Language warning:
We suspect we'll hear more of this in the coming year.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Resistance & Oppression
First, Resistance: The Ladies in White.
Heard of them? We hadn't until this past week.
Wikipedia:
WSJ's Mary Anastasia O'Grady suggests this small movement is shaking the regime at its core in her opinion article: Castro vs. the Ladies in White. We're equally hopeful.
Here is a strong message for our fellow tea partiers: Seven years of protests before getting the most sympathetic national journalist to take notice.
Conviction, courage, perseverance.
In related news, oppression:
Brietbart:
And from Reuters at Yahoo:
Here is a photo we snapped outside the Democrat's convention in 2008. Her pose is forbidden in China.
Heard of them? We hadn't until this past week.
Wikipedia:
an opposition movement in Cuba consisting of wives and other female relatives of jailed dissidents. The women protest the imprisonments by attending Mass each Sunday wearing white dresses and then silently walking through the streets dressed in white clothing. The color white is chosen to symbolize peace.
WSJ's Mary Anastasia O'Grady suggests this small movement is shaking the regime at its core in her opinion article: Castro vs. the Ladies in White. We're equally hopeful.
Laura Pollan [pictured above], whose husband refused to take the offer of exile in Spain and was later released from prison, is a key member of the group. She and her cohorts have vowed to continue their activism as long as even one political prisoner remains jailed. Last week I spoke with her by phone in Havana, and she told me that when the regime agreed to release all of the 75, "it thought that the Ladies in White would disappear. Yet the opposite happened. Sympathizers have been joining up. There are now 82 ladies in Havana and 34 in Santiago de Cuba." She said that the paramilitary mobs have the goal of creating fear in order to keep the group from growing. But the movement is spreading to other parts of the country, places where every Sunday there are now marches.
This explains the terror that has rained down on the group in Santiago and surrounding suburbs on successive Sundays since July and on other members in Havana as recently as Aug. 18.
Last Tuesday, when four women dressed in black took to the steps of the capitol building in Havana chanting "freedom," a Castro bully tried to remove them. Amazingly, the large crowd watching shouted for him to leave them alone. Eventually uniformed agents carried them off. But the incident, caught on video, is evidence of a new chapter in Cuban history, and it is being written by women. How it ends may depend heavily on whether the international community supports them or simply shields its eyes from their torment.
This explains the terror that has rained down on the group in Santiago and surrounding suburbs on successive Sundays since July and on other members in Havana as recently as Aug. 18.
Last Tuesday, when four women dressed in black took to the steps of the capitol building in Havana chanting "freedom," a Castro bully tried to remove them. Amazingly, the large crowd watching shouted for him to leave them alone. Eventually uniformed agents carried them off. But the incident, caught on video, is evidence of a new chapter in Cuban history, and it is being written by women. How it ends may depend heavily on whether the international community supports them or simply shields its eyes from their torment.
Here is a strong message for our fellow tea partiers: Seven years of protests before getting the most sympathetic national journalist to take notice.
Conviction, courage, perseverance.
In related news, oppression:
Brietbart:
China's state news agency called on Internet sites Tuesday to stop the "cancer" of online rumors, in the latest sign of official unease over the rising popularity of social networking sites.
The Xinhua news agency's call for an end to online "rumour-mongering" came days after a similar warning from a senior Communist Party official and reflects the government's growing disquiet at the rapid rise of China's micro-blogs.
"The Internet is an important carrier of social information, civilization and progress. Rumours will harm the network and are a dangerous cancer," Xinhua said in a commentary published only in Chinese.
The Xinhua news agency's call for an end to online "rumour-mongering" came days after a similar warning from a senior Communist Party official and reflects the government's growing disquiet at the rapid rise of China's micro-blogs.
"The Internet is an important carrier of social information, civilization and progress. Rumours will harm the network and are a dangerous cancer," Xinhua said in a commentary published only in Chinese.
And from Reuters at Yahoo:
China wants to cement in law police powers to hold dissidents and other suspects of state security crimes in secret locations without telling their families, under draft legislation released on Tuesday that has been decried by rights advocates.
The critics said the proposed amendments to China's Criminal Procedure Code could embolden authorities to go further with the kind of shadowy detentions that swept up human rights lawyers, veteran protesters and the prominent artist-dissident, Ai Weiwei, earlier this year.
The critics said the proposed amendments to China's Criminal Procedure Code could embolden authorities to go further with the kind of shadowy detentions that swept up human rights lawyers, veteran protesters and the prominent artist-dissident, Ai Weiwei, earlier this year.
Here is a photo we snapped outside the Democrat's convention in 2008. Her pose is forbidden in China.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Embarrassing UPDATED
Is there anything more embarrassing than seeing a liberal progressive communist fail at propaganda?
Stalin would never have made this mistake.
This guy is our political enemy, and we catch ourselves saying "Stop doing this to yourself."
Screen capture from Drudge.
UPDATED 8.29
Obama's staged photos are today's topic at Michelle Malkin. Click over to see pics and her assessment of the propaganda efforts: Paparazzi President at Work.
Stalin would never have made this mistake.
This guy is our political enemy, and we catch ourselves saying "Stop doing this to yourself."
Screen capture from Drudge.
UPDATED 8.29
Obama's staged photos are today's topic at Michelle Malkin. Click over to see pics and her assessment of the propaganda efforts: Paparazzi President at Work.
Steve Jobs - The Resignation
Few things make us sad.
Elect aliberal progressive communist to the White House? Cool, we'll sell Commie Obama hats!
Cubs finish the season in last place? No biggie. Next year is the year!
The smart people in Washington want to print more money to cover their incompetence? We buy gold!
But Steve Jobs stepping down from his post at Apple? Well, this is something that hurts, as it hurts everyone. Apple is one of the few large corporations where innovation occurs, and the only large corporation where it thrives.
Apple is the only large corporation that improves everyone's lives either directly or indirectly.
Never owned an Apple product, you say? Just go to your Start menu and find iTunes. Do this with your mouse and cursor. When it opens, notice it opens in a window that lets you scroll. Buy your favorite movie for under $10 and start watching it immediately.
Prof. Jacobson expresses the impact of this man, and the company he's led, better than anyone else so far:
Our sadness doesn't come from his departure, but the reason for his resignation. He beat back cancer for many years, which included a liver transplant. But it appears he's losing this long battle.
Call us callous, but we can't help but think of the 50% of this country who voted for free stuff in 2008 who aren't suffering. Who sleep in as others go to work. Who demand more unemployment benefits, or xyz benefits, or just steal because it is easier than complaining. Do any of these people have something better to say at a Stanford graduation ceremony than this?
There is a positive to Mr. Job's resignation now, rather than later. He gets to see the admiration, to read the articles and hear from his fans. There is no shortage of kind words - and he deserves them all. And of all the compliments, the one we'd like to share is: Way to get off at the top! There are too many, all in government and many in corporate America, who cling to their titles, their offices, their perks, their authority. Mr. Jobs, on top of everything else, has shown he is above that too.
Some other worthy articles:
Holman Jenkins - WSJ: The Amazing Steve Jobs Story
Andy Kessler (our favorite business author), also at WSJ: How Steve Jobs Changed the World.
See our Tribute post to Steve Jobs - Here.
Elect a
Cubs finish the season in last place? No biggie. Next year is the year!
The smart people in Washington want to print more money to cover their incompetence? We buy gold!
But Steve Jobs stepping down from his post at Apple? Well, this is something that hurts, as it hurts everyone. Apple is one of the few large corporations where innovation occurs, and the only large corporation where it thrives.
Apple is the only large corporation that improves everyone's lives either directly or indirectly.
Never owned an Apple product, you say? Just go to your Start menu and find iTunes. Do this with your mouse and cursor. When it opens, notice it opens in a window that lets you scroll. Buy your favorite movie for under $10 and start watching it immediately.
Prof. Jacobson expresses the impact of this man, and the company he's led, better than anyone else so far:
Apple in many ways revolutionized and popularized personal computing. But what if….
-- we had been more concerned about the secretarial jobs and typewriter factories destroyed by Apple?
-- we made it so easy to unionize Apple that Apple had to be run like General Motors?
-- we imposed such employment mandates and controls that the cost of Apple expanding was prohibitive?
-- we demonized rather than idolized the new captains of the computer industry even though they became fabulously wealthy?
-- when Apple was on the verge of bankruptcy it had accepted a government bailout rather than working through its problems and emerging stronger than ever?
In other words, what if we had the economically repressive policies of the Obama administration?
We never would have known what we missed. And not just the technological convenience, but the thousands if not millions of jobs created in spin off companies and solo-geeks creating apps and all the other gear which makes computing and listening and viewing and creating what it is today.
Instead, we would have had television commercials with images of typewriter factories saved, and secretaries thanking the government for saving their jobs. Just like we have a President who laments the loss of bank clerk jobs due to ATMs.
-- we had been more concerned about the secretarial jobs and typewriter factories destroyed by Apple?
-- we made it so easy to unionize Apple that Apple had to be run like General Motors?
-- we imposed such employment mandates and controls that the cost of Apple expanding was prohibitive?
-- we demonized rather than idolized the new captains of the computer industry even though they became fabulously wealthy?
-- when Apple was on the verge of bankruptcy it had accepted a government bailout rather than working through its problems and emerging stronger than ever?
In other words, what if we had the economically repressive policies of the Obama administration?
We never would have known what we missed. And not just the technological convenience, but the thousands if not millions of jobs created in spin off companies and solo-geeks creating apps and all the other gear which makes computing and listening and viewing and creating what it is today.
Instead, we would have had television commercials with images of typewriter factories saved, and secretaries thanking the government for saving their jobs. Just like we have a President who laments the loss of bank clerk jobs due to ATMs.
Our sadness doesn't come from his departure, but the reason for his resignation. He beat back cancer for many years, which included a liver transplant. But it appears he's losing this long battle.
Call us callous, but we can't help but think of the 50% of this country who voted for free stuff in 2008 who aren't suffering. Who sleep in as others go to work. Who demand more unemployment benefits, or xyz benefits, or just steal because it is easier than complaining. Do any of these people have something better to say at a Stanford graduation ceremony than this?
There is a positive to Mr. Job's resignation now, rather than later. He gets to see the admiration, to read the articles and hear from his fans. There is no shortage of kind words - and he deserves them all. And of all the compliments, the one we'd like to share is: Way to get off at the top! There are too many, all in government and many in corporate America, who cling to their titles, their offices, their perks, their authority. Mr. Jobs, on top of everything else, has shown he is above that too.
Some other worthy articles:
Holman Jenkins - WSJ: The Amazing Steve Jobs Story
Andy Kessler (our favorite business author), also at WSJ: How Steve Jobs Changed the World.
See our Tribute post to Steve Jobs - Here.
Gun Culture
We're proud to be a part of it.
Some anti-gunner gal suggests guns should be banned.
Gunbloggers Robb at Sharp as a Marble and Linoge at Walls of the City respond.
Their posts are much longer and well worth the time. Here are our favorite passages:
Robb:
And Linoge:
Here's a recent video post from Wild Bill on the subject:
The anti-gunners have lost every significant court case and blogosphere argument in the past decade. We are lucky there are people like Robb, Linoge and Wild Bill to take a stand when challenged, and we look forward to the day the fight comes to us.
Some anti-gunner gal suggests guns should be banned.
Gunbloggers Robb at Sharp as a Marble and Linoge at Walls of the City respond.
Their posts are much longer and well worth the time. Here are our favorite passages:
Robb:
See, in this unicorn dander snorting chick’s view, as long as someone says “Ye shall not have this item”, then people will not have that item and peace will reign throughout the land. Remember how we banned drugs and the problem went away practically overnight? Some of you may be too young to remember when there used to be rapes, murders, and muggings but of course when they passed a law against those acts, everyone stopped. And it may shock you to know that in the old days, you couldn’t just leave your wallet on top of your car when you went to the mall like you can today because they hadn’t outlawed theft!
Of course, this brain-trust can’t think past deodands and magic crystals. In her less-than-capable mind she sees the problem as an object and nothing to do with humans. You see, it is the gun that transmits mind controlling waves that forces the person with it to commit crimes. She prattles on about gang members and drug dealers, both of which involve themselves in illegal activities, and yet cannot see the fault in her logic that banning something would stop it.
Of course, this brain-trust can’t think past deodands and magic crystals. In her less-than-capable mind she sees the problem as an object and nothing to do with humans. You see, it is the gun that transmits mind controlling waves that forces the person with it to commit crimes. She prattles on about gang members and drug dealers, both of which involve themselves in illegal activities, and yet cannot see the fault in her logic that banning something would stop it.
And Linoge:
So "self-defense" is ignorance?
Accepting and acknowledging the fact that there exist evil people in this world, and taking steps to protect me and mine from them is "ignorance"?
Executing violence against those people who would harm me and mine is wrong?
In truth, you, like most people who want to arbitrarily infringe on individual rights, are intolerant – you are attempting to force your own narrow view of the world on others and keep them from expressing their own views. That is the very definition of intolerance. Thankfully, here in America at least, our individual rights are Constitutionally protected, and your authoritarian pipe dreams are likely never to come to pass.
Accepting and acknowledging the fact that there exist evil people in this world, and taking steps to protect me and mine from them is "ignorance"?
Executing violence against those people who would harm me and mine is wrong?
In truth, you, like most people who want to arbitrarily infringe on individual rights, are intolerant – you are attempting to force your own narrow view of the world on others and keep them from expressing their own views. That is the very definition of intolerance. Thankfully, here in America at least, our individual rights are Constitutionally protected, and your authoritarian pipe dreams are likely never to come to pass.
Here's a recent video post from Wild Bill on the subject:
The anti-gunners have lost every significant court case and blogosphere argument in the past decade. We are lucky there are people like Robb, Linoge and Wild Bill to take a stand when challenged, and we look forward to the day the fight comes to us.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Commie Chavez Hat?
Trevor reports that Venezuela's Hugo Chavez is thinking of a visit to Moscow:
It is called an Ushanka, and oppression occurs wherever it is seen.
We suggest the commie dictator avoid the Russian substitutes and instead buy American at CommieObama.com!
“I will certainly come to Moscow,” the president stated. He stroked his head – bald as a result of two rounds of chemotherapy – and added that he would now need more warm clothes, “probably a Russian fur cap”.
It is called an Ushanka, and oppression occurs wherever it is seen.
We suggest the commie dictator avoid the Russian substitutes and instead buy American at CommieObama.com!
Book Endorsement
We've been a little slow in updating our Library list of books at the left here.
As part of our recent re-design we've added links to our own book notes for the books where we've chosen to record lessons learned and favorite quotes.
We've done the same for a book we recently read, The Path To Tyranny
, by Michael E. Newton.
How do nations go from being strong, free and prosperous, then fall into darkness and tyranny?
If you are a regular visitor to Ushanka.us, then you already know the answer but we'd suggest this book to reinforce your instincts.
For everyone else - read this book and ask yourself if the last chapter, on the United States, is a call to action.
The author sent us a link to his new 'book trailer':
Here is a link to our notes for The Path to Tyranny - still in progress...
The book, The Path To Tyranny, is under $13 at Amazon!
As part of our recent re-design we've added links to our own book notes for the books where we've chosen to record lessons learned and favorite quotes.
We've done the same for a book we recently read, The Path To Tyranny
, by Michael E. Newton.
How do nations go from being strong, free and prosperous, then fall into darkness and tyranny?
If you are a regular visitor to Ushanka.us, then you already know the answer but we'd suggest this book to reinforce your instincts.
For everyone else - read this book and ask yourself if the last chapter, on the United States, is a call to action.
The author sent us a link to his new 'book trailer':
Here is a link to our notes for The Path to Tyranny - still in progress...
The book, The Path To Tyranny
, is under $13 at Amazon!
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Marco Rubio
Marco Rubio visited the Reagan Library in Simi Valley California this week. He escorted Mrs. Reagan into the auditorium and rescued her as she stumbled. It was her fall that made the news, but it is his speech that deserves your attention.
We lived just a few miles from the Library when it was opened up until 2008 when our family escaped California for Ohio. Zero regrets for this move, but two things we miss: the weather and that Library. We would visit the Library 1-2 times a year. Maybe for Reagan's birthday, or maybe for July 4th, or to take friends who were visiting from out of town.
The main pull of the Library is the opportunity to remember the world as it was when Reagan was president. He took office when the Soviet Union was expanding in the world. He was the first president to stop that expansion and reverse it. He was the first president to aim for the Soviet Union's bankruptcy and collapse. He was the first president since JFK to consistently voice his hatred for the communist system and to frame his foreign policies around this concept.
We see Senator Rubio's speech not as much a preview for his future higher aspirations, which is exciting by itself. His thoughts, spoken in that place, are a continuation of Reagan and thus a continuation of all that is great about America.
After the 20 minute mark: He speaks of his Grandfather's decision to leave Cuba for America. Good stuff!
We lived just a few miles from the Library when it was opened up until 2008 when our family escaped California for Ohio. Zero regrets for this move, but two things we miss: the weather and that Library. We would visit the Library 1-2 times a year. Maybe for Reagan's birthday, or maybe for July 4th, or to take friends who were visiting from out of town.
The main pull of the Library is the opportunity to remember the world as it was when Reagan was president. He took office when the Soviet Union was expanding in the world. He was the first president to stop that expansion and reverse it. He was the first president to aim for the Soviet Union's bankruptcy and collapse. He was the first president since JFK to consistently voice his hatred for the communist system and to frame his foreign policies around this concept.
We see Senator Rubio's speech not as much a preview for his future higher aspirations, which is exciting by itself. His thoughts, spoken in that place, are a continuation of Reagan and thus a continuation of all that is great about America.
After the 20 minute mark: He speaks of his Grandfather's decision to leave Cuba for America. Good stuff!