"A Manifesto Against Islamism!"
Michelle Malkin writes of the manifesto issued today in the Danish newspaper which originated the "dreaded" cartoons.
About time somebody, somewhere, stood up and noticed this.....
Just read it ALL
at Michelle's site....Too long have politically correct idiots manned the bulwarks of decency and common sense while we slowly slide under the thumb of ridiculous ideas from a single-sided ranting of the Islamofascists....joined all too often by near-moderate muslims!
Duke
Hillary...goin DOWN by the Tampa Tribune!
My very own Tampa Tribune (no, I do not subscribe to their editorial bias, but still read their stuff)....has postulated that the "Hilldabeast" is NOT going to win in 2008!
My friends the Tampa Tribune is a LIBERAL bastion of comment....
If they feel Hillary is unelectable, then there is a LOT of dissention in the ranks folks!
Loverly!
I am sure they are right, but how nice to find a liberal newspaper ready, even at this early stage to proclaim such a thing!
Read the item
Right Here!Duke
Where's The Beef? (& Potatoes, etc.)
Now its reported again.....the U.N. Peacekeepers have been engaged in the rape thing STILL!
Captain Ed at
Captain's Quarters has a story that tells enough details.
However; and color me stupid here if I am missing something; WHERE's the BEEF! The beef from someone who will step forward and tell the tale of these transgressions in a loud and firm voice A-N-D while doing so make a comparison of the U.N.'s stonewalling of these stories while loudly proclaiming to one and all of the world the "allegded" transgressions of the USA at Gitmo?
Why does not John Bolton step forward and proclaim loudly this comparison?
Why does not the "new kid of anticipated greatness", Barak Obama step forward and demand some comparison from the U.N.?
Why does not President Bush; V.P. Cheney; Condi Rice, or one of another 25 public people I could identify by name, step forward and demand a comparison?
I guess I am just completely out-of-touch with reality.....or am I?????
Maybe it is the fellows/gals named above and included in the 25 who are really not getting the message.
I would almost guarantee you that any public person in the USA stepping forward at a news conference and demanding a comparison of the two would receive coverage....a little from the Old Guard Media, and a LOT from all the rest. PLUS, complete hand-clapping support from the American public!
I'd just love to see it! Will I???? Doubtful.
Duke
UPDATE: O.K., so now Bolton has stepped forward to speak out on the UN and the disgraceful way they operate. Not really confined to the above, but none-the-less he is speaking out! The statement is on bad management and sex as related in this Fox Newsnet item.
Ports - No Starboard Side on This One!
This morning, early, Little Duke and I conversed about the ports issue. We agreed we were somewhat flumoxed about where to land, if indeed we needed to land at all.
Now, I feel differently. It is because of a cogent arguement offered by Neal Boortz in his daily web posting. He gives details of the reasons, and even questions why GWB would invest his first and ONLY veto in this issue. I agree with Boortz in most of what he puts forth. This has led me to join the ranks of the anti-agreement folk. Politically this is a situation which Bush purports to offer as necessary to demonstrate the positive communication between UAE and USA. Politically, I feel this could cost Bush and possibly the GOP generally as an abdication of his single strong suit for the 06 elections....the same one he won with in 04...The terrorism in our face and the fact that the GOP is the only party seen as strong enough on terrorism to keep us safe.
Read Boortz entire piece
and see if you do not agree!Duke
UPDATE: Now it turns out, as announced by FOXNEWS, that GWB DID NOT know about the Ports deal until AFTER his administration had approved it. He is a Johnny-come-lately in the deal. That is NOT good, and does not bode well for the future of the issue. In fact, given a Rovian look at things, this might be his OUT! Now he can bail as "I was not informed" becomes the mantra. Eh? Read the FOX piece HERE!
Shark Bait???
Go and see what is being said
at Hugh's place.....The fact is, there are many who read the blogs, but few who add to the items offered by the "mainstream blogs". Most just do referrals to existing material.
I am probably as guilty as any....Usually as I have little to add at that time on the particular topic...but feel it important enough to expose to larger audiences.
Duke
& If you Eat Enough Sugar Substitute!
What a crock!
Now the NYT.....the enabler of vicious wrongness in almost any field.....has found some real problems with artificial sweetners!
I gues you 1st need to read from the Captain (Captain's Quarters)
here.
Then think a bit about this!
Studies tend to support the ideals and ideas of the supporting (financial) groups! That is and has always been the norm!
As for me....we enjoy Splenda.....all the time!
Duke
If We Just Beat The Dead Horse Long Enough!
According to Matt Drudge the Old Media folk are going to continue to pound the dead story of VP Cheney for yet another week.
He tells of two major news (er...Editorial clothed as news) magazines for this coming week
on today's page.
Clueless in Washington, and other locales as well!
Cannot the media folk read polls? Do they seriously believe that by continuing the coverage their impact will be change in the minds of the public? Do they not know from history that such obscene use of their "entitlement" ends up each and every time by undermining their terrible "believability" ratings...OF COURSE they do! They even admit the same in the Drudge coverage above; however, they continue blindly on and fail to recognize the basic precepts of the media's job as so very succinctly put by Instapundit:
"They keep forgetting that it's their job to tell us stuff, not to decide what we shouldn't be told."I doubt they truly forget, they just cannot bring themselves to believe they are no longer driving the news engine. There are too many alternative sources with much broader coverage; a much higher accountability factor; and, a multitude of coverage sources to ensure truth.
Duke
A Rocky Mountain Stand Up!
A stand up for freedom of the press that is!
Instapundit has the story
for your reading....
Glenn Reynolds (Instapundit) closes with the most concise sentence on the old media's lack of a stand for freedom of the press I have read:
"They keep forgetting that it's their job to tell us stuff, not to decide what we shouldn't be told." Can I get an AMEN????
Duke
Pappy's Scholarship Fund
A bruhaha reflecting the liberal agenda taught in most of our kids/grandkids colleges today has erupted at The University of Washington. A few days ago a member of their student senate opposed a campus monument to the famous WWII pilot, Pappy Boyington...a UW Graduate and person who accomplished much in his life despite the war and a long internment in a prisoner of war camp. Her reason; he was a marine!
The blogosphere has latched onto the story.
Neal Boortz has followed it and came up with a fine idea.....a school scholarship to honor Pappy and to be given to soldiers/veterans or their children. He promised $5,000 to the fund if anyone did establish it....his latest on this is available
here.
Michelle Malkin reports the scholarship fund has been established in her latest on the
issue.
I am sending a small donation to insure this scholarship is established and remains in the face of the idiocy of youth so anti-military as to not realize both what the idea of no military would mean to our country founded and insured for 200 years by that military, and illogically believing that those who served are not worthy of recognition. A truly sad state of affairs in education.
Join in!
at this site.
Duke
Cry-Baby MSM!
Wahhhhh! I didn't get to grill Cheney or even Bush on the "Shooting"!
Thomas Sowell sets it out quite nicely:
at RCP!The rank stupidity of CNN yowling about Cheney going to FOX for his appearance was pathetic. FOX is #1! Nuff Said...
This MSM has a death wish, I swear. They should be careful, they might get what they wish for!
Duke
Cozumel....fun and recovering!
I could not bring myself to snap pictures of the remaining damage to Cozumel and environs. They have had plenty of exposure. The fact of entire several-hundred foot piers of four to five foot thick reinforced concrete missing or piled like kindling wood in multi-ton chunks was stark reminder of what will happen to our lovely Tampa should we ever take a direct CAT 5 blow.
The thing that struck me was the resiliency of these folks. In a matter of months they were near 100% operational. Yes, we had to "tender" from ship to shore....a process involving bobbing people-carriers....but the process was nearly painless. Yes, some places on the pier shopping area particularly still have damage, but the place was open for business.
We shopped, we drank their margaritas.......word to the wise for future visitors to Cozumel or any Mexican port....As one of the ship crew pointed out so well. The tequila is cheaper in Mexico than the mixers.....thus MAJOR tequila content. Poncho's on the pier is lovely for your beginning consumption. The Duchess and I went to see Folklorica, a mariachi performance with native dances and beautiful costumes. The other six in our little group sought out Charlie's where music and drink were flowing.
We all had a great time....and there are some really nice buys on jewelry, boots, etc. One day when feeling a bit more bold I shall send a picture of me in my new cowboy boots of elephant and deer. Yep, I have cowboy boots.
I could not help but wonder if Tampa would bounce back so fast? Given our infrastructure is much more substantial than is that in Cozumel, thus much more difficult and expensive to replace, however....are we as resilient? In many cities of this country we have thousands still living off us in FEMA dollars.....many who do not appear to be motivated to leave their motel... even for such mundane things as job-seeking.
Sorry for the negative, but that stuff makes me almost ill. We are a nation of self-help folks... or we had better be. Else what we stand for is gone!
Duke
Cheney, Cheney, Cheney....Is There Nothing Else?
Back from the cruise and the Cheney shooting incident is in control of 50% of the news (the portion not dedicated to the Olympics....a real story).
I cannot help but wonder what would have been the news story if i had been the shooter? I came close once, back in my early teen years....in fact I might still have been 12. It was a cold Central Illinois day while walking an open-to-the-wind levee. My hands were so cold that as I pulled up on a sitting rabbit my shotgun discharged and the pellets hit the hard-packed snow at the feet of my Uncle Chet. No damage, but with a few more inches, he'd have had a serious foot wound.
Now I wonder what the story would be in the media, if it was ever reported. Perhaps a one inch blurb in the local rag?
Cheney is getting more than his fair share, and the media love it. Somehow I cannot picture "Jimma", or "Bill" getting the same treatment. (Did Bill ever actually hunt any wild game?...and by that, of course, I mean furry critters with four legs!)
Perhaps something more like "accidental shooting in minor incident".....
Sound about right for the MSM?
Get over it folks....it was a minor accident and so much gleeful reporting from the media is beyond belief. Asking him to make a major announcement to the media within hours is beyond the pale.
Good thing the Olympics occupied so much media. That way we avoided, at least so far, having a reporter standing at ground zero demonstrating the positions of the participants and the resultant damage!
These media folks need to seriously think about getting a life!
Duke
UPDATE: From the Tuesday blog of Neal Boortz'some additional thoughts identifying just how far afield the Cheney shooting incident has become with the MSM:
"Maybe it's just me, but while Iran is trying to get its hand on a nuke; while armed and uniformed Mexicans are shooting at U.S. law enforcement personnel along our borders; while congress is spending us into oblivion --- I somehow find it hard to get worked up over how we learned that Dick Cheney bagged an attorney. So .... How about a big "who cares" here?
Wait! Let's not forget the controversy about Cheney not paying $7 on his Texas hunting license to be able to shoot the type of bird he was hunting. Here's an idea: if you shoot a person when you're hunting, how about suspending that person's hunting license? Just a thought."
Cruise Complete...FUN, FUN, FUN, SICK!
The above four were my days on our short cruise Tampa to Cozumel and back. The sick part was NO fun....and was not seasickness but a good old flu. Seasickness was however much in evidence onboard as we "rocked and rolled" home from Cozumel.
Here are a couple of pics of Cozumel. First, a look at the Duchess (at right) at our lunch place, Pablo's in downtown.....Excellent food, by the way, and some quite nice marimba music.
Second is a good picture of the street by the ocean. Two ships can be seen, although not ours, plus a horse-drawn cab. We boarded one to head for "Charlie's", the hot dance and get drunk spot. Then the horse decided it was siesta time! The poor driver got out; he tried encouraging the horse. Then he tried pulling the horse, and finally he tried actually turning the wheels himself. It was a no go, so we hailed the much more common motor-driven cab for the trip.
More pics later!
Duke
Sailing-Sailing!
The Duke and Duchess are off today sailing from Tampa to Cozumel.
I have chosen to go incommunicado during the 4 day trip.
Just 8 friends sailing, and enjoying plus the one day in Cozumel which, unfortunately, is still suffering from the hurricanes of last summer.
However, on the bright side, most attractions are reopened, and we'll probably do some ruins visiting!
Have a great weekend! Be back online Monday!
Duke
It Ain't Bout the Cartoons!!!!
The media focus is hard-wired to the cartoons and their publication.
That is old news by months.
What is new is the efforts made by a number of Imams of Denmark, traveling amongst their fellow Islamists, and using the cartoons, as well as some they added on for good measure (three never even published). I happen to wonder if they were also the distributors of the hundreds of Danish flags which have been burned (Not sure about you, but here in Tampa I'd be hard-pressed to find a Danish flag...except as a small sticker on the back of someone's car).
Jay Tea at WizbangBlog makes the summary some major news source in the USA should have made days ago....and you need to read his summation!
Here it is:
Those original 12 cartoons were not solicited, published, or sanctioned by any state, but by a newspaper exercising its rights to free speech and free press. No government in the world has any right to interfere with that, and no place apologizing for it. Those who are demanding such action are betraying their fundamental misunderstanding of how the West works.
I know how silly it might seem for such a huge row to develop out of twelve simple cartoons. But it is not about the cartoons themselves, but a far greater issue: we are being demanded to submit to the dictates of a religion, to subsume our own rights as endowed to us by our Creator (to coin a phrase) to placate the laws of a faith that the vast majority of us do not ascribe to.
Some -- mainly in the media -- have already demonstrated their willingness to shoulder the yoke, to willingly put on the shackles, and knuckle under to these demands -- expressed with threats of violence -- out of "sensitivity" or "respect."
Others, however, are drawing their line in the sand. "No," they say. No to submitting, no to bartering away their rights, no to surrender.
The traditional response to such stiff-necked resolve is usually the sword. We've seen that time and again in Afghanistan and Iraq, and in the calls for beheading.
Bring it on.
Time to reach out and verbally touch this agenda-driven drivel. Time to recognize the Islamofascists have rapidly learned how to use the leftist-liberals among us to carry forward their agenda by cloaking it in bleeding-heart positions and statements.Duke
Meanwhile Back In Iran!!!!
The complete view of the potentials/possibilities of the Iran/Isreali/US confrontation is available.....just go
here to the Officer's Club and read, and read, and read!
I guarantee you will learn more about possibilities and potentials in the developing Iran nuclear conflict than from ten more sources.
Thought-provoking, and comment-generating, it is a fine discussion without the usual screaming liberal opponents (so far)......
Just go read it.....I am still digesting it!
The future is tough......but then it has always been thus!
Duke
Europe Awakes? Well, so offers....
...Victor David Hanson in a piece on Real Clear Politics today.
"It is not the capability but the will power of the Europeans that has been missing in this war so far. But while pundits argue over whether the European demographic crisis, lack of faith, stalled economy, or multiculturalism are at the root of the continent’s impotence, we should never forget that if aroused and pushed, a rearmed and powerful Europe could still be at the side of the United States in joint efforts against the jihadists. And should we ever see a true alliance of such Western powers, the war against the fascists of the Middle East would be simply over in short order." Mr. Hanson goes deep into the justification for his views, and offers compelling arguements. I find them certainly in focus even while not agreeing with his interpretation of the degree of readiness by the Europeans to tackle the Islamic extremists more directly.You can read the whole thing
here,Duke
1st They Came! Cartoons! - Oh BOY!
Michelle Malkin packs it all in on this piece of video.....
Much more than I could describe.....
take a look!Michelle takes the step we all need to follow....
Duke
Hello, Can WE not protest as well???
I am getting REALLY tired of the protests around the world by Muslim folk who find the cartoons of the Danish newspaper to be so very offensive as to provoke such thoughts as to KILL the perpetrators, kill and/or behead the folk associated with a particular country.
Does not anyone else see the complete idiotic picture this represents?
Where is the Ancient Media in terms of mentioning that the same Muslim folk who are yelling the loudest have countenanced the publication, in Muslim papers, of cartoons which degrade and display a complete lack of respect for the Jewish and Christian (particularly Catholic) religions?
Time for an attack of our own.....
I respect the Michelle Malkin "blogburst" against such activities, however, it is TIME for us to reach out the ALL the Ancient Media, and ask them WHY the division of coverage of Muslim cartoons vs anti-Christian/Jewish cartoons?
This is entirely too one-sided and too much smacking of Liberal idiocy!
Where is KOS on this????
I looked on their site, and they seem not disposed to find any cartoons pro-or-con!
Wonder why???/
Duke
I'll apologize When They Do!
Yep.....When I have read the smutty stuff about "Our" God, the Catholic and Jewish religions in the arabic publications, I can only state i will make my profoundest apology to them for the current cartoons in return for their apology for the SAME transgressions.
& I'll add the pics just to show I care not for their rhetoric!
So tell me, those peace-loving silent majority muslims... Just what do you see in this unequal application of free - re not free speech?
Please I'd like to seriously hear from you!
Duke
What if?????
What if President Carter had been a President G. W. Bush when the Irani idiots took our people captive?
What if President Bush had then invaded/bombed/destroyed the Iranian mullacracy?
What if.....well, folks that is enough.
Bush would have either recovered the captives, or destroyed the idiotic Mullahs who took them within days. Thus the Iran of today would not be! He would have handed the reformists of Iran a new Democratic country! & he would have done so with the same grace and attention we have given the Iraqi people...
Think it thru, my friends......
It all makes sense, and makes clear the MASSIVE failures of Jimmy Carter, and also adds to the legacy of this person who occupied the White House for TOO many years, and to this day finds no reason to hate a despot!
Mr. Jimmy.....go pick peanuts, and just leave the field!
Meanwhile we are left with the pickings of an Iran seeking to have nuclear bombs......Shame, Jimmy, Shame!
Duke
Cartoons are Free...SPEECH, that is!
Yes, cartoons are part of the Free Speech we all enjoy(?)- Like, view, etc.
Now that the entire Islamic world is completely in revolt over cartoons of the Danish press....It is time to look at it through a more open viewer.....Both the Islamic cartoons, and the Danish....
& to find that the idea of censuring these cartoons does NOT jibe with Democracy!
Check here:
FOX reports the ideas offered by two countries!The idea is to relate what is offered by Islamic sites and then ask why the portrayals by the Danish site are any more offensive......
By Islamic standards, of course, the cause of any other religion is not one of interest nor freedom. Just the Islamic view.
The free world is catching on to the completely one-sided Islamic view...
This will change rapidly, I predict!
Duke
UPDATE: Michelle Malkin has the BEST quote for the situation! In civilized societies, if you are offended by a cartoon, you do not burn flags, take up guns and raid buildings, chant death to your opponents, or threaten suicide bombings.
You write a letter to the editor. AMEN!
53% Graduate High School????
According to John Kerry this morning on TV that is the figure....
Drudge has it
all here.
53% - 85.9% sKerry probably was just voting for the added teachers before he voted against them!
He, reportedly spoke with his mouth still sore from the burns he got drinking his Swiss hot chocolate while announcing the Alito filibuster.
Duke
