The Last Ephor

One of the main memes coming from the Left these days is that Bush lied about Iraq having WMD’s. All of the other nations and NGO’s that agreed that Iraq had WMD’s are dismissed as irrelevant. All that matters is that Bush [b]knew[/b] that they did not and went to war, not on bad information but on a lie. First an example of the irrelevant findings of any non-US nation: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3639977.stm Denmark has declassified intelligence reports compiled before the Iraq war which show officials thought Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. In one report, Iraq was thought to have both chemical and biological weapons, as well as an active nuclear programme. Leftists will tell you this didn’t matter b/c Bush knew that the above information was false and the and his Neocon cabal “cherry picked” intelligence to support the conclusion they wanted. Iraq had WMD’s. Now, however, Bob Woodward has a new book out. This complicates matters for the intelle...

Some have called Khaddafi/Quadaffi/The curly haired guy from Lybia's willingness to negotiate as "pre-emptive surrender" there has been much wondering about North Korea. They have violated every agreement they've ever signed before the ink was even dry. In the latest news, they've agreed to let US inspectors into the nuclear facility. See here: http://sg.news.yahoo.com/040102/1/3h0k2.html However, this does not by any means approach the scale of the inspections Lybia is going to allow. Is this truly progress in the "38th parallel problem"? Or just more wiliness from the "Dear Leader"? I vote for the latter. That he's willing to allow us access only tells me there's nothing to see. When there is, they usually hue and cry about the need for compensation for such inspections. Further, there is evidence of late that when Pakistan tested it's first nuclear bomb much of their help was from North Korea. The second explosion several days ...

I've talked about this one before and I contend that not only are the Palestinians waging war against Israel, they are engaging in a proxy war against us. Further, the EU knows this and they are funding this proxy war by giving countless euros to Arafathead and turning a blind eye to how the money is spent. According to this article: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=54963 An MEP from Germany's Green Party said exactly that. The Europeans," explained MP Schroeder, "supported the Palestinian Authority with the aim of becoming its main sponsor, and through this, challenge the U.S. and present themselves as the future global power. Therefore, the Al-Aksa Intifada should be understood as a proxy war between Europe and the United States." "It is an open secret within the European Parliament that EU aid to the Palestinian Authority has not been spent correctly," MP Schroeder said during a recent address in New York. "The European Parlia...

I've added some bolding below for emphasis. Amazing how liberals are always claiming they're in favor of free speech yet as soon as it's a conservative voice they retreat into the notion that they need not protect "hate" speech. We also hear about how authority figures who denounce or decry unpopular speech are having a "chilling effect" that in essence, gags those with unpopular views. We've heard this from the anti-war crowd over and over when they accused Bush of everything up to rounding up dissenters in to Ashcroft's gulags. Yet the science teacher below parodies the student letter and labels them "wingnuts" who "claim to be American." I can only imagine the din from trampling wejuns of the ACLU shock brigades that would sound if this was some teacher talking about "godless communists" who "claimed to be American." A dissenting student hounded for his views By Valerie Richardson THE WASHINGTON TI...

Howard Dean has shown himself to be unfit for the Presidency several times this week. First up, announcing that he'd break up Fox because they are ideologically opposed to him. The gobsmacking hubris of this is just beyond the pale. Don't try and tell me he was joking, he wasn't. I saw the tape. http://www.msnbc.com/news/1000254.asp?cp1=1 [i]MATTHEWS: Well, would you break up GE? (APPLAUSE) DEAN: I can`t -- you... MATTHEWS: GE just buys Universal. Would you do something there about that? Would you stop that from happening? DEAN: You can`t say -- you can`t ask me right now and get an answer, would I break up X corp... ...[/i] [GE owns NBC and MSNBC. But a little later: ] [i]Matthews continued: "Would you break up Fox?" (LAUGHTER) MATTHEWS: I`m serious. DEAN: I`m keeping a... MATTHEWS: Would you break it up? Rupert Murdoch has "The Weekly Standard." It has got a lot of other interests. It has got "The New York Post." ...

On national sovereignty: I've come to the conclusion that tyrannical and non-democratic* nations deserve no sovereignty. Why should we countenance truly evil regimes like Zimbabwe, and North Korea? By what right does a tyrant deserve the protection of international law when they violate it by virtue of its very existence? We do not allow criminals to remain in their houses unmolested because a man’s home is his castle. Certainly we have restraints on the state’s ability to violate the sanctity of one’s home with good reason. However, suppose the man has a piece of property with a fenced in yard and clearly definable boundaries. His tenant is in the back yard talking on the cordless phone. He says he’s forbidden her to talk to certain people on the phone because they are dangerous people who undermine his authority at home. He’s warned her before but she feels it her right to talk to whomever she pleases. He seizes the phone beats the woman and puts her through a show tr...

Censored News Stories of 2003: A Fisking 1. The neoconservative plan for global dominance Indeed, the neocons have had the Persian Gulf in their crosshairs for 30 years now. Ever since the oil crisis of 1976 and the Gulf states' nationalization of their petroleum industries in the years that preceded it, the United States began building up forces in the region – primarily in Saudi Arabia – and strengthening relationships with regional dictatorships. The reasons seem simple: the region holds two-thirds of the world's oil. 1. To say that this has been "censored" is just silly. I"ve heard endless yammering about this very topic from all corners of the media. 2. The author implies that we are going to seize and control the Persian Gulf. If so, why have we not done so? Why not do so now? What are we waiting for? 3. Access to oil is of vital strategic importance to almost every nation on earth. Any nation without access to vital resources will ultim...

OO-RAH!

Courtesy of LGF, some quotes from the "Religion of Peace" Peaceful Religion Watch Once again, we listen to what the spiritual leaders of Islam are saying to the flock. Remember, this is a tiny minority of fanatics preaching a perverted version of Islam’s peaceful message. It’s just a coincidence that they happen to be doing it in the “holiest” cities and the “holiest” mosques of the Islamic world. From Umar Bin-al-Khattab Mosque in Doha, Qatar, on September 19, 2003: "O God, strengthen Islam and Muslims, disappoint infidelity and infidels, destroy the enemies of Islam. O God, grant safety to this country and the other Islamic countries. O God, give success to the Muslims' leaders." He goes on: "O God, support Mujahidin everywhere. O God, help our brothers in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Kashmir, and Chechnya score victory. O God, destroy the unjust Christians. O God, destroy their rule and disperse them. O God, destroy the unjust Jews. O God...

Some humor for a monday: Why didn't Helen Keller scream when she fell off a cliff? She was wearing mittens! An angry woman walks up to the golf course attendant and says, "I just got stung by a bee right between the first and second holes!" The attendant says, "Well Ma'am, I'd reccomend you narrow your stance a bit." The drunk leaves the bar. Ten minutes later the drunk comes back in through the back door. The bartender tells him, "I told you to go home, I'm not serving you anything more, you've had enough, now go home." The drunk leaves again. Ten minutes later the drunk comes back in through a side door. Again, the bartender tells him, "Man, I told you, you're wasted. I'm not serving you anymore, now go home, you've had enough." Again, the drunk leaves. Fifteen minutes later the drunk comes back through another side door. The bartender says, "What the hell is the matter wi...

Let's Ditch Dixie  - The case for Northern secession.  If only.

Ex-spy fingers Russians on WMD I wish we'd heard this before the war started. If we had better SIGINT, ELINT and HUMINT in the region, we never would have been at the game this long. When will the dossier be released?

Lastly, here's one about Bustemente and MEChA. I said they were a hate group and then retracted that after I read some stuff my lefty friend had posted. Now, I'm somwhere in the middle Looks like I spoke to soon. While it does appear benign on its face I do think there are aspects of MECHa that are clearly troubling. It appears as if they're trying to tame their radical beginings or at least be more subtle about their aims. That firebrand rhetoric probably attracted alot of attention in the late 60's, it doesn't sell well today. More than likely there are som chapters and members who are radical sepratist and racist and other who just want to get some money from the school for some social events. I do think Bustamente needs to repudiate their more radical members and explain his views on things like that. He won't, however, because no one is going to ask. Sure as sh!t, he's not going to risk the chardonnay and limosine white liberals by endorsin...

Here's a second post from the same forum but a differen thread. This one is also about CA politics but mostly about left and right and right wing conspiracies Eric (1950 posts) 21-Aug-03, 03:37 AM (EST) "Vast Right Wing Conspiracies" When Hillary C. coined this term, I winced. It was a rather inane statement, and played right into the hands of her detractors. Now, when any criticism is levelled at the right, the pat response is "Oh yes, the vast right wing conspiracy," as if right wingers can do no wrong, and certainly not band together to target a certain individual or cause. Certainly they can do wrong. They do it all the time. However, I very much doubt they have a weekly conference call that organizes the attack strategy and the targets and so on. I seem to remember a number of Democrat talking points coming out of Carville and Blumenthal's offices. Would you consider them part of a vast left wing conspiracy? But that no l...

I've been posting to a forum wherein I've been debating with a lefty from California (where else?) about the nature of the problems California has and the recall effort. My comments are in italics In 2000, the bubble burst. The population continued to increase, but the state began to lose jobs. Revenues declined, but the pressure on infrastructure, social services, and government functions did not. More accurately, Davis increased spending as revenues increased rather than restrain himself. Had he any forethought he would have hedged against a market downturn and acted more responsibly. The problem was aggravated in 2002 when the deregulation of power, worked out behind back doors between a Republican governor and industry pimps, and rolled over all but a handful of Democrats in the legislature with nary a hearing in which consumer or environmental advocates could provide input. The result was a one sided "deregulation" in which prices were artificially ...

Open microphone catches California Democrats talking about prolonging budget crisis Is anyone surprised by this? Not I.

Telegraph | Opinion | How Saudi Arabia spreads terrorism and hatred of the West : "The Bush administration has censored an entire section from the report, detailing the Saudi role in the events leading up to the attacks. These suppressed passages are said to explain how Saudi diplomats provided financial and logistical support for the terrorists. Leading American senators, such as Bob Graham and Richard Shelby, have pointed the finger at Riyadh. What is the link between the twin towers of New York and the minarets of Mecca? The men who mounted the most devastating act of terrorism in modern times, the al-Qa'eda organisation for which they worked, and the Taliban regime that gave them sanctuary, all emerged from a single Islamic fundamentalist movement. That movement - Wahhabism - originated in Saudi Arabia." Make no mistake. Rove's fingerprints are all over this one. We needed the Saudi's when this first started. Now that we are in Iraq and Afghanistan an...

David Steven has an awesome rundown of Gilligan's blog posts from the war.

Yeah, that's a shocker .

Reflections on Fatherhood. There are many things in life that I am learning not only by being a father but just by virtue of getting older. None of these are new to anybody but me yet they still have a profound impact on me. It's a strange thing that I was a more jaded cyincal man when I was younger. Perhaps it was some sort of defense mechanism or a misguided attempt at being mature or worldly. Maybe both. I used to think that people with any sort of sentiment were rubes and yokels who didn't really understand how the real world worked. Some sort of Hobbsian nightmare. To some extent I chalk that up to spending a lot of time in New York City. It's a hard place to live. You need to be a competitor not just a participant to keep your head above water. Getting on and off the subway during rush hour is a lesson in assertiveness. You need to muscle past those getting on when you're getting off. You need to be on guard all the time. It's not easy to keep ...