No Man's Land

Don't be evil.

Being in the financial industry, I found the WSJ article this morning fascinating (summarized here). 

I find it fascinating that a company built on Starbucks Socialism would indulge in evil "capitalist" foibles like multi-billion dollar insider trading.  I guess it just goes to prove that some of us are more equal than others, and that you can do whatever you want to (to include lying, cheating, and stealing), as long as you do so in a politically correct manner. 

W's waltz off the deep end continues...

Check out these quotes from Dubya's remarks at the UN's 60th Anniversary Bash (FYI, note the cut-and-paste error some Times "Fact-checker" made halfway down the page):

"After committing America to the idea of the U.N. in 1945, President Franklin Roosevelt declared, The structure of world peace cannot be the work of one man or one party or one nation. Peace is the responsibility of every nation and every generation.

In each era of history, the human spirit has been challenged by the forces of darkness and chaos. Some challenges are the acts of nature. Others are the works of man.

This organization was convened to meet these challenges by harnessing the best instincts of humankind: the strength of the world united in common purpose.

With courage and conscience, we'll meet our responsibilities to protect the lives and rights of others. And when we do, we will help fulfill the promise of the United Nations and ensure that every human being enjoys the peace and the freedom and the dignity our creator intended for all."

There you have it, Jesus wants you to be a good little comrade and join the "new world order."  The lunacy was systemic:

"We are committed to the Millennium Development goals. This is an ambitious agenda that includes cutting poverty and hunger in half, ensuring that every boy and girl in the world has access to primary education, and halting the spread of AIDS, all by 2015. We have a moral obligation to help others and a moral duty to make sure our actions are effective. In Monterrey in 2002, we agreed to a new vision for the way to fight poverty and curb corruption and provide aid in this new millennium. Developing countries agreed to take responsibility for their own economic progress through good governance and sound policies and the rule of law. Developed countries agreed to support those efforts, including increased aid to nations that undertake necessary reforms."

Imagine...a world where hunger and AIDS can be wished away with a signature or a speech before pompous, well-fed bureaucrats.  And it rolls on:

"My own country has sought to implement the Monterrey consensus by establishing the new Millennium Challenge Account. This account is increasing U.S. aid for countries that govern justly, invest in their people and promote economic freedom."

My GOP soul, which intermittently channels the Gipper, wants to cheer and celebrate W's dig at the commies.  Unfortunately, given this administration's cozy arrangement with China and the context of this remark, one if left to assume that Bush's "economic freedom" is a communist's/Democrat's "social justice."  Makes one wonder.

The humdinger argument came, not from Bush's UN address, but from his address to "lay out a plan to rebuild New Orleans." Get a load of this:

It is now clear that a challenge on this scale requires greater federal authority and a broader role for the armed forces -- the institution of our government most capable of massive logistical operations on a moment's notice.

Oh, yeah.  Your president said that.  I wonder how much time we have before the finalization of the police state.  At least we can all drop the charade that W is a conservative.  He is a globalist socialist, as his words convey, and his aspirations are tainted with streaks of superstitious self-absorption and a desire for a police state.  All this, coming to a nation near you.

Show's over, folks.

That's right.  The federal beureaucracy is running lean and sleek after 11 years since the 1994 "Republican Revolution."  No more pork, no more fat.  Deficits are trimmed back to the point where they need to be.

Right.

Delay has spoken.   Rush thinks he's sarcastic, but this sounds like something a GOP leader would be stupid/egomaniacal enought to say.  Who knows?  If this is what he meant to express, he's gone completely nuts, obviously, but if he's being a wiseacre, I can appreciate the sarcasm.  If only we could tell...

Hillary's new boy-toy is a loser.

I broke with my normal habits tonight (not watching tv) when I visited a family member at a picnic.  As the night wore on, we few cigarettes and beer crowd hung out together and someone turned on the tv, to FOX News.

As it happened, the O'Reilly Factor came on, complete with the obligatory "Greta" footage.  During the "Talking Points" segment, O'Reilly made the astute observation that this helplessness of the poor in N.O. was due to their poverty and the expectation that they would get saved ("it will all just work out") via goverment intervention.  This, he said, was their chief downfall, and the lesson everyone needed to learn from this was that we need to get educated, make money, look after ourselves, and be prepared to handle our own affairs rather than expecting Big Brother to act in a timely, thorough manner on our behalf.  Being the conservative libertarian that I am, I almost dropped my beer while cheering.

In the next segment one of the staff "experts," Newt Gingrich appeared to discuss this idea.  Now, I worked the 1994 Republican Revolution campaigns as a young teen, so imagine my disappointment as my former idol, Newt, who has spent the last few years currying favor with Clintonistas and the Hildabeast herself, of all people, started labeling any calls for self-reliance (as opposed to government reliance) "un-American" on the O'Reilly Factor.  That's right, the architect of the Contract with America now thinks anyone calling for personal accountability, self-betterment, smaller government, or more citizen awareness is a "kook."

As with Arianna Huffington and David Brock, I guess the other side pays better.  What is it with these folks?  They made their names being right-wing activists, then they switch sides, like just so many sports figures.  Good riddance, Newt, whereas once I loved you, you are dead to me now.  Was it all a game, was their cash better than ours, or are you merely executing a narcissistic self-advancement career move?

How the mighty have fallen.  Your impact will be missed, but you, sir, are a traitor and a scoundrel.

5.56 vs. 7.62...who wins?

What They Have
Iraqi soldiers carry the AK-47 (top), a Russian-designed assault rifle used by armies and guerrilla forces for half a century.
What They Want
The more powerful American-made M4, which American troops carry in Iraq and which can accommodate a laser-aiming device and night-vision sight. (Source.)

This is what passes for "in depth investigation" at the gray lady, I suppose.  I could say a great deal on the subject, but all that needs to be said technically is quite ably said here.  Having some experience with military arms of many different flavors, I concur with Mr. DuToit's rendition.

That having been said, let me enjoy myself by heaping some deserved calumny on the head of the NY Times.  The 7.62x39 round (a la AK47 and SKS) blows the doors off the hitting power of a 5.56 round in the M-16 (and M-4) precisely because the 5.56 is just a manly designation for the .223, a mere varmint round.  Calling a .30 Caliber round less powerful than a .22, is absurd almost to the point of criminality.

While the Iraqis' AK-47's aren't as cute and cuddly as the US M-4's, they have about the same effective radius, 300-400 meters, plus they have more stopping power. (This author scoffs at the urban legends spread by Colt to convince troops who doubt that the M-16 plinking rifle they are issued will actually live up to the "one shot, one kill standard," but I digress.)

While the M-4 may have more rails for tons of goodies and gadgets, the AK-47 is far from inadequate, being chambered in a stronger round, carrying a real bayonet, and being more resilient under filthy operating conditions.  Anyone with even a cursory knowledge of weapons would know that the New York Times sidebar is about as accurate as a CBS story about National Guard memos. 

I guess that it isn't worth it to the Times reporters to leave the building for real research, when you can just make a baseless, inane claim that will be gobbled up unquestioningly by rank and file liberals whose closest encounter with real weapons was during an all-night session of Doom 2 in college.

Another liberal icon falls to the pajamahadeen...I wish.

Shut your piehole!

My DSL has been out for days (thank you, Verizon), so I spent today catching up on my homework...my monitoring CSPAN project.

From the absurd to the surreal, I scan it all, desperately searching for the soundbite that will convince me that my tax dollars are well-spent.  Hey, you have your dream, I have mine...

Today's doozie is the Congressional Black Caucus on Response to Hurricane Katrina (News Conference).  I can't accurately summarize all the nonsense that was encapsulated in the whole thing, nor would I seek to.  Suffice to say that any patriot needs to sit through this clip to understand the enemy, the socialist/communist front that has infected the Democratic Party and the former "civil rights" movement.

To view the video, one would think that Hurricane Katrina had convinced FEMA to reintroduce black slavery in Louisianna, setting up concentration camps for runaways, and starving the rest to death, all while drowning kids and infecting African-Americans with all sorts of horrible diseases.

If a white person said this incindiary garbage, it would rightfully be called race exploitation and using a tragic event to make political hay.  Why, then, are these African-Americans given a pass when they grind minorities in the afflicted areas into the mud to score some cheap political points against Bush? 

Does the name "Jesse Jackson, Jr." make you immune to the normal rules of decency and common sense?  Does that give you an excuse to be a bigotted ass, and should it?

UPDATE:  Looks like the blogosphere may claim another guilty "victim."  Misha nails the king of the race pimps here.