DEMORATS

I am, quite frankly, DONE with calling the Democrat Party "Democrats."

They are neither Democrats nor democratic.

They are now DEMORATS.

Above is their official BZ logo.

BZ

Class

I'm in a federal Homeland Security class this week, ICS 300/400, so I posted ahead a day or so because, otherwise, I suspect I won't have much time to blog. Unless I can wangle the class laptop and sneak a post in. . .

I would also like to take this time to proffer a HUGE tip-o-the-hat to BUSHWACK at American & Proud, for his "reworking" of my formerly plain, boring, unimaginative blog header. I tinked with the photo itself in Photoshop and asked him to see what he could do. Well, quite frankly, he came through with the header as you see it now, PERFECTLY placed. My undying kudos to Bushwack, who is an HTML Supreme Being.

BZ

Clear Proof of Horrible US Miltary Abuse

I'm certain this e-mail has made the rounds throughout the world; in my opinion it needs to be disseminated further:

PROOF OF UNITED STATES MILITARY FORCES ABUSE:

Clearly, Western Civilizations need to recede.

BZ

New to The BZ "Usual Suspects" List

I have two new blogs to introduce; both happen to be militarily-oriented and, as far as I am concerned, the more the better (I still find it sad that Gunny John retired from blogging).

First:

I'd like to welcome Gunz and his Long Live The Republic blog to The Usual Suspect blogroll; he portrays himself in his own words:

I am a combat experienced former Marine Corps infantryman that took part in the liberation of Kuwait during Operation Desert Storm.

A hard core independent, non-politically correct, conservative; and I do not affiliate myself with either party. I simply vote by conscience. Pro- American, pro-gun, pro-life, pro-religion, and pro-military to name a few.

Anti-queer, multi-culturalism, tree-hugger, commie, socialist, illegal immigration, camel jockey, globalists, higher taxes, nation building, and anti George Bush to name a few of those.

Iraq is a cluster f-k with a goof ball CiC that knows more about spinning the bottle and the strategy behind that more than fighting and winning wars. I do not believe Iraq had a thing to do with 9-11 and the last convoy of dump trucks should of been leaving Afghanistan by now. Some filled with the last remaining rock from the mountain top removal campaign and others with a heap of dead sand n’gers.

I am a staunch isolationist and realist, and the reality of it is this country is in a moral and ethical decline with BOTH parties (politicians), along with their supporters, taking it down the crapper. God forbid we get a liberal in the White House, we may never recover.

Perhaps some day Gunz will come out of his shell and tell us how he really feels; until that day emerges, however, I mightily suggest you visit Gunz daily for the thoughts of a man who has served his country and has my unending respect for his service. Make sure you check out his Patton Speech video. Wish I'd had it here. . .

Second:

Next up is Pat Dollard, and his Young Americans Documentary. This is a blog of astounding depth and clarity. Pat is described by Maxim magazine:

Pat Dollard traded a life of luxury as a Hollywood agent for that of a war journalist dodging bullets and shrapnel alongside the Marines in Iraq. He did it so you could see the truth…his version of the truth.

Please join me in welcoming aboard my newest essential bloggers and visit them frequently!

BZ

Disband NASA: NOW!

There is no further use for NASA.

They simply waste our tax dollars.

There is nothing more that NASA can reveal with its missions and goals. We are not even remotely technologically ready for its logical future.

In the meantime:

• The Mercury missions were necessary;
• The Gemini missions were necessary;
• The Apollo missions were necessary;

A few shuttle missions were necessary. Except:

On January 28th, 1986, all seven astronauts on Challenger were killed upon throttle-up.

On February 1st, 2003, another seven astronauts perished upon re-entry to our atmosphere.

And now:

Are we allowing astronauts to be drunk on these platforms?

I'm sorry.

That's it.

That's enough.

Enough with the MILLIONS and, moreover, with the BILLIONS.

Disband NASA.

Disband NASA now!

This is simply enough.

How continuously stupid can we be?

BZ

FCC States The Truth

The Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Kevin Martin, indicated on Thursday the 26th, regarding the "Fairness Doctrine" issue:

Indeed, with the continued proliferation of additional sources of information and programming, including satellite broadcasting and the Internet, the need for the Fairness Doctrine has lessened even further since 1987."

And I suspect everyone reading this blog would concur: Chairman Martin is indeed correct. But the Demorats have a plan:

Liberal efforts to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine are "completely on track," and Democrats intend to push for the measure by linking talk radio to "hate crimes," according to a conservative media analyst.

I have written about the so-called "Fairness Doctrine" many times; here and here and here and here, for example.

There is an excellent site watching the F.D. -- go here for this site.

I suspect that FCC Chairman Kevin Martin is now on any number of Demorat hit lists -- and I suspect his budget will be, oddly enough, examined very closely through the Demorat microscope.

Huh. Imagine that.

BZ

Tinfoil Hat Squad -- Or, Is This Actually Correct?

The Internal Revenue Service has lost a lawyer's challenge in front of a jury to prove a constitutional foundation for the nation's income tax, and the victorious attorney now is setting his sights higher.

"I think now people are beginning to realize that this has got to be the largest fraud, backed up by intimidation and extortion and by the sheer force of taking peoples property and hard-earned money without any lawful authorization whatsoever," lawyer Tom Cryer told WND just days after a jury in Louisiana acquitted him of two criminal tax counts.

This isn't a misprint. An attorney actually won this case -- in a federal venue. Please read the complete link and make your own decision.

The two sentences that caught my attention:

1. Spokesman Robert Marvin in Washington's IRS office told WND the Internal Revenue Code provides for taxation on salaries or wages, but when pressed for a specific citation, or constitutional provision, he said, "I can't comment."

-- and --

2. He said throughout his battle, he's offered at every turn to pay taxes if the IRS could show him the authorization, and that never has happened.

My first thought: this can't possibly be true.

My second thought: if true, this opens a completely new dynamic paradym.

My third thought: if only, if only. . .

BZ

BATF Feels Threatened By A Blog

Now I'm a law abiding kinda guy. . .

But I have to admit, this recent issue about how the BATF "feels threatened" by a guy with a blog is one of the lamest stories I've ever read perpetrated by law enforcement in recent times. How stupid is this:

A team of inspectors from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives fled an Idaho gun shop where they were inspecting sales records when they learned their actions were being recorded on a blog.

But wait, there's more inanity. The big, bad federal agents felt threatened by:

[The federal agency] notifies the court than an inspection of Red's Trading Post … was initiated on July 17, 2007. The inspection was suspended due to the threat to the inspectors' safety created by Ryan Horsley, the Manager of Red's," the court filing said. The filing documented how some unidentified person had taken pictures of the inspectors at work.

"At about this time, Supervisor Young's assistant from the Spokane office contacted her and advised that Mr. Horsley had updated his internet blog (http://redstradingpost.blogspot.com/) to include the information that ATF, and Supervisor Young personally, was at the store conducting an inspection," the filing said. So Young contacted others.

"The Director of Industry Operations, Richard Van Loan, agreed with Supervisor Young's assessment that the photographing of the rental car used by ATF personnel, coupled with the instantaneous posting on the internet of ATF's presence … posed a credible threat to their safety and was designed to harass and intimidate," the court filing said.

So. Documenting the facts of a visit by the BATF, with these fact patterns being documented by the store's owner, on a blog the store owner operates, is interpreted as a threat?

Taking photographs, from a position of which the photographer had a lawful right to be, of the G-rides driven by BATF agents, by a photographer who is "a 70-year-old man in a Hawaiian shirt who is balding (Sorry, Al) and has a broken foot" is interpreted as a threat?

And isn't it interesting that the fact patterns as portrayed in the blog are not at issue; it is the mere existence of the blog and the photos that are at issue.

First, take a peek at the horribly offensive and threatening Red's Trading Post blog.

Second, this appears to me to be a concerted effort by the government to quietly attempt to shut down gun shops and/or their owners.

Now, I don't typify myself as a nutjob because I happen to believe in the US Constitution's Bill of Rights:

Amendment II
A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

But I must admit, quite frankly, this just doesn't sit right with me. This doesn't sit right with me at all.

Because again, quite frankly, it makes BATF look like a bunch of whining, sniveling, crybaby pussies.

Do you think I'm being too harsh?

But -- if the shoe fits. . .

BZ

P.S.

By the way, in the photo at top, that just happens to be store owner Ryan Horsley with current FEDERAL Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne. Huh. Imagine that.

Ward Churchill To Be Fired

BOULDER, Colo. -- The University of Colorado announced Monday that it will dismiss controversial professor Ward Churchill.

"Today, I issued to Professor Churchill a notice of intent to dismiss him from his faculty position at the University of Colorado Boulder," CU Interim Chancellor Phil DiStefano said Monday afternoon.

Churchill was found guilty of research misconduct and a University of Colorado panel recommended that he be fired because of "repeated and deliberate" infractions of scholarship rules. Last month, an investigative subcommittee concluded that Churchill repeatedly fabricated his research, plagiarized others' work and strayed from the "bedrock principles of scholarship."

So: has the University of Colorado governing board of regents actually gotten a clue?

BZ

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

Recently, it was theorized that today's $76 per-barrel oil price will reach $100 in a few months:

July 23 (Bloomberg) -- The $100-a-barrel oil that Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said would prevail by 2009 may be only a few months away.

Jeffrey Currie, a London-based commodity analyst at the world's biggest securities firm, says $95 crude is likely this year unless OPEC unexpectedly increases production, and declining inventories are raising the chances for $100 oil. Jeff Rubin at CIBC World Markets predicts $100 a barrel as soon as next year.

"We're only a headline of significance away from $100 oil,'' said John Kilduff, an analyst in the New York office of futures broker Man Financial Inc. "The unrelenting pressure of increased demand has left the market a coiled spring.'' New disruptions of Nigerian or Iraqi supplies, or any military strike against Iran, might trigger the rise, Kilduff said in a July 20 interview.

And it is clear that many on the Left want nothing more than higher petroleum and oil prices. They have made no hesitation in making these thoughts clear.

"Watch out, you might get what you're after."

-- Burning Down The House, The Talking Heads

Three of the last four global recessions were instigated by a drastic rise in the price of a barrel of oil.

In fact, the exact opposite is true: The only solution for high petroleum prices are even higher petroleum prices. If crude oil is cheap, there is no investment in other energy sources and less effort is made to conserve, thus eventually guaranteeing acute shortages and even higher prices than today.

That is the paradoxical truth that has paralyzed Western governments since the oil-price explosion of 1999. The rise of petroleum prices from less than $10 a barrel to more than $30 threatens to trigger a wave of inflation that would inevitably be followed by sharp increases in interest rates, which would in turn cause a recession. That would end the miraculously long U.S. boom in the worst possible way.

Or:

There appears to be only one solution to this catastrophe: a nasty, pernicious and painful gas tax that will drive gasoline prices to heretofore unseen levels. Take the tax revenue squeezed from every red-blooded American’s fuel consumption and roll it into alternative energy research and technology. Fast-track the whole damn project. Forget pathetic attempts at lowering emissions by 20 or 25% by 2020. The game will be over. Do it now. It will hurt, but in the long run we will all breathe easier.

Why stop there with fiscal taxes? Why not a Carbon Tax?

But wait; let's more closely examine fiscal taxes on an average gallon of gas, shall we?

As I wrote in my May 13th post:

Andres Oppenheimer of the Miami Herald believes that nasty gas prices may serve to motivate our movement towards other energy sources. This is the Standard Democrat Line: higher gas prices make them happy. Higher gas prices + no more petroleum infrastructure building + overbearing environmental regulations against construction of more refineries + no drilling in ANWR + no nuclear production + no offshore drilling = Happy Democrats.

But remember: "All animals are equal; some are more equal than others."

In my state of Fornicalia, we pay (as of 2002) per gallon of gas:

- 18-cents in a state excise tax

- 14-cents, other state taxes

- total of 32-cents Fornicalia taxes per gallon

- PLUS

- total state & federal taxes = 50.4 cents per gallon tax

So, if gas is $2.99 (today), the TRUE cost of this gallon, absent GOVERNMENTAL TAXATION is ACTUALLY:

$2.48 a gallon

A little "easier" on the pocketbook, eh?

So let's say oil does hit $100 per 42-gallon barrel.

This would yield, roughly, $5 per-gallon gas.

I have a 15.9 gallon tank in my 2007 Toyota RAV-4. It would cost me $80 to fill my tank.

How would this sift out?

• Trucking would be hit;
• Railroads would be hit;
• Aircraft would be hit;
• General transportation would be hit;
• Commuters would be hit;
• Plastics industries would be hit;
• Electric power generation would be hit;
• Every aspect of American life would be hit;
• Prices on everything would climb.

Persons affected in a negative fashion would include those on the Left.

The media types would have a more difficult time getting their limousines;

Same for movie film stars and upper crust moguls of all Left Stripes;

And, of course, you can't ride a bicycle from Sacramento to the San Francisco Bay Area if you commute. Jobs would be impacted; infrastructure would be impacted.

Get your collective butts clenched, Ladies and Gentlemen, on both sides of the aisle. $100 per barrel oil is just around the corner.

The Left wants to stagger this nation? Guess what? They just may get their wish.

BZ

Not One Issue

There isn't ONE issue on which Cindy Sheehan has a realistic grip.

Sheehan was given her place on the Op-Ed page of the Sunday (July 22nd) San Francisco Chronicle. Here, she says:

The feedback I have been receiving since I announced that I would challenge U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, for her House seat -- unless she gives impeachment the go-ahead -- has been running about 3-to-1 positive.

And I'm certain that The Pelose is literally quaking in her heels. Pelosi views Sheehan as she would a rude piece of dogshit entrapped at the bottom of her Manolo Blahniks.

I was a lifelong Democrat only because the choices were limited. The Democrats are the party of slavery and were the party that started every war in the 20th century, except the other Bush debacle. The Federal Reserve, permanent federal income taxes, not one but two World Wars, Japanese concentration camps, and not one but two atom bombs dropped on the innocent citizens of Japan -- all brought to us via the Democrats.

Mostly true; Republicans eschewed slavery. But save slavery, the Dems managed to see how the World Really Works.

FDR did what he had to; Truman did what he had to. JFK did what he had to.

Last of the Actual Classic Democrat Breed: Zell Miller and Joe Lieberman. Every other Demorat is nothing more than an Apologistic Defeatist.

And it is the Newer Apologist, Defeatist Demorats (NADDs) that Sheehan has trouble with. They are INSUFFICIENTLY LEFT for her.

Here are her "priorities":

I am concerned with many of the same things: same-sex partnership laws, the environment, health care, affordable post-secondary education, better schools, counter-military recruitment, poverty, AIDS research and cures, decriminalization of marijuana, and especially stopping war and ensuring real peace," said Sheehan.

Translated:

• GLBT issues are at the forefront of America's problems;
• The environment: only Pro-American WESTERN civilizations are responsible; there should be no concern with environmental issues regards China, India, Russia;
• Health care: everything should be free; hot and cold running free visits, drugs, surgeries;
• "Affordable" college = free college for all, including all illegal immigrants;
• Better schools = no vouchers, cultural Leftist Indoctrination starting with Pre-School;
• Counter Military Recruitment = there is no Evil in this world, only Evil Western Civilizations so, as a result, America's military arms should be disbanded immediately;
• No one in America or the world should be poor; all should be equal on every front;
• AIDS research = more money, more money, more money, more money for all Third World Tinpot Dictators;
• Decriminalization of Marijuana = decriminalization of drugs and governmental support for addicts of all stripes and makes;
• Stopping war = dismantling of America's military, its military builders and, while we're at it, America's corporate interests;
• Real Peace = sitting down at a table with all our enemies and agreeing to whatever it is that our enemies wish -- the sooner the better; after all, with their varied histories, they're much smarter and braver and "in tune with the environment" than any Western Culture will ever be.

I'm so happy for Cindy; she's "rested, restored to health and ready to rumble."

BZ

Michael Polensek

Michael Polensek is a councilman for the 11th Ward of Cleveland, Ohio. He has served as a councilman, continuously re-elected, twice unopposed, since 1979.

Mr. Polensek created a swirling storm of controversy when he sent a letter to an 18-year-old drug dealer named Arsenio Winston, who was most recently arrested for selling crack in front of a convenience store to an undercover officer. Polensek had come across Winston on a number of occasions.

The letter reads:

Dear Mr. Winston:

As councilman representing Cleveland's 11th Ward, I have been notified once again that you have been arrested for dealing drugs in my ward, this time at the Convenient Food Mart located at 18506 St. Clair Avenue in the parking lot.

Mr. Winston, you have to be "dumber than mud." Don't you know that one of your so-called "friends" from the "8th Avenue gang" ratted your "ass" out that you were dealing drugs from the parking lot? They cut a deal. So much for your wonderful pals, you idiot. I am so glad that you are now 18 years of age, because now you are an adult and can no longer hide behind the juvenile court system, Mr. Quarterback, loser. Remember when you told me to "kiss your black ass" at R.J. Taylor playground and that you were going to be an NFL Quarterback? Well, the NFL, despite perceptions, is "not for losers!"

In closing, I told you just recently to stay out of my neighborhood, you crack dealing piece of trash. Yet, you keep coming back because you think you are a big man. Well, real men go to school or to work every day and take care of their family, and not through illegal drug activity. You are a "thug" and you know what? There are only two places you will end up at the rate you are going -- that is, prison or the nearest funeral home. Quite frankly, I don't care which one you get to first as long as your dumb stupid ass is out of my neighborhood.

Have a wonderful life, Arsenio. I'm sure you have made your mother real proud. Remember when I spoke to her one of the other times that you were arrested for assaulting a police officer on East 185th Street? Only a moron would do that. Your fate is totally in your hands; which is a scary thought.

Go to jail or the cemetary soon,

(signature of Michael D. Polensek)
Councilman, Ward 11

cc: Mr. Martin Flask, Director, Department of Public Safety
Chief Michael McGrath, Chief of Police
Commander Wayne Drummond, 6th District Police Headquarters
Mr. Phillip Morris, Plain Dealer

As you might expect, Polensek was immediately labeled a racist. Winston's mother lovingly played the Race Card:

Winston's mother, Tonya Lewis, said she plans to speak to her attorney, former City Council President George Forbes, about filing a lawsuit against Polensek. She said she also has written a letter to black activist the Rev. Al Sharpton.

Lewis said she views Polensek's letter as a death threat against her son because the councilman said "he didn't care which one came first, that he went to jail or the cemetery."

She also complained that the letter referred to Winston as "dumber than mud," which she considers a racist remark because mud is black and dirty.

Polensek says:

The longtime councilman said in a telephone interview Wednesday that he often writes blunt letters to troublemakers in his neighborhood and makes no apologies for the one to Winston.

He also is unrepentant:

I'm fed up and the people in my neighborhood are fed up," Polensek said. "There's no political correctness left in me."

"If my letter was offensive, fine, so be it," he said. "If my letter is going to make his mother and family think about what he's done, I'm glad."

Yes, because of all that, there is clearly a problem. The problem is this:

There are not ENOUGH Michael Polenseks to go around. Each government entity should be staffed with a host of Michael Polenseks.

Finally. Someone who is unafraid to see a situation as it is and to focus attention on an individual's ACTIONS. Polensek is about as racist as my houseplant. He IS, however, forceful and unapologetic.

Apologetic he should NEVER be.

And the LARGER, overarching problem?

• This letter should have been written by a BLACK MALE IN A POSITION OF AUTHORITY but, sadly, was not.

Everyone reading this blog knows quite precisely that Arsenio Winston is a loser indeed; his mommy speaks for him at age 18, he deals drugs and he WILL eventually filter out into the prison system or into a cemetary.

Kudos to Michael Polensek for DARING TO SPEAK AND WRITE THE TRUTH.

BZ

Decisions Made In A Vacuum - OR - Vacuous Decisons

An initial observation: America and much of the world is wrapped-around-the-axle regarding Harry Potter. I'm sure the series of books are fine and I'm happy for J.K. Rowling in a capitalistic sense; in the meantime, vacuous individuals focus on this senseless pap whilst ignoring two very important domestic points:

1. Decision:

President Bush has signed an Executive Order which limits the means and manner in which terrorism suspects can be interrogated:

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush signed an executive order governing interrogation of terrorism suspects, prohibiting cruel and inhumane treatment, humiliation or denigration of prisoners' religious beliefs.

Not unlike a shabby episode of 24, let us postulate that American authorities discover some kind of nuclear device or a dirty bomb or other WMD event is set to activate within a certain period of time; in fact, time is of the essence. Prior to interrogation, must we not place a phone call to William Kuntsler, Gerry Spence, James Brosnahan? Must we not pick up the ACLU Red Phone to assuage our Leftist "feelings"?

In my opinion, bad language, sarcasm, a swift uppercut, some water-boarding, a nicely-cocked .44 Colt Anaconda or .50 Desert Eagle (and more) most definitely has a place on the toolbelt of American military and civilian interrogators.

You deal from a position of so-called Moral Superiority -- whenever possible.

There are times that Moral Superiority must go out the door when your entire "way of life" or the continuation of Western Civilization is at stake.

Western Civilization has a difficult time understanding the way the world really functions.

President Bush: shame on you for folding -- UNLESS -- you are covertly sending a 180-degree message to your Alphabet Agencies and Nameless Agencies granting them authority to do whatever is needed, whenever it is needed. If this is only your public face, that is fine. But you'd best be supporting your private face, sir.

Let there be no error in terms of my beliefs: when the security and comfort of my country is at stake, I EXPECT certain persons to bleed in gushers and twist in horrific ways.

2. Decision:

Congressional Democrats today failed to include a provision in homeland security legislation that would protect the public from being sued for reporting suspicious behavior that may lead to a terrorist attack, according to House Republican leaders.

"This is a slap in the face of good citizens who do their patriotic duty and come forward, and it caves in to radical Islamists," said Rep. Peter T. King, New York Republican and ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee.

Republicans wanted the provision included in final legislation, crafted yesterday during a House and Senate conference committee, that will implement final recommendations from the September 11 commission.

Mr. King and Rep. Steve Pearce, New Mexico Republican, sponsored the provision after a group of Muslim imams filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against US Airways and unknown "John Doe" passengers. The imams were removed from US Airways Flight 300 on Nov. 20 after fellow passengers on the Minneapolis-to-Phoenix flight complained about the imams' suspicious behavior.

Look, let's keep it simple: either you want to win, or you want to lose. Why would you not want to provide protection to Americans who suspect a threat to their own domestic soil? There are already national "whistleblower" laws regards various violations -- why not this? Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi have, essentially, already said that they side with CAIR when one harbors various suspicions regarding those who would see our society fall. Why? I only offer this: money provided by CAIR. Reid and Pelosi are, then, whores and traitors.

Let me repeat: WHORES and TRAITORS.

Reid and Pelosi are saying that those who report suspicious activity should be sued. Demorats, for whatever illogical reason, want to lose this war on terrorism. Further, as far as they are concerned: there is no war. War in itself is an oppressive word.

Finally:

Heal the military; heal the warriors who protect us:

President Bush has the ability to commute the sentences of former USBP agents Compean and Ramos. He will not. In the meantime, because of his refusal, Democrat Senator Diane Feinstein is making political hay in her advocacy of their commuted sentences. I'm mostly certain she is personally uncaring of their plight and her public spewing is for "display purposes only."

BZ

Not Boding Well

A Single Barrel of Oil Hits $76 Today.

Oil Prices Climb Above $76 a Barrel After News of New Violence in Oil-Rich Nigeria

VIENNA, Austria (AP) -- Oil prices rose Friday after news of new violence in southern Nigeria, where police said a Lebanese businessman was shot dead in his home in an apparent kidnapping attempt.

(By The Way: One barrel contains 42 gallons of crude oil. The total volume of products made from crude oil based origins is 48.43 gallons on average - 6.43 gallons greater than the original 42 gallons of crude oil. This represents a "processing gain" due to the additional other petroleum products such as alkylates are added to the refining process to create the final products.)

Sex Ed for Kindergarteners?

July 20, 2007 —
When Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama reaffirmed to Planned Parenthood this week that he believes elements of sex education should begin in kindergarten, Republican Mitt Romney saw an opening -- and he pounced.

"I was governor four years,' said Romney. "I never had one person coming to me and say, 'You know what, governor, I'm concerned about something.' What's that? 'I'm concerned about sex education. I'm concerned my kids aren't learning enough about sex.' I never heard that."

Behind The Dubai Ports Deal

Ever wonder why? Bill Gertz explains:

According to Mr. Scarborough, the administration wanted the deal to go through because the UAE government had agreed to let the United States post agents inside its global port network who could report on world shipping.

Dubai Ports currently runs port facilities at key U.S. intelligence targets, including Venezuela, China, Pakistan, India and Saudi Arabia.

"Dubai Ports, in essence, was going to become an agent of CIA," Mr. Scarborough said in an interview. "The arrangement is helping us detect whether any kind of terror contraband was being moved around."

BZ

I Continuously. . .

. . . slap my forehead in amazement and wonder:

1. FORNICALIA SENATOR DIANE FEINSTEIN CALLS FOR SENTENCE COMMUTATION OF CONVICTED USBP AGENTS COMPEAN and RAMOS:

After presiding over a Senate hearing today, Sen. Dianne Feinstein has decided to ask President Bush to commute the sentences of former U.S. Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, an aide for the California Democrat told WND.

Feinstein will have a letter delivered to the White House tomorrow, said spokesman Scott Gerber.

Following the Senate judiciary committee's examination of the controversial prosecution, according to Gerber, the senator said "it became very clear the sentences did not match the crime."

When you read of this, did you not slap your forehead and ask: why is this coming from a liberal Democrat like Feinstein, and not our "conservative" 43rd President George Walker Bush?

I cannot help, like many of my readers, in thinking: why is it that our current CinC is bound and resolved to keep our borders open, cater to Mexico, offer essential amnesty to illegals yet cannot find it within his own good heart to extend this amnesty to two dedicated USBP agents who acted in good faith in the defense of our nation and whose crime certainly does NOT match their sentences? Why must this clarion call emanate from the liberal side of the aisle? I shake my head, again, in confusion because, after all, sometimes silence speaks and even drowns out volume.

2. AL GORE STILL FAILS TO UNDERSTAND THE DEFINITION OF THE WORD "HYPOCRITE":

ONLY one week after Live Earth, Al Gore's green credentials slipped while hosting his daughter's wedding in Beverly Hills.

Gore and his guests at the weekend ceremony dined on Chilean sea bass - arguably one of the world's most threatened fish species.

Also known as Patagonian toothfish, the species is under pressure from illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing activities in the Southern Ocean, jeopardising the sustainability of remaining stocks.

Gore continuously fails to understand: when you go far out of your way to portray yourself as the spokesman and expert in a given field, expect that all your actions and words shall be adjudged in the context of that expertise in which you yourself espouse.

He'd best watch himself; his faux pax may impact his earnings potential:

JULY 17--If you're looking to book Al Gore for a 75-minute "Environmental Multimedia Lecture," the former vice president will cost you $100,000, plus travel, hotel, security, and per diem expenses.

Not just "duh." Fuckin' duh, you ignorant nematode.

3. FBI: IRAQIS BEING SMUGGLED ACROSS THE RIO GRANDE:

The FBI report, issued last week, says the smuggling organization "used to smuggle Mexicans, but decided to smuggle Iraqi or other Middle Eastern individuals because it was more lucrative." Each individual would be charged a fee of $20,000 to $25,000, according to the report.

Of course, this wouldn't be true because, after all, if our porous borders were an actual threat and not just a "damp ankle" issue for all our good Mexican friends, "conservative" President Bush would have repaired the error, would he have not?

What? You mean our friends the Saudis may be throwing more cash per body than the average drunk Coyote Mexican Slave Trader? Avarice? Greed? And moreover, might we ask the possible reasons for considering this advanced cash amount per person for Middle Easterners as opposed to the nominal $100 to $500 per-person charge for the average downtrodden hard-working and US-law-abiding Mexican? What? Do you detect the sound of my hand traversing some distinct distance between a starting point and the ending point of my rather exposed and follically-challenged forehead?

and finally:

4. NEVER, EVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POTENTIAL CRUELTY OF HUMANS, OLD OR YOUNG:

COTATI, Calif. -- A three-month-old kitten is fighting for his life after allegedly being set afire by two teenage girls last week. The male shorthaired kitten, named Adam, received second- and third-degree burns over 75 percent of its body and was being treated at an animal hospital in Cotati, in Northern California's Sonoma County, officials said.

The kitten has undergone two surgeries and had its tail and the tips of its ears amputated.

Two girls have been charged with cruelty to animals in connection with the case. They were arrested last Friday after allegedly pouring flammable liquid on the cat, only 8 weeks old at the time and setting it on fire.

Would it be ill-advised of me to state unequivocally that I would be the first in line to volunteer to dip these girls in powdered magnesium and find an adequate source of ignition?

I slap my head in the wonder and astonishment of it all. . .

BZ

Iraq Pullout Vote Fails

WASHINGTON: Senate Democrats fell short this morning, after a rare all-night session, in their attempt to force President George W. Bush to begin withdrawing American troops from Iraq.

The measure, which called for troops to begin departing within 120 days, was defeated in a procedural vote on what is known as a cloture motion. It received 52 "yes" votes, to 47 "no" votes, but Senate rules require 60 yes votes to pass the motion, which would have prevented a Republican filibuster of the measure.

This brain-dead measure failed once more.

But the Democrats will be back.

BZ

Lovely, But Expected

Leaders are instructing Democratic lawmakers to blitz their states with anti-Bush messages as the Senate gears up for an all-night debate on Iraq withdrawal, according to an internal memo provided to The Politico by a Democratic official.

Might the GOP take a lesson from the Dem War Card in terms of coherence and unity?

BZ

Youth

Notations on younger people:

1. They Couldn't Care Less About Newspapers

With the United States military fighting a protracted war in Iraq and a wide-open presidential campaign already making headlines daily, Americans of all ages are interested in current affairs and are consuming news like never before, right?

Not so, especially not teenagers and young adults, according to a report released last week by the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.

In fact, most teenagers and adults 30 and younger are not following the news closely at all, the report, titled “Young People and News,” concluded. It is based on a national sample of 1,800 Americans that included teenagers, young adults aged 18 to 30 and older adults.

2. Vinyl Makes A Comeback

Back in the groove: young music fans ditch downloads and spark vinyl revival. Sales of 7in singles rise by 13% in first half of year · New bands and collectors turning to old format.

Downloads no longer "making it"?

Perhaps I might posit this: it's because there simply is NO MORE GOOD MUSIC being produced by this current "popular" generation.

Huh. Imagine that.

BZ

The Last One

Is this man the only government official left in the UK to utilise common sense?

Adm. Sir Alan West, the former navy chief who was recently named new Prime Minister Gordon Brown's security minister, said on July 8th:

Britishness does not normally involve snitching or talking about someone," he told The Sunday Telegraph. "I'm afraid, in this situation, anyone who's got any information should say something because the people we are talking about are trying to destroy our entire way of life."

He said preventing the radicalization of young British Muslims was his top priority. "This is not a quick thing," he said. "I believe it will take 10 to 15 years. But I think it can be done as long as we as a nation apply ourselves to it and it's done across the board."

It seems to me that this statement is a thing that should have come from the mouth of the British PM himself, instead of his appointed minister.

But Gordon Brown has already set his path, saying:

Gordon Brown has banned ministers from using the word “Muslim” in ­connection with the terrorism crisis.

The Prime Minister has also instructed his team – including new Home Secretary Jacqui Smith – that the phrase “war on ­terror” is to be dropped.

The shake-up is part of a fresh attempt to improve community relations and avoid offending Muslims, adopting a more “consensual” tone than existed under Tony Blair.

When you cannot even describe an enemy as an enemy, you have already lost the mental war.

Gordon Brown is, quite frankly, a very sad replacement for Tony Blair.

I suspect that Sir Alan West somehow managed to slip between the cracks; I'll wager there isn't much time extant before he finds himself mysteriously sacked by the Brown regime.

BZ

The Takeover

The takeover of our country is in progress whether you wish to acknowledge this truth or not.




1. MIAMI IS GONE:

First, as Tom Tancredo so aptly points out, Miami is already a Third World Country:

WND: Your statement to WND that Miami has become a Third World country. That set off a national firestorm. Do you stand by that remark and if so, do you think it harms your effort to win in Florida?

TANCREDO: I certainly do. Well, it's an interesting thing. They took a poll, I read it somewhere, I think on the Miami Herald website, they did a poll, and a majority of people agreed with me – in Miami. There was a pretty significant minority very, very outraged by what I said. But most folks who at least responded to the poll, said, you know, he's right. These things are, the things I say, I know are controversial, but the question you have to ask, controversial or not, is are they correct or not? Are they true or not? Is Miami becoming a city that is no longer really connected to the United States linguistically, culturally. There's a great line in a Time magazine article I read by the guy who fancies himself to be the leader of the Cuban exile community, and he's a professor at the University of Florida, if I remember correctly, and he said, you know, he said I love the fact there's absolutely no pressure here to be an American. Those are his comments. Yes, I think it's like a Third World country, and I would say it again.

Ladies and Gentlemen, did you read that specific line? Did you process: "I love the fact there's absolutely no pressure here to be an American"?

2. A DELI IS GONE:

Second, from Texas Fred, a deli in Farmer's Branch, Texas, is darned near extinct due to a boycott by Mexicans.


The Lone Star Diary says:

The owner of the Blue Star Deli in Farmers Branch, Texas, is suffering because of his support for the town’s fight against illegal immigration. If you live near that area or happen to be visiting, please stop by and enjoy a burger at the Blue Star. Show your support for those who have the courage to take on the fight against the illegal alien invasion. The article below is from a post by Maggie B. on the Minuteman forums. - Lone Star Diary

Dave Mooney, owner of the Blue Star Deli in Farmers Branch, Texas, is feeling the backlash of his support of Farmers Branch. Dave has been in the forefront of support, opening up his cafe for all types of activities to support Farmers Branch and what that city has tried to do to stop the harm illegal immigration is doing.

News has surfaced from Halliburton employees that a boycott has been called by the Hispanic and pro-illegal employees. Although, Dave didn’t have a contract for business lunches, he did receive orders to provide business lunches from time to time. These orders have now stopped.

Also, it is being reported that Hispanic radio stations are broadcasting a boycott of the Blue Star.Dave is experiencing a 50% decrease in sales receipts due to this boycott and has now taken a second job. The call is out for all of us do what we can to help Dave. If you are in the area, stop by and have one of Dave’s good hamburgers, tell others about the Blue Star Deli.

Call KSKY radio’s Mike Gallagher, KLIF’s Jeff Bolton and John David Wells, all who have had broadcasts at the Blue Star Deli, to ask their listening audience to support Dave.

Let’s all do what we can to keep Dave in business.

U.S Border Watch will be sending a check to Mr Mooney, and we encourage everyone else to send him a few bucks. Five or ten dollars in a restaurant business is a lot of money. We must help those who have put their business on the line to help our cause. Below is the address and web site for the Blue Star Deli, and if you are in the area drop in and thank this fine Patriot for his support and have a burger.

Blue Star Deli
14724 Webb Chapel Rd.
Farmers Branch, TX 75234
http://www.bluestardeli.com/
Ph. 972-247-8681

U.S.Border Watch1-800-759-0948
http://www.usborderwatch.com/

Dearest Readers, if you have a few bucks jingling around in your pockets, or a blank check just begging to be filled out, I submit that you might find it in your hearts to send them to the above address in care of Mr. Dave Mooney.

It is clear that Miami is a foregone conclusion; the rest of the United States doesn't have to be that way, because we still have the power to organize and support true Americans throughout this great nation of ours.

• This country of mine doesn't belong to Mexico.
• It doesn't belong to Cuba.
• It doesn't belong to Islam.

This country belongs to real Americans who obey its laws, speak the English language, assimilate into its culture and respect its borders. Period.

I'll be mailing my check on Monday. For $100.



BZ

Greatest Guitarists

(Once again I am tired of politics. . .)

Who are your "greatest guitarists"? They can be electric, they can be acoustic.

Your list can include not only what you consider to be the best guitarists, but your favorites as well? And why?

I have my own:

1. Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath)

2. Robert Fripp (King Crimson, solo)

3. David Gilmour (Pink Floyd, solo)

4. Leo Kottke (solo acoustic)

5. Jimi Hendrix (JH Experience, solo)

6. Bill Nelson (Be Bop Deluxe, solo)

7. Phil Manzanera (Roxy Music, 801, solo)

8. Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser (Blue Oyster Cult)

9. Neil Young (CSNY, Crazy Horse, solo)

10. Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin, solo)

11. Billy F. Gibbons (ZZ Top)

12. Wino (The Obsessed, Spirit Caravan)

13. Dimebag Darrell (Pantera, shot & killed in 2004)

14. Pete Townsend (The Who, solo)

15. Andy Summers (The Police, solo)

16. Robin Trower (Procol Harum, solo)

17. Leslie West (Mountain, West Bruce & Laing, solo)

18. Rod Price (Foghat, solo)

19. John Fogerty (Creedence Clearwater Revival, solo)

20. Alex Lifeson (Rush)

A few notations:

1. Tony Iommi: (59, UK) this man plays his guitar "backwards" (frets with his right hand, picks left). In an industrial accident at the age of 18 on his last day of work in a sheet metal factory, he lost the tips of the middle and ring fingers of his right hand. Despite that, after attempting to learn to play right-handed, Iommi strung his guitars with extra-light strings (using banjo strings, which were a lighter gauge than even the lightest guitar-strings of the time) and wore plastic covers over the two damaged fingers. He fashioned the latter himself, by melting washing-up liquid bottles into a ball and then using a soldering iron to make holes into this ball, putting his fingers in whilst the plastic was still soft enough to be shaped. He then trimmed and sanded away the excess plastic to leave himself with two 'thimbles, which he then covered with leather, to provide better grip on the strings. Subsequent tips have been custom-made.

Iommi is "credited" with coming up with, according to many of his peers and newest guitarists, "every good riff that ever existed." I completely concur. Iommi is the KING of EVERY good heavy metal riff.

2. Robert Fripp: (61, UK) Fripp is an artist who learned his guitar in order to unlearn it. He is a precisionist of the first order and customarily known for "sitting down" on an on-stage stool when others were moving about frenetically. He pushed heavily for the right of artists to "own" their own works, flying in the face of common practice, and developed Discipline Records and Discipline Global Mobile in order to enable musical artists of all kinds to own what it was that they created by the sweat of their labors. Fripp, from England, is still performing wonderfully with King Crimson.

3. David Gilmour: (61, UK) Gilmour is probably my favourite guitarist in terms of structure and intonation. He's not particularly fast; he's just particularly good. His newest solo venture, On An Island, is highly recommended.

4. Leo Kottke: (61, US) My only acoustic choice, Kottke's guitars are often tuned unconventionally; early in his career he heavily utilized open tunings, while in recent years he has used more traditional voicings but often detunes his guitars as many as two full steps below standard tuning.

Kottke also sings occasionally in baritone. In the early 1980s, Kottke began to suffer from painful tendonitis and related nerve damage caused by his vigorous and aggressive picking style (particularly on the 12-string guitar). As a result, he changed his picking style to a classical style, using the flesh of his fingertips and increasingly small amounts of fingernail rather than fingerpicks, and changing the positioning of the right hand which places less stress on the tendons.

5. Jimi Hendrix: (died 1970, age 27, US) Unconventional, self-taught, the initial King of Feedback, Hendrix was thought to have been influenced by Pete Townsend. He headlined Woodstock on August 18th, 1969. He was paid $18,000 for his appearance -- more than any other artist. He played his rather famous version of the Star Spangled Banner there. He died on September 18th of 1970, in bed after drinking wine and taking nine Vesperax sleeping pills, then asphyxiating on his own vomit.

I suppose I could keep going but it's time for you to weigh in: who do you believe are the greatest guitarists? I've leaned on the electric side; time for more acoustic choices. . .

BZ

Benchmark

This has escaped me until now.

I've been blogging since June of 2004. Here is my first post. Here is an early post I actually like, about Bill Clinton.

Three years seem to have passed in the veritable blink of an eye.

So many things have changed since that time. So many things that are, in fact, completely remarkable. Things that could only have occurred in the United States of America.

I find it completely astounding that I managed, as an Digital Idiot, to create a blog in Blogger. And that, whatever it is that I have managed or not managed to create or proffer in those three years, my blog and my posts are still read and, according to NZ Bear, I am an Adorable Rodent in the TTLB Ecosystem.

Astounding beyond astonishment!

I am a self-admitted HTML idiot; my thanks go both to Texas Fred and to Robert from American & Proud for their assistance with the technical updating of my blog. I have but the competence (just ask Robert!) to screw up something as simple as replicating blogrolls; perhaps too much vodka?

Here is why America is great:

• I have a blog -- an outlet for my thoughts;
• My blog is actually read by people;
• This method of expression has not limited me in any way;
• I have posted my true thoughts;
• My blog is not in keeping with Liberalism;
• And yet:
• I have not been removed from the internet;

And moreover, for all of this, I have not paid ONE CENT.

I have done this, courtesy of Blogger, completely FOR FREE.

Three years gone.

Amazing.

Completely amazing.

How time flies.

Thanks, everyone, for sticking with me on this astonishing journey.

BZ

The Government Will Live Your Life For You

I suppose in many ways the Left, in concert with the Enviros, would have us all living our lives in ways similar to these:

• Clustered together in urban areas only;
• Stacked in multi-story vertical buildings with the smallest possible footprint;
• Walking only to our destinations or to Public Transit;
• Public Transit being the only way to move about in greater distances;
• No personal vehicles;
• No guns, no weapons, no knives, no sharp objects;
• No competitive sports for leisure;
• No competition in our jobs;
• No meat whatsoever in our diets;
• State-approved foods only;
• Only "natural" foods produced by workers in pre-approved working conditions in pre-approved nations and economies under stress-free and non-conflict agrarian areas;
• No liquor, no nicotine;
• Maximum number of calories allowed daily;
• Compulsory governmental healthcare, nothing privatized;
• Every public movement monitored by camera and microphone;
• Daily updated list of proscripted words and phrases;
• The general elimination of privatization;
• No outward or visible support of religion or belief system, particularly Christianity or Judaism, save for:
  

-- Atheism

-- Islam

-- Buddhism

-- Hinduism

-- Gaia

-- Wicca

-- New Age

-- Scientology

I could go on and on, but I'd be doing so at the expense of my point; to wit:

In the United Kingdom & Europe:

LONDON (Reuters) - A "fat tax" on salty, sugary and fatty foods could save thousands of lives each year, according to a study published on Thursday.

And:

Police officers in the UK are to be given head-mounted video cameras to film incidents and arrests, the footage of which can then be used in evidence.

And:

Fast, powerful cars within a few years may be outlawed in Europe, an idea that has been raised ostensibly because Ferraris and Porsches produce too much carbon dioxide. For those who abhor sports cars as vulgar symbols of affluence (along with vacation homes, furs and fancy jewelry), such a ban could be a two-fer: Saving the planet while cutting economic inequality.

In the United States:

(New Jersey- WABC, July 11, 2007) - A New Jersey senator wants to make it illegal to sell or give to anyone under age 18 toy guns that look so realistic they can be mistaken for a real firearm.

And yet, despite the Left wanting us to be crammed like hamsters into crowded urban areas, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is proposing a "Congestion Plan" or "Congestion Pricing" that would add taxes to residents,

(CBS/AP) NEW YORK Mayor Michael Bloomberg's plan to charge motorists fees to drive into the most congested parts of Manhattan got a powerful boost on Wednesday from former President Clinton.

Or another plan:

One idea some lawmakers think should be fully examined is something you might call "first number keeps you out." If your license plate begins with a "1" you would be barred from the central business district on the first, 11th, 21st and 31st of the month. If "2" is the first number you are barred on the 2nd 12th and 22nd -- and so on.

Would it shock and appall you to think that many Leftists want it both ways: crush you into zones, keep you from traveling into those zones?

And, the Left wants you skinny and not fat, except when it doesn't want you too skinny.

We are well on our way to being coddled, manipulated, scolded, harried, nannied, "protected for our own collective good," meaned, averaged, feminized, milktoasted, monitored, watched, "managed" like a UPS package, hounded and arrested for things that we, now, take for granted.

Anyone remember Brave New World? 1984? The movie THX1138?

Guess what . . . ?

BZ

Embracing

Many Democrats and Liberals advocate our embracing of those from without our borders. This appears to be a blanket embracement excluding any and all real world experiences.

Recently there was a LARGE conflagration (called the Angora Fire) not far from my area in the Sierra Nevada Mountains; a good portion of South Lake Tahoe in Fornicalia went up in flames due to an illegal camp fire. In this vein, to influence my feelings regarding illegal immigrants:

From Hyscience.com:

As though there weren't already a plethora of reasons to totally reject the Senate's scamnesty bill for illegal aliens and begin anew by strictly enforcing the immigration laws that we have on the books now - the one's that the Bush administration has completely ignored except for the occasional selective enforcement for spin purposes, here's yet another reason to do so, a situation caused by illegal aliens and their smugglers in which U.S. Forest Service firefighters sent in to battle fires or clear wild-land fire areas are required to be escorted by armed law-enforcement officers: Illegals light border fires to sidetrack U.S. agents .

Yes, you read that correctly: illegal Mexicans are lighting whatever tinder they can to create fires for diversionary tactics so they can cross into this country.

BZ

New to the BZ "Usual Suspects" List!

Two new members to the BZ "Usual Suspects" list -- and two inductees of whom I've only read once, which is remarkably rare here.

First Up To Bat:

Burkean Reflections by Donald Douglas

Self-described:

I am a pro-victory Associate Professor of Political Science teaching in Long Beach, California. I love the United States of America, and I fully support current U.S. military operations around the world. I despise the hard-left radical agenda and discourse. I'm also bothered by irrationalism in argumentation. I welcome comments, but in debating I'll defend my positions vigorously. But in friendship, you'll find no one more dignified, trustworthy, nor loyal.

An actual American Educator who leans just perhaps the slightest bit to the Right? I can't blogroll you fast enough, sir.

Welcome aboard and, please, frequent the blog of Mr. Douglas!

Second Up To Bat (by way of Ranando):

Fleeting Perusal by Serendip:

At the top of the blog: "If you label me, you negate me."

This blog features some shockingly sensible posts, with a Middle Eastern slant, from a perspective somewhat removed from what would normally assume from this region. Go here now; you might find yourself slapped in the face with such refreshing views from someone who, to my mind, has someone's crosshairs placed on his or her forehead, sadly. . .

Welcome aboard to my two newest Usual Suspects!

Please visit them daily!

BZ

Simplicity

Success is simple.

And simplicity = success.

People don't want a gadget that requires a 340-page manual written, poorly, by someone closeted in Taiwan and unfamiliar with the English language;

We want:

• Something that does precisely what it promises;
• Something that defines itself simply;
• Something that, in practical use, is in itself intuitive;
  

I have two recent examples; one I have personally experienced and one of which I only read reviews and testimony.

First:

From Tivoli Audio, my Tivoli Audio PAL Radio:

I wanted a compact but professional radio that I could install into my wife's house whilst writing and investigating websites for potential posts on BZ.com. I like to listen to (imagine this) talk radio whilst writing posts.

I have a Bose Acoustic Wave player at home which has managed to replace a formerly-extensive stereo system to include a 500-watt amp, preamp, a set of massive JBL speakers and the like. The $1,100 dollar Wave is now a stand-alone system and it is all that I need. It picks up my FM stations just fine; AM stations cannot be found up here in the mountains. So I listen to many CDs and certain FM stations. The Bose is a great radio.

For my wife's house, I chose the Tivoli Audio PAL (Portable Audio Laboratory) radio. It is remarkably compact (6 1/4" high by 3 3/4" wide) and remarkably SIMPLE.

It offers only THREE dials. The first is a large tuner for both AM and FM stations. The lower left dial is a selector for AM, FM and Off. The lower right dial is for volume. Below these dials is a single speaker covered by round metal mesh.

Period.

The radio works off either rechargeable batteries or by an outlet plug, both provided.

It is also covered in a rubberized and colored exterior with extendable FM antenna and top side insets for easy grabbing.

You can plug headphones into this radio, or any MP3 player (via aux jack), and the radio carries a standard 1-year warranty.

Results? The speaker sounds clear, rich, deep, with excellent volume levels. Frankly, it has absolutely excellent sound.

$200 through Tivoli; $150 through Amazon.com.

Apple iPhone:

Again, many people make reference to this gadget's simplicity. Its reliability and functionality have yet to be ultimately proven but, at this juncture, it is receiving rave reviews.

For its SIMPLICITY.

Simplicity and, in my opinion, clarity is always best.

BZ