The Bertram Scudder Award - Olberman...

Mr.Atos

September 2006 - Bertram Scudder Award for Journalistic Malfeasance

And My Sandmen's first Bertram Scudder Award is bestowed on non other than Kieth Olberman of MSMNBC BFE REMF SOB for his petulant partisan tirades against President Bush and personal insult of fellow journalist, Chris Wallace of Fox News.

Like that of the original media misfit for which the honor is named, this award identifies the characteristic qualities of Rand's fictional portrayal of the modern figurative visage of an untidy figure slouched over a bar. Like that of Scudder of "The Future," his is not an expression of ideas but a bucket of slime emptied in pubic. This recipient indulges in tirades which do not contain a single fact, not even an invented one. Rather, he pours forth a stream of sneers and adjectives in which nothing is clear accept the filthy malice of denouncing without considering proof necessary.

Congratulations Keith! You are Bertram Scudder in the flesh.

And Sorry, Jack. Calamity Jack Cafferty of CNN BTW ROTFLOL BS MFG was our second runner up. Next month for sure, Jerk...I mean, Jack!

"Pardon Me!"

dueler88

A non-Bush-fan/centrist Republican professional colleague/friend just sent me the following email:

did you guys hear about this?

Bush is attempting to pardon himself and his administration for war crimes before congress is out of session

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoRjbIQMXGQ

[In the video, CNN’s Jack Cafferty launches a salvo at Bush that ends with this central question involving the current anti-terror legislation in congress: “Should congress pass a bill giving retroactive immunity to President Bush for war crimes?”]

The following was my response:

Beyond the labels that Jack is throwing out, the situation DOES make sense. When the Geneva conventions were crafted in the Westphalian nation-state context, terrorism wasn't a viable form of warfare. Now, however, because of the potential scale of terrorism, it is a viable debate about whether or not it should be seen as, and treated as, "warfare". So Geneva is obviously not able to address the current situation we're in. Is warfare by proxy, from either a nation-state or an ideological conglomeration, still warfare?

What the court decision did was throw the whole question of legal conduct from the executive branch to the legislative branch. Which I agree with. This should have been done a long time ago. The president should not be making laws, and we (our legislative representatives) really need to clarify how we (the executive branch) are to combat terrorism.

Which brings us to the legislation in question. The "retroactive pardon" thing sounds fishy on the surface, but we have been making things up as we go along since 9/11/01 because the situation is totally unprecedented. If I were in the president's shoes (regardless of my party affiliation), I sure wouldn't want to have somebody prosecute me, well after the fact, for making decisions that I felt were proper and legal in an unprecedented context of a real threat to national security. There were no clear rules of engagement that the executive could use in this situation - until now. As a basic issue, it would be like (to use the Schoolhouse Rock “I’m Just A Bill” example) prosecuting all of the school bus drivers that didn't stop at railroad crossings before the law requiring it was passed. A much more benign example, but you get my point.

To give a historical example: was it proper or legal for Roosevelt to order the internment of American citizens of Japanese ancestry? Proper, probably, but not necessarily legal. In hindsight, would it have been proper to prosecute Roosevelt for this and other potentially illegal (but proper in the context of warfare) acts, had he been alive at the end of the war? This question is perhaps much easier to answer than our current question because the country was undeniably at war, in the nation-state/Westphalian sense.

Vacuum Furnaces, Water Leaks and Bill Clinton

Major Mike

I got called into work at 0730 Saturday morning. I hate getting called into work, but it comes with the territory of being a Maintenance Manager.

First a little background on Titanium vacuum furnaces.

Vacuum furnaces are used in many casting applications to eliminate contaminates from the castings. Low vacuum…low amount of oxidants…low levels of contaminations…better parts. But melting metals in induction furnaces requires significant amounts of heat…heat generated by inducted electricity. In this particular furnace an enormous “stinger,” via a 20’ hollow metal tube, cooled internally by flowing water, holds an “electrode” of solid titanium. The electrode is lowered into a crucible that has an electrical coil wrapped about it, and the titanium is melted, much like the activity that would take place at the end of an enormous welding rod. The molten titanium is then poured into the ceramic mold. An aircraft engine part is made.

I was called into work, because over the course of Friday night we had to replace the stinger…a water leak outside of the vacuum areas of the furnace, but a water leak that, upon further investigation revealed a couple of fissures at the mount point of the stinger. The stinger was removed, the replacement was prepared.

I was called in.

At a critical point at the end of the “stinger” purified copper is “welded” to the steel “stinger.” This allows for a better flow of electricity into the business end of the “stinger.” The integrity of this weld is critical in keeping “stinger” cooling water out of the furnace. A failed weld leads to water into the furnace.

Water poses a couple of problems in vacuum furnaces. The first is…water will wreck vacuum, and degrade quality. H2O…Hydrogen, and Oxygen will be detected by the vacuum gauges, and potentially interrupt the pouring sequence as contaminate limits are exceeded. Fairly minor, but a quality problem nonetheless.

The second potential problem…explosions. If a large enough stream of water is able to make contact with, and penetrate the molten metal in the crucible…the hydrogen molecules will be separated from the oxygen molecules…and then, with the residual heat/spark provide the conditions needed to sustain combustion. Large and rapid combustion...a.k.a. explosion.

A few years ago…while I was working at another place…water and molten titanium met, and blew the roof off of the plant…sending pieces of the furnace and the plant into the surrounding neighborhoods. Employees are understandably sensitive about the condition of the stingers and the potential introduction of water into vacuum furnaces.

As my experienced team began to install the replacement stinger, they noticed some potential defects in the facing of the stinger…in the area where the copper is welded to the steel. I was called in to make “the call.”

We called in the vendor who had done the difficult welding (brazing actually). I paged my most experienced technicians. We got as much info as possible.

The vendor showed up…with the welder that had actually completed the work. Both could clearly recall the previous repair. Both could outline their procedures, and the depth of effort of which they had undertaken to met our complex need. They had contacted experts, detailed their procedures, and double-checked themselves along the way. They assured us that the weld was good, and the defects we were seeing, were very minor pass (welding passes) defects, that were exposed in the final machining of the stinger end.

My team and I moved on to the details of passing electricity through the minor defects and into the cooper end that ultimately transfers electricity into the titanium electrode. We felt that these defects would not noticeably affect the transfer of 40,000 amps of electricity into the electrode.

I…me…myself…the one and only…made the decision to install the stinger, and to resume production.

I was more than a little disappointed to have to pull that stinger today, as it was leaking small amounts of water into the furnace. There was a water leak, not along the areas of our concern, but no doubt along the weld line.

But, I didn’t blow a gasket…get a throbbing vein in my head…ramble on about the last person that blew up the furnace…or, trash a vendor who had made an honest effort at making a difficult repair.

I calmly explained to the department manager all that we had done, and where the new failure was actually located. This calm reassurance, let the manager know that we had done our utmost in resolving his initial problem.

We analyzed the situation, took in all the evidence, assembled a talented team, reviewed production requirements, and I made the call. I would make the same call again, and defend it…and I wouldn’t have to get red in the face in my defense. Sometimes, when presented with the best evidence, and given the best advice of experts, the cards still don’t fall where they are expected to.

But one thing that the Marine Corps taught me, and Bill Clinton should know as a former Commander-in-Chief, you MUST take responsibility for your command decisions, and that blaming others, shifting focus, lashing out, and spittling oblique accusations onto others, is not the way of a leader…but more the way of a self-centered, egotistical, legacy defender…and not the stuff that officers are made of…let alone Presidents.

We are changing out the stinger again this evening…I have not had to provide a red-faced, spittle-laced defense for my actions. It was recognized by all as the “command decision” it was. We may change our repair techniques, and/or our certification of stingers after repair, but I did not feel compelled to lash out at the department manager who is asked why he lost a day of production, I merely explained in calm detail what we had done. He simply asked for the fastest turnaround possible.

Our vendor is working through the night…my team is ready for the re-install, and no one lost their temper…let alone their dignity or their stature.

Physics, the Left, and the Democrat Party

Major Mike

Dean Barnett put up an excellent post yesterday, pointing out that the Daily Kos (Markos Moulitsas) is losing control of the rhetoric coming from the far left reaches of the normal left and from the spaceships of the far, far left. Dean’s point, which is on target, is that the gas-fired, hard left, is becoming impossible to control and as such, the venerated Kos, and others…Howard Dean, Pelosi, Reid… are losing control of the left-of-center left…and that this unabated wildfire of whacko off-target, off-message, and off-the-rocker rhetoric is wreaking havoc on the purity of messaging supporting the lefty-left agenda, and upsetting the possibilities for the fall elections along the way.

Great piece…read the whole thing.

The Kos is having to come to grips with some universal realities.

1. Physics applies to everyone. Newton’s Second Law of Motion:

"The relationship between an object's mass m, its acceleration a, and the applied force F is
F = ma. Acceleration and force are vectors (as indicated by their symbols being displayed in slant bold font); in this law the direction of the force vector is the same as the direction of the acceleration vector."

Those that have moved the center of the Democrat party to it current, left-of-center-left location always felt that they could control, stop the leftward drift, and relocate the nadir of the Party to a place of their choosing.

They have underestimated the lunacy of the far left, and over estimated their ability to control the mob induced left-drifting frenzy that Howard Dean, Kos, and other have induced into the left. Now that they have the body accelerating left…they are having difficulty stopping it to the spot of their choosing. When this happens, as Dean Barnett points out, the Kos claims to be agnostic and distances himself from the fray. Sorry, Kos this is of your doing, and this crowd belongs to you.

The key element of the equation is the “a,” or acceleration piece…there is still acceleration behind this movement, and thus increasing force. Until the Dems can tame the acceleration, they will remain out of control of their own party. When the Kos' and the Howard Deans step out of the way, the Democrat Party destined to contintue accelerating left with no one to stop it. Enjoy the ride.

2. Revolutions are tough to get a net on. Napoleon Bonaparte understood this.

"A revolution can be neither made nor stopped. The only thing that can be done is for one of several of its children to give it a direction by dint of victories."

Like our Physics lesson above, revolutions are difficult to control. Often those who initiate the events surrounding change and their visions, are left in the dust for a more radical finishing point. Russia 1917.

This is where the Dems find themselves…moving farther to the left than they have ever imagined, and not being able to slow the move to the Left down. The Lieberman/Lamont primary serves as the example…a good Dem thrown overboard because the leftward revolution moved beyond the control of the party, and now seemingly…Kos and the lefty-left gang.

3. Should the Dems ever stop the acceleration left, they will still have a lot of hurdles to overcome to make it back to the Truman, JFK left. Momentum explains this. I'll let The Physics Classroom do the ‘splaining…

"It is not enough to say that the ball has 10 kg*m/s of momentum; the momentum of the ball is not fully described until information about its direction is given. The direction of the momentum vector is the same as the direction of the velocity of the ball. In a previous unit, it was said that the direction of the velocity vector is the same as the direction which an object is moving. If the bowling ball is moving westward, then its momentum can be fully described by saying that it is 10 kg*m/s, westward. As a vector quantity, the momentum of an object is fully described by both magnitude and direction." (my emphasis)

In simple terms…the left would have to have an equal counter-swing to offset their movement to the far reaches of Leftdom. This counter-swing would have to be equal in size and intensity to counter the flow to the left. Imagine…this would require a huge swing right for a Party that is already around the bend of liberal thinking…doesn’t seem doable.

The Dems are losing control of their move to the left and consequently, will have a tough time regaining control of the messaging, and a more difficult time of re-gaining control of their party.

When the likes of Kos, step aside and let the party go rolling off the cliff, it is unlikely that those who didn’t understand the revolution, but got on board anyway…Reid, Pelosi, et. al.,…will grasp the situation soon enough to recognize that the point of no return has already been crossed.

Be prepared for a full on splintering of the Democrat Party…history and physics are working against it at this point.

And Your Little Dog, Too...

Mr.Atos

Surfing the web tonight, I could not help but notice the Yahoo lead story, as presented by ABC's Good Morning America, Macho Men, Small Dogs. "Lap dogs aren't just for ladies and socialites—tough guys are also toting toy-sized breeds."

The story begins by higlighting "Hutch," the former college football player, now owner of an 8lb Teacup Yorkshire Terrier name "Mazey." But, he's confident in his masculinity. The reporter proclaims there to be no more misconception about a big man with a little dog. Clearly he is confident and ready for committment. Toy breeds, they say, are the choice of so-called "Entertainment's" hunkiest of leading men, like P-diddy and Mickey Rourke.

... Cute!

Uh huh!

Get a cat fellas, and then a clue.

This is a real dog!

Leave it to the Old Busted Media to try to sell men on rodents as friends...

... like Democrats as courageous leaders, the UN as a legitimate world government, John Kerry as President, the French as a competent ally, and Jake Gyllenhaal as an admirable role model. I bet he has a rodent dog too.

Pardon me, but I will stick with the serious breeds.

Business Unsavvy in Oregon...Shock of Shocks

Major Mike

The Oregonian continuously demonstrates why newspapers are the business dinosaurs of our age. AGAIN (and before)…they subtly go about telling Nike how to run their business and spend their money.

Earlier this week Judge Gayle Nachtigal ruled that Beaverton’s actions during its ongoing lawsuit with Nike, regarding possible annexation of Nike into the city of Beaverton, were “inexcusable,” and found the city in contempt. Score a victory for the democratic process, and for transparency in government. Beaverton should have long ago suspended its fight with Nike and ceased in wasting the taxpayers’ money, but Mayor Drake’s idiotic insistence on confronting Nike, and confounding the legal process, has now led (?) the city to the point where they will have to pay $272,000 in document search costs, and will likely have to pay Nike’s legal fees.

All righteous in my mind.

Cities and corporations have the same obligations in our legal system as individuals. No mayor should be able to use the shield of their city government, or its financial resources, to operate outside the law. In this case, they continuously attempted to obfuscate their actions, and in doing so engaged a private entity in a drawn out, and expensive legal battle, that in the end, will have added zero value to either party. The city of Beaverton should pay the $272,000 AND Nike’s legal expenses.

BUT, as always happens in the People’s Republic of Oregon, the Oregonian decides today to act as the mediator, and they offer up a solution as to how this chapter should end. And, as before, they tell Nike how to spend their money.

In their lead editorial today (paper edition), the Oregonian supports the judge’s ruling and, in turn, admonishes Mayor Drake for being wasteful of the City of Beaverton’s resources, AND they slip in this little beauty…

“The judge also should order Beaverton to pay Nike's legal expenses. Then the company, having made its point, should turn around and contribute that sum to a suitable city project.”

I guessed they missed this item that also ran in today’s paper…

“Nike announced plans this morning to close its Wilsonville distribution center by the end of 2008, as it consolidates two footwear shipping operations into a new facility to be built near Memphis, Tenn.”

So, we have it again…the business savvy Oregonian, is asking Nike to either absorb $475,000 in unbudgeted legal fees and let an unrepentant Mayor Drake and the City of Beaverton off the hook for their misbehaving, or accept the legal fees and in turn, give the money right back to the city in the form of some gift of Nike’s choosing…right at the time that Nike is announcing the future layoffs of some 250 employees in the Wilsonville Footwear Distribution facility.

This is why Oregon and the Oregon political mindset don’t get business…contrary to popular belief here…money doesn’t just roll into businesses…it has to be earned. And once that money is earned, it is generally budgeted for a …get this…business purpose. When unbudgeted items arise, some other portion of the business receives less money, or the bottom line, and potentially the company’s market value is negatively affected.

Wouldn’t it be better for all parties for Nike to take the $475,000 and spend it towards the transitions that will have to occur for the 200+ employees that are going to be displaced in Wilsonville?

Until the Oregonian, and state and local governments can quit viewing Oregon businesses as cash cows, Oregon will continue to be looked at as business unfriendly.

Ask yourself, why is there only one Fortune Five-hundred company in Oregon? It is because, apparently, few people at the Oregonian, and few people in Oregon government have heard the fable of the goose that laid golden eggs. It seems neither entity has the understanding of how businesses operate, and how they budget and spend their monies.

It is long past time for the Oregonian to stop telling Nike how to spend its money…when they become a Fortune Five-hundred company, maybe someone will listen, until then…they stay off the field…they are way out of their league.

In the interest of full disclosure...I am a Nike stockholder.

What Is Being Left - The Cannibal's Curse...

Mr.Atos

Even as the extreme Left descends into a dangerous state of veritable insanity, there remains a complacent degree of false security among Americans regarding the threat posed by this enemy of Western Civilization; not unlike that of Dec 6th 1941, or September 10th, 2001. This chimera of security is founded on the belief that the Left is, by nature, passive and docile, and that they despise guns and violence even more than Walmart. I submit to you that, that naive and myopic assumption is both false and dangerous. And given the threat at hand to Western civilization in the dawn of the 3rd milennium, can we ignore the embrace by what is being Left of violent means?...

violent men...

and violent intolerance

!

As crazy as it seems, in the midst of daily bloodshed at the hands of Muslim butchers and in the aftermath of a 5-year wave of continuous mass murder, Rosie ODonnel and Bill Maher and the rest of what is being Left are trying desperately to convince the world that Christainity and Judaism pose a more dangerous threat to humanity than radical Islam. But, perhaps there is more method to their madness. Frontpage Mag reported last week on members of an American Leftist group travelling abroad to train and fight with Islamic terrorist organizations,

... As a front group for Palestinian terrorists, the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) sends young people from all over the world to the training fields of the West Bank and Gaza to learn from terrorists and to aid them logistically. Stop the ISM has now obtained photographs of ISM leaders and organizers holding AK-47 assault rifles. The images show some of the ISM women disguised as Jews living in the West Bank and in the company of an Al Aksa Martyrs Brigade terrorist.

'Unfortunately, neither U.S. Homeland Security nor the Israeli security agencies have to date regarded the ISM as a serious threat. Some of these ISM people in these photos managed to escape; nevertheless, arrests have been made, and more are forthcoming.

In April 2003, Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that "ISM members take an active part in illegal and violent actions against IDF soldiers. At times, their activity in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip is under the auspices of Palestinian terrorist organizations." The ISM always tries to maintain the veneer of a “peace group”; however, ISM founders Adam Shapiro and his wife, Huwaida Arraf, and Norcal ISM’s leader Paul LaRudee, a man who Stop the ISM recently succeeded in getting deported from Israel as a security threat, began revealing their true colors recently by going to Lebanon to act as “human shields” for the Hezbollah.'

ISM activist Joseph Smith, alias Joseph Carr, has called the Faisal Youth Hostel “ISM headquarters” in Jerusalem. Carr was involved in the death of Rachel Corrie. Smith/Carr tours US colleges to drum up new ISM recruits. Two of his acolytes with the ISM from St. Louis, Missouri -- Magan Wiles and Jennifer Presson -- are also under scrutiny by the Israeli security services.

Wiles and Presson were both recruited in a Social Justice Studies class by St. Louis University professor Mark Chmiel. Chmiel encourages his students as part of his courses to conduct what he calls “insertions” to aid Palestinian irredentists. (He also has a previous arrest record.)

There are some things absolutely anathema to the collective subconcious of humanity; cannibalism for instance. There is an immense barrier within the human psyche which prevents the consumption of human flesh. One simply will not eat it… unless conditions exist that are so extreme as to force one to penetrate the barrier. Starvation, compulsion, insanity are among a few. Niven and Purnell probe this condition in the post-cataclysmic novel, Lucifer's Hammer. Students of history know too well, of the gruesome events in Donner Pass in 1847. Jeffrey Dahmer certainly demonstrated the insane figment of this forbidden desire. Few ancient cultures praticed cannibalism in ritual, and those that did, were demonized accordingly. Nevertheless, as cursed as the behavior is, once the barrier is penetrated and the flesh consumed, the subsequent dehumanization that follows turns the primordial revulsion into an insatiable hunger.

The barriers of value and virtue have already dropped voluntarily from the psyche of what is being Left. There is hatred bubbling (simply review my previous installments). As much as violence seems to be anathema to the 'peaceful' Left, some are clearly willing to indulge distasteful means, to achieve their desired ends. What is being Left will eventually penetrate the barrier of violence. And they will like it.

Originally, I submitted to you that as "more 'good' citizens evaporate from Liberalism and the Democrat party, all that will be left is the filth... that which is untreatable, not compatible, will go nowhere else..... and stinks unbearably of rot and decomposition. What is being Left is a toxic poison that is attempting to feed itself to humanity... by force."

Now, as I consider my previous assessment, clearly it also describes the current state of radical Islam, does it not? Is it any wonder that these two groups are realizing a certain sense of fraternity, in their common hatred of Western Civilization?!
(modified for clarity 09.21.06)


See Also...
What Is Being Left v.18.0
What Is Being Left v.17.0
What Is Being Left v.16.0
What Is Being Left v.15.0
What Is Being Left v.14.0
What Is Being Left v.13.0
What Is Being Left v.12.0
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

Finding Agility In The GWOT

Major Mike

Last week on the Hugh Hewitt Radio Program, during his show with Cyrus Nowraseth (writer/producer) and Prosanna Puwananrajah (actor), participants in the ABC series “The Path to 9/11,” Hugh asked a question…part a pondering, part a rhetorical question, and part a solicitation for an answer…

“Why do we seem like a bunch of ineffectual suits stuck in a box fighting this war on terror?” …or words to that effect.

It is a question worth asking. And it is a question worth answering, for indeed, we often appear hamstrung, plodding, and mechanical in our approach to fighting the GWOT.

The first part of the answer lies in the difference in the level of how much humanity that each side is willing to acquiesce in the fighting of this war.

All wars are inhumane, although not inhuman. I believe we have demonstrated, our current level of social sophistication not withstanding, that the human race is a warring race, and that very few cultures within humanity are able to establish and sustain a peaceful existence within their own societies, and a peaceful co-existence with their neighbors. Truly, humans have been warring since the beginning.

Over time, our abject brutality has waned, and our penchant for warring without cause, has almost evaporated. Yet the inhumanity of war remains.

We have created international structural conventions that ineffectually hope to mitigate the inhumanity of war. These conventions almost invariably fail, even in modern times, as the cost of fighting a collateral-damage-free-war, or caring for prisoners, or for patiently extracting information from prisoners, becomes cost prohibitive or unsustainable for one party or the other…invariably leading to one side fulfilling its obligations under such treaties, and the other side invariably not. Typically, as the nation with the most resources, we find ourselves fighting under such arbitrary conventions while our enemies do not.

In the GWOT, not only do our enemies not possess the resources to follow such conventions, but following such conventions would directly conflict with their accepted methodologies and their ultimate objectives. The imparting of fear into their victims requires terrorists to achieve, in today’s day and age, a level of inhumanity unimagined by most civilized people. It is the depth of their inhumanity that facilitates their methodologies.

We fear their beheadings. They do not fear our prisons. They have freed themselves from the bonds of civility, and therefore, since their operations are often unimaginable to the rest of us…they appear more nimble, more agile…they aren’t, they are just operating outside of the range of our civil imaginations. They, as defined by their methodologies, are as inhumane and inhuman as possible. We restrict ourselves from plunging to their level, so necessarily, they have more weapons, and more tactical options open to them than we have, heretofore imagined.

To begin to gain ground with the hard core terrorists, we must cease fearing him, and open our mind further…seeing the “unimaginable scenario” as not only possible, but as likely. And then, we must have the will to take the steps necessary to defend ourselves against the “unimaginable scenario,” for if we fail to do so, we will certainly look slow, doltish, and indecisive.

Secondly our political class as a whole IS becoming feckless. They fear bad press. They cater to good feelings and the collegial nature of the institutions they serve. They follow polls like dogs follow a scent. They are wedded to their offices rather than to the good of the nation. The combination of these factors is logarithmic in its effect of slowing our government and paralyzing our options against a modern and ruthless foe.

A sloth moves at lightspeed compared to the ineffectual nature of our legislative branch.

Complimenting this degradation of our strategic and tactical efforts, is the never-ending stream of Congressional Hearings and Oversight Committee blatherings about the most nuanced mistakes in either the running of the war, or the state of our defenses.

This kind of micro-management, by self-serving and shortsighted political opportunists, would set any well meaning government servant, uniformed or not, on his/her heels and diminish our agility in spades. Second-guessing, back-biting, and scapegoating is enough to kill the earnest initiative required to fight this fight. We’re not un-nimble, but initiative is paralyzed by our fear of political backlash, party abandonment, and public character lynching.

Is it any wonder that we seem paralyzed when we are fighting against an enemy that has no such concerns?

Third, we are fighting within a framework that doesn’t apply to the enemy. Our Constitution, by design, slows our speed of action and limits our tactics. Our triangulation of power provides for a system of checks and balances that ensures civil liberties, but more importantly, ensures the longevity of our nation. Widely recognized as overwhelmingly good, these checks and balances, with their constant ebb and flow in play in the courts, strain our agility in a fast moving, multi-dimensional combat that requires both speed and imagination.

Publicly exposing, then bogging down the NSA international phone call surveillance program and the banking records analysis program in our courts, disarms some of our asymmetric warriors, and renders their fruitful programs ineffective out into the future. Once we begin to strip away the weapons from our warriors, in favor of extending or protecting non-existent rights to our enemies, of course we are going to look ineffectual an lethargic.

Remember, our enemy is bound by no such political constraints, and he is certainly not bound by any established governmental values or norms. Combine this with his inhuman nature, and he is fighting a completely unrestrained fight, while we are fighting with a considerable load of constraints and limitations.

A boxer will look oafish and ineffectual against a smaller, up-armored, martial arts expert who is free to use all of their weapons and skills, when the boxer must fight according to established boxing standards.

Lastly, sometimes we have the wrong people appointed to the wrong leadership positions in this country. Sadly, sometimes we are led by the weak and ineffectual. Sometimes our leaders grow into and mature with their jobs, and sadly, sometimes they don’t. Poor leadership will always result in indecisiveness amongst subordinates, and poor performance in the field.

A poorly lead, large force, can be made to look ridiculous by a smaller force for an extended period of time, but a coalesced unit (country) can absorb some attacks, and recover to deal a lethal blow.

Specifically, we must:

Have the will to fight a sustained war against an inhumane and ruthless enemy. This will take the grit and determination of all of our citizens.
Elect leaders worthy of our votes.
Reward risk taking and avoid blaming.
Allow our government to work secretly where required, and empowered by a Constitutional interpretation that adds agility to our fight, not detracts from it.
Unite as a country, even if on this one issue.
Use the Congressional affirmation process of key nominees, less as a political lynching, and more of a job interview; encouraging qualified leaders to enter governmental service, and avoiding feckless opportunists who seem to populate the ranks of these positions.
Keep victory on the horizon…it is achievable.

Going forward we must view the speed and agility of government as crucial weapons in the GWOT, for we are too easily outmaneuvered if we don’t. We must aggressively press our enemy on all fronts…public relations, financing, political, tactical engagement, strategic thinking, and active defense, in order to come to a day where we can live without fear.

This is a battle of good versus evil. It is a battle of the humane against the inhuman. It is a battle to determine what civilization will look like in fifty years. We, and our institutions, must be determined enough, and agile enough to win.

9/11 Tribute - Christopher S. Epps...

This is the tribute of My Sandmen to all the victims of 9/11, and one in particular...

Christopher S. Epps

One of 2,996 Tributes to the Victims of 9/11

Christopher S. Epps, age 29. Resident of New York City, and employed by Marsh & McLennan Cos. Inc., Chris met his fate in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Like those killed in Honolulu on Dec. 7, 1941, Chris was not merely a victim of evil aggression. His life is a monument to American exceptionalism, for which he was subject to assassination by insignificant little men who were in themselves not worthy of his being, nor in the whole of their movement, not equal to his singular virtue. His name shall be remembered beyond that of his inconsequential butchers, for ultimately his life mattered to us... and theirs mattered to no one.

See Also...

MMI Memorial Page
Voices of September 11th
September 11th Victims
United in Memory (Quilt)

2,996 is a tribute to the victims of 9/11.
On September 11, 2006, 2,996 volunteer bloggerswill join together for a tribute to the victims of 9/11.Each person will pay tribute to a single victim.
We will honor them by remembering their lives,and not by remembering their murderers.

The New WTC: Guilt or Optimism?

dueler88

Gothamist has a story about the new designs for the other buildings at the World Trade Center site.



Most critics will call attention to the specifics of each design. But my biggest problem is the continued inclusion of the gaping holes where the Twin Towers used to stand.

Such a parti is for a people that are obsessed with guilt and loss. It is not for a people that are full of optimism and has visions of a better future.

We should build right on top of those gaping holes - rebirth and optimism rising from the ashes of disaster. But not until we destroy the enemy, win the war, and have the opportunity to rediscover the boundless optimism brought by the victory of Liberty over Tyranny.

But what do i know? I'm just your friendly neighborhood architect.

Making My Own Predictions

Major Mike

***Update: Welcome Hugh Hewitt visitors. The Clinton Adminsitration Flounders are making my appointment to the Colorado State University Hurricane Forecasting Team (CSUHFT) an almost certainty...CNN covers me on 4 of 10 predictions, and the show hasn't even aired yet. With my record, I'll be predicting hurricanes in no time. ***

I am sure this clarification by the network will soothe the Clintoneers...

"Adjustments and refinements" are "intended to make clearer that it was general indecisiveness" by federal officials that left the country vulnerable to terrorist attacks, "not any one individual," the paper quoted the executive as saying. (my emphasis)

...not sure how that helps...I guess it allows the Clintontonians to blame faceless government robotons, rather than accepting the responsibility that comes with running this country. I guess there is more to being President than ensuring that the Lincoln bedroom is prepared for the next campaign donor.

"...general indecisiveness...that left the country vulnerable to terrorists attacks..." that sticks to the shoe like a combination of bubble gum and dog poop. Good luck with getting that off...I heard peanut butter helps.

***Update: The Clintionian Criers are already hitting the airwaves...why so defensive? So far I have the solid potential for going at least 2 for 10 (potential CSUHFT material)...Sandy Berger and Madeline Albright are already coming through for me. ***

Hugh Hewitt proved yesterday why he is the best in the talk show business. His guests yesterday, Cyrus Nowrasteh (writer/producer) and actor Prosanna Puwananrajah, from the upcoming TV mini-series “The Path to 9/11,” and Hugh’s interview, covering of the breadth of the project, were stunning.

I was taken by the completely apolitical nature of their comments, and their calm and steady referencing of the best established facts about the 9/11, and the events leading up to it. The Congressional 9/11 Report is the basis for the movie, and their responses to Hugh’s many questions surrounding 9/11 often brought them back to that reference document. (Remember…this is the document lauded by the Dems as the smoking gun for the Bush Administration’s ineptness leading up to the catastrophe of 9/11). And, in those cases where events pre-dated the plotting behind the 9/11 killings, they adequately covered their answers with references to “the best evidence available.” In the end, they were calmly persuasive about the series’ allegiance to the truth, and their commitment to a neutral, non-partisan presentation of the history surrounding the tragedy that is 9/11.

Simply put, they are to be believed.

Which leads me to this post.

I called into the show yesterday, praising the guests and warning of the “prancing” that would occur on Monday and Tuesday of next week by the Clinton apologists, and the historical graffiti artists that will begin their defense of Clinton, and their predictable attack of the show. Without having seen the show…I, the Great Karnac, will make the following predictions about next week…( I know I was down on predictions last week, but that was soooo last week)…

1. Madeline Albright will be on about fifty shows each day “not remembering it happening like that,” or words to that effect.
2. Sandy Berger will be on about ten shows insisting he has never slammed downa phone in his life.
3. Hillary Clinton will visit a women’s shelter and avoid all comment.
4. Michael Moore will write an overly wordy, and vulgar review of the movie completely ignoring all of the established facts of the 9/11 Commission Report, and referencing only his own, fact-less movie "Fahrenheit 9/11."
5. The lefty blogosphere will try to, in an effort to reign in everyone else’s freespeech and access to information, jam internet search and messaging services with negative or counter messaging. Oh, this has already happened…see below.
6. Bill Clinton will say repeatedly…”We never had a clear and certain opportunity to take out bin Laden.”
7. Jimmy Carter will be on about three shows showing little knowledge of the facts surrounding 9/11, but he will blame America in some fashion.
8. The depth of the Clintonian attempts to influence the editing of the film WILL become public, and this will be more damaging to Bill and Hillary than the actual Clinton Administration failures leading up to 9/11.
9. All of the Dem leaders in the House and Senate will decry the movie as rightwing propaganda.
10. Serious Americans will view this movie and begin to sort out which party is serious about defending us and our institutions…next week’s polls will bounce in the GOP’s favor.

I now there are many out there caterwauling because I am making predictions on the heels of my lambasting the Colorado State University Hurricane Forecasting Team, but I feel that if I even get half of these right, I can continue predicting to my heart’s content, or I could at least get a job at CSU.

I urge you, watch the movie, and remember;

1. This movie was made in Hollywood, and conservatives are not the ones trying to interfere with post-production editing.
2. The conservatives in the blogosphere are only urging readers to view the movie and draw their own conclusions…the left is trying to skew, and jam, the access to information regarding the facts about the movie.
3. His basis for the script in the movie was the 9/11 Commission Report itself, and other relevant and substantiated documents for events prior. As a mechanism for guiding the factual storytelling, there lacks a better, more neutral, compass.
4. Some Bush Administration officials may not be portrayed in a favorable light, and indeed some may appear inept…it is for us to judge in the next election cycle who would best fill these difficult, and critical, positions of leadership out into the future…the GOP, or the backpedaling Clintonian Dems.
5. Although this is a movie…it will be, indeed, a depiction of how a determined and sophisticated enemy is engaging us, even if involuntarily on our part, in a global war for our country and our values…do not miss the direness of this point.

Congratulations to Hugh for a superb show yesterday, and to all those great bloggers out there supporting the truth, and fighting the disinformation campaign.

Visions of Die Sturm - Kristallnacht, Google Style...

Mr.Atos

Smashed windows, vandalized property, burned books... these were the physical remnants of the original Kristallnacht, when Die erste Sturm descended on humanity with the fury of their convictions, and their prejudices. Now the folks at the Democratic Underground intend to the show the world a redux of sorts, Google-style, as they prepare a mass Google-bombing campaign against ABC's 9/11 docu-drama, "The Path to 9/11," ... (HT: Michelle Malkin)

To counteract the effects the ABC 9-11 movie could have on the midterm elections, I recommend this course of action:

The night of, and the morning after, people will be hitting the internet looking for information on the events as depicted in this movie.

Our biggest opportunity will be to have nearly identical blog posts waiting, then submit them to be found internet wide the morning after the movie. Google and Technorati will pick up on these posts quickly. We can make these entries dominate the first several pages of the search engines.

MAKE SURE THE POST TITLE HAS THE TITLE OF THE MOVIE IN IT!

Get every Democratic friendly blog on board as possible... you e-mail the ones you know, they'll e-mail the ones they know, etc. Make SURE these blogs are on the Technorati network and have also been submitted to Google's blog search.

For one day, change the title of your blog to the title of the movie.

Agree on a clear, detailed, and sourced body of information -- I've seen several examples on DU lately disputing what is in the movie. Media Matters has one. One was posted today on DU by Richard Clarke.

Everyone post it. Right after the movie is over or the next morning at the latest.

MAKE SURE THE POST TITLE HAS THE TITLE OF THE MOVIE IN IT!

So afraid is the Left of the power of this episode of television docu-drama to persuade, they will engage in a sort of digital riot and rampage to flush all remnants of the events depicted deep down their orwellian memory hole.

The courage of conviction of what is being Left is clearly on display here, such that it can and will allow no dialogue on any subject. No challenging viewpoint will be invited to penetrate their echo chambers. No ideas will be permitted to flow anywhere, save their own... on this or any subject not approved of by Die Sturm.

Obviously this effort on the part of what is being Left, September 10th and 11th, to censor information, filter historical content, and destroy inconvenient truths, pales in comparison to the events of November 9th and 10th of 1938. But ask yourselves, Democrats... what is the difference between burning books in 1938 and sabotaging search engines in 2006? Is not the intent similar if not the exact same? Honesty will tell you it is.

And don't think we dont know now that what is being Left practices this procedure currently if not frequently. The method appears to be well tuned. So, where does it end? A calm, rational, and honest discourse?

Or Die neue Sturm?

See Also:
Visions of Die Sturm - Targeting Soldiers...
Visions of Die Sturm...
Visions of Die Sturm - A Kos For Alarm...
Visions of Die Sturm - A Frisch Dose of Hate...
What Is Being Left - Sturmabteilung ...

The Ultimate Darwin...

Mr.Atos

As much as we'd like to convey sorrow in this sad situation, we must admit that nature has prevailed with the last laugh. For how many time have we all asked... "why would anyone do such a thing?!" Sadly, however, the Crocodile Hunter has been killed...

CAIRNS, Australia - Steve Irwin, the hugely popular Australian television personality and environmentalist known as the "Crocodile Hunter," was killed Monday by a stingray while filming an underwater documentary on the Great Barrier Reef. He was 44.

Irwin was killed by a stingray barb to the heart on Batt Reef, off the remote resort town of Port Douglas in northeastern Queensland state, his wildlife park Australia Zoo said in a statement.Barb to the heart.

In Texas, we know the danger of stepping on those malevolent beasts and getting an horrific surprise to the heal. But, the heart?... what in God's name was he doing with it?!

He is survived by his American wife Terri, from Eugene, Ore., and their daughter Bindi Sue, 8, and son Bob, who will turn 3 in December.

Our heartfelt sympathies are extended to his wife and children. As insane as he was, Irwin's adventures were, nevertheless, always entertaining...

... and now ever more enlightening.

The Butcher's Manifesto...

Mr.Atos

The Butcher's of Islam have delivered their latest manifesto...

Convert Or Die! (HT. Michelle Malkin)

... to which we replay in sagely American fashion, "Go Fock Yourselves!"

Normally, we like to circumvent the temptations of vulgarity here; profanity being the refuge of the imbecilic (ie. The Democratic Underground). Yet sometimes, there is but one way to say a thing and convey perfect meaning! So there you go, Adam Gadahn. Bend over and have at it, if you're able. I submit, you're not even manly enough to satisy yourself, much less the appetite of a single virgin, thereby leaving 69 other stygian whores of Mohammed frustrated and angry... and one just terminally perplexed, you miserable excuse for a man.

And that goes for the rest of you fascist Nancy's!

Prediction...schmridiction

Major Mike

Back in June I mocked the Colorado State University Hurricane Forecasting Team for making a prediction of any kind, but now they come back and make another, revised prediction...their second since the season began the First of June. Don't look for the original CNN link...it has been disabled, but this newest prediction now..."forecasts" ...

"...calling for a slightly below-average year, with only five hurricanes instead of the seven previously forecast."

Remember their original "prediction" (forecast...guess...ouijied-induced wag (wild ass guess)...completely unscientific estimate) called for 9 Hurricanes and 17 named storms. Their first, intermediate stab-at-a-revision called for 7 Hurricanes and 12-15 named storms. And now we are down to their hunch of five Hurricanes.

I don't know how much we are spending on Hurricane research in Colorado (does this make sense?), but I don't feel we are getting our monies' worth. They have issued a downward revision of about 50% of their original, flawed "prediction." I am not a statisical guru, but I sense this rate of accuracy likely takes them out of the realm of "credible" and puts them into the milieu of "psychic."

We are halfway through the Hurricane season, and thankfully the CSU tarot card readers have been grossly wrong, but I suspect, rather than packing it in for any more guesses this season, they will be making predictions (guesses, stabs, conjectures) up until November 30th. And then, by God, they might finally get close.

Spare us the publicity grabbing, nonsensical, fallacy-based, faulty, grossly incorrect, predicitions, and find something useful to do with the grant money. At this point the CSU team is simply a bunch of incorrect, snobbish, scientific bores.

If I had their track record, I wouldn't be making predictions... I'd be in seclusion.

The Lingering Ghosts of Beslan...

Mr.Atos

Blogger Sirius reminds us that today is the 2nd anniversary of the massacre at Beslan. (HT. Michelle Malkin). He does so with pictures, and nothing touches a father's nerves more than the pictures of dead, bloody children the age of his own, sprawled about. I urge that you look at your own risk for first there is a sense of plunging sorrow, as if it is your own. Yet upon realization, the sorrow is multiplied by numbers and transferred empathetically among the unknown parents of those slain children. Then it begins to turn to rage, at the realization of just how easily they could be your own... this very afternoon, tomorrow or next week.

And as it turns personal, so then does it become political as I recall that the Democrats' and the Left's inane approach to security and diplomacy through the nineties ultimately yielded the massacres at Beslan, Madrid, the attacks in London, New York, and Washington,D.C.; just as they might surely yield a repeat of Beslan, right here in Portland, Oregon or Austin, Texas if in November, this Nation once again blinds its eyes and lends the Democrats anywhere, even a fragment of power to project a repeating approach to misery and tragedy.

At the time, I wrote...

... Most mothers and fathers there [are] not spared the horror of loss with a similar blow to their skull. Their blow comes each morning anew as waking lights the flickering memory of a smile dashed out of existence by Islamic fascist butchers. Like it or not, we are again and in fact, engaged in a struggle for existence on the frontiers of civilization with brutal savages that would just as soon dash the head of our infants against a rock, as they would shoot them in the back, burn them alive, or shred them with shrapnel by the hundreds. And regardless of the inability of some to see beyond their own sophomoric delusions,the consequences of error are real and final. The ghosts of ...Beslan will join with those of Manhattan, and Madrid, or even Seattle, Dallas, LA, Des Moines, Columbus, Pittsburg, Portland, and perhaps even London and Paris as grim reminders that capitulation to terror is an invitation to slaughter.

Capitulation to this is simply not an option. And yet capuitulation to the butcher's of Beslan is a fundamental aspect of the Democrat's agenda should they win control of the House or Senate, or both simply by means of intellectual default. For they see no threat in the world, save George Bush, Republicans, and American exceptionalism, and therefore they have no plan for the future beyond the acquistion of power. As long as they continue to project the suicidal agenda of the world's fringe Left, any victory for Democrat's this November is, therefore a capitulation to this...

...and an invitation for more of it.