The Supremes have more importance than ever!
Supreme Court, that is......
Today John Roberts was sworn in as 17th Chief Justice.....so few, over so long a history. I have not researched it, but find that the length of service of the average Supreme Court Justice, and perhaps more importantly, the average Chief of that court is longer than any other political/appointed/elected person in our government.
Next: The Bush appointee to fill the open position as Sandra Day O'Conner retires.
The Democrats will without a doubt provide the filibuster to stop this appointee.... it matters NOT who they might be......White, Black, Spanish, etc. There will be a filibuster which will provide two important pieces of information to the 2006 voters:
A) The Democrats will fight any nominee to any judicial position
B) The famed "Club of 14" Senators will be discredited, and the GOP members of same will be exposed as having fallen to Democrat ideas...not something truly workable....
I Love politics, and find this everything I enjoy....but lacking a firm conviction that "My" GOP will be strong in the face of this challenge.....
McCain, and wimpy GOPs......get a grip!
Duke
Duke...Duke...Duke...Duke of Earle!
Just too easy to pass upon....the reference to the song most of the pajamahadeen will
NOT recall.....
However, the reference is great in light of such information as offered by
Powerline regarding the about-to-be-fiasco concerning the DeLay indictment!
Read it, and enjoy....
I believe this has all the ear-marks of a beginning meltdown for the Dems again in 2006....
One of my primary feelings regarding this idiotic offering from Earle is the anger at such an insulting effort. If someone in "bloggerdom" tracks this vis-a-vis the several Grand Jurys Earle has called, and the apparent "no indictment" several times before the most recent....this lends credence to the Powerline thought line!
However, I am firmly convinced that if the charge is thrown out by a judge prior to trial, it may have an absolutely opposite impact! The Dems may find themselves on a ledge with Earle.....and both may be forced to jump!
I, for one, would not be too surprised to see Earle face some charges in the near future!
Duke
"Let Loose The Hounds!"
The Jerry Steinfeld quote is, for me at least, the match to the decision today by a judge to release a number of photos, etc. from the "Abu Whatever" prison events in Iraq.
Read at Little Green Footballs:
The Story!Now the media, and liberal voices will have something to bay about incessantly as they produce new and wonderful evidence of the events at the Iraqi prison which have already seen numbers of sentencings......but their clarion call will, of course be......"Bush has not atoned!"
How very nice of the ACLU to once-again produce anti-American decisions and rhetoric to support their own clarion call for freedom and openmindedness.....Ha!
These blithering idiots of liberal extremism choose their causes very very well, and if you AIN'T liberal you will not be choosen!
Sad!
Duke
Update: Perhaps the pajamahadeen should begin to refer to the ACLU as the "American Civil Liberaltarian Union" That would certainly not be a stretch!Duke
Today I Lost a Friend!
It was not unexpected. The Dutchess & I are in the medical field (she as a clinically trained person, and I as a reporter of facts on patients and results), and the prognosis was not good. But, how does the old saw go...."not unexpected, but surprising"?
Today Larry E. Quire, a fellow member of my Elks Lodge....a friend for more than 12 years....a confidant in Lodge politics....a drinking buddy from those early years (we both slowed our Lodge drinking in recent years...OK, so he did!!!!)....A past Exalted Ruler of the Lodge....head of probably the largest family involved in the Lodge....and owner of a sometimes sharp and quite wonderful sense of humor, passed away.
Larry had been on a pacemaker for several years. His problems were inoperable. His mind was bright as a shiny new ten-penny nail....and his verbal sword cuts on those who spoke from lack-of-knowledge, or interpretive skills, was precise and excellent to watch. Oft times the victim didn't even know Larry had cut them off...
Neat!
We drank together. We were, at one time, part of the "outlaws" of the Lodge who pestered the leaders for accountability. Later we mellowed. He ran for and was elected leader of the Lodge. I dropped out for a while due burn-out from publication of our "nationally-recognized" newsletter. Then I returned and Larry was weaker, but still sharp of mind.
Today his heart failed him.
Today Tampa Elks Lodge #708 lost one of its most supportive members.
I lost a dear friend, and felt my own end-of-life concerns. Prior to our Lodge meeting tonight I went into the meeting room, empty except for me, sat at my station (as a Trustee of the Lodge), and thought of our many times together.
Thanks Larry for a good time; for your help to our Lodge; for your family which is still an active and growing part of the Lodge. Thanks for your part in our memories, and be assured you shall not be forgotten by this generation at least! For your friendship!
Salute, my friend.....I raised a glass to you this evening at our Lodge bar!
In my mind I shall raise a glass each day!
Duke of DeLand
Wanna Get Me "Breathless" With Excitement?
Talk Space Elevator!
WAAAAYYYYY to cool, and something we might see in my lifetime!Check the small reference on Instapundit today: here.
Read this Leonard David article from last year.....
and enjoy!Now, see where actual experiments into the technology are underway:
Thru an MSNBC report!Even no less an august body than NASA takes serious note!
On this site.
I am truly excited.....you need to be also....and think of it as your on-going Science Class!
Duke
MSM Selective News? - Duh!
It is so very easy these days to find the selective news coverage of the MSM. Sometimes I just do it for the fun of finding what the differences are among the majors.....
For instance......
Zarqawi's #2 is killed by coalition forces......
Let us check the pages on the web......
FOX:
tells it front page....but of course!
ABC finds only that:
Teachers are killed in Iraq.
MSNBC finds the teachers just too exciting a story to even mention the aide being shot....they trumpet with pictures
the deaths of the teachers.
CBS (surprise, surprise) does give the story front page coverage!
here!CNN has several stories....including those about the Spanish conviction of an Al Qaeda member convicted of terrorist attacks....and the 14th bride of a Swazi king....a 17 year old...but no mention of the Zarqawi 2nd in command.
Kind of funny as the media (Read MSM) seem "Stuck on Stupid" in terms of Iraq news....they find only defeatist stories....and stories of other places which are Soooo-o-o-o-o exciting as to warrant coverage in the face of facts from Iraq.
Gosh, but I wish I could label these exceptions....but alas, I cannot!
Duke
Senator "Fluffy Blonde" Wants WHAT????
Yeppers, folks.....the lovely idiot....er Senatoress from Louisiana, home of the complete ability to absorb US dollars without ever producing ANYTHING...has a plan to revive Louisiana.....give her 1/3rd of a BILLION DOLLARS!
The absolute gall of such a person is only surpassed by the ability of people like John Kerry to think they are "in touch" with reality!
You gotta check out
Instapundit!I surely hope the Congress of the United States is not so "Stuck on Stupid" as to endorse, or even consider this idea......
Man-O-Man-O-Man......I have now seen it all!
Duke
Palestinians Reinvent the Word DUMB!
Though you'll never likely hear/see it from the MSM, the Palestinians as a group have demonstrated their lack of touch with reality. In addition they demonstrate just how woefully prepared they are to govern anything.
The Hamas rocket attacks on Israel provoke an all-out attack from Israel. Surprise? Not if you have the mental capacity of a slug!
The best summation of the events and their created reaction comes to us from
Ed at Captain's Quarters.
I tried to go back and look at the rocket firing incident and to find a positive reason for said and same....even from the viewpoint of the Hamas idiots who conducted this sorry sortie. For the life of me, other than the "manhood is mine cause I have a gun" mentality, I cannot find a justification nor any possible positive reaction these people might have anticipated.
Of course, the liberal-controlled MSM and UN have taken the approach of asking both sides to cease and desist. This defies any logic. Israel gave up a lot to try to establish a peaceful existance. Their reward, though not at all unexpected, is the idiotic attack by a poorly-equipt and ill-trained bunch of thugs who had to know their firing of rockets would rain down on them the hellfire of one of the world's best-trained, most well-equipt military organizations in the world. And it did!
At this point it will be interesting to see how far Israel pushes the idiots. Also, it would be interesting to hear or see ANY reaction from Abbas. This would be the point for him to stand up and show his intentions by shutting down Hamas. I do not believe he has the will power, nor the military power to do so!
Duke
UPDATE: The soap opera, with bullets, continues.....now many Hamas and other terrorist types have been killed/captured by the Israeli troops and planes. Thus Hamas announced they were going to "cease fire" once again......then promptly flung a few more rockets at Israel. They have a certain death wish and little intelligence. Must be searching diligently for their virgins!Duke
Gasoline....Price UP, Price DOWN????
The projections and the MSM hysteria regarding production are really apparently off-course as to the reality of little damage from the hurricane to the oil-gas production structure!
How neat.....now let us see what happens with pricing!
If the storm has produced little reduction, and little damage to the oil fields in the gulf it should be a terminal event for the argument that Gulf oil production is risky/potentially destructive......
Perhaps it is time for we Floridians to consider joining Texas/Mississippi/Alabama in enjoying the profits of oil production from the Gulf....at low risk!
NO LEAKS/OIL Damages have occurred because of the storms to date!
That is important! If delays in production occur, then that is business as usual...but NO leaks indicates the enviro-freaks are way too far out on the "scream and shout" ledge without proof!
Enviro-freaks may scream loud and long, but if we are to break the hold the Middle-East has on us for oil, we need ANWR & The Florida Gulf for production.....
Floridians need to leave behind the utopian thoughts of "someone else" doing the fuel production, and begin assessing our national dependence upon the unstable middle-east!
Duke
Hamas...."We'll do Enough to Insure Death...OURS!"
These village idiots of the group Hamas are just too stupid to be alive, and they may not be for long. They take advantage of the Israeli withdrawl from Gaza to begin by;
1st - Blowing up their own weapons and a good number of their citizens while parading their antique, unstable rockets about in the area.....
2nd - firing rockets into Israel at the same time.
Now the Israelis have NO reason to hold back, and lots of reason to not hold back!....
FOX covers it well
right here.
The stupidity of not seeing that, granted complete control of their precious Gaza and the ability to create their own nation, they fall on their own sword by making the Israeli military an opening they cannot refuse!
Now Israel will cut them to pieces, and with justification....of course, the MSM and idiotarian UN will not respond to the Hamas attacks, but instead to the Israeli response.
Duke
Terrorists are "deficient" in numbers and performance!
How nice and "chilling" to hear the forces of Zarqawi are leaning toward "kidnapped" and beaten folk to do their dirty deed......bombings by proxy.....The leaders are too scared to do the deed themselves, they, after all, are going to find they can do this only "once"......
How nice. How very seriously bad!
Now the terrorists are recruiting by abduction and beating! They are selecting their "bombers" by the qualification that they are among those kidnapped.....
Nothing about the "followers of the cause".....
The descent into complete rabid chaos is rapid.....Soon they will have NO candidates to bomb anyone!
We can hope!
Duke
This Gets Up Close and Personal!
We sit here in Tampa, and are in constant (as allowed by availability) contact with daughter Teri and family (hubby Lance...an FAA flight safety inspector....and two grandkids....2 & 4....)
They left home in Dickinson, TX....S of Houston many hours ago. They are trucking N. in a Chevy Avalanche.....They are trying the "sideroads" as opposed to interstates....
They are worried about fuel.....
The kids have a room in Dallas when they can get there. In addition my high school chum "JR" is giving them an open invitation to stay or visit to allow the kids some exercise. How nice to have friends almost anywhere.....including, in our group, Russia! (more on that later)
A room from tonight to Sunday night.
We are praying, but "in case" we have a standing invite for Daughter Teri and grandkids to live with us til house is OK for their return.....in the event it is damaged!
These hurricanes impact us all.....
Duke
p.s. How sad to see many of the flights out of NO ended with results of checks for records finding more than 50% were felons.....What a shame!
UPDATE: The "kids" (how can you call hubby of daughter a kid when he is over 40?), made it safely to Fort Worth and are ensconced in a hotel where they had made reservations several days ago in anticipation....They are tired as it took them 16.5 hours to get there, even using side roads instead of the interstates. They are going shopping and will stay in their rooms, although two friends of "Duke" from the area have volunteered visit/play time for them and two grandkids 2 & 4....UPDATE2: The kids, showing their usual common sense, have been busy....bought a generator to take back home. Also several gas cans filled with fuel for it....plus they have a 2nd car sitting at home with 18 gallons on board if they need to power the generator for several days. They will not, however, leave until at least Monday.....possibly Tuesday.....to get home. Nice to have confidence in your kids abilities!Duke
BIRD FLU! - Learn About It NOW!
These two words, "Bird Flu" are something to learn about. The disease will soon make AIDS look like a mild cold in importance, at least as predicted by most major epidemiologists.....
Read Michael Perry
here...Then go further and learn a lot more.....This WILL impact your life and it could do so within the next few months to a year....
It is not idle speculation!
Read some of the avian flu reports on the right side of the front page of
The World Health Organization. There is even more at
the CDC....including a lot of background.
Get to know this stuff and be prepared......by the way the US Govt has ordered 20 million doses of vaccine.....we have more than 300 million residents.
Duke
Moonbat on Stage - Cue the Twilight Zone Theme!
Just when you think the "raving, ranting" left cannot go further they achieve new levels.....note I did not say new highs or lows as I am not sure which this is!
You have to watch the clip at
The Political Teen!After you watch that you will understand why I have nothing to add!
Duke
Why Not?
I watch the German election process, and I think.....
Why Not?
Why can we not have several parties in the United States?
Of course, the predominate structure gives rise to power and influence to the "major parties"....The GOP & the DEMs.....
I remember when my favorite John Anderson, of Rockford, IL ran on the "independent ticket".....And lost by a large margin.
Why cannot this country mount an obvious and needed campaign to provide us a choice?
Germany mounts at least 4 parties....Perhaps only two are major, but they need a collaboration of at least two parties to effect a control.
We NEED the multi-party system to make the democracy work!
Duke
Hurricane's Over - Now the FUN Begins!
No, not the repair and rebuild.....
No, not the decisions on what stays and what is leveled.....
Not even the quick run-up to full action by Federals.....
Seems the very folks responsible for emergencies in Louisiana are already under investigation for a missing
60 million dollars in federal money designated for emergency plans/actions.....
Instapundit tells all about it
here.
I agree with his premise.......let us hold the bucks away until this mess is straightened out and we know the money we are about to send will go where it will do some good.....beyond lining pockets!
Duke
Captain, I Disagree!
Not very often do I find myself on the side opposite Captain Ed over at Captain's Quarters Blog. His reaction finding President Bush to be too late in the scheme of things with his speech last night is one of those times.
Ed's article is
good reading, but I disagree with the premise!
President Bush waited until the carnage was unraveled, and the true picture of New Orleans was emerging. He waited, even as he visited the scene and toured Mississippi and Louisiana. He waited as media stories flew about lateness of the feds, unused buses and accusations thrown by residents, by the Mayor of NO & by a shaky, weepy Governor of Louisiana.
Then when a clear picture began to emerge he re-ignited hope and plans with his appearance last night. Reaction was not what the MSM media expected. Lorie Byrd of Polipundit.com offers this look at the unexpected reaction of actual refugees as they sit
in a dome! (HT Instapundit)
Premature speeches would have been grandstanding. This speech was a conciliatory, nearly "blameless" presentation designed to offer hope, and pull America back together from a largely-MSM and political division created through shouting, finger-pointing, etc. Bush changed that last night!
Ho-Rah! Mr. President.
The right man, with the right message, at the RIGHT time!
Duke
"The Final Battle" In Iraq?
"Iraq The Model"explains his opinion the terrorists in Iraq are in a sort-of last-gasp mode with their current massive attacks which are primarily against Iraqi people.....an interesting story
you won't find in the MSM.
As a newsman (former by a lot of years), I find it impossible to believe some outlet does not carry Omar's stories of real life in Iraq as a regular feature. The open honest approach to displaying the attitudes and emotions of the citizens is in some instances a bit edgy, but still a refreshing look that certainly rings much more true than the biased and channeled MSM coverage of such events.
Duke
Loyalty.....Desertion is Thy Name!
Mayor Nagin, the candidate for the most inept political person on the face of the Earth.....is buying a home in TEXAS for his family......what a dedication to the ideals of Mother New Orleans!!!!!
Check for facts
at FOX, who is on top of this wonderful warm story!
Duke
Don't Cry For Me Palestinia......er......
What a joke....a pathetic, tired joke.....
Palestine, as a state?
Just check out
FOX, and see the results of Israeli pullout from the Gaza strip.....
Chaos! Pure and simple....
These are the folk who wish to have their own state?????
These are the folk who wish to convince everyone they are ready for "Statehood"????
They are looting, rioting idiots who are under the control of NO ONE!
Abbas, you are a monumental failure.....all the arguments around the world for the Palestinian efforts are being refuted here today......
These folks could not coordinate/control/govern....the proverbial "one-car-funeral".
God bless us every one!
Duke
Stupid, Raving-Left Comments on Katrina
Michelle Malkin gathers a collection of idiocy from the "Bush-Caused-Katrina" crowd in
this post.Man, what a collection of true moonbat tinhats.....They still go so overboard that they end up offending more than they impress.
Good for the Right, except for the nausea caused by reading the tripe.
Paul
Bush Keeps His Cool!
The yelling, hysterical screaming, hand-wringing, sobbing and multiple runs at spearing President Bush with "Katrina" & its' aftermath has been another over-the-top Democratic fiasco!
Mark Steyn states it so very well
in his opinion piece.
Err this thing rolls to a halt, there will be true incriminations, and they will exist at the city and state levels....not at the national level.
Duke
The Fair Tax Book - Get it!
Son, Lil Duke, of Jacksonville, FL, was kind enough to obtain for me an autographed copy of Neal Boortz & Congressman John Linder's marvelous new publication, "The Fair Tax Book".....he stood in line in Jacksonville to obtain same and mailed it to me.
If you are not an IRS lover.....and do not enjoy paying tax upon tax upon tax....Then you NEED to read this book.
NYT Best seller list #1 for at least two weeks, and still selling like hotcakes.
It answers, in simple straight-forward language, the problem...and proposes the elimination of the IRS thru an ingenuious plan. How would you like to NOT have an April 15th deadline each year?
Get it.....
Read it! & Thanks Lil Duke for thinking of your old man!
Duke
An Irish Take on Bush/Katrina....
You have to read it.....
Via Slugger O'Toole (HT): From the Irish Times (Suppose the rest of the world ges the news right and we get all the news "printed to fit")...(HT Chris Muir).......Just read this....
from Slugger......
How very refreshing to find something which counters the MSM tripe on Katrina.
This all begs the question, how long will the MSM continue on a campaign that IS NOT being received by the average reader/listener? Given there is a profit motive to MSM, and that they are losing credibility/readers/listeners by several % per year, can it continue? I mean, CNN/USA Today sets the % who believe Bush was not wrong in his steps re: Katrina at
87%......All this MSM gibberish day-after-day, and 13% of the public are buying it? Har Har!
Come to think of it.....
that is nearing the level who actually believe the MSM!Duke
Dean Steps in It Again!
A Post from Lil Duke:Howard Dean, afraid that his name has not been in the news enough lately, decided to correct that oversight yesterday by addressing the National Baptist Convention of America. I can just imagine his mind in overdrive (not hard to tax his limited mental resources) thinking about how to get his name out there. He thinks to himself "Race!" Of corse, playing the race card is always a great way to rile up the masses. The fact that this group is one of the nations largest black religious organizations could only help. Safe in the knowledge that the MSN would cover any outlandish thing he said, Dean came up with the line
"We must... come to terms with the ugly truth that skin color, age and economics played a deadly role in who survived and who did not."
While I’m sure that this statement got the masses in an absolute tizzy, it is a typical liberal statement. Liberalism does very well until held up to the light of truth. With that in mind, let’s examine his statement through the light of truth...
First up, Age: Maybe age could have had something to do with it. I suppose that the very old and very young might have been at some disadvantage when it came to getting outta Dodge. We have now found out that New Orleans did not implement their own disaster plan which allowed for using upwards of 500 school busses to move people to safer ground. (Poor liberals can’t blame Bush for that either) We also know that a group of workers in a retirement home left its residents to die in the rising waters. So OK, maybe age could have been a factor.
Second, Economics: Without a doubt. I’ll give Dean this one. People with more resources were able to get out easier than those with less. Knock me over with a feather. What Dean doesn’t realize, (or want to realize) is that Liberalism is what has caused so many to become dependant on the Government. New Orleans is one of the most liberal cities in the country and even with all those liberal programs, too many people are still considered poor, too many people are all too ready to assume that the government is there to take care of them. Pay attention Howard.... the people who have the resources to get out didn’t get those resources by waiting for the government to give it to them, it’s called taking responsibility for your own life. Yes Dean, you are right. It is economics and the poor economic situation in New Orleans is the fault of Liberalism.
Last, but not least, Skin Color: What a race warlord you are, Deanie-baby. So race is a factor? How’s that? Did White Americans put National Guard troops on the corners with orders to shoot all black people? Did White Americans conspire to not tell the black community of New Orleans about the approaching storm? How did this become race related? Could it be the previously mentioned non-use of all those school busses? No, that was the mayor’s call and he’s black. Wait, I know... the fact that the Federal response was slow in starting. Nope, it took the Governor of Louisiana 24 hours to call for federal action. That’s not the feds fault and the Governor is a Democrat. Help me Dean, help me to become as enlightened as you. Nearly 70% of New Orleans is Black, so it stands to reason that Blacks would be hardest hit by the storm. That’s not race, that’s demographics. What am I missing? Could it be that you were more interested in a sound bite than the truth? Not a Liberal, Not Howard Dean... Maybe the story’s false, planted by that vast right wing conspiracy. I’ll bet it’s all Rove’s fault
Lil Duke
Comment from Duke: 13% of a CNN/USA Today poll felt Bush responsible delays and problems.....87% DID NOT! I personally love Dean being out there, and feel we should help him book a few hundred more appearances prior to the 2006 elections....
MSM Beginning to Follow the NO Debacle?
Yep, it seems to be true......
Check this report:
from Capt Ed.
It seems one MSM source noted that the Mayor of NO had not even pretended to follow his OWN disaster plan....2,000 school buses, buried in the quagmire, cannot be wrong!
Ho Hum.....we await the rest of the MSM awakening to the obvious.....
I will be surprised if the Mayor of NO does not face criminal negligence charges....
But then it IS New Orleans...where corruption is rampant....or was when there WAS a New Orleans!
Duke
New Orleans "Druggies" are the Problem????
N.O. Mayor Nagin has issued his verdict that the street-wise profligates of drug use and distribution are the reason for the thuggie chaos which threatens both people and law enforcement/military......He said "They need a fix"....read it
all here.....then check my earlier post from Stephen Green who knows N.O. intimately... He agrees that rampant corruption is the root cause....
as he describes in an intuitive piece about the "Big Easy".....a name given because of several causes....many are drug-related!This gets no easier folks. It is sad and depressing, and it points out the under-belly in a permissive society like New Orleans.....
This story will play out for many months/years to come!
Duke
New Orleans...Faults May Be Local!
Over at Vodka Pundit, Stephen Green relates both his personal familiarity with New Orleans and then his take on why the majority of blame for a failed levee system, political force, and police department are the problem....not GWB!
You need to read this perspective
completely.The tired old rhetoric from liberals that Bush is to blame and funding cuts endangered the city stinks as much as the flood/waste waters now sitting in New Orleans. Even the Corp of Engineers acknowledges the section of levee that failed was complete and done!
How did we come to build a city of more than a million souls on below-sea-level land in the first place?
We are years from a resolution of this entire mess, but need first to concentrate on taking back the city from the thugs by whatever means necessary, and then insuring food and water and a safe place for all.
My personal take is it takes a good while to bring such items together as are needed in this instance.
My heart goes out to those trapped in a basically untenable place.
Duke
