Kerry's Chance

Ok, I was impressed with Kerry's speech last night. It's the best one I've seen him give. The montage preceding was even better. I almost was ready to go out and stump for him . . . alright, that's pushing it. In fact, even though I liked the speech, I still had many more questions than he had answers.

Even though N. Korea is the brooding malcontent in the corner, it's in the corner. It's market of munitions has shrunk do to the high security around the world.

So, what's Warrior John going to do about Iran? Since he "will not lead us into a war of choice not only into a war on necessity" (paraphrased), at what point will Iran's acknowledged nuclear enrichment (weapons) program be addressed. Some Dems still hang on to the old argument "why attack Iraq when N. Korea is a more imminent threat?". Well, look at where N. Korea is geographically and geopolitically. Even though they were/are able to export some fissile material, they've been treated the same way during the Clinton and Bush admins.

Now, look at Iran. . . They are located smack-dab in the middle of a volatile region. The biggest threat is the brand of Islam the mullas are enforcing. The Shia brand is highly anti-idolatarian. Just check out what the Shia's have done to the Buddhas in Afghanistan and to sacred sites in Mecca. If the fanatics have nuclear WMDs, they would barely hesitate to nuke Jerusalem.

Do we wait on Israel to act? At what point will Kerry feel is time to act? Is it before or after the mullas have aquired nukes?

John Kerry, it's your call . . .

Dems Convention

I was watching the Demo Convention like the geek I am. I bounce back and forth between MSNBC and FNC. Tim Russert brought up an excellent observation. The Dems will be parading the hardcore liberal faces before the masses (Kennedy, Dean, Sharpton, Carter), while the Repubs are expected to show off their more 'human' persona (pro choicer Arnie, Rudy, Paki, Bloomberg).

What do you make of that?

Hummm, let's see. . . The Dems want/need to energize the liberal base, while the Repubs want/need embrace the fiscal conservatives/social moderates.

Wow, ain't I insightful . . .

I did like Obama. He'll be an up and comer. However, Bill still rocks! Whatever your political persuasion, ya gotta give it to him. He's in Ronnie's realm. Granted, some of his facts were dubious, but who cares when you've got goose-bumps? Only afterwards do you start to question what he was saying.

Ms. H-K? Who decided to give her the prime spot after Obama? I'd lay odds it was Ms. H-K herself . . . but man, that really sucked. Since I surround myself with strong-willed, intelligent women, I just never knew how oppressed women really were. I'm sorry, but I've heard their voices all my live. Oh, and don't tell the Afghan women that we haven't done anything to help them . . .

Let's see what Edwards says. Let's see him electrify the crowd!! He's good.

 
More later . . .

Birthday Girl

Man, do I have something to worry about in about seven years! ! !

My Princess turned 6 today and the Wife just called some friends to make reservations at a Filipino Convent School . . .

I blame my mother! ! ! They are cut from the same cloth; in fact, those are the Matriarch's boots!!!

Tuesday's Choices

Sick, but I love it. Here's Tuesday's Choices . . .

Would you rather:

1. Run a mile with a cracked shinbone OR do 50 situps with a cracked tailbone?
Well, since I cracked my tailbone EXACTLY 14 years, 265 days, 5 hrs and 16 mins ago (but who's counting . . .)  while bareback riding, I think I'll run a mile thank you! ! !

2. Be stuck beside somebody with horrible body odor on a crowded subway car for 10 stops OR against someone with an obvious erection on a long elevator ride?
I've been stuck with the BO so bad you'd confuse them for a skunk, but it's passable. The boner would probably cause me to get one too. Now that would be embarrassing. BO please!!!

3. Feed your children by regurgitation OR have to lick them to bathe them?
As dirty as my two get? Please!! Open wide kiddies, daddy's home!!!

4. While still living, get a glimpse of heaven OR hell?
Since I don't believe in hell and just being in the presence of my wife and children is heaven, let say hell. Then I'd know if I was wrong and change my wicked, evil ways PDQ! ! !

Molly Moore's Intifada

Molly Moore writes a puff piece on the shattered lives of seven 'boys' in Jenin.

Alaa Sabagh became leader of the Jenin cell of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the militant group associated with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, and was assassinated in an Israeli missile attack. Ashraf Haija and Nidal Swatat served as Sabagh's foot soldiers and were killed during an Israeli military incursion.

Yousef Swatat, Nidal's brother, helped gun down four Israelis on a crowded city street, then was shot dead by Israeli police. Daoud Zbeida is being held without charges in an Israeli prison.

Kaneri, the stonemason, designs memorials for his fallen friends. Majdi Kaneri, a distant relative of Mahmoud, is an unemployed construction worker. For the survivors, the consequences are intimate and painful.

So, one was the local leader of a terrorist group who used two of his buddies as 'foot soldiers' and another was a PA policeman who murdered only 4 while wounding 40. . .

She blames the collapse of the Oslo accord:

"At the same time, the hopes stirred by the Oslo peace agreement collapsed into disappointment throughout the Palestinian territories. Mounting frustration gave birth to the current intifada in September 2000."

But eyeonthepost has a proper critique of this article:

Ms. Moore's descriptions deliberately gloss over the fact that the current intifada began at Yasser Arafat's command, after he rejected a peace offer at Camp David in the year 2000 of 95% of the West Bank and Gaza, with East Jerusalem to boot. Moore conveniently forgets that one of Arafat's first acts as part of the intifada was to release all of the terrorists that were being held in PA jails.

 

Arab Women Sing During Rapes

I guess when you think of 'others' as animals you'd think nothing of rejoicing as your men rape 'them'. Amnesty International reports this is the case:

While African women in Darfur were being raped by the Janjaweed militiamen, Arab women stood nearby and sang for joy, according to an Amnesty International report published yesterday. The songs of the Hakama, or the "Janjaweed women" as the refugees call them, encouraged the atrocities committed by the militiamen.

The women singers stirred up racial hatred against black civilians during attacks on villages in Darfur and celebrated the humiliation of their enemies, the human rights group said.

Also,

According to an African chief quoted in the report, the singers said: "The blood of the blacks runs like water, we take their goods and we chase them from our area and our cattle will be in their land. The power of [Sudanese president Omer Hassan] al-Bashir belongs to the Arabs and we will kill you until the end, you blacks, we have killed your God."

The chief said that the Arab women also racially insulted women from the village: "You are gorillas, you are black, and you are badly dressed."

So much for the United Nations . . .

Girlie-Man

Ok, I am the biggest advocate for the G&L crowd I know on the straight front. I have family, friends and even acquaintances who run the spectrum of Gay, Lesbian, Bi and Trans-sexuals (although, not many trans. . . a truly closeted group). I've even blogged on the same sex marriage nonsense.
 
But really, let's get a grip folks. . . Arnie is the epitome of a populist. His only two rivals as a Populist have been made to be running jokes, the megalomaniac Perot and the bumbler Ventura (althought, I confess I LOVE Jesse's spunk!!) Now, granted Arnie's not like you or me. I don't know many, in fact no one, who's used steroids. I've met my share of 'movie stars', but that comes with being born in Hollywood. And, I've know my share of millionaires, having lived in the 'slums' of Bel Aire while going to high school with the poor Beverly Hills kids. . . but really . .
 
To get all bunched up about Arnie's remarks at a mall:

"If they don't have the guts to come up here in front of you and say, 'I don't want to represent you, I want to represent those special interests, the unions, the trial lawyers ... if they don't have the guts, I call them girlie men," Schwarzenegger said to the cheering crowd at a mall food court in Ontario

Well, this is just too much, isn't it ? ? ? NOT!!!
 
Let's get a grip folks. This isn't Whoopi's detailing Bush as an anatomy lesson. Although I haven't seen exactly what she said, it doesn't take much to imagine. She was at a presidential wannabe's fund raiser and from what Kerry and Edwards were saying, she was expressing 'normal American' values:

What were those American values?  Well, there was a string of obscenities by Whoopi Goldberg, which I cannot describe in any way in this column.  Poke around on the Internet and you can find out what she said--repeatedly for a long riff.  Suffice to say, it was the crudest form of crotch ''humor,'' the kind that most cable channels will blank out or dub over. 
  

Terror in the Skies

There's quite a buzz in the blogsphere about an article by Annie Jacobsen of WomensWallStreet.com concerning her trip from Detroit to LA. Michelle Malkin has followed it closely. While Donald Sensing remains skeptical.
 
I don't know. . .  I traveled cross country last month and while I was not anxious, I was more attuned to my fellow passengers. This was true especially with folks going to the bathroom. The flight attendants were quite forceful about us lowly coach folks not using the front lavatory. So much so, that when my five year old princess had to go to the bathroom (and I mean GO NOW!!) with the beverage cart blocking the back facility, the Wife dared to take her up to the front. She was met by an unfriendly attendant who barked "this is the first class lavatory, you must use the one in the rear." Well, you don't thwart a Mother Bear when one of her cubs is in distress. . . So, my Bride's response? "Well, if you don't let us use this bathroom right now, you will need to clean up a large puddle of urine . . . Right in the middle of your First Class!!" The attendant capitulated with a harrumph . . .
 
What Ms Jacobsen wrote is not that far fetched to me. However, that being said, at what point do we trash all the years of American society? Oh, wait . . . That's right, we've been down this harrowing path already. Being from the West Coast, I've known members of families interned during WWII. I can truly say I've never been more ashamed than sitting down with a man who's family lost everything just for being of Japanese ancestry. He was Nisei (second generation Japanese-American) and for that he and his family were uprooted and considered a threat.
 
Let's not forget the attitudes towards the Chinese during California early years where they were considered to be a threat. Not to the Country, but to our 'Christian' society.
 
Let's face it folks, while our society may be the best on Earth, we are far from perfect. We are still very Angelo centric. We are now turning our attention again to the East. This time just not so far East. Do we once again lower our selves once again to drastic and rather unpalatible actions? Or do we suffer the 'slings and arrows of misfortune' from the Islamofacists?

Justice Reversed

A couple days ago Lachlan posted about Karma and Justice. Today, I ran across this disturbing article from Right Thinking Girl. After reading that, I recalled a local 'scandal' where a Public Defender had sex with her client, who was charged with three counts of aggravated murder, in the jail house conference room.

Lack of Bloggin'

Greetings,
 
Must appalogize to everyone (all 5 of you) for not maintaining the Blogger's Ethic of daily posting.  But as Lachlan and Sharleen can attest, the Pacific Northwest is the best place to live during the summer. The sun doens't set until around 9:00p and it doesn't get truly dark til 10-ish.  So, this is Quality Time with the Boy and the Girl as we romp outside before the cloak of Winter darkness befalls us.
 
I've also been sorting through the 5 rolls of film the Wife had on top of the 200 digital shots Mr. Happy Finger shot. Yes, she's traditional and I'm techno.
 
So, please forgive me. The reward may be a couple of photos for the masses. Don't worry, I would never turn this into the slide show from Hell.

Religion of Peace

We wonder why people just don't stand up against the Islamofacists. Could it be because of these evil people? Who would cut off the nose, ears and tongue of a 14 year old girl? ? ?

When I lived on a ranch in West Texas, I came upon a young Hereford calf whose nose, ears and tongue were eaten off. I was so disgusted, I hunted done the coyotes who did this. Is this what is needed? These 'folks' are inhuman.

Equal Time to the Asinine

I've got to acknowledge this Kerry/Edwards flash site in a motion of fair play since I did so with this Bush photoshop one. Both are the works of political extremists who then prattle on about how dirty and un-American the other side is today.

Much is said about the nastiness of presidential politics and as Ilyka points out (thanks Lachlan), the neo-cons have an excellent chance to show they are spineless. But this is my seventh presidential election and they're all mud-slingers who would sell their mothers to get elected. The people I can't stand are the handlers and talking heads who, when presented with certain oppositional facts, feel compelled to spin it into drivel.

What is the Problem, People? ? ?

I just don't get. Ya know, every once in a while we, as a people, just lose touch with reality. I can't for the life of me understand the problem some people have with Same-Sex Marriage. I mean, what's the problem? Two adults in love want to show their commitment to the world, yet if they happen to be of the same sex, some people just have an irrational fit.

The opponents bring in religion and God as the foundation of their argument. I'm sorry but both times (yes twice, the slut that I am) I was married, if I had not heard the 'in the power invested in me, by the state of . . .' my marriages would be invalid. Think about it folks, it's a state (govt) issue. You can get married by the JP and it has nothing to do with religion. If a couple wants to profess their love to their God and church, more power to them.

But now we're getting into intrusion with the constitutional Amendment against Same Sex Marriage. It's not just the audaiousness these folks have. It's their sanctmonial piousness that just boils me. This is from Matt Daniels, president of the Alliance for Marriage:

"Americans want our laws to send a positive message to children about marriage, family and their future."

I'm sorry but what the fuck is that shit?!?!?!? The families of Alliance for Marriage and others of their ilk rate right along with the rest of America when it comes to divorce, child abuse and adultery. So Mr Daniels, don't talk to me about sending a positive message when, in Florida, a gay couple can not adopt a child. Leaving hundreds of children to be sucked into the black hole their infamous Department of Children and Families instead of being placed in homes with a loving same-sex couples.

So, it's not enough for these folks to ban Same Sex Marriage through a Constitutional Amendment. No, they have attached something more insidious. It's the third sentence following the one splashed across the media:

"Neither the federal government nor any state shall predicate benefits, privileges, rights or immunities on the existence, recognition or presumption of nonmarital sexual relationships."

So, what do you think? Think this means what I think, boys and girls? Say good bye to civil unions and domestic benefits.

It's time to write your senators and take action. This is just too much.

Great Supervision

I'm sure most of you have had to suffer what I've just spent three days enduring. . . Three days of a workshop on Great Supervision with an additional three days in the next couple of weeks. Now, granted I did learn quite a bit when it comes to Performance Appraisals, Performance Analysis, Goal Analysis and Motivation. All this for a Manager (me) with exactly one subordinate who just happens to be based in Phoenix! ! ! I dunno, but it's definitely Dale Carnegie-esqe.

The worst part is I've been on vacation since 6/17, so I've been outta touch for three weeks! ! ! I'll be humpin' it next week. . . Such is life!

Joys of Vacation

Well, I spent the last couple of days doing the Great Northwest Summer pastime, pressure washing the moss off my roof . . . The end result looks like a Tribble from Star Trek, but a wee bit smaller. Such an F-in' mess to clean up, but man, does my roof look smart!!!

Until next year . . .

4th of July

Had a Blast on Sunday! ! ! Blew up a couple hundred worth of fireworks. Luckily I live close to the Tribes and man, do they cut some deals!!! I had 40 mortars plus some lower level extravaganzas. The Bro'-in-law brought his booty, too. We spent better part of 2 1/2 hrs in testosterone heaven . . . the kiddies loved it and so did I ! ! !

I also cooked up a couple racks of Mac's famous ribs with just a ton of other protein. It was a good time had by all . . . Except for the Mother-in-law, of course since she left in a huff (again . . .).

Iraq's tribal society: A state within a state

I'm such a history geek, I fell into an orgasmic fit when I read these entries at Healing Iraq. There are four entries on the nature of tribalism in Iraq and Islam. It is a must read for an excellent understanding of the mind of tribal society.

Part one
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four

This is some extensive reading but well worth the time.

Hitchens' Rant of F9/11

Granted, I have not seen Fahrenheit 9/11, nor do I have an overwhelming (nor underwhelming for that matter)desire to view it either. I'm rather ambivalent about it all. Moore has a right to produce what he feels he must, for either love or money. The Right has a right to get their panties in a bunch, too. Anyone who believes F9/11 is a gospel to Bush's legacy is naive. This is propaganda, pure and simple. By the same token, let's all be adults here and acknowledge Bush's war in Iraq was a war of choice, not of necessity as was the case for Afghanistan.

That being said check out Christopher Hitchens' rip of Fahrenheit 9/11. Then check out Chris Parry's tart rebuttal. Girls, let the bitch slappin' begin . . .

Bush Photo

Ok, I'm now convinced. It's taken me awhile, but I'm now convinced the times have changed. I'm always amused how this election (insert year!!)it the worst ever due to the evil underhandedness or mud slingin'. . . Even when looking back into history, one could see American politics is a nasty business. So one should not be shocked at the latest turn of an 'ad' on published on the back of The Nation:


Bush 

Right Thinking Girl and LGF were the first to post this thread.