All posts by Chief

Uncategorized

Media Responsibility vs. Irresponsibility

1 Comment

Political Correctness Continues Support of Terrorist Factions Against West

Here’s an instructive comparison between the type of press responsibility in WW-II and the irresponsible actions of said press today.

On 6 June 1944, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivered one of the most arguably powerful prayer speeches in history given by an American president. Over Radio, Roosevelt’s speech was given as allied forces comprised of Americans, Brits and Canadians battled valiantly on the beaches of Normandy. This was D-Day in World War II. If the same speech were given today, in an ACLU and terrorist-accepting (if not terrorist-friendly) society, current presidents—most specifically Republican presidents—would be vilified. As a matter of fact, President George W. Bush has already been soundly denounced by the media and those who would placate the opponents of humankind for one word he used to describe a campaign against these enemies of humanity.

The word used by President Bush was crusade and the terrorist and Western ‘mainstream’ media, alike, excoriated Bush for using it—just days after the brutal Islamist 9/11 attacks on the United States of America.

In his D-Day speech, President Roosevelt said: “And, O Lord, give us faith. Give us faith in Thee; faith in our sons; faith in each other; faith in our united crusade.” Please bear in mind that the 1930’s and 1940’s liberal media was almost as appeasing and placating to the enemies of the USA as are our own current leftist channels of manipulated news. But, despite the media’s disagreement with President Roosevelt’s waging WW II he was—after all—a Democrat. And, just as today, with a few exceptions Democrats were largely given a pass by their media brothers and sisters—no matter what they did. Just five days after the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, President Bush told the American people: “This crusade, this war on terrorism is going to take a while.” The Western media dutifully and with great politically-correct aplomb attacked President Bush for his use of the “C” word.

Due to the 1092-1272 Crusades against the imposition of a fundamentalist Islamic caliphate, Muslims hate the term. Therefore, the accommodating media continue their suicidal political-correctness and placation the enemies of civilization. Suffice it to say, this is in opposition to logic, reason and just plain good common sense. But, persist they do.

FDR continued: “With Thy [God’s] blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy.” If President Bush were to call the current Islamic enemy “unholy”, the press would haul him over the coals! But, then they already have—haven’t they?

Roosevelt went on to say “Lead us to the saving of our country, and with our sister nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace — a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men” and ended his speech with “Thy will be done, Almighty God.” As today’s mainstream media do not even seem certain that they support the continuation of the USA, the reference to “saving of our country” would be minimized or chastised if delivered by President Bush. Most certainly, the reference to “Almighty God” would be challenged if not taken into court by the ACLU—and of course CAIR.

What a sad contrast.

Nowadays, the actual enemies of civilized cultures and its peoples are increasingly calling the shots as to how world affairs should be conducted. As an example, the New York Times has released and continues to release US classified information that assists Islam in its attempts to conquer the West. At any other time in history, this would be called treason. Today, however, it is merely considered by the elite to be “politically correct.”

“Treason doth never prosper – What’s the reason?
If it doth prosper, none dare call it treason.
Sir John Harrington

As history has shown us, there will always be those who believe in peace at any price. This has never been as true of them as it is today. And today, the media seem willing to affect anything and everything they need in order to achieve their goals—whatever they may be. Despite the ongoing and horrific attacks perpetrated by radical Islam against the rest of the world, the media continues to call the war against terrorists ‘Bush’s War’. This is deliberate ignorance on the part of the press. It is also, yet arguably, criminal. But, as long as We the People buy their newspapers and watch their anti-American television programming—which purports and promotes moral equivalencies between those who would destroy civilization and those who would save it—they will continue in their efforts to deceive. And their ongoing weapon of political correctness will continue to be the mainstay of their arsenal.

F.E.T.E.

SD Politics

NRO Reviews SD Politics

1 Comment

Round and Rounds
Will South Dakota’s Sen. Johnson run again?

A pretty good snapshot summary of the current prospects for the Governor, Senate, and House contests coming up this election cycle.

A few high points were particularly interesting.

There is a throwaway note that Daschle might be interested in the Senate if Sen. Johnson opts not to run again. (The Chief just KNEW someone should have used a crucifix and oaken stake on him after he lost to Thune in ’04!) Of course Stephanie Sandlin is also mentioned, in connection with the Senate seat, as well as the Governor’s mansion, in addition to continuing to hold her House seat.

On the GOP side, the declared candidates are noted, as is Steve Kirby, who is leaving his options open. The Chief thinks that he could make a credible candidate, especially if Johnson opts out.

Overall, the situation remains unsettled.

Uncategorized

Lib Donk Calls for Clemency for Imprisoned Border Agents!

Feinstein to Bush: Free Ramos, Compean

This falls into the category of a “man bites dog” type of story. When Californias Lib Donk Senator Feinstein held hearings and decides that the prosecution and penalties of two border agents imprisoned for the shooting (wounding) of a drug smuggler who was attempting escape was excessive…there HAS to be merit to their case!

This is better than most of the REPUBLICANS are willing to do for crying out loud, to say nothing of Bush’s resolute ignoring of the case, at least thus far.

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.”

Ramos and Compean are serving 11- and 12-year prison sentences, respectively, after a jury convicted them of violating federal gun laws and covering up the shooting of a drug smuggler as he fled back to Mexico after driving across the border with 742 pounds of marijuana. U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton’s office gave the smuggler, Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila, immunity to serve as the government’s star witness and testify against the border agents.

It’s high time that these dedicated former agents were sprung from the joint. It would be best if the Prez would grant a full pardon, but hey, after 18 months even a commutation would be an improvement for them.

National Insecurity

Bush Turns Away from Reagan, Again

White House LOST at Sea

LOST here refers to the long-pending Law Of the Sea Treaty. As a fromer naval personage, this is something that has attracted my attention at various times. When the original push for this was on in the 80’s, Ronaldus Magnus, Reagan himself, turned away from this proposal as a seriously flawed instrument whose impact will negatively affect US national security.

We are set to take a policymaking trip down memory lane with the Bush Administration urging accession to the Convention on the Law of the Sea in a recent statement made by the President on the issue. The Treaty was crafted from 1973 to 1982 and 154 countries have become signatories to it, along with the European Community.

In 1982, President Reagan refused to sign the Treaty, claiming specific objections to its terms. Those objections have not been resolved.

This piece from Tech Central Station goes on to note the specific problems with this treaty, and also notes some of the more recent arguments advocating its ratification by the US as proposed by John Negroponte and Gordon England from within the depths of the Pentagon bureaucracy. Why are they arguing this? Essentially to give the Euros (and others) a warm fuzzy glow when they think of us! (Cough! Gasp! Retch! Spit!)

…if anyone suggested the Negroponte-England rationale for acceding to the Law of the Sea Treaty as a rationale for agreeing to Kyoto, the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court and the re-establishment of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, they would be laughed out of policymaking circles. Fair arguments can be made for joining any one of these treaties. But those arguments need to be made on the substance of the treaties, not just because “all the cool countries are doing it.”

The Law of the Sea Treaty remains flawed. It does little to advance American interests when it comes to freedom of navigation, it could prove environmentally harmful, it restricts American military and intelligence naval operations and it calls for technology transfers that could run afoul of intellectual property laws and be dangerous to boot. President Reagan was right to reject calls to sign the Treaty in 1982. The Bush Administration should reverse course and refuse to push for the enactment of the Treaty in the present day.

Uncategorized

If it walks like a duck…must be a duck!”

1 Comment

Women Arrested After Police Standoff

The Chief posted on the original situation that these Islamochicks were involved in last April. They sure looked suspicious then, and the seeming lack of official consequences then has clearly led to the current events.

It started with a routine domestic disturbance, except that the pair involved has recently been under investigation by federal terrorism officials. Before the day ended, Arlington police had negotiated a six-hour standoff, their robot had been shot at with a paintball gun, and they had called in a bomb squad over four potentially explosive devices.

I’m not going to copy the rest of the details…but the behavior here is pretty extreme. Also extreme is the continuing tendency of officials to down-pedal any potential threat:

Dallas police and federal terrorism officials have acknowledged investigating the pair, but police officials have said they had no direct evidence the women have ties to terrorism. The women have accused authorities of violating their rights and of religious and racial profiling.

“…no direct evidence the women have ties to terrorism.” HEY PEOPLE – get a clue! Islamofascism is a religiously based ideology that does NOT require direct affiliation with ANY organizatio to result in terroristic actions, like the Salt Lake City mall shooter (a Bosnian moslem who was buried in honor back home after his martyrdom action), like the Iranian who used an SUV to attack fellow university students in N.C….you get the idea.

Once again a common sense rule SHOULD be applied in the identification of terrorists: “If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, and has webbed feet, hey…it must be a duck!”

Uncategorized

Chickens Coming Home to Roost

FBI: Iraqis Being Smuggled Across the Rio Grande

Wonder what happened here! Brian Ross at ABC must have got some real coffee instead of decaf & woke up or got hit by a cluebat…because this development is
(a) nothing new, and
(b) nothing but what a normal person might expect to be the result of our feckless enforcement of the border!

The FBI is investigating an alleged human smuggling operation based in Chaparral, N.M., that agents say is bringing “Iraqis and other Middle Eastern” individuals across the Rio Grande from Mexico.

An FBI intelligence report distributed by the Washington, D.C. Joint Terrorism Task Force, obtained by the Blotter on ABCNews.com, says the illegal ring has been bringing Iraqis across the border illegally for more than a year.

The gory details are all too predictable:

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.

The people to be smuggled would “gather at a house on the Mexican side of the border” and then cross the Rio Grande into the U.S., the report says. “Unidentified individuals would then transport them to train stations in El Paso, Texas or Belen, New Mexico,” according to the FBI document.

Unfortunately, there is more ” right hand not telling the left hand what it’s doing” that discourages one from thinking that the situation is being dealt with in any sort of effective way:

Border Patrol officials in the area said they were unaware of the specifics of the FBI’s report, and federal prosecutors in New Mexico told ABCNews.com they had no current cases involving the illegal smuggling of Iraqis….A spokesman in Albuquerque said the FBI had “no viable information” that could lead to a case.

And many in D.C. still wonder why people get exercised about the border issues!

Uncategorized

Enviro AlGore Dines on Endangered Fish

Gore’s message loses bite

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.

How this moonbat has ANY credibility is one that exceeds the ability of the Chief to figure out.

Uncategorized

Forward into the Past

Back in the groove: young music fans ditch downloads and spark vinyl revival

The format was supposed to have been badly wounded by the introduction of CDs and killed off completely by the ipod-generation that bought music online.

But in a rare case of cheerful news for the record labels, the latest phenomenon in a notoriously fickle industry is one nobody dared predict: a vinyl revival. Latest figures show a big jump in vinyl sales in the first half of this year, confirming the anecdotal evidence from specialist shops throughout the UK.

Who’d of thunk it! Reality is not only stranger than we imagine, it’s stranger than we CAN imagine.

Uncategorized

OSHA Retreats After Taking Heavy Fire

Labor Department Announces It Will Revise Overreaching OSHA Explosives Rule

The is in reference to a situation the Chief posted on here.

Predictably enough, the OSHA proposals that would have virtually made the ammunition market non-existent drew heavy fire from gun owners, groups, and numerous Congresscritters. The impact of this hefty cluebat was evidently sufficient to penetrate even the bureaucratic skulls of D.C., and this letter was sent to Congressman Rehburg (D-MT) concerning this.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced it will significantly revise a recent proposal for new “explosives safety” regulations that caused serious concern among gun owners. OSHA had originally set out to update workplace safety regulations, but the proposed rules included restrictions that very few gun shops, sporting goods stores, shippers, or ammunition dealers could comply with.

Gun owners had filed a blizzard of negative comments urged by the NRA, and just a week ago, OSHA had already issued one extension for its public comment period at the request of the National Shooting Sports Foundation. After continued publicity through NRA alerts and the outdoor media, and after dozens of Members of Congress expressed concern about its impact, OSHA has wisely decided to go back to the drawing board.

Working with the NRA, Congressman Denny Rehberg (R-MT) planned to offer a floor amendment to the Labor-HHS appropriations bill this Wednesday when the House considers this legislation. His amendment would have prohibited federal funds from being used to enforce this OSHA regulation.

Such an amendment is no longer necessary since Kristine A. Iverson, the Labor Department’s Assistant Secretary for Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs, sent Rep. Rehberg a letter, dated July 16, stating that it “was never the intention of OSHA to block the sale, transportation, or storage of small arms ammunition, and OSHA is taking prompt action to revise” this proposed rule to clarify the purpose of the regulation.

Also, working with the NRA, Congressman Doug Lamborn (R-CO) gathered signatures from 25 House colleagues for a letter, dated July 11, expressing concerns about this proposed OSHA rule. The letter called the proposal “an undue burden on a single industry where facts do not support the need outlined by this proposed rule” and “not feasible, making it realistically impossible for companies to comply with its tenets.”

The OSHA proposal would have defined “explosives” to include “black powder, … small arms ammunition, small arms ammunition primers, [and] smokeless propellant,” and treated these items the same as the most volatile high explosives.

Under the proposed rule, a workplace that contained even a handful of small arms cartridges, for any reason, would have been considered a “facility containing explosives” and therefore subject to many impractical restrictions. For example, no one could carry “firearms, ammunition, or similar articles in facilities containing explosives … except as required for work duties.” Obviously, this rule would make it impossible to operate any kind of gun store, firing range, or gunsmith shop.

The public comment website for the proposed rule is no longer accessible. The Labor Department will publish a notice in the July 17 Federal Register announcing that a new rule proposal will soon be drafted for public comment. Needless to say, the NRA monitors proposed federal regulations to head off this kind of overreach, and will be alert for OSHA’s next draft.

Score one for the good guys – us!

National Insecurity

Russian Realpolitik

2 Comments

What they didn’t say at Kennebunkport

Spengler, one of the Chief’s favorite writers has this over at Asia Times.

Nothing like the imagined dialogue below will have occurred at the Bush family compound on the Maine sea coast during President Vladimir Putin’s July 1 retreat with US President George W Bush.

Putin, I expect, will have done his best to humor his American counterpart and keep him off his guard. Bush is prepared neither intellectually nor psychologically to understand what a Russian leader must do, and a practical man like Putin would not waste
words explaining the unexplainable to the uncomprehending. Putin’s unenviable task is to persuade Bush of his good intentions, while gaining maneuvering room to take measures that the US will regard as hostile. I have no idea how he tried to bring this off in Kennebunkport.

But it is sobering to imagine how the conversation might have gone if Putin had told Bush the unvarnished truth.

The dialog follows. It’s well worth reading, and adds a very interesting perspective to the US-Russia situation. It’s semi-lengthy, and doesn’t lend itself well to fragmentary quotation, so go check it out – it makes far too much sense to ignore!

Uncategorized

Getting Down to Business in Pakistan

A fight to the death on Pakistan’s border

Since July 3, when Pakistani troops laid siege and eventually stormed the Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) in Islamabad, more than 100 people, mostly from the security forces, have been killed in attacks in North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), primarily in the Swat region over the past few days.

The banned pro-Taliban Tehrik-Nifaz-i-Shariat-i-Mohammadi (TNSM – Movement for the Enforcement of Islamic Laws) has extensive influence in this region, fueled by its leader, Maulana Fazlullah.

What’s in a name? In this case quite a lot: “Movement for the Enforcement of Islamic Laws” indeed. They make it pretty clear what direction they’re going.

Many of the militants at the Red Mosque and associated madrassa students were believed to have been from NWFP, where revenge is now being exacted against security forces. The army has mobilized thousands of troops to the area.

Unusual if not unprecedented vigor on the part of the Paks to actually exercise authority over part of their country!

Meanwhile, the US is setting up to make itself unpleasant to the Islamoterrs from the Afghan side, and it seems to be a serious enough effort to elicit a vigorous verbal response and warning from the enemy.

The Bajaur area has been hit twice by Central Intelligence Agency predator drones, one specifically after Zawahiri. However, at a time when al-Qaeda is reactivated and the Taliban’s main focus is to lay siege of Kabul, via adjacent Nooristan province in Afghanistan, aerial surveillance is considered insufficient.

As a result, a large US base is under construction on a mountaintop at Ghakhi Pass on the Pakistan-Afghanistan (Bajaur) border. Militants believe this is in preparation for an operation inside Pakistan to clamp down on them as well as to renew the hunt for bin Laden and his associates. As a result, the militants have attacked the new base in an attempt to delay its construction….

Militants believe this is in preparation for an operation inside Pakistan to clamp down on them as well as to renew the hunt for bin Laden and his associates. As a result, the militants have attacked the new base in an attempt to delay its construction. “This is a matter of life and death for the mujahideen. We will shed our blood, but we will never let this base be completed,” Dr Ismail told Asia Times Online.

Just to give added emphasis to their stated willingness to die for the Religion of Piss Peace:

“My son sacrificed his life against American designs to build this base over our heads. I shall never allow them to complete it, I will fight till my last. Martyrdom for the cause of jihad is actually an open invitation to all Muslims to join forces with the mujahideen. The fresh faces of the mujahideen after martyrdom, the aroma from their flesh and blood, are living miracles and prompt youths of the area to join forces with the mujahideen to defeat the Western coalition in Afghanistan,” Ismail said.

By all means, we should seek to be the means of their being able to experience such miracles! More seriously though, this stated view is an expression of the same type of sociopathy that gave us the Nazis, the Soviet GULAG, and other truly evil expressions of allegedly human activity.

There’s even more in the piece…and one has to hope that the hunt is on from both sides of the border (for a change), and that it will meet with success.

Uncategorized

Logic, what logic? Paleswinian Authority needs no logic!

More Middle East madness

Victor David Hansen notes just a bit of logical inconsistency on the part of the P.A. as they cry about the dirty terroristic tactics of Ham-ass – that were previously used by the P.A. itself.

“The Palestinian people will never forgive the Hamas gangs for looting the home of the Palestinian people’s great leader, Yasser Arafat.” So Palestinian Authority spokesman Abdel Rahman recently exclaimed. “This crime will remain a stain of disgrace on the forehead of Hamas and its despicable gangs.”

Looting? Crime? Despicable gangs?

Excuse me. For years, Palestinian Authority-sanctioned gangs shot and tortured dissidents, glorified suicide bombing against Israel and in general thwarted any hopes of various “peace processes.”

He goes on to note several systemic and/or endemic problems that he identifies as being strongly involved in the continuing Islamofascist insanity:

First, thanks to Western inventions and Chinese manufactured goods, Middle Easterners can now access the non-Muslim world cheaply and vicariously. To millions of Muslims, the planet appears — on the Internet, DVDs and satellite television — to be growing rich as most of their world stays poor.

Second, the Middle East either will not or cannot make the changes necessary to catch up with what they see in the rest of the world. Tribalism — loyalty only to kin rather than to society at large — impedes merit and thus progress. So does gender apartheid. Who knows how many would-be Margaret Thatchers or Sandra Day O’Connors remain veiled in the kitchen?

Religious fundamentalism translates into rote prayers in madrassas while those outside the Middle East master science and engineering. Without a transparent capitalist system — antithetical to both sharia (Muslim law) and state-run economies — initiative is never rewarded. Corruption is.

Meanwhile, mere discussion in much of the region of what is wrong can mean execution by a militia, government thug or religious vigilante. So, Middle Easterners are left with the old frustration of wanting the good life of Western society but lacking either the ability or willingness to change the status quo to get it.

Sounds pretty reasonable to the Chief…ooops! There goes that pesky politically incorrect reason again! My bad! (Sarcasm alert!)

Uncategorized

MN Donk Cong Struck by Verbal Dysentery

Bush like Hitler, says first Muslim in Congress

This Minnesota Donk Cong allegedly is a fine representative of his district, and of the religion of pisspeace.

America’s first Muslim congressman has provoked outrage by apparently comparing President George W Bush to Adolf Hitler and hinting that he might have been responsible for the September 11 attacks.

Addressing a gathering of atheists in his home state of Minnesota, Keith Ellison, a Democrat, compared the 9/11 atrocities to the destruction of the Reichstag, the German parliament, in 1933. This was probably burned down by the Nazis in order to justify Hitler’s later seizure of emergency powers….

To applause from his audience of 300 members of Atheists for Human Rights, Mr Ellison said he would not accuse the Bush administration of planning 9/11 because “you know, that’s how they put you in the nut-ball box – dismiss you”.

…uh, “Athiests for Human Rights”? Sounds like moonbats from hell. Every time the Chief is tempted to think that Minnesota isn’t all that different from South Dakota, something like this acts as a cluebat to remind that, yes, it really IS different over there, at least in some areas.

The Donk Cong Ellison need have no fears about the Bush administration putting him “in the nut-ball box”. He’s already accomplished that all by himself!

Uncategorized

Biblical Archeology Finds Specific O.T. Character

Tiny tablet provides proof for Old Testament

What’s really proven here? Very specific but relatively trivial Old Testament detail has archeological proof.

The sound of unbridled joy seldom breaks the quiet of the British Museum’s great Arched Room, which holds its collection of 130,000 Assyrian cuneiform tablets, dating back 5,000 years.

A fragment of cuneiform – Tiny tablet provides proof for Old Testament
This fragment is a receipt for payment made by a figure in the Old Testament

But Michael Jursa, a visiting professor from Vienna, let out such a cry last Thursday. He had made what has been called the most important find in Biblical archaeology for 100 years, a discovery that supports the view that the historical books of the Old Testament are based on fact.

Searching for Babylonian financial accounts among the tablets, Prof Jursa suddenly came across a name he half remembered – Nabu-sharrussu-ukin, described there in a hand 2,500 years old, as “the chief eunuch” of Nebuchadnezzar II, king of Babylon.

Prof Jursa, an Assyriologist, checked the Old Testament and there in chapter 39 of the Book of Jeremiah, he found, spelled differently, the same name – Nebo-Sarsekim. Nebo-Sarsekim, according to Jeremiah, was Nebuchadnezzar II’s “chief officer” and was with him at the siege of Jerusalem in 587 BC, when the Babylonians overran the city.

Uncategorized

Enough is Apparently Enough in UK Ed “Reform”

Two-finger salute

It looks like educational “reformers” in the UK have bitten off more than they can chew, or that most of Her Majesties Subjects are willing to accept as reasonable.

Fury erupted last night after Sir Winston Churchill was axed from school history lessons.

Sort of brings to mind some old Kinks’ lyrics from Living on a Thin Line:
All the stories have been told
Of kings and days of old,
But there’s no England now.
All the wars that were won and lost
Somehow don’t seem to matter very much anymore.

Britain’s cigar-chomping World War Two PM — famed for his two-finger victory salute — was removed from a list of figures secondary school children must learn about. Instead they will be taught about “relevant” issues such as global warming and drug dangers. Churchill’s grandson, Tory MP Nicholas Soames, branded the move “total madness.”

The decision to axe Churchill is part of a major shake-up aimed at dragging the national curriculum into the 21st century, it was claimed last night. But the plan — hatched by advisers — angered schools secretary Ed Balls, who vowed to probe ALL the changes to the curriculum.

The proposals will see traditional timetables torn up, with pupils focusing on modern “relevant” topics such as drug and booze abuse, climate change and GM foods.

Churchill — voted the greatest ever Briton — goes off the required lessons list, along with Hitler, Gandhi, Stalin and Martin Luther King. There will also be no need to mention the Wars of the Roses, Elizabeth I or Henry VIII.

What’s the connection to us? DUH! When polls and surveys regularly show that many Americans have only (to be generous) a rudimentary knowledge of history and the principles of our constitutional republic, it’s plainly evident that we have similar processes underway here.

At least in the UK, the Schools Secretary has gotten fired up. One continues to hope for similar signs of life in the Bush cabinet…thus far in vain.

China Watch

Bad Chinese Food: ChiComs doing it to themselves too!

Beijing Steamed Buns Include Cardboard

With all the trouble lately with food products from the ChiComs, here’s one where they are doing it to themselves :

Chopped cardboard, softened with an industrial chemical and flavored with fatty pork and powdered seasoning, is a main ingredient in batches of steamed buns sold in one Beijing neighborhood, state television said. The report, aired late Wednesday on China Central Television, highlights the country’s problems with food safety despite government efforts to improve the situation.

This is NOT a pretty picture:

Baozi are a common snack in China, with an outer skin made from wheat or rice flour and and a filling of sliced pork. Cooked by steaming in immense bamboo baskets, they are similar to but usually much bigger than the dumplings found on dim sum menus familiar to many Americans.

The hidden camera follows the man, whose face is not shown, into a ramshackle building where steamers are filled with the fluffy white buns, traditionally stuffed with minced pork. The surroundings are filthy, with water puddles and piles of old furniture and cardboard on the ground.

In case you’ve got to know – here’s the recipe:

“What’s in the recipe?” the reporter asks. “Six to four,” the man says.

“You mean 60 percent cardboard? What is the other 40 percent?” asks the reporter. “Fatty meat,” the man replies.

The bun maker and his assistants then give a demonstration on how the product is made. Squares of cardboard picked from the ground are first soaked to a pulp in a plastic basin of caustic soda — a chemical base commonly used in manufacturing paper and soap — then chopped into tiny morsels with a cleaver. Fatty pork and powdered seasoning are stirred in.

Soon, steaming servings of the buns appear on the screen. The reporter takes a bite. “This baozi filling is kind of tough. Not much taste,” he says. “Can other people taste the difference?”

“Most people can’t. It fools the average person,” the maker says. “I don’t eat them myself.”

The police eventually showed up and shut down the operation.

The Chief generally doesn’t applaud the ChiCom police, but this is one of those exceptions to the rule.

Watch out for snacks during the upcoming Beijing olympics.

Uncategorized

1st “Deep” SD Science Project

National Science Foundation funds research project at Homestake

Even before the excitement has died down from the announcement that the National Science Foundation had chosen Lead for the new national underground science laboratory comes news that a local geological engineer and his colleagues were approved for a $450,000 experiment at the mine.

“A group of me and four of my colleagues went together and wrote a proposal to the National Science Foundation, and we ended up getting it,” Bill Roggenthen, co-principal investigator of the project and professor of geological engineering at South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, said Wednesday.

Roggenthen said that the three-year, $450,000 project was approved Sunday and will begin in the fall. “What we will be doing is to test how much improvement you get with a 3D array of seismometers in terms of sensitivity. It’s my hope that we are able to advance the field of seismology and our understanding of the deep interior of the Earth,” he said.

Seismology is the study of earthquakes and their effects, and seismometers are the instruments that measure them.

Roggenthen said that Homestake was a perfect fit because of its unique structure. “This project can just be done much easier at Homestake, primarily because it has great access,” Roggenthen said. “And with a 3D array, you need to be able to distribute the seismometers throughout the area, and with Homestake, that access is possible.” The project will be the first of its kind in the world and hopefully, Roggenthen said, will become a unique part of the mine’s facilities.

IMHO this is an interesting and elegant experimental setup. I wish I could work on it myelf!

Uncategorized

SD Exercises Death Penalty Again

Elijah Page executed

The state of South Dakota carried out its first execution in 60 years Wednesday night, taking the life of Elijah Page, 25, for a brutal torture slaying committed in 2000. Page, of Athens, Texas, died at 10:11 p.m. from a lethal injection administered at the South Dakota State Penitentiary.

He pleaded guilty to killing Chester Allan Poage, 19, of Spearfish, who was stabbed, beaten with rocks and forced to drink hydrochloric acid during a robbery of his home. The torture lasted two to three hours.

If the punishment fit the crime, Page got off easy, compared to what HE and his fellow perps did to Poage. At least there is SOME balance rendered by his execution.

Uncategorized

Pre-War Troop Movements Underway

Syria Invades Lebanon

Michael J. Totten’s excellently informative MidEast Journal reports on Syria moving troops into Lebabon (again) and constructing at least semi-permanent fortified positions for them.

A few days ago Lebanese daily newspaper Al Mustaqbal quietly reported a limited Syrian invasion of Lebanon. (Via Naharnet.)

Syrian troops on Thursday reportedly have penetrated three kilometers into Lebanese territories, taking up positions in the mountains near Yanta in east Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley.

The daily Al Mustaqbal, citing sources who confirmed the cross-border penetration, did not say when the procedure in the Fahs Hill overlooking Deir al-Ashaer in the Rashaya province took place. The sources said Syrian troops, backed by bulldozers, were fortifying positions “in more than one area” along the Lebanese border, erecting earth mounds and digging “hundreds” of trenches and individual bunkers.

To add some more context for this:

Meanwhile, the Syrian government is evacuating its citizens from Lebanon in advance of…something they expect to happen after July 15, 2007.

Along with reports of Turkish troops massed on the northern Iraq border, three US carrier groups in the Persian Gulf, and continued Iranian cross-border activity into Iraq, the overall situation looks pretty twitchy these days. One might even imagine that the situation has a whiff of the atmosphere that Europe was under in the summer of 1914.

Uncategorized

Iran Watch: Situation Quietly Heating Up?

Time running out for Iran strike

Predicting that sanctions will ultimately fail to stop Teheran’s nuclear program, Brig.-Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser, former head of Military Intelligence’s Research Division, told The Jerusalem Post on Monday that time to launch an effective military strike against Iran’s nuclear installations was running out.

UN sanctions predicted to fail? Shocking, just shocking!

As for the rest, this should be no surprise at all.

U.S. Navy sends carrier to Gulf

Althought is is part of a scheduled deployment turnover with another carrier, for a time at least, there will be three carriers in the Persian Gulf area.

Something else to keep an eye on.

Uncategorized

ChiComs’ Sure Cure for Official Corruption

1 Comment

China executes former food, drug chief

Now THIS is one idea that we might profitably adopt from the ChiComs.

China executed the former head of its food and drug watchdog today for approving untested medicine in exchange for cash, the strongest signal yet from Beijing that it is serious about tackling its product safety crisis.

They know that they have had problems with this issue, and this is application of “The buck stops here.” literally with a vengeance.

Uncategorized

Deep Science Coming to South Dakota

It’s Homestake:
NSF picks Lead site for National Laboratory

The National Science Foundation has chosen Homestake gold mine in Lead as the site for a proposed national underground science laboratory, state officials announced today. Deep labs protect sensitive experiments from cosmic rays. Homestake is 8,000 feet deep, with hundreds of miles of tunnels at dozens of levels.

dusel.jpg
Click on image for enlarged view.

This is a great thing for South Dakota, and will enable use of the existing infrastructure of the closed Homestake gold mine located in Lead (pronounced leed, you know, like an ore lead in the rock).

According to the NSF announcement, a 22-member panel of impartial “external experts,” reviewed four sites – including proposals from Colorado, Washington and Minnesota – before voting unanimously for Homestake.

The University of California at Berkeley is the lead research institution for the Homestake proposal. Berkeley physicist Kevin Lesko, who heads the “Homestake collaboration” of scientists, said the NSF decision would help attract even more researchers to the project. “It removes the uncertainty,” he said.

A new national laboratory in Lead could host experiments costing hundreds of millions of dollars – or even billions of dollars, over the course of decades. The lab could have a visitors center and education programs that would reach students throughout the region.

National Insecurity

Read it and Weep!

Tanya, Terrorism and Our Phoney War

Although the Chief doesn’t think that Newt is able to walk on water…what he does well, he does exceedingly well…and this piece of historical perspective is some of his best.

One place we visited in St. Petersburg in particular has got me thinking about the threats we face as a country and as a civilization — and how our leaders and elites have yet to honestly face up to these threats. They are, in significant ways, deluding themselves — and endangering us in the process.

The Dead of the Siege of Leningrad

On Sunday, we visited the Piskarevskoye Memorial Cemetery, dedicated to the victims of the siege of Leningrad (as St. Petersburg was called at the time) during World War II. For nearly 900 days, from September 1941 until January 1944, the German Army surrounded and besieged the city. At least 641,000 people died and perhaps as many as a million — the vast majority of them civilians — mostly from starvation and disease.

More than 500,000 of these victims are buried in the Piskarevskoye Memorial Cemetery. On its own, this massive place of death is sobering enough. But in the cemetery’s museum are two chilling displays, shown side-by-side, that speak volumes about the consequences for average people when their leaders fail to heed the words of evil men.

The Diary of Tanya Savicheva

The first display is the diary of an 11-year-old girl named Tanya Savicheva, written during the siege of Leningrad.

In seven short entries below, she documents the deaths of her entire family — first her sister, then her grandmother, then her brother, her uncle, another uncle and finally her mother.
* Jenya died on 28th Dec. at 12.30 AM 1941
* Grandma died on 25th Jan. at 3 PM 1942
* Leka died on 17th March at 5 AM 1942
* Uncle Vasya died on 13th Apr. at 2 o’clock after midnight 1942
* Uncle Lesha on 10th May at 4 PM 1942
* Mother on 13th May at 7.30 AM 1942
The last entry in Tanya’s diary says simply, “Savicheva died. Everyone died. Only Tanya is left.”
And then Tanya herself died of starvation.

So what’s the point of recapping this sad piece of WW-II history?

Side-by-side with Tanya’s diary in the museum is another display that makes Tanya’s diary all the more disturbing. It is a September 1941 German High Command order to the German army in Russia. The order states with evil simplicity that “the Fuhrer has decided to raze the city of St. Petersburg from the face of the earth.”

The German army is ordered to attack and eliminate the city’s supply lines — to isolate the city and literally starve its inhabitants to death. “There is no point to prepare for the subsistence of the population….In this existential war, there is no point in maintaining these people.”

The Suicidal Behavior of Gordon Brown

As I stood there looking at this call for the annihilation of an entire city and the extermination of its residents and as I read the tragic story of a young girl just a few years older then my own granddaughter watching the slow death of her entire family, I was reminded of a recent book about the terrible consequences of attempting to appease evil.

Troublesome Young Men: The Rebels Who Brought Churchill to Power and Helped Save England by Lynne Olson tells the story of how the British establishment lied to the British people and sought to avoid doing anything to antagonize Hitler even in the first year of World War II.

And then I thought about the suicidal behavior of new British Prime Minister Gordon Brown after the attempted terrorist bombings in London and Glasgow. Prime Minister Brown has reportedly banned his ministers from using the word “Muslim” in connection with the terrorism crisis in Britain. And he had also banned the phrase “War on Terror,” apparently because of its close association with his former Prime Minister Tony Blair and President George W. Bush.

We aren’t quite this bad…yet…but the trend is set.

Newt has the situation NAILED in his conclusion:

Our ‘Phoney War’ on Terrorism

And as I thought about the new British prime minister’s unwillingness to tell the truth about the terrorists who are seeking to destroy Western civilization, I realized this: for the past six years, we have been engaged in a “phoney war”.

The period during World War II from 1939-1941 became known as the “phoney war.” After Hitler had attacked and occupied Poland, the Nazis had made their intentions clear, but the Allies did little to respond to Hitler’s aggression. In this period of “phoney war,” the British people eventually came to believe that they could avoid war. Children who had been evacuated from the cities began to return to their families.

And then, in May 1940, Hitler attacked France. The “phoney war” was over. The real war had begun.

How Many More Tanyas Will There Be?

Standing in that cemetery in St. Petersburg last week, I thought of all the other Tanyas who had died because their leaders refused to believe the evil words of evil men and refused to convey that truth to their people. I thought of today’s Tanyas — all the young girls and their families who are threatened by the Irreconcilable Wing of Islam.

Just as in the years leading up to World War II, the signs are all around us. The rise of Hamas. The re-arming of Hezbollah. The Iranian dictatorship’s relentless drive for nuclear weapons. Terrorists from New Jersey to London to Iraq and Pakistan who are saying repeatedly and publicly that they want nothing more than to kill us.

So my question is this: In our own existential war, do our leaders hear these voices that are determined to destroy us? And will our “phoney war” end on our terms, or the terms of our enemies?

Words to ponder, and act on.

SD Politics

Thune: Fairness Doctrine – NOT!

Reject Orwellian Calls for Broadcast ‘Fairness’

SD GOP Senator John Thune has rhetorically smacked one out of the park concerning the recent ongoing Republocratic Demmican discussions of the restoration of the so-called “Fairness Doctrine”.

From its birth, our nation has put a high value on independent thought and freedom of speech. Our Founding Fathers themselves saw their lot as conscientious insurrectionists seeking freedoms they believed were inalienable rights. They understood the importance of permitting freedom of conscience whether it be in the religious, political, or social sphere. Today we continue to fight to preserve these freedoms both here at home and in many dark corners around the world.

Unfortunately, some in Washington DC are reviving an old idea that the government can, and should, regulate the reporting of news, information and ideas. If we take them at their word, they are doing it in the name of “fairness.” But if we look deeper, we may see motives not nearly so noble.

From this excellent start, Sen. Thune goes on to trace the history and effects of the so-called Fairness Doctrine, before concluding:

Since 1987 we have seen even greater growth in how we get news and information including the rise of talk radio, internet news sites, and blogs, yet some critics on the left are calling for the reinstitution of the Fairness Doctrine. The efforts of these critics, who are especially offended by the success of conservative talk radio, should be rejected. Our support for freedom of conscience and freedom of speech means that we must support the rights granted to even those with whom we disagree. Giving power to a few to regulate fairness in the media is a recipe for disaster on the scale that George Orwell so aptly envisioned.

I for one will strongly oppose any efforts to bring back the Fairness Doctrine or other policies similar to it. I have introduced legislation that would prohibit the FCC from reinstituting these policies, which is a good first step. I know the hair stands up on the back of my neck when I hear government officials offering to regulate the news media and talk radio to ensure fairness. I think most Americans have the same reaction. That is why I will do my part to ensure speech remains free and that Americans can continue to debate the issues of the day through our diverse forms of media in a free and open manner.

Hear, hear!

National Insecurity

Slouching towards Cut and Run

Iraq fails to meet all reform goals, report will say

A progress report on Iraq will conclude that the U.S.-backed government in Baghdad has not met any of its targets for political, economic and other reform, speeding up the Bush administration’s reckoning on what to do next, a U.S. official said yesterday.

The “pivot point” for addressing the matter will no longer be Sept. 15, as initially envisioned, when a full report on President Bush’s “surge” plan is due, but instead will come this week when the interim mid-July assessment is released, the official said. “The facts are not in question,” the official told the Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because the draft is still under discussion. “The real question is how the White House proceeds with a post-surge strategy in light of the report.”

The administration situation is akin to closing the barn door after the stock has already escaped.

It didn’t have to be this way!
If the war had been pursued as WAR, not a police action, it wouldn’t be this way.
If the war had let the troops do what they are trained and prepared to do – pursue and destroy the enemy, it wouldn’t be this way,
If the administration hadn’t forced our troops to fight with one hand tied behind their back by legalistic rules of engagement, it wouldn’t be this way.

It’s often stated that our first priority had to be concern with “winning hearts and minds”. It seems to the Chief, that based on historical evidence (ref: WW-II with Germany and Japan) that if you grab them by the gonads and pull, that their hearts and minds will follow right along.

What to do now? How ’bout actually going to war for a change! Unfortunately, given our nearly totally screwed up subservience to political correctness, the chance of this happening is not likely.

The results of what the Chief fears will happen, ain’t going to be pretty…and it will be GUARANTEED that the Islamoterrs will be back with a vengeance, with full support from Syria, Iran, and the apparently soon to be Islamofascist Iraq.

islamic-peace.jpg
Click on image for larger view. http://www.savage-productions.com/

The Chief REALLY REALLY hopes that he’s being overly pessimistic here…but…?

Uncategorized

No Mr. Nice-guy in Islama(really)bad

Pakistan army storm militant mosque

Pakistan has long been noted for hosting a whole slew of radical Islamofascistic Madrassa schools, often associated with a mosque. In this case, their toleration for one of these centers in their capital has been exhausted.

Pakistani forces stormed a mosque compound in the capital on Tuesday and big blasts and sporadic gunfire rang out over the city after talks to end a week-long standoff with militants broke down.

Twenty children escaped from among hundreds of women and children believed to be inside the mosque-school complex, but the militants – some holed up in basements with guns, grenades and gasoline bombs – were putting up fierce resistance, the military said. “An intense engagement is going on in the madrasa complex between militants and the security forces,” said military spokesman Major-General Waheed Arshad.

Of course these exemplars of the peace of Islam are fully equiped with women and children who are acting as human shields, except that the Paki army doesn’t seem to be playing that game. War is hell.

Uncategorized

BLOGNOTE

This blog will be changing residence locations again…the process is rolling, so if at some point the URL isn’t working, hang in there…it will all come back as normal again.

As will be said at the end of the universe: “We apologize for the inconvenience.”

Uncategorized

“Live Earth” Dead on Arrival

AlGor’s concert and media extravaganza has resulted in what has to be described as a less than stellar response, both in the US and UK.

Firstly, Rasmussen polling, which has a pretty good track record, shows that the US largely ignored the hype, and the concert.

Skeptical of Performers’ Motives, Public Tunes Out Live Earth Event

The Live Earth concert promoted by former Vice President Al Gore received plenty of media coverage and hype, but most Americans tuned out. Just 22% said they followed news stories about the concert Somewhat or Very Closely. Seventy-five percent (75%) did not follow coverage of the event.

By way of comparison, eight-in-ten voters routinely said they were following news coverage of the recent Senate debate over immigration. Fifty-four percent (54%) said they followed news coverage of the President’s decision to commute Scooter Libby’s sentence.

The Chief knows that HE wasn’t on the edge of his seat about this one.

One of the best zingers that was spot on about the event came from an apparently skeptical participant: “Matt Bellamy of the band Muse. Earlier in the week, he jokingly referred to Live Earth as ‘private jets for climate change.’ ”

The whole thing was a joke, all right!

Meanwhile, over in Airstrip One, sometimes still referred to as the UK, then responses were similarly unenthusiastic and viewers strayed away in droves:

Live Earth branded a foul-mouthed flop

Live Earth has been branded a foul-mouthed flop.

Organisers of the global music concert – punctuated by swearing from presenters and performers – had predicted massive viewing figures, but BBC’s live afternoon television coverage attracted an average British audience of just 900,000. In the evening, when coverage switched from BBC2 to BBC1, the figure rose to just 2.7million.

And the peak audience, which came when Madonna sang at Wembley, was a dismal 4.5million. Three times as many viewers saw the Princess Diana tribute on the same channel six days before. Two years ago, Live 8 drew a peak television audience of 9.6million while Live Aid notched 10million in 1985.

This presumably will take some wind from the sails of the enviro moonbats hoping to use the event to catapult a “Draft Gore” movement into high gear. Too bad…that would have been just TOO easy (and fun) to take on.

Uncategorized

Brit Security Hurt by Loose Borders

New UK terror threat from foreign students

The “new” Brit government’s security policies are under severe question already…it seems like the UK and US have border problems in common, along with whatever else.

The new crackdown on terrorism following the attempted car bomb attacks is “fatally flawed” amid fears of widespread failings on immigration checks, the Government was warned last night. Brown has been warned that the terrorist threat could ‘last a generation’

As new concerns were raised that the intelligence services are struggling to monitor more than 200 extremist groups operating in Britain, it emerged that a loophole on student visas could allow terrorists in. Many students from “hot spots” of Muslim unrest around the world are thought to obtain visas for study but “go under the wire” by failing to show up for their courses when they arrive in Britain.

Sounds all too familiar.

…the Tories warned that any crackdown was in danger of being undermined by a failure to monitor immigrants. They said that without tackling immigration issues such as this, Mr Brown’s overall strategy against terrorism was “fatally flawed”.

A Tory spokesman said the student visa loophole had to be closed as soon as possible. Damian Green, a shadow Home Office minister, told The Daily Telegraph: “If someone does not show up for their course and explain immediately, their visas should be cancelled at once. It’s an appalling loophole that the Government has to deal with urgently.”

Unfortunately, the student visa situation is just part of the problem:

David Davis, the shadow home secretary, said: “We welcome the Prime Minister’s sentiments [for tighter security] but they are undermined by the revelation that Britain is not checking potential immigrants against an existing global database of terror suspects. “Yet again it is not the Government’s policy that is the problem – it is their lack of competence in delivering on that policy which is threatening our security.”

Mr Davis was referring to a claim by Ronald K Noble, the Interpol secretary general, who said it had the passport numbers, fingerprints and photos of more than 11,000 suspected terrorists on its database.But he said Britain does not check it against immigrants coming into the country or foreign nationals it has arrested. “The guys detained last week could be wanted, arrested or convicted anywhere in the world and the UK would not know,” he said.

Whether or it is the UK or the US, failure to control the border is a death-knell to any truly effective security policy.

Uncategorized

Bureaucrats Gone Wild

3 Comments

Proposed OSHA Regulation Threatens Firearm and Ammunition Industry

YIKES! Coming back from camping with Scouts and finding THIS was a rude re-awakening to the reality of contemporary bureaucracy at its worst.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the government agency charged with assuring the safety and health of America’s workers, is proposing a regulatory rule affecting the manufacturing, transportation and storage of small arms ammunition, primers and smokeless propellants.

Warning – If you go to look at the proposed rulemaking, be prepared for a masochistic immersion in bureaucratic legalese at its worst.)

As written, the proposed rule would force the closure of nearly all ammunition manufacturers and force the cost of small arms ammunition to skyrocket beyond what the market could bear—essentially collapsing our industry. This is not an exaggeration. The cost to comply with the proposed rule for the ammunition industry, including manufacturer, wholesale distributors and retailers, will be massive and easily exceed $100 million. For example, ammunition and smokeless propellant manufacturers would have to shut down and evacuate a factory when a thunderstorm approached and customers would not be allowed within 50 feet of any ammunition (displayed or otherwise stored) without first being searched for matches or lighters.

This is just nuts! Imagine too, if they are doing this with a semi-Rebublican in the White House, what will they be going for if a Donk were there? (Shudder!)