Happy New Year!

I am currently about 1-3/4 hours into 2006! What an experience, as the time got closer to midnight the fireworks grew more and more intense. Eventually the roar was not off in the distance, but we were in the middle of it.

Happy New Year!

Firecrackery!

It is about 6:20 pm local time on New Year's eve here in Manila and it is getting real firecrackery outside! Most are small but some are quite big and give quite a report.

Davao City (30 December) — Davao City Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte warned firearm holders, whether civilians or men in uniforms, against firing their guns on New Year’s eve.

Philippine National Police Regional Director P/Chief Superintendent Ricardo C. Quinto issued the same warning not only to members of the PNOP but also to civilians with permits to carry firearms.

“If we say nobody should fire their firearms, this goes to everybody in government or otherwise,” the Mayor said.

Source: Mindanao Blog - Gun holders warned Hehehe, I would guess concern for this applies to Manila as well but I am aware no such statement from authorities here.

Happy & Safe New Year to All!

Arrived!

It is now Saturday the 31st at 10:24 am where I am located.

Our trip was long and mostly eventless. A camera was victimized by rushing after passing through the TSA checkpoint, we hope it can be repaired. I have taken some photos already and will post them soon.

Mamaya na (later)

Blackout.

For travel to Manila! See you on the other side of the Pacific!

Bottom Ten Worst Americans.

Alexandra at All Things Beautiful has issued a blogosphere challenge. That is to come up with the all time top ten worst Americans list. This is indeed a challenge. I can up with ten names very quickly but they require little thought and in all actuality have very little bearing on American history or will have little. The challenge is to break out of the present and to reach into the past to name those bottom ten whose actions could have or nearly ruined America.

I will start with naming ten people and the reason for each and then I will order the ten from bottom to top.

3/10 down.

• George Brinton McClellan

General George Brinton McClellan was a figure from the distant past that came to my mind quickly. McClellan as you may know was one of the commanders of the US Grand Army of the Potomac (GAP) during the American Civil War. He was in command of the GAP multiple times and his command was marked by rigorous training and brilliant plans but reluctance to take on the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia he always wanted more soldiers and resources.

McClellan was never pleased with his status as a subordinate to President Lincoln and his actions often times bordered on insubordination. In fact much of the events in this time during our history cemented the President's role as commander in chief of the armed forces, a fact McClellan fought against.

Another reason for his inclusion on this list is McClellan's candidacy for president of the USA in 1864. McClellan accepted the nomination of the Democratic Party and while the record is unclear (at least at the moment) as to McClellan's position the Civil War, the Democrats record was clear and is familiar. The Democrats were in favor of halting the war and letting the nation dissolve. McClellan by accepting the Democrat's nomination was either a dupe or supportive of that goal and quotes I have heard attributed to McClellan indicate he supported the goal of peace at even the cost of destroying the Union. Wow! Does that all sound familiar or what?


• Jimmy Carter

Is there doubt? The fire that came to life under his watch still burns. What fire was that? The fire of radical Shi'ism. He withdrew support from the Shah of Iran and let Ayatollah Khomeni come to power. Not only did this result in the takeover of the Embassy in Iran and the kidnapping of the people there, this gave the Sunnis reason to fear. What happened next? The Sunni powers then started to fund and encourage radical Sunnis.

The hostage crisis also damaged the credibility of the US throughout the world. People may say so what, but credibility is important it may prevent hostile actions against the nation. The nation under Jimmy Carter was found weak.

Jimmy Carter continues to devastate the nation, though admittedly, the only people that still listen to them are already convinced of what he says.

The only good thing about Jimmy Carter is he set up his own resounding defeat at the hands of one our greatest presidents Ronald Reagan



• Richard Nixon

Richard Nixon's crime was not Watergate (after all, when Dems do similar things it seems to be no big deal) but his expansion of the Federal Government. His legacy is still with and the most damaging of these is the EPA. Price controls imposed by the Nixon administration were also and abomination, but it is the EPA that lasts.

In the end part of his lowliness is that the end result of his term in office was to setup Jimmy Carter (who in turn setup Ronald Reagan so it's not an all bad thing). None the less Richard Nixon came close to destroying conservatism.

First 10,000 Around The Corner!

According to my Sitemeter I am close to my first 10,000th visitor! The Sitemeter was set up on May 8, 2005, so we are a little more than 1/2-way through the Sitemeter year. My Amazing counter reports nearly 18,600 visits but that counts views not visits and was set up in February of '05.

I want to thank all my regular readers and all of the blogs that have mentioned, linked, blogrolled or otherwise helped to promote Blogger Beer.

At current rates of traffic I expect #10,000 to roll in about this time tomorrow.

Thanks!

BTW, I do not plan on offering any prize or anything to #10,000.

A Christmas Gift of Traffic.

I am not surprised. Blogger Beer is registering quite a few google visits today. What is the term being searched for? Guess.

Bin Laden's Niece and the blog entitled: Wafa. are the honey pots (hehehe) both about Wafa Dafour. I figured this would be a hot search item and my suspicion is confirmed correct.

Yes, I plan to blog some more on Wafa Dafour. If you want pix then go somewhere else (The Wafa blog above has a snapshot, but I am not planning on posting anymore for the time being) as I think this is fascninating. I think discussion of the Wafa phenomena could be interesting in terms of the war on terror and culture.

Quite obviously if Osama Bin Laden were still some unknown guy running around building roads Wafa would be unknown as well. In addition her posing in GQ and her plans to launch a singing career throw a big pile of warm brown mushy stuff right in the face of her infamous Uncle's face and his beliefs. However, I am a little concerned she doesn't sing well and is going to get a free ride due to the accident she is the niece of her infamous uncle. That, goes against some aspects of our culture.

Just because she is a free actress doesn't mean we have to play along if playing along is wrong.

Is Wafa Dufour a Big Deal?

I have been thinking about the situation with Wafa Dufour (Sorry googlers, no pix here, see my previous blog for a snapshot). I see her pix and yes, she is a hottie, but so? There are many other hotties walking down the street.

The thing I see happening is her status as the niece of the most wanted man in the world is really going to help her out with her career aspirations. She supposedly wants to launch a singing career well she has a tremendous shortcut to that aspiration. Please, she says she wants to be accepted for who she is and her talents but I am skeptical of that claim. If you want to be recognized on your own you don't let GQ do a whole story you prominently mentioning your infamous uncle.

She has a tremendous opportunity in front of her. How much do you think Penthouse and Playboy magazines are offering her to pose without the bubbles?

There are bright and shiny pieces to this story as well as some dark and seamy.

Merry Christmas

To all who are just bopping in and those who are regular readers, the Empress and Myself want to wish you all a very Merry and Blessed Christmas.

May God Bless You All!

Wafa

Wafa, originally uploaded by maurelius.

This is the photo of Wafa Dufour (technically Osama Bin Laden's niece) whom I blogged about last night. What a hottie!

HT to: Jonz at Drunken Blogging for pointing this one out!

Week XVI NFL Predictions. Merry Christmas!

NFL Week XVI Prognostications.

Visitor

Home

Predicted Winner

Falcons

Buccaneers

Buccaneers

Bills

Bengals

Bengals

Cowboys

Panthers

Panthers

Lions

Saints

Lions

Jaguars

Texans

Jaguars

Giants

Redskins

Redskins

Steelers

Browns

Steelers

Chargers

Chiefs

Chargers

49ers

Rams

Rams

Titans

Dolphins

Dolphins

Eagles

Cardinals

Eagles

Colts

Seahawks

Colts

Nothing more to play for.

Raiders

Broncos

Broncos

Bears

Packers

Packers

Vikings

Ravens

Ravens

Patriots

Jets

Patriots

Incorrect Prognostication.
Correct Prognostication.
The greatest team to ever play the game, even if from time to time they get a little lame.
??? - Undecided.

All picks subject to change until 12:00 noon CST (whatever time we are on in any event I mean 12:00 noon Wisconsin time) 12/24/2005 after which they are final
Any pick updates or changes will be noted in the Updates section below.

Merry Christmas!

Updates
Updates noted here.

When?

Has the USA ever been isolationist?

From our earliest days we were on the stage of international intrigue and action.

Note this song:

From the Halls of Montezuma

To the Shores of Tripoli; [emphasis added]

We fight our country's battles

In the air, on land and sea;

First to fight for right and freedom

And to keep our honor clean;

We are proud to claim the title

of United States Marine.

Source: Heritage Press International - USMC Heritage Now tell me dear readers why the line To the Shores of Tripoli; indicates we have never been isolationists?

Good night.

Bin Laden's Niece.

At least technically. Wafa Dufour is one of the nieces of Osama Bin Laden. Check out the link guys you will not regret it! Anyway. She is the only Bin Laden left living in the USA and has disowned the Bin Laden name and family.

This is one thing that sets me off. Anything with the Bin Laden name attached to it is automatically assumed to be terrorist. According to the report Wafa's father and Osama are two of FIFTY siblings. Think about it, if your father had sired 50 children perhaps some would be upstanding citizens and others would not be.

The Bin Ladens are not Sauds therefore they are a peg or two down on the power structure in Saudia Arabia, they may be important but not indispensable. If all the Bin Ladens supported Osama's program then they too would be defrocked of Saudi citizenship. IIRC Mohammed Bin Laden was from the Yemen region. Recall Osama's program includes doing away with the Sauds and replacing them with "properly Islamic" custodians of the two holy mosques.

G'Night.

My First UK Blog!

A Blogger Beer welcome to Drunken Blogging! How appropriate Blogger Beer links to Drunken Blogger.

Jonz from London the UK dropped in today and left a comment. I followed the link to his blog on a whimsy am glad I did! Why? This picture of Osama Bin Laden's niece is one. Another one is

British Iranians staged a silent picket outside the Lib Dem HQ, in Cawley Street, Millbank. The picket was in protest at remarks made by Lib Dem Baroness, Emma Nicholson, in the European Parliament, who referred to the Islamic Republic as "an advanced form of democracy in the region".

Source: Drunken Blogging - Iranians Protest Against Stupid Cow known as Emma Nicholson Sigh! Do not lose heart people, since many wanted to treat with Hitler thinking him reasonable, even after Chamberlain lost his job to Churchill and the umpteenth broken promise by Hitler.

Jonz, I have excellent beer drinking credentials I can drink a pint as fast as I can drink a can of LaCrosse Lager.

While "Those willing to trade for liberty for security will not get or deserve neither" is a quote much abused and used quote from Benjamin Frnklin (cliche). However, I like "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy" is also from Ben Franklin and not cliche.

I have other London blogs bookmarked but just felt the remote sensation of leftism in them (I read them a bit around the London bombings for on the scene info) but Drunken Blogging is not, at least when it comes to the defense of Western civilization.

Complaining.

No, this is not another whine blog. It is about whining and complaining of a sort.

At Belmont Club Wretchard the other day blogged about the release of murder Mohammed Ali Hammadi. Mohd (short for Mohammed) is

a Hezbollah member who had been convicted of hijacking a TWA airliner in 1985, allowing him to return to his native Lebanon despite long-standing requests from the United States to hand him over for trial.

Mohammed Ali Hammadi, 41, walked out of a German prison on Thursday after a parole board concluded that he was eligible for early release, German officials said. His parole prompted a protest from the State Department.

Mohammed Ali Hammadi, above, who was convicted in the 1985 murder of U.S. sailor Robert Dean Stethem, below, was released from a German prison last week. (AP)

Hammadi served nearly 19 years of a life sentence for air piracy, possession of explosives and the murder of Robert Dean Stethem, a U.S. sailor from Waldorf, Md. Stethem, a passenger on board TWA Flight 847 from Athens to Rome, was singled out for brutal treatment by the hijackers because of his military service.

Source: The Washington Post - Hijacker Sought By U.S. Released Germany Frees Hezbollah Member Who Killed Md. Sailor in '85 Plot

Now, Europe as a matter of law (I do believe) refuses to hand over wanted criminals if they will be subject to the death penalty. Hence Germany's refusal to hand over Hammadi. There were reports he was detained by Lebanese authorities but it appears Lebanon is also refusing to hand him over.

Wretchard at the Belmont Club shines the light of the Tookie Williams protest

For some, a life sentence is, for all its defects, the preferred alternative to the death penalty.

Dec 21, 2005 -- Hundreds of people have gathered for the funeral of executed former US gang leader Stanley "Tookie" Williams. Civil rights campaigner Jesse Jackson, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and rapper Snoop Dogg were among those to attend the Los Angeles service. ... He said: "Tookie is dead. We're not safer, we're not more secure, we're not more humane."

Who is being judged?

"A nation reveals itself, not only by the people it produces, but also by those it chooses to honor." -- John Kennedy

Let's hear it again from Albert Camus.

"On the day when crime puts on the apparel of innocence, through a curious reversal peculiar to our age, it is innocence that is called on to justify itself."

Source: The Belmont Club - Notes from all over

The best part comes in the comments section where Wretchard responds to myself.

wretchard said...

Some bloggers, like QuickRob are calling for Hammadi's kidnapping if the US can find him. Others note, quite correctly, that this is precisely the kind of lawless behavior that the US has been accused of.

I noted in the past that whenever you took the moral high ground you had to accept there was a price to pay. You can't say "no torture" or "no to kidnapping" and then change your mind when it is your son or daughter who is at stake. It's always someone else's son or daughter that is at stake. A really principled stand against "illegal behavior" means that you have to watch the enemy get away. Somehow people get the impression that morality comes for free. Uh-uh. One must choose and not complain.

....

Marcus Aurelius said...

Wretchard?

Choose and not complain? Huh? No way, not going to happen. Choose and complain.

In the winter we are too cold (at least us in the upper midwest and similar climes) in the summer too hot. Satisfaction is way too fleeting.

Anyway this fits in very nicely with the idea the human rights crowd are not stopping with the death penalty but rolling right onto life sentences.

It also fits in with the idea if justice is just paid lip service then people will start to pursue justice on their own.

If Europe wants a true world government then it has to give up the idea that it dictates the form of that government.

....

Source: The Belmont Club Notes from All Over comments

To which Wretchard responds:

wretchard said...

Marcus Aurelius,

One unpleasant facts facing a person under interrogation, with the choice of betraying his friends and enduring pain, is that if he wants to keep his self respect he has to endure pain. The reason heroes and saints are so rare is that it's expensive to be heroic; it requires extravagant courage to be a saint. Just read the medal citations and the Lives of the martyrs to be convinced of that.

So to anyone who says 'fight cleanly without torturing the enemy or wiretapping without a warrant to keep my soul' I will say two things. First, bully for you. It's a worthy goal and I would no more make fun of that aim than ridicule Damien of Molokai or Audie Murphy. Second, I will say, remember it's going to be expensive. I don't think its contradiction or discouragement as much as the truth.

Source: The Belmont Club Notes from All Over comments

The point is well taken and was never in dispute by myself. What Wretchard is saying the debate of rights for terrorists comes at a cost just the same as increased security measures. The discussion in this debate is barely beyond the Franklin statement "Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." (i.e. cliched)

However, it all smacks me a bit of preaching abstinence at the Playboy Mansion (especially the exhortation to choose and not complain). A worthy mission but unlikely to succeed.

Their First Blowout.

Looks like the Pack is well on their way to their first blowout of the season. Draft choice here we come!

Another Brick in the Wall.

The gentlemen at Powerline Blog bring us a bit of testimony from Patrick Fitzgerald on the Patriot Act:

I was on a prosecution team in New York that began a criminal investigation of Usama Bin Laden in early 1996. The team ... had access to a number of sources. We could talk to citizens. We could talk to local police officers. We could talk to other U.S. Government agencies. We could talk to foreign police officers. Even foreign intelligence personnel. And foreign citizens.... We could even talk to al Qaeda members—and we did. .... But there was one group of people we were not permitted to talk to. Who? The FBI agents across the street from us in lower Manhattan assigned to a parallel intelligence investigation of Usama Bin Laden and al Qaeda. We could not learn what information they had gathered. That was “the wall.” [emphasis added]

Source: Powerline Blog - While the Democrats Celebrate Their Filibuster of the Patriot Act...

Why is the left so anxious to add more bricks to the wall?

Interesting News Cycle.

Too bad I didn't have time to cover it.

Anyway

I Wonder for How Long.

The ADSL link I just got running is going to be satisfactory. Already I have been doing a fair amount of graphic uploading to my flickr account (this is my non-pseudonymic account so unless you know my true identity you will not be told where to look at them, in any event I see there being a fair amount of pictures on both accounts).

I love it! In any event I wonder how long it will be before the content on most pages starts to challenge the ADSL. Its coming.

More Excellent!

Have the ADSL hookup on our main computer! Great! Hi speed Interneting from our main system!

Week XIV: More Sure Than Taxes!

NFL Week XIV Prognostications.

Visitor

Home

Predicted Winner

Bucaneers

Patriots

Patriots

Chiefs

Giants

Giants

Broncos

Bills

Broncos

Cardinals

Texans

Cardinals

Panthers

Saints

Panthers

Jets

Dolphins

Dophins

Eagles

Rams

Eagles

Steelers

Vikings

Steelers

Chargers

Colts

Colts

The '72 Dolphins finally broke their bottles of bubbly open!

Seahawks

Titans

Seahawks

49ers

Jaguars

Jaguars

Bengals

Lions

Bengals

Browns

Raiders

Raiders

Cowboys

Redskins

Redskins

Packers

Ravens

Packers

Incorrect Prognostication.
Correct Prognostication.
The greatest team to ever play the game, even if from time to time they get a little lame.
??? - Undecided.

All picks subject to change until 12:00 noon CST (whatever time we are on in any event I mean 12:00 noon Wisconsin time) 12/18/2005 after which they are final
Any pick updates or changes will be noted in the Updates section below.

Updates

1. 12/17/2005 12:55pm: Thanks Ramjac7 for pointing out a totally out to lunch pick!


2. 12/18/2005 10:41am: Off to a 2-0 start.


3. 12/19/2005 9:31pm: While correcting the SU games I noticed I missed one. That counts as a loss.

Competing Referenda.

Last night while doing some grocery shopping I was looking at the community bulletin board in the store. Anyone can post nearly anything on the board and is usually full of for sale items, show announcements, and the like.

Well, last night one sign stood out. It was a poster giving contact information so people in Little Chute could sign a petition to get a referendum put on the ballot in the spring elections. That referenda is a resolution calling on the Federal Governments to withdraw from Iraq. The usual conservative response to these is roll our eyes and call it surrender (which it is).

Then it struck me. Why don't people who support the completion of the mission get competing referenda put on the ballot? That is something along these lines:

• Whereas, the mission in Iraq is crucial to US Security and long-term regional and world stability.
• Therefore be it resolved the people of Little Chute Wisconsin support our troops in their mission.
• Be it further resolved, the people of Little Chute Wisconsin support the mission in Iraq.
• Be it further resolved, the people of Little Chute Wisconsin urge all people Democrats, Republicans, and otherwise to unite so the soldiers can finish the mission more quickly and come home sooner.

This way, people have a choice between surrender and fight. Of course, this is not intended for Little Chute or Wisconsin alone.

A Struggle with Modernity.

Over at the Jawa Report I joined in on commenting on a blog. An excerpt:

Christians no longer force confessions and death sentences for "non believers". In other words we have progressed and reformed. Without a root reform and change in attitude of Islam war is inevitable and Islam itself is in danger of destruction. If it's a fight you are looking for I'm sure the west can accommodate you. But if peace, reform and progress are Islam's true nature. If Islam can live in peace with the rest of the world and tolerate all the other faiths I have two words for you. Show me

Source: The Jawa Report - Are Terrorists "Radical"? I made a comment along the lines of how Islam is having a hard time coming to terms with modernity, that a struggle for Islamic reform is underway with the Bin Ladenites winning (at the moment), and how Arabia should turn to Japan as to how to best deal with modernity.

Shortly thereafter a troll appeared in the thread and instead of hitting and running he is in there mucking things up. In fact, this troll did a great job of directing the direction of the debate and the comment thread is gone to nazis.

Japan and Arabia are not similar.

Was the troll's comment to me. My response here? Duh! Japan did not yield willingly at first, and its door had to be kicked in. Once it was down though, Japan made a wholehearted decision to join the modern world. As a result they kicked some butt militarily and are an economic powerhouse now-a-days.

Arabia's door was never opened willingly some doors were kicked down, some were pushed open. However, the difference is Arabia is trying to shore up smashed doors or to jam shut doors that are not going to shut. Hence we see a mix of results from Dubai's gleaming modern city to the very insular. It seems this less whole-heartedeared (as a whole) approach results in the feeling of being left behind, feelings of inferiority, and old modes of government that must result to brutality to govern on a large scale.

Standard Leftist Talking Points

The troll then threw out some flamebait and the Jawa's bit on it. Instead of discussing a very important topic a flame war is going on. DON'T FEED THE TROLLS!

Anyway, the events in Iraq are big. The Sunnis who were holdouts in the previous two elections decided they had better participate and it sounds like participate they did. So, now it sounds like the Sunni majority are in, the Saddamites and Zarqawists are definitely out. Of course, it isn't over but this is just another sign that things are headed in the right direction.

Good night.

What a Way To Celebrate!

It is just about two years since sadistic Saddam was spirited out from his spider hole. What are the Iraqis doing to commemorate the event? They vote in a free election.

No Saddam, there's no going back for you. You can't go back to your old palace.

Have a good day!

Clueless.

Michelle Malkin picks up on comments from Jane Fonda.

"This began," Fonda maintained, "because the military discovered that in World War II and Korea, [U.S.] soldiers weren't killing enough."

Source: Michelle Malkin - Baghdad Jane's Bloviations Uhhh, one thing that could be done to increase the kill numbers is to simply change the PFC's rifle back to what was used in WWII. You see, Ms. Fonda it was determined survivors that must be taken to hospitals and treated are a greater drain on an army's resources than shooting that same soldier dead.

One of the changes this spurred was a move to a less lethal round which found its way into soldier's hands during Vietnam. The foot soldier in WWII typically carried a M1 in Vietnam the typical soldier carried the M16. The M16 shoots a much less lethal round than the M1. So, if the army wants to simply kill more then all it needs to do is to re-arm the soldiers with rifles that shoot more lethal ammunition.

Of course it all went above Jane's head after "PFC" above.

Patriot Act II.

As we all know (or should) the Patriot Act is up for renewal and a debate is going on between people who believe the Patriot Act to contain violations of our Constitution (namely the Bill of Rights) vs. those who do not see the same thing.

It is not so much right vs. left as many of these debates are, but the teams are more mixed up than normal.

Well, over at All Things Beautiful there is a civil debate going on about the Patriot Act and its ramifications on post 9/11 US security and our civil liberties.

A fellow named Heretik in Alexandra's comment section states:

But we do have a Constitution. And that document clearly states in the Fourth Amendment, which is still the law of the land: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

While the Fourth Amendment is quite specific in language, but people may interpret its meaning differently. The Patriot Act curiously lacks call for warrants in many instances, it lacks call for probable cause and settles for suspicion.

Source: All Things Beautiful - The Patriot Act comment by Heretik

Now my take on the Patriot Act is based on an understanding that does not come from reading the act (the bill consists of changing words in other pieces of law you may have the Patriot Act bill but you need much more than that to understand it). The biggest bugaboos seem to be centered on sneak-peak warrants and roving wire-taps. The noise about library records is just a silly example of one of the other concerns that I will not address here (or it may be all part of this).

Now, I am not certain if the opposition consists of opposition to sneak-peak searches and roving wire-taps in themselves or if the concern is about it being to easy for investigators to obtain authorization to employ such techniques.

I guess it is the later than the former (BTW here is a handy mnemonic F-Former F-First, L-Later L-Last).

One of the compromises placed into Patriot Act II is the targets of sneak and peak searches must be notified within 30 days post-search. This is silly, targets of sneak-peaks need no notification, only sufficient judicial review of the warrant request is required.

If one reads the fourth amendment there is nothing suggesting a target of a search must be notified of the search. However, there must be proper judicial review of the requests before they are allowed to proceed.

On roving wiretaps I think it silly to tap just a phone. The target are the conversations of a given individual and not conversations over a given phone. The reason why the wire-tap laws are limited to a single phone are most likely related to the difficulty of dynamically tapping lines (i.e. technology how difficult was it to set up a tap years and years ago?) and pure inertia of law.

One last thing before I leave this one to you. Heretik also states that pre-9/11 there were enough investigation tools to bust terrorist types we just have to use them. Well, I dispute that notion terrorists are thinking and adapting humans they are not mindless robots that don't plot. A football analogy is like the wide receiver who uses the back judge to screen out his cover, if the good guys don't get smart and change their tactics then the good guys are in trouble.

Comments?

Tookie Williams Rest In Peace.

Tookie Williams was executed early this morning.

Wretchard at The Belmont Club blogged on the event.

But when you think about it, every alternative to the Death Penalty is premised on the assumption that jail provides an better way of removing dangerous persons from society. Once the impermeability of jail can no longer be guaranteed -- because holes in the cell walls are being poked by 'activists' -- then it makes sense to execute perps while you can. Of course, there's something nigglingly wrong with this. After some thought I realized what I thought it was. Issues of guilt and innocence; crime and punishment have been distorted by the political process. How else do you have Ramsey Clark defending Saddam and European investigators refusing to provide cooperation because it might lead to the Death Penalty? Crime stops being about criminals and their deeds and becomes yet another battleground in the culture wars. It becomes less about human beings and more about political agendas.[ed-emphasis added]

Source: The Belmont Club - The empty cell Indeed. This is what it has come down to. Will we see the same efforts for Bill King & Russell Brewer Jr. two of the three who brutally murdered James Byrd Jr.? I hope not and I thoroughly doubt it. I suspect most who normally find themselves opposed to Jesse Jackson and the like will sit out the protests when it comes to King's & Brewer's date with the long needle. Not because they don't care but because they see the justice in the sentence.

Justice is truth. Tookie never disputed his guilt nor did he ever express remorse. At most he turned against the gangs he led and authored some children's books (no, we don't execute children's book authors but we do execute murderers). I am very confident of Tookie's guilt and in that I see justice in his execution.

As I have said before it is a sad thing. However the sadness doesn't find its focus in the execution just its end the whole situation is sad. It is sad Tookie decided to kill innocent humans so many years ago and it is sad he was put to death. If only he had not killed.

Tookie Williams may you find peace in your well deserved rest.

surrender002

surrender002, originally uploaded by maurelius.

Strategero

ROFLMAO!

Howard Dean needs a little Strategery! I wonder who wins that game? White flag on white flag, who wins? White flag? Too good.

Hat tip to Michelle Malkin for passing on the below works by Six Meat Buffet. Perhaps Six Meat Buffet will produce it and and sell it! buy it now and give it to you favorite leftist for the Holiday present. BTW, you really need to check out Six Meat Buffet for the complete set of pieces, you will be laughing your.......off!

Paris, Sydney, Where Next?

Riots are erupting around a Sydney Australia beach.

The initial spark is reported to be a gang of Lebanese youth who assaulted lifeguards and started to harass the beachgoers. Apparently one of the lifeguards was beaten into unconsciousness.

Well then a gang of Australian youths decided to take matters into their own hands and went to the beach and anyone with Middle Eastern appearance was beaten. Well the Lebanese youths did not let things sit at that and have likewise changed up and smashed cars, there is one report of a stabbing, and other beatings.

Tim Blair has an excellent summary of what is going on. Tim has a Aussie reaction roundup and the cliche of chickens coming home to roost figures large in some of those reactions.

Wretchard at the Belmont Club comes back to an idea of his.

I've been warning about this for some time now, both with respect to the torture debate and in an old post called the Three Conjectures. Like most people in Oz, I have Muslim or Middle Eastern friends and the way I got it figured is if we don't start cracking down on the Osamas and the Zawahiris and the al-Arians because they are draped in this bogus human rights shield, then the Joe Samadis and the Bill Mansours of the world are gonna start catching it. What's the use of being innocent if the guilty go scot free? One day if a nuke goes off in Sydney or Manhattan all the bets are off.

Source: The Belmont Club - Breaking: Violence breaks out again in Cronulla

Wretchard is right to fear. Our societal bodies are becoming less and less able to grasp what justice is and the result is people then become more and more willing to enact justice on their own.

Oh Come Some of Ye Faithful.

An area church is advertising on a local radio station. The opening is a deep bass voice singing "Oh come some of ye faithful" to the tune of Oh Come All of Ye Faithful. They then go onto say how they welcome everyone.

Which church doesn't? Oh, perhaps they want to say they don't believe in sin? They don't believe in the need for repentance? Usually that is what that sort of attitude engenders, the disbelief in sin.

The priest in the confessional can say your sins are absolved but unless you are earnestly working on stopping sinful practice your sins are not forgiven.

Of course many of these new age denominations have a whatever floats your boat attitude.

Week XIII. Take Them To The Bank.

NFL Week XIII Prognostications.

Visitor

Home

Predicted Winner

Bears

Steelers

Steelers

Browns

Bengals

Bengals

Texans

Titans

Titans

Colts

Jaguars

Colts

Patriots

Bills

Patriots

Raiders

Jets

Raiders

Rams

Vikings

Vikings

Buccaneers

Panthers

Panthers

Giants

Eagles

Giants

49ers

Seahawks

Seahawks

Redskins

Cardinals

Redskins

Ravens

Broncos

Broncos

Dolphins

Chargers

Chargers

Lions

Packers

Packers

Lion fan, you have a right to be upset. Still, I take it!

Saints

Falcons

Falcons

Incorrect Prognostication.
Correct Prognostication.
The greatest team to ever play the game, even if from time to time they get a little lame.
??? - Undecided.

All picks subject to change until 12:00 noon CST (whatever time we are on in any event I mean 12:00 noon Wisconsin time) 12/11/2005 after which they are final
Any pick updates or changes will be noted in the Updates section below.

Updates

1. 13-3, consistent. This time The Packers don't let me down!

Miserable Weekend.

I hate to push another whine blog on you readers, but this is my blog and a whine blog is what I feel like at the moment.

Some of you may be aware I have been fighting a cold and cough for sometime (both are improving) and I was really pumped at the end of last week since it seemed I was almost completely over it all. Then Thursday night about 11:00pm I awoke with the spins! No alcohol involved. The spins woke me up again that night and when I awoke in the morning things were still spinning badly. I managed to get the Empress (after she checked my bp which was something like 120/80) to work and called in to work that a two hour drive with slippery roads and my world spinning was not going to happen (actually it was an e-mail and I left out the details just noting I was going to be out on vacation).

So, went back to sleep and called the St. Elizabeth's nurse direct and she told me no coffee or alcohol as they would exacerbate the spins. The nurse then forwarded the call to the clinic where our doctor practices medicine and I arranged an appointment. Eventually I went to that and all was so-so (no disastrous pronouncements). They took my BP (first was 114/80, subsequent readings were all a touch high at 140ish/80) multiple times and poked and prodded as doctors usually do. She also ran a series of tests which appeared to see if there was any difference in strength between left and right.

In the end my doctor declared I have a viral infection in my middle/inner ears and her exam showed it to be more obvious in the right ear than the left ear. Okay fine, viral means no curative medicines just rest and time.

She prescribed some medication to counter the vertigo and it seems to work by putting you to sleep. I guess sleep isn't such a bad thing when one isn't well.

The bad part is the no coffee thing. Not only do I have the spins I also have a headache from caffeine deprivation. To top it all off there was a Christmas Party The Empress and I really wanted to attend tonight in Mishicot but see the previous concern about driving long distances on slippery roads with the spins.

John Gard (G-Peshtigo).

What's that? A third party with a man in a powerful state position? Sorta.

G is the Government Party and John Gard is a member of it. HT: to Charlie Sykes on his radio show today.

What inspired this? His opposition to the cancellation of the automatic gas tax increase. Here in Wisconsin the tax the state imposes upon gasoline automatically increases, no vote no debate. Well, the state senate just voted to cancel this annual gift to the state.

John Gard (G-Peshtigo) whined this would deplete the state road building & maintenance funds. Huh? Well, then vote for a tax increase every year or include it in the normal budget process.

Do we really want him as congressman? No other choice you say? How about it? Terri McCormick is a choice and a good one.

The Left's Flag.

The Republican National Committee put together a nice little video. They have three actual clips they play with a white flag waving in front of the Dem. The first one is Howard Dean saying the idea we are winning Iraq is crazy, the next is Barbara Boxer (it doesn't look like Pelosi, and John Kerry pulling a page out of his old playbook. Each snippet has the white flag waving.

I want to commend the RNC for having the stomach (after all the New York Times certainly will not approve) to put this together and out there.

The left has to dream up conspiracy theories to condemn the right, we just need the left to speak.

Welcome to the Wisconsin Sports Bar.

Welcome to The Wisconsin Sports bar to the Blogger Beer Blogroll.

I Want to UpChuck!

No, the nausea I feel is not from the vertigo attack I am suffering from (diagnosis viral ear infection) it is from the story on how Chuck Chvala is begging for a light sentence from the Judge who is going to sentence him.

He says he fought for the, you guessed it children

The manner in which the media has portrayed Senator Chvala does not
accurately portray the man for whom I chose to work for seven years. There has
never been any doubt in my mind that the most important thing to Senator
Chvala was helping constituents and being a strong advocate for children, the
elderly, and the disabled.

Source: Wis Politics - Chvala Attorneys Say Jail Time Would Have 'No Public Value'.

Before hearing this I did not think he should get sentenced too harshly, but I see his arrogance is not diminished. Now I say check him into the Dodge Correctional Institution.

The Miami Plane Shooting.

How awful it was. How terribly sad for his wife, family and friends. To all of them our prayers are with you.

That said, the air marshalls were correct in their actions. Anyone who travels knows you don't joke or speak about such things in the context of an airplane or airport. Unfortunately, it sounds like the guy was off of his meds, but the air marshalls have no way of knowing such things.

The Limited Blogging.

For my readers from overseas let me explain just a tad why the blogging is off here at Blogger Beer.

Sometime ago my job took me to Madison whereas my home is in Appleton. The commute is about 100 miles one way or in units you may be more familiar with that is 160 kilomters! Fortunately, most of the drive is on the freeway and I can drive roughly 120 kilometers/hour (or 75 miles/hour in English units for metric system impaired) for most of the trip. On a tank of gas I probably average about 60 mph (roughtly 95 kilometers per hour) and drive about three legs (480 km, the milage is off a bit I need to get the car serviced) on a tank of gas. Total time is about 1h40minutes per way so I come close to 4 hours a day in the car.

When I get home I am tired so therefore my blogging is limited. When I do I am nowhere near as informed as I was before.

Anyway thanks for your patience, I do plan to keep this going!

Politics and Generals.

I have blogged on this before.

In our model of government and society the military is subordinate to the civil government. The Constitution demands it and when one thinks about it the virtues required for military success are not what we want to govern or normal day to day affairs.

This has caused a friction in our society when we decide to war. Perhaps not in every war but quite a few it has. The American Civil War, Vietnam, and our current war are situations where there is friction between the civil and the military. In the case of the current war it isn't so much between the civil government and the military but one side in the debate trying split the Bush Administration and the military.

Quite a few people say it was politics that lost Vietnam and not the military. Well, the making of war is a political matter. What many Vietnam era soldiers are right to complain about is micro-managing from Washington D.C. during the war. High level officials pushing new rifles on the troops or controlling small scale troop movements and actions. Only rarely and in special circumstances should such interference happen.

Patton said a commander should not normally involve himself in the affairs of subordinates more than two levels below his position. Obviously the operative word is normally but it seems to me to be a good rule of thumb. I know my boss and he knows me. I know his boss and she knows me however her boss I am familiar with but on a given day I bet she doesn't know what I am doing (and vice versa). It seems the crew from D.C. violated that rule in Vietnam.

Of course, every now and then a given PFC will act in such a matter to demand the attention of someone way up the chain of command. Lyndie England is a good example of this. The actions of her and her comrades made a large impact and demanded high level intervention to set their mess straight. This happens in any large organized effort.

It appears the Bush administration is handling the situation in Iraq well. They have set high level goals, told their commander what their resources and restrictions are and let them work to accomplish those goals. Why do I say we are seeing military-civilian friction? Because the left is utterly clueless in military matters and are trying to convince the American public of the supremacy of the military over the civilian.

John Kerry and this merry band decided that the Bush Administration does not have standing to command due to the President's lack of combat experience. They tout their own experience (and try to minimize their active rejection and outright hate for the military) and medals to try to show how only they have the moral authority to conduct a war. There is no requirement for the Commander in Chief to be a former warrior.

Crisis Magazine

Crisis Magazine is an excellent magazine for the conservative Catholic.

Editor Brian Saint-Paul has an excellent editorial asking for whiney Catholics to leave he notes the Episcopal church is most welcoming. Furthermore, he asks unhappy Episcopalians to consider joining the Roman church.

There is an outstanding article entitled Hitler's Mufti written by Ronald J. Rychlak (author of Righteous Gentiles: How Pope Pius XII and the Catholic Church Saved Half a Million Jews from the Nazis). The conclusion in the end the Mufti's views had little influence upon the 3rd Reich. However, the Mufit is reported to have said something like they did not need convincing it was already in their plans. There is evidence to the contrary but with National Socialist race theory I have a hard time the Nazis viewed Mufti Husseini as little more than a useful idiot.

I have met Arabs who helped the British in WWII oppose the Germans in the Middle East but never one who aided the Germans (admittedly with the exception of those who fought for the Axis as citizen soldiers who in their right mind now-a-days would admit to helping the Nazis over the Brits)

However, we do know that the ideology of Jew hatred produced by the 3rd Reich helps to fuel Arabic hatred of Jews and Israel.

There is a great article that traces the lack of Priests to the attack on fatherhood in general. Not just priestly fatherhood but fatherhood period as evidenced by the lack of TV shows such as Father Knows Best and by The Simpsons.

Well, I bid you goodnight have to tear down the laptop setup make a phone call and go to sleep.

Lay down your head dear brother
Lay down your head and take your rest
I want you to lay your head upon your Saviour's breast.
I love you, oh but Jesus loves you the best
And I bid you good night good night good night!

Excellent! Hehehehehe!

The Empress and I are finally set up with DSL at home!

Right now am running it via the laptop but I am hoping we will have our regular system running on it.

I have had it going for about 20 minutes now and I can already wonder how we made due w/dial-up!

General Carlos Garcia Convicted?

My daily e-mail from the Philippine Times indicates General Carlos Garcia has been convicted of plunder related charges.

Recall General Carlos Garcia was a general in the Army of the Philippines and was accused of stealing a lot of money from the Army.

The headline in the e-mail is

Philippine leader hails conviction of general in corruption case


Philippine President Gloria Arroyo has hailed the conviction of a prominent general on graft charges, calling it "a triumph for military justice". A spokesman says the president commends the speedy...

I try to bring up the story but it seems the Philippine Times online site is down and can not access more details on the story.

I say he get the long needle. Unfortunately I don't see the government pursuing a long-needle (i.e. capital punishment) as too many in the government are probably in a similar situation.

An Interesting Proposal.

Last night at the party, Owen from Boots and Sabers had an interesting proposal. He suggested the Bloggers of the BBA and those who wish to join all pick a GOP primary race and put all of our weight behind a single candidate. The purpose being to see if we have any pull. If it turns out we do, then that will increase the Wisconsin Blogosphere's visibility.

I myself like the idea. I find my political views to be very close in line with the views expressed by those who are members of the BBA so I am not worried (for the most part) they would select to support a candidate I would reject nor oppose a candidate I support.

The idea that drives most of us to blog is to get our opinion out there and to influence events.

However, there is a drawback. Bloggers are bloggers because we are independent minded so attempts to coordinate and steer blogger opinion writing could be doomed to failure.

In the end though I think it is a matter of convincing us the battle is worth fighting. The seat suggested is well outside of my Appleton area so I have little natural interest but the seat's location in RPW power & $ central increases interest. If bloggers are convinced the fight is worth it then it is a matter of tuning bloggers into the pertinent foundational information sources.

I am interested but I am not certain the level of interest is going to rise high enough until February for me to blog on this race. Work prevents me from blogging at the levels to clear out my higher priority interests, and my trip to the Philippines in January is going to see light blogging and the blogging that does happen will be trip-oriented (yes, GBFan I am making a point to snap shots of McDonald's and I will get the Omani McDonald's photo scanned in sometime). In January expect to see many blogs that center on extended legs & barefeet, beaches, jeepneys, , tropical scenery, parties, San Miquel beer, and Tabacalerra cigars.

GO PACK GO!

A Special Day.

I want to wish reader E a very happy and special birthday. I know it is trite to say on this day how very important you are to me and how you helped to build me up to what I am today but it is true and heartfelt.

A very happy birthday to you reader E and we will see you later!

We're Home.

We are home.

The Empress and myself went down to GBFan's house for a Badger Blog Alliance get together. In the runup everyone talked about what beer they were bringing. Well, being who I am I skipped beer and brought wine, as my previous blog testifies to. The bottle of Ravenswood Sonoma Zinfandel was opened and there was one to two glasses left in the bottle as we left.

The roads were not good, but we averaged probably 40 on the highways and about 55 on the freeway. We angled our way up from Oconomowoc to Allentown via Hartford. I took a lot of guff about being lost and resisted demands to make U-Turns. Only once did I make a bum choice and the road we went down was NOT marked as a dead end as it should have been.

What a great bunch of people I am associated with in the Badger Blog Alliance.

G'Night.

For the BBA Christmas Party.

wine, originally uploaded by maurelius.

The goodies the Empress and myself will bring the Badger Blog Alliance Christmas party.

Two bottles of heart medicine (one Ravenswwood Sonoma Zinfandel, the other a bottle of Hogue Late Johannesburg Riesling). Smoked oysters, six year old cheddar and a bottle of pickled herring.

I expect a trumpet fanfare upon our arrival! After all, we are the wise and benevolent emperor and empress of the blogosphere! Hahahahahahaah!

Getting Out of Iraq.

Everyone acknowledges there will be a day and a time when our presence in Iraq returns to normal (i.e. an embassy, ex-pats living there as employees of the embassy and Iraqi companies, e-pat employees of international companies etc). No one is saying we will have 140,000+ soldiers stationed in Iraq for eternity.

The question of getting out of Iraq comes down to other considerations. The first question is when. Now as I have already stated the answer is not a long term statement but short to medium term. On the short side we have Nanc-eye Pelos-eye and her appeasing friends wanting out now (If that's her take then why the *&^% did she vote no on the Murtha Maneuver?) then on the other extreme we have people who argue not for a time based withdrawal but a conditions based withdrawal.

At the moment it is the conditions based people who are winning the day. For example it is widely claimed (and the logistics do support the claims) a significant withdrawal is on the books right now with three brigades leaving Iraq after the upcoming elections and one brigade going to Kuwait in its place (to stand ready as a rapid reaction force).

The upshot is everyone wants out of Iraq. The fight is over on defining the withdrawal. The left wants to define it as a defeat the right wants to define it in the ink of victory.

Week XIII Prognostications. #include

NFL Week XIII Prognostications.

Visitor

Home

Predicted Winner

Falcons

Panthers

Panthers

Bills

Dolphins

Dolphins

Bengals

Steelers

Steelers

Cowboys

Giants

Giants

Packers

Bears

Pakcers

Texans

Ravens

Ravens

Jaguars

Browns

Browns

Vikings

Lions

Vikings

Buccaneers

Saints

Buccaneers

Titans

Colts

Colts

Duh!

Cardinals

49ers

Cardinals

Redskins

Rams

Redskins

Broncos

Chiefss

Chiefs

Jets

Patriots

Patriots

Raiders

Chargers

Chargers

Seahawks

Eagles

Seahawks

Incorrect Prognostication.
Correct Prognostication.
The greatest team to ever play the game, even if from time to time they get a little lame.
??? - Undecided.

All picks subject to change until 12:00 noon CST (whatever time we are on in any event I mean 12:00 noon Wisconsin time) 11/20/2005 after which they are final
Any pick updates or changes will be noted in the Updates section below.

Updates
Updates noted here.

1. 12/8/2005: 13-3 best week yet! If I weren't such a Packer fan I would be 14-2!

If a Blog is Published And No One Reads It?

What would be the equivalent to "if a tree falls in the woods and no one is near does it make a sound" in the blog world?

Most of my blogs are at best second level commentary and probably third level. My interest in blogging is more of an international one rather than one of local interest. Therefore the competition for attention is much more keen after all I am a two bit blogger in a two bit part of the world when there are 2000 bit bloggers working the same alley I am trying to work.

Yeah, you probably can tell I am feeling frustrated (my recent TTLB demotion doesn't help matters). For once I have something to offer a debate and it is completely overlooked. Yeah, I am talking about the to do over Harry Reid's comment on OBL being killed in the earthquake. I sent notice to Michelle Malkin that I blogged on possible earthquake killed Bin Laden over one month ago and called Scott at Powerline (they publish phone numbers, real stoney of them) mentioning the same thing. In addition I left notice at Pajamas but once again I feel Pajamas is not so much for the little guys but for the big guys as they point out a number of articles on the topic from bloggers we have all heard of.

Perhaps I should have mentioned the story I referred to was sourced to a CIA guy (it was) and left out the part about it being published in a newspaper.

No don't expect me to make a regular habit of defending the likes of Harry Reid but when we criticize our political opponents we had better come up with honest criticisms lest we become like the left.