Update: Great Minds think alike. Iowahawk’s “It’s Finally Time To Exit The Oldsmobile” can be found here.

I usually don’t like ad hominem attacks, but this story just writes itself…

According to this story, Senator Ted Kennedy wants us to hastily withdraw from the quagmire of Iraq. Fair enough. When it comes to quagmires and swamps, Kennedy is an expert. (Source)

In Ted’s eyes, Pres. Bush is driving at high speed with a partner - the Iraqi people - who he doesn’t know very well, but sure is pretty - bursting with youth, vitality and promise. He’s also being reckless about it by not courting our allies like he should have; kind of like a married man who drinks a wee bit too much at a party and lets his baser nature take hold. Then, very quickly he finds himself flying off a bridge into a swamp that threatens to sink his career and his reputation in the history books.

So what should he do? Well, in Ted’s eyes there is only one solution: When the car rolls over and hits bottom, get the hell out of it as fast as possible. The hell with the Iraqi people. If they can’t survive on their own, that’s plain tough. It’s not like we’re talking about a Kennedy - I mean - Americans here after all. Let them drown in the water of tyranny, have their flesh nibbled upon by the likes of Zarqawi and other Sunni nut jobs. At least we’ll come out of it alive.

And that’s all that matters, isn’t it? Nothing should get in the way of our glory - especially a setback like a little accident. We have history to write, or at least, report to the proper authorities.

I’m reading more of Spiced Sass these days . Here’ s a post on the slaying of Madonna by a Jewish extremist.

“…Madonna was cycling from her house to her production company when she was intercepted by her killer… shortly before 9am on 2 November last year.

The attacker shot four times before Madonna fell or jumped off her bicycle. Madonna ran across the road with the killer in pursuit, again firing his weapon.

…Madonna fell on the bicycle path and pleaded for mercy, asking the man to stop shooting.

Witnesses described how the man shot Madonna again from a distance of about half a metre. He then produced a large knife and cut Madonna’s throat before plunging the knife into her chest. He then took a smaller knife from a bag he was carrying and used it to pin a letter to Madonna’s body.” […] “..the murder was in part designed as a warning to all who defiled the Jewish religion.”

Zee, the writer, uses one of my favorite rhetorical devices: substituting elements of a story to see if our opinions change. It’ s one of the best tools to discern bias, and has strengthened some of my opinions, but changed many more.

I too have commented on the death of Theo Van Gogh, and the apparent lack of interest of his death by the media, most recently here. While Van Gogh did not have nearly the level of celebrity that Madonna has, one wonders how much of the silence is do to the celebrity of the killer and the tacit support of his religion.

I do not believe that all religions are the same in the same way that I do not believe that all people are the same. When I see Episcopalians setting off car bombs, or Hassidim beheading civilians, maybe I’ll change my mind.

The story that the MSM Dhimmis don’t want to accept:
Jersey Christians Slaughtered For Religious Beliefs by Muslims

Today is the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz 60 short years ago.
As long time readers know, I am a strong supporter of Israel and the Jewish people in particular. Part of the reason for this is a deep respect for inner strength, and the Jews have shown alot of that over the past 3000 years. Another reason is that the Jews indeed are God’s chosen people - His people to pick on, kick in the face, and in general torment through history. I’m not big on God right now - if He exists - because honestly, I know I could do better. Any God who allows the suffering of innocents is no God of mine.
I also have Jewish “blood” through my father’s mother. While I was raised Catholic, I retain a strong affinity for Judaism and its struggle to survive through the ages. If I had to “choose” a religion, Judaism and Catholicism would be my top two picks. Buddhism is a close third, but Buddhism has always struck me as a little too whimsical when bad things happen. When bad things happen, you want a good Jesuit to help you come to terms with it intellectually or a Rabbi to pat you on the back and buy you a hot cup of coffee.
I am deeply troubled by the rise of anti-semitism amongst the intellectual elite. I once considered myself part of it, until I realized that I didn’t belong there. I’m the first generation of my family to attend college, and while I know my way around Sartre and Hesse, I’d rather spend time watching a little league game or hanging drywall. I’ve always had a populist streak, and part of my intellectual growth has been embracing that and no longer being ashamed that the only ivy-covered building I’ve ever lived in is my home in Delaware.

I look at the intellectual elite, and I am struck by how similar they are to the elite of the 1930s. During that time, Communism was the intellectual fad of the day, and anti-semitism was built into it by design. The view of the world came through the prism of Marxism which severely distorted reality for that elite. Today, everything is viewed through a prism of anti-Americanism and anti-semitism. Americans are bad. Jews are bad.
Anti-Americanism is really anti-populism. America is a populist state. It’s leaders are elected by the people. People choose the success of products in the marketplace, and ideas in the free press. This bothers intellectuals to no end. They want to be looked to, or worshipped, for their wisdom while the rest of the nation ignores them, making them irrelevant.
Anti-Semitism is something deeper. In a sense it reflects an easy solution for a complex problem. The problem for the intellectual elite is relevance, and the solution? Blame the Jews. It’s an ancient solution and one with a long intellectual provenance. Since America is Israel’s biggest supporter (supplanting France in 1967) , it also ties in to the anti-Americanism to create a nice big ball of intellectual rubbish.
The lesson that Auschwitz 1945 is “never again". Unfortunately it is increasingly clear that it is a lesson that the intellectual elite hasn’t yet learned.

I Love Condi Rice, but please don’t tell the wife…
Meanwhile, the Democrats are getting back to their racist roots. Remember - it was the Republicans who freed the slaves after all. Who better to grill a black woman than a former Klansman? (link to Power and Control via Spiced Sass)

“Dr. Rice is responsible for some of the most overblown rhetoric that the administration used to scare the American people,” Sen. Robert Byrd , D-W.Va., said.

Byrd was a local leader of the Ku Klux Klan for a period of time in the early 1940s, holding the title Kleagle; Klan recruiter. In a 1946 letter, he wrote, “The Klan is needed today as never before and I am anxious to see its rebirth here in West Virginia.” However, when running for Congress in 1952, he announced, “After about a year, I became disinterested, quit paying my dues, and dropped my membership in the organization. During the nine years that have followed, I have never been interested in the Klan.” Still, in 1964 he opposed the Civil Rights Act.

Senator Byrd quit the Klan in the 1940s and has renounced it since. On the other hand, his history is worth revisiting, since it’s something Democrats have been willing to tolerate, despite Lott-like remarks that would have ended a Republican’s career. Only last year Mr. Byrd told Fox News that “there are white niggers. I’ve seen a lot of white niggers in my time, if you want to use that word. But we all–we all–we just need to work together to make our country a better country and I–I’d just as soon quit talking about it so much.”

Mr. Byrd quickly apologized, but he wasn’t denounced by Democrats, much less by the Clintons. Nor did the press corps use the opportunity to wallow in other Byrd racial lowlights, such as the 14 hours and 13 minutes he spent in an unsuccessful filibuster during the debate over the 1964 civil rights act, which he voted against along with 20 other Senate Democrats. The political press also didn’t dredge up his votes against both Thurgood Marshall and Clarence Thomas, votes that made him the only Senator to have opposed the only two black Supreme Court nominees in U.S. history.

I’m participating in a discussion at this link about the mainstream media vs the blogosphere. Blame Dean Esmay.

It takes a big man to cry, it takes a bigger man to hug him and cry too…

The 4th time’s a charm.

The Eagles are going to the Super Bowl!

This was the scene outside my kitchen window this afternoon.

That’s a Del National Guard Humvee stopped to help out the idiots who don’t understand the concept of 4-wheel drive or it’s limitations in a blizzard.

Just for fun I’ve been looking up the Pete Rose controversy online. I’ve found two sites that give pretty good details on the story: the Cosmic Baseball Association and the Pete Rose FAQ at Baseball Archive. I’ve written about my interest in Rose most recently here.

My conclusion: The Hall of Fame should drop the morals clause and let Rose become eligible. After reading about the controversy, I’m now more pissed off about his overstaying in the lineup to pursue his 4000th hit - which may have hurt the team than any gambling he may be guilty of.

If Pete Rose became eligible and if I were one of the voters, I would not vote for him until he gave a complete accounting for his actions, accepted responsibility for them, and apologized for the damage he inflicted to the game. So far he has done none of these actions.

I know what it means to be an addict, and I also know what it means to accept responsibility for my actions. Pete Rose must do the same, and when he does, he can enter Cooperstown.

But not until then, and if he dies before that happens, then tough.

Yes, our old “friend” Dhimmi Carter has been linked to the UN Oil For Food Scandal (link to story here).

“Sho’ me da money…”

Not content with ruining America during his 4 years in office, Carter apparently decided to help ruin Iraq.

Carter has a long history of kissing the a$$es of dictators, and we at The Razor have a long history of disliking Dhimmi, viewing him as the second worst President in American history (Nixon gets the top honor) (see link here and here).

If you love Apocolypse Now - and really, who doesn’t like a movie with LSD and severed heads that almost killed Martin Sheen? - then you’ll love Iowahawk’s the Heart of Redness:

It - or rather, he - is the mission that has brought me to this dismal and lonely outpost on the edge of reason. Tomorrow I will make the dangerous trek north on Dubuque Street to Exit 242, merge into the river of semi-trailers on Interstate 80, and head west into the great red unknown between here and Boulder.

It is the same route Von Drehle followed before he went missing: I-80 to Nebraska, then south on highway 77 through Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. Ironically the Post had sent Von Drehle on his own mysterious mission - to learn why the natives were suddenly agitating against Post subscription offers. He went missing on January 11, emailing his final story draft with a cryptic personal note: “the horror… the horror.”

I thought about this the other night when I caught the first episode of this season’s American Idol, and Spiced Sass expresses it well:

Watching American Idol tonight I was struck by the hugely inflated egos of some of the young contestants. That they were as well totally devoid of the least tiny soupcon of talent made them pathetic. Is it what you get when you follow the ’self esteem’ system of bringing up kids instead of work and discipline? I don’t see any other explanation.

Coincidentally, this is today’s quote on my client’s corporate intranet site:
“Amateurs believe their enthusiasm will suffice.” - Mason Cooley

While it’s bitter cold outside, I’ve got a warm feeling in my gut as President Bush takes the oath of office for a second time today.

Four years ago, I didn’t feel that way at all. I felt disheartened and betrayed by an American system that hadn’t gone my way. Yet 8 months later, everything was going to change - including me.

But not the system. The American republic rolled onward into the future, steadily and inexorably. It didn’t betray me after all; it worked as it was designed - restoring my faith in my country.

Here’s to President Bush #43, and to the nation that he governs.

I usually don’t write about such frivolous topics like video games, but hey, I’m tired of being profound.
A new game called Mercenaries has just been released for PS2 and XBox. It’s supported by a great commercial - a parody of the “I am a nurse” ads that aired awhile back in which the characters talk directly to the camera. Even the wife (may Her name be praised!) who absolutely hates video games laughed.

“I will use two grenades, when only one is called for,” one character says.
“I will flip a coin to decide which building to blow up, then I will destroy both,” says another.
“I’m a mercenary, and I love my job,” another one says.

Here’s a pic of one of the merc’s named “The Swede”

Is that guy cool or what?
Overall the reviews are great for this game. Some are calling it GTA - North Korea, given the ability to jack any vehicle you come across.
Nevertheless, if you are into unadulterated mayhem - and let’s be honest, who among us isn’t from time to time? - then this game is for you.

Just a note that the woman who penned “Submission” - the work that left Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh dead with a message stuck to his chest with a knife (link) - has come out of hiding (story).

A former refugee who describes herself as a “lapsed” Muslim, she campaigned against Muslims who reject Dutch values such as gender equality and gay rights. She outraged the Muslim community by saying the Prophet Muhammad was a tyrant by today’s standards, and by urging women to abandon their traditional veils or head scarfs.

Without fear there is no courage. This one Somali woman has more balls than half the men of Europe.

Hear that sound?

If you listen closely, you can hear the last gasps and death trumpets of dinosaurs. It is a harsh sound, and one that echoes across the valleys making all creatures look up for an instant and stare.

Yes, the dinosaurs are dying - succombing at last to the rising tide of weasels who eat their eggs and dine on their carcasses - then run off to breed new generations of even more voracious tiny predators.
The list of the species that will soon be extinct reads like a who’s-who list from a bygone age:

The New York Times
The Boston Globe
The Los Angeles Times
Newsweek
CBS News
60 Minutes
ABC News
NBC News
Chicago Tribune
CNN

When history is written, Rathergate will become the asteroid that instigated the change. However the dinosaurs were doomed to fall eventually given the frothy primordial soup of ideas that has filled the oceans since Al Gore invented the internet. Rathergate merely hastened the end of the dinosaurs by creating an opening where the weasels could finally take down an dinosaur directly - without scavenging and quarreling over its leftovers amongst themselves.

The dinosaurs are startled. They are now faced with their own mortality and are struggling to evolve. But they cannot - for the same reason an individual fish cannot suddenly don wings and become a bird. They cannot change their DNA no matter how much they will it.

Instead their energy and creativity will pass along to the weasels and other creatures that take them down and feast on their carcasses. We are already seeing this occur as established columnists start their own blogs or submit posts at established ones.

The dinosaurs are dying, but evolution continues. The weasels are ascendant - for now.

Update 01/14/2005: Given the behavior of both the Indian and Indonesian governments, and the fact that Thai business owners are more worried about Thailand’s image abroad than their dead, it is becoming apparent that those of us in the US care more about what happened than those in the region do. That wipes the last vestiges of guilt away that inspired the post below.

I have been feeling guilty recently about the tsunami of Dec 26, 2004. I have questioned my feelings several times, but the fact remains that as hard as it is to say this, I simply am not moved by the disaster. I am not brought to tears by the pictures, nor am I reflexively reaching for my wallet to shower the region with what little money I have that isn’t owed to Visa.

9-11 moved me. 9-11 shook the very foundations of my belief system, causing many of the illusions I had held on for years to crumble away.

I am not a bad person. I have not given up on caring for others. I donate more than most to charity, and believe that it is my duty to help anyone whom I possibly can help. My conscience twists in my gut until I do what is right when it comes to my fellow man, but this time it has been strangely silent - silent enough to warrant concern.

So what lays behind my instinctive withdrawing from the tsunami relief parade?
1. The scope of the disaster. The disaster is so huge that it has lost much of its humanity in the way that Stalin’s dictum “Kill 5 people and it’s a tragedy; Kill 50,000 and it’s a statistic” holds true.

2. Distance. The Indian ocean is as far away from me - geographically as well as psychologically. I have never been to Indonesia or Thailand, nor have these places ever been high up on my “must visit” list.

3. Racism - NO. I am more troubled by what’s been happening in the Sudan and recent events in Burundi and Rwanda than I am by the tsunami. Skin color therefore does NOT play a role in this lack of…. concern? No, that’s not it. I am very concerned about the people suffering there. It just doesn’t move me.

4. Natural vs man-made disasters. Genocide is man-made; a tsunami is not. Man’s inhumanity to man makes me want to lay the smackdown on the aggressor - no matter what the color of his skin is or where he is. It fires me up and moves me in ways that natural disasters do not.

5. 9-11. I haven’t forgotten that many in Indonesia celebrated the man-made events of that day. I also cannot ignore the fact that many of the people we are helping support al-Qaeda. This fact is conveniently ignored or glossed over by the hope that our aid and help will win hearts and minds over to our side.

Sorry, but history has shown that when it comes to al-Qaeda and Islamic radicals, there is nothing that we can do to win them over. Absolutely nothing. Why? Because we aren’t human in their eyes.

Our aid to Bosnia Muslims did not stop al-Qaeda attacks at Khobar Towers in 1996 and the embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in 1998. Our arm-twisting of the Israelis during the peace process of 2000 did not stop the attacks on the USS Cole and a year later, 9-11.

Do you honestly believe that showering the Muslim world with aid and money will change their opinion of us?

I do not believe that such a thing is possible until Islam has its own reformation and learns to live alongside the world’s other religions. Until that happens, I am afraid there is nothing we can do to stop their desire for killing us.

And here lies the crux of my detachment from the aid effort. Should another 9-11 happen tomorrow, I’m sure the same people we are helping today will be celebrating our loss of life in the streets.

Am I being too cynical? Too harsh? I wish I could care more - but I just can’t.

I’m not alone when it comes to finding Intelligent Design utter garbage. John Derbyshire does too (link):

By contrast with these meta-topics about which we know nothing – the questions about which may not even have meaning – we know a great deal about the actual mechanisms of natural selection, gene function, inheritance, matter-energy systems, and the early history of the universe; but there are many things we do not fully understand, and the ID-ers wish to plug those gaps by invoking the intervention of a higher intelligence. Working scientists in these fields are much, much more likely to say: “Well, let’s wait and see what a couple more generations of scientific inquiry turn up before we leap to conclusions like that.”

He also calls ID “pure flapdoodle". I like that. Flapdoodle. Heheheh…

Just a note that I was somehow invited to not just one but two inaugural events celebrating the re-election of Delaware Governor Ruth Ann Minner. I’m still trying to figure out how this happened - given the facts that

a) I didn’t vote for her.
b) I actively campaigned for her opponent Bill Lee.
c) I have written several letters and op-ed pieces critical of her administration’s deaf ear to outsourcing and providing tax breaks to large companies while ignoring small ones.
d) … What else am I supposed to do? Burn her in effigy?

Nevertheless I was invited to the inauguration ball in Dover (Black tie optional). I was also invited to a celebration at Bank One’s headquarters (probably celebrating Minner’s support of extortionate credit card rates).

Weird. Well, I had to pass on both events due to family obligations - something that Democrats wouldn’t understand given their hostility to family values. It would have been fun to watch a bunch of small fish in a small pond trying to act like big fish, but honestly, if I want fun I’ll eat dinner with my kid; he won’t care if I use the wrong fork with the salad.

It’s possible that I am still on the roles of the Democratic party since I was slightly active with it immediately after the 2000 election. However, it was a short time, I was young, and 9-11 wiped out the last vestiges of the America-hatred that lays at the core of the Democratic party.

In fact, maybe it’s time I just say the hell with it and join the Republican Party here in DE. They’re the underdogs in this blue-state and I’m used to being one myself. I think I’ll call now…

Washington Times via DGCI

Environmental activists shamelessly try to exploit last week’s earthquake-tsunami catastrophe in hopes of advancing their global-warming and antidevelopment agendas.
Two days after the tragedy, the executive director of Greenpeace U.K. told British newspaper the Independent, “No one can ignore the relentless increase in extreme weather events and so-called natural disasters, which in reality are no more natural than a plastic Christmas tree.”

What a moron.

I am a big fan of classic comedy. I could argue and prove that the lamest Three Stooges or Marx Brothers’ routine is still better than anything done by the new crop of comedians ripped out of Saturday Night Live.

One of my favorite comedic scenes is in the Pink Panther when Inspector Clouseau is holding a vacuum cleaner hose in his hands and you see a parrot in a cage. You just know that the parrot is going to somehow end up in the vacuum cleaner, but it takes several minutes of pure unadulerated hilarity before it does.

Genius. Pure absolute genius. Blake Edwards should have committed ritual suicide after directing that movie because nothing he did after it ever came close to matching that level of hilarity.

One of the best comedy routines ever - period - is Abbot and Costello’s “Who’s on first” routine (link). Well, here’s a worthy successor brought to you by the lunatic at Democrats Give Conservatives Indigestion via the Pirate-King.

We Take You Now to the Oval Office (link)
George: Condi! Nice to see you. What’s happening?
Condi: Sir, I have the report here about the new leader of China.
George: Great. Lay it on me.
Condi: Hu is the new leader of China.
George: That’s what I want to know.
Condi: That’s what I’m telling you.
George: That’s what I’m asking you. Who is the new leader of China?
Condi: Yes.
George: I mean the fellow’s name.
Condi: Hu.
George: The new leader of China.
Condi: Hu.
George: The Chinaman!
Condi: Hu is leading China.
(read the entire thing… )

Dunno if this story got covered outside of the Philly metro area. Here’s a link (reg required - ugh!) to the complete story.

There are too many handguns in the wrong hands in Camden, which had 54 homicides in 2004. But the city is fortunate that one of those guns was in the hands recently of a shop owner named Ngoc Le.

An immigrant from Vietnam, Ngoc Le and his wife, Kelly, run a cell-phone and fishing-supply store in the city. On Dec. 31, they were working in the shop when a man came in and asked to buy a cellular-phone clip.

As Kelly Le turned her back, the man jumped over a counter and grabbed her, holding a knife to her throat. She called out to her husband, who was in another room.

In that room, he kept a licensed .380-caliber revolver in a drawer for protection.

What happened next was captured, on audio and partly on video, by a security camera in the shop.

Ngoc Le, holding his gun, pleaded with the assailant: “I’ll let you go if you let her go.”

But the attacker kept holding the knife to Kelly Le’s throat and threatened, “I’ll kill her.” He moved, with the woman in his grasp, toward another room.

The tense standoff continued. Ngoc Le repeatedly told the assailant that he wouldn’t shoot if the man released his wife. The attacker refused.

Ngoc Le was pointing his gun at the man from four feet away, but the man was using Kelly Le as a shield. At that moment, Kelly Le’s knees buckled, and she slumped in her assailant’s grasp. Ngoc Le saw his opening and fired once, hitting the man in the head, killing him instantly.

Perhaps 20 seconds had elapsed from the time the intruder jumped the counter until he was shot dead.

Ngoc Le’s split-second decision turned out to have significance even beyond saving the life of his wife. DNA tests on the dead man, 32-year-old Antonio Diaz Reyes, proved that Reyes was the serial rapist who had attacked three women since November in broad daylight in Camden’s central business district. He also was suspected of robbing a pharmacy in Camden at knifepoint.

Had this occurred in England, Le would either be dead or his wife raped in front of him. However it happened in New Jersey and one less psycho is walking the streets. Writing as someone who once supported gun control and who has been robbed at gunpoint (for $530 and Playboy Sexy Lingerie 3 at a vid store I once worked at), all I can say is I’m glad we have the 2nd Amendment.

Dean Esmay has made me an offer I can’t refuse.

Visit this link now - to help fill a plane full of tsunami relief.

Dean has some extraordinary posts on the possibility that HIV does not cause AIDS (link). The ramifications are staggering if this argument turns out to be true.

Let’s start with a definition of intelligent design:

The theory of intelligent design holds that certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection. (Source)

As a recovering alcoholic, I have spent alot of time in church basements. I have also sat and watched people from various religions and philosophies wrestle with terms for God. The use of the term “intelligent cause” reminds me of those struggles. ID proponents can’t use the term God without damaging their scientifific credibility. However their “intelligent cause” can’t be human - since we’re talking about processes that occurred long before we arrived on the scene. That leaves non-human intelligence, which can only be God or alien life.

Oh, oh. It’s Chariots of the Gods all over again….

Pejman Yousefzadeh has an interesting Tech Central Station article that discusses the rise of the blogosphere and the inability of some paid journalists to deal with it. Since I gave serious thought into getting a degree in journalism, it’s nice to know that I didn’t waste my time by getting one.

It seems some Catholic parents out in Costa Mesa CA want to ban two adopted kindergarteners from attending St. John the Baptist school because their parents are two gay men (link to story). Their argument is that the kids should be banned because their parents do not follow church doctrine. The school has refused to do this, and the parents are threatening to take the matter up with the Vatican.

Money quote: “The Rev. Gerald M. Horan, superintendent of diocese schools, said that if Catholic beliefs were strictly adhered to, then children whose parents divorced, used birth control or married outside the church would also have to be banned. “This is the quagmire that the parents’ position represents,” he said. “It’s a slippery slope to go down."”

Doh! Betcha the whining parents didn’t think of that. Besides, I thought that Church doctrine exempted children from the sins of their fathers?