Macte Virtue

Bears Guard Canadian Pot Field..Russians Report

2011-05-30T21:38:00.000-07:00

Oh The Mirth!

Precision!

2011-05-08T08:34:00.000-07:00

New Zealand vs Tonga Haka

Russia's Kremlin Guard

US Marine Corps Silent Drill Team

India Pakistan Border Crossing Closes

Christopher Hitchens versus God

2011-05-02T19:40:00.000-07:00

Christopher Hitchens versus God (Hitchens has G in a submission hold!)

And a Song That I Like

The Real Rebel Yell

2011-05-01T09:14:00.000-07:00

Shelby Foote Describes Rebel Yell at about 4:04 in below video. The following videos are highly interesting. Chills up one's spine.

Steering Markets or Setting Them Free...It's a Rap

2011-05-01T08:13:00.000-07:00

Classic!

How Technology Will Transform Us

2011-02-27T10:58:00.000-08:00

Simply Awesome!

Iran: The Mother of All Posturers

2010-08-22T11:14:00.000-07:00

How Real is the Threat!

Clearly, Israel is making a case for an attack on Iran. A lot of folks in the West echo these alarms but hey wait a second. Lets skim away some of the hype and take a closer (admittingly blunt look at the facts).

Is Iran the most powerful regional state sans Israel? yep. Is a conventional exchange/war with Iran a wise or winnable thing to do? Nope. Is the current Iranian regime a brutal dictatorship? Yep. Do they export terrorism and fight with proxies like Hezbolla? Yep. Are they seeking to destabilize/control the mess known as Iraq? Yep. Are they going to initiate and all out attack against the United States or Israel? Nope, they don't want to be a radioactive wasteland. Are they going to initiate an full out assault on the Saudi Oilfields and distribution network...Nope, for all the same reasons.

Some Thoughts: US Nuclear Arsenal 11 000 plus or minus. Israeli Nuclear Arsenal: Somewhere between 200 and 400. Some experts believe it is third biggest stockpile in the world.

US National Intelligence Estimate: Maybe, maybe Iran will have one working device by end of 2011. Working device and device that can be delivered folks are two different entities.

Iran is basically in same position re: creation of nuclear device that United States was in back in 1944-45. That is 65 years ago gang. The US/Israel have a 65 year head-start!

Maybe Intimating at Having This

Is A Great Way To Say

This

Has anyone ever thought that the Iranian Regime is acting like any terrified creature does? Trying to make itself larger than life in an attempt to intimidate enemies (in Iran's case internal as well as external) from harming it/its interests.

Today, there is President Mahmoud Ahmaddinejad unveiling Iran's first unmanned bomber. Lots of fanfare and hype surrounding it too. You can bet that those bent on Iran's destruction foreign and neocon domestic, will surely amplify these images as well. Funny thing though, does this again look like 65 year old technology being passed off by both sides as an imminent threat? Does to me.

The primitive machine that the Iranians are waving around and heralding as their new super-weapon looks like this:

Look Familiar? Lets turn back the pages of history about oh, say 68 years. My grandma's generation were ducking these things in England:

Soo, Iran has successfully re-engineered (not even deployed yet) a glorified WW 2 "Buzz Bomb" putting them on par with the model airplane afficanados that fly their birds out in the California desert on weekends (minus the TNT). Quick all, lobby your congressman to declare war on the "Existential Threat" to our Israeli friends and then run as fast as you can for your fallout shelters.

Get This Guy On Poker Stars!

What is really going on? Well, the current Iranian regime is propping itself up and successfully drawing a lot of attention/scaring its neighbors with some artful smoke and mirrors based on 65 year old technology. Mainstream media buys into it and bingo, manufactured crisis when it suits the "interests" out there. Drink the Kool-Aide if you want another war.

WHAT YOU SHOULD REALLY BE WORRIED ABOUT IS WHAT THEY DON'T PARADE AROUND IN FRONT OF THE WORLD

Smallpox: Do you really think they don't have this or wouldn't use it in retaliation for being irradiated?

Think before you follow someone's pep-talk into Armageddon.

Pakistan's Agony

2010-08-22T09:33:00.000-07:00

A Pakistani land surface area larger than Italy is under water!

A fabulous article written on one on of my favorite blogs!

http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2010/08/requiem-for-a-lost-country-fb-ali.html

Enjoy!

Polar Bear Up Close!

2010-08-22T09:17:00.000-07:00

Not quite the Coca-Cola commercial we are accustomed to seeing every Christmas!

Connect The Dots...Ground Zero Mosque

2010-07-25T10:01:00.000-07:00

I am no joiner and certainly am no fan of organized religion in any shape or form. They all have the blood and other detrius of the misdeeds of true believers on their hands. I have also over the course of my life come to believe strongly in the right of all people to be free to worship who and how they see fit, so long as their beliefs are separate from the state and are not foisted on others. This belief however, as is the nature of holding a belief, is being challenged, or better put, scrutinized. I am an interested observer of this modern age of ours and it is apparent that there is going to be a big struggle in The West between an open-inclusive society and the existence of "true-belief" that at its core, does not suffer pluralistic belief. What concept wins out in the end? What is the tipping point?

I recently read an article that I will post below by a Dutch activist. It made sense in its own context, but I have still refrained from drinking his brand of Kool Aide so-to-speak. Today, I read again about the growing controversy over the Ground Zero Mosque. The whole Ground Zero Mosque thing fits this man's artithmatic and well, we ought to at least have the courage in North America to reflect on the points given below. I am not for or against, but I am further informed:

Remember This Morning A Few Years Back? Now ask yourself, is it a great place to build a building like this?:

Here is what one man thinks about the significance of such construction projects amongst other "company" projects. (Personally, I think he comes from a culture/perspective that had the reformation/enlightenment and is frustrated/trying to articulate his frustration with a religion that is a seemless garmet of belief that is absolute and unchanged from its medieval 8th century conception.):

Geert Wilders, chairman Party for Freedom, the Netherlands

Speech at the Four Seasons, New York
September 25, 2008

Dear friends,

Thank you very much for inviting me. Great to be at the Four Seasons. I come from a country that has one season only: a rainy season that starts January 1st and ends December 31st. When we have three sunny days in a row, the government declares a national emergency. So Four Seasons, that’s new to me.
It’s great to be in New York. When I see the skyscrapers and office buildings, I think of what Ayn Rand said: “The sky over New York and the will of man made visible.” Of course. Without the Dutch you would have been nowhere, still figuring out how to buy this island from the Indians. But we are glad we did it for you. And, frankly, you did a far better job than we possibly could have done.
I come to America with a mission. All is not well in the old world. There is a tremendous danger looming, and it is very difficult to be optimistic. We might be in the final stages of the Islamization of Europe. This not only is a clear and present danger to the future of Europe itself, it is a threat to America and the sheer survival of the West. The danger I see looming is the scenario of America as the last man standing. The United States as the last bastion of Western civilization, facing an Islamic Europe. In a generation or two, the US will ask itself: who lost Europe? Patriots from around Europe risk their lives every day to prevent precisely this scenario form becoming a reality.

My short lecture consists of 4 parts.
First I will describe the situation on the ground in Europe. Then, I will say a few things about Islam. Thirdly, if you are still here, I will talk a little bit about the movie you just saw. To close I will tell you about a meeting in Jerusalem.

The Europe you know is changing. You have probably seen the landmarks. The Eiffel Tower and Trafalgar Square and Rome’s ancient buildings and maybe the canals of Amsterdam. They are still there. And they still look very much the same as they did a hundred years ago.

But in all of these cities, sometimes a few blocks away from your tourist destination, there is another world, a world very few visitors see – and one that does not appear in your tourist guidebook. It is the world of the parallel society created by Muslim mass-migration. All throughout Europe a new reality is rising: entire Muslim neighbourhoods where very few indigenous people reside or are even seen. And if they are, they might regret it. This goes for the police as well. It’s the world of head scarves, where women walk around in figureless tents, with baby strollers and a group of children. Their husbands, or slaveholders if you prefer, walk three steps ahead. With mosques on many street corner. The shops have signs you and I cannot read. You will be hard-pressed to find any economic activity. These are Muslim ghettos controlled by religious fanatics. These are Muslim neighbourhoods, and they are mushrooming in every city across Europe. These are the building-blocks for territorial control of increasingly larger portions of Europe, street by street, neighbourhood by neighbourhood, city by city.
There are now thousands of mosques throughout Europe. With larger congregations than there are in churches. And in every European city there are plans to build super-mosques that will dwarf every church in the region. Clearly, the signal is: we rule.

Many European cities are already one-quarter Muslim: just take Amsterdam, Marseille and Malmo in Sweden. In many cities the majority of the under-18 population is Muslim. Paris is now surrounded by a ring of Muslim neighbourhoods. Mohammed is the most popular name among boys in many cities. In some elementary schools in Amsterdam the farm can no longer be mentioned, because that would also mean mentioning the pig, and that would be an insult to Muslims. Many state schools in Belgium and Denmark only serve halal food to all pupils. In once-tolerant Amsterdam gays are beaten up almost exclusively by Muslims. Non-Muslim women routinely hear “whore, whore”. Satellite dishes are not pointed to local TV stations, but to stations in the country of origin. In France school teachers are advised to avoid authors deemed offensive to Muslims, including Voltaire and Diderot; the same is increasingly true of Darwin. The history of the Holocaust can in many cases no longer be taught because of Muslim sensitivity. In England sharia courts are now officially part of the British legal system. Many neighbourhoods in France are no-go areas for women without head scarves. Last week a man almost died after being beaten up by Muslims in Brussels, because he was drinking during the Ramadan. Jews are fleeing France in record numbers, on the run for the worst wave of anti-Semitism since World War II. French is now commonly spoken on the streets of Tel Aviv and Netanya, Israel. I could go on forever with stories like this. Stories about Islamization.
A total of fifty-four million Muslims now live in Europe. San Diego University recently calculated that a staggering 25 percent of the population in Europe will be Muslim just 12 years from now. Bernhard Lewis has predicted a Muslim majority by the end of this century.

Now these are just numbers. And the numbers would not be threatening if the Muslim-immigrants had a strong desire to assimilate. But there are few signs of that. The Pew Research Center reported that half of French Muslims see their loyalty to Islam as greater than their loyalty to France. One-third of French Muslims do not object to suicide attacks. The British Centre for Social Cohesion reported that one-third of British Muslim students are in favour of a worldwide caliphate. A Dutch study reported that half of Dutch Muslims admit they “understand” the 9/11 attacks.

Muslims demand what they call ‘respect’. And this is how we give them respect. Our elites are willing to give in. To give up. In my own country we have gone from calls by one cabinet member to turn Muslim holidays into official state holidays, to statements by another cabinet member, that Islam is part of Dutch culture, to an affirmation by the Christian-Democratic attorney general that he is willing to accept sharia in the Netherlands if there is a Muslim majority. We have cabinet members with passports from Morocco and Turkey.
Muslim demands are supported by unlawful behaviour, ranging from petty crimes and random violence, for example against ambulance workers and bus drivers, to small-scale riots. Paris has seen its uprising in the low-income suburbs, the banlieus. Some prefer to see these as isolated incidents, but I call it a Muslim intifada. I call the perpetrators “settlers”. Because that is what they are. They do not come to integrate into our societies, they come to integrate our society into their Dar-al-Islam. Therefore, they are settlers.
Much of this street violence I mentioned is directed exclusively against non-Muslims, forcing many native people to leave their neighbourhoods, their cities, their countries.
Politicians shy away from taking a stand against this creeping sharia. They believe in the equality of all cultures. Moreover, on a mundane level, Muslims are now a swing vote not to be ignored.

Our many problems with Islam cannot be explained by poverty, repression or the European colonial past, as the Left claims. Nor does it have anything to do with Palestinians or American troops in Iraq. The problem is Islam itself.

Allow me to give you a brief Islam 101. The first thing you need to know about Islam is the importance of the book of the Quran. The Quran is Allah’s personal word, revealed by an angel to Mohammed, the prophet. This is where the trouble starts. Every word in the Quran is Allah’s word and therefore not open to discussion or interpretation. It is valid for every Muslim and for all times. Therefore, there is no such a thing as moderate Islam. Sure, there are a lot of moderate Muslims. But a moderate Islam is non-existent.
The Quran calls for hatred, violence, submission, murder, and terrorism. The Quran calls for Muslims to kill non-Muslims, to terrorize non-Muslims and to fulfil their duty to wage war: violent jihad. Jihad is a duty for every Muslim, Islam is to rule the world – by the sword. The Quran is clearly anti-Semitic, describing Jews as monkeys and pigs.

The second thing you need to know is the importance of Mohammed the prophet. His behaviour is an example to all Muslims and cannot be criticized. Now, if Mohammed had been a man of peace, let us say like Ghandi and Mother Theresa wrapped in one, there would be no problem. But Mohammed was a warlord, a mass murderer, a pedophile, and had several marriages – at the same time. Islamic tradition tells us how he fought in battles, how he had his enemies murdered and even had prisoners of war executed. Mohammed himself slaughtered the Jewish tribe of Banu Qurayza. He advised on matters of slavery, but never advised to liberate slaves. Islam has no other morality than the advancement of Islam. If it is good for Islam, it is good. If it is bad for Islam, it is bad. There is no gray area or other side.
Quran as Allah’s own word and Mohammed as the perfect man are the two most important facets of Islam. Let no one fool you about Islam being a religion. Sure, it has a god, and a here-after, and 72 virgins. But in its essence Islam is a political ideology. It is a system that lays down detailed rules for society and the life of every person. Islam wants to dictate every aspect of life. Islam means ‘submission’. Islam is not compatible with freedom and democracy, because what it strives for is sharia. If you want to compare Islam to anything, compare it to communism or national-socialism, these are all totalitarian ideologies.
This is what you need to know about Islam, in order to understand what is going on in Europe. For millions of Muslims the Quran and the live of Mohammed are not 14 centuries old, but are an everyday reality, an ideal, that guide every aspect of their lives. Now you know why Winston Churchill called Islam “the most retrograde force in the world”, and why he compared Mein Kampf to the Quran.

Which brings me to my movie, Fitna.

I am a lawmaker, and not a movie maker. But I felt I had the moral duty to educate about Islam. The duty to make clear that the Quran stands at the heart of what some people call terrorism but is in reality jihad. I wanted to show that the problems of Islam are at the core of Islam, and do not belong to its fringes.
Now, from the day the plan for my movie was made public, it caused quite a stir, in the Netherlands and throughout Europe. First, there was a political storm, with government leaders, across the continent in sheer panic. The Netherlands was put under a heightened terror alert, because of possible attacks or a revolt by our Muslim population. The Dutch branch of the Islamic organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir declared that the Netherlands was due for an attack. Internationally, there was a series of incidents. The Taliban threatened to organize additional attacks against Dutch troops in Afghanistan, and a website linked to Al Qaeda published the message that I ought to be killed, while various muftis in the Middle East stated that I would be responsible for all the bloodshed after the screening of the movie. In Afghanistan and Pakistan the Dutch flag was burned on several occasions. Dolls representing me were also burned. The Indonesian President announced that I will never be admitted into Indonesia again, while the UN Secretary General and the European Union issued cowardly statements in the same vein as those made by the Dutch Government. I could go on and on. It was an absolute disgrace, a sell-out.

A plethora of legal troubles also followed, and have not ended yet. Currently the state of Jordan is litigating against me. Only last week there were renewed security agency reports about a heightened terror alert for the Netherlands because of Fitna.

Now, I would like to say a few things about Israel. Because, very soon, we will get together in its capitol. The best way for a politician in Europe to loose votes is to say something positive about Israel. The public has wholeheartedly accepted the Palestinian narrative, and sees Israel as the aggressor. I, however, will continue to speak up for Israel. I see defending Israel as a matter of principle. I have lived in this country and visited it dozens of times. I support Israel. First, because it is the Jewish homeland after two thousand years of exile up to and including Auschwitz, second because it is a democracy, and third because Israel is our first line of defense.

Samuel Huntington writes it so aptly: “Islam has bloody borders”. Israel is located precisely on that border. This tiny country is situated on the fault line of jihad, frustrating Islam’s territorial advance. Israel is facing the front lines of jihad, like Kashmir, Kosovo, the Philippines, Southern Thailand, Darfur in Sudan, Lebanon, and Aceh in Indonesia. Israel is simply in the way. The same way West-Berlin was during the Cold War.
The war against Israel is not a war against Israel. It is a war against the West. It is jihad. Israel is simply receiving the blows that are meant for all of us. If there would have been no Israel, Islamic imperialism would have found other venues to release its energy and its desire for conquest. Thanks to Israeli parents who send their children to the army and lay awake at night, parents in Europe and America can sleep well and dream, unaware of the dangers looming.

Many in Europe argue in favor of abandoning Israel in order to address the grievances of our Muslim minorities. But if Israel were, God forbid, to go down, it would not bring any solace to the West. It would not mean our Muslim minorities would all of a sudden change their behavior, and accept our values. On the contrary, the end of Israel would give enormous encouragement to the forces of Islam. They would, and rightly so, see the demise of Israel as proof that the West is weak, and doomed. The end of Israel would not mean the end of our problems with Islam, but only the beginning. It would mean the start of the final battle for world domination. If they can get Israel, they can get everything. Therefore, it is not that the West has a stake in Israel. It is Israel.

It is very difficult to be an optimist in the face of the growing Islamization of Europe. All the tides are against us. On all fronts we are losing. Demographically the momentum is with Islam. Muslim immigration is even a source of pride within ruling liberal parties. Academia, the arts, the media, trade unions, the churches, the business world, the entire political establishment have all converted to the suicidal theory of multiculturalism. So-called journalists volunteer to label any and all critics of Islamization as a ‘right-wing extremists’ or ‘racists’. The entire establishment has sided with our enemy. Leftists, liberals and Christian-Democrats are now all in bed with Islam.

This is the most painful thing to see: the betrayal by our elites. At this moment in Europe’s history, our elites are supposed to lead us. To stand up for centuries of civilization. To defend our heritage. To honour our eternal Judeo-Christian values that made Europe what it is today. But there are very few signs of hope to be seen at the governmental level. Sarkozy, Merkel, Brown, Berlusconi; in private, they probably know how grave the situation is. But when the little red light goes on, they stare into the camera and tell us that Islam is a religion of peace, and we should all try to get along nicely and sing Kumbaya. They willingly participate in, what President Reagan so aptly called: “the betrayal of our past, the squandering of our freedom.”
If there is hope in Europe, it comes from the people, not from the elites. Change can only come from a grass-roots level. It has to come from the citizens themselves. Yet these patriots will have to take on the entire political, legal and media establishment.

Over the past years there have been some small, but encouraging, signs of a rebirth of the original European spirit. Maybe the elites turn their backs on freedom, the public does not. In my country, the Netherlands, 60 percent of the population now sees the mass immigration of Muslims as the number one policy mistake since World War II. And another 60 percent sees Islam as the biggest threat to our national identity. I don’t think the public opinion in Holland is very different from other European countries.
Patriotic parties that oppose jihad are growing, against all odds. My own party debuted two years ago, with five percent of the vote. Now it stands at ten percent in the polls. The same is true of all smililary-minded parties in Europe. They are fighting the liberal establishment, and are gaining footholds on the political arena, one voter at the time.

Now, for the first time, these patriotic parties will come together and exchange experiences. It may be the start of something big. Something that might change the map of Europe for decades to come. It might also be Europe’s last chance.

This December a conference will take place in Jerusalem. Thanks to Professor Aryeh Eldad, a member of Knesset, we will be able to watch Fitna in the Knesset building and discuss the jihad. We are organizing this event in Israel to emphasize the fact that we are all in the same boat together, and that Israel is part of our common heritage. Those attending will be a select audience. No racist organizations will be allowed. And we will only admit parties that are solidly democratic.

This conference will be the start of an Alliance of European patriots. This Alliance will serve as the backbone for all organizations and political parties that oppose jihad and Islamization. For this Alliance I seek your support.

This endeavor may be crucial to America and to the West. America may hold fast to the dream that, thanks tot its location, it is safe from jihad and shaira. But seven years ago to the day, there was still smoke rising from ground zero, following the attacks that forever shattered that dream. Yet there is a danger even greater danger than terrorist attacks, the scenario of America as the last man standing. The lights may go out in Europe faster than you can imagine. An Islamic Europe means a Europe without freedom and democracy, an economic wasteland, an intellectual nightmare, and a loss of military might for America - as its allies will turn into enemies, enemies with atomic bombs. With an Islamic Europe, it would be up to America alone to preserve the heritage of Rome, Athens and Jerusalem.

Dear friends, liberty is the most precious of gifts. My generation never had to fight for this freedom, it was offered to us on a silver platter, by people who fought for it with their lives. All throughout Europe American cemeteries remind us of the young boys who never made it home, and whose memory we cherish. My generation does not own this freedom; we are merely its custodians. We can only hand over this hard won liberty to Europe’s children in the same state in which it was offered to us. We cannot strike a deal with mullahs and imams. Future generations would never forgive us. We cannot squander our liberties. We simply do not have the right to do so.

This is not the first time our civilization is under threat. We have seen dangers before. We have been betrayed by our elites before. They have sided with our enemies before. And yet, then, freedom prevailed.
These are not times in which to take lessons from appeasement, capitulation, giving away, giving up or giving in. These are not times in which to draw lessons from Mr. Chamberlain. These are times calling us to draw lessons from Mr. Churchill and the words he spoke in 1942:

“Never give in, never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy”.
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Some background on this man: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geert_Wilders

Evaluation: Well, Geert Wilders is all fired up for sure, but he is brushing the faith of and by virtue of this, a billion people with pretty broad strokes. If you were to take his article and substitute Muslims for Jews and Islam for Judaism and then flash it back to the mid-1930's it would surely smack of/approximate something Julius Streicher might write. Wilders wittingly or unwittingly could be encouraging a 21st century Krystalnacht??? Certainly there are those out there who would take his beliefs to another level??!!

Should Wilders be suppressed? Consider some enduring words from another time:

“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” — Voltaire

I guess however, in the context of the times we live in, there are two sides to every story and Wilders ought to be able to say his. For those who disagree, "The antidote to distasteful or hateful speech is not censorship, but more speech."

As for a mosque at or near ground zero, its validity has many opposing perspectives. My perspective is that it is deliberate and in bad taste no matter how is builders seek to qualify/quantify it. Is is illegal? Should it be blocked? Nope, because in so doing, the United States and the Western Liberal heritage will erode itself perceptibly by such action. The debate continues......

Freudian Slip at a BP Filling Station!

2010-06-08T07:48:00.000-07:00

Priceless!

Humanitarian Special Ops

2010-05-28T06:00:00.000-07:00

Who says that the world is all gone to hell? That today's generation is a bunch of self-involved wasters? This just is not so. Take a look at this group and be sure to read the member biographies. The best I can describe them is a form of "Humanitarian Special Ops". Outstanding people, simply outstanding!

http://teamrubiconusa.org/

Mission Statement:

Team Rubicon bridges the critical time gap between large natural disasters and conventional aid response. We provide vanguard medical care by fielding small, self-sustaining, mobile teams of specially skilled first-responders. To deploy rapidly, we rely heavily on a horizontal command structure, social networking technology, and the employment of local nationals.

Ignorance Is Bliss?

2010-05-28T05:30:00.000-07:00

Scarecrows - Richard Sale

By Richard Sale, author of Clinton’s Secret Wars
The art of having an opinion consists of our willingness to undergo the labor of ascertaining the reasons why we have it. It means carefully learning data, and then examining facts and assertions to see which are actual truths worth keeping and which are simply erroneous statements whose sole value may consist in their being familiar and personal. The virtue of facts is that they can be verified, while our feelings may only be empty biases that furnish us with pretexts or bogus reasons rather than any insight into reality.
To have responsible opinions then means that we are humble enough to subject our views to criticisms that may challenge their veracity or which might imply that our views are perhaps in part mistaken, or worse, complete rubbish. Feelings are fine, but they are not thought. Conscience requires that we impose some check on our subjective leanings and that check must come from those who are better and brighter than we are – those who know more than we do in areas we deem important. This should not enthrone the Expert, but the existence of such people should caution us that when we view the sun as “rising” in the morning, in spite of our unshakeable confidence in what we see, Copernicus was right and we are wrong.
To the Texas Board of Education, it seems that the knowledge of history is not to be based on proven facts, because the board apparently believes that the facts consist of what the mass of us have chosen to believe they are. In a sense this is true. It is unfortunate that a major factor in our accepting the “Truth” lies in its being familiar and convenient – conventional wisdom, in brief. The historical revisions in Texas are thus based on an impression of some undigested bits of common knowledge, not a mastery of the intricacies of the any subject itself. According to the board, we are to relax, trust our gut instincts, our unthinking reflexes, much like the employer who mistrusts the job applicant who has not bothered to shine his or her shoes and therefore does not inquire further. It’s okay to revise history based on the resentful suspicion that our views have been ridiculed and denied their real importance, not because they are perhaps parochial, partial or mistaken, but because snotty liberals or snobs have spitefully ignored them.
To many people these days, there is no such thing as objectivity – everything is, after all, just somebody’s opinion, and if objectivity cannot be attained, then why labor so hard to acquire it? In our Facebook age, ignorance is a right. God created man in his image and likeness, not some paltry, defective nearsighted creature in need of a library. Standards are what the mass of us say they are, and besides, isn’t popularity the same as being superior? Why is the High Brow so impressive when he isn’t even popular? Clearly, those who know nothing about a subject still have picked up enough phrases and catchwords to have a feeling about it, and therefore the ignorant have the same right as anyone else to voice their views.

Listening to much of the day’s debate on Big Government or Deficits, Jobs and the like, one gets the impression that many of the most insistent rabble-rousers are, in fact, a bit like sleepwalkers -- lost, desolate, and very frightened. They have lost respect for our national life and to them the world is degenerate and hostile. They face a paralytic, uncaring Congress, power-hungry politicians, etc. What is surprising in listening carefully to such people is how few of their statements reflect any of the reality to which they refer. Their protests sound like a defensive, flinching reflex and their proposals are not so much a real agenda, but a sort of scarecrow meant to frighten off opponents.

Thus we float along in a sea of suffocating flotsam while all around us looms the menace of un-met challenges.

Noodling...The Tables Are Turned!

2010-03-29T13:27:00.000-07:00

For all those crazy guys who go 'noodling' for catfish and stick their arms down the fish's throat!! This would be 'all the catfish you can eat',

Each year, a few people were drowning or disappearing mysteriously in Huadu's Furong (China) Reservoir. It was not until recently, when the son of a government official went swimming, in the reservoir and was drowned, that the secret was revealed.

It is a 3 meter (9.8ft) long man-eating catfish whose head alone is 1 meter (3.3ft) wide!

After cutting up the catfish, people were surprised to find the remains of another man inside!

Swimming in the reservoir is now forbidden because it is feared another similar man-eating catfish is still lurking in the waters.

Dang!!!

Jesse Ventura's New Book

2010-03-09T15:53:00.000-08:00

Jesse Ventura has written a new book titled "American Conspiracies: Lies, Lies and More Dirty Lies That The Government Tells Us". One thing I like about Jesse is that he wears it on his sleeve and always tells it like it is so-to-speak. This book is no different. One part of his book deals with 911. Ventura contents that at some level, the US Government was involved with the events of that day. Even for Jesse Ventura, this is a monster assertion. There are some exerpts on the following site: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/35728268/ns/today-today_books/

Make your own minds up from here.

Ted The Border Collie

2010-02-14T12:53:00.000-08:00

Ted (above)

We all know that Border Collies are Smart. This Border Collie AKA "TED" has created a fantastic web-site. Another masterpiece by the canine intellectual elite!

Give it a whirl http://www.ted.com/

I Miss It

2009-05-27T07:17:00.000-07:00

Superb article from Iraq War Vet.

http://www.esquire.com/features/essay/ESQ0307ESSAY

BRAVO FOR SHERRIFF JUDD!!!

2009-03-19T19:47:00.000-07:00

POLK COUNTY FLORIDA SHERIFF GRADY JUDD

Gotta admire the man for being honest.
Florida 's got it right. Bravo for Sheriff Judd

Some 'dirtbag' in Polk County Florida who got pulled over in a routine traffic stop ended up 'executing' the deputy who stopped him. The deputy was shot eight times, including once behind his right ear at close range. Another deputy was wounded and a police dog killed. A state wide manhunt ensued.

The low-life was found hiding in a wooded area with his gun. SWAT team officers open fired and hit the guy 68 times.

Now here's the kicker:
Naturally, the media went nuts and asked why they shot him 68 times... Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, told the Orlando Sentinel: 'Because that's all the ammunition we had !!' (Talk about an all-time classic answer !!!)

The Mother of All Pre-Game Speeches

2009-03-19T07:42:00.000-07:00

Attack, Attack, Always to the Attack!!

Offensive, Defensive and Team philosophies below:

"Success is how high you bounce when you hit the bottom."

"I don't want to get any messages saying, "I am holding my position." We are not holding a Goddamned thing. Let the Germans do that. We are advancing constantly and we are not interested in holding onto anything, except the enemy's balls. We are going to twist his balls and kick the living shit out of him all of the time. Our basic plan of operation is to advance and to keep on advancing regardless of whether we have to go over, under, or through the enemy. We are going to go through him like crap through a goose; like shit through a tin horn!"

"There is only one tactical principle which is not subject to change; it is, 'To use the means at hand to inflict the maximum amount of wounds, death, and destruction on the enemy in the minimum amount of time."

George S. PattonNow folks, General Patton was speaking to men who were going into battle. He was speaking of war. Football is not war, it is not a millionth of the horror and atrocity that is war. Football is however, the greatest physical struggle we will ever experience in our scholastic careers. We attack and defend territory, we attempt to mentally and physically disrupt our opponents schemes and we sure as shootin try to break their will on the field.Patton's attitudes are relevent! We are a nation at war and this is a world of struggle. Do not forget this as you prepare for the gridiron contests ahead. Attitude precedes and largely dictates all to follow. What you learn now will always be at your side in your life to come. Agree or disagree with GS.P., you are better for the mental conversation.

As an aside, one of Patton's dictums was "Grab-em by the nose and kick-em in the ass". In practice what he was talking about was to engage an enemy in the front, flank them with tanks and roll up their lines of communication and supply in the rear. It was a wildly successful strategy in the Western European theater of WW2.

A football analogy would be the play-action-pass. Run the ball; the defense responds by loading the box/attacking the run game and then throw the ball off of play-action against a thinly defended or out-of-position defensive backfield.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFe63H_pyh4&feature=related

Dust It Up!

2009-03-18T20:02:00.000-07:00

Fighting the Good Fight!

Streets of Fire: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-t4eCq0N_hI&feature=related

Second Hand Lions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0uUHnV-IvU&feature=PlayList&p=E2BA72D6168141B8&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=25

Talkin the good smack!

George S. Patton: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFe63H_pyh4&feature=related

Germanicus Caesar Speaks

2009-03-18T12:34:00.000-07:00

Germanicus Caesar (15 B.C.-19 A.D.) Roman General

Spaniards can be impressed by the courtesy of the conqueror, French by his riches, Greeks by his respect for the arts, Jews by his moral integrity, Africans by his calm and authoritative bearing, but the Germans are impressed by none of these things. They must be struck into the dust, struck down again as they rise. Struck again while they lie groaning, while their wounds still pain them; they will respect the hand that dealt them.

Attributed

Wow! With the 20-20 hindsight of the last 2000 years it certainly gives meaning to "national character"! Since Germany wasn't a state til quite recently in historical terms, it speaks to culture.

This begs the question: Do we really want to disassemble NATO or let a German led Europe cast adrift?

A Senator With The Courage Speak Honestly!

2009-03-17T10:10:00.000-07:00

Fellow reccomends Hari Kari for AIG executives! http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/090317/usa/us_politics_insurance_public_aid_aig

The best part of this article is the on-line responses to it. Overwhelmingly in support!

24 Thoughts on Government and Politics

2009-03-16T10:29:00.000-07:00

In this era of the biggest government intervention in the economy since the Great Depression, I found an e-mail recently sent to me was somewhat poignent. It makes for some good thought topics, some of which I agree with and some I don't.

We live in interesting times indeed!

. In my many years I have come to a conclusion that oneuseless man is a shame, two is a law firm and three or moreis a congress.--
John Adams

2. If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed,if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed.-- Mark Twain

3. Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a memberof Congress. But then I repeat myself.-- Mark Twain

4. I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself intoprosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying tolift himself up by the handle .-- Winston Churchill

5. A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can alwaysdepend on the support of Paul.-- George Bernard Shaw

6. A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to hisfellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with yourmoney.-- G. Gordon Liddy

7. Democracy must be something more than two wolves and asheep voting on what to have for dinner.-- James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994)

8. Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money frompoor people in rich countries to rich people in poorcountries. -- Douglas Casey, Classmate of Bill Clinton at Georgetown University

9. Giving money and power to government is like givingwhiskey and car keys to teenage boys.-- P.J. O'Rourke, Civil Libertarian

10. Government is the great fiction, through whicheverybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybodyelse.-- Frederic Bastiat, French Economist (1801-1850)

11.. Government's view of the economy could be summedup in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keepsmoving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.-- Ronald Reagan (1986)

12. I don't make jokes. I just watch the government andreport the facts.-- Will Rogers

13. If you think health care is expensive now, wait untilyou see what it costs when it's free!-- P.J. O'Rourke

14. In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens togive to the other.-- Voltaire (1764)

15. Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you!-- Pericles (430 B.C.)

16. No man's life, liberty, or property is safe whilethe legislature is in session.-- Mark Twain (1866)

17. Talk is cheap...except when Congress does it.-- Anonymous

18. The government is like a baby's alimentary canal,with a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility atthe other end.-- Ronald Reagan

19. The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharingof the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery.-- Winston Churchill

20. The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermistis that the taxidermist leaves the skin.-- Mark Twain

21. The ultimate result of shielding men from the effectsof folly is to fill the world with fools.-- Herbert Spencer, English Philosopher (1820-1903)

22. There is no distinctly native American criminalclass...save Congress.-- Mark Twain

23. What this country needs are more unemployedpoliticians.-- Edward Langley, Artist (1928-1995)

24. A government big enough to give you everything youwant, is strong enough to take everything you have.-- Thomas Jefferson

Ain't Life Amazing

2009-03-09T19:47:00.000-07:00

Oh Baby, drawing a breath is so beautiful in all of its affirming simplicity...I am by God Alive!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGCLubIDPfE

Hold your face in a tub of water for three minutes and you have an effective counter argument!!

Macte Virtue....Increase in excellence!!!!!!!!!!!!

Get better each day...get better with each breath you take.... how the hec do you do that???

Macte Virtue for Dummies...Read a book....remember one persons name more than you did the day before, find one thing you like doing and do it one more time than the day before.

In short, you know what feels good in your heart and feels "right" to do....do more of it and don't worry yourself with the payback...Do what is right, because it is right".

Right now, the right thing, and tomorrow the right thing is to play with ideas.

Here is one in the form of a question...Where is your center? Where are you focused spiritually and intellectually now? Followed by...Why do you matter?

R

Dear Lover

2009-03-09T18:41:00.000-07:00

When you wake-up in the morning, look at her and know it's been over for a year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLVF1lTOon0&feature=related

There Is Hope!

2008-07-06T12:26:00.000-07:00

Your comments on this video: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/ray_kurzweil_on_how_technology_will_transform_us.html

Seems like the more you know, the less fear ridden life is!

Cornocopia Baby!

Five Challenges For The Next President of The United States

2008-07-06T11:27:00.000-07:00

Six Challenges before the next President of the United States that will make or break The Republic

Folks, the long term fate of the United States and quite possibly the world hang in the balance. Decisions made in the upcoming term and the one following will have a historic impact on us all and for generations to come.

1. Universal Medical Coverage for all citizens: Time to join The Civilized and Developed World!

2. Taking On Global Warming: Securing a follow-up accord to Kyoto that includes the emerging superpowers China and India along with Russia, Japan and the EEC.

3. Energy Independence: National Priority and National Opportunity in equal parts!

4. Global Engagement In a Multi-Polar World: Political, Economic, Military, Ecological...the list is extensive.

5. Immigration Reform/Policy: Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7WJeqxuOfQ and waffle no more!

6. Foreign Policy in the Middle East/Central Asia: With Iran about to go nuclear, with the Fall-Out of the Neo Con Jacobians last two terms in office to clean-up, who is going to lead the next Congress of Vienna? Will there be one? Are the interests of Israel paramount over our own?

Let the discussion begin!