Get Out!

Mr.Atos

What if a mob broke into your home and demanded of you that you supply them with room and board for the rest of their lives? Would you do it?

And if so, would you do it out of charity?... or fear? In either case, would your sacrifice be a noble gesture? ... for you or for them?

And what about your neighbors? Upon seeing that you had abandoned a key aspect of your constitution on demand, other mobs begin bursting into their homes demanding similar attention and sanctuary of your neighbor, for the rest of their lives... your life, your liberty, and your property, your ability rendered wholely subservient to their needs on demand.

Thomas Sowell has a tremendous piece today, over at Real Clear Politics, in which he identifies the the nature and extent of my tolerance for the issue of illegal immigration,

Activists who are organizing mass marches and demonstrations in cities across America may well be congratulating themselves on the huge numbers of people they can get to turn out to protest efforts in Congress to reduce illegal immigration.

No doubt that will impress many in the media and intimidate many politicians. But how these marches will be seen by millions of other Americans is another question entirely. The Mexican flags and the strident assertions of a right to violate American laws are a danger signal to this society, as they would be to any society.

The releasing of children from schools to take part in these marches and the support of the marchers' goals by some religious leaders demonstrate that this contempt for the laws of the land has spread well beyond immigrant communities.

Emphasis has been added by me to Sowell's point in order to stress our congruity, since the ongoing and escalating spectacle has certainly engaged both the Citizens' attention and our anxiety. Indeed the marches have begun to effect the opposite reaction in Americans from that desired - assuming that the goal was ever to actually foment compassion and solidarity. Noting some banners in on display at this week's rallies, it is reasonable to conclude the goals of the masses of aroused invaders are not exactly those of the organizers of this media charade. And yet on both accounts, Americans are disgusted with an intent to influence the Nation's socio-political mechanisms that bypasses the popular will of its's actual Citizens. Furthermore, as Sowell warns,

Some free-market advocates argue that the same principle which justifies free international trade in commodities should justify the free movement of people as well. But this ignores the fact that people have consequences that go far beyond the consequences of commodities.Commodities are used up and vanish. People generate more people, who become a permanent and expanding part of the country's population and electorate.

It is an irreversible process -- and a potentially dangerous process, as Europeans have discovered with their "guest worker" programs that have brought in many Muslims who are fundamentally hostile to the culture and the people that welcomed them.

Unlike commodities, people in a welfare state have legal claims on other people's tax dollars and expensive services in schools and hospitals, not to mention the high cost of imprisoning many of them who commit crimes.

Getting back to the analogy... what then is the benefit to your family and the condition of your community in allowing anyone, stranger or otherwise, to make demands of sacrifice of you and your neighbors? Of course this fits well with the mentality of What Is Being Left and their collectivist mission. And it certainly does well to explain why marxist groups like ANSWER, and the International Socialist Organization have been most active in organizing these so-called 'immigration rallies.' It also explains the oral and graphic messages purveyed by protesters and their supporters, as recorded by Michelle Malkin. But, do their goals respect your recognized sovereignty? Do not their needs place demands on your abilities? Does their reward of blanket amnesty from ours laws place them next to you as a law-abiding citizens... or above you as ignored criminals?

This Nation and the liberty it affords has flourished by cultivating opportunity not dependence. And opportunity begins with responsibility. Granted, conditions in Mexico and other degenerate thugocracies may be detrimental to life and prosperity. Yet, the liberty and opportunity afforded by America can only exist with the mutual respect of her people and the ruthless objectivity of her laws. Citizenship, therefore cannot begin with the abject rejection of both.

We're all, afterall, the sons and daughters of immigrants; with the exception of some Amerind peoples, and their's is no purity even to that claim. The idea of the American "Melting Pot" is still warm in the minds of most adults, whom still know tales of their ancestry as passed down from parents and grandparents. So, when the issue of immigration reform arose again, as it has for the second time in my lifetime, I was luke warm on the subject. Given Welfare reform, Healthcare reform, Social Security privatization, School vouchers, and Voting reform, I'm perfectly willing to allow America to remain the beacon of hope for any and all who wish to realize and extend the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity... albeit within the common confines of legal propriety.

Yet after weeks of demands by the illegal immigrant community upon my government - NOT THEIR GOVERNMENT - but mine, and me, to extend to them rights above and beyond my own and that of my children, I have but two words for the chanting masses of alien criminals and their domestic supporters, "Get Out!"

If you don't care to respect my fundamental sovereignty, then...


Get the hell out of my House!

America at War

Major Mike

Hugh Hewitt turned us on to the Chapman University symposium asking the question..."Are We At War?" To me this is a question that is unceccesary; the blind could see the answer . Then I had to ask myself...why is this question even being asked? While I was not able to participate in the symposium, it did get me to think ...less about whether we WERE at war?...and more about, how could we even think we were not at war?

Then it came to me...we are no longer used to being at war. In fact, in our history, we have usually been involved in very short wars. So I have come to believe that the general public, which has little understanding about how wars are actually fought, has a decreasing tolerance for the fighting of wars...no matter how inportant they are to our ultimate survival.

Our most protracted "successful" war was, indeed, our War for Indepencence. Even then, the war that set us on our eventual course of becoming the preeiminent political society that the world has ever known, there were wafflers, detractors, and traitors. Yet, the strength and beliefs of those in the field...enduring hardships unimmaginable today, is the only thing that kept us on course to win our democracy and our freedoms. Left to the public at large,the towel would have been tossed from the corner early in the conflict. It was the will of strong men, with strong beliefs that eventually carried the day...not the panderings of self-serving monarchists, nor the maneauverings of political "astute" apeasers who would have sold their souls for additional holdings granted from the king. It was the will of those in the field, fueled by their vision of the future, that carried the day.

How did that will become so diminished with so much at stake?

I think it is simple...we have come to take the capabilities of those that we send into combat for granted. We have come to expect that all wars, regardless of the obvious differences in their causes, required strategies, and desired outcome MUST be concluded within a very short period of time...whether it is strategically or tactically possible or not.

Evidence our own Civil War. With the future of the Republic at stake, Lincoln was reviled for his stubborness to stick with the execution of the war. Bloody war protests in the North highlighted our lack of tolerance and will...even when the very fabric or the the Republic was at stake. Hundreds of thousands were willing to sacrifice the Union to avoid the draft and splinter the Republic in favor of their own very limited, personal objections and objectives.

Even though that war, while not expertly fought, only lasted a shade over four years, the public had grown impatient of the effort, regardless of the ultimate objective. This is possibly the most instructive instance in our history...the impatient public was willing to sacrifice the Republic, and all its good, because four years was too much of an investment to make to preserve the democracy.

From WWI, a war where our participation lasted just over a year, we came to believe in our ability to influence the fight with only a modest commitment of our national resources and an even smaller investment in time and manpower.

From WWII we learned that our industrial might, our natural resources, our population, and our drive could end a "World War," and that we could do so in a little over three and a half years. We were not prepared for what came next.

We were late to understand war in the nuclear age, and could not grasp the counter-intuitive nature of "limited" war in Korea. Our greatest general had to be fired because he failed to fully understand the paradigm shift that had occured in four short years. Still we managed some impressive victories. But we continued to be fooled by the idea that our wars could always be short.

Then came Vietnam. All of our previous experiences set us up for our eventual withdrawl from Vietnam. A withdrawl that came without victory. A withdrawl which shamed the efforts of those that we had committed, and brought shame to those who had committed so much.

We withdrew because we lost our interest. We lost our focus. And most importantly, as a nation, we did not understand the nature of the war we were fighting. We belived if we used our same strategies we could win in a timely manner, and then go about our business...in three or four years. As a nation we did not understand the nautre of Nationalistic commitment. We did not understand the will of the Vietnamese. We did not understand the asymmetric nature of the war we were fighting. We did not understand the effort it would take to win, and as a nation we lost our will to continue.

With our short memories we have again come to believe that we can conquer vast expanses with our modern and well trained forces. We believe that our technological supremecy can shorten any war, regardless of its nature. We feel we are entitled to sweep our enemies aside, on our selfish timetables...regardless of the true nature of the fight and the pardigm shifts that have occured in the sixty years that have elapsed since the end of WWII. We have come to prove that we understand little about winning wars aside from fielding the troops to man the equipment we provide. We show ourselves to be ingorant of the true nature of the times in which we live.

To ask the question "Are We At War?" is evidence enough that we do not understand the nature of the conflict that we are in. With our lack of patience, and the misinterpretation of the lessons of war that we should have learned over the last sixty years, we are doomed to lose this war.

We are in a war. A war of wills against a patient enemy who will wait for us to grow weary of fighting them directly. We are fighting an asymmetric war; the type of war we have little patience for...the type of war we will walk away from because we lack the will to invest the time, effort, and the resources...material, political, and yes, human, to win. We are in the type of war we will lose, because we are willing to ultimately sacrifice the Republic simply to avoid the rigors of war. A course that will only accelerate the demise of our nation.

Win elections in 2006 and 2008 through political manueverings, Bush bashing and withdrwal timetables...they may be the last elections we enjoy.

To anwser the question...we are in a war. A long war. A war that may ultimately define us as a nation, but it will not be a short war. It will not be a war without casualties. It will not be a war we can win with our industrial might. It is a war that must ultimately be won with our will.

Still Falling...

Mr.Atos

Atos' Anniversary

Stepping away for a day to concentrate on things more significant, allow me to share with you this brief tribute to the finest lady on Earth. On this day, some years back, my fetching Juliet captured this heart for keeps. In reality, she grabbed hold of it the first time I ever laid eyes on her strolling my way across Main Street in this very city, nearly 8 years ago. So much has happened since then... yet, all it seems, in the blink of an eye.

Typically April 7th is spent cutting powder down the Miracle Mile. Inevitably, we fall exhausted along the wind-ripped slope and lay for a while staring south together down the line of volcanic peaks of the Southern Cascades silently considering the years that started there one frigid day in April. Tonight will be both different and yet the same, as we gaze at one another across the morsels of our years in pleasant recollection of all that we've shared and all that we've learned... and the things we have created.

There is truly no relationship more glorious than marriage... the perfect balance of the two aspects of humanity that sees us joined along a path that restores unity in the divine for all creation.

"Love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward together in the same direction. " Antoine de Saint-ExuperyFrench writer (1900 - 1944)

Still falling, My Angel... Still falling!

Shotgun Friday

Major Mike

Still No Janie Fonda

I continue to sit on my pre-assigned protest bench at Pioneer Courthouse Square here in Portland…waiting for the second coming of Jane Fonda. My reservation at Protest Central will soon expire. I have my “Make Love Not War” sign, I have my hard earned combat medals pinned onto my aged utility blouse, and I am wearing some whacky headgear I picked up at my local surplus store. I get some weird looks from the druggie counter-culture crowd, but my hungry look for a genuine protest, insulates me from any harm.

I yearn, but still no Vegamite Bus, and no Jane Fonda. We are now at seven days late and counting. Jane, come and take me on your Magic Bus, or…shut your cookie hole, and quit grasping for your 11th minute (and counting) of fame.

I think Jane’s record of teasing the public as she pushes her latest book (see last Friday’s Shotgun Friday) cements her role as a fraud. She, as with many of the Hollywood elite, is simply playing an audience that they view as stoooopid. Too stoooopid to figure out that she is a fraud, and then too timid to call her on it.

Jane get in your bus, or stay out of the papers…you’re a fraud and a liar.

What was the book I read in college Waiting for Bardot? Waiting for…I can’t remember…Jane please come by soon.

Cynthia McKinney To Fight in DC for WBA Title

Rep. Cynthia McKinney, after a recent first round knockout of a Capitol Hill police officer, has inked a deal that will pit her against #1 ranked contender Capitol Hill police officer, has inked a deal that will pit her against #1 ranked contender Sergei Lyakhovich. Cynthia “the Atlanta Hamma” McKinney recorded a first round knockout against the unidentified policeman in a fight earlier this week. Sports writers were surprised to see that she took another bout so soon, but “the Hamma” is now 13-0 against the Capitol Police, and she feels it is time to take a shot at the title.

Surprisingly, Cynthia actually apologized for her recent victory, saying “I didn’t mean to hit him so hard.”

Of course, this officer, who was carving out his living in anonymity, is now being called a racist because Cynthia McKinney has a chip on her shoulder as big as her ego. She should remember that she serves and represents the people, and that her role in government does not entitle her to abuse those other poor souls who show up everyday to serve the public. Those that they do so without recognition or flare…those whose biggest moment in life might be a quiet retirement ceremony from public service…those whose best hope would be to serve their country honorably, those who now must defend themselves in public against the most slanderous charges. Those that will now be expected to waive their rights to prosecute Ms. Cynthia in favor of putting this “embarrassing incident” behind her.

Rep. McKinney...get off your high horse…you are, and should be a humble servant of the people, not a pompous ass with an attitude that jeopardizes the safety of all in the Capitol, and slanders those poor souls who are simply trying to do their jobs. Try doing yours.

Check out the Fox News piece with Larry Elder on Hanity and Colmes tonight if you can find it…Elder was great.

NBC Gets a Yellow Flag

Check out Michelle Malkin and her breaking of the NBC, News Fabrication Channel, story about planting Islamicly dressed “fans” at NASCAR races in order to expose us NASCAR fans as bigots and Arab haters.

Michelle was great with Tony Snow on The O’Reilly Factor tonight.

We are now sadly back to the times where the MSM decides to make the news in the nature of its choosing. Remember NBC’s Dateline fun production of the exploding Chevy gas tanks? I guess they just forgot to mention that they added explosives…not only to enhance the effect, but to actually create the effect. I guess that could happen to anyone with an agenda.

Facts…who needs facts, when we can easily set up a bunch of dumbass rednecks and get them to look dumber on TV, because we know those Dixie Chick haters will lose control and attack Arab dressed fans. Stockholders…get on the phone and dump your shares…the people who are using your investment dollars at NBC are stooooopid. Sell, sell, sell.

Oh, Mr. Arab person NASCAR fan recruiter, the race is in Dallas this week. Cluto.

Can't Find the Dixie Chicks

Sorry, no update on the the Dixie Chicks Not Ready to Make Nice's run up the charts. But you can listen to the audio here...not for me. Feel free to post a review.

Another Twilight Zone Moment

For the second time in two weeks, I find myself in agreement with part of the local Portland media. KATU, Channel 2 here locally, ran the images of the Mohammed cartoons. Bravo…defend your right to publish.

You remember…Islam the religion of peace…cannot bear the publication of any image or negative presentation of Mohammed, and they will kill you if you do. Protests…Denmark. HT, again Michelle Malkin, who courageously continues to keep this issue in the forefront.

Me? I am worried about my well-being. This is two weeks in row that my views have coincided with at least one element of the local media. ET phone home? Solar eclipse? What is it? I AM NOT going liberal…it is not me!!!! It is just a coincidence!!!

Political Scrap...

Mr.Atos

Major Mike had a great post earlier this week on the Left's strategy of dirt harvesting - as reported by Powerline. Now, it comes as no surprise that the primary elective strategy of the Nation's marginal party relies on a form of political extortion - the m.o. of thugs and hoodlums. It would seem a tempting approach for a movement that is incapable of winning elections honestly. Afterall, it just worked on Senator Delay, and even on Congressman Gingrich before. And the strategy has hardly been limited to public leaders. It has been employed against Conservative personalities like Rush Limbaugh, and independent researchers like FReeper Buckhead.

What is surprising, however, is their opposition's apparent lack of interest in reciprocal oversight. When it comes to Democrat corruption, the Republicans invaribly turn a blind eye and sore cheek, even when the infractions are too scandalous for the Old Media to ignor completely.

Do let's look at a few, complements of Newsmax :

The list of Democrat scandals passed up by Republicans could probably fill a book. But others that deserve honorable mention are the surpression of the Barrett Report, media leaks by anti-Bush CIA insiders and a probe into Sen. Robert Byrd's activities while he was a leader in the Ku Klux Klan.

The Newsmax story includes a list with detailed explanations of each, only abbreviated here,

• Bergergate: The theft and destruction of top secret national security documents by former National Security Advisor Sandy Berger in a blatant attempt to obstruct the 9/11 Commission investigation.

• Rathergate: You'd never know it from the lethargic Republican reaction, but when a mysterious Texas source supplied forgeries of President Bush's military records to CBS News just weeks before the 2004 election, it was a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Compounding the political intrigue, CBS tipped a top staffer in the Kerry campaign on the coming Bush document assault.

• Schumergate: The illegal purloining of Lt. Gov. Michael Steele's credit report by staffers on Sen. Chuck Schumer's Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee certainly seemed like a ripe topic for some congressional oversight. But like the Bergergate case, it appears that Bush Justice will let the guilty parties off with a slap on the wrist - without fingering any higher ups.

• Nukegate: We've already had several hearings into President Bush's so-called illegal NSA terrorist surveillance program, which was first revealed in James Risen's new book: "State of War."

But there's been little interest in the other bombshell development revealed by Risen: President Clinton's decision to give Iran doctored blueprints for key nuclear components that allowed the Iranians, in Risen's words, to "leapfrog one of the last remaining engineering hurdles blocking its path to a nuclear weapon."

As the Newsmax story points out, the Republican interest to date in all of these troubling infractions, is... "Zilch."

To their list, do let's add a few of our own...

• Nagingate: The criminal fecklessness of New Orleans' mayor, Ray Nagin, led to a catastrophe on top of disaster when nature's wraith exposed a public structure rotted to the core as a result of decades of Democrat corruption. It's collapse led to the death of hundreds and displacement of thousands. And the insect didn't even have the decency to resign... not that party leaders ever asked him to.

• Jeffersongate: The corruption of Louisiana Democrat Congressman William Jefferson accused of bribery, not to mention his personal shenaningens expoiting the National Guard in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

• McKinneygate: Cynthia McKinney strikes a federal police officer, and remains in office, uncensured, and unarrested.

• Slashergate: The children of prominent Milwaukee Democrat officials serving their party as hired goons, slash the tires of GOP GOTV vans the night before the 2004 Election. They get a slap on the wrist, and the case flits away.

• Governorgate: With the help of just the right amount of questionable ballots from King County AFTER the election of Dino Rossi as Governor of Washington, the election is reversed in favor of Democrat candidate Christine Gregoire, and all official counting stops and she is sworn in immediately. Say WA?!

• Meatheadgate: former actor and permanent Meat-Head, Director/Democrat activist Rob Reiner, has been doing some questionable things with public funds.

And few in Oregon can forget...

• Goldschmidtgate: Albeit, gone from power, the notable Democrat leader of Oregon, Neil Goldschmidt gets a veritable pass from the National media after it is revealed that he had improper sexual relations with a child. And local media and politicians hid it for decades.

And these are but a few. As I commented to Mike,

...the Republicans better damn well learn how to scrap... and fast. Perhaps the Senator is guilty of something. If so, then good riddance to bad seed. But then why bother forcing his primary opponents to waste campaign funds running against him. Sheer stupidity, it would seem. Nevertheless, if we continue to ignore the criminal activity of Democrats, like Earle, Schumer, Reid, Kennedy, McKinney to name but a few, while letting the Left harvest dirt on targeted legislators and candidates, good men and woman will quickly lose the taste for service. Perfection is rare. In politics just good is good enough. Depravity, however gains by favor. When laws like those set forth by McCain/Feingold are devised to encourage the lawless and hinder the lawful, then the nation will be Left with a Stalinesque ruling class of uncanny criminals... honorless, incompetent thugs and corrupt to the core... with a Press that gives them a complete pass.

Weeding the nation's political system of corruption is both a necessary and noble exercise. Yet, poisoning grass and weed alike while ignoring moles, will render a dead field infested with vermin, and good for nothing but propagating filth. For the good of the Party and the Nation as a whole, Republicans better damn well learn how to scrap effectively with Democrats in the political arena...

... before they are merely rendered scrap in that arena.

Let's Play Ball...

Major Mike

I was blog surfing earlier today when I came across the PowerLine piece “Looking for Scandal in All the Wrong Places,” and I was struck by this…

"UPI reported yesterday (via Power Line News) that the Democrats are "hunting through" the last three defense appropriations bills in search of a "scandal." The always-charming Democrats are looking for funding requests made by former Congressman Randy Cunningham, hoping to tie them to appropriations that were ultimately made. Cunningham, of course, is serving time in a federal penitentiary after admitting that he took bribes from defense contractors.”

Not that this is earth shattering in any way, but what is instructive about it is that the Dems are at it ALL THE TIME. This doesn’t particularly bother me, but it does call into question whether or not the Republicans have the fortitude to fight with the Dems going forward.

Hamstrung for years by playing nice, it is time for the GOP to recognize that the Daily Kos, the Schumer hit squads, and rampant trash bin rummaging is here to stay. The GOP needs to recognize this, and get down and dirty, or they are going to lose elections, not because they are wrong on the issues, but because they don’t know how to scrap in a knife fight. Face it politics is not longer the gentlemen’s wrestling club it was in the 60’s…it is down and dirty, and the GOP needs to man up for the future.

First and foremost, the GOP needs to focus on near term strategy…for this go no farther than Hugh Hewitt. Read his book, Painting the Map Red, and listen to his mantra… Win the war. Confirm the judges. Cut the taxes. Control the spending…if I might add…get the immigration issue right…fence, AND inclusive solution on guest workers. Do not concede 2006, by citing past statistics and pundit monologues.

2006 is winnable if the GOP decides not to collapse like the ’85 Bears after their Super Bowl win. Clear the decks of distractions, get back on message, and prepare for the season. This is no time to be distracted by cutting music videos, running for cover on important issues, and me-firsting the rest of the team. Stay together. Win in 2006.

Beyond that the GOP needs some guidance in their long term strategy, organization, and daily tactics.

Stick together...get the judges. The most imprtant kog in keeping the conservative movement rolling out into the future, is to finish re-shaping the composition of the Supreme Court. Conservatives should sacrifice all but their first born in order to do this. If the court is not re-aligned, the conservative movement could flounder before the completion of this decade. Republicans MUST hold the Presidency for four additional years beyond Bush...this will ensure that the most potentially devastating branch of government to the conservative agenda will be conservative going forward...for a very long time.

The Conservative movement is not a monolith, there are too many elements to carry forward on a narrow path, so consequently, Conservatives must learn to compromise from within, or do without...remember Ross Perot. Abandoning the party over a single issue, only swings the pendulum entirely the other way. We will all not get all of what we want from the Rebpublican party, but we will get a hell of a lot more than we will get from the Dems...remember Bill Clinton? Stick together...get the judges.

Don't Let the Dems Define the Fight. The Dems are defining the fight everyday, and the Republicans are left to react. NSA surveillance, immigration, censure, all illusory issues that are driving public opinion. The war is the issue...take it out of the hands of the MSM and bring it to the forefront on your terms: don't accept the terms of the America hating MSM pundits, TV actors, and ego-centric Dem pols. Define the war in its moral terms and get that message across. Drive the messaging on the economy. No "news" is not good news. Good news is good news. Get you messaging out through your best messengers. Get cohernent and strategic messaging out everyday, through your best orators. Everyday. Not just when the Dems have put you on the defensive.

Develop A Communications Wing to Compete With the MSM and the Print Media. Let's quit lamenting about the lefty MSM and print media, and get our own. Conservative minded businessmen, with responsible editors, can resuscitate both print and broadcast media. I think FOX is just the tip of the potential iceberg. But, this will have to be a part of a long term counter-offensive. We cannot continue to surrender the messages of the day entirely to the leftist elites. Hoping it changes will not make it so...get conservative investors to make a serious commitment to making conservative messaging as voluminous as the left leaning drivel we get every day from the now dying paper media, and the soon to be dead MSM broadcast news.

New media is important, but we can't surrender on old techniques until 100% of America is blogging everyday. We can't be elitist here...we need to recognize that old media WILL be a serious communication tool for years to come...let's play.

Play Dirty; Get Dirty If You Have To. The Powerline piece on the Dems looking to further embarass the Republicans over the Cunningham affair, and the Schumer Maryland dirty tricks campaign, are probably less than 1% of what the Dems are up to. We need to, within the limits of the law, play dirty. Conservatives need to have a well organized and forward looking research arm that is preparing for every liberal potentiality. We should have solid and verfiable background data, sound bites, and voting records on every potential candidate and all potential appointees. This is a long term project and the game is not over if we lose the Presidency, the House, or the Senate, so looking at potential Dems candidates now, is important.

The Dems play dirty (Filegate, Robert Bork, Clarence Thomas), the GOP needs to be ready to counterattack, and quit being shy about it. Stop these negative offensives by the Dems with direct action. Don't feel remorse or regret...just do it. When we hesitate, we only encourage the continued dirty politics that we get.

Be On The Offensive; Always. Whether in power, or organizing to regain power, be the party that is swinging, pushing, communicating...forcing a reaction or defensive play from the Dems. They do this continuoulsy. They know that many of their thrusts are easily parried, but they also get play in the MSM, and they get their negative messaging across. Anticipate, plan, and infuse energy into your base...not in a whacko Howard Dean or DailyKos way, but let the base know you have a heartbeat. Nobody likes getting battered around for two years between elections, with only tepid, reserve defenses being offered. Push the Dems...anyone remember Contract With America? Force meaningless votes in Congress that force Dem posers into the open. Shut out the Lincoln Chafee's from Party support...instantly...lose that seat for improved Party control. Everyone needs to get a sense that the GOP is focused, serious, AND in control. Be machine like.

Get on the Hugh wagon...this is not time to throw in the towel, and the future CAN be bright, but no one is going to hand it to us. We need the usual local organiztions. We need to attract good candidates. AND we need to play effectively in the hardball game we are in the the Dems.

Go big or stay home; bulk up or be crushed.

Weekend Ketchup

Major Mike

Mr. Atos Scoops George Will

Mr. Atos Is out on front of the Global Warming Commentary, and he scoops George Will with a more in depth analysis, and better evidence.

Regardless of the "evidence" of the day, I don't think we have come to understand one tenth of what we need to learn about the causes, the ultimate results, and whether or not we mere mortals can positively affect the utlimate outcome. I think we should put more time into research and less, much less, time into half-cooked "causes" and "solutions." If you want the medical equivalent...post-menopausal hormone therapy...nothing but conflicting conclusions after dozens of years.

I will certainly advocate conserving energy, reducing your individual garbage production, recycling, and any other "green" activity that strikes your fancy. But I am not for bad science, pushing slanted objectives, and setting us on a potentially disaterous course, or a course that we may ultimately want to reverse 20 years from now...to George Will's point.

I am also for companies doing their part...but I am not for BP putting their stamp on this bad science in order to gain market share. Let's all do our part, but let's don't skew the equation.

Still No Jane Fonda Bus

I am waiting...in the protest captial of the western hemisphere...ticket in hand, and still no Janie Fonda Veggie Fueled War Protest Bus to pick me up. Can you say...12 minutes of fame left? Tick,tick, tick.

Still No Detailed Dem Plan on Iraq

I watched as many Sunday game...I mean talk shows, as I could, and still no detailed plan from the Dems. Hmmm...think we'll see one? I am not holding my breath. "We'll do better"...Is not a plan. Give us the details or give it up...no details means no plan.

Just in...Milton Bradley now missing dozens of "CandyLand" games...Dems suspected.

The New Syndrome...

Mr.Atos

The finalists are up at Radioblogger in Duane's impromptu photoshop contest flogging Hugh Hewitt's new book, "Painting The Map Red." Sadly our entry was not among those selected for voting, and that is of course a travesty, as you can well see. The esoteric message of the image we submitted was both brilliant and profound. The new Syndrome abandons all other weapons in its quest for world domination, save the most powerful new weapon of all.

Afterall, Hugh...

'... We are your biggest fans!'

In light of this aggregious humliation, we nevertheless encourage or readers to purchase the book. And we would at this time, like to forward our endorsement of the second best entry in the contest... that would be Okieboy's, Dean Screamer. We encourage you, therefore to go to Radioblogger's site now and vote for DB's entry.

Then go to Amazon and buy the book.

Deep Impact On Global Warming...

Mr.Atos

From PhyOrg.com, Greenhouse theory smashed by biggest stone, (HT. FReeper, PatrickHenry)

A new theory to explain global warming was revealed at a meeting at the University of Leicester (UK) and is being considered for publication in the journal "Science First Hand". The controversial theory has nothing to do with burning fossil fuels and atmospheric carbon dioxide levels.

Most episodes of global climate change, noted in the geomorphological record of the Earth can be correllated with various geological and astronomical events... axial precession, solar variations, volcanic eruptions, and asteroid impacts.

The Tunguska Event, for instance, occurred near present day, Evenkia Siberia at at 7:17 AM on June 30, 1908 and involved the possible impact with the Earth of a extraterrestrial object. Most theories presume the object to have been a large asteroid, or small comet. Some have even posited a quasar or errant fragment of anti-matter. Whatever the source, the resulting explosion is commonly believed to have been between 10 and 15 Megatons. It decimated over 2,000 square kilometers, felling an estimated 60 million trees, while ejected enormous amounts of dust and material into the Earth's atmosphere. The blast was heard and felt hundreds of miles away, lighting the horizon, breaking glass, and knocking people off their feet.

Yet for all of its destructive power, the remote location of impact meant that it took nearly 20 years for investigators to reach the site. There they found a radial region of scorched earth and flattened trees extending 50 kilometers across. No crater was observed however. Yet curiously, many trees near the center of the zone remained upright, suggesting an atmospheric impact, rather than a deep one similar to the Chicxulub event, albeit much smaller in size and effect.

Noting that climatic temperatures, are more significantly effected by minute changes in atmospheric water vapor, than by much larger volumes of so-called 'greenhouse' gasses like Carbon Dioxide, Professor Vladimir Shaidurov of the Russian Academy of Sciences submits that recoerded changes in water vaporare not affected by human activity. He theorizes that an enormous natural phenomenon is the most likely culprit.

As such, Shaidurov has concluded that only an enormous natural phenomenon, such as an asteroid or comet impact or airburst, could seriously disturb atmospheric water levels, destroying persistent so-called 'silver', or noctilucent, clouds composed of ice crystals in the high altitude mesosphere (50 to 85km). The Tunguska Event was just such an event, and coincides with the period of time during which global temperatures appear to have been rising the most steadily - the twentieth century. There are many hypothetical mechanisms of how this mesosphere catastrophe might have occurred, and future research is needed to provide a definitive answer.

Dr. Shaidurov's theory does not provide conclusive evidence that a major event like that of 1908 is the cause of a modern global warming trend. Nor does it suggest that any trend toward higher temeratures in itself is either real or unusual. What it does however, is offer an extremely credible alternative to the popular wisdom of our age... that the activities of Man, in his quest for progress, are tipping the balance of the Earth's environment toward irreparable destruction.

There are many real mechanisms of catastrophe at work both in hell and heaven, capable of doing that, in spite of Man...

... and in the blink of his eye.

Shotgun Friday

Major Mike

Dixie Chicks hit #36

I was sad to see that the Dixie Chicks could only muster a #36 debut with the new, and unrepentant single, “Not Ready to Make Nice.” This is a sad re-birth for a talented group that had creamed the charts with Wide Open Spaces (album and single), “Cowboy Take Me Away,” “There’s Your Trouble,” and the like. No doubt this debut was impacted by Natalie’s careless anti-war, anti-Bush remarks three years ago. They are sadly learning the hard lessons of capitalism AND entertainment…the market place decides, and don’t s__t where you eat.

The fact that they remain committed to their three year old stance, means that they will continue to suffer in the market place. Remember the Sony lobby being jammed with “returned” DC CDs? Who can calculate how much revenue they have lost, and will continue to lose, as many people like myself, will still not buy their albums, no matter how much they enjoy the music. Their highest chart-topper prior to this, and since their March 2003 comments made it to an earth shattering #44.

When was the last time you heard the DCs on the radio? DCs...get used to being bottom feeders, Americans have a long memory when troops are dying in the field. Think before you open your pie hole.

Jane Fonda Misses the Bus

I scoured both the news and the travel sections today looking for an opportunity to get on Jane Fonda’s Vegetable Fueled War Protest Bus, but as the month end looms, I fear she will not make good on her promise to “come out” and protest the Iraq War. Hmmm…was the timing of her anti-war travelogue announcement disingenuously designed to sell more of her books? A book (My Life So Far) that she just happened to be pushing at the same time. An obvious attempt by Janie to grab 14 more minutes of fame before her plasticized persona is forever forgotten, and never missed the American public.

Did I say plasticized? Just when we thought her book tour would drive her into the sunset, she grabs for a 13th minute of fame with an anti-plastic surgery campaign. No kidding. This is like a fisherman who has limited out on opening day, asking the game warden to close the lake so that others can't fish. Seems to me that since she has gotten hers, she is trying to eliminate her sixty something competition by cutting off the plastic surgery option for others. Sorry, maybe “cutting off” wasn’t a great choice of words. Life must be tough in the sixties dating world.

I really think that this loathe-able narcissist should do us all a favor and …shut up. She is no more relevant today than BetaMax. Shut up AND go away.

Islam the Peaceful Religion

Luckily for Abdul Rahman, Islam…the peaceful religion, has somehow intervened to spare him from the death sentence. Phew, just in time. Rahman a serial murderer, rapist and adulterer…ooooops, sorry…a convert to Christianity, was being held in a death penalty case, simply because he had converted from Islam to Christianity. Heinous crime.

The moderates of Islam will need to start gaining preeminence at the podium if Islam is to ever integrate into Western civilization. Westerners will never understand, nor tolerate the harsh and uneven application of Islamic laws. The grossly inappropriate criminalization of a deeply personal choice will never be accepted amongst modern cultures, and will always be a barrier to compatible cultural integration between Christians and Muslims…unless the Muslim moderates gain a voice in the world of Islam. Do not fear, it is not yet a crime against Islam to be a moderate, and it only takes courage to speak your mind.

Michelle Malkin has the running box score on this one.

Legal Businesses Should Leave Portland

Portland City Commissar Randy Leonard extended an invitation to Schumacher Furs to leave the downtown district. The invitation comes on the heels of an escalating protest in front of the Schumacher Furs retail store in downtown Portland by some rat-hugging PETA ideo-idioclones who have taken it upon themselves to damage a privately held, legally run business. And the brilliant Leonard thinks the solution is for the Schumachers to leave town.

Another pathetic commentary on the state of affairs in Portland…the suave politicalnik, Central Precinct Commandant Dave Benson came up with the entirely democratic proposition of moving the Schumachers…

“Central Precinct Cmdr. Dave Benson said the idea he'd floated about relocating was one of several in an effort to solve the Schumacher problem. He believes locating in a private mall would better protect the retailer from protests.
"We're just trying to referee this as best we can," Benson said. "Certainly I have a concern that it may impact not only Mr. Schumacher's business but the business downtown. We want to keep downtown a healthy, energized business community."

How about we disperse the protesters, and allow the legal, capitalistic enterprise of fur selling continue. That is the democratic, legally based solution. If the Schumachers are forced out, who is next…the Coach counter at Nordstroms, the meat counter at Safeway, the Portland Zoo, Bob’s trout farm?

If this city wants to be known as anything more than a collection of kooky protesters, then the city must step up and protect legal commerce wherever and however it occurs.

Allowing the protesters to push businesses out of the downtown area on their ever-changing whimsical protest agenda will be the first step in Portland’s Urban Renewal for the 21st Century Program…first scare off all the businesses, then let the downtown become a ghost town and a haven for druggies and protesters, then raise money to revitalize the city. Nice plan.

The city has a responsibility here to support the taxpaying business. The city should ensure that the protesters have their say. But Portland also needs to ensure that the Schumachers are not harmed by the idiocy of the ferret huggers.

Update: I dropped my spoon into my Cocoa Puffs this morning when I found myself on the same side of this story as the Oregonian. Either I had awakened in the middle of an eerie Twilight Zone episode, or the Big O had finally gotten some common sense in their editorial room.

"The city commissioner was building on the anti-business reputation Portland City Hall has been working hard to earn over the past couple of years, even if he and other city officials won't acknowledge it."

I wiped the milk off my face, slapped myself twice, and double checked that I still had my GOP precinct card. I am hoping that this signals a move towards presenting a balanced view of local needs, and that it is also precursor to an end of the shilling for the ridiculous and ultra-liberal agenda usually pushed by the Big O.

Dems Provide National Security Plan…Milton Bradley Missing Dozens of “Stratego” Games

The Dems announced a plan this week to solve our problems in Iraq, and I can’t find it. I’d think that it would be readily available for all to peruse, so that the detail could be scoured, and the praise and critique could begin. But I can’t find it. Is it the Dick Durbin Plan? The Zbigneiw Brzezinsky Plan? I have Googled, and Yahoo’d until the letters have come off my keyboard, and I can’t find the Rosetta Stone of strategic brilliance…help. Please send a link in the comment section if you can find it.

Meanwhile, I’ll focus my efforts on finding the missing Stratego games, they may prove more valuable.

"Some Good News Out of Iraq This Morning . . ."

dueler88

That’s the way my morning news said it, anyway. Sure, it is great news that American reporter Jill Carroll was released by her captors. And she made a big deal out of how nicely she was treated by her captors. The Soundbite Media subtext, then, is that “those insurgents really are nice guys after all. So why are we still there killing them?” Listening to the giddiness in the Soundbite Media, you’d think that she was released simply out of the goodness of their hearts.

Let’s get something straight. In both politics and warfare in regards to audience, nobody does anything simply out of the goodness of their hearts. There is a strategy behind everything. Just as with politics in business, like your company making a big deal out of switching to 100% recycled paper on their letterhead, releasing hostages or prisoners during wartime always contains an element of selfish strategy.

Some might think me cynical for having such a view. But having witnessed too many Selfless Acts of Social Conscience nullified by the quest for good Public Relations, I’ve become a little jaded. The minute one begins to analyze how the public will view a selfless act is the minute that one’s action loses its true selflessness. But I digress – selflessness has nothing to do with why Jill Carroll was released.

Jill Carroll was released simply because keeping her hostage was no longer of value to the people that were keeping her. Maybe the cost to feed her became too much of a burden. Why didn’t they just behead her then? Maybe they felt it unmanly to behead a woman. Maybe they treated her well because they actually maintained the element of Islam in their beliefs that reinforced a respect for women. Maybe it’s Stockholm Syndrome.

The most likely reason for releasing her is a calculation of the political, and therefore strategic, benefit. In other words, they want to make nicey-nicey with you, the American public, to prove to you how noble and nice they are and how evil the American Military and their President are. This is called Information Warfare – strive to make things appear to be the opposite of what they actually are. “But doesn’t this Information Warfare thing apply to the American Military as well?” Yes, actually, it does. But keep in mind that an American Soldier is strictly forbidden from blackmailing the press with death threats, while the Islamic Militant seems to be taking advantage of that force multiplier pretty well. Having no problem killing civilians makes it so much easier to be an effective terrorist – you can kill (or not kill) whoever you want, depending upon what will best advance your agenda.

Ware's Truth...

Mr.Atos

Suppose that you are an astronaut whose spaceship gets out of control and crashes on an unknown planet. When you regain consciousness and find that you are not hurt badly, the first three questions in or mind would be: Where am I? How can I discover it? What should I do?

You see unfamiliar vegetation outside, and there is air to breathe; the sunlight seems paler than you remember it and colder. You turn to look at the sky, but stop. You are struck by a sudden feeling: it you don't look, you won't have to know that you are, perhaps, too far from the earth and no return is possible; so long as you don't know it, you are free to believe what you wish--and you experience a foggy, pleasant, but somehow guilty, kind of hope.

You turn to your instruments: they may be damaged, you don't know how seriously. But you stop, struck by a sudden fear: how can you trust these instruments? How can you be sure that they won't mislead you? How can you know whether they will work in a different world? You turn away from the instruments.

Now you begin to wonder why you have no desire to do anything. It seems so much safer just to wait for something to turn up somehow; it is better, you tell yourself, not to rock the spaceship. Far in the distance, you see some sort of living creatures approaching; you don't know whether they are human, but they walk on two feet. They, you decide, will tell you what to do.

You are never heard from again.

This was offered for consideration to cadets in 1974 as the opening of a Commencement speech delivered by Ayn Rand to the Graduating Class Of The United States Military Academy at West Point. It has since come to be titled, Philosophy: Who needs It?

Last week, the media was busy chewing on the notion that it's ideological bias was affecting the accuracy and honesty of its reporting on the situation in Iraq. In a post entitled, "Toothpaste on a Cavity... ", I made note of recent, seperate on-air exchanges involving Conservative commentators Laura Ingraham and Hugh Hewitt where each highlighted and exposed the biased nature of reporting that was both fueling the insurgency and misrepresenting the value of coalition efforts weighed against the continued violence. As discussed, facing increased public frustration with their coverage, the Mainstream Media was clearly attempting to fortify their positions and defend their seeming lust for failure; to little avail. One of the MSM's more agressive defenders at the time, facing off two nights in a row on CNN against Hugh Hewitt , was Time Magazine's Bagdhad Bureau Chief, Michael Ware. He argued, in no uncertain terms, that the situation in Iraq looks negative throught the MSM lens of coverage because the situation there is nothing less than a catastrophe inflicted on the world by the Bush Administration. To Ware, this is not bias, but fact conveyed by he and Time Magazine.

This week, Hugh Hewitt extended Mr. Ware a gracious invitation to continue the discussion on his radio program. Given much more time for a direct exchange, the conversation was far more enlightening regarding his position, and his reporting. Radioblogger has posted the audio and transcripts for extended review. For the purpose of this discussion, and given the Rand offering at the beginning of this post, my interest in Mr. Ware's contributions are limited to his approach to her three fundamental questions with regard to Iraq.

Where am I?
In the Iraq theater amidst violent conflict, Ware travels between dueling entities and submits his experiences as information. Is he in a war? Is he in a civil war? Is he in a righteous war? Righteous for whom? What is the fighting about? Is he on a side? If so, whose? If not, why not? Does he have an interest in victory? For whom?

These questions and many others like them, must be addressed by Ware at some level in order for him to lend any degree of comprehension as to the conditions in which he has placed himself. Thus he may be a credible purveyor of that information. And yet, as he expresses himself publicly, he provides no discernable clue to having performed any aspect of this fundamental analysis to determine where he is both in space and in time, contextually speaking. Admittedly, he is not interested in that information, or any information that might help answer the question. If he is in a war for instance, how does it compare with other wars?... like World War II perhaps. On this he evades,

"Well, I don't know. I wasn't around in World War II, so I'm not sure I'm really in a position to determine. All I can talk to about are the circumstances that have presented themselves to me, and the wars I've found myself in. "

And yet, knowledge on that and other Wars is quite well documented, and able to be learned in order for him to comprehend exactly where he is. Given the possibility that this may not be like any war he has ever experienced, information on other wars might be of value. But, like the wayward astronaut, "so long as you don't know it, you are free to believe what you wish--and you experience a foggy, pleasant, but somehow guilty, kind of hope."

In Ware's case, its a guilt-free type of ignorance he employs, from which he conjures myth peddled as fact for the currency of glory, mortgaged on the blood of others.

How do I know it?
Even as he conveys a sense of understanding of the conditions on which he reports, Ware provides no means by which to qualify his assessments of the situation at hand. Arbitrary observations are rendered as abstract evaluations, with no objective standard provided by which to measure value. Knowledge is abandoned to whim, when historic facts could easily provide an instrument for conceptualization. When challenged otherwise, again Ware slips behind the veil of protective uncertainty,

"All I can tell you that life here right now is extraordinarily difficult, and there's a lot of killing going on, and there's a lot of deprivation going on, and to be able to compare that to something I never saw is a bit difficult for me...

... All I can tell you about is what I see, and what I experience. "

Cognitive input becomes his primary basis for action, and emotion the tool of his measure. As with the astronaut, concepts are feared, by Ware. Afterall... "How can you be sure that they won't mislead you? How can you know whether they will work in a different world?"

And what if they negate his preferred reality?... or compromise his protective veil?

What should I do?
Sharing no allegiance with any party to the conflict, Mr. Ware presents a valueless picture of human aggression. Its one in which players struggle meaninglessly for supremacy against one another for objectives that have no significance and principles that are arbitrary. Seemingly uneffected by consequence, Ware can roam freely among the creatures of the engagement sketching abstract images of their immediate condition trusting that regardless of the outcome of this particular situation, he will remain uneffected.

And like the Astronaut, he is never heard from again.

Michael Ware himself is not the problem. He is merely symptomatic of the affliction that infects the reporting of conditions in Iraq. One would be absurd to believe that intelligent professionals like Michael Ware, or any of the other media voices engaged in reporting on the ongoing battle for Iraq are operating in a conceptual vaccuum... or that, as Ware tries to claim, they have no stake in the political process whatsoever. Whether they know it or not, believe it or not, they all have a stake in the outcome... Ware included.

Further in her 1974 address, Rand reminds us that Philosophy studies the fundamental nature of existence,

"You have no choice about the necessity to integrate your observations, your experiences, your knowledge into abstract ideas, i.e., into principles. Your only choice is whether these principles are true or false, whether they represent your conscious, rational conviction--or a grab-bag of notions snatched at random, whose sources, validity, context and consequences you do not know, notions which, more often than not, you would drop like a hot potato if you knew.

As a human being, you have no choice about the fact that you need a philosophy. Your only choice is whether you define your philosophy by a conscious, rational, disciplined process of thought and scrupulously logical deliberation--or let your subconscious accumulate a junk heap of unwarranted conclusions, false generalizations, undefined contradictions, undigested slogans, unidentified whishes, doubts and fears, thrown together by chance, but integrated by your subconscious into a kind of mongrel philosophy and fused into a single, solid weight: self-doubt, like a ball and chain in the place where your mind's wings should have grown. "

In some cases, many like Ware have simply chosen most unwisely, offerings from the junk heap, the consequences of which might ensure catastrophe. For in their abandon they imagine the subjective nature of virtue and depravity equally defining the creatures of the struggle... damning the benevolent, while embracing the monster that means to devour them as well. Absent is the reasoning to attain the truth that Michael Ware may never posess,

"The army of a free country has a great responsibility: the right to use force, but not as an instrument of compulsion and brute conquest--as the armies of other countries have done in their histories--only as an instrument of a free nation's self-defense, which means: the defense of a man's individual rights. The principle of using force only in retaliation against those who initiate its use, is the principle of subordinating might to right. The highest integrity and sense of honor are required for such a task. No other army in the world has achieved it..."

Save one.

Philosophy.... Who needs It? Apparently Mr. Ware and many of his MSM media colleagues do... in order to continue to live on Earth.

The Walter Cronkite War(e) Legacy

Major Mike

War reporting changed forever when Walter Cronkite reported that the Vietnam War was lost after the 1968 Viet Cong/NVA Tet Offensive. It is worth posting in its entirety, so that its influence can be readily seen in the war reporting of our time.

“Tonight, back in more familiar surroundings in New York, we'd like to sum up our findings in Vietnam, an analysis that must be speculative, personal, subjective. Who won and who lost in the great Tet offensive against the cities? I'm not sure. The Vietcong did not win by a knockout, but neither did we. The referees of history may make it a draw. Another standoff may be coming in the big battles expected south of the Demilitarized Zone. Khesanh could well fall, with a terrible loss in American lives, prestige and morale, and this is a tragedy of our stubbornness there; but the bastion no longer is a key to the rest of the northern regions, and it is doubtful that the American forces can be defeated across the breadth of the DMZ with any substantial loss of ground. Another standoff. On the political front, past performance gives no confidence that the Vietnamese government can cope with its problems, now compounded by the attack on the cities. It may not fall, it may hold on, but it probably won't show the dynamic qualities demanded of this young nation. Another standoff.

We have been too often disappointed by the optimism of the American leaders, both in Vietnam and Washington, to have faith any longer in the silver linings they find in the darkest clouds. They may be right, that Hanoi's winter-spring offensive has been forced by the Communist realization
that they could not win the longer war of attrition, and that the Communists hope that any success in the offensive will improve their position for eventual negotiations. It would improve their position, and it would also require our realization, that we should have had all along, that any negotiations must be that-negotiations, not the dictation of peace terms. For it seems now more certain than ever that the bloody experience of Vietnam is to end in a stalemate. This summer's almost certain standoff will either end in real give-and-take negotiations or terrible escalation; and for every means we have to escalate, the enemy can match us, and that applies to invasion of the North, the use of nuclear weapons, or the mere commitment of one hundred, or two hundred, or three hundred thousand more American troops to the battle. And with each escalation, the world comes closer to the brink of cosmic disaster.

To say that we are closer to victory today is to believe, in the face of the evidence, the optimists who have been wrong in the past. To suggest we are on the edge of defeat is to yield to unreasonable pessimism. To say that we are mired in stalemate seems the only realistic, yet unsatisfactory, conclusion. On the off chance that military and political analysts are right, in the next few months we must test the enemy's intentions, in case this is indeed his last big gasp before negotiations. But it is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out then will be to negotiate, not as victors, but as an honorable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy, and did the best they could.

This is Walter Cronkite. Good night.”

Nice editorial. Poor reporting. Khe Sanh did not fall. Viet Cong and NVA casualties far exceeded those of US and South Vietnamese troops. Yet nonetheless, Uncle Walty declared, without facts, that the war was a waste of time and would be eventually lost. And America believed him. Walter Cronkite had single handedly flushed the efforts of hundreds of thousands of troops down the drain. In one fell swoop, he had undercut the foreign policy objectives of the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations, and set the stage for near anarchy at home.

But worst of all, he changed journalism forever, and for the worse. He imbued a generation of reporters with the notion that reporters are meant to influence government with their pens and typewriters.

Woodward and Bernstein would be next. They would bring down the Nixon Administration, only confirming that the real power to influence policy and government rested with the press. The press has been a herd of liberal zealots since.

Michael Ware is just another example of a reporter trying to influence the outcome of a global issue with his biased and slanted presentation of events afar.

First, Mr. Ware and his ilk have successfully removed the moral issues from the discussion about the war. He refuses to answer the question that HH raises about the comparative differences between life in Bahgdad, pre- and post- Operation Iraqi Freedom. From Radioblogger...

"HH: Because we talked about this on CNN. Do you think Iraq is better off today, just...than it was under Saddam? Do you think that...

MW: Well, I was never here under Saddam. My period during Saddam's regime was in the Kurdish North, where with U.S. air cover, they've forged their own autonomous sanctuaries. So I never lived under Saddam, and I can only imagine what the horrors were like, and what the restrictions were like. All I can tell you that life here right now is extraordinarily difficult, and there's a lot of killing going on, and there's a lot of deprivation going on, and to be able to compare that to something I never saw is a bit difficult for me.

HH: Well, do you think the Russian people were better under Krushchev than they were under Stalin? Neither of us saw Kruschev or Stalin, but both of us...

MW: Yeah, I wouldn't have a clue, you know??

This is a dodge of the simple question that usually frames all modern wars...was it the morally correct course of action? Ware avoids answering this because it would allow the moral discussion to pre-empt his morally-neutural, anti-policy messaging.

Ware, and his ilk, are framing this debate outside of the usual good vs. evil forum, and they transfer it to an emotionless policy discussion, by calling muderers, insurgents. They do it by counting the dead on TV, but not atriculating these assaults as the murders they are; carried out by homicidal robotons, wound up by depostic Islamofascists. They soft pedal the heinous crimes of the peace-loving "insurgents" in order to preserve their access to the murdering side, and to the negatively influence policy at the same time.

This isn't journalism, this is being part of, and party to, the information war that Ware acknowledges is part of the equation.

"MW... Don't forget also that this is an information war. This is a propaganda war. This war, as, you know, insurgents said way back in 2003, isn't going to be won on the battlefield. It's going to be won on the air waves. It turns out it's going to be won or lost on the internet. So these things become critically important."

Ware's job is to report the facts, if he is influenced in his reporting simply to retain access to the opposition, then he is, by defaulting on his journalistic obligations, part of the opposition. He recognizes that the information war is a huge part of the current struggle, and this recognition necessarily requires a balanced presentation of the facts. By ignoring the readily apparent morality issue, there is an imbalance in the information war...of which, he is an active part. This is called bias where I come from.

Walter Cronkite saddled us forever with a generation, possibly generations, of reporters who actively chose to influence government via their reporting. They are drawn to the power of the Cronkite model, and believe that their immortality lies with toppling an Administration that they oppose. They hope to be revered within their circles as the power players they desire to be.

They forget that in their quest they undermine the efforts of our troops in the field. They undermine the approved policies of our government. They forget that they undermine the will of the people, and that in the process they undermine the very democracy that gives them the freedom to report as they please...even if it is blindly biased.

MalWare

dueler88

Hugh Hewitt had a very enlightening conversation yesterday on his show with Michael Ware, Australian-born journalist associated with Time magazine. Mr. Ware has spent much of his time embedded with Iraqi insurgents. That’s all fine and good, in a sense of getting the complete story. But when the people on whom a reporter is reporting threaten said reporter’s life, it makes the situation extraordinarily ripe for bias. Yet he claims that bias is non-existent in his reporting.

Gee, I dunno – if a crazed militant threatened to kill me because of what I choose to write about him, it might have an effect on how I portray events. What about you?

Now, if members of the U.S. military threatened to cap embedded reporters if they didn’t say the right things, you might have balanced reporting. It’d be non-factual, but at least it’d be non-factual on both sides of the fight, eh?

Mr. Ware is obviously a very brave and very competent reporter, doing the best he can under extremely difficult circumstances. I commend his efforts. However, it should go without saying that death threats by a reporter's subject matter need to be taken in to consideration when determining whether or not “the whole story” is being told.

Missing the Paradigm Shift

Major Mike

Something subtle happened after 11/11/18. There was a quiet shift in warfighting strategies and battlefield tactics. This shift, prodded by the meatgrinding that was the hallmark of WWI, and had begun with the use of the tank in compromising the Hindenberg line at Cambrai in November of 1917, would be understood by few. It would, however be grasped by enough military planners and tacticians that it would set the stage for all of the fighting that occurred in WWII.

Naval warfare was quietly, yet completely revolutionized with the advent of the aircraft carrier and its successful operational integration in the 1920s by the US Navy. Modern maneuver warfare blossomed out of Germany, England and the US, as faster, more maneuverable, and more heavily armed tanks could be built and refined. The lessons of the failure in Gallipoli were refined and honed by the US Marine Corps as amphibious warfare became a viable operational scheme.

Still, the start, conduct, and the conclusion of WWII would be understood by few. How could Germany run all over Europe? How could we be attacked at Pearl Harbor? Those who asked these questions, missed the paradigm shift that occurred in the twenty years that had elapsed since the end of the Great War.

Many also missed the paradigm shift that occurred once the Bomb had been dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki…the shift into the Cold War, Mutually Assured Destruction, and limited war.

Clinton missed the shift post-Desert Storm...he showed little appreciation for the fact that we swept another army off the field in a matter of days. The Dems are still missing this shift. They do not understand the mettle of our forces, and still believe this is the same force of the Carter Malaise. The Press is the same...they feel our forces will return to dope smoking and fragging once they "realize" that they will inevitably lose this war. What they still miss is that our forces are no longer get a sense of worth from what they read in the press, but what they are able to see for themselves on the battlefield. There is no longer a need for "good press," they have little regard for what the media prints or airs anyway.

Each paradigm shift missed, each equally real in the end.

Our press is stuck in the last paradigm. The paradigm of the Clinton Administration…the pre-9/11 paradigm. The paradigm of hollow action, unequal and ineffective response, terror as a law enforcement problem, the paradigm of turning a blind eye to the threat in favor of a nice warm feeling at home.

After 9/11 the counter-terrorism paradigm changed forever. Passive inaction had to be replaced with aggressive attack. Deflecting light blows had to be substituted with preventing additional serious attacks. And ineffective, high visibility responses (cruise missile salvos) had to be replaced with troops in contact with the enemy…wherever we found him.
What the press continually misses with their shallow “war” coverage and their simple analyses is that this IS going to be a long drawn out affair. We may be able to change that through aggressive action, or that time may be shortened by factors outside of our control…possibly Muslim mothers refusing to sacrifice their homicidal sons for a few despotic Islamofascists who don’t have the courage to strap on a bomb for Allah as they encourage others to do so. No matter.

This war must now be won by destroying the terrorists before they make more IEDs, bomb vests, or homicidal runs on mosques after prayers. This means hunting them down in Afghanistan, Iraq, the Philippines, and wherever the move to. They have the mobility to move from one country to another rapidly. We need to respond. Our lame press and our weaker Dems, need to understand that this is a fact, and beyond our control at the moment, and that the only way to gain control is to gain the initiative.

Initiative is gained through surprise, superior intelligence, aggressive surveillance, and attack. And because of the nature of the world today…these activities necessarily HAVE to be taking place all over the globe simultaneously…not one country at a time. A single front in this war will only give the enemy room to out maneuver us, and room for further devastating attacks.

Regardless of how the press sees it, or how the unhinged left is using the war for its purposes…the paradigm has changed, and no amount of slanted reporting or political wrangling can change that. Our best protection lies in our ability to project our defense across the globe, rapidly and effectively.

We are in a new age, and the 60’s style reporting and rhetoric can’t change that, but it will make us more vulnerable to attack. Leave the strategy and tactical application of that strategy where it belongs…with selfless individuals, who truly care about the well-being of this nation. Don't leave it with the counter-culture types who would defend us with slogans, signs, marches, and biased reporting…we’ve been there before. Didn’t work.

The "Empire" Strikes Back?

dueler88

Please excuse the simplicity here, but bear with me. Mike, you've inspired some more thought.

This may be the "well, duh!" statement of all time, but i'm seeing a world-history societal/tribal pattern emerge here, involving consolidation of power, conquest of an "enemy", decadence, and destruction. It seems that everything about world history is all about that pattern. It applies to Sumerians, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Muslims, Mayans, Vatican, Florentines, Spanish, Portugese, English, French . . . until the United States of America.

The ideals codified in our laws specifically de-emphasize, if not outright abolish, consolidation of power. The Founders knew that it was the beginning of the cycle noted above. Abandon the beginning and the cycle would never begin. Seemingly paradoxically, respect and honor of each individual is what Unites us - not ethnic, tribal or religious sectarianism.

So, are we an anomaly? Did we really interrupt/bypass this pattern? Clearly, the pattern did not stop when we came on the scene. Witness the Napoleonic French, Austro-Hungarians, Germans, Soviets, etc.

The fine line we walk is in honoring the individual AND uniting the group. Place too much emphasis on the group, and you get oppression. Too much emphasis on the individual, and you get anarchy.

So now we find ourselves wedged between two totalitarianisms - Islamic Fascism and Transnational Socialism. The former wishes a return to the historic pattern, while the latter mistakenly believes it, like the United States, to be a break from pattern. In the sociopolitical spectrum, which is really somewhat of a circle rather than a line, the two totalitarianisms are, consciously and subconsciously, finding ways to become allies in the destruction of Liberal Democracy.