A different view

Malkin as Victim

noreply@blogger.com (don1one) — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 02:50:00 +0000

Okay, it's Friday night and I'm really bored. I don't have cable any more, and what television I do watch has to be streaming over the Internet.

As I was looking around (when are the going to come out with the streaming video channel clicker widget?) I came across Michelle Malkin's talk at the Young America's Foundation. Evidently these are college age conservatives being trained in the propaganda of choice.

Not that I have anything against conservatives, I just haven't seen a real one in a long time. Kind of like cowboys. A lot of people dress up like cowboys, but very few live the life.

The interesting topic that Michelle kept repeating is what a victim she and the other 'conservatives', codeword for neocons, have become under the violent attacks of the moonbat left.

With her being caught in lies, giving out personal addresses and phone numbers of her enemies, and other questionable practices, is she really the best model for these young people? Give me a Bob Barr, Ron Paul, or William F. Buckley Jr. But Michelle Malkin or Ann Coulter? Please, you can do better.

Not to mention that as long as the Republicans have held the majority and the reasons they lost that position it's hard to see the conservatives as victims.

I also never thought I'd hear Joe Lieberman described as a rational Democrat.

Come join me - if you dare

noreply@blogger.com (don1one) — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 01:08:00 +0000

"…We have people up there in Congress with the brain of a 2-year-old who don't know what they are doing, they don't experience it. I challenge the president or anyone who has us for 15 months to ride alongside me. I'll do another 15 months if he comes out here and rides alomg with me every day. I'll do 15 more months. They don't even have to pay me extra."
(Sean Smith/Guardian)

I was stationed in Turkey in the late 70's, but there the hottest day I saw was 118F. Helmet, gas mask, long sleeve fatigues and flak jacket. There were people shooting at us, but it was mostly the Kurdish PKK downtown.

Even then the politicians were pretty spineless and refused to answer out letters, because "officially" we weren't there.

Then the Iran hostage situation hit and amazingly we had bases all over Turkey.

I guess if there's one thing you can count on, it's that you can't count on politicians. Especially these Republican chickenhawks, in such a rush to go to war but afraid to go themselves.

The Real Libby Crime

noreply@blogger.com (don1one) — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 01:29:00 +0000

There's a lot of talk about Scooter's escaping prison and Valerie Wilson. But everyone seems to miss the real crime, and threat, from a CIA operative being exposed.

Ms. Wilson (Plame) may or may not have been working undercover at the time she was revealed. But her exposure lead to the destruction of a very carefully constructed front company that was heavily involved in preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and other severe threats.

This company was Brewster Jennings & Associates. Not only was the company brought to public scrutiny, but so were other CIA operatives as well as foreign nationals friendly to our cause.

Major spy networks obliterated for the selfish purposes of the Bush administration and we may never know how many lives were lost for this petty achievement. Underground weapons networks don't take kindly to spies.

In every respect the constant missteps of this administration have put us under more danger. Something that should be treated as a high crime and treason.

Pomegranate - the new Madison Avenue spin

noreply@blogger.com (don1one) — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 01:49:00 +0000

I never much cared for pomegranates, having once lived where I had a tree in my back yard. I ate the few the birds left, but thought they were a lot of work. There's a very thick, hard skin and once you get in seeds with a thin layer of good stuff. Eat the seeds and you get an astringent taste, remove the juicy flesh and spit out the seed and it can take forever to eat a single fruit.

Now they're telling me that pomegranates are the new health food. Greater than wine or blueberries they say. Full of vitamin C, folic acid, and newly discovered antioxidants.

So I decided to try the juice and see if I could lose 20 years of hard living overnight. Going to the local store there were shelves from ceiling to floor stocked with pomegranate flavored juice.

Wait, what's this? Pomegranate flavored? Looking closer, I noticed as many as four other juices plus water.

Apple, grape, and pretty much anything that adds sweetener and is cheap. But the label shouted "POMEGRANATE" on the label.

So as always, buyer beware. And let's hope that someday all of the labeling laws will actually result in truth in labeling. It would be nice if someone were telling the truth these days.

Is it Just Me?

noreply@blogger.com (don1one) — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 01:01:00 +0000

For some reason, since the blow up on Don Imus, I find I'm watching more Fox programs. Not that I supported what Imus said, I just didn't like his crucifixion. Don chose the wrong people to lambaste, honorable women who certainly didn't deserve it. And women without a soapbox from which to defend themselves.

Imus was like zero based budgeting, you came in with no value and had to not only stand your ground but had to take as much gorund as you could. Everyone had to. And who hasn't had a boss that wasn't exactly the same?

It wasn't that Imus was a bigot. He was just very confrontational and that's how he got the best interviews out of people. Attacked from the start people were immediately pushed off balance and didn't have time to get behind their regular speaking points wall.

Watching Sharpton was sad. Just who is it that he speaks for? Saying the black community is a single voice behind Sharpton is just as bigoted as offering chitterlings to a black person.

Gwen Ifill, someone I admire greatly, took her time on Meet the Press to work out all the anger she'd kept in since being called a Whitehouse cleaning lady. From there it went to worse as she claimed the right to decide what all Americans can and can't listen to.

MSNBC, who hasn't found a fight it can't run from since they cancelled Donahue, finally conceded and cancelled the show.

They had little choice once all of the sponsors pulled out, perhaps the one thing about this I can respect.

While the touchy feely liberals cried and held vigils, pretty much forgetting the women themselves and wailing loudly just to hear themselves, the conservatives decried the message while also rejecting the punishment. Okay they said, if you're going to limit Imus, limit everyone that says the same thing.

But no, only wasp male republicans can be excoriated for this offense. Not rappers, poets, or comedians. Er, other comedians.

So are things already tipping the other way? Have the right moved to the middle and the left to the extreme left? Are Republicans actually starting to remember that thing the Bush administration has tried so hard to strip away, civil liberties?

So goes the pendulum. So goes life.

>Save the bees.

Bolton Beats It, North Korea Comes Home

noreply@blogger.com (don1one) — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 04:15:00 +0000

I remember years ago Ambassador John Bolton shooting off his mouth the night before talks with North Korea. The next day North Korea pulled out of the talks and went on to test nuclear weapons and missile delivery systems.

Now Johnny is gone and we hear that Christopher Hill has had a major break-through with the negotiations team.

Coincidence? I think not.

Onward to (another) War

noreply@blogger.com (don1one) — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 02:31:00 +0000

I was listening to Senate hearings the other day. The same hearings where GOJ (Good Old Joe, Party of One) Lieberman proposed a war tax.

He started his questioning by asking General Pace if they were investigating the downing of American helicopters with what he was sure were Iranian surface to air missiles.

Now every news report has said that the helicopters were downed by small arms fire. A SAM, even a shoulder launched SAM, isn't small arms fire. Is Joey not reading the newspapers, or is he so hell bent to get us involved in another war that he's doing everything to bias news reports?

Connecticut, again I say, for shame.

The War Against Footballism

noreply@blogger.com (don1one) — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 02:22:00 +0000

The NFL came out swinging against churches planning on showing the Superbowl in their churches.

Since churches have gone multimedia, many have invested in large screen projection systems making for a great football experience.

But even more militant than the Olympic Committee, the NFL is threatening these home of hostile footballism if they show games on screens wider than 55" or if they mention the word Superbowl® in billboards or bulletins.

Is the NFL afraid of not sharing in the loot? No, the churches don't charge admission.

But if the churches served popcorn and beer they might get by with the game. The exception to the widescreen rule? Sports bars that regularly show televised sports. Gives communion whine a whole new meaning.

Word of the Day - Dire

noreply@blogger.com (don1one) — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 22:55:00 +0000

As in:
The great flu pandemic: Despite dire warnings, public interest has

Area Red Cross in dire need of blood

Dire global warming report won't change US policy

US command nominee terms Iraq situation 'dire'

All in all a Google news search on 'dire' returns Results 1 - 50 of about 10,719 for dire.

American Heritage Dictionary
dire (dīr) Pronunciation Key
adj. dir·er, dir·est

1. Warning of or having dreadful or terrible consequences; calamitous: a dire economic forecast; dire threats.
2. Urgent; desperate: in dire need; dire poverty.

[Latin dīrus, fearsome, terrible; akin to Greek deinos.]

dire'ly adv., dire'ness n.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Hate Speech By Any Other Name

noreply@blogger.com (don1one) — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 17:36:00 +0000

This was at the top of an email from Tom Winters of Human Events Online.

Someday soon, you might wake up to the call to prayer from a Muslim muezzin. Millions of Europeans already do.

And liberals will still tell you that "diversity is our strength" -- while Talibanic enforcers cruise our cities burning books and barber shops. The Supreme Court decides sharia law doesn't violate the "separation of church and state" ... and the Hollywood Left gives up gay rights in favor of the much safer charms of polygamy.

While I don't expect much from any group that includes hate monger Ann Coulter, it just seems to me that this group has become the imaginary group that they're warning us against.

We have a diversity of cultures in the US. There are Chinese neighborhoods were all the signs are in chinese, the markets carry Chinese food items, all of the Schwab employees speak either Mandarin or Cantonese. The same goes for hispanic, jewish, and muslim groups. Given the slow immigration rate of most groups they come in, assimilate, and join our larger community.

Winters warns us that we need to take action(send him money) to prevent the takeover of our wonderful country from "outsiders". He doesn't want "his" country invaded and to wake up one day in a state the he doesn't control.

This isn't a lot different from the Islamists that want to run Americans and Jews out of the middle-east. They warn others of the dangers of dilution and the corruption these other groups cause to their way of life.

Hate speech is hate speech. Whether it's on the other side of the pond or our own. The only difference is that we have the responsibility of preventing this bigotry from spreading over here.

Now It's Hogwash Everywhere

noreply@blogger.com (don1one) — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 20:11:00 +0000

Dick Cheney started it.

WOLF BLITZER: ...good Republican friends in the Senate and the
House are now seriously questioning your credibility, because of the blunders and the failures.
Gordon Smith...
CHENEY: Wolf, Wolf, I simply don't accept the premise of your question. I just think it's
hogwash.

Now it's Senator Byrd.

“This administration has claimed that debating the president’s plan will undermine U.S. troops. Hogwash. H-O-G-W-A-S-H.” — Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va.

Just what do these wise ( ) men mean? I guess it's better than some of the language Cheney has used, but not quite up there with Donald Rumsfelds "aw shucks" moments.

hog·wash [hawg-wosh, -wawsh, hog-] –noun

1.	refuse given to hogs; swill.

2.	any worthless stuff.

3.	meaningless or insincere talk, writing, etc.; nonsense; bunk.

[Origin: 1400–50; 1900–05 for def. 2; late ME. ]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Yet Another Cherrypicked Story (YACS)

noreply@blogger.com (don1one) — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 04:26:00 +0000

At this point is there anyone that doesn't believe the Bushco administration didn't handpick stories to support the mission they'd already agreed on?

Former chief of the CIA's Europe division, Tyler Drumheller has an interview running in Germany's Spiegel magazine (Oh My God, talking bad about the US in a foreign journal). He talks about a story that he thought had been buried showing up in General/Secretary of State Powell's UN speech.

Okay, maybe some of the people that frequent the FreeRepublic and LittleGreenFootball blogs.

I think of myself as moderate and had tried to join these groups to balance the heavily biased Huffington Post I'd been reading.

You need a special dispensation from God to get into LGF, and I got banned for life from Free Republic. Was I going in as a liberal troll causing trouble? No, my sin was not perfectly toeing the party line on Iraq and what a great idea it was. Guess what guys, it's still not a good idea and Bushco still isn't conservative. And you're killing and maiming a lot of the American soldiers you say you support.

Your posting privilege has been revoked.
Reason:
troll

I find a really simple difference between the Kos and Freeper sites. At Kos, anyone is welcome to join and offer different opinions as long as you don't start fights.

At Freeper you're welcome to start fights (on liberal blogs) as long as you don't have a different opinion.

And on LGF you're just not welcome to join.

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They'd probably go into apoplectic shock if they saw a unique and original opinion in their midst.

I guess I understand why the left goes crazy over the loss of civil rights and the new conservatives don't care. I guess none of the Republicans remember Barry Goldwater and Libertarians.

We now have No Child Left Behind teaching the conservative memorize-and-regurgitate credo rather than the creative thinking of times past. No one is interested in elections or bothers to show up. And the NSA and Google watch our every move. Hi Guys.

The Man or the Machine?

noreply@blogger.com (don1one) — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 13:04:00 +0000

Bushco® is making much of how Congress confirmed General Petraeus but disapprove the surge.

But it's not the general that sets policy, Bush does. The confirmation merely means that the general is capable of commanding efforts in Iraq.

And he may not be all that the press is making him out to be. He was in charge of training Iraqi replacements, and we all know how that is gone.

Here's an eye opening article by William Arkin at the Washington Post.

Oh Say Can You Sang?

noreply@blogger.com (don1one) — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 00:55:00 +0000

The right is having a good time poking fun at Hillary Clinton because she can't, as we used to say, carry a tune in a bushel basket.

True, she's terrible. But at least she knows the words. Dennis Hastert kept taking off in a jazz solo making up his own words when he attempted the same.

AWOL Politicians, Or How to CYA

noreply@blogger.com (don1one) — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 03:43:00 +0000

Washington was the site for a large anti-Iraq war demonstration on Saturday. Tens of thousands of protesters were said to have shown up, many bussed in from states all over the east coast.

If you go with the theme Go Big or Go Home, over 70% of Americans think we're on the wrong course in Iraq. Bush's plan is seen as just enough of a surge to get more people killed, but probably not enough to make a difference.

The 2006 elections are viewed by most outside of Connecticut (thanks for supporting the war Connecticut) as a clear message that it's time to get out from between warring factions in Iraq.

Yet the only federal politicians to show up at the rally organized by United for Peace and Justice were the usual suspects. Dennis Kucinich, Maxine Waters, John Conyers, and Lynn Woolsey.

The news organizations were all a-twitter over Hillary in Iowa, missing the real story of Senator Clinton refusing to take a stand on the war despite being from a very Democratic state.

Where were Brownback, Boxer, Obama, Wilson, and all of the other politicians. I'll excuse Senator Chuck Hagel, who's "if you want a safe job sell shoes" line is a classic.

It's too bad that the politicians are more interested in keeping their job than doing it. And haven't learned the lesson of 2006 that they're both one in the same.

PR Stunt? In Hollywood?

noreply@blogger.com (don1one) — Sat, 27 Jan 2007 04:47:00 +0000

There are those that say Isaiah Washington's entry into rehab is a public relations stunt. I'd say the stunt started when he first called his fellow actor a name that wasn't politically correct.

I used to live next to a retired public relations manager. He had great stories which I'd rarely believe until he dug out news clippings and autographs.

Gods speed Dave and thanks for the education.

The Workings of Court

noreply@blogger.com (don1one) — Sat, 27 Jan 2007 04:04:00 +0000

It seems so odd to be remoting back and forth from political pundits to HBO's Rome. Dana Priest, that outstanding reporter from the Washington Post, once talked about mercenary run wars and royal courts bickering as a sign of old empires. I don't know if we're a tired empire looking for gaudy entertainment, but we certainly have the spectacle of court thanks to Libby, Cheney, Rove, and Novak.

Special Prosecutor Patrick Fizgerald is peeling back the layers and showing us machinations that would have made Mark Antony proud. Cathie Martin has been testifying giving us a peek into the administration that believed control was all important. Next week we'll hear from former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer as he testifies under immunity and now we learn that Karl Rove and counselor Dan Bartlett have both been issued subpoenas.

I still don't understand why Libbby didn't just shut up, take a sentence and a pardon. But I'm certainly glad he didn't. But if I do get bored there's always Rome, or is it the other way around?

Age Appropriate Employment

noreply@blogger.com (don1one) — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 18:21:00 +0000

It's a bit disheartening watching the video clips of Google employees. Being close to 50 and looking for employment I notice right away what's missing. Anyone over about 35, or who grew up in the fields, or anyone without the sun starved look of the young academic.

Even senior managers look homogeneous to me.

Are computers and the Internet only for young people? The same has been said about many industries as people look for excuses to hire people more like themselves. Whether young, old, black, Japanese, we've seen many bigotries over the centuries. Google and high tech just get by with it more than previous employers.

Apple tried to get rid of all of their senior people at one time. Old timers worked slower, worked fewer hours, and cost more. What they realized after slimming their ranks is that experience was worth a lot, even in the newer multimedia technologies. They worked slower but their code worked first time, was easier to maintain, and had a longer life because it was designed with changes in mind.

As much as Google would like to be the big new thang, there's really not that much that's new under the sun, just different speeds and names.

So to get my qualifications up to date I've been taking some time off and working on some certifications. It seems odd to be forced into taking tests on equipment I designed and helped build.

I interviewed at Home Depot for at least some income while working on all of this. And to be honest, it will be nice to be around people with a bit more balanced personalities. There was a good mix of ages, races, and ethnicities as I walked through the store. It seems that construction supply has been around long enough to know that it's the diversity of people that makes their company strong.

True, Google has been very successful with their hiring requirements. But it seems odd that electronics and high tech, which depends on a mixture of materials added to germanium or silicon to get transistors to work, is so intolerant of this mixture in their work force.

Over 4 Million Votes Unserved

noreply@blogger.com (don1one) — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 17:42:00 +0000

There was an odd debate in the House the other day.

House Republican Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) were debating the rights of four delegates to vote.

When the Republicans took control of Congress in 1995 they took away the (mainly symbolic) vote of four delegates representing the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam and the Virgin Islands. Since the Republicans are concerned about these areas actually having representation and a voice in politics I'll assume they're probably Democrats.

The District of Columbia has long chafed at not having a say in their governance. But being small and mostly minority no one paid them much attention. But Puerto Rico includes over 4 million people, much larger than the typical 600,000 or so constituents.

Rep. Hoyer argued well and he put Blunt on the defensive. Being the minority Blunt won't have a lot to say about it anyway.

I was just at the Alamance Battleground in North Carolina where Regulators first protested unfair representation by royal governor William Tryon. That was in 1771. It seems odd that 236 years later we're still having that battle.

HWCV (How Would Conservatives Vote)?

noreply@blogger.com (don1one) — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 00:10:00 +0000

It's interesting to hear how little support Bush has for the escalation in Iraq. Those supporting him have arguments like Duncan Hunter's. He says that the new troops are badly needed reinforcements and that stopping them would be tantamount to isolating our troops at the Alamo.

Joe Biden (D-DE) quickly tore that down since the new troops have a new mission. That mission seems to be as targets if you accept William F. Buckley's assertion that there are unlimited insurgents with unlimited IEDs. More troops just mean more possible targets while the troops will have little to no affect on the acts of the enemy.

The accusation that leaving Iraq will only embolden the irrepressible boogeyman Al Queda is as misleading as accusing Hussein of having ties with them. If we leave the majority Shia's will take control and turn all of their energy towards dispatching the Sunni terrorist group. They'll be gone much faster than if we stay in country, providing them both a target and safety from the Shia's.

The Kurdish will have a safe area if they can still the temptation to attack the Turks.

The Shia's are controlling the rest of the country anyway and once left alone will work out differences between Badr and Sadr.

The best part will be getting rid of that body known as the government of Iraq. It doesn't work, the constitution is regularly ignored, and the people are suffering more at the hands of official police than from illegitimate militias.

The largest problem would be leaving the Sunni's as ready victims. Perhaps we could split Israel and give part of it to this minority group. Okay, that's an evil thought. But Baghdad would have to be split akin to Jerusalem, a divide that has never worked well.

There are also some minority Christian and Jewish groups that we've put in danger because of the general rise in violence. An end to the general mayhem might make them safer as a result.

Sunnis argue that a division of the country would mean they would lose control of both major oil fields. This is also misleading as US companies are taking control of the oil fields. The Independent has seen drafts of the new Iraqi hydrocarbon law that would give a lion's share of profits to US companies. The small amount of revenue left could easily be distributed by KBR at a pay window.

One clear message is that we need to go back to the conservative credo of staying away from nation building. From Iran to Chile we've never done a very good job of that and someday we'll learn our lesson.

A Question For Carter re: The Hostage Rescue

noreply@blogger.com (don1one) — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 16:55:00 +0000

I was stationed in Turkey when the fall of the Shah of Iran occurred. Planes flew into Iran from our base rescuing stranded Americans and bringing with them what little they could.

The planes flew round trips into Iran from our base, then were transferred to other planes to be taken up to Germany on their way to various locations.

While we were in a secure area and well protected by the Turkish military, who despite US spin about the Iraq invasion have always been a great friend of the US, we still wore battle garments and worked 12+ hour days.

This military preparedness caused all kinds of rumors to form and whirl around. But one that I'd love an answer to was concerning who went into Iraq for the hostage rescue.

The rumor was that a team experienced in desert operations had been training for weeks to rescue the hostages. They had desert gear, filters on their helicopters, and knew the people and area.

The rumor goes that at the last moment a Vietnam era general had convinced President Carter to send his own (untrained) troops in for the glory. The result was an ill-equipped and trained force that attempt and failed the rescue.

On the Sunday morning talk shows President Carter said the failing was in not sending in an 8th helicopter. But I've wondered if the failing wasn't the ego of a general seeking one more medal at the cost of many people's lives, a truly Vietnam era tradition.

Fox Unemployment Assistance Program

noreply@blogger.com (don1one) — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 04:14:00 +0000

I haven't seen Dennis Miller in a while. But flipping through Fox News tonight I saw him ranting about the incident in San Francisco in which the Yale Baker's Dozen a capella all-male group got caught in unfortunate attack by some local males.

The Yale Herald says no one knows quite what happened, but since a parody of the National Anthem was sung Sean Hannity and Dennis Miller have decided that it was a San Francisco anti-patriotism beating.

While there are several versions of the story still swirling around, Dennis Miller's rants were neither funny nor satirical. Mostly, they were just sad and attempted to support Hannity's stand on the issue. Hannity's points are rarely based on reality and this one seems no different since the "National Anthem" ended with lines about beer drinking and was obviously meant as a joke. However by the end of the rant he'd been able to insult all of San Francisco and blame the whole thing on Nancy Pelosi.

Dennis adds nothing to the national discussion on this the newest act of violence in America. He neither breaks the tension with humor nor shows us insights with poignant jibes. It's just hate mongering and boorish at best.

Were it not for Fox News Dennis would be slumming at the nearest John Birch bar. Thank goodness for Roger Ailes and the Fox unemployment assistance program.

The Rules of Weiqi

noreply@blogger.com (don1one) — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 00:37:00 +0000

US Defense forces often "game" war plans using advanced mathematics, super computers, and creative theories and hypothesis.

On the other hand, the Chinese use a game known in the US as Go, or Weiqi, as it's traditionally called. This is a simple game with a board, white pebbles, and black pebbles. The goal is to surround your opponent's stones so that you can remove them from the board. This game has historically been used to train Chinese and Japanese generals in strategic thinking.

Like the Russian solution of using a pencil in space to solve the problem of writing without gravity, it's often the elegant solutions that serve best.

I think the Chinese see a failing imperialistic country in the US and are afraid we would trigger our excessively large military to prove our power as the internal structure of the empire withers.

So we've seen quite a few moves to build their own martial power in the last few years. Espionage of US military secrets, successful rocket launches, blue water submarine development, cornering of energy contracts, and a budget increase that had Donald Rumsfeld constantly questioning the need.

The need of course is to protect their country from the US as the great wall protected their country from the Mongols.

China again extended their capability by a large leap today when they tested a satellite killer that knocked out an old weather satellite.

US warfare is extremely reliant on satellite systems to guide missiles, communicate around the world, and get images of enemy troop movements. Many of our advanced, or smart, weapons systems would be useless without satellite assistance.

Slowly, inexorably, the Chinese are preparing to confine the death throws of a failing empire. While we, with all of our advanced gaming and super computers, watch men with pebbles surround us.

It's All a Game

noreply@blogger.com (don1one) — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 18:30:00 +0000

I've often thought that the reason evangelical leaders rant on homosexuality is that they know the issue is a hot button that will get people, mostly men, to send in money.

Certainly with all of the violence, homeless, drug addicts, and global warming being gay is not a high priority threat to anyone.

Yesterday, MoveOn.org ran an ad against presidential hopeful John McCain and his Iraq stance. Why McCain? Why not Duncan Hunter, who won the Phoenix area straw poll? Could it be that attacking McCain will get more people to send in donations?

Now McCain has responded in an email to his exploremcain.com list asking for money to respond to MoveOn.

In order to respond to these negative attacks we need your financial support today for Senator McCain's Presidential Exploratory Committee. Please consider making an immediate contribution of $500, $250, $100, or whatever you can afford by visiting the following link:

Am I the only one that thinks we're the shuttlecock in a game of make money badminton? I've heard that Kerry and Bush spent around $35,000 on ties for the last election. I think the main point of all of this is just to make these people rich.

Outsiders At Large

noreply@blogger.com (don1one) — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 18:14:00 +0000

The US raid of an Iranian facility in the Kurdish north area of Iraq the other day has a lot o f people questioning whether the Prez is getting ready to attack Iran.

White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe would not comment on Thursday's raid.

"But the president made it clear last night that we will not tolerate outside interference in Iraq. And that's what the Iranians are up to," Mr. Johndroe said.

This reminds me of an exchange between Senator Ted Kennedy and a British soldier in British controlled Ireland.

"Why don't you go home?" sneered the British guard. "Why don't you?" replied the Senator. I'm quoting here from memory and may not have the quote exact.

According to a Sep 2006 poll of Iraqis 71% wanted the US out of their country within a year. Now we're increasing our footprint there just enough to cause more problems but not enough to stop the violence.

There's an oft quoted wisdom that insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome. Isn't it time we stopped the insanity?