How many degrees between you and a modern day Hitler?

Yesterday my brother-in-law was telling me about how over the weekend he heard a women use the phrase "six steps of separation". Turns out she had a few glasses of wine at that point and so we were joking maybe she was mixing AA's twelve steps with the phrase she was trying to use "six degrees of separation".

I didn't really know the story behind this phrase other than it had to do with linking someone within those six degrees to actor Kevin Bacon....so I looked into it. Well Six Degrees of Separation was a stage play in 1990, then a film in 1993 (Bacon was in neither) but both are based on the premise that everyone in the world is connected to everyone else in the world by a chain of no more than 6 acquaintances. Supposedly the phrase got linked to Kevin Bacon by a trivia game created by 3 college students who also got booked on the John Stewart Show. The game was to link any actor to Kevin Bacon within six acquaintances in films, TV shows or plays that actor had been in. The producer who booked the three students supposedly called the trivia game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.

I think, in fact, it is interesting how many people you can connect to when you get to 3 or 4 degrees of separation. The number of people in your pool at that point is in the thousands or tens of thousands. However, with no separation (you have had direct contact) or just one degree...well that limits you in a big way.

For example how many of you have no separation between you and Hugo Chavez? Or only one degree of separation between you and our modern day Hitler Iran's Ahmedinejad? While this story isn't really about Cindy Sheehan, it's about these other two, that's how connected Cindy is to each of these.

Cindy visiting and kissing Chavez is well known...and the recent closeness of Chavez to Ahmedinejad has also been in the MSM....but what I doubt will make it's way into the MSM is that Hezbollah is apparently developing a following (thru marketing) in Chavez's country. A must view is the video blog on this very topic over at HotAir, where you should make regular visits to see the daily video blogs.

It's very scary that these two anti-American leaders are cavorting in any way. Together they could cause economic havoc messing with their oil production and price, let alone working together to build an Islamic extremist terrorist mentality in South America....this kind of thing will not be stopped by playing nice with meaningless UN resolutions..

Update: Part 2 of HotAir VBlog on Hezbollah in Latin America

Exclusive: Tom Cruise signs with Scientology Studios

Tiny's has learned that the mysterious, and not believable, $100M hedge fund that will bank roll Tom's movies now that Sumner Redstone booted his ass from Paramount is the recently formed Scientology Studios! That's right, the one headed by the much maligned eccentric studio head Xenu. More on this exclusive story as details come in!

Of course I'm basking in Tom's newest travails (note the word choice) much as I did during the bizarre baby birth episode (Tiny's: Cannibal or PR genius?), or the South Park fun (Tiny's: Cool Cat Scientologist).

So with the recent news that apparently intelligent, lucid and non-believer in 60M year old aliens Sumner Redstone decided to not renew Tom's contract with Paramount my crack staff went to work. Tom's wacky partner (this Wagner women) immediately started spouting off it didn't happen this way, they were going to split with Paramount anyway, blah, blah, blah. Apparently Mrs. Wagner (or is it Ms.?) didn't get the Scientology memo about using any psychological drugs!

It's also interesting how all the Hollywood friendly press is writing how this will backfire, how Redstone stepped on his Paramount studio chiefs, and so on. Hey Hollywood most everyone has a boss including your precious study chiefs. I for one hope Redstone did this primarily because it was the right thing to do given Tom's bizarre and very public beliefs. To a movie studio marquee actors are the product, if you product has a virus what do you do? Continue to sell it even if people will buy, or do you change the product? But it would be refreshing if Redstone actually put values ahead of money. On the other hand it could very well be that Tom and his freaky lady friend wanted to much to renew and Redstone figured since they won't renew with them might as well shoot em on their way out the door...hey, that's business!

Tom, even with being short and an idiot, will land on his feet...but I'll enjoy the negative press surrounding him and Scientology until he does!

Update: Tom raises less than $3M as the supposed $100m hedge fund still hasn't materialized....any bets on if his new investor is a Scientologist?

Global Warming believers cover your eyes!

If you believe in GW then you'll probably dismiss this story, or say it just supports your position. So here it is, you be the judge! A newly released study of 247 of the 350 glaciers on Disko island off Greenland's coast found 173 of those glaciers have been shrinking for the past century "suggesting that the ice melt is not a recent phenomenon caused by global warming".

What I found interesting is that the researches say they studied 95% of the area covered by glaciers on Disko. So wouldn't that mean they should have studied 95% of the 350 glaciers or 315 instead of only 247? If 247 glaciers are on 95% of Disko island that means the remaining 103 glaciers are on just 5% of Disko they didn't cover?

Ok, this aside....it would be interesting to know if 173 glaciers on this island have been shrinking for over 100 years what's up with the other 74 in the study holding steady? Guess what, the article says that they also identified that there were more "galloping glaciers" than had been previously estimated....75 of them!

This is getting interesting....173 glaciers are shrinking for 100 years at around 8 meters a year...but the study also found 75 glaciers caled galloping glaciers that have growth spurts of several years (lets say 2) at a rate of 50 meters day..while most of the time growing at 20 meters a year. So 173 glaciers shrunk over 100 years by 800 meters each. But 75 galloping glaciers each grew as much as 36500 meters in the 2 years of galloping growth, and another 1960 meters for the 98 years of normal 20m/yr growth for a whopping 38460 meters of growth!!!!!!

I realize I'm averaging things here, and that all glaciers are not of the same size...but it sure would be interesting to see if the tremendous growth of the 75 growing glaciers balanced, or surpased, the lost ice of the slowly shrinking ones!

Update: It's always interesting to find a study, or a scientist, that refers to something as a certainty that is in fact as of yet unproven theory. Here's an example of your findings not fitting your theory so you claim what you found is caused by the theory. So apparently now global warming is also to blaim for more ice! And note the last quoted sentence of the researcher and how he/she refers to global warming as if it's a certainty.

Living in the victim-hood

Juan Williams is a smart guy. It's interesting when I see a smart person I don't notice their race. Think about a public figure that inspires you....is your immediate thought of their race, or is it the thing that you admire in them? I don't see Juan as black, just a smart guy. Juan has, in a sense, taken the baton from Bill Cosby in saying what's wrong with black America. Juan's new book ENOUGH: The Phony Leaders, Dead-End Movements, and Culture of Failure That Are Undermining Black America -- and What We Can Do About It echoes much of what Bill Cosby has been saying for years and taking heat from those who are a major part of the problem. Juan also has a piece in today's WaPo on this culture of failure for blacks.

It's really all very simple....black leaders (figures in popular culture, politicians, educators, etc.) could have the biggest and most efficient change to the future for black youths...and yet they seem against it. They largely promote a victim and entitlement message to the black community.

The best training ground for self reliance and responsibility is of course the home, but given the epidemic of broken black families the black leaders can have the biggest effect on the youth. In my childhood I can remember various influences (parents, popular culture, school, my pier group) that lead me to understand my future was up to me. It was a given that you needed to be creative, you needed to work for things, you needed to do things with integrity. I did a lemonade stand on occasion, had a kid's version of a garage sell (the early version of eBay), rebuilt and painted and then sold bicycles, moved up to a paper route, pitted apricots at a local ranch, worked pool maintenance at the local swim club, worked as a stock boy during college and so on. I never assumed that the end goal was to live on some form of assistance. I also never assumed the end goal was to work for someone else. While my father, and most fathers around me, worked for large companies and would retire on company pensions the environment they created for me had a spirit entrepreneurism.

It's clear that spirit is missing from the poor black communities, but worse is that you could argue it has been replaced with the notion of a Cliff Notes shortcut to "making it" is through crime. The messages that permeate black popular culture embrace crime, drugs, disrespect for women, being smart is acting white, big business is bad, the police are evil, everyone else is prejudice, blah, blah.

I have posted on the idea that black leaders get their power from their communities believing they're victims and that their race (and it's baggage) entitle them to something, or everything. If most black fathers stayed married to their children's mothers, if most blacks believed in doing well in school, if most blacks believed in the American dream of working hard and anything is possible, if most black entertainment was smart, civil and uplifting, if most black sports stars were model citizens....in that world what would the message from the likes of Jessie Jackson, Luis Farrakhan, Julian Bond, Cynthia McKinney and Kanye West be? Are these figures influential in the black community preaching a message that will inspire a black child to do well in school, that they can accomplish anything but that it's up to them?

Academia and journalists in the black community also share blame for sending the wrong message and for taking a stance against those with the right message. Case in point is Peniel E. Joseph, a teacher of African Studies at Stony Brook University, who rebukes the message of Juan's book. Joseph's final message is that William's thinks the civil rights movement had a beginning, middle and an end but that the truth is we are in an "unfinished saga of racial struggle". That's exactly the problem! People like Joseph believe if your black and poor, if your black and a hoodlum, if your black and at the bottom rungs of a job it's because of racism and nothing to do with you.

Hat tip to www.powerlineblog.com where I found both WaPo pieces linked above.

Out of order, I'll show you out of order

Here we go! A federal Judge has ruled in favor of an ACLU suit filed on behalf of some journalists, scholars and lawyers who say the NSA surveillance program is unconstitutional (a breaking story from Wizbang). It's nice that these leftists think the possibility of minor infringement of free speech and privacy trumps the lives of what could have been 3,000 or more saved by the break up of the UK airline bombing terrorist plot.

How F'd up are people who think this way? I suspect if the plot in the UK had happened, and 3,000 were killed, and that the authorities came out and said that if they had been allowed to have unfettered realtime monitoring of communications, financial transactions and location surveillance the plot would have been stopped...these same people would still want protection from such access to the extreme. The bar this side of the argument wants for this access is so high (and time consuming) as to require law enforcement to already have enough evidence such that they would no longer need the surveillance.

Let's hope higher courts have a better understanding that this is not a simple issue of regular police work, this is a war.

Update: Well what do you know....our lovely judge is a Jimmy Carter appointee and a known liberal whose politics play a role in her actions on the bench.

Update: WHHHAT? Even the Wapo agrees this was A Judicial Misfire

BUT, the NYTimes would be ok to sacrifice you, your wife, your new baby and say a few thousand of your neighbors to protect the "honey pick up some milk on the way home" phone call. The enemy is among us!

Update: Pretty strong words from the well reasoned Hugh Hewitt, and I agree: "Any vote for any Democrat is a vote against victory and a vote for vulnerability."

The logo fits!

Jimmy Carter demonstrates (like many others) why a jackass is a perfect logo of the Democratic Party.

That Carter believes Israel is the bad guy in the conflict with Hezbollah, and uses his stature as an ex-US President to express that belief along with what I consider anti-American ballyhoo...well, a jackass is a perfect visual!

Liberal Anti-terrorism feels good

So it has begun. Liberals are foaming that Dubya's lumping together all the terrorists using the label "Islamic fascists". This is type of talk could "inflame anti-Muslim tensions" and this label is "unhelpful under the circumstances".

Puulease! Hey Democrats...this kind of politically correct peacenik attitude will get us killed. The DailyKos (Kos himself helped Lamont win over Lieberman in the CT primary) and most of the sites regular followers have an issue with you calling these wack jobs anything other than just terrorists I guess.

At the police department in DailyKosville all of their wanted posters just describe each suspect as the "terrorist". No physical description for fear of associated an innocent with the guilty. If the ideology of the bad guy is known, it's not disclosed for fear that this would be "unhelpful" or "inflame" bad feelings.

Lot's of FEELING stuff going on in the world run by liberals! If we just change our foreign policy, if we just remove Bush from office these poor confused YOUNG MUSLIM ISLAMIC FASCIST MEN, oops..I mean terrorist. will have their years of brainwashing hatred of westeners vanish....oh, why didn't conservatives think of that. We just need to make these young men with no common physical appearance or common ideology who are terrorists feel good and they will be good.

Update: Read Glock26's comment...great stuff! Plus the WSJ editorial board (whom liberals call a Whitehouse puppets) sums up my sentiments with 'Mass Murder' Foiled A terror plot is exposed by the policies many American liberals oppose. Similar to the point Glock26 makes, the WSJ points out that in the wake of news of the thwarted terror plot:

"Ted Kennedy chimed in that "it is clear that our misguided policies are making America more hated in the world and making the war on terrorism harder to win." Mr. Kennedy somehow overlooked that the foiled plan was nearly identical to the "Bojinka" plot led by Ramzi Yousef and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to blow up airliners over the Pacific Ocean in 1995. Did the Clinton Administration's "misguided policies" invite that plot? And if the Iraq war is a diversion and provocation, just what policies would Senators Reid and Kennedy have us "focus" on?"

Update: 40 more arrested in Italy now....their connection to those in the UK is unclear at the moment but I love how it is reported where the 40 were arrested: "Islamic gathering places". Also from todays' SF Chronicle...I love it.

MSM love affair with evil

It's too bad we didn't stick some plastic explosive in Mike Wallace's 88 yr old keister and triggered it as he had his love fest interview with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Wallace's comments on Ahmadinejad:

"He's actually, in a strange way, he's a rather attractive man, very smart, savvy, self-assured, good looking in a strange way," Wallace said. "He's very, very short but he's comfortable in his own skin."
John over at Powerlineblog sums it up nicely

What is this, a Tiger Beat interview? Just once, I wish MSM reporters would adopt the same adversarial attitude toward foreign leaders who are deadly enemies of the United States that they take toward members of the Bush administration.

And yes, as John says, maybe Wallace does draw out and expose the evil of this man, but so far what's come out suggests that's unlikely.

Anybody else for profiling at Airport Security?

With 20+ UK born men, supposedly of Pakistani descent, in custody after their efforts to kill what could have been as many or more than on 9/11 were thwarted maybe more card carrying ACLU types might consider profiling for airport security a good tactic? NOT LIKELY! Because God forbid that we embarrass or inconvenience a nice Arab looking person, instead we do it to 80 yr old white women.

And, hmmmm....guess what else we are sure to find those involved in this UK incident have in common with nearly every other terrorist caught, or known to commit a terrorist act in the last 10-20 years? MUSLIM ISLAMIC EXTREMISTS!

But hey, you liberal Americans just keep listening to people like Michael Moore and vote for people like Lamont and I'm sure we will have nothing to worry about.....ya, because they know that this is only happening because Bush and Co. have made MUSLIM ISLAMIC EXTREMISTS hate us and want to kill us. If we just make France, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Lebanon and every other country just like us everything will be fine. Sure, that will work...normally these people who listen to Islamic preachers about jihad and killing westerners would just ignore such ideas, but we have given them reason to suddenly become killers....we can reverse that with an approach that gets them to like us. Whenever we would like to employ some foreign policy just run it by diplomats from countries like those and if they like it, well then it must be right. Because if those folks don't like it, it must be wrong....we need to start thinking internationally and not nationally. Hold hands, and sing songs...ya, that's it!

Michelle Malkin has a nice timeline on the terrorist plot broken up by Scotland Yard....check out the various links and video at the end.

Update: of course the moonbat leftists are already calling this failed terror plot being made public today all planned by Bush & Co.....it's scary how many people really should be on some kind of meds!

Update: Nothing like confirming your blog readers are stupid F'ing morons with a survey that confirms it...these people are nearly as dangerous as the Islamic Fascists! And the dailykos himself helped Lamont beat Lieberman and even appeared in Lamont TV ads.

You're either with us or with the terrorists

I'm not a great fan of Dubya with the exception of his unwaivering stance on fighting those who want simply to erase us from the planet. Just after 9/11 he said something like you're either with us or you're with the terrorists. It's the same with Israel, you're either on the side of Israel's right to exist, their right to protect its citizens, their right not to have those sworn to kill each and everyone one of them sitting just down the road with weapons...You're either for those things or you're on the side of terrorism, Islamic extremism and Iran. It's truly is that simple.

Israel is not being imperialistic and didn't start this fight. But because media types and liberals (interesting how those two are nearly always ideologically aligned) are completely ignoring or unwilling to accept that Hezbollah:

1. believes all Israelis should be exterminated
2. targets innocents (women and children)
3. started this current conflict by KILLING some Israeli soldiers (not just kidnapping 2) and firing rockets into Israel
4. is simply an extension of Iran

Because of this they frame Israel as the bad guy in this conflict. They throw out idiotic notions of proportional response. Talk of negotiation and cease fire. What has history shown us with respect to negotiation with Israel and their enemies? Just as a pedophile is born with, and cannot change, their sick desire Hezbollah will not accept the existence of Israel. Just as we would not negotiate with al-Qaeda they should not with Hezbollah.

Those of you who think Israel is being a bully are therefore sympathetic to Hezbollah and must therefore be anti-semites. How else can one explain your disdain for Israel trying to protect its citizens and your complete ignorance of the facts. Israel isn't targeting Lebanese civilians, Hezbollah is putting Lebanese between them and the IDF.

Apparently anti-semites are so blinded by their ideology they can't even recognize when they're supporting evil since good God fearing people when never do that. Oh, I forget those in the media, or are liberal, are not God fearing! :) Case in point, the Huffington post website apparently thinks this video make Israel look bad. While I wish the Israeli spokeswoman would have laid into this bimbo CNN anchor this video shows the common lack of understanding of terrorism, war and Islamic extremism by the media and peace-monger liberals.

No honest look at Israel's military history and actions in this current conflict would label Israel as warmongers. Yet apparently the media, and most liberals, take the position equivalent to the police officer continually asking a sniper to stop picking off people in the streets from the top of building while he continues to do so, and you have him in your sights. Wrong, you put one in his head. Item 4 above is also key given that today Ahmadinejad said "Although the main solution is for the elimination of the Zionist regime, at this stage an immediate cease-fire must be implemented". Too funny....oh sure, drop your weapons and come out, I won't shoot...wink, wink.

Finally, if you're still not on the side of Israel do you still think Jews control the media? Just one more thought....if the drunken anti-semitic rant of one man is so relevant and revealing then so is one self proclaimed American Muslim shooting 6 at the Seattle Jewish Federation.

They don't want to know

It's apparent that the MSM and many around the world don't what to know the truth about what's going on in Lebanon. The press, and the public, swallow whole what the Islamic terrorists serve them. The bias in the media is clear.....why wouldn't the MSM be taking a closer look at Qana as evidence mounts that things may not be as they first appeared? The area bombed by the IDF in Qana was shown on video to be a site from which rockets were fired into Israel. Israel and others have shown evidence that the house didn't collapse until some 8 hours after the IDF bombing. The Red Cross is reporting the number of dead from that house at half that reported by the Iran/Hezbollah controlled Lebanese officials (see story linked below). Photographs on the Internet showing plain clothed men on truck mounted rocket launchers within residential homes in Lebanon show the tactic to draw fire and make women and children unwilling martyrs.

Note the Lebanese Red Cross volunteer quoted in this story who says "The priority is for the wounded, then we return, as much as we can, to take out the martyrs''. Wouldn't you normally call the women and children pulled from that house as victims?

Then there's this Lebanese terrorist mouthpiece who mentions his regret that the "Qana massacre did not horrify the conscience and did not bring about a UN decision for a ceasefire".

You don't have to look to hard for this look and sound like it was a staged event many hours after the IDF had bombed that area and make Israel look bad, to shock the world and garner support for Hezbollah and maybe coax the inept UN into trying to broker a ceasefire.

I'm not saying it's a certainty that Hezbollah staged the Qana deaths but to ignore its possibility is to shut your eyes to something you wish not to see.

Update (8/2): Nice video blog by M. Malkin that also asks about Qana, check it out. And the MSM still ignores the possibility Qana was staged. As usual you're too stupid (in their mind) to form the right opinion so they will make it for you....just try to find a journalist who will present the entire spectrum, with backup and sources, on ANY story and let you decide what it means.

Cracker says "tar baby"....oh my!

This weekend a "cracker" used the phrase "tar baby" to describe the issues with the big dig (and why did anybody outside of Boston or MA need to pay for that?). Of course anybody with even a few brain cells knows the use of this phrase referred to the big dig being a sticky mess (basically the original definition). But apparently some black leaders think Gov. Romney was calling the big dig fiasco an especially dark skinned black person!

Hey black leaders...get over your F'ing self! We are all not fixated on a hatred for black people and so use terms "supposedly" used by some in a derogatory way towards black people but use them instead for bad situations or inanimate objects!!!! It's not all about YOU! You obviously hate yourself, being black and black people since you're constantly bringing negative attention to a race problem in situations where it doesn't exist. I suppose if Bush was heard telling someone at a dinner that he loves having a few Oreo's at night with a glass of milk that these same people would say his statement was racist and not about eating cookies!

Romney felt compelled to make an apology after these mysterious leaders, who lead all bitter-my-lot-in-life-is-some-crackers-fault blacks, cried "racist"....now I have less respect for Romney. He should have just said give me a break....the term means a sticky mess...end of story!

Do your homework

There's a lot going on in the world. The most important thing going on is a human cancer called Islam. You can take the position that I'm be unfair painting all those who follow Islam as a cancer...but you would be wrong. I know because I have done my homework. From around the world I've read probably 100 blogs and articles and dozens of interviews from news outlets across the spectrum. The key to forming a meaningful and absolute position is having enough information from many sources pro and con. On my calling Islam a cancer I base this on countless first hand accounts from those effected by and living among this cancer in the many countries that have seen the cancer in action in the last decade.

This cancer has many names...Islamic extremist, Islamic fundamentalist, Al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Lashkar-e-Toiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, and so on. But the common thread with these groups spread across the globe is Islam and a evil interpretations of Sharia (Islamic Law) and of the Qur'an (believed to be the word of God as revealed to the Prophet Muhammad). This is our enemy and he is loves the idea of his own death and yours more than we love our life. That is not a mentality that one negotiates or co-exists with. It is one that must be exterminated at all costs.....if you don't understand that you HAVE NOT done your homework...research, study and stop single sourcing your opinions and unless you're a died in the wool pacifist you'll agree with me.

Back to my main message of "do your homework". Everyday I see a person on tv, or hear them on the radio, or chat with them at the work coffee machine, or at a family dinner, or on the sidewalk in front of my house....and they have not done their homework. Not just on the issue of Islamic terrorism, but on every issue that would make the top 20 of today. Everyday I'm subjected to dozens, or hundreds, of people who have formed strict unbending positions on a topic without understanding the topic at a grade school level. How do I know this? Because I ask questions of my unscholarly victims and it rarely takes more than a few questions challenging their position before the charade of their understanding the topic is apparent. I'm not saying these people are stupid, merely lazy.

What's almost as scary as the global Islamic cancer is the number of people who see one tv news story, or read one story in their local paper, or hear from a single friend a passionate oration, and they have their solid position. They're sure this is the correct position and they will even talk about it with passion and as if it's as certain as 2+2=4. Could they be right, or better put could their position hold up to scrutiny and research...sure it could...but it would be lucky if their one source of knowledge on the topic turned out to the best one. But see, that's not my point...that you must have the RIGHT position...my point is don't be so sure, so foaming at the mouth, so righteous when you do not have the facts at hand. If you've not done a good job at trying to understand the positions of those at the poles of a topic as well as seeking a source that has the appearance of independence, well then your staunch position is dishonest.

So before you believe in your position on Iraq, Israel, Iran, North Korea, Global Warming, Nuclear power, Gay marriage, trickle down economics, public schools, affirmative action, illegal immigration, military interrogation methods, and countless other topics....before you set your position in stone...do your homework!

He would get my vote!

If only there were a lot more congressional candidates like Vernon Robinson. Glock26 shot me a link to the best campaign tv ad I've seen and it's Vernon's! check out Vernon's latest Ad here. If he was in my area of California, instead of North Carolina, he would get my vote....of course living in Silicon Valley is the twilight zone so sadly his common sense would be his undoing in this area!

Partisanship in your face

First....I'm back!

It's just amazing that the Dems haven't done something about Dean....the picture of a section from this morning's www.drudgereport.com says it all...just amazing. And to illustrate the level of Dean's partisanship and hypocrisy Powerline asks why Dean calls the Iraqi prime minister an "anti-Semite" yesterday when he failed to condemn Hezbollah in a speech but not John Dingell, John Conyers, Nick Rahall, Pete Stark, and Neal Abercrombie who all voted against the House resolution condemning Hezbollah's attack against Israel. Powerline then goes on to point out that unbeknownst to me the embarrassment of Georgia (Cynthia McKinney) also has some issues with Jews but her lack of delicacy goes without criticism from the left.

Moonbat vs. Me

I've often wondered what the term "moonbat" meant. I know that it's used to describe liberals on the far left but I wasn't sure what made someone a moonbat. (And I'm still curious what the genesis of the term is as well).

Lucky me, I ran across the blog of one of my former professors from the University of Oregon, Dr. Deb Frisch, (if the name rings a bell it's because she's been in the press lately because of some insane comments she made on a right wing blog) where she defined the term for me. Here's what she has to say about it:

"Moonbat is the derogatory term used by rightwingnuts to describe people who:

a. were against the war in Iraq from the get-go
b. tend to think the whole idea of a "war on terror" is an oxymoron initiated by a moron
c. we haven't heard the whole story about 9/11
d. we're in the end-game of fossil-fueled society and in transition to a more sustainable way of capitalizing on our scientific and technological accomplishments only most people are in denial about this and think the spigot of oil's gonna flow forever.
e. global warming's a bigger threat to our long term well being than taywrism
f. judeo-christian fascism is just as scary as islamofascism
g. the two-party system we've got is right and far right

I love the moon and I love bats and I am happy and proud to be a moonbat."

I'll take it point by point:

a. That one I have no problem with at all.

b. Is it just that they want to rename it? Should we call it "the war on people who want to make war on us"? That's just too long and it's an awkward acronym "TWOPWWTMWOU". See, that's just not going to work, so lets stick with GWOT.

c. I think the proper phrase there would be "we haven't heard the story we really want to here about 9/11; like how George Bush plotted to kill us all".

d. (This from Walter Williams) "Proven" oil reserves, oil that's economically and technologically recoverable, are estimated to be more than 1.1 trillion barrels. That's enough oil, at current usage rates, to fuel the world's economy for 38 years, according to Leonardo Maugeri, vice president for the Italian energy company ENI.

There are an additional 2 trillion barrels of "recoverable" reserves. Mr. Maugeri says these oil reserves will probably meet the "proven" standard in a few years as technological improvement and increased sub-soil knowledge come online. Estimates of recoverable oil don't include the huge deposits of "unconventional" oil such as Canadian tar sands and U.S. shale oil, plus there are vast areas of our planet yet to be fully explored.

During the 1970s, the Club of Rome report, "The Limits to Growth," said that, assuming no rise in consumption, all known oil reserves would be entirely consumed in just 31 years.

So I'll side with the Italian energy guy over the liberal professor on that one.

e. I had to go look up taywrism cuz I had no clue what she was talking about. Turns out that taywrism is her word for terrorism. Right, so the 1 degree increase in ground temperature over the last 100 years is worse than the 5401 acts of Islamofacist terrorism committed since 9/11.

f. Refer back to the 5401 acts of Islamofacist terrorism versus the number of Judeo-Christian attacks.

g. I freaking wish! So John Corzine, Patty Murray and Dick Durbin are just the same as George Allen, Sam Brownback, and Jon Kyl. Right.

So my former professor (who was actually a pretty good teacher) is proud to be an idiot. Good for her!

Another Accurate Portrayal of the Military

I just watched a rerun of "Without a Trace", which I generally think is a decent show, nothing great but it's okay.

This one was about a guy who went AWOL after returning from Iraq. Here's a quick sum up of how they showed our boys in their best light.

1. Main character goes AWOL as mentioned, tries to rob a bank, kills a gal in the bank, then makes the FBI shoot him in the final scene (he ejected his magazine before heading out the door to be shot - so at least he wasn't a total psycho, thanks for that guys)2. Main characters buddy gets kicked out of the Army early for stealing from Iraqi villagers.3. Officer in charge of these two is incompetent and indifferent.4. One soldier has his leg blown off and is teling his buddies to get his foot for him and they say "Hey it's okay, this is your ticket home."5. The military didn't pay the guy enough to afford his girlfriend and her spending habits.

Okay, any one or two of these things in a show probably wouldn't bother me that much but the intense negativity toward the military throughout the show was a bit much.

Our military isn't perfect and there's more than a few bad seeds in it but do we really need to focus on the negative while our troops are in harms way?

I think not.

Meaningful Images

The Democrats have a tasteless new ad to recruit voters. Go ahead and watch it for yourself.

Here's my take. Once again it's all about how crappy life is here in the good ol' US of A. Factories are shut down, gas prices are sky high, Bush lied and soldiers died, and Bush causes hurricanes and then doesn't do anything about them.

That's all fine and dandy except for the showing of coffins of warriors returning from Iraq. That's crossing the line; especially in light of the fact that the majority of democrats voted for the war and John Kerry's recent "Retreat Resolution" was met with an 87-13 vote (I may be off one or two votes on that but I'm close).

It's a shameless party that has lost it's way.

Ode to Conspiracy Theorists

My favorite talk radio host is Michael Medved and once a month (every full moon, fittingly) he does his whole show about conspiracy theories. He opens his show to callers who are true believers in a conspiracy, any conspiracy, so he gets callers who cover subjects from JFK, to the Bilderburgers, Bush's ties to Hitler, Bohemian Grove...all the way up to what is certainly the Holy Grail of conspiracies now - 9/11.

I think that 9/11 conpiracists are the worst by far. Their belief that our own government was behind it is just mind boggling to me. Anyway, yesterday on Medved's show a gal called up who was the director of 9/11 Truth in LA or something like that. So she's giving him all the standard lines and he asks her, "Lynn, how many people do you think would have to be involved in this conspiracy? I think it would have to a huge number considering the people inside the administration who have to know about it, the militray involvement, the four planes, the air traffic controllers, the planted explosives...how many do you think it would take?" Her answer; "Well it wouldn't have to be that many, I think maybe 20 at most."

Okay, here's a seemingly sane individual who thinks that 20 people are behind 9/11. Unreal.

But wait I can here you CT people saying; "But Splash - the government says that 19 hijackers pulled it off". Well yes, they did that with a huge amount of support from Al-Qaeda, plus all of the people who funnel money into Al-Qaeda's pockets. And more importantly, they didn't have to keep it secret from the 300 million people who live here after they pulled it off.

This may seem to be a trivial thing for me to worry about, well gentle reader, it's not. As a matter of fact at the University of Wisconsin Madison a professor there will be teaching his students that the Bush Administration was behind the whole plot.

So if any CT'ers happen by I will be happy to engage in debate, I'll even check out your claims, and we'll see if we can't straighten this whole thing out.

What The Media Lies Have Wrought

Here's a story that shows just how damaging the coverage of the Iraq has been.

US army officer refuses deployment to Iraq (Jun 22 9:53 PM)

"A young US army officer could face court martial after refusing to obey orders to prepare for deployment to Iraq, claiming the war is illegal, his supporters said.

Lieutenant Ehren Watada, 28, was confined to his base of Fort Lewis, in the northwest state of Washington, and restricted from communications with anyone outside but his lawyer, according to people in Watada's support committee.

They said he was the first US military officer to refuse orders to go to Iraq. Watada's mother Carolyn Ho called his refusal an "act of patriotism." "As an officer, he believes it is his duty to disobey illegal orders," she told AFP, adding that they had argued over his decision and that he was influenced by questions about the US government's reasons for invading Iraq."

So what's wrong with this? Well lets see; here's the oath he took when he VOLUNTEERED TO SERVE in the Army:

"I, Ehren Watada, do solemnly swear, (or affirm), that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter."

So the lies of the left have so twisted this poor SOB that he's actually going to spend time in military prison, if you believe the reason he's giving. Could be he's just a huge pussy who thought that he was joining for some reason other than defending his country but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt on that one for now.

However, disobeying completely lawful orders, in this case the "Joint Resolution to Authorize the Use of United States Armed Forces Against Iraq" which was passed the House on October 10 by a vote of 296-133, and by the Senate on October 11 by a vote of 77-23. It was signed into law by President Bush on October 16, 2002. I believe that would give it LEGAL status.

In case you don't know what was in that particular resolution here are some of the reasons given to use force against Iraq:

Iraq's noncompliance with the conditions of the 1991 cease fire
Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, and programs to develop such weapons, posed a "threat to the national security of the United States and international peace and security in the Persian Gulf region"
Iraq's "brutal repression of its civilian population"
Iraq's "capability and willingness to use weapons of mass destruction against other nations and its own people"
Iraq's hostility towards the United States as demonstrated by the 1993 assassination attempt of former President George H. W. Bush, and firing on coalition aircraft enforcing the no-fly zones following the 1991 Gulf War
Members of al-Qaida were "known to be in Iraq"
Iraq's "continu[ing] to aid and harbor other international terrorist organizations"
Fear that Iraq would provide weapons of mass destruction to terrorists for use against the United States

So where in the world did this young Army officer get the idea that this was an "illegal war". Well, I have to give all the credit to the left wing and the MSM.

It was Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn who said in an address at Harvard on June 8, 1978 :

"Because instant and credible information has to be given, it becomes necessary to resort to guesswork, rumors and suppositions to fill in the voids, and none of them will ever be rectified, they will stay on in the readers' memory. How many hasty, immature, superficial and misleading judgments are expressed every day, confusing readers, without any verification.

The press can both simulate public opinion and miseducate it. Thus we may see terrorists heroized, or secret matters, pertaining to one's nation's defense, publicly revealed, or we may witness shameless intrusion on the privacy of well-known people under the slogan: "everyone is entitled to know everything."

But this is a false slogan, characteristic of a false era: people also have the right not to know, and it is a much more valuable one. The right not to have their divine souls stuffed with gossip, nonsense, vain talk. A person who works and leads a meaningful life does not need this excessive burdening flow of information.

Hastiness and superficiality are the psychic disease of the 20th century and more than anywhere else this disease is reflected in the press. In-depth analysis of a problem is anathema to the press. It stops at sensational formulas."

More prescient words were never spoken!

Here's a young man who's life will now be ruined because he believed the lies, and in turn he will be seen as a hero by some when he's really just a dupe of the mainstream media who's lies he bought.

Antiwar Myths and Global Warming Truth

While some may look at the Wall Street Journal as the Foxnews of print media I would argue they're an example of Fox's tag line of fair and balanced. Their news and op/ed pieces cover the political spectrum and their editors have done a great job (by way of performance) of making sure journalistic integrity is paramount. By contrast the New York Times stands head shoulders over the Journal in patently false stories and retractions!

Tuesday's journal had two opinion pieces covering two of the most emotionally charged and party dividing political topics of the day. Global warming and Iraq.

Global warming is happening. That is, we are clearly in a warmer cycle of the infinitesimally small amount of time man has been keeping temperature records. When you examine earths history via fossil and geologic evidence it is clear warming and cooling is cyclic. Most extreme changes, the evidence suggests, are a result of volcanic activity or meteor strikes. The evidence that man is causing the current warming, or that it the current warming is part of a potentially catastrophic change is speculative at best.

Pete du Pont's WSJ piece, "Don't Be Very Worried, The truth about "global warming" is much less dire than Al Gore wants you to think", lays out the chicken little nature of "lock box"Al Gore and the decide before you know what the evidence tells you warming bandwagon scientists.

Then there's Iraq. You can be sure most liberals will go from zero to completely irrational in a nanosecond if you're face to face with one and say Bush was right to go into Iraq. Bushdisdainitis kicks in and he lied, lied, lied. Sure an op/ed titled "Revisionist History, Antiwar myths about Iraq, debunked" by the deputy assistant to the president can be labeled as biased and self serving. However, you must first dismiss, with facts and evidence and not emotions, Mr. Wehner's arguments that are backed up by time lines and facts.

Both of these pieces are just two examples (I have blogged on others many times) of a logical presentation of thought and evidence in direct opposition to liberal position on these topics. Living on the left coast, in lefticon valley, I know hundreds of liberals who do not (and cannot) articulate the liberal position on these topics with any logical and factual precision. It seems these two topics will make up the cornerstone of the Democrat strategy in the coming elections....good luck.

I thought it was ice cream!

Pretty funny isn't it! Louisiana's Rep. William Jefferson (hence forth called "coldcash") got caught on video taking a bribe. Federal agents found $90k in shrink wrapped $10k bundles in his fridge! So of course he's innocent, we don't know the whole story and that the search of his office is an "intrusion into the separation of powers".

Ok, this isn't funny, this is unbelievably F'd up! The press on this story is a but a murmur. Since this story broke most news outlets didn't lead with this story. The press puts on kid gloves when a liberal politician is in a pickle....if they also turn out to be a minority they don big furry mittens! It's also interesting that when you read the print stories on ColdCash the tone is innocent until proven guilty.

If this video, if this frozen cash, involved a white republican the media would be exploding with the party of corruption mantra along with making a tie to the Bush administration...and they would do it with the fervor of an impending meteor strike that could bring the next ice age.

Bias, bias, bias...nope, don't see any here!

I'm think I'm gonna be sick!

Been busy, no time to blog....but I just got this feeling in my stomach and I'm looking for a moonbat POS (send me a note if you don't know what that means) to aim at in the event that the contents of my stomach turn into a projectile.

Harry Reid called a proposal to make English the official language "racist"

I'm sure we'll be safe

Update (5/12):
And apparently most Americans (so that includes a lot of Democrats) approve of how the NSA is doing it now...so ask yourself why the MSM and the usual liberal blowhards are acting like this is a huge government overreach and destruction of individual freedoms?

Who do you want protecting you from Islamic nutjobs, from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, etc....Harry Reid and Nancy Peloci or Dubya?

My sworn enemies: MSM and Liberals

I've had it...if you're a member of the MSM or a dumb monkey face liberal then you're my sworn enemy. You're on the side of the terrorist! You're happy to tell them every move we make to try and detect, track and stop them. You're blinded by your Bushdisdainia and are now an honorary Jihadist.

Gateway Pundit has a nice round up and reaction to the latest NSA program no longer secret and therefore no longer effective at helping with the war on terror.

Says the GPundit:

"It's funny that the Left wasn't very upset when two Democratic operatives were stealing Steele's credit report!

It's only when private information that could save American lives is looked at that Democrats scream "allah Akbar" or "bloody Christian" or whatever it is they scream."

So if you run into me on the street I suggest you do not disclose that you either work for the MSM or believe our president and NSA are spying on innocent civilians. That will identify you as an enemy of the state, an Al-Qaeda sympathizer, one who would rather see a Republican administration falsely demonize at the potential cost of more 9/11 like events. So upon realizing your allegiance I will use every means possible...my fists most likely...to snuff out your pathetic existence.

I've said this before....a new civil war is brewing and my side makes up nearly 100% of the NRA membership.

Liberalism's destruction of education

I can think of no example, so provide one if I'm wrong, of a good application of "political correctness". Everyone's walking around on pins and needles worried they will offend one of the "supposed" sensitive groups. Racism, sexism and hate is assumed by those who in fact know they're a corner case, an outlier or sometimes downright freaks.

The left has a fundamental belief that there is, or can be, a utopia. This belief is fundamentally flawed. People don't need to accept everyone else as equal (I'm talking values, morality and spirituality) and attempting to force it in fact further divides. Life isn't always fair and that should be taught. Things based on faith, and historic belief, and not undisputed fact shouldn't be taught as fact. Kids have the potential to be thoughtful, smart and discerning only if we give the tools to do so and also allow it.

Every adult should have a solid, and for the most part unchanging, personal ideology. This lifelong ideology shouldn't form until your probably around 30 years old. If you're not at least 30 you will not understand this. Most feel differently about the big issues once they've been responsible for their own life for a good 5 to 10 years. I might even be in favor of not letting anyone under 30 vote! As you experience real life (competition in the work place, no free ride, paying for a place to live, for food, for transportation, for insurance and taxes) your views on these aspects of life change. They have to. If they don't something is wrong! You've been so brain washed, or more to my point, ili-equipped to reason and learn from life what really makes sense.

Before you reach a few decades in age you can surely read about what a 1947 Cheval Blanc tastes like, or what it's like to sleep in a net hammock hanging on the face of Half Dome, or what its like to close on your first home, or the moment you hold your first child, or had someone close to you die, and the list goes on. But the understanding through words is a universe away from the actual experience. So why would anyone assume that prior to having enough life experience your ideology would be set?

If you're around, or over, 30 you have experienced some of the hundreds and thousands of experiences that form your view of life. You also then appreciate how many of those views are radically different from when you were younger. This is how it should be. Yes, it's possible your earliest and first views on abortion, the death penalty, personal responsibility versus entitlement, race, religion, when and were children learn about sex, when and why you go to war, climate change by man or nature, etc. stay your views for life...but that would either be an anomaly, or you had a very oppressive or manipulative childhood.

Childhood includes education and so a manipulative education is what California's public system is becoming. Let's call the k-12 experience what it is...it is brainwashing! That's what education can be at its worst. Facts, figures and tells the student what to think, what is definitively what is right or wrong. As opposed to teaching how determine the end result or right and wrong. The building of our children's intellectual base should be foundational and not deterministic. That someone will just hand you a fish is deterministic, that we teach you how to farm or catch fish is foundational. We don't know what kind of fish, or how many, or where you may grow or catch a fish...that you decide.

So here we are, faced with those who would force ideology on kids for the purpose of indoctrination. So afraid are those who believe in some anomalous, or fringe, view that they wish to not have its acceptance be your choice. If your view is right, righteous, humanly appropriate shouldn't it stand up to reasoned and intelligent scrutiny? Of course it should. What are you afraid of? We need to give our children a foundation to make a decision on their personal ideology on their own.

In California those in Sacramento, who "work for the people" only as a tag line, are considering rewriting history identifying the sexual preference of those who made that history. I blogged on this in April in my Gayifornia post as well. Of course sexual preference and orientation have nothing to do with any of the history any k-12 school should be teaching. So why should I know a historic figure was gay? Or left handed? Or like to cross dress? Or liked to get whipped?

We also find liberals attempting to stupify a high school diploma! Well maybe they already have since SAT scores of applicants to California's University system have dropped dramatically. And this is a mystery to them? And to make sure each holder of that illustrious California HS diploma has no shot at higher education, a decent job or the ability to form their own ideology lets lower the bar! Can you imagine a high school exit exam? God forbid we actually measure, at least in some form, the foundation we laid. And those who look at this as a punitive measure are idiots...it's the opposite...it's to ensure we did the job before we turn them loose. Nonetheless idiots claim this to be unfair and are challenging it in court.

Note how the LA Times piece on the court challenge mentions the total of 47,000 California 12th graders who fail but not that about 470,000 passed! At least the SJ Merc was more honest and added that "Although nearly 90 percent have passed the exam, only 83 percent of low-income seniors have passed, and only 71 percent of seniors who are still learning English have passed."

That result makes perfect sense...do those who cry fowl think a good test is one where everyone passes? Oh sure part of their complaint is those who don't have good English skills are at a disadvantage...DUH! Geez, stop letting them use that as a crutch! If you forced them into 100% English starting back in Kindergarten you wouldn't have a problem and you would have better prepared them for life...Isn't that what the F we are doing here?

Back to the gay agenda in our public schools.....I have an idea. Since apparently the gay community wants historic figures who were gay (and I'm sure that's easy to prove right) lets identify all those in the present who are gay! That way when we want to recognize a good deed that we witness, or a good presentation at work, or a great athletic achievement in sports, or an excellent thespian performance, we will know the accolades are being directed at a gay person. And since California schools already embraced some symbology for this previously, they surely wouldn't object to using these same symbols now to identify all the gays among us for this purpose! I can't wait to see all those Nazi inspired pink triangles so I can better know who is, and who isn't gay!

Memories of a 7 yr old

When I was a really tiny, in the 1960's, we took in a few SF Giants games. My recollection was that Candlestick Park (the only name I use for that cold windy sorry excuse for a stadium) was packed full back in the days when you could load a Detroit iron station wagon with 8-10 kids sliding around in the back without those damn belts to restrict our fun.

I was oblivious to what I was watching. In those days I was more interested in going to the San Jose Bees (a farm team for the LA Angels then, now called the Giants and a farm team for the SF Giants) . At the Bee's games we would go into a service area just past the outfield fence, which was just plywood, and peer through holes to watch for home runs...all we were after was a ball. We didn't even pay attention to the score.

But I do remember the first time I walked out of one of the tunnels into the upper deck where our seats were at Candlestick and the blue sky, the sea of fans, the smells and sounds, and a pristine ball field expanded below me. It was like a real life IMAX experience. I don't even remember who the Giants were playing. My memory of the experience just didn't record it...or more likely I don't know how to access that memory location anymore. I also remember either going for a hotdog, or being in the bath room, and hearing on the PA system that Mays just hit a homer...I ran out to the nearest tunnel and out into the seats and got to see him rounding 2nd as he headed for home. Mays had an unmistakable way of running and I remember it from that very first big league game.

Willie Mays is still considered the best all around player, most importantly by the players of the day, and it was great to see him play several times. I also got to see other special Giants players; the great leg kick of Juan Marichal, the "stretch" Willie McCovey, Jesus Alou of the amazing Alou baseball family, and Barry's dad Bobby. We also did the occasional A's game over in Oakland were I watched Rollie Fingers, Catfish Hunter, Bert Campaneris and "Mr. October" Reggie Jackson.

From going to Giant's and A's games in the late '60's I got to see greats from the visiting teams, players like; Johnny Bench, Steve Carlton, Don Drysdale, Pete Rose, Tom Seaver, Rod Carew, Willie Horton, Harmon Killebrew, Mel Stottlemyre and Carl Yastrzemski.

Two additional players I got to see are relevant to the reason I wrote this post. Mickey Mantle by all estimates still holds the record for the longest home runs ever hit. Two are estimated at 565 ft. and 643 ft. And then there is the home run total champion Hank Aaron.

I guess that's how some experiences in life go. You don't know until years later how special they were. While Bond's is likely to tie Babe Ruth's home run total in tonight's game I don't think the 8 year olds at the park will be thinking about how special this is, or that there is a steroid asterisk next to a number in the record books. Things like mortgage payments, property, income and capital gains taxes, kids and the affect these things have on you over decade or more tend to make us cynical and jaded. I think we need to remind ourselves of what it's like to see events through the eyes of an 7 year old and how that memory lingers later at mid life. I'm not suggesting the steroid use is ok or that Bond's hasn't acted like an ass nearly his whole career (he has). I'm saying this will be a great memory for a bunch of kids at the ball park years down the road.

I've been to Giant's and A's games throughout the years but those experiences in the late '60's and early '70's are more impactful to me today. So if Barry's steroid use, and not his natural talent, is responsible for his move past Ruth and baring injury past Aaron I'll cut him some slack because it reminds me to be sure and create some of those memories for my kids. Besides, I suspect before I die, steroid use in sports won't be the issue...it will probably be someone claiming an athlete's parents did some bioengineering, some kind of generic alterations, on the egg or embryo that enhanced or created athletic ability.....I wonder if there will be a way to test for that?

I'm late for a vote!

While I'm not a fan of kicking someone when they at least appear to be down I'm going to make an exception (I make this exception easily when those down on their luck are libs).

Wouldn't be nice that while on your way to or from work you were exempt from arrest? Well The United States Constitution, Article 1, Section 6 looks to do exactly that:

The Senators and Representatives shall receive a compensation for their
services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the treasury of the United
States. They shall in all cases, except treason, felony and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at the session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same;

I found this on Wizbangblog where he points to yet another blogger called Fausta who points out this get out of jail free card in the constitution.

In the case of a possible DUI having the cops arrest be delayed is tantamount to a free pass to drinking and driving. Do the police in and around D.C. and all the Senators and Representatives know and use A1, Section 6 in this way? Hmmmmm?

Ok, here is the kicking the downed man part....you must be kidding. Patrick Kennedy must think we are all idiots. Later in the morning after he had his little crash he recounted in precise detail what happened earlier in the morning. Check the above two blogs who have more than the gory details. Then today he says he doesn't even remember what happened and that he has an abuse problem with pain killers (which the two things he said he was on are not).

Honestly I had never even heard of Patrick Kennedy until this happened....and wouldn't you know he has a history of issues like this.

Come on people! Could you imagine if a prominent Republican family had a scandal like this where OBVIOUS special treatment was given? Oh, say swap Jeb Bush for PK. The MSM and liberal blog would be beside themselves. I visited a few well know liberal blogs who either had nothing on this story or are treating it with kid gloves.

The Kennedy family has for 40 yrs been through so many scandals they would define a statistical anomaly were it not that they are all blood relatives.

Cha-Ching!

That's the sound at the IRS who's seeing record revenues from the taxes dollars rolling in. I've included a full copy of a piece in today's Wall Street Journal at the bottom of this post. It's an example of how the trickle down effect works with certain tax incentives. While I think any tax structure keeps more dollars in the individuals (and not the governments) hands stimulates the economy, one in particular is proven by the SEC revenues illustrated in the WSJ piece.

The capital gains tax tends to keep those who hold stock doing just that, hold. Being in the startup world, and sitting in its Mecca, its more than just anecdotal that huge numbers of shares are not sold because they're in the short term capital gains tier. So you sit on them until you're into the long term capital gain tax rate...and even then you might just sit. Why does this matter so much. Because, when I sell those shares guess what I do? I buy a car, or a house, or I buy different stock, or invest in a CD, or a startup, etc....in all cases that stimulates the economy. When I turn a stock cert into cash no matter what I do with it the money goes into a system where it helps all economic levels...from CEO to the mailroom guy, from the car dealership owner to the car dealership car wash dude, and so on.

"capital gains receipts from 2002-04 have climbed by 79% after the reduction in the tax rate from 20% to 15%." That's huge!

The other interesting statistic here is that 3% of us pay almost the same in taxes as the other 97% in combined! The good news is the number of us in the 3% grew by 19%+ . And while many liberals (and many border on being socialists) claim the rich don't pay their fair share, enjoy tax benefits the poor don't, blah, blah....it is interesting that "The richest income group pays a larger share of the tax burden than at anytime in the last 30 years with the exception of the late 1990s -- right before the artificially inflated high tech bubble burst."

So I have an interesting question. Maybe those of use in the 3%, who pay the lions share of the tax in this country, should get more say on how that money is spent. 100% of the those who can vote can vote people into office who will decide to tax the hell out of me and have those in the lower 97% pay almost nothing. Seems only fair if I'm going to pay so much more than someone else my input on how we spend should count more.

Seems unfair otherwise doesn't it? Do I really use more of the public schools than someone else?Do I use more of the military than someone else? In fact, shit...I create jobs and help keep more people away from public assistance of all types....none of my tax dollars should go towards welfare or other hand out programs!

Ok, this is partially in jest....but lets face it...the guy who makes $100k who has some deductions but nothing fancy pays $20k in federal income tax. Then there's the guy who makes $1M and can take advantage of more complex deductions so say their rate is only 15% (which would be unusual, not many who make $1M would be that low) so he pays $150k. If you make $45k a year you probably think F both this guy who makes $100k and $1M....they're rich. But you see, the reason the guy who makes $45k even has a job is because of both of them.

All of us have the opportunity to be in the top 3% or in the $1M+ a year camp...nobody but you blocks you from that. We wouldn't have 97 jobs if we didn't have 3 in this $200k and up income level. If we had 100% parity in our economic system we would have communism...and of course everyone contributes equally so that would work just fine!

Supply SideHow to Soak the Rich (the George Bush Way)
By STEPHEN MOOREMay 4, 2006; Page A14

With the House and Senate preparing to vote on extending George W. Bush's investment tax cuts, it's no surprise the cries against "tax giveaways to the rich" grow increasingly shrill. Just yesterday Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid charged that the Bush tax plan "offers next to nothing to average Americans while giving away the store to multi-millionaires" and then fumed that it will "do much more for ExxonMobil board members than it will do for ExxonMobil customers."

Oh really. New IRS data released last month tell a very different story: In the aftermath of the Bush investment tax cuts, the federal income tax burden has substantially shifted onto the backs of the wealthy. Between 2002 and 2004, tax payments by those with adjusted gross incomes (AGI) of more than $200,000 a year, which is roughly 3% of taxpayers, increased by 19.4% -- more than double the 9.3% increase for all other taxpayers.

Between 2001 and 2004 (the most recent data), the percentage of federal income taxes paid by those with $200,000 incomes and above has risen to 46.6% from 40.5%. In other words, out of every 100 Americans, the wealthiest three are now paying close to the same amount in taxes as the other 97 combined. The richest income group pays a larger share of the tax burden than at anytime in the last 30 years with the exception of the late 1990s -- right before the artificially inflated high tech bubble burst.

Millionaires paid more, too. The tax share paid by Americans with an income above $1 million a year rose to 17.8% in 2003 from 16.9% in 2002, the year before the capital gains and dividend tax cuts.

The most astounding result from the IRS data is the deluge of revenues from the very taxes that were cut in 2003: capital gains and dividends. As shown in the nearby chart, capital gains receipts from 2002-04 have climbed by 79% after the reduction in the tax rate from 20% to 15%. Dividend tax receipts are up 35% from 2002 to 2004, even though the taxable rate fell from 39.6% to 15%. This is as clear evidence of a Laffer Curve effect as one will find: Lower rates produced increased revenues.

What explains this surge in tax revenues, especially at the high end of the income scale? The main factor at play here is the robust economic expansion, which has led to real income gains for most tax filers. Higher incomes mean higher tax payments. Between 2001 and 2004, the percentage of Americans with an income of more than $200,000 rose from 12.0% to 14.2%. The percentage of Americans earning more than $50,000 a year rose from 40.8% to 44.2% -- and that's just in two years. While these statistics are not inflation-adjusted by the IRS, price rises were relatively modest during these years, so adjusting wouldn't alter much.

We can already hear the left objecting that the rich are paying more taxes simply because they have hoarded all the income gains, while the middle class and poor wallow in economic quicksand. But, again, the IRS data tell a more upbeat story of widespread financial gains for American families. The slice of the total income pie captured by the richest 1%, 5% and 10% of Americans is lower today than in the last years of the Clinton administration.

So how can the media contort these statistics to conclude that the Bush tax cuts only benefited the affluent? The New York Times claims that the richest 0.1% got 5,000 times the tax benefit than those with less than $50,000 of income. That figure can only be true if one assumes that there were no economic benefits from the tax cuts whatsoever; and that lower taxes on income, capital gains and dividends resulted in no changes in the real economy -- not the value of stocks, not business spending, not employment, not capital flows into the U.S., not corporate dividend payments, not venture capital funding -- nothing. The underlying assumption of this static analysis is that tax cuts don't work and that incentives don't matter.

Of course, in the real world, financial incentives through tax policy changes matter a great deal in altering economic behavior. And we now have the evidence to confirm that the latest round of tax cuts worked -- five million new jobs, a 25% increase in business spending, 4% real economic growth for three years and a $4 trillion gain in net wealth. So now the very class-warfare groups who, three years ago, swore that the tax cuts would tank the economy rather than revive it, pretend that this robust expansion would have happened without the investment tax cuts. Many Democrats on Capitol Hill recite this fairy tale over and over.

One final footnote to this story: Just last week, the Department of the Treasury released its tax receipt data for March 2006. Tax collections for the past 12 months have exploded by 14.4%. We are now on course for a two-year increase in tax revenues of at least $500 billion, the largest two-year increase in tax revenue collections after adjusting for inflation ever recorded. So why are the leftists complaining so much? George Bush's tax rate cuts have been among the most successful policies to soak the rich in American history.

Mr. Moore is a member of The Wall Street Journal's editorial board.

Hardest job but it DOES NOT cost $134,121

Mom's are the best. Sorry Dads, if your kid skins their knee, or is throwing up, or has an issue with another kid...they want comfort from mom first and foremost. They are just better at the touchy feely nuturing that kids want and need. Dad is WAY better at wrestling on the floor, playing catch, helping with math, building new toys, fixing old ones, and so on.

Dad's, well most of them, can barely even handle watching the kids (especially when kids=2 or more) for a few hours. If you're one of those dads who can good for you...I can't. My family and friends know that I can't and my famous line on this is that I would rather go fight in Iraq than have to be the sole custodian of my two kids for an extended period. I think it stems from me having basically what I'll calling engineer DNA in me. I want things to be in order, for most actions and reactions kids (and adults) have to be logical. To be able to reason with those around me....ok, I know you're laughing at this point, but there's more.

I can pick up the kids from school, take them to the doctor, I can clean, I can do laundry and if we are going to eat something tasty or complex or just downright amazing I'm the one who cooked it (sorry honey, but you know that's true). BUT, except for cooking, I would rather someone else do those things. Yes, along with being engineering anal I'm also selfish. Well, I accept my flaws and know I'm not going to change. Thank God my lovely wife accepts this as well.

When I saw the various articles about a study released today on what it would cost to pay someone to do all the things a fulltime stay at home mom does I saw two problems with it. First is the jobs the study used as a basis for the $134,121 they come up with. I'm sorry but very few moms I know even come close to having the skills to be called facilities manager, computer operator, and a few of the others that I'll just ignore so as to get in less trouble with this post! It's almost never the case that mom alone is acting in those roles. Dad is often fully responsible, even in my case, for some of those duties.

The real hard work of being parents of kids in the range of time zero to 12 years of age (I think by 12 you start putting them to work!) is picking up the house, all the hardcore cleaning, the grocery shopping and cooking and the laundry. Well, we had a great person who would do all of that (although we didn't have her do all of it) for about $2k a month. We wouldn't, and most shouldn't, want anyone other than mom or dad to do the other duties the study used as its basis for value....else you might as well sell your kids since you're not participating in their lives!

So the first thing wrong was the duties they include as part of mom's value and we deleted some of those. The second thing wrong was the shopping factor. You see, if mom has hired help and works guess what two requirements she has met for her to be the consummate shopper? Time and money. The hired help gives her the time, and the job gives her what feels like her own discretionary money (regardless of how you do finances, it feels different to them).

My analysis says a working mom with hired help costs more than the sum of the cost of the hired help and mom's salary. I realize this might only be a valid analysis for me since my wife has affairs with someone named Louis Vuitton, Mark Jacobs and Miuccia Prada (the later suggests she goes both ways!). And in real dollars a full time stay at home mom replacement (for the jobs my wife and I would have someone do) is around $24k a year...and by the way that is not for an illegal alien thank you very much!

In the end my wife, my kids mom, performs the priceless task of holding all of together. She allows me to be who I am and provide the best for my family...she provide most importantly for me, selfish me, who needs lots of attention. So whatever the cost, the value, you attach to mom it's not enough. In virtual dollars she's worth more than retired Exxon Mobile chief Lee Raymond.

The New Black Panthers?

Here is the face of the real enemy of the black men and women of this country! I had never heard of the "New Black Panthers Party For Self Defense" until various media thought it was news that the group showed up on the Duke campus to make demands in the lacrosse team rape case. The NBPP (that's what we'll call them) apparently made 8 demands of Duke and the police...not sure why they (like the illegal immigrants) are in a position to demand anything. The leader of the NBPP is one Dr. Malik Zulu Shabazz, or ATTY. MALIK ZULU SHABAZZ, or Malik Zulu Shabazz, or Attorney Shabazz, but I guess you can't just call him Malik or Mr. Shabazz! Just call him Paris Lewis since that's his birth name. Apparently he's ok disrespecting his parents choice for a name, or maybe he didn't like sharing his first name with Paris Hilton!

Two of the demands bitter Paris made throw out the notion of innocents until proven guilty, rush to judgment and seek to claim blacks are above our system. He called for the accused players to be expelled from Duke and that they be tried and convicted. He demanded they be convicted! I physically laughed when I read this. Nothing like saying crazy foolish idiotic things to give your group credibility and remove all hope of being taken seriously!

But the Duke demands, while ridiculous, are quite small compared to the demands the NBPP have in their 10 point platform. Here are the highlights in their words exactly, caps where they put them:

1. We want freedom. We want the power to practice self-determination, and to determine the destiny of our community and THE BLACK NATION.
2. We want full employment for our people and we demand the dignity to do for ourselves what we have begged the white man to do for us.
3. We want tax exemption and an end to robbery of THE BLACK NATION by the CAPITALIST.
4. We want decent housing, fit for shelter of human beings, free health-care (preventive and maintenance).
5. We want education for our people that exposes the true nature of this devilish and decadent American society.
6. We want all Black Men and Black Women to be exempt from military service.
7. We want an immediate end to POLICE HARRASSMENT, BRUTALITY and MURDER of Black People. We want an end to Black-on-Black violence, snitching, cooperation and collaboration with the oppressor.
8. We want freedom for all Black Men and Black Women held in international, military, federal, state, county, city jails and prisons.
9. We want all Black People when brought to trial to be tried in a court by a jury of their peer group or people from their Black Communities, as defined by white law of the Constitution of the United States.
10. WE DEMAND AN END TO THE RACIST DEATH PENALTY AS IT IS APPLIED TO BLACK AND OPPRESSED PEOPLE IN AMERICA. WE DEMAND FREEDOM FOR ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS OF THE BLACK RED AND BROWN NATION!

I especially love #8....ya, every one of them is innocent! The text I left out, and found elsewhere on their site, is disturbing. I can only assume that anyone with some education, some ability to read and decide on their own, would only follow this group if they have other issues that cloud all reason and common sense.

I find it interesting how many of these self appointed black leaders and rabble-rousers have the title of "Dr." Have they really received a doctorate from an accredited university? I suspect not. This is likely an example of the loose standards these groups and individuals apply as evidenced by the frequent and fictitiousus use of the label reverend or minister. In the case of the Paris Dr. Malik Zulu Shabazz Attorney at Law Lewis the bio on the NBPP site doesn't provide any background on the "Dr." title. I think I'll start adding spurious self serving addition to my name...like Tiny Esq.

I think having read the NBPP website and seeing that Paris surrounds himself with members dressed in military style garb, and are apparently armed when they can be, labeling them militant is appropriate. It is truly sad when a person, or group, is given a national stage to promote divisive ideas and prey on the naive, uneducated and poor to build a following. Paris, and many pseudo black leader not as militant, would have you believe that white America, and Jews, and especially those in power, are knowingly and systematically preying on blacks day in and day out. To hear Paris Lewis (as in this ), to read the NBPP material, suggests that the situation for todays black is worse than the country MLK knew. A vast conspiracy oracismim and hatred of the blacks by the entire white establishment...give me a break. You may have never met real hate...well I'm sorry to say I just introduced it to you.

Silicon Valley Impresione Cero

This morning I put out my American flag and drove to work. I saw the gardeners I see every Monday mowing and blowing. I saw a crew building a house down the street working away. I drove by the local hardware store where ever morning there are 20 or so waiting for a local trade person to pull up and pick up a few workers...that crowd was smaller. I didn't notice any reduced traffic on the way to work. The dozen coffee houses (Starbucks, Pete's and independents) I pass buy were all busy and looked normal.

Got to work and everyone I expected to be there was there. Had various calls and meetings...and one customer conference call with the with the 2nd largest airline in the world..all that were suppose to be on the call were. I went to lunch at a golf course/driving range....it was busy and the burger was excellent.

The stock market had a small sell off, the DOW and Nasdaq closed down slightly but are still at record highs. The MSM seems to be at work....putting out stories that today's anti-citizen pro-illegal events demonstrate the economic power of immigrants. I'm confused though as the AP story flips back and fourth on whether it was largely illegal or legal immigrants who took off work today, or who has an impact?

This entire stunt proves nothing and will be a PR disaster for the illegals cause. People like me see this as a slap in the face of what America stands for. The unpatriotic display of Mexican flags and Spanish signs and sayings. The demand of rights for illegals! And then there is the extremist elements who told participants to bring weapons or who propose the goal is to take back California.

The bottom line is that today only impacted LA and a few other spots around the country. LA we could do without anyway. In fact the businesses this impacted should be the targets of the INS and the employers investigated. They clearly don't do a good job filling out I-9's and validating employee data.

So, Silicon Valley Impact Zero...well except that now I see that many illegals, and many legal Hispanics, really don't want to be truly Americans. They don't want to be loyal law abiding citizens that take from our opportunity but also pay to take. They want a free ride without the responsibilities. They want our police, our fireman, our military, our nurses and doctors, our teachers....to protect, take care of and teach them but they don't want to fully participate in supporting them.

So, go ahead...stop working indefinitely...go home, prove you are so vital and that our way of life can't survive without you...be my guest. Yes some industries will be impacted, but only for a very short time. It will actually create new economic growth in other areas. We can easily automate, with technology, nearly every job that is abusing illegal labor today. We can do the garmet work, the chicken preparation, the strawberry picking and even the fast food drive up window with machinery, robotics and software. For the businesses that rely too much on this labor pool there has been no incentive to modernize previously. So please, please, please...stop working permanently and go home. Prove me wrong.


Update: Hey Splash Two..you must be proud of those gays in Chicago who support immigrant rights! PULEASE!. Does the guy in the hippy shirt look like a young Dr. Emmet Brown?(Christopher Lloyd)

A DAY WITHOUT IMMIGRANTS

I got an email from Glock26, who got it from his sister, that is a great position on today's protest, or ralley, or whatever it is. The email author is unknown and I found a blog for a Palm Spring's newspaper where a person commented they got this very same email. Regardless of the source of these thoughts on a "Day without an Immigrant" they work for me...although we should try a week or a month without (and lets label it correctly) illegal immigrants. The email follows:



"DAY WITHOUT AN IMMIGRANT"

May 1st is the planned "Day Without an Immigrant" boycott by illegal immigrants here in the United States. They plan on boycotting work, thus showing how many jobs for which they provide cheap labor. They plan on boycotting our stores, thus showing how much money they provide for the economy. I am fine with this tactic.

I have one additional suggestion: Please boycott our hospitals, schools, jails, and highways. Let us see what our health care system would be like without an overcrowded emergency room full of illegal immigrants using it as a free clinic to treat non-emergent ailments. Let us see what it would be like to have people who the hospital actually expects to pay for treatment. I wonder if the costs for health insurance would drop.

Let us see what it would be like to reduce the size of our classrooms. Let us see what it would be like to have to spend taxpayer dollars to teach in English only. Let us see if our schools test score averages increase. Let us see what it would be like to not be victimized by an illegal immigrant and then have to pay for the incarceration of that illegal immigrant. The Los Angeles County Jail system would be alleviated of thousands of inmates. Those incarcerated might actually do 100% of their sentences rather than the 10% that they have been doing.

Let us see what our highways would be like. Let us see if traffic is reduced without their presence. Let us see if the number of unlicensed, uninsured, unqualified motorists drops and the number of traffic collisions also drops proportionally. Maybe our car insurance rates would see a decrease as a result.

Maybe the May 1st "Day Without an Immigrant" boycott should be encouraged so the rest of the citizens can fully appreciate what benefits and burdens illegal immigration creates.