The Debate On The Future Of Mankind

Navy 14, Air Force 6

At the Half.

The future of the Free World is assured. With 4 seconds to go in the game, Navy kicks a Field Goal to beat the Air Force - for the Second Consecutive Year - 24 to 21.

Navy retains the Commander-in-Cheif's Trophy.

And why, may you well ask, should this old Marine care about Navy winning? Because around 20% of the Midshipmen who graduate from the United States Naval Academy will be commissioned as Second Lieutenants in the United States Marine Corps!

Go Navy - Beat Army!

Hear Ye, Hearsay, Hear Ye

I somehow misssed this, but a Very Reliable Source has informed me that someone in the "news and entertainment media" actually asked the junior Senator from MA if, as a part-time member of something called an (oxymoron alert) "Intelligence Committee", didn't the good Senator have access to exactly the same intelligence that was used by the President and rest of the two Houses of Congress to justify sending troops into Iraq?

If this actually happened, it would have to have been either FoxNews or Dan Rather who popped the question. Who else could it have possibly have been??

Run What'cha Brung

Ya know, folks, I understand that we are working with a few handicaps in the Middle East. The main one is that the interim government of Prime Minister Allawi is trying to pursue diplomatic channels in the fight against the terrorists, while the coalition is to be his strong right arm.

This has led to problems in the past such as the 'walk away' from Fallujah.

But some things should be no-brainers that would be to the advantage of both. For instance, we have had the tools for at least 25 years now that will set off any electronic-controlled blasting caps within at least a half mile radius. Sure, there can be a down side to using this, especially if the terrorists are constructing their bombs in crowded areas with lots of women and children nearby.

But having the lead and trail vehicle in any of our convoys using this, or having the Iraqi police and military recruiting centers using this, could drastically change the end result of the IED's - if not the actual number of casualties.

Your turn - where is my thinking totally screwed?

ADDENDUM - How many of those 35 dead Iraqi children - whose only "crime" was to want some candy from the Americans - would still be alive if we had used one of these devices?

The New York Post Weighs In On The "Draft"

Today's Post opinion column has a word or two on Dan Rather, the Kerry campaign and that 'restarting of conscription'. Lovely!

Not Again?

Somebody - Anybody - Please tell me that Dan Rather and the CBS Evening News didn't do it again?

Please tell me that they didn't use that hoax email that's been floating around about the draft as the basis for a news story?

That hoax that somehow forgot to mention that the bills before the House and Senate were proposed by Rep. Charlie Rangel (D) and Sen Ernest Hollings (D)??

It must be that Vast Right Wing Conspiracy!!

Canada's Kumbaya Memorial

SlagleRock has been doing an outstanding job following up on those warm-hearted residents of Nelson, British Columbia. You remember them, don't you? The ones who want to build a bronze memorial honoring those brave American boys who "risked all" to avoid serving their Nation.

It looks like there may have been a teensy bit of pressure applied to the town, for it now seems they are saying, "Statue? What statue?"

On arrogance, Iraq, CBS, Vietnam, Teresa, I-me-my, etc.

Ross Mackenzie over at Town Hall occasionally puts together a column like this for those of us suffering from Short Attention Span.

Definitely fun to read.

Geography Lesson

When I posted a photo yesterday of me in the Khyber Pass, I took for granted that everyone would know where that is. I should be ashamed of myself.

OK, class - unfold your Virtual Map of the World. Can you locate the Indian Subcontinent? I knew you could! Now go almost straight up until you see the city of New Delhi. Got it? Good!

Now go West (that's to your left) until you get to the border of India and Pakistan. On the Indian side is the city of Amritsar while the Pakistan city is Lahore. Take a break - smoke 'em if you got 'em.

Lets go left and up (north) again and you'll see Rawalpindi and Islamabad - two cities in Pakistan that are right next to each other. Everyone on the same page? OK, now go left again following the main road and you'll see the town of Peshawar. You are now pretty much at the Pakistani end of the Khyber Pass, which runs through the mountains and will take you to Kabul, Afghanistan (though I have no idea why you would ever want to). Congratulations! You've just traced part of the old Silk Road, one of the most famous trading route in history.

There's lots of history in this little patch of ground. If you ever get the chance, look for the old movie "King of the Khyber Rifles", which I believe stars Errol Flynn. Many British Regiments fought here and have left their unit insignia in the walls of the Pass as a tribute to those who died.



If you look closely at this next photo, you'll just make out the flat-roofed adobe homes on the plain in the foreground. The "change of scenery" behind the village is typical of this region, and a very good reason why a small dedicated group of Islamofascists like Osama and his Merrie Camel Fuckers can hide out for years. What you're looking at here is the start of the Himalayan Mountains.



And yeah, I know the color sucks in the photos, but if you were as old as they are - and if you'd been developed in Pakistan - you'd be off-color your own damn self!

Practice Makes Perfect

An infiltrator in the Kerry camp was able to smuggle out this photo of John Kerry practicing for the upcoming debate.

Notice that he's been working hard on his new kinder, gentler debating style - not nearly as confrontational as the old Kerry!

A Very Young Marine Sergeant!

I promised someone that I'd put up a picture or two from when I was in Pakistan. Yes, that's me at 20 standing in the Khyber Pass in front of the Khyber Rifles Unit Crest. This was taken sometime around October 1971.



Over the next day or so I'll put up some other pictures of what the landscape's like over there. Meanwhile, see how many caves you can locate in just the little bit of hillside behind me.

"We Few, We Band of"

OK, enough of that crap - I ain't Shakespeare and this sure ain't Agincourt!

I've been looking at the numbers for this site since all the strange overtook me. It's amazing how readership can drop in a hurry, isn't it? I figure that if my writing deserves it, they'll be back; if not, I'm not exactly doing this for a paycheck. I'll still be doing this even if no one shows up.

For the rest of you who show up - whether out of friendship or because this site's like a train wreck that you just can't take your eyes off - the attitude here ain't going to change much. Although I think I speak for all of you when I say that I hope the writing improves!

Let The Military Overseas Vote? WOW!

The following is from FoxNews:

Chicago Wants Uniform Military Voting Standards
Tuesday, September 28, 2004

CHICAGO — Chicago election officials have written President Bush (search) asking him to push for a law to extend the deadline for states to receive absentee ballots (search) sent by members of the military.

As many have experienced, the military mail service can be very slow, and state officials are concerned that their ballots won't get counted if they are postdated on time but not received before the results are certified.

Chicago officials say they want to make the deadline for every state 14 days after the election.
"This should be addressed by Congress to establish uniformity among the states and to make sure that election jurisdictions have the legal tools that it takes to give every benefit to the military to make sure that those votes are counted," said Langdon Neal of the Chicago Board of Elections Commissioners (search).

Illinois is one of 37 states where overseas military ballots must be in by Election Day or the day before. The rest have extended deadlines from three days after the election this Nov. 2 to an extra two weeks in a handful of states, including Washington and Alaska.

The White House has yet to respond to the letter.

Somehow, I just can't see Florida's Supreme Court jumping in on this issue - unless it's to supress it.

Allah Is In The House - And He's NOT Happy!

Sometimes it's the simple questions that make Little Johnnie Edwards go a little funny. AllahPundit has a couple of those questions and it is definitely worth taking the time to read.

Be warned, though - AllahPundit's links are not obvious, so you may have to read with the cursor to find them all.

A Little Refresher Course

Thanks to my friend at CitySlicker, did you know that the major combat phase in Iraq, where Saddam's entire army was defeated, took less time than it took Janet Reno to take Waco?

Lots more of that here.

Unfuckingbelievable.

Jimmah Carter has finally gone completely twisted. His love for the Left, which still won't let him admit that Daniel Ortega lost, has found a new home. It might even get him another Nobel Peace Prize.

In an OpEd column in today's Wahington Post, Jimmah wrote the following:

"Still Seeking a Fair Florida Vote
By Jimmy CarterMonday, September 27, 2004; Page A19

After the debacle in Florida four years ago, former president Gerald Ford and I were asked to lead a blue-ribbon commission to recommend changes in the American electoral process. After months of concerted effort by a dedicated and bipartisan group of experts, we presented unanimous recommendations to the president and Congress. The government responded with the Help America Vote Act of October 2002. Unfortunately, however, many of the act's key provisions have not been implemented because of inadequate funding or political disputes.
The disturbing fact is that a repetition of the problems of 2000 now seems likely, even as many other nations are conducting elections that are internationally certified to be transparent, honest and fair.

The Carter Center has monitored more than 50 elections, all of them held under contentious, troubled or dangerous conditions. When I describe these activities, either in the United States or in foreign forums, the almost inevitable questions are: "Why don't you observe the election in Florida?" and "How do you explain the serious problems with elections there?"

The answer to the first question is that we can monitor only about five elections each year, and meeting crucial needs in other nations is our top priority. (Our most recent ones were in Venezuela and Indonesia, and the next will be in Mozambique.) A partial answer to the other question is that some basic international requirements for a fair election are missing in Florida.

The most significant of these requirements are:

• A nonpartisan electoral commission or a trusted and nonpartisan official who will be responsible for organizing and conducting the electoral process before, during and after the actual voting takes place. Although rarely perfect in their objectivity, such top administrators are at least subject to public scrutiny and responsible for the integrity of their decisions. Florida voting officials have proved to be highly partisan, brazenly violating a basic need for an unbiased and universally trusted authority to manage all elements of the electoral process.

• Uniformity in voting procedures, so that all citizens, regardless of their social or financial status, have equal assurance that their votes are cast in the same way and will be tabulated with equal accuracy. Modern technology is already in use that makes electronic voting possible, with accurate and almost immediate tabulation and with paper ballot printouts so all voters can have confidence in the integrity of the process. There is no reason these proven techniques, used overseas and in some U.S. states, could not be used in Florida.

It was obvious that in 2000 these basic standards were not met in Florida, and there are disturbing signs that once again, as we prepare for a presidential election, some of the state's leading officials hold strong political biases that prevent necessary reforms.

Four years ago, the top election official, Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris, was also the co-chair of the Bush-Cheney state campaign committee. The same strong bias has become evident in her successor, Glenda Hood, who was a highly partisan elector for George W. Bush in 2000. Several thousand ballots of African Americans were thrown out on technicalities in 2000, and a fumbling attempt has been made recently to disqualify 22,000 African Americans (likely Democrats), but only 61 Hispanics (likely Republicans), as alleged felons.

The top election official has also played a leading role in qualifying Ralph Nader as a candidate, knowing that two-thirds of his votes in the previous election came at the expense of Al Gore. She ordered Nader's name be included on absentee ballots even before the state Supreme Court ruled on the controversial issue.

Florida's governor, Jeb Bush, naturally a strong supporter of his brother, has taken no steps to correct these departures from principles of fair and equal treatment or to prevent them in the future.

It is unconscionable to perpetuate fraudulent or biased electoral practices in any nation. It is especially objectionable among us Americans, who have prided ourselves on setting a global example for pure democracy. With reforms unlikely at this late stage of the election, perhaps the only recourse will be to focus maximum public scrutiny on the suspicious process in Florida."

Is this supposed to be the considered opinion of a former President of the United States? An Elder Statesman of our government who can't be swayed by partisan politics?

Or is this the ravings of person who thinks Fidel didn't go far enough, and that Kim Jong Il of North Korea is an admirable leader?

If I were a member of any political party that had someone like this as a representative of that party, left or right, I'd be too ashamed to show my face. This "person" was a bad joke as President. He's gotten steadily worse and now, after this bit of heart-wrenching prose, I have no choice but to assume that he is no longer mentally competent. I'd hate to see him behind the wheel of a car!

The Expert Does It Again

Admit it - it's Michelle Malkin's world. I just sit here in awe!

Go see what she's done now with the Outdoor Life and Field & Stream articles. Very, very funny.

A New Low For The DNC?

I know of at least one person who received an email today that scared her right out of her boots. It was telling her that she would likely be drafted next year and was officious sounding enough.

As usual Snopes is already on to this, and although he hasn't made is mind up yet, he tends to think it's a hoax.

No Shit, Sherlock!

I mean, it's not like we haven't already learned about the quality of scum you end up with, is it?

Think it through!

The email and answer is at: http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/draft.asp

UPDATE - This article is from CNS News giving more information:
http://www.cnsnews.com//ViewNation.asp?Page=\Nation\archive\200409\NAT20040927a.html

And the sponsors of the "Draft Legislation"? In fact, the bill in question - HR 163 - was introduced by liberal New York Democrat Rep. Charles Rangel on Jan. 7, 2003 - the companion Senate bill is S. 89, was introduced by Democrat Ernest Hollings of South Carolina, also on Jan. 7, 2003.

John Kerry Plays With Numbers - Bad Idea!

"Military Madness is killing my Country" Sorry - just some old CSN&Y, folks!

John Kerry says we’re not retaining troops. We’re not attracting new recruits. The military today is running out of fighters. Bush is secretly planning on starting up the draft.

Kerry also said that he will start pulling troops out of Iraq by the end of June, with all to be home by 2008.

Yet Kerry is now saying that he’ll send an additional two divisions to Iraq! Where are these troops to appear from?

If they are to be ours, they have to be recruited, then you have an absolute minimum lead time of 9 months to get them trained (unless he just wants canon fodder), and of course no 17 year olds can go overseas. And, since Kerry voted against every single weapons system to go before the Senate, what’s he going to arm them with? If they are to come from some other unspecified country, who? Who even has that number of troops to send? And who will be the commander, not just of these additional troops, but in overall command?

This is sounding suspiciously like “Hey, Rocky – watch me pull some numbers out of my ass”

Side Bar One - referring to Afghanistan, how many people out there know just who the troops are that we have over there? Here’s a hint – it ain’t Gomer Pyle. These are the kind of troops you don’t advertise and you certainly don’t tell anyone without a need to know where they are, what they’re up to and where they’re heading from there.

Side Bar Two – since the end of the major combat phase, can anyone remember any use of ground-to-air missiles against our aircraft? Or any T-72s being used? Mortars, RPGs and ground fire, certainly, but I’m pretty sure that’s been about it. Let me know if I missed anything during the last couple of weeks in NeverLand (no, not that one!)

Side Bar Three – since the terrorists are pouring into Iraq, now we know where most of the pricks are – makes it easier to kill the bastards, doesn’t it? Sounds like a pretty handy strategy to me.

Back to My Normal Low (Nonexistent?) Standards

This should be the last health update from me - hopefully for years to come!

Things have finally come together and, though I'm still waiting to get the pump primed, most everything else is under control. Except my mind, but that never was controlled. Except by She Who Must Be Obeyed, but that's a whole 'nuther story!

Stick around, folks - the next couple of years of President Bush should be interesting!

Congratulations, BrigGen Halstead!

I saw on the 'ticker' line on the news today that Rebecca Halstead has been promoted to Flag Officer. She is a 1981 graduate of the United States Military Academy, and the first woman grad of any military academy to reach this rank.

23 years of service - obviously mostly in charge of Support Commands, is not too shabby! For a time frame when the United States was mostly at peace (give or take), that's pretty bloody quick! And, no, I'm NOT making any innuendoes here - She's worked hard and deserves everything she's earned.

Congratulations!

Does Anyone REALLY Care Anymore?

Other than the families who have lost loved ones? I mean, according to Kerry, Patrick Tillman should still be alive, because he thinks we pulled all our troops out of Afghanistan, right? Shipped them all over to Iraq, right?

When the President said that Major Combat Operations in Iraq have ended, he was speaking the truth. Unfortunately, too many on the Left didn't have any real-life experience to know what that meant. Did it mean that all fighting was over? Not likely! Did it mean that everyone in Iraq would blow us kisses? That’ll happen!

What the President said was that Major Combat Operations – uniformed force against uniformed force, with military command and control structures – was over. If there have been any such battles since then, a lot of us must have slept through them.

Since that time, small bands of guerrillas have been planting car bombs and either sniping or beheading innocents at a rate of 2 – 3 a day. Is that acceptable? Of course not, but that is the nature of the fight facing us.

In Fallujah and al Sadr City, the situation resembles Hue during that infamous Tet “offensive” in Viet Nam only as much as Rome appeared to Alaric or Berlin appeared to the Soviets in April, 1945. The worst possible situation a commander can find himself would obviously be Custer’s, but next on the list would have to be going door-to-door in built-up areas. The Bad Guys aren’t wearing any neon signs, and they are only a small percentage of those Bad Guys in the cities when compared to the local residents.

More troops can’t help that situation. The one thing that can help is more and better intel, and as the Iraqis learn to trust us more than they fear the foreigners trying to destroy them, then that intel is really flowing.

The only use I can see for more troops would be if we were to turn those towns into parking lots and indiscriminately kill everyone there. It seems that Kerry is also pushing for more of our “allies” to send troops so their men and women can die instead of ours.

Has everyone forgotten when France pulled out of NATO? Does anyone honestly think of ANY situation that would bring them, Germany or Canada into the fight?

Aw, screw it – I’ve been sitting too long again, and other than getting a chance to vent occasionally, who really cares?

FoxNews has a good article listing why Iraq is Guadalcanal, not Viet Nam. Well presented.

Who Does Kerry Want to Lead Iraq?

Saddam Hussein, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Ayad Allawi. Those are the choices, and it appears that Senator Kerry may have already decided.

Jay Bryant at TownHall puts forth some of the ideas I tried to articulate a couple of days ago, but this man gots skills!

Just Who is Living in Fantasyland?

If today is Saturday, it must be time for Mark Steyn's Sunday Chicago Sun-Times column. This week is his interpretation of the recent visit by the Prime Minister of Iraq and Kerry's (and the media's) reaction to it.

If there is anyone out there who harbors any kind feelings for Senator John Kumbaya, Don't Go To This Link! Your blood pressure will never make it!

John Kerry's Latest Reinvention

Effective today, the Poodle's not a Poodle anymore!

He is now officially a PoodleHawk. Not only is he a PoodleHawk, he's the bravest, baddest PoodleHawk that has ever been. After all, he served in Viet Nam! He even committed War Crimes, so you just know what a brave, strong PoodleHawk he really is!

He might have a problem with those members of his party who are against the war, though, so his attempt to out-Conservative the Conservatives may run into a few problems.

In a 'sneak peek' of the upcoming debates, I came across this picture of this new PoodleHawk telling President Bush just how sad and pathetic the President's attempt at fighhting the War on Terror really is:



You can see just how impressed the President is with this 'dressing down' by the PoodleHawk.

One question, though - how is this PoodleHawk going to fight this Tougher and Smarter War if he's already said he'll start pulling the troops back home?

It's Just So Sad!

Poor Yusuf Islam.

He's considering taking legal action against the United States Government. It seems he ended up on a "No-Fly List" which resulted in his immediate escort to the nearest aircraft departing these shores for Mother England.

And, of course, he's totally aghast at the whole exercise. Why, he's hardly ever been nailed at Customs trying to get into any country before. Exept maybe in Israel earlier this year. For the third time. He still hasn't managed to get past the airport there, but it's not for lack of effort.

And just why would the Israelis be upset with poor Mr. Islam? I don't know - maybe it's over One Hunderd Million Dollars that he's given to Hamas over the years? But we all know that Hamas is just a militant group, sort of like Eagle Scouts. Not, heaven forbid, like they were terrorists or anything.

In a related story, Sinead O'Connor has taken out a full page ad in an Irish newspaper asking that people stop calling her "crazy".

Stop It! You're Killing Me!

John Fitzgerald Kerry says that he'll fight a tougher and smarter war on terrorism. He'll have the troops go after Osama. What does he think our troops are doing in Afghanistan? Playing with themselves?

He'll 'beef up' our military and intelligence services. Who does he think tore them down? Clinton was the one who decided we didn't need HumInt - all we needed was ElInt. Guess what? It Don't Work! It was also Clinton who showed the terrorist how to beat the US by screwing up so bad in Ethiopia!

As I type this, Kerry was just on FoxNews saying - I kid you not - he served in Viet Nam!!

Every single thing he's come up with is either being implemented already or is so stupid as to be laughable if it didn't reflect so badly on us as a nation. At least Vice President Cheney and President Bush came to the defense of Prime Minister Allawi. How many alphabet news services or print media even reported on that?

Yeah, I know I'm rambling a bit, but I have never heard of a Presidential candidate ever saying or doing the things Kerry has done so far. If someone thinks there might be a vote in it somewhere, Kerry will say or do anything!

Just wait until he gets desperate!

Back in the Old Days ... ...

I remember when I was living in Australia back in the 80's. The Australian Government had contracts to send shipments of live sheep to Saudi Arabia because the sheep had to be killed in a certain way to qualify for food (Kosher? Put your own line in here).

A few times the Saudi Government rejected the sheep, which caused a huge diplomatic rift. The reason the Saudis rejected the sheep?

"Stop sending us these filthy, ugly sheep! Send us the pretty ones with the long eyelashes!!"

The Cox & Forkum the other day reminded me of that!

The More I Think About Yesterday

The more pissed off I'm getting.

When the leader of a Nation comes to our country, talks to a joint session of congress and flat out says the media is focusing on the wrong things - there are tons of good stories over there - who the Hell does John Fuckin' Kerry think he is to call the man a liar who's just sucking up to President Bush.

That's exactly what Kerry's response was - and nothing else. Not one idea put forward, just tearing down the leader of our number one ally over there. And this by someone who wants to be President with a nuanced view of international alliances?

And as for this "putting forth plans" of what they would or wouldn't do - when John Kerry says he'll start pulling out troops in six months and have all the troops out by the end of his first term, what is the message he's sending the terrorists? Fer crying out loud, you NEVER tell the enemy what you're going to do - other than kill every single one of them!

It never fails - I hear Kerry and I gotta go puke again.

An Articulate Gentleman Gives His Nation's Thanks

I had the privlege of seeing Prime Minister Allawi speak before the joint session of Congress and the question and answer session in the Rose Garden.

He was articulate, forceful and on several occasions both he and President Bush had a slap at the media for only reporting the bad news from Iraq.

What he had to day dovetailed perfectly with what President Bush has been saying all along, and he tore John Kerry's lies apart one by one.

If you didn't have the opportunity to see these, the Joint Session transcript is here and the Rose Garden transcript is here.

And if you really need a laugh, Kerry's reply is here.

UPDATE - I was just watching FoxNews, and the panel they had on was united it their disgust for Kerry's response and the contempt he showed Prime Minister Allawi. See the link above for just how badly he dismissed one of our true allies.

Hi Folks - I'm Still Here

It's been a very rough week or so - including 3 trips to the hospital - but I'm still alive. Now is when the tough times start. My morphine pump had plain saline water in it and will stay like that until next week Thursday.

The trial didn't work out for me, so it's going to be back what I was on. The only problem is that the only doctor here that can put the morphine in is out of the country until Thursday. Yeah - I was impressed.

So for the next week the pain here is going to get interesting. I'll still try to put the occasional posting up but I may have to rely of the Little Red Roo aka Mrs GOC to help out.

Thanks to all for your thought and prayers. This too shall pass.

CBS and Rather Still Don't Get It

According to Rather and CBSNEWS, they are sticking with the story that then-State Representative George HW Bush used his influence to get Dubya into the National Guard - just that they should not have used the memos.

That's why there will be no apology to President Bush.

I can't understand this. Can anyone else out there?

Mark Steyn Attacks CBS

In the most vicious attack I've seen so far, Mark Steyn minces absolutely no words in his takedown of CBS and Dan Rather.

An example? How's this:

Every time I want to type a memo saying Bush is unfit to be president, that's what I do, too. Look, if Dan thinks this guy's theory is correct, let's put him and his IBM Model D and me and my computer in a room at CBS News for an hour and see which one of us emerges with the closest replicas of these four documents. I'll give him ten thousand bucks for every memo he reproduces exactly, and round it up to an even 50 grand if he gets all four right

I loved every word of it, but most of you already know what my sense of humor's like.

On Zell Miller's Speech

Ol' Charlie Daniels has a posting on his blog about what Zell Miller had to say - something I think has gotten lost since Dan Blather stole the spotlight from the convention.

With just about everyone in the news media focusing almost solely on either Rather or the hurricanes, there's too many other messages getting shoved out of the spotlight.

LtCol Oliver North on Iraq

Former Marine Ollie North has, in my opinion, has become an excellent writer. I have read his book, "War Stories" and was impressed with it.

In his column at www.townhall.com, he's back in Iraq 'embedded' with a Marine outfit. He has some replies to the Kerry stories about what's actually happening in the sandbox

Denzel Washington Does Us Proud!

A good friend of mine has started a blog recently at CitySlicker. Much of it is personal thoughts and quotes, but I ran across this posting about Denzel Washington and had to share it.

Fallujha

The following letter was written to Sgt Grit. This is one of a couple of newsletter run from the site www.grunt.com. If you're a Marine or Former Marine and don't know about this site you should!

Sgt Grit has a shop where you can get almost anything related to Marines, including letters like this:


FALLUJAH................................................

My son, Lcpl Fisel, is with Fox Co. 2/1 currently serving
north of Fallujah. As I'm sure everyone knows, the Marines
took a devastating hit Labor Day weekend when seven Marines
were killed when a suicide bomber hit their convoy. Of
course I immediately emailed my son hoping and praying that
I would get a response. I did (thank God) but it made my
heart break.

This is what he replied: "I'm fine, but I lost
7 of my best friends... The truck that was hit was a seven
ton, not hummers. 7 of my best friends were killed..... I
talked to them 20 mins earlier too. I was in the truck right
behind the one that got hit. I saw everything. 7 of my friends
were mutilated... I couldn't even recognize them.
Body parts and sh*t everywhere......F**k this place.
I'm fine. I'm just a little p!ssed, and I need some time
to try and get over this, although I don't think I'm going
to be able to. Well, I'm going to go. I'll talk to you later love you adam"

As much as I want my son and all the others who are going thru
the horrible events of war to come home, I know we (the USA)
have to stay and finish what we started. I am sooooo proud of
my son and all the other brave men and women who are in the
military (regardless of what branch although of course everyone
knows the Marines are the best of the best!) and my heart goes
out to the families, friends, and fellow comrades of those who
are suffering because of death or injury. I know first hand
the effects of receiving the dreaded phone call advising that
a loved one has been injured because my son and several other
Marines were wounded on 3/26/04 when their platoon was ambushed
and a fellow Marine was killed. So to all of you reading this
newsletter, please support ALL of our troops with your
thoughts and prayers for a safe return home!

M. Sheffield, very proud mother of a Marine.

The Nuanced Approach

I've spent quite a lot of time watching news today. One of the stories reported was that France and Spain have made an agreement to form a 'joint police force' in order to 'arrest and try' the terrorists.

How are they going to do this? Which country's laws will be used? How are they going to prove the guilt of someone they know is guilty but just don't have enough evidence to put before a court? Do they just let the terrorist go?

This is the nuanced Kerry method, and there isn't a court in the nation that will convict without evidence 'beyond a reasonable doubt.'

Terry McAullife was on saying what Kerry's policy was and it made no sense. Even Don Imus, a Kerry supporter felt like he was 'banging his head against a juke box' because after he interviewed Kerry he had no idea what his policy is. But Kerry has always stated his plans on the war on terror.

Kerry has said that we will pull a large number of troops home in his first six months and have all of the troops home within his first four years. That means he has no intention of fighting against terror.

Every time I write about that prick I feel like I gotta go puke.

Well This is a First!

For the first time, I'm writing a post while sitting up in bed. Of course, since this is a new machine it needs more work than the proverbial Carter had little liver pills (if the kids don't get that one, never mind).

I've got a breakfast-in-bed tray for this to sit on which lets it radiate the heat and makes it almost reasonable to type on - so of course today would be a day that makes it all for naught.

You see, this morning when I was putting up blogs and answering emails, I spent 2 hours sitting in the desk chair - a very bad career move.

Where the sacrum meets the back - which just happens to be where my fusion got snapped - has not been playing well with anything. So I'll get this posted and rest for a bit, then see if I get back later.

I Can't Believe I Missed It!

I was just so damn sure in my mind that this Friday was going to be National POW/MIA Recognition Day - it's been the 3rd Friday in September ever since it was officially recognized.

I go to their site this morning after a couple of strange days - and, Lo and Behold! - it was yesterday so it wouldn't conflict with Rosh Hashanah.

Man, do I feel cheated! I haven't missed getting the flags out for that in about five years!

I may just fly Old Glory and the POW/MIA flag on Friday as a "make-up" day!

* * * U P D A T E * * *

I was so upset this morning about this that the most obvious reason for not changing the date slipped right past me. When do you take down a flag? Oh, and when do Jweish holy days begin?

I'm pretty certain that both acts begin and end at sunset.

Of course that's just my opinion - I could be wrong.

Day By Day By Chris Muir - Gone??

Chris Muir has put up a post on his site instead of a cartoon, saying that at least for the foreseeable future Day By Day is in extended hiatus. It seems that several of his family are fighting cancers.

And I thought I had problems! A great big dose of perspective here.

John Kerry - in the Reserves

As someone mentioned in one of my other posts, John Kerry was listed as USNr.

Of course, back then, that meant that he wasn't Regular Navy. I honestly can't think of what the differences were, but I'm pretty sure it limited his options of ever making the Navy a career. Yeah, Right - like that would have happened!

And I understand that "little johnnie edwards" had a draft number of 179. Now, he would not have had that number if he was only eighteen and still ineligible for the draft, would he?

More to come on these ... ...

So Many Posts, So Little Time

There's so many thing I want to post about today:

"little johnny edwards military adventures".
Kitty "I can't even spell Kelly" Kelley's book and how come St. Martins
Press isn't publishing it.
sKerry's reply to President Bush's speech to the National Guard
Conference.
And more - more - more.

I'll start with the fact that I'm semi-healthy this morning, thanks to the wishes and prayers of all of you. Comfort levels kinda suck, but that'll be pretty easy to deal with, compared to some of the options that were being tossed around in emails!

We shall see how many thoughts can get organized into rational post today, shall we?

Another Thought

I seem to remember that sKerry got an early release from the Navy due to his "running for Congress".

If all this crap about President Bush is suddenly fair game for his theoretically not completing his term, why aren't we hearing more about sKerry?

Of course, other than no one is allowed to ever, NEVER allowed to question his service??

Slow and Steady?

We're getting there, folks. I never quite expected this to take quite this long, but what are you going to do? I just have trouble dealing with what I've put the family through this past week.

They remember what I don't, so I know it must have been a real blast for them!!

Each day is getting better, but I'm just not ready to publish what I have. I guess everyone will have beat me to it.

Thanks, Everyone!

Things are slowly getting better. I'm off to the clinic this morning and hopefully they'll kick this pain killer in the ass for me and straighten thing out.

To everyone who's stopped by, my sincere thanks and I hope to be back to my abnormal self soon!

I Didn't Mean To Post Today, But ... ...

I am abso-fucking-lutely disgusted!

I just watched the National Anthem at the start of the Notre Dame - Michigan game. It was done with class, with the Michigan band playing the Anthem, and the Flag being raised with the music.

So why am I disgusted?

The camera focused in on the Notre Dame players, and not one - not a single one of those pricks had their hand over their heart. Not One!

No excuse for that. Period.

Yeah, It's Really Me

Just a quick update -

I've been off all opiates for about 24 hours and I really don't miss 'em. My only real problem right now is that the lower back is killing me no matter what position I get in.

Right now things look like they're going to go pretty good - as long as I can get into the Clinical Trail place and get them to crank up this Ziconotide snail trail stuff! I don't know if I'll be doing much posting until then, but I plan on keeping the 'regulars' informed on what's happening!

GOC Update

This is Mrs GOC Mr GOC will be gone for a couple of days due to health problems. He is not doing too good for those of you who have followed his saga with the dreaded Morphine. It has reared it's ugly head again and is causing major malfunctions. I will keep you updated and hopefully by the end of the week end he will be back in full form.

Weighin' In On Jimmah Carter

The gentleman whose name I 'repatriated', being a true Gentleman of Georgia and Son of the South, has one or two well-chosen words about the silly damn letter that Former President and all-around imbecile Jimmah Carter sent to Zell Miller. There will be no Peace Prizes awarded for guessing who gave the letter to the media - and who's irritated that it was!

The GOC from Atlanta also has a beautiful picture of John Kerry's True Band of Brothers - which really should've had a warning - I'm still cleaning coffee off my monitor, and that burns when shot out the nose!!

Motivation

I just got this from a friend and thought it fit in beautifully with the whole concept and overriding theme of this blog:



You just can't argue with that kind of attitude! (Click the picture for the larger image so you can see the text.)

Johnny Knuckles on His Favorite Swizzledick

As we all know by now, Little Johnny Kerry is physically and mentally incapable of taking any responsibility for his own actions. He reminds me very much of Robert Duval's version of Major Frank Burns in the movie M*A*S*H - everything is either God's Will or someone else's fuck-up.

Johnny Knuckles has a great take on this minor character flaw. which he covers with his normal modesty and good taste (yeah, right - Sure he does!). As per normal, he doesn't miss a thing.

What's Wrong With You Bunch of Hicks?

Jonah Goldberg at TownHall looks at how the Liberal press is just dumbstruck that Joe Sixpack is too friggin' stupid to vote Democratic.

Very funny - and sad when you think about it.

Dumb Drunk - But Not Stupid!

From my Blogmother:


Marty wakes up at home with a huge hangover. He forces
himself to open his eyes, and the first thing he sees is a
couple of aspirin and a glass of water on the side table. He
sits down and sees his clothing in front of him, all clean
and pressed. Marty looks around the room and sees that it is
in perfect order, spotless, clean. So is the rest of the
house. He takes the aspirin and notices a note on the
table.

"Honey, breakfast is on the stove, I left early to go
shopping. Love You!" So he goes to the kitchen and sure
enough there is a hot breakfast and the morning newspaper.
His son is also at the table, eating. Marty asks, "Son,
what happened last night?" His son says, "Well, you came
home around 3 AM, drunk and delirious. Broke some furniture
, puked in the hallway, and gave yourself a black eye when
you stumbled into the door." Confused, Marty asks, "So, why
is everything in order and so clean, and breakfast is on the
table waiting for me?"

His son replies, "Oh, that! Mom dragged you to the bedroom
, and when she tried to take your pants off, you said, "Lady
leave me alone! I'm married!"

Self-induced hangover -- $100.00

Broken furniture -- $2,000.00

Breakfast -- $10.00

Saying The Right Thing While Drunk-PRICELESS

The Clearing House is Back!

I’ve been doing way too much reading today of other sites, and it has left me with a plethora of good, solid writing to direct you to. There’s no sense in me trying to write my own columns on these issues because I couldn’t do justice to the sources.

Under the heading of “Terrorist? Yes We Got No Terrorists!” we have:

Allah in the House
over the Boston Globe’s columnist – no terror here!

Cox & Forkum – any
name but terrorist

They’re
Terrorist, not “Activists” or “Victims”

Jihad watch - "The Arabs
and the Muslims today contribute nothing to civilization and progress except for
blood, severed heads, scorched bodies, and the abduction and murder of
children."

Under the heading if “Mean Spirited Bastards” we have:

Carter Calls Zell
Miller’s Speech “Rabid” and “Mean Spirited”

FoxNews – John Gibson
– Hating Bush

And finally, the “Hi, My Name Is John Kerry – And I Don’t Have A Freaking Clue!!”

DoggerelPundit
– 3 poems
Night Before Christmas in Cambodia
Johnny
Veteran’s
Day

NewsMax
– Kerry Mortified Over Clintons leak of Phone Conversation

(This was supposed to be posted around zero-dark-thirty this morning, but BlogSpot wasn’t playing well with others then.)

I Expected No Less

After my letter to the editor of the local Fish Wrap (see below) my subscription to the paper stopped today, but gee - somehow they neglected to publish my letter explaining why.

(sarcasm on) I am truly shocked and stunned!! (sarcasm off)

I may check again tomorrow, but it ain't no big deal - they wouldn't have gotten the message anyway!

BlogSpot Did Me In!

I've been trying for most of the day to put a couple of posts up, but with no success. Hopefully now this thing will start to play nice for me!

An Update on Breslan From Mama

Mama Montezz has been keeping pretty close coverage to the extended story about the people from Breslan, Russia, and the animals that tore that little village apart. There are links to photos, but be warned: they aren't for the weak. She also has coverage on this in previous days, so you might want to just to go Mama's home page.

In The "News"

While bouncing around the internet this morning, I've come across the following:

- - John Kerry is given a rifle by unionista in Racine, jokes he’s sorry he can’t take it to the debates. Immediately draws criticism from pro- and anti-gun groups.

- - Kitty Kelley, who already wrote “Unauthorized Biographies: Kitty Kelley” on Elizabeth Taylor, Nancy Reagan, Frank Sinatra, Jackie Kennedy Onasis, and the British Royal Family, has now written another one – about the Bush Family. In this she claims to have “sources” that say while Daddy was president, George W. was doing cocaine at Camp David.

- - Rev Je$$e Jack$on and his son, Rep. Je$$e Jack$on Jr have organized a group with the purpose of abolishing the Electoral College. Wonder if they know that’s a Constitutional Amendment they’re advocating?

Everyone's A Critic - And He Hates It

Hypersensitive, shrill, conceited, and with a childish inability to take criticism of any kind from anyone, Sen. Kerry has even reached the point where merely reading any of his record for the past 35 years or so is to be considered smear tactics. If his position now is that no one is allowed to criticize him, what will his reaction be, should he be elected, when other foreign powers criticize him? Will we be forced into a war for the most inane of reasons? Or will he sit and pout about how they’re not playing nice with him?

Right now, John Kerry is crying ‘foul’ when his military service is mentioned – but he refuses to release any part of his records that could clear matters – even when he seems to have been caught in outright lies about that record (Cambodia? Silver Star with “V”?). Even the U.S. Navy seems to have had enough of Kerry’s games about his medals. Oh, and don’t even think about John Edwards military records. That’s playing dirty.

Kerry is also sucking his thumb and going into the fetal position when anyone dares talk about his time with the VVAW when he got back home. He lied under oath to the Senate and organized public displays where people who had never worn a uniform could tell about their “War Crimes in ‘Nam”. But Kerry refuses to release any re-printing of his book, “The New Soldier” that he wrote during that period of his life.

There is one period of the good Senator’s past that he is quite unable to block access to. That’s his time in the Senate, because the Congressional Record prints every word of every speaker every single day. And that is NOT good new for Dear John! He has been congratulated many times for being among – if not THE – most liberal Senators in the Nation. When you can make your own senior Senator from your state, Teddy Kennedy, look conservative in comparison to you, now THAT is an accomplishment!

I may even have to find something else to start blogging about – John Kerry’s attack dogs might hear of this and, using their “Free Speech”, deny me mine. They already have a wonderful record on that, don’t they? Just check with the Swift Boat Vets or any TV channel that dared aired their ads. “If you tell the truth about me I’m gonna cry – then I’m gonna sue!”

Why would anyone, at anytime, want a President that refuses to be criticized? Especially now, when terrorism is running rampant around the world? I must be thick as two short boards, ‘cause I just don’t get it.

An (heh, heh) Editorial

I told myself I wasn't gonna do it. I swore I wasn't gonna do it. If I dood it, I get a whippin'.

I dood it. this is the after-RNC editorial from Sunday, September 5th in the Winston Salem Journal. I just might find myself forced to add a little emphasis to parts of this, so any change in color or font size or shape ar mine - and damn proud I am!

Sunday, September 5, 2004

The New York Convention
Winston-Salem Journal

If President Bush doesn't get a healthy bounce in polls this week, it won't be because the Republican National Convention didn't go off as planned.

The GOP had four days to tell its story, and its prime-time players stuck to their scripts. Now the American people will decide whether to buy what they had to say.

The Republicans portrayed Bush as a strong wartime leader and his Democratic opponent, John Kerry, as weak. They projected themselves as inclusive of a wide array of political opinion and as compassionate conservatives. Their speakers were mostly effective and entertaining.

Arizona Sen. John McCain, whose popularity transcends party lines, spoke gently but forcefully on why he thinks America needs to be in Iraq. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani recalled the president's strength in the days immediately following the Sept. 11 attacks. Both issued bipartisan compliments and spoke of rebuilding the national unity of fall 2001.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California delivered the kind of feel-good, patriotic speech that ignites conventions. His personal immigrant-makes-good story may not have much relevance to most newcomers, but it made the Republicans feel good about themselves.

The GOP suffered two setbacks on the main stage. The president's daughters came across as just as "young and irresponsible" as they billed themselves.

More seriously, Georgia Sen. Zell Miller, a Democrat who fired Republican passions in the keynote address, was bitter and illogical. His protest that the Democrats were unpatriotic in opposing Bush was absurd. Miller's logic would have Americans surrender their right to a debate on national policy and this election because the nation is at war.

The Republicans stacked the convention's prime-time schedule with their best-known moderates. But McCain, Giuliani, New York Gov. George Pataki and Schwarzenegger do not abide by the hard-right policies of the approved party platform. They have little, if any, influence on national policy as exercised by the hard-right Republicans who run the Congress.

The GOP's "big tent" lovefest also belied the current tenor of intraparty politics both in North Carolina and nationwide.

North Carolina has just come through bruising primaries in which Republicans with moderate tendencies got pounded by the state party hierarchy. In Florida, the White House backed former cabinet member Mel Martinez for a U.S. Senate nomination while Martinez distorted his opponent's record on gay rights. In Virginia, a Republican congressman who was reported in a Web log to be gay gave up his nomination rather than face the expected outrage of his party's far right. And nationwide, far-right Republicans are opposing moderates, calling them RINOs for "Republicans in name only."

On Thursday night, Bush delivered a rousing speech that outlined some constructive ideas he has for the coming four years.

He wants to improve health care and retirement options, strengthen public education and provide new funds for community colleges. At the same time he promised to pursue extension of his tax cuts while blasting his opponents for "tax and spend" politics. Although his convention howled in support, fiscal conservatives must have shuddered. The president's budget is already a half-trillion dollars in the red and, by his own estimates, will remain a quarter trillion dollars so four years from now.

Bush was most poignant when relating the courage and honor of America's military personnel. But his invocation of patriotic themes in a prepared speech to a highly partisan audience does not prove that he is best qualified to lead America in the war against terrorism. For that, his record must be the test.

Bush's speech avoided many troubling questions. His speech did not offer much to undecided voters with questions about why the United States went to war against Iraq and how Bush plans to deal with the grave challenges that remain in Iraq.

He spoke passionately of how the events of Sept. 11, 2001, made him resolve to protect the United States from outside threats, but he did not mention how he would deal with such threats as Iran and North Korea or where his doctrine of pre-emptive war might lead next.

He missed a chance to acknowledge mistakes in the conduct of the Iraq war and its aftermath and to say what he might do better in the future.

In New York City this week, the GOP got the convention it wanted. In Boston in July, the Democrats also had a successful convention(???-GOC). But conventions are mostly theater.

Now it is time for the real campaign. Voters would be well served if the candidates would move past the show and on to the substance: their vision for the future and specifics of how they intend to carry out that vision.

-----------------------------------------------------

What can you add to that, other than is pretty much echoes the "Hard News" stories they love to quote from the Associated Press or Reuters. When you can no longer tell the difference between pages 1-4 and the OpEd pages, it's time to cancel the subscription.

ADDENDUM:

As a result of this, I have sent the following letter to the editor of the Urinal:

"I have really tried over the years to ignore the blantant bias and slant to most of your hard news, but it has gotten to the point that I can no longer tell the difference between the stories and your editorials.

The spite and bitterness that you displayed in your editorial - particularly towards Sen. Zell Miller and the 'Big Tent' was almost indistinguishable from the AP News story your printed that started with the sentence "Has Zell Miller Lost His Mind?"

Since you and your staff appear to be just proud and smug as can be about this, I would appreciate it if you would cancel my subscription immediately.

I'll miss the crossword."

(and just in case anyone wondered or cared, here is the link to the "Has Zell Miller Lost His Mind" story referred to above)

How Dare You Question Me!!

I know - I'm pretty dense, but I got another question. When John Kerry says:

“They have attacked my patriotism and my fitness to serve as commander in chief,” Kerry said. “I’m not going to have my commitment to defend this country questioned by those who refused to serve when they could have and by those who have misled the nation into Iraq.”

Isn't determining a person's fitness to serve what this - and any - election is all about? I would have thought that this election would of necessity be about a person's ability to command and protect this Great Nation as opposed to turning our birthright and all of its struggles since the 1600's over to an organization that cannot even police itself.

Like I said - I'm pretty dense - but how in Hell can one person be that arrogant and that ignorant at the same time?

EXTRA! I just ran across this article in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette by way of Stark Truth, and I had to add it to this post, because, well, IT'S NOT MY FAULT, DAMMIT!!

Hanoi Jane

Some folks with very short - or convenient - memories, along with the Gen X'ers and Gen Y'ers who never heard about this, have decided that Hanoi Jane Fonda deserves to be honored as one of the "100 Women Of The Century"

I feel it's past time to take a stand and put our foot down about this - go to Emigre With Digital Cluebat for the entire story. If you don't already know some of the details about Hanoi Fucking Jane, this will be a real eye-opener for you.

Sorry for the bad link to the Emigre - it has been fixed.

On That Attack by the Diseased Death Cult

Be Warned: a long post follows. I'd love to just leave a link to this, and I know that many of you are regular readers of Mr. Steyn, but I feel that this column from The Australian is just too damn important to miss. Any emphasis in this column have been added by the GOC in WS:

Mark Steyn: No other word for it but slaughter


PHOTOGRAPHED from above, the body bags look empty. They seem to lie flat on the ground, and it's only when you peer closer that you realise that that's because the bodies in them are too small to fill the length of the bags. They're children. Row upon row of dead children, more than a hundred of them, 150, more, many of them shot in the back as they tried to flee.

Flee from whom? Let's take three representative responses: "Guerillas", said The New York Times. "Chechen separatists", ventured the BBC, eventually settling for "hostage-takers". "Insurgents", said The Guardian's Isabel Hilton, hyper-rational to a fault: "Today's hostage-taking," she explained, "is more savage, born of the spread of asymmetrical warfare that pits small, weak and irregular forces against powerful military machines. No insurgent lives long if he fights such overwhelming force directly . . . If insurgent bullets cannot penetrate military armour, it makes little sense to shoot in that direction. Soft targets – the unprotected, the innocent, the uninvolved – become targets because they are available."

And then there was Adam Nicolson in London's Daily Telegraph, who filed one of those ornately anguished columns full of elevated, overwritten allusions – each child was "a Pieta, the archetype of pity. Each is a Cordelia carried on at the end of Act V" – and yet in a thousand words he's too busy honing his limpid imagery to confront the fact that this foul deed had perpetrators, never mind the identity of those perpetrators.

Sorry, it won't do. I remember a couple of days after September 11 writing in some column or other that weepy candlelight vigils were a cop-out: the issue wasn't whether you were sad about the dead people but whether you wanted to do something about it. Three years on, that's still the difference. We can all get upset about dead children, but unless you're giving honest thought to what was responsible for the slaughter your tasteful elegies are no use. Nor are the hyper-rationalist theories about "asymmetrical warfare".

For one thing, Hilton is wrong: insurgent bullets can "penetrate military armour". A rabble with a few AKs and a couple of RPGs have managed to pick off a thousand men from the world's most powerful military machine and prompt 75 per cent of Hilton's colleagues in the Western media to declare Iraq a quagmire.

When your asymmetrical warfare strategy depends on gunning down schoolchildren, you're getting way more asymmetrical than you need to be. The reality is that the IRA and ETA and the ANC and any number of secessionist and nationalist movements all the way back to the American revolutionaries could have seized schoolhouses and shot all the children.

But they didn't. Because, if they had, there would have been widespread revulsion within the perpetrators' own communities. To put it at its most tactful, that doesn't seem to be an issue here.

So the particular character of this "insurgency" does not derive from the requirements of "asymmetrical warfare" but from . . . well, let's see, what was the word missing from those three analyses of the Beslan massacre? Here's a clue: half the dead "Chechen separatists" were not Chechens at all, but Arabs. And yet, tastefully tiptoeing round the subject, The New York Times couldn't bring itself to use the words Muslim or Islamist, for fear presumably of offending multicultural sensibilities.

In the 1990s, while the world's leaders slept – or in Bill Clinton's case slept around – thousands of volunteers from across the globe passed through terrorist training camps in Afghanistan and were then dispatched to Indonesia, Kosovo, Sudan . . . and Chechnya. Wealthy Saudis – including members of the royal family – invested millions in setting up mosques and madrassas in what were traditionally spheres of a more accommodationist Islam, from the Balkans to South Asia, and successfully radicalised a generation of young Muslim men. It's the jihadist component – not the asymmetrical one, not the secessionist one – that accounts for the mound of undersized corpses, for the scale of the depravity.

If the Russian children are innocent, the Russian state is not. Its ham-fisted campaign in Chechnya is as brutal as it is ineffectual. The Muslims have a better case in Chechnya than they do in the West Bank, Kashmir or any of the other troublespots where the Islamic world rubs up against the infidels. But that said, as elsewhere, whatever the theoretical merits of the cause, it's been rotted from within by the Islamist psychosis.

I wonder if, as they killed those schoolchildren, they chanted "Allahu Akbar!" – as they did when they hacked the head of Nick Berg, and killed those 12 Nepalese workers, and blew up those Israeli diners in the Passover massacre.

The good news is that the carnage in Beslan was so shocking it prompted a brief appearance by that rare bird, the moderate Muslim. Abdulrahman al-Rashed, the general manager of al-Arabiya Television, wrote a column in Asharq al-Awsat headlined, "The Painful Truth: All The World's Terrorists Are Muslims!" "Our terrorist sons are an end-product of our corrupted culture," he wrote. This is true. But, as with Nicolson's prettified prose in London, the question remains: So what? What are you going to do about it? If you want your religion to be more than a diseased death cult, you're going to have to take a stand.

What happened in one Russian schoolhouse is an abomination that has to be defeated, not merely regretted. But the only guys with any kind of plan are the Bush administration. Last Thursday, the President committed himself yet again to wholesale reform of the Muslim world. This is a dysfunctional region that exports its toxins, to Beslan, Bali and beyond, and is wealthy enough to be able to continue doing so.

You can't turn Saudi Arabia and Yemen into New Hampshire or Sweden (according to taste), but if you could transform them into Singapore or Papua New Guinea or Belize or just about anything else you'd be making an immense improvement. It's a long shot, but, unlike Putin's plan to bomb them Islamists into submission or Chirac's reflexive inclination to buy them off, Bush is at least tackling the "root cause".

If you've got a better idea, let's hear it. Right now, his is the only plan on the table. The ideology and rationale that drove the child-killers in Beslan is the same as that motivating cells in Rome and Manchester and Seattle and Sydney. In this war, you can't hold the line against the next depravity.

Mark Steyn is a columnist for Britain's Telegraph Group and the Chicago Sun-Times.

© The Australian

Could This Happen?

For some time now, NewsMax had been bleating about the expected shake-up in President Bush's team - Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice and others are expected to leave.

This got me to thinkin' (Heaven help us all!)

Under normal circumstances, Vice President Cheney would be the Republican nominee in 2008, but unless something drastic happens I personally can't see that taking place - BUT - if Condi Rice gets into California politics as soon as she leaves her post as National Security Adviser, with her background and name recognition ... ...

In 2008 or 2012, do you think it possible that we have two women nominated for President by their parties? I hope I'm around to see THAT!!

A Day Of Rest For The Workers

When I word it like that, Labor Day sounds downright socialist, doesn't it?

Don't forget - the flags go up at 8:00am and down at sunset.

I'm Still Confused, Folks

It looks like I'm full of questions with no answers today. Can someone help me with these?

Why is it that any talk about Senator Kerry's public record on:

• His tour(s) in VietNam.
• His VVAW activities.
• His time as a criminal defense lawyer.
• His time as Assistant Governor under Dukakis.
• His years as a United States Senator.

are off-limits and consist of mean, nasty, dirty politics. BUT:

• Personal attacks against President Bush and Vice President Cheney about possible drinking problems.

are just fine and dandy?

Oh. My. Goodness!

I just read Mark Steyn's column in the Chicago Sun-Times for today, and as a self-appointed Kerry Campaign Shredder, he has outdone himself. A little taste? Certainly!

"Senator Kerrikaze is running for president because he thinks he should be president -- who needs a platform?"

I'd almost do a Faust if it enabled me to have Mark's verbal skills!

Help Me Out Here

With all that has been going on in the news the last several days - the convention wrap-up, Hurricane Frances, Clinton's hospitalization - have either President Bush or Senator Kerry spoken about the "hostage takers" - Aw, fuck it - the terrorists in Russia murdering the children and their mothers?

And I just know somebody isn't going to like this, but does anyone else harbor any questions about Teeeereeza going to a hospital in Iowa just days after Bill Clinton's chest pain and scheduled bypass surgery?

I know - I'm a cynical old fart.

We're Still With You, Florida

Hurricane Frances proved herself to be no lady as she slammed ashore in Florida this morning. Even the biggest evacuation in the state's history didn't help when roofs were torn off shelters.

Of course, those bordering on terminal insanity were trying to surf the waves from the storm, and it seems that some of the criminally insane were arrested trying to loot a church.

But for the vast majority of you in Florida, our hopes and prayers are with you. As long as you have each other, you can - and will - rebuild.

Charlie Daniels on a Kerry Defense Speech

Ol' Charlie happened to see a speech by the Democratic Candidate, and he's definitely not happy!

That Tennessee boy waxes downright eloquent!

Sheer Genius!

Scott Ott of ScrappleFace fame has come up with a real beauty - "Bush Tells Undecided - Vote For Kerry!!"

If only 'twere true!

The Duck Does It Again!

RightWingDuck has posted the interview that I think most of America would like to see. Of course, if you can think of any other pertinent questions, tell the Duck!

I Have No Idea What He Was Thinking

In one of the latest rounds of wailing and gnashing of teeth from the Democratic Campaign for President, I think someone stepped on their dick.

By what I heard, John Kerry has now said that he doesn't want to be judged by Viet Nam, but by his Anti-War activities in 1971. Bad Move.

Since that is going to come back and tear Kerry a few new orifices, I wonder who he'll blame for bringing THAT up!

Let's see - 1971. Wasn't that the year that you, with help from Jane Fonda, held the Winter Soldier fiasco in Detroit? Where it turned out that most of the speakers had never even been to Viet Nam, and many others had not even served in any branch of the military?

Wasn't it in 1971 that you appeared before the Fulbright Committee, telling the world that you - yes, you - had committed war crimes? And where you accused every other Viet Nam Veteran of committing the same crimes, even you had not one shred of evidence to put before the committee?

1971? I really don't think this is a wise move. After all, someone might question your patriotism, and they may even ask if you are a self-confessed war criminal or a liar.

The Mistreatment of a Lady

I just got back from LaShawn Barber's site, where someone or something has caused to issue a rerun of a post that fairly screams "I'm Mad As Hell And I'm Not Going To Take It."

LaShawn is one of the most intelligent and thoughtful bloggers I have ever run into online, but because some liberals don't like the combination of her politics and her skin color, then feel the need to act like the bigots they are, spewing hate and filth through her comments.

If any of you feel like I do, please go visit this beautiful woman and tell her how much you support her in her endeavors.

Send the Russians Your Thoughts

Emigre with Digital Cluebat has a link on his page that will let you send a letter to Mr. Putin.

PLEASE go there and let the Russian people know that American hearts and minds are with then in this time of terror, horror and loss. Each of those children slaughtered by the terrorist animals had the possibility of growing to be another Einstein, Bach or Albert Schweitzer.

That potential has been stolen, and the whole world is worse off because of it.

And if you're just not quite in the mood to do this, go over to the Rott and see what he has to say about this. Like me, he has absolutely no tolerance for these Arab pricks (and yes, many were Arab).

A Friend is Gone

A good man, and a good friend, is gone.

I met Dennis about 12 years ago. A friend that I went to high school with was married to a veteran, and they took me to a Veterans Convention. It was the first time in over 20 years that I was with veterans, and they accepted me unconditionally as a brother. For me, that first convention brought back waves of memories that I had cordoned off in my mind. Dennis was one of those who helped me through that.

My wife and I became regulars at those meetings and, since the group was the UAW Veterans Committee, I stayed far away from any politics. Dennis knew how I felt and respected that. A few years ago Dennis became Chairman of the Committee and, despite his regular job and other commitments, worked tirelessly for the veterans of all wars and eras.

Dennis was a Sailor who was proud of his service, proud of the Navy and proud of his country. He served four tours in Viet Nam but never talked about it. He would give you the shirt off his back or “jack you up” if he thought either was needed. Dennis was also a Harley rider for all of his adult life, which gave the opportunity for some pranks – like the time he was presented with a tricycle and a “Barbie” helmet at one of the meetings. He took with his usual humor and style.

A week ago Dennis and a few friends were riding near Olympia Fields, south of Chicago, when his bike went off the road and crashed. Dennis suffered broken arms, broken legs and multiple internal injuries. He finally succumbed to a heart attach yesterday morning.

Dennis was a man who knew exactly who and what he was, and had no problem with doing things like dressing up in a grass skirt and coconut bra to raise money for our military.

Above all, Dennis was a friend. I’ll miss him.

Aw, Poor Kerry - He Got His Feelings Hurt

I've been doing a lot of bouncing around the web, looking for some blogger's takes on the Kerry Midnight Reply. About the best of the bunch is right here, at Sundries Shack.

It was my first stop there, but if this is a fair sample of the writing (and the thought behind it), that place is going to be on my regular list.

Mr. Excitement

This is something very unusual for me - an evening posting! I plead guilty with an excuse.

I just finished tip-toeing thru Town Hall, where I came across Col Ollie North's column for the week. After having to put up with such a boring week inside the Madison Square Garden, Col North decided to turn to Mr. Excitement for an adrenaline fix.

And, without fail, John "Mr. Excitement" Kerry came through with flying colors! It must be nice to be so dependable!

And just SOOOO Exciting!!

Old, OLD Movie Review

After spending the morning talking about last night's speeches and things, I decided it was time for some Shits & Giggles, so I cranked up the rusty, trusty old DVD player and threw in Invasion USA - the Chuck Norris / Richard Lynch offering from 1985.

It's been many years since I last saw this, but it's one of those movies that never disappoints - just turn off the brain, kick back and watch the war. Chuck Norris takes on an invading army and pretty much kills them all, while protecting children and other innocents. When this first came out it was panned unmercifully by the critics. The funny thing was that at the time I was living in Australia and everyone there took it for what it was and loved it!

This viewing, as far-fetched as it is, didn't seem quite as over-the-top as it once did. With the thousands and thousands of miles of unguarded coastline around this country, and our intelligence services in the condition they're in, something like this is starting to look more and more feasible every day. No, you can't get 6 shots out of a LAAW; you can't fire 2 40mm grenades from an M203 in one tenth of a second; and even if you could, standing 5 feet from a wall and firing thru it would not set the grenades off.

But the general concept of a core group of 200-300 dedicated terrorists wreaking havoc across the country? I don't think I'd bet against it right now. Maybe of President Bush gets another term and can rebuild out security services, but until then this country has a lot of gaps that can be exploited.

Still a fun no-brainer, but not quite as much as it used to be!