March 01, 2005
Not as spry as I used to be
After seeing more sunlight over this last weekend than I have in a month or more, combined with only three hours of sleep on Monday and topped off with a 14 hour work day, I'm going to have to admit to being exhasted.
If the insomnia comes back and I end up staring at the celing later this morning or afternoon, I'll pop in and toss up the links I found yesterday. But right now, my mattress is calling loudly.
I would like to take a moment to congratulate the people of Lebanon and wish them good luck in the coming months.
I would also like to tip my iced tea glass to the young people of Iran and wish them luck in having their mullahs allow a referendum. It is now the Persian people's turn.
Have a good day folks. Be careful out there.
AK
PS: Hey Putin, only the blogosphere has the power to fire reporters.
If we caught Bush doing that, we'd impeach his ass.
Posted by Nukevet at 08:21 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 28, 2005
Can you say �Over Reaction?�
I knew you could.
Over at the Klueless Kos Klan, I found this story that they had linked to describing a �Men�s Night Out� church function that was themed �Honoring the US Military�.
It was attended by a guy who purports to be on the right side of things, but if you read through the post, there are a number of leftwing buzzwords that lead me to doubt this. I guess I�ll just have to take the guy at his word and not dispute it further.
Here�s the run-down of "The Big Deal�; a Baptist church building and a program set up my church members, supposedly active duty military personnel, some in uniform including Staff Sgt. Jeff Struecker (whom you may remember from a certain action in Mogudishu, Somailia involving a Blackhawk UH-60) talking about a certain deity, and recruitment literature sitting on a table unattended.
Umm, so what exactly is the problem?
Posted by Nukevet at 08:21 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 22, 2005
Strange Policies?
Kevin at The Smallest Minority writes about a 911 call in which the call receiver (CR) kept telling the reporting party (RP) to put down the gun she was using to hold an assailant at bay with before the reporting officers (RO) arrived.
As the struggle moved down the street, a neighbor -- whom Theresa Gesell identified as "Hershall" -- stopped to help. Theresa then grabbed her .45-caliber pistol and continued running after Campbell -- despite the dispatcher's plea for her to drop the handgun.
"I am going to go get my .45 ... you all are too slow," she said.
As the call continues, the dispatcher asks Theresa to get rid of the weapon. However, after the suspect tried to escape along a creek bed, Theresa and Hershall used the pistol to make sure he didn't leave.
"You can go put that gun up now," the dispatcher said.
"No sir," Theresa replied.
The reason I titled this post as I did is because the CR was doing something very strange in telling the reporting party to put the gun away, at least according to the officers and 911 call receivers I know of.
As some of you may know, the Analog Wife works for one of the local constabulary�s 911 centers and I also have had this conversation with a god sized number of local peace officers in my locale. Telling an RP to put away a weapon before the RO�s arrive is not policy anywhere around here that I can find.
If the RP does put the weapon away and the assailant attacks them again, the RP can sue the department the CR is attached to for ordering the RP to put themselves in danger.
A CR is not a referee who is supposed to keep the fight fair, they are only there to take the call, transfer it to dispatch (unless they are themselves dispatch) who radios it to the officers.
If the RP does any actual shooting of themselves or someone else, the department cannot be held responsible, unless they instructed the RP to gather up a weapon.
This is one of the reasons why I could never work for 911. If someone doesn't have a means of protection, I'm likely to start chewing on their ear in a not so gentle manner.
The RO�s greatly appreciate it if the RP puts the firearm away when they arrive on scene and the CR will probably instruct the RP to do that for the RO�s safety if they still have the RP on the line.
Other than that, I do have to ask if this jurisdiction in Oklahoma has a different policy where they do ask the RP to put the weapon down as quickly as possible, which would be just plain ignorant, as Kevin more than writes about.
Otherwise I am only seeing this as some gun-bigot of a call receiver who got freaked out by an armed citizen.
Either way, this definitely needs to be looked into and the policy/procedure clarified. Had the RP set the gun down when first asked, not only would she not have her purse back and a criminal not be in prison where he belongs, she might have been actually harmed by a very pissed off assailant. This CR needs their brain checked and maybe have their bigotry questioned for attempting to put an RP in danger.
Posted by Nukevet at 09:05 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 16, 2005
Guess Who
Ralph G. Neas, president of People for the American Way, a liberal activist group said this,
"To replay this narrow and completed debate demonstrates the Bush administration's failure to craft a positive agenda for the American people,"
Found at Just Some Poor Schmuck
Posted by Nukevet at 08:14 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Guess Who #2
There isn�t a prize or anything, but I thought you might like to know who wrote this drivel. You may be surprised.
"The freedom that we want is not the freedom of interest-bearing banks and vast corporations and misleading mass media; not the freedom of the destruction of others for the sake of materialistic interests�and not the freedom to use women as a commodity to gain clients, win deals, or attract tourists; not the freedom of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; and not the freedom of trading in the apparatus of torture and supporting the regimes of oppression and Copts and suppression, the friends of America; and not the freedom of Israel, with their annihilation of the Muslims and destruction of the Aqsa mosque; and not the freedom of Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib."
Found @ Cold Fury
Posted by Nukevet at 08:10 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 10, 2005
Good News / Bad News
The bad news is that they found a dead guy in the parking lot at my work yesterday afternoon.
A male of above average age (60-65) rolled onto the lot sometime in the early morning and put a 45 caliber round through his right temple. The bullet passed through and stuck in the B-pillar of his SUV.
The reason it took so long for my daytime co-workers to find him was that he parked in a corner and had the windows of his vehicle tinted so dark that you couldn�t see inside. A couple people walked by in the early dawn hours and looked through the windshield, but just saw what looked to be a guy sleeping. Later that afternoon, when the sun was out in full, one of them figured it out as they were walking to their cars to go home.
As of two Mondays ago, I got moved to my new (smelly) location. Otherwise, a strange vehicle in the parking lot would have been part of my duties to check out and I would have found the guy.
I guess I could actually chalk up not finding a corpse in the �Good News� column, but even cold hearted little ol� me can�t figure out why people do that sort of thing, so I feel a little bit sorry for them.
Must be the domestication of marriage. I�ll talk to the Analog Wife about it.
Maybe someday I�ll tell you about the guy who was found to have done something quite similar, except with a pneumatic nail gun.
**
Speaking of guns, the Good News is that, hoping against hope that the IRS didn�t snag too much out of the check resulting from last week�s hefty overtime run, I should be able to pick up my Boomershoot rifle this weekend. I�ll know tonight when I get to work and get to see my paycheck.
Updates to follow.
Posted by Nukevet at 09:21 AM | Comments (2)
February 08, 2005
Going in the Wrong Direction
The were decades of jokes singling out the Polish for doing things backwards.
Maybe now, we�ll have to substitute �Pollock� for �Limey�
Burglars get unwanted Valentine's cardBurglars in a south London suburb are set to receive a special Valentine's Day card next week from a rather unwelcome admirer - the police.
As part of an operation to fight burglary in Croydon, the Metropolitan Police said it was fitting houses in hot spot neighbourhoods with anti-burglary forensic coding systems, known as Smartwater.
Known offenders in the area will meanwhile receive a card signed by Chief Superintendent Vicki Marr that reads on the front, "Thinking of you and what you do at this time of year".
How about the nanny state in the UK just let homeowners arm themselves appropriately?
I think that would make burglars a little more afraid to break in.
Posted by Nukevet at 08:50 AM | Comments (0)
February 02, 2005
Good News, Bad News
First the 'Bad News'
It seems that my email has been hacked. I literally have nothing from before about 1700PST last night. If you have emailed me in the past, email me again so that I can fill up my address book.
In the category of 'Not So Bad News', it appears that my new location is going to be my new permanent location.
This is not so bad because, if you remember yesterday's post, the 'corporate created conspiratorial emergency' is cause for them to install high speed internet access.
This will not be one of those "In The Near Future" programs either. It will be installed to-day.
So, my internet-less existence at work should be over to-night.
They're even leaving me an extra port so I can plug my laptop in. That and they are thinking of going G Wireless, because there will be at least a half dozen new PC's in this tiny building. YAY!
Also, I seem to have gotten used to the smell. I really wish that there was an web version of 'Smell-O-Vision' so that you all could get a giggle out of the pungency (some on the left would say I deserve it).
***************************
In the 'Good News' department (besides the possibility of wireless)...
I am now a licensed State of Washington Weighmaster. Hopefully, this will enable me to make my upcoming pay increase a little bit interesting.
Add to all that the fact that the overtime this 'emergency' has dropped upon me (23 hours in two days) should help me pay off the smith a week or two early and pick up my Boomershoot Rifle (I got the rings and bases the smith likes in yesterday and will be stopping by on Friday).
Speaking of Boomershoot, it seems that another participant of the festivities, Kirk of the Fun Turns to Tragedy Blog has honored us with the addition of RNS to his blogroll.
And seeing as how my roll has been seriously neglected for a while, I will be returning the favor and sliding him on in there as I do the necessary repairs.
If you haven't stopped by Kirk's place or the Boomershoot site at this time, make a note to do so at your earliest convenience. I would suggest you start at the top, but do make sure to look at this post about his new Savage 10FLP rifle that he will be bringing to the Boomershoot.
More good news, I only need 35 fresh souls to hit the Boomershoot site until I get my prize!
Have a good day all.
Posted by Nukevet at 09:28 AM | Comments (2)
January 28, 2005
I had no idea it was illegal
Houston, Texas has just made me do a double-take.
Metro board OKs concealed guns on buses, trains. Riders with permits will be allowed to carry concealed handguns on board.A showdown about the right to carry concealed handguns on Metro trains and buses had a peaceful ending today.
Metro's board unanimously approved the policy change this afternoon without discussion. It removes a section of a 1995 regulation that stated no exception to the authority's weapons ban was provided for concealed-handgun license holders. The new rule prohibits "the possession of dangerous weapons" and "the unlawful carrying of a concealed handgun in or on Metro facilities or vehicles."
According to Metro attorneys, the old policy was valid until the Legislature passed the 2003 law banning governmental bodies from prohibiting the lawful carrying of concealed weapons on government property unless those locations are specifically mentioned in the law. Transit vehicles and facilities are not among those locations exempted from the concealed-carry law.
I knew that Texas didn't get their full rights on concealed carry installed until a few years ago, but I did not know that even after that, they weren't allowed to carry their weapons on public transportation.
Well, congrats Houstonites!
Posted by Nukevet at 04:14 AM | Comments (1)
January 24, 2005
Inauguration Day: Looking back
Aaron at the FreeWillBlog points out something I noticed, but hadn't yet commented upon from Inauguration Day.
When I was watching the ANSWER protest I heard a line a couple of times from the protesters on stage about how the Bush supporters were wearing fur coats.
What is the point of this crap? Is it meant to imply that Bush supporters are heartless bastards, and if so why didn�t they splash the red paint on them? I�m sure they already think that the Bush supporters are heartless bastards (I�m kind of proud that they think that of me, in fact), so why didn�t they bring the paint?
Did they bother to go up to those wearing the coats and ask if it was real or fake fur or did they just assume it was real because of their preconceptions and prejudices?
I thought they were the �Open-Minded� crew?
I guess that they�re so open minded their brains fell out?
Anyway, I wouldn�t have even brought it up except that al-Reuters decided to make it part of their report for the day.
Oh, that liberal media!
************************
And another thing,
Why is it that I haven't heard of any investigation of into which of the Congressional Dems gave their Inaugural tickets to the Code Pink protesters?
When and if we find out who it was, those members of Congress (reportedly from NY and CA should be immediately jailed for conspiracy to disturb the peace and anything else relating to crimes against Presidential security.
Sure, nothing happened, but what if these Code Pink losers had gotten a weapon through. Both you and I know that these dweebs hate GWB enough to kill him so as to �Save the World� from Bush.
An apology from the guilty Dem Congresscritters is not enough. They lose their seats and their respective Governors get to appoint replacements. What with Pataki and Schwartzeneggar both being Republicans, it should teach them not to fuck around with Presidential security again
Because you know the Dems would have made the same demands had it happened to Clinton or Kerry.
Found @ Blogs for Bush via 4 Right Wing Wackos
************************
Oh, and some folks the left are making an issue out of Krauthammer and VDH's commenting on Bush speech and not mentioning that they helped mold it.
What's the big deal here? Why is this even an issue other than the left needing something more to whine about.
I'll make you a deal; when Al Franken admits publically that he is the writer of the line "Girly Men" that the left has been calling 'sexist' ever since Schwarzeneggar used it the first time after being elected Governor AND Franken delcares it 'not sexist' in any way shape, form or usage, I'll think this is a medium-sized deal.
***********************
And the hits just keep coming,
Kos said twice (1 & 2) that there was right-wing media bias on Inauguration Day because of the number of conservatives on the TV shows.
Duh! It was the Inauguration of a conservative President! What planet does he live on?
Oh wait! Nevermind, he's an idiot. Maybe he should have his friends at MediaMatters.Org go back and see who was on TV on the first Bush inauguration and the two Clinton Inaugurations.
Or maybe that would blow his whole point.
Posted by Nukevet at 03:27 AM | Comments (1)
January 21, 2005
Where was this guy when I was in school?
I think Dr. Patrick Hazlewood, the head teacher of St John's in Marlborough, Wilts, UK is looking to be Cannonized by the students at his school.
All 12-year-olds at a comprehensive will be told today that homework is being scrapped because teachers have better things to do than mark it.
[Hazelwood] has already scrapped subject teaching, will not put it quite like that, of course.
He will tell them that, to make their schooling more "relevant to life in the 21st century", they are to be given responsibility for "managing their own learning".
What an dolt. If I had my way in school, I'd have "managed" my own learning of 'technique de money bars'.
Next up will be the tagging of students with the bracelets they put on house arrest prisoners.
Ooops, it looks like that idea is already there.
Maybe this little whiner and his dad should move to the UK.
In an effort to teach educators a lesson about the importance of summer vacation, a Whitnall High School student and his father have filed a lawsuit against the boy's math teacher that seeks to bar teachers from requiring homework over the summer.
In the lawsuit, 17-year-old Peer Larson and his father, Bruce Larson of Hales Corners, argue that school officials have no legal authority to make students do homework over the summer because the state-required 180-day school year is over.
"The importance of a summer vacation!?!"
What a jackass!
Student tagging link found @ Samizdata
Student suing link found @ the Interested Participant
Posted by Nukevet at 10:32 AM | Comments (0)
Am I being sacreligious?
When Dorian Davis, in his role as a guest blogger at Alarming News, watched the Inauguration ceremonies yesterday, he thought of the song, "My Way".
Particularly, these lines
Yes, there were times, I'm sure you knew
When I bit off more than I could chew
But through it all, when there was doubt
I ate it up and spit it out
I faced it all and I stood tall
And did it my way...
Folks in the comments immediately thought of Sinatra, but not me.
I thought of Elvis. And not just any Elvis, the Aloha from Hawaii Elvis.
Is that wrong?
Posted by Nukevet at 10:15 AM | Comments (2)
January 19, 2005
Am I the only one who noticed this?
On Monday, Oliver Willis (Occupation: Tool) posted about right-wing bloggers pointing out the good Dr. Martin Luther King Junior's conservative ideals. He called it (to accurately paraphrase ) 'funny that the righties are trying to make Martin Luther King a right-wing icon'.
Geez Oillie, I see nothing of the sort. What I saw were the mere pointing to facts that King held some ideals that are thought of as 'conservative' more often than not.
He then goes onto say this,
"No, I'm sorry. We get Dr. King."
I'm sorry Ollie, I may be mistaken here, but I didn't think that anyone or any group could 'OWN' someone. Even as intellectual property.
I'll have to go back and check my Constitutional Law, but calling someone 'yours' is akin to treating them as property, and if I'm not mistaken, we outlawed that a while back.
Now, I understand that you are of small mind and that you probably wouldn't remember any of that, but you should be more sensitive to people's feelings on this very touchy subject.
If you are going to deny that King never had one single thought along the lines that the people you pointed to were speaking of, you may very well be a fool.
But if you are going to try to say that those topics are of no consequence and that you and those on your side of the political ailse are the only ones who can claim to understand Dr. King's work, I believe that I am going to have to ask you for an explanation as to your claim to 'ownership'.
I always thought that King's work was one that we all had to share.
And please, don't bother bringing the race card in here, I didn't.
Posted by Nukevet at 01:59 PM | Comments (1)
January 05, 2005
Truth or Subterfuge?
Mike at Sworn Enemy finds a report from a Gallup survey that says gun ownership has fallen from 47% of homes in 2000 to just 40% in 2004.
This hit me as a shock, because I know that gun sales skyrocketed in the year after September 11th. As did applications for Concealed Pistol Licenses.
So I ask your opinion, is this the truth or is it a tactic that shows people don't trust pollsters, and therefore, the government when it comes to their guns?
Posted by Nukevet at 02:09 PM | Comments (3)
January 04, 2005
PSQ
Public Service Question....
My mom and my Aunt were going through the last of the personal effects from my great uncle Roy's estate and found boxes of stuff from his memberships in the Shriners and the Masons.
And she has a question,
What do we do with all of this stuff?
I've gone into Google and all I can find regarding the proper disposal of certain things is 1. Give it to a fellow lodge brother 2. Donate it to the lodge he belonged to (one in Tacoma I think. I was there once, but couldn't tell you where). But never, never just throw it away, or put it in a garage sale or give it to the Goodwill.
Any tips or suggestions would be welcome.
A list of the items is in the extended entry.
A 3 ring binder dated 1967 of the Washington Masonic Code Clausen's Commentaries of Morals and Dogma, dated 1981
Introduction to Free Masonry, I, II, and III
2 copies of "Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine"
A book called "Dynamic Freedoms", dated 1977
Numerous booklets/phamplets on Free Masonry, related subjects including a guide to Masonic Funeral Services (that I don't think he should have had).
I have his engraved gavel from the year he was "grand poopah" or
whatever.
And lastly, I have his bow tie he wore for ceremonies.
These 2 things I don't think would be of interest to anybody.
I don't have much from the Shriners:
A large volume titled "Parade to Glory", The Story of the Shriners and
Their Hospitals for Crippled Children.
And, the best thing of all - his Shriners Fez. It's beautiful. Maroon with a long black tassle, held in place by rhinestones. The sword emblem and the word affifi is also done elaborately in rhinestones.
Posted by Nukevet at 10:49 AM | Comments (1)
January 03, 2005
Why isn't this all over the front page?
AKA: Oh, THAT liberal media!
The soldiers are asking Rumsfeld some very hard to answer questions but, for some reason, they don't want to plaster these ones all over the place like what happened with the planted armor question.
Q: Sir, how do we win the war in the media?
It seems like that is the place where we're getting beat up more than anybody else? I've been here - this is my third tour over here and we've done some amazing things. And it seems like the enemy's Web sites and everything else, they're all over the media and they love it.
But the thing is everything we did good, no matter if it's helping a little kid or building a new school, the public affairs sends out the message, but the media doesn't pick up on it. How do we win the propaganda war?
Very good question.
I would hope Rummy could figure this one out.
I have a suggestion, but hanging members of the media who are treasonous to the Iraqi people from light poles (ie. the AP, AFP and Reuters assholes who seem to get all this cool footage of attacks on military installations from the perspective of the jihadis) would probably prove to be counter-productive.
Found @ Samizdata
Posted by Nukevet at 12:16 PM | Comments (1)
December 27, 2004
Hmmm, Veddy Eeentarestingk
Rumsfeld says 9-11 plane 'shot down' in Pennsylvania
It might just be all just a bunch of mispeaking and accidental innuendo, but it gives you something to think about.
So lets have a poll:
If this turns out to actually be true, will the Left
1. Decry the use of force to bring down Flight 93?
2. Congratulate the Bush Administration for probably preventing more casualties on the ground?
3. Ask if the fighter pilot that shot down the plane was a Neo-Con/Jew before doing #1?
4. Ignore the new information because it will just bring back memories of September 11th, thereby bringing support back to the war in Iraq?
Or
5. Continue to blame Bush for the attacks, saying he was asleep at the switch, call Condi a 'House Negro', demand Rumsfeld's resignation and bitch about the war in Iraq (aka: Business as Usual)?
YOU make the call
Posted by Nukevet at 12:44 PM | Comments (0)
December 03, 2004
From the Department of "You Learn Something New Every Day"
I never knew of this before.
For Harvard, writing off Nazi link is a poor move
According to a recently delivered historical paper by Oklahoma University professor Stephen H. Norwood, Harvard University and its newspaper of record, The Crimson, took a series of actions in the 1930s -- unparalleled in academia -- that lauded the Third Reich as a force for good in the world.
In 1936, after the passage of the Nuremberg laws and the eviction of Jewish professors and students from German universities, Harvard sent representatives to attend the 550th anniversary celebration of the University of Heidelberg (the site of a book-burning), where Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels and Gestapo Chief Heinrich Himmler sat in attendance. That same year, Albert Einstein refused to attend Harvard's tercentenary because of the university's affiliation with the Nazis. One notorious incident was Harvard's welcoming of Nazi propagandist Ernst Franz Sedgwick Hanfstaengl (Harvard Class of 1909, varsity crew, football cheerleader, Hasty Pudding performer) back to campus for his 25th reunion in 1934. Hanfstaengl attended a tea at Harvard President James Bryant Conant's home and was feted by the university's most prominent alumni. Harvard police tore down anti-Nazi posters when demonstrators, whom Conant labeled "ridiculous," descended upon Cambridge to protest Hanfstaengl's visit. Most offensive, however, was that The Crimson had the audacity to recommend Hanfstaengl for an honorary degree and lauded his homeland as a "great and proud nation."
And I thought that the spreading of anti semitism through our nation's universities was something new.
Interested Participant had the goods.
Posted by Nukevet at 10:07 AM | Comments (1)
December 01, 2004
Who Knew
That Pat Sajak could be so on point?
The leaner, meaner, no-holds-barred Pat Sajak....
Picture this:
Somewhere in the world, a filmmaker creates a short documentary that chronicles what he perceives as the excesses of anti-abortion activists. An anti-abortion zealot reacts to the film by killing the filmmaker in broad daylight and stabbing anti-abortion tracts onto his body. How does the Hollywood community react to this atrocity? Would there be angry protests? Candlelight vigils? Outraged letters and columns and articles? Awards named in honor of their fallen comrade? Demands for justice? Calls for protection of artistic freedom? It�s a pretty safe bet that there would be all of the above and much more. And all of the anger would be absolutely justified.
So I�m trying to understand the nearly universal lack of outrage coming from Hollywood over the brutal murder of Dutch director, Theo van Gogh, who was shot on the morning of November 2, while bicycling through the streets of Amsterdam. The killer then stabbed his chest with one knife and slit his throat with another.
Picture this,
Vanna White, in her prime, turning those letters, in a bhurka.
And all the phrases say "Allahu Akbar!"
That is how the islamofascists would like America.
Found @ The JunkYardBlog
Posted by Nukevet at 02:41 PM | Comments (1)
November 12, 2004
Hmmmm.......
It looks like the XM-8 may have hit a speed bump
US Army ARDEC, AMSTA-AR-PC, and Picatinny Arsenal (NJ) have just issued a Sources Sought Notice for a "Non-Developmental multi- configurable 5.56mm modular weapon system". It's possible that this notice is specifically designed to save/salvage the HK XM8 development program, in which the US Army TACOM-ARDEC and Picatinny Arsenal already have a significant time and money investment.
It's DefRev's understanding that the XM8 recently failed a US Army test (unconfirmed). It apparently suffered some kind of mechanical problem (unconfirmed). It's also been reported that the XM8 overheats when fired (presumably extensively) on full-auto (handguards melting and such). We don't know if this is true, either. We've been told that the US Marine Corps (USMC) doesn't want it (unconfirmed). So, it would seem that the XM8 development program is in serious trouble, at the moment. This is, as yet, unverified.
My hope is that this is just a CYA motion on behalf of the brass who are watching the Boeing Tanker deal and the latest magnifying glass being taken to Halliburton.
No stone unturned, and all that.
That seems to be the concept going on in the discussion over at Murdoc Online, where I found this. He hat tips ACE for finding it.
Posted by Nukevet at 08:54 AM | Comments (2)
November 11, 2004
I almost forgot
I'm glad that Steve of Norway at Drumwaster's Rants remembered this and few other unanswered questions.
Hey CBS, you going to ever come clean on your fake memo business?
Seriously, I want to know why you thought this thing was so damned important that you faked a memo to try to harm Bush.
I know that they said their internal investigation would come out after the election was over, and that that could mean anytime from tomorrow to 2012, but sooner would be better CBS.
Don't make the blogosphere start making an issue of this.
Posted by Nukevet at 09:48 AM | Comments (0)
November 10, 2004
I second that emotion
Aaron at TheFreeWillBlog asks,
John Ashcroft has resigned, saying the Justice Department needs fresh leadership, and Commerce Secretary Evans has gone with him, apparently wanting to get out of the Washington in general.
Why, oh why, can't we get rid of Norman Mineta?
Hear, hear!
Posted by Nukevet at 12:36 PM | Comments (0)
November 09, 2004
Something is definitely amiss
I'm a frenchman?
You are a French Guard! You love nothing better
than to torment the silly English
Knnnniggits...even if your insults don't make
much sense--You tiny brained wiper of other
people's bottoms!
Which Monty Python & the Holy Grail Character are you REALLY?
brought to you by Quizilla
Posted by Nukevet at 09:36 AM | Comments (1)
November 03, 2004
It is all over
Kerry throws in the towel!
I can barely believe it.
Posted by Nukevet at 04:32 PM | Comments (0)
October 22, 2004
Oh sure, blame the witches
School District Bans Halloween
Puyallup, WA - "Let them have their 30 minutes of dressing goofy and having candy," said Silas Macon on the grounds of Puyallup's Maplewood Elementary School Wednesday afternoon.
He'd just learned the grade school tradition of a party and parade in costume during the last half-hour of class before Halloween night won't happen this year in the Puyallup School District for his two daughters.
The superintendent has cancelled all Halloween activities.
A letter sent home to parents Wednesday states there will be no observance of Halloween in the entire school district.
The letter stated that if a child shows up to school in costume, they will be sent home and marked as absent for the day.
The district says Halloween celebrations and children dressed in Halloween costumes might be offensive to real witches.
"Witches with pointy noses and things like that are not respective symbols of the Wiccan religion and so we want to be respectful of that," said Hansen.
The Wiccan, or Pagan, religion is growing in the U.S. and there are Wiccan groups in Puyallup.
Number eight on the district's guidelines related to holidays and celebrations reads as follows: "Use of derogatory stereotypes is prohibited, such as the traditional image of a witch, which is offensive to members of the Wiccan religion."
What next, are they going to try to ban sex because some people are ugly and can't get laid?
Posted by Nukevet at 11:14 AM | Comments (4)
October 21, 2004
What the....?
Hit yourself in the head with a big rock and pretend you're a leftie.
You hate. You hate a lot. You hate a lot of Republicans.
You hate Pat Robertson. You hate Tucker Carlson.
You hate them so much that you insist that they are all liars. You believe that whenever they open their mouths, a lie comes out.
But you hate George W. Bush so much that you'll forget all about them being liars as long as it feeds your hate of W.
Take a look at this post from the Kos IMC.
They believe Pat Robertson because Karen Hughes says that he isn't telling the truth about what was said between Robertson and Bush.
And the reason you believe that Karen Huges is a liar is because she worked for Bush and because Tucker Carlson says so.
OK. I'm gonna go sit down for a bit. I got dizzy from running around in that circle.
Posted by Nukevet at 08:35 AM | Comments (0)
October 11, 2004
What's in your wallet?
The middle class pays taxes at a rate of about twenty percent. A painful twenty percent. How would you like to just pay 12%? Easy, just be born rich and marry a billionare heiress.
"According to the Kerrys' own tax records, and they have not released all of them, the couple had a combined income of $6.8 million in income last year and paid $725,000 in income taxes. That means their effective tax rate was a whopping 12.8%.... "Under the current tax system the middle class pays far more than the Kerry tax rate. In fact, the average federal tax rate -- combined payroll and income tax -- for a middle-class family is closer to 20% or more. George W. and Laura Bush, who had an income one- tenth of the Kerrys', paid a tax rate of 30%. ...
Tell me again how the guy telling me he's on my side, that Bush is just a tax the poor friend of the super rich, tell me how he's really on my side. It shows that Kerry himself plays fast and loose with the income tax code. Lots and lots of spiffy loopholes for the idle rich,
isn't there John?
Yeah, right, the party of the little man. Tell me another, I could use a good laugh right now.
Posted by Nukevet at 11:41 PM | Comments (0)
October 07, 2004
An SSI History Lesson
Mollbot got an e-mail from a buddy you should read.
It begins like this,
Franklin Roosevelt, a Democrat, introduced the Social Security (FICA) Program. He (they) promised:
1.) That participation in the Program would be completely voluntary,
2.) That the participants would only have to pay 1% of the first $1,400 of their annual incomes into the Program,
3.) That the money the participants elected to put into the Program would be deductible from their income for tax purposes each year.
4.) That the money the participants put into the independent "Trust Fund" rather than into the General operating fund, and therefore, would only be used to fund the Social Security Retirement Program, and no other government program, and,
5.) That the annuity payments to the retirees would never be taxed as income.
Now, if this isn't the SSI that you know, you should read the remainder.
Posted by Nukevet at 10:31 AM | Comments (0)
October 04, 2004
Flotsam and Jetsam
The day after the 'debate' on foreign policy, some actually took place. Of course, the MSM decided that it wasn't important enought to even make the scrolling ticker at the bottom of the TV screen.
Six Power Stations Set for Transfer to Iraqi Ministry of Electricity
Our job here isn�t just to bring Iraq more electricity, it is to help the Iraqi people create a fair and equitable system that will last for years to come,� Stor said. �It�s about new and rehabilitated generators, spare parts, training; it�s about giving them a solid foundation to build from after we leave.�
Five other electricity generation stations across the country are in the process of being transferred back to the Ministry of Electricity, while work continues on finishing the Corp�s initial projects list with a price tag of more than $1 billion.
Stories like this are why Blogs of War is part of the Library of Congress MINERVA permanent historical collection on the war in Iraq.
And as a bonus:
Posted by Nukevet at 08:18 AM | Comments (2)
October 01, 2004
Debate After Action Report
I don't know how he did it. This was Bush's chance to take sKerry behind the woodshed and show him the bad side of the real world, but he wasn't on his game and it showed.
I have an idea as to what might have happened to Bush's debate prep.
China's Party Chief Tells Army to Be Ready for War
While sKerry's crew was feeding him Kos' talking points and trying like hell to get the fake tan crap off his face, Bush was trying to keep the the Chinese and the Taiwanese from making chop suey of their respective chunks of dirt.
Anyway, I'm going to call the first debate a tie. Kerry was smoother, but Bush had reality on his side.
I was at work, so I listened to it on the radio. Now that I'm home and can see the replay, Kerry looks a lot smoother, while Bush seems as though he's looking for que card.
I would give the debate to Kerry, but I'd like to think that the people on the fence are not fooled by smooth talk.
I think Bush's best jab was when he brought up sKerry's talking shit about Allawi
"Now, my opponent says he's going to try to change the dynamics on the ground. Well, Prime Minister Allawi was here. He is the leader of that country. He's a brave, brave man. When he came, after giving a speech to the Congress, my opponent questioned his credibility.
You can't change the dynamics on the ground if you've criticized the brave leader of Iraq.
One of his campaign people alleged that Prime Minister Allawi was like a puppet. That's no way to treat somebody who's courageous and brave, that is trying to lead his country forward."
Posted by Nukevet at 09:34 AM | Comments (3)
September 27, 2004
A couple of tech questions
I finally got a new monitor for my desktop computer and I can give the laptop a break. But I'm running into a problem.
Whenever I try to snag a jpg off the web, the computer wants to save it as a bmp file. I wave the cursor over the pics and it says jpg. I look at the pics proberties and it says jpg. But when I go to save it, the box pops up and the only saving option is as a bmp file.
Normally, this wouldn't bother me, except that I have to go in and covert it to a jpg before I can post it at RNS (because bmp files are huge and take forever to load into the server).
Is there some sort of 'options' or preferences' box I have to find?
Next question, my ability to surf the blogosphere on my lunch at work is beginning to shrink. My employer has a rather elaborate web browser screeening program. Nothing with the words 'buy', 'ebay' or 'mutant frog anal sex' is allowed through.
But now it is preying on some of my favorite blogs.
First, I couldn't read Kim du Toit. But I figured, he says 'fuck' a lot and they may have blocked him for that. But then I couldn't read Connie du Toit. Then Cox & Forkum, Right Thinking from the Left Coast and Sondra K's 'Knowledge is Power' went bye bye.
But I could still get to Curmudgeonly & Skeptical!?!
A couple weeks later, The Mudville Gazette, Right Wing News and Spoons were blocked. Within another couple weeks, Ipse Dixit and The Junk Yard Blog stopped being let through, but Right Wing News is now being let through again.
I don't need to know how to bypass my employers security, I know how to do that (it helps when the IT guy is another likes firearms), but why these sites are being blocked?
I've looked at each of these sites and cannot find the one thing they each have in common. Any suggestions.
Help me, bloggywan kenobe, you are my only hope.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:58 AM | Comments (4)
September 23, 2004
I'm waiting
For someone in the Kerry/Edwards campaign to call Jim Rassmann 'unAmerican'.
He is one of the most recognizable faces in the John Kerry campaign - a Florence man who credits the Democratic presidential candidate for saving his life in Vietnam.
Oregonian Jim Rassmann was back in the Northwest on Tuesday stumping for Kerry, just as he has been doing for months now.
However Rassmann's high profile role in the campaign may be about to change.
The problem, according to KATU Political Analyst Tim Hibbitts, is both Rassmann and Kerry's focus on Vietnam.
"Kerry spent way too much time talking about his Vietnam service and not enough time talking about what he was going to do about current problems, particularly Iraq and other things," Hibbitts told KATU News.
Edwards called Cheney unAmerican himself. They'll probably just ahve some mid-level staffer take care of Rassmann.
Posted by Nukevet at 06:50 AM | Comments (0)
September 21, 2004
Hey Doc,
Do folks in your profession have a name for people this stupid?
Scientists study whether whale watching poses threat to orcas
Are whale-watching operations increasing pressure on the state's dwindling population of resident killer whales?
University of Washington researcher David Bain and a partner, Jodi Smith, are trying to find out.
Bain, an animal behavior expert who has studied orcas for 20 years, is part of an international group of government-backed scientists working to learn why the local population has dropped from 98 in 1995 to 83 today, The News Tribune reported Sunday.
So let me get this straight....
They are going to watch whales to see if whale watching is changing their behavior?
Where can I get a job like this with government funding?
Here's an idea!
Does me watching women take their clothes off in a club make them take off their clothes off?
Oh wait. I'm married and I have an IQ above the temperature of snow.
Damn! Always overqualified!
Posted by Nukevet at 07:33 AM | Comments (3)
September 19, 2004
Sunday Cartoons
So, I'm going through the local paper on Friday and I see this editorial cartoon.
So, I immediately start cursing under my breath and I go looking for more of this guys 'editorail artwork'.
But then I find this,
And this,
So I now just assume he is bi-polar.
Posted by Nukevet at 04:15 PM | Comments (0)
September 18, 2004
That's it people!
Knock it off! I mean it!
That is just goofy.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:10 AM | Comments (1)
September 08, 2004
No Father's Day present for this guy
A Ridgefield, Washington, man faces assault charges after trying to circumcise his eight-year-old son with a kitchen knife.
Ooooowwwwww. I'm gonna go try and think of something else now.
Posted by Nukevet at 09:08 AM | Comments (0)
September 07, 2004
The way to Cambodia?
Posted by Nukevet at 01:44 PM | Comments (0)
I guess the Marines couldn't get any good chinese food in Port Au Prince
Chinese "blue helmet" police ready for UN mission in Haiti.
The UN. Bringing the acts of Tiananmen Square to the western hemisphere.
Headline for this post stolen from Guardian Angels founder, Curtis Sliwa, while he was filling in for Larry Elder yesterday.
Posted by Nukevet at 08:53 AM | Comments (0)
August 31, 2004
Pummeling for Peace
Oh yeah, those folks demonstrating the RNC in NYC are a real peaceful bunch.
At least one protester was taken into custody as a march of several thousand people organized by the Poor People�s Economic Human Rights Campaign approached Madison Square Garden, Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Browne said. Demonstrators knocked a police officer off a motor scooter and "kicked and pummeled" him, Browne said. The officer, not immediately identified, was taken to St. Vincent�s Hospital with unspecified injuries.
I hope that guy's stay in jail is, um, 'long and painful'. (and named bubba)
Found @ Right Thinking
Posted by Nukevet at 09:23 AM | Comments (1)
August 24, 2004
A Morals Question
Most of you have probably already heard abouth the Open House planned by the du Toit's on September 11th. It's a Food+Friends=Fun kind of get together that, sadly, I will not be able to attend.
The day after the gathering, Kim has some serious rangetime planned.
So my question is this...
Would it be disrespectful to hold a Blogger Blastorama on September 11th?
You need to understand, few people hold the 11th more sacred than myself, but my social skills are zero to nil. That, and I would go shooting on Christmas (if the damn ranges were open). Heck, I have gone to the range on my own mother's birthday. Before and after the cake and ice cream.
If folks deem that it shooting on the 11th would a bad thing to do, would anyone be up for joining Kim's group on the 12th in spirit by going to the range on that Sunday?
Also, it seems that RNS reader, Ms. Leigh, has titled me a Prince. And was seconded by the very kind Connie du Toit.
Monday's aren't so bad in my world. Thank you both, ladies.
Posted by Nukevet at 10:02 AM | Comments (2)
August 19, 2004
I didn't see this angle
When I wrote about Bush's announcement about his plan to move our servicemen and women out of Germany and Asia, I made a few predictions as to what the left, and therefor, the press would say.
I have to admit, I was wrong. I absolutely missed the angle they are currently taking. But I have an excuse.
They're absolutely insane.
It now seems that the left isn't angry at the US for being "Imperialistic" and having military bases in dozens of different countries across the planet.
Also, they don't mind the US military causing instant capitalism wherever they're based. As long as the bases are in the "Right Countries". These happen to be the very same countries that are the only people worth asking if the US can defend itself.
I knew I never wanted to be an 'intellectual'.
Two stories of the left's objections to this plan were covered and thouroughly fisked to death by Sir George at The Rott here and here.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:44 AM | Comments (0)
August 15, 2004
Sick as a Dog
Day 3 to Day 4
Uhhhggg! I have come back from Big Sky Country with a mucus spewing something or other barely on the good side of pneumonia.
If I'm to sick to go to the rifle range, you can bet I'm just about dead.
The Analog Wife has it too.
And I have to go back to work on Monday masquerading as a snot-faucet.
Oy vey!
At least I don't have socialized medicine out there trying to kill me.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:09 AM | Comments (0)
August 13, 2004
And some say Canada isn't a silly place
And yet another reason I'm glad I live in the US. Otherwise, I'd have to worry about this if the Analog Wife up and leaves me.
A Canadian man got off the leash by divorcing from his wife, but was ordered by a judge to pay 200 dollars a month in doggie-alimony.
Four-year-old St Bernard, Crunchy, is munching his way through a monthly bill of 200 dollars (150 US) in food, health bills and general care giving, the National Post newspaper reported.
Pampering the pooch is truck driver Kenneth Duncan, of western Alberta province, in what is thought to be the first court order of its kind in Canada.
The 200 dollar assessment is about a third of what Duncan would be required to pay his ex-wife Barbara Boschee had there been a child involved -- but the ruling doesn't involve any visitation rights.
That's a lot of doggie treats.
Silly Canucks.
Found by the Interested Participant.
Posted by Nukevet at 06:25 AM | Comments (0)
July 30, 2004
Kerry's acceptance speech
I listened to Kerry's speech over the radio at work. One anecdote line stood out to me.
And when I was a young man, [dad] was in the State Department, stationed in Berlin when it and the world were divided between democracy and communism.
I have unforgettable memories of being a kid mesmerised by the British, French and American troops, each of them guarding their own part of the city, and Russians standing guard on that stark line separating East from West. On one occasion, I rode my bike into Soviet East Berlin, and when I proudly told my dad, he promptly grounded me.
But what I learned has stayed with me for a lifetime. I saw how different life was on different sides of the same city. I saw the fear in the eyes of people who were not free.
Hey John, you mean people like this?
Posted by Nukevet at 10:47 AM | Comments (0)
July 29, 2004
Is the US still the source of all the evil in the world?
Iran starts atom tests in defiance of EU deal
Iran has broken the seals on nuclear equipment monitored by United Nations inspectors and is once again building and testing machines that could make fissile material for nuclear weapons.
Teheran�s move, revealed to The Daily Telegraph yesterday by western sources, breaks a deal with European countries under which Iran suspended �all uranium enrichment activity".
It will also exacerbate fears that the regional power is determined to make an atomic bomb within a few years.
I suppose so. At least according to the french. And the Democrats.
Found @ The Blogs of War
Posted by Nukevet at 09:51 AM | Comments (1)
July 28, 2004
Tell me
In you mind, would this be good or bad?
Do not be surprised to see three or four divisions of the Russian army in the Sunni triangle before year-end, with an announcement just prior to the US presidential election in November. Long rumored (or under negotiation), a Russian deployment of 40,000 soldiers was predicted on July 16 by the US intelligence site www.stratfor.com, and denied by the Russian Foreign Ministry on July 20. Nonetheless, the logic is compelling. Russian support for US occupation forces would make scorched earth of Senator John Kerry's attack on the Bush administration's foreign policy, namely its failure to form effective alliances.
And as a bonus question, would this make the lefties shut up for a bit?
Found @ Judicious Asininity
Posted by Nukevet at 07:31 AM | Comments (1)
July 19, 2004
Stupidity in a land down under
Please help! I am confused.
Michael Richardson, formerly of New South Wales, Australia, stabbed his wife to death, then, suffocated his two children until they too were dead.
He then took a gun and committed suicide, saving his fellow citizens from having to hear his sob story as to why he killed his entire household.
Now, MP Lee Rhiannon WANTS TOUGHER GUN LAWS!
Please help me! I'm confused.
The gun actually stopped a multiple murderer! And the MP wants more laws to aide their registration!
Found @ Ravenwood's Universe
Posted by Nukevet at 06:51 AM | Comments (1)
July 15, 2004
You might be a racist...
Don't go looking for Spike Lee at any NASCAR events this summer.
The ornery movie director and Knicks fanatic nurses a paranoid fantasy about the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing circuit.
"I just imagine hearing some country-and-Western song over a loudspeaker at NASCAR: 'Hang them n-- up high! Hang them n-- up high!' I'm not going to no NASCAR," Lee vows in the August issue of Playboy.
Found @ Vinny's copy what he wrote.
Can you imagine if a white director said, �I can�t imagine going to a rap concert. All those niggers would probably shoot me.�
Posted by Nukevet at 07:31 AM | Comments (0)
July 08, 2004
Enough for now
OK, just spent the last several hours with a complete site redesign, when all I wanted to do was implement the "simple" typekey comment authentication system.
Hopefully everything works, and hopefully Emily likes this color scheme a little bit better than the "black on charcoal grey" thang that was going on earlier.
Don't get too used to this, as AK and I have been talking about a major site redesign for a while now.
But for now, I am outta here..............
Posted by Nukevet at 03:03 AM | Comments (1)
July 05, 2004
The Boring Ticket
The Kos IMC is calling the Kerry VP selection as Gephart.
B-O-R-I-N-G
But safe for the Dems.
Unless one of their staffers gets caught with illegal quantities of No-Doz.
Damn, I'm getting sleep just writing about these guys.
Posted by Nukevet at 08:24 AM | Comments (1)
July 02, 2004
Flying High
I was listening to the top of the hour news on the radio, and a spokeperson from the NTSB came on to remind folks who will be flying somewhere for the 4th of July holiday weekend that FIREWORKS ARE NOT ALLOWED ON THE PLANE.
Are there really people stupid enough to think that it would be? And if so, why are they not thrown out of the plane without a chute so as to clean out the gene pool.
Posted by Nukevet at 12:09 AM | Comments (2)
July 01, 2004
Please explain to me
Why week keep these guys around?
France yesterday blocked a U.S.-backed plan to use a special NATO force to safeguard elections in Afghanistan this fall, despite a plea from Afghan leaders that the troops are badly needed.
The Afghanistan mission was vetoed despite a direct plea from Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who said continuing violence by Islamic fundamentalist forces in the country was a threat to the fledgling democratic government.
While President Bush in recent days has talked up trans-Atlantic unity and praised the early transfer of sovereignty in Iraq, Mr. Chirac has pointedly criticized U.S. positions on Afghanistan, Iraq, Turkey, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Anyone? Anyone?
Chirac is still convinced that the only way to acheive peace in Israel is to go through Arafat. This guy is clearly delusional. And his 35% approval numers reflect that.
Chirac is willing to bet the free elections in Afghanistan that his being stalwart will help unseat Bush.
What a pig.
Found @ Some Poor Schmuck
Posted by Nukevet at 10:17 AM | Comments (1)
June 28, 2004
Exactly who are the racists here?
The Edward Byrne Center does not yet bear the fallen officer's name, though the dedication ceremony took place a month ago. And if a group of community leaders and residents have their way, it never will.
The reason? Edward Byrne was white.
But blacks can't be racists because "they have no power".
Yeah, right. Tell that to Reginald Denny.
Posted by Nukevet at 06:15 AM | Comments (0)
June 20, 2004
Oh yeah, lets get us someof that socialized medicine!
How the hell does stuff like this happen?
An Oregon City doctor will spend two months in jail after he advised a patient that having sex with him would help her pelvic pain, then billed the Oregon Health Plan for his time during their sessions.
What the hell is wrong with people?
Posted by Nukevet at 11:08 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
June 03, 2004
How very interesting
If you've ever seen Michael Moore's 'Bowling for Columbine', you'll know that some of the reasons Mikey lists for why Clebold and Harris shot up their school were: Lockheed's factory, The NRA, the absence of universal health care, a working welfare system and, of course, the guns themselves.
So I'm wondering what caused these two to plan what they did?
Two teenagers detained by police last month amid allegations they planned a Columbine-style massacre at their high school were charged with conspiracy to commit murder, court officials said in Stockholm.
The teenagers, 16-year-old Jacob Roya and 17-year-old Niklas Ekberg, were detained by police in Malmo, 382 miles southwest of the capital, Stockholm, when their classmates and teachers claimed the pair planned to bring a gun to Slottsstaden School and kill several students and teachers and then blow it up.
In court documents outlining the conspiracy charges, prosecutors said the two teens allegedly planned to emulate the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, in which two student gunmen killed 12 students and a teacher before killing themselves.
Nowhere did Moore blame Clebold or Harris or their parents/guardians.
And nowhere did he blame the media for sensationalizing previous school shootings.
Found @ Right Thinking
Posted by Nukevet at 09:03 PM | Comments (3)
May 29, 2004
ok, but what does it mean?
I found this little test at our new friends at Spauwhanen. Guy's help me out here, I'm just a simple bear, 4 out of 5 but I don't know if it's in the positive or the negative, did I do OK?
Ja ja! Du er ikke uden evner.
I have no idea wether it's good or bad. I understand the "yes,yes, you" part. But some help with the rest would be appreciated.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:00 PM | Comments (0)
May 22, 2004
Media: Head Up Ass
And Full Speed Ahead
With all of the hullabloo about Rummy resigning over the grabass at Abu Ghraib, you may have been left wondering why there was no call for the actual person responsible to be strung up by the media.
Jack Wheeler of the Washington Times asks that same question. And he has an answer.
The commander of the 800th Military Police Brigade, is Army Brigadier General, Janis Karpinski. It was her incompetance that let the folks who ran the graveyard shift at Abu Ghraib commit these offences. When she was informed of that the long arm of the law was going to be encircling her prison, she claimed that she had a mental disturbance (read breakdown) and was put on leave.
The reason that the press is not calling for her head is
1. because she is a woman
2. they felt sorry for her
3. they hate Rumsfeld, and
4. they hate Bush
Found @ Dr. Horsefeathers
Posted by Nukevet at 06:26 AM | Comments (1)
May 21, 2004
An offer
I'm seriously thinking of sending my name to this guy.
Here's the skinny....
Matt Taibbi, from the alternative paper The New York Press, reads a letter in USAToday from Justin. Justin asks about the absnce of "good news" happening in Iraq.
Taibbi, be a jackass leftie who doesn't believe that there isn't any "good news" in Iraq, decided that he would send a challenge to Justin.
His challenge...
"I have two conditions. The first is that he goes unarmed and unescorted. The second is that he wear, every day, a t-shirt emblazoned with the American flag on the front, and also bearing an Arabic inscription on the back that reads, "God Bless the U.S."
The only part I am debating is the unarmed part. I don't go to my neighborhood bank unarmed. I have no doubt that there are folks in Iraq looking for an unarmed dupe to pull a Nick Berg on.
I wouldn't actually have to be armed. I could just have a pal around to carry my gun for me.
Any volunteers?
Posted by Nukevet at 07:58 PM | Comments (3)
May 19, 2004
Just Kidding
Sonia Ghandi is turning down the Indian PM position?
"I never wanted to be the prime minister and that was never my intention"
WTF? Then why'd you run, you giddy socio-twit?
I hope that Kerry does this if he wins in November? Just so long as his running mate isn't Teddy K or Hillary.
I mean, we could all throw $5 into a collection to buy him off. Then he'd have enough $$$ that he wouldn't have to dig for gold anymore.
Posted by Nukevet at 06:33 AM | Comments (3)
May 06, 2004
Hookers In Training
And no, I'm not talking about the political youth group...
Germany is introducing a new workplace regulation, which insists that businesses must take on at least one trainee/apprentice for every fifteen workers they employ.
An excellent initiative to get young people learning a trade, you might think
But as with all government interventions over the marketplace, there are unintended consequences.
For Germany recently legalized brothels. And, like other businesses, they too are covered by the new law. So for every 15 girls employed, another must be enticed into the trade as an apprentice.
A rather odd result � which just shows what a tangle politicians get into when they start telling businesses how to run themselves.
How truly sad.
Found @ Samizdata
Posted by Nukevet at 06:49 AM | Comments (0)
May 05, 2004
Playing the system
Letson says he remembers his brief encounter with Kerry 35 years ago because "some of his crewmen related that Lt. Kerry had told them that he would be the next JFK from Massachusetts." Letson says that last year,
It probably is.
What I saw was a small piece of metal sticking very superficially in the skin of Kerry's arm. The metal fragment measured about 1 cm. in length and was about 2 or 3 mm in diameter. It certainly did not look like a round from a rifle.
I simply removed the piece of metal by lifting it out of the skin with forceps. I doubt that it penetrated more than 3 or 4 mm. It did not require probing to find it, did not require any anesthesia to remove it, and did not require any sutures to close the wound.
The wound was covered with a bandaid.
I know the rules were loose in Vietnam regarding Purple Hearts. I would also be greatly interested in knowing something more about the other two he recieved, what were the circumstances of those? If he earned them, fine, no quarrel. But come on, I got hurt a lot worse than that on several occasions in peacetime. I'm loosing the sight in my right eye over one of them as I get older, so maybe I'm a bit too unsympathetic about this. If the other awards were as dubious, then what it looks like to me is pretty mercenary.
He volunteered to go there, did the least required, milked the system and opted out as soon as possible. Ticket punched, gimme the goodies. Leaving his crew behind in a cloud of dust, to continue to fight so he he could badmouth them as rapists and war criminals. He played the game, that may be technically legal, but it has the morality of a whore.
It raises another issue as well, was he indeed bragging about a political career even then? Didn't Clinton make similar statements in his letter to avoid the draft? Something about "political viability"? Do liberals always plan to fuck us over from birth or do they learn that in spoiled rich kid school?
Drudge.
Posted by Nukevet at 04:16 PM | Comments (1)
April 27, 2004
Will we become what we fight?
Eric the Mad Monk, from Who Tends The Fires - a great blog I would highly recommend, is having a discussion about whether or not we will become like the terrorists we fight if we cheer for the deaths, or become desensitized to possible civilian casualities in the places where these monsters live.
While I do not agree with his assessment of the situation, it is a very good read.
Posted by Nukevet at 05:36 PM | Comments (1)
April 20, 2004
Remodeler denies building
Poor Ms. Gorelick. She seems to have gotten a case of amnesia (or stupidity) from 'ol Tricky Dick Clarke.
The memo in which she helped extend 'The Wall' that kept the federal law enforcemnt agencies from talking to each other from 1995 to 2001 has already been declassified. So anyone can read it.
And then she goes and says something like this,
First, I did not invent the "wall," which is not a wall but a set of procedures implementing a 1978 statute (the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA) and federal court decisions interpreting it.
Now, I will give her credit for not actually 'inventing' the wall.
But, if you look at American Law as a house that is put up for occupation by a new family every four years, then you can see Ms. Gorelick as a member of the third 'family' to live in the American Law house since the original 'wall'.
Then, during her 'residence' in the American Law house, she decides that an existing decorative half-wall NEEDS to be extended to keep the house from collapsing.
And then, a few years later, after another 'family' has taken residency in the American Law house, the ceiling in the next room buckles and collapses. A subsequent investigation shows that the tension and pressure from her wall extension caused the buckling.
And yet she is still looking around for a different contractor who will say that it was the boogeyman hiding in the attic who caused the ceiling to buckle.
Because back in reality, her very own memo reads as follows,
That AUSA[Assistant US Attorney] will continue to be "walled-off" from participation in the on-going criminal investigations and cases will continue to abide by all FISA dissemination provisions and guidelines.
She, herself, calls it a wall. Where does she think the terminology came from?
Found @ Juicious Asininity
Posted by Nukevet at 07:13 AM | Comments (0)
April 13, 2004
Uh huh,..
This sounds better than it is. Just a little bit of exercise and it'll be all better, or at least feel better, so they say. Maybe I'm a touch grumpy on it because I know something about it, and brother, it ain't that simple.
The pain increases if you do two things, too much, and too little. The only path to alieving some of the pain is to find a happy middle, not so easy when you work, when you have small children. I have never been able to find that medium, the sensible center of activity. I do everything, and I mean everything as if I were the last man holding a bridge. No prisoners, no quarter, no mercy, it's all balls to the wall. It's made me a good airman, a good employee, and I hope, a good husband and father. But the middle isn't where I have ever gone.
To complicate things, I'm being treated for a pinched nerve between C5 and C6, so doing anything hurts. The doctor confirmed it, and I'm being dragged kicking and screaming back to therapy on Friday again. Traction sucks. But I do want to be able to turn my head and use my left arm so.........I still do what I have to. The plumbing needs fixed, I do it. The floor redone, that too. roofing, light carpentry, all that. I used to enjoy it, but now it's a simpler matter of doing it to save money because money spent on a contracter is money not spent on my families other needs. So you do what needs done. I just want to be able to wire a ceiling fan like I just did and be able to feel my left hand afterwards. It blows dropping the same frigging screw 27 times because I can't feel it in my fingers.
The thing about being treated, is that no disrespect to medical professionals intended, I always end up feeling like a kid on the first day of class. I'm learning, but changing the habits and behavior of a lifetime is hard. Having always been the ironman, the guy who got it done when others couldn't, it's maddening to be told I have to ease up and let others shoulder more.
I don't know how to do that very well.
Posted by Nukevet at 11:29 PM | Comments (0)
March 31, 2004
I've read it twice
But I still don't want to believe it.
U.S. Air Force members in Iraq are furious over a recent order to take down all American flags at Kirkuk air base to avoid offending Iraqis.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:19 AM | Comments (0)
March 26, 2004
In Bizarro World
British Prime Minister Tony Blair shakes hands with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in a tent outside Tripoli, March 25. 2004.
Oh wait!
It's not Bizarro World,
It's Bush's "failed" foreign policy world.
This must piss the left off to no end. That must be why they are always forgetting it.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:00 AM | Comments (1)
March 24, 2004
Captain Obvious strikes again
It is like the NYT thought that Hamas hadn't already declared war on Israel.
Hamas Names Hard-liner as New Leader in Gaza
The Palestinian Islamic movement Hamas named one of its most combative figures, Dr. Abdel Aziz Rantisi, as its leader in the Gaza Strip today following Israel's killing of the group's founder, Sheik Ahmed Yassin.
"The Israelis will not know security," Dr. Rantisi told the crowd at a memorial service today for Sheik Yassin. "We will fight them until the liberation of Palestine, the whole of Palestine."
And in remarks directed at the "military wing" of Hamas, he said, "The door is open for you to strike all places, all the time and using all means."
And the IDF will be standing on the otherside of that door with a damn shotgun.
Have at 'em, IDF.
Posted by Nukevet at 07:11 AM | Comments (1)
March 19, 2004
Things that make you go Hmmm
Michael Jennings reports some strange happenings in London over at Samizdata
This morning I caught a train from south London into Waterloo, as I often do. There was a significantly larger police presence at Waterloo station than I am used to. It was not intended to be large enough to cause anyone to panic, but it there were certainly more police there than there were last week. Some of the police were carrying handguns. (Police in Great Britain are not normally armed). I then walked over one of the Hungerford footbridges that connect Waterloo and the South Bank Centre with Charing Cross Station on the other side of the Thames. Walking across the footbridge were two policement, one of who was carrying a sub-machine gun. (One normally only sees such things at airports, or outside the US embassy, or somewhere like that). At Charing Cross over the river there was again a more substantial police presence than I am used to, and again quite a few of the police were armed.
This was all actually clearly intended to be pretty low key, but I could feel the unmistakeable sense that the police and security forces are nervous at the moment. After the events in Spain last week, they should be. I am nervous. But seeing this kind of response on the streets is certainly something that makes me feel closer to it.
Hmmm.....
Posted by Nukevet at 05:48 AM | Comments (0)
March 16, 2004
Anti-Gun Left, Please take note
What doesn he find inside?
Two men (both convicted felons), two women, four 'assault rifles', pistols (one of which was determined to have been stolen), knives, camouflage clothing, ski masks, ammunition and drug paraphernalia.
And here is the major news flash of the linked article;
The driver, Jeremy D. Andrews, 27, and a passenger, David J. Baxter, 23, both from Tacoma and both convicted felons, were arrested for investigation of possession of a stolen firearm and being felons in possession of firearms.
What!?!?!
You mean that criminals aren't following the law!?!?!
How can this be!?!?!
Stupid fucking liberals.
Posted by Nukevet at 06:18 AM | Comments (0)
February 27, 2004
Discrimination: Innately Bad?
This post began as a response to Ironbear at Who Tends the Fire
I have no trouble with the masses being allowed to vote. If they want to do something that is currently illegal - they just have to convince half of the people around them (city, state or country depending on the law) to agree with them. But this choice has been taken out of their hands by the 'gay marriage' crowd. The Amendment process puts it back. Personally, I think the Amendment is doomed, but it lets the people get their say.
Ironbear said that he would not agree to discriminate, even if it was to do so in favor of the acceptable over the distasteful.
One of the cores of human society is IT DISCRIMINATES. Society discriminates because it is an instinct of the people that compose it. It discriminates against rapists and murderers (or it should), it discriminates against those unwilling to provide for themsleves (they become poor or die, unless born into a rich family). Discrimination is a tool of society, when used properly it helps keep one healthy and stable. When discrimination is turned to petty ends, then it becomes harmful.
Discrimination can be viewed as the white blood cells of a society - when turned against diseased cells or invaders (criminals) it is a boon. When it turns against healthy tissue it becomes a problem. Laws, or other tools of Government control, are akin to antibiotics. They are not a natural part of society, and like discrimination, can be helpful or harmful. Properly used, antibiotics will help the body fight off infections. Used improperly, they can result in severe damage to the body, even death.
Ironbear does not see the results of 'gay marriage' as harmful - and he does a fair job of articulating that position. To him, discriminating against such unions is petty, and harmful. I am not so sure, because the effects of 'gay marriage' are UNKNOWN. No society has ever gone down this road, so we do not know what problems to expect or try to avoid. The consequences of discriminating against 'gay marriage', while distasteful to many, are clear. The 'gay marriage' activists have taken the decision out of the hands of the many and put it into the hands of the few -the judges. And the decisions the few have made in the past make me uneasy about the effects of their possible desicion here.
In a society where discrimination had not been criminalized, no law banning 'gay marriage' would have been needed. Those who felt that 'gay marriage' was a sin, or evil, or wrong would have shunned those who practiced it. Those who had no problem with the practice would not shun gay couples. There would have been no legal reprecussion, just social ones.
But, starting in the 1960s, the Left in America began attacking discrimination. The first cause was certainly noble - attacking discrimination based on race. That was a example of discrimination gone bad. But afterwards, they attacked discrimination on any grounds. Hence, criminals' rights became *at least* as important to them as the victims'.
It is like the drugs that doctors use to weaken a person's immune system. While they allow the patients to accept organ transplants, it also leaves them vulnerable to infections, possibly lethal ones.
The defenders of traditional marriage have turned to the Government because it is the only tool they have left to stop what they see a dangerous infection that threatens to the body of our society. If it kills off some healthy tissue in the process, they are willing to make the sacrifice.
My point, rambling as this post has been, is that the 'gay marriage' crowd chose the the battlefield - the law instead of culture -, the traditional marriage crowd just upped the weaponry - Amending the Constitution instead of using the courts. Isn't forcing 'gay marriage' downt he throats of the voters of America, who do not want it, a form of discrimination? Is it healthy for the country? I don't know, but the 'gay marriage' crowd does not know either.
I, personally, would like to see the Government out of the marriage business, and out of the personal lives of Americans as much as possible. A body with with a strong immune system is better off than one dependant on drugs for survival. However, that does appear to be an option at this time. So I must choose between a drastic step to defend a 5,000 year old tradition, and an equally drastic step to force an alien concept down America's throat. I choose to defend the traditional.
If that makes a bigot, then a bigot I am.
Posted by Nukevet at 05:01 AM | Comments (7)