Michael Steele, New RNC Chairman

I realize I'm a bit late to the RNC Chairman info dance, but I should care to discuss a few items about former Maryland Lt. Governor Michael Steele.

First, just this past Wednesday, January 28th, I wrote:

Plus, allow me to add this little tidbit: it is hinted that the GOP is going to go again with Robert "Mike" Duncan as RNC Chairman.

Uh, like he did so wonderfully this past year?

One more time, I will put you on notice, RNC: just when I was thinking about donating again, if you leave Hunter in place and refuse to install new blood in the form of, say, Michael Steele, you can kiss any future cash from me quite fare-thee-well.

There HAS to be a change, GOP and, right now, I'm not much impressed.

If you wish to know more about Michael Steele, please go here.

And Mr. Steele does not arrive without some controversy. DELBs (Defeatist, Elitist Leftist Blacks) already put Steele in their gunsights way back in 2005 when The Black Commentator placed both Steele and Ken Blackwell in a racist and disgusting blackface and then wrote:

Uncle Tom. Sellout. Race traitor. Minstrel. Self-hater. Sambo.

African Americans, who have known for centuries that living, breathing, groveling, shuffling characters walk among us who actually match these caricatures, have been put on notice that it is taboo to point out the obvious.

The latest Dem/GOP/corporate assault on Black internal political autonomy targeted The News Blog, operated by Black New Yorker Steve Gilliard. Gilliard altered a photo of Maryland’s Black Republican Lt. Governor, Michael S. Steele, a candidate for U.S. senator, to conform more closely to the historical archetype that Steele’s reflexive subordinate behavior most resembles. “Simple Sambo wants to move to the big house," read the caption under what Gilliard had made to look like a flyer for Steele’s one-man minstrel show.

And so goes life for any OTW (Other Than White) adherer to Conservative ideals because, after all, Demorats fervently believe that it isn't about truly embracing all diversity; it's only about embracing those "minorities" who are properly and only rigidly aligned with Leftism and Socialism.

In response at the time, Bob Parks on Black and Right wrote:

Black Democratic leaders in Maryland say that racially tinged attacks against Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele in his bid for the U.S. Senate are fair because he is a conservative Republican. Such attacks against the first black man to win a statewide election in Maryland include pelting him with Oreo cookies during a campaign appearance, calling him an "Uncle Tom" and depicting him as a black-faced minstrel on a liberal Web log.

“Operatives for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) also obtained a copy of his credit report -- the only Republican candidate so targeted.

“But black Democrats say there is nothing wrong with "pointing out the obvious. There is a difference between pointing out the obvious and calling someone names," said a campaign spokesman for Kweisi Mfume, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate and former president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.”

So there you go.

The first black RNC Chairman, a former Lt. Governor of an entire state, is a traitor to his race, an Uncle Tom, a trembling toady, a sniveling jackanape -- because he doesn't align himself with the Traditional Party of Victims: Demorats.

I'll take Steele. He's no victim.

Mike Duncan? Who knew him? Moreover, who cared?

So: I'll be cutting initial (but much smaller) checks, once again, to the RNC.

I'm predicating larger checks upon some embracement of true Conservatism.

Ball's in your court now, RNC.

BZ

Commander Kirk Lippold, USN, Is Correct

Once the Captain of the USS Cole (damaged by terrorists whilst at anchor in Aden harbor, Yemen, on October 12th of 2000), Commander Kirk Lippold, USN retired, made a statement on Friday, January 30th, that hammered a Rivet of Truth into the already-damaged hull of President Obama's Ship of Defeatism regarding Guantanamo:

We shouldn't make policy decisions based on human rights and legal advocacy groups," retired US navy Commander Kirk Lippold said in a telephone interview.

"We should consider what is best for the American people, which is not to jeopardize those who are fighting the war on terror - or even more adversely impact the families who have already suffered losses as a result of the war."

Further:

Yesterday, Lippold called Pohl's decision "a victory for the 17 families of the sailors who lost their lives on the USS Cole over eight years ago."

Why this comment and why now? From the Miami Herald:

The chief judge of the Guantánamo war court Thursday spurned a presidential request to freeze the military commissions, and said he would go forward with next month's hearing for an alleged USS Cole bomber in a capital terror case.

Abd el Rahim al Nashiri, a Saudi Arabian, faces a Feb. 9 arraignment on terror charges he helped orchestrate the October 2000 al Qaeda suicide bombing that killed 17 U.S. sailors off the coast of Yemen.

Nashiri is now held at the remote U.S. Navy base in southeast Cuba after years of CIA detention in which the agency has confirmed it waterboarded him in secret custody.

"On its face, the request to delay the arraignment is not reasonable," the judge, Army Col. James Pohl, wrote in his three-page ruling denying a prosecution request to delay Nashiri's first court appearance.

So, President Obama stymied already? Sorry to report, apparently: yes.

BZ

Time To Negotiate

With terrorists. Says President Barack Hussein Obama.

For his first-ever televised interview, Mr. Obama decided he would grace Saudi-owned, Dubai-based Al-Arabiya news channel television with this honor. Did he then utilize this opportunity as a bully pulpit to point out the obvious: Iran's misogynistic and homophobic death culture, their insane ways, their lies regarding history and Israel, their insistence on producing nuclear weapons in the most unstable cauldron in the world -- absent Pakistan/India?

Uh, no.

Now:

Officials of Barack Obama's administration have drafted a letter to Iran from the president aimed at unfreezing US-Iranian relations and opening the way for face-to-face talks, the Guardian has learned.

Even before this letter has been sent, however, Iran fires back and sets their own mandates to be met:

Saeed Leylaz, a Tehran-based analyst, said a US letter would have to be accompanied by security guarantees and an agreement to drop economic sanctions. "If they send such a letter it will be a very significant step towards better ties, but they should be careful in not thinking Tehran will respond immediately," he said.

Nothing like lending even more credence, veracity and acknowledgment to a terrorist political national power bent on eradicating Israel and every Western nation.

Excellent start, Mr. Obama. You'll soon discover Iran will honor all agreements and only have your best interests at heart, cheerfully setting Islamism aside for the greater goal of peace.

BZ

"Stimulus" Package?

Where, I ask, in the $1 TRILLION dollar package (to acquire a vote today!), is the "stimulus" in the $4.19 BILLION dollars proposed for ACORN? If ACORN gets this money, it is nothing more than a sure-fire way to profligate not only more and more Demorats, but more persons with outstretched hands.

And, since this proposed stimulus package mostly doesn't, is everyone aware that ANOTHER stimulus package is already being pushed?

And if anyone is serious about a true stimulus as opposed to a proposal rife with pork ($200 million for the beautification of the National Mall, including $21 million for sod; over $200 million for contraceptives and the abortion industry; $650 million for digital TV coupons; $136 billion for the creation of at least 32 new government programs – as Representative Boehner’s website explains, more than a third of H.R.1’s spending provisions would go towards growing the government—not the economy; $600 million for new cars for the federal bureaucrats; $50 million for the National Endowment of the Arts; $6 billion for colleges and universities; $300 billion to bail out state governments; increased spending on over 150 different federal programs; $335 million for for sexually transmitted disease education and prevention programs), why not enable the obvious (which is screaming to be considered): tax breaks for the middle class and business? Oh no no no, can't consider that -- a tax break for business only benefits tyrannical white male oppressors -- despite the fact that small business employs most of the persons in this country -- and we can't give hope or reprieve to those persons on whom we must count for government's bailout: the basic taxpayer.

Then, on the other hand, in the midst of all this, the really serious issues must be considered, like the Demorat petition to censor Rush Limbaugh, which has conveniently been placed online. Now that's one helluva priority, majority party.

The GOP can't be left out of this equation, so they became offended when, on his show, Limbaugh said President Obama is “obviously more frightened of me than he is Mitch McConnell. He's more frightened of me, than he is of, say, John Boehner, which doesn't say much about our party."

Sorry if the truth happens to wound.

Perhaps this is a time to reiterate from my prior post: 1) Alinsky's Rules #5, 6, 8, 10 and 12; -- and 2) Goebbels quote of "It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”

Finally, I should like to observe: whilst researching this post about the stimulus package, I attempted to acquire the NRCC (National Republican Congressional Committee) website for insight. The problem was, I couldn't go anywhere on that site without first taking a survey and then mandatorily submitting my e-mail address and zip code. Oh, I take it back: I could go one other place on the site -- I could click on DONATE.

Let me be blunt: you are making no, and I mean no friends, GOP, when you set up a home page where it is crystal clear that all you want is an e-mail address for more cash demands. Contributions to you, NRCC? No. Not when you play that little trick.

Plus, allow me to add this little tidbit: it is hinted that the GOP is going to go again with Robert "Mike" Duncan as RNC Chairman.

Uh, like he did so wonderfully this past year?

One more time, I will put you on notice, RNC: just when I was thinking about donating again, if you leave Hunter in place and refuse to install new blood in the form of, say, Michael Steele, you can kiss any future cash from me quite fare-thee-well.

There HAS to be a change, GOP and, right now, I'm not much impressed. Complaining about Limbaugh? Give me a break.

Do your jobs.

BZ

Masters of Puppets

If there's one thing upon which we should generally agree with regard to the two-party political system in America, it's this:

• The Demorats know how to communicate;
• The Republicans do not.

GOP command of verbal and written communication ended with Ronald Wilson Reagan. And was found resolutely wanting under our 43rd president.

William Jefferson Clinton was a Master at communications, not just in terms of press releases, agenda, schedule, the media in all its forms, but his personal aura as well. He was crafted, shaped, formed, presently charismatic, purposeful in every event. Yes, WJC has come unwound in his dotage but, during his prime years, he was a Sun Tzu Master. It was once said of WJC: "he could stop for a moment, clasp your hand, look directly into your eyes, and make you feel like you were the only person in the room." Master, indeed.

Likewise, Barack Hussein Obama is a Master at communications but is even more crafted and custom-created than his predecessor (for whom he owes a great debt of gratitude). Barack Hussein Obama will forever be remembered and associated with his TelePrompTer speeches -- as opposed to any forced, instant or extemporaneous sessions which were, ahem, uh, eh, um, not so impressive.

Perhaps it's time to tear a page from the Obama Playbook, wherein he embraces radical Leftist Saul Alinsky -- mentor of both the Clintons and Obamas. Michelle Obama, for example, has already quoted Alinsky in her vaunted August 25th DNC Convention speech of last year.

Saul Alinsky's Rules For Radicals.

They include:

RULE 1: "Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have."

Power is derived from 2 main sources - money and people. "Have-Nots" must build power from flesh and blood. (These are two things of which there is a plentiful supply. Government and corporations always have a difficult time appealing to people, and usually do so almost exclusively with economic arguments.)

RULE 2: "Never go outside the expertise of your people."

It results in confusion, fear and retreat. Feeling secure adds to the backbone of anyone. (Organizations under attack wonder why radicals don't address the "real" issues. This is why. They avoid things with which they have no knowledge.)

RULE 3: "Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy."

Look for ways to increase insecurity, anxiety and uncertainty. (This happens all the time. Watch how many organizations under attack are blind-sided by seemingly irrelevant arguments that they are then forced to address.)

RULE 4: "Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules."

If the rule is that every letter gets a reply, send 30,000 letters. You can kill them with this because no one can possibly obey all of their own rules. (This is a serious rule. The besieged entity's very credibility and reputation is at stake, because if activists catch it lying or not living up to its commitments, they can continue to chip away at the damage.)

RULE 5: "Ridicule is man's most potent weapon."

There is no defense. It's irrational. It's infuriating. It also works as a key pressure point to force the enemy into concessions. (Pretty crude, rude and mean, huh? They want to create anger and fear.)

RULE 6: "A good tactic is one your people enjoy."

They'll keep doing it without urging and come back to do more. They're doing their thing, and will even suggest better ones. (Radical activists, in this sense, are no different that any other human being. We all avoid "un-fun" activities, and but we revel at and enjoy the ones that work and bring results.)

RULE 7: "A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag."

Don't become old news. (Even radical activists get bored. So to keep them excited and involved, organizers are constantly coming up with new tactics.)

RULE 8: "Keep the pressure on. Never let up."

This should actually be RULE NUMBER ONE for the GOP. Keep trying new things to keep the opposition off balance. As the opposition masters one approach, hit them from the flank with something new. (Attack, attack, attack from all sides, never giving the reeling organization a chance to rest, regroup, recover and re-strategize.)

RULE 9: "The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself."

Imagination and ego can dream up many more consequences than any activist. (Perception is reality. Large organizations always prepare a worst-case scenario, something that may be furthest from the activists' minds. The upshot is that the organization will expend enormous time and energy, creating in its own collective mind the direst of conclusions. The possibilities can easily poison the mind and result in demoralization.)

RULE 10: "If you push a negative hard enough, it will push through and become a positive."

This is the Primary Rule taken from the book of the Third Reich's Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels, who said: " Violence from the other side can win the public to your side because the public sympathizes with the underdog. (Unions used this tactic. Peaceful [albeit loud] demonstrations during the heyday of unions in the early to mid-20th Century incurred management's wrath, often in the form of violence that eventually brought public sympathy to their side.)

RULE 11: "The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative." Never let the enemy score points because you're caught without a solution to the problem. (Old saw: If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem. Activist organizations have an agenda, and their strategy is to hold a place at the table, to be given a forum to wield their power. So, they have to have a compromise solution.)

RULE 12: "Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it." Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions. (This is cruel, but very effective. Direct, personalized criticism and ridicule works.) This worked, in concert with other devices, against Bush.

Joseph Goebbels said at Nuremberg in 1934: "Propaganda is a means to an end. Its purpose is to lead the people to an understanding that will allow it to willingly and without internal resistance devote itself to the tasks and goals of a superior leadership."

Goebbels' other major quote is: “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” See Rule 10. Great article about the concepts of propaganda here.

See any past, current and/or stated future Demorat tactics in play from that last statement, perchance?

The Republicans are and have been, essentially, too faint of heart. Politics is a Blood Sport and it is all about taking charge of your communications and defining yourself, removing that power from your opponent.

All in all, recently, the Demorats have simply communicated more effectively.

Take note, GOP and Conservatives.

BZ

Sunday Reflections

I suspect this post might just find itself wending all over the map; my apologies up front. It's been one of those weeks leading to one of those weekends. At this point I don't know if I'll insert politics or not. I'm just typing as I insert text into the Blogger "create post" screen. Who knows where this will go? I myself do not.

First, the rain has visited for the past four days straight and that, for me, has been absolutely glorious. There are persons who are overtly influenced by the weather, and most people want to live in a warmer, sunnier climate. I hate the heat and, in Fornicalia, I hate the summer.

I am one of those odd fellows who enjoys a good rainy day, darker skies, colder tempertures, fog and such. Some people hate Seattle for its rain. I could easily live there. Better yet, on my honeymoon my wife and I visited Astoria, Oregon. I could even more easily live in Astoria -- say, in retirement. Rainy. Cold. Adjacent the ocean and the massive Columbia River. Watching massive ships wind towards and from Portland through the channel.

There's a lovely fire in the stove right now as I listen to the rain slide off the metal roof of my cabin and pound the deck in sheets. Throughout all this, the fog is creeping up and out of the Bear River canyon; I'm watching it swirl through my property and up the street. Ahhh. Now that's relaxing and mesmerizing, both at once.

Earlier today, I caught a Union Pacific train making its way from a local siding onto the mainline track towards Donner Pass in the fog.

A retreat. That's what this is. My cabin in the mountains is most definitely a retreat. A place where I can release my tensions, where I can bask in the surrounding serenity of the rain, of the snow, of the fog. The closer I get, when going up The Hill at the end of the week, I can literally feel my shoulders lower, my muscles unbunch, my jaw unclench. It's my weekly release.

Everyone needs their own release mechanism. Their own individual way of dealing with the stressors of the past week. This cabin is my release mechanism.

Yes, it's more "primitive" than living in certain denser population corridors. I get no cell reception. My only source of TV is via satellite. My internet access is dial-up. The summer fire season scares me shitless. I don't have sewer access, I have a leach field. I have to shovel snow off my deck every winter and, at my advancing age, I don't know how much longer I can continue to do this. I've lost power for two weeks at a time, had a fallen tree kill my power and phone lines, had to spend $5,000 to professionally fell a massive redwood on my property which threatened the cabin.

I've had cars strike my fence, back into it, limbs from trees smash my windows, falling snow and ice dent my brand new RAV-4. I've had CalFire write me up for failing to limb my trees. Falling needles and brush once clogged my property and I usually spend at least $500 per year to clear undergrowth and needles. The house has never been air-conditioned. It is heated with propane and the wood stove.

And yet: I love this cabin completely.

Now let me give you the positives.

In the place where I live (you couldn't even call it a town; the population is around 300), the Postmaster, the B&B operator, the volunteer fire department, the store owner, they all know me by name. I can run up a tab at the store if I want (but I never have). I walk into the post office and the Postmaster just hands me my packages. She chats with me and wishes me well. When I stop for either mail or at the store I always leave the keys in my car; mostly I leave it running if I'm in a rush. Sometimes I've left it running for 15 minutes if I'm engaged in a good conversation. Nobody notices, nobody cares, no one wants to steal it.

During the day, I can hear the trains running up and down The Hill. During the night, I can hear the plaintive horns sounding for various crossings. Occasionally a dog barks.

I hear the wind whisking through the pines. I watch the boughs bend and crouch. The wind sounds exactly like a movie. I can see the startled flashes of lightning then the boom of thunder. I can't hear the freeway some few miles away. I can hear the patter then the storm of rain. In the winter, when temperatures plummet, I can hear the sound of rain diminish. When it becomes totally silent I know: there is snow.

But mostly, what I don't hear is this: I don't hear continuous sirens in the night. I don't hear neighbors fighting. I don't hear the incessant passage of traffic, the bleating of horns. I don't hear cop cars, cop helicopters, cop sirens. I don't hear the beep-beep-beep of backing trash trucks. I don't hear every stupid manic dog in the neighborhood. I don't hear the thump trucks and thump cars of ghetto white, black, Mexican, Asian urbans. I don't hear gunshots.

What I do hear, however, is the English language. Used continuously.

Yes. Some of the few welfare-sloths around me might be dentally-challenged. But they reflect my melanin-count, speak English, work hard as their limited capabilities allow, and are considerate.

I think I finally realize something massive: what I take for granted most urbanites will never experience. And they think me daft and addled. So here's where I have to acknowledge: I am blessed to the point where most persons cannot conceive of my town.

Yes, I freely admit that I am a dying breed. I am not the future of Fornicalia though -- unfortunately -- neither are my nieces and nephew. For they are white.

I've had a good run. No; I've had a great run. I've done things likely 99.99% of the population have never done nor will ever do. I've taken security oaths I can't reveal until 2015 at the earliest. If I make it to 2015 I'll consider that an amazing bonus. I've done things that, upon reflection, even I can't believe.

I've always had a job. I threw newspapers at 3 am. I mowed lawns. I shoveled snow and replaced lightbulbs on 20' ladders. And that's just in my single-digit years. I've worked for 10 radio stations. I took my BA then my Masters. In my late teens I was the Editor for a major 50,000-watt AM radio station and decided what was important in the world. I've programmed an FM radio station. I was the traffic reporter for both AM and PM drive in a major market. I managed to, while working for this major AM station, climb hand-over-hand up the Walnut Grove tower to the point where the RF emitted made my hair screech and my blood boil. I suspect that was the point where, quite frankly, I became sterile. That and the nuclear reactor. An issue with my first wife who wanted kids.

All the while I worked as Photo Editor for my college newspaper during the Patty Hearst days. I lived in San Francisco on California Street so I could qualify for SFPD hiring. I frequented the Plough and Stars on Clement (my all-time favorite Irish bar).

I graduated from CSUS but barely, because college was merely a waypoint. I worked for a security agency which guarded a local nuclear reactor facility. I was told I would be a Captain soon, but left the security business. I stood on the Turbine Deck of said facility and touched the exposed top portion of the turbine. The hair stood up on my head. I also gazed down into the Moon Pool of that nuclear facility. The Moon Pool surrounded the reactor core. I've seen a reactor core. Myself and my colleagues planned and plotted how we'd attack the facility if we were terrorists, even back in the late 70s. No one wanted to listen to us. I got bored. I left.

In the meantime, I became a ridiculously-young Reserve Deputy with my local law enforcement department. I was paired with my first training officer named Hugh McGraw -- a man to whom I owe a major portion of my life.

From there I worked for a coastal Fornicalia sheriff's department, the FBI, for the US Marshals, then again for my current department.

And then, I think an aberration, I got married for the second time and finally, finally, got respect for work and toil and application, with an appreciation that things don't just happen in a relationship. You work on them. And with that follows maturity. My wife, therefore, is a remarkable blessing.

Wow. That's been a journey. And no politics.

This post just drifted where it went.

I suppose those things happen on a Sunday.

BZ

Purposely Bringing Terror To America

Yoni the Blogger spoke on Friday, January 23rd, from Seattle, on the Hugh Hewitt show and stated that, regarding Gitmo and its closure, bringing terrorists to America will result in new domestic terrorists being created by the terrorists brought here -- by dint of the nature of their association with our incarcerated citizens.

And Hugh, unfortunately, shined Yoni on and cut him off.

Yoni Tidi needs to be taken more seriously. And so does the issue of the Guantanamo base closure.

As Reuters points out:

Q: If the detainees are transferred to the U.S. mainland would they have the same rights as other Americans?

A: This was a strong argument made by the Bush administration in opposing a move to the U.S. mainland from Guantanamo. By transferring them to the U.S. mainland, more legal options could be open to detainees to challenge their imprisonment.

This is just, on so many levels, such an incredibly ridiculous move.

These are people who have no central government, who purposely wear no uniform, who purposely have no central administration, who purposely have no central unifying force, who purposely fight as insurgents and terrorists singly and in small numbers, who purposely have no unifying and recognizable flag, elements, graphics, contactable and recognizable singular authority, who purposely insert themselves into the civilian population in order to portray themselves and their surrounding civilians as victims.

Because, of course, these terrorists do nothing but hide behind the skirts of women and the cribs of infants in hopes of enabling their purposes.

They know that, in the venue of open thoughts and courage, they abominably FAIL.

These are persons with whom the Geneva Conventions should NOT even remotely apply.

And for that reason, Gitmo should remain open. Away from American soil and purposely separated from American law.

There are 245 alien combatants involved. Not thousands or even multiple hundreds. This does nothing but enable a pre-9/11 mentality.

If we are "nicer" to terrorists -- of course -- they'll be "nicer" to us.

The ultimate question one must ask: Does this make America safer?

Yes?

If these assholes refuse to play by any rules . . . then why should we?

BZ

Serial Numbers For Ammunition

Civilian Taser units have very small, round markers called "anti-felon serialized ID tags" contained in each cartridge -- so that when a civilian Taser is utilized and the tags are discharged as well (extremely difficult to pick them all up due to size), it can be tracked directly to its registered owner or, if misued, to a "suspect."

Get ready.

There is a push to place serial numbers on individual live rounds of ammunition.

BZ

Tip of the Iceberg

Trust me, ladies and gentlemen: it is just beginning.

The very first day of Barack Hussein Obama's presidency, this occurred:

Crude oil price up, gold down
January 22, 2009 - 7:44AM
Crude oil rose the most in three weeks, following equities higher, on speculation a bank-rescue plan from President Barack Obama will boost financial companies.

March futures also advanced as traders narrowed the differential to later contracts amid rising inventories.

Crude oil for March delivery rose $2.62, or 6.4 per cent, to $43.46 a barrel at the close of floor trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil has fallen 2.4 per cent since the end of December and is 52 per cent lower than a year ago.

Oil prices fell below $34 a barrel on Tuesday, the day Barack Hussein Obama was inaugurated.

Oil prices rose $10 in one day, Wednesday, the first day of the Obama Administration -- predicated upon President Obama's proposal to close offshore drilling once again, do you suppose?

This is just the veritable "tip of the iceberg."

It is already beginning.

Just slightly over half of the American population refused to listen and now you, those responsible for electing Mr. Obama, are about to, literally, begin paying the price.

BZ

P.S.

Caroline Kennedy just withdrew her consideration for Hillary Clinton's former US Senate seat. She states the decision is due to Ted Kennedy's medical condition; I suspect it's instead her vapidity.

Hands Coming To Grope For A Wallet Near You

BZ

P.S.

Thanks to The People's Cube.

The Adults Leave The Table

And the children step to the table.

I feel compelled to violate my decision not to write of the inaugural, as there are some things I want to immure on my blog for this day. I'm uncertain as to how you apply your blog, but occasionally I use mine as a bit of memory-assist for what occurred at a given time.

In retrospect, my feelings are that the adults are leaving the table and the children are stepping to the table, wanting to sit squarely in Grandpa's chair. Their aspirations are admirable but I believe they have not the background or the capability to fill the chair and the boots left behind. Though he holds himself up as the master of change and wishful thinking, Obama's inauguration speech itself was quite singularly lacking in previously-displayed positivism. His facility for speech is and has been, unfortunately, mistaken for wisdom. And he shall likely be predominantly overwhelmed.

I have never been a one-sided cheering squadron for the GOP in the past eight years; sometimes precisely the opposite. I am of the opinion that the Republicans left a great deal of Conservatism behind and President Bush was behind a number of those charges. I'll not entertain a list but to only write that, "when all the political prairie winds were convergent, when the stars were in alignment and the tides proper, the Bush Administration failed to take advantage of a power situation -- and oh yes, Congress as well, they'll not be excused! -- and take this nation to an entirely higher level."

On the other hand, President Bush was most always transparent, and was most always decisive. He certainly failed to base his decisions on the above-mentioned public political prairie winds. He kept this sovereign nation safe since 9/11. I personally know of "events" that could have occurred but, with "applied purpose," did not under his watch. There were, we have to admit, good things done the past eight years. All was not doom.

I wish I could point to a clear and present track of future success for this country. However, in consideration of the history of the Demorats and that of Mr. Obama's past, I cannot help but think this country is in for its greatest challenge. I'll address those challenges on a case-by-case basis and never lose the right to discuss those points. Or perhaps, that in and of itself will be a massive issue of contention if the verbiage of the Demorats comes to even partial fruition.

Though many will chide me, I'll posit this: we'll soon even wish for the return of President Bush.

And surely the stock market would boom directly due to the Barack Hussein Obama inauguration today? Stocks are lower, down 200 points: "The sell-off accelerated after the nation's 44th president gave his inaugural address, which provided few new details about how to tackle the growing financial crisis that has rippled through every sector of the economy." Is this the "change" on which we can count?

Bush was mocked as he took the inaugural podium.

Former President Carter completely ignored former President Clinton, as the two men did not appear to acknowledge each others presence at all during the inauguration. Click link for video.

The swearing-in oath was rife with stumbles. Not a good portent. Video here.

Senator Ted Kennedy was removed from the congressional luncheon in convulsions.

I'll wager he's not the only one, today.

God bless America. We'll need each and every blessing.

BZ

Hamas, Iran: More Dead Israelis Required

Iran is sorry that more Israelis didn't die at the hands of Hamas in Gaza:

Iran has renewed efforts to supply advanced weaponry to Hamas and the IDF is concerned that the terror group will try to smuggle long-range Fajr missiles into the Gaza Strip.

According to the latest intelligence assessments, Iran, which was responsible for writing Hamas's military doctrine, has already launched an internal probe to determine how the plan it had created for Hamas failed to cause more IDF casualties.

Further, Hamas is torturing those Fatah members who may have collaborated with Israel:

Hamas militiamen have rounded up hundreds of Fatah activists on suspicion of "collaboration" with Israel during Operation Cast Lead, Fatah members in the Gaza Strip told The Jerusalem Post on Monday.

They said the Hamas crackdown on Fatah intensified after the cease-fire went into effect early Sunday morning.

The Fatah members and eyewitnesses said the detainees were being held in school buildings and hospitals that Hamas had turned into make-shift interrogation centers.

Fatah, if you recall, is another force on the Palestinian Legislative Council along with Hamas (who has the current majority). Fatah was founded by Yassar Arafat in 1957, and Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority, is the leader of Fatah.

Still and all: "Me against my brother, me and my brother against my cousins; me, my brother and my cousins against our nonrelatives; me, my brother, my cousins and friends against our enemies in the village; all of these and the whole village against the next village."

Bushwack at American & Proud featured a recent post wherein he made a very salient note with regard to Saudi Arabia, now that Gaza has been torn due to the actions of Hamas. He noted that King Abdullah of SA has pledged to donate $1 billion dollars to rebuild the Gaza Strip.

I make two notations, and then an extended comment:

Why did the Gaza Strip have to become decimated before Saudi Arabia stepped up to the plate and, second, why haven't any of the Middle Eastern countries come to the aid of the so-called Palestinians, as I've asked before, and donated land for them to settle away from Israel?

And as I wrote at American & Proud:

Israel HAS quit too soon, that much is clear.

There are days when I feel like bloviating on and on about the history of Israel, the stance of Islam, the nature of the Middle East, divergent philosophies and cultures, and attempt throughout that to toss in at least something of a measure of “understanding,” if you will.

I subscribe to UK’s The Economist magazine and, after reading their January 10th - 16th issue, the article under the LEADERS section, looking at their views (yes, Hamas made mistakes but Israel made at least as many, why can’t we just stop these “foul events”), I became even more galvanized in my thoughts.

And as they so rightly point out, even themselves: “But if you take seriously what Hamas says in its charter, Hamas itself does believe this (the complete elimination of Israel). So does Hizbullah, Lebanon’s ‘Party of God’; and so does a rising and soon perhaps nuclear armed Iran.”

But LEADER concludes that “Israel must show not only that is is too strong to be swept away but also that it is willing to give up the land — the West Bank, not just Gaza — where the promised Palestinian state must stand.”

To this I completely disagree. Look at any map of Israel. To completely abandon Gaza and the West Bank places Israel directly in the middle — AGAIN — of hostile forces and enforces the decision that the only conclusion shall be to eliminate the Middle Man: Israel.

The west simply does not comprehend the Islamist and, more specifically, the Middle Eastern mindset. There is no gray area to be acquired. It is either kill all the Jews, eliminate Israel or nothing. And Islamists will take every step and all the time necessary to acquire that one specific goal. Anything LESS is simply unacceptable.

What is unacceptable is to have ANY Hamas or Hezbollah presence in the West Bank, Gaza or Golan Heights. There can be NO presence anywhere west of the 1994 treaty line.

And to accomplish that, there must be a continued press into all three of these areas, simultaneously, to root out and kill Hamas, Hezbollah and any other terrorist organization — who will STILL continue to hide behind the skirts of women and the bibs of infants.

If that is how they wish to play the game, then civilian casualties simply factor into the equation.

So be it.

BZ

Sentences of Border Patrol Agents Ramos and Compean Commuted

I'm sorry, but to me this reeks of toying with the families of these men, and it does not possess the waft of true sincerity. Methinks this was a very last minute "oh, what the hell," on the part of President Bush.

Granted, we must take what we can get with regard to the mistreatment of these two men -- as contrasted to our treatment of Illegal Invaders to this country. Citizens vs. non-citizens.

However, I should care to define a commuted sentence, and executive clemency:

Commutation:

commutation n. the act of reducing a sentence resulting from a criminal conviction by the executive clemency of the Governor of the State, or President of the United States in the case of federal crimes. This is not the same as a pardon which wipes out the conviction or the actual or potential charge (as when President Gerald R. Ford pardoned ex-President Richard M. Nixon even without charges having been officially made--a rare instance). A pardon implies either that the conviction was wrong, that there has been complete rehabilitation of the party, or that he/she has lived an exemplary life for many years and deserves to have his/her name cleared in old age. Commutation implies the penalty was excessive or there has been rehabilitation, reform, or other circumstances such as good conduct or community service. Commutation is sometimes used when there is evidence that the defendant was not guilty but it would prove embarrassing to admit an outright error by the courts. (See: executive clemency, pardon)

Executive Clemency:

executive clemency n. the power of a President in federal criminal cases, and the Governor in state convictions, to pardon a person convicted of a crime, commute the sentence (shorten it, often to time already served), or reduce it from death to another lesser sentence. There are many reasons for exercising this power, including real doubts about the guilt of the party, apparent excessive sentence, humanitarian concerns such as illness of an aged inmate, to clear the record of someone who has demonstrated rehabilitation or public service, or because the party is a political or personal friend of the Governor.

To me, the singular point is that President Bush believed the USBP agents were in fact guilty and deserving of their punishment. Many persons were rallying for Mr. Bush to become involved in commutation from the very first day of the sentences. Yet, he chose to wait until his very last day in office for commutations.

For a man who has heretofore shown much consideration and even love to the warriors who fight for this country, I think it shameful that he could not find it within his heart to lend more consideration to those who fight on our borders. The border forces, both civil and military, strive to accomplish the same set of goals as those who fight in far-off lands: to keep this country safe. The difference being, Ramos and Compean -- oddly enough, both of Mexican stock themselves -- were tasked with keeping our nation safe domestically. Does this make the task any less daunting, any less important? I think not.

While I will agree that, overall, Mr. Bush kept this country safe since 9/11, I am sorely conflicted about many of his works during the past two terms. I won't rehash what many before me have done, some for a week or more. Nor will I stand up and stick a pin in his likeness. I will say, however, that when all the political prairie winds were convergent, when the stars were in alignment and the tides proper, today's administration failed to take advantage of a power situation -- and oh yes, Congress as well, they'll not be excused! -- and take this nation to an entirely higher level.

It hurts me to say and know that, in truth, when I rail against the recent massive and disporportionate and illogical spending of taxpayer dollars in bailouts and such, the GOP certainly can be said to have blazed that trail.

Good luck, America, come tomorrow.

We all shall certainly need it in every form of every blessing.

BZ

Tuesday And Beyond

BZ

BZ Products?

I made a few prototype mugs from the above logo, handed a couple out to my family. As a brief query, anyone interested in BZ logo stuff?

Here's a photo of one of the mugs. I have five left. Just curiously sticking a digital toe in the water.

BZ

The Powderkeg At Our Border

On December 18th of last year I wrote that Mexico posed the largest immediate threat to United States security.

Forbes magazine also wrote, in part:

This year, through mid-November, there have been 4,300-plus drug-related deaths in Mexico, compared with 2,500 in 2007. Edgar Millán Gómez, who oversaw the joint efforts of the army and federal police, was assassinated in May in his home in Mexico City. Roberto Velasco Bravo, a federal chief of criminal investigations, was shot in the head a week earlier. The narcotraficantes have infiltrated the highest levels of law enforcement, including, allegedly, Mexico's principal link to Interpol and its former senior drug czar. Mexico, once again, is battling the ever powerful gangs. "It has been a fierce bloodbath," says Felipe González González, president of the Senate public security commission and former governor of the central state of Aguascalientes. "We have more dead than you have in Iraq."

A Texas Republican said, about Mexico and the execrable Meridia Initiative:

What about help from the Mérida plan? "The money is going to the wrong side of the border," contends Congressman Ted Poe (R--Tex.). "With the infiltration of law enforcement and so many corrupt officials in Mexico, we don't want that equipment used against us."

More pointedly, because of all this instability, the US military is now warning of a possible massive disintegration of Mexico with, naturally, concomitant dire consequences for America:

EL PASO - Mexico is one of two countries that "bear consideration for a rapid and sudden collapse," according to a report by the U.S. Joint Forces Command on worldwide security threats.

A report from the USJFC places Mexico's instability right alongside that of Pakistan. Ponder that for a moment, if you will. To continue:

The Mexican possibility may seem less likely, but the government, its politicians, police and judicial infrastructure are all under sustained assault and press by criminal gangs and drug cartels. How that internal conflict turns out over the next several years will have a major impact on the stability of the Mexican state. Any descent by Mexico into chaos would demand an American response based on the serious implications for homeland security alone."

Also consider this: how much finger-pointing, sphincter-clenching and butt-covering will ensue should Mexico explode, literally, in our faces? And how much better we'd be had the border fence been created years earlier and our immigration laws actually enforced all along?

This is a powderkeg that is ready to detonate on every level imagineable: politically, economically, societally.

BZ

Double Standard Hypocrisy

PART I: THE TREASURY SECRETARY:

This is "old news" per se, but clearly indicative of where the DEM (Defeatist, Elitist Media) exist on the issue, both now and in the future.

WASHINGTON (AP) - President-elect Barack Obama called disclosures about Treasury choice Timothy Geithner's tax problems an embarrassment Wednesday but said Geithner's "innocent mistake" shouldn't keep him from confirmation as the new administration's top official in urgent efforts to revive the economy.

The revelations that Geithner had failed to pay $34,000 in taxes several years ago derailed Senate Democrats' plans to speed him to confirmation by Inauguration Day, but senators in both parties said the information was unlikely to torpedo his chances in the end.

Obama had hoped for approval by Tuesday, but senators now have scheduled Geithner's confirmation hearing for next Wednesday, with Senate debate and a vote sometime after that.

PART II: THE INAUGURATION:

One Porta-Potty for every 600 persons. That's the kindness you face when you decide to attend The Chosen One's DC inauguration. Green? Not hardly; how about massively brown and yellow?

The UK Mail Online estimates the Obama Inauguration's cost at 110-million British pounds. At today's currency rate, that equals $160.1 million dollars:

Barack Obama's inauguration is set to cost more than £100m making it the most expensive swearing-in ceremony in US history.

Oddly enough (imagine that!), Salon.com bitched about the unprecedented cost for GW Bush's 2005 inauguration:

For the media, simply reporting on the cost of the inauguration proved to be a challenge. Most major outlets stuck to the lower, albeit still unprecedented, figure of $40 million, which the Presidential Inaugural Committee said it hopes to raise from private donors. But a more accurate figure may be $50 million.

So. Evidently an inauguration costing twice that is -- no big deal.

Because, after all, The One is involved.

PART III: FINALLY, PROPS for 2,683:

It is now 2,683 days since 9/11. President Bush has somehow managed to keep this country safe since then. I have to give props where props are due. This is not hypocritical; this is only truth. There were no homicide bombers. There were no mall bombers. There were no backpack tactical nukes detonated on our shores, no CBW weapons. The anthrax bomber (back in 2001) was, it turns out, a domestic scientist who is now dead.

BZ

Briefly, Back to the Coast

A wonderful time indeed, listening to the ground-shaking winter rollers collide with the deep Mendocino County coast. And now, back to the mundane with meetings, politics, more personal trials and tribulations. Click on the photos and enjoy. I'm trying something new; following publishing, I'll see if my trial was successful.

BZ

On The Road Again

And now our adventure ends, for there is an ending to everything under God's heavens.

My apologies for the lack of accompanying photographs, but once I get back to my home town I'll sort through the roughly 200+ photos I took and post some ocean shots.  We were quite fortunate insofar as it appeared to have rained the day we arrived at the ocean, on Thursday the 8th, but the rest of the time it was clear, beautiful and sunny.  The temperatures never did fall below about 50, and the highs were in the 60s. Altogether, a beautiful journey, my wife had a very nice birthday (and I had a very nice surprise!) but, alas, as I write this at 8:45 Monday morning, it is time to leave.

Each time I get here, I find it more and more difficult to leave.  I have gotten to grow quite fond of this very small town of about 4,000 people.  Once a heavy fishing and logging town, those years are far behind though it tries to capitalize on them whenever possible.  It has always managed to endure through hard times and, yet while it has expanded a bit, it has never encountered what one would term an explosion of population.  That is both good and bad.  Good for the residents, bad for its economy.  The town has many shuttered businesses in its downtown area and, with the current economy what it is, the business people are suffering more.  Unemployment is high.  Since now and May of 2008, the last time we visited, even more businesses are gone.  Restaurants have changed although that in and of itself is encouraging.  At least they're not all gone completely.

The town is, in general, liberal in leaning and yet rife with blue collar workers as well.  There still are fishermen left.  There still is a small harbor replete with multiple fishing boats that still fish.  It has a foghorn at the harbor mouth, red and green marker buoys in the channel.  There is a Coast Guard presence for a real purpose.  It is a town packed with real people unlike, in my opinion, its sister tourist town, Mendocino.  Mendocino is, don't get me wrong, a gorgeous and quaint little town.  But, to me, though gorgeous, it's false.  Too cute, unreal.  Everyone on vacation wants to go there and that is fine with me.  

The ocean has its grip on me as well.

As I write, a small black bird stands on the wooden railing along with his pal, a brown seagull.  Both are awaiting whatever I might spare: some bread, maybe a crumpled potato chip.

It the meantime, the waves crash, the rollers coming in a predictable and awesome series, never stopping.  Simply crashing.  Continuously.  It's a stunning and gorgeous sight and I feel I could never tire of the sound.  The waves and the sounds are, to me, hypnotizing, mesmerizing.

I could just sit and watch the ocean, just watch it, listen to it, and never tire of it.

If I had my millions, I'd drop everything I was doing and buy a small home directly adjacent the sea, so I could watch and listen to my friend.

Time to go.  Checkout time is here.  Time to pack the car.

A very heavy sigh, this time.  

An ending.

BZ

Sunday, Sans Photos

And trust me, it kills me to be unable to post photographs as -- naturally -- the Pacific Ocean lends itself to gorgeous photography, packed with saturated colors, foaming and cascading waves blasting the coast at the behest of northern winds.

At this time, I write in our ensconced room on Saturday night, with the deck door open so that we can hear the crashing winter waves.  I captured our sunset with my Sony A300 dSLR.  My wife is watching the first Harry Potter film (like most kids, she could watch every Harry Potter film every day, nonstop, from now to forever) on our portable DVD player whilst I tap out this post on the new PowerBook laptop.  God bless her.  What other wife would give her husband a present on her birthday?  This still befuddles me!

I took her, earlier today, to a local spa that offers any number of massage therapies.  We partook of a 1-hour Thai Herb Salt Scrub directly linked to a 90-minute deep tissue massage, separated by a wonderful and warming double-spray shower.  That equals, in essence, a full 2 1/2 hours of massage and it was -- how shall I write this? -- decadent.

Following that, I took her to a local showing of the Clint Eastwood directed-and-produced movie "Gran Torino."  In my estimation, a shocking and yet very Eastwood-like film.  I was of two minds about the film; photographically and in terms of film stock, casual and almost disappointing.

I say this predicated upon the fact that I would like to see Hollywood hearken back to the days when its film stock was replete with saturation, sharpness, crispness, accentuated colors.

These days, the physical nature of film is, to me, predominantly disappointing.  Too washed out, too little access to the full palette of nature's colors.  Too many purposeful pastels, too many nature colors, too much washed-out stock.  For whatever reason, these days, little thought is apparently given to the film stock utilized on the majority of movies shown.  

And, not knowing if this is a projection issue or an original issue: sharpness is, in general, very poor overall.  The overall experience of a movie suffers.

Or perhaps I am standing in a field all by myself: I would like nothing more than for future films to be sharper, higher in contrast, more saturated with color.

I attend a movie to not precisely experience a slice of dismal life in terms of display; I attend a movie so that it can manipulate me, to include, I should submit, the film stock or the video program as well.

I submit, further: you should attend Gran Torino for, I believe, it's likely to be Clint Eastwood's last captured performance.  At 78-years-of-age, he's made this goal no secret.

The pizza's been delivered.

The waves are crashing.

Time to eat.  Time to get off the internet.

BZ

Entry Into the MAC ZONE

Today is my wife's birthday.  And I write this from a small table adjacent a huge picture window allowing a wondrous view of the Pacific Ocean, on the second floor of a nice motel no more than a hundred yards from pounding ten-to-fifteen foot waves.  

Furthermore, it is written on my new MacBook Pro laptop.

I swore for the past year that I was fit-to-be-tied with the PC world.  I was tired of receiving the continuous Microsoft Message Of Doom, replete with the You'll Never Get Your Shit Back error box, to include the sparks issuing from my HP Pavilion zd8000 laptop with its marvelous 17" screen -- when its very dry keyboard and processor met my very wet glass of Steinlager Classic.

I'd had a Mac IIcx many years ago with its concomitant ImageWriter (which, literally, took about 20 minutes to complete a full page of simple text), purchased in 1987 for $6,000 in Cuptertino, the early home of Apple Computers.  

I was then dragged kicking and screaming out of the Mac world when I received a PC whilst engaged in the Robbery Bureau.  My first PC ever, which utilized the -- dare I admit this? -- dreaded DOS prompt.  Even further back, when I worked for my association as newspaper Editor, that fossilized computer used actual 5" floppy disks which, then, were truly floppy.  Anyone remember those?

Enough of the walk down Memory Lane. 

Now it's time to come to grips with an entirely new operating system, purchased by my wonderful wife and gifted to me on her birthday, if you can possibly feature that!  What an incredible surprise!

I'm not quite sure what year this laptop was manufactured, but I discovered it is the MacBook Pro with the older and coveted 15" matte screen, with the Firewire port.  It came loaded with OS X Leopard 10.5.1.  It also came with iLife, iWork, Aperture, the Aperture 2 upgrade and -- zowee! -- Final Cut Express HD.

I was able to figure out that Safari is the Mac equivalent of Internet Explorer, hence my ability to write this now, also due in part to the motel WiFi connection being recognized immediately upon startup.  

This is huge.  This is astounding.  This is amazing.  My wife never ceases to amaze me.

Boy, am I gonna need help and advice in the Mac Realm.

Anybody else out there use Macs?

BZ

P.S.

Got, of course, some great photos so far, but can't figure out how to get them from the side USB port, into the computer, and then into the posts.  I'm just a Baby Mac User.

Captain America

BZ

Off to the Ocean

It's off to the coast of Fornicalia with BZ, in honor of my wife's 39th birthday.

I've got some posts set up already to "cover my absence," and I hope to post photos when I get to my final destination. She doesn't know, but I've set a suite with an in-room Jacuzzu tub and fireplace, on the top floor, with a direct ocean view. I've also scheduled a 90-minute professional massage.

By the time this post is up, we'll be on the road.

Take care, dear readers, and never forget to tell the ones you love how you feel about them. Life is too damned short.

BZ

Psst: click on the post title.