Saturday, May 23, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
That’s Why � Already Not Yet
That’s Why � Already Not Yet
“Over half a century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of older people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: ‘Men have forgotten God; that’s why all this has happened.’
“Over half a century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of older people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: ‘Men have forgotten God; that’s why all this has happened.’ Since then I have spent well-nigh fifty years working on the history of our revolution; in the process I have read hundreds of books, collected hundreds of personal testimonies and have already contributed eight volumes of my own toward the effort of clearing away the rubble left by that upheaval. But if I were asked today to formulate as concisely as possible the main cause of the ruinous revolution that swallowed up some sixty million of our people, I could not put it more accurately than to repeat: ‘Men have forgotten God; that’s why all this has happened.’”
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, 1983
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Chicago Boyz � Blog Archive � What, Eight Years Wasn’t Long Enough?
Chicago Boyz � Blog Archive � What, Eight Years Wasn’t Long Enough?
Okay, the leftmost half of the Democrats, including Obama, Pelosi et al, have continuously claimed for 8 years that detaining illegal combatants at Gitmo was obviously illegal under U.S. law, immoral and counterproductive. Usually, when someone makes such a sweeping claim, it means that they have throughly thought out the problem and have a detailed alternative to offer. Given that Democrats have had 8 years to think about the problem, why didn’t Obama and Congressional Democrats have a plan to handle Gitmo and its detainees ready to implement on Day 1 of his administration?
Why are they still dithering to the point of refusing to allocate funds to close Gitmo? [h/t Instapundit] How dumb are they?
After all, it’s not like they’ve proposed a plan and then the Republicans, using their dominance of the three branches of government, shot it down. No, they haven’t even made a single, concrete, detailed proposal, and the Republicans don’t have the power to stop squat. If Democrats actually had a workable idea, they could have launched it four months ago.
It’s almost as if they’ve suddenly discovered that the problem of dealing with illegal combatants is a complex problem rife with dangers and tradeoffs that presents no clear, optimal solution. Too bad somebody hasn’t tried to tell them how difficult a legal, practical and moral problem these people pose for us. Oh, wait, somebody did.
It’s almost as if they always knew that Bush had to make serious tradeoffs but chose to create a simplistic narrative just for the sake of political marketing. It looks like they spent all their time reflexively criticizing Bush and zero time actually thinking about the challenges he faced.
It’s almost like they never really gave a damn.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Something... and Half of Something: Some required reading...
Something... and Half of Something: Some required reading...
om Time To Behead The Concubines by J.J. Jackson:
om Time To Behead The Concubines by J.J. Jackson:
Right now in America we have the Republican Party as it sadly exists; a chattering mass of concubines who have come to believe that they are favorites of some higher authority and they will have no harm ever come to them. The problem is that we, the people, who are the real authority behind the Party are not at all amused. We have given them power. We have given them arms. We have even given them orders. But still they sit there and giggle at us as though those orders are not at all important.
We tell them to lower taxes and they giggle. We tell them to reduce the size of government and they giggle some more. We tell them to stand up for innocent human life no matter the age and they laugh out loud. We tell them to return to within the boundaries set up for them by the Constitution and they flip us the bird while mocking us openly. So the answer is obvious to anyone that has ever read Sun Tzu. The axe needs to be sharpened. The heads of the lead concubines must be lowered onto the chopping block. And these fools need to be released from their duties and obligations. It is time to behead those giddy concubines who are in charge and who are not willing to carry out the clear orders given to them.
Yes, it would appear that perhaps we should look to Sun Tzu for a solution, keeping in mind that there are many ways to skin a cat behead a concubine, after all, there is an election coming up. Nothing says term limit better than a lost primary.
And as for senate hopeful from the great state of Florida, Charlie Crist? No way. No way Charlie. We have enough RINOs, we don't need another. I'd rather see that seat go to a flat out democrat then see you sit there and sit with the opposition. Better the devil we know then to watch you stick a knife in our backs. I have deeply regretted voting for you for governor, and I won't repeat that mistake by voting for you for senator.
Vinegar and Honey: No Such Thing As A Free Lunch
Vinegar and Honey: No Such Thing As A Free Lunch: "The government keeps pushing us toward Communism/Socialism and keeps spreading the free corn out in the form of programs such as supplemental income, tax credit for unearned income, tobacco subsidies, dairy subsidies, payments not to plant crops(CRP), welfare, medicine, drugs, free medical, etc., while we continually lose our freedoms - just a little at a time."
A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take away everything you have.
~Thomas Jefferson
A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take away everything you have.
~Thomas Jefferson
Grouchy Old Cripple: Marines
Grouchy Old Cripple: Marines: "Marine Corps Bumper Stickers:"
"Martyrs or Marines -- Who Do you Think Will Get The Virgins?"
"U.S. Marines -- Travel Agents To Allah"
"When In Doubt, Empty The Magazine"
"The Marine Corps -- When It Absolutely, Positively Has To Be Destroyed Overnight"
"Death Smiles At Everyone -- Marines Smile Back"
"What Do You Feel When You Kill A Terrorist? ... A Reassuring Recoil"
"Marines -- Providing Enemies of America an Opportunity To Die For their Country Since 1775"
"My Marine Can Pick Off Your Honor Student at a Click and a Half"
"Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Anyone Who Threatens It"
"Happiness Is A Belt-Fed Weapon"
"It's God's Job to Forgive Bin Laden -- It's Our Job To Arrange The Meeting"
"Artillery Brings Dignity to What Would Otherwise Be Just A Brawl"
"One Shot, Twelve Kills -- Marine Artillery"
"My kid fought in Iraq so yours can party in college"
"Machine Gunners -- Accuracy by Volume"
"Guns Don't Kill People -- I Kill People"
"Except For Ending Slavery, Fascism, Nazism, and Communism, WAR has Never Solved Anything."Sunday, May 10, 2009
Zero Hedge: The Dow's Weight In Gold
Zero Hedge: The Dow's Weight In Gold: "The chart below represents the relationship of the Dow Jones to an ounce of gold. Things to note...very long uptrend broken (white line), very long support/resistance line broken (light blue), well below average since 1979 lows (green line), we are at a 30% retracement from most recent low (cyan text) which compares well with all previous major retracements in this down-cycle... a fat juicy extrapolated target seems to be waiting for the DOW below 5000 and Gold over $1000?"
SEE CHARTS
SEE CHARTS
Saturday, May 02, 2009
Friday, May 01, 2009
Monday, April 27, 2009
Power Line - Real religion
Power Line - Real religion: "Real religion"
Today comes word that Mary Ann Glendon is turning down the prestigous Laetare Medal that was to be awarded to her at Notre Dame's commencement this year. Glendon is the Learned Hand Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and former United States Ambassador to the Holy See. Explaining her decision Glendon stated:
When you informed me in December 2008 that I had been selected to receive Notre Dame's Laetare Medal, I was profoundly moved. I treasure the memory of receiving an honorary degree from Notre Dame in 1996, and I have always felt honored that the commencement speech I gave that year was included in the anthology of Notre Dame's most memorable commencement speeches. So I immediately began working on an acceptance speech that I hoped would be worthy of the occasion, of the honor of the medal, and of your students and faculty. etc
VDH's Private Papers::Crazy Times - Crazier Ones to Follow
VDH's Private Papers::Crazy Times - Crazier Ones to Follow: "Crazy Times — Crazier Ones to Follow"
| April 27, 2009 |
On the Patio
On the Patio:
A Toast
"'There are good ships,
and there are wood ships,
The ships that sail the sea.
But the best ships, are friendships,
And may they always be.'"
A Toast
"'There are good ships,
and there are wood ships,
The ships that sail the sea.
But the best ships, are friendships,
And may they always be.'"
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Friday, April 24, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
The American Spectator : Obama's Torture Policy for the Unborn
The American Spectator : Obama's Torture Policy for the Unborn
Obama's Torture Policy for the Unborn
If achieving world peace required torturing a single baby, asks a character in Fyodor Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov, would it be worth it?
"Imagine that you are creating a fabric of human destiny with the object of making men happy in the end, giving them peace and rest at last, but that it was essential and inevitable to torture to death only one tiny creature -- that baby beating its breast with its fist, for instance -- and to found that edifice on its unavenged tears, would you consent to be the architect on those conditions? Tell me, and tell the truth."
The liberalism that Barack Obama seeks to complete answers Dostoyevsky's question with an emphatic yes. What is Obama's abortion-on-demand-forever policy but the building of a modern American way of life upon the graves of tortured babies? And not just the unavenged tears of one baby but millions of them.
This week, however, Obama did avenge the tears of terrorists. World peace, he said, isn't worth theirs. He lectured the CIA that "What makes the United States special and what makes you special is precisely the fact that we are willing to uphold our values and ideals even when it's hard."
Obama's prim pontifications about America's "values and ideals" inspired Chris Matthews and Jack Cafferty, among other deep and careful thinkers, to mull over the question: If torturing terrorists works -- as the Obama administration had to admit grudgingly this week -- is it okay? No, of course not, the chattering class proudly concluded.
One wonders why. What do they care? Having already accepted abortion and euthanasia -- which are nothing more than the expedient killing of the unborn and the elderly -- why should the expedient torture of terrorists, a lesser evil, trouble them? Oh, that's right: the terrorists are guilty and the guilty under the ministrations of modern liberalism never suffer. Pain in modern life is for the innocent.
Terrorists, we're told by pro-abortion liberals, suffer excruciating pain while the ejected unborn and euthanized elderly feel nothing. And even if the latter do suffer pain, say these liberals, that pain is worth it. After all, abortion and euthanasia sustain a pleasant and peaceful lifestyle for the strong. Let the dead bury the dead. Or, as the Supreme Court has said, imagine the disruption to America's way of life if stare decisis in the case of Roe v. Wade disappeared and women couldn't plan their careers and futures without the expectation of legal abortion for years to come.
Obama's liberalism is not an opponent of human rights abuses but an embodiment of them. The CIA restricts itself to methods far less ruthless than those permitted by the platform of the Democratic Party. When will Obama bring his own platform into line with the Geneva Accords?
It is a little late in the day for Obama to worry about America's moral reputation. Resisting evil even "when it is hard" hasn't interested liberalism for at least four decades. It rests on an ideology of expedient evil and crass utilitarianism.
With St. Paul, Western civilization, before modern liberalism ransacked it, said: "One may not do evil so that good may result from it." But then modern liberalism came along and reversed the formulation and now insists in the case of everything from therapeutic cloning to killing unborn children to dehydrating the elderly that one should do evil so that good may come from it.
Obama only now rediscovers the Christian ethic for terrorists, even as he weaves the "fabric of human destiny" with the tissue of tortured children.
Gun Control History Lesson � GOLDBLOOM’S PADDED CELL
Gun Control History Lesson � GOLDBLOOM’S PADDED CELL
In 1929, the Soviet Union established gun control. From 1929 to 1953, about 20 million dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
In 1911, Turkey established gun control. From 1915 to 1917, 1.5 million Armenians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
Germany established gun control in 1938 and from 1939 to 1945, a total of 13 million Jews and others who were unable to defend themselves were rounded up and exterminated.
China established gun control in 1935. From 1948 to 1952, 20 million political dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
Guatemala established gun control in 1964. From 1964 to 1981, 100,000 Mayan Indians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
Uganda established gun control in 1970. From 1971 to 1979, 300,000 Christians unable to defend themselves es, were rounded up and
exterminated.
Cambodia established gun control in 1956. From 1975 to 1977, one million ‘educated ‘ people, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
Defenseless people rounded up and exterminated in the 20th Century
because of gun control: 56 million.
It has now been 12 months since gun owners in Australia were forced by new law to surrender 640,381 personal firearms to be destroyed by their own government, a program costing Australia taxpayers more than $500 million dollars. The first year results are now in:
Australia-wide, homicides are up 3.2 percent.
Australia-wide, assaults are up 8.6 percent.
Australia-wide, armed robberies are up 44 percent. (yes, 44 percent)
In the state of Victoria alone, homicides with firearms are now up 300 percent. Note that while the law-abiding citizens turned them in, the
criminals did not, and criminals still possess their guns. It will never happen here? I bet the Aussies said that too!
While figures over the previous 25 years showed a steady decrease in armed robbery with firearms, this has changed drastically upward in the past 12 months, since criminals now are guaranteed that their
prey is unarmed. There has also been a dramatic increase in break-
ins and assaults of the ELDERLY. Australian politicians are at a loss to explain how public safety has decreased, after such monumental effort and expense was expended in successfully ridding Australian society of guns.
The Australian experience and the other historical facts above prove it.
You won’t see this data on the US evening news, or hear politicians disseminating this information. Guns in the hands of honest citizens save lives and property and, yes, gun - control laws adversely affect
only the law-abiding citizens. Take note my fellow Americans, before it’s too late!
The next time someone talks in favor of gun control, please remind him of this history lesson.
With Guns………..We Are ‘Citizens’, without Them……..We Are
‘Subjects’.
During W.W.II the Japanese decided not to invade America because they knew most Americans were ARMED! Note: Admiral Yamamoto
who crafted the attack on Pearl Harbor had attended Harvard from
1919-1921 & was Naval Attaché to the U. S. 1925-28. Most of our Navy was destroyed at Pearl Harbor & our Army had been deprived of funding & was ill prepared to defend the country. It was reported that when asked why Japan did not follow up the Pearl Harbor attack with an invasion of the U . S. Mainland, his reply was that he had lived in the U.S. & knew that almost all households had guns.
If you value your freedom Please spread this anti-gun control message to all your friends! The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing!
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
Key witness in passport fraud case of Clinton, McCain, and Barack Obama fatally shot � Count Us Out
Key witness in passport fraud case of Clinton, McCain, and Barack Obama fatally shot � Count Us Out
April 19, 2009 -
A key witness in a federal probe into passport information stolen from the State Department was fatally shot in front of a District church, the Metropolitan Police Department said yesterday.
Lt. Quarles Harris Jr., 24, who had been cooperating with a federal investigators, was found late Thursday night slumped dead inside a car, in front of the Judah House Praise Baptist Church in Northeast, said Cmdr. Michael Anzallo, head of the department’s Criminal Investigations Division.
Cmdr. Anzallo said a police officer was patrolling the neighborhood when gunshots were heard, then Lt. Harris was found dead inside the vehicle, which investigators would describe only as a blue car.
Emergency medics pronounced him dead at the scene.
City police said they do not know whether his death was a direct result of his cooperation with federal investigators.
“We don’t have any information right now that connects his murder to that case,” Cmdr. Anzallo said.
Police say a “shot spotter” device helped an officer locate Lt. Harris.
A State Department spokeswoman yesterday declined to comment, saying the investigation into the passport fraud is ongoing.
The Washington Times reported April 5 that contractors for the State Department had improperly accessed passport information for presidential candidates Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain, which resulted in a series of firings that reached into the agency’s top ranks.
One agency employee, who was not identified in documents filed in U.S. District Court, was implicated in a credit-card fraud scheme after Lt. Harris told federal authorities he obtained “passport information from a co-conspirator who works for the U.S. Department of State.”
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/apr/19/key-witness-in-passport-fraud-case-fatally-shot/
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