Doug...

"It is a dangerous concept that men of the armed forces must owe their primary 
allegiance to these temporary occupants of The White House, instead of to the 
country and the Constitution which they have sworn to defend." 

~~General Douglas MacArthur (1880 - 1964)

Stay safe. 

Who benefits...?

So, I'm reading this over at Brock's place and it makes me think...  (scary, I know)

Why is the media keeping the Trayvon Martin case alive for so long?  There has been no obvious miscarriage of justice.  The media and the race baiters are keeping it alive for their own selfish reasons.

There have been no charges filed, no arrest, and no trial.  There is a reason for that, at this point in time.  The evidence doesn't point to any wrongdoing.  Will an impartial investigation lead to charges against Zimmerman, or will it conclude that there was no crime committed under the laws of the state of Florida?  Now that Holder and the DOJ are involved, can there be an impartial investigation, or will a preplanned outcome prevail?

Will there be an investigation, trial, and, if found guilty, punishment, for the major media outlets that "modified" the recordings of the 911 call to fit their need?  I think it's been pretty well proven that that occurred :)  It's helping keep the fire burning.

There are a lot of threats being tossed about.  Idiots like Al Sharpton, JJJr., Louis Farrakhan, Maxine Waters, Spike Lee, NBPP, and Oprah Winfrey (Notice that all of these people are black millionaires.  What do you suppose would happen if a white person acted and spoke as incite-fully as these folks have?) are demanding that George Zimmerman be arrested, tried, convicted, and put to death.  If the law won't do it, they will.  They want their pound of flesh, whether it is deserved or not, and they will do anything to get it.  Of course, they won't do it themselves.  They will run their mouths until someone in "their" community does it for them.  The outcome is the same.  They are just as guilty as the guy who pulls the trigger, tosses the brick, or wields the knife. 

The escalation of the rhetoric from the black "leaders" can only lead to one outcome. The inciting of violence.  I wish I could say that this falls under the Law of Unintended Consequences, but it doesn't.  They know exactly what they are doing.  They can safely assume that if they continue with their hateful commentary that it will lead to racial violence.  Probably on a large scale.  Whom will that benefit?  :)

The only option they give is to arrest, try, and convict George Zimmerman.  It doesn't matter whether he is guilty or not.  There doesn't even need to be any further investigation.  They want to dispense with all the formalities and get to the execution.  The retribution.  The revenge.

Are their motives altruistic?  Hardly.  They are all self promoters.  I don't think that anyone can argue that.  They are all well versed in self-promotion.  It has made all of them rich and powerful.  Well, perhaps not powerful, but influential.  What they are doing now by demanding "justice for Trayvon" is attempting to increase their street cred.  That's all.  If things get ugly they will sit back and say "y'all shoulda listened".  They'll wash their hands of their involvement.  They are untouchable.  As untouchable as the politicians and bankers who have brought this country to the brink of financial disaster.  These people can do or say whatever they want, without fear of consequences.  I wonder why that is?

It seems that it all comes back to racism.  It benefits them to keep racism alive.  It makes them rich.  What else can one believe after watching and listening to these rich black people?

They don't want you to know who rounded up their black brothers and sisters in Africa and sold them to the slave traders all those years ago.  They don't want you to know that soooo many more of their brothers and sisters were sold into slavery to be shipped to Europe and South America than were ever brought to this country.  They'd like you to believe that slavery was unique to the United States and that white Americans caused slavery.  They want you to believe that white Americans of two and three centuries ago were evil and that white Americans are still evil today.  They don't want you to realize that slavery in the United States ended when the War Between The States ended, almost 150 years ago.  They keep racism alive by demanding special treatment for blacks in every aspect of life because their ancestor's ancestors sold their fellow blacks into slavery.  This all occured between 7 and 15 generations ago.  Slavery ended in this country 7 generations ago!  Wrap your mind around that.  They are promoting racism and strife and are actively preventing normal human discourse amongst the people of all races in this country.  We can never get to a state of racial equality in this country as long as the race baiters continue to keep racism alive.  Who does this benefit?  :)

They promote racism and then blame the racism that they create on "Whitey".  Pretty neat trick, if you can get away with it.

Why is it that blacks who have "white" friends, blacks who live in "white" neighborhoods, and blacks who have made the effort to educate themselves and make a good life for themselves are seen as outcasts.  They are seen as traitors to their race.  Tell me why?

Wouldn't the world be better off if, instead of sowing the seeds of hate and racial division, the race baiters spent their time and energy teaching their followers that there is a set of behavioral rules that must be followed to survive on your own and to achieve success in this world?  If the race baiters would teach their followers that everything given to you comes with a price?  Personally, I don't think that the race baiters care about these things.  I think they care about getting richer and more influential.  I think they like the power and I think that the people that they are keeping in chains are an easy target for them.

Anyway...

What does the media gain from all of this?  They get ringside seats to the big show.  They get to choose whom to interview from the sidelines to get the message that they want to convey out to the people.  They get to sell advertising between scenes of death and mayhem.  They will make lots and lots of money.   They are the whores to the political class.  That's another story for another time.

What?  You thought that they reported only the truth and only for the good of the people?   That there is nothing in it for them other than the satisfaction of sharing the truth?  That they are motivated by some altruistic ideal?  Kinda like politicians?

I'm currently reading "Injustice: Exposing The Racial Agenda Of The obama Justice Department" by J. Christian Adams.  Mr. Adams was an attorney in the Voting Rights section of the obama Justice Department.

Let me quote a few lines from the Introduction of this book:

"For much of his life, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. carried around something peculiar.  While most people carry cash, family photos, and credit cards in their wallets, Holder revealed to a reporter in 1996 that he keeps with him an old clipping of a quote from Harlem preacher Reverend Samuel D. Proctor.  Holder put the clipping in his wallet in 1971, when he was studying history at Columbia University, and kept it in wallet after wallet over the ensuing decades.

What were Proctor's words that Holder found so compelling?
 
Blackness is another issue entirely apart from class in America.   No matter how affluent, educated and mobile (a black person) becomes, his race defines him more particularly than anything else.  Black people have a common cause that requires attending to, and this cause does not allow for the rigid class separation that is the luxury of American whites.  There is a sense that every black man is as far from liberation as the weakest one if his weakness is attributable to racial injustice.

When asked to explain the passage, Holder replied, "It really says that ... I am not the tall U.S. Attorney, I am not the thin United States Attorney, I am the black United States attorney.  And he was saying that no matter how successful you are, there's a common cause that bonds the black United States attorney with the black criminal or the black doctor or the black homeless person."

Has anyone ever asked Holder what exactly is the "common cause" that binds the black attorney general and the black criminal?  More important, what should the black attorney general do about this common cause?  Should the black criminal feel empathy for the black attorney general, or more likely, do the favors flow in one direction?

Holder's explanation of Proctor's quote offers some key insights into our attorney general's worldview.  First, being "more particular" than anything else, skin color limits and defines Americans-in other words, race comes first for Holder. Second, despite Americans' widespread belief in trans-racial principles such as individual liberty and equal protection, blacks are expected to show solidarity with other blacks.  And third, black law enforcement officers are expected to show this solidarity with their racial compatriots, including black criminals."

You can read more of the Introduction over at Amazon.com.

And then there is barack obama who believes the Critical Race Theory teachings of his professor, the late Dr. Derrick Bell.  Critical Race Theory teaches that all of the problems befalling blacks are the fault of, and attributable to, the white man.     No personal responsibility, no individual accountability.


Read more on Dr. Bell and CRT here.

Here are obama's feelings on The Constitution from a 2001 NPR interview and repeated almost verbatim during a Barbara Walters interview in October of 2008:

"If you look at the victories and failures of the civil rights movement and its litigation strategy in the court. I think where it succeeded was to invest formal rights in previously dispossessed people, so that now I would have the right to vote. I would now be able to sit at the lunch counter and order as long as I could pay for it I’d be o.k. But, the Supreme Court never ventured into the issues of redistribution of wealth, and of more basic issues such as political and economic justice in society. To that extent, as radical as I think people try to characterize the Warren Court, it wasn’t that radical. It didn’t break free from the essential constraints that were placed by the founding fathers in the Constitution, at least as its been interpreted and Warren Court interpreted in the same way, that generally the Constitution is a charter of negative liberties. Says what the states can’t do to you. Says what the Federal government can’t do to you, but doesn’t say what the Federal government or State government must do on your behalf, and that hasn’t shifted and one of the, I think, tragedies of the civil rights movement was, um, because the civil rights movement became so court focused I think there was a tendency to lose track of the political and community organizing and activities on the ground that are able to put together the actual coalition of powers through which you bring about redistributive change. In some ways we still suffer from that."




Anyway...  The Trayvon thing is a distraction. 

You may want to stop by and wish Ken and Miss Lisa the best on the happy occasion of their marriage.

Link here.



Stay safe.

The Infantryman's Arrogance...

From David P. in S.C.

Thank you for sharing, my friend...

http://knottiesniche.com/2011/11/16/the-infantrymens-arrogance/

Infantrymen have a pride and arrogance that most Americans don’t understand and don’t like. Even soldiers who aren’t infantrymen don’t understand. The pride doesn’t exist because we have a job that’s physically impressive. It certainly doesn’t exist because it takes a higher level of intelligence to perform our duties. It’s sad and I hate to admit it, but any college student or high school grad can physically do what we do. It’s not THAT demanding and doesn’t take a physical anomaly. Nobody will ever be able to compare us to professional athletes or fitness models. And it doesn’t take a very high IQ to read off serial numbers, pack bags according to a packing list, or know that incoming bullets have the right of way.

The pride of the infantryman comes not from knowing that he’s doing a job that others can’t, but that he’s doing a job that others simply won’t. Many infantrymen haven’t seen a lot of combat. While that may sound ideal to the civilian or non-infantry soldier, it pains the grunt. We signed up to spit in the face of danger. To walk the line between life and death and live to do it again – or not. To come to terms with our own mortality and let others try to take our life instead of yours. We have raised our hands and said, “Take me, America. I am willing to kill for you. I am willing to sacrifice my limbs for you. I will come back to America scarred and disfigured for you. I will be the first to die for you.”

That’s why the infantryman carries himself with pride and arrogance. He’s aware that America has lost respect for him. To many he’s a bloodthirsty animal. To others he’s too uneducated and stupid to get a regular job or go to college. Only he knows the truth. While there are few in America who claim to have respect for him, the infantryman returns from war with less fanfare than a first down in a high school football game. Yes, people hang up their “Support Our Troops” ribbons and on occasion thank us for our service. But in their eyes the infantryman can detect pity and shame; not respect. Consider this: How excited would you be to meet the average infantryman? Now compare that with how excited you’d be to meet a famous actor or professional sports player and you will find that you, too, are guilty of placing the wrong people on a pedestal. You wouldn’t be able to tell me how many soldiers died in the war last month, but you’d damn sure be able to tell me if one of the actors from Twilight died.

Yet the infantryman doesn’t complain about that. He continues to do his job; to volunteer his life for you, all while being paid less in four years than Tom Brady makes in one game.
It’s a job most Americans don’t understand, don’t envy, and don’t respect. That is why we have pride for the infantry.

Stay safe.

Insanity...

Someone much wiser than I am once said that the definition of insanity was performing the same act over and over again expecting a different result.  (Albert Einstein)

Watching the Martin/Zimmerman circus reminds me of this insanity.

The evidence appears to be accumulating in support of the claim of self defense by George Zimmerman.  In spite of this fact the Liberals and race baiters scream louder and louder that Travon was the definitive Choir Boy.  Good to the core.  The victim of a racist white man.  Yes, some are still calling Zimmerman a white man.  obama called himself a man of mixed race, a mutt, until he was elected to his current office.  Now he's black.  All black, all the time.  See how that works? 

Liberal politicians, professional race baiters, people too stupid to think for themselves and people who should know better are all jumping on the "Travon was murdered by a racist" bandwagon.  The evidence does not appear to support their contention. 

I wasn't there.  I don't know what happened that fateful night.    Neither do you and neither do the Liberals who are shouting the loudest so that they can be heard over the voice of reason.

America today.

It's a distraction.  Something being used to draw your attention from the things that are really going on.

Pay attention.

Stay safe.

So...

Huffpost says the Trayvon situation may not be what it seems.  The rest of the MSM will follow suit.  They have to.  :)

Perhaps obama and Louis and The Reverands should get on the news again now and change their tune to try to calm people down rather than fan the flames of racism.  Any violence that occurs over this situation can be laid directly at their feet.  Perhaps they should try the truth.  At least try Due Process.

Read it all here.

MSM, black activists, obama...  You better start putting the fires out right now.  Admit that you were wrong.  Admit that you lied.  Man up, folks.

Stay safe.

"Acted like a Thug..."

Things are heating up...

From HuffPost:

The New Orleans police department has suspended an officer under who is currently under investigation for a fatal police-involved shooting for posting that Trayvon Martin "acted like a thug" and deserved to "die like one" in a comment on a news website.
The comment appeared on Sunday night beneath a news article about a rally for Martin. When another commenter called the posting Griroir's comment racist, Giroir replied that "Eddie come on down to our town with a 'Hoodie' and you can join Martin in HELL and talk about your racist stories!:-P," according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

Read the rest here. 

How do you 'spose  this whole thing is going to end?  It doesn't look good, eh?  :)

Stay safe.

When in the Course of Human Events...

Resolved, that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved. ~~ John Adams  May 15, 1776

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

 We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
 
Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

 Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

 We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.  ~~ Adopted by Congress July 4th, 1776

Think about it.

Stay safe.

Financial Armageddon....

The Sun Also Sets

 By Mark Steyn

National Review Online

I was in Australia earlier this month and there, as elsewhere on my recent travels, the consensus among the politicians I met (at least in private) was that Washington lacked the will for meaningful course correction, and that, therefore, the trick was to ensure that, when the behemoth goes over the cliff, you’re not dragged down with it. It is faintly surreal to be sitting in paneled offices lined by formal portraits listening to eminent persons who assume the collapse of the dominant global power is a fait accompli. “I don’t feel America is quite a First World country anymore,” a robustly pro-American Aussie told me, with a sigh of regret.

Well, what does some rinky-dink ’roo-infested didgeridoo mill on the other side of the planet know about anything? Fair enough. But Australia was the only major Western nation not to go into recession after 2008. And in the last decade the U.S. dollar has fallen by half against the Oz buck: That’s to say, in 2002, one greenback bought you a buck-ninety Down Under; now it buys you 95 cents. More of that a bit later.

Read the rest here.

The economy has been talked about here in the Blogosphere since Bush II.  obama has gone crazy with the debt and the spending.  No other administration in history has spent as much as obama has, either in total dollars or as a percent of the economy.  The addition of 6 trillion dollars in debt in 3 years and 2 months defies the ability of the mind to comprehend it.  The debt is approximately 66% greater now than it was when obama took office.  That is an undeniable fact.  Talk to his supporters, the beneficiaries of his largesse, and they will put a positive spin on it.  They believe their spin. 

Never before has an entire Congress, an entire government, no...  an entire people sat back and watched an economy collapse around them and not raise a finger to stop it. 

There is only one way that this can be stopped.  One way.  That is for the government to take over and control every single aspect of our economy.  EVERY ASPECT.  Think about what that means.  Wrap your little brain around that, if you can...  THE GOVERNMENT WILL TAKE OVER EVERY SINGLE ASPECT OF THE ECONOMY.  Capitalism is on her deathbed.  Free enterprise will disappear.

This has been the goal of obama and his Liberal cronies from the very beginning.  To collapse the American economy so totally and so completely that there is only one way out.  The current administration is now waiting for "the people" to ask obama to save us.  They are waiting for the people to demand that the government take over the entire economy.  Everything about it.  No more private enterprise.  We are at that point.  Our government owes more than the entire economy creates.

The people will make that demand.  Soon obama will present himself as the only one who can save us.  Soon the people will turn their lives over to the Collective. Soon we will end the dog and pony show that's currently taking place amongst the politicians and their parties.  It doesn't matter if the Ds or if the Rs are in power.  The end goal is the same.  All in the guise of saving us from ourselves.  We aren't smart enough to take care of ourselves.  We need our Rulers to make the hard decisions for us.  Look around you and see all of the Useful Idiots who gave them the power to do what is being done today.  In any group of 10 people in this country today, 5 are looking forward to this happening.  Most of those same 5 take more than they produce.  "Equality" is the professed goal.  Everyone will have the same.  Well, everyone other than the Elites and the Apparatchiks.  They are "a little more equal" than the rest of us.

Sounds like fiction, eh?

The election is less than 8 months away.  Will it happen?


Any relatively intelligent junior high school student can figure out that Amerika is coming to an end.  Politicians  continue to take more than we have and to spend more than they have.   They know what they're doing.  They know exactly what they're doing.  They know that they have destroyed America.  The end is just around the corner.  America and the industrialized world are beyond repair.  They were supposed to be destroyed.  They have to be destroyed in order to create the "One World Economy and One World Government".   There is no other way.

The people who support obama (and those like him) look forward to the the collapse of Capitalism.  They think that there is a better world on the other side.  :)  It ain't happenin', bay-bay.... 

Not only have they been taught the Marxist mantra, they believe it.  It's their religion.  A religion without hope.

I hate to be such a "downer".  I hope I'm just not seeing clearly and that I am totally wrong.

Stay safe

Theory of "DUH"...

Stay safe.

Defiling graves...

 From David P. in S.C.

Radical Muslims Defile World War II Graves, Demand Religious Tolerance

 Read it here...

As always, read the comments.

"The quickest way to enslave a nation is to deny its citizens their history.  Our schools are doing their best to revise our historical beginnings.  God help us." ~~Greg Squires

Stay safe.

 

Gun rights...

Stay safe.

How it works...

Stay safe.

Economy...

Stay safe.

The Fearful Master...

From David P. in S.C.

Verbatim Post.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/mar/16/pruden-a-curious-experiment-in-gun-control-in-afgh/

PRUDEN: A curious experiment in gun control in Afghanistan

This is not your daddy’s Marine Corps. Or maybe it’s just not your daddy’s general. More likely, it’s just not your daddy’s commander in chief.

Nothing but a direct order from the White House could have persuaded Maj. Gen. Mark Gurganus, the senior Marine in Afghanistan, to disarm his men on the battlefield, even for an audience with Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta.

The general tried to make the best of his sticky wicket, as our British cousins (some of whom were in the audience, disarmed as well) might say. “You’ve got one of the most important people in the world in the room,” the general said of the visiting defense chief. He said he wanted the Marines to look just like their Afghan partners. “This is not a big deal.”

Saying that only emphasizes how very big a deal it really is. Marines are never parted from their weapons, whether they’re on their way to the latrine, the mess tent, or to look up the chaplain. The luckless sergeant assigned to execute the general’s order told the incredulous troops that “something had come to light” and it was everybody outside to stack their automatic rifles and 9mm pistols.

Was caution driven by fear that someone might take a shot at Mr. Panetta? Did someone think that “armed Marines” — the mere term is a redundancy — would embarrass the dozen or so Afghan troops who arrived at the session unarmed? (It’s impolite to guess why they were unarmed.) Unregistered guns frighten folks like Mr. Panetta, and he had suffered through a semi-scary arrival earlier when an Afghan in a pickup truck broke through a security line and screeched to a halt up close and personal.

The sergeant who instructed the Marines to lay down their arms couldn’t say exactly who the cowardly lion in the senior ranks might be. “Somebody got itchy, that’s all I’ve got to say. Somebody got itchy. We just adjust.”

Mr. Panetta, who was briefly a shavetail Army lieutenant himself many wars ago, gave the usual VIP remarks to the troops, all about who’s challenging whom in “the hell of war itself.” Everybody applauded politely and nobody took a shot at him, even with a spitball.

Mr. Panetta was on a fool’s errand to Afghanistan, to apologize on behalf of President Obama for the ninth, 12th and 17th time for the massacre of Afghan women and children by an American soldier. The soldier was invariably referred to by everyone, including the correspondents and their editors who ought to know better, as the “alleged” shooter even though he turned himself in with a confession. Nobody is brave enough to speak in simple and unadorned declarative sentences.

Neither was there anything any president could say to erase the sadness and madness of the soldier, removed to Kuwait to await a proper military court-martial. It was right and proper for the president to try, even though excessive apology suggests insincerity. Brief is always better.

The aftermath of the massacre was entirely predictable. The usual riots erupted as the rite of Muslim mourning. What passes for a government in Kabul stoked the outrage and the Afghans began killing each other with roadside bombs at once to demonstrate the profundity of their grief. Keeping score of madness in the Middle East is a full-time job.

President Obama got an early reply to his apologies and good-faith efforts to explain how the massacre happened. There is universal Afghan scoffing at the story that one soldier acted alone. Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, told Mr. Panetta that “the Afghan people” had lost their “trust” in the “international forces” and suggested that bug-out time is at close at hand. This would enable “the Afghan people” to get back to their mutually assured destruction without fear of further interruption. The Taliban, which has been talking to the Americans about a “negotiated settlement,” dispatched an email message to President Obama to get lost, and take the dead horse he rode in on with him. The Taliban office in Qatar, opened to enable the talks, would be closed because of the president’s “ever-changing position” on “peace” talks.

The Taliban position on peace is clear and unchanging; it would behead Americans wherever it found them. So much for diplomacy. Mr. Panetta is back in Washington, the brave experiment with gun control is over and their weapons were returned to the Marines. It’s not yet clear if the bullets were returned, too.

• Wesley Pruden is editor emeritus of The Washington Times.

Disarming United States Marines in a combat zone.  Sounds to me like someone is a chickenshit.  The upside of this is that probably none of those Marines have much respect for the chickenshit.  Or his boss, for that matter.

"Judge me by the people with whom I surround myself"

Believe me, bubba...  We do.

Stay Safe.

U.S. Jihadist fears for his life...

So Sad: U.S. Jihadist in Somalia Fears For His Life

Comments   0

Via AFP:

A US-born Islamist fighter viewed as a key foreign leader within Somalia’s Shebab militia allied with Al-Qaeda says he fears his life is now in danger from fellow extremists. Omar Hamami — better known as Abu Mansoor al-Amriki — gave the warning in an undated video posted on several Somali websites and YouTube Saturday. “To whomever it may reach from the Muslims, from Abu Mansoor al-Amriki, I record this message today because I feel that my life may be endangered by Harakat Shebab al-Mujahideen due to some differences that occurred between us regarding matters of the Shariah (Islamic law) and matters of the strategy,” he said, speaking in English. . .

I guess he didn’t fully read the recruiting brochure. . . — Greg Pollowitz

Stay safe. 

Subsidies...

Verbatim Post.

By KEN THOMAS
Associated Press
WASHINGTON

President Barack Obama is calling anew on Congress to end tax subsidies for the oil and gas industry, saying the nation needs to develop alternative sources of energy in the face of rising gasoline prices.

Obama said Saturday in his weekly radio and Internet address that he expected Congress to consider in the next few weeks halting $4 billion in tax subsidies, something he hasn't been able to get through Congress throughout his presidency. He said the vote would put lawmakers on record on whether they "stand up for oil companies" or "stand up for the American people."

"They can either place their bets on a fossil fuel from the last century or they can place their bets on America's future," Obama said.

Industry officials and many Republicans in Congress have argued that cutting the tax breaks would lead to higher fuel prices, raising costs on oil companies and affecting their investments in exploration and production. The measure is considered a long shot in Congress, given that Obama couldn't end the subsidies when Democrats controlled Congress earlier in his term.

Republican presidential candidates have accused Obama of delaying drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico and in a national wildlife refuge in Alaska and faulted him for not advancing the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada to Texas Gulf Coast refineries. They have also criticized policies pursued by the Environmental Protection Agency as inhibiting energy development.

Obama said there is no quick fix to high gas prices, which climbed to $3.83 on Friday according to AAA, but he pushed back against critics who say he is opposed to more drilling. He said the U.S. is producing more oil than at any time in the past eight years and has quadrupled the number of operating oil rigs.

"If we're truly going to make sure we're not at the mercy of spikes in gas prices every year, the answer isn't just to drill more _ because we're already drilling more," Obama said. He said his administration was trying to develop wind and solar power, biofuels and usher in more fuel-efficient vehicles to make the nation less dependent on oil.

In the weekly Republican address, Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., said his constituents have been hard hit by an increase in gasoline prices and were "fed up with the way the president is handling this issue, and rightfully so. The most forceful thing the president has done about high gas prices is try to explain that he's against them."

Gardner said the $800 billion stimulus spending sought by Obama promoted energy companies that went bankrupt, wasting taxpayer money.

"After spending money we don't have on what won't work _ and overregulating what would _ is it any wonder gas prices have more than doubled on the president's watch? Make no mistake, high gas prices are a symptom of his failed `stimulus' policies," Gardner said.

Obama is expected to keep up a drumbeat on energy this week, traveling to four states over two days to push his administration's "all of the above" energy strategy. The trip includes stops in Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Ohio.


So....

Subsidies are a touchy item.  Take away the subsidies and taxes should go down, right?  Wrong.

Take away subsidies and prices go up.  Some go up to the point that the item or product being subsidized is no longer affordable to the average person.  Milk.  Grain.  Oil.

People still have to eat.  And drive.

Your taxes won't go down.  They will be redirected to the same place they are being redirected to today.   That would be to the 47% who currently pay no Federal income taxes.  It will go in larger volume to those who collect their "unearned entitlements".

You and me?  We'd pay the $8 for a gallon of gasoline.  Or for a gallon of milk.  Along with the $10 for a pound of ground beef.  How much do you think food prices would go up if subsidies were cut?  How about the cost of transporting that food to your local grocery?  Everything that we consume today in this country, in this world, is transported by truck or some other conveyance that burns an oil product.

Changing to biodiesel or electric doesn't minimize the need for fuel.  It simply makes it more expensive.  Like wind power.  A wind generator is very expensive.  I believe that the life expectancy of a wind generator is about 10 years.  The same as the payback time.  While wind generators are being erected all around the midwest, they are being abandoned elsewhere in the country.  Not cost effective.  Seems like that old definition of insanity...  "Doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result".  Perhaps that's a subsidy that should go away?

It's disingenuous for our government to tell us that budgets will be decreased if subsidies are cut.  It's just another lie.  They will still collect and spend that money.  And more.  It will still go to "unearned entitlements".  It's easier than putting those people who are long term recipients of said entitlements to work.

I realize that this is an oversimplification of the issue. Not everything needs to be so complicated.

Stay safe.

Heinlein...

"There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay
for what he does not want merely because you think
it would be good for him."
-- Robert Heinlein

Stay safe.

Zoomie...

Excellent artwork at Zoomie's place.  Check it out.

Let's get this party started.

Stay safe.

Youngest manchild...

St. Pattie's Day.  A few Irish Car Bombs under his belt.  I think living in Arizona has done something to his brain.  :)  (he reminds me of me)

Stay safe.

Good one...

Stay safe.