Bebop Nirvana

Columbia's Newest (Honorary) Alumnus!

2007-09-22T07:21:00.000-07:00

A Ship Of Fools

2007-09-22T05:00:00.000-07:00

I present to you Mr. Christopher Hill, just back from the Six Party Talks....

And while I'm on the topic of appeasement, here's an old video originally targeted against the foreign policy of the Clinton administration. Now, it seems, the Bush administration has adopted those same policies (at least when it comes to North Korea).

Sad, but true. Kumbaya, indeed.

Sanctions And North Korea

2007-09-22T03:34:00.000-07:00

From CNN:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. military and intelligence community have been tracking several shipments of material they believe have left North Korea and are destined for Syria or may have already landed there, a Pentagon official confirmed.
The monitoring has been taking place for the past several weeks, he said.
The official could not confirm several recent news reports that nuclear material from North Korea has arrived in Syria and was the potential target of a recent Israeli airstrike there.
In fact, he said none of the information he had reviewed as part of his job indicated any nuclear material was involved.
Some of the material is believed to have been high-grade metals that could be used in weapons such as missiles or solid-fuel rocket technology.
But "there is concern with shipments going into the region and with their eventual arrival in Syria," the official said.
The United States is also looking into the possibility material had been shipped from North Korea to Iran and traveled overland into Syria, he said, adding there were indications a ship had docked in Syria recently. [Emphasis added.]

Huh. So much for U.N. sanctions, then. As if sane minds didn't already understand the futility of the thing.

The thing that really strikes me about the CNN article is that boldface bit in the last paragraph. Take a look at this map of the Middle East:

So you tell me. How does something get from A) Iran to B) Syria overland?

Right. It would have to go through either Turkey or Iraq! (Actually, it could get there through Kuwait and Saudia Arabia, too, if it went through Basra.)

The point is, Turkey, Iraq, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia are all ostensible allies....

And United Nations Security Council Resolution 1718 is supposed to prevent North Korea from trading in weapons and nuclear materials, isn't it?

What a freakin' joke.

So here's a nifty little German video about how North Korea handles pesky little inconveniences such as U.N. sanctions:

Yes, indeedy.

A Nation Of Morons And Fools

2007-09-13T23:25:00.000-07:00

Someone voted this guy into office:

Twice.

And someone voted for people like this:

And half the country heaps disdain and suspicion on a person like this:

Meanwhile, a large segment of our population (read: skirts) is poised to adopt the voting (and reading) habits of shitheads like this:

And a significant portion of that same segment (read: skirts, again) thinks the term political expression refers to the act of donning pink tutus and screeching like a banshee:

And prefers to get their evening "news" from people such as this:

While shamelessly worshipping pieces of shit like this:

Ugh.

I don't agree with Bill O'Reilly about very many things at all, but this country is taking a serious nose dive, and it's taking its culture with it.

We're in trouble, Dudes.

And if you need further proof....

So there!

String Cheese Factory

2007-09-09T17:53:00.000-07:00

Where Were You?

2007-09-08T14:24:00.000-07:00

Where were you when the Scorpions' "The Winds Of Change" was released? What did you think? Did it make any difference to you?

I was in Songtan, South Korea...not terribly far south of Vladivostok, USSR. It was heady news for us in those days.

We thought maybe it was over....

Last post of the day.

The Swiss Reich?

2007-09-08T07:05:00.000-07:00

Here's an eerie story from The Independent:

At first sight, the poster looks like an innocent children's cartoon. Three white sheep stand beside a black sheep. The drawing makes it looks as though the animals are smiling. But then you notice that the three white beasts are standing on the Swiss flag. One of the white sheep is kicking the black one off the flag, with a crafty flick of its back legs.
The poster is, according to the United Nations, the sinister symbol of the rise of a new racism and xenophobia in the heart of one of the world's oldest independent democracies.
A worrying new extremism is on the rise. For the poster – which bears the slogan "For More Security" – is not the work of a fringe neo-Nazi group. It has been conceived – and plastered on to billboards, into newspapers and posted to every home in a direct mailshot – by the Swiss People's Party (the Schweizerische Volkspartei or SVP) which has the largest number of seats in the Swiss parliament and is a member of the country's coalition government.
With a general election due next month, it has launched a twofold campaign which has caused the UN's special rapporteur on racism to ask for an official explanation from the government. The party has launched a campaign to raise the 100,000 signatures necessary to force a referendum to reintroduce into the penal code a measure to allow judges to deport foreigners who commit serious crimes once they have served their jail sentence.
But far more dramatically, it has announced its intention to lay before parliament a law allowing the entire family of a criminal under the age of 18 to be deported as soon as sentence is passed.
It will be the first such law in Europe since the Nazi practice of Sippenhaft – kin liability – whereby relatives of criminals were held responsible for their crimes and punished equally.
The proposal will be a test case not just for Switzerland but for the whole of Europe, where a division between liberal multiculturalism and a conservative isolationism is opening up in political discourse in many countries, the UK included.

Oooooh. Words like sicherheits and Sippenhaft and Volkspartei have an ominous ring to them, especially if you're familiar with the history of Nazi Germany.

Here's the poster the article mentioned:

That's something that we Americans are going to have to watch carefully. And not only in Europe. We need to make sure that sort of thing doesn't happen here at home, either.

Things like that can sneak up on a country without the people even realizing it's happening.

New Russkies -- Old Tricks

2007-09-08T06:29:00.001-07:00

The Russians are back up to their old tricks, it seems. From Reuters:

Britain's air force scrambled four Tornado warplanes to intercept eight Russian long-range bombers, but the Russian planes did not enter British air space, the Ministry of Defence said.
Russia's Defence Ministry said 14 strategic bombers had been flying long-range patrol operations but none approached a foreign state and most were accompanied by fighter jets from NATO countries.
Relations between Britain and Russia are at their worst since the Cold War, but the Foreign Office said Britain did not see a recent Russian decision to resume of long-range patrols as a cause for alarm and that "normal preparedness" was in place.
[...]
The Tupolev Tu-95, code-named 'Bear' by NATO, is Russia's equivalent of the US B-52 bomber and is a Cold War icon.
Russia's Defence Ministry said 14 Russian strategic bombers had started long-range routine patrol operations on Wednesday evening over the Pacific, the Atlantic and the Arctic.
"The planes flew only over neutral water and did not approach the air space of a foreign state," it said."
Practically all the planes were accompanied by fighters from NATO countries."
It is at least the second time in recent months Britain has scrambled jets to intercept Russian bombers.
The sorties by Russian bombers appeared to the latest of the regular long-range patrols that President Vladimir Putin announced last month would be resumed, after a gap following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Just the other day, my brother mentioned that he kind of missed the Cold War days.

Perhaps he has a point. The Russkies weren't going to launch nukes at us, any more than we were going to launch nukes at them. And Russians don't tend to strap on explosives and blow themselves up in crowded public places, either.

Sometimes it's a comfort to have an enemy that is somewhat civilized.

Here's a Cold War-era photo of an American F-4 shadowing a Tu-95 that's on a reconnaissance patrol.

O, How The Mighty Fall!

2007-09-08T05:57:00.001-07:00

Yesssssssssssss. I love it when a plan comes together.

Okay, so after weeks of hearing fawning, putrid drivel about what a wonderful and wholesome thing this "High School Musical" thing is....

And after weeks and weeks of hearing lofty praise for that squeaky and wholesome Vanessa Hudgens and Zac Efron duo....

Really. All that sappy, gooey tripe was enough to make a feller lose his lunch.

Oh, yes. "High School Musical" is the shizzle, indeed. No drugs. No violence. No sex. Just kids having fun.

All in all, the critics have been saying, everything about the TV musical is good, good, good for teens, teens, teens.

But wait!

No sex....

No sex...?

Then what about this cute little photo 18-year-old Miss 'Nessa took for winsome Mr. Zac?

Give me a freakin' break!

Yeah, that's right. Her shit stinks!

Ain't she the role model for your teenage daughter?

Time For A Zappa Quote!

2007-09-08T05:22:00.000-07:00

To wit:

"Some Scientists claim that hydrogen, because it is so plentiful, is the basic building block of the universe. I dispute that. I say there is more stupidity than hydrogen, and that is the basic building block of the universe."

Ecce Homo!

Osama Returns

2007-09-08T03:18:00.000-07:00

Like Phoenix rising from the ashes, noted terrorist and raconteur Osama bin Laden has raised his ugly head to...to...

...preach at us?

I guess that's what you could call that ridiculous thing Osama was doing on the news yesterday. Anyway you look at is, however, he's back and he's better than ever. (And he's on video tape, as usual.)

As might have been expected, his latest video offering amounted to little more than a rambling lecture which held little of interest to those of us in the Western (read: "real") world.

He did, however, talk a little about the dating scene in Waziristan....

And the Fox News Channel managed to obtain a response from bin Laden's girlfriend (courtesy of Al Jazeera):

Ah, just think. If it weren't for video cameras, Osama wouldn't have any way to amuse himself at all....

Holy Crap!

2007-09-08T01:59:00.000-07:00

You know that blue bar thingy that lives on top of Blogger blogs?

Yeah, that's the thing I'm talking about.

Well, have you ever clicked on the "Next Blog>" thing?

Ooof. That'll take you on an adventure. I went through blogs from the Philippines, Germany, the UK, and other exciting places like that. Too bad I don't speak Tagalog or German. The UK blog was about an outfit that installs generators for public events. My blood pressure peaked after about two paragraphs of the generator saga, and I had to move on to calmer pastures.

And then came the smut blogs....

Wow. If you ever get bored--and if you're brave enough--give it a try. Frankly, it was too much for my wimpy constitution.

Foster Care Pedophiles?

2007-09-07T06:27:00.000-07:00

This is a disgusting story I found on Michelle Malkin. From the Daily Mail of Great Britain:

A homosexual foster couple were left free to sexually abuse vulnerable boys in their care because social workers feared being accused of discrimination if they investigated complaints, an inquiry concluded yesterday.
Craig Faunch and Ian Wathey were one of the first homosexual couples in the country to be officially approved as foster parents.
They looked after 18 children in only 15 months.
With no previous convictions, they came across as respectable men who simply wanted to help boys with a variety of problems.
In reality, they were paedophiles, who repeatedly abused the children in their care.
Even when the mother of two of the children reported her suspicions to the council, officials accepted the men's explanations and did nothing.
Instead of banning children from staying with Faunch and Wathey, they sent youngsters with more serious problems to them. Between them, the couple abused four boys aged between eight and 14.
In a scathing report published yesterday, Wakefield Metropolitan District Council was condemned for treating the men as "trophy carers".
The children's charity Kidscape said those in charge of overseeing the safety of children in the care of Faunch and Wathey had allowed political correctness to override common sense.
The report, following an independent review of the case, said: "One manager described the couple as 'trophy carers' which led to 'slack arrangements' over placement.
"Another said that by virtue of their sexuality they had a 'badge' which made things less questionable.
"The sexual orientation of the men was a significant cause of people not 'thinking the unthinkable'.
"It was clear that a number of staff were afraid of being thought homophobic.
"The fear of being discriminatory led them to fail to discriminate between the appropriate and the abusive." [Emphasis added.]

And since when is unreasonable for a heterosexual to feel uncomfortable around a poofter? Or a fag...?

Well, the scourge of political correctness extends beyond the borders of the U.S., it seems.

Back in the old days, it was considered a virtue for a man to speak his mind. (Please note that I didn't do the "man or woman" and "his or her" politically correct crap here.) And now, it seems, one automatically earns entrance into the ranks of the Chandala should she accidentally call a spade a spade.

Look at these two louts:

How much do you want to bet that someone in some gay rights organization somewhere is already crying about the media turning a "child care issue" into a "gay issue"?

Homosexuals should not be left in charge of little boys.

Let's Kill Birdies!

2007-09-04T08:13:00.000-07:00

I was outside just now and I heard ominous popping sounds off in the distance toward the cotton fields.

Strange, I thought to myself. What could that be? And then I remembered....

From OutdoorNewsDaily.com:

Hurricane Dean didn’t hit Arizona last weekend as originally anticipated, and die-hard dove hunters breathed a sigh of relief. Storms can prompt a lot of white-winged doves to begin their annual migration south right before the opener.
The dove season opens on Labor Day weekend this year, running from Sept. 1-15. Biologists with the Arizona Game and Fish Department said the abundant summer rains throughout much of Arizona, and the associated green-up in the deserts, will likely result in the morning dove population being more dispersed this year. “On the plus side, it means you will have the opportunity to find doves away from the major concentrations of hunters,” said Mike Rabe, the department’s migratory bird biologist.
A big change this year is the newly-created year-round season (with no limits) on the Eurasian collared doves. The Eurasian collared doves are larger than both the white-winged and mourning doves. The year-round season commences with the opening of dove season on Sept. 1, 2007 and continues 365 days through Aug. 31 of 2008.
“The Eurasian collared doves are basically bonus birds for the bag and table. This species of dove provides great shooting and very good eating,” said Randy Babb, a department biologist in the Mesa Regional Office.

Yep, the popping sounds I heard were shotguns.

Once, when I worked as a bartender at the local country club, one of the regulars brought me a plastic bag filled with little blobs wrapped in aluminum foil.

"What's that?" I said as the man offered the bag to me.

"Some dove I killed this weekend," he said proudly.

"How do you cook it?" I asked. "With a Bic lighter and a thimble?"

"You cook it on a fry pan with some grease," he said while poking me in the ribs. "Quit joshing."

"Take them away," I said. "I'm not in the habit of eating flying rats."

On a final note for this pointless post, here's a fantastic photo of a bountiful dove harvest in Argentina. Mmmmmmmmm.

Boy, wouldn't it be just great to be a Eurasion collared dove?

Oh, and Rob at The 12 Volt Blog is all excited about the beginning of the flying rodent shoot. You can also find some philosophical ruminations about Karl Rove and dove hunting at The Fat Finch Bird Brain Blog....

And God She's Awful

2007-09-04T07:11:00.000-07:00

In the disagreeable or objectionable sense, that is. And so E. D. Hill of Fox News is my moistened news bint of the week.

I watch Fox News more than any other news outlet, but I have to mute the TV when this creature comes on.

Speak of the devil--she's coming on right now. TIME TO MUTE!!!!!

Effluent's Cutie Of The Week

2007-09-04T06:59:00.000-07:00

Maybe even of the year. It's Kari Byron of the Discovery Channel's Mythbusters.

She's cute, but she's also very smart and knows how to use tools!!!!

Today's School Lunch Menu

2007-09-04T06:56:00.000-07:00

50 Cent's 2 Cent's Worth

2007-09-04T06:17:00.000-07:00

MotherJones cites MTV News in announcing rapper 50 Cent's endorsement of Hillary Clinton for president in '08. Says the 32-year-old "artist" (a.k.a. Curtis James Jackson):

I'd like to see Hillary Clinton be president. It would be nice to see a woman be the actual president and...this is a way for us to have Bill Clinton be president again, and he did a great job during his term. [Emphasis added.]

Ooooof! I've been sitting on pins and needles waiting for Curtis' announcement all summer! And I'm glad he'd like to see Hillary as the "actual" president instead of as a "faux" president. Whew....

And that part about "this is a way for us to have Bill Clinton be president again" crap is about as scary as it gets. Isn't that why so many people hate Hillary in the first place?

As for President Bush, the Half-A-Dollar-Dude says:

[H]e has less compassion than a regular human being.

Boy, I'm glad he told me. I was confused on that point.

Bush Sneaks Into Iraq -- Again

2007-09-04T03:56:00.000-07:00

From CNN.com:

AL ASAD AIR BASE, Iraq (CNN) -- President Bush made a surprise visit to an Iraqi air base Monday, saying fewer U.S. forces may be able to maintain security at its current level.
"Gen. [David] Petraeus and Ambassador [Ryan] Crocker tell me if the kind of success we're now seeing continues, it will be possible to maintain the same level of security with fewer American forces," Bush said during remarks at Al Asad Air Base in Anbar province.
But Bush later warned Washington war critics who are pushing for quick troop withdrawals to temper their expectations.
During a rally for troops at the base, Bush said any pullout would be made from a position of "strength and success."
The White House is due to deliver to Congress next week an assessment on Bush's increase of 30,000 troops to Iraq this year.
"People shouldn't jump to conclusions until the general and the ambassador report," Bush said.
During a rally later for more than 600 American troops at the base, Bush warned members of Congress who might be anticipating quick reductions in U.S. forces.
"Those decisions will be based on a calm assessment by our military commanders on the conditions on the ground, not reaction by Washington politicians to poll results in the media," said Bush. "In other words, when we begin to draw down troops from Iraq, it will be from a position of strength and success, not from the position of fear and failure."

I dunno, but it seems that if we were doing really well over there, Mr. Bush wouldn't have to keep sneaking in and out of the country the way he's been doing.

And look, he's so brave he doesn't even need body armor!

Call me a cynic, but you'd think that he'd be able to do these things openly if there was any sort of stability over there. I'm all for victory in Iraq, and I'm definitely not part of the "cut and run" crowd.

It's just that George's handling of this doo-doo has been wrong from the get-go.

But just to be fair, here are some blogs that are all atwitter about the Bush Iraq visit:

Flopping Aces, StuckOnStupid, Hang Right Politics, and Captain's Quarters.

And On Another Immigration Front....

2007-09-03T06:46:00.000-07:00

Word has it that no one--not anyone--knows who Elvira's baby-daddy is. Probably not even Elvira....

I really don't have much more to say about this cretin. The whole affair has made me sick to my stomach.

JammieWearingFool has some cogent thoughts about the Mexican Border Bint, as well.

Where There Is A Mexican, There Is Mexico

2007-09-03T05:42:00.000-07:00

From a disturbing article by Traci Carl of the Associated Press (Calderon blasts U.S. immigration policies):

MEXICO CITY — President Felipe Calderon blasted U.S. immigration policies on Sunday and promised to fight harder to protect the rights of Mexicans in the U.S., saying "Mexico does not end at its borders."
The criticism earned Calderon a standing ovation during his first state-of-the nation address.
"We strongly protest the unilateral measures taken by the U.S. Congress and government that have only persecuted and exacerbated the mistreatment of Mexican undocumented workers," he said. "The insensitivity toward those who support the U.S. economy and society has only served as an impetus to reinforce the battle ... for their rights."
He also reached out to the millions of Mexicans living in the United States, many illegally, saying: "Where there is a Mexican, there is Mexico." [Emphasis added.]

So what you're saying, Dickhead, is that America is now Mexico just because Mexicans sneak in here all the time? Well, to hell with you, Señor!

Yeah, yeah. If people like you and GEORGE BUSH had their way, THIS IS WHAT WE'D SEE WHEN WE TRAVEL TO WASHINGTON D.C.!

Forget about it, you pricks.

And as for that "we strongly protest the unilateral measures taken by the U.S. Congress and government" shit. What? Screw that! Are we supposed to consult with Mexico in the formulation of United States policy now?

Pendejo....

Dave Calder at UNCoRRELATED has some sentient comments about Calderon's buffoonery, also.

Not to be outdone, TexasFred has some well-chosen--and colorful--words for Mr. Calderon. Yee-hah, Tejas!

A Federal Holiday!!!!!

2007-09-03T05:04:00.000-07:00

Happy Labor Day everyone!!!

The G.O.P.

2007-09-02T13:40:00.001-07:00

The Gay Old Perverts.

For the sole reason that politicians and pundits nowdays are so fond of using the word hypocrisy, I usually try not to use it. But this case is an exception....

A stunning example.

The Human Being And Fish

2007-09-02T12:28:00.000-07:00

I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully.

An oldy but goody.

Preparing For The Great Satan's Aggression

2007-09-02T11:45:00.000-07:00

The first line of defense.

The reserves.

Go visit The Digital Brownshirt for some more observations regarding Mr. Ahmadinejad's delusions of indestructibility.

A Record Summer For Phoenix, Arizona

2007-09-02T10:15:00.000-07:00

From Amanda Lee Myers of the Associated Press:

PHOENIX, Ariz. — It ain't just hot in Phoenix these days. The heat is shoe-melting, spirit-crushing and now, record-breaking. Phoenix hit its 29th day of 110 degree-plus temperatures on Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service.
The average number of days that top 110 degrees in a given year is 10. The record of 28 days of 110 degrees or above occurred in 1979 and was tied in 2002, according to the weather service.
With withering temperatures like these, all jokes about dry heat stop being funny.
Phoenix resident Ollie Lewis sure isn't laughing. "It's a dry heat because we're in a desert!'' she said as she walked to a bus stop in downtown Phoenix.
Austin Jamison, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Phoenix, said an oven produces dry heat, too. "You can put your head in the oven, but that's not comfortable.''
Jamison said the temperature hit 113 degrees Wednesday afternoon and could climb higher. The hottest day of the year was July 4, when the mercury hit 116 degrees.
"We've never had this many days of 110 or better,'' he said. "So that right there should tell you it's pretty rare.''
The National Weather Service says urbanization and global climate change could be contributing factors to the heat.
Martin Milner, a construction worker who was taking a break from the scorching weather under a rare shade tree, said even though he's lived in Phoenix all his life, the heat never gets any easier to bear.
"People say you'll get used to it, but you never get used to it,'' said Milner, who wore a bandanna under his black hard hat to stop the sweat from running down his face. "Every year it gets harder and harder and harder. This year it's just skyrocketed.''
Marcia Reid, who moved to Phoenix from New York City five months ago, said the heat doesn't bother her.
"I lived in New York for so long, I got tired of the cold.'' she said. "I like it here. It's a dry heat.''
The weather service is forecasting temperatures of 105 degrees for the rest of the week.

I live about 60 miles south of Phoenix in the Sonora Desert. It has, indeed, been a long, hot summer.

And thank God for air conditioning. I don't know how people lived out here before it was introduced.

Is Hillary A Dyke?

2007-09-02T09:47:00.000-07:00

So that's what this book--The Truth About Hillary: What She Knew, When She Knew It, and How Far She'll Go to Become President--seems to imply. Here are some claims that are apparently made by the book's author, Edward Klein:

The culture of lesbianism has influenced Hillary's political goals and personal life since she was a student at Wellesley, an elite college near Boston

She 'embraced' revolutionary lesbianism when she was young and tolerated her husband's philandering because their marriage was a largely sexless political convenience

She said she was passionately in love with her husband, but many of her closest friends and aides were lesbians. Everything was ambiguous

Chelsea Clinton was conceived as a ploy to cover up Hillary's sexuality

Regardless of whether the rumors are true, they'll provide a lot of fodder for Republican strategists if--most likely when--it comes to a general election that includes Clinton.

So, is Hillary Clinton a lesbian? It wouldn't surprise me.

The idea of "revolutionary lesbianism" is somewhat frightening, however.

My Nephew Gus

2007-09-02T08:55:00.001-07:00

Big dog! Gus is a 150 pound white on black harlequin Great Dane. He's a sweetheart.

By the way, have you ever smelled a Great Dane fart? It's not pretty. It's not even nice. And you can smell 'em a mile away....

Do You Find Me Repulsive?

2007-09-02T08:29:00.000-07:00

Meanwhile, Denny Kucinich begs for votes in the village square....

And then begs for votes by showing off his little hottie of a wife:

Dennis Kucinich: the embodiment of creepy.

Yet More Hillary Hatred

2007-09-02T08:21:00.000-07:00

Sunday Morning Hillary Hatred

2007-09-02T08:13:00.000-07:00

She's a witch!

How do you know she is a witch?

Burn her!!!!!!

Three Senators Put Their Lives On The Line

2007-08-31T05:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday from the AP:

A military cargo plane carrying three senators and a House member was forced to take evasive maneuvers and dispatch flares to avoid ground fire after taking off from Baghdad on Thursday night.
The lawmakers said their plane, a C-130, was under fire from three rocket-propelled grenades over the course of several minutes as they left for Amman, Jordan.
“It was a scary moment,” said Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., who said he had just taken off his body armor when he saw a bright flash outside the window. “Our pilots were terrific. ... They banked in one direction and then banked the other direction, and they set off the flares.
”Sens. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., and James Inhofe, R-Okla., as well as Rep. Bud Cramer, D-Ala., were also on the plane.
Cramer and Martinez said they had just begun to relax about five or 10 minutes after the plane took off under darkness.
Crew members apparently communicated to the pilots as they saw the initial RPG fired from the ground, Cramer said. After the first burst, the pilots maneuvered aggressively and set off flares used for drawing incoming fire away from aircraft.
Once the flares lit up the sky, lawmakers said, two more RPGs were fired as the pilots continued maneuvering.
Martinez said he quickly put back on his body armor.
“We were jostled around pretty good,” said Cramer, who estimated the plane had ascended to about 6,000 feet. “There were a few minutes there where I wondered: 'Have we been hit? Are we OK?'”
Capt. Angel Wallace, a spokeswoman for U.S. Central Command, said she was not aware of the incident, and military public affairs officials in Baghdad could not be reached immediately. [Emphasis added.]

Yeehah! Ride 'em Cowyboys!

But there are a couple of aspects to this story that have a fishy odor about them. All you have to do is sniff a little:

First, Bud Cramer "estimated the plane had ascended to about 6,000 feet."

Second, the Senators claim that their plane had been taken "under fire from three rocket-propelled grenades over the course of several minutes..."

Third, the Senators relate that "after the first burst, the pilots maneuvered aggressively and set off flares used for drawing incoming fire away from aircraft."

But if it was dark, how could these clowns 1) estimate that they were at 6,000 feet, and 2) determine that it was RPGs that were being fired at them?

The RPG is a dumb weapon. It has no guidance system. Therefore, had RPGs indeed been fired at them, the pilots would have had no need to employ countermeasures (the flares). If they did, indeed, employ the flares, it would have been because they suspected some sort of shoulder-fired surface-to-air weapon was being employed against them.

The absolute maximum horizontal range of the RPG-7 is 920 meters (3,018 feet). At that range, the weapon has practically no accuracy and would be used exclusively for harassment purposes against stationary targets. Trying to fire the weapon vertically at a fast-moving target 6,000 feet high would have been a fruitless endeavor. I'm quite sure no insurgent or al-Qaeda member would waste an RPG round in such silly way.

You would think that the media would stop interviewing these idiots and give us all a break.

Animals Were Killed In the Production Of This Film

2007-08-30T03:36:00.000-07:00

From the Alaska Department of Fish and Game comes this article by Riley Woodford:

Lemmings do not commit mass suicide. It's a myth, but it's remarkable how many people believe it. Ask a few.
"It's a complete urban legend," said state wildlife biologist Thomas McDonough. "I think it blew out of proportion based on a Disney documentary in the '50s, and that brought it to the mainstream.
"Lemmings are a kind of short tailed vole, a mouse-like rodent that favors tundra and open grasslands. Three kinds are found in Alaska, including the collared lemming, the only rodent that turns white in winter.
In 1958 Walt Disney produced "White Wilderness," part of the studio's "True Life Adventure" series. "White Wilderness" featured a segment on lemmings, detailing their strange compulsion to commit mass suicide.
According to a 1983 investigation by Canadian Broadcasting Corporation producer Brian Vallee, the lemming scenes were faked. The lemmings supposedly committing mass suicide by leaping into the ocean were actually thrown off a cliff by the Disney filmmakers. The epic "lemming migration" was staged using careful editing, tight camera angles and a few dozen lemmings running on snow covered lazy-Susan style turntable.
"White Wilderness" was filmed in Alberta, Canada, a landlocked province, and not on location in lemmings' natural habitat. There are about 20 lemming species found in the circumpolar north - but evidently not in that area of Alberta. So the Disney people bought lemmings from Inuit children a couple provinces away in Manitoba and staged the whole sequence. [Emphasis added.]

THOSE HEARTLESS, CRUEL DISNEY BASTARDS!!!! The lemmings "were actually thrown off a cliff by the Disney filmmakers"?

And to think that I've believed that mass-suicide lemming crap my entire life.

Disney sucks.

Animals were, indeed, harmed in the making of that film.

More Whining About Profiling

2007-08-30T02:48:00.000-07:00

From NEWS.com.au:

The largest civil rights organisation of American Sikhs has expressed outrage with a new US airport security policy that it says allows arbitrary searches of turbans, a sacred headdress for members of the religion.
The Sikh Coalition said it had been informed by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) that under its new guidelines, turbans could be subject to manual pat-downs even if their wearers had passed a metal detector test.
"Telling screeners to search people in turbans is the same as telling them to search black people or Arabs or Muslims," Amardeep Singh, executive director of the Sikh Coalition, said.
"The policy allows screeners to single out travelers on the basis of their religion."
TSA spokeswoman Lara Uselding acknowledged that on August 4, the agency that oversees security at 450 US airports as well as railroads, ports and mass transit systems revised its screening procedures for head coverings.
But she denied the changes that would be carried out by all 43,000 US airport screeners had anything to do with religious beliefs espoused by travellers.
The turban is a sacred headdress in the Sikh religion given to its followers by the religion's founding gurus, or prophets.
Obligatory for men and optional for women, it is worn to underscore the distinct Sikh identity and full commitment to the faith, according to members of the religion. [Emphasis added.]

Well what the hell? Someone in the TSA should inform old Amardeep that telling screeners to search people in turbans is NOT the same as telling them to search black people or Arabs or Muslims. It merely tells screeners to pat down igloo-sized cloth headdresses on people going through airport security. After all, who's to say that there isn't a hunk of Semtex or C-4 stuffed up under the igloo-hat? Or some sort of plastic or wooden weapon? Something that metal detectors would miss....

And who's to say that old al-Qaeda Abdul from Al Madinah or Damascus won't grow a curly beard and moustache, wrap an oversized paper towel around his head, and try to pass himself off as a Sikh? While carrying explosives onto a plane....

Try wearing a baseball cap, Amardeep. They're easier to take off.

Hypocrisy

2007-08-30T02:15:00.000-07:00

But let's get serious. This is from Fox News:

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards says he wants people to give up their sport utility vehicles. Edwards told a labor group Tuesday that Americans should drive more fuel-efficient vehicles and called the U.S. "the worst polluter on the planet."
Edwards' campaign concedes he does own a hybrid Ford Escape SUV, along with a 2004 Chrysler Pacifica midsize SUV, but says he uses that less often now.
Edwards was also asked about the apparent contradiction of asking Americans to sacrifice while he lives in a 28,000 square foot mansion in North Carolina. He replied that he came from nothing and worked hard all his life — saying, "I have no apologies whatsoever for what I've done with my life."

Translation: Y'all shut up, you toothless unwashed bastards, and buy a Prius!

Meanwhile, here's a picture of Hair Boy getting ready to climb into a....

More Fresh Spinach Recalled

2007-08-30T01:54:00.000-07:00

From the Associated Press:

WASHINGTON - A California produce company recalled bagged fresh spinach Wednesday after it tested positive for salmonella.
There were no immediate reports of illness linked to the tainted spinach, distributed by Metz Fresh LLC of King City, Calif.
The recall comes nearly a year after an outbreak of another pathogen, E. coli, in fresh spinach killed three people and sickened another 200.
The recalled spinach was distributed throughout the 48 states and Canada and sold in both retail and food service packages. It covers 8,118 cases of spinach, although the company said more than 90 percent of that was on hold and would not be released.
While only a single sample from one of three packing lines tested positive for salmonella, the company said it moved to recall all the spinach packed that same day as a precaution.

If I remember right, the last spinach recall had something to do with animal feces getting into the spinach fields from adjacent pasturage.

Our Heroine

2007-08-29T14:11:00.000-07:00

And it has absolutely nothing to do with shitty ratings.

You Decide

2007-08-29T13:52:00.001-07:00

Yeah. What He Said.

2007-08-29T13:04:00.000-07:00

New Orleans -- Two Years After Katrina

2007-08-29T05:15:00.000-07:00

Any part of any American city that:

Lies directly on the coastline
Lies in a hurricane threat zone
Is 10 feet below sea level

should be condemned--marked as off limits to human habitation.

And the most important lesson learned from the disaster that was Katrina?

We need lots of busses.

Puleeeeeeeeeez!

2007-08-28T10:48:00.000-07:00

Would Americans please stop swooning over the fact that it's the 10th anniversary of the death of Diana Spencer? Please?

Don't you think we've heard enough about the death of the Royal Skank?

Besides, it reflects poorly on modern Americans to fawn all over Diana and her two twerp puppies after so many Americans died in the Revolutionary War to throw off tyrants like King George III.

I know it's been over 200 years, but it's too soon to forget.

Owen Wilson Hospitalized -- Rumored Suicide Attempt

2007-08-27T05:29:00.000-07:00

From the Sydney Morning Herald:

Actor Owen Wilson is in a California hospital being treated for a suspected suicide attempt, according to reports.

Gossip website PerezHilton.com quoted National Enquirer editor-in-chief David Perel: "Owen Wilson has now been transferred from St. John's to another Los Angeles area hospital. His brothers Andrew and Luke are with him.

"Andrew found him after the suicide attempt and called an ambulance. Both of Owen's wrists were slashed superficially and Owen had taken an overdose of pills.

"Owen was found with a nearly empty bottle of pills next to him. He was at his house in Santa Monica."

Another gossip website TMZ.com said it had confirmed that a call to Santa Monica police overnight was for Wilson, who starred in Zoolander and Wedding Crashers.

The department would not reveal the subject of a media release but said the person was taken to hospital for treatment.

That's a shame. He has everything going for him, and he's one of the funniest bastards I've ever seen on film.

Breaking News -- AGAG Resigns!

2007-08-27T05:12:00.000-07:00

From the New York Times:

WACO, Tex., Aug. 27 — Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, whose tenure has been marred by controversy and accusations of perjury before Congress, has resigned. A senior administration official said he would announce the decision later this morning in Washington.

Mr. Gonzales, who had rebuffed calls for his resignation, submitted his to President Bush by telephone on Friday, the official said. His decision was not immediately
announced, the official added, until after the president invited him and his wife to lunch at his ranch near here.

Mr. Bush has not yet chosen a replacement but will not leave the position open long, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the Attorney General's resignation had not yet been made public.

Mr. Bush had repeatedly stood by Mr. Gonzales, an old friend and colleague from Texas, even as he faced increasing scrutiny for his leadership of the Justice Department, including his role in the dismissals of nine United States attorneys late last year and questions about whether he testified truthfully about the National Security Agency's surveillance programs.

"We're watching a political exercise," Mr. Bush said at a news conference this month, dismissing accusations that the Attorney General had stonewalled or misled a congressional inquiry. "I mean, this is a man who has testified, he's sent thousands of papers up there. There's no proof of wrong."

Mr. Gonzales's resignation is the latest in a series of high-level departures that has reshaped the end of Mr. Bush's second term. Karl Rove, another of Mr. Bush's close circle of aides from Texas, stepped down two weeks ago.

The official said that the decision was Mr. Gonzales's and that the president accepted it grudgingly. At the same time, the official acknowledged that the turmoil over his tenure as Attorney General had made continuing difficult.

Well, I guess it was to be expected. His continued presence in the cabinet must have been proving too much of a distraction for the administration. On the other hand, when Karl Rove resigned, it was widely reported that anyone in the cabinet who didn't resign before a certain date in September would be "stuck" in their position until the end or their term.

But the Gonzales resignation begs the further question:

Who in the hell are the Congressional Democrats gonna pick on now?

Gun Control

2007-08-26T23:59:00.000-07:00

This is a Photoshop re-make of a poster I found on the Web yesterday.

Dog Bites Vick

2007-08-26T05:26:00.000-07:00

From the Associated Press and Atlanta's WXIA-TV (NBC Channel 11) comes a story of slimy justice:

Take some trading cards picturing a disgraced NFL superstar. Add some dog slobber and teethmarks. What do you get?

The most valuable Michael Vick cards—by far—on eBay, that's what.

Collector Rochelle Steffen of Cape Girardeau, Mo., gave every Vick card she owned to her dogs and let them go to town on the images of the Atlanta Falcons quarterback who is scheduled to plead guilty to a federal dogfighting charge Monday.

Once Monte, her 6-year-old Weimaraner, and Roxie, her Great Dane puppy, were done worrying them, nearly two dozen $1-$10 cards were crumpled, crimped, chewed, torn and generally in a sorry state. Some even had corners missing.

As of Thursday evening, the highest bid on the lot of 22 cards had risen to $455 and more than 2,000 people had viewed the posting. Seventy-seven people already have bid on the auction, which ends Sunday.

The next-most expensive Vick cards—well-preserved specimens from his rookie year—were going for less than half the price of the gnawed ones. [Emphasis added.]

Ha! Great idea! Give that woman a milk bone.

And while I'm on the topic of Mike "Kill Doggy Dogg" Vick, here's a hilarious video from National Lampoon's Lemmings Productions:

BIG ASS CHUNKS OF LITTLE DOGS!!!!!

Wild Fire Horror In Greece

2007-08-26T05:08:00.000-07:00

From the Indo-Asian News Service and the Hindustan Times:

Raging wildfires in Greece have killed over 50 people and destroyed hundreds of houses as firemen were largely forced to wait for sunrise on Sunday before renewing the battle against the massive blazes.

Residents of the Peloponnese peninsula, in southern Greece and on Euboea island hunkered down for another night of horror Saturday as an early loss of daylight caused firemen to shut down helicopters and planes working to contain the blazes.

At least 190 fires were burning across the region, countless still uncontrolled.
Authorities fear that the death toll will rise as hundreds of people were trapped in remote villages encircled by flames on the Peloponnese peninsula.

Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis on Saturday declared a state of emergency and three days of mourning. Flags on all public buildings would fly at half-mast until Monday.

Karamanlis blamed arsonists for the horrors of the last few days as police arrested seven people in connection with the blazes. It could not be "coincidence" that the fires broke out in such a short time, Karamanlis said in televised remarks, adding that his government would do everything to bring the perpetrators to justice.

About 70,000 hectares of land and hundreds of houses have burned to the ground over the past three days, media reports said.

Coming from a western state as I do (Arizona), this cuts close to home. A wild fire death toll of over 50 people is simply horrendous.

I wish the best for those poor people.

While On The Topic Of Ted Nugent

2007-08-25T09:02:00.000-07:00

How about a little Saturday morning Cat Scratch Fever? From 1977, when I was still a young 'un:

Ted Nugent--Delicate Political Sentiments

2007-08-25T05:24:00.000-07:00

Ah. This little onstage rant by the Motor City Madman is causing a huge stink in Moonbat circles. It seems Mr. Nugent has "threatened" Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton with murder (among other liberal lights such as Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer). He even started his rant with a thinly-disguised suggestion directed at California Governor Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger.

This little bit was apparently recorded by a concert-goer in Oroville, California on 22 August. Thus, the rant's focus on California politicians.

Here's a transcript of his rant:

(Brandishing two automatic rifles.) Hey, Arnold! Suck on this one time, you putz.

I was in Chicago last week. I was in Chicago, I said, "Hey, Obama! You might want to suck on one of these, you punk."

You don't get that? Obama. He's a piece of shit. And I told him to suck on my machine gun. Let's hear it for him.

And then I was in New York. I said, I said, "Hey, Hillary. You might want to ride one of these into the sunset, you worthless bitch.

And since I'm in California, how about Barbara Boxer? She might want to suck on my machine gun.

Hey, Dianne Feinstein! Ride one of these you worthless whore.

Any questions?

Freedom!

Actually, he didn't threaten to murder anyone. He did suggest, however, that certain Democrats do all of us a favor and commit "the deed" themselves....

Needless to say, this little exercise of First Amendment rights has caused quite the stir among the nutroots. The Moonbat-O-Sphere is all a-twitter, as it were.

And how terrible of that Ted Nugent fellow to "threaten" those poor people, like that!

But here's how one o' them "kinder, gentler" Moonbats responded to the YouTube video:

Ted Nugent is a period stain on this planet. I'd love to cock my gun in his mouth and do the world a favor. This crack smoker and all people who think like him should be carted away to a death camp, and put on the short list to go first! I wish he was one of Michael Vick's pit bulls!!! [Emphasis added by moi.]

Yes, of course! That little bit was much more reserved and reasonable than Nugent's was, you stupid little prick.

Of course, a ruckus ensued on Hannity and Colmes:

I'm with Ted on this one. Bob Beckel and Alan Colmes can suck on one of those machine gun thingies, too, as far as I'm concerned.

Street Justice In Tehran

2007-08-24T06:08:00.000-07:00

Or at least justice as it occurs on the street. Gleaned from the Daily Mail via Snoop at politicalpartypoop.com:

His face covered by a balaclava, an official brandishing a cane repeatedly lashes the back of a man found guilty of breaking Iran's morality laws.

Two police officers hold the legs of 25-year-old Saeed Ghanbari and another his arms to ensure there is no escape from the punishment of 80 lashes handed down by a religious court.

Traffic was brought to a halt in Qazvin, 90 miles west of the capital Tehran, as more than 1,000 men gathered behind barricades to watch the public flogging.

So why was this terrible thing happening to Saeed? The Daily Mail continues:

It was unclear exactly what his offence had been as the country's strict morality laws cover many areas, but it was reported he had been convicted of abusing alcohol and having sex outside of marriage.
The public lashings have been endorsed by the judiciary as a way of deterring alcohol abuse at a time when it is on the increase among young men but some religious leaders are said to be questioning their validity, fearing they have an adverse impact on the country's image abroad.
Although men and women convicted of flouting public morals are routinely flogged in detention centres, public floggings are considered rare.

Hmmmm. It seems to me that if our own judicial system called for public floggings for people who got drunk and had sex outside of marriage, there'd be a whole shitload of public floggings going on.

Lesson to be learned: Don't move to Iran.

Kinky Friedman Cigars

2007-08-24T04:48:00.000-07:00

From KinkyFriedman.com:

Kinky’s newest venture - Kinky Friedman Cigars is officially open for business. The new company just unveiled the first five sizes to the tobacco world at the Retail Tobacco Dealers of America Trade Show in Houston and it was an over-whelming success as were both the events at Cigar Cigar! in Sugar Land and Downing St. Pub in Houston.

[...]

The five sizes - The Governor, Kinkycristo, Texas Jewboy, The Willie and Utopian....

Texas Jewboy?

Hooooooooooot! Gotta love it.

A Disingenuous Witch

2007-08-24T04:05:00.001-07:00

Witch wasn't the first word that came to mind when I saw this video. It pretty much speaks for itself:

"The United States is the one who broke the law first. By letting people cross over without documents," she says.

By letting people cross over without documents? Letting? LETTING?

Yes, Ms. Arellano, I'm quite sure you sauntered up to the U.S.-Mexican border in plain sight and crossed under the watchful eyes of checkpoint personnel. Who cheerfully waived you through....

Ah, but that's not how it happened, is it? You SNUCK in, didn't you, you conniving little bint?

Ex-Military In Congress

2007-08-24T03:36:00.001-07:00

This morning on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," Colonel Jack Jacobs said that only 23% of Congress has served in the military. Until only recently, he added, the number was as low as 15%.

He went on to point out that among the 23% who actually served, a number had slept through through their time in uniform and had therefore learned nothing of military value that they might bring with them to Congress.

A leading example of the latter, said Colonel Jacobs, is Jack Murtha of Pennsylvania.

Go figure.

Bush's "Vietnam" Speech

2007-08-23T15:14:00.000-07:00

From CNN.com:

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (CNN) -- President Bush drew parallels between the aftermath of the Vietnam War and the potential costs of pulling out of Iraq in a speech Wednesday.

"Three decades later, there is a legitimate debate about how we got into the Vietnam War and how we left," Bush told members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, at their convention in Kansas City, Missouri.

"Whatever your position in that debate, one unmistakable legacy of Vietnam is that the price of America's withdrawal was paid by millions of innocent citizens, whose agonies would add to our vocabulary new terms like 'boat people,' 're-education camps' and 'killing fields,' " the president said.

The White House billed the speech, as it did next week's address to the American Legion, as an effort to "provide broader context" for the debate over the upcoming Iraq progress report by Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. military commander, and Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador in Baghdad.

Well, it's the first time that I've seen this guy give any reasonable historical context to his reason for clinging to the war in Iraq. Apart from his comments on Vietnam, his allusions to the Korean War--and how our sacrifices there enabled South Korea to grow into a prospering Democracy--were particularly well taken.

I served 10 years on the Korean Peninsula when I was in the military, and the fruits of our sacrifices in the 1950s are plainly evident there today.

In 2007, we still have more than 30,000 troops in Korea. Some folks in American need to consider that inconvenient little fact before they rush us into headlong retreat and inevitable defeat in Iraq.

Christiane Amanpour

2007-08-23T14:49:00.000-07:00

Gag:

"There are some situations one simply cannot be neutral about, because when you are neutral you are an accomplice. Objectivity doesn't mean treating all sides equally. It means giving each side a hearing."

A quote from Ms. Christiane "Holier Than Thou" Amanpour.

But wouldn't the inability to remain neutral preclude one from calling oneself a "journalist"?

A reminder: Ms. Amanpour was born to an Iranian father. She moved to Tehran upon her birth and didn't return to the West until she was 11 years of age.

Neutral? No more than you or I....

Don't be a dumb-ass American. Don't mindlessly mistake a British accent for intellectual superiority.

Number One News Story

2007-08-23T10:47:00.001-07:00

And since the Michael Vick saga seems to be the number one news story today, here's a little photoshop I did of him the other day:

I don't care what those Vick defenders are saying, dog fighting is not the same as legitimate hunting.

New Blog; First Post

2007-08-23T10:25:00.001-07:00

Hi.

This is my first post on Bebop Nirvana. It's been several months since I had a working blog, and I'm looking forward to having a place where I can vent my spleen.

My old blog--No Man's Blog--fell by the wayside after I started working as Contracts Manager for my brother's company. Besides, it was a hard core WordPress affair that required way too much maintenance--especially on the Web hosting side. It also consumed way too much money (again on the Web hosting side).

I'll see if I can get this thing formatted to my liking while I keep track of the news and find things to get pissed off about.

And then I'll post....