Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Muslims in the West: Massive Deportations Needed

Atlas Shrugs is running a lot of outrageous photos of Muslims and Palestinian supporters, with their hateful, anti-semitic signs and slogans. Palestinians murder Israeli civilians, yet carry signs saying "Israelis Are Murderers."

I hope Israel keeps it up. As for the swine who are demonstrating for the Palestinian barbarians on the streets of our cities, how about rounding them up and shipping them back to the cesspool that spawned them?

Here is one of my favorite graphics. Use it, enjoy it, pass it around.
Screw the "Palestinians" indeed.

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Conflict in Gaza: Give War a Chance

The Israeli assault on Muslim terrorism in Gaza continues into a second day. Great! Israel appears to have grown back the gonads that won them their previous wars with Islamic tyrants.

My advice to Israel: Wipe out Hamas. Make them pay dearly for their murder, their violence, their aggression.

Ignore the usual frantic demands for a cease-fire from the decadent Western nations who would sacrifice as many Jews as it takes to retain the illusion of peace. War is a good thing when used to exterminate evil, particularly when the evil is committing naked aggression against you, as is Hamas. Appeasement is a bad thing in that it merely postpones the day of reckoning while giving Evil time to grow stronger and to prepare.

I read at Fox News that the Israeli Defense Forces have bombed a mosque that was used as a base for attacks against Israel. I am glad for this. Muslims have for too long used mosques for terrorist goals while escaping retaliation due to their "religious" nature. Any mosque used for terrorism should be targeted without apology.

There should be no Israeli cease fire whatsoever. The only option should be victory.

Saturday, December 27, 2008

A Warm New Year Party for Palestinians

Israel, long the target of Muslim terrorism and rocket attacks, has finally struck back at the Islamic savages with air strikes. According to Fox News, over 200 Muslims have now gone to collect their virgins courtesy of the Israeli Airforce. Israel is promising more of the same. You go, Izzies.

Fox reports:
The air offensive followed weeks of intense Palestinian rocket and mortar fire on southern Israel, and Israeli leaders had issued increasingly tough warnings in recent days that they would not tolerate continued attacks.
In this latest rat-control effort, the intended targets call themselves "Hamas," a Muslim political organization that wants to exterminate the Israelis and occupy their land. It really doesn't matter what label the Muslims are using for their latest project in tyranny, however. The brand name changes, the ingredients remain the same: Islamic aggression, Jew-hatred, murder and mayhem, the death and destruction of Infidels of whatever stripe, as commanded by Allah and his False Prophet, Muhammad.


We can expect the mainstream media to once again portray the Muslims as victims and the Israelis as aggressors. The overwhelming number of news photos coming out of the conflict depict Palestinians wailing over fallen comrades, or wounded ones with blood on their faces, being helped to the hospital. There are the usual photos of fat Muslim ladies with their mouths wide open in faux horror as they pose for the news cameras, and dusty wreckage of some Palestinian shithole recently renovated by Israeli ordnance. There are never any pictures of dead Israelis, or Palestinian rockets, or mutilated bodies of kidnapped and murdered Israelis. Even Fox News contributes to this gross imbalance in news coverage.

As for you, Palestinians, who rejoiced when your fellow barbarians murdered 3,000 Americans in 2001, I rejoice in the righteous destruction and long overdue payback for your evil, your barbarian savagery, your murderous and false religion. You have earned every bomb and every bullet, and since we don't practice Islamic finance, there will be a great deal of interest due with every payment. Enjoy.
---
Note to Readers: As you can see, I do not drench my posts in politically correct, overly polite fictions about the nature of Hamas and the violence against Israel, India and other nations of the earth -- we are all under attack by the religion called Islam. I will not mince my words about this fact, nor will I pretend that only some violent and extreme faction of Islam (like Hamas) is responsible. Islam is reponsible. Likewise, I will offer no false moral equivalencies regarding those non-Islamic nations who dare to resist Muslim aggression.

MORAL CLARITY is the path to peace, the firm conviction that Islamic aggression is evil and unjustified and not to be tolerated or offered apologies. Anything less is merely appeasement and appeasement never works.

Long live Israel!

Mark Steyn Disses "A Grown-Up Christmas List"

Mark Steyn ridicules the new popular Christmas song, "A Grown-Up Christmas List," and just in time. This annoying song always makes my gorge rise when I hear it whining out of my radio speakers.

The "grown-up Christmas list" doesn't include a new X-Box, or Daisy BB gun, or anything fun at all. It is really a very liberal list of impractical and impossible pipe dreams, more designed to provide the singer with moral posturing and precious posing. This is a "grown-up" Christmas list? I don't think so. It sounds more like the platform of the Democratic Party.

The words are below. Warning: Overly specious content, may cause nausea in some conservatives.

Grown-up Christmas List
Music by David Foster Lyric by Linda Thompson Foster

Do you remember me I sat upon your knee
I wrote to you With childhood fantasies
Well I'm all grown-up now
Can you still help somehow

I'm not a child But my heart still can dream
So here's my lifelong wish My Grown-up Christmas List
Not for myself But for a world in need

No more lives torn apart
That wars would never start
And time would heal all hearts

Every man would have a friend
That right would always win
And love would never end

This is my Grown-up Christmas List

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

A Christmas Observation

The verse below is my favorite quote from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. This short novel was written in 1843 and has seen 165 Christmases since it first charmed the English public.

Scrooge's nephew Fred to Scrooge. . .

'There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say,' returned the nephew. Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round. . . as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time: the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!'
You can read the entire novel online at this link.
Picture at right: Charles Dickens

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Islam Is The Light Dolls -- What's The Harm?


Click on image to see it full size.

Ever wonder what the fuss is all about over those new dolls that say "Islam is the Light" instead of "Ma Ma"?

I don't either. But who knows how far things may go if Islamic culture is fully realized in children's toys?

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Global Warming Freezes West Coast in Snow Storms

Last night the news was chilling: Las Vegas was covered in snow and the desert was a white "winter wonderland"; in Los Angeles, freeways were closed by massive snowfalls. People were stuck for hours in massive traffic jams trying to get home.

Even so, Barack Empty-Suit Obama declared that the time for global warming denial was over, that it is now an established fact. Who are you going to believe, him or your lying eyes?

Obama was wrong. The time for denial is not over, it has just begun.

Anyone who believes in manmade global warming or that global warming is about to roast the planet is a kool-aid drinking idiot. The whole thing is a massive liberal fraud to motivate the masses to give up personal freedom and tons of cash, thus establishing socialism by other means.
Open your eyes. Think for yourselves, Sheeple.

Update: Also see Hoosier Army Mom's list of ten global warming myths debunked.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Colin Powell, Shut the Hell Up

Colin Powell, that phony RINO Republican who endorsed Barack Obama for President, mainly on the basis of their shared skin color, came out this week to further ensconce himself in the Legion of the Lame. Powell completed his screwing over of the party that embraced and empowered him with these gems:

1. The GOP "needs to stop shouting at the world and the country...needs to take a hard look at itself."

Not a single specific example of this shouting was provided. This was just a generalized slur on Republicans and conservatives with no support or explanation. As such, it can be dismissed for what it is, hot air. The comment that "we need to take a hard look" at ourselves is pregnant with unvoiced accusation...that somehow we are motivated by dark forces, no doubt by bigotry, hatred and greed...everything that the Left wants to believe about us. The real purpose of this slander was not to change Republican behavior but to help Powell ingratiate himself with the Obama Administration. Republicans, it seems, are so out of power these days and it pays to kiss up to the new power brokers in Washington.

2. Sarah Palin "had something of a polarizing effect when she talked about how small-town values are good...It was that attempt by the party to use polarization for political advantage that I think backfired."

This comment is just unbelievably asinine. So now the GOP is trying to turn small-town folk against big-town folk? And this was the REAL issue and why we lost the election? Silly me, I thought it was the sudden tanking of the economy a month before the election -- but now I realize that Powell was right.

So many people across the fruited plain were involved in this "polarization" between hayseeds and city slickers. I know I was. I live in a small town and I just despise people from big cities...oh yes, I just lay awake at night resenting them. Really. They are so uppity with their paved streets and shoes and new fangled gadgets like "cars." They don't even wear overalls or have cows! What on earth were they thinking?? But then I realized I was only being played by Sarah Palin, who wanted to turn me against my big-city dwelling brothers and sisters, and I rushed right out and voted for Obama, as did millions of other right-thinking Americans. (Question: why does anyone take Colin Powell seriously when he advances such asinine arguments?)

3. "Can we continue to listen to Rush Limbaugh? Is this really the kind of party that we want to be when these kinds of spokespersons seem to appeal to our lesser instincts rather than our better instincts?"

This is a question based on a false premise, that Limbaugh appeals to our "lesser instincts rather than our better instincts." It is a generalized slur, of which the Left is so adept. Not a single specific example is given, mainly because there is none. I listen to Limbaugh quite often and he is grossly misrepresented by liberals as to what he says, thinks and believes. Since they can't refute him, they attempt to slander him or censor him. Arguing from a false premise is a form of lying. What does that make you, Colin Powell?

4. "There is nothing wrong with being conservative. There is nothing wrong with having socially conservative views — I don't object to that.”

He doesn't object to having conservative views, he only objects to anyone expressing them, like Limbaugh. He doesn't object to such views, even though they are appealing to "our lesser instincts." Powell, your logic is so weak and your arguments so bizarre, you really ought to change parties where your liberalism will have a home.

5. “But if the party wants to have a future in this country, it has to face some realities. In another 20 years, the majority in this country will be the minority."

So what does that mean, Powell? That conservative views are only beneficial to white people? What exactly are you implying? That if the GOP wants to be the majority party it has to expand welfare, open the borders wide to illegal immigration, bring back racial norming in SAT scores and college admissions, restore subprime mortgages for minorities who can't repay them?

In other words, to be the majority party we must fund minority dysfunction and give it moral legitimacy: welfare, crime, drug usage, illegitimacy, dropping out of school? Is that what you are actually trying to say, or do you even know yourself? In any case, you are wrong and here's why.

What works for white people works for ANYONE wanting a better life: getting an education; staying off drugs; not committing crimes and avoiding a criminal record; not getting a woman pregnant and then abandoning her and her child; not having a really crappy attitude (such as "every rotten thing I do is really your fault"); not being a racist (against whites); not being a professional victim to whom the world owes a living and a never-ending apology; getting your ass up in the morning and going to a job; supporting your family; having a teamwork approach at work; seeking to contribute something of actual value to society in exchange for a livelihood that has actually been EARNED.

These basic principles work for anyone of any color because reality does not change with one's ethnicity; to imply that a different race requires a different form of government or economic system is sheer demogoguery. It is not reality that must conform itself to those seeking to advance; it is they who must conform to reality if they are to rise in a free society. Those who embrace and work with reality are welcome in the Republican Party regardless of their race, ethnicity or skin color. To suggest otherwise, as Powell has, is a damnable lie.

Colin Powell's fuzzy, indistinct, half-formed thoughts and opinions have no value other than to advance his reputation amongst the liberal fever-swamps and make liberal black people love him again. Now he may be invited on the View and told how brave and courageous he is. Maybe he'll be invited to more cocktail parties on Capitol Hill and placed on the Hollywood A list. Maybe he can write a best-selling book with a healthy advance. It might be titled "My journey from the Dark Side: from Republican Lesser Instincts to Democrat Enlightenment." He could then go on Oprah and pitch the book. Maybe, just maybe, Barack Obama will give him a high level cabinet post, which is what this brouhaha is really all about.

SCREW YOU Powell. Whatever your motivations, the Republican Party will NOT be a carbon-copy of the socialist, pacifist Democrats. The Party suffers defeat when it stops being conservative, not the other way around. Under big spender, big government George Bush, the party stopped being conservative and we paid for it at the polls. THANK GOD he'll be gone soon.

If you think the GOP is through or that the country has irreversibly embraced socialism via the Democrat Party, you are wrong. Liberalism doesn't work. And that is the primary reason why we conservatives will be back. You can count on it.

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Governor Blagojevich: Proof That All Democrats Are Corrupt Crooks?

This past week was interesting. A Democrat Governor, Rod Blagojevich of Illinois, was arrested on corruption charges. Seems he was trying to sell Barack Obama's Senate seat to the highest bidder. Amateur! If he was any good at being a crook he would have auctioned off the Washington Monument. In any case, he has greatly embarrassed the mainstream media and the Democrat Party.

When the news first broke I knew at once that Blagojevich was a Democrat. That's because no where in the great spectrum of the mainstream media, in print or online, was there any mention of Blagojevich's party affiliation. This is always a dead giveaway that the culprit is a Democrat. They always broadcast in bold, capitalized, large font letters REPUBLICAN whenever the creep of the week is one of ours. When the creep is a Democrat, his party affiliation is treated as totally irrelevant and clearly not worth mentioning.

Contrast this with that slimy venue know as MSN. They ran a photo of three Republicans, side by side, on the day the Republican National Convention opened last summer. One was Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska, the other was that gay bathroom footsie guy Senator Larry Craig of Idaho and I forget the other; however, they were all disgraced Republican politicians. The MSN headline was that these were three Republicans who weren't planning to visit the Convention. It was brazen bias and a transparent attempt to besmirch all Republicans with the taint of these three schmucks. The message was clear: whenever you think of the Republican National Convention, think of Stevens, Craig et al. I was so disgusted that I ended, once and for all, using MSN.com as my home page. I made Fox News my home page instead.

Now that the shoe is on the other foot, I reserve the right to emulate mainstream media reporting techniques. Here goes:

When DEMOCRAT Governor Rod Blagojevich of Illinois attempted to corruptly and criminally sell Obama's Senate seat, was he sending a clear message that the Democrat Party believes itself above the law? Since Blago was Obama's BFF, or best friend forever, how much did Obama know and when did he know it? What was Obama's take to be in the sordid undertaking? Since Obama admits to using cocaine earlier in life, was his share of the loot to be used to fund drug dealers? Was he planning to fund a cocaine party in the Lincoln bedroom? Is it true that Obama kicks puppies and hates butterflies? Shouldn't he just resign now and spare the country the trouble of impeachment? Should all Democrats be stripped of their US citizenship, assuming they have any, and exported to the nearest banana republic of their choice?

Think about it.

Sunday, December 07, 2008

Remembering Pearl Harbor: December 7, 1941

USS Arizona aflame on December 7, 1941 - Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
It is curious that the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred on Sunday, December 7, 1941. Today, sixty-seven years later, December 7 again falls on a Sunday.

The world will always contain tyrants, despots, dictators and madmen who would attack us and kill as many of us as possible, if they have the chance. With that knowledge, we would do well to always be prepared for war. Unfortunately, our new President has vowed to cut weapons research and development, make deep cuts in our nuclear stockpiles, and reduce the military budget by 25%. This is in keeping with the liberal notion that, if we are unprepared, unarmed and vulnerable, we will not be attacked. The efficacy of this approach can be seen in how well it works with the Somali pirates.

Those who learn nothing from history are doomed to repeat it, goes an old saying. Liberals learn absolutely nothing from history and seek the same failed policies over and over again. Socialism creates poverty and want, it does not alleviate them; pacifism does not bring peace, it encourages despotism and greases the skids to war. Using liberal logic, the best way to get rid of crime is to reduce the size of the police force. However, I digress.

Today we are remembering Pearl Harbor, a Navy site near Honolulu in the Hawaiian Islands where many of our Navy ships were berthed on that morning so long ago. Japanese aircraft carriers approached and launched three waves of air attacks on military targets in and around Pearl Harbor, sinking many ships and killing 2,403 Americans, most of them military personnel.
The USS Arizona Memorial, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
Japan had just rendered a fatal blow...to itself. An outraged America prepared for war and, four bloody years later, dropped two atomic bombs on Japan, ending the war. The Japanese damn well deserved it.

May the sailors, marines and soldiers who died at Pearl Harbor rest in peace. May we never forget them, and more importantly, never forget the lessons of Pearl Harbor. In order to preserve the peace we must eternally prepare for war. Or, as Thomas Jefferson put it, "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty."

Photos: Black and white photo is of the USS Arizona battleship, burning and sinking. The colored photo is of the USS Arizona memorial at Pearl Harbor. You can see the outline of the ship's hull beneath the water. To this day, the Arizona still leaks oil that rises to the surface in a slow but steady stream of globules, dispersing on the surface in rainbow colors. Most of the Arizona sailors who died on that day are still entombed within the ship's hull.

Saturday, December 06, 2008

Deepak Chopra Shoots Self In Foot Over Mumbai

Deepak Chopra is an MD with a practice in Boston. He is a spiritual guru who is into eastern mysticism and writes books with spiritual themes. I first learned of Chopra while I was listening to tapes by Tony Robbins some years ago. Intrigued, I bought and read three of Chopra's books: Ageless Body, Timeless Mind, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, and How to Know God : The Soul's Journey into the Mystery of Mysteries.

I found Chopra's books intellectually stimulating and even daring, particularly Ageless Body, Timeless Mind. However, I couldn't completely buy into them. Nevertheless, it is good to have one's perceptions challenged and stretched, and in that regard, Chopra's books were useful.

Chopra discussed "Magical Thinking" in one of his books (I forget which one). Magical thinking is our desire to fool ourselves that we can change the nature of reality with just our thoughts. Thinking young is a useful philosophy, but it can't actually make you young or reverse the aging process. In all philosophy and spirituality and the nature of existence, reality refuses to be abolished and must inevitably be taken into account. Reality can be a pain in the ass.

I was grateful to Chopra for pointing out the nature of "magical thinking" so I wouldn't be tempted into believing in fairy tales. At the same time, however, it is worth noting that we human beings do not have the complete picture of what reality is and how we fit into it. Not believing in fairy tales is one thing, but it is healthy to have an open mind about the universe and the nature of existence and our place in it. The sum total of reality is more than our perceptions born of our five rather limited physical senses. That's where Chopra shines, I think, in that he likes to probe the boundaries of what is known and what is yet unknown but possible. Basically, he's a good and decent man. I am disappointed that he has associated himself with the moonbat left of the Huffington Post.

Deepak Chopra may understand what "magical thinking" is, but he is not immune to it. Chopra is a liberal and liberals are prone to magical thinking. It explains all their well-meaning policies and projects that don't work and that do more harm than good. Chopra wrote a book that I haven't read and do not wish to read: Peace Is the Way : Bringing War and Violence to an End. When dealing with enemies who can kill you and who hope to do just that, magical thinking can be fatal. Having a peaceful philosophy or having peace in your heart, or meditating on the Kama Sutra, or burning incense, or chanting, or whatever Chopra recommends in Peace is the Way won't magically bring peace.

Liberals seem to think that we can control hostile enemies by how we think, what we believe and by holding loving and peaceful thoughts and intentions. This is magical thinking. It holds that if our intentions and attitudes are right, this will magically transform our enemies and change their enmity into love and trust. In other words, our internal thoughts and feelings control outer reality.

It isn't true.

Islamic violence isn't born of a big misunderstanding between the Muslim world and the non-Muslim world; it is born of Islam itself. Islam is a violent ideology that is built upon a violent, cruel and ruthless god, Allah. Islamic scripture clearly teaches that Muslims are to violently conquer all non-Muslim peoples and forcibly convert them to the faith, or to kill them, with one caveat: if the non-Muslims will accept a humiliating status called dhimmitude, they may be allowed to live among Muslims as third-class citizens. They are required to pay a high tax for the privilege of drawing breath and may be abused, even murdered, by Muslims for almost any reason. In other words, they live on the level of slaves, in a constant state of humiliation, deprivation and anxiety for their very lives.

Recently, Deepak Chopra voiced the opinion that the Mumbai masscre by violent Muslims was the result of the War in Iraq. It was what they call "blow back." Never mind that the War in Iraq liberated millions of Muslims from a ruthless dictatorship and greatly improved their lives in the process. However, the point is moot. Muslims have been murdering Indians for centuries, particularly Hindus, and U.S. foreign policy had nothing to do with it. Hindus, not being Muslims, were an automatic target. Anywhere from 60 to 80 million Hindus have been slaughtered by Muslims over the centuries. Mumbai was just another installment in the continuing saga of Islam.

The truth is that Deepak Chopra's opinion was based on his personal politics, not on his informed knowledge of facts. It was intellectually dishonest. It had an agenda other than truth. He referred to the Iraq war as "disasterous." It has proven disasterous only to al-Qaeda.

For these reasons, Chopra has deserved the flood of criticism his comment invoked.

Thursday, December 04, 2008

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree

There's nothing but bad news to report these days. To hell with that, I'm going to enjoy life anyway.

Here's a recording of one of my favorite Christmas songs, "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" by Brenda Lee. The song was recorded in 1958, fully fifty years ago. I swear, the best music is all behind us now. The song was rereleased in 1959 but did not catch on until 1960 when Brenda Lee was finally becoming known and popular.

I love the Fender Stratocaster in this song, with the treble turned up and the guitar player grooving away. The song reminds me of America circa 1960, which is when I think I first noticed this song. There were red and green and blue lights on our real Christmas tree which filled the house with the scent of pine; it was a time when the rock was hot and the girls were pretty and feminine. That year my dad bought Bro a Fender Jazzmaster guitar and bought me a Fender Jazz Bass, which was a prototype since they weren't officially released until 1962 (my dad was a Fender dealer in those days).

Brenda Lee is still performing today. You can check her schedule at her website here.

Okay enough Stogie philosophy, listen to the song. Take notes, there will be a quiz.







A photo of Brenda Lee as she looks today is at the right. You're still hot, Brenda.

Monday, December 01, 2008

2 Year Old Moshe at Funeral of Parents Killed by Mumbai Muslims

I borrowed this from Atlas Shrugs. It's a photo of two year old Moshe Holtzberg at his parents' funeral today. They were murdered at the Jewish Center in Mumbai, India by the Muslim terrorists this past week.

The U.K. Daily Mail has the story:

What horrors has this two-year-old child seen? And how much does he understand?

His face wracked with sobs as he cries for his mother, tiny Moshe Holtzberg has had a miraculous escape: He was inside the Jewish centre stormed by Islamic militants during last week's Mumbai attacks.

His rabbi father and mother were both murdered by the militants. Moshe was rushed to safety - drenched in blood - after his nanny found him crying by their bodies.

Read it all here.

For those of you who think my suggestions for dealing with Islamic terrorists (see prior post) are too harsh -- what do you think now?

Let the whole world gaze upon the ugly face of Islam and be repulsed.

DONATE TO THE MOSHE HOLTZBERG ORPHAN'S FUND HERE.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

The Islamic World Must Pay Reparations For Their Violence

It seems to me that Saudi Arabia is the chief cause of Islamic violence in the world, since it is the seat of this hateful ideology and the chief financier of mosques and madrassas worldwide. Therefore Saudi Arabia should be held financially responsible for the murder and mayhem committed in the name of Islam.

Trillions of dollars are due the non-Muslim world -- the cost of 9/11, the cost of repairing destruction there and elsewhere in the world, the compensation due family members who lost loved ones through Islamic murder.

Saudi Arabia needs to sit down with the victimized countries and commit to payment of reparations for these deeds. A lack of payment, of course, means the West should take possession of Saudi Arabian assets, namely, their oil fields.

Again, to repeat and expand my suggestions for stopping Islamic aggression: governments of countries who are attacked should consider the following steps (note, these suggestions should only be carried out by legitimate governments, not individuals acting alone) --

1. Desecrate the bodies of dead jihadis in order to block their entrance into Heaven, e.g. dress them in women's lingerie, earrings and lipstick and bury them with the carcass of a pig. Cut off their penises. Deny them any last sacraments or religious rites.
2. Execute captured jihadis with bullets dipped in pig's blood, then proceed to step 1 above.
3. Destroy key Islamic shrines and mosques as reparation for each act of violence against the non-Islamic world. Better, announce in advance the mosque that will be destroyed when the next Muslim attack occurs.
4. Make it absolutely clear that a nuclear attack on any non-Islamic country, including Israel, will result in a nuclear response on Mecca and the utter destruction of the Kaba and the Great Mosque there.
5. Demand monetary reparations from the Islamic world for their murder and destruction, going back to 9/11 and even before.
6. Appropriate the money-producing oil fields and other assets that finance Islamic violence, hatred and evil. Seize their bank accounts and other assets worldwide.

We should start a movement that demands all of the above. The goal is not revenge; it is to create effective disincentives to jihad. We must not be shy or reticent about this; Islamic terrorists are completely ruthless and we must take bolder, stronger actions against them. Human lives are at stake.

For you attorneys out there -- why aren't you suing Saudi Arabia? Think of the legal fees that trillions of dollars in judgments would create. Think about it.

Saturday, November 29, 2008

How to Punish the Jihadis

Whenever Muslims go on one of their killing rampages, the Civilized World removes the bodies, cleans up the blood, sweeps away the rubble and replaces the broken glass. The Islamic criminals who carried out the murder spree are generally all dead or captured by this time and there is no way to punish them or make examples of them. Or is there?

General John J. Pershing is said to have executed Islamic fanatics in the Philippines by first dipping the bullets in pig's blood, thus denying them entrance into Heaven. One fanatic was let go to carry the story back to the others. I don't know how true the story is but it sounds like a good idea. We could improve upon it, though.

Let's take the bodies of the dead terrorists and dress them in sexy women's lingerie, put lipstick on them and dangling earrings and take pictures of them in drag for dessimination throughout the Muslim world. Then we bury their dead bodies hugging the carcass of a pig, perhaps in a coffin emblazoned with the Star of David. In other words, deny them the last sacraments of their evil faith, and put them in a very embarrassing position for when the Islamic angels come to interview them in the grave (as Muslims believe).

In addition to that, the victimized country (like India) could select a sacred Islamic shrine for utter destruction, e.g. an ancient Mosque. Announce its destruction as reparation for the terrorist attack. Then take a wrecking ball to the structure, reducing it to rubble. Or, if the Mosque is behind enemy lines (the enemy being the Islamic world), use a smart bomb or guided missile to destroy the structure. In other words, target the symbols and hateful institutions of Islam. This tactic recognizes the fact that it is Islam itself that is responsible for terrorism, as it is a terrorist ideology as is well documented in its holy texts and traditions. We must rid ourselves of the short-sighted view that terrorist-jihadis are individual criminals; they are in fact agents of Islam and it is Islam itself that must be punished for the deeds of its believers.

If the world's Muslims don't like being held accountable in this way, then perhaps they should consider revising the Qur'an, reforming Islam or joining other faiths. In any case, we must hold Islam itself responsible for jihadi crimes until Islamic leaders worldwide take effective steps to stop Islamic violence.

Finally, a massive bonfire of Qur'ans could be held in the public square where the terrorist attacks occurred, with citizens encouraged to add one of the nasty little books to the flames.

Showing respect or tolerance to Islam has not diminished their murderous practices one whit; merely killing them is not a deterrence to their evil, because they believe their deaths in jihad will propel them straight to Heaven. So we must devise deterrents other than death to discourage them from their vile habits. The desecration of the bodies of their jihadis would be one way and the destruction of the holy sites where the murderers are taught and encouraged would be, in my opinion, worthy of consideration.

Finally, we need some simple slogans to support a new, energetic and effective counterforce to Islamic Jihad. I was thinking something like, "Islam is Unacceptable" or perhaps "ISLAM: the Root Cause of Terrorism."

Friday, November 28, 2008

Google Censors Atlas Shrugs

In a typically heavy-handed way, Google has deleted references to Pamela Geller's site, "Atlas Shrugs." Google Atlas Shrugs and you will get a list of other websites and blogs that refer to the site, but not the Atlas Shrugs site itself.

Geller has attempted to get an explanation from Google but has been treated shabbily by Google staff.

They say that the primary owners of Google are liberal Democrats and big supporters of Barack Obama. Apparently, the censorship of AS is due to the fact that Google doesn't want any publicity or discussions over Obama's birth certificate. Geller was an early critic of Obama for refusing to supply an official copy of his birth certificate. She was also the primary investigator of the forged document (a Certificate of Live Birth from Hawaii) supplied by a liberal website.

Democrats can be very Machiavellian, as I have said many times on this site. They are not for "freedom of speech" per se, they are for freedom of liberal speech. Those with something to hide will find ways to hide it. And Google has.

This kind of soft fascism has been seen before in prior decades. President Woodrow Wilson had the Post Office refuse to deliver newsletters and magazines that did not support his policies. He even had people arrested and jailed for failing to support them. The details are covered in Jonah Goldberg's book "Liberal Fascism."

Welcome to Obama's America.

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Murder in India: The Ugly Face of Islam

The Religion of Death, Islam, has been showing its grotesque face in India for the past couple of days. Once again we have radical Muslims murdering strangers who have done them no harm. Over a hundred people have been killed. Truly, Islam is the Religion of Death, Murder and Mayhem. If this violent ideology has any worth to the human race, it isn't at all obvious. Indeed, I have long concluded that its only effect on the human race is destructive and negative; it has no worth whatsoever.

The Muslim pirates who are now hijacking ships on the high seas are only following the example of their glorious prophet. Muhammad robbed trade caravans, stole the goods they carried and held members for ransom. If Muhammad was a man of God, then so was Blackbeard the Pirate, Al Capone and Gengis Khan. Then again, Blackbeard, Capone and Khan never attempted to justify their villainy by pretending to be prophets. Compared to Muhammad, they were refreshingly honest.

Sooner or later Islam must be wiped from the face of the earth. This barbarism has no place in a civilized world. We should not allow any more immigration of Muslims into the United States, any more than we should allow practicing head hunters, cannibals, slave owners or polygamists.

I would like to see every mosque converted to a cigar store (or liquor store or market specializing in pork products) and every Qur'an reduced to ash. What a glorious bonfire we could make. Of course, the world would have to get along without this priceless literature on head-lopping, finger chopping, mass murder, rape, stoning people to death and treating women as livestock. It would be a struggle, but call me a cockeyed optimist: I think we would find ways to adapt.

If that seems harsh, consider this: Islam is the only major religion whose primary tenets command unceasing violence against non-believers. Islam is the only major religion that commands and predicts the genocide of Jews. Islam is the only major religion that teaches the only sure way to heaven is to die in battle against the "infidels," infidels being people too civilized to become Muslims.

Islam is evil and no amount of rationalization or denial will change that fact.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

The U.S. Economy: To Hell in a Hand Basket

As I sit back and calmly watch Western Civilization unravel, I find myself strangely unemotional about it all. The Dems finally achieved a major goal: to get control of the economy. All they had to do is severely wound it, then offer it band-aids to stem the blood. Brilliant. Machiavelli would beam with pride. Is the global warming scam even necessary any more? Fascism has come by other means.

I feel the economic decline personally. The appreciation in the value of my house over the past eight years is now gone. The house is worth about what I paid for it. I always figured I'd sell it for a good profit and use the money to move to a saner locale than California. That plan is kaput.

The company I work for is losing their ass in this economy and so cut back my hours from 40 per week to 24. They continue to hemorrhage money and I'm fairly certain my 24 hours will be cut back to zero soon. I am looking for other work but it's a tough market.

Still, I feel neither upset nor overly worried. Sometimes, in order to escape some rotten structure, you just have to let the damn thing collapse. Let the Dems have their fun. Since I feel no connection to, nor identification with, the incoming administration, I don't care much what they do. I almost feel like a detached observer of events. My bank account, however, would disagree. I am affected by these events as we all are.

After Thanksgiving, I will be polishing the old resume, however. Happy Thanksgiving, Y'all.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Perez Prado and "Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White"

One of the great things about the internet is that you can find almost any topic of interest. Remembering the Kennedy assassination yesterday opened some channels in my mind. This morning I woke up thinking about a song I have always loved -- "Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White" by legendary band leader Perez Prado.

This song was popular in 1955. My father would take me and Bro deep sea fishing in San Francisco Bay. We would get up at 3:00 AM, drive from Stockton to San Francisco and take a charter boat out into the bay to fish for Salmon and Striped Bass. The world is a very unfriendly place at three in the morning. Before embarking over the freezing waters of the bay, we would stop at a restaurant on Fisherman's Wharf and have breakfast. Invariably, "Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White" would be oozing from a jukebox. I always associate the song with freezing my ass off at three in the morning, riding a pitching boat over the swells through patches of jelly fish, feeling slightly seasick and, ultimately, catching some big ol' striped bass.

But the song is more than that. It is just beautiful, and it's timeless. The lead trumpet part is just excellent, flowing up and down the scale like a roller coaster at Playland by the Beach. The bongos, the baritone sax, the musicians shouting "Hoo-Uh!" Life was so raw but so real then.

The song is embedded below. It will always be one of my very favorites. Enjoy.


Saturday, November 22, 2008

45 Years Ago Today: My Personal Reminiscence of the Assassination of John F. Kennedy

On the 30th anniversary of the assassination, I wrote my reminisences of that terrible day. They are below. This is the first time they have ever been published anywhere.

November 22, 1993
Thirty years ago this morning, I was chasing a badminton bird in the men's gymnasium at San Jose City College, in San Jose, California, the rubber soles of my tennis shoes squeaking on the lacquered wooden floor. I was in my physical education class. Soon, the coach would blow his whistle and we would head for the showers.

It was Friday, and I was looking forward to the weekend and the short, three day week before Thanksgiving that would follow. After showering, I put on my narrow, striped tie. For some reason I had felt like dressing up on that day, and wore a brand new tie I had just bought, a rep tie. I bought it because it reminded me of the ties our young President John F. Kennedy wore. Friday, November 22, was the first time I had a chance to wear it.

It was eleven o'clock when I walked from the gym to the science building for my Chemistry lecture class. I say it was my "lecture" class, because Chemistry always involved two classes taken in tandem: lecture and laboratory. We were to have a lecture on organic chemistry this Friday morning, studying the molecular structure and chemical formulae of various hydrocarbons.

Just as I reached the door of the science building, a classmate from a previous semester approached me. He was a typical student of the day, his black hair cut in a flattop, the bristles of which were pomaded to stand straight up. "Hey," he called to me, "Did you hear that Kennedy has been shot?"

I froze in dread and disbelief. I knew this guy was a "goof-off," someone who was rarely serious and not in the habit of displaying good taste in his humor. I thought it was some kind of sick joke. "Yeah," he continued, "I heard two students talking. One said to the other, 'Did you hear that Kennedy's been shot?' Then his friend smiled and said, 'Isn't it GREAT?'" The preppie fool then smiled big, showing his white teeth. I interpreted his smile to mean that he agreed with the sentiment that it would be great if someone had indeed shot the President of the United States.

I did not return his smile. I may have mumbled something about having to get to Chemistry, but I don't remember. I do remember thinking that if this were a joke, it was a very sick joke, indeed.

When I sat down in the classroom, other students were asking each other if the rumor was true. Then our teacher, a bespectacled blondish man of about fifty, emerged from his office and told the assembled class the news. "It's on the news. Kennedy was shot by a sniper in Dallas and the word from the State Department is that he's dead." We were stunned. My immediate emotion was one of burning hate for the preppie who had laughed about it in the corridor. I wanted to go find him and pummel his smiling face into pulp.

Then in an amazingly blatant display of bad taste and irreverence, the Chemistry teacher, who did not seem at all disheartened by this turn of events, told us to take out our notebooks. We were going to have lecture as planned, as there were many formulae to learn. That I even sat there for that hour numbly copying molecular structures off the blackboard still amazes me. But I was only nineteen. Today I would have risen out of my seat, said, "I for one do not feel like listening to a lecture in the aftermath of such a tragedy. I'm leaving, and I suggest all of you other students go with me."

My next class was Biblical Literature, which was held in the drama building. My teacher, whose name was Christian, was a portly gentleman with a goatee and a head shaved almost to peach fuzz. As the students sat down, he stood before us with wet eyes and a tear-stained face. I still remember what he said, three decades later: "In light of what's happened, I for one don’t really feel like discussing simile and metaphor, and I think the best thing to do is to just dismiss the class." Dr. Christian was a good man. I still remember a story he told us in that class, and I will digress to record it now.

While in college, Christian majored in religious studies, and came across a religious painting of a deer with a cross on its head. Christian and his roommate did extensive research in the library to learn the significance of this image. They finally found an obscure reference book which identified the deer as the symbol of Saint Thomas.

They took the painting to their apartment and proudly hung it in their small living room, confident that their earnest research had uncovered some arcane and ancient religious icon. Later their old gray-haired landlady came by to collect the rent. She took one look at the painting and exclaimed, "Oh! Saint Thomas!"

That class was a pleasant one for me. We used the Revised Standard Version of the Bible for a textbook, and for the first time in my life, I read the Bible. I remember reading the Song of Diana and Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon and the Book of Job. We studied the Bible as literature, for its poetic value, and I learned Biblical passages that are with me still. I loved Ecclesiastes, with its morose outlook on life and the hereafter, as its mood often matched my own.

After Dr. Christian dismissed the class, I wandered around the campus until my Psychology class met. I believe the teacher's name was Dr. Blum. He too, made a few short remarks and told us that the college administration had decided to dismiss all further classes for the day. I wandered towards the parking lot in a kind of stupor, then sat down on a bench near the administration building beside a young woman student. I noticed that her face was also tear-stained and flushed with grief. She was listening to a newscast on a portable radio. Walter Cronkite was describing the awful events, finally concluding his newscast with a grave and somber remark: "President Kennedy is dead." The finality of that shocked me to my core, and I stood up and stumbled in the direction of my first car, a 1951 DeSoto, waves of grief and despair washing over me.

As I came in the door to our home on Foxworthy Avenue in San Jose, my father and mother were watching the televised newscast. My father asked me in a very serious voice, "Have you heard the news?"

"Yeah, I heard," I said, and walked past them. My father called after me, "It's pretty damned rotten when they have to bring the President home in a box!"

I went into my room and took off my "Kennedy tie." I put it away in a drawer. I never wore it again.

Wednesday, November 24, 1993
Tonight there were a couple of television programs remembering President Kennedy. They were a collage of mostly black and white news reels of various events in his life, campaign speeches, interviews, news conferences, his inaugural address. His wife Jacqueline, or Jacky as we knew her, was often at his side. He was extraordinarily handsome and she was exquisitely beautiful. They were surely the best looking couple to ever represent this country as Chief Executive and First Lady.

The interviews, the candid shots of the President making serious comments about the hostile world of 1960, or joking personably in some endearing, self-deprecating manner, served well to remind us of how alive, vital and dynamic this young President was. How very proud we were of him, how much we believed in him! These reminders are necessary to make us realize just how much we lost when he died, to allow us once again to gauge the depths of the massive wound in our national soul.

Inevitably, one of these programs moved chronologically to the events in Dallas of November 22, 1963. Film footage from a car in the motorcade, a cheerful voice describing the throngs of well wishers lining the streets of Dallas, to the turn onto Elm Street by the Texas School Book Depository. Then the people crouching on the grass, the worried announcer exclaiming that "apparently, something has happened in the motorcade." We move to the scene of the Presidential limousine parked outside Parkland Hospital, emptied of its occupants and guarded by secret service agents.

The next scene is of news announcers listening to a telephone and repeating the words they were hearing from the Associated Press: "President Kennedy died at 1:00 P.M. Central Standard Time of bullet wounds."

The next scene began to dissolve the thirty years that have passed in my life. I was seeing a horrific scene I last viewed sitting beside my father in our living room on the evening of November 22, 1963, when I watched it live. Air Force One had landed in Washington, and a large freight elevator platform was being lowered from the side of the plane. Inside the enclosed platform a crowd of secret service agents clutched the handles of a black coffin. Jacky in her pillbox hat could be clearly seen standing behind the coffin.

The men carried the coffin down from the platform onto the tarmac, with Jacky following behind. It was night. The television announcer described the scene, but his words were hardly necessary. There was the chilling realization that the black box held the cold and stiffening body of the murdered President. My emotions ran the gamut from grief, shock, outrage, and a cold and consuming hatred for his assassin. Then newly sworn President Johnson walked arm in arm with his wife to a semi-circle of microphone stands where he asked "for your help, and God's."

Oswald! He was exactly as Jack Ruby described him, "a nothing, a complete zero." He stole the youthful President away from the American people, not for any political ideology, but merely to make his otherwise worthless, invisible existence preeminent in the minds of everyone on earth. He would go to his grave despised and hated, but no longer unknown. Now, everyone on earth, for generations to come, would know his name, just as they know the names of Judas Iscariot, Benedict Arnold, John Wilkes Booth, and Bruno Richard Hauptman.

Another collage of poignant images followed. Jacky and her young daughter Caroline, hand in hand, walking to the flag-draped coffin, kneeling beside it, touching the flag. The somber parade through Washington, the caisson bearing the coffin, the riderless horse. John Jr., two years old, saluting the passing coffin. The streets filled with marching military in dress uniforms, followed by many civilian dignitaries. Jacky, her eyes shining behind a black lace veil.

A final scene showed the funeral party in Arlington Cemetery. The black, shiny coffin sits on supports over the open grave, and at its foot, the metal cup of what will be the eternal flame, as yet unlit. Jacky stands before it, and on her right stands Robert Kennedy. The flame is lit and erupts with a rushing sound. Shortly thereafter, not shown in this film, the coffin would be lowered into the open grave.

Tonight, thirty years later, John Kennedy's flame still burns.

November 22, 2008: Update. Make that 45 years.

45 Years Ago Today: My personal diary of the Assassination of JFK

I lived through the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. One of the advantages to being a old bugger is that you can remember historical events. I was a sophomore in college when Kennedy was shot. At that time I considered myself a Democrat and was a fan and supporter of President Kennedy.

Here are the actual entries from my diary of 1963. I was 19 years old.

November 22 (1963)
Friday
Our honored and respected president, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, is dead. The nation and the world was shocked to hear that President Kennedy was shot and killed by an assassin this morning in Dallas, Texas, as he rode through the streets in an open car while being cheered and greeted by thousands of people. The nation is practically in a state of shock, and I personally am deeply grieved over the death of this fine president and man, so young and alive, so zealous and dedicated to his country, to freedom, and to peace.
The shock, grief, and sickness we Americans feel now must be lived to be appreciated. May God rest his soul and give him peace.

November 23 (1963)
Saturday
It was a gloomy, rainy day. All flags in the nation flew at half mast, and will do so for thirty days. D----[my younger brother] and I bought a flag and mounted it in the living room window, with the three corners opposite the pole edged in black crepe paper.
We all feel sick with grief and despair, and a feeling of depression hangs over the nation. All churches have been requested to stay open continuously until after the funeral Monday; almost all businesses will be closed Monday and so will all schools.
My grief for our president is matched only by my burning hatred for his assassin, Lee Oswald; I will not rest until he is dead.

November 24 (1963)
Sunday
The preacher in church today preached a real good sermon about President Kennedy. The church was pretty crowded as many people who are not members of the church came because it was requested by President Johnson for all to pray for the soul of President Kennedy.
My hatred is dying, mainly because Lee Harvey Oswald was murdered today as he was being moved from the City Hall to another jail, the County jail, I believe. The murder was actually recorded on film, with sound. After I saw the expression on Oswald's face and heard his groan of agony when he was shot, my burning hatred began to cool.

November 25 (1963)
Monday
President Kennedy was buried today in Arlington Cemetery. An eternal flame burns at his feet. His grave is on a hill overlooking Washington. Only three days ago he was full of life and in his prime; tonight he lies cold and still in a brass coffin six feet under the ground. Officer J.D. Tippett of Dallas, who was killed by Oswald, was also buried today. Ironically, the murderer of these two good men was also buried today. There's no need to hate him anymore: he has to face God with these crimes on his hands; but the name of Lee Harvey Oswald will go down in history with John Wilkes Booth.

November 26 (1963)
Tuesday
Everyone is still depressed and probably will be for days.

November 28 (1963) - Thanksgiving
Thursday
Joe, Mike, D--- and I went to the traditional Thanksgiving day Big Game between Camden and Del Mar High Schools. Our alma mater, Camden, won 44-18. The game was dedicated to the late president, and very good sportsmanship and school spirit was shown on both sides. Del Mar impressed me with the friendly attitude of its students in spite of their loss.

Since the President's death, everyone seems a lot kinder to each other, and for the time being the "Rat Race" of our modern society seems to be discontinued.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Pirates and Other Scalawags

The Somali pirates have seized 38 ships so far this year, the latest an oil supertanker with a $100 million cargo. I don't know about you, but I find this annoying. The pirates are taking the supertanker to their lair in Somalia. Why an armed force doesn't just move in and destroy the place is beyond me. It seems to me that shipping companies ought to be arming their freighters to resist such attacks. Hide a squad of marines on a few ships and when approached by the pirates, kill the bastards. The pirates wouldn't know which ships would be so armed. It could be a kind of surprise: they'd never know which ships would be armed and ready for them.

Pirates on the high seas aren't the only scalawags who annoy me. Some idiots in Texas have indicted Dick Cheney and two other federal officials for alleged offenses against inmates of federal prisons. I'm sure Dick Cheney was in those prisons overseeing the abuses, the walls echoing with his evil laughter as the poor innocent criminals were mistreated. No, it sounds more like another Democrat political stunt, an attempt to criminalize any political opposition to leftist rule. We have seen these stunts too many times before.

Hey, we'll be back in power sooner than you think, Libbies. Maybe we can indict a few Democrats on treason charges one of these days. After all, my understanding is that there is no statute of limitation for treason, and we are patient.

Then there's the brouhaha over Joe Lieberman. The Left wanted to fix his wagon for supporting McCain over Obama and considered taking away his committee chairmanship as punishment. Since Lieberman supports many Democrat initiatives, this would have been politically asinine. They might have encouraged Lieberman to register as a Republican, further preventing a Democrat supermajority. Harry Reid, the bete noir on the Senate whose frowning and bitter face is so often depicted in news photographs, was pushing for the punishment. Allegedly, Obama told him to back off as Obama needs Lieberman's support and isn't dumb enough to shoot himself in the foot for petty revenge.

A fourth scalawag is Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs. Johnson regularly purges his ranks of subscribers for disagreeing with him. Since Charley thinks everyone to his right is a racist or a Nazi, why, you must be a racist or a Nazi if you disagree with him. Ask Robert Spencer or Pamela Geller or Gates of Vienna or several others who have been deemed ideologically unacceptable to C.J.

Charley's ticked off because some blog called "The Infidel Blogger's Award" has him as one of the choices in a vote-your-favorite poll. The poll is for the "biggest pro-censorship ass-hat." Charley's winning that one handily. I voted for him. No need to thank me, Charley.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Blogging Slows as the World Waits for Obama

All of my favorite blogs are slow to report anything this week. There's nothing much going on worth blogging about (which explains my last post). People are taking the opportunity to wash their pajamas and go outside and see the strange bright ball in the sky -- what is that thing? Why does it hurt to look at it straight-on?

Yes, there is a serious world shortage of good blogger material today. However, Real Clear Politics has a fascinating article on how the Global Warming scientists have branded October 2008 as "the hottest October on record." This, in spite of the fact that it was one of the coldest, with snow flurries in London, rapidly growing sea ice and snowstorms worldwide. It appears the GW brainiacs published false data and drew bogus conclusions. They used a number of temperature readings from September in their calculations, instead of using October temperatures. Can you spell "Bovine Excrement"? The article is called "The World Has Never Seen Such Freezing Heat," by Christopher Booker in the U.K. Telegraph.

Now we have something new to blog about. Were the misreported temperatures the result of incompetence, fraud or another world-wide conspiracy? I'm betting it was the latter. Karl Rove will stop at nothing, I tell you, in his efforts to make a laughing stock of the liberal scientific community. Oh yeah, you'll laugh my friends, when the continents become totally submerged and we are floating around on what is left of the Exxon Valdez.

Okay, I milked it as best I could, but there's just not that much blogger-stuff around right now and we are all doing the best we can with what we have. Be patient. Obama takes office in another nine weeks. He will, I suspect, supply us with lots of new material.

For now, I am going to sit here in my back yard in the cool of evening, basking in the glow of anthropomorphic global warming, smoking a cigar and watching another "Alfred Hitchcock Hour" episode from Hulu television. (I can watch it on my laptop out here in the gazebo. My neighbors don't know I'm not blogging and I am not going to tell them.)

Flower Drum Song

A couple of weeks ago my wife and I went to see a live production of "Flower Drum Song" at the Center for Performing Arts in San Jose, California. I always loved the original production, made into a movie in 1961. "Flower Drum Song" was a Broadway hit in 1958. Fifty years have passed since it first made the scene.

The 1961 film starred Nancy Kwan, an exotic beauty, as well as James Shigeta and Myoshi Umeki.

As a conservative, I am most certainly not into ethnic grievances, but "Flower Drum Song" was not about that. It was a genuine celebration of the Asian experience in America, the culture shock for new arrivals, the striving to know, as new immigrants, what facets of their old culture should be retained and what discarded in their transformation into Americans.

"Flower Drum Song" of 1961 is a bit dated, with the hip young Asians saying things like "hep cats" and calling each other "daddio." Also, it isn't politically correct in our brave new world, where any ethnic theme is a potential minefield of outrage and victimization and hatred of white people. Imagine, Myoshi Umeki's character (Mei-Lei) had to get out of an arranged marriage in the original, and did so by admitting that she was in the country illegally. "My back is wet," she confessed to her would-be mother-in-law. She thus escapes her marriage to Americanized hipster Sammy Fong and marries Wang Ta instead. Poor Sammy has to settle for Linda Low (played by Nancy Kwan). Poor bastard. We should all suffer such a terrible fate.

Talking about "wet backs" today is strictly verboten, so the whole show had to be rewritten. The new story that replaced the old is lame, in my opinion. It features pretty, dancing Asian girls dressed up like boxes of Chop Suey take-out. Mmm, Chop Suey never had legs like those. In any case, I thought the silliness of these depictions was something akin to "The Producers" and their play "Springtime for Hitler," which featured German girls dancing around with giant pretzels and sausages on their heads. However, the latter was supposed to be ridiculous.

The only good thing about the new version of "Flower Drum Song" is that it preserves all of the original songs, songs like "The Flower Drum Song," "You Are Beautiful," "I Enjoy Being a Girl," "Don't Marry Me," and "Love Look Away."

I once was seriously involved with a Chinese woman, an immigrant from Hong Kong, who introduced me to the culture of San Francisco's Chinatown, with its open air markets, weird vegetables, ducks hanging by the neck in store windows, birds nest soup, mooncake with egg and Chrysanthemum tea. Gaudy, cacaphonous Chinatown, with its sights and smells and sounds, was an experience I will never forget. It is here where the story of "Flower Drum Song" unfolds.

Since my Chinese love story ended badly, the song "Love Look Away" always held special meaning for me. In the video below, a star of the modern production, Lea Salonga (a lovely Filipina), sings two songs. The first is "I Enjoy Being a Girl." (I suspect that, if Pamela Geller had a theme song, this would be it.) The second is "Love Look Away." Enjoy.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

We Died, They Rejoiced


The Jawa Report has an article about the father of a U.S. Sailor who died aboard the U.S.S. Cole as a result of a Muslim bomb attack that killed 17 U.S. sailors.

Jesse Nieto, a 25-year Marine veteran, has been banned because of displaying “offensive material" such as decals which say “Remember the Cole, 12 Oct 2000,” “Islam=Terrorism” and “We Died, They Rejoiced.”

The graphic at the left is one of the decals that Nieto displays in the rear window of his car. I recreated it with Xara X.

It's getting pretty bad when a Marine vet can't avail himself of the freedom of speech his own son died for.

Feel free to copy Mr. Nieto's graphic above and display it to your heart's content.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Election Post-Mortem: Are We All the Fat Guy in "Deliverance"?

Blogging has seemed less urgent since the presidential election has concluded. Now we are just waiting for Obama and the new and bigger majority of Democrats to take power. Once they do, changes will be rapid. Think of the barbarians sacking Rome, breaking into the wine stash, carrying away golden goblets and screaming maidens. Yes, it will be something like that.

There will be a move towards shoring up the auto industry. The auto industry is slowly dying of union-inflicted wounds, namely the outrageously high pension plans and post-retirement benefits for its many workers. These burdens were forced on the auto makers by the unions, when times were good and the auto makers could afford them; but now that the economy is in a nose-dive, those fixed costs are eating GM, Ford and Chrysler alive.

So if the Dems bail out the auto makers, they are actually bailing out their own voting constituents, i.e., over-indulged and overpaid union retirees. Unions. Outrageous benefits. Bankrupted companies. Recessions. Democrats. Beginning to sense a pattern here?

Hmm, come to think of it, my own state of Fruits and Nuts, also known as California, has the same problem: they are largely bankrupt from lavish retirement programs for state employees who are (surprise!) represented by militant unions.

President Bush wants to make our ally Colombia a trading partner with the United States; Obama does not. Why? Because unions aren't as ruthlessly strong in Colombia and some over-harried, overtaxed American companies may want to export jobs there so they can actually make a profit. American unions would rather those companies stay here where they can be more easily fleeced.

The American public is about to get the fat guy-in-Deliverance treatment. If you saw "Deliverance," remember the fat guy who was made to strip and get down on all fours? He was made to squeal like a pig while some homosexual hillbilly violated him.

Squeal piggies, squeal! Wheeeooo! Wheeeooo!

The Dems will tell you they are just making love to you. Oh please! Don't try to make something dirty out of it, it's a beautiful thing. You're not losing your freedoms, you're gaining security...well, security except for entrepreneurs, businessmen and capitalists. But then again, you can't make an omelette without breaking some eggs.

If you're one of the eggs, tough luck.

Sunday, November 09, 2008

Election Post-Mortems

Everyone seems to have a different idea of why McCain lost the election. My feeling is that McCain was headed towards a win until the financial melt-down occurred. That was the largest factor in his defeat.

A worried and angry electorate assigned blame to the party in power and voted for their opposites. This financial disaster was a godsend for Obama - it saved his campaign and assured his victory.

The blame, of course, belongs with the Democrats, but most Americans don't care about facts or history; they just want to vent their spleens at the ballot box. For these Americans, voting is largely emotional, not intellectual, and it is a big mistake to overestimate the impact of the latter on a given election.

The second biggest factor in McCain's defeat was McCain himself. McCain is a moderate who believes in many Democrat myths, like man-made global warming; he has sided with the Democrats a number of times to the detriment of his own party. Consequently, the conservative base of the Republican Party did not like him or trust him. He almost reversed this by selecting Sarah Palin as his running mate, but soon reverted to being McCain: ideologically ambiguous, lacking in ideological rigor and certitude about the rightness of his own cause. His ambivalent feelings about conservatism were obvious in his lackluster debates and stump speeches, and in his unwillingness to attack Obama on his radical associations and beliefs.

Most Republicans did not so much vote for McCain as they were voting against Obama. That kind of campaign is always weak. A far stronger campaign is one in which the base has a deep belief in their man and his principles (as they did for Reagan). That was not the case for the GOP candidate in this election.

In sum: we lost this election for two major reasons: (1) the sudden tanking of the economy six weeks before the election and (2) the lack of ideological rigor and moral clarity of our candidate.

There were other contributing factors, of course, but the above two are the major ones. Contributing factors include (1) the cyclical nature of politics following eight years of GOP rule, (2) the complete abandonment of objectivity and journalistic standards by the mainstream media and (3) Obama's youth, vigor and self-assurance combined with the historic nature of his candidacy.

That's it. Don't overthink the election. It's time to start thinking about the next one.

Saturday, November 08, 2008

Smiling Bali Terrorist Executed But Still Smiling

The Smiling Terrorist of "Bali Bombing" fame was executed yesterday by firing squad in Indonesia.
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The terrorist, Amrozi Nurhasyim, was famous for smiling throughout his trial and expressed joy at being sentenced to death for the crime.
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Presumably, Nurhasyim is frolicking in Heaven with his 72 virgins, rewarded by the Great God Allah who enthusiastically approves of mass murder of strangers for any reason whatsoever. Ignorant and intolerant Westerners don't appreciate this cultural aspect of Islam and insisted on Nurhasyim's execution. No doubt, racism was a major factor.
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Nurhasyim had the last laugh before departing for that Big Bordello in the Sky by smiling broadly both before and after the execution.
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In a few months, Nurhasyim's smile will be broader still but you'll have to dig him up to see it.

Click on image to see it full size.

Old Boats and the Lonely Shore

There's something fascinating about an old boat on a lonely beach. Often their proud names, painted on the bow, are still visible and seem ironic in light of the boat's present state of decay. Names like "Discovery" or "Adventure" or "Enterprise."

I saw a photo (see below) of one such boat decaying on a beach in Alaska. It's name was "Try Again II." Maybe it should Try Again III since it's obvious the first two tries didn't work out.

These old boats are very photogenic, like the old rotting barns so popular with photographers. They give us a sense of passing time. What was once beautiful and proud is now dilapidated and abandoned, transformed by the forces of time and circumstance. In musing upon these relics we are made to realize that our lives too will pass away and new generations arise to take our place. Let us sail proudly and productively while we can.

Above photo is a Photoshop that I created from images off the web, combined into a new image. The grass is from a Photoshop brush. Click on image to see it full size. It makes a nice Windows desktop background.

Below is the photo of the Try Again II.


Yes, we will try again...until we get it right.






Friday, November 07, 2008

Thursday, November 06, 2008

For Broken-Hearted Conservatives: Roll With the Changes

Some common sense from Pajama Media news chief, VRWC Network's John Galt.


The Tide Rolls Out But Will Roll Back In Again

Some advice to depressed conservatives and Republicans: keep this election in perspective. Politics is cyclical. The tide has rolled out but it will roll back in again.

Back on October 3rd my subconscious served up an epiphany. My gut told me that Obama would win the election, in fact, that it was a done deal. I wrote:
My intuition is often very accurate. This morning when I woke up, I had a strong feeling of certitude that we Republicans are going to lose this election and that Barack Obama will be the next president of the United States. It wasn’t a panicky feeling or a worried feeling or a feeling of fear, it was a calm realization, an inner knowing. It told me in a quiet but clear voice that the election is lost. The inner voice presented it to me as a done deal.
The reason is simple. Americans just get tired of the same brand, the same color, the same style and want to make a change. It’s a gamble that they are willing to take, that some way, somehow, someone new may have the answers to the country’s ills just as he promises. They just want a change, and not for any deep political or philosophical reasons, but as a simple reaction to boredom. That's the main reason Hillary lost to Obama. The public is tired of hearing about the Clintons. It's an old book that they've read before.
It’s as if they (the voters) have been driving a blue car for eight years and now want to buy a green one or a red one. After having been on a diet of bland food for eight years, they decide to throw caution to the wind and eat a banana cream pie. Whole. Screw it, they say, I’ll worry about the consequences tomorrow.
This need for change, any change, even potentially dangerous or harmful change, is somehow buried deep in the psyche of humans and is not entirely rational.
With the election of Obama, many Americans have purchased optimism and "hope," but their feelings of elation will be temporary. The collectivist agenda that Obama has promised always, always damages an economy and makes it much harder for ordinary citizens to make ends meet.

Meanwhile, we Republicans needed this route. Our elected officials failed us miserably, opting to trade Republican principles for longevity (or so they thought) in office. Karl Rove, they say, had a plan to make the Republican Party the permanent majority party...by becoming a carbon copy of the Democratic Party. Millions of Republicans stayed home during the mid-term elections of 2006. We don't want to exchange liberals with a D after their name for liberals with an R after their name. We are not seeking a different brand of arsenic with which to sweeten our coffee.

We have the opportunity to rebuild on a stronger foundation. Let's make good use of it. So buck up. Somehow we will find a way to muddle through.

As for watching the tide roll in and out, Otis Redding did a pretty good job of that. See the video below.

A Pox on the "Moderates"

In my next few essays, I will explore the types of candidates and issues the GOP must support in order to retake the United States from the Socialist Democrats.

Let's take the issue of "moderates." Moderates are pitched by the media as being cool-headed voters and politicians who avoid the hot-headed extremes of left and right, who are open to compromise and negotiation, who can see both sides of every issue and take a measured, thoughtful and reasoned approach to every question. There is an implication that if you aren't a "moderate" you must be a mindless zealot or fanatic.

What a crock. Moderates are indecisive, uninformed, ambivalent voters and politicians who can't make up their minds on any issue. They are fence-sitters without core beliefs or commitment to any real political philosophy. They are subject to the whims of political fads, hype and hoopla. Our goal in the GOP should not be to "appeal to the moderates," as if moderates have any specific view (their views are all over the map). Our goal with regard to moderates should be to convert them to full conservatism. Our strategy should not be to court them by appealing to their vanity as "reasoned" voters. Rather, we should seek to expose them for what they are, intellectually lazy individuals whose loyalties are subject to whatever political winds that blow.

For the record, both George W. Bush and John McCain are "moderate" Republicans. Neither has served or defended the Party well.

As John Hawkins at Right Wing News puts it:
It's worth noting that there is no "moderate" political party in the United States. When the American people go to the ballot box, we have a center-right nation choosing between the Republican Party and radical, left-wing socialists. A competent, conservative Republican Party will not only be more representative of its core supporters, it will win at the ballot box when it goes head to head with liberals. Look back to Reagan and the 1994 Revolution to see that principle in action. Now, look to 2006 and 2008 to see how an incompetent, "moderate" Republican Party does at the ballot box.
"Moderate" Republicans are those without a deep belief in the principles of their party and, in a fight, are unable or unwilling to defend them. That, no doubt, explains McCain's tepid performance engaging Obama in debate.

It also explains why Sarah Palin has a future in the GOP and the McCain staffers, who are now falsely blaming her for the defeat, do not.