Hillery Thinks i'm Rich

Here's a quote from Hillery Clinton's recent speech at a big time San Francisco $10,000 a plate fundraiser:

Many of you are well enough off that . . . the tax cuts may have helped you.

Imagine that. Since the tax cuts have helped me, i guess that means i'm rich. i didn't think so before now, but i'm sure happy to hear it because i didn't think i was.

Since i'm so rich, though, i was not pleased to hear about the next thing the chief Democratic wench said:

We're saying that for America to get back on track, we're probably going to cut that short [the tax cuts] and not give it to you. We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good.

To which i can only reply, in a nice way of course: "Fuck you Hillery. This ain't Communist Russia, so keep your grubby claws off my damn money!"

Link via Dodger fan, Matt.

Recommended Reading

Professor Hewitt's review of that Farenheit movie contains a few good quotable quotes. Such as:

Some on the left are proclaiming Moore to be their Limbaugh. He's not. Moore is the Democrats' David Duke, but they are putting their arm around him.

and,

If you encounter anyone speaking in tones even remotely approaching respect for the movie, you have proof positive that the speaker is a fool, not to be trusted on any point, for he or she has given testimony as to their ignorance of basic facts and of an inability to detect even elephant-sized inconsistencies in argument and story line.

see also,

Michael Moore is the latest in a long line of entrepreneurs who have proven P.T. Barnum to have been on the money when it came to the number of suckers abroad in our land. Sure he's a Jabba-sized oaf, but give him his due. He knew how to play the left's paranoia like a fiddle, and he did.

Jabba sized? LOL. i hadn't thought of it before, but Moore is quite Jabba-esque.

Of course, if anyone hasn't read the oft-linked and oft-quoted Christopher Hitchens review yet, please do so now. Lots of money quotes in that one.

Discouraging Poll

The latest poll, currently the subject of many giddy headlines in the mainstream press, can only be described as a Democratic push-poll. Look at the actual question, which most news stories will not quote verbatim:

In view of the developments since we first sent our troops to Iraq, do you think the United States made a mistake in sending troops to Iraq, or not?

The question is specifically designed to get a positive answer from undecideds.

i am not an undecided, and i don't think "the United States made a mistake"  . . . so there.

Still, the results of the poll are very discouraging to me because they show that the leftist media/adademia/entertainment alliance is beginning to sway public opinion towards weakness and capitulation. The effect of this wavering will be to encourage our enemies, increase the death toll among innocents and lengthen the war. Not only that, it will increase the likelihood of further terrorist attacks in our country and against our allies.

Only complete victory by one side or the other will end this conflict. History has shown that time and time again. Our violent islamic expansionist enemies understand this, why don't we?

Sports Headlines You'll Never See

SCREWED BY UMPIRE, VENUS GAGS ON SPREM

Betcha no sportspage editor would have the guts to do it.

A Future Upstanding Liberal

In a Sacramento Bee story about two high school girls who wrote essays about the Newdow case, and their reactions to the Supreme Court's recent ruling that wasn't really a ruling, i found the best exposition of the typical liberal approach to law i have yet seen.

The chick who wrote the winning essay in support of Newdow's position (that "under God" should be declared unconstitutional) said the following:

[M]y opinion has strengthened a lot more with looking up the different laws and legal briefs. I really look at it from how others feel. It's not really about the laws; it's about how it makes people feel living in their country. [emphasis added]

Perfect, just perfect. A future liberal if i ever saw one. God help us.

Poetry Wednesday, A Haiku

We don't have cicadas out here in California. At least i've never seen one. But i'm sympathetic to all those people back east who have had to deal with the ugly critters this year.

If you're suffering through the infestation, you may look to the words of the great haiku poet Basho for encouragement.

In the cicada's cry
No sign can foretell
How soon it must die.

Hang in there.

Update: Victor beat me to it (via Zenchick). He's also got some wild and grotesque pictures here, here and here.

Sal's Famous

Although i make a damn good California style with artichoke hearts, sun dried tomatoes and goat cheese on Boboli, when dining out i'm firmly on the side of New York style in this controversy.

Chicago-style pizza vs. New York-style. What's the difference? And what about other styles - Neapolitan, Sicilian, Californian?

Every pizza style has a devoted following. If you want to start a heated discussion, just tell a fan of New York-style that you prefer deep dish.

Where do you come down?

Agitprop

Today we took a trip down J Street for lunch at one of those eateries in the hip district of Sacramento, where the tatooed college students hang out. i happened to see a stenciled picture of President Bush that had been spraypainted on the sidewalk, with the words "bad man" underneath. i said to my co-workers, "Why is it that you never see any conservative vandalism?" The consensus was that conservatives generally try to follow the law. i replied that it's not against the law to vandalize if the ACLU is always there to get you off scott free. But they'll only do so if your message is anti-American or anti-Republican.

When i got back to the office, i happened to check out a blog that i visit less often than i should: Jen Speaks. Coincidentally Jen linked to this story about a kid who fought the liberal stranglehold on free thought at his public high school using one of the left's favorite weapons: agitprop. It's hilarious. As you can probably guess, his communist sympathizing teachers and a few "useful idiot" classmates did not take too kindly to a student who questioned their monopoly on speech.

[J]ust when we posted about 200 of our 500 signs, we heard a rustling around the corner. Upon investigating the noise, we found a fellow student tearing the signs from the wall and ripping them into shreds. We made no attempt to stop her, but she quickly abandoned her pursuit when I removed my camera from my backpack. Apparently, her being conscious of her own hypocrisy was not enough to prevent her from forcibly suppressing our dissenting point-of-view. But facing the prospect that others might be made aware of her hypocrisy, and it's cut-and-run. Typical.

It's funny to watch the lefties when their ideas are challenged using their own tactics. That "chill wind" actually blows more strongly from the left, contrary to what Tim Robins might believe.

i was so energized by the kid's story, and his chutzpa, that i think i just may return to that hip college area of town with some agitprop of my own. His five tips at the end of the article are very similar to Gandhi's protest philosophy, satyagraha.

Gee, What Religion Were Those "Insurgents?"

i find it interesting that the L.A. Times neglected to mention the religion of the "Chechen insurgents" who killed 58* people yesterday. Isn't their religion important to the story? The L.A. Times doesn't think so. But to the "insurgents" themselves, their religion is very important. In fact, if you asked them, they would probably say that their religion justifies their mass murdering tactics. (That is, assuming they didn't just kill you instead of answering your question.)

The Times also neglected to mention a certain phrase that the "insurgents" shouted as they attacked Ingushetia on their murderous rampage, shooting at passing civilian vehicles and ambulances. It just happens to be the same phrase that Nick Berg's killers repeated over and over again as they sawed his head off with a knife. But i guess the Times didn't notice that connection.

i also love the Times' headline, which emphasizes the Russian response in a curiously negative way. What exactly, i ask, is wrong with Putin's vow to destroy the terrorists?

i say go for it, Vlad!

* The New York Times, who also neglected to mention the terrorists' religion, reported 75 dead from the attacks.

No-Seeing Creed

We right wing Christians have our Nicene Creed. The left wing, contrary to popular belief, are not completely without faith. They have what i would call their "No-Seeing Creed." They refuse to see or accept what should be obvious truths. They adhere to these non-truths with a quasi-religious fervor, as Robert Alt points out in a humorous editorial. An excerpt:

We believe that there were no WMDs.

We believe that finding sarin gas is 14th page news;

We believe that if the sarin gas is old, then it really isn’t a WMD we were looking for;

We believe that it wasn’t really sarin gas;

We believe that sarin gas isn’t necessarily a WMD.

We believe that there was no terrorist connection to, or threat from, Iraq.

We believe that members of Abu Nidal in Iraq would not have committed terrorist acts if we had not invaded;

We believe that al Qaeda operative Abu Musab al-Zarqawi would not have committed terrorist acts if we had not invaded;

We believe that Saddam’s terrorist training camp at Salman Pak—complete with a Boeing 707 plane used for hijacking drills—did not exist or posed no real threat;

We believe that it was merely a coincidence that the pharmaceutical factory bombed by President Clinton in Sudan was using al Qaeda funds and a uniquely Iraqi formula to produce VX gas;

We believe that we are responsible for bringing terror on ourselves.

Link thanks to Sarah at Trying to Grok.

Dang

Dang, this is a long day.

Where Are The Tin Foil Hat Idiots This Week?

i finally got up the nerve to look at the Paul Johnson pictures today, which i found at Drink This. i don't need to reiterate the disgust and hatred that i feel towards those animals who murdered Mr. Johnson.

After i posted about Nick Berg's murder, i got a stupid troll comment, which seemed to posit the theory that he wasn't really murdered. That the video was somehow faked. i'm not quite sure why it's important for some people to believe that the terrorists didn't really behead someone, but apparently it is.

The key to that ridiculous theory was that there wasn't enough blood in the Nick Berg video. Now, after looking at the gruesome Paul Johnson photos - much worse than the Berg photos, by the way - i wonder where those tin foil hat idiots are. 'Cause there sure looked like a lot of blood in those Johnson photos.

i wonder what new theory the far-left wackos will come up with in their ever evolving effort to defend vicious brutality and murder.

Happy Father's Day

To all the fathers out there among my visitors. Have a great day!

Recommended Reading

Good stuff: "If D-Day Had Been Reported On Today."

Link thanks to Shelly.

See also: Photon Courier's "BISMARCK SUNK, BRITAIN DOOMED."

Drinking Game

Try watching HGTV and guzzling one every time someone uses the phrase: "focal point."

Locusts

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

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

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

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

May a plague of locusts descend upon them.

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

Is It Becoming Clearer Now?

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

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

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

Read My Lips

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

As the President said this morning, yet again:

This administration never said that the 9-11 attacks were orchestrated between Saddam and al-Qaeda. . . . We did say there were numerous contacts between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda, for example, Iraqi intelligence agents met with (Osama) bin Ladin, the head of al-Qaeda in Sudan.

Nobody said there was a connection in the attacks. Why would there be? Ben Ladin wanted money, training camps and protection from Hussein, but that doesn't mean Ben Ladin would have told him about the 9/11 plans. Hussein didn't need to be in the loop on that. Obviously, Al Qaeda was capable of carrying out the attack without Hussein's help.

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

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

Al Qaeda did approach Hussein.

Al Qaeda did meet with the Iraqi government.

There was an Iraqi-Al Qaeda connection.

Just not on 9/11.

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

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

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

More on topic: read DANEgerus.

Poetry Wednesday

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

God's World

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

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

Lakers Eulogy

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

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

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

Reagan Memorial Week, Final Impressions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Today Is Lyrical Wednesday

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

Begin the Beguine

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy one hundred and thirteenth birthday Cole Porter!

Fascist Lefties

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

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

ARREST THEM! SHOOT THEM!

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

Incredible WWII Escape Story

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

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

Link via Serenity.

Paying My Respects

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

Ronald W. Reagan, My Tribute

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

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

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

I want to say something to the schoolchildren of America who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle's takeoff. I know it is hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It's all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It's all part of taking a chance and expanding man's horizons. The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we'll continue to follow them.

With those words, President Reagan showed me that courage comes with its own cost. Just as he did with his address on the fortieth anniversary of D-Day, which i've heard again this weekend. And later, when i could understand with the hindsight of a history student, Ronald Reagan showed me the meaning of steadfast courage in the face of incredible opposition - when he led Democracy to victory over the forces of Communist dictatorship.

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

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

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

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

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

God Bless you, Ronald Reagan.

Recommended on topic: The Maximum Leader meets the President.

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

Ronald W. Reagan

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

Coffee Spitting Moment

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

I felt like Hilary Clinton, except without a cock. And a daughter.

Read the rest here.