Sunday, September 30, 2007
Peace in our time - September 30, 1938
On this day in History, British, French, German and Italian leaders signed the Munich Agreement. Chamberlain then returned to England and gave the speech some of which is shown above. Here is more of what he said: "We, the German Führer and Chancellor, and the British Prime Minister, have had a further meeting today and are agreed in recognizing that the question of Anglo-German relations is of the first importance for our two countries and for Europe.We regard the agreement signed last night and the Anglo-German Naval Agreement as symbolic of the desire of our two peoples never to go to war with one another again. We are resolved that the method of consultation shall be the method adopted to deal with any other questions that may concern our two countries, and we are determined to continue our efforts to remove possible sources of difference, and thus to contribute to assure the peace of Europe."
Then he added: "My good friends, for the second time in our history, a British Prime Minister has returned from Germany bringing peace with honor. I believe it is peace for our time... Go home and get a nice quiet sleep."
Shameful.
More Nonsense From Media Matters
Local radio host Mike Rosen (9 to 11:45 AM weekdays on 850 on the am dial) talked with a guy last week about his book regarding how white men have been voting lately in America. The subject of why American Jews largely support the Democrats came up from a caller (and it is a good question) and Mike Rosen said the Jews don't always support their interests and some of it is because of lack of economic knowledge. OK. Certainly most Americans are completely ignorant of economic maters. Why not the American Jews too?
So Media Matters has this coverage of what Mike Rosen said and has said previously as if he's shockingly and openly anti-Semitic. From the summary: [Rosen said] "so many Jews who are regarded by people as instinctively good merchants are just that. They're merchants at the retail level and don't have ... a good grasp of the big economic picture." On a previous broadcast, Rosen characterized Jews as having "a tendency toward pushiness and ostentatiousness."
Media Matters left out one little teeny tiny detail. Mike's Jewish (although he doesn't practice any organized religion and is not particularly spiritual). Seems to me like a weird fact to omit under the circumstances?
Of course if their purpose was to portray Mike Rosen as a self hating Jew, then that's a different story (although his ethno-religious affiliation would still be wholly relevant) but then Media Matters would be open to criticism for ethno-religious stereotyping. So they couldn't have done that.
So Media Matters has this coverage of what Mike Rosen said and has said previously as if he's shockingly and openly anti-Semitic. From the summary: [Rosen said] "so many Jews who are regarded by people as instinctively good merchants are just that. They're merchants at the retail level and don't have ... a good grasp of the big economic picture." On a previous broadcast, Rosen characterized Jews as having "a tendency toward pushiness and ostentatiousness."
Media Matters left out one little teeny tiny detail. Mike's Jewish (although he doesn't practice any organized religion and is not particularly spiritual). Seems to me like a weird fact to omit under the circumstances?
Of course if their purpose was to portray Mike Rosen as a self hating Jew, then that's a different story (although his ethno-religious affiliation would still be wholly relevant) but then Media Matters would be open to criticism for ethno-religious stereotyping. So they couldn't have done that.
Labels: Media Matters, Silly Omissions
Thought of the Day
Politeness, n. The most acceptable hypocrisy.
Ambrose Bierce (from The Devil's Dictionary)
Ambrose Bierce (from The Devil's Dictionary)
Labels: Ambrose Bierce quote
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Craig Silverman Drinks the Purple Kool Aid, Again
Local lawyer and radio talk show co-host and former Denver Chief Deputy DA Craig Silverman, while his so called conservative co-host was gone, did a Democratic talking point about the wholly false and indeed slanderous report out of Media Matters that Rush Limbaugh smeared the troops and called any who disagree with the idea of continuing to fight war in Iraq 'phony soldiers'
Bull pucky. He did no such thing.
Here's the charge: During the September 26 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh called service members who advocate U.S. withdrawal from Iraq "phony soldiers." Limbaugh has denounced as "contemptible" and "indecent" (Emphasis added).
Here's the statement in question according to Media Matters: [Caller]"No, it's not, and what's really funny is, they never talk to real soldiers. They like to pull these soldiers that come up out of the blue and talk to the media." Limbaugh interjected, "The phony soldiers." The caller, who had earlier said, "I am a serving American military, in the Army," agreed, replying, "The phony soldiers."
Do you see any equation of soldiers who don't support the war in Iraq with phony soldiers? It's not there.
Then Media Matters immediately followed that scandalous, groundless charge with a paragraph about the 7 sergeants et al. from the 82nd who wrote an OpEd published in the New York Times critical of the war. Now there are people out there saying Rush Limbaugh was referring to those guys when he used the words 'phony soldiers'. Craig Silverman agreed with a caller yesterday who did just that. But it is a complete crock. Limbaugh never mentioned the contrary sergeants, nor was he referring to real military types who disagreed with our foreign policy or how the war was being fought. He was referring to fake guys who are not real military or who otherwise lie about their service record and then lie further to blackguard the real troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Here's the whole transcript.
Limbaugh immediately followed up the 'phony soldiers' statement, after the call was over, with talking about a real phony soldier, one of many the left has held up as a hero (before they had to retract), Jesse MacBeth. He was clearly talking about real phony soldiers like MacBeth. This is not just a 'taken out of context' smear, it is a 'made up out of whole cloth' smear.
I wonder if Craig will backtrack any on Monday's show. Something tells me he won't.
UPDATE: Now Media Matters is claiming that when Rush Limbaugh answered this calumny on his show yesterday he edited the transcript. Yeah, and? As I recall, that's right, he left out what Mike said after the 'phony soldiers' comments (about a minute 35 seconds of conversation); but Limbaugh has also published the whole transcript (see above) and the part he didn't play yesterday doesn't help Media Matters in the slightest. That is, the rest of the military Mike's call does nothing to skew the context of Rush's following his call with the explanation of what 'phony soldiers' meant with the news report on the execrable Jesse MacBeth. This Media Matters matter is an unfair smear on top of a slander, wrapped in an enigma. (Sorry, the sentence got away from me).
Bull pucky. He did no such thing.
Here's the charge: During the September 26 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh called service members who advocate U.S. withdrawal from Iraq "phony soldiers." Limbaugh has denounced as "contemptible" and "indecent" (Emphasis added).
Here's the statement in question according to Media Matters: [Caller]"No, it's not, and what's really funny is, they never talk to real soldiers. They like to pull these soldiers that come up out of the blue and talk to the media." Limbaugh interjected, "The phony soldiers." The caller, who had earlier said, "I am a serving American military, in the Army," agreed, replying, "The phony soldiers."
Do you see any equation of soldiers who don't support the war in Iraq with phony soldiers? It's not there.
Then Media Matters immediately followed that scandalous, groundless charge with a paragraph about the 7 sergeants et al. from the 82nd who wrote an OpEd published in the New York Times critical of the war. Now there are people out there saying Rush Limbaugh was referring to those guys when he used the words 'phony soldiers'. Craig Silverman agreed with a caller yesterday who did just that. But it is a complete crock. Limbaugh never mentioned the contrary sergeants, nor was he referring to real military types who disagreed with our foreign policy or how the war was being fought. He was referring to fake guys who are not real military or who otherwise lie about their service record and then lie further to blackguard the real troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Here's the whole transcript.
Limbaugh immediately followed up the 'phony soldiers' statement, after the call was over, with talking about a real phony soldier, one of many the left has held up as a hero (before they had to retract), Jesse MacBeth. He was clearly talking about real phony soldiers like MacBeth. This is not just a 'taken out of context' smear, it is a 'made up out of whole cloth' smear.
I wonder if Craig will backtrack any on Monday's show. Something tells me he won't.
UPDATE: Now Media Matters is claiming that when Rush Limbaugh answered this calumny on his show yesterday he edited the transcript. Yeah, and? As I recall, that's right, he left out what Mike said after the 'phony soldiers' comments (about a minute 35 seconds of conversation); but Limbaugh has also published the whole transcript (see above) and the part he didn't play yesterday doesn't help Media Matters in the slightest. That is, the rest of the military Mike's call does nothing to skew the context of Rush's following his call with the explanation of what 'phony soldiers' meant with the news report on the execrable Jesse MacBeth. This Media Matters matter is an unfair smear on top of a slander, wrapped in an enigma. (Sorry, the sentence got away from me).
Labels: Media Matters. Slander, Rush LImbaugh
Rock Concert Review
Went with eldest daughter and a modified guitar god gang (IT guys Mark and John) to Eric Johnson and opening band in some rich guy's basement over on the old Lowry Air Force Base in Denver. It wasn't really in a rich guy's basement, that's just what it reminded me of. It was at the Soiled Dove underground (and soiled dove is a kenning for prostitute). I guess 250 people were there. The opening band started pretty late at 8:15. They were three guys in their twenties--bass, guitar and drums (just like Eric Johnson's band) and I guess they played jazz. The guitarist was technically proficient, but his songs (instrumentals) had no structure, nor pleasing melody, nor any interesting things, and all the emotional impact of a dandelion seed. It was a good foil, I'm sure unconscious, to the headliners to follow, because all of Johnson's songs have all those things and more What is it that makes a guitar instrumental good? Imagine music making you think!
As we waited in line, a youngish man nearby asked into his cell phone, "Eric, where are you?" We thought it a slightly ominous question if he was addressing Eric Johnson, which we thought unlikely. But it turns out he was; it was Roscoe Beck the bassist with the great modern bluesman, Robben Ford, who now plays excellently with Johnson, although discovery of all that was hours away.
Johnson did a righteous Righteous, an extended and lovely Cliffs of Dover, a hauntingly beautiful Desert Rose and two new songs I thought had a lot of promise, Arithmetic and Morning Sun. He also did a new country instrumental which I thought would make most of the country guitarists out there sit down and reassess their careers, although maybe that's just me. The first encore ended in a note perfect cover of Hendrix's The Wind Cries Mary and the final encore was a semi head cutting contest version of John Mayall's Steppin' Out where Johnson was constantly schooling the young guitarist of the opening band.
Now to some artistic meditations by someone who can't play guitar but sure can appreciate good guitar playing after 40 years of critical and intense listening. My son was deep into Mario Brothers video games so we bought the one where you could make a music track with various sounds. All we ever produced were random, totally unsatisfying groups of notes. We could not make a melody. We could not give a rhythm to the sounds which was not a product of the limits of the 'game.' We could not produce any structure whatsoever. I'm sure I still have the game cartridge somewhere gathering dust. The songs of the opening band had that feel about them. Eric Johnson can give order to the chaos, and I'm not just talking about the inherent mathematics of music. Nor am I merely talking about a Keith Jarrett like ability to combine two or more different themes and rhythms into what two human hands are producing with tuned wire wound strings. If I knew more about music I could go a level deeper here, but suffice it to say that even though I can't begin to define what makes good guitar solos and instrumentals, like Justice Potter Stewart with pornography, I know it when I hear it, and I heard song after song of it last night.
Eric Johnson plays tonight at the Fox on the Hill in Boulder. Do yourself a favor and go see him. There may be a handful of electric rock guitarists out there as good or better than he is, but only a handful, if that.
As we waited in line, a youngish man nearby asked into his cell phone, "Eric, where are you?" We thought it a slightly ominous question if he was addressing Eric Johnson, which we thought unlikely. But it turns out he was; it was Roscoe Beck the bassist with the great modern bluesman, Robben Ford, who now plays excellently with Johnson, although discovery of all that was hours away.
Johnson did a righteous Righteous, an extended and lovely Cliffs of Dover, a hauntingly beautiful Desert Rose and two new songs I thought had a lot of promise, Arithmetic and Morning Sun. He also did a new country instrumental which I thought would make most of the country guitarists out there sit down and reassess their careers, although maybe that's just me. The first encore ended in a note perfect cover of Hendrix's The Wind Cries Mary and the final encore was a semi head cutting contest version of John Mayall's Steppin' Out where Johnson was constantly schooling the young guitarist of the opening band.
Now to some artistic meditations by someone who can't play guitar but sure can appreciate good guitar playing after 40 years of critical and intense listening. My son was deep into Mario Brothers video games so we bought the one where you could make a music track with various sounds. All we ever produced were random, totally unsatisfying groups of notes. We could not make a melody. We could not give a rhythm to the sounds which was not a product of the limits of the 'game.' We could not produce any structure whatsoever. I'm sure I still have the game cartridge somewhere gathering dust. The songs of the opening band had that feel about them. Eric Johnson can give order to the chaos, and I'm not just talking about the inherent mathematics of music. Nor am I merely talking about a Keith Jarrett like ability to combine two or more different themes and rhythms into what two human hands are producing with tuned wire wound strings. If I knew more about music I could go a level deeper here, but suffice it to say that even though I can't begin to define what makes good guitar solos and instrumentals, like Justice Potter Stewart with pornography, I know it when I hear it, and I heard song after song of it last night.
Eric Johnson plays tonight at the Fox on the Hill in Boulder. Do yourself a favor and go see him. There may be a handful of electric rock guitarists out there as good or better than he is, but only a handful, if that.
Labels: Eric Johnson Concert
This Day in the History of Evil
On this day in 1941, the Babi Yar Massacre took place over two days (September 29-30). Using just clubs and Mauser K-98s, the Germans killed 33,771 Jewish men, women and children near Kiev in the Ukraine. That's a rate of about 700 an hour. It is disturbing to know that they became much, much more efficient once they began losing the war a few months later.
Labels: WWII history; European theater
Thought of the Day
A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.
Mark Twain (attributed)
Mark Twain (attributed)
Labels: Mark Twain quote
Friday, September 28, 2007
This Day in the History of Surrender in the War on Drugs
On this day in 1997, Swiss voters overwhelmingly endorsed their government's liberal drug policies, including the controversial state distribution of heroin to hardened addicts. Sounds like a good idea to me*. I'll post on the outcome.
*I'd sell it to them at cost and make them use then and there at the government heroin store.
*I'd sell it to them at cost and make them use then and there at the government heroin store.
Labels: Heroin Additction
Thought of the Day
Age is mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.
Satchel Paige
Satchel Paige
Labels: Satchel Paige quote
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Rememberance of One of America's Multi-Billionaires
I read through the list of 400 richest people in America in Forbes magazine last night and there at # 91 was my old friend from high school, Stanley Druckenmiller--3.5 billion, three kids, has a charity for education in Harlem, NYC. 3.5 billion. With a b. Madre de Dios. And except for the growth of the jowls, he looks remarkably the same.
Stan's parents moved up to Baltimore or somewhere at the start of our senior year so he stayed a few months each with three of us, me, George Whitley and Harry Talheimer, I believe, so he didn't have to transfer his last year. He was a strange mix of socially liberal and fiscally eager, basically a good guy.
I know you'll never read this, Stan, but I'm proud of you, just as much for the few billion as for the charity and the three children. If we ever do cross paths, I hope you'll tell me the straight poop on your years working for George Soros and the raid you helped engineer on the British Pound, over some glasses of thousand dollar brandy, of course. Your treat.
UPDATE: I found an old photo of Stan, Ry Marchant and me at Stan's wedding in the late 70s near Pittsburgh. I'm standing downhill.
Labels: Personal History; Stanley Druckenmiller
This Day in the History of Muslim Religious Toleration
On this day in 1009, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem (the traditional site of Jesus' Crucifixion, and one of the holiest sites in the Christian world) was destroyed by Caliph al-Hakim. It took a while, but angry Christians from Europe came and tried to create a more tolerant kingdom around Jerusalem, and partially succeeded for a while after initial excesses. The Israelis, thank God, have the duty now and the area, holy to three religions, couldn't be in more competent hands.
Plenty of people put the date of the destruction as October 17. Could have been. Oh, and it's been rebuilt.
Plenty of people put the date of the destruction as October 17. Could have been. Oh, and it's been rebuilt.
Labels: Causes of the Crusades
Thought of the Day
I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me.
Noel Coward
Noel Coward
Labels: Noel Coward quote
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Warmie Kool Aid Drinkers and Projection
Fellow blogger, Mark Dunn, recently posted about the 180 degree turn (direction, not heat) Warmie 'martyr' James Hansen took from predicting a new ice age in the 70s to predicting a global warming crisis in the... the period we now live in. It's much worse than that.
Hansen apparently is deep in the pocket of loony money trader George Soros, who has given Hansen $720,000 recently. Sounds like a shill to me.
But wait, isn't it in the Warmie handbook to accuse any scientist skeptical of the global warming line of being paid off by the international corporations dealing in energy?
Ah, it all becomes clear to me.
Hansen apparently is deep in the pocket of loony money trader George Soros, who has given Hansen $720,000 recently. Sounds like a shill to me.
But wait, isn't it in the Warmie handbook to accuse any scientist skeptical of the global warming line of being paid off by the international corporations dealing in energy?
Ah, it all becomes clear to me.
Labels: Pot to Kettle--You're Black
A Cautionary Example
Traitorous supporter of Islamic terrorism, convicted felon and former (disbarred) far lefty lawyer Lynne Stewart has been hired to teach, wait for it...ethics at a Hofstra Law School conference.
Well, I guess she could serve as an example of what not to do.
Wait, shouldn't she be in jail?
Well, I guess she could serve as an example of what not to do.
Wait, shouldn't she be in jail?
Labels: Islamo-fascism, Liberal moral blindness
A Whiff of Victory
We've seen the Taliban get its butt kicked again and again lately by even NATO troops (albeit mainly English speakers) and resort to counterproductive tactics like suicide bombing and harsh reprisals. Now we're hearing the Taliban has indicated a willingness to participate in peace negotiations with the Karzai government. If true, this is great, great news and more evidence, if any were needed, that fighting back is a better way to go than giving up. Well done veterans of the latest Afghan war.
The main reason given for the ideologically inflexible Taliban’s preparedness to talk peace now is because the war is deadlocked. The defense has held. This was supposed to be the year that the extremist Muslim group was to drive NATO troops from Afghanistan, capture Kabul and reestablish its rule there. One Pakistani analyst said a successful offensive this year was “a point of honor” with the Taliban. But this decisive campaign, codenamed Ghazwatul Badr after a battle the Prophet Mohammed fought, never materialized, helped by the fact NATO and Afghan forces killed its commander last spring.
Labels: Dreaded Taliban Peace Push
World Reviews
Some of this blog's savvier commenters were happy with AhmadiNijad's speech and were confident that thinking people would see through the dodges, lies and incoherence, particularly about homosexual Iranians. I wasn't quite so sanguine. Maybe some Democrats and Independents here in America think a little worse of him, but the rest of the world, not so much. Charles Johnson looks at 30 plus pages of comments at the BBC. Samples
This was not an invitation to embrace freedom of speech. It was a propaganda campaign organized by Mr. Bollinger and co. - one which they lost to Ahmadinejad. How can the president of a famous university be so “astonishingly uneducated” as to take it upon himself to dictate to his audience what to think of his guest? Is this freedom of thought, common courtsey? Rather than insulting a nation by insulting its elected president, Mr. Bollinger should take a look at his own president right at home.
Although Ahmadinejad (AJad) is no saint, he managed to score some very good points. He stayed composed in the face of childish insults from Bolwinkel:),he made some very good points on hypocrisy of US with regards to terrorits & Nuclear issue. As he pointed out, US has designated the MEK as a terrorist organization yet it harbors them in Iraq because they serve its purpose. AJad’s speech showed the hypocrisy of the West and media that were trying so hard to discredit him by spinning the outcome!
Hugh Hewitt--right again. (Although the page I read had some good sense mixed in with the morally blind).
This was not an invitation to embrace freedom of speech. It was a propaganda campaign organized by Mr. Bollinger and co. - one which they lost to Ahmadinejad. How can the president of a famous university be so “astonishingly uneducated” as to take it upon himself to dictate to his audience what to think of his guest? Is this freedom of thought, common courtsey? Rather than insulting a nation by insulting its elected president, Mr. Bollinger should take a look at his own president right at home.
Although Ahmadinejad (AJad) is no saint, he managed to score some very good points. He stayed composed in the face of childish insults from Bolwinkel:),he made some very good points on hypocrisy of US with regards to terrorits & Nuclear issue. As he pointed out, US has designated the MEK as a terrorist organization yet it harbors them in Iraq because they serve its purpose. AJad’s speech showed the hypocrisy of the West and media that were trying so hard to discredit him by spinning the outcome!
Hugh Hewitt--right again. (Although the page I read had some good sense mixed in with the morally blind).
Labels: AhmadiNijad, Columbia
This Day in the History of Nearly Lost Masterpieces
On this day in 1687, a Venetian mortar shell hits and ignites several barrels of Turkish gunpowder being stored in the Parthenon in Athens, causing a lot of damage to a very beautiful building.
Labels: Parthenon Blown Up
Thought of the Day
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
The Non-Pimple Speaks
Colorado's most famous property law teacher and Tuesday Rocky Mountain News columnist Paul Campos has today a shaggy dog complaint about Bill Kristol. Campos after several pointless paragraphs regarding Campos' neighbor in the pornography business, calls Kristol a war monger, no, worse--a person who loves war like HH loved Lolita. Campos offers not the slightest bit of evidence of support for this attack, but Campos rarely has any evidence to support his groundless attacks on his betters.
What Campos fails, apparently, even to be able to see is that neither Bill Kristol, nor we, are out looking for enemies to "create" They exist already and are called Islamic Extremists et al. and most assuredly they are waging war against us; and in the case of Iran, whom we have never fought, they have been doing so since 1979, when they invaded our Embassy in Tehran and took our fellow citizens hostage. Lately they have been providing ever more sophisticated arms to the Muslim Extremists we are fighting against in Iraq.
Kristol wants us to defend ourselves and fight back. Campos says, about that rational desire, that the ruling passion of Kristol's life is to involve the United States in as many wars as possible, with as many enemies as he can find or create.
Then Campos calls Kristol a coward and a chicken hawk and lower than the neighbor pornographer. Wow. What a scrapper he is, on paper.
Campos is a fool and a decidedly third tier pundit who has to be ever more shrill, yet banal at the same time, to disparage others to make his pitiful, bitter self feel a little better. Or at least it seems that way to me. But then I don't like Paul Campos and I do like Bill Kristol.
What Campos fails, apparently, even to be able to see is that neither Bill Kristol, nor we, are out looking for enemies to "create" They exist already and are called Islamic Extremists et al. and most assuredly they are waging war against us; and in the case of Iran, whom we have never fought, they have been doing so since 1979, when they invaded our Embassy in Tehran and took our fellow citizens hostage. Lately they have been providing ever more sophisticated arms to the Muslim Extremists we are fighting against in Iraq.
Kristol wants us to defend ourselves and fight back. Campos says, about that rational desire, that the ruling passion of Kristol's life is to involve the United States in as many wars as possible, with as many enemies as he can find or create.
Then Campos calls Kristol a coward and a chicken hawk and lower than the neighbor pornographer. Wow. What a scrapper he is, on paper.
Campos is a fool and a decidedly third tier pundit who has to be ever more shrill, yet banal at the same time, to disparage others to make his pitiful, bitter self feel a little better. Or at least it seems that way to me. But then I don't like Paul Campos and I do like Bill Kristol.
Labels: Paul Campos; Bill Kristol
This Day in the History of Surprisingly Late Technological Developments
On this day in 1956, the world's first transatlantic telephone cable system began operating (Clarenville, Newfoundland to Oban, Scotland). Apparently all the transatlantic cables laid in the 70 years before had been limited to telegraph transmissions.
(h/t Today in Science History)
(h/t Today in Science History)
Labels: Transatlantic Cable
Evil Thought of the Day
The West has given more significance to the myth of the genocide of the Jews, even more significant than God, religion, and the prophets, (it) deals very severely with those who deny this myth but does not do anything to those who deny God, religion, and the prophet. If you have burned the Jews, why don't you give a piece of Europe, the United States, Canada or Alaska to Israel? Our question is, if you have committed this huge crime, why should the innocent nation of Palestine pay for this crime?
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Labels: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad quote
Monday, September 24, 2007
Food Insecurity
I never thought that the technical things in Orwell's 1984 would come to fruition, but I was always worried about newspeak. That reduction of language had a real shot of coming true. Behold.
There isn't any starvation in America. Whenever it happens, usually some evil parents, of some sort, starving their kid or charge to death, it makes the news. We have the opposite problem, too much food and the 20% obesity that follows.
However, that's not good enough for some bureaucrats, so they have concocted a new description, called food security, strictly from the self evaluated response to a questionnaire. If at all times in the past year you have had all the food you thought you needed for an active and healthy 'lifestyle' then you are food secure. If at any time during that year you have not had all the food you think you needed, then you are food insecure. 12 years ago they used to talk about food insecure with hunger (feeling uncomfortable from lack of food) and food insecure with severe hunger, but the newspeak is now down to three categories: Food secure; Food insecure; and, Very low food security.
In an earlier post I made fun of Al Gore and his Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman for saying in 1997 that there were 30 million hungry people in America. I was right. They were wrong. The 1995 figures (p.5) were that 88.1 % of the American households were food secure and only .o8 % (roughly 800,000 people) were food insecure with severe hunger. That's not even close to the millions Gore and Glickman were falsely portraying as starving, sorry, suffering from hunger.
The 2005 figures (p. 4) are better; a full 89% are now food secure (so much for the problem growing) and only 3.9 % have very low food security.
School children of poor families get free breakfast and lunch on school days. The federal Food Stamp Program is so rich in food and poor in takers that they are running advertising to get more people to apply for food stamps. Anyone who says there are a lot of hungry people in America and the problem is getting worse is delusional. Just in a separate reality.
Or perhaps the idea of actually not having enough food to eat has been replaced by the newspeak 'food insecurity'.
There isn't any starvation in America. Whenever it happens, usually some evil parents, of some sort, starving their kid or charge to death, it makes the news. We have the opposite problem, too much food and the 20% obesity that follows.
However, that's not good enough for some bureaucrats, so they have concocted a new description, called food security, strictly from the self evaluated response to a questionnaire. If at all times in the past year you have had all the food you thought you needed for an active and healthy 'lifestyle' then you are food secure. If at any time during that year you have not had all the food you think you needed, then you are food insecure. 12 years ago they used to talk about food insecure with hunger (feeling uncomfortable from lack of food) and food insecure with severe hunger, but the newspeak is now down to three categories: Food secure; Food insecure; and, Very low food security.
In an earlier post I made fun of Al Gore and his Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman for saying in 1997 that there were 30 million hungry people in America. I was right. They were wrong. The 1995 figures (p.5) were that 88.1 % of the American households were food secure and only .o8 % (roughly 800,000 people) were food insecure with severe hunger. That's not even close to the millions Gore and Glickman were falsely portraying as starving, sorry, suffering from hunger.
The 2005 figures (p. 4) are better; a full 89% are now food secure (so much for the problem growing) and only 3.9 % have very low food security.
School children of poor families get free breakfast and lunch on school days. The federal Food Stamp Program is so rich in food and poor in takers that they are running advertising to get more people to apply for food stamps. Anyone who says there are a lot of hungry people in America and the problem is getting worse is delusional. Just in a separate reality.
Or perhaps the idea of actually not having enough food to eat has been replaced by the newspeak 'food insecurity'.
Labels: Bureaucratic idiocy
Failed IED Attack
The consensus of us chicken hawk, arm chair generals is that this was a 155 mm shell buried, thankfully, too deep. Holy sh** indeed.
Hitler, The Mufti Of Jerusalem And Modern Islamo Nazism
AhmadiNejad, running rings around the useful idiot Bollinger, said that the Palestinians had nothing to do with the Holocaust. Oh, yea? Then what was their spiritual leader doing with Hitler during the 40s? Pushing for kindness to the Jews? The most frightening thing this afternoon was not AhmadiNejad's hateful and false words, it was the apparently historically ignorant college kids applauding his lies. Very. Disturbing. Columbia University is, like Fredo to Michael, dead to me.
Meet The New Consensus, Same As The Old Consensus
The 'Old' Consensus?
INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
Posted 9/21/2007
Climate Change: Did NASA scientist James Hansen, the global warming alarmist in chief, once believe we were headed for . . . an ice age? An old Washington Post story indicates he did.
On July 9, 1971, the Post published a story headlined "U.S. Scientist Sees New Ice Age Coming." It told of a prediction by NASA and Columbia University scientist S.I. Rasool. The culprit: man's use of fossil fuels.
The Post reported that Rasool, writing in Science, argued that in "the next 50 years" fine dust that humans discharge into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuel will screen out so much of the sun's rays that the Earth's average temperature could fall by six degrees.
Sustained emissions over five to 10 years, Rasool claimed, "could be sufficient to trigger an ice age."
Aiding Rasool's research, the Post reported, was a "computer program developed by Dr. James Hansen," who was, according to his resume, a Columbia University research associate at the time.
So what about those greenhouse gases that man pumps into the skies? Weren't they worried about them causing a greenhouse effect that would heat the planet, as Hansen, Al Gore and a host of others so fervently believe today?
"They found no need to worry about the carbon dioxide fuel-burning puts in the atmosphere," the Post said in the story, which was spotted last week by Washington resident John Lockwood, who was doing research at the Library of Congress and alerted the Washington Times to his finding.
Hansen has some explaining to do. The public deserves to know how he was converted from an apparent believer in a coming ice age who had no worries about greenhouse gas emissions to a global warming fear monger.
INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
Posted 9/21/2007
Climate Change: Did NASA scientist James Hansen, the global warming alarmist in chief, once believe we were headed for . . . an ice age? An old Washington Post story indicates he did.
On July 9, 1971, the Post published a story headlined "U.S. Scientist Sees New Ice Age Coming." It told of a prediction by NASA and Columbia University scientist S.I. Rasool. The culprit: man's use of fossil fuels.
The Post reported that Rasool, writing in Science, argued that in "the next 50 years" fine dust that humans discharge into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuel will screen out so much of the sun's rays that the Earth's average temperature could fall by six degrees.
Sustained emissions over five to 10 years, Rasool claimed, "could be sufficient to trigger an ice age."
Aiding Rasool's research, the Post reported, was a "computer program developed by Dr. James Hansen," who was, according to his resume, a Columbia University research associate at the time.
So what about those greenhouse gases that man pumps into the skies? Weren't they worried about them causing a greenhouse effect that would heat the planet, as Hansen, Al Gore and a host of others so fervently believe today?
"They found no need to worry about the carbon dioxide fuel-burning puts in the atmosphere," the Post said in the story, which was spotted last week by Washington resident John Lockwood, who was doing research at the Library of Congress and alerted the Washington Times to his finding.
Hansen has some explaining to do. The public deserves to know how he was converted from an apparent believer in a coming ice age who had no worries about greenhouse gas emissions to a global warming fear monger.
This is a man, as Lockwood noted in his message to the Times' John McCaslin, who has called those skeptical of his global warming theory "court jesters." We wonder: What choice words did he have for those who were skeptical of the ice age theory in 1971?
People can change their positions based on new information or by taking a closer or more open-minded look at what is already known. There's nothing wrong with a reversal or modification of views as long as it is arrived at honestly.
But what about political hypocrisy? It's clear that Hansen is as much a political animal as he is a scientist. Did he switch from one approaching cataclysm to another because he thought it would be easier to sell to the public? Was it a career advancement move or an honest change of heart on science, based on empirical evidence?
If Hansen wants to change positions again, the time is now. With NASA having recently revised historical temperature data that Hansen himself compiled, the door has been opened for him to embrace the ice age projections of the early 1970s.
Could be he's feeling a little chill in the air again.
Mark's note:
I just love the out and out alarmism de jour.
This Day in the History of Seriously Successful Weapons
On this day in 1960, the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the USS Enterprise, (CVN 65) was launched at Newport News, Virginia. It was the most astonishing weapon system at the time. Length: 1120 ft, flight deck width: 250 ft, displacement: 93,970 tons. Speed: 33 knots. Range: 470,000 miles at 20 knots. Air wing: 86 aircraft. Crew: 5765. Still out there today.
Labels: Nuclear Aircraft Carriers
Thought of the Day
Politics, n. Strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles.
Ambrose Bierce (from The Devil's Dictionary)
Ambrose Bierce (from The Devil's Dictionary)
Labels: Ambrose Bierce quote
Sunday, September 23, 2007
REMIX: Taser Time
I admit that I laugh at this one ever time he screams. I know it's wrong, but I can't help myself.
Thoughts on the Current State of the Law
I'm a trial lawyer of about 24 years experience, with about 125 jury trials. When I first was a lawyer I heard the jokes about how dumb juries were, but for a long time there I was pretty impressed. It was difficult to pull the wool over their eyes. Then there were a series of California jury trial results and all my respect collapsed. Good to see it's not just me. Here's a funny bit from Burt Prelutsky about why Dan Rather has brought such a pitiful lawsuit.
The second person is Phil Spector. Or, rather, it’s his jury. I mean, could it just be a coincidence that Rather announced his lawsuit the very day after Spector’s jury announced that, basically, seven of them believed that Lana Clarkson went to Phil Spector’s house for the first time, somehow figured out where he kept his gun, and then sat down in the foyer and shot herself?! O.J.’s jury could only sit home, shaking their heads in stunned admiration.
So, I can see how Rather may have decided that if he can somehow get his case heard in Los Angeles, he just might win his case in a cakewalk.
(Emphasis added).
I try to avoid jury trial if I possibly can now. We rely on citizens with good analytical skills and common sense for our juries, and they are getting increasingly hard to find.
The second person is Phil Spector. Or, rather, it’s his jury. I mean, could it just be a coincidence that Rather announced his lawsuit the very day after Spector’s jury announced that, basically, seven of them believed that Lana Clarkson went to Phil Spector’s house for the first time, somehow figured out where he kept his gun, and then sat down in the foyer and shot herself?! O.J.’s jury could only sit home, shaking their heads in stunned admiration.
So, I can see how Rather may have decided that if he can somehow get his case heard in Los Angeles, he just might win his case in a cakewalk.
(Emphasis added).
I try to avoid jury trial if I possibly can now. We rely on citizens with good analytical skills and common sense for our juries, and they are getting increasingly hard to find.
Labels: Personal History; Jury Trials
This Day in the Long History of Republicans Helping Black Americans
On this day in 1957, President Eisenhower used troops of the 101st (then still) Airborne Division to help integrate Central High School, in Little Rock, Arkansas over the strenuous objections of Democratic Governor Orval Faubus. I'm not making that name up.
Below on the right is a picture of the 9 students who attended the High School with NCAAP president Daisy Bates. They were known as the Little Rock Nine.
Bottom Row, Left to Right: Thelma Mothershed, Minnijean Brown, Elizabeth Eckford, Gloria Ray Top Row, Left to Right: Jefferson Thomas, Melba Pattillo, Terrence Roberts, Carlotta Walls, Daisy Bates (NAACP President), Ernest Green.
Labels: Forced Southern Deseregation
Thought of the Day
Saturday, September 22, 2007
This Day in the History of Wars We Want Both Sides to Lose
On this day in 1980, the Iran-Iraq War began when Iraqi troops seized part of Iran in a border dispute. This war is also called the First Persian Gulf War, and the Iranians call it the Imposed War. It was a brutal eight-year conflict, with nearly 2 million casualties, and no clear-cut victor, although almost all of Iraq's gains in the first part of the war had been pushed back by the Iranians by the end. Both sides used poison gas against the other. Lovely.
Labels: Iran-Iraq War
Thought of the Day
Friday, September 21, 2007
More Global Warming Mindset
Proof that once you're in a particular mindset, no amount of contrary facts can dissuade you, is contained in these two stories on the so called experts' opinions regarding global warming. They both center on the sea ice melt in the Arctic Ocean which occurs every year at the end of Summer (which is exactly now). This year, there is more sea ice melt than the average. But, of course, that's why they call it an average and not 'the expected' or 'the normal', although the so called experts are treating it exactly like there is a set amount of sea ice melt in the Arctic each summer without variation. There has only been satellite ice imaging since 1979. Less than 30 years of measurement is not sufficient data from which to be able to discern a climatological trend. Anything else than satellite measurement is necessarily based on anecdote. Regardless of the lack of knowledge, Chicken Little is shouting, however, and loudly. I like it when the Warmies tell us their bold predictions of things that will happen soon. Like the hurricane expert who said that in the year after hurricane Katrina (2006) there would be more and more powerful Atlantic hurricanes probably to hit the US. There were none in 2006--not just less, NONE. Please Warmies, tell me exactly what will happen to the Arctic sea ice over the next twelve months. Please.But back to the aforementioned stories.
The New York Times coverage is actually pretty funny. Here are the last few sentences of a story that stated flat out the sea ice melt was a result of man made global warming:
...“We’re starting to see the system respond to global warming.”
...“We’re starting to see the system respond to global warming.”
Still, he and other scientists acknowledged that both poles were extraordinarily complicated systems of ice, water and land, and that the mix of human and natural influences was not easy to clarify.
Sea ice around Antarctica has seen unusual winter expansions recently, and this week is near a record high
. That last sentence is actually not factual, the Antarctic sea ice at the end of the Southern Hemisphere's Winter is at a record high, at least since satellite measurements have been recorded.*
Earlier this month, the New York Times reported that: Two-thirds of the world’s polar bears will disappear by 2050, even under moderate projections for shrinking summer sea ice caused by greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.All of the bears in Alaska will be dead by that time, said the experts.
But as Paul at Wizbang points out, someone forgot to tell the bears.
In Nunavut, Canada's newest territory way up north, where there are 12 of the 13 Canadian populations of polar bears, so far this year there are many many more than they counted last year.
Last year 841 polar bears were counted in the survey area and halfway through this year's survey, approximately 600 have been counted. Taylor estimates that this year's number could be as high as 1,000.
The total of Canada's bears are estimated at 15,000.
The estimated head count of polar bears in the world varies between 22,000 and 35,000. In 1950, there were only 5,000.
To be fair, where the polar bears numbers are continuing to expand is near where the NYT's sad story predicting their near decline said they would always survive.
UPDATE: Here's what the NYT reported about the sea ice melt: ...several ice experts who have studied Russian and Alaskan records going back many decades said the ice retreat this year was probably unmatched in the 20th century. (Emphasis added).
Well perhaps those experts ought to read a little history, like of Roald Amundsen's sailing through the Northwest Passage beginning in 1903. Had he not stopped to look for the magnetic north pole, he could have sailed from the North Atlantic to the Bearing Sea in just a few weeks because the way was 100% ice free, just as the 'experts' are marveling at now and calling unprecedented. I could be mistaken but I think 1903 was actually in the the 20th century.
UPDATE II: *My source for the amount of sea ice surrounding Antarctica has backed off its statement based, it said, on a 'glitch' in the computer program it used. Apparently a few weeks ago, there were 15.91 million square miles of sea ice and the record maximum since 1979 is 16.03. I stand corrected.
Labels: Global Warming Hoax
Nuff Said....
Some Pictures Are More Beautiful Than Others
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
This Day in the Development of War Winning Weapons
On this day in 1942, the B-29 Superfortress first flew near Seattle Washington. The largest, most advanced bomber of WWII, the B-29 was used exclusively in the Pacific and, although designed for high altitude precision bombing, did its worst work (prior to early August, 1945) from only 5,000 feet with relatively low tech incendiaries.
Labels: WWII history; Pacific theater
Thought of the Day
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Lopsided Totals
Laura Ingraham, who has a new book out, Power to the People, played a few times on her radio show this morning an audio clip from the television coffee klatch, The View, which show I've, sadly, never seen, where Joy Behar wondered why prominent Republicans were missing from several of the so called debates and asked if they were all at a Klan meeting. Boy, is she a dumb ass.
The Ku Klux Klan was started 1865 by 6 Democrats in Tennessee and the membership through the decades to the present, happily, sad shadow of its former self has been overwhelmingly Democrat. I believe from the little research I have done that for every Republican who has been a member of the Klan there have been at least 100 Democratic members. 100 to 1. Now is that a Republican organization or is it a Democratic organization? The question answers itself.
Likewise I am deep into The Black Book of Communism which indicates that the political murder by lefties (and I'm not including the National Socialists, only the International Socialists also known as Marxist-Leninist or Communists) during the 20th Century just misses 100,000,000 (one hundred million). I think the French authors seriously under count the Soviet political murders (and if you count the political murders by the National Socialists, you're well over 100 mil) but we'll leave it at that.
On the right, during the 20th Century, I am hard pressed to find anyting close to 1,000,000 political murders. I'm leaving out the political murders by Imperial Japanese forces because I can find no authority that calls them either lefties or righties. Racist nationalists is the proper description, I believe. Nor am I including the approximately 10 million killed by Chinese Nationalists led by Chiang Kai-shek because, again as far as I can tell, all the authorities just call them merely less left than the Chicoms, certainly not right, not dedicated to small government, low taxes, protected property rights and free markets, etc. (Chiang Kai-shek studied in Moscow in 1923 so perhaps not even a liberal republican). So again the ratio of political murder by the left is 100 to 1, compared to the right. Which end of the political spectrum has all the murderous freedom takers? Which side owns, according to actual history (as opposed to rank ignorance like Joy Behar suffers from), political murder, just as the Democrats own the Klan and its history of violent, racist oppression of black citizens of America? The question again answers itself.
My only question is how, given these frightening histories, can any thinking person be on the left? It is a mystery to me.
The Ku Klux Klan was started 1865 by 6 Democrats in Tennessee and the membership through the decades to the present, happily, sad shadow of its former self has been overwhelmingly Democrat. I believe from the little research I have done that for every Republican who has been a member of the Klan there have been at least 100 Democratic members. 100 to 1. Now is that a Republican organization or is it a Democratic organization? The question answers itself.
Likewise I am deep into The Black Book of Communism which indicates that the political murder by lefties (and I'm not including the National Socialists, only the International Socialists also known as Marxist-Leninist or Communists) during the 20th Century just misses 100,000,000 (one hundred million). I think the French authors seriously under count the Soviet political murders (and if you count the political murders by the National Socialists, you're well over 100 mil) but we'll leave it at that.
On the right, during the 20th Century, I am hard pressed to find anyting close to 1,000,000 political murders. I'm leaving out the political murders by Imperial Japanese forces because I can find no authority that calls them either lefties or righties. Racist nationalists is the proper description, I believe. Nor am I including the approximately 10 million killed by Chinese Nationalists led by Chiang Kai-shek because, again as far as I can tell, all the authorities just call them merely less left than the Chicoms, certainly not right, not dedicated to small government, low taxes, protected property rights and free markets, etc. (Chiang Kai-shek studied in Moscow in 1923 so perhaps not even a liberal republican). So again the ratio of political murder by the left is 100 to 1, compared to the right. Which end of the political spectrum has all the murderous freedom takers? Which side owns, according to actual history (as opposed to rank ignorance like Joy Behar suffers from), political murder, just as the Democrats own the Klan and its history of violent, racist oppression of black citizens of America? The question again answers itself.
My only question is how, given these frightening histories, can any thinking person be on the left? It is a mystery to me.
Labels: Klu Klux Klan; Lefty Political Murder
Everyone in Israel Can Now Sleep Soundly
Our worst living ex-president, Jimmy Carter, says that Israel need not fear Iran.
"Iran is quite distant from Israel," said Carter, 83. "I think it would be almost inconceivable that Iran would commit suicide by launching one or two missiles of any kind against the nation of Israel."
So, the Israelis have that bit of Carter wisdom going for them.
Here's what the President of Iran said about Israel's safety from Iranian attack last year:
"Although the main solution is for the elimination of the Zionist regime, at this stage an immediate cease-fire must be implemented," he said.
Ahmadinejad, who has drawn international condemnation with previous calls for Israel to be wiped off the map, said the Middle East would be better off "without the existence of the Zionist regime."
Israel "is an illegitimate regime, there is no legal basis for its existence," he said.
So whom to believe about Iran's intentions, the President of Iran or increasingly morally blind (and anti-Semitic) Jimmy Carter? Tough, tough call.
"Iran is quite distant from Israel," said Carter, 83. "I think it would be almost inconceivable that Iran would commit suicide by launching one or two missiles of any kind against the nation of Israel."
So, the Israelis have that bit of Carter wisdom going for them.
Here's what the President of Iran said about Israel's safety from Iranian attack last year:
"Although the main solution is for the elimination of the Zionist regime, at this stage an immediate cease-fire must be implemented," he said.
Ahmadinejad, who has drawn international condemnation with previous calls for Israel to be wiped off the map, said the Middle East would be better off "without the existence of the Zionist regime."
Israel "is an illegitimate regime, there is no legal basis for its existence," he said.
So whom to believe about Iran's intentions, the President of Iran or increasingly morally blind (and anti-Semitic) Jimmy Carter? Tough, tough call.
Labels: Jimmy Carter, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Dan Rather Seems Hungry for More Abuse
Disgraced 'reporter' and former newsreader Dan Rather has sued his old employer for... for something related to his being led to pasture after he hawked patently false documents in an attempt to destroy the President's name and cost him re-election. Bill Dyer, a Texas lawyer of no small expertise, takes the claims apart even before the ink on the complaint was fully dry.
Best lines:
Rather's lawyers allege a claim for breach of contract based on an oral understanding for a contract extension that, by their own admission, was never consummated and never reduced to writing. They ignore what I'm quite sure will be a devastating waiver/estoppel counter-argument by CBS that Rather kept cashing his paychecks for many months until he finally left the network a few months before the scheduled expiration of his written contract. [See revision note below.] They allege that CBS was Rather's "fiduciary" — and I'm sorry, but that's so badly wrong as a matter of law that every one of the Sonnenschien lawyers whose name appears on this complaint ought to be sanctioned for making it (because when it comes to negotiating extensions of your employment contract, your employer is not your fiduciary but your adversary). Their tort claims against the CBS execs in their individual capacity don't even attempt to allege facts to show that they were acting outside their corporate employment capacities — making those another set of claims that are, in my judgment, so wrong as a matter of law as to be sanctionable. And the fraud claims consist of all the other claims repackaged along with an allegation that the defendants' bad acts were deliberate, and that the defendants fooled poor ol' Dan about their true and truly evil intentions for a really long time.
Best lines:
Rather's lawyers allege a claim for breach of contract based on an oral understanding for a contract extension that, by their own admission, was never consummated and never reduced to writing. They ignore what I'm quite sure will be a devastating waiver/estoppel counter-argument by CBS that Rather kept cashing his paychecks for many months until he finally left the network a few months before the scheduled expiration of his written contract. [See revision note below.] They allege that CBS was Rather's "fiduciary" — and I'm sorry, but that's so badly wrong as a matter of law that every one of the Sonnenschien lawyers whose name appears on this complaint ought to be sanctioned for making it (because when it comes to negotiating extensions of your employment contract, your employer is not your fiduciary but your adversary). Their tort claims against the CBS execs in their individual capacity don't even attempt to allege facts to show that they were acting outside their corporate employment capacities — making those another set of claims that are, in my judgment, so wrong as a matter of law as to be sanctionable. And the fraud claims consist of all the other claims repackaged along with an allegation that the defendants' bad acts were deliberate, and that the defendants fooled poor ol' Dan about their true and truly evil intentions for a really long time.
Labels: Dan Rather, Masochist
This Day in the History of Bush Hatred Time Travel
On this day in 1984, a suicide car bomber associated with Hamas and bankrolled by Iran attacked the U.S. Embassy annex in northern Beirut, killing twelve. We've had war waged on us by Islamic extremists for over 20 years now, it's just that no one on the left except Joe Lieberman can even see it.
Labels: War Against Muslim Extremism
Thought of the Day
A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on an installment plan.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Labels: Jr. quote, Martin Luther King
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Andrew Meyer--Tasered by Police
This is about as fun to watch as a guy getting kicked in the crotch. Anyone who screams like a girl in public like that has to turn in his Man card.
Campos' Non Sequitur
I missed the Tuesday column of Colorado's most famous property law professor, but it was republished today at Real Clear Politics so I read it. Campos reveals his ability to misread any political situation also extends to college football.
His belabored point is, I think, that black coaches are not getting the fair look they deserve. His proof that race was a factor in the two hiring decisions he jumps on is absolutely lacking. I kept waiting for the proof, for any supporting evidence, but it never came. Campos quotes (maybe) his friend JJ as follows:
I'm not saying ND's AD and president are sitting there saying, 'Well, Weis sucks, but he's white, let's give him another chance.' Obviously that's not what's happening.
But I do think there's plenty of institutional racism, and this is a good case. Weis isn't getting another chance because ND's administration is overtly racist, it's because everyone at ND is just more inclined to think highly of Weis and poorly of Willingham.
Campos repeats JJ's belief: But I do think there's plenty of institutional racism, and this is a good case.
Like the Ghostbusters, I'm willing to believe you, but, as always, when you call a person or an institution racist, it would really help to provide some evidence. Different treatment of two men, one of whom was black, just doesn't cut it, but Campos seems unable to realize that he hasn't backed up his claim, as usual.
His belabored point is, I think, that black coaches are not getting the fair look they deserve. His proof that race was a factor in the two hiring decisions he jumps on is absolutely lacking. I kept waiting for the proof, for any supporting evidence, but it never came. Campos quotes (maybe) his friend JJ as follows:
I'm not saying ND's AD and president are sitting there saying, 'Well, Weis sucks, but he's white, let's give him another chance.' Obviously that's not what's happening.
But I do think there's plenty of institutional racism, and this is a good case. Weis isn't getting another chance because ND's administration is overtly racist, it's because everyone at ND is just more inclined to think highly of Weis and poorly of Willingham.
Campos repeats JJ's belief: But I do think there's plenty of institutional racism, and this is a good case.
Like the Ghostbusters, I'm willing to believe you, but, as always, when you call a person or an institution racist, it would really help to provide some evidence. Different treatment of two men, one of whom was black, just doesn't cut it, but Campos seems unable to realize that he hasn't backed up his claim, as usual.
Labels: Claims of Racism
This Day in the History of Battles Won by Superior Technology
On this day in 1356, at the Battle of Poitiers, an English army led by the Black Prince defeated the French at the end of the first phase of the Hundred Years War (1337-1453). It was the Welsh invention of the yew long bow (with a 150 pound pull) that provided the edge here (and not at Agincourt in 1415) because the bodkin point arrowhead could pierce even the steel plate armor the French knights wore (and of course any arrowhead could take out their horses). This was the second big battle on the fields outside Poitiers, but the first is also known as the battle of Tours where in 732 Charles Martel stopped further Islamic expansion.
And how cool a name is the Black Prince?
Labels: English Victories over French
Thought of the Day
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Rachel Corrie Memorial Quote From Douglas Adams' The Hitchhker's Guide to the Galaxy
"Have you any idea how much damage that bulldozer would suffer if I just let it roll straight over you?" said Mr. Prosser.
"How much?" asked Arthur.
"None at all," Mr. Prosser replied
"How much?" asked Arthur.
"None at all," Mr. Prosser replied
Labels: Rachel Corrie
Corrie versus Caterpillar, Figuratively
The Ninth Circuit seized upon the fact that the US Government pays for all the Caterpillar big bulldozers shipped to the Israeli Defense Force, which sometimes uses them to destroy houses punitively (houses not people), to rule that the lawsuit by rabid, but apparently slow, America hater Rachel Corrie involved a political question and the Constitution required that it be dismissed (which the District Court had done). Taken out in a Rule 12 b motion. A legal defeat doesn't get much worse than that. A lot of us conservatives who have watched the 'he's hired, he's fired, he's hired' debacle of Erwin Chemerinski at UC Irvine are wondering now if we can go back to 'he's fired' because, if he can't even draft a complaint that gets past a 12 b motion how good, actually, is his command of the law. That's not a form of political 'censorship' by a government entity, UCI, which blogfather Hugh Hewitt had such a problem with, it is merely an apolitical finding about his legal abilities. I guess it's too late though. It's not like the dean has a lot of influence over the proto-lawyers anyway.
But my question is what if the IDF paid for the bulldozers, would the lawsuit be OK then? And if it was, could Caterpillar designate the bulldozer drivers and the IDF as non-parties at fault, as we can here in Colorado? That would be on top of the comparative negligence defense Caterpillar has in spades, as it is difficult to sneak up on anyone with a D-9.
But my question is what if the IDF paid for the bulldozers, would the lawsuit be OK then? And if it was, could Caterpillar designate the bulldozer drivers and the IDF as non-parties at fault, as we can here in Colorado? That would be on top of the comparative negligence defense Caterpillar has in spades, as it is difficult to sneak up on anyone with a D-9.
Labels: Lefty Law Professors
Rock Concert Report
Went last night to Richard Thompson and band at the Gothic with Kit and he was great. I have just two little quibbles. Thompson has been playing in bands since 1966 and writing songs since shortly after that, and he is a prolific songwriter. The trouble with so large a catalogue is that often my favorite songs are not his favorite songs. So I heard nary a one. No Turning Of The Tide, no Waltzing's for Dreamers, no Hand of Kindness, no Cooksferry Queen, no When The Spell Is Broken, and nothing from the Fairport Convention years. Oh well. The second quibble is about his guitar playing, which is always good, but once in a while it goes into self indulgence and not good self indulgence.
On the other hand, I was amazed how good his voice sounded. It was a great show, but I said that. He's playing at the Fox in Boulder tonight. You could do a lot worse than go see him.
Labels: Rock and Roll
This Day in the History of Early, Unnecessary Deaths
On this day in 1970, pioneering guitarist Jimi Hendrix died at the age of 27, following a sleeping pill overdose in London. He was a screaming eagle of the 101st Airborne Division from 1959 to 1961, but an injury ended his military career and loosed the Seattle native on the music world, on which he burst big time in 1967 with two albums. Left handed, he played a right handed Fender Stratocaster upside down. A lot of people call him the greatest rock guitarist ever. I like Jeff Beck a lot but I usually don't disagree.
Labels: Rock Music History
Thought of the Day
Reminds me of my safari in Africa. Somebody forgot the corkscrew and for several days we had to live on nothing but food and water.
W. C. Fields
W. C. Fields
Labels: W. C. Fields quote
A BUREAUCRAT AT HER FINEST
Via Boortz
The head of emergency management at the Minnesota Department of Transportation has lived a leisurely life ... thanks to tax payer dollars. In fact, even when the bridge collapsed back in August, Sonia Kay Morphew Pitt just couldn't stand the thought of letting a little disaster get in the way of her precious trips.
When the bridge collapsed, Pitt was attending a Harvard University program on terrorist attacks and natural disasters. When she heard the news, did she rush back to her home state to coordinate relief efforts? Why of course not. In fact, she stayed another two days in Massachusetts, and then she flew to Washington to spend eight more days ... all on your dime.
She says she was doing "group project work in DC." The expense report listed her Washington trip as "training." For this "training," Pitt gets paid $40.76 an hour ... that's about $85,000 a year.
This woman has a budget of $5.4 million, part of which comes from the federal government. Clearly she missed the memo that her job/presence was needed to coordinate relief efforts.
Pitt has taken 17 out-of-state trips in the last year. The cost ... $26,400. She also took the liberty of adding pit-stops along the way on her "business trips." These stops include Washington and Las Vegas. All thanks to your tax dollars and the incompetence of government.
Yes ... she's a Democrat.
Sure, the bridge disaster is Bush's fault because of lack of money available, as said money is tied up in a war for oil.......at least to the chirpiest of moonbats anyway.
The head of emergency management at the Minnesota Department of Transportation has lived a leisurely life ... thanks to tax payer dollars. In fact, even when the bridge collapsed back in August, Sonia Kay Morphew Pitt just couldn't stand the thought of letting a little disaster get in the way of her precious trips.
When the bridge collapsed, Pitt was attending a Harvard University program on terrorist attacks and natural disasters. When she heard the news, did she rush back to her home state to coordinate relief efforts? Why of course not. In fact, she stayed another two days in Massachusetts, and then she flew to Washington to spend eight more days ... all on your dime.
She says she was doing "group project work in DC." The expense report listed her Washington trip as "training." For this "training," Pitt gets paid $40.76 an hour ... that's about $85,000 a year.
This woman has a budget of $5.4 million, part of which comes from the federal government. Clearly she missed the memo that her job/presence was needed to coordinate relief efforts.
Pitt has taken 17 out-of-state trips in the last year. The cost ... $26,400. She also took the liberty of adding pit-stops along the way on her "business trips." These stops include Washington and Las Vegas. All thanks to your tax dollars and the incompetence of government.
Yes ... she's a Democrat.
Sure, the bridge disaster is Bush's fault because of lack of money available, as said money is tied up in a war for oil.......at least to the chirpiest of moonbats anyway.
Monday, September 17, 2007
This Day in American History
On this day in 1862, more Americans died (shot by fellow Americans) than on any other day at the battle of Antietam Creek (or Sharpsburg) in Maryland. There were 3,654 battle deaths, pretty evenly divided between North and South (shading in the North's favor) even though the northern Army of the Potomac at Sharpsburg had twice as many men as the southern Army of Northern Virginia. The 'victory' allowed Lincoln the political room to sign the emancipation proclamation, and thus take the moral high ground (if he didn't already have it) and seal the South's doom by making it politically impossible for England, or any other European nation, to come to its aid. All this because some careless southern officer dropped his copy of Lee's orders and Yankees found it.
Labels: American Civil War
This Day in the History of Helpful, Scientifically Significant Agreements
On this day in 1987, the "Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer" was signed, agreeing that the production and consumption of most compounds that deplete ozone in the stratosphere, such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), were to be phased out by 2000. It was further adjusted and amended at subsequent Meeting of the Parties between 1990 and 1997. What's happening to the Ozone Layer, especially above Antarctica, unfortunately, has yet to mirror the reduction in CFCs and perhaps won't until 2050, i.e., not in my lifetime. Let's hope that CFCs are indeed the culprit here.
Labels: Ozone Depletion
Thought of the Day
Innovation has nothing to do with how many R&D dollars you have. When Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was spending at least 100 times more on R&D. It's not about money. It's about the people you have, how you're led, and how much you get it.
Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs
Labels: Steve Jobs quote
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Proof of North American Warming
Hunting partner Gary and I got up at 4:30 am today and drove the hundred miles into the mountains to our favorite shooting range just north of Byers Canyon, just north of Hot Sulphur Springs, in order to sight in our rifles for fourth rifle Elk season (which I, unfortunately, will be unable to attend--complicated story). He has a safari grade BAR in 7mm Mag and a Savage in 30.06, which are very accurate; and I have a Colt Sauer in .300 Winchester Mag and a "Weatherby" in .300 Weatherby Mag which are beautiful and accurate, but punishing to shoot. We are freakin' deadly at 200 yards and can consistently put three to five shots through the space of an elk heart. The only downer to the day was that Weatherby cartridges cost about $3.00 a piece; so I shot about $50.00 dollars worth of bullets adjusting the scope back to zero at 200. Ouch.
The mountains are beautiful this time of year and a lot of people go up just to see the changing color--the changing color of the Quaking Aspen, which turn yellow and gold. We noticed a change in the color of other trees, specifically the pine needles. They were red, because they are recently dead--up to 90% of some South facing slopes have been killed by the Mountain Pine Beetle. It is disturbing and a darned shame. The only natural, widespread control of the beetle is five days of really cold weather, 30 degrees F below zero. And we're apparently not getting those cold snaps lately. Not exactly global warming but certainly local warming with a lot of change as a result.
Sobering thoughts on the future followed on the drive back.
Labels: local warming, personal history
This Day in Ancient History
On this day in 335 B.C., Alexander the Great destroyed every building in Thebes, Egypt, except the temples and the house of the poet Pindar. Kind of Alexander the Merciless this day.
Thought of the Day
I think of a hero as someone who understands the degree of responsibility that comes with his freedom.
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Labels: Bob Dylan quote
Saturday, September 15, 2007
The Current Anti-War Movement is Pathetic
Fox News is reporting a whopping 5,000 protesters descended on DC today for the heavily advertised 'Die In' (with a full 1,000 counter protesters called a Gathering of Eagles). 5k? a measly 5,000! They should be ashamed of such a pathetic turn out. And some of today's protesters were probably doing the same thing during the Viet Nam War--like this old timer to the right, former Attorney General and current dictator defender, William Ramsey Clark.
On November 15, 1969, at least 250,000 protesters descended on the capitol in Washington, DC, with another 100,000 in San Francisco. Some estimates have the crowd in DC at 500,000--a hundred times bigger than today's poor showing. Now that was an anti-war rally. At least the metro police today are looking pretty 21st Century. Some of them are nearly Star Wars stormtroopers in black.
I don't want to sound like most boomers who are quick to tell you that when they were young things were great and you just missed it by being born too late, man, but the big rallies in the late 60s were possibly effective, even if they were a little light on the posters and signs compared to now.Look upon the past work ANSWER and despair.
Labels: Peace March
South Pole Colder
We have different conditions at the North and South Poles. The North is a sea surrounded by land and the South is land surrounded by sea. The South is much colder than the North because of this difference in configuration, as sea currents mitigate the extremes of heat and cold. Of course sea ice (which is usually only 4 feet thick) extends farther and farther out to sea in the winter and melts away in the summer. In the South just now, at the end of winter there, the ring of sea ice is at its greatest extent since satellite measurements began in 1979. It's also colder in the southern interior and getting colder. So if the melting of sea ice in the North is proof of global warming, what then is the growing of sea ice in the South? Chopped liver?
It's getting tougher and tougher even to sell a global warming scenario when Antarctica and the sea around it refuse to co-operate. And if you can't show that it's warming globally, though indeed to sell the idea that increased man made CO2 is doing anything at all.
Labels: Global Warming Hoax
This Day in the History of Being Really Wrong
On this day in 1997 , Vice President Al Gore and Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman reported that over 30 million Americans (roughly 1 in 9) were suffering from hunger. Yeah, I see those miserable, wasting away fellow citizens all over the place. Don't you? It's actually just the opposite; nearly 1 in 5 are morbidly obese and the lion's share of those are poor people who eat more sugar and carbohydrate than protein. You have to wonder, when someone has been so spectacularly wrong on one subject, whether he or she (here a couple of hes) can get anything right. Judging from the picture of Gore above, he's not one of the alleged 30 million suffering from hunger.
Labels: Democratic idiocy
Thought of the Day
Friday, September 14, 2007
She Changed (but not for the better)
I really have to learn to embed videos better. Very frustrating.
The Old One, Two Combination
I really wish Guiliani had been well enough to have run against Hillary Clinton for the Senate seat in New York well over half a dozen years ago. He seems to be the only Republican candidate who is swinging back at the disgraceful treatment General Petraeus received from the left this past week.
First Giuliani runs this ad in the NYT (but not at the discounted rate the Times gave MoveOn.org):
(NYT stock hit a new low yesterday, below $20) That Pinch is sure one savvy newspaperman.
Then he has a pretty good 'shot across the bow' campaign ad.
See post above.The Clinton response, through her myrmidons, has so far been weak: It's hardly surprising that Mayor Giuliani is running the first negative ad of the '08 campaign, given his inability to justify his unqualified support for President Bush's failed Iraq strategy.
Wow, what a comeback! "failed Iraq strategy" I guess they weren't listening at all to Gen. Petraeus and Amb. Crocker.
There's more: He'd love nothing more than for her or members of her campaign to respond in an agitated way to what is clearly at best a very dubious linkage between what Moveon does and what Hillary Clinton says.
Me? I settle for an unagitated explanation why Clinton called Petraeus a liar, without using the word liar.
Drudge's headline is: "It's On!" If this is the best the Clinton camp can do, please let that be true.
Labels: Presidential Campaign '08
This Day in American History
On this day in 1901, twice elected Republican President, William McKinley, died in Buffalo, NY, as the result of yet another lefty assassin, Leon Frank Czolgosz, who was a socialist/anarchist. The only good news from this tragedy was that he was succeeded by his vice-president, Theodore Roosevelt, who worked out pretty well.
As with James Garfield, the doctors of the time completely let McKinley down, refusing either to probe for the bullet which killed him or to use the new X-ray machine to locate it without trauma to the President. McKinley died of gangrene centered around Czolgosz' un-removed bullet.
Labels: Presidential Assassinations
Thought of the Day
On the whole human beings want to be good, but not too good, and not quite all the time.
George Orwell
George Orwell
Labels: George Orwell quote
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Francis Gary Powers and Norman Hsu
At first glance you wouldn't think that the most famous U-2 pilot and the Ponzi scheming, twice failing to appear Clinton 'bundler' had anything in common. Ah, but you would be wrong. The late Mr. Powers, who, by the way, grew up near my little hometown of Norton, VA, got a whopping big extra pay check (like $10,000, but that was a lot in the 50s) to take the sodium cyanide pill and avoid live capture. Powers didn't take his (nor was he able to engage the circuits which would destroy the secret stuff onboard) and when his spy plane was shot down by a lucky SAM shot, he was paraded before the news cameras and we had to exchange a big catch, KGB Colonel Vilyam Genrikhovich Fisher, to get him back. It was the first time I remember the US Government was caught lying to us. Not his, or our, finest hour.
Likewise, the creepy little bagmen for the Clinton's getting around the campaign finance laws have an understanding, I believe, that they won't be taken 'alive.' They usually escape to another country which won't extradite or just refuse to say a word, but Hsu at least went through the motions of suicide. Or at least that's what it looks like to me. He failed and was captured. What tales will he tell? Doesn't matter, it seems; the world seems less than shocked or interested that the Democrats broke campaign finance laws. Are we really so jaded that we expect them to cheat?
Labels: Clinton Bagmen; Cold War U-2 spy planes
The question, Is OBL still alive ?
I've been of the mind that he is not, an easy extrapolation considering his absence from vainglorious video rantings for three years. Zawahiri has released a greatest hit's album worth.
So, with the two " new " videos, obviously comes serious scrutiny, and forensic analysis.
Posted by Robert Vamosi
On the Friday before the sixth anniversary of 9/11, Osama bin Laden appeared in a new video, his first since prior to the U.S. presidential elections in 2004. In analyzing the video, Neal Krawetz of Hactor Factor, an expert on digital image forensics, said in his latest blogs that the video contained many visual and audio splices, and that all of the modifications were of very low quality.
On the Friday before the sixth anniversary of 9/11, Osama bin Laden appeared in a new video, his first since prior to the U.S. presidential elections in 2004. In analyzing the video, Neal Krawetz of Hactor Factor, an expert on digital image forensics, said in his latest blogs that the video contained many visual and audio splices, and that all of the modifications were of very low quality.
Most striking is bin Laden's beard, which has been gray in recent images. For this video it is black. "As far as my tools can detect, there has been no image manipulation of the bin Laden portion of the image beyond contrast adjustment. His beard really does appear to be that color." The Washington Post has the full video here.
Krawetz says the inner frame of bin Laden was resaved at least twice, and not at the same time. The images show fine horizontal stripes on bin Laden and a background indicating these came from interlaced video sources. In contrast, the text elements, such as the As-Sahab logo, appear to be from non-interlaced sources.
The September 7 video shows bin Laden dressed in a white hat, white shirt and yellow sweater. Krawetz notes "this is the same clothing he wore in the 2004-10-29 video. In 2004 he had it unzipped, but in 2007 he zipped up the bottom half. Besides the clothing, it appears to be the same background, same lighting, and same desk. Even the camera angle is almost identical." Krawetz also notes that "if you overlay the 2007 video with the 2004 video, his face has not changed in three years--only his beard is darker and the contrast on the picture has been adjusted."
More important though are the edits. At roughly a minute and a half into the video there is a splice; bin Laden shifts from looking at the camera to looking down in less than 1/25th of a second. At 13:13 there is a second, less obvious splice. In all, Krawetz says there are at least six splices in the video. Of these, there are only two live bin Laden segments, the rest of the video composed of still images. The first live section opens the video and ends at 1:56. The second section begins at 12:29 and continues until 14:01. The two live sections appear to be from different recordings "because the desk is closer to the camera in the second section."
Then there are the audio edits. Krawetz says "the new audio has no accompanying 'live' video and consists of multiple audio recordings." References to current events are made only during the still frame sections and after splices within the audio track." And there are so many splices that I cannot help but wonder if someone spliced words and phrases together. I also cannot rule out a vocal imitator during the frozen-frame audio. The only way to prove that the audio is really bin Laden is to see him talking in the video," Krawetz says.
Another bin Laden video was released on September 11 and was much more straightforward. There was a still image of the black-bearded bin Laden (oddly, using a frame not used in the previous video), and then, as has been a tradition at al-Qaida , there was a long, unedited video of a statement read by Azzam Al Amriki, also known as American-born Adam Pearlman, who is currently being sought for treason and thought to be living in Pakistan. That doesn't mean the 9/11-released video wasn't doctored.
Click here and mouse over the image to see Krawetz's 75 percent error level analysis of one image. The white frame around Azzim reveals that his video was composited against the drawing of the World Trade Center being attacked. As Krawetz presented at this year's Black Hat conference in Las Vegas, al-Qaida has a history of doctoring background either to present propaganda or simply to disguise locations. In a separate interview, Krawetz talks with CNET News.com about some of the tools he used in his analysis
This Day
On this day in 1759, the British fought and won the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, Quebec, although the generals of both the French and English forces were mortally wounded. The French and Indian War (Seven Years' War in Europe) continued, but this small battle (20,000 troops, 1350 battle deaths evenly divided) ultimately removed most French from the Eastern Provinces of Canada; only Quebec remains of New France.
The key to the British success was to load their muskets with two lead balls and then hold their fire until the French were 20 yards away. Their 'most perfect volley' destroyed the French will to fight.
Labels: French and Indian War
Thought of the Day
As you have found, our hearings are more about listening to ourselves than listening to our witnesses.
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) to Gen. Petraeus and Amb. Crocker
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) to Gen. Petraeus and Amb. Crocker
Labels: Congressional Hearings
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
No Democratic Censure of moveOn ad....
Democratic congressional leaders and the party's presidential candidates yesterday refused to repudiate a liberal group's ad questioning Gen. David H. Petraeus' character.
Capitol Hill Democrats rejected a call for votes in both chambers to condemn the attack newspaper ad (pdf download), run by MoveOn.org, saying Republicans are trying to take attention off what they call the president's failed Iraq policy.
Nadeam Elshami, a spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the California Democrat "wished [MoveOn.org] wouldn't have done that ad," but declined to comment further.
A spokeswoman for House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, Maryland Democrat, also declined to comment on the ad.
The MoveOn.org ad that ran in the New York Times on Monday features a photo of the general, who is giving testimony on Iraq to Congress this week, and the headline "General Petraeus or General Betray Us?"
Republicans had hoped to force Democrats into the uncomfortable position of voting for a measure to officially denounce an organization that has helped raise millions for party candidates in recent elections.
"This smear campaign consisted of entirely unwarranted and fallacious attacks, and sought to impugn the name of a highly respected man of integrity," said Sen. John Cornyn, Texas Republican.
Mr. Cornyn introduced the Senate resolution yesterday condemning the attacks that was rejected by Democrats.
Capitol Hill Democrats rejected a call for votes in both chambers to condemn the attack newspaper ad (pdf download), run by MoveOn.org, saying Republicans are trying to take attention off what they call the president's failed Iraq policy.
Nadeam Elshami, a spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the California Democrat "wished [MoveOn.org] wouldn't have done that ad," but declined to comment further.
A spokeswoman for House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, Maryland Democrat, also declined to comment on the ad.
The MoveOn.org ad that ran in the New York Times on Monday features a photo of the general, who is giving testimony on Iraq to Congress this week, and the headline "General Petraeus or General Betray Us?"
Republicans had hoped to force Democrats into the uncomfortable position of voting for a measure to officially denounce an organization that has helped raise millions for party candidates in recent elections.
"This smear campaign consisted of entirely unwarranted and fallacious attacks, and sought to impugn the name of a highly respected man of integrity," said Sen. John Cornyn, Texas Republican.
Mr. Cornyn introduced the Senate resolution yesterday condemning the attacks that was rejected by Democrats.
More proof of how much the democrats "support" the military.
Rep. Dennis Kucinich Stands Alone Opposed to Sept. 11 Commemoration Resolution
WASHINGTON — Rep. Dennis Kucinich, Democratic presidential candidate and no stranger to contrarian views, was the sole congressman Tuesday to vote against the House's Sept. 11 commemoration resolution.
Tuesday's nonbinding resolution was a relatively short document. It had 12 "whereas" clauses — stating things like what happened the day of the terrorist attacks, who was affected and how terrorists have been targeted since then — and six resolution paragraphs establishing Sept. 11 as a day of remembrance, extending sympathies to families of victims who died and honoring those who have fought in Afghanistan and Iraq.
"It is important that Congress wake up to the truth and exercise its obligation under the Constitution to save our nation from being destroyed from the lies that took us into Iraq, the lies that keep us there, the lies that are being used to set the stage for war against Iran and the lies that have undermined our basic civil liberties here at home," Kucinich said in a statement.
"The September 11 resolution that Congress considers today should have made reference to those matters. It does not, so I cannot support it," Kucinich said, also calling for a halt for further war funding and the troops to be brought home.
Tuesday's nonbinding resolution was a relatively short document. It had 12 "whereas" clauses — stating things like what happened the day of the terrorist attacks, who was affected and how terrorists have been targeted since then — and six resolution paragraphs establishing Sept. 11 as a day of remembrance, extending sympathies to families of victims who died and honoring those who have fought in Afghanistan and Iraq.
"It is important that Congress wake up to the truth and exercise its obligation under the Constitution to save our nation from being destroyed from the lies that took us into Iraq, the lies that keep us there, the lies that are being used to set the stage for war against Iran and the lies that have undermined our basic civil liberties here at home," Kucinich said in a statement.
"The September 11 resolution that Congress considers today should have made reference to those matters. It does not, so I cannot support it," Kucinich said, also calling for a halt for further war funding and the troops to be brought home.
Why should the September 11 resolution mention Iraq and Iran ? Yet, it's just republicans that want to use 911 for politics...right ?
It's been a while.......
.....I have neglected my duties here at the XDA blog...I know. However, Roger will even tell you I have been extremely busy, on something that is going to be cooler than the other side of the pillow.
In the meantime, I'm looking for some ice skates, because it's quite apparent that Hell has frozen over. David Lee Roth is back in Van Halen, and they are actually touring.
These dates in the link are but maybe half. My sources inside the VH camp tell me of more dates after Xmas.
In case you are wondering, they are only my favorite band, of all time. To my chagrin, the ever solid bass player, Michael Anthony, has been dubiously replaced by Eddie's son, Wolfgang, all of 16 years old. But, hey, it seems like a love fest....and whatever Ed needs to release new music and let the creative juices flow....so be it.
