June 18, 2004

Locusts

i thought about how Paul Johnson worked on the AH-64 helicopter. i thought about how i'd like to see a hundred Apaches descend on those filthy terrorist animals, and a hundred chain guns spitting flame and vengeance.

i thought about how much the Apache resembles a locust. And then i thought of this passage:

The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss. And out of the smoke locusts came down upon the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth. They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They were not given power to kill them, but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes a man. During those days men will seek death, but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.

The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces. Their hair was like women's hair, and their teeth were like lions' teeth. They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle. They had tails and stings like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months.

May a plague of locusts descend upon them.

Oh no. She's quoting Revelations. Does that mean she thinks the war on terror is a religious battle? Does she think this is like the Crusades? How ugly! How un-PC! How unenlightened! Doesn't she know Islam is a peaceful religion. Doesn't she know it's just a few bad apples, whom we should arrest and put on trial? Shame on her!

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Is It Becoming Clearer Now?

Daniel Pearl, Nick Berg, Paul Johnson. Is it becoming clearer now?

Not that i want to see any video of this one, because i don't, but there are apparently some stills out there. Will we respond in kind to this barbarity, or will we just get used to it?

Half of us want to kick ass until these vermin are extinguished. The other half want to hold hands, sing cumbaya and let it go on. What will it take to wake up those fools?

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June 17, 2004

Read My Lips

There seems to be a disconnect between the mainstream media and reality. i never heard President Bush say that Hussein was involved in 9/11. But the media keeps reporting the 9/11 commission's conclusion that there was no Hussein Al Qaeda connection in the attacks as if it was news.

As the President said this morning, yet again:

This administration never said that the 9-11 attacks were orchestrated between Saddam and al-Qaeda. . . . We did say there were numerous contacts between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda, for example, Iraqi intelligence agents met with (Osama) bin Ladin, the head of al-Qaeda in Sudan.
Nobody said there was a connection in the attacks. Why would there be? Ben Ladin wanted money, training camps and protection from Hussein, but that doesn't mean Ben Ladin would have told him about the 9/11 plans. Hussein didn't need to be in the loop on that. Obviously, Al Qaeda was capable of carrying out the attack without Hussein's help.

The point that always seems to get lost in these pissing contests, and the only point that matters in my view, is that Saddam Hussein and Ben Ladin both hated us badly. Therefore it was too dangerous to leave Hussein around and able to help Al Qaeda in the future. Did anybody seriously believe that Ben Ladin would not have eventually approached Hussien for support and training camps after we kicked him out of Afghanistan?

If anyone had doubts on that point, the 9/11 Commission's report should clear that up:

Al Qaeda did approach Hussein.

Al Qaeda did meet with the Iraqi government.

There was an Iraqi-Al Qaeda connection.

Just not on 9/11.

It's not necessary to take Bush's word or even my word on it. That's what the 9/11 Commission said. But the media keeps trying to put words in the president's mouth. Yet even The Washington Post couldn't find a quote that states what their editorial writers want us to believe. In this collection of administration quotes they call "White House Statements on Iraq, al-Qaida", i defy anyone to find a direct statement by any admininstration official saying that Iraq and Al Qaeda collaborated on the 9/11 attacks.

You'd think if such a quote were there, the Washington Post would have found it. Instead, the Post's anthology of quotes merely shows that the administration was right about the budding relationship between Hussein's Iraq and Al Quada. We can believe they were right because the 9/11 Commision agrees that there were links.

And it therefore follows, i say, that we were right to take out Saddam Hussein before those links turned into a full fledged alliance.

More on topic: read DANEgerus.

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June 16, 2004

Poetry Wednesday

i have been negligent for not posting any poem by my favorite poet on one of these Poetry Wednesdays. Today i will correct that. The following is by Edna St. Vincent Millay:

God's World

O WORLD, I cannot hold thee close enough!
    Thy winds, thy wide grey skies!
    Thy mists that roll and rise!
Thy woods this autumn day, that ache and sag
And all but cry with colour! That gaunt crag
To crush! To lift the lean of that black bluff!
World, World, I cannot get thee close enough!

Long have I known a glory in it all,
    But never knew I this;
    Here such a passion is
As stretcheth me apart,—Lord, I do fear
ThouÂ’st made the world too beautiful this year;
My soul is all but out of me,—let fall
No burning leaf; prithee, let no bird call.

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June 15, 2004

Lakers Eulogy

If the Lakers lose tonight, it will be because they did not get the ball to Shaq on every posession. Larry Brown knows that Kobe will try to take the game on his shoulders, and like last Sunday, Kobe will be triple teamed. Get the ball in to Shaq and stay in the triangle offense.

But they won't do that. Because guys like George and Medvedenko think they are good, instead of hacks, which is what they really are. They will come downcourt and throw up jumpers with 15 on the shot clock, like they always do.

If Detroit wins, much as i love my Lakers, i will have to admit that the best team did win.

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Skankwoman Update

Did i or did i not predict that Brittany Spears would be in rehab by October of this year?

Answer: i did, sort of.

Allow me now to gloat and report to you that Brittany indeed will be undergoing eight to twelve weeks of rehab, starting six weeks from now.

Never doubt me again.

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June 12, 2004

Reagan Memorial Week, Final Impressions

Whatever else you can say about this week, i think it's been a seven day long commercial for the Republican Party. Tremble Democrats, because countless young people watching the proceedings are almost certainly going to grow up to be Republicans.

Nancy Reagan handled everything with a selfless grace and dignity that should set an example for us all.

i love Michael Reagan. He seems like a really decent and kindhearted man.

When the Democrats act like pessimistic crybabies again, starting next week i should think, your average American will remember the pride he or she felt during the week of Reagan's remembrance.

Looking at the tens of thousands of people who waited 5+ hours on both coasts, just to pay their respects where the President's body lied in state, i was struck by how many hundreds of thousands there were, myself included, who would have done the same if they could.

And looking at the thousands of people who lined the route from Point Mugu N.A.S. to Simi Valley, just to show their gratitude, i was struck by the fact that we may all owe our lives to that great man. Maybe there's no way i can prove that, but can you prove it's not true?

President Bush managed to put a former president, a former prime minister and the heir to the throne of Great Britain to sleep. That's power.

i thought Ron Reagan's swipe at President Bush was inappropriate and unfair.

The musical performances at the Cathedral service on Friday were outstanding, particularly the choral version of Jerusalem, both versions of the Battle Hymn and the very moving recessional music.

The two most heart-wrenching moments for me were when George H. W. Bush got choked up for a moment, and when Nancy Reagan, surrounded by her family, said a final goodbye to her husband, who loved her so very much.

Did you see John Kerry whisper something in Bill Clinton's ear before the Cathedral Service, then hold his finger up to his lips? What sort of conspiracy are they cooking up?

Ronald Reagan was both a good man and a great man. i fear that the world owes him a debt that cannot be repayed. i am grateful that he lived, and for his many gifts to us all. But now that he's gone, i don't see anyone that even comes close to his goodness and his greatness. And that makes me afraid for the future.

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June 10, 2004

Hasn't Made A Good Album Since Reagan's First Term

The Boss needs to just "shut up and sing." He thinks every American needs to read Al Gore's speech and calls it "one of the most important speeches I've heard in a long time."

And we should listen to Springstien's advice on politics because . . . ?

. . . Oh that's right, he's a musician. The only pundits with any credentials on the left are all entertainers of some sort.

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June 09, 2004

Today Is Lyrical Wednesday

In lieu of a poem, and in honor of Cole Porter's birthday today, i present to you the lyrics to my favorite Cole Porter song. You may not have heard these lyrics because the song is more famous as an instrumental. It was band leader Artie Shaw's theme song, i believe.


Begin the Beguine

When they begin the beguine
It brings back the sound of music so tender,
It brings back a night of tropical splendor,
It brings back a memory ever green.

IÂ’m with you once more under the stars,
And down by the shore an orchestraÂ’s playing
And even the palms seem to be swaying
When they begin the beguine.

To live it again is past all endeavor,
Except when that tune clutches my heart,
And there we are, swearing to love forever,
And promising never, never to part.

What moments divine, what rapture serene,
Till clouds came along to disperse the joys we had tasted,
And now when I hear people curse the chance that was wasted,
I know but too well what they mean;

So donÂ’t let them begin the beguine
Let the love that was once a fire remain an ember;
Let it sleep like the dead desire I only remember
When they begin the beguine.

Oh yes, let them begin the beguine, make them play
Till the stars that were there before return above you,
Till you whisper to me once more,
'Darling, I love you!'
And we suddenly know, what heaven weÂ’re in,
When they begin the beguine

i think it's Porter's most romantic tune.

Happy one hundred and thirteenth birthday Cole Porter!

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Fascist Lefties

Almost every day i see another example of the freakazoid left's infatuation with violence. You may remember i posted my theory on that subject here. i should make it a regular feature to post further evidence of my theory.

In today's Bee, there's a story about how the protesters in my old hometown of San Francisco failed to shut down the biotech conference. Some protesters "pushed conference attendees aside and shouted profanities" at them. As the police escorted the scientists and attendees into the Moscone Center (no doubt to protect them from hurled objects as much as hurled invective) the unwashed, jobless retards shouted the following peaceful slogan:

ARREST THEM! SHOOT THEM!
It seems ironic, but i've no doubt that these same people are all bent out of shape over Abu Ghraib.

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June 08, 2004

Incredible WWII Escape Story

i love adventure stories and WWII is a great source for true stories of escape and adventure . From every theater, it seems. Everyone knows that The Great Escape was based on actual events. And i'd highly recommend reading the The War Journal of Major Damon "Rocky" Gause, which is a true story about an escape from Bataan.

Here's yet another true WWII escape story, about a soldier from the historic 506th PIR, who took part in D-Day, only to be captured by the Wermacht, escape twice, get captured again by the Gestapo, get beaten and tortured, escape again, flee to the east, take refuge with a Russian tank battalion, fight with them for a month as they headed to Berlin, get wounded during an attack by Stukas, land in a Polish hospital, where he met Marshal Zhukov, and finally make it back to the US embassy in Moscow, where he learned that he had been declared dead. What an amazing story.

Link via Serenity.

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Morissey? Fuck Him

i'm pleased to announce that legislation has just been signed, which will outlaw Morissey forever. The bombing begins in five minutes.

Fuck him and fuck the lemmings who cheered him.

Link via Michele.

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Paying My Respects

During lunch today, i took a walk over to the Capitol Building and signed this book.

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June 07, 2004

Ronald W. Reagan, My Tribute

RR 12-07-88.jpg

My first memory of President Reagan is from November 1984. i was seven. My father asked me to take a walk down the block with him. We went into a neighbor's garage where there were little booths set up. People went into the booths and pulled a curtain behind them. i stood in line with my dad as he gave his name to a lady who handed him a card. Then my dad took me into the booth with him to watch him cast his vote for president of the United States.

It's fitting that my first introduction to democracy was watching my dad vote for Ronald Reagan.

Another formative experience of my life was the tragedy of the space shuttle Challenger on January 28, 1986. Like many children, i watched the launch on television with my class. It was horrifying. i'll never forget how President Reagan spoke afterwards, directly to us young people, sharing our pain and somehow giving us a way to understand that traumatic loss.

I want to say something to the schoolchildren of America who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle's takeoff. I know it is hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It's all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It's all part of taking a chance and expanding man's horizons. The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we'll continue to follow them.
With those words, President Reagan showed me that courage comes with its own cost. Just as he did with his address on the fortieth anniversary of D-Day, which i've heard again this weekend. And later, when i could understand with the hindsight of a history student, Ronald Reagan showed me the meaning of steadfast courage in the face of incredible opposition - when he led Democracy to victory over the forces of Communist dictatorship.

That last victory, his greatest, was not easy. And it was not certain. Reagan didn't stumble his way into it either. Victory in the Cold War was the almost uniquely held vision of this one great man. He alone among the post war presidents had the courage to say: "Let's win this thing. We can win this thing." When Nixon and Carter were trying to figure out how to co-exist with the Communists, when Ford was denying the Soviet domination of Europe, Reagan alone seemed to know that we would win, because we were better.

And he got us to believe it too. And we did win. Despite all the nay-sayers (funded from behind the iron curtain, by the way) who were shouting "nuclear freeze," Reagan rolled back the nukes, doing it from a position of strength and leaving our nation infinitely safer than if he had listened to the peaceniks. And when the left shook their heads after Reykjavik, saying we had blown our chance for peace, Reagan, by his courageous stand on principle, led us to the lasting peace that only victory could win.

i've been weepy all weekend. i, too, loved Ronald Reagan. i'm proud to have been alive while he was president. i'm proud that i'm a Californian, a Republican, an American, and he's a large part of those things. i've heard it said, and i fully agree, that if Ronald Reagan were president today, he'd know exactly what to do. i wish that were possible. But in a way, i'm glad he didn't realize how much trouble we've gotten into since we lost the blessing of his stewardship. He would have been deeply disappointed.

Or, perhaps i'm wrong about that. Ronald Reagan was an eternal optimist. And one of the great things about all the tributes of the past few days has been the long overdue recognition of his optimism. We should honor his optimism, by remembering it, and re-igniting it. What President Reagan said at the 1992 Republican Convention has been quoted often in the last few days, but i don't think it can be repeated often enough.

Well I've said it before and I'll say it again -- America's best days are yet to come. Our proudest moments are yet to be. Our most glorious achievements are just ahead. America remains what Emerson called her 150 years ago, 'the country of tomorrow.' What a wonderful description and how true. And yet tomorrow might never have happened had we lacked the courage in the 1980's to chart a course of strength and honor.
God Bless you, Ronald Reagan.


Recommended on topic: The Maximum Leader meets the President.

Also Recommended: Lileks, as always. Professor Hugh looks at the Democratic spin attempts. And Daniel Weintraub spins the President as a liberal.

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Ronald W. Reagan

". . . You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness. If we fail, at least let our children and our children's children say of us we justified our brief moment here. We did all that could be done. . . ."

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June 04, 2004

Coffee Spitting Moment

The funniest sentence i've read in a blog this year has got to be the following, by Moxie:

I felt like Hilary Clinton, except without a cock. And a daughter.
Read the rest here.

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The Capitol City

Last week has not been easy. On Friday i moved into a room in the four bedroom house with my other new housemates Colleeen and Mike. Mike is a real sweetheart, very easygoing and funny. Colleen, i had forgotten, has a personality that tends to the negative and she can be a moody bitch a lot of the time. On Monday, for some reason, she decided she was going to be snippy to everybody, and i began to think i had made a mistake by moving in. But on Tuesday, she was back to normal. Weird. But i'm determined not to let her get to me. The house is great. The fourth housemate will be moving in tomorrow; it's another first year named Sherry or Shelly, i cant remember.

The Capitol City is like a small town with a few tall office buildings. After living in S.F. and L.A., i'm a snob. This is the provinces. But the people seem nice, and life is definitely slower than in L.A., if not the Bay Area too. On Tuesday, i started work at the local office of the law firm i've been at for the last couple of years. This is the third branch office i've worked at. They must like me. This operation is very small, only 5 attorneys, and i'm to be their part-time paralegal to help the full-time girl, who's going on maternity soon.

i still haven't seen Schwarzenegger, but i'm looking out for him. There's a few things i need to say to him regarding his job performance thus far. Some good, some not so good. The office had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe the other day and i was joking about Arnie's failed venture with Willis and Stallone. What was it called? i don't even remember the name of it. No, i'm talking about the restaurant, not California. Overpriced hamburgers, bad service. Just like the Hard Rock. Damn, i can never remember the name of it.

i miss my family and Jason terribly. i feel weird, like i don't belong. i guess i'll get used to being here eventually. i'm planning to go back home for Father's day though, and i'm so looking forward to that.

Blogging is hard these days, because i work in a small office and the boss is always nearby. At home, i don't have a computer yet and i don't want to blog from my roommates' computers. It sucks. i really wanted to blog about Clinton's speech, which i saw last night. He was smooth wasn't he? Damn, that guy is good. Slick Willie, for sure. i plan to buy his book, by the way.

Gotta go, the boss is back.

Highly Recommended: Richie* on Sports at Candied Ginger.

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June 02, 2004

Swimwear Poll Data

Not pool, poll.

i'm pleased to find that The Sacramento Bee is not afraid to tackle the big issues that are foremost on the minds of Californians. Here's some interesting data:

Lands' End catalog and online clothing company recently completed a survey of more than 1,000 women ages 18 and older. One-third wished for a multipurpose suit; two-thirds say they spend their summer doing a lot more than sunbathing.

. . .

[A] swimsuit, unlike a tube of lipstick, is anything but an impulse purchase. A lot of thinking goes into the buying. According to the NPD Group, a market research firm, nearly 70 percent of women make an outing of it.

. . .

[S]even out of 10 women own a two-piece bathing suit, designers recognize the average woman is still a size 14, so teeny-weeny bikinis, while great on the young, aren't as suitable for the young at heart.

. . .

'Believe it or not, one out of five women say they do yardwork or garden in their suits,' Thorson says. 'About 28 percent exercise in them.'

. . .

Venus Swimwear in Florida is 98 percent mail-order and online shopping, Randolph sees interesting demographics on what suits sell from coast to coast.

'East Coast goes more for a midrise, standard bottom; West Coast buyers opt for a retro, low-rise, California surfer-girl bottom.'

. . .

[T]hree out of four women spend less than $50 for a single swimsuit, most on sale. Two out of five expect it to last two years.

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