Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Why Blackwater?

If you bother to read a lot of news articles, especially if you read political sites on both sides of the spectrum, you’ll notice the left engages in some extreme viritol against certain targets. Once they get a hate on it becomes almost mindless. One of their recent targets is Blackwater, the mercenary group that has an impeccable record defending diplomats and high ranking people in Iraq. They were caught in a couple incidents where civilians died and were accused of murdering people. It was employees of the company accused of this, not the company themselves. But that is how the Democrats and the left havd treated it. And why the focus on Blackwater? Rick Santorum explains.

When rumors of spread of Blackwater’s eviction from Iraq, a Defense Department contact told the company it would take three battalions or 15,000 troops to do the work the company is doing. That’s three battalions that would be pulled from fighting the enemy, and 15,000 troops who are not as well trained to undertake the specialized security missions as Blackwater professionals. If Blackwater and similar security companies are not allowed to operate in Iraq, there’s a good chance more American civilians will be killed there. This would inevitably make the war more unpopular here at home.

That has to be the point of the recent fixation on Blackwater, because casting Blackwater as part of the problem in Iraq simply doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. On the contrary, Blackwater has been part of the solution, saving American lives while sometime losing its own professionals.

The MSM has been all too happy to fixate on Blackwater, while trying to ignore the fact that we’re winning in Iraq. This is what they did during Vietnam when we kicked the NVA’s ass in the Tet Offensive, yet they made it seem like a big defeat for us.

Trying to make us lose a war is nothing short of treason. And of course they get all upset when people accuse of them of that. But what other word is there?

Ah, well maybe they’re not thinking that far. Maybe they’re undermining the war to prove that we can’t win. After all, that’s what they said from the start so it must be true. They’re never wrong.  And anything that gets in the way of their theory has to be stopped. So, in their minds, they are merely trying to make sure they are right because that’s more important than letting Republicans win an argument.

This kind of thinking is why so many innocents end up getting killed in Iraq and elsewhere. Cynical politics emboldens our enemies and weakens our effectiveness. The mixed signals we send gives terrorists and other enemies the idea they can beat us. The so called insurgents probably would have been defeated a lot sooner if the Democrats hadn’t been egging them on with relentless attempts to make our military look bad. All those stories about troop morale being so low, and how defenseless our soldiers were without body armer, etc. All of that only inspires the enemy to fight on. And all the relentless stories about how bad we are, how oppressive and racist, etc. inspires the world to hate us more.

It doesn’t matter that the enemy is a 1000 times worse, or that things like Abu Gharib are exceptions and not the rule. Blackwater just another in a long line of straw men created to demonize the war effort. For all the hype about Fox News cheering on the war, one can find a zillion more examples of the left cheering on our enemies to win. And that’s why they lose elections and get largely ignored.

Ronald Reagan Was Right

The press mocked him when Ronald Reagan claimed trees cause pollution. But now the GW people, who have long since sailed away from sanityland, are agreeing with him.

Forests have long been thought of as an ally in the fight against global warming, but a new study suggests that Canada’s boreal forest may in fact be releasing more greenhouse gases than it absorbs.

“The boreal forest, at least in the north-central part of Manitoba, has gone from a weak carbon sink to a weak carbon source,” said Dr. Tom Gower of the University of Wisconsin, whose paper is being published Thursday in the journal Nature. “It is now contributing to atmospheric (carbon dioxide) concentration.”

Gee, did it every occur to these people that nature produces CO² for a reason? And that maybe its a good thing?

We are part of nature, therefore whatever we do is a product of nature and therefore, natural. There is no such thing as unnatural. Nature does many strange things, many of which are toxic to life. Humans bother to attempt to make thing more hospitable for themselves because nature can be cruel.

More importantly, nature puts out a lot more CO² than we ever will. A lot of this “green” stuff people are hyping is nothing of the kind. Producing more CO² is green because that’s what plants feed on.

March of the Food Fascists

I’ve been warning you all how dangerous the control freaks are, and how they will move from one bugaboo to the next when they’ve done their work. Tobacco has been all but banned. So they are looking for something else to demonize. What do you think they are talking about here?

“We are exactly where we were with tobacco in the 1970s,” said Barnard. “The health community was just starting to get its hands around the problem. This is clearly a long battle. But people are starting to wake up.”

They want to ban something. Something most people like. Guess what that is?

How about corn?

Yes, a food staple that is responsible for making Americans some of the best nourished people on earth. But in the F.F.’s so called minds, being well nourished is evil because that means OBESE!

The Obesity epidemic is another manufactured crisis like man-made global warming. And the same scolds and hysterics are lining up to line their pockets by the criminalization of foods. They’re going to start with wanting warning labels, then taxes, then limits, then bans.

We really can’t let these people continue on the way they are. They won’t stop with corn. Be certain that sugar, flour and any other processed food will be attacked. Then what? Hmm...maybe certain sports. Because people get hurt playing sports. You think I’m joking? Did you think corn would be considered enemy #1 in your life time? These people are beyond parody.

Look at the way tobacco and smokers are being criminalized. Realize that a lot of that is the product of years of hysteria and propaganda. Now they’re setting their sights on something you probably enjoy. Get ready.

UPDATE: Here’s the other method they use. Studies that claim ___ will give you cancer. They did that with cigarettes and it worked, so now they claim everything they don’t like will give you cancer. And you’re supposed to believe it because “experts say so”. This is a classic logical fallacy. Appeal to Authority.

A Cop Turns

An ex-Texas cop decides to make a DVD telling people how to hide drugs from the cops. Why? Because he realizes how wrong and unfair the war on pot is.

But when Cooper left West Texas and moved to Upshur County in East Texas, things began to turn. First, Cooper arrested the mayor’s son for possession of methamphetamines. He then arrested a city councilman for driving with a bag of pot and a gun. Busting long-hairs on the highway was one thing, but the aggressive narcotics officer was not endearing himself to important people in East Texas. After four years, Cooper left law enforcement behind. He then discovered a little of what life is like on the other side of the police baton.

“I used to break into houses at three o’clock in the morning with 10 other men, after throwing a flash grenade through the window,” Cooper says. “I would drag Mom and Dad away and send the kids to the department of human services — over a bag of pot — and totally ruin that entire family. I started reaping what I had sown.”

Without the cloak of being a police officer and in the middle of a contentious divorce, Cooper was on the wrong side of small-town politics. He was arrested for returning rental movies late and for unlawfully carrying a gun. His ex-brother-in-law, a constable, showed up with an order to remove his two girls. They put up such a fight, the effort was abandoned.

All of the charges against Cooper were eventually reduced or dismissed entirely, but he was angry. So he figured out a way to hit back — and make money doing it.

The amount of time, money and tax dollars wasted on arresting, convicting, prosecuting and imprisoning pot smokers or dealers when there are so many other more important things we could focus on, is absurd. It’s not one of those drugs like Meth or Crack that has massive health and crime consequences. A lot of countries have decriminalized it. Many states have voted to make it legal, at least medically. The Feds keep trying to squash that. You have to wonder what that’s all about.

And no, I don’t do drugs. Never have. But I believe our society would solve a lot more problems and achieve better results if we stopped wasting our time trying to control people and looked for positive solutions to things. Sending people to prison for something like having a bag of weed not only ruins someone’s life, it costs tax payers a lot of money that could go to fixing roads or bridges. Or improving schools.

A lot of cops ignore situations where someone has weed. This guy took his civil disobediance further. You have to wonder when society will stop this prohibition. It’s as pointless as the one against alcohol. 

Happy Halloween

It’s one of my favorite holidays. I actually named one of my comics companies Halloween Comics. The bowl of candy is ready to go if any kids come by tonight. I need to carve a pumpkin before it gets dark. 

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Go Nader

I don’t expect him to win but I wish him luck. The Dems were definitely doing this stuff in 2004.

Consumer advocate and 2004 independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader sued the Democratic Party on Tuesday, contending officials conspired to keep him from taking votes away from nominee John Kerry.

Nader’s lawsuit, filed in District of Columbia Superior Court, also named as co-defendants Kerry’s campaign, the Service Employees International Union and several so-called 527 organizations such as America Coming Together, which were created to promote voter turnout on behalf of the Democratic ticket.

The lawsuit also alleges that the Democratic National Committee conspired to force Nader off the ballot in several states.

Many Dems thought Nader killed Gore’s chances in 2000. Which may be true, but this is not a two party system. It’s only because of tactics both sides play, to block other parties, that we’re stuck with a limited buffet. Personally, I wish other parties were more robust. Alas, they tend to be anemic. And when we do get third party candidates, they are rarely worth consideration.

If it wasn’t for wacky Ross Perot, Bush 41 probably would have beat Clinton. If it wasn’t for Nader, Gore might have narrowly won.

Personally, I think its healthy to have more choices. I just wish they were better. 

Movie Pumpkins

These are some amazing Jack O’Lanterns

Thompson’s Southern Strategy

Many people I’ve talked to have shaken their head when I said I was rooting for Fred Thompson to win the nomination. But I think he has several things on his side the media hasn’t grasped yet. They have spent too much time trying to paint him as lazy for not doing what they told him he must do. One of the things I like about Thompson is he does things his way and not how the media says he has to do things. Now his strategy is starting to come to light.

“In most of the polls we’re ahead (in South Carolina) or a strong second, even though we’ve invested almost zero resources at this point. We view that as a solid opportunity for us,” says Bill Lacy, Mr. Thompson’s campaign manager.

Mr. Thompson’s “red-state” focus could have a particular payoff if the nomination comes down to a delegate count competition, since the party gives extra weight to states that voted for President Bush in 2004, or elected Republican governors and members of Congress. Most of those states lie in the South, the Midwest and the Rocky Mountains.

“Our polling shows us that we tend to do better in those three areas, particularly in the South,” Mr. Lacy says. “That has to do with who Fred is, where’s he’s from, and has to do with some of the baggage that Mayor Giuliani and Gov. Romney have from being from New York and Massachusetts and having more liberal records,” he adds. That’s a reference to Mr. Thompson’s two biggest rivals, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

In order to to win the presidency, you need the south. And Giuliani and Romney have thier north-east background against them. It will be an uphill battle for them down south. But Thompson, if he plays his cards right, can sweep the south. Only Huckabee offers him any solid competition there. And Huckabee is someone the press is starting to fluff up. But I suspect, when more about his record comes out that may change. Besides, who wants a President named Huckabee? Sorry.

Rudy would be my second pick, but as I said, his stand on guns and his nanny state instincts puts me off a bit. 

Hillary Exposed

This video is getting a lot of attention, thanks to the Internet.  Can this actually help end Hillary’s bid for president? I think it might help. It follows the pattern of Hillary’s many contributions from shady characters.

Peter Paul is no angel himself, but as this clearly shows, Hillary didn’t care when she took his money and solicited his help.

Monday, October 29, 2007

Dean Martin and the TV

I just rewatched The Aviator, which is a movie I really like. The first time I saw it I was more ambivalent, but that’s typical of Martin Scorsese films. I usually like them better the second time I watch them. They often get better with each viewing for me. I think it’s because they’re so dense.

After I watched the movie I started googling Howard Hughes and I came across this great website by a Vegas old timer named Ed Walters.  He was a pit boss at the Sands during the classic days of the Rat Pack and he relates his experiences with the celebrities of the day. One of them was Dean Martin, who’s one of my favorite performers. In fact, Martin Scorsese wanted to do a Dean Martin biopic at one time.

Anyway, this story typifies what Dean Martin was like from all accounts I’ve read. He was a great guy.

There’s more stories about classic Vegas here.