Happy New Year!

The Paranoid Family wishes everyone all our best in the coming New Year.

Nevertheless, remember- "TRUST NO ONE"...

--WP

Military Quotes

El Guapo ("does not kill crying women.") sent the following to me:

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I'm sure some of these quotes will bring back memories for all of who served in the military or were associated with those that did.
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"The 'L' in CENTCOM stands for leadership..."

"At this Command, we have written in large, black letters: DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) on the back of our security badges."
- Maj. (CENTCOM)

"'Leaning forward' is really just the first phase of 'falling on your face.'"
- Marine Col (MARFOREUR)

"I am so far down the food chain that I've got plankton bites on my butt."

"None of us is as dumb as all of us."
- Excerpted from a brief (EUCOM)

"We're from the nuke shop, sir. We're the crazy aunt in the closet that nobody likes to talk about ..."
-Lt. Col. (EUCOM) in briefings

"Things are looking up for us here. In fact, Papua-New Guinea is thinking of offering two platoons: one of Infantry (headhunters) and one of engineers (hut builders). They want to eat any Iraqis they kill. We've got no issues with that, but State is being anal about it."
- LTC (JS) on OIF coalition-building.

"The chance of success in these talks is the same as the number of "R's" in "fat chance...""
- GS-15 (SHAPE)

"His knowledge on that topic is only power point deep..."
- MAJ (JS)

"Ya know, in this Command, if the world were supposed to end tomorrow, it would still happen behind schedule."
- CWO4 (EUCOM)

"We are condemned men who are chained and will row in place until we rot."
- Lt. Col (CENTCOM) on life at his Command

"Right now we're pretty much the ham in a bad ham sandwich..."
- GO/FO (EUCOM)

"If we wait until the last minute to do it, it'll only take a minute."
- MAJ(EUCOM)

"The only reason that anything ever gets done is because there are pockets of competence in every command. The key is to find them ... and then exploit the hell out of 'em."
- CDR (CENTCOM)

"I may be slow, but I do poor work..."
- MAJ (USAREUR)

"Cynicism is the smoke that rises from the ashes of burned out dreams."
- Maj. (CENTCOM) on the daily thrashings delivered to AOs at his Command.

"WE are the reason that Rumsfeld hates us..."
- LTC (EUCOM) doing some standard, Army self-flagellation

"Working with Hungary is like watching a bad comedy set on auto repeat..."
- LCDR (EUCOM)

"I finally figured out that when a Turkish officer tells you, "It's no problem," he means, for him."
- Maj. (EUCOM)

"Never in the history of the US Armed Forces have so many done so much for so few..."
- MAJ (Task Force Warrior) on the "success" of the Free Iraqi Forces (FIF) Training Program, where 1100 Army troops trained 77 Iraqi exiles at the cost of, ...well, ...way too much...

"Our days are spent trying to get some poor, unsuspecting third world country to pony up to spending a year in a sweltering desert, full of pissed off Arabs who would rather shave the back of their legs with a cheese grater than submit to foreign occupation by a country for whom they have nothing but contempt."
- LTC (JS) on the joys of coalition building

"I guess the next thing they'll ask for is 300 US citizens with Hungarian last names to send to Iraq..."
- MAJ (JS) on the often-frustrating process of building the Iraqi coalition for Phase IV

"Between us girls, would it help to clarify the issue if you knew that Hungary is land-locked?"
- CDR to MAJ (EUCOM) on why a deployment from Hungary is likely to proceed by air vice sea

"So, what do you wanna do?"..."I dunno, what do YOU wanna do?"..."I dunno, what do YOU wanna do?," etc.
- COL (DIA) describing the way OUSD(S) develops and implements their strategies

"I'll be right back. I have to go pound my nuts flat..."
- Lt Col (EUCOM) after being assigned a difficult tasker

"I guess this is the wrong power cord for the computer, huh?"
- Lt. Col. (EUCOM) after the smoke cleared from plugging his 110V computer into a 220V outlet

"OK, this is too stupid for words."
- LTC (JS)

"When you get right up to the line that you're not supposed to cross, the only person in front of you will be me!"
- CDR (CENTCOM) on his view of the value of being politically correct in today's military

"There's nothing wrong with crossing that line a little bit, it's jumping over it buck naked that will probably get you in trouble..."
- Lt. Col. (EUCOM) responding to the above

"Never pet a burning dog."
- LTC (Tennessee National Guard)

"Ah, the joys of Paris: a unique chance to swill warm wine and be mesmerized by the dank ambrosia of unkempt armpits..."
- LCDR (NAVEUR)

"'Status quo,' as you know, is Latin for 'the mess we're in...'"
- Attributed to former President Ronald Reagan

"We are now past the good idea cutoff point..."
- MAJ (JS) on the fact that somebody always tries to "fine tune" a COA with more "good ideas"

"Nobody ever said you had to be smart to make 0-6."
- Col (EUCOM)

"I haven't complied with a darn thing and nothing bad has happened to me yet."

"Whatever happened to good old-fashioned military leadership? Just task the first two people you see."

"Accuracy and attention to detail take a certain amount of time."

"I seem to be rapidly approaching the apex of my mediocre career."
- MAJ (JS)

"Much work remains to be done before we can announce our total failure to make any progress."

"It's not a lot of work unless you have to do it."
- LTC (EUCOM)

"Creating smoking holes (with bombs) gives our lives meaning and enhances our manliness."
- LTC (EUCOM) at a CT conference

"Eventually, we have to 'make nice' with the French, although, since I'm new in my job, I have every expectation that I'll be contradicted."
- DOS rep at a Counter Terrorism Conference

"Everyone should have an equal chance, but not everyone is equal."

"You can get drunk enough to do most anything, but you have to realize going in that there are some things that, once you sober up and realize what you have done, will lead you to either grab a 12-gauge or stay drunk for the rest of your life."

"Once you accept that a dog is a dog, you can't get upset when it barks."
- Lt Col (USSOCOM)

"That guy just won't take 'yes' for an answer."
- MAJ (EUCOM)

"Let's just call Lessons Learned what they really are: institutionalized scab picking."

"I can describe what it feels like being a Staff Officer in two words: distilled pain."
- CDR (NAVEUR)

"When all else fails, simply revel in the absurdity of it all."
- LCDR (CENTCOM)

"Never attribute to malice that which can be ascribed to sheer stupidity."
- LTC (CENTCOM)

"They also serve, who sit and surf the NIPR."
- CPT (CENTCOM)

"I hear so much about Ft. Bragg. Where is it?" "It's in the western part of southeastern North Carolina."
- LCDR and CPT (EUCOM)

"I've become the master of nodding my head and acting like I give a sh_t, and then instantly forgetting what the hell a person was saying the moment they walk away."
- Flag-level Executive A$$istant

"Mark my words, this internet thing is gonna catch on someday."
- LTC (EUCOM)

"You're not a loser. You're just not my kind of winner..."
- GS-14 (OSD)

"He who strives for the minimum rarely attains it."
- GS-12 (DOS)

"If I'd had more time, I'da written a shorter brief..."
- Maj. (EUCOM)

"I work at EUCOM. I know bullsh_t when I see it."
- LTC (EUCOM) in a game of office poker

"You only know as much as you don't know."
- GO (EUCOM)

"I'm just livin' the dream..."
- EUCOM staffer response to the question, "How's it going?" or, "What are you doing?"

"I'm just ranting...I have nothing useful to say."
- LTC (EUCOM)

"Why would an enemy want to bomb this place and end all the confusion?"
- GS-14 (EUCOM)

"Other than the fact that there's no beer, an early curfew and women that wear face coverings for a very good reason, Kabul is really a wonderful place to visit."
- LTC (CENTCOM)

"It was seen, ...visually."
- LTC (EUCOM) during a Reconnaissance briefing

"Let me tell you about the benefits of being on a staff..." "This should be a short conversation."
- Lt. Col. to Lt. Col. (EUCOM)

"Hello gentlemen. Are we in today or are you just ignoring my request?"
- GS-15 (DSCA) in an email to EUCOM staffers

"After seeing the way this place works, I bet that Mickey Mouse wears a EUCOM watch."
- Maj. (EUCOM)

"Your Key Issues are so 2003..."
- CPT (CJTF-180) in January 2004

"USCENTCOM commanders announced today that they intend to maintain their presence in Qatar "until the sun runs out of hydrogen," thus committing the US to the longest duration deployment in human history. When asked how they planned to maintain the presence in Qatar for a projected length of 4 to 5 billion years, planners said "we're working on a plan for that. We don't have one yet, but not having a plan or an intelligent reason to do something has never been much of an impediment for us in the past; we don't foresee it being a big show stopper for us in the future either."

Among the options that were being discussed was an innovative program to "interbreed" the deployed personnel. "We are going to actively encourage the military members in Qatar to intermarry and raise children that will replace them in the future. Sure, it may be a little hard on some of our female service members, since there are currently are about 8 men for every woman over there, but we expect that to be OBE as the sex ratios will even out in a generation or two. In any case the key to the plan is to make these assignments not only permanent, but inheritable and hereditary. For example, if you currently work the JOC weather desk, so will your children, and their children, and their children, ad infinitum. We like to think of it as job security."
- CPT (CJTF-180)

"That's FUBIJAR."
- COL (CENTCOM), Fu--ed Up, But I'm Just a Reservist...

"I keep myself confused on purpose, just in case I am captured and fall into enemy hands!"
- GO/FO (CENTCOM)

"Does anybody around here remember if I did anything this year?"
- LTC (EUCOM) preparing his Officer Evaluation Report support form

"I'd be happy to classify this document for you. Could you tell me its classification?"
- GS11 (EUCOM) in an email from the Foreign Disclosure office

"Nothing is too good for you guys...and that's exactly what you're gonna get..."
- LTC (EUCOM) describing the way Army policy is formulated

"The only thing that sucks worse than being me is being you..."
- LTC (EUCOM)

"I have to know what I don't know..."
- Col. (CENTCOM) during a shift changeover briefing

"No. Now I'm simply confused at a higher level..."
- Foreign GO/FO when asked if he had any questions following a transformation brief at JFCOM

"I'm planning on taking the weekend off...notionally..."
- LT (EUCOM) midway through a huge, simulated command exercise

"I've heard of 'buzzwords' before but I have never experienced a 'buzz sentence' or a 'buzz paragraph' until today."
- Maj. (EUCOM) after listening to a JFCOM trainer/mentor

"We've got to start collaborating between the collaboration systems." "Our plan for the Olympics is to take all the ops and put it in the special room we have developed for ops."
- GO/FO (EUCOM)

"Did you hear that NPR is canning Bob Edwards?" "Why? Did they catch him standing up for the National Anthem or something??"
- COL to CDR (EUCOM)

"Not to be uncooperative, but we're just being uncooperative."
- CDR (EUCOM) in an email response to a request for information

"He cloaked himself in an impenetrable veneer of terminology."
- Lt. Col. JFCOM describing the Jiffiecom alpha male

"Transformation has long been the buzzword for those that are dispossessed, dispirited and disillusioned..."
- Chaplain (EUCOM), allegedly.

"There are more disconnects on this issue than CENTCOM has staff officers."
- GO/FO (EUCOM)

"Is that a Navy or a Marine admiral?"
- MAJ (EUCOM)

If you read all of them, then post an observation as to your favorite. It will not win you prize, but at least we know which one is your favorite...

--WP

The Largely Defunct Bill of Rights

The Largely Defunct Bill of Rights

by Harry Browne

"The Founding Fathers created a Bill of Rights to ensure that Americans would never have to fear government prosecutors the way people in the Old World did.

Unfortunately, the Bill of Rights is a dead letter in too many ways in America. It has now become possible for prosecutors to get a conviction in virtually every case where they choose to indict ? whether or not the defendant is guilty.

Fortunately, however, a number of prominent writers are alarmed about the problem ? including some people you might expect to be law-and-order conservatives."

Though, I am not, and have not been a fan of Harry Browne's for many years, he has assembled, in his short article, eight (8) very powerful links to major articles that each of you should read.

I know a man, who was hired as a forensics expert in a Feral case, who was shocked at the lying, coercion, and outright fraud that was perpetrated by the Ferals.

The only thing that shocked me was his shock, as he should have known better as for many years previous to this, he had seen enough evidence of the Ferals activity...

--WP

Merry Christmas

And this is why it is late being posted as I just had Internet access restored:



The Paranoid Family loved that this happened, and wishes you and yours the Merriest Christmas.

--WP

"A Truly Great Whisky"

Today was a very tiring but fruitful day.

By the end of it, I now have more work for tomorrow, which if I had been told Tuesday when the problem started, would at least have allowed me to check it out yesterday- but such is life.

So, I think I earned this:



It is a rare occasion that allow myself to enjoy such wonders, but tonight...

--WP

Perpetual Shorty

Has been added to the blog links- so when you get a chance, go and enjoy his cogitations- I have...

--WP

Mr. Sharkey reminded me.

On December 19th, 1972, Man last walked on the Moon.

A friend in the RGV sent this to me as well, as a reminder that the bastards who hate freedom and liberty in the swamp, and many other places, just passed this legislation:

Private Spaceflight Don?t let over-regulation stifle progress
December 21,2004

"In a reasonably sane world, there would have been no perceived need for HR 5382, the Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act of 2004, which passed the Senate during the final minutes of the recent lame-duck session and awaits President Bush?s signature. Given the world we live in, however, it offers a fairly sensible approach to the private space race that is emerging in the wake of the successful suborbital flight of SpaceShipOne, honchoed by legendary aircraft designer Burt Rutan and his team over the Mojave Desert this year."

What filfth have we allowed to ascend to be the "Men Who Hold High Places"...

--WP

Drive by stabbings in the UK

One Killed, Five Others Injured in London Stabbing Rampage
The Associated Press
Published: Dec 23, 2004

LONDON (AP) - An armed man went on a stabbing rampage in north London Thursday, killing one person and critically injuring at least five others, police said.

Metropolitan Police said they began receiving reports of stabbings outside train stations and on streets in the Edmonton, Enfield and Harringay areas starting around 8:20 a.m.

A 29-year-old man, a 30-year-old woman, 40-year-old man and 30-year-old man were among those targeted by the man, who police believe was driving a car and pulling off the road to stab his victims.

One man died at Whipps Cross hospital in Leytonstone, and North Middlesex Hospital said it was treating five people for critical injuries.

Police arrested a male suspect in the area where the stabbings occurred.

AP-ES-12-23-04 0659EST

And all along, I thought that taking those subjects guns away would stop the crime...

--WP

"My cunt is not represented here."

'Vagina Monologues' draws large crowds as well as protesters

Protesters of "Monologues" say the production did not accurately represent women's diversity
By Ayisha Yahya
News Editor

February 16, 2004

"They silently stood hand in hand with gray duct tape pasted across their lips and "Vagina Warriors" emblazoned on the back of their white shirts. The front of the shirts had different messages: "Warning: Hostile Vagina," "Not all vaginas are skinny, white + straight" and "My cunt is not represented here."

It has been awhile since I laughed this hard.

No-Neck sent in the link with the subject line:

"I am not making this one up"

The first thing that came to mind is:

MikeHunt! MikeHunt! Paging MikeHunt!!!

--WP

And they could not find them a good home!

Do not weep my friends, just hold the anger...

--WP

Excellent reads

A very good read here by Claire Wolfe.

A very scary read at The Inquirer.

Here are three that will piss you off.

And here is one that you may find useful.

All of these I saved from last week, except Claire Wolfe's, but have not had the time to post them or make my own comments, but those that have been reading here awhile should have a general idea as to what my opinion is...

--WP

HaloScan Problems Patch

If you find you cannot post a comment, please turn off your web proxy cache.

This will only be required IF you cannot post. The only reason you should not be able to post now, is if you include a URL in your comments.

This is due to HaloScan's current settings to try to handle SPAM.

--WP

Posting Comments

It appears that Haloscan is not functioning properly and has not for at least a week.

I first noticed the problem when I tried posting to Kat's blog last week, and since that time I know of four people who have been unsuccessful at posting comments here.

If anyone knows the solution as to why Haloscan times out, produces a blank page with out the comment, produces a 403 Error, or why Haloscan seems to be ignoring the problem at Haloscan's Support forum, please E-mail to let me know.

For those that do not know my E-mail, look up and to the right...

--WP

Today is December 15th

Bill of Rights Day

You can find more on this National holiday here, which was signed into law by that socialist bastard FDR- just eight days after the Japs bombed Pearl Harbor, and one-hundred and fifty years after the original signing.

Of course, he did not believe in them, as history so amply has shown, and I think the Founding Fathers would have shot son-of-a-bitch if they had had a chance...

--WP

Snowflakes! Weeee....

Yes Kat, thanks for noticing...

--WP

Subject: Fw: Holiday Eating Tips (From No-Neck)

Holiday Eating Tips

1. Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet table knows nothing of the Christmas spirit. In fact, if you see carrots, leave immediately. Go next door, where they're serving rum balls.
2. Drink as much eggnog as you can. And quickly. Like fine single-malt scotch, it's rare. In fact, it's even rarer than single-malt scotch. You can't find it any other time of year but now. So drink up! Who cares that it has 10,000 calories in every sip? It's not as if you're going to turn into an eggnog-aholic or something. It's a treat. Enjoy it. Have one for me. Have two. It's later than you think. It's Christmas!
3. If something comes with gravy, use it. That's the whole point of gravy. Gravy does not stand alone. Pour it on. Make a volcano out of your mashed potatoes. Fill it with gravy. Eat the volcano. Repeat.
4. As for mashed potatoes, always ask if they're made with skim milk or whole milk. If it's skim, pass. Why bother? It's like buying a sports car with an automatic transmission.
5. Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to control your eating. The whole point of going to a Christmas party is to eat other people's food for free. Lots of it. Hello?
6. Under no circumstances should you exercise between now and New Year's. You can do that in January when you have nothing else to do. This is the time for long naps, which you'll need after circling the buffet table while carrying a 10-pound plate of food and that vat of eggnog.
7. If you come across something really good at a buffet table, like frosted Christmas cookies in the shape and size of Santa, position yourself near them and don't budge. Have as many as you can before becoming the center of attention. They're like a beautiful pair of shoes. If you leave them behind, you're never going to see them again.
8. Same for pies. Apple. Pumpkin. Mincemeat. Have a slice of each. Or, if you don't like mincemeat, have two apples and one pumpkin. Always have three. When else do you get to have more than one dessert? Labor Day?
9. Did someone mention fruitcake? Granted, it's loaded with the mandatory celebratory calories, but avoid it at all cost. I mean, have some standards.
10. One final tip: If you don't feel terrible when you leave the party or get up from the table, you haven't been paying attention. Reread tips; start over, but hurry, January is just around the corner.

Remember this motto to live by:

"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, eggnog in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO what a ride!"

I do not know where he stole it from, but now you know why we call him No-Neck...

--WP

RFID and your Medicine Bottles

Well, actually the feral government, your local pharmacist, oh and your local police department:

11/18/2004

ACTION NEEDED BEFORE THANKSGIVING!

Stop "Big Brother" from snooping around your medicine cabinet!

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· National All Schedules Prescription Reporting Act (H.R. 3015) allows government and law enforcement to monitor your prescriptions

· Treats tens of millions of patients as potential criminals

· Give prosecutors & law enforcement power to decide who is ?deserving? of medicines

· Contact your Senators this week and tell them to vote AGAINST this bill

· Click-through to send letter to your Senators in less than a minute.

· Physicians: Print out flyer for your patients!

· Please forward this message to everyone.

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Do you want the government to have a record of every prescription you get? Every painkiller? Every anti-depressant? Every sleeping pill? And then to pass that information along to law enforcement to prosecute you and your doctor if they don?t like what they find?

Now, it is time to clean the wretchings from your monitor, and call those rat-bastards!

Oh, and what did Irwin Mann say...

--WP

Today in 1889

Jefferson Davis passed away.

--WP

Nacht und Nebel

Nacht:

From Capitol Hill Blue

What Price Freedom?
Return of the Blacklist

By BOB KERR

Providence Journal
Nov 30, 2004, 06:42

Molly Little is a "Female Special."

"She didn't know. She didn't seek the title. She found out about it at the airport in Portland, Maine.

Little is from South Kingstown, R.I., a freshman at Colby College, and she doesn't like a lot of things her government is doing. So she demonstrates and asks questions and is drawn to people who share her outrage. Last year, she did an internship with the American Friends Service Committee, the organization founded by those peace-loving Quakers.

She made news with some friends last April when she took part in a symbolic washing of the United States flag at the Rhode Island State House.

"We're saying we're the future and we want to cleanse the United States of what it represents right now," she said at the time.

But she has found that speaking out and being very public in her opposition to government policies, while allegedly every citizen's right, can make her stand out in a crowd.

On Nov. 18, she was headed to Fort Benning, Ga., to take part in the annual nonviolent demonstration against The School of the Americas, that shadowy operation that is a training school for so many Latin American soldiers eager to learn the American way of keeping insurgencies in check. The school has been renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, but that euphemistic turn has not stopped thousands of people from showing up every year to say the school is a very bad and un-American idea.

At the Portland airport, Little found that maybe, just maybe, a person can no longer speak out without getting his or her name on a list."

und Nebel:

U.S. lawyers assert broad right to detain
They argue for indefinite custody of enemy combatants at Guantanamo

The Associated Press
Thursday, December 2, 2004
WASHINGTON

"Under detailed questioning by a federal judge, government lawyers asserted yesterday that the U.S. military can hold foreigners indefinitely as enemy combatants at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, even if they aided terrorists unintentionally and never fought the United States.

Could a "little old lady in Switzerland" who sent a check to an orphanage in Afghanistan be taken into custody if unbeknownst to her, some of her donation was passed to al-Qaida terrorists? asked U.S. District Judge Joyce Hens Green.

"She could," replied Deputy Associate Attorney General Brian Boyle. "Someone's intention is clearly not a factor that would disable detention." It would be up to a new military review panel to decide whether to believe her and release her."

How glorious for our beloved Homeland to have reached these years...

--WP

I think Bane, amongst others, will like these.

I bring you:

Busty MousePads!

It may well be, that every man needs a couple- just to lean on...

--WP

Crisis towers over the dollar

Mr. Sharkey sent the following in:

Global Economy

SPEAKING FREELY
Crisis towers over the dollar
By W Joseph Stroupe

"When analyzing such matters as the vulnerability of the US economy and the chances of its collapse, it is vital to avoid the two extremes of "calamity howling" on one hand and investing blind faith in the status quo on the other. Unforeseen and unexpected attack-induced collapses of grand proportions can and do occur. The sudden collapse of both towers of New York's World Trade Center, for example, took everyone by surprise - who could have foreseen that the two towers, which survived the massive lateral impact of two huge planes, would, only minutes later, collapse vertically upon themselves, their own massive weight ensuring their demise?"

An alarming, but interesting introduction and Mr. Stroupe further goes on to point out:

"Now that fire is raging, and ferociously eating into the girders. Controversial and ill-advised unilateral US economic and foreign policies since September 11 are only fueling that fire. In the immediate aftermath of the re-election of President George W Bush, international support for the dollar and for related US economic and foreign policies is noticeably weakening, at a time when it is most needed to support an unprecedented and mushrooming mountain load of debt. Recently, voices from within the government of Norway have called for a switch from the dollar toward the euro for international petro-transactions. The governor of the Bank of Japan has recently stated that having the dollar as the sole global currency is a marked disadvantage and danger, and recommended moving toward adopting the euro as a global currency alongside the dollar. The appetite of the big Asian economies to continue buying dollar assets is waning - last month the US barely achieved the $60 billion of foreign cash inflow required each month to keep it afloat. Hence the possibility of a Twin Towers-like vertical collapse of the US economy is becoming greater, not lesser.

The following highlight the extent of the mounting debt and the risk involved:

• The total US public national debt now exceeds $7 trillion.
• When Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, military and government pensions are added in, the total national debt exceeds $51 trillion, according to Fortune magazine - that's nearly five times the gross domestic product (GDP) .
• The current year's deficit alone approaches $1 trillion when you add the off-budget items.
• Derivatives (highly leveraged and enormously risky instruments such as interest-rate futures, options and swaps) now total $180 trillion, 17 times the GDP. Warren Buffet calls derivatives "instruments of mass destruction". Many financial institutions have become highly invested in derivatives. Government-sponsored enterprises such as Fannie Mae (the Federal National Mortgage Association) and Freddie Mac (the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp) use derivatives heavily. Because of the inherent nature of derivatives, these instruments and those using them are extremely sensitive even to small and moderate interest-rate increases.
• The total US consumer debt is more than $8 trillion."

Another link in Mr. Sharkey's E-mail is here:

The Next Four Years - borrowed time
Listen to this commentary
(This requires Real Player or an Alternative)

"Today, our special series of commentaries from different political perspectives continues with commentator and economist Paul Krugman. He says for the next four years, we'll be living on borrowed time. And he thinks we might end up singing for our supper."

This is interesting, in so far as that NPR actually has an honest, though short, commentary upon the economy. Of course, I am sure that it has nothing to do with the fact that the Repuglicrats are in solid control, and that their beloved Socialist-Rat Bastards, the Democraps, are not, but of course this is pure speculation upon my part. It has nothing to do with the years of listening to the cheese and wine loving whiners and social engineers that are the normal fare from National Propaganda Radio.

Then again, you should take all of this with a grain of salt, and forget that Gold is now up 71% since August of 1995...

--WP

El Cid's Blog

I do not remember seeing this blog before, and I thought I had hit all of Stoney's Links, but the Southern Loyalist Blog is a damn fine read. I particularly enjoyed his post to this article (which I also had missed) at Lew Rockwell's site.

I became aware of this link due to Stoney's most recent posting at Rebel Yell.

Oh, and go and tell him that if he needs a vacation, then he should take one.

By the way, it really does help when you wake up at 03:15 and can spend the next two hours really getting work done...

--WP

No-Neck wants to know what it takes to offend someone.

I want to know what is wrong with Emory University:

Residents question rule on acts of intolerance

By Rachel Zelkowitz
Staff Writer
November 16, 2004

"After an individual scribbled the word "gay" on every dry-erase board on the first floor of Hopkins Residential Hall, police arrived on the scene, interviewed residents and snapped Polaroid pictures for about an hour.

Although Emory's code of conduct requires that police be called when an act of intolerance occurs, some students said the investigation was over the top."

Of course, it is policy at Emory to waste tax payer dollars anytime an act of intolreance occurs, which we all know is truly pressing police business.

Nevertheless, the acts of contrition at one Bowling Green High School beat Emory's stupidities:

Student's anger over Indian skit garners apology

By Courtney Craig, ccraig@bgdailynews.com -- 270-783-3243

Wednesday, November 17, 2004

"A Bowling Green High School student of American Indian heritage has received an apology from school officials after she was offended by a skit performed at a pep rally.

Sarah Berry, 16, a member of the Choctaw Nation, said a Sept. 24 pep rally at the school that included some Bowling Green High football players dressed as American Indians was offensive to her heritage. Sarah described the skit as a mock "violent slaughter" of the American Indians by students dressed as Purples, Bowling Green High's mascots.

The pep rally skit was performed in advance of the school's game against the Adair County Indians.

"It was pathetic," Berry said. "It was discriminatory and horrible."

According to Berry, the students dressed as American Indians were sitting around a fake campfire and passing around what she assumed was a peace pipe.

"Then other people came out screaming and hollering and pretended to beat them up," she said. " ... I was crying and wanted to go straight to the administration right then. I was hurt and angry."

To address her concerns, Sarah met Nov. 10 with Principal Gary Fields, who described the skit as the students dressed as Purples simply "scaring off" the students dressed as Indians. Both said there were no toy guns or other weapons involved in the skit."

Aww, she had her feelings hurt. Another one who thinks that she has a right to heap guilt upon others for her own benefit- cry me a tear darling, cry me a tear...

--WP

Another, in a long line, of thought provoking E-mails in from Mr. Sharkey.

Mr. Sharkey wrote:

"I was at an all day seminar on the Red River Campaign and the term "Dirt General" was brought up and the fact there was not one "decisive" battle in the war. A "Dirt General is one who thinks in terms of defense and occupying places and land but not decisively breaking the enemies will in battle.

The speaker was General Parker Hills, a former War College lecturer on Forrest, and he laid the cause for this thinking (by both North and South, particularly at the executive level) on Lincoln's Chief military advisor, General Henry Hallack. Hallack had translated Jomini's Vie de Napoleon in 1846. Jomini saw the objective of war to hold and occupy territory not defeat the enemy in battle.

This lead to both Lincoln (under Hallack's influence) and Davis, who had studied it and based his western fort plan on it to withhold troops from commands engaged in offensive operations.

Hills claimed the American military reverted to this thinking after WWII and it is reflected in both Korea and Vietnam and the planning for WWIII in central Europe (had the Russians come through the Fulda Gap). He went on the say it took 15 years after Vietnam for it to finally be ended in the first Gulf war. He to went on to say, he thinks "Dirt" thinking maybe coming back to detriment of the military."

This is not an idle undertaking if you plan on following through with the links.

In fact, this will take many books and, many years of thought, if you have not already started...

--WP

Edgerton seeks audience with Bush

The following came in from Mr. Sharkey, and he is interested in what type of reply Mr. Edgerton will receive:

Edgerton seeks audience with Bush

Over equal protection for Southerners

BLACK MOUNTAIN, NC - H. K. Edgerton, Black Southern activist and Chairman of the Southern Legal Resource Center's Board of Advisors, has requested a meeting with President George W. Bush "to examine ways of achieving cultural justice" for Southerners who are forbidden to express their heritage.

Edgerton's letter was written and sent November 5, three days after Bush's reelection, and was originally not intended to be made public until a response from the White House had been received; however, at least two Internet news sources learned of the letter's existence and had begun to speculate on its contents.. At that point, according to SLRC Executive Director Roger McCredie, the decision was made to release it. "There's nothing secretive about it, and it's certainly no secret that we would hope for a favorable reply," McCredie said.

The complete text of Edgerton's letter is as follows:

November 5, 2004

The President

The White House

Washington, DC 20500


Dear Mr. President:

Earlier this week the South, voting as a solid bloc for the first time in decades, helped you achieve a second term in office. Now I am writing to request a meeting with you to discuss ways of achieving cultural justice for millions of these same Southerners, who find themselves the victims of the only prejudice and discrimination still allowed in America.

Mr. President, I am a black man, the descendent of slaves. I am a former NAACP officer. Yet I am also Chairman of the Board of Advisors of the Southern Legal Resource Center, an organization that advocates for Southerners' civil rights. And in 2002 I carried a Confederate flag and marched 1,606 miles from Pack Square in Asheville, North Carolina, to the Texas Supreme Court Building in Austin, where I stood to demand the replacement of two Confederate plaques that had been removed. (I believe you may recall the case.) All along my march to Austin I was greeted by an astounding outpouring of love and support from blacks and whites alike, ordinary Southerners who share a common heritage.

These people, my Southern family, hunger and thirst after righteousness. They have been fired from their jobs, had their reputations ruined and their lives disrupted, been ridiculed, libeled, slandered, injured and even killed for trying to express their pride in who they are and for trying to tell the truth in the face of the tyranny known as "political correctness." Most deplorably, my people see their children force-fed politically correct lies in the public schools, where they are bullied and intimidated if they wear clothing depicting a flag that former President Carter called "a legitimate American icon". Dr. Eugene Genovese, a northern-born, Harvard-educated scholar, has said, "We are witnessing a cultural and political atrocity - an increasingly successful campaign by the media and an academic elite to strip young white southerners, and arguably black southerners as well, of their heritage, and, therefore, their identity. They are being taught to forget their forebears or to remember them with shame."

In short, there are a lot of Americans here in the South who are having some very un-American things done to them. This deeply offends the American sense of justice and freedom that was instilled in me from birth. I have carried my flag - the cross of the apostle Andrew - down enough American roads to know that nearly all Americans, as individual children of God, instinctively respect and honor each other's history and heritage. The cultural holocaust that is ruining the American South is driven by self-serving special interest groups, media and politicians. That is why I am appealing to you; you are, after all, the duly elected leader of all Americans.

Mr. President, your second administration can either mark the completion of the destruction of my people's culture or the beginning of its rescue. The implications of this matter reach into the furthest corners of your domestic policy. Will you sit down with me to explore ways to begin righting this pervasive and poisonous wrong?

Thank you for your attention, sir. I hope to have the honor of hearing from you soon.


Yours faithfully,



H. K. Edgerton

I doubt that one will be forthcoming...

--WP

In honor of National Ammo Day.

I will be loading up my brand spanking new G18 mags and taking the Glock to the range and unloading several hunderd rounds.

Oh, most will be .45 as I just bought the G18 mags just to say I have a couple.

Happy National Ammo Day, and remember, Bill of Rights Day is December 15th!

And "Boys, Keep Your Powder Dry"...

--WP

Still no day off in the past 2½ weeks.

However, I slept eight hours last night- incredible...

--WP

THE ARRIVAL OF SECRET LAW

SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2004, Issue No. 100
November 14, 2004

** THE ARRIVAL OF SECRET LAW
** TSA THREATENS TO ARREST LEAKERS
** SUPPORT SECRECY NEWS

THE ARRIVAL OF SECRET LAW

Last month, Helen Chenoweth-Hage attempted to board a United Airlines flight from Boise to Reno when she was pulled aside by airline personnel for additional screening, including a pat-down search for weapons or unauthorized materials.

Chenoweth-Hage, an ultra-conservative former Congresswoman (R-ID), requested a copy of the regulation that authorizes such pat-downs.

"She said she wanted to see the regulation that required the additional procedure for secondary screening and she was told that she couldn't see it," local TSA security director Julian Gonzales told the Idaho Statesman (10/10/04).

"She refused to go through additional screening [without seeing the regulation], and she was not allowed to fly," he said. "It's pretty simple."

Chenoweth-Hage wasn't seeking disclosure of the internal criteria used for screening passengers, only the legal authorization for passenger pat-downs. Why couldn't they at least let her see that? asked Statesman commentator Dan Popkey.

"Because we don't have to," Mr. Gonzales replied crisply.

"That is called 'sensitive security information.' She's not allowed to see it, nor is anyone else," he said.

Thus, in a qualitatively new development in U.S. governance, Americans can now be obligated to comply with legally-binding regulations that are unknown to them, and that indeed they are forbidden to know.

This is not some dismal Eastern European allegory. It is part of a continuing transformation of American government that is leaving it less open, less accountable and less susceptible to rational deliberation as a vehicle for change.

Harold C. Relyea once wrote an article entitled "The Coming of Secret Law" (Government Information Quarterly, vol. 5, no. 2, 1988) that electrified readers (or at least one reader) with its warning about increased executive branch reliance on secret presidential directives and related instruments.

Back in the 1980s when that article was written, secret law was still on the way. Now it is here.

A new report from the Congressional Research Service describes with welcome clarity how, by altering a few words in the Homeland Security Act, Congress "significantly broadened" the government's authority to generate "sensitive security information," including an entire system of "security directives" that are beyond public scrutiny, like the one former Rep. Chenoweth-Hage sought to examine.

The CRS report provides one analyst's perspective on how the secret regulations comport or fail to comport with constitutional rights, such as the right to travel and the right to due process. CRS does not make its reports directly available to the public, but a
copy was obtained by Secrecy News.

See "Interstate Travel: Constitutional Challenges to the Identification Requirement and Other Transportation Security Regulations," Congressional Research Service, November 4, 2004:

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/RL32664.pdf

Much of the CRS discussion revolves around the case of software designer and philanthropist John Gilmore, who was prevented from boarding an airline flight when he refused to present a photo ID. (A related case involving no-fly lists has been brought by the ACLU.)

"I will not show government-issued identity papers to travel in my own country," Mr. Gilmore said.

Mr. Gilmore's insistence on his right to preserve anonymity while traveling on commercial aircraft is naturally debatable -- but the government will not debate it. Instead, citing the statute on "sensitive security information," the Bush Administration says the
case cannot be argued in open court.

Further information on Gilmore v. Ashcroft, which is pending on appeal, may be found here:

http://papersplease.org/gilmore/

TSA THREATENS TO ARREST LEAKERS

Efforts by the Transportation Security Administration to investigate air marshals for talking to the press or the public "were appropriate under the circumstances," the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General said last week, and did not
constitute a "witch hunt."

However, "air marshals from two locations said that they were threatened with arrest and prosecution if they were found to have released sensitive security information (SSI), even though release of SSI is not a prosecutable offense," the Inspector General said.

In a related overstatement, Federal Air Marshal Service policy says that "employees who release classified information or records in any form without authority from the Classified Documents Custodian are in violation of United States Code and are subject to arrest and prosecution," the DHS Inspector General (IG) noted.

But "We question the legal accuracy of this policy statement, which seems to criminalize all releases of classified information," the IG wrote.

The unauthorized disclosure of classified information is a criminal offense only in certain narrowly defined circumstances.

See "Review of Alleged Actions by TSA to Discipline Federal Air Marshals for Talking to the Press, Congress, or the Public," DHS Inspector General Audit Report, November 2004:

http://www.fas.org/sgp/othergov/dhs-ig-ssi.pdf
...
Secrecy News
Federation of American Scientists
1717 K Street NW, Suite 209
Washington, DC 20036

And, this is just to remind you about the monsters we have here and now...

--WP

It has been a very long and busy week.

To much to write about now, but I just wanted to remind everybody that today, Churchill allowed Coventry to be destroyed so the Enigma Secret could stand. He later enacted his revenge with the firebombing of Dresden.

Ask yourself, who was a monster...

--WP

To our Veterans,

Thank You.

--WP

A bit of History

Today, in 1519, Hernan Cortez arrived in Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan and imprisoned Montezuma.

In 1923, Hitler led the failed Beer Hall Putsch in Munich, was jailed where he wrote Mein Kampf. Nineteen years later, the Allies began Operation Torch- which was a major success.

Then in 1960, John F. Kennedy won the presidential election against Richard Nixon, who was much more gracious than Al Gore in the year 2000.

In addition, speaking of today in 2000, that miserable bastard John C. Danforth continued the whitewash and released the official last cover-up and absolution of what an atrocity the U.S. Government perpetrated at Waco in 1993.

May you bastards rot in hell...

--WP

The Mystery Of The Dead Scientists

The Mystery Of The Dead Scientists

"It is a story worthy of a major conspiracy theory, the script for a James Bond movie, or a blueprint for a contrived episode of "The X Files". Except the facts surrounding this story are just that. Facts. The Truth. At least twelve, and perhaps as many as twenty eminent scientists, leaders in their particular field of scientific research, dead in the last few months, and a bizarre connection between one of the scientists and the mystery surrounding the death by Anthrax inhalation of a sixty one year old female hospital worker in New York. Sounds far fetched? Read on.

Since November last year several world-acclaimed scientific researchers, specialising in infectious diseases and biological agents such as Smallpox and Anthrax, as well as DNA sequencing, environmental research and microbiology have died, many in unusual circumstances."

I read this story this morning, but I did not have time to research and had planned to this weekend, but the thank you for the link goes to Bane and his rants for doing the Google search on this.

I will be doing some more research on this as time allows...

--WP

A Congratulations and a Happy Birthday.

Tis a very joyous day for Nate and Julie. You can read about their new baby boy here. This makes two for them.

And also on a fine note, Army of Mom's birthday is today- I believe it is her 29th...

Happy Birthday AoM!

--WP

"He MOST certainly is,"

An oldy from the Babushka:

A young woman in New York was so depressed that she decided to end her life by throwing herself into the ocean. She went down to the docks and was about to leap into the frigid water when a handsome young sailor saw her tottering On the edge of the pier, crying.

He took pity on her and said, "Look, you have so much to live for. I'm Off to Europe in the morning, and if you like, I can stow you away on my ship.

I'll take good care of you and bring you food every day." Moving closer, he slipped his arm around her shoulder and added, "I'll Keep you happy, and you'll keep me happy." The girl nodded yes.

After all, what did she have to lose? Perhaps a fresh start in Europe Would give her life new meaning.

That night, the sailor brought her aboard and hid her in a lifeboat. From then on, every night he brought her three sandwiches and a piece of fruit, and they made mad passionate love until dawn.

Three weeks later, during a routine inspection, she was discovered by The captain.

"What are you doing here?" the captain asked.

"I have an arrangement with one of the sailors," she explained. "I get food and a trip to Europe, and he's screwing me."

"He MOST certainly is," the captain said. "This is the Staten Island Ferry."

The Babushka is an old HS friend, and he actually knows where some of the bodies are buried.

Just remember Babushka, I know where some of your's are as well...

--WP

Time to grab some more of the boys bandwidth.

inhibition:zero

Go and check out the Video section again, particularly the WWII and MaDeuce. I have permanently linked them under the Firearms Links for future reference if you are to lazy to bookmark them.

Again, while you are there, sign up and generate some traffic for them, as these boys have some damn fine videos up- and if you cannot shoot them, at least you can drool...

--Whose Paranoid

Very often, it is good to forget the bullshit.

And, remember the treasures.

--WP

Specter warns Bush on high court nominations

Specter warns Bush on high court nominations

By LARA JAKES JORDAN
Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA --

"The Republican expected to chair the Senate Judiciary Committee next year bluntly warned newly re-elected President Bush today against putting forth Supreme Court nominees who would seek to overturn abortion rights or are otherwise too conservative to win confirmation.

Sen. Arlen Specter, fresh from winning a fifth term in Pennsylvania, also said the current Supreme Court now lacks legal "giants" on the bench.

"When you talk about judges who would change the right of a woman to choose, overturn Roe v. Wade, I think that is unlikely," Specter said, referring to the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion.

"The president is well aware of what happened, when a bunch of his nominees were sent up, with the filibuster," Specter added, referring to Senate Democrats' success over the past four years in blocking the confirmation of many of Bush's conservative judicial picks. "... And I would expect the president to be mindful of the considerations which I am mentioning."

With at least three Supreme Court justices rumored to be eyeing retirement, including ailing Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Specter, 74, would have broad authority to reshape the nation's highest court. He would have wide latitude to schedule hearings, call for votes and make the process as easy or as hard as he wants.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., expressed confidence Wednesday that Bush will have more success his second term in winning the confirmation of his judicial nominees.

"I'm very confident that now we've gone from 51 seats to 55 seats, we will be able to overturn this what has become customary filibuster of judicial nominees," Frist said in Orlando, Fla."

Oh, and his last words in the article:

"A former district attorney, Specter also bemoaned what he called the lack of any current justices comparable to legal heavyweights like Oliver Wendell Holmes, Louis Brandeis, Benjamin Cardozo and Thurgood Marshall, "who were giants of the Supreme Court."

"With all due respect to the (current) U.S. Supreme Court, we don't have one," he said.

Though he refused to describe the political leanings of the high court, Specter said he "would characterize myself as moderate; I'm in the political swim. I would look for justices who would interpret the Constitution, as Cardozo has said, reflecting the values of the people."

Hmm, that certainly is a real "Thank You" to GWB and also the NRA.

Gee, I say we thank them too...

--WP

United States Supreme Court Chief Justice

Clarence Thomas...

--WP

"Hold me closer, tiny dancer."

This morning, while in the bigger Paranoid Mobile, one of the local radio stations had on Elton John's tune "Tiny Dancer".

I like this song, and always have, but every time I hear it, I think of a try for freedom. The reason I do this is that when I was a kid, there was a television show on CBS called WKRP in Cincinnati.

In one very memorable episode, a Soviet (Russian for you kids today) named Ivan (as they all were) was hoping to defect. Andy and Bailey tried to help him, but to no avail. At the end of the episode, when Ivan knew he was cornered and had no hope of escaping, he told Les Nessman:

"Hold me closer, tiny dancer."

Nearly immediately after this, he had to leave with the Commie Bastard Hog Committee. However, for me, that one scene showed that Man, no matter his current circumstances, will always strive for freedom, even if he has to hide it from others...

--WP

"Respect My Authority" Part 2

Or Cartman kills a 20 Year Old: Part Two
(Oh, and No-Neck, read it very carefully.)

Montgomery Police Charge U.S. Marshal With Murder
Last Updated: 11/2/2004 11:19:00 AM

"Montgomery County police have charged an off-duty deputy U.S. marshal with murder in the shooting death of a motorist last week on Rockville Pike.

Detectives arrested 53-year-old Arthur Lloyd this morning at his home in the county.

According to police, Lloyd was engaged in a traffic altercation with 20-year-old Ryan Stowers on Thursday, when both motorists pulled into the parking lot of the Mid-Pike Plaza in Rockville and got out of their cars.

At some point during an argument, Lloyd pulled out a handgun and began firing at Stowers.

Authorities say they have spent the past several days interviewing more than 40 witnesses to determine whether Lloyd fired the shots while acting as a law enforcement officer and in self-defense."

Now, what we will probably see, is a major delay in Arthur Lloyd going to trail. Nevertheless, it is currently reported that he is being held without bond. Curiously, the Washington Post article says he has been charged with First Degree Murder, but every other article I have read says Second Degree...

--WP

The 'One Vote' Myth

A thank you goes to Mr. Sharkey for the heads-up on this:

'One Vote' Fallacies

"Claim: To impress upon readers the importance of casting their votes, lists circulate that perpetuate a variety of "one vote" canards; e.g.;

• In 1645, one vote gave Oliver Cromwell control of England.
• In 1649, one vote caused Charles I of England to be executed.
• In 1776, one vote gave America the English language instead of German.
• In 1845, one vote brought Texas into the Union.
• In 1875, one vote changed France from a monarchy to a republic.
• In 1923, one vote gave Adolf Hitler leadership of the Nazi Party.
• In 1941, one vote saved Selective Service - just weeks before Pearl Harbor was attacked.

Status: All the above claims are false.

Origins: Regardless of the value of casting a ballot, the fervor to incite others to vote doesn't abrogate the need to be factual in the claims used as prods. The falsities listed above routinely find their way into the media, most likely because they have so often been circulated as part of larger lists detailing incidents where one vote made an important difference that this year's inciter doesn't think to question them.

Worse, not only are these lists published as gospel both in the traditional print media and on the Internet, they often survive attempts to debunk the various erroneous claims made in them. Election year after election year, screwball "one vote" lists have life breathed back into them through impassioned readers' letters on the editorial page, in the body of news articles by paid journalists, and in the offerings of advice and opinion columnists.

Misinformation of this nature is a Weeble -- you can hit it, you can knock it down, but as surely as God made little green apples, it will pop back up. And sure enough, Jesse Jackson's speech before the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles on 15 August 2000 included this bit of wisdom about the importance of voting:"

Just remember boys and girls, participation in your own demise is not mandatory- yet...

--WP

While I was laid up, I watched a bit of TV.

One of the shows that I watched regularly, when I was awake, was Angel.

A friend of mine, years ago told me that I would enjoy it, but I did not have WB so I never watched it- that, and having the time. Nevertheless, it is on TNT now twice a day and I must say I did enjoy the show, and one of the most charming reasons to watch it is Charisma Carpenter!

What a knock out.

You can find more on here and there.

My friend was kind enough to loan me his DVD collection of the first three seasons while I was laid up, and if you get the opportunity to watch them, I think you just might enjoy it.

Oh, and Charisma was not the only down-right attractive woman on that show, there are many more...

--WP

Happy Halloween

And, Happy Annivesary Mrs. Paranoid.

Yup, today is Mrs. Paranoid's Anniversary, and I am sure the Evil Nun is still pissed at me...

--WP

Children growing up.

It just seems like yesterday, that I held my eldest daughter for the first time...

--WP

"Respect My Authority"

Or Cartman kills a 20 Year Old

U.S. Deputy Kills Driver In Dispute, Police Say

By Allan Lengel and Nicole Fuller
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, October 29, 2004; Page B01

"A traffic dispute between two motorists on Rockville Pike turned deadly last night when one driver, an off-duty deputy U.S. marshal, fatally shot the other in the parking lot of a busy shopping center, police said.

The federal law enforcement officer, who was driving with his family in a sport-utility vehicle, exchanged words about 8:30 p.m. with a young man driving alone in a red Chevrolet Camaro with New Jersey tags, said Capt. John Fitzgerald, a Montgomery County police spokesman."

They exchanged words, more like the U.S. Marshal said something like this.

"The two drivers pulled into the Mid-Pike Plaza, where they got into a fistfight, Fitzgerald said.

"Preliminary information is that the deputy marshal tried to defuse and disengage, to calm it down and settle it, and wanted to get the local police involved," Fitzgerald said."

And then, before the fist fight, the twenty-year old probably heard this.

"He said the young man got back into his car and drove toward or near the off-duty officer, who then opened fire, shooting multiple times. Officers found nine shell casings at the scene. The young man was taken to Suburban Hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later."

And, I am sure, the last thing the kid heard was- at least until the gunfire.

I found out about this at the The High Road yesterday, in this thread, that has my other links related to this, and which is an interesting read in itself.

I have always hated Cartmans, and still do...

--WP

For Army of Mom

Army of Mom goes in for surgery tomorrow, and on the 20th of this month, she sent Nurse Pluck to me, with the request I send her back by the 29th.

AoM, here she is.

Oh, and it may hurt like hell for awhile, but it will get better.

--WP

In from JA

I just received this in post in from JA on the FALFiles Forum.

I met JA, and his lovely wife several years ago at a mutual friends indoor firing range.

I spent some time with them instructing them in the use of a FATS II system. Both he and his wife were good. He recently relocated, and we do not speak as often as I would like, but then again, that is what E-mail is for.

Thanks JA, and tell the wife I said hello.

And to ILM Sniper and the rest of the boys- stay safe...

--WP

The F-22 Raptor ready to roll

To the tune of $260,000,000.00 each.

US deploys F/A-22 Raptor
By Lucy Sherriff
Published Thursday 28th October 2004 09:25 GMT

"The United States Air Force is commissioning a fleet of 277 F/A-22 Raptor fighter jets at a cost of $260m each. The first, which was due to be completed on Wednesday this week, is to join a fighter squadron close to Washington, DC."

I know I feel safer...

--WP

Scientists warn of 'ethnic weapons'

I first read of this idea in a short story back in the late 1970's, and the story was old when read it then. It was in an anthology of short stories from Playboy, from 1965- I think.

Yesterday, I found this article, and intended to post it last night, but other things prevented me from doing so.

Scientists warn of 'ethnic weapons'
By Leigh Dayton
October 27, 2004

"BIOLOGICAL weapons that target selected ethnic groups could become part of the terrorists' arsenal unless governments and scientists act now, the British Medical Association warns.

Such designer weapons would be based on the growing ability of scientists to unravel and compare human DNA.

In theory, experts could engineer organisms to attack genetic variations commonly found in, say, Chinese or German populations.

Genetically engineered anthrax, smallpox and polio viruses are also "approaching reality", the BMA claims in a new report, Biotechnology, Weapons and Humanity II.

The report, released yesterday in London, adds that organisms designed to attack food crops and even human immune and nervous systems are serious threats."

The short story had an Oriental scientist working on creating a disease that only affected the "Yellow Man". I remember the story vividly because, being in my early teens, it really made me think.

Yesterday's article does as well...

--WP

Do we ever change from the children we were?

Getting back to work has been tough because of so much work I have to catch up on, and I do not mind and I am earning my way. However, when you update systems and software for clients and you need to find the original software because older systems are going to be wiped and replaced and you need the original software, and you ask where it is at, what does one hear:

"I don't know."

I didn't do it."

Of course, then you have the grown-up versions:

"It is not my responsibility."

"I don't know how to install software."

"Did you look in the office?"

Of course, my favorite is from Adobe:

"It does no matter if you have the serial number or if it is on file, as soon as we introduce a new version, we no longer have the ability to provide replacement CD's for consumers- we just don't have it."

--WP

Oct. 26, 1942: The last man did not fail

One of my favorite Vin Suprynowicz columns.

FROM MOUNTAIN MEDIA
EDITORS: A LONGER VERSION, AT 2,000 WORDS, ALSO MOVES
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DATED OCT. 22, 2000
THE LIBERTARIAN, By Vin Suprynowicz
Oct. 26, 1942: The last man did not fail


Oct. 26 falls on a Thursday this year.

Ask the significance of the date, and you're likely to draw some puzzled
looks -- five more days to stock up for Halloween?

It's a measure of men like Col. Mitchell Paige that they wouldn't have
had it any other way. What he did 58 years ago, he did precisely so his
grandchildren could live in a land of peace and plenty.

Whether we've properly safeguarded the freedoms he and his kind fought to
leave us as their legacy, may be a discussion better left for another day.
Today we struggle to envision -- or, for a few of us, to remember -- how
the world must have looked on Oct. 26, 1942. A few thousand lonely American
Marines had been put ashore on Guadalcanal, a god-forsaken jungle island
which just happened to lie like a speed bump at the end of the long
blue-water slot between New Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago -- the very
route the Japanese Navy would have to take to reach Australia.

On Guadalcanal the Marines built an air field. And Japanese commander
Isoroku Yamamoto immediately grasped what that meant. No effort would be
spared to dislodge these upstart Yanks from a position that could endanger
his ships during any future operations to the south. Before long,
relentless Japanese counterattacks had driven the U.S. Navy from inshore
waters. The Marines were on their own.

World War Two is generally calculated from Hitler's invasion of Poland in
1939. But that's a eurocentric view. The Japanese had been limbering up in
Korea and Manchuria as early as 1931, and in China by 1934. By late 1942
they'd devastated every major Pacific military force or stronghold of the
great pre-war powers: Britain, Holland, France, and the United States. The
bulk of America's proud Pacific fleet lay beached or rusting on the floor
of Pearl Harbor.

As Mitchell Paige -- then a platoon sergeant -- and his men set about
establishing their last defensive line on a ridge southwest of the tiny
American bridgehead at Henderson Field on Guadalcanal on Oct. 25, it's
unlikely anyone thought they were about to provide a definitive answer to
that most desperate of questions: How many able-bodied U.S. Marines does it
take to hold a hill against 2,000 desperate and motivated attackers?

The Japanese Army had not failed in an attempt to seize any major
objective since the Russo-Japanese War of 1895. But in preceding days,
Marine commander Vandegrift had defied War College doctrine, "dangling" his
men in exposed positions to draw Japanese attacks, then springing his traps
"with the steel vise of firepower and artillery," in the words of Naval
historian David Lippman.

The Japanese regiments had been chewed up, good. Still, American
commanders had so little to work with that Paige's men had only four
30-caliber Browning machine guns on the one ridge through which the
Japanese opted to launch their final assault against Henderson Field, that
fateful night of Oct. 25.

By the time the night was over, "The 29th (Japanese) Infantry Regiment
has lost 553 killed or missing and 479 wounded among its 2,554 men,"
historian Lippman reports. "The 16th (Japanese) Regiment's losses are
uncounted, but the 164th's burial parties handle 975 Japanese bodies. ...
The American estimate of 2,200 Japanese dead is probably too low."

Among the 90 American dead and seriously wounded that night were all the
men in Mitchell Paige's platoon. Every one. As the night wore on, Paige
moved up and down his line, pulling his dead and wounded comrades back into
their foxholes and firing a few bursts from each of the four Brownings in
turn, convincing the Japanese forces down the hill that the positions were
still manned.

The citation for Paige's Congressional Medal of Honor adds: "When the
enemy broke through the line directly in front of his position, P/Sgt.
Paige, commanding a machine gun section with fearless determination,
continued to direct the fire of his gunners until all his men were either
killed or wounded. Alone, against the deadly hail of Japanese shells, he
fought with his gun and when it was destroyed, took over another, moving
from gun to gun, never ceasing his withering fire."

In the end, Sgt. Paige picked up the last of the 40-pound, belt-fed
Brownings -- the same design which John Moses Browning famously fired for a
continuous 25 minutes until it ran out of ammunition in its first U.S. Army
trial -- and did something for which the weapon was never designed. Sgt.
Paige walked down the hill toward the place where he could hear the last
Japanese survivors rallying to move around his flank, the gun cradled under
his arm, firing as he went.

The weapon did not fail.

Coming up at dawn, battalion executive officer Major Odell M. Conoley
first discovered the answer to our question: How many able-bodied U.S.
Marines does it take to hold a hill against two regiments of motivated,
combat-hardened infantrymen who have never known defeat?

On a hill where the bodies were piled like cordwood, Mitchell Paige alone
sat upright behind his 30-caliber Browning, waiting to see what the dawn
would bring.

One hill: one Marine.

But that was the second problem. Part of the American line (start
ital)had(end ital) fallen to the last Japanese attack. "In the early
morning light, the enemy could be seen a few yards off, and vapor from the
barrels of their machine guns was clearly visible," reports historian
Lippman. "It was decided to try to rush the position."

For the task, Major Conoley gathered together "three enlisted
communication personnel, several riflemen, a few company runners who were
at the point, together with a cook and a few messmen who had brought food
to the position the evening before."

Joined by Paige, this ad hoc force of 17 Marines counterattacked at 5:40
a.m., discovering that "the extremely short range allowed the optimum use
of grenades." In the end, "The element of surprise permitted the small
force to clear the crest."

And that's where the unstoppable wave of Japanese conquest finally
crested, broke, and began to recede. On an unnamed jungle ridge on an
insignificant island no one had ever heard of, called Guadalcanal. Because
of a handful of U.S. Marines, one of whom, now 82, lives out a quiet
retirement with his wife Marilyn in La Quinta, Calif.

On Oct. 26, 1942.

When the Hasbro Toy Co. called up some years back, asking permission to
put the retired colonel's face on some kid's doll, Mitchell Paige thought
they must be joking.

But they weren't. That's his mug, on the little Marine they call "GI Joe."

And now you know.


Vin Suprynowicz is assistant editorial page editor of the Las Vegas
Review-Journal, and editor of Financial Privacy Report (subscribe by
calling Nicholas at 612-895-8757.) His book, "Send in the Waco Killers:
Essays on the Freedom Movement, 1993-1998," is available by dialing
1-800-244-2224; or via web site
http://www.thespiritof76.com/wacokillers.html.

***

Vin Suprynowicz, vin@lvrj.com

"When great changes occur in history, when great principles are involved,
as a rule the majority are wrong. The minority are right." -- Eugene V.
Debs (1855-1926)

"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed -- and
thus clamorous to be led to safety -- by menacing it with an endless series
of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary." -- H.L. Mencken

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--WP

This was sent in for my viewing and comments.

The Pentagon 9/11

--WP

Congratulations to No-Neck's Family

As he just let me know, there are now six generations of his family alive. The eldest was born in 1905 and the latest was born around 02:00 this morning.

Happy Day bud!

--WP

"...finally accountable for the disgrace,"

CSM sent the link to Dean Spier's posting on the Gun Zone Forum for STOLEN HONOR to me Friday night, but I had not had the opportunity to watch it until this morning.

Here is the broadband link, and here the dial-up.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ADDMENDUM - The direct links no longer work and you must register, but it is free.

Go here to register and receive via E-mail for an account.

Further, the only way to watch it is in a pop-up window.

I have to say thank you to the folks who had it up as long as they did.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ADDMENDUM II- Go to Dean Spier's posting at the Gun Zone Forum, as they are now hosting it.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As long time readers of this blog know, I have no love for G.W. Bush and think him unworthy of a second term in office. Further, they also know what Putz I think John "Elmer" F. Kerry is. The Swiftboat Veterans were damning, but this is, I think much more powerful.

I wish to thank CSM, Dan Spier, and the folks hosting it.

--WP

Happy Birthday CSM!

Just wanted to say Happy Birthday and thank you for your friendship- drink one on me CSM.

--WP

Disjointed Ramblings

I have been working quit a bit the past week and a half. Catching up with my clients needs and systems.

I have not been posting as much, and expect this to continue for about the next three to four weeks.

Today, I am about computered out.

So, in no particular order, I see the Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkey's are throwing another hissy fit about their language being lost as the language of diplomats and I am sure this is why they are doing this:

France's report said standards of English in schools were poor and worsening.

"Its conclusions have been challenged by some politicians, including one deputy from the ruling UMP party, Jacques Myard.

He told Le Monde: "English is the most-spoken language today, but that won't last."

He said Spanish, Chinese and Arabic were all growing in importance.

"If we must make a language compulsory, it should be Arabic," he said."

And, here in the good old "Homeland", we have this:

Government Schools And Muslims Will Brainwash Your Kids
By Dave Gibson (10/22/04)

"In observance of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month will become part of the curriculum for many U.S. public school students. In Herndon, Va., a Muslim teacher named Ayeefa Syeed will be teaching third through fifth grade children in that city about Ramadan and the tenets of the Muslim religion (well, at least the popular tenets).

Over the last few years, this practice has been quietly spreading into this nation's government schools system. In 1997, the U.S. based Council on Islamic Education produced a 'lesson plan' entitled "Muslim Holidays" for U.S. children. The manual is full of politically-correct information about Islam as well as tips on how teachers can circumvent regulations against religion. Since that time, over 4,000 U.S. teachers have used it in their classrooms with the blessing of their respective school officials.

Prayer rugs are distributed, Muslim prayers are recited, and basically a 'happy face' is put on the most dangerous and violent religion the world has ever known. Government teachers and administrators who are overwhelmingly liberal, no doubt take great pleasure in turning our public schools into American hadrassas."

Then, jumping back overseas, Malaysia is taking away paper "money" for plastic "money":

Polymer notes to replace paper currency
Kamarul Yunus

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 21:
Bank Negara Malaysia will start phasing out paper currency notes, replacing them with the new, more durable and security-featured polymer notes.

"On Tuesday, the central bank will launch for circulation notes of one denomination ? expected to be the RM5 ? to be followed by other denominations later.

Sources say the new notes are expected to be issued in time for the coming Deepavali and Hari Raya Aidilfitri holidays.

An official said once Bank Negara issues the polymer notes, the central bank will stop issuing the existing paper notes of the particular denomination.

However, existing paper notes in circulation will be considered legal tender until they are brought back to Bank Negara.

"At that point, we will not re-issue paper notes.

"We are phasing out the old notes gradually," the official said.

Polymer notes have a high level of durability and retain their quality while in circulation, as well as staying clean and hygienic to handle.

With clean, robust notes in circulation, polymer notes have a significantly extended lifetime, lasting three or four times longer than paper notes.

As such, they are very cost-effective with significant savings in the provision of notes for the country.

Not only that, at the end of their circulation life polymer notes can be recycled."

Gee, recycled, isn't that special, but not as special as what is happening in the U.K.:

Met deploys mobile gun scanner in London raid
By John Lettice
Published Saturday 23rd October 2004 13:37 GMT

"The Metropolitan Police deployed a weapons scanner in the London Borough of Lewisham last night, as the culmination of a week-long series of anti gun crime operations in the Borough. Friday's swoop also identified a radical new use for the Millenium Dome, although the scanner itself seems not to have detected any guns.

A BBC report tells us that police boarded 20 police vans and two London buses at the Dome, then swooped on a pub, a barber's shop and a take-away. Although the BBC says 700 officers were involved, The Register's abacus suggests that total capacity of the vehicles mentioned would be more in the region of 400, depending on how sociable the officers may have been feeling. But there may well have been a total of 700 involved.

A street was cordoned off, and the occupants of the premises were made to walk past the scanner, which found no guns. 14 people were however arrested for other reasons.

The Met has a small number of low intensity X-ray scanners, which it has previously offered to schools as weapons detectors, but it's also possible that the scanner is a 'weapons detector' it announced last year.

The Met declined to discuss the workings of the scanner when it was announced, but it is not exactly a secret. It is a Millimetre Wave Camera developed by QinetiQ, and the technology is particularly applicable for airport security scanners and similar. It works by passively detecting naturally occurring radiation, and as metal objects completely reflect this, they show up well. As the human body reflects 30 per cent of naturally occurring radiation, it sees through clothes and, as QinetiQ coyly puts it, "a person's actual body shape" can be seen. Phwoarrr..."

Of course, the Limey Bastard's at the Register, as regular readers of that site know, are always big on gun confiscation. Of course, most of those Limey Bastard's are, and look where it has brought them to.

Nevertheless, we have our own crime to worry about, such as these antics:

Early voting brings cries of bullying

By Brittany Wallman
Staff Writer

October 23, 2004

"On Election Day, voters will be protected from campaign pressures by a 50-foot cone, an invisible barrier that campaign workers cannot breach. Not so for early voters.

While the Voter's Bill of Rights in state law says they have a right to "vote free from coercion or intimidation by elections officers or any other person," a glitch in the newer early voting law does not include the same 50-foot guarantee.

As a result, with early voting taking place in busy public places like City Halls and libraries, voters are voicing complaints of being blocked by political mobs, or being singled out for their political views. Others say they have been grabbed, screamed at and cursed by political partisans of all stripes.

Republican Rep. Tom Feeney of Oviedo said the antagonizers are "Kerry thugs" out to harass Bush voters.

"If you ask me whether I believe there is an organized effort to intimidate Republican voters, the answer is absolutely yes," said Feeney.

The Republican Party is calling on the secretary of state's office for help, asking that early voting rules be clarified.

The secretary of state's office has not yet responded.

"Significant numbers of people have already been deterred from voting," wrote Republican Party Chairwoman Carole Jean Jordan to Secretary of State Glenda Hood, "and this will continue until corrective measures are taken."

Democratic Party officials in Tallahassee said they've had some complaints, too.

"We have had incidents as well," said Christine Anderson, spokeswoman for the Kerry campaign. "We've had quite a few."

She said the party hasn't taken affidavits from voters and found it shocking the Republicans were so focused on the issue rather than working to make sure people can vote."

Moreover, to think it is illegal to take a gun to a polling place, but then again, political arguments will happen anywhere and between anyone, and these Geeks prove it:

Libertarian Badnarik an Election Spoiler?

Posted by michael on Friday October 08, @04:24PM
from the election-already-spoiled dept.

Mr. Slippery writes "The New York Sun points out that Libertarian Party candidate Michael Badnarik could tip the balance in this year's presidental election, like Ralph Nader is accused of having done in 2000. Bush's policies may be driving some traditional conservative Republican voters into the Libertarian camp. Rasmussen polls have put him as high as 5% in New Mexico and 3% in Nevada, which could make a difference in which major party candidate takes those states."

Hmm, all this because Bob Barr throws his support to Badnarik? Nope and not at all, but because people are angry that our Constitution and Bill of Rights are, and have for so long, been used as toilet paper.

However, anger is no longer an allowed emotion as explained in this editorial:

The anti-angry brigade

Anger management is all the rage these days. Brendan O?Neill says it?s a sign of emotional correctness gone mad

"Imagine if Arthur Seaton, the fictional factory hand created by Alan Sillitoe for his 1958 novel Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, had been around today. Sillitoe was the angriest of the Angry Young Men, and Seaton ? a ?billygoat trying to screw the world...because it?s trying to do the same to me? ? the most rebellious and unforgiving of his creations. He was a womanising wide-boy who worked in a Nottingham factory by day and drank himself stupid by night, spending his time ?fighting with mothers and wives, landlords and gaffers, coppers, army, government...?.

In New Labour?s New Britain, Seaton would be carted off for a short, sharp dose of anger management therapy, perhaps courtesy of the courts or as part of a workplace stress-relief programme. From schools and colleges to workplaces and prisons, the management of anger has become big business. Anger, or at least the unmediated expression of it, has effectively been outlawed. The emotional police have declared war on anyone who remotely resembles an angry young man (or woman). The aim, it seems to me, is to turn the ?billygoats? into sheep, yet barely an eyebrow has been raised in response to this insidious campaign of emotional conformism.

If the Fifties were ?The Angry Decade? (the title of Kenneth Allsop?s 1958 study of the AYM), then the noughties are the Anti-Angry Decade. Ours is an age which elevates emotion over reason ? provided our emotion of choice is on the approved list. We are encouraged to open up, confess, break down, weep, show compassion, and the more publicly we do it, the better. But anger? That is stigmatised. The British Association of Anger Management has a team of coaches who offer advice about this ?powerful? and potentially ?dangerous? emotion to the general public, children and teenagers, government bodies, corporations, the education sector, personnel managers and anyone else ?dealing with their own or another?s anger?. Its aim is to ?extinguish the flames? of anger, which, if left unmanaged, can apparently have ?massive social implications on your family, your career and ultimately YOU?. (At £110 per hour for a one-on-one phone session with a BAAM anger coach, it can also have massive implications for your bank balance.)"

I don't know about you, but I sure have been wanting to go out an kill something- fortunately, hunting season is almost here...

--WP