I am reading "The Guns of August" by Barbara Tuchman. It is the best book I've ever read where people, diplomacy, ambitions, agendas, and mistakes are all combined to explain the origins of the first industrial war.
I can't help but be chagrined that the next one may finally kick off because of cartoons.
Maybe it's just a sign of the times.
Sunday, February 05, 2006
Cartoons and Consequences
Is the progressive Left intellectually incapable of recognising the threat posed by Islamist terror? Or is it just habit they side with anyone who isn't white, conservative, and Christian?
If it was just them I wouldn't be that torn up. But they still comprise such a huge minority of the American polity (and sadly, majorities in much of European societies) they may just be enough of a distraction to enable the jihadis to commit even more tremendous, unthinkable acts before we finally own up to the work before us.
There is no muslim Martin Luther in the offing. Even if there were, the contemporary powers that be in the Muslim world would not let one live if he (or she) appeared.
The duty of the United States government to the people is to provide security. The threat from Islamic terror is about as far removed from arguments about what level of entitlements and pork should be considered "security" or even general welfare as it can be.
I don't think that the Islamofascists can win this fight. I am certain that the more time we let pass before acting forcefully to end the fight will only increase the eventual cost. I'd like to see us get it right, just once, when faced with a world war.
Must we destroy Islam? No. But we must arrive at a point where people using Islam as a causus belli no longer pose a threat. Europe may already be lost. I have no interest in seeing my daughters or their kids ever shedding blood "over there" in another babysitting exercise. We must act now to prevent the possibility of that ever happening again.
We didn't have to kill all the Germans. Nor all the Japanese. But we killed as many as it took to stop the fight AND preserve our freedom. We didn't kill hardly any Soviets, but the Soviets were operating on a political agenda - not a mystic morass of suicide and murder.
We are wasting time. Time that will be paid for in lives.
Faster, please.
(apologies to Mr. Ledeen for using his postscript)
If it was just them I wouldn't be that torn up. But they still comprise such a huge minority of the American polity (and sadly, majorities in much of European societies) they may just be enough of a distraction to enable the jihadis to commit even more tremendous, unthinkable acts before we finally own up to the work before us.
There is no muslim Martin Luther in the offing. Even if there were, the contemporary powers that be in the Muslim world would not let one live if he (or she) appeared.
The duty of the United States government to the people is to provide security. The threat from Islamic terror is about as far removed from arguments about what level of entitlements and pork should be considered "security" or even general welfare as it can be.
I don't think that the Islamofascists can win this fight. I am certain that the more time we let pass before acting forcefully to end the fight will only increase the eventual cost. I'd like to see us get it right, just once, when faced with a world war.
Must we destroy Islam? No. But we must arrive at a point where people using Islam as a causus belli no longer pose a threat. Europe may already be lost. I have no interest in seeing my daughters or their kids ever shedding blood "over there" in another babysitting exercise. We must act now to prevent the possibility of that ever happening again.
We didn't have to kill all the Germans. Nor all the Japanese. But we killed as many as it took to stop the fight AND preserve our freedom. We didn't kill hardly any Soviets, but the Soviets were operating on a political agenda - not a mystic morass of suicide and murder.
We are wasting time. Time that will be paid for in lives.
Faster, please.
(apologies to Mr. Ledeen for using his postscript)
Thursday, February 02, 2006
Things Happen
It's bad enough just having to walk into an emergency room.
What follows after you admit "Yes, the nitro did make me feel better" is orders of magnitude worse.
I am not made of iron.
More later when I feel better.
Update: 1500 2 Feb: Endoscopy results show inflamation and a few minor ulcers; the doc says that that condition could well account for my chest discomfort. Good news, all in all. I feel a lot better today than I did yesterday. Mrs. Tmj is heading out to fill a prescription and pick up a medicinal pulled pork sandwich.
I ought to be a hundred percent by Monday.
What follows after you admit "Yes, the nitro did make me feel better" is orders of magnitude worse.
I am not made of iron.
More later when I feel better.
Update: 1500 2 Feb: Endoscopy results show inflamation and a few minor ulcers; the doc says that that condition could well account for my chest discomfort. Good news, all in all. I feel a lot better today than I did yesterday. Mrs. Tmj is heading out to fill a prescription and pick up a medicinal pulled pork sandwich.
I ought to be a hundred percent by Monday.
Sunday, January 22, 2006
...But Not For Thee!
Just a glimpse into my Sunday afternoon news safari:
"I think it's important for us as women and feminists to not let this statement be made without any sort of resistance,'' said Jane, 24. "I want to let them know they can't come in and just do and say what they want."
Gotta love those progressives. I feel MY civil rights being championed. Don't you?
(via The Corner on National Review Online)
"I think it's important for us as women and feminists to not let this statement be made without any sort of resistance,'' said Jane, 24. "I want to let them know they can't come in and just do and say what they want."
Gotta love those progressives. I feel MY civil rights being championed. Don't you?
(via The Corner on National Review Online)
Saturday, January 21, 2006
Saturday Required Reading
1. Scroll down and read my "In Our Time" post.
2. Go to American Digest and read Van der Luen's repost of Joe Katz's excellent essay.
3. Read the comments, and follow the link provided by commenter Spartacus.
The war between Western civilization and Islam has been hot for half a century. Very soon it will become something our grandparents will instantly recognize: total war.
The only question I have is how many millions we are prepared to lose before we decide to fight. Five thousand plus and counting KIA since 2001 and we aren't near ready yet.
I have heard it said "We can't kill a billion people". Strangely enough, nobody ever wonders if the Islamists have any doubts along those lines.
2. Go to American Digest and read Van der Luen's repost of Joe Katz's excellent essay.
3. Read the comments, and follow the link provided by commenter Spartacus.
The war between Western civilization and Islam has been hot for half a century. Very soon it will become something our grandparents will instantly recognize: total war.
The only question I have is how many millions we are prepared to lose before we decide to fight. Five thousand plus and counting KIA since 2001 and we aren't near ready yet.
I have heard it said "We can't kill a billion people". Strangely enough, nobody ever wonders if the Islamists have any doubts along those lines.
White What?
"They took people at face value," writes Vincent of Ned's teammates, a plumber, an appliance repairman and a construction worker. "If you did your job or held up your end, and treated them with the passing respect they accorded you, you were all right."
That's how civilized men treat anyone - white, black, brown, yellow, or any combination of flavors. Not should treat, but simply how business is done out here in the howling wilderness west of Manhattan.
I've always been white (my Sioux ancestry fraction included) trash to the New York Times. I tend to not vote democrat.
Ms. Vincent's book sounds like an interesting read.
(via Instapundit)
That's how civilized men treat anyone - white, black, brown, yellow, or any combination of flavors. Not should treat, but simply how business is done out here in the howling wilderness west of Manhattan.
I've always been white (my Sioux ancestry fraction included) trash to the New York Times. I tend to not vote democrat.
Ms. Vincent's book sounds like an interesting read.
(via Instapundit)
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Troubled Times
The Others waited with their leader in the lee of the sunken road. Some smoked. They talked quietly (as quietly as the rising wind allowed) of the things rough men in rough places will always talk about. The only other sound was the stamping of their heavy, muddy boots as they unconsciously fought off the piercing cold. They wore bulky clothes, gloves, and a dozen different hats between the ten of them. From time to time they would look over at the man they waited for, hoping he would pick up his staff and show the way.
There was much, much work to be done. They waited in the cold.
The man was tired. His staff, spattered with mud, was propped against the bench almost as an afterthought. He had grappled with many trying and subtle puzzles for too many hours under the lowering gray sky. The bitterly cold wind buffeted him as he bent over his workbench and split his attention between solving the riddle before him and preserving his pencil, papers, and notes. The storm was approaching so quickly but the answer continued to escape him. He could feel the damp in his scarred hands and the wrist he'd broken so long ago twinged as the horizon shrank under a bar of steel colored clouds.
The scrolls offered no answers. Even his box of numbers, so often the key to untangling the knottiest of problems, served only as a paperweight in this moment of vexation. His silent staff trembled in the rising wind. Vanity goaded him to tidy it whenever opportunity offered. In this time and place so marked by disorder and casual filth the white luster of the staff stood as his icon for the order that was meant to come.
Nothing. The lines and columns of careful ciphers mocked him. Their sums and products climaxed into silent gibberish. The careful effort and attention of hours had come to naught. He checked the figures and drawings, and checked again as the howling wind tore at the pages and the first hard spatters of frozen rain beat down on his back. He looked at one page and another and another and then the answer leapt out: the scrolls were flawed - on a vexingly simple point - but the failing was only now apparent after time had run out and the storm was upon him.
His anger was instant and white hot. Sweeping the sodden scrolls and pages of notes and careful calculations into a ball in one hand and grasping the shabby staff in the other he scrambled, stumbling, to the top of the streaming bank to face the full force of the blinding snow. He howled obscenities into the wind, his face purple with rage.
The others watched in silence as the man screamed at the storm. Finally he fell silent, spent, and slumped against his staff. He let slip the useless papers and they scattered and quickly disappeared downwind into the formless white oblivion that had become the world.
Finally, the leader of the others stepped forward.
"I guess this means I can't get the sewer past the 10"X10"X14" tee, the proposed power vault, and the natural gas crossing without putting in another manhole, right?"
And how was YOUR day?
There was much, much work to be done. They waited in the cold.
The man was tired. His staff, spattered with mud, was propped against the bench almost as an afterthought. He had grappled with many trying and subtle puzzles for too many hours under the lowering gray sky. The bitterly cold wind buffeted him as he bent over his workbench and split his attention between solving the riddle before him and preserving his pencil, papers, and notes. The storm was approaching so quickly but the answer continued to escape him. He could feel the damp in his scarred hands and the wrist he'd broken so long ago twinged as the horizon shrank under a bar of steel colored clouds.
The scrolls offered no answers. Even his box of numbers, so often the key to untangling the knottiest of problems, served only as a paperweight in this moment of vexation. His silent staff trembled in the rising wind. Vanity goaded him to tidy it whenever opportunity offered. In this time and place so marked by disorder and casual filth the white luster of the staff stood as his icon for the order that was meant to come.
Nothing. The lines and columns of careful ciphers mocked him. Their sums and products climaxed into silent gibberish. The careful effort and attention of hours had come to naught. He checked the figures and drawings, and checked again as the howling wind tore at the pages and the first hard spatters of frozen rain beat down on his back. He looked at one page and another and another and then the answer leapt out: the scrolls were flawed - on a vexingly simple point - but the failing was only now apparent after time had run out and the storm was upon him.
His anger was instant and white hot. Sweeping the sodden scrolls and pages of notes and careful calculations into a ball in one hand and grasping the shabby staff in the other he scrambled, stumbling, to the top of the streaming bank to face the full force of the blinding snow. He howled obscenities into the wind, his face purple with rage.
The others watched in silence as the man screamed at the storm. Finally he fell silent, spent, and slumped against his staff. He let slip the useless papers and they scattered and quickly disappeared downwind into the formless white oblivion that had become the world.
Finally, the leader of the others stepped forward.
"I guess this means I can't get the sewer past the 10"X10"X14" tee, the proposed power vault, and the natural gas crossing without putting in another manhole, right?"
And how was YOUR day?
Sunday, January 15, 2006
In Our Time
We stand at the dawn of history, you and I.
Well, not exactly dawn. Not if we want to be completely honest. It's just after noon, mountain standard time, here in Utah. That doesn't change the fact that what happened five minutes back (sausage, eggs, toast, and coffee, if you must know) is immutable fact and unchangeable as far as it is in our power to change anything.
One of the ongoing crises taking up bandwidth these days revolves around the Iranian march to offensive nuclear capability:
"Iran's "red line" step in Western eyes was removing IAEA seals to access equipment that purifies uranium, a key component in nuclear power or, if enriched to a higher level, in weaponry."
The mullahs and their hand-picked "president" are intent on pulling out every stop to give progressive multiculturalist westerners a chance to assist in their own annihilation:
"Why are you damaging the good name of the security council and IAEA for you own political purposes?' he asked. 'Don't take away the credibility of legitimate forums. Your arsenals are full to the brim, yet when it's the turn of a nation such as mine to develop peaceful nuclear technology you object and resort to threats."
Our weapons have been on the shelf for fifty years, with two exceptions of combat that ended a world war and others for testing.
If somebody - specifically the french - had exercised force on a bullet/infantry scale in 1936 when Hitler reoccupied Rhineland, there probably wouldn't have been a mushroom cloud over Trinity site in 1945. Probably is as close as I can say - history takes many paths. But without a megalomaniac like Hitler the leadership of Nazi Germany would certainly have dissolved into bickering criminal fiefdoms.
Consider the situation in Iran. Their president is merely the figurehead chosen by the mullahs. There is no popular majority support for either him or the mullahs, nor is their much pretence of one. What to do...what to do?
Kicking the Wehrmacht out of the Rhur would have destroyed Hitler's facade of invulnerability in 1936. The failure on the part of france (possessor of the largest army on the planet at that time) to crush what amounted to battalion-sized military invasion was the top step of the rapid descent into appeasement, paralysis, and complacency that marked the beginning of the German march to World War II: involvement in the Spanish Civil War, Krystal Nacht, occupation of Austria, "Peace in our time" at Munich, the von Ribbentrop/Molotov non-aggression pact with the Soviets, the invasion of Czechoslovakia (violating the Munich agreement), and finally the invasion of Poland... which triggered mutual assistance treaties ala 1914.
Jeff Goldstein posts on an article speculating on a possible 2007 war.
Belmont Club weighs in as well:
"Both the regime in Teheran and Washington are like Olympic wrestlers grappling within a narrowly bounded mat. The instant anyone should step or be forced outside the mat the buzzer will sound and a new and deadlier match will begin. Unfortunately the boundaries of the arena are invisible to both sides. How far can America push Iran? How far can Iran push America? Iran has the advantage of knowing that the US will stop short of overt military action against them -- for the time being. But it has the disadvantage of not knowing how far it can let Al Qaeda and Hezbollah go without bringing down the spectators from the stands."
And lastly, but closest to my own take, is Victor Davis Hanson:
"Finally, the public must be warned that dealing with a nuclear Iran is not a matter of a good versus a bad choice, but between a very bad one now and something far, far worse to come."
I believe that history pivots on the actions of individuals. The "Great Man" theory is mentioned as being out of favor in the linked Wiki entry... but they explain "out of favor" being based on:
"In general there is a belief that history which only follows around "great men", especially when "greatness" is determined primarily by political status, is a shallow view of the past, and additionally one which excludes entire groups of people from being part of "history", including labor forces, ethnic minorities, cultural minorities, and, as the name "Great men" would suggest, women. As such, "Great man history" is, within the historical profession today, usually used as a pejorative term."
Just because they don't like the implications or possible focus of the Great Man school doesn't make them right. Societies move on inertia.
Only individuals take the hard roads as a wilfull act.
In my opinion, George W. Bush is one of history's great men. The conventional wisdoms that run behind or through the above linked articles seems to range from "Iran won't act until after 2008" - thus begging the question "what then?" to "Military action is physically/politically impossible at this time" to which I say bullshit.
On one side we have a mullahocracy figureheaded by a suicide bomber waiting only for his special bomb. On the other we have the elected representative of the world's foremost republic, a leader already on record as stating that there will not be a nuclear armed Iran.
(UPDATE:) We have the history of missed opportunities of the twentieth century, and the subsequent costs, as a backdrop. Hitler wrote Mein Kampf. Mohammed wrote the Koran. RTFM, as they say in customer support...(end UPDATE).
I am convinced that we will move militarily against Iran before the end of this spring. The targets will be leadership and military infrastructure. We will occupy key sites within Iran. Beyond that, I don't have a clue.
Discuss? All one or two of you, I mean. Lol...
Well, not exactly dawn. Not if we want to be completely honest. It's just after noon, mountain standard time, here in Utah. That doesn't change the fact that what happened five minutes back (sausage, eggs, toast, and coffee, if you must know) is immutable fact and unchangeable as far as it is in our power to change anything.
One of the ongoing crises taking up bandwidth these days revolves around the Iranian march to offensive nuclear capability:
"Iran's "red line" step in Western eyes was removing IAEA seals to access equipment that purifies uranium, a key component in nuclear power or, if enriched to a higher level, in weaponry."
The mullahs and their hand-picked "president" are intent on pulling out every stop to give progressive multiculturalist westerners a chance to assist in their own annihilation:
"Why are you damaging the good name of the security council and IAEA for you own political purposes?' he asked. 'Don't take away the credibility of legitimate forums. Your arsenals are full to the brim, yet when it's the turn of a nation such as mine to develop peaceful nuclear technology you object and resort to threats."
Our weapons have been on the shelf for fifty years, with two exceptions of combat that ended a world war and others for testing.
If somebody - specifically the french - had exercised force on a bullet/infantry scale in 1936 when Hitler reoccupied Rhineland, there probably wouldn't have been a mushroom cloud over Trinity site in 1945. Probably is as close as I can say - history takes many paths. But without a megalomaniac like Hitler the leadership of Nazi Germany would certainly have dissolved into bickering criminal fiefdoms.
Consider the situation in Iran. Their president is merely the figurehead chosen by the mullahs. There is no popular majority support for either him or the mullahs, nor is their much pretence of one. What to do...what to do?
Kicking the Wehrmacht out of the Rhur would have destroyed Hitler's facade of invulnerability in 1936. The failure on the part of france (possessor of the largest army on the planet at that time) to crush what amounted to battalion-sized military invasion was the top step of the rapid descent into appeasement, paralysis, and complacency that marked the beginning of the German march to World War II: involvement in the Spanish Civil War, Krystal Nacht, occupation of Austria, "Peace in our time" at Munich, the von Ribbentrop/Molotov non-aggression pact with the Soviets, the invasion of Czechoslovakia (violating the Munich agreement), and finally the invasion of Poland... which triggered mutual assistance treaties ala 1914.
Jeff Goldstein posts on an article speculating on a possible 2007 war.
Belmont Club weighs in as well:
"Both the regime in Teheran and Washington are like Olympic wrestlers grappling within a narrowly bounded mat. The instant anyone should step or be forced outside the mat the buzzer will sound and a new and deadlier match will begin. Unfortunately the boundaries of the arena are invisible to both sides. How far can America push Iran? How far can Iran push America? Iran has the advantage of knowing that the US will stop short of overt military action against them -- for the time being. But it has the disadvantage of not knowing how far it can let Al Qaeda and Hezbollah go without bringing down the spectators from the stands."
And lastly, but closest to my own take, is Victor Davis Hanson:
"Finally, the public must be warned that dealing with a nuclear Iran is not a matter of a good versus a bad choice, but between a very bad one now and something far, far worse to come."
I believe that history pivots on the actions of individuals. The "Great Man" theory is mentioned as being out of favor in the linked Wiki entry... but they explain "out of favor" being based on:
"In general there is a belief that history which only follows around "great men", especially when "greatness" is determined primarily by political status, is a shallow view of the past, and additionally one which excludes entire groups of people from being part of "history", including labor forces, ethnic minorities, cultural minorities, and, as the name "Great men" would suggest, women. As such, "Great man history" is, within the historical profession today, usually used as a pejorative term."
Just because they don't like the implications or possible focus of the Great Man school doesn't make them right. Societies move on inertia.
Only individuals take the hard roads as a wilfull act.
In my opinion, George W. Bush is one of history's great men. The conventional wisdoms that run behind or through the above linked articles seems to range from "Iran won't act until after 2008" - thus begging the question "what then?" to "Military action is physically/politically impossible at this time" to which I say bullshit.
On one side we have a mullahocracy figureheaded by a suicide bomber waiting only for his special bomb. On the other we have the elected representative of the world's foremost republic, a leader already on record as stating that there will not be a nuclear armed Iran.
(UPDATE:) We have the history of missed opportunities of the twentieth century, and the subsequent costs, as a backdrop. Hitler wrote Mein Kampf. Mohammed wrote the Koran. RTFM, as they say in customer support...(end UPDATE).
I am convinced that we will move militarily against Iran before the end of this spring. The targets will be leadership and military infrastructure. We will occupy key sites within Iran. Beyond that, I don't have a clue.
Discuss? All one or two of you, I mean. Lol...
Sunday, January 08, 2006
Saturday, December 31, 2005
Happy New Year
I don't have much to say as 2005 comes to an end. It has been a good year, on balance, for the Team.
Tonight Mrs. Tmj and I are home alone. The Goddesses have social commitments and it will be just mom and I watching the ball drop at midnight.
Used to be I'd pull the cannon out and fire a blank round at the stroke, but there are just too many old folks with weak hearts in the neighborhood and it's raining too much to make a pull down to the park worth it.
Old age may be creeping up on me.
I don't have any resolutions this year. There's much I can do to improve; I'll let you know how things go (if only intermittently) as the new year unrolls.
Predictions for the next year:
1. Iran and Syria will be under new management, Iran first. I see a spring strike against Iran's nuclear infrastructure and other critical military assets.
2. Republicans pick up two or three house seats, and at least two senate seats. They don't deserve either, but more Red staters will vote to keep democrats out than doctrinaire conservative Republicans will stay home in protest of the disgraceful lack of leadership and discipline on display in the current caucus.
2a. Please PLEASE replace Frist.
3. There will be multiple indictments in the NSA leak case, and more than a few pleas.
3a. One of the pleas will be made by a sitting democratic congressmen/senator.
3b. Indicted FS or CIA professionals won't be offered deals. There will be a message sent.
4. Photo I.D. will be required for the 2008 general elections. This prediction is based on the widespread fraud to come in November of 2006, which will set standards of deceit and chicanery that Mayor Daley or LBJ would blush to even consider.
5. Howard Dean, Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi will lose their leadership positions before summer.
5a. In the event this doesn't happen, increase the numbers in prediction number two by at least two house seats.
6. The U.S. economy will cool off about a percentage point worth of GDP during the winter months. By March, Paul Krugman will announce the looming end of running water and flush toilets. TmjUtah and millions of other small investors will see that column and invest in blue chips, small caps, and index funds and realize double - digit gains by October. Shucks, it worked last year...
7. Hybrid cars will become more popular but battery replacement costs will begin to become a factor in resale value. This fact will go underreported.
8. Michael Yon will not receive the Pulitzer Prize. Damn it.
9. Kofi Anaan will retire to be dictator of a small African country. Possibly Berkley.
10. The EU economy will contract four percent. At least four percent, as far as anybody will be able to tell, given the way they do accounting over there.
Tonight Mrs. Tmj and I are home alone. The Goddesses have social commitments and it will be just mom and I watching the ball drop at midnight.
Used to be I'd pull the cannon out and fire a blank round at the stroke, but there are just too many old folks with weak hearts in the neighborhood and it's raining too much to make a pull down to the park worth it.
Old age may be creeping up on me.
I don't have any resolutions this year. There's much I can do to improve; I'll let you know how things go (if only intermittently) as the new year unrolls.
Predictions for the next year:
1. Iran and Syria will be under new management, Iran first. I see a spring strike against Iran's nuclear infrastructure and other critical military assets.
2. Republicans pick up two or three house seats, and at least two senate seats. They don't deserve either, but more Red staters will vote to keep democrats out than doctrinaire conservative Republicans will stay home in protest of the disgraceful lack of leadership and discipline on display in the current caucus.
2a. Please PLEASE replace Frist.
3. There will be multiple indictments in the NSA leak case, and more than a few pleas.
3a. One of the pleas will be made by a sitting democratic congressmen/senator.
3b. Indicted FS or CIA professionals won't be offered deals. There will be a message sent.
4. Photo I.D. will be required for the 2008 general elections. This prediction is based on the widespread fraud to come in November of 2006, which will set standards of deceit and chicanery that Mayor Daley or LBJ would blush to even consider.
5. Howard Dean, Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi will lose their leadership positions before summer.
5a. In the event this doesn't happen, increase the numbers in prediction number two by at least two house seats.
6. The U.S. economy will cool off about a percentage point worth of GDP during the winter months. By March, Paul Krugman will announce the looming end of running water and flush toilets. TmjUtah and millions of other small investors will see that column and invest in blue chips, small caps, and index funds and realize double - digit gains by October. Shucks, it worked last year...
7. Hybrid cars will become more popular but battery replacement costs will begin to become a factor in resale value. This fact will go underreported.
8. Michael Yon will not receive the Pulitzer Prize. Damn it.
9. Kofi Anaan will retire to be dictator of a small African country. Possibly Berkley.
10. The EU economy will contract four percent. At least four percent, as far as anybody will be able to tell, given the way they do accounting over there.
Sunday, December 25, 2005
Saturday, December 24, 2005
A Message From The East
We've been here two days.
The family is great. The women have been cooking since they crossed the threshold. The garage is the designated cold room, and inside there on a groaning table sits seven kinds of pie, a spread of foil-covered casserole platters, and bottles of soda, beer, soy milk, and eggnog.
The skies are clear, tempatures fair. We have about six inches of snow left on the lawn from last week's storm. Rain forecast for tomorrow.
All the presents are bought. We will be wrapping tonight, but there are NO bicycles to assemble. The snake has been fed. There are no youngers still pensive of Doing The Wrong Thing and somehow causing Santa to pass us by.
This house is full of love, none the less. All except the corner where the dining tables are shoved together in an "L" shape. That's where the Uno game is going hot and heavy, and sometimes the nieces and nephews learn new words. All in good fun, though. "You BASTARD!" can in fact be said in the holiday spirit.
Notes:
(1) I've seen more "Bush 04" stickers here than I ever did in Utah.
(2) The only sidewalk argument I've seen outside a mall was between two folks standing behind a car plastered with "No More BUSHit" stickers and a full-poster board panel "Bush Must GO!!!" sign in the back window.
Most unhappy folk. Dropping the "F" bomb and not following up with the blow is such bad form. Words mean things.
(3) Ended up behind a car on the 3 with a bumper-length bumpersticker. It read "Hey, peaceniks: You're supposed to support OUR troops, not the other side, you ungrateful bastards!" - plus a smaller one on the window that read "No oil for pacifists".
I LIKE New Hampshire. I haven't been able to run down Mark Steyn yet, but I understand he travels a lot.
Mrs. Tmj and I are taking a drive up the coast on Monday unless the weather just crushes us.
Merry Christmas!
The family is great. The women have been cooking since they crossed the threshold. The garage is the designated cold room, and inside there on a groaning table sits seven kinds of pie, a spread of foil-covered casserole platters, and bottles of soda, beer, soy milk, and eggnog.
The skies are clear, tempatures fair. We have about six inches of snow left on the lawn from last week's storm. Rain forecast for tomorrow.
All the presents are bought. We will be wrapping tonight, but there are NO bicycles to assemble. The snake has been fed. There are no youngers still pensive of Doing The Wrong Thing and somehow causing Santa to pass us by.
This house is full of love, none the less. All except the corner where the dining tables are shoved together in an "L" shape. That's where the Uno game is going hot and heavy, and sometimes the nieces and nephews learn new words. All in good fun, though. "You BASTARD!" can in fact be said in the holiday spirit.
Notes:
(1) I've seen more "Bush 04" stickers here than I ever did in Utah.
(2) The only sidewalk argument I've seen outside a mall was between two folks standing behind a car plastered with "No More BUSHit" stickers and a full-poster board panel "Bush Must GO!!!" sign in the back window.
Most unhappy folk. Dropping the "F" bomb and not following up with the blow is such bad form. Words mean things.
(3) Ended up behind a car on the 3 with a bumper-length bumpersticker. It read "Hey, peaceniks: You're supposed to support OUR troops, not the other side, you ungrateful bastards!" - plus a smaller one on the window that read "No oil for pacifists".
I LIKE New Hampshire. I haven't been able to run down Mark Steyn yet, but I understand he travels a lot.
Mrs. Tmj and I are taking a drive up the coast on Monday unless the weather just crushes us.
Merry Christmas!
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
We are LEAVING!!
Until the 28th, we'll be in Nashua, NH*, celebrating Christmas with the extended clan.
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!
*TmjUtah needs meds anywhere east of Denver!
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!
*TmjUtah needs meds anywhere east of Denver!
Sunday, December 18, 2005
Required Reading
Mark Steyn, this time around:
"And no, I'm not questioning their patriotism. Honestly, who can be bothered questioning anything so footling as Howard Dean's patriotism? If you're a Democratic patriot and you're outraged by my linking your party to the "insurgents," take it up with your leaders: They're the ones who've over-invested the party in American failure. And instead of being angry at me you should be ashamed of them."
I don't think we'll know just how much self-inflicted damage the Dems have sustained until 2006. That's what democracy is about - accountability.
(via Lucianne.com)
"And no, I'm not questioning their patriotism. Honestly, who can be bothered questioning anything so footling as Howard Dean's patriotism? If you're a Democratic patriot and you're outraged by my linking your party to the "insurgents," take it up with your leaders: They're the ones who've over-invested the party in American failure. And instead of being angry at me you should be ashamed of them."
I don't think we'll know just how much self-inflicted damage the Dems have sustained until 2006. That's what democracy is about - accountability.
(via Lucianne.com)
Monday, December 12, 2005
Elsewhere
There's an interesting post up at Captain's Quarters.
Seems an article got published on Salon, authored by a self-described teacher of radical philosophy. He questions whether or not it's time for him to sack up and declare the revolution.
What utter crap.
Please read the Captain's post on the subject. He has extensive quotes from the subscription-only article.
My comment on his thread follows (there's a grundle of good ones there):
ol·i·gar·chy Audio pronunciation of "Oligarchy" ( P ) Pronunciation Key (l-gärk, l-)
n. pl. ol·i·gar·chies
1.
1. Government by a few, especially by a small faction of persons or families.
2. Those making up such a government.
2. A state governed by a few persons.
(from Dictionary.com)
Mr. Tennis didn't pick up a dictionary before he reached for the vaseline.
Mr. Bush is a member of what could be regarded as a politically dynastic family.
I guess the Kennedy's could be thought of that way, too.
Al Gore's dad was a senator. Is Al Gore an oligarch?
Where does the power come from? That's the question.
In my book, it's not power that matters in American politics. It's the responsibility of office - and the periodic accountability to the governed and the continuous process of checks and balances of the system on the holders of the offices in question.
Mr. Tennis isn't a revolutionary in waiting. He doesn't live in an oligarchy. He is a member of a political movement that has lost the trust and support of electoral majorities across the nation.
He is, in short, a loser.
The adult response to losing on any given Sunday is to get up on Monday resolved to identify what factors led to failure in the past contest and to prepare for the next opportunity to succeed. This demands honesty and objective clarity... which is where the wheels fall off for folks like Mr. Tennis.
The Democrats/Left/Progressives/Herd o' Cats that comprises Mr. Tennis fellow travellers persist in bringing flawed product to the marketplace of ideas.
Americans don't want income redistribution. They don't think that male/white/religious automatically equals chauvinist/racist/snake dancer. They don't think that the bulk of American History belongs in the text of an indictment from some UN/Hague court. They like to keep most of what they earn - and they would like to see what they do pay in taxes spent efficiently and wisely. They want freedom of religion - not from religion. Americans like clean air and water. They don't like being told they are terrorists for driving a certain class of motor vehicle. Americans don't really care what Hollywood, high profile university icons, race pimps,or media has to say about .... well, frankly, anything, if it can' t be verified via source documents or stands up to historical scrutiny.
Americans don't want whiners. We don't want good intentions in a vacuum of results. And we certainly don't want people like Howard Dean near sharp objects, much less the levers of national responsibility. We want clear stands on issues, independent of whether or not women and minorities will be most affected. Or if "the children" are going to get a special slice.
Oh, and we want to be defended when we are attacked. We want to take the fight to the enemy, where the enemy lives, and make sure that he NEVER forgets the experience.
We are one nation, forged out of the achievements and constant,continuing potential of the many - the result of the sum of individual freedom striving toward our own definition of happiness, repeated across hundreds of millions of lives every day stretching back more than two centuries.
The Democrats seek victims. We are better than three decades worth of elections into trying to make the point that we need leaders, not nannies. The shrill, empty bloviating as typified by Mr. Tennis' submission has been long common on Left blogs/Indie media sites/The Nation; it is remarkable here only in that it surfaced on Salon, and surfaced now, on the eve of Iraq's parliamentary elections.
The 'fringe' has been the heart and soul of the Democrat party since 2000. Losers, and bereft of the maturity to look at themselves for a fraction of a second to honestly ask "why?" they loose under this free market of elections and ideas. They lose elections... so they question the legitimacy not only of certain races, but now they are moving the argument to the legitimacy of elections at all.
Because they lose.
Screw 'em. I rather think that "direct action" will continue to be under-attended marches, point vandalism, and freak shows ala Cindy Sheehan. But if they want to formally line up against democracy with al Q and take it to the streets - they will be the visiting team.
And they'll lose.
Seems an article got published on Salon, authored by a self-described teacher of radical philosophy. He questions whether or not it's time for him to sack up and declare the revolution.
What utter crap.
Please read the Captain's post on the subject. He has extensive quotes from the subscription-only article.
My comment on his thread follows (there's a grundle of good ones there):
ol·i·gar·chy Audio pronunciation of "Oligarchy" ( P ) Pronunciation Key (l-gärk, l-)
n. pl. ol·i·gar·chies
1.
1. Government by a few, especially by a small faction of persons or families.
2. Those making up such a government.
2. A state governed by a few persons.
(from Dictionary.com)
Mr. Tennis didn't pick up a dictionary before he reached for the vaseline.
Mr. Bush is a member of what could be regarded as a politically dynastic family.
I guess the Kennedy's could be thought of that way, too.
Al Gore's dad was a senator. Is Al Gore an oligarch?
Where does the power come from? That's the question.
In my book, it's not power that matters in American politics. It's the responsibility of office - and the periodic accountability to the governed and the continuous process of checks and balances of the system on the holders of the offices in question.
Mr. Tennis isn't a revolutionary in waiting. He doesn't live in an oligarchy. He is a member of a political movement that has lost the trust and support of electoral majorities across the nation.
He is, in short, a loser.
The adult response to losing on any given Sunday is to get up on Monday resolved to identify what factors led to failure in the past contest and to prepare for the next opportunity to succeed. This demands honesty and objective clarity... which is where the wheels fall off for folks like Mr. Tennis.
The Democrats/Left/Progressives/Herd o' Cats that comprises Mr. Tennis fellow travellers persist in bringing flawed product to the marketplace of ideas.
Americans don't want income redistribution. They don't think that male/white/religious automatically equals chauvinist/racist/snake dancer. They don't think that the bulk of American History belongs in the text of an indictment from some UN/Hague court. They like to keep most of what they earn - and they would like to see what they do pay in taxes spent efficiently and wisely. They want freedom of religion - not from religion. Americans like clean air and water. They don't like being told they are terrorists for driving a certain class of motor vehicle. Americans don't really care what Hollywood, high profile university icons, race pimps,or media has to say about .... well, frankly, anything, if it can' t be verified via source documents or stands up to historical scrutiny.
Americans don't want whiners. We don't want good intentions in a vacuum of results. And we certainly don't want people like Howard Dean near sharp objects, much less the levers of national responsibility. We want clear stands on issues, independent of whether or not women and minorities will be most affected. Or if "the children" are going to get a special slice.
Oh, and we want to be defended when we are attacked. We want to take the fight to the enemy, where the enemy lives, and make sure that he NEVER forgets the experience.
We are one nation, forged out of the achievements and constant,continuing potential of the many - the result of the sum of individual freedom striving toward our own definition of happiness, repeated across hundreds of millions of lives every day stretching back more than two centuries.
The Democrats seek victims. We are better than three decades worth of elections into trying to make the point that we need leaders, not nannies. The shrill, empty bloviating as typified by Mr. Tennis' submission has been long common on Left blogs/Indie media sites/The Nation; it is remarkable here only in that it surfaced on Salon, and surfaced now, on the eve of Iraq's parliamentary elections.
The 'fringe' has been the heart and soul of the Democrat party since 2000. Losers, and bereft of the maturity to look at themselves for a fraction of a second to honestly ask "why?" they loose under this free market of elections and ideas. They lose elections... so they question the legitimacy not only of certain races, but now they are moving the argument to the legitimacy of elections at all.
Because they lose.
Screw 'em. I rather think that "direct action" will continue to be under-attended marches, point vandalism, and freak shows ala Cindy Sheehan. But if they want to formally line up against democracy with al Q and take it to the streets - they will be the visiting team.
And they'll lose.
Saturday, December 10, 2005
Sick Call
I don't know what's wrong with me, but I've been in decline for about two weeks and it finally caught up with me yesterday.
Looking back on my posts of the last week, even I can see more rough edges than usual; bad sentences, mixed tenses, the whole nine yards. See?
That I lack the ability to clearly ariticulate my thoughts in no way changes the fact that the Democratic Party has become a pathetic group of third-best choices for any problem. I am muddled, in pain, and exhausted. I worry that a sizeable minority of my fellow Americans are clearly incapable of pouring piss out of a boot, else they would not have come to be represented by such a constellation of losers as is their current crop. My disgust at the craven behaviour by the Republican majorities in both houses is just icing at the cake.
But at least the Republicans fight.
The latest chapter in bad faith Democrat pontificating comes from Sen. Daniel Inoyue, senior Democratic senator from Hawaii and recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor for service in World War II:
"The Republican Party’s latest ad is a shameful and disgusting attempt to distract the American people from the problems in Iraq."
Shameful? Disgusting? What about your own party chair declaring the war lost? Or you r pathetic colleague's blithe assertion that our troops are terrorists? Your party is become a greater threat to democracy than the current terrorists, and to be honest, more insidious and lethal over time than the enemy you fought against and for which you were awarded our nation's highest honor.
McKinney. Clinton. Dean. Pelosi. Reid. Wexler. Leahy. Kennedy. Boxer. Feinstein. Kerry. Murtha. And now Inoyue. They all shriek loudest when their own words are quoted. Losers. I cannot imagine any of those names affixed to a Declaration of Independence, or a Constitution written by people that would be free. Now manifestoes - they'd line up for an opportunity to sign one of those.
On December 15, the people of Iraq will vote for their first permament, constitutional government. This event has been made possible by the leadership of the United States and the actions of our, and our allies, armed forces. In the face of fanatic and sometimes suicidal resistance by former Baathists, foreign jihadists, and the Democrat Party, the people of Iraq are taking their third huge step toward a future without dictators.
Go read this at Powerline.
John's last paragraph expresses exactly what I have been trying to say for the last two weeks, and does it superbly.
(via Powerline)
Looking back on my posts of the last week, even I can see more rough edges than usual; bad sentences, mixed tenses, the whole nine yards. See?
That I lack the ability to clearly ariticulate my thoughts in no way changes the fact that the Democratic Party has become a pathetic group of third-best choices for any problem. I am muddled, in pain, and exhausted. I worry that a sizeable minority of my fellow Americans are clearly incapable of pouring piss out of a boot, else they would not have come to be represented by such a constellation of losers as is their current crop. My disgust at the craven behaviour by the Republican majorities in both houses is just icing at the cake.
But at least the Republicans fight.
The latest chapter in bad faith Democrat pontificating comes from Sen. Daniel Inoyue, senior Democratic senator from Hawaii and recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor for service in World War II:
"The Republican Party’s latest ad is a shameful and disgusting attempt to distract the American people from the problems in Iraq."
Shameful? Disgusting? What about your own party chair declaring the war lost? Or you r pathetic colleague's blithe assertion that our troops are terrorists? Your party is become a greater threat to democracy than the current terrorists, and to be honest, more insidious and lethal over time than the enemy you fought against and for which you were awarded our nation's highest honor.
McKinney. Clinton. Dean. Pelosi. Reid. Wexler. Leahy. Kennedy. Boxer. Feinstein. Kerry. Murtha. And now Inoyue. They all shriek loudest when their own words are quoted. Losers. I cannot imagine any of those names affixed to a Declaration of Independence, or a Constitution written by people that would be free. Now manifestoes - they'd line up for an opportunity to sign one of those.
On December 15, the people of Iraq will vote for their first permament, constitutional government. This event has been made possible by the leadership of the United States and the actions of our, and our allies, armed forces. In the face of fanatic and sometimes suicidal resistance by former Baathists, foreign jihadists, and the Democrat Party, the people of Iraq are taking their third huge step toward a future without dictators.
Go read this at Powerline.
John's last paragraph expresses exactly what I have been trying to say for the last two weeks, and does it superbly.
(via Powerline)
Friday, December 09, 2005
Sins of Omission
Bubba's back in the news:
"MONTREAL ( [al] AFP) - Former US president
Bill Clinton took to the podium at the UN climate talks here to ram home a grim message about global warming and demand the United States move quickly away from the fossil fuels causing the problem."
and later:
"To loud cheers from an audience of thousands of delegates and green activists, Clinton said: "I liked the Kyoto Protocol. I helped to write it. And I signed it."
As did Al Gore, too. I forget which release; I think it was Gore v3.2b (pre earthtones/alphamale).
Question for the class: What is the relevance of the number "0" to this story?
The answer is here, in the paragraph headed "Position of the United States".
What a country. We can afford TWO former presidents more damaging to the nation after they are out of office than they were when they were in. And that's a pretty high bar for these two gents.
Only in America.
"MONTREAL ( [al] AFP) - Former US president
Bill Clinton took to the podium at the UN climate talks here to ram home a grim message about global warming and demand the United States move quickly away from the fossil fuels causing the problem."
and later:
"To loud cheers from an audience of thousands of delegates and green activists, Clinton said: "I liked the Kyoto Protocol. I helped to write it. And I signed it."
As did Al Gore, too. I forget which release; I think it was Gore v3.2b (pre earthtones/alphamale).
Question for the class: What is the relevance of the number "0" to this story?
The answer is here, in the paragraph headed "Position of the United States".
What a country. We can afford TWO former presidents more damaging to the nation after they are out of office than they were when they were in. And that's a pretty high bar for these two gents.
Only in America.
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Cold Day
It's a cold day here in Utah. Snow and ice and a tough day in the field for me.
Things are chilly over at Jeff Goldstein's Protein Wisdom, too. I posted the first and last paragraphs of the following essay on his thread:
What's the ability to determine the origin of a nuclear weapon based on its isotope signature going to do for the hundreds/thousands/millions of dead people whose ashes that material will had to have been gleaned from?
I fully expect to wake up some fine morning (maybe this spring - maybe sooner) and find out that U.S. forces have bombed multiple sites in the nation of Iran and have troops ON THE GROUND in several locations.
As has been noted before, Bush has stated that Iran will not be allowed to produce or possess nuclear weapons. Not "shouldn't be" or "we oppose" but "will NOT be allowed".
We think in terms of politics, polls, and PR way too often. That's not what we have a government for. The Iranian mullahocracy is the executive arm of world terror. Saudis and a grundle of other barbarian regimes may write checks and send excess manpower off to jihad, but the organizing entity - from the top down - is the government of the nation of Iran. If the Iraqis win, the game is over for those in search of establishing any caliphate.
The Democrats have been losing elections yet remaining viable via entrenched PR for most of my adult life. Their core beliefs - or what passes for core beliefs depending on the makeup of the loose coalition of narrow interest groups fighting for power - pivot on income redistribution, identity politics, state control of critical industries (healthcare, pensions, energy, etc), and multicultural/postmodern templates that debase notions such as good character, honesty, piety, and patriotism as antiquated concepts that need to be quashed. They seek to dismantle the judiciary's role of interpeter of law and instead create a fiat legislative third branch.
The top of the party believes in nothing but getting that office another two or six years or maybe picking off the presidency. They'll pit one neighborhood against another, one ethnicity against another, one income group against another, or even side with foreign aggressors, as they are currently doing regarding the war.
They appeal and cultivate the sizable minority of Americans who embrace the concept that the cause of their own perceived want or failure can always be assigned outside of their own personal responsibility. Whatever amphorous agendas they propose today are indistinguishable to those that marked my teen years: malaise, a struggling economy, and a sad, sputtering failure to finish the bright beginnings of the civil rights era. I remember Social Security debates as far back as my junior high school years - and the Dems owned the house and senate at the time, yet failed to do more than talk. As a middling-teen, I couldn't square how a country that came so far in two hundred years, and had just finished winning WW2 less than a generation before I was born, could get beat in a tiny hole like Vietnam. A cutting part of it all was an absence of pride, and even more deadly, an absence of hope. The worst was that some people -important and PR-famous people- were saying we deserved to be miserable because of our previous successes.
Not hard to glom on to "shining city on a hill" after an adolescence marked by the seventies, let me tell you what.
I build stuff. Rather, the work I do is critical in getting stuff built. Shit doesn't just happen. The Soviet Union didn't collapse. I am proud that my years spent in uniform helped in a miniscule part to beat the Soviets into the dustbin of history. It was hard work, sometimes dangerous, often monotonous, but necessary to see the objective achieved.
Democrats don't build stuff. They are a parasite on the fuzzy ass of freedom. Fecund and bloated, and hopefully about ready to fall off, but they do still possess the ability to poison the host. They willfully pretend that tomorrow doesn't have to happen. Listen to replays of morning - after - election coverage from any of the last five or six national elections. Election day is a moment of decision all too rare. The bedrock evidence in lost races, seats, and governorships of their continuing decline are made to fade against the voluminous, shrill, biased pop culture/media that tries so hard to define a reality that just doesn't exist anymore - at least not for the Democrats and their herd of cats.
People who measure their lives by news cycles are horribly unsafe to allow anywhere near adult institutions. Get them their own blogs, or maybe their own coffeehouses or drumcircles - but keep them away from the institutions that are supposed to keep us free and our families safe. Please. 2006 is coming - do your part.
The only reasons that Iran has for developing nuclear weapons are to increase its ability to export terror from behind a nuclear threat, or, since we are dealing with fanatics, to carry out a genocidal attack on the nation of Israel, and possibly us or nations aligned with us such as Britain, Australia, or Japan. Suicidal, you say?
A democratic Iraq - unquestionably sovereign, economically viable, and politically functional across the tribes and ethnicities within the country - is a death sentence for jihadism. A nation of free Arabs, finally broken free of the shame generated by subservience to despots over the centuries, will become the epicenter of a pan-Arab reformation that can avert the climactic last confrontation between Islam and Western civilization.
That's the stakes on the table, folks.
G.W. Bush and his cabinet know it. I'm pretty sure that the concept never makes it past the daily morning turns on the mechanism that stretches Nancy Pelosi's face over her skull. The leader of the Democrat Party? I don't think he thinks at all anymore, if he ever did. He's a caricature of the stereotypical "little guy" - and I don't believe he ever got past "yeargh".
So I think that someday in the not too distant future, probably between CNN's coverage of Pam Anderson's latest boob job and a story on how low unemployment adversely effects women and minorities, we'll get a bulletin letting us know that at least one part of our polity still understands the world we live in and is willing, and able, to do the heavy lifting necessary to keep us free, and at least as safe as can be hoped for in a very troubled world.
Impeachment, you say? Excessive force? Unilateral? We, with all our bickering and faults, still successfully practice constitutional government. We, of all the industrialized world, are the standard of economic productivity and stability, even execution of justice, and so rich we can even afford democrats.
We are the single most sought after immigration destination on the planet. All people, all colors, all creeds, from everywhere - come here. Many die trying. Look through the noise - through the yearghs - and see the beauty that we are become. We must protect this shining city on a hill. Do not doubt that the barbarians are at the very gates.
With great power comes great responsibility. Bush understands that. I believe he'll act when necessary - and if even the IAEA says the balloonis going up, time is short indeed.
Things are chilly over at Jeff Goldstein's Protein Wisdom, too. I posted the first and last paragraphs of the following essay on his thread:
What's the ability to determine the origin of a nuclear weapon based on its isotope signature going to do for the hundreds/thousands/millions of dead people whose ashes that material will had to have been gleaned from?
I fully expect to wake up some fine morning (maybe this spring - maybe sooner) and find out that U.S. forces have bombed multiple sites in the nation of Iran and have troops ON THE GROUND in several locations.
As has been noted before, Bush has stated that Iran will not be allowed to produce or possess nuclear weapons. Not "shouldn't be" or "we oppose" but "will NOT be allowed".
We think in terms of politics, polls, and PR way too often. That's not what we have a government for. The Iranian mullahocracy is the executive arm of world terror. Saudis and a grundle of other barbarian regimes may write checks and send excess manpower off to jihad, but the organizing entity - from the top down - is the government of the nation of Iran. If the Iraqis win, the game is over for those in search of establishing any caliphate.
The Democrats have been losing elections yet remaining viable via entrenched PR for most of my adult life. Their core beliefs - or what passes for core beliefs depending on the makeup of the loose coalition of narrow interest groups fighting for power - pivot on income redistribution, identity politics, state control of critical industries (healthcare, pensions, energy, etc), and multicultural/postmodern templates that debase notions such as good character, honesty, piety, and patriotism as antiquated concepts that need to be quashed. They seek to dismantle the judiciary's role of interpeter of law and instead create a fiat legislative third branch.
The top of the party believes in nothing but getting that office another two or six years or maybe picking off the presidency. They'll pit one neighborhood against another, one ethnicity against another, one income group against another, or even side with foreign aggressors, as they are currently doing regarding the war.
They appeal and cultivate the sizable minority of Americans who embrace the concept that the cause of their own perceived want or failure can always be assigned outside of their own personal responsibility. Whatever amphorous agendas they propose today are indistinguishable to those that marked my teen years: malaise, a struggling economy, and a sad, sputtering failure to finish the bright beginnings of the civil rights era. I remember Social Security debates as far back as my junior high school years - and the Dems owned the house and senate at the time, yet failed to do more than talk. As a middling-teen, I couldn't square how a country that came so far in two hundred years, and had just finished winning WW2 less than a generation before I was born, could get beat in a tiny hole like Vietnam. A cutting part of it all was an absence of pride, and even more deadly, an absence of hope. The worst was that some people -important and PR-famous people- were saying we deserved to be miserable because of our previous successes.
Not hard to glom on to "shining city on a hill" after an adolescence marked by the seventies, let me tell you what.
I build stuff. Rather, the work I do is critical in getting stuff built. Shit doesn't just happen. The Soviet Union didn't collapse. I am proud that my years spent in uniform helped in a miniscule part to beat the Soviets into the dustbin of history. It was hard work, sometimes dangerous, often monotonous, but necessary to see the objective achieved.
Democrats don't build stuff. They are a parasite on the fuzzy ass of freedom. Fecund and bloated, and hopefully about ready to fall off, but they do still possess the ability to poison the host. They willfully pretend that tomorrow doesn't have to happen. Listen to replays of morning - after - election coverage from any of the last five or six national elections. Election day is a moment of decision all too rare. The bedrock evidence in lost races, seats, and governorships of their continuing decline are made to fade against the voluminous, shrill, biased pop culture/media that tries so hard to define a reality that just doesn't exist anymore - at least not for the Democrats and their herd of cats.
People who measure their lives by news cycles are horribly unsafe to allow anywhere near adult institutions. Get them their own blogs, or maybe their own coffeehouses or drumcircles - but keep them away from the institutions that are supposed to keep us free and our families safe. Please. 2006 is coming - do your part.
The only reasons that Iran has for developing nuclear weapons are to increase its ability to export terror from behind a nuclear threat, or, since we are dealing with fanatics, to carry out a genocidal attack on the nation of Israel, and possibly us or nations aligned with us such as Britain, Australia, or Japan. Suicidal, you say?
A democratic Iraq - unquestionably sovereign, economically viable, and politically functional across the tribes and ethnicities within the country - is a death sentence for jihadism. A nation of free Arabs, finally broken free of the shame generated by subservience to despots over the centuries, will become the epicenter of a pan-Arab reformation that can avert the climactic last confrontation between Islam and Western civilization.
That's the stakes on the table, folks.
G.W. Bush and his cabinet know it. I'm pretty sure that the concept never makes it past the daily morning turns on the mechanism that stretches Nancy Pelosi's face over her skull. The leader of the Democrat Party? I don't think he thinks at all anymore, if he ever did. He's a caricature of the stereotypical "little guy" - and I don't believe he ever got past "yeargh".
So I think that someday in the not too distant future, probably between CNN's coverage of Pam Anderson's latest boob job and a story on how low unemployment adversely effects women and minorities, we'll get a bulletin letting us know that at least one part of our polity still understands the world we live in and is willing, and able, to do the heavy lifting necessary to keep us free, and at least as safe as can be hoped for in a very troubled world.
Impeachment, you say? Excessive force? Unilateral? We, with all our bickering and faults, still successfully practice constitutional government. We, of all the industrialized world, are the standard of economic productivity and stability, even execution of justice, and so rich we can even afford democrats.
We are the single most sought after immigration destination on the planet. All people, all colors, all creeds, from everywhere - come here. Many die trying. Look through the noise - through the yearghs - and see the beauty that we are become. We must protect this shining city on a hill. Do not doubt that the barbarians are at the very gates.
With great power comes great responsibility. Bush understands that. I believe he'll act when necessary - and if even the IAEA says the balloonis going up, time is short indeed.
Monday, December 05, 2005
Technical Difficulties
Sunday, December 04, 2005
RFI: GPS
I use a Trimble GPS base/rover suite every day I go to work.
I know nothing about hand held units. I know how they work, and I've got some word - of - mouth on precisions that are possible, but I dont' know jack about brands.
We are flying to Boston then driving to Nashua, NH for a Christmas family reunion.
We are looking for a color screen GPS that can upload mappacks and be programmed for specific routes. It would be nice if it came bundled with a vehicle bracket and external antenna. I like rechargeable units, not batteries. Price range is flexible but I don't want to spend more than four hundred dollars.
I'm googling now, and will ask around at work tomorrow. Any input would be appreciated.
I know nothing about hand held units. I know how they work, and I've got some word - of - mouth on precisions that are possible, but I dont' know jack about brands.
We are flying to Boston then driving to Nashua, NH for a Christmas family reunion.
We are looking for a color screen GPS that can upload mappacks and be programmed for specific routes. It would be nice if it came bundled with a vehicle bracket and external antenna. I like rechargeable units, not batteries. Price range is flexible but I don't want to spend more than four hundred dollars.
I'm googling now, and will ask around at work tomorrow. Any input would be appreciated.
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