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June 30, 2007
He makes it look SOOOOO easy ...
My fiction writing has been sporadic at best and you haven't seen any of it because it's been mostly crap.
I think my muse is off doing crack somewhere.
However, Jeff Harrell has been on fire lately and I dare you, I double-dog dare you to read this one and not have it trigger some memories of your own.
Also, bookmark Jeff's new fiction site.
If any of you know a literary agent, please send 'em Jeff's way.
Posted by Darleen at 07:11 PM | Comments (1)
Glasgow Airport attacked - UPDATED
GLASGOW, Scotland - Two men rammed a flaming sport utility vehicle into the main terminal of Glasgow airport Saturday, crashing into the glass doors at the entrance in what appeared to be the third terror attack on Britain in two days, witnesses said. Police said two suspects were arrested.(h/t N. O'Brain)There were no reports of injuries but the airport — Scotland's largest — was evacuated and all flights suspended, a day after British police thwarted a plot to bomb central London, discovering two cars abandoned with loads of gasoline, gas canisters and nails.
"One has to conclude ... these are linked," Dame Pauline Neville-Jones, former head of Britain's joint intelligence committee, told Sky News. "This is a very young government, and we may yet see further attacks." ...
In Glasgow, the green SUV barreled toward the building shortly after 3 p.m., hitting security barriers before crashing into the glass doors and exploding, witnesses said. Two men jumped out of the burning vehicle, one of them engulfed in flames, they said.
"The car came speeding past at about 30 mph. It was approaching the building quickly," said Scott Leeson, who was nearby at the time. "Then the driver swerved the car around so he could ram straight in to the door. He must have been trying to smash straight through."
Two men were arrested, Strathclyde Police spokeswoman Lisa O'Neil said.
Passengers fled running and screaming from the busy terminal, Margaret Hughes told the British Broadcasting Corp. "There was black smoke gushing out where the car had obviously been driven into the airport," she said.
Cue the denial idiots in 5 ... 4 ... 3...
UPDATE While the usual suspects are sneering at the coverage as "fearmongering" by the "pantswetters", Allahpundit at Hot Air is keeping abreast of all the developments.
Technorati: London, Car Bomb, Terrorism, Glascow
Posted by Darleen at 10:56 AM | Comments (1)
June 29, 2007
Car bomb near Piccadilly - UPDATED - UPDATED again re: Hyde Park NEW yet again!
scroll to bottom for updates
...defused before it went off and murdered hundreds.*
LONDON - Police thwarted an apparent terror attack Friday near the famed Piccadilly Circus in the heart of London, defusing a bomb made of a lethal mix of gasoline, propane gas, and nails after an ambulance crew spotted smoke coming from a silver Mercedes outside a nightclub.Hmmmm ... well, I certainly have no clue who would be targeting nightclubs and immodest ladies in the heart of London[istan].The bomb in the city's theater district was powerful enough to have caused "significant injury or loss of life" — possibly killing hundreds, British anti-terror police chief Peter Clarke said. ...
Officers were called to The Haymarket, just south of Piccadilly Circus, after an ambulance crew — responding to a call just before 1:30 a.m. about an injury at a nearby nightclub — noticed smoke coming from a car parked in front of the club, Clarke said.
The busy Haymarket thoroughfare linking Piccadilly Circus to the Pall Mall is packed with restaurants, bars, a cinema complex and West End theaters, and was buzzing at that hour.
It was ladies' night Thursday, nicknamed "Sugar 'N Spice," at the massive Tiger Tiger nightclub, a three-story venue that at full capacity can pack in 1,770 people and stays open until 3 a.m. ...
Police said they did not have any suspects, and urged people who were out in the area to call Britain's anti-terror hot line with any information.
You?
UPDATE cluelessness from the Left knows no bounds. Demented Underground has no entry on its "breaking news" forum and comments from some of the kosskiddies are breathtaking
Again, police/detective work is the 'real' way to fight terror.What police/detective work on this? This didn't come from information developed by the police but only because the EMTs were suspicious of the car. You know, the massive "we must be vigilant" campaign that has been going on here for sometime and that is decried by Leftists who denounce such calls as "fear-mongering" or as an encroachment on personal privacy. And Dillion also ignores that much of London streets have surveillance cameras. When that has been discussed for American cities, the same "terrorism is a police matter not military" crowd start screeching about "privacy".
This military interventionist shit just doesn't cut it.by NYFM
Yep, yet ANOTHER good job by the police.... being aware and doing the job the way they were trained. All accomplished without mass suspension of civil rights, turning the intelligence infrastructure against its citizens, and waging a bloodbath in a foreign land with no end in sight.
By the way George and Tony, notice that they are attacking us HERE and THERE. This idiot war didn't do squat.
by Dillonfence
Dillion's expected line of pointing to the car bomb as "proof of the failure of war" is just part usual Leftist "thought". It's like saying the occassional drowning at the beach is caused by lifeguards, because regardless of how many people they DO save, NO ONE would drown if we just banned swimming.
For the Left, no Western country would be attacked, if we just did what the Islamists demand.
And of course, the comment thread would be complete without the usual poo-pooing of the incident itself
experts are saying it's not a car bomb (where the shell of the car causes shrapnel), it would have created a fireball at most. And the nails were on the ground, and would have just ended in the ground.Yep, it didn't go off, it didn't kill hundreds on the new PM's first day in office on the heels of the "offensive knighting of Rushdie." Nothing to see, move along. Just "disaffected youths". Kinda like TPing a house.Probably some disaffected youth, with no connections of any terrorist organizations what so ever, it would have been far more professional if it were.
So business as usual. Over hyped charges of huge damage, destruction and death.
UPDATE 2 Aha! DU finally notices and William Teach has picked out some choice comments.
*My immediate reaction was, George Brown gets to show what he can do when some ‘terra-ist’ attack happens. Special Branch dirty-tricks dept?Ah!! Behold the alleged brain of Truthers!*I figured it was Shrub’s welcome to 10 Downing St. gift . . . a reason to align with the King in the war against the brown people.
UPDATE 3 And now there is a "car of interest" in Hyde Park.
It hasn't hit the 'net yet, but radio reports are coming in that it IS another car bomb.
Boy, those BushNeoConZionists who brought down the WTC on 9/11 are gettin' busy in London, eh?
UPDATE 4 Scotland Yard is now backing off from linking The Haymarket with Hyde Park
Later Friday, police cordoned off London's central Hyde Park searching a suspect car in an underground car park, amid fears that devices could have been planted in other parts of the city.Yet now there is a THIRD street closing, this time Fleet streetBut Scotland Yard said later the two incidents were not linked.
LONDON (Reuters) - Police sealed roads near Fleet Street in central London on Friday, the third area to be cordoned off in the British capital after a car bomb was defused outside a nightclub.UPDATE 5 Now the police ARE tieing the two incidentsOne policeman at the scene said police had been alerted to a suspicious package. Another said there was a suspicious vehicle. Earlier, explosive experts defused a car bomb outside a nightclub and police were searching a second suspect vehicle near Hyde Park.
Police have confirmed that not one, but two massive car bombs were set to explode in the heart of London's West End.Ya think?
The first, in Haymarket, was packed with petrol, gas cannisters and nails, and was defused after police were alerted by an ambulance crew called to an incident at a nearby nightclub.The second was in a car that was illegally parked nearby and towed to the Park Lane car pound.
Staff there alerted police because "it smelled of gas."
In a news conference Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke said the second car, a blue Mercedes, was parked a few hundred yards from the first in Cockspur Street which runs between Haymarket and Trafalgar Square.
It was issued with a parking ticket at around 2:30am before being towed to the Park Lane car pound where staff alerted police.
DAC Clarke said: "The vehicle was found to contain very similar materials to the first vehicle in Haymarket.
"There was a considerable amount of fuel, gas cannisters and a quantity of nails.
"This device, like the first was viable and was made safe by officers.
"The discovery of a second bomb is obviously troubling and reinforces the need for the public to remain vigilant."
(h/t Beth at MVRWC)
Technorati: london, Car Bomb, Terrorism, The Haymarket
Posted by Darleen at 01:32 PM | Comments (9)
June 28, 2007
Amnesty bill is killed
The bill's Senate supporters fell 14 votes short of the 60 needed to limit debate and clear the way for final passage of the legislation, which critics assailed as offering amnesty to illegal immigrants. The vote was 46 to 53 in favor of limiting the debate.(h/t Jeff Goldstein)
More at Michelle Malkin
On a related note, here's an eyeopener getting very little MSM play:
Total Annual Cost of Illegals on Taxpayers Exceeds $1 BillionTechnorati: Illegal Aliens, Los Angeles, WelfareA new report show illegal aliens and their families in Los Angeles County collected over $35 million in welfare and food stamp allocations in May, announced Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich. ...
“Illegal immigration continues to have a devastating impact on Los Angeles County taxpayers,” said Antonovich. “In addition to $220 million for public safety and $360 million for healthcare, the $440 million in welfare allocations bring the total cost to County taxpayers that exceeds $1 billion a year -- this does not include the skyrocketing cost of education.”
Posted by Darleen at 11:23 AM | Comments (12)
John Kerry's new Vietnam
Technorati: John Kerry, Diane Feinstein, Fairness Doctrine, Censorship, Talk Radio
Posted by Darleen at 07:11 AM | Comments (1)
June 27, 2007
thank you, Michael Moore
I briefly saw your interview on CNN yesterday while I was doing my lunchtime cardio workout on the elipse machine at 24 Hr Fitness. You were adament that French nationalized medical care was far superior to America's (killing off the sick and elderly is just a minor problem). You demanded that American private healthcare be abolished. There was a small clip from your movie, Sicko with a young couple with a new baby in a hospital corridor laughing when you asked them how much they were charged for the delivery ("nothing, this is not America").
Yes, Mickey, medicine is just too important to be left to private individual choice. It touches too many lives. Doctors and nurses, x-ray techs and physical therapists, all health care workers should be brought to heel by a government that will dictate their work conditions and salaries.
And it got me thinking, Mickey, about something more pervasive than healthcare. I mean, for the vast majority of Americans, we see the doctor only occassionally. Young adults may have no contact with the healthcare system for years (which is why they many opt not to carry insurance for those years ... nice way to stick it to them is to slap 'em with confiscatory income taxes to finance a US socialist healthcare system). However, there is something that touches every American life every day. It suffers from the vagarities of the so-called "free market" and much of it is such a waste of time for Americans.
It's called the Entertainment Industry.
So Mickey, before we touch upon Healthcare, how about nationalizing the Entertainment industry? Let's have a new Fed bureacracy that will take applications from all manner of screenwriters, novelists, videogame developers, movie producers ... and yes, from mockumentarians like you ... and they will then decide only on the most worthy of entertainment projects and issue grants for those green-lighted.
Sound good to you?
Oh, and by the way, Mickey? I might just like to try American socialized medicine for a few years, because like the British model, you with your obvious inattention to your own health, would be denied medical care.
And then nature would take care of you once and for all, sicko.
Technorati: Michael Moore, Sicko
Posted by Darleen at 06:14 AM | Comments (3)
June 26, 2007
Guilty pleasures
What's summer for if not for trashy paperbacks, real butter slathered over corn on the cob, long afternoon naps instead of chores ...
...and some over-the-top, brain-candy movies?
Live Free or Die Hard opens tomorrow, and it's on my Guilty Pleasure Tour this summer.
Yippie Ki Yay ...
Posted by Darleen at 12:11 AM | Comments (0)
June 25, 2007
Infestation
Technorati: Iran, Islamo-fascist
Posted by Darleen at 12:01 AM | Comments (14)
June 24, 2007
The impractical side of the Amnesty Bill
As Reid, Kennedy, McCain and company attempt to resurrect their forged-in-secret, 300+ page calamity, supported by an increasingly hysterical Bush Administration indulging in the questionable rhetoric “the one thing that can't be acceptable is the continuation of the status quo … I consider that a silent amnesty” and malcontents like Trent Lott, “Talk radio is running America. We have to deal with that problem”, I could not help thinking about a case in my office that perfectly illustrates the impracticality of the “immigration reform” boondoggle.
Patterico has been running a series under “Deport the criminals first” with the few cases actually covered in the press of horrendous crimes that would have never happened if the illegals who committed them had been deported. Unfortunately, most crime by illegal aliens, like most crime in general, is never reported in the media and, thus, flies under the radar of the public. The county District Attorney office where I’m employed now counts over 30,000 cases in its system since the first of the year. I could tell you about the open cases against illegals that crossed by desk last week … the one concerning vehicular manslaughter or the one involving a group trying to bilk a senior citizen out of $15,000 … but I believe a case involving identity theft is more illuminative of the cynical con Kennedy, et al, are trying to pull.
Let’s call this defendant Carlos. Carlos entered the United States illegally in 1997. According to him, he purchased, for $3000, a birth certificate and Social Security card in 1999 (these documents belong to a real person). Carlos then used these documents to obtain a real California Identification card (he merely stated on the application he never previously applied for a CA id or driver’s license). He now assumed the victim’s identity and began working. He filled out his W4’s with enough exemptions to zero out any federal withholding and never filed any tax returns.
How was Carlos finally caught? Because in February of this year, the victim had his Social Security disability payments cut and also received demand letters from the IRS for back taxes and penalties. That was when the victim discovered someone else was working under his SSN.
It took the IRS and the Social Security Administration eight years to detect a discrepancy in their system. Eight years.
Not only that, but Carlos has a DUI arrest on his record from 1996 under yet another name (he plea bargained out, met his sentencing terms and went back to impersonating the victim). The victim also discovered his CA driver’s license suspended for unpaid tickets incurred by Carlos. To date the victim is attempting to work with the INS, SSA, DMV and various credit card reporting agencies to clear up his record.
Carlos is currently in jail under a no-bail Title 18 INS hold awaiting sentencing on this case. He was supposed to be sentenced in early June, but asked for a continuation because he wants “to get married before being deported.”
Both the SSA and the IRS have well-established, extensive database systems. Yet it took both agencies eight years to catch up with the discrepancy of one SSN both receiving disability payments and working.
We also know that US State Department seems unable to handle the 5.4 million passport applications it received since this past January.
Yet the pro-amnesty Senators would have you believe that a brand-spanking new bureaucracy, born Athena-esque the minute Bush’s signature is dry upon the bill, will be able to process 12 to 20 million Z-visa (unlimited legal status) applications (with only one business day allowed for background checks) where the IRS, the SSA and the State Department have so miserably failed.
When the investigating officer questioned Carlos about if he ever thought about how much trouble he was causing the victim, Carlos responded, “I never really thought about it.”
The Senators and the rest of the pro-amnesty advocates don’t have that excuse.
Technorati: Illegal Aliens, Amnesty
Posted by Darleen at 10:43 AM | Comments (3)
June 22, 2007
'Progressive' totalitarianism
Move over Hugo Chavez, it seems a couple of Dems (in a hallway gossip moment) let the Free Speech and Tolerance mask slip.
Again.
Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okl, claims he overheard Sens. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, and Barbara Boxer, D-Calf, chatting about how out of control talk radio had become.(h/t Jeff Goldstein)“They said we’ve got to do something about this,” Inhofe told a talk radio host. “That ‘these are nothing but far right wing extremists, we’ve got to have a balance, there’s got to be a legislative fix to this.’”
Of course, Boxer's and Clinton's offices are both denying the conversation. I mean, where in the world would those ladies get any idea at all that political speech in the one free market that they don't control is fair game. It's not as if Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid haven't been talking about the Fairness Doctrine, right?
But hey, Hillary and the rest of the putative Dem candidates for Prez sure do respect those they have policy agreements with ... that's why they are so eager to hold their debates on FoxNews.
Couple this with Billy Jeff's comment on erstwhile GOPer Bloomberg
Clinton told reporters at a news conference for his foundation that Bloomberg's a "very smart fellow and I suppose he just couldn't bear to be in the Republican Party anymore, which I thought showed good judgment on his part."To the illiberal Left, not agreeing with them isn't just mistaken. It's not a debate over values or policies.
For such as Babs Boxer, Cad Reid, Botox Nancy, et al, it is that conservatives hold illegitimate views that come, not of sincere beliefs or values but from nefarious and malicious motives.
Hell, free porn for everyone, but POLITICAL speech? If it's popular but unapproved by the Left, then it screams out for a "legislative fix."
Posted by Darleen at 12:38 PM | Comments (23)
June 13, 2007
It's not about 'daddy's ego'
Amanda on why her 'traditional family' hostile self is on a "Parenting blog"
There are a lot of families that are left out of the "family values" crap because their families are not structured around the idea that everything is about Daddy and his ego.She wants to destroy the family in order to "save it".
Yeah, right. That's the ticket.
It is not about 'traditional' families as "the only authentic", it's about ideals.
For instance, it is "ideal" for parents to encourage their kids to be serious in school, learn the subjects well and get "A"s in class. However, as long as they've worked up to their potential, there is no shame nor anything wrong with "B"s and "C"s.
The ideal place for children is in an intact, loving family with married mom and dad. That doesn't mean there is anything wrong with single parenthood or blended families or even same-sex couple parenthood. It is just not the ideal.
Do you think getting rid of the grade system in schools would benefit or harm students? Do you think getting rid of traditional families would benefit or harm children?
Posted by Darleen at 07:14 AM | Comments (39)
Overheard
"Dissatisfaction and unhappiness are two totally different things."
That brought me up short. If only we could remember to separate the two, we could reject the myriad of dissatisfactions we may experience on a day to day basis and actually choose to be happy.
Posted by Darleen at 06:56 AM | Comments (1)
June 11, 2007
Anti-death penality advocates are not going to be happy
While I have argued for the death penality it has always been from a position dealing with the moral aspects. I find arguments dealing with the dp's efficacy as deterrent irrelevant.
However, for the anti-dp's who have argued against dp because "it deters no one!", bad news, buckos
What gets little notice, however, is a series of academic studies over the last half-dozen years that claim to settle a once hotly debated argument — whether the death penalty acts as a deterrent to murder. The analyses say yes. They count between three and 18 lives that would be saved by the execution of each convicted killer. [...]Technorati: Death Penalty, Naci Mocan"Science does really draw a conclusion. It did. There is no question about it," said Naci Mocan, an economics professor at the University of Colorado at Denver. "The conclusion is there is a deterrent effect."
A 2003 study he co-authored, and a 2006 study that re-examined the data, found that each execution results in five fewer homicides, and commuting a death sentence means five more homicides. "The results are robust, they don't really go away," he said. "I oppose the death penalty. But my results show that the death penalty (deters) — what am I going to do, hide them?"
Posted by Darleen at 12:07 AM | Comments (5)
June 10, 2007
Cognitive disconnect
It's the only explanation for what was happening in St. Amanda's [alleged] brain when she started a Parenting Blog [w.t.f?] and wrote:
Amanda Marcotte blogs for Unsprung and Pandagon, and had a brief moment of notoriety as the blogger for the John Edwards for President campaign, before resigning under a hailstorm of right-wing abuse. Satan willing, her book on surviving while feminist will come out in spring 2008.BWHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Unsprung is the pro-family, pro-choice, pro-gay political branch of the Offsprung family. We're here to reclaim "family values" for people who actually value families.
Posted by Darleen at 03:25 PM | Comments (32)
June 08, 2007
Amnesty bill is derailed
Hopefully, this will put the final stake into McCain's Presidential campaign.
And would someone please tell the idiot from Searchlight and the whiney-voiced Lindsey Graham to put a sock in it?
Posted by Darleen at 06:23 AM | Comments (2)
June 07, 2007
Reminds me of spousal abuse
The only argument the supporters of the amnesty bill have ... from Kennedy to Reid to Lindsay Graham ... is ok, we lied to you in the past, we abused you in the past, but you can trust us now.
Every one of the "track" and "screen" and "enforcement" provisions of this abortion of a "comprehensive reform" bill existed in one form or another in the 1986 amnesty bill and were never enforced.
That was for 3 million illegals. This bill will give amnesty to 12-20 million, including gang members and people who violated deportation orders.
This has happened before, this will happen again. How much abuse can we take, listening to promises that are never fulfilled, before we say "enough"?
It is not the American people who have to show politicians "trust", it is up to politicians to prove themselves trustworthy.
Give us five years of measurable enforcement ... punishing employers, deporting illegal criminals from our jails and prisons, and building the fence; and then, and only then, can we revisit what to "do" about long term illegals in this country.
Just stop abusing American people and all the people worldwide that are legally waiting in line to come to this county.
Michelle Malkin is doing a great job in covering the plethora of amendments that boil down to trying to put lipstick on a pig.
Posted by Darleen at 06:54 AM | Comments (0)
June 04, 2007
Little Johnny Edwards and the Pecan Pie
Not long ago I signed up at the John Edward's campaign site in order to get one of those nifty "Support the Troops. End the War" bumperstickers he was offering [free while supplies last!] just prior to his Let's turn Memorial Day into a day all about ME campaign stunt.
This also included being on his email list and I have to say, it's turned out quite entertaining. There is the "BushCo's Vast Rightwing Conspiracy is out to GET JOHN" one from his deputy campaign manager. Then there's the faux folksy "let's celebrate John's Birthday [send more money]" one from his mama, Bobbie.
Here are the emails in their entirety
Subject: Message to Bush:It ends hereNow that there is some entertainment.Dear Friend,
Like you, we're all very troubled that Congress is backing down to the president and getting ready to give him another blank check to keep the war going.
How could this happen?
Unfortunately, it's simple. The president and his allies—the whole right-wing buzz machine—are doing what they do every time someone opposes them. They attack their patriotism, call them weak, castigate them for not supporting the troops and don't let up until they get their way. That's the whole point of the political doctrine they call the "global war on terror"—it's a sledgehammer they use to crush opposition by twisting the meaning of patriotism, and it's given us the worst abuses and biggest mistakes of the Bush Administration, from Guantanamo to the war in Iraq.
The only way to beat them is to stand our ground and not give an inch. That's what John Edwards did today.
Today, he went to the heart of America's foreign policy establishment and called out the Bush crowd for their misuse of patriotism. He had the guts to say what all of us know—that the Bush Terror Doctrine has failed our troops and failed America by straining our military to the breaking point and sowing chaos around the world.
John Edwards offered a clear plan to rebuild our forces and cure the damage inflicted on our military by Bush's policies. He offered a vision of an America where moral leadership is once again the rule, and where we are stronger and more secure because of it.
So guess what happened?
The sledgehammer of the global war on terror came right out again—this time aimed squarely at John Edwards. Today, the national Republican party launched a vicious attack at John for asking Americans to speak out to support the troops and end the war.
They actually accused him of profiteering from the war because he's asked for your support and even had the nerve to ask you to pay the cost of a tee shirt. Of course, if the RNC really wants to attack someone for profiteering, they should call Dick Cheney's friends at Halliburton and ask them to return the billions of dollars they've made on a war that Dick Cheney promoted from day one.
Enough is enough. We need to reclaim patriotism from this crowd that has abused it over and over again.
We have a right to speak out. We have a right to stand up for our beliefs. And we have a responsibility to support the campaign that is leading the way and working to end this war.
So join us. Visit the website. Make your voice heard. Contribute to the campaign—whatever you can do. I just donated $100—even $10 will help. But make no mistake—the only thing more powerful than their sledgehammer is your voice, so we need your help right now.
http://johnedwards.com/r/14788/1014300/
Tell the White House, tell the country, tell the world—John Edwards, you, all of us—we are patriots, and we will not be silenced by their terror rhetoric.
It ends today. It ends now. It ends right here.
Thank you.
--Jonathan Prince
Deputy Campaign Manager
John Edwards for PresidentP.S. Another critical way to make your voice heard is to join the thousands of us who are taking local action this weekend to directly support the troops end the war. To find and join an action near you, or to sign up to organize your own action, go to:
www. SupportTheTroopsEndTheWar.com
Subject: Celebrate 6-10-53:John's BirthdayIt's all about the pie!Dear D.,
It was nearly 54 years ago when my husband Wallace borrowed $50 to bring me and our new born boy home from the hospital back in Seneca, South Carolina. Today, a lot of people know John as an advocate, a senator, and maybe even as the next president. But Wallace and I will always know him simply as our son.Next Sunday, June 10th, is our son John's birthday, and I'd like to ask you to help celebrate with us. Nothing would make John happier on his birthday than seeing how many people share his vision for this country and are ready to lend a hand.
We know everyone can't give a lot. But it's not about how much, it's about how many.
If every one of us gives just $6.10 to John's campaign before 6/10, we can do so much together for this country. Let's make John's birthday a celebration for America. Please add your $6.10 today:
www.johnedwards.com/birthday/pie
And what's a birthday celebration without dessert? If you're able to give $6.10 to the campaign before 6/10 I'll send you a copy of my old family recipe for pecan pie—it's quite a favorite around here.
I wish I could make enough pie to thank everyone who supports my son. But the next best thing is to send you my secret recipe and hope that on June 10th we can both enjoy a slice.
Thank you,
--Bobbie Edwards
Robbins, North CarolinaP.S. Thank you so much for supporting John. Please do what you can to help him.
www.johnedwards.com/birthday/pie
crossposted at Protein Wisdom
Technorati: John Edwards
Posted by Darleen at 08:49 PM | Comments (1)
June 03, 2007
A real definition of 'torture'
Watching Amanda tongue bathe Glenn Greenwald. Bad faith arguments are such a turn-on for these two.
Obviously, Sockpuppetmeister Glenn cannot quote a single person he attempts to flog with anything resembling "let Americans gouge out eyeballs, too!" He just imputes, then impugns. It's the stuff of junior high soap opera.
GiGi: It's awful! Horrible, I tell you. There I was at the dance when she..that THING I used to call a friend ... came in wearing the exact same dress.Honesty about the debate is something Glenn and Amanda wish to avoid, because it is more than about "torture" and why the MSM just couldn't get enough of Abu Gharib, letting non-sequitor cites creep into everything thing from movie reviews to sport reports, yet ran the other way when the Al Qaeda torture manual, tools and victims were discovered. Even beyond the politics driven by a multi-cultural chic that holds The Oppressed Du Jour have not only moral authority but can never be held to any standard, is the strategy of word inflation they use against their political opponents.Jay Calm down. I'm sure she didn't know ...
Gigi Of course she knew. She did it on purpose. She did it to humiliate me. It is THE WORST OFFENSE EVER.
Jay The worst? You call her a 'thing' because of a dress? Because of a mistake? What about when Joe got expelled for beating up her brother? Isn't that worst?
Gigi How dare you! Now you want Joe to beat me up? Is that what you're saying?
Mandy Yes, that's what Jay's saying. Jay's a violence apologist.
When "torture" includes female interrogators questioning Islamist males, what word can be used for gouging out eyeballs? "Really real torture"? "Double-dog dareya torture"?
Who benefits from such word inflation? Who benefits by holding only America to utopian standards? Who benefits when only American transgressions get the press but those engaged in 7th century barbarism are shrugged off to the back pages?
"Torture" joins "rape" as yet another word that used to actually horrify one when used. A horror that was as automatic as it was visceral.
Now we have to stop and ask for details in order to decide what is really being described.
And that is torture.
Technorati: torture, Glenn Greenwald, Amanda Marcotte
Posted by Darleen at 05:51 PM | Comments (8)
When I take vacation time ...
... I actually vacation. That means a break from the usual, even if husband and I don't travel far or much.
No email, no 'puter, no tv (expect for dvds), no newspaper, no radio...
An actual, honest-to-God break.
Do you know the "kid trick?" It's where you haven't seen your minor cousins (nephews, nieces, kids of friends) for a year or so and you're shocked shocked at "how they've grown." What happens is that you've carried their image in your mind, unchanged, since that last moment. As if they are dipped in amber and just await your rediscovery before they start growing again.
That's the way I feel about the last couple of days as I've dipped my toe back into the world I left abruptly on May 25th and The Way It Is Now.
We were in dire need of a vacation and grabbed a week off at the last moment. However, the joy of living in So Cal is that for a couple of hours drive time you can spend time watching scrub jays and squirrels squabble just outside of a mountain cabin in Big Bear, then the next day enjoy scrambling across the rocks and digging your toes into the wet sand of Crystal Cove in Newport Beach.
Yet, vertigo seems the best I can manage in trying to make sense of the last week of Bizarro World News, topped off by the very disturbing image of Teddy Kennedy smiling about one of his amnesty bills supported by President Bush.
Sorry, folks. This monster of a bill is worse then doing nothing. Four hundred pages of so-called "triggers" that won't be enforced and immediate legal status, easy to obtain and indefinitely renewable is the one section that will be exploited.
Then we have yet another [Baptist? Presbyterian?] plot foiled, this time against JFK Airport, but just like the Fort Dix Six, the charges are being ridiculed and dismissed by the usual suspects
Which is really ironic, because at the same time the koskiddies are Being Real Serious™ about the Dreaded Rethuglicans under the command of General Ann Coulter and Admiral Michelle Malkin staging a right-wing coup if Dems "win" in 2008.
Yeppers, just like the right-wing insurrection after Pelosi and Reid "won". Now, just who is trying to pass the "Fairness Doctrine" as they take their "how to handle critics" strategy from Hugo Chavez?
Geez, I think I need more vacation. My vermicious knids tolerance level is still too low.
Posted by Darleen at 03:59 PM | Comments (0)