No Miracle For Me!

Well, I'm screwed! My sister-in-law refused to give me her ticket to the upcoming Cream reunion at the Royal Albert Hall in London. I offered money and everything else under the sun, but I couldn't change her mind.

I guess I can only wait for the DVD of the concerts to see Jack Bruce, Ginger Baker and Eric Clapton. Maybe they'll do it again in another 35 years ...

Bush: Pitcher? Catcher? Dhimmi?

President George W. Bush and Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah had a meeting at his Crawford, Texas ranch Monday. When strolling through the Texas Bluebonnets the two were photographed holding hands. So, the questions are:

1. Are they going steady?

2. Are they just demonstrating an Arab expression of "friendship, respect and trust."

3. Are they "sending a real political message that they are partners and friends and intend to remain that way."

4. Did Bush insult Abdullah by using his left, or ass-wiping, hand?

5. Was Michael Moore right?

6. Is Bush a dhimmi or is he just playing a dhimmi?

Answers:

1. Yea, right.

2. Maybe.

3. Probably.

4. No. Someone has to use the left-hand!

5. Ha! Michael Moore has never been right in his whole life.

6. Yes. But is he one or is he playing one?

Here Is A Scary Possibility

It looks like Israel and Europe are not the only ones that could face a direct strike from the mullahs of Iran:

Iran is not only covertly developing nuclear weapons, it is already testing ballistic missiles specifically designed to destroy America's technical infrastructure, effectively neutralizing the world's lone superpower, say U.S. intelligence sources, top scientists and western missile industry experts.

The radical Shiite regime has conducted successful tests to determine if its Shahab-3 ballistic missiles, capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, can be detonated by a remote-control device while still in high-altitude flight.

Scientists, including President Reagan's top science adviser, William R. Graham, say there is no other explanation for such tests than preparation for the deployment of electromagnetic pulse weapons – even one of which could knock out America's critical electrical and technological infrastructure, effectively sending the continental U.S. back to the 19th century with a recovery time of months or years.

I hope that the Department of Homeland Security gets in gear on this. There is nothing new about the idea of using an EMP weapon. Hardening critical infrastructure is a bargain compared to the cost of what could happen if nothing is done.

UPDATE: More evidence that Iran is seriously planning an EMP strike against the U.S. from an Iranian military journal (via WorldNetDaily).

Relaxing After A Hard Day At Work

Junior sitting where Saddam's fat ass use to sit.

Appeasement and Dhimmitude in Europe

Sara Townsley, a graduate student at Cornell, demonstrates that not all college students are infected with Marxist ideology, multiculturalism and political correctness.

Europe is now home to a human flood of North African immigrants who reject integration, don't speak the local language and flock to mosques to soak up radical imams preaching jihad. Violent crime against Jews and young women has skyrocketed; native Europeans are emigrating in record numbers; and churches, synagogues and cemeteries are regularly defaced. Through the EAD, Europe has imported all the problems of failed states, while the Arab side of the table basically gives the Euros a pat on the head for being so tolerant and multicultural.

Read her entire opinion piece here.

Who Needs Enemies When You Have France?

It appears that while France is against the removal of a brutal oppressive dictator, it has no problem with supporting a communist dictatorship with designs on an independent democratic nation.

At the outset of a three-day visit to China, French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said he supported Beijing's "anti-secession" law on Taiwan, and vowed to keep pushing for an end to an EU arms embargo that could open the door for Paris to sell weapons to the Asian giant.

Raffarin also signed or finalized major business deals with Beijing valued at around $3.2 billion (2.4 billion euros).

Appearing to put his government at odds with the European Union, Raffarin said at the outset of the three day visit that Paris had no objections to the anti-secession law.

"The anti-secession law is completely compatible with the position of France," he said in a joint press conference with his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao.

France has no problems with China using "non-peaceful means" to prevent Taiwan from establishing independence, but does have problems with the United States using “non-peaceful means” to grant independence to the oppressed people of Iraq. Why is that? Well, the second paragraph of the article quoted above gives the answer: money!

In this case, $3.2 billion worth of business deals with China. Just as with Iraq, France has no principles when money is involved. Whether it is oil concessions for French companies and oil-for-food kickbacks for French politicians and businessmen with Iraq or large sales of Airbus airliners to China, money talks and ethics walk for the French.

Raven 42: A Profile In Courage

Last month a group of 40 to 50 heavily armed insurgents attacked a large supply convoy of civilian trucks driving down a highway near Salman Pak, Iraq. A squad of Military Police from the Kentucky National Guard following the convoy immediately went into action to defend the convoy. The following, taken from the After Action Review (AAR) of the incident, demonstrates how well led, trained and disciplined the MP unit is (emphasis is mine):

About this time, three armored Hummers that formed the MP Squad under callsign Raven 42, 617th MP Co, Kentucky National Guard, assigned to the 503rd MP Bn, 18th MP Bde, arrived on the scene like the cavalry. The squad had been shadowing the convoy from a distance behind the last vehicle, and when the convoy trucks stopped and became backed up from the initial attack, the squad sped up, paralleled the convoy up the shoulder of the road, and moved to the sound of gunfire. They arrived on the scene just as a squad of about ten enemy had moved forward across the farmer's field and were about 20 meters from the road. The MP squad opened fire with .50 cal machineguns and Mk19 grenade launchers and drove across the front of the enemy's kill zone, between the enemy and the trucks, drawing fire off of the tractor trailers. The MP's crossed the kill zone and then turned up an access road at a right angle to the ASR and next to the field full of enemy fighters. The three vehicles, carrying nine MPs and one medic, stopped in a line on the dirt access road and flanked the enemy positions with plunging fire from the .50 cal and the SAW machinegun (Squad Automatic Weapon).

The AAR continues with a description of how the attack played out and how the MPs reacted to it. Here you can see how the unit discipline and bravery of the individual soldiers is apparent:

Immediately the middle vehicle was hit by an RPG knocking the gunner unconscious from his turret and down into the vehicle. The Vehicle Commander (the TC), the squad's leader, thought the gunner was dead, but tried to treat him from inside the vehicle. Simultaneously, the rear vehicle's driver and TC, section leader two, open their doors and dismount to fight, while their gunner continued firing from his position in the gun platform on top of the Hummer. Immediately, all three fall under heavy return machinegun fire, wounded. The driver of the middle vehicle saw them fall out the rearview mirror, dismounts and sprints to get into the third vehicle and take up the SAW on top the vehicle. The Squad's medic dismounts from that third vehicle, and joined by the first vehicle's driver (CLS trained) who sprinted back to join him, begins combat life-saving techniques to treat the three wounded MPs. The gunner on the floor of the second vehicle is revived by his TC, the squad leader, and he climbs back into the .50 cal and opens fire. The Squad leader dismounted with his M4 carbine, and 2 hand grenades, grabbed the section leader out of the first vehicle who had rendered radio reports of their first contact. The two of them, squad leader Staff Sergeant and team leader Sergeant with her M4 and M203 grenade launcher, rush the nearest ditch about 20 meters away to start clearing the natural trenchline. The enemy has gone into the ditches and is hiding behind several small trees in the back of the lot. The .50 cal and SAW flanking fire tears apart the ten in the lead trenchline.

The media is going to play up the fact that one of the team leaders is a female, Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester, and a very competent, courageous and effective one at that. But the real issue is not women in combat. And, even though it seems obvious, it is not the courage of the soldiers in this squad. The real issue is found in this section of the AAR:

They believed even before this fight that their NCOs were the best in the Army, and that they have the best squad in the Army. The Medic who fired the AT-4, said he remembered how from the week before when his squad leader forced him to train on it, though he didn't think as a medic he would ever use one. He said he chose to use it in that moment to protect the three wounded on the ground in front of him, once they came under fire from the building. The day before this mission, they took the new RFI bandoliers that were recently issued, and experimented with mounting them in their vehicles. Once they figured out how, they pre-loaded a second basic load of ammo into magazines, put them into the bandoliers, and mounted them in their vehicles---the same exact way in every vehicle-load plans enforced and checked by leaders! Leadership under fire--once those three leaders (NCOs) stepped out of their vehicles, the squad was committed to the fight.

Yes, these soldiers are very disciplined, effectively trained and well led. All they had to do was react. These citizen-soldiers attacked a group far superior in numbers and routed them since they knew they could because of their confidence in their leaders and training. This is why there were 24 insurgents killed on the spot. This is why the insurgents and terrorists cannot defeat the U.S. military head-on. This is why the insurgents and terrorists are more comfortable killing innocent civilians. This is why the insurgents and terrorists will lose.

Remodel

I haven't had much time to blog recently because La Doña (my wife) and I are remodeling one of the bedrooms in the house. The house is about fifteen years old and this bedroom had just about had it! It was entirely painted in an off-white color that we repainted in what is called "red red wine." We replaced the trim and added molding around the ceiling in a beige-chamois color to offset the dark red. Then, for the fun part, we replaced the old, ratty carpet with maple laminate flooring. We were going to do a real wood floor, but when we saw that laminate wood flooring was cheaper, almost as good looking and ten times easier to clean and install (the slats are glueless and just snap together!) -- we went for it!

The photo sucks, but the room is only 130 square feet so I couldn't get a decent overall view of it. Anyway, here it is:

Obesity Tourism

I was reading this posting over at ¡No Pasarán! and just about died laughing when I read this linked article in the The Sunday Times from last November. Apparently Robert Mugabe’s government in Zimbabwe has come up with a very unconventional method to solve the food crisis threatening half its population with starvation. Quoting from The Herald, the article said:

“Tourists can provide labour for farms in the hope of shedding weight while enjoying the tourism experience,” it said, adding that Americans spent $6 billion a year on “useless” dieting aids.

“Tour organisers may promote this programme internationally and bring in tourists, while agriculturalists can employ the tourists as free farm labour."

“The tourists can then top it all by flaunting their slim bodies on a sun-downer cruise on the Zambezi or surveying the majestic Great Zimbabwe ruins.”

I guess that once you come up with a proposal for something like the so-called Obesity Tourism Strategy, the sales pitch just writes itself!

Loaded Questions

It is of interest to me to see how polls and the press may slant questions to reflect their own opinions and to achieve a pre-determined, or desired, result. Recently, in An Audience With Saudi Arabia, Victor Davis Hanson responded to some questions from Idris A. Ahmed, the editor of the Saudi daily newspaper Al-Watan. What caught my eye was the manifest bias of some of the questions, or should I say questioner. Check out some of the questions (the emphasis is mine):

8.The U.S. refusal to sign the Kyoto Protocal, in favor of its industry, was regarded by many environment protection groups as a deliberate intention to pollute the world and threaten the human existence. Can you comment on this?

9.The U.S. declared withdrawal from the treaty of nuclear arsenals reduction with Russia. How do you see the future of the world under such insane armament race?

10. The U.S. major pharmaceutical companies endangered millions of lives in the poor countries through its monopoly of the patents of life-saving drugs. How do you see this claim?

I realize that the Al-Watan is not exactly a household name outside of Saudi Arabia and, in any case, what else could be expected from any of the media in that country. But I believe that the partiality is so blatant that it is a good example of what one can find from more professional and polished reporters in newspapers such as the New York Times, the Guardian and the L.A. Times. Of course, those newspapers are better at couching their bias so that it is much less noticeable. The entire interview with Hanson can be found here.