According to this in NRO Rumsfeld had it right from the very beginning. It was Tennet and Powell who totally fucked it up. Pistol tip to emailer Robert W.

Sometimes the ordinary people become great artists. I deleted this post because of gross errors. Sorry.

Michael Ledeen is at it again

Remember one of the early dicta of Machiavelli: If you are victorious, everyone will judge your methods to have been appropriate. If you lose, you're a bum.

Ledeen is blasting the "new" give ther Baathists power policy as a sell out and refers us to some Iraq blogs. Example one an Iraqi (Iraq at a glance)talking about the old line Baathist officers we are now putting in charge

they never give an ear to what the Iraqi people demand..those officers were killing the Iraqi soldiers everyday : ?give me 50000D and I?ll let you go back home for a week? ? I want you to buy ... for me and I?ll let you see your family for 3 days?,

Iraq the model has a dam good piece too

I hope that the fools who were asking us to carry Ak-47 and fight the terrorists are happy now. Some Iraqis have done that, and if nothing serious is done, others will sure join them.

Iraq etc. also lets us know what he thinks of the criminal UN coming back. Another blog called Hammorabi really sets into this scheme

Well there are two kinds of Baathists and two kinds of jobs. Those who are big members in the previous regime and some of the small members especially among the security forces are criminals in a way or another. They should not be allowed to come back until cleared by special courts. If PB and the CPA allowed it to happen without taking in consideration the victims of the mass graves and the other atrocities it will be a very big mistake which may add misery to the already miserable and very tense situation.

And that is just a taste of what he is saying and from INSIDE Iraq. On the other hand, Iraq & Iraqi's is far more optimistic due to the obvious (to him) progress. He comments about the goods available everywhere and the jobs. He says this about security

there is much difference between security situation in Baghdad and the other cities of Iraq. And it?s much better in the rest of Iraq. That?s what our friends and relatives in those cities are telling us.

And I am sure that the security situation in Iraq in general is better that many European and American cities,?? its just the people in Iraq are not familiar with such situation,

In other words from all concerned, the Media is telling everyone things are much worse than they are, including FOX.

duToit is right about holding people forever without charges. Even the Nazis were charged. Jessie James was not. Bush is wrong.

American Muslim march against terror draws fewer than 30 people. Daniel Pipes again reports. This pathetic state of affairs confirms a study done more than a year ago

* By a ratio of 67 to 33, Muslims in the United States think "America is immoral."
* About (the graph does not allow complete precision) 90 percent of Muslims favor universal health care.
* Fully 79 percent favor affirmative action for minorities.
* Asked about the job being done as president by George W. Bush, 85 percent of Muslims disapprove and a mere 4 percent approve.

Their virulent anti-Semitism is not covered. This old article can be found here. Like the man said, "Houston, we've got a problem."

FROM SOLDIER BLOGS
1. Contractors can no longer defend themselves
2. Iraq Now does a great job of pinning responsibility for the prisoner torture. A sergent in charge was a FULL TIME corrections officer in real life. This stinks

THE REALLY NEW REALLY HIP USO

I guess you file this under "Support Our Troops Ladies, But Don't Let Your Boyfriend Know." This is the purpose of the organization known as "Operation Take One For The Country", that seems to mean...well...spread your legs and take one for your country. Their mission statement is as follows

About US: 'Operation Take One For The Country' (abbreviated OTOFTC) is a movement of like-minded women (women predominantly as of right now) who have covertly organized into groups to frequent eating and drinking establishments near armed service bases where troops are preparing to ship out overseas, and take one for the country, so to speak. We are a virtual organization and have no official headquarters or charter. We believe US service men and women deserve our support and we are willing to make caring choices about making them happy.

Son of a bitch, will this be like the Colorado University sexual recruiting scandal? An emailer, Kim W., tells me her "mother??" grandmother told her of "Victory Girls" (AKA "V GIRLS") during WWII hanging out at Canteens etc. for the purpose of getting laid too. So I guess this is at least as old as the Battle of Troy. So stop picking on Ted Koppel, his grandmother was a "V" Girl If I had a TV show I'd read the names of all the old broads who got the clap screwing the soldiers during WWII.

Fellatio Friday for our troops in need? Army wives are in a quandry over this, but are generally supportive as long as they are the ones fellating. A terrific site called "An Army Wife Life" says it all. Worth a trip because there's a hell of a lot more there. She links to the "Hooker Support our Troops" site.

Pat Tillman, the Left's Designated "Dumb Jock" who graduated from college with a 3.8 GPA died as a private in the Rangers. Mudville Gazette has the rundown here. He was a hell of a man.

Daniel Pipes, as usual, makes a lot of sense

ACCOUNT WITH A MARINE POV. GET READY TO BE PISSED. WE ARE CLOSER TO VIET NAM THAN YOU MAY WANT TO KNOW

First, our guys have gone forward and hidden in buildings for as long as three weeks waiting for the "insurgents" to move up. Read this great account in a San Diego paper that caters to Marine families. Jesus, this is what war is folks. There is a terrible thing happening there, namely the politicians have taken over the war and the Marines are beginning to blame Washington for all casualties. This is what happened in Viet Nam; the political assholes called the shots, and it won't be long before our troops develop attitudes of cold hatred toward the politicians who they will blame for the deaths of their friends.

This next is from a Camp Pendelton POV, spelling errors corrected, and I've added some things in parenthesis.:

Not long after dawn's crowing roosters were silenced by Fallujah's smothering heat Wednesday, the sounds of jihad once again filled the air. Monotonous, militaristic chants rang out in Arabic from mosques throughout the northern rebel-held neighborhoods, all praising Allah and urging residents to slay the American infidels in Fallujah's dusty streets. The calls for holy war did not go unheard by Marines around the city; nor were they unheeded by insurgents. Wednesday was another day of so-called cease-fire in Fallujah. Another day that rebels tried to kill Marines with rocket-propelled grenades and rifle fire. Another day that Marine snipers picked them off, helicopters mowed them down, and jets blew them up with 500-pound bombs. Still, the insurgents kept coming.

While most Marines say they want to move on the city and finish off the rebels they believe are trapped inside, they seem acutely aware that such a decision may no longer be in the hands of military leaders. Fallujah has become the focus of America's war in Iraq, they say. And what happens in the flat river town could paint a picture of America's future in Iraq. "Even the president is thinking about Fallujah right now," said Lt. James Vanzant, a spokesman for the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment.

The Marines of that Camp Pendleton-based battalion have fought some of the fiercest battles in Fallujah over nearly a month and have held their ground about a quarter mile inside the city for more than three weeks. Its leaders say they've been ready for weeks to finish off the rebel strongholds in the tough Jolan borough along the Euphrates River. "We would all love to go in and finish the job," Vanzant said, after answering reporters' questions about the latest Marines killed and wounded in Fallujah. "But it's political now. It's not our decision to make anymore. It's way above our heads."

Far from the advertised cease-fire ---- called to give peace a chance to penetrate the hatred on both sides ---- the deadly game of cat and mouse continued along the military cordon around the city. But in the murky gray of the cease-fire and the spotlight of mainstream media coverage, the violence remained confusing and the troops' day Wednesday was another one of uncertainty, danger and simple pleasures to pass the time. Some of their friends have died or lost limbs in some of the recent battles with rebels, and most of their days are spent fighting stupefying boredom and swatting sticky black flies, but the troops on the front seemed to have made the best of their lives on Fallujah's front lines.

Rules shift like sands----Around 5:30 a.m. Wednesday, about 10 rebels attacked Marines from Fox Company in a former Iraqi Special Republican Guard compound on the northwest corner of town near the Euphrates. The Marines fought them off with machine guns and small arms until the rebels either died or broke contact. A couple of hours later, Marines in another position saw men running down nearby streets carrying AK-47 rifles. (Now get this shit) When snipers fired on them, commanders nearby questioned why they would shoot armed men in the streets of Fallujah. They were told to go review the "rules of engagement." The troops shrugged, relaxed and went back to searching for an enemy that they may ---- or may not ---- be allowed to shoot that day. (My experience: this is poison. We are this close to fucking ourselves) Now that Fallujah is a household name and the world seems to await the conflict's climax, the rules of war have such wide swings that Marines are free to bomb neighborhoods to oblivion one day, but are kept from shooting armed men running in the streets the next. It's a confusing, dangerous place, and young leaders say keeping busy is the key to staying alive and sane.

One more sandbag----Later that day, a long silence in a Marine-held home was broken by giddy laughter and rapid boot stomping on the stairs. Marines, all sweaty and smiling, rushed up to the bombed-out, second-level deck with full sandbags drooping from chiseled and tattooed forearms. Even in the soggy midday heat, they turned the drudgery of filling and hauling the heavy sandbags to their defenses into a boys' game ---- a simple competition and team effort full of laughing and taunting and encouragement. It was the kind of fraternal spirit that seems to push the Marines through the long slog of each day in the field, gets them through the dark valley of night, and helps them reach the peak of the next day together to face whatever comes next. "Laughing about it helps," said one Marine, panting after the climb. "It makes the time go by fast," another said with a sigh.

''It keeps the Marines on their toes," said Cpl. Peter Madrigal of the effort to bolster the troops' defenses on a rooftop where rebels have tried to land mortar rounds day after day. Madrigal, of Tucson, Ariz, was one of the young leaders who recently led Marines on a deadly ambush. On Wednesday, he led them in a boyish game. "We try to do something to improve things every day," he said as huge explosions sent mushroom smoke clouds climbing the sky in the east. "It helps us stay on top. We can't get complacent." On Wednesday, they had some rewards to look forward to after toil and stress: a rare hot meal and mail.

The televised offensive CNN (Communist News Network living up, or down, to its reputation)----While the daily violence along Fallujah's northern border has become the norm for the Marines here, it apparently was news to a film crew from CNN. A crew from the 24-hour cable news network arrived a couple of days ago with apparently little in the way of context to prepare them for what they would see, according to military officials. On Monday, they were on the scene to film much of an intense firefight in which a Marine was killed and American tanks brought a mosque minaret tumbling down.

GET THIS, ALL MEDIA GOT THIS WRONG And late Tuesday night, the crew captured the near-nightly visit from the Air Force AC-130 Spectre gunship as it blasted vehicles and buildings where suspected insurgents were hiding. Military officials Wednesday said the footage was played over and over during Tuesday's news reports in the states and was being billed as the much-ballyhooed "big offensive."

It was no such thing----Nearly every night, with the exception of a few quiet nights in the last week, any combination of three gunships that work around Fallujah rock the dark city with thunderous blasts. But the fury of "Slayer," as the gunships are known by the grateful troops on the ground, was apparently too much for prime-time audiences and politicians when it broadcast on international news ---- even though, in reality, it has made its presence known over Fallujah for weeks.

Military officials on Wednesday said the TV footage caused such a stir on Tuesday that even some international leaders were making statements condemning the offensive that never was. (So it's the opinion of others that's important, not winning, not the lives of our troops.)

The trouble with success----With time to contemplate during the bloody cease-fire, some military officials say they have started to rethink the Marines' aggressive posture in Fallujah and to ask themselves whether a military victory could end up a humanitarian and political disaster. "We could level the city and kill all the bad guys, but what then?" asked a key infantry officer. Others, from officers at the regimental level down to a lance corporal behind a machine gun, say they're sure they could take the town, but they question what an American military victory would mean.

They say Marines might find themselves finally controlling the rubble of a town they never really wanted, whose homeless residents could forever resent them for the death and destruction they've caused. It could inspire the next generation of insurgents, they say. Without at least the appearance of participation from an Iraqi force (just now changed), how would the new Iraqi security forces ever gain the legitimacy and moral authority they need to back a new government? Some of the trainers said earlier this week that they would need months to train the Iraqi forces to be able to fight alongside the Marines. (according to other reports, FOX, corrupt contractors are "training" the Iraqis and these contractors get paid by the day and are dragging out the "training")

Just dealing with day to day---And even if the situation in Fallujah resolves peacefully, "what's to stop them (insurgents) from coming back," said the infantry officer who did not want to be named. The officer agreed that even in a best-case scenario, the situation might just return to how it was when the Marines arrived in March ---- when they were only hit with the occasional mortar or roadside bomb. But for the guys on the ground, in the streets and on the rooftops of Fallujah who daily are fighting off rebel attacks and trying to stay somewhat in the deniable bounds of the cease-fire rules, politics seemed to mean little Wednesday. Marines from Fox Company ducked behind their doubled-up sandbag barriers when rebel mortar rounds crashed to the ground 100 yards away around sunset. They'd tweak and add to the defenses tomorrow, they said. First, let's get through the night.

Mail arrived, then hot chow. Then it was dark again and the second shift slept or read letters from home while the first shift donned helmets and flak vests and headed upstairs to their posts.

Rebels struck up the jihad tunes from local mosques and, at 9:45 p.m., the gunship "Slayer" arrived for its nightly rounds over Fallujah to enforce the cease-fire with cannon.

So there you have it: media lies and ignorance are now causing deaths. You cannot have guys killed and maimed over political decisions and media lies. This shit is closer to Viet Nam than any of us Right Wings care to know. Unless you've been there you cannot fathom the rage at the politicians that eventually takes hold.

Guess who is REALLY responsible for the Oil for Terror robbery? The good old U.S.A., this according to that kooky Kofi Anan in the Financial Times today. BLACKFIVE an outstanding site, if you haven't been there, has some detail. What I found interesting is that this icon of the Left Establishment would get a free ride if it weren't for the Right Wing Press and the web. Sample slobbering:

"When you read the reports, it looks as if the Saddam regime had nothing to do with it: [that] it was all the UN." But Mr Annan said there was "no way" the UN could have stopped illegal oil smuggling, which accounted for $5.7bn (€4.8bn, £3.2bn) of an estimated $10.1bn in illegal revenues acquired by the Iraq regime.

"We had no mandate to stop oil smuggling," Mr Annan said. "There was a maritime taskforce that was supposed to do that. They were driving the trucks through northern Iraq to Turkey. The US and the British had planes in the air. We were not there. Why is all this being dumped on the UN?"

It's a plot by George Bush and Tony Blair; you are being picked on because you are black; your son is being picked on because he is black; and the UN is a Holy Site. BTW be sure you read the letter from that colonel who escorted a body home that is on Blackfive too. Because Blackfive uses that pain in the ass MoveableType program to publish his site in tiny columns, the best way to read it is to transfer it to your word processor. BLACKFIVE also links to this site which is keeping a day to day record of this oil for food. Take a look, it seems like he's up to speed.

I just "knew" that when Ted Koppel announced that he was reading the names of all those U.S. Armed Forces members killed in Iraq it was a LEFt Wing Political stunt designed to build anger against the war and defeat President Bush. I just couldn't prove it. But good old Allah has done it. Partial

lah was greatly moved when he heard that Ted Koppel will be devoting an entire episode of "Nightline" to reading the names of American soldiers killed in Iraq. Do any of Allah's readers know if Ted did something similar for the troops killed in Afghanistan? Or in Mogadishu? Or when the mujahedeen blew up the Marine barracks in Lebanon, or when they killed 17 sailors in trying to sink the U.S.S. Cole? Or after Gulf War I

Go there and read the whole thing. BTW the picture on the right is of John Wilkes something or other.

If you haven't hit Terpsboy this week, go there because he's loaded. And be sure you hit this one. And Kim duToit has a ton of very good stuff this week too. Very very good.

For people like me who think we should just kick ass in Fallujah Wretchard has a sobering reminder of what house to house combat can be like. Never mind "we shoulda or coulda", the political decision has been made and it's his opinion that we have not surrounded Fallujah but have put a pincers on the "insurgents" and are penning them into a smaller and smaller area. Good read today. What he doesn't mention is that for Muslims, fighting to the last man standing will give the Muslim world a morale boost after the disgraceful performance of Iraqi troops in the "real" war.

KERRY TOAST??? HE'S IN THE TOASTER

Kerry! How did this meltdown come to pass? Kerry ain't a bad guy. He went to Viet Nam when tons of other chickenshits refused to go and sent others to die in their places. He's won lots of elections fair and square. He's a Lefty, but so what? How can a minor thing like a possibly questionable purple heart and tossing medals (ribbons) over the White House fence as a symbolic protest against the Viet Nam War be turning out this way? Fake a Purple Heart? Lots of guys did it so they could go home early. Lots. In other wars guys shot themselves in the foot. Before I headed overseas I saw a guy in my barracks jump off a top bunk onto one foot til he broke his fucking ankle in about four places and was crippled for life. Maybe Kerry was playing the game but at least he was actually shot by the enemy.

A campaign is like a fifteen round fight without either fighter having a one punch knockout capability. Each will presumably have that granite chin. Will be able to take blockbuster punches and come back. The rules of combat state that you never punch yourself out early because it's a fifteen rounder. Well, Kerry and all the other Democrats came out of the gate like a multi-armed mythical God lashing punch after punch upon a hapless president. The Bush hating media reported the holy assault all the way. And that fucking Bush did nothing. He let Kerry and the other Democrats hit him with every punch in the book during the primary campaign without responding one time.

The classic "rope a dope", but it was Kerry who was the dope. The elite media was once again positive that the moron in the White House was too stupid to withstand the attack. Kerry showed every punch he had. Bush showed nothing. When Bush struck back in the fourth round it was Kerry who had no answers but to throw punches Bush knew were coming. He was ready to block and counter punch. We're now only starting round six so Kerry might find a miracle new punch, but I doubt it. His wife is another bomb Bush can detonate at any time. Bush hasn't paraded pictures of the San Francesspool marchers yet. Hasn't really outed all the Left Wing web sites. Hasn't so much as touched Kerry's non existent economic policies. And higher gas taxes, the ultimate get the poor out of cars forever tax, hasn't come up either. Bush hasn't thrown one straight right hand yet.

I think it was the decision to go after Bush on his National Guard Service far beyond what was the truth that gave Bush the first big counter punch. Kerry had Bush on the ropes with that phony charge, as well as the falsehood that the economy was headed into the toilet. Bush struck back. And back. And back. Until Kerry's life SEEMS to be a tissue of lies.

As I related in earlier posts during March when I was in Florida, the Kerry attack was in full swing and the people there were very upset about the economy and everything else about Bush. I left for a week but when I returned the Bush ads had been running for six days. What a change. Those ads are terrific. He carpet bombed the state of Florida. Simple ads. Repetitive themes. Suddenly when Kerry needed to respond and attack, he could only respond. He had punched himself out. He had no positive message to give. When a notorious Bush flogging columnist for the lefty Village Voice is talking about Kerry stepping aside, you know he may have a serious problem. The New York Observer, an ultra liberal but honest paper, is also expressing some doubt about Kerry: "digressions and obfuscations"; "his morose patrician mien and robotic delivery"; when your propaganda machine turns on you it means trouble.

Some serious problems. They have to do with lying. What foreign leaders back him? Who thinks the economy is headed down when every indicator since January shows a boom in the making? He's going to create so many jobs that we will have to have two million Mexicans cross the border to fill them and who believes he will create 10 million jobs? And the medals, the ribbons, the changes in stories. And it's only April. What the hell will he look like in September when Bush actually starts punching? Denise Rich is back with a new funding conviction. And her husband Marc is in play once again too, this time over the Oil for Terror bribes (Claudia Rosett said as much on Fox tonight and has a major piece in the WSJ again today ). Hillary is suddenly a negative.(see my post) Kerry wants to turn Iraq over to the criminally corrupt UN and Bush hasn't thrown that arsenal of punches yet. BTW the latest polls show that the UN is mistrusted by 44 percent of Americans; great timing Dems.

Among those who say they will vote for President Bush this November, 18% have a favorable opinion of the UN while 66% have an unfavorable view.
Among Kerry voters, it's 59% favorable and 21% unfavorable. Those not committed to either candidate are evenly divided--39% favorable and 33% unfavorable.

It looks like we will be protected from missile attack by North Korea so Kerry will have nothing but a short left jab flailing in the breeze there about why he opposed the missile Defense shield.

How did it get to be like this? I don't know, but you just can't be a slippery liar like Clinton when you are a Kerry. And we may not ever want to see another Clinton again.

SoCal heat wave: Valley 115, LA 105.

It was so hot today that when my house caught on fire the neighbors gathered around it to cool down.....

It was so hot today my family went to Baghdad to cool off......

It was so hot today that John Kerry threw his thermometer over the White House fence......
Correction: John Kerry threw a picture of his thermometer over the fence...

I

AL JAZEERA CENTER FOLD OF THE MONTH

HILLARY FONDA STABS US IN THE BACK to the delight of the German press and World Net Daily attacks her HERE. She IS the anti-American Left, a hateful opportunist striking at this country from, where else?, Europe. Terps has a run down too.

Al-Jazeera, the Qatar-based satellite news channel, broadcast her remarks immediately in Arabic translation.

The Consumer Confidence Index from the University of Michigan is bullshit. Only fools and the media believe it. Rasmussen reports as follows with the Index down over the past two days:

Tuesday April 27, 2004--The Rasmussen Consumer Index lost another point on Tuesday to 114.0. The Index, which measures the economic confidence of American consumers on a daily basis, is up three from a week ago and up seven from a month ago. However, it is still down three points from three months ago.

People are still on the fence due to a lot of media negativity, Kerry campaigning, and the general negativity of the Left publicity machine.

Has the entire Hollywood-Big Media complex become the BBC West??? Meaning that they speak with one single Leftist voice in everything they do and say. As more and more TV shows blast Bush within the dialogue, and books that bash Bush are actually bought for big money, we might as well admit that we have a monolithic media worthy of the Politbureau and every bit as corrupt. I'm going to start monitoring movies for Left Right content to prove my point. See a movie and see the Left.

PAT TILLMAN AND AYN RAND

Bill Quick's site has conjured up a long discussion about Ayn Rand, the philosopher/novelist of the late 40s through early 50's. She wrote "The Fountainhead" and the massive "Atlas Shrugged" which explained and explored her philosophy that asserts the individual is everything and the group tyrannical. Her philosophy is pure, now known as "Objectivism" and has many followers.

A core of her philosophy states there is no such thing as altruism. Nobody gives for any other reason than making the giver feel good. There is no such thing as the Biblical "pure" giving; left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing. Giving with no thought of return. The giver gets personal joy by giving or the giver doesn't give. The giver doesn't really give a rats ass about the cripples, beaten women, and so on. The giver gives because it makes the giver feel good, superior to others, or admired. Period.

Nowadays some givers are investors or outright bribers to places like The Tides Foundation. The disbursement of these "charitable " funds is almost exclusively to politically compliant groups who agree beforehand to "give back".

To the pure world of Ayn Rand, Pat Tillman joined the army because he couldn't live with himself if he didn't. He couldn't sit in society making big bucks while guys were dying in a war against terror. He did it for himself. For his own inner peace. Not for us. Society is best served when we all behave this way.

The Conservatives would have us believe Tillman made a sacrifice. He did it for us. A Christ figure is created here by the Right, not out of good feelings for Pat, but for political gain. I think it's bullshit.

It could well be that this educated 3.8 grade average citizen believed that....."No man is an island". He may have felt that a man can't sit in isolation from the world, cocoon himself from the war, the terror, and his feelings for his country....

.....and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.....

His funeral bells will be a reminder that the bell tolls for us, not for him. Wake up everyone. What are you doing? Quick links to this piece on Cold Fury which examines Tillman's death more closely. A good read.

Kim duToit is unusually good today, if you haven't been there, go.

SUPPOSE THERE WAS A TILLMAN EFFECT?

Two top NFL draft picks to join army rangers. They are joined by three other active players in the NBA. Two have been placed in mental institutions by their parents til they can "recover". The agent of one of the NFL players insists on negotiating a contract with the U.S. Army for his client ("You think this is the plantation, whitey?"); the agent is insisting hardship for himself (the agent) and his family if his client works for chump change. "What the fuck am I supposed to do with thirty five percent of five hundred fucking dollars a month?", screamed an outraged B.M.(Big Money) Muhammad the agent for "Mad Dog" David Dawson, an outside linebacker who left school early to join the army because of his inner voice. The mother of another player stated anonymously that "I spent fifteen years gettin' that boy ready for the big money, a big house for me and my family, and a lifetime of luxury, and now he's wantin' to throw everything away for that ho' he found name of Patriotism. Well fuck her, dat bitch ain't seein' one dime if I have anything to say about it."

The new mental disease called "The Tillman Dysfunction" will be covered by all insurance plans. The disease, which can be fatal, causes a lack of concern for money, a feeling that there are more important things in life besides fame, whores, and drugs, and an urge to be a part of "something bigger than themselves". Dr. Ayub Kunsimeer Akhmed of the University of California at Berkeley has found that the disease is usually caused by association with Jews and proves his theory of a spreading virus of "principals" he calls "The Tillmanstein Syndrome".

The NFL in conjunction with the ACLU, the DNC, and the 9/11 Moms will file suit in Federal Court on Monday to stop this madness before it spreads to baseball, women's track, and beach volleyball. "We try to teach our youth to think of and for themselves without principles, patriotism, or concerns about people who are only saying they will kill us," said a 9/11 Mom at a news conference at an Iranian nuclear facility where she was meeting with some mullas to discusss ending once and for all "by whatever means necessary" the conflict in Iraq.

SPIN YOUR OWN HEADLINE ABOUT THE "ABORTION" MARCH IN D.C. ON SATURDAY

1. Baby Killers March in D.C. (Christian Gazette)
2. Women March to Save Rights to their Own Bodies (Big Media: NY Times etc.)
3. Phony Democratic Front Group Marches in D.C. (Weekly Standard and National Review)
4. Women March for Human Rights (Daily Worker and CAIR)
5. Bitter, Ugly, Bush Hating Democratic So-Called Women Pretend to March for Rights (Oraculations and other stupid bloggers)

In another brilliant move the Bush Administration has allowed the "situation" in Fallujah to fester for weeks. The flies and maggots of the press, both foreign and domestic, who hate America and jump for joy every time one of our guys dies, are there to "report". What they "report" will be the wanton destruction of mosques (complete with pictures and video), the needless slaughter of civilians with the gory footage to "prove" our bandit mentality, and so on. This place should have been knocked down quickly. Now the Bush Administration stupidity, their need to "be liked", and their lack of purpose continues the Viet Namization of the war. By Viet Namization I mean the determination to win is outweighed by political considerations at every level. I still say that almost any Republican could have beaten Bush in a head to head primary. Stay the course? This clueless bunch has surrounded and re-surrounded and really surrounded that nothing city for two weeks. Bullshit. Next: a secured surrounding. According to TV News this AM the administration is concerned about Al Jazeera coverage. If those White House morons had built TV stations with the $84 billion instead of sending Marines begging to the WSJ over the past two weeks nobody would have to worry about Al Jazeera. Wretchard has a differing POV.

THEY'RE HEEEEERRREEEEEEE

Chuck Simmons emailed me some links that he doesn't have up on his site that are Muslim sounding as hell: The first one has to do with the "Honor Killing" and assault on his children by a Turkish Muslim:

(April 24, 2004) ? A Turkish immigrant who is charged with killing his wife and critically injuring his two daughters in their Scottsville townhouse allegedly claimed he acted as a matter of honor.

He assulted his four year old daughter with a hammer because she had been "sullied by a gynecological exam. And another "Local Man Connected to Terrorism" report from upper New York state which seems to be the Montanna of terrorist living. Chuck has lots of stuff from Iraq.,

PAT TILLMAN IS DEAD SO LET'S MAKE SOME MONEY OFF THE CORPSE The NFL, still smarting over that obscene "Super Bowl Halftime Show for Five Year Old Degenerates", will now see how much "good vibes" they can squeeze out of the death of Pat Tillman. Pat Tillman prayers before games, Pat Tillman Day, Pat Tillman Stadium, and watch for his jock to go on Ebay. Everything he hated, and died for; money, exploitation, fakery will now be peddled by the increasingly disgusting NFL. All because their "image" was soiled by the Super Bowl halftime show which revealed the NFL as an over the hill stripper willing to do anything for a buck. I get sicker.

PAT TILLMAN: THE BEST PART OF ALL OF US

Why do I feel such rage at Pat Tillmans' death?

I just hit all the so-called Left sites and not a word about him. Just the same hate toward Bush and conservatives. I feel so angry at some of my fellow citizens at this time. I know that many of them are laughing and cheering. That they are glad some phony like Tillman got what he deserved and can only wish it happened to Bush. That's part of why I'm angry.

I feel like I lost a part of me. A part of the good part of me and there's not that much that's as good as Pat Tillman in there. I just know now I have to do as much as I can to win this thing. Whatever I can do, I'm going to do. I suppose my writing will change. For the better.

Many times I wonder about the courage of John McCain and the other guys who were prisoners in Vietnam while Jane Fonda strutted her hatred of them. I wonder at the courage of others in Iraq and Afghanistan while people march in the streets of San Francisco and mock them. I think of the guys and try to imagine if I had their guts. I don't think I had Tilman's courage and convictions. And I don't like myself too much because of it. He was ten times the man I am. All those guys over there are ten times the man.

So maybe it's me I'm angry at. They should have killed me instead of him. I just have this ache in my stomach. I don't think it's going away any time soon. I think there's at least 135,000 Pat Tilman's over there, the best we have. God, I feel awful.

God dam it! Why him? Maybe it's to wake up phonies like me and get us to focus on the job. At any rate that is how I'm going to use it.

THANKS PAT.

Another indictment of American Black Politicians as they continue to whine for welfare while slave trafficking in Africa soars. Since Blacks are doing the trading I guess that makes it all OK. The BBC has a quick blurb today

The report, (UN) which covers 53 African nations, says children are the biggest victims in what is a very complex phenomenon. It describes how they are forced into slavery, recruited as child soldiers or sold into prostitution.

No biggie. Especially to the Congressional Black Caucus.

Totally surprised that super Lib and feminist Supreme Court Justice Ginsberg kicked out the Claret case against the NFL. Looks like common sense won for a change. We prohibit young people from engaging in certain activities until they are TRAINED everywhere in our society, including the Military. The prospect of high school kids with bones still soft taking NFL hits scares the shit out of me. This was not The Curt Flood case.

OK, OK, Chuck Hagel is an asshole Just didn't want to be left at the gate. The only reason these people want a draft is to cause riots on campus.

CULTURE CLASH AND CIVILIZATION CLASH---MUSLIMS WILL ALWAYS HATE US

(warning: this is very long) The purpose of this piece and my others about the Mideast is to jolt you with the fact that we are in a playground staredown with a world that believes in God passionately, and believes with a religious fervor in their cultural past; in the case of China they have "Confucianized", thrown out Western Marxist Leninism in favor of their past. In 1903 most people of the United States believed in the Bible LITERALLY, meaning they saw no allegory; Jonah was actually swallowed by a whale and so on. Every word was considered true. We are in a world where billions of people believe every word in the Koran is true; every word in all the Hindu Vedas and Upshanads are true and they memorize them. They devoutly pray to their God(s) every day. We must understand this better or we are toast and will continue to be "puzzled" by world hostility. A solution to the "puzzle" of hostility is the purpose of these essays.

We are in a Culture War we may lose, and we don't seem to know it.

Have you ever had the urge to drop into a friend's Bar Mitzvah and read from the Koran? Or tell all those stupid women to stop their whining at an Irish wake?, I mean for no reason other than to piss everybody off? In many parts of the world our Bill of Rights, displays of sexuality, both homo and hetero, is like cutting a big one at Easter Sunrise Services and grinning while those around you fight inhaling the noxious fumes.

World wide, we are facing the Four billion man line and a million line backers with an offense of limited man power and unlimited destructive power; meaning we can kill the four billion plus their linebackers or we lose. That is the way we are looking at the world but we don't seem to know it.

It is possible to face reality. We are looking down the throats of four billion people who hate what they believe we stand for and what they think we want to do to their cultures if they allow our democratic "system" to prevail. Our system is seen as increasingly secularist, anti- religion, and against "Devine" law whether inspired by Koran, Talmud, Bible, or Confucius. Translated: we are immoral. We oppose morality. We seek to impose our filthy immorality on everyone else.

How did we get to this point and what can we do? Four billion people lined up against us is not something to be addressed with slogans, military success, or money. Numbers just happen to be power.

No man is an island, entire of itself...any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."

So you do your thing and I'll do mine, and in the end it'll all be fine......

Two corny adages that define two generations. The first defines the so-called "Greatest Generation", the one that led us during the Great Depression and World War II, and the second defines the 60's generation, the Boomer or Anti-War generation. Or maybe the Sex, Drugs, Rock and Roll generation, who knows? The first adage, taken from a much longer (and boringly British upper class) piece by a guy named John Donne, told a generation that we had to look after one another because a thing that affects one person effects every person. The second, taken from a work by a guy named Frederick Solomon Perls, told a generation that the only thing that counts is what the individual wants, and the heck with everyone else; "it's none of my business what YOU think of ME" is another way to look at it. We jokingly refer to the way we think New Yorkers apply this mantra as "Fuck you just in case". Which, by the way, is what many of us feel should be our policy toward all Muslim states. In fact I have a friend who sells a flag design of a snarling eagle crapping on the world with just such a slogan ($14.95 plus shipping)

Those two old adages can be taken too far. The "for whom the bell tolls" aphorism gave us a universal caring that embraced Communism, Fascism (socialism with an attitude), Socialism, and various collectivization practices where "we are all in this together" prevails over everything. In this country it also gave workers "rights", started the "Civil Rights" movement, created rules for business and labor, and demanded that we care for each other. This thinking got the U.S. through the worst depression of the industrial age without a revolution, won WWII, and confronted International Communism. It put Social Security, Bank Insurance (our deposits were not insured before 1933), unemployment benefits, and progressive income taxes into the culture. This adage also meant that people defined what "group" was best, so we had Communist Spies, gulags, suppression of dissent (Hungary etc.), Elks Clubs, Labor Orgs, Rotary Clubs and so on. This group-think largely divided us along labor and business lines and eventually led to an almost totally criminal labor movement and a "closed management" style of corporate governance; that corporate style led to business criminality illuminated by the S&L crises. These criminal activities were all "group" activities where the entire corporation involved every employee in the sale of worthless securities, land deals, and so on. Crooked labor unions coerced business into partnerships, corrupt business "got" crooked labor unions to join with them. We soon had a collective corruption masquerading as free enterprise. Union meetings were held in their hotels in Vegas and management had shareholder meetings in foreign countries they were bribing.

"You do your thing etc....." brought us rampant individualism. The current "Gay" Episcopal Bishop who deserted his two daughters to run off with another "man" is a disgusting example; he deserted his children because he "was doing his thing" but made OK because he left his family for another "man" instead of another woman (if you need to puke I'll understand). "Do your own thing "means everybody has a right to whatever it is they want to do and everybody does what they want to do; pornography, drugs, adultery, child molestation, homosexuality, stealing from your company, and almost every other individually defined behavior became OK, or OK under certain circumstances (your wife saying it's OK being the main circumstance). Doing our own thing has brought us a rebellion against big government, against government regulation, an entrepreneurial business climate (for good and ill), the demise of the large labor unions (except for the UAW and Teamsters), and an "almost anything goes so long as it feels good" society. Churches are bad, government is bad (except for foreign thugocracies), unions are bad, business is bad, the political parties are bad, God should mind her own business; in short every group is bad when defined by the "do your own thing" individual. The individual demands that other individuals and groups agree with them 100% or they are bad. Single agenda politics is one part of this.

The "for whom the bell tolls" generation went overboard and the population wanted something different. Younger people were appalled at the corruption; I remember when I shot my first movie I had to go to an older guy to learn how to bribe the city employees who blocked my camera shots til they were paid off. I didn't know how to do the bribe thing "right". Do you just walk up to them and hand them money? Do you call their union? Do you go downtown and give a bunch of money to a Councilman? None of those moron professors ever mentioned the real stuff. (You call the union guy and give him an envelope with $400 in it for this particular bribe; all twenties by the way) I didn't think "bribing" was something that actually took place. Once I learned the system I wanted to change it. And change it yesterday. So me and my pals embraced the "you do your thing" slogans. This has led us to the wide open culture we now show the world. And it is here that we are having our most serious problems right now. We will lose if we don't wake up. One of the few real intellectuals, Hannah Arendt, once pointed out in an essay called "On Power" (she could have sold a million copies had she called it "I Had Sex with my Dad and I Loved it" but you know how stupid those intellectuals can be). In this outstanding essay she points out that pointing guns at someone to control what they do is terror; Power is numbers, and numbers will always triumph eventually because the guys holding the guns get tired, careless, or just plain don't want to do it any more; at the end of Communism the Russian Army would not fire on their own people. Want to bet the Iranians won't fire on their own people? Religious thugs don't get as tired as most.

"What the world thinks of us is of no concern to us" will bite us in the jugular as we try to deal with the three main competing cultures on the planet: Confucianism (you know, like in "Confucius say, Virgin like balloon ? one prick, all gone"), Hinduism (the guys who drink their own piss for shit sakes), and the Muslim block (Men who dress in robes are always pissed off); almost four billion people who don't like what we show; or to put it more precisely, hate what we show them and conclude what we show them is what we are. And to a billion Hindus you are what you DO. Our culture of rampant sexual excess portrayed in movies, plays, and books; a society that displays gay priests and bishops, unlimited excessive use of drugs and alcohol, the widespread family breakups, and rampant crime; these are things that cannot be viewed by these other cultures as desirable; how this stuff came to be desirable to us would be the subject of another essay. Our culture is viewed as Satan, evil, and every other synonym for just plain bad. These other societies are looking at us. They are evaluating what we say we are; then they compare it what we actually project and hold it up to their own cultures. Our Constitution and Bill of Rights has produced an obscene society to them; a thoroughly despicable Hollywood culture of depravity.

The comparison is odious to them. We are obscene.

But we have money.

So here's a shock: China is NOT Communist. Today it is a society based on Confucius (500BC). They base life on---order, family responsibility, hard work, collectivism, discipline, and moderation in food and drink--China is becoming a successful economic power . Money makes you a successful society everywhere except the Middle East; "He who has the gold makes the rules" is a widely applied aphorism. Asian cultures in South East Asia are becoming Muslim or Confucian (Singapore, Taiwan). When you are successful you become a "role model" for other countries and cultures. Muslim "success" is a negative success; destroy America; bring America down instead of bringing yourself up.

China is culturally older than Europe, Africa, older even than Egypt and Sumeria. What they are doing is reaching back into the cultural past, and their cultural past always regarded the West as barbarians, cultural inferiors, and a people to be scorned; this includes the "new" Muslims, the Japanese (regarded as a separate culture by most academics), Christians, and to a certain extent the Hindus of India. Increasingly, they are showing the world and Asia that there is an "Asian Way" that doesn't have to cough when America catches cold.

All of these cultures reject the gay Episcopal Bishop who deserted wife and two young daughters to engage in sodomy with another man (beyond disgusting to Muslim or Hindu); the serial sexual encounters by men and women with no regard for morality; ignoring family responsibilities; abandoning self discipline in favor of drugs, drink and debauchery; the lack of order to any moral principal; and no moderation in any phase of our Hollywodized lives. The direct opposite to cultural traits of Muslims, Confucians, and Hindus. When we say we are "right" we tread on sensibilities and cultures that are thousands of years old. When China intervened in the Hong Kong stock market to support their stocks it was a Confucian "collectivist" move, protecting the entire society and rejecting the individualism of Western markets, not Communist dictators riding roughshod over rules. They are "right" in their view and we are totally "wrong". And they proved it. They saved their stock market from random predators like George Soros (now raising money for people he probably believes will allow him to rig currency markets again), Nobel Prize winning predators like Long Term Capital Management, and so on. The currency speculation that had wrecked the economies of South East Asia was stopped dead by the Chinese actions. They "showed" Asia how to deal with the immoral West. George Soros was not going to wreck Hong Kong. Period. End of story.

China does not have a single period in their 5,000 year history where any form of democracy held sway. They have had autocrats of one kind or another for the entire period; theirs is a society ruled by tradition, a willingness to sacrifice for the "greater good", and the need for strong leadership. That is the Chinese way. It is impossible to overstate the influence of Confucianism on all of Asian thought. Everyone everywhere is at least partly Confucian. Politically, Confucius advocated a paternalistic government in which the sovereign is benevolent and honorable and the subjects are respectful and obedient. This is IT. No argument, and it's been this way, the Confucian Way, for more than 2,500 years.

Further, the philosophy teaches that original human goodness can become depraved through one's own destructive effort or through contact with an evil environment (the West). Communism tried to stamp this Confucius stuff out but now it is back. And we need to understand the difference between Communism and Confucianism as well as their similarities when dealing with them.

In largely Hindu India religion is an occupation to most of the nearly a billion Hindus . Their religion dates back to 1,500 BC. The basic (if you can apply such a word to this most complex of religions) tenant is that you are what you DO; not what you think. And what we are DOING in our culture is what they believe we are; drunks, drug addicts, sex perverts, serial seducers of women, and so on. They have a caste system which we disapprove of, they have "holy cows" we disapprove of, they regard certain trees and plants as sacred, and so on; we don't approve of anything one billion people regard as their religion. Some drink their own urine, we just hate that. Some sit under a tree for weeks without eating (how the hell are we supposed to open a McDonald's for such slime balls?), some will let crocs eat children without intervening because that's the way nature is (we really hate that), they kneel and pray EVERY morning so our secular elites can look upon them with scorn, and so on and so forth. Starting in 1,300BC and added upon til 900BC are the "Vedas" which Hindus memorize (like the Muslims do the Koran); some memorize the Upanishads as well. All this proves to us they are even dumber than Muslims. There can be no argument that the Hindu philosophy is the most complex on the face of the earth and that their religion is by far the oldest. They believe in hundreds of Gods as opposed to The One True God, if that isn't a pain in the ass.

What many of us (not so) secretly like about them when we are young men is that we think they worship their dicks. Like in Penis Worship. Many of us believe they are on the right track and we go over there to meditate about dicks and vaginas hoping for a lifetime of great pussy with no responsibilities because we are "holy"; "Not so fast Tonto!" Hindus live a Greek like mythology. In fact much of Greek mythology is derived from Hindu. Indians actually live Hindu myth. Re- inactors include Kapalikas, who carry skulls to reenact the myth in which Shiva beheaded his father, the incestuous Brahma, and was condemned to carry the skull until he found release in Benares (Oedipus anyone??); yogis who eat ordure (that's a dignified literary word for shit) or flesh in order to demonstrate their complete indifference to pleasure or pain; and then there is Shiva, which is also the deity whose phallus (dick to you illiterates) is the central shrine of all Shaiva temples and the personal shrine of all Shaiva householders. (One of my friends in show biz came back from "Meditating in India" with an idea for a movie he was going to call: "Ordure eating Phallus Worshipers of the East". He actually wrote it; all his friends decided to stay away from both him and India). Now this phallus worship is what many Westerners try to get into til they find out that Shiva's priapism resulted in his castration and the subsequent worship of his severed member (his actual goddam penis). This means it's not so sexy after all, in fact it's anti-sex. So Hinduism is an all around pain in the ass to Westerners, most of whom worship T&A anyway. Or more precisely, young T&A.

An even bigger pain in the ass is that half the Hindus seek the sacred and profane rewards of this world. THIS world, not the mythological stuff. They want health, wealth, children, family, and a good re-birth. Half the Hindus are materialists. You could say it's almost free enterprise with a lot of praying and severed dick worshiping. These religious bastards are going to med school, university, and inventing bombs and things. These people are the part of the culture of India that is responsible for their exploding economy. GDP growth in excess of 8% for the past five years. One thing about all of them: they believe in God (Gods), totally. As they prosper they look down on us. They don't think we are so hot.

What we show all these other cultures as a better way, is our "culture", not our Bill of Rights. One rap song is enough for everyone to say "get out of my life". India is now a certified power. They have the bomb, a ton of money, a successful university system turning out some of the world's top programmers and scientists. They are a net food exporter. They think they are every bit as good as us. They are right, because they have money too.

So we better re-think our dealings with all of these people before it is too late. We are outnumbered. Europe is a decaying and putrid corpse. The U.S. has become a culture that is selling out to personal indulgences that four billion people hate and regard with contempt.

This hatred of our values includes the various dictatorships and thugocracies scattered about the world who care about nothing other than power, but pretend a religiosity. Egypt, Sudan, our pals the Saudis, Palestine, the game players in Europe, and the posers in Latin America starting with drug enabler Mr. Fox in Mexico. We have to differentiate between cultures and political thugs. But some political thugs become religious thugs, while some religious zealots become criminal political leaders..

So where is the threat? Are Hindus going to visit your house and insist you join them in a urine cocktail? No. What about the Confucian Chinese? If we understand their philosophy we will understand that all of Asia wants to be Asia and not California (Kah-lee-foh-nee-ah, in Ah-nold speak). They want to do things "the Asian" way. They think that we can learn from them, that their way is better. One "Asian Way" that most Asian immigrants use to fund their businesses when they first arrive here revolves around the "Thirteen" (known by at least ten other names too). Thirteen people who have jobs form a unit. They pool their capital for thirteen weeks and then donate it by lot to one of them to start a business. They continue this process til all thirteen have received the largesse. Not all business succeed, but a hell of a lot of them do. That is why you see so many successful Asian business enterprises start up"from nothing". American Blacks refuse to learn from this and continually whine that Asians get money from China. They don't, they generate it themselves. In the Asian Way. The Asian Way is not to go to Uncle for a welfare handout.

Numbers is Power, eventually. We are outnumbered. So are we to fear a mob of Hindus opening up some fast-ordure restaurants? A bunch of Asians attempting to make us memorize the two books of the Shih Shu by Monday morning or else? Won't happen. What can happen is the Muslim Terrorists representing the Wahabi wing of their "religion" will continue their reign of terror. This is the only segment of the four billion we have to fear. But we do need to understand their "ways" if we want to do business.

SO WHAT DO WE DO IF WE WANT TO "PROTECT" THEIR CULTURES
1. Only make movies that Muslims, Hindus, and the Chinese government approve of.
2. Only allow books to be published that Muslims, Hindus, and the Chinese approve of.
3. Only allow music that is approved by the above groups.
4. All our laws must be cleared by a religious council. And the Bill of Rights must not be mentioned in mixed company (Westerners and others)
5. Force everyone to memorize either the Bible, Koran, Shih Shu, or Vedas.
6. Force everyone to live by one of the above.
7. Stop with this voting bullshit, that is what is causing all the trouble.

Because that is what we'd have to do; some of that is what our schools and universities are doing to us right now so people don't get their "feelings" hurt. The other way is to show these other cultures that if they leave us alone we will certainly leave them alone. But if you attack us, we will strike back. Hard. There is positive evidence that Muslim theocratic dictatorships will be overthrown, eventually. Unlike the other major movements in the world, the Muslims cannot hold up success as a model.

We can, and should, continually point out to the world the other cultures not practicing terror are successful; every bit as successful as America. Eating ordure can build character, if you do it right. American entrepreneurial spirit will produce a video on that: "Ordure Cooknin': Ordure Teriyaki, Ordure Alfredo and 50 other exciting Meditational meals: $19.95 plus shipping. Toilet paper not included. Just to piss India off.

Anyway, some stuff to think about.

For the artistically inclined check out these photographs by Rod Dresser. They cost up to 5K and because of the nature of the web none are full sized. I went to High School with him, he is a graduate of the U.S. Navel Academy, served in Viet Nam (he rammed his sub into John Kerry's boat causing Kerry to fall and get a purple heart) and then went Asian and became a top photographer. He uses an old technique that nobody uses any more. Check it out. Shows in galleries in Carmel, LA, Taos, and New York. And if I can break into a gallery some might be available out of the trunk of my car.

FREE ENTERPRISE FOR AFRICA, SOCIALISM FOR THE REST OF THE WORLD EQUALS STARVATION FOR AFRICA

Oh those Horrible Europeans, they are subsidizing their crops, preventing genetically engineered seed and food from entering Europe and Africa, which means since they subsidize their low yield crops they can undercut the poor Africans so that they starve.

First, who really gives a fat fuck if Africans starve? Do you?

I know, one day per month feeding Africa is topic du jour in all the right places; NY Times, CNN, and the other lying media circles; the Hollywood Left, the LA Times, and Yale. All are careful to be politically correct. In the case of food PC means that only organically produced food is OK for the starving black bastards, because genetically engineered food screws with NATURE. One would think from these PC experts that genetically engineered food is new. That it has never been done before. They are liars.

The Indians in America started engineering food 9,000 years ago. Just look at corn.

Corn started out as something called Teosinte 9,000 years ago as a grassy-like plant with many stems bearing small cobs with kernels sheathed in hard shells. Corn was genetically engineered by Indians over time til it was the corn on the cob the Europeans discovered in the New World. See HERE and then look HERE for some history on rice and wheat also genetically engineered by Indians..

So the world got to where it is now through 9,000 years of genetically engineered plant foods. Now let's get to right now and the starving Africans, remembering the first duty of every government is to provide cheap food to their own people, and in a democracy when food gets too expensive the government is changed. Ever since some Egyptians almost killed a Pharaoh who failed to provide, all the following Pharaohs made dam sure they had seven years supply of grain on hand, just in case. Every government since then has tried to do the same, even the stupid Communists. Cheap food is job one.

But the hard nosed politics of food is one hell of a topic. The current party line on my side of the divide is that the EU is deliberately trying to capture the African market by starving part of the continent to death. They are more interested in subsidizing French farmers, arguably the most inefficient in the history of the planet after Soviet Collectivization. They forbid EU trading with any country that grows genetically engineered food, falsely claiming the food is unsafe, unhealthy, and a menace to adjoining countries. GE food could end starvation in Africa in a single growing season. AMERICAN environuts are among the leaders in the starvation campaign. But South Africa may agree to mill 200,000 tons of GE wheat in order to end starvation down there. That will be the beginning. A tiny add here is that the machinery necessary to mill grains is not universally available in Africa so the Europeans have told them to play ball or they won't mill.

How serious is the starvation? The UN (I don't trust them either) says the following:

The United Nations estimates 14.4 million people from Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Lesotho and Swaziland are facing severe food shortages. Of these, only Zambia has outrightly rejected GM relief. Lesotho and Swaziland have not made their stand known, but the uncertainty and reluctance has led to lengthy delays in shipping.

Go HERE for the disgusting details. All these people will starve on the environmental canards of EU and US enviro thugs. But to blame only EU farm subsidies is missing the point.

How about the good old capitalist USA? Do we subsidize farmers? In a nutshell the answer is, "Holy Shit!!".

Forgetting the individual farmer, let's just look at the money. The government sent out 22 million farm subsidy checks just two years ago. Starting with sugar; cane sugar subsidized eighteen cents a pound and beet sugar at twenty-two cents a pound; the world price is between five and seven cents per pound.. The sugar subsidy cost you and me $1.4 billion per year in higher food costs. According to the GAO study, 33 sugar farmers have received more than $1 million each in government subsidies, with one Florida family receiving $65 million in one year alone.

Because the subsidies go directly to sugar processors and not the farmers there is a labyrinth of business and farming interests involved in keeping the sugar program in place. Growers are part owners of processing plants and so on.

ADM and Carghill, who are CORN processors, lead the charge for higher SUGAR subsidies. Corn processors? Sugar? Corn farmers and processors need higher sugar prices in order to force candy, soft drink, and other users of sweeteners to use expensive corn syrup, and the only way they can do this is if sugar costs more than sixteen cents a pound.

Get it? If domestic sugar costs more than sixteen cents a pound instead of the world price of seven cents a pound all the farmers and grain processors get to shove expensive corn syrup down the throats of all the soft drink and candy makers. As part of the subsidy no foreign sugar can be imported. This corn agribusiness interest is also behind the unnecessary corn created gasoline additive called ethanol. Ethanol costs us around two or three cents per gallon of gas. Corn subsidies are a part of the sugar deal. And it's deeper than that but you get where I could go here.

Then we have cotton, a water sucking crop with almost no equal (only rice, sugar, and coffee suck up as much). Cotton is now subsidized at seventy something cents a pound while the world price usually hovers around fifty plus cents a pound; this year for the first time in five the cotton price is above sixty cents (a "corn subsidies" Google search ). You have to all the way back to 1998 to see cotton briefly sell at seventy cents or higher, meaning we are guaranteeing farmers the highest price in recent history for growing it and tossing it on the world market at sixty cents. Now here's the boring capitalistic data. Hold your nose. The top 10 percent of cotton farmers got 73 percent of the handouts of $5.3 billion of total payments from 1996 through 2001 (subsidies ran to $4 billion plus in 02 and 03). These cotton producers received an average payment over this time period of $286,007, an average of just over 55K per. However, the top 1 percent, which only represents 1,858 recipients, collected nearly 25 percent of total payments of $1.7 billion with an average payment of $913,478, that's more than $120,000 per year, guaranteed. Worse, (if you need worse) this subsidy is also destroying cotton farming in Africa because those poor dopes can ONLY grow cotton in their soil and they are so stupid they practice capitalism. They have to sell their cotton at low world market prices which we depress even further by dumping ours. Every acre of cotton farmland in the US attracts a subsidy of $230. The total cotton subsidy is three times higher than the entire USAID budget for Africa's 500 million people. Capitalist enough for you? For an accurate but needlessly anti-Bush data link go HERE.

Other crops like rice, soybeans and wheat get plenty through farmer co-ops. The data is only available for the Clinton years which shows five out of the top ten subsidies went to Arkansas farming co-operatives.. Number one was Riceland Foods in Stuttgart AR who picked up a nifty $222 million, however $220,821,863 of the total came in the last two years of the Clinton administration. Riceland is followed by Producers Ricemill also in Stuttgart that only pocketed around $70 million. Why Arkansas? It just so happens that these farmer co-ops are there.

But these U.S. subsidies go even deeper, if that is possible. Farms are also owned by prison systems, jails, cities, and hospitals. They get paid off too. Jails? Yes. Cities? Yes. Why? Well they just do, they have political clout and they want more in handouts. So they get them. Haven't you ever heard of Georgia Correctional corn? Sing Sing wheat?

How about the farmer? You know, that guy who gets up at 4AM and works in the hot sun til sunset every single day. What about him? He wakes one morning in April and looks out upon nothing. Just land. Planting is coming so he has to "work" the soil, meaning he tills his acres to prepare the ground, usually plowing under a legume crop that fertilizes the soil. This costs money. Then he goes to the bank to borrow money for seed, fertilizer, and pesticide or herbicide. The bank will lend him the money IF he also buys crop insurance. This means if the weather destroys the crop the bank will be paid. The farmer will not be paid if there is no crop to deliver to the government. Now let's look at cotton. He will get 72 cents per pound IF there is a per pound to harvest. Too much rain, too little, too hot or too cold and there won't be enough per pounds to feed him and his family through the winter even at $2 per pound. The cotton farmer can't plant until the soil is the right temperature. Then he will seed it. During the growing season he has to weed it (more money), remove insects (more money), and be sure there is enough water (irrigation is more money). If things go right he harvests the cotton (more money). Rain, even one drop during pollination period of a single day will ruin the entire crop. So will not enough rain. A farm will average around 700 pounds per acre on a good year. It's the cost and grade that has to work out. 500 acres (average size of a cotton farm) may yield 350,000 pounds of cotton that cost the farmer at least $200,000 to grow. IF the cotton grades well he may get around $.60 at current prices; much higher if bad weather hit other parts of the world or country; a hell of a lot lower if everybody in the world has a big crop. If he has to sell at market he will lose everything unless the market is at $.62 or higher. He has to pay interest on the loan to the bank and he is out the crop insurance. At sixty two cents times 350,000 he makes $17,000 out of which he has to support a family, maintain his farm, his home, etc. At the subsidized price of seventy two cents per pound he will make $52,000. Keep in mind that a yield of 700 pounds per acre is on the very good side. If the yield is only 600 pounds per acre he is dead. It is a boom or bust existence for a farmer who works longer hours than any two men any of us know. The AVERAGE farmer is still getting screwed. He can grow other crops but where cotton can be grown it offers the best return if the weather is good. Without a subsidy the average cotton farmer doesn't farm, but neither does anyone else.

To sum up this state of things, every major country is subsidizing their agriculture, not a bad thing in and of itself. As I said at the beginning of this piece, the number one job of any government is to assure cheap food for their own people. The French Revolution was not caused by any yearning for democracy but because good old King Louie had refused to pay the farmers (barons and counts) a high enough price for their wheat so they refused to deliver wheat to Paris. Paris ran out of bread and Louie became toast. "Let them eat cake," still resonates today. Every country on the planet has to have cheap food or their governments are done.

Which means things ain't gunna change real soon no matter how many Africans who we really don't give a rats ass about die. Do you care? I mean really care enough to risk the day when we must have foreign food to exist because our own farmers can't possibly earn a living on $1 corn or fifty cent wheat? Think about that one while you watch the whimpering whiners on PBS.

Oh oh, there really may have been yellow cake and be sure you click on the links. From the always reliable Wretchard. BTW have you checked out the new FOX weather BABE??? I smell superstar, like reports from a bunker in Palm Beach or the trenches of Bel Air........

I am deleting The Activist from the Iran blogger list because they are not only completely wrong much of the time but I suspect they are simply a mouthpiece for Reza Pahlavi like in the former shah's family. I don't trust them.

I am personally opposed to building that TV station in Iraq with private money because our fucking government should do it, should have done it, and should be forced to do it. BUT IF YOU WANT TO GET INVOLVED GO HERE, IT'S ALSO FUN. And while you're there be sure to check out this internationally acclaimed world cuisine recipe collection. Hat tip: I forget because I got sidetracked....might have been Terpsboy

LATE ADD TO THIS POST; Claudia Rosett appearing on Brit Hume this PM stated that the total Oil for Food take could be as high as $40 billion. It was she who singlehandedly kept the Oil for Terror program front and center while the big media slept, has another broadside today

We need some better explanation of how the U.N., charged with overseeing the $100 billion-plus Oil-for-Food program, allowed Saddam to filch at least $10 billion, peddle influence possibly with the U.N. itself, set up front companies, procure clandestine arms, fund the regime's murderous security services, and so on. It would also be valuable to have some clear idea of how the U.N. proposes to reform its own deeply entrenched patterns of privilege and secrecy, to prevent its future collusion in such abuses,

We all owe a debt of gratitude both to her and the WSJ for keeping on this til the sloths and co-conspiritors in the media finally reported it. These thieves will take over Iraq if Kerry wins.

Kim duToit has a post up that will cause you to change your meds if you don't go down to the rifle range. Personally, I'm just waiting for the Left to turn everything over to the UN so we can all learn how to steal from the poor and give to the rich.

Had a fire in my crib so blogging will be lite......

LET'S ALL DO THE INTIFADA, IT'S THE LATEST CAMPUS CODE WORD

What does intifada mean? More important, what has it come to mean?

In Arabic the literal meaning of intifada is a shaking off or shivering because of fear or illness. It also means abrupt and sudden waking up from sleep or unconcerned status.

The Palestinian (pre-PLO) spontaneous uprising in 1987 became known in the popular language as THE Intifada. The Intifada initiated in 2000 has been a "violent" shaking off. And as time goes by the definition of intifada has evolved so that now it means a violent shaking off; "the sudden waking up from sleep or unconcerned status" involved every act of violence imaginable"; car bombings, suicide bombings, armed mob violence and murder. The "shaking off" has become a "code word" for violence. We are used to code words in this country. Residential zoning frequently means "keep Blacks out". Environmental Protection frequently means stealing land from normal people so that rich people can build a ski resort for themselves. And we all know what the words "by any means necessary" mean when said by Blacks and Left Wing nuts.

Intifada now being urged by university professors, American Muslims, and Palestinians can mean whatever they want it to mean. We have to watch this word because many of us "feel" that it means violence. A code word. When pushed up against the wall in public the college professors, the smart anti--Semites and the college "kids", all pretend that they really mean a "Non violent intifada". This "non-violence" as now practiced includes e-mail attacks on non-conforming students and professors, anybody they decide to attack, and massive publicity against racism.

I don't believe it really means non-violent for a second, but this is the USA and I guess we have to wait for the body count.

MarketsI WAS WRONG

I said we'd not see rates go up before election. WRONG. Greenspan's commentary today indicates that he sees a monster employment number coming up and the Fed will raise rates 1/4 point as early as May but look for June. And there might be one more 1/4 in July or August.

Greenspan sees data long before it becomes available to anyone. All I can say is that the mid-week LA Times help wanted is huge for all labor categories. Mid week has been very thin for years. Stock profits will remain very good because there is just a tinge of inflation out there which means they can raise prices. And look at the dollar. I've been saying for months it would go to 118 ECU; as I write this it is at .11850. It could get even stronger as the EU goes Japan, a ten year recession. And gold falling $20 in a week is telling you that we are booming. Next JOBS report is May 7th.

Mr

Yes, the asshole Michael Moore actually said this:

The Iraqis who have risen up against the occupation are not "insurgents" or "terrorists" or "The Enemy." They are the REVOLUTION, the Minutemen, and their numbers will grow -- and they will win.

The links to this obscene prick are all over the web. To be honest, anyone has a right to be against this war, but his hateful speech (writing) is what the Left is all about. He's glad our guys get killed because every death makes him right.

IRAQ, CULTURE, CIVILIZATION, AND "THE INNER IRAQI"

Them crummy Commie professors taught all of us that dictatorships, other than Marxist, are bad. Authoritarian governments are bad. Non democratic governments are bad unless they are in Africa or other countries where non-whites are the majority. Commie teaching should be enough to at least make us check out the premise without making a moral equivalence that cannibalism is just as good as Western Democracy, that slavery is as worthy as freedom, or any other post modern crap. Some cultures and civilizations ARE better.

First, let me define my terms "civilization" and "culture" for purposes of this essay, and this essay only. Most people believe the terms culture and civilization overlap and don't think about a difference. For this essay let's say culture is the inner person; the head and heart so to speak. This includes arts, music and dance and various higher pursuits of human life which are also classified as cultural activities. Civilization is the tangible betterment of ways of living, forcing nature to bend to fulfil the needs of the people. It includes also organizing societies into politically well-defined groups working collectively for improved conditions of life in matters of food, dress, communication, and so on. Building roads is civilization, dancing on roads is culture.

We all know that civilization can be built by authoritarian government. Egyptian, Roman, China, and so on are obvious examples. Roads, buildings, improved standards of living etc. When there was nothing else but authoritarian government, culture existed and even flourished; there are drawings on caves when there was no government at all. In modern times, since 1700, what has been proven?

First: does authoritarian government kill culture or create it? A question that the Left always knows the answer to (it always "depends") but never explains. Conservatives have trouble answering it because of religious beliefs; fabulous art has been created under church restrictions..

When I ask, does authoritarian government kill culture or create it; I mean the main culture of a society; the arts, the myths, the "who were we" and "who are we now", inside. Did Hitler kill or assist German culture? In the case of Hitler, the Germans have long believed that civilization and culture are separate. No other country embraced this concept. Hitler's anti-Semitism was already a part of German culture. He took advantage of a collapse of German civilization after WWI, a collapse that saw inflation running at more than 20,000 percent per DAY. It can be said that Hitler was able to impose a new culture of militarism, Nordic myth, and racial superiority upon the civilization of Germany. He reached into a part of the German past and invented Aryan "culture".

Mussolini said he was "re-creating" Rome, simply bringing a culture up to date without changing the civilization of Italy. At first.

That's what they said. The results were that these "cultural re-creations" were wiped out by WWII and the dominant culture of the West; capitalism (sort of), democracy, and freedom were made dominant once again. All this proves democracy works best. Does it?

China has had two great civilizing periods both autocratic, Islam once ruled half the world and was totally autocratic, India before the Brits did beautifully (OK, not beautifully) before democracy, not to mention Ancient Egypt, all of Europe before 1793, and most other sub-cultures.

So what about Saddam Hussein and Iraq and "saving Iraq"? The culture and civilization of Iraq goes back thousands of years before Europe. Most refer to Iraq as the actual birthplace of civilization itself. So what is their culture? Is it Islamic? Now it is, but what was it before Mohammed? Who were the original Iraqis and what influences from way back when still obtain there? No democracy anywhere. Yet they invented the farm collective, a necessity because of the flooding of Tigress and Euphrates Rivers back in pre-history. The authoritarian Iraqis were known as Sumerians. Sumerians invented writing, double entry accounting, private property (even the King was held to contracts); they invented both the wheel and the plow, as well as the first mathematics system (based on 60). Their society was "matriarchal" meaning women had rights. They, not the much later Arabs or Greeks, invented banking. It was the ancient Iraqis and not the Greeks who invented the long narrative, they wrote stories down; their most famous narrative includes Noah building a boat to save himself and civilization from a flood, before the Jews and before the Bible. They invented an alphabet and the first calendars. We know they invented bureaucracy and that they had a yearning for some order. We know they had arts, statues, tall buildings called ziggurats, and that they traded with others. Without democracy.

Well the Sumerians got knocked off by the Akkadians, a Semitic people said to be descended from Noah (you know where this will lead, eventually) spread all the way to Lebanon and then got knocked off by a Sumerian revolution. By this time the transfer of power by war was fully in place. So Mesopotamia took over. Everybody agreed that The Garden of Eden was in Mesopotamia and it just so happens that the most warlike people at this time were the Assyrians (like in Syria) who lived there too so all hell broke loose forever. So it came to pass that the country was united by a guy named Hammurabi (a hostile takeover), the empire was known as Babylon and he invented law, known as the Hammurabi Code. The Code is considered the earliest legal comprehensive code of laws known in history. A copy of the code is engraved on a block of black diorite. A team of French archaeologists dug up this block and it is now in the Louvre Museum in Paris. The good old French stole and kept one of the great prizes of ancient Iraq.

I could go on with the Hanging Gardens, Nebuchadnezzar, Solomon's Temple, The Assyrian takeover (war again), then Cyrus the Great (war) Alexander the Great who died there (war), and lots of others tramped around Iraq. Persia (Iran) took over til the Arabs (Muslims) marched in and took over.

Baghdad become the seat of the first Muslim Caliphate and the city became the center of Islamic civilization. Baghdad was important both commercially and culturally as well as a famous center of learning in the Middle Ages. It was regarded in the tenth century as the intellectual center of the world, the cultural capital of the Islamic world, and a center of power in the world. It was where Arab and Persian cultures mingled to produce a blaze of philosophical, scientific, and literary glory. This era is remembered throughout the Arab world, and by the Iraqis in particular, as the pinnacle of the Islamic past.

If all that weren't enough, mathematics was invented there too. Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khawarizmi (680-750 AD), discovered algebraic equations, and some credit him with the invention of zero (before the Mayans). He introduced Hindu numbers to the Arab world. "Abu Ja'far" wrote a math book so influential that the title Abu Ja'far gives us the word "algebra". His books were translated into Latin and hit renaissance Italy like tactical nuclear culture shock. They couldn't speak Arabic, of course, so his name came out as "Algorismus". His name (misspelled again!) has gone into mathematics and computerspeak as Algorithm; for a step by step process for performing computations.

So there you have it, 4,000 years of hostile takeovers and dictatorships for one of the most creative people who have ever hit the planet. Yet democracy is nowhere in their culture or civilization. Saddam imposed himself after the Shah, promising "better things". He seized power by force, normal in that part of the world so there was nothing different from what they had been used to. He made a lot of the country more or less western in so far as streets, sewage, electricity, and TV goes. He, like Tito in Yugoslavia, suppressed all tribal (cultural) wars by killing anybody who crossed the line, which was nothing different from Cyrus, Alexander, or the local Muslim whatevers. Saddam tried to impose his will on his neighbors, Iran and Kuwait, not unlike the great Hammurabi or other leaders in that part of the world had done.

The big question for us right now is: How can Iraq embrace what they know nothing about? How can they embrace "democracy"? Especially since autocratic systems produced one of the greatest and most creative civilizations in the History of the World. Something for all of us to think about. Not that it can't be done, Europe had nothing but thousands of years of Kings and they did it, but it ain't easy. Suppose Iraqis DON'T WANT DEMOCRACY?

The "culture" has been Muslim for almost a thousand years. Their thinking, reading, education, the entire "inner Iraqi" is believing in an authority and obeying it. 4,000 years of Iraqi culture is against democracy. Put another way, "if it ain't broke don't fix it". And to Iraqis it ain't broke. Roads, tall buildings, manufacturing and so on mean nothing. Good medicine, an education as we define it, "things" mean little or nothing.

They don't get it. Every Iraqi wants to run things, wants to be the king. Compromise, working with others who disagree with you for the greater good is not a concept there. The dominant current culture is Muslim. Rule from the top. Obey or be killed. That is what they want. That is what worked for them in the old days. Allah, and what he says, what religious leaders say he says, is everything. They like it that way.

We are learning that now.

The Reynolds link to the piece in the Village Voice, an undeniably leftist paper, must be read. Once in a while The Voice gets it right correct, and this upsetting piece needs to be Fisked. We have long past just writing things off as Right Wing bullshit or Left Wing nut cases. This one is supicious mainly because of a pre-release announcement and the fact that the Left Wing establishment didn't get it.

Powerline is doing a bang up job in trashing the Washinton Post coverage of THEIR OWN POLLS. Read right under it for the latest NY Times fiasco.

Kerry says that Woodward says that an Arab prince said that Bush made a deal to have Arabs lower oil prices before the election. Woodward says he never reported any such thing. But this is sheer genius. A DNC "Apocalypse Now". If gas prices go down Kerry can claim a plot with a foreign power, if prices stay the same or go up he can continue to blame Bush. Don't you wish you had a brain like that?

I had the largest number of readers ever yesterday, thanx to many bloggers who linked me up. Nobody emailed me a reason why our genius class in D.C. didn't put up TV stations in Iraq. As an add here, Belmont today has a piece regarding the upper classes in Arab countries and how they are respected by everyone. TV stations could end all that but to the Bush assholes, this is not an option. Jesus.

A totally funny site is HERE. Sample quote from a contestant in the Miss Indiginous People's Beauty Contest

"I would like to forgive the dirty Spanish for killing all my peoples with their guns and their syphillis and help to bring world peace and see me at Al's Diamond Cabaret Thursday through Sunday."

I've also listed on the left. Like all "humorous" websites it does grow tedious after a few hits. Link through The Terpster

Ann Coulter hits at least two doubles.

The 9/11 commission has finally uncovered the proverbial "smoking gun"! But it was fired by one of the 9/11 commissioners. Maybe between happy reminiscences about the good old days of Ruby Ridge, Waco and the Elian Gonzales raid, Ben-Veniste could ask Gorelick about those guidelines. Democrats think it's a conflict of interest for Justice Scalia to have his name in the same phonebook as Dick Cheney. But there is no conflict of interest having Gorelick sit on a commission that should be investigating her.

Late add The ever alert, Kim duToit, pointed a BB Gun at me and let me know that Coulter says that Ruby Ridge took place under the Clinton Administration. It did not. It took place under Bush I. YOU tell her she's full of shit and to do the fucking dishes.

For perhaps the biggest "Oh my God!!" of the day you have to go here and read Daniel Pipes latest piece. As a teaser:

Iraq favors a cutback in oil output by OPEC: Well, guess what? Washington has been so hands-off of Iraqi oil, so willing to let Iraqis run this critical aspect of their country's national life, that it permits them to act exactly against not just U.S. interests but against Bush administration interests.

I'll give you one more at this different site and then go there and be prepared to get so pissed you'll be going to Kim duToit for gun recommendations.

We had testimony a couple of months ago from the past president of United, and current president of American Airlines that kind of shocked us all. They said under oath that indeed the Department of Transportation continued to fine any airline that was caught having more than two people of the same ethnic persuasion in a secondary line for line for questioning, including and especially, two Arabs.

Bush? I keep wishing there was somebody else besides Kerry. Anybody else. In case you need to get evern more pissed off go HERE for details of Terroist ties to our Churches. And then if you want to know how our own alert government is allowing terrorist organizations into the government (is it George E Newman or Alfred E Bush??) go HERE.

If any of you think the Republicans are a shoo in you better link to this piece in Front Page today. As a broader look at secret funding than my 9/11 "Moms" piece below. I think the Democrats are going to have nearly $300 million to play with, all of it from fake foundations.

TV..........."Deadwood" is a hell of a show. If you've never seen it on HBO you're missing something. May be a man's show. The Sopranos is so bad now that I don't know why I ever liked it. Boring, slow, domestic bullshit.

Did you see even one woman in the streets of Palestine yesterday? That tells you as much about Islam as anything you will ever see. Masculine rage unrestricted by any family interest.

I will not post todayOK, I lied because the Belmont Club has the must read of the week. I posted a less articulate opinion a year ago. We are facing 6,000 years of corruption. Please go to The Belmont Club and read both pieces. Starting with this one and then continue on down. This is "Deadwood" only everybody wants it to stay that way. The problem is Islam, and the sooner we face it honestly the sooner we can prepare to deal with it. And if you can explain the monumental stupidity of Rumsfeld and pals not building TV stations as job two or three, please email me and I'll publish it.

Economy Watch Want Ads in metro dailies are a terrific barometer of the economy because these ads cost money and open the employer to those minority/women law suits, metro dailies are the last place you will see ads. Today in the LA Times there are a ton of ads. Electricians, Plumbers, Engineers, Tool and Die Makers, column after column for drivers; in short everything you can think of. There's a ton of jobs out there. A ton. Look for another HUGE number in the next Jobs report. Almost every retail store has signs in the window for sales people, copy shops ditto, and fast food places have signs out. No wonder the Democrats are talking about nothing but the war.