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Holiday Reprint: Nostradamus Predicts

Editors Note: Over the holiday week I've been posting entries from the past year and since everyone is now putting up their annual predictions, I thought I'd start with my predictions from last year and then get on with my post for predictions of the new year.

This piece was originally posted on July 1st.

No matter who is chosen by the President to replace Justice O'Connor, both sides will find a good reason to hate the new Supreme Court Justice. They will also not shut up about it for years.

We will watch a series of good people who have worked their lives in public service to the nation have the private contents of lives thrown into the dumpster of politics so that a bunch of not-so-good reprobates can feel politically relevent. So much for the honor of public service.

Hollywood actors will stand on stage and pontificate about subjects of which they no nothing, (like potential Supreme Court nomimees for example )yet they will get the bulk of the sound bites on network news as if they did. Strangely, these sound bites will occur just prior to a shocking expose on "whats wrong with our culture?" presented by the live-at-5 team for channel 7 ABC news. No one will find this odd but me.

Thanks to the political orientation of the news that interrupts the radio twice an hour with what they consider valid headlines, I will have to hear the following question asked by my children, "Daddy, whats abortion?". Thanks to Network news and the public education system, my kids now think the Supreme Court performs abortions, our current president is a time travelling chimpanzee named " hitler" who escaped from Germany in 1945 to the modern world, who no one likes but got elected anyway because Fox tv controls our minds and if you say his first name, "Bush", some people will fall on the ground and froth at the mouth, and the last President had a secretary who lived under his desk and who left her blue dress over his house by accident. If I've told them once I've told them a thousand times, please stop watching CNN...

The first nomination, whoever it is and no matter how qualified and generally outstanding as a Jurist, will not make it through the nomination process, eventually being forced to drop out 'for personal reasons". The second will go into meltdown over a trival molehill sized personal issue blown up to Mount Everest proportions and will politely withdrawl ( on a Friday, after 3:00 Pacific). The third, who will also be the worst of the three nominations will make it through not because of qualification but because of the fatigue of the aged infirmed members of the Senate simply running out of gas.Two weeks later, Chief Justice Rhenquist will resign. Walter Reed Hospital will run out of B-12 shots and Supplemental Oxygen for the Members of Congress.

Howard Dean will say something really,really dumb. John Kerry will also, only none of us will be able to make sense of what he says,except the part where he thinks we are all rubes for voting for Bush.

Nancy Pelosi will lose her train of thought in mid rant against the Bush Administration and its policies. No one will notice.

Harry Reid will not provide the cunning gutter level leadership or backstabbing ruthlessness we came to expect from Tom Daschle. Network news will interview Tom Daschle as if he were still in the Senate.

Senator Chuck Schumer will at some point during his never ending monologue for no one but himself,over the top of his glasses, question one of the nominees on their stance on the second amendment,acting as if it the Second Amendment really wasnt in the Constitution. But wait, thats not the prediction, the prediction is he will do it while he impersonates the voice and manner of Vincent Price, only without the madhouse giggle at the end of his questioning.

Ann Coulter will say something to inflame the Democrats. I will laugh intensely. I will wonder who she has to sleep with to get a Supreme Court nomination. I will feel ashamed at even thinking such a thing. I will work on my inner dialogue...

Glenn Reynolds will say 'indeed' at least once in the next 30 days and reference Tom Maguire daily, if not hourly as the upcoming circus unfolds.

Robert Byrd will remind us all every single day why 'foghorn leghorn' was such a funny Warner Brothers cartoon, and yet still managed to make more sense than the Jurassic Senator from West Virginia.

Posted @ December 31, 2005 01:51 PM | annual_review | Comments (3)

Maggie Checks In

For the past three days, we’ve been trying to figure out the life story of our little houseguest. She is quite a bundle of mysteries. For starters, this is probably the best behaved dog we have ever seen. No jumping on the screen door, no barking, no chewing, house broken, works perfectly on a leash, great around kids, no snapping or biting at ankles or anything that might get you concerned about a dog. She is also a popular breed and color of dog, one that often goes for several hundred dollars, so its not like the neighborhood mutt or something, she’s not a show dog, but a quality dog just the same. She has gone AWOL from her home and there’s a problem there, but we couldn’t figure out why she would be away from home this long without any sign that anyone was looking for her. We just assumed that her family had gone on vacation and left someone else in charge of the dog, and the dog simply got out while in the care of an amateur.

On Tuesday morning we went to the SPCA and sure enough, she had an identity chip and that’s how we found out her name and identified the owners. The SPCA left messages for the owner and we sat back and waited; expecting a call back right away. After all, who wouldn’t be scouring the countryside for this dog? But the longer the delay went on the more the mystery deepened, just where were the people that owned this dog and why weren’t they worried about their dog being missing?

When I found her, she was darting in and out of traffic near the mall and had it not been for the sound of cars slamming on their brakes to avoid hitting her I would have just kept walking. But what are you going to do, let a perfectly good dog get mowed down, or try to get her back home or at the very least get her to the shelter so someone could take care of her. I expected we would watch her for a day or so, and then signs would pop up in the neighborhood looking for the lost dog and the mystery would be solved and the good deed done.

But, here we were on day three, and no signs, no returned calls, no inquiries at the local shelters. What’s this all about?

Well tonight the mystery was solved. “Magnum” was once owned by a couple, which began to divorce about a year after they got her. A year later, the man had a friend who agreed help out and take care of the dog until the newly divorced man was settled into a new place as he was living in a condo at the time. The friend, who works long hours, was only able to spend about an hour a day with the dog. Needless to say, the original owner decided after he finally moved to a new home that he really didn’t want the dog after all as it “wasn’t what he hoped it would be”. Now the friend finds himself stuck with a dog that he didn’t ask for and one that he can’t really take care of either. “Magnum” who was first owned by a couple who soon stopped being a couple was now being kept in the garage of a home of a second owner. When he got home at the end of the day, she often bolted out of the yard only to be found days later at the shelter, to the tune of 100 dollars for each visit. He had decided that the next time she ran off, to simply ask the shelter to put her up for adoption. He simply couldn’t care for her; it was a favor that had gone on too long.

And this is where I came in.

For the past three days I have been totally taken in by this lovely dog. The first night was a bit tedious, as she would not allow me to sleep unless I was in contact with her but once I figured out what she wanted, I simply slept with one hand dangling off the side of the sofa and she nuzzled up accordingly. The next day, she was never more than a few feet away at any time, but she didn’t require the physical contact at ‘sleep time’ anymore, so that was fine with me. My daughter, who is deathly afraid of all animals no matter how small and harmless, surprisingly found herself madly in love with the dog. A week ago if you had told me that my daughter would be the first to suggest a walk with the dog, and to go so far as to hold the leash and to go running with the dog, I would have said it was simply impossible as my daughter has often fallen over into panic fits at just the sight of a dog, so it was without question an impossibility that she would ever consider coming into close contact with a dog. Yet, she had done just that. My son, who wanted a black lab more than any present at Christmas and now had one, was just ecstatic over the whole adventure. Finally!, “a dog of my own” he said, even if it was just temporary.

So when the phone rang tonight and the current owner came over to retrieve the dog, my daughter, the girl who ca'nt stand to even be in the same room as hamsters, dogs, cats, anything furry and alive at all, sat and cried for a half hour as she realized her new friend was really going home at last. My son, older and wiser by all of three years, knew that this was always a possibility but also knew that one his mother’s seemingly insurmountable arguments about getting a dog was now a great deal more surmountable now that his sister had shown that with just the right dog, she was fine. It was just a question of getting the right dog, thats all...

I was happy that she was going to her home, but sad that I wouldn’t get more of the company I had grown to enjoy over the past three days. I had forgotten how much I missed dogs until this week. I was happy that my daughter had gotten past a fear and grown to enjoy the dog for what she was. I was happy that we were in fact getting a step closer to getting a dog, maybe not this dog, but some dog some day soon. My wife was just happy that the dog was going home, and that all of the things that come with a dog, the smells, the food, the upkeep and responsibilities, where not coming to our house any time soon.

She had been through it all before, only to have it suddenly taken away. Our last dog, a Lab-Shepard mix was raised by her and was her constant companion for the years that I was perpetually on the road long before we had kids. When we were first married and young apartment dwellers, she always pined for a dog and soon after we bought our first house, one of the first things we did was get her a dog. The dog was a magnificent dog and was as much a part of the family as it could be. It wasn’t just a pet or a possession; it was a part of our shared experience as sort of “pre-baby” for the young couple. Years later the dog was senselessly and viciously killed in a fit of revenge by one of our former neighbors who in an act of spite shot the dog and left her wounded only to be found hours later by my wife and I. The sudden senseless loss of Grace broke my wife’s heart and she swore never again to allow herself to feel the grief she felt when she was killed. Dogs, and the subject of bringing them into the house was one thing that was never to be discussed from that day forward. It was a wound that would not heal and still in many ways remains with us. It would be years before she would even allow herself to walk down the pet food aisle at the grocery store.

I knew I was a crossing a line when I brought home “Magnum”. I knew it was going to be a problem, but it wasn’t like I went looking for the dog it wasn’t my idea at all, in fact it was more like it was the dogs idea than it was mine. I didn’t go looking for the dog; I was simply trying to keep her from getting killed. I asked my wife “What would you have done?” when she asked me why I had to bring her home. She reluctantly agreed, there really wasn’t anything you could do, either accept some basic responsibility for the dog, or be prepared to drive by the spot of road kill she would have certainly have become. Even she could not just abandon the dog to the traffic.

So tonight the mystery of “Magnum” was solved when the owner arrived and shared with us his and her story. Then he did something none of us expected; he asked us the one thing no one expected:

“ So any chance you folks want a dog?”

You could have heard a pin drop. The kids gasped out loud, knowing what a sore subject it was with their mother and how yet another line had been crossed in the short span of three days. Of all the scenarios we had mapped out with the dog; this was not one of them, no one saw it coming. I knew what I wanted to say, hell yes I wanted the dog! She’s gorgeous, she’s perfectly well behaved, she is THE freaking perfect dog, why the hell wouldn’t you want it, and just look at her buddy, she wants to be here! (The dog had barely wagged its tail when the owner arrived, much less moved to greet him, she should have been jumping for joy – clearly something was amiss…).

But I knew it wasn’t my call. I knew what my wife was thinking, and I knew why. The loss of Grace had torn out her heart when it came to pets; and that pain wasn’t going to go away just because some stray animal wandered in one day. To her, a pet was all burden with nothing but pain for reward in the end.

He told us that he was in all likelihood going to have to take her to the shelter as he really couldn’t take care of a dog and that this dog really deserved a family, not a single man who was never home. My wife took his phone number, but none of us expected much to change, it was just a way of moving things along to their conclusion. We all waved goodbye to our little houseguest as she walked off, looking over her shoulder at us with her tail down.

“That doesn’t look like a dog going home to me” she said. “She’s not going home, she’s going to the pound” I said quietly in return as the sadness and finality of it all filled the open door.

The kids and I sat huddled together in my office whispering about the dog we had just gotten to know while my wife stood at the door listening to us trying to make the best of it.

After a few minutes of watching this, she let out a sigh and asked, “So, do you want me to call him back?” I told the kids to stick out their lower lip and put on their most pathetic faces for maximum effect.

Well it worked. She got the message and made the call, taking a risk not for herself for something she really didn’t want but for her family who clearly did.

Before the hour was out, "Magnum" was back, her doghouse and favorite leash in tow. Now she lays asleep; in the sound sleep of narrowly saved, at my feet in my office, and all is as it should be.

Now at last the ghost of Grace might finally have a chance to rest as the new dog, now known as “Maggie” takes her place in our lives.

Posted @ December 29, 2005 02:30 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (18)

Alaska Airlines Flight 536: MSM vs. Blogger

The story: Alaska Airlines Flight 536 suffered a rupture in the fuselage, which resulted in the loss of cabin pressure.

Heres how it was covered by ABC News:

Terror at 26,000 Feet.

Here's how it was covered by someone who was actually on the flight, who happens to have a blog and is also General Aviation Pilot.

Alaska Flight 536: rapid de-pressurization and panic at 30k feet

What was that thing that General Stonewall Jackson used to say about "getting there first-est with the most-est"?

Posted @ December 28, 2005 11:25 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (2)

Holiday Reprint: Parallel Parking In Hollywood

[Editor’s note: during the holiday week, I am republishing classic articles while I do site maintenance and catch up on paperwork(and babysit the houseguest!).

This article was originally written in October 2004. It does seem like a million years ago, doesnt it?]

My buddy Ray gets at least partial credit for this post, but in all fairness, I was already running down this road when Ray threw the shopping cart out in front of me, so here goes...

I think we all know by now that "Our Man JFK" gets under my skin pretty fast. I've always thought he was the weakest of all candidates that have been put forth by the Democrats in a very long time, It's not that I dont think that Bush could not have been beat this time, Its just that I've been very sure that hes not going to get beat by John "Fredo" Kerry.

Ray got me thinking about Science Fiction movies in relation to what movie character Archetype Kerry reminds me of the most. And then I had it:

This is a picture from one of my favorite movies, "The Thing From Another World". In this movie, We see many of the great 1950's movie stereotypes at play.

"The Thing" fuses Science Fiction and horror into a platform that would be replicated many times over during the morality plays of the movies ofthe 1950's. This film is more than just a do-or-die played out with big sticky bug eyed aliens, the central conflict of the film itself is actually between academic and martial culture, embodied by the good and world weary view of "Marlboro Man" - Captain Hendry, and the academic knowledge and refined lifestyle of "Metrosexual Man" - Dr. Carrington.

On one end of the story is "The Good Captain" whose duty is to protect his troops and the civilians under his protection from the alien, and on the other side, is "The Doctor" who is more than willing to let a few of the little people die in order to acquire knowledge for what he's sees as the betterment of humanity. To Dr. Carrington, the violence that the alien uses is just a misunderstanding between the clearly older and wiser alien culture and the lesser and more inferior human culture.

Dr. Carrington assumes that the creature is in fact, "more wise" than the puny humans that discover it and at one point in the movie he says:

We owe it to the brain of our species to stand here and die... without destroying a source of wisdom.

It's in the interplay between the characters of Hendry Vs. Carrington that we see Common Sense in competition with intelligence. Captain Hendry has duties to perform where Dr. Carrington looks only towards his own basking in the reflected glory that comes from the worship of knowledge. Captain Hendry is in "The Service" whereas Dr. Carrington serves no one but himself. In several scenes in the movie, Dr. Carrington proves that although he may be smarter than Captain Hendry and the rest of the "puny civilians", he is also not trustworthy. Not because he is not smart, but because he does not value the lives of the average person. To Dr. Carrington, human life is not as valuable and worthy as the expansion of scientific knowledge. Dr. Carringtons Self-loathing has overridden his common sense and basic humanity.

To whom do you trust your children? Captain Hendry or Dr. Carrington?

Posted @ December 27, 2005 07:44 PM | annual_review | Comments (2)

Book Review: Shattered Sword – The Untold Story of the Battle Of Midway

Most military historians rate the Battle of Midway as one of the true turning points in history, a single battle where history could have changed direction based on the outcome of the battle. The Battle of Midway is the first true battle of this new type of war, The Carrier Air War. While other battles had occurred prior to midway that involved Aircraft Carriers and Naval Aviation, no battle had been seen to be so decisive in its deployment of the new technology to result in the changing of Naval strategy. Prior to Midway, the debate between the worlds Navy’s broke into two camps, the “Gun Clubs” maintained by the Battleship Admirals and “Airedales” championed by those farsighted commanders who saw the future of Naval Aviation. After Midway, there was no more debate, it was clear to everyone that any Navy or Fleet operation that did not have an effective Carrier Air Group tightly integrated into its day to day operations was doomed from the start. The sinking of the Bismarck, The raid on Taranto, The sinking of the HMS Prince of Wales and the HMS Repulse as well as the Battle of the Coral Sea all showed the potential of Naval Aviation, but the battle of Midway showed how utterly essential it was to combat operations. While the authors of this fine book make the case that the Battle of Midway was poorly planned and poorly executed by the Japanese and totally misunderstood by both sides, the role the Battle of Midway and the analysis of the battle in establishing the need for the dominance of Naval Aviation cannot be misunderstood.

Before you read “Shattered Sword”, its best that you forget everything that you have been taught or had been lead to believe about the Battle of Midway. Even for those who consider themselves to be well versed on the subject of pre war Japanese politics from the role of Admiral Yamamato in IJN success and the true role of the American code breakers, this book is likely to cause you to reexamine many of the things you only “thought you knew”.

This book spends a great deal of time explaining how the Japanese came to the decision to attack Midway, and the politics behind the decision. In addition, the authors explain in great detail how Japanese Carriers operated within their fleet, and how the ships were manufactured to meet that task. Many authors of books on the same subject have always assumed that Japanese Carrier Operations Doctrine was similar to American Carrier Operations Doctrine, but this book makes clear the deep flaws in that analysis and the conclusions drawn from it as a result. The vast majority of the books is spent in the actions prior to the battle, but the analysis of the battle itself makes clear just how near the Americans came to losing this crucial battle in the history of the western world.

Anyone that is interested in World History and Military Strategy wall find this book a very good read. The material is well researched, with good footnotes and the appendices are almost as good as the book itself.

Posted @ December 27, 2005 02:44 PM | Book Reviews | Comments (0)

Surprise House Guest

It was a beautiful day yesterday, so I decided to go explore the bike trail a bit and test my new Rino GPS Radio.

And what do I see on the trail? Swimming across the creek to meet me is a lost black labrador, weighing about 75 lbs. Of course, she has no collar, and shes evidently quite lost because she also decided that its a good idea to dart in and out of traffic as she follows me along the trail. So after watching that happen more than once, I decided I had to get involved and take care of the little darling before she got squashed in the road. A borrowed leash from a helpful dog owner and we were on our way just as natural as can be. This is one well behaved dog.

A quick trip to the SPCA this morning has revealed that she has a identity chip and her name is "magnum". So, I've been taking care of our little guest until her owners re-appear. She extremely well behaved and a perfect little house guest, but she hasnt been out of physical contact with me for over 24 hours, so Im a bit exhausted. I had to sleep in the office with her last night and when I say sleep I mean being awakened every hour on the hour and either entertain her in some way or guide her on the inevitable trips to the backyard ( for which I am actually most grateful that she is housebroken! )

Will I ever get a full nights sleep? Its like some conspiracy or something...

UPDATE: Here's a quick shot of the lovely 'Miss M':

(awwwwwwwwww...)

Posted @ December 27, 2005 12:30 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (3)

Monitoring For Radiation:Safety First

Now the MSM is all a dither that we are monitoring Muslim sites for radioactivity, and in the 'focus group' phrase of the day, “it< fill-in-the-blank was done without warrants..”

So, Explain to me how this-

(a typical traffic speed gun)

Is any different than this -

( Typical Civil Defense team testing a Geiger Counter)

Or even this –

(Red Light Camera)

Or those devices that are strategically placed outside the entrance of almost every door of every store in the world, which electronically search my bags and treat every customer like they were a potential shoplifter. All (gasp!) without a warrant!

Some stores even station employees by the door to check and recheck your receipt – twice! All as they say, without a warrant! Or how about the body cavity search they put you through at the airport – again – no warrant. (dont they know me by now? 300,000 airmiles doesnt earn me the right to wear my shoes and beltbuckle?)

Look I don’t like Radar guns as a Californian I consider them to be a tool of the devil but I know why they exist. I also know why Red Light Cameras, the hated spawn of the Radar Gun exists and I know why every electronics store manages to have more security than Los Alamos Nuclear Labs, because without them and without the direct threat of persecution there would be straight up and total anarchy. Geiger Counters, whether they be driven around the neighborhood, flown overhead or on satellites seem like a pretty simple way to a avoid a catastrophe, and left wing spittle aside, doesnt violate anyones rights anymore than driving through a highway patrol Radar beam.

Why should we expect better protection of the goods and services from 'Best Buy' and 'Target' than we do of our neighborhoods, cities and towns?

I hope every overpass in the United States has nuclear material samplers in place and cameras to track any car that sets off the devices, for whatever reason ( gosh officer! - I didnt realize I had 1000 smoke detectors in the trunk, how did that happen?) . I hope every gas station has some form of nuclear resonance machines sitting in the rafters or under the pump stations to check all materials being by shipped by road for radioactivity. I hope every single weigh station and every Highway Patrolman throughout the United States has a Geiger counter and samples every car they stop.

And, no I dont want you to get a warrant either! search away gentleman...

I don’t think they need a warrant to check for something that might end the life of millions of people, because if we allow that to happen, then all of this luxury about "civil rights" will fall away like so much confetti. I think people in the Media are utterly asinine for pushing this political attack that somehow we need a warrant to keep millions from being killed at the hands of a single madman.

But hey, I’m not a Democrat. You see, unlike Democrats, I actually want to live. I sometimes wonder if the Media does.

When you see this picture-

take the time to remind yourself that the civil rights of butchers like Mohammed Atta were perfectly protected while it is occurring and perhaps, just perhaps we would have all been better off had we been less concerned for "Attas rights" and more concerned for the potential loss of life at the hands of these madmen.

For more intelligent discourse on the subject - Visit the Volokh Conspiracy.

and wonder to yourself dear reader, how many of these horrid days since 9/11 have been stopped by the policy of "safety first"...

Posted @ December 23, 2005 06:03 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (2)

Dead Week

Unlike last years software release efforts which kept me online and working virtually every-single-day from Thanksgiving to Feb 15, this years efforts have me out the door in time to enjoy some well deserved time off. It should only take a couple of days for me to decompress and relax...

And since its raining and the daily temperature is somewhere in the low 60's, we can also kiss any sort of skiing activity goodbye this week( to warm to ski, to cold to Kayak ). So, I will be catching up on blog maintenance, some reading, a few book reviews here and there, and maybe get around to building a couple of models that I've had sitting on the bench, hook up the webcam, that sort of thing. I may also republish some of my posts from the year, just to give you fellow vacation-eers something to read while I'm casually recreating.

You see, blogging goes up when work goes down. Its not that I havent wanted to blog, but you have to sleep now and then!

The week between Christmas and New Years is traditionally known in the software business as "dead week", the reason its called this is that even if you are not out of the office "on vacation" there are usually so few people on staff that almost nothing can occur even if you wanted it to. So, you have a case where people go to work just to mark time, but theres almost nothing to do, so its a "dead week". Usually I dont take "dead week" off for vacation, I catch up on professional reading and finish upgrading my certifications and use vacation time for more valuable times of the year, but after last years seemingly never ending nightmare I'm not taking the chance this year of being the only guy still around during this years "Dead week".

So, let the games begin!

Posted @ December 22, 2005 07:57 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (1)

Transit Strike: How "Work at Home" is breaking the strike

How are New Yorkers coping with the strike? That's right, Mr. Cable Modem to the rescue...

From MSNBC

snip
"It makes it a lot easier for people to function when you have a crisis like this, just to log in from wherever you are," she said. "It's inconvenient, obviously, but I think we've been able to work around it."
end snip

You mean, you dont have to "Go" to work to be "At Work"? Why thats anarchy!, the next thing you know people will be shipping jobs to inexpensive places all around the world and then where will the people living in expensive markets like New York be?

(Answer: Idaho, North Carolina, South Carolina, Michigans Upper Penninsula, Hawaii, Wyoming basically anywhere theres access to broadband. )

More to follow...

Extra credit question: What will hordes of clock watching middle managers do if they cant actually see the people doing the work they take credit for?

Posted @ December 21, 2005 08:12 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)

WSJ: Working at Home

Grrrr...

I'll have an extensive take-down on this piece in the WSJ later today. Just so everyone is on the same page, this is something I am well qualified to talk about, I've been doing it for the past 5 years, and yeah I've heard this kind of limpnoodle whining before.

Here's what I wrote about the experience of "working remote" last year. My Quick 2 Second Rebuttal: Ask any manager this- Why it is they "need to be able to see you" to be able to tell if you are working, but they think nothing at all about outsourcing the same workload to people they dont even know on the other side of the planet?

hmmmmmm...

A note to those who wish to get their managers to consider allowing you to "work at home", try calling it something else, such as "homesourcing".

Oh, and I will once and for all demolish this " boo-hoo woe is me" crap about 'working from home'. Frankly kids, you never ever will have it as good as the first day you start 'working from home'. That goes for both you and your company, its a total "win-win". It just takes some getting used to, but so does sitting in a car in heavy traffic 4 hours a day.

Posted @ December 20, 2005 11:00 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (2)

Al Gore - Call your office

Some guy who says his name is "Tim Berners Lee", has started a blog.

Decentralized Information Group. I like the sound of it.

Stop by and say hello ( and a polite thank you for transforming the world...)

Posted @ December 19, 2005 12:57 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (1)

Congratulations Time Magazine

My hat is off to the editorial staff of Time Magazine for their choice of ‘person of the year”. I spend hours and hours asking myself “ What is that “special quality” that so perfectly defines modern journalism? What is it that makes the people who make their living writing for such fine organizations like Time Magazine feel so comfortable with their chosen profession that while at bars, parties and high school reunions they feel perfectly comfortable to be able to say publicly and proudly “ why yes! I am indeed a journalist! And who might you be - lowly and pathetic subhuman of the class know to us as “subscriber”?

I often sit around and ponder the exact nature of the makeup of the modern journalist, but this year I need only look at the “2005 Time Magazine Person of the year” to get an answer. Inspired! Genius! A work of Art! This is what makes all the money that their parents spent sending them to Columbia Journalism School, the hours and hours spent faking homework assignments, the fingers bleeding from reading Chomsky and Fast. The hours and hours donated to the DNC to help further the cause of righteous leftist idealism, the days spent learning how to forge documents; this is where it all pays off, the choice for “Person of the year”. And what a choice it was.

Not just Bono. Who could question that? Bono man, Its Bono! But no, Its Bill And Melissa Gates too! you know, “the good capitalists!”.
Bono and Mr. And Mrs’ ‘Rich Uncle Pennybags’. Yesssss! That’s the perfect choice, after all, you couldn’t keep those three off the covers of People magazine this year, over and over again, it was like Princess Diana and Britney Spears started dating each other or something. Every single cover of people, Tigerbeat, the Economist, Nature – there they were, Bill, Bono and Melissa. Over and over and over and over again. It’s like the middle aged World Justice League,all they need is tights and capes and a secret underground hideout.

Before I saw Times choice for this year, I thought to himself, “who would I, a neocon of the worst order, a man who regularly misspells words, mangles sentences and drops participles with regularity, who would I choose to be this years ‘person of the year”? What foolish right wing cabal choice would I have made?

Well, here’s my list.

The US Coast Guard for its brave and selfless acts in relief of the Katrina Disaster? The Coast Guard is the most unsung of all the branches of the service, perhaps a little press for the men who guard the borders and make their careers actively saving lives? Katrina showed that the Coast Guard was the only organization with its entire act together from Day 1. I often ask, why do we have a FEMA if the entire mission of FEMA could be done better, faster cheaper and with more oversight and competence by the professionals of the USCG?

How about The Crew and officers of the USS Iwo Jima and USS Saipan for its brave and selfless acts while on duty in New Orleans You sign up to defend your country, but you never really think you’ll do it at home do you? Hell of a story there if you ask me, but hey, I’m just a blogger, so what do I know anyway?

The National Guard? Anyone think the National Guard gets a raw deal in the press? I do? Here’s a great chance to set right what’s been done wrong. How about General “ Don’t Get Stuck On Stupid” Honore? Hell-of-a-guy. Hell-of-a-story if you ask me…

Or perhaps Governor Blanco and Mayor Nagin for their struggle to help others while being attacked by “the man”? Well, that what they call it, I call it dereliction of duty, but that’s just me. How about the State of Louisiana Department of Transportation, or the New Orleans School districts for abandoning thousands of buses in light a mass transportation emergency in what could only be called a poor attempt to build a levee out of abandoned buses.

Or, perhaps we give it to the people of the 9th ward, who sacrifices and losses serve as the perfect emblem to the suffering of people everywhere during the repetitioin of disasters throughout 2005? Or perhaps Sean Penn for his brave and selfless acts of renting a boat and brandishing a shotgun, while decrying gun rights. Or perhaps his wife Robin Wright for screaming like a banshee when the rest of us laughed at him for his idiocy. Not just one suffering celebrity, but a suffering celebrity and his blithering idiot wife. You can just feel the fingers of the booking agents of Dr. Phil and Oprah tingling on that one, cant you?

Or maybe we give “Person of the Year” to Hurricanes? Remember when they gave it to the computer? Sure! I mean that was lame too, but it made some level of sense. Giving it to “Hurricanes” works on some many levels because you could have a whole issue about which to flog “global warming” and still blame it all on Bush! What a missed opportunity.

Or maybe we open up the imagination a bit and go this way:

The People of the State of Texas for welcoming with open arms 100,000 refugees (whoops! I used that awful word! I mean to say “evacuees”) into their state and integrating them into their economy, so successfully that most of them don’t want to go home (The ingrates!).

For the People of New Orleans, for after having been abused and ignored for years in the Great Democratic stronghold of New Orleans, for finally having opportunity and the good common sense to not come back. It’s a shame it took a hurricane to end the cycle of poverty and it just shows you what the Democrats couldn’t accomplish in 60 years of useless social programs, nature did in 30 minutes.

The People of Iraq, who after not one but three elections have a Constitution and an elected secular multi-ethinc parliament that includes women. Oh no story there I guess, that sort of thing happens all the time. And heck, so what if 1000 Americans died this year to help achieve that goal, its all about the oil anyway. Didn’t you see Syriana? Yeah man, what is the price of oil…

How about Angela Merkel? Who overcame gender bias, social discrimination and party corruption to become head of state in Germany. A woman, an East German Woman – Head of Germany. Not Bad Angie, Not Bad. But sorry, you’re on the wrong side of the fence when it comes to world socialism, so I guess we must ignore you because “shhhh, it might be good for Bush”.

Or “Person of the year” to Democracy, which despite every single attempt by the caring and decent people of the left to stop it, still goes forward from the Ukraine, Iraq, Lebanon even Germany as evidenced by Mrs. Merkel.

John Kerry for being right about the war in Iraq before he was wrong, or the other way around depending on the audience he’s talking to because frankly we cant tell from day to day which way he wants to go.

For Congress for having the bravery to speak openly and repeatedly about how “Bush lied” while they were always out of the room when the really big decisions were made and cant be blamed for anything despite all the intelligence given to the President having Congressional oversight. What congress? Oh THAT Congress.

Al Gore for being absolutely right about global warming and “the Evil Bush Cabal” and for quietly joining Judge Crater, Jimmy Hoffa and Amelia Earhart in cameo roles on ABC’s LOST.

Or Saint Cindy Sheehan, the Leftist Joan of Arc? Oh, that’s right, she hates Hillary now, so that’s never going to happen, what was I thinking?

For Howard Dean for consistently and repeatedly reminding us of how important the role of chemical anti-depressants are in the daily regimen of the marginally insane. Karl Rove, you evil bastard! How did you manage to go back in time and make that straight talking, liberal walking machine Dr. Howard Dean and turn him into the best thing that every happened to Republicans since Ann Coulter?

Or Stanley “Tookie” Wilson, for having unrepentantly died at the hands of the evil Fascist government of California, who only by accident found himself in prison because he broke some old rarely prosecuted law about “killing people”. Oh why couldn’t we have just locked him up for a lifetime without the possibility of parole in a cement lined hell of the infected, insane, predatory and dispossessed in the way that all the humane governments of Europe do to humans, but wont ever consider doing to dogs?

You see, that’s my problem, as blogger I don’t have the proper training to be able to pick what’s right and wrong about each of those stories to be able to see what the obvious and totally inspired genius was that said “ I know – lets put BONO and Bill and Melissa Gates” on the cover. I just sit back and admire the genius of the simplicity of that decision. I might have spend most of November making that call, but these guys, the true professionals spent what appears to be the length of one conference call to come to the near perfect decision of giving it to Bono, Bill and Melissa. Bingo – A perfect hit, 30 minute for a group con call, write up a little puff piece and then blow out of town before anyone calls us on it. That’s corporate journalist genius at work my friend.

So, ”Hats off” guys! I bask in the light of your utter genius. If the Time Magazine ever decides to hold “How to be a Journalist” classes at the Learning Annex, I’ll be there sitting in the front row.

Posted @ December 18, 2005 05:48 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (13)

David St. Lawrence: Building A Home

David St. Lawrence, owner of the terrific blog Ripples has been building his own home and has been blogging about the experience. I've mesmerized by the process. I've built airplanes, I've built kayaks and hot tubs, but I've never even considered building a house, that's waaayyy out of my league.

My hats off to him!

Take a break from the "War on Bush" and stop by and visit Mr. St. Lawrence. And while you are at it, buy his book.

Posted @ December 17, 2005 02:14 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (1)

Still waiting...

It's been 24 hours since Congress decided to "outlaw torture" and stop several provisions of the Patriot Act that have proven repeatedly successful in stopping terrorist actions in the United States.

I'm busily searching Google for any sign that Iran or Syria has decided to reciprocate these selfless acts of civilized good faith by now agreeing to stop their assassination of elected officials, wanton killing of civilians for revenge, the sponsorship of groups that take part in torture and beheading of captured innocent civilians, the development of an atomic weapons and delivery system for the expressed mission of destroying the State of Israel and the publically stated position of the heads of each of their governments that A) the Jewish Holocaust did not occur and b) so what if it did, we dont like them anyway and c) its official state policy to finish the job the Nazis didnt finish and we dont care how many muslims innocents might get killed to accomplished that goal, because "its allahs will"...

Feel free to drop me a line if you've seen any sign that now that weve been nice and introspective that our enemies are now willing to join us at this glorious "peace table" that Congress has now set for us.

There are days, and this is one of them, that I think the Western world has succumbed to its gluttony of the good life of modernity and has simply gone insane. There are also days that I think that Osama was right, that we really are a paper tiger not willing to fight that will fold at the first opportunity, and this is also one of them.

Posted @ December 17, 2005 01:17 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (1)

Where is this all going?

Snip…

Court marshal proceedings in began today in Washington DC against US Army Lt. George Wilson. Lt. Wilson, the young scion of a prominent family from California stands charged for violating rules of engagement and international rules of military action. The case of Lt. Wilson has gathered world wide attention due to the extreme heinous nature of the crimes for which Lt. Wilson is now being charged and prosecuted.

For those not familiar with the case, on August 22nd, acting under the direct orders of the US central command, Lt Wilson was part of a team working within the Sunni triangle to capture or kill suspected leaders of the Iraqi insurgency. During a raid in the town of Ramadi, Lt. Wilson used subterfuge and deception to take cover in the town of Ramadi. By threatening violence against a man and his younger child, Lt. Wilson was able to gain knowledge of the whereabouts of a supposed local commandant of the insurgency, a “General Al-Khardhnes”.

Lt. Wilson then pulled a gun from his holster and threatened an Iraqi homeowner with death. He and his team then used the home as a place of refuge during the evening. After forcibly incarcerating the inhabitants of the home for several hours, Lt. Wilson then illegally used his authority to establish a roadblock, forcing civilian traffic in the town on one of the roads covered by Lt. Wilson’s men. In the home in front of this road, Lt. Wilson and his driver, Sgt Wolfson took cover and awaited the possible arrival of the man who was purported by locals to be “General Al-Khardhnes”.

Lt. Wilson then ordered his men to load their weapons and prepare to attack on sight the insurgent General Al-Khardhnes. After several hours of laying in wait, the man who locals called General Al-Khardhnes arrived at the checkpoint. Once discovered by Lt. Wilson’s men, he began to open fire into the home occupied by Lt. Wilson and the incarcerated civilians. Lt. Wilson and the opposing insurgent force of the General and his bodyguards began a running urban gun battle in the streets of Ramadhi. Stray bullets flew into the home occupied by Lt. Wilson and the civilians and soon spread to the surrounding neighborhood. After many volleys in the gun battle, Lt. Wilson is personally credited with killing Al-Khardhnes and his bodyguards.

From here the story takes a gruesome turn. Lt. Wilson then ordered Sgt. Wolfson and an Iraqi civilian to load the dead bodies of Al-Khardhnes and his bodyguards to the hood of his Hummer, where they were then paraded through the streets of the town of Ramadhi.

Sources within US Central Command have said that upon arrival at Camp Anaconda with the now long dead bodies of the insurgents still tied to the roof of the Hummer; Lt. Wilson was congratulated personally by General Abiseid and referred to him as “ My Insurgent”. However, after international outcry over the incident that occurred in the following weeks, Lt. Wilson was placed under arrest and told to undergo a military court marshal for his actions on that day in Ramadhi.

In a related story, the US Senate today took up debate about how and when members of the military can and should discharge their weapons and under what circumstances cover can be taken in a combat zone.

End snip..

I admire the members of our military, but I don’t envy them. The job is hard and often thankless and made up of hours of endless tedium interspaced with moments of extreme violence for which no amount of training can prepare you. They do their thankless job of soul searing tedium, secure in the belief that the cause is just and the people and the government that they are serving are thankful for their efforts and their sacrifices made while serving in that cause. If this were not true, if the members of the military were to feel that their actions would not be given sanction by the nation, or that their basic job were to be so redefined as to make it nigh impossible to carry out, the effect on operating morale would be staggering.

With all the weapons that the people in the military have been up against in the past, the Hoplite Phalanx, Greek fire, the pike square, massed cavalry, long rifles, the machine gun, poison gas, no weapon can match the weapon that’s now been unleashed on our soldiers sailors and airmen. Our troops can beat any army on earth except one; the army of international lawyers and tribunals that set to define their every act and every action carried out in uniform as a war crime.

The case I sighted above is real. It did happen, and the figure in question wasn’t some low level unknown trooper but a major figure from American history. It didn’t happen in Iraq, and his name wasn’t “Wilson” but the act described occurred pretty much the same way I related it its parallel to modern age. What’s important to know is that the brash Lieutenant wasn’t court marshaled for his act, he was venerated, in fact he went on to serve the Country and the Army as a legendary figure in history, because the Army in which he fought and the culture he lived in understood the nature of warfare for the truth of what it is instead of the perverted unworkable nonsense that many people on the left would prefer it to be today.

The story is a variation of an event in the life of George S. Patton. Yes, That Patton. While he was a part of the US Expedition into Mexico against Pancho Villa, in 1916 young Lieutenant George Patton took part an ambush, which resulted in his shooting and killing a member of Pancho Villas gang. After Lt. Patton killed Mexican General Cardenas, he then had the body tied to the hood of his touring car and drove through the town exalting his prize to the townspeople. His commanding general, General Pershing called George “ His Bandito”. The parallel story I created from that event was meant to help illustrate what would happen to young Lt Patton if he were in the world of today, where every action on the battlefield is now examined in great detail, not by Generals and War Colleges but by lawyers. Today’s world is quite different from the world of Lt. Patton, yet we expect our service members to operate as if nothing has changed, all while the rules they operate in are in flux due to the prevailing politics of the time in which we all live.

Remember that the interests and the motivations of the 'international legal community' is not based on the idea of saving your life or ensuring the effectiveness of the US Military, in fact it’s quite the opposite. Since the international community can no longer compete militarily with the United States, it has decided to take the only course available to defuse the threat of an powerful and effective US Military, and that is to redefine the rules of battle and the legitimate use of force in the world.

Today the debate on what is and is not within the legal bounds of behavior for the military has gone all the way to the US Senate, which has now defined the concept of “torture” so loosely that virtually any interrogator or guard at any location that is even remotely involved with any prisoner interrogation will be rendered useless within 24 hours after the first person who is interrogated is released and made available to the press. Despite what has been guaranteed by the members of the Senate to protect the members of the military from charges of abuse, the charges will come and demands will be made for the names and locations of all of these sites where, as they now define it, “abuse has occurred”. In the interest of not being thought of as a “mean bad man”, every Senator will give in to these demands by the world court of opinion.

But it wont end with the interrogation staff or the guards or the people who run the facilities involved with prisoner welfare. The next step will be to redefine warfare itself into something very much like crime fighting and that of a big city police force where warrants must be served and use of deadly force must be authorized by legal warrant, signed and agreed upon by the UN tribunal itself. When civilian deaths at the hands of a legitimate military force occur they will be treated as police forces today treat cases of officer-involved shootings. Entire brigades at a time will be rendered useless as its command structure is charged and accused by the world court of opinion who, using Rodney King as their guide, will tie the US Military down with baseless charges of abuse at every turn with the help of video cameras in the hands of civilians in war zones.

In this scenario, imagine being in today’s US Armed Forces. During one of you tours of duty in Iraq you surround a home where in recent days sniper fire has been sighted. Instead of taking direct military action to bring the situation to an end by attacking the home, you sit and second guess yourself as whether or not to fire into the house because you don’t know if there are civilians that may be killed, which will result in your being indicted as a war criminal then next time you pass through the European Union on vacation.

The direct result of this second guessing is that more of your men are killed and the indirect result is that with the impotent use of force against the enemy, they are emboldened to continue the attacks. What’s worse the enemy will seek out civilians to hide behind, since their cover provides the only weapon that can beat the US Army, that being its own conscience and desire to minimize casualties.

If that isn’t bad enough, we now have entire groups of people who refer to the Iraq War as an “illegal war”, including many esteemed members of our own government and this is very dangerous indeed because the words will eventually have consequences if they are allowed to go unchallenged. Let’s say that someone in some part of the world decides to act on that phrase and declare that any and all members of the US military that took part in the “illegal war” are subject to trial in their country. Let’s say that its not just one socialist backwater like Spain, but it spreads to other countries and soon there is a general consensus that the members of the US military, both currently serving and retired are subject to possible persecution by their country for “war crimes”. Once the debate begins the definition is allowed to set and people in this country find themselves arguing for what is and is not a war crime, the debate in a sense is over.

A small change here and there to the worlds legal systems and judicial standards and simply discharging your weapon in a war zone could get you sent to prison.

This is where the debate on “torture” will inevitably send us. The mistake in the debate on torture was not the validity of the positions we take one way or the other, but to engage in it at all because to carry out the debate gave legitimacy to the idea that something was in fact wrong, and there is no way to win that debate. As soon as you start it, you’ve lost. Today we are debating “what is torture”, but soon the debate will move to “what is and is not legitimate methods (if any) of warfare”.

Lets be absolutely clear here, the debate on “torture” is not about helping define the legal boundaries for how people in authority are to behave. It is not about ensuring that we do not become “like them” The debate on torture has one goal, and that is to slow the success of the United States in the war on terror. My stand on the “torture” debate has been exactly the same from the beginning and essentially it comes down to this, if hooking up a captured insurgent to a car battery will help end the war on terror one day sooner, then all I have to say in this matter is that the red wire is positive and the black is negative.

I expect civilian oversight of the military and I expect there to be standards to which we adhere, but I also expect results. This is essentially where I deviate from most people’s stance. “Torture” or “not to torture” is not a real debate; the real debate is “what works?”. Captured members of the Jihadists are the single best source of information on how the organization works and who is in it and should we decide that we will not 'aggressively interrogate' because it might result in a possible war crime for the interrogator, the result will surely be that more people will die, not people being interrogated, but innocent civilians who by the inaction of the interrogation and intelligence systems who were not able to intercede before the jihadist actions could be carried out. For those who argue the most for precise and exactly language on the use of torture, they should be aware that there consequences for their acts, and those consequences aren’t that someone in custody wont be made to feel in danger but that many, many more innocent people will die.

We must remember that the military is not the police force and we must not allow the standards of operation of the military to slowly creep into redefining it into a police force. They are not policemen and should not be subjected to that standard. I want men and women who serve us to remember that the first step towards ending a war is not necessarily killing them but removing the enemies “will to fight” by any means necessary, and if tying the dead of the enemy to the hood of your hummer has the correct effect on the enemy morale, then I say by all means -do it! I don’t want a military that is constantly looking over its shoulder wondering, “what should I do?” when they are taking fire and losing men. No one in uniform is going to do their job if they feel we are going to hunt them down for doing theirs.

We can beat their armies; we can occupy and change their countries, but its still a very big open question if we can beat their lawyers.

Posted @ December 16, 2005 01:33 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (5)

Somewhere out there Douglas Adams is looking down and Smiling

Michael Totten, whos great light we all bask in is reporting on a meeting in Lebanon with Hezbollah

snip:

What do you think about the media in the United States?” I asked him. Hezbollah routinely denounces the American media as “Zionist.”
“I don’t like CNN as much as I used to,” he said. “Just look at Larry King. We need someone more fresh.”
“Have you caught an episode of The Daily Show With Jon Stewart?” I said.
He shook his head no as if he had never heard of it.

end snip...

Man, Larry King gets no respect! Not even from a Hezbollah Gumman! Wheres the outrage!

Anyway, like you are not already, go read Michael Totten.

Posted @ December 15, 2005 02:47 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)

Sleep Or Blog?

Well, things are getting better with the annual 'end-o-year' project so now I can actually start to think about the life I lead outside of work. I've got a stack of things to blog on but one thing is missing.

Sleep.

So, much as I'd like to get a few things off my chest this evening, I think I'm going to opt for a bit of well deserved sleep after I catch the Venture Brothers Christmas Special on Adult Swim.

Posted @ December 14, 2005 09:31 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0)

Notice

So I have successfully returned from the faraway land called "Texas" where I just spent three days locked inside a data center. Much like a casino, Corporate Data Centers have no clocks or windows so its easy to lose track of time, and with the monotony of the work and the sound of air conditioning roaring away in your ears, its a bit overwhelming. Since the procuredures for entering and exiting the data center are similar to the process that Maxwell Smart used to enter his headquarters, you rarely leave the premises because of the "hassle factor". That - and that fact that the nearest place to eat is far and away and not worth the trip, means that vending machine food is the general "diet du jour" while you are on site.

Add to that the incredible lack of sleep( 5 hours over three days ) that occured on this trip and you can see that it was indeed a truly joyous trip made up of hours and hours of hardware problems. I - being a "software guy" and not a "hardware guy" find this effort especially tedious.

And what did I do when I left the data center on Wednesday? Oh yes, I dropped my laptop out of the bag. So what do I now use for an office PC? Well I have to GO into the office like an average work-a-day guy and use the ones that are provided at the office. You know the ones "other people" touch. How unsanitary, using someone else PC is like wearing someone elses underwear.

Go to the office... how undignified is that? Commute, go somewhere, be somewhere, listen to traffic reports, buy gas, yell at other drivers, then theres people "talking" to you at the office with all sorts of "hey where do you want to go to lunch - Did you know that judy is pregnant, whos judy, oh you know judy - chitter chatter. Phones ringing all day. What kind of work environment is that? Doesnt EVERYONE work at a home office yet? God, The insufferable indignity of having to actually put pants on to go to work. And a shirt too! Its like working at my Aunts house. Sit up straight mind your manners, wipe your feet, where do you think youre going young man...

How cool is a home office vs. a work office? I once had an office in downtown Sacramento that overlooked a pool. This pool was used by Lufthansa Airlines. Yes, flight attendants often used the pool, and yes most of the flight attendants were female and yes, very VERY European. With all that view, uh, office had to offer, I still prefer my nice suburban home office over that office. Yeah, Im married, what makes you ask that?

After three days of working on hardware problems on the road what did I get when I arrived home? Oh yes, more hardware problems! My main PC, the "big media" machine, so called because it serves as my radio, HDTV and DVR, lost its main hard drive, you know the one with the actual operating system on it with al lthe finely tuned drivers and media software. Fine. Great. Thats just lovely... Theres an evening wasted to fix it and no music to do it by until it is fixed. Just Perfect!

Then the main house Tivo decided to stop calling the network so that the recording schedule could update. Fine. Perfect! thats just dandy!

Then the printer for the house died. Well thats it then...( I utterly HATE printer problems.)

You know, when things go to hell, they go all at once.

With luck and a prayer to the International Keepers of the Microsoft Shrine**, I'll be back later for a little recreational nagging.

At least its not snowing...

( Dont start with the Microsoft vs. Linux vs. Apple thing, just dont go there. Ok? I was Apple before Apple was cool baby, I have an original Mac and Ive had it since 1984 and it still works, and when I say "original Mac" I mean 128k, no hard drive and the original 5 pieces of software I bought with it, and before that I used an Apple IIe and before that an Apple II+, which takes us back to about 1981 or so, I seem to remember a Commodore PET and a TRS-80 and a TI-99/4a in there someplace too, along with scads of card puch machines and 110 baud paper tape readers. No, I dont have a new Apple now because it just doesnt make sense for me right now, ok? maybe someday, but not today. Ok?? OK?

I work every day with Linux and totally love it and think its the greatest thing, but there are just some things that work and work well if not better with Windows, though I am totally loathe to admit it. )

Posted @ December 08, 2005 08:14 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (10)

Avoiding the front

Since Monday, Ive had 5 hours sleep. Its starting to catch up with me. I told you that the end of year was "special" for some of us.

I couldve been an upholsterer, but noooooo. I had to be a smartass and go to college and study "computers".... what the hell was I thinking...

Im also hustling to avoid a very nasty weather front thats coming in as well.

No sleep, bad weather, and its only Wednesday.

Posted @ December 07, 2005 01:16 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (1)

Howard Dean: To Whom, Losing is a Virtue

"I've seen this before in my life. This is the same situation we had in Vietnam. Everybody then kept saying, 'just another year, just stay the course, we'll have a victory.' Well, we didn't have a victory, and this policy cost the lives of an additional 25,000 troops because we were too stubborn to recognize what was happening"

And of course after we left Vietnam, sweet little chocolates fell from the sky and happiness reigned throughout the land and a rainbow filled the sky for all to see…

Actually, what happened was this:

As a result of the Democratic Party dominated US Congress abandoning the government of South Vietnam and its monetary requirements for self-defense, the free people of South Vietnam were subjugated under the tyrannical genocidal rule of an invading Communist regime. As a result, many millions of people in Cambodia, Laos, and especially Vietnam became refugees. Refugee camps opened throughout the South Pacific, and were populated in the hundreds of thousands by those who had survived the journey. Before a person could make it the refugee camp, they had to endure survival at sea and predatory pirates, who raped and killed hundred of thousands of people who were fleeing from the Communist Vietnamese regime. It has been estimated that for every person who arrived, 3 were killed in the effort. In nieghboring Cambodia, the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime, (once part of the Communist Party of Vietnam) murdered 6 millions of people in the wholesale destruction of ctities and towns at a level and procifiency not seen since Nazi Germany. In Vietnam, the new communist government sent many people who did not flee and supported the old government in the South to "re-education camps", and others to "new economic zones" or what we would refer to as concentration and forced labor camps . The genocidal and fratracidal warfare waged by the Communist government of Vietnam resulted in millions of Vietnamese who risked and often lost everything in order to leave, but the process was not limited to just the former US allies in South Vietnam. In 1979, Vietnam was at war with the People's Republic of China. During this war, ethnic Chinese living in Vietnam became scapegoats to the government of Vietnam and were directly targeted by the regime. As a result, thousands of Chinese became refugees using the same routes of departure previously used by the Vietnamese themselves.

Millions of people were butchered in this genocide; millions more flee as refugees, millions incarcerated in forced labor camps. All this; because of the selfish actions of the US Congress of 1975. And yet, Howard and the Democrats want to use this as a moment of pride.

What’s different about Iraq from Vietnam? Well for one thing, there’s no refugee crisis in Iraq. In fact, both Afghanistan and Iraq are unique in world history for being wars that didn’t create a refugee crisis, but solved them! Yes that’s right, 3 million Afghanis migrated back to Afghanistan from Pakistani refugee camps after Kabul fell to coalition troops. Marsh Arabs in Iraq who were effectively scourged from the land in southern Iraq have been returning to their newly liberated homes from camps and settlements throughout the middle east. Iraqi Kurdistan has become the fastest growing economy of the middle east, largely due to the influx of people formerly on the run from the Saddam regime.

What is it that the people on the ground know that Howard and the Democrats don’t know or won’t acknowledge?

What’s different about Iraq from Vietnam? There’s also no genocide, or civil war. Yes, there isn’t a complete peace just yet, but there wasn’t any peace in Iraq before we got there either.

Why do Democrats make such a fetish of Vietnam? Is abandoning a country and its people to genocide and enslavement really something to be proud of? Many Democrats feel that leaving Vietnam was the best thing we ever did as a country. They think that the horror of war stopped the day America left Vietnam. Fundamentally, Democrats feel that there is no world problem that cant be made better by America running away from it.

Howard and the Democrats hold no shame for abandoning the Vietnamese, the Cambodians, the Laotians and now they feel no shame at abandoning the Iraqis, the Kurds, the Shia to the same result. They are actually going to run on that idea as a platform. What’s really sick to me is they seem genuinely hopeful to see the same thing happen to the Shia that happened to the Vietnamese, as if subconsciously hoping to “teach them a lesson” for their support of Bush. So long as the “quit Iraq now” idea gets votes, the Democrats don’t care who might get killed in the process.

Democrats, while purporting to be the “friend of the little man’ feel no love at all for the little man if he’s a little fellow on the other side of the planet. Many people in the Democrat party apparatus have essentially held the position that the best policy is to run away and hide or compromise or even collaborate with the enemies of mankind. Remember those who said we should have negotiated with the Soviets? Where are the ‘Roosevelt Democrats’ today? Where is the party that believed in America as a positive force? How can a party expect to lead this country when it thinks all we need is to make a really good apology to the world? Where’s the Democrat men and women who said “ Pay any price, bear any burden in defense of freedom and liberty” – and meant it? If Hillary Clinton is going to catch the flak she is getting for her reasoned and yet, tepid response on the Iraq war, just imagine if a Democrat today made a speech like the Kennedy “ Pay Any Price” speech. Moveon.org and code pink would have a meltdown.

I’ve often had the phrase “War is not the answer” thrown into an argument by the other side when I make statements for our actions in the Jihadi war. My response is that “War is certainly the answer, if the question is slavery or genocide”. This is exactly what is at stake here. From the words of today’s Democrats, the only answer to slavery and genocide is a withering barrage of summits and press conferences. I’m sure it would have had Hitler shaking in his boots to have them say “give peace a chance” to him in response to the Lidice massacres.

I really don’t know why anyone bothers with Howard Dean discussing what it means to ‘win and lose’. Howard Dean couldn’t even win in Ohio.

Posted @ December 07, 2005 01:11 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (11)

In Praise of Propaganda

Caption: How have you helped the Front? (good question comrade...)

So this week’s assault on the western world comes once again, not from al-queda, but from the puffy shirt ruling class of journalism. Apparently our brethren on the left have discovered the unseemly weapon of propaganda has been usurped by the evildoers on the White House. How dare they!

When I first learned that our country was paying editors overseas for story placement, my first reaction was somewhat more subdued. My reaction was precisely this:

“Where do I send the check?”

I Thought, what a cool idea! You mean we can pay people to tell our side of the story? Heck that’s easy! Sign me up! 10 bucks of good press for our guys saves how many bullets?

You see, we wouldn’t need to resort to propaganda if we had anything resembling an honest, open and non-partisan media, but since we don’t have anything close to a neutral press, I say, what the hell! let's go for it! You see, unlike the puffy shirts and pouty faces of the NY Times, I actually want our side to win! I know that flies in the face of the idea of an objective press, but I don’t give a damn! You see, the people we are defending in Iraq (Oh my heavens! What a giveaway, he’s says we are defending people in Iraq! ) are mighty prejudiced against the people of the west and with the constant sewer of hate filled propaganda that comes from the mouths of these self loathing losers, it actually helps make the cas of al-queda. THAT – is propaganda too, only because of the fact that we live in a culture of the ‘virtuous rebel” we excuse it and look the other way. “Well, its free speech” they say. Sure it is, until it starts getting people killed – our people, then it’s a tool of the enemy. Well I’m not looking the other way, I’m looking right that cover of the New York Times and calling it what it is, Propaganda. Propaganda and moral support for murdering buggering sneak thieves and child killers who’s only real virtue in the eyes of the New York Times is that it opposes George W. Bush.

The people of Iraq have a right to feel hate towards the people of the west, they have been treated pretty bad by our side in the past, so I can understand if they have misgivings. But the problem is made worse by a bunch of martini swilling Vietnam-era press pool holdovers who cant get their docker covered fannies out the “green zone” because they are too busy telling the busboys stories of how they were out in the “boonies the Dan Rather covering the real story at Khe Sahn and let me tell you sonny, it was haaairy, and this place looks just like Saigon in 1972, bush is knee deep in the big muddy let me tell you, its just like Nixon and his cronies all over again- all Im saying is “give peace a chance, get the peace process going again… Hey saheed, get me another olive and transport it over in a gallon of vodka will ya...?”.

Do we need propaganda to win the war?, hell yes we do, and from the looks of it we need a lot more! Does the left really REALLY want to say that this snot covered drivel they call reporting is NOT propaganda? Lets go over “the devils resume of Western Journalism in Iraq” shall we?

- Incited world-wide riots by saying the US government purposely desecrated the Holy Koran.

- Reported that the turkey that Bush held while visiting Iraq was in fact, plastic when it was in act, turkey.

- Reported that Jimmy Massey was a “Marine who was against the war”, when he was certainly against the war, but was not a Marine.

- Reported A Marine was captured by Al-queda, when it was in fact, a 7 inch GI Joe Doll.

- Compares our soldiers to characters in zombie movies.

- Compares our actions at abu-ghirab with the saddam regime, as if being held in a compromising position by the ugliest woman from West Kentucky was anything like being killed, butchered and buried with a 1000 people from your hometown.

- Showed Representative Murtha statement against the war every 15 minutes for three weeks, while totally ignoring Joe Lieberman’s positive statements for Iraq.

- Describes Ramsey Clark as “Ex Attorney General Ramsey Clark“ rather than “Nazi,Genocidal Tyrant and PLO defender Ramsey Clark”.

- Never EVER discusses the nature of ANSWER or WWP protests and who runs them and what they stand for.

- Reported that Guantanamo was worse that what the Nazis did, until they actually went there and found it to be pretty dang nice. Conditions for terrorists and be-headers of civilians being somewhat better than that experienced by the average DUI driver found in the drunk tank at Anytown USA.

- Reported from the scene of what they were sure would be a bloodbath at the first election, only to stand around with the mouths hanging open when 95% of the population voted in peace, and the other 5% stayed home. Not once – But twice!

- Reported from the scene of what they were sure would be the “Stalingrad of the tigris” only to have the entire Iraqi army fold up like a wet paper hat and our troops greeted with flowers and hugs!. To this day, they are waiting for the “civil war that is sure to come” and want everyone to forget about the cheering we saw in Firdos square.

- The Press who makes a fetish out of reporting American deaths but cant quite be bothered to report about men and women who win medals of honor for their acts of bravery or their mothers and fathers and the pride they feel.

- Reported that civilians were being massacred in Falluja, when in fact the locals were assisting the troops in routing the terrorists.

- Under no circumstances report the success in disarming Libya, the utter humiliation of Syria in Lebanon, and for gods sake don’t ever mention Afghanistan.

- Never EVER mention the 1998 act by congress that said that it was the foreign policy of the US to overthrow Saddam, the very SAME congress who now wants to hide behind a tree and say big bad Meenie Bush “fooled them”. Yes, Bush is stupid, but he’s also capable of mind tricks and Svengali like projection of his coal black soul onto the poor weaklings in the Democratic caucus. Powerful Jedi that George…

- Sends reporters to talk to wanted men in ‘Al-queda’ in Iraq, while Coalition Commissioner Paul Bremmer is interviewed by the same reporter and treated as if it were he that was the criminal. He should get a Nobel prize, but what he is likely to get is indicted.

I could go on like this all night, because virtually ALL of the western press coverage on the “Iraq Theatre in the War against Jihadists” has been propaganda, but propaganda for the other side, not ours. The western press defends, excuses and explains all the actions of the other side and acts in many ways as their agents. It may come as a surprise to them to know that “the other side” are not “virtuous rebel who only wish to withstand the evil western imperialists”, they are people who routinely behead civilians, blow up mosques, hospitals, highways, children in crowds, even “peace activists” all while the same press excoriates the soldiers, sailors and airmen of the west.

Why? Because to the western press the only indefensible, inexcusable act, is to defend the America and the men and women who willingly give up their lives to fight for it.

When it comes to propaganda, the left has been using it for years.

Now it’s our turn.

Oh, and Edward R. Murrow? The sainted and holy journalist from Mt. Olympus? He was a propagandist too, but for our side. He worked for “Voice of America”. He was a patriot who actually believed in the country, and despite what your bias may have taught you, that is not a bad thing. Remember “Radio Free Europe” when you were a kid? I do, what do you think they did? That’s right, propaganda. One result of RFE was a war that didn’t happen, and that was a good thing. Let’s hope we can accomplish the same in Iraq with a little “Radio Free Iraq” action.

You want to get a collection together to spread the good word about America overseas? Sign me up!

(Oh and by the way, I’m all for the use of “White Phosphorus” Why ? because its effective weapon at rousting Terrorists – end of story. Its not chemical warfare you jackasses anymore than black powder is. And another thing, I actually think it’s a good idea that our troops carry and occasionally use live ammo while over there. Tanks, LAWS Rockets, Mortars, Illumination flares, AC-130 Spectre Gunships, Helicopter Gunships, B-52’s, Daisy Cutters, use em all, use em up and finish it off. Don’t bring home anything that’s still working, ok guys? I don’t want to see anything in Army Navy Stores but unused Iraqi Guard equipment. Finish up and drive or fly everything direct to Davis-Monthan when you are done. And yeah, I think every dime we spent on UAV’s is a good investment, I hope the General Atomics factory is going 24 hours a day making the Predators. It makes my heart swell to know that the skies of ‘badguyistan’ are filled with deadly white robots. bwhahahahah!)

Posted @ December 05, 2005 01:26 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (10)

The Leader

A poem in a school textbook has been removed by embarrassed education officials in Pakistan after it was found that the first letters of each line spelt out "President George W Bush."

Reported by UK Telegraph.

I'm still waiting for France to create a version for President-in-exile John F Kerry.

QUICK! Boot up The Photoshop Kato!!!!

The Pretender

Pompus and limp with the handshake like a fish
Ready always to deny,defer and delay
Enjoys the credit, denies the blame
Strong in whatever "faith tradition" you might have at the time
Isnt afraid propose a great idea - even if its yours.
Doesnt hold one shape for more than a week
Eyes that dart from side to side
Never shuts up and never,ever,ever gives credit to others
Tells us what you just said and then takes credit for having been the first to say it
Jaundiced in the skin and in the disposition
Open to others as long as they are givin' ( cash that is..)
Hoping to win but playing to lose
Never "the one", but always the pretender
For what its worth, he was never a contender
Kicking and screaming that night in the indiginty of losing to "that man" GWB
Even from "the compound", the fireworks could be seen
Run he did and Run he lost
Run against Howard, Run against Joe, Run against them all he did, but it was to no matter
Yes, said one and all who thanked God - he lost.

...and thanks to the internet, there will be 6 million other versions of this by the time I get up in the morning.

Posted @ December 04, 2005 09:55 PM | Comments (5)

Gunsel

Sam Spade(sizing up Wilmer Cook, Gutmans hired gun and "associate":Young Wild West...
Wilmer Cook: Keep on riding me and they're gonna be picking iron out of your liver.
Sam Spade: The cheaper the crook, the gaudier the patter, eh?

From Dashiell Hammetts' The Maltese Falcon.
( it was the first thing I thought of when I saw the picture on drudge, I dont know why...)

The face of another victim of "Bush Derangement Syndrome". And how many of the progressive left, who's patiotism we dare not challenge applaud this man as a brave "hero of the little man for attempting to speak truth to power", when all he is a poor deluded fool whos simply lost his mind?

Posted @ December 04, 2005 03:22 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (2)

The Shortest Long Distance Flight In History

After 120 hour work week and the first night of regular sleep, I actually "went outside" today.

Unfortuantely it was spent Christmas Shopping. Two quick observations - First, can we dispense with the moaning and groaning about the "poor economy", because if you cant keep stuff on shelves and the parking lot is full and the streets leading to the shopping centers are completely packed, isnt that enough to convince even the most vinegar filled pessimistic Democrat that things are actually pretty good? Second, Its amazing how 2.00 a gallon for makes everyone feel like they are rich, but 3.00 makes everyone feel like they are Tom Joad. Its also amazing how few people saw how the market was going to work in relation to gas prices. Prices goes up, people dont drive. price goes down. Wow! Who wouldda thought!

Things are booming,shelves are empty, stores are packed. Its going to be a good year. It IS A good year! Accept it! Embrace it. Things are good!

One other Note: I heard New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin on the radio today begging people to move back to New Orleans. I thought to myself, Why? Why would anyone lucky enough to get out of New Orleans ever go back?

Now, while Im finishing up my big post of the weekend and having dinner, go look at this:

Dick Rutan - Pilot Extraordinaire - does it again.
When I grow up, I want to be just like him.

Posted @ December 03, 2005 06:41 PM | Aviation | Comments (1)

Whereabouts...

Sure, Id like to post more, but Im working on a new software release right now, and Ive been awake for 33 hours supporting it through its birthing process.

I promise, I've got a big post coming, and you will like it but I have priorities and doing the job thing first is one of them.

Ill be right back after I get some sleep.

Posted @ December 01, 2005 02:03 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (3)