A Few of My Favorite Things

A Few of My Favorite Things
Originally uploaded by Daryl Davis

A cheerful little, "Up Yours!" to all the self-righteous, meddlesome, Nanny State prigs out there. You know who you are.

I so need one of these

Ebony Wholeplate Camera

For those who think limiting guns to government employees will keep them out of the hands of criminals

Killer freed by jail guard

Anita Kay Vestal, a 32-year old married mother of four recently hired by the Swain County, NC, Sheriff's Office as a detention officer, decided to indulge her romantic fantasies by helping an accused killer of two escape from jail.

The futility of the government's wars

Fugitive U.S. marshal found dead in Mexico

Deputy U.S. Marshal Vincent Bustamante was found dead in Juarez. He was shot multiple times in the head, in what is being called an execution-style slaying. Bustamante was on administrative leave from the Marshal's Service following his arrest for stealing Marshal's Service firearms and other government property. A bench warrant was issued for Bustamante's arrest after he failed to appear for a court hearing last week. A 17-year veteran of the Marshal's Service, and a former El Paso Police officer, Bustamante leaves behind a wife and two children.

Prohibition corrupts. In 1924, corrupt Prohibition Agent Wiley Lynn murdered the Marshal of Cromwell, Oklahoma, the legendary Western lawman Bill Tilghman. In 1932, Lynn attempted to assassinate Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation agent Crockett Long. In the exchange of gunfire that followed, both men and an innocent boy were mortally wounded.

Prohibition breeds violence. The violence today in Juarez is the violence of Chicago in the 1920s.

While the gun-grabbers gleefully blame gun-rights advocates for the recent massacre in Oakland, they ignore the fact that Lovelle Mixon legally could not own or possess a firearm. They blame a non-existent "gun show loophole," while they ignore the fact that corrupt government employees with access to guns -- law enforcement officers and military personnel -- have always been prime sources of weapons for criminals, even in the unregulated time prior to the National Firearms Act of 1934 and the Gun Control Act of 1968.

The War on Poverty has brought us generations of dependent, entitlement-minded layabouts who supposedly don't have money for their own food, shelter, education, medical care, out-of-wedlock children, etc., but who (like the unemployed Lovelle Mixon) nonetheless have money for tattoos, bling, flashy chrome rims, and gazillion-watt car stereos to blare the latest profanity-laced, bass-driven rap opus into every home, school, church, and hospital they pass. The Vietnam War was, in a way, nearly as destructive to this country as it was to Vietnam, a country that never attacked or threatened the United States. Our wars of choice in Iraq and Afghanistan (yes, even Afghanistan is done on pretext) already have spent us into penury, yet no end is in sight.

No more war.

"Heckuva Job, Timmy!"

Geithner is on his way out at Treasury, as evidenced by Obama's vehement denials.

Next up: Larry Summers

Thought for the Day

"Among individuals, as among nations, respect for the rights of others is peace." Benito Juarez (March 21, 1806 - July 18, 1872)

Trouble At Treasury

President Obama is having difficulty filling Assistant Secretary positions at the Treasury Department. I nominate a couple of candidates here.

Can you say, "Spousal Immunity?"

I knew you could.

Closing the Books on Another Communist Atrocity

DNA proves Bolsheviks killed all of Russian czar's children. DNA evidence confirms scientists' 2008 findings that skeletal remains unearthed in 2007 are those of the two missing children of Czar Nicholas II: 13-year-old Crown Prince Alexei, the emperor's only son and heir to the throne, and his sister Grand Duchess Maria, about 19.

The Black Book of Communism really does belong on every thinking person's bookshelf. Amazingly, even as we continue to track down the lowliest Nazi concentration camp guards, Communist butchers continue to get a free pass.

Astonishing New Discovery!

Saws cut!

A Maryland woman was seriously injured when her partner used a reciprocating saw as a sex toy.

Maybe I can get a federal grant to study this previously unknown phenomenon.

Candidate for Surgeon General

Celebrity doctor Sanjay Gupta has withdrawn from consideration for the post of Surgeon General. President Obama apparently hoped that the 39-year old neurosurgeon and CNN commentator would bring "star power" and "recognition" to the Cabinet post, which has gone largely unnoticed since the days of C. Everett Koop (the clownish Joycelyn Elders having been mercifully forgotten).

In keeping with the Administration's themes of Hope(TM), Change(TM), and Historicalness(TM), I nominate Keith Richards for Surgeon General:

• Historic -- the US has never had a British rock guitarist as Surgeon General. Another barrier would fall. Oprah would weep;
• Change -- after decades of relentless nagging about what we put in our bodies, we would have a Surgeon General who would (and has) put put anything and everything in his;
• Hope -- Richards is still alive; he must know something.

Keith Richards for Surgeon General. If not him, who? If not now, when?

FS: High-Rise Office Building, Close to Recreation

Former New York governor Eliot Spitzer has purchased a 13-story office complex in D.C., just one block from the Mayflower Hotel where he cavorted with a high-priced call girl.

Speaking of his time in public office, as New York's attorney general (where he made his name shutting down prostitution operations -- eliminating competition for the ones he patronized -- and blackmailing innocent businessmen into doing the "right" thing by threatening them with frivolous prosecutions) and governor, Spitzer said, "Obviously it brought great joy for a great period of time." Obviously.

Since Spitzer was a tax-funded parasite and a Democrat, there were no Congressional inquisitions into his executive salary and perks. Contrast the treatment given him by the ruling elite with their spleen vented on private sector CEOs.

Maybe Obama Can Find a Cabinet Post for Bernie Madoff

The reliably evil Senator Christopher Dodd (D - Hell) is pushing a bill to let the FDIC borrow up to $500 Billion from the US Treasury. Round up the usual suspects: Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, and FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair are Dodd's co-conspirators.

Let's see if I have this straight:

• In the middle of a banking collapse, in order to encourage depositors to leave their money in insolvent institutions, the Congress votes to raise the FDIC deposit insurance limit from $100,000 to $250,000;
• The FDIC says it needs to borrow money from the Treasury because more banks are failing than FDIC's present assets can cover;
• The US Treasury, itself bankrupt (approx. $14 - $20 trillion in debt), loans one-half trillion dollars it doesn't have to FDIC;
• Everyone lives happily ever after.

Excuse me, but isn't this the sort of financial trickery we're sending Bernie Madoff to jail for?

Harvey Milk Day

So Sean Penn and Mark Leno think San Francisco should have a Harvey Milk Day. I think this is an excellent idea, but I would like to take it one step further.

San Francisco already has the Moscone Convention Center, named after the martyred mayor. Yet no one, to my knowledge, has proposed any official remembrance for the man who helped both men to power and whom they, in turn, rewarded with the money, prestige, and patronage that made his own grand project possible: the Reverend Jim Jones. I believe he merits, at the very least, a statue in front of City Hall. Justice demands it.

Daniel Flynn has concisely and elegantly recapped the S.F. Left's love affair with the evangelical Communist Jones. It's well worth a read. Don't miss the link to Harvey Milk's letter to then-President Carter, a mere nine months before the Jonestown Massacre, demanding that Jones's critics be silenced.

Heir or Parent?

President Barack Obama's Treasury secretary says the administration has inherited "the worst fiscal situation in American history."

Inherited? I'd say Obama & Co. were instrumental in bringing about the current mess.

The root of the economic disaster is the inflationary regime of fiat money brought about by the creation of the Federal Reserve and FDR's creation (by confiscating all of the monetary gold in private hands and nullifying all contracts, public and private, for payment in gold) of a federal monopoly over money. Geithner was head of the New York Federal Reserve for fifteen years, which means he has been wrong about everything for at least that long.

The Democrats, Obama included, did nothing to reign in Bush's mad imperial ambitions. Sure, they made the obligatory opposition noises but, in action, they gave Bush everything he wanted. Now, in the aftermath of this crime against humanity, the Democrats, including Obama and his oh-so-ethical Attorney General, say that no one will be brought to justice.

Ah, but what about the greedy banks that knowingly made loans to uncreditworthy people? Excuse me, but didn't Obama and ACORN, among others, use the Community Reinvestment Act to browbeat "racist" banks into making the very loans the "community organizers" are now denouncing the "greedy" banks for having made?

Obama didn't inherit this mess; it's his bastard child.

The Swiss Stand Up

The Swiss have been suffering from a huge case of Battered Woman Syndrome. Pilloried for years, for their refusal to participate in the two great slaughters of the last century, by "respectable" members of the international community, the Swiss lately have been seeking respectability by eroding many of their traditional liberties, including gun rights and financial privacy.

There are signs, though, that the sons of William Tell may have located their temporarily misplaced manhood. UBS is standing up to the Empire, telling D.C. that it is subject to Swiss, not American, law. Although UBS on Wednesday agreed to pay a $780 million fine and disclose the names of about 250 American clients, the bank is defying the Injustice Department's demand for the names of all the bank's American clients' -- a list which runs in the thousands.

Meanwhile, the Swiss People's Party is demanding that the government take punitive action against the U.S.

This is an encouraging trend.

The Empire Strikes Back

U.S. sues UBS seeking Swiss account customer names

Note the sanctimonious indignation of Acting Assistant Attorney General for Taxation John DiCicco, who plays the class warfare card (as any good commissar must) and tries to pretend that refusing to fund the government's aggressive wars and handouts to special interest groups is why, "millions of Americans are losing their jobs, their homes and their health care." Creeps like this make me want to puke!

Obama the Hypocrite

Obama talks Green. Obama chastises CEOs of bankrupt corporations for their lavish salaries, personal jets and other perks.

So Mr. Obama, CEO of a corporation presently $20 trillion in debt, does what? Why, he loads his entourage into his personal 747, flies to Denver, gets into heavily-armored (and therefore more-than-normally gas guzzling) SUVs delivered by his personal military transport aircraft, and drives to a photo op where he signs an inflationary "stimulus" bill that puts his corporation another $787 billion in debt. The bill was passed by the corporation's board of directors (Congress) whose offices are within walking distance of Mr. Obama's mansion in the District of Columbia.

As Monty Python pointed out: It's good to be King!

South Carolina gets Californicated

Law enforcement officials in SC have taken complete leave of their senses. First, the Michael Phelps witch-hunt; now this.

One of the two geniuses behind this is one of Mr. Phelps' inquisitors. The overpaid and underworked (judging by their priorities) bureaucrats claim to have received their inspiration from the open-air lunatic asylum known as the state of California.

Dont. Just... DON'T!

I won't be responsible for what happens to the next person who tells me how wonderful I must feel today.

It's not even a coherent excuse

Portland mayor admits past relationship with teen

"I lied at the time because I was afraid that people would believe untrue rumors being circulated by an undeclared mayoral opponent that I had broken a law involving sexual relations with a minor. But this is not a good excuse."

Translation: "I didn't tell you the truth because I didn't think you were smart enough to comprehend the number 18." Maybe he doesn't trust anyone who actually would vote for him.

The story notes that Adams, presently in Washington for the Obama coronation, will cut his trip short to issue a public apology in Portland this afternoon. Welcome to the New Age.

Change is coming

Eric Holder - Obama's totalitarian choice for Attorney General

With Bruce Springsteen leading the mass at the Lincoln Temple, expect more of the murderous, totalitarian policies pursued by Obama's hero, Abe the Mad. I'm sure Obama won't hesitate to rely on the Bush administration's legal arguments of untrammeled executive power, as well.

In Memoriam

January is Military Murders Month.

We've had eight years of putative "conservatives" extolling the glories of war and Empire. Now the avatar of Change(TM) arrives, incessantly invoking Abraham Lincoln while his idolaters summon forth the memory of St. FDR.

Stalin accurately noted that the death of one person is a tragedy, the death of a million is a statistic. Remember, then, the names of these men murdered by Obama's role models:

• Sgt. William Walker (1864). Sgt. Walker was a member of the 3rd South Carolina Volunteers, a "colored" regiment. He was court-martialed and executed at Hilton Head, SC, for leading a mutiny of Black soldiers who refused to fight unless they were given equal pay to White soldiers. Walker was shot in front of the entire company, as an example to others.
• Pvt. Edward Donald "Eddie" Slovik (1945). Eddie Slovik was murdered by the US Government for being a runaway slave. FDR lied and manipulated the US into the Second World War, then conscripted vast numbers of men, including Slovik, to kill and be killed, maim and be maimed, in the service of those lies. Slovik didn't want to kill (he asked for hazardous non-combatant duty, such as medic) so he had to die, as an example to others.

Obama is calling for National Sacrifice(TM): it probably will be human sacrifice, if Obama's heroes are any indication.

Yo' Bama!

Barack Obama says I should "join with Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden, Michelle Obama" in advancing his agenda. Why not throw in Joe Stalin and Jack the Ripper while you're at it, Barack! Lets have a look:

• Nancy Pelosi -- Refused to impeach the war criminal Bush and fell all over herself pledging her loyalty to Israeli fascism;
• Joe Biden -- Wants to raise my taxes and take my guns;
• Michelle Obama -- You married her, bro'; you deal with her!

In his victory speech, Barack said he wanted to win my trust. So far, he's not off to a great start.

Defending Freedom, 24/7

The Transportation Security Administration is on the job, detaining and questioning people who discuss, uh, airline safety.

In addition to pulling Mr. Irfan and his family off the plane and causing them to miss their flight, the Feds also yanked the plane's crew and 95 passengers off and forced them yet again through the humiliating exercise in submission known as "passenger screening."

FBI agents cleared the family and asked the airline to put them on another flight. AirTran Airways issued a full refund and told the family they could fly on the carrier again, but refused to book them on a later flight so they could get on with their vacation. AirTran did rebook the family on another airline, but complained that one of the party "became irate and made inappropriate comments" when told they would not be allowed to complete their trip on AirTran (think several more days lost while your luggage gets re-routed). Maybe the airline thinks the family needs some time to think about whether or not they want to think about airline safety. The Feds, suddenly remembering the concept of "private property," say the airline acted within its rights in booking the family on another carrier.

Your tax dollars at work. I'd say I feel safer, but I don't want the FBI knocking at my door to ask why I'm discussing safety.

Do The Right Thing

I stumbled across Gov. Mike Huckabee's book on Christmas Eve, while grocery shopping in Costco. I thumbed through it a bit and I think it's fair to say, it sucks. I won't even link to it.

In one chapter, the Huckster conflates the pious Dr. Ron Paul with the anti-religious faction of the libertarian movement. In another chapter, Huckster goes ga-ga for militarism and imperialism. He hopes that American boys (and girls now, because we have no sense) will continue signing up in large numbers to get their arms and legs and faces and nuts blown off while doing the same to men, women and children in countries the world over that never attacked or threatened the United States. If they don't -- and who could resist such a proposition, really -- he plans to dragoon them into various, uneconomic "public works" projects, all for the greater glory of the State.

If the Reverend Huckster really wants Americans to do the right thing, he might begin by encouraging them to study the Christmas Truce of 1914, a brief, shining moment when men summoned the courage to heed the Prince of Peace rather than butcher each other in the service of the Father of Lies.

Banks: "We don't do accounting"

Banks can't or won't say how bailout billions are being spent

TASER death?

San Jose to pay $70,000 to settle TASER death

The author of the article, Mr. John Woolfolk, neglected to mention that the late Mr. Rios, in addition to being morbidly obese, had a 98% blockage of his coronary arteries due to cocaine abuse. The police became involved when Rios began beating his wife in public. Call me old-fashioned, but I see this as a lifestyle issue not a "TASER death."

So the widow Rios now gets $70,000 of the taxpayers' money, in addition to whatever other subsidies she soaked up over the years while living la vida loca with an unproductive, drug-abusing, violent fatass. Makes you proud to be an American.

Moonbeam gives me a reason to support Proposition 8

I opposed Prop. 8, though I am sure the gay lobby would disapprove of my reasons:

• I believe in rendering unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's; for that reason, I believe in strictly limiting the number of things that might arguably be said to belong to Caesar. This whole fight, on both sides, is not about marriage but about Caesar.
• The government can decree cats to be dogs. It doesn't change the facts or my thinking.
• If my experience in dealing with gay domestic violence is any indication, gay divorce should be hugely entertaining ("'No on 8. Bring popcorn' What does that mean?" "You'll see...").

Still, I am old enough to remember when the gay battle cry was to get government out of the bedroom; now they're saying their relationships are meaningless unless the State is a third party to them. And I have a long-enough memory to know that when the Left promises that a particular initiative is not the camel's nose under the tent, that we'll have the whole camel inside sooner rather than later. Fortunately, we have an Attorney-General of Jerry Brown's candor to let us know what's really up:

Jerry Brown urges court to void Prop. 8

The kicker comes in the penultimate paragraph of the article:

Brown compared his decision to oppose Proposition 8 to Attorney General Thomas C. Lynch's decision to oppose Proposition 14, a 1964 constitutional initiative that overturned a state law that prohibited housing discrimination based on race.

So Jerry Brown sees "gay marriage" as a means to further seize control of private property, and to ride roughshod over property owners' freedom to associate -- or not associate -- with whomever they choose. So much for "No on H8's" bland assertion that "gay marriage" is nothing to fear.

Surprise, Surprise!

US won't honor Iraq withdrawal commitment

Remember the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing? 19 American service members died because the US government reneged on its promise to leave Saudi Arabia at the end of the First Gulf War. The Empire's promises to Arabs carry no more weight than it's promises to American Indians did.

War is Peace

According to the outgoing Emperor, invading and occupying a country that never attacked or threatened the United States; killing and maiming its citizens; unleashing an orgy of nihilistic violence by extremists from within and without that country; and bankrupting our own country in the process, was an act of peace and benevolence.

I'm glad he cleared that one up for me.

More warrantless surveillance

First, financial privacy had to be eliminated to fight racketeering. Then it was to fight terrorism. Now it's under the guise of saving the housing market.

Buried deep in the bill's 700 pages is a provision requiring credit card companies to report all credit card transactions to the federal government. That's right, every single credit card transaction you make will be reported to the IRS.

As usual, the always heroic Dr. Ron Paul is the only one blowing the whistle on this provision. Click on the "Housing Bill" video for the gory details.

The Boy Emperor is expected to sign the bill soon.

The Smith and Wesson Model 41

I have a page on the Smith and Wesson Model 41 .22 pistol here. I explain why I believe it is the best buy in a .22 pistol for target and general use.

We're bringing it here so we don't have to fight it over there

Under the guise of fighting AIDS in Africa, Senators John Kerry (D - Mass.) and Gordon Smith (R - Ore.) have introduced a bill to lift the ban on HIV-positive immigration.

Putting aside the question of what Constitutional authority Congress has to forcibly expropriate money from Americans and give it to Africans, the bill's supporters offer some real howlers in its defense. Here are a few:

"There's no excuse for a law that stigmatizes a particular disease," Kerry said Tuesday at a speech to the Center for Strategic & International Studies HIV/AIDS Task Force. Even people with avian flu or the Ebola virus have an easier time than those with HIV when it come to applying for visas, he said.

Well, Senator, what is the excuse for an immigration policy that imports contagious, deadly and sometimes incurable diseases? I'm old enough to remember when tuberculosis was virtually eradicated in the US; now it's back, with a vengeance, thanks to mass immigration from the Third World.

Under current law, HIV is the only medical condition explicitly listed under immigration law. The Kerry-Smith provision would make HIV equivalent to other communicable diseases where medical and public health experts at the Health and Human Services Department — not consular officials at U.S. embassies — determine eligibility for admission.

If they're doing such a good job of it now, why are we worrying about drug-resistant TB in the US?

Those with HIV seeking legal permanent residency would still have to demonstrate they have the resources to live in this country and would not become a "public charge."

What a joke! I work at a public hospital. I see all the new immigrants, who signed the very same promise not to become public charges, pitching up with Medi-Cal cards before the ink is dry on their entry stamps. Sometimes they come into the emergency room in crisis, because their families told them not to refill their medications (heart, blood pressure, diabetes, etc. -- not HIV) until they got here and qualified for Medi-Cal. There's no enforcement of this provision, which is one reason why immigrants -- legal and illegal -- drain about $30 billion more annually from the Treasury than they contribute.

I'm not anti-immigrant; my wife is an immigrant. But clearly this bill is intended to create a new, rent-seeking class that the politicians can exploit for their own ends and the taxpayer be damned!

Fannie and Freddie Must Die!

Michael S. Rozeff explains why.

The mainstream media, of course, are gushing over the prospects of a federal takeover and new regulations.

Fighting Small Scams To Protect The Big One

The August, 2008, issue of Kiplinger's Personal Finance features the following article at page 61:

Taking Aim At Military Scams: The men and women who protect our country are getting ripped off.

The unquestioned assumption, and the scam it promotes and protects, is that being in the military involves protecting the United States. Unless you truly believe that the United States is or ever has been threatened by Iraqis, Serbs, Somalis, Haitians, Vietnamese, Koreans, Panamanians, Grenadans, Dominicans, Filipinos, Spaniards, etc., then you must admit that the military is a tool of imperial force projection, not self-defense.

I'll give the final word on this to Marine Major General and two-time Medal of Honor recipient Smedley D. Butler:

War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.

Here we go again

Butler Shaffer on the death of another Big Government shill.

Shoot! The Day

The gang at Photoshelter are on a mission to revitalize stock photography. One day, five categories, prizes. So, register for the event and, wherever you are on 20 July, Shoot! The Day.

Ammo Prices

Like everything else, ammo prices are dramatically up. They've doubled in the last two years.

Some reasons are obvious. Ammunition is heavy and expensive to ship. Transportation costs are up due to high oil prices.

Copper, used to make bullet jackets and brass cartridge cases, is also high due to increased global demand.

Less obvious is the market distortion introduced by the ultimate Big Government program (and that's all it is): War. The Boy Emperor's legions are burning through an incredible amount of the stuff in the Global War For A Legacy: about 5.5 million rounds per month, according to this House Armed Services Committee report.

Thanks, Dubya, and God Bless America!

AB 2062 Idiocy

The reliably anti-gun San Jose Mercury News today editorialized in favor of California Assembly Bill 2062, by Kevin De Leon (D - Los Angeles).

AB 2062 would introduce a complex, cumbersome, expensive and needless series of restrictions on vendors and buyers of ammunition in California, as well as prohibit Internet sales of ammunition.

There is nothing new in De Leon's bill. We had almost 20 years of this very thing, nationwide, between the Gun Control Act of 1968 and the McClure-Volkmer reforms of 1986. It was repealed because everyone -- law enforcement, ATF, everyone -- admitted what the "gun lobby" said all along: it was an expensive, intrusive waste of time.

18 years of ammo dealer licensing, record-keeping, warrantless surveillance, no mail-order sales, etc., could not produce a single crime either solved or prevented. Yet, the advocates of "reasonable regulation" screamed like babies when it was repealed. Now they want to bring it back. Isn't it time the SJMN editors come clean and tell us what they really want?

Squidoo

I've just discovered Squidoo. It looks interesting. I've already created my first lens, on the subject of photography.

Unfortunately, the site is having major problems this weekend. I hope this isn't normal.

Edit: Site is back up. I'm working now on a lens about disaster preparedness and recovery.

iCasualties.org is back online

Cyber-vandals launched cowardly attack on truth-telling website.

A Triumph For The Culture Of Death

The pro-abortion team hit the trifecta on this one: Artist hanged herself after aborting her twins.

Wake up, people! It is not "a woman's right to choose" (the verb, "to choose," requires a direct object). It is murder, every bit as much as "waterboarding" is torture. Only a society bent on descending into barbarism and tyranny pretends otherwise, in either case.

The Gray Lady makes a mess

NYT Public Editor condemns McCain/lobbyist story

This would be the same NYT that continues defending its first Pulitzer, won by Walter Duranty for covering up Stalin's Ukrainian genocide. And if they've ever condemned Senator Arthur Vandenberg for helping sell the US into a foreign war after British Intelligence placed at least two high-born sluts in his bed, I've never seen it.

NYT's Executive Editor, Bill Keller, defends the article. The April 11, 1999, Style section of the Times announced the wedding of then-Managing Editor Keller and author/journalist Emma Gilbey. That article concluded:

The bridegroom's first wedding ended in divorce.

Well, yes it did. Bill had his own adulterous relationship with Emma. Emma got pregnant; Bill divorced his wife and abandoned his two kids; Bill and Emma married; Bill got promoted to Executive Editor. But Emma, well-known for her "power dating," was John Kerry's ex-girlfriend. Did she unduly influence the Times' endorsement of Kerry for President?

I'm no fan of McCainiac. Or Barack Star. Or Satan-In-Heels. If Ron Paul is not on the ballot, I'll write him in. But the timing of this hit piece is most strange. McCainiac has plenty of ethical lapses, past and present, to be hammered with. Why a sex-for-favors scandal, especially such a thin one, and why now?

Bush: "Criminal idiocy toward Cuba will continue"

US Embargo Of Cuba To Continue Despite Castro Resignation

Excuse me, where's the adult supervision here? The US embargo of Cuba, now in its 49th year, is an abject failure on its own terms. Sane people, faced with such a record of failure, long ago would have re-evaluated their actions.

Embargoes traditionally are considered acts of war. So the US, in five decades of war, has failed to unseat the blowhard dictator of a tiny, impoverished island 90 miles from our own shores. It's worth pondering, especially in light of the 2 - 3 billion dollars per week we're burning in Mesopotamia, and the McCaniac's promise of a new Hundred Years War.

No doubt, the Bu'ushists will tell us that the embargo is necessary to "defend our freedom." As if the old Commie, or his slightly younger and less windy brother, could muster an invasion force that wouldn't be repulsed by the local gun club. We wouldn't have to call the military back from their garrisons in 126 foreign countries, where they attend to such vital American interests as killing and maiming innocent civilians, humiliating men in front of their wives and children, and raping schoolgirls.

Meanwhile, Ana Belen Montes rots in a Federal women's prison for spying for Cuba. Allegedly, her skewing of intelligence reports kept the Clinton Administration from accurately assessing the threat Cuba posed to the US. The court should have looked up "paranoia" in a dictionary. Other Americans have had their lives ruined by Federal stormtroopers, for the heinous crime of bringing Cuban cigars into the US.

Dubya says he wants to bring "the blessings of Liberty to the Cuban people." Someone should tell him that voluntary, mutually-beneficial exchange, unfettered by government interference, is one of those blessings.

Condoleeza Rice still a liar

Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice heatedly denied knowingly making 56 false statements, to bolster support for an American attack on Iraq, in the run up to Operation Iraqi Conquest. In doing so, she made False Statement # 57:

No one wants to go to war.

Now read that last sentence again, without laughing.

If "no one wants to go to war," then why have those who cautioned against the current debacle been forced from office, slandered, had details of their personal lives leaked to the press, and their very lives jeopardized? Why have those who were so wrong about this episode received honors and promotions? Why is Paul Wolfowitz, so wrong about Iraq's weapons program and whose ethical lapses as head of the World Bank lead to his firing, now back at State as head of a -- wait for it -- arms control project?

Clearly, the Bu'ushists wanted war with Iraq. Dubya himself admitted as much, when he said that, even knowing that all the "reasons" he provided the American public were wrong, he would have invaded anyway. So, what was his real reason and why won't he tell us?

LBJ clearly wanted war when he lied about an attack on American warships in international waters off the Gulf of Tonkin, and lied to Congress that the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was only an authorization for a limited, one-time retaliation: "We seek no wider war."

FDR clearly wanted war prior to December 7, 1941. Woodrow Wilson clearly wanted war prior to 1917. Both men got themselves re-elected by lying to the American people, that they were doing everything possible to keep our country out of Europe's conflicts. Both men understood the value of war in expanding the size and scope of federal power.

The political and economic elites, who lied about the explosion on the USS Maine, clearly wanted war.

The military-industrial-Congressional complex clearly want war. They have very little bottom line without it.

But maybe Condi is right: maybe no one wants to go to war.

Maybe they just want to send others.

Bush: "Another 9/11 fine with me"

OK, he didn't really say that. But he did say that he "won't accept any temporary extension" of FISA. Bush, of course, wants FISA made permanent, with immunities against their customers' wrath for telecoms that play ball with the government.

But Bush says he needs FISA to protect the US from another 9/11. Does this mean he's willing to accept another 9/11, rather than a temporary political expedient? Or is he admitting that FISA is about increasing the governments ability to spy on and intimidate its subjects?

"The great error of nearly all studies of war... has been to consider war as an episode in foreign policies, when it is an act of interior politics..." ~Simone Weil

Free Roger Clemens!

Baseball great Roger Clemens has been dragged, like the serf we all are under our current regime, before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

The jurisdiction of the Committee, from its own webpage, is as follows:

Committee Jurisdiction

Legislative Responsibilities
The legislative jurisdiction of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform includes the following areas, as set forth in House Rule X, clause 1:

• Federal civil service, including intergovernmental personnel; and the status of officers and employees of the United States, including their compensation, classification, and retirement;
• Municipal affairs of the District of Columbia in general (other than appropriations);
• Federal paperwork reduction;
• Government management and accounting measures generally;
• Holidays and celebrations;
• Overall economy, efficiency, and management of government operations and activities, including federal procurement;
• National archives;
• Population and demography generally, including the Census;
• Postal service generally, including transportation of the mails;
• Public information and records;
• Relationship of the federal government to the states and municipalities generally; and
• Reorganizations in the executive branch of the government.

I don't see baseball anywhere in there. Free Roger Clemens!

They just hate us because we're free

U.S. working to ease tensions in Japan rape case

Once again, we witness the insanity of foreigners who fail to appreciate the glories of American military occupation, and who refuse to give our brave men in uniform the respect they deserve as morally and intellectually superior beings.

Apparently, they've forgotten the lessons of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Sending diplomats, instead of another Tibbets, is the wrong way to go.

The "Little Saigon" flap

While I must confess to a certain schadenfreude at seeing San Jose City Councilwoman Madison Nguyen hoist with her own petard of identity politics and tawdry, emotional pandering, I nonetheless believe the "Little Saigon" militants bode more ill than good for the cause of liberty in this country.

Nguyen began her political career because, "What we [Vietnamese] were missing was a political voice." Why do Vietnamese, or any other ethnic group, need a "political voice?" To get "their share" of special privileges and stolen goods handed out by that vast system of coercion and fraud known as "government," of course! And what of those who don't hear the same voices Nguyen does?

"But 2003 was the year Nguyen cemented her name in the political landscape. A San Jose police officer shot and killed a 25-year-old Vietnamese woman he thought was brandishing a cleaver. It turned out to be a large-bladed, Asian-style vegetable peeler. Nguyen rallied the Vietnamese community together in defense of the slain woman, leading vigils and protests." Night of the dao bao, by Massad Ayoob, gives a more complete and accurate picture of the tragic events of 13 July 2003. The facts -- that the slain woman, Cau Thi Tran, was a violent psychotic; that she had quit taking her medications; that she was beyond the ability of her own friends and family to control; that police had been called to the scene because she was endangering her own children -- mattered not at all to Nguyen. By this time an elected officeholder and veteran political organizer, Nguyen saw a chance to make political hay and she jumped on it. Did she have to libel a good and decent man in the process? No matter. Did she have to spread misunderstanding and sow divisions between the police and the "Vietnamese community?" So much the better, when it comes to identity politics!

So, no tears here for the plight of Madison Nguyen. But the insistence on "official names" is more an artifact of socialism, communism, fascism, and other forms of groupthink, than it is a characteristic of a free people. The same could be said of the anti-self defense crowd (Don't like guns? Don't buy one!); both sides of the "gay marriage" divide (The State consecrates nothing, though it profanes much); the various controversies over the Pledge of Allegiance (Its author, Francis Bellamy, was a proto-fascist who dreamed of a militarized, imperial, socialist America); and a host of other controversies ginned up to keep our eyes off the hands of the political three-card monte artists who con us out of our lives, liberty and property. Are our lives and values really meaningless unless they're validated by the State?

Chuck Reed Is A Pansy

Citing "security" concerns, San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed has announced that he will not attend this year's Vietnamese New Year parade.

The whole affair, of course, is wrapped up in the ridiculous controversy over officially designating a section of Story Road the "Saigon Business District." The local Vietnamese community, as fractious now as they were in their homeland (one of the reasons the North won) couldn't agree on an "official" name. Councilwoman Madison Nguyen, the first Vietnamese to be elected to the City Council, proposed the "Saigon Business District" name as a compromise. Mayor Chuck Reed supported Nguyen's compromise proposal, and the City Council approved it. The supporters of "Little Saigon" remain unmollified, denouncing Nguyen as a Communist, demanding she resign, calling for her recall, picketing City Hall weekly, etc.

So, here we are. When he was running for mayor, Chuck Reed's campaign literature made much of the fact that he and his daughter were the first father-daughter cadet wing commanders in the history of the US Air Force Academy. Reed served in Thailand during the Vietnam War, while his daughter flew A-10s in combat in Iraq. Apparently it's fine to fly over people's countries dropping bombs on them when they've never harmed or threatened your country, another thing entirely to confront them face-to-face.

What a wuss.

Somewhere, Heinrich Himmler Is Smiling

Deputy Director of National Intelligence Donald Kerr says Americans need to redefine privacy.

Perhaps Mr. Kerr believes that War, Freedom, and Ignorance are worth rethinking, as well.

Note to Mr. Kerr: my Glock holds eighteen reasons to respect my privacy. I'd be happy to share them with you.

She Just Hates Us Because We're Free

BBC: Supermodel "rejects dollar pay"

And from Bloomberg: Supermodel Bundchen Joins Hedge Funds Dumping Dollars

New Revelations on Israeli attack on the USS Liberty

A number of accounts document that Israeli pilots identified the USS Liberty before attacking it. Israel disputes this account, but to a man all of the sailors on board and a number of senior intelligence officials privy to the intercepts of the pilots say Israel knew it was attacking an American ship. [READ THIS ARTICLE!]

read more | digg story

This is what happens...

Lesbian couple who wanted baby sue over twins - Yahoo! News

Now We Know It's Time To Panic!

White House says to traders - don't panic

Time For A New Declaration

Still Rebels, Still Tories

Scroll down for a particularly enjoyable thought by William of Orange County.

It's Not Terrorism When We Do It

From today's Los Angeles Times:

Moreover, the suspected plan to use consecutive car-bomb explosions last week in London, targeting police and rescue personnel as they arrive at the scene of the first explosion, evokes the tactics of insurgents in Iraq.

Or perhaps it evokes the tactics of the governments of Great Britain and the United States in the WWII firebombing of Dresden, in which the second wave of bombers (RAF) and the third wave (USAAF) timed their attacks to catch rescue workers in the open.

It's Not A War Crime When We Do It

67 years ago today, Winston Churchill launched an unprovoked attack on the naval fleet of an Allied country. 1,300 French sailors died in the attack.

Attack on Mers-el-Kébir - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For a further debunking of this horrid tyrant, see Ralph Raico's excellent and thought-provoking Rethinking Churchill.

technorati tags:Churchill, World_War_Two, France, War_Crimes

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Lew Rockwell Watches The Democratic Debate...

...so you don't have to.

On the other hand, a Ron Paul/Mike Gravel independent ticket would be much more interesting (and better for the country) than the run being coyly suggested at by Mike Bloomberg, statist creep and political opportunist extraordinaire.

Army Wants To Enlist Illegal Aliens Quickly As Recruitment Falls

DefenseLink News Article: Officials Hope to Rekindle Interest in Immigration Bill Provision

The obvious argument in favor of this proposal is that the immigrants will have earned the right to citizenship by their willingness to Put On The Uniform And Serve Their Country(TM). I have two issues with this:

1. They will most likely not be serving "their country," i.e., the land and the people. They will be serving the Military-Industrial-Congressional Complex, which profits handsomely, in both money and power, from provoking and continuing quarrels between nations.
2. As they will have learned to closely associate Big Government (public assistance, public schools, public hospitals, G.I. Bill, etc.) with their own economic self-interest, they will not be reluctant to turn their guns on American citizens if ordered to do so.
   

The historic precedents are there. The Whiskey Rebellion affected the entire Western United States, but only in Western Pennsylvania did the Federal government have a cadre of wealthy bureaucrats willing to collect taxes. Similarly, when Abraham Lincoln went to war against the South, on behalf of his agenda of  subsidies to politically-favored industries, high protective tariffs, and  Federal control of the money supply, he recruited foreigners as mercenaries, with promises of citizenship and wealth if they would just shoot some of the native-born.

Once again, freedom will be squeezed between welfare and warfare. Will we ever learn? Do we even care?

technorati tags:Immigration, Army, War, Taxes, Welfare, Freedom, Lincoln, Whiskey_Rebellion

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Feds

ChroniclesMagazine.org » Feds

Professor Clyde Wilson, pithy and eloquent as usual.

technorati tags:Government, Freedom, Corruption, Incompetence, Tyranny

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Here are two excellent articles on the current "immigration reform" fiasco:

Dobbs: Give it a rest, Mr. President - CNN.com

Chain of Fools: Nepotism as Immigration Policy

Unfortunately, both authors overlook the considerable role of welfare in the current pattern of immigration. On net, today's immigrants -- legal and illegal -- are tax consumers, not tax producers. Their families receive tax-funded education, health care, food, housing and general assistance subsidies. They have become a powerful voting and lobbying bloc for increased subsidies, which translates (in any language) into higher taxes and bigger government.

"But we need them to do the jobs Americans refuse to do." Well, if starvation were the alternative to working, I'll bet more Americans would be interested in those jobs. But we provide another way out for the indolent and the self-indulgent, at the expense of the industrious and the thrifty, and we call it "progressive" and "compassionate." And it's not just "menial" jobs that Americans are turning down in favor of life on the dole.

Ending the Welfare State, including that great, sacred cow known as "public education," would go a long way toward making open borders a feasible proposition. It also would put Americans back to work, restore the family to its proper place in society, return decency and civility to our communities, free up private funds to provide meaningful assistance to the truly needy, and restore the value of education. As an added bonus, ending the Welfare State would choke the life out of its symbiote, the Warfare State.

End Welfare. Do it now, for the children.

technorati tags:Immigration, Welfare, Taxes, Government, War, Employment

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Perfidious Albion

Yesterday, I marked the 40th anniversary of the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty.

To be fair to the Israelis, this war crime had its precedent, as so many others did, in a war crime perpetrated by America's other Great Ally, Winston Churchill. I refer to his attack on the fleet of an allied nation (France) at Oran, 3 July 1940, that resulted in the deaths of 1,300 French sailors.

Attack on Mers-el-Kébir - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

technorati tags:Mers-el-Kebir, Churchill, France, war_crimes

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In Memoriam: USS Liberty, 8 June 1967

USS LIBERTY Memorial

Remember the Liberty!- by Justin Raimondo

Jeffrey St. Clair: When Israel Attacked the USS Liberty

technorati tags:USS, Liberty, Six-Days, War, Middle, East, Israel

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Do As We Say, Not As We Do

2 Charged In Laotian Overthrow Plot

We're looking at conspiracy to murder thousands and thousands of people at one time. -- Assistant U.S. Attorney Bob Twiss

Shock And Awe, anyone?

The United States cannot and will not provide safe harbor to those plotting to overthrow foreign governments of countries with whom we are at peace. -- McGregor Scott, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California

ROFLMAO! Where has this guy been? Hawaii, Iran, South Vietnam, Guatemala -- what happened to those coup plotters?

For a more extensive discussion, see Stephen Kinzer's book, Overthrow.

RON PAUL UPDATE

Congressman Ron Paul will be a guest on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" tonight at 11:00 pm ET.

http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/the_daily_show/index.jhtml

The third GOP presidential debate will be held tomorrow night at 7:00 pm ET in New Hampshire. CNN will broadcast the debate with Wolf Blitzer as the moderator.

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/

Did you never notice how people no longer say, "We're a free country?" Instead, they merely say, "We're the freest country in the world," as if favorable comparisons with Cuba, Zimbabwe, Iran, and North Korea were good enough. If you care at all about restoring freedom in this country, go to Ron Paul's Campaign Website now and sign up.

Camera Notes

I've posted some photo equipment on eBay, as a result of my recent experience shooting daily in Vietnam. Here's what I've found:

The Pentax K100D is a great camera, no doubt. The K10D, however, motivates me to move up for several reasons. First, as an old film-and-darkroom guy, I value post- processing and prefer to shoot in RAW format whenever possible. The small buffer of the K100D forces me into JPEG mode more often than I would like. Second, the K10D has more of its manual overrides on buttons; the K100D buries them in menus. Third, the K10D dispenses with the "idiot" modes and replaces them with truly innovative and useful shooting modes. Other nice upgrades include the K10D's weathersealing and sensor dust removal functions.

The Tamron 70-300mm Di zoom (effective length 105-450mm) is a decent lens, especially at the price. Nits to pick (for me) were:

• Autofocus slow - tends to hunt
• Lack of clutch in focusing mechanism - risk of damage to lens if you forget to switch to manual focus when attaching or removing lens hood
• Weight and bulk - I didn't really find much use for the 200 - 300mm range, or the macro. The 50-200mm would be a better choice for my use

That said, I probably would not be selling it if I weren't scraping together the money to buy a K10D. It's a good lens to have in your bag

The Metz Mecablitz 36 C-2 is a non-dedicated unit. It will not interface with the camera manufacturers' various TTL flash modes. Used properly, however, it delivers very consistent results at a fraction of the cost of a dedicated unit. It also is less likely to be fooled by highly reflective backgrounds. The trade-off is a bit of a learning curve (the instruction manual is excellent) and a certain amount more manual adjusting. I did learn to use it fairly efficiently, but I still think I could work faster with a dedicated unit. Trade-offs to everything, as I said. I'll buy the Pentax AF540FGZ.

So, now you know.

Do You Use FLONASE Nasal Spray?

If so, have I got a tip (pun intended, as you'll see) for you!

FLOVENT is the same corticosteroid, but in a pressurized aerosol for asthma sufferers. If you've ever squirted FLONASE up your beak, only to have most of it run out because your nasal passages were so inflamed, you'll appreciate the value of a better delivery system. So, here's the tip:

1) Call your doctor and have him/her change your prescription from FLONASE to FLOVENT;

2) Cut the tip off a baby bottle nipple;

3) Pull the wide end of the nipple over the mouthpiece of the FLOVENT inhaler;

4) Shove the small end of the nipple up your nose and fire; I usually do two shots up each nostril, so I alternate right - left to give the first shot some time, usually about one minute, to work.

I wish I could take credit for this discovery but I got it from my allergist, who wishes he could take credit! I've been doing this for about a month now, and am having the best results ever. My nose now actually works!

The Real Global Warming Threat

Having dismissed with the trivial stuff, such as giving Incurious George a blank check for his illegal and immoral war on Iraq, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi jetted off to Greenland and Germany to deal with the really important stuff -- aggrandizing the state (and herself) by flogging the "climate change" scare.

If she really wanted to do something about the effects of hot air on the environment, Pelosi would fasten a strip of duct tape securely across her mouth and never take it off!

The K10D Book

I made the switch to digital single-lens reflex (D-SLR) last year, with the purchase of a Pentax K100D. Prior to that, I had 25 years with a Nikon FE 35mm SLR.

I used the K100D daily in the course of a five-week family vacation in Vietnam. There's a lot to like about this camera, as this image shows, including size, weight, image quality and in-body shake reduction.

However, the lack of readily-accessible manual controls and the small RAW buffer got me thinking about upgrading to the newer K10D.

I began researching the K10D in earnest upon my return. After lurking a bit and posting a few questions at PentaxWorld, PentaxForums, and Digital Photography Review, I was pretty convinced I was on the right track.

Along now comes Yvon Bourque and his self-published PENTAX K10D - Everything you need to know... and then some. This little gem of a book goes beyond the instruction manual and gives a practical photographer's perspective on the camera and its use. Besides his own, lifelong experience in photography, Yvon actively mines the discussion forums for other users' ideas, experience and suggestions. Oh yes, and he's a heck of a nice guy to deal with, too.

The book is bigger than the manual and is coil bound so it lies flat for easy reference, especially useful when you're holding the camera in your hands and walking through the controls and settings.

If you have a K10D, you need this book. I ordered mine in advance of the camera (still getting the $$ together as I write this) and I'm glad I did. I'm not affiliated with the publishers and don't get a commission; I just like the book. Big thanks to Yvon and his wife for producing it.

As for my K100D? You'll find it on eBay until June 10.

The Welfare-Warfare State Thrives

Those who still delude themselves that there is some fundamental difference between the Welfare Party and the Warfare Party, should consider the following:

Bush Wins War Money, Dems Win Pork

War is the health of the State.

Randolph Bourne

More Orbitz Grief

I called Orbitz again today, to get the funds released that they encumbered for a flight they cannot provide. They assured me that they faxed the release to my bank yesterday, but they would send another one today.

Well, the funds still are encumbered. My bank says they've never received anything from Orbitz. I still can't book a flight.

Orbitz Suckz

I tried to book a flight on Orbitz yesterday. In a classic bait-and-switch, the lowest priced flight was rejected: "Not a valid flight. Please choose another."

I selected the next flight, about $4.00 more. "Your bank refused the charge." What the heck?

I logged onto my bank account. Sure enough, Orbitz had placed a hold on the account in the amount of the first, "invalid flight" fare total. Since I was attempting to book an overseas flight for the family, my second attempt exceeded my daily limit on my debit card.

I called Orbitz to obtain an immediate release of the funds. They promised me they would do it today. Do I need to tell you that the funds are still encumbered?

So, here I am: no flight, no funds, and a lot of time wasted. Thankz, Orbitz.

In Memoriam
January is Military Murders Month

Sgt. William Walker (1864).

Pvt. Edward Donald "Eddie" Slovik (1945).

Veterans Day Thanks

Thanks to all the men and women who:

Accustomed us to ever-increasing government interference in and control over our lives;
Taught us that servility to our leaders and blind obedience to orders, not independent and critical thought, are the true hallmarks of citizenship;
That socialism really does work;
That social engineering really does work;
That deficits, taxes, institutionalized lying, and social breakdown can be patriotic;
That martial glory trumps all laws of God and man;
That Power is self-justifying;
That there is no practical or moral distinction between men and women;
That Rosie the Riveter is better than June Cleaver;
That it does take a village to raise a child, when Mom and Dad both are at the front;
That War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, and Ignorance is Strength.

Happy Veterans Day!

(Un)Happy Anniversary

Ngo Dinh Diem, First President of the Republic of Vietnam, 1955 - 1963. Elected in rigged referendum ("won" 98% of the vote) backed by the United States government.

November 2, 1963: Deposed and murdered in military coup backed by the United States government.

Maybe we can send ATF after them?

Military fails to properly track hundreds of thousands of weapons in Iraq

Samuel Was An Optimist

This is what the king who will reign over you will do: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. Your menservants and maidservants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the Lord will not answer you in that day.
-- 1 Samuel 8:11–18

Our new rulers send our sons and daughters to the front. They content themselves not with a tenth of our incomes, or even the feudal liege lord's one-third, but currently confiscate and squander over one-half of what we earn and say it's not enough.

Worst of all, the Lord does not answer our cries for relief because we do not make them. The right consider these oppressions patriotic (warfare) while the left deem them compassionate (welfare).

Thus do we trade away our birthright: Esau, at least, got some lentils out of the deal!

NRA Strikes Again!

"Defenders Of Freedom" wallow in state-worship at annual meeting.

Left Homeless By Affordable Housing

I've been trying to find a senior apartment complex for my mother. We don't need assisted living or anything like that; she just wants a place where she's near other people her age.

Unfortunately, she was a bit too frugal and prudent during her income-earning years. All the retirement housing here in Santa Clara County seems to be tied up in the market distortion known as "affordable housing." Mom has too much retirement income to qualify for any of them.

Chalk up another victory for government intervention.

The strange suicide of Col. Westhusing

Bush the Younger scores another triumph.

From the article:
[A]bout 1 p.m., a USIS manager went looking for Westhusing because he was scheduled for a ride back to the Green Zone. After getting no answer, the manager returned about 15 minutes later. Another USIS employee peeked through a window. He saw Westhusing lying on the floor in a pool of blood.

The manager rushed into the trailer and tried to revive Westhusing. The manager told investigators that he picked up the pistol at Westhusing's feet and tossed it onto the bed.

"I knew people would show up," that manager said later in attempting to explain why he had handled the weapon. "With 30 years from [sic] military and law enforcement training, I did not want the weapon to get bumped and go off."

30 years military and law enforcement training? Anyone with enough law enforcement training to have graduated from police academy knows you don't tamper with a possible crime scene. Anyone with enough knowledge to handle a weapon profesionally knows that a modern pitol is not going to "go off" if "bumped." And, if that truly was his concern, why did he risk "bumping" the pistol by "tossing it onto the bed?"

Glock 17

I bought my first Glock yesterday. Glock 17, factory night sights.

I caught the Glock bug mostly for professional reasons. As a LEFI and armorer, I really need to know the Glock system. 9mm practice ammo is cheap, and modern defensive ammo renders the Great Caliber Controversy moot. The G17 seems the best, all-around choice for teaching, practice and self-defense.

The armorer in me really appreciates the simplicity of the Glock mechanism. Unfortunately, off-white contact paper applied to the grip area seems as close as one can get to ivory stocks for the Glocks.

I tried the 10mm Glock 20 and really liked it. I'm glad to see the 10mm Auto round making a comeback (Glock never abandoned it). That may be my next purchase. Hey, CA law says "one gun a month." Who am I to argue?

Dog Bites Man!
NRA sells out again

Oops, they did it again!

This year's annual meeting of the National Rifle Association turned out to be more of a meeting of the Neocon Rifle Association, or perhaps the National Republican Association. Either way, lovers of freedom will find little to cheer in the events of this year's meeting.

As statist propaganda, the "Salute To The Heroes," a videotaped production which aired as part of the opening ceremony, falls somewhat short of the standard set by Leni Riefenstahl's 1934 masterpiece, Triumph Of The Will. Similarly, the presentation of this year's "Man of the Year" custom flintlock rifle to gun-grabber Dick Cheney, unlike Winston Churchill's presentation of a Crusader's sword to Joe Stalin at the Teheran Conference in 1943, couldn't actually be deemed sacrilegious. Both events mark the extent to which "mainstream" conservatism now conserves only the gains made by a liberalism grown increasingly illiberal, illogical, and inhumane.

Before the hate mail pours in, I'll mention that I am a Life Member of NRA and, as a law enforcement officer, am one of the "heroes" of the opening ceremony. Neither fact eases my qualms about the direction of NRA.

In its "Salute to the Heroes," NRA informs us that true heroes "put strangers before family." Funny, the Left have been telling us this for years, and trying, through taxes, welfare, and family dissolution, to make "heroes" of us all. We are told that the hero's "highest honor" is to have the Yankee battle standard draped over his coffin. Heroes "are willing to perish for that flag," an item that can be ordered online and which probably was made in China.

Over and over, NRA's "Salute" extolls the supposed virtues of servility to the government though of course they conflate the government with the country.

Only the winners decide what were war crimes.
? Gary Wills

Idiot

"The Governor's budget will hurt the economy and those who need assistance the most. Now is the time for those who are wealthy and fortunate to give back to society through paying their fair share so programs that are being cut can continue to serve our communities." -- Lydia Torres, Rehab Counselor, Drug and Alcohol, Santa Clara County

Let's see, now. The last time I checked, it was Ms. Torres' clients who were choking the jails, the courts, and the emergency rooms. Ms. Torres clients are the ones who get paid for being irresponsible, in the form of SSI, Food Stamps, AFDC, WIC, Section 8, etc. Tell me again: who needs to "give back to society?"

Doesn't He Know There's A War On?

Marine Corps Lawyer Slams Terrorist Tribunals

Peace is not the absence of war; it is a virtue; a state of mind; a disposition for benevolence; confidence; and justice.
– Spinoza

"The continuing U.S. casualties are lamentable, but the losses so far are low by the standards of guerrilla wars ? far fewer than the 500 soldiers the British lost in putting down a previous Iraq insurgency in 1920." -- Max Boot, Foreign Policy, January/February 2004

CHICAGO, Jan. 21, 2004 ? More than 500 pairs of empty Army boots were placed side-by-side in downtown Chicago Wednesday to serve as a reminder of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq.
The black boots, some dusty and dirty from use, were placed on Federal Plaza in front of a posterboard display that listed the names, ages and states of all soldiers killed in the war.

Lamentable Losses

Always there has been some terrible evil at home or some monstrous foreign power that was going to gobble us up if we did not blindly rally behind it.
? General Douglas MacArthur

The time has come to stop beating our heads against stone walls under the illusion that we have been appointed policeman to the human race.
– Walter Lippmann

Quotable
It is part of the general pattern of misguided policy that our country is now geared to an arms economy which was bred in an artificially induced psychosis of war hysteria and nurtured upon an incessant propaganda of fear.
– General Douglas MacArthur

Land of the Free

Buy A Flight Simulator, Go To Jail

Tell A Joke, Go To Jail

TREASON!

“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.” -- Theodore Roosevelt, 1918

Ann Coulter, call your office.

"Don't ask f'r rights. Take thim. An don't let anny wan give thim to ye. A right that is handed to ye fer nawthin has somthin the mather with it. It's more thin likely it's only a wrrong turned inside out." -- Finley Peter Dunne's Mr. Dooley

No unpatriotic, peacenik pansy, he!

"War alone brings up to their highest tension all human energies and imposes the stamp of nobility upon the peoples who have the courage to make it."
Benito Mussolini (1883–1945), Italian dictator. “The Political and Social Doctrine of Fascism,” publ. In Enciclopedia Italiana (1932).

Smedley Butler on Interventionism
-- Excerpt from a speech delivered in 1933, by Major General Smedley Butler, USMC.

War is just a racket. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small inside group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses.

I believe in adequate defense at the coastline and nothing else. If a nation comes over here to fight, then we'll fight. The trouble with America is that when the dollar only earns 6 percent over here, then it gets restless and goes overseas to get 100 percent. Then the flag follows the dollar and the soldiers follow the flag.

I wouldn't go to war again as I have done to protect some lousy investment of the bankers. There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other reason is simply a racket.

There isn't a trick in the racketeering bag that the military gang is blind to. It has its "finger men" to point out enemies, its "muscle men" to destroy enemies, its "brain men" to plan war preparations, and a "Big Boss" Super-Nationalistic-Capitalism.

It may seem odd for me, a military man to adopt such a comparison. Truthfulness compels me to. I spent thirty- three years and four months in active military service as a member of this country's most agile military force, the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high class muscle- man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.

I suspected I was just part of a racket at the time. Now I am sure of it. Like all the members of the military profession, I never had a thought of my own until I left the service. My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of higher-ups. This is typical with everyone in the military service.

I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912 (where have I heard that name before?). I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested.

During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a swell racket. Looking back on it, I feel that I could have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.

IMPEACH NOW!

Bring Bush to Justice...or bring Justice to Bush!

MARSUPIAL LAW

U.S. bars lawyers from tribunal cases

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -
The United States has barred U.S. lawyers from representing war crimes suspects at the U.N. tribunal for Yugoslavia, a court document said Wednesday.

An executive order is aimed at cutting off support to about 200 people and organizations in the former Yugoslavia that are blacklisted by the U.S. government. It outlaws providing goods, services and funds to those people.

In Washington, Treasury Department spokesman Taylor Griffin said that the list of banned activities includes providing legal services to people on the blacklist.

-- Chronicle News Services, 6/19/2003

"War is among the most plausible means used to delude a nation into the errour of anticipation. Yet it cannot bring up from futurity a gun, a soldier, a ration, or a cartridge. The present generation suffers every hardship and cost of war, although anticipation pretends that it is covered by future generations. And this delusion is used to involve nations in wars, which they would never commence, if they knew that all the expense would fall upon themselves. It is twice suffered; by the living, who supply all the expenses of war; by the unborn, who supply an equivalent sum, to take up certificates of the expenses paid by the living."
-- John Taylor of Caroline, An Inquiry into the Principles and Policy of the Government of the United States (1814)