Saturday, November 24, 2007

MSM, and Today's Kasparov Arrest [Comments]

Kasparov was arrested and given a 5-day sentence today in Russia. The national election in which he is a candidate is in eight days. Today's top story - Homes Burn in Malibu.

"We should overcome the fear that the regime uses to sustain itself," Mr. Kasparov told the crowd. "For the Putin regime, our country is just a source of enrichment."


Questions:

Why would Kasparov be detained 8 days before the election if Putin and his thugs enjoy 70% support?

Will it also be 2nd page news if Hillary is arrested October 27, 2008 and held for five days?

Is the MSM's priorities for today's news motivated by geography, or ideology?

Thanksgiving: Blessing of the Govt. Taxes

Read the full prayer at The People's Cube. Very creative!



Let me, Dear God, shift the paradigm on this Thanksgiving and blissfully give thanks for the gift of government, and thank the government for the gift of taxes. Bless my taxes, O God! Give me peace of mind as I rejoice in filling out forms and returning money to its rightful owner, the government. Keep me joyous, I pray, as I write out those checks. Yea, Lord, we know that there is little reason to be joyous with this Administration's imperialism and impending rape of the Iranian peaceful energy program, but the thought of a new tax year still brings to us a swelling tear of joy. And whisper to me, Lord, all the good reasons that I send my money to my government every year.

...

Fixing Venezuela

Found at Townhall:

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Planting Questions at CNN?

A great Hot Air video:



But we thought CNN was a legitimate news service...

Karl's Weekend Reading

Here is a two-week dose of reading. Enjoy!

Mark Heminway at the NRO made a couple calls to the Communist Party USA and the American Nazi Party for their reaction to Bush's warning that "History teaches that underestimating the words of evil, ambitious men is a terrible mistake." He mentioned Lenin and Hitler as those underestimated. One organization took it as a compliment, the other as an insult.

So the US has waterboarded one terrorist for every one thousand Americans killed on 9-11. No wonder the Democrats' panties are in a bunch this week over the wreckless use of torture! Deroy Murdock at the NRO explains:


Waterboarding has worked quickly, causing at least one well-known subject to break down and identify at least six other high-profile, highly bloodthirsty associates before they could commit further mass murder beyond the 3,192 people they already killed and the 7,715 they already wounded.

Though clearly uncomfortable, waterboarding loosens lips without causing permanent physical injuries (and unlikely even temporary ones). If terrorists suffer long-term nightmares about waterboarding, better that than more Americans crying themselves to sleep after their loved ones have been shredded by bombs or baked in skyscrapers.


Bret Stephens at the WSJ compares the ends-justifies-the-means of WWII firebombings and atombombing to today's means-focused debate on waterboarding. At this rate, the next generation of America's fighters will be handing out free iPods to our enemies. (Full disclosure: Karl owns Apple stock in preparation for the next war)

Mike S. Adams at Townhall apologizes to communists for his recent speech.

I am sorry that communists actually exist in the United States of America – a nation so great that it must construct walls to keep people out.

I am sorry that these communists would like to turn this great nation into one that must construct walls to keep people in.



Bush Hatred is explained in Peter Berkowitz's WSJ opinion article, The Insanity of Bush Hatred.

Ann Coulter combines criticism of the MSM with a solid summary of recent events in Pakistan in her Townhall article, Musharraf: The Tolstoy of the Zulus.

Now, with the surge in Iraq working, Democrats are completely demoralized. Al-Qaida was counting on them. (We know the surge in Iraq is working because it is no longer front page news.)

In a tape released in early September, Osama bin Laden bitterly complained, "You elected the Democratic Party for this purpose" -- of ending the war in Iraq -- "but the Democrats haven't made a move worth mentioning."

It isn't enough for the media to drop all mentions of the surge or to subsidize ads denouncing Gen. David Petraeus as "General Betray Us." (He IS betraying liberals by winning the war for America, the enemy of liberals.) They need to stir up trouble for the U.S. someplace else in the world.

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Hillary '08

Don't let anyone tell you that the Ushanka.us clan isn't for Hillary! We support her campaign 100%, we salivate at the thought of her nomination, and well, we think she has the most delightful giggle. This video is a bit old, but like Hillary, timeless...

Sunday, November 04, 2007

Sunday Afternoon Cigar

A Helix cigar burned on the back nine this evening.

Saturday, November 03, 2007

Headlines, or Punchlines?

You be the judge!

Here are a couple headlines from this week. Did they make you laugh as they did us?

The AMT Must Go. By Charles B. Rangel

Putin Commemorates Stalin Purge Victims

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Sunday Morning Cigar

The Santa Ana winds and the fires are gone, and the lungs are recovered. Time for a cigar! A hawk came by moments after this picture was taken to tell us that the rabbits should wait until later in the day to come out. That was close!

Karl's Weekend Reading

Mike S. Adams defines hate speech in his Townhall article: Why Islamic Fascists Get Away With Hate Speech.

Hate speech is verbal communication that induces anger due to the listener’s inability to offer an intelligent response.
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Islamic advocacy of violence is not classified as “hate speech” because it induces fear, not anger.

This, of course, explains the failure of speech codes (and probably multi-culturalism in general). Since the enforcement of the codes relies largely on the emotional reaction of the listener rather than the content of the speech, the codes create insurmountable problems within both the First and Fourteenth Amendments.

Michael Barone, in his Townhall article, provides analysis that runs counter to the 'The GOP is doomed to fail' blather of late. "We're Not in 2006 Anymore".
Mainstream media types tend to think that, while rising casualties from Iraq are legitimate news, falling casualties are not. But even so the word got out: The surge strategy was producing results. Anbar province, given up for lost in 2006, turned peaceful and cooperative in 2007. U.S. casualties and Iraqi civilian casualties were down. Brookings scholars Michael O'Hanlon and Kenneth Pollack, no fans of the administration's conduct of the war, announced on July 30 (in the pages of The New York Times, no less) that this was "a war we might just win."
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Democrats are coming face to face with the fact that there's a war on -- and that Americans prefer success to failure. If the choice is between stalemate and withdrawal, as it seemed to be in November 2006, they may favor withdrawal; but if the choice is between victory and withdrawal, they don't want to quit -- or to undermine the effort.

Last week, Democrat Niki Tsongas won a special election with only 51 percent of the vote, in a Massachusetts district where John Kerry won 57 percent in 2004 and would have run much better in 2006. History doesn't stand still -- we're not in 2006 anymore.

Victor Davis Hanson, in his Townhall article "So Who's Afraid of an Iranian Bomb?", explains the answer "No one and everyone" and the posturing by two of our favorite Communist powers.
In Russia, Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy is nursed on grievances about a lost empire, America as the sole superpower and the independence of cocky former Soviet republics. In the thinking of oil-exporting Russia, anything that causes America to squirm and world oil prices to soar is a win/win situation. That’s why Russia supplies Iran with its reactor technology and stirs the nuclear pot.

China, like Russia, is a large nuclear power and doesn’t fear all that much Iranian missiles that it thinks are more likely to be pointed westward anyway. True, it would like calm in the Gulf to ensure safe oil supplies, but thinks it still could do business with a nuclear Iran.

And, as in the case of Russia, anything that bothers the United States can’t be all that bad for Beijing. While Ahmadinejad ties the U.S. down in the Middle East, China thinks it will have more of a free hand to expand its influence in the Pacific.

The Main Stream Media is in Larry Elder's sights again in his Townhall article, "Why So Many Americans Believe We Are In A Recession". Here are just some of the highlights, the first a measurement that is new to us. Thanks Larry!
Since President Bush took office, real after-tax per capita personal income has increased more than 12.5 percent -- an average of $3,750 per person. More than 30 percent of the country's net worth has been added since the president's 2003 tax cuts.
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What, then, accounts for the pessimism? Well, take a look at the mainstream media.
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Here's a typical example of how the media shapes moods. Support for the Iraq war increased from 22 to 30 percent -- a 36 percent increase -- right before Iraq operations commander Gen. Petraeus testified before Congress. MSNBC described this as an "uptick." Meanwhile, a major paper described a 36 percent increase in home foreclosures as a "surge."

And last, Oliver North finishes his Townhall article, "Real American Heroes" in the manner he opens it. No further questions your honor!

Quick: Name a movie star, a noted celebrity, a great athlete and a radio or TV personality. When I posed these queries to some nice Americans this week, I got answers such as: "Russell Crowe," "Paris Hilton," "Britney Spears," "quarterback Tom Brady," "Curt Schilling of the Red Sox," "Tiger Woods" and "Rush Limbaugh."

Now: Can you name a contemporary American hero? Only two of the dozen or so people I challenged came up with, "Navy SEAL Michael Murphy." That says a lot about what our mainstream media thinks is important.