IRS tramples free speech

This is outrageous.

In a letter of clarification requested by a traveling minister, the Internal Revenue Service has declared people gathered in tax-exempt churches can't pray for President Bush to win the election on Tuesday.

Acts 5:28-29 (the high priest said) "Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name?"... Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, "We ought to obey God rather than men."

These two links (mentioned in the first story) point to other groups that seems to be behind these antics. If they are soooo interested in keeping the government out, why would they use the government to censor churches?

p.s. This is yet another reason to eliminate the hyper-complicated tax bureaucracy.

UPDATE: ...or maybe not. (just kidding)

Hanoi John

If this story is true, it should (at a bare minimum) immediately disqualify Kerry for public office in America.

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(I copied the main story here so it doesn't "get disappeared")
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The first documentary evidence that Vietnamese communists were directly steering John Kerry's antiwar group Vietnam Veterans Against the War has been discovered in a U.S. archive, according to a researcher who spoke with WorldNetDaily.

One freshly unearthed document, captured by the U.S. from Vietnamese communists in 1971 and later translated, indicates the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese delegations to the Paris peace talks that year were used as the communications link to direct the activities of Kerry and other antiwar activists who attended.

Kerry insists he attended the talks only because he happened to be in France on his honeymoon and maintains he met with both sides. But previously revealed records indicate the future senator made two, and possibly three, trips to Paris to meet with Viet Cong leader Madame Nguyen Thi Binh then promote her plan's demand for U.S. surrender.

Jerome Corsi, a specialist on the Vietnam era, told WND the new discoveries are the "most remarkable documents I've seen in the entire history of the antiwar movement."

"We're not going to say he's an agent for Vietnamese communists, but it's the next thing to it," he said. "Whether he was consciously carrying out their direction or naively doing what they wanted, it amounted to the same thing; he advanced their cause."

Corsi, co-author of the Swift Boat Vets and POWs for Truth best-seller "Unfit for Command," and Scott Swett, who maintains the group's website, have posted a summary of the discovery on the website of Wintersoldier.com.

Corsi says the documents show how the North Vietnamese, the Viet Cong, the People's Coalition for Peace and Justice, the Communist Party of the USA and Kerry's VVAW worked closely together to achieve the Vietnamese communists' primary objective; the defeat of the U.S. in Vietnam.

"I think what we've discovered is a smoking gun," Corsi said. "We knew when we wrote 'Unfit for Command' that Kerry had met with Madame Binh and then promoted her peace plan.

"This document enables us to connect the dots," he emphasized. "We now have evidence Madame Binh was directing the antiwar movement ... and the person who implemented her strategy was John Kerry."

July 22, 1971, Kerry called on President Nixon to accept the plan at a press conference in which he surrounded himself with the families of POWs, a strategy outlined in the first document.

The two documents also connect the dots between the Vietnamese communists and the radical U.S. group People's Coalition for Peace and Justice through the person of Al Hubbard, a coordinating member of PCPJ and the executive director of VVAW while Kerry was its national spokesman.

"Al Hubbard and John Kerry were carrying out the predetermined agenda of the enemy in a coordinated fashion," Corsi said. "It's a level of collaboration that exceeded anything we had imagined."

The second document, captured by U.S. military forces in South Vietnam May 12, 1972, urges Vietnamese officials to promote the antiwar activities in the United States.

Significantly, the fifth paragraph makes it clear the Vietnamese communists were using, for propaganda purposes, a protest described as taking place April 19-22, 1971.

This coincides with the well-known "Dewey Canyon III" protest in Washington, D.C., highlighted by Kerry's Senate Foreign Relations testimony charging American soldiers with war crimes.

The document's description of the protest includes the "return the medals" event in which Kerry and other VVAW members threw their war decorations toward the steps of the Capitol.

Corsi told WND the documents have been authenticated with "100 percent certainty."

But why were they unearthed now, just one week before the Nov. 2 election?

Corsi insisted the timing was unintentional.

"It's truly one of those accidents of how things develop in research," he said. "We did not spring any surprise, we just found these documents, and even the archivist didn't know they were there."

Swift Boat Vets and POWs for Truth dispatched two researchers to Texas Tech University's Vietnam-era archive in Lubbock, which has more than 2 million documents, to "see if there was anything there," Corsi said.

Many of the documents are in Vietnamese and have not been translated yet.

The two documents were found in boxes containing papers from antiwar activities during 1971-72, but they also turned out to be posted in an Internet database, which enabled further verification, Corsi said.

First document

The first document is a "circular" outlining the Vietnamese regime's strategies to coordinate its propaganda effort with its orchestration of U.S. antiwar group activities.

The spontaneous antiwar movements in the US have received assistance and guidance from the friendly ((VC/NVN)) delegations at the Paris Peace Talks.

The phrases in double parentheses were added by U.S. translators for clarification. "VC" refers to the Viet Cong, while "NVN" is the North Vietnamese government.

Corsi and Swett point out that FBI files show Kerry returned to Paris to meet with the North Vietnamese delegation in August 1971 and planned a third trip in November.

Corsi emphasizes that before the discovery of this document, he and other researchers had no direct evidence that Hanoi actually was directing the antiwar movement to implement the regime's goals, although they assumed it to be the case based on other indications.

In her meeting with Kerry in Paris, Madame Binh instructed him on how he and the VVAW could "serve as Hanoi's surrogates in the United States," Corsi and Swett say. This included advancement of her seven-point peace plan forcing President Nixon to set a date to end the war and withdraw troops.

Hanoi cleverly constructed the plan so that the only barrier to release of American POWs was Nixon's unwillingness to set a withdrawal date.

But as Corsi and Swett emphasize, the plan amounted to a virtual surrender that included payment of reparations and an admission the U.S. was the aggressor in an immoral war against the communists.

The circular underscores the impact of the peace plan on U.S. activists, stating:

"The seven-point peace proposal ((of the SVN Provisional Revolutionary Government)) not only solved problems concerning the release of US prisoners but also motivated the people of all walks of life and even relatives of US pilots detained in NVN to participate in the antiwar movement.

Another section of the circular, again highlighting the interconnectedness of the Vietnamese communists, the U.S. antiwar movement and politics in the U.S. and South Vietnam, says Nixon and South Vietnamese leader Thieu are "very embarrassed because the seven-point peace proposal is supported by the [South Vietnamese] people's ((political struggle)) movement and the antiwar movements in the US. "

Therefore, the circular says, "all local areas, units, and branches must widely disseminate the seven-point peace proposal, step up the people's ((political struggle)) movements both in cities and rural areas, taking advantage of disturbances and dissensions in the enemy's forthcoming (RVN) Congressional and Presidential elections. They must coordinate more successfully with the antiwar movements in the US so as to isolate the Nixon-Thieu clique."

Second document

In addition to tying activities surrounding Kerry's 1971 protest to the direction of Vietnamese communists, the second document reveals the degree to which Hanoi worked with and through the People's Coalition for Peace and Justice.

Of the U.S. antiwar movements, the two most important ones are: The PCPJ ((the People's Committee for Peace and Justice)) and the NPAC ((National Peace Action Committee)). These two movements have gathered much strength and staged many demonstrations. The PCPJ is the most important. It maintains relations with us.

Corsi and Swett note the House Internal Securities Committee in its 1971 Annual Report described the PCPJ as an organization strongly controlled by U.S. communists.

"There is no question but what members of the Communist Party have provided a very strong degree of influence, even a guiding influence, in the evolution and formation of policies of the People's Coalition for Peace and Justice."

Corsi cites recently released FBI surveillance reports that establish a strong link between Kerry, Hubbard, the VVAW, the PCPJ and their trips to Paris to meet with Madame Binh.

Kerry shared the stage with Hubbard - who recruited Kerry into the group - during the Dewey Canyon III protest, and they appeared together on NBC's Meet the Press April 18, 1971. Hubbard's claimed to have been a transport pilot wounded in combat, but the Department of Defense released documents showing he was neither a pilot nor an officer and had never served in Vietnam.

An FBI field surveillance report stamped Nov. 11, 1971, showed Kerry and Hubbard were planning to travel to Paris later that month to engage in talks with Vietnamese communist delegations. Other FBI reports clearly show the Communist Party of the USA was paying for Hubbard's trips to Paris, Corsi notes.

Another FBI report, dated Nov. 24, 1971, gives details of Hubbard's presentation to a VVAW meeting of the Executive and Steering committees in Kansas City, Mo., Nov. 12-15, 1971.

At that meeting, the VVAW considered and then rejected a plan to assassinate several pro-war U.S. Senators. Kerry is listed as present.

The FBI document shows communist coordination in Hubbard's trip to Paris.

[BLACK OUT] advised that Hubbard gave the following information regarding his Paris trip:

Two foreign groups, which are Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) and Peoples Republic Government (PRG) (phonetic), invited representatives of the VVAW, Communist Party USA (CP USA), and a Left Wing group in Paris, to attend meeting of the above inviting groups in Paris. Hubbard advised he was elected to represent the VVAW. An unknown male was invited to represent the CP USA and an unknown individual was elected to represent the Left Wing group from Paris. He advised at the meeting that his trip was financed by CP USA.

Corsi and Swett cite an appeal letter written by Hubbard April 20, 1971, demonstrating the strong coordination between Vietnam Veterans Against the War and People's Coalition for Peace and Justice.

Addressed from the offices of the VVAW in Washington, D.C., the letter asks VVAW members to provide assistance to the PCPJ. It discusses several ways in which the two organizations have worked closely together:

This is an appeal for help for the Peoples Coalition for Peace and Justice. Over the past months the Peoples Coalition has supported the Vietnam Vets Against the War in many ways. The Coalition has made office space available at no charge, and permitted the use of all necessary office equipment such as mimeograph machines, stencil-making machines, folders and typewriters. They have loaned us cars, bullhorns, and public address equipment. Their staff has taken messages for us and joined fraternally in building our progress. Now we can return this support.

Saturday, April 24, the Coalition needs help collecting money and selling buttons at the great march and rally. Collectors and sellers must be energetic and determined. There will be security problems in taking large amounts of money to banks. The Coalition needs people power, hundreds of workers.

I earnestly hope that you will come forward to support our friends in this emergency.

Two days after Hubbard's letter was written, Kerry told Sen. William Fulbright's Foreign Relations Committee that American military in Vietnam were committing war crimes in the manner of Genghis Khan.

The event mentioned in the letter was PCPJ's massive April 24 demonstration in Washington that followed the VVAW's Dewey Canyon III protest.

Yet another MSM-DNC lie

How many of these lying scams will they try to pull before Americans say "I'M NOT GOING TO LISTEN TO YOU ANY MORE!!!"

Reagan had it right

Of course he got a lot of things right, but this particular speech he gave 40 years ago still rings true.

This is the issue of this election: Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capitol can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves. You and I are told increasingly we have to choose between a left or right. Well I'd like to suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There's only an up or down - [up is man's oldest] dream, the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order, - or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism. And regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would trade our freedom for security have embarked on this downward course.

Wacky World Series Prediction...

Random thought:

The Boston Red Sox will trade in their old curse for a new one this year. They have won the first games and are looking forward to winning their first series in 86 years, but the lunar eclipse will become the sign of their new curse when they choke and lose the next four.

What are the odds?

UPDATE: Well, that prediction didn't happen, but here's another. The Red Sox win will usher in an era of their fans ceasing to continuously whine about the curse, and becoming more considerate of the fans of other teams when visiting other stadiums.

Odds are even lower...

(I'm sure there are plenty of Red Sox fans who are not loud and obnoxious about it - but all of them I have personally encountered were.)

Clinton Endorses Bush!

At a recent Kerry rally, former President Clinton is quoted as saying "One candidate is playing to your hopes, and one is playing to your fears. One is inspiring you to think, and one endorses intimidation. If there's one candidate that makes you hope and think, you should vote for him."

In light of the recent wave of democratic party violence against republicans, the medicare and draft hoaxes, the threats against all who speak against democratic demagoguery, and the continuous barrage of uncivil behavior against the United States by Kerry and his supporters, Mr. Clinton, in his own inimitable way, is obviously endorsing President Bush.

Random Fun Stuff

This one just quacked me up...

Orbital mechanics can be fun!

Blog-related Dream 3

This one is kind of like that "slacker" movie, pointless and taking random turns along the way. The only background information you need is the various blog names used (which are linked). Edited for clarity, but not content.


In the dream, a female friend (nobody I know in real life, I'll call her Jenny) and I were leaving from another friend's house in a northwest suburb of Houston. She was planning to drop me off at my house a couple of hours north, then go home, somewhere near Dallas. Unfortunately, just a couple of miles down the road, her Saturn sedan started having problems.

We coasted in to a (national chain) repair shop, which was getting ready to close for the Saturday evening. The salesman was professional and didn't make an issue of it, but it was clear that the shop workers did not want to delay their weekend plans for one last repair. However, they went ahead and pulled the car into a repair bay and plugged it into their diagnostic computers. About five minutes later, the computer printed its report, and a mechanic brought it up to the sales counter. The salesman pressed a few buttons at the register, then told Jenny what the problem was and how much it would cost.

A brake job, with replacement front rotors. FORTY-EIGHT HUNDRED dollars, using generic parts. Over SEVENTY-TWO HUNDRED dollars, using factory original parts.

Jenny wasn't fazed by that number, and pulled out her checkbook. I stopped her, and whispered to her that the price was "just a little bit steep". Then I made some excuses to the salesman, and got her out of the shop.

As I was explaining to her just how much brake jobs should cost, and trying to figure out how we could get her car to another less expensive shop, we started walking towards a Chinese restaurant in a small, less than half occupied, shopping center across the street. It smelled really good, and we were getting hungry, but as soon as I opened the door for her, I saw a shop next door with several people I thought I recognized, but couldn't quite place the faces. Jenny was too hungry, so she went on in to get us a table. I went in to the other shop which had no signs, except for some small white vinyl letters on the door showing a phone number under the name "I Love Jet Noise".

There were five people in the front room, sitting around a glass dining room table, having a friendly discussion over several small piles of official-looking papers. I also heard a couple of other voices in a back room. They were all twenty-something guys, all with short dark hair, and dressed very casually. Without introducing myself, I asked what they were doing. They began talking about the band they had formed while in college, and were excited about the prospect of a big tour they were going to start, opening for Flying Space Monkey.

I asked what style of music they played, and they all looked at each other for a second, started laughing, and said "well, it's difficult to describe". Two of them began listing the bands that influenced them, including Scrappleface, Blue Goldfish, and A Little Aardvark.

As I noticed that many of the other (non-blog named) bands were the same ones that influenced me, it occured to me that they might have heard my music, so I finally introduced myself by saying "Hi, I'm Hatless". They all looked at each other in surprise, and stood up to shake my hand. One of them had my first CD, and asked if I had any others. I told them I had a couple in my car, and got up to get them, but once I saw the parking lot I remembered that my car was not there. The guys also got up to leave, turned off the lights and locked the doors to their place. Standing in the parking lot, we discussed the possibility of recording together, and exchanged email addresses. Looking at the address, it slowly dawned on me that they had just stolen their names from other blogs, and I made a mental note to mention it to the respective blog owners that someone else was using their blog names.


Remember, I did say it was pointless...

Campaign Merchandise

There's a lot of campaign merchandise available online and elsewhere. T-shirts, bumper stickers, buttons, etc., (even ketchup), either for or against both candidates seem to be more popular than ever this year.

I had a thought... how likely is it that a group would produce and sell merchandise supporting the opposite candidate, just to make a profit from the opposition to send to their favored candidiate? If so, what percent of merchandise would be produced that way?

Please comment...

Every Little Bit Helps

Rock the Truth!

Remember back in the olden days, when MTV actually played music videos?

Whining Guardian Idiots

Warning: Strong language. Actually, not strong enough.

Fraters gets one wrong?!?

At least it's not about anything serious...

YANKEES LOSE!!!
YANKEES LOSE!!!
YANKEES LOSE!!!
YANKEES LOSE!!!
YANKEES LOSE!!!

Go read...

Go read "Hypocrisy and Cynicism in America". Now.

Parrot Sketch Redo

To paraphrase Monty Python's "parrot sketch" to fit the premise of this article about UBL's demise:

Bin Ladin's not pinin'! He's passed on! This terrorist is no more! He has ceased to be! He's expired and gone to meet the devil! He's a stiff! Bereft of life, he burns in eternal torment! If he hadn't been turned into a red mist at the bottom of a cave he'd be poisoning the worms right now! His diabolic processes are now history! He's off the goat! He's kicked the bucket, unwrapped his filthy turban, shaved his mangy beard and joined the screaming cacophony of Hades!! THIS IS AN EX-TERRORIST!!

UPDATE: or maybe not...

Blog-related Dream 2

This one isn't nearly as long as the others. The only background info you need to know is about IMAO (Frank J) and the T-shirt babe (Sarah K).


In the dream, Frank J invited me to have supper one night with him and Sarah K at her apartment in Amarillo. It was a nice place, tastefully decorated, cozy but not frilly. Typical apartment layout - large living room turning into a dining area in the back, with a small kitchen next to it.

For some unknown reason, I showed up rather late, and the meal was almost ready when I arrived. Frank greeted me at the door, followed shortly by Sarah's greeting from the kitchen. After brief pleasantries (with no mention of monkeys, ninjas, or space lasers), he shows me to the table. As soon as we are seated, Sarah comes out of the kitchen with a large silver platter with a pile of crispy, fresh, home-cooked...


Chicken-fried alligator strips.


I kid you not. Somehow none of us was surprised by this, and we all thought they were quite good, as were the green beans and mashed potatoes.

Halfway through the supper, I began to notice the two of them exchanging glances and trying not to laugh, like they knew something but weren't supposed to tell me. Somehow I already knew what their secret was - they had invited me to supper to let some people do an 'extreme makeover' on my house.

I didn't have the heart to tell them that I already knew about the plan.

I also didn't have the heart to tell them that my house was rented...

And now for something completely different...

One of my interests has always been airplanes. I've been drawing them since before grade school, read lots of books about them, and built lots of plastic models of them.

At a relatively young age, I was introduced to the textbook explanation for how a wing develops lift, which is called the 'Bernoulli principle', named after the scientist who discovered it. A simplistic summary of it is that air must flow faster over the curved top surface of a wing than under the flat bottom surface of a wing, and the faster air on top creates lower pressure, which creates lift.

As I read more about airplanes, there were pictures of many airfoils (wing cross sections) that, according to the 'Bernoulli principle', should not create lift. Flattened and/or symmetrical airfoils do not have those characteristics, but there are many examples of actual aircraft that use them. Dad, who worked in an aircraft factory for several years, explained to me that the 'angle of attack' of the wing is much more important than the 'Bernoulli principle' in the creation of lift on a wing. More advanced books explain this, and how it ties in to Newton's laws of action and reaction, but the primary explanation continues to be Bernoulli's in most books.

Just a couple of years ago, I saw a display in an aviation museum of a very small wind tunnel. Less than a foot square, and maybe four feet long, it had a small fan which pulled air over a small balsa model wing section allowed to move up and down on metal posts. There were two inlets for the air - one on the opposite end from the fan, and a smaller one on the bottom of the box just in front of the wing. The intended use of the diplay was to just press the button to turn on the fan and watch the demonstration of the 'Bernoulli principle' in action. However, it was easy to demonstrate that that force does not provide enough lift to raise the wing. Simply covering the bottom air inlet reduced the wing's effective 'angle of attack' with the oncoming air, causing the wing to drop.

This is probably the most innocuous bit of disinformation I've seen in a museum, but what possible purpose could be served by perpetuating this myth?

Nasa has a page about this issue, and here is another page, or you can just google bernoulli lift fraud and get quite a few others.

It's How You Play the Game

Vodkapundit (do you have to be over 21 to view his site?) reminds everyone involved in this election that "It's How You Play the Game".

See also this, this, and this one I've linked to before.

A Must Read

Whether or not you have ever followed any links from here before, please follow this one.

Love this list

Hugh Hewitt is compiling a list of the choices for this election. Read it, and check back for updates.

Blog-related Dream 1

This dream might actually be the most interesting of the three blog-related dreams I plan to post, but they will be posted in chronological order. I dreamed this one over a year ago. It's edited for clarity, but I am not making up any additions after the fact.

First, two bits of background info:

1) On I-40 between Amarillo and Albuquerque is the town of Tucumcari, New Mexico. My family used to travel through there fairly often, never stopping for much more than a quick meal or a tank of gas. Historic Route 66 branches off of the Interstate, so there is a little bit of that particular sort of retro-tourist-y stuff in town.

2) James Lileks has many photos of retro 50's, 60's & 70's buildings, like motels and restaurants. If you haven't seen those photos, or don't remember the style, go take a quick look at the links.

So...

In the dream, my family had decided to meet and have supper at this (in reality, nonexistent) tourist-trap-restaurant on the west side of Tucumcari. Several aunts, uncles, cousins, plus my immediate family and grandmother were all going to converge on this place from various directions in various vehicles (not an uncommon occurence for our family). I arrived shortly after my parents, and we all wandered around the place while waiting for everyone to arrive so we could all eat together. I wasn't too sure about eating there, but apparently "this was where everyone decided to meet..." before I was invited.

This place epitomized the retro look shown in the aforementioned Lileks' photos, in the tackiest possible way. In the restaurant, orange laminate tables and shag carpet under an angled ceiling with fake exposed beams holding up acoustical tile. Cheap paneled wainscoting below velvet paintings of tigers, bullfighters, and sailing ships. Geometric wood and brass light fixtures. A skinny woven basket full of two-packs of Captain's Wafers, next to textured red plastic water glasses with faded white logos.

The bar looked something like this, only darker.

Other rooms were divided with fake paneled half-walls with lathed posts on top. All the woodwork had the darkest wood stain available, possibly applied with a mop. Some places had indirect lighting with cheap buzzing flourescent bulbs, including the restrooms which had burgundy velvet wallpaper with a floral pattern only visible by its glossiness. The gift shop had the typical tourist trap variety of toys and souvenirs for sale, like state emblazoned ashtrays and $1.69 rubber tomahawks with fluorescent feathers. The bric-a-brac was displayed on racks in several stages of disrepair, which stood on gold-flecked linoleum tiles underneath giant gray concentric-circular air conditioning vents. Near the entry was a gold spray-painted concrete fountain with water-spouting cherubs and fish.

Past the gift shop, there was another room, which was relatively empty. It had some sort of fake reddish stone flooring, with a matching circular fireplace in the middle, with a black conical hood suspended from the ceiling above it. A small cash register (mechanical, but not antique) stood in the corner near an alcove for the pay phone and restrooms, next to a set of large windows to the west. The windows looked out over the huge but almost empty gravel parking lot, with its one-skinny-letter-per-pastel-colored-rhombus sign, across a scrub prairie with a couple of old trailers, up to Tucumcari Mesa. The windows probably hadn't been cleaned that year, and there were dead flies in the windowsill.

Get the picture?

My thought was exactly that - I wanted to get some pictures, thinking of how much Lileks would get a kick out of seeing this place. Then I realize I didn't bring my camera. The gift shop (oddly) didn't sell any kind of cheap or disposable camera . So I start asking family members if they have brought theirs. Mom had hers, but it was without film, and she had already found that the gift shop didn't sell that kind of film either. My aunt was carrying my grandmother's polaroid camera, but we discovered it was broken, as was my cousin's small digital camera. Finally, everyone arrived, and we took our seats in the restaurant, but I woke up before we even got to order.

When I awoke, my first thought was one of disappointment that I didn't get any photos of the place for Lileks...

Zell again

I've seen a couple of "reports" like this. Here's Zell Miller's version of Modern day Iwo Jima coverage.

Next on the Hatless Channel:

I will be posting a couple of my blog-related dreams in the near future. (Trust me, they're all clean.) Guest stars include Lileks, Sarahk and Frankj. Stay tuned.

Steyn Online

Mark Steyn is on a roll! Read all three.

Pajama Brigade

You go read now!

Memo about Memos

Regular Folks Know a Lot

Two Blue

Here's two articles worth reading, even though they countain some foul language:

Muledriver's Interview with Hitler

P.J.O'Rourke's Points for the Debate

"Management" Question

Has anyone out there ever worked under a manager who actually knew what was going on? Or is the whole world run by clones of Dilbert's boss?

Brownshirts, anyone?

True Blue Gal is keeping a list of election-related terrorist attacks. As much as I hope there are no additions forthcoming, I'm afraid there will be...

UPDATE: It looks like the link changed...?

Here's a thought...

A lot of people have been making an issue of legalizing same-sex marriages, so why don't we go ahead and legalize same-person marriages? Why should anyone have to actually go find someone else to marry? Single people should have rights to the same benefits as any married people! Also, divorce is much less common among single people, except in the case of multiple personality disorder.

End the discrimination now!

;)

Electronic Voting Machine Problems

I don't care which side would benefit from this unsound technology, I am against anything that could so easily be used to defraud the electorate.

Here are just a few of the approx. 371,000 Google hits for voting machine problems:

http://www.techcentralstation.com/092904K.html
http://www.techcentralstation.com/110502A.html
http://www.blackboxvoting.com/
http://www.notablesoftware.com/evote.html
http://news.com.com/2100-1009_3-5054088.html
http://www.rense.com/general31/machines.htm

Hmm...

Mark Steyn thinks Rathergate may not be over yet...

As the network put it last week, ''In accordance with longstanding journalistic ethics, CBS News is not prepared to reveal its confidential sources or the method by which '60 Minutes' Wednesday received the documents.'' But, once they admit the documents are fake, they can no longer claim ''journalistic ethics'' as an excuse to protect their source. There's no legal or First Amendment protection afforded to a man who peddles a fraud. You'd think CBS would be mad as h*** to find whoever it was who stitched them up and made them look idiots.

So why aren't they? The only reasonable conclusion is that the source -- or trail of sources -- is even more incriminating than the fake documents. Why else would Heyward and Rather allow the CBS news division to commit slow, public suicide?

Florida Watch 2004

This just in: Senator Kerry just arrived in Florida, and has been downgraded to a tropical storm.

Another bad day...

...but it's getting better.

Previously, I wrote a post titled "I gotta stop hating". I have recently been presented with several opportunities to go back on that.

---

1) I have been working overnights for over a year, and it has really taken its toll. It is not a difficult job, but the hours are causing sleep deprivation, exhaustion, and loss of any semblance of a social life. My supervisor has reprimanded me for some of the side effects (tardiness, general zombieism, etc.), and told me that this is the only space available for me because they are fully staffed. Within two months they hired two people for the afternoon shifts.

2) As alluded to in previous posts, with Bill Gate$ and Micro$oft's assistance, my computer has been hijacked. My programmer friends (via long distance) and I haven't been able to fix it yet.

3) On a wider scale, murders by terrorists and abortionists, and the media-political-complex's treasons and perjuries that aid and abet them.

4) and today's episode of The Commute, starring the Four Ignorant Drivers.

Driver 1 - Nissan - Tailgate, Pass, And Slow Down
Driver 2 - Van - Ignore Stop Signs And Oncoming Traffic
Driver 3 - Pickup - 70 Through A Very Red Light
Driver 4 - Sebring - Squeal Your Tires And Pass Everyone On A Two Lane Residential Street Because You Didn't Realize You Were In The Left-Turn Lane Until The Other Lane Started Moving

---

It's not easy, but I should not judge them. God will deal with them in His own perfect justice and mercy, administered with perfect wisdom.

"Judge not, or you will be judged."
"First get the plank out of your own eye, then you can see to remove the splinter from your brother's eye."

Linkfest

Interesting analysis of long-term goals in Iraq.

A few bits about flip flopping.

Signs that the Waffle supports terrorists.

MSM & Rathergate roundup.

DIY!

Skynet's birthday.

light posting...

i won't be posting much until i can get my home computer un-hijacked (alluded to in a previous post).

a pox upon hijackers!

Better late than never...

...I find out about Johnny Ramone's political leanings.

...also describes how I found their music.

good analysis

I haven't commented much about Rathergate, partly because there's tons of better commentary out there, and partly because I don't know how to superscript "th"... :)

I did find that No Oil For Pacifists does put the pieces together nicely - check it out.

bad day yesterday...

Yesterday I was walking down the street, and passed by this one really shady-looking store that I have no interest in ever visiting. Most of the time I can walk by without any problem, but that day there was a person out front handing out flyers. Being the polite type I accepted the flyer, planning to toss it in a trash can around the corner.

For some unknown reason, the flyer-hander-outer was exceptionally motivated that day, and initiated a conversation to get me interested in the store. I made it clear to him that I was not interested and had no use for their products (without mentioning that I had heard they were under investigation for fraud and racketeering), and turned sharply and walked away.

Apparently this set him off, because he chased after me and began forcefully stuffing flyers into my pockets, my wallet, and into my open collar. I got up and tried to run away, but that did not deter this fiend. The aggressive flyer-hander-outer chased me into the parking lot, and began filling the car with hundreds more flyers, since I had left my windows open.

I punched him in the face several times, then revved the car to drive away as quickly as possible. He grabbed onto the grille, but I slammed him into a wall, then ran over him a few more times just to be sure. Amazingly this did not work either! He had copied down my license number and found out where I live. A little later he showed up and spray-painted my garage door with his flyer's message, and burned it into both my front and back lawns with gasoline. Then he barricaded all of the roads except the one leading directly from my driveway to his store, and reprogrammed my doorbell to play an audio clip of the store's commercial every time it rings.



Would you do business with a store like that?



Apparently the websites that use hijacking-popup-adware-spyware-that-reinstalls-itself think you would.

Beldar: Dan Rather must be fired

Stating the obvious in a way which will hold up in court, Beldar says, "Dan Rather must be fired NOW!"

Dan Rather and everyone else at CBS News who had direct managerial authority over, and supervisory involvement in, the production of last Wednesday night's "60 Minutes II" broadcast about the Killian memos must be fired. Not retired. Not pensioned off. Not allowed to resign. Not given 30 days' or even three days' notice.

They must be fired — instantly, effective immediately, "for cause" and "with prejudice," forfeiting all unvested future benefits from their employment. They should be escorted by security personnel from the building, with their belongings sent to them in due course after they've been screened for relevant evidence. All of their computers, files, and other items of potential evidentiary value must be segregated immediately and secured under lock and key with a tight and explicit chain of custody. There must be no spoliation of evidence permitted.

This must be done publicly — before the close of business on Wednesday, September 15, 2004, and preferably before noon.

If it's not, then the executives who failed to do the firings should be fired before the close of business on Thursday, September 16, 2004.

...

If Dan Rather is still an employee of CBS News by next Monday, then the appropriate committees of the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate should convene public joint investigative hearings immediately, with Dan Rather as their second subpoenaed witness.

The first witness must be an appropriate custodian of records from CBS News, who must be directed to bring every shred of paper, every email, every piece of videotape, every computer file, every outtake, every script, every memorandum of staff meetings — and every bit of advice rendered by inside or outside legal counsel to CBS News prior to the broadcast. There is no attorney-client privilege to shield advice rendered to assist a client in the perpetration of a crime or a fraud. See, e.g., Swidler & Berlin v. United States, 524 U.S. 399 (1998); United States v. Zolin, 491 U.S. 554 (1989).

Beep Beep!

Acme Brand is cool!

relevant movie quote

In Force 10 from Navarone, the good guys are sent in to blow up a dam in enemy territory. After the initial explosion, the dam just sits there for a while, and it looks like they may have failed their mission. But the person in charge calmly says "wait for it...", and sure enough, a few seconds later, there is a crack in the facade, a small leak followed by a larger one, chunks start falling off, and then the whole thing crumbles.

Seeing the SeeBS stonewall yesterday, I have to say "wait for it...".

UPDATE: Here's one plummeting pebble.

UPDATE: Lots of pebbles now, plus some shaking in the canyon walls...

Boortz says something nice about Kerry

Upon hearing the news that Ted Kennedy is going on the campaign trail for Kerry/Edwards, Neal Boortz felt compelled to say something nice about Kerry:

He saved his daughter's hamster when it fell off a dock into the water. Kennedy wouldn't lift a finger to safe a young woman suffocating in his car in four feet of water.

Cold, but accurate.

Great Line

There's a great comment by 'Chuck' on this article discussing Kerry's Senate attendance record: "Does this mean that Kerry has been AWOL during the war on terror?"

News Typos

There seem to have been a few typos in this story about Kerry's health care plan. The "corrected" version appears below:

LANCASTER, Pa. - Teresa Heinz Kerry says "only an idiot" would support the health care plan proposed by her husband, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.
---
"Only an idiot would like this," Heinz Kerry told the newspaper for a story in its Thursday editions. "Of course, my husband is one of those idiots."
---
"I can't sell it, because the little people don't want it," she said. "The common man looks at me as some rich witch. I talk about what I see through my ketchup-colored glasses. It has always been so. I judge people by their pocketbook, not by their actions."

Also, one anonymous source claims that she finished the interview by exclaiming "Let them eat ketchup!"

Hurricane Jitters

Flying Space Monkey wrote a Top Ten list of "Things That Say You Are Getting Too Anxious About An Oncoming Hurricane". (You wouldn't think he'd worry about hurricanes too much, seeing as how he can just FLY into SPACE to avoid them, but anyway...) Number 6 is "The plywood guy at home depot begins to recognise you by your panicked shrill screams."

That reminds me - why is there ALWAYS a shortage of plywood in hurricane prone areas? I certainly do not want to make fun of anyone endangered by these storms, but wouldn't you think that everyone who needs it would have enough for their house by now? Does it go stale when not in use? Is it a fashion statement to have this model year's boards on your windows? Have the windows outgrown the old ones? Just curious...

Thanks!

For all the linkage and help I've received in the last few days, may I quote a line made famous by a man being fed Skittles by a giant bird...




(In case you haven't seen that stoooooopid-funny commercial, click "Nest" on this page.)

You might be a blogger...

(With an insincere apology to Jeff Foxworthy), You might be a blogger, if...

You bought tickets for a cruise on the USS Clueless, and are disappointed that it was cancelled.

You are upset that there was never an X-Files episode about the Volokh Conspiracy.

You name your two dogs Chomps and Scrappleface. They are both Rottweilers.

You develop a love/hate relationship with monkeys, and think there may be an infinite number of them.

You stop hunting ducks because some of them might be right-winged.

You learn to fly because you love jet noise, but it becomes too expensive when you eject!eject!eject! on every flight.

You hope they open an Evangelical Outpost in your local mall.

You demand that your local grocery store begin selling Instapundit, and you ask why they don't stock certain brands of horseshoes and toothbrushes.

You have a framed diploma from the Adam Smith Institute hanging in your office.

You make up nicknames for everyone at work, and they all end in "-pundit".

You start using obscure latin phrases in everyday speech, and you exclaim "delenda est!" every time you finish a meal.

You only let your kids play with little green footballs.

You know what one hand clapping sounds like.

You climb utility poles to listen to the powerline, and to see if Mark Steyn is up there.

You dress up as Aquaman for Halloween, and you dress up as a ninja for all other holidays.

You have drawn outlines of the Northern Alliance and the Bear Flag League on your U.S. map.

You know more about the State Fair of Minnesota than you know about your own state's fair.

You. Include. Periods. Between. Every. Word. You. Type.

You awake every day with a feeling of common sense and wonder.

You don't need to click any of these links to get the jokes.

You thought of more of these and want to add them to the comments section here. (hint, hint...)

---

Additions: 9-12: SarahK (of IMAO t-shirt fame) has a few more.

9-13: Gut Rumbles has a few too.

You heard it here fir... also!

Just in case you hadn't seen this anywhere else...

CBS forged documents to discredit our President, but they tripped on a Little Green Football.

comment 107 of the thread reads:

"Promoting obvious forgeries as real is a crime in and of itself; promoting them for the purpose of overthrowing the government is a much more serious crime. CBS needs to be taken down, and taken down hard."

I wholeheartedly agree.

Funny A.I. Mistakes

Something that happened today reminded me yet again that although Artificial Intelligence has come a long way, it still has a lot of imperfections.

---

Most of us on the web have seen pages with automatically generated advertising on the side, which is supposed to be related to the other content on the page. Quite often the ads show something seemingly unrelated, based on some unimportant keyword buried in the text. Or, the ad can try to promote something that the article is speaking against, like an herbal supplement on a page warning of its dangers. Occasionally mildly funny.

---

Next, there is the driving directions finder on places like Mapquest. Much of the time, the directions are reasonable, especially if you stick to the interstates. Often, there are some shortcuts that could be used to save a few miles. Sometimes though, the chosen path defies logic. Example: a few years ago, I requested Mapquest directions from Houston, TX to Abilene, TX. The nonstop highway route would be north on I45, then west on I20, total about 400 miles. Plus, there are many more direct routes available, if you don't mind slowing down through a few towns. The Mapquest directions, however, put the path through OKLAHOMA CITY, more than doubling the distance! Whhyyy?!?

---

But today, something happened, and I don't yet have an explanation for it. I was searching IMDB for info on an old black & white movie that was being rerun on UHF. Night Train to Munich (1940) is an above average WWII movie, set in Europe when Germany was already on the march. It had obviously chosen its side, but it wasn't mindlessly propagandistic like a few set in that era.

Near the bottom of IMDB's info screen, there is a line which reads "If you like this title, we also recommend..." Can you guess what movies might be included in such a list? How about, oh, I don't know, maybe something with a related plot and style, like:

Casablanca?
To Have and Have Not?

No, that's too much to ask. So how about another WWII movie, like:

The Longest Day?
Battle of the Bulge?
Midway?
Stalag 13?
Tora Tora Tora?
Pearl Harbor?
Kelly's Heroes?

No, it wasn't a war movie either. Well then, maybe just a classic black & white film, perhaps:

Citizen Kane?
Metropolis?
Battleship Potemkin?
Nosferatu?
Modern Times?
Stagecoach?

No, not black & white either.

Nor a romance.

Nor a spy movie.

The IMDB recommendation was... Eddie Izzard: Dress to Kill (1999)

WHHHYYYYYY!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!


p.s. If you can think of a more unusual pairing, put it in the comments.

Lists for our times

From 'Imperfect but Forgiven' - another version of Why Did the Chicken cross the Road":

Coalition Provisional Authority: The fact that the Iraqi chicken crossed the road affirmatively demonstrates that decision-making authority has been transferred to the chicken well in advance of the scheduled June 30th transition of power. From now on the chicken is responsible for its own decisions.

Halliburton: We were asked to help the chicken cross the road. Given the inherent risk of road crossing and the rarity of chickens, this operation will only cost the US government $326,004.

Muqtada al-Sadr: The chicken was a tool of the evil Coalition and will be killed.

US Army Military Police: We were directed to prepare the chicken to cross the road. As part of these preparations, individual soldiers ran over the chicken repeatedly and then plucked the chicken. We deeply regret the occurrence of any chicken rights violations.

Peshmerga: The chicken crossed the road, and will continue to cross the road, to show its independence and to transport the weapons it needs to defend itself. However, in future, to avoid problems, the chicken will be called a duck, and will wear a plastic bill.

1st Cav: The chicken was not authorized to cross the road without displaying two forms of picture identification. Thus, the chicken was appropriately detained and searched in accordance with current SOP?s. We apologize for any embarrassment to the chicken. As a result of this unfortunate incident, the command has instituted a gender sensitivity training program and all future chicken searches will be conducted by female soldiers.

Al Jazeera: The chicken was forced to cross the road multiple times at gunpoint by a large group of occupation soldiers, according to eye-witnesses. The chicken was then fired upon intentionally, in yet another example of the abuse of innocent Iraqi chickens.

Blackwater: We cannot confirm any involvement in the chicken-road-crossing incident.

Translators: Chicken he cross street because bad she tangle regulation. Future chicken table against my request.

U.S. Marine Corps: The chicken is dead.

Navy: The chicken upon crossing the road was painted and lashed to the curb.

Kerry: "The chicken crossed the road before it did not"

Baghdad Bob: The chicken never crossed the road! He is safe in Baghdad, miles from the marauding vehicles of the infidel! THERE IS NO ROAD!

USAF: "As you can see here in the target video, the bomb was locked onto the chicken...and there it goes...the chicken is still moving...still moving...and unfortunately passed out of the parameters of the guidance system so that the bomb completely missed it and hit the weasel instead. Gotta admit thought, it's impressive footage..."

----

From Damascus Road - Modern Military Terms:

Engage the Enemy means "to blow something up."

Surgical Strike means "to blow up something small."

Decapitate means "to blow up their leaders."

Collateral Damage means "to accidentally blow up something of theirs."

Friendly Fire means "to accidentally blow up something of ours."

Target of Opportunity means "to blow something up on a whim"

Kinetic Targeting means "to blow up something that's moving"

Ordnance is "something that that does the blowing up"

An Asset is "something that can be blown up"

Embedded Media means "a report that's blown out of proportion"

They're Terrorists, Not Activists

"They're Terrorists, Not Activists" is the title of this article, which points to another article that contains helpful hints for the safety of journalists in Gaza:

Never use the word terrorist or terrorism in describing Palestinian gunmen and militants; people consider them heroes of the conflict and ideals.

The first article then lists twenty euphemisms that have been used by the press to describe terrorists:

Activists, Assailants, Attackers, Bombers, Captors, Commandos, Criminals, Extremists, Fighters, Group, Guerrillas, Gunmen, Hostage-takers, Insurgents, Kidnappers, Militants, Perpetrators, Radicals, Rebels, Separatists

I have a few more appropriate terms not included in the previous list that are both more colorful and more accurate. Feel free to use any of these terms in your next article:

Bloodthirsty Sadists, Homicidal Maniacs, Islamofascist Thugs, Pathetic Scum, Psychotic Murderers

UPDATE: Rightwing Duck has "found" a copy of the New York Times guideline to correct word usage.

Big Picture Thinking

I'm not sure I agree with every single point that this article about the shifting role of government makes, but it certainly is interesting.

Some of its main points are:

"...we are now in a transitional period from the Nation States that dominated the 20th century to the Market State that looks to define the 21st."

"The Nation State was defined and legitimated, in part, by its ability to ensure the material well being of its citizens. In contrast, the Market State earns its legitimacy by providing the opportunity to its citizens to advance their own well being."

"The government simply cannot fulfill its core function of protecting its citizens from modern dangers and fulfill the material promises (cradle to grave security) of the Nation State."

RTWT

It's a start...

According to this article , "Images of dead, wounded and traumatized Russian children being carried from the scene of a rebel school siege horrified Arabs, prompting forthright self-criticism and fresh concern about an international backlash against Islam and its followers."

Arab leaders, Muslim clerics and ordinary parents across the Middle East denounced the school siege that left more than 340 people dead, many of them children, as unjustifiable. Some warned such actions damage Islam's image more than all its enemies could hope.

You think? Islamic terrorism just seemed so noble during its first few centuries of mass murder (\snark)

A couple of Arab journalists got it right:

"Our terrorist sons are an end-product of our corrupted culture," Abdulrahman al-Rashed, general manager of Al-Arabiya television, wrote in his daily column published in the Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper. It ran under the headline, "The Painful Truth: All the World Terrorists are Muslims!"

"Most perpetrators of suicide operations in buses, schools and residential buildings around the world for the past 10 years have been Muslims," he wrote. Muslims will be unable to cleanse their image unless "we admit the scandalous facts," rather than offer condemnations or justifications.

"The picture is humiliating, painful and harsh for all of us."

"If all the enemies of Islam united together and decided to harm it ... they wouldn't have ruined and harmed its image as much as the sons of Islam have done by their stupidity, miscalculations, and misunderstanding of the nature of this age."

I hope those journalists live long enough to see the end of the madness.

UPDATE: This article was relevant to a couple of my other posts, but I thought it fit best here.

WMD yet again

Bad Example has a list of statements that may have 'misled' our President into thinking there were weapons of mass destruction in Saddam's Iraq. Perhaps we should ignore any 'intelligence' these sources offer us in the future, and make sure they can no longer influence government decisions...

Pataki at RNC

There's tons of commentary out there on the speeches given at the RNC - far better than I can write. But there was one particular idea expressed by Gov. Pataki that has always bothered me, the well-meaning but glib phrase that after 9/11, "we are all New Yorkers".

No. I am an American.

I mean absolutely no disrespect to New York, but I am not a citizen of your city, by birth and by choice. As an American, you are free to choose your city of residence, and place any amount of your personal identity in that choice as you wish.

How silly would it be if after November of 63, people said "we are all Kennedys", or after the USS Cole incident, people said "we are all sailors", etc.?

Were my home city attacked, I would not expect or even desire anyone to claim to be a citizen of it either. I would hope for your support as an American, as I would support you.

Flight Humor

Found these on Ken Bauer's homebuilt airplane site:

The propeller is just a big fan in front of the plane used to keep the pilot cool. When it stops, you can actually watch the pilot start sweating.

The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire.

Stay out of clouds. The silver lining everyone keeps talking about might just be another airplane traveling in the opposite direction.

You start out with a bag full of luck and an empty bag of experience. The trick is to fill the bag of experience before emptying the bag of luck.

--- author unknown

President Schwarzenegger?

Some people have discussed the possibility of repealing the law prohibiting foreign-born persons from becoming U.S. president, so that Governor Schwarzenegger could be elected. Although I think he would be an acceptable candidate, I object strongly to removing that restriction. How would you like the possibility of an Annan-Soros ticket?

Inappropriate Toys

Rightwing Duck has a list of inappropriate toys you should read. He forgot one though: Choke'Mon, from the makers of Jagged Metal Krusty-O's!

I Gotta Stop Hating...

I just found Thinklings.org, and some of the articles reminded me of something I should have never forgotten: I gotta stop hating.

I've posted things here and elsewhere that were hateful of various people to various degrees, usually of vociferous or militant leftists. I don't think I actually wished anyone dead, but that doesn't matter; God said that hating people is as bad as murder. The platitude of "hate the sin, but love the sinner" is so easy to recite, it can make us feel as if we believe it, when many times that's not really the case.

Adultery is evil. Murder is evil. Stealing is evil. Lying is evil. That is written in stone, and there is nothing that can excuse those sins; they will be paid for by someone. Though it is wrong, it's all too easy to let the hate for those evil actions spill over to the person(s) who committed them. The anonymity of the web makes it even easier, and I suspect that is part of the reason why the rhetoric surrounding the current election seems much more venomous than before.

"Do not go on devouring each other, or you will be consumed by each other".

My initial reaction to the 9/11 attack could be summarized "nuke em all". My reaction to ALL instances of prisoner abuse - from the recent wave of beheadings, to Abu Ghraib, to the Hussein brothers' rape rooms, to the Hanoi Hilton, to Bataan, and everywhere else - is usually to desire a demonstration of the meaning of "eye for eye, and tooth for tooth" on the perpetrators. My reaction to the wholesale slaughter of civilians - from the Sudan, to Cambodia, to Stalin's & Hitler's millions, all the way back to Herod - is typically to hope the butchers experience a few "Mussolini Headkicks" on their way out. And it is tempting to wish that abortionists' mothers would have had abortions themselves.

That was wrong. Those thoughts put me in the same category as the criminals.

With God's help, I will try to stop. If you recognize this tendency within yourself, please consider doing the same. If hate wins, everyone loses.

question :)

Does the universe explode if you use a Nokia cell phone while driving a Kia?

MikeyMoore's Own Words

Mikey gets one thing right in his (cough*hotel doormat*cough) USA Today 'coverage' of the GOP convention:

"Our side is full of wimps."

On the way home today

Two slightly entertaining sightings on the way home today:

1) A hot new Ferrari with license plate "PYMT DU".

2) An auto dealership named "Sham Auto Sales".

doubleplusgoodthink

Here's an edited summary of some comments on Scrappleface:

Now lets see if I've I got this straight...

Clinton awards Halliburton no-bid contract in Yugoslavia - good
Bush awards Halliburton no-bid contract in Iraq - bad

Clinton spends 77 billion on war in Serbia - good
Bush spends 87 billion in Iraq - bad

Clinton imposes regime change in Serbia - good
Bush imposes regime change in Iraq - bad

Clinton bombs Christian Serbs on behalf of Muslim Albanian terrorists - good
Bush liberates 25 million from a genocidal dictator - bad

Clinton bombs Chinese embassy - good
Bush bombs terrorist camps - bad

Clinton commits felonies while in office - good
Bush lands on aircraft carrier in flight suit - bad

Stock market crashes in 2000 under Clinton - good
Recession under Bush - bad

Clinton refuses to take custody of Bin Laden - good
World Trade Centers fall under Bush - bad

Clinton calls for regime change in Iraq - good
Bush imposes regime change in Iraq - bad

Terrorist training in Afghanistan under Clinton - good
Bush destroys training camps in Afghanistan - bad

No mass graves found in Serbia - good
No WMD found Iraq - bad

Milosevic not yet convicted - good
Saddam in custody - bad

Clinton: Saddam has WMD and he's a threat - good
Bush: Saddam has WMD and he's a threat - bad

Clinton: Says he's going to do something about terrorism but doesn't - good
Bush: Says he's going to do something about terrorism and does - bad

Clinton is a draft-dodger - good
Bush honorably served in National Guard - bad

Clinton lied under oath - good
Bush never lied under oath - bad

Clinton cheated on his wife - good
Bush never cheated on his wife - bad

---

Kerry falls off his snowboard - good
Bush falls off his bicycle - bad

Kerry says Saddam had WMD and was a threat - good
Bush says Saddam had WMD and was a threat - bad

pro-Kerry 527s have been funded to the tune of $145 million dollars - good
pro-Bush 527s have been funded to the tune of $9 million dollars - bad

Kerry's wife Tereza speaks her mind - good
Bush's wife Laura speaks her mind - bad

Kerry marries into his money - good
Bush earned his money - bad

---

Kerry fought in Vietnam War - good
Kerry protested Vietnam War - good

Kerry was for funding the Iraq War - good
Kerry was not for funding Iraq War - good

Kerry wins war medals - good
Kerry tosses his war medals - good
Kerry still has his war medals that he tossed - good

Kerry challenges his band of brothers to speak up - good
Kerry threatens to sue his band of brothers when they
do speak up - good

Kerry claims to be an ardent environmentalist - good
Kerry owns several polluting SUV - good

Kerry says Bush lawyer helping a 527 is wrong and should stop - good
Kerry refuses to stop his own lawyer from helping Democratic 527s - good

Kerry is elected U.S. Senator - good
Kerry rarely shows up in the Senate - good

Kerry was against Desert Storm I - good
Kerry was for authorizing Desert Storm II - good
Kerry is now against Desert Storm II - good

Kerry makes fun of Bush reading to children for 7 minutes as WTC start to burn - good
Kerry admits to Larry King he couldn't think for half an hour after WTC started to burn - good

Kerry says it really doesn't matter whether Clinton served his country in uniform or not - good
Kerry says Bush's service in the National Guard isn't good enough and ought to be looked into - good

Kerry claims he believes in the First Amendment - good
Kerry threatens a publisher to pull a book critical of him - good

Kerry wants money out of politics - good
Kerry wants all the money he can get to beat Bush - good

See?

It is possible to mention Hitler on the net and still have a valid point. Cut on the Bias did so correctly. Kurt Vonnegut did not.

Vietnam summary

Hugh Hewitt sums it up well:

(The Vietnam War) was about stopping the Pol Pots and the "more civilized" variant of communism in the North. It was a noble effort. It failed for many reasons, but especially because of the domestic left in the United States, which slandered the front line soldiers as a tactic in the effort to withdraw America from Vietnam, and to settle the issue of moral superiority versus moral equivalence in the global contest then underway between freedom and totalitarianism.
America then and America now was and is undeniably the greatest force for good in the world. Its troops, then and now, fought and still fight to protect and defend the United States and to stop evil men, regimes, and ideologies from murdering millions of innocents. In those fights, there will be terrible tolls, and many innocents will die or be injured, but American armies fight wars - then and now - with more concern for the innocent and with more discipline and accountability than any armies in history.

Just sit right back...

...and you’ll hear a tale!

The Strongbad Email "they" don't want you to see...

...because they didn't write it, and they could do a lot better.

If you are one of the approximately four people on the web who hasn't seen Strongbad Email, go check it out - it's stooooopid funny. For everyone else:

(email) "Dear Strongbad, could you invent a craaazy sport? Sincerely, Kevin"

(sb) Look Kevin, all the sports that can be invented have been invented. They've been at it for millions, or even dozens of years. Now all you can do is to mix up the existing sports, like a "sports casserole", if you will.

But if I were to make a sport... I would make the athletes run for a while, and go swimming, and ride bikes for many miles, and go shoot at things. Oh, and maybe have them swordfight or something. That sounds pretty crazy to me.

(strongsad) They already have that, you doofus! It's called a Pentathlon.

(sb) What?!? You're kidding?

(ss) No. Look at the TV. It's in the Olympics.

(sb) Oh man!!

I give up, Kevin. Those sport inventor guys are way crazier than you or I could ever be.

Olympically yours,
Strongbad

Lies! Lies!

Here are a few of the many lies that Big Stupid Tommy has written:

There is no word in Russian for "pre game warmup."
There are 119 for "hangover."

The movie Mystic Pizza is a thinly veiled allegory of
Harry Truman's presidency.

Celery, if you think about it, is meat.

The National Anthem of Bulgaria is "Ice Ice Baby."

There is actually no such word as "diminutive."

Everything depicted in Marvel Comic Books from
1962-1975 actually happened.

The first cameras actually did steal your soul.
Technology has since been improved.

Porcupines are born with little tiny wings.

Iraqi Prisoner Abuse Photos

WARNING! EXTREMELY GRUESOME

To balance the coverage of the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse, here is a site full of photos of Saddam's torture victims in Iraq. Also, here is a page from Saddam's torture instruction manual. (There are actually 14 pages - type in any number from 1 to 14 before the .jpg extension.) I can hardly force myself to look at the full size images - the thumbnail previews are horrific enough.

(Oh no, there's also a video. Here's one article that mentions it. Reading the description, I don't think I could watch it.)

ANYBODY who can look at these images and say that a pair of panties on someone's head is worse is either a PERVERT, a PATHOLOGICAL LYING $@&*$)&#, or Ted "Chappaquiddick" Kennedy.

Also, if the liberal media claims they are too gruesome for broadcast, they admit that the abuse under Saddam was worse than the abuse in Abu Ghraib. Any other reason they give is just a lame excuse trying to cover their anti-American and anti-Bush bias.

I am NOT excusing what happened in Abu Ghraib. I am trying to put it in perspective.

(Found at No Pasaran)

Heavyweight Contenders

Belmont Club: Mainstream Media vs Kid Internet

Lileks asks, "What, you believe that rag?"

WMD?

Forget this whole war on terror, let's get those evil puddle fillers!

Wanted for Moving Dirt

Quik Linx

Rightwing Duck isn't afraid of a little old Skerrycrow.

Spoons Experience serves up an updated classic.

Hmm, The Rich Get Poorer, and The Poor Get Richer

Bush-haters of the world, unite!

Scotty was here

3M scientists can now make transparent aluminum in (relatively) large quantities - wow.

Eat Your Broccoli!

I haven't followed Sgt. Stryker as much lately, but this one is worth reading.

To: Main-stream Media
Re: Potentially Imploding Aspirants for the Presidency
From: Sgt. Mom

Don't give the kids a break...

Alice Cooper says "Hey Stoopid!" to the billion dollar babies on the anti-Bush music tour:

"To me, that's treason. I call it treason against rock 'n' roll because rock is the antithesis of politics. Rock should never be in bed with politics."

"When I was a kid and my parents started talking about politics, I'd run to my room and put on the Rolling Stones as loud as I could. So when I see all these rock stars up there talking politics, it makes me sick."

"If you're listening to a rock star in order to get your information on who to vote for, you're a bigger moron than they are. Why are we rock stars? Because we're morons. We sleep all day, we play music at night and very rarely do we sit around reading the Washington Journal."

Vaguely related site: dumbcelebs.com

Randomness?

A few years ago, I heard a story about a university experiment of pattern analysis on random numbers, which I remembered something like this:

Some university has two programs running simultaneously on a mainframe. One perpetually generates a stream of random numbers – mathematically random, not like a low-level RND pseudorandom function found in many programming languages. The other one perpetually analyzes the stream for repetitive patterns. Short repetitions are relatively common, but every so often, a repetition occurs that is statistically extremely improbable. Analysis shows that an even more improbable percentage of these occurences happened within an hour of some major world event – earthquake, war or terrorist attack, death of a world leader, etc.

The story has many of the hallmarks of an urban legend, especially the whole "powerful knowledge They don't want you to know" feel of it. I had thought about it a couple of times, but had mostly forgotten about it... until yesterday, when I read this post.

I commented on it, and didn't get any direct answers, but there were a couple of (confrontational sounding) comments from one reader trying to get me to defend the claims of the story. I explained that I was not defending it, I was just wondering if anyone had heard of it and whether or not it was a hoax.

As I was trying to properly word my response, I thought it would be a good idea to find a reference to explain the meaning of "mathematical randomness" as I understood it. When I googled some search terms, the FIRST link listed both explains the concept, and has a link to the EXACT EXPERIMENT I was asking about in the first place - noosphere.princeton.edu.

How random is that?!?

The experiment is not quite what I remember. The premise of the experimenters sounds like new-age-global-consciousness nonsense, but the experiment itself is interesting (just click on the data access link, and there are several options available for viewing the data itself).

Current Events

Two interepretations of current events:

The Vietnam Election

War of the Memes

Read them both.

These seemed related...

Two very similar versions of the fable of the Ant & Grasshopper.

From Cheese and Bacon: I think (anti-war liberals) are the same people that never learned in pre-school that the square block will never fit in the round hole, and (think) that if they protest the circle hole enough, it'll eventually be forced to let the square block in. Then it will expect the round hole to give the square block reparations and a free ride for excluding it for so long.

more magic math

Proof that the less you know the more money you make.

Proof that girls are evil.

"I'm kidding of course"

Anarchy, Inc.

Flying Space Monkey expands on the "irony of having a symbol for anarchy". RTWT.

Parents who defied "arguing ban" sentenced to jail

Here's my attempt at a Scrapplefacing of this article:

New York City parents are barred from arguing around their kids.

A New York couple was sentenced Thursday to 10 days in jail for defying a court order not to argue in front of their children.

Tom and Silvia Stevens, who have admitted to arguing continuously in front of their children, were led from a New York courtroom in handcuffs. But the judge allowed them to post a $500 bond to stay out of jail while they appeal the ruling. "It should never have come to this," they said after spending four hours in jail before being released.

The sentence is the latest development in a bitter and long-running custody battle between the nanny state and the Stevens family, over the care of their children, ages 10 and 8. But the restriction on arguing has captured far greater attention.

"It is within the court's powers to jail somebody for criminal contempt, but they are not happy about getting 10 days," said her attorney, Harvey Tucker. "New York City is such a vociferous state, it's kind of surprising. I've never heard of a case where you restrict behavior this way."

The district attorney claimed that the measure was necessary to protect the sanity of the children, who live with their parents and often visit their grandparents on weekends.

Tom and Silvia said they have been argumentative since starting public school. The habit became an issue several years ago as the nanny state sought to control every aspect of people's lives. As part of this microcontrol, the Stevens were barred in a court order last August from arguing around their children. They appealed that order to New York Circuit Court, where it was upheld, and are considering filing another appeal with the United Nations.

SMACKDOWN!

Go read the Outside The Beltway response to the mindless drone. (or is it henchman? sidekick? minion? no, i'll stick with drone, since it defines both function and sound...)

Superheroes usually *save* lives...

Junkyard Blog summarizes this ad as "George W. Bush is the gravest threat humanity has ever faced, paradoxically because he supports the right to life. Huh? Exactly."

It's time to play "How They Will Spin This?"

John Kerry's Private Trade Trip to Beijing.

"Ketchup Gigolo" Kerry's yacht shouldn't be floating after all the holes that have been shot in it. I wonder just what could be buoying it up?

Kerry's Magic Hat

(With an insincere apology to The Who...)

Every day I get on my yacht
- Too much magic hat
Thinkin' bout this hat that I got
- Too much magic hat
From this chatty dude in the CIA
- Too much magic hat
Who I drove in my boat to Cambod-i-a...
- Too much magic hat

"Thank you Kerry, for getting me here
- I got a magic hat
Hope your memory doesn't sear
- I got a magic hat
Ain't got time to worry bout that
- I got a magic hat
But can I give you this magic hat?"
- I got a magic hat

Don't care much about Tah-Ray-Zah,
- Too much magic hat
But I really love her piles of moolah.
- Too much magic hat
Ignore those dudes who said I lied
- Too much magic hat
'Bout drivin' my boat to the other side.
- Too much magic hat

MAGIC HAT!
- I got it I got it
MAGIC HAT!
- I got it I got it...

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UPDATE:

When I wrote this, I had no idea there were so many others similarly inspired. I Love Jet Noise has this post listing several others, including this fan fiction comments section.

Rightwing Duck's batting average

It looks like Rightwing Duck is batting a thousand, and continues to add to his home-run streak as well. Go read for yourself.

Muslim Kitties!

Have your kitties been bowing towards Mecca lately? Do they react with violent hissing when confronting the Great-Satan-Dane? Be careful! They often carry boxcutters in their paws, and make chemical attacks in the carpet.

Helpful Telemarketing Hints

1) As soon as you dial the number, the phone will make a sound that indicates that the potential customer's phone is ringing. When this sound stops, and you hear the sound of human speech, it is the beginning of the conversation!

1a) Promptly greet the potential customer in a friendly manner.

1b) Do not continue chatting with co-workers, chewing gum, playing freecell, or doing any activity that would detract you from the task at hand.

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2a) If the potential customer is male, do not address him as "Mrs." or "Miss".

2b) Likewise, if the potential customer is female, do not address her as "Mr." or "Dude!".

2c) If you are uncertain of the potential customer's gender, avoid making gender assumptions. A mistaken assuption may be considered offensive to the potential customer, even in San Francisco!

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3) Once the caller has verified his or her identity, do not ask them to re-verify his or her identity, as this might give them cause to doubt your attentiveness and/or competence.

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4) During the conversation, please refrain from eating or drinking anything, as it detracts from your ability to perform your assigned task.

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5) Do not ever insult the intelligence of the potential customer, especially if you have not adhered to the rules described in the previous steps. Under no circumstances say, for example, "Are you following me?". Any potential customer who can understand you will not need such prompting, and if you cannot be understood, it is unlikely that the potential customer will trust you with any amount of their hard-earned money.

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6) If many potential customers often ask you to repeat yourself, or keep saying "What?" or "Huh?", this is an indication that they are having trouble understanding you. On rare occasions, this may be due to technical issues, so you should request that qualified personnel examine your phone. Take that downtime as an opportunity to compare your accent to the accents of the potential customers who have given you this valuable feedback. If there are consistently large discrepancies between these accents, consider taking lessons in speaking the dialect of your potential customers, or in pursuing a different career path either inside or outside of our company.

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7) WARNING! Some potential customers may abruptly suggest that you perform certain disrputive, destructive, or physically impossible acts upon yourself.

7a) You are allowed to ignore the request and terminate the phone call immediately.

7b) If you like, you may privately wish that potential customer to perform that particular act upon themselves.

7c) However, you are not allowed to communicate that wish to them.

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8) At some point during the conversation you may hear a steady buzzing sound. This sound indicates that the conversation has stopped. On rare occasions, this might be due to equipment problems, but it is most likely that the potential customer is simply disinterested in our company's product.

8a) If such a stoppage occurs, simply hang up the phone and dial the next number on your list.

8b) Do not call that potential customer again, either immediately or at any time in the future.

8c) Research has shown that potential customers rarely change their mind about our product after such a stoppage occurs; if called repeatedly, they often become hostile, and may even threaten legal action! Our company wishes to avoid such problems.

8d) Consider these stoppages as positive feedback from the former potential customer, and as their way of speeding you along towards your next sale.

8e) Expect lots of this type of positive feedback.

You have GOT to be kidding...

Unbelievable! Jewish students attacked at Auschwitz.

I'm Speechless...

Start Here...

The Ceremony...

The Wedding Party...

X-treme Press Conference

Despite the profanity, this article about media bias is a must-read!

Tolstoy II

Another relevant point from A Confession: by Leo Tolstoy - on the sciences:

And I understood that those sciences are very interesting and attractive, but that they are exact and clear in inverse proportion to their applicability to the question of life: the less their applicability to the question of life, the more exact and clear they are, while the more they try to reply to the question of life, the more obscure and unattractive they become. If one turns to the division of sciences which attempt to reply to the questions of life -- to physiology, psychology, biology, sociology -- one encounters an appalling poverty of thought, the greatest obscurity, a quite unjustifiable pretension to solve irrelevant question, and a continual contradiction of each authority by others and even by himself. If one turns to the branches of science which are not concerned with the solution of the questions of life, but which reply to their own special scientific questions, one is enraptured by the power of man's mind, but one knows in advance that they give no reply to life's questions. Those sciences simply ignore life's questions.

Tolstoy's Confession

I came across this - A Confession: by Leo Tolstoy - and was somewhat surprised at the way some things he described over a century ago continue today. Here is a description of his early life as a writer.

We were all then convinced that it was necessary for us to speak, write, and print as quickly as possible and as much as possible, and that it was all wanted for the good of humanity. And thousands of us, contradicting and abusing one another, all printed and wrote -- teaching others. And without noticing that we knew nothing, and that to the simplest of life's questions: What is good and what is evil? we did not know how to reply, we all talked at the same time, not listening to one another, sometimes seconding and praising one another in order to be seconded and praised in turn, sometimes getting angry with one another -- just as in a lunatic asylum.

Thousands of workmen laboured to the extreme limit of their strength day and night, setting the type and printing millions of words which the post carried all over Russia, and we still went on teaching and could in no way find time to teach enough, and were always angry that sufficient attention was not paid us.

It was terribly strange, but is now quite comprehensible. Our real innermost concern was to get as much money and praise as possible. To gain that end we could do nothing except write books and papers. So we did that. But in order to do such useless work and to feel assured that we were very important people we required a theory justifying our activity. And so among us this theory was devised: "All that exists is reasonable. All that exists develops. And it all develops by means of Culture. And Culture is measured by the circulation of books and newspapers. And we are paid money and are respected because we write books and newspapers, and therefore we are the most useful and the best of men."