Wednesday Night Cigars

Two Rocky Patel Edge's were burned at Mikhail's dacha this evening. Excerpts of the conversation:

Karl: ...of course I'm a Colonel, so I'll have to go on taking cold showers until they elect some gal president!

Mikhail: I remember election night, November 1976. I was going to bed and it looked like Carter was going to beat Ford. I told my mom, if Carter wins, this country is going to suffer. Boy, was I right!

Karl: If it ends up being Hillary vs. Bloomberg as nominees in February, it'll be like looking at a dark cloud on the horizon. Can you imagine how businesses will be hammered? Jobs will be tight, and it'll be hard to find a safe place to invest. And we'll know almost a year before it begins!

Mikhail: Romney said he'd use the veto pen.

Karl: I guess I'm his target market then. Although, Ross Perot offered that same hard line, and I think he would have really messed things up. What about Bloomberg vs. Richardson?

Mikhail: Richardson.

Karl: Yep, me too. Richardson has cut taxes, Bloomberg hasn't. But we'd be out of Iraq.

Mikhail: I'm not sure. I think if a democrat gets elected, and sees the intelligence information that Bush sees every day, they'll stay in Iraq. I don't think they, or half of America, realize who we're fighting, or what the stakes really are.

Karl: Thompson vs North for the Republican nomination?

Mikhail: OLLIE!

Sammy's Alive!

He ain't look'in too good though. He's got that pale, unwashed, look. We can imagine his excuse: "I've been MARRIED for SEVEN YEARS! Oh OH!"

We saw him on Rosie's web site, where Sammy shows us why it is better to just fade away. (Warning - Don't click if you have a better use of 10 minutes.)

Count on us to do a similar video when we self-destruct!

We especially enjoyed how the high-school dropout explained how "rich white men" are never held responsible. She further explains: this is why Alberto Gonzales has evaded responsibility for his role in the Abu Ghraib prison crimes. Brilliant.

Weekend Reading

Sending our best to our veterans, past and present, this Memorial Day.

James Taranto's Best of the Web on Monday responds to Carter's recent "careless or misunderstood" comments, and exposes more bias in the media.

Bob Kerrey provides us with a rare glimpse of logic from the left with his WSJ article: The Left's Iraq Muddle: Yes, it is central to the fight against Islamic Radiclaism.

The critics who bother me the most are those who ordinarily would not be on the side of supporting dictatorships, who are arguing today that only military intervention can prevent the genocide of Darfur, or who argued yesterday for military intervention in Bosnia, Somalia and Rwanda to ease the sectarian violence that was tearing those places apart.

Suppose we had not invaded Iraq and Hussein had been overthrown by Shiite and Kurdish insurgents. Suppose al Qaeda then undermined their new democracy and inflamed sectarian tensions to the same level of violence we are seeing today. Wouldn't you expect the same people who are urging a unilateral and immediate withdrawal to be urging military intervention to end this carnage? I would.

[$$] Mark Moyer reviews recent presidents in his response to Jimmy Carter's comments this week in his WSJ opinion piece, Worst in History?.

From the Cox & Forkum Collection

Zombietime Photoshop Challenge

Here is our submission to Zombietime's photoshop challenge: Al Gore's Secret Message.

Saturday Night Cigar

Imagine: Burning your fingers with a CAO Brazilia on a warm afternoon, celebrating the recent liberation of 50 million in the Middle East, only to discover the TRUE threat to America. It is all so clear now...

U/T: Shy

Karl's Weekend Reading

Tuesdays Wall Street Journal had two exceptional editorials - a scandal where there is none, and a scandal that is too large for the small minds of the MSM to comprehend:

World Bank Jobbery: More Evidence the Wolfowitz Accusers Chose to Ignore.

A lesson for us all - make too much of a difference for the better, and you'll upset those who sat in power and did nothing. In this case, the 24-member board.

'Nobody is Untouchable': Putin wants to disbar Russia's most distinguished human-rights lawyer, by Bret Stephens.

Yet it's the broader ramifications of the government's actions that most concern Ms. Moskalenko. While she scrupulously avoids mentioning Mr. Putin by name--"I am strictly not a politician," she says more than once--she is under no illusions about his methods. In today's Russia, "it isn't necessary to put all the businessmen in jail. It is necessary to jail the richest, the most independent, the most well-connected. It isn't necessary to kill all the journalists. Just kill the most outstanding, the bravest, and the others will get the message. Nobody is untouchable. I tell Kasparov: 'Look, you are not untouchable.' "

For now, however, it is Ms. Moskalenko herself who is in Mr. Putin's sights--a dangerous place to be, given the experience of so many of her clients. Characteristically, she isn't budging. Robert Amsterdam, a Canadian lawyer on Mr. Khodorkovsky's defense team, recalls that when he was arrested in September 2005 by Russian security services, she was the first person he called. "These thugs from the secret police wouldn't give us their IDs," he says. "So Karinna takes her cell phone and clicks their pictures. The woman is completely fearless. And there's nothing that scares these people more than someone who is fearless, someone who puts principle above safety or social standing."

It is telling that we have to link to a foreign news source for a story on how the Russian Union of Journalists refused an order from the Putin government. "Journalists in Russia refuse State Crackdown" C. J. Chivers, Int'l Herald Tribune.

Tuesday Night Cigar

The Rocky Patel Edge was extra smooth tonight, with our addition to the all-famous Gulagosphere blogroll and some additions to our Book Club!

HilDogWhiteFlag

UT: The People's Cube

Blogroll Additions

The Ushanka.us blogroll is starting to look like that line outside the bread store in downtown commieville. We welcome the following creative and informative sites:

The Mudville Gazette. The perfect starting point in the Milblog community.

America's North Shore Journal. Check out the Terrorist Death Watch list. Outstanding piece of work from the diligent Chuck Simmins.

SondraK. A little bit of everything...

The People's Cube. Proving at least someone else recognizes a commie when he sees one! Our compliments on the video:

Sunday Cigar

Karl's Weekend Reading List

Start your weekend reading off right with Ann Coulter's Townhall article, "C'est Si Bon". Each sentence is polished to perfection.

"Dooming Themselves to Defeat" is Lawrence Kudlow's optimistic assessment of the 2008 presidential race. Every argument is well defended, so the conclusion must be true. Right?

Kudlow also speaks of the Communist movement's momentum in Latin America at his blog.

Victor Davis Hanson clarifies 'Al Qaedism' at NRO.

Count us in on the Opie & Anthony witch hunt. Another reason for Karl to not use the XM Satellite radio installed in his car.

That Slippery Slope...

A great video from the American Family Association. They summarize that slippery slope of liberalism, and its consequences, in 3.5 minutes. UT: Jawa Report.

So where are the similar videos that review good intentions gone wrong with government regulations, the tax code, minimum wage increases, etc.?

Weekend Reading

Michael Barone has a concise piece on Gun Free Zones at Townhall.com: "Feeling Safe Isn't Safe".

Mike at The Jawa Report gets a rare blog line and Ushanka Tip for his rant on why feminists aren't making any noise about Islam's treatment of women:

If women can devote their energy to saving African and Asian orphans, one at a time, and if they can save the polar bear, the wolf, the harp seal and just about every other conceivable cute furry animal, and if they can save Earth from global destruction, one toilet paper square at a time, then they sure can unite to forcefully and continuously protest the treatment of Muslim women as second-class human beings.

Bret Stephens at the Wall Street Journal lays out the hypocracy at the World Bank. So some promotions of girlfriends are ok, but others are not? "Notes on a Scandal: How Ethical are Paul Wolfowitz's Detractors?"

New Blogroll entry! We added a link to Michael Fumento's site this week in our blogroll. He just returned from Iraq and has some great, unbiased, stories. UT: Blackfive.

Oliver North reviews the "major challenges" listed in the latest State Dept. Country Reports on Terrorism report. A 25% increase in terrorism with a 40% rise in deaths. "Terror, Inc." is at Townhall.com.

This week the State Department published its annual Country Reports on Terrorism. For those who want facts about the radical Islamic jihad being waged against the West, it's fascinating reading. For simpering solons in Congress, slithering back up Capitol Hill with their vetoed "surrender supplemental," it is bad news. And for those with any grasp of history, it's deja vu.

Linda Chavez explains how the "Democrats have set up the wrong benchmark" in their surrender bill. Good suggestions in her Townhall article "Anti-war or Anti-troop".

Thursday Night Cigar

Another Rocky Patel Maduro Edge. Seems tastier today.

2 Reasons: Veto of the Surrender Bill, and Ushanka.us has our first sponsor (we'll announce soon).

Happy May Day

Here is a pic from a rally today. UT: LGF