Comment on Facebook | Rachel Sargent On Greta: Everyone call Rep Gutierrez ...

Facebook | Rachel Sargent On Greta: Everyone call Rep Gutierrez (Il.) office and remind him ...

Everyone call Rep Gutierrez (Il.) office and remind him that crossing the border is a criminal offense and cannot be separated from the murderers and narco-trafficking. Just getting rid of the drug problems over the US and Mexican border will not stop the illegal immigration problem. That is such a liberal mindset. If they are so honest and hardworking then they need to come in the right way!!!

That is correct. Apologists for illegals are always saying "It is not a crime to be here undocumented." They conflate overstaying a legal visa with evading inspection. The first should be made a crime after a 90 day period or immediately if fraud can be proven. It should be simple to change the law and close that loophole. Doing so would remove a solipsism the Left exploits to obfuscate on this subject and it would take away one of the tools used by lawyers to paralyze law enforcement.

In addition I would support a 'Civil Rebellion' statute allowing a US Attorney or a Governor to petition a Federal Magistrate for a suspension of habeaus corpus in a defined area, county postal or census district with a population of over 50,000, when there is reasonable evidence that over 10% of the population are fugitives from justice.

Finally the anchor baby loophole should be closed and the apportionment of Congress after the Census should be done strictly in accordance with the number of citizens eligible to vote. That would require a change to the XIVth Amendment.

The Fire Sale

(fm the BC thread "What the Russian Sleepers Did")

We are assuming that this case of Russian espionage was brought forward with the prior consent of the White House. What if that is not the case? Remember how the Navy Seals killed the Somali hijackers of the Merchant Maersk Alabama when they threatened the kidnapped Captain Phillips? Remember how they did that in the teeth of Obama's efforts to deny them the use of deadly force and how the administration followed up with a witch hunt on Seals that deeply wounded the Navy?

Yesterday on Pajamas Media there was an interesting article "You Deserve To Know — Unequal Law Enforcement Reigns at Obama’s DOJ (PJM Exclusive)," by J. Christian Adams explaining why he resigned from the Justice department after the dismissal of the New Black Panthers Party case. Perhaps we are reaching the point where the apparatchiks are running amuck and those who have spent patient decades building cases and following America's enemies are determined to shovel what they can out the door before it gets destroyed.

The Forum

(fm the BC thread "What the Russian Sleepers Did")

My disagreements with Whiskey were a matter of public record. There are three people I have said abused the forum over the last several years. Others may on occasion be disagreeable or even offensive but they have not threatened the integrity of the blog as a forum, as this commentator with no administrative position sees it.

The first person I challenged was C-fud, who was a foaming antisemitic troll. It would shock me if anyone regrets his absence.

The second was more recent, a man of fine literary training and service to his nation who would inexplicably engage in ad hominem attacks on inoffensive members of our community, especially but not exclusively women. His identity being no secret I only do not use it in the hope that old wounds are not reopened. Not being medically qualified I can not offer a worthwhile opinion as to why he engaged in such apparent mood swings or otherwise unpredictably harmful behavior. His absence has encouraged others to speak but we have undoubtedly missed some trenchant observations. Personally I do wish him well.

Whiskey did not as a rule engage in personal abuse and did make an effort to not personally endorse the social consequences of his theories. On occasion he mentioned his charitable work and the frustrations he felt. My hope is that he devotes his considerable energies to posting on his blog, especially on economic topics. Perhaps if he does so he will rediscover his ability to contribute to building a community.

His biggest problems for this blog were fourfold.
1. He became repetitive so that he could have simple pasted links to one of maybe 3 narratives that were close to begin with and which would have covered 90% of his content,
2. He did introduce a small addition to his theme by adding to his gender based theory speculation as to the genetic as well as the social content of racial groups and the impact on creativity that included possible personal challenges to our host which if offered should be done soberly credibly and with the consent of the host so as to avoid hijacking the blog,
3. His lengthy posts were not cost free in that they occupied physical space and could have discouraged other commentators from either posting or prevented their being noticed as well as his imposing real costs on our host by consuming bandwidth.
4. The relentless negativity of his perspective was corrosive to the conversation as a social activity. No one needs Pollyanna but there is a limit on how often you can show up at a garden party waving a dead skunk and yelling "We are all doomed."

If I ever post 5 nearly identical thousand word tributes to Max Weber in a week then I hope that friendly messages will find me asking what my problem is. What we want to avoid, and what I think that Wretchard has gone to great lengths to avoid, is the self destructive banning regimen that consumed LGF. Where to draw the line is ultimately a political question and a matter of market management.

Comment on the Belmont Club: » What the Russian Sleepers Did

Belmont Club » What the Russian Sleepers Did

Why was Treason deemed the most horrible Sin by Dante? The medieval tendency was for wars of religion. The need within a society to do so, identify the potential traitor and destroy them even at the cost of internal violence was repeated time and again. Shakespeare is full of struggles over an identity crisis. Who can you trust and what are you loyal to? Recently it was proposed that Romney could not be trusted because of his Mormon faith and efforts were made to impugn the loyalty of Nikki Haley based on her Sikh origin. Why were the Greeks obsessed with the threat of stasis? To them it was veritable hell on earth. Hell is a place of chaos, an existence without rules.

Clearly there is a deep human need for predictability and reliability. The first thing that God does in Genesis is he draws lines and makes rules. The conflict is between three views of the rules. First are those who see the boundaries as protection that permit the development of freedom and creativity in a safe place. Second are those who worship the rules for their own sake and seek to thicken the walls and draw them in in order to reduce the scope for free choice within. Third are those who seek to breach the walls because they prefer the destructive power of entropy. In the second group are authoritarian prudes, horrified at the thought that someone someplace may be having fun, and most totalitarians. In the third group are small groups of revolutionary elitists. They seek to smash the system to prove that they are better than everyone else. The brief taste of power that their destructive acts produce allows them to emulate Milton's Satan, who rules in Hell.

For us to find the right level of balance we need to use the tools available for us. Those include the Constitution and the intellectual and moral heritage it rests on. These include the experience of those who crafted a functional democracy. For that we need an educational system that honors the experience and wisdom of the Western tradition that Madison and others were steeped in.

Comment on the Belmont Club: » Spy Vs Spy

Belmont Club » Spy Vs Spy

The Cambridge Ring was a homosexual cabal. They were more dangerous than just corruptors of the culture. Some years ago in the basement of the US Navy's facility in Munich I found some maps in the basement. One of them was a chart of the Adriatic coastline of Albania with operational markings. During the late 1940s to early 1950s the nascent CIA and MI6 attempted to run agents into Albania. The liaison between the British and American intelligence agencies was Kim Philby. Every man sent on those operations died. I held their death certificate in my hands. Frozen adolescents playing at espionage have real world consequences.

Now Pootie Poot the Pederast Midget is reduced to carrying China's water and sending trolls to call his enemies "tie eater." The pity is that if the Russians really believed in themselves and freed themselves from an addiction to self pity that manifests itself in self destruction and parasitism, in a Stockholm Syndrome reflection of the Islamists that they have been fighting for a thousand years, they could achieve great things as a bulwark and partner of the West.

Comment on the Belmont Club: » Dominating the New Discourse

Belmont Club » Dominating the New Discourse

Production has costs. While the technical cost of capturing and distributing a collection of data might go down there is still a need for actors and costumers and writers. It may be possible to tell the story of Cleopatra with hand held cameras and a few friends Blair Witch style but it will still look like a good or even brilliant example of work on the cheap. We should be careful not to mix up two problems. One is that the established production companies, in film, television and journalism, have placed their emotional allegiances ahead of the interests of their audience. The second is that they have become lazy and failed to effectively deliver content. While I can decry the abuse and treason of those who control the legacy of the of the 20th century's mass communications great industrial enterprises that does not mean that I shall cheer their passing. The creations of David Sarnoff, Samuel Goldfish, Adolph Ochs, and a host of other smart tough creative people vastly increased human knowledge and liberty and wealth. We were a fortunate people when we had thousands of hard working creative people making movies and thousands of had working creative people, often as was mentioned on another thread high school drop outs, competing to bring us the news. For myself I think that they kept us grounded and aware that perfumed princes in search of Wagyu beef were exotic objects of scorn.

Comment on the Belmont Club: » No Secret Place

Belmont Club » No Secret Place

There is an asymmetry between the Secret Clubs of conservative culture and those of the Left. For conservatives of a type the ideal is the Gentleman's Club, redolent of tobacco and whiskey and sure to welcome you with a good fire and deep carpets and dark leather chairs. That is a place not only of comfort but of trust and deep mutual respect. That follows from the conservative view of life that the most moral and the most efficient method for dealing with the world is one of honesty simplicity and reliability for the common as well as individual good. The purpose of power, or the potential for force, is to protect the property that is used to improve and nurture the better aspects of human nature. The ideal activity is agricultural as patient husbandry is considered a proper model for government that seeks to emulate the care that a beneficent but distant Providence has for all of Nature and Man's place in it.

For the Left none of that is true. The paradigm for the Socialist is the Bolshevik Cell or Jacobin Club. Those were places that cultivated deceit, manipulation and the enforced alteration of conditions through conspiracy. The ideal activity is industrial with Nature coerced into submission to a human will.

A Gentleman can have a Scotch after a long week and say "I take comfort in knowing the other team is even more screwed up than the idiots we are working for" and get only a smile and an offer of a lift home. For the Leftist words like that by some Lt Colonel or Major are a tool to destroy a General and bash History into obedience to their or, in their egoistic channeling of Rousseau, the General Will.

McCain-Biden?

(fm the BC thread "Holding the Bag")

gokart-mozart,
Concur in part, that is to say Yes and maybe. Your description of the Electoral College and Biden’s qualification for VP independent of Obama is correct. The question of who becomes President in the event that the presumptive President Elect is found ineligible is more complicated. Should the President Elect die or become incapacitated before January 20th then I believe the VP Elect gets sworn in as POTUS. My argument is that may not apply in the case of fraud because the will of the Electors, who vote for both offices in two ballots, would not be as important. In that case the only valid votes that were in fact cast for the office of POTUS were those for John McCain. Elevating Biden to the top spot could be seen as rewarding the Electors poor judgment. It is like allowing them to revote after they spoiled their ballots. Despite that I would be willing to support the elevation of Joe Biden as part of a Grand Bargain including the removal of Obama’s judicial appointments, the dismissal of all Czars and the repeal of unconstitutional laws or administrative acts. If Biden becomes President then the Senate gets to select a new VP.

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gokart-mozart,
Agreed that no reasonable argument has been raised disputing Biden's qualification for his current office and all Electoral votes that he received were properly cast and valid. If Barack Obama is removed following an impeachment by the House and conviction in a trial by the Senate then Biden should become the President. Such a procedure grants that Obama is the President and was the President as of the same time and procedure that made Biden the Vice President. That may not be true.

If Obama was never qualified to be President, a condition that was publicly disputed but not adjudicated when the Electors cast their ballots, then those votes may have been invalid and Obama may never in fact have been the legal President of the United States. There is no power that I see in the Constitution for the Congress to dispute or reject ballots that have been certified by the States and submitted for the President of the Senate to count. The abuse of the doctrine of "standing" to prevent proper verification of Obama's status by the courts is a problem that needs some permanent Constitutional remedy to prevent any future threat to the integrity of the office of POTUS.

If you vote for a Congressman who subsequently turns out to be not qualified for the office then you do not get a "do over" and in America we do not generally vote for a list in descending order. Nor was it proper for the courts and political appointees to try to devine the intent of elderly residents of Palm Beach County who accidentally voted for Pat Buchannan in 2000, but I do think that the Democratic election officers who failed to properly instruct the voters should have been held accountable.

In the case of Obama being found to have not been a "natural born" citizen I believe that largest number of valid Electoral College ballots were cast for John McCain and he should be the President. That would still leave Joe Biden as Vice President, solicitous of the President's health. By that I mean he should be as a matter of Constitutional theory but as I have said it might be better to bend the theory to meet necessity in a crisis and permit Biden to take the office in a deal that grants the Republicans other benefits. Think of such a deal as the obverse of the compromise of 1877 that made Rutherford B Hayes President. Sarah Palin could only become VP if Biden vacated the office, either by becoming President himself or by resignation, and she was subsequently installed iaw Amendment XXV sect. 2.

BTW, I mispoke earlier in giving the Senate exclusive power over the appointment of a replacement VP. That being the method, never actually used to break an Electoral College deadlock, under Amendment XII.

Rosinante,
You usually craft your comments more carefully. While I agree with your conclusion that it is probably best for the Republic to allow Joe Biden to become President if Obama is found to have been ineligible for the office you could have done better than reply to my position with emphatic but unreasoned refutation. If Biden was an active part of a conspiracy, which is unlikely since Obama has no more respect for or trust in the VP than General MacChrystal does, then he should be removed and rendered ineligible for any position of profit or trust. Until a Congressional Committee is formed with subpoena power we shall have no knowledge of what the level of impropriety of OBAMA's candidacy was. It is possible that he is in fact the legal proper President. The strongest evidence to the contrary is his reckless refusal to honestly and clearly release all of his documents.

Subotai Bahadur,
You made my point about Biden in prose that rose to poetry.

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Darren,
Very few people claim that Obama is not a US citizen. The question revolves around the definition of "natural born" as a standard for the office of POTUS. That is a slippery subject that people of good will can disagree on and people of ill will can exploit. My belief is that if Obama claimed to be a foreign national after his 18th birthday to gain a monetary benefit on a financial aid form then he should be ineligible for the office of POTUS. While I might choose to see travel on a foreign passport as disqualifying I could see that others would not hold to that standard. There are people who raise the issue of his adoption in Indonesia as a minor but to me that should not be a problem. The "birther" issue is I suspect being used by the Democrats to obscure these other issues and discredit all people who question Obama's fitness for office.

Under Rocks

(fm the BC thread "Holding the Bag")

Subotai Bahadur,
Strictly speaking the Electors vote separately for POTUS and VEEP. That means that we could have gotten BHO disqualified and ended up with John McCain as President and Joe Biden as VP. In order to disqualify the VP there would IMHO be a need to show that they were personally ineligible, since they are elected on a separate ballot. The Founders got a little lazy about the VP slot. For example according to the Constitution the VP gets to preside over their own Impeachment trial in the Senate.

If the new Congress does an investigation and the results are ugly we face a choice. We can push for a scrubbing from the body politic of all who benefited from the fraud or we can make a deal. The former would be John Brown's answer, to "purge this unhappy land in blood." Upon reflection we may prefer to offer a compromise based upon the level of culpability of residual beneficiaries of the fraud. To me that means we should be guided by Lincoln's intended policy for Amnesty and Reconstruction of the South after the last time the Democratic Party attempted an oligarchic insurrection. If Joe Biden is guilty only of ignorance, ambition, and fellow traveling then for the good of the country I would elevate him to the Oval Office, even if the office really belongs to McCain. If he was a knowing co-conspirator, in other words if he sat in a meeting with Soros and Valerie Jarett where Obama's eligibility was discussed, which I would be very surprised to discover, then I would impeach him and ship him over to the District Court for a criminal trial.

hdgreene,
Friends told me that the reason there is a Nobel Prize in Physics but not in Mathematics is that Alfred Nobel's wife ran off with a mathematician. The story is to good to verify. The Economics Nobel is an "Award" and not a "Prize" because it was not included in Nobel's will but was established later.

Come January

(fm the BC thread "Holding the Bag")

Subotai Bahadur,
Generally agree with your expectations for the new Congress. Under the 'just to drive them crazy and maybe strike gold theory;' why not have the new Congress as part of its first five action items form a Select Committee with full subpoena power to validate Obama's eligibility for the office of POTUS. Everyone here knows I am not a "Birther" but I do think the Dems have earned that nightmare, and if he does have a problem? If it is a small problem, travel on a foreign passport, then he probably survives and we extract a national conversation on the definition of "Natural Born" and immigration amnesty is buried for the decade. If it a larger problem, like he claimed foreign nationality on his financial aid forms, then Joe Biden becomes President, and all Obama Judicial appointments are declared invalid. For the worst case, which I doubt, then Biden would himself be found to be a co-conspirator. In that case the POTUS would probably be the man who received the most valid electoral votes in 2008.

Great Moments in Journalism

(fm the BC thread "Holding the Bag")

Neil Cavuto, Fox News, "Where did you get your degree, a bakery school?"
Ron Blackwell, AFL-CIO Chief Economist, "You're an a**hole."

Comment on the Belmont Club: "Holding the Bag"

The production of 1,000 page plus bills, unread by the legislators, and in part unwritten at their enactment, will be remembered as the Democrats contribution to American constitutional practice. For people who were entranced in school by the legerdemain used to find regulatory power in the penumbra of the 14th Amendment or the Commerce Clause the pattern of sloppiness of construction and opportunities for administrative or judicial abuse are not a bug but a feature.

Comment on the Belmont Club: "The Trill of Victory and the Anatomy of Defeat"

If you can keep your head,
when those around you are losing theirs.

Then you have not got a clue my son.




First drafts of History.

Vacation

Delray Beach, Florida

Beach reading was Ken Starr's "First Among Equals."

Dinner last night at Milos Estatiatorio in Boca Raton. The restaurant is located in the back of a strip mall, a few doors down from Goodwill. The location could hardly be less promising. The dining could hardly be better. I have had many a meal in Chicago's Greektown and in New York's Astoria. This was the best Greek food I have had. Nothing very fancy, Beets with Scordalia, Sea Bass fillet and yoghurt with honey and walnuts for dessert with espresso.

Comment on the Belmont Club: »Last Chance Saloon

Belmont Club » Last Chance Saloon

The "step down" from CENTCOM to AFPAK is less of an issue than some have made it. Douglas MacArthur was Chief of Staff of the US Army before he was sent to command in the Philippines. He handled that problem with theatricality. He put on a hat with more gold than a French Admiral's and convinced everyone that the job was a promotion because Douglas MacArthur was doing it. Eisenhower later said that he studied dramatics under MacArthur for three years in the P.I. Real military leaders can create the impression that they bring their own parade and hear their own theme music. In the Times Doris Goodwin discusses how Lincoln handled McClellan.

Obama has made himself look smaller by caring what subordinate officers said over a beer in the presence of a reporter. John Kerry of all people got this right and suggested calm. Lincoln was told that Grant was a drunk and he suggested getting whatever the general had and sending a case to his other generals. If anyone had run to FDR with a story like this about one of his Theater Commanders the response would have been laughter. Roosevelt was no softy though, he refused to let Lindbergh serve during the war.

There seems to be a pattern where Obama seems to endorse a nearly centrist position, on offshore drilling or military operations or border security. Then some event is seized upon to invalidate the agreement. The radical agenda that had been incrementally advanced as part of a bipartisan deal is then pushed forward unilaterally. In the case of the border and immigration the pattern is known and Senator Kyle made clear that he was demanding the delivery of border security first. Obama who thought that he could get agreement on a package deal including Amnesty, with the border security efforts likely to be reneged on, is furious at having his bluff called.

Will Petraeus fall into Obama's trap or will he force through the measures needed to protect the troops the supply lines and the nation? If he can do that and then leave after a year then David Petraeus may prove to be Obama's 2nd worst nightmare. As it is the Republicans look set to pick up 45-50 House seats and 7-9 Senate seats. If Obama refuses and Petraeus quits in 90 days then he becomes Obama's worst nightmare and the Democrats may face a loss of over 60 seats in the House and a dozen Senate seats. To be clear I do not know what the General's politics are and I am not hoping that he rides in on a white horse.

Upstate Gratitude

(fm the BC thread "Enemy At the Gates")

More Blago tapes coming out. Not sure what the prosecution point is. From what I heard it sounded like Obama asked for Valerie Jarrett to get the Senate seat and Blago was saying that if he did he would dead meat in Illinois politics so he would need a safe harbor job. Blago's aide then suggested that he play up how he had helped advance Obama's agenda when making his pitch for a job. Neither of those, especially the asking for himself based on his loyalty in taking a political bullet and advancing the liberal agenda, sound illegal.

Blago has a point here, this makes Obama look worse than the Governor.

Comment on the Belmont Club: Enemy At the Gates

Belmont Club » Enemy At the Gates

Perpetually Useful Headlines; a proposed collective series.

1. Psychic Arrested: They Didn't See It Coming.

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Big News that is swept under the carpet by the cascade of little news.

In Oakland an alliance of Islamists, Communists and Anti-Semites backed the West Coast Longshoreman's Union in refusing to unload an Israeli ship. The West Coast Longshoreman's Union has been a known subversive threat to our national security for almost 100 years. Their efforts to impose on behalf of foreign interests a radical agenda goes back to the days of the IWW (Wobblies) and for decades the government factored in the need to prevent their efforts to frustrate military operations in the Pacific.

Now the dance is coming to an end and all the characters that were waiting in the shadows are coming out.

Belmont Club » Attack Speed, Rahmming Speed!

Belmont Club » Attack Speed, Rahmming Speed!

Mihail is correct. Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod have served their primary function. That was in giving Obama cover with traditional Jewish Democratic voters. The decision appears to have been made to drop the incremental mask and move to a policy of open hostility to Israel.

For almost three years now any criticism of Obama ran up against “But look at Rahm and others, you can’t say they would hurt Israel. Even if you disagree that would be nuts.”

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f47,
(who chastised me for praising a bigot , even if in jest I was wrong)
Thank you, as I said reduced to my Bberry I am flying blind. Rahm does represent an endangered species, left wing Orthodox Jews.

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Rahm Emanuel did not serve in the Israeli Defense Forces. It is important to slap that lie down every time it shows up. He cleaned brake pads for a few days when he was stuck in the country waiting for a flight out during the ‘93 Gulf War. That does not qualify as even rear echelon military service.

Gator Warthogs?

(fm the BC thread "Is Amphibious Warfare Obsolete?)

Sandy Daze,
(who extolled the A-10)

Serious question. Why do the Marines not fly Warthogs? Can it take off from an LHD? The AH1-W is terrific but the A-10 was designed to survive in a hostile environment. Nothing defines the Marine Corps more than facing a hostile environment, building up from zero on the ground during a “forcible entry.” Why not give every MEU 3 A-10s for CAS and one equipped as a Wild Weasel?

Dreadlittles

(fm the BC thread "Is Amphibious Warfare Obsolete?")

The BBs are wonderful. I have blogged on how being First Lieutenant Afloat on a Cruiser refueling from the New Jersey was better than sex. Everything said about Presence and the Gun Fire Support missions is true. They are however not invulnerable, especially in coastal waters like the Persian Gulf. They can survive any attack by a gun, missile, or bomb that does not have a nuclear warhead, they are not able to survive an attack by a torpedo that cracks the keel. For the battleships the greatest threats are illegally fixed bottom mines and submarines.

Comment on the Belmont Club: The Unacknowledged Legislators

Belmont Club » The Unacknowledged Legislators

Do you like Kipling?
Have you ever Kipled?

Do you like kippered Kipling with capers? Maybe with a nice Chianti and a side of fava beans?

Must be a poet and didn’t know it. Went straight to a dark place.

Comment on the Belmont Club: Is Amphibious Warfare Obsolete?

Belmont Club » Is Amphibious Warfare Obsolete?

Walk Gates’ limitations backwards in reverse order.

What level of budget should be available? Trillions spent on housing boondogles, health care boondogles, and green boondogles benefit only corrupt insiders and low skill allies like the SEIU/Acorn. The real cost is in draining resources from the national defense. America could and should spend 3X as much on its military.

How many carriers do we need? Remember that in a crisis two carriers operating together are not just twice as effective as one but almost three times as effective. More is much more efficient and in a war we will need to have multiple carrier formations sustained in at least two distant parts of the world. Potentially even more will be needed on short notice also you need to maintain three times as many carriers as you keep forward deployed. One third of the big ships will be unavailable at any time due to maintenance. Half the available ships can be kept forward deployed. Even the best force cannot sustain a higher level of operating tempo in peace time. So if you will need four battle groups available on short notice, two off East Asia and two off the Persian Gulf, as a minimum, then you need to build and keep at least 12 CVBGs.

The arguments for naval gunfire support and the Marine Corps mission is simple. Over 70% of humanity lives within range of sea based gunnery and an amphibious assault. That is where the targets are.

Technology and Combat Readiness

(fm the BC thread "Iron Sky")

RWE,
The Congresscritter had a point about GPS. It has become an addiction. Our navigation, communication and even our weapons systems are now totally dependent on satellites. In the event of a Defcon 1 shooting war none of those systems will be available. We would be at a disadvantage before an enemy equipped with sail ships and muzzle loaders. The Navy never should have disestablished the Signalman rating and never should have shifted from a system where the troops learned to repair the gear they operated.

At one time every Radarman, Radioman, or Fire Controlman learned how to operate their equipment at an A school before their first deployment as a Petty Officer 3rd Class. If successful they were then sent to a B school where they learned to repair the equipment before their next advancement and sea tour as a Petty Officer 2nd Class, with supervisory responsibilities as a watch stander. After another reenlistment if selected after another sea tour as a Petty Officer 1st Class with responsibility as a Work Center Supervisor they would if selected for further advancement get to go to to a C school where they would learn the administrative tasks needed if they assumed the role, and distinct uniform in the same khaki color as the officers', of a Chief Petty Officer. The B schools were eliminated years ago. The result is that some gear is repaired by special technicians who are not the operators and other equipment is simply shipped back to a depot for replacement and possible repair by a civilian technician.

That is a system that can work in the Air Force but it reduces the capability of a Navy designed for extended deployments and independent combat operations. If the part is removed then you lose combat capability. Even more important you lose the exceptional level of bonding between members of a crew and their ship that came from their knowing every aspect of the job so intimately and having absolute respect for the qualifications of their senior enlisted members.

Regarding the Counterbattery problem. I would surround Gaza with about 300 artillery tubes and announce the CEP (circular error of probability) of the 155 mm systems. Promise that any attack will trigger a response, within 30 seconds. Will Hamas deliberately attack from within human shield zones? I can assure you that they will. If Israel repeatedly launches the response, and the systems now available can trigger a response before the incoming round even lands, then the operators will be killed and the populace will turn on them. Remember they voted for Hamas.

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The Assad family comes from the Syrian village of Qardaha in the coastal mountains North of Lebanon. In the event of hostilities directed at Israeli civilians by either Syria or agents of Syria the Israelis should target Qardaha.

Comment on the Belmont Club : "Iron Sky"

The answer to Hezbollah's Iron Sky threat is Rafael's Iron Dome.
It certainly looks good.

The wiki says that the cost is prohibitive and laser systems are a better idea. Maybe but then again it is the wiki so what is their opinion worth? How many would be needed to ring Gaza? How many to guard the North? If Jordan turns belligerent, and they may under this king, then a reactive defense may not be viable. I still suspect that Israel needs to remove the threat from Gaza, either by getting the Egyptians to assume responsibility as they had before 1967 or by incrementally expelling the current population if they refuse to make peace.

Comment on Theo Spark: Youth Suspect in Seattle Police Punching Case Had Prior Criminal Rap Sheet

Youth Suspect in Seattle Police Punching Case Had Prior Criminal Rap Sheet



People are allowed to photograph from a distance but not to interfere with a lawful government activity. Unless you have a matter of safety to mention, like knowledge that someone has a medical condition that would be relevant to the officer or knowledge that they are armed, you should not say anything to the officer while he is focused on making the arrest. If the officer was aware that the person being arrested was a minor then he could I believe order people not to photograph her, to protect her privacy and not his own. The efforts of the person doing the video to distract the officer and dissuade him from carrying out his proper duties were unlawful. The person who who made those comments, "Are you serious" and "You are ripping her clothes" who is I believe the person recording this, should be arrested. We should definitely not throw in the towel.

Actions meet Consequences.

More Oily Politics

(fm the BC thread "The Gulf")

JMH,
Concur, I was responding to your line asking where they could even find a Democratic Romney.
Name a prominent Democrat best known for accomplishing something outside of politics

tharkun,

... very revealing. Unfortunately, they were revealing mostly of the projection of The Mind of LOTM onto Obama’s actions. There is not enough data, nor an explanation from Obama himself in Kristof’s article for either you, me or anyone else to say definitively what was his primary motivation.

Your point is essentially the same as mine, we cannot assume that he was saying the shahada as a declaration of faith but he did know exactly what he was doing. We combine reason and the evidence available, including that of our experience, to find the simplest explanation of what we see, and test those explanations against future events. Your logic for turning that into a personal criticism of me is unexplained.

Cowboy,
There is a passing side benefit for the Democrats in the destruction of the Gulf fishing industry that you describe so well. Many of those fishermen were anti-communist Vietnamese. Someplace in the back of their heads I think the people who derived satisfaction from the "General Betray Us" advert in the NY Times derive a small thrill from knowing that the lackey stooges of imperialism are suffering.

In 1969 the chant was "Ho Ho Ho Chi Minh, NLF is Gonna Win."
I remember.

whitehall et al have mentioned Jamie Gorelick. She is not only a "Friend of Hillary" and one of the three, with Franklin Raines and the "Friend of Barney," who raped Fannie Mae but she has since moved on to the Board of Schlumberger. Trans-Ocean (ticker RIG) who owned the rig is a spin off from SLB.

geoffb,
Good point, millions for the connected and chump change for the "little people." BP probably did not set this up as part of a murderous conspiracy but, with the pay off in the latest version of the Frankenstein Monster Cap and Trade bill they wrote, BP is deeply compromised.

Looking for Leaders, In All the Wrong Places

(fm the BC thread "The Gulf")

tharkun,
Correct, Obama did recite the shahada to Nicholas Kristoff but it was not presented as a statement of faith, any more that is than a singer who might be Jewish performing White Christmas or even Ave Maria. Of course he did it to be deliberately provocative, in the same way he would gesture with his finger towards Hillary while giving a knowing look to his supporters. I am surprised that in addition to his play at bad boy pimp daddy clothes in College we haven't found any photos of him in other fantasy costumes, Black Panther Commando, Ché Commandante or even KKK robe and hood as an edgy joke. There is the air of the frozen adolescent about him.

Bob,
Correct, there are no permanent victories. The empty vessels will seek a new Conductor to fill them and play them like Franklin's Glass Armonica. We must renew the battle every day. Take comfort in the thought that means that passing setbacks are not permanent defeats either.

JMH,
There are competent Democrats who have run large private businesses. In addition to Sam Walton of Walmart there is Steve Jobs of Apple and several others in the technology business. In addition while the producers were traditionally more likely to be identified as Republicans in the days of the Studio System almost everyone in authority now in Hollywood is aligned with the Left. That is despite the fact that their personal business expectations are ruthlessly competitive and their personal social conduct is often more exploitative than their fantasy Republicans. Wag the Dog was prescient in showing Hollywood management being brought to Washington.

Out On A Limb

(fm the BC thread "The Gulf")

Teresita,
Your #84 was below your usual standards, for some reason for the last week you have been more engaged in the personal challenge than the conceptual search. Broad assertions are either unprovable or falsifiable and turn out to be an unreliable foundation for an argument. You would have down your case more good by simply stating that you were unaware of any evidence that he had stated the shahadah. A discussion of whether he is a secret believer or a deliberate secret advocate, treasonous or not, would be a separate issue that you could then fight out on its own terms. By phrasing things as you did you weaken your ability to effectively engage on either position.

It will work better to focus on an argument and then carefully engage a single respondant if you believe that you can prove bad faith on their part. More broad based assertions on your part make you look like the one engaging in stereotyping, which is exactly what I believe you wish to combat. In essence you have allowed those you disagree with to put you in the position of saying "Youse guys are jerks." That is a no win position for you and appears to be a challenge to the entire BC community, including those who do not generally engage in extended disagreements. My suggestion is that you walk this back a little so that you can make your points on a firmer basis.

On occasion I have engaged in vigorous personal disputes with others here. Sometimes we were on the same side and sometimes we were not. On this occasion my advice to you is tactical and well meant even if I do agree with those who suspect Obama of harboring bad faith whatever his overt identification.

There probably could be a good thread, if it could be protected against trashing, on the intersections of sexual perspectives and political identifications. There are homosexual men and lesbian women, two groups who broadly speaking do not have identical interests in all political or cultural issues, who are found in both Conservative and Libertarian circles, those two not being at all the same, as well as the majority who identify with the Liberal community. The reasons for these varying allegiances deserve exploration. Conflating that discussion with one on the religious identification of BHO seems unwise.

Pedantically,
LoTM

Dead Cat Goes Thud

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Wednesday shows that 24% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty-four percent (44%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -20.

From Rasmussen Reports.
Only 48% of his own party strongly approve of his performance. The polls over the next few days will confirm the reaction to his big push after the oil leak. The pattern has been for Obama to sink in the polls and then stage an event, such as the Health Care Address to Congress or the State of The Union to rally support. Some of these, such as the two trips to Denmark, have turned out to be complete failures and others provided him a temporary boost. The returns on each of his recent efforts to substitute oratory for performance has been of a shorter duration and generally less effective than his earlier performances.

The first thing he did on entering the White House was send the bust of Winston Churchill back to Britain. Obama is no Churchill for three reasons;
1. Churchill was deeply aware of and respectful to the nature of his people,
2. Churchill was right in his precepts and perceptions,
3. Churchill was effective in his governance.

My prediction is that by late July his Strong Approval percentage will touch 22% and his Strong Disapproval percentage will touch 47%. That will give him an overall rating of minus 25% and an overall approval rating below 40%, within 100 days of the Congressional midterm elections. At that point there will be every reason to expect a crisis to occur. Obama will have both the incentive and the track record to attempt to salvage his position by rallying support during both a domestic and an international emergency. He may also be expected to push to rally his base with divisive efforts on immigration amnesty, even though doing so will impede efforts to respond to emergent threats. At the same time foreign rivals, not of Obama but of America, such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the Shia Iranians, and the Sunni Salafists, and their allies, will have their best chance to push at America's moment of weakness. We will be divided domestically, paralyzed politically, large numbers of those who we depend on to protect us from enemies will be deeply suspicious of their chain of command and the threats will at the same time be very real.

Comment on Theo Spark: "President Obama, On the Oil Spill"

President Obama

We shall fight them on the beaches?

Just dreadful, he has absolutely no idea what the Federal role is and what the role of a private business is. Is his plan to bankrupt and seize control of BP like he did with GM?

He claims credit for authorizing Louisiana to act? Chutzpah.

He wants BP to feed a slush fund to be controlled by Obama cronies?

What is his vision of a clean future? Make work unskilled jobs for corrupt insulation contractors, higher taxes, more poverty, greater vulnerability to foreign pressure as we become poorer and our military shrinks as our rivals grow.

The religious conclusion, given the ideological communities that are behind the socialist content of the first 15 minutes of his speech, was wildly discordant. It can no longer pass as a throw away from his experience in the gospel based communities, not when in his case that means the Reverend Wright and the long term implications of his agenda are relentlessly secular and alien to the American experience.

-------
(additional comment at The Belmont Club)
Belmont Club » The Gulf

The key I think to walking the nation back from the brink of Fairey pseudo Mussolini infatuation with Obama is to make it deeply unfashionable to have associated with him. When people simply laugh at anyone with an Obama sticker on their car, when Gray's Papaya in NY takes down the Obama ad, when girls go "ewwww" at guys with Obama shirts, then we will have won.

-------
Marty,
what do you think the People’s Liberation Army makes of teh situation? To the NoKos, Iranian mullahs, Chinese, Palis, Chavez, Erdogan, al Qaeda, on and on ...

Hedley Lamarr: I want rustlers, cut throats, murderers, bounty hunters, desperados, mugs, pugs, thugs, nitwits, halfwits, dimwits, vipers, snipers, con men, Indian agents, Mexican bandits, muggers, buggerers, bushwhackers, hornswogglers, horse thieves, bull dykes, train robbers, bank robbers, ass-kickers, shit-kickers and Methodists.

-------
wretchard
someone might advise the President to save his historical reputation by stepping aside voluntarily

Richard Nixon did not contest the 1960 election although he knew that it was stolen to put Kennedy in office. Richard Nixon resigned in 1974 when senior members of his own party told him it was time to do so. In both cases his primary thought was what would be best for the United States. Richard Nixon, the ultimate fairy tale monster and Two Minute Hate object of the people that Barack Obama was raised by and associated with all his life, was a bigger and less selfish man than the current occupant of the Oval Office can imagine.

Comment on the Belmont Club: "United We Fall, Divided We Fall"

Belmont Club » United We Fall, Divided We Fall

Allotting representational districts to non-citizens, who are not allowed to vote, increases the worth of the vote of the few citizens in those districts compared to the value of the vote of a citizen in a district populated largely by people qualified to vote. This is directly contrary to the "One Man One Vote" principle that underlays the very Voting Rights Act the Justice Department is purporting to enforce. If separate districts are created for non-citizens then they will be in effect "Rotten Boroughs" such as England had before the Great Reform Act.

The Port Chester plan seeks to avoid that by introducing a multiple divisible vote system. This is similar to how the Illinois State General Assembly's House of Representatives was organized before 1980. Each district elected three members with voters able to divide their votes. The result was that each district elected two members of the majority party for the district and one for the minority. In Chicago there were tame Republicans who had safe seats as the third choice in overwhelmingly Democratic districts and in the downstate counties that were overwhelmingly Republican there were safe seats for Democrats. Eliminating that system and dividing each 3 member district into two single member districts saved the taxpayers millions and resulted in dozens of Upstate Republicans and Downstate Democrats suddenly being unemployed. Politicians will accept the Port Chester scheme because it means more safe jobs for politicians.

The solution to this problem will necessitate amending the Constitution to specify that the apportionment of Representatives to Congress according to the Census shall be made strictly according the number of citizens eligible to vote, and that no Executive or Legislative body of a State may be selected by any other basis. However I would make a provision for empowering lawful Residents, either US Nationsls (mostly now from American Samoa) or Lawful Permanent Residents (Green Card holders) to vote in local elections for offices, such as School Boards, that cannot impose taxes or create a criminal statute.

Comment on - NYPOST.com: Bloomberg aide accused of stealing campaign funds

Bloomberg aide accused of stealing campaign funds - NYPOST.com

Haggerty's brother Bart was in charge of the Queens office for the Bloomberg campaign. Most of the campaign was a shoddy waste of money with Canvassers who were hired off of Craig's List barely pretending to do the work. In fact it is likely that the final week of GOTV was so poorly targeted that it brought out more votes for Thompson than Bloomberg. Nevertheless a few of the staff worked very hard pulling out a close victory. This has nothing to do with ideology but simple practical management.

After the campaign ended there were no phone calls or job offers for those who had put in the effort. Now the reason becomes clearer. When someone abuses a position of trust, as John Haggerty is accused of doing, he not only assumes a risk for himself. That can be accepted, if you are willing to do the time then I can understand that a decent person might attempt a crime. What is unacceptable is to impose the costs on other decent hardworking people. Everyone who worked in the Queens office is now unable to refer to their connection with a winning campaign and suffers the Mayor's distaste at anything that can remind him of an embarrassing betrayal.

Comment on the Belmont Club: "Try, Try Again"

Belmont Club » Try, Try Again

Joe Hill,
press failure to vet Obama ... can only be attributed to racism

This is correct. There is I believe a reason the MSM lead by the New York Times invested so heavily in convincing the general public to buy into the Obama narrative. It was to externalize the consequences of their own prejudice.

The greatest failure of the liberal media was the success of George Bush in responding to 9-11 and then leading the nation into Iraq. That threatened to destabilize the entire corrupt international aristocracy that was funded through Oil For Food and staffed governments, media and NGOs. Bush threatened to rip the lid off of all of it and at that critical time the media proved unable to stop him. What crippled them? My theory is that it was a self inflicted wound based on their own prejudiced expectations.

In March and April 2003 the United States crushed Saddam's forces so rapidly that vast quantities of intelligence data including Oil For Food files were captured. On May 1st President Bush delivered his "Mission Accomplished" speech. The power of the media to control him was at a low ebb. A few fringe elements responded with snark and a story was manufactured about the looting of a museum, as if that cost would have justified leaving Saddam in power, but other than attempting to ignore the story of what Bush had achieved and who his enemies were the media allies of his enemies proved curiously passive in their response. It took years to create in the public mind the perception that the victory was really a defeat that could support the installation of the extreme left into positions of power. What explains the weakness of the New York Times during the crucial months of April and May of 2003?

May 11 was when the Times published its extraordinary confession in the Jayson Blair fraud and plagiarism scandal. Blair was the archetype of the over-promoted affirmative action candidate placed in a position of influence for which he was not qualified. For weeks the capacity of the Times to impose its ideological vision on the world was crippled.

By fostering the candidacy of Barack Obama, a man arguably less formally qualified for his position than Blair or Patel were, the Editors of the Times have made the entire nation complicit in the consequences of their racism. This is the soft bigotry of high expectations. It is common for Confidence Scheme criminals to make their victims perform some gesture that makes them arguably complicit in some small way. That is why totalitarians insist on making everyone vote even where the vote is meaningless. Now they can say, "How can you criticize us when you voted for him too?"

-------
starling,
did you mean to say “This is the soft bigotry of LOW expectations” ?

The play substituting High for Low was deliberate. Low expectations explains shoving a weak candidate into a class and then lowering test standards. If you don't care if they really learn and assume that they can't learn but still want some benefit from having them in the room, money or social approval usually, then you admit the weak candidate with low expectations. If you believe that race is in itself a qualification, the "wise Latina" or "authentic" urban youth forged in the crucible of adversity, that is with the help of government and political activist indoctrination equivalent to skill building experience at a series of jobs and inculcation of a moral code that was best achieved in the traditional family centered society then you have possibly unwarranted high expectations about a candidate like Obama. You expect the narrative to produce results.

In the Founders Constitution who was responsible for ensuring that the tendency of mob enthusiasm and aristocratic intrigue would not combine to produce unqualified Presidents? That was to be the role of the Electoral College. The EC was intended as a geographically dispersed brake by which the leading men of each State could soberly perform the vetting process. Unfortunately they rapidly became reduced to a rubber stamp that ratifies the popular vote.

Perhaps it would help to restore the original intent of the system if the College was not only placed on a firmer basis with long term appointments, as I have previously suggested, but was used to explicitly screen candidates. Then the top two of whom would be subsequently submitted to the public for a vote.

Comment on the Belmont Club : "Whitewash versus Paint"

Belmont Club » Whitewash versus Paint

Do not underestimate an enemy with wealth, power and reputation at stake. They can be wrong but that does mean that they are stupid, lazy or cowardly. The Global Warming proponents are a key part of a totalitarian movement. It may not be as organized as a Confederation or as unified as a Conspiracy but if their was a Global RICO statute, and God forbid an authority that could enforce it, they would stand in peril. Expect the enemies of Watt to be at least as tenacious and creative as the enemies of Pamela Geller.

The old Weatherman knew there are three sources of power in a science policy debate. Or host misspoke by listing two and adding a third. In so doing he channeled either the notorious LoTM or the People's Front of Judea. They are;
1. owning information,
2. controlling a unique source of information,
3. an information professional's skill "for making a complex subject
     concrete and in your face."

The Warmists prove that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery by seeking to challenge the skeptics not in the closed lounges of Academe but on the evening news. At the American Museum of Natural History in New York they take this very seriously. Two points, neither of which is incompatible with the AMNH mission as a Museum dedicated to educating the public, illustrate this;
1. Eleanor Sterling heads the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation
     and blogs for the NY Times from Vietnam,
2. students at the AMNH's Richard Gilder Graduate School during the
     first year of their PhD program in Comparative Biology take a
     3 credit course titled "Grantsmanship, Ethics, and Communication."

Communicating an accurate representation of data properly obtained so as to instill a greater appreciation for the Scientific Method and to assist the public in making informed judgments on policy issues is what public science should be about. Marshaling all the tools of wealth power and reputation to support a preconceived and possibly wrong position, that people stand to gain billions of dollars from, is an abuse and possibly a fraud as serious as a financial adviser trading on his good suit, silver hair and firm's reputation to fleece his clients.

Paul,
(who dreams that AGW and Gore's marriage unraveling are linked)
Concur.

Comment on the Belmont Club: "Outrageous Fortune"

Belmont Club » Outrageous Fortune

wretchard
you can lose a real limb

You can lose your head. I have seen the Danny Pearl vid.

The problem with the conflict we are all engaged in is that it is asymmetric in its costs. If we withdraw and concede the field we do not get peace but death. In victory the extreme Left will not raise marginal tax rates by 10% and build huge ugly public housing projects. That was your father's age of liberalism. These people are allied to the jihadis because they both seek to achieve their utopian goals through blood. These are people who read Nineteen Eighty-Four in High School and said to themselves, "That's a plan." They have arrogated to themselves the authority of the God of Isaiah who said (KJV 29:15)

Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?

Conservatives seek to conserve not to conquer, but those who attack us will accept no peace and offer no quarter. To surrender means immediate death or future betrayal. On the Hamas ship they chanted the war cry "Khaybar Khaybar ya Yahūd, jaysh Muḥammad saya‘ūd." The Jews of Khaybar surrendered to Muhammed and 13 years later Umar revoked the peace treaty and expelled them. Two years earlier the Banu Qurayza Jews of Yathrib surrendered and were massacred by the hundreds. Given the technology available this was done as systematically as any genocide of the 20th century.

When Youtube or PayPal or Google acquiesce to the thuggery of those who seek to dominate and destroy the United States and all of Western Civilization they are not being even handed and protecting the innocent from hate. They are supporting those who champion hate and creating more victims. They do Evil.

ridgerunner
Most of the time I assume that Silence=Consent and people not only agree with me but that I exhaust the point so thoroughly that no direct reply to my windy posts is needed. Others frequently make similar points later without attribution. Of course I could just be kidding myself.

Comment on the Belmont Club: "The (Soccer) Ball is Round"

Belmont Club » The (Soccer) Ball is Round

Americans have a hard time understanding Japanese baseball, where the goal also seems to be not to win.  Sport is supposed to be a sublimation of combat, in a subset of the pop analysis that reduces everything to sex. English villages invented progenitors of Rugby to head off inter-village conflict. The theory being that getting sweaty followed by getting drunk makes men less likely to kill each other. Independently the Iroquois invented lacrosse and the Pashtuns? Invented Polo in the hope that beating the hell out of a ball could substitute for using a human head. The Toltecs seemed unclear on that point, as the Ball Court reliefs at Chichen Itza show. That may explain why despite their achievements in mathematics and engineering the peasants preferred to fade into the jungle before the Spanish showed up.

BTW, regarding the Ball Court, here is a pic of the carvings showing what happens to the loser. He is the guy kneeling on the right with blood spurting where his head should be.

While the battle of Waterloo may not have been won on the playing fields of Eton there are valuable lessons learned from sports. These include teamwork, planning, decisiveness, flexibility, and persistence.

Consider two events that happened on this date. 148 years ago on June 12, 1862 J.E.B. Stuart lead his cavalry on a raid that brought him clear around the Union army. 146 years ago U.S. Grant followed up his defeat at Cold Harbor by moving the Army of The Potomac to the South behind Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. The two movements exactly two years apart roughly parallel each other. Each demonstrates principles associated with Sports. These include decisiveness and aggression. The ultimate triumph of the Union effort, as compared to the valiant but ultimately futile Southern gesture, demonstrates other sporting/military principles. These include planning in that the Union effort showed not only immediate technical competence intended for combat operations but also the result of following Hamilton's advice and organizing society over decades according to a Capitalist commercial and industrial model that best prepared it for war. Successful sports programs also reflect major investments over a period of time. The Union victory after Grant moved South also showed the qualities of calculated persistence and aggression. While both sides possessed these for the South they were insufficient, they were unable to sustain forward movement after Stuart's raid, as they were unable to sustain forward movement after Antietam and Gettysburg.

Defeatism was always present but the Union persevered. Victory happens when you defeat the enemy on his own ground. We can only win when we identify our enemies and defeat them. While we must persist and defeat domestic defeatists, as Lincoln did. We can only win by taking the fight to the enemy, as Lincoln, Grant, Bush and Petreaus did.

-------
Two results of blogging by Bberry are missing paragraphs and typos.

It can reasonably be argued that having the masses paint their faces with national flags and occasionally engage in drunken brawls while they cheer teams, composed largely of foreigners, kicking balls around is preferable to recreating the horrors of the Somme. It may even be possible to prefer the Eurovision song contest to the siege of Verdun. What is less certain is that having the few thousand members of the aristocracy suit up in tin cans and slaughter each other was worse than the modern popular entertainment culture. That is the price of Democracy.

For the record I support country sports like fox hunting. I also enjoy watching Polo. Once I tried Water Polo but the horse didn't like it.

Note that 36 minutes after I preemptively ridiculed the point our latest emissary from Kos Kiddie land without a hint of irony raised the sports as sex issue. We need better fodder.

PA Cat and Bob,
Thank you.

-------
Batman,
“what kind of military will we have?”

Something on the order of the Dutch or Belgian military I would think. An inadequate general service tied down by unionization and political regulation, with a very small special forces cadre for use when the politicians need something to save their rapidly Islamifying bacon, and never to fear an augmenting "Civilian National Security Force, just as strong, just as well funded."

Thank you for the kind words.

Comment on Vladimir at Red State: "Obama Blames Folks For Things He Imagines They Would Say"

Obama Blames Folks For Things He Imagines They Would Say | RedState

All in all if we had to have a Marxists we would be better off governed by the genuine article, Groucho. Obama does not channel Spock in anticipating, the correct term is exhibiting prejudice, how others will react. His role model is really Rufus T. Firefly.

It is unfortunate that Dr Sanity is no longer blogging. We should be asking for trained professionals to analyze this. Just how crazy is Barack Obama?

Simple Gifts

(fm the BC thread "The Singer Not the Song")

blert,
At least with the Shakers we got the circular saw and good furniture

And music

'Tis the gift to be simple, Its a gift to be free,
'Tis the gift to come down where you ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
Will be in the valley of love and delight.

When true simplicity is gained,
To bow and to bend, we will not be ashamed,
To turn, turn, will be our delight,
Till by turning, turning we come round right

Note that Jewel misreads the verse, substituting "a gift to be simple." In doing so she obscures the heart of the message. The United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing knew what they were saying. When Elder Joseph Brackett wrote "the gift to be simple" he was I think stressing how through simplicity, attained through labor, worship, and celibacy, people can approach the unity and perfection of the God in whose image we were made. In their focus on present perfection, as opposed to the future by procreation, the Shakers are both affirming their humanity and their position within nature that they celebrate and their special quality that comes from God's gift of the ability to approach perfection due to that special gift.

We do God's work when we know, in both the spiritual and sentient sense, the natures of Nature and of God and of Humanity. Singer is not even close to this insight. He, and other secularists, Marxists, Gaians, Wiccans and Satanists reject an external purpose to the Universe that holds a special role for human sentience, creativity and dignity. Most faiths reject the Shaker formulation and assert that when properly sanctified the act of procreation is itself another form of celebrating Creation and provides opportunities to use our intellectual and spiritual senses to better apprehend and therefor approach God's intent. In other words contemplating "What do women want?" or "Why do children act like that?" can be a form of prayer.

Comment on the Belmont Club: "The Singer Not the Song"

Belmont Club » The Singer Not the Song

Darren,
Disagree. The Thinker aspires to be a Doer. Pol Pot's mother said that his nose was never out of a book. The greatest danger is, as you imply without expanding on, when the pseudo-intellectual latches onto the formulations of the nihilist to justify the malevolent abuse of Power. Sometimes the Thinker becomes his own Demon. Guzman of the Sendero Luminoso is what less courageous or honest academic sociopaths, like Bill Ayers or I suspect Singer, aspire to be. So they suck off the good life of tenure and the NYT social set while looking for a less academically competent, but also less inhibited in their narcissistic ambition, vessel to execute the would be Puppet Master's dreams. Meet Barack Obama.

Nine-of-Diamonds,
Time wounds all Heels.

Comment on The Belmont Club » "They’re Here"

Belmont Club » They’re Here

Grant Charles credit for recognizing that much of modern architecture is rubbish. His religious views are catastrophic. His family has always been concerned over his stability. Once I was told that the relative he most closely resembled in temperament was his late great uncle called by the family David, known briefly as King Edward VIII and later as The Duke of Windsor. We know almost nothing about Charles' son Prince William, despite the relentless glare of the Press and the manufacture of mountains of spin, and it is pure speculation as to whether he might prove better. In any case we can predict that sometime within the next dozen years, possibly a little more, Queen Elizabeth will die and for some period Charles will ascend to the throne. That will mean exactly as much as it means and nothing more.

Edward was not only given to possibly unusual passions with an unsuitable woman in Mrs Simpson but may have been drawn to the National Socialists because of his perception that they had working class (Socialist) roots combined with populist (Nationalist) content. He had been profoundly affected by the suffering of Welsh Miners and one of his first acts as King was to say "Something must be done." At the time it was considered a serious challenge to the British Constitution. Almost no one trusted him, including his own family.

George III on the other hand was a man of personal virtue, the English loved him as "Farmer George," and he showed some political capability within the narrow range of the British system. His early reign was crippled by political upheavals but even they and the disastrous war of the American Revolution served to cement the role of the Monarch who reigns but does not rule over Parliament, and is therefor absolved of political disasters. Later he was crippled and succumbed to insanity, probably due to porphyria.

One of the titles associated with the Crown is "Defender of The Faith." It was originally granted to Henry VIII by Pope Leo X for his work in refuting Martin Luther. Charles has said that he would rather at his coronation be invested with the title "Defender of Faith" without any implied reference to the Church of England or Christianity.

One argument for genuine aristocrats is that they do not feel any pressure to conform to current PC fads to be cool and fit in. If you are a member of the Royal Family you do not have to give a damn about what some movie actress thinks about nuclear weapons or agricultural policy. The herd follows Charles' opinions on some things but he should feel no compunction to follow theirs. Unfortunately he may be so wrapped up in his own opinions that he just does not get what the advance of Islam threatens and how it effects common citizens within the UK or elsewhere.

Comment on the Belmont Club "The Truth Shall Drive You Nuts"

Belmont Club » The Truth Shall Drive You Nuts

Regarding the interlinked Jewish Media fantasy, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud.

Regarding William F Buckley's position on Iraq, he was suffering from clinical depression following the death of his wife and it would be most unkind to hold this against him.

Every inch of Turkey is "stolen land" by the criteria used by the Turks to criticize Israel. Much of Turkey, including much of the former Constantinople and the Aegean seacoast was cleansed of Greeks less than 100 years ago.

OT
My suggestion is that we not only ignore the Kremlin Minder and Troll, you may notice that I decline to respond to his posts and anyone who responds to our genial host's admonition for civility with a baiting attack on "Misha the Tie Eater" is a Troll, but that we do refer in our comments to "Pootie Poot the Pederast Midget" until the managers in the Lubyanka send someone more sociable to replace him.

Comment on The Belmont Club: “I didn’t want to do it”

Comment on The Belmont Club: “I didn’t want to do it”

It is a stretch but there is a thread that ties together struggling against a psychopath's defense, the fight against the Jihadis and rediscovering Jolson. The enemies, or if you subscribe to a religious view The Enemy, seek(s) control by isolating an individual, or billions of atomized individuals, so that they can control all sensory inputs. All information that could lead to independent thought is blocked. The past is progressively scrapped away. The Predator Joran Van Der Sloot isolates his victim and gets his thrill from dominating them. For a brief moment he becomes their world. A criminal like Bernard Madoff does the same thing, only they seek the victims money not their life. The contempt for the object of their exploitation is the same. Islam scrapes away all memory of a communities past, it decultures it's victims. When you remember you become a free agent capable of shaping the future.

Watch The Jazz Singer and strike a blow for Liberty.

Congruity is Not Causality

(fm the BC thread "Still Out There")

buddy larsen,
(regarding The China Syndrome)
the movie, which opened 12 days before the incident at Three Mile Island

That does one better than Casablanca, which premiered in New York on November 26, 1942. The invasion of North Africa code named Operation Torch began on November 8th.

This is like the macabre joke about Stalin being confused by time zones and sending the Czech government condolences before his agents pushed Masaryk from a window.

Comment on the Belmont Club: "The Ace of Spades"

Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small;
Though with patience he stands waiting, with exactness grinds he all
- Longfellow, tr. Von Logau

The delay that cost a girl her life is a tragedy but not a crime. The process and ritual of the law exist for a purpose. Like Sir Thomas More's forest they hedge in the power of the State. Shakespeare asked,

And what have kings, that privates have not too,
Save ceremony, save general ceremony?

(Henry V, Act IV scene 1)
The ceremony protects the innocent against arbitrary power.

The radicals cannot see the importance of ceremony. They seek ends if the means are not subservient to their power. However if the ends are inconvenient or unobtainable then they will focus on the means, as with affirmative action or a "Peace Process" since the only true goal is power devoid of any fixed, that is external to themselves, moral standard. In this they resemble the criminals for whom everything is negotiable or expendable. The criminals are always exact in their sense of grievance at any lapse on the part of their victims.

The defense says when the law is against you, argue the facts. When the facts are against you, ague the law. When both the law and the facts are against you, bang the table and shout. The ceremony and exactitude of the law drain the capacity of the guilty to turn the Temple of Justice into a circus. When a Judge fails to control the process, as with Julius Hoffman in the Chicago 7 case or Lance Ito in the OJ Simpson case we all suffer. The exactitude of the Interpol functionary is not sufficient, the agents of totalitarians are devoted to their procedures, but it is necessary to protect not only the accused but the society at large.

'We need to reconsider Gaza embargo'

'We need to reconsider Gaza embargo'

From the Jerusalem Post, Isaac Herzog who is Israel's Labor Party Welfare Minister wants to find "alternatives." The Left in Israel surrenders. Blockade is the least intrusive method of controlling a threat possible. In the meantime the concern for the kidnapped soldier Gilad Schalit creates pressure to further surrender to the demands of the terrorists.

To impose a classical allusion on the situation, the Israelis rather than casting themselves as the champions of civilization and Democracy in the region have positioned themselves as the supremely disciplined warrior elite. They are not cast as the Athenians in this drama but rather as the Spartans. By capturing Gilad Schalit the forces of Hamas have placed Israel in the emotional space of the Spartans after their defeat at Sphacteria and the capture of over 100 of their Spartiate elite almost 2,600 years ago. This problem is almost completely self inflicted and emotional. For Sparta the loss of that many would have been a severe blow. While for a nation as small as Israel each soldier is precious the real cost of one captive is less than the damage done by allowing themselves to be blackmailed.

If a democracy is incapable of enduring the pressure of a kidnapping and is incapable of maintaining the pressure of a blockade then it will have to respond to threats with more time focused and indeed more lethal measures. The situation is similar to that of the United States. Obama got into the White House partly by exploiting discomfort with the protracted incarceration of terrorists and unlawful combatants at GITMO. The left wing lawyers of the Democratic Party imposed Miranda rights and domestic constitutional rules into battlefield encounters and prisoner interrogations. For the United States the result has been that the default position is no longer to capture enemies but rather to kill them. This has even happened in the case of a US citizen. Intelligence is forgone in order to avoid the consequences of emotional exhaustion.

If Israel cannot endure having a soldier held captive then it will need to preempt the captors to bring emotional closure to the populace and to eliminate the value of the captive as a bargaining chip. The way to do that is to declare him legally dead and hold a state funeral for Gilad Schalit. Once that is done then his captors will have to either admit the Red Cross to verify his captivity under humane conditions or admit that they have killed him. Either way his value as a captive will be ended.

If the Israelis cannot endure the siege of Gaza then they will have to eliminate Gaza by expelling the population. If they break all links, allow no aid through their border crossing, allow no transit across their border, publish maps with just a gray spot rather than an acknowledged community, then Gaza will cease to be Israel's problem. Gaza was Egypt's before 1967, although the Egyptians mined the roads to prevent residents from crossing Sinai into Egypt proper. If Israel announces that they will have no contact with Gaza except to retaliate for an attack and incrementally scrub territory clean of all habitation, by dividing the land into up to 500 one hundred meter wide strips parallel to the sea that would be dealt with beginning at the strip farthest from Egypt and advancing one slice every two days if provoked, and permanently annex slices in response to provocations then and only then would Israel be freed of the self inflicted claim the inhabitants of Gaza have placed upon her.

Comment on the Belmont Club: "The Ideologue"

The problem with Obama is not that he is an ideologue. The problem is that he is a deceitful dishonest ideologue. His public pronouncements, environmental sensitivity, post-racialism, and risk free prosperity coupled with personal freedom, are completely separate from what his actual goals are. It is the need by those on the Left to operate through subterfuge to attain their goals that puts them in the emotional position of conspirators. That makes them reflexively sympathetic to other utopian conspirators, even when there is no unified plan. The sincerity of their belief in the goals sought may be real but since they know that they cannot openly proclaim their program they have to lie. From the lie it is a short step to other forms of corruption and then since the masses cannot be trusted the default relationship becomes one of treason. An honest ideologue who lays out their program, as Reagan did, terrifies the would be oligarch who relies on deceit.

Comment on the Belmont Club: "Still Out There"

Still on patrol, still faithful. We sent our best.

Patton said you win a war by making some other bastard die for his country. That is true but first you have to be willing to face the risk yourself. The willingness is all.

Today we have Americans who are willing. The Israelis are willing. They even carried paint-ball guns while repelling into a hostile crowd. Who is not willing? The leaders of the Left do not believe in what they swore to defend and the nations that elected them. They stole their offices under false pretenses and despise those who let them do it