As someone who travels through Skyharbor airport several times a year, this is bad news indeed.

Posted by: Rusty at 10:08 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The following is a blog I wrote about a year ago. I encountered it while doing some "house cleaning" at my website, and it struck me that the only thing that has changed in the year since I wrote it is the number of attacks, the number of foiled plots and the number of discredited media reports of these incidents.

I am re-posting this blog here with the grim realization that we have, in fact, drifted back into apathetic slumber while our enemies regroup and redouble their efforts against us.
What I find particularly disturbing is a notion that I cannot seem to shake:

Not even a nuclear blast in one of our cities will jolt us out of our stupor for more than a few months. Have we already lost? more...

Posted by: Kafir at 09:37 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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God was the focus, but Hitch pulls absolutely no punches on Islamic terrorism, and corrects Hedges well on his defense of and moral relativism regarding Palestinian suicide bombers.

Posted by: Good Lt. at 10:15 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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Its too long and windy to post here, so I posted it at Mein BlogoVault.

I'm hoping for a change, but it doesn't seem likely at this juncture.

Posted by: Good Lt. at 08:37 AM | Comments (21) | Add Comment
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Here's Linda Chavez working overtime to "win friends and influence people":

What is said today of the Mexicans, Guatemalans, Salvadorans and others was once said of Germans, Swedes, the Irish, Italians, Poles, Jews and others. The only difference is that in the past, the xenophobes could speak freely, unconstrained by a veneer of political correctness. Today, they speak more cautiously, so they talk about the rule of law, national security, amnesty, whatever else they think might make their arguments less racially charged.

Where once the xenophobes could advocate forced sterilization and eugenics coupled with virtually shutting off legal immigration from "undesirable" countries, now they must be content with building walls, putting troops on the border, rounding up illegal aliens on the job and deporting them, passing local ordinances to signal their distaste for immigrants' multi-family living arrangements, and doing whatever else they can to drive these people back where they came from...

[W]e need to quit pretending that the "No Amnesty" crowd is anything other than what it is: a tiny group of angry, frightened and prejudiced loudmouths backed by political opportunists who exploit them.

Linda Chavez is a piece of shit, and I don't choose those words lightly. In a time when our emotions are raw, and our social fabric is wearing thin, you've just told people across this country that people with whom they thought they simply had honest disagreements over policy secretly hate them. You've told them, unequivocally, that those immigration discussions they've had with their Anglo friends haven't really been about a concern for America. They've really been about a secret racist hatred harbored not that far below the surface.

I have a very good friend who is an immigrant from Central America. A conversation last year over immigration got to the point where she accused me of being a "racist, just like the rest of those people" at which point I told her she was welcome to call me when she realized she owed me an apology, and I hung up.

We didn't talk again for almost a year--and may have never talked again except for a chance occurence.

Because of the caustic, careless rhetoric of people like George W. Bush and Linda Chavez, my friend had become thoroughly convinced that anyone who opposed Bush's immigration bill could only be motivated by racism and hatred. There was, after all, no other possible explanation for it. The President himself said so! (He is, you remember "a uniter, not a divider.") The careless words of demagogues like Bush and Chavez served to nearly destroy a decade-long friendship--all this so big agriculture can keep down the cost of tomatoes.

Thanks, George. Thanks, Linda.

Posted by: Ragnar at 02:54 AM | Comments (12) | Add Comment
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Pr. Bruce Moon has a dynamite piece on the self-inflicted, anti-survivalist weakness and stupidity that liberalism has inflicted on our country:

Some viral idea has crept into our collective national consciousness, offering us a false wisdom and a feigned hope, while it meanwhile shuts down vital parts of our mental operational systems designed to initiate self-survival programs. We are fast approaching the point where either we must reject the pterodactyl-like hallucinations of irrational humanistic constructs that only produce mind-boggling complacent stupor, political correctness contrivances, and cowardice, or we will become a pitiful specter of our former selves through our utter stupidity.

Posted by: Good Lt. at 12:09 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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Just putting this out there.

The upcoming wave of hysteria that will sweep the nation over the DC Madame story will be unlike anything seen in America since the Salem witch trials. It will be 24-7-365 when it really gets going. Just get ready for it.

Personally, I think this is a step in the right direction. I don't care what party solicits prostitution - its illegal and therefore especially intolerable coming from public officials. This event will be an effective bloodletting that will no doubt put Washington on notice. Unethical behavior like this is what the right decried in Clintoon, so nobody should be defending it in GOPers just because there is an (R) in front of the name. I'm personally watching with popcorn - its like pouring alcohol on an open wound. Good pain.

Of course, the same people that will be howling for scalps now are the same defenders of Bill Clinton's numerous trysts and subsequent public lies, as well as the same people that gave Gerry Studds a standing ovation and re-elected him for another 14 years after he fled the US to have sex with a 17 year-old male page. They're also the same people who cheer every time former DC Gay Escort Service madame Barney Frank bangs his sippy-cup on the House floor. This we all know. It frankly is irrelevant to the current controversy, but it will help you to slap moonbats down with historical bi-partisan context.

I'm also predicting that we will see ABC name Republican after Republican in this scandal- one at a time for a nice drip-drip-drip going into 2008. They will systematically omit and ignore the legions of high-profile Democrats no doubt populating this massive list of phone numbers. ABC will expose itself as a willing PR/Media activist wing of the Democrat Party. This nonsense about ABC "struggling" to release more names and details is a load. They're trying to do preemptive damage control on the Democrats involved, as well as contacting lawyers, friends in government, etc. The ABC news division knows that they can't just exclusively bludgeon the GOP with this while still retaining their "objective" credentials any more than FOX News could to Democrats if it were doing the same thing in ABC's position .

Unless, of course, you're expecting the nation to believe that the GOP are the sole solicitors of prostitution in DC, and the Party of Clenis, Barney Frank, etc. are the high priests of morality. I know you're not that stupid.

Oh, and this. I've been suffering from a bout of Bush Admin fatigue of late. I like the guy and think that he's really trying, but his lame-duck status has rendered his already-tepid Administration effectively powerless. The only thing I really still support W. on is the war, and that's not because I'm in love with W. I'm in love with the military, so I want to see their sacrifices honored by winning decisively. President Bush may be standing pat with the Troops and that's fine, but the prospects of a Democrat takeover triggering a national and world-wide disgrace not seen in 35 years loom large. Bush is the ONLY thing between complete oblivion for the Military and what we have now. As some once put it, I want to defend him but he makes it really hard sometimes.

Everything else he has done (save tax cuts and SCOTUS justices) has basically amounted to what would've been passed under a Democrat White House. Open borders, pork out the wazoo, indecisive policy positions, general bumbling and incompetence, corruption (both parties), bad articulation of the policies and underlying philosophies, etc. have all left me with the same Bush Admin.-fatigue that I'm sure many of you feel. Its probably more big-and-dumb-government-fatigue than it is specifically Bush Admin. fatigue, but there it is.

Fweh. Whatever. The great wheel keeps on turnin'.

Thanks for the soapbox.

Posted by: Good Lt. at 09:54 AM | Comments (14) | Add Comment
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1 Yawn! Free market transaction baby. Legalize snatch.

Posted by: Randman at April 29, 2007 11:07 AM (Sal3J)

2 I always knew the democrat and republican leadership in America was full of clowns, I just did not know they were all fookin' clowns!
Party on down you worthless airbags Islam's gonna fix your a$$ one day if American's don't wise up and do it for you <I;^D

Posted by: Barry at April 29, 2007 11:15 AM (xQq4i)

3 Why else would someone which to be a politician? There's the pussy and the money. Take away the pussy and they'll focus on the money.

Posted by: greyrooster at April 29, 2007 11:50 AM (1p01H)

4 Good post.  Curious:  who would have been the ideal president for post 9/11? 

Posted by: Sharm at April 29, 2007 12:20 PM (xVW97)

5 This nonsense about ABC "struggling" to release more names and details is a load. They're trying to do preemptive damage control on the Democrats involved, as well as contacting lawyers, friends in government, etc. The ABC news division knows that they can't just exclusively bludgeon the GOP with this while still retaining their "objective" credentials any more than FOX News could to Democrats if it were doing the same thing in ABC's position ......................
 
 
 
 
Well put. 
 
You'd think we'd be immune by now after decades of  countless lies spewed out by ABC,  cBS,  NBC,  MSNBC etc. ,  But the anti-American bastards can still make my blood boil.   

Posted by: Rubin at April 29, 2007 01:50 PM (fYsQt)

6 ABC,  cBS,  NBC,  MSNBC

All of them are now nothing but arms of the DNC

Posted by: Randman at April 29, 2007 02:29 PM (Sal3J)

7 I'm sure the "drip, drip, drip" routine will sour very quickly, and there will be an overwhelming call for the ENTIRE unabridged list to be made public, and I believe it eventually will... but not until after the 2008 elections. Until then, it will be Republican after Republican being bitch-slapped into exile. Once the Phlegmocraps have the WH and veto/fillibuster-proof majorities, they can just wrist-slap their Democrat peers.

No, I'm not an optimist about this.

Posted by: Hucbald at April 29, 2007 02:47 PM (JltuL)

8 I have that same fatigue, but bush jr only gets a part of the blame, most goes to the idiots and saboteurs that he has surrounded himself with. Little did he know that he was to be ruined by his so called friends and appointees.
But that is what happened.
Then you have the rabid democrats and the wishy-washy republicans and the corrupt of both parties and the idioticy of the liberal socialist left.
What is a Nation to do?
On top of all that, you have the Islamic hordes, the mexican hordes, the back stabbing, deceitful Saudis and Egyptians, a crumbling Britian and our old and new enemies France and Italy.
Talk about ganging up and overkill.
 
Sometimes I just want to turn everything off and forget what is going on and concentrate on other aspects of my life. But as I have little time left here, I want to continue preparing my family for the worse, and to do that I need to be involved and know what is going on.
As there will be little warning, when things go south.
 
Papa Ray
West Texas
USA

Posted by: Papa Ray at April 29, 2007 09:41 PM (gQ03B)

9 I think we should go into "attack mode" against the Dems, and not give accidental fire support to the left.  They have all the help they need.  I can't eat popcorn while the city is burning, and I LIKE POPCORN         Spread the ugly truth about Dems, and terrorists. The media doesn't need our help ruining the country.   Thanks for the article, and your soap-box is well deserved       
                        USA, all the way!

Posted by: Michael Weaver at April 29, 2007 09:51 PM (2OHpj)

10 A federal judge declared the list cannot be published. Probably wishes to look at it first (in camera) so he can tear out the page with his name on it.

Posted by: greyrooster at April 29, 2007 09:55 PM (zW8V9)

11 Sex is only an indiscretion if one is a Republican.
 
If one is a Democrat, it is a private matter.
 
Didn't you get the memo?

Posted by: Barry at April 30, 2007 01:41 AM (kKjaJ)

12 I would like to point out that I am NOT the 'Barry' of post#2

Posted by: Barry at April 30, 2007 01:53 AM (kKjaJ)

13 Barry # 2. Ha, ha.

Posted by: greyrooster at April 30, 2007 07:24 AM (sL7GA)

14 The way some politicians carry on (and legislate) I wasn't aware they had sex.........

Posted by: Resist Evil at April 30, 2007 12:10 PM (NTGUr)

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Wednesday night Aubree played in her Kindergarten program, Down on the Farm. Aubree and the other Kindergarteners did a fabulous job putting on a great show. I'm pretty damn proud of my child at this point.

However, the parents of the Kindergarteners were the ones that absolutely baffled me. I can not completely blame the parents for being fools, but they were the adults. The way they configured the gym for the performance was somewhat baffling. They have a stage but opted not to use it for one reason or the other. Therefore, everyone was on the same level (minus the three-tiered three foot high risers that the kids were on). When you couple the fact that the children were brought into the gym via a parent/family engulfed route, when a simple stage right entry point was available, it just exacerbated matters.

The instant a child was in sight, every parent (other than me and maybe two others) flocked toward the line of children. I'm just curious when society decided to make every event a Playstation 3 giveaway on release day. It literally looked like a bunch of crack fiends rushing the door at the methadone clinic. That was the first sign that doing any kind of serious video work should be abandoned and I should just do my best to get what I could get (which means don't worry about the other children just get video of Aubree).

After the initial rush of parents flocking to their children, it didn't really stop. Every parent lined up the center aisle taking pictures. Two other fathers and I had cameras within eighteen inches of each other and all three of us were dumbfounded. One father made the other the other father and I laugh by saying, "The center aisle is for loading and unloading only." Just out of curiosity, since when is a camera phone an acceptable way to take pictures of ones child? We're not talking a Japanese camera phone; we're talking an American one. The scene was such a mad house you couldn't even tell that the children had started singing.

After that, you would think that parents would have gone back to their seats. But, no, there were parents sitting in the center aisle nearly blocking any and all possibilities of doing a "class" video. Then, the absolutely unthinkable happened. A father and his older daughter meandered back into my area. I'm standing there with still camera in hand and video camera propped up on a tripod standing some six feet tall (red light on; recording). The father looks me dead in the eye, stops and turns dead nuts center of my shot. If this was target practice, he'd be full of holes.

At that point, I was ready to snap the neck of anyone that uttered a semi-foul thing in my general direction. However, I remained calm and went mobile. I took the video camera off the tripod and moved forward. I literally had to keep moving forward, too. The second I got somewhere a parent would walk by blurring the shot or stopped in front of me impeding the shot. I literally walked to the back row of chairs right of the center aisle and stood so close to the parents in the back row I could have tea bagged three and not even had known it.

You would think all would be well and good at this point. You would be sadly mistaken. The situation was less than optimal to say the least. However, the real trick came when I needed to do video with the right hand and stills with the left. It's a good thing I know how to see to different images at the same time because that's what I had to do. My right eye was in the view finder of the video camera making sure I kept Aubree in the shot and the left eye was looking at the screen on the digital camera taking pictures of the PowerPoint slide that was up on the screen.

Oh! And since when is it acceptable to use PowerPoint during a play?

Then the real obvious sense of the digression of the human race back into the caveman era began. The background noise was absolutely absurd during the entire presentation. It was like not only were the children learning how to perform but the parents were learning how to enjoy the show. Noise from the audience, at one point, was easily louder than the mic'ed up children. No one knew how to sit down and be quiet. I was a church mouse leaning up against the back wall. I had to be, I was recording. The noise level got so bad that Aubree's teacher got on the mic and told the audience to be quiet. Did that work? No. Why does anyone have to do anything they don't want to do, like being quiet? That's the nature of American society today I guess.

So my experience in trying to make good photography works was less than pleasurable. My battery ended up dying as the school's principal droned on thanking everyone and their brother and he had every right to do that. It's my fault for not making sure the battery was fully charged to begin with.

Then the dismissal came. I really had wished that the teachers would have thought more clearly about how they dismissed the children and what the obvious human reaction would have been at that point. When the announcement was made that, "We'll release your child to you when we see you," that's when I knew that my daughter was going to be the patient one and I had plenty of time to pack up my gear.

There was a mad rush towards the stage. Parents were stampeding to get their children as if it was a competition to see who was going to be the first one to get their child. Parents were literally trampling each other to reach their children. Teachers wanted this to happen because it was somehow safer?

I packed up my gear, put on my jacket, parted the Red Sea to find Aubree sitting patiently on the top row of the risers waiting for her daddy to come swoop her out of the madness and that's exactly what I did. We took the quickest path between Aubree's location and what I knew was an exit door. Between making eye contact with Aubree and us being out of the mad house may have been literally fifteen seconds.

Now, explain to me why parents holding their children continued to stand up front blocking walkways, aisles, and exit points. People were taking more pictures and having conversations in the front row where children were supposed to be picked up. I was simply dumbfounded.

The moral of the story is, Aubree did a fantastic job and that's all that should really matter to me. But, I'm very concerned about the downfall of society.

Video of the play is available exclusively at chrisshort.net.

Posted by: Chris Short at 05:40 AM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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1 Most Americans I meet are mouth-breathing morons thanks to decades of deliberate enstupidation by liberal policies, so none of this sad tale shocks me in the least.

Posted by: Improbulus Maixmus at April 27, 2007 06:55 AM (jQsc/)

2 academia. The other islam.

Posted by: greyrooster at April 27, 2007 08:08 AM (nC58B)

3 Vent Chris Vent

Posted by: Howie at April 27, 2007 08:17 AM (YHZAl)

4 OK. I have to ask Chris. In what state did this occur.(and don't say confusion)

Posted by: Randman at April 27, 2007 10:15 AM (Sal3J)

5 double.
ewe.
tea.
eff.

although i read here a lot (top 3), i don't know what part of the country you're in (so that i know not to live near these jackasses - for i would go to jail straight away).  how is this even moderately acceptable?

Posted by: dave at April 27, 2007 10:26 AM (JC+x3)

6 Rude people irritate me. Their only concern is themselves. Liberal ideology. Just my two cents but I would have a talk with the principal in regards to a real saftey issue, ie. blocking aisle, exit points, etc. It happened to me much in the same way it happened to you. After I spoke with the principal a notice was sent out to all parents regarding the safety and well being of the children during assembly. He politely let them have it. It wasn't perfect after this but was a heck of alot better. Now if  you have a liberal principal then umm, I don't know.

Posted by: allahakchew at April 27, 2007 01:45 PM (BrndJ)

7 Randman! I'm betting it was California! Because!  Second guess is Colorado, for no valid reason except the snow pics he also has on his page.    No offense to folks from any state.  We all have them
                           USA, all the way!

Posted by: Michael Weaver at April 27, 2007 04:03 PM (2OHpj)

8 Colorado.

Posted by: Chris Short at April 27, 2007 06:28 PM (sktv/)

9

Colorado is Denver. Denver has how many illegal immigrants? Do the math fucktards.

Posted by: greyrooster at April 29, 2007 12:24 AM (x+qDi)

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On April 24, 1915, turkish soldiers arrested 250 Armenians in the first of hundreds of raids designed to wipe out the Armenian population of Turkey. Never forget.

Posted by: Rusty at 12:39 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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A group of schoolteachers in Seattle noticed that free exchange of LEGO toys within the classroom resulted in negotiation, barter and exchange, a vigorous level of activity and a lot of cooperation:

Discussions like the one above led to children collaborating on a massive series of Lego structures we named Legotown. Children dug through hefty-sized bins of Legos, sought "cool pieces," and bartered and exchanged until they established a collection of homes, shops, public facilities, and community meeting places. We carefully protected Legotown from errant balls and jump ropes, and watched it grow day by day.

Posted by: Ragnar at 05:28 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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It seems to have become fashionable these days to rejoice when fellow Americans fall ill. I see it all the time from the left, and I really hope it doesn't start to catch on over on the right. However much I may disagree with John Edwards the politician, my heart goes out to John and Elizabeth Edwards and their families. Cancer is very real to most of us. It recently took away my grandmother, one of the sweetest and kindest women I've ever known. Not too many years before, it took my grandfather. Someday, cancer will probably take me. Though I'll fight John Edwards and his ideas tooth-and-nail in the political arena, I wish the Edwards family all the best as they struggle with this.

Dean Barnett has his own thoughts. (h/t Glenn)

Posted by: Ragnar at 09:48 AM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
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1. Omit.
2. Use doublespeak.
3. Lie.
4. Count on the public's ignorance.

Webb pissing me off Via CNN

President Bush and his advisers "don't have a plan" nor an "overarching strategy" to fix the problems in Iraq, said Sen. Jim Webb, the newly elected Virginia Democrat who will deliver his party's official response Tuesday to the president's State of the Union address.

Why does this upset me? You might ask.

Well the vast majority of people get their news passively. They listen to what is presented and they tend take the news as facts. Of course they know that the facts are colored and most people take that into account when watching.

But Pundits like Brooks and politicians like Webb make these statements knowing full well that there is a plan. They can't claim ignorance. It's their job to know the &^%$ plan. They just don’t report what that plan is. They Know that if they don’t’ talk about the plan itself, they can create a perception that there is none amongst their passive chip munching viewers.

So I advise everyone to be an active news consumer. You have to go out and seek information because they sure as hell won’t report a lot of it.

Here is my rebuttal, the actual outline of the President’s plan. No one has any other plan that even comes close to the detail of this. And if there is one the press and the Democrats are sure as hell are keeping it under wraps.

See the entire outline belove the fold. I'd like to put in on the front page but like I said, It's long and detailed. (Howie under his breath: no effing plan how effing stupid do they thing we are ? Go^&%$#^mn no good politician MFs, sons of &*^&&^% they are the ones with no effing plan, lying MF c*&^ suckers) more...

Posted by: Howie at 04:18 PM | Comments (13) | Add Comment
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Posted by: Ragnar at 11:55 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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You should have every expectation that the MSM and the Dems will try to spin this election as a rejection of "right-wing conservatism" and an embrace of "left-wing liberalism." I'm here to tell ya, folks: whatever this election meant, it DIDN'T mean that--at least, not in the way the MSM and the Dems will mean it when they say it. It didn't, for example, mean a rejection of a limited government or fiscal responsibility. It didn't represent a public embrace of socialism, and it certainly wasn't a referendum on whether we should continue to help the Iraqi people.

I went to a GOP "victory" party last night, and just everyone I talked to fell into one of two groups. The first group (the faithful) was depressed that the pre-election polls were actually on-target. The second group (the disgruntled) had long since resigned themselves to substantial Republican losses and had mixed feelings about those losses. In general, it was either "I can't believe this is really happening" or "Maybe they need to learn a lesson." Even at a collection of the faithful, it wasn't tough at all to find Republicans who'd been disgusted with their own party for years--and weren't at all too shy to talk about it.

You may BE one of the disgruntled Republicans, or you may HATE them, or you may be in the middle. For those of you who hate them, you can hate them all you want. You can think they're assholes, or that they're insane, or that they're high-maintenance bitches. None of that really matters. What matters is that they represent a huge chunk of the Republican base. If the GOP doesn't figure out how to bring these folks back into the GOP fold and give them some candidates to believe in, 2008 will look very ugly.

If you don't know what the lesson to be learned from November 7, 2006 is, it is this: a party can't disregard the interests and concerns of an entire chunk of its own base without paying a heavy price.

Posted by: Ragnar at 12:34 PM | Comments (30) | Add Comment
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I won't be voting a straight Republican ticket, but I'll be voting for more R's than really deserve it.

They may not deserve to represent me, but I don't deserve to be represented by lunatics.

I really DO NOT care to be in this same situation again two years from now...

UPDATE: Just got back from voting. Pleasantly surprised to see how many Libertarian Party candidates were on the ballot. Where it counted, I stuck with the GOP, but I voted LP in a number of races, just to send a message.

Posted by: Ragnar at 12:24 PM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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Howie Sez:

Ok, so will we ever see [reform] if they keep control? My worry, as an ordinary schmuck, is that if you don't punish them they will say, "See we got away with it". Next we will be dissapointed again.

On the other hand I feel the Republicans must hold one house. Having the Presidency helps a bit. It's a shame we don't have a very good third choice to whack them over the head with.

Yes, we've bitten our tongues for a while, but we're no friends of the Hastert Republicans. We're temporary allies in a difficult time. Think Churchill and the Soviet Army.

If the GOP holds the House, we need to have a knock-down, drag out fight over the House leadership elections. Any House member who supports the current leadership needs to pay dearly for it.

But that's a fight for then. We have to win this fight to even get to that one.

Posted by: Ragnar at 01:18 PM | Comments (14) | Add Comment
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It's no secret that I've had my serious differences with the current round of Republican leadership. I am, after all, the author of "The GOP Can Bite Me," "Our President is an Idiot," and many other thoughtful and insightful rants. The Republican power brokers have gotten themselves drunk on power and influence, grown far too comfortable in their positions and forgotten principles that they once claimed to cherish. Chief among these principles are the apparently forgotten ideas of federalism and limited government. In one area of life after another, the Republican leadership is all too happy to engage in extended discussion of "how should the Federal government fix X?" without ever pausing to consider whether there's a proper Federal role for "fixing X" in the first place.

By most accounts, the current Republican leadership has never met a federal spending program they didn't like. They've been running up our nation's credit cards with abandon at a time when massive entitlement bills are set to come due very soon without any real plan to pay for them. Instead of working to improve our fiscal situation, the Republicans have exacerbated our problems with NEW entitlement programs calculated to buy votes. This is exactly the type of thing Republicans once criticized the Democrats for. These days, they'd have precious little room to talk.

Don't get me wrong, here: I'm not claiming there's no difference between the Democrat and Republican leadership. I am saying that the two are nearly identical in their shared arrogance and their irresponsible enthusiasm for running up debt on our children in order to buy favors for themselves.

In other words, if arrogance and fiscal responsibility were the only issues on the table, there would be very little reason to go to the polls. No matter which party wins, you'll no doubt get a lot of both.

These are not, however, the only issues on the table. There are a whole list of others, and these issues should weigh heavily on your mind as you weigh whether to go to the polls on Tuesday and what to do if you get there. Consider, for example, our nation's immigration policy. At present, the White House and Senate are ready to provide amnesty and voting rights to millions of illegal immigrants. At present, the Republican-led House is the only body standing in the way of the plan. Given that voting rights for new immigrants will be a huge boon for Democrat voting rolls, what do you think a Democrat-controlled House is most likely to do? Consider also the effect on our foreign policy in general and the administration's ability to conclude the Iraq conflict in a reasonable way.

Now, I understand the argument that voting for something you don't like (e.g., the current GOP leadership) will get you more of something you don't like. This is often true. The converse, however, is NOT true--that is, REFUSING to vote for something you don't like is NOT necessarily likely to get you something you DO like. It may get you something DIFFERENT. In this case, it's most likely to get you something you'll like EVEN LESS than what you have now.

I understand very well the other conservatives who are fed up with the arrogance, corruption and irresponsible spending practices of the current GOP leadership. As disappointed as I am with the Republican leadership, I'll be going to the polls on Tuesday and I'll mostly be voting "R." Then again, I have it easy--most of the Republicans I'll be voting for are part of the solution rather than part of the problem.

If you choose not to vote on Tuesday, that's your right, but please make yourself fully aware of what that will very likely mean for us all if enough other voters do the same thing.

Posted by: Ragnar at 10:55 AM | Comments (12) | Add Comment
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I'm mad as hell at the GOP, and I have been for years. I've made no secret of my anger and disappointment with what is supposed to be the "conservative" party in this country working overtime to enact a comprehensive agenda of "socialism lite." I'm also quite disappointed in our party's dismal and hamfisted performance in the War Against Being Scared. (Then again, I've gone from being "concerned" in 2001 to "pissed off" in 2006, so perhaps there has been progress.)

Given my own feelings, I can certainly relate to other conservatives and libertarians who are frustrated by and disgusted with the Republican leadership. If I were represented by a RINO, or a member of the current House leadership, I'd probably have a very tough time getting motivated to help out. As it is, I'm fortunate to be represented by some true reformers, and they have my full backing. I don't have to hold my nose to back them, because I really couldn't ask for better representation. If I were living in Denny Hastert's district, or Tom Reynolds' district, I'm sure I'd have a tougher time mustering the energy to care about the fate of either. There is a point that you get to. I'm not there, but I can probably see it from here if I stand on my toes & squint.

Even as angry and frustrated as I am with the party leadership and the GOP as an organization, I'm still cognizant of the fact that there are solid conservatives within the party, and lots of them. I'm also cognizant of the fact that there are few, if any, among the elected Democrats who could even remotely be considered "conservatives." I'd love it if there were more libertarian-minded Republicans, but I suppose you go to war with the party you have, not the party you'd like to have. Given the choice between "crazy/evil" (i.e. Senator Palpatine,) and "stupid/corrupt" (ie., Senator Jar Jar,) I'd still go with the latter.

Posted by: Ragnar at 08:01 PM | Comments (17) | Add Comment
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I'm glad to see some support for Jack Straw across the pond in the face of this latest round of Muslim extortion. Me, I've never cared much for extortion.

We see this extortion racket played out over and over again. Something happens to rile up the "Muslim community." The local Muslim leader, Imam X, may be a bad actor, but he's our guy. He pays lip service to "interfaith dialogue" and whatnot, but he's not really on our side, and he doesn't have our best interests at heart. He's in it for himself, and we all know it. On the other hand, he needs our support to have legitimacy, and his need for our support gives us a certain (though limited) level of influence on his behavior.

We're not particularly thrilled with Imam X, but Imam X assures us that he's the best option we can reasonably expect to get. Imam X has a maniac on a leash, and if anything happens to Imam X, we'll be left to deal with the maniac. Our options are between Imam X and a maniac. Any other leader would be unapologetically acting against our interests. Imam X at least pays lip service to our concerns, and throws us a bone now and then. (Something like the House Republican leadership, but even worse.)

At every turn, Imam X gives us just enough to keep us from completely bailing out on him, but he realizes that the price of our support isn't that high, owing to the fact that we know the alternatives to Imam X are so much worse. We're expected to be grateful for his token efforts, and to happily accept the table scraps he drops to us now and then. In sum, Imam X has us by the "short hairs," and he knows it. He can count on our unwavering support so long as he knows that we're unwilling to plunge his little neighborhood into chaos. Imam X can count on the fact that we're rational actors and his conviction that we'll always accept half a loaf from him in lieu of none. In the short term, capitulation is almost always the rational decision on our part. Accordingly, whatever concerns Imam X may have, the loss of our support isn't high on the list of things that keep him up at night.

Of course, this situation isn't limited to a few Imams in London. From where I sit, the whole lot of self-proclaimed "moderate" Muslim activists, along with our "friends" in the House of Saud and our "friends" running Pakistan, are other examples of "Imam X's" in their respective spheres of influence.

It's just a form of extortion, a variation on the classic "Good Cop, Bad Cop" game and the "protection racket." It's a popular racket, mostly because it works so effectively.

The "moderate" Muslim activists in the West are the most distasteful of the lot, IMHO. At each stage, the game is: "accept this accomodation, or else we'll be replaced by crazies." At each round, the "this" is a little larger piece of flesh than last round. "Censor the Mohammed cartoons, or else." "Get rid of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, or else." "Make the Pope apologize, or else." "Institute Shari'a law, or else." At each step, accomodation is the short-term rational choice.

I wonder: is there a point at which we (the West) are no longer willing to play along with the "Good Cop, Bad Cop" game anymore? Is there a point at which we're willing, in the short term, to be irrational? In other words, is there a point at which we're no longer willing to negotiate over our fundamental principles, even if there is a significant price to pay? Is there a point at which we make our own demands? Is there a point at which we're no longer willing to accept half measures and lukewarm gestures from our supposed "allies?" Is there a point at which we will draw a line beyond which we are unwilling to go, to throw down the gauntlet and invite them to join us as we all descend together into the Hell and chaos that supposedly awaits us?

If there is such a point, where does it lie?

If we can never figure out when we've crossed that point, isn't our subjugation just a question of "when" rather than "if?"

Posted by: Ragnar at 11:59 AM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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I haven't tuned up my Magic Eight Ball in a while, so let's see if the thing still works worth a damn:

Prediction #1 : The next two days will bring more questions than answers as to whether the North Korean explosion was actually a nuclear detonation. By the end of this week, there will be some level of consensus one way or the other. If I were a betting man, I'd put my money on "not nuclear," but not a lot of money. I'm not sure if that makes me an optimist or a pessimist. I also predict that those who question whether the North Koreans are telling the truth will (ironically) be denounced as "commie apologists" or some such. If it was a fake, the rest of us can only ask : WTF??

Prediction #2 : Although the North Korean explosion will dominate the news for a few days, the next week will bring more Democrat-sourced revelations about what the House leadership knew about Mark Foley's habits in the 1995-2005 time frame. This will give the news media an excuse to move the Foley story back to the front pages, which is, of course, what they will do--particularly if the North Korean "nuclear" detonation turns out to have been a fake.

Prediction #3 : The hit for Masturgate has mostly been taken by the GOP polling numbers. Further revelations about the leadership's earlier knowledge of Foley's behavior will have little additional effect on Republican numbers going forward UNLESS there is concrete evidence directly contradicting Hastert's declaration of innocence at his press conference last week. The public has gotten accustomed to politicians revising their stories a few times after a scandal breaks, but there's a limit. It essentially comes down to whether or not there's any concrete evidence that Hastert had knowledge of "vile" (i.e., sexually explicit) messages to underage pages prior to their recent publication. Only time will tell. I predict more uncomfortable revelations between now and next week, but no "smoking gun."

Posted by: Ragnar at 04:32 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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My irritation with the current GOP leadership is a worse kept secret than Mark Foley's wierd sexual proclivities. And, like any other rational conservative/libertarian, my willingness to criticize the GOP leadership is tempered by the knowledge that the Democrats (a/k/a "The Evil Party") would almost certainly make a mess of things in the House of Representatives if they took control from the Republicans (a/k/a "The Stupid Party"). God forbid they take the Senate as well. That would be very bad.

How bad?

Well, try to imagine every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light and all life as we know it ceasing to exist.

Well, okay, maybe not that bad, but pretty bad, nonetheless.

Even so, I think each of us needs to ask himself how far he is willing to carry water to save Dennis Hastert. What revelation would be too much? I'd imagine we'd all be willing to bail on Hastert if, for example, a cop found a dead hooker in the back seat of Hastert's car.

I'm pretty sure there is a point, for each of us, somewhere on the continuum between "completely ignorant of any problem" on the one end, and "no, officer, I do not have a valid permit for that dead hooker," at which each of us would be willing to withdraw support for Hastert.

For me, that point lies somewhere around "Well, we kinda knew Mark Foley had a habit of getting 'wierd-ish' with the young boys, but we were busy with other stuff at the time, and we hoped it would just go away." Yes, that's a dramatization, but I predict the facts will ultimately bear it out. (I'm sure I'll get beaten up for that one.)

If (<<< note the word "if") Dennis Hastert knew that Mark Foley had a tendency toward the wierdness (a la Jacko) with the young boys, and Hastert took no action to address the problem, that says an awful lot to me about the man's character and the quality of his leadership. Then again, it's not as if we NEEDED more evidence of the quality of Hastert's leadership. We've already had eight years to observe the man in action. This is only the latest chapter in a long story. At which point does one say "enough is enough?"

Some are characterizing opposition to the current leadership as "spineless," and asserted that Hastert's critics are "pissing themselves" in fear, and need some Midol. Think this through, folks. We're opposing the leadership and what presently appears to be the majority of the Party... and yet we're the ones who are "spineless?" We're unwilling to accept the position that a Democrat-controlled House would not be exactly the same thing as the coming of the Apocalypse, and yet we're the ones who are "terrified" and "pissing" ourselves?

I do not think those words mean what you think they mean.

UPDATE: Darth Misha answers thusly:

The moment any actual concrete evidence (as opposed to rumors, innuendo and speculation, which is all we have at this point) surfaces proving that Hastert knew but chose not to do anything, His Majesty will throw Dennis under the friggin’ bus so bloody fast that the theory of relativity may come into play.

Posted by: Ragnar at 11:09 AM | Comments (14) | Add Comment
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From here.

USS COLE MAKES FIRST 5TH FLEET PORT CALL SINCE TERRORIST ATTACK

God bless them in the fight.

We will win.

Posted by: Vinnie at 01:57 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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I've noticed a lot of the temper tantrums of yesterday have died down. A lot of bloggers have had their proverbial "make-up sex" and are ready to close ranks with the GOP. Hugh Hewitt appears ready to take a bullet for Dennis Hastert. Maybe they have a point. After all, without the Republicans running the House over the last six years, we never would have gotten all those great conservative programs passed that we've all come to know and love. I'm sure you all know which programs I'm talking about. So, there are those. Two years without the Republicans in charge of the House would mean going two years without... well, going without more good stuff, I'm sure. Will the Republic survive? Difficult to see. Always changing is the future. For those who decry GOP spending discipline, I think it bears noting that some theological physicists have theorized that the massive geyser of pork gushing out of the top of the U.S. Capitol may be the only thing keeping the radical Muslims from taking it over by force and imposing Shari'a law on the entire District of Columbia.

Now, on top of the fact that we'd have to go two years without any fresh new Republican goodness bubbling up out of the GOP Fountain of Pork(tm), we'd have to endure two years of Democrat bills moving through the House all the way to the Senate. That's pretty scary, if you think about it. If you don't watch out, a little ol' bill can get out and become a LAW. Suppose Speaker Pelosi passes the "Save the Children Act of 2007." Doesn't matter what it's about, really. Any bill tagged with a euphemism like that is almost certainly some scary shizzle cooked up by some commie hippies in San Francisco. Probably bans all guns, swimming pools, nuclear power, fast food, heterosexual sex and competitive sports in one fell swoop. So, let's say this bill makes it through Madame Pelosi's House of Horrors(tm) and lands over on Dr. Frist's desk. Suppose Frist's too busy negotiating with the Taliban to pay attention to what the bill says, and he and 59 other senators, worked up in a fit of somnambulance, accidentally sign off on the damn thing. So then, it goes up to George Bush, and we know he doesn't veto ANYTHING unless it relates to foreign control of U.S. ports. So, of course, he signs the damn thing, and the "Save the Children Act of 2007" becomes law, forcing us all to be uncoordinated, skinny, horny, defenseless hippies living in the dark.

If that thought doesn't just scare the BEJEEZABUB out of you, well... you're probably thinking with a clear head.

Posted by: Ragnar at 07:17 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Just last week, I was thinking how it'd been awhile since the GOP had fucked up anything really seriously.

I suppose I was hoping they'd come to their collective senses. I was thinking perhaps they didn't deserve to get wiped out in November.

Now, we find out about this disgusting freak Mark Foley. Now, any group has a few bad apples, but from what I'm seeing so far, Foley's lecherous behavior had been an "open secret" in the Capitol for some time. Anyone in authority who looked the other way on this one deserves to lose his or her position. I'm 100% with Michelle on this one. I really don't care if Foley's emails were doctored and "sexed up" after the fact. I don't care if the Dems have done the same thing in the past. As unfortunate as these facts may be, they take nothing whatsoever from the culpability of Mark Foley and any in the GOP leadership who were aware of his bullshit. Heads should roll, and they should roll now.

Now, on top of this Foley debacle, we have Bill Frist openly advocating bringing the Taliban back into the Afghani government. Dr. Rusty already said everything I have to say on Frist and the Taliban. And on Rumsfeld and Bush, for that matter.

No one knows whether the GOP will retain control of the House and Senate in November, but if they lose, I won't be shedding a single fucking tear for them. For the nation, perhaps, but not for them. Yes, the Dems would almost certainly take over and build a bizarre, fucked-up circus of inanity in a space that once housed honorable assemblies of reasoned statesmen. Yes, the Dems would almost certainly create a royal mess of things as they retake and clumsily grasp the slippery reins of power. And, yes they will almost certainly spend the next two years disproving the already dubious notion that they couldn't be worse than the Republicans.

Even if all that comes to pass, and the rest of us are forced to stand by and watch as perhaps an entire branch of the government of the last, best hope for mankind descends into a fit of complete and total lunacy for a season, I will at least find solace in the fact that I wasn't complicit in it.

On top of that, the jokes will pretty much write themselves.

Posted by: Ragnar at 08:38 PM | Comments (15) | Add Comment
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Isn't it about time we voted for a lazy President?

Posted by: Rusty at 08:19 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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