The Constitution Club

For all of you who told us how wonderful this war was going to be, about stories of WMD and al-Qaeda ties, of cakewalks and how reconstuction was going to pay for itself, how Iraq would be a shining democracy that would be the envy of every Middle East nation, how it was worth the price in blood and treasure:

A toast to you.

Five frakkin’ years.  I hope it was worth it.

There’s stupid, theres idiotic, and then there’s this

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7174760.stm

Clarkson stung after bank prank Jeremy Clarkson found himself unexpectedly donating to charity TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson has lost money after publishing his bank details in his newspaper column.The Top Gear host revealed his account numbers after rubbishing the furore over the loss of 25 million people’s personal details on two computer discs. He wanted to prove the story was a fuss about nothing. Yeah really. What’s the worst that can happen? But Clarkson admitted he was “wrong” after he discovered a reader had used the details to create a £500 direct debit to the charity Diabetes UK. Oh well that I guess. Hey at least it went to charity I was wrong and I have been punished Jeremy Clarkson Clarkson published details of his Barclays account in the Sun newspaper, including his account number and sort code. He even told people how to find out his address. OK it was stupid to publsh his bank details but I see the idiotic point he was trying to make but why in God’s name would you let people know where you live? Hey you know what I do with the money that’s not in that account? I buy expensive  jewelery and electronics. I keep them at my estate in Devonshire. Here’s how to get there…. Geez what no alarm codes? “All you’ll be able to do with them is put money into my account. Not take it out. Honestly, I’ve never known such a palaver about nothing,” he told readers. Bank accounts only work the one way ya see. But he was proved wrong, as the 47-year-old wrote in his Sunday Times column. The hell you say…. “I opened my bank statement this morning to find out that someone has set up a direct debit which automatically takes £500 from my account,” he said. “The bank cannot find out who did this because of the Data Protection Act and they cannot stop it from happening again. Did you get that? Apparently there’s some kind of law in the UK which protects the idnetity of identity thieves. Leave them alone. They’re just trying to earn a living. “I was wrong and I have been punished for my mistake.” Police were called in to search for the two discs, which contained the entire database of child benefit claimants and apparently got lost in the post in October 2007. Lost in the post meaning lost in the mail They were posted from HM Revenue and Customs offices in Tyne and Wear, but never turned up at their destination – the National Audit Office. D’oh The loss, which led to an apology from Prime Minister Gordon Brown, created fears of identity fraud. No worries Gordo. Didn’t you hear ole Clarkson? That information is useless. Clarkson now says of the case: “Contrary to what I said at the time, we must go after the idiots who lost the discs and stick cocktail sticks in their eyes until they beg for mercy.” What a fantastically British method of torture. How about sending them to a Spice Girl’s concert? I am now even prouder to be an American. BTW if somebody knows how to make this font bigger could you help me out here. Sorry for the small print. That’s just the way the article copied

I was speechless after watching this. It’s amazing nobody was hurt or killed.

I think somebody needs more than a spanking, maybe military school is the answer. His actual punishment: One weekend without video games. My father would have killed me. The fear of him alone would have never allowed me to even contemplate the idea of something this stupid, especially at 7.

Serious question, what do we do with kids like this? It seems he is destined to a life of crime if at the ripe old age of 7 he believes “It’s fun to do bad things”, is already sneaking smokes with his 7 year old buddy, is stealing cars and ultimately getting away with it all.

Wow

It’s a sad, sad day in the studio.

PARIS — Albert Hofmann, the mystical Swiss chemist who gave the world LSD, the most powerful psychotropic substance known, died Tuesday at his hilltop home near Basel, Switzerland. He was 102.

“Alienation from nature and the loss of the experience of being part of the living creation is the greatest tragedy of our materialistic era. It is the causative reason for ecological devastation and climate change.

Therefore I attribute absolute highest importance to consciousness change. I regard psychedelics as catalyzers for this. They are tools which are guiding our perception toward other deeper areas of our human existence, so that we again become aware of our spiritual essence. Psychedelic experiences in a safe setting can help our consciousness open up to this sensation of connection and of being one with nature.

LSD and related substances are not drugs in the usual sense, but are part of the sacred substances, which have been used for thousand of years in ritual settings. The classic psychedelics like LSD, Psilocybin and Mescaline are characterized by the fact that they are neither toxic nor addictive. It is my great concern to separate psychedelics from the ongoing debates about drugs, and to highlight the tremendous potential inherent to these substances for self-awareness, as an adjunct in therapy, and for fundamental research into the human mind.

It is my wish that a modern Eleusis will emerge, in which seeking humans can learn to have transcendent experiences with sacred substances in a safe setting. I am convinced that these soul-opening, mind-revealing substances will find their appropriate place in our society and our culture.“

Dr. Albert Hofmann
Thursday, 19th April 2007

I hope someday that psychedelics/entheogens find their place in the medical world. Those who have experienced the dimensions of the mind that these compounds unlocked and revealed know that there is something very special, and very different about them. Their clinical uses for exploring the human mind has barely scratched the surface. New studies have recently begun with very positive results offering new hope in the treatment of various addictions, mental disorders and post traumatic stress conditions.

Seeing them scheduled the same as heroin and cocaine, drugs that devastate lives and are highly addictive, is such an injustice.

Experiences on psychedelics tend to make one realize how powerful the human consciousness really is. For many of us, those experiences changed our lives for the better.

I guess you just had to have been there and back to understand.

God speed, Dr. Albert.

St. Albert by Alex Grey–www.alexgrey.com–presented to Dr.Hofmann on his 100th Birthday

Greek islanders seek to reclaim term ‘Lesbian’

One of the plaintiffs said Wednesday that the name of the association, Homosexual and Lesbian Community of Greece, “insults the identity” of the people of Lesbos, who are also known as Lesbians….

….Lambrou said the word lesbian has only been linked with gay women in the past few decades. “But we have been Lesbians for thousands of years,” said Lambrou, who publishes a small magazine on ancient Greek religion and technology that frequently criticizes the Christian Church.

And I thought being an “Okie” or a Las Vegan was bad. Hi, my name is Dave and I’m a Lesbian.

Is it fair to judge someone by the company they keep?

“Take [William] Ayers. Obama makes it sound as if the relationship consists of having run into each other at the DMV. In fact, Obama’s political career was launched in a 1995 meeting at Ayers’ home. Obama’s own campaign says that they maintain ‘friendly’ relations. Obama’s defense is that he was 8 when Ayers and his Weather Underground comrades were planting bombs at the Pentagon, the U.S. Capitol and other buildings. True. But Obama was 40 when Ayers said publicly that he doesn’t regret setting bombs. Indeed, he said, ‘I feel we didn’t do enough.’ Would you maintain friendly relations with an unrepentant terrorist?… As people begin to learn about this just-arrived pretender, the magic dissipates. He spent six weeks in Pennsylvania. Outspent Hillary more than two to one. Ran close to 10,000 television ads—spending more than anyone in any race in the history of the state—and lost by 10 points. And not because he insufficiently demagogued NAFTA or the other ‘issues.’ It was because of those ‘distractions’ —i.e., the things that most reveal character and core beliefs.”

—Charles Krauthammer

The Audacity of Denial

So, was Obama just as naive as a child for 20 years, or as disingenuous as any major political figure of the last forty years when he denied knowing the real Pastor Wright this morning?

Either way it creates a huge issue for voters.  Is Obama a dupe, or just duplicitous?  Do you want him in charge of the nation’s security, making judgments about our enemies?

Follow-up reporting should focus on the depth of the relationship between Wright and Obama.  In Philadelphia Obama described a deep, strong and personal bond.  How deep?  What did they talk about all these years?  How could you miss the government-created-AIDS etc?

“I did not vet my pastor before I decided to run for the presidency,” Obama declared today.  That’s not the point.  The point is Obama’s judgment. Or his truthfulness.

I couldn’t have said it better myself. If a ‘white’ person had been sitting under a spiritual mentor like this, not to mention supporting him with tens of thousands of dollars and legitimizing his statements by his membership in the good Reverands church, he’d be ran out of town by the media and maybe garner 10% of the vote. The fact that Obama is being allowed to stutter his way out of his association with this garbage by anyone of any political persuasion, and still be a viable candidate for anything more important than precinct committeeman, is a serious indictment of our decayed political values and the greatest example of the media giving someone “a pass” that I have seen in my adult life.

From Human Giant on MTV. Short and sweet.

It looks as though Barack Obama and his team have made a decisive choice to cut ties with Rev. Wright and clearly redefine their relationship. I believe that this is the nail in the coffin of Hillary Clinton and probably spells the beginning of the end of John McCain. Our next President will in fact, be Barack Hussein Obama.

Democrat Barack Obama said Tuesday he was outraged by the latest assertion by his former pastor that criticism of his fiery sermons is an attack on the black church.

The presidential candidate is seeking to tamp down the growing fury over Rev. Jeremiah Wright and his incendiary remarks that threaten to undermine his campaign.

“I am outraged by the comments that were made and saddened by the spectacle that we saw yesterday,” Obama told reporters at a news conference.

. . . “I gave him the benefit of the doubt in my speech in Philadelphia explaining that he’s done enormous good. … But when he states and then amplifies such ridiculous propositions as the U.S. government somehow being involved in AIDS. … There are no excuses. They offended me. They rightly offend all Americans and they should be denounced.”

From a political perspective, this is such an outstanding move. Wright has been dragging Obama down like an anchor. From this point forward, all ties that bind Obama and Wright have officially been cut. There will now be no more need to dance around the question with prepared speeches nor dodge questions of Obama’s sincerity when it comes to issues of race. It is now clear that despite the fact that I am uncomfortable with Obama’s proposed policies and lack of experience, I must now get used to saying and typing ‘President Obama.’ I advise all Conclub authors and readers to do the same.

Hank Harris is second from right. First from right is Sam Harris, and the resemblance would suggest that they are related. Possibly brothers, I do not have confirmation on that as of yet.

You would never think of Nebraska, even in the early days, as being especially out of hand and lawless. But that was not always the case. I have written about my great-great grandfather Henry “Hank” Harris who was one tough character and the first sheriff of Rock County, NE during the mid 1880’s. The following was sent to me today by a lady (I’m always doing a bit of geneological mining on the side) and though I don’t know the outcome, it sounded rather interesting.

From  the Keya Paha Centennial Book. page 21:
Feb 15,1889 Keyapaha County is now under control of a mob which has now in
its power 3 of 4 citizens of that county, which they are threatening to
hang. It is the same mob that 4 years ago killed 10 men in Brown and
Keyapaha Counties with trial on pretense that they were thieves. That was
done under leadership of A J Burnham and M L Taylor. The latter is the
present leader. Yesterday a writ of habeas corpus was issued for the
protection of the body of C M Clay whom they have in their power, but the
sheriff of Rock County was warned not to attempt to serve it. Will you order
out the militia or instruct the sheriff of Rock County to call to his aid a
sufficient force to enable him to serve the writ or both.

Henry Harris, Sheriff of Rock County
A H Tingle, Co Atty of Rock Co
Fred N Morgan, Co Judge, Rock Co
S S Harris, Deputy Sheriff.

She also sent me this. The tombstone is (relatively) brand new and I believe it was placed by my great uncle, one of the last surviving grandsons of Hank Harris. I have been there more than once and it always just had the old marker (top left) which also had the date of his death wrong. I spoke with my great uncle about it at my grandmother’s funeral, and he told me he would do something about it. Apparently he followed through. It reads Henry S. “Daddy” Harris. In his older years he was a well known and well liked fixture in the area. He went by “Daddy” Harris and was the patriarch of a large clan.

Thankfully, the entries for the Hatemonger horrible college student poetry competition are supposed to be bad. Because mine is assuredly so.  

The Burden I Bear

Women now wear pants

And have the right to vote

Does not excuse away

6,000 years of

 patriarchal misogyny

A pillow stained with tears

For partners Steve and transgendered Eve

Who cannot wear a ring

Or call each other

Man and wife

Infanticide is liberation

The sacrifice for equality

Upon the bloody altar of convenience

The little parasite

Deserved it

The invading horde cometh

It is their birthright

Aztlan reconquered

We stole it from them

Viva Reconquista

Free the people of

Dharfur and Tibet

And victims of polygamy

But not the Afghan

Or Iraqi

Diversity and tolerance

Is a worthy creed

We must do more, not less

The Religion of Peace

Is pissed

Suicide bombers and beheaders

Are merely misunderstood

If only we had opened

A meaningful dialogue

With them

Millions of brown people

Liberated from tyranny

My pale, pasty white skin

Is still a badge

Of shame

Sharpton and Wright

Will show us how

All wisdom, knowledge and love

Really came from

Black Africa

Drowning polar bears

Floods, famine and hurricanes

Can’t stop it by myself

Time for Big Brother

The Nanny State

My carbon footprint is too large

Neutrality escapes me

I cannot sleep

Will toss and turn

All night

My car is parked out front

Polluting the air I breath

Nasty smelling, toxic fumes

Gobbling up a

Finite resource

I must repent

For my evil ways

Seek forgiveness for the sin

Of raping my mother

The earth

The guilt I feel

For all of this

Is too much to bear

I must never mate or

Ever reproduce

Riddled with remorse I must revert

To a primal state

Live in a cave

And follow the herds

Alone, nomadically

Is it really a surprise that this article from the NYT exposes what many of us has known for a while. The media are lazy and easily manipulated much to the detriment of the American people, many of which believe everything they see on TV when it looks official. When things are not going as planned…lie and fearmonger.

The administration’s communications experts responded swiftly. Early one Friday morning, they put a group of retired military officers on one of the jets normally used by Vice President Dick Cheney and flew them to Cuba for a carefully orchestrated tour of Guantánamo.

To the public, these men are members of a familiar fraternity, presented tens of thousands of times on television and radio as “military analysts” whose long service has equipped them to give authoritative and unfettered judgments about the most pressing issues of the post-Sept. 11 world.

Hidden behind that appearance of objectivity, though, is a Pentagon information apparatus that has used those analysts in a campaign to generate favorable news coverage of the administration’s wartime performance, an examination by The New York Times has found.

The effort, which began with the buildup to the Iraq war and continues to this day, has sought to exploit ideological and military allegiances, and also a powerful financial dynamic: Most of the analysts have ties to military contractors vested in the very war policies they are asked to assess on air.

Those business relationships are hardly ever disclosed to the viewers, and sometimes not even to the networks themselves. But collectively, the men on the plane and several dozen other military analysts represent more than 150 military contractors either as lobbyists, senior executives, board members or consultants.

There should have been disclosure of whom the “analysts” were financially linked to and had a vested interest in seeing conduct profitable business, even at the expense of American lives.

Disgraceful, but this whole war has been a disgrace based on lies from the beginning.

UPDATE upon reading my blathering rant again: My point is about the news media playing dumb about institutionalized propaganda, not so much the propaganda itself. The propaganda was obvious.

H/T Hugh Hewitt

Yet another NFl draft has come and gone and once again yours truly has been snubbed. I worked really hard this off season to get myself into shape to no avail. It’s all politics in the NFL these days. They just can’t stand the idea of a 5 foot 7 inch white man running circles around all of those super athletes.

Hindsight being 20/20 and all I suppose it was ill advised of me to cash in my 401k and spend it all on whiskey and lottery tickets in anticipation of that enormous signing bonus but what’s done is done. On the bright side toiling my way through the next year at this job is still better than playing for the Bengals.

DEMOCRAT
You have two cows.
Your neighbor has none.
You feel guilty for being successful.
You push for higher taxes so the government can provide cows for everyone.

REPUBLICAN
You have two cows.
Your neighbor has none.
So?

SOCIALIST
You have two cows.
The government takes one and gives it to your neighbor.
You form a cooperative to tell him how to manage his cow.

COMMUNIST
You have two cows.
The government seizes both and provides you with milk.
You wait in line for hours to get it.
It is expensive and sour.

CAPITALISM, AMERICAN STYLE
You have two cows.
You sell one, buy a bull, and build a herd of cows.

BUREAUCRACY, AMERICAN STYLE
You have two cows.
Under the new farm program the government pays you to shoot one, milk the other, and then pours the milk down the drain.

AMERICAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You sell one, lease it back to yourself and do an IPO on the 2nd one.
You force the two cows to produce the milk of four cows. You are surprised when one cow drops dead. You spin an announcement to the analysts stating you have downsized and are reducing expenses.
Your stock goes up.

FRENCH CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You go on strike because you want three cows.
You go to lunch and drink wine.
Life is good.

JAPANESE CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk.
They learn to travel on unbelievably crowded trains.
Most are at the top of their class at cow school.

GERMAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You engineer them so they are all blond, drink lots of beer, give excellent quality milk, and run a hundred miles an hour.
Unfortunately they also demand 13 weeks of vacation per year.

ITALIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows but you don’t know where they are.
You break for lunch.
Life is good.

RUSSIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You have some vodka.
You count them and learn you have five cows.
You have some more vodka.
You count them again and learn you have 42 cows.
The Mafia shows up and takes over however many cows you really have.

TALIBAN CORPORATION
You have all the cows in Afghanistan , which are two.
You don’t milk them because you cannot touch any creature’s private parts.
You get a $40 million grant from the US government to find alternatives to milk production but u se the money to buy weapons.

IRAQI CORPORATION
You have two cows.
They go into hiding.
They send radio tapes of their mooing.

POLISH CORPORATION
You have two bulls.
Employees are regularly maimed and killed attempting to milk them.

BELGIAN CORPORATION
You have one cow.
The cow is schizophrenic.
Sometimes the cow thinks he’s French, other times he’s Flemish.
The Flemish cow won’t share with the French cow.
The French cow wants control of the Flemish cow’s milk.
The cow asks permission to be cut in half.
The cow dies happy.

FLORIDA CORPORATION
You have a black cow and a brown cow.
Everyone votes for the best looking one.
Some of the people who actually like the brown one best accidentally vote for the black one.
Some people vote for both.
Some people vote for neither.
Some people can’t figure out how to vote at all.
Finally, a bunch of guys from out-of-state tell you which one you think is the best-looking cow.

CALIFORNIA CORPORATION
You have millions of cows.
They make real California cheese.
Most are illegal.
Arnold likes the ones with the big udders.

Don’t flame me for being non-PC…it’s a joke email that showed up in my “in” box. I thought it worthy of posting for a laugh.

SAXON WAR SONG

by Sir Walter Scott ( 1771-1832 )

Whet the bright steel,
Sons of the White Dragon!
Kindle the torch,
Daughter of Hengist!
The steel glimmers not for the carving of the banquet,
It is hard, broad and sharp pointed;
The torch goeth not to the bridal chamber,
It steams and glitters blue with sulpher.
Whet the steel, the raven croaks!
Light the torch, Zernebrock is yelling!
Whet the steel, sons of the Dragon!
Kindle the torch, daughter of Hengist!

The black clouds are low over the thane’s castle:
The eagle screams-he rides on their bosom.
Scream not, grey rider of the sable cloud,
Thy banquet is prepared!
The maidens of Valhalla look forth,
The race of Hengist will send them guests.
Shake your black tresses, maidens of Valhalla!
And strike your loud timbrels for joy!
Many a haughty step bends to your halls,
Many a helmed head.

Dark sits the evening upon the thane’s castle,
The black clouds gather round;
Soon shall they be red as the blood of the valiant!
The destroyer of forests shall shake his red crest against them;
He, the bright consumer of palaces,
Broad waves he his blazing banner,
Red, wide, and dusky,
Over the strife of the valiant;
His joy is the clashing swords and broken bucklers;
He loves to lick the hissing blood as it bursts warm from the wound!

All must perish!
The sword cleaveth the helmet;
The strong armour is pierced by the lance:
Fire devoureth the dwelling of princes,
Engines break down the fences of battle.
All must perish!
The race of Hengist is gone-
The name of Horsa is no more!
Shrink not then from your doom, sons of the sword!
Let your blades drink blood like wine;
Feast ye in the banquet of slaughter,
By the light of blazing halls!
Strong be your swords while your blood is warm.
And spare neither for pity nor fear,
For vengeance hath but an hour;
Strong hate itself shall expire!
I also must perish.

Sometime beginning in 1988 and throughout 1989 I found myself listening to Rhythmic American Poetry.  This is from one of my favorite artists, the original Dre protege, who tragically had his career cut short after a traffic accident left him with vocal cord damage.

The D.O.C. – The Formula

From Hatemonger’s Quarterly:

Despite all our differences—black and white; young and old; Obama-supporting and sane—one thing binds us together: We all despise college students. And rightfully so, we must add. After all, is anything more annoying than the appalling illiteracy of these self-indulgent, lazy proto-drunkards? We, the crack young staff of “The Hatemonger’s Quarterly,” collectively think not.

But there is one way you can get back at these obnoxious upper-middle-class acquaintance rapists. You can tease them ceaselessly by composing your own execrable verse in the style of inept collegiate balladry. That is to say, dear reader, you can write a poem in the pathetic manner of today’s self-important college student.

To aid you on your quest to get even with those pertinacious tyros, we, the crack young staff of “The Hatemonger’s Quarterly,” officially announce the fifth iteration of our popular (and infamous) contest: The “Hatemonger’s Quarterly” Horrible College-Student Poetry Competition.

What’s not to enjoy? So, dear reader, we formally implore you to send us a submission of some wretched verse, composed in the manner of the functionally illiterate college student. (To get a sense of what’s worked well in the past, check out previous winning entries here, here, here, and here.)

Now, you still may not have a good idea of the kind of pathetic pseudo-verse we exhort you to submit. As such, we have written our own poem, which we have pretentiously titled “We Are All Muslims Now.”

We Are All Muslims Now by the Crack Young Staff of THMQ
Amerika is the raping of Gitmo.
Amerika is the killing of brown people.
Amerika is the Wal-Mart of sexism.
Amerika is the lynching of freedom.

But what Amerika—prostrate to the higher dollar—doesn’t realize is:
We Are All Muslims Now.
We are all al Qaida.
We are all Anne Frank.
We are all Heath Ledger.
We Are All Muslims Now.

Pretty awful, is it not? Do you think you can do better? We collectively bet you can.

What do you say, ConClubbers? Anybody out there up to plumbing the poetic bottom? We got’s talent a-plenty!

People Will Go Hungry

Long before man-caused global warming kills people and topples governments, the man-caused scare over global warming is going to have the same effect.

Unlike the myth of man-made global warming, the scare is real, and it is here today…

…With shortages of affordable food spreading around the world, food-related unrest has broken out in nations as diverse as Egypt, Haiti, Indonesia and Afghanistan.

One of the base causes of the shortages is the effect of global-warming concerns in the United States, where it is estimated that 30 percent of the nation’s corn crop now is devoted to the production of ethanol, rather than going into the food chain. As the “food basket” of the world, what happens in crop production in the U.S. affects the world food supply.

A noted professor of applied economics and law at the University of Minnesota, C. Ford Runge, has concluded that ethanol production in the United States – a product of the global-warming scare – has had a “clearly substantial” effect on the world food crisis.

Yep.

This is an interesting article mocking the “green fads” that are being peddled, the uselessness and idiocy of using one’s food sources to make fuel, and the nonsense of carbon offsets. The author then turns around and calls for massive government regulation to “help you” reduce your energy consumption. At Conclub we’ve been chronicling the rush to regulate, tax and control every aspect your life in the name of the planet. The agenda is clear, the calls for its implementation are increasingly open and unapologetic, and it means nothing but trouble for you and the concepts of liberty and freedom that we have come to take for granted. What a bunch of little green fascists.

We can’t afford to make any more mistakes in how to ’save the planet.’ Start by ditching corn ethanol

The greatest folly is the “what you can do” fairy tale. Yes, every bit of saved energy—by insulating homes, driving less—helps. But we shouldn’t fool ourselves that individual eco-conscious behavior can prevent dangerous global warming. That will require “serious interventions from governments to change how we produce and use energy,” says Gabrielle Walker, coauthor of the new book “The Hot Topic” with Sir David King, Britain’s former science adviser. “Everyone can try to do our bit, but it’s not the sort of thing that individuals can greatly influence by themselves.” Some problems are too big to solve one weatherstrip at a time.

That’s too bad. They were starting to win me over to the ‘do what you can’ and reduce, reuse and recycle. We currently recycle tin, aluminum and plastic bags and closely monitor electricity consumption. We also grow some of our own food in the summer, planted a few trees in the backyard, combine commuting trips (due to gas prices) and generally attempt to not be overly wasteful. And now they tell me that is not good enough? Shame on them. I may not be effectively “carbon neutral” but at least I’m not the one calling for the all powerful, all intrusive, nanny state.

Interesting interlude. Al really rocks the Accordian Zydeco-style.

Be very careful when encouraging those true, dyed in the wool, drinking the kool-aid, crawling over glass, environmental wacko types. They’ll will use anything to wage their little war on oil, the internal combustible engine, and the industrial state. And they are even managing to a leading car dealer to accept this garbage. Never mind that high gas prices already are squeezing the middle class, the independent trucker, and the American consumer and is downright catastrophic for the lower and fixed income classes. One shouldn’t have to be independently wealthy to own a motor vehicle, or to actually add a bit of fuel to it from time to time.

The Left claims to be “the compassionate ones” but when it comes to global warming and the threatened catastrophe of climate change they are glad to steamroll over everything and everybody in their quest to “save the planet”. Yet no proof exists that any effort made by any of us would make the slightest difference in the temperature rhythms of the climate. But we better make sure those greedy Americans are severely penalized for taking the family out to McD’s or over to Wal-Mart to buy their Chinese made shiny baubles and trinkets. This big brother approach and deep seated need to tax, shackle and otherwise oppress the American people and condemn their way of life is just the latest attempt at control and regulation of every aspect of your daily life. And this time it comes in a green colored package. How pretty! The watermelon (green on the outside and red on the inside) approach to punishing you for being an American by birth (or choice) continues unabated.

Should You Pay $6 Per Gallon?
Why higher prices makes economic sense

But America’s top car dealer says what we really need in this country is high gas prices—something in the neighborhood of $6 a gallon—if we ever really want to tackle the critical issues of the day: global warming and our oil addiction. “The biggest lie in America politics today is to say you care deeply about global warming and advocate for the price of gas to go down,” says Mike Jackson, CEO of the AutoNation car dealer chain. “Those are mutually exclusive concepts.”

PETRAEUS TAPPED TO HEAD CENTCOM

General David Petraeus received a well deserved promotion this week: President Bush nominated him to run U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), replacing Admiral William Fallon, who resigned last month. Petraeus is the current commander in Iraq and the brilliant architect of the troop “surge” that has worked so well to quell the insurgency there. CENTCOM covers both Iraq and Afghanistan, and the new position puts Petraeus directly under Defense Secretary Robert Gates and President Bush. It also allows for consistency of strategy going forward. Meanwhile, Lieutenant General Raymond Odierno will be promoted to take Petreaus’s place as commander of Iraq operations. Odierno currently commands the Army’s 3rd Corps at Fort Hood, Texas. If confirmed, the two men will lead our military in Iraq and Afghanistan beginning in late summer or early fall, and into the next administration. That is heartening indeed.

- From the Patriot Post

You’ve got to love Youtube

****UPDATE 4 From Swim at Your Own Risk****

Victim Pic in

Contrary to earlier reports he still appears to have legs but they don’t look good.

Original Story:

From TransNewsWorld:

Man Killed in Shark Attack off San Diego Coast

Atlanta, Ga. 4/25/2008 04:33 PM GMT (FINDITT)

A man was killed in a shark attack off the coast of San Diego Friday morning.

According to reports surfers spotted the man swimming in the waters of Solana Beach in an area known as Fletcher’s Cove. They then noticed the man begin to struggle and after they reached to help him they saw that he had been attacked by a shark and had both his legs severed at the knee.

By the time they were able to get the man to shore he had died.

Southern California has been awash in White Shark sightings since the beginning of March. Check out the details at Pacific Coast Shark News. Local news has been poo-pooing these sitings as hoaxes. Obviously not. This sounds like either a White Shark – likely, due to all the sightings – or a Bull/Tiger Shark.

SoCal Sighting History:

Hermosa Beach — On April 17
Bolsa Chica State Beach — On April 10
San Onofre, Trail Five — On April 7
Huntington Beach — On March 26
Huntington Beach — On March 22
Santa Monica Beach — On March 14
San Onofre, Trail One — On March 8
Huntington Beach (*this was an attack) — On March 7
San Onofre, Trail One — On March 5

*UPDATE* (via avacado at Free Republic): Eyewitness Account up at Surfer magazine:

ATTACK EYEWITNESS: Longtime Solana Beach Surfer Ira Opper Describes Attack

Interview by
Brad Melekian
Senior Editor SURFER Magazine

A man was fatally attacked by a shark this morning in Solana Beach. While details are still unfolding, we got this first-person account from long-time Solana Beach surfer Ira Opper, who was at the beach at the time of the attack.

You know, it was my morning surf check at Pillbox. All of a sudden, somebody—I thought they said somebody had a heart attack, and they asked the public works person to remove their truck from the beach access because they were there cleaning up. All of the sudden, you hear all the sirens, they went up toward Tabletops and then eventually one of the ambulances pulled in to Fletcher Cove and then there were about three or four people in wetsuits sort of in shock. And then a girl comes running up the ramp screaming, “He’s bleeding to death! He’s bleeding to death!” The paramedic calmed her down, saying, “There’s people there, they came down from Tabletop, I’m on the radio, they’re doing everything they can.” They calmed her down. Within three to five more minutes, the lifeguards and the paramedics had the victim in the back of one of the lifeguard trucks, they brought him up to Fletcher Cove and probably for the next twenty minutes, they performed CPR. Administered whatever medicine that they do in that situation, and they continued doing CPR. Mercy Airvac landed on the beach, they came up and within 15-20 minutes of CPR, they sort of backed off. He bled to death. His whole lower body—wetsuit, legs—were shredded. I asked the Captain of the Lifeguards what he thinks happened and he said a “very, very large shark” attacked. I talked to another gentleman who was walking up the beach actually before it happened. It turned out he had walked up the beach and saw a sea lion on the beach that looked very distressed. Something you don’t see too often around here, especially on the beach.

The triathlete crew were training. They said it was outside the surf line, so it was somewhere between Tabletops and Fletcher Cove. Older guy. Looked like he was in his late 50s, fairly great shape, fairly big guy.

**UPDATE 2 (Via Perseverando at free Republic)** Live NBC San Diego Coverage Here.

More On The Story Here.

***UPDATE 3 (Via Swim At Your Own Risk)*** Chopper shot of the rescue station. The yellow tarp is covering – well, you know.

Via Jonah Goldberg in The Corner today:

Argghhh! BLOG: A little photo essay on protests on college campuses.

Conservatives are funny!

This public safety ad (h/t Mark Steyn at The Corner) must have sent Canadian kids to bed with nightmares by the tens of thousands.  Another milestone in Canada’s continuing cultural collapse.

This is what happens when you have too much time on your hands. But I love it.

The Peoples Cube: The Stalinist Version of the Onion

“The Patriot Game”

No real reason.  I’m just on holiday, and I love this song.

It’s been an interesting week and a great one for crazy quotes:

Eco-Theology

 ”Almost four decades ago, a group of visionary Americans energized the environmental movement, and indeed our nation, by dedicating a day to this ideal: we must preserve God’s creation, our planet, for the generations to come… The Bible tells us in the Old Testament ‘To minister to the needs of God’s creation is an act of worship.’ To ignore those needs is to dishonor the God who made us. On this Earth Day, and every day, let us honor the earth and our future generations with a commitment to fight climate change.” —House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

What does that have to do with the Constitution?

 ”We need somebody who’s got the heart, the empathy, to recognize what it’s like to be a young teenage mom, the empathy to understand what it’s like to be poor or African-American or gay or disabled or old—and that’s the criteria by which I’ll be selecting my judges.” —Barack Obama

Obama playing “the race card” on the First Black President?

“I think that [the Obama campaign] played the race card on me. And we now know, from memos from the campaign and everything that they planned to do it all along… I don’t think I should take any s**t from anybody on that, do you?” —Bill Clinton

The Perpetual Candidate

“[Hillary's win in Pennsylvania] is great news. For Sen. John McCain. She’s never getting out. Hillary will not leave the race tonight. She will not leave the race before the convention in August. She may not leave the race ever.” —Rich Galen

Mosin-Nagant rifle

I normally don’t drag my dear children to the local temple of the Second Amendment. And I normally don’t visit the gun shop very often at all (mainly because of economic priorities and it is always very tempting to not leave empty-handed). But I was fed rumors of wonder over a great sale on a worthy and famous WWII battle rifle by my brother-in-law, so I made the trip with my lineage in tow. All three of them. Ages 10, 8 and 4. All sweet and cute little girls. Why, you ask. Because my day off falls in the middle of the week, and it is the only time I can sneak away from the wife to go and play if the mood strikes. It is also the day I am ‘babysitting’ the fruit of my loins.

Now I am fairly positive that the local house of carnage and misogynistic, patriarchal oppression is usually not frequented by a troop of pretty little children. And certainly not in force. But I had to go and see if the rumor of $88.88 battle rifles was true. It was. Big, ginormous crates full of them fresh from our old cold war enemy and, undoubtedly, a few of them responsible for the death of a Hitler henchman or two.

After kindly, but firmly, warning the various sized wee ones to “don’t touch anything” several times we proceeded to wander in to do a bit of window shopping. This particular establishment is named Jensens and is a locally famous gun store. Hundreds of semi-automatic rifles line the walls. It’s a Terminator’s dream come true. Ak’s, Ar-15’s, semi-auto shotguns and guns I don’t even know about line the walls. The staff carry sidearms at all times amid the stacked crates of ammunition and displays of armaments. Testosterone normally drips down the wall and you’ll grow some hair on your back by just hanging around for half an hour or so. You can purchase everything from pistols to knives to binoculars to slings to handcuffs to bi-pods to increasingly antique relics from WWII. The latter item is what I had come to look at.

My two younger ones had scattered like a small Mongol horde to scout out the place while I attempted to keep one eye on them, give an abbreviated history lesson to my (at that time) ten year old on the rifle in question, and engage a helpful, salt and pepper haired, gentleman armed with a 9mm about the length (and stupidity) of the “instant” background check if I actually were to claim a Commie weapon for the cause of the average American patriot.

After our discussion I had moved on to pricing ammunition and a bit of general browsing when I heard an urgent female voice calling out “Sir, Sir, Sir…” I looked up and clear across the room a maternal female clerk, who while attempting to ring someone else up, was frantically pointing at what turned out to be my youngest two girls apparently, and studiously, inventorying a crate of loose ammunition that was sitting on the floor. “They’ll get cosmoline all over them”.  I, rather embarrassingly, managed to mumble a rather lame, I know I should be watching my children but this gun is more interesting, response. “I told them not to touch anything.” She, and her customer, kind of looked at me with that “what kind of father are you teaching small, unsupervised young ladies to play with ammunition” look as I proceeded to tell them to remove their possibly ammo grease covered hands from the cartridges in the crate.

I then proceeded to round up the brood, head out to the van, get everyone in, and sit for ten minutes contemplating whether I really, really, needed to buy a rifle today, and whether I really wished to brave the gaze of the matronly one for thirty minutes while waiting for my “instant” background check to come back approved. While I waited I decided to quiz the children.

Q – “What did I tell you before we went in?”

A – “Not to touch anything.”

Q – “And what did I tell you once we were in the store?”

A – “Not to touch anything.”

And then to the two youngest ones…

Q – “And what were you doing?”

A – “Touching things.”

Q – “And what did I tell you not to do?

A – “Touch anything.”

Q – “Then why were you touching things?”

(big pause)

Eight year old: ” Well… Libby (the four year old) did it first…”

Me: “ Well, that explains it.” (pause) “How are your hands?”

A – “Fine”

(another pause)

The oldest one: “Dad, are you going to buy the gun or not, mom’s going to be home soon and it’s getting late…..”

Me: Sigh… “Not today, you and I will come back again without those two, and then we’ll get it.”

And thus ended our little field trip to the house of firearms. But we’ll be back.

Perhaps the Beast has a fishing buddy we don’t know about?

I found this interesting. A great little lesson on Western Civilization

As delivered via the golden EIB microphone.

Rush almost never fails to bring at least a grin to my face… Well said el Rushbo.

“A fear of weapons is a sign of retarded sexual and emotional maturity.”

-SIGMUND FREUD
(1856 – 1939)

Pennsylvania Primary Results: Latest News, Spin

They also seem to be a bit “touchy” about Hillary’s bin Laden ad that she ran as a last ditch regurgitation of her Texas 3 a.m. ad. Both appeared to have resonated with the bitter vote and kept the ‘wack-a-mole’ alive to fight another day.

The exit polls were WRONG! Hillary projected the winner. What will be the margin?

Discuss…

Poor Barry. He now has to endure the shame of having the support of Michael Moore. Unfortunately, our Pennsylvania friend Dana went to the polls today and pulled the lever for Obama. Based on the endorsements he has received, one has to wonder whether there is a totalitarian, Communist, or separatist alive that hasn’t endorsed Obama? And as much as it pains a person to vote for Hillary, it is necessary for Americans to know just what a toothless, quivering, spineless administration Obama will have. Which is naturally why these kooks want him to win! But hey, as long as Obama is leading a “movement,” everything will be fine, right?

”What we are witnessing is not just a candidate but a profound, massive public movement for change,” Moore writes. ”My endorsement is more for Obama The Movement than it is for Obama the candidate.”

Has anyone considered the fact that the “movement” is probably a massive bowel movement?

We received a comment this morning by someone using the name L’Enfant on Dave’s old post In Defense of Blackwater and the Modern Day ‘Merc’. I did not want it to get lost in the shuffle.  

The immunity mentioned in previous posts applies not to just contractors but the US military and allied forces. It is not a complete immunity just immunity from Iraqi law. This is very common in diplomatic missions and is the same immunity we extend to diplomatic convoys of other countries while visiting the US. Each person can still be criminally prosecuted in his/her home country per the laws of that country.

The most common misconception is the huge discrepancy of pay between contractors and military. Contractors receive a daily rate only when they are on contract. This does not include any retirement benefits, medical, tuition reimbursement, sick leave, vacation, and many other fringe benefits included on top of military base pay. It is true that the contractor will make more in a calendar year than a soldier, but after the conflict is over the expense of that contractor is discontinued. Imagine the cost if Diplomatic Security had to hire 1,300 people today as well as support people back in the US. What would the 20 year cost of that be, additional facilities needed to house and run these operations? Pensions? Health benefits? Other fringe benefits? Given that the government does not frequently have RIF’s we need to look at the 20 year costs to compare a short term need filled by contractors.

Lastly many people use the word “merc” and “mercenary” without understanding the hurt it causes. Many of the contractors KIA referenced in the article were killed protecting diplomats. As 99% of these contractors are former military it is very hurtful for a widow or child to hear people refer to their husband or father as a “merc” or “mercenary” when he/she made the ultimate sacrifice for his/her country. Many may respond that they were doing it for the money but those will be the people who have never met any of these contractors. Let’s spend less time debating if they fit the definition of a mercenary and more time honoring the fact that they clearly meet the definition of a patriot.

Comment by L’Enfant — April 22, 2008 @ 5:46 am 

L’Enfant is right – they are of our blood and bone. We diminish ourselves when we do not acknowledge it. I know some of these “contractors” and to a person they are our very best.

I hope our Liberal friends will find L’Enfant’s words educational as well. I tried to no avail to explain to Wes that there was nothing new or pernicious about “contractor” immunity. Should we give up immunity for our Secret Service officers the next time they protect the president abroad? Funny but Bush certainly understands how vulnerable people are who do this job.

It is interesting to encounter the truth and dispel the lunatic fantasies and outrages. The “Mercs” are just hard working people trying to do their duty for their country. So less romantic than the conspiracy theory of Dick Cheney’s private above the law army.

If you want to meet one of these patriots let me introduce you to Bill Juneau.

Please come back and comment L’Enfant. It was Dave’s post but I do not think he minds the correction on mercenary.

“I have not read the news, watched the news, or read a blog for 48 hours, and it is kind of great. Hell, I have not even checked memeorandum to discover the latest ginned-up outrage of the week. The 98% of the world who don’t read blogs may be on to something.”  -John Cole

Amen.  This really is the silly season (on both sides).

Ever since I wrote a couple posts on Blackwater and the modern day mercs (here and here) I have continued my research and interest in the subject. I signed up for the Blackwater Tactical Weekly newsletter and am currently reading a book about the company as well (an extemely biased, anti-conservative, anti-Christian one, but informative nonetheless). If you are interested in reading the latest issue you can view it here and if you would like to sign up to receive your very own merc informational email scroll to the bottom of the page to sign up.

 “233 years ago, a group of bitter men clung to their guns and religion, driven by their antipathy towards people who weren’t like them. In the end, I think it worked out OK.” 

- humorist and blogger Charlie Foxtrot

Motorhead – Death or Glory

Perhaps the oppressors of Zionists, enemies of Western Civilization, the Mahdi zealots, the Muhammadens, the Islamofastics, the Islamists, heralders of the return of the Caliph, 7th century resurgents, followers of the moon god, belly bombers of Allah and slaughterers of the innocent were all taken. 

McCain pressed on ‘Islamic’ terror label

A coalition of American Muslim groups is demanding that Sen. John McCain stop using the adjective “Islamic” to describe terrorists and extremist enemies of the United States.

Muneer Fareed, who heads the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), told The Washington Times that his group is beginning a campaign to persuade Mr. McCain to rephrase his descriptions of the enemy.

This should have been titled: Has Hillary Grown a Pair? but I usually try to avoid such crudeness in titles.

On the eve of the Pennsylvania primary, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., tells “Good Morning America” she would “obliterate” Iran if they attacked Israel. (AP/ABC News) 

She’s talking tough, after all she dodged sniper fire in Bosnia to help bring peace to the region and… uh, never mind. It’s always send the Right into fits of giggles when Liberals talk tough, but at least she’s giving lip service to the reality that there are ‘bad guys’ out there. Obama doesn’t even pretend to have a grasp of world events and the War on Terror. He has offered little more than to have tea and cookies, Jimmy Carter style, with the thugs, despots and crazies of the world. No other candidate will embolden and invigorate the enemies of the United States than to a president who is indebted to the pacifistic, peacnik agenda of the fringe Left.

It’s looking like Hillary will attempt to ‘run to the right’ of McCain in the general as he attempts to ‘run to the center’ and outflank Hillary for the moderate votes. That would certainly be interesting to watch as well.

Clinton on Iran Attack: “Obliterate Them”

In an ad that began airing in Pennsylvania Monday morning, Clinton implies she is tougher than Obama.

“Who do you think has what it takes?” the narrator asks in an ad depicting historical images of crises that presidents have had to deal with: Osama bin Laden, headlines about the stock market crash of 1929, long gas lines from the 1970s oil-shocks, images of the Cold War, Hurricane Katrina and soldiers. It features the first image of Osama bin Laden to be used in a TV ad this political season.

Our friend Dana at Common Sense Political Thought resides in beautiful (it really is – check out his pictures of it) Jim Thorpe Pennsylvania. His heart might be in Kentucky or Carolina, but his legal residence is in Ben Franklin’s home state. As we all know tomorrow Dana will get to exercise that most sacred duty of a citizen in a free society – VOTE!

Mr. Pico has recently had a change of heart. I am not sure if was Jeromy Brown’s witty and engaging arguments over at Iowa Liberal, or our own Wes and Andre’s writings, that swayed him but Dana has gone and registered himself as a Democrat.

So in celebration of my favorite libertarian’s epiphany I would like to challenge every body to a prediction contest! So put your pundit credentials on the line, and pick the winner and their margin of victory.

I say the victory is seized by Bill’s honey. She slams over Michelle’s favorite genius Barry by at least 11 points!

When Dana goes back to registering as a Republican again do we get to vote about letting him back in?

(OH – BTW – Charlie and George, my two new fav media types, are going with a big Hillary win!)

Setting the record straight. We have indeed heard several players in this election bringing up the dreaded accusation of ’swiftboating’ and I’m happy to see Henry P. Wickham Jr. doing a fine job setting the record straight and ‘reclaiming’ the word from those who would seek to tarnish and degrade it.

Redefining ‘Swiftboating’ and Rewriting History

If the words “swift” and “boat” must be combined and turned into a verb, then let us insist on its proper use.  The word as a verb originates from the campaign undertaken in 2004 by the Swift Boat Veterans in response to the John Kerry presidential candidacy.  The word means, or should mean, the exposure of a fraudulent autobiography of one seeking political office or public influence. It is the correction of a personal and professional record that has been selectively and dishonestly compiled, as the Swift Vets did so effectively to that of John Kerry. 

Hailing from Australia, this group may sound somewhat familiar.