D'oh!

Hoo-boy, Joe Biden has really stepped into it now (emphasis mine):

Mr. Biden is equally skeptical—albeit in a slightly more backhanded way—about Mr. Obama. "I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy,” he said. “I mean, that’s a storybook, man."

Meaning that other mainstream African-Americans before Obama have been inarticulate, stupid, unwashed, and ugly??

Your presidential hopes, Joe ol' boy, are now "a storybook, man" - as in a Brothers Grimm tale.

(via Drudge)

Royal farce

Michael Barone has a piece in today's WSJ about the increasing "royalism" of US presidential politics, with two rival families - the Clintons and the Bushs - taking turns in the White House.

But - if the trend continues - Barone presents us with a hideous vision of the future: a 2016 presidential race between Chelsea Clinton and Jenna Bush. Noooooooooooooooo............

It's too bad this isn't a joke

This is an actual t-shirt that is selling at casualconservative.com . If it was a joke, it would still scare me, but look at the text that is printed with the information on the shirt:

At this point, there are few courses of action that could
save Iran. Maybe Ahmadinejad will give up his quest
for nuclear weapons. Not likely. Or maybe the young
people in Iran, who realize what he is doing to their
country, will overthrow the little terrorist dictator and
save the day. I’m not holding my breath on that one
either. Well shoot…that pretty much leaves us with the
third option, as illustrated on this shirt!

I wish conservatives would learn from the failures in Iraq. It's not enough to talk tough. You need to talk to people as well. Diplomacy is an option, and it's one we haven't tried at all. I hope that we at least have one civil discussion before we bomb Iran. Furthermore, we need to have good intelligence, which we didn't have on Iraq and which we don't seem to have on Iran either. Why don't Bush and Ahmadinejad go have coffee and discuss the needs of the two countries? It might be beneficial; however, I don't think that Bush can pronounce Ahmadinejad. Oh well!

BTW, my blog has turned away from politics, so I plan on posting my political rants here and linking back on my blog. Since I'm on the banner, I need to hold up my end of the outhouse.

Lies, Damn Lies, and MSNBC

In the past I and others have noted the problematic relationship MSNBC's David Shuster has had with the truth. Yesterday Tom Maguire absolutely destroyed what minimal amount of credibility that "reporter" had left (at least outside the fever swamp of Obermoonbatland). In analyzing Shuster's coverage of the Libby trial, Maguire leads off with:

So often I find myself asking - is it true, or is that a report from David Shuster?

Before the age of blogs, a hack like Shuster could get away with blatant bias and fabrications in their reportage. They still get away with it for the most part, but at least today such distortions of news coverage are documented and available in the public domain.

7 Weird Things

I have been "TAGGED" by NoSurfGirl, which apparently means I must post 7 weird things about myself. I don't know how this got started or what it's all about, but the fiesty lass has challenged me so I must respond...

7. In 1969 I was with my family visiting relatives in San Antonio, and one night as we drove back from dinner at a pizzeria we sighted a large glowing football-shaped object moving in and out of the scattered clouds in the sky. We were able to keep it in sight all the way back to my grandmother's house; as we drove into her neighborhood we saw that dozens of people had come out into the street from their houses to watch the strange object, which remained in view for about half an hour. Cue "X-Files" music...

6. My first girlfriend in high school was named Sunday Palmer; she is the first and only person I've ever met to be named after a day of the week (ok, it would have been weirder if she'd been named Wednesday Adams, but I don't have a lot to work with here).

5. I put hot sauce (preferably Louisiana Hot Sauce) on nearly everything I eat, be it prime rib, Ahi tuna, Chicken Kiev, or pineapple pizza. I do refrain from adding it to ice cream and cold cereal, however, so again it's not *totally* weird.

4. I met former teen heart-throb Shaun Cassidy while working as an extra on a terrible TV-series spawned by the great movie "Breaking Away". The series (which only lasted 5 or 6 episodes) was set in Bloomington, Indiana, but at the time of filming Bloomington was an Arctic tundra so the show came here to Athens, GA. I could be seen for about 1.6 seconds when the episode that I worked on aired on ABC in late 1980; perhaps they will have more of me when somebody gets around to putting the director's cut of the series on DVD...

3. Speaking of TV, for most of my adult life - especially when I was younger and thinner - many people said I looked like Mr. Bean (Rowland Atkinson). On a trip to Jamaica around 1990, some people I met during a party at our resort was certain beyond a doubt that I was Mr. Bean traveling incognito; no matter how much I tried I couldn't convince them otherwise - I don't even have an English accent, for crying out loud. About seven years ago I was shopping in downtown Vienna, Austria, when a couple walking behind me on the street started talking loudly and gesturing towards me...I had no idea what they were saying since my knowledge of German is pretty much limited to the word "bier", but in about every other sentence I heard the words "Mr. Bean". Of all the famous actors I could have looked like....well, it beats being called "Danny DeVito", I guess.

2. Around 1994 I "led" a protest march in downtown London. The protest was in favor of - you'll never guess it - acid-tripping rave parties. What happened was that my friends and I were walking from our hotel to see the Houses of Parliament, and since I'd been to London before I was leading the way. As we neared Parliament, we saw hundreds of young people assembled in a small park near the street, holding some kind of rally. We didn't pay much attention to it and continued on our way. But a few minutes later as we neared Parliament, I noticed that the crowd of protestors had left the park and were walking directly behind us on the sidewalk. From their signs and chants I could see that they were protesting against recent police crackdowns on illegal rave parties, where all manner of illicit substances were apparently available ("Fight for your right to party" was on some of the placards). A moment later van-loads of police swooped in from all directions and swarms of baton-wielding Bobbies poured out to meet the protestors head-on - and there I was at the very front of the marchers, looking like I was a freaking Leader of these acid-heads. Luckily we were able to run down a side alley at the last second and avoided getting a "wood shampoo", as a friend in the Ga State Patrol likes to put it.

1. Last night I had a dream that I was one of NoSurfGirl's polygamous husbands - it was weird indeed: she was wearing a hot red jumper (which thankfully covered up her hairy legs), and she spent the whole dream cleaning the floors of my house. Can't imagine where that came from....

An Apology

You may have recently heard that Robert Redford is demanding an apology. Very well, I'll be glad to give him one:

~ I am so very sorry, Mr. Redford, that you think being a Hollywood star makes your facile views on national defense worth listening to.

~ I deeply regret you are moronic enough to believe that "political diversity has been attempted to be thwarted", when every left-wing moonbat in the country has been spewing their bile unabated and at high volume during the last six years (including your own peers, Mr. Redford - Barbara Streisand ring a bell, Bob ol' chum? Michael Moore? Alec Baldwin? Susan Sarandon?).

~ I also sincerely regret you are arrogant enough to imply that people who disagree with you must not possess "a rational mind" or "a sense of decency", even as your own Sundance festival makes a mockery of the concept of decency.

~ And finally, Mr. Redford, I am sincerely sorry that you still cling to sad old '60s rallying cries like "truth to power", and that you are deluded enough to think that such bromides are still cutting edge.

So there's your apology, Mr. Redford. And no need to thank me, I was happy to help.

A Travesty

An AP story lists the "major players" in Scooter Libby's perjury trial. By Richard Armitage's name we see this:

The judge wants to avoid bogging the trial down on who was responsible for leaking Plame's identity.

Say waaaa?? Finding out who was responsible for leaking Plame's name was how this whole fiasco started. Lefties like my friend Jeff considered the leak to be one of the most damaging security breaches in the annals of espionage, and any number of moonbats out there claimed the leak was nothing less than an act of treason. But now the only criminal prosecution to arise from the investigation of the leak is not going to focus on the leaker in any way?

President Bush should end this travesty and pardon Libby. Right. Frigging. Now.

Baaad Kitty

Unfortunately, there's been a flurry of news (all of it bad) about the avian flu during the past week or so:

~ A deadly new cluster of human cases in Indonesia left four people dead this month

~ Jakarta hospitals are being overwhelmed with patients presenting sypmtoms of the disease

~ Two people who contracted bird flu in Egypt have died even though they were treated with Tamiflu, suggesting that the Egyptian H5N1 strain is resistant to the antiviral drug

~ Over two dozen suspected human cases have been identified in Thailand

~ Thousands of commercial poultry animals have had to be destroyed after the bird flu was found in Japan

~ A new outbreak of the virus has been confirmed at duck farms in Vietnam

~ The virus is also being detected in wild fowl in Hong Kong

~ UN health experts are baffled by this month's spike in H5N1 outbreaks

Perhaps most alarming (to me, anyway) is a report from Indonesia indicating that up to one-fifth of all stray cats in Indonesia are carrying the H5N1 virus. The WHO says that no human cases have yet been linked to infected cats, but it is still worrying that the virus appears to be making the jump to mammals more easily than it has in the past. So think twice before you bring Puss Puss in from the yard...

"They want a chance"

We've often seen a disconnect between mainstream media coverage of the Iraq war, and the accounts of military people who, you know, are actually there. We had another example yesterday, when Hugh Hewitt spoke on his radio show with a Chief Warrant Officer who's a three-tour veteran of Iraq. The Chief, who's with Army intel, described how the vast majority of Kurds, Sunni, and Shi'a get along together in Iraq, how there are "a lot of relations, marriages, between Sunni and Shia, Kurd and Sunni, Kurd and Shia, interrelations between the different groups".

HH: And Baghdad itself is a network of warrens that sometimes overlap, but are often…you just can’t separate them.

Chris: It’s impossible to separate them. It quite literally is impossible.

HH: All right.

Chris: And in most instances, those people get along quite well.

HH: Yup.

Chris: But we don’t see it in mainstream media, because it’s not popular, it doesn’t sell news. So those are the things that would like to be seen more by us.

The Warrant Officer also describes his strong feelings on the idea of prematurely withdrawing from Iraq:

HH: When you hear people talk about withdrawing and let the chips fall, does that strike you…

Chris: It infuriates me.

HH: Tell me why.

Chris: Because just as in America, Iraq has their bad seeds, their bad eggs, whatever you want to call them. But it’s a minority. It’s a very small percentage, but just like anywhere else, that very small percentage makes the most noise, and therefore, they’re the most noticeable. Most of the Iraqi people that I’ve dealt with would give you the shirt off their back if you ask for it, not even needed it, not wanted it. If you just ask for it, it’s yours. You show interest in something of theirs, it’s yours. They’re very giving, they’re very kind, they’re very smart, and they just, just like us, they want a chance. I’m biased, because I have spent one heck of a lot of time with the Iraqi people. And by and large, they are one heck of a good group of people.

Art imitates un-PC reality

While I was watching "24" on TV last evening I started to brace myself for the onslaught we shall see in the coming weeks of outraged leftist PC police excoriating the show for having the temerity to portray some Muslims as terrorists intent on killing Americans. Never mind that the show also had Muslim characters who were trying to prevent the terrorist atrocities; in PC Land there are no bad Muslims, only "deeply paranoid" Americans.

Of course, what can one expect when there are so many leftists who cannot or will not recognize that militant radical Islam poses an existential threat to Western democratic society? They refuse to abide such a notion in real life, let alone on a TV drama.

Obviously the vast, overwhelming majority of Muslims reject violence and deplore the ideology of al-Qaeda and other radical terror groups. But the incontrovertible fact remains that while not all Muslims are Jihadists, all Jihadists are Muslims. Sometimes reality isn't as politically correct as we'd like it to be, but there are many followers of Islam who wish to "kill the Americans", and pretending otherwise isn't going to make the threat go away.

The Prince and the Pirates

Today Drudge links to a strange story about a rogue file-sharing company, The Pirate Bay, which is attempting to buy its own country in order to evade international copyright laws - i.e., the "mirconation" of Sealand.

The story of Sealand is strange enough in its own right. During WWII, the British Royal Navy built a "sea fort" called Roughs Tower just off the southeast coast of Britain, and equipped it with radar, naval guns, and anti-aircraft cannons. A decade after the war ended the Royal Navy abandoned the platform and left it to rot. But in 1967 a character named Paddy Roy Bates from Essex took over the derelict sea fort, moved his family there, and set up a pirate radio station. But other pirate broadcasters also coveted Roughs Tower, and the Bates family had to fight off the invaders with "Molotov cocktails, handguns, and sawn-off shotguns".

The mini naval battles, visible from the nighttime shores of Suffolk, drew the ire of Essex authorities, and Bates was brought to book on firearms charges. But in 1968 an Essex court dismissed the charges, ruling that Roughs Tower was outside of the UK's territorial sea limit, and therefore beyond the reach of British law since it rested in international waters. The emboldened Bates declared the platform to be the sovereign Principality of Sealand, and dubbed himself and his family as the royalty of the new micronation. Eventually "Prince Roy" issued passports for Sealand, and created its own flag, currency, stamps, and even a national anthem.

Now the family of the radio pirate is looking to make a deal with modern-day digital pirates. Prince Roy's "royal heir", his son Prince Michael, is offering to sell Sealand for £100 million, and the Sweden-based Pirate Bay is trying to secure funds for the purchase. What's more, anyone who donates money to the cause can become a "citizen" of Sealand themselves - avast, ye scury Net geeks!

A mixed bag

I heard some of what I wanted to hear in the President's speech last night regarding Iraq - it wasn't everything I'd hoped for, but it was adequate on the whole. I was especially glad to hear this bit (emphasis mine):

Succeeding in Iraq also requires defending its territorial integrity and stabilizing the region in the face of extremist challenges. This begins with addressing Iran and Syria. These two regimes are allowing terrorists and insurgents to use their territory to move in and out of Iraq. Iran is providing material support for attacks on American troops. We will disrupt the attacks on our forces. We'll interrupt the flow of support from Iran and Syria. And we will seek out and destroy the networks providing advanced weaponry and training to our enemies in Iraq.

I only hope that deeds will follow these words...a couple of B-52 Arclight strikes against terrorist staging areas in Syria and Iran would be a good start. The following should also have been done a long time ago:

To give every Iraqi citizen a stake in the country's economy, Iraq will pass legislation to share oil revenues among all Iraqis.

About. Frigging. Time.

I was also pleased with the sobriety of his statements regarding the impact of the changes:

This new strategy will not yield an immediate end to suicide bombings, assassinations, or IED attacks. Our enemies in Iraq will make every effort to ensure that our television screens are filled with images of death and suffering. Yet over time, we can expect to see Iraqi troops chasing down murderers, fewer brazen acts of terror, and growing trust and cooperation from Baghdad's residents.

However, I'd hoped for about double the announced increase in troop levels, but this is better than nothing. Moreover, he actually mentioned the very thing I was calling for a couple of days ago:

We can begin by working together to increase the size of the active Army and Marine Corps, so that America has the Armed Forces we need for the 21st century.

But when SecDef Gates announced the proposed increases, he put the number at a paltry 92,000. We need to increase the active duty strength by about 5 times that level, I'd say - but again it's better than nothing. This, by the way, is an issue wholly separate from Iraq, and if the Dems balk at this modest increase then they are even more stupid and irresponsible on national security than I'd feared.

A "moral catastrophe"

In the comments of my last post below, my friend Jeff implies that the 2006 election was some kind of referendum against the Iraq war. Certainly Iraq was a major issue in the election, but myriad other issues were at play as well, including conservative dissatisfaction with the big-spending Republican Congress. To the assertion that the last election was primarily a rebuke to the Bush Administration on the war, I have two words: Joe Lieberman.

Running as an independent, the pro-war Lieberman thrashed a liberal Democrat in a liberal Democratic state who was running on a strong anti-war platform. If Americans were so intensely anti-war, Lieberman would not be returning to the Senate this month.

Speaking of Lieberman, the good Senator had an eloquent op-ed in the WaPo recently about the calamity that a premature U.S. withdrawl from Iraq would bring:

As the hostile regimes in Iran and Syria appreciate -- at times, it seems, more keenly than we do -- failure in Iraq would be a strategic and moral catastrophe for the United States and its allies. Radical Islamist terrorist groups, both Sunni and Shiite, would reap victories simultaneously symbolic and tangible, as Iraq became a safe haven in which to train and strengthen their foot soldiers and Iran's terrorist agents. Hezbollah and Hamas would be greatly strengthened against their moderate opponents. One moderate Palestinian leader told me that a premature U.S. exit from Iraq would be a victory for Iran and the groups it is supporting in the region. Meanwhile, the tens of thousands of Iraqis who have bravely stood with us in the hope of a democratic future would face the killing fields.

More troops needed...across the board

At our monthy drill over the weekend I was able to meet with my friend Captain Jim, who has recently returned from a stint working with the J2 at CENTCOM in Iraq. Capt. Jim says that additional combat soldiers are definitely needed in Iraq (and President Bush is apparently going to announce a troop increase this evening). More than that, however, he noted there is an urgent need to bolster manpower across all the armed forces. Today we have less than 1.5 million men and women in active duty service; during the 1980s the U.S. had over 3.5 million uniformed active duty servicepeople.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, foolish politicans from both parties proclaimed a "peace dividend", and the military was gutted during the 1990s. Today we are still paying the price for this "holiday from history", and the present overall active duty strength (or lack thereof) has made President Bush reluctant to increase the occupation force in Iraq, since it will mean sending units for a third tour of duty in Iraq.

Tonight Bush will announce more troop deployments to Iraq, but will he call for a major increase in personnel authorizations overall? Doubtfull; he has shown no sign of doing this in the past six years, and with the Democrats holding Congress it's now even less likely to happen. Our long "holiday from history" continues...

UPDATE: Got my dates confused; Bush's address will be Wednesday evening. This afternoon I had the displeasure of catching that execrable asshat Ted Kennedy yammering on about the bill he's introducing to deny funds for any troop increase in Iraq. Well good, let's get the members of Congress on record - who is in favor of winning the war, and who is not?

New look, same ol' crap

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas & New Year's. As you may have noticed, the Den is undergoing some cosmetic changes, which are still in progress. But fear not, the half-baked nonsense you've come to know and love will remain as ever. Check back during the coming week or two as the Den finalizes its new look!