The Razor

Here’s the latest on the bird clean-up at TriState Bird Rescue. According to this article, a pair of nesting bald eagles are affected by the spill. Many don’t realize that we have bald eagles in this area of the country. I didn’t realize it when I moved here awhile back until I worked at an office near a nesting site. There’s nothing like seeing America’s symbol just outside of your cubicle with a large fish in its talons.

I just kicked in $25 to help TriState Bird Rescue with the clean-up. Here’s the link to help out.
Remember:
Liberals may talk about saving the environment, conservatives actually do so.

Friends of Kerry (FoKERs) don’t appreciate disloyalty (link):

Gardner, the father of three, now is broke and unemployed. Nonetheless, he says he’d speak against Kerry all over again because “I couldn’t ever see [Kerry] as commander in chief—not after what I saw in Vietnam, not after the lies I heard him tell about what he says he did and what he says others did.”

The Truth sure can be a bitch sometimes.

For those of you who don’t know, there’s been a rather nasty oil spill on the Delaware River just south of Philadelphia (story here). The spill is spreading southward, endangering thousands of birds on the Delaware banks.

Tri-State Bird Rescue is trying to save them.
Please consider donating to them now.

In fact, I had just tossed an appeal from them but will dig it out and send it in after reading about their efforts fighting this spill. I’ve visited this group before with assorted birds in various states of distress. This group makes a little go a long way, and guarantees the best bang for the buck when it comes to conservation.

George Will has an excellent article in the NYPO about the lack of conservative voices in academia. Money quote:

Many campuses are intellectual versions of one-party nations — except such nations usually have the merit, such as it is, of candor about their ideological monopolies. In contrast, American campuses have more insistently proclaimed their commitment to diversity as they have become more intellectually monochrome.

They do indeed cultivate diversity — in race, skin color, ethnicity, sexual preference. In everything but thought.

As a former research assistant in the African bush and general animal lover, this is good news. For the lazy, a girl in Wisconsin has survived rabies – the first known person to survive rabies without vaccine.

There is no cure for rabies once symptoms appear; this story gives us hope.

Vaclev Havel is one of the world’s greatest living heroes. He doesn’t get the press the way Nelson Mandela does; I’ve compared the two in an article here . I am quite certain that History will view him better than Mandela. Havel has been consistent in his beliefs, eschewing violence for unyielding resistance that eventually freed his nation without the firing of a shot.

Shit is hitting the fan in Ukraine. Havel offers his support to protesters here.

Dear Citizens,

Allow me to greet you in these dramatic days when the destiny of your country is being decided for decades ahead. You have its future in your hands. All trustworthy organizations, both local and international, agree that your demands are just. That is why I wish you strength, perseverance, courage and good fortune with your decisions.

Yours truly,

Vaclav Havel

There is talk that Havel should be the next Secretary General of the United Nations.
If this happened, I would have to reconsider supporting that failed institution.

As people freak out over a marine killing a terrorist who had moments before shot at him, no one is particularly upset about this atrocity carried out by the French (link to Dean, who got the story via Instapundit).

Warning: The video is way more graphic than the Marine shooting. And these are civilians – not enemy combatants.

It’s that anniversary – you know which one. I wasn’t even around during his presidency, but it didn’t matter. In an American Irish Catholic family there was really only one “St. John”.

My degree is in political science, and after the first year of required courses you learn pretty quickly that Kennedy wasn’t a great president. He wasn’t even a very good one because he couldn’t push his agenda through Congress. We’ve also heard sordid stories – many of them untrue, some that are though – about his personal life.

In my family, it didn’t matter. JFK and his family was the closest thing to royalty America has had since King George V held sway over this land.

As for his death, I recently saw a Discovery Channel program that proved the “single bullet theory” and disproved the “2nd shooter”. The Razor was begun to counter conspiracy theories, and since this is the “mother of all conspiracy theories” in the USA today, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that we await extraordinary evidence to prove the extraordinary claim that JFK was NOT killed by Oswald.

In 7th Grade I wrote a list of people I had a beef with and left it in my desk. One day I was out sick. One of my friends found the list and passed it around the seventh grade. When I walked through the door a few days later, I was belted in the mouth and flew through the thing backwards by the guy at number 1. For the rest of the year I was harassed, bullied and beaten up by the people on that list. It was a shitty year in a string of shitty years that started the year my dad died.

But it taught me an important life-lesson: Be careful who your friends are.

Dean Esmay discusses Canada in this post. Note my comment – which formed the basis for this list.

Here is my version of America’s Shit List. This list in the order of threat and/or sheer audacity from most to least. And before the country at #1 decides to jump me, keep in mind that I am a pretty good shot with a 9 mm.

1. Saudi Arabia – What can be said about a nation that won’t allow women to drive or people to drink? 15 of the 19 9-11 hijackers were upper middle class Saudis, and Saudi money continues funding America’s enemies even today. Looking back I think it was a mistake for America to block Saddam’s invasion of this country, although realistically we would have taken a political hit. But in the long-run, the chances for the reform of this country AND Islam would have been greater after Saddam cleaned out the Saudi Royal Family, and became the focus of Jihadists.

There is no simple solution to the relationship with Saudi Arabia. It is a cancer on the world’s body politic that cannot be excised without causing the metastasis of even more anti-Americanism in the world.

2. France
I used to think that France was like my sister who complains about the family, but when trouble arises she’s always the first one there to help.

How wrong I was.

It is clear now that France has always been a jealous Iago to our Othello who resents our influence and success. It’s relationship with Saddam, Syria, Hezbollah, and Iran as well as its blatant back-stab in the UN has shown us that France is not our friend.

Calling France a nation of weasels is an insult to weasels.

Kiss the French

3. Canada
How could Canada betray us?

We haven’t forgotten that Canada’s lax border controls has made it the #1 entry point into the USA for terrorists – including the Millennium Bomber who planned to blow up LA.

Is it because we view hockey as more exciting than the Ice Capades but less exciting than boxing?

A good chunk of Canada is French, and most Canadians live within 75 miles of the American border. Come to mention it, just what does it mean to be Canadian anyway?

4. Germany
Being lectured by a nation that has single handedly killed more humans than any other on this planet is a hoot. And that’s less than 60 years ago – not ancient history.

If it hadn’t been for us and the British, it would be a subsidiary of France now.

Oops! That’s right! In the EU that’s just what it is!

5. South Korea
25 years ago South Korea’s number 1 export to the USA was baby girls. I know about this first hand. We’ve got two of them in our family.

Now South Koreans view Americans as a greater threat than North Korea?

Seoul is within artillery range of the DMZ. That’s North Korea artillery – not American.

Here’s a link to my thoughts on this country which still apply.

Notice there is no North Korea, Iran or Syria? No Cuba?
Betrayal of trust is the deepest pain. Note that in 4 of the 5 nations in this list, Americans earned trust with blood.

How many French cemeteries are there in the USA?
How many Germans have been killed in wars that liberated America?
How many Saudis have died protecting America?
How many South Koreans have family members that served to protect America from invasion?

It’s ingratitude, and it won’t be forgotten.

Thanks to the Pirate-king for the heads-up.

Does this woman even realize how sick she sounds in this Delaware News Journal letter to the editor?Link to Letter:

Dump VX agent into red states’ rivers

Hasn’t DuPont’s vice president been reading The News Journal recently? It’s all about the pollution in our streams and bays. Delaware and New Jersey made it clear they do not want VX nerve agent in our waters. We already have enough chemicals in the Brandywine, Christina and Delaware Rivers and Red Clay Creek from DuPont-run plants.

Let’s send VX agent to the red States that voted for President Bush since they don’t seem to care about pollution and air quality. Let them dump VX agent into the Mississippi River.

Nancy M. Ciarlo, Rehoboth Beach

Here’s the letter I submitted in response:

I gave up reading the News Journal several years ago when it’s liberal bias on all issues except local business became apparent. However a friend has alerted me to several columns, op-ed pieces, and letters to the editor that make me wonder if you and your daily readers have lost your collective minds.

Today’s letter from a reader in Rehoboth advocating dumping VX into the rivers of “Red States” shows my amazement and continued disappointment with the Left in general and the Democratic party in particular – as well as newspapers like yours that have become the party’s propaganda wing.

The Democratic Party is imploding, and all it does is whine about President Bush. Republicans control the Presidency, the House and Senate, and a majority of governorships. The Republicans also control the majority of state legislatures as well. Bush’s election wasn’t a fluke or a conspiracy as some on the Left believe. The truth is that the Republican party now represents the vast majority of Americans, including socially liberal supporters of the military like me.

As a former Democrat who voted a straight Republican ticket this election, I want to return to the party but cannot. I believe that women are more than ovaries with legs. I believe that oppression isn’t a human right, and I recognize that there are people out there who want to murder me and my family simply because we don’t worship their god in their way.

The Democratic party has been hijacked by anti-American, anti-semitic left wing zealots and liars like Michael Moore and Jimmy Carter. They will lead the party to irrelevancy unless they are purged, and centerists like Dick Gephardt and Joe Lieberman take command.

Imagining killing millions of Republicans might be fun for some, but others should take a clear look and recognize that the problem isn’t with the Red States: It’s with the Blue.

An argument with the wife last night got me thinking about this topic.

I’m 38 years old. I can install an electrical drop and tie it in to the main safely.

I’ve taught myself basic carpentry skills and can knock out a wall and put one up without it falling down later.

I am currently learning how to sheetrock like a professional.

I know how to cook Japanese style rice so that it’s better than the rice found in most restaurants.

I enjoy using my Stihl chainsaw and do so whenever possible.

I know that the South American cichlid, Symphysydon Discus, prefers slightly acidic water with a
touch of peat. I also know that their young feed from their parent’s mucous layer soon after hatching. They are excellent parents but are a bear to breed successfully.

I have raised all manner of tropical fish and just this Summer spawned my first koi in the 1,500 gallon outdoor pond that I installed a year ago. I currently breed African cichlids without doing anything beyond providing them with a safe habitat and clean water.

I know and how to use the pivottable function in Excel.

I know how to stir fry without over or undercooking the vegetables.

I can design and build websites that don’t suck. I can also build the databases that power them.

I know that Oswald acted alone and can argue well enough to support my belief.

I can change a tire in less than 10 minutes on a busy expressway.

I have beaten the PC game Far Cry and know how to get past the hard parts.

I can explain why Japanese society today remains insulated from the rest of the world, and know the Japanese term that describes it (sakoku).

I know how to shoot a 9 mm safely and accurately.

I am loyal to my friends and family. I will defend both passionately.

I don’t drink, smoke, or gamble.

I have never cheated on my wife in the 14 years we’ve been together.

I am a hard worker and good provider for my family. My son is spoiled, and so are all the animals that I have rescued over the past 14 years.

But…
I tear into my food like a barbarian.

I often forget to use a napkin.

If the socks aren’t on my feet there’s a good chance they are on the floor or in the dirty laundry.

I hate shaving and try to avoid it whenever possible.

When I’m around the house I belch and fart as loud as I can.

I swear like a motherf****** rapper when I become frustrated or angry.

I wear short sleeve shirts in winter and long sleeves in Summer.

I believe that grey tube socks go with everything except my suits (there are limits to everything).

I collect baseball cards and enjoy playing video games.

I have built an N scale layout. The layout is completely scenicked with mountains, tunnels, bridges, rivers, buildings and lights. I most recently upgraded this layout to DCC, which involved installing tiny chips in each locomotive, and machining some parts so that they would fit.

I like sleeping and staying up late.

I don’t pick up after myself although I try.

I often forget to cover the toaster after I’ve made my kid waffles. The toaster cover therefore ends up laying on the kitchen counter.

I often leave the sink full of dishes.

I often don’t change the litterboxes.

I like watching cartoons and anime.

See why the wife gets frustrated?

What does it mean to be a man today? Why must women control them?

What is going on with Discovery Channel reality TV shows and the deaths of their stars?
First there was Michael Tata on American Casino.

Then there was the death of Tim Roberts from Wingnuts.
Then Indian Larry from Biker Buildoff.

Who’s next? And is that channel cursed or what?

Thanks to Powerline:

A Marine Writes Home

Later on, I intend to link to several sources talking about the shooting of the wounded terrorist in Fallujah. For now, I want to pass on this email from a Marine in the 11th MEU:

This is one story of many that people normally don’t hear, and one that everyone does.

This is one most don’t hear:
A young Marine and his cover man cautiously enter a room just recently filled with insurgents armed with Ak-47’s and RPG’s. There are three dead, another wailing in pain. The insurgent can be heard saying, “Mister, mister! Diktoor, diktoor(doctor)!” He is badly wounded, lying in a pool of his own blood. The Marine and his cover man slowly walk toward the injured man, scanning to make sure no enemies come from behind. In a split second, the pressure in the room greatly exceeds that of the outside, and the concussion seems to be felt before the blast is heard. Marines outside rush to the room, and look in horror as the dust gradually settles. The result is a room filled with the barely recognizable remains of the deceased, caused by an insurgent setting off several pounds of explosives.

The Marines’ remains are gathered by teary eyed comrades, brothers in arms, and shipped home in a box. The families can only mourn over a casket and a picture of their loved one, a life cut short by someone who hid behind a white flag.

But no one hears these stories, except those who have lived to carry remains of a friend, and the families who loved the dead. No one hears this, so no one cares.

This is the story everyone hears:

A young Marine and his fire team cautiously enter a room just recently filled with insurgents armed with AK-47’s and RPG’s. There are three dead, another wailing in pain. The insugent can be heard saying, “Mister, mister! Diktoor, diktoor(doctor)!” He is badly wounded. Suddenly, he pulls from under his bloody clothes a grenade, without the pin. The explosion rocks the room, killing one Marine, wounding the others. The young Marine catches shrapnel in the face.

The next day, same Marine, same type of situation, a different story. The young Marine and his cover man enter a room with two wounded insurgents. One lies on the floor in puddle of blood, another against the wall. A reporter and his camera survey the wreckage inside, and in the background can be heard the voice of a Marine, “He’s moving, he’s moving!”

The pop of a rifle is heard, and the insurgent against the wall is now dead. Minutes, hours later, the scene is aired on national television, and the Marine is being held for commiting a war crime. Unlawful killing.

And now, another Marine has the possibility of being burned at the stake for protecting the life of his brethren. His family now wrings their hands in grief, tears streaming down their face. Brother, should I have been in your boots, i too would have done the same.

For those of you who don’t know, we Marines, Band of Brothers, Jarheads, Leathernecks, etc., do not fight because we think it is right, or think
it is wrong. We are here for the man to our left, and the man to our right. We choose to give our lives so that the man or woman next to us can go home and see their husbands, wives, children, friends and families.

For those of you who sit on your couches in front of your television, and choose to condemn this man’s actions, I have but one thing to say to you. Get out of your recliner, lace up my boots, pick up a rifle, leave your family behind and join me. See what I’ve seen, walk where I have walked. To those of you who support us, my sincerest gratitude. You keep us alive.

I am a Marine currently doing his second tour in Iraq. These are my opinions and mine alone. They do not represent those of the Marine Corps or of the US military, or any other.

Just when you thought you were safe, he stirs.
Kerry Hints He May Try Again for the Presidency
Lock the doors. Shut the windows. Hug your loved ones.
He’s baaaa-ack!

Any anti-war lefty should read this article from the TimesOnline.

A man in his sixties, half-naked and his underwear stained with blood from shrapnel wounds from a US munition, cursed the insurgents as he greeted the advancing marines on Saturday night.

“I wish the Americans had come here the very first day and not waited eight months,” he said, trembling. Nearby, a mosque courtyard had been used as a weapons store by the militants.

Another elderly man, who did not want his name used for fear the rebels would one day return and restore their draconian rule, said he was detained by the militants last Tuesday and held for four days before being freed. He described how he had then sought refuge in a friend’s house where they had huddled together clutching Korans in silent prayer for their lives as the massive US bombardment put the insurgents to flight.

“It was horrible,” he told an AFP reporter.”We suffered from the bombings. Innocent people died or were wounded by the bombings.

“But we were happy you did what you did because Fallujah had been suffocated by the Mujahidin. Anyone considered suspicious would be slaughtered. We would see unknown corpses around the city all the time.”

The same story of arbitrary executions was told by another resident, found by US troops cowering in his home with his brother and his family.

“They would wear black masks, carry rocket-propelled grenades and Kalashnikovs, and search streets and alleys,” said Iyad Assam, 24. “I would hear stories, about how they executed five men one day and seven another for collaborating with the Americans. They made checkpoints on the roads. They put announcements on walls banning music and telling women to wear the veil from head to toe.”

It was not just pedlars of alcohol or Western videos and women deemed improperly dressed who faced the militants’ wrath. Even residents who regard themselves as observant Muslims lived in fear because they did not share the puritan brand of Sunni Islam that the insurgents enforced.

One devotee of a Sufi sect, followers of a mystical form of worship deemed herectical by the hardliners, told how he and other members of his order had lived in terror inside their homes for fear of retribution.

“It was a very hard life. We couldn’t move. We could not work,” said the man sporting the white robe and skullcap prescribed by his faith. “If they had any issue with a person, they would kill him or throw him in jail.”