USS Lincoln Infested with Dangerous Parasites?

Don't know if this is real or not. Snopes is unable to verify or debunk.

Based on my refugee camp experiences in Eastern Turkey in 91', it sounds about right.

Doesn't Play Well...

In the heartland. Only moments after she hit the floor, her adoring and dedicated spin machine raced the story to the AP that she was suffering from stomach flu and feeling "under the weather". This is probably all true. I point this out because it's the first time that a Clinton spin machine has ever raced the truth to the media. Notice how easy the truth plays. There's a lesson there for the Donks.

However this isn't going to play well to the heartland. The hearty and hardy folks that feed us and build our cars and transport our goods and such things don't faint when they have the flu. They do what needs to be done.

I've fast-roped 60 feet to the ground from a helicopter with a (non-contagious)103 degree fever and done three-a-day scuba dives in 40 Degree water while suffering from walking pneumonia to search the bottom of an alpine lake for a sunken boat. If you're sick enough to faint - you don't put yourself out there and endanger yourself or your buddies.

The way this reads in the heartland is: either she's a candy-ass that can't handle a little flu or else she's terribly ill. If she's a candy-ass, then she needs to be kept from executive power. However, if she's terribly ill but continues to press on with her plans even when things are going downhill, then she's showing signs of ....HUBRIS! And we know from last week that hubris is a nasty, nefarious, and unforgivable trait. Last week I learned that hubris is un-presidential. I can't think of anyone less presidential and with more hubris than Mrs Clinton... except Mr. Clinton.

I wish her good health and a long life with her husband. I can't think of a more appropriate punishment for either of them

Our Genocidal Plan for Islam Part II

As you may recall from OGPFI (Part 1) there are nitwits and kooks that stand near the Pentagon Metro Station on Monday mornings to protest the US occupation of Iraq and our secret plan to wipe out every Muslim on the face of the earth.

Last time it was figuring how tsunami relief fits into our genocidal plans; today it is elections.

We believe in democracy so fervently, that before we wipe Islam from the face of the earth, we're gonna make sure that every one of them rat-bastards votes, dammit! Voting is a God-Given Right and we don't care what you call God, but He gave you the right to vote and we're gonna make sure you use it before we send you to meet Him. We're America! Dammit!

That's probably enough of that.

John Kerry says we shouldn't overhype the elections. First off, hype means over-accentuating. He's saying we shouldn't over-over accentuate the elections. We should listen to him on this. He's the guy who over-over-accentuated his Vietnam service during the Presidential campaign and we see where that got him.

I'm trying to juxtapose video of Iraqis dancing in the street (purple fingers in the air*) with the still fresh images of vandalized and destroyed Bush campaign offices. I can see why Kerry wouldn't be too happy about democracy in Iraq. He and his supporters didn't like it when we were doing it here either. They especially didn't like the results.

That's probably enough of that.

I heard many references today about the defiant Iraqis courageously facing down the terrorists and firmly embracing democracy. Good.

I'm not sure how many innocent Iraqis have lost their lives since the start of the insurgency but I'd be surprised if the real number is more than 10 times the number of US casualties. If that were the case, 13K/600 days means an average of 21 per day or approximately a 1 in a million chance (in a nation of 22M) of being killed by an insurgent on any given day.

For US Forces it's 1300 since the fall of "the Ba'athists". 1300/600 days equals 2.16 per day across a population of 150000. that's better than a 1 in 70,000 chance of being killed every day you spend in the sand box.

You have a 14 times greater risk than the courageous ones doing the voting. But it's important. We need to make sure those rat-bastards vote at least once before we launch the final plan to wipe them all out.

Hoo-Hah!

*Is there an Iraqi equivalent of "Prince"? I'm trying to come up with an "Artist Formerly Known as Prince" meme here; Purple Fingers, Purple rain and We Gonna Party Like it's 1999.

Surfing the Chaos Wave

Spencer Johnson, Author of "Who Moved My Cheese" says:

Change is constant. The key to successful change is to learn to make it work to our advantage without fear but with courage and a clear sensible vision.

Chaos is random noise. A series of waves with random levels and intervals. Successsful people do not allow themselves to be tossed around by chaos. They harness the power of chaos to take them where they want to go. Much like a surfer, Bill Gates chose a wave and rode it. Much to the Donks dismay, so did Dubya. There are millions of points where energy levels can be tapped at any given moment. You can paddle that board until you're exhausted and you'll never go as fast as you will if you tap the power of chaos. Paddle out, turn, pick a wave, stand on it and see where it takes you.

Today is the first day of a new week.

"Surfs up" dude!

Hoo-Hah!

It Only Seems True

A six year old little boy was examining his testicles while taking a bath.

"Mama," he asked, "Are these my brains?"

Mama answered, "Not yet."

You're Smoking Crack...

If you think that this has nothing to do with the Bush strategy to Democratize the Middle East and fighting the wrong war at the wrong time in Iraq.

Yaknowhatimean?

The donks may talk about women's rights, but George Bush is delivering. George Bush and his policies have delivered the vote to the women of Afghanistan, Iraq and soon to Saudi Arabia. That's almost as many women as Bill Clinton serviced with his policy.

Hoo-Hah!

The Deserving Poor

Charity never faileth. That's what the Good Book says. Perhaps it's true, but perhaps it must be qualified. Back in the colonial and post revolutionary years, there was a phrase: "Deserving Poor". There were people who were deserving of help from those who could help, and there were those that weren't.

Here's why: When charity is truly needed and truly given in the spirit of love and service, it elevates us. It makes us what we can and ought to be. It separates us from the animals and contradicts Darwin. Those that have done what they can but have fallen short (the deserving poor) are helped by those that are able.

The other category is the Undeserving Poor. The person that is not doing what he can to earn his own way in the world. This person doesn't invest time or treasure in objectives that will bring increase. This is the ne'er-do-well, the slacker, the vagrant, the addict, the drunk, the able but lazy burden of the state. To this person, the handout is not a gift, and it is not help. It is a link in a chain of slavery. It prohibits the victim from ever becoming free. It allows the person to hide from responsibility and continue in the behaviors of failure. It also keeps whatever capabilities, virtues and genius (and we all have them) hidden away. It denies that person self-actualization and esteem. Assistance to the undeserving is damnation.

Try not to simultaneously become a victim and a victimizer. Sometimes the need for a paycheck is second to the need for a good hard day of work. Give to charities that have low overhead and staff costs. Make sure your charity goes to people that truly need it. Try not to hurt anyone with it.




Over the course of time I've addressed "The Deserving Poor" on a number of occassions. And I've explained my economic reasons for discriminating between the deserving poor and the undeserving.

The link above will get you a copy of Ayn Rand's masterwork "Atlas Shrugged".

If you read it and endeavor to understand it, you'll understand the import of human dignity and the destructive nature of indiscriminate charity.

Trust me on this. Read the book!

Your Free Speech Cannot be Fully Bought By Someone Else

Free Speech is also paid for with a personal obligation. If we are to have it, we also have to allow it. I have to disagree with LGF on this one. He's indicating that he thinks it's OK to limit the free speech of Nazis. (by official or unofficial methods)

Troops are dying for free speech daily. If we don't respect it, we are pissing on their graves.
If we are going to have Miss Black America contests, or Pro-Choice rallies, Dr. King's "I Have a Dream Speech" or a 300,000 Mom March (against guns) then the Nazis must be given the right to put up their sign. And it needs to be left alone.

I don't agree with the Nazi's, the Commies, or the Democrats. In fact, the main difference between them is the way they treat miniorities*. But they all three deserve the same right of speech. If we are going to let a bunch of kooks like ANSWER march into the streets and accuse the nation of an intent to conduct genocide in Iraq, (Is that what all those Democrat Senators voted for when they authorized the war?) then we also have to put up with the kooks from the opposite end of the spectrum. When ANSWER starts destroying property, arrest and prosecute. If the Nazis act on their racist urgings, arrest and prosecute.

PETA has links to the Earth Liberation Front which destroys private property in attacks against development and industry. Should we limit the free speech of PETA?

I don't see much difference between the Nazis that want to administer discrimination and violence based on race and the violence pro-choicers want to administer based on whether the human has taken a breath or not.



*The Nazis want to destroy them, The Commies want to oppress them and the Democrats want to keep them on the welfare plantation to keep collecting that vote for "massa".

Maybe This is Where John Kerry Does His Research.

Either this guy is the craziest loon on the net or he's just a great collector of loony ravings, but if I have it straight, Jesus is coming with his angels to dismantle the United States, eliminate the use of electricity, deliver free zero point energy and put Vietnamese women in charge of World Government.

I'm personally looking forward to it. It's packed with priceless snippets such as:

USA is in a state of Belligerent Psychosis. USA is crazy with anxiety and undefinable fear (not terrorism) as well as a keen insult to pride (wound of horrible spanking from Vietnam, the world's only super power, really, it is The Ultra Super-Duper Power, is still festering. Be extremely careful. TERROR is used instead of TRIBULATION to avoid awakening fallen away Christian USA society, "The West," to what is actually being done to it.
and
THE B-2 BOMBER IS A SPACE TRAVEL CAPABLE OVERUNITY DEVICE. Materials on this are forbidden to be placed at this homepage.
The universe is a hologram

This guy makes Esther Wilberforce-Packard seem like Robert Oppenheimer.

I wish I could make this kind of stuff up.

A Victory for Reason

As a private citizen and taxpayer, I'm glad to see the foreign controlled Augusta Westland US-101 chosen as the replacement helicopter for the Presidential fleet. It's stronger and faster than the American entry in the bidding and it has a bigger cargo box. The expectations are that whatever the President gets will be the same things that troops get when they need comparable capabilities. If it's good enough for a guy that has some fairly stringent security and reliability requirements, it'll probably do the job for we "dogs of war".

Now I'm not real big on sending jobs overseas, but I like high end goods that get the job done. The American competitor "Sikorsky" wanted to sell it's existing Blackhawk performance components and was just going to beef them a bit and put on a bigger cargo box.

I don't like helicopters in the first place, but I've spent plenty of time in Blackhawks. They may get the Army job done, but they don't cut it for some of the missions we do in the AF. We've got to go deep enough to support special ops and rescue downed pilots and that means Long Legs, Heavy Lift and Big Guns.

A story:

Last Saturday my son and I were driving through the ice storm on the east coast. There was unplowed snow in places on the road and there were other spots that were clear. Suddenly a furrow of snow plowed up by an 18 wheeler took me out of my lane and threw the car. I let off the gas and counter-steered to correct as we shot across 2 lanes of traffic sliding down the road sideways.

The anti-skid power matching went to work and we fish-tailed left and right while I re-applied power. By the time I got it straightened out, I'd only lost about 5 miles per hour. I'm sure the soccer moms behind me in the minivans were scared to death and wondering how I did it. Even though I was sideways in front of them, they barely had to slow down.

What's the point? I drive a 7 year old BMW 328i. It's got 136,000 miles on it. It runs like a rocket and gets nearly 30 MPH at freeway speeds. There may be an American car that could have kept me out of the median last Saturday, but I've never driven one. When I rely on the goods to keep me alive, I don't care where the goods are made. I don't care about the politics or the unions. I want the good stuff.

I feel the same about the beast that's going to carry the Commander-In-Chief and perhaps one day deliver my troops into combat.
You want the contract? Build the better product instead of counting on lobbyists and politics to deliver the pork.

Why is this a Victory for Reason? That's what making the right choice is.

Hard times don't last,

But hard men do.

If we make that gender neutral "but Hard people do."

Winston Churchill said: When you're going through hell, keep going!

I love hard people. People with exacting standards. People that are willing to rip up convention and do the work to make things better. People that are willing to say: "I'm smart enough to do it better" and then roll up their sleeves and prove it.

As opposed to the whiners.

Could Social Security or the Tax Code really be much worse? I don't think so. I say we let the president take a shot. Call up your senator and congressperson and work with the President to improve the system. Not to cave on values, but to do something to improve it besides shifting the burden from those who don't produce to those who do.

You can say what you like about Dubya, but he's hard as nails and he's got thick skin. And he don't back away from a tough job.

That's about all I have to say about that.

What’s better spent?

$5,000,000 on JDAMs or $5,000,000 on welfare?

$5,000,000 spent on welfare does not train anyone for a job. It doesn't provide a job - except for the bureaucracy that distributes it. That bureaucracy does not actual produce a good and it is a consumer of energy, real estate, paper and time. It does nothing to improve the prospects of the target population - it is a parasite that delivers only subsistence to the poor.

$5,000,000 spent on JDAMs (Joint Direct Attack Munitions - GPS Guided Bombs) pays people to produce goods with a tangible value. Those goods are used to compel persons to think carefully before conflicting with our national interest. (Was that diplomatic or what?) This helps provide a stable economic environment for enterprise.

Investment in JDAMs requires people to be employed in mining, chemistry, manufacturing, transportation, as well as design, leadership and capital investment.

Lets see - Feed a parasite to keep the poor impoverished or offer someone a job... Tough choice.

Do u do or do u don't?

Strangers in the Night and Afternoon Delight are not the subject of this post by Little Miss Attila. Sex in the morning is the subject and she asks some questions. Being immensely interested in gender interaction, I couldn't help but link. The better we understand each other, the better we can treat each other.

do u do the pre-noon-boom-boom?

Victimhood, Victimism, Victimist and Victimology

Victim - The sufferer of a negative effect, event or burden.
Victimize - To turn a non-victim into a victim.
Victimhood - The status of being a victim
Victimism - A life strategy built around victimhood as a means of obtaining resources or support.
Victimist - A practicing student of victimism or a professional victim.
Victimology - The science of trying to avoid being made into a victim by Victims.

During the Watergate Scandal, the source known as DEEP THROAT advised Post reporters Woodbird and Brimstone to "follow the money". If you want to find the professional victims, do the same thing. Look for places where money finds its way into the hands of people that make no contribution to production or society.

There is someone who thinks they have a claim to what you produce just because they breathe. But in my mind, the minute they do that, they've just victimized you.
Also included is those sorry whiners that complain about every little cloud that forms and never have a positive suggestion or inspiring moment. They suck life out of the atmosphere like a mine explosion. They leech off your emotional capital. They are fueled by your stability, drive and capability.

I am a professional Victimologist. I take deliberate steps to avoid victimhood, I especially avoid being a victim of the victimists.

I recommend you keep away from victimists. They are like vampires, which also starts with a "V". However, vampires usually dress better, are not a threat during the day (this keeps them off of traffic islands with handmade signs that say "will work for blood"), can be easily identified with a mirror, can be kept away with a little garlic and a cross, and once identified, are legal to kill with a wooden stake through the heart. Victims are like vampires in one other way. They seem to live forever.

Victimists are protected and subsidized and have a huge PR department called the liberal left. Nothing is their fault, they just didn't win the lottery of life.

Here's a question - if it was legal to hunt victimists, how many would there be?

Hoo-Hah!

There will be more on this sometime - I promise.

Learning from Einstein

Einstein theorized and later experiments proved that mass bends space. This is a hard concept to grasp in a mechanical world. Especially since we tend to think of the orbit from the side. But think of it this way.... Think of the path of a moving object as a straight flat piece of roller-coaster track. When an object with huge mass comes into effect, it bends the space that the track lies upon and the track bends also. Any object in motion on that track will follow the bent space.

On earth, the effect of this bending is called gravity. You throw a rock and as it slows, it bends toward the earth until it hits. If you can get something going fast enough, it becomes a satellite.

--The orbital path of a satellite is a straight line across bent space.—

Just like objects in motion, people have momentum. And like objects in space, you can change their path by bending their space. This space consists of values, perceptions, and objectives. You don't actually have to change reality to change the path. You only have to bend the space that's between their ears.

Leaders have mass. They are able to bend the space between peoples ears and change their momentum.

I shouldn't be giving this stuff away for free.

I...State Your Full Name....

My son enlisted in the Air Force today. It was my privilege to stand next to him and raise my hand and re-enlist for the last time. I have one son and he has chosen to serve his country. I’m very proud of him. I pray that he will be safe, but I pray more fervently that he will be tireless, honorable, and courageous, no matter what the price. He plans to be a Special Operations Warrior also. I give him to the nation to use as a weapon of war.


I also pray that the Air Force is aware of the awesome destructive power that I have just delivered into their hands. You have no idea...

A quote comes to mind from a Soldier, Patriot and Philosopher. (French, believe it or not. Whodathunkit?)

"I'd like to have two armies: one for display with lovely guns, tanks, little soldiers, staffs, distinguished and doddering generals, and dear little regimental officers who would be deeply concerned over their general's bowel movements or their colonel's piles, an army that would be shown for a modest fee on every fairground in the country.

"The other would be the real one, composed entirely of young enthusiasts in camouflage uniforms, who would not be put on display, but from whom impossible efforts would be demanded and to whom all sorts of tricks would be taught. That's the army in which I should like to fight." --Jean Larte Guy,

A Little Help from My Friends

I'd like readers opinions on what was the best original post of the last week for submission to the Watchers Council. It also lets me know what readers are coming here for. Politics, Observations on Human Behavior, Inspiration and Leadership, or Dry Humor.

Letter of Apology From USMC General

This is alleged to have been penned by one Lieutenant General Chuck Pitman USMC (Retired)

I could not verify.

"For good and ill, the Iraqi prisoner abuse mess will remain an issue On the one hand, right thinking Americans will harbor the stupidity of the actions while on the other hand, political glee will take control and fashion this minor event into some modern day massacre.

I humbly offer my opinion here:

I am sorry that the last seven times we Americans took up arms and sacrificed the blood of our youth, it was in the defense of Muslims (Bosnia, Kosovo, Gulf War 1, Kuwait, etc.).
I am sorry that no such call for an apology upon the extremists came after 9/11.
I am sorry that all of the murderers on 9/11 were Islamic Arabs.
I am sorry that most Arabs and Muslims have to live in squalor under savage dictatorships.
I am sorry that their leaders squander their wealth.
I am sorry that their governments breed hate for the US in their religious schools, mosques, and government-controlled media.
I am sorry that Yassar Arafat was kicked out of every Arab country and high-jacked the Palestinian "cause."
I am sorry that no other Arab country will take in or offer more than a token amount of financial help to those same Palestinians.

Read the whole letter here.

Things That Make You Go "Hmmmmmmm?"

Cranky D points out the Anniversary of Roe V Wade is today. As I pointed out in my last post, its also reported to be the most depressing day of the year.

98 percent of abortions are performed as birth control. Millions and Millions served.

Could the depression also be some kind of Karmic Retribution for this huge manmade disturbance in the "the force"... or what?

Just wondering....

The Most Depressing Day of the Year

A British (figures) Psychologist has determined that a cumulative effect of personal and external stresses make today (Jan 24th the most depressing day of the year.

Now since I disagree with him, and posted something about this whole most depressing time of the year thing a while ago, I felt obligated to give him over to your attention to see if you agree.

As for you my friends if you find the day a little dark and the time of year hard, and perhaps you just don't feel at the top of your game, think about these two things.

The days are getting longer. (Except for you very few Sub-Equatorial readers)

Nothing will instantly make as much difference in your life as a good attitude.

Now put a smile on your face, get out there and "Get it Done"

Hoo - Hah!

When You’re Going the Wrong Way...

...getting there first is not a good thing.

We can only hope the Democrats select the charismatic, erudite and insuperably clever Howard Dean to lead their party. With such a master of strategy at the helm of the DNC, watching politics will take on a level of comedy not seen since Nixon appeared on Laugh-In. Aaaarrrrrghghgghghg!

If I could pick their chairman, Ralph Nader would be my first choice, but Howard Dean would be a close second. I know it seems unlikely that they'd pick such a clear loser, but remember, the Donks aren't famous for making the connection between cause and effect. They still worship the Clintons even though they went from majority to minority in all three houses under their watch.

It's "Sock It to Me" Time

Hoo - Hah

The Brain-Snatcher Was Here

According to the sitemeter, someone just spent half an hour and read 21 posts, then left without a comment, suggestion or a conflicting viewpoint. My self-respect is gone and I feel so used... I wonder if it is this feeling that drives Madonna to spend $250,000 on clothes annually? Would shopping make me feel better?

Hoo-Hah

Religion of Peace Holds Services in New Jersey - 4 Dead

A family of Coptic (Egyptian) Christians has been murdered in New Jersey. The father had been threatened for his criticism of Islamic Fundamentalism on an Internet Chat Room. The worshipers at this service took time to stab through a tattoo of a cross on the wrist of a teenage female victim. Such religious devotion...

There are five beliefs that constitute the “Five Pillars of Islam”

1. (Shahada) Oneness - The Islamic proclamation that "There is no true God except Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah."
2. (Salat) Prayer - Prayer is performed five times a day. The first prayer is at dawn and the last at sunset.
3. (Saum) Fasting - Usually, this fasting entails no drinking, eating during, or sexual relations during the daylight hours for the entire month of Ramadan.
4. (Zakat) Alms-giving or charity - Charity given to the poor.
5. (Hajj) Pilgrimage - This is the pilgrimage to Mecca.

I suggest that perhaps one more pillar needs to be added to the "Religion of Peace". I don't know Arabic the word for it, but in English the word is...

6. Terrorism - As soon as we kill everyone that will not convert to Islam, there will be peace.

Talking Dog For Sale

A guy is driving around and sees a sign in front of a house: "Talking Dog For Sale."

He rings the bell, and the owner tells him the dog is in the backyard. The guy goes into the backyard and sees a Labrador Retriever sitting there.

"You talk?" he asks.

"Yep," the Lab replies.

"So, what's your story?"

The Lab says, "Well, I discovered that I could talk when I was pretty young, and I wanted to help the government; so I told the CIA about my gift, and in no time at all they had me jetting from country to country, sitting in rooms with spies and world leaders, because no one figured a dog would be eavesdropping. I was one of their most valuable spies for eight years running. But the jetting around really tired me out, and I knew I wasn't getting any younger so I wanted to settle down. I signed up for a job at the airport to do some undercover security work, mostly wandering near suspicious characters and listening in. I uncovered some incredible dealings and was awarded a batch of medals. I got married, had a mess of puppies, and now I'm just retired."

The guy is amazed. He goes back in and asks the owner what he wants for the dog.

"Ten bucks." The guy says, "This dog is amazing. Why on earth are you selling him so cheap?" "Because he's a liar. He didn't do any of that crap.

Anyone Got the Operators Manual or a Schematic?

I'm not having problems with mine, but from watching my son, it seems the newer models need a lot more maintenance.

The Last Easy Day Part 2

Inauguration Day may not have been as easy on the Libs as we hoped. It seems that the rational and tolerant minions of the left may have not felt welcome and included during the recent transfer of constitutional power. Rather than speaking rationally and respectfully, there's a bit of an edge to this. I'm not sure, but it feels like...pissed off, or maybe really, really, pissed off. Of course I could be wrong.

But what makes this juicy is her post from just a few days ago.

And they call the Republicans the Party of Hate.

I really enjoy her writing. She has the crisp rip of Hunter S. Thompson and the bizarre frame capture of Dave Barry.
I disagree with her on almost everything, but I admire her talent.

Bad(?) Boys and Good(?) Women

A fascinating subject. Tomes have been written about the men women choose.
On New Years Day, casual discussion at a friends house worked itself around to a point where the ladies began the old “where have all the good men gone” song. I asked them to elaborate and they were happy to share the stories, preciously lamenting the most recent cases of abuse at the hands of self-serving men. Immensely entertained, I requested and got permission to ask some personal questions. It went something like this:

Me: Do you know any guys that you think of as “Nice guys”?
She: Yes
Me: Do you go out with them?
She: I have, but they’re not interesting.
Me: What did you like about the guys that treated you bad?
She: They were confident.
Me: What else?
She: Spontaneous and unpredictable.
Me: Is that all?
She: Good looking!
Me: Do the nice guys treat you well?
She: Yes
Me: Do they make it clear that they are interested?
She: Yes. Sometimes too much
Me: What does that mean?
She: They act nervous and uncertain. They seem to be trying too hard.
Me: Trying too hard to what?
She: I feel like they are desperate to get laid.
Me: Do they tell you that?
She: No, they wouldn't be so rude.
Me: How many dates do you have with a nervous nice guy before ending it?
She: Maybe one or two.
Me: How many times can a Mr. Spontaneous hurt you before you end it?
She: Two or Three
Me: Do you realize that Mr. Spontaneous is dangerous?
She: What do you mean?
You think Mr. Spontaneous is good looking – so does every other woman he’s ever met. He knows it. He is not uncertain, he is confident because he knows his next sexual escapade is right around the corner. Maybe someday he will meet his match – the woman who can tame him, but he’s not worried about it. Maybe you are her – but he doubts it. He doesn’t need you because you are not Ms. Right. You are just Ms Right Now. You have to take him on his terms. He is a consumer…a predator…and dangerous.

On the other hand you have Mr Nice Guy.

He doesn’t have the cleft chin and dark curly locks. Women don’t give him a second look. He knows it. He is looking for the best deal he can get. He may be looking for Ms Right or Ms Right now, but he knows his choices aren’t as broad as Mr. Dangerous. He doesn’t have the instant appeal. He’s painfully aware of it, so he tries to offer you something else. He tries hard to impress you with luxurious dates, good manners, romance and stability. The stuff he sees works in the movies. He has to take you on your terms. He is the provider… the meal... and safe.

She still didn’t get it.

Me: You treat Mr. Boring exactly the same way Mr. Dangerous treats you. You find someone exciting and appealing. They seem so confident, carefree and independent. Then you are disappointed when they move on because they didn’t need you. How do you think Mr. Boring feels about you after buying you two expensive dinners?

She: How do you know all this?

Me: I may look and act like Mr. Boring now ( I'm supposed to do that, I'm married), but I did a long stint as Mr. Dangerous. I'm telling you from experience that Mr Dangerous doesn’t know how you feel. What’s more, he doesn’t care how you feel. He only cares how you feel on him.

Me: You reject the one that's willing to sacrifice for you in favor of the one that's willing to sacrifice you. You reject the one that treats you well in favor of the one that treats you poorly. And then you complain about the shortage of good men - while a good man complains about the shortage of good women.

The discussion went on for a while - but that's the meat of it.

That's all the help I have for you today. You kids go work it out.

Reason #1, It’s the Negativity, Stupid!

The Donks’ easy day is over. If there are curious libs that really want to know why the GOP has control of the House, Senate and White House, there’s a litany. But reason # 1 on my list is all the negative waves you transmit.

America is a wonderful place. It’s the place people escape to. It’s not perfect, but it’s better than anywhere else. The powers of government are limited. No titles of birthright or nobility or caste system. With hard work and ambition, anyone can succeed. No submission to the arbitrary judgement of nepotistic tribal elders. It’s not perfect, but it’s better than anywhere else.

I saw the protesters on TV today. Let me give you what they think of America. This is how you read the paragraph above in “leftist kook voice”.

America is a mean place. People that come here are enslaved by evil capitalists. It is nearly hopeless – possibly the worst place on earth. You must be very courageous to stand up against this oppressive regime, but I do it at great risk to life and limb. Justice is frustrated by the rich who proclaim “Just us”. We need to change this place today if any of us are to see the morning.

The 250,000 of you that bus from city to city to show up at the "protest of the week" are a black eye to the leftist cause. The rest of us are not blind to our national shortcomings but we think of our nation as we do ourselves. We are not perfect, but we are doing pretty good in a difficult world.

When you spew hate and vitriol at this country, you insult and indict everyone of us who are doing our best in a difficult world. Think about that. Are you perfect in all of your relationships? Does all this negativity work for you? Because it doesn't work for us.

Dubya Didn't Get the Memo

I declared that we would go easy on the Libs today but Dubya must not have had time to read it.

He smacked the Libs in the face with the phrase "Shipwreck of Communism" when summarizing the recent history that brings us to these difficult times.

That's one that will rattle through their Ivy League political science departments. Shook them right down to their Birkenstocks.

The Liberal Dream has been declared dead. Welcome to the Century of Ownership!

The Last Easy Day

In the toughest military special operations training, the instructors will highlight the most grueling parts of each day with: "Today's the last easy day!". Usually they're telling the truth.

For the donks, Today will be the last easy day for a long time.

Today the GOP will bring a new tone to Washington DC. That new tone you'll hear will be the sound of people rolling up their sleeves to try to fix some things. I'm not a big fan of some of the Bush agenda, But we've all known for a long time that Social Security needs fixed.

The new tone will be heard in five senate offices. The tone used to be obstructionism and whining. - Not anymore.
The new tone will also be heard in 4 house offices.

Many pundits have addressed the issue of what the Donks must do to regain relevance. It's a litany. I'm being kind today. I'll leave it alone.

Be kind to a Lib today. Mostly they won't reciprocate but let it pass. They're having a bad decade. Like a novice chess player, they can't even begin to understand the depth of thought that has swept them from the board. Self-assured, ivy-league intellectual superiority going down in flames before the backwoods GOP nit-wits. It must be hard to be second-best to an adversary you hold in utter contempt. Be gentle with them.

There's a new tone in Washington. The American people have used the electoral process to spank the donks in 6 sequential national elections. So we'll let today be "the last easy day*" Business as usual tomorrow.

Cutting Out the Middle-Man

The government does not produce value. The government is not in the production business. In many cases the government discourages production. The government is a middle-man.
It is estimated that only 12-15 cents of every dollar spent on some government social programs goes to target. 85% is eaten up in administration, bureaucracy, and overhead. I don’t even want to think about the fraud. There’s a lot of people skimming a share between the recipient and the citizen filling out his Form 1040. The fault in this model is the fact that there is no correlation between the cost to the payer, and the value of the service to the beneficiary. Since the bureaucrat and the beneficiary don’t pay the freight, they don’t care, and the taxpayer never knows how little actual good was done for his money. The government bureaucrat that gets paid $140K per year to set obscure policies on where the money goes, thanks you very much. He is feeding off of a charity effort.
Many non-governmental charities are 80-85% efficient.
You want a cheaper car? – Get rid of the middle-man
You want cheaper medical care? Get rid of the middle-man
You want everything cheaper? Get the government out of the business of “charity” and back into the business of government.

Less taxes = Less Government/More Consumer Spending = More Jobs

Everyone wins except the lazy and the bureaucrats.

The Behaviors of Success - Part 3

I have posted at length about the Behaviors of Success and endeavored to make it clear that success is available to all. That seems to be impossible, but it isn’t. Invariably the question is: How can everyone be successful? How can every one have what they want? The idea that everyone can have what they want seems to be rooted in magical fantasy, but it isn’t. It’s possible because not everyone wants the same things.
A liberal will tell you that rich people get rich by exploiting the poor. Well, that may have some truth in feudal societies and the nepotistic tribal societies of Africa. But it isn’t true in Amerika.
A liberal will also tell you that the rich keep the poor from getting rich because the rich have all the wealth. That isn’t true and never has been. In order for it to be true it would assume that the amount of available value “worldwide” is static. If you read you know that every time a human being rolls up his or her sleeves and goes to work(or operates a machine that does work), he or she creates value. The GNP/GDP numbers of industrialized populous countries outstrip the GNP/GDP of undeveloped, sparsely populated countries.
Value is created every time someone uses skill and applied force or power to shape matter to a particular use. By shaping matter in a way that someone else “values” it, the producer can then trade that item for something that he “values”. Others may actually add value or may transport, advertise and distribute those goods. But in reality, it is the person that produces goods or performs services that actually creates the value. If you could buy a car from the factory without paying for transportation, advertising, dealer mark-up and taxes, you would get the same value for a lesser cost. The producer creates value but other may add convenience, which also has value. Everyone that participates in the supply chain gets a share of the value for providing a service along the way.

If you rely on the government at any level, city state, federal, you will not get rich honestly. You may make a nice living, while maintaining a satisfying illusion that you are creating value, but at best, you will be creating conditions (an environment) for others to actually produce value. This is low economic risk and low economic reward. Cops, firemen and military accept high physical risk with their low economic risk/reward package.

If you want to reap large amounts of value, you need to position yourself somewhere in the supply chain where large amounts of value are being created and distributed. This takes ambition and study. Supply chains are expensive, vital networks. The people that operate them have a lot at risk and they aren’t keen on letting amateurs in on the control of them.

But almost anyone can set up a node on a supply chain. Production, transportation, advertising, distribution or retail. You want a slice of the action? Go make one. The bigger you grow it, the richer you’ll be.

The Majesty that is the English Language

In the movie My Fair Lady which is adapted from George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion. Professor Higgins praises of the majesty of the English Language.

The following quotes are alleged to come from High School essays. That may or may not be true. But certainly they capture nuance of our culture in a way that no foreigner ever could.

Have a laugh!

Why English Teachers Die Young...

Actual analogies and metaphors found in high school essays .

1. Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides gently compressed by a Thigh Master.

2. His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.

3. He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.

4. She grew on him like she was a colony of E. coli and he was room temperature Canadian beef.

5. She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.

6. Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.

7. He was as tall as a six-foot-three-inch tree.

8. The revelation that his marriage of 30 years had disintegrated because of his wife's infidelity came as a rude shock, like a surcharge at a formerly surcharge free ATM.

9. The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't.

10. McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty bag filled with vegetable soup.

11. From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you're on vacation in another city and Jeopardy comes on at 7:00 p.m. instead of 7:30.

12. Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair after a sneeze.

13. The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.

14. Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph.

15. They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan's teeth.

16. John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.

17. He fell for her like his heart was a mob informant and she was the EastRiver.

18. Even in his last years, Grandpappy had a mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left out so long, it had rusted shut.

19. Shots rang out, as shots are wont to do.

20. The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work.

21. The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for a while.

22. He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but a real duck that was actually lame, maybe from stepping on a land mine or something.

23. The ballerina rose gracefully en pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant.

24. It was an American tradition, like fathers chasing kids around with power tools.

25. He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as if she were a garbage truck backing up.

26. Her eyes were like limpid pools, only they had forgotten to put in any pH cleanser.

27. She walked into my office like a centipede with 98 missing legs.

28. It hurt the way your tongue hurts after you accidentally staple it to the wall.

What Badges do you Wear?

Badges? Badges? We don’t need no stinkin’ badges.

Well, maybe we do. We all wear badges. And if you are an observer of human behavior, you can accurately predict human behavior if you can detect and correlate badges to behaviors.

Our badges don’t always perfectly identify us. Sometimes we choose badges that might confuse people. We may do this intentionally or unintentionally. Thus, making judgement purely on the basis of badges is not a 100% proposition.

When you see a Britney Spears wanna-be at the mall, do you think… astrophysicist?

When you see a leather clad biker with two feet of hair, do you think…corporate attorney?

The whole purpose of an identification badge is to transmit a message of who you are. The badges we select transmit a message of who we are. We should be careful which badges we select.

Some badges have a distinctly positive meaning. A sergeant’s stripes and the Seal of the President of the United States are badges of rank. Medals are badges of honor. Medals typically are given for courage, service and sacrifice.

Behold the cool and the cute. Self-absorbed and consumed with how they look and are received. Placing their effort into fashion and appeal. Focused on absolute trivialities. Choosing badges that have no lasting meaning.

There are medals for all manner of virtues, but there are no medals for cool or cute.

From time to time, lie on your bed and mentally open that box of badges and see what you’re keeping in there. Evaluate their real worth.

Gay Marriage (Again)

It has come to my attention that the gay lobby will soon begin a nation-wide information campaign to redefine marriage into something it has never been. Something called the Full Page Project, They will attempt to make it sound like standing against an unproven practice of questionable benefit and of substantial possible risk is discriminatory and unfair. They will attempt to use false arguments, questionable science, hypocrisy and emotionalism to swing your opinion. Don't fall for it. This will appear as a full page ad buy in newspapers across the land. I originally found it over at Kentucky Fried Adventures". In the meantime she's asked me to remove the quotes from her blog from my site. In the interest of civility, I complied. I'll paraphrase. Apparently, we may have stumbled onto something that the strategists didn't want publicized.

It starts out referring to you as fellow Americans,

Just 8 weeks ago we red-staters were backward hicks, (remember "How can 61 Million be so stupid?) but now we're all one big happy family, because they want your help.

Then it points out that these are hard times for gay and lesbian Americans. The elections went badly for them and their agenda was set back. It says that gay people are not free to marry.

Nice try, but it's not true. Gays are not denied the freedom to marry. They have the exact same right to marry as a straight person. No person gay or straight can marry a person of the same sex. But gay people can marry someone of the opposite sex. People voted to keep the definition of marriage as it is.

It points out that they are angry and sad and fearful of what the future may hold.

Angry? who cares! Many of us are saddened and fearful at the number of unborn that are slaughtered each year. Stop it with the "we're afraid for our families" crap. No harm is going to come to your families. Nice try, one is far more likely to come to violence in the womb than harmed for being gay.

It reminds us that gays and lesbians are human beings as well as Americans, Gays pay taxes, go to school, work hard, worship, support our communities, and obey the law. In fact they are people just like you. They just want to be understood..

Well... if you say so - but I'm a little fuzzy on that "obey the law" thing. Out there in California when you were lined up for blocks for marriage licenses that were being issued "against that law", we witnessed your willingness to obey the law. That's why we acted to strengthen the protection of marriage, because we know your methods of obeying the law.

We are then reminded that gays and lesbians want the same things most Americans want: to commit to a soul mate, see those bonds deepen... etc, and maybe even raise children. Naturally, they also want to commit to that great institution that validates bonds, strengthens families, and grants legal rights: Marriage.

If there is a soul mate then there must be a soul. This smacks of Theism. Blue Staters better stay away from that one. As soon as we get Theism close to rights and government, we have to start taking down christmas trees. Does it smack of hypocrisy for a movement so closely aligned with the ACLU to invoke Theism as a reason to change a law. It's a nice try, though. No, you don't want marriage. Marriage already has a definition. You want to make marriage into something it has never been. You want to use America as a test case for a practice of questionable value and have the sanction of the public for the experiment.

Then is speaks about the “sanctity of marriage” and says that "love and commitment is the essence of that sanctity", and that denying the commitment of two people in love does not protect sanctity but violates human dignity.

Nice try, but love and commitment is not the essence of the sanctity of marriage. Sanctus is the root word of sanctity and it comes from the Greek - holy. If marriage has sanctity then it must come from the source of all holiness. Can there be holiness if there is no God? I'm a little confused. Also if a man loves a 13 year old boy, does love and commitment sanctify them? When my 13 year old daughter wants to marry her 15 year old boyfriend, am I violating human dignity to deny it? Poppycock. The public has the right and the responsibility to discourage unhealthy practices.

It laments that because they cannot marry one another, they are not legally considered a family, and suffer real consequences:

That's because a family starts with a man and a woman. Get that part right and the rest is easy.

· Don't have the right to visit or make medical decisions for a partner in the hospital.

You could if you set up a living will that authorized it. I cannot make medical decisions for my wife without a living will. I can't even see her medical records without her written permission. See! you're equal already.

· Only the gay parent is allowed to make medical decisions or receive life-saving information for a child.The partner is not.

Gay people do not have children in the classic sense. One of them has a child using the genetic contribution of another not necessarily involved in the relationship. At best this is the equivalent of a step-parent relationship. A clear second-best to a natural parent relationship. Step parental rights are limited with respect to medical decisions too. Welcome to the club. There is only one parent in this situation the other is not a parent. The other person is the just the love interest of the parent.

· They can lose property as a result of estate law, such as homes, property, or other assets.

Then you better get a better estate attorney, the one you have isn't very good. Married people have to use them, why should you be special.

· Cannot collect Social Security spousal benefits, even though they pay into the system.

That's because you chosen to live a lifestyle that is not covered under the system. Unmarried people of the opposite sex have the same treatment. You want to be married? Find someone of the opposite sex and get married.

· Often pay high estate taxes, even though the property might pass tax-free to a surviving spouse.

Then you better get a better estate attorney, the one you have isn't very good. Married people have to use them, why should you be special.

· Cannot sponsor the immigration of a foreigner to the United States for marriage, which means we must choose between our partner and our citizenship.

Straight People often have complexities dealing with immigration law and an alien love interest. It's not some easy automatic thing.

Next they accuse you of having immoral positions because denying their "families" what they want can't possibly be right.

You do not have families. You have associations of people looking for some kind of artificial family status through a government stamp. Family already has a definition. If an elephant, a badger and a trout want to call themselves a family, it doesn't make them one.

Then they point out how marriage itself is in crisis and that so many fail - especially in the top 10 red states. But Massachusetts, the enlightened utopia of gay rights, has a low divorce rate.

Sounds good, But what are the top ten red states? How does a state make it to the FBIs top ten list? What percentage of people in Massachusetts get married, and at what age do they do it? What is the out of wedlock birthrate in Massachusetts?Lets examine the science before we blindly accept it. If marriage is in trouble, it's because it has been diluted from being a lifetime commitment that provided the safest environment for raising children into a temporary government stamp on a relationship that was expected to last longer than the ones before or after. Maybe we need to eliminate no-fault divorce.

Next, it opines that the government has no right to tell consenting adults whom they can or cannot marry. and that the 14th Amendment of the Constitution guarantees that all Americans are equal under the law. We just want the rights the Constitution guarantees.

As I said before, you already are treated exactly the same. Striaght people can't marry people of the same sex either. You know, liberals seem to be OK with the government telling people whether they can allow smoking in a bar. If government interference extends to that level of detail, then it certainly includes the definition of marriage. You are already treated equally - we covered this. Marriage is between a man and a woman. Go find someone of the opposite sex and get married.

It points out that gay and lesbian families include over 1 million children, and that there are legitimate, well-respected studies report that they are just as happy, healthy, and well-adjusted as other children. They feel they deserve the same rights.

There are other well respected studies that say that your well respected studies are a bunch of duplicitous hogwash. Hands down, the far healthiest environment for children is the home centered in both natural parents. We've been through this before - you aren't families. The whole point of this exercise is to attempt to achieve family status.

Then they claim that they are treated as second-class, and ask you to open your hearts and minds and hear their plight. So that one day we all be an American family that excludes no one.

Translated "As soon as you stop being protective of thousands of years of tradition and success and let us have our way and let our culture infect your culture, then we'll all be happy."

It closes: "Our prayer is that this day will come soon".

When you pray for these rights, exactly who do you pray to? Most of the gays I've known claim agnosticism or atheism. But that's a nice touch to pull at the heartstrings of those red-state soccer moms.

This is great. It's a classic case of manipulating the information sphere in order to achieve an objective. If all the facts and points were true, then it would even be honest...

There's nothing moralistic about this position. There are traditions that work and are worth preserving, and there are some behaviors that are healthier than others.

Where is the government interest? I'll tell you. Population is an element of national power. The public has an interest in having the healthiest, happiest, best educated, and emotionally stable population. There is a single model for raising children that clearly has the highest probability of producing this population. It's not perfect, but it has the lowest "catastrophic" failure rate. All others are inferior.

I don't hate gay people, but I don't believe the behavior is healthy either. And if we as a government are going to discourage smoking, drinking, obesity and whatever else, then certainly other risky behaviors need scrutiny. While lesbians suffer less lifestyle associated disease risk than gay men, there are indications that suicide risk, drug abuse and other factors are about the same.

Why do we ban gay marriage?

As Hillary says: We do it for the children.

The Most Precious Commodity

What is the most valuable commodity in the world? Gold? Oil? Plutonium? Information?

As with most things, I have my own theory about this. There is an activity that is more profitable than mining gold, drilling for oil or enriching plutonium. It is at the heart of invention and production. It is a natural resource but one that must be fostered and husbanded.
Included in it is the will to create, which Ayn Rand referred to as the “fountainhead of human achievement.”

This most valuable commodity, this precious natural resource is…Leadership.

Alexander, Xerxes, Hannibal, Belisarius, Henry the 5th, Da Vinci, Galileo, Copernicus, Luther, Columbus, Newton, Wellington, Nelson, Washington, Grant, Lincoln, Einstein, Edison, Ford, Roosevelt, Reagan, and even perhaps the silicon revolutionaries; Hewlett, Packard, Jobs, Gates, Gore* and Bezos.

These men were “able”; able to lead; able to choose a direction and move out (alone if necessary). Most of them infused the will to act into others. But all of them were able to greatly affect the course of history in their time. And they did it by choosing their cause and seeing it through.

Most of them bucked conventional wisdom. All of them took on vastly superior forces in battle and won. Luther fought those that used the church as a political tool, when taking on the church was a capital offense. The Scientist waged war on superstition. The Inventor waged war on inefficiency. The Revolutionary waged war on oppression. The Warrior waged war for country and kin.

Most of us have battles to fight each day. Are we selecting the course that will make the greatest difference?

By definition, consensus is not leadership. Leadership demands that you be alone, because it demands that you be out in front, either mentally, geographically or in strategy. Great leaders let the best information rise to them and then decisively act on it. They boldly propose their ideas and accept blame for the failures. Truly great leaders share credit for their successes.

Some leaders die penniless. “Hap” Arnold, Father of the US Air Force comes to mind. But the impact of what these leaders do goes beyond calculation in dollars. What is the value of a homeland not plundered, the liberation of slaves, the advancement of science, or a nation born? How much convenience is tied to the invention of the silicon wafer and the software that makes it go.

It has been said that information is the most valuable commodity but I disagree. Leadership, the will to use information, at great risk and for great gain is the most valuable commodity.

*Al Gore invented the “internet”

100 years of Einstein

2005 is the 100 year anniversary of the publishing of Al Einstein’s most influential work. Millions can recite the theory of relativity as a simple equation, but have no real understanding of complexities that cannot be explained in three dimensions.It was a quantum (pardon the pun) leap in understanding the nature of space, time, matter and energy. They are related/relative. Matter bends Space, and if it goes fast enough Time slows down. Matter can absorb, store and convert Energy. But since time-space compresses as you approach the speed of light, light speed is a maximum velocity for matter.

Do you like your CD/DVD player, Laser leveling device, Video Camera, automatic door opener, smoke detector? All of these devices rely on Relativity or Quantum Physics in one form or another. Lasers, Solar Cells, light sensors, transistors, are controlled by quantum physics. Energy can have the properties of matter (particles) and waves at the same time. When particles smack particles, electrons or other particles happen.

When the GPS constellation ( for all you Gay and Feminist studies majors, that's the 60+ satellites that transmit calibrated signals that allow precision positioning through sophisticated algorithms) was designed , there was dissent as to whether the system needed to be corrected for time slowing due to the speed of the satellites. The system was orbited with the clock correction feature disabled. Soon after, it was activated. GPS wouldn’t work without correction for the effect of velocity on time-space.

If you don’t understand, don’t feel ignunt. I don’t either. But it’s enough to be thankful for a humble patent clerk that worked on his papers in the evening, endeavoring to comprehend the nature of the macro and micro universes.

And if you think this is tough, look into string theory.

The Nastiness of Labels

Have you ever heard someone protest being labeled? Disturbed and indignant, "How dare you label ME? It comes as an accusation. At once, turning the poor labeled soul into a victim and deflecting scrutiny from the label and the circumstances that earned it. It is one of the lame behaviors of an overly sensitive and sissified culture.

What is the problem with labels? Every noun is a label for an entity or object. Every verb is a label for an action or behavior. The development of most words is the refinement of a label. All communication is based on the transfer of meaning. Pre-historically, it was pictures and gestures, but the development of words and written language expanded the capability for complexity.

Let me transmit some meaning.

If you don't like labels, then have a nice cup of "suck it up" and a "shut your" donut.

Hoo-Hah!

The Loser gets to Decide

It's not the winner that decides when a war is over, it's the loser. Both sides fight until the will to resist is wiped out. Will is at least as important as weaponry.

And he that hat no stomach for this fight, let him depart. His passport shall be made and crowns for convoy put into his purse. We would not die in that mans company that fears his fellowship to die with us.
Henry V - W. Shakespeare

That's Elizabethan English for:

If you don't have the guts for this fight, move to Canada or France, we'll even pay your way. We don't want our blood mixed with the blood of selfish, cowardly wussies that don't value the things we hold in common.

If Osama was looking for a fight, he came to the right place. Lady Liberty and her husband Uncle Sam Keep guns.

Hoo-Hah

When War IS the Answer

Pray for Peace. I want peace as much as anyone. But periodically, it has been my privilege to take some of America's finest sons to war. Additionally, a few times I have been sent into war-torn nations to conduct the emergency evacuation of Americans and others. It has always turned out well. I've always completed the mission and brought all my troops home - safe. I don't want that to change. Pray for Peace

On my way to church, I see a sign that says "War is not the Answer". It's a great sound bite. It leads you to think that war won't happen if we just choose another solution. There's just a question out there that needs an answer and we just need to choose a different answer. It's easy. Anyone could do it. The problem is.. that it's a lie.

There IS a question. It is a very direct and intimidating question. Scenario: You step out of your car in the mall parking lot at the mall and take a couple of steps. Suddenly a you are smacked in the face with a closed fist. You reel back and say what the @%&#... The assailant looks at you and says nothing. There's no one around and wishing to avoid violence, you begin to walk away. Smack! You get knocked to the ground. You get up and start to move in... and the assailant just looks at you. You wonder if it's worth escalating... the assailant is obviously not completely there. You try and step away and jog toward the mall entrance. The assailant tackles you and strikes you a third time. When you get up, he just looks at you. He's asking you a question.

He's going to hit you every time he gets the chance. He's going take advantage of your blind spots. And the question he's asking is: What are you going to do about it? He's not interested in peace. There's nothing you can offer him other than your complete submission to fear. You look for help, but no one else is willing to do anything about it. The cops can't catch him. What are you gonna do?

Maybe "The Islamic States of America" is OK with the liberals. But it's not OK with me. Ever since I was young, I've known the only way to end some arguments is fighting to win. I avoid striking first, but if you draw a gun on me, you'd better use it. If you bring war to my shores, I'll bring it to yours.

The Islamics want you dead or submissive too their culture. They perceive your culture to be an abomination before God. They also know it is a very real threat to their culture. Your culture has embarrassed and humiliated their machismo dominated culture. They are shamed before their women. Their children are seduced by western convenience, fashion and and music. Their culture is endangered and they are willing to fight to the death to defend it.

Your culture is incompatible with their culture. Someone is going to submit or die. Someone is going to win and dominate. The winner will be determined by will and sacrifice. The enemy has already decided that war IS the answer. What are YOU gonna do about it?

Teddy Roosevelt said: "If I must choose between rightousness and peace, I choose rightousness."

Once your opponent decides war is the answer, War IS the answer. You don't have a choice.

Burkas in Hollywood

Many on the left and in Europe say our attempt to establish a representative democracy in Iraq is seeking an imperial objective through an illegal war. They argue that we have no right to try and superimpose the traits of our culture on others. Even if they are the the traits that make us successful.

That assumes we are the aggressor. In light of 9/11, Khobar Towers, USS Cole, the African Embassy bombings and the Marine Barracks in Beiruit, that's not so clean cut. But, even if it were true...

The people we are fighting want to superimpose the traits of their culture on us - the same traits that make them medieval and repressive. Is the war of Islamic extremism on the west a "legal war"? Should we just play defense? The US is on offense. We intend to change the culture in order to change the world. If you don't think it's worth it, think about this.

Maybe we should institute a thirty day trial of Shiara across the United States and then after that we can see if public opinion thinks this fight is worthwhile.

Or, we could let Barbra Striesand, Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins have their way. We could surrender in Iraq, Declare defeat, let the Islamist have all of the Middle East except Isreal, and to settle the Palestinian issue, we give the Palestinians Malibu, Hollywood and Beverly Hills.

Hoo-Hah!

Horoscope for Losers

Sagittarius - Today you'll continue the same feeble efforts that made you a failure so far. Go sit down on the sofa and get comfortable. No reason to take chances.

Scorpio - That stinger isn't a knife for stabbing people in the back. Now would be a good time to see if you can get ahead by hard work. Being sneaky is not a virtue.

Capricorn - You are the only one that is impressed by your efforts. People follow you, but mostly out of curiousity. A little attention to detail is in order as long as it's not self-absorbed.

Aquarius - Dodge responsibility like your life depends on it. Blame your parents for the way you are. Avoid using your real name.

Pisces - Slippery like a fish. Sell that stock before that insider information goes public. There's a vacant aquarium right next to Martha Stewart

Aries - That computer solitaire score really stands you out from the crowd. Don't worry about the fact that your co-workers carry you, their worst work is better than your best.

Taurus - Failing to reach your goals may damage your self-esteem. Don't take chances. Don't set them. Be satisfied with mediocrity.

Gemini - You don't have a twin - you're bipolar. Pick one personality and stick with it. Give the medication time.

Cancer - Today is a good day to be like cancer. Suck the life force out of the productive parts of the whole. Consume everything in your path without remorse. Perhaps a little pollution is in order too.

Leo - Every one loves the Cowardly Lion. Courage is for the brave and might make you unpopular. The French and Germans are waiting for you.

Virgo - Virtuous behavior is a crutch of the Bible thumpers. Don't worry about the health risks. Jump out there and get infected with something permanent.

Libra - Align yourself with the moderates. Balance everything. If you take a firm position you'll be square in the spotlight if something happens. How did that Undecided Voter thing work out last November?

Three Lessons on Performance

I got these in an e-mail and don't know the source. If these are copyrighted, let me know and I'll credit the source.

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A crow was sitting on a tree, doing nothing all day. A small rabbit saw the crow and asked him, "Can I also sit like you and do nothing all day long?"

The crow answered: "Sure, why not?" So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the crow and rested. All of a sudden a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.

Moral of the story: To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.

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A turkey was chatting with a bull. "I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree," sighed the turkey, but I haven't got the energy."

"Well, why don't you nibble on some of my droppings?" replied the bull. They're packed with nutrients." The turkey pecked at a lump of dung and found that it actually gave him enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree.

The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch. Finally, after a fourth night, there he was, proudly perched at the top of the tree. Soon he was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot the turkey out of the tree.

Moral of the story: Bullshit might get you to the top, but it won't keep you there.

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In Africa, every morning a gazelle awakens knowing that it must outrun the fastest lion if it wants to stay alive. Every morning, a lion wakes up knowing it must run faster than the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.

Moral of the story: It makes no difference whether you are a gazelle or a lion: When the sun comes up, you had better be hauling ass.

Einstein's Puzzle

Conventional Wisdom has it that Einstein wrote this puzzle. You've probably seen it before. Look it over, but don't spend too much time solving it just yet. It'll probably take awhile.

There are 5 houses in five different colors.
In each house lives a person with a different nationality.
These 5 owners drink a certain drink, smoke a certain brand of tobacco and keep a certain pet.
No owners have the same pet, smoke the same tobacco, or drink the same drink.
The question is:   Who owns the fish?

Hints:
* The Brit lives in the red house
* The Swede keeps dogs as pets
* The Dane drinks tea
* The green house is adjacent on the left of the white house
* The green house owner drinks coffee
* The person who smokes Pall Mall raises birds
* The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill
* The man living in the house right in the center drinks milk
* The Norwegian lives in the first house
* The man who smokes Blends lives next to the one who keeps cats
* The man who keeps horses lives next to the one who smokes Dunhill
* The owner who smokes Bluemaster drinks juice
* The German smokes Prince
* The Norwegian lives next to the blue house
* The man who smokes Blend has a neighbor who drinks water.

I am not going to show you how to work the solution. The solution is proven by checking your solution against the hints. There is only one possible solution. I'm just using it as a simile of life. Here's how it applies:

Gen George S. Patton is quoted as saying: "Know what you know and know what you don't know."

Five facts about each of five people. If you count them up by pairs, each man and his associated pet, smoke, drink, house paint and nationality form 10 relationships. This count results from pair counts of 4,3,2 and 1. This measures only the relationships within each house. But in some hints, he also makes reference to the house next door. Which mean the possible pair counts are 9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2, and 1 for each 2 houses. Which means there are 45 times 4 or 180 possible pairs.

He gives 15 clues which means 15 of 180 pairs are given to you. You have 1/12 of the facts. But is that all?

This is the human condition. At best, we only know a fraction of all of the things going on around us. But if we pay attention and look deeper than the surface, we can refine our perception. If we find the patterns and make note of the relationships as we figure them out, we can fill out many blocks in the puzzle that is reality.

In addition, he also gives you all 5 colors, nationalities, pets, drinks and smokes. There are 25 total (5 times 5) but only 24 are listed in the hints.

One is in the question: "Who owns the fish?"

Some of you might ask "Why do I bother to write this?"

Those of you that read here often, Have heard me say this before. REALITY MATTERS! Our decisions are only as good as our information.

In government, in business, in school and in our personal lives, it is important to comprehend reality and understand the perceptions of others (as far as possible). Good decisions are the keys to creating success and success allows us to be survivable, efficient, prrofitable and charitable. And if we aren't efficient, profitable, and charitable we ought not be survivable.

Life is a puzzle. Go figure.

Einstein's puzzle, Go Figure It Out

Hoo-Hah

The Thugs of the World are Laughing at You

Michael Isikoff seems to be indicating that our liberal leaders equate offending someone with "torture" in this newsweek article. .

Jan. 17 issue - Ibraham Al Qosi's stories... charged that he and other detainees at Guantanamo Bay had been subjected to bizarre forms of humiliation and abuse by U.S. military inquisitors. Al Qosi claimed they were ...wrapped in Israeli flags,

OH NO! Not the dreaded Isreali flag! I'll talk ! I'll talk! Please don't touch me with it!

...taunted by female interrogators who rubbed their bodies against them in sexually suggestive ways,

Honey, if you are reading this, this is an excellent way to punish me if I forget to do things you want me to. Rub up against me in sexually suggestive ways. Hoo-Hah! If word of this punishment gets out, half the prisoners in the Fed Pen will start claiming to be A.Q.

...and left alone in refrigerated cells for hours with deafening music blaring in their ears.

Sounds like a tailgate party at Lambeau Field. Actually, I had a taste of this one once, It ain't no fun. But who cares. They are terrorists. When they start complying with the Law of Armed Conflict (LOAC), they get the protections of the LOAC. What was turned into a battlefield on 9/11/01?
That's right Megan! The Continental United States. Do you know what the LOAC says if you are a combatant in civilian clothes on the battlefield?
That's right Suzy! "That makes you a spy." Do you know what LOAC protections a spy gets?
That's right Johnny! "A bullet in the head." 9 millimeters of justice.

Many of the FBI accounts came from conscience-stricken agents troubled by what they had witnessed. One agent reported seeing a detainee sitting on the floor of an interrogation cell with an Israeli flag draped around him while he was bombarded by loud music and a strobe light—almost exactly what Al Qosi had alleged.

This one's pretty heinous, I hate Disco too. Especially Isreali Flag Disco!

Another reported seeing detainees chained hand and foot in fetal positions, in barren cells with no chair, food or water.

If they are still alive, I'm thinking they were getting enough food and water. In fact, the medical records show that the prisoners that have been released from Gitmo put on weight.

Jan. 6: Alberto Gonzales blamed the abuses at Abu Ghraib on a lack of training and renegade prison guards, not the legal memos he wrote. NBC’s Pete Williams reports.

I think Abu Ghraib is just a cultural misunderstanding, That whole thing with naked men chained together, panties on the head, and the fashionable leather leash was to show them how good the liberal lifestyle is on the Upper West Side in New York City.

In one account that seemed to parallel the sickening scenes from Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq, an FBI agent reported the way in which a female U.S. Army sergeant sexually humiliated a shackled male prisoner during Ramadan and even "grabbed his genitals."

Yeah, sickening... I hope those handcuffs weren't too tight... Honey, Are you getting this? Hoo-Hah!

Pentagon officials acknowledge that, frustrated by detainees' refusal to talk, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld had approved "aggressive" interrogation techniques to be used at Gitmo. But last week, stunned by the new disclosures, Gen. Bantz Craddock, chief of the U.S. Southern Command—which runs Gitmo—ordered a full-scale inquiry into the FBI agents' allegations, which appear to go far beyond anything authorized.

On a serious note: I'm am 100% in favor of giving full constitutional protections to citizens of the US, even if they are accused of terrorism. But I want them charged with treason and if convicted, stripped of their constitutional rights, beaten to death and buried inside the carcass of a pig.

I'm 100% in favor of giving full LOAC protections to combatants that honor the LOAC. Even if their cause is Islamic Extremism, LOAC is not about idealogy, it's about keeping war from becoming a free-for-all.

After hearing of the FBI memos, NEWSWEEK has learned, Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Patrick Leahy fired off angry letters to FBI Director Robert Mueller demanding to know why he failed to disclose his own agents' complaints when they questioned him about Gitmo in a hearing last May.

Oh, My G.. Now that's torture. An angry letter from Diane F. Einstein! Why didn't we think of that? We could force the terrorists to read angry letters from Diane F. Einstein and they'd be spilling their guts in no time. Rumsfeld didn't think of that strategy to win the war. Why don't we send Osama an angry letter from Diane F. Einstein? Sheesh!

What the World Needs Now....

...is not "Love Sweet Love". It's an absolute fanaticism about holding people accountable. I'm not sure what the whole story is about Armstrong Williams and the Dept. of Education, but it stinks to high heaven. Our government needs to deal straight with us and whoever is the senior administration official that signed off on this needs to come forward and explain what he/she was thinking.

As for Armstrong Williams, I don't care if someone in the press picks up money for endorsing a product if it's presented as a product endorsement. But when paid endorsements are shoveled as news stories, that's crossing the line. Remember Viacom/CBS flipping the 60 Minites puff piece interviews to Richard Clarke and others over the summer? The publishing house Simon and Schuster is a Viacom subsidiary. The parade of authors and their Simon and Schuster books was an infomercial for Viacom, masquerading as a news program on Viacom (CBS).

We are only as good as our information. (Read about the impact of acting on inaccurate information here.) If "ostensibly" vetted news coverage can be bought, it has no value at all. The most important characteristic of information is accuracy and if news coverage can be bought, then more often than not, it will be bought to distort rather than to promote accuracy.

No Child Left Behind may be the best thing to happen to the US Public Education System since public funding began. Or not. But it needs to prove itself on it's own virtue. That's the only way to be sure.

Important Instructions for Northbound Travel

Ignore this if you aren't in a laughing mood.

I usually keep my sense of humor in it's holster. It's small caliber and of such high velocity that a lot of people don't even feel it except when I hit bone, but guys like this have a sense of humor like a potato gun. It'll knock the wind out of you and put you on your ass faster than you can say "Hold the Fries". Come back and look at these later if you're grumpy.
This new translation of that Mexican Government Emigration Handbook is too funny to keep to myself.
And since we're at it, you may or may not have seen the Seattle Wedding Dress Guy on Ebay about 8 months ago.

Hoo-Hah

Post Script to Smackdown

Although gender selective abortion in China was already well documented and the impact was making itself obvious by 1996, Hillary Clinton (name is unchanged to identify the miscreant) went to this People's Paradise to Speak to the UN Worldwide Conference on Women and ignored the problem. I think US Secretary of State Madeleine Al-bright (or not) was also in attendance.

Excerpts:

We need to understand that there is no formula for how women should lead their lives. That is why we must respect the choices that each woman makes for herself and her family. Every woman deserves the chance to realize her own God-given potential.

God-given potential....Hmmmmmm. Her words, not mine.

We also must recognize that women will never gain full dignity until their human rights are respected and protected.

The international community has long acknowledged ... the right to determine freely the number and spacing of the children they bear.

First thing! Make sure access to birth control and abortion is unfettered.

It is a violation of human rights when babies are denied food, or drowned, or suffocated, or their spines broken, simply because they are born girls

But if they happen to accidentally get out of the womb alive...then we need to protect them.

If I've got this straight, your potential is "God-given potential" if your mother decides to let you be born. But it isn't if she doesn't. So God has vested each pregnant woman with the power to vest or deny your potential with God's blessing and approval. Yeah, that's the kind of philosophical mess you get when liberals start referencing God...

The God-Given part is activated by chemical process that happens when your skin hits the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Meanwhile, back in China: This female "potential" isn't being aborted for any of the reasons the left gives for inventing the right to abortion on demand.

• Not because the woman can't afford to keep the child.
  
• Not because she was raped.
  
• Not because she's too young and unprepared for motherhood.
  
• Not because it's a medical decision between her and her doctor.
  

But because the regime discriminates against women through a policy that conflicts with traditions.

Just so you have this straight, two avowed human-rights-supporting, leftist, feminists go to a place that females are being aborted simply because they are female, and don't say a word about it. Ever notice how the left is willing to overlook human rights violations by a communist, socialist, totalitarian regime, but raises high holy hell about a Democratic, Pro-American regime protecting itself from avowed domestic enemies. (Isreal)

Until the left is realizes that "Unfettered Access to Public Funded Abortion" may be less important than other issues, they are not going to be trusted with control of the government.

Smackdown - Reality Defeats Socialism (Again)

China is changing it's laws to prohibit gender selective abortion. It seems that the birth ratio of male to female is almost 1.2 to 1. That's 6 men to 5 women for you Gay and Feminist Studies Majors. When you are talking about a 6 to5 ratio for 20 years on the most populous nation on earth, you are talking about a shortage of women in the scores of millions. This alarming condition in the workers paradise is effected by three factors: (A) A tradition that gives the oldest male child the responsibility of taking care of the parents in their "Golden Years" (2) A law that criminalizes having more than one child, and (III) No national "social security" safety net.

If a couple want some security in their age, they must have a male child to provide it. A woman becomes part of her husband's family when she marries. Her husband is expected to take care of his parents, but since almost all children are the "only" child, no one takes care of her parents.

This issue is already at crisis state. About three years ago I saw an article detailing the kidnapping and sale of post adolescent girls into China as brides for desparate men willing to pay a bounty. The parents of 25 years ago started this problem by identifying unborn female children and aborting them. Here's the funny karmic repercussions.

(1) That article also detailed huge dowries being paid to the parents of women at marriage. We call this supply and demand. You commies would know about this if you weren't listening to that little fat tinhorn during the 40's. When all else fails, try capitalism. It works every time it's tried.

(2) If the son can't find a wife because there are not enough women to go around, he can take care of his folks in their old age, but he will not have a son to take care of him and carry the family name. Bwwwaaaaahahahahahahahah!

Teaching a Pig to Sing

I have a Liberal friend. Yes, I know. It's frustrating, but he's a good-hearted guy.

A few weeks ago, he was repeating the Democrat "talking point" that the war in Iraq had nothing to do with the war on terror. So a few days ago, I e-mail these excerpts from The Analysis of the Bin Laden Tapes at "Winds of Change."
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From: ironcross11-@-earthlink.net>
To:
Subject: Iraq - The center of the war on terror
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 2005 22:13:54 -0500

You were saying that Iraq has nothing to do with the war on terror.


Osama bin Laden's video taped release for the Iraqi People.

I now address my speech to the whole of the Islamic nation: Listen and understand. The issue is big and the misfortune is momentous. The most important and serious issue today for the whole world is this Third World War, which the Crusader-Zionist coalition began against the Islamic nation. It is raging in the land of the two rivers. The world's millstone and pillar is in Baghdad, the capital of the caliphate.

The whole world is watching this war and the two adversaries; the Islamic nation, on the one hand, and the United States and its allies on the other. It is either victory and glory or misery and humiliation. The nation today has a very rare opportunity to come out of the subservience and enslavement to the West and to smash the chains with which the Crusaders have fettered it.

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If Osama Bin Laden says that Iraq is central to the war on terror, should not all concerned nations be jumping in there to help? This is my friend's response. If you read my last post on Cognitive Dissonance, you'll recognize the symptoms.

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From: tgeld@____________.com
Subject: RE: Iraq - The center of the war on terror
Date: January 6, 2005 12:16:10 PM EST
To: ironcross11-@-earthlink.net

A. Don't put words in my mouth.

B. Don't send me this stuff.
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You can try to teach a pig to sing, but it's a waste of time and annoys the pig.

Do liberals ever feel like Wile E. Coyote?

Have you ever thought you got a great deal on a purchase and then had time stand still when that perception gets a crack in it? That good feeling rushes out on to the floor? That experience has a name.

When you go from that great feeling to that awful feeling, that sinking feeling at the transition point is caused by "Cognitive Dissonance". When perception differs from reality, there is an imbalance. Your emotional state is based on a false premise.
Sometimes it goes the opposite direction. Have you ever found a 20 dollar bill in the pocket of a coat that you hadn't worn in a while? You suddenly found out that you we're 20 dollars richer. Reality didn't change, but your perception of reality was updated. This cognitive refinement is important because? REALITY MATTERS!!!!

There are relativists and existentialists that believe that there is no reality. That there are no binding principles. That the world IS what WE decide it is. This is a bunch of tripe.

Going back to the first example, here's the question: When an existentialist gets home from shopping and finds out that the bargain was a cheap imitation, does he/she continue to believe that it was a bargain? Since the existential details have not changed? The purchase is the same, the purchaser is the same, the only thing that has changed is the perception of reality. The change of perception did not alter the molecular structure of the trinket, therefore the conclusion is that the trinket and it's value stayed the same.

Pardon me for this hard to grasp example. I don't know an easier way to 'splain it.

Imagine a huge hard drive that maps the position of every particle at any given instant. Every nanosecond would be a separate but distinct reality. As far as we know, reality at any given point on the time-space continuum is a constant. There is no way to back up and change a given reality. Therefore, we cannot change what "was". What did exist, cannot be changed, and was "reality" a for that given instant, and will always be the reality for that instant.

We are not really talking about changing History. History is the observations that people write down. If the observations are accurate, the history is accurate. When new observations become public, history changes. (The Venona Papers come to mind)

Have you ever watched an "open-minded liberal" end a conversation by saying "Oh, I just can't talk to you!"? The reason is cognitive dissonance. All of a sudden, the bowl of comfortable positions starts to crack. These positions are not some meaningless trinket to the liberal psyche. They are a means to define themselves as caring, elite, wise, intelligent, virtuous and worthy. To destroy those positions would leave a frightening vacuum. Value would be redefined and personal worth would be destroyed. Those cracks in the bowl are interpreted as the symptoms of mean-spirited attack.

Remember election night? Votes were already cast, but the liberal perception of reality was inacurate. The change in fortune was a joy to watch.

Remember the nitwits in Florida seeking counseling for post election stress? Dissonance.

An idealist fashions fantasy into a chickenwire canoe. A chickenwire canoe may make you feel good about yourself. But it won't keep you afloat.

The realist develops practical strategies for managing conditions and creating outcomes. Perceptions are important in developing strategies for dealing with people, but an understanding of reality almost always includes an understanding of perceptions.

Cognitive Dissonance. The Liberal way of life and Wile E. Coyotes' perpetual state of mind.

Carrying the Mail

About a hundred years ago, a man named Elbert Hubbard wrote an essay titled A Message to Garcia. It is a an inspirational that extols the virtue of "go-getter-ism". In my mind, it is one of the best summations of the ethos that makes Amerika what it is. Even now, Amerika is the place dreamed of by go-getters around the world. We have the largest illegal immigration numbers in the world. People are voting with their feet to come here just as they have for 300 years. Thus if there is such a thing as a genetic predisposition to being a "go-getter", and I believe there is, we are adding go-getter genes from all over the world. There may be some folks that come here looking for a free ride, but I think that's the anomaly. Anyone that has enough spit and vinegar to get up and move to a strange land with strange customs perhaps even illegally, probably has too much "go-getter" to sit around and wait for a government program. I believe there are other nations (g'day to those of you down under!) that benefit from this. I'll see if I can find that study that points to the genetic predisposition to "career success" and post it here when I find it

Recently, a Syrian teenager at an Anti-American demonstration was interviewed by a member of the press. When asked what his ambition was, he replied: "To move to Chicago and become a dentist."

Even the people that hate Amerika the Country, want the American Dream. The key to the American Dream is contained in this little essay by Elbert Hubbard. It has to do with how well you discharge the task at hand.

Doing the task at hand, AKA "Carrying the Mail"

Late Note: For those of you that want to read some "nature vs. nurture" science. Here's that study