'Proportionality' raises its ugly head again,

unsurprisingly from one of our politicians who voted 'present' on a resolution supporting Israel. What I'd like to bring up right now is a couple of bits from the speech one of them gave:
I recognize Israel's right to protect its citizens from the persistent and growing threat of rocket attacks. However,as an unwavering proponent of peace, and as an advocate for the rights and security of the Israeli and Palestinian people, I seriously question the proportionality of Israel's response and regretfully predict that Israel's military action will produce only short-term security gains while severely undermining the prospects of peace in the months and years ahead.
Oh, yes, the prospect of 'peace' with people who want Israel wiped off the map and every Jew on earth dead. Real promising, that is.
Despite the fact too many Israeli citizens are under great stress from Hamas rockets, these weapons do not represent an existential threat to Israel. Rather than a serious military challenge, these rockets are like a drug gang that uses drive by shootings as a tactic to terrify a neighborhood. When is the solution to this type of terror for authorities to lay waste to the neighborhood?
In a law-enforcement setting, the answer would be for
A: the cops to catch, the courts try and convict, and imprison the guilty, along with
B: the honest citizens of the neighborhood shooting the bastards when opportunity presents.
However, this ain't a LE setting, it's a freakin' WAR, you moron! Whether you consider the actions of Hamas a 'existential threat' or not, the Israelis are sick to death of various idiots like you making excuses for the terrorists and murderers. Whether you like it or not, they have the right and the duty to act to protect the people of Israel; and doing so means they have to smash Hamas. And since Hamas is a bunch of miserable swine who use 'cease-fires' as a time to launch more rockets and smuggle more weapons, and deliberately act from the middle of civilians so as to produce dead women and kids to parade on camera, that means there are going to be far too many dead kids. So deal with what Hamas is doing before you bleat and whine about the nasty Jews and their 'non-proportionate' response.

Recent weeks of Israeli air and ground assaults have resulted in nearly 800 deaths, half of these innocent civilians.
...
But after 13 days of warfare it is reported by officials in Gaza that more than 750 people are dead, of which 40 percent are women and children.
'Reported by officials in Gaza'; no chance of exaggeration or lying there, now is there?

The Bush administration has failed to successfully work for an immediate cease-fire. And this resolution fails to call for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza. What this resolution does do is allow Israel to continue its efforts to eliminate the threat of Hamas, which will only lead to further civilian deaths. With nearly 800 Gazans already dead and Israel's international image equally bloodied, there is no victory left for either side to achieve, the present battle has become a competition for biggest loser.
Israel's 'international image'? You mean that of the evil, nasty Zionist JOOOOOS! who want all the poor, 'we just want a homeland cleansed of Jews' palistinians run off or dead? The 'image' pushed that all the nasty JOOOOS! are constantly committing war crimes? That image?

And here's the kicker:
An immediate ceasefire is the only option. The current fighting must end before the foundations of the peace process are undermined any further and the prospects of a two state solution are dealt a final blow. The United States government must recapture its role as an honest broker in the Israel-Palestinian conflict and urgently commit its full energy and resources to achieving a ceasefire and sustaining its engagement to ensure the causes of the present violence - arms smuggling, rocket fire, economic blockade - are resolved.
No, Rep. McCollum(Enemy Sympathizer-D-MN), those are NOT the 'causes' of the violence; the causes of the violence are
1. Hamas & Co. want the Jews dead. All of them. Everywhere.
2. People like you give them support and space to work.
3. People like you actually seem to believe they don't mean what they say in their charter about 'all the Jews should die'; and by refusing to believe it(or pretending you don't, I don't know enough about you to guess which) you allow them to have another hudna so they can start killing Jews all over again. You can bitch and moan about 'damage to the peace process' all you want(like a lot of liberals, the 'process' seems to mean more to you than the outcome), but until Hamas & Co. change their minds and decide they can survive without killing all the Jews, there won't be peace.

Someone said that if the moslems decided they didn't need to kill the Jews and laid down their arms, there would be peace at that moment; if the Israelis decided not to fight anymore and laid down their arms, there wouldn't be a Jew alive in the region by the end of the next day or two.

And as for your whining about 'proportionality' and 'fairness',

CNN working for the other side;

They just can't seem to help themselves.
His brother's grief was never too strong to keep him from documenting his brother's death, and he will cope by burying himself in his work. Considering that he is the general manager of the company that runs web sites for Hamas while they are at war, I'm sure he is quite busy, indeed.

As for CNN, they have carried on exactly as you would expect they would as the kind of company that would hide the torture of even their own employees just to retain favorability among despots.

While they quickly dropped the video from their site after being caught in this lie, leaving what must have been an uncomfortable void where the video used to be, they did so with no explanation, no correction, and no retraction.

It must have been a very interesting meeting when decided that the best way to handle this obvious farce was to double-down and continue to pretend this story was real, replacing the fradulent video with the print script of the story read by Michael Holmes.

The story is no less fraudulent, and the cover-up is far more damning.

This, truly, is CNN.

There's a cartoon showing a palisimian kneeling behind

a stroller to shoot at an Israeli, who's kneeling in front of one. It ain't just a cartoon:
That is why we have 4 wives and many children. They are to stand in front of us so that we are able always to fight another day. If one wife is martyred, I am never lonely; if a dozen of my children protect me, I can create more - allah willing! It is our right;it is our way;it is our religion, the prophet be praised
This piece of disgusting cowardice is in comment #23, labeled 'Fighting for the Prophet'. So, for Hamas hiding behind women and children is being 'able to fight another day'. You know, one of the most basic things in most cultures is the mindset of 'women and children first' to SAVE the women and kids; first into the lifeboats and so forth. So the islamists have managed to warp that into "Women and children into danger and death first, because us brave warriors of islam have to live!"

If there's a more blatant example of real moral corruption, I don't know what it is. And we're supposed to support giving these scumbags a country. So they and their prophet(bees pee upon him) can push this attitude and 'kill the Jews' along.

Some of the other comments are kind of enlightening, too. "You Jews will be thrown out of Europe", "The Israelis are cowards"(for fighting to win, with all available weapons; how DARE they?!?) and so forth. Someone might advise the one moron that someone already tried to throw them out, those that weren't murdered or who didn't manage to escape; that's one reason for the state of Israel, and why- when the chickenshit politicians don't prevent it- they'll ALWAYS fight to win.

Nod to Sondra for pointing this out. Also this demonstration of the "Hide behind the women and kids!" principle:
The study by the Terror and Intelligence Information Center shows that when the IDF warns Arab civilians of an impending attack in their neighborhood, Hamas uses the information in order to organize the civilians into human shields in the hope of protecting the targets from the IDF’s wrath.........
What was that line, "There will be peace when the arabs love their children more than they hate Jews"...
Thanks to Denny for the illustration

Here's another view on the steadfastness and honor of Sen. Reid

(Chickenbleep-NV):
Only a week ago, Obama, Reid and other Democratic leaders were adamant that they'd block any Senate appointment made by tainted Illinois Gov. Rod "Dead Meat" Blagojevich, who has been charged with trying to sell Obama's seat to the highest bidder.

Their statements back then were stern and inflexible, invoking the honor of the Senate and how they'd never let an allegedly corrupt governor put his greasy paws on their august dignity. Those statements weren't bland. They were so tough they had hair on them. More hair than Blagojevich, even.

But today's news is that Obama, often treated by the national media as the gentle Mr. Tumnus of American politics, got privately hardball with Reid over the Tombstone issue.
And on Mr. Hopeychangeypants Lightbringer:
Obama is perfectly within his rights to try to wriggle out of an embarrassing political situation, and what could be more embarrassing for him than to have Illinois political corruption constantly on the news in Washington?

People might start asking questions, wondering how Obama could come out of a city run by the wrought-iron fists of the Daley machine but smell like the neck of a baby after a bath.

I'm still wondering.
Right along with the rest of us.

Little earlier today I heard part of The Obamessiah's speech on how 'only Government can Save the Economy.' Not one friggin' word about how Government is largely responsible for the mess in the first place, or how he's planning to loot the whole damn country in the name of buying future votes.

Michelle Malkin had some bits from a speech Sen. Coburn(Somewhat Untrustworthy-OK) made on the subject of this crap.
The reason we have a 9-percent approval rating is because we are not trusted. We are addicts. We are self-indulgent addicts over our power.

My query to the body and to the American people is, will you hold us accountable? You have to do an intervention with us, each one of us, every time we are home: Are you being a good steward with the limited dollars we have? Are you making choices that may not look good for you as a politician but are truly the best choice for the country? Are you putting yourself second and our country first? Are you acting as a statesman or are you acting as somebody who wants to get reelected?
Very nice words. The problem is, he was getting calls running something like 90- or 95-1 AGAINST voting for the Pork, Payoffs & Bribes Bailout Package, and voted for it anyway. I'm still seriously pissed about his 'reasoning': "We had to do something." And he informed me, in a response to my yelling about it, that "I am sorry if I have disappointed you with my vote. I was only doing what I thought was in the best interest for the long-term future of our country." Well, that sounds very nice, Sen. Coburn, but can you please explain to me just how this massive theft was in our best damned interest? Especially with the further theft now being demanded, and the Treasury Secretary basically telling us "Stop bothering me, peasants, you aren't smart enough to know where your money is going or what I'm doing with it!"

That booth selling rope just sounds like a better idea every damn day.

Again, anyone who makes excuses for these scumbag

offspring of a rabid dog and a syphilitic camel is a fool. At best.
Last Sunday a suicide bomber drove up to the village school, which was being used as a polling station for a local by-election, and blew himself up.

Rokhan Gul, a pupil at the school, witnessed the attack. “I saw the bomber just before the blast,” he said.

“While taking a sharp curve at the corner of the street his car slipped into a culvert and all of us helped push him out of the hole. Just 10 minutes later I heard a huge explosion and I immediately knew he was the bomber.”

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the killing. The following day Shah Durran, a Taliban commander in the neighbouring district of Swat, announced on his banned radio station: “We will even kill your children.”
Like a man once said, some people look better dead; and these will look best dead and buried with pig guts.

Not much of a football fan myself,

but after all the groaning I've heard, I appreciate these:

The Texas Highway Patrol are cracking down on speeders heading into Dallas.

For the first offense, they give you 2 Dallas Cowboy tickets.

If you get stopped a second time, they make you use them.

Q. What do you call 47 millionaires around a TV watching the Super

Bowl?

A. The Dallas Cowboys

Q. How do you keep a Dallas Cowboy out of your yard?

A. Put up a goal post.

Q. What do you call a Dallas Cowboy with a Super Bowl ring?

A. Old!

Q. What's the difference between the Dallas Cowboys and a dollar bill?

A. You can still get four quarters out of a dollar bill.

Q. How many Dallas Cowboys does it take to win a Super Bowl?

A. Nobody remembers.

Q. What do the Cowboys and a possums have in common?

A. Both play dead at home and get killed on the road!

Ref Gen. McCaffrey's AAR,

reader Workin sent me a copy of a letter he sent to some people, and gave me permission to print part of it:

There remains no doubt that the proliferation of automatic weapons have overwhelmed Mexican law enforcement and the military. In fact, the United States government has admitted that members of the Mexican military acting under the orders of narcotraficantes have made over 250 incursions in the past 12 years, far into the United States, shielding narcotics smugglers with these very same high-powered and fully-automatic assault rifles. For example, I can show you photographic documentation of Mexican military personnel well within the U.S. wielding a truck-mounted Ma Deuce (.50 caliber automatic machine gun). If the U.S. Department of Homeland Security cannot or will not act, I agree with General McCaffrey that Mexico has little hope to do so.

However, General McCaffrey's statement that 90% of automatic weapons in Mexico came from the United States is demonstrably false. Factually, these weapons cannot be, and were not, purchased from licensed US gun dealers and transported into Mexico. First, these weapons have been illegal to import since 1986, and thus their export cannot be replaced by import. Second, due to heavy demand and zero supply, these weapons are worth 10 times their value on the open and legal market as they would be on the black market. Finally, there are ZERO - repeat, ZERO - licensed dealers of automatic weapons in the state of California. As a firearms enthusiast, as well as holding a federal firearms license from the BATFE, I can state that with authority.

If General McCaffrey wishes to disagree with me on intellectual grounds, he may wish to bolster his argument by citing repeated testimony by agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives that their records of automatic weapons are so flawed that they cannot be relied upon in a court of law. However, I do not believe that would counter what I've said herein.

Covers a couple of points nicely, wouldn't you say?

Michael Bane has the final Cannon safe followup

and it's not real good.

Sen. Harry Reid(Lying Scumbag-NV) is, even for a career politician,

a sorry excuse for a man.
It wasn't that long ago that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he didn't believe General Petraeus... That Petraeus was a liar... That the war was lost.

But, that was back when Harry Reid was voting to surrender Iraq to Iran and the terrorists. Now, that it is obvious that we are winning in Iraq despite everything that Harry Reid and his party did to push defeat, Reid suddenly sees Petraeus as a genius.

Oh... And, Reid wants to take credit for the victory. He now says that Petraeus is a genius and that he agreed with genius Petraeus all along.
Ergo- Harry Reid is a genius, too!
...Pretty slick, huh?

And what are the chances of our major media's crappy excuses for reporters actually asking him about it in pointed way? Or actually pointing out this garbage? Just about zero, because they're generally as sorry an excuse for a reporter as Reid is of a man.

I regret I have to say retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey (updated)

is full of crap. The question is whether he's been snowed, or he's knowingly lying.
Mexican law enforcement authorities and soldiers face heavily armed drug gangs with high-powered military automatic weapons. Perhaps 90% of these weapons are smuggled across the US border. They are frequently purchased from licensed US gun dealers in Texas, Arizona, and California. AK-47 assault rifles are literally bought a hundred at a time and illegally brought into Mexico. Mexican authorities routinely seize BOXES of unopened automatic military weapons. The confiscation rates by Mexican law enforcement of hand grenades, RPG’s, and AK-47’s are at the level of wartime battlefield seizures. It is hard to understand the seeming indifference and incompetence of US authorities at state and Federal level to such callous disregard for a national security threat to a neighboring democratic state. We would consider it an act of warfare from a sanctuary state if we were the victim.

This is such a load of garbage it's hard to know where to start. First, there's not a firearms dealer in the country, let alone CALIFORNIA, that carries and sells those numbers of 'military automatic weapons' to private citizens. Period. Such firearms are strictly controlled, and to buy ONE you have to go through an anal exam from FBI and ATF to get the permit to pick it up from the dealer. And, they're expensive; assuming a licensed dealer could get hold of a hundred legal AK47 or AK74 rifles- the military select-fire McCaffrey is talking about- the price to buy them would be hundreds of thousands of dollars(bank alerting the feds to such a funds transfer, anyone?). AND let us not forget the buyer would have to fill out pages of federal paperwork, fingerprints and pictures and all, AND go through the background investigation BEFORE he'd be allowed to take delivery; does anyone actually believe that someone trying to buy that many automatic weapons would not get visits from the feds, who'd be digging into every word he's ever said or thing he's ever done?

Second, I've been told by FFL holders that a private citizen buying half-a-dozen plain old firearms at a time can cause ATF to call or visit wanting more information; yet we're supposed to believe that someone buying a HUNDRED AK variants at a time would not get scrutiny? Does McCaffrey not realize he's saying the ATF and FBI are so incompetent they can't notice a sale like that(if it even happened)?

Third, does anyone know of ANY firearms dealer who legally carries live hand grenades and RPGs, launchers and projectiles? Let alone sells them in numbers, let alone to just anyone who comes in waving cash?

Absolute bullshit. It's bad enough having the government of Mexico blaming us for their problems, but having McCaffrey second them on this garbage is disgusting.

Update: Uncle points out No dealer in the US can sell new automatic military weapons to anyone but the .gov and haven’t been able to since 1986. Which part I'd forgotten. So just where are all these 'military automatic weapons' supposedly being smuggled into Mexico from the US coming from?

DHS need to be renamed DHBI:

Department of Homeland Bullying and Intimidation:
While the U.S. Immigration officer named Knapp rifled through all her belongings, Aew sat quietly. She was afraid of this man, who eventually pushed a keyboard to Aew and coerced her into giving up the password to her e-mail address. Officer Knapp read through Aew's e-mails that were addressed to me, and mine to her. Aew would tell me later that she sat quietly, but “Inside I was crying.” She had been so excited to finally visit America. America, the only country ever to coerce her at the border. This is against everything I know about winning and losing the subtle wars. This is against everything I love about the United States. We are not supposed to behave like this. Aew would tell me later that she thought she would be arrested if she did not give the password.

The Government of the United States was reading the private e-mails of a U.S. citizen (me). The Department of “Homeland Security” was at work, intimidating visitors with legitimate visas. They had at least 24 hours to check her out before she landed in the United States. What kind of security is this? The Department of Homeland Security was at this moment more like the Department of Intimidation.

Like Oleg Volk once put it, Fast Food Rejects with Police Powers. And, being Federal Employees, a nasty habit of screwing with people and expecting to get away with it.

"On the DC version of Jerry Springer: Tombstone

Burris!"
Roland "Tombstone" Burris goes to Washington this week as part of the Illinois political freak show, and many of us back home will watch it and feel like cringing, at least at the beginning.

Who among us could not wince at the prospect of Tombstone standing before news cameras, his head bobbing, smiling amiably, chattering nonsensically as is his way, insisting he feels no shame. All he wants is to become a United States senator, and he kissed a tainted hand to get there.

His fellow Democrats may be ready to bar his entrance to the Senate chambers, and politicians will be ready, even eager, to play the race card again. If this happens, the man who sent Tombstone to Washington, Gov. Rod Blagojevich will glory in his opportunity to speak directly to his future jury pool.
Hehehehehe....
This has never happened to me, but watching Tombstone go to Washington must be like having all your future in-laws appear on "The Jerry Springer Show" without warning, and you're mortified and fascinated, but truly mortified, wondering if any of your colleagues are watching the antics and buffoonery as the complex rural love triangles are revealed.

But as this is the Senate of the United States, not Jerry Springer, it's much worse. And with so many bozos popping out of the clown car with the Illinois plates, as the Beltway begins to snicker and Illinois is called a laughingstock, let's just admit there is a natural cringe factor at work here.

Snork. And with a happy ending, possibly(we hope)pointing to a more-happy ending,
The leader of the speak-no-evils is the boss of Chicago, Mayor Richard Daley. Blagojevich's chief of staff, John Harris, was also charged in the federal case. Harris worked closely for Daley, at the airports and at the Police Department, and Harris has one chance: to sing.
Oh, that'd be a song that could cause all kinds of upset in the audience, couldn't it?

We know The Obama isn't 2nd Amendment-friendly

but I wonder how much attention this has gotten?
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Andy Burnham says he believes that new standards of decency need to be applied to the web. He is planning to negotiate with Barack Obama’s incoming American administration to draw up new international rules for English language websites.
So has this nanny already talked to The One and his staff, or is this a 'I want to'?

Giving film-style ratings to individual websites is one of the options being considered, he confirms. When asked directly whether age ratings could be introduced, Mr Burnham replies: “Yes, that would be an option. This is an area that is really now coming into full focus.”

ISPs, such as BT, Tiscali, AOL or Sky could also be forced to offer internet services where the only websites accessible are those deemed suitable for children.
Ah yes, 'forced'. Because "Only WE are knowledgable/smart/caring enough to decide what you and your kids can see on the internet."

“There is content that should just not be available to be viewed. That is my view. Absolutely categorical. This is not a campaign against free speech, far from it; it is simply there is a wider public interest at stake when it involves harm to other people. We have got to get better at defining where the public interest lies and being clear about it.”

Mr Burnham reveals that he is currently considering a range of new safeguards. Initially, as with copyright violations, these could be policed by internet providers. However, new laws may be threatened if the initial approach is not successful.
And the"All-Knowing Nanny-State will decide what can and cannot be viewed. But it's not censorship, oh no; that's what someone else does: with us, it's being caring overlordskeepers. Er, you know what we mean."

Mr Burnham, himself a parent of three young children, says his goal is for internet providers to offer “child-safe” web services.

“It worries me - like anybody with children,” he says. “Leaving your child for two hours completely unregulated on the internet is not something you can do. This isn’t about turning the clock back. The internet has been empowering and democratising in many ways but we haven’t yet got the stakes in the ground to help people navigate their way safely around…what can be a very, very complex and quite dangerous world.”
Tell you what, you miserable little tyrant wannabe, it's very simple: Don't Let Your Children Browse Around All By Themselves. How about that, instead of planning massive censorship by another name because you're too chickenshit to honestly say what you want to do?

And again, is this something The Lightbringer has already been discussing?

Considering the leanings of the Brit government lately, I can see it now: jihad sites with unbelievers having their heads cut off left alone out of 'cultural sensitivity' while sites protesting such are shut down. Just effing wonderful.

The Israeli PM and the head of the Palistinian Authority

are having a meeting. The PM says "You know, there's a story that Moses once undressed to bathe in the river there, and when he came out his clothes were gone. He looked around and wondered aloud "Where are my clothes?" And a bird said "The Palistian took them."

The PA weenie went red in the face and yelled "There were no palistinians there!"

The PM said "Now that we have that established..."

It appears that if you're looking for a safe, don't buy Cannon

as they seem to have problems with their 'lifetime warranty'.
On the spot...fancy that! It took multiple phone calls and emails to reach someone at Cannon — okay, it's the holiday season, so some slack is due there. When I finally reach someone, I explain that I'd be happy to pay whatever was necessary to get this repaired, plus extra shipping, as not only my guns but year-end financials, business papers, etc., were in the safe.

I was told that Cannon doesn't repair parts. Okay, I say, the leads broke off, and your site says you warranty manufacturing defects for life. Absolutely right, the gentleman said, and we'll send you a new lock.

That seemed easy enough. Will it, I ask, include instructions for resetting the combination? There was a long pause. You can't reset the combination. In fact, he says, you're going to have to hire a locksmith to drill the safe and install the new lock. That's hundreds of dollars, I said. Well, said the nice technician after explaining to me that he had had a bad day, that's just the way it is. My safe is older than 5 years, he explained, and apparently "Lifetime Customer Satisfaction" ends at 5 years. Besides, he says, his safe didn't fail; the lock failed! Kind of a specious argument, if you ask me.
Not good. At all. And the followup?
Those rollicking guys at Cannon! They sure know how to throw a good practical joke...at least, I think it's a practical joke...

That's the only way to explain the replacement "lock" they sent me.

I wonder if Cannon has any idea what they did to themselves with this?

One other thing about the "Serial-number and register the ammo

For The Children" crap:
If you cast bullets, look for one of two things:
1: You'd have to take your bullets to some central site(one per state, restricted hours, just to make it more difficult) to have your bullets numbered and recorded, or
2: "That's not allowed anymore, no uncontrolled bullet production allowed, filthy peasant!"