Wednesday, August 31, 2005

The Unknown Heroes...

Mr. Atos

In recognition of Blog for Relief Day, My Sandmen have chosen to participate in this internet relief blog-a-thon for charitable donations on behalf of emergency services and victims in the wake of the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina. This event was organized by bloggers Glenn Reynolds and N.Z. Bear at The Truth Laid Bear in response to a brainstorm by Hugh Hewitt. If you blog and want to participate, do sign up.


Our chosen target for directed donations are the virtually unknown heroes of Canine Search & Rescue (K9 SAR). The dogs and handlers of K9 SAR dedicate considerable time and effort and often risk their lives to help victims in the most perilous of circumstances - mountain and wilderness rescue, avalanches, earthquakes, floods, tsunami's and even in the tragic aftermath of 9/11. No doubt they have been called again to service in Louisianna, Mississippi and Alabama to help the search for victims of this immense natural disaster. From The Canine Search and Rescue Tribute:

Over 250 canine search and rescue dogs worked around the clock at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon after the September 11th terrorist attacks. These heroes worked without the benefit of gas masks and protective clothing. They climbed and searched.


Some might ask, in this time of immense human tragedy for so many individuals and families, why have we chosen to direct our efforts on behalf of animals. Most of our fellow bloggers are directing their efforts toward an admirable collection of human relief organizations. We thought we could direct some small part of this effort in recognition of these amazing beings who offer their existence to the service of their benefactors without pay nor glory; often at the expense of their own lives.

Please, as you consider the distribution of your sympathies, extend those considerations to our best friends and their handlers.

Listed below, are a couple of good organizations:

National Disaster Search Dog Foundation (NDSDF)
206 N. Signal St., Suite R
Ojai, CA 93023
(888) 459-4376
Donate Now
or...
Become a Handler
Become a Volunteer
Donate a Dog

American Rescue Dog Association (ARDA)
P.O. Box 151
Chester, New York 10918
(845)469-4173
(please make checks payable to ARDA)



Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Transnumerometer...

Mr.Atos

At various times when we were young and our imaginations were less subverient to the seduction of the pixel, we fancied ourselves inventors, explorers and great heroes beneath the imprisoning rationale of our adult benefactors. Science was contained in the passion of a desire whose fulfillment could be achieved with the technology of foil, glue and scissors. Such was born the Transnumerometer: an ingenious device that would allow us to travel back in time. Afterall, imagine all the uses a kid might have for circumventing circumstance to mend broken toys, snatch the flyball, or catch that toppled lamp. The idea was very complicated, but resolved in theory with the help of Marvel, DC, Sid & Marty Kroft, Wells, and Verne. It was made manifest with a few common materials assembled in just the right manner, so that the cardboard furniture box clad in tin foil was entered through the hole on the west where one sat in the veritable darkness of transnumerometerization for the count; one 'missippi' being temporally equivalent to a terran hour (2,3,4 etc.). Of course, the trash can lid energy collector must be deployed toward the sun and no one could watch. One exited through the small hole to the west - because you know the Earth spins the other way - to emerge in the past to take care of business. Beware however. Being in a new and different time continuum sometimes meant that things were not the same as the original reality. if that were the case, one must return immediatly through the Transnumerometer to be antinumeromerated back to the original future. If this sounds complicated it is, of course. But, it surely worked, because Benji Applebaum down on Berkman Rd. was able to retrieve his dog before it was run over by a bus...again. It worked because we all agreed that it worked and because we believed it.

As I listened yesterday to Hugh Hewitt’s uncanny recorded interview by Los Angeles Times reporter, Tim Rutten, it immediately occurred to me that Tim was a man who had walked into a freeway with no idea that automobiles existed. He was a veritable boy encapsulated in an insulating bubble of preconceived notions, prefabricated prejudice, and presumed authority. He had stepped left to right from a world where Conservative commentators are fanatic ideologues and neocon hacks, Republicans are hair-brained imbeciles, and Blogs are references displayed like magazines in a dentist’s office but never read. What Mr. Rutten found outside of his tinfoil newsroom and progressive blue-hive Pinot circles, was an alternate continuum with a frighteningly inconceivable reality. And even as he attempted to race back through the hole for antinumerometerization, Mr. Hewitt informed him that his transnumeromerating devices had always been a metaphysical illusion.

Do read the entire interview as transcribed by Radio Blogger. Although much is lost in the translation from audio to transcript, I think you will get an immediate flavor for the juvenile fancy that has transnumeromerated Liberal culture and personifies the delusion of the LA Times.

Tim Ruttens associated column can be read here.

Update...
Jack Cafferty at CNN has traveled through his own Transnumerometer. It revealed him in retrospect to be a jackass, but he couldn't change it. Radioblogger has posted the audio here.

Monday, August 29, 2005

Playbook for Defeat

Major Mike

In viewing the politics of war, I have concluded that in order to snatch defeat from the very jaws of victory it requires a very diverse and complex team.

First, you must have the kicker. This is actually the person who starts the game into play. In this case it is Cindy Sheehan. It seems that her individual effort has won her the kicking job on the Defeatists. Her inability to recognize the honor in her son’s sacrifice, her inability to grieve within the norms of human ability, and her desires to be celebritized, have won her the kicking spot on the team.

As with most kickers, she won’t get much playing time after the game starts, but she will be brought in from time to time, occasionally to gain field position, and occasionally to actually score a few points against the other team, but she will not be a deciding factor in the game. And like most kickers, she will be remembered as Cindy Whatshername…you know, the one that started us down the road of defeat in Iraq.

As with any team you have upper management and coaches. The Defeatists have a seasoned team here…Tom Hayden was seen on TV last week trying to protect soldiers from harm…I can’t recall one soldier asking for his help though. He will be calling some of the plays from his luxury box. They are well financed by MOVEON.org and other far left defeatists, so they should be able to get some great players during the next election season. They will have some plays drawn up by John Kerry and Max Cleland, so they are poised for a winning, I mean losing season.

They have a star quarterback as a player coach…Jane Fonda. The only starter ever, to play every season for the Defeatists. She is a talent. The only player to actually run plays for the other team during a game…a controversial play, but she was able to pull it off without a penalty. In fact she is one of the few to ever pull it off. She will be a little rusty from a long layoff, but in the luxury of her opulent motorcoach, she should be able to make a real difference on the field.

There will be a lot of role players and substitutes…Martin Sheen made it to camp this morning. The Rev. Sharpton, a rookie in the Defeatists camp, will look to the veteran for a lot of instruction and support. The Baldwin Brothers are expected to start in the line, and Sean Penn will likely be stealing signs from the pressbox.

The biggest piece in carrying the Defeatists losing season will be the hometown press. With the help of the very negative hometown press, the Defeatists have gone and 1-15 in the past 25 years. They are looking at picking up their second victory, I mean defeat, soon.

They may even get some help from outside the league…farm teams from France, Italy, Canada, and Germany, are all expected to produce viable prospects.

And the fans will be a big factor…of course the Defeatists have the usual hard core fans…often seen rallying in the off-season against global warming, the G 7, the World Bank and others. Soccer rowdies have nothing on these fans. These fans have caused destruction in the name of peace on four continents. They can be menacing, so it remains to be seen if more losing will attract more fans.

Yes, the Defeatists may be in for their best season yet.

But they can be stopped.

Did the Defeatists of Vietnam take responsibility for the resulting deaths of the Communist takeover and “re-education” camps? For the atrocities that occurred in Cambodia after the region was destabilized? At some point, wouldn’t a few thousand more American deaths be worth the millions that actually died after the Defeatists game-plan was actually executed. Isn’t this just a liberal form of white elitism? A few thousand of us are worth millions of you….

This is not about the 1400+ combat deaths, note the subtraction of over 400 non-combat deaths. This is about the Defeatists wanting to win elections, not doing the right thing. The Vietnam protests were more anti-Nixon than they were anti-war. The war was the excuse to turn up the heat. And, as the current Sheehan movement starts being infiltrated by Dem operatives and opportunistic politicians, it will be more about elections and less about the war and its dead. We have probably already crossed the fulcrum on this.

The current Defeatists aim to saddle another generation with the loser malaise that was predominate post-Vietnam. They have no shame in doing this, and they revel in it…much like hooking the poor on welfare. They are attempting to create another generation of self-loathing losers who will dependent on the liberals to lead them out of the falsely created darkness. They are attempting to build a constituent base at the expense of the actual people they are claiming they are trying to protect.

Lastly, let’s don’t lose sight on the fact that it was America that has rose to defeat fascism and communism in the last century. And that this effort required determination and resolve. In fact, our occupying forces still add to the stability of western Asia and central Europe. We are not attempting to annex any part of the Middle East…we are simply adding more nations to the list of the democratic and protecting millions as we go. What is there to mock in that?

What is there to defeat?

Sunday, August 28, 2005

Kat 6...

Mr. Atos

As Hurricane Katrina approaches the Lousianna coast with maximum sustained winds of 175 mph, The Mayor of New Orleans has ordered the immediate evacuation of the entire city.



NEW ORLEANS - Mayor Ray Nagin ordered an immediate evacuation Sunday for all of New Orleans, a city sitting below sea level with 485,000 inhabitants, as Hurricane Katrina bore down with wind revved up to nearly 175 mph and a threat of a massive storm surge.

Acknowledging that large numbers of people, many of them stranded tourists, would be unable to leave, the city set up 10 places of last resort including the Superdome arena.

"This is a once in a lifetime event," the mayor said. "The city of New Orleans has never seen a hurricane of this magnitude hit it directly."

The mayor called the order unprecedented, but said Katrina's storm surge would likely top the levees that protect the city from the surrounding water of Lake Pontchartrain, the Mississippi River and marshes. The bowl-shaped city must pump water out even during normal times, and the hurricane threatened pump power.


In a scene reminiscent of Deep Impact, News images show thousands of cars jammed into the outbound lanes of the interstates. Rumor has it that the President himself ordered local authorities to issue evacuation orders, breaking the paralysis of political fear in the face of approaching danger.






Some are pegging this storm as a Category 6, suggesting it to be a monster beyond anything seen since a similar behemoth snuck out of the Gulf and pounced on Galveston in 1900. Either way it goes at this point Katrina will be a killer. With landfall expected early Monday morning, the August Gulf will only continue to lend her strength. God help them.

Here are a few links for those interested or concerned:

Live Storm Thread
Live Storm Analysis
NOAA Storm Data
Lousianna State Police (Info, Shelters, and Evac Routes)

Update...
The worst is upon Louisianna as Kat's eye approaches shore along the delta. She is a firm cat 5, with sustained winds in excess of 160 mph. Feeder band thunderstorms are gusting in excess of 60 miles an hour and already dumping a fair amount of rain. Expectations are that only around 50% of area residents have actually evacuated. Hugh Hewitt links to a frightening warning from AP News.

Estimates have been made of tens of thousands of deaths from flooding that could overrun the levees and turn New Orleans into a 30-foot-deep toxic lake filled with chemicals and petroleum from refineries, and waste from ruined septic systems.

The storm looks to be approaching slightly to the left of the city which would slam the peak surge of the anti-cyclonic circulation directly up the mouth of the Mississippi delta. The storm surge could be in excess of 30 feet before the torential area rains are even a factor. This looks to be catastrophic. Lets hope for the best and expect the worst.

The impact looks to be felt nationwide as a major portion of U.S. oil production in this region of the Gulf is expected to be shut down if not, in fact, decimated by this storm. Bloomberg suggests the pain at the pump will be immediate and will hit the nation even as Kat's eye hits land in the morning.

Additional links:
Josh Britton
New Live Thread
Live Local News Feed - WWL

Update:
Dr. Jeff Masters posts a very interesting overview of the consequences of Kat's landfall. But, this point in particular caught my attention.

High rise buildings may offer good refuge, but Katrina has the potential to knock down a high-rise building. A 25 foot storm surge and 30 - 40 foot high battering waves on top of that may be able to bring down a steel-reinforced high rise building. I don't believe a high rise building taller than six stories has ever been brought down by a hurricane, so this may not happen Monday, either. We are definitely in unknown waters with Katrina.
In building design, wind loads are considered similar to earthquake loads in the calculation of lateral forces for resistance. Most people realize that a building is designed to withstand vertical gravitional forces. It is built to stand up. But, a building is also designed like a cantilevered beam meant to resist lateral forces, such as wind and vibration. When a tower is designed, the maximum sustained wind taken from historic data assembled with charts provided in the applicable building code, is applied across the face of the building to calculate it's overturning moment. The building is then designed structurally to resist that moment. The wind speeds accompanying Katrina could be in excess of the maximum known winds for the towers designed in New Orleans. The lateral forces presented by this storm could very well be in excess of the resisting moments of these buildings. Add to that the additional force of waves battering the lower floors and the danger is exponentially worse.

Understand this. In structural design for lateral loads in modern buildings, maximum wind loading is never, repeat never, considered in conjuntion with a seismic event. The odds are so great against the possibility that it is simply not required. Combine sustained winds in excess of the maximum design load, with lateral wave loads striking the building in similar fashion to a seismic event, and there is a very real possibility of building collapse during this storm... ESPECIALLY highrises. I repeat, catastrophic building failure is a very real possiblity.

I will supply supporting references in future updates, but do take this into consideration. I'm no storm expert. But, I do design buildings for a living.

Update...
New Orleans NOAA Weather Radio
Baton Rouge Radio (Live Coverage)
New Live Thread
NOAA Weather Radar for New Orleans

Friday, August 26, 2005

Dealing With the Devil

Major Mike

The Italian Red Cross had now joined the Italian government as another entity that is doing business with the Devil.

The Italian Red Cross has secretly treated wounded terror suspects, and their children (for various maladies) in order to secure the release of two Italian citizens.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/Europe/08/25/italy.iraq/index.html

Fable, fiction and reality are replete with examples of immediate benefits from engaging in such deals. This case being no exception. Of course we are relieved that these two international do-gooders have been spared a horrible death by the very same people that the Italian Red Cross has helped heal...but at what price?

Instead of four dead terrorists, we now have four terrorists back on the streets...how many innocent men, women, and children are yet to die at their hands? For all those stirred by this release...do not forget...these Islamafacists are killing innocents every day. The Iraqis who are dying everyday at the hands of their very likes, may appreciate that two more innocents were spared, but at the cost of how many Iraqis? I suggest, as with most Faustinian deals, the price will go much higher.

Additionally, negotiations with kidnappers have never been proven to be a viable deterrent to the practice. No credible police department or international agency does it. And for good reason...negotiations with kidnappers only beget more kidnappings. Witness the continuous wave occurring in Mexico over the past decade or so. This trade was certainly effective in securing the release of these two Italians, but how will the logarithmic costs be assessed as the practice of adductions accelerates? As with the Sgrena affair, who will accept responsibility for future kidnappings and deaths as this becomes SOP for terrorists? I suspect the Italian Red Cross officials who did this deal, will continue to enjoy their comfortable existences, and never connect that their action begot more killings. There is no room for this kind of cluelessness in the GWT.

What is next? Will we deal with kidnappers who want weapons? Cash? New Mercedes Benz's with navigation and DVD players? These kinds of deals...like the Sgrena deal...need to be roundly condemned by the international community. I don't care if the Italian government is an ally, the Italian Red Cross needs the heat from the entire, clued in, international community. A community that understands that we're not in a game of patty-cake, and that cutting deals with the Devil will bring a thousand fold more harm than good.

White Blood Cells...

Mr. Atos

While the fever swamps stew on leftover septic hyperbole, and the Old Busted Media peddles all that is not new, the right side of the sphere is a buzz about
Michael Yon's latest action report from Iraq.

Yon is an independent correspondent imbedded with a US Army Unit* stationed in Mosul. Yesterday
Hugh Hewitt read the account on air, and created a veritable blogswarm on the subject, tapping the interest of a majority of Americans for a story that is otherwise, not being told.

Yon relates his first-hand account of an amazing combat encounter of his
Stryker Brigade with several nasty terrorists that left two marines wounded, the subjects dead and captured and revealed the real character, courage and grit of the sentinels of the frontier. It is a must read for anyone interested in the real story happening 'over there.'

Gates of Fire

Many other bloggers have since posted on Yon's report, with further discussion of events, implications, and the condition of the wounded men. Over at Belmont Club, wretchard touches upon this subject as well, and makes a profound point,

"...without people like Michael Yon it would all have gone down the Memory Hole."
Indeed. While honorable men like LTC Erik Kurilla and CSM Prosser personify fellow soldiers like Army Specialist Sheehan* far more accurately than the vermin in the ditches of Crawford, you'll never know it by frequenting the so-called mainstream media outlets for information. They are, as Wretchard suggests more invloved in making selective information disappear.

But, while his contribution to Yon's reports is of interest, Wretchard's previous entry is of equal consideration in regards to Yon's observations. In a post titled,
Cancer Ward, he discusses Donald Sensing's comparison of Islamic Terrorism to a virus.

We need to understand how the terrorists operate and sustain themselves. Al Qaeda is not like any enemy we have ever faced and therefore our national responses will be unlike any we have ever given. While Al Qaeda is obviously capable of great violence, it may be likened to a virus that has already infected the world's systems of commerce, travel, finances, politics and communications.
Wretchard expands on Sensing's posit as follows,

If the comparison of Islamic terrorism to disease had any validity, one would expect to see a growing use of the world's own "healthy" systems for the pathogenic purposes. And we do: for example, what would normally be regarded as a mode of transportation, such as a widebodied airplane, Islamic terrorism sees as a bomb. Things will be observed in continuous inversion: pharmaceutical industries being developed in order to create a chemical and biological warfare capacity; countries without any civilian nuclear power industry embarked on frantic centrifuge manufacturing programs; a horde of students studying engineering, chemistry and computer science in the West who have no intention whatsoever of building a bridge, developing a detergent or writing an entertainment game. There would be a large demand for handheld ratios, not for talking but for use as bomb triggers; video cameras to record beheadings etc.
This is a very convincing tandem analysis, and one that may very well help us to better understand the nature of the danger on Man's horizon. In a fractal sense, terran organisms could be recognized to behave in a similar fashion regardless of their scale. Patterns of conflict and consumption take place at the cellular and microbial level, the same as in a more macrocosmic theater, like human aggression.

The healthy body fights a very effective assymetrical offensive on a daily basis against the agents of destructive insurgency. Normal activities are unhindered, as these quiet skirmishes manifest themselves in various locations. Damage is localized and repaired, but the security of immunity maintains the tissues in optimal condition. Conversely, the body is threatened by unhealthful conditions. Filth, injury, malnourishment or poison, and risky behavior contibute to impair the body's defenses, compromising its immunity from attack. Under those circumstances, the disease prevails and spreads with lethal potential.

At this time, the body of Man is gravely ill; infested with a metastacizing menace that consumes the productive resources of an otherwise healthy existence. The conflicts between the consumptive infection and agents of immunity takes place now in the darkest recesses of tissues and organs of civilization... in places like Mosul, Asadabad and even
Paraguay. This is out of site and out of mind for most. Many have chosen to deny the infection altogether; engaging rather, actions that threaten the defense like some auto-immune deficiency. Others recognize the danger and behave accordingly. But, ultimately the body is strongest when acting consistently in its own best interests. The fever arises to warn of impending doom. And as the body's defenses begin to lose the skirmishes and retreat from the growing infestation, organs falter and motivations fail. When that happens, serious external intervention is required to exterminate the threat immediately and entirely.

The fever as felt has yet to rise to a dangerous level. It is imperative that Man take heed. Michael Yon has offered us a rare and educational view of the daily actions of our
White Blood Cells for intense consideration as we act to maintain the condition of the body...

... lest it collapse before the infestation of a fatal malignancy.



*correction... my thanks to reader Olga for noting my error in referencing both Casey Sheehan and the Stryker Brigade as Marine Units, when they were in fact Army. Silly oversight on my part with regard to the Stryker Unit, since they are stationed in my own back yard at Fort Lewis. Corrections have been made accordingly. Thank you, Olga.

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Conservation of Energy

dueler88

Daniel Yergin, chairman of Cambridge Energy Research Associates, published an interesting article on CERA’s website. The whole piece is worth a close read. His basic point is that we’re not running out of oil anytime soon because of technology’s advancing ability to aide our effort in finding and extracting petroleum. The most interesting points to me, however, regard the sociological corollaries of, and public perception of, energy policies:

    This is not the first time that the world has "run out of oil." It's more like the fifth. Cycles of shortage and surplus characterize the entire history of the oil industry. A similar fear of shortage after World War I was one of the main drivers for cobbling together the three easternmost provinces of the defunct Ottoman Turkish Empire to create Iraq. In more recent times, the "permanent oil shortage" of the 1970s gave way to the glut and price collapse of the 1980s.
This certainly adds to the discussion of social and psychological effects on history. The way I see it, the two basic camps in American politics are on conflicting emotional missions to turn their differing obsessions with catastrophe in to accepted reality. The first idea, championed by the Left and which has gained momentum since the 1960’s, is that the destruction of the environment, caused by consumption of fossil fuels, is going to kill us all. The second idea, championed by the Right, which has entered the national consciousness since 2001, is that psychotic fanatics will use horrific weapons, which we have produced to protect ourselves, to destroy humanity.

Can the doomsday scenario of environmental destruction be definitively proven? Of course not. No matter what we learn about geology, climatology, meteorology, astronomy, etc., we still don’t know very much. I find any “definitive” opinion regarding global warming, especially regarding induction by human action, to be highly speculative. Are we so arrogant as to think that we know exactly how the earth’s climate works? It wasn’t that long ago, in the scope of human history, that the germ theory of disease became fact. Nor was it that long ago that we were convinced that the earth was flat.

Can the doomsday scenario of psychos with nukes, be definitively proven? Of course not. But whether or not it occurs can definitively be determined by the actions we take to protect ourselves. And given the current highly-charged political/religous situation we find ourselves in, I find it to be a likely scenario.

For the sake of argument, let’s say that both scenarios, environmental destruction and psychos with nukes, are realistically plausible. Giant comets and asteroids not withstanding, macro-scale climate change happens on a pace that is so slow that it is practically imperceptible at the time it is happening. Furthermore, Michael Bay, Bruce Willis and Steve Buscemi not withstanding, there’s nothing we can do to prevent the collision of planetary bodies. Rogue thermonuclear explosions, on the other hand, vaporize matter in milliseconds. Which of these should we, or can we, take action to prevent right now?

It would seem to me that, given this reason alone, changes in energy policy shouldn’t get as much attention as defeating Militant Islamicists. But somehow the Left doesn’t seem to inhabit the same universe as I. Perhaps it is because Leftist energy policy has more to do with implementing social change than it does with preventing climate change.

And yet, someday, but not for a very long time, petroleum will cease to be a viable energy source. The concept of energy independence makes a great deal of sense. Not only that, but continuing to be handcuffed to despotic, oppressive and oil-flush regimes is not smart. It’s much easier to negotiate, or walk away from the table, when you aren’t beholden to the other party.

So in addition to finding our own sources of petroleum as soon as possible, we should begin implementing sustainable sources of energy as soon as possible. Solar-based energy (photovoltaics) will be plentiful as long as plants survive using photosynthesis. However, current technology is very inefficient – it only takes advantage of a small percentage of the sun’s total light/energy output and it has a poor cost/benefit ratio in climates where natural sunlight is not plentiful. Wind power is plentiful as long as the lower atmosphere stays dynamic, but it is inconsistent and is not conducive to avian wildlife. Fuel cell technology is clean and powerful, but extraction of hydrogen still takes more energy. Nuclear power is reliable and stable, but has long-term toxic side-effects. Yet I still consider these (and others) to be viable energy options.

By all means, let’s use our ingenuity to explore and implement these technologies. The best role that government can play is by providing tax incentives for implementation rather than tax increases for lack of implementation.

Petroleum as an energy source is far from ideal. But the worldwide economy is based upon it. Economies don’t do well with short-term corrective actions. But as our planetary ecosystem reminds us, long-term, measured and responsible change is change for the better. In the meantime, I’ll be saving up for that Highlander Hybrid.

Monday, August 22, 2005

Silk Purse or Sow's Ear

Major Mike

Matt Bai has a fine spin on the demise of the 527 group Americans Coming Together (ACT) in yesterday's NYT Magazine. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/21/magazine/21WWLN.html

He seems perplexed about how ACT could've failed in its main mission, which was to unseat GWB through any means necessary.

"Just how it is that ACT failed in this mission is a question no one seems able to answer. After all, ACT exceeded its own goals for voter turnout, and in most of the Democratic urban counties on which it focused, John Kerry received more votes than any Democrat before him."

He goes on to blame Kerry, likely rightfully, for not connecting with the undecideds.

"ACT didn't do much to change the balance in more conservative rural and exurban areas, but then persuading undecided voters was (and always has been) the candidate's job; blaming ACT for the loss of Ohio or Florida would be like firing the Yankees' grounds crew because Derek Jeter failed to get on base."

But he wrongfully concludes that ACT... "In this way, ACT helped to usher us into the post-party world. We are now confronting a period in which the power and the innovation in American politics will reside not in some party headquarters on Capitol Hill but in a decentralized network of grass-roots groups, donors and Internet impresarios, all of whom seem to be increasingly entwined with one another."

And... "In the end, ACT's contribution was to act as a bridge from the last political moment to the next, hastening the chaotic process of democratization -- even without the capital ''D'' that its founders would have preferred."

A couple of problems here. First...this is ostrich time for the Dems...if they are going to believe that they had the machinations in place, the money in place, the "new foundation" in place to win, and the candidate was the only problem, they are fooling themselves. They had the money, but no message. The Red/Blue map screams out to tell even the most simple minded of us, that their messaging is not resonating...no matter how much you want to ignore it. Their "new wave" connections to the choice generation are just impacting on the coasts...in electoral politics, this is not enough.

Second, this is another example of the left leaning MSM using its "unbiased" platform to spin for the left. ACT went under, because aside from raising a lot of money, their smear politics did not connect with decent people who are liberal. Plain and simple. Trying to put a cherry on the demise of ACT is like trying to say the Great Chicago Fire was good because it freed up a lot of real estate. A defeat is a defeat...Analyze it, study it, learn from it...don't sugar coat it...with the help of your MSM friends...oh, on second thought, keep doing what you're doing...it is working for us.

Lastly, ACT is only preceding the Democrat demise, and nice little articles like Matt's will not slow it down. It is precisely that having the money, leading the way in internet use, and possibly having their strongest organization ever, that they could not unseat GWB, that spells the end of the Dems...their best effort is failing and they are losing traction in the process. Nothing succeeds like success...nothing follows failure faster than failure.

The Dems' current disarray is screaming for MSM coverage, not glossy excuse making.

Friday, August 19, 2005

What Is Being Left - Pitty Pimps and Grief Whores...

The Prostitution of Virtue to a Menacing Obsession For Power.

Mr.Atos

Allow me once again to caress the edge of hyberbole with you for a moment. Understanding that words have very specific meanings, consider very carefully, the words used here to describe the current condition of what is being Left. Because the terms are not nearly as offensive as the reality of an ideological movement prostituting its grief to a nation's compassion for political advantage.

You don't disrespect someone that you love. You do not exploit their virtue for your own whim or lustful satisfaction, much less peddle it for another's. And yet, what is being Left is intent to defile their own, for the satisfaction of an irrational lust for power. That is not love. It is something quite opposite; when widows prostitute themselves using their husbands' murders as a vehicle for an agenda. A mother offers herself for the defiling by proxy of the volition of a dead soldier. And the pimps of the fetid core of what is being Left peddle these grieving women to the perverted mobs of media sycophants grappling for their turn at them. The world is witness to a scene as repulsive as any video-taped gang rape!

America saw the first incarnation of grief whores in the
foursome of 9/11 widows known as the 'Jersey Girls.' The pimps of the Left latched onto the loss of the husbands of these political activists to deliver a political blow at an incumbent President during a contentious re-election campaign. Their true loss seemed of little consequence to the greater goal of power aquisition. Their grief was diluted by their robust cheerleading of the 9/11 investigating Commission and inane political commentary. Rabinowitz described one of their initial trix last year as follows,
The night of Ms. Rice's appearance [before the Commission], the Jersey Girls appeared on "Hardball," to charge that the national security adviser had failed to do her job, that the government failed to provide a timely military response, that the president had spent time reading to schoolchildren after learning of the attack, that intelligence agencies had failed to connect the dots.
And yet where are these grieving irrate widows now, when the 'Able Danger' revelations and other new evidence suggests real negligence of that very same Commission for which they served as cheerleaders? Where are they calling for a similar investigation of incompetence on the part of the Clinton administration for knowingly ignoring the threat warnings? Nowhere. Those old spent ladies are notably silent.

But, what is being Left has found a new source of grief to pimp to the pitty of the American conscience. Sadistically, they have culled the mothers of the brave sentinals of the frontier for a fool to exploit. And they are likewise defiling her unhinged misery before a mob of voyueristic media degenerates satiating their partisan perversions.

Over at National Review,
Byron York unveils the orgy that what is being Left is having with their new pet...

The Sheehan vigil, officially sponsored by MoveOn.org, along with the liberal groups True Majority and Democracy for America, was part of a nationwide series of protests Wednesday night. According to MoveOn, there were 1,627 such meetings, with a total attendance of at least 50,000 people. The Birmingham crowd — in the heart of one of the nation's reddest states, where George W. Bush defeated John Kerry 63 percent to 37 percent last year — was significantly larger than theattendance at Douglass' usual vigils. Although 50 people had signed up to come, it appeared that the crowd actually numbered between 60 and 75.

On its website, MoveOn offered protesters what amounted to a pre-fab vigil kit, including talking points, a "sample media advisory," and pre-designed signs —placards that read MOMS FOR PEACE and MEET WITH CINDY and, apparently for pet lovers, DOGS FOR CINDY. But the Birmingham protest appeared a bit more homegrown. People carried signs that said WE ARE ALL SISTERS ANDBROTHERS: LOVE YOUR ENEMIES. And as they stood around — there were no speeches —they expressed opposition not just to the controversial war in Iraq, butalso to the war in Afghanistan, which polls indicate was overwhelmingly supported by the American people...

...the country last night were only partly about the war in Iraq. Yes, that is the focus of the protesters' passions today. And yes, they support Cindy Sheehan. But the antiwar movement is also about opposition to the very foundation of the war on terror — the war in Afghanistan and the U.S. response to the 9/11 attacks. Last night, the signs and the slogans were about Cindy Sheehan. But the protest was about much more than that.


In great contrast to the bordello of Crawford, Ronald Griffon offers a halo of moral chastity at Opinion Journal, (HT. Michelle Malkin)

I lost a son in Iraq and Cindy Sheehan does not speak for me. I grieve with
Mrs. Sheehan, for all too well I know the full measure of the agony she is forever going to endure. I honor her son for his service and sacrifice. However, I abhor all that she represents and those who would cast her as the symbol for parents of our fallen soldiers. The fallen heroes, until now, have enjoyed virtually no individuality. They have been treated as a monolith, a mere number. Now Mrs. Sheehan, with adept public relations tactics, has succeeded in elevating herself above the rest of us. Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida declared that Mrs. Sheehan is now the symbol for all parents who have lost children in Iraq. Sorry, senator. Not for me.
Pitty pimps like Senator Bill Nelson, Maureen Dowd, the letcherous scoundrels of MoveOn.Org and the hordes a malevolent concentrate that are what is being Left are abusing grieving parents everywhere; either voluntarily or by forcibly raping their virtue like a drugged teen at Woodstock. Griffon continues...

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times portrays Mrs. Sheehan as a distraught mom standing heroically outside the guarded gates of the most powerful and inhumane man on earth, President Bush. Ms. Dowd is so moved by Mrs. Sheehan's plight that she bestowed upon her and all grieving parents the title of "absolute moral authority." That characterization epitomizes the arrogance and condescension of anyone who would presume to understand and speak for all of us. How can we all possess "absolute moral authority" when we hold so many different perspectives?

I don't want that title. I haven't earned that title.

Although we all walk the same sad road of sorrow and agony, we walk it as individuals with all the refreshing uniqueness of our own thoughts shaped in large measure by the life and death of our own fallen hero. Over the past few days I have reached out to other parents and loved ones of fallen heroes in an attempt to find out their reactions to all the attention Mrs. Sheehan has attracted. What emerges from those conversations is an empathy for Mrs. Sheehan's suffering but a fundamental disagreement with her politics.

Indeed! Yet what is being Left profanes the overwhelming sensibilities of American virtue as expressed by Ronald Griffon, the greater Sheehan family, the families of the all the casualties of the war, and the majority of all Americans. They defile the mothers and families of the victims of Saddam's insanity, the Taliban's brutality, and Al Quaeda's bloodlust. Last week Mohammed over at Iraq The Model, delivered his own Iraq perspective as a response to the revulsion of the Sheehan spectacle: (HT: The Anchoress)

Ma'am, we asked for your nation's help and we asked you to stand with us in our war and your nation's act was (and still is) an act of ultimate courage and unmatched sense of humanity.Our request is justified, death was our daily bread and a million Iraqi mothers were expecting death to knock on their doors at any second to claim someone from their families.Your face doesn't look strange to me at all; I see it everyday on endless numbers of Iraqi women who were struck by losses like yours.

Our fellow country men and women were buried alive, cut to pieces and thrown in acid pools and some were fed to the wild dogs while those who were lucky enough ran away to live like strangers and the Iraqi mother was left to grieve oneson buried in an unfound grave and another one living far away who she might not get to see again.

We did nothing to deserve all that suffering, well except for a dream we had; a dream of living like normal people do.

What is being Left is writhing in their repugnance and celebrating its stench. The self-righteous menace of the Sheehan orgy demands compassion for their grief and a voice for their rage while pilfering it from others, claiming pitty on their behalf as well. To what end?

What is being Left is willing to pollute all that is decent to heedlessly peddle their perverse obsession with an unearned moral authority that is debased at best, and malevolent at worst. Because what is being Left has no respect for Casey Sheehan. He was the tool of a fascist belligerence. He was a stormtrooper, baby-killer, mindless grunt. He deserved to be killed by the heros of Islamic liberation. They have no real grief for the victims of 9/11 who were nothing more than 'little Eichmans' deserved of the fate that ripped them from existance. Those are the true sensibilities of the pimps of Cindy Sheehan: MoveOn.Org, George Soros, Michael Moore, Howard Dean, John Conyers and the entire fetid core of what is being Left. They have love for just one thing...

...political power.

And it is clear, they will do ANYTHING to get it back.

Update:

OkieBoy has been dumpster diving again - this time at Huffingstuffs where he found Sheehan's plea of chastity to Drudge...

"Even after my repeated attempts to keep the focus of my protest on the war, the Drudge Report and others continue to try to make the issue about me. But I am not the issue. The issue is a disastrous war that’s killing our sons and daughters and making our country less secure. They attack me because they can no longer defend this war."

From the soiled linens of the Crawford brothel, wreaking with the filth of spent venom and naked rage, Sheehan may finally recognize the fool in the whore of what is being Left.

Update:

At Slate, Christopher Hitchens considers, What Cindy Sheehan Really Wants... Now imagine if she gets it. (HT: Carol Platt-Liebau)

This is an argument, about a real war, that deserves moral seriousness on all sides. Flippancy and light-mindedness have no place. Cindy Sheehan's cheerleader Michael Moore has compared the "insurgents" in Iraq to the American minutemen and Founding Fathers. Do I taunt him for not volunteering to fight himself in such a noble cause? Of course I do not. That would be a low and sly blow. Do I say that he is spouting fascistic nonsense? Of course I do. Is Cindy Sheehan exempt from any verdict on her wacko opinions because of her bereavement? I would say that she is not. Has she been led into a false position by eager cynics who have sacrificed nothing and who would happily surrender unconditionally to the worst enemy that currently faces civilization? That's for her to clarify. While she ponders, she should forgo prayer, stay in California, and end her protest.

With minds like Hitchens' peeling away, is it any wonder that what is being Left is collective idiocy directed by irrational rage?

Update...

Just listening to Instapunk being interviewed by Eric Hogue regarding this post, Reforming The System. He aslo links to this popst by Michelle Malkin, Sick Of The Summer Of Cindy.

Thursday, August 18, 2005

Escape Velocity

dueler88

    We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.

    John F. Kennedy, 9/12/1962

When was the last time that you felt completely satisfied and good about something? For me, and for most people I know, the greatest satisfaction is in successfully completing a difficult task. That success builds upon itself. It’s not in the mere completion of the task, per se, but the fact that you were able to summon the ability to do it. Maybe you had to learn a new skill. Maybe you had to expand upon an existing skill. Either way, you succeeded in something that you didn’t think was possible.

Conversely, I’ve had bad times in my life when I thought I was pretty worthless. In every instance, the thing that really got me out of the funk wasn’t my dad kicking my butt, my mom consoling me, or my friends encouraging me; it was ultimately my own will – reaching beyond my own preconceptions about who I was and what I was capable of.

Escape Velocity is the speed at which an object must be traveling to effectively counteract a planetary body’s gravitational field. Objects in motion tend to stay in motion. That is the concept of momentum. It works in rocket science. It also works in psychology, sociology and as a result, economics.

People reach success by momentum. Social groups solve difficult problems by momentum. Sports teams win games by momentum. Geopolitical groups win wars by force of momentum. Robust economies run on momentum.

A central premise of Conservative philosophy is that we are ALL capable of doing more than we think we can. The impression I get about the basic philosophy of Leftists (i.e. the strongest voices of the Democratic Party) is that the way to create a society full of ‘successful’ citizens is to inhibit those that are most successful in order to support those that are the least successful. Such a notion is detrimental to both parties. Not only are the most successful limited in what they can achieve, but the least successful never have the opportunity to experience what it is like to reach beyond their self-imposed limitations and begin building the self-supporting momentum of success.

But is it really that easy? Can the ills of society be cured simply by everyone reaching beyond their preconceived potential?

To answer those questions, I will ask these: how did we get to the moon? How did we defeat fascism in the 1940’s?

Consider JFK’s quote above. Viewed from the lens of 2005, it seems inconceiveable that a Democrat would propose such a costly and difficult program just as social concerns and civil rights were coming to the forefront of American politics and society. Wasn’t it more important to take care of poor people than to spend money on going to the moon? JFK understood the concept of Escape Velocity, both in rocket science and the momentum of personal success.

The Democratic party used to believe in human potential.
To my friends on the left: prove me wrong. Prove to me that the Democrats can build a successful society by uplifting everybody, not just by rewarding a few at the expense of some other few. Prove to me that Democrats can provide the leadership that makes us want to be better than we are.

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

Rush To Be An American Legend...

Mr.Atos

During the course of his Monday show, Rush Limbaugh received a call from a gentleman defending Cindy Sheehan and her entourage of anti-war protesters who have stationed themselves at the gates of President Bush's Hill Country ranch in Crawford, Texas. What transpired was an epic moment in the history of an already legendary figure in American History. In one impromptu monologue, Mr. Limbaugh utterly disrobed the American Left before his vast listening audience. If you missed it, I have borrowed an excerpt of the transcript that he has graciously posted on his free site. I encourage all to read it.

RUSH: John in San Diego, you're next. Welcome to the program. Nice to have you with us.

CALLER: Thank you for taking my call.

RUSH: Yeah.

CALLER: I believe that Cindy Sheehan is bringing up one important point, though.

RUSH: What's that?

CALLER: If this is a valiant and noble cause, why don't we have [sic] any senators sons or House of Representatives sons volunteering to go over there? Why isn't the president's daughters doing something for the war effort, if this is such a valiant effort? And that's the primary purpose that she has made this protest for, is the fact that the average person is being used as cannon fodder basically for this effort, and it's not a noble cause.

RUSH: John, you disappoint me, but you don't surprise me. No war is noble as far as you all are concerned. The US is guilty. This argument is tiresome, boring, and specious. Why didn't the president's daughters go? It's a volunteer force! The president didn't "send" Cindy Sheehan's son over there; he volunteered. If she is doing anything, she is sullying his memory. She is making his life worthless. She is making what he volunteered to do worthless, and you guys, you don't see this. There are sons, there are family members of elected officials in Washington who have been and are in Iraq. It's not a great number, but they are there. But it's not a draft, and the president can't choose who goes. It's a volunteer army and everything that you said is doing a disservice to those who have volunteered to represent this country and serve this country and their families, and if I were you, I would be ashamed and try to grow up and get a little maturity.

My friends, there's another reason why the Sheehan thing is going to derail, why this train is going to derail, and that's because look at who her public relations outfit is. It's the mainstream press. They don't have universal respect anymore. They don't even have any concept of how they are harming her cause by championing it, but I want to talk about something larger here with you liberals.

I know there are a lot of you here in the audience. We hear from you now and then, and it may be a waste of my time but I'm going to try it anyway. But I think you all need to look at things differently than you do. You need to take your focus off of government. You know how absurd it is for us to hear that a war is ignoble because the president's kids aren't there or because congressmen's kids aren't there? Do you know how irrelevant that is? Do you know who makes this country work?

Can I ask you people on the left if you have the slightest idea who makes this country work? Because I'll tell you, it's not the president, I don't care who he is, and it's not Congress, and I don't care who they are. The people who make this country work are the people, and they're people you've never heard of. They are people unlike Cindy Sheehan, who are not seeking publicity, they are not seeking fame. They take life seriously. They try to mix their work and pleasure into a proper balance. They try to raise their kids the right way. They're doing everything they can to follow the straight-and-narrow. They sometimes slip off, but the people who make this country work, the fabled average American. That's who you liberals condemn, whether you know it or not. That's who you impugn. It's always been the case.

World War II was not won by Eisenhower. World War II was not won by FDR. World War II was not won by any particular leader. World War II was not won by Patton. Everybody played a role. But without the sons and daughters of the American people, this country wouldn't amount to anything. It is the people who make this country work, and the ease with which those of you on the left disparage the people in this country while you seek to focus all attention on government, is a sight to behold, and it is why you are losing elections; it is why you are losing favor; it is why you are becoming more fringe and extreme and kooky, because you've lost touch.

You've lost contact. You've lost all ability to understand who it is that comprises the heart and soul of this country. You have no clue who the backbone of this country is; but I will tell you this: it's not Cindy Sheehan and it's not one member of her entourage in a ditch in Crawford, Texas. Those people are a bunch of squatters. Those people right now are contributing nothing to the greatness or future of this country. Neither are the members of the media who are down there trying to elevate all those people in the ditch to be superheroes. There's not one of them that comes anywhere near rating the title of hero. They are nothing but a bunch of squatters who are miserable and unhappy for who knows whatever reasons and deciding to take it out on people who they think have control over their lives. In this case, with a bunch of liberals, it's government. You want government to have control over your life, you want government to be able to do this and that for your friends and neighbors and help you, but the simple truth of this country is that it's the people who make this country work. It is the people who comprise the economy. It is the people who comprise the morality.

It is the people of this country who determine the ethics. It is the people of this country, and that's what you're upset about because you're in the minority. The people of this country, the people who make this country work differ from you in tremendous ways. They are religious. They are God-fearing. They respect values and morality. They know what's right and they know what's wrong, and they do their best to abide. You are offended by all that, claiming they don't have the right to make such decisions, while you sit around and make no decisions whatsoever because you're willing to totally put your life in the hands of some liberal politician and that will take you off the hook for having to make any decision about your life or anybody else's.

Well, that's not how the country works. This country works on the basis of an educated and informed public seeking excellence in their own lives to whatever degree they wish it. People pursuing life the best they can, using freedom, God-given freedom -- and for you to call here and to come up with something as irrelevant as to say this war is not worth it because the president's kids aren't there or because nobody from Washington's kids are there doesn't say a thing about the war effort, doesn't say one thing about it, doesn't make it noble, doesn't make it ignoble, doesn't make it anything, because the war is taking place. Whether you agree with the fact that it's going on or not, we all have come to the decision that it's best that we win it. You haven't even joined us on that. You hope we lose it. You want to lose it because you want to embarrass the leaders of the country. What must your lives be like?

Are your lives so endless, baseless, and void of substance that the only pleasure you get from life is through watching the misery of others and trying to cause misery for others? Are you so incapable of enjoying the God-given gift of life that you've got, that you can only do so when other people are suffering, hopefully as a result of actions you've taken? What must it be like to be you people? What must it be like to get up every day and to have to go to your calendar and write "Destroy somebody today. Destroy something today. Destroy America today"? What must that be like? When you look out across the country and you see a burgeoning economy, you see the lone world superpower -- and it's not because of any president, and it's not because of any weapon, and it's not because of any military, it's because of the people of this country and our values and our Constitution. We're no different than any other people, other than we have freedom -- and you don't even like that! You only want freedom for yourselves, defined as you define it. So people can't say things that offend you, they can't do things that offend you, we can't have stupid names for sports teams.

The absurdity of this whole political correctness movement. We can't have some team called the Redskins, we can't have some team called the Seminoles. Don't you understand these team names do it, it's an honor? Do you think a school calls itself the Seminoles to make fun of the Seminoles or are they trying to build themselves up? It's a matter of pride. But you people are so miserably unhappy that you have to find ways to constantly make everybody else around you unhappy, and so you go hang around with a woman who's crazed out of her mind in a ditch in Crawford, Texas, and then you have the audacity to call here and tell us that you are the great ones, that you're the ones that care, that you're the ones that have this country's best interests at heart.

If it were up to you people we wouldn't exist as a country today, you would have given in to the Soviets long ago, you would have appeased the Soviet communists. You would appease Iran right now, you probably wouldn't have cared about the war on terror or the bombing on 9/11. You would have sought out bin Laden and tried to make a deal with him, and this country exists today only because we have been able to prevent you from gaining power to do that kind of thing. We've had our run-ins with Neville Chamberlain types and you're the modern incarnation.

To sit here, to actually have the gall to call this program and advance something you think as an intellectual argument that Cindy Sheehan's cause is noble, because the president's daughters aren't in Iraq, or congressmen's sons and daughters aren't in Iraq, have you no shame? Do you realize whose sons and daughters are? Do you understand it's voluntary? Do you understand these are people who are offering their lives in sacrifice for things they believe in? And what do you do? You come along and you try to disabuse them of their belief by telling them that they're wrong and that their country sucks. Well, to the extent that they think their country sucks it's because of you and your efforts to constantly undermine this country's best interests and our desires and efforts to protect the people of this country and to bring freedom to as many others in this world as possible.

You people on the left used to be the ones that were all for civil rights around the world. You were all for human rights. Now all of a sudden you couldn't care less about the status of Iraqis. You couldn't care less. It's gotten so absurd, now that Howard Dean
said on TV that if this new constitution is enacted as written, that the women of Iraq are going to be worse off than they were under Saddam Hussein. Do you realize how patently absurd and bordering on insane that comment is? No, you don't. Because you think so little of your own country, you think so little of this president, you have such little faith in the ideals that have combined to make this a great country, that you assume it's worse here than anywhere else, and the places that it is bad is because of us, either through environmental pollution, or whatever cockamamie, asinine, stupid, ignoramus idea you can come up with.

It's gotten to the point now where it is common to go on Democrat websites and read about the pleasure it would bring if the president were assassinated. It is now common to read letters to the editors in newspapers which say it would be fun if bin Laden actually came over here and slit Bush's throat, which is what a supporter of Sheehan wrote to a letter of the editor in one of the newspapers in this country. Yes, it would have been better if bin Laden would have just come here and slit Bush's throat. Do you have any idea how you people are perceived? Do you have the slightest idea how the decent people who make this country work perceive you? It is not with any respect. It is with contempt and it's with sorrow. But it's also with this realization: This country, if it is to survive, cannot be turned over to you people to lead and to run, because we will cease to exist as the United States the day that happens, and mark my word. It ain't going to happen.
Read Limbaugh's statement in its entirety at this link to his Monday Monologue. And listen to the audio linked there as well. After hearing the segment, I emailed Rush immediately to ask that he post the audio and transcript at his free site. Apparently I wasn't the only one. He announced its posting today. I trust he wont mind its further distribution. It is not a rare glimpse of the talent of this American Statesman. But, it is certainly an exceptional demonstration that Rush Limbaugh is this era's Patrick Henry. And his name and his words will be remembered similarly in the annals of America History.

Monday, August 15, 2005

Our Lovecraftian Demise...

Mr.Atos

Over at
OKIE on the Lam in LA, Okieboy lets his imagination drift after reading the California section of the Los Angeles Times...


Santa Monica Playing It Safe — Police tighten security even as the FBI says suspicions aroused by recent videotaping of high-profile structures appear to be unfounded. Santa Monica Police Chief James T. Butts Jr. met with reporters this week and declared a potential homeland security threat.

Police received a call last month from a citizen who had taken photos of “Middle Eastern individuals” as they shot video of the Santa Monica Pier and surrounding area in a manner that authorities said was “inconsistent with tourist documentary.”
He posits the following:


Although no stranger to histrionics, nevertheless the Santa Monica community does seem ripe for a terrorist action. Every time I walk the promenade I can imagine the chaos and destruction a couple of committed suicide killers could wreak with a few sub-machine guns and/or bomb packs. That the place is filled with European tourists most of the time would only make the target more “interesting”. Killing two birds, etc. while taking out some flagship stores just for grins.

They could certainly get a higher kill-count by hitting elsewhere, but if they paid attention they know what
one old guy in a Buick was capable of doing and could be building from there. but the FBI says “not to worry”, so I guess I won’t. We don’t go to the pier at all anymore, and rarely to the Promenade. I see enough pathetic deranged homeless trudging up and down the alley right outside this window everyday, I don’t need to pay for parking just for the privilege of seeing some more.
Sadly, things have come to the point that the potential horrors that one will inflict on another exist at the frontiers of the imagination... and Hollywood has assured that our imaginations are quite lovecraftian in their perverse fertility. One need only to look around with their family during a weekend excursion and ponder the hideous possibilities to know the mind of a monster.

There was a day that I can recall when my mother left her keys in an unlocked car on the street. Now we sit barraded at night behind locked doors 2 seconds from a 12 guage. I saw an adorable 12 week old baby in front of me in the line of the checkout at Petsmart yesterday. The curious steel anklet around her tiny leg was a chain restraining her to the carrier that contained her frail body, lest she be taken like merchandise prey to an unbound desire.

We better begin to ask what exactly carried humanity to this threshhold. Because when all this is over and the terror monsters are vanquished, we might very well need to walk back from the brink of greasy darkness where these hideous beasts reside...


... within.

9/11-20 Hindsight

dueler88

Anybody that has lived more than 5 years in the U.S. that reads or understands English knows the phrase “hindsight is 20-20.” The 9/11 Commission, their Report, and all of the Able Danger controversy swirling around it all deal in hindsight. Here’s a tip, one that I try to apply in my daily business life: I don’t care whose fault it is – the task still needs to be completed.


People on both sides of the aisle are all-too-eager to point fingers of blame. The Bush Administration was at fault. The Clinton Administration was at fault. Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe both.

I will tell you who was perhaps MORE at fault than any specific governmental agency or official, though: U.S. citizens.

Our leaders are placed where they are by us. They reflect our values, just as they should. Quite simply, there was no mandate for allowing military intelligence and law enforcement to work together. It had never occurred to average U.S. citizens that a militant religious group would want to stage suicide attacks in which they would kill as many Americans as possible. 60 years without a direct threat to one’s survival tends to make one forget about safety and security.

9/11/2001 was one of those turning points in American History where our fundamental concept of what we value changes. In a world where hundreds of thousands of people can be vaporized without warning in a split second it’s now easy to see that military intelligence and law enforcement should work together, that a more holistic approach to American defense is necessary. But such a thing simply hadn’t entered our minds; individual privacy was more important than group threat assessment. What we got for our lack of sociological foresight was over 3000 dead, human sacrifices at the altar of the god of Tolerance.

Before we point fingers at anybody else, especially political ones, we should first examine ourselves. What would have been the public reaction if the Patriot Act had been passed in 1998? You know the public would have screamed about privacy issues. Islamic Militants have been around a long time – we just didn’t want to take them seriously. Perhaps it was some updated, politically-correct version of prejudging “those poor third-world savages.”

Our policy of providing security for ourselves has been primarily reactive for the past 60 years. But times change – new circumstances force us to be proactive. We weren't psychologically or sociologically ready to address a threat to our survival, and we paid dearly for it.

I still don’t care whose fault it is – the task still needs to be completed.

Friday, August 12, 2005

What Is Being Left - A Camouflaging Cacophony...

Mr.Atos

Long has it been suggested by venues of Conservatism, that good news for America is bad news for the Left. If so, it has been an especially bad summer for what is being Left.

The
August Jobs Report was a great indicator of the Nation's economic improvement, showing that payrolls expanded by an additional 207,000 jobs. And in an additional demonstration that the tax cuts are effective, The New York Times reported sharp increases in revenues resulting from the tax cuts are expected to cut federal deficits.

In Iraq, despite endless press accounts of mayhem and carnage, there is
real success in. The Iraqi people are assembling ever closer to a culture of life and liberty as they progress from their first free elections to the drafting and ratification of their first real Constitution. Play it down if you dare, but it has the butchers worried.... as well as what is being Left.

There is a sense of collective surety that the U.S. will be hit again. Nevertheless, it has been a relatively quiet four years since we delivered expedient retribution to the malevolence that birthed the carnage of September 11th. In the aftermath of the London bombings, there is an increased sense of confidence in the Administration, the FBI, local law enforcement, and the Patriot Act to help disrupt the plans of groups like the
Portland 7 and the Cell from Lodi.

Personal investment is up. Interest rates remain low and first time home ownership is has bhit records. Inflation remains in check. And although fuel prices are high, the free market has been introducing efficient alternatives in terms of autos, appliances, resources and technologies steadily for the last few years.

This is all great news for America.

And then there is the real bad news for the Left. The President has one of possibly three new Supreme Court Justices nominated before the Senate, while
Air America is in BIG trouble, having misappropriated nearly 1 million dollars of public funds intended for poor kids and Alzheimer's patients.

New revelations regarding the 9/11 hijackers demonstrates a disturbing degree of negligence on the part of the
9/11 Investigation Commission and ultimately the Clinton Administration. The allegations beg a new twist to an old question: What did Clinton know and when did he/she know it?... What did Sandy Berger know, and why did he steal it? Quite possibly that was a memo with the words "Able Danger" scribble at the top, that he had shoved in his sock while pilfering evidence from the National Archives.

John Bolton has been appointed as United Nation's Ambassador, despite a Democrat filibuster of his certain confirmation. And speaking of the U.N., it is coming apart at the seems as allegations of corruption in the Oil For Food Program are being vindicated by prosecution. So, what did members of the U.N. know about Saddam and how much were they paid by him to hide it?

The Plame game is a abusted crap shoot, and the only person in danger of real prosecution is Joseph Wilson himself - for perjury before Congress. Remember Joe Wilson?... Valerie Plame's husband? he tried to load Leftist politics into the war on Terror and mislead the world about Saddam Hussein's real pursuit of atomic weapon's materials in Niger and elsewhere. And speaking of Saddam - that former despotic fascist butcher of Baghdad that had nothing to do with Al Quaeda and the 9/11 attacks.
Well, that's not exactly true either.

The AFL-CIO subdivided diluting much of its coordinated bargaining power. California is on the verge of comprehensive redistricting out of its one party monopoly. The Democrats lost another key election. The New York Times burned itself. Senator Dick Durbin lied to a reporter about Judge Roberts. Americans Coming Together (ACT) disbanded. And the
prospect Democrats in 2006 look dismall at best.

Give them credit. What is being Left refuses to yield before the undertaker's horse. They chose, in fact, to step under the wheels of it's cart. This week, the Left has begun to wire rhetoric into explosive disinformation faster than I.E.D. makers in Mosul; camouflaging defeat with a cacophony of hyberbole instead of human carnage.

NARAL has run a slanderous add on CNN concerning Supreme Court nominee, Judge John Roberts. Hollywood
flies off the handle bludgeoning the President as a facsist Nazi. An Anti-War Activist uses the death her son in Iraq to challenge the President's character and his credibility; even as her own proves bankrupt. ABC employs The Rolling Stones to embellish the NFL season with their new Fascist-America theme, while Hollywood gears up for a new season of America, Bush, and Christian bashing movies. And the fingers of the Old Busted Media continue to press life into dead issues.

For what is being Left, it has been an especially bad and busy week. Its been a hard one to follow as well, as the overwhelming cacophony of irrational insanity camouflages issues of great importance to the saner national discourse. And yet, is that not the intent since what is being Left is not interested in discourse? They simply demand to be heard... I say as the Friday drums of the Anti's in the steets of downtown Portland begin their defeaning racket outside. The worse they look the more they scream, "look at me!"

And the more they embrace their maniacal rage, the more good people evaporate away in genuine shame and sheer disgust, leaving only what is being Left... rage without reason.


Update:
If Cindy Sheehan is evidence of what is being Left, then surely The Anchoress points us to what is being Right. It is expressed in the words of Mohammed over at Iraq the Model responding to Mrs. Sheehan. You really must read it.

See Also:
What Is Being Left v.11.0
What Is Being Left v.10.0
What Is Being Left v.9.0
What Is Being Left v.8.0
What Is Being Left v.7.0
What Is Being Left v.6.0
What Is Being Left v.5.0
What Is Being Left v.4.0
What Is Being Left v.3.0
What Is Being Left v.2.0
What Is Being Left v.1.0