While Americans stand in line for something as basic as a phone, Venezuela's Chavez is at the front of the line in Moscow to purchase some weapons and to encourage Russians to "revive the thinking of the founder of the Soviet Union, Vladimir Lenin."
UT: SondraK
Friday, June 29, 2007
The Communistification of America
Well, judging by the images from today, America has turned the corner for the worse. Alexander Graham Bell invented the phone in 1876, and here in 2007 Americans are waiting in line to buy one.
What next? Bread? A hip replacement? Where is the outrage!?
Keeping with this Communist theme, we are starting a new cartoon-capture series. We've detected a theme among cartoonists of late that reinforces our fear of a Communist resurgence. It is good to see we are not alone.
Here are two cartoons found at Townhall.com - with Hammers & Sickles.
What next? Bread? A hip replacement? Where is the outrage!?
Keeping with this Communist theme, we are starting a new cartoon-capture series. We've detected a theme among cartoonists of late that reinforces our fear of a Communist resurgence. It is good to see we are not alone.
Here are two cartoons found at Townhall.com - with Hammers & Sickles.
Weekend Reading
We completely agree with Joshua Muravchik's logic that wars are started by those who underestimate democracies. A great write-up, "Winds of War", at Opinion Journal.
"Our Enemy's Attrition" is Mr. Hanson's upbeat article at NRO. For those tired of the MSM's partison-driven war negativity, here is a reminder that there is another side to the story. A happy side.
So Ann Coulter was ambushed by a former senator's wife this week. Another failed attack from one of America's enemies... The lovely Miss Coulter responds at Townhall in "That was no lady - That was my husband". Ann, you go girl!
...the demands of congressional Democrats that we throw in the towel in Iraq, their attempts to constrain the president's freedom to destroy Iran's nuclear weapons program, the proposal of the Baker-Hamilton commission that we appeal to Iran to help extricate us from Iraq--all of these may be read by the radicals as signs of our imminent collapse. In the name of peace, they are hastening the advent of the next war.
"Our Enemy's Attrition" is Mr. Hanson's upbeat article at NRO. For those tired of the MSM's partison-driven war negativity, here is a reminder that there is another side to the story. A happy side.
...for all the justifiable criticism of the Iraqi reconstruction, two truths still remain — the United States is taking an enormous toll on jihadists, and despite the terrible cost in blood and treasure, has not given up on a constitutional government in Iraq.
So Ann Coulter was ambushed by a former senator's wife this week. Another failed attack from one of America's enemies... The lovely Miss Coulter responds at Townhall in "That was no lady - That was my husband". Ann, you go girl!
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Thursday Night Cigar
We burned a Rocky Patel Olde World Reserve and a Rocky Patel Edge tonight to celebrate the 2nd and final defeat of the Amnesty Bill. Enthusiastic Ushanka Tips to our brothers and sisters on talk radio and the blogs in hastening the bill's demise! Until the Fairness Doctrine shuts us down, we'll speak for the majority!
Friday, June 15, 2007
Weekend Reading
James Taranto in his WSJ Best of the Web daily post finds a headline:
Currently, the top 1% of taxpayers pay 33% of total tax revenues. The majority are proposing tax cuts for others that will force the 1% top earners to pay 40% of total revenues. [$$] WSJ, 100% Marginal Tax Rate.
Added to our List: Taxes and the 2008 Election.
A fence on the border. It is so simple! Charles Krauthammer explains in his Townhall article, The Jeopardy of Reform.
Blame America First
"U.S. Mistakenly Kills 7 Afghan Police" reads the headline of an Associated Press dispatch. Strictly speaking, this is not inaccurate, but the first paragraph makes clear that the headline is something less than a half truth:
Afghan police mistook U.S. troops on a nighttime mission for Taliban fighters and opened fire on them early Tuesday, prompting U.S. forces to return fire and call in attack aircraft. Seven Afghan police were killed.
The headline makes it sound as if the Americans rather than the Afghans made the mistake.
"U.S. Mistakenly Kills 7 Afghan Police" reads the headline of an Associated Press dispatch. Strictly speaking, this is not inaccurate, but the first paragraph makes clear that the headline is something less than a half truth:
Afghan police mistook U.S. troops on a nighttime mission for Taliban fighters and opened fire on them early Tuesday, prompting U.S. forces to return fire and call in attack aircraft. Seven Afghan police were killed.
The headline makes it sound as if the Americans rather than the Afghans made the mistake.
Currently, the top 1% of taxpayers pay 33% of total tax revenues. The majority are proposing tax cuts for others that will force the 1% top earners to pay 40% of total revenues. [$$] WSJ, 100% Marginal Tax Rate.
Added to our List: Taxes and the 2008 Election.
A fence on the border. It is so simple! Charles Krauthammer explains in his Townhall article, The Jeopardy of Reform.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Not All Despair is Bad [Comments]
We haven't found an article that better summarizes our opinion of the Palestinian civil war. Nor have we seen the obvious comparison to the sectarian violence in Iraq. So, we will start the dialogue. Warning - feelings are discussed below:
---
The Palestinian civil war and the 'building' sectarian violence in Iraq share the same catalyst: despair.
The perpetrators of violence in both areas are evil, and will kill regardless of the setting. Just as the saying "Vote Democrat, it is easier than getting a job" is accurate, so is "Kill Your Fellow Countrymen, it is easier than playing a contributing role in a new democracy".
Israel built a wall to keep the evil at bay, and the recent surge in Iraq has reinforced fragile alliances among Iraqis, added security, and has inspired Iraqi security forces. The result for the terror-inspired: despair.
Target options are limited. Palestinian terrorists have limited access to Jews, and Iraqi insurgents have limited access to Iraqi leadership and US forces. Adaptation is not limited to the well-meaning, just as despair is not limited to the liberal voters that voted in November 2006 to de-fund the war in Iraq. Evil will find its victims. It always has. It always will.
For Palestinians, a Fatah vs. Hamas civil war. For Iraq insurgents, car bombs amidst crowds of innocents, and mosque bombings. Both have taken their eye off of their primary targets - Americans and Israelis.
Despite the efforts of those who hate America, both here and there, terrorists are suffering their worst setback in decades. Civil war in Palestinian areas and secular violence in Iraq are tragic, yet positive developments. We have reached a milestone in the project plan to save the world.
Thank you George W. Bush. Bring on the despair!
---
Some predictions:
If Hamas takes over Gaza, they will eventually turn on themselves. Watch for public executions for small offenses or outright anarchy.
Every negative event will be tied to Bush policy.
Any positive event will be tied to the 'Timetable' white-flag crowd.
Troubles in Iraq will be categorized as civil war. Troubles in Gaza will not be categorized as civil war. (Civil wars can only occur where US troops are deployed, but you already knew that)
If the current policy is allowed to continue (albeit for years) - Stable democratic rule in Iraq, and a peace-loving, Israel-respecting, democratic Palestinian state will be the result.
---
Some proposed headlines for MSM:
Fatah death toll reaches new high
Gaza fighting may lead to civil war
For the mothers in Gaza, daily suffering
Poll: Israel is too harsh on Palestinians
Children are unsuspecting victims in Gaza melee
Clinton: "I would bring Fatah and Hamas to the table"
NYT Poll: 71% say Bush should punish Israel
---
The Palestinian civil war and the 'building' sectarian violence in Iraq share the same catalyst: despair.
The perpetrators of violence in both areas are evil, and will kill regardless of the setting. Just as the saying "Vote Democrat, it is easier than getting a job" is accurate, so is "Kill Your Fellow Countrymen, it is easier than playing a contributing role in a new democracy".
Israel built a wall to keep the evil at bay, and the recent surge in Iraq has reinforced fragile alliances among Iraqis, added security, and has inspired Iraqi security forces. The result for the terror-inspired: despair.
Target options are limited. Palestinian terrorists have limited access to Jews, and Iraqi insurgents have limited access to Iraqi leadership and US forces. Adaptation is not limited to the well-meaning, just as despair is not limited to the liberal voters that voted in November 2006 to de-fund the war in Iraq. Evil will find its victims. It always has. It always will.
For Palestinians, a Fatah vs. Hamas civil war. For Iraq insurgents, car bombs amidst crowds of innocents, and mosque bombings. Both have taken their eye off of their primary targets - Americans and Israelis.
Despite the efforts of those who hate America, both here and there, terrorists are suffering their worst setback in decades. Civil war in Palestinian areas and secular violence in Iraq are tragic, yet positive developments. We have reached a milestone in the project plan to save the world.
Thank you George W. Bush. Bring on the despair!
---
Some predictions:
If Hamas takes over Gaza, they will eventually turn on themselves. Watch for public executions for small offenses or outright anarchy.
Every negative event will be tied to Bush policy.
Any positive event will be tied to the 'Timetable' white-flag crowd.
Troubles in Iraq will be categorized as civil war. Troubles in Gaza will not be categorized as civil war. (Civil wars can only occur where US troops are deployed, but you already knew that)
If the current policy is allowed to continue (albeit for years) - Stable democratic rule in Iraq, and a peace-loving, Israel-respecting, democratic Palestinian state will be the result.
---
Some proposed headlines for MSM:
Fatah death toll reaches new high
Gaza fighting may lead to civil war
For the mothers in Gaza, daily suffering
Poll: Israel is too harsh on Palestinians
Children are unsuspecting victims in Gaza melee
Clinton: "I would bring Fatah and Hamas to the table"
NYT Poll: 71% say Bush should punish Israel
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Did we call it, or what?
It took a month and a half, and we think it was a little too soon after the Virginia Tech massacre, but our first hunting democrat has emerged.
Richardson wasn't a candidate at the time we posted our survey, but predicting a Democrat will act like a conservative during a campaign is like predicting the sunrise!
Here is Bambi at an earlier, happier time...
Richardson wasn't a candidate at the time we posted our survey, but predicting a Democrat will act like a conservative during a campaign is like predicting the sunrise!
Here is Bambi at an earlier, happier time...
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Weekend Reading
Start your weekend off right with the transcript of Bush's G8 speech, posted at the Drudge Report. Putin threatens to re-aim Russia's missiles towards European targets if the US proceeds with the missile defense system. (Hmm, where are the missiles pointed now?) Bush opens his speech with an excellent review of the evils of communism. Priceless.
40 years ago Tuesday, a decisive victory. Today, conventional wisdom clouds the benefits to Israel. Bret Stephens at the WSJ: No Pyrrhic Victory.
Over at the NRO' 'The Tank', W. Thomas Smith Jr. provides analysis of the AP headline "U.S. troop drive said faltering in Iraq" in his article, Destructively Misleading.
James Taranto at Opinion Journal discusses the Liberal Suicide Pact, as presented by the NYT. Dismissing the JFK plot while calling for the closing of Gitmo. James brings out the flaws in this logic.
Ushankas off to Victor Davis Hanson for his Friday article at NRO, G-8 Precipice. Some highlights:
Last, a blog entry from Dean Barnett at Hugh Hewitt's blog, The Bill Sleeps with the Fishes. A little post-idiotic-immigration-bill analysis...
Our $0.02? We have been beyond disappointed with the Wall Street Journal's editorial board with regards to this immigration bill. Did they even accept NRO's invitation to a debate?? America won with this bill's defeat. Those immigrants that came to the US legally and played the bureaucratic games to earn citizenship deserved this defeat. Lets build the darn wall and move on to the next problem.
The most powerful weapon in the struggle against extremism is not bullets or bombs – it is the universal appeal of freedom. Freedom is the design of our Maker, and the longing of every soul. Freedom is the best way to unleash the creativity and economic potential of a nation. Freedom is the only ordering of a society that leads to justice. And human freedom is the only way to achieve human rights.
40 years ago Tuesday, a decisive victory. Today, conventional wisdom clouds the benefits to Israel. Bret Stephens at the WSJ: No Pyrrhic Victory.
Over at the NRO' 'The Tank', W. Thomas Smith Jr. provides analysis of the AP headline "U.S. troop drive said faltering in Iraq" in his article, Destructively Misleading.
James Taranto at Opinion Journal discusses the Liberal Suicide Pact, as presented by the NYT. Dismissing the JFK plot while calling for the closing of Gitmo. James brings out the flaws in this logic.
By overreacting to imagined civil liberties threats today, American liberals may be setting the stage for future overreactions in the other direction.
Ushankas off to Victor Davis Hanson for his Friday article at NRO, G-8 Precipice. Some highlights:
One of the great transmogrifications of our era has been the Russian 20-year metamorphosis from crumbling Soviet totalitarian into a chaotic oligarchy into a confident neo-czarist petro-power.
Or was it ever really that much of a transformation in attitude at all? Now emboldened by $60-plus-barrel oil instead of the old Red Army, Russia suddenly bullies like the old Soviet Union without all the hassles of multiethnic subjects and the burdens of empire.
Mad at Estonia? Wage an Internet war against the tiny democracy.
Mad that a cobbled-together missile-defense system might save the West from an errant Iranian nuke or two? Boast that you could nuke it into smithereens — and maybe a European capital in the bargain.
Mad at dissidents abroad? Kill ’em.
Mad at foreign oil companies in Russia? Squeeze them until they leave.
Mad at sermons about human rights? Threaten to cut off half of Europe’s natural gas.
---
Just as both Europeans and liberals here at home despise George Bush’s not so much for what he does as for what they allege he represents, so too when he’s gone they really won’t suddenly expect the United Nations to deal with Mr. Ahmadinejad or Darfur, or bin Laden to grow scared that we can now “turn our eye” to Afghanistan after fleeing Iraq, or Mr. Putin to grow cooperative once we relent on missile defense. In truth, only a militarily strong, traditional, and capitalist United States can keep its critics, here and abroad, safe and well off enough to allow them their rage over knowing that the utopian world they prefer won’t work.
Or was it ever really that much of a transformation in attitude at all? Now emboldened by $60-plus-barrel oil instead of the old Red Army, Russia suddenly bullies like the old Soviet Union without all the hassles of multiethnic subjects and the burdens of empire.
Mad at Estonia? Wage an Internet war against the tiny democracy.
Mad that a cobbled-together missile-defense system might save the West from an errant Iranian nuke or two? Boast that you could nuke it into smithereens — and maybe a European capital in the bargain.
Mad at dissidents abroad? Kill ’em.
Mad at foreign oil companies in Russia? Squeeze them until they leave.
Mad at sermons about human rights? Threaten to cut off half of Europe’s natural gas.
---
Just as both Europeans and liberals here at home despise George Bush’s not so much for what he does as for what they allege he represents, so too when he’s gone they really won’t suddenly expect the United Nations to deal with Mr. Ahmadinejad or Darfur, or bin Laden to grow scared that we can now “turn our eye” to Afghanistan after fleeing Iraq, or Mr. Putin to grow cooperative once we relent on missile defense. In truth, only a militarily strong, traditional, and capitalist United States can keep its critics, here and abroad, safe and well off enough to allow them their rage over knowing that the utopian world they prefer won’t work.
Last, a blog entry from Dean Barnett at Hugh Hewitt's blog, The Bill Sleeps with the Fishes. A little post-idiotic-immigration-bill analysis...
I have never seen the Republican Party more united than in its hatred for this bill. On one side you have George Bush, Lindsey Graham, Trent Lott and John McCain. On the other side, you have virtually every other Republican in America save the Wall Street Journal editorial board. 30 million people united against roughly 13 individuals - when you think about it, that’s pretty good unity.
And there’s even better news. The Democratic nominee for president will likely be a Senator who hasn’t done a blessed thing to secure the border during her/his time in office. And best of all, the Republican nominee will definitely not be a Senator.
And there’s even better news. The Democratic nominee for president will likely be a Senator who hasn’t done a blessed thing to secure the border during her/his time in office. And best of all, the Republican nominee will definitely not be a Senator.
Our $0.02? We have been beyond disappointed with the Wall Street Journal's editorial board with regards to this immigration bill. Did they even accept NRO's invitation to a debate?? America won with this bill's defeat. Those immigrants that came to the US legally and played the bureaucratic games to earn citizenship deserved this defeat. Lets build the darn wall and move on to the next problem.
Sunday, June 03, 2007
Saturday Cigar
We were in Ventura for our Saturday CAO Brazilia and to work on a little video editing that we hope to share soon. The local crowd reminded us of Southpark's recent commentary: Night of the Living Homeless (available for $1.99 on itunes).
Since the rabbits stayed home, here is a recommended video from Ushanka.us' own CatherineThe Great. Let's see Obama's universal health care cover this surgery...
Since the rabbits stayed home, here is a recommended video from Ushanka.us' own CatherineThe Great. Let's see Obama's universal health care cover this surgery...