Sharp Knife

TAKE THE DAY OFF!

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution(!):

"The U.S. judiciary should pay more attention to international court decisions to help enrich our nation's standing abroad, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor said Tuesday."

""The impressions we create in this world are important and they can leave their mark," O'Connor said."

""On the whole, the U.S. judicial system leaves a favorable impression around the world, she said "but when it comes to the impression created by the treatment of foreign and international law and the United States court, the jury is still out."" {Uh-oh...Zee famous Freench Impressioniste', Grandma Mo'Connor asks: 'Why do zay judge us?!'}

"The 73-year-old justice, considered by many to be the most {senile?} influential member of the nation's highest court, made her remarks to a dinner sponsored by the Southern Center for International Studies."

"O'Connor received the Atlanta center's World Justice Award at the dinner at the Marriott hotel in Buckhead." {'World Justice'? Is that when the World President, with the consent of the World Senate, nominates a World Justice to serve on the...Supreme Court? Let's just call it the 'Cosmic Justice Award' and be done with it.}

"Former Georgia Court of Appeals Judge Dorothy Toth Beasley presented O'Connor with the award."

"For decades, O'Connor said, U.S. courts declined to consider international law when reaching important decisions." {That's because for decades, even centuries, many justices foolishly thought they actually worked for the people of AMERICA. That pesky 'Consent of the Governed' thing, ya' know.}

"But in recent years, she said, the U.S. Supreme Court began acknowledging the thoughts of the global community." {Yes. If, by 'thoughts', you mean the thinking that produces anti-Semitism, America-bashing, coddling criminals, appeasing terrorists and rule-by-decree.}

"The first such case was decided in 2002 when the Supreme Court found it unconstitutional to execute the mentally retarded, she said. In arriving at that decision, O'Connor said, the high court noted that the world community overwhelmingly disapproved of the practice." {That's nice. What do Americans think of the practice? You remember 'Americans', don't you, Sandy?}

"Also influential was a court brief filed by American diplomats who discussed the difficulties confronted in their foreign missions because of U.S. death penalty practices, she said." {A half-a-million murders, at least...and 876 executions; yeah, we're just WAY out of control.}

"The second ruling cited by O'Connor was, as she called it, "the famous or perhaps infamous case," in which the Supreme Court overturned the Texas anti-sodomy law." {Actually, the Court overturned part of the Constitution itself. No biggie.}

"In that decision, the Supreme Court majority relied partly on a series of decisions by European courts on the same issue, O'Connor said." {The Court relied on it's own 'Will to Power'-- the EUnuchs just provided convenient valet service, as usual.}

""I suspect," O'Connor said, "that over time we will rely increasingly, or take notice at least increasingly, on international and foreign courts in examining domestic issues."" {I suspect so, too, Sandra. The fact that foreign courts want to criminalize Judaism, silence Christians, nullify elections and arrest US officials and servicemen can surely be glossed-over by well-meaning Trans-nationals such as ourselves...more pâté de foie gras, Mademoiselle?}

"Doing so, she added, "may not only enrich our own country's decisions, I think it may create that all important good impression.""

Ahhh...that 'all-important' good impression. Uh...'scuse me for askin', but isn't that little oath to the Constitution thing what is really 'all-important'?

And does anybody remember the last time she was trying to make that 'good impression'?

"She really made it easy," said one official later.

"She calmly discussed her beliefs about the law, stating that, in her opinion, "judges should avoid substituting their own views . . . for those of the legislature." Elected legislators, she maintained, are more "attuned to the public will" and more "politically accountable" than appointed judges."

But that was then; many, many amendments to the Living Constitution ago. My, how we've grown!

Liberals weren't fooled: "Eleanor Smeal of the National Organization for Women called the nomination "a major victory for women's rights." And Massachusetts's liberal Democratic senator, Edward Kennedy, expressed admiration for the Republican nominee: "Every American," said Kennedy, "can take pride in the president's commitment to select such a woman for this critical office."" 'Every American'--and every World Citizen as well!

My Constitution says "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." It says 'establish Justice...not import it. And
"...to ourselves and our Posterity..." nope; not word one about relying on the legislatures & courts of Katmandu & Kosovo.

We, the AMERICAN People, loaned our God-given power to the Supreme Court. Outside of that, the Justices have no claim to power, no matter how much stroking they recieve on their Tuscany vacations. Some of us have gotten a little big for our Capri pants & pantaloons, no?

'World Justice' is to justice what World Wrestling is to sports;

It's not.

(Hat tip: Reductio ad Absurdem.)

Tim is one of "those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat."

He can't decide. He needs your input.

Go. Help the Swing Voter swing.

Mort Zuckerman:

"If the term "occupation" had any relevance at all, it was lost three years ago with Arafat's rejection of Barak's proposal for a Palestinian state. The issue is Palestinian refusal to grant Israel the right to exist as a Jewish state. Israel's battle is not the battle of Jew against Muslim. It is a battle against the hatred of the Jews and their connection to the land of Israel. How else to comprehend the Palestinian rejection of Jerusalem as the sacred city of the Jews and the Western Wall as the Second Temple, except as a rejection of the Jewish presence there? "There was no temple in Jerusalem," Arafat said at Camp David. "It was only an obelisk." To question the core of the Jewish faith is hardly an indication of readiness to resolve the conflict."

"Quite the contrary, the spiraling Palestinian violence evidences a single-minded determination to continue the conflict. The insight of Amos Oz, the liberal Israeli writer, is pertinent. He is haunted, he said, by the observation that before the Holocaust, European graffiti read, "Jews to Palestine," while today it has been changed, to "Jews out of Palestine." The message to Jews, Oz says, is simple: "Don't be here, and don't be there. That is, don't be.""

"Graffiti On History's Walls".

ATTENTION, ALL HAPPENIN' YOUNG COLLEGE STUDENTS:

Does your school have a troubling admissions policy?
Got revolutionaries on campus?
Do your campus political opponents steal your newspapers?
Do you have to keep your politically incorrect views hidden from the Administration?
Any angry mobs disrupting your studies?

Well, take comfort, kids; it all happened before, back in the 70's.

The 1770's, that is.

When Alexander Hamilton, a poor but brilliant prodigy from the West Indies, was given a scholarship, he applied to Princeton. He was turned down because he asked for advanced placement. Hamilton then applied at King's College in New York. He became a radical revolutionary (except he was PRO-American, unlike today's wannabe-wankers). His room was pilfered for pamphlets & books, probably by Loyalist students. He had to keep his writings a secret from the college Administration which was strongly pro-English. When an angry Sons of Liberty mob came for the college president, Hamilton stalled them long enough for the man to escape...'tho a patriot, he despised mob justice.

Many know of his role as the first Secretary of Treasury, where he put the United States on a path to prosperity. And his role in lobbying for the Constitution, penning most of the Federalist Papers. Not to mention his role in founding the Coast Guard & Navy. But fewer know about his role as an military officer. Although he became one of Washington's most valued officers, he was not given the post as some kind of plum assignment (indeed, working for Washington was no Spring Break).

While he was still a teen-ager, he formed his own artillery company, and distinguished himself in battle. His bravery, command ability & shrewd analytical skills attracted Washington's attention. He served the General well, whether wheeling cannons through the snow to fire on the Hessians or covering Washington's back in the Conway Affair.

Hamilton started the practice of promoting able enlisted men to become officers, instead of selecting only from the 'gentleman class'. He was also anti-slavery (as a number of the Founders were, or came to be--but that's a post for another day). And also like some of the other Founders, including John Jay & Paul Revere, he was of some French ancestry. Despite my better judgement, I will try to say something nice about the French here: they tend to improve dramatically when they become Americans.

By the way, if you think YOU are a swingin' ladies' man on campus, we'd note that Martha Washington named her tom-cat "Hamilton".

There is good reason that Hamilton and Franklin are the only non-Presidents honored on our currency.

If you have not been taught any of this, you have been cheated by your institute of higher learning. I'd strongly recommend that you read "Alexander Hamilton: A Life" by Willard Sterne Randall.

Or you could, although not recommended, do what Hamilton did;

"Four years later (after he was rejected), he would return to Princeton--

with cannon."

WHO ELSE? STEYN:

"A man from West Africa came into the shop and "shook the store owner's hand powerfully until the owner felt his penis melt into his body.""

"I know the feeling. The same thing happened to me after shaking hands with Sen. Clinton."

"It is, in that sense, the perfect emblematic tale of Islamic victimhood: The foreigners have made us impotent!"

"One of the things I'd feel humiliated about if I lived in the Arab world is that almost all the forms of expression of my anti-Westernism are themselves Western in origin. Pan-Arabism was old-school 19th century nationalism of the type that eventually unified the various German and Italian statelets. Nasserism was transplanted European socialism, Baathism a local anachronistic variant on 'tween-wars Fascist movements. The Arabs even swiped Jew hatred from the Europeans. Though there was certainly friction between Jews and Muslims before the 20th century, it took the Europeans to package a disorganized, free-lance dislike of Jews into a big-time ideology with the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, Mein Kampf and all the rest."

"Even Islamic fundamentalism, though ostensibly a rare example of a homegrown toxin, has, as a practical matter, more in common with European revolutionary movements than with traditional expressions of Islam..."

"There's something pathetic about a culture so ignorant even its pathologies have to be imported."

Ouch!

BORKING BOYKIN, BOYKING BORK...WHATEVER.

While I may not agree with everything Lt. Gen. Jerry Boykin says on the HolyWatergate Tapes, the remarks of this patriot, who has spent his lifetime defending MY freedom, trouble me not a whit.

David Gerlertner writes:

"It used to be accepted in America that it was a Christian's right to believe in Christianity and to say so in public. The right even applied to soldiers--in fact to highly placed ones. In the Order for Sabbath Observance of November 1862, Lincoln quoted to his army George Washington's own first general order following the Declaration of Independence: "The General hopes and trusts that every officer and man will endeavor to live and act as becomes a Christian soldier defending the dearest rights and liberties of his country." ...and that was an order, not a talk given at a church.

The LA Times' William Arkin calls Boykin "an intolerant extremist" who "takes his orders not from his Army superiors but from God...". Consider this: "Whatever shall appear to be God's will I will do." --that famous Mullah & noted theocrat, A. Lincoln.

(By the way, I apologize to Mr. Gerlertner on behalf of an increasingly confused society; we should have brushed away the spotted owls and dangled his attacker, Unabomber Ted, from the highest branch. Instead, we entertain court motions from the mass-murdering terrorist to return his pipe-bombs and book collection. This is not an advancement, but a regression, of civilized society.)

Hugh Hewitt asks 'Who Is William Arkin?' Answer: Arkin is the journalist behind this story, the Times' military analyst, a former soldier and an adjunct professor at the U.S. Air Force School of Advanced Airpower Studies. He's also written for just about every lefty shop under the sun. Which is fine. But as a journalist, he puts words in the general's mouth that were never said...and won't release the full transcript that would place the remarks in context. Which is the kind of shoddy journalism we've come to expect from the usual 'usual suspects'.

Hewitt provides this link to a speech given by Arkin at the Naval War College. It is an unremakable-Bush arrogant/Usama winning/All about Enron/Root Causes-screed, except for two things; First, Arkin correctly claims the government was asleep at the switch, but doesn't mention that all the left-wing groups he worked for were busy for years putting sleeping pills in the government's coffee. Secondly, it illustrates that military campuses are more 'tolerant' and 'diverse' than civilian campuses.
Or the Times' newsroom, for that matter.

Some of our civil liberties champions have even called for prosecuting Gen. Boykin or assigning a government minder to keep an eye on him. (If only his name were 'Boylove', the Times would have given him an award instead!) Civil liberties just ain't what they used to be.

Does this mean that we can look forward to reporters infiltrating other houses of worship and airing tape-recordings of the procedings? May I suggest oh, I dunno...some of L.A.'s many fine mosques?

Hey!...here's a another hot tip for the Times that just came in on the ChristianCrime Line:

On or about Sept. 15, 2001, a group of co-conspiritors met at the crime scene, the National(!) Cathedral. Suspects include "Four of five living former presidents - Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, George Bush and Bill Clinton...members of the cabinet, Supreme Court and Congress and numerous foreign ambassadors...Former Vice President Al Gore, his wife, Tipper, and President Bush with first lady Laura Bush."

The ring-leader, a Rev. Billy Graham, was even heard to have quoted from the Bible. And that's not all; actual prayer took place! Worst of all, the "G"-word was used repeatedly in a public setting!!! According to open press reports, the conspiritors "seemed to draw solace from opera singer Denyce Graves' renditions of "America the Beautiful" and "The Lord's Prayer." The service ended with a heartily sung version of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic."" 'Heartily sung'? My Godless! What's this country coming to?

Here's all the damning evidence the media will need to convict:

"Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored,
He has loosed the fateful lightening of His terrible swift sword
His truth is marching on.

I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps
They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps
l can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps
His day is marching on.

I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnish`d rows of steel,
"As ye deal with my contemners, So with you my grace shall deal;"
Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel
Since God is marching on.

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet!
Our God is marching on.

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:
As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,
While God is marching on.

Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
His truth is marching on."

I suggest MSNBC play this song every hour-on the hour, until these disloyal reprobates are brought to heel!

The miscreants show no signs of rehabilitation, either; a year later, President and Mrs. Bush went to a certain field in Pennsylvannia; "They laid the flowers at the crash site. A ring of surviving family members surrounded Bush, who did not speak publicly. A military choir sang "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." Late in the day, House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., and Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., gathered lawmakers from both parties on the west front steps of the Capitol for a commemoration. They sang "God Bless America"..."
This must be stopped, friends! It's worse than we feared; the entire military, the Congress, the entire government has been taken over by these mad zealots!

Thank the Good Edward R. Murrow that we've got the L.A."Crucify Him!"Times and
MS"Give Us Barabbas!"NBC to protect us from public enemies like Lt. Gen. Jerry Boykin in these dangerous times!

For these and countless other dubious blessings, we thank thee, Big Media.

Amen.

David Frum talks with Joel Mowbray:

"When newly appointed diplomats would come to his office for the obligatory grip-and-grin, (Sec. of State George) Shultz would walk them over to his desk and say, "You have one more test to pass." Shultz would then spin a globe around and ask, "Now, point to your country." And the diplomat would point to Spain or Thailand or whichever the country to which he had been assigned. To which Shultz would respond, "No, point to YOUR country.""

OH, YEAH... ALSO JOHN F. KERREDY

""John Kerry did the same thing after he came out of Vietnam, I did it at the age of 53 ... with a long and distinguished career behind me." Wilson said. "John Kerry did it at the very beginning of his career.

"I know how these sorts of things test one's mettle," he said. "To have stood up and said what he did, at the time that he did, in my judgment, sets him apart from the other candidates."

Wilson then demanded an investigation into why his leak 'scandal' was taken off the front pages by a minor, unimportant leak of the Secretary of Defense's memo to his top aides. "Taking a leak is serious business in this town," said Wilson. "When I'm Secretary of State, these sorts of things won't dribble out."

Wilson is working on a follow-up piece to his famous "What I Didn't Find In Africa" op-ed, entitled: "What I Had Already Decided I Wouldn't Find In A Few Poolside Meetings At One Hotel In One City In One Country In Africa". Wilson also said he had selected Ben Affleck and J-Lo to play himself and his wife, P-lame, in his upcoming film biography; "We're going to call it "Gigli: The Happy Diplomat"...I loved that movie."

(Ambassador Wilson currently resides in John Kerry's spare bedroom, when not sleeping on his Saudi-funded couch at his Saudi-funded office at his Saudi-funded Institute.)

He may be the best Cabinet Officer...Ever!

Far from being an "admission of failure" as Defeatocrats claim, the Rumsfeld memo asks all the right questions. If you are familiar with Victor Davis Hanson's "Carnage & Cultures", this kind of civilian audit & self-examination is one of the hallmarks of Western warfare, the most successful and lethal in history.

It should not have been leaked, however, especially during wartime. Ironically, this illustrates the very problems Rummy addresses in the memo.

I won't even address the asinine and dangerously childish response of some politicians, except to say they are largely responsible for the problems they blame on others. Typical. I doubt it was the commanders who sat around brainstorming on what they needed to be the best fighting force and decided "Hey! We sure could use some Saudi-trained Wahabbi chaplains!" "Great...how 'bout some pregnant sailors for our carriers, too?".

Rummy is doing just fine.

We're lucky to have him.

But if you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao, you can still be a Chappaqua senator anyhow...

"Of more worth is one honest man to society, and in the sight of God, than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived...
O ye that love mankind! Ye that dare oppose, not only the tyranny, but the tyrant, stand forth! Every spot of the old world is overrun with oppression. Freedom hath been hunted round the globe. Asia, and Africa, have long expelled her. Europe regards her like a stranger, and England hath given her warning to depart. O! receive the fugitive, and prepare in time an asylum for mind." -Tom Paine

"And, finally, there is the New Jersey signer, Abraham Clark. He gave two sons to the officer corps in the Revolutionary Army. They were captured and sent to the infamous British prison hulk afloat in New York harbor known as the hell ship "Jersey," where 11,000 American captives were to die. The younger Clarks were treated with a special brutality because of their father. One was put in solitary and given no food. With the end almost in sight, with the war almost won, no one could have blamed Abraham Clark for acceding to the British request when they offered him his sons' lives if he would recant and come out for the King and parliament. The utter despair in this man's heart, the anguish in his very soul, must reach out to each one of us down through 200 years with his answer: "No."" -Rush H. Limbaugh, Jr.

"Why then sir, why do we longer delay? Why still deliberate? Let this happy day give birth to an American Republic. Let her arise not to devastate and to conquer but to reestablish the reign of peace and law. The eyes of Europe are fixed upon us. She demands of us a living example of freedom that may exhibit a contrast in the felicity of the citizen to the ever increasing tyranny which desolates her polluted shores. She invites us to prepare an asylum where the unhappy may find solace, and the persecuted repose. If we are not this day wanting in our duty, the names of the American legislators of 1776 will be placed by posterity at the side of all of those whose memory has been and ever will be dear to virtuous men and good citizens." -Richard Henry Lee

Alright!

THE UN-MITIGATED GALL OF WALLS

"Dysfunctional".
"Sloppy".
"...noncompliance with security rules commonplace."
"...little accountability, no clear chain of command, a stifling bureaucracy, too little money, and too few professional staff to evaluate intelligence."
"The deficiencies cited...ran the gamut of security breaches..."
"The security personnel...did make recommendations. They were ignored -- even by Annan..."

That's what the UN says...about the UN.

"The probe also confirmed allegations made by U.S. officials -- that the United Nations in Baghdad had refused protection because it was uncomfortable with U.S. tanks and other security measures, wanting to distance itself from the occupation."

"Consequently, U.N. officials asked the U.S. military to withdraw heavy equipment from the compound in the Canal Hotel, dismantle an observation post on the roof and remove obstacles and concertina wire from the access road where an orange flatbed truck approached and exploded, the report said." Not to mention the hiring of Ba'athists as security guards. There's a phrase I'm looking for here...what is it?...Oh, yeah;

'Kofi Lied. People Died!'.

In the aftermath of the first UN suicide bombing, Kofi Annan said: "The occupying power is responsible for law and order and the security of the country."

And this: ""The coalition has made some mistakes and maybe we have made some too. I don't want to get into finger pointing, but I think we are all aware that along the way mistakes have been made by all concerned."

Then there is this: "The U.N. staff union called the report a "damning indictment" of the organization's attitude toward the security of its employees."

""But while it points to gross negligence and massive shortcomings ... it fails to hold anyone accountable," the union noted in a statement. "The real problem lies with the failures of management to adhere even to the existing security system.""

"Former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, who chaired the panel, said..."In the end, I think everyone bears responsibility-" 'Everyone bears responsibility'? I don't think so.

"The United Nations received "credible information on imminent bomb attacks in the area" in August, the report said. After a second bombing outside U.N. headquarters on Sept. 22 killed a U.N. security guard and two Iraqi police officers, Annan ordered all but several dozen to leave."

The UN did manage to get one thing right, however: "Except for a new concrete wall built recently, U.N. officials at the headquarters refused heavy security because the U.N. "did not want a large American presence outside," said Salim Lone, the U.N. spokesman in the Iraqi capital. Still, it appears that the wall kept the bomber from entering the U.N. compound, but the vulnerable building next door, a hospital, was exploited, reports CBS News Correspondent Randall Pinskton. Someone managed to maneuver the truck bomb into a driveway, next to the U.N. headquarters."

Yes, that's right; the UN had it's very own security fence to stop suicide bombers, and it helped keep the casualty rate lower than it might otherwise have been.

In other news, the UN voted 144 to 4 to dismantle a security fence built to stop suicide bombers.

...a fence in Israel, that is. (Wherever that is!).

Wake up and smell the Kofi...it smells of Judenhass and rotten hypocrisy.
But that's what we've come to expect from that corpulent cesspool of diplo-grifters. The stench on the East River is overwhelming...like a 144 to 4 vote.

We're supposed to defer to these people? They have little regard for the safety of there own employees...and even less common sense. Yet we are supposed to seek their 'respect', trust their expertise and rely on their good intentions & judgement?
Never. If this is the 'world' whose respect I supposedly need to earn, I'd rather wear their scorn as a badge of honor.

Mr. Anann, tear down your own damn wall.

Mark Steyn on the Saud Slave-o-crats:

"Evidence has emerged linking Washington sniper John Allen Muhammad with an Islamic terror group. Muhammad has been connected to Al Fuqra..."

"Might be just another coincidence. Lot of them around at the moment -- like that Saudi Cabinet minister who coincidentally stayed in the same hotel on the night of Sept. 10 as some of the 9/11 terrorists."

"Here's another coincidence: The guy who heads up the organization that certifies Muslim chaplains for the U.S. military was arrested at Dulles Airport last month and charged with illegally accepting money from Libya."

"The arthritic bureaucracy at the CIA say oh, no, it would be impossible for them to get any of their boys inside al-Qaida. Can't be done. But the other side has no difficulty getting their chaps set up in the heart of the U.S. military."

"The Pentagon, of course, is taking this subversion of its chaplaincy program seriously. It's currently reviewing all its chaplains. By "all," I mean not just all the Muslim chaplains, but also all the Catholic, Episcopalian, Jewish ones. After all, it might just be another one of those coincidences..."

"why can't the United States introduce a policy whereby, for the duration of the war on terror, no organization directly funded by the Saudis will be eligible for any formal or informal role with any federal institution? That would also include the pro-Saudi Middle East Institute, whose "adjunct scholar" is one Joseph C. Wilson IV. Remember him? He's the fellow at the center of the Bob-Novak-published-the-name-of-my-CIA-wife scandal."

Joe Wilson, former surf-bum, 5th Beach Boy, "Our Man in Niamey" is a Wahabbi Lobbyist? Color me unsurprised.

Read it all.

Ed Asner's Wig Fetish Explained!

"Well, you know something, they've played Hitler, nobody has ever really touched Stalin, it just occurred to me. It's not because I am a liberal or anything like that. Stalin is one big damn mystery, I wonder why nobody has tried it? Many people, you know, speak of the fact that he killed more people than Hitler - why does nobody touch him? It's strange. So, and he was about my size, my height - with a wig I probably could do it."

Big Ed could kill more people than Hitler with the right wig? Oh...he means that he could portray Stalin.

Actually, Asner identified the pravda of the matter. Hollywood HAS produced many more portrayals of Hitler than of Stalin. But Big Ed's observation is just another way of saying '...didja ever notice how you never, ever see these clowns with a “Bush=Stalin” sign?'

Anyway, Asner is no liberal; he's an agrarian film-reformer. In a hurry.

Celebrating 40 Long Years

of pimping for the Left.

"I think I may say that my name is well known to the younger men of this country and that if I were to take a commission at my age it would set an example which might be of help. I am fifty-five but I am very strong and hardy, and can make my voice audible at great distances, which is useful at drill."
-Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, trying to enlist in the British Army in 1914.

or do the 'corrupt' tend toward power?

If you've never read Jonah Goldberg's take on Lord Acton's famous dictum, you may be surprised.

"Today, the "power corrupts" syllogism has — like so many other things — been translated into a credo of personal morality. It insists that power makes you a bad person — i.e., self-aggrandizing, cruel, megalomaniacal, blind to all moral distinctions, and so on. And that just isn't true. If it were, history would simply be the story of bad powerful men. And, while there most certainly were plenty of bad powerful men, there was also, for instance, George Washington. He might have become a king if he'd wanted, but he chose not to." ...baffling Napoleon--a good thing! Conversely, Hitler was already thoroughly corrupt when he was a powerless scribbler sitting in jail.

Read it here.

Shameless Nameless Journalist's Suck-Up At State

An un-named hack reporter blamed National Review's Joel Mowbray for Pat Robertson's over-the-top hyperbole:

QUESTION:" Mr. Mowbray's hostile attitude towards the Department seems to have escalated somewhat. He is now speaking about getting a nuclear device inside Foggy Bottom.
MR. BOUCHER: Mr. Mowbray is, or Mr. Robertson?

QUESTION: No -- well, I think both actually, both seem to be in favor. It's rather unclear. Do you -- have you seen this, or do you have any comment on it?

(Laughter.)

QUESTION: Do you have any comment on this?

MR. BOUCHER: I lack sufficient capabilities to express my disdain.

QUESTION: Well, do you take this -- what appears to be a threat to blow up the building -- seriously?

QUESTION: Is that what he -- what did he say?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't have a quote from Mr. Mowbray. I think the very idea of that was despicable.

QUESTION: I know it's kind of a bit outlandish. But, I mean, if he turns up at the building, will you take any precautions?

(Laughter.)

QUESTION: I ask this out of self-interest.

(Laughter.)

MR. BOUCHER: Just as you and others who work in the building do, people have badges or go through the magnetometer and the x-ray machine, and I think they're pretty good out there with those devices, to make sure that nobody comes in with any kind of harmful weapon, whatsoever. I think you can rest assured that our guards are doing their job against whatever people might want to bring in here."

I'm curious; who is the reporter that attributed Robertson's statement to Mowbray? Piss poor reporting. Whoever it was, he's just too cozy at his sinecure at State...and perhaps jealous of real reporting. Stuff like this. Or this. Or this.

The simple fact is that Joel Mowbray is about the only reporter over there doing his job. The rest are mostly time-serving hacks regurgitating leaks and polishing their credentials.

While Boucher was 'disdainful' beyond words of Robertson's 'despicable' statement, Colin Powell was 'outraged'. He was also outraged at the murders of three American bodyguards. No word if Robertson will qualify for his own scholarship program, though. However, ACLU-types, with a storied pedigree in defending those who advocate bombing government buildings, will soon rush to Robertson's defense. Or not.

Mowbray is great, Robertson is a dunder-head, many journalists are hacks, but the real question is: Who will direct our foreign policy; the people, through their elected President, or the unelected "pros"? I understand that the President doesn't want pick a fight with Powell before the election. But it can't go on like this.

It's Leadership time, Mr. President.

Lead...or be led.

60 SECONDS WITH ANDY ROONEY
is about a minute too much.

Before 9-11, Andy Rooney wrote that our intelligence capability should be disbanded. He saw it as a circular 'Spy vs. Spy' game. Gentlemen don't read other gentlemens' fatwas, I suppose.

Well, he's ba-aack.

While instructive, Rooney's not really worthy of a full-frontal-Fisking (Aieee! My eyes!), but Buzz Machine, and then Right Wing News had so much fun whacking the old bastard, that I had to give it a try.

Hit it, Andy:

"You might not think so from listening to me, but I like to be liked. Not only that, I like my country to be liked around the world and it isn't. I wish President Bush would try to make this country less hated. He could do it if he set his mind to it."-- It's true that Americans like to be liked. But we're even fonder of not being bombed, gassed, poisoned or infected. We're funny that way. Besides, people who go on about how the rest of the world doesn't like us usually don't like America themselves.

"To begin with, we should change our attitude toward the United Nations."--Yes. Agreed. Let's run them out of town first thing in the morning. After they pay their parking tickets.

"There has to be some power in the world superior to our own - for our own sake."--That's certifiably insane. The UN is a lowest-common-denominator snake-pit. Go live in one of their refugee camps and then tell us about their 'superiority'.

"Iraq isn't our problem. It's the world's problem."--But the "world" is a surly, crack-smoking teen-ager; envious & demanding, yet unwilling to grow up and take responsibility.

"When the president spoke at the United Nations, he came off as arrogant and it made all of us seem arrogant. We are a little arrogant, of course, and we ought to watch that."--Maybe the President should take up journalism. I hear that makes people really humble.

"The United States can't force its ideas on the whole world. We have great military power and a store of nuclear and biological weapons that would send us running to the U.N. for help if any other country had as many."--We're not 'any other country'.

"The trouble with our weapons is they don't work against one terrorist with a jar of anthrax or a religious nut with a truckload of dynamite. We're wasting our money on weapons we can't use."--Sometimes you need a fly-swatter, sometimes you need an elephant gun.

"It doesn't matter what I think, but I think like millions of Americans and they do matter. I was opposed to going into Iraq without the approval of the U.N. Things went well at first and I decided I was wrong and apologized. Now I want to apologize again. I want to apologize for apologizing. We should not have attacked Iraq without the OK of the United Nations. It wasn't all President Bush's fault. U.N. delegates were infuriating - sitting on their hands. It's an ineffective, namby-pamby organization. The French and the Germans were against attacking Iraq because they do a lot of business there."--Okay, let's review; You were against the war, then for the war, then against the war. Because a stultified, ineffective, namby-pamby, amoral & greedy group of foreigners said 'no'. Andy...you might just BE Wesley Clark.

"The president made the mistake though of deciding to attack anyway and now we have to live with that mistake. We're living with it and too many of our guys are dying with it."--I'll thank you not to dishonor the dead, you half-senile defeatist gas-bag.

"I hope we remain the strongest country in the world but it isn't a sure thing that we'll always be what we are today."--We will, but no thanks to you & your team.

"Look what's happened to Great Britain, France, and Germany. They aren't what they were. Things change in the world. It could happen to us - may be happening. It happened to the great Greek and Roman civilizations. They didn't disappear because there was anything wrong with the ideals on which those civilizations were based. They disappeared because there got to be fewer and fewer Greeks and Romans who believed in those ideals, and they were taken over by people who didn't believe in them at all."--You mean the UN didn't come to their defense? I'm shocked, shocked.

"We've got some people who don't believe in our American ideals...so watch out."--No, Andy; we've got people who don't understand that American ideals--and lives--must be defended in a dangerous world.

And some of them work at CBS.

that every schoolboy & girl should know:

"I have not allowed myself, sir, to look beyond the Union, to see what might he hidden in the dark recess behind. I have not coolly weighed the chances of preserving liberty when the bonds that unite us together shall be broken asunder. I have not accustomed myself to hang over the precipice of disunion, to see whether, with my short sight, I can fathom the depth of the abyss below; nor could I regard him as a safe counselor in the affairs in this government whose thoughts should be mainly bent on considering, not how the Union may be best preserved but how tolerable might be the condition of the people when it should be broken up and destroyed. While the Union lasts, we have high, exciting, gratifying prospects spread out before us, for us and our children. Beyond that I seek not to penetrate the veil."

"God grant that in my day, at least, that curtain may not rise! God grant that on my vision never may be opened what lies behind! When my eyes shall be turned to behold for the last time the sun in heaven, may I not see him shining on the broken and dishonored fragments of a once glorious Union; on states dissevered, discordant, belligerent; on a land rent with civil feuds, or drenched, it may be, in fraternal blood! Let their last feeble and lingering glance rather behold the gorgeous ensign of the republic, now known and honored throughout the earth, still full high advanced, its arms and trophies streaming in their original luster, not a stripe erased or polluted, nor a single star obscured, bearing for its motto, no such miserable interrogatory as "What is all this worth?" nor those other words of delusion and folly, "Liberty first and Union afterwards"; but everywhere, spread all over in characters of living light, blazing on all its ample folds, as they float over the sea and over the land, and in every wind under the whole heavens, that other sentiment, dear to every true American heart-Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable!"

from your "Parliament of Whores":

"I have only one firm belief about the American political system, and that is this: God is a Republican and Santa Claus is a Democrat."

"God is an elderly or, at any rate, middle-aged mate, a stern fellow, patriarchal rather than paternal and a great believer in rules and regulations. He holds men strictly accountable for their actions. He has little apparent concern for the material well-being of the disadvantaged. He is politically connected, socially powerful and holds the mortgage on literally everything in the world. God is difficult. God is unsentimental. It is very hard to get into God's heavenly country club."

"Santa Claus is another matter. He's cute. He's nonthreatening. He's always cheerful. And he loves animals. He may know who's been naughty and who's been nice, but he never does anything about it. He gives everyone everything they want without thought of a quid pro quo. He works hard for charities, and he's famously generous to the poor. Santa Claus is preferable to God in every way but one: There is no such thing as Santa Claus." - P.J. O'Rourke

Medical Mal-practice is Bad, but Legal Mal-practice is Epidemic.

Finally got around to watching "John Q.", the Denzel vehicle in which he takes a hospital hostage in order to get his son a transplant.

It was suspenseful enough, if unconvincing. In the scenes where the crowds cheered him on, for example, one got the sense that they knew they were making a movie, like winking into the camera. Robert Duvall and James Woods (who should have Norm Mineta's job) were under-utilized.

One got the sense the producers were cutting plot-point corners in order to get to the real meat of the film: the clips of a Hillary speech, Arianna Huffenpuff & Michael Moore on 'Politically Incorrect' and Jesse Jackson marching. Perhaps one day, Hollywood can do away those pesky over-paid actors entirely, and fill the big screen with pure agit-prop and C-SPAN excerpts. Next year's blockbuster: "Farm Subsidies II: I Know What You Didn't Grow Last Summer!", starring Sen. 'Kat' L. Foochers and Rep. Ethan Awl.

The film mentions, or rather, preaches about, the famous '40 million uninsured', but fails to note that many are healthy young people with little need of it. Whatever the answer is, it cannot be DMVCare.

Paul Harvey mentioned one doctor who quit taking insurance; he cut his rates in half and was able to see twice as many patients. That would be a crime under a nationalized system.

Part of the answer has to be legal reform.

Now, some of my best friends are lawyers. I was once in a love triangle with a para-legals. But there are just too many lawyers. And they're breeding. So they have to work. But they insist on doing crazy, outrageous things like suing fast-food chains on behalf of gluttons. And becoming judges.

At this point, conservatives shouldn't oppose race-based admissions at law schools; we should oppose ANY admissions at ANY law school. We should be trying to increase the number of doctors, not lawyers.

Catherine Crier gives chapter & verse in her book, "The Case Against Lawyers". It's enough to curl your hair, except curling hair without a beautician's license is an actionable tort. Judge Crier notes that lawyers are on the verge of shutting down health care in Mississippi--doctors can no longer afford to practice there. Pharmacies as well. Maybe Mississippi has so many doctors it can afford to run most of them off. But I doubt it.

Congress is ready to pass a budget-swallowing prescription-drug
"entitlement", but no one is asking if consumers really even need it; and if so, why? Why can't patients afford medicine? Could it be because they are over-taxed? Could it be because lawyers have built their fees into every product, service and transaction that take place in this country? Just askin'.

I'd call our politicians shameless whores, but that would be unfair...to whores, who at least say 'no' once in a while. Maybe we should force them to read aloud every last word of the bills they pass; it would at least slow them down.

Maybe we deserve it. We sit on those juries. We elect the politicians. We're "entitled". We want everything, we want it now and we want the other guy to pay for it. And to be fair, there are a lot of good lawyers doing a lot of good work.

But we're reaching legal critical mass.

There are too many lawyers...and too much law is a form of lawlessness itself.

MR. FORTEN FAILS TO GO TO GUANTANAMO

Fifteen year-old James Forten was a student at Quaker School in Philadelphia. But this was no time for school; his bustling port city, the largest in America, was at war...with the world's only super-power.

James had seen the Founding Fathers as they came and went on their revolutionary business. He'd heard the words of the Declaration and took them to heart. He became a drummer in the Continental Army. Now older, he sought more adventurous service, signing up as a powder boy on the privateer 'Royal Louis'; a dangerous job in the best of circumstances.

On his very first voyage, the 'Royal Louis' was victorious, taking a British Navy brig after a pitched battle. Bringing her back to Philadelphia, the crew received their shares and were hailed as heroes by their fellow citizens. Then, it was back to sea again under Captain Stephen Decatur, Sr.

The Fates of War were not twice kind ; Forten and his fellow crewmen were overwhelmed by the British frigate 'Amphylon' and two other vessels. They found themselves captives of the British, who often regarded American privateers worse than pirates, being rebels as well.

But Forten was befriended aboard by the son of the ship's captain. They played marbles together, and although Forten won, the captain's son had found a friend. He begged his father to bring young James back to England with them, away from all danger. The father agreed. On one condition:

...that James Forten renounce his loyalty to America.

"I shall never prove a traitor to my country," said James...and the Philadelphian boy was now an American man.

Remarkable, yes. But made more so by one fact:

James Forten was black. As were 20 of the 200 other crewmen.

Although undoubtedly regarded by many in Philadelphia as a second-class citizen, he had been a free man there. The British routinely transported black prisoners-of-war to the West Indies to become slaves. The captain gave him the same choice as white prisoners: join the British Navy or languish in the prison boats.

As James had already ruled out treason, the captain transfered him to the 'HMS Jersey', with a letter asking for Forten's humane treatment. About 11,000 POW's lost their lives in these brutal prison ships floating in New York harbor. Their corpses were often dumped overboard into the bay where the Brooklyn Naval Yard stands today.

When an officer was being released in a prisoner exchange, Forten had his chance to escape by hiding in the luggage; but he gave his place to a younger white boy, even helping to carry the contraband luggage down the gang-plank.

Eventually, he was exchanged & released...and walked home from New York to Philadelphia. (Try that sometime, compu-tatos!)

He became an apprentice sail-maker. Then foreman. Then an owner; he was a success, a multi-millionaire by today's standards, and employed a large, mixed-race work-force.

He became active in politics, petitioning Congress on behalf of escaped slaves, founding 'The Liberator' with fellow abolitionist Wm. Lloyd Garrison, supporting temperance & women's rights, and was a pillar in his African Methodist Church.

When he passed in 1842, 5000 people, both black & white, attended his funeral to honor the man.

James Forten: American patriot, civil-rights advocate, valued businessman & Christian gentleman.

Perhaps history wouldn't have judged him too harshly had he taken up the offer of the British captain...but his patriotism and integrity forbade it.

Ours is a time when "a real and generous love of our country" is fashionably mocked or at the least, held suspect. America's interests have been sold out for money or ideology at even the highest levels. The very idea of citizenship is constantly being demeaned, degraded & defined downward. Allegedly sane people think nothing of giving over our defense policy to the tender mercies of trans-national Ghanian technocrats, Syrian Ba'ath Party stooges and French diplo-whores.

One can't help but compare Mr. Forten's demeanor to those of certain other personnel, who, like Mr. Forten, volunteered for service in a very different America. Unlike Forten, they actually hoped to be sent to the West Indies...specifically Guantanamo. Not as POWs--but to conspire with the enemy held there. As spies for a medieval death-cult, these 'translators'...even a so-called 'chaplain', betrayed the country to which their lying tongues swore a meaningless oath. These snakes deserve the rope...and nothing less.

James Forten's American life stands four-square as a tri-cornered, two-fisted, first-person-singular rebuke to all damned traitors...and over two centuries later, still shines like a Pole-star, a guide for us all.

Stand up and shine with him...you patriot, you.

INVENTING JAPAN, INVENTING IRAQ: "SEND LAWYERS, GUNS & MONEY!"

In which we ask the question: "What the hell is it about Democrats & Reconstruction?"

In the on-going War on George W. Bush, much has been said recently of the 'Werewolves', the Nazi bitter-enders of post-war Germany. But little has been said of post-war Japan, other than to note that a few soldiers hid out on remote islands for years afterward. Or that Japan was more easily administered than the multi-national tumble of Germany.

The mental picture most Americans have is probably of a docile populace under the tutelage of MacArthur. In reality, there was also gangsterism, assasination, Communist labor agitation and rioting.

For example, in 1960, A FULL FIFTEEN YEARS after the war, Pres. Eisenhower had to cancel his visit due to rioting mobs who surrounded his envoy. Remember this when the usual suspects lie about the state of progress in Iraq.

In "Inventing Japan 1853-1964", author Ian Buruma examines the "bi-polar" Japanese relationship with the West. Japan often chose the worst aspects of the West to emulate; damn those infernal German philosophers.

You'll learn: how the Japanese pulled a successful surprise attack on the Pacific Fleet...the Russian fleet, a century ago; how the Emperor escaped prosecution, though he was as guilty as the generals; how the pacifist constitution gave Japan instant moral high-ground, thereby preventing a realistic self-assesment. And obligated the US to provide for Japan's defense, permanently, it would seem.

While mandatory pacifism prevented further Japanese agression, in the long run it is unhealthy, spawning both dependency & rebellion, not unlike a 30 yr.-old still living in Mom & Dad's basement. This has proven true in Europe, Canada, Korea, the Phillipines, even Puerto Rico. A mature nation, like mature persons, should be reasonably responsible for defending themselves. (Witness the cycle of infantilization of the British people, no longer trusted with personal self-defense by their elites.)

Anyway, it's a good quick read--Mr. Buruma shaved it down to 181 small pages. That's a good sign.

"The only new thing under the sun is the History you don't know," as one old Democrat used to say;

Today, it would be "Truman Lied. People Died!"

Talk about 'infantilization'.

"On the home front, the war protesters won't ever give it up to Bush, they just hate Bush and they're never going to give it up to him. First it was the war itself and then the war plan, then the war financing, then the UN, then the second UN, then they started whining about the looting and the museum and where are the weapons of mass destruction. Hey, it couldn't have gone any better, okay. We were killing suicide bombers. You know how fast you're moving when a the only thing a guy wants to do in life is kill himself - and you beat him to it?"
-Dennis Miller

SNL COMIC EVIDENTLY ON OSAMA'S LIST OF GRIEVANCES...Who Knew?

(Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.A.)

""Americans are always asking why the rest of the world hates them," John said after singing his first song, "Tiny Dancer." "Well, the reason is Dennis Miller.""

Uhh...Dennis Miller? No, Elton.

Now, I don't want to go off on a rant here, but only leftie, self-loathing Americans ask crazy sh*t like "Why do they hate us?" The hate they feel for their own country is just the black hole in their own souls writ large.

Americans...real Americans, like Homer Simpson here, ask the important questions; such as: "Rock stars...is there anything they don't know?"

Or maybe, " Mommy; when is Daddy coming home?"

"Daddy will be home when he has made America safe for pampered foreign rock stars to bash the country where they make their millions, son."

Or even; "Which European country will be the first to adopt Islamic Law?" I wonder what the Vegas line is on that one...?

""You've all gone mental if you liked that," John said, before looking at the floor and shaking his head in disgust. Earlier in the show, Miller delivered about 20 minutes of his usual act -- biting, sarcastic political humor with a very strong right-of-center slant."

Yes, we're 'mental'...mass-murder does that to people. Whatever, rock star. This isn't about sex, drugs & rock & roll; this is about Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of those who threaten it.

You see, I am a citizen of a country that has, through it's charity, tax-dollars & liberal policies, fed more people, healed more sickness, made more discoveries, rebuilt entire societies, defended the weak, opened more markets, created more wealth, welcomed more immigrants, schooled more students, invented more technology and Spread More Freedom, Faith & Finance To More People In More Places Than ANY OTHER NATION, ANYPLACE, ANYTIME, ANYWHERE IN THE ENTIRE FREAKIN' HISTORY OF THE ENTIRE FREAKIN' WORLD, SINCE THE DAWN OF FREAKIN' TIME. AS FOR WHY THE SO-CALLED 'REST OF THE WORLD' HATES ME & MINE, I REALLY DON'T GIVE A F*CK. ARE YOU HEARING ME? GROW-THE-F*CK-UP, OR KEEP OUT HELL OF OUR WAY: THE GROWN-UPS HAVE WORK TO DO.

Rant over.

(Hat tip: Right Wing News)

AND IT WAS BETTER THAT WAY FOR ALL CONCERNED.

Dear Campaign Diary,

Sen. Bob Graham dropped out of the presidential race yesterday, making his announcement on the show of hard-hitting investigative reporter, Larry King.

In a field of 10 candidates, Graham came in 13th, behind all 9 other candidates and several other deceased guys, including LBJ, Fatty Arbuckle and Mr. Ed, the Talking Horse.

When voters were asked "Who would make a better President?", Graham found himself in a statistical dead-heat with "a burning paper-bag filled with dog-pooh".

But his campaign slogan: "Bob Graham: Every Bit as Good as a Flaming Sack of Crap!" failed to catch fire and was quickly stamped out by irate voters.

"I want to spend more time with my diary," wrote Graham in his diary.

(Mr. Ed.'s Note: Why bother to fisk a 3rd-tier candidate from a 2nd-rate party? To illustrate how even a moderate hack like Graham feels the need to mention 'impeachment' during war-time and spout ANSWER-like drivel; a shamefully Clintonized party, Wilbur.)

President Bush MUST kick some ass.

The real story behind the Plame/Wilson deal is that many in the Executive branch feel free to oppose & thwart the President's policies. Even doing so openly, with impunity.

The presidential ticket is the only direct influence the governed have over THEIR executive branch; therefore, a president owes it to the people to exert his authority.

Bill Kristol: "...the civil war in the Bush administration has become crippling. The CIA is in open revolt against the White House. The State Department and the Defense Department aren't working together at all."
"...given the challenges facing us in postwar Iraq, in Iran, and in North Korea, it is irresponsible to let it fester.

Jeffrey Bell describes the infighting between the Bush 1 & Bush 2 crowds: "The venom of this senior official was such that the Washington Post reporter who received the disclosure felt compelled to write, "It is rare for one Bush administration official to turn on another.""

Rep. Peter King asks if the CIA is a rogue agency: "... I see...a systematic pattern of conduct being carried out by elements within the Central Intelligence Agency constituting a virtual covert operation against the Bush White House - a covert operation designed to protect the spy agency's turf and deflect charges of incompetence."

David Warren: "...the CIA cannot even be counted upon to take the side of the U.S. government in pursuing secret missions. Its operatives and associates think nothing of sabotaging Bush administration policies, through leaks to the media. In the case of North Korea, neither the CIA nor State Department are game for anything resembling a policy of confrontation..."

Now, I realize many of the guilty have been living in the Beltway bubble. In a perfect snake-swallowing-it's-tail closed-loop, they both secrete, then sacralize the damnable lies our media shed daily. Worse, some have grown to believe that a nameless, faceless, unaccountable & permanent Bureacro-Blob has a divine right to rule, regardless of elections.

But we've tried it Blob's way already. It got us 9-11.

Bush said he would veto the free speech rationing in Campaign Finance Reform...then caved. He has yet to veto anything. Teddy Kennedy is getting an award from Bush's Library as we speak. Almost no one has been fired since 9-11. His judges languish under the mere threat of a filibuster. State has it's own independent foreign policy.

President Bush's natural inclination is to let the 'better angels' lead the benighted to the Promised Land. Angels, yes; but the Fear o' God must have it's place as well.

Heads MUST roll. Gross insubordination must be met with immediate unemployment. Political opponents must be made to pay a political price. Vetos must issue. The confluence of technology, travel & misbegotten policies have brought the front-lines, not just to Iraq, but to America. One suicidal philosophy cannot be met with another suicidal philosophy. It's not a game, but it does have stakes:

Again, David Warren: "For the mindset of the regime is that of the suicide bomber: all or nothing at every turn. Here, in other words, is a problem to which there is no solution. The Western mind rebels against such a thing; we think there must be a way to fix anything. And there is, but in this case, it almost certainly involves a huge catastrophe. Our policy in the meantime is waiting for this to happen." He's speaking of North Korea, but it's just as true of the Iranian mullahs.

The time to play nice is over.

There's way too much at stake.

Told you so.

(via Zogby.)

"What is obnoxious about the motives of politicians—whatever those motives may be—is that politicians must announce their motives as visionary and grand. Try this with the ordinary activities of your day: "My dear wife and beloved children, I say to you this—I will mow the lawn. Lawns are a symbol of America's spacious freedoms and green prosperity. Such noble tokens of well-being and independence must not go untended, lest we show the world that liberty is mere license and see the very ground upon which we stand, as Americans, grow tangled with the weeds of irresponsibility and be fruitful only in the tares of greed. I will give the grass clippings to the poor.""
-P. J. O'Rourke

No reason.

Mr. Hendrix asks the 24,000 ruble question:

"And didja ever notice how you never, ever see these clowns with a “Bush=Stalin” sign? Why is that, do you suppose?"

Yep...still ticked.

Speaking of, the Bush White House hasn't ruled out the use of polygraphs.

But somehow, I gotta doubt that the phrase: "There is a greater than 50% probability that the subject is being less than truthful. People Died!" will carry quite the same punch.

But, I could be lying.

"Is it wrong for me to love my own? Is it wicked for me because my skin is red? Because I am Sioux? Because I was born where my father lived? Because I would die for my people and my country? God made me an Indian."
"If you have one honest man in Washington, send him here and I will talk to him." -Chief Sitting Bull

The Communist Party USA yesterday endorsed the Democrat Party in the upcoming elections.

CPUSA Chairmanwoman Olive McTerry, a rather unattractive, beady-eyed woman with a 5 o'clock shadow, said "We will gladly vote for whichever East German haus-frau from Chappaqua the Democrats nominate," her Adam's apple bobbing as she fidgeted uncomfortably in her dress.

In other entertainment news, Mary-Kate Olsen yesterday endorsed her twin sister, Ashley. "People can't really tell us apart, either," said...uh, one of them.

Emerging from the dressing room, DNC Chairman Terry McAulife, his voice still cracking, thanked the Communists for years & years of dedicated, unwavering support & encouragement.

He then complained about Republicans; "You've got an investigation in the White House, Arnold groping women, Rush accused of doing drugs...those are OUR issues!," he noted bitterly.

"But we have a bold plan to win the election; by giving voters a clear choice between the 'Daddy Party' and the 'Mumia Party'," the Chairman stated.

"For example, instead of challenging the military absentee votes from just Florida, like we did last time, we're now going to include all 50 states in our effort to have the soldiers' & sailors' votes thrown out...including territories & posessions!", he beamed, dreaming of a radiant future.

"After all, 'inclusion' is what the Com...the Democratic Party is all about," said McAulife, usefully.

Let's go to the quotes:

"I think what we've had here is a little social concern in the NFL. The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well. There is a little hope invested in McNabb, and he got a lot of credit for the performance of this team that he didn't deserve. The defense carried this team."

That's it?

That's all it takes to get fired these days?

No calls for a 'Confederate League' or segregated water fountains at the stadium? Nothing about blacks being bred for strength or riding at the back of the team bus? No name-calling? Nothing?

Just a mention that the NFL has social concerns and sports-writers sometimes pump certain minority athletes. Both statements provably, demonstrably true.

For instance, the NFL just fined a team for not interviewing black coaches...because the coaches didn't bother to show up for their interviews.

And, following the leader board, i.e.; the country-club Democrats at the NY Times, sports-writers were putt-ing themselves on the back- nine for supporting Martha Burk's Augusta crusade.

McNabb, whose agents frivolously played the race card during his contract negotiations without giving it a second thought, had this to say: "It's sad that you've got to go to skin color. I thought we were through with that whole deal." Uh-huh. We are. Until contract re-negotiations.

Meanwhile, in the bleacher seats, Gen. Weasly Clark, fresh from cavorting with a REAL ethnic-cleanser, called Rush's remarks intolerant.

Without irony, "The National Association of Black Journalists also called for ESPN to "separate itself" from Limbaugh." Just separate equally, okay guys?

By the way, are there 'black' facts? Call me crazy, but I think black journalists should report 'white' facts, too. You see, I too have a dream, that one day, I'll open a newspaper and it will be filled with facts, all the facts of the rainbow, side-by-side...and nothing but facts. Yeah...I am dreamin'.

John Adams famously said "Facts are stubborn things." But evidently not as stubborn as our obsession with pigmentation.

Remember back in the old days when Civil Rights used to mean something...when Rush was the funniest conservative spokesman and Dennis Miller was getting fired from his football gig?

'Civil Rights' have now degenerated into driver's licenses for illegals, tax-payer funded sex-change operations & paying protection money to Jesse Jackson, lest his children suffer the indignity of owning only one giant beer-
distributorship.

Rush would have been fine if he'd just said "Race is just one of many factors I take into consideration blahblahblah,"...that's how the real Race Pros do it, Rush.

His remarks were not even directed at the quarterback, but at liberal sports-writers.

If ESPN & the sportswriters can't handle Rush's mild statement, perhaps they should all be replaced with an endless tape-loop, eternally repeating the phrases "The key to the game is turnovers...We've got to move the ball down the field and put points on the board...You've got to have a running game, etc.", until such time as we can talk about race like grown-ups.

Or, in those immortal words of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, first outlined against a blue-grey granite courthouse, then forever chiseled into the Fall/Frozen Tundra, 2003 edition of 'Living Constitution Quarterly':

"I'd give it about 25 years."

I don't want the names of any CIA employees made public. If someone broke the law, charge them. If someone broke the rules, discipline them.

But, having said that, this whole flap stinks of manufactured scandal. Also, I dislike the phrase 'having said that', having said it. Twice.

Pres. Bush, from the State of the Union address: "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."

Here is Wilson's NY Times piece that started the whole "16 words" non-story story. He claims that, out of the blue, the CIA asked him, out of all the people in or out of government, to go to Africa.

Now, my wife sends me to the store for cake mix. His wife sends him to Africa for yellow-cake. Evidently, our national security is a little Mom & Pop operation. How sweet.

When the President sends Colin Powell somewhere, people know who sent him. Wilson purposefully made a huge splash when he wrote his Times editorial. So reporters began asking "Who sent Joseph C. Wilson, IV ?". Answer: Luvvy.

Wilson says that when he went to Niger, the US ambassador already decided there was nothing to it. He asked some officials, and whaddya' know?...they said there was nothing to it, either. Our Man in Niamey, poolside at the Atom Inn:

Wilson: "Have a seat in the lounge chair, Minister Nradium. Can I get you something...some sweet tea, heavy water, some yellow cake?"

Minister: "No cake, please; I'm geiger-counting calories. Mmmm; this tea is good...just like they make it in Tikrit."

Wilson: "Now, Mr. Minister; America is run by power-mad Neo-cons, hell-bent on colonizing Iraq and destroying anyone who stands in their way. Keeping all that in mind, did you not or did you not sell uranium to Iraq?"

Minister: "Uh...Heavens to Betsy, no! Wouldn't dream of it. Nope. Never happened."

Wilson: "Great! Okay, that wraps it up. Say, that's a nice watch you're wearing, Mr. Minister...what's that inscription?..."To Mbuki: 'Cesium' you later! Ha Ha. Thanks, S.H."...very nice, Mr. Minister. Well, we're done here. More tea?"

He fails to mention that Iraq DID send a trade delegation in 1999. Maybe Saddam just wanted some delicious African Spam...or do those only grow in Nigeria? Anyway, Bush said 'sought' not 'sucessfully sought'.

He concludes by saying that Niger is just too gosh-darn well-run to have sold any yellowcake to Saddam. Well, this country is considered 'well-run'...but both the Soviets and the Chinese penetrated Los Alamos, taking everything but Hazel O'Leary. But that's not important. I mean, not like THIS story.

Wilson has been busy, writing articles calling Bush a mad emperor, installing "vassal regimes that will control restive populations." Osama was 'restive'...who knew? First it was 'militants', then 'activists'...now suicide bombers will be called 'restives'? I smell 'book tour' with Pat Buchanan.

When not giving speeches to Saudi "peace" fronts, Wilson is camped-out on John Kerry's couch, calling for Rove to do a perp-walk. I've got to admit it; that would make for some interesting TV.

Wilson and his wife have joked about which actress will play her in the movies; she may be the only secret agent...with an agent. "Show me the meme!"

And our 'international business consultant' won't reveal who his employers are. Maybe he's gone into the marching-band hat business with Wesley Clark.

Somehow, I would not be surprised to learn that this partisan grand-stander leaked his own wife's name. The stench-meter on this one is pegging out.

C'mon, man; tell us what you DO know, for a change.

Not more of what you don't.

"Let civilian voices argue the merits or demerits of our processes of government: whether our strength is being sapped by deficit financing indulged in too long, by federal paternalism grown too mighty, by power groups grown too arrogant, by politics grown too corrupt, by crime grown too rampant, by morals grown too low, by taxes grown too high, by extremists grown too violent; whether our personal liberties are as fine and complete as they should be."

"These great national problems are not for your professional participation or military solution. Your guidepost stands out like a tenfold beacon in the night: duty, honor, country."
-Gen. Douglas MacArthur