HAPPY NEW BEERS!
Gonna go to Kaiju Big Battel tonight, with some friends. I'll try to write it up for Blogcritics. I wish you all a happy and healthy new year. Hopefully that bottle of 151 won't disappear like it has the last couple of years. (2 point ref)
DRAFT FEARS ON TAP
Charles Rangel (D-NY) the very liberal Harlem Congressman has been the first to bring up the D-word. Of course, being a liberal Democrat, cynical political calculus and not honorable strategic thinking is behind the pronouncement.
Some observers, including Medal of Honor recipient Colonel Jack H. Jacobs have warned our troops are being spread too thin. As Colonel Jacobs noted on MSNBC.com.
| [O]ur military force is only a fraction of what we had a decade ago - and nothing near what is required to fight. We have only about a million men and women under arms in the entire active service, but we have commitments as geographically diverse as Bosnia, Korea, Iraq and homeland defense. With numbers like these, the United States will find it difficult to amass decisive and overwhelming military force to combat any but the least significant of threats, and we require all the technological edge we can get. We rely very heavily on National Guard and reserve augmentation of active units, but we have no system of National Service.
|
| A draft will weaken and diminish the military, because anyone with the least amount of talent, skill or money will be able to legally dodge the draft, leaving only the worst this society has to offer to fill our ranks. Right now, we have the most powerful military force this world has ever seen and it's manned solely by volunteers. (Emphasis in the original) |
PULLING A BONER
When will I learn? I was posting a comment on Free Republic about Spike Lee's firm making ads for Pepsi. I wanted to be acerbic and imply that Lee's presence would hurt Pepsi's business. However, given my propensity for typos... No. Read it for yourself.
SIGN OF THE TIME
I was in Harvard Square Saturday- I had walked from my Brookline apartment, seeking to see something other than the same four walls. While there, I noticed on the Hudson News side of JFK street a sign urging motorists to 'Honk to say No to War in Iraq.' The sign (complete with stick, making it look like a leftover from some demo or another' was taped to a lamppost.
Now this was in ultra liberal Cambridge, on the last Saturday before Christmas. And you know how Boston drivers are, especially in jaywalker territory like Harvard Square. So you will also know why it was so remarkable that nary a beep could be heard. And in the time it took to enjoy a pot of Moroccan Mint at TeaLuxe, someone tore the sign down and pitched it into the trash.
THE VOICE POINTS THE WAY
Kudos to the Village Voice for contradicting my rant below. Normally I snarl the only good thing in the paper is Nat Hentoff. But on last week’s issue the cover story, by Tom Robbins, was an excellent look at the cadets at West Point. Refreshingly the tone of the article is not sneering or accusatory. Instead there is a tone of careful respect as the author clearly is putting aside many of his preconceived notions.
For the National Review, that would be an ordinary article. For the Voice it is an act of courage.
MAKING MOCK O'UNIFORMS THAT GUARD YOU WHILE YOU SLEEP
Since I've brought up liberal prejudices, let's look at their biggest focus of contempt- the military. The hatred the post Vietnam left has for our servicepeople is shocking. Here it is at its sleaziest at the Fark Forums.
|
GENDER SAUCE FOR THE GANDER
TV ratings poison Bryant Gumbel may join on Harold Rraines' anti-Augusta bandwagon, but according to the New York Post's Page Six, he comes with baggage- membership in an all male club.
| Martha Burk, who chairs the National Council of Women's Organizations, said Gumbel admitted to her off-camera that he was a member of the exclusive Burning Tree Club in Bethesda, Md., while profiling her on "Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel," in an installment to air Tuesday on HBO. "I told him it was wrong and he shouldn't [belong to the club]," Burk said. "He mentioned it to me and I said, 'Bryant, you're wrong to do this. It's the wrong kind of statement to make not only to the public but also to your own daughter. I think you need to reconsider what you're doing in terms of the public statement that it makes.' " The HBO show will not include Burk's tirade against Gumbel because it happened off-camera. Burk says she wanted to bring it up but, "he had control of the interview." |
LILEK'S GEM
James Lileks continues to prove why he is one of the best phrasemakers writing in his latest screed.
| You know, if every "Woman's Studies" department was closed, and the student loans were used to create businesses that hired women instead of studied them like tragic butterflies impaled on the patriarchal pin, we might be better off.
|
| For approximately 10 hours, nearly every single fever-induced plotline, image, character and non sequitar was funneled through the metaphor of the Little Green Footballs webpage. That's what my poor overclocked brain used to sort and process all the gibberish. New plotlines were understood as new blog entries. There was also running plot about buying large chunks of space on LGF for $500, and whether the website could be used to smuggle antiquities. This went on, as I said, for ten hours.
|
UN-WISSE STRATEGY
In this otherwise solid examination of the resurgence of anti-Semitism on college campuses, Professor
Ruth Wisse offers the following advice in combating the plague.
| The last thing university authorities ought to do in addressing this latest outbreak of what has been called "the longest hatred" is to enforce the kind of speech codes that have been invoked to protect other sensitive minorities.
|
ARAFAT FINDS THE FRIGGING OBVIOUS!
The old joke about the Palestinians being like the Bourbons- forgetting nothing and learning nothing- has taken an interesting twist. The Palestinians chose Hitler, Stalin, Saddam and now Osama. They cheer for the bloodthirstiest goons who promise them dead Jews. And every time they end up worse off.
FIRST REFUGE OF A DIMWIT
Sean Penn is using a new word these days...
In Reuters...
| "I'm here for a simple reason, which is because I'm a patriot and an American who has benefited enormously from being an American, and because I had areas of personal concern and conscience that led me to come to Iraq.
|
| "As a father, an actor, a filmmaker and a patriot, my visit to Iraq is for me a natural extension of my obligation - at least, attempt - to find my own voice on matters of conscience."
|
| I don't think it scratches the surface of the rage that is felt, if not acted upon, by most of the people in the country where I live... I was brought up in a country that relished fear-based religion, corrupt government and an entire white population living on stolen property that they murdered for and that is passed on from generation to generation.
|
HEY BUD, LET'S JIHAD!
Annoying actor Sean Penn is in Baghdad for three days. That's a short window to begin bombing!
Link via Drudge.
BUY SOMETHING DAMN IT!
Attention anti-idiotarians shoppers, especially in the Boston area... the bastards are at it again and we need to use our wallets to tell them to shove off.
See, a band of self-hating Jews calling themselves 'Jewish Women for Justice' have been picketing Wordsworth, one of the best bookstores in the region. Why? Because the proprietor, Hillel Stavis stopped giving to NPR (AKA National Pinko Radio, AKA National Palestinian Radio) because of their incessant anti-Israel bias. Stavis joined in the boycott in reaction to... well, see for yourself.
Typically, these protestors hypocritically accuse others of 'censorship' when they support NPR's incessant one sided reporting.
Stavis is not taking this sitting down.
| Stavis fought back, standing next to his opponents on the sidewalk. As patrons entered his store, he distributed fliers of his own with a bold red headline: "These Anti-Israel Demonstrators Are Preparing The Next Holocaust."
|
YET MORE PINKO ONANISM
September 11th 2001 the New York Times had a front page puff-piece about convicted 60s terrorist Bill Ayers. Ayers attempted to bomb the Pentagon and was unrepentant. "I don't regret setting bombs.... I feel we didn't do enough." The Times wound up with a great deal of egg on its face that the sympathy Pulitzers did little to wipe off.
Well, Raines' rag is at it again. Today, front page, below the fold is more drool over the detritus of the Weather Underground.
| As with the other triumphs of his young life, Chesa Boudin was unable to celebrate with his parents on Saturday afternoon when he was named a Rhodes scholar. He could not even share the good news.
As maximum-security inmates in the New York State prison system, Katherine Boudin and David Gilbert are barred from receiving telephone calls or e-mail messages. |
| His parents, members of the 1970's radical group the Weathermen, have been in prison since he was 14 months old, for roles in a 1981 Brink's robbery in Rockland County in which two police officers and a guard were killed. They missed his Phi Beta Kappa award, high school graduation, Little League games.
|
Speaking of stupidity in the pages of the Times, letter writer Hilary Dunst screeches...
| It was not Bill Clinton's "preoccupation with the Monica threat to his future" that "diluted his focus on the Qaeda threat to our future" but rather the Republican obsession with what was, and should have remained, a misguided but meaningless sexual peccadillo.
|
SHUT UP AND SHOW US YOUR TITS
Jay Caruso takes on celebrity activism and succinctly hits one out of the park.
| The day people start taking political advice from the likes of Uma Thurman is the day I declare my allegiance to Soviet Canuckistan. |
ANTI-IDIOTARIAN GUERILLAS GOING APE!
Unlike the Vietnam era protesters, the idiotarians are not getting a free ride. A month or two ago I was tearing down anti-war signs in Cambridge (normally I don’t do such things, but these PC sphincters are so in love with censorship that it is healthy to give them a taste of it themselves). As I was going to hurl another handful of photocopied propaganda pamphlets I looked into the trash barrel and noted that someone else had threw in fliers there as well. Indeed as I walked down Mass Ave, I noted more fliers in the trash than on the walls or lampposts, which are normally festooned with such propaganda in the Cantabrigian People’s Republic.
On the left coast, software dude Napoleon Cole proves himself cleverer and crueler than me as he harasses some peaceniks by pretending he is one of their more unsavory allies. Pathetically, many of his victims are too ignorant to recognize the joke is on them.
| I've found a formula that I like, and so I try it out again a few blocks away on a group of young girls with antiwar Greenpeace-type stickers all over them. "Hey chicks? Do you dames know where I can find a pro-Saddam rally?" They respond (no kidding): "Uh, I don't know. We just came from one. I think there's something at Garfield High School or something." "Oh, OK." I hold up my fist again: "End women's suffrage!" They respond with smiles: "Peace! See ya." |
I guess that’s why we call them idiotarians.
BACK FROM THE BAHAMAS!
I'm back from paradise! Back from 80 degrees, snorkeling in
a lagoon fringed with coconut palms and evenings filled with fruity
tropical drinks to 15 degrees here in tense Boston. Joy.
Seriously, it's great to be back... So here are a few random
observations about my trip.
The Atlantis resort on the aptly named Paradise Island is fabulous beyond description.
Period. But there were problems with the rooms. My family struggles
to get three adjoining rooms during the stay. (I had my separate room
on another floor. Unplanned, but I wasn't complaining!) The staff
was incredibly friendly- or maybe the Bahamians are just very nice to
tourists (while separating us from our cash!)
"Who Let the Dogs Out," seems to be the unofficial anthem, judging by
its ubiquity...
Baccarat must be a more interesting game if Le Chiffre is sharing your
table. (1 point ref.)
The trick to gambling is to know when to run away. The house will
always win given enough time.
I won't play craps again until I actually get a clue.
Blackjack can be incredibly frustrating! You get ten on your first
two cards, double down, get a picture cards- as the dealer shows six.
She turns the hole card over- it's a five. Then out comes a ten.
I spent the snorkeling time in the resort's lagoon. I wish I could
have taken a boat to 'Stingray City' (or do some other things, like
sportfishing) but things did not work out. Still there was a lot to
see- including small barracuda, snapper, a stingray, starfish, upside
down jellyfish a sea cucumber, gorgeous tropical fish and sea
urchins... On the last- word to the wise... DO NOT TOUCH THE ONES
WITH THE LONG BLACK SPINES!
As a snorkrler, I preferred the lagoon to the beach. It waves were
awfully rough and there was nothing really to see. (Nearly typed
'sea.') But the water was a gorgeous turquoise.
Boy- down there night falls fast!
The Bahamian coat of arms is really cool.
The resort had a number of fish tanks and pools for denizens of the
deep. There was a manta swimming in a huge ocean tank along with what
seemed to be a hundred other fish, including a hammerhead. I could
also see another hammerhead in a pool visible from my balcony- he swam
with a bunch of stingrays. A number of tanks had sharks (some of whom
were captured after wandering into the lagoon), stingrays, spotted
eagle rays, sawfish, grouper (which tastes fine, but has an odd
texture), remoras, triggerfish, jacks, French grunts, yellowtail
snapper and sea turtles. Aside from hammerheads, there were nurse
sharks and blacktips. The nurse sharks looked lazy, but as a sign by
one of their pools read, 'These are wild animals with big teeth!'
The water slides were a blast. Two of them went through clear tubes
that ran though a shark tank. That, to me, was cruel. The poor
sharks are constantly tantalized by an unreachable buffet!
I could barely get a newspaper there and while the resort's library
had Internet access, it was 15 minutes a day. I was going through
info withdrawal!
The flight home was reasonable (if a bit bumpy at the end). Had a
three hour layover in Charlotte. Nice airport. Love the rocking
chairs. My nephew was enthralled by the kinetic sculpture.
Get out of the airplane into the corridor that leads to the terminal
at Logan and the breath is already clouding. 'Welcome Back' says New
England!
Anyhow, it's good to be back! Ya miss me?
*Waits...*
Feh. Might as well go back!
BAD BLOGGER, NO BISCUT
Not that I’m a great blogger, but I’ll be away for a week enjoying the sun at the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas.
IN OUR NAMES
Proudly bellicose woman Kathy Kinsley, who has read my ‘Not in Our Name’ rant points out this web page. Read it. Then add your signature.
I PITY THE FOOLS
The poor Petro-bandit princes of the House of Sod are having a wee bit of trouble. Their attempts at PR to seduce the American people are falling flat. The Senate is asking difficult questions about the princes' role in funding 9-11. Imagine that. The nerve of those elected representatives calling the Wahabbi warlords on the carpet!
Gee, for the good old days when you only had to deal with those pliable fellows from the State Department- the guys who were so keen on entering the oil industry afterwards that they shaft their own countrywomen who had foolishly wedded Saudis and now regretted it. And they were so helpful with visas. But now those damn parliamentarians interfered. Not only is Visa express gone, the Homeland Security bill has banned any 3rd party screening processes (to prevent Visa Express's revival) and to add insult to injury an on-site Homeland security person has to approve the application. And they may not even be friendly and know how things are done in the Kingdom.
So, here's a hint you loathsome, avaricious gluttons... 15 of 19. That's the only fact about your oily sand pit and its greasy kleptocrats most Americans care.
Rank and organization: Master Sergeant, U.S. Army. Place and date: 3
October 1993, Mogadishu, Somalia. Entered service at: ----- Born: Lincoln,
Maine. Citation: Master Sergeant Gordon, United States Army, distinguished
himself by actions above and beyond the call of duty on 3 October 1993,
while serving as Sniper Team Leader, United States Army Special Operations
Command with Task Force Ranger in Mogadishu, Somalia. Master Sergeant Gordon's
sniper team provided precision fires from the lead helicopter during an
assault and at two helicopter crash sites, while subjected to intense automatic
weapons and rocket propelled grenade fires. When Master Sergeant Gordon
learned that ground forces were not immediately available to secure the
second crash site, he and another sniper unhesitatingly volunteered to
be inserted to protect the four critically wounded personnel, despite being
well aware of the growing number of enemy personnel closing in on the site.
After his third request to be inserted, Master Sergeant Gordon received
permission to perform his volunteer mission. When debris and enemy ground
fires at the site caused them to abort the first attempt, Master Sergeant
Gordon was inserted one hundred meters south of the crash site. Equipped
with only his sniper rifle and a pistol, Master Sergeant Gordon and his
fellow sniper, while under intense small arms fire from the enemy, fought
their way through a dense maze of shanties and shacks to reach the critically
injured crew members. Master Sergeant Gordon immediately pulled the pilot
and the other crew members from the aircraft, establishing a perimeter
which placed him and his fellow sniper in the most vulnerable position.
Master Sergeant Gordon used his long range rifle and side arm to kill an
undetermined number of attackers until he depleted his ammunition. Master
Sergeant Gordon then went back to the wreckage, recovering some of the
crew's weapons and ammunition. Despite the fact that he was critically
low on ammunition, he provided some of it to the dazed pilot and then radioed
for help. Master Sergeant Gordon continued to travel the perimeter, protecting
the downed crew. After his team member was fatally wounded and his own
rifle ammunition exhausted, Master Sergeant Gordon returned to the wreckage,
recovering a rifle with the last five rounds of ammunition and gave it
to the pilot with the words, "good luck." Then, armed only with his pistol,
Master Sergeant Gordon continued to fight until he was fatally wounded.
His actions saved the pilot's life. Master Sergeant Gordon's extraordinary
heroism and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest standards
of military service and reflect great credit upon him, his unit and the
United States Army.
*ANDERSON, JAMES, JR.
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Marine Corps, 2d Platoon,
Company F, 2d Battalion, 3d Marines, 3d Marine Division. Place and date:
Republic of Vietnam, 28 February 1967. Entered service at: Los Angeles,
Calif. Born: 22 January 1947, Los Angeles, Calif. Citation: For conspicuous
gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the
call of duty. Company F was advancing in dense jungle northwest of Cam
Lo in an effort to extract a heavily besieged reconnaissance patrol. Pfc.
Anderson's platoon was the lead element and had advanced only about 200
meters when they were brought under extremely intense enemy small-arms
and automatic weapons fire. The platoon reacted swiftly, getting on line
as best they could in the thick terrain, and began returning fire. Pfc.
Anderson found himself tightly bunched together with the other members
of the platoon only 20 meters from the enemy positions. As the fire fight
continued several of the men were wounded by the deadly enemy assault.
Suddenly, an enemy grenade landed in the midst of the marines and rolled
alongside Pfc. Anderson's head. Unhesitatingly and with complete disregard
for his personal safety, he reached out, grasped the grenade, pulled it
to his chest and curled around it as it went off. Although several marines
received shrapnel from the grenade, his body absorbed the major force of
the explosion. In this singularly heroic act, Pfc. Anderson saved his comrades
from serious injury and possible death. His personal heroism, extraordinary
valor, and inspirational supreme self-sacrifice reflected great credit
upon himself and the Marine Corps and upheld the highest traditions of
the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.
*SIJAN, LANCE P.
Rank and organization: Captain, U.S. Air Force, 4th Allied POW Wing,
Pilot of an F-4C aircraft. Place and date: North Vietnam, 9 November 1967.
Entered service at: Milwaukee, Wis. Born: 13 April 1942, Milwaukee, Wis.
Citation: While on a flight over North Vietnam, Capt. Sijan ejected from
his disabled aircraft and successfully evaded capture for more than 6 weeks.
During this time, he was seriously injured and suffered from shock and
extreme weight loss due to lack of food. After being captured by North
Vietnamese soldiers, Capt. Sijan was taken to a holding point for subsequent
transfer to a prisoner of war camp. In his emaciated and crippled condition,
he overpowered 1 of his guards and crawled into the jungle, only to be
recaptured after several hours. He was then transferred to another prison
camp where he was kept in solitary confinement and interrogated at length.
During interrogation, he was severely tortured; however, he did not divulge
any information to his captors. Capt. Sijan lapsed into delirium and was
placed in the care of another prisoner. During his intermittent periods
of consciousness until his death, he never complained of his physical condition
and, on several occasions, spoke of future escape attempts. Capt. Sijan's
extraordinary heroism and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty
at the cost of his life are in keeping with the highest traditions of the
U.S. Air Force and reflect great credit upon himself and the U.S. Armed
Forces.
*BENFOLD, EDWARD C.
Rank and organization: Hospital Corpsman Third Class, U.S. Navy, attached to
a company in the 1st Marine Division. Place and date: Korea, 5 September 1952.
Entered service at: Philadelphia, Pa. Born: 15 January 1931, Staten Island,
N.Y. Citation: For gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and
beyond the call of duty while serving in operations against enemy aggressor
forces. When his company was subjected to heavy artillery and mortar barrages,
followed by a determined assault during the hours of darkness by an enemy force
estimated at battalion strength, HC3c. Benfold resolutely moved from position
to position in the face of intense hostile fire, treating the wounded and lending
words of encouragement. Leaving the protection of his sheltered position to
treat the wounded when the platoon area in which he was working was attacked
from both the front and rear, he moved forward to an exposed ridge line where
he observed 2 marines in a large crater. As he approached the 2 men to determine
their condition, an enemy soldier threw 2 grenades into the crater while 2 other
enemy charged the position. Picking up a grenade in each hand, HC3c Benfold
leaped out of the crater and hurled himself against the on-rushing hostile soldiers,
pushing the grenades against their chests and killing both the attackers. Mortally
wounded while carrying out this heroic act, HC3c. Benfold, by his great personal
valor and resolute spirit of self-sacrifice in the face of almost certain death,
was directly responsible for saving the lives of his 2 comrades. His exceptional
courage reflects the highest credit upon himself and enhances the finest traditions
of the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for others.
*LORING, CHARLES J., JR.
Rank and organization: Major, U.S. Air Force, 80th Fighter-Bomber Squadron,
8th Fighter-Bomber Wing. Place and date: Near Sniper Ridge, North Korea,
22 November 1952. Entered service at: Portland, Maine. Born: 2 October
1918, Portland, Maine. Citation: Maj. Loring distinguished himself by conspicuous
gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the
call of duty. While leading a night of 4 F-80 type aircraft on a close
support mission, Maj. Loring was briefed by a controller to dive-bomb enemy
gun positions which were harassing friendly ground troops. After verifying
the location of the target, Maj. Loring rolled into his dive bomb run.
Throughout the run, extremely accurate ground fire was directed on his
aircraft. Disregarding the accuracy and intensity of the ground fire, Maj.
Loring aggressively continued to press the attack until his aircraft was
hit. At approximately 4,000 feet, he deliberately altered his course and
aimed his diving aircraft at active gun emplacements concentrated on a
ridge northwest of the briefed target, turned his aircraft 45 degrees to
the left, pulled up in a deliberate, controlled maneuver, and elected to
sacrifice his life by diving his aircraft directly into the midst of the
enemy emplacements. His selfless and heroic action completely destroyed
the enemy gun emplacement and eliminated a dangerous threat to United Nations
ground forces. Maj. Loring's noble spirit, superlative courage, and conspicuous
self-sacrifice in inflicting maximum damage on the enemy exemplified valor
of the highest degree and his actions were in keeping with the finest traditions
of the U.S. Air Force.
*MUNRO, DOUGLAS ALBERT
Rank and organization: Signalman First Class,
U.S. Coast Guard Born: 11 October 1919, Vancouver,
British Columbia. Accredited to Washington. Citation:
For extraordinary heroism and conspicuous gallantry
m action above and beyond the call of duty as
Petty Officer in Charge of a group of 24 Higgins
boats, engaged in the evacuation of a battalion
of marines trapped by enemy Japanese forces at
Point Cruz Guadalcanal, on 27 September 1942.
After making preliminary plans for the evacuation
of nearly 500 beleaguered marines, Munro, under
constant strafing by enemy machineguns on the
island, and at great risk of his life, daringly
led 5 of his small craft toward the shore. As
he closed the beach, he signaled the others to
land, and then in order to draw the enemy's fire
and protect the heavily loaded boats, he valiantly
placed his craft with its 2 small guns as a shield
between the beachhead and the Japanese. When
the perilous task of evacuation was nearly completed,
Munro was instantly killed by enemy fire, but
his crew, 2 of whom were wounded, carried on
until the last boat had loaded and cleared the
beach. By his outstanding leadership, expert
planning, and dauntless devotion to duty, he
and his courageous comrades undoubtedly saved
the lives of many who otherwise would have perished.
He gallantly gave his life for his country.
*JACHMAN, ISADORE S.
Rank and organization: Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company B, 513th Parachute
Infantry Regiment. Place and date: Flamierge, Belgium, 4 January 1945.
Entered service at: Baltimore, Md. Birth: Berlin, Germany. G.O. No.: 25,
9 June 1950. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above
and beyond the call of duty at Flamierge, Belgium, on 4 January 1945, when
his company was pinned down by enemy artillery, mortar, and small arms
fire, 2 hostile tanks attacked the unit, inflicting heavy. casualties.
S/Sgt. Jachman, seeing the desperate plight of his comrades, left his place
of cover and with total disregard for his own safety dashed across open
ground through a hail of fire and seizing a bazooka from a fallen comrade
advanced on the tanks, which concentrated their fire on him. Firing the
weapon alone, he damaged one and forced both to retire. S/Sgt. Jachman's
heroic action, in which he suffered fatal wounds, disrupted the entire
enemy attack, reflecting the highest credit upon himself and the parachute
infantry.
*FLAHERTY, FRANCIS C.
Rank and organization: Ensign, U.S. Naval Reserve. Born: 15 March 1919,
Charlotte, Mich. Accredited to: Michigan. Citation: For conspicuous devotion
to duty and extraordinary courage and complete disregard of his own life,
above and beyond the call of duty, during the attack on the Fleet in Pearl
Harbor, by Japanese forces on 7 December 1941. When it was seen that the
U.S.S. Oklahoma was going to capsize and the order was given to abandon
ship, Ens. Flaherty remained in a turret, holding a flashlight so the remainder
of the turret crew could see to escape, thereby sacrificing his own life.
*STOCKHAM, FRED W. (Army Medal)
Rank and organization: Gunnery Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps, 96th Company,
2d Battalion, 6th Regiment. Place and date: In Bois-de-Belleau, France,
13-14 June 1918. Entered service at: New York, N.Y. Birth: Detroit, Mich.
G.O. NO.:--. Citation: During an intense enemy bombardment with high explosive
and gas shells which wounded or killed many members of the company, G/Sgt.
Stockham, upon noticing that the gas mask of a wounded comrade was shot
away, without hesitation, removed his own gas mask and insisted upon giving
it to the wounded man, well knowing that the effects of the gas would be
fatal to himself. He continued with undaunted courage and valor to direct
and assist in the evacuation of the wounded, until he himself collapsed
from the effects of gas, dying as a result thereof a few days later. His
courageous conduct undoubtedly saved the lives of many of his wounded comrades
and his conspicuous gallantry and spirit of self-sacrifice were a source
of great inspiration to all who served with him.
Medal of Honor citations from The US Army Center for Military History
Also check out Doug Sterner's Home of Heroes.
MEET THE NEW BOSS. SAME AS THE OLD BOSS.
Well, though Mitt won, despite the best efforts of the Jamaica Plain voting authorities. However that still does not mean that the Bay State overlords will respect the voters. Another initiative representing the Will of the People has run smack into the Won’t of the Legislature.
The legislatures do not respect the voters because they do not fear them. In Massachusetts, the Democrats run a veto-proof and the Republicans could not send challengers against six of the four Representatives, nor John Kerry. All the incumbents won anyhow.
In the State Senate the situation is far more dire. So long as the incumbents are reflexively retained by the voters, the apparatchiks will continue to do as they please.
VOTING EARLY AND OFTEN IN THE BAY STATE
Courtesy of Howie Carr. A voter gets help.
UPDATE
Article here.
A whole slew of Jewish holidays have just passed us by: Rosha Shanah, Yom Kippur and Shavout. Chanukah is coming soon. But right now I am thinking about Passover- specifically one part of the seder service. The reason why I am thinking of it is because of the 'anti-war' or rather 'pro-surrender' meme 'Not in our names.' This pisses me off something fierce and has since I saw the damn thing for the first time after the atrocity on 9-11-01. First off, its the damned presumption and hubris It's not about these Warty Bliggens (2 point ref).
"Oh," they would whine, no doubt in an irritating nasal voice. "I meant in our names as Americans."
So now we're back to the Passover seder. During the seder, a tale about a man with four sons is recited. One is wise, one is wicked (or contrary), one is simple and one does not even know how to ask a question. Growing up the competition for the wise son among my two brothers and myself was (and is) fierce for the wise son. The wicked son was the next best. Our dog was the silent son.
Okay, enough nostalgia. The point I am heading towards is the scathing text on the wicked son, who asks, "What does this service mean to you." By saying 'you' and not 'us,' he excludes himself.
not be redeemed." He earns his wickedness by his smug isolationism. "Had he been there,' the Haggadah notes, 'he would not have been redeemed."
The idiotarians sin in a similar manner, but from the opposite end. By saying they are the world in their expansive solipsism, they are denying the martyred dead of September 11th.
So here is my reply to this crowd.
| It's not about you. It's not about natural gas pipelines. It's not about oil. It's not about out our alleged racism. It's not about imperialism. It's about making sure the next smoking gun is not a mushroom cloud. It's about the 3,000 of my fellow citizens who were murdered. And yes, I meant 'my fellow citizens.' Had you been the ones murdered would not be worth avenging.
|
TEXT OF AN EMAIL TO MSNBC ON ITS IMPLICITLY ACCUSING CHARLES JOHNSON'S LITTLE GREEN FOOTBALLS BLOG OF BEING A 'HATE SITE.'
| Sirs, I for one am appalled by the fact that you swallowed Anil Dash's nonsense allegations that LGF is a 'hate site.' Like many on the left, Dash is terrified by the sight of powerfully argued opposing viewpoints, which is what LGF has in spades. LGF is brutally honest and relentless in showing the ugly face of Islamofascism and the discussions are often barbed and freewheeling. He may not bother to hide his contempt for terror's cheerleaders, but that is borne out of intellectual honesty, not bigotry. I suggest you change the label immediately. |
Again, here is the email to complain to MSNBC and here is the blogburst.
ADVANCE AUSTRALIA FAIR
In memory to the Australians, New Zealanders, Indonesians and others foully murdered by Islamofascist terrorists in the Bali bombing.
Image thanks to Justin Weitz
Some people have taken this as a sign of a resurgent Al-Qeada. I think that is a mis-reading of the terrorists. They are not an octopus, with tentacles everywhere, but a school of piranha. Much of the school is dead already, including the larger fishes that were in the Afghanistan part of the river, but there are more of these mindless killers swimming about.
Remember, they are all the enemy and to them a maternity ward is as good a target as a bunker. Better even because they are more likely to succeed in their atrocities against the helpless.
Unfortunately, the USAin press has been focusing on the Beltway Sniper- essentially a local story, but one that affects their parochial selves intently. But Al-Qeada terrorist, or ordinary serial killer who is happily 'hunting humans,' the publicity is this guy's oxygen. The wall to wall coverage is what he lives for.
RITTER'S MELTDOWN CONTINUES
Major Scott Ritter has caught onto the 'chickenhawk' meme. Seth Gitell of the Boston Phoenix bore his angry brunt.
| When I asked, "Why not war?" Ritter all but exploded. "First of all, to hell with you and that question, " he said, arguing that concern for "over a million American servicemen" and "tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians" dictates doing everything possible to avoid war. "'Why not war?' My God, what a question." Pressed on the point that to "exhaust all the possibilities" would only result in keeping Hussein in power, Ritter dismissed my "interpretation" and turned the tables again. "Before we talk about going off to war and having people die - other people by the way, you're not going to die, you're not going to die ..." |
Gitell, though disturbed by this example of the "[D]isturbing ad hominem twist to the debate over Iraq right now," gamely tried some reporter's judo.
| "How do you know I'm not a member of the Reserves?" I asked Ritter, challenging his assumption (which was correct, by the way, at least in my case) that a journalist of my age would not be in the service.
|
Ritter was not fooled by this attempt at creating a real debate. He's to clever for that, so he turns to the puerile insults.
| But Ritter mocked this suggestion: "Okay, you and I. We'll go. Go sign up." |
Ritter did not just attack the reporter...
| Last month, I wrote a short piece about Ritter, in which I quoted his former superior, Ambassador Richard Butler, on Ritter's impassioned opposition to the position that Hussein might still have dangerous unconventional weapons and possibly even nuclear weapons. This is what Butler told me: "On Ritter, it's simple. Either he misled me when he worked for me, as he utterly insisted that Iraq had WMD [weapons of mass destruction], or he's now misleading the public when he says there were no weapons left in Iraq at that time. The facts make clear that he did not mislead me. I don't know why he's saying what he is saying. I'm not a psychoanalyst."
Right out of the box - with two other reporters present - I asked Ritter his response to Butler's comment. (He was traveling abroad and didn't have time to respond to my inquiries for the original article.) And right out of the box, Ritter almost bit my head clean off: " I don't understand the allegations. Misleading about what? What specifically did he say? " I explained, and Ritter turned his ire on Butler. " It's very clear, never once in any of the documents that I submitted to Richard Butler did I say that Iraq retained ... weapons, " Ritter said. His version is that he merely told Butler that " we have information that basically there might be documents or some other evidence existing in certain sites that could lead us to the ability to account for this material, and therefore I believe we should go off and do this inspection. " So now, it seems, it's a question of credibility between Ritter and Butler. |
My money is on Butler.
CROW: PART OF THIS NUTRITIOUS BREAKFAST.
I have made two major pronouncements which I have to recant. The first, and more trivial, relates to my football team. The first player I drafted was Shaun Alexander. Because he had been almost completely unproductive, I benched him this week.
INTO ACTIVISM!
Sorry for this report's lateness...
Well, I've recently finished my first political campaign as a volunteer... and we lost! I worked for Jim Rappaport, a GOP nominee for Lieutenant Governor. Sadly the handpicked (and inferior) candidate won. Now a lieutenant governorship on its face may look as if it is worth a bucket of warm spit, sans bucket, but GOP governors in the commonwealth tend to vanish with Blair Witch regularity. They get taken up by the inhabitants of the White House (both parties. Mass GOP is more liberal than Missouri Democrats. Except we would rather not let the dead run for office.)
I stuffed envelopes and delivered signs. On election day, I spent the better part of the afternoon near my polling place with a sign. I waved to the passers-by while listening to Howie Carr on my walkman. Across the street were a couple of sullen campaigners for a Democrat candidate for State Treasurer. They had the typical snottiness of young people convinced of their moral superiority. One of them asked me how long I was staying around. I said "Until I get bored." Then I asked them the same question. "Until you get bored," was the snarky reply. They sat on a concrete wall that surrounded the elevated garden of the polling place (an apartment complex) far back from the street. The two chatted among themselves, ignoring the passers-by.
In contrast, I stood on the opposite side of the fairly busy road, waving at passers-by in their cars, smiling and holding my sign prominently. I may not have influenced many votes, but the response was overwhelmingly positive, including the cyclist who swung by to give me five! A great many motorists waved or shouted encouragement. Of course there were a bout a half-dozen thumbs down and one or two derisive snorts and dirty looks, but that was a small percentage of the passers-by.
Around 6 PM, I left. One of the slacker activists shouted 'Hey, Rappaport, Democrats don't quit!"
I replied, "Yeah. They just steal the elections."
Jerks. At least their candidate went down to defeat.
Sadly, though, too many Democrats will win offices Massachusetts because there is no opposition. We have no Republican representative in the house (expelling the last two in 1994- talk about crappy timing) and the Republicans could not even get a senatorial candidate to run against Kerry. The state GOP may hold the corner office (There's no governor's mansion in MA) but they only have six of the forty state senate seats and 22 of the 160 representative districts. With no fear of retaliation, the power goes to the legislative bosses, Speaker of the House Thomas M. Finneran and Senate President Thomas Birmingham (who will, thankfully, be departing after a failed gubernatorial run). Ensconced in their rotten boroughs, the two terrible Toms are able to cow their party underlings into line, destroying any and all initiative. They trample on the rules to kill bills, or even debate on things they oppose, like campaign reform, the death penalty, opposition to gay marriage or domestic partner benefits and, most of all, term limits.
As long as a disproportionate amount of power in the Commonwealth is held by a legislative leadership who need not worry about his constituents, let alone any other voters in the state, responsive representative democracy will be but a dream. Nevertheless, we will continue to fight for freedom and democracy.
PRESTIGE PRESS BASHING
I was damn lucky I didn't have a car accident driving home from the Cape the night before Labor Day. Not that I was driving any more like a manic than I usually do. (Hey, for a Bostonian, I'm pretty good. I am almost never the last person to run a red light.) I was furious about what I was hearing on the radio.
WBZ, a Boston area news station, broadcasts the 60 Minutes audio feed. And what were the issues of the day according to the elders of Black Rock? Well the two segments I caught were about the [alleged] spousal/girlfriend abuse epidemic in the armed services (reported by Ed Bradley) and a warm and fuzzy piece on the Al Noor School, an Islamic school in Brooklyn as parroted by Morley Safer.
This was what the doddering wrinklies chose to air this ten days before the anniversary of the 9/11 atrocities, demonstrating why they remain among the leading lights among reactionary liberalism in America. Certainly the Department of Defense understood, pointedly refusing to co-operate. So the usual parade of 'activists' and other axe grinders did not have anyone to riff off of for the solicitous talking heads- all designed to make the armed forces . (Don't get me wrong- spousal abuse is always serious and perhaps the DoD isn't doing enough. However, there were questions that Ed Bradley could have asked that would have actually challenged the critics. And that would have required some empathy with the servicemen, or at least the ability to think outside the proverbial box- something unthinkable from the pressiods.)
Ann Coulter the Madame Defarge of the conservative movement, vivisected the second piece including how CBS let the school soft-pedal the student's (especially the female students) adoration for homicide bombers.
| The students instantly and enthusiastically agreed with the proposition that a "Muslim who becomes a suicide bomber goes to Paradise for that action." "Definitely," one student said, calling a female suicide bomber "very brave." "Do you believe they are martyrs? Holy martyrs?" Again, without hesitation, the students affirmed: "Yes" and "of course." As to whether suicide bombers would go to Paradise, the students said they earnestly hoped so. "I mean, they're doing it for a good cause," one boy explained. "I pray that they go to Paradise," another said. Not only that, but one student said, "I think we'd all probably do the same." Weeks later, at the urging of the principal, the students modified their answers slightly. But according to CBS, "None of them changed their view that suicide bombers in Israel would go to Paradise." The Islamic studies teacher at Al Noor claimed the students misunderstood true Islam: "If you go to chapter 4, verse 29, it says so clear, 'Do not kill yourself.'" |
What's really pathetic is that the Morely could have burst the jihadettes' fantasy pointing out the homicide bombers tend to target civilians. But emphasizing their glorious warrior went into a service full of elderly people would have soiled their precious young minds.
Maybe Morely should have done some research... But I guess he didn't want to be confrontational.
However, as loathsome as the saurian newsmagazine reporters are, they positively outshine the boobs at the Beeb. Anti-Idiotarians have long reviled the Limey louses... OK Limey lice and Brit nits... for their anti-American, anti-Israel, anti-common sense reporting. But it's not only in the foreign policy field we see their perennial perfidy.
Theodore Dalrymple noticed firsthand after writing about a trip to Blackpool; formerly the Cape Cod of the British working class that has fallen victim to a Spring break atmosphere.
| On the day after the publication of my article, I appeared briefly on the BBC's main breakfast-time radio program, which has an audience of several million. The interviewer was an intelligent and cultivated woman, and having briefly and accurately summarized for the readers my account of what I saw in Blackpool, she then asked me, "Aren't you being a toff?"-that is to say, a social and cultural snob. The question was, of course, a loaded one, with many layers of deeply derogatory implication. I in turn asked her whether she would herself bare her buttocks to passing strangers, and if she wouldn't, why not? She declined to answer this question, as if it were not serious-just as a future government minister with whom I once appeared on the radio, after asserting that one of the tragedies of some recent urban riots was that they had taken place in the rioters' poor inner-city neighborhood, refused to answer when I asked her if she would rather the riots had taken place in her own rich neighborhood. Not long after the interview about my experiences in Blackpool, the BBC broadcast letters from a few listeners, who charged that I had failed to understand the nature of working-class culture... The liberal assumption, in this as in most things, is that to understand is to approve (or at least to pardon), and therefore my disapproval indicated a lack of understanding. But strangely enough, the letters that the BBC and the newspaper that published the original article forwarded to me-those they hadn't broadcast or published-wholly endorsed my comments. |
| The deliberate exclusion of these voices from public expression provided a fine example of how the British intelligentsia goes about its self-appointed task of cultural destruction.
|
By excluding dissent or differing opinions, the intelligentsia can deny they exist, or if press, are anything but the fringe. So, how does the denial work? Back to the good Doctor...
| A BBC television producer recently outlined the phases of liberal denial for me. His colleagues, he told me, regarded him as a maverick, a tilter at windmills, almost a madman. And what was his madness? He wanted the BBC to make unvarnished documentaries about life in the lower third of society: about the mass (and increasing) illiteracy, the mass (and increasing) illegitimacy and single parenthood, the mass (and increasing) hooliganism, violence, lawlessness, drug taking, welfare dependency, and hopelessness, so that the rest of the population might begin to take stock of what was happening on their very doorstep. And he wanted, in particular, to concentrate on the devastating effects of the fragmentation-no, the atomization-of the family that liberal legislation, social engineering, and cultural attitudes since the late 1950s have so powerfully promoted. His BBC superiors greeted his proposals with condescension. First, they denied the facts. When he produced irrefutable evidence of their existence, they accused him of moral panic. When he proved that the phenomena to which the facts pointed were both serious and spreading rapidly up the social scale, they said that there was nothing that could be done about them, because they were an inevitable part of modern existence. When he said that they were the result of deliberate policy, they asked him whether he wanted to return to the bad old days when spouses who hated each other were forced to live together. And when he said that what had been done could be undone, at least in part, they produced their ace of trumps: the subject was not interesting, so there was no point in making programs about it. The British public would be left to sleepwalk its way undisturbed through the social disaster from which a fragile economic prosperity will certainly not protect it. |
| You can watch firearms being misused in soap operas and on television news, but you will rarely see an image of a happy, healthy sportsman bagging a pheasant, powdering a clay or punching a hole in a paper target. Shooting men and women, denied any positive role, have long since been tele-morphed into ‘gun owners’: beer-bellied pervs in camouflage or heartless toffs blasting fluffy bunnies and Bambi’s mum... |
| Pilloried in the press and on television, shooters had no proper chance to explain why they were guiltless. Acting as a spokesman for the sport, I can remember being given a 16-second prerecorded slot on the Nine O’Clock News to ‘balance’ more than two minutes’ live hysteria from the opposition.
|
| The BBC policy was to barely mention the sport (the third biggest at the Games) in their national coverage. They have tried to excuse this appalling record by saying that Bisley was on 'the periphery' of the Games and that there were 'logistical problems'. Such tosh bears no scrutiny. There were 70 BBC accredited people at Bisley. Some of them were so frustrated that their material was not being used that they openly criticised the policy-makers in Manchester. Logistics had nothing to do with it, of course: viewers in Australia and India managed to see their shooting athletes winning gold. We did not, because some priest of political correctness had decided it was bad for us.
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| "Clinton made a point of surrounding himself with people who might be 90% as intelligent as himself, but never his equal. Bush is smart enough to know that he couldn't possibly do the same, or the country would be run by morons."
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| "The notion that we have an active democracy that controls our fate is not true. Was I ever able to vote on how high buildings could or should be? No. Was I ever able to say I don't want food frozen? No. Was I ever able to say I want aeroplanes to have half as many seats? Nobody's ever been able to vote on anything that really counts in terms of how our lives are led."
|
| When it became known that Mailer's book on capital punishment (The Executioner's Song) had been based upon another's research, Truman Capote commented that Norman "...was just a rewrite man like you have over at the Daily News."
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| Norman Mailer was insecure, sadistic, twisted, a spoiled mama's boy who was troubled by his background and wanted to have been born a rich WASP...
Adele writes with total frankness of her storybook romance and marriage to Mailer, then at the height of his early fame, and the descent through hell their marriage became--with bouts of drunkenness, orgies, and emotional and physical abuse that ended in Mailer's attacking her with a knife that was front page news in 1960. The tragic and bizarre stabbing incident took place after Adele had allegedly called Norman "you little faggot" at a party celebrating his abortive campaign for mayor of New York City. |
WINE, WOMEN AND SONG
Latest news from science, courtesy of Tim Blair.
Some folks may find this to be blindingly obvious. Personally I find it heartening, because if I can ply my latest lust object with enough adult beverages...
Here she is... Tiffany Limos
I'm a MSTie, so I was overjoyed when I heard that Showtime was remaking a number of Roger Corman schlock classics. Among them was Teenage Caveman as re-interpreted by Lenny Clark (her boyfriend and elder by 37 years. The phrase 'dirty old man' does spring to mind. 'Lucky SOB' follows soon after...). Now I'm not a fan of his films, but I gave it a look. And am I glad I did.
Miss Limos is, to coin a phrase, seriously yummy. She gave this interview to the New York Observer where she, regrettably, demonstrated, she's a gutter-mouthed little twerp. But as long as she appears scantily clad (or unclad) repeating lines written by professional writers, it's fine by me.
(I had a big backlog of materiel to go through, but this entry came first because I've already started getting Google searches for her. I guess my readers, such as they are, are more interested in this starlet than my scintillating commentary. Here's her official website, BTW.)
RADIO SILENCE
I have a few frivolous posts on tap. Bashing the prestige press, week one in the NFL, salacious comments on actress Tiffany Limos, a tortured analogy comparing various writers to great offensive linemen and I do need to do a Captain Euro story. But following the examples of Vegard Valberg and Letter from Gotham I will maintain a respectful radio silence on 9-11. Those who should be heard do not need my frivolity distracting from their message. Those who should be ignored won't stop, but they will never learn.
Before I depart, I will leave you with a few thoughts. Bloodthirsty barbarians committed a terrorist atrocity, killing thousands of my fellow countrymen. I will never forgive, nor forget. I will not moderate either my anger, nor desire to see their vile ideology wiped out and their supporters and cheerleaders reap their folly with interest. And I have no patience for those who follow either the spirit of Neville Chamberlain or the Vichy. Accommodation, appeasement and equviocation with evil is objectively siding with it. Ultimately, you can not be neutral between the arsonist and the fireman.
COMPARE AND CONTRAST
Society A was built on the idea that a homeland would emancipate a dispossessed people. Regrettably, they did not consider the current inhabitants.
Society B put their homes at risk in order to exterminate the uppity dhimni. They lost the gamble and blame everyone but themselves.
Medicine in society A:
| Downstairs, before we left, the head of the hospital, an Israeli named Audrey, was showing me the children's waiting room. I couldn't help but notice, all around, an Arab woman with her son, an Arab family over there checking in, Arab children playing with the toys while waiting. The doctor saw the look on my face and laughed. "Oh, yes, we treat everyone." I guess I was astonished. She just shrugged. "We're Jews. This is how we live. It's also for the future. They're not going anywhere, and we're not going anywhere. There will eventually be peace. There has to be." When? A month? A year? A hundred years? More? She didn't know. I had to say it. You're incredible. You take everyone, you treat everyone, no one goes first, no one goes last, you just go in order of who needs help. That's, like, Mother Teresa stuff. "We're not saints, we're just doing our jobs. It's not easy, I admit. And it gets hard when they cheer when the bodies are brought in."
|
Medicine in society B:
(Thanks to Charles Johnson)
| A Hamas cell in Jenin was planning a double suicide bombing in Sheba Hospital in Tel Hashomer with the help of a doctor from Jenin, and a massive truck bomb that would blow up a Tel Aviv skyscraper, according to several indictments filed recently in the Samaria military court.
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THE NEW PHRENOLOGY
From Little Green Footballs. The ever dangerous Robert Crawford comments on a bit of Paliswine onanistic fantasy.
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The booklet, which sells for only NIS 2, is entitled The Koran Anticipates the Destruction of the US and the Sinking of the American Army. I'm planning a pamphlet entitled: "My Ass Predicts the Death of Thousands of Islamic Fascists". In ten years we'll come back and compare results. I bet my ass predicts the future better than the Koran.
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KNOW WHAT I MEME?
Folks, here's an early alert for the next idiotarian conspiracy bullshit meme down the pike. I spotted this posting on Free Republic of this Ha'aretz article.
| The Bank of Israel has obtained information that several accounts held in Israeli banks may have been used to fund terrorist activities. However, because of banking secrecy laws, the central bank has not handed details over to the Justice Ministry. |
| In October 2001, in the wake of the September 11 attacks on the United States, the Supervisor of Banks, Yitzhak Tal, ordered all banks in Israel to screen their customers' bank accounts and reports to him any account or financial activity of persons suspected of terrorist activity or connections with terrorists. The accounts were screened for persons and organizations appearing on a list published by U.S. authorities in accordance with a presidential decree issued shortly after the attacks.
After completing screening of the accounts at the end of 2001, the banks handed over their findings to Tal. Several suspicious accounts and financial transactions were found. The Bank of Israel has confirmed the existence of accounts believed to have been connected to the financing of terrorist operations but refused to state how many suspect accounts had been uncovered and to which terrorist organizations they were connected. |
