"As you say in English, the gloves

were off."

He was shocked by some of the scenes inside Gaza, describing whole neighbourhoods levelled. “It doesn’t look like we’ve been there a few weeks — it looks destroyed, demolished, like we were bombing it for years. You can’t imagine what damage we have done. We didn’t want any civilians to die, we do everything we can to make sure that Palestinian civilians there, the non-fighters, aren’t hurt. We tell them to leave the areas that we are fighting . . . but it’s not easy; what we are doing there is difficult work.”
...

As speculation mounted over how long Israel would continue its punishing offensive, its soldiers appeared eager to take the fight to Gaza’s densely populated towns.

The troops said they had had a taste of the traps and tricks that Hamas had laid in store for them: booby-trapped houses, tunnels intended to spirit away kidnapped soldiers, militants dressed in civilian clothing — but insisted that the operation could not claim success unless Hamas was dealt a “knockout blow” by troops combing through the urban centres.

“It will expose us to more of their traps but it must be done. We have been learning, slowly circling them and moving closer in. We have them trapped now so we can’t stop.” Reporters embedded with Israeli forces in Gaza have described them as “moving slowly but shooting readily”.

Looks like this time the Israelis decided, a while back, to finish it. No matter how much the EUnuchs and terrorist sympathizers here whine and scream.

The news makes it real easy to bitch about crooked politicians

because A: there's so many of them and B: so many are in the news right now.

We've got a nominee to head the Treasury Department who didn't pay taxes. We've got a congressman writing tax law who didn't pay taxes. We've got a Senator getting sweetheart deals on mortgages and trying to make it go away. We've got a nominee for Attorney General who helped pardon terrorists and wants to trash the 2nd Amendment(if nothing else, trying to trash a part of the Constitution you're swearing to protect and uphold ought to disqualify him).

And we've got Pelosi and Reid doing everything they can to make it all go away so the Annointed One can Ascend without any unseemly questions and noise.

Just one little meteor hitting DC a the right time...

The other day Ace linked to an article where some arabs

were saying "The Jews have gone insane". Because Israel, this time, is doing it for real. No games, no "All right, we'll take the cease-fire and hope for the best", but going in to do the job. They thought that then...
Israel is preparing to wage war against Hamas in the very heart of Gaza's crowded population centres unless the Islamic militants accept ceasefire demands swiftly and stop firing rockets over the border.

As thousands of reservists pour into Gaza to bolster Israel's forces, the Cabinet is expected to approve imminently a devastating new “third phase” of its 18-day-old offensive unless there is a last-minute diplomatic breakthrough.

Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, pledged yesterday to hit Hamas with an “iron fist” if the rockets did not cease.

“We will continue for as much time as is necessary in order to remove this threat,” he declared in a speech in Ashkelon, a town regularly hit by rockets. “We cannot be soft. It is us or them ... We will continue striking with all our might, with all our power, until there is quiet.”
Yeah, I think they mean it.
Israeli analysts say a ground war fought in the narrow streets and alleys of Gaza City and other urban centres would make the conflict to date seem tame. “The Israel Defence Forces will enter, with great force, with tens of thousands of soldiers, into the heart of the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip,” the respected commentator Alex Fishman wrote in yesterday's Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.

“There will no longer be strikes at the margins from the ground and destruction from the air. Now we are talking about armoured divisions that will not leave a single stone standing on their way into the refugee camps and into the heart of one of the most crowded cities on Earth.” Israel's minimum demands for accepting an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire are a permanent cessation of Hamas rocket attacks and internationally enforced mechanisms to guarantee that Hamas can no longer smuggle in weapons through Gaza's southern border with Egypt. Hamas wants an end to Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip with the opening of its border crossings.

The Israelis have no doubts about what this will be like: one of David Drake's characters observed that 'urban combat eats troops'. However, you reduce your losses by doing exactly what they're describing: you take fire from a building, you flatten it. Someone fires a mortar at you, you counter-battery it. Bloody, nasty, and the only thing that just might do the job.

And Hamas, unless some people with smarts gain control, will keep shooting rockets and mortars from mosques and schoolyards so they'll have more bodies to whine over on camera. What's the UN doing?
...The UN Human Rights Council yesterday voted 33-1 — with 13 Western countries abstaining — for a resolution accusing Israel of grave human rights violations and urging a fact-finding mission.
OOOOH, a fact-finding mission! That'll make Hamas & Islamic Jihad quake in their sandals, won't it?

Ok, we've got a string of law enforcement idiocy to look at

First, from that wonderful place New Orleans:
The last acts of Adolf Grimes will likely result in manipulation of fact and torquing of reality to dovetail with a preordained conclusion in a heated debate over responsibility. Adolf Grimes was shot 14 times, including 12 times in the back, according to Orleans Parish Coroner Frank Minyard. Violently killed in the streets of New Orleans while waiting on his cousin. The first homicide of 2009 in New Orleans. Gunned down by New Orleans police officers. 48 spent brass casings were recovered from the scene.
Plainclothes cops. That many shots fired. And their stories changing:
In the "Superintendent's Major Offense Log" for crimes between 6 a.m. 12.31.08 to 6 a.m. 1.1.09, an unnamed officer in car #4144 wrote in the gist for report #A00426-09 for a code 108 (officer's life in danger) that "officers approached a suspicious vehicle, the subject inside the vehicle pointed a gun at the officers. Officers fired at the subject. The subject expired on scene."

There was no mention of the subject firing a gun, only pointing it at the officers.

Then the next day in the Superintendent's Log, a "Sgt. McMullen" in car #4150 revised the early report, now saying "Officers approached a suspicious subject. The subject fired at the officers, the officers returned fire striking the subject. He expired on scene."

This time the report said the subject fired a gun.
Just bloody wonderful.

Next, Wisconsin DNR says "Do what you're told, peasant. No questions."
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has a simple, blunt message for hunters in Wisconsin: When a DNR warden asks you to give up your legal firearm, do so, plain and simple, no matter what.

What's more, that goes for all citizens, the agency has asserted. Citizens with firearms, the DNR argues, should always do exactly what law enforcement officers tell them to do, regardless of the circumstances of the situation.
Along with this crap, it seems that the way a lot of cops are dealing with there being legal open carry is to arrest anyone open-carrying for 'disorderly conduct', including
In West Allis, in August, in a scenario eerily similar to the one Lawhern outlined, West Allis police drew their weapons and arrested Bruce Krause, who was wearing a holstered legal pistol while planting trees on his own property.
Which is bullcrap. It's police playing "We don't care what the law says, do something we don't like and we'll screw you over." Here's hoping Kraus' fighting back helps stop this crap.

Colt CCO is being screwed over. Again. This is the kind of crap that happens when rights are subject to approval of/idiocy of bureaucrats who can't be bothered with anything except having their blank spaces filled in.

And finally, there's some real questions in this shooting:
According to a statement later released by Bellaire police, officers approached Tolan and Cooper under the mistaken belief that their 2004 Nissan Xterra had been stolen.

Police said an argument broke out as the officers tried to detain and question the two men, but family members said both Tolan and Cooper complied after officers ordered them, at gunpoint, to drop to the ground.

Drawn by the commotion, Tolan's parents came outside. His mother, Marian Tolan, told police she was the homeowner and that her son's car wasn't stolen, said Berg, the family's attorney. He said Sgt. Cotton grabbed the 55-year-old woman and threw her against her garage door. When her son rose slightly from the ground to protest, Cotton fired, striking him once in the abdomen, Berg said. At least two other shots missed and somehow wound up in the ceiling of the home's front porch.
That 'mistaken belief that the car was stolen' is going to need some explanation. I'm not particularly struck by the 'racial profiling' claim; that's often thrown out with no justification, so I'll hold opinion on that. This has a very 'iffy' feel to it, and I'd be interested to see the results of the investigation.

So the next attack on the 2nd Amendment begins

No, the Evil Party did not learn that attacking firearms ownership and the right to arms is a Bad Thing. Among other bad things, this piece of sh- er, legislation would

1. Require licensing for anybody that owns a gun.

2. Would require photographs and a thumbprint

3. Would require passage of a test that covers:

(A) the safe storage of firearms, particularly in the vicinity of persons who have not attained 18 years of age;

(B) the safe handling of firearms;

(C) the use of firearms in the home and the risks associated with such use;

(D) the legal responsibilities of firearms owners, including Federal, State, and local laws relating to requirements for the possession and storage of firearms, and relating to reporting requirements with respect to firearms; and

(E) any other subjects, as the Attorney General determines to be appropriate;

As the man says, that last is a wide-open door for the government to do anything, including ban anything that makes the GFWs wet their pants.

Start yelling NOW; call/write your congresscritter, and spread the word to everyone you can for THEM to yell at them.

For another dose of slimy politician

we have The Obama and Afghanistan:
President-elect Barack Obama intends to sign off on Pentagon plans to send up to 30,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, but the incoming administration does not anticipate that the Iraq-like "surge" of forces will significantly change the direction of a conflict that has steadily deteriorated over the past seven years.
Which sounds an awful lot like "I don't think we can win(just like we actually lost in Iraq but let's not talk about that) but I'll throw a bunch of troops there to keep the heat off me, so I can say I'm doing something."

I don't pretend to have the magic solution, but I do know that telling troops you're sending to the sharp end "I don't think you can actually accomplish anything, but you'll buy me time to think about it" doesn't sound like the best of ideas.

A little further on there's a bit about counting on his 'popularity in Europe' to get more EU troops; problems there are mainly two I can see:
First, it doesn't matter how many troops whoever puts in there if their government won't let them fight and kill the bad guys. Like the German spec-ops unit that closed in on the Taliban commander and let him go because their rules said "Doesn't matter that he's a murdering terrorist, if you can't arrest him alive and whole then let him go"; that's not going to help win.

Second, if he actually demands the EU/NATO countries put more troops in, I don't think he'll like what happens to his 'popularity' in Europe.

I don't like or trust Obama, but I do NOT want his actions in 'Stan to fail; hell, people, I've got family likely to wind up over there if it does(assuming they don't go there anyway). But I do not think this "I'll play at a surge, but it's not really a serious military effort" crap is a good idea. I'd imagine there's a damn good idea what would actually work, but with Obama & Co. having the contempt for military action they do, they want to play at something else. Which could get awful damn bad.

So we're supposed to believe that Rangel(Slimy Cheat-NY)

didn't know what 'income' was.
When the story first broke, Rangel claimed he didn't know what "income" meant and that his wife, Alma, handled the family's investments and tax returns. Yesterday, he cast the blame even wider: It was the resort management's "failure to provide timely and regular statements," he said, and "the cultural and language barrier" of the Dominican Republic, where his luxury condo is located.

But more interesting is the degree to which Rangel relied upon superlawyer Lanny Davis over the last week to explain the basics of the tax system the chairman oversees.
Etc. "I just didn't understand that people paying me money counted as 'income'(he clearly marked the rent received from the property as "income" on his congressional financial disclosure forms)so don't blame me! Hey, I needed a lawyer to explain it to me!"

Absolute effing bullcrap. From a clapped-out bull. We're supposed to believe this? We're supposed to believe there was never an accountant looking at all this crap he was declaring on his disclosure forms? That he 'just didn't understand'?

If you or I tried this, we'd either have already been in front of a judge entering a plea, or the IRS would have seized everything we own and started prep to auction it off. But from the head of the committee that writes tax law, we're supposed to believe this, and think "Aw, he shouldn't be held responsible"?

And Speaker Pelosi(Slimier dirtbag-CA) wants to bury it all and excuse him. Part of her 'most ethical' lies.

The shed is now further proof against high winds,

with a bunch of lead ingots spread around the edges. I had some time today and called around and found a salvage yard that had wheel weights for $.30/pound, so I bought a load. I also bought some lead pipe. After melting, fluxing, removing the wheel clips and the zinc weights(probably snuck in from some place like the People's Republic of Massachusetts)(and it's nice they float in lead) I have about 62 pounds of wheel weight metal, and 22 pounds of pure. Which translates to lots and lots of bullets down the road. Wheel weights make great rifle bullets and are also good for pistol bullets in loads you want to push velocity up on; the pure is for the muzzleloader, and you can also use it to dilute the wheel weights to soften the metal up a bit.

In further news, the fronts are about to kill me. It'll get up into the upper 50's-low 60's for a couple of days, then another cold front comes in. It was about 50 this afternoon; it'll be about 24 tonight. This has two effects that are the primary problem:
First, when the wind's out of the south it blows every allergen in Texas up here, triggering apparently allergic reactions I never had before the last couple of years, and
Second, when the cold fronts come in every joint in my lowerbody, from hips to knees, tell me about it. For that matter, sometimes they forecast it by anywhere from hours to a day or so.
As you might imagine, this sucks.

Speaking of sucking, somebody had a link to this fine example of a miserable little offspring of a STD-riddled whore warrior of islam:
A car arrived with more patients. One was a 21-year-old man with shrapnel in his left leg who demanded quick treatment. He turned out to be a militant with Islamic Jihad. He was smiling a big smile.

“Hurry, I must get back so I can keep fighting,” he told the doctors.

He was told that there were more serious cases than his, that he needed to wait. But he insisted. “We are fighting the Israelis,” he said. “When we fire we run, but they hit back so fast. We run into the houses to get away.” He continued smiling.

“Why are you so happy?” this reporter asked. “Look around you.”

A girl who looked about 18 screamed as a surgeon removed shrapnel from her leg. An elderly man was soaked in blood. A baby a few weeks old and slightly wounded looked around helplessly. A man lay with parts of his brain coming out. His family wailed at his side.

“Don’t you see that these people are hurting?” the militant was asked.

“But I am from the people, too,” he said, his smile incandescent. “They lost their loved ones as martyrs. They should be happy. I want to be a martyr, too.”
Miserable fucking sorry little excuse for a man, and with maybe one diseased brain cell left. I'd explain to him that they lost their loved ones because he and the other jihidis are shits and cowards who like to get civilians killed, but if he has enough working intelligence to understand it, he'd probably take it as a compliment. As for his compatriots, who seem to be of the same 'hide behind civilians' mindset:
He said Hamas militants next to his apartment building had fired mortar and rocket rounds. Israel fired back with force, and his apartment was hit. His wife, Albina, originally from Ukraine, and his 1-year-old son were killed.
And Hamas and the effing useless UN and the EUnuchs will wail and whine about the evil Zionists 'attacking our women and children'.

Speaking of miserable little shits(why yes, my language is deteriorating tonight), ACORN, also known as 'those vote-stealing bastards', want to restrict ammo sales. For The Children, you know.

I heard part of Bush's last press conference this morning. Before I turned it off, I heard basically the same justification for the Pork, Payoffs & Bribes Bailout Bill I got from my Rep. and Sen.(who I'm still pissed at, and I have informed them so, though in reasonably polite language: "They scared me, and I had to do something!" Which is supposed to excuse the "I believe in the free market, but-" crap. Oh, and I did make it partway through the "The Stupid Party has to be more stupidThe Republican Party has to be more 'inclusive' " before I turned it off. I give him full credit for having the balls to fight the war; that doesn't excuse this other stuff.

Hell. It's getting late, I'm tired and ache, and I'm going to bed.

Left-Speak, a useful list

brought to my attention by the Boomershoot guy. For example:
Arsenal: (reader submitted) Plural of "Firearm". An arsenal is found in a "Compound".

Assault Weapon: Firearm

Compound: The home of a firearm owner.

First Amendment: (see "Unity") Leftists acknowledge the speech clause in the "First Amendment" as critically important, but only for themselves. The religion clause grants "Progressives" the power to ban religious practices or religious symbols they find offensive (though they don't find radicalized Islam even slightly offensive). The "First Amendment" is highly flexible. For instance it does not protect "Divisiveness" in any way whatever, since "Divisiveness" is an obstacle to "Unity" and "Fairness".

Peace: The lack of meaningful opposition to socialist, Marxist, Fascist, communist or jihadist military expansionism. Example: "It's time to stand up and fight for 'Peace'". Also see "Unity".

Sniper: A person with a firearm or access to a firearm. (This term, as all others used by the Left, is entirely flexible and is used primarily to denigrate or impugn anyone who owns a gun or has a working knowledge of guns.)

Sniper Rifle: Rifle (though this can also mean any firearm).

With many others. For instance, see 'social justice' and 'victim'

Back to the vile, Jew-hating scumbags

who seem to be able to take over streets in Toronto, insult and threaten murder without the 'Human Rights Commission' doing anything about it.
When the cops told us it was too dangerous for us to stay, I grabbed the flag from the barricade, not wanting to leave it to the tender mercies of the city's furious cab drivers, terrorist supporters and welfare cheats (the Kadar family was there) assembled only a few feet away.

It is now draped rather awkwardly on a shelf above my computer.

As we left, a gang of very young masked dudes with foreign accents screamed at us second- and third- generation Canadian taxpayers, "Go home! Go home!"

One of them was holding up a Hezbolah flag and the other, a Canadian flag.

This is Toronto, 2009.

That Jewish child who is "gonna fuckin' die"? He was standing right beside me.

There are people who you can't decide about:

better dead or locked up forever?
"She was trying to watch something on television," Assistant District Attorney Amanda Calogero said. "She put the two older kids in a room, and she put the baby in the dryer" and turned it on.

During the three minutes Andre was in the dryer, he suffered skull fractures and extensive burns, Calogero said. The baby died at the scene, she said.

Smith initially told detectives that a pot of boiling water fell on the infant, Calogero said. She changed her story to say she hid Andre in the dryer as they played a game of hide-and-seek and that her son must have turned the dryer on.
...
Smith told detectives she removed clothing from the dryer, put the child in it and started the machine. Smith later removed the unresponsive baby, put the clothing back in the dryer and called her boyfriend and the baby's mother before calling authorities, according to the affidavit. Paramedics found the baby on Smith's living room floor with burns on his face, head, arms, legs and feet.
The problem is, I'm just not sure what the proper punishment would be. Aside from putting her in an industrial dryer, turning it on 'high' and locking the door.

So The Obama & Co. don't have the balls to say

what they want to do, so they're trying to find ways to talk around it. As in "We're going to lie our faces off."
David Axelrod, Obama’s chief political adviser, along with campaign media adviser Jim Margolis, are encouraging lawmakers to use the word “recovery” instead of recession and “investment” instead of “infrastructure.” Those recommendations came from focus-group research indicating that such framing would make the package more appealing to voters.
Kind of like Bill Clinton calling tax increases 'increased contributions to government'.

Reinforcing the message, Obama said yesterday the U.S. risks sinking deeper into an economic crisis without an infusion of government spending and a cut in tax rates. He urged Congress to act quickly on a stimulus package.
"Don't give them time to think, dammit, tell them we have to do it NOW! It worked for the Pork Payoff & Bribes Bailout bill!"

Obama officials are using polling data to determine how to frame the economic proposals for voters and what language should be used, Gibbs said. They want to know “how America reacts” to the president-elect’s stimulus proposals and the public’s “attitudes toward the economy,” he said.
Sondra beat me to my reaction to this crap: “Action” with torches, pitchforks, rope and trees.

It's a question, did the islamists pick up the "We're victims,

so don't blame us for what we do" crap from liberals, or the other way 'round?
In London, the police advise British Jews to review their security procedures because of potential revenge attacks. The Sun reports "fears" that "Islamic extremists" are drawing up a "hit list" of prominent Jews, including the Foreign Secretary, Amy Winehouse's record producer and the late Princess of Wales' divorce lawyer. Meanwhile, The Guardian reports that Islamic nonextremists from the British Muslim Forum, the Islamic Foundation and other impeccably respectable "moderate" groups have warned the government that the Israelis' "disproportionate force" in Gaza risks inflaming British Muslims, "reviving extremist groups," and provoking "UK terrorist attacks" – not against Amy Winehouse's record producer and other sinister members of the International Jewish Conspiracy but against targets of, ah, more general interest.
Translation: "If some of our people(allah knows we're not British) decide to kill evil Zionists or blow up buildings or something, neither they nor we are really responsible for it; it's the JOOOOS fault, you see."

Go read Steyn's whole piece. A nice listing of islamist jerkwads using Israel as an excuse to threaten, to attack, to demand "Appease us, or else!"
In Fort Lauderdale, Palestinian supporters sneer at Jews, "You need a big oven, that's what you need!"
...
In Toronto, anti-Israel demonstrators yell "You are the brothers of pigs!," and a protester complains to his interviewer that "Hitler didn't do a good job."
...
In Toulouse, a synagogue is firebombed; in Bordeaux, two kosher butchers are attacked; at the Auber RER train station, a Jewish man is savagely assaulted by 20 youths taunting, "Palestine will kill the Jews"; in Villiers-le-Bel, a Jewish schoolgirl is brutally beaten by a gang jeering, "Jews must die."
In Helsingborg, Sweden, the congregation at a synagogue takes shelter as a window is broken and burning cloths thrown in. in Odense, principal Olav Nielsen announces that he will no longer admit Jewish children to the local school after a Dane of Lebanese extraction goes to the shopping mall and shoots two men working at the Dead Sea Products store. in Brussels, a Molotov cocktail is hurled at a synagogue; in Antwerp, Netherlands, lit rags are pushed through the mail flap of a Jewish home; and, across the Channel in Britain, "youths" attempt to burn the Brondesbury Park Synagogue.

And as for the professional media we're supposed to trust,
In Paris, the state-owned TV network France-2 broadcasts film of dozens of dead Palestinians killed in an Israeli air raid on New Year's Day. The channel subsequently admits that, in fact, the footage is not from Jan. 1, 2009, but from 2005, and, while the corpses are certainly Palestinian, they were killed when a truck loaded with Hamas explosives detonated prematurely while leaving the Jabaliya refugee camp in another of those unfortunate work-related accidents to which Gaza is sadly prone. Conceding that the Palestinians supposedly killed by Israel were, alas, killed by Hamas, France-2 says the footage was broadcast "accidentally."
'Accidentally' as in "Dammit, we got caught; we'll have to admit the truth now."

Morons and enablers helping those who want them dead or enslaved. Or the order reversed. And they want to drag us down with them.

'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!"

And why the hell are we having money looted from us in taxes

to pay for NPR and bullcrap like this?
Ridley’s top "non-troversy" was Reverend Wright’s sermon clips about America deserving 9/11 and the U.S. government inventing AIDS. Ridley claimed he was only saying what the Robertsons and Falwells did:
And so on. Excuse anything from anyone crapping on this country at the same time they have their damn hands in our pockets. Miserable bastards.

Of course, we've also got movie weenies who still like to pretend Che was anything except the communist torturer and murderer he was. And media jackasses like CNN helping along.

Oh, and isn't it wonderful how those personal disarmament laws are working in Chicago?
Chicago closed out the year with 509 homicides, an increase of about 15 percent over 2007, but still among the lowest numbers in decades, according to preliminary data released by the department Thursday.
Which means close to twice as many people were murdered in Chicago(one friggin' city!) than the number of US troops killed in Iraq last year. Amazing, ain't it?

And last, isn't it wonderful how the islamist hate of Jews seems to bring people together in wanting to murder their own children by sending them out to die?

So a 'social activist' wants to do good, finds out

some of the people around him want to destroy things and hurt people, and acts to stop them. Which you'd think would generally be considered a good thing, right?
"Everyone that knew Brandon has gone through a whole range of emotions. Clearly, he's betrayed the trust of the community, and all the communities he's worked with," said Lisa Fithian, a social-justice activist who worked with Darby in Austin.

So according to a rather large subset of 'social-justice activists', if you help the cops prevent someone from firebombing people, you're 'betraying the trust'.

Allow me to say that Ms. FilthyFithian is just one more miserable little socialist who thinks her cause is so holy that they shouldn't be hampered in their means, including possible murder:
"What if there's a cop sleeping in the car?" Darby asked McKay, according to an affidavit by Christopher Langert, a special agent in the FBI's Minneapolis office. "He'll wake up," McKay allegedly replied.

McKay also told Darby, "It's worth it if an officer gets burned or maimed," the affidavit said.
Just wonderful, the people who've helped push Obama into the White House, aren't they?

Here's something very important:
Darby said he saw firsthand what happens when government fails to protect its citizens. "When I showed up in New Orleans, I was very angry at my government," he said.

But he said that while working there, he concluded that some activists seemed more intent on promoting radical agendas than helping people.(no duh, as it used to be said)

As for why he got involved with the FBI, Darby said it was because he discovered that people he knew were planning violence.

"Somebody had asked me to do something that would've resulted in hurting people, and I said no," he said. "So they started asking other people. At that point, that's when I went forward and contacted somebody in law enforcement."
I'll tell you something: I am very damn mad at my government, and some law enforcement is fully included in that. Which does not change the fact that if I heard someone planning to bomb an office or a police car, something of that sort, I'd be dropping a dime. It'd be the right thing to do. But doing that apparently makes you a traitor to the 'social justice' dirtbags*.

Which is just one more reason to dislike them.


*Yeah, some of them actually want to help people instead of blowing things up; unfortunately, I have yet to hear someone define 'social justice' without it including using the power of government to loot people and other nanny-state bullshit.

The Huffington Post sucks,

and not in a good way:
At the link, HuffPo describes Ayers as "Author and Distinguished Professor of Education and Senior University Scholar at the University of Illinois at Chicago." There is, of course, no mention of his violent Weather Underground history.
Oh, of COURSE not, can't bring that up, now can we?

Yes, WE can, you miserable suckups.

Repeat after me: this is not about crime control, this is about people

control:
Ammunition coding technology works by laser etching the back of each bullet with an alpha-numeric serial number. Then when a potential criminal purchases a box of 9mm cartridges, the box of ammunition and the bullets’ coding numbers would be connected to the purchaser in a statewide database.

Translation: "We will register every box of ammo bought by everyone, which means if you buy ammo we'll assume you own a gun of that caliber(no ammo as gifts, that's naughty) which means, except for serial numbers(that'll come later) we'll have a list of what you own."

Again: make it as expensive(think of what that'll do to the cost of ammo and bullets) and difficult and scary as possible for people to own arms, so as to scare as many as possible into giving up their arms or scare them from getting them in the first place.

And, sure as hell, the next step is "And if the serial number on a bullet cannot be read, we'll go around to everyone in the area who has bought that type of ammo and start checking their guns; who cares about that nasty 4th Amendment stuff, when this is for public safety and(you know it'll come) For The Children?"

Think of the news story a while back from the People's Republic of Maryland about their State Police(a really apt name in some cases) showing up in full ninja gear at people's homes because "You bought ammo for a type gun that we don't have you registered as owning." Think of that same crap in your neighborhood.

Just like most early anti-gun-ownership laws in this country were race or other bigotry-based, this is also a means of controlling people. Nothing more.

I touched on the Holocaust and some of the effects

earlier. If you've never seen it, or if you know someone who's fuzzy on the reality, buy/borrow/rent the disc from Band of Brothers with the episode Why We Fight(part 9, on disc 5 I believe). That covers when that unit found a small camp, and what they found. The whole set is worth watching, and I plan to buy it when I can; that one kind of haunts me.

Some years back I read something, no idea where, of an old couple who'd been rescued from one of the camps. I can't remember which one or the exact circumstances, but this one soldier remembered them seeing his name and finding out he was Jewish. They wondered at how big and strong he was, and the man said "And such a fine rifle!" Not only had they been saved, but there were Jews in the forces kicking the Nazis ass.

It may have been Joe Huffman, but somebody some time back referred to Jews as 'the canaries in the coal mine'; when they start falling over/being abused/being killed, it's time to either get out(depending where you are) or arm up because things are about to go/are going to hell. The fact that so many universities, so many 'human rights' assholes are willing to let islamists and other assorted Jew-haters get away with their crap is a very worrisome thing. And convinces me that Jews who think guns are evil and violence is always bad are either badly misled, or fools. The people they think they can make deals with adore Hitler, they think he just didn't do a good enough job of killing Jews and love the idea of building their own camps in which to play with Jews; how the hell can you think you can come to a peaceful agreement with beings like that?

Oh, yes, Burris would make an Excellent

Senator:
While state attorney general in 1992, Burris aggressively sought the death penalty for Rolando Cruz, who twice was convicted of raping and murdering a 10-year-old girl in the Chicago suburb of Naperville. The crime took place in 1983.
But by 1992, another man had confessed to the crime, and Burris’ own deputy attorney general was pleading with Burris to drop the case, then on appeal before the Illinois Supreme Court.

Burris refused. He was running for governor.

Such wonderful people come out of the Chicago machine, don't they?

I guess this is an example of why Joel Stein likes other countries

at least as much as America?

Why the Israelis will have to destroy Hamas

for any hope of peace and survival:
There are things I didn't know about Rayyan, such as that he had four wives - a fact that tells you something about the culture of Hamas - but I knew that he was sincere in his devotion to the cause of Israel's annhilation. The question I wrestle with constantly is whether Hamas is truly, theologically implacable. That is to say, whether the organization can remain true to its understanding of Islamic law and God's word and yet enter into a long-term non-aggression treaty with Israel. I tend to think not, though I've noticed over the years a certain plasticity of belief among some Hamas ideologues. Also, this is the Middle East, so anything is possible.

There was no flexibility with Rayyan. This is what he said when I asked him if he could envision a 50-year hudna (or cease-fire) with Israel: "The only reason to have a hudna is to prepare yourself for the final battle. We don't need 50 years to prepare ourselves for the final battle with Israel." There is no chance, he said, that true Islam would ever allow a Jewish state to survive in the Muslim Middle East. "Israel is an impossibility. It is an offense against God."

Pretty straightforward. They truly believe that the Jews- preferably all of them, but at least all in Israel- must be killed. Their whole belief system is based on that hate.

It also points out the uselessness of a 'truce' with these murderers; they consider a truce to be nothing but a way to gain time to better prepare to kill you.

And they like to set up ammo dumps in mosques, and use hospitals to hide in, and set up missile launchers in neighborhoods full of kids, and put people on the roof a a building they know is about to be bombed because a bunch of dead palistinians, especially kids, is almost better than dead Jews; the dead pali kids well get lots of air time and condemnation of Israel.

Wonderful people, whose word can be trusted, wouldn't you say?

Cassy Fiano ran across a wonderful example of

liberal thought; he doesn't love this country, he's 'in like' with it.

I don't have the time or patience right now to hit this as it deserves, I'll just point to one bit:
When I look at the countries like people, I love Sweden the best.
Sweden. Where the islamics with the attitude of "You are my servant, unbelieving dog, and you better act like it" have taken over cities. Where the idea of freedom of speech has been trashed in the name of "You say something that upsets the nasty immigrants and we'll put you in jail." That Sweden. I guess the 'more relaxed attitude toward sex' makes up for that. Except that that's going down the drain as the islamists take over.

Oh, and I have to put this in also:
This doesn’t mean I’m not fascinated by American history, impressed by our Constitution or don’t appreciate our optimism and entrepreneurial spirit. In fact, I love everything Hannity listed on his TV special other than Madonna. But there are plenty of things I don’t like about America: our foreign policy, our religious fundamentalism, our provincialism, our intellectual laziness, our acceptance of sweat suits in public.
Sounds like the laundry list of every 'progressive' jackass out there who thinks heaven is a socialist nanny state like most of Europe. Got news for you, bunky: you think 'religious fundamentalism' is bad here? Check out what's going on in every city where the islamists have a big say in things(usually by threats to kill anyone who argues, burning cars, and preparing to take over and kill all the Jews and anyone else who's not a proper believer in their prophet, bees pee upon him); that's fundamentalism for you.

One more friggin' moron who thinks everywhere else is better. Apparently, just because it's not here.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to visit the toilet and properly express my opinion of this clown.

The Holocaust, some of the aftermath

Some of it is still going on, right now I'm specifically thinking of when the death camps were liberated. In the comments to the previous post BobG said
I had an uncle who was in the army at the liberation of Buchenwald; he had difficulty keeping his men (he was a master sergeant) from shooting the guards out of hand when they saw what was going on. Most people that yammer about the holocaust have no idea what they are talking about.

If you haven't seen it, borrow/buy/rent the 'Band of Brothers' disc* with the episode 'Why We Fight' and watch it. It gives a pretty good idea what the troops found when they discovered some of these places.


*If you haven't, get and watch the whole series, an excellent piece of work.

I've mentioned my great-uncles didn't tell any

"What I did in the war" stories; a lot of people haven't. LindaSOG was commenting on the Holocaust Memorial in Miami Beach, and taking her grandmother there:
My Grandmother lived nearby but never went, and I took her one year. We walked along the Memorial Wall where there are names of people lost to the camps etched into the granite. When we got the end there was blank panels and she looked at me with that look that said, what is this, so I told her, you can put family names here Grandma and she said, Oh, I should put the twins, and then she turns and walks away, leaving me standing there, frozen, unable to move, with that word just banging around in my head. Twins. Twins. What twins?

Now I know she was speaking of her brother’s children, they died in the camps with him and his wife. But it took months to pry that out of her, and she died without telling me his name, or theirs. In fact, she died without telling me her name, upon her death we discovered it was something other than what we though it was.

Such sadness.

Every time some moronic BPM starts screaming about the Israeli 'holocaust' of terrorists and supporters("You put up a fence, you disgusting Jew!", etc.) I remember stories like this. Which cause me to once again tell the Israelis "DON'T STOP. Not until the job is done. Or there will be many, many more stories like this."

One last thing: a marvelous demonstration of

PC idiocy in people who despise 'breeders'; i.e., people who actually reproduce instead of dying off alone.
Parentitis is the well known if scarcely documented condition that transforms polite, environmentally-aware, socially co-operative adults into pushy bigots who, when they're not making innumerable short journeys in their 4x4s, are to be found at home amassing toxic nappy mountains, cooing noisily over waste matter and £500 pushchairs. So common as to be almost universal in so-called advanced civilisations, the condition is marked by a wholesale reconstruction of sensibility: what was once seen in terms of possibility is now marked as a threat.
So if you have kids you can't be polite, 'environmentally-aware' or play well with others. According to this moron. While I'd agree that anyone who spent that much for a stroller is an idiot, for the rest of it? Apparently seeing things in a different light, now that you've got offspring, is a Bad Thing.

The condition seems to derive from the contemplation of the beloved infant: the eyes widen, seemingly forced apart by the outward flow of that unconditional love which, as all parents' recognise, lies at the very core of being. A wonderful thing, therefore, but for that it may come at the expense of love for everything else, drawing a blanket of equally narrowed-eyed suspicion across the larger slice of reality and dividing the world sharply between the few things known to contribute to baby's well-being and anything else does not.
Ah yes, the fact that someone realizes there are things other than themselves, other lives to consider, is another Bad Thing. And this clown is now wanting to be a father. Here's one of the better things he comes up with:
People often say that parents lose their ability to judge. But this is not true. Rather, their judgement quickens: an enhanced survival instinct takes over, obliterating all other levels of consideration and temporarily closing off the more advanced operations of consciousness.
You see, actually considering protection of your kid from nasties keeps you from considering more 'advanced' things. Like getting rid of people, which he goes on a riff about. Including this:
Altruism, of course, is said to be a uniquely human quality (there are those who deny it even to be this, of course), and there is something magnificent about the thought of an entire species simply switching itself off, without violence or force of anything other than will, to make way for something more lasting. It is unthinkable within the system of nature, unless as the conscious, involuntary corollary to a process that may be occurring anyway. But the absurdity lies not in the aim, which is in many ways laudable, but in the idea that the compassionate motivation in which it originates could possibly see the project through.
A: it's not 'magnificent' to destroy yourself as a species; it's called 'losing'. It's called 'fail' in a major way. And
B: just what the hell does he consider he'd be making way for that's 'more lasting'? Spiderwebs? Birds nests?

Hell with it, he's ruining my mood. I think I've got another of those beers...

As my end-of-the-year "Bleep Off!" and hysterical laughter,

I bring you, for the first part, dhimmitude by a politician in Australia:
Conservative MP Fred Nile says he wants topless bathing banned in NSW to protect Sydney's Muslim and Asian communities.

The Reverend Nile has rejected allegations that prudishness is behind a bill he has prepared to ban nudity, including topless sunbathing, on the state's most popular beaches.

Australia's reputation as a conservative but culturally inclusive sociery was at risk of erosion by more liberal overseas visitors, he said.

"Our beaches should be a place where no one is offended, whether it's their religious or cultural views," he said.
Awww, the poor little muzzies just have no self-control, it seems:
The practice was at risk of raising the ire of Muslim men in particular, Mr Nile said.

"I don't want to have any provocations or disturbances on our public beaches," he said.
To both Mr. Nile and the poor little ever-offended muzzies: Fuck you. And the clapped-out camel you rode in on. Mr. Nile, acting to ban something that, as various people in the article say is a matter for local councils, just because you fear offending the BPMs is a nice attitude for a dhimmi, NOT for a free people. Kiss my ass, you coward. To the Muslim Men of Ire who are among the Legion of the Perpetually Offended, piss off. You moved to a country with different customs; stop expecting the whole damn country to change to suit you.

Now, to the laughter:
Hezbollah possesses a formidable arsenal of rockets and missiles that bloodied Israel during a monthlong war between them in 2006, but is constrained by its own domestic political goals and fears of Israeli retaliation.
And why would they fear that?
For its part, Israel has also been enhancing its army's capabilities. Israel's top commander on the border with Lebanon, Maj. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot, warned in October that Israel would reply with "disproportionate force" if Hezbollah attacks again, adding that any village used to fire missiles against the Jewish state will be destroyed.
Oh, those nasty Jews, actually saying "We'll defend our land."
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Hehehehe, snork. Hezbollah is forced to suffer an attack of good sense because the mean ol' Jews won't just sit there this time and suffer. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAAAA!

I shall now, still chuckling, see about that steak. No, I do not plan to hit any parties tonight; being in the middle of a crowd intent on getting drunk and stupid just doesn't have a whole lot of attraction to me, so I'll be at home. Considering the world, possibly loading some ammo, staying warm and comfortable. A Happy New Year to you all

Just some general stuff

since it's cold outside and raking leaves yesterday is taking revenge; apparently the dust is making a sneak attack on my respiratory system.

Section 8 housing and crime all too often go hand-in-hand. Back story: years ago I lived in a nice neighborhood in northwest OKC. A apartment complex about 2-3 blocks away started accepting Sec. 8 tenants, and within a few months you could not leave anything outside unless it was locked down or guarded. It continued until the owner, the place having been trashed, sold it. The new owner dumped the Sec. 8, cleaned it up, and the neighborhood fairly quickly returned to a better state.

PC Idiocy at its best. On a university, unsurprisingly. As a commenter says,
"You used extremely poor judgment by insisting on openly reading the book related to a historically and racially abhorrent subject in the presence of your black co-workers."

Jesus wept. He was "openly reading" the book. Not just reading it, but reading it flagrantly.

Hamas and the jihadis like murdering women and children; honorable men, like these Marines, stop them. Keep their families in your prayers if you're a praying type; I don't think these two need good words with God.

Mayor BombastBloomberg really is an arrogant little socialist, isn't he?
"If there's anybody who understands the pain and suffering of having the press criticize how you speak, it is me," he added.
Jeez.

Ok, so Bush can read, but he doesn't read the right stuff. You know, the books that say the war is a failure and so forth, so the other books don't really count.
It is awfully late in the day for Rove -- and, presumably, Bush -- to assert the president's intellectual bona fides. Now feeling the hot breath of history, they are dropping the good ol' boy persona and picking up the ol' bifocals one.
I've read accounts from travelers in the Wild West of cowboys reading a newspaper until it fell apart; when they ran out of papers or books, they'd read the labels on canned goods. There are stories of the man in a cattle crew who could read and had a book or two reading it at night to those not at work. I guess since they probably wouldn't have had much patience for defeatist crap, their reading wouldn't have counted either.

And of COURSE some jackass is playing the race card for the Senate seat The Obama used to plant his ass in. We already had a bunch of 'community activists' and 'community organizers' insisting the seat HAD to be filled by a black; now this blackmailer is openly threatening people if such does not happen. 'Content of their character' doesn't count with these bigots.

In think it was Ben Franklin who said "Beer is proof that God loves us, and wants us to be happy." He probably wasn't thinking of it as marinade, but I think I'm going to share a bottle of Dad's home brew with a steak for dinner tonight.

It's cold outside, but I'm warm in here