Re-Tire-Ment; 1 Martini, 2 Martini.....
Yeppers, it is today.....well, officially tomorrow, that I retire from my final posting as "a full-time employee". I shall fade into the shadows of "contract employment".
& My Lovely, always-there wife, the Duchess, made a surprise part of the celebration today at my place of employment......While my Bosses provided a feast for a king in the form of everything from meatballs to eggrolls to wings to crab cakes....plus deviled eggs, small sandwiches, et al.....My bride provided my SON, "Lil Duke" as he is known in these parts....He and fiancee had driven from Jacksonville to Tampa for the festivities.
Meanwhile I enjoyed the visits of many from my hospital....VPs, Directors, Managers, and other folk with whom I often had work....It was wonderful!
Salutes to my boss, the Sr. VP and CMO (Chief Medical Officer) and my Director for the magnificent food and enjoyment.
The visitors were many....the words exchanged were mark to the many workings of 14 years in my current position.
I shall continue as a contract employee, but never again as a full-timer.
My mind has not yet grasped "not getting up" each morning.
More Later as three martinis in celebration have dulled the brain and allowed too much fluidity in my typing and comments!
Here's to Retirement!
Duke
US/Cuban/N. Korean Schools The Same?
"It's time to admit that the public education system operates like a planned economy, a bureaucratic system in which everybody's role is spelled out in advance and there are few incentives for innovation and productivity. It's no surprise that our school system doesn't improve. It more resembles the communist economy than our own market economy."So said Albert Shanker. former President of the American Federation of Teachers!
In a Real Clear Politics piece John Stossel shows the problems of our "government" school systems.
YOU need to read this piece!Socialistic Unions at work........
Duke
NO links....Just a view!
Now, had I wished to do so, I could have given the links to myriad sites with dissections of the current Reuters bruhaha regarding Israeli bombing of a "press" vehicle. RIGHT!
Given the recent past of Reuters reliability as a photo source, I am persuaded that anything they release shall be considered with a jaundiced eye. That they perserver with the idea they are reliable and factual is a delusion under which they appear to live.
The photos are already being "exploded" both as to their referenced incident (a "missle"????) with a hole the size of a baseball????? and as to their "arranged" injuries of the Reuters news folk.
I sincerely hope I am wrong, but wish the folks involved to show me the "BEEF"; give me a view of the alledged victims, and the vehicle.....you know, one without R-U-S-T!!!!!
This happened a day ago....things rust....but NOT that quickly.
If Israel has a "mini-me" missile, they have not yet unveiled it.
For the sake of arguement, let us suppose the Israelis DID attack this "Reuters" vehicle.....if their missiles are this small and delicate, then Israel is DEAD!
When (never) will the MSM demand a reality check before taking aim at the Israelis???
Duke
Truly Time to Cut & Run.....From Philadelphia!
John Murtha needs new glasses.....he is just focused on the wrong place to cut & run.
Gateway Pundit!Amen!
Duke
A Special ACLU Christmas Greeting?
Received this idea from an online friend. Found it too good to NOT pass on:
Have some fun and do something really worthwhile too!
Fun with the ACLU
Wanna have some fun this CHRISTMAS? Send the ACLU a CHRISTMAS CARD!
As they are working so very hard to get rid of the CHRISTMAS part of this holiday, we should all send them a nice, CHRISTIAN, card to brighten up their dark, sad, little world.
Make sure it says "Merry Christmas" on it.
Here's the Address, just don't be rude or crude.
ACLU
125 Broad Street
18th Floor
New York, NY 10004
Two tons of Christmas cards would freeze their operations because they wouldn't know if any were regular mail containing contributions.. So spend 39 cents and tell the ACLU to leave Christmas alone. Also tell them that there is no such thing as a Holiday Tree. . . . It's a Christmas Tree even in the fields!!
And pass this on to your email lists. We really want to communicate with the ACLU! They really DESERVE us!!
Now it is your turn........this is a bit early for the Christmas list, but perhaps you can keep it handy and we can pass it along to many, many more!
Duke
"You're Dead Meat!"
or....."How to develop a
national healthcare plan for all and wind up with NO MEDICAL COVERAGE."
The Liberals long-and-steady cry (oft led by Shrillary Clinton) has continued and will continue, and under a majority Dem congress government healthcare would likely be revived faster than a rate hike under friendly skies!
Before you run off and decide to join the crowd, take a long (25 min.) at DEAD MEAT! a production on the nearly-failed Canadian system of "FREE" healthcare. Free as long as you don't want this healthcare/surgery within the next few months.....perhaps a year or so, even.
How much longer can the Dems still espouse this in the face of the tragedies that are Canadian and British "free" healthcare? As long as the MSM supports them and finds the idea simply marvelous!
We need some reality here folks, and God Bless the Blogs for giving us, at least on the right side, some reality checks.
Right now the Canadian doctors are endorsing the right to "private" healthcare and medicine. They know the government system has failed. The story is
GREAT READING!Duke
HT: for both sites to Instapundit, Glenn Reynolds who is all over this issue, perhaps due his own wife's health problems.
Check this Headline!
"Judge Alito, following ruling he supported favoring the Conservative Union of America in a case, is found to be the Secretary and Trustee of the Union."
WOW!That would be a headline rocking through the MSM in seconds, including at least one or two special editions of the NYT & LAT!
However, since the story is about Liberal judge Anna Taylor Diggs who
IS Secretary & trustee for a foundation which just gave $45,000 support to the Michigan ACLU, plaintiff with whom she sided in the NSA case, there will be no problem seen!
Read the Gateway Pundit
article here.While many in the blogs feel it is not a definite violation of ethics laws, it so smacks of collusion and/or conflict as to make most blush. I am sure this Carter appointee will find that All Liberals are in tune with her line of thinking.
Duke
"Fast-food Jihadists?"
Captain Ed refers to a Der Speigel label of the British group planning to down airplanes as "Fast-food Jihadists."
I believe his theory which expands this new terminology to cover Canadian and American groups recently uncovered/arrested.
Read
Ed's lengthy post and understand.It has long appeared to me that the understanding by the Islamoterrorist organizations of our reticence to approach control of their imported Imams who are the "terrorist trainers/converters; coupled with our huge group of apologists trying to retain Muslim as the "peace people", is our downfall. Until we end the preaching of terror and war against us in the temples of the "Religion of Peace", we shall continue down the path of doom as a nation.
Perhaps the next successful terrorist strike in the USA will change this, but has it in Britain or Spain or any other place struck by these terrorists? No!
Duke
Nagin, The World's Worst Mayor?
Just a question. I, like Brendan Loy at The Irish Trojan's Blog, find it incredible that Nagin was re-elected!
Tonight Spike Lee's film on the New Orleans devestation airs, and one wonders if Spike will even address the Nagin debacle.
Loy, at his blog, addresses the entire subject, and includes this summation quote on Mayor Nagin:
"One final point, since I’m not sure whether this will make it into the movie or not: Ray Nagin is an incompetent idiot. Here’s a detailed explanation of why. Two days before landfall, I predicted that he would be “the mayor who fiddled while New Orleans drowned,” and I was right. Yes, there were massive failures at all levels of government — local, state and federal — but the single person who bears the most blame, in my view, is Mayor Nagin, for failing to make even a halfway-serious effort at implementing the city’s evacuation plan, even though it was 100% clear by the Saturday morning before landfall that if there was ever a time to do it, now is the time. Spike, I gather, intends to focus on Condi Rice’s shoe-buying tendencies in tonight’s movie, and while that might score political points, it’s not the Secretary of State’s job to protect American citizens from hurricanes. It is, however, the mayor of New Orleans’s job to protect his city’s residents by putting long-held evacuation plans into effect when a mortal threat to the city’s survival is less than 48 hours away, and he failed utterly to do so. In my opinion, it’s an absolute travesty that he was re-elected. "Loy's entire post is here, for your reading!I have real doubts the Spike Lee film will be either accurate or free of playing a race-issue as part of the response. I sincerely hope I am wrong.
Duke
An Udder Disappointment!
This one floored me.
HOW far can politically correct be carried?
Well, go and see "Barnyard", the cartoon movie and find out.
Male cows (BULLS) have
udders! Yessir....they do.....I know so, cause the movie presents all the males that are shown in full-length-shots as equipt with
UDDERS!I kid-you-not!
Here are "Ben" and "Otis" (father and son) and a few more as the "macho" males of the barnyard, and they have
UDDERS!Not only that, but the heroine (if there is such in this cartoon farce) is having a baby, and there is no possible explanation of how that could happen. Where did it originate? Who knows!
It is a de-sexed movie!
The males and females are alike!
Feelings.....male-female (only in a warm and comfortable way) are allowed. The male star, "Otis" gets to be there for the birth of the heroine's baby...(NOT HIS....apparently NOT ANYONE's)
The thought of a male cow named "BEN", and voiced by none other than the super-macho voice of so many movies, Sam Elliott, is just sickening!
He has an UDDER!There are a few shots, in groups always, of what appears to be BULLS.....they are given a nose ring and horns.....but, they are never shown in more than a head shot, and NEVER revealed as more than background!
There is NO SEX, and there is NO Male-Female, except in the broadest terms as "companions". Who the heck made this disaster?????
If your kids go, they will know
ALLLLLLL cows have
UDDERS!!!!!!
Man this really ate at me!
I liked the film idea, and the ending....good wins over bad.....but the concepts of the film are simply horrendous!!!!!
My God is there no end to Political Correctness!!!!!??????
Nope.....they will neuter us yet!
Duke
Arlington Cemetery - A Tribute
This past Christmas a member of a group from my high school (about 60-70 of us communicate from all over the world regularly) told the story of Arlington Cemetery and the Christmas activities there.
That got one of my high school friends busy reliving his recollection of Arlington and his visit to it on behalf of a friend.
Terry told the tale, and here
it is......And may you all find it as moving as have I! And a big thank you to my friend Te
rry for his permission to print this.... "Arlington cemetery is a beautiful and sacred place!!! You feel it as you pass through it's gates. Even with air traffic at nearby Reagan International, it is eerily quiet and peaceful. It is a very special place for me. I once lived in Arlington and visited the cemetery many times, usually with a friend and co-worker named "Jay". I witnessed a number of funerals in this hallowed place, some of which had few or no attending family members. That was sad to see but it was explained to me that many had no living relatives or couldn't afford the trip. I knew that Jay was sometimes in pain but he never talked about it, nor complained. I don't remember his ever missing a day of work unless attending meetings at our headquarters in Bethesda. It was then obvious when Jay missed work several days. One of our company's VP's let us know that Jay wouldn't be in for a few more days. A few thought that Jay may have been on vacation even though he hadn't told us of any plans. Approximately a week later we learned that Jay had died of cancer. Very few in the company knew that he had it so his death was a real shock! I then had the "privilege" of attending his funeral. It then struck me that he once told me that I would someday participate in a funeral procession at his beloved Arlington cemetery. Preceding the funeral I learned from his family that Jay was a retired WW2 Navy Captain and commanded a destroyer in the Pacific theatre. My father also served in the Pacific. Jay was like my dad in many ways and also would not talk about the war. He would only say that he served on a Navy destroyer during WW2. Jay was a rare and memorable person. A born leader and an inspiration to many people in the company. I'll never forget him and still try to follow some of the principles learned from him. Jay's funeral service was for his remaining family only. His wife had died a number of years before. I'll never forget waiting at the cemetery's entrance with other co-workers for Jay and his family and then witnessing the slow and respectful transfer of his body to the horse drawn caisson. We then followed the procession which included the symbolic riderless horse; drummer and military band to the grave site. The band played "Onward Christian Soldiers" as we marched to his resting spot. As I write this I can still hear the gun salute and the playing of "Taps" echoing throughout the cemetery. There wasn't a dry eye anywhere, nor could a single visitors voice be heard until we had left the cemetery. Arlington cemetery is the resting place of thousands of people like him who gave either years of time, or their lives because they believed in, and loved this country. They did it willingly for their families and future generations. As Jay once told me, none of the inturred ever intended to become or knew they would be called heroic. How many of you have visited Arlington cemetery? This a "must see "if you visit the DC area. My youngest son was one several chaperones for a number of inner city high school students trip to Wash. DC this summer. The teachers and school Seattle School Board members preparing the agenda didn't feel that a trip to Arlington cemetery was worthwhile. The Seattle School Board thought that a tour of the White House was of more value than a tour of the Capitol or Supreme Court Building. They did however feel it was important for the group to visit Mt. Vernon and pointed out that George Washington had slaves. What lunacy!!! After all, they have to keep the hope for reparations alive. We as a nation do not have the same feelings today. We are being overrun by immigrants who come here to remake this country into something it was never intended by our founding fathers. Today's "leaders" are more concerned about gathering votes from the illegal immigrants; special interest groups and then we have the judges who have taken it upon themselves to weave the Constitution to their own lack of religious values and likings. The last time I read through the original Constitution, it did not mention abortion or homosexual rights. I also do not remember any provision that we have to provide prayer rooms in our schools for Muslims. I do recall however recall numerous references to GOD in the Constitution. Why are we as a nation now allowing religion our founders religion to be struck down. Our politicians and judges apparently have not looked above the entrance of the Supreme Court? I think we sorely need a display of the Ten Commandments in every courthouse throughout the entire country. This country needs more people like Jay and his Arlington neighbors. They earned the right to rest in this sacred place of honor. THERE WILL BE HELL TO PAY IF THE ACLU TRIES TO TAKE THOSE CROSSES DOWN!!!"Thanks again Terry.....And each and every one of you may feel free to pass this on...
Maybe your kids schools should make Arlington, and its story, a priority on a D.C. visit!
Duke
NSA Ruling...Nobody Likes It!
Perhaps the President was quite understated when he said he "strongly disagreed" with the ruling of Judge Anna Diggs Taylor regarding the NSA program.....
The rest of the world....liberal and conservative....have much stronger voice on the subject, and it is universally against the decision as written by Taylor. To find such a unanimous decision, even by those who do oppose the NSA program, is at the least interesting, and possibly a direct challenge to the credibility of this Judge.
Captain's Quarters - Capt. Ed, does a nice job of speaking to the reactions....
"Discomfort with the quality of the decision is almost universal, said Howard J. Bashman, a Pennsylvania lawyer whose Web log provides comprehensive and nonpartisan reports on legal developments. “It does appear,” Mr. Bashman said, “that folks on all sides of the spectrum, both those who support it and those who oppose it, say the decision is not strongly grounded in legal authority.”
Ed's entire post is a good read HERE!I love a good anti-judge reaction....usually associated with the 9th Circuit, but certainly not limited to same. PowerLine's Scott W. Johnson....an attorney of note....explains it in
his post...a MUST READ!An appeal, an assured next step, will result in strictly egg-on-face for Judge Taylor. Well deserved, I might add.
Duke
"Joe-mentum" Real!
Senator Joe Lieberman (D-Conn), has leaped out to a substantive lead in a University-conducted poll. From Yahoo News
Details!Now the rumble is that the Dems, continuing their oft-used gunshot to the foot, are contemplating removal of Lieberman from his seniority place in the party. From
"The Hill" comes the story.As the story details, several Dem Senators have been working to keep support up for Lieberman. I assume the Senators so doing are the ones smart enough to realize Lamont is going to lose....
I wrote on the possibility of both Lieberman winning as an Independent and the possible lessening of his tendency to vote Dem in the face of their obstinance in my post of August 7, just before the election:
"Lieberman sez he'll vote the same if Democrat or Independent....however, the voters may realize not supporting their multi-term Senator through the party will lead to at least the possibility of loss on any close votes as Lieberman may have just a tad less loyalty to the Democrats.
Interesting to watch.
Moving the focus, the KOSkids have, of course, staked a bunch on this move to do away with a pro-war Senator in favor of a really strong Liberal on their side with no platform. If they manage to take the Dem nomination and then Lieberman takes the Fall election as an Independent, the defeat for the KOSkids will be just as bitter."For my money the possibility of another shoe sole to the face of the KOSkids is MOST enjoyable!Duke
Linking Al -Qaeda to Foiled British Airliner Plot!
Follow the trail of control from the band of arrested plotters in Britain, and it is becoming apparent the 9/11 plot had the same origin.
Ed, at Captain's Quarters, lays out
the trail.Two things appear proven by such a link to the original Osama efforts....
The plans for such a thing take a very long time, even years, to fruition; and, the efforts by the US and the Coalition have greatly riddled the chain of command making it both likely that there will be an interception of the messages and also that the planning may be faulty.
We are winning the war....Despite our anti-American liberals who continue to blather about police action. This is a war on terrorism, and the enemy is dedicated to it. They are not burglars...They are killers without conscience.
Duke
Insta-Media.....Bloggers are NOT alone!
The events of recent weeks in Lebanon, and involving the Israeli-Hezbollah war, have directed me to a new and unexpected conclusion. The MSM is part of the "Insta-Media" which to this point most of us have conceded to the blogosphere.
Let me explain.
We begin with the blog-attacks on Rather....On Kerry's lies unveiled....And the "fauxtography" of Qana.
These grant to the blogs a certain immediacy....An ability to develop news outside the MSM arena. News which is quick to find the faults, quick to find the inconsistencies, etc.
However, in my opinion, the war (halted, but not ended) between Israel and Hezbollah has unveiled a new immediacy of news. One from the MSM....And it ain't a pretty picture folks!
I have, for the past two years of this blog, often spoken of the major changes in "News" since I was a radio newsman in the late 60s and early 70s. The idea of offering a single-sided, biased news story when I was involved was ludicrous! I'd have been fired for "editorializing" on-the-air.
Today that is commonplace! In the guise of a news story there are presented many stories which are in fact easily perceived as agenda-driven.
Now comes the Israeli-Hezbollah war to point out the extremes of this new "acceptable-bias", as I shall choose to dub it.
We hear lots of the citizens killed in Lebanon by Israel (many of whom we are sure are "plain-clothes" Hezbollah soldiers, simply identified as citizens. We hear little to nothing of the travails of the Israeli citizens. Nothing of their deaths, except a small prattle of the deaths as a result of Hezbollah's rockets.
The stories flow endlessly from Lebanon, complete with photos.....Later proven staged and bogus.....Even as the area is saturated and incommunicado for the mainstream world. Wonder how these folks in that area are getting their reports/photos out. Could it be the Hezbollah are smart enough to know how to manipulate photos, and stories through the compliant MSM?
Of course it is possible, and I strongly suspect it is reality!
The advantage is, the Israelis are hiding their stories and not letting media in as they are open and real, but unwilling to sacrifice their people to the reality of where and what they are doing. Hezbollah, on the other hand, is unafraid as they find any persons killed by attacks of Israel as fodder for more photos/stories.
The MSM complies readily. They don't even have to have reporters and photographers. The Hezbollah have many and they are readily available. The nice thing for Hezbollah is that these reporters/photographers (fauxtographers?) are in the pay of the MSM!
It is sickening but true. MSM are now a PR arm of Hezbollah with no credible reporters. The only good coverage I found in the war was by FOX (go figure!), and that was quite limited because Hezbollah would not allow "independent" reporters in....Just those Reuters/MSM idiots who are actually Hezbollah PR pros.
Is it possible?
Of course it is, and of course it is unprovable, but reasonable in the face of the demonstrated fake photos....And biased stories of the same woman walking different streets on different days and losing her home each time! Man, she must have bad luck!
We are breeding an MSM nightmare for "insta-news." ER-Perhaps I should call it "Insta-PR!"
Duke
We are Programmed to Fail!
The new UN resolution which created at least a temporary ceasefire (Hezbollah seems to think it is apparently a "hudna", or re-armament time) is going to fail. The failure is being assured by the UN and its feckless leader Kofi Annan.
Captain Ed at Captain's Quarters sez: "
This doesn't represent much of an improvement. UNSCR 1701 does promise a better world, but it unfortunately leaves it to the UN to deliver. Predictably, it has failed to demonstrate much enthusiasm for the task. Its leader, Kofi Annan, told Israelis that the primary basis for its agreement to 1701 -- the disarming of Hezbollah -- doesn't really concern the UN, despite two demands for the action from its own Security Council. Annan also told Israelis that the UN would get around to sending troops to support the Lebanese Army ... in a year. Maybe."Let me see.....No Hezbollah disarmament, no UN troops (would they simply support Hezbollah anyway?), and an attitude by the Lebanese themselves that they don't wish to in any way impact Hezbollah....WOW I am sure this is gonna work.....NOT!Ed's piece is a good take on the situation.I see only two possible reasons for our support of the ceasefire:
1. Bush and Company saw Olmert failing to deliver upon the promise of stopping and disarming Hezbollah by virtue of his apparent dithering in the face of whatever...And his general incompetence.
2. We're not ready to raise the stakes to a level where the entire Iran/Syria/Hezbollah fiasco could be solved.
Duke
"No Retreat - No Surrender"
Writing for the vacationing Michelle Malkin, Carol Sheinin, has a fine story showing how the Israeli citizens are now ready to slap Olmert down for agreeing to the ceasefire and leaving the Hezbollah organization able to claim a political victory....despite their infrastructure losses.
In addition she manages to connect-the-dots to how this reflects upon the situation in Iraq. It is a
great read. I am sure our cut and run friends would find it deniable.
Duke
Proportional Response - The Right Way!
Professor Mike Adams, at Townhall.com, has the best explanation of proportional response logic I have seen anywhere....and
YOU should read it all.Don't you just love people with a real sense of the right stuff and the right way all rolled into one?
Go Prof Mike!
Duke
"If You're a Muslim - It's Your Problem!"
Statement by Lord Stevens, retired senior police official in the UK.....
Britain may be about over their liberal PC lovefest with Muslims who do not accept responsibility for their own terrorist toleration & encouragement.
Here's the entire piece by Lord Stevens
over the weekend.(ht: Little Green Footballs)
He's not alone as LGF also relates from
Allahpundit.
I hope the Muslims continue their outcries as they are working so very, very well. Just not as they anticipated!
Duke
How Do We Read This?????
The vote by the UN is done......now the question of what it means!
Michelle Malkin is VERY negative
in her report....
Capt. Ed disagrees
in his interpretation.
Meanwhile France springs into Retreat mode....
via Little Green Footballs.
My gosh, it is interesting....too bad it is so VERY important.....and I have doubts as the UN and the Hezbollah statements mean N-O-T-H-I-N-G.....They will do as they please and the fact remains the Israelis will do what they need to...albeit less than anticipated, and with less conviction than necessary to insure Hezbollah disappears, I am afraid.
Duke
UPDATE: Sorry, I missed the Hugh hewitt summation which pretty well describes my own views...and then some!
PC & Beyond!
Foi Gras is now "Illegal" in Chicago. The PC Police...in the guise of Chicago animal rights activists...have managed to have this delicacy eliminated from menus. How totally absurd!
The item is explained in a FoxNews story
here for your reading pleasure!My God! What next? Obviously the "Lamb" dishes are on the verge of going away...followed by the stopping of eggs as a staple (after all eggs are "fetuses"...boy that ought to bring out the PC Police in battalions!)
Grass anyone?
Duke
Shooting Goldfish!
This stuff almost writes itself......well, after some excellent professionals produce it in the first place!
John Podhoretz has the sum-total of CAIR and its wonderful representation of "moderate Islam" in our great US of A.....
at The Corner.Just gotta love these groups.....and even more important love the idiotarians who find them to be "moderates".....
We live in some really looney-tunes times folks.
Duke
The PRIZE! - Best Spin of The Week!
".....the Bush candidate got 48% in a Dem Primary"Think about it and then read from
ankle biting pundits.
Priceless!!!!
ht: Instapundit.
Duke
"Young, Britsh-Born, Asian Men!"
M-U-S-L-I-M !!!!!Why in hell is that word like glue on the tongues of our MSM? The title quote above was used almost exclusively by all the UK MSM....to be repeated here in the USA.
The fact is......if these men (the British plot folk) were all as described......they were plotting because they were muslim. It was not because they were British by birth; and, it certainly was not that they were Asian by heritage.
Does this mean
all muslims are terrorists.......NO! It means simply that
all terrorists-to-date have been muslim!Political correctness will end the Western powers....if it has not already done so beyond the point of no return.
Meanwhile, where are the remaining 8 Egyptian
muslim youth who skipped out from their flight to attend a Montana university? Three have been accounted for......Perhaps they were in a similar planned event, and they may still be!Check your 6 at all times!
Duke
"They Pose No Threat!"
Love the FBI pronouncement.....Who the hell told them?????
I, for one, find the fact of missing students from one of the most prolific terrorist states in the world, Egypt, to be more than "NO THREAT!"......
Guess they have magic spyglasses at the FBI that tell them when someone is a threat, and when they are not!
I am not sure I can discern that for myself.
Magic FBI folk are truly wonderful.....er, are they spouting things they do not know????
Duke
Kissinger Makes it Plain & Simple!
His quote:
"If Hezbollah wins, armed by Iran, with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in their forces, and if Hezbollah remains intact, then it doesn't matter what's written in the resolution," Kissinger said, referring to a Middle East cease-fire proposal being debated in the United Nations Security Council."Chaos and tensions in the Middle East will continue," he said. "That is the simple problem that has to be dealt with."
Is that SIMPLE ENOUGH????
There is nothing left to the imagimination.....there is nothing left to decide.....Kissinger is the master statesman, and his views are something we cannot ignore.
Duke
Paid Blogging!
Well, actually, it ain't so!
I am home as my office was literally flooded this morning. One or two floors above my "inner sanctum" was a bathroom with a burst pipe (clean stuff folks!) and it flooded my office. I found 1-2 inches of water over my carpet when I arrived at work.
My coffee machine table was almost destroyed.....my "#2" PC was on the floor and probably destroyed......a laser printer had water pouring into the "in" tray......The mess was compounded by collapsing ceiling tiles.
YIKES!
The bad part is they moved me into this nice larger office (12 by 13 feet) March 2004.... It has had water damage THREE times since, including the day I moved in.
The nice thing.....I am home today as I cannot work there. (Paid Vacation?)
The nicer thing? I am retirement bound in three weeks!
Love it. Now the guy who is partially replacing me ( I will stay on in a "Contractor" role) is not so sure he wants my nice big office. (His is half the size and narrow).....
WOW, what a departure for me.
Duke
MSM - PR Wing of the Terrorist World!
The stories are too numerous to tell....however, some of the interesting stuff to be skimmed will brighten your day if you are part of the world wishing more exposure of the MSM bias.
The Reuters fiasco is widening by the minute. Doctored photos are now only a footnote! Photographer Hajj's work is shreded by exposure of some quite-apparent posing and staging in
Power Line's piece "A Bridge Too Wierd!"Charles Johnson (Mr. LittleGreenFootballs to you!) is on CNN and talking about the pictures which he seems to have had the lead in exposing...
read and watch here!I love Johnson's closing statement on the topic: "
One of my mottos used to be, “It still isn’t weird enough.” OK. Now it’s weird enough."Then, of course, there are the facts of the MSM avoidance of facts........Israel bombs UN site where Hezbollah sits adjacent, sending rockets.....MSM and UN go into a tizzy. Hezbollah hits UN site and hurst three UN peacekeepers.....hardly an MSM footnote. Israel hurts/kills citizens in Qana and other parts of Lebanon while actively hunting non-uniformed terrorists firing at them.....UN demonizes Israel.....with Kofi Annon even considering the fact the Israelis may be guilty of war crimes. Hezbollah sends 2,500 rockets into Israeli civilian territory, no MSM or UN comment.
Duke
Lieberman in Stretch Drive!
One day before the Connecticut election which will probably determine whether Senator Joe Lieberman serves as that state's senator as a Democrat or an Independent, the race is closing.
A Quinnipiac University poll indicates the margin dropped from 54 to 41 percent favoring Ned Lamont one week ago to a much-closer 51 to 45 percent this week. The numbers are nearing the poll's margin of error.
Perhaps the voters (Democratic) in Connecticut are sharpening their view of the political situation, and finding that Mr. "One Note" Lamont, whose entire campaign is based on opposition to the war is not the total answer. The view is also tempered by the recognition that the large percentage of independent voters in Connecticut could well take Lieberman to the Senate again....but now as an Independent.
Lieberman sez he'll vote the same if Democrat or Independent....however, the voters may realize not supporting their multi-term Senator through the party will lead to at least the possibility of loss on any close votes as Lieberman may have just a tad less loyalty to the Democrats.
Interesting to watch.
Moving the focus, the KOSkids have, of course, staked a bunch on this move to do away with a pro-war Senator in favor of a really strong Liberal on their side with no platform. If they manage to take the Dem nomination and then Lieberman takes the Fall election as an Independent, the defeat for the KOSkids will be just as bitter.
Duke
It is a Definite "Yeah-No" Situation...White House!
Now here is a conundrum beyond the pale......
What group in this country can speak out of both sides of their mouth at the same time?
Liberals? - Not my target!
Idiotarians of the KOS extreme-Liberal mold? - Neither are they the subject!
The white House....The Administration. I detect some discrimination here.....But not a discrimination which the MSM will expose.....It is up to the Blogosphere......
Read the words of Neal Boortz in his column today:
"With Fidel Castro seemingly on the verge of going tango uniform, the Bush Administration is urging Cubans to stay in Cuba. They don't want some mass exodus from that country to Miami. White House Spokesman Tony Snow said yesterday: "It's also, however, important at this juncture to tell people stay where you are. This is not a time for people to try to be getting in the water and going either way." Interesting. Interesting, and fat chance.Here we have Cuba, a communist country whose people are truly oppressed, and the administration is telling them not to try and come to the United States. Why? Because they don't want a major American city to have to deal with an enormous influx. They don't want people flooding the waters between Cuba and Florida. Fair enough, but have you noticed something?On the one hand, we don't want people coming to the United States from Cuba in large quantities, yet for some reason, it's all fine and dandy for millions of illegal Hispanic aliens to stroll right across the border into America. Nobody seems to care about the cities down at the Southern border that are having to deal with a large influx of illegals.I'll take refugees from Castro's disastrous experiment with Communism before the hoards coming across our border with Mexico any time."
Let me see.....The GWB solution:
Mexican/Illegals = O.K.
Cuban/Illegals = Not O.K.
Wha???????
Duke
Now Watch the Outcry & Anguish!
I sincerely hope I am wrong.....But know deep down inside that I am not!
6 Dead
civilians in Israel from a Hezbollah rocket.....three of them children!
All based upon direct deliberate attempts by Hezbollah to target civilians vs military!
Where will the world outcry come from on this death-to-civilians? NOWHERE!
Liberal US apologists will decry the Israeli bombing of a building in Qana as just cause for the "response"......Euro-Weenies will decry the spread of civilian deaths caused by Israel.
It is always traceable back to the Israelites according to liberal idiots.
There is NEVER any direct responsibility to the Hezbollah and their provocation which caused this war in the first place. (Excuse me, this is not the war cause...It is the expansion of a long-term war in which rocket attacks on Israeli civilians is the norm!
What a crock!
Duke
Is Hezbollah Truly On The Way Out?
Allow me some optimism here, please.
The favorites of the MSM are the Israel-bashing headlines over the past few weeks...Those headlines which announce how poorly Israel is doing against Hezbollah; how much force they have used to gain little; how many rockets still rain down on Israel; ad nauseum!
I know from history that the IDF, unless some unknown internal collapse has occurred, is completely capable, and able to determine for itself the best method to defeat the terrorists.
Now an analysis of just why they are moving in the right direction comes from Steve Schippert,
writing at ThreatsWatch.
There seems to me much sense in his analysis.
This morning's actions indicate much background truth....Fewer rockets over the past several days are being fired at Israel (excepting some "spurts" of rockets over a brief period)....The IDF attacks and captures several Hezbollah officers in one of their most-secure nests of terrorists (a hospital, of course)....And, reports of Syria dispersing their troops from military posts (notice, I said disperse and not realigned at the Syrian border, so they are being "made safe").
I agree the next two-three days are very, very important for Israeli forces. They seem poised to snatch up success.
Duke
UPDATE: Capt. Ed at Captain's Quarters is also on the last-gasp theory with his "Israel Got Hezbollah's Attention"
piece.
