Thursday Night Cigar

A smokey evening with a Rocky Patel Edge as we celebrated Bush's reference to Vietnam today in his speech. One can tell by the MSM response that he touched a nerve as he explained surrender leads to genocide. That's a history lesson the MSM'ers choose to forget.

Is it just Karl? (Comments?)

Is it just me, or do you notice this too? Both images came from Google News, the first on Aug 2nd, and the other on Aug 22nd. Do the Kos Kids match the images to the stories, or do the MSM'ers?

Updated 8.27: We found this at one of our favorite blogs (see blogroll) several days ago.

Karl's Weekend Reading

A bit short this week. We were busy putting the finishing touches on our June report.

Here's a quick read from the WSJ editorial page. Is Communism a good idea poorly executed, or is it the tool of the elite to control and suppress the masses?

Victor Davis Hanson shares five thoughts about the War on Terror at NRO.

The White Flags are still flying

Found at Townhall:

A 3-Cigar Saturday

We had a scare the past week when mentor, friend and Ushanka.us enthusiast, Mikhail, was diagnosed with a severe coronary issue, obviously brought on the strain of converting so many liberals in such a short period of time. Mikhail is much better now, and we (just Karl) celebrated by smoking out the neighbors and creating our own health issue with three cigars.

Mikhail - rest up. We have work to do in 2008!

Bloggers Are Cool

Here are two great posts from fellow bloggers:

From Sondrak.com. Classic.

From Whizbang.com: Another poll about the MSM's bias.

Karl's Weekend Reading (Comments)

Propoganda Redux is the latest from Ion Mihai Precepa, the author of Red Horizons. Tuesday's WSJ editorial page. Great graphic too.

I spent decades scrutinizing the U.S. from Europe, and I learned that international respect for America is directly proportional to America's own respect for its president.
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Now we are again at war. It is not the president's war. It is America's war, authorized by 296 House members and 76 senators. I do not intend to join the armchair experts on the Iraq war. I do not know how we should handle this war, and they don't know either. But I do know that if America's political leaders, Democrat and Republican, join together as they did during World War II, America will win. Otherwise, terrorism will win.
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For once, the communists got it right. It is America's leader that counts. Let's return to the traditions of presidents who accepted nothing short of unconditional surrender from our deadly enemies. Let's vote next year for people who believe in America's future, not for the ones who live in the Cold War past.

Bret Stephens writes in Tuesday's WSJ about the arms sale to the Saudis, Kernal of Evil. A bit pessimtic, but he always supports his topics with a large dose of history. And he is right about the stink this arms sale emits.

We're skeptical, however, that the Saudis would use these weapons against the Shia Iraq as Bret discusses. Not because they could, but we served with Saudi officers in the US Army for training, including a prince. We knew US officers that were first in Saudi Arabia in Aug 1990. We knew why Bush Sr. sent them. The Saudis are unable to fight, period. Defense, offense, or out of a wet paper bag. The Saudis won't attack Iraq for the simple reason: their military lacks discipline, seriousness, and the will to fight. Comments?

Che, He's Everywhere

Che, Chavez and Sean Penn (in back) are keeping the faith. Whatever rallies the masses...

Saturday Night Cigar

Karl, Catherine the Great and Mikhail went to see The Bourne Ultimatum. A fun flick. We'd like to think America has guys this tough in the shadows. As for the plot, Debbie Schlussel has an accurate assessment.

Weekend Reading

Start your weekend right with a review of current events in Cuba. Mary Anastasia Grady at the Wall Street Journal provides excellent analysis in her editorial, "Cuban Tremors". Will we see a Romanian-like rebellion?

But the man is desperate. He cannot put the whole island in jail, and with food and milk shortages growing, it may become increasingly difficult to keep the lid on things. As Armando Valladares, a former political prisoner who spent 22 years in Castro gulags told me in an interview last month, terror as a way to control people has its limits. In Mr. Valladares's view, the Cuban people are very near if not over that limit, suggesting that even a small spark could ignite a massive rebellion -- not unlike what happened in Romania.

More Cuba - Mike Adams suggests a memorial for Che in his Townhall article: "Che, You've Got to Hide Your Love Away".

James Taranto hit on all cylinders in his Wednesday Best of the Web column at WSJ. Good catch James with the AP headline:

AP July 31, 2007 - "Employment Costs Rise in 2nd Quarter"
James: If Clinton were President, they'd be called 'Wages'