Veteran's Day

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord:
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword:
His truth is marching on.

Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His truth is marching on.

I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps,
They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps;
I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps:
His day is marching on.

I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel:
"As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall deal;
Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel,
Since God is marching on."

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat:
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet!
Our God is marching on.

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me:
As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,
While God is marching on.

History of Veteran's Day can be found here.

As for me, Veteran's Day is the day for me to reflect on all the men and women who have died for something greater than themselves. Whether it was to free themselves from tyranny, defend this country in it's early years, to right the horror of slavery, to defeat evil in it's many forms, or stand the wall facing our various enemies over the years, brave men and women have given their last full measure for this country and all who inhabit it. I personally don't think that one day to remember their sacrifice is enough. So make the most of it.

Thank a veteran. Volunteer at a local cemetery during the year. See if the VFW or American Legion need any help. Do just one small thing to recognize local vets. Because if everyone did just one small thing, the end result would be massive.

We enjoy the freedoms we have today because of those vet's sacrifices throughout the years.

Semper Fidelis

Today is the Marine Corps' birthday, as it were. Uncle Sam's Misguided Children were formed November 10th, 1775, and they've been putting the fear of God and America in our enemies ever since.

While I may be somewhat biased in my choice of service (GO ARMY!) the Marines have my utmost respect. My father spent 22 years as a Marine.

Yeah, we have some interesting family reunions.

DAD: So, what does Army stand for again? Ain't Real Marines Yet?

ME: Aren't the Marines just a sub-department of the Navy or something like that?

Anyways, Happy Birthday, Marines! No matter what uniform you wear, we all have the same first two letters - U.S.

Spread the news

Spread it. Spread it far and wide. Write people and have them link to Sondra's posts. And have those people write people they know.

I want this spread over the net in 24 hours or less. This is disgusting. This is foul. Abhorrent. This is a picture perfect example of Leftists in action. They don't care about anything but themselves.

I'm so pissed off after reading what Sondra went through that I can barely type. It's probably a good thing that I wasn't there, otherwise I would have spent the night in a jail cell after I busted a few heads. A few? Fuck it, I would have kept swinging until there wasn't any traitor left standing.

These people that Sondra describes ARE THE ENEMY. They are antithetical to everything America stands for. They don't deserve to be called Americans.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...............

Power Outage

They're cutting power to the post tomorrow for about 12 hours. I'll have my generator up and running, but it's main function is to keep the refrigerator cold. If I have some power cords left, I'll see if I can hook up the Internet.

So with that in mind, I'm going to post more pictures for you to download in case I don't get online tomorrow.

Sunset over Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. 597KB


Rock Formation, Stevens Pass, Washington State. I took this shot when I lived in Seattle, and the Ragin' Mrs. and I went on a motorcycle trip. 801KB

Inner Gate, Castillo de San Cristobal, San Juan, Puerto Rico. This is the gate that was on the inside of the city, leading up to the main fortress. 1.31MB


Enjoy. I see ya when I see ya.

Not the fringe

Code Pink? MoveOn.org? Fringe?

Nope. Not when they have the ear of the Speaker of the House and control what the Democrat American Communist Party does and says. Despite all the success in Iraq, the Defeatocrats still want to surrender. They still want to run away in shrieking hysterics.

I'm so sick of them right now that I wouldn't piss on 'em if they were on fire.

And to pile on, anyone who says that Khalid Sheik Mohammad has the "moral high ground" is crazy as a shithouse rat. These are all just extra examples of why the Democrat American Communist Party is unfit to hold any position higher than local dog catcher.

UPDATE: Nailed it in one. Ouch.

Frankly, I don't understand why so many mock us for wanting a future for Iraq. Is your hatred for George Bush so great that you prefer to see millions of civilians suffer just to prove him wrong?

It really comes down to this: you are determined to see Iraq become a permanent hellhole because you hate Bush. And we are determined to see Iraq become a success, because we want to live.

It needs repeating

via Curmudgeonly & Skeptical

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100.

If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

1. The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
2. The fifth would pay $1.
3. The sixth would pay $3.
4. The seventh would pay $7.
5. The eighth would pay $12.
6. The ninth would pay $18.
7. The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that's what they decided to do.

The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve.

"Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20. Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?'? They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer.

So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so:

1. The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
2. The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).
3. The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).
4. The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
5. The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
6. The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.

"I only got a dollar out of the $20,"declared the sixth man. He pointed the tenth man," but he got $10!"
"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. I only saved a dollar,too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I!"
"That's true!!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!"

"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!"

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics
University of Georgia

For those who understand, no explanation is needed. For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible.

The next time some braindead idiot blurts out "TAX CUTS FOR THE RICH!" just remind them that if everyone's tax rate gets cut by 10%, then those who only paid $10 in taxes get one dollar back. Those who paid $100 in taxes get ten dollars back. The percentage rate is exactly the same! There are no extra tax cuts for the rich, they just pay a hell of a lot more in taxes than the rest of us!

Anyone who doesn't understand that should be forced to take remedial economics classes until they can recite it in their sleep.

Brain Exercise

I was reading a post over at Mrs. du Toit's and the comments got me to thinking..... well, reading either of the du Toit's will get you to thinking, but this specific idea was about voting. The Founder's Intent was to have free, landowning men vote. Now, I don't know if that intent would be workable in today's day and age. To put it bluntly, there are enough people who pay taxes and put in their fair share who don't own land to make a sizable chunk of the population. When I lived in Seattle I was certainly paying quite a bit in taxes, but rented the house I lived in. We've gone far enough away from the Founder's intent with regards to taxation (income tax was unconstitutional until the 20th century) that we can no longer say that only landowners should be able to vote.

Yet, as another commenter at Mrs. du Toit's said:

I used to think that the free landowning men was the best possible alternative
... but more and more I’m thinking that it needs to be more along the line of
“them what pays, decides.”

I believe that a good portion of our problems in this country is due to the fact that we have a huge portion of people voting for things that they have no stake in whatsoever. If you're on welfare, sitting on your ass and taking money from the government, why should you care if taxes go up? You're not paying any taxes at all, so your decision does not effect you what so ever. On a personal level, you have no worries about jacking up tax rates, and more importantly you have no real prerogative to learn about why high tax rates are a bad thing to begin with.

All too often, it is only when you have a vested interest in something that you begin to educate your self on that subject.

Too many people today know little to nothing about the way the government is supposed to work. They know little to nothing about WHY the Founding Fathers set up the government the way they did. And most people I've met did not know that an income tax was NOT written in the constitution until the Sixteenth Amendment. Most people do not know that until the Seventeenth Amendment, Senators were elected by the state's legislature, NOT THE GENERAL POPULATION. The general population were responsible for electing their Representatives. Too many people don't even know what the Tenth Amendment states:

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

Got that? If the constitution does not specifically say "This is what the Federal Government can do" then that power is automatically given to the states or to the people. The Constitution was, above all, a check on the power of the government itself, NOT ON THE PEOPLE!

It was all a system of checks and balances until people started screwing it up. We need to re-educate people on their government, but in order to do that we first have to ensure that the people voting have a vested interest in what their vote affects.

Anyways, that's my meandering thoughts for the day. Anyone want to try to clarify what I said? Go for it.

Oh, and as for what I would do to get people to "own" their vote? Simple - I would restrict voters to those who pay taxes. If you paid the government this year, you get to vote. If the government paid you, you don't get to vote. And I would bring my property tax bill to the voting station and pull the lever.

A day late and a (billion) dollars short

John F. Kerry has finally come up with a defense against the Viet Nam veterans who told the country what a worthless pile of excrement he is.....

back in 2004.

“We have put together a documented portfolio that frankly puts their lies in such a total light of absurdity and indecency, that should they ever rear their ugly heads again, we have every single ‘t’ crossed and ‘i’ dotted, and I welcome that in a sense,” Kerry said after addressing Boston’s South Shore Chamber of Commerce. “It’s a shame we weren’t able to produce all that at the time.”

This whole bruhaha started when 'ol Jonny "American troops love to rape and murder children" Kerry called up a few of his former sailors and said "This is my Band of Brothers!" on national TV.

To which the rest of the sailors who served under him said "Oh, HELL NO!"

John Kerry was such a despicable wanker back in '71 that the people he served with felt the need to tell the rest of the country what a worthless slimebag this douche was. They were not about to allow one of the perpetrators of the Winter Soldier hoax to go and try to lie about what he did. And now, three years after the fact, we're supposed to believe that he now has his defense prepared?

What an idiot. What a poltroon. What a brainless twit.

Here's a clue for John "I like to shoot my fellow veterans in the back" Kerry - why don't you sign the DD Form 180 to release your military personnel record, LIKE YOU SAID YOU WOULD BACK IN 2004, and let the record, your record, speak for itself?

Anything else is just an exercise in lies and obfuscation.

Oh, GREAT!

Iran just announced that they have 3,000 centrifuges. Which means that they could have a nuclear weapon within a year.

I have met people who actually believe that Iran just wants a nuclear power plant. No, really, stop laughing! These people actually believe it!

And those people are a bunch of naive morons.

Iran announced it's intention to build a nuke years ago. They've also stated that once they had one, Tel Aviv goes bye-bye. This is THE major state sponsor of terrorism, and yet there are people who still walk around convinced that Iran is just "misunderstood", or that they really didn't mean it, it was all talk, yada yada yada. How frigging self-deluded do you have to be in order to think that Iran would hesitate to nuke either Israel or the USA? What kind of sand-poundingly stupid idiot do you have to be in order to look at Iran's track record and say "Oh, I don't see a problem!"

As Captain Ed mentions, Iran doesn't even need to put a nuke on a missile in order to get it where they want it - they can just give it to the latest splodydope JERM (Jihadist Extreme Radical Muslim) and have them walk it across our nice open border. And when LA, or Phoenix, or Dallas, or Miami goes up in a mushroom cloud, the same mentally deficient morons who told us that Iran wasn't a threat will be the first to blame Bush, the Republicans, the neo-cons, the jews, and everyone else for the deaths.

Oh, and if Iran starts a nuclear war with Israel? Yeah, you can count on half of the Middle East becoming a flat, glowing pane of glass. And when most of the world's oil supply is unusable for the next ten-thousands years or so, what do you think will happen? How many millions of people will die? Perhaps it would even reach the billions?

Iran cannot be trusted with anything more dangerous than a rusty spoon. Letting them build a nuke would put the entire world at risk. And yet that seems to be just what many people are willing to let happen.

I wonder if Israel is going to have to do all the dirty work again.

In God We Trust

Our national motto is:

In God We Trust

Now, I've always been comfortable with that given our Judeo-Christian historical legacy. But today I learned something that caused me some consternation.

You see, I always bought the "BigLie" that 'In God We Trust became the official U.S. national motto after the passage of an Act of Congress in 1956' which provides some argumentative support for the notion that it was a product of ColdWar politics.

Today I learned that Francis Scott Key made it a specific reference in the final stanza of our National Anthem The Star-Spangled Banner giving it significantly more weight then I previously understood. But I learned something more...

In our darkest hours of our Civil War our national motto was directed to appear on a two-cent coin and repeatedly showed up on coins between 1864 and it's official adoption in 1956.

In God We Trust is our national motto because it was used as such in our darkest hour.

In God We Trust represents more then a random stanza ripped from a forgotten verse of our National Anthem. It represents all that is good in the (R)epublican's heroic crusade to liberate our fellow citizens in bondage from their enslavement by (D)emocrats.

Is it any wonder the
Copperheads fight against this reminder of their historical legacy to this day?

To reject our national motto, and to do so via misrepresentation as an establishment of a national religion, in contrast to it's celebration of our religious freedoms, is to demean the sacrifices made by so many.

Our unique Republic liberated itself from it's Colonial masters and a scant 80 years later fought against that an inherited colonial legacy to liberate our fellows in servitude into citizenship.

Our Republic is an unprecedented historical triumph in the history of mankind. It's actions since it's foundation have only enhanced that marvelous legacy.

God Bless America.
Cross Posted at DANEgerus

These people are nucking futs.

Outright insane. Crazy. Loony. Loco. CooCoo for Cocoa Puffs. And do you want to know what really scares me?

THERE ARE PEOPLE IN THIS COUNTRY WHO ACTUALLY VOTED THAT CREEPY LITTLE HALF-PINT, SAWN OFF, COMMUNIST IMP TO CONGRESS!

I'm pretty damn sure that there will be another civil war in this country during my lifetime. And it's insane Leftists like Kucinich and the people who elected him that make me believe that. Seriously. Impeaching Cheney? On what charges? For what? I say let them try, let them debate it, and prove to the sane people in this country that the Left can't be trusted with any more authority than hall monitor at a local elementery school.

Anti-War propaganda bombing

The pundits claim that the Iraq War doesn't sell...

In the Valley of Elah

Cost est. $25 million

Domestic Gross : $6,704,576



Rendition

Cost est. $27 million

Domestic Gross : $9,283,593



The Kingdom

Cost est. $70 million

Domestic Gross : $46,844,125

But what Iraq War movies have been released that aren't condescending anti-war/anti-American propaganda?

Here is a template for success for you...

300

Cost est. $65 million

Domestic Gross : $210,614,939

Here is a clue. Men. Men go to war movies... and they like war movies that have positive heroes that are heroic. Then they buy the DVD.

Chicks don't go to war movies. Chicks don't care if those movies, they don't go to, are historically accurate and they won't go even if General Patton has self-loathing reflective moments that displace his entire campaign kicking the krauts across Europe.

Ken Burns? He made a multi-part chick flick and shoved it up our ass on PBS.

Men go to war movies.

Make some.

Cross Posted at DANEgerus

Update via Jonah Goldberg:

'Anti-' doesn't sell

...The Kingdom... ...Its anti-war credentials come from suggesting that the sworn lawmen (and women) investigating the slaughter of families playing softball are no better than the murderers.

...

We've all heard the stories, many true, some apocryphal, of soldiers returning home from Vietnam only to be disrespected and shunned by an ungrateful nation. How many were called war criminals or spat upon is as controversial as it is unknowable. But there's one thing we know our troops never experienced. We never filled the movie theaters during wartime with films calling them war criminals, rapists and, figuratively, spitting on them or on their mission.

More AID to Palestinians = More Terror from Palestinians

MereRhetoric has the charts to illustrate that

More Aid To Palestinians Means More Murders A Year Later

Every time aid increases, homicides increase. Every time it decreases, homicides decrease. There's a not uncompelling theory about how cultures degenerate into corruption and depravity when they have to rely on outsiders to literally feed and clothe them. That explains some of what's going on, but it isn't enough to explain such a strong and consistent correlation.

A lot of the correlation is probably accounted for by the simple fact that all humanitarian assistance is de facto security assistance. More US and EU money for schools and hospitals means that the Palestinians can shift their Saudi and Iranian money towards guns and ammo. Which may help explain why Palestinians are able to kill more people every time they get aid, and why they're forced to kill less people every time it's taken away...

Cross Posted at DANEgerus

OK, any camera nuts out there?

Here's the deal - I'm going to be getting a belated Birthday present for myself - a digital SLR camera. I've been reading reviews, going over my budget, and I'm down to a couple of choices - the Pentax K100D, and the Nikon D40X. There are pros and cons to both of them. I've owned both Pentax and Nikon film SLR cameras in the past, and I've been happy with both of them. I don't have any sentimental favorites. So here are a few questions for anyone who knows the answers:

How much of a difference does 10.2Megapixel make vs. 6.1Megapixel for someone who is not a professional photographer? The Nikon D40X is 10.2MP, and the Pentax is 6.1MP. I've had some work published, but I've never gotten paid for it. It's not what I plan on doing for a living either. I don't see my photos getting blown up and placed on a NYC building. I wouldn't mind getting a photo enlarged to 14X11 or 18X22, but I'm not going to be making any posters.

Does anyone know how sturdy they are? I'm not a gentle guy; I take care of my gear, but I do a lot of traveling (I'm in the military) and any camera I own would have to travel with me. It would not have a cushy lifestyle. Chances are it would end up in the desert for a period of time.

What, if anything, would cause you to purchase one camera over the other?

I welcome any input. This is going to be my Birthday present/Christmas present/Anniversary present all rolled into one, so I'm giving it some thought before I shell out the bucks.

Oh for Pete's sake!

Apparently, there's a moonbat named Kevin Drum who's posted a poll titled "All-Time Wingnuttiest Blog Post"

Say what?

This is why I refuse to bother debating with most Leftists these days. Go read the comments, and you will see most of the Leftist arguments repeated ad nauseam. "You hater! You hateful person! You racist! You sexist!" Blah blah blah blah blah.

The ideology of the political Left is made up of emotion-based attacks, feeeeeeeeeelings, insults, ad hominem attacks, straw-man arguments, and failed ideas that should have been killed decades ago. "Debating" Leftists is like dealing with a two-year old throwing a temper tantrum.

The best argument they can come up with in regards to Kim du Toit is to call him "fat", and make fun of his name.

Childish, juvenile, sniveling little shitheads, the entire lot of them.

As an aside, the posts they have in the poll are some damn good reading, full of thought and completely shredding the Left apart. Which is why the Leftists can't stand them.

I'm Back

And I have mosquito bites in places that I never knew I had before now.

Much expounding will come later.

Fight the Power! Oh wait, that's ME.

Radio host rallies blacks for Friday boycott

"By some estimates, the U.S. economy could lose millions of dollars if the more than 40 million African-Americans keep their wallets in their purses and pockets Friday"

The downright hilarious part of this whole thing, which seems to have completely escaped the notice of the event's organizers, is that what this whole boycott idea actually highlights is the economic success of blacks! If ol' Mr. Ballentine is convinced that black consumers not spending money will have such a negative impact on the economy, isn't he in effect completely invalidating the whole premise behind the boycott? Blacks are so financially successful and influential that we need to use them in a boycott to highlight how, uh... you know, poor and uh, oppressed they are.

President Eisenhower defended the Little Rock Nine, President Kennedy protected the Freedom Riders and President Johnson stood up for voting rights, "but this federal government has done nothing for the Jena 6 or to stem the rising tide of hate that includes a proliferation of nooses and swastikas," Sharpton said.

Nevermind the fact that these are isolated incidents among millions of black Americans, elevated to the level of an "issue" by a media that thrives on controversy, not on reporting the truth.

"The history of our country is about what I'm calling for," Ballentine said. "If the federal government is not doing what it's supposed to do, we protest."

And what exactly is the government failing to do? Blacks have had the right to vote since 1870, further solidified by the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Anti-discrimination laws make it illegal to deny housing, employment, bank loans, public services etc. on the basis of race. Yet people like His Holiness Al Sharpton of the Immaculate Victimhood would have us believe that at any moment there will be fire hoses in Birmingham again.

There's a black Supreme Court justice and a black candidate for President for heaven's sake!

What if he's right? What if there is some sort of backlash against the black culture? Might it actually be a backlash against the perpetuation of an angry rap culture that sows every bit as much division between the races as "hate crimes?" Rap stars who glorify shooting cops, who legitmize drug use, who blame everyone but themselves for problems within black communities? Why does the "racism!" crowd bemoan racial and cultural stereotypes against black people as violent, drug-using gang-bangers...and then support a multi-billion dollar music industry which portays this exact thing as mainstream black "culchah?"

Tell me, did the term "Baby Daddy" come out of the white or black culture? A "baby daddy" is a guy with whom I have no other association than the fact that he's the genetic father of my child. Is the rampant failure of the nuclear family in today's black community somehow the fault of white people? Or the government? Why not place the responsibility firmly where it lies?

Instead of blaming the US government for "failing" to combat discrimination, why doesn't the black community look within itself to identify some potentially much more damaging problems? Why do victimhood perpetuaters like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson get so much more press time than Bill Cosby and Morgan Freeman? Why are those who attempt to suggest that blacks look within for root causes of some of their social and economic woes so often labeled as either "Uncle Toms" (if they're black) or racists (if they aren't)?

"Ballentine, who goes by the radio handle "the people's attorney," said he also is dismayed by issues like shoddy imports from China, the outsourcing of jobs overseas, the housing market's flood of foreclosures and President Bush's request for $196 billion in war spending and his veto of a children's health insurance bill.

The latter two issues are particularly disappointing, Ballentine said, because they send a message that the U.S. doesn't care about its next generation."

That's right, let's roll it all up in one giant chalupa of the failures of a white president to properly provide for black people, children, the working class, poor financial decisions, and poorly written socialist legislation to redistribute the wealth of America...

Which, according to the first few paragraphs, is coming more and more from members of the black community! I would think that if you knew that so much of your hard earned money was going to pay for other people's poor lifestyle choices, you'd be a little less likely to give the likes of Al Sharpton the time of day.

But then, I'm white, upper middle class and privileged. What do I know?

Fred Phelps 'Hates Fags' but his son

was a delegate for Al Gore(D)
So... the MainStreamMedia misreports Fred Phelps protested a "Gay Marine"s funeral when in fact Fred Phelps and his nutters of the Westboro clan are unlawfully protesting tolerance of Gay lifestyles in general by intruding upon military funerals.

Sweetness & Light notes the odd details in those stories about the multi-million dollar judgement against the moonbats in civil court:

This AP story, like every report you will see about the Westboro “Baptist Church,” parrots the claims that they are Baptists and moreover fundamentalists (or evangelicals).

Indeed, a search of Google News reveals that they are called “fundamentalist” or “evangelical” in 884 of the articles posted in the last few days — which is to say practically all of the articles on the subject from the mainstream media...

...

But as anyone who has even a passing acquaintance with this miserable operation is well aware, the Westboro Baptist Church is not a Baptist church, evangelical or otherwise.

Odd how the MSMs keep leaving out that party affiliation.

Cross Posted at DANEgerus

FTX

Field Training Exercise. That's where I'll be all weekend, starting tomorrow at 0600. But fear not! Dane and Steve B have arrived to save the day!

Guys, thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you.

I'm going to be neck deep in mud, muck, and insects that want to bite me, sting me or drain some bodily fluid from me. Ah, the joys of Puerto Rico. What makes it worse is that there's some sort of competition going on at the training base involving teenagers from all over the Caribbean. So we cannot use any part of the proper base.

Ranges? Nope. Land Nav area? Nope. DEFAC? Nope. Medic station? Nope, it's shut down for this weekend. Water point? NOPE! We have to go off base to find a place to fill our water trailers.

We get to stay and train on one tiny little training area right after the main gate. Which happens to be a wetland area. And it's been raining like crazy.

What makes this worse is the fact that this whole deal was cooked up two weeks ago by my Battalion CO, in an attempt to try to impress the higher command. In the meantime, due to the fact that this is all on short notice we have no medical support, and three water trailers when we should have five. The Battalion did not even have a training plan until my company gave them one. Hey there Battalion Commander, what are all the other companies in the battalion going to do for training? What, you don't know? You have no clue? You don't even have a training plan three days before we're all supposed to report to do this FTX? An FTX you're demanding we all participate in?

Folks, when a company has to give their higher headquarters the Battalion's training plan, this is a bad thing. I'm not talking about us giving the battalion our company training plan, I'm talking about giving the battalion their plan detailing what the battalion is going to do! COMPANIES SHOULD NOT BE TELLING THEIR BATTALIONS WHAT THE HELL TO DO DURING AN FTX!

At this point I'd go on a screaming fit of the heebie-jeebies, but it wouldn't do much good. THIS IS NOT THE US ARMY DOWN HERE. If I had my druthers, I would force everyone down here to remove the US flag off of their uniform, because calling this gaggle-fuck operation the US Army in an insult to every other US Soldier around the world. Call it the Puerto Rican Army, call it Pancho Villa's Army, call it the Policia del Keystone, I don't care. But for the love of God, do not under any circumstances ever allude to the possibility that this clusterfuck has anything to do with my beloved Army of the United States of America.

Anyways, I'll be out dealing with this disaster for the next four days. Dane and Steve B can hold down the fort. I'll see you all on Monday, if I don't strangle some stupid son-of-a-bitch and get sent to jail.

Huh?

Hollywood writers are going on strike? How is that going to change what's coming out of Hollywood at all?

Seriously, what Hollywood really needs is to scrap every single writer there and hire all new staff. There's a reason I haven't gone to see many movies in the past few years. In fact, I can tell you the two movies I went to see in the theaters since I've been in Puerto Rico - Kingdom of Heaven back in 2005, and Harry Potter 5 this year.

All the rest haven't interested me at all. Because most of them suck. Or they're just copies of other movies. Even Will Smith's new movie that's coming out is a repeat of a Charlton Heston film "The Omega Man". Yeah, it's a new actor, and blah blah blah, but it's just copied from another film!

I don't give two hoots about Hollywood. I say let them all go on strike. I won't miss 'em.

Cross Burning is OK when the targets are Christians

Van Helsing:

When members of the editorial board of a major newspaper can't decide whether to endorse or condemn burning down cathedrals, it's past time to give up on the mainstream media.

Note that it's not what the "Christianists" have done... it's speculation as to how the self-proclaimed "victims" feel.

You are now not a criminal for what you think... but for what someone else decided they think you think.

Cross Posted at DANEgerus

Hillary gets La Raza endorsement at UFO debate

Sweetness & Light has two real headlines... these are not ScrappleFace:

Edwards Stresses His Honesty And Integrity

Oh, my sides.

‘UFO’ Kucinich Questions Bush’s Mental Health

“The center has shifted in our politics. I’m really at the center. And all the other candidates are to the right of me.”

Kucinich... the center of his own universe... at least until the UFO's give him another anal probe.

Patriot Post has some seasonal quotes:

THE DEMO-GOGUES

I vant to take your bucks, ah, ah, ah: “We’re going to make it clear there are no invisible people [for tax purposes] in America.” —Hillary Clinton (D-Transylvania), editorial comment inserted for clarity

“I think if we want to fund the things that I think are important to share in prosperity, then people who have done well in this country, including me, have more of a responsibility to give back... There are no free meals.” —Man of the People John Edwards

Now that’s it’s your idea: “I don’t want to just put my finger out to the wind and see what the polls say. I want to bring the country together to solve a problem... If we have failed to have a real, honest conversation about Social Security, it will not get fixed.” —Obama on Social Security **Funny—when George Bush wanted to fix Social Security, Democrats were screaming that it didn’t need fixing.

On qualifications: “Wouldn’t it be nice to have a president who will actually say the words ‘global warming?”’ —Hillary Clinton

Different week, same tune: “The President would rather spend another $200 billion in Iraq and leave our children to pick up the tab than make fiscally sound investments in veterans’ healthcare, cancer research and healthcare for ten million children.” —House Speaker “San Fran Nanny” Pelosi

This week’s “Demo Busters” Award: “If you think American politics have gotten nastier, crueler and more symbolic over the last 20 years, blame Ted Kennedy. This month marks the 20th anniversary of the borking of Judge Robert Bork, Ronald Reagan’s failed Supreme Court nominee. And it was Ted Kennedy’s bilious bugle blast that brought the man down... In Ted Kennedy’s America, it’s blow for blow and eye for eye now, and everyone is blind to how we got here.” —Jonah Goldberg

I've been blogging for years but when I surfed by the corner at NRO I have to admit I was too stunned for a while to even post. What kind of world do we live in that (D)emocrats watch these duplicitous condescending fools and call it a Presidential debate?

The UFO debate

Hillary overcame her opponents despite that final incoherent babbling because she was confronting timid male Democrats who have been conditioned to lose to "strong women" (a term of art meaning left-wing obsessives.) But she has advertised a vast vulnerability to Republicans. They may even notice. --John O'Sullivan

...

It was interesting that Dennis Kucinich tried to make his sighting of a UFO seem less strange by reminding us that Jimmy Carter has also spotted one. It didn’t work. Kucinich called for the impeachment of President Bush three times (!) and no one seemed to notice. -- Kate O'Beirne

...

I never realized the full extent of his creepiness. Exactly how are the "mercenaries" of Blackwater in Iraq—i.e., private contractors protecting people at the request of the U.S. government — not risking their lives? Exactly how is the hired gun called John Edwards less of a mercenary than they except that he risks only other people's money? I must say it's very entertaining to watch a snake-oil salesman in full snake mode. -- John O'Sullivan

...

"We're going to have to conserve" says the multi-millionaire trial lawyer with a 26,000 square foot house. -- Amy Holmes

...

Why on Earth does Obama go out of his way to mention his experience in the Illinois state legislature. -- Rich Lowry

...

Barack on Social Security: "And make sure the wealthy pay more than their fair share." Yikes. He's against fairness. He better drop that talking point. -- Amy Holmes

...

Obama did the impossible tonight: He failed to stand out on a stage full of boring white guys. -- Jim Geraghty

...

Tonight might be remembered as the night the dream died for Barack Obama. -- Jim Geraghty

...

Bill Richardson is a lame man, vainly aspiring to the vice-presidency, trying to defend Hillary Clinton when she doesn't need it. His presentation style is terrible. He still looks like an unmade bed, shiny of hair and jowly of skin. He looks like he gained a chin since the last debate. -- Jim Geraghty

...

...Hillary Clinton proves to be a radical in refusing to criticize Spitzer on drivers licenses. The lady's radical slip is showing. -- Kathryn Jean Lopez

...

Hillary's bold offer to pay more in taxes would have been more impressive if she hadn't spent almost all her entire post-college life living off the public teat. Of course, so far, no Democrat has hit her on that, because, well . . . -- John O'Sullivan

...

She is clearly skittish about immigration and her attempt to have it both ways on drivers’ licenses for illegal aliens failed... -- Kate O'Beirne

...

"Senator Clinton's troubling answer on providing drivers licenses to illegal immigrants was emblematic of someone who is both dismissive of efforts to enforce our nation's immigration laws and entirely unwilling to offer a straight answer to a very direct question.” -- Team Romney

...

Is there any reason why the GOP as a whole should not now come down firmly on the side of a genuine immigration reform that would reduce immigration, legal and illegal, emphasize skills and English language proficiency more than at present, and force employers to obey the law. -- John O'Sullivan

...

Chris Dodd seemed like the last sane man on an insane stage when he suggested that giving driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants might not be a good idea. It reveals the radicalism not just of Hillary, but of the Democrats as a whole, that only one man among eight candidates felt taking that stand was worth any political heat from the amnesty crowd. -- Jim Geraghty

...

Maybe Hillary should have brought her fake laugh tonight. -- Rich Lowry

...

The only flaw in Hillary's performance is that there's something ringing in her voice... not quite angry, but almost shouting. Maybe one decibel louder than the questioner or the other candidates. I think she's trying to seem fired-up, and there's something... it's ALMOST LIKE SHE'S SPEAKING IN ALL CAPS. -- Jim Geraghty

...

"Obama looks and sounds like he needs a Red Bull. Hillary looks and sounds like she had two." -- Mrs CampaignSpot

...

Shrill, charmless, and brittle — her biggest liabilities which she had, until now, kept mostly under wraps. Tonight should demonstrate to her future Republican rival (yes, I believe she'll get the nom) that Hillary's fundamentally unlikeable core is very near the surface. Scratch a little and it comes roaring out. As the wise man says, "The best defense is a good offense." Push her buttons, get under skin, peel back the facade. Any more mixed metaphors I can throw out? Nails on a blackboard! -- Amy Holmes

Hillary(D) endorsed drivers' licenses for illegal aliens but waffled to avoid being honest about that which demonstrates she is counting on her La Raza demographic for votes.

In Northern Virginia, right now, they are running commercials claiming "immigrants" shouldn't be "intimidated" at the polls and "don't need to bring ID" to vote. Clearly this is a straw-man smear as there is no group intimidating "immigrants" as well as an invitation to illegal aliens to illegally vote. Can you believe the only thing standing between a nullification of your legal vote as a citizen is an illegal alien, who by definition already has fraudulent ID, willing to sign a statement, he can't read, that he has a right to vote?


(D)emocrats want Illegals to provide the votes Americans Won't!

Eric Scheie Roundup on UFO debate

CHARLES HURT D.C. Bureau Chief

FOES COULDN'T KO HILLARY -- SO SHE SOCKED HERSELF

She tied herself up in knots - in a way her opponents couldn't - with her non-answer about whether she favors giving driver's license to illegal aliens.

She must be the only New Yorker without an opinion on the plan (other than her colleague, Sen. Chuck Schumer).

Her evasiveness on the most talked-about issue in the state reminded everyone of the worst of husband Bill and what could be in store if another Clinton makes it to the White House.

John Hawkins has

Video

Here's Hillary's "all over the place" answer on driver's licenses for illegal aliens...

Hot Air also has

Video: Hillary Clinton flip flops around Eliot Spitzer’s licenses-for-illegals plan

Let’s call this Exhibit A in the case against Hillary Clinton for president. In the following clip we see her radicalism, her shrillness, her inability to finesse a tough question, and her condescension to her opponents. Tim Russert asks if she still thinks that NY Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s plan to provide drivers licenses for the state’s illegal aliens “makes a lot of sense.”

...

...blames Bush and comes off sounding like a thin-skinned harpy.

...

Incredibly, only Chris Dodd, Bill Richardson and Barack Obama raised their hands when Russert asks whether illegal aliens should not be able to get drivers licenses. And Obama and Richardson were pretty noodlewristed about raising their hands. The vast majority of the New York voters oppose it, and even 55% of Democrats across the country oppose extending benefits to illegal aliens, but the majority of Democrat candidates for president are fine with it.

...

And Hillary Clinton is leading the way.

...

...Americans really ought to ask ourselves: Do we want four and possibly eight years of that voice on TV every single night, braying from the bully pulpit and weighing in on the issues of the day?

...at Ace of Spades

Jack M.

“the most important two minutes of the debate.”

...

Hillary, perhaps feeling a little overconfident, pandered on the issue of granting illegal immigrants driver's licenses. She essentially endorsed Spitzer's plan in New York. (Which is strange, as Spitzer has pretty much pissed off everybody...the illegals don't like "different" licenses, and the general public doesn't like the illegals getting anything at all.)

And, to add fuel to the fire, she bemoaned the lack of the passage of "comprehensive immigration reform" a.k.a. Amnesty.

Suitably Flip

Hillary Swings, Misses, Runs Bases Obliviously, Waving Cap To Embarrassed Fans

Russert went on to press her about whether she does or does not support the plan to issue driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, something she’s explicitly supported in recent days in New Hampshire. Ever resolute, she went on to firmly declare that she both does and does not support such a plan, and furthermore, that she both did and did not ever say such a thing in New Hampshire.

Politico

Obama, Edwards attack; Clinton bombs debate

When Hillary Clinton has a bad night, she really has a bad night.

...

It was not just that her answer about whether illegal immigrants should be issued driver's licenses was at best incomprehensible and at worst misleading.


It was that for two hours she dodged and weaved, parsed and stonewalled.


And when it was over, both the Barack Obama and John Edwards campaigns signaled that in the weeks ahead they intend to hammer home a simple message: Hillary Clinton does not say what she means or mean what she says.

Cross Posted at DANEgerus

It's only cheating if you get caught, right?

I find it deeply curious that after no less than two wide-open fundraising scandals, the Democrats' political machine trundles on unimpeded, kind of like a steamroller over a slow pedestrian. "What bump?!"

First we have:

Hsu raised big money for Clinton supporters

And then:

As Campaigns Chafe at Limits, Donors Might Be in Diapers

Now I would think that short of adding dead people to your voting rolls, laundering campaign contributions through underage donor fronts would be considered one of the most serious forms of political legerdemain. Apparently not.

To my knowledge, there hasn't been so much as a press release or news conference to address these accusations of fraud. Merely a few milquetoast mutterings as the Ms. grudgingly returns so many thousands of dollars, with a vacuous declaration that she new nothing about it, NOTH-INGGGG. Er, whatever you say, Sgt Shultz.

I can't help but look at this and remember HillaryCare, which will REQUIRE everyone to have health insurance, paid for out of the government larder, or the $5,000 education "fund" for children, again paid for out of public/government money. This is, in effect, stealing from Peter to pay Paul. Anytime you see "government" money, remember that it should say, "YOUR money."

This seems to reflect an almost instictive disregard for the rule of both law and common decency by the Democrats when it comes to funding their agendas. It doesn't seem to matter where the money comes from, as long as it keeps coming! I can only imagine what will happen if Clinton 2.0 gets into office, and suddenly has alllllll that money at her fingertips, along with the Executive Order pen warmed up and ready.

A potentially deadly combination for this country. IMHO.

Women in combat?

Not my first choice. Here's the deal, folks. When women have to perform the same Army Physical Fitness Test as the men, then we'll talk. But so long as a woman can pass with 19 push-ups while I have to do 40, then we simply need to admit that women as a rule are not as strong as men. They cannot perform the very physical tasks up to the same standards as men.

And combat is a very physical activity.

It has nothing to do with courage, with valor, with "heart", or anything of that nature. It's the fact that you're walking around in 40-70 pounds of equipment and weapons to begin with, and then are forced to sprint, duck for cover, and fire you're weapon with accuracy. It's hard. Any mall ninjas that are reading this and going "Aw whatever, I could do that", well, give it a try. Load fifty pounds into a backpack. Go on a quick two-mile walk. Then sprint 100 yards, dive behind an object and try to fire three rounds into a three-inch circle at 150 yards.

Most women would not be able to keep up with me on the march. It's a simple statement of fact. So either I have to slow down, which slows down the mission, or I have to go ahead and leave them behind, which means if I get ambushed I don't have the help I need.

I'm sorry, but women should not be in combat. Period, end of story.

By the Way

For those who didn't notice, let me introduce the DANE, who's blog I read every chance I get. He agreed to cross post over here every now and then.

Dane buddy, you have no idea how glad I am to see you.

Damn, I'm tired

Thursday through Sunday I'm going to be away, without internet access. So don't expect anything from me this weekend.

I am in the depths of suckitude.

Syria built nuke plant as Saddam fell?

I've repeatedly pointed out that Saddam's scientists, the heart and soul of his WMD programs, took refuge in Syria and Iran with Russian aid. As it turns out, right about the time the Syrians began construction of that recently bombed nuclear weapons center. Allahpundit posts

Curiouser and curiouser: Syrian reactor bombed by Israel was built in 2003

Sounds like, with the shell of the reactor already long in place, they were finally ready to take “the next step,” forced perhaps by the fact that North Korea had made a deal with the west to denuclearize and needed to unload some of its infrastructure.

Which results in the predictable response from the enabler of Nuclear proliferation, Egyptian Mohamed ElBaradei, via LGF:

IAEA Chief Springs Into Action, Condemns Israel

The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, Mohamed ElBaradei, who has never succeeded in stopping a single country from developing nuclear weapons, is condemning Israel for the airstrike on Syria’s nuclear facility: IAEA chief lashes out over Israeli raid in Syria.

Because the UN is the “eyes and ears of the international community.” We’re not supposed to notice that those eyes are willfully blind, and those ears willfully deaf.

Iranians died alongside those Syrians and North Korean surplus.

Although... Londonistan is clearly guilty of aiding in it's own destruction as ToryDiary details:

You couldn't make it up

"The Foreign Office has cleared dozens of Iranians to enter British universities to study advanced nuclear physics and other subjects with the potential to be applied to weapons of mass destruction. In the past nine months about 60 Iranians have been admitted to study postgraduate courses deemed “proliferation-sensitive” by the security services. The disciplines range from nuclear physics to some areas of electrical and chemical engineering and microbiology." -- Sunday Times

Cross Posted at DANEgerus

Tolerance is double-speak for Intolerance

As Van Helsing takes note of the tactics:

Flag-Folding Ceremony Banned by Moonbat Bureauweenies

Referring to Christianity and Judaism, the religions upon which our civilization is founded, without mentioning every other belief system any veteran has ever held, presumably including not just Shintoism and Scientology but even those that are essentially hostile to our way of life, like Islam and Secular Humanism, "denigrates the patriotic men and women of other faiths who serve our country," according to a moonbat rabbi named Yitzhak Miller.

Welcome to America under the regime of the ACLU.

Consider for a moment the premise of the bullying litigants:

Amendment 1 - Freedom of Religion, Press, Expression. Ratified 12/15/1791.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Does folding our flag in such a ceremony constitute the "free exercise" of religion or the "establishment of religion"?

Certainly the Constitution has already been applied too broadly when you realize that in few of these daily litigious assaults upon our heritage is it a situation of "Congress shall make no law".

I also cannot determine any "right" to be free of religion justified here as a protection of our individual liberties.

Certainly in this particular instance... if you are at the funeral... you might respect the wishes of the fallen, who gave so much, and suck it up.

You know... if you happen to be an intolerant craven hater of everything that very person gave his/her life to defend.

Perhaps, if you are, you might stop off after the funeral and at the Synagogue of "moonbat rabbi Yitzhak Miller" and demand he cease recitation of the Torah as intolerant for it's failure to be inclusive of every other religion.

Then require he give every sermon in every other language spoken on Earth... to be appropriately inclusive.

Cross Posted at DANEgerus


Update... via HotAir:

Vets memorial spokesman on flag-folding fiasco: You’ll never stop us, atheists

A spokesman for the California Defense of Veterans Memorials Project says: nuts.

Then there's what's going on in Iraq

Surge Implemented, Violence Down.

— Violence in and around Baghdad is down 59 percent.

— Car bombs are down 65 percent.

— Casualties from car bombs and roadside bombs are down by 80 percent.

— Casualties from enemy attacks down 77 percent.

— Operations against Iraqi security forces are down 62 percent.

— Assassination attempts for sectarian reasons are down 72 percent.

Seems Osama lost his street cred by blowing the hell out of every man woman and child in Iraq who had the audacity to participate in a little self determination democracy style. Now he's apologizing and asking for a fresh start.

Nice juxtaposition with the TNR/Beauchamp shit and Code Pink and Ted Rall pictures below, eh?

Leftist Troop Support 2.0

The New Republic Editors and Scott Thomas Beauchamp

Kuwait before he deployed, Iraq after being battle hardened. What's the diff right? "Hey Scott, your wife - our employee, she really wants you to tell everyone that you didn't recant your lies. Lie for us Scott, we're desperate. No? Ok, well just go silent. Crap! Documents! Time for more lies!"

Leftist Troop Support

Ted Rall is an Asshole:

The Agressive Lunatic Left

Code Pink Lunatic Attacks Rice

These fucking people are out of their minds.

Eeeeesh...

Kevin Baker wrote an essay titled The Mystery of Government. It was a response to a commenter who's of the more liberal bent. One of the keeper quotes (out of hundreds) is this:

You proposed that "People in our government are, for the most part, competent and effective." That may be true, but it does not mean that those people may not also be corrupt and evil. These characteristics are not mutually exclusive. Someone can be corrupt, competent, effective and evil, all at the same time.

Government, or more importantly the power and money that government control can provide attracts evil and corrupt people. Oh, there may be people there who aren't evil and corrupt, who go into public service to actually serve the public, but they are the minority. People who crave power are attracted to the greatest source of power, which to our detriment is the government right now. THAT is why I feel that the government needs to be as small and as weak as possible. Because when you give the government too much power, you get the wrong people in charge.

Take for example this little story out of Florida:

WellCare Health Plans of Tampa, a firm which has made scads of money administering government health care, and huge profits for George Soros, who was once its largest shareholder, has been raided by the FBI and shuttered.

When you control huge amounts of money, there will be people out there trying to get their hands on that money. What better way to steal money than to be in control of the purse-strings?

WellCare's business practices have come under increased criticism over the past several months. Last spring, the company said independent sales agents in Georgia enrolled dead people in Medicare plans. In May and June, WellCare representatives appeared along with other insurance executives at hearings in the Senate and House into aggressive Medicare marketing practices. WellCare and six other insurers subsequently agreed to a temporary halt in marketing one type of Medicare plan, while promising to initiate consumer safeguards. In August, however, Medicare cited WellCare once again for violating several provisions of its Medicare contract, including sales practices.

(.....)

WellCare was started in 1985 by a group of Tampa doctors, who sold the company to investors led by financier George Soros in 2002. Soros will remain majority shareholder, with two representatives on WellCare's board, following the IPO.

George Soros - pushing for MORE government control whenever possible. Why? Because as a dear friend and money donor to the Democrat American Communist Party, the more control they have the more money he can funnel into his pockets.

Government is not the solution. GOVERNMENT IS THE PROBLEM!

Steve and DANE

Your invites to blog here should be in your inbox.

I woke up at around 0500 this morning, and I didn't get online until around 2200 hours tonight.

(That's 10:00 PM for you civilian folks)

Don't expect it to get any better. My new unit seems bent on giving me enough "busy work" to justify having me double slotted, and it sucks big dead donkey dick. I had the XO flat out admit to me that they were giving me work that they were saving for the troops, but they were having me do it because they don't have anything for me to do.

Meanwhile, I have the Chaplain's Office and the Casualty Assistance Office willing and able to take me and give me a proper job. But my command doesn't want to give me up because I look good on their paperwork.

I'm pissed. Pissed off that I'm spending all day doing nothing. Pissed that the people who would love to have me work for them are waiting to see what my command does. And pissed off at this island, which I cannot escape from fast enough.

Anyways, since I just got home and don't have a thing for you to read, I want you to read this. Geek with a .45 has one of the best summations of why I'm a small "l" libertarian and not a big "L" variety. It's well worth the time.

Meanwhile, I'm going to drink some rum and hit the sack.

Another reason Senator Craig is gone

Oink oink, beeyotch. We conservatives don't like it when our representatives act like Democrat American Communist Party members.

Alpha females vs. Alpha males

Or, another way that feminism ruined romance. As Cassie Fiano puts it: Alpha females: Get off your high horse. You can go read the entire thing. While I agree with much of Mrs. Fiano's sentiments, there's been a fundamental shift in our society that can only be called a "bad thing", and it's entirely due to feminism. That shift has been the definition of an "Alpha Female".

Modern feminists would have you believe that women a century ago were oppressed, little more than slaves, captive to a man's every whim. While that might have been the case in some areas, women were masters of the home. Plain and simple, a woman ruled the house. The man provided money and food, the woman provided a home. I'm not going to fantasize about a open-range queen who was master of everything she saw, but at some point men and women settled into the customs and traditions that had been in use for all of history.

But that's all changed now, hasn't it? Men as a rule don't have any spaces that are uniquely theirs, and women are told that staying at home is the least preferable option.

Ladies, here's a thought for you. Although women's roles have changed over the years, a man's role has not, at least not in any real appreciable way. Men are still supposed to be the providers. We should be bringing home the bacon, only now women are supposed to bring home the bacon as well. Well, here's your clue.

THE ONLY REASON MEN BOTHERED TO BRING ANYTHING HOME IS DUE ENTIRELY TO THE FACT THAT WE HAD A HOME TO BEGIN WITH.

When a man comes home, tired, sore, stressed or a mix of all three, and he sees his wife coming home in the exact same condition, he starts to wonder if it's all worth it. What is he working for? Someone else is raising his kids. Dinner is either store bought or hastily thrown together. Everyone is too damn tired to do anything but eat and go to bed.

Why in the name of god would a man work himself to death for that?

Does that seem sexist? Probably. But if you take away a man's reason for working and living, then you get something less. Hell, not even a beta male, but something farther down the food chain. Like it or not, men are hardwired to go out, club something over the head and drag it back to the cave. But if men don't have a reason to go back to that cave, then they're not going to go through the effort. The reason men don't want alpha females has nothing to do with being insecure, or not "being man enough". Hell, given a chance most men would love to have a woman bringing home big bucks every month. But at what cost?

Men do not want to come home to a wife who's cranky from being at work all day, kids that are going nuts because some idiot in a public school is raising them, and dinner cooked by some guy who's working for peanuts behind a line grill. At some point, men looked around and said "Screw this, it's not worth it." I should know. I was there, right at that point, and if I hadn't have met the most wonderful woman on the face of the earth there was no way in hell I would have gotten married.

If you want a man to deal with all the bullshit of daily life to provide for a family, then dammit, YOU NEED TO GIVE HIM A FAMILY TO DO IT ALL FOR! Otherwise he'll do what many men today have done - simply shrugged their shoulders and continued being bachelors.

The Main Stream Media

We all know that the MSM is a worthless pile of excrement, with the journalists and pundits being the worms that crawl around the pile eating shit and producing more of the same. Extremely biased, un-objective, riddled with incompetence, and completely unreliable.

Here's a chance to change it. Micheal Yon is trying to get real reporting back into newspapers. Go read that post and see if you can help.

The long and short of it is this: Yon is so pissed off about the MSM's biased, horrible coverage of the War on Terrorism that he's willing to let the National Newspaper Association use his dispatches for FREE.

So now they'll have no excuse for not having anyone in Iraq.

Kids and sex

Mrs. du Toit has a post up about the Maine school that wanted to hand out birth control - to eleven year olds.

People keep saying the dumbest things!

“Well, if an eleven year old girl is having sex, wouldn’t you rather that she be given birth control than get pregnant?”

NO! I want her to be introduced to a policeman.

“Isn’t it better that she get the services she needs to keep safe?”

NO! Birth control doesn’t keep you safe. Birth control pills DO NOT protect you from STDs (and neither do condoms). And quit it with the services word. She’s not getting services. Services are things like having a pedicure or a tune up on your car. We’re not talking about services. We’re talking about an eleven year old girl being told by adults that it is OK for her to be RAPED, as long as she uses birth control.

Let’s be clear here: Eleven year old girls having sex is not a choice issue. Eleven year old girls cannot consent to sex anymore than they can consent to join the military, rent an apartment, get a mortgage, or vote. They are not yet old enough to make those choices.

Bingo - if eleven year old kids are having sex, THERE IS A HUGE PROBLEM THAT NO BIRTH CONTROL CAN FIX! Does anyone think that eleven year old kids are ready for sex? Maybe some of them are physically, but mentally?

Just how screwed up are they going to get? And telling them "Oh, have some birth control, it's OK" is only going to enable them! Dear lord, what is wrong with those people?

When an eleven year old girl goes to the nurse at school and declares she has been having sex, THE LAW would require that the nurse call the police, unless (DUH!) the nurse wants to be an accomplice to the crime.

A CRIME has occurred and the fact that we’re talking about it as if it isn’t a crime, and couch it with words like services and keeping her safe is nuts! The services she needs are those of law enforcement and keeping her safe means putting the rapist in jail so the rape stops!

Eleven year old kids should not be having sex. Period. That's called "child abuse". Would anyone be fine and dandy with a forty year old man fucking an eleven year old girl? Then what makes it OK for a thirteen year old boy to do it?

Another Must Read

From the du Toit family. This time it's Mrs. du Toit, giving advice to a young man. Go. Read. I'll be here when you're done.

Now, some folks might remember a rant or two years ago about my days in Ft. Riley, Kansas. In short, I stopped caring whether or not I got attention from women, and it changed the entire scope of my relationships. Now, Mrs. du Toit is giving this young man some good advice. But I think she's dealing with one set of realities while this young man is dealing with another entire set.

The young man writing the letter is a college student. So let's start looking at THAT, shall we?

Can anyone name a college that has a large group of conservative minded young women? Because Ic an't t

Giving up a pet

I've had to give up a pet before. When I lived in Seattle I had a cat, Lily. She loved to lay on my shoulders, and if I was stressed out she would stand on my chest as I lay in bed and purr until I relaxed enough to fall asleep. And it tore me up when we had to give her a new home. The Ragin' Mrs. interviewed people, and if something didn't seem right we would not allow them to take our cats.

In short, although we had to give them up, we hated to do it. And if we had been able to take them with us, we would have. But without going into a two page diatribe, there was no way we could take the cats without putting them through hell, and we didn't want to do that to our pets. Finding a new home for them was preferable. So that's what we did.

But we were a newly married couple, with very little money, and no way to accommodate the pets we had. We were lucky to be able to take our dog with us when we moved to Puerto Rico, and that took a hell of a lot of effort.

What if I had just left the Oval Office? With hundreds of thousands of dollars in the bank, and thousands of people to do what I asked? I wouldn't have given up those cats if I didn't have to, and there are millions of pet owners who know exactly how I felt. It's a hard choice, giving up a pet, even if it's for the pet's best interests. I wasn't willing to put my cat into a kennel for months on end, to be cared for by god-knows who, fed god-knows what, and treated god-knows how. But if I had been able to take them with me, there wouldn't have been any questions. I would have.

Which is what makes this story even more chilling to me.

AS THE “first pet” of the Clinton era, Socks, the White House cat, allowed “chilly” Hillary Clinton to show a caring, maternal side as well as bringing joy to her daughter Chelsea. So where is Socks today?

Once the presidency was over, there was no room for Socks any more. After years of loyal service at the White House, the black and white cat was dumped on Betty Currie, Bill Clinton’s personal secretary, who also had an embarrassing clean-up role in the saga of his relationship with the intern Monica Lewinsky.

What kind of sick disgusting fuck gives up a pet when they have the means to keep it? I know how I felt once the cats were gone - it was like a punch in the gut, and I felt like shit for months afterwards. Even though I know they had gone to a good home, and that it was the best thing for them, I still looked for them when I came home from work every day. But I didn't have a choice - I could not continue to care for the cats while I was in the situation we were in. BUT I WAS NOT A PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. I didn't have resources coming out my ass.

Clinton did.

Which is why this story sickens me. I wouldn't have given up my pets if there were any other choice. The Clinton's seem to have tossed their pets aside the moment it was politically feasible.

That's fucking disturbing. They used that cat to show their "human side", but once they were out of the White House it got dumped onto someone else without another thought. Giving up my cats was physically painful to me. To the Clinton's it was just another political movement.

Pet owners - what say you? I know that I would have cut off my fingers rather than give up my cats if I had that choice. And yes, Ragin' Dave has a soft spot for pets. If I could, I'd have an entire damn farm with pets on it. Dogs, cats, ferrets (the Ragin' Mrs. had a ferret when we first met), birds, you name it. And while the practical country boy in me would have certain animals for eating and nutrition (pigs, goats, cows, chickens, rabbits) I would still have tons of pets around. Hell, half the attraction to retirement is the ability to have pets and not have to move around.

But just giving one up? Nah. Nope. No thank you. Giving up a pet is the last option.

Unless you're a Democrat American Communist Party congresscritter who's only goal is attaining political power.

Thieving Democrats

OK, so if by now you don't know about the smear letter against Rush Limbaugh signed by 41 worthless shitbags, well, search the archives.

Rush put the letter up for auction on Ebay, as well as a Haliburton briefcase and a letter of thanks signed by Rush. All money was going to charity, and Rush was going to match the winning bid out of his own pocket. Again, all of this was going to charity.

But now Dingy Harry Reid, one of the bloodsucking parasites who signed the letter in which the government tried to prevent a private citizen from exercising his right to free speech, is attempting to take credit for the money that was raised for charity!

What. A. Fucking. Scumbag.

I cannot believe that any person so low and despicable can be an elected representative in this country, and to be quite honest the fact that this festering canker sore on humanity's ass was actually elected from Nevada makes me realize that there will probably be a civil war in this country in my lifetime. Why? Because when a state is either so fucking stupid or so fucking corrupt that they elect an infected cunt-hair like Reid, well, there's really not much hope that they can work with other states that demand accountability from their representatives.

And yeah, I've pretty much written of Massachusetts, New Jersey, Southern California and Maryland. Sorry, but I see just what kinds of people they send to represent them, and I realize that they're a completely different country than America, they just haven't re-drawn the borders yet.

Stomping around my old stomping grounds

Phil of Random Nuclear Strikes may be changing locations rather soon, and he's checking out an area I used to live in - Spokane, WA.

So, here's a photo of the Spokane River as seen from Coeur d'Alene, ID. When my family first moved to Coeur d'Alene, it was a typical small town. Now, there's very little separating CdA from Spokane. What used to be miles of prairie is now grown into towns, suburbs, and businesses.

The price of progress, I guess. Still, I think it's better than Seattle or Tacoma any day.

Leadership

It's not just about being in charge and giving orders. The NCO Creed lays it out: "My two basic responsibilities will always be uppermost in my mind -- the accomplishment of my mission, and the welfare of my Soldiers."

Being a leader means taking responsibility for the welfare of the troops under your command. Good leaders know this.

One such leader retired earlier this month. And left messages for Marines who were under his command in Viet Nam, who's names are inscribed into the Viet Nam War Memorial.

What, you thought I was kidding?

I spend a hell of a lot of time away from a computer right now, so blogging will be light. I'm still looking for that special someone to help out blogging here at the home of the Right Wing Wacko.

Would you like to pull your own teeth?

In Britain, with that wonderful government health care system, that's what they have to do.

A shortage of National Health Service dentists in England has led some people to pull out their own teeth — or use super glue to stick crowns back on, a study says.

Many dentists abandoned Britain's publicly funded health care system after reforms backfired, leaving a growing number of Britons without access to affordable care.

"I was not surprised to hear those horror stories," said Celestine Bridgeman, 41, of London. "Trying to find good NHS dentists is like trying to hit the lottery because the service is underfunded."

The National Health Service provides care to the vast majority of Britain's people, often for free. Unlike doctors who work for the health service, dentists work on a contract basis and can leave whenever they wish.

Folks, there is no way in hell that the government can run any kind of health care system with the efficiency of the free market. I'm not going to deny that our health care system in this country has problems, but giving the government control of it will not solve anything. It will only make things worse.

I'd rather pay for my own dental work than allow the government to screw things up to the point that I can't even find a dentist.

Well, at least they have their priorities

Congress is more than willing to alienate one of our allies over something that happened a century ago, but can't bring itself to actually condemn human rights violations occurring today.

Let's review - the Ottoman Empire killed Armenians during WWI. Now, I'm more than willing to blame the Ottoman Empire for it's genocide, but IT NO LONGER EXISTS. Does anyone blame the current German government for the Holocaust? If they do, well, they're off their rocker. Hitler and the Third Reich are gone. The Ottoman Empire is gone. Blaming modern day Turkey for the actions of an empire that doesn't exist anymore is stupid, plain and simple. It's an insult to Turkey, who just happens to be a key ally in the war on terror.

But that would explain why the Democrat American Communist Party wants to piss them off, wouldn't it?

Gah. Just go read. I'm tired, I'm pissed off, and I'm wondering when the shooting is going to start in my country.

Feministical

Of or from the screaming feminist types. That's my new term, thanks to Kim du Toit. He uses that term in reference to an article that shows that strippers earn more tips while they're in a "fertile" state, as opposed to strippers who use birth control and never get to that state.

There's still a lot of biological things that aren't explained. And guys, let's face it - at some point and time, you've slept with a woman and a week later wondered why you ever spoke to her, much less invited her into your bed.

Yeah.

It's worse than I thought

So, get to the new unit. Get sent to the Supply Sergeant's office to "help him out".

Actual relation to my MOS? About 10% or thereabouts. And as far as I can tell, they sent me here because they don't know what to do with me, they don't have an actual slot for me to fill, but they're unwilling to send me anywhere else where they can't control me.

Six months. Six months. Six months. I'm out of this shithole in six months. I am truly fed up with the bullshit down here.

Oh Dear Lord...

Al Gore won a Nobel "Peace Prize" for his bullshit-laden waste of film, right? OK, we all know by now that the Nobel Committee is full of shit, but I didn't know it was this ridiculous: A woman who saved 2,500 Jewish Children during the Holocaust was passed over in favor of the lying turd.

Someone who's saved that many children, and they give the Peace Prize to the bullshitting movie maker.

Is there any doubt in anyone's mind that the so-called "Peace Prize" is anything more than a political hoax given to people who rail against the USA?

Drink more wine

The Ragin' Mrs. has known this for a while now:

A recent report (seen on Science Daily--yes, we’re interested in science as well as food) from researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia points to a discovery made that shows that red wine, beyond the numerous current known health benefits, probably can work to protect humans from a number of common food-borne diseases. The researchers have found that, “red wines--Cabernet, Zinfandel and Merlot in particular--have anti-microbial properties that defend against food-borne pathogens and don’t harm naturally useful bacteria like probiotic bacteria.”

Actually, if I didn't have to report to my new unit tomorrow, I'd be getting stinking drunk tonight.

Well, that's that

All the paperwork has been shuffled to it's prospective cubbyholes. Troops have been reassigned. Building cleaned out and keys turned in. My unit is officially deactivated.

To put it bluntly, this sucks. And it sucks more knowing that it was the complete and total lack of support from anyone up the chain that caused us to be deactivated. Perhaps on my last day in this hellhole I'll expound upon this, but since I have six months left here, and I don't know who all reads this blog, I'll just keep my trap shut for the time being.

But if my mood seems a little down, well, you have an inkling why. And do you know the most fucked-up part about it all? I'm probably going to have MORE work, not less, in the foreseeable future.

Grrrrrrr. So, is there anyone out there who wants to blog here? Email me. wraithwulf@yahoo.com

About those "Tax cuts for the Rich"

Seems to me that if you increase taxes, then cut taxes, you've pretty much ended up where you started out. And as I've stated before, just who do you think creates jobs? Who do you think invests their money into the economy? Folks on welfare?

Nope. Those dastardly rich that the Democrat American Communist Party malign so much. Unless those rich folks are also Democrat American Communist Party members, in which case they're A-OK!

Progressive Taxation is the second plank of the Communist Manifesto, folks. Never forget that.

Found here.

FOOTBALL!

I finally have a day to watch FOOTBALL!

YEEEEEEEEE HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAW!

We have a home cured ham slow cooking for dinner. I have beer. I have pretzels.

Life is good. See ya tomorrow.

Mis-information

So a Lieutenant General gives a speech. During that speech, he aims his rhetorical guns at just about everybody, to include the President for his handling of the invasion of Iraq, and the Mainstream Media, for their biased, dishonest coverage of the war. When the press reports this, what headline do they use?

Former Iraq Commander Faults Bush.

The Media lies. The Media distorts the truth. The Media pushes a political agenda, acting as mouthpieces and whores for the Democrat American Communist Party.

Plain and simple.