Guess They Had To Wake Up Eventually

...via the International Herald Tribune:
"From the Left, a call to end the current Dutch notion of tolerance"

Like the man says: "Read the Whole Thing..."

A Few of the Money-Quotes:

"Two weeks ago, the country's biggest left-wing political grouping, the Labor Party, which has responsibility for integration as a member of the coalition government led by the Christian Democrats, issued a position paper calling for the end of the failed model of Dutch "tolerance."
================
The paper said: "The mistake we can never repeat is stifling criticism of cultures and religions for reasons of tolerance."
========================
Government and politicians had too long failed to acknowledge the feelings of "loss and estrangement" felt by Dutch society facing parallel communities that disregard its language, laws and customs.
=======================
Instead of reflexively offering tolerance with the expectation that things would work out in the long run, she said, the government strategy should be "bringing our values into confrontation with people who think otherwise."
====================================
"The success of the integration process is hindered by the disproportionate number of non-natives involved in criminality and trouble-making, by men who refuse to shake hands with women, by burqas and separate courses for women on citizenship."

"We have to stop the existence of parallel societies within our society."
====================================================
And the sweetest one-liner of all:

Newcomers, according to Ploumen, must avoid "self-designated victimization."
============================================================

Here's hoping the Dutch can be the spark that lights the fire of sensibility in Europe.

MuscleDaddy-The-Elder always says:
"Everything is cyclical - something closes up somewhere, it opens up somewhere else"

We got Obama (and deservedly so, societally speaking)

- let's hope something good comes of it, if only karmically.


- MuscleDaddy

Obama...."Stimulus Package"?

Okay, I'm confused now.

Obama is urging for a "Stimulus Package" - one that would (in the spirit of stimulus packages) "stimulate" the American economy by encouraging the American people to ....

...buy more stuff?

In the immortal words of The One: "Uhh..."


It seems that I quite vividly remember The Obamessiah saying:

“We can’t just keep driving our SUVs, eating whatever we want, keeping our homes at 72 degrees at all times regardless of whether we live in the tundra or the desert and keep consuming 25 percent of the world’s resources with just 4 percent of the world’s population, and expect the rest of the world to say you just go ahead, we’ll be fine.”

Okay - everyone seems to have gone along with that:

- No one's buying anything,
- No one's going anywhere
(OPEC keeps slicing oil supply to bleed the Ugly Americans, but without demand...)
- No one's homes are worth what they were, so no-one's buying 'up'

In short, America is consuming less than anytime in recent memory...

But now, The One wants to 'stimulate' us back into greater spending/consuming?

But...but... what about "The Rest of the World"???

Surely, those whose good opinion Obama cherishes most (read: any country not America) neither want nor need the Ugly Americans to go back to our Disproportionately-Consuming ways, right?

Oh wait, maybe they do...

But how does THAT fit into the Obama world-view of America-Moving-To-An-Inoffensive-Second-World-Status ?

I just don't get it - the country starts sliding in the direction he wanted, and now he wants to change it - it's like he can't make up his mind.

- MuscleDaddy

p.s. - what are you going to do with your stimulus check?
- I intend to do my civic-duty, being my-part of enacting a bailout of Mossberg!

This Is Just Too Good...

"Middle East's Shoe-Throwing Hero...

Turns out to be nothing more than a Ba'athist Agitator"

No wonder he's pissed at Bush!

I think it's time for a Caption Contest!
(here's mine...)

"Bastard! I had just purchased season tickets to the rape-rooms!"
"There was a 'No-Return' policy!!!"

Come on, Give it a try...

- MuscleDaddy

Send In The Clowns...

While this pretty much wraps it up:



The inimitable Victor Davis Hanson lays the smackdown in detail:
"Desperately Seeking Caroline"

If he's still around then, I'm sending my kids to Hillsdale if it means selling my organs.

- MuscleDaddy

Will 'Wonders' Never Cease...

Remember "Dad" from "The Wonder Years"?

(Dan Lauria - guy's been getting a lot of work since then, including "The Spirit")

Turns out he's also one o' them "Hollywood Conservatives"

Some one needs to tell Gary Sinise Pat Boone
(the only other screen actor willing to wear the label) ...

Maybe they could get coffee or something.

- MuscleDaddy

The Passion of the Plumber III: Resignation

Helen Jones-Kelley, an Ohio state agency official who authorized an inquest into Joe "The Plumber" Wurzelbacher, has resigned
But she didn't just admit her wrongdoing. Instead, she's playing the victim card:

Department of Job and Family Services Director Helen Jones-Kelley said in a statement accompanying her resignation that she won't allow her reputation to be disparaged and that she is concerned for her family's safety.

Whatever. Just don't let that door hit you where the Good Lord split you. And let this be a warning to anyone else who thinks it's OK to use the heavy hand of the State against a mere citizen with the temerity to question His Majesty.

Nah, I'm Sure it's Coincidence...

Hmmm..... (Updated)

- Take a weary country and an economy tottering after years of war...

- Rip down such structures & constants as still exist, in the name of "Change"...

- The situation of the people worsens drastically - politicians offer platitudes
"It will get worse before it gets better."...

- Enact a unilateral withdrawal from all international interests & military commitments...

- Offer the option of a national-service workforce to people whose economic situation continues to worsen.

- Start Nationalizing aspects of everyday society, previously left to the individual to maintain - tell the people it's "to help them and lighten their burden"...

- Appoint someone to the Interior, amenable to nationalizing privately-held land, to better pursue "clean" energy endeavors "to help the planet and lighten its burden"...

- Continue spending taxpayer monies in "economic bailouts" - with the government eventually taking significant ownership of the business & financial sectors...

You know...

This is all starting to sound very familiar.

- MuscleDaddy


P.S. - The only thing missing is a whipping up of the masses, to tear down an existing leader and destroy him as a scapegoat for "the people"...

...no, wait... got that too...
===============================
Update: (*snort* like anyone will look)

As of the 3rd, we get to add to the list :

"Creation of an entirely-new population-sector completely dependent on the government "

4th paragraph - last sentence:

"That is how we will achieve the number one goal of my plan
- which is to create three million new jobs, more than eighty percent of them in the private sector."

Doing the math - 20% of 3million jobs = 600,000 New Government Jobs

Forget 'Red Dawn' - the communists don't need to invade - we'll run to them with open arms.

....but here I sit, blogging away to you - with music and the truth until dawn...
"the chair is against the wall, the chair is against the wall",
"john has a long mustache, john has a long mustache".

- MD

Hammer, Meet Nail...

Young Ben Shapiro pounds one straight-damned-over the centerfield wall...

Enough of Radical Islam

My favorite part (reformatted because he was on a roll):
=======================
"We dont lose our souls when we treat our enemies as enemies."

"We dont undermine our principles when we post more police officers in vulnerable areas, or when we send Marines to kill bad guys, or when we torture terrorists for information."

"And we dont redeem ourselves when we close Guantanamo Bay or try terrorists in civilian courts or censor anti-Islam comics."

"When it comes to war, extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice, and moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue. "
=======================

I think that it's time we started standing up like real, live bi-peds and saying this to a great many situations.

Enough.

- MuscleDaddy

Congress Sends White House Auto Aid Proposal...

Ok - it's not the Triple-Digit-Billion tag they wanted the first time around...

"The measure would rush bridge loans to Detroit's struggling Big Three but would also demand that the auto industry restructure itself in order to survive and would put an overseer chosen by President George W. Bush in charge of monitoring that effort, according to a draft obtained by The Associated Press."

Yeah, huh?

Okay - I nominate John Bolton.
(yeah they tell the story with a sneer, but that actually makes it better)


- MuscleDaddy

Styles of pork barbeque indigenous to Nawth Carolina

In a nutshell there are two styles of pork barbeque indigenous to Nawth Carolina:

1) Eastern style; which is prevalent from Durham/Raleigh east. And

2) Lexington style; which is usually found west of Durham/Raleigh.

The main difference is the sauce:


Basic Eastern North Carolina Barbeque Sauce
2 quarts apple-cider vinegar
1 to 2 ounces crushed red pepper
2 Tablespoons salt, or to taste
1 tablespoon black pepper, or to taste

Lexington Style North Carolina Barbeque Sauce
1 ½ cups cider vinegar
½ cup ketchup
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground red pepper
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon sugar

Combine all ingredients plus ½ cup water in saucepan. Bring to a boil, then simmer and stir until sugar is dissolved. Cool and serve on cooked meat.

Note that the Lexington sauce has Ketchup in it.

And where folks "down East" usually cook the whole pig, folks in the Piedmont and parts West usually cook only the shoulders.

Other links:

http://www.northcarolina.com/stories/bbq.html

http://www.fiery-foods.com/dave/bbquest1.asp

Other recipes:

Hush Puppies
3 cups self-rising white cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon onion powder or
1 medium onion, chopped fine (optional)
2 1/4 cups buttermilk
2 tablespoons bacon drippings


Eastern Carolina Slaw
1 medium-size, firm head of cabbage
1 1/4 cups of mayonnaise
1/3 cup mustard
1/4 cup sweet pickle cubes
2 tablespoons apple-cider vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon celery seed
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper

Note that for "Lexington" style slaw you would take out the mayo, mustard and pickle cubes and substitute a little ketchup to make a "red" slaw.

And peach cobbler is available with both barbeque styles:

Peach Cobbler
Bottom Crust:
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup of butter, cut in 1/2-inch slices
1/3 cup ice water

Top Crust: 1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup butter, cut in _-inch slices
2 1/3 teaspoons ice water

Filling:
2 20-ounce bags of frozen, unsweetened peaches (or 7 cups of fresh, sliced peaches)
1/3 cup butter, cut in _-inch slices
2 cups sugar
4 tablespoons floor

But no self respecting barbeque joint would be complete without....................Ta-da! Banana Puddin'!!

The Best Banana Pudding
by Patricia Mitchell
The Banana Pudding recipe you'll find here makes the best banana pudding I have ever tasted. I'll admit that statement qualifies the title of the article, but I'll bet it's the best banana pudding you've ever tasted, too.

Banana pudding is not currently a fashionable dessert. You never see it served in "good" restaurants. And when it is found in a restaurant, more than likely it's a dollop of instant banana-flavored pudding with a vanilla wafer stuck in it and a dab of non-dairy whipped topping.

Perhaps banana pudding gets no respect because of the vanilla wafers. It's likely that vanilla wafers, being ordinary cookies in the familiar yellow box found in stores everywhere, are regarded as pedestrian among gourmets. Of course, your trendy tiramisu, which uses packaged lady fingers as a base, gets away with it.

When I began thinking about writing this article, I started wondering about the origins of this wonderful dessert. I wondered if banana pudding existed before vanilla wafers and, if that is the case, when did vanilla wafers get their start? And is banana pudding a southern dessert? And if so, why, because good bananas are available everywhere year-round. But there need not be so many questions here. Banana pudding merely lacks glamour, because it certainly doesn't lack anything else you would want in a dessert.

Is it easy to make? Yes, it is. Well, you have to do a little more than boil water, but it's definitely not difficult to make. It's wonderful warm from the oven or cold from the refrigerator. It requires no exotic ingredients, other than the bananas which, when you think about it, really are pretty exotic. Banana pudding may be the original comfort food.

The key to great banana pudding is ripe bananas. In fact, they should be very ripe. Yellow with little brown specks. Bananas ripen best in the dark, so put them in a paper bag and check on them until they're perfect. They ripen every bit as well when they're in the refrigerator, too, assuming it's dark in your refrigerator.

Now, if you want to make banana pudding that will have people rolling their eyes and moaning, here's how to do it:

Banana Pudding
* 1 cup Sugar
* 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 2 cups milk (whole or 2%)
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 tablespoon butter (not margarine)
* 4 egg yolks (large eggs or better)
* box of Vanilla wafers
* 4-5 ripe bananas

Meringue:
* 4 egg whites, at room temperature
* 5 tablespoons sugar
* 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375°F.
Line the bottom of a 9" x 9" baking dish with a layer of vanilla wafers. This recipe will not use the whole box, so you may snack, but don't get carried away.

Peel the bananas and slice into 3/8-inch rounds; use a ruler (I'm kidding). Cover the banana slices with plastic wrap to keep them from darkening and quickly make your pudding.

Combine the sugar, flour and salt in a bowl, and stir well to mix. Mash out any flour lumps with the back of your spoon. Set aside.

In a heavy saucepan, beat the egg yolks well (just use a fork or whisk, but beat them well). Over medium heat, add the flour mixture to the egg yolks, alternately with the milk and vanilla, stirring constantly. Bring to a gentle boil and, when the mixture begins to thicken, add the butter, continuing to stir. Keep boiling and stirring until mixture reaches a nice pudding consistency. [Note: If you're working with an electric cook top, adjust the heat so that it's hot enough to boil, but not so hot that the pudding scorches.] Remove from heat.

Place a layer of banana slices in the baking dish on top of the vanilla wafers. Don't stint and put one slice of banana per wafer. Line those banana slices up edge-to-edge. Pour, spreading as necessary, half of the pudding over the banana layer. Put down another layer of vanilla wafers, another layer of banana slices, and cover with the remaining pudding.

Beat the egg whites at high speed until they form soft peaks. Add the cream of tartar. At high speed, gradually add the sugar, a tablespoon at a time, and beat until stiff peaks form. Fold the vanilla into the meringue, and spread the meringue over the pudding, sealing it at the sides of the dish.

Bake in a preheated 375°F oven until meringue browns, 12 to 15 minutes, depending upon your oven.
The size and shape of the baking dish are important. If you don't have a 9" x 9" baking dish, you really should. It's a handy size to have. You can get this baking dish from Amazon by clicking here. I've made this banana pudding in a round casserole dish, and it just doesn't turn out as well. Another thing to wonder about. (Horse hocky! It's usually baked in big oblong pans in the restaurants. And covered with about 3-4 inches of meringue. The absolute best I've ever had, although the Wife's comes reeeeeeeal close, was at an old cafe in Burlington. A little old black lady cooked it on Tuesdays and Thursdays and you couldn't get in the parking lot at lunchtime on those two days! She's come out of the kitchen with a pan of the stuff that looked as big as she was...)

This recipe makes 6 or 8 servings, and you can count on people asking for seconds. Any leftovers should be covered and refrigerated. And, yes, it's hard to cover anything with a meringue top and anyway, banana pudding is not as attractive after it has been refrigerated. But it's still just as delicious.

I also find it interesting that I had to get this recipe out of a "Texas" cookbook. Couldn't find one that looked right when I Googled "Southern".
[Click on the title above, or date stamp below, to see the full article.]

The Catfish Hole; a review

Friends and neighbors, I don’t do this often. I’m always hesitant to recommend restaurants since my tastes may not match other folks’. But I gotta tell you about the experience I’ve just had….

My buddy and I were heading back from Colorado. Having crossed the panhandle of Texas and all of Oklahoma we were feeling a little hungry, the biscuits and gravy we’d had for breakfast in Dalhart, TX long since gone. Now Miss Baby, my buddy’s girlfriend (see Brother Dave Gardner’s “Chuck and Miss Baby” routine) had told him about a catfish restaurant in Ft. Smith, Arkansas that she had found on the web as she followed our progress. And from the web site she though it looked pretty good.

So we stopped at the first Ft. Smith exit and did something decidedly unmale; we asked for directions. Several people in the gas station knew exactly which restaurant we were talking about and gave us directions. Not very good ones as it turned out because we couldn’t find it. So we came to a side road (see Arlo Guthrie’s “Alice’s Restaurant”) i.e.: the Alma, Arkansas/US 71 exit and jumped off of I-40. Off the side of the side road (ibid) was a Shamrock gas station so we pulled in. Eric, the nice young man in the station, said yes he knew exactly which restaurant we were talking about….but it was about six miles back. However, if we wanted the best catfish in Arkansas it was just up the road. A place called the Catfish Hole. Eric said to ask for Jeannie. So we went.


Now I’m going to tell you like a friend and a brother: this was undoubtedly the best restaurant experience that I’ve had in many a day. Everyone in the place could not do enough for us. Every waitress that passed our table asked: “can I get y’all some more tea/coffee; are y’all ready for some more catfish; are y’all doing ok; is there anything you need?” And the food was out of this world.

The fried dinners menu included: catfish steaks (bone in), catfish filets (no bones), fried shrimp, scallops, ocean clams, and frog legs. And that was just the seafood. Then you could get a combination of any two or three of the above. So I got the catfish filets (small catch) and frog legs. Oh. My. Gawd. The catfish was lightly breaded, and fried to perfection. Not the least bit oily. The frog legs…….tasted like chicken. Well what am I supposed to say?!? They were wonderful! And the fixin’s: hushpuppies, kosher dill pickles, green tomato relish and coleslaw (that came out before the meal) weren’t bad either! My buddy got a combo of catfish steaks (small catch), shrimp and frog legs. We were in heaven….

So we finished up. As we sat there wondering when we were going to be able to move again, Jeannie walked up. “Are you going to try one of our deserts?” she asked. We groaned. “Oh you’ve got to try our fried pies!” Fried pies? Fried pies??? Those little turnover looking thingies that are fried? Er, what kind do you have? Not that we had room for one, mind you….

“We have apple, cherry, peach, blueberry, coconut……” WAIT! You’ve got a fried coconut pie?? “Yes, do you want it with ice cream?” What could we do? We split one; with ice cream. OH! MY! GAWD! Now my mother made fried apple pies when I was a kid but they weren’t anything like this. Jeannie brought us a freshly fried coconut pie with a bowl of ice cream on the side. The ice cream tasted homemade. We asked; it wasn’t. I repeat: the ice cream tasted homemade. And the combination of the ice cream and fried coconut pie was out of this world!

So how do you get there? Glad you asked! And if you didn’t ask, what’s the matter with you?!?

Take the Alma, AR/US 71 exit off I-40. If you’re coming from the west: turn left at the bottom of the ramp. If you’re coming from the east: turn right. Go to the first traffic light past the Interstate (second if you’re coming from the west) and turn left between the Taco Bell and the Bank of the Ozarks. You will see a sign saying “Catfish Hole”. Turn right and look for a building with the sign below on it:



Walk inside and enjoy. Period. Paragraph.

And ask for Jeannie; or her daughter Bailey; or any waitress wearing this tee shirt:



They’re all good! And you won’t be sorry!

The Catfish Hole
24 Collum Lane West
Alma, AR 72921
479-632-9718
www.thecatfishhole.com/Catfish%20Hole%20Menu%20Alma.html
[Click on the title above, or date stamp below, to see the full article.]

Remember This...

Every time someone starts on some drooling rant about how terrorism is:

"All about Israel"
or "All About Iraq"
or "All About Bush"
or "All About the American Empire" ....

You remember this face:


Clutching a toy basketball, his face contorted by tears at today's memorial service for his parents. The two-year-old orphan's rabbi father and mother were murdered in Mumbai's Jewish centre.

His name is Moshe Holtzberg - he turned 2 years old last week.

Last Wednesday, his mother and father were tortured and killed in front of him by Muslim Terrorists.

His nanny spirited him away after finding him sitting next to their bodies, covered in their blood, crying for them to wake up.

Not in Israel - Not in Gaza - Not in the Settlements.

This wasn't about some "Right of Return" or "Creeping Zionism" or "Jooos Stealing Olive Trees".

This was in Mumbai, India - where the Jewish community that was established sometime around 70 A.D. makes up about twenty-five-thousandths of a percent of the approximately 2 Billion people in a country otherwise overwhelmingly Hindu, Buddist, Christian and Muslim.

The mother and father of this otherwise happy little boy:



...were singled out, tortured and murdered in front of him...

For Being Jews and Nothing More.

Remember this.

Remember what we face - and, the next time someone starts shrieking out their weak, hand-wringing song of relativism and inverted blame...

Remember Moshe - this sweet, perfect little boy whose life will never be the same...

...because his parents were Jewish - in Mumbai, India.

(excuse me now, I have to go hold my son and make him a promise...)

- MuscleDaddy

Is the Honeymoon Already Over?

Is it possible that Obama's press pass may actually have an expiration date? Here Campbell Brown takes Obama to task for derisively dismissing the "tough questions" about his apparent change of heart regarding Hillary Clinton's foreign policy experience/expertise. Now, granted, the toughness of this question must be judged on a sliding scale, but still . . . is this a sign of things to come? Is that possible?

Naming Contest!

Since we've lost sight of that whole "Posse Comitatus" thing...
(perhaps Barack is putting together a different kind of 'posse')

I propose a Naming Contest!

What will we call the new Stasi?
Who are to be deployed only in case of a disaster, of course!
(wouldn't it just be a disaster if The One's approval ratings were to dip suddenly?)

So far, Monopticus & I call dibs on "Praetorian Guard".

What can the rest of you come up with?

- MuscleDaddy

The Face of Grace

Paul A. emailed me about This story from The American Legion. The father of a US soldier in Iraq gives us a glimpse into something the MSM will never dare show us:

Stationed outside a city on the Tigris River, Luke had accompanied his colonel into town as part of a security team, while the colonel spoke with a local sheik. While standing guard, Luke noticed a woman approaching from behind and cautiously turned in her direction, his rifle at the ready.

An interpreter told our son it was OK – the woman just wanted to touch a soldier. Still uneasy, Luke stood still while the woman reached out her hand and touched his face, tears in her eyes.

Looking to the interpreter for meaning, our son was told that the woman simply "wanted to touch the face of grace." It seems this trembling woman, like most of the people in her town, looked upon our soldiers as angels of grace, sent by God to protect her from the violence and oppression her people had come to know up to then. Learning this, our son squeezed and kissed the woman’s hand, and she left, weeping.

This is how we won. We let these people hear how freedom rings. At least some of them are thankful for it, as should we all be.

If He Keeps This Up...

I'm going to have to start paying him.

So here we are again - my Euro/Arab friend (who I will refer to as "Mo") says that:

"as for Russia and Iran, it’s time America stopped walking around with it’s chest sticking out, bulling everyone.
Let others shoulder some of the leadership. I think you will be surprised how much Iran is interested in stability , as well as Russia."

In the words of MuscleDaddy-the-Elder: "Ok - Let's Review"...

Hmmm - yeah... let Russia shoulder some 'Leadership'...

Do you know anyone in Georgia?
I know people in Georgia ...

- if you'd like, I could let you ask them how Russia's "Leadership" and "desire for stability" has been working out so far...

And that "Show of Power" - sending a missle cruiser to Venezuela?

- No, I'm sure you're right...
Clearly only demonstating Russia's desire for stability with THAT move.

And ... Iran?

If Iran "wants stability" - why ignore sanctions (which makes it harder to feed their people) and continue enriching uranium?

- and don't bother saying 'for nuclear power' - they have more oil than they could even use (that 'oil giant' thing)

- and don't bother saying 'to go nuke to protect the environment' - if that were a real concern, they'd stop selling oil to every country with the intent to burn it.

- and don't bother saying 'to defend themselves' - No one is threatening Iran with nukes - Hell, no one would be interested in attacking Iran at all if they'd back off of developing nuclear weapons, threatening other countries (even if they're dirty Jooooos) and funding terrorists all over the world.
(go ahead - try and tell me they're not)

- and you might as well forget the "Don't want to be told what to do" meme - that is not the attitude of a "stability-craving" government.

They have as much money as they could ever need - all anyone's ever said is:
"Quit trying to build nukes, quit sponsoring terrorists and quit threatening other countries with total annihilation, and you can do what ever you want - free trade - open international relations - whatever"...

- doesn't seem unreasonable,
but they just can't seem to go with that for the sake of "stability"

And btw, what sort of "Leadership" has Iran evinced a desire to "shoulder"?
I mean, aside from an open & blatant desire to take over a weakened Iraq (and her oil fields) ?

...Oh, and to one of the old arguments on the Iran/Nuke topic:

"The US has nukes - why shouldn't Iran?"

Just to make sure that one's covered -

The US has hundreds-or-even-thousands of nukes and has for decades - and has, since 1945, demonstrated time and time again the overwhelming desire to never use them.

Iran seems to only want one -- and we don't have to guess why they want one, because they have said, in no uncertain terms, time-and-again what they would intend to do with it.

Mo, you have always thought that the world should show greater respect to Muslim/Arab countries -

What greater respect can be granted than taking someone at his word?

Yeah - absolutely....

This is who should be entrusted with the safety of the free world. /sarc-off

[Click on the title above, or date stamp below, to see the full article.]

The Future of Iraq is in Excellent Hands

If you haven't been reading Abby, you've been missing out.

I Admit To Having Wondered...

...but now I only wonder why I wondered...

So, I have a friend (shocker, I know) who alternately lives in Europe and the Middle East and is a deeply-imprinted Bush-Hater (and the shocks just keep on comin').

We were trading emails, and he started off on one of his glazed-eye jags about how 'racist' America is and how everything America does is just another "Christian Crusade Against Brown People" who, at the brass-tacks, America hates more than anything else, of course.

I replied, saying something to the effect of "Looks like you're going to have to revisit the holy meme-generator, 'cause I think that one's officially fallen by the wayside, Sparky - or ain't you been watching the news - I think even Al-Jazeera covered that one."

He went quiet for a little while, but later came back with:

"I was actually thinking about bush. He has put Obama is such a mess, that I think the first Black western president is going to prove that dark people can not rule the west. Perfect for people like you. Without a miracle , Obama doesn’t have a chance. No one does."

So there it is.

I had kind of wondered, you know, what all the screaming Leftist/Socialist/BDS-afflicted were going to do once Bush was gone?

- What would they shriek about?
- Who would they blame when their shirts came back with too much starch?
- Where would the Che-Che's go when they couldn't cry on the couch anymore?

Why. Did. I. Even. Wonder?

It's as obvious as the alternative is Unthinkable.


Throughout the (interminably long) election, Obama was heralded far & wide as the Messiah - "The One"

- HE would bring us back from the Great Dark Time of Bush

- HE would find our way back into the Good Graces of the Global Commmunity

- HE would lower the rising Oceans, heal the earth and the streets would run with Milk & Honey

People screamed and fainted at his rallies as though he were the Beatles and the Main Stream Media blatantly carried his water, flatly refusing to to allow attention to be brought to his Far-Socialist voting record in the Senate, his utter lack of experience at running anything, his life-long associations with terrorists, criminals, open racists and just-as-open America-Haters, or even his own statements advocating defeat in war, capitulation to terrorist-states, protectionist trade policies sure to damage the economy and the calculated, deliberate weakening of the United States.

- None of that mattered nor could even be spoken of - all were making ready for the GoldenAge of Obama

Oh...but now...

Now, as Obama continues to install beltway insiders, Chicago political hacks and old-school Clintonistas to his cabinet and appointment posts and only moves to expand and increase the goverment footprint...

NOW we start to hear the pro-active excuses - NOW we hear how :

"It's not his fault that he won't be able to follow-through on any of the Hype"

"Not even The One, sent from above, can hold to His Own Promises"

"He won't really be able to do any of the things he spent the past two years saying he would do."

"But it won't be his fault! The One cannot be held accountable His own failures which now must surely come - He is a higher being, and cannot be blamed!"

There will be only One Man to blame for Obama's coming failures, double-talk and broken promises...

BUUSSSHHHH!!!!1!!ONE!!
Look at that - the Obamatons will get to go right on blaming Bush - just like they always have - just as their talents are singularly suited for...

No one will even have to remake the giant paper-mache heads they like to wave at protests, or create new effigies to burn... look at the time & work efficiency of that - how convenient!

And later, when Obama's relative lack of spine or willingness to back up failed "sanctions" becomes apparent to more than JUST the Russians ...

- and Iran, knowing that it will not face retaliatory strikes from a delibately-weakened US, decides to throw someone some canned-sunshine ...

Obama will need not worry about being blamed for his own fecklessness - because the usual suspects are already, proactively, hard at work blaming "Bush" for the presidential mistakes of the coming years...

All Hail The One - coming soon to the paper-dollar, too!

Ugh.
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It Would Take Only One

Chilling article over at the Wall Street Journal about the thin line that separates us in our current state of worried comfort from medieval chaos: What a Single Nuclear Warhead Could Do.

Grim reality in three paragraphs:

Think about this scenario: An ordinary-looking freighter ship heading toward New York or Los Angeles launches a missile from its hull or from a canister lowered into the sea. It hits a densely populated area. A million people are incinerated. The ship is then sunk. No one claims responsibility. There is no firm evidence as to who sponsored the attack, and thus no one against whom to launch a counterstrike.

But as terrible as that scenario sounds, there is one that is worse. Let us say the freighter ship launches a nuclear-armed Shahab-3 missile off the coast of the U.S. and the missile explodes 300 miles over Chicago. The nuclear detonation in space creates an electromagnetic pulse (EMP).

Gamma rays from the explosion, through the Compton Effect, generate three classes of disruptive electromagnetic pulses, which permanently destroy consumer electronics, the electronics in some automobiles and, most importantly, the hundreds of large transformers that distribute power throughout the U.S. All of our lights, refrigerators, water-pumping stations, TVs and radios stop running. We have no communication and no ability to provide food and water to 300 million Americans.

So, how does one prepare for the end of civilization as we know it here in the early 21st Century? I dare say no basement of canned goods, bottled water, and guns is sufficient for this grim scenario.

This article reminded me of the ABC TV movie The Day After, which aired while I was in elementary school. It left indelible images and feelings in my memory, none more memorable than the scene in which the Soviet missiles arrive:



Because of the power and reality of the film, the concentric circles of its impact were felt all the way to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
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Fifteen Iraq war movies, three killer asteroid movies in a single year's time, and yet another alien invasion flick. Oh that Hollywood would make a movie about a real threat. Sadly, that's likely the only way to get most people to realize the gravity of the reality that we face now. Unfortunately, Hollywood got out of the "help America" business sometime ago.

Zombie: Victory in Iraq Day

The indomitable Zombie has proclaimed today...

...and we are proud to join in the celebration

By now you've probably seen the report from Michael Yon:

THE WAR IS OVER AND WE WON: There's nothing going on. I'm with the 10th Mountain Division, and about half of the guys I'm with haven't fired their weapons on this tour and they've been here eight months. And the place we're at, South Baghdad, used to be one of the worst places in Iraq. And now there's nothing going on. I've been walking my feet off and haven't seen anything.

We're not going to get an official event like the surrender of the Nazis after Hitler's suicide, or a signing ceremony like the one on the Missouri. And we still have forces in Japan and Germany, 60 years after World War II ended.

Per the new Status of Forces Agreement, expected to be ratified by the Iraqi Parliament next week, we'll have troops there for about three more years, gradually reducing their numbers as the Iraqi Army and Police continue to prove they are capable of maintaining order. We've already started drawing down troop levels.

Celebrate Victory in Iraq!
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