Self-destruction as an Art Form

..seems to be what the Democrats are practicing and perfecting this week. The audio of the Screaming Swimmer on the floor of the Senate practically foaming at the mouth as he turned a Liberal Democrat Senatorial Icon (Alcoholic Murderer Division) into a pathetic sniveling liar has got to be right up there with the Dean-O's howl when he realized he'd have to go back to Vermont. Comfortably in front of the second place weiner (sKerry calling on a cell phone from the Tranzi Celebration in Davos that wants $7 TRILLION from America for it's "failed policies" to distribute to the "pore") and third place show ("Muthableeper" Sheehan announcing her run for Not-So-Fine-stein's Senatorial seat), the only question left to answer is this:

When does the liddle biddy car over-filled with Democrats get to the center ring?

It's bad enough being bereft of ideas, but acting bereft of common sense or intelligence is infinitely worse. And will probably draw more flies than votes outside of California.... BTW - if it's "failed policies" y'all are looking for, let's start with the "WAR" on Poverty, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, US Department of Education, US Border Patrol and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Or Foreign Aid. Hell, the State Department and the CIA, for that matter....

Time for me to go out and scream again..... Y'all be careful.

Runnin' With The Tall Dogs...

This is EXTREMELY funny. Thank you, Emp. Mischa I.... (And others)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEQc2y3BR30
(or try http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/154318.php)
Don't be consuming liquids while watching.....

Bloody ENUFF, already...

Ever so glad that the yammering heads on the idiot box have relentlessly hammered away at the fact that Bob Woodruff and his camera operator from HeyBeeSee News were injured in Iraq today. Clowns were embedded with the 4ID - but riding in an Iraqi vehicle instead of a HMMWV or Bradley.... The Iraqi vehicle was the only one attacked in the mixed US/Iraqi convoy. No US casualties. How long before the Left claims that the US Army actually did the deed?

What would YOUR choice on a hot Iraqi highway be? Soviet-era APC? Or armored HMMWV/Bradley?

In other news.... As the lovely and talented Ms. Malkin said, "Just so you know..."

God, I Love This Country

(With small apologies to Master Yakov Smirnoff...)

I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop in the GWOT. Clanky may write techno-babble pot-boilers, but he absolutely hit the nail on the head and drove it home in Patriot Games.

"The terrorists only have to get lucky once. We have to get lucky every time to stop them".

Not an exact quote because I'm too lazy to look it up, but the spirit is there. Despite the sheepdogs that watch over this country and let us act the fool, there will come an incident that will ignite the will of the slumbering masses and distract them from the entertainment circuses. I fear for the reaction that may well be triggered by another terrorist act on the scale of 9/11. God help us every one if the unbridled wrath of the US is turned onto any entity in the world. A Third-World economy might be the best in the world after such a confrontation....

The Debbil Made Me Do It (Sorry, Flip)

Hillary Clinton was spending the morning at a Junior High school in Ithaca, New York to talk to the children about her job as a US Senator.After her talk, she offered question time. One little boy puts up his hand, and the Senator asks him what his name is.
"Kenneth."
"And what is your question, Kenneth?"
"I have three questions:"
First - Whatever happened to your medical health care plan?
Second - Why would you run for President after your husband shamed the office?
And third - Whatever happened to all the stuff you and President Clinton took when you left the White House?"
Just then the bell rang for recess.Hillary Clinton informed the kids that they would continue after recess.When they resumed, Hillary said, "Okay, where were we? Oh, that's right, question time.Who has a question?"
A different little boy raised his hand; the esteemed Senator from New York pointed him out and asked him what his name is.
"Larry."
"And what is your question, Larry?"
"I have five questions:
First - Whatever happened to your medical health care plan?
Second - Why would you run for President after your husband shamed the office?
Third - Whatever happened to all the stuff you and President Clinton took when you left the White House?
Fourth - Why did the recess bell go off 20 minutes early? And fifth -
What happened to Kenneth?"

Blogging will resume later....... Gotta go to Motown.....

Great Boogly Mooglies

Beyond freakin' belief! These nuggets were gleaned from the transcript of the Alito hearings...
Teddy the Swimmer blamed the President for Hurricane Katrina. (Not So) Fine-stein is claiming that there is a never-before seen polarization of the political structure in this country and Alito is going to destroy the "right" of American women to abortion on demand.... Did I mention that Sen. "Leatherhead" Leahy accused the President of attempting to pack the Supreme Court? With 2 nominations in 6 years? Move along, no political posturing or pandering from the Party of Moore to be seen/heard here..

Take a look at this site if you need to get your blood pressure jump-started. Pay particular attention to the WMD lies.....
http://cassandra2004.blogspot.com/2006/01/msm-lies-of-2005-what-does-it-mean.html

I'm going outside to scream now.....

Shamelessly Stolen From Denny

Live, from Atlanta, from Catfish through Denny .... What, no endorsement from Nagin or Jackson??

Is It Just Me?

Or does everyone find it vastly amusing that Code Pink was unable to consolidate their fecal matter sufficiently to keep the permits-to-harrass-patients-at-Walter-Reed-Hospital current? The permits now belong to the DC chapter of Protest Warrior, who will put the corners to much saner use. To quote one of their signs:

"THIS CORNER UNDER NEW NON-COMMIE MANAGEMENT"

Hat Tip to Andi's World.

I LOVE IT!!!

Napoleon was wrong

Instead of shooting a marshall occasionally "pour encourager les autres", he should have diminished the supply of no-load dip-dunk high-drag low-speed useless JAGs who can't even read a ballistics chart but want to tell snipers what can be used on their jobs. Check out Murdoc's rant... "Make your blood boil, Well I should say....."

Gotta Love It

Read what Brock Yates has to say about poverty.

Yes, that Brock Yates. Big Ole Hat Tip tip to Laer of Cheat Seeking Missles for bringing knowledge of Kerri Wilson's master's thesis and Raphael and Stoll's work to us unwashed masses.... As he says, "Ah, the elegant hypocrisy". Thanks be unto he....

Baldilocks, in her inimitable style and clarity of perception, has a fine article up about data-mining and BDS-sufferers, Outstanding, as usual...

And the Daisy Cutter examines a question asked by his children: "Dad, what is a damleftist?"

More linkin' than thinkin' today, but there are some "cherce" articles out there.. YMMV.

The Furkids

The eyes are enough to scare the tar out of ya, aren't they? Stewie on the left and Baby Dog on the right...... They do NOT get along this well in real life.....

Get thee hence now

This is a must. Have the sound on and Kleenex ready for duty...

http://www.managedmusic.com/beforeyougo.html

A Big Old Hat-Tip to GM's Corner. Check it out.

Randomness

"Politics is supposed to be the world's second-oldest profession. These days it bears a very close resemblance to the first."
"Those who live by the sword get shot by those who don't." - George Tenet
About John *spit* Kerry's pursuit of a second Democratic Presidential nomination - "He's going around the country stirring up apathy"
"Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity" - Michael Bloomberg
Sen. Trent Lott on Howard Dean's statement that he is his own worst enemy - "Not while I'm alive, he isn't."

I like the Screamer. He has the perfect job - unless you think the USofA should have a viable two-party system.....

Yah, I know...

I'm pitifully late with reaction to Ray "The Busman" Nagin's absolutely insane comments regarding God and "Chocolate City". Did somebody dip Pat Robertson in Rustoleum? Great Boogly-mooglies - any non-liberal making massively asinine statements like that for public consumption would be pilloried from the NY to the LA Times. Then drawn and verbally quartered. He is "forced" to make a weak-assed apology.
The carpetbagging junior Senator from New Moscow meanwhile continues to denigrate the experiences of the ancestors of a whole class of her willing voters by comparing the House of Representatives to a plantation. heck the pay scales, fer cryin' out loud. I'd go back and work on a plantation for the piles of tax money those 435 clowns are paid annually each....Then she has the testicular capacity to repeat and defend the statement. MildBill only did that with his lies.....
Another day in a target-rich environment...

The Long and Winding Road

..has brought me home again. Spent Saturday and Sunday driving home from Camp Swampy (over 1000 miles) so I slept the clock once around ( the 12 hour plus workdays in Swampy helped develop sleep deprivation too, I'd guess...). The dogs (firmly convinced that Dad had disappeared into the big world never-to-return) nearly lost their little canine minds when I walked in the door yesterday afternoon. So I've had a 15 pound Min Pin as a lap ornament all day.
After today off (and a Spike TV CSI marathon), I'm ready to go back to the Agency-I-dare-not-name and commence to clean up the chaos caused in my equipment and accouterments by my TDY as well as what has piled up on my desk-computer-voice-mail-inbox. That should kill the next week or so.... Y'all take care of yourselves and stop back when I have another rant or two.......

Aye-Yi-Yi

When one is young, foolish, and male the quintessential yahoo!-you-can't-miss-this party seems to be Mardi Gras in N'Awlins. At least when I was y&f (still male, despite the spaghetti-o surgery). Last night we walked Bourbon Street, ate etoufee at a sidewalk cafe' with the doors open in January, and it was very pleasant and uncrowded. Yah, there were NOPD and MPs every block with "barricades" on the streets, but the crowd was cheerful instead of combative/rowdy and a good time was had by all of us. Yah, the souvenir t-shirts are over-priced, but the city has lived on it's tourista trade since King Cotton crapped out. Bless 'em. Despite the recall effort on the governor (which I support, but have no voice in) the locals are upbeat and planning on driving on. I definitely hope they succeed in squaring away the local government.
BTW - before anyone whines that the Federal gov't failed the city - read the pocking Constitution. There is no provision in it that permits FEMA or HUD or EPA or BLM or FWS to be established without a severe stretch of the "common welfare" clause. Which has been stretched... Bat crap. Congress found a chance to enhance the reach of the Federal Gov and did it. Severely - starting with FDR. My opinion- YMMV.
Also read the rules of the Federal ICS (Incident Command System). It requires that the local and state authorities respond first - and if in their opinion federal help is needed, it MUST BE SPECIFICALLY REQUESTED. We settled that during the Rebellion of 1860.... State's Rights have precedence in this case. All y'all apologists for Nagin and Blanco had best remove your ocular equipment from your 4th point of contact. Or get a plexiglass navel so y'all can see the real world.... The "People's Democratic Party" has controlled N'Awlins and Louisiana since the Kingfisher. According to their press releases, they know best how we should be governed and live. Sure, look up "corruption" in your Funk and Wagnall's and you'll find a map of Louisiana and a picture of Sheriff Buford T. Justice - but stereotypes become stereotypes because they reflect a commonly held perception or provable facts that are such common knowledge that "are held to be self-evident".
Crap. Ranting again. My tour here as part of the Katrina Response from the Federal Government is almost over- seems like it has hardly begun except for the weariness in my body. Homey is getting old - which beats the alternative....
Don't think I'll volunteer for another tour here (yeah, right...). I seem ti function best in a fluid situation; i.e.; before the bureaucrats stop you from doing useful work....

BTW - the 7 P's? Here's what I heered about 'em.... (NB - spelling deliberate....)

"Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss-Poor Performance.
(You may substitute "pretty" for "piss". That is all...) But the kernal of truth is in there - ask any E-5 to E-9....

Now you know. "And Knowing is half the battle...."

We now return you to your own version of reality.....

LIVE! From the Big Easy! IT'S Monday...

A warm, sunny, breezy Monday, but Monday to be sure.
My reaction to the Bungles/Stillers playoff game is a regret that the stadium wasn't struck by a half-megaton-equivalent meteorite strike. Not really, but a Browns fan can always hope. Will always hate the Stillers and their fans, but they stood by the Cleveland fans during our exile in the wilderness.
How dare they. Condescension like that is NOT to be borne - and must be paid for in blood (Turkey and Terry, anyone?). Paul Brown's teams were our zenith and Art Modell's money antics our nadir. I will probably have shuffled off the ol' mortal coil before the Browns attain the Superbowl - but my son will see them win it. Cry not for me, Dawg Pound, for the first game I ever went to featured a lacrosse All American from Syracuse. Might have heard of him - name was Jim Brown. I was there for the Froze Bowl and Red Right 88. Eleven days after my first child was born.

Enough of the tired tirade of a frustrated fan.

Great news from N'Awlins - the NO City Council has passed a proclaimation supporting Doug Williams as the next Saints coach. Lord knows it probably took all of 5 minutes but gawdawlmite-ee couldn't you Council bozos see how the media would play it? Or was it a "local insanity" plea? Instead of deciding where the FEMA trailers (which are SORELY needed to jump-start the local economy - McD's is offering $125 bonus per week for full-time employees. But not enough people want to work these jobs. Gutting houses must be better..) should be placed, the lead story about the Council was this. Second story was the decision where to place the polling stations in the coming election. The Council PR flack must be spinning faster than a cesium atom in an atomic clock.
Right now the struggle seems to be between the NIMBY contingent that insists they be scattered and the "Arbeit Macht Frei" group that wants the trailers placed only close to employment opportunities, regardless of where one's (damaged terribly) home may be. See one of the previous rants.
On the upside, the flow of homeowners and contractors is increasing. There are still areas I've been in where no one (or <>very encouraging. But I'll cover that in a future rant.

Can anyone reasonably explain why the American people shouldn't take Arlen Specter and Chuckie Schumer out on a double-date with Nancy "Bela" Pelosi and Diane "Elect Me and Everything will be Fine" stein to bob for grenades in a factory pig farm sewage treatment pit? I'd be willing to donate some cash toward the corsages..... The surreal slow self-immolation of a once great political party is as somber as the collapse of the Whig Party may have seemed to the contemporary observers. I once heard that a great man requires great enemies - and I believe that without a solid CONSISTENT idealogical base cannot provide a great enemy. Thereupon, the GOP parameciumizes itself into splinters that cannot rally a majority. Can we say 'Giant suckin' sound"? I knew we could... Meanwhile, whoever won's administration is playing "We Bet Your Ass" with the country - not because they want to, but because the price of poker went up a helluva lot on 9/11/01 and we had to cover the bet or become dhimmi in spirit if not (yet) in fact.
And the stakes will remain on the table no matter whom we elect. Are we done with WW2's greatest villains (hint - National Zocialist Party) or are there still Nazis ? (Hint - "I HATE Illinois Nazis...") [For that matter, what purpose other than liason do our troops provide in Germany. An immediate withdrawal would be nice. Watching some Dems argue against the motion would be about a 7 on the yuk-meter.....]
Anyway, I'll return in a "coupla" days. Sack time for this Homey..... Oh-Dark-Fifteen comes earlier every year....

Sign on the wall of the Planning Unit area of the CP:

THE ONLY EASY DAY WAS YESTERDAY

Remember the 7 P's....

Harry Baby, 2nd try....

It seems yesterday's post regarding Harold Pinter boogied into the not-retained zone... He is still a leftist reality-impaired victim of rectocranialism who should shut up or check out posthaste. Not that I'm wishing he suffer anymore than the mis-guided souls who believed in his hypocritical verbiage....
But imagine a Death Match between him and Molly Ivins. Depending on her meds......

Kwickie Numbah Three

http://www.strategypage.com/dls/articles/200512203720.asp . Read it. NOW. A succinct rogue's journal of how the city slickers try to dupe the rest of us. I was familiar with a lot of the techniques, but it makes good reading and clear sense.

Returning to surf mode.... (Yah, I should be asleep. Sue me - this is more fun....)

Cleanin' up the Big Easy

Another one in the can - not a great day but another small step forward in the cleanup. I'd never been to N'Awlins prior to my first deployment and I'm real sure that I'm not seeing a vague shadow of it then or now. The folks at Entergy (local electric company) are estimating that there are sections of Orleans Parish that won't get electricity for 6 to 9 more months. A YEAR without power in your house unless you cut your house out of the grid and ran a dedicated generator (to avoid sending power into the grid or ground rather than your house). Then guard your home, because the barbarians are smashing and looting unoccupied homes. Signs everywhere for "House Gutting" services. General and sub-contractor trucks sporting license plates from as far away as Koll-ee-4-knee-ya (and an unbelievable number of Texas plates - is there a roofer or finish carpenter left in Texas? Talked to a gentleman today who wanted information about getting a FEMA trailer - his house has been broken into 3 times in the last week and he wanted to move his 12 kids to a safer neighborhood....

RANT MODE ACTIVE

A constantly discussed topic on local radio is where to place the FEMA trailers. The usual NIMBYs are at full-throated howl - and a lot of nimrods claim to support the "trailer on your lot" idea. Others want the ttailers placed only on commercial land for the workers at the plant/mall/organization. (That way, they could be removed after the temporary zoning lapsed.) What drivel. There is no "one-size-fits-all" perfect plan. Childish egos and hurt feelings are starting to replace the "let's work on the problem not who gets the credit" feeling that was far more prevalent before than now. Yes, I'm looking at YOU, Nagin and Blanco. Listening to the local politicos talking on WWL, you can hear the hint of raw money-lust in their voices as they describe the billions of Federal tax dollars they plan to strain through their local machine. With a suitable charge for "handling" (known as "mordita" in more honest cultures.....) all those lovely taxpayer $$... If I hear one more local pol demand Louisiana's "fair share" of another tax on oil and natural gas accompanied by dark hints of the Northeast freezing without Louisiana's gas and oil, I will be in danger of projectile vomiting. The new carpetbaggers are local and regional and national and all they want is some of our taxmoney.
Yes, the natives of NO love their city and want to rebuild it NOW. So, I imagine, did the city fathers and populace of Herculaneum and Pompeii. But the rebuilt NO CANnot and WILL not be a carbon copy of the old city. It must be rebuilt smartly (can anyone say "intelligent design"? I knew you could...) not in a haze of sepia-toned memory. Unless you want another disaster..... To quote Greybeard's comment - "What rises from the ashes will be upscale and more urbane" - (BTW- a lot of houses here BURNED due to electrical shorts caused by flooding) - I'm not sure he's entirely correct, but one thing they must do is remove the massive reliance upon the tourist industry. (How long would Vegas as a tourist spot last on an active fault line?) Yah, easy to say, but virtually the only tourists down here now are riding Gray Line buses on a tour of the devastation - $35/adult, $28/child, with $3 from each ticket donated to relief efforts. I'm not an urban planner, but things seriously need to change.

RANT MODE SUSPENDED

Got to rack. Oh-dark-thirty comes early and we work late. This is my opinion - what's yours?

Molly Ivins was one of my picks in the pool. Her snottiness is print is only exceeded by her treatment of folks who are not liberals assholes like she is. Not actively cheering her demise, but it would be a purification. Like Dan Rather using pureed forged ANG documents for a colonic lavage....

The weather

Sure having a bad time adjusting to the weather here . Back home we have low 40's and drizzle.

I must suffer with 70's, 80's, sunscreen and bug juice. Hydrate! is the cry of the safety officer... Coveralls during the day and shorts at night.

WARNING!! RANT APPROACHING!!

Camp Swampy is okay - still have armed roving and gate guards, but I've seen no sign of the long-gun-armed guards that were evident last deployment. Getting a half-day off - a real change - on Sunday, but the contractors need it. Guess that'll be SOP from now on. I've got at least two folks on my teams that were here for casualty recovery from boats (they were on the same freakin' boat) in September - and haven't been home since. Haven't asked Tulsa guy yet if he's married.... And I know the guy from Denver isn't.
I think we are makin' a difference in the parish of Orleans. Glad to be a part of the effort. Miss the urgency that was far more evident in my first deployment. Hannibal Smith on that bad ol' TV guilty-pleasure known as "The A-Team" used to talk about "bein' on the jazz". The adrenaline buzz that clears your mind and senses when you're dedicated to something bigger'n you that you think you can make a difference doin'. Cleaning up the area has furnished the jazz for a lot of folks. Red Cross volunteers that spend countless hours handing out water, lunches, snacky packs and cleaning supplies and items to returning citizens struggling to recover a semblance of normalcy; driving around in endless circles to reach everyone. Water and sewage workers rebuilding the essential underpinnings of civilization (flush toilets beat the HELL out of cut-down 55-gallon drums) and electricity powers our ascent when available. Faith based groups that (on their own nickel or their supporters) outfitted themselves with garbage bags, shovels, trucks, respirators, Tyvek suits, flags, signs, knowledge and grit. A block cleaned by those folks is CLEAN. More and more homeowners/renters/contractors are working on homes in the areas we've worked. Most are upper-middle to lower-middle class housing, if I recall my sociology classes of 30 years ago correctly. From under median to twice median USA housing prices (est. $140,000 to $500,000 - with median @$218K). Due to "location", some very modest housing now commands top $ even as an empty lot. Real estate ads are omnipresent and it appears a large percentage of realtor-types are agents of developers. But that's just my opinion.

END OF RANT

Put another day "in the can" today. Was a good feeling. Hard to b'lieve - I have only 10 days left.... Oh well, tomorrow is another chance to kick ass. And I've got the folks to do it.
I pretend I have readers to lend a sense of sanity to my blogging....

Kwickie Part Deux

Happy etc. Another year starteth.
We've got today off - not sure that is good for the agency folks, but the contractors need it bigger'n shit. Some of them have been here since October. Yah, it's good money, but you have NO life. Is a real tough life even if you're single.... Which I, thankfully, am not. The kiddies got back from the French Quarter NY celebration between 0300 and 0400. So damn few people are stirring yet.
If I haven't pimped http://daybydaycartoon.com/ yet, I will now. A much-needed snicker with an acerbic/real view of the follies known as the US of A. The fact that I agree with most of his viewpoints makes it a daily must. So if you've been deprived, get thee hence. If you have drifted away from daily perusal, get thee hence - and bookmark for daily reading.

Anyhoo, what prompted this post was a Harry Turtledove book I've been reading. (he IS the King of Alternative History Universes - makes ya think "what if....") He used the word "absquatulating" without popping a sweat or losing a beat. The context makes it clear that it means "escaping from imprisonment" - but how many authors can pull THAT off? I recommend his fiction - my local library has a lot of his works.
BTW - if you do NOT have a library card AND use it, you will need a strong defense to prove to me that you are not a sub-human mouth-breather...... On this I am ABSOLUTELY INTOLERANT. A public library is the fastest cheap way or cheapest fast way to improve yourself. Thereby making you worth more in the labor market. Which means more money in your pocket. They ofetn have FREE 'Net access. Bloody well USE IT if you have none (right, like the folks withOUT access are going to read this.....Sigh...). Encourage others to use the TAX-SUPPORTED resource Ben Franklin began....
Right now I tend to see folks as either victims or survivors. Survivors are much more interesting neighbors and friends... Life will bite your shorts - so lead, follow, or whine about life. I prefer to get arrows in my back - that's what happens to pioneers. Settlers get it in the chest in a "safe" endeavour..... Go to http://ejectejecteject.com/ and read "Tribes". It's a great country that has Bill Whittle and Kim DuToit in it.......

End of this particular tour of the soapbox........