This creeps me out

Nuremburg rallies meet a tent revival.



Near the end, a woman says: "He's almost like a revival for a lot of peoples' souls." Yeech.

"I want to live in a world without fear."
Good luck with that. You might consider being thankful for fear. It enables you to identify love.

"Basically I just want the war to end."
The war will end when Jihad Culture is resoundingly discredited amongst Muslims. Until then, Jihadis will continuously try to kill enough of us to scare the rest of us into submission.
If you know of a better way to resoundingly discredit Jihad Culture(other than democracy and rule of Constitutional law), please do share.

To my sensibility, this is an anti-Obama video. It hurts him more than it helps.

Hot Air:

An evolution in the Messiah’s cult of personality:
[...]
I like the fact that they start off talking about policy and then just sort of give up as the chanting takes hold and the platitudes issueth forth.
[...]
Try chanting along with them. See if it makes you want to give up on Iraq.

Needing some Friday silly

Redneck Mansion:



IMAO:

Kent:
Nader for President
He's not a power-crazed lawyer bent on destroying defense and capitalis.... aw sh*t.

Frank J:
Affirmative Action
Whose dumb idea was this? The solution to racism is to ingrain racism into our laws and hiring practices? Some may say you should fight fire with fire, but, if my house were ablaze and the firemen showed up with flamethrowers, I'd be like, "Hey! Don't fight fire with fire!" That why I'm 'gainst affirmative action.

Allah:

It is a great affront to god that a woman so saucy should also be learned, but there is the problem with your women in a nutshell, America.
Pro: They are looking good.
Con: They attend school.
You must accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative.

William F. Buckley, Jr.: A Life Well Lived

The impact of the man has not yet been fully realized.

WFB jump started the conservative movement in America. He was behind Barry Goldwater's candidacy. Ronald Reagan owed much of his intellectual understanding of conservatism to Buckley.

The extent to which WFB was a true original has not yet been fully realized. He fought in WWII. He sailed into international waters so he could try marijuana without breaking any laws. He was hilarious. He was surprising.

God and Man at Yale, 1951:

I believe that the duel between Christianity and atheism is the most important in the world. I further believe that that the struggle between individualism and collectivism is the same struggle reproduced on another level.

Editorial, National Review, 1957:

The attempted assassination of Sukarno last week had all the earmarks of a CIA operation. Everyone in the room was killed except Sukarno.

-- Address in New York, after Khrushchev was invited to speak at the U.N., 1960:

We deem it the central revelation of Western experience that man cannot ineradicably stain himself, for the wells of regeneration are infinitely deep. . . . Khrushchev cannot take permanent advantage of our temporary disadvantage, for it is the West he is fighting. And in the West there lie, however encysted, the ultimate resources, which are moral in nature. . . . Even out the depths of despair, we take heart in the knowledge that it cannot matter how deep we fall, for there is always hope. In the end, we will bury him.

I read the above, and I suspect Buckley was a source of Reagan's conviction and confidence that the Soviet Union must be defeated. Reagan believed the USSR must and would be defeated when almost no other world leaders believed it. Reagan believed it when few American leaders believed it; and when Jimmy Carter was making speeches about how the USSR was not really a threat to the world, and about how the U.S. and the USSR needed to co-exist in partnership.

Address at the Yale Political Union, 2006:

Despair is inappropriate for a culture as buoyant as our own.

Ann Coulter:

Some of Buckley's best lines were uttered in court during a lengthy libel trial in the '80s against [William F. Buckley's] National Review brought by the Liberty Lobby, which was then countersued by National Review. (The Liberty Lobby lost and NR won.)

Irritated by attorney Mark Lane's questions, Buckley asked the judge: "Your Honor, when he asks a ludicrous question, how am I supposed to behave?"

In response to another of Lane's questions, Buckley said: "I decline to answer that question; it's too stupid."

When asked if he had "referred to Jesse Jackson as an ignoramus," Buckley said, "If I didn't, I should have."

Graphic shows decline in Iraq media coverage

Ace of Spades, in the same post:

Think about it: the media is willing to entertain the possibility that it is actually institutionally racist against blacks while it angrily and arrogantly dismisses the possibility it may be slightly liberal and hence anti-conservative.

[...] they're actually willing to ponder whether they are, in effect, effete Klansmen in the service of the Greater New York Metro Area Kleagle.

Yet that possibility they're willing to discuss openly, while it's simply ludicrous that they might be somewhat predisposed to one party's politics than the other.

Explanation? Simple. They know they're not terribly anti-black so it's a relatively easy and unemotional topic for them to chitter about. It's relatively easy to discuss flaws you know you're innocent of.

But when it comes to the anti-conservative bias... suddenly they're quite emotional about the charge, angry and petulant such an outrageous accusation is made in the first place.

The manure Barack is shoveling: Part 2

Previous Posts:
Barack knock
Michelle Obama: "For the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country."
Did I mischaracterize Michelle Obama?
The manure Barack is shoveling: Part 1 - limited love for America; unlimited love for (fantasy) ideals

Wherever politics tries to be redemptive, it is promising too much. Where it wishes to do the work of God, it becomes, not divine, but demonic.
---Pope Benedict XVI

"I'm going to back Obama [...] he as a symbol has really excited people, and he's definitely confusing to everyone who really hates America for hating, you know, Muslims [...] I can't wait to see what he stands for."
---Actress Susan Sarandon, Mid-February, 2008

Barack, himself, in 2004, didn't believe he would "know what he was doing" enough to run for President in 2008. This explains why Barack adopts liberal trope, point by point by point by point, all the way down the menu of issues. Barack doesn't feel confident departing liberal orthodoxy on any issue.


Barack is not ready. Like the pretty girl who never has to grow as a person, Barack's looks and charisma may forever stunt his development as a thinker. We shall see. The main point, now: Barack is not ready. He is dangerously not ready.

One example was Barack's spur of the moment debate promise to talk to the world's worst dictators. Worse than the promise was Barack's post debate reaction: rather than tamp down his debate statement - as his aides were trying to do, and were urging him to do - Barack, over the ensuing days and weeks, doubled down. Paul Mirengoff, of Powerlineblog, covers a subsequent debate:

Obama eventually won this [debate panderfest] by promising personally to talk to Raul[Castro], Ahmadinejad, etc. without precondition. He did assure us, however, that he would first prepare for these meetings.

Clinton suggested that bestowing a presidential visit on the world's worst regimes without first getting something in return might not be particularly shrewd. Obama was having none of it. That might have made sense in the old days, he said. However, now that President Bush has turned the world so decisively against us, it would smack of "arrogance" to expect anything from Raul Castro or Ahmadinejad before rushing off to talk to them.

First:
Pres. Bush has not turned the world decisively against us. This claim is either 1) naive or 2) manure. Make your choice.

Second:
Barack openly admitted (I will prepare for those meetings) he doesn't know what's going on in Cuba or Iran. Why else would he wish to talk with Castro or Ahmadinejad? Their policies and beliefs are an open book. That Barack wishes to speak with them is tacit admission he has not read the already opened book.

Third, and most important:
Here's why you don't talk to oppressive dictators: our national policy is to encourage dissenters inside the oppressive dictators' nations.

A U.S. Presidential meeting further legitimizes a dictator inside his own country. That U.S. President thus discourages the success of internal dissenters who are risking their lives to oppose the dictator.

This is not to say a U.S. President should NEVER meet with an oppressive dictator. Rather, a U.S. President should leave that meeting with enough gained value to offset the resulting discouragement of internal dissent inside the dictator’s country.

The levels of oppression inside Cuba, Iran, and N. Korea do not seem to have registered with Barack. He seems to think oppression is what happens when the media accurately quote Michelle.

This is what spontaneous internal dissent looks like in Iran. From Pajamas Media, do consider reading it all, and looking at the video:

It happens every day on the streets of Tehran: a police squad grabbed a young woman for dressing immodestly. But this time, the young woman fought back, and a crowd defended her and attacked the police. Thanks to cell phone video, the Internet, and brave Iranian citizen reporters, Ardeshir Arian is able to tell the story.

Over 300 Iranians, independently shopping at a mall, spontaneously joined together to successfully attack the Iraqi police who were trying to arrest a young woman for dressing immodestly. They chanted and/or cried out the following:

“You have put us on since 1979 until now”

“We do not want the Islamic regime”

“A revolution is happening”

“How many people do you think you can kill?”

Do we want Barack Obama to legitimize Ahmadinejad at the expense of protestors who spontaneously attack Iranian police?

Do we really want a POTUS who, rather than back away from a heat of the moment debate comment, instead (petulantly? politically strategically?) doubles down
1) in favor of Ahmadinejad, and
2) against the interests of brave Iranians who risked their lives to oppose police?

BTW, after one Iranian policeman was beaten by the crowd, and after other Iranian Police ran away, the police later came back in force, and made at least a dozen arrests(level of brutality unknown to us) in the shopping mall area.

Mavs sign Jamaal Magloire

(sung to the tune of "My Cherie Amor")

la la la la la la,la la la la la la

My Jamaal Magloire, 6'11" of coordination
My Jamaal Magloire, distant as a millionaire Canadian
My Jamaal Magloire, player of Trinidadian descent that I adore(maybe)
you're the infatuated dunker my heart beats for(maybe)
how I wish you were Kurt Thomas

In the crowded paint, or sometimes in an open gym
shooters have been near you, but you never noticed them
My Jamaal Magloire, won't you tell me how you could ignore
That obvious shooting gleam that they all wore
How I wish you were Kurt Thomas

La la la la la la, la la la la la la la
La la la la la la, la la la la la la

Maybe someday you see their body language in time
Maybe someday you slap their sh** back like a pissed mime
My Jamaal Magloire, player of Trinidadian descent that I adore(maybe)
you're the infatuated dunker my heart beats for(maybe)
how I wish you were Kurt Thomas

My Jamaal Magloire, 6'11" of coordination
My Jamaal Magloire, distant as a millionaire Canadian
My Jamaal Magloire, player of Trinidadian descent that I adore(maybe)
you're the infatuated dunker my heart beats for(maybe)
how I wish you were Kurt Thomas

La la la la la la, la la la la la la la
La la la la la la, la la la la la la
La la la la la la, la la la la la la la
La la la la la la, la la la la la la
La la la la la la

The manure Barack is shoveling: Part 1

Wherever politics tries to be redemptive, it is promising too much. Where it wishes to do the work of God, it becomes, not divine, but demonic.
--Pope Benedict XVI

Does Barack love the America which the Founding Fathers put into place? Or, does Barack mainly love his fantasy of what America ought to be?

Does he love the America created in deference to God given rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? Or, does Barack love his fantasies of economic and social justice more than he loves the freedoms written into America's founding documents?

I thought this would be one post. It has grown, so far, to three posts.

We begin softly, with the insightful and tactful former Reagan speechwriter, Peggy Noonan, writing in WSJ:

[Barack Obama's] big draw is this. In a country that has throughout most of our lifetimes been tormented by, buffeted by, the question of race, a country that has endured real pain and paid in blood and treasure to work its way through and out of the mess, that for all that struggle we yielded this: a brilliant and accomplished young black man with a consensus temperament, a thoughtful and peaceful person who wishes to lead. That is his draw: "We made that." "It ended well."

People would love to be able to support that guy.

His job, in a way, is to let them, in part by not being just another operative, plaything or grievance-monger of the left-liberal establishment and left-liberal thinking. By standing, in fact, for real change.

Right now Mr. Obama is in an awkward moment. Each day he tries to nail down his party's leftist base, and take it from Mrs. Clinton. At the same time his victories have led the country as a whole to start seeing him as the probable Democratic nominee. They're looking at him in a new way, and wondering: Is he standard, old time and party line, or is he something new? Is he just a turning of the page, or is he the beginning of a new and helpful chapter?
[...]
His problem was, is, his wife's words, not his, the speech in which she said that for the first time in her adult life she is proud of her country, because Obama is winning. She later repeated it, then tried to explain it, saying of course she loves her country. But damage was done. Why? Because her statement focused attention on what I suspect are some basic and elementary questions that were starting to bubble out there anyway.
* * *
Here are a few of them.

Are the Obamas, at bottom, snobs? Do they understand America? Are they of it? Did anyone at their Ivy League universities school them in why one should love America? Do they confuse patriotism with nationalism, or nativism? Are they more inspired by abstractions like "international justice" than by old visions of America as the city on a hill, which is how John Winthrop saw it, and Ronald Reagan and JFK spoke of it?

Have they been, throughout their adulthood, so pampered and praised--so raised in the liberal cocoon--that they are essentially unaware of what and how normal Americans think? And are they, in this, like those cosseted yuppies, the Clintons?

Why is all this actually not a distraction but a real issue? Because Americans have common sense and are bottom line. They think like this. If the president and his first lady are not loyal first to America and its interests, who will be? The president of France? But it's his job to love France, and protect its interests. If America's leaders don't love America tenderly, who will?

And there is a context. So many Americans right now fear they are losing their country, that the old America is slipping away and being replaced by something worse, something formless and hollowed out. They can see we are giving up our sovereignty, that our leaders will not control our borders, that we don't teach the young the old-fashioned love of America, that the government has taken to itself such power, and made things so complex, and at the end of the day when they count up sales tax, property tax, state tax, federal tax they are paying a lot of money to lose the place they loved.

And if you feel you're losing America, you really don't want a couple in the White House whose rope of affection to the country seems lightly held, casual, provisional. America is backing Barack at the moment, so America is good. When it becomes angry with President Barack, will that mean America is bad?
* * *
Michelle Obama seems keenly aware of her struggles
[...]
I wonder if she knows that some people look at her and think "Man, she got it all." Intelligent, strong, tall, beautiful, Princeton, Harvard, black at a time when America was trying to make up for its sins and be helpful, and from a working-class family with two functioning parents who made sure she got to school.

That's the great divide in modern America, whether or not you had a functioning family, and she apparently came from the privileged part of that divide. A lot of white working-class Americans didn't come up with those things. Some of them were raised by a TV and a microwave and love our country anyway, every day.

Does Mrs. Obama know this? I don't know. If she does, love and gratitude for the place that tries to give everyone an equal shot would seem to be in order.

Ugh. Hillary doesn't get it. Pivots away from effective stategy.

Hillary doesn't understand that a candidate must hammer an effective message day after day, and appearance after appearance. Here is the winning, effective message Hillary used yesterday:

1. Barack is full of manure.
2. I've learned some things which he has not.

This is Hillary's effective medium: mockery.

She pushed her effective message for exactly one day, then pivoted into the political muck of pushing forward a photo of Barack in tribal garb. The photo proves nothing. Hillary doesn't put it inside any type of meaningful context, if such context even exists. Hillary just shoves it out there: a classic example of empty politics. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. And yuck.

Hillary: Mock Barack!

Finally, Hillary has figured it out. The way to to defeat Obama is to point to the truth: Barack Obama is full of manure. Hillary FINALLY gets it.


Hillary mocks obama
by dollarsandsense123


As a bonus, this FINALLY gives voters a rationale to vote for Hillary: 1) she has more life experience + 2) Barack is dangerously naive. Hillary also said this:

[Obama's] candidacy ... is very much about him and his personality and his presentation. [That] oversimplifies the complexity of the problems we face, the challenges of navigating our country through some difficult uncharted waters. We are a nation at war. That seems to be forgotten.

Kick his ass Hillary! It might be too late for your campaign, but kick his ass anyway!

Hillary has unsuccessfully tried to say she is the candidate with governing experience, and with "fighting" experience. She has tried to say "I've fought for 35 years." The problem is that this is fundamentally a lie. Her 7 years in the Senate doesn't spectacularly trump his 3 years in the Senate. Working as a corporate lawyer, and sitting on the Wal-Mart board, doesn't equate to a liberal's definition of "fighting for children." Being First Lady doesn't equate to governing experience. Hillary was trying to delineate between herself and Barack, but she was lying.

Conversely, when she now mocks the ridiculous manure Barack has been shoveling at the nation*, she is suddenly on the right track. Barack is both naive AND full of manure(a difficult double to pull off). Hillary HAS lived longer than Barack. She HAS seen more of life, and she HAS seen more of the difficulties of governing. She hasn't been personally governing; she hasn't been "fighting for children" for 35 years; but she HAS had her eyes open to reality while Barack clearly has not. Hillary is finally saying something true: I've learned some things about governing which he has not. Mock Barack! Mockery is the way to beat him, because of this truth: Barack Obama is full of manure.

*more, tomorrow, on the manure Barack is shoveling at us.

Zach Happy Day

Cowboys sign former Dolphins LB Zach Thomas!

These Cowboys fans are really happy to have Zach:



Zach Happy Day

Zach happy day
Zach happy day
When Zach plugged the gaps
Oh when Zach plugged the gaps
When Zach plugged the gaps
He stopped the running game dead!
Zach happy day
Zach happy day
Zach happy day
Zach happy day
When Zach plugged the gaps
Oh when Zach plugged the gaps
When Zach plugged the gaps
He stopped the running game dead!
Zach happy day
Zach happy day

He taught Bradie James
He taught Bradie
To watch
For the screen
and traps and dump offs
traps and dump offs!

And he'll rejoice
in blowing up
Brandon Jacobs
Brandon Jacobs!
and He will blitz
Donovan McNabb
without mercy
without mercy!

Zach happy day, Zach happy day
Zach happy day, Zach happy day
Zach happy day
Zach happy day

Zach happy day
Zach happy day
When Zach plugged the gaps
Oh when Zach plugged the gaps
When Zach plugged the gaps
He stopped the running game dead!
Zach happy day
Zach happy day
Zach happy day
Zach happy day

He taught Bradie James how
to watch, for the screen
for the screen
Zach happy day, Zach happy day
Zach happy day
Zach happy day
When Zach plugged the gaps
Oh when Zach plugged the gaps
When Zach plugged the gaps
He stopped the running game dead!
Zach happy day
Zach happy day
Zach happy day
Zach happy day.

End.

Hillarymandius

I met a pollster from an antique land,
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand, one in Texas...., one near Canton,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies,
whose brow, and wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The electorate that mocked them, and the press that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
'My name is Hillarymandias,
Look on my resume and campaign fundraising, ye fellow Democrats, and despair!'
Nothing else remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away. Heh."
-
Posted by: BumperStickerist February 20, 2008 at 08:52 AM

Cuban talks about decisions on Nash and Kidd

and makes sense.

It's about length of committment: 6 years vs. 1 1/2 years. For a franchise on the rise, committment equates to risk. An injury hobbled, big money Nash could've wrecked a franchise on the rise.

In retrospect, having seen that Nash has stayed healthy, it was obviously a mistake to have let Nash go. And, if you could go back to when Nash left Dallas, even with the injury uncertainty of that time, you would now wish you had said 1) Nash is good enough, and 2) winning a championship is difficult and iffy enough, that signing an injury prone Nash ought to be done.

Did I mischaracterize Michelle Obama

via taking her words out of context in this blogpost?

Today's LAT covers Michelle:

"What I was clearly talking about was that I'm proud in how Americans are engaging in the political process," she said. "For the first time in my lifetime, I'm seeing people rolling up their sleeves in a way that I haven't seen and really trying to figure this out -- and that's the source of pride that I was talking about."

Michelle might be telling the truth, and simultaneously revealing a leftism she and Barack have been hiding from the crowds. Brietbart.com has video of one of the two times Michelle said: for the first time I am proud. This is the video transcript:

"What we have learned over this year is that hope is making a comeback. It is making a comeback. And let me tell you something -- for the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country. And not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change. And I have been desperate to see our country moving in that direction and just not feeling so alone in my frustration and disappointment. I've seen people who are hungry to be unified around some basic common issues, and it's made me proud."

I'm looking hard at that transcript. If Michelle was talking about "political process", then this is what Michelle was saying:

This is the first time I've been proud of the political direction of the people of the United States. I have wanted to not feel so alone with my frustration and disappointment at the political direction of our nation.

Alone.
Frustrated.
Disappointed.
Not proud.

Very strong words to describe two Clinton Presidential terms + several instances when Democrats were the majority in both Houses of Congress. Michelle is screaming out, for anyone who will listen:

I am to the left of the Clinton White House!
I am to the left of a Democratic controlled Congress!

Therefore: did I take Michelle Obama's words out of context in my original blogpost?

I think: probably yes.

Michelle surely is proud that a middle class girl can rise to become a millionaire. It is pretty hard to tell this from listening to her America=negative speeches, but that is for another blogpost. Ah, what the heck. Hot Air:

Here’s every Michelle Obama speech from now until November in three sentences: Everything in America is wrong. Only Barack can fix it. Vote and be healed.

I probably did mischaracterize Michelle's words in my last blogpost. It's difficult to be certain, as I can't find anyone (including the Obama Campaign) who is making a fuller transcript of her words available, and therefore I cannot be certain of understanding her context.

The definitive news, if anyone cares to report it, is Michelle's open acknowledgment:

My politics are so far left that I felt alone, frustrated, disappointed, and not proud.
`
`

NBA

hasn't seen anything as fun as the Western Conference since ... ever. Nine teams are at least 11 games over .500. One of them (Denver?), will miss the playoffs. Dallas is four games out of first, and two games away from the lottery(New Jersey would get their pick). Portland is three games over .500 and has zero chance to make the playoffs. Two entire franchises would have to be lost to terrorist attack for Portland to make the playoffs. Golden State, at this moment, is in the lottery. In the East, they would have home court advantage in the first round.

New Orleans ... 37 15
Phoenix ...........37 17
LA Lakers ........37 17
San Antonio ....35 17
Dallas ..............35 19
Utah ................35 19
Houston ..........33 20
Denver ............33 20
Golden State ....32 21

What stands out in this group is that 6 teams have outstanding PGs. A 7th, the Lakers, don't really use a PG. Only two teams have weak PG play: Houston and Denver. It could cost them.

I've now watched two full New Orleans Hornets games: the Hornets are for real. PF David West is long, agile, physical, and can score. West and Tyson Chandler eat up the paint with their length and physicality. Chris Paul never lets them lose composure. It's easy to forsee a day, starting about 2012, when the Hornets and Trailblazers dominate the Western Conference in season after season after season. The rest of the West will be playing for lottery position. The Eastern Conference will be ascendant. The Trailblazers need Brandon Roy's knee to hold up long term.

Here's a thing which ups the fun quotient in the West: the defenses are not so hot. Nuggets defense? Sucks eggs. Golden State? Well, they dang sure defended the Mavs last season; but, really, no. Lakers? Decent. They'll be a good defense next season, when Bynum returns. Suns? Interesting, but not good. Hornets? Too young to really understand playoffs defense. Rockets? Van Gundy is gone. Jazz? Yes. Here is a good defense. Mavs? Hard to say. They might develop themselves just barely into the "good" category. Or not. Dirk is hard to overcome. Spurs? Definitely. The addition of Kurt Thomas is perfect for them. Rarely has a player fit a system better than Kurt Thomas fits San Antonio ... except ... for Pau Gasol, who was put on Earth to play in the triangle offense. Derek Fisher also fits that offense. His return is a solid boost for the Lakers.

Mavericks:

Kidd can guard Deron Williams and Baron Davis. Kidd can guard lots of players on individual possessions. When Jason Terry is on the bench, Mavs can defensively switch on screens as often as they want, b/c Kidd is strong and savvy enough to guard taller guys. Against 6'8" types who post him, Kidd gives the Eddie Najera move of releasing back pressure as the pass is entered to his guy, then sliding around the now off-balance opponent and intercepting the pass.

On offense, the presence of Kidd equates to more shots in the paint. This is something the Mavs have desperately needed. Erick Dampier will be a big beneficiary. Dampier has poor hands. Kidd understands where to put the ball so Dampier can catch it. Kidd understands when Dampier has position on his man, and is ready to receive a pass. Devin Harris did not have the court vision to notice this.

Kidd is very aware of loose balls, rebound angles, and passing lanes for steals. On defense, he swipes at opponents' drives and gets referee respect.

Mavs were beaten by 15. It doesn't bother me. A] Hornets are a damn good team. B] the presence of a new player caused defensive breakdowns and confused rotations. That problem will be fixed soon enough. Kidd is a basketball genius, and he will adapt.

Mavs PF Brandon Bass: athletic and physical and effective now. Not afraid of contact. Here's the thing: he's going to get better over the next 2-3 seasons. He's going to start finishing his drives better. He's going to start sinking his nicely released jumper more often. He's going to learn the league better. Bass is going to become really difficult for opponents to deal with. He's going to be a factor. Dick Motta would've loved Brandon Bass. He's a hard-nosed low post player.

If the Mavs stay healthy, they have just as good a chance as anyone in the West. No one has a better chance. Even with the Kidd trade, the Mavs have had much on-court continuity for several seasons. It will help them in crucial moments.

Over the last weeks of the season, I expect the Hornets and the Lakers to come back to the crowd. I expect the best in the West is one of these four: Spurs, Jazz, Suns, Mavs. Injuries will be everything. A twisted ankle in a Game 5 could decide the eventual NBA Champion.

The NBA is experiencing an awesome moment.

Next season, if Bynum recuperates, the Lakers maybe ought to be the favorites in the West.

That said: Shaq, Amare, Diaw, Grant Hill, and Nash. Gawd Almighty.

Crier Duncan, Kurt "First Class" Thomas, Cheater Bowen, Floppy, Tony Parker. I won't bet against the combined power of Spurs + NBA Referees. Their weakness, imo, has been interior defense. Kurt Thomas strengthens that area. With Devin Harris out of the West, Tony Parker is unstoppable(except by Kobe, as Kobe can stop anyone). I saw a hilarious interview in which Parker said he was glad for the Kidd trade, b/c Harris and Diop had been so hard on the Spurs.

Michelle Obama: "For the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country."

She said it twice.

Barack and Michelle Obama do not understand that something is very right about America.

Barack's margin of victory in Wisconsin is a big story. It means Barack is the frontrunner for the Dem nomination.

However, Michelle Obama's offering a peek inside her own philosophy is a bigger story. It means Barack will not win the Presidency in November. Her philosophical exposition will come up again, and again, and again; for weeks and weeks; for months and months. It is a defining moment. It will be talked about over coffee and over lunch. It might even propel Hillary to the Dem nomination.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Michelle Obama got into Princeton, despite what she describes as not the best entrance exam score, because Princeton wanted to give her a helping hand. Yet she sees nothing to be proud of in America.

Middle class Michelle Obama got into Harvard Law School. Yet she sees nothing to be proud of in America.

Michelle Obama parlayed Princeton and Harvard into a job at the powerful Chicago firm Sidley and Austin, and also into becoming a high ranking official at the University of Chicago. Michelle Obama is now a 44 year old millionaire. Yet, until Americans began supporting Barack's Presidential candidacy, she saw nothing to be proud of in America.

On Barack's part: his call for "change", and the examples he chooses to illustrate his call, amount to an in-our-face assertion that something is very wrong with America. Barack and Michelle do not understand something most Americans do understand: something is very right about America.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Human beings have a natural tendency to say:

something is very wrong here. I just have a feeling something is very wrong(about a situation, or about life, or about whatever).

The explanation, I think, is this: Our souls know a perfect existence which is not available to us in our current existence. We sense glimpses of what our souls know: love, joy, satisfaction, fulfillment, truth, beauty, excellence, perfection which is beyond description(the perfect curve of a child's ear). Yet, our existence is not perfect. We sense perfect; we exist in imperfect; we therefore say: something is very wrong here.

A person who is enlightened, or transformed, or religiously inspired or evolved, might say:

Something is very right here! Something is very right about the design of this dimension of existence. Something is very right about the difficulty of the task before me, for it creates opportunity to rise to the occasion, and to display greatness. Something is very right about pain and suffering, for it draws us closer to God, and it delineates joy and pleasure for our benefit. Something is very right about want, for it defines the blessing of fulfillment. Something is very right about fear, for it defines the blessing of it's opposite, which is love(according to Stephen Pressfield, author of Gates of Fire).

American conservatives, more often than American liberals, make this leap of perspective:

from
something is very wrong about existence;
to
something is very right about existence.

Liberals generally believe pain and suffering and injustice exist because classic principles and values and religions and governments have failed. Their solution is to institute new and superior principles and values and governments.

Conservatives generally believe pain and suffering and injustice exist because that is the natural and proper design of existence. Pain and suffering and injustice will always be with us. Conservatives believe imperfect man fails his principles and his values and his religion; his principles and values and religion do not fail him.

From these opposite liberal and conservative foundations, it's not even a full step to the conversation of

something is very wrong about America
vs.
something is very right about America.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Barack and Michelle Obama embrace liberalism point by point by point, and proposition by proposition by proposition. The liberal prescription is to institute something newer and smarter than what America's Founding Fathers had in mind. Those ancient men were not as wise as Reid, Pelosi, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and the American Bar Association.

Barack and Michelle do not understand that something is very right about America. Barack is not ready. He may never be. Like a girl who always gets by on her looks, and never has to develop as a person: Barack may never have to develop as a thinker.

German media interview with Holger Geschwinder

from DMN Mavs blog comments section:

Posted by MrReflex @ 2:59 PM Tue, Feb 19, 2008

I just found an very interesting Interview (Feb. 15th) with Holger Geschwindner (Dirks personal coach…) about the Situation of the Mavericks (Dirk, Kidd...). I am sorry, but it is written in German. I will sum the most important points up:

Part1
http://www.sport1.de/de/sport/artikel_2170559.html
Part2
http://www.sport1.de/de/sport/artikel_2170560.html

Question: After what happened last year against Golden State, has Dirk a blockade this year … do you also need to be a mental coach?
Answer: I don’t think that Dirk has a blockade and you can’t come him, with a metal guru and Slogans like ”you are the best”. Those things don’t work with intelligent people.

Question: Has the regular season lost its importance to the mavericks?
A: No, especially, because it is such a tight race.

Q: Should the Mavs try to avoid certain feared opponentt teams?
A: No, they have 7 games to adjust to their apponents. I don’t understand all these talks about matchup problems. The players just have to be inserted/used/positioned in the right way.

Q: Who is the favourite in the west, especially after the trades of Gasol and Shaq?
A: I can awnser this after the Trading deadline. … and the Spurs are not the team to be measured on any more. Constantly Pick and roll at the free through line is out of date – but a lot of teams still stick with it. Soon / In the near Future there will be no strict fixing of the 5 positions. Every player will be used to his strength – like the Lakers do it.

Q: Should the Mavs improve in that area:
A: The Mavs are an example, that players are pre-assigned at wrong positions. It has lasted until this season until they found out: Jason Terry is no playmaker, he wants to score. Harris is fast and good at penetrating the rim, but he is not an organizer. A learned playmaker couldn’t hurt .

….. German National Team Questions….All Star Game….

Q: How do you rate the performance of Dirk in this season?
A: Regarding the circumstances: Great. A lot has to do with the coach and his “Herumprobiererei” (Negative, slang expression for testing here and there). At least he let Dir make his first triple double and did not take him out again.

Q: Do those tactic experiments harm the Mavs?
A: I wouldn’t say it this way, But Dirk has not the best condition. First he was told to play less minutes. Now he is playing more than ever, so the Mavs still can win. He has so many jobs on the field. And that a 2,13 meter Top-scorer often has the most assists is strangely. Additionally the opponents double and triple him much more often this year.

Q: His three point conversion is down to 30%. Schouldn’t you help right away?
A: Nonsense. If he needs it, we can repair it in three days. Throughing is what he can do best and what we can cour the quickest.

Q: Will you fly to Dallas before the playoff?
A: We will see. In the past I always did it.

Live Blogging Jason Kidd Intro Press Conference

Avery:
No guarantees, but we have a better opportunity, thanks to Donnie and Keith Grant's hard work.

We have a QB.

Malik and Antoine can get some minutes.

The competition in the West is fierce, and we're not afraid of competition.

Kidd:
I'm older. I've seen a lot. Hopefully I can share some of that with my teammates.

Malik Allen:
(Very well spoken and intelligent sounding.) Mavs are great organization.

Antoine Wright:
Happy to be back in Texas, on a winning team, and still with Jason.

Cuban:
The timing was right.

Kidd:
KJ, Hot Rod, and Rex Chapman showed me how to play in the league, how to run the pick and roll, how to win with 6 minutes left in the 4th quarter, how to want the ball late in the game.

Avery:
We just want him to be Jason Kidd. He can take some responsibilities from the coach. We looked at all three of our playoffs years since I took over. We feel Jason can help us do a better job of finishing off games and playoffs series. At the ends of games, he just knows how to win: a big steal, a big blocked shot, a rebound, a penetration. He knows how to finish games, and that's what we're looking for.

Kidd:
This is not rocket science. I just think me and Dirk can both make each other better.

Avery:
There are not many times you can say you had a chance to get a player of this caliber. We talked about it. We are not emotional. We did a lot of planning, a lot of film study. It just didn't happen overnight.

Donnie Jr:
This not a reaction to other trades. The discussion here started before the other deals were announced. This is about us seeing what gives us the best chance to win a championship. There's a difference between really good, aspiring players vs All Stars.

Avery:
Me and Jason are going to spend time together away from the gym. We're going to work together to figure out what we think works best for the team.

(Puerto Rican reporter asks Kidd about his upcoming competition with J.J. Barea. Avery interjects that Barea is no longer the starter, and he just wants to make that clear.)

Kidd:
With Nets, our Finals teams were deep, but there's more talent here. Championship teams locker rooms... you can never put a price on that. Good locker rooms overcome a lot of problems.

Cuban:
Dirk had input. I'm looking for another job to cover the costs of this deal. This was the most amazing, interesting trade we've ever done, and we've done some doozies.

Kidd:
I've never looked a things as pressure. I love the challenge. I like the talk that I'm old, and not as good as Nash or those other guys.

Mark Cuban at Blogmaverick:

The difficult. Saying goodbye to Devin, Gana and Trenton. All 3 are great guys in every way. On and off the court. (Greg's note: Hassell is a high class guy with an ebullient personality) It was far from an easy deal to make. We know that all 3 will continue to grow and get better and like other players we have traded or lost, come back to haunt us in some manner. That comes with every and any trade of players who are talented and work hard at their profession. I also think this will be a great chance for Mo Ager to start fresh.

The amazing. We think that Jason Kidd will immediately make the other players around him better. He is a different kind of point than Devin is. There are certain things that Devin does that JKidd can't. No question about it. That said, through experience and talent, we think JKidd can make the game easier for JET, Dirk , Josh, Damp, Stack and all of our guys and as a result make our team better.

The business side. I think we were stagnating some. I think the spark and excitement that JKidd will bring is more than just what his talent offers. There is a reason why Kobe and Lebron were lobbying management to bring JKidd in. We think he will recharge the batteries of not just our players, but the organization, fans, media and even merchandise and advertising sales.

That's the reality of this business. Wins and losses are not just about talent, its about energy and teamwork. The best leaders recognize when a spark is needed and are honest enough to admit it, and get it. Even when things are going well, its sometimes hard to sustain the energy of being a start up or of levels year past. In business it might be an acquisition, or a sale that may not be the perfect transaction, but its the most impactful. We have been discussing this now for at least a month. We think this deal will have impact.

I don't believe in juicing the business side as much as Cuban claims he does. Devin Harris was a beloved player in Dallas. When fans love a player, the franshise then enjoys a long term relationship with those fans. Lone Star Ball had a couple hundred+ DFW sports fans vote. They were solidly against the trade, and the main reason was their appreciation of Devin Harris. I was perfectly happy to spend the next decade in an emotional relationship with Devin, Josh Howard, and Dirk. I was perfectly happy to compete for the 2012 NBA championship with this line-up:

Devin
Josh Howard
Reyshawn Terry
Dirk
Diop.

Aaallll that said, if healthy, the 2008 Mavs are more playoffs ready than they were.

Conversely, absent a P.J. Brown signing, if Eric Dampier so much as chips a fingernail, the Mavs are worse.

Of course, it had NOTHING to do with Islam

Aqsa Parvez, RIP


Sarah Said, RIP. "I don't want to become a memory."


Amina Said, RIP, with friend


It's just a teenager problem, doncha know.

Or, it's domestic violence. We should all speak out against domestic violence.

Iran: Father 'stones 14-year-old daughter to death'

Tehran, 18 Feb. (AKI) - A man known as Sharif has reportedly stoned his fourteen-year-old daughter to death in southeastern Iran because for allegedly having a relationship with a man.

Sharif's wife reported him to police after he and a friend killed the girl in Zahedan, capital of Baluchistan province.

Sharif showed no sign of remorse, telling police who interrogated him: "I suspected that my daughter had a relationship with a man and I had to stone her to death as she had besmirched my honour."

"I had no other choice," he said, telling police how he had carried out the stoning.

Two sisters, Azar and Zohreh Kabiri, 27 and 28 years-old respectively were earlier this month sentenced to death by stoning for allegedly committing adultery.

The women each have one child. They are from the suburb of Shahriar, near Karaj, north of the capital, Tehran.

The Kabiri sisters have already received 99 lashes each.

Hmmm. What else? How about this, from The Gazette (Montreal):

"Murdering daughters is no more an Islamic value than murdering estranged wives is a Western one.[...]To judge a faith and a culture on this one squalid incident is absurd."

One incident? Wikipedia:

"The United Nations Population Fund estimates that the annual worldwide total of honor-killing victims may be as high as 5,000 women."

How about this, from Skippy Stalin:

The media and the blogosphere is desperate to make this about the evils of Islam. It isn't.
[...]
If anything, the lonely death of Aqsa Parvez is about the perversion of religion.
[...]
To one degree or another, all monotheist religions drive certain of their followers to murder and, in certain circumstances, religious authorities condone and celebrate this.

Yep. It's not about honor killing, or Islam, or tribal culture. It's about the perversion of all religion. That's the ticket! Remember Lennon!

"Imagine there's no heaven, and no religion too."

Yes, imagine it. Fantasize. Wallow in leftist utopia. Don't allow reality or truth to intrude.

Who, exactly, is desperate to characterize honor killing? I wrote the following in Aqsa Parvez and Western Denial:

[I]n the minds of politically correct Westerners, Aqsa Parvez' death cannot be an honor killing.

Why?

If fundamentalist Islam influenced Muhammad Parvez' decision to strangle his daughter, then politically correct observers will be forced to recognize fundamentalist Islam as a malevolent force. This amounts to willfully discriminating about a religion. This must not be done! Discrimination is bad! Intellectual discrimination will lay waste to every multiculti value the PC have based their lives upon. In order to justify their worldview (no religion is better or worse than any other religion), they need an alternative explanation for Muhammad Parvez' action.

Similarly, if backward tribal culture influenced Muhammad Parvez' decision to strangle his daughter, the PCs will have to acknowledge a cultural evil. Horrors! PC doctrine stipulates that problems in the world are not caused by cultural evil, but rather by righteousness - by the very act of judging. No one has the right to think about what is good or bad about cultures. No culture is better or worse than any other culture. The politically correct demand - in the name of all they hold holy - that we speak no more about such matters. After all, we are not heathen (sniff).

Therefore, PC Westerners are torturing logic to conjure up an alternative explanation for Muhammad Parvez having strangled his daughter.

Related: Possible Honor Killings in Lewisville, TX

This...is a CNN commentator

by DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer:

"In a campaign capacity, I've been known to have foot-in-mouth disease," said Donna Brazile, a manager of Al Gore's 2000 campaign and a CNN commentator. "But as a pundit, I'm much more guarded. If I say something nice about George Bush, I could get kicked around for months."

An uplifting speech about actual, achievable ideals

In the post below, I criticize Sen. Obama for being a cynical, political Elmer Gantry. This short video shows how to make an uplifting speech about actual ideals. President Reagan's substance stands in contrast to Senator Obama's fluffy nothingness. President Reagan spoke of ideals which could be accomplished, and which were accomplished under his leadership. Contrast Senator Obama's language of ... fluffy nothingness. There is no better way to describe it.

A man of inspiration, of vision, of substance, of modesty: President Ronald Reagan



Feel free to compare with the messiah's Super Tuesday speech, which contained the famous "We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek." And "a hymn that will heal this nation, repair this world, make this time different from all the rest: yes we can."

Barack Knock

Either Barack or Hillary stands a solid chance of being our next President. If it has to be one of them, I prefer Hillary. She is more firmly grounded in reality.

Texas holds an open primary on March 4. I will vote for Hillary.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Barack, as much as any major politician, accepts and believes in the orthodox liberal menu of "truths".

This is a sign of a shallow thinker. It tells us Barack has risen via charisma and good looks. He has not risen because of any particular wisdom which will help him govern wisely and effectively.

We ought pause, for a good, long, skeptical, spine-chilling look, at the specter of Barack's orthodox leftist beliefs + Barack's lack of tangible accomplishment.

Barack has accomplished the following very nice things: marrying well, being a good father, gaining educational degrees, getting hired as a lawyer, and getting elected. These are nice. They are not the proper resume of a POTUS.

Barack has barely legislated. He has never governed in the fashion of State Governors Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. Barack has never run a Military Theater of War, as Dwight Eisenhower did. Barack has never been Vice President, as Harry Truman and LBJ and Richard Nixon were.

Before becoming VP, Truman was a long time, battle-tested Congressman. LBJ was a long time Senate Majority leader. Nixon was a long time veteran of political battles and national politics. Barack is a long time veteran of being good looking and charismatic. His legislative record, both in Illinois and in D.C., is as wispy light as cotton candy.

Barack's lack of accomplishment gives pause, yet does not invalidate him. We should fairly consider:

What does Barack have to say? Does he advocate wise policy? Does his speaking indicate that he has wisdom and integrity?

Barack says little of substance. What he does advocate is absolutely standard, right down the line, checkmark by checkmark liberal menu of fantasy solutions. Therefore, the overall impression is of a lack of wisdom on Barack's part.

What about integrity?

I instinctively trust Barack to watch my kids, and to save me if I am drowning.

However, the more I listen to Barack, the more I believe the speechifying Barack is a cynical con man. Barack is Elmer Gantry. I think he knows he is speaking in platitudes. He knows he is driving emotion at the expense of reason. This is not integrity. This is cynicism. This is politics as usual, covered in a thick, obscuring gravy of "change." Barack is Elmer Gantry.

Mock Barack. Vote Hillary. She has more wisdom. She is more grounded in reality, and is more grounded in the values which help our nation be great. Further(and I'm having an out of body experience as I type this): Hillary has more integrity. She loves her country. Her words and her actions are more congruent.

Mock Barack. Vote Hillary.

Can you spot the similarities?

Amongst characters on Palestinian children's television?

First, there was Farfour, the Jew killing mouse. Western protest arose against Farfour. Farfour's TV network had the child-murdering Jews do away with the mouse. There is some controversy over whether Farfur was thrown into prison, or beaten to death by his Jew interrogator.

Second came Nahoul, the Jew killing bee. More protest.

Now comes Assud, the Jew eating rabbit who calls himself "lion".

Can you spot the similarities between children's characters?

This video shows the untimely death of Nahoul (likely due to awkward efforts at bee CPR), and the introduction of the Jew eating rabbit. When the Palestinians run out of animal costumes, the Jews of Israel will finally be safe.

Chicks, Dragons, and Tulips

My third grade nephew has enjoyed creating football uniforms for his team: The Chicago Chicks. You can double click on any picture to see a larger version, and to read his notes. This is the Playoff Uniform. That helmet decal is a picket fence with a chicken and a red barn behind it. For award decals, the players add another picket onto the fence:


Isn't he creative? The "Close to Chicago Super Bowl Uniform":


He has another uniform if the Chicks play a Super Bowl far away from Chicago. My nephew's designs are vibrant. The "Pro Bowl and Special Occasions Helmet":


Concept Helmet: The Tropical Helmet. The award decals are yellow chicks. He makes a note that this is not a good player, b/c he doesn't have many yellow chicks on his helmet.


I'm also having fun. The uniform for my team: The Texas Komodo Dragons, has a Pacific island vibe, as that is the habitat of Komodo Dragons. Those are Dragons on the beach; sticking their tongues out at opponents.


My Kindergartener niece, with an assist from my brother, got in on the act. Be sure and double click, to check the notes. Her team: The Wisconsin Spring Tulips*.


Lots of detail. Check the notes for the detail.


There's a speck of dirt on that shovel.



*Spring Tulips is Trademark Protected!

150 years ago in Lourdes

the Anchoress:

…a dirt-poor, uneducated girl saw a beautiful lady in the most humble of places.

Thus begins a true story whose epilogue has not yet been written.

Information warfare, embeds, and kidnapping

An Army study of the April 2004 Fallujah battle says media pressure caused the Iraqi government to pressure Americans to withdraw after only 5 days of battle. Only two media outlets covered the April battle: Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya. Both broadcast numerous false reports of Americans committing war crimes against innocent civilians, inflaming national Iraqi sentiment against the American military.

Lessons were learned by the U.S.

In Second Fallujah, in Nov. 2004, U.S. military brought 91 embedded reporters, from 60 media outlets, into battle with them. False accusations of war crimes returned, but were drowned out by a majority of reportage which found little or no unethical action by American military.

Lessons were learned by Al-Qaeda and Sunni insurgents.

After Second Fallujah, insurgents began a campaign of kidnapping American and other foreign journalists, with the apparent goal of once again controlling the information battlespace. Insurgents also began getting their own people to covertly hire out as stringers for American and other foreign media operations. Insurgent stringers reported stories back to Baghdad hotel American journalists, who then filed the stories - largely unchecked and unchanged - for American news services. Michael Yon wrote about meeting one such stringer, whom Yon believed was obviously making stuff up to suit his purposes. That stringer's faux facts were definitely making their way into American homes. AP photographer Bilal Hussein, currently awaiting trial in Iraq for conspiring with insurgents, is an example of an insurgent-influenced stringer.
Wretchard on Hussein.
Malkin on Hussein.

The kidnapping campaign was very successful. Western journalist were driven into their Baghdad hotel headquarters, from whence only the bravest ventured forth - and even then only a couple of times a week, for 2-3 hours at a time, during which they zipped into a section of Iraq, gathered some quotes, and zipped fearfully back to their hotel. Media were predisposed to being against the war anyway. Their 2-3 hour trips allowed them no real opportunity to absorb conditions on the ground. Two trips a week (or zero trips, ever) mostly allowed media to justify their group opinion that Iraq was a quagmire. Insurgents made certain to blow up one car bomb, every day, within range of hearing of the media's Baghdad hotel headquarters, and also early in the morning - in time to make U.S. news cycles. Therefore, that day's news from Iraq would be: Another Car Bomb Exploded.

Belmont Club:

And the most effective way for insurgencies to recreate the "access journalism" so advantageous to them was to kidnap journalists. This they did to great effect. The process through which they cleared the information battlefield of anything they didn't control is plain from the stats. For example, the nearly all of the journalists kidnapped in 2004 were foreign, many from major news agencies like the New York Times, the Times of London and Radio France. By 2005, the majors had been driven into the Green Zone. The kidnap victims for 2005 tended to be the lower tier: freelancers, reporters from obscure agencies like Romania Libera or Iraqis. By 2006, all but one of the kidnapped journalists was Iraqi. The sole exception that year was Jill Carroll. In 2007, every single one of the journalists kidnapped was Iraqi. Direct access by the Western press had been effectively ended.

These figures demonstrate how the insurgency purposely drove the press from the field to recreate the information monopoly they found so advantageous in the opening days of the First Fallujah, when only journalists from Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya were reporting from the scene. The kidnapping campaign compelled news outlets to rely on stringers who could then be controlled by the insurgency and who could be counted on to miraculously stumble on photo opportunities showing insurgents in action, such as the Pulitzer Prize winning photograph of an Iraqi election worker being killed on Haifa Street. The effective riposte again turned out to be finding ways to break the reportorial stranglehold the enemy had established. The information blockade runners turned out to be bloggers and journalists embedded in the military, of whom Michael Yon is perhaps the most famous. The Iraqi bloggers were protected by their anonymity and the embedded journalists were protected by coalition troops. These reporters outflanked the wall of "access journalism" which was gradually restricting the majors and created alternative sources of reportage. Although few in number these blockade runners played a pivotal role in penetrating the "bodyguard of lies" with which al-Qaeda and the Sunni insurgency had surrounded itself.

Another blockade runner is Michael Totten:

After having spent several days Baghdad’s Green Zone and Red Zone, I still haven’t heard or seen any explosions. It’s a peculiar war. It is almost a not-war. Last July’s war in Northern Israel and Southern Lebanon was hundreds of times more violent and terrifying than this one. Explosions on both sides of the Lebanese-Israeli border were constant when I was there.

You’d think explosions and gunfire define Iraq if you look at this country from far away on the news. They do not. The media is a total distortion machine.

Another blockade runner is Matt Sanchez:

A sheik from Ramadi put it best: "We have our own bad people and they are much worse than yours." I was surprised to learn many Iraqis were angry the prison had been closed down, because it showed American weakness.

The big con job the media has inflicted on the American people, by systematically distorting so many details about the conflict in Iraq, does more than skew politics back home; it makes Americans distrust the sources of their information and is an assault on democracy.
[...]
too many media outlets have stopped reporting on what is, by far, the most defining event of this century.

Weekend adorable

It's the accent that kills me. And the baby's perfectly timed laughter.

So small a spirit

The intention of this post is to highlight the immorality, and the lack of virtue, amongst many loud voices in the anti-war left. If you truly thought someone was a baby killer, you would want them out of your city. If they offered your city $2.3M to let them remain, so that they could continue killing babies, you would say "F you! Get out!"

The Berkeley (CA) City Council is trying to drive a Marine Corps Recruiting Office out of the city. Berkeley residents stage daily protests at the Marine Corps Recruiting Office. The City Council in action:


Wretchard:

Berkeley Surrenders to the US Marines
NBC reports, "as six Republican senators devised a plan to yank $2.3 million in federal funding for Berkeley programs, the mayor of the famously liberal city apologized Wednesday for his hard stance against a Marine recruiting center. Two City Council members vowed to soften their stance as well."

"Subtly stated in the resolution is perhaps an impugning of the soldiers fighting for us in Iraq and other places," Berkeley City Councilman Laurie Capitelli. "And that was never the intention but that really needs to be cleared up. As I walked to my car that night I realized I regretted it and I had made a mistake."

'Never had the intention ... regretted ... impugning' ... never have such big words been placed at the service of so small a spirit [Greg's note: Amen, brother]. Now we know how much principles are worth. In this case they are worth 2.3 million dollars. They shouldn't bother to offer their hand in apology. It would be better to wash it.

I can't figure out if the Berkeley City Council really believes Marines are baby killers; or if they really do not believe Marines are baby killers, and are simply using that language as a method of bashing Bush, Republicans, Conservatives, et al.

Football: Chicks vs. Komodo Dragons

My eight year old nephew and I made up opposing football teams. His team is the Chicks. He designed an intentionally comical uniform, so as to disable his opponents via laughter. Strategy! He has a fierce helmet emblem. When his players make good plays, they are rewarded with blood streaks they may place on the fierce yellow chicken on the helmet emblem. Awesome! You will, naturally, want to double click the image for a closer look at the blood.



My team is the Komodo Dragons. My brother says my mascot was strategically chosen so as to counter my nephew's mascot. It's true: my nephew's Chicks will never make it out of the pregame tunnel. It'll be a tunnel massacre. Feathers everywhere. Komodo Dragons uniform:

Heartache: Obama Girl Didn't Vote

"My dog ate my sense of civic duty."

Or something like that.

More good advertising

by Reebok.

GY: "So, guys: I'm the QB!?"
Guys: "No!"
EM: "You're the kicker, remember?"
GY: Nods head as if to say: Ah! Now I see.

RIP Max

Venerable and noble member of my brother's family.

`

Old Dogs and Children and Watermelon Wine

by Tom T. Hall

"How old do you think I am," he said?

I said, well, I didn't know.

He said, "I turned 65 about 11 months ago."

I was sittin' in Miami, pouring blended whiskey down

When this old gray, black gentleman was cleaning up the lounge.

`

There wasn't anyone around, except this old man and me.

The guy who ran the bar was watching Ironside on TV.

Uninvited, he sat down and opened up his mind

On old dogs and children and watermelon wine.

"Ever had a drink of watermelon wine," he asked.

He told me all about it, though I didn't answer back.

"Ain't but three things in this world that's worth a solitary dime,

But old dogs and children and watermelon wine."

He said, "Women think about themselves, when men-folk ain't around.

And friends are hard to find when they discover that you're down."

He said, "I tried it all when I was young and in my natural prime,

Now it's old dogs and children and watermelon wine."

"Old dogs care about you even when you make mistakes.

God bless little children while they're still to young to hate."

When he moved away I found my pen and copied down that line

About old dogs and children and watermelon wine.

I had to catch a plane up to Atlanta that next day.

As I left for my room I saw him picking up my change.

That night I dreamed in peaceful sleep of shady summertime,

Of old dogs and children and watermelon wine.

Superobamagirl

It's this blog's stated policy to link to every Obama Girl video: