone. So the only task that remains is to raise the next generation steeped in the knowledge of what was paid to buy their future, ...and the names when possible of those who paid for it. Raise them so that if the test comes in their time, you may dread with the depths of your soul, but you know that they will face it with determination. I do not wish my sons to be soldiers, but if they are their father's sons..
Do well young Marine, I'm in your debt,...forever.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:14 PM | Comments (0)
Hey, Al
Yep, someone certainly is a disgrace to the nation, all right.
It is Gore who has brought dishonor to his party and to his party's nominee. The real disgrace is that this repugnant human being once held the second highest office in this great land.
More Gore goring here.
Posted by Nukevet at 06:40 PM | Comments (0)
That's it!
I knew I'd seen that guy somewhere before!Posted by Nukevet at 06:16 PM | Comments (0)
force of arms
I read this article found at Instapundit with some interest, but I have to diverge from some of the conclusions the author reached. Yes the cartoons from that time blew, without a doubt. But being old enough to remember the original Johnny Quest, the Hanna Barbara saturday morning superhero fests with Space Ghost and the Mighty Mytor, Frankenstein Jr., it wasn't quite as bad as he points out. The late seventies was the high point of this absurdity, it began to change when Speilberg's people started doing the Tiny Toons and Animaniac's. They reintroduced the idea of first cartoon violence, then the reintroduction of the Dark Knight as he was originally intended pushed it further.
Interesting point though.
Posted by Nukevet at 05:31 PM | Comments (0)
Consistently
Inconsistent.Posted by Nukevet at 05:00 PM | Comments (0)
Well, lookey here
The Guardian's got a blog.Posted by Nukevet at 02:48 PM | Comments (0)
I don't think they liked it.
If this film has an impact on the U.S. presidential election, as some over-excited pundits have predicted, then the American electorate is far more gullible than anyone had dreamed.
The science in it is beyond stupid, and it has already been discredited six ways to Sunday by people who actually do understand climate and global-warming issues.
I may see it someday, but not today. I'm tired of being pissed off at movie fluff projects with the subliminal VOTE FOR DEMOCRATS flashing on the screen every flippin ten seconds. I wish to be entertained, not indoctrinated. Hollywood is like the preverbial ugly step child, it should be seen, not heard.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:27 AM | Comments (2)
why i don't listen to my union
Your pay along with millions of other workers� pay is being threatened; you can do something about it that will make the critical difference. The Bush Administration is proposing cuts in overtime pay that could reduce millions of workers take home pay. Overtime pay makes up about one-fourth of the average weekly earnings of workers who receive it. That is an average pay cut of $161 a week and can add up to thousands of dollars a year.
What's actually in the changes proposed,
The administration is seeking to revamp 1938 labor rules by expanding overtime protections for low-wage workers while making it easier for employers to exempt many higher-paid workers. The Senate voted last month to block any curtailment of overtime coverage, although its bill would allow the administration to broaden overtime eligibility for low-wage workers. While the House version of the bill still differs from the Senate's, yesterday's vote instructed House conferees to back the Senate position.
Under the administration's proposed rules, workers making as much as $22,100 a year would automatically qualify for overtime pay if they were not already collecting it. The current cap is $8,060 annually. Most workers getting $65,000 or more, on the other hand, would no longer qualify because employers could treat them as managers or other employees who are ineligible for overtime pay.
It only affects people making 65,000 a year or more, it greatly expands protections for normal working people like me. Now then,
Who is serving the well heeled here?
Clearly the UCFW is wildly distorting what the changes really are, surely the ones affected have the right to protest the rules, but how about truth in advertising? The union is flooding the workplace with highly selective bits of information carefully leaving parts of the truth out.
A lie by omission, is still a lie. My union can go fuck itself, I'm tired of the distortions.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:13 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Head Up Ass, Full Speed Ahead: Part Deux
Perhaps you've heard the story about Seattle left-wing radio host, Mike Webb, saying that Bush should be put to death...
Webb's words....
"[The prison abuse in Iraq] is a war crime, committed by the president of the United States. And do you know what the punishment for that is? Death!"
"So, I say if this man has committed a war crime, and they can prove it, let's let George Bush get the final justice that he has meted out as Governor of Texas, laughing at people who have been sent to the death chamber, let him face the death penalty for the war crime he has committed.
"If this is proven to be true, that he knew what was going on, it's a violation of the Geneva Convention. When you commit a war crime, which is punishable by death."
"[S]hould George Bush get the death penalty? I say yes,"
You want to know the truly f*cked up part of this. Webb is an outspoken opponent of the death penaly.
But I guess he'll let his hypocrisy shine through for this occasion.
I've switched from the moonbatty Coast to Coast AM radio show to the tinfoil hettery Mike Webb Show.
Webb is currently talking over even his heavily left leaning callers while interviewing Robert Jensen. Jensen is the author of Citizens of the Empire: The Struggle to Claim Our Humanity.
I suspect it will be an evening of lots of yelling in my office.
UPDATE: Webb and Jensen are currently badgering an Iraqi woman who lived under Saddam because she says that the Americans are better than Saddam.
Jensen, "The Expert", is calling her a liar for saying that there was still street crime under Saddam.
I'll try to get in, but I've been unsuccessful in the past.
Posted by Nukevet at 06:41 AM | Comments (1)
Not even worth the bullet
To put him out of his misery.
John Paul Cupp, Editorial Board of the Iraqi Resistance Solidarity Network
Shall we stand and fight a dead Hitler, who is not even skin and bones, and his martyred-in combat soldiers who have had 60 years to decay, doing so via turning WWII from a human catastrophe to the ETERNAL "pogrom" the Zionist Entity needs, or shall stand as one against the fascism-in-power of our era, the "globalization" or our era, the "New World Order" and unipolar hegemony of our era? That is, do you want to fight FAKE "anti-semitism" or real "anti-semitism"? Do you want to fight primarily Nazism or the fascism-in-power of our era, US Imperialism and Zionism? Here is the question I ask to those who claim to fight "fascism" and "anti-semitism"? It is a question of outdated idealism and a sort of red flag of dogma, or a dialectical red flag that is growing in livelihood and vitality, one which is an ever-flowing fountain, non-stop in it creative ideological struggle, with fresh and vivid militant strategies and tactics against "the common hated enemies" of our era. In simple layman's terms, you must choose if you want to be part of the dustbin of history based on your stances, particularly your stance on Zionism.
Luckily, this is their only existing website. Their geocities website has been removed.
Posted by Nukevet at 06:27 AM | Comments (0)
But we must respect their culture
Girl: Mom sold me to be 'wife'
A Monroe County grand jury is about to hear the story of a Rochester teenager who says her mother sold her for $3,000 to another family that forced her to do household chores and have sex with a 21-year-old man.
In statements included in court documents, the 15-year-old girl said her mother ordered her to live with the family every weekend for almost a year.
Under threat of severe beatings, the girl said, she was made to clean up after the family and to live as one man�s bride. She described the man as the son and the brother of other family members.
Bekim Lapjani, 21, of 156 Afton St. has been charged with first-degree rape.
The report does not name the parents, since doing so would name the girl. But how much do you want to bet that they worship a moon god?
The multi-culti left like to downplay crimes such as these. And the female circumcisions. And the honor killings.
The next time you hear someone say that the culture of a thrid world country is equal to that of western civilization, kick them squarely in the nuts.
PS - Yes, I read that they were sponsored by a Lutheran Church to live in America. Don't mean sh*t.
Posted by Nukevet at 06:18 AM | Comments (0)
I don't drink coffee
But I live in Seattle. I know, it sounds odd.
Living in Seattle, I have to live with both the coffee-addicted and the anti-corporate gnomes who infest this city. With both of those groups of people in this town, it is kind of weird that a company like Starbucks ever came to fruition.
Most folks who really like coffee think that Starbuck's coffee is too expensive, too snooty and doesn't really taste that great. The gnomes just hate anything that could make a profit. Unless it is them making a profit selling their little red books.
I find it to not be a good idea to make fun of people needing their coffee, so I'm going to focus on the gnomes.
I'm going throgh a local news site and find an article in a Portland weekly paper that debunks 4 out of the 5 points used by the anti-corp types to make the anarchists want to firebomb the stores.
The points:
Starbucks (1) preys on independent coffeehouses, (2) buys coffee at slave wages from farmers, (3) mistreats its employees, (4) ruins local economies and (5) perpetuates the homogenization of the universe through its virus-like expansion.
Here's the first.. Go here for the rest.
"Before Starbucks exploded there used to be small, locally owned coffee shops all over this city."
*cough* Bullsh#t *cough*
It's a nice argument, but it's simply not true. In fact, Starbucks created a market where none existed before and has actually helped indies stay afloat--even despite the 157 Starbucks stores, carts and drive-thrus the company has landed within 20 miles of downtown Portland, according to the company's website. If you love your local coffeehouse, industry savants say, thank Starbucks.
"Every morning, I bow down to the great green god for making all of this possible," says Ward Barbee, publisher of the Portland-based coffee trade magazine Fresh Cup.
Like many others, Barbee says the notion of gourmet coffee barely existed before Starbucks mainstreamed it, opening the way for thousands of independent retailers.
"To their credit, they've raised the standards in the industry," claims Duane Sorensen, owner of the Portland-based Stumptown Coffee Roasters. "People who had been drinking canned coffee for years now drink specialty coffee."
According to the Portland Yellow Pages, before Starbucks came to Portland in 1989, there were 28 coffee shops in the city. Today, there are 91 non-Starbucks coffeehouses in Portland proper, compared with the chain's 48 stores within city limits.
In fact, coffee-industry types claim that nothing could be better for enhancing business at your locally owned coffeehouse than seeing a Starbucks plop down right next door.
Posted by Nukevet at 05:57 AM | Comments (1)
May 27, 2004
On second thought
Perhaps comparing Al Gore to Adolf Hitler WAS a little harsh. Perhaps this is more appropriate, for many reasons.
You decide:
Posted by Nukevet at 11:35 PM | Comments (1)
Intermittent Server Outage
There have been some issues with the RNS server the last couple of days. If we go off-line for a while, that will be why. I'm not sure what the problem is, although the problem does seem to come and go (which is why it's, you know, intermittent)Posted by Nukevet at 06:03 PM | Comments (3)
My entry
One of our commenters complains that it "pisses us conservatives off" when someone photoshops a swastika on the military MOTY cover of time. Well, a couple of points about that:
1) Al Gore is trying to rewrite history for purely partisan political reasons.
2) He is crucifying people for "failing", while clearly ignoring his own contributions to that failure.
3) Who said we were conservatives?
Posted by Nukevet at 05:55 PM | Comments (2)
By special request
Because Gore is an Eco-Nazi
Posted by Nukevet at 09:17 AM | Comments (3)
Go.Read.Now
Very Important. Let your voice be heard.
The Price of Tyranny
by John J. Miller in the WSJ
WASHINGTON--The centerpiece of the new World War II Memorial here--set to open formally on Saturday--is called Freedom's Wall. It bears 4,000 gold stars commemorating the 400,000 Americans who lost their lives in the conflict. "Here we mark the price of freedom," says an engraving.
Nearly two miles to the east, on the other side of the Capitol, there soon may rise a memorial that marks the price of tyranny--specifically, the 100 million people said to have died during the Cold War. If a federal planning board approves the site in July, the Victims of Communism Memorial finally may have a home at the intersection of Constitution and Maryland Avenues, NE.
Here is the link to the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation site.
Go. Read. Now
Found @ Spacecraft
Posted by Nukevet at 07:27 AM | Comments (0)
Stupid, stupid media
Maybe you've read this headline somewhere...
Rumsfeld Bans Camera Phones in Iraq
But it is a total farce. And f*cking hilarious.
You see, the story comes from the website The Daily Farce. Here is the key line from that site's fake news.
"To protect the Iraqi prisoners from any future abuses; any digital cameras, camcorders, or cell phones with cameras are strictly prohibited anywhere in any military compound in Iraq."
And some jackass in the media took it and ran with it. And the rest of the parrots followed.
The funniest part is that I've seen this headline on a number of left wing websites in the past couple days. They took it hook, line and sinker. Just like those bass the Doc will be reeling in later this year.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:17 AM | Comments (3)
Phon e-mail
The Grouchy Old Cripple (in Atlanta) 'finds' a letter.
From: The Imperial Wizard KKK
To: Senator Robert Byrd Grand Kleagle (Undercover) KKK
Dear Bob:
Since it is the 50th anniversary of that abomination Supreme Court decision Brown v Board of Education I thought I would write to you and congratulate you on your master plan to keep the nigras down in spite of that. I really didn't think your plan would work, but they fell for it hook, line, and sinker. You told me that you would be able to say nigger on national television and nothing would happen, but I didn't believe you. Damn! You are good.
Posted by Nukevet at 06:59 AM | Comments (0)
High Speed Steel
Have you ever thought about taking up knife throwing?
I have. As a teenager, I was good enough with an axe to be able to compete. What with having taken some time off from throwing, my accuracy has gone down, but the power is still there.
Still, I never got around to getting deep into knife throwing.
Luckily for me, Ironbear from Who Tends the Fires is quite adept at the high speed edged artillery.
Remember, you learn something new everyday. Try to make sure it could someday save your ass.
Posted by Nukevet at 06:54 AM | Comments (2)
No Matter
Guess what i found in the trackbacks yesterday?
In a trackback from this post about Kerry finding his "inspiration" from a full-on communist, I discovered that someone from 'Media Matters for America", one of the many Bush bashing sites out there had stopped by and wanted some attention.
Well, here we go
Laura Bush likes Langston Hughes; why doesn't James Taranto?
In that post, he shows us that he doesn't realize that reading a poem and letting the commie write your campaign slogan are two different things.
And I didn't know that getting your face put on a postage stamp was that big of an honor?
In a related item, MMfA editors take Linda Chaves to task for doublespeaking about calling Kerry a "Communist Apologist" in this post.
They won't be able to do that to me. Nor I think anyone who reads this site.
Kerry is a Communist Apologist.
Spread the word.
Posted by Nukevet at 06:47 AM | Comments (0)
First, put down your drink
Then read this.
Via Michele.
Posted by Nukevet at 02:11 AM | Comments (0)
Look how well it worked for Howard Dean
Washington, DC—RNC Communications Director Jim Dyke issued the following statement today in response to a speech by former Vice President Al Gore attacking President Bush. “Al Gore served as Vice President of this country for eight years. During that time, Osama Bin Laden declared war on the United States five times and terrorists killed US citizens on at least four different occasions including the first bombing of the World Trade Center, the attacks on Khobar Towers, our embassies in East Africa, and the USS Cole.�? “Al Gore’s attacks on the President today demonstrate that he either does not understand the threat of global terror, or he has amnesia.�?
Posted by Nukevet at 01:47 AM | Comments (2)
May 26, 2004
The Soundboard II
Glorious Burden style
Iced Earth is an 80's style big hair metal band. I had a flashback to highschool (ok, undergrad in college) when I was listening to their newest album.
I chose this one, called "the reckoning (Don't tread on me)". Seemed appropriate, although there are songs on the album I like better.
You might also try this.
Posted by Nukevet at 06:39 PM | Comments (1)
Now THAT'S
"The only parallels I see between those two are that if we are not careful we will end up like the Roman Empire and it will be because of a lack of morals. This politically correct stuff in our country is like a cancer. The only thing that can destroy our country is us. Not some fuckin' terrorist piece of shit who is nothing but a complete coward that attacks civilians and then goes and runs and hides in a cave. That kinda shit... they're so far over the edge and brainwashed freaks. Those people can't hurt us. I don't care if we get attacked another twenty times. You can bring on another ten 9/11s. All it's going to do is make us stronger. I love the ideals the US stands for. But I'm not the kind of person who says we're the best country in the world and that we should push everybody around. I think some people misunderstand that. I respect other countries. I go to other countries all the time and I never talk down to the people in those countries when I'm a guest. I don't try to like shove our way of life down other people's throats. And that's not what this record is. If you understood how many people in our country and how many young kids have no fuckin' clue about history and why they have the things they have, it's frustrating to me as someone who has studied this stuff and cares deeply about it. It's kind of a big deal. I don't think anybody has all the answers for all the world's problems. But I believe if you look at the tax burden the American people have for helping so many people around the world, constantly. It's huge. People can't deny that, but it's easy to forget when people want to turn their backs on us."
and then this
"And that's bullshit! That's the kind of thing I cannot stand. If you look at certain songs, like 'Valley Forge', on the new album. That's not a positive thing I'm saying about our kids and where their heads are at these days. I think we have become a nation of spoiled-rotten fuckin' brats, and that worries me for the future. There's nothing worse than being an ignorant kid that is spoiled and has no concept of what's going on around the world. Let alone not even knowing what has gone on in their own world to make them who they are. If you don't know the sacrifices and suffering that went into the founding of this country, then how can you possibly appreciate what it is you have?"
Or even this
"No. There have been times throughout the history of the country where it's happened. But the whole idea of this country is not to have a government tit. We don't stand for that. There are people who would probably like that, and they should probably move to Canada. I don't want a Big Brother dictating my life. It's a lack of drive. The people who want that stuff are the people who never really got their hands dirty and busted their asses to achieve something. There's a big difference. It's the difference between us and a lot of places. If I live on the streets as a teenager to make my goals a reality or I pay my dues or if I'm a student who's gone to school for 12 years to attain some career and then I get out of school and work my way up through a certain business or whatever, I don't feel like I should be taxed to death to pay for all these government programs that the leftists want. I'm an independent person, the smaller the government the better. Government should not be ruling people's lives. It's bullshit and that's not what we're about. I know the ultra-liberal thing is let's throw a bunch of money at something and that'll fix it. Well, I think the facts prove that's horseshit. The Republicans -- the party of Lincoln -- but in the last 30 or 40 years the black voters have been voting big-time..."
OK, I don't know anything about the band Iced Earth, but I might need to buy an album just to be supportive.
Posted by Nukevet at 05:48 PM | Comments (1)
Simple Question:
What are you willing to die for?
Never heard of Dieppe?
Posted by Nukevet at 05:30 PM | Comments (2)
Suggestions
Since I am over half way to my M1A, and in order to get ahead of myself monetarily, I am already thinking of my next project gun.
I am wanting a rifle. In a large caliber. Something inbetween .30 and .45 diameter caliber.
But I am undecided and am looking for suggestions.
I got my inspiration from Olympic Arms.
They make ultra strong, pre-64 Winchester Model 70 actions for heavy magnum calibers.
I will probably hunt with this rifle. Probably at extended distances. Probably nothing bigger than elk.
I would prefer a cartridge I can buy off the shelf, but handloading doesn't scare me and would probably be a good learning experience.
Help a brother out.
Posted by Nukevet at 09:47 AM | Comments (7)
The Soundboard: Lounge Edition
Feelin' like a hep cat so far this week and figured I'd share.
So for your enjoyment, I present you with....
Miss Ann-Margret singing "Thirteen Men"
And The Velvet Fog, Mel Torme singing "Comin' Home, Baby".
Album and pic credits below.
Thirteen Men is off the 1962 album, Ann-Margret - The Vivacious One
Comin' Home Baby is from the album of the same name, also from 1962.
Both titles can be found on the Rhino compilation series "Cocktail Mix"
Or, both albums have been re-released on CD.
The Ann-Margret pic is from a USO show in Vihn Long circa 1966.
The Mel pic is a press photo circa 1959.
Posted by Nukevet at 06:53 AM | Comments (2)
Oh, that liberal academia
"You can move your tassels from right to left, which is what I hope happened to your politics over the past 4 years"
Stephen Trachtenberg, President of George Washington University to his graduating class.
Found @ Ravenwood's Universe
Posted by Nukevet at 06:20 AM | Comments (0)
Ha Ha
From Protien Wisdon "Super Partisan Nursery Rhymes"
My faves...
Hey, diddle, diddle,
The cat and the fiddle,
The cow jumped over the moon.
The little dog laughed
To see such sport,
And Kerry threw some stuff over a fence once but it was really unimportant stuff and ABU GHRAIB ABU GHRAIB!!
Jack and Jill
Went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water.
Jack fell down
And broke his crown
It's all Israel's fault.
Diddle, diddle, dumpling, my son John,
Went to bed with his trousers on;
One shoe off, and one shoe on,
But he seved in Viet Nam, so don't you question his patriotism!
Found via Drumwaster's
Posted by Nukevet at 06:15 AM | Comments (2)
A Call to Arms
Or keyboards.
The campaign to link the word waffles to John Kerry has gotten attention.
MoveOn thinks they�re shrewd by buying the Google Adword waffles.
Gee� so shrewd that if people click, it depletes MoveOn�s coffers.
As they say in Chicago, click early, click often.
Here� let me point you to the Google results.
UPDATE: It now seems that MoveOn's link at Google has disappeared.
Either they have chickened out, or Google has pulled the link. Or both.
Posted by Nukevet at 06:10 AM | Comments (7)
Double Linkage
I found a couple of good items at The Junk Yard Blog and figured I'd just put them into one post.
First up, Mr. Preston does some math....
The United States remains al-Qaida's prime target, the report said. An al-Qaida leader has said 4 million Americans will have to be killed "as a prerequisite to any Islamic victory," the survey said.
Four million American dead. That's a little over half the population of New York City. Or four times the population of Rhode Island. Or slightly less than the entire population of Maryland.
Put another way, al Qaeda wants to kill eight times as many Americans as died in the entire Civil War, or 20 times the number we lost in World War II. In some ways those numbers are abstractions, so look at it this way: 9-11 was a drop in the bucket. If it had its way, al Qaeda would repeat that feat but magnify it by roughly 1,333 times. And we aren't talking combat deaths here. Al Qaeda wants to kill you while you cut your grass, sit at your desk, take your child to the zoo or fly across the country to visit your grandparents. And it wants to kill your family, your children, your friends and neighbors and everyone else it can kill as long as they are Americans. And they won't stop at four million like it's some kind of magic number or bright red line: Four million is the minimum they believe they need to kill in order to defeat us. The minimum. They'll kill ten million or a hundred million or a billion if they can.
Later on, he finds something troubling about John "Frenchface" Kerry's inspiration.
John Kerry, Democrat nominee for President, has chosen "Let America Be America Again" as his campaign slogan. What that's supposed to mean isn't clear, and it's certainly not as good as past campaign slogans like Reagan's "Morning in America." Even Clinton's Fleetwood Mac crap was better than Kerry's slogan.
As Chris noted a few days back, the inspiration of Kerry's slogan is poet Langston Hughes. Hughes was a Communist. Not a lefty, not a "liberal." An actual Red. A big fan of V. I. Lenin, etc. And he hated, hated, Christianity:
"Goodbye, Christ Jesus Lord God Jehova, Beat it on away from here now. Make way for a new guy with no religion at all-- A real guy named Marx Communist Lenin Peasant Stalin Worker ME-- I said, ME!"
That's his poem, "Goodbye Christ." The man who wrote that wrote Kerry's campaign slogan.
Why would John Kerry choose a Communist's mantra as his campaign slogan?
Why would John Kerry help Communists win Vietnam, for that matter, and why would he help Communists fend off American-backed freedom fighters back in the 80s? The one thing that is consistent about flip-flopper John Kerry is that if there is a Communist in a fight against America or our allies, Kerry tends to instinctively take the Communist's side. He has even managed to cast a vote or two for Fidel Castro.
Kerry is the most liberal (meaning furthest to the left, therefore closest to the Reds) Senator we have. He draws inspiration from Communist Langston Hughes. To say that he's out of the political mainstream is to utter the understatement of this campaign year.
Posted by Nukevet at 06:08 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Show Prep
One of the many lies that Michael Moore has been spreading for over two years is the "The Bush administration allowed a Saudi jet to whisk away bin Ladin family members over FBI objections" lie.
Without a doubt, he'll stuff this little nugget into the Mickey Mouse documentary that won the Palm d'Ore in Cannes this weekend.
(A little snippet of trivia, "Palm d'Ore" is french for "Patting ourselves on the back")
In the interest of staying ahead of the Moore-Ons, Kay S. Hymowitz of the City Journal does a little diggin on Mike, Mike, the Dogfaced Boy.
In an appearance on Comedy Central�s Daily Show in March 2002, Moore announced that during the period that planes were grounded for two days after the September 11 attacks, the Bush administration allowed a Saudi jet to whisk away bin Ladin family members over FBI objections. As Snopes.com, an Internet site devoted to tracking down urban legends, points out, the planes did pick up bin Ladin family members�on September 18 and 19, days after commercial flights had already begun flying again, and they did so only after the FBI had questioned the departing Saudis.
And if you want to see their heads explode, just remind them of this...
Richard Clarke, who served as President Bush�s chief of counterterrorism, has claimed sole responsibility for approving flights of Saudi Arabian citizens, including members of Osama bin Laden�s family, from the United States immediately after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Found @ Judicious Asininity
Posted by Nukevet at 06:04 AM | Comments (0)
May 25, 2004
I can't read the words
Posted by Nukevet at 11:44 PM | Comments (6)
Ahem,
No one was injured in the shell's initial detonation, but two American soldiers who removed the round had symptoms of low-level nerve agent exposure, officials said last week.
The shell was a binary type, which has two chambers containing relatively safe chemicals. When the round is fired from an artillery gun, its rotation mixes the chemicals to create sarin, which is supposed to disperse when the shell strikes its target.
Since it was not fired from a gun but was detonated as a bomb, the initial explosion on May 15 dispersed the precursor chemicals, apparently mixing them in only small amounts, officials said then. In battle, such shells would have to be fired in great numbers to effect a large body of troops.
Posted by Nukevet at 11:13 PM | Comments (1)
Updates meet Linky Love
First off, you should go here and read Mollbot's account of this weekend's Blastorama.
It includes this pic of my Bushmaster in action....
And a surprise.
I'll give you a hint. Her name in Victoria.
Next up, you should go here and read the freshest news on the USS Olympia controversy taking place in Ms. Sondra's town.
Let's just say that Rachel Corrie's buddies at Evergreen State College are scared.
If you haven't been keeping up on the USS Olympia scandal, you can look here, here and here.
Posted by Nukevet at 08:38 PM | Comments (0)
And now for me
Your Personal Self-Government Score is 70%.
Your Economic Self-Government Score is 100%
Sounds good to me.
See the Analog Wife's test results below.
Your Personal Self-Government Score is 30%
Your Economic Self-Government Score is 10%
Discussions at our place are quite lively.
Posted by Nukevet at 08:08 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Hmmm...
Your Personal Self-Government Score is 90%.
Your Economic Self-Government Score is 70%.
Ok,...ok, I'll guard the left flank. Goes to show how wide the GOP tent is if I'm comfortable there.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:25 PM | Comments (0)
The results are always the same...........
World's Smallest Political Quiz
Posted by Nukevet at 06:59 PM | Comments (0)
Still bored
Posted by Nukevet at 06:11 PM | Comments (1)
'nuff said
Posted by Nukevet at 05:05 PM | Comments (0)
More atrocities committed
Teenage rape victims fleeing war in the Democratic Republic of Congo are being sexually exploited by the United Nations peace-keeping troops sent to the stop their suffering.
The Independent has found that mothers as young as 13 - the victims of multiple rape by militiamen - can only secure enough food to survive in the sprawling refugee camp by routinely sleeping with UN peace-keepers.
Yeah, let's turn Iraq over to them. But I'm sure the sexual humiliation of terrorists by US troops will continue to get far more airtime than the actual sexual assault of innocent women by UN troops.
And notice who broke the story - The Independent. Not exactly your neo-con news outlet.
Posted by Nukevet at 03:42 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Event
How many people watched The History Channel's "Mail Call with R. Lee Ermey" this last Sunday Night?
You didn't? That's too bad. Because you missed some inspiration.
For the folks who didn't watch, here's what went down.
R. Lee Ermey was discussing shotguns. Tired of blasting watermelons, he had a set up of paint cans hung over a painters canvas. He then proceeded to shoot the paint cans with a 12ga Winchester 1897 (aka the M1917 Trenchgun).
Creating a Gunny Ermey orginial (sorry, no pic available)
I am wanting to duplicate this at the next Blastorama.
I can supply the frame to hang the paintcans from and price canvas vs. butcher paper and paint.
Then, you supply the appropriate firearm and ammo and let your inner artise pull the trigger.
Let me know what all you Sea/Tac/Oly Blastorama regulars think.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:00 AM | Comments (4)
Imagine That
A Crazy, Anti-Semetic Frenchman.
Paul-Marie Co�teaux, French Deputy to the EU Parliament.
There is, however, another serious imbalance for which we are in part responsible, namely the imbalance of forces. I have no hesitation in saying that we must consider giving the Arab side a large enough force, including a large enough nuclear force, to persuade Israel that it cannot simply do whatever it wants. That is the policy my country (DF: i.e. France) pursued in the 1970s when it gave Iraq a nuclear force. We have now destroyed it. So we will carry on with our policy of imbalance and what is happening today is merely the annoying but inevitable result of our collective blindness and cowardice.
In his eyes, Israel holds too much power over the Arab nations that surround it.
Nevermind that they have never used it offensively.
He wants to give the Arabs nukes so that they might "level the playing field".
Nevermind that the arabs have promised to use them to eliminate Israel.
Good G*d, what an ignorant lout.
Found @ The Dissident Frogman via Judicious Asininity
Posted by Nukevet at 06:36 AM | Comments (0)
Slight of mouth
It seems that some military recuiters are breaking the rules.
Scare Tactics Used To Make Reservists Re-Enlist
MariAnn Curta told the Chicago Tribune in a story published Sunday that a recruiter called her last weekend, saying her 22-year-old son Bill -- who recently completed a nine-month tour of duty in Iraq -- could be headed back there unless he enlisted in the Illinois National Guard.
Army Reserve spokesman Steven Stromvall told the newspaper that there has been a problem with misleading, inaccurate and intimidating retention efforts throughout the country in the past few weeks. He said the Army Reserve is moving quickly to fix the problem.
First off, is this reporter trying to say that enlistees are stupid?
If I was hit with a line like the ones listed in the article from a recruiter or RO, the first thing I'd do is start asking questions of my chain. I sure as hell wouldn't sign anything until I'd done that (and gotten a laundry list of bonus items out of the recruiter).
I am waiting for the left to try and say that this practice was outlined by Rumsfeld and Rove.
Posted by Nukevet at 06:24 AM | Comments (1)
What the law says..
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
The government, not the press, not a private university, not the public, not an idividual. It's historically been understood to mean that the government cannot interfer with your right to speak your mind. Widely accepted, we should all be able to agree with that, right?
So how did that get morphed into you must stand and be silent while I insult you and everything you believe in? When did that happen? Did I miss an extra amendment somewhere? The right to speak your mind, but with this caveat,
Be ready to defend it.
Don't cry, don't whine, and don't you damn well demand government protection for your "right" to offend. It isn't a matter of rights, it wasn't the government booing that goof in Nukevet's post, it was working people gathered together to take pride in their children's graduation. A pride that turned to rage when they saw it turned into a tawdry bit of theatre to stroke the ego of a has been author of a third rate book. It wasn't about his right to be heard, I take it the professors there never heard of newspapers, books, film and paid lectures?.... Anyone who even would consider that fool silenced hasn't got a clue how easy it would be for an established author to get a hearing.
Michael Moore's still breathing so any cries of McCarthism will ring pretty hollow. We here at RNS and our many Friends understand this, you say it, you defend it. No cries of "HELP HELP I'm being repressed". It doesn't really have anything at all to do with free speech, because there are no gulags here, no ones been jailed despite the witless Bushitler" rantings. You can say anything you damn well please, and everyone does.
Just don't expect to be loved for it. That's really what the calls of MaCarthism are about. Not that they aren't heard, it's just that they demand the right to be free of rebuttal. Nobody gets that right except God. So when the Tim Robin's of the world describe a "climate of fear", what they really mean is, a climate of free debate where they get their asses handed to them with a tart no thank you. A climate where for all their pompous pride in their own brilliance, they get the same reception most would give the village idiot. They get a cold reception when they expect a standing ovation. An upraised finger when they insult. How hurt their widdle fweelings must be. Democracy is hard, and anyone who wants a free ride on his public utterances is kidding himself.
You have a right to be progressive
I have a right to be conservative.
You have a right to say you loathe Bush.
I have a right to say Michael Moore is scum.
You have a right to say Bushitler.
I have a right to suggest that you are morally blind, and a fool.
You have a right to yell.
Buddy, you better believe I have the right to be louder.
You have the right to eguate America to Nazi Germany.
I have the right to call you nuts, and question your mothers choice in cross species mating habits.
The people who cry the loudest in the land about repression are the highest paid, the social elite. The Hollywood Stars, the old moneyed families, the artists, the lawyers,..those who frankly have it all are the ones bleating the loudest, and the longest. They want the last word, the last ringing insult to the very nation that enables them to live in their gilded lives. They want the very last word.
Not in this lifetime chumps. We have the freedom of speech as well, and that's what really bugs them the most. We're uppity, we're here, and we outnumber them. It's our country, if they want a say, I suggest they start by talking like an adult. Insult begats insult, so if you call the man I voted for a Nazi, you call me one. You call America's soldiers suckers, or worse, you call every vet that too. You say we are fighting an immoral war, then you are saying we are immoral for supporting it. You spit on my flag, buy a new face, you'll need one.
Freedom of speech isn't a chance to step on a soap box then go out for latte's, it a call to war when the challenge is great enough. The challenge is that great, so don't hide under the table when you can't take it. Your freedom to speak doesn't trump everyone else's, doesn't command silent obidience.
How deep is the irony of a dissenter expecting others to be silent when they disagree with him?
Posted by Nukevet at 03:52 AM | Comments (0)
No Reason,
Just Because
Posted by Nukevet at 01:09 AM | Comments (2)
May 24, 2004
Spot the salient phrase
Actually, let me just tell you what stood out to me:
Some students and most of the faculty responded with a standing ovation, and Doctorow resumed speaking. He attacked Bush for giving the rich tax breaks, doing "a very poor job of combating terrorism" and allowing the government to subpoena libraries "to see what books you've been taking out."
Posted by Nukevet at 08:40 PM | Comments (0)
Mountain bike vs Street bike
Let's see - Bush falls from his mountain bike at the end of a 17 mile trail ride. Kerry falls off of his street bike because he "hit a patch of sand".
Perhaps Kerry should be a little more introspective before opening his mouth.
"Kerry told reporters in front of cameras, 'Did the training wheels fall off?' "
Posted by Nukevet at 05:14 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
One of my students used to say
"That'll happen when monkeys fly out of my butt."
So, are they?
Posted by Nukevet at 04:57 PM | Comments (2)
This is why I bought an XM Radio
So that there was some alternative to NPR.
In no time, I was shouting at the windshield: Twit! He talked about people getting flashbacks to September 11 -- something I share and so he sparked my interest. But then he said these flashbacks are not caused by the 9/11 Commission hearings in New York.
They have less to do with September 11 and everything to do with October 7th, 2001, which is the day the U.S. began bombing Afghanistan. That was the day that people I know stayed away from the city and prayed that our government's actions over there were not going to provoke yet another attack over here.Yes, you can see where this is going: It's our fault. We shouldn't have gone to hunt down and attack al Qaeda because it might make them mad and we wouldn't want to do that, now, would we?
Posted by Nukevet at 04:19 PM | Comments (1)
Sauce Reader 1.4.1
Spent the week-end building 20 solar screens for a 200 year old house that doesn't have anything CLOSE to a 90 degree angle in it. However, the screend turned out really nicely, and I hope they will help significantly with our cooling bills.
On another note, Sauce Reader 1.4.1 has been released. It is a great little newsfeed reader that also has a weblog publishing interface. This interface includes lots of built in GUI formatting tools, as well as something I have wanted for a loooong time - a spellchecker!
Setting up the interface is easy - let me know if you guys want to give it a tryout.......
Posted by Nukevet at 04:07 PM | Comments (0)
Nope,
Journalists at national and local news organizations are notably different from the general public in their ideology and attitudes toward political and social issues. Most national and local journalists, as well as a plurality of Americans (41%), describe themselves as political moderates. But news people especially national journalists are more liberal, and far less conservative, than the general public.
Posted by Nukevet at 03:59 PM | Comments (0)
Many Thanks
I would like to thank everyone who stopped by and lent their opinons to my Lead Ballon.
I would like to second my good man Puggs' words on the topic...
"It's nice to have a running conversation where intelligent people can debate something in a friendly way."
I am going to be setting that post aside for future reference. Like when I see some leftie say that it is the right who get nasty when one of their own says something that is disagreeable.
If you wen't able to stop by over the weekend, click the link above and lend us your words.
Posted by Nukevet at 08:09 AM | Comments (0)
Blast off
And now, the last Blogger Blastorama for May is in the recordbooks. We had planned on going into the sticks where we turned pumpkins into pie last fall for this one, but Ma Nature decided that we should stay inside. Oh well, this is Washington State after all.
The other bad news is that I didn't bring spare batteries for my camera, so there are very few pics.
We decided on going to Sam's Indoor Range of Everett so that we could get some short range rifle practice in. I had a half case of 7.62x39 to shoot through my still kind of new SKS and 200rnds of 5.56 with which to test out my brand new and self assembled Bushmaster XM-15.
In attendance were myself, Mollbot and his friend, Nick, and Raging Dave and the Raging Girlfriend.
After a good breakfast, we hit the lanes.
I am happy to say that the Bushmaster worked quite well, despite the fact that I haven't assembled one on over a decade. With some 20rnd Colt AR mags I found and bought, there were only 3 stoppages in over 200rnds. I had one on the third round of the first mag that was the guns fault, and then two mag related stoppages.
And it did this at 25yds in semi-rapid fire (one round per second) offhand.
(click for bigger)
Eh, not bad.
Keep your eyes open, the June Blastoramas will most likely be held on the 12th and the 19th. More info to follow.
Posted by Nukevet at 06:46 AM | Comments (4)
In fear for their eternal souls
Not being an overly religious person myself, I find this extremely entertaining.
Forty-eight Roman Catholic members of Congress have warned in a letter to Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington, D.C., that US bishops will revive anti-Catholic bigotry and severely harm the church if they deny Communion to politicians who support abortion rights.
The Congressmen and women go against their chosen religion when they vote. And when church leaders say that their voting patterns are reason enough to refuse them communion, they react by threatening the church.
Threatening the church?
Isn't that something the Constitution says they aren't supposed to do?
And doesn't this snif of hypocrisy?
I remember hearing that it was the Republicans who were hypocritical Christians.
I've got my popcorn at the ready. This will be one time I'll definitely be rooting for the church.
Found @ Radio BS via The Spoonman.
Posted by Nukevet at 06:29 AM | Comments (0)
Well, damn..
I can't believe I stumbled on this, it's the web page of a retired MSgt. it seems our paths crossed a couple of times. This is my Group patch. 90th SPG.
We were both in the 90th SPS, but he was in D Flight, I was in C flight. I'm quite sure I did a hand off or two to him when I was alarm monitor. I preferred patrol duty, but, they send you to do what they send you to do. I'm gonna show this next,
Camp Bullis Texas, an Army post were I took my combat traing. We were there at nearly the same time, and I took the 60 specialist school the following year. The thing is, first time I was there, those Hoochies, weren't there. They were being built, but there were only about 4 of them then. We stayed in the ten man MASH tents, big flippin heavy bastards that were either hot as the streets of Hell or as cold as the artic. Then this,...
He calls it the Airman's club, actually it was the only source of entertainment for 50 miles. It was really an all ranks club, we all went there, no silk mess dress for the officers though. Many brain cells begged for mercy at that little club house, a stripper or two ogled, and beyond that I confess nothing unless you have pictures.
You don't do you?
Anyway, cheap color film sucked in those days didn't it? Can anyone say,...Instamatic? Don't make fun of the vintage kiddies, and no the Humvee hadn't been invented yet, it was jeeps without the fancies. No kevlar, just the old ballastic nylon flak jackets.
Our knuckles were large and covered in hair. Well, mine were anyway.
Posted by Nukevet at 06:14 AM | Comments (0)
I haven't forgotten
Slug: Surrogate Turret Ball -- Shown here is a surrogate of the first fully-integrated flight turret ball for the Airborne Laser program, being prepared for end-to-end Beam Control/Fire Control system integrated testing at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company's Sunnyvale, Calif., campus.
Shiney light thingie to make bad guys go poooof in cloud of steam! It soooo rocks, such a pretty shiney it is.
I know it's a technology testbed for missile defense. But damn, think of the possiblities. Also think of the intimidation factor. How many times do you think we would need to actually blast a building or column on a road into charred fragments before word got out that electing to recieve this little gift is a BAD idea? That hiding in a mosque's courtyard is no protection when a beam can flash out of the sky to erase you and leave the building untouched. No messy bomb, just some applied energy. Shooty carbon scoring and steaming meat chunks left behind maybe, but I digress.
Hey Sadr? Can we get that cigarette lit for you? No trouble, really, it'll just take a second.
It'd be our pleasure.
Posted by Nukevet at 04:24 AM | Comments (2)
who's he trying to kid?
Moore�s politics nearly steal the show at Cannes
The awards ceremony started out with a political statement inspired by Moore. Belgian director Jonas Geirnaert, a winner for his short film, used his first big break as a filmmaker to talk about Moore�s movie and urge Americans not to vote for President George W Bush.
The day I let a Belgian hairball decide for me what to think is the day Ted Kennedy stops being a useless drunk. Not a chance in Hell. But the real line that got me pissed is this little piece of Moorish wisdom.
The new movie had one of the longest standing ovations in recent memory � which may have had something to do with his politics as well as his filmmaking. But Moore says he wants to be judged on his skills as a director. �If I wanted to make a political speech, I�d run for office,� he said.
Uh huh,..
We live in the time where we have fictitious election results that elects a fictitious president. We live in a time where we have a man sending us to war for fictitious reasons. Whether it's the fictition of duct tape or fictition of orange alerts we are against this war, Mr. Bush...And any time you got the Pope and the Dixie Chicks against you, your time is up.
-- (at the 2003 Oscars�) -----Michael Moore
and this?
If someone did this [9/11] to get back at Bush, then they did so by killing thousands of people who DID NOT VOTE for him! Boston, New York, D.C., and the planes' destination of California--these were places that voted AGAINST Bush!"
Michael Moore
this?
We know all those facts about Florida and what Katherine Harris did, and the private firm that took African-Americans off the voting rolls and prohibited them from voting. But I've been surprised in this first week how many average Americans were not aware of all of the trickery and deceit that took place in the year before the election to fix it for George W. Bush.
Michael Moore
this?
These bastards who run our country are a bunch of conniving, thieving, smug pricks who need to be brought down and removed and replaced with a whole new system that we control.
Michael Moore
Dude, Where's My Country?
Nope, no political speechs here. Mikey,...from where I sit, a "conniving, thieving, smug prick" like you has no business telling anyone what to think about anything. You've already confessed to not caring about facts or truth when they get in the way of the crap you wanna speel.
Also I found this interesting take on Moore by a confessed progressive, but one with an once of integrity left. Even in 97 Moore's pattern of lying and deception was well established. as was his foundness for blaming everything on dark conspiracies of hidden cabal's out to silence the "people's voice".
Read an interview with Moore and sooner or later you get to the part where he says, "I'm the same person I was before 'Roger & Me.' I still only own three pairs of blue jeans and one Detroit Tigers cap." It is vital to Moore's sense of self (not to mention his career) that he remain a Guy from Flint.
He hasn't been that guy for quite some time. Even when he says "I never made more than $15,000 a year" before "Roger & Me," he's not counting the $58,000 settlement he got from Mother Jones after they fired him. (The magazine says Moore was incompetent. Moore says the publishers conspired against him. You make the call.)
The thing is, no one would even think to begrudge him his success if he wasn't such a snob about being "working class."
Like when he says, "Average working stiffs were willing to ... pay seven bucks to see my movie. So if they're going to give me their money what am I going to with it? Get a big boat? I don't think so." Instead he got a $1.27 million apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. You didn't think he still lived in Flint, did you?
Even a casual reading of Moore's past says he's a conman, a grifter with a slightly wider goal than just taking your money, he wants your soul too. Laughing at the people who pay him, too stupid to smell a hypocrit.
There I go conspiring again, bad puggs, bad bad puggs.
Posted by Nukevet at 03:46 AM | Comments (1)
May 23, 2004
News?......Yeah sure, if you believe in the Easter Bunny.
The next time anyone tells you that the arab news network Al-Jazeerah is a legitimate news source, rub their nose in this. Their links page, The Nazi's couldn't have a more apalling collection of goons and hate mongers all gathered together in one place, everything from ANSWER to Neo-Nazi sites, anti-semetic looneys, communists and Holacost deniers
Bring a barf bag, the shit runs pretty deep, and they throw out lies like candy, bits of news we all know have already been debunked. But you'll find them here if you follow the links.
I didn't really know just how bad some of the web could be until now. I may just have to burn my shoes after this. Arab news my ass, if this is what they consider reasonable discourse, then Himmler was a visionary to them. Hitlers ghost lives in the arab heart, and they're not ashamed at all by that.
Posted by Nukevet at 08:07 AM | Comments (1)
May 22, 2004
tale of two realities
Deserter gets year in prison, demotion.
Serjeant jailed for 'moral objection'
The first is a pretty much straight up statement of the facts envolved, the Guardian piece is as distorted a view as they could make it. Both found at Google News.
The Guardian;
After he was led away his mother, Maritza Castillo, told reporters: "One year in prison is nothing compared to having it on your conscience that you participated in an immoral and illegal war."
---------------
Sgt Mejia, the son of upper middle class parents who had been active in Nicaragua's revolution, was an unlikely recruit to the US military. He enlisted in 1995 after moving to the US as a teenager. Sceptical at the outset of the war, his opposition deepened during his stay in Ramadi.
For those of you too young to remember, Nicaragua's "revolution" was a communist one, led by the Marxist Sandanista's. They replaced a petty criminal dictatership with a Marxist petty criminal dictatership. So mommy told junior to desert, which he did, now he's a good little Marxist political prisoner ala slant from the Guardian. Desertion is a capital crime in time of war, he got a slap on the knuckles for his little hissy fit. He could have been shot, if he were in his mothers beloved "revolution", he would have been if he had deserted.
How a non citizen with revolutionist parents was accepted I'll never know, but this outcome was as fated as the rising of the sun. He must have been really, really drunk, or his mommy had this planned for him all along. A martyr to the "revolution", manufactered and served up fresh. Conscientious objector status is what you claim before a draft, not what you get after volunteering when they put you at risk and you find you lack the stones to finish what you start.
He volunteered to fight for America, and ran away when he was needed. That's the only issue as far as I'm concerned, he ran away.
Posted by Nukevet at 05:17 PM | Comments (2)
More Blogart
Aaron the Liberal Slayer, being appreciative of my admiration and reinterpretion of the IrrigateHillary art he created, has updated the work.
I bring to you....
Posted by Nukevet at 07:48 AM | Comments (0)
Nick Berg's dad is nuts
Stark raving mad, totally looney to make this statement with a strait face.
People ask me why I focus on putting the blame for my son's tragic and atrocious end on the Bush administration. They ask: "Don't you blame the five men who killed him?" I have answered that I blame them no more or less than the Bush administration, but I am wrong: I am sure, knowing my son, that somewhere during their association with him these men became aware of what an extraordinary man my son was. I take comfort that when they did the awful thing they did, they weren't quite as in to it as they might have been. I am sure that they came to admire him.
Did I read this right, this shitstain actually grants the men who sawed his son's freakin head off more humanity than the president of his own nation? The men who led him to a death so gruesome and savage that the national media felt we had to be protected from seeing it? The men who cut his son's throat so crudely he was heard to scream for a good while till the managed to sever his windpipe?
The mind reels with the utter screaming shameless insanity of this so called father. The killers were no doubt touched?..I'll never truely understand the workings of the rusty cogs in this morons head. Never in a million years will I understand the simpleminded witless pandering to savagery.
It's a simple thing, he could choose to blame evil, but he doesn't fully. He could understand the will of our president to bring justice to the bastards who applaud his son's murder. But he doesn't, he makes excuses for the very thing that killed his son. He is a twisted goblin with no soul, no real heart, and I spit on him for doing the finish work for those who murdered his boy. He's doing the leg work for them, granting them the victory of justification by his deeds.
I don't know if Nick Berg was a good man or not, at this point it hardly matters. All that matters is I see a father so bound and determined to cling to his lefty dogma, he can't even wholeheartedly damn the men who butchered his son without granting them a higher moral plain than the man determined to end their Hellish reign.
The choice between the lovers of life, and the lovers of death.....and he chose the side of death to forgive. Damn him for that, damn him straight to whatever passes for Hell to a aging hippy with not a shred of decency or Honor. Damn him for being eager to use his son's corpse for a step to his fifeteen minutes of fame.
Damn him.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:48 AM | Comments (3)
Update on the USS Olympia
If you don't yet know about the USS Olumpia I am speaking of, read here and here.
The Navy has decided that the USS Olympia will not be visiting the town of Olympia, the Washington State capitol.
Why? Because the Mayor of Olympia has now declared that the city would not be able to provide enough security.
Nevermind that the USS Olympia has visited the city 5 times in the two decades since the boat was launched. There was always enough security for those visits.
Nevermind that there are thousands of military veterans who would love to volunteer for the job if asked. Heck, there is a Coast Guard unit based out of Seattle whose only job is to provide security for incoming vessels.
And nevermind that the vast majority of the population of western Washington want to see the ship and are being denied the chance.
There was an e-mail read over one of the local radio stations from a family member of one of the crewmen of the Olympia. Apparently, the submariners have learned about the crap that was pushed through the Olympia City Council and they're not loving life right now.
If you are in western Washington (heck, even if you are not) send the men aboard the Oly a message.
Commanding Officer CDR P.A. Marconi ----- co@olympia.navy.mil
Executive Officer LCDR M. Tesar ----- xo@olympia.navy.mil
Chief of the Boat CMDCM(SS) W. Owings ----- cob@olympia.navy.mil
Let them know that there are still plenty of landlubbers who are appreciative of their service in America.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:37 AM | Comments (1)
AK's lead ballon
A teenage girl in a southwestern Washington high school has been suspended.
Her offense?
Defiance.
What was she defiant about?
She had a Confederate Flag on her notebook and refused the principal's request that she remove it.
I have an opinon and a question on this matter.
My opinion:
Screw the principal. Freedom of Speech.
My question:
Why does a high school freshman have the flag of an enemy of the United States of America on her notebook?
From it's inception, the Confederate States of America was an enemy of the US. Yet a large number of people seem to think that proudly displaying the stars and bars is a cool thing.
I'll grant the idea that it is part of America's collective history and that we wouldn't be the same without the CSA and the war that followed it's creation.
Also, I completely understand the "rebel attitude" that a large number of folks who display the Confederate flag feel it encompasses.
I would also like to let it be known that I do not think the flag, in and of it self, represents slavery or any of that other 'victimhood' pap. But if I was a resident of a southern state that was holding a vote over whether or not to incororate the flag into their state flag, I would vote no, soley on the premise that it was the flag of an enemy of the USA.
I hesitate to compare it to say, the Vietnamese, NorK or Soviet flag. Mostly because they were never a part of the US. And I also want it to be known that I am not violently against the display of the Confederate flag. I don't go around ripping down representation of the flag or starting arguments with folks who display it.
It has always just been a point of contention for me.
I'd appreciate any of your thoughts on this.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:14 AM | Comments (11)
C'mon you gamers
The computer simulation wargames you guys are playing are childs play according to Dr. Wong
I want a War Sim...
1. ...where I spend two hours pushing across a map to destroy a "nuclear missile silo," only to find out after the fact that it was just a missile-themed orphanage.
I want little celebrities to show up on the scene and do interviews over video of charred teddy bears, decrying my unilateral attack. I want congressional hearings demanding answers to these atrocities.
2. On the very next level I want to lose half of my units because another "orphanage" turned out to be a NOD ambush site. I want another round of hearings asking why I didn't level that orphanage as soon as I saw it, including tearful testimony from a slain soldier's daughter who is now, ironically, an orphan.
5. I want that "Public Support" meter to rise and fall according to Troops Lost, Length of Conflict, Innocents Killed and Whether or Not There is Anything Else On TV That Week. I want to lose 200 Public Support points because, in a war where 8,000 units have been lost, one of my Mutalisks happened to be caught on video accidentally eating one clergyman. Then, later, my destruction of an entire enemy city goes unnoticed because the Nude Zero-Gravity Futureball championship went into overtime.
14. I want fat, left-wing documentarians carefully editing the only the most incriminating footage.
You have to read the rest. It is hilarious.
On another note, I don't know where you guys find the time to play computer games. I need at least 6hrs of sleep a night. With work, home, blogging and shooting, I can barely get that. Which means I'm may have to drop one of those when my auto ban goes bye-bye.
Found @ The Junk Yard Blog
Posted by Nukevet at 06:33 AM | Comments (2)
Media: Head Up Ass
And Full Speed Ahead
With all of the hullabloo about Rummy resigning over the grabass at Abu Ghraib, you may have been left wondering why there was no call for the actual person responsible to be strung up by the media.
Jack Wheeler of the Washington Times asks that same question. And he has an answer.
The commander of the 800th Military Police Brigade, is Army Brigadier General, Janis Karpinski. It was her incompetance that let the folks who ran the graveyard shift at Abu Ghraib commit these offences. When she was informed of that the long arm of the law was going to be encircling her prison, she claimed that she had a mental disturbance (read breakdown) and was put on leave.
The reason that the press is not calling for her head is
1. because she is a woman
2. they felt sorry for her
3. they hate Rumsfeld, and
4. they hate Bush
Found @ Dr. Horsefeathers
Posted by Nukevet at 06:26 AM | Comments (1)
May 21, 2004
I did it
I got my union shop steward to agree with me on a political topic.
I showed him this story about the lefties in Olympia protesting against the arrival off the USS Olympia.
You see, he is an Vietnam era submariner. He is quite pissed right now.
After reading the link, he said, quote "Those little sh*ts!" (excpet without the asterisk)
Posted by Nukevet at 11:33 PM | Comments (5)
An offer
I'm seriously thinking of sending my name to this guy.
Here's the skinny....
Matt Taibbi, from the alternative paper The New York Press, reads a letter in USAToday from Justin. Justin asks about the absnce of "good news" happening in Iraq.
Taibbi, be a jackass leftie who doesn't believe that there isn't any "good news" in Iraq, decided that he would send a challenge to Justin.
His challenge...
"I have two conditions. The first is that he goes unarmed and unescorted. The second is that he wear, every day, a t-shirt emblazoned with the American flag on the front, and also bearing an Arabic inscription on the back that reads, "God Bless the U.S."
The only part I am debating is the unarmed part. I don't go to my neighborhood bank unarmed. I have no doubt that there are folks in Iraq looking for an unarmed dupe to pull a Nick Berg on.
I wouldn't actually have to be armed. I could just have a pal around to carry my gun for me.
Any volunteers?
Posted by Nukevet at 07:58 PM | Comments (3)
think we should put stoning to a vote?
The French lefty elite is miffed cause this guy got hacked.
Oumma.com was created in 1999. It boasts a membership of 120,000 web surfers and over 10 million hits per month. A constant propaganda tool against Israel in general and its "bete noire" Ariel Sharon in particular, Oumma.com is the mouthpiece of Tariq Ramadan, an Islamic new wave extremist theologian and a proven anti-Semite. Ramadan, grandson of Hassan al Banna, the founder of the Islamic Brotherhood, is the darling of the French-speaking left and the guru of the young Muslim generation. Soft spoken, good-looking and neatly dressed, Ramadan is being used by the Leftists as a gateway to the otherwise non-politicized Muslim youths.
The face in Europ, France in particular of the NEW muslim,....
The self-promoted modern Ramadan was also caught off base when it was revealed that he refused to condemn the stoning of adulterous women. In his latest book, he pronounced himself for a "moratorium" on the issue.
He would support putting the issue of stoning women to death to a vote? That's progressive in the muslim world? WELL JESUS CHRIST,........next thing you know he'll be up to banning child labor and the practice of slavery in the Sudan.
Or not.
You don't have to make up stuff about muslims, they provide all the ammo you could ever need to feel their culture is diseased and backward. How morally bankrupt do you have to be to say that the issue is not an absolute? With the muslim's being the fastest growing segment of France's population, if you are a woman in France..............
Be afraid.
You'll have good company with France's Jewish minority.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:03 PM | Comments (0)
Qouting Kim du Toit
"It's bullshit." This interview with the Marine General in charge pretty well puts it to rest.
"These were more than two dozen military-age males. Let's not be naive."
--
Among those killed in the attack were "34 to 35 men" and "less than a handful of women", General Kimmitt said in Baghdad. US ground troops stayed at the site "for an extensive period of time", he said, and did not find any dead children among the casualties.
General Kimmitt said the ground forces were attacked and returned fire. He did not directly answer a question about whether foreign fighters were the only people killed.
Witnesses said the attack was on a house where a wedding had been held and killed 41 people.
Well having now been called a racist for suggesting that the arabs interviewed on the air have a tendency to "lie through their teeth",....I wonder,.....What else do you call it? The arab TV station Al-Arabiya insists that the witness accounts from various supposed villagers is true,...yet, their witness's keep changing their stories to fit the interview. From an earlier account by an on scene ""witness",
Witnesses said yesterday that guests had been firing guns into the air in a traditional sign of celebration before the American helicopter attack in the village of Mukaradeeb, near the town of al-Qaim in western Iraq.
"The U.S. planes dropped more than 100 bombs on us," an unidentified man who said he was from the village said on Al Arabiya TV. "They hit two homes where the wedding was being held and then they leveled the whole village. No bullets were fired by us, nothing was happening," he added.
Ok then,.....suggesting that these guys may be lying pond scum who use saps like our demented troll like a two dollar whore is racist? These bastards COUNT on people like our troll to believe anything they shovel, count on them to work against use since they can't win on the battlefield. The footage aired on Al-Arabiya proves nothing since we don't know when it was filmed or where. We only have their word on it that it came from the site in question.
Their word,....hmmmmm...........Nah, Kim's right,....it's bullshit. I gotta read him more often.
Posted by Nukevet at 06:18 PM | Comments (5)
Out of their heads
Apparently, Ms. Sondra hasn't crushed enough hippie skulls in her area.
You see, the nuclear submarine USS Olympia is scheduled to visit the state capitol of Washington, Olympia sometime in the next week or so. The dippy hippies from Rachel Corrie's alma matter, Evergreen State College, calling themselves the "Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace" have strong armed the Olympia City Council to pass a resolution in opposition to the boat's arrival.
Actually, it probably didn't take much arm twisting. The twits are quite thick in that area, being the seat of state government and all.
The boat last visited Olympia in 1998. Over 8000 people were on hand to welcome the sailors in and over 3000 people took a tour of the Olympia. This, of course, added to the economy of the city for the week or so it was in port. Making the capitolists in the city quite happy.
On a slightly different, but related note, military officials from Fort Lewis have decided to stop shipping equipment bound for Iraq out of the Port of Tacoma and start using the nearby Port of Olympia instead.
And, you guessed it, the pussies from Evergreen are opposing this.
Washington is still in the bottom third in terms of jobs recovery nationwide. And these stupid f*cking hippies want to make sure that Olympia gets no military contracts that may help create jobs.
I'm beginning to think that there may be something in the water in that area. Be careful Sondra.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:42 AM | Comments (0)
Saying What Needs to be Said
My dad had old Bill Cosby records he'd dubbed onto 8-track tapes. When I was 12, I hooked up an 8-track player out of a car (yes, 110 converter and all) so that I could listen to them in my room. Pops was a bit touchy about his records.
To this day, I could probably recite Cosby's "Noah and G*d" skit and "the volkwagon with the manual transmission on San Francisco's Lombard Street" skit word for word. I am now wondering why I do not have those albums on CD. I will have to rectify that soon.
Anyway, you've probably heard about Bill' Cosby's words during the NAACP award ceremony commemorating the 50th Anniversary of Brown V. Board of Education the other night.
"These people marched and were hit in the face with rocks to get an education, and now we've got these knuckleheads walking around," he declared. "The lower economic people are not holding up their end in this deal. These people are not parenting. They are buying things for kids - $500 sneakers for what? And won't spend $200 for 'Hooked on Phonics.'
"I can't even talk the way these people talk: 'Why you ain't,' 'Where you is' ... You can't be a doctor with that kind of crap coming out of your mouth!"
My race puts me out of the realm of being able to say this without being labelled a racist. But with Mr. Cosby's remarks the other night, I'll accept that. I couldn't put it any better. In fact I doubt that anyone could have.
Cosby was there, marching right along side of all the other famous civil rights spokespeople. He knows the BS that blacks had to go through in order to get an education.
And now he sees the NAACP helping and even inspiring young black men and women throw their chance at a good education away. The NAACP keeps telling these kids that the white man won't fund the schools properly because the white man doesn't want them to be educated. They hear this and figure that since they're being held down, why even try?
Now, contrast that with the ridicule a black student gets from his peers when he/she tries to succeed. The most common affront is when they are told that they "acting white".
Now who's the racist?
Thank you Bill Cosby for saying what needs to be said. And doing so in the middle of the hornet's nest. I am quite surprised that Kweisi Mfume didn't have a conniption.
Just like your wife did when she found out that you served the children chocolate cake for breakfast.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:25 AM | Comments (5)
Manufacturing Reality
The EUro's, of course.
"But speaking here in my capacity as a polished, sophisticated European as well, it seems to me the laugh here is on the polished, sophisticated Europeans. They think Americans are fat, vulgar, greedy, stupid, ambitious and ignorant and so on. And they've taken as their own, as their representative American, someone who actually embodies all of those qualities."
Christopher Hitches on Michael Moore
Found @ As I Please via Spot On
Posted by Nukevet at 06:54 AM | Comments (0)
More Kerry BS
A couple days back, I posted about Kerry taking the support of his campaign by fellow Vietnam era Swift Boat officers for granted. There were a couple of links that I was unable to get to work later that day attached to that post.
So, here's the photo in question.
Here's the skinny,
Of the 19 Swift boat skippers pictured, 12 oppose Kerry, 2 are neutral, 2 have yet to be contacted, one has died, and 2 are working with the Kerry campaign. The four officers not present for the photo all oppose Kerry.
Pic found @ Judicious Asininity
Posted by Nukevet at 06:48 AM | Comments (1)
Castles
Rocket Jones inspires CD Hall over at the Spacecraft blog to relate a personal story from his days at RAF Mildenhall.
During my three-year tour, I managed to visit many many castles. Eventually I grew a little ambivalent about my collection, but I still enjoyed the visits. One of my favorite castle visits was in Bungay, also in East Anglia. My girlfriend at the time (now my wife) and I were in a pub. I recalled that there was a castle there, and I figured after we'd finished lunch and a couple more jars of bitter, we'd go find it. Well, nature called, and I spotted the pointing hand that informed me of the general direction to the loo. The loo was outdoors, and not just outdoors, but down a little footpath in the woods, and the loo was just a brick wall standing there with a little roof over it. You could use either side, without getting wet (so to speak).
After taking care of business, I decided to see where the path continued to. I followed it another 20 yards or so and there was the castle. It's pretty much a ruin. There was a single-strand of cable fence around the entire castle, about 2' off the ground, and there was a sign on the fence, beside a lock, explaining that the key could be obtained in the village office for interested explorers. After a 1-second debate with myself about going to get that key, I stepped over the fence, explored the castle, and walked back to the pub. My girl said "I thought you'd fallen in!" After we finished visiting the pub, we went out to the castle. Fortunately for her delicate sensitivities, there weren't any gents using the facilities when we passed by.
Posted by Nukevet at 06:41 AM | Comments (0)
Meet Brian Chontosh
Somehow, I missed this story on the evening news. I mean, I'm sure it got all of the coverage it deserved, right?
It was a year ago on the march into Baghdad. Brian Chontosh was a platoon leader rolling up Highway 1 in a humvee.
When all hell broke loose.
Ambush city.
The young Marines were being cut to ribbons. Mortars, machine guns, rocket propelled grenades. And the kid out of Churchville was in charge. It was do or die and it was up to him.
So he moved to the side of his column, looking for a way to lead his men to safety. As he tried to poke a hole through the Iraqi line his humvee came under direct enemy machine gun fire.
It was fish in a barrel and the Marines were the fish.
And Brian Chontosh gave the order to attack. He told his driver to floor the humvee directly at the machine gun emplacement that was firing at them. And he had the guy on top with the .50 cal unload on them.
Within moments there were Iraqis slumped across the machine gun and Chontosh was still advancing, ordering his driver now to take the humvee directly into the Iraqi trench that was attacking his Marines. Over into the battlement the humvee went and out the door Brian Chontosh bailed, carrying an M16 and a Beretta and 228 years of Marine Corps pride.
And he ran down the trench.
With its mortars and riflemen, machineguns and grenadiers.
And he killed them all.
He fought with the M16 until it was out of ammo. Then he fought with the Beretta until it was out of ammo. Then he picked up a dead man’s AK47 and fought with that until it was out of ammo. Then he picked up another dead man’s AK47 and fought with that until it was out of ammo.
At one point he even fired a discarded Iraqi RPG into an enemy cluster, sending attackers flying with its grenade explosion.
When he was done Brian Chontosh had cleared 200 yards of entrenched Iraqis from his platoon’s flank. He had killed more than 20 and wounded at least as many more.
Posted by Nukevet at 12:09 AM | Comments (0)
May 20, 2004
Zacht Groen?
OK, I found RNS linked to this foreign language site (Dutch?). We are listed as Zacht Groen - anyone know what it means? I'm off to look for a little translation utility......
Whoohooo! It is Dutch, and Zacht Groen is "Soft Green".
We are linked under a sidebar of Collega Spauwers. Collega is Colleagues, but Spauwers?
Posted by Nukevet at 10:43 PM | Comments (0)
Well,
Posted by Nukevet at 10:23 PM | Comments (1)
Charge!
Outnumbered British soldiers killed 35 Iraqi attackers in the Armys first bayonet charge since the Falklands War 22 years ago. The fearless Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders stormed rebel positions after being ambushed...
It's sort of like that old joke:
A band of 500 Mujhadeen were trying to destroy a small convoy of Marines cut off from their main CnC and Supply. As the Mujhadeen maneuver through the desert, they hear a voice from behind a sand dune:
"1 Marine can take on any 5 holy warriors, and emerge victorious!"
Enraged, the Holy warrior commander sends 5 of his best men over the sand dune. There follows a few seconds of very loud but brief combat, after which the helmets of the 5 mujhadeen are thrown back over the dune.
"1 Marine can take on 20 holy warriors, and send them to their reward!" Was the next taunt.
Once again, the Mujhadeen leader rises to the challenge, and sends 20 of his best men over the top of the dune. The sounds of fighting last a little longer, but the outcome is the same.
"1 Marine can take on 100 holy warriors, and not even break a sweat!"
Nearly apoplectic with rage, the Mujhadeen leader sends 200 of his remaining men over the top of the dune. The sounds of battle rage for hours. Finally, a single Mujhadeen runs screaming back over the dune, waving his arms in terror. "It's a trick! Run away! It's a trick! There are 2 of them!"
Posted by Nukevet at 07:44 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Gift Ideas for Puggs
Look Here.Posted by Nukevet at 07:05 PM | Comments (1)
Who knew that 60,000 people
Weren't enough to constitute a "mass"?
The New York Times is joining the liberal media cabal in doing its level best to downplay the discovery of that artillery shell loaded with sarin gas near the Baghdad airport. The latest? It was only a "very small trace" that was discovered. About one gallon of sarin, in liquid form, is a "very small trace" to the Times. Yesterday on the Neal Boortz Show we learned that there is enough sarin gas in four liters to kill over 60,000 people. That would make just one gallon of this stuff an arsenal. To the Times, though, it was just a small trace.
It hadn't been but a few hours since the news broke when former U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix grabbed a microphone somewhere to huff that the discovery meant nothing. Others briskly offered that the shell was more likely the bounty of a scavenger hunt by yahoos who didn't even know what they had.
Fair enough to be sure: At this point, none of us knows. But even forgetting the potency of one drop of liquid sarin, when did the prospect of the accidental use of loose WMDs become reassuring?
Posted by Nukevet at 06:44 PM | Comments (12) | TrackBack
Well, let's respect the wishes of John Kerry
But the meeting demonstrated that the Massachusetts senator was reaching out to Nader in a bid to minimize the consumer advocate's impact on November's vote. Democrat Al Gore made no such effort in 2000, and Nader won enough votes in Florida and New Hampshire to help tip the election to George W. Bush.
Kerry's efforts this year, however, could complicate his recent drive to position himself in the political center.
In one exchange, recounted by a Kerry aide who requested anonymity, Nader complained that the Democratic Party had become too cozy with corporate interests.
Kerry replied: "Don't judge me by the people who preceded me. You may have had a disagreement with [President] Bill Clinton, or [former Vice President] Al Gore, or the Democratic leadership in Congress…. but that's not me. I have fought with you, I have been with you on a range of issues, and you should judge me by my record in the Senate."
Judge him by his record in the Senate? That sounds like a fine idea to me.
Posted by Nukevet at 06:26 PM | Comments (0)
Checkmate
Somehow, it all seems so simple.
- U.S. success in Iraq is essential in order to provide an alternative model. Unlike Vietnam, there will be repercussions for global security if America does not finish the job. This is the big picture that must stay in focus. We are dealing with an enemy who considers the concessions and privileges of democracy to be weaknesses. To prove them wrong we must follow through.
- The Islamic public-relations offensive is focused on proving that the West is corrupt and offers no improvement on the despots in charge throughout the Islamic world. At the same time, Al Jazeera isn't examining Vladimir Putin's war against Muslims in Chechnya. All of Chechnya is one big Abu Ghraib, but the Islamic world pays scant attention to the horrible crimes there because Mr. Putin shares their distaste for liberal democracy. The war is not about defending Muslims; it is about Western civilization and America as its representative.
- Meanwhile, Iran continues to pursue a nuclear arsenal and the U.N. Secretariat, France and Russia are busily covering up their involvement in the Oil-for-Food scandal. If we are to impress the superiority of the democratic model upon the Muslim world we must thoroughly investigate any and all allegations of abuse and clean up our act. This goes for plush U.N. offices as well as Iraqi prison cells.
One really wonders if those actively cheering for the failure of the US in Iraq have really considered what comes afterward?
Posted by Nukevet at 06:16 PM | Comments (0)
OK, I'm confused
Religion must be kept out of the schools at all costs, but we need to reaffirm that religions doesn't stop "at the schoolhouse door"?
- "This settlement reaffirms the principle that public schools cannot require students to check their faith at the schoolhouse door," said R. Alexander Acosta, assistant attorney general for civil rights.
- The government filed suit in March on behalf of 11-year-old Nashala Hearn. She had been suspended twice by the district for wearing a head scarf, or hijab, to class. School officials said her clothing violated a dress code banning hats and other head coverings.
- Hearn and her family said she wore the scarf as part of her observance of Islam. The department's complaint charged with the district with religious discrimination.
- Acosta told reporters that school officials raised their initial objections on Sept. 11, 2003 — exactly two years after the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington — even though Hearn had worn the scarf for several weeks. The officials, Acosta said, told her that other students were "frightened" by her scarf.
- "It is un-American to fear and to hate," Acosta said.
Posted by Nukevet at 06:06 PM | Comments (0)
Don't be Coy.....
Posted by Nukevet at 03:51 PM | Comments (0)
Comments Fixed
Heya, all
Figured out what I did to mess up the comments, and got it fixed. Hopefully there won't be any more issues - Lord knows we want to be able to read Harmonia's comments in the clear, rational, thoughtful way they were intended.
Posted by Nukevet at 03:32 PM | Comments (2)
Blog Art
A couple of items have come my way via the Blogosphere.
First, from the recently returned Ms. Rachel Lucas (from her reader Libbo of Lagmonkey) comes Sondra K's and Raging Dave's wish.
I wish Kinko's opened up a little earlier on Satudays (before this weekend's Blastorama)
Also, it has been a while since we had any french-bashing here at RNS head quarters. This was found @ the Grouchy Old Cripple's pad (via his reader Brent)
Problem solved.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:50 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Fog of war redux
I hope to Christ this isn't another mistake resulting from bad intel. Two versions. First the Guardian, then FOX. Both pieces are similar, but this is what stood out for me.
Guardian,
In a video filmed by AP another anonymous man said the victims had been guests at the wedding. "The US military planes came ... and started killing everyone in the house," he said.
Salah al-Ani, a doctor at the hospital in Ramadi, told AP the death toll was 45. He said the wedding guests had been firing in the air. American troops had come to investigate and then left. At about 3 am, they returned in helicopters and destroyed two houses.
FOX,
Coalition forces came under hostile fire and called for support from the air. After the strike, coalition forces recovered numerous weapons, foreign passports, a SATCOM radio and two million Iraqi and Syrian dinars, military officials said.
The attack killed about 40 people, officials said.
Clearly,.....somebodies lying, the Iraqi witnesses made zero mention of arms confiscated or money seized, you'd think that taking a truckload of cash from them with all their weapons would have been remembered. The bodies filmed by the AP, I don't know,....did they even come from the site in question? If they did, how many women and children really? Arab witnesses tend to wildly inflate numbers when in front of a camera. Think Jenin, think Bagdad and the Iraqi information minister.
The first reports make it look as if we just shot up another wedding. But the only film shot of that would be gun camera footage. The AP filming trucks pulling into a hospital hardly tells the whole tale. The Army's investigating so I'll wait to see what they say about it in a couple of days.
At first blush, what if both accounts are mostly true. It was a rebel safe house, and they happened to have women and children in the buildings not visible to the troops on the ground? Mistakes, horrible, ghastly mistakes do happen in war. But the benefit of the doubt, I'll give to our people, at least till everything comes out. The arab tendency to lie through their teeth on most any subject doesn't exactly make their stories easy to accept without confirmation.
First law of war. Do not hide or keep women and children where you cache your weapons. Unless you wish to have them sit on a bullseye. Like holding a wedding in a hardened aircraft hanger..........then claiming it was just a simple party, and why oh why did they do this?
These are the same people who hid their Migs in schoolyards.
We'll see in a couple of weeks when it all comes together.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:38 AM | Comments (5)
Remember the Past
This time, Howard Dean's campaign was just starting to heat up. Here's a post from May 19th of last year.
My favorite line,
One line from the artilce is from a previous meeting he had at a retirement home outside of Hanover, New Hampshire (acoording to the writer, a liberal enclave). He was shaking hands after his speech when one of the ladies who lived there said "you beat that g*ddamn Bush".
I mean, c'mon grandma. Stop the hate.
One year later, it seems that the one thing Dean did for the Dems is to normalize hatred. If you weren't as angry as Dean, you weren't angry enough. One just had to watch the Dem debates to see that he set the pace.
Now that those angry people have had their champion squelched by the Dem political machine, they have settled for Kerry.
He's not as angry, but he is just as ludicris. And they'll settle for a dupe.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:25 AM | Comments (0)
It'll only hurt for a little bit
Yesterday, in the comments section, our own illiterate harpy, Harm, said...
"and by the way I'm still awaiting with baited breath this mystical post where I revelled in the death of anyone"
While I was scrolling through the old posts, I found this line...
�We will not stop our resistance as long as one Zionist continues to breathe our air,� Hamas, which has vowed to wreck a U.S. peace plan for the region, said in a statement.
Now, for anyone who has been with us @ RNS for a while or anyone who cares to go through the comments, Harm's defense of groups like Hamas is legendary. In her mind, Arafat is like a "palestinian" George Washington.
Now, I know that this is just guilt by association, but the "palestinians" have plenty of guilt to go around. And it is only fitting that their supporters get some of it.
And to ensure that you have a nice day, Harm, I have dug up your favorite pic ever featured here @ RNS.
The PissCorrie
Inspired by the IrrigateHillary of Aaron the Liberal Slayer
Posted by Nukevet at 07:20 AM | Comments (5)
Even Blair isn't allowed to defend himself
Somebody really needs to start searching people who visit the House of Commons.
The PM was speaking during his weekly half-hour question and answer session when one of the projectiles hit his back, prompting an evacuation by MPs.
Campaign group Fathers 4 Justice claimed responsibility. Two men aged 50 and 36 have been arrested.
Those 'projectiles' were ballons filled with a white powder. The white powder turned out to be chalk dust. But what if it was Anthrax?
And of course Blair and the nearby MP's were covered in the dust. So what did they do? they ran out of the chamber. If that was Anthrax, you could have started racking up the dead.
Those folks need to start geting serious about their security.
Found @ Spot On
Posted by Nukevet at 07:15 AM | Comments (0)
Hello? Media Coverage?
I haven't seen this anywhere except Samizdata and the following link they supplied to the WaPo.
In Iraqi Towns, Electoral Experiment Finds Some Success
In the province of Dhi Qar, about 230 miles southeast of Baghdad and a backwater even by Iraq's standards, residents voting as families will have elected city councils in 16 of the 20 biggest cities by next month. Bradley will have organized 11, more than half of them this month.
At every turn, the elections have set precedents, some of them unanticipated. Voters have typically elected professionals rather than tribal or religious leaders, although the process has energized Islamic parties. Activists have gone door to door to organize women, who turned out in their largest numbers this past week in some of Iraq's most conservative towns. Most important is the way residents qualify to cast ballots -- cards issued by Hussein's government to distribute monthly rations.
While I admit, I don't watch too much TV news, I'm sure the wife would have told me about this had it been shown.
Let me know if/where you saw it.
Posted by Nukevet at 06:57 AM | Comments (0)
Here's an Idea.....
Pictures that push logic out of frame
May 15, 2004
But the effect they are having on attitudes to the war is entirely unwarranted. It reveals an enormous naivety on the part of many of us.
Anyone who wants to know is aware that beatings, degradation and rape are daily occurrences in Australian prisons and always have been. We have the evidence of many ex-prisoners, psychologists, police, prison visitors and guards on this.
What's different in the case of Abu Ghraib is that photos were taken and sent out. The West's superior technology and freedom are being used against it by enemies who possess neither of these things.
Let's give the poor, humilated prisoners of Abu Ghraib a choice - they can continue to be under the control of the US military, or we can turn them over to the "local authorities" - many of whom had family members disappear under Saddam. I wonder which one they'll choose?
Posted by Nukevet at 12:08 AM | Comments (8)
May 19, 2004
Still testing
I made some changes to the Moveable Type text formatting interface. Let's see if this does the trick.
The remains of 28 early humans found buried at the bottom of a cave shaft in northern Spain may belong to a group that died suddenly in a "catastrophe".
Experts conducted an analysis to determine whether it was likely the bodies accumulated in the shaft over years or were dumped at the same time.
They concluded the 350,000-year-old death chamber may have held the victims of a disease outbreak or a massacre.
Posted by Nukevet at 09:58 PM | Comments (1)
Hmmmmmmmm, Sauce Reader Formatting Issue
I got some funky formatting characters when I tried to use Sauce Reader for the story below. Trying again, just to see if I can reproduce it.
But clerks in Provincetown, Worcester, Springfield and Somerville said publicly that they would issue licenses to all comers, regardless of where they lived, as long as they signed a form attesting that there was no known legal impediment to their union.
"They've singled out only the select few that announced a policy contrary to the governor's interpretation," Provincetown Town Manager Keith Bergman said.
Many of the nonresident couples who came to get their marriage documents returned home Tuesday to inevitable legal battles in their own states. Those who have no intention of moving here face the possibility that their state governments will refuse to recognize their unions, and Massachusetts itself could nullify their license, as Romney has promised.
Gay rights advocates in neighboring New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island — home to many of the gay couples who married in Massachusetts on Monday — said they hope legal action is not necessary, but acknowledged it may be inevitable.
"It's America in 2004. I think legal action is guaranteed," said Kevin Cathcart, executive director of the gay-rights group Lambda Legal. "It's going to take the legal system and the political system quite some time to work this all out."
Posted by Nukevet at 07:20 PM | Comments (2)
Facts? We don't need no stinking facts!
More of Moore's "truths" hit the airways.
It's a work intended to expose links between Bush's allies and the Saudi royal family and, to be fair to Mr Moore, it concludes on a staggering event. In the days after the 11 September terrorist attacks, President Bush allowed his friends in the Saudi Arabian royal family to flee America when a no-fly ban was firmly in place.
Mr Moore takes up the story: "Nobody could go up in the sky. Except the administration allowed a private Saudi jet to go to five American cities and pick up 20 members of the bin Laden family and get them out of the country. And the FBI was very upset that they didn’t get to interrogate them."
This is truly remarkable. But it is also flatly untrue - as proven by the bipartisan 9/11 Committee, which found that the planes with Saudis took off only after airspace reopened and the FBI had interviewed 22 of the 26 suspects. The White House was not involved.
This is, sadly, by no means the only myth masquerading as fact in Moore's bestselling books. There are entire websites devoted to nailing down the parts where he’s dressed up gossip as gospel, or concocted entire arguments.
Typical. Never let the facts get in the way of a good story. Or a good Bush Bashing, as the case may be. Certainly the Boston Globe and the UK's Daily Mirror ascribe to the Moore theory of "a story too good to fact check" school of journalism.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:04 PM | Comments (0)
This will have to do for now
I don't have a working scanner right now, so until we buy a new one, a representation is the best I can do. This is not me, but it's as close to the one tat I have as any I could find online. I got it in 81, ye children, so it's a bit dull except when it's wet. I'got it on my right forearm, it's about six inchs high three inchs back from the wrist. So much a part of me now, I forget I have it most of the time.
Me get scanner,.....but,...with the baby coming things are kinda tight. We're trying to get things paid up and ahead for when the beloved mamma bear goes on baby leave. She has one, got it last summer. A wolf's head on her right calf. Very nice.
I'm thinking of getting another one, but it'll have to wait a bit. Definitely a bear of some kind on my left forearm. Maybe a savage Grizzley knawing on Mikey Moore's leg bone?..............nah,.....even in my wilder state, I have better tastes than that. Now,....maybe maul him and leave him in a tangled heap?....yeah buddy!
Posted by Nukevet at 06:13 PM | Comments (0)
�pandage?
Manure spreading, ala trendy nose in the air progressive (anti-)American sophisticate.
Well, there was no anti-American greeting for this American from the heartland bearing the good news that Bush is bad news. Moore arrived late for the screening, turned before entering the sacred gates and waved to the crowd. Or was it a salute? The crowd roared back its approval, a wild welcome that was repeated by the crowd inside the Palais.
Amazing, the French aren't ugly to an American who hates his own country and his countrymen who think he's a lying braindead asshole,......completely amazing. I'm sure Hanoi Jane had a great reception in North Vietnam, and Tokyo Rose was well recieved in Japan as well,......such wonderful comparisons come readily to mind. It's also nice of the reviewer to let us know his reactionary politics up front, makes it easier to understand why he thinks we need to be forgiven by the french.
Of course, for all the grumbling, Americans mostly just want to be accepted. That's been a harder task than ever, though, since the start of the war in Iraq and the bold French decision to abstain from the Anglo-American adventure.
Apparently, the french don't recognize a finassier when they see one. Historically,....they never have.
Posted by Nukevet at 04:44 PM | Comments (1)
SondraK Nails it
I really found this to be a nice juxtaposition. As you all know, I am not a "true believer". But I do find it strange that we will let people be morally offended by other's articles of faith (like say, a statue of the 10 commandments) and bring the force of the law to protect those offended, while defending as art something that is MEANT to offend true believers (and actually causes them moral/spiritiual pain), while bringing the force of law to bear to protect the offender.
Go take a look at the examples, and see what you think........
outrage! art! outrage! art! outrage! art! outrage! art! ...
Oh, BTW, SondraK - Knowledge is Power already has an RSS feed (it is built in to MT), and all of the newsreaders I tried were able to auto-discover your newsfeed.
Have I mentioned that I really like Sauce Reader, not only as a newsreader, but as a weblog tool? It is a little slow publishing to RNS, and I STILL want something that has a built in spellchecker. But otherwise it is way cool.
Posted by Nukevet at 04:25 PM | Comments (0)
One no, 2 noes, three noes, four
As Instaman says:
You never saw such a rush to dismiss this as not news. U.N. weapons inspectors whose reputations rest on denial of Saddam's W.M.D. pooh-poohed the report. "It doesn't strike me as a big deal," said David Kay.
"Sarin Bomb Is Likely a Leftover From the 80's" was USA Today's Page 10 brushoff; maybe the terrorists didn't know their shell was loaded with sarin. Besides, say our lionized apostles of defeat, a poison-gas bomb does not a "stockpile" make. Even the Defense Department, on the defensive, strained not to appear alarmist, saying confirmation was needed for the field tests.
In this rush to misjudgment, we can see an example of the "Four Noes" that have become the defeatists' platform.
Let's see now, who does this remind me of? Of course, the left will continue to deny that there are any significant chem/bio weapons in Iraq, right up until we have a massive death toll due to one. However, we won't be able to hear their apology over the cheering that the deaths of American soldiers will induce in this crowd. After all, many on the left only "support our troops" if there is political gain in it, and the most shrill have decided that the best way to exploit our troops for political benefit is to have them die in as large a number as possible.
Posted by Nukevet at 04:01 PM | Comments (10)
More uses for stickers
This is a partial view of my spot at the salt mine.
Notice the Molon Labe sticker right next to my terrorist hunting permit and below my US Marine rules for a gunfight?
It's been up for one day and I'm already going up against the union shop steward. Again.
It must have been my Kerry=Gun Control remark.
Posted by Nukevet at 09:17 AM | Comments (3)
Message in a Bottle
I first saw this @ Dr. Horesefeathers' place. I then saw it at LGF.
If you don't feel you have the stomach for the actual site, here are some gifts.
Tel. No.: 972 - 8 - 2822366, 972 - 8 -2822365
Fax. No.: 972 - 8 - 2829451, 972 - 8 - 2829452
I'll be going to a Kinkos near me tomorrow morning.
Click the MORE link to see what I'm sending.
Posted by Nukevet at 06:51 AM | Comments (0)
Wow, maybe socialized medicine works
According to Castro's doctor, Fidel is nearly immortal.
Fidel Castro can live to 140, doctor says
Not if I have anything to do with it.
Posted by Nukevet at 06:36 AM | Comments (0)
Just Kidding
Sonia Ghandi is turning down the Indian PM position?
"I never wanted to be the prime minister and that was never my intention"
WTF? Then why'd you run, you giddy socio-twit?
I hope that Kerry does this if he wins in November? Just so long as his running mate isn't Teddy K or Hillary.
I mean, we could all throw $5 into a collection to buy him off. Then he'd have enough $$$ that he wouldn't have to dig for gold anymore.
Posted by Nukevet at 06:33 AM | Comments (3)
More Guns, More Fun
That lucky stiff, Mollbot, has gone and added another steel child to his collection.
Head on over and congratulate him.
And make him give us some more details.
Maybe I have created a 'monster'.
At least it is a 'monster' that can defend itself.
Posted by Nukevet at 06:26 AM | Comments (2)
Ink
On a personal note, the Analog Wife is wanting to show off for once.
Which means that she is also requesting that I do the same.
Posted by Nukevet at 05:33 AM | Comments (4)
May 18, 2004
Update on RSS readers
OK, somone made a suggestion of Sauce Reader in my comments section. Let me just say that it is good, and even contains a blog publishing interface within the reader itself. In other words, you can read the news aggregate, find something you like, click on "weblog this", and it automatically creates the link and publishes it for you. Plus, it has a nice GUI interface for text formatting, pictures, etc. I really like it, and it may be my new default news aggregator. It is also free for single person non-commercial use, which is right in my price range.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:18 PM | Comments (2)
Euro Beauty German fertility
Euro Beauty
German fertility doctors were baffled when a perfectly-healthy couple claimed they couldn't have children. After they were subjected to...
Hahahaha! Man, I would love to be able to find out about sex all over again at this stage of my life. I wouldn't however, want to forgo my previous 25 years (more or less) of sexual activity to do so!
Posted by Nukevet at 07:13 PM | Comments (0)
Cry "wolf", indeed
Yep, just traces of Sarin in that artillary shell. That is, if you consider 3 to 4 liters to constitute a trace.
Posted by Nukevet at 06:11 PM | Comments (4)
Linkage
Yersterday, I promised pics of what I've done with Raging Dave's Molon Labe stickers (for sale right here).
Here I've got one on my truck.
And one on my firearms cleaning kit box.
And after you've given Dave some $$$, stop by Kim du Toit's and read the results of his "If you were only going to shoot one handgun and one rifle, and drive only one car or truck for the rest of your life, what would your choice(s) be?"
I own all three in real life! (ok, so It'll be a couple months before I get the rifle, but I'm very close.)
Posted by Nukevet at 10:40 AM | Comments (1)
Fini
Alas, it is complete.
Back in January, it started out like this.
Then, I got the guts for it.
I then ordered the bolt and carrier kit. And a couple weeks ago, the upper arrived.
I got to build one more. Then, I get one of these
Posted by Nukevet at 10:08 AM | Comments (3)
Freakin' Out
I tried to ignore it. I really did. But I can do so no longer.
Elitist judges have to be stopped.
I trust no one who would let the government of Massachustetts do what they did to their citizen's gun rights.
And again, those on the left are finding more and more rights.
I got my copy of the Constitution and all the Amendments right here. I can't find that right.
How about the right of free pancakes on Fridays?
Or how about the right to duct tape my neighbor's kids to a tree when they are making too much noise?
Oooh, oooh, I know! How about the right to drive!
I'll take any of those three.
Actually, I'd just take the nationwide judiciary KEEPING THEIR F*CKING HANDS OFF MY GUN RIGHTS and I'll shut up on this one.
That's right! I can be bought off real cheap. They stop trying to deny me my right as a lawful citizen to own any firearm, and I'll STFU about them creating new and special rights. Not a peep out of me for the rest of my life.
Guarangotdamteed.
In other Kos IMC news, he goes off and calls Bush a racist.
Seriously, what this teaches us is that judges exist for a reason -- to protect us from the tyranny of the majority. If Bush was president 50 years ago, he'd be railing against those nine Justices the way he and his allies have railed against the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:53 AM | Comments (3)
Serve with John Kerry?
The you must support his bid for the Presidency.
From The Poor Schmuck
A photograph of John Kerry with 19 other Coastal Division 11 Swift boat officers is featured in a new Kerry campaign ad called Lifetime. Swift Boat Veterans for Truth contacted surviving members of this group to find out how many actually support Kerry. Click on the photo to see the results.
Click here for a morphing video of the two images.
Here's the breakdown:
Of the 19 Swift boat skippers pictured, 12 oppose Kerry, 2 are neutral, 2 have yet to be contacted, one has died, and 2 are working with the Kerry campaign. The four officers not present for the photo all oppose Kerry.
In other Kerry news, he has now decided to follow Bush's lead and ignore France.
France's new foreign minister, Michel Barnier, said that France would never send troops to Iraq, not even as part of a peacekeeping force.
"It is out of the question," Mr. Barnier said in an interview published Thursday in Le Monde. "There will be no French soldiers in Iraq, not now and not later."
Kerry's response,
"There are senators and . . . diplomats who have had conversations with other folks that I think indicate that--given the right equation, given the right statesmanship and leadership--it is possible to have a very different level of participation," Kerry said Friday at his Washington campaign headquarters.
"I know what the public statements are today," the presumed Democratic presidential nominee added. "It doesn't deter me one iota from saying what I say, based on what my private conversations have been."
Links are registration only. Go to Spot On for them.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:28 AM | Comments (0)
No Free Speech in France
Don't like how your local government is run? Wanna write your complaints on your blog? Well, if you're in France, you'd better watch your back.
A French blogger arrested by the Police
Christophe blogs on monputeaux.com. He is a citizen of the city Puteaux that is close to Paris.
Christophe does not like the way the city mayor manages the city, spends the public money and says it on his blog, every day. He has been very successful doing that, with hundreds of inhabitants of Puteaux reading and commenting his blog everyday and many national newspapers that talked about his blog.
Christophe criticizes the city management so much that they have tried to stop him for months, the city mayor has even sent him threats over the phone that he recorded and blogged, of course.
Today, he has been stopped in the street by the Police Municipale (the local French Police) who tried to arrest him for his blogging. Fortunately for Christophe, the National Police arrived immediately as they found what was happening weird, and let him go.
It is such a shame. Let's not stop the bloggers express themselves (as long as it is legal, of course, and it is legal here) !
Do you know any other story of a blogger arrested by the Police ?
- Update: Christophe just filed a complaint at the National Police for "abuse in power", good luck, Christophe ! *
Just keep this link in your back pocket for the next time you hear a leftist weenie whine about Bush=Hitler.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:12 AM | Comments (0)
Debunking the Funky
Ooops, it seems that Seymore Hersh has trouble comprehending the English language. Or he is a lying assh*ole.
Here is a paragraph from his New Yorker article,
The Taguba study noted that more than sixty per cent of the civilian inmates at Abu Ghraib were deemed not to be a threat to society, which should have enabled them to be released.
And here is the Executive Summary of the Taguba Report.
This is the only line that contains the figure 60%.
According to BG Karpinski, this category of detainee [detainees accused of committing "Crimes Against the Coalition"] makes up more than 60% of the total detainee population, and is the fastest growing category. However, MG Fast, according to BG Karpinski, routinely denied the board's recommendations to release detainees in this category who were no longer deemed a threat and clearly met the requirements for release.
That part of the Taguba Report is the only source from which Hersh could have derived the information in which to write the above part of his article.
You make the call.
Illiterate or liar?
More debunking of Hersh's poop on paper to come as I come across info.
This info was found @ Judicious Asininity who found it @ The Powerline Blog.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:01 AM | Comments (2)
Silly boys
By now, I'm sure you've read about the teachers in San Diego who are in trouble for showing the footage of the beheading of Nick Berg.
Well, it seems that we had a couple of teachers in Tacoma, WA do the same thing. With the same results.
While I think a parental permission form would have been prudent, I don't think that these teachers should be fired for doing this.
What with all the multi-cultural crap that gets spewed in our public schools nowadays, I firmly believe that these instructors were just giving their students a more complete picture of the middle east and Islam.
The bad as well as the squeeky clean.
Posted by Nukevet at 06:49 AM | Comments (2)
It's all relative
I saw this article while visiting Samizdata and a bell rang.
Argylls fight hand to hand in Iraq
This caused two telephones to ring. Which caused my telephone to ring.
My distant nephew, James, puts the number of people I know who are currently in Iraq to almost two dozen.
He is fine. Not a scratch.
Last time I saw him, he was just discovering the female portion of our species.
On another note, his mother Patty is still contemplating a move west. I think she has Colorado in mind.
Sans Peur, James.
Posted by Nukevet at 06:41 AM | Comments (5)
Aw hell, they didn't mark their munitions?
He said he believed that insurgents who rigged the artillery shell as a bomb didn't know it contained the nerve agent, and that the dispersal of the nerve agent from such a rigged device was very limited.
The shell had no markings. It appears the binary sarin agents didn't mix, which is why there weren't serious injuries from the initial explosion, a U.S. official told Fox News.
This is highly signifigant, because there are many ten's of thousands of similar shells and bombs still cached in Iraq. Every competent military in the world marks their shells to prevent mix ups.
Case in point.
These DU SABOT rounds are clearly marked. It may be that the WMD's were hidden in plain sight all along. He couldn't really hide them, so Saddam merely mixed them up with all his other munitions. The utter disregard this displays for the safety of his own soldiers is no surprise, and would explain alot. How do you hide a diamond?
In a bucket of ice.
It's an effective trick, and I'm only surprised that we didn't run into this sooner. The WMD debate isn't only not over, it may well be coming back to bite all those who screamed "liar" right in the ass. It may take months to go back and recheck everything we've already found, but this may just be the tip of the iceberg. We know there are about 500 more of these alone from past records. Records that predate the Bush Administration by ten years.
Posted by Nukevet at 01:27 AM | Comments (11)
May 17, 2004
basic economics 101
Markets depend on invester confidence to work, they have to believe they will get a return or why else invest their money? Communists regard private property as theft, and drive policy based on how they think the world ought to work, rather than on how it actually does. Oil and water, the two do not mix well. Investers and Marxists don't even speak in the same room on money matters. So who is surprised by this.
Harkishan Singh Surjeet, general secretary of the Communist party of India (Marxist), said there was not yet agreement on a "common minimum programme" that would set the agenda for Mrs Gandhi's government. "We have decided to let Congress draft a common minimum programme. If we are satisfied with this programme, then other measures can be taken accordingly," he said.
This common programme is likely to stop the former government's privatisation drive in favour of "selective" asset sales - a policy shift that on Monday triggered the largest ever plunge in India's stock markets and forced regulators to halt trading.
Nilotpal Basu, leader of the Communist party of India (Marxist) in the upper house of parliament, said markets were behaving irrationally and were "disconnected" from the people's mood. "To believe that policies will go on unchanged is a vulgarisation of democracy," he said.
"markets were behaving irrationally and were "disconnected" from the people's mood" Look commisar,....the "people's mood" won't finance a weeny roast, you need money,...green stuff, the coin of the realm, and the people's mood is sophistry and you know it. You promised them something for nothing, now you see the economy of India start to fall apart.
After all, you guys did so well for the Soviets didn't you?
Posted by Nukevet at 08:11 PM | Comments (0)
just in case anyone doesn't know or care what sarin is.
Exposure to large doses of sarin by any route may result in the following harmful health effects:
Loss of consciousness
Convulsions
Paralysis
Respiratory failure possibly leading to death
This is vile stuff, like nuclear weapons, it's something we wish could be uninvented. But it shows WMD's do exist in Iraq as was known before by NATO and the UN, about 50,000 gallons unaccounted for. even Blix knew he had that. This means either the bombers found a weapons cache, or they're being smuggled back in to use against us. The prescence of Sarin as a weapon by the terrorists will kick the legs out from under the leftwings assertions that we just made it all up about the nerve gas. Forgetting that the intelligence services of most western nations agreed. Two things will happen, the left's moderates will fall silent on the issue, but it's hardcore fringe will immediately launch into accusations of planted evidence. That won't be a surprise.
Update--------
Rummy picked the shell up from Pine Bluff before his visit to Iraq
Awful damn convenient that the person in the world most under the microscope right now that has more access to chemical weapons than anyone else in the world just popped his head in the door to have a pep rally last week and an old sarin shell shows up minutes after he left.
Gee... I'll bet nobody checks the party that travels with Rummy either.
I got this from Lt. Smash via the Instapundit.
This is A. how smart the exchanges there at the dimwit underground and B. how little they know about the subject they are all suddenly experts on.
-Given the number of artillery shells employed as IEDs in the last year...
-Remember the oil fields were secured first
-Sarin...that's what Powell said Saddam used in the 1988 Hallabja gassing
- Scott Ritter says Sarin has a shelf life of five years.
-Actually, after 5 years it turns into Orange Glow
-Definition of a WMD.
-Didn't Kimmit say
-Yes and no one is wearing chemical suits either. That is odd
-I'm confused...
You aren't confused, you're on the other side. Granted my NBC training is twenty years out of date, but that was when it was a really serious issue as well in the cold war. Some things don't change, Sarin has been around since the Nazi's invented it in the 40's, it's barely changed at all since. The issues of dispersal and protection haven't changed either. I know what this stuff does, and how it's used, not as well as LT. Smash, but so far above these military hating goobs as to be like the difference between men and apes.
So if you take one million dimwits and one million typewriters, wait a couple of million years,........will they write Shakespear?
-There's probably more unaccounted sarin in the USA than Iraq
Probably not.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:42 PM | Comments (2)
Feeling overwhelmed keeping up with blogomation?
Then you need to get yourself an RSS feed newsreader. Subscribe to your favorite blogs, and it grabs all of the new posts for you, all in one convenient place. I use a little freeware program called Sharpreader. There are other ones out there, but Sharpreader works great for me, and it's free.
Oh, yeah - it you're a blog that's not providing an XML or RSS feed - why the hell not?
Posted by Nukevet at 03:49 PM | Comments (4)
So,
How ya feelin' now?
UPDATE:
It appears as if the insurgents terrorists may not have know what they had. So, I wonder where they "found" this sarin filled shell (you know, the ones that Saddam didn't have), and how many more of them there are. Oh, and if they didn't know what they had before, they certainly do now, eh?
Posted by Nukevet at 03:43 PM | Comments (0)
Whiz Bang
Another successful Blogger Blastorama is in the record books. Mollbot, his friends John and Jon and myself went to Wade's of Bellevue to make sure that pieces of paper with black circles on them knew who was in charge.
Because there weren't a lot of people there first thing in the AM, they let us shoot the SKS for a little bit. Here's Mollbot slinging some lead with (my SKS now sports the optional, bayonet mounted bi-pod).
(all pics enlarge with a click)
Here's his buddy Jon with the Ruger 22/45
And here's Mollbot with his Remington 597
I also got into the action with my 10/22 from the bench. Here are the results.
Each of those spots is 2-10rnd mags @ 60 feet or so with junk Remongton ammo. I'm working on being able to do that at 100yds.
Don't forget to stop by Morpholine to read Mollbot's account and see his targets.
In other news, Raging Dave now has a blogspot site up for his Molon Labe stickers.
Go there and buy a few. If I was a little less lazy, I'd show you what I've done with the half dozen I bought. Check back tomorrow for pics.
Next up, Kim du Toit has switched to a live comments section. And he has pics from The Boomershoot up as we speak.
And finally, the voting is complete and next weekend's Blastorama will be taking place at the Pumpkin Splaughter location from last fall.
If you would like to attend, please send me an e-mail for directions.
Posted by Nukevet at 09:09 AM | Comments (1)
A Question
Back at the end of February of this year, Hillary Clinton said that George W. Bush should thank her husband, William Jefferson Clinton for the American military of today.
The question:
What with the sexcapades that went on at Abu Ghraib, was she at least partly right?
A subquestion:
Should Bush actully come out and thank Clinton for the Abu Ghraib scandal?
Posted by Nukevet at 08:20 AM | Comments (1)
*cough* Bullsh!t *cough*
From a link I found over at the Kos IMC comes a story blaming the understaffing of police departments on the Bush Administration.
Aggressive programs like the ones Richmond used to bring down crime require extra officers, so that while some cops are responding to ongoing crimes, others can stalk crooks. Now, Richmond deploys 90 fewer active officers (the department has 670 total) than it did when crime was plummeting. It's no coincidence, police officials here and criminologists nationwide argue, that the city's murder rate, after seven consecutive years of decline, jumped by 20 percent in 2002 and by another 15 percent in the first six months of 2003. With fewer detectives, fewer of Richmond's murders can be solved--only 22 percent of murders were solved last year, compared to 35 percent in 2000. Other crimes, particularly robbery, are also increasingly common--trends, say community leaders, that are endangering inner-city Richmond's fragile revitalization.
Richmond is a dramatic example of a trend that is beginning to appear around the country. After eight straight years of decline in the 1990s, the murder rate has begun to increase: by 2.5 percent in 2001, and then another 0.8 percent in 2002. Those two slight increases have meant hundreds more violent deaths each year.
Tellingly, those cities, like Richmond, that suffer from the worst cop shortages are also experiencing the most dramatic spikes in crime. Police in Portland, Ore., which is 64 officers short of its full 1,000-officer staffing, have noticed a rise in crime across the board in the first four months of 2003. Chief Mark Kroeker says he thinks the "scariest" jump in violent crime is yet to come. Minneapolis, normally a 900-officer department, is some 200 cops short, and crime is up 46 percent since Sept. 11, 2001. Los Angeles is more than 1,000 cops short of full staffing. Crime there jumped by 7 percent in the last half of 2001 and by another 1 percent in 2002, a year in which the murder rate jumped by 11 percent.
How can cities be so foolish as to cut their police forces and spark an inevitable rise in crime? Part of the problem is the state and local fiscal crisis that has hit communities across the nation. But faced with the need to trim budgets, most cities have first cut health, education, and transportation spending, and tried to preserve their police forces. The real cause of the police shortage is not in City Hall but in the White House. The Bush administration's first budget eliminated all direct funding for street cops. The war in Iraq, fought largely without allies, has required the call-up of huge numbers of reserves, many of whom are cops. And instead of using the men in blue as eyes and ears on the domestic war on terrorism, the administration has, in effect, used them as glorified security guards. The federal government's repeated directives to local police to beef up patrols at potential terrorist targets have taken officers away from their regular duties. And because the feds have not paid for many of these extra patrols, homeland security has stretched local budgets even further.
Then maybe cities could stop funding, oh, I don't know, the f*cking homeless, excess office staff for councilmembers, mayoral banquests and a hundred other 'perks' given to city officials and the perpetually unemployed and give that money to police department.
And that is just a starting point.
Posted by Nukevet at 08:17 AM | Comments (0)
May 16, 2004
background
Love em or hate em, self checkouts are here to stay. AK and Nukevet have been pretty up front about what they do for a living, I've made a few casual references, but little specific. This is what I do, I monitor these checkout robots for my employer, which I won't name. They cater to a wide clientel and I don't wish to alienate any potential customers over our differences in politics. I won't drag them into this.
We use four of these, one desk to monitor four simultaneous transactions, handling problems, making change, monitoring security, teaching the newbies, helping the eternally clueless and all around fixer. I do this for eight hours a day, five days a week, and I'm very, very good at it. If you've ever tried to checkout on the day before Christmas on one of these, then you have some idea of how unpopular they can be with store employees. Young people don't handle it well, they have a lower stress threshold. My blood pressure actually runs in the low normal range so I do alright.
This is my employers gift to me. Since my condition has effectively stripped me of the chance to stock shelves, (restricted to a 40lb weight limit by my doctor) which is what I'd done for most of my 29 years in the business, they allow me to do this instead. I run a normal register sometimes, but the constant twisting isn't pleasant for me, so here I am. I could slow down, could take a leisurely pace, but I never have done anything the easy way, and I refuse to be second best. I stand, for my entire shift, even though it begins to really hurt after a couple of hours.
I've managed departments, trained employees, wrestled shoplifters and looneys, dealt with seizures and heart attacks, I deal with the abusive customers who frighten the kids who work here, I find the lost parent, I locate the one essential ingrediant for your big party. I hold your hand, pat your back and send you out with the smile you didn't have when you came in. I mean it too. I'm becoming a people watcher, and in general, like most people. I'm not in a vital position, not a doctor, not the president, not even making my living by brute lifting anymore....but my job, like every job serves a need. Having been there done that in my line of work, I'm the one who gets the qusetions, what why where and how.
For years I took a great deal of pride in living by the sweat of my brow, in lifting more, moving more, faster, harder, in just out grunting the rest of the pack. That's been taken from me, I was and am a little shamed by that. Embarassed, you see in my line of work, the front of the store is where you start, not where you finish. It's humiliating to me, I'm dealing with it, but I still have issues.
That's why I haven't really talked about what I do before. I'm just a working stiff, in fly over country. But you know what? I can make those robots bark just about anyway I want to now. I've logged over two thousand hours by a conservative count, more than anyone else in the county. Experience matters, really it does. I'm coming to a truce with myself over what I do, it's only of a minor importance in the bigger scheme, but it still has merit. It can be fun too, especially around the holidays.
Throw rocks if you will, but really, I've met too many college kids to believe they're smarter than anyone else, I've seen them in action.
Posted by Nukevet at 11:51 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
sorry,,
I just thought this was funny.
The truth is more like the other way around: Right now, I support Bush because I am such a partisan for winning in Iraq.
Of course, I would support Bush over Kerry even if we weren't at war, because Bush is the more conservative candidate and I'm not on crack. But if it weren't for the war, I wouldn't think it was nearly as important that Bush got reelected.
Posted by Nukevet at 08:15 PM | Comments (0)
Fisk, for a supposed war correspondent...
You don't know jack shit about how they're fought. This for instance, he makes it seem as if these guys were simply picked at random, just happened by, and were killed for no good reason.
The camera, mounted beside the 30mm cannon of a US Apache helicopter on patrol over central Iraq on 1 December, first picks up movement on a country road, apparently several hundred metres from an American military checkpoint. A lorry and a smaller vehicle, probably a pick-up, come into view and a man--apparently unaware of the hovering helicopter-- is seen moving to a field on the left of the screen.
He neglects to mention that the standard mode of attack against our people is night time mortar and RPG attacks. He fails to mention that we routinely have quick reaction forces nearby our bases to pin down and kill the attackers. This didn't happen in a vaccum.
A senior Army official who viewed the tape said the pilots had the legal right to kill the men because they were carrying a weapon. He said there were no ground troops in the area and if the Apache pilots had let the three Iraqis go, the men might have gone on to kill American troops.
Keane agreed. "Those weapons were obviously not being pointed at them in particular, but they [the three Iraqis] are using those weapons in their minds for lethal means and they [the Apache pilots] have a right to interfere with that," he said.
Anthony Cordesman, an ABCNEWS defense consultant who also viewed the tape, said the Apache pilots would have had a much clearer picture of the scene than what was recorded on the videotape. He also said they would have had intelligence about the identity of the men in the vehicles. "They're not getting a sort of blurred picture. They have a combination of intelligence and much better imagery than we can see."
Some fundementals,...
1. Killing a fleeing combatant wether he's wounded or not is legal. He's still a threat or a future threat. Fleeing to fight another day isn't exactly the same as a surrender.
2. War is kill or be killed, in this case, it sucks to be them don't it. They shouldn't have hauled a truck and weapons to a firing position next to an American checkpoint in the middle of the freakin night should they?
3. 30mm chain guns don't "vaporise" people, it just reduces them to bloody chunks. I've seen the video, there is no pleasant way to be shot to death. This ain't Star Trek, and you sure as Hell should know that if you claim to be a war coorespondent.
I wandered about to find more information before posting this, and you know,....Fisk really could get more shrill than he has been lately. His love affair with all things arab and his excusing any arab atrocity as just fighting for their country while claiming everyone we kill is a helpless civilian is getting pretty tired. He counts fighters in civilian clothes as "civilian casualties", breathlessly accepts on face value any arab claim to wholesale slaughter of women and children, believes it all....yet openly calls us racist when he's the one ranting about Jewish conspiracies to censor the worlds dictionaries to silence him.
Dismayed. Ah, Mary, you poor diddums.
I tried to check the spelling of "diddums" in Webster's, America's inspiring, foremost dictionary. No luck. But then, what's the point when Webster's Third New International Dictionary defines "anti-Semitism" as "opposition to Zionism: sympathy with opponents of the state of Israel".
Come again? If you or I suggest - or, indeed, if poor wee Mary suggests - that the Palestinians are getting a raw deal under Israeli occupation, then we are "anti-Semitic". It is only fair, of course, to quote the pitiful response of the Webster's official publicist, Mr Arthur Bicknell, who was asked to account for this grotesque definition.
"Our job," he responded, "is to accurately reflect English as it is actually being used. We don't make judgement calls; we're not political." Even more hysterically funny and revolting, he says that the dictionary's editors tabulate "citational evidence" about anti-Semitism published in "carefully written prose-like books and magazines". Preposterous as it is, this Janus-like remark is worthy of the hollowest of laughs.
Ok Bobby,......now the world wide Jewish conspiracy has taken over Webster's..how inconvient for you. Webtsre's won't change definitions to suit your tastes,...poor baby. Fisk also has an awful thin skin for a bigot, a low threshold for being offended when you consider the charges he hurls.
You should have threatened your accusers with legal action. When I warn those who claim in their vicious postcards that my mother was Eichmann's daughter that they will receive a solicitor's letter - Peggy Fisk was in the RAF in the Second World War, but no matter - they fall silent at once.
No no Bobby, that wasn't libal, that was an insult..and insults aren't actionable. It was also so mild as to be pleasant. Let me try..
Bobby?
You blow goats for fun.
Proof? I'm sure I could pay off someone at the Mirror to photoshop up the proof,..couldn't be much, what's the going rate for media whores these days? I'm sure you'd know.
How was that?
Do I get a letter from your solicitor now? Please? Come on Bobby, if you do column after column waxing poetic about the poor oppressed masses of the arab world murdering only because somehow we forced them to, then do column after column ranting about the insideous influence of the Jews.....People are gonna draw conclusions. They will call a spade a spade, and call you a nazi.
I thought you said you liked uncomfortable truths?
Posted by Nukevet at 07:44 PM | Comments (0)
Sexists
I have always heard that it was the Republican party that wanted to know what goes on in our bedrooms.
But apparently, that just another lie from the Democrats (duh).
From Taranto @ BOTW
Sex Test for Dem Delegates
"The Democratic parties in 15 states and Puerto Rico have set numerical goals for gays and lesbian delegates at the party's national convention this summer," the Associated Press reports. A sidebar lists the states and their goals.
Example: CALIFORNIA: 440 total delegates, including 22 gay men and 22 lesbians.
Do the Democrats really intend to quiz would-be delegates about their sexual orientation? Whatever happened to the right of privacy?
Good question, Taranto.
Posted by Nukevet at 08:41 AM | Comments (0)
Destroyer
Kiss bassist Gene Simmons has sparked outrage in Australia with comments seen as attacking Islam.
"This is a vile culture and if you think for a second that it's willing to just live in the sands of God's armpit you've got another thing coming," Simmons said during an interview on Melbourne's 3AW radio Thursday. "They want to come and live right where you live and they think that you're evil."
The Western world was under threat from extremists and a culture that treated women worse than dogs, he claimed in a segment of the interview that touched on the war in Iraq.
"You can send your dog to school to learn tricks, sit, beg, do all that stuff � none of the women have that advantage," the 54-year-old said.
Posted by Nukevet at 08:26 AM | Comments (1)
May 15, 2004
introducing the "bear" school of fisking.
In Iraq, We have Entered the Heart of Darkness , so sayth the author. I'm not fisking this because this Don wants peace, but because the arguement he makes makes no flippin sense.
We have entered our heart of darkness at Abu Ghraib, a prison haunted by horrors Saddam Hussein unleashed there. Now that prison has become the setting for images of young American men and women we'll never forget. For the rest of our lives we'll see them laughing for the camera while they force Iraqis to commit sex acts, hook them to electrodes, cover them with hoods and beat them with sticks, drag them on dog collars and pack out bodies in ice.
Maybe you will,....I kinda put them in the old files folder when I watched the Berg video. I saw it, I turned off the sound and watched it with my gut churning in revulsion. I watched as they pushed him down and proceeded to clumsily cut his throat. I watched as that "activist" began frantically sawing as he discovered the human body is tougher to destroy than he thought, and I watched Berg's mouth move as he screamed with agony as his head was half severed. I watched and fought back the bile as I desperately wanted to gut those five animals like fish.
I have my own versions of Hell, and frankly Don, you set your level of eternal Hellish visions WAY to low.
Does anyone believe these young women and men acted from patriotism? No, the program of abuse in Abu Ghraib served a force quite apart from patriotism. It served the flip side of war - the savagery and cruelty that every war unleashes.
Nothing has brought the horror home to us more starkly than the beheading of Nick Berg, a young man who set out to make a dollar while doing some good in Iraq. Now he's entered the annals of warfare in the modern age. His beheading plays endlessly in digital time on the Internet.
I won't go there. I've no desire to see that all-too-common act, just as I've no desire to see more pictures from Abu Ghraib. Don't mention them to me. We both know how that conversation goes.
But you did see the Abu Ghraib pictures and go on to state how scarred you are now. You refuse to look evil in the eye, why?......afraid you may be human after all? Afraid the goblins in your nature may want justice rather than surrender?
Just asking.
How many times in the past week has someone begun, "Did you see those pictures?" Or, "Did you see that poor young man who was beheaded?" only to let the conversation die. What's left to say, after all, except, "How horrible"?
Oh, sure, there are those who blather on. Yet, who shouldn't have seen this coming? You don't need pictures to know what we all should have learned long ago. That such things happen in war. That it's a force best resisted. Who doubts we could have prevented this war in Iraq?
After 300,000 unmarked graves, the question should be who doubt's that that butcher had to be stopped? I'm sure the Kurds appreciate Don's sensetivity, seeing as how it wasn't his children being gased,......but I digress.
Yet, generation after generation yields to the seductive power of state violence, sanctioned killing in which a few profit at the expense of many. We think we can master war. Trust us, we know how this thing's done, our leaders tell us as they march out their latest plan. Enthralled, we dress it up in patriotic bunting. Wrap it in flags. Set it to music.
Eventually, though, every war reveals its heart of darkness. We see it clearly in the aftermath of Shiloh and Verdun and Dresden and Hiroshima and My Lai - horrific slaughters in which distinctions of who's right and who's wrong and who has God's approval become blurred, confused, so that even the most rational people among us are reduced to saying, "Wasn't that horrible?"
HUH?.....Not a history major are we Don. Shiloh,...I take it slavery was a bad cause over corparate profits, Verdun was a slaughter killing hundreds of thousands, but that arguement is with the French and Germans. Dresden, we don't carpet bomb cities anymore, and frankly, tell the Brits, it was largely their handiwork. Heroshima? Don't even go there, a million more dead from an invasion would have been better? Oh yeah, that's right, we're supposed to just sit and Kum Baya while the Japanese ran riot through Asia and happily enslaved their "little brown brothers"........My Lai,...again your sense of scale is atrouscious. The US Civil War, WWII, the last gasp of Europes empires and a crime commited in Vietnam are quite all the same to you. Well now, I sure you tell every African American you see the the Civil War was immoral don't you?...
No?.................why not?
Do you tell every Jew, every Slav, every Gypsy and homosexual that waging war to prevent their extinction was a crime against humanity?
No?
Pussy.
If an evil spirit is a force with an appetite for misery, a force with its own internal logic, an ability to enter the hearts of its hosts and bring out the worst in them, then war is an evil spirit. It thrives when reasonable people surrender to its perverse logic.
Here is the logic of war: Somebody hit me, could've been you. I hit you. You hit me back. I hit you back harder. You are bad. I am good. No, you are the bad one. God knows it's me who's good.
Like children who can't quit squabbling, though parents promise doom, we find ourselves injured and enraged by horrific acts and events we should have seen coming, like the sins at Abu Ghraib, the beheading of Nick Berg.
Strange,....I don't remember anyone saying that our people held down a man and sawed his head off, or that we sent the video to the AL Jereesha death porn network. Must've missed that one. You equate the two events as being the same, when clearly they are not. When you condemn us all as equally evil, you make a choice that allows the worst of these events to continue. You are in effect saying that Berg had to be butchered because it was merely tit for tat and boys will be boys.
Signifigant differences, we punish our criminals, theirs get promoted. Ours will live in shame, theirs will just pick another victim, make another 9/11 and you will say, ah they're all the same.
Don?
Fuck you.......and I mean that sincerely.
We should've seen them coming 10,000 miles away because nothing's more common in warfare than torture and beheadings. Look at the French Revolution. Men with guillotines severed the heads from thousands, including the Guillotine's inventor, as a whole society bowed to the logic of war.
Afterward, Napoleon proclaimed that he would spread freedom, equality and liberty - the ideals of the French Revolution - to the rest of the world. In one campaign alone, Napoleon marched 600,000 men into the heart of Russia, where they were shot, stabbed, burnt, starved and frozen to death. Only 20,000 straggled back to tell the horrible reality. Incredibly, many still regard Napoleon as a hero. Few learn the true lessons of war.
Oh really? Now who would that be?
(crickets.................................chirp,chirp)
I venture to say that you're dense if you believe that. You also failed to mention the Russians who suffered far more badly, had alot more killed....You're slipping buddy. Backsliding like that will get you kicked out of the handwringers hall of fame. You also never mentioned Hitler's little foray into the the Eastern winter.........Dog eat your homework?.....or afraid to mention the one guy who is universally agreed was a worthy target? I think you don't mention him, or Pol Pot,....or any of the modern butchers because you know your arguement will ring hollow then don't you?
Think the death camps would have gone away with some really, really hard negotiations? Would Adolf have sunken to the floor overcome by the pious words of a dreamer?
Or would he have handed you a train ticket to the showers?
Yet every war, like every river, leads to a source. And the headwaters of the river of war that wends through every true account of human history begin in the darkness that competes with light inside each human heart. That's the lesson contained in those sad, banal images from Abu Ghraib. Images at which we stare as if possessed, like Col. Kurtz at the end of Joseph Conrad's novel, "The Heart of Darkness," so that if we speak at all, it's only to speak words like he utters there: "The horror. The horror."
Horror,....that's the word isn't it. You say the violence is horror and in that you are right. Where you fall off the cliff is when you condemn the rescuer with the hostage takers effectivelly branding them as morally equal. You can't tell the difference because you refuse to, and that makes you a tool of those that do evil.
What kind of man sees evil, yet says because we all have a dark side we are all the same? .......... A lazy one, a selfish one, and man who would doom us all to a half life in slavery because nothing is worth fighting over in his mind. All men fight, in the right context, in the right circumstance, nature takes over. Even cowards will fight if that is the only way to live. Some will fight for patriotism, some for Honor, for love, for freedom,and especially....for their childrens lives and future.
Is it wrong?
I don't believe so. The dark side of our humanity gives us the strength to fight, we reign it in most of the time, and even in combat it's controled. I've known violence, more than most, less than alot, yet am I forever tainted by it? Are my hands too dirty now to hold my kids tight? Having held a man's throat tight while deciding wether to end his life....I held my demon in check. I chose not to kill when I could have. I choose not to unleash the demons of our collective nature. I'm just a man, but one with the right teachers, the right compass. There exists a core of mankind that lacks the switchs in their minds to hold back the flood, and as long as they exist, violence and war in the pursuit of their destruction isn't a vice.
Good and evil use similar tools, but the motives and goals are different. To say everyone is bad, is to surrender to apathy. I'm a man who has been violent when necessay, but I take no pleasure in that, no pride. Sometimes I feel saddened by it, but it's a part of me, harnessed to protect my family, my country, my friends...you need not fear people like me, like my father before me,.....because people like me are scattered across your past. We police your streets,..walk the walls,...hold the line when we have to. We do what you can not, will not do.
You Don are free to speak foolishly, speak stupidly, because better men than you have passed before. All men are flawed, all men are damned by their sins, redemption is found in cause and method. Redemption is found in lives saved, in futures assured. Weep for the dead, but cherish the saved, you shouldn't forget them.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:44 PM | Comments (0)
scale of outrage
The GI's who failed us at Abu Ghraib will pay, that's a given. What they are accused of merits the harshest punishment possible, and justice will be done. Prison abuse is as old as time, and shocking video has once again surfaced in Iraq. The crimes detailed in this account just make you weep from the horror of what was done. How anyone could just ignore them staggers the mind. But they are being ignored, ignored and pushed to the side because the soldiers who commited these crimes..........
Aren't in the right uniforms. They're not American. They are Iraqi, Saddam's men.
Let's talk about moral outrage shall we?
What our people did sickens me, not the sleep deprivation, the nudity, even the humilation, they may well be useful as interogation techniques.....no the sexual aspects and the run amuck sadism is what grates on me. It appears what happened was a clic of like minded scumbags fell in together to start their own jollytime fun factory. So the result....A nation ashamed that such a thing could happen, our soldiers put at greater risk because of unnecessary cruelty, and our cause set back amongst a world opinion eager to condemn America while excusing the vicious killers we're fighting. The result is damaging and shameful.
But now let's take a real look at what the arguement is about shall we? Is the US covering this up? Clearly not, as the first Courts Martial has already started. Does the abuse continue? Also,...clearly not. Have steps been taken to ensure that such things don't happen in the future? Again,...yes. The questions not asked, but that should have been, was anyone killed? Was anyone maimed? What was done was disgusting, but let's get real here, the crimes Saddam's goons commited are so horrible as to compare jaywalking to Buchenwald. So some prespective in the level of rage would be in order.
So why the shrill pollyanna tone from the world press?
When something like this has no legs, meaning it's a mere blip to the world press,...
First, the photographs. They are of actual live castrations of Kurds.
Now, the video tapes:
Two beheadings, during one of which "Happy Birthday, Saddam" is being sung in Arabic.
Fingers being cut off one by one from a hand tied to a board.
People being thrown off four-story buildings, one forced to wear a Superman costume.
A man scourged ninety-nine times.
Three different instances of gas poisonings (probably employing different types), including dead babies.
You have to believe it isn't the crime that gets their anger, but the people envolved. The Iraqi's, well, the world turns away because that's just the kind of thing they expect to see, them being close to the earth third world types and all. Yawn, just another day, nothing to see here folks,.....move along. But AMERICA?.......OH YES,....let's get these bastards, conspiracy thories run riot and every charge aired on and on and on, even when they are disproven they are not retracted or withdrawn. Because that doesn't fit the agenda, doesn't matter because the leftwing will not let go of that bone when it damages their favorite whipping boy.
I'm not saying that we are perfect, or that bad things don't happen. What I'm saying is that going after us when we are doing the right thing with hammer and tongs will ignoring or excusing something like this..is moral blindness incarnate. When a national paper runs faked porn pictures of US troops as news,...but then says this about the evil doings of terrorists....
You have to ask,.......when did the inmates take over the asylum?
links courtesy of Drudge and Instapundit.
Posted by Nukevet at 05:52 PM | Comments (0)
Moral Equivalency
Still want to defend Saddam?
Posted by Nukevet at 04:50 PM | Comments (0)
Ahhh, the UN
The kind, benevolent, efficient, multinational, answer to all of the world's problems, trustworthy, honest UN.
Posted by Nukevet at 01:58 PM | Comments (0)
Honor
Today is Armed Forces Day
Most of you will remember this statue. It was made to honor the fallen men and women of our armed forces who have died in Iraq.
The artist who made this statue used to be employed by Saddam Hussein. He made a good number of those many Saddam statues around Iraq. This one was made by melting a few of those statues down.
If you see a memeber of our armed forces today, remember to say thank you. And everyday.
And to close, one of the, if not THE warrior of the 20th Century. George S. Patton
"It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived."
Posted by Nukevet at 07:46 AM | Comments (0)
The year in review
Since I've passed my 1 year mark earlier this week, I've been going through the archives. Sometimes seems like just yesterday and other times it seems like 5 years away. Reading the old stuff I've posted is quite humbling and also a bit scary.
But I'd like to announce that on the days when I don't have much to talk about or will be busy I will be going back to the stories of the week one year ago and posting them. Hopefully, to your entertainment.
One year ago this week, the Canadian SARS scare was in full scream mode and the Republicans were threatening to use "The Nuclear Option" to push Pricilla Owen and Migel Estrada through the Democratic fillibuster.
Sadly, it never happened and we had to wait for a couple of recess appointments. Losing Estrada in the process.
I got a tape of an interview conducted by Mr. T of the top senate leaders thrown through my dining room window that week.
Here is a snippet of that interview,
Mr. T - Fool, I'm here with Bill Frist. He's the Republican Senate Majority leader. I'm gonna call you Billy. Got it Senator?
Frist - Whatever you say Mr. T.
T - Good answer. OK Billy, so whatchu think you're doing, bustin' up the Democrat's filibuster?
F - Well Mr. T, we believe that what the senate democrats are doing is illegal. The Constitution of the United States says that it is one of the President's duties to appoint judges to federal positions. And he has done that. The only part of the process that involves the senate is first the approval of a committie. And both of the nominees have done that. The only other function the senate has in this process is a thumbs up, thumbs down vote on the floor. They are not allowed to just hold them in limbo. And in turn voilating the Constitution.
T - I pity the fool who'd filibuster my nominees! So what do you plan on doin' 'bout these dummies?
Here is a link to the rest of the interview.
It seems that that was the last I've heard from "MR. T, Political Reporter". But if'n y'all like this, I might be able to find him and get him to get back in the game.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:40 AM | Comments (1)
I knew they were biased,
But this is ridiculous.
Israel Gunmen Used UN Ambulances to Carry Remains
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel accused Palestinian militants on Friday of using U.N. ambulances to spirit away some of the body parts of Israeli soldiers killed during a Gaza City raid, but Palestinians dismissed the allegation as a lie.
A spokesman for the U.N. relief agency UNRWA declined comment on Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz's remarks.
Is it just me or does the the title imply that Israelis used an ambulance to steal body parts?
I realize that Reuters will never call a murdering "palestinian" a terrorist, but is too much to ask that they at least admit who the gunmen were?
Found @ Aaron's Rantblog
Posted by Nukevet at 07:11 AM | Comments (0)
Is this what your work life is like Doc?
From Doctor Horsefeathers, an e-mail for a friend of his. Prof. Kolzoff at UNCW.
I get into work early this AM and the only people there are the office staff and the custodians. The head of the office staff--Jane--built along the lines of a gnome--says, "Hey, Kozloff, you get any more crap about those war pictures and sayings on your window." [With her southern accent, window has three
syllables.]
"No, I guess the punk [some Bush = Hitler type] backed off."
"Well, there IS a First Amendment. Besides, what is he, some kind of baby can't handle a different view?"
[Another staffer joins in--Betty.]
"How come all the professors but you are democrats and also are against the war? That doesn't seem too smart to me."
"They�re good at dreaming up a fantasy world and then living in it," I say. �The same ones who dreamt up whole language and other progressive deaducation
stunts.�
"Well, if they [muslim fascists] ever try to put loudspeakers here [for worship]and try to take away OUR rights, the south WILL rise again." [rahz agiyin.]
"Yeah,� says Jane, �my momma and sister always carry a gun."
"My boy,� says Betty, �has had a rifle since he was 11. Grandpa takes him out hunting all the time.�
[Custodian comes in]
"Hey, doc, what's up?"
"I'd like to hang all the Muslim-Nazi bastards I can find. You see that poor kid get his head cut off?"
"Yeah, saw it on the computer. We should invade the WHOLE place down there."
Have faith in the future of America.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:00 AM | Comments (2)
May 14, 2004
Almost forgot
Long night last night and I almost forgetted to put out the reminder.
Blogger Blastorama is tomorrow.
IHOP (map) @ 0900 for breakfast.
And Wade's of Bellevue (map) @ 1000 for shootin'.
Expert or novice, all are welcome. There'll be plenty of personal firearms there to shoot or Wade's has over 40 rentals for a small fee.
Hope to see you there.
Posted by Nukevet at 11:17 PM | Comments (1)
Ooooooo, yeah
Hmmm, I wonder what possible reason there could be for the Mirror to fall victim to such a "cruel and calculated hoax"? Perhaps the desire to accept anything that condemns the war without critical analysis? Naaaaah, that certainly couldn't be it.
Posted by Nukevet at 08:06 PM | Comments (5)
Theyyy'rree Heerree
You may remember a while back, Raging Dave @ Four Right Wing Wackos let us know that he was ordering up these stickers.
I'm getting half a dozen myself, why not go here and buy some.
And if you're wondering what 'Molon Labe' is, go here.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:50 PM | Comments (0)
the truth comes out
LONDON (Reuters) - Piers Morgan, the editor of Britain's Daily Mirror newspaper, resigned Friday over publication of pictures claiming to show the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by British troops that proved to be fake.
Good, maybe the Mirror will think twice next time before they grab the juciest piece of lefty propaganda and wave it like a bloody shirt. But I doubt it. Still they get bonus points for having the stones to face up to a mistake like this.
The Boston Globe? Or should I say the Kerry campaign mouthpiece?
In Friday's column Chinlund said flatly, "There's no excuse for what happened. ... The photo, headed for the publication pipeline, should have been flagged for discussion by top editors." But she added that criticism that use of the photo provided evidence of anti-Americanism or the paper's desire to "bring down Bush" were "off the mark."
Editor Martin Baron told Chinlund, "We are not firing anybody."
Of course not, and they won't do a full page retraction either after filling the heads of millions world wide with rape porn labeled as purported proof of American troops raping Iraqi women either. They put a dinky assed note on the editorial page saying in effect that they goofed only in not verifing the source,...ooops!
This is Bullshit. The Arab press is running this as fact and the best the Globe can do is belch and scratch? They libaled the whole US military and we get this?
Baron declined to comment Thursday on the situation, saying "the editor's note is all I have to say."
Not fucking good enough you asshole, not by a country freakin mile. To make that kind of charge, get busted for printing a lie, then in effect do nothing in way of real retraction crosses over into TREASON. To print a lie and not retract is to treat it as truth, to allow it to live without even trying to squelch it is the same as saying, wink, yeah,....sure sure,...wink wink, it didn't happen.
If one GI gets killed as a direct result of the Arab press running this piece, inciting a driveby or car bombing, then Baron should be charged with conspiracy to murder. He knows it's a lie, but doesn't care as long as the damage is done. If this were a just universe, Baron would get slapped down to correspondent and have his ass shipped to sit in the back seat of a Bradley.
Papers make mistakes, they retract or not, but in a war,....letting a libal stand because you hate the President? What wouldn't you do Baron? What lie will you print next? What faked picture? Millions of GI's Honor sacrificed on the alter of poltical expediency,......and how many extra will die because you are a gulible asshole with no shame?
How many?
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Links from Drudge.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:22 PM | Comments (0)
Sanctuary?
From Drudge, this report on the fighting in Najaf. This sentence leaped out at me.
U.S. commanders say they will try not to encroach on holy sites, including the Imam Ali shrine where Sadr has taken sanctuary.
An ancient tradition, sanctuary, to run onto Holy ground and escape pursecution. To be shielded by the church, to ask for mercy. Safe as long as you do not venture out. The tradition is nearly universally accepted by the western world and parts of the third. The otherside of the coin?
You can't continue to commit crimes while under that protection. You can't use your status as a clergyman to wear it as a bullet proof vest while actively commanding a militia to kill your enemies. It's a pact between the church and you that says you will not desecrate holyground as a kind of home base while playing "tag you're it" with your enemies.
Unless you are a muslim, then you can shit on Holy ground, blame it on the west, and get your followers to accept it cause you just "said so". Islam as practiced by them seems little different from a bully's schoolyard game. Fortunately,.....we ain't listening.
Posted by Nukevet at 04:24 PM | Comments (0)
alienating advertisers are we?
Air America seems to be loudly seeking to find it's level, (somewhere between bacteria and the lowly graden slug). Bust hey, when you hate someone or something hard enough and you are LIBERAL!!!! DID WE SCREAM WE ARE LIBERAL!!......COME ON, BE LIBERAL, OR WE MAKE FUN OF YOU TOO AND CALL FOR YOUR EXECUTION!!!!.
Rock bottom came when she compared Bush and his family to the Corleones in the "Godfather" saga. "Like Fredo, somebody ought to take him out fishing and phuw," she said, imitating the sound of gunfire.
During a day of torture by radio, I heard ads for Hewlett-Packard, Greyhound and, especially, General Motors. I asked GM why it appeared in such shows.
Ryndee Carney, GM's manager of marketing communications, said the ads were wrongly picked up from an earlier deal with WLIB. She said the station was ordered to "cease and desist" yesterday, and added: "GM will not advertise on any Air America affiliates."
Censorship?....naw,... good sense. You aren't required to pay someone to piss off your market, least ways until FrankenFuck and his all lawyer goon squad show up to wipe their ass on the Constitution. Make no mistake, Franken and his soulmates on Air America have already served notice by their previous lawsuit when they started bouncing checks, they plan to try and intimidate their way into your life. Calling for someone to be shot?....HEY NOW, IT'S JUST LIBERAL HUMOR AND YOU JUST SHUT UP AND LAUGH, OR ELSE!
"it's a joke son, doncha get it"?
Posted by Nukevet at 03:59 PM | Comments (2)
Thank you for tuning into Al Jazeera,
now with almost as much anti-American and anti-Jew propaganda as The Guardian,
Posted by Nukevet at 12:41 PM | Comments (0)
MoveOn Ice Age
Did you know that it was the Bush Administration that is fostering all the anti-'Day After Tomorrow' movie propaganda?
You didn't! then you must not get e-mails from MoveOn.org.
Dear MoveOn member,
On Memorial Day weekend, Hollywood is releasing a summer blockbuster movie that's making the Bush administration very nervous. In fact, they'd rather you didn't see it at all.
Why? Because it's a disaster movie about global warming.
While "The Day After Tomorrow" is more science fiction than science fact, everyone will be talking about it -- and asking "Could it really happen?" This is an unprecedented opportunity to talk to millions of Americans about the real dangers of global warming and expose President Bush's foot-dragging on the issue.
My sides are now sore. Ow.
Thos movie is a project backed by Art Bell. If you do not know who Art Bell is, he takes "Alien Abductees" quite seriously. Here is a link to the Coast to Coast AM website. Just find your local station and tune in this weekend (George Noory does the weekday shows).
Posted by Nukevet at 07:31 AM | Comments (0)
Personal Responsibility
Peggy Noonan @ WSJ is on something.
At the very end of her article that goes from the Sporano's to cloning and back to the Sporano's again, she lets go with this line,
Why doesn't our government provide us all with the means to survive an expected nuclear, biological or chemical attack? Why doesn't our government provide us with what I think of as a "get out of Dodge" kit--a protective suit, a regulation gas mask, information on which direction to walk in, or rather run in, and how soon, after Port Newark, or Times Square, or the Sears Tower, or the Shrine Auditorium, is hit? Why aren't they doing this?
Umm, what about getting off your ass and buying it yourself, Peg?
Afraid of being labelled a 'survivalist'? Or is it just you being cheap and lazy?
Any and all of the equipment she listed is available. You have to know where to look and who to talk to for a couple of the pieces, but it is out there. And if a million or so people started looking to buy things like these, I can guarantee that the market would create a place to buy it.
Remember the millenium scare? Remember the news reports during the day after Christmas? People wanted stuff and people were selling that stuff.
I will admit, that I do not have a full Chem/Bio suit and mask for every member of my family. Those things are spendy and I don't have that kind of scratch. But I do know that by the time you put the suit on, you're probably screwed.
But like I said before, if you get a couple million people willing to buy them, someone will make them. And if they can sell 500,000 at $100 per, they make enough of them to sell 2,000,000 at $50.
But I do have pretty much everything else. And it is always ready to go.
Along with my guns and ammo.
If need be.
Earthquakes, tidal waves, volcanos. We've got the potential for all three here in Seattle. And I plan on being on the top of the food chain through any of them.
Why should my tax dollars go for the people who won't get off their ass to prepare for these things?
I found the article @ Spacecraft
Posted by Nukevet at 07:18 AM | Comments (4)
Oh, that liberal media
I found this @ Spot On
This is running in heavy rotation at the NYT website.
Oh, that liberal media.
Posted by Nukevet at 06:56 AM | Comments (0)
May 13, 2004
First, Read the Headline
Ice age movie is realistic, says Britain's chief scientist
Then, go read what the "realism" refers to:
Sir David said the film, by the Independence Day director, Roland Emmerich, accurately portrayed the difficult real-life discussions that have taken place between climate scientists and politicians, particularly those close to the Bush administration, which is sceptical about global warming.
The general interaction between the scientific community and political community is interestingly well portrayed," he said. "The opening scenes setting up the key scientific factors and introducing the viewer to the scientists and the scientific-political interface are in my view remarkably realistic. I think palaeoclimatologists can closely identify with the discussion. The sceptical reactions that the scientists received are also rather well depicted."
I guess the writer is hoping that most people won't get past the headline.
Posted by Nukevet at 08:27 PM | Comments (4)
Not Ready for Prime Time
Hey, let's follow JFK II's plan, and turn everything over to the UN.
Posted by Nukevet at 06:54 PM | Comments (0)
Better not let the nuclear wife
find out about this little quiz.
Posted by Nukevet at 05:17 PM | Comments (4)
Hey, look
It's not just the Democratic Underground that believes in conspiracy theories.
The DU posters must be so proud that they have found their ideological soul-mates.
Posted by Nukevet at 05:12 PM | Comments (3)
Yep,
Posted by Nukevet at 04:49 PM | Comments (12)
Soundboard: Automotive Edition II
Last week I posted some driving music.
I plan to do so again this week. But first I had to find a car to go with the song.
Well, the song is from a metal compilation album, so it has to be an American car. I showed of the GTX last week.....
I know!
1970 Plymouth Barracuda w/426ci Hemi+4spd. Aka The HemiCuda.
(snicker)
And the song....
Shake Your Blood - Probot (link removed)
Dave Grohl of Nirvana and Foo Fighters fame put together this compilation type album. He can literally play with any musician he wants. So he did.
This track is him playing with Lemmy Kilmeister from Motorhead.
Also on this album, Grohl plays with Max Cavalera of Sepultura, Mike Dean of C.O.C. and King Diamond. So you know that whole album rocks.
Lyrics below.
Looking for relief in your miserable life
You need some rock and roll
And you better get it right
Got to roll them bones,
Do everything they say
If you're cool, you're the fool.
Make it work everyday.
Rock out, make it quick
My, my, my, let it rip
Rock out, feeling good.
Break your heart. Shake your blood.
Out upon the stage, crowd is going wild,
Love to see them women, babe
I ain't in denial.
Make you crazy too. Make you show it out.
Feeling good, get some wood
You should, You knew you could
Rock out, do it now
My, my, my, show me how
Rock out, make it good.
Break your heart. Shake your blood
Want to be a winner, want to be the man.
Want to drive yourself insane,
Join up with the band
Want to fall in love, want to make your mark
Want to get out in the storm, want to break
A thousand hearts
Rock out, strike it rich
My, my, my, it's a bitch
Rock out, I knew you could
Break your heart. Shake your blood
Posted by Nukevet at 10:21 AM | Comments (1)
busted....
I should hope to shout,.......damn it if you gotta go, then go out with a bang!
I can't believe I just typed that.
Posted by Nukevet at 08:10 AM | Comments (1)
Like Lightning
Brent of The Ville will be going on a roadtrip in a couple weeks with the guys from Rolling Thunder.
From their website:
Rolling Thunder�, Inc.'s major function is to publicize the POW-MIA issue. To educate the public of the fact that many American prisoners of war were left behind after all past wars. To help correct the past and to protect the future veterans from being left behind should they become prisoners of war-missing in action. We are committed to helping American veterans from all wars!
He'll be riding from Louisville, KY to the Vietnam Memeorial Wall in Washington D.C.
He will also be attending the dedication of the WWII Memorial on the 29th.
So head on over and wish him well. He promises to have plenty of pics to share along the way and when he gets back.
Oh yeah, and he'll be riding his 2001 HD Softail Duece.
Lucky stiff.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:44 AM | Comments (2)
You know, those schools
Here is part of Welch's letter.
It seems that the children of Afghanistan want nothing more than they want a pen.
It was explained to me that the villages through which I traveled (near Kandahar, where I'm based) are so poor that a pen is like a scholarship to these children. They desperately want to learn but, without a pen, they simply won't. It's a long story. I won't bore you with it. Trust me, though, when I say that it would be a big deal if even a few of you could put up the call for pens for me. Anyone interested in helping out could either send some directly to me or go to these sites and send them, where you can find them for as cheap as $.89 a dozen.
I saw the request and decided to send $10 bucks worth of writing utensils after this upcoming payday.
But then I thought, I wonder how many Afghan girls will be receiving these pens?
It reminded me of the ANSWER/NOIN folks who were against us going to Afghanistan to kick out the Taliban.
The Taliban. The Taliban who wouldn't let advanced mathematics be taught, who wouldn't let science be taught, who distorted the history that was taught, who required that each student know the Koran backwards and refused to let ANY female even learn to read.
Now, apparently, the kids in Afghanistan, including the girls, have only the want of a 20th century scratching tool so that they can learn.
I wonder where they will be doing their learning at?
Could it possibly be in a school that was liberated by one of George Bush's Afghan Coalition members?
You know, those schools.
My rant to the wayside, here is the address you can send contributions to.
Terry l. Welch
105th MPAD
Kandahar Public Affairs Office
APO AE 09355
Office Max seems to be the prefered eevviill global corporatin to go through to get them there.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:18 AM | Comments (0)
Oh, That Liberal Media
I saw this and wanted to break something.
The NYT version of the story:
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Jan. 12 -- American soldiers on Monday night killed an Iraqi man and a boy and wounded four others in a car that was driving behind their convoy after a roadside bomb went off nearby, said witnesses, a police official and relatives of the family in the car.
The soldiers, traveling in a convoy of two Humvees, opened fire on the family, which was riding in a dark blue station wagon, after the bomb exploded on Palestine Street about 300 yards from the Oil Ministry, witnesses said.
Yeah, yeah, it's an old story. Now look at what actually happened.
At 2040 hours on 12 January 2004, a roadside bomb (IED) exploded on Palestine road just north of the Martyr's Monument. The target was a three vehicle military police (MP) patrol. A dark blue Opel station wagon carrying five Iraqi civilians was traveling between the second and third HMMWV's. Upon detonation of the IED, the MP patrol responded by moving rapidly away from the explosion site and proceeded to the Martyr's Monument for medical treatment of two wounded soldiers. No soldiers fired their weapons during the incident. A patrol from 1-36 Infantry, hearing the explosion, moved to the site and assessed that the IED had exploded between the second and third HMMWVs, hitting not only the U.S. vehicles but killing the two Iraqi males in the front seat of the Opel and injuring two passengers in the back seat. U.S. medics attended to the wounded before turning them over to
Iraqi Police (IP) for transport to a civilian hospital.
Does the NYT get their talking points from al-Sadr?
Their version is nearly a complete lie. They barely have the location right.
Found @ Judicious Asininity, who found it @ Ranting Profs
Posted by Nukevet at 07:15 AM | Comments (1)
May 12, 2004
Have I mentioned
manufactured outrage recently?
But hey, if it bashes the US or her military, then we're willing to suspend all disbelief in our rush to judgement.
UPDATE (not work safe)
Posted by Nukevet at 09:03 PM | Comments (6)
Why even bother?
But of course, Nick Berg was killed by white westerners masquerading as terrorists.
Posted by Nukevet at 08:52 PM | Comments (5)
If you're unemployed
you better hope Kerry really can create 10 million new jobs. Because he had a chance to extend your benefits today, and didn't bother to show up and vote.
Funny thing is, Kerry says all of this crap without telling us how he plans on accomplishing any of it. "If elected president, I will create 10 million jobs". He may as well say "If elected president, I will make it possible for Americans to breathe underwater". He doesn't really have a plan for that, either - but I bet it wouldn't stop him from promising it if it would get him elected. Of course, saying what your constituents want to hear is a part of every politician's armamentarium. But to make these kinds of promises, and then not even trying to look like you were serious when the opportunity presents itself is pandering of the lowest order. So what if the Republicans killed the bill after the vote? Then Kerry could make the claim that he stopped campaigning just so he could come back and vote on this crucial bill. And, if the bill then gets squashed, he has more ammo to use against GWB as an enemy of the poor and less fortunate. Now, he just looks like an ass.
Posted by Nukevet at 08:34 PM | Comments (0)
gotta go to work now.
Busy blog day for us, I'm gonna get as many opinions at work as I can for how this is playing in small town Ohio and report back. I think we can guess the answer though.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:49 PM | Comments (0)
good for the goose, how about a gander at this idea.
Environmental advocates are using the film's release, scheduled for May 28, as an opening to slam the Bush administration, whose global warming policies they oppose. Industry groups in Washington are lobbying on Capitol Hill to make sure the film does not help passage of a bill limiting carbon-dioxide emissions, which many scientists say contribute to global warming.
Yeah sure,....why not. Here's an idea. I wanna make a movie about the war on terror, use big names, obscure facts in favor of drama, speed up events and draw cataclysmic conclusions. Put say, some actor closely resembling Kerry in the White House, have a dashing young officer played by some Hollywood heartthrob warn him that we can't retreat, that western civilization hangs in the balance. Have said democrat ignore his advice,.....cut to a year later, Mushroom clouds over major cities, from stolen Russian or Pakistani Nukes, clouds of biotoxins drifting acroos the land slaying millions, shadowy groups of "peaceful" muslims kidnapping teachers, mayors, congressmen off the streets then video tapping their gruesome executions to be broadcast on the Palestinian Solidarity Network in Berkley. Open civil war between the survivors and the the radical left who wish to surrender and for everyone to convert to islam or die.
Implausible?......Yeah. Utter fiction But not impossible. Certainly more believeible than this sci fi effort.
My question is, would my contention that it's just a movie be bought for a tenth of a second by the left? My excuse that it's just bringing attention to a worthy cause? Or would the left and the national media savage it as a bald faced attempt at partisan propaganda? An attempt to scare the Hell out of people to get my way in the political arena?
So what would be the difference between the movie they made and the one I propose?
Posted by Nukevet at 07:43 PM | Comments (0)
Go here
Posted by Nukevet at 07:10 PM | Comments (0)
You knew that they would crawl out from a rock on this.
We need an Orkin man, the DU has now expressed largely two opinions.
It's so horrible, and it's all Bush's fault, he MADE them do it.
It's so horrible, the CIA black ops people did it as reverse propaganda.
Michele pointed this out, and she admits to going from anger to dispair and back again. Me, I'm stuck on rage, at the monsters we're at war with, and those retarded children at DU that absolutely can't see past they own petty hates long enough to realize that events have proven them to be complete conspiracy loving idiots.
But he had been held by the F.B.I. in a US military prison! He was found in a standard US prison jumpsuit. How did the Al-Qaeda guys get hold of him? Was he released from prison and picked up by "terra-ists" before he could even change clothes?
I think Tinoire is a goddess - out and out! She has really pulled this thing together and these are questions that have to be answered. We are way through the looking glass and gone here, folks. We can no longer take anything at face value. We are living under evil and whatever happens we cannot lose sight of that fact.
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This is Nazi Propaganda. Oh yeah, now that Abu Graib prison photos are coming out the damn Nazis bring out a video of an american being killed. If this doesn't say Propaganda then I don't know what is.
And how do they expect the compassionate muslims to act when they so humiliate their brothers? Thank you George Bush, for enraging these compassionate human beings and turning them into animals. But its alright, Islam doesn't follow Geneva Convention because its not a country so they don't have to answer for any of these actions.
----------------------
Bullshit. The point is that OUR government may have KILLED an American,..
,...in order to create counter-propaganda!!!!
How f*cked up is that?
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and on and on.
These insects are so blinded by hate, they'd thank the masked man for sticking the knife in them for avenging George's crimes. I suggest they put their money where their shit stained mouths are. Go campaign for Kerry you assholes, go ahead, tell everyone you see exactly what you are saying here. Buy airtime, run your commercials........ Then watch just how well you are accepted.
Pride yourselves on the insight others regard as mental illness, pat yourselves on the back for your self precieved brilliance, drown yourselves in the specialness of your thoughts. Then buy a plane ticket to Pakistan so you can enrole in Jihad school.
You'd look really good smeared on the tracks of an Abrams right now you worthless sacks of puke. So come on you gutless parasites, put up, or shut up. Quick,........before Ashcrofts super secret extra special VRWC ninjas descend on you and drag you off to the labor camps.
Your're not worried?
Haven't packed?
Aren't in hiding?
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I didn't think so. Your words so one thing, your actions another. The DU people are bugs, and you don't reason with a bug.
Posted by Nukevet at 06:55 PM | Comments (1)
More shameless pro-war propaganda
I mean, I'm sure the smart folks over at Indymedia or DU will be able to tell us that this poor soldier is just an unwitting dupe for Halliburton, right?
Gee, it sure is easy to see why the left admires the hooded beheading thugs of Al Qaeda over any kind of American military person, especially one that would send home letters in support of BushCo's policies.
Posted by Nukevet at 06:51 PM | Comments (0)
Wahabism Delenda Est
Does the photo of the severed head bother you? Good, it should. It should tell you what the foe really looks like. Next time I see and anti-war/anti-US type at a rally, it's gonna be real hard not to pick a fight.
Maybe that's why they don't allow firearms at parades in Louisiana? Is an anti-US protest considered a parade?
Oh, and if you're morally challenged? The Moderate Voice lays it all out for you.
Posted by Nukevet at 06:35 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
a reminder of why we fight
The arab street again, says whats on it's mind.
Some Arabs said Zarqawi had failed the very people he said he was avenging by strengthening Washington's hand in Iraq.
"I want to say this action was bad because it makes Arabs look like barbarians, (NO!,.... DO YOU FUCKING THINK?) but that's what the Americans think anyway. My fear is that now Americans will feel Iraqis deserve the torture," said Mamdouh, an Egyptian pharmacy student who did not want to give his full name.
--
To others, Berg's beheading was an appropriate response to what they see as U.S. abuses against ordinary Iraqi civilians as well as prisoners.
"This was a justified retaliation. The Americans had committed very ugly actions against the Iraqi people in general and Iraqi prisoners in particular," said Mohammed AlBargouti, a 24-year-old security guard in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Mutaz, a Syrian taxi driver working in the United Arab Emirates, went further:
"It must have been a beautiful sight. The Americans deserve even more than this for what they are doing in Iraq. Every American should watch this tape to see what is coming to them. Or are they the only ones allowed to kill?"
The Arab street has been heard from, how about a twist, try listening to the American street. What's our response been on the savagery shown to us?
Our young are speaking for us. Zarqawi couldn't have hurt his cause harder if he tried, because you all know what our response will be. We're going hunting.
Piss on the arab street, these toothless blowhards and rampaging bullies screaming for our blood while steadily ignoring their own crimes have had enough of a say. They twist and distort everything, proving that they are indeed sheep mob stupid without any compassion or understanding. They still say 9/11 was the Mossad, still blame us when they send their child to blow up buses in Tel Aviv, blame us whenever they can for absolutely anything.
It's time these morons starting worrying about the opinion of the AMERICAN STREET. When we get pissed, everybody on the planet had better take a step the fuck back. How about appeasing us some? How about a little worldwide outrage against the shit done to us? A fair retaliation would have been to humiliate that poor young man,....NOT TO SAW HIS FUCKING HEAD OFF!
Enough, I've had it with people telling us about how different cultures have different standards and that we shouldn't judge them. Fuck them,.....we are dealing with cavemen who have the childlike glee of a bully pulling the heads off kittens. We are being steadily pushed closer to the day when we throw up our hands with a collective "FUCKIT" and just start tossing nukes. World opinion be damned, our people are kindling to them and world opinion keeps telling us that it's just our due and we should be good and just turn the other cheek. Well FUCK THAT too! We aren't the sheep of the EU, we haven't got teeth, we've got fangs,..and somebodies ass is gonna get torn to shit over this.
Don't compare us to the Romans, or the Nazi's in some misguided attempt to sway us away. You want a more valid comparison, look farther back. A martial people, a people who made war into an art, who suffered no insult, no abuse without crushing their enemy.
Look to the Spartans.
We aren't to be trifled with, we are getting a harder edge than we've had in years, and "world opinion" is driving us there. So the world needs to ask it's collective self a simple question.
By appeasing our enemies and attempting to stall us at every turn, do you really, really want what you are forcing us to become? By insulting us, by betraying us, you are molding us into the thing you truely do need to fear.
A warrior people full of anger. So maybe the "world" should rethink it's prejudices before that river is crossed completely and the bridges are burned.
Try appeasing us for a while. Your grandchildren might appreciate it.
Posted by Nukevet at 05:19 PM | Comments (1)
What's wrong with this image?
Actually, I think a few things. The 2 major stories (including the one with the big eye-catching photo) deal with Abu Ghareb.
The actual story dealing with the murder of Nick Berg has a pretty innocuous headline: Justice vowed for executed civilian. Here's a little distinction for MSNBC - he wasn't executed - he had his head sawed off while fully awake and aware what was happening to him. And then his head was shown to us as a "warning" of what was coming. Certainly don't want to show that - it might inflame the attitudes of Americans and cause them to support this unjust war. Much better to just show the images that inflame our enemies - the higher the body count, the sooner thier quagmire label starts to fit.
The headline dealing with the Sadr militia is a little less innocuous: almost like MSNBC is rooting on those who "fight the US".
Nope, no bias at all.
Posted by Nukevet at 04:30 PM | Comments (1)
Screw the "homeless"
Raging Dave covers this topic better than I can, but I'm wanting to vent on it right now.
A "Homeless Advocacy Group" (aka HAG) here in the Seattle area threatens to turn a county park into a tent city. The County Executive and Asshat Extraordiniaire (who is also running for Governor) Ron Sims, caves in and offers them a chunk of county land to use.
The problems are these: First, the land is in the middle of suburbia. Private homes, schools, churches and stripmalls. And two, THE COUNTY FORGOT TO TELL THE LOCALS that 100+ vagrants would be moving in down the street.
Luckily, the local conservative radio station got wind of it and got folks riled up and forced the county to hold a meeting on the matter.
After the meeting, two local churches offered the HAG's a larger chunk of land than the county was offering them. And they turned it down, saying that 'homelessness' is a community problem and that the community shouldn't sluff the job off onto the churches.
Excuse me, but isn't a church a large part of American community?
Anyway, the Executive Asshat put out a statement that was so devoid of facts as to be ridiculous. He said that if the tent city was moved into the neighborhood, CRIME WOULD GO DOWN!
What a crock of sh*t.
There is one of these tent cities in Seattle's Lake City. Crime has skyrocketed. Both vandalism and theft are the worst that area has seen in years. The two nearby parks are nearly impossible to use. One of them is nearly brand new. Costing the city $400,000, it is think with needles and broken bottles.
Another part of his statement said most of these 'homeless' work.
Huh? Then why are they homeless, Ron?
Even one of the HAG people admits that less than 30% of these folks can work part-time jobs.
Even with the crap that the county council has pulled in the past, I never thought that they could be this arrogant. I have learned my lesson.
This is nothing but an attempt to normalize the homeless lifestyle. If the HAG's get this chunk of land, they'll never leave. And they'll ask for more. The county already has a list of potential sites throughout the county.
And do you want to know the only funny thing about this problem?
This site and half of the other ones are designated as wetlands.
Posted by Nukevet at 09:51 AM | Comments (6)
I wonder if they'll be calling for their own resignations?
If the lamestream media will report it.
Democrats howling for the resignation of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld for not informing them of reports of prisoner abuse in Baghdad are ignoring the fact that concerned parents of an accused soldier informed 16 members of Congress - top Democrats such as Senators Hillary Clinton, Edward Kennedy and John D. Rockefeller - and the governor of Virginia of the burgeoing scandal as far back as February 26th of this year.
None of these people acted to disclose the detailed information contained in the letters.
Here are the names, all Democrats except for Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, Sgt. Frederick's congressman:
Senators Jack Reed, Mark Dayton, Robert Byrd, Bill Nelson, Evan Bayh, Mark Pryor, Edward Kennedy, Benjamin Nelson, Hillary Clinton, Joseph Lieberman, Daniel Akaka, Paul Sarbanes, John D. Rockefeller, Governor Mark Warner and Rep. Roscoe Bartlett.
Senator Byrd's office would not even accept the letter e-mailed to him on the grounds it was too long.
Bartlett said he was looking into the matter.
Sarbanes said he had written the the "appropriate officials."
Rockefeller begged off on the grounds that he was barred by privacy rules.
Sounds like some people need to STFU.
Found @ the Junk Yard Blog
Posted by Nukevet at 07:32 AM | Comments (0)
Kerry ingores the 'poor'
The perpetually absent junior Senator from Massachusetts, John "Fraudulent" Kerry decided that the unemployment rates are at an acceptable level.
The Senate by a single vote rejected an election-year effort Tuesday to extend federal unemployment benefits.
Democrats tried to attach the benefit to a corporate tax bill. On a 59-40 vote in the GOP-controlled Senate, they fell just shy of the 60 votes needed to overcome objections that extending the benefits violated last year�s budget agreement.
Massachusetts Sen . John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, was the only senator who missed the vote. Kerry was campaigning Tuesday in Kentucky.
I guess he's telling them to find a job too.
I found this @ Insignificant Thoughts. No link to the WaPo story itself, but that's OK. Registration sucks.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:25 AM | Comments (0)
The idiocy continues
Once again, at the Kos IMC, the cup of stupidity overflows.
You remember these folks. They are the ones who praised this from one of their own:
�Ask not what Iraqis did to you in Fallujah.
Ask what you did to the Iraqis before Fallujah.�
To which I responded:
�Ask not why your head is in your ass,
Ask why you feel comfortable in that position.�
But now, the true face of the left comes out....
I'm sure Inhofe is eager to get a copy of this video so he can go home and wack off to it. DeLay and the boys will bring some of their lobbyist friends from these "contractor" companies over to Inhofe's so they can all do a circle jerk.
I'm thinking someone is projecting here.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:16 AM | Comments (0)
The creator
I was taking care of some business before work yesterday and came across something unexpected.
One of "My Children"
It started out life as a 1985 Celica CTS. Myself and some friends got together and made something truly devastating.
The GTS Celica is only moderately different from the standard GT model. Mechanically, it got the same engine and transmission, but came with IRS (independant rear suspension) and four wheel disc brakes. Cosmetically, it got the Supra style fender flares and wheels.
Toyota basically put this car out for folks (like myself) who wanted a better than average car that you could slap some 'go-fast' parts on and be comeptitive in the track. The standard GT was OK for this purpose, but the IRS and 4WDBs made it more 'flickable' in the corners.
We had something else in mind, however. A sleeper.
In the world of street racing, there is are cars known as "sleepers". These cars look pretty unimposing and non-threatening, but are deadly to the egos of your cometitors. Roll up to a Camaro or Firebird or Mustang at a stoplight, throw down the gauntlet, They chuckle, thinking you're stupid and then watch them cry in your rear view mirror.
That was this car.
Just think about a nice loping cam and 19lbs of boost from a Garret turbo bigger than your head.
Ahhhh.
The guy who now owns the car was taking it in for some work on the adjustable suspension. We talked for long enough that I was almost late for work. I'm thinking of heading down to watch them work on the car next week.
I wonder if my boss will let me out to watch over the orthapedic surgury on one of "my kids".
Posted by Nukevet at 06:54 AM | Comments (0)
May 11, 2004
Nope, No Outrage here
Move along. Nothing to see. Religion of Peace and all that.
Posted by Nukevet at 11:25 PM | Comments (4)
And yet more proof
that not just bad guys should have access to guns.
Words Tony Martin never heard from his local police - "we believe the owner has the right to protect himself, and that the shooting was justified".
Posted by Nukevet at 11:20 PM | Comments (5)
Oooooh, those evil Dutch
How dare they help rebuild schools in Iraq?
And they are even rebuilding schools for girls! Why, is some parts of the world, being a girl and trying to go to school is liable to get you killed.
Obviously, these Dutch soldiers are committing crimes against humanity - rebuilding schools for young girls that will then force the brave mujhadeen to have to kill them. I'm sure the newspapers will be all over this story of Iraqi
abuse - as soon as they stop running photoshopped pictures of British soldiers urinating on Iraqi "prisoners", that is.
Isn't it amazing how the left can rally behind the Taleban as being the "legitimate" rulers of Afghanistan, while they rail against GWB as being the "pretender in chief" who stole the 2000 election?
Posted by Nukevet at 08:20 PM | Comments (0)
Did someone say
I wonder how much the Daily Mirror paid for the fakes?
No word yet on whether the beheading of an evil infidel was faked.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:10 PM | Comments (0)
Hey, Kos...
I am sick and tired of the "manufactured outrage" of the Arab street. Condemn the actions of the US soldiers for what they were - atrocious breakdowns in discipline that resulted in the humiliation of prisoners. But stop comparing having to stand nude in front of a snickering female soldier with being terrorized and then beheaded. But I wonder if the ICRC will issue any statements about the death of Nick Berg? Maybe they could check with the Sudan chaired UN human rights committee, and see if they can find any outrage for these kinds of acts.
Posted by Nukevet at 06:56 PM | Comments (4)
fighting in karbala
I saw this report on FOX yesterday. The video titled Frontline Battle. It contained an account that said the Sadr forces are in effect, just offering themselves up to be slaughted. Much to the surprise of the 1st Armored.
No sense at all seemingly. It would explain why this happened.
Iraqi Shiite Cleric Al-Sadr Offers to End Insurgency, AFP Says
I never went to West Point, but jeebus, the total insanity of his use of his followers speaks to both their lack of training and the utter desperation of Sadr. He thought he could just hunker down in Iraq's holy sites, sting us alittle and incite a general uprising when we struck back. He hoped we would destroy enough of their holy city to cause a rebellion. (Strange desire for a holy man.)
But we didn't go in as he hoped. We contained them, then waited. As support failed to materialize Sadr got desperate and sent his drones out to try and bait us in. Hugely overestimating his men's ability and utterly ignorant of our capability.
He's just a rat in a trap of his own making now. Iraqi's are blaming him openly for endangering their heritage. He's done, it's just a matter of when, not if.
He's running out of men.
Posted by Nukevet at 06:28 PM | Comments (0)
Hey! Who doesn't love a
Posted by Nukevet at 05:58 PM | Comments (3)
Well, tell her to stop throwing spitballs then
Kerry Warns Opponents Not to Attack His Wife.
LOUISVILLE, KY. (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry warned his political opponents on Monday against attacking his outspoken wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, saying, "They're going to have to go through me."
The Massachusetts senator also sought to dispel the notion he was aloof, asking one television interviewer: "Have you had a beer with me yet? I like to have fun as much as the next person, and go out and hack around and have a good time."
Worth an estimated $500 million, born in Mozambique and fluent in five languages, Mrs. Kerry can be controversial and blunt, disclosing her Botox injections, her prenuptial agreement with Kerry and the fact he was in the bathroom when he got word of his wins in Iowa and New Hampshire.
Look, I have absolutely no objections to a man defending his wife, but if she's happy to toss verbal hand grenades into passing crowds of reporters, he'd better either tell her to butt out, or get over the fact she's gonna draw fire.
She's not an innocent bystander like Chelsa was, or the Bush girls. She's a player, and that exempts her from any kind of diplomatic immunity from partisan attacks. I will never say a bad thing about Kerry's children, his first wife, or any member of his family that happens to stray by.
Teresa gives the center and right of America the finger, she's gonna get slapped back. It's that simple. So spare us the whining Senator. This isn't Boston anymore, the center and right in the rest of America isn't neutered like the types you are used to, we have teeth.
So put yourself down for another Purple Heart and shut up. Oh, one more thing, don't suck up, it makes you look even more like a dork.
"Have you had a beer with me yet? I like to have fun as much as the next person, and go out and hack around and have a good time."
"Hack"?...I rarely drink beer, if I do drink, it's usually burboun, but anything you can put a match to will work. No chasers Senator, that's cheating. If you order a lime with that................I will so slap the snot out of you. I don't do childrens drinking games.
It's supposed to be like paint thinner, that's the point.
Posted by Nukevet at 05:44 PM | Comments (0)
Decisions, Decisions
What with ma nature's little problem defrosting at the location I had chosen for the Blastorama on the 22nd, we are at somewhat of an impasse as to where to go.
So I am asking for a vote of sorts.
Now, I have a couple of caveats I'd like folks to keep in mind.
I will not have the time in the next two weeks to seek out any new locations below the snowline. 12hr shifts (noon to midnight) will be the norm at my work for a while (we're short a person or two), so that idea is right out.
Also, I have my new SKS and 500rnds of ammo, PLUS, I'll definitely have my Bushmaster finished by then. So I want to go somewhere we can shoot rifles.
This means no Wade's.
Our choices are currently:
Sam's in Everett (no known website)
The Pumpkin Splaughter location.
Sam's is pretty much like Wade's except that they allow rifle cartridges (below 3000fps velocity). Range fees are, if I remember right, $9.
Renton Fish and Game is an outdoor range with a large skeet range, action pistol, target pistol and slowfire 100yd and 200yd rifle facilities. Fees are charged by what you want to shoot. Check the link for range fees.
The location of the Pumpkin Splaughter is outdoors. You can shoot just about anything you want, but the max range is probably about 25yds. It is free, but if the weather is nice, we may have to share the space with strangers who want to shoot there as well.
I am asking that those who wish to attend leave their opinion as to where they want to go. And if you please, why.
Thanks.
Posted by Nukevet at 10:27 AM | Comments (6)
United Nincompoops
Oh boy. Time once again to bag on the UN.
You know, the UN that Kerry wants to take over Iraq.
Well, Jim K from Right Thoughts did a little math.
The number that was bandied around prior to the Iraq war was 500,000. A half-million children dead from the embargoes on Iraq. And of course, that was all our fault. Even though it was a UN embargo.
Shh. No logic. Don't try to make sense of it.
Anyway, I looked up some numbers fro the population and birth rates in iraq. I did ROUGH math, taking into account the 2+ percent per year growth. I rounded down whenever possible to be as accurate (or rather, fair) as rough numbers would allow.
The result is represented in this photo:
And now, this starts to hit the newswires. AGAIN!
Kosovo UN troops fuel sex trade
The presence of peacekeepers in Kosovo is fuelling the sexual exploitation of women and encouraging trafficking, according to Amnesty International.
And how does the UN handle this situation......?
There has been no comment from the UN.
If I hear one more person say that the UN needs to be in Iraq for 'legitimacy', I swear that they will not be able to walk for a very long time.
UPDATE: From reader, Marc, comes a third item for your frustration.
DRC: UN Mission probes sex abuse claims
The UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) has launched "a comprehensive investigation" into reported instances of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of civilians, including minors, by its personnel in the northeastern town of Bunia, Ituri District, UN News reported on Friday.
Let's hope their "comprehensive investigation" doesn't turn into a "quagmire" like the 'oil-for-palaces' one.
Posted by Nukevet at 09:24 AM | Comments (1)
Flippity Floppity
Go, Johnny, Go.
You'll remember that last week, Kerry reminded everyone that he asked for the resignation of Rumsfeld 'over a year ago' by again demanding Rumsfeld's resignation. His website now also sports a petition that demands Rummy resign.
Well, it seems that Kerry mellowed out over the weekend.
Saturday, Kerry took a fairly soft line on the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal, telling a local Pittsburgh station "this is a moment for America to try to deal with this without any partisan politics. This is not about politics. This is about our country. This is about how we're going to be stronger."
Flip
Flop
And speaking of petitions, from Ms. Sondra K comes a link to one that demands that Rumsfeld stay.
I signed it,. You should too.
UPDATE: From Aaron the Liberal Slayer
Here are the terms:
Love Rummy? Show da love for da SecDef.
Post a pic of you on your blog holding rum, preferably Bacardi, since it seems to really annoy the Ch�-lovers. Or post a pic and let Aaron know and he�ll superimpose a �Bloggers Bats for Rummy� logo on it for you.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:50 AM | Comments (1)
Dr. Horsefeathers has a question
What do you call an Arab man who dresses in women's clothes and shoots unarmed civilians?
Some context...
"...Gunfire from Palestinians disguised as women was directed at a memorial ceremony at Kissufim junction for Tali Hatuel and her four daughters murdered there by Palestinians terrorist May 2. No one hurt. Hundreds of mourners threw themselves to the ground and were evacuated under fire. Israeli soldiers shot two Palestinian gunmen dead..."
Answer below
A "palestinian" hero.
And as Bernard says in the comments of that post:
"Let me get this straight. While one Arab man decries the humiliation of being made to feel like a woman (while in US custody), another eagerly assumes the role in order to kill?"
PS: For those unfamiliar, I use the quote marks around the word "palestinians" as a means of derision pointed at that group of Muslim land grabbers.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:36 AM | Comments (0)
Macho Man
Oh Canada! Please make it stop!
My sides are hurting.
Canada rejects aslyum for 'macho' gay man
Ottawa, ON, May. 4 (UPI) -- The Canadian Refugee Board has denied asylum to a Mexican homosexual because he is not "visibly effeminate" and therefore not vulnerable to persecution.
Fernando Enrique Rivera, 30, came to Canada four years ago after he was allegedly blackmailed by colleagues in the Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, police department.
In December 2002 the Immigration and Refugee Board concluded: "Effeminate gestures come naturally and unconsciously. ... If he were indeed visibly effeminate, he would have been (un)able to easily land a job with the 'macho' police force of Puerto Vallarta."
The IRB only offers protection to effeminate or HIV-positive men, as well as political activists and whistle blowers from Mexico, the Globe and Mail reported.
A federal court upheld the board's decision in April, and Rivera now faces deportation if his final appeal on humanitarian grounds is rejected.
Oooooh the pain!
I keep picturing this guy as a mix of the cop and the biker from the Village People. And their dancing. And you know which tune they're dancing to.
Oooooh the pain!
Found @ Spot On
Posted by Nukevet at 07:31 AM | Comments (2)
Forgotten lessons of a distant past.
Scots Wha' Hae
by Robert Burns
Scots, wha hae wi Wallace bled,
Scots, wham Bruce has aften led,
Welcome to your gory bed,
Or to victorie!
Now's the day, and now's the hour;
See the front o' battle lour;
See approach proud Edward's power -
Chains and slaverie!
Wha will be a traitor-knave?
Wha can fill a coward's grave?
Wha sae base as be a Slave?
Let him turn and flie!
Wha for Scotland's king and law
Freedom's sword will strongly draw,
Freeman stand, or freeman fa'
Let him follow me!
By Oppression's woes and pains!
By your Sons in servile chains!
We will drain our dearest veins,
But they shall be free!
Lay the proud Usurpers low!
Tyrants fall in ev'ry foe!
Liberty's in ev'ry blow! -
Let us do � or die!
The Battle of Bannockburn, 1314, 23-24 June
You know much of Europe believes we're all provincial, self absorbed, uncomprehending of the outside world. Are we?... As an immigrant nation we contain the bits and pieces of all nations. This classic poem for instance, pays homage to the battle where Scotland won her independence. The words aren't lost on us, especially in todays context. We still feel these words, still hae the bluid of the clans.
By Oppression's woes and pains!
By your Sons in servile chains!
We will drain our dearest veins,
But they shall be free!
Proud nations knew these lessons once, maybe they should look back into their own past and remember what it was to be young and fighting to survive. Remember what it meant to be proud. We didn't ask for this fight, but we will finish it.
Lay the proud Usurpers low!
Tyrants fall in ev'ry foe!
Liberty's in ev'ry blow! -
Let us do � or die!
The blood of our dead, the eyes of our children call to us. Wha sae base as be a Slave?
Posted by Nukevet at 06:54 AM | Comments (7)
May 10, 2004
short memory
Tom Daschle says politics has degenerated into meanness.
The South Dakotan, who has been Senate Democratic leader for nine years and is seeking re-election in November, said campaigns were especially ugly in 2002 and that the ugliness continues.
OK, then maybe he might want to retract certain liitle snippets of his own intemperance.
This president failed so miserably in diplomacy that we are now forced to war.
--Tom Daschle, last week, when President Bush, struck Iraq
We have exhausted all of our diplomatic effort to get the Iraqis to comply with their own agreements and with international law. Given that . . . we have got to force them to comply, and we are doing so militarily.
--Tom Daschle, in 1998, when President Clinton, struck Iraq
This has to end, Mr. President. We have to get on with the business of our country. We have to rise to a higher level. Our Founding Fathers would be embarrassed by what they are seeing going on right now. We have to do better than this. Our standard of deportment ought to be better. Those who died gave their lives for better than what we are giving now. So, Mr. President, it is not too late to end this politicization. It is not too late to forget the pollsters, forget the campaign fundraisers, forget making accusations about how interested in national security Democrats are; and let's get this job done right.
Humble when he's hosting the only vulnerable seat in the Senate up for election? Or just cynically trying to manipulate the electorate,...again?
You make the call.
Original link is from Drudge.
Posted by Nukevet at 11:22 PM | Comments (0)
Heart of a "regular"
The draft issue is a false one, the factual reasons are well laid out here.Link provided by Instapundit. But I'm not going to address the factual reasons, my thinking falls more along these lines. Conscripts have played an invaluable role in our history, their sacrifices are as Honorable as any. Conscription though was never really fair, or even handed.
A young man as he comes of age, has many dreams, many inspirations. He thinks of himself as a man, sometimes rightly, sometimes not. He strikes out in the world, more or less to make a place for himself. Because at that age, thinking of someone other than yourself, is uncommon.
When I was a boy, my heroes were all men of service. Soldiers and policemen, presidents........people who had given their lives to an ideal. Some, had paid full measure, paid with their flesh the price that liberty demands. There was no debate in my childhood home about the war in Vietnam, none. My father was silent, quietly watching the casualty figures on the evening news. My mother, she cried for her brother who was in the thick of the fight. She wept too for the thought of her four sons, who would reach draft age in the next ten years. Because the war looked like it wasn't going to end. My older brother was 16 when the draft ended in 73. I don't know if they would have taken him, he was so,,,slow, like the brother just younger than I was, he was mentally retarded. The draft was so arbitrary in those days, so many able kids opting out that standards had fallen badly, and as I said, they might have gone.
I swore to myself that I wouldn't shirk my duty when my time came. No handicapped boy would go in my place, if someone had to serve, as someone always does. That would be me, no running away, no handing it of to a poorer kid, or one less able to think quickly. I thought, at least my chances would be fair, they wouldn't have made it. So no, nobody else would die for me. Not when I could make that choice. I couldn't look my brothers in the eye again if I had choosen diferently. Time and events changed, but I didn't. The draft and the war ended, I was fourteen when the draft ended, sixteen when Saigon fell. But I had made my choice, there was no turning back.
When I enlisted, it was late, I was twentyone. I had put off going because my only sister was dying from cancer. I held my family close then, so a year after she had passed, I fulfilled my obligation to myself, my brothers, and I signed up. Growing up in the way I had, seeing the protests, the marches, hearing about the spitting on soldiers, had only hardened my resolve. Hardened my contempt for the ones who either lacked the guts, or the conviction to do what had to be done. I held no ill feelings for those who couldn't serve, or simply choose not too when they weren't needed. No, my hate was for those that either believed going was immoral, or the fact they simply were rooting for our enemies.
I was in hurry then, I talked to the Army, but the recruiter had a quota to fill with programers and clerks, he had no interest in putting me down for armor as I wanted. Same with infantry, no no no, I had to pick something else. So I walked next door and talked to the Air Force. I told him I wanted to be in a fighting unit, not support, and thats when I first learned about what a combat SP was. It wasn't as well known or as respected as the Army or Marines, but it would put me where I wanted to go. In uniform carrying a rifle.
No regrets, and sure as Hell no apologies. My unit was tasked to the 90th Strategic Missile Wing. 200 Minutemen III's, all having three MIRV's, six hundred nuclear warheads, and all of them set to vaporize the Soviets. I was a part of that, a small, tiny piece of that global stare down. So at least in my own mind I kept faith with myself and my brothers. Perhaps too, in part with some young man I never knew.
I speak only for myself, but I wonder if the tale of most regulars isn't at least as,....well, we all have our own demons. We all joined up to serve, many when it wasn't so popular, when hostility to that choice was rampant, and because we made the choice, the draft was forgotten.
Let it stay that way.
This war is going to last a long time, not in Iraq so much, as it will move on to other fronts when events catch up. Better to leave it to those who have the need to serve, have the desire to carry on the fight. The draft is drawing straws and hoping for the best, volunteers are already champions, let them lead the way and stand aside.
Posted by Nukevet at 09:54 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
Good thing they live in Larose
instead of some nanny state like Scotland.
Sort of levels the playing field when it's not just the bad guys with guns, eh?
Posted by Nukevet at 07:52 PM | Comments (1)
Global Warming, My Ass
After exceeding the expectations a son must put forth on Mother's Day, I took some time to do a little recon for shooting locations for a future Blastorama.
And here's the bad news
About 1/2 mile before the two good spots I know of, there is still 8-10 inches of snow. And under that is 2-3 inches of ice. I was able to make it 1/8 mile in before the ice decided that my truck wasn't heading in the proper direction and pointed me towards the trees.
No worries, I was heading uphill, and gravity and momentum got me back to solid ground.
But, we will probably have to wait until June before going to the sticks for some outdoor shooting.
So, here's the plan....
This Saturday, May 15th, we will be meeting at Wade's in Bellevue (map) @ 10am or the IHOP @ 9am.
Next Saturday, May 22nd, we'll be going to Sam's in Everett @ 10am or a nearby restaurant to be disclosed @ 9am.
There is a very good possibility I will also be going to the Renton Fish & Game rifle range on both of the Sundays following those days if anyone would care to join me.
Also, I have placed the order for the final piece needed to complete my Bushmaster. Hopefully, it will arrive before Saturday and be available for shooting by the 15th.
Below, I have a rant about some people I came across while travelling today.
So I'm heading out to 'da mountains'. To get there, you have to travel along a two lane state highway. The speed limits vary from 45 to 55mph. The longest straightaway on this road in probably about 1/4 mile.
One of the things I can't stand about the good weather showing up is the fact that bicyclists come out.
Now, there are good bicyclists and bad bicyclists.
Good bicyclists know that there are two-ton rolling pieces of steel travelling past them at high reates of speed and stay out of the way. They also know which roads have enough room for both them and the vehicles travelling at high rates of speed.
The highway I was travelling is not one of those roads.
Bad bicyclists are ignorant louts who think that they're the only ones who need to get somewhere. They do not think about the road they want to travel on before heading out for their ride, they don't use the available shoulder and they'll sometimes even yell at you for trying to get around them.
Today, I met some very bad bicyclists.
They're were 6 of them. 4 adults and TWO CHILDREN.
They were leisurely travelling, two bikes wide, 1/3 of the way onto the driving lane at approximately 8mph. At no time while I was behind them did they move to the shoulder. There were 15 cars in front of me trying to get around them. When I was finally able to make my pass, there were probably 15 more behind me.
The guy in the lead was the worst.
He's got his plastic and foam bicycle helmet on. It was covered in stickers. Two of them stuck out at me.
"Meat is Murder" and "PeTA"
So now I really giving thought turning this guy into a speedbump.
When I saw it, I was thinking "Dude, meat is a meal, murder is me running your ass over."
And then, as I was passing him, the next to last straw fell.
As I watched the cars in front of me pass him, I could see his head turn and his mouth move. I thought he might have been saying something to the riders behind him, but no.
As I drove by, he yelled "Share The Road, Asshole".
My foot lifted off the gas pedal and went for the brake. Even at 8pmh, hitting the back of my truck would have left him with some bumps. Only having the children with him saved him.
I don't even like sharing oxygen with this guy, and he wants to make my life difficult?
I continued on to the turn off and up to the snowpack. Later, I headed home and did something that would have loved to have done on front of this guy.
Bacon Double Cheeseburger, baybay.
One animal was robbed and two died in order to quench my hunger for death.
I really hope the guy gets hemmoriods.
Posted by Nukevet at 08:44 AM | Comments (7)
The Blame Game
You'll never guess just how damn ignorant the folks over @ the Koc IMS can be.
Go ahead. Think up something truly stupid the might say in regards to the Abu Ghraib situation.
DHinMI:
"Our soldiers at Abu Gharib didn't leash up and humiliate Iraqis because contractors in Fallujah were dangled from a bridge. There may not have been any link between the two events, but if there was, it would be that the bodies of those contractors were defiled and dangled from a bridge because our troops were leashing up and humiliating prisoners in Abu Gharib."
That not stupid enough for you?
How about this from harry_xing:
"Ask not what Iraqis did to you in Fallujah.
Ask what you did to the Iraqis before Fallujah."
Something I would like to ask these guys:
"Ask not why your head is in your ass,
Ask why you feel comfortable in that position."
Posted by Nukevet at 08:29 AM | Comments (0)
Oh yeah! Gimmie some of that Socialized Medicine
Folks on the left (and some truly ignorant in the middle) scream and hollar for Socialized Medicine. They welcome a minimum 9% extra being taken out of their paychecks so that crackheads and those to lazy to go out and get their own damn healthcare can clog the nations emoergency rooms.
And now, from Canada, where the government looooves to 'protect' the subjects, comes a ban on one of the most dangerous items ever to enter the home!
The dreaded "Baby Walker"
Fines of up to $100,000 for owning, selling baby walkers
But why would the government baby walkers banned?
"Canadians must know about the dangers posed to infants through the use of baby walkers," Health Minister Pierre Pettigrew said in a news release, in which he said Canada was the first country to impose such a ban.
A review of Canadian hospital admissions between April 1, 1990, and July 25, 1992, found 436 children under the age of about 18 months had been injured in walkers. Most suffered soft-tissue injuries, concussions, burns or fractures.
And who has to put out the money for all those injuries? Why, the government, of course.
Found @ Curmudgeonly and Skeptical
Who also reminds us that, in Canada, where they like their serfs stupid and sedated, marijuana is legal.
Posted by Nukevet at 08:07 AM | Comments (3)
Yea for me!
Today is my 1 year blogoversary.
I would like to thank the regulars of RNS for stopping by and reading my ill-tempered posts.
In the next year, I think you'll see improvements. I've been going into the way back machine in recents days, and even my uber-critical eye is greatful of the expansions.
I would also like to thank Neal for inviting me into RNS headquarters a year ago and for bringing Mark and Eric in to round out the command center.
PS That pic above is not me. I was never that cute.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:35 AM | Comments (5)
Sigh....
Women may be from Venus, and I'm definitely from Mars, but will we ever agree on TV shows? My lady is watching this show tonight. Now she's a big girl and and likes what she wants, but damn, this show pisses me off just on principle. Maybe it's because I read true tales of survival as a child, maybe because I've had survival training, maybe because I've seen people die in ugly ways. But I have no sense of humor about this.
In real life, a group of people stranded in a harsh enviroment would have a very different agenda than on this show. The goal, literally, is for as many people to make it as possible. The goal isn't to vote which one gets fed to the sharks to make their own chances better. It isn't every man for himself, it's all for one, one for all. If you want to live it is. This show engenders betrayal, dishonesty and selfishness as virtues. My beliefs come maybe from the Rangers who conducted part of my training.
Never leave a man behind.
That means even your dead, you..don't..leave..anyone..behind! I believe in this, and this show insults me on that level. It's pure escapist fare, entertainment. I understand this. But I can't forgive it, or the part of our culture that loves it. My wife gets a pass, I find no malice in her or anyone for liking it,. She knows how I feel about it, and she finds my view amusing and a bit charming. I don't know, but what's the general view on it?
Do any of you guys like it?
Posted by Nukevet at 03:44 AM | Comments (5)
Yeah buddy, I made a promise.
My little girl has been begging for this little treat,....warm and topped with ice cream. I don't do it often, but if you don't spoil them a bit and keep your promises, what lessons does that teach? As I've said before, my first religion is family.
Yeah, I know a disconnect from the heavier stuff of world affairs, but hey,....I don't make policy and you have to play sometimes. So sue me, I'm either deeply complex, or totally insane, depending on your definitions. Irrelevant anyway, I have too much fun being me when the coffee's good.
Posted by Nukevet at 02:41 AM | Comments (3)
Vyvyan, always my favorite
But then we share a fondness for breaking stuff with our heads too. The Young Ones was my fav show for a couple of years, and I still think it's funny. But Vyvyan?.....OH YES,....finally, a character I could identify with., Mike was funny, Neil, in his pathetic Sleprock ode to depression hippyness I laughed with, but always felt sorry for.
The secret pleasure I had was to watch Vyvyan humilate the resident commie, Prick,...I mean Rick. Rick, The People's Poet as he saw himself anyway.
My favorite exchange between them?
Prick, "Vyvyan,....WHERE DID YOU GET THAT HOWITZER?"
Vyvyan,...."Found it."
That and Vyvyan brained him at least twice with a cricket bat. Commies should know their place in the food chain. I still remember Vyvyan's wicked glee when Rick tried to kill himself with a bottle of medicine off the fridge.
Neil, "Vyvyan, is it really possible to kill yourself with laxitive pills?" Vyvyan, "I don't know, but I can't wait to find out?" (quick cut away with graphic sound effects.)
Rick was such an idiot.
Posted by Nukevet at 02:20 AM | Comments (3)
hard lessons
If God forbid, you ever find yourself in a country with the UN telling you that you're safe and under their protection......
Grab your gun, your wife, your kids and head for the fucking hills!
Posted by Nukevet at 01:46 AM | Comments (1)
May 09, 2004
Is the UN trying to put an end to itself?
It sure looks that way. They couldn't be more ham handedly clumsey if they were in the old Soviet Army.
UNITED NATIONS � The office of the senior U.N. official in charge of the scandal-plagued Iraqi oil-for-food (search) program has sent letters to companies involved in the program telling them they should not hand over any documents or information without first clearing it with the United Nations.
Uh huh,........
Nice of Saddam to keep such good records though wasn't it?
George Galloway, a British member of Parliament, was also on the list to receive 19 million barrels of oil, a $9.5 million profit. A vocal critic of the Iraq war, Galloway denied any involvement to ABCNEWS earlier this year.
"I've never seen a bottle of oil, owned one or bought one," Galloway said in a previous interview with ABCNEWS.
According to the document, France was the second-largest beneficiary, with tens of millions of barrels awarded to Patrick Maugein, a close political associate and financial backer of French President Jacques Chirac.
Maugein, individually and through companies connected to him, received contracts for some 36 million barrels. Chirac's office said it was unaware of Maugein's deals, which Maugein told ABCNEWS are perfectly legal.
The single biggest set of contracts were given to the Russian government and Russian political figures, more than 1.3 billion barrels in all � including 92 million barrels to individual officials in the office of President Vladimir Putin.
I guess the looney's were half right, it was about oil,.....oil for them and their friends. All those lovely petro dollars and Swiss bank accounts, you'd think from their rhetoric that they lived in sack cloth and caves. But Hell, Saddam got his palaces, they got their cut and the Iraqi people got starved,......and they blamed it all on the US.
Oh, yeah, if Rumy should resign because a group of soldiers commited illegal acts? Should Annan resign since it seems the UN has gotten involved in the White slave trade? I mean, fair is fair right? The UN as it exists has become a haven for the inept and currupt, minor functionaries from Europe and the third world who view the institution as just another piggy bank for them to steal from.
And some people still worship at that temple.
This UN scandal is a Rosseta Stone, it unlocks the motives behind the scenes of the "compassionate" opposition to the war in Iraq. France, Russia......How principled could their position have been when high government officials were in Saddam's pocket, and how gulible the left to believe everything they said without question?
If the UN survives this, I really doubt we'll want to stay members.
Posted by Nukevet at 05:37 PM | Comments (7)
Four little words
You probably know this already, but The Baron du Toit and family are in Idaho for an event called "The Boomershoot"
While on location, he has been having both high highs (meeting the folks) and some really low lows (accuracy).
To make those lows a little less low, Kim went to the Long Distance Shooting Class yesterday. There, he got to meet some folks who impressed him greatly.
One, a retired Army sniper instructor and the others, students of the instructor.
The students will be heading off to Iraq shortly, and after meeting them, Kim has four short words.
"The Rags Are Fucked"
Kim is also making a request of his readers. I will be doing what I can, please do what you can.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:27 AM | Comments (4)
May 08, 2004
I know it's rhetorical....
What amazes me most about Moore is that he has no respect for his own credibility.
I don't think anyone serious is surprised by such antics from Moore, not really. He isn't a serious minded person, he's selling, feeding the faithful with exactly what they WANT to hear. Bush is EVIL so anything said is true to them, and if it isn't? Well.......it should be dammit, and they'll accept it anyway. Moore doesn't care about his credibility because his fans don't.
Which brings to question, how can you be so stupid and not step out into traffic all the time? I would bet the death by idiotic accident ratio among Moore fans is really, really high. Hairdryer in the tub, running with scissers, drinking draino cause the color is just "soooo cool". That kind of thing. That would be Darwin's law at work.
Did I mention my extreme contempt for Moore and his fans? Ooops,..I'll try to be more clear in the future. Oh,....Mikey?
Posted by Nukevet at 06:54 PM | Comments (2)
perspective, get some.
You know, the usual drum beaters for defeat are very busy these days. They predicted a bloody defeat from the "elite" Iraqi Army, they said that Bagdad would be a slaughterhouse that could never be taken, they said Saddam would rise again. They said all these things, now they say things like this.
U.S. Marines Bide Time in Falluja Quagmire
They usually remind us of how many men we have lost, how many wounded as if that alone would cause us to shrink away from the fight. They hugely underestimate us, completely ignore our history, and apply the wrong lessons from an entirely different time. So here's my take on this, from a time when our back really was against the wall.
The eight Shermans by this time had run out of armor-piercing ammunition and half a dozen panzers tried to close in. A fresh platoon of tank destroyers from the 705th Tank Destroyer Battalion, sent up by Higgins, took a hand and broke up this sortie. In midmorning, when a promised platoon of quad mount antiaircraft failed to appear, Harwick and Hustead learned that the enemy had cut the road to the rear. The two aid stations could handle no more wounded-most of the medics and aid men were casualties-and the enemy grip obviously was tightening. The word relayed through the artillery net back to Bastogne told the story: "All reserves committed. Situation critical."
McAuliffe and Roberts consulted, agreed that the Noville force should withdraw. To free the troops in Noville would take some doing. General Higgins, in charge of the northern sector, already had acted to meet this crisis by sending the 3d Battalion of the 502d Parachute Infantry (assembled near Longchamps) into an attack northeast against the Germans who had descended on the road linking Noville and Foy. The latter village, 2,500 yards south of Noville on the Bastogne road, had been occupied by the 3d Battalion of the 506th, which had its own fight going. Foy lies at the bottom of a pocket and during the night elements of the 304th Panzer Grenadier Regiment had wormed their way onto the hills overlooking the village from north, west, and east. With this vantage the Germans brought their direct fire weapons to bear and forced the 3d Battalion back onto the high ground south of the hamlet.
But by noon the 101st had a solid base for a counterattack. The 2d Battalion of the 506th covered the right flank of the 3d and was in contact with the 501st on the east. The battalion sent from the 502d was in position west of Foy. Beginning the counterattack at 1400, paratroopers pushed back through Foy and dug in some 200 yards to the north where late in the afternoon they met the column fighting its way back from Noville. [5]
If the Battle of the Bulge had been lost, it could have extended the war in Europe for years, with millions more casualties, millions more maimed. It was a very near thing, if not for the valor of the men of the 101st, Patton would not have had time to turn north to crush the German breakthrough. History would have been very different if Bastogne had fallen.
Iraq is a footnote, a single theatre in a world wide war to destroy islamicist terrorism, important, but just a single front. So far if you look past the shrill headlines, this isn't a general uprising, but pockets of resistence in the most hardcore shite and sunni strongholds. The rest of the country, which is the size of California, is pretty quiet. But even in the heart of Falluja, things are not always what they seem.
American commanders were also closely monitoring reports from inside Najaf said that growing anger of residents there against Mr. Sadr and his militiamen, who have sown a pattern of lawlessness since launching an uprising in the city earlier this month, had taken a startling new turn with a shadowy group of assassins killing at least five Sadr militiamen in attacks on Sunday and Monday.
Those reports, from residents of the city who reached relatives in Baghdad by telephone, said the killings had been carried out by a group calling itself the Thulfiqar Army, after a two-bladed sword that Shiite tradition says was used by Imam Ali, the martyred son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammed, the patron saint of Shiism. Accounts of the killings said the new group had distributed leaflets in Najaf threatening to assassinate members of Mr. Sadr's militia, known as the Mahdi Army, unless they left Najaf immediately.
It's a battle in an ongoing struggle, it's not Stalingrad, not Bataan, and frankly I tire of the assumption by many in the press that any resistence instantly translates into disaster. If they knew any history at all, they would know what a real debacle looked like. This ain't it. There are many difference between our past wars and this one, but there is one constant.
When America sees itself in a protracted battle for survival, we will pay what has to be paid for victory. We lost nearly a half a million men in World War II, over 400,000 killed. We haven't yet lost 700 in Iraq. Make no mistake, the heartland of America sees this as exactly the same kind of war, more shadowy, less massed field armies, a continuing series of small conflicts spread out across the globe, striking the enemy where ever he can be found, fixed in place, and exterminated. That's how we fight, how we make war when our enemy doesn't want our defeat, but the blood of our children.
Some will wilt from the task, some always do. But the pulse of America is still fiercely strong, still hot with the blood of our murdered peoples. We understood in WWII that setbacks and even defeats will happen, we knew then that strength of will would see us through. We haven't even suffered any defeats in this war yet, we've lost surprisingly few of our cherished sons and daughters. Yet the drums keep beating for us to fall back, turn away, run home and to make peace with creatures like this.
Not in this lifetime, we'll bury them first. Because this war could indeed be over soon, if we were the beasts they accuse us of being. We have the power to turn cities to fused glass, we could flatten their towns with clouds of iron and steel, we could kill literally all of them if we so desired. But we haven't.
There is a distinct choice in this war, you can be on the side of America, be our friend, or merely stay out of it, not interfering.
Or,
You can make this choice.
If you do, then be prapared to be bitter, because we aren't going to curl up and die for you. If you think we will, it's your funeral, because we will win in the end.
We always do.
Posted by Nukevet at 06:06 PM | Comments (0)
Friends of Jim McDermott
In the wake of the Iraqi Prisoner Abuse Investigation (that has been going on since November of 2003) the United States House of Representatives passed this resolution
H.RES.628
Title: Providing for consideration of the resolution (H. Res. 627) deploring the abuse of persons in United States custody in Iraq, regardless of the circumstances of their detention, urging the Secretary of the Army to bring to swift justice any member of the Armed Forces who has violated the Uniform Code of Military Justice, expressing the deep appreciation of the Nation to the courageous and honorable members of the Armed Forces who have selflessly served, or are currently serving, in Operation Iraqi Freedom, and for other purposes.
So, to recap, the resolution;
1. Condems the soldiers who cimmited the acts.
2. Urges swift justice and court martials for the commiters.
3. Praises the good soldiers who have sacrificed to serve honorably.
Sounds good, right?
Well, apparently not good enough for the Dems in the HoR.
You see, NOT A SINGLE DAMN ONE OF THEM COULD BRING THEMSELVES TO VOTE FOR IT!
The resolution did pass. With every single Republican and an Indie or two casting the winning votes.
I knew that McDermott was a turd, but now it looks as if we have even more positive proof that the entire left wing of the HoR is a sack of sh*t.
Found @ Insignificant Thoughts.
I also gratutitously borrowed the 1,2,3 countdown. Purely because it would have been impossible to create an original one of my own that was better.
Posted by Nukevet at 06:41 AM | Comments (2)
The Liberal Bill of Rights
This is probably a repost of repost, but I have literally no doubt that this is what the Bill of Rights would look like if the ACLU and others on the left were to gain more than another foothold in federal government.
A few selections that would pertain to most of the folks who visit RNS.
Amendment II
A National Guard and public Law Enforcement Agencies, to be established at a yet-to-be-determined time within the next two centuries, being necessary to the security of a police state, the right of certain government employees to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
Amendment V
Economic concerns shall be subjugated to environmental concerns, the validity of which shall be determined by emotional and spiritual divinations, rather than scientific endeavor.
Amendment X
The powers not explicitly delegated to the Federal Government by the constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are assumed to be delegated to the Federal Government anyway.
Amendment XIII
Citizens have the right to pay large portions of their income to provide for the medical care of complete strangers, medical professionals shall undergo years of difficult and intense training in order to have the right to have their work offered to anyone at a price determined by the State, and patients shall have the right to have substandard healthcare rationed out to them at the State's whim.
And don't forget Kerry's favorite amendment....
Amendment XI
In order to avoid the appearance of "arrogance", and as the concept of the people deciding their own fate reeks of provincial tribalism, the national interests of the country shall not be decided by its elected representatives, but rather by an organization of unelected representatives of foreign nations.
Found @ Drumwaster's
Posted by Nukevet at 06:25 AM | Comments (0)
I never quite thought of it like that
Raging Dave from Four Right Wing Wackos is offering some advice to the Dems.
As much as they would like to think they're intelligent, they'll never listen to him.
Thankfully.
Hey Democrats - if I were you, I would tie Lieberman up and dump him in a closet until after election day. Because every time he opens his mouth, he highlights just what a failure John Fonda Kerry is. Seriously. Every time Lieberman speaks in public, it's a reminder of just how badly the Democratic Party fucked up when they dumped Liberman on his ass and chose Hanoi John as their candidate. With every word, Lieberman highlights the type of class and character that Kerry completely lacks. But since you've gone with the Flipper, it's your funeral.
Enjoy another four years of obscurity.
Posted by Nukevet at 06:16 AM | Comments (0)
Birds of a Feather
Flock together.
I'm sure that by now you have heard of Brandon Mayfield. He's the Portland, Oregon attourney whose finger prints were found on a bag of detonators connected to the Madrid train bombings.
Guess who his lawyer is.
One Tom Nelson.
And why should you know of Tom Nelson?
Because he's the sole founder of "American's United for Palestinian Human Rights"
I guess I should have named the title of this post "Turds on Our Feathers" (re. the feathers of our national symbol, the Bald Eagle).
Found @ Judicious Asininity
Posted by Nukevet at 06:12 AM | Comments (0)
A Good Idea Out Of Palestine
Palestinian Imam Prays For Arafat's Martyrdom
"Regarding the threats of this Nazi mass murderer [Sharon] against President Arafat, we hereby tell him: We are not like you, because we do not desire life. If you threaten to kill President Arafat, we will pray to Allah: 'Grant the President shahada (martyrdom) for you,' Madiras said. "Yes, we do not pray - like other preachers pray - for longevity for the rulers; here in Palestine we pray: 'Lord, grant the President shahada for you.'"
Alrighty Sharon, you know what to do.
Found @ Dr. Horsefeathers
Posted by Nukevet at 06:03 AM | Comments (1)
And another thing...
I am noticing another inconsistency in the folks demanding the resignation of Rumsfeld.
The same people asking for the resignation of Rumsfeld are the same ones who voted against the 'resignation' of Hussein.
And some of them still refuse to demand that Castro and Arafat resign.
What a bunch of losers.
And the name is 'Rumsfeld' losers, not 'Rumsfield'.
Also, they are the same folks who want our US Marines to leave al-Sadr alone.
Al-Sadr, who is wanted for killing a moderate Muslin cleric for speaking out against him.
Al-Sadr, who made HIS BROTHER DIG HIS OWN GRAVE before killing him.
You folks have NO moral high ground to stand on.
Posted by Nukevet at 02:18 AM | Comments (0)
May 07, 2004
If we all thought like John Effing Kerry
Dear Diary:
Woke up this morning, next to the wife, as usual. She's not much to look at, but damn is she rich.
After an invigorating shower, I cut myself shaving. I recommended myself for a purple heart. Also, scheduled a press conference to decry the war crimes committed by the razor manufacturers.
Heard the dogs barking in the front yard. Took a peek out the window, and saw what appeared to be a snake surrounded by my faithful pets. Closer examination with binoculars from an upstairs window proved that, in fact, the snake was just a stick. I ran screaming from the house, garden hoe in hand to vanquish the stick, just in case it really WAS a snake, pretending to be a stick. After I chopped the stick into bits, the dogs played with the pieces. I recommended myself for a silver star, and reported my dogs for crimes against humanity.
Time to go to work - got into the family's SUV. It was REALLY foggy out, and really dangerous. I took my life into my own hands, and bravely proceeded to drive myself to work. At one point, I spilled some coffee from my travel mug into my lap. It really burned - I recommended myself for another purple heart, and scheduled a news conference to decry the evils of the hot beverage industry. Of course, I need to be sure that everyone understands that I bear none of the responsibility for the spilled coffee. I don't spill coffee, the travel mug was a defective son of a bitch.
Got to work safely. Recommended myself for the congressional medal of honor for exceptional bravery under dangerous conditions. It was REALLY foggy, and REALLY scary, but I drove myself to work anyways. I think I ran a few people in smaller cars off of the road, but it couldn't be helped. They should have driven THEIR family's SUVs to work. One of the people I ran off of the road was making some kind of derogatory gesture towards me - I really didn't recognize it, as it didn't seem to be a gesture the French use to display their displeasure. Ah, well, she's probably just a bitter alcoholic that's upset because she doesn't drive an SUV. Er, her family's SUV.
Got to the office. Cut my finger with the letter opener while reading the morning mail. Recommended myself for another purple heart. I really need to find a way to promote myself better. It's obvious people don't understand how dangerous it is being me.
Note to self: Remember to keep changing your opinion on everything and, whenever possible, give contradictory answers to the same question. Gotta keep that nuance mojo going.
Posted by Nukevet at 06:38 PM | Comments (3)
pickiing your enemies, or, Let's have a food fight!
Ak's little heads up lead me to a blog with this little link to Noam (widely reported to be braindead) Chomsky. Ohhh, the horror,....A Chomsky resource, which led to this little back and forth.
BENNETT: It there any nation that acknowledges its errors
and its sins and its crimes and the things it has done that
are not consistent with its principles more than the United
States? No, there is not.
This is also the man, just let it be said for the record,
who said that the reports of atrocities by the Khmer Rouge
were grossly exaggerated. This is the man who said when we
engaged the Soviet Union that we...
CHOMSKY: No, it's not. But that is...
BENNETT: I didn't interrupt you -- that we were continuing
the Nazi effort against Russia. Go through the Chomsky work,
line by line, argument by argument, and you will see this is
a man who has made a career out of hating America and out of
trashing the record of this country. Of course, there is a
mixed record in this country, why do you choose to live in
this terrorist nation, Mr. Chomsky?
CHOMSKY: I don't. I choose to live in what I think is the
greatest country in the world, which is committing
horrendous terrorist acts and should stop.
Oh yes, that Noam Chomsky. Mr. but I can explain, himself. The man's a dunce, his tortured, skewed views of history and his rabid anti-anything American stance hasn't made him famous nearly as much as infamous. He was on the wrong side in the cold war, and for that he deserves contempt, mine especially.
So if anybody over at BlogAmy finds that extreme, then you really need to get out more. Chomsky's pretty well shunned by democrats as well. Rules of engagement--------there aren't any.
En Garde.
Posted by Nukevet at 04:12 PM | Comments (0)
Plagarism
In the industry I work in, like every other industry, we get periodicals.
Here is this months Waste Age cover.
Remind you of anything?
Posted by Nukevet at 09:25 AM | Comments (1)
Sorry Puggs
But if you believe that this picture is genuine....
You've been duped.
Well, thank god for perfect opportunities...or is that "thank Rove"? Or, whoever is making sure no protestors are within earshot, and that everyone is in their right places on the stage that is all of George Bush's micro-managed, Hollywood stage crafted, public appearances.
Call me cynical, call me a skeptic go ahead I don't care. If the man gave such a damn, why did he continue to make his way to the elementary school after he knew something was going on? Why did he continue to read about goats while so many were dying or about to die in the WTC attacks? Don't give me that bull about not wanting to scare the children. That's bullshit! You say, "kids, the President has to leave us a little earlier than expected. It's important business". Better yet, he should have never shown up and cancelled as soon as it was clear to him that something out of the ordinary was going on in New York (at 8:48 a.m. when he was asked if he was aware of what was going on, before arriving at the school). I'm sure that everyone would have understood. So, it's a crock of hot steaming smelly shit and I'm not buying it.
I've seen one too many staged photo-ops for "Dear Leader", so why should I believe this is any different? I've heard 9/11 invoked one too many times on their behalf, being referenced to manipulate opinion for their own ends. Call me what you want, I don't find this man genuine. I find him to be a lot of things, but in this case, genuine is not the description I would use.
But be careful going over there, Mark.
She'll delete the links you include to help your point, call you close minded if you don't think that the stories about Saddam's atrocities could have been made up and whine and seeth that the Israelis are just as guilty as the 'palestinians' for the violence in Israel.
But it is funny all the same.
FYI: My 1 year blogoversary is right around the corner. In that time, here at RNS, I have come across some of the most vile, disgusting and ignorant trolls to ever slime their way through the blogosphere. I have yet to ban or erase anything said in response to my posts.
As we do try to run a family blog, I will admit that I have changed two very profane comments to resemble something rather comical. But that is the extent of my fiddling with the speech of others.
If only everyone else would follow the same rules.
UPDATE: I've been banned at BlogAmy.
Next, China.
I'll admit, I called her rude for pre-judgeing Bush in the process of trying to start up a conversation with someone at her place.
Oh well.
Also, for David, I wasn't trying to imply that either of you had trolled RNS in the past. I was merely stating that when I tried to make an argument at your place, I was called a troll and my links were erased. Something I have never done.
It's called context, sonny. Try reading the whole paragraph.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:51 AM | Comments (10)
Let's be consistent here
And now come the cries from the left for Rumsfeld's head on a plate (or at least his Cabinet seat open for reassignment).
Why are they settling for just Rumsfeld? Why not fire the entire JCOS?
For reasons of consistency, I have a few requests for them to follow in the future.
I would also ask that they demand The resignation of Phil Jackson (head coach for the Lakers) if Kobe Bryant is found guilty of rape.
Also, the firing of every mayor and police chief, in every city in which there are racial profiling and police brutality charges filed.
And oh, just one more...
If a public school teacher is found to have abused/beaten/slept with/degraded a child, I want the principal, vice principals and counsellors of that school fired along with the the school district superintendant and his entire staff.
Let's be consistent here.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:27 AM | Comments (10)
Enoungh about us, what do they think
We've heard all about what people here in America think, on both the left and the right, think about the things that went on in the prison in Iraq.
We've even heard the pundits talk about what they think the people of Iraq and other Arab and Persian nations think about them.
But what are the people actually saying?
Things like this...
I can say that at least some Iraqis seemed to have understood the situation and were satisfied with the reaction of the American officials and their promises that the offenders will be punished. While a wide segment of Iraqis seemed indifferent with the issue and only showed their disapproval when they are asked about it, but rarely with what one can call an angry tone, and I�m talking about my personal experience here, as I tried to ask the largest number of people about their feelings before I write about it.
Here I would like to provide a conversation I had with some friends whom I haven�t seen for a long time and met just yesterday. After a few words of greetings that friends usually exchange after not seeing each other for a long time, the conversation turned towards the current situation in Iraq, and as the prisoners abuse issue is the hottest topic nowadays, I started my attempts to discover their points of view about it. They were all upset but they showed satisfaction with the fast and firm reaction of the coalition higher officials and were also impressed by the honesty of the American soldier who reported the abuse and uncovered tha awful behavior of those criminals but at the same time they said that they�re looking forward to �see the offenders get some real punishment, not just directing few harsh words. A sentence for 3 or 4 years in prison will be convenient�. Others showed more understanding to the American law system.
From Omar in Iraq @ The Iraqi Model
Posted by Nukevet at 07:14 AM | Comments (0)
This one touchs me
my immortal
i'm so tired of being here
suppressed by all of my childish fears
and if you have to leave
i wish that you would just leave
because your presence still lingers here
and it won't leave me alone
these wounds won't seem to heal
this pain is just too real
there's just too much that time cannot erase
when you cried i'd wipe away all of your tears
when you'd scream i'd fight away all of your fears
and i've held your hand through all of these years
but you still have all of me
you used to captivate me
by your resonating light
but now i'm bound by the life you left behind
your face it haunts my once pleasant dreams
your voice it chased away all the sanity in me
these wounds won't seem to heal
this pain is just too real
there's just too much that time cannot erase
when you cried i'd wipe away all of your tears
when you'd scream i'd fight away all of your fears
and i've held your hand through all of these years
but you still have all of me
i've tried so hard to tell myself that you're gone
and though you're still with me
i've been alone all along
The frightened lonely child that forever lingers in the quiet shadows of our thoughts, never all that far away, never allowing us to fully forget. Even when you wish you could forget. If a man is the some total of his experiences as some say, maybe asking that child to come out for a quiet time of reflection will bring some measure of peace to your dreams. I used to like dreams, maybe someday,.... I will again. My life is far and away much lighter than it was, small hands, dark eyes brought me here. But ghosts live in memories and they are never completely silent. Things that were, things that could have been, and so many partings.
I find songs from time to time that help to smooth the rougher edges, this is one such song.
Posted by Nukevet at 06:15 AM | Comments (0)
humanity, and the heart of a father.
If you never read anything else that gives you the key to what's inside a man's soul, look at this. Not a photo op by a politician, not a press photograher, but a moment of a father's compassion and a young girls tears. This man may not possess the acting skills or polish of his opponents, but he has something better. Look, really look if you doubt his humanity, if you believe it was all about oil or that Bush could have stopped this but just let it happen. Look deep inside the heart of a father, and feel ashamed of yourself. Ashamed that you deny the humanity of man, merely for your own amusement.
A nonscripted moment, like many that happen, the difference this time is that you come away KNOWING in your heart that he really does care, deeply. Disagree with his discisions, dislike his policies, vote for whomever you like, but do not dare to tell me that this man is some kind of monster. I'm not listening to you if you do, on anything. An inkblot test, if you can look at this image and not see, not feel, then it's highly possible that you lack sufficient humanity yourself to even recognize it when it stares you in the face. It shines, glows like the sun breaking through the waning storm. It's what separates us from the baser demons within us all. The light that banishs the dark.
This isn't asking you to love the man, what I'm asking for is far easier. Look past the hype of politics and see a man, like other men. Not a tyrant, not a would be king, but a man.
Posted by Nukevet at 03:24 AM | Comments (0)
chapter and verse
We had a Civil War once, the bloodiest one in our history. Some seem Hell bent on driving us to a second one. I found this post via Cox & Forkum, and frankly, FrontPage paints a depressing picture. The hardest edge of the left has lost it's collective marbles. I don't think that mere partisan politics can explain this away, we're talking vile, disgusting, blood dripping hatred of not just the right, but of all of America. A kind of lunatic fringe fifth column that really, really dreams of a day when our cities fall and our people lie dead or humiliated. Our Constitution allows for freedom of speech, but when a small percentage of the population actually craves only our destruction, how do you deal with that?
On a personal level, I know the answer. When you meet a freak like this in person, and they spout their venom, it's (in your face you freak) time. The lunatic on the street has one advantage in most situations, nobody will generally challenge them, people just tune them out, or ignore them. Maybe some are afraid, or just don't want to fuss with arguing with a retard. But not me, not any more. Some idiot passes by to offer some Holy enlightenment from the land of the Toe Suckers for Marx, he's gonna get a retort. He's gonna get what he rarely does, challenged to defend his words. Back it up, and don't bother quoting Rall, or Chomsky, don't even mention some obscure website and expect that will suffice. Nope, you have to name the names of real witnesses, real reports, real places. The Rall's of the world say boo, and we're supposed to genuflect and bow away because they said the magic Indy talking points of the day.
Fuck em, they want an arguement with a bear, they can have one. Just make sure you don't wet your pants when I look you in the eye. Less you wanna get grabbed by the feet and used like a mop.
Posted by Nukevet at 01:24 AM | Comments (5)
May 06, 2004
I really hate this, but stuff happens.
I ended up getting a down day from work today, because........A frikkin pipe burst under the house, and yours truely just spent the day ripping up a floor in the laundry room to get to it. Floor's back in place, pipe fixed, but this home is an old farmhouse, and I've had to fix three different problems in three weeks. I love this house, more because it's ours than any other reason. But old old homes have character, not all of it good. The studs in the walls are cherry, well over a century old, and as hard as steel. I have to predrill all nail holes, and 18 inchs apart? I wish, they average about five feet apart, though they are not 2×4's. Nothing is standard and the current studs are rough hewn 4×5's. This house has strong bones, but really, sometimes it would be nice to be able to buy stock off the shelf items and not have to custom fit everything.
The trials and trebulations of home ownership. Being your own landlord means having to get it done, often by yourself, because much as I'd like to, plumbing contracters are just too great an expense right now. I'm a good backyard carpenter, able to do most all electrical and plumbing so I'm luckier than a lot of people. I know how, it's just, well, it's hard for me to do with my arthritis and it gets tougher every year. I just need to hang on for a few more years, then I'll be able to teach my sons, and while I'm not into child labor,....I will pass on to them what I've learned. Family comes first, second, and always. They wouldn't be doing all the work, we will be doing it together, father and sons. That relief however is years away, so in the mean time, I'll just bite it down and get it done.
Still, I have to admit, the thought of unleashing the sons of Puggs on the world makes me smile.
Posted by Nukevet at 10:51 PM | Comments (2)
The Peanut Gallery
A couple days back I was reading a post over at Samizdata about a letter signed by 52 'diplomats' (affectionately known as "The Camel Corps") that was sent to Tony Blair, scorning him for his Iraq policies.
Here is a snippet of Telegraph UK reporter, Robin Renwick's, opinion of these 'diplomats'.
Many of the signatories were former Arabists in the Foreign Office, affectionately known as the Camel Corps. Some members of the Corps have shown a tendency over the years to develop a quite passionate attachment to the Arab world that, unfortunately, has not always been reciprocated by the Arabs. They have tended to concentrate on the crimes of the Israelis, rather than those of the Palestinians.
Yesterday, I was circling the bowl of leftie blogs and found that 50 reitired US 'diplomats' have decided to follow the lead of the Brits. With the same amount of apathy towards common sense.
About 50 retired US diplomats have written to President George W Bush to criticise current American policy towards the Middle East.
The former US envoys complain that Mr Bush's approach is losing the US "credibility, prestige and friends".
They are critical of what they say is Washington's unabashed support for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
Thankfully, Pat @ Judicious Asininity decided to take a look into the list of 'diplomats'.
The lead signatory is Andrew I. Killgore, Ambassador to Qatar, 1977-1980. Joel Mobray, writing in Frontpage Magazine, reports that Killgore is the co-founder and publisher of Washington Report on Middle East Affairs and rabidly anti-Israel. His website includes such items as a running count of US tax dollars sent to Israel, but not other Middle Eastern states and a scorecard of civilians killed in the second Intifada. In Killgore's mind, a Palestinian terrorist counts as a civilian, and taking out a terrorist master-mind is an "extra-judicial assassination".
The letter and a full list of signatories is here. Give 'em a Google.
Or just read on at Judicious Asininity.
If this group of peanuts is all the left has left to wave around in their mopral equivalency moras, they're screwed.
(I am calling them 'peanuts' because a good number of them, like Kilgore above, are Carter appointees)
Posted by Nukevet at 08:47 AM | Comments (0)
He's not just evil, he's deeply disturbed.
Rall's preformance on The O'Reilly Factor,
TED RALL, POLITICAL CARTOONIST: Well, it's not about being disrespectful to Mr. Tillman or his family. It's about making the broader point about the fact that the people who volunteered to go fight in Iraq and Afghanistan were used, were misled, and possibly even had ill intent in going over there to fight.
O'REILLY: But your strip here mentions Tillman specifically, and uses the words idiot, sap. You have a question mark on it. But I mean, for a guy who died fighting for his country, you don't think you crossed an ethical line here?
RALL: Well, I don't think honestly, I think it's a horrible tragedy that people have died in Afghanistan and Iraq, but it's a lie to say that they've died for their country. I have been to Afghanistan, and there's no way you could confuse that with the Texas-Mexico border. You are not defending your country when you fight in Afghanistan.
The central theme of Rall's arguement's when you look often enough, is utter nonsense. I don't mean he's simply full of shit, (right up to the cone shaped tip of his head), but that he can say stuff like this,
O'REILLY: Yes. And Usama bin Laden admits that he was the guy behind it.
RALL: Well, that's not true either.
O'REILLY: Yes, it is.
RALL: I mean, I don't doubt that it's true. But if people spin that on this network and elsewhere that that, you know, video proves that he admits it. It's not true at all. It's like if I tell you I'm going to rob a bank tomorrow, it doesn't mean that you robbed the bank.
He plays defense lawyer for Bin Laden? Is there anybody, I mean freaking anybody who is not a foaming at the mouth far left looney that buys this horseshit? He wants to give Bin Laden the benefit of the doubt, yet says this about his own government?
RALL: I didn't say it was Usama bin Laden didn't do it. I don't know who did it. The administration has yet to present the white paper that Colin Powell promised in the days after 9/11 to prove to the American people who was responsible and what we know. The American people still have a lot of questions about Sept. 11
You know he had to put in the insinuation that our government is hiding who really did 9/11. Just bleeping had too. Course the implication he makes is clear, Arabs, middle east are innocent pawns.....US, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad,.....Rall's claim to be a good liberal democrat should make real democrats shake with rage. This ass pirate claims he's one of you. His proof of everything he says?
O'REILLY: Well, Ted, look, you know more than everybody else. And when you get your proof, you bring it right back here. But I'll tell you what...
RALL: I'll send you my book.
Well fuck me, how can you dispute facts like that?, he got out his crayon and scribbled down his wacked theories, pet hatreds and universal disdain for the west and capitalism in general and that constitutes his proof?
Personally, I'm coming rapidly to the side that says he gets a woody from being hated, he just loves all that nasty attention. He may not even believe all the bullshit he shovels, worse yet, maybe none of it. It's the whining cry of a rabid attention whore. But you know, he may just have pushed the edge a little bit too far this time. He bashs Bush, he gets an instant audience from the hate Bush more than Satan himself crowd, but bash Tillman?...........
Just look into these eyes and tell me something.
Is there anyone home?
Posted by Nukevet at 08:02 AM | Comments (3)
I wonder what they might be wanting to hide?
Found @ The Poor Schmuck's Place
U.N. bigs 'seal' the oil deals
The United Nations yesterday threw up a stone wall in the oil-for-food scandal, insisting that contracts between the world body and private companies should not be turned over to investigators.
I might be able to respect some of the more clear thinking members of the left if they would worry about the biggest monetary scandal in the history of the world as much as they do about Cheney's Energy Conference or Bush's testimony to the September 11th committee.
But alas, they don't/won't/can't.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:31 AM | Comments (0)
A bunch of hot air about gas
Craig @ MT Politics found this little bit of agenda...
For financially pressed consumers, it's coming down to a choice between spending on gasoline or groceries, and gasoline is winning, a food industry analysis finds.
That is the opening line of an AP story about some info from the Food Marketing Institute.
And since it was from the AP, I'll bet you'll never guess that it is total and utter bullsh*t.
Here is the AP's "Clarification". Not a "Retraction" or a "Correction", but a clarification.
The institute said it had no evidence that consumers were choosing to spend less for food in order to pay for gasoline.
I think it is pretty clear that both of these groups are full of horsehockey.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:11 AM | Comments (0)
They call him Blubber, Blubber,
Ass wider than the skyyyyyy...
Have you ever heard the sound of a wounded elephant?
It sounds something like this...
Yesterday I was told that Disney, the studio that owns Miramax, has officially decided to prohibit our producer, Miramax, from distributing my new film, "Fahrenheit 9/11." The reason? According to today's (May 5) New York Times, it might "endanger" millions of dollars of tax breaks Disney receives from the state of Florida because the film will "anger" the Governor of Florida, Jeb Bush.
The link above was found @ Sondra K's 'Knowledge is Power' Blog.
And so was this...
Mel Gibson didn't whine about freedom of speech when he couldn't get anybody to back, produce, or distribute his movie ... he was so committed to the project that he found other ways that didn't directly involve the traditional Hollywood System.
Michael Moore, on the other hand, relies on it.
by Black Hawk
Now go here and take this poll
Disney is blocking its Miramax Films division from distributing Michael Moore's film "Fahrenheit 911," which criticizes President Bush's handling of 9/11. Should this film be released?
You know what to do.
Posted by Nukevet at 06:57 AM | Comments (1)
Hookers In Training
And no, I'm not talking about the political youth group...
Germany is introducing a new workplace regulation, which insists that businesses must take on at least one trainee/apprentice for every fifteen workers they employ.
An excellent initiative to get young people learning a trade, you might think
But as with all government interventions over the marketplace, there are unintended consequences.
For Germany recently legalized brothels. And, like other businesses, they too are covered by the new law. So for every 15 girls employed, another must be enticed into the trade as an apprentice.
A rather odd result � which just shows what a tangle politicians get into when they start telling businesses how to run themselves.
How truly sad.
Found @ Samizdata
Posted by Nukevet at 06:49 AM | Comments (0)
May 05, 2004
Speaking of lying
Posted by Nukevet at 10:32 PM | Comments (0)
All I know
is that I hate these guys just as much as they hate the US. I only wish there was some way for me to make a profit from my hatred like they do.
UPDATE:
And the Ratboy just keeps piling it on. An Army of Scum
UPDATE II:
OK, look at the photo of Micah Wright above. Can anyone honestly look at that soft, unkempt body and actually believe that he was ever in the special forces? I mean sure, people go to seed as they age. But most of the special forces guys I know in civilian life still demonstrate all of the discipline and control that they had to have to get into that branch of the service in the first place. Micah doesn't look like he's got the discipline to pass an open box of donuts without eating 2 or 3, much less survive the hardships of Ranger training. The only reason his story got any traction at all is because the anti-war, anti-US crowd wanted it to be true.
Still no word on whether or not Al Franken plans on naming his next book "Lies and the lying liars who tell them: a fair and balanced look at the left". He should have time to start working on this soon, once his gig with Air America is up.
UPDATE III
Posted by Nukevet at 10:10 PM | Comments (4)
Moral equivalence at it's extreme
Wow. Ted Rall's latest defense actually compares Tillman to a suicide bomber. Rachel Corrie dies defending terrorists - and she's canonized. Pat Tillman dies protecting assholes like Moore and Rall and Wright, and they can't wait to piss on his grave.
Tell me again about the "compassionate" left?
From Ted's own little illusion of victimhood:
My cartoon is a reaction to the extraordinary lionizing of Mr. Tillman as a national hero. First of all, the media's decision to genuflect to a cult of death is terrifyingly similar to the cult of Palestinian suicide bombers in the Middle East and the glorious coverage given by the Japanese during World War II to fallen kamikaze fighters. Nowhere has this excessive praise for the act of voluntary death been more extreme than in Mr. Tillman's case.
For an act of voluntary death? Tillman went back to protect his troops that were under fire, and died trying to bring everyone home. Suicide bombers strap on explosive vests and go down to the market to blow up women and children. You know, guys who think to themselves "The Jewess is pregnant? Bonus! I'll get 2 for the price of one!", just before they press the detonator. (note - I changed the wording of this to clarify what I meant. 1 reader was upset that I apparently advocating the murder of pregnant women)
This kind of moral equivalence is sickening. If I read one more whine about censorship from fatass Moore or ratboy Rall, I think my head will explode. Tillman died so they can produce their kind of drivel and reap millions in profits while railing against the evils of capitalism. And morons like Harmonia just keep eating it up.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:01 PM | Comments (0)
Well, I guess after all of those years
of being called "baby killers", what else is one to do besides become a bitter alcoholic?
And Kerry continues to unravel - but he continues to get a free pass, because he's not Bush. Can you imagine if even 1 person who served in the guard with Bush came forward to denounce him? The press would be all over it like white on rice. But when 200 Viet Nam vets who served with/knew Kerry come forward to denounce his leadership qualifications, the media dismisses it as a partisan attack.
Posted by Nukevet at 06:15 PM | Comments (0)
Playing the system
Letson says he remembers his brief encounter with Kerry 35 years ago because "some of his crewmen related that Lt. Kerry had told them that he would be the next JFK from Massachusetts." Letson says that last year,
It probably is.
What I saw was a small piece of metal sticking very superficially in the skin of Kerry's arm. The metal fragment measured about 1 cm. in length and was about 2 or 3 mm in diameter. It certainly did not look like a round from a rifle.
I simply removed the piece of metal by lifting it out of the skin with forceps. I doubt that it penetrated more than 3 or 4 mm. It did not require probing to find it, did not require any anesthesia to remove it, and did not require any sutures to close the wound.
The wound was covered with a bandaid.
I know the rules were loose in Vietnam regarding Purple Hearts. I would also be greatly interested in knowing something more about the other two he recieved, what were the circumstances of those? If he earned them, fine, no quarrel. But come on, I got hurt a lot worse than that on several occasions in peacetime. I'm loosing the sight in my right eye over one of them as I get older, so maybe I'm a bit too unsympathetic about this. If the other awards were as dubious, then what it looks like to me is pretty mercenary.
He volunteered to go there, did the least required, milked the system and opted out as soon as possible. Ticket punched, gimme the goodies. Leaving his crew behind in a cloud of dust, to continue to fight so he he could badmouth them as rapists and war criminals. He played the game, that may be technically legal, but it has the morality of a whore.
It raises another issue as well, was he indeed bragging about a political career even then? Didn't Clinton make similar statements in his letter to avoid the draft? Something about "political viability"? Do liberals always plan to fuck us over from birth or do they learn that in spoiled rich kid school?
Drudge.
Posted by Nukevet at 04:16 PM | Comments (1)
The truth is only the truth if it meets their criteria
What is it about the left that they just can't find happiness in good news?
Last year, we saw unprecedented collaboration between the United States and foreign partners to defeat terrorism. We also saw the lowest number of international terrorist attacks since 1969, and that's a 34-year low.
There were 190 acts of international terrorism in 2003. That's a slight decrease from 198 attacks that occurred the previous year, and a drop of 45 percent from the 2001 level of 346 attacks.
So are we winning the war on terror? Not really. For one thing, these statistics exclude most attacks on US forces in Afghanistan and Iraq on the grounds that blowing up soldiers isn't really terrorism. There's a certain logic to that, though it's at odds with the conventional understanding of the attack on the USS Cole and the Beirut barracks bombing as well as deeply at odds with the administration's account of what we're doing in Iraq. If you add those in, terrorism was up in 2003 from it's 2002 status. Even if you don't want to consider those attacks terrorism, the best you can say is that we're distracting would-be terrorists by giving them the opportunity to kill soldiers rather than civilians.
What the hell is wrong with this guy?
When you are not engaged in direct hostilities with a group, and you are sitting at a base or port of a country with whom you are not engaged in hostilites, and you are attacked by a civilian force, that is terrorism.
When you are in a direct military action against terrorists, you do not count each attack by the enemy on military personel as a terroroist act. Otherwise, each potshot taken at our armed men and women and every firefight could be considered a terrorist act.
It is just that easy.
Which leads to the complete idiocy of his last sentence.
Would he actually prefer that unarmed civilians, including children and the elderly be the ones going head to head with terrorists?
I think that every member of the military (at least the ones who aren't like Paul Rieckhoff) would rather they be the ones facing the Islamofascists and the Baathists, rather the their families back home.
His next statement makes me wonder how he can even type with so few brain cells.
As last year's report noted, moreover, the main cause of the 2001-2002 decline was "the sharp drop in oil pipeline bombings in Colombia" along with a diplomatic initiative in Sri Lanka. These are both welcome developments, but hardly the sort of thing people have in mind when discussing progress in the war on terrorism. Meanwhile, as Michael Ignatieff writes in The New York Times Magazine, Islamist terror seems to have "metastasized into a cancer of independent terrorist cells that, while claiming inspiration from Al Qaeda, no longer require its direction, finance or advice." Needless to say, the Bush administration seems to think the threat has abated sufficiently that we can afford to spend more money on a non-functional ballistic missile shield than on, say, securing ports against terrorist attacks.
Oh no! Someone is actually admitting that we have made progress in breaking up al-Qiada!
When you do not have the large amounts of cash, the easily found resources, such as guns and explosives, and the network to train individuals in, say, the niques needed to take over a commercial airliner, I would hazard to say that that could be considered a victory.
And where is the evidence that the Bush Admin thinks the threat has abated?
If I remember right, Bush had been talking about a missle defense system before Sept 11th. Why should he quit now?
This is America pal, not Canada. We CAN do both.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:49 AM | Comments (1)
The Mouse smells a turd
After seeing the last load of BS from Michael "I support the terrorists" Moore, Disney Corp is trying to keep his newest roadapple at arms length.
The Walt Disney Company is blocking its Miramax division from distributing a new documentary by Michael Moore that harshly criticizes President Bush, executives at both Disney and Miramax said Tuesday.
The film, "Fahrenheit 911," links Mr. Bush and prominent Saudis � including the family of Osama bin Laden � and criticizes Mr. Bush's actions before and after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
I can see it now, the board sees the first draft, notices that it is a load of crap and runs, shreiking from the screening room.
Moore has some sort of dark magic power to make staged situations, half-truths, myths, urban legends and outright lies look enough like reality that people who want to believe it, do so.
I think it gets transmitted out of the stubble on his face.
Found @ Right Thoughts
Posted by Nukevet at 07:19 AM | Comments (2)
Kaa-Blewey
'Ol Dogtulosba is having way too much fun at Fort Leonard Wood, turning small holes in the ground into large ones.
And if it wasn't for him being separated from his wife for an extended period of time, I'd call him a lucky bastard!
While you're at Dog's Place, read his account of the ENFORCE Conference.
A snippet
Because I was the yougest officer in attendance, I had the great honor of being seated at one of the Head Tables. By the end of the night, I knew I was seated with the Chief of the Engineers LTG Robert Flowers and his wife, Reciepient of the Gold Francois Louis de Fleury Medal, COL (ret.) Edward C. Gibson, his wife, daughter and son-in-law. To my immediate left was Command Sergeant Major of the Engineers Michael Balch and his wife. To my immediate right was SSG Michael McNaughton and his wife Kim.
I eventually walked up to it and was introduced to MG Robert VanAntwerp and CSM Clint Pearson. I then looked for my name card and noticed that no one else was at the table. That's when I took off and linked up with the LTC above. I came back and a Staff Sergeant in blues and his wife were at the table. Relief filled me when I realized that the table wasn't going to be completely filled with the highest ranking individuals. I introduced myself and shook his hand. Immediately I knew part of the reason why he was there. I saw his Purple Heart and Bronze Star on his chest. I felt two fingers missing in his strong handshake. This man had done something extraordinary.
Stay safe, LT.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:00 AM | Comments (0)
Folk Myths
Mollbot, of Morpholine fame, writes...
One of the girls I work with was talking with me on break and I started whistling the Ballad of John Henry. Now, I know that my folksy/country/oldies musical preferences aren't shared by more than a couple people where I work, so it didn't shock me when she asked, "What's that song?"
So I told her, and here, friends, is what shocked me: She cocked her head and said, "Who's John Henry?"
I just stared at her in shock for a few moments. Now, we employ a number of people who didn't grow up in the United States, or even speaking English. But this girl was born and raised in the USA, as were at least two previous generations on either side of her family. And she had never ONCE heard of one of America's greatest folk myths! I questioned her further. Heard of Paul Bunyan? Blank stare. Pecos Bill? Giggle, negative headshake (complete with rolling eyes). C'mon, you must have heard of Paul Bunyan... you know, with Babe- "Ruth... the Bambino?" she cuts in. I cover my eyes. No, not the Bambino. Babe the BLUE OX! She just wrinkles her nose and shakes her head again. I try one last name, though my hope is fading. Jim Bridger? Nope, never heard of Jim Bridger either. She had heard of Johnny Appleseed. I guess that's something. Are we getting so pussified and dumbed down in this nation that Johnny Appleseed is the only permitted folk tale?
I have come across more than a few individuals who are unaware of most/all of these legends (including the wife, who grew up in Montana).
Over 70% were females of the specie. So I have to ask myself if the reason they didn't know was because they didn't care when the tales were being told and forgot or because the parents/teachers thought the stories too much for their little girly ears.
The truly odd part is that in the last couple of weeks, I have found myself humming "Tom Dooley".
Now there's a non-PC tune.
Posted by Nukevet at 06:51 AM | Comments (1)
May 04, 2004
When you are out of ammo and options.
You use the only thing a man has in the end,....courage.
NAJAF, Iraq � One of his friends was dead, 12 others lay wounded and the four soldiers still left standing were surrounded and out of ammunition. So Salvadoran Cpl. Samuel Toloza said a prayer, whipped out his knife and charged the Iraqi gunmen.
In one of the only known instances of hand-to-hand combat in the Iraq conflict, Cpl. Toloza stabbed several attackers swarming around a comrade. The stunned assailants backed away momentarily, just as a relief column came to the unit's rescue.
He fought with a blade against armed men to save his friends life. I don't know if El Salvador has something like the Congressional Medal of Honor, but they should, at least after this. I know my fondness for knives has been a subject of quiet amusement among some of our regular readers. But I know my history, and while a rifle is always prefered, the preverbial last ditch stand can and does happen. When the difference between life and death can be measured in the finely honed edge of a piece of forged steel,.....and the will of a young man not to let his friends die.
This youngster may not be El Norte', not US, but he's just like some of the men I knew once. He's got alot of good company there with him, American, Brit, Polish, Rumainian,,.......The coalition of the determined, nations that choose to take the fight to the enemies heart, rather than sit back and hope they come for you last.
From Tim Blair.
Posted by Nukevet at 06:57 PM | Comments (1)
The Soundboard: Automotive Edition
Anyone who knows me, knows I like to drive. And occasionally, I like to drive fast. And when I drive fast, I like to listen to music.
And while driving home tonight, the mix cd came upon a song that puts this car in my mind
1970 Plymmouth GTX. 440/Sixpack with a 4 Speed (and about 8mpg)
Mmmm TASTY.
And that song would be
Queens of the Stone Age - Millionaire (w/vox intro) Link Removed
While listening to this selection, close your eyes and think of spinning that V-8 up to around 4000rpms and popping the clutch.
Ooops, I have to go clean up now.
Posted by Nukevet at 10:47 AM | Comments (2)
Bush Controls the Media and other leftie bullsh*t
I found this at the KOS IMC.
And I can't believe that the left will even touch this crap.
OK, so I can believe it.
The media have covered up the casualties - and we've got the data to prove it.
Put simply, the war fought on television was devoid of blood, particularly that spilled by U.S. soldiers.
A team of researchers at George Washington University's School of Media and Public Affairs led by myself and my colleague Steven Livingston recently analyzed 600 hours of coverage on CNN, Fox News Channel, and ABC from the start of the war on March 20 to the fall of Baghdad on April 9 to see how "real" the war looked on TV. We included the highly watched morning shows from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m., and afternoon and early evening coverage from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m.
We even made it easy for the networks. Instead of including every story they ran during that time (which would make percentages of casualty stories look artificially low because many stories weren't about fighting) we only examined stories that included images of battles (including artillery firing and bombs falling on Baghdad), casualties of any sort, or both.
Of 1710 stories we analyzed, only 13.5 percent included any shots of dead or wounded coalition soldiers, Iraqi soldiers, or civilians. Similarly, of the 5087 individual shots of either battles or casualties in those stories, only about 15 percent showed the latter.
Even rarer were pictures of the ultimate cost of war: Fewer than 4 percent of the shots we analyzed showed dead soldiers or civilians. And even when the dead were shown, they were more likely to be hidden inside a coffin, under a sheet, or represented by some surrogate image such as a shoe.
This, from the same people who shreik like a vampire to sunlight when any of the September 11th images are shown.
But these folks try to back up their claim with this...
These data become all the more noteworthy in contrast to the lofty rhetoric offered by journalists who ran those gory pictures of charred and mutilated contract workers hanging from a bridge in Fallujah a few weeks ago. Those who used the images argued that it's the media's responsibility to show audiences the grim realities of war.
Oh, those crafty lefties. They try compare two weeks worth of war coverage and over 1000 images of dead and dying US soldiers on every channel almost 24 hours a day with two days worth of a few seconds of video or stills of charred corpses and try to say that the short clips and stills had a greater effect.
I wonder how their minds even function beyond food and sleep.
They seem to forget the fact that the networks and major newspapers received thousands of complaints for running those shots. They seem unable to figure out that most folks do not want images of people without heads being piped into their homes during dinner time.
But these folks sure want those images shown.
Just don't you dare show any footage of people who were still alive but knew they would be dead soon. And rather than wait to die by asphyixiation, or by fire, or getting crushed when the building collapsing, they chose to jump.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:47 AM | Comments (0)
The Kids Aren't all right Pt. 2
Back at the beginning of March I posted about the people who want to give 14yr old the right to vote in California.
This last Saturday, someone calling themselves 'Robert Reynolds" found the post and said the following
"Intelligence is not the basis for which the right to vote is granted. I can't believe you actually live in a democracy. How could you live in a democracy and discredit an idea that could potentially liberate those of us who have no say in how things are going? A democracy is a government of the people. How is it a government of the people if an entire class of citizens is denied the basic democratic right to vote in a free country?"
I'm going to ignore the foolishness of the first half of Robert's statement and focus on the last sentence.
Robert, if you're still out there, I have a couple of questions for you.
Would you allow all 14yr olds to hold public office?
Would you be OK with having a 14 yr old male serve in the military?
How about enter into marriage contracts or real estate contracts or even drive?
If you answered no to any of those questions, you have just lost the argument.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:30 AM | Comments (4)
Will they ever get it?
This morning I had a Dr. appointment, so I was up and out long before my usual time. Since I have to drive 25 miles to get to my HMO, I took the opportunity to do something that I rarely have time for; I listened to Rush Limbaugh.
This morning he had a caller named "Tiffany" who purported to be an Independent Gen-Xer. They were discussing the war in Iraq, the pictures of American soldiers mistreating Iraqi prisoners and the U.S. response in the Middle East. Of course, Sept 11 came up.
Tiffany's response to that was "Why does it always have to come back to that"?
Knock down two skyscrapers, demolish 1/5th of The Pentagon, kill 3000 people and declare war on the western world all in one day and all the left can do is say "Yeah, So?"
And these dumb bastards can vote!
Posted by Nukevet at 07:14 AM | Comments (0)
May 03, 2004
I donn knooooow,......
Dad?.....is that you?
Maybe's.....it would explain alot.
Posted by Nukevet at 06:28 PM | Comments (3)
I wonder if Kerry
still wants everyone to know that he served in Viet Nam?
Can you fight a war on terrorism if the troops don't trust the CIC?
Posted by Nukevet at 04:44 PM | Comments (2)
What a Turd
With my lame photo editing skills, my offerings
Is someone collecting these somewhere? And where would that be?
Posted by Nukevet at 10:27 AM | Comments (7)
Any Day Now
I've already got the bolt/carrier and charging handle awaiting the upper. When it arrives, all I have to do is buy the buttstock and mags, and I'll be ready to go with half the down payment for my M1A.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:49 AM | Comments (0)
Oh Pooh!
A couple weeks back, I proposed a little wager that no one took me up on.
I wish someone had taken me up on that bet.
AK-47s Headed to U.S. Had Legal Permits
A U.S.-bound shipment of thousands of AK-47 assault rifles and other combat-type weapons, seized by Italian authorities who suspected they were being smuggled, actually have legal permits to be imported, American officials said Wednesday.
About 7,500 AK-47s, AKM rifles and other weapons worth an estimated $6 million were seized April 20 aboard a Turkish-flagged ship in the port of Gioia Tauro. They were bound for New York from Romania.
But Andrew Lluberes, spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said the weapons actually were cleared by U.S. authorities. "The permits are valid," he said.
Heaven forbid!
A 1994 law prevents the U.S. gun industry from making, importing or selling military-style semiautomatic weapons.
But under ATF regulations, a properly licensed company can ship such weapons to a "custom bonded warehouse" in the United States. There, they are disassembled and their key firing components destroyed. The remaining parts can then be reconfigured into a weapon that will meet the letter of the 1994 law and can be sold legally in the United States.
Double Heaven Forbid!!
Two U.S. law enforcement officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the weapons seized in Italy were being shipped to a Century International Arms Inc. facility in Georgia, Vt. The company's Internet site bills Century as "North America's largest importer/exporter of surplus firearms and accessories."
Dean Boyd, spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said American and Italian authorities continue to investigate the case. The weapons remain in Italy.
For now.
Here is a link to Century Arms' website. It has also been added to my list of links. I'll be keeping an eye out for these Romanian AK's to go on sale. When I see it, you'll see it.
You gotta love the boys at Century Arms. They actually use the term "Peoples Republic of Kalifornia" in their sales catalog to describe CA legal rifles.
And since this IS the AP, they OF COURSE have to add political info to the story.
The 1994 weapons ban is set to expire Sept. 13 unless extended by Congress. Gun control groups have been lobbying to win an extension, which President BusH promised to support during his 2000 campaign.
And let you know who, when and where the ban is being supported.
The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence is planning a Capitol Hill rally and march on Mother's Day, May 9, to push for renewal of the assault weapons ban.
Let's hope for a Brady Bunch failure in 2004.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:15 AM | Comments (13)
I love it when the left talks about guns
Over at the Kos Indymedia site, one of the co-posters got a call from the 'eevviill' NRA.
DHinMI gets to hear LaPierre talk about a bill that would close the "Super Scary Gunshow Loophole".
He is then asked "Do you agree with Hilary Clinton that restricting gun sales will eliminate terrorism?"
He, of course, answers "Yes"
Please, don't laugh just yet.
He then goes on to claim that such a ban would have stopped Columbine.
Now you can laugh.
As is usual, the GFW that inhabit the Kos IMC go apeshit and start acting stupid.
Unstable Isotope compares a right to a priveledge.
"Some colleagues buy into the NRA brainwashing that supporting any type of gun control laws means you want to get rid of all guns. I always ask them "do you think guns should be easier to obtain than cars?" After all, you have to have a driver's license, insurance and inspections to drive a car (legally).
NTodd has never heard of the Brady Campaign or the Violence Policy Center
"I don't think there's really a threat from "anti-gun extremists" who want to rid us completely of Amend. II rights. That's a strawman."
He then goes on to show everyone what a pussy he is
"We have 2 guns in the house: a shotgun and a rifle. Both belong to my wife. I'm not allowed to touch them."
I guess his wife wants to wait until the life insurance is paid up before she takes the chance that this numbnuts AD's.
Posted by Nukevet at 06:43 AM | Comments (10)
Bwhhhaaaahaaaahaa!
From Mike the Marine.
Posted by Nukevet at 04:33 AM | Comments (6)
May 02, 2004
"I'm just so happy my daddy's going to be home,"
Sometimes you get the bear, and sometimes the bear gets you...
Sunday morning at around 11:15 a wounded man came panting up to a New York National Guard unit near the Iraqi town of Belad, about 30 miles south of Tikrit.
The man said he was an American: Thomas Hamill, a contractor kidnapped last month after insurgents ambushed a convoy in which he'd been driving. He said he'd heard the US patrol pass the building in which he was being held, so he'd pried a door open and chased them half a mile up the road.
In a world where happy endings are hard to find, take some pleasure in this. My thoughts and prayers to all our people that go in harm's way,....and a little girl named Tori who just wants her Daddy back.
Posted by Nukevet at 09:41 PM | Comments (0)
Regarding a thief
I struggled to put into words exactly how much Micah's little bit o larceny enraged me. Nukevet's post below bringing it to my attention. I'd seen the swarmy little fuck's handiwork around on the web, but not really paid much attention to it. I call him a thief, he stole something from America's veterans when he falsely claimed to be one, he stole the mantle of service, something that can't be bought or traded for, only earned. He especially slandered the US Army Rangers, I know a little bit about Rangers. They conducted part of my training, the Army does allow other services attend the Ranger school. I benefited from that, as my instructers were Rangers. That doesn't make me one, but it gives me considerable insight into what it takes to become a Ranger. It gave me considerable respect for them. It also gives me nothing but hatred for someone to claim to be one who is not.
I don't believe you have to be a veteran to have an opinion, just being a citizen grants you that right. But this is especially vile considering the left's screaming of "chickenhawk" at every criticism aimed their way. If not being a veteran means you have no right to support the war, if being a veteran and still supporting it gets you tagged as a Nazi Hell bent on enforcing Christian beliefs on everyone else, then what do you call Micah's little song and dance?
Reptilian?
His side never had much any credibility to begin with, it's hard to have when you refer to the POTUS as a chimp in as many instances as you can. When selfrighteousness drips from every contemptible phrase you utter on the war.
When you gain respectibilty in your own mind by staying as far out on the fringe as you can, thereby proving to everyone you are not one of the great unwashed "sheeple".
Funny thing about excluding yourself from the whole, when you fall, you're on your own. No one to catch you, no one to help you up, no one to even care that you shit in your own nest. It's cold out in the wilderness, as cold as the graves left behind by our enemies. The one's Micah and his inbred mouthbreathing fans never seemed to notice.
Michele is all over this guy like justice on a scaffold. Good, because Micah deserves have have every single one off his "works" double sized on glossy paper, wadded up nice and rough, dipped in glue and carpet tacks, then rammed up his ass with the boost engine of a Tomahawk. Needless to say if put in a room with him and told his identity,....
His safety would be in question.
Posted by Nukevet at 08:59 PM | Comments (0)
Excuse me?
So, Pat Tillman, a REAL Army Ranger, dies for his country and is belittled by the left for being a "tool" of Imperialism. Micah Wright, an "artist" with a strong anti-war agenda who claimed for years to be a Ranger (and belittled anyone who dared challenge him by asking about their service record), recently had to admit that he's a liar (but only after real Rangers and the media filed some freedom on information act requests for his service records).
Wright is really only an artist in the sense that he takes old US military propaganda posters and writes anti-war/anti-Bush slogans on them.
In true Kos (and whatever that crazy chick from NY's name was) fashion, he's issued a non-apology, tried to erase his tracks, and is in high victim mode.
And the worst part - the left is rallying around his "courage" for coming clean.
Guy who died for our country - vilified and ridiculed. Guy who lied about serving our country in order to advance an anti-war agenda - elevated to a pedestal when forced to fess up.
This seems to pretty succinctly sum up the divide that exists between the "right" and "left" - which side do you think the undecideds are going to be the most comfortable with? Which side are you most comfortable with?
Where's Al Franken when you need him?
Oh, yeah, to paraphrase Michele (who is all over this with the fanatacism of an Imam) - Micah Wright is a fucking tool.
UPDATE
Greyhawk is most displeased, and has joined up with Michele to give Wright a taste of his own medicine.
Posted by Nukevet at 03:19 PM | Comments (0)
May 01, 2004
In Honor of Mayday.
A list of some of the accomplishments that the worlds communist movements can take pride in.
UPDATE;....I refer purely to the world communist roll out the tanks and goose step like nazi's holiday. No offense is intended against anyone who celebrates other rites of spring. I actually had to look up Baltane, I hadn't known of it before. So please step away from that stick Sondrak, I'll be good, till the next time anyway.
Ukrainian Famine.
The killing fields of Pol Pot.
Let's not forget China's system of justice either.
and how they treat their children when they disagree.
And this list barely scratchs the surface of all that communists can be proud of. The twentyth century was soaked in oceans of blood, about 100 million dead by most estimates at the hands of Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot. That doesn't even cover the thousands killed at the whim of minor Marxist dictaters like Castro. That's a lot accomplished in the name of the workers and world peace don't you think?
How many more have to be butchered before a lightbulb goes off over their empty heads? Marx's ideas don't work, can't work and have resulted in carnage everywhere where they've been tried on a large scale. Individualism vs. collectivism, and the collective always uses the killing fields. A hint perhaps that individual freedom is the wiser choice.
Happy Mayday Harm, you'll forgive me if I don't shake hands.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:06 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
put lipstick and eye shadow on a pig if you want...it's still a pig lady.
I wound up on the opinion pages of Aljazeerah by following the googlenews links. This is the result.
How many times can a politician use the word �Jew� or �Jewish� in a sentence?
--
But what largely incenses Muslims all over the world should trouble everyone � Israel�s power to compel obedience from the most powerful nation on earth. Danny Pearl was killed not for �being� Jewish, but for what �Jewish� has come to mean, rightly or wrongly, in a part of the world that sympathizes and suffers with those the Israelis have dispossessed from land, from culture, from civil rights. Danny was killed not by powerful actors in service of some evil ideology, but by those powerless before Zionism, an ideology that sacrifices Palestinians for �freedom� and �security� � buzzwords Bush used no less than 22 times in his pre-press conference speech.
Bush�s bowing to Sharon and junking the �road map� is but yet another betrayal of Palestinians, of every 9/11 victim, Danny Pearl, and of every Jew and American who wants to live in peace with the Middle East.
Ohhhh,.......They didn't kill him for being Jewish, but because he was JEWISH!, silly us, not seeing the vast difference between the two. Must be the underwhelming brain power of the rabid anti-semite that allows for such finely honed distinctions.
Danny's killers were just innocent pawns of the vast "Zionist" conspiracy,....and this wench has a degree? She goes to great lengths saying that it isn't about Jews or Christians, then pointedly singles out Jews as being in it for the money. Edumacation don't ya know.
The charges she makes are rambling, a long winded screed to say simply that it's the Jews, the Jews, the Jews, and did she mention it's the Jews? But She's not a Nazi,......no no no,....see it's the Jewishness of the Jews that makes you think that.
Her first sentence? I don't think three references is excessive, but I lost count when she went over twenty references herself. That doesn't count the numerous zionist and Israeli remarks. All that education and she's still trailer park ignorant.
Wonder if she can spell Flaming Nazi Bitch?
Posted by Nukevet at 05:23 PM | Comments (1)