An important new article by
Connecticut writer Dan Sargis

"Mittyesque Wardreams"

March 2, 2007

"War conducted by half-measures is not war at all...it is a child’s game. And it is a game whose price the American people should refuse to pay.

As September 11th dragged into Afghanistan and Afghanistan dragged into Iraq, politicians on both sides of the aisle have been dispensing national security half-measures as casually as the educational; system dispenses Ritalin...and with equally ineffective long-term results.

On September 22, 2001 I wrote an article in which cautioned against a quick military response to 9-11. Needless to say, the article did not win me many friends in the Conservative community. BUT...history has proven it true.

My apprehension about a quick military response to 9-11 was a fear of half-measures by those making the decisions. Simply stated, I did not think that America understood the nature of terrorism nor would the country’s leadership (and intelligentsia) have the stomach to fight a real war......." (this is the lead, the author's conclusions follow below, complete article here)


".........America has two choices. Either it is business as usual and we ”rush out in shame and disgrace, dragging the bodies of our soldiers” or we fight a real war and set an example whose lesson will protect us for decades.

If this country has troops in harm’s way, it is the responsibility of our leadership to either truly support those troops and their mission with total conviction or get them the hell out now.

If America is intimidated out of Iraq or “stays the course” handcuffed by half-measures, it will only be the beginning of the end."


Dan Sargis with Ann Coulter
Tags:war,iraq war,dansargis,ann coulter,soldiers,military,afghanistan,911

On Duct Tape

We have long been a fan, and user, of duct tape, that ubiquitous tool and cure-all with myriad uses. We have used it to repair shoes, automobile mufflers, seating upholstery,clothing and more. Several years ago there was a flurry of interest in the product due to certain Homeland Security Dept. suggestions about its use in creating air tight safe rooms. Earlier this month there was the story about the female astronaut going ballistic over a presumed love rival. We were surprised that duct tape was not included in her arsenal and equipage. However, this lead to yesterday's news that duct tape was indeed part of astronauts' tool kit and, in the event of an astronaut crackup, could even be used to "bind his (or her) wrists and ankles with duct tape, tie him down with a bungee cord* and inject him with tranquilizers if necessary."

Our interest piqued, we looked for updates to the Duct Tape Story. We did not have to look far. There is a Duct Tape Nation, the Duct Tape Guys and other web sites devoted to the humor about, and the love of duct tape. There are on line tutorials for making duct tape portraits and even a video on how to make a duct tape wallet.

To buttress the case that some folks are spending too much time on duct tape there is this: Alaska's 8th Annual Duct Tape Ball.

*This opens up a new area of research: "On Bungee Cords"!




Tags: astronauts,duct tape,crafts,bungees,duct tape nation,ductapeguys,homeland security,civil defensed,safe rooms

A Convenient, and Humorous, Truth!

He's also put a half million PR dollars into promoting his dismal movie to the academy so as to enhance his chances of an Oscar. Gee, I thought his film was a shoo-in for the best doc award!

Remember he also invneted the internet!
Tags: Al gore,academy awards,oscar,inconvenient truth,climate change,global warming

On Becoming and Being a Libertarian

Murray N. Rothbard (1925-1996)
Fellow blogger God's Lonely Man recently posted the following excellent piece on Libertarianism:Call to Arms
I recently came across a beautiful and fascinating article from 1977 by Murray Rothbard on the Ludwig von Mises Institute website about what it means to be a libertarian. The article is a sort of call to arms, or a call to intellect, rather, for advocates of liberty everywhere. It serves as a reminder to all of us why liberalism is the only legitimate means by which individuals should be governed:

"Too many libertarians have absorbed the negative and elitist conservative worldview to the effect that our enemy today is the poor, who are robbing the rich; the blacks, who are robbing the whites; or the masses, who are robbing heroes and businessmen. In fact, it is the state that is robbing all classes, rich and poor, black and white, worker and businessman alike; it is the state that is ripping us all off; it is the state that is the common enemy of mankind."

"I am convinced that our primary task, now, as libertarians, is not to hassle with each other on the precise role of the courts or the police in the eventual free society, nor over the proper detailed strategy or tactics of achieving it. As important as these questions are, our most vital task is for each and every one of us to achieve the baptism of will, that is, to adopt and hold high — forever — the victory of liberty as our primary, overriding political goal. This is what we are all about, we libertarians." More here...

Tags:Murray N. Rothbard,Mises Institute,libertarianism,liberty,government

The Liberty Manifesto

On May 6, 1993 P.J. O'Rourke delivered an address titled "The Liberty Manifesto" at the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C. The ideas expressed here are just as relevant today and deserve a wider audience. Below are some excerpts from the manifesto. (emphasis added) You can read the complete speech here.

"All we have is the belief that people should do what people want to do, unless it causes harm to other people. And that had better be clear and provable harm. No nonsense about second-hand smoke or hurtful, insensitive language, please.

I don't know what's good for you. You don't know what's good for me. We don't know what's good for mankind. And it sometimes seems as though we're the only people who don't. It may well be that, gathered right here in this room tonight,are all the people in the world who don't want to tell all the people in the world what to do.

This is because we believe in freedom. Freedom -- what this country was established upon, what the Constitution was written to defend, what the Civil War was fought to perfect.


Freedom is not empowerment. Empowerment is what the Serbs have in Bosnia. Anybody can grab a gun and be empowered. It's not entitlement. An entitlement is what people on welfare get, and how free are they? It's not an endlessly expanding list of rights -- the "right" to education, the "right" to health care, the "right" to food and housing. That's not freedom, that's dependency. Those aren't rights, those are the rations of slavery -- hay and a barn for human cattle.

There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences.

So we are here tonight in a kind of anti-matter protest -- an unpolitical undemonstration by deeply uncommitted inactivists. We are part of a huge invisible picket line that circles the White House twenty-four hours a day. We are participants in an enormous non-march on Washington -- millions and millions of Americans not descending upon the nation's capital in order to demand nothing from the United States government. To demand nothing, that is, except the one thing which no government in history has been able to do -- leave us alone.

There are just two rules of governance in a free society:

* Mind your own business.
* Keep your hands to yourself."

P.J. O'Rourke is a H. L. Mencken Research Fellow at the Cato Institute.


Here's a link to O'Rourke's web site and blog.

"Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys." P.J. O'Rourke
Tags:P J O'Rourke,liberty,cato institute, H L Mencken,freedom,slavery,human rights

NO REASON TO SMILE!

Nancy Pelosi, and all who stood with her, have stabbed the President and the troops. This is a national disgrace.

The New York Post Nails it!

Tags: pelosi,ny post,troopsurge,treason,congress,war powers,

Al Gore Loves Snow!

Analysis: Al Gore Ducks Northeast Blizzard

Phil Brennan
Thursday, Feb. 15, 2007

As a blizzard of snow and ice pummels the Northeast after trouncing the Midwest, and waves of Arctic cold fronts drop much of America below sub freezing weather, the $64,000 question is, Where is Al Gore?

Gore claims that global warming is an immediate problem facing the United States and the world, and places like New York and Chicago could feel like Caribbean haunts.

If there is any doubt that God has a sense of humor, it has to be dispelled by a headline in Wednesday's Drudge Report: "House hearing on 'warming of the planet' canceled after ice storm."

He followed up with this: "Save it for a sunny day: Maryville Univ. in St. Louis area canceling screening of Al Gore's 'Inconvenient Truth' because of a snowstorm."

What must have evoked the loudest laugh in heaven is the notion that if global warming is really occurring, puny mankind is going to overcome it by legislation and business regulation that would strangle the U.S. economy and be overseen by the super efficient United Nations.
Read rest of article from NewsMax here.

Tags: Al Gore, snow, global warming, inconvenient truth, Drudge Report, blizzard

Global Warming Denial = Holocaust Denial

In yesterday's Boston Globe, Ellen Goodman writes:

By every measure, the U N 's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change raises the level of alarm. The fact of global warming is "unequivocal." The certainty of the human role is now somewhere over 90 percent. Which is about as certain as scientists ever get.

I would like to say we're at a point where global warming is impossible to deny. Let's just say that global warming deniers are now on a par with Holocaust deniers, though one denies the past and the other denies the present and future.

Her notion that science is based on speculation is wrong and, of course, her equation is absurd; as James Taranto pointed out yesterday:

..... Imagine if someone in 1937 had foreknowledge of the Holocaust and began sounding the alarms, describing in detail what was going to happen just a few years later. Most people probably wouldn't believe him. They would be, to use Goodman's phrase, denying the future. But would they be "on par" with people who deny the Holocaust after it has happened?

That seems a stretch. There's an enormous difference between doubting an outlandish prediction (even one that comes true) and denying the grotesque facts of history. Because we are ignorant of the future, we can innocently misjudge it. Holocaust deniers are neither ignorant nor innocent (though extremely ignorant people may innocently accept their claims). They are falsifying history for evil purposes.

This columnist is skeptical of global warming. We don't have enough scientific knowledge to have anything like an authoritative opinion--but neither does Ellen Goodman, who bases her entire argument on an appeal to authority, namely the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. We lack the time, the inclination and possibly the intellect to delve deeply into the science. No doubt the same is true of Goodman.

(emphasis added)
Tags: Global Warming, Climate change, Holocaust, Holocaust deniers, global warming deniers, Ellen Goodman, James Taranto

Air Nancy!

Tags: Nancy Pelosi,

Happy Birthday Ronald Reagan!

Born 96 years ago today, his true conservative leadership is sorely missed. (Favorite Reagan quip: "I'm here from the government, and I'm here to help.")

Who will carry on his legacy? It's hard to tell in the pack of RINOs we are currently burdened with.

Special edition of Mark Levin radio show 2/06 featuring audio of the great speech by Reagan for Barry Goldwater 10/27/64, transcript here.

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More proof that liberal/progressive talk radio sucks!

From Radio Equalizer
Liberal Talk Radio Blog




With today's news that its programming will be pulled from New Haven's airwaves, it appears even that bastion of campus radicalism can't support so- called "progressive" talk radio.

With little fanfare, Connecticut's "The Voice" 1300, also known as WAVZ- AM, pulled the plug on Franken, Rhodes & Co. and flipped to ESPN Radio.

Also taking a hit in the move are non- Air America libtalkers Stephanie Miller and Ed Schultz.

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US should weigh war on terrorism tax - Lieberman

WASHINGTON, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Sen. Joseph Lieberman said on Tuesday that Congress should consider a tax to fund the U.S.-declared war on terrorism and reduce the need to cut domestic programs to pay for security spending. A former Democrat who supports the Iraq war and backs President George W. Bush's plan to send 21,500 additional troops to Iraq, Lieberman said the proposed increase in the Pentagon's budget for next fiscal year will squeeze funding for critical domestic programs. "I think we have to start thinking about a war on terrorism tax," the independent Connecticut lawmaker said. "I mean people keep saying we're not asking a sacrifice of anybody but our military in this war and some civilians who are working on it."
Tags: Ronald Reagan, Mark Levin,Barry Goldwater,Talk Radio,New Have,Franken,lieberman,iraq war, taxes,

Blue Man Group Joins the "Blame America for Global Warming" Bandwagon!

Penn and Teller with their funny 2 cents worth! rebuttal. Replay video | Share video | Watch more videos Tags: Blue Man Group, global warming, blame America, Penn and Teller, Greepeace, Patrick Moore,

Hillary Clinton: "I Want to take Those Profits..."

Sounds like Socialism to me!

Tags: Hillary Clinton, socialism, oil profits, democrats

If She Were President in 2002!

"If I had been President in October of 2002 I would not have started this war" (Hillary Clinton (2/2/07)


"If we in Congress don't end this war before January 2009, as president, I will." (Hillary Clinton (2/2/07)

But listen to what she and hubby Bill (7:40 audio MP3) had to say before the Bush 43 presidency. This audio clearly presents the Clintons, Sandy Berger, Nancy Pelosi, and Joe Biden in their strident denunciations of Saddam Hussein and, moreover, emphasizing the dictator's possession of, and usage of WMD.

Here are excerpts from the Dec 1998 speech by President Clinton in which he announces the failure of inspections and the need for military action against Saddam Hussein.

President Clinton:" This situation presents a clear and present danger to the stability of the Persian Gulf and the safety of people everywhere. The international community gave Saddam one last chance to resume cooperation with the weapons inspectors. Saddam has failed to seize the chance.

And so we had to act and act now......That is why, on the unanimous recommendation of my national security team -- including the vice president, the secretary of defense, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, the secretary of state and the national security adviser -- I have ordered a strong, sustained series of air strikes against Iraq.....So we will pursue a long-term strategy to contain Iraq and its weapons of mass destruction and work toward the day when Iraq has a government worthy of its people.....The hard fact is that so long as Saddam remains in power, he threatens the well-being of his people, the peace of his region, the security of the world..... Heavy as they are, the costs of action must be weighed against the price of inaction. If Saddam defies the world and we fail to respond, we will face a far greater threat in the future. Saddam will strike again at his neighbors. He will make war on his own people.

And mark my words, he will develop weapons of mass destruction. He will deploy them, and he will use them."

Tags: Saddam Hussein, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Iraq War, WMD, Biden, Pelosi, Sandy Berger

In testimony before the senate Foreign Relations Committee last week Newt Gingrich offered an 18 point plan to insure victory in Iraq.

The Cost of Defeat in Iraq and the Cost of Victory in Iraq - 18 Points

Point 6 is particularly interesting:

"Establish three plans: one for achieving victory with the help of the Iraqi government, one for achieving victory with the passive acquiescence of the Iraqi government, one for achieving victory even if the current Iraqi government is unhappy. The third plan may involve very significant shifts in troops and resources away from Baghdad and a process of allowing the Iraqi central government to fend for itself if it refuses to cooperate."


To bolster the above ideas he says:

There are three fundamental weaknesses in the current strategy.


First, the strategy relies on the Iraqis somehow magically improving their performance in a very short time period. Yet the argument for staying in Iraq is that it is a vital AMERICAN interest. If we are seeking victory in Iraq because it is vital to America then we need a strategy which will win even if our Iraqi allies are inadequate. We did not rely on the Free French to defeat Nazi Germany. We did not rely on the South Koreans to stop North Korea and China during the Korean War. When it mattered to American vital interests we accepted all the help we could get but we made sure we had enough strength to win on our own if need be......The inherent contradiction in the administration strategy is simple. If Iraq matters as much as the President says it does (and here I agree with the President on the supreme importance of victory) then the United States must not design and rely on a strategy which relies on the Iraqis to win.

The second weakness is that the current strategy debate once again focuses too much on the military and too little on everything that has not been working.....The great failures in the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns have been in non-combat power. Intelligence, diplomacy, economic aid, information operations, support from the civilian elements of national power. These have been the great centers of failure in America’s recent conflicts.....No military leader I have talked with believes military force is adequate to win in Iraq. Every one of them insists that the civilian instruments of power are more important than the combat elements. They all assert that they can hold the line for a while with force but that holding the line will ultimately fail if we are not using that time to achieve progress in non-military areas.

The third weakness in the current strategy is its inability to impose war time decision making and accountability in Washington.

On a lighter note Ali G interviews Newt:



Tags: Newt, newt gingrich, iraq war, troop surge, ali g

Winter Afternoon: Coginchaug River (Middletown, CT) 1/28/07

Controversy Over Dinesh D'Souza Book -
"The Enemy at Home: The Cultural Left and its Responsibility for 911"
(read the author's introduction to the book here)

He speaks here to the barrage of criticism leveled at him because of the book in an article in the Washington Post titled "Bin Lade, the Left, and Me". Excerpt:

"Why the onslaught? Just this: In my book, published this month, I argue that the American left bears a measure of responsibility for the volcano of anger from the Muslim world that produced the 9/11 attacks. President Jimmy Carter's withdrawal of support for the shah of Iran, for example, helped Ayatollah Khomeini's regime come to power in Iran, thus giving radical Islamists control of a major state; and President Bill Clinton's failure to respond to Islamic attacks confirmed bin Laden's perceptions of U.S. weakness and emboldened him to strike on 9/11. I also argue that the policies that U.S. "progressives" promote around the world -- including abortion rights, contraception for teenagers and gay rights -- are viewed as an assault on traditional values by many cultures, and have contributed to the blowback of Islamic rage."

Dinesh has caused quite a stir on the Left and on the Right. See
Serge Trifkovic, author of "Sword of the Prophet"
ChroniclesMagazine.org where he argues:

"It is now, perhaps inevitably, the turn of a phony conservative to join CAIR's ranks. In his latest book, The Enemy At Home, Dinesh D'Souza writes that,

"In order to build alliances with traditional Muslims, the right must take three critical steps. First, stop attacking Islam. Conservatives have to cease blaming Islam for the behavior of the radical Muslims. Recently the right has produced a spate of Islamophobic tracts with titles like Islam Unveiled, Sword of the Prophet, and The Myth of Islamic Tolerance. There is probably no better way to repel traditional Muslims, and push them into the radical camp, than to attack their religion and their prophet.....D'Souza assumes that peaceful Muslims will have a greater sense of solidarity with jihadists than with non-Muslims, which is indeed the case, but it makes hash of his entire thesis—that social conservatives should ally themselves with these "traditional" Muslims:

"For if these peaceful Muslims really abhor jihadism, they should have no reason to object to critical presentations of the elements of Islam that foster jihadism. But if such presentations will just drive them into the arms of the jihadists, then how committed could they really have been to peace and moderation in the first place?.....It is noteworthy that D'Souza is condemning our writings (his and Robert Spencer's) as "Islamophobic" without further elaboration. Like the term "Islamophobia" itself—a classic product of the Hate Crime Industry—his technique is characteristic of the totalitarian Left. I remember reading, as a teenager in Tito's Yugoslavia, similarly worded condemnations of dissident writers and their "tracts" in the communist-controlled press. Once they were defined as "anti- socialist," "reactionary," or "nationalist," no further elaboration was needed and no debate allowed. "

Article: "Dinesh the Dhimmi"
Also see Robert Spencer's Jihad Watch

Last evening d'Souza and Robert Spencer debated the issues on Lores Riskalla's Los Angeles radio program (KRLA). Below are audio excerpts from the very interesting discussion:

Audio Part 1: (5:56)
Audio Part 2: (11:57)
Audio Part 3 (12:16)

Tags: Dinesh d'Souza, Robert Spencer, Lores Riskalla, culture wars, Islam, 911

Earth to Rosie O'Donnell: We are not a Democracy
The U.S. is a Constitutional Republic, Idiot!

In the video below you can experience the totally mindless blather emanating from this dope.(viewer discretion advised, this is the epitome of stupid)

Women's Collegiate Basketball:
Male Practice or Malpractice?

The Committee on Women's Athletics* (CWA) of the NCAA has proposed the elimination of male practice players within women's collegiate basketball. Although we were not aware of it, this is a long established technique for strengthening women's teams dating back to the 1970's. Male practice players have helped make women's basketball teams quicker, faster, and stronger. A practice used frequently at prominent programs such as UConn, Stanford and Notre Dame. Nancy Lieberman of ESPN says the proposal would be "a step in the wrong direction". That this controversy is yet another example of out of control PC is made clear in her further comments:

As for the CWA's thinking that the use of male practice players "violates the spirit of gender equity and Title IX," I just don't see how having men in practice hurts women. The men are not stealing our scholarships. They're not in the scorebook. Instead, these are guys who give up their time and get nothing for it. There is no compensation, unless you count their bruises. Male practice players simply help women play harder, help us achieve a higher standard and help prepare us for a higher level of enjoyable competition. I mean, come on, what's next? Will the CWA tell me male coaches are violating Title IX?

The video here provides an interesting glimpse at the views of coaches and players regarding the use of male practice players.



*Excerpts from the CWA report:
A recommendation by the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics to ban all male players from practice participation has left local women's college basketball coaches fuming.

The Committee on Women's Athletics (CWA) issued a position paper Monday that said the use of male practice players in women's athletics "violates the spirit of gender equity and Title IX."

The 15-member committee said it believes female players are harmed by male practice participation, according to its report:

"The message to female student-athletes seems to be, 'You are not good enough to make our starters better, so we need to use men instead.' This approach implies an archaic notion of male preeminence that continues to impede progress toward gender equity and inclusion. ...

"To have talented, capable female student-athletes stand on the sidelines during official practice while the team's starters practice against 'more talented men' is a lost opportunity. Many of these female student-athletes are on full scholarship and were recruited to participate in intercollegiate athletics at many other institutions.

"To have them sitting out of practice while a full 'scout team' of men come to practices is costing them the opportunity for growth and betterment that they were promised during recruitment."
Tags: women's basketball, UConn, Geno Auriema, NCAA, political correctness, basketball

The Obama Factor: This is Going to be Fun!

Tags, Obama, Barak Hussein Obama, Hillary, Hillary Clinton

Submission: An Emancipation Proclamation for Women and Islam - The Theo van Gogh Film (10:59) The film's title is a direct translation of the word "Islam". The film depicts the mistreatment of women born to Muslim families. The film was shown on the Dutch public broadcasting network (VPRO) on August 29, 2004. It portrays a Muslim woman as having been beaten and raped by a relative. The bodies are used in the film as a canvas for verses from the Qur'an. This is the film that Dutch film maker Theo van Gogh was killed for. An Islamist fanatic murdered him most brutally and desecrated his body. His collaborator on the film, and the screen writer is Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Dutch member of parliament and activist for Muslim women's rights. Originally from Somalia, and herself genitally mutilated at a young age, Ali has emerged as an articulate voice in her autobiography "The Caged Virgin". Christopher Hitchens has written an excellent piece about Ayaan Hirsi Ali in Slate (5/8/06) Hitchens' concluding paragraph: "After being forced into hiding by fascist killers, Ayaan Hirsi Ali found that the Dutch government and people were slightly embarrassed to have such a prominent "Third World" spokeswoman in their midst. She was first kept as a virtual prisoner, which made it almost impossible for her to do her job as an elected representative. When she complained in the press, she was eventually found an apartment in a protected building. Then the other residents of the block filed suit and complained that her presence exposed them to risk. In spite of testimony from the Dutch police, who assured the court that the building was now one of the safest in all Holland, a court has upheld the demand from her neighbors and fellow citizens that she be evicted from her home. In these circumstances, she is considering resigning from parliament and perhaps leaving her adopted country altogether. This is not the only example that I know of a supposedly liberal society collaborating in its own destruction, but I hope at least that it will shame us all into making The Caged Virgin a best seller." A new book by Ayaan Hirsi Ali titled "Infidel" is due out in February 2007. Illustration below is from the new book. Tags: Islam, Theo van Gogh, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, female circumcision, Christopher Hitchens,