Pretty cool, hey?I just wanted to see how a moving gif file works in blogger.
Now if I can just figure out how to embed YouTube videos.
I'm working on it.
Stogie
Monday, July 31, 2006
Israeli Flag
Pretty cool, hey?I just wanted to see how a moving gif file works in blogger.
Now if I can just figure out how to embed YouTube videos.
I'm working on it.
Stogie
Friday, July 28, 2006
Blog Wars: An Update
The battles between some conservative and liberal bloggers is continuing and may be moving to court.
Apparently, Jeff Goldstein of Protein Wisdom is pressing charges against leftist blogger Deb Frisch for making what appear to be threatening comments against his two year old son. (See my previous post on the Goldstein-Frish fight here.)
A person believed to be Deb Frisch continues to make profane and sexual references to Jeff's son in posts to his blog and to other blogs; the IP address traces to Eugene, Oregon where Deb now lives. Her comments have nothing to do with the topic at hand, e.g. baseball. Patterico's Pontifications has the details (hat tip Sara at Squiggler).
This week the conservative blog Seixon criticized an unhinged Lefty named Jason Leopold. Leopold runs a website, truthout.org, and is a former reporter for the Los Angeles Times.
Seixon blog says that Leopold has apparently retaliated for Seixon's criticisms with both death threats and forged emails alleged to be from Seixon, in which Seixon "threatens" to "blackmail" Leopold. Leopold has been posting the forged emails at ThinkProgress in an effort to discredit Seixon and paint its owner as a "threat." Seixon reprints and exposes the fraud in these emails at his website (follow "forged emails" link above).
According to the Volokh Conspiracy, Leopold wrote an article on Enron for ezine Salon Magazine which included several allegedly plagiarized paragraphs. The article was also heavily based on an email that Leopold claimed he received, but that Salon believed to have been fabricated (the alleged sender of the email denied ever speaking to Leopold). Salon then withdrew Leopold's article.
Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post said of Leopold:
Apparently, Jeff Goldstein of Protein Wisdom is pressing charges against leftist blogger Deb Frisch for making what appear to be threatening comments against his two year old son. (See my previous post on the Goldstein-Frish fight here.)
A person believed to be Deb Frisch continues to make profane and sexual references to Jeff's son in posts to his blog and to other blogs; the IP address traces to Eugene, Oregon where Deb now lives. Her comments have nothing to do with the topic at hand, e.g. baseball. Patterico's Pontifications has the details (hat tip Sara at Squiggler).
This week the conservative blog Seixon criticized an unhinged Lefty named Jason Leopold. Leopold runs a website, truthout.org, and is a former reporter for the Los Angeles Times.
Seixon blog says that Leopold has apparently retaliated for Seixon's criticisms with both death threats and forged emails alleged to be from Seixon, in which Seixon "threatens" to "blackmail" Leopold. Leopold has been posting the forged emails at ThinkProgress in an effort to discredit Seixon and paint its owner as a "threat." Seixon reprints and exposes the fraud in these emails at his website (follow "forged emails" link above).
According to the Volokh Conspiracy, Leopold wrote an article on Enron for ezine Salon Magazine which included several allegedly plagiarized paragraphs. The article was also heavily based on an email that Leopold claimed he received, but that Salon believed to have been fabricated (the alleged sender of the email denied ever speaking to Leopold). Salon then withdrew Leopold's article.
Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post said of Leopold:
Apparently he's still battling the latter.Leopold says he engaged in "lying, cheating and backstabbing," is a former cocaine addict, served time for grand larceny, repeatedly tried to kill himself and has battled mental illness his whole life.
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Israel: The Neighborhood Bully?
According to Horsefeathers, Bob Dylan wrote a song about Israel many years ago called "The Neighborhood Bully." No, it's not what you think. Dylan's song was very pro-Israel and contains a large quotient of truth.
Horsefeathers asys "Here's Bob Dylan on Israel, written years ago, but true as ever."
NEIGHBORHOOD BULLY
Well, the neighborhood bully, he's just one man,
His enemies say he's on their land.
They got him outnumbered about a million to one,
He got no place to escape to, no place to run.
He's the neighborhood bully.
The neighborhood bully just lives to survive,
He's criticized and condemned for being alive.
He's not supposed to fight back, he's supposed to have thick skin,
He's supposed to lay down and die when his door is kicked in.
He's the neighborhood bully.
The neighborhood bully been driven out of every land,
He's wandered the earth an exiled man.
Seen his family scattered, his people hounded and torn,
He's always on trial for just being born.
He's the neighborhood bully.
Well, he knocked out a lynch mob, he was criticized,
Old women condemned him, said he should apologize.
Then he destroyed a bomb factory, nobody was glad.
The bombs were meant for him. He was supposed to feel bad.
He's the neighborhood bully.
Well, the chances are against it and the odds are slim
That he'll live by the rules that the world makes for him,
'Cause there's a noose at his neck and a gun at his back
And a license to kill him is given out to every maniac.
He's the neighborhood bully.
He got no allies to really speak of.
What he gets he must pay for, he don't get it out of love.
He buys obsolete weapons and he won't be denied
But no one sends flesh and blood to fight by his side.
He's the neighborhood bully.
Well, he's surrounded by pacifists who all want peace,
They pray for it nightly that the bloodshed must cease.
Now, they wouldn't hurt a fly. To hurt one they would weep.
They lay and they wait for this bully to fall asleep.
He's the neighborhood bully.
Every empire that's enslaved him is gone,
Egypt and Rome, even the great Babylon.
He's made a garden of paradise in the desert sand,
In bed with nobody, under no one's command.
He's the neighborhood bully.
Now his holiest books have been trampled upon,
No contract he signed was worth what it was written on.
He took the crumbs of the world and he turned it into wealth,
Took sickness and disease and he turned it into health.
He's the neighborhood bully.
What's anybody indebted to him for?
Nothin', they say. He just likes to cause war.
Pride and prejudice and superstition indeed,
They wait for this bully like a dog waits to feed.
He's the neighborhood bully.
What has he done to wear so many scars?
Does he change the course of rivers?
Does he pollute the moon and stars?
Neighborhood bully, standing on the hill,
Running out the clock, time standing still,
Neighborhood bully.
Horsefeathers asys "Here's Bob Dylan on Israel, written years ago, but true as ever."
NEIGHBORHOOD BULLY
Well, the neighborhood bully, he's just one man,
His enemies say he's on their land.
They got him outnumbered about a million to one,
He got no place to escape to, no place to run.
He's the neighborhood bully.
The neighborhood bully just lives to survive,
He's criticized and condemned for being alive.
He's not supposed to fight back, he's supposed to have thick skin,
He's supposed to lay down and die when his door is kicked in.
He's the neighborhood bully.
The neighborhood bully been driven out of every land,
He's wandered the earth an exiled man.
Seen his family scattered, his people hounded and torn,
He's always on trial for just being born.
He's the neighborhood bully.
Well, he knocked out a lynch mob, he was criticized,
Old women condemned him, said he should apologize.
Then he destroyed a bomb factory, nobody was glad.
The bombs were meant for him. He was supposed to feel bad.
He's the neighborhood bully.
Well, the chances are against it and the odds are slim
That he'll live by the rules that the world makes for him,
'Cause there's a noose at his neck and a gun at his back
And a license to kill him is given out to every maniac.
He's the neighborhood bully.
He got no allies to really speak of.
What he gets he must pay for, he don't get it out of love.
He buys obsolete weapons and he won't be denied
But no one sends flesh and blood to fight by his side.
He's the neighborhood bully.
Well, he's surrounded by pacifists who all want peace,
They pray for it nightly that the bloodshed must cease.
Now, they wouldn't hurt a fly. To hurt one they would weep.
They lay and they wait for this bully to fall asleep.
He's the neighborhood bully.
Every empire that's enslaved him is gone,
Egypt and Rome, even the great Babylon.
He's made a garden of paradise in the desert sand,
In bed with nobody, under no one's command.
He's the neighborhood bully.
Now his holiest books have been trampled upon,
No contract he signed was worth what it was written on.
He took the crumbs of the world and he turned it into wealth,
Took sickness and disease and he turned it into health.
He's the neighborhood bully.
What's anybody indebted to him for?
Nothin', they say. He just likes to cause war.
Pride and prejudice and superstition indeed,
They wait for this bully like a dog waits to feed.
He's the neighborhood bully.
What has he done to wear so many scars?
Does he change the course of rivers?
Does he pollute the moon and stars?
Neighborhood bully, standing on the hill,
Running out the clock, time standing still,
Neighborhood bully.
Why We Write
Tony Blankley of Real Clear Politics laments that the world just doesn't understand the Islamist threat. Until they do, we will be unable to mount an effective effort to defeat it. He writes:
Until the American and European publics have become convinced of the present danger to them, we will continue to stumble, take half measures and fail to adequately defend ourselves. Before action, must come belief; before belief must come understanding; before understanding must come education and debate. In the beginning was the word. It is time to begin.The conservative blogosphere understands the problem. It's why we write.
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Of Chickenhawks and Chickens
Rightwing Nuthouse discusses the "Chickenhawk" debate and how the Left, when they lose an argument, simply redefine the major terms so it will appear they "won."
Lefties have been labeling anyone who hasn't served, but who supports our wars against tyranny, as "Chickenhawks." This week Jeff Jacoby wrote an article about the term, concluding it was just a Leftist smear designed to stop debate and shut up its opponents. (Another even more effective manifestation of the same tactic is to call your opponent a "racist." Or as Rush Limbaugh says, a "racist" is anyone who wins an argument with a liberal.)
The slur "chickenhawk" is along these same lines, a dishonest rhetorical device by folks who don't have a lot of ethics in the first place. Or, as Rightwing Nuthouse puts it, "by using the term, liberals have every intent of shutting off discussion while at the same time, gleefully savaging their political opponents by creating a narrative that places them in an ascendant moral position."
Well now the Left, in the person of Glenn Greenwald, has written an article that expands the "meaning" of the slur so that it is more defensible. This is bad enough, but liberal sock puppets have rewritten the term at Wikipedia, which shows 50 recent revisions, to bring the term into agreement with Greenwald's newly made-up definition.
This is how the Left has always fought, by seeking to manipulate the media and controll the debate in ways that are intellectually dishonest, but favorable to them.
Jeff Goldstein sums it all up very well:
Lefties have been labeling anyone who hasn't served, but who supports our wars against tyranny, as "Chickenhawks." This week Jeff Jacoby wrote an article about the term, concluding it was just a Leftist smear designed to stop debate and shut up its opponents. (Another even more effective manifestation of the same tactic is to call your opponent a "racist." Or as Rush Limbaugh says, a "racist" is anyone who wins an argument with a liberal.)
The slur "chickenhawk" is along these same lines, a dishonest rhetorical device by folks who don't have a lot of ethics in the first place. Or, as Rightwing Nuthouse puts it, "by using the term, liberals have every intent of shutting off discussion while at the same time, gleefully savaging their political opponents by creating a narrative that places them in an ascendant moral position."
Well now the Left, in the person of Glenn Greenwald, has written an article that expands the "meaning" of the slur so that it is more defensible. This is bad enough, but liberal sock puppets have rewritten the term at Wikipedia, which shows 50 recent revisions, to bring the term into agreement with Greenwald's newly made-up definition.
This is how the Left has always fought, by seeking to manipulate the media and controll the debate in ways that are intellectually dishonest, but favorable to them.
Jeff Goldstein sums it all up very well:
And controlling the narrative—first by bending it to fit your will, then byI drew a cartoon two years ago which lampooned Garry Trudeau for using the "Chickenhawk" argument. Here it is. Click on the image to enlarge.
repeating it until it becomes provisional “truth”—is at the heart of a
progressive “activism” that, let’s face it, has failed to win people over
using an unrigged marketplace of ideas.
More Stories of Israel by the Chomper Boys
JULY 26 UPDATE: My middle son, Cohiba, called me today to add to the Israel stories below.
Cohiba told me of his first impression of Israel. You drove through barren desert wastes until you approached a series of gates where your identity was confirmed. Once through the gates into Israel, the landscape changed very suddenly to one of green grass, flowers, trees and plants. There was no gradual change, it was all at once.
Cohiba became good friends with an IDF soldier who invited him to spend a weekend with his family. Cohiba said the Israeli family was very warm and treated him like family, too. His IDF friends took Cohiba to an Israeli restaurant where they would tell him Hebrew phrases to repeat to the waitress. He went along with the joke and would repeat what they told him. The waitress would smile and go away. Cohiba then asked, "What did I say?" They replied, "I love you" and another time, "Kiss me."
Cohiba liked a nightclub in Jerusalem called "The Underground." Israeli soldiers would get on the dance floor with Uzis hanging from their shoulders and boogie with the young women that way.
My son told me that his three favorite places on earth are Israel, Hawaii and San Diego. He couldn't praise the Israeli people enough.
***********
My eldest son Stogie Jr. drives a truck and often calls me from the road. He liked my post "Reply to Atlas Shrugs, We Stand With the Jews." He then told me some more stories about his visits to Israel.
Stogie Jr., and his younger brother Cohiba confirms, that when they were in Israel it was impossible to buy a beer at the local watering hole. That's because IDF soldiers and Israeli citizens would never let their glasses get empty.
All the IDF soldiers in the bar had their loaded Uzis on the tables beside their drinks, and the IDF boys never went anywhere without their weapons. Well, I shouldn't say "boys," because the IDF also has women soldiers. Stogie Jr. visited a beach in Israel where nudity is not only allowed, but widely practiced. While there, a beautiful young Israeli woman walked up to Jr. and asked for a light for her cigarette. She was completely nude, except for the Uzi hanging from her shoulder by its strap.
Stogie also had a long conversation with a 50ish Israeli woman, who was also quite beautiful. (Beautiful women seem to be plentiful in Israel.) While she was buying beers for Jr. and his buddy, she told them she had been the equivalent of a First Sergeant in the Israeli war with Egypt (probably the War of Attrition of 1969 - 1970), and mentioned that she personally had killed "many Egyptians."
Once while they were having beers on the outside patio, an Israeli IDF helicopter landed across the street from the bar, and when the pilot got out, they saw it was another beautiful Israeli woman, well built and with ample cleavage proudly displayed. While the Americans were slobbering all over themselves, she bought a beer, turned around and smiled at the American soldiers and raised her glass to them in a salute.
There was an Israeli kid, about 11 or 12, who adopted Jr. and his buddy and followed them around everywhere, so they let him watch television with them in the hotel. The young lad was anxious to grow up and join the IDF. Maybe he's out there in South Lebanon now.
Junior tells me he would love to go back to Israel. He loved the country and the people. God bless them all.
Cohiba told me of his first impression of Israel. You drove through barren desert wastes until you approached a series of gates where your identity was confirmed. Once through the gates into Israel, the landscape changed very suddenly to one of green grass, flowers, trees and plants. There was no gradual change, it was all at once.
Cohiba became good friends with an IDF soldier who invited him to spend a weekend with his family. Cohiba said the Israeli family was very warm and treated him like family, too. His IDF friends took Cohiba to an Israeli restaurant where they would tell him Hebrew phrases to repeat to the waitress. He went along with the joke and would repeat what they told him. The waitress would smile and go away. Cohiba then asked, "What did I say?" They replied, "I love you" and another time, "Kiss me."
Cohiba liked a nightclub in Jerusalem called "The Underground." Israeli soldiers would get on the dance floor with Uzis hanging from their shoulders and boogie with the young women that way.
My son told me that his three favorite places on earth are Israel, Hawaii and San Diego. He couldn't praise the Israeli people enough.
***********
My eldest son Stogie Jr. drives a truck and often calls me from the road. He liked my post "Reply to Atlas Shrugs, We Stand With the Jews." He then told me some more stories about his visits to Israel.
Stogie Jr., and his younger brother Cohiba confirms, that when they were in Israel it was impossible to buy a beer at the local watering hole. That's because IDF soldiers and Israeli citizens would never let their glasses get empty.
All the IDF soldiers in the bar had their loaded Uzis on the tables beside their drinks, and the IDF boys never went anywhere without their weapons. Well, I shouldn't say "boys," because the IDF also has women soldiers. Stogie Jr. visited a beach in Israel where nudity is not only allowed, but widely practiced. While there, a beautiful young Israeli woman walked up to Jr. and asked for a light for her cigarette. She was completely nude, except for the Uzi hanging from her shoulder by its strap.
Stogie also had a long conversation with a 50ish Israeli woman, who was also quite beautiful. (Beautiful women seem to be plentiful in Israel.) While she was buying beers for Jr. and his buddy, she told them she had been the equivalent of a First Sergeant in the Israeli war with Egypt (probably the War of Attrition of 1969 - 1970), and mentioned that she personally had killed "many Egyptians."
Once while they were having beers on the outside patio, an Israeli IDF helicopter landed across the street from the bar, and when the pilot got out, they saw it was another beautiful Israeli woman, well built and with ample cleavage proudly displayed. While the Americans were slobbering all over themselves, she bought a beer, turned around and smiled at the American soldiers and raised her glass to them in a salute.
There was an Israeli kid, about 11 or 12, who adopted Jr. and his buddy and followed them around everywhere, so they let him watch television with them in the hotel. The young lad was anxious to grow up and join the IDF. Maybe he's out there in South Lebanon now.
Junior tells me he would love to go back to Israel. He loved the country and the people. God bless them all.
Spontaneous Human Combustion
Being an old Moonbat from San Francisco, I'm hip to all kinds of wondrous natural phenomena. One of these is "spontaneous human combustion," or SHC. There have been scattered reports of this strange event down through history. It occurs when, for unknown reasons, a human being will suddenly ignite and burn like a Roman candle on the 4th of July. One of the most recent occurrences is when Al Gore gave his famous speech to the Daily KOS. Well, he didn't exactly ignite but the Lefties were afraid he might and the Righties were hoping he would. But I digress.
Now it appears this strange event is happening again (Twilight Zone theme music, please), this time in Beirut. I suspect it is related somehow to the spontaneously exploding buildings in the Hezbollah community. Anyway, some of the residents there have been self-immolating in recent days. It seems to happen to those who wrap their heads in an ugly white scarfs with black patterns that resemble crossed fishooks.
Developing..... (doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo) (Twilight Zone theme song).
Now it appears this strange event is happening again (Twilight Zone theme music, please), this time in Beirut. I suspect it is related somehow to the spontaneously exploding buildings in the Hezbollah community. Anyway, some of the residents there have been self-immolating in recent days. It seems to happen to those who wrap their heads in an ugly white scarfs with black patterns that resemble crossed fishooks.
Developing..... (doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo) (Twilight Zone theme song).
Beirut Destruction Caused by Global Warming
In California today, it's hotter than the Liberal corner of Hell. It's "global warming," of course. Scientists have noted this warming effect appears somewhat related to something called "summer." Get those Kyoto Protocols on my desk, I'm ready to sign if Bush won't!!
I hear it's even hotter in a placed called "Beirut." Isn't that down near Bakersfield? Anyway I hear it's so hot that buildings are exploding. Strangest weather ever.
I hear it's even hotter in a placed called "Beirut." Isn't that down near Bakersfield? Anyway I hear it's so hot that buildings are exploding. Strangest weather ever.
Monday, July 24, 2006
My Response to Atlas Shrugs: We Stand With the Jews
Pamela of Atlas Shrugs (the hottie at the right) ran an article written by an Israeli entitled "An Open Letter to the World." The letter was understandably bitter about how Israel is condemned by many for merely trying to survive, and how Jews have been treated by non-Jews down through the centuries.Below is my reply to the article.
******
Pamela, yes it's true Jews have been treated abominably down through the centuries, but the bitterness shouldn't be taken too far. There are many, many Christians who support Israel today, and it is the most fundamental of Christians who support it the most. American troops did liberate Buchenwald and Dachau, and my Uncle Fred was among those troops who liberated the latter. The American troops were so outraged at what they found at Dachau that they lined the German guards up against a wall and promptly shot them.
Israel exists today because Christian nations established it, funded it and supported it both morally and with arms. Although Europe has its head way up its nether regions, most people in the USA support Israel, as recent polls indicate.
My two older sons both served with the US Army in the Sinai, the peacekeeping force that Carter put there to keep Egypt and Israel at peace. Both of them went to Israel when they had leave; both of them were astounded at how beautiful, modern and prosperous Israel was compared to the barren and impoverished landscape of Egypt. Stogie Jr. told me that it was like walking from a barren destert into an oasis.
Both my sons were befriended by Israeli soldiers and my younger son spent a weekend in the home of an IDF soldier as his guest. Clearly, the IDF soldiers saw my sons as comrades in arms.
Yesterday my eldest son called me and told me he would love to join the IDF and fight on the front lines for Israel. I told him I had a similar fantasy, but we are both too long in the tooth for that. I doubt my old Civil War muzzle loader would be effective against those Chinese made rockets.
My son told me, "Pop, if I weren't a Christian, I'd be a Jew."
I replied, "Me too!"
I think you know where our hearts are.
Sunday, July 23, 2006
Girl With a Sign: Support Israel!
Wow, my mouth dropped open when I viewed this original, unretouched photo from the Londonistan Muslim protest demonstrations! There was a young woman carrying this sign!
I didn't realize I had such support in the U.K.! I'm all choked up......
Feel free to use this graphic as you see fit.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
