Strafed by the Album Meme

Zane at his Big White Hat blog recently hosted a post about your first vinyl purchase.

Immediately that dates everyone who responds.

I would reference these terms:

• Album = what you bought
• Track = an individual cut
• Cut = what the album producer had to do to create the vinyl album
• Vinyl = what that 1' round black plastic disc consisted of
• LP = "long player" or "33-and-a-third"
• 45 = as opposed to 33 or 45
• 78 = the rpm's that the album spun on the turntable
• Record = generic for an album of vinyl
• Turntable = the round, flat platform on which one played records
• Stylus = the needle which came in physical contact with the record
• Needle = another word for stylus
• Flip = what you'd have to do when Side One ended
• A Side = the first side
• B Side = the second side; usually a lesser "hit"

Need I go on, in order to remind you how old you are?

Today, it's all about MP3, Blue Ray, CD, downloading.

I have an iPod Nano but, despite that, I still like to hold all that stuff in my hand.

One of the first albums I purchased myself:

1968 soundtrack to the Steve McQueen movie "Bullitt."

1968 soundtrack to the Stanley Kubrick movie "2001: A Space Odyssey."

In 1968 I was reading early versions of "Spiderman" and Jack Kirby's "The Fantastic Four."

First "rock" album: 1970's "Cosmo's Factory" by Creedence Clearwater Revival."

Next: 1971's Black Sabbath "Master Of Reality" album which, oddly enough, was purchased by my USAF father at the WPAFB exchange as a gift.

From there, that messed me up big time. Nothing but heavy metal and continual doses thereof would satisfy me from then on. I can clearly recall placing my head between my two meagre speakers, on the floor of our 2-story USAF house at 444 E Street, and listening to Tony Iommi's riffs. Until I met the power chords of Mountain and Leslie West, with incredible bass provided by the ill-fated Felix Pappalardi.

From there I transported to King Crimson. But that's another post entirely. I was one of the first Loyalists (along with Karl Kimball) to watch King Crimson perform their very first version of Lark's Tongues In Aspic at the Agoura Theatre in Columbus, Ohio, in 1972.

All this music led me to another distinctly separate career in Radio.

I worked as DJ "staff" for WWSU, WING and WHIO in Ohio.

From there, I came back to Fornicalia and worked for KEG, KERS, KFBK, KNDE, KOBO and then KFBK-FM on any number of levels as on-air personality, Program Manager, Station Manager, Promotions Director, Programmer, Traffic Reporter ad infinitum.

I was blessed to have a slightly deeper voice that could replicate any manner of accents imagineable, create sound effects, and mock most anyone I heard.

That tradition continues today and would continue on this blog if I but had the technology to create a weekly summary podcast for my readers.

"And that's the way it is."

BZ

Away

Dearest Readers:

I shall be away for a few days regarding some family issues. This may occur, for a time, for the next few weeks, dependent. It turns out the mother of my new wife has a very severe and pernicious form of cancer which has gone systemic, in which it is not anticipated she will sustain life for more than a few weeks to a month or so. No one knows. The possibility exists that she will soon be in much pain, highly medicated and, as such, not cogent. We wish to see her, help her, perhaps try to take her out for some drives, make amends, console her, and prepare all. This is a very difficult time for my wife and her entire family -- and, disappointingly (adding to her stress), her job is not doing its best to be understanding and accommodating.

If you have a prayer to spare, please send it to Mama Lucy and her family. God bless you all.

BZ

P.S.
I will publish some posts, in advance, that I have created in reserve for such an occasion. Please continue to visit and ensure that you never fail to tell those you love how you feel about them.

But He Only Had a Knife!

Cops shoot people with knives.

Doubt me? Excellent video to watch if available: Calibre Press' "Surviving Edged Weapons." A review of the video exists here. You'll never view a knife in the same way again. Guaranteed. Particularly when wielded by those ethnics hailing from a "knife culture."

Wherever I go, I am always armed with at least one Spyderco knife (at minimum a Delica or my 9" folding Police) and additionally, when possible, a handgun in a popular caliber of my choosing. I like my Glock, I really like my stainless Sig P239 in rear draw.

Until the TSA updates their scanning devices, I have customarily been armed on all my flights with a custom-made, highly-polished carbon-fiber knife in a nylon sheath around my ankle. I determined long ago, post 9-11, that if I'm going down, someone is going with me and they won't be pleased with my blade embedded in their eye socket, under the chin, or thrust downwards, through the gap between the collar bone and shoulder blades to sever the subclavian artery.

In my advanced years I have determined that not only will I shoot all persons with knives who hold them in a certain specific fashion (the mark of a good knife fighter, which I shall not reveal here), I will shoot to kill juveniles who advance on me with either knives or other manners of deadly force.

Because juveniles have no concept whatsoever of mortality.

It makes them deadlier still.

Make no mistake: I would drop the hammer much more readily on a juvenile than I would an adult. And I would have a good dinner that night and sleep like a baby thereafter.

Your stupid child wouldn't get past me with a knife or a gun. Your stupid adult might perhaps acquire a fraction-of-a-second more consideration.

There's a REASON my department trains a "double tap" into the thoracic cavity and then one into the brain pan.

Two to the heart. One to the head. Triple tap. Body armor.

BZ

Bush: Mexican Truckers Are Okay

The Democrats want the United States to play, perenially, on "defense."

Conservatives want the United States to play, perenially, on "offense."

The GOP, via President Bush in many unfortunate instances, appears to side with the Democrats and here is another example:

Mexican Truckers. Go here to read the text of the NAFTA agreement.

Is it any wonder that the Teamsters have taken umbrage over this glossed-over issue?

A lawsuit has been filed by the Teamsters against the Transportation Department's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration over a pilot plan to allow Mexican truck drivers – and trucks – access to U.S. highways.

As WND has reported, the government will have no access to whether those truckers have any criminal records, and the system is being set up to allow those trucks loaded with goods to cross the border in as little as 15 seconds.

The action was filed Monday in federal court in California, alleging the Bush administration's program failed to publish proper, advance notice of the pilot plan and failed to allow an opportunity for public comment before the program takes effect.

Let's Examine The Issue Further:

On February 23rd of this year, Mary Peters, Secretary of Transportation, announced that Mexican trucks will have full access to the US via a cross-border pilot program, starting later this month.

US trucks will be allowed to make deliveries into Mexico, whilst a "select group" of Mexican trucking companies will be allowed to make deliveries beyond the 20-to-25 mile commercial zones extant along our southwest border.

US inspectors will conduct in-person "safety audits" to make sure that "participating Mexican companies" comply with US safety regulations.

These regulations require that Mexican truck drivers hold a valid commercial driving license, carry proof that they are medically fit, comply with US hours-of-service rules, and be able to understand questions and directions in English.

Indications: "Some of these trucks may not have been completely and thoroughly inspected at the US-Mexico border due to current in-place procedures."

But Wait, There's More:

I wonder: has anyone considered that al Qaeda or other terrorists may attempt to portray themselves as humble Mexican truckers? But of course this is merely wild and specious conjecture; how dare we adjudge persons so? And why are Teamsters, the Golden Children of Democrats, objecting? And why are no Democrats objecting? Conflict? Hypocrisy? Why is the GOP collectively silent?

Also: considering the consistently-excellent record of Mexicans obeying American laws in general, might it be logical for us to extend this record of lawful compliance to those driving Mexican trucks as well?

Hey. Just some thoughts to consider.

Final thought based in BZ reality: President Bush, what in the hell are you thinking? I don't hear you screaming against it, so I conclude your tacit condonation of the plan.

BZ

Offsets

BZ

Losing The Will To Fight?

Hamas is ramping up the fight against Israel once again:

JERUSALEM – A truce Hamas made with Israel in Gaza last November is "officially over," Hamas leaders told WND today, threatening to send suicide bombers into Tel Aviv if the Jewish state retaliates for a major attack carried out this morning.

In "response," despite already having been attacked by Hamas on Tuesday:

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government is attempting to minimize a major Hamas attack launched from the Gaza Strip today and has directed the Israeli army to limit its response despite growing signs Hamas is preparing for a large-scale confrontation with the Jewish state, Israeli military sources charged.

Hamas fired 39 Qassam rockets and 79 mortars from the Gaza Strip aimed at nearby Jewish communities on the 24th.

Is Israel losing the will to even defend itself?

Stateside, are WE losing the will to defend ourselves against domestic attacks once again?

Today, the US House of Representatives votes on a Iraq pullout deadline.

The House has scheduled a vote today on a bill that would require U.S. troops to begin pulling out of Iraq by October 1st. Democratic leaders predict they will have enough votes to pass the legislation and send it on to President Bush for his promised veto.

Who shall win?

And who shall lose?

Is it melodramatic to say that the fate of nations hangs in the balance?

BZ

Iraq Failure

Harry Reid said the war in Iraq is lost.



Like Dennis Prager, I too very much value clarity. If you, Harry Reid, truly believe this, if you, all the remaining Democrats, truly believe this, then put your actions where your mouths are: completely cut off ALL funding for the troops in Iraq.

Do something totally stunning and unusual: take a stand for your beliefs.

Absent a complete abandonment of Iraq, I would recommend intense intelligence-gathering by American and allied troops for the next month. In that time period there should be a moving of USAF's three primary bomber systems: the B-1B Lancer, the B-2 Spirit and the venerable but still serviceable (such a remarkable aircraft!) B-52H Stratofortress.


In Iraq, intelligence would have analyzed the major cities in Iraq and then determined which of them (or which specific areas of them) would be targeted for a leveling by US bombers.

In concert with US intelligence services and in this time, CIA and other requisite agencies would be working with the Mossad and aligned Israeli intelligence arms in order to identify which portions of Iran should be targeted in re potential nuclear program sites for destruction.

At the same time that sites are targeted in Iraq, these selected sites in Iran should likewise be leveled. I would also recommend the current location of Ahmadinejad be included in the target list, when that list is activated. If he were not in Tehran, I would likewise include Tehran in the list.

Simultaneously, I would recommend an equally-heavy strike directly on Damascus, Syria.

Finally, various selected sites in Afghanistan, previously identified by US military and intelligence sources, would be involved. In the process I would ensure that "some" of our ordnance magically somehow managed to make itself felt not only directly on the border with Pakistan, but just a tick into Pakistan proper.

These runs would all occur at roughly the same hour, on the same day.

I would consider this to be a Rather Large Statement.

And a Statement is precisely what the United States needs to make to Islam.


BZ

And Another Fine Young American Dies

(CNN) -- A jet flying in formation with the U.S. Navy Blue Angels precision flying team crashed into a Beaufort, South Carolina, neighborhood, causing an "enormous fireball" during an air show, authorities said.

The Navy aviator was killed, Beaufort County Coroner Curt Copeland said. The F/A-18's pilot is the only known fatality. The aviator's name is being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

My heart stopped when I read this today. The men who become Blue Angels endure a rigorous vetting from literally hundreds of applicants. Only the finest of the finest are considered. And only the very best are chosen from those pickings. These are men who have committed themselves to excellence, dedicated themselves to precision, and have managed to stand out in a sea of exquisite candidates.



One man died today. We do not yet know his name.

But because he was a Blue Angel it is a given: he was the best of the best.

I look out my window and it is raining; perhaps that is fitting for this post. And we as a nation, we are diminished by a fraction. But diminished nevertheless.

One more good man dies. God bless he and his family.

But he died doing what he loved. That much is certain.

And now we must acknowledge: he really is flying with the angels; all of them now. There is a heaven, and he is there. I am unsure why this has struck me so. But it has hit me hard and as I write this my eyes are clouded with tears.

As it has been, as it shall ever be: only our best seem to fall.





BZ

Miss America Confronts Three Robbers

From the WorldNetDaily:

Miss America, whilst on her farm in Waynesburg, Kentucky, about 140 miles south of Cincinnati, had need of a firearm to protect her property.

On April 13, while feeding horses, she followed her dog when it ran over to the building, where a truck was parked in front.

She confronted a man who told her he was "scrapping" and would not leave.

"I said, 'Oh, no you won't,' and I shot their tires so they couldn't leave," Ramey told the Cincinnati paper.

She didn't think twice about shooting.

"I just went and did it. If they'd even dared come close to me, they'd be 6 feet under by now," she said.

There's more, of course: the woman, Venus Ramey, was awarded the title of Miss America, in 1944.

She pulled out her .38 snubnose whilst glued to her walker, having confronted the robbers on her property at age 82.

God bless this classic American Woman, on all fronts.

BZ

Down

For a few hours, I had a post up which dealt with the Westboro Baptist Church, complete with links and an explanation for its presence. I have re-thought this post and taken it down. I decided that I did not wish to provide this entity with any more publicity than it already has.

BZ

Go

US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is a complete, total and utter embarrassment. He does in fact either need to resign or be fired. Holding onto Gonzales at this point is a move in futility and exhibits poor decision-making. Bush: cut your losses. Now.

Not because of the firing of the eight US attorneys; that's the way the cookie crumbles.

But because the man is a complete incompetent and cannot even defend himself.

BZ

Let The Copycats Begin

From an area north of Sacramento, Fornicalia:

Jeffery Carney, 28, is being sought by authorities from across the region after he told his pastor that he wanted to embark on a killing spree that would make the Virginia Tech massacre "look mild," authorities said. He is possibly armed with automatic weapons and explosives, according to Sutter County Undersheriff J. Paul Parker.

As I predicted: let the copycats begin.

Or to quote the little girl from Poltergeist: "They're here."

BZ

Asian Hostage Negotiations

This is the way to handle a hostage crisis, involving a man who kidnapped a child and has made three demands. Once the demands were known, a hostage negotiator was sent to the scene. As opposed to many US incidents, this one ended on a happy note.

In summary: the "right" thing done, money saved, time saved, child returned.

Material costs to "negotiate" this scene: $1.02.

BZ

The Media HAS Gone Insane

Plastered across the Drudge Report via NBC News:

The MSM is absolutely insane, holding back on displaying Liviu Librescu as a hero, and putting THESE photos up into the national news. And not just NBC; now Fox News and others. Some will take this photo as Jesus-like with arms spread.

Have they no mercy? No shame? No sense of what this does to the families? The survivors? The pedestal on which a murderer is placed? And who will respond to this showplace? More copycats, more treachery, more betrayal, more murder.

Insane. Completely insane.

BZ

Another Reason Jews Are Evil

From the UK Times Online:

A 76-year-old Jewish-Romanian lecturer was hailed a hero after blocking his classroom door long enough for many of his students to escape the Virginia Tech gunman, before being shot dead.

An older generation Jew stalls the gunman and pays for his heroics with his life.

Liviu Librescu, a Holocaust survivor, pressed himself against the door of the classroom while shots were fired in the corridor and surrounding rooms. He stood firm, attempting to barricade the door, while his students clambered out of the windows.

Yes, once again, those evil Jews.

BZ

It Works

1. Fact: The murder rates in many nations (such as England) were ALREADY LOW BEFORE enacting gun control. Thus, their restrictive laws cannot be credited with lowering their crime rates.1

2. Fact: Gun control has done nothing to keep crime rates from rising in many of the nations that have imposed severe firearms restrictions.

* Australia: Readers of the USA Today newspaper discovered in 2002 that, "Since Australia's 1996 laws banning most guns and making it a crime to use a gun defensively, armed robberies rose by 51%, unarmed robberies by 37%, assaults by 24% and kidnappings by 43%. While murders fell by 3%, manslaughter rose by 16%."2

* Canada: After enacting stringent gun control laws in 1991 and 1995, Canada has not made its citizens any safer. "The contrast between the criminal violence rates in the United States and in Canada is dramatic," says Canadian criminologist Gary Mauser in 2003. "Over the past decade, the rate of violent crime in Canada has increased while in the United States the violent crime rate has plummeted." 3

* England: According to the BBC News, handgun crime in the United Kingdom rose by 40% in the two years after it passed its draconian gun ban in 1997.4

* Japan: One newspaper headline says it all: Police say "Crime rising in Japan, while arrests at record low."5

3. Fact: British citizens are now more likely to become a victim of crime than are people in the United States:

* In 1998, a study conducted jointly by statisticians from the U.S. Department of Justice and the University of Cambridge in England found that most crime is now worse in England than in the United States.

* "You are more likely to be mugged in England than in the United States," stated the Reuters news agency in summarizing the study. "The rate of robbery is now 1.4 times higher in England and Wales than in the United States, and the British burglary rate is nearly double America's."6 The murder rate in the United States is reportedly higher than in England, but according to the DOJ study, "the difference between the [murder rates in the] two countries has narrowed over the past 16 years."7

* The United Nations confirmed these results in 2000 when it reported that the crime rate in England is higher than the crime rates of 16 other industrialized nations, including the United States.8

4. Fact: British authorities routinely underreport crime statistics. Comparing statistics between different nations can be quite difficult since foreign officials frequently use different standards in compiling crime statistics.

* The British media has remained quite critical of authorities there for "fiddling" with crime data. Consider some of the headlines in their papers: "Crime figures a sham, say police,"9 "Police are accused of fiddling crime data,"10 and "Police figures under-record offences by 20 percent."11

* British police have also criticized the system because of the "widespread manipulation" of crime data:

a. "Officers said that pressure to convince the public that police were winning the fight against crime had resulted in a long list of ruses to 'massage' statistics."12

b. Sgt. Mike Bennett says officers have become increasingly frustrated with the practice of manipulating statistics. "The crime figures are meaningless," he said. "Police everywhere know exactly what is going on."13

c. According to The Electronic Telegraph, "Officers said the recorded level of crime bore no resemblance to the actual amount of crime being committed."14

* Underreporting crime data: "One former Scotland Yard officer told The Telegraph of a series of tricks that rendered crime figures 'a complete sham.' A classic example, he said, was where a series of homes in a block flats were burgled and were regularly recorded as one crime. Another involved pickpocketing, which was not recorded as a crime unless the victim had actually seen the item being stolen."15

* Underreporting murder data: British crime reporting tactics keep murder rates artificially low. "Suppose that three men kill a woman during an argument outside a bar. They are arrested for murder, but because of problems with identification (the main witness is dead), charges are eventually dropped. In American crime statistics, the event counts as a three-person homicide, but in British statistics it counts as nothing at all. 'With such differences in reporting criteria, comparisons of U.S. homicide rates with British homicide rates is a sham,' [a 2000 report from the Inspectorate of Constabulary] concludes."16

Let's all watch the pundits chime in . . .

BZ

32 Dead

It is horrible and lamentable that this thing occurred. My thoughts go to the survivors, the murdered and their families.

We shall now see just who responds and how this response shall be crafted, by politicians, in terms of another push to limit guns.

• The tower of Charles Whitman.
• The Luby's cafeteria shooting.
• McDonald's in San Ysidro.
• Columbine.

These are examples mass murders.

I say, not only:

• Does an individual have a right to self defense;
• One has a duty to self defense and self preservation.

One 9mm round, well-placed by an armed American citizen, could have stopped all of these actions before they became mass murder situations. The cops aren't going to be there, at the right place at the right time for situations like this. They simply cannot. There aren't enough to go around for much more than after-action "responses." Cops can't protect the bulk of you. I know. I'm a cop. We respond. We seldom prevent. It's a fact of life.

Let the whining and breast-beating and victimhood otherwise commence.

BZ

Out My Window

It's late Sunday; yes, a tad late for making a Sunday post but so be it. 6 PM Pacific time. I am listening to the soundtrack to the movie 300, by Tyler Bates. Excellent cut: Returns A King.

Next up, the soundtrack to 2001: a space odyssey. My favorites? Of course, it's Also Sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss, interpreted by the Vienna Philharmonic, and The Blue Danube, by Johann Strauss, interpreted by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. I am still looking for the complete soundtrack from Dr. Strangelove, but not finding it.

Out my window at home, where I am now, I have this wonderful succession of trees that do their best to reflect the seasons. Now, in Spring, they are spouting greenery (as you can clearly see above!) in a myriad of colors and shades. The setting sun has placed some leaves in shadow, some in startling and limned light.

I am so lucky when I blog from home. My "office," where I write, is on the second floor of my cabin, with a single large window facing south. From here I can see and record the seasons as they occur. There are two cherry trees directly adjacent this window; already they have dropped their white blossoms. The hard, slanting rain washed their delicate petals completely away yesterday. They lay plastered to my porch today. Beyond them there are pines and firs of all types. Though I am 20' up, I feel I can reach out and touch their vibrating leaves. It is very windy today. I can hear the wind coursing through the trees like a Hollywood soundtrack. I can see the firs bending in this wind. The limbs are nodding up and down; their deciduous leaves flutter and tremble with each gust.

I have seen 14 years of growth and change, since I moved up here on July 4th of 1993. I can remember that day clearly, as if it were only yesterday. I was so sick of where I was living in Sacramento, Fornicalia. The house was older but very nice, built in 1947. I became sick of people, noise, barking dogs, orbiting cop helicopters, murders, my job, wailing sirens in the night, the press of flesh and traffic and the homeles and the crush of nonsensical civilization. I was a cop in Patrol then and my house fell into my own district. I felt trapped, choked. I had to get away.

One very early morning, after my swing shift, my phone rang. I recognized a SWAT sergeant. He asked my name; I confirmed. He said: can you come out and identify your next door neighbor? Groggy, I said sure, I can. Proned out on my neighbor's driveway was Brian Frye, murderer. I identified him. He subsequently went to prison for shooting and killing a friend of his over money owed for meth. Using a stolen .357 he shot his friend's girlfriend, who lived, and killed his friend. In the process he shot a finger from his hand. He later told his father, that night, that he had been playing with an M80. The murder weapon was later found above his mother's carport in an attic space.

I'd had enough. I'd had enough with reality in my job and in my face. I'd had enough with gangbangers from the south area showing up across the street in their thump trucks and thump cars, playing basketball all night. I'd had enough of pursuits in my district. I'd had enough of burglaries in my neighborhood. I'd had enough of people and cars and crap and so-called civilization.

I moved 79 miles away, at the 4,200-foot level in the Sierra Nevada mountains, into a cabin that had less square footage than my prior home. It was the best thing I ever did. I pay less per month for this house than many people pay for their automobiles. And when I come home at the end of a stressful day or week, the trees, the wind, the mountains, the community embraces me. I know my postmaster. I know the people who own the single hotel. I know the people in the grocery store. They all call me by name. I wave at everyone and everyone waves at me -- and they use all their fingers.

I look out the window and realize how blessed I am to live here. I can hear train horns in the night. I can tell if they are heading uphill or downhill. A family just above me owns two horses. I can hear them whinny occasionally.

I lost my own cat, Mose, recently. But with each loss sometimes come a gain: two local feral cats seem to have adopted me. I can touch them and pet them now. They make me smile, as does the one here.

Life, on a Sunday, at my house, a house I own, is good.

BZ

All Animals Are Good

And not just to eat, either.

PETA and other wacky anthropomorphists need to take a big dose of Reality in term of their views of animals and humans.

First, let's check out Timothy Treadwell who, along with his girlfriend 37-year-old Amie Huguenard, were killed in 2003 because Tim was stupid.

Here is a man in China who survived a bear attack and was the recipient of the world's second face transplant.

Let's next check out the Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin, who was killed in 2006 when he got too close to a stingray.

Here is what Great White Sharks do in their spare time: they eat those cute little seals with Big Human Eyes.

Recently, a zookeeper lost a good portion of his arm to a crocodile -- who evidently didn't realize the man meant no harm and only had good emotional intentions.

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- A zoo worker had his forearm reattached Thursday after his colleagues recovered the severed limb from the mouth of a 440-pound Nile crocodile, an official said. The crocodile severed Chang Po-yu's forearm on Wednesday at the Shaoshan Zoo in the southern city of Kaohsiung when the veterinarian tried to retrieve a tranquilizer dart from the reptile's hide, zoo officials said.

Waitaminnit: PETA, are you having second thoughts?

BZ

P.S.

I'd like mine really rare, please.

Jason Whitlock Nails It

Jason Whitlock, columnist for the Kansas City Star, hit the nail on the head with his Wednesday, April 11th commentary on the Don Imus implosion.

This is the finest, most revealing and refreshingly-honest column I've read in quite some time. Please read it entirely.

Mr. Whitlock said:

Thank you, Don Imus. You’ve given us (black people) an excuse to avoid our real problem.

You’ve given Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson another opportunity to pretend that the old fight, which is now the safe and lucrative fight, is still the most important fight in our push for true economic and social equality.

You’ve given Vivian Stringer and Rutgers the chance to hold a nationally televised recruiting celebration expertly disguised as a news conference to respond to your poor attempt at humor.

Thank you, Don Imus. You extended Black History Month to April, and we can once again wallow in victimhood, protest like it’s 1965 and delude ourselves into believing that fixing your hatred is more necessary than eradicating our self-hatred.

Yes, it's about our rights, limitations on freedom of speech, a free market economy. Hypocrisy and the Racial Pimps.

It's also, overarchingly, about black culture.

BZ

UN Wants to Use NYPD In Global Actions

From AP:

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asked New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Wednesday whether some of the city's police officers could be deployed with U.N. peacekeeping missions.

Recruiting police for the U.N.'s 16 peacekeeping missions around the globe has been historically challenging. "New York City has one of the most diversified police forces around and I think the secretary-general would like to explore possibilities," U.N. deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe said before the meeting. "Getting police to join peacekeeping operations is one of the high priorities for the U.N."

Bloomberg left the meeting without speaking to reporters. Stu Loeser, the mayor's spokesman, said his office had no comment.

Once again confirming: the UN is out of its collective mind.

Mayor Bloomberg: are you crafting a response similar to "F___ you"?

You'd better.

BZ

Imus Gone

Don Imus, pretty much an overpaid, little-account radio host for years, has no more radio to host. By the way, Imus was making $8 million dollars a year.

First he lost advertisers (GM, Ford), then his MSNBC simulcast.

Now CBS has removed him from the airwaves.

Losing Imus will be a financial hit to CBS Radio, which also suffered when shock jock Howard Stern departed for satellite radio early last year. The program is worth about $15 million in annual revenue to CBS, which owns Imus' home radio station, WFAN-AM in New York, and manages Westwood One, the company that syndicates the show across the country. CBS Corp. is also the parent company of CBSNews.com.

The Rev. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson met with Moonves to advocate Imus' removal, promising a rally outside CBS headquarters Saturday and an effort to persuade more advertisers to abandon Imus.

DON IMUS: When will Al Sharpton be apologizing to them? (Duke lacrosse team)

CARLIN: I'm unaware of such a press conference.

IMUS: I'll be darned . . .

Okay, Sharpton & Jackson; you've nailed Imus. The radio world is quaking, wondering: me next?

What about Tawana Brawley?

What about Crystal Gail Mangum?

In my opinion, however, there are two things upon which most of us can agree:

1. Don Imus was stupid.

2. Note to aggrieved blacks: perhaps people will respect you when respect yourselves culturally.

BZ

Hillary In Trouble

According to Dick Morris in his newsletter:

Hillary and Bill have made an unpleasant discovery over the past three months: Without the ability to pass out coveted goodies, like over-nights in the Lincoln Bedroom, invitations to White House coffees and state dinners, trips on Air Force One, weekends at Camp David, lucrative government contracts, top appointments, and the power to sign or veto legislation, their ability to raise money is far less than it once was.

That’s one of the key reasons why Hillary came in second in fund-raising for the first quarter. For years, people have wondered whether the Clinton money machine was based on ideology and personal loyalty, or just the plethora of presidential perks at Bill’s disposal. The first quarter results give a resounding answer: It’s the perks, stupid.

Coming from nowhere, without any strong pre-existing donor base, Senator Barack Obama’s sensational showing in the first quarter — amassing $25 million in campaign contributions — has left the Clintons sputtering. And his astonishing bottom line is only part of his surprise upset in beating Hillary. While she narrowly edged out the new kid on the political block in the total amount raised, Obama outscored Hillary 2:1 where it really counts: the number of individual donors. This is a big win for Obama and demonstrates both the depth of support for an attractive alternative to Hillary, as well as the finely tuned organizing skills of the first term senator.

MoveOn.org also recently held a straw poll, and the results were displayed in The Hill. Witness:

What candidate 'would be best able to lead the country out of Iraq?'

• Obama: 27.87%
• Edwards: 24.84%
• Kucinich: 17.18
• Richardson: 12.26%
• Clinton: 10.7%

Oh. Ouch. That really hurts.

The question in the Camp of Hillary Handlers: when do we pull out our own Night Of The Long Knives, and how deep do we go in attempting to inflict wounds on Obama? Do we make them superficial? Sufficient to require transfusion? Mortal?

Obama recently on Letterman: considering Hillary for VP. Yeah right, as if . . .

BZ

PBS: Wrong About Islam

PBS has decided to kill a film, financed by your federal tax dollars, because there isn't sufficient pro-Islamic influence:

The producer of a tax-financed documentary on Islamic extremism claims his film has been dropped for political reasons from a television series that airs next week on more than 300 PBS stations nationwide.

Key portions of the documentary focus on Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser of Phoenix and his American Islamic Forum for Democracy, a non-profit organization of Muslim Americans who advocate patriotism, constitutional democracy and a separation of church and state. Martyn Burke says that the Public Broadcasting Service and project managers at station WETA in Washington, D.C., excluded his documentary, Islam vs. Islamists, from the series America at a Crossroads after he refused to fire two co-producers affiliated with a conservative think tank.

Concerning on its face, but read more:

Burke wrote that his documentary depicts the plight of moderate Muslims who are silenced by Islamic extremists, adding, "Now it appears to be PBS and CPB who are silencing them." A Jan. 30 news release by the corporation listed Islam vs. Islamists as one of eight films to be presented in the opening series.

And therein is the Large Deal: the perspective of the film -- because it seeks to portray "moderate Muslims" who are "silenced" by Muslim extremists.

Because PBS, as we must know, cannot even remotely envision such a thing as an "extremist" Muslim -- that would, after all, be judgmental.

Hypocrisy at its best -- and your tax dollars used to fund the film -- then not allowed to run? Whom are PBS deluding?

Another reason to know why we are taking steps down the same road as Europe with regard to Islam.

Please read my Monday post.

POSTSCRIPT:

1. It has been announced that Fred Thompson has cancer.

2. Note to aggrieved blacks in re Don Imus: people will respect you when you respect yourself culturally. You figure it out (and that's about all the space in my blog this issue deserves).

BZ

Not the end of the world. . .

. . . but we almost could have seen it from Geneva recently.

Initial "heads-up" from Paul Harvey today:

In Geneva, Switzerland, at the CERN particle accelerator complex, a $4 billion dollar project, scientists made some basic errors in their mathematical computations. The mistake lifted a 20-ton magnet off its moorings, filling the tunnel with helium gas. Now that circular accelerator is 17 miles around, and it now must be stripped down, repaired and upgraded. How close were we to triggering a big bang? Oh, I mean The Big Bang? They won’t say.

CERN is the world's largestparticle physics laboratory . ... where the web was born!

From their Press Release section:

The magnet supports are made of a material called G-11, a glass cloth-epoxy laminate. The specifications for the magnet designate 20 atmospheres as the design pressure criterion and 25 atmospheres as the acceptance test criterion. However, computer-aided engineering calculations completed independently by Fermilab and CERN on March 28 show that the G-11 support structure in the magnets was inadequate to withstand the associated longitudinal forces. CERN and Fermilab now know that this is an intrinsic design flaw that must be addressed in all triplet magnets assembled at Fermilab.

CERN is the European Organization for Nuclear Research, the world's largest particle physics centre. It sits astride the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva. CERN is a laboratory where scientists unite to study the building blocks of matter and the forces that hold them together. CERN exists primarily to provide them with the necessary tools. These are accelerators, which accelerate particles to almost the speed of light and detectors to make the particles visible. Founded in 1954, the laboratory was one of Europe's first joint ventures and includes now 20 Member States.

Just thought you all might like to know, wondering -- perhaps -- why you happened to wake up dead one morning, your molecules scattered to the universe.

BZ

P.S.

The photo above indicates the actual size of the particle accelerator at the CERN site.

What Does Defeat Look Like?

Allow me to throw this out on the table for your perusal:

Let's say the Democrats press the issue and manage to force President Bush, somehow, into setting a timetable for leaving Iraq shortly. Maybe they cut the funding, maybe they rally the country.

And let's say we do leave Iraq.

I have a few questions:

Then what?

• What do we do with our military? Do they come directly home? Stationed in an adjacent country? New airbase(s) built? Completely deactivated? Held on standby?
• When the Iraqi Civil War starts in earnest, do we react? Or sit and watch the bodies pile up and float by en masse?
• When foreign American targets begin exploding, how do we react?
• When domestic American targets begin exploding, how do we react?
• When Iraq is not the focal point of the War On Terror, what is?
• Or should we simply wait until another American building goes down, our own "Madrid Bombing?" Our own "London Tube Bombing"?

What form will defeat take?

What will defeat look like?

Some in the Blogosphere have indicated this not defeat, but a logical result.

I would ask: there is retribution for Bush's mistakes and there are the overarching consequences from various policies. Balance "getting out of Iraq" vs. what I call "the logical extension."

And that's only the threat from without -- the external threat. What about the threat from within?

Already we in the US are being corrupted from within. Already Muslim taxi drivers in Minneapolis, Minnesota are refusing service to fares who carry alcohol with them. Already the scope of demand made by Muslims in Minneapolis is expanding:

Beryl Dsouza was late and in no mood for delays when she stopped at a Target store after work two weeks ago for milk, bread and bacon. So Dsouza was taken aback when the cashier -- who had on the traditional headscarf, or hijab, worn by many Muslim women -- refused to swipe the bacon through the checkout scanner.

"She made me scan the bacon. Then she opened the bag and made me put it in the bag," said Dsouza, 53, of Minneapolis. "It made me wonder why this person took a job as a cashier."

In the latest example of religious beliefs creating tension in the workplace, some Muslims in the Twin Cities are adhering to a strict interpretation of the Qur'an that prohibits the handling of pork products. Instead of swiping the items themselves, they are asking non-Muslim employees or shoppers to do it for them.

This situation is happening in America. Now. This is a major American city. And already the prevailing cry isn't: "let them find other jobs."

The prevailing cry is: "we capitulate."

Note to self: one very popular Democrat presidential candidate is a Muslim.

Where do we draw the line? Is this the beginning of a New Dark Ages, when Islam finally succeeds in overtaking Europe due to prevailing demographics (refute, if you will, that this isn't already occurring) and has that same goal for our country?

Is it merely a simplistically-pat statement to say that terrorism will do no more than follow us back to our own country?

If you aren't smart enough to figure this out already . . .

Never forget.

BZ

Happy Easter!

BZ

Low

US unemployment is at an historic five-year low: 4.4%.

BZ

No More Disney

No more Disney for me. Walt is turning in his grave even as I write this and his mouse is certainly moribund.

First, in an ongoing battle with lunacy, (thanks to Gayle in her Fractured Friday post), Disney-ABC continues to support Rosie O'Donnell and her completely uneducated, Left-leaning, positively stupid and hateful comments on The View. Courtesy of Gayle, if you wish to see Rosie responsible for her idiocy, sign the online petition at stoprosie.com.

Second, just yesterday (Friday) Disney announced that Fairy Tale weddings will be open to gay couples:

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Walt Disney Co. has changed its policy to allow same-sex couples to participate in a popular Fairy Tale Wedding program it runs mainly at its two U.S. resorts and cruise line, a Disney spokesman said on Thursday.

I spent a wonderful time on the very first cruise of the Disney Magic in 1999 with my mother, father and one brother, three years prior to my mother's passing in May of 2002. But I think the days of my sending dollars to Disney are gone. Gone, gone.

BZ

One Trick Pony

Okay, it's a given: Tom Tancredo (who has now officially thrown his hat in the ring for President) is pretty much the quintessential One Trick Pony. His gig is Illegal Immigration and Illegal Immigration only.

On Wednesday, Hugh Hewitt interviewed Tom Tancredo and did his best to excoriate the man. I missed the interview but, courtesy of Hewitt's blog, you can capture the entire interview here.

I only heard the aftermath, but I had never before been present for the literal negative crescendo of Hewitt's callers expressing their displeasure. So many callers made their voices heard that Hewitt began to dismiss them simply out of hand. I've never before heard Hewitt, a massively well-spoken, credentialed and educated man, succumb to the Talk Radio Host Standard 'Pass Them All Off As Moonbats' ploy. But he actually stooped this low. I instantly transmigrated from grinned to chagrined.

First, the up-front insult:

HH: Well, you’re shortening the Hugh Hewitt Show, Tom, but nevertheless, I’ll get right to the chase. Is this a protest candidate or is this is a real campaign?

TT: No, sir, it is for real. I mean, once you make the decision to do this, to actually announce, you’ve got to do, you can do everything you can to win the race. And if you just simply say I’m running because of an issue, one issue, and I want to make a statement? Forget about it. I do want to do that, and it is certainly an issue that propels me. But no, you have to do it 100%.

Please bear with me, and continue reading the following:

HH: Congressman, tough question for you. We’re going to get an immigration bill this year.

TT: Yeah.

HH: It’s going to be…McCain-Kennedy is back, and I’m calling it, as radio talk show hosts are oft to do, it should be called the McCain-Kennedy-Tancredo bill, because I think your opposition last year to compromise made certain this year what is in essence rolling amnesty. In other words, you fought so hard against everything, that we’re now going to get stuck with Kennedy’s bill.

TT: Actually, I didn’t fight hard against everything, I fought hard for the passage of the House bill, and the House bill was a great bill. And it was an enforcement only bill. And it got a majority of Republican support. And of course, we couldn’t get the Senate to go along with it, but that’s exactly where we should go again, and we should fight just as hard against a McKennedy bill this time. And we should not, you know, the idea that we’re going to get rolled, and that we’re going to get this bill, I don’t agree with you. I think that frankly, we’ve got as much strength now in the House. I talked to the leadership in the House. They’re not happy with this, they’re not going to go along with it, and so the battle is enjoined. We will see what happens, but I don’t think it’s a given.

HH: If, in fact, I’m right, though, and that because the Republicans lost the House and lost the Senate, we get stuck with McKennedy again, as you call it, that’s going to be at your feet, isn’t it, Tom?

TT: Are you saying, do you believe, Hugh, honestly believe that we lost the House because we lost the Hispanic vote?

HH: No, I’m saying that we lost a majority because you scared so many people with anti-illegal immigration rhetoric into not compromising at a critical moment, that we lost all sorts of momentum, all sorts of credibility, we’re not getting the fence built, that you played to win. You tried to shoot the moon in Hearts terms, and we ended up with nothing, and we’re going to end up with Kennedy’s bill.

TT: So if you stand for principle, if you actually believe in what you’re saying, and you’re not willing to compromise on something of this nature, then of course you, in some way, have harmed the nation? Well, I’ll tell you, if that’s the case, then I do not for a moment, well, I don’t believe for a moment that that is the case. I think that if everybody in this Congress, and the past one would have stood on principle, then…and everybody in this Congress does so, and especially Republicans, we will be rewarded with a great win in the next election.

HH: I mean, that’s Goldwater rhetoric, and I appreciated Barry as much as anywhere.

TT: Well, I’m sorry. Am I supposed to be, apologize for Goldwater rhetoric? Too bad.

HH: Well, no, I mean, do you believe that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice, right? I mean, not a bit of compromise, and thus, if prudence is out the window…

TT: No, not on this issue. It’s the country we’re talking about. It is the nation.

Hewitt is essentially blaming Tancredo for a watered down version of an immigration bill because Tom refused to compromise.

This is beneath Hewitt. And many of his listeners realized it. Myself included. And they subsequently took him to task -- whereupon he blew them off collectively as airheads.

Then Dear Reader, I too must be a Moonbat.

Perhaps I should place myself into my own Moonbat of the Week category.

Yes, TT is the proverbial One Trick Pony. C'mon, that's a given.

But we ignore Tom's message to our entire National Detriment.

Consider, just Thursday on Paul Harvey's nationally-syndicated "The Rest of the Story" show, he clearly stated that for every dollar paid in tax by illegal immigrants, they drain three dollars in various social services and benefits. A direct quote:

Homegrown Americans are moving out of the metropolitan areas of the United States. Homegrown Americans are moving out of Battle Creek, Michigan, and Ames, Iowa, and Corvallis, Oregon, and New York City. Americans want out. And yet, all of those places have a greater population than a year ago.

Because the Census Burea says immigrants are moving in, taking their places. Metro New York has added a million immigrants in five years. Atlanta added the most population in the last five years, then Dallas, Fort Worth, then Houston, Phoenix, Riverside, California -- they continue to sprawl and congest and pollute because they added 36 million immigrants.

About a third of whom are illegal.

Recent immigration reforms, by the way, are in their favor. For every dollar they pay in taxes, they will collect three dollars in government benefits: Medicaid, food stamps, public housing.

I suggest you read that again:

For every dollar they pay in taxes, they will collect three dollars in government benefits, Medicaid, food stamps, public housing.

Tancredo is indeed a One Trick Pony. But I suspect his bet is to make all of us think about this topic:

That, if we are to survive as a nation, fiscally, collectively, proudly -- illegal immigration simply cannot stand. And that does not even take into account the extreme Mexican Aztlan goal.

Racist, eh? As MEChA wrote: "Por La Raza todo. Fuera de La Raza nada (For the Race, everything. For those outside the Race, nothing).”

“Aztlan” is the group’s term for the vast southwestern U.S. expanse, from parts of Washington and Oregon down to California and Arizona and over to Texas, which MEChA claims to be a mythical homeland and seeks to reconquer for Mexico (reconquista).

Note to potential GOP candidates: this issue had BETTER be on your screens.

BZ Presidential Goals For 2008:

1. Protect this nation from external danger;

2. Protect this nation from internal danger.

Simple as that.

BZ

Clinton: Insufficiently Left

Fourteen-year veteran City of Berkeley (Fornicalia) council member Dona Spring appeared yesterday on the Michael Medved Show. Whilst present, speaking about the recent passage by the BCC to place a measure to impeach President Bush into an upcoming election, Mizz Spring clearly stated:

"Clinton is nothing more than Bush in drag."

And she has subsequently spoken a mouthful there. Translated: Hillary Clinton is insufficiently Left for the Left.

This view, predominant in the Left and actually verbalized here, is coming to roost in a number of ways. And Hillary had best be on guard and aware. My guess is that the Hillary Camp is not pleased at all. Consider the following:

April 4, 2007— ABC News has learned that the $23.5 million Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., raised for his presidential campaign for use in the primaries is more than that raised by the Democratic frontrunner, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.

Also consider:

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday moved California's presidential primary from June to February, giving the most populous U.S. state a greater stake in selecting nominees and shaking up the 2008 political calendar.

What this means?

More than any other time, the presidential primary is under more pressure, faster, earlier, than ever before. It is theorized that the next three months will be critical for all candidates. And since Fornicalia moved up their primary other states have either passed or are considering the same move. The primaries really might be decided by February or March of next year on the heels of what's to transpire in the next few months. Hillary and Her Handlers had best be paying maximal attention.

FROM THE "I TOLD YOU SO" CATEGORY:

Ahmadinnerjacket recently released the UK15. I posted Tuesday about Pelosi visiting Syria and responded in the comment section of Little Miss Chatterbox (who posted about the same issue):

"Pelosi -- we expect this kind of US nation-state erosion from her. And just wait -- think she might claim some kind of "influence" on Dinnerjacket's recent verbal decision (believe it when you see it) to free the UK15?"

Guess what?

Syria: We Helped in Iran-Britain Dispute. And as Drudge indicated: "Pelosi Diplomacy". I wonder who might be chirping up soon?

NewsMax indicated: "The order to capture the British sailors and marines was given by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei himself. Khamenei's top advisers argued that by striking out against a U.S. ally in Iraq, they would be sending a message to other European nations to step back from supporting the U.S. strategy of increasing pressure on Iran over its nuclear program. They saw the move as a clear test of Western resolve.

So what actually turned the tide of the UK15? Perhaps: ". . . at that meeting, Revolutionary Guards commander Maj. Gen. Rahim Safavi reported that the deployment of the USS Nimitz suggested that a U.S. military invasion of Iran was being prepared for early May. He urged the Council to order the release of the British hostages as a gesture to defuse the tension in the region."

Oh, but that would be wrong, wouldn't it? Shouldn't we have all gotten together, Iranians and the UK and US, and spoken in low, soothing whispers at a nice wooden table with our Starbucks and hookahs?

BZ

San Francisco Police Department: Cowardly Cops

One of my general measuring sticks for Left Wing Liberal Assholes (LWLA) has been: what would have happened had this been perpetrated by _________ (insert GOP or "Conservative" here). Read this story and then posit: what would have happened had a horde of, say, bicycle-riding Conservatively-linked thugs assaulted a Democratic mother with child in a vehicle?

Scan on, dear BZ reader (from SFGate.com):

Then, after a few swear words, the alleged victim took off on his bike while the rest of the crowd continued to yell at both the cops and the van. Sgt. Ed Callejas -- the lead cop on the scene and a veteran of Critical Mass rides since their inception -- said he'd never seen anything like it before.

"I've seen the bikes swarm cars, and scratch them as they go by. I've seen guys get out of their cars and start fighting with the bikers, but if you had seen the faces on those little girls in tears,'' Callejas said.

"All I could do was apologize for what they had been through." The sergeant suggested that Ferrando write a letter to the mayor.

Estimated damage to the car: $5,300.

Philosophy of Critical Mass:

Those Critical Mass participants who break the law sometimes defend their actions based on their belief that the special circumstances surrounding Critical Mass means obeying the letter of the law would be more dangerous and inconvenient for all road users. In addition, some participants say that typical laws governing bicycle road users are unfair compared with those governing pedestrians and motorists, and that street design and traffic laws heavily favour motor vehicle users: breaking the law in the context of Critical Mass is therefore an act of civil disobedience against this unfair legal arrangement. Still others say that they are simply living life as they wish it to be for a few hours each month, making culture which favors motorists obsolete and irrelevant.

Okay, let me see if I have this right: a crowd of roughly 3,000 Critical Mass bicyclist thugs surround a mother in her car, do $5,300 damage, smash the rear window of their family van, cause the little girls inside to scream in terror -- and rightly so -- and the SFPD motor cops who are nearby ("the squad of motorcycle cops who were assigned to keep an eye on the ride") do nothing. Nothing.

In summary from the SFPD Sergeant: This is San Francisco where cops have no balls and, even if we had them, we'd likely find then tinsnipped from our groin by our liberal Mayor and council because, after all, we much prefer our paychecks and our pensions to clashing with various "protected classes and species." You write the letter, Ms. Victim -- we can't jeopardize our comfy jobs or our spot in the motor unit.

We sit there and they just go right through the red lights,'' Sgt. Callejas said. "What else can we do? Arrest one rider while 500 keep going?

Why yes, Sgt. Callejas, that is PRECISELY what you do. How many SFPD motor officers are assigned to the ride each Friday? Two? Three? Make it four or more. Designate one of those officers to be the videographer. Designate one officer as the contact officer. Designate the other two or more officers as cover for the officer making the stop. Cite one at a time for as long as your shift lasts.

If, following the stop the swarm return, you continue with your citation and video everything. If it gets out of hand, call for backup. One way or the other, this band of Spandex Thugs needs to be provided a Reality Check.

And SFPD: you completely disgust me. You make me ashamed to be a cop. Here's a unique concept: try doing your fucking jobs.

BZ

Pelosi

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi toured Damascus on Tuesday, the highest- ranking American politician to visit Syria since relations began to deteriorate four years ago. President Bush criticized the trip, saying it sends mixed signals to President Bashar Assad.

The madness begins in earnest, courting our enemies. And as we all should recognize, she gets to set national foreign policy because, after all, she's the Speaker.

Hey Nance -- nice "scarf." Familiar with the phrase "kowtow"?

BZ