Stalkers and Me

basil (no, not Basil, basil), of basil's blog has a disturbing late night visitor.

The telephone rang, jolting me from the most pleasant, but strangely odd, dream. The infernal chirping of the cordless phone continued as I reached over to find it. I must have knocked it off the nightstand, because I heard a small "thump" and the ringing moved down about 3 feet. I got out of bed and picked up the phone. I didn't recognize the telephone number, but answered it anyway.

"Hello?"

"Basil?" came the voice on the other end.

"It's 'basil'" I corrected.

"Yes, that's what I said," came the voice. I didn't say anything. He continued, "I'd like to talk to you about your blog."

"Why?" I asked.

"So, you are the 'Basil' of 'Basil's Blog?'" he said.

"It's 'basil' and it's 'basil's blog,'" I corrected.

"Yes, that's what I said. I'd like to talk to you about your blog," He repeated.

"You remember when I asked 'Why?' Well, what I meant by that was, 'Why?'"

"You're not that snotty on your blog," he said.

"Wait till I write about this conversation."

He tried again, "My name is Michael Moore and I'm doing a documentary on blogs and bloggers. I'm interviewing people who are running blogs. I'm also blogging my research into bloggers.

"Good for you," I said.

He continued, "I'm outside, actually. Can I come in?"

Well Then, I Guess It's Unanimous

The Guardian (among other sources) is reporting that Howard Dean has won the support of state Democratic Party leaders today in his bid to become the chairman of the Democratic Nation Committee.

Interestingly enough, Dean is also thought to be the choice of most Republican state party leaders as well.

"We are tired. We have faltered. We will fail."

"The president needs to spell out a real and understandable plan for the unfinished work ahead… Most of all, we need an exit strategy so that we know what victory is and how we can get there; so that we know what we need to do and so that we know when the job is done."

What Senator Reid won't tell you is why an an exit strategy deadline is important. Without a deadline, the liberal faithful might begin to feel that the continuing success in Iraq is a permanent change. Without a "cut and run" date, the terrorists in Iraq might think they have a chance if they can just outwait America.

Luckily, we are governed by a man with a spine, and this will not happen.

President Bush recognizes that an arbitrary withdrawal date (what the liberals really mean by "exit strategy") does nothing for the United States or our Iraqi allies, and only serves to bolster the morale of terrorists and liberals. I can only assume that bolstering the morale of the terrorists is just an unintended side effect of Democratic gamesmanship, though it is becoming increasingly obvious that liberals hate the Bush Administration more than terrorist tyranny, and are willing to go against their own country's best interests in their desperate partisan thrust for relevance.

Reid shows the true soul of the Democratic Party, in effect saying, "We are tired. We have faltered. We will fail."

The nauseous downward spiral continues.

Update: A big "thank you" goes out to one of my favorite journalists, Michelle Malkin, for picking up this thread in her "Quote of the Day" update.

A Book You Might Like

I listen to a lot of talk radio.

Five nights a week I listen to a local New York host by the name of Mark Levin, who in addition to being a talk radio host, happens to be a rather astute legal mind, as a constitutional lawyer and contributor to National Review Online.

It so happens that he has just published what I think is his first book, called Men In Black: How the Supreme Court is Destroying America. I haven't had a chance to pick it up yet, but I've heard nothing but great things from his reviewers and feel that if you like this site, you'll probably like what Levin has to say.

Let me know what you think of it, okay?

Carnival of the Commies #3 is Up...

...And it looks good. Tigerhawk reads the America-hating lefties so you don't have too. Just be sure to take it on an empty stomach.

T Minus Two Weeks, and Counting

As threatened, err, promised, this is your two-week warning for Valentine's Day.

Last week, I mentioned where you could find some nice stuff that she would actually like from PajamaGram, their treat-based offshoot TastyGram, and the rather famous Vermont Teddy Bear Company. For those of you who would like to get dirty looks from your wife on Valentine's Day, there was also Frederick's of Hollywood.

For those of us who enjoy a nice glass of fermented grape juice every now and again, wine.com has some nice offerings, as does similarly-named but different 800wine.com.

For those of you with a taste for fine jewelry alle' is having a Valentine's Day Sale with Free Fed-Ex Shipping. For those of us who haven't recieved their Halliburon disbursements just yet, Target.com has a nice selection as well, and currently are having a 10%-off sale on sparkly stuff.

Of course, for those of us trapped in the frozen zones of this great country, you might want to simply get away from it all and escape to somewhere warm for a few days. Orbitz can help you do that, and a trip to Bermuda right now would go a long way towards curing your frostbite.

Now back to your regularly scheduled conservative political programming.

Liberals Against Democracy: Lurking at the D.U.

Despite the attacks of suicide bombers, Iraq's first free elections in decades seem to be a success. Somewhere around 60% of eligible Iraqi voters risked their lives to cast more than eight million votes. Video from Iraq shows poll workers, voters, and the police guarding them dancing in the streets. Among certain factions in America, however, the elections were met with rather less enthusiasm.

"Yea, this is going to be a great representative government with a third of the country not voting." opined Dark on the Democratic Underground message boards. Apparently he was too stoned to realize that their turnout was equal to or better than the turnout in our last national election, even though we didn't have to risk our lives when going to the polls.

"Just more crap from US-appointed Iraqi puppets," added DU poster leftchick. Yes, leftchick, the American GOP appointed all eight million Iraqi voters. Gotta love that "reality-based" intelligence.

This pathetic crying from DU-poster patsified was wildly celebrated in the forum as the most eloquent of sentiments of the American far left:

"Even if all the Iraqis in the world are jumping up and down and clapping and dancing and crying for joy; even if there were really and truly 100% turnout for this election; even if the winner of this election were truly the choice to represent the majority of all Iraqis:

Was this worth destroying the United States of America? Was this worth sending our nation tumbling into the toilet? Was this worth destroying our reputation and the worth of our word in the world? Were the lies worth it? Was this worth the billions and billions of dollars emptied from our nation's treasury? Was the enrichment of Halliburton and the Carlyle Group worth it? Was this worth the bloodshed of soldiers and of innocents? Was it worth losing your arms, little Ali? Was there NO OTHER WAY to have achieved this? Am I supposed to jump up and down and clap and dance and cry for joy that MY nation has been turned into a shitpile and everyone in the world hates MY nation now? There is no democracy here in America, but I am supposed to be overwhelmed with good cheer that it exists for the Iraqis?

I can't think of a single cause outside of the borders of my country that would be worth destroying my country for. And that's what has happened, I don't care how happy the Iraqis are. I mourn what my country has become, and I am bitter because I know what she could have been. So I'm sorry if I can't join in the joy today."

When America is spreading freedom in the midst of tyranny, it is not destroying our country, but making it stronger, and safer. If our reputation is faltering in the world, it is among those despots who chose to believe we were weak and ideologically spineless, and unwilling to fight for what is right.

No, the best the left has to offer is a spasmodic, reflexive gushing forth of vitriol against Halliburton and the freedom of fifty million newly free people in Iraq and Afghanistan. Liberalism hates all that most Americans identify as the very soul of America. They apparently believe in liberty on their terms, or not at all.

Liberalism rejoices when our soldiers and the civilians they are trying to protect are murdered by the terrorists that liberals sympathize with, because they feel each death is one more strike against Bush. Sickening.

America is watching liberalism, and notes each poison phrase they utter. Liberalism is killing itself in America.

No one will be sorry to see it go.

Update: A big "Thank you" to Instapundit, Professor Bainbridge, and Tom Elia over at The New Editor for picking up this thread. For those visitors who are new to Confederate Yankee, I invite you to look around and if you like what you see, please bookmark the site and come back often.

Also: Please consider helping our soldier in Iraq via the Any Soldier program (which I write about here), and our allies in Iraq through the Spirit of America Iraq Democracy Project. Thank You.

Hugh Hefner To Take Over Interrogations at Gitmo

"The attractive woman strutted into the room wearing a revealing miniskirt, a bra, and a skimpy thong. The man was tied to a chair and helpless to defend himself. As she removed her bra and tossed it at him, he closed his eyes and began to pray. She touched her breasts, rubbing them against the man's back, commenting on his apparent erection. He lurched forward and cursed at her. With a smile, she pulled down her thong and sat on his lap, grinding her exposed behind against his crotch. The man screamed and began to cry like a baby."

Anyway, liberal outrage aside, I have a simple question: how is this "torture" any different than say, Paige Davis' mock strip tease for charity? Was the torture that the terrorists in Gitmo didn't have dollar bills to tip with, or that they didn't like the color of paint they chose for the cell walls?

Woodchippers, branding irons, and pliers are acceptable tools of torture in Islamic countries, but a Frederick's of Hollywood thong isn't. Yeah. What they consider torture sounds like a good night to most guys I know.

My opinion? If you see it on Cinemax every night of the week, it probably isn't torture.

Of course, I'm just a conservative, so I could be wrong.

Update: So I don't get called the next Armstrong Williams, in the interest of full disclosure, I do sell "items of torture" at Confederate Yankee Store, Blogger Gear, and Conservative Blogger Gear, and another store I'm somewhat ashamed to admit I have at Cafepress.com.

Alert the mainstream media

Pot, Meet Kettle

Once again, I can't quite get over the arrogance of Democrats who have the gall to chide Alberto Gonzales in his bid to become the next Attorney General, when the last Atttorney General they put into office, Janet Reno, was responsible for the most infamous 51 Days in American law enforcement, where 74 people, including 20 children, were killed in Waco, Texas.

Puts naked pyramids in perspective, doesn't it?

The Politics of Slime

I created this image in response to a bit of ignorance hunted up by The Museum of Left Wing Lunacy.

Once again liberals ignore the fact that Albert Gonzales had nothing to do with the criminal acts perpetrated by a handful of prison guards in Abu Ghraib, all of which (at least in the cases prosecuted so far) have been proven to be independent criminal actions with no orders from their superiors.

But hey, why let the facts get in the way of a good liberal rant? It didn't stop CBS News or the New York Times, so it certainly won't stop those with even a less tenuous grip on reality.

Too bad they can't as easily explain away the million plus dead as a result of liberal polices of inaction and apathy in Rwanda, Iraq, and Darfur.

From Car Bombs to Matchbox Cars

My wife and daughter filled up a Priority Mail box last night with an assortment of goods that might seem a little odd to some.

• Baby wipes
• Pens and pencils
• Pads and paper
• Beanie Babies
• Matchbox cars
• chocolate coins
• two letters

Iraqi Election Video Promos You Should Watch

Nickie Goomba of Hey, Relax....I'm Just Sayin' asks you to please watch this video.

Something tells me that despite the increasingly irrelevant rantings of leftists here at home such as Ted Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) and terrorists overseas such as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (D-Jordan), that Iraq is far from a quagmire heading into their elections.

No, I think they'll do just fine.

(Hat tip: basil's blog)

AP Editor Run Over By Blogger's Tank

Figuratively speaking, of course.

From The Mudville Gazette (and yes, you should read the whole thing):

...Note to AP Technology Editor Frank Bajak:

Meet CPT Neil Prakash. His first hand accounts of the battle for Fallujah kick your guy's ass. He won't get a Pulitzer for his writing, but he did earn a Silver Star for his efforts. But part of the theory is correct, like the Times, I'm sure he'd credit a bulwark of experience, credibility and financial, medical, legal and logistical support for his accomplishments, and probably the guys who went in with him too. I suppose we could call them a "staff of savvy locals." Frankly, you've really got to expand your knowledge base, build credibility and respect before publishing things about web logs. wade a little deeper into the blogosphere one of these days if you get some time.

On the other hand, to give credit where due, no one covers the insurgent side of the war quite like the AP.

Oil for Peanuts

Aaron at The Blue State Conservatives is reporting that Jimmy Carter might be linked to the United Nations Oil-for-Food scandal.

It is unclear whether Peter Pan, Skippy, or JIF will also be implicated at this time.

Sig Murdoch! Ted Turner Rants

Had Ted Turner been drinking with Ted Kennedy?

Turner called Fox News a propaganda tool of the Bush administration and indirectly compared it to Hitler during a Q&A session at the National Association for Television Programming Executives' conference .

However, Turner had no comments about the apparent collusion between CBS and the DNC in their "fake but accurate" falsified Texas Air National Guard documents story, nor Michael "Some Animals are Moore Equal" Moore and his crockumentaries.

It seems pretty obvious Turner doesn't mind propaganda, as long as it comes from his side.

I think I've heard this line before.

With Ted's comments, I think we can now make the new total 450 things.

FOX Responds: "Ted is understandably bitter having lost his ratings, his network and now his mind -- we wish him well."

Personally, I don't think Turner ever psychologically recovered from getting beaten down by Vince McMahon. He just went downhill from there, like a wrestler that has been pile-drived into the mat far too many times.

By Any Means Necessary

MSNBC.com is running a Doug Struck/Washington Post article today, claiming torture in Iraq is still routine, at least according to a report issued by Human Rights Watch. HRW is an organization that takes great pains to avoid mentioning that Darfur is a Arab Muslim genocide of African Muslims and Christians. So much for their objectivity, or credibility.

In any event, the article states that Iraqis are routinely beaten, hung by their wrists, and shocked with electrical wires. Struck makes sure to use a quote from an Iraqi by the name of Dhia Fawzi Shaid, claming that the the torture is "worse than Saddam's regime."

Really?

Would Dhia Fawzi Shaid come forward openly, using his full name, and complain to an international organization with full media exposure if Saddam was still in power? Only if he would like to be intimately acquainted with the inner machinations of a wood chipper. Color me skeptical, and this report less than honest.

Human Rights Watch also acknowledges that Iraq was, "in the throes of a significant insurgency" (who knew?) , but what really got under my skin was the statement in the Human Rights Watch report that:

"no government, not Saddam Hussein's, not the occupying powers and not the Iraqi Interim Government, can justify ill-treatment of persons in custody in the name of security."

Ladies and gentlemen, I've got news for you: if you are in the middle of an insurgency and capture someone that may have information about an impending attack that will almost certainly take the lives of dozens of men, women, and children, it it not only morally justified to use every method at your disposal to avert that attack, it is your moral imperative.

Yes, the "ill-treatment" of prisoners in a combat zone is acceptable and justifiable to get the intelligence needed to save a far greater number of lives. Yes, I condone torture in extreme cases, and even summary executions.

To say you will not use every means necessary to avoid terrorist attacks is to say you hold the lives of the terrorist in higher regard than the lives of Iraqi mothers, fathers, and children. Does anyone dare make that case?

You must do what you must to save lives. I don't care if this involves electrical shock to the genitals of terrorists or the cutting off of their fingers joint-by-joint. If having your compatriot's gray matter splattered all over your burka loosens your tongue, then so be it.

As someone once astutely noted, war is Hell.

That said, torture is obviously unacceptable for routine criminal offenses, and I'm neither thrilled nor surprised that the Iraqi prison system is still in need of substantial reform.

But don't try to tell me torture is never justified.

It simply isn't true.

It's No Fun, Being an Illegal Elian

From Yahoo! News:

MIAMI - A trial opened Monday in a $3 million-plus lawsuit by 13 people who say they were injured or traumatized when federal agents seized a screaming Elian Gonzalez from his Miami relatives' home.

The opening witness was neighbor Maria Riera, who testified that she clutched her chest and thought she was dying when an agent doused her with tear gas during the April 22, 2000, raid to reunite the 6-year-old boy with his father in Cuba.

The 13 neighbors and protesters are seeking up to $250,000 each, claiming that agents used excessive force during the armed raid.

"I was stopped by a gentleman on my left approaching me with a shotgun," said Riera, who lived across the street from the home where the boy had lived since shortly after he was rescued from a shipwreck on Thanksgiving Day 1999.

She said a black-garbed agent wearing a mask ordered her to "stand back" or he would shoot, adding a word of profanity. She said she complied, but a second agent approached with a gas gun as she stood in her driveway and left her in a gray cloud of tear gas.

A total of 108 people sued over the raid, but U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore limited the case to people who were not on the Gonzalez family property and were beyond police barricades.

Elian, now 11, was one of three survivors of a shipwreck that killed his mother.

The raid took place after the family refused to return the boy so he could be taken back to Cuba.

As for those suing...well, I'm sure that the law enforcement guys who had to execute this raid were tramautized as well. Perhaps the government or the individual officers should countersue the protestors for damages?

Carnival of the Commies, Week 2

Tigerhawk quietly posted the second week of Carnival of the Communists on Sunday.

It includes a link to a lefty blogger who lionizes Osama's favorite journalist, Robert Fisk, and provides a link to the most disturbing image in human history, and I'm no talking about the suicidal rabbit, either.

Need I say more?

Lame Ducks and Other Foul Creatures

The University of Oregon has banned the near ubiquitous yellow "Support the Troops" ribbons found across the country as a political statement.

Kevin McCollough has the details of this disgusting stifling of dissent popular support for our troops. Who do they think they are, Columbia?

Meanwhile, UCLA's student paper spreads terrorist propaganda. Who do they think they are? Columbia?

Stanford?

Duke?

And those are just a scant handful of universities supporting Islamofascism. I guess we're getting a clearer understanding of so-called "diversity" in ultra-liberal university cultures, aren't we?

Boxer Suffers Too Many Hits to the Head

Senator Barbara Boxer, who attacked the integrity of Secretary of State nominee Condoleeza Rice, is now attempting to play the victim, saying she was the one attacked by Rice during the Senate Foreign Relations Commitee hearings last week.

That's funny. I specifically recall Boxer saying, "I personally believe -- this is my personal view -- that your loyalty to the mission you were given, to sell this war, overwhelmed your respect for the truth."

Boxer was calling Dr. Rice a liar in no uncertain terms.

I guess this leader of the "reality-based community" is getting further from reality every day. That, or Babs might have pounded her head against the wall one time too many after Bush was certified the winner of the election. She should consider getting her PEST treated.

Captain's Quarters has more.

T-Minus 3 Weeks for Valentine's Day

If you guys are anything like me, you tend to forget about holiday's until the very last minute, leaving yourself to scramble for the lame, last-second cards and presents nobody else wanted.

As something of a public service annoucement for you (and a shameless plug for my advertisers), I've decide that I'd drop in a short reminder post to you every Monday leading up to Valentine's to keep you out of trouble, and potentially make you a hero in the eyes of your spouse or that "special someone."

While I'm sure I can sell Frederick's of Hollywood stuff to the guys, I have it on good authority that something from PajamaGram tends to be a bit better received by most of the ladies.

In addition to that, a lot of folks like Valetines' sweets, and TastyGram has a pretty good reputation for being able to satisfy that need.

Another gift that scores well among ladies of all ages are the bears from the Vermont Teddy Bear Company.

So consider yourself warned, and don't wait till the last second guys, I'd hate to see you in the dog house.

We now return you to your regularly-scheduled conservative political blogging.

Milblogger Wins Silver Star

1st Lt. Neil Prakesh of ARMOR GEDDON (and Syracuse, NY) was recently presented a Silver Star for action in Ba'quabah, Iraq.

Congratulations, Avenger Red Six.

(hat tip LGF)

New York Blizzard Live-Blogging

Look! The first snowflake!

And another...

And another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another--oh look, a squirrel--and another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another--hey, a plow truck--and another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another...

For some applications, live-blogging is overrated.

"America Is Divided By Jerks."

P.J. O Rourke's An Alternative Inaugural Address
(hat tip: The Ebb & Flow Institute)

MY FELLOW AMERICANS, I had intended to reach out to all of you and bring a divided nation together. But I changed my mind. America isn't divided by political ethos or ethnic origin. America isn't divided by region or religion. America is divided by jerks. Who wants to bring a bunch of jerks together with the rest of us? Let them stew in Berkeley, Boston, and Ann Arbor.

The media say that I won the election on the strength of moral values. If the other fellow had become president, would the media have said that he won the election on the strength of immoral values? For once the media would have been right.

Some Animals Are Moore Equal

I love the smell of hypocrisy in the morning, it smells like... bacon.

Yes, the fat frying this morning belongs to none other than Michael Moore.

Moore, who disingenuously challenged America's gun culture and history with his now customary use of inaccurate, contradictory and confused information in Bowling for Columbine, just had his bodyguard arrested for attempting to illegally carry a handgun onto a flight at JFK Airport in New York.

Moore now joins gun-grabbers Chuck Schumer and Ted Kennedy,Dianne Feinstien, Barbara Boxer, and many more that belong to the liberal culture that tells us, "do as I say, not as I do."

"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others," was the proclamation by the pigs of Orwell's classic Animal Farm.

It looks like Michael Moore is one pig who took that lesson to heart.

Update: You've got to L-O-V-E synergy. I also just won the weekly photo caption contest at Slant Point. The winning comment? You have to see it for yourself.

Update 2: Hello, Instapundit readers! Be sure to look around the site and bookmark it (CRTL+B, Mom) if you like it. Also check out my advertisers so I can afford a new gun of my own. Thanks!

Update 3: Readers are expanding the list of those that apparently feel they are "more equal than others."

"Tongueboy" reports late columnist and rabid gun control advocate, Carl Rowan, managed to shoot a trespasser with his unregistered gun.

"Brad" adds that California State Senator Don Perata (D) has a CCW for a Beretta 92F 9mm an identical copy of the military M9. Most of you would recognize the 92F/M9 as pistol carried by Mel Gibson's character in the Lethal Weapon series and Bruce Willis' in the Diehard series. Yippie-ki-yea, Don.

I'm sure more qualify. Keep them coming.

The "I'm a Bad Capitalist" Update: I forgot to ask my visitors to check out the Confederate Yankee Store for "Luck Fiberals" Merchandise and my new "Unlike Liberals" bumper sticker.

The "Fox News Must Have Hired Mary Mapes" Update.
Apparently, Fox News really screwed up this story, but Moore's hypocrisy still stands. As Moorewatch reader Rann Aridon says:

"Just because the guy wasn't in the process of guarding Moore at the time doesn't detract from the fact that Moore still employs bodyguards armed with the very weapons he wants to deny the "common people" he claims to represent."

My Blue States Conservatives Article Is Up

My guest-blogging article Can the Declaration be Drafted? is up over at The Blue State Conservatives.

Rice Confirmation Mini-Roundup

Like most of you, I have better things to do with my day than watch the Secretary of State confirmation hearings (such as my job, or alphabetizing my socks). Still, the news clips shown last night on the various cable news outlets all seemed to show what we expected going into the hearings, namely that Dr. Rice would be calm, professional and the epitome of the word "classy," while Senate Democrats would be anything but that.

At least one blogger has the real story, but don't expect to find much resembling insightful commentary from the left. The deep analysis from the reality-challenged community focuses on how Rice was "grilled like Mahi-Mahi in Miami" and how Barbara Boxer was a hero for stooping to petty personal attacks. Yet librals can't figure out why moderates grow more disgusted with them every day.

Mini-Roundup

• Instapunk reports on Kerry's near-meltdown during the hearings
• Sisu captures a couple of soundbites and draws an interesting visual comparison
• LGF reader Model4 catches Barbara Boxer lying through her teeth
• Blogs For Bush catches it as well

• Jimme at Blue State Conservatives dissects the day's events with specific focus on Dodd's obsession with the torture issue and how Rice may have missed a chance to knock it out of the park
• Polipundit suggests Dr. Rice's future job after her tenure as Secretary of State
• La Shawn Barber takes dead aim
• Patterico puts the homestate screws to Boxer's "reality-based" comments
• The Ebb & Flow Institute has excerpts from the transcripts
• Spoons at The Spoons Experience says Boxer, Biden and Dodd were gratuitously picking fights they know they can't win

Carnival of the Commies

From Tigerhawk we have the Carnival of the Commies, which he intends to be:

"a periodic review of the best and most representative work on the left side of the blogosphere. We will read the blogs you hate so you don't have to, and find within them the stories from the Left that you should know about. Why should you be reading them? Your reasons might range from a laudible desire to understand the other guy to simply knowing your enemy. In any case, this post will link to points of view that don't often make it into our own echo chamber."

Kos He Can

I thought this guy looked familiar (source: al KozJazerra TV)

Wretchard at Belmont Club is reporting that some representatives of certain news services are in the paid service of terrorist organizations.

Neither Daily "F Them" Kos nor al Jazeera have issued a denial at this time.

Hersh's Syrup has Useful if Bitter Taste

Roger L. Simon is dead on.

Seymour Hersh is apparently after the Bush Administration again, but it seems the President he has consistently misunderestimated has made Hersh into a useful idiot sending a warning to Iran.

Has anyone determined how much this one cost us?

Don't worry, I'm sure Kos will think of something.

Harvard President: Women Are Stupid

The smug smile above belongs to the soon ex-President of Harvard University, Lawrence Summers, who said that women, lack "natural ability" in some fields, essentially opining that women were too stupid to excel at math and science careers.

Summers has already been criticized because the number of job offers to women has dropped each year of his presidency, and he suggested that instead of math and science jobs, that women should get bigger breasts and strip instead… or maybe I'm getting him confused with someone else.

A Complete Blank

Sorry.

It has been a long weekend and I've got a hellacious set of deadlines this week, so my mind isn't on blogging right now. I have exactly nothing of interest to say at the moment, other than the fact I'll be working tonight on my guest blogging article for The Blue State Conservatives which will be posted later in the week.

You should check them out if you haven't already, thy have some interesting, and frankly disturbing, content up today.

Also check out the guys at The New Editor if you haven't yet.

Iowahawk calls them, "Powerline with a little Tex-Mex flava." Not a bad analogy, as they are another tight group blog with good commentary and talent for ferretting out interesting stories.

Signs of Intelligent Life

I just wanted to let others know that there is intelligent life up here beyond the Manson-Nixon Line, other than yours truly.

Two blue state conservative sites I've recently run across in the last few weeks are The Blue State Conservatives and Slant Point.

The Blue State Conservatives are a brand-spanking new group blog that launched just over a week ago, and looks like it is going to be a lot more than just your normal political blog, as it already has a post up entitled NFL criminals your children can idolize.

You won't get that kind of coverage anywhere else, kids.

I also have it on the highest authority that in addition to the regular stable of bloggers they are filling out, they have also lined up at least one excellent guest blogger to provide occasional commentary. Gee, I wonder who that could be...

Slant Point is based in NYC, and has managed to thrive as a hub of conservative blogging in the middle of liberal lunacy. Slant Point also has one of the few blogrolls of NYC-area bloggers I've run across.

Besides, Scott Sala, blogger-in-residence, has pictures of himself posing with both Ed Koch and Curtis Sliwa. Top that, Instapundit!

All Your Dreams Come True

I so hope this will come to pass.

The New York Post is reporting that not only is Kerry considering another presidential bid, but Tipper says Al Gore is considering an 2008 run.

As a blogger, all I can say in response is: "Please?" It will be great to have the guy who created the Internet (yeah, I know) running against the man who re-invented the flip-flop in the Democratic Primaries.

And if they become running mates, Gore could keep Kerry's cornicopia of plans in his lockbox.

Yes, I am salivating.

Punjis for Peace

I'd like to take a few minutes of your time to talk about a modest proposal for stopping illegal immigration.

It is simple in design, cost-effective to implement, and best of all, it nearly pays for itself.

As we all know, illegal immigration to the United States is growing problem. According to a recent Bear Sterns report(PDF), there may be as many as 20 million illegal aliens in the United States. These illegals are taking between 4-6 million jobs that used to belong to American workers, essentially outsourcing American jobs within America. This is a travesty.

In addition to taking American jobs, uninsured illegals are driving up healthcare costs for the American taxpayer, which hurts legal immigrants and native-born American citizens alike, and costs the nation billions of healthcare dollars. Los Angeles hospitals alone are losing more than $350 million each year on illegal aliens. These dollar figures do not begin to account for the law enforcement bill caused by illegals, who are each and every one a criminal, and occasionally terrorist sympathizers to boot. These illegal aliens are crippling the American economy.

It is time we cripple them back.

President Bush calls for changes on the status of illegal aliens, and proposes making them legal workers. I'm sorry Mr. President, but simply making them taxable doesn't address the issue, and may even encouage more illegal immigration.

I don't see where plans sponsored by either political party will halt the flow of illegals blatantly sponsored by certain banana republics looking to sponge off money flowing southward from jobs that should be rightfully held by hard-working Americans.

No we need strong, decisive action, and I think I have the answer in a simple economical solution.

Punji stick pits.

Instead of spending billions of dollars and thousands of additional man-hours on patrolling the border, we can simply line suspected border crossing areas with thousands of hidden pits filled with sharp sticks covered in human waste. Then simply send out bi-weekly patrols to pick up any survivors that haven't succumbed to infection or the desert heat, and take them to the border, where we will unceremoniously dump them back into Mexico where they belong.

Once there, Mexican authorities must cover the costs of debriding week-old gangrenous wounds caused by their lack of respect for U.S. sovereignty. I'm no medical expert, but the medical costs associated with treating thousands of these cases each month should encourage Mexican authorities close up their side of the border tighter than a nun's thighs in no time at all.

In addition, after a few illegals return home from Mexican hospitals minus a foot or two, the prevalence of cripples in their neighborhoods might open up space in the internal Mexican job market for those that are still healthy, while encouraging potential illegals to stay and better their own economies instead of literally risking life and limb.

Once Mexico strengthens its border security and Mexicans are willing to work at crappy jobs in their own country instead of ours, relations between our two nations can improve. That thought alone should be inspiring.

Punjis for Peace. Punjis for Prosperity.

Indeed.

Jailed for Lawyer Jokes

A little bit of local news from MSNBC.com:

Did you hear the one about the two guys arrested for telling lawyer jokes?

It happened this week to the founders of a group called Americans for Legal Reform, who were waiting in line to get into a Long Island courthouse.

"How do you tell when a lawyer is lying?" Harvey Kash reportedly asked Carl Lanzisera.

"His lips are moving," they said in unison.

While some waiting to get into the courthouse giggled, a lawyer farther up the line Monday was not laughing.

He told them to pipe down, and when they did not, the lawyer reported the pair to court personnel, who charged them with disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor.

I actually heard these guys (well, one of them) on the radio this morning when they made an appearance to explain their story and get legal representation from the liberal lawyer/talk show host I love to hate, Ron Kuby. While I disagree with Ron on the vast majority of his politics, he is a hell of a lawyer, and I'm glad he's taking on this one... for free.

Of course, this arrest should never have happened, which makes the fact that the two guys arrested were with a judicial reform advocacy group all the more ironic.

Note: Despite what the caption says, the name of the dog in the Ron Kuby link above is Lily, not Commie. "Commie" just describes Kuby's political stance.

WNBC News Jumps The Gun

I have always been a staunch Second Amendment advocate.

I think we would benefit as a society from a national concealed carry law. I am a proponent of reinvigorating high school and college shooting programs, and feel that what the media labels as assault weapons are exactly the kinds of firearms the Founding Fathers intended us to have as I noted in a previous article.

But as strongly pro-gun as I am, I have finally found a specifically horrific firearm/ammo system whose ban I wholeheartedly support once I saw it pre-pitched for broadcast Wednesday evening (01/11/05) at 5:00 PM on WNBC News, New York.

Once you saw the pitch, how could you not?

"It" is the Fabrique Nationale Five seveN, a handgun that fires the relatively new 5.7x28mm cartridge. One kind of ammunition for this firearm is SS190, ammunition that looks like scaled-down 5.56mm NATO rounds and boosts the 2.02 gram (31 grains) pointed steel and aluminum core bullet to the muzzle velocity of 650 meters per second (ca. 2130 fps) from the pistol barrel.

It isn't a hunting handgun like a .454 Casull or .475 Linebaugh that penetrates armor as a side effect, but a weapon specifically built from the ground up to penetrate helmets and body armor to kill the person inside when using the SS190 ammunition. As law enforcement officers are the only Americans who typically wear body armor, this weapon/ammunition combination in civilian hands functions only as a "cop killer." Right?

We would be fools to allow this monstrosity of gun and ammo to be for sale on New York streets, or streets anywhere else. The nerve of these people! Got your righteous indignation up? Freshened your torch and sharpened your pitch fork?

Great!

Come with me and burn down WNBC News, because this weapon/ammo combination is not now, nor has ever been, available to the public.

You heard me right: this firearm/ammunition combination is not for sale at any price, to any civilian in the United States.

If WNBC News had bothered to Google the Five seveN, they might have run across the very prominent information that this specific ammunition and weapon combination is available for government and law enforcement sales only. The Five seveN, itself is perfectly legal to own, but only with the slower, lighter SS192 practice/duty ammunition that in not armor penetrating.

Even in armor-piercing SS190 form, this ammunition is thought to be less lethal than most existing handgun ammunition, and has not convinced experts that it has any more stopping power than the anemic .22 Magnum rimfire, and weaker than 95% of handgun designs currently on the market.

So much for the myth of the magical cop-killer. I guess this myth will go the way of the plastic gun invisible to x-rays.

Remind me again who the professional journalists are?

Post-Broadcast Update
WNBC News, to their credit, did a better job with their story than I was prepared to give them credit for initially. They acknowledged that the SS190 ammunition was not for sale to the public, and were able to show that the SS192 practice/duty ammunition was able to pierce a piece of body armor they selected in an uncontrolled environment.

WNBC News showed footage of a law enforcement officer firing a three-shot group from a Five seveN loaded with SS192 ammunition into a ballistic vest on an indoor firing range at a distance I estimated to be about seven yards.

There was definite penetration of the ballistic material, but their demonstration raised as many questions as it answered, at least in my mind.

What was the age, classification, and integrity of the vest in the demonstration?
How old was this vest? Was it recent, using the most modern ballistic materials, or was it an older vest made with less advanced technologies than are used in the average body armor of today's police officers? Was it obsolete?

What was the classification of this vest? I know that no body armor is truly "bulletproof," and that there are various levels of protection, from vests rated at a relatively low Level 2 that will stop edged-weapon attacks and some low-to-mid-powered pistol bullets, to Level 4 armor that will stop direct, multiple hits from 7.62 rifle rounds. What was the rating of the vest in question? I have seen body armor before, and quite frankly, the armor used for the demonstration looked flimsy, at least on television.

What was the structural integrity of this vest prior to the demonstration? The demonstration claimed to fire three rounds from the Five SeveN followed by one round from a low pressure .45 ACP, but the vest appeared to have as many as six impact points prior to firing the .45 ACP round. Multiple bullet strikes can diminish the ability of the vest to stop following rounds, and therefore if there were previous rounds fired into this vest, it could have weakened it significantly.

In short, if WNBC News used an older early model ballistic vest with lower level protection, and/or a vest that had been previously compromised by multiple bullet impacts, then they ran what is essentially a rigged test with severely compromised validity.

The fact that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms approved both the Five seven and it's SS192 cartridge indicates that the experts who evaluate these firearms and their cartridges before allowing their sale and import, obviously disagree with WNBC News as to the armor-piercing abilities of this handgun and its ammunition. To me, their rigorous testing and expertise is just a bit more believable than an uncontrolled impromptu demonstration performed with questionable methodology and materials.

In addition, WNBC News made no comment at all as to the miniscule size of the actual bullet and its lethality, or "stopping power," preferring instead just to focus on its velocity. Folks, ask any real gun guy you know and ask them if they'd rather be shot by the Five seveN's 5.7mm bullet, which some experts compare to a .22 magnum, or the nearly hundred year-old .45 ACP cartridge. The vast majority will take their chances with the over-hyped mousegun that is the Five seveN. It is highly hyped, but unproven.

WNBC News managed to pull off a more sophisticated smoke and mirrors act than most news channels do in their anti-gun stories, but in the end, it is still just seems to be smoke and mirrors.

NYPD Update: I noticed this weekend that this site is getting some traffic from a law enforcement message board discussing the Five SeveN. I would like to point out that while the Five SeveN has much more velocity and lower recoil than any other duty-sized semiauto that I can recall, there are at least three half-century-old inexpensive pistol/ammo combos that I can think of right off the top of my head that can defeat many kinds of body armor, though for your safety, I will not mention them here.

My advice to the brave men in law enforcement is to simply follow your training; even a lowly .22 short can kill you if it hits you in the right spot. So don't get shot (Gee thanks, C.Y. we wouldn't have thought of that on our own!).

Get expert opinions from firearms guys in the BATF, FBI, and the firearms and ballistic armor industry before you make policy changes and leave the hype (positive or negative) to the news guys, the brass, and the bloggers.

Final (hopefully) update: The Five SeveN was built from the ground up as an anti-armor sidearm and ammunition combination.

While I do not advocate infringing upon the Second Amendment, I would note that the BATF is the organization responsible for determining whether a firearm an caliber of ammunition are available to the public.

Hung Up On Socks

Patterico runs with the Sandy Berger Story:

The New York Post reports:

The criminal probe into why former Bill Clinton aide Sandy Berger illegally sneaked top-secret documents out of the National Archives - possibly in his socks - has heated up and is now before a federal grand jury, The Post has learned.

Well, I guess it's technically true. It's also "possible" the documents were shoved up his rectum. But there's no real evidence of either.

Unless I'm missing something, there has never been any but the most tangential hint of evidence that Berger took documents out of the room in his socks. Wild-eyed Bob Somerby explained back in July 2004.

The Post doesn't do itself any favors with such reporting.

If Berger goes to jail for his crimes as he should, then there will be ample opportunity to discuss what is entering and leaving selected Berger orifices.

If you really want too.

Return to Sandy Burglar

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When the "graywash" CBS investigation of Rathergate was finally released yesterday, I like many others, had my say on the matter. The general consensus in the blogosphere seems to be that of dissatisfaction. I doubt we have heard the last of Rathergate, however, as external investigations are almost certain into the apparent coordination between the Democratic National Committee and CBS News. You can read more punditry on the subject in Bill's roundup at INDC Journal and more blogger reactions at Blogs for Bush.

But as the title of this thread indicates, The CBS/DNC Rathergate connection is not the only potentially explosive allegation of election illegalities involving the 2004 Democratic run at the White House. Sandy Berger, the corpulent Clinton Aide with sticky fingers and document-swallowing clothes, has been the subject of interviews by the FBI and federal prosecutors as reported today in the New York Post (hat tip: Instapundit).

For those of you who don't remember, John Kerry advisor and former Clinton national security advisor Berger was caught sneaking Code Word (Code Word is the highest level of secrecy, above Top Secret) government documents-as many as 50-out of a secure area of the National Archives. These documents, apparently relating to how the Clinton administration's handling of terrorism matters prior to 9/11, were being "vetted" by Berger for the 9/11 Commission investigation. Berger was subsequently forced to resign from the Kerry campaign because of the scandal.

In Berger World, "vetting" apparently means stuffing beyond Top Secret documents in your suit pockets, down your pants, down your socks, or any other available hiding place and taking them to unsecured, unprotected locations, such as his home or office, where at least some of these documents (presumably the most damning) were destroyed.

Far from being swept under the rug, the Berger investigation seems primed for a federal grand jury. Among the documents Berger removed from the archives all five or six drafts of a critique of the government's response to the millennium terrorism threat. This was no trivial matter.

The interesting thing about this investigation is not his guilt or innocence; Berger has already confessed to at least some of the crimes he could be charged with. No, the interesting point in this developing story is going to be how equal powerful political figures are treated under the law when compared to the common man, which could foreshadow how seriously an investigation is persued in any illegal coordination between CBS News and the DNC in the Rathergate scandal.

Berger claims that he knew he was violating the law when he took the documents, but also said July 19, 2004 that he "made an honest mistake." Apparently, Sandy Burglar has a hard time believing even himself.

Hopefully he'll have the time to contemplate this if he goes to a federal penitentiary as is appropriate for those admittedly who steal, alter, or destroy our nation secrets.

Update: I almost forgot to include this classic Cox and Forkum take on the matter from last summer, which has more text links in the commentary under the cartoon.

A Liberal Born Every Minute

Proof that P.T. Barnum was right when he said, "There's a sucker liberal born every minute."

As Tim Blair quickly notes, they apparently haven't heard of the invention of something called a "remote control."

Maybe it is really is better (for the gene pool) that we let these brilliant folks keep practicing abortion.

CBS Rathergate Investigation: What It Was, Was Failure

The axe has fallen. Too bad it didn't hit the right necks or Rather, enough of them.

Interestingly enough, Andrew Heyward, the President of CBS News, was not asked to resign.

When a football team blows a season, the blame usually falls on the head coach. Instead of firing the head coach (Heyward), CBS chose the equivalent of firing a few position coaches and trading some players. As any football fan knows, when you leave a failing coach at the helm, he will continue to make the same bad decisions that led to the losing season, even if his coaching staff or personnel changes. Bad leadership leads to bad teams, in professional journalism as well as football. In this regard, we can expect a Heyward-led CBS News to soon revert to the slipshod, partisan journalism that has characterized his leadership. Heyward's head should roll along with his underlings.

The fact that the "general manager" of the Team CBS, CBS President Leslie Moonves did not fire Heyward makes me wonder if the CBS Board of Directors should consider not only sacking the head coach, but the general manager.

Until the senior management is changed, can expect "Rathergate" type inaccuracies to resurface again, despite the window dressing recommendations of the two-person CBS-appointed panel.

CBS News is in cover-up mode (still not admittign the documents wer forged or their reporters blindly partisan and politically-motivated), and has offered up a few underlings as a sacrifice to the American people, but it does not seem to be serious about making changes to the underlying organizational structure that allowed Rathergate to happen.

We will see another "Rathergate" at CBS News.

It is simply a matter of time.

New CBS Reporting Standards Really Help

The axe has fallen in the Rathergate investigation. Too bad it hasn't helped their ability to air accurate reports.

CBS News is now reporting (ed. note: link since changed, read update at bottom of page) that:

Four CBS News employees, including three executives, have been ousted for their role in preparing and reporting a disputed story about President Bush's National Guard service.

The action was prompted by the report of an independent panel that concluded that CBS News failed to follow basic journalistic principles in the preparation and reporting of the piece. The panel also said CBS News had compounded that failure with "rigid and blind" defense of the 60 Minutes Wednesday report.

Asked to resign were Senior Vice President Betsy West, who supervised CBS News primetime programs; 60 Minutes Wednesday Executive Producer Josh Howard; and Howard's deputy, Senior Broadcast Producer Betsy West. The producer of the piece, Mary Mapes, was terminated.

CBS might want to fact check this, as firing Betsy West twice, as the paragraph above seems to indicate, doesn't mean they fired four employees. I'm glad to see their standards of journalistic integrity haven't been affected by the shakeup.

NOTE: CBS will probably find ths soon enough, at which point I'll redirect to the PDF of the original CBS News story.

Update: PDF format won't work with my current limited image options. A GIF of the relevant section of the PDF I captured is available here. Email me if you want the full-screen PDF of the original CBS News page.

Gotta Love Buy Blue

I might be a day late in catching the 01/09/05 Instapundit reference to Buy Blue over the weekend, but as someone who is mostly conservative, I loved their "Blue Christmas" campaign.

It not only provided a list of "blue" companies, but a list of "red" companies as well(PDF), which came in very handy for making sure I bought Christmas presents from companies that still (apparently) believe in keeping Christ in Christmas as I mentioned earlier.

Sometimes, liberals are their own best enemies.

51 Days

Call it torture.

As Alberto Gonzales is grilled for his role in formulating the policies of torture for insurgents, terrorist, and fundamentalists as he strives to become the first Mexican-American Attorney General, it is important we review a few basic facts.

A group of liberal-sympathizing religious fundamentalists was trapped and tortured, and stood by and Gonzales did nothing.

You don't remember this?

For 51 days they were kept in the dark, without heat or light. Even with no physical evidence, they were repeatedly accused of:

• abusing children;
• selling drugs;
• trafficking in weapons.

Attorney General-nominee Alberto Gonzales did nothing to stop these horrific events.

Why?

Because he was an attorney in private practice in 1993 when a Justice Department led by Janet Reno was alleged to have committed these acts, but I guess these acts don't amount to torture when administered by Democrats.

The liberal-sympathizing religious fundamentalists were of course the Branch Davidians of Waco, Texas.

Makes Abu Ghraib allegations of intimidation and humiliation look pretty benign, doesn't it?

Slacker

Blogging has been nonexistent for the last few days and will likely remain light for a few more while I finish a project for my day job and dive into one of my Christmas presents.

I should be back over the weekend, unless I'm not.

Also, I'm interested in getting visitor book recommendations for the Get This Book ad over to the right, so if you've read something more interesting than a travel guide lately, let me know.

Flipper Speaks

John Kerry looks back at why he lost.

But more importantly, is he going to finally share his plans now?

Race and Disaster

Help me understand something.

We (and here I mean "the world community") largely stood by when 138,000 were killed in the 1991 Bangladesh cyclone, and did next to nothing as 800,000 were slaughtered in tribal warfare in Rwanda. There was also relatively little international concern or outcry of support when 30,000 died one year ago in the 12/26/03 Iranian earthquake that the world has largely forgotten.

As many as 300,000 have died in the on-going Darfur genocide as Arab "janjaweed" militias continue to rape and murder their way across the Sudan. An estimated 10,000 are dying there each month, and the world is largely indifferent as this preventable disaster continues unabated.

But you see, these disasters don't affect us.

All of the disasters I just mentioned involved dark-skinned people in developing countries, and therefore they've been largely ignored.

But when a natural disaster occurs in a favorite European tourist destination and a few thousand folks of the caucasian persuasion perish, the world is suddenly filled with empathy and compassion. Did anyone notice that in a disaster that killed 124,000+ in Southeast Asia, and thousands in Africa and India, that the most popular individual "face" put on the disaster by the MSM is that of a two year-old Swedish boy?

Nature happens, and we should of course help those affected by the Sumatran tsunami. That said, it is pathetic that we can't generate the same outpouring of support and empathy for the manmade disasters we can prevent, for reasons that largely appear to be tied to classism and bigotry.